Month: November 2007

Did the Soviets Do This?

When they hosted the Olympics?

Bibles banned from 2008 Olympic village

Chinese officials have announced athletes who compete in the 2008 Beijing Games will be banned from having Bibles in their Olympic village housing, and even visitors are being warned not to bring more than a single Bible with them when they come to China.

According to a report from the Catholic News Agency, Bibles will be among the list of “prohibited objects” for athletes at the Beijing housing complexes being built now for the thousands of athletes expected to participate.

“According to the Italian daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, organizers have cited ‘security reasons’ and have prohibited athletes from bearing any kind of religious symbol at Olympic facilities,” the report said.

Also banned will be video cameras and cups, the report said.

Bibles, religious symbols, and video cameras — I can understand how the Communists would feel insecure about them.

But cups?

Update: Thursday, November 15

China denounces Games “Bible ban” report

China reacted angrily on Thursday to reports in the European press that the government would ban Bibles during next year’s Beijing Olympics, saying it could not possibly be true.

Most? Seriously!

What percentage of global population lives in indigence and poverty?

So what’s with this BBC headline and story?

Most ready for ‘green sacrifices’

Most people are ready to make personal sacrifices to address climate change, according to a BBC poll of 22,000 people in 21 countries.

I dare say most people on the planet have greater matters of more pressing concern regarding daily survival. I suspect they don’t know about or even care about global warming. They have nothing to sacrifice.

Where Little Ones CryBut to those who have money to spend and fall in BBC’s “most people” category, an extremely practical and helpful suggestion for a green sacrifice:

You’re welcome.

Disclaimer: I didn’t interview and/or poll anyone in any country. I have been wrong before.

Reaching North Koreans

Though I wouldn’t endores all the tactics and philosophies employed, I’m sure this man and those he trained have done much for those whom Jesus loves: people.

(The headline “bothers” me, especially if it reflects reality.)

South Korean missionaries spread political message in the North

For years, under the leadership of Choi Kwang, a hard-driving missionary from South Korea, North Koreans seeking refuge in China were taken to apartments where they were put through a rigorous training course in Christianity that began daily at 6 a.m. and continued until 10 p.m. The trainees repeated out loud the words of an eight-hour-long tape recording of the New Testament.

Before taking breaks for meals, Choi and the North Koreans would embrace and pray: “Let’s spill Jesus’s blood in North Korea! Let’s become martyrs for North Korea!”

By 2001, when his underground proselytizing network was broken up by the Chinese police, Choi had turned about 70 North Koreans who had come to him in search of food and shelter into missionaries. At least five of them are believed to have been executed in North Korea. At least six others are thought to be in North Korean prison camps.

Launching balloon Gospel messages to North Korea

Although North Korea’s Constitution, on paper, provides for freedom of religion, in reality religious expression is tightly restricted. Schoolchildren are taught that religion is the “opium of the people” and that missionaries are “a tool of imperialism.” North Koreans who have met with missionaries have been sent to prison camps, according to human rights groups.

Major Christian groups in South Korea have raised millions of dollars to deliver food, medicine and clothing to the North and to build or renovate hospitals, schools and churches there. These groups believe that good will builds trust and helps North Korea open up, a strategy favored by President Roh Moo Hyun of South Korea.

But many politically conservative Christians in South Korea reject this approach. Instead they dispatch missionaries to northeastern China, where they evangelize among North Korean refugees. They also operate smuggling networks to smuggle North Koreans out, and spread the Gospel into the North via balloons and radio broadcasts.

“You cannot expect North Korea to change from the top,” said Yu Suk Ryul, chairman of Cornerstone Ministries International. “The best way to change North Korea from the bottom is to spread the Gospel.”

Cornerstone supports underground churches in North Korea by way of ethnic Korean-Chinese traders, who supply Christians there with “mini-Bibles” translated into a North Korean dialect, as well as financial assistance and other goods. The group says that it supports more than 1,000 underground cells in North Korea, and that the number is “growing fast,” Yu said.

Cornerstone also releases plastic bags filled with Christian messages and sweets at sea, with the intent that they wash ashore in the North.

Christmas Is Closer

We have another “hint” of Christmas when this is about our place:

Christmas tree hauling helicopter overhead

Our landlord grows Christmas trees. They’re hauled out of the fields by helicopter. The drop-off area is right out our living room window. The picture above was taken about two hours ago. The helicopter pilot is getting his bearings before starting to haul trees.

Here he comes in for his first landing here of the season:

First landing here of the season

Apparently he had to wait for the tree cutters to get enough done before he could start hauling. (That’s our back porch, our driveway, and a friend’s car.)

OK, here comes the first load!

First load of Christmas trees

That’s shot through our living room window, as is this of him coming in for his first refueling:

Coming for the first chopper refueling

And here’s a zoomed-in photo, also taken from our living room:

Hop along guys!

We’ll have some noisy days for several weeks now. But it’s very fascinating (and exciting and special) to watch.

Helicopters are so neat.

Oh, these guys are Panhandle Helicopter Inc (from Idaho). Safe flying, guys!!

Dirtier Than Most Bathrooms?!

Last evening I heard Mark and Dave (1190 KEX, Portland, OR) talking about this list:

“Kitchen sinks are dirtier than most bathrooms,” says Kelly Reynolds, PhD, an environmental microbiologist at the University of Arizona. There are typically more than 500,000 bacteria per square inch in the drain. In fact, in a recent study, half of the top 10 germiest spots in the home were (gulp!) in the kitchen. That sponge you use to clean the counter? Crawling with bacteria, as are the sink’s basin and faucet handles.

Read the article to see what to do about your kitchen sink.

And to learn the identity of the other 11 germiest places in America.

Is Your Pilot Sleeping?

These two weren’t!

A pair of commercial pilots fell asleep in the cockpit on their way to Denver in 2004 and sped toward the airport at twice the speed allowed, according to an anonymous report by the captain on a federal safety Web site.

The unnamed pilot of the “red eye” flight said he woke up to frantic calls from air traffic controllers and landed without a problem.

[…]

The pilot said his schedule had been switched to three nights in a row of flying “red eye” flights. The eight-hour Denver- Baltimore round trip returned to Denver after 6 a.m.

On his third overnight flight, the pilot and first officer were sound asleep as they approached Denver International Airport. At 60 miles out, their jet was rushing toward the crowded skies surrounding the airport at Mach .82, or 608 mph, instead of the 287-mph speed required at that point.

The pilot also reported the plane was flying at 35,000 feet, above the restriction of 19,000 feet at that particular crossing point.

“Last 45 mins of flt I fell asleep and so did the FO,” or first officer, according to a one-paragraph report on the incident found on the federal Aviation Safety Reporting System.

“Missed all calls from ATC” (air traffic control) asking why he was ignoring the standards for approaching DIA.

“I woke up, why I don’t know, and heard frantic calls from ATC. . . . I answered ATC and abided by all instructions to get down. Woke FO up.”

He spiraled the jet down to a lower altitude as ordered, then landed “with no further incidents.”

Above all, love God!