SUNDAY/MONDAY

Out of the Abyss They Come     

   We're already seeing activities that will mark the Tribulation.

   In Revelation chapter 9, we read of demon worship, idol worship, murder, magic arts, sexual immorality and thefts. Does that ring any bells?

   This is the 5th and 6th trumpet calls, during the wrath of "him who sits on the throne (the Father) and from the wrath of the Lamb (Jesus)." The ungodly - great and small - will wish for death, but not find it.

   Spiritism. Violence. Lust. Pornography. It will increase.

   While God's angels have a role, He will release demons from the shaft of the Abyss, where they have been imprisoned for thousands of years. (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6.)  

   

   These are depicted to John the disciple as horrific locusts, inflicting pain on the very humans other demons have long deceived. 

   Fire. Smoke. Sulfur. A leader named Apollyon.

   Lawlessness. Occult worship. Witchcraft. Magic arts (Greek - pharmekeia) suggest drug use that befuddles the irredeemable. They will not repent.  

   While we hope America prospers in some respects, we don't look for less depravity, here or around the world. Judeo-Christianity declines; wickedness increases.

   We need to fight on - opposing lawlessness, illegal drug use, immorality, etc. - loving what God loves and hating what God hates, willing to be hated by the world.

   But the Trib is scheduled, possibly in our lifetime. Iran, Turkey, other agents and some Palestinians are hell bent on fulfilling the Word in chapter 11 - Gentiles will trample the holy city for 42 months. 

   We want to be "on the right man's side," as Martin Luther phrased it. At the appointed time, Jesus will come for his children.  

       Jimmy

   

   Ted Kaczynski's publication in the NYTimes and Washington Post led to his capture. His estranged brother recognized the language, the arguments. David loved his brother, but after a time of soul searching, went to the FBI. 

   They arrested him at his cabin in April, 1996. Inside, they found bomb-making materials, a live bomb ready for mailing, his original manuscript, and 40,000 pages of journals. 

   His demeanor in court was polite, attentive, calm - like a professor. 

Unabomber has electricity, indoor plumbing,

free food and lodging,

wide readership and respect

   The trial never began. His court-appointed lawyers wanted him to plead insanity, to avoid the death penalty. Kaczynski would not have it. 

   He preferred risking execution so he could make his case. 

   A psychiatric evaluation diagnosed him as paranoid schizophrenic. The judge denied his request to represent himself. 

   Kaczynski pleaded guilty rather than hear himself represented as insane.

   The author of Smithsonian's article thinks nobody in power wanted to hear his political message. His lawyers, prosecutors who questioned their own penalty, and the judge who didn't want his courtroom to become Kaczynski's soapbox - all avoided the outcomes they feared by allowing him to plead guilty. 

   

   Kaczynski, now 75, lives in a supermax prison in    Colorado. He writes, corresponds in longhand with      hundreds of people, and produces essays and books. 

   Most Amazon customers of Technological Slavery give it five stars. In a report for the 50th reunion of his Harvard class, he lists his occupation as "prisoner." His awards: "four life sentences." 

Smithsonian

      Jimmy

   He was a gifted mathematician. He entered Harvard on scholarship at 16, and in 1967 became the youngest assistant professor of math at Cal Berkley. Two years later, he chucked civilization, built a simple cabin in Montana, and lived without electricity or indoor plumbing. 

   He hunted, gardened and kept to himself. Then in 1978, he began sending bomb packages to people whose work enraged him.

The Una (university, airline targets) bomber was on a roll.

   Ted Kaczynski's 16 bombs killed three and injured 23. The FBI couldn't track him. In 1993 he began writing to newspapers, taunting his victims and threatening others.

   He pretended to be part of an anarchist group. Offering to cease bomb attacks, Kaczynski convinced the New York Times and Washington Post to publish his 35,000-word essay, "Industrial Society and its Future." 

   In it, he slammed the Industrial Revolution, technology, centralized control, and systems harmful to "freedom" and "wild nature." 

 

 There were people who took him seriously.

   Tomorrow: From self reliance to free food and lodging

Smithsonian magazine

Danger Under the Water     

   We don't mean sharks, which take few lives.

   This week our pool is being cleaned, and old tiles replaced. The pool had to be drained for this work.

New model cover

   Our workman handed me the old sump cover, a bit
worse for wear, suggesting I buy a new one. At the
pool-supply store, I heard the story of one of the most
horrific swimming pool accidents.

