Vatican Library prepares to reopen after three years of restoration

The Vatican Apostolic Library will be reopened again this month after three years of reconstruction. As its director explained to Vatican Radio, it aims to be a cultural aid, to offer a glimpse of the "great truth of the world of God," reports Catholic News Agency.

Vatican Radio interviewed the library’s prefect, Msgr. Cesare Pasini about the grand reopening set to take place on Sept. 20.

Noting a series of initiatives scheduled to mark the reopening of the library this fall, the prefect also spoke of the value of the library to all people.

He said that by reopening the library, "we not only show scholars and the world what we have done … but we remodel ourselves on this fundamental spirit, on our mission, so that we don’t just make it a place to consult books."

The library, which allows scholars from all walks and creeds to study its volumes, has an aspect of universality and cultural preservation because it conserves materials "for today and tomorrow," he said.

Msrg. Pasini also promotes culture by allowing works to be "used, seriously studied and then probed to find any further fragment of truth.

"There are many truths," he said, "historic truths, truths that make investigations into the reality of things, and these little truths form part of the great truth of the world of God."

In an article he wrote for last Sunday’s edition of the L’Osservatore Romano, Msgr. Pasini described some of the 15,000 letters and e-mails his office has received hoping for the prompt conclusion to the restoration work and describing the library’s importance to studies. Responding to the interest, he said that in looking around the now "silent and shining" library, he has seen that "only the friendly presence of our scholars is lacking." He added, "may they know that they are warmly awaited."

Archivist of the Vatican Secret Archives, Cardinal Raffaele Farina, will present the renovated, restored and restructured library in an on-site press conference next Monday.

Report from the Christian Telegraph

Messianic Jewish Church Won’t Appeal Israeli Court Ruling

Congregation sought apology for riotous attack on baptism service.

ISTANBUL, July 14 (CDN) — A congregation of Messianic Jews in Israel who recently lost a lawsuit against an ultra-orthodox Jewish group that allegedly incited a riot against them has decided not to appeal their case, the church’s pastor said.

After meeting with his congregation and members of the Messianic community in Israel, Howard Bass, pastor of Yeshua’s Inheritance church in Beer Sheva, said that although there are strong legal grounds for an appeal, he believes it is not God’s will to do so.

“We didn’t see that it’s right to appeal, even though there is good legal basis. But we don’t feel it’s the Lord’s will to appeal,” Bass said, later adding he felt the verdict was “totally distorted.”

In 2007, Bass filed suit against Yehuda Deri, chief Sephardic rabbi in the city of Beer Sheva, and Yad L’Achim, an organization that fights against Messianic Jews in Israel, for allegedly inciting a riot at a December 2005 service that Bass was leading.

On Dec. 24, 2005, during a baptismal service in Beer Sheva, a group of about 200 men pushed their way into a small, covered structure being used to baptize two new Christians and tried to stop the service. Police were called to the scene but could not control the crowd.

Once inside the building, the assailants tossed patio chairs, damaged audiovisual equipment, threw a grill and other items into a baptismal pool, pushed Bass into the pool and broke his glasses.

In the days before the riot, Yad L’Achim issued notices to people about a “mass baptism” scheduled to take place at the facility in the city of 187,900 people, 51 miles (83 kilometers) southwest of Jerusalem. In the days after the riot, Deri bragged about the incident on a radio talk show, including a boast that Bass had been “baptized” at the gathering.

Bass demanded either a public apology for their alleged role in the attack, or 1.5 million shekels (US$389,052) from the rabbi and Yad L’Achim.

The case, Bass said, was to “honor the name of Jesus Christ in Israel.” He said he sought monetary damages "to show how serious the offenses were under the law."

The 2005 incident was the second time the church had to deal with an attack after Yad L’Achim disseminated false information about their activities.

On Nov. 28, 1998, a crowd of roughly 1,000 protestors broke into a Yeshua’s Inheritance service after the anti-Christian group spread a rumor that three busloads of kidnapped Jewish minors were being brought in for baptism. The assailants threw rocks, spit on parishioners and attempted to seize some of their children, Bass said.

