Silent Majority

Reflect: Are we part of the silent majority?

Someone sent me a succinct article below and I counter-checked it out at several websites and the website below.
I thought the article thoroughly makes sense.

The author is:
Dr. Emanuel Tanay, MD Wayne State University Ann Arbor, Michigan
http://holocaust.umd.umich.edu/tanay/

Article
A German’s point of view on Islam
by Dr. Emanuel Tanay, Psychiatrist

A man whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.

‘Very few people were true Nazis ‘he said,’ but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories. ’

We are told again and again by ‘experts’ and ‘talking heads’ that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectra of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam. The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.

It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. The hard quantifiable fact is that the ‘peaceful majority’, the ‘silent majority’, is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China’s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.

And, who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery.
Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were ‘peace loving’?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:
Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.
Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghanis, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts:
the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

* * * * End of Article * * * *

Coming back to Biblical History and the History of Christianity, Christians and God-fearing Israelites too let the course of the country run even into rebellion and not trusting God when they keep silent. Gradually the minority become the majority.

Isaiah preached to Israel not to rely on Egypt to defend against the threat of Assyrian attack (Isa 30:2). But soon enough, the leaders and the counselors of the king would make a very human decision. Make alliances (i.e don't trust Isaiah's prophecy; probably not from God they thought).

Some would have listened to Isaiah. But their voices were powerless and drowned out.
And Israel was ultimately destroyed as a nation.

Our faith would have deviated much from the biblical idea of faith had not Martin Luther raised his concerns that salvation cannot be gained by works and that buying indulgences is not necessary to go to heaven.
By God's grace, he did not remain silent - even though he is the minority.

Thought For Reflection:
Do we remain silent when we notice a deviation from morality and biblical truth?
What ungodly trends in our society and culture do we notice? Are we speaking up?
What actions can we take to arrest the flame of fanaticism that lurks around us that can destroy our way of living?

IS PRAYER A CHORE?

1) Are we struggling to spend time in prayer?
2) Has prayer become a chore or a drudgery?

I won't be surprised if the majority of us answer "yes" to these questions because I too struggle at times to be consistent in my prayer life.
When a prayer meeting is organized - just work out the percentage of members attending.
Just do a quick survey of members who spend at least 15 mins in prayer every day.

If the numbers are high, it is not too surprising because pastors too are having difficulty in this area.
Peter Wagner conducted a survey of 572 American pastors and found that 57 percent of them prayed less than 20 mins a day (Source: Prayer Shield, 1992, pg. 79).
American pastors on average spend 22 minutes in prayer daily (this is not counting Bible Study, reading devotional books, worship - for which the pastor will spend additional time daily).

Why has prayer become a struggle and for some become a chore?

This reflection came to my mind as I happened (another word for divine appointment) to meet a visiting professor from Pakistan. He has since given up his profession in lecturing and is now called by a variety of names - a prophet, an evangelist and a teacher - depending on where he travels. He prophesies, he speaks miracles and healings to people, calls out names, teaches systematically. He really is a PHD both academically and spiritually. The other PHD - Preach, prophesy, heal and delivers. And the basis of it all is that he hears God. And he prays.
To him prayer is not a chore.

So why has prayer become a struggle and even a chore for some of us?

We have forgotten that as we pray, we are also hearing God.
For some of us or perhaps for many of us, because we haven't heard God speaking to us much, prayer has become primarily a time of petitioning and presenting requests to God.
And even then we are not sure if God hears our prayers.
Some who are going through difficult times now think that prayer is "useless."
That is one reason why prayer has become a chore.

But if we see prayer in a different way ...
What if I tell you that God will speak to you and you will hear God today if you pray.
What will we do?
We will immediately pray because we all want to hear God.

I want to tell you that God does speak to us and we will hear God.
We may not be so good at hearing God at first and we may not even be sure we are hearing God.
But practice.
Some twelve years ago, I thought I heard God wrongly in one prophecy / word for me.
And I went against the prophecy because it didn't seem to be happening and I bought a condominium one year before the peak of the property market. And we were caught.
But twelve years later, my wife and I heard the word of the Lord and we are now more certain.
We sold the property at the peak of the market. We were so blessed.

