Some of the greatest abuse stemming from the situation in Ferguson is not coming from the hands of law enforcement officers but from the mouths of ministers who are exploiting this situation to advance their own agendas rather than bring healing to a community and nation torn apart by racial division.
I’m not only referring to pastoral provocateurs such as Al Sharpton who is spear-heading an “Anti-Police Rally” this weekend or Jesse Jackson who has been roundly criticized for using the Ferguson chaos to raise funds for his church.
White ministers throughout the country are also using the unrest in Ferguson to either score points with segments of their congregation by demonstrating how racially sensitive they are or to deal with their own angst over “white privilege.”
There is no greater service we can perform than to speak truth to people, regardless how unpopular or politically incorrect that truth is.
However, those of us who are pastors have a responsibility in situations like Ferguson to be place the needs of others above our own—and that means speaking God’s truth to those who are confused, hurt, and bitter. Instead of being concerned about political correctness, pastors should be more concerned with being biblically correct.
There is no greater service we can perform than to speak truth to people, regardless how unpopular or politically incorrect that truth is.
I want to suggest two complementary principles from the pages of Scripture that pastors might consider sharing with their congregations on Sunday if they feel compelled to address the Ferguson situation.
First, the Bible affirms that law enforcement officers are “ministers of God . . . an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil” (Romans 13:4).
In that same verse the Apostle Paul also says that God has granted to such authorities the right to “bear the sword, ” referring to the taking of a life if necessary.
Shouldn’t we be fearful of officers who wield that kind of power? Paul answers, “For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same” (Romans 13:3).
Does that mean that police never commit acts of injustice? Of course not.
Even Paul himself was beaten, imprisoned, and ultimately executed unjustly by government authorities. But the very real abuse perpetrated by a few police officers is the exception rather than the rule---which is why it makes headlines.
While there are certainly some rogue officers (just like there are rogue pastors), the majority of policemen are overworked and underpaid servants of both their communities and of God.
Pastors should speak in such a way as to engender respect for, instead of mistrust of, law enforcement officials.
But pastors also need to address the reality of mistreatment in our world that may come from the hands of a law enforcement officer, an employer, a parent, or a mate.
We do our congregations no favor when we give them the illusion that they can sail through life without ever being treated unjustly or hurt deeply.
Perhaps Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson was unwarranted, or maybe police officer Darren Wilson is the true victim. We don’t know all the facts yet.
But what we can say with certainty is that every one of us will at some time experience injustice.
Revenge never brings healing. As someone said, “The problem with the ‘eye for an eye’ and ‘tooth for a tooth’ principle is that eventually everyone winds up blind and toothless.”
The most powerful antidote for the inevitable offenses we will all experience at some time is forgiveness: letting go of my desire to hurt someone for hurting me.
Contrary to what some people believe, forgiveness is not surrendering our desire for justice but our desire for vengeance. Forgiveness means allowing someone else to exact justice on our behalf.
The true victims in Ferguson—whoever they are—can know that even if a jury fails to render a fair verdict, God will ultimately settle the score.
Sharing these two biblical principles may be hurtful to some at first, but they are key to resolving the unrest over Ferguson.
Pastors, as well as all believers, should remember that the truth of God’s Word is like a surgeon’s scalpel that has to wound before it can heal.
Dr. Robert Jeffress is a Fox News Contributor and pastor of the 11,000-member First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas.
[Iran Press TV] At least three civilians have been killed in a US liquidation drone attack in Afghanistan.
The Arclight airstrike, which also injured two Afghans, happened in the war-torn country's eastern province of Pashtun-infested Logar on Friday.
According to reports, Afghan authorities have begun an investigation into the incident.
Civilian casualties from US-led attacks have been a serious bone of contention between Kabul and Washington.
The US carries out "assassinations" through drone strikes in several Moslem nations such as Yemen, Pakistain, Afghanistan and Somalia.
Washington claims the targets of the drone attacks are bully boys, but local officials and witnesses maintain that civilians have been the main victims of the attacks over the past few years.
The Afghan people and the country's officials have protested against the civilian casualties on numerous occasions, but the US drone attacks continue unabated.
The United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... and several human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... organizations have identified the US as the world's number one user of "assassinations," largely due to its drone attacks in Pakistain and Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2014 00:00 ||
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Nairobi -- Militants of the Al Shabaab extremist organisation Friday beheaded a Kenyan driver who was kidnapped at Kiunga near the border with Somalia in the coastal town of Lamu.
The body of George Mwita was discovered during a rescue operation carried out by Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers and police within the vast Boni forest where the militants were hiding, Xinhua reported. Lamu County Commissioner Njenga Miiri confirmed that the cowardly attackers tied Mwita's hands before slitting his throat. He said the operation that started Thursday had been delayed by heavy rainfall and terrains in the area.