   In June 2002, Virginia Graeme Baker, age 7, granddaughter of former Secretary of State James Baker III, and her siblings went to a party held at a swimming pool and hot tub area. Graeme (pronounced Graham), had learned to swim at 3, and belonged to a swim and diving team. A "fish" in the water. 

Nancy and Graeme

   Soon after arriving, Graeme jumped into the hot tub area. Not long after, an older sister told their mother Nancy that Graeme was in trouble. 

   Nancy and then two men could not free the girl from suction until they broke the sump cover. 

   President Bush signed the VGB Pool & Spa Safety Act in 2007. That same year, there were 74 such entrapments, causing nine deaths and 63 injuries. 

   Ages 5-9 were most common. Body parts, hair, clothing and other items can lead to such tragedies. 

   Upon draining my pool, I was required to install a redesigned sump cover, though I didn't know it. Public sites had to comply beginning Dec. 19, 2008, including the addition of a second sump, at least one meter apart from the other. 

   Sumps or no, pool tragedies occur too often. Job 1 is to keep youngsters and water separated, and watch them like a hawk - or shark - when they're in it. That includes bath tubs.  

       Jimmy

April in the Bored Room      

For the slight amusement of Views readers, following are
the minutes from our Board of Directors April meeting: 

* The chairperson called the meeting to order, welcoming seven new directors, who replaced those who resigned in March.

* Secretary Typo read minutes of the March meeting, in minutes.

* New business, Mr. Broker proposed going public to meet revenue needs.

* Ms. Curious questioned the value we might expect on a share of stock at the initial offer.

* Directors concluded that a share of Views By the Sea might go as high as a penny, although one director guessed four cents. 

* Ms. Total, calculator in hand, stated that we would need 1,330 shareholders at one cent per share just to break even on our average monthly expense, and another new 1,330 shareholders every month. A groan went through the room.

* Mr. Adman said either we invest in advertising, or Mr. Donut needs to jazz up his writing. Silence went through the room.

* Three more directors resigned.

* Mr. Donut moved that the meeting adjourn. 

News Flash!     

   Earth ... is on the Decline   

   If you think Sunday's Earth Day resolutions will keep our planet habitable, maybe we can worry you with hot news from Earth's liquid outer core:
  

   Earth's magnetic field is weakening!

   Yes, time is coming when electrical grids will fail, navigational systems and satellites will go crazy, and compasses will no long direct Boy Scouts safely back to their pup tents. Furthermore, solar radiation will be worse. Hello, skin cancer.

   

   Residual currents - which sustain the magnetic field, formed when God created Earth - are dying. 

   Natural movement of hot, liquid iron in Earth's outer core generates the magnetic field we've come to depend on. But interaction with the cooler, more solid mantel disrupts the flow of iron, which itself is cooling.

   It's okay. We don't understand it either.

   The weakest region stretches from Chile to Zimbabwe, 1,800 miles beneath Southern Africa. Take their word for it.

   A modern pole reversal, which they say happened 800,000 years ago, is what we need to fear. 

   Does that mean north becomes south and vice versa? Think of all the Civil War history that would need to be rewritten, probably on the walls of prehistoric caves.

       Jimmy

Fixing Facebook?      

   U.S. House and Senate committees grilled Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, as we
discussed a few days ago. Do you find it curious that 
Congress always sits higher than the people they grill?

   They frowned and pondered, looking down at the billionaire in their corral. Surely, overdue regulations are coming for the designated evil person of the week, whose net worth increased by $3 billion while he sat taking their shots.

   We don't know if Mark is sinner or saint. But you can bet Congress will straighten out Facebook. Their track record speaks for itself.

   They regulate the IRS, which spends three times as much collecting wayward taxes as the revenue they recover. And they can't quite prevent scammers from stealing Social Security numbers and filing bogus returns.

   They regulate the Office of Personnel Management, from which cyber attackers stole personnel data from millions of employees and contractors. Yours truly is one of the potential "victims" receiving such notice from the government in 2015, as I was investigated for security clearance twice in the 1990's. 

   They regulate the Dept. of Defense, which can't account for billions in expenditures.

   They authorize spending that now accounts for $20 trillion in debt.

   They hold sway over the Justice Department/FBI, which so fears Congress that...

   Wait a minute. Our theory is unraveling here.

   Never mind.

        Jimmy 

Literacy: How's It Going?      