I must share that I don't hear God all the time and that is why I can share the predicament with all of us.
But the visiting prophet was sharing with me - practice.
Practice the spiritual gifts that have been bestowed on us and the fundamental gift of hearing Him.
He loves to speak with us and for us to hear His voice. (I am saying this by faith).

So join me in this learning journey of practicing to hear God in prayer.

Reflect:
Will our prayer life be markedly different if we see our prayer time as a time of hearing God when God speaks to us instead of just presenting our requests and petitions?

Blessing To The Community

After stepping down from the challenging role of a pastor, I was asking the Lord for His new direction. The initial word was to take a Sabbath after six years in the ministry here in Auckland.

And that allowed me to just spend time clearing the house, studying the Word and playing soccer during weekends. You see when I was a pastor, the weekends are the busiest time of my week (e.g. preparing messages till late Sat night). But now, I can start to regain my fitness playing soccer. I remember in my first game of playing 6-a-side indoor soccer, I was puffing away after 5 minutes of intensive running. But now, I can last almost the full game of 24 minutes. (The times seems short but it is like running the 400m - one will be totally out of gas at the end of 400m). That takes care of my Sunday exercise.

I am also enjoying playing outdoor soccer on Saturdays. It is rather difficult to find "kaki" or companions to play soccer in a country that is rugby mad and it is difficult to have a game with 3 players. Furthermore, when the weather is so great in summer like now (heading into autumn), not many play soccer because strangely, soccer is a winter season game here. But for migrants and the international community - quite a good number of us are passionate about soccer. Perhaps not as passionate as Beckham who will pay great sums to stay at ACMilan. But still passionate enough to look for an avenue to expend our energy and meet our passion. There is an unmet need or more biblically - not a need but a desire to play soccer. I know a good percentage of the international community would like to play this beautiful game. I was blessed to join this small group of players just having fun on Saturday.

Then God open my eyes to see that we can book soccer fields for free here in Auckland after all we are rate payers. Praise God for this beautiful country with many fields and parks. When I was living in Singapore, it was difficult to find space to play soccer and soccer fields are not free. So I volunteered to arrange to book the fields and arrange other teams to play with us. One thing led to another and viola, the community soccer group just grew and we can now form two or more full soccer teams.

During this time, I just volunteered my time because I wanted to be a blessing to the community. I hoped to provide an avenue to meet their "needs" and to encourage the international community to interact with one another to make friends - Just to be a blessing. I realize God is opening doors. More and more of the international community joined us, including international students and kiwis. And amazingly in my fifties, I am getting better at the game. I even played goalie and by God's grace made some amazing saves that the opposing team goalie and players gave me credit. In my mind, this is not me.

We are now organizing a Commuity Soccer Festival which will be held soon. There are five teams participating. We have players coming from all over - like the United Nations. Zimbabweans, Iraqis, Kurds, Chinese, Koreans, Malaysians, Singaporeans, Indians, Fijians, Mauritius, Brazilians and kiwis all playing together. The Community Soccer Fest is organized with the aim to make Friends, have Fun, keep Fit, promote Family / Father & Son relationships through Football. Interesting - 5 "F's." We truly have five pairs of fathers and sons playing together.

In the process of doing all this, I am reminded of the Abrahamic blessing:

Gen 12: 2 "I will make you into a great nation .... and you will be a blessing."

I realize we are being a blessing to the nations like Abraham was to the nations.
We too can be a blessing to the community - and to the nations.
And it is great for God to mobilize us in the area of our passion.
We after all will enjoy doing it anyway.
For me - it is soccer.
What about you?

Reflection
As you can see, it is sometimes easy to be a blessing to the community.
What then is your passion that God can mobilize you into which you will greatly enjoy anyway and still be a blessing to the people around you?