Bass decided to file the 2007 suit after consulting with members of his congregation and the greater Messianic community in Israel. On June 29, he held much the same meeting, with participants deciding not to appeal. Bass relayed details of the meeting in a group e-mail sent to interested parties.

“No one present, nor any who have communicated with me in the past few days, had a conviction that an appeal is the clear will of God,” he said in the e-mail. “Some were uncertain; others were against.”

The judge issued his decision May 24. Bass read about the decision on May 30 on a government website. The judge ruled that Bass’ attorneys did not prove that the rabbi or the group incited the riot.

“He’s saying what happened inside the walls is separate from what happened outside the walls,” Bass said.

He said he was “astonished” at the judge’s bias in the decision.

“It was a bit amazing to see how one-sided it was,” he said, later adding, “It’s not a righteous judgment, it is a bad judgment.”

Bass said he believes the verdict is a “message from God” that injustice toward Jews who accept Jesus as the Messiah is now the “state of things” in Israel.

The judge ordered Bass to pay a fine to the defendants and cover their legal expenses for a total of approximately 155,000 shekels (US$40,123). The judge gave Bass until June 11 to pay the fine. Because of an outpouring of financial support, the fees were being rapidly paid off, Bass said.

“It’s amazing how quickly people started donating,” he said. “That to me is a further indication of God’s favor in the lawsuit. He’s covered it.”

He said a substantial portion of the donations came from inside Israel.

Also in his e-mail, Bass admitted to approaching the case with his hands tied out of respect for others.

“We did not take to court certain persons who clearly were instrumental in the riot, knowing that they would not testify against the Chief Rabbi or against Yad L’Achim,” Bass said. “We strived to respect the Chief Rabbi because he is the Chief Rabbi of the city, despite his total lack of regard” for the church.

 

Sanctioning Violence

Bass said the verdict may embolden those who want to attack Messianic Jews in Israel. At minimum, he said, the verdict leaves open the potential for future violence.

“They were given nothing to restrain them,” he said. “They were not warned at all by the judge to be careful of what they do.”

The Yeshiva World, a newspaper that caters to the Orthodox Jewish community, has called Messianic Jews both “missionaries” and a “cult.” The newspaper quoted a statement made by Rabbi Dov Lifschitz, founder and chairman of Yad L’Achim.

“We mustn’t become complacent in the face of the ongoing efforts of the missionaries, even as they are licking their wounds from this loss,” Lifschitz said. “This ruling encourages us to continue to fight them with all the legitimate means at our disposal.”

Bass said he understands that not appealing the court loss may lead to the impression that his faith community accepts the judge’s ruling, and because of that, some people in Israel may now side with Yad L’Achim and other anti-Messianic groups.

“We’ve leaving ourselves open to all kinds of opinions,” he said.

But Bass said he is looking at the case in the long term and through the eyes of God. He said that Jesus’ trial was the perfect example of a public defeat and a travesty of justice that God used in a great way.

“His court case seemed like a loss according to the world at the time,” Bass said.

Report from Compass Direct News

Push for Islamic Courts in Kenya Alarms Christians

Emergence of Somali-related Islamic extremists puts authorities on high alert.

NAIROBI, Kenya, February 11 (CDN) — A constitutional battle to expand the scope of Islamic courts in Kenya threatens to ignite religious tensions at a time when authorities are on high alert against Muslim extremists with ties to Somalia.

Constitutional provisions for Islamic or Kadhis’ courts have existed in Kenya since 1963, with the courts serving the country’s coastal Muslim population in matters of personal status, marriage, divorce, or inheritance. Kenya’s secular High Court has jurisdiction over civil and criminal matters, and even a decision in the Islamic courts can be appealed at the High Court.

The Islamic courts have functioned only in Kenya’s Coast Province, but in a hotly debated draft constitution, their jurisdiction would expand across the nation and their scope would increase. The proposed constitution has gathered enough momentum that 23 leaders of churches and Christian organizations released a statement on Feb. 1 asserting their opposition to any inclusion of such religious courts.