"It's unfortunate that our personnel were unable to rescue him. But we are still hunting them (the militants) down," Miiri said.
The police said the deceased's three colleagues, all Muslims, were released unhurt Wednesday.
Funny how that worked out...
"Mwita's body was discovered during a joint military and police officers' operation deployed to hunt down the gunmen," Miiri said.
The official said the heavily armed attackers numbering more than 20 managed to escape to Somalia.
Funny how that worked out...
The four had driven to Somalia through the Kiunga border and dropped miraa or a plant with an amphetamine-like stimulant and were driving back to Garissa in northern Kenya when they were ambushed. The gunmen took away two vehicles that were used to deliver the consignment of miraa from Garrissa to Ras Kiamboni area in Lamu East.
Detectives said one of the drivers released, identified as Amuar Abdi, said the attackers were all Shaboobs Somalis and were in military jungle uniform.
According to intelligence reports, a number of gunmen have been killed in the ongoing operation after the KDF soldiers bombed several training camps in the forest to flush out the militants.
Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo Wednesday extended the dusk-to-dawn curfew in Lamu, which was to end on Aug 21, by a month. Kimaiyo added that since the curfew was imposed in July, the country has experienced a reduction of security problems, and life as well as economic and social activities are gradually returning to normal.
Boni and other adjoining forests were declared prohibited areas while all public transport plying on the Lamu-Garsen road were allowed to move only under police escort during the day.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/23/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
almost like a religious war, huh?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/23/2014 8:33 Comments ||
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Security forces in northwestern China's Xinjiang region have gunned down three Uighur Muslim farmers after they allegedly resisted arrest in connection with suspected separatist activities. But a local Uighur leader said the three did not commit any "tangible" crimes and were rounded up for possession of knives and axes as well as Islamic material.
Oh? What kind of Islamic material?
Tuniyaz Qurban, Omer Abla, and Yasin Awut were all killed by police in Aykol township, in Xinjiang's Aksu prefecture, in three separate incidents over the last 10 days, Batur Qasim, the head of security in the township's No. 19 village, said.
He said, "Three people in our village and No. 20 village have been shot over the past ten days, while 13 have been detained and three are being sought. When we asked what their crimes were, [the authorities] said some of them possessed forbidden religious books, while others had knives, axes and fitness gear such as boxing gloves and sand bags. But I think that none of them, including the ones killed and detained, committed any tangible crimes."
Hundreds have died in violence in Xinjiang over the past year, but with the tight security measures taken by Chinese officials, foreign media groups say it's nearly impossible for journalists to make independent assessments.
In the latest violence to rock the remote region, Chinese state media said that 96 people were killed in July 28 riots which erupted after a Uighurs attacked a police station and government offices in Kashgar prefecture's Yarkand (in Chinese, Shache) county.
However, Rebiya Kadeer, president of the exile World Uighur Congress (WUC), accused authorities of a cover up of what she called a
"massacre" of Uighurs in Yarkand and claimed that at least 2,000 Uighurs may have been killed by Chinese security forces following the riots.
#1
In olden times, arrested suspects in China would most unfortunately succumb to the rigors of interrogation. Nowadays they succumb to the rigors of being arrested. Such is progress.
[GLOBALPOST] A Jewish school in Copenhagen had its windows smashed and anti-Jewish graffiti referring to the conflict in Gazoo spray-painted on its walls, the school said on Friday.
"We know that a political message has been written on the walls but we don't know who is responsible," Jan Hansen, headmaster of Carolineskolen, told AFP.
Messages daubed on the school walls included "No peace in Gazoo" and "No peace to you Zionist pigs."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] QUETTA: One security personnel was killed on Friday after more than 70 gunnies entered into the province of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... from neighboring Afghanistan.
Spokesman Frontier Corps Khan Wasey told Dawn.com that more than seventy murderous Moslems and smugglers intruded into Pak territory, specifically Balochistan's Killa Saifullah district.
"The FC quickly retaliated and forced most of the murderous Moslems to flee back into Afghanistan," he said.
The front man further said that more paramilitary troops were being sent to the border to control the situation.
"Several murderous Moslems and smugglers were maimed during the clash with security forces," Wasey said.
"They took away their injured into Afghanistan," he said, adding that all murderous Moslems were pushed back by security forces.
Some FC personnel were also injured during the gun-battle that lasted for more than three hours at the mostly non-existent border.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
The incident has come three months after the Afghan forces killed shepherds near Qamaruddin Karez area of neighboring Zhob district.
The Foreign Office had lodged a protest with Afghan authorities for repeated violations at the border.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] QUETTA: Frontier Corps claim to have killed 16 forces of Evil in Turbat — a town in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... 's volatile Kech district on Friday evening, an official said.
