He said, "We plan to eliminate the state of Israel We Palestinians will take over everything, including all of Jerusalem. On another occasion, Arafat explained, "Since we cannot defeat Israel in war, we do this in stages.
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We take any and every territory we can of Palestine When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel. Was there emotional pain in America caused by the death of 40 million babies who were aborted from to ? Undoubtedly there was, though probably most tears were suppressed or shed in private.
Heartfelt Fasting and Repentance
Early in , China and Myanmar suffered a catastrophic earthquake and cyclone killing a total of nearly , people. Both countries saw fit to set aside three days to honor the memory of those who died.
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One wonders if these days of national 'mourning' were perceived by the public as a way to humble themselves and do real soul searching? Perhaps a few people felt this way but it seems this was not the official tone set by the leaders of these nations. Some readers might ask, "What gives us the right to ask this kind of question? It was precisely this concern that Jesus Christ raised when he addressed a group of people who were talking about the brutal killing of some Jews while they were offering sacrifices at the Temple.
Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too. Clearly Jesus taught that humility and repentance are a fitting response when people are faced with a great tragedy. Genuine tears can be an indication of sincere repentance. According to the Bible and the Qur'an Jonah was humbled as he experienced deep distress or agony.
The Bible tells us he "cried out to the Lord in [his] great trouble. Another biblical story as recorded in the Qur'an described how Adam "landed in misery" after being seduced by the Devil surah Furthermore, according to Islamic tradition Adam and Eve wept in repentance for 40 years, after which they were reunited with each other. What does the Bible say about sorrow and repentance? It emphasizes that "the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.
When Adam and Jonah disobeyed God they suffered serious consequences. King David also faced serious consequences when he sinned against the Lord. We read his prayer in Psalm 30,. O Lord my God, I cried to you for help and you restored my health. You brought me up from the grave O Lord. Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a life time!
Heartfelt Fasting and Repentance
Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent Seeing the humility of Jonah and David reminds me of a hadith that says, "Every son of Adam is a sinner and the best of sinners are those who repent constantly.
This attitude is part of the reason why God called David a "man after my own heart". David knew that the sacrifice that pleases God is "a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. As much as it is true that godly sorrow leads to true repentance we can also be sure that "God will wipe away tears" as it is written in Isaiah Again we read in chapter 57 that God "comforts those who mourn".
The preceding verses read: I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts… I will not always be angry. If I were all people would pass away—all the souls I have made. May they have abundant peace both near and far," says the Lord, who heals them.
We have been reminded how God rescued Jonah from a near death experience in response to humbly admitting his blame. Now let us consider a key question, "Does this imply that God saved or forgave Jonah of his sin?
For my salvation comes from the LORD alone. Looking at Jonah's experience we cannot say his salvation only involved being rescued from death.
The place of fasting in repentance (1 Samuel 7)
It also related to his disobedience, i. The critical situation from which Jonah was delivered was not morally neutral. Jonah was blameworthy so he needed to be forgiven of sin as well as rescued from death. It makes sense, therefore, to understand that forgiveness was part and parcel of Jonah's experience of God's salvation. We must also bear in mind that Jonah was an Israelite and, as such, he lived under the Mosaic Law which required sacrificing animals for purification from sin. The law required anyone who committed sin to sacrifice a sin offering.
Indeed, the Scripture says, "according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. It was a day set aside for Israel to focus specifically on her sin as a nation and for the individuals to do the same. Several ceremonies with rich symbolism served to supplement the focus not only on the sin but also on the cleansing available through a relationship with the Lord.
One activity that served to highlight this focus was what Leviticus The fast was to ensure undistracted personal reflection and opportunity for prayerful repentance as the nation sought to mourn over their own sin. We can see in the example of the Day of Atonement that it was important to God that His people took time to reflect on their own sin and to do so in conjunction with prayer and fasting.
Mourning And Repentance
This, combined with the value that has already been established for Christians to mourn offers us value in setting aside this day to focus on mourning along with prayer and fasting. As a guide, let me provide three areas of focus for our mourning today. We find that mourning and fasting took place simply through the pain of life experiences. He also mourned, wept, and fasted because of the death of these men. Pray for those who are suffering: The primary thrust of Matthew 5: This is similar to the pain of David as he reflected in Psalm 51 on his sin with Bathsheba.
Invite the Holy Spirit to search you and reveal sin in your life as David did in Psalm Use Psalm 51 as a model to repent over this sin, and remember that repentance is: The only true hope we have as a country is not legislation or political conservatism but the Gospel of Jesus Christ transforming hearts. Pray that we would have opportunities to share with others in our culture the Gospel of Christ through conversations about all that is going on in our country.