“It is clear that the Muslim community is basically carving for itself an Islamic state within a state,” the Kenyan church leaders stated. “This is a state with its own sharia [Islamic law]- compliant banking system; its own sharia-compliant insurance; its own Halaal [lawful in Islam] bureau of standards; and it is now pressing for its own judicial system.”

Muslim leaders are striving to expand the scope of Islamic courts to include civil and small claims cases. They also want to upgrade the Muslim tribunals to High Court status. These demands have alarmed Christians, who make up 80 percent of the population and defeated a similar proposal in a 2005 referendum. Muslims make up 10 percent of Kenya’s 39 million people, 9 percent of the population follows indigenous religions and less than 1 percent are Hindu, Sikh and Baha’i.

The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) said the Committee of Experts (CoE) responsible for “harmonizing” drafts from various stakeholders ignored their concerns. The committee was responsible for determining what matters would be unduly “contentious” and was charged with keeping them out of the draft.

“We wrote to them, but we have been ignored,” said the Rev. Canon Peter Karanja, NCCK general secretary. “Who told the CoE that Kadhis’ courts were not contentious?”

Saying the committee ignored the crucial requirement of omitting what is “contentious,” Karanja said it did little to build consensus. He said that unless the Islamic courts are stricken from the constitution, Christians might be forced to reject the document in a national referendum later this year.

Muslim leaders, just as stridently, insist that recognition of the Islamic courts does not elevate Islam over other religions, and that if the courts are removed they will shoot down the draft in the referendum.

The 2005 referendum split the country and was followed by a bitterly disputed presidential election in 2007 that sparked rioting, reportedly leaving 1,300 people dead. The election dispute was resolved with one candidate becoming president and the other prime minister, and at the heart of the proposed constitution is an attempt to transfer presidential powers to the prime minister.

Christian leaders point out that the “Harmonized Draft” of the constitution discriminates against non-Muslims and contradicts its own Article 10 (1-3), which states that there shall be no state religion, that the state shall treat all religions equally and that state and religion shall be separate. They see the attempt to expand the scope of the Islamic courts as part of a long-term effort by Muslims to gain political, economic and judicial power.

Muslim leaders claim that inclusion of the Islamic courts in the new constitution would recognize “a basic religious right” for a minority group. Some Muslim extremists have said that if Islamic courts are removed from the draft constitution, they will demand their own state and introduce sharia.

Extremists Emerge

The constitutional issue erupted as security officials went on high alert when sympathizers of the Islamic terrorist al Shabaab militia appeared in a protest in mid-January to demand the release of radical Muslim cleric Abdullah Al-Faisal, who had entered the country on Dec. 31.

Al-Faisal, imprisoned from 2004 to 2008 after a British court convicted him of soliciting murder and inciting hatred, is on a global terrorism list. Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said Al-Faisal has been known to recruit suicide bombers and was arrested for violating terms of his tourist visa by preaching. He was reportedly deported to his native Jamaica on Jan. 21.

Eyewitnesses to the protests in Nairobi told Compass one demonstrator clad in fatigues, with his face masked by a balaclava, waved the black flag of the al-Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militia and passed his finger across his throat in a slitting gesture, taunting passersby.

Officials from the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya and from Muslims for Human Rights defended the demonstrations as legitimate to condemn violation of Al-Faisal’s rights. At least one person died as the protests turned violent, and Internal Security Minister George Saitoti said five civilians and six police officers were injured, with one security officer wounded from a bullet said to be shot by a demonstrator.

Al Shabaab-affiliated operatives appear to have targeted Christians in Kenya, according to an Internet threat in December by a group claiming to align itself with the Islamic extremist militia seeking to topple Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government. In an e-mail message with “Fatwa for you Infidels” in the subject line to Christian and governmental leaders in Kenya, a group calling itself the Harakatul-Al-Shabaab-al Mujahidin threatened to kill Muslim converts to Christianity and those who help them.

“We are proud to be an Islamic revolutionary group, and we are honored to be affiliated with Al Qaeda, a group of honest Muslims in which we share long-term goals and the broad outlines of our ideologies, while focusing on our efforts on attacking secular and moderate governments in the Muslim world, America and Western targets of opportunity and of course Uganda, Ethiopia, Burundi and Kenya if they do not stop their assistance to the Somali fragile and apostate government,” the group wrote in the e-mail. “Although we receive support for some of our operations, we function independently and generally depend on ourselves…”

The group threatened to shake the Kenyan government “in minutes,” calling it the “the most fragile target in the world.”