   Along with her wit, Barbara Bush was known for her efforts to increase literacy, which she did. 
   
   Now, here's a test: The term Final Solution refers to:
a)  Final episode of Survivor 
b)  The president's end game for budget deficits
c)  Opponents' strategy to convince Tom Brady to retire
d)  Hitler's plan to exterminate Jewish people

   Most younger Americans would not guess d. Ignorance wins; literacy loses.

   Senior citizens know that Heir Hitler and his followers began with persecution and ended with concentration camps. German civilians either approved, or didn't know, or were afraid to speak up. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is still good reading for anyone wanting to catch up.

   Younger people, and it gets worse with millennials, aren't well nourished with history. Is it school curriculum, or what? 

   Almost half of Americans, and two-thirds of millennials surveyed, cannot name one Nazi death camp. Many guess the Jewish death toll at around 2 million. It was 6 million Jews, plus several million others who displeased the Fuhrer...one of the worst acts of genocide in human history.

   Many assume Hitler took power by force. No, Germans elected him, and many otherwise bright scientists, business leaders and military chiefs did his bidding. Germans were first with fighter jets, and tried splitting the atom before we did.

   What does it matter, today? History can and does repeat itself. National movements exist in Europe. Holocausts have occurred in Darfur, Rwanda, Sudan and Bosnia. Twenty three percent of former Marines surveyed said they would have killed Americans if their officers so ordered.

   There's a young generation sold on Bernie Sanders' socialism, not history. If a developed nation like Germany can fall to a monster - an Austrian immigrant at that - why can't it happen here? Where did Germany's Communist educators go when they fled the Nazis? 

Survey results - from a column by Daniel Ruth

      Jimmy

Goodbye Mrs. Barbara Bush    
   ...who once told Wellesley College graduates, "At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend or a parent." 

Goodbye Raul Castro 
   Too bad you're still head of the Cuban Communist Party, so we're not sure life will be much better for ordinary Cubans. 

Goodbye Numerous U.S. Tax Forms    
   R.I.P. And may you never be resurrected. 

Goodbye Southwest's Perfect Safety Record
   A fatality occurred at 32,000 feet when a turbine blade apparently broke loose, scattering engine shrapnel and breaking one of the cabin windows. Jennifer Riordan, a bank executive and mother of two, was partly pulled out of the 737's decompressed cabin, suffering injuries leading to her death. 

   Pilot Tammie Jo Shults, one of the first women to fly the F/A-18 Hornet in the U.S. Navy, performed a rapid descent and landed safely on one engine in Philadelphia.

Goodbye Electric Power  
   Suffering Puerto Ricans, many without power following Hurricane Maria, are blacked out again, after an excavator cut a transmission line. Those whose electricity had been restored since the storm may have service before the weekend.   

Goodbye for Today 
      
      Jimmy



   

The Eggcellent Egg        

   Next time you crack an egg, show it a little more respect.

    Researchers at McGill Univ. in Montreal have discovered how "remarkably designed" is the chicken egg. They note, "Eggshells are difficult to study because they easily break when we try to make a thin slice for imaging." 

   They call the egg an "almost perfect chamber" that contains all the nutrients a chick requires. 

   An eggshell needs strength during incubation, yet it becomes soft enough for the chick to peck through. In the study, reported in Science Advances, researchers found that eggshells contain three different layers which change during incubation. 

   The shell is hardest when the hen first lays the egg. Later, calcium in the inner layer begins to dissolve, making the mineral available to form bones in the chick. This also weakens the shell.

   Imitating the way God designed the eggshell, researchers found they could produce a similar nanostructure by adding a protein to mineral crystals. They hope that engineers will "design new, synthetic nanocomposite materials with novel properties." 

   Once again, evidence shows how God protects and provides for his creatures.

   Peep! Peep!

        Jimmy

They Give, and They Take Away   

   Somebody can date you by the device you first used to play music.

   My first purchases were 78 rpm records, encased in attractive envelops. Then came 45s.

   When records gave way to cassettes, we junked our players, but held on to the records themselves, for sentimental reasons.

   Lesson learned. When cassettes gave way to compact discs, we weren't caught off guard. We had bought a machine with a CD player, radio, two casssette players (for making copies), two speakers and enough buttons to challenge an astronaut. Just kidding. 

   The CD player doesn't cooperate anymore, and the 24-inch-wide contraption sits in the garage, collecting dust. Last year we bought a CD player, unaware that CDs also may be on the way out.

