Covid-19 Confinement Thoughts

It's almost Easter and we're all confined, stuck at home and some are really scared. Great time to get back to the most important thing in the world: Jesus.

For my many friends overseas or even those who live near me but I am unable to see right now, here are a few thoughts.

Mary Did You Know?

A beautiful song that inspires our hearts to imagine what it must have been like for Mary, knowing she as carrying God's very Son. Can we even begin to imagine? The awe.

The birth of the Savior, our Jesus. Our Lord. Our King. Our Savior. Oh, the awe.

Peter Hollens rendition of "Mary Did You Know?" 

Perspective on Paris

The Paris terrorist attacks that killed at least 129 people recently were not only tragic, they were sadly inevitable. Following decades of welcoming Muslim refugees and immigrants into France, this otherwise spiritually vacant country has been a ticking bomb in the middle of Europe.

Not that other European nations don’t have a huge Muslim immigrant problem—they do—but France leads the way with an estimated 10% per capita. (It’s worth noting that France also led the way for the eighteenth century Enlightenment period when they officially booted God out. They have taught atheism in schools ever since. No wonder people hungry for spirituality flock to Islam.) 

The port city of Marseille—just an hour and a half away from Nîmes, the town I called home for twenty-two years—boasts a 40% Islamic population. One problem here is that Muslims have huge families while the French do not. (We cannot ignore the fact that while peaceful moderate Muslims do exist, there is nonetheless a huge contingent who is sent to the West as part of a plan to infiltrate.) But the problem becomes more complex in light of the fact that there are so few evangelical Christians (less than 1%). This means that although there are a few nominal Catholics in France, most people are atheists or Muslims.

As missionaries and church planters, my husband and I felt the darkness every day. Of course, we were probably seen as enemies by both atheist and Muslim neighbors because we weren’t in France to just do business per se; we were there to share the Gospel. And that upsets some people.

But from our perspective—and perhaps we were just young and naive—we saw it as an opportunity. An opportunity to share the love of Jesus with those who didn’t know Him (and many who had never even heard the Gospel ever). It was an opportunity to let people know that God sent His Son to save them because He loves them. We did this in every way we could and this included the creation of a Saturday club where kids could come and learn about Jesus. 

The Saturday club was especially effective in the local “zup” (project area) where most moms—half of whom were Muslim—were just glad someone would take their kids for the afternoon. (Remember. Muslims have many kids.) We told the moms that the club would provide fun activities including teaching Bible stories and yummy food. Maybe it was the word “food” that got them (I don’t know)—or maybe it was because people were praying for our work—but many kids were allowed to come. And they all heard the Gospel loud and clear. 

One young man, Ange, now in his mid-twenties, remembers the warmth he felt every Saturday and how much he loved learning about different Bible heroes. While France remains dark, for kids like Ange, seeds were sown and those stories are still in their hearts. 

But it wasn’t always so jolly. There were times when the stench of radical Islamic aggression was undeniable. For instance, a group of young Muslims prowled around our village with baseball bats threatening to kill some kids in our church. On the rare occasion when a Muslim would come to know Jesus, his life would be quickly threatened by friends or family, and before long he’d leave the church. One girl, Naima, came to our Bible school from Algeria where her life was in danger since her conversion. She had heard about Jesus via radio and sought refuge at our Bible School in Nîmes. Fear was just par for the course among those who turned from Islam to Christianity. 

In 1999, a week after my husband Louis testified Washington, DC before congress about religious liberty issues in France, four cars were blown up on our campus. The police never found out who blew those cars up. We don’t have a clue. But when you think of the recent attacks in Paris and the previous Charlie Hebdo attack, you can’t ignore the possibilities of terrorism. 

Don’t misunderstand me. France is a beautiful country. The people are lovely and the food is the best in the world. But France is far from living up to her motto: “liberté, égalité, fraternité” (freedom, equality, brotherhood). France has tolerated the Islamic influx to the point of losing her identity. She has accommodated refugees, rewarded them for having lots of children and is now harboring terrorists. (Don’t forget, some of the terrorists in the recent attacks were home grown.)

So what’s the answer? I have to confess that I don’t know. But here’s a good start. How about the church waking up, praying hard and rising to the call to go into all the world and preach the Gospel?  We have been called to be salt and light, to go into every nation and to make a difference. That doesn’t mean being a pc wimp. It means becoming pro-active culturally, politically, speaking up for truth, and especially making disciples for the Kingdom of God. 

This article first appeared in Assist News Service. 

Janey DeMeo M.A.

Copyright © November 2015

www.orphansfirst.org 

www.twitter.com/JaneyDeMeo

http://janey-demeo.blogspot.com

JaneyDeMeo.com

Chasing Sunsets — LA gangs, angels and baseball

Rising gang violence in American cities, a reemerging interest in angelic intervention and a love for baseball make Chasing Sunsets, the latest novel by New York Times best-selling author, Karen Kingsbury, timely.