The emergence of al Shabaab and its sympathizers in Kenya coincides with the swelling of the Somali population in the country to 2.4 million, according to the August 2009 census.

Report from Compass Direct News 

Coptic Christians Gunned Down after Christmas Service in Egypt

Suspected Muslims fire automatic rifle from moving car; congregation had received threats.

LOS ANGELES, January 7 (CDN) — In spite of threats of violence from Muslims in an area of Egypt wracked by sectarian violence, police declined to increase security for a Coptic Christmas Eve service on Jan. 6, and six Christians were shot to death after leaving the church.

Three men suspected to be Muslims, including one with a criminal record sought by police, were in a moving car from which automatic gunfire hit Coptic Christians who had attended services at St. John’s Church in Nag Hammadi, 455 kilometers (282 miles) south of Cairo. A Muslim security guard was also killed, and nine other Coptic Christians were wounded, with three of them in critical condition, according to news reports.

Copts, along with many Orthodox communities, celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7.

The primary Muslim suspected of firing the automatic rifle at the Copts, witnesses reportedly told police, is local resident Mohammed Ahmed Hussein. Local clergy said Hussein had not been arrested for previous crimes because he receives protection from officials in the ruling National Democratic Party.

Hussein reportedly fired while his car traveled some 400 meters. A provincial security official told The Associated Press that those killed were shot 200 meters from the church.

The church’s bishop told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that he had concluded the Christmas Eve mass an hour early, by 11 p.m., for security reasons. 

The clergyman, identified only as Bishop Kirilos, told AFP some of those in his congregation had received cell phone calls threatening that Muslims “will avenge the rape of the girl during the Christmas celebrations.”

In November a local 12-year-old Muslim girl was allegedly abducted and raped by a Coptic youth. In response to the alleged rape, hundreds of Muslim protestors torched Christian-owned shops in the town of Farshut, near Nag Hammadi.

After killing those near the church in yesterday’s attack, the bishop reportedly said, the gunmen continued shooting at Copts in other parts of the town. They reportedly fired at a convent, which also houses the bishop’s offices, as they left town.

Thousands of Coptic Christian demonstrators reportedly took to the streets in Nag Hammadi today to protest lack of protection from Muslim violence. An estimated 5,000 Copts attended the funeral for the six Christians victims.

AFP reported that protestors stoned cars during the funeral, and in response police fired tear gas. Demonstrators reportedly chanted, “With our spirit and blood, we will sacrifice ourselves for the Cross.”

Report from Compass Direct News 

POST-MODERNISM AND TRUE CHRISTIANITY

It is my contention that the church has been invaded and conquered by Post-modernism. When I say the church, I mean that which goes my the name today, in general terms. I am not of course speaking of the true church in the Biblical sense.

How else can we explain the eclectic and ever varying viewpoints and paradigms of churches throughout the country (Australia) and the world, except that the church has been invaded and conquered by Post-modernism? It is rampant everywhere and it no longer needs a subtle approach to infiltrate the church. It can now appear in blinding light as Post-modernism and be found acceptable by most ‘Christians’ within this country and I suspect the world.

Opposition to Post-modernist ideas is difficult to find, though admittedly it is there. The particularbaptist.com website is one outpost of Biblical Evangelical Christianity (Particular Baptist). It is not the only one – there are many such outposts on the World Wide Web and throughout the spiritual wilderness one can find an occasional welcome oasis in a dry, barren desert.

Yet the overwhelming scenario is that entering a random ‘Christian’ church on any Sunday you will find a place devoid of the Spirit of God, for He has long ago withdrawn His candlestick from that place. It is quite likely that you will find a place that for some time has given itself over to fanciful stories, human devised fables and crowd-pleasing activities. The people there have welcomed leaders that have been only too pleased to scratch the ears of their followers and have eagerly lapped up fleshly pleasing rhetoric that has fallen from their poisoned lips.