   Say it ain't so! 

   We have band music, Christian music, a little classical, and numerous old sermons. For some reason, going back to high school, we never got excited about contemporary music, although Elvis' gospel songs are never out of date.

   Best Buy will stop selling CDs this summer, and Target will scale back. Some autos no longer have CD players, and most laptops don't come with a disc drive either. Good thing our 2016 car accommodates CDs, or we might have to trade it in on an older model.   

   Song streams, not physical album sales, are in, accounting for about 50 percent of the music market. 

   Records warped. Tapes unraveled. CDs skip. But streaming isn't perfect either. 

   Maybe CD collectors and others who prefer tangible music over intangible streaming will march in the streets. Maybe Best Buy doesn't know everything. 

   Let's pause, stop and rewind the trend. And go Elvis! 

       Jimmy

   

Core of the Problem    
                 
   Or, the problem of the core. 

   Is this artwork a correct depiction of Earth's inner core - on fire with molten iron?
 
   According to Earth and Planetary Science Letters, it was thought to be, but now it isn't. 

   We read an eight-paragraph article in WORLD magazine-online about eight times, and we're still not sure what we were reading. Here's what we think we learned: 

   Naturalistic scientists believe a planet like Earth would form as a large ball of hot liquid iron and spontaneously begin to cool and solidify, beginning with the shell, or crust. But Case Western Reserve Univ. (in Cleveland) planetary scientists now say spontaneous solidification as theorized is impossible. 

   To arrive at the solid core that Earth has, crystallization of molten metal would require cooling at about 10 times the rate Earth is thought to be cooling. 

   With us so far? For naturalists, Earth's solid core shouldn't exist. But, Earth did not form as a ball of fire.

   In Genesis, water covered Earth before dry land appeared. Rocks had to lift up (forced up?) from the waters, implying that at some point, God formed the solid internals of Earth. 

   The solid core is also important to our magnetic field, which acts as a shield of protection from the sun's radiation. Molten material is nearer the surface, hence, volcanoes. 

   By the way, there is no natural reason water should exist. 

   Any questions?     Jimmy

 

          
Faith With Courage


   Leah Sharibu, 15, refused to renounce her Christian faith in exchange for her freedom. The 110 other girls kidnapped by Boko Haram agreed to convert to Islam and were freed. Leah remains captive in Nigeria. 

   Officer Arnaud Beltrame, a Catholic, volunteered to take the place of a female hostage in France, and paid with his life. 

   John Paton, former missionary to cannibals in the former New Hebrides, South Pacific, suffered and endured for the sake of the gospel. These pagans thought nothing of killing their baby girls and widowed mothers. 

   Missionaries to North Korea include Chinese of Korean ancestry, and North Koreans who had escaped, then agreed to return home, risking their lives for Christ. 

      Jimmy

Beware! We May Be Unsafe    
 

Zuckerberg

   Our "partner" in this blogging business, Mark Zuckerberg, is being grilled by U.S. senators who may not know any more about technology than we do. However, they understand matters of privacy and nefarious hijackings of information that users post on Facebook.

   When we have stuff the world needs to know before it cracks up, we rely on Facebook to expand our readership. 

   Zuckerberg volunteered that Silicon Valley is "extremely left-leaning" politically. So, it's not surprising last week that lady commentators, Diamond & Silk, were labelled "unsafe" and booted off the site. 

   As a mobile, email and internet user, we're aware that we depend on politically "progressive" tech companies. We - and you - play on their turf.

   If Facebook can block not only terrorists but trending conservative voices, Views might be next on the outs. Our 30 or so followers are a threat to Utopia. 

   If, some day, you can't find us on Facebook, it may be that our unsafe words got deleted by a frightened censor, who might be terrorized by...
 

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

For God so loved the world He gave his only begotten Son.

Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords.

   It's okay. We don't pay a penny to benefit from Facebook. Neither do the senators.  

      Jimmy

   

The Judge Will Come     

   Part 2 of 2   

Peterson

We pick up Ms. Peterson's address to the hospital board, reciting

how a D.A. in the Kermit Gosnell trial tried to make him a

monster without making all abortionists look like monsters. 
After listing the "differences," she continued:

    He had to make those differences seem like very big differences. But arguing like that seems to me like arguing about the silverware on the Titanic. In the end they all come out dead. 