Chasing Sunsets, the second book in Kingsbury’s new series entitled Angels Walking (Howard Books) about angels on mission to earth, takes place in Los Angeles where shootings and crime of all kinds are commonplace—and where fatherless kids find themselves mercilessly sucked into gang activity.

But LA is not just about gangs; it is also home of LA Dodgers and of Marcus Dillinger, MVP baseball player for the Dodgers. And for a season, it is also home to two specially assigned angels, Jag and Aspyn, whose complex mission includes protecting the LA baseball idol and covering Mary Catherine, a girl whose zeal for life and Jesus, grabs his heart—and whose secret struggle nearly breaks it.

Marcus Dillinger wants to use his influence and means to reach the kids on the street, and to help draw them away from gang-bangers. So do his friends, Tyler, Sami, and the lovely Mary Catherine.

Together they create a youth center, but things don’t go as smoothly as they’d hoped. They were not prepared to face such high level violence. They count not have guessed that the baseball idol would become a target for the WestKnight gang, nor expect to see an innocent child brutally shot while his single mother watched in horror. Things were worse than they had imagined but they were determined to make a difference. 

As the four friends work towards solutions—and with two angels working behind the scenes—they find themselves mentoring young girls caught up in the gang circles. But just when progress is being made—and the promise of a Christ-centered romance seems to be in the picture—Mary Catherine receives bad news and Marcus is left in limbo, clueless as to what is going on with the girl who has his heart. 

The story ends on a note of suspense with no resolve for Mary Catherine and Marcus—a writerly tactic to lure us into the next book in the series. 

Kingsbury’s characters are mostly believable although I found myself tripping on a few puzzling details: one angel transforms into a local parent but she has no children (page 33), the other angel is a policeman and “his blond hair framed his face” (page 56), which seems to be the wrong metaphor since police must wear their hair very short. Still the storyline is good.

Chasing Sunsets can be read as a standalone book, but is better enjoyed as part of a series. 

This story also appears in Assist News Service. 

Janey DeMeo M.A.

Copyright © May 2015

www.orphansfirst.org

www.JaneyDeMeo.com 

www.twitter.com/JaneyDeMeo

http://janey-demeo.blogspot.com

Harvest Crusade 2013

Harvest Crusade 2013 kicked off yesterday at Angel Stadium in Anaheim and was a huge success. Reportedly, hundreds of people gave their hearts to Christ for the first time, and others who'd already done this before, rededicated their lives. But that's not all. Harvest Crusade continues tonight -- and you can watch it in multiple locations or online. 

Read my full review of Harvest Crusade 2013 in The San Diego Christian Perspectives Examiner here. 




Janey DeMeo M.A.

Copyright © August 2013

www.orphansfirst.org
www.JaneyDeMeo.com
www.twitter.com/JaneyDeMeo

Questions of Life

Now here's a book everyone should read: Questions of Life, An Opportunity to Explore the Meaning of Life by Nicky Gumbel. Based on the renowned Alpha Courses--that have helped some 22 million people find answers to life's toughest questions--Questions of Life is an easy-read book that gets to the heart of our issues and responds biblically.

Read my full review of Questions of Life by Nicky Gumbel in The San Diego Christian Perspectives Examiner.  You'll also find the story in Assist News Service;

Janey DeMeo M.A.

Copyright © August 2013

www.orphansfirst.org

www.JaneyDeMeo.com

www.twitter.com/JaneyDeMeo

One Perfect Life, the Complete Story of the Lord Jesus

One Perfect Life, The Complete Story of the Lord Jesus by John MacArthur (published by Thomas Nelson) is a remarkable tool for anyone wanting to know more about Jesus.

One Perfect Life provides the story of Jesus based mostly on the Gospel of Matthew, but also drawn from the three other Gospels and other Bible Scriptures that paint a clear portrait of Jesus. Rather than flip through various Bible reference books to find out how the Scriptures weave together to depict Christ, MacArthur has done the work for us and laid it out in a comprehensive, easy-read manner.

Read my full review of One Perfect Life here in The Examiner. 

Outstanding features of One Perfect Life include:

• Extensive yet simple notes unpacking every verse contextually on every page.
• The seamless story of Jesus through a compilation of Scripture in an easy-read order (using the New King James Version of the Bible).
• A conglomeration of the Gospels—though mostly based on Matthew—and their connection to other Bible Scriptures pointing to Jesus.

One Perfect Life is another masterpiece of renowned pastor and Bible teacher, John MacArthur. A masterpiece designed to draw its readers into a closer relationship with the Master, Jesus.

A similar version of this story will also appear in Assist News Service.

Janey DeMeo M.A.

Copyright © April 2013

www.orphansfirst.org

www.JaneyDeMeo.com

www.twitter.com/JaneyDeMeo