What are we to do who find ourselves hungering and thirsting in the wilderness? Are we to join ourselves to one of these dens of iniquity because we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together? Is this the last desperate act left open for a believer who longs to be obedient to His Lord?

I think it is high time that we who truly believe the Bible and follow the God of the Bible and His Beloved Son and the leadings of His Spirit, separate ourselves from such synagogues of Satan and form true Christian churches after the form outlined in the New Testament. It is time that we leave these forsaken places to their own devices and set out on a pathway that has been marked out by those that have gone before.

Our congregations may only be small and seem to have little impact when contrasted with the Post-modernist mega-churches of our time, yet we will be faithful servants of our God. We will be able to trust Him who is our Refuge and Our Strength, knowing that He who will go before us is the all-conquering sovereign Lord.

I find myself in this barren spiritual desert, surrounded by Post-modernist churches and have often felt the need to meet with Christians as I know I should. Yet I find myself unable to meet with those that worship another God and peddle another gospel that I find abhorrent. I long for the day when I will be able to meet with even two or three like-minded godly brethren who will also not yield to the pressures of the day and simply meet with a ‘powerless’ church that has long lost the powerful Spirit of God and is no longer a true witness of Jesus Christ.

May the Lord raise up like-minded brethren who will come together and form the godly churches of tomorrow. May God yet come among us again through the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit and visit us with fresh displays of His gracious power in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

LORD’S SUPPER SERIES: 1. THE INSTITUTION OF THE LORD’S SUPPER – 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Please Read 1 Corinthians 11

This morning we turn our attention to the Lord’s Supper, this being the day on which we come together as a church to actually celebrate the Lord’s Supper together.

I do not know what your experience of past Lord’s Supper’s has been, but I do know what mine have been like, and I have been far from satisfied with what has been practiced on most occasions.

Often times the Supper is tacked onto the end of a service, as though it were a necessary evil that we have to go through in order to do things right. Generally speaking it seems to be celebrated as an empty ritual, with many people just going through the motions, even relieved when it is over.

As a reforming church, it is important for us to consider the Lord’s Supper and to see whether our approach to it is in need of a change. Are we measuring up to the Biblical Lord’s Supper, or are we pursuing something that is merely a traditional way of doing things?

John Calvin in his commentary on this portion of Scripture says,

‘This passage ought to be carefully studied, for it shows that the only remedy for removing and correcting corruptions is to get back to the unadulterated institution of God.’

And this is our aim here in this place, to reform after the pattern of scripture, and so over the course of this year we will devote ourselves to this passage which is so full of instruction concerning the Lord’s Supper. May the Lord be our Teacher, and His Word our textbook.

 

1. The Importance of Proper Form

When we come together for the Lord’s Supper are our meetings doing more harm than good? This is a question that we need to ask ourselves in all seriousness. This is something which was actually the case with the Corinthian church, ‘Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. (11:17).’

What a terrible indictment for a church! We need to be sure that this is not the case with us, so we need to examine this passage this morning to see what it has to tell us as regards the way we ought to observe this Supper.

The first thing that strikes the reader of this passage is the importance of proper form. Today we find ourselves in a religious climate in which the form of the Lord’s Supper can be anything, as long as the name is kept on it. It is as though it doesn’t matter what is done as long as it has a Scriptural tag, then its going to be OK.

The Supper has become an institution open to all manner of abuses, and the one which sticks out from all the rest is of course the Roman Catholic Mass, and all its idolatrous and ungodly rite.

But even the more subtle corruptions need to be addressed, for all such separations from the God-given form are sin, and a deviation from the form given by the Lord Jesus Christ.

And what about what was going on in Corinth, for ‘For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep (11:30).’ Do you see the importance in getting this right? People were getting sick, and even being killed as punishment for their abuse of the Lord’s Supper. so you see, this is no light matter, it needs to be taken seriously.

Is there then a proper form to follow, a blueprint that we must carefully observe and stick to? The answer is yes there is, ‘For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you (11:23).’

Continued at: http://particularbaptist.com/sermons/sermonscor1.html