   In the Old Testament, a city in Israel is under siege and people are starving, and the king comes upon two women and asked what they are arguing about. What they are arguing about is whose turn it is to cook and eat their babies. The king tears his robes and dons sackcloth and ashes.

   Or, as Mercutio said just before dying, to the warring Montagues and Capulets, 
"A pox on both your houses." (Romeo and Juliet)

   This is a familiar dance we're doing tonight - this charade where pro-lifers come here once a year and plead, and where you grin and bear it. But this won't go on forever. There are a finite number of these get-togethers, and every time you hear the facts it increases your culpability. 

   Then the Judge will come, and where will you be then, having forged your chain link by link, like Ebenezer's partner Marley? (A Christmas Carol)

   Today, while you have today, be courageous. Whatever you fear to lose from changing your policy - money, prestige - is rubbish. Take the adventure. As Jesus said, "The truth will set you free." 

   

Speaking to the Deaf      

  Part 1 of 2  

Peterson

This January, columnist Andree Seu Peterson was among pro-life people who spoke for five minutes before the board of a hospital that performs abortions. Knowing the directors would be tone deaf to her remarks, she proceeded:
    
   Thank you for the opportunity to address the board of this hospital. Five years ago my magazine (WORLD) assigned me to the Kermit Gosnell trial in Philadelphia. 

   Everybody wanted Gosnell found guilty. The pro-lifers...because he killed babies for a living. The pro-abortion crowd...because a lot would come out about abortion, and it would look uncomfortably similar to what had occurred at (Gosnell's facility). 

   The prosecution's first witness was an obstetrician from this hospital who does abortions. She was supposed to make Gosnell look bad. She was supposed to show the way a proper abortion is done. We learned interesting things from her - such as the right way to measure a baby's head before aborting so that we don't violate the 24-week Pennsylvania law; such as having a good autoclave for sterilizing scissors used to cut up the baby's hands and feet in order to get them out of the mother. 

   The D.A. had a tough row to hoe. He had to portray Gosnell as a "monster" without making all abortionists look like monsters. He did that by emphasizing the safety of hospital abortions for the mother. He did it by emphasizing the cleanliness of this hospital's surgery units versus what he repeatedly called Gosnell's "house of horrors" clinic. 

   He did it by contending that it was cruel to snip the aborted baby's spinal cord to hasten death (Gosnell's method) but that it was compassionate to place the still-breathing baby under a blanket till it expires (this hospital's method). 

Conclusion tomorrow

    

What's Happening Today in Sports?    
   

   Daytona 500?  No.

   World Series?  No.

   Super Bowl?    No.

   Final Four?      No.

   The Masters     

           

A place like no other 

Come On, Judge!    

   Another reason to let California secede. A Los Angeles judge has ruled that in California, coffee must carry a warning label, something like:

      COFFEE HAS CHEMICALS LISTED AS 
      CAUSING CANCER AND BIRTH DEFECTS
   
   The warning relates to acrylamide, a chemical produced when coffee beans are roasted. And yes, it causes cancer in rodents...i.e., when they receive doses 1,000 to 10,000 times what people might be exposed to.

   Whew!

   The last thing we do before retiring is prepare the coffee maker, and the first thing we do in the morning is punch it on.

   Mrs. Donut starts her day: "When I smell coffee, I'll get up." 

   Actually, the judge may do more harm in his state than acrylamide. Drinking coffee can reduce our risk of developing common cancers and heart disease. Yea!

   A British review of more than 200 studies found that drinking three or four cups a day "is associated with health benefits across a range of diseases," including cardiovascular disease and stroke. We'll drink to that.  

   We hope the judge, for his own sake, doesn't take his warning seriously.

       Jimmy 



   


   

Insect Amazes Engineers           

   There are termites, cockroaches, grasshoppers, and mayflys. Then there is the earwig.

   We've never heard of this little nuisance, but mechanical engineers say its folding wings are superior to anything made by humans. 
 

earwig

   The earwig's elastic wing folds are flexible and self-folding. They lock into specific shapes, allowing the wings to extend and also rotate. 

   You can appreciate the earwig if you've ever tried to repack a tent or refold a map. Its wings have more folds than any other organism. 

   They expand to 10 times larger, allowing the insect to fly with stability, yet retract into a compact formation that allows the bug to tunnel underground. 

   Scientists envision artificial structures that mimic the insect's design. In Science magazine, they write of foldable electronics, solar sails for satellites or space probes that are unfurled after transportation.