Fierce battle between armed forces of Evil and security forces was reported by local levies sources in Dasht area of Turbat earlier in the morning.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2014 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the militancy-riddled northern Iraq have launched an operation to retake the town of Jalawla from the ISIL Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... terrorists, Iraqi officials say.
Senior officials from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) say the Peshmerga forces advanced on the volatile town from several directions on Friday.
"The Peshmerga advanced on Jalawla from several directions before dawn," media outlets quoted PUK official, Shirko Mirwais, as saying.
The town is a strategic point some 130 kilometers northeast of Baghdad.
Local security sources say the fighters and volunteers have already taken back several positions from the holy warriors in the troubled region.
At least nine Kurdish forces have been maimed in the ongoing fighting in and around the area. The town has been one of the deadliest flashpoints in Peshmerga's fight against the ISIL.
Meanwhile, ...back at the buffalo wallow, Yellow Wolf clutched at his chest and fell from his horse... the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says about 700,000 Iraqis have fled their homes and taken refuge in the Kurdistan region following ongoing attacks by the ISIL terrorists.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2014 00:00 ||
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[NEWS.YAHOO] Shiite militiamen gunned down 70 people in an apparent revenge attack at an Iraqi Sunni mosque Friday, as Washington declared the beheading of an American journalist a "terrorist attack." Glad he cleared that up. I was wondering what it was.
The shooting in Diyala province will increase already significant anger among Iraq's Sunni Arab minority with the Shiite-led government, undermining an anti-militant drive that requires Sunni cooperation to succeed.
And the White House statement on the beheading of journalist James Foley raises the stakes in its confrontation with Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, which it is targeting with air strikes in Iraq.
Army and police officers said the attack on the Musab bin Omair Mosque came after Shiite militiamen were killed in clashes, while other sources said it followed a roadside bomb near one of their patrols.
Doctors and the officers put the toll from the attack, in which worshippers were sprayed with machinegun fire, at 70 dead and 20 wounded.
Two officers had earlier blamed IS for the attack, but the preponderance of accounts point to Shiite militiamen.
The government turned to militiamen to bolster its flagging forces during the IS offensive, sparking a resurgence of groups involved in brutal sectarian killings in past years that will be difficult to dislodge.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Iraq, is a fight between bad guys and good guys.
[JPOST] Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,gunnies executed 18 Paleostinians suspected of collaborating with Israel in Gazoo on Friday.
Hamas security forces killed 11 suspected collaborators at a Gazoocop shoppe. Shortly afterward Hamas killed seven more Paleostinians in a public execution in a central Gazoo square on Friday, witnesses and a Hamas website said.
The victims, their heads covered and hands tied, were rubbed out by masked gunnies dressed in black in front of a crowd of worshipers outside a mosque after prayers, witnesses and al-Majd, a pro-Hamas website, said.
In a sign of Hamas's increasing tight grip in the enclave following Israel's targeting killings of three of the group's senior commanders, nearly a dozen Paleostinians were reportedly killed at the Jawazat installation in the Strip.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2014 00:00 ||
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#2
18 shot dead with hoodies over their faces after prayers at the local Mosque? And the congregation had tea and casserole desserts after services and watched?
Colorful Moslem customs.
Of course I am only assuming they were shot, maybe Hamas used a guy with a goat knife. Allah considers that formal and traditional...keeping the old customs alive, dont'cha know.
On the bright side, if you can't kill your own neighbors at Church services what's a religion for?
Posted by: Big Thromoth3646 ||
08/23/2014 7:56 Comments ||
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#3
Assassinations always seem to make everybody left a little twitchy ... Feature, not a bug.
[NEWS.YAHOO] A rocket fired from Gazoo hit a synagogue in the Israeli city of Ashdod on Friday, wounding three people, police said.
"There is damage at the scene and a number of people were maimed by shrapnel," police front man Micky Rosenfeld said. The attack came shortly before evening prayers ahead of the Jewish Sabbath. Ashdod is around 30 km (20 miles) from Gazoo.
Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and other turban groups fired more than two dozen rockets into Israel on Friday, injuring two other people, with no signs of a let up in the six-week war.
Israel carried out 25 air strikes on Gazoo, killing four people, Gazoo health officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2014 00:00 ||
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The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM) confirmed that it has forged an alliance with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. However, BIFM spokesman Abu Misry Mama said they have not sent any of their members to Iraq or Syria to fight alongside ISIS, or even to train there.
Earlier, former president Fidel Ramos said around 100 Filipino Muslims had gone to Iraq and Syria to help ISIS.
Mama said, "There is no truth to the reports that we have sent fighters to Syria and Iraq. We do not need to train there because our training grounds in Mindanao are enough already."