   You can believe the earwig is a product of evolution if you want to. Not me.

       Jimmy

Can We Love God and the World Too?   

   We can love the earth, but the "world" as used in the Bible doesn't include created nature. Commentators in our primary Bible say:

   "In this age, Satan uses the world's - psychology   desires  

      ideas   morality    philosophies    governments    mass media    religions   

   

    sports   agriculture   etc.  - to oppose God, his people, his Word and his 

righteous standards." What is meant for good can also be hijacked.

   Behind all human enterprises is a spirit that moves against God and his Word. The "world" also includes man-made religious systems and unbiblical "Christian" organizations and churches. 

   In this world, true Christians are aliens and strangers who come out of it, do not love it, die to it, and are not conformed to it. Numerous scriptures support these truths.

   Believers condemn sin, are light and salt to those walking in the system, love them, and attempt to win them to Christ. The price may be persecution and suffering.

Do not love the world or anything in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust 

of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - 

comes not from the Father but from the world.

1 John 2:15-16

March Madness in the Bored Room   

   For the amusement of Views By the Sea readers, following are the minutes of our Board of Directors meeting in March.

   The chairman called the meeting to odor.

   Secretary Typo read minutes of the February meeting. No agenda or journalistic improvements reported. 

   Mr. Writeless motioned that we allow the TV while we meet, as the NCAA basketball tournament was on. Motion carried.

   Mr. Stats gave a financial report:
      Expenses                        Income 
      Ink cartridge    $28.92
      Source info        26.10
      Electricity            2.55
      Note paper            .77      $  0.00 
               Total       $58.34      $  0.00

   Ms. Wordless proposed cutbacks in the frequency of blogs, from seven per week to one, to save on expense. Mr. Donut objected. Motion tabled.

   Mr. Writeless announced that Michigan leads Florida State by a point at halftime. 

   Ms. Participle dangled the idea of leaving politics out of Views. Several board members argued that political bias improves reader attention spans. No compromise was reached.

   Mr. Audience asked for an update on readership. Mr. Stats reported 105 page views over the past seven days, by readers using devices in the U.S., and one each in Canada, United Kingdom and Washington, DC. 

   Ms. Domain asked for a report on traffic sources. Mr. Stats reported 90 percent of our blogs were seen on Facebook, 8 percent via jxdonut.blogspot.com, and 2 percent apparently were Russian hackers. 

   Mr. Pagebreak moved that the meeting adjourn.

   Mr. Writeless objected, noting that Michigan was ahead by three points with 40 seconds still to play. 

An American Puzzle

1. America is capitalist and greedy - yet half the population is subsidized.

2. Half the population is subsidized - yet they think they are victims.

3. They think they are victims - yet their representatives run the government.

4. Their representatives run the government - yet the poor stay poor.

5. The poor stay poor - yet they have things that people in other countries only dream about.

6. They have things that people in other countries only dream about - yet they want America to be more like those other countries.

Forwarded by a friend

   Finally, we turn to Mindy Belz, WORLD magazine, to close out our series with her column, The absence of presence. 
   
   "Presence," she writes, from the Hebrew penae or peneme, means "face."

 Our Pursuit of His Presence 

   In the Old Testament, God's presence appeared in the wilderness Tabernacle and the Jerusalem Temple. In the New Testament, we have the physical presence of Jesus Christ, followed by the indwelling Holy Spirit. 

   Middle Eastern churches backed off evangelism, a practice outlawed in most Muslim countries. With God's presence absent, churches withered.

   Now, with refugees by the millions, small churches in Lebanon and Jordan are bursting with attendees. Even Muslims are coming, as Christians serve food, make home visits, open schools, counseling centers and small business ventures.

   In America, churches experience hostility, being walled off from a lost and hurting world. We don't have a large presence among refugees, Muslims, violent actors, drug dealers and the homeless.  

   Our world is in need of transformed lives. It needs happy gospel-bearers entering dark places and dark lives.

   Christ followers become the face, or presence, of God. As Paul wrote, You yourselves are our letter...written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. (2 Cor. 3:2).

   Evangelism can begin with presence, as Mindy Belz's Middle Eastern friends have learned, with churches coming together despite differences. 

   Moving toward the hurting, despite hostilities, tapping into deeper needs, the work will be overwhelming, she says. 

   And there the face of God will be.