He said members of the BIFM's armed-wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), did not need foreign training, adding, "In fact, there are also no foreigners in our camps to train us because we can train on our own."
While denying the BIFM has sent fighters to Iraq and Syria, Mama said an alliance had indeed been formed between ISIS and BIFM. He said the alliance was finalized through the use of mobile phones and the Internet in July.
He said it was BIFM vice chair for political affairs Sheikh Ismail Abu Bakr and the group's Islamic Supreme Council chair, identified only as Kuti, who formalized the alliance. Mama said, "There was also a time that they directly communicated with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In the alliance, we have agreed that we are brothers under the same sky… that if one finger is hurt the entire body will feel the pain."
But Mama said his organization did not financially benefit from the alliance. He said, "If we will ask them for money they might send us millions but we are not asking for any."
Mama said BIFM funds come mostly from "supportive businessmen and politicians".
He said Moro communities also keep the BIFM alive by giving what they could afford. This is not taxation, Mama said, but a "required charity contribution" by the communities to "fund the jihad".
"For example, if you till the soil and you harvest 10 sacks you give one sack to the mujahideens," Mama said.
Reacting to the ISIS beheading, Mama said it must have been strictly guided by Islamic principles. He said, "You cannot just cut hands and heads because you want to. It is being done as part of a judicial process. Your hands will only be cut if you steal and the beheading is only done to those who killed people as a crime."
He said for example, the BIFM had to expel one of its top leaders for the beheading of two civilians in September 2013. Mama said one of those beheaded, 31-year-old Ricarte Dionio, was a policeman — a legitimate target. But he said beheading him was inappropriate and a violation of the rules of the BIFM.
He said this caused then BIFM vice chair for political affairs, Muhammad Ali Tambako, to be expelled from the group. Mama said, "The man was a legitimate target but the beheading was unnecessary. What is worse is that the man was beheaded even if he was dead already."
Philippine troops continue to pursue Abu Sayyaf terrorists militants tagged as behind Thursday's attack that injured a total of eight soldiers in Basilan province in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Capt. Franco Suelto said soldiers tracking down Abu Sayyaf terrorists militants led by Puruji Indama, who ambushed an army truck in Ungkaya Pukan town. The attack triggered a 15-minute gun battle. There were no immediate reports of enemy casualties.
The clash occurred just a day after security forces arrested two wanted Abu Sayyaf terrorists militants – Nur Hassan and Ustadz Alih – in Zamboanga City. The two, both Basilan natives, were being investigated by the police in Zamboanga City.
Authorities did not say whether the two men were on a mission or planning to launch attacks in Zamboanga, where suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen recently kidnapped a grocery owner, Michelle Panes, in Labuan village.
Posted by: ryuge ||
08/23/2014 00:00 ||
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A 14-year-old was killed when Thai paramilitary rangers engaged in a gunfight with a gang of terrorists insurgents in Narathiwat province yesterday.
Just before 7:30 a.m., seven terrorists insurgents on four motorcycles opened fire on a security outpost. After the subsequent gunfight, the terrorists insurgents fled. The slain teenager had a pistol and was lying beside a motorcycle. Police were trying to determine his identity, after learning he was a native of Narathiwat's Muang district.
In a separate incident in Yala province, about two hours after the gunfight, a roadside bomb went off as soldiers were on a foot patrol escorting teachers. A private was slightly wounded.
h/t Gates of Vienna
As many as 140 fighters of the so- called Islamic State (IS) were killed on Thursday in an ambush by the Syrian army in the vicinity of the al-Tabaqqa airbase in northern al-Raqqa province, the pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV reported.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru ||
08/23/2014 02:32 ||
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#1
140 * 72 goats = that's a lot of goats for the islamo-cockroaches.
[BOSTON] Fighting in Syria shows no signs of letting up and a new report from the UN suggests the danger level in Syria has only intensified. It says that after three years of fighting, the corpse count stands at more than 191,000. U.N. Human Rights Spokesman Rupert Colville says the figures reflect casualty reports through April of this year.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/23/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
And most of it is the Religion of Peace killing the Religion of Peace.Islam at its basic essentials.
THREE TIMES the Vietnam war casualty rate...at least on our side.Ours were approx. 58K dead and 750K wounded spread over ten years
Moslems do it a little more grand AND they collect heads. Can you say " Allah Akbar " , boyz and gurlz?
Go on , say it.
Posted by: Big Thromoth3646 ||
08/23/2014 7:42 Comments ||
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#2
Big Thromoth3646: Can you say " Allah Akbar " , boyz and gurlz? Go on , say it.
I'm afraid they already do this in their schools BT 3446. It is supplemented with "Kill the infidels" which is anyone who isn't them or who doesn't believe what they believe.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
