Our firstborn - our
daughter - was only a few days old when I first called her
"Princess." She's been my prin-cess ever since.
I cannot imagine the agony of having her snatched from her
school and taken who knows where. That's the ordeal hundreds of Nigerian
parents are going through today. Some 300 of their daughters were kidnapped
from their school by terrorists.[1]
The kidnappers are threatening to sell those girls. For
something like $12. Some daddy's princess...some mother's treasure - sold like
cattle. Demonstrations demanding action have spread far beyond Nigeria. One national
newscast said, "This has touched a nerve in women around the world.
"What a nightmare. Your daughter stolen and taken to a very bad place.
It's the kind of nightmare I've shared with too many families. After
years of working with young people, my wife and I have grieved over many stolen
daughters. Not our own. But girls who - though they might still be there
physically - had been taken away to a bad place. Morally. Emotionally. Spiritually.
We've been there when a girl not yet a woman finds out she's going to be a
mother. When a parent weeps over their daughter's life-scarring choices. When a
parent has no idea where their daughter disappeared to. When a mom or dad waits
as doctors fight to save their girl who's overdosed.
Through it all, we've seen four ways we can lose our daughters.
1. Missing dads: Missing
physically. Missing emotionally. Leaving a girl unsure of her father's love.
With a gaping daddy deficit. Which she will try to fill - often by looking for
love in all the wrong places. Often getting lost.
2. Misguided moms: Who
let their little girls become "teenagers" long before they're ready.
Break out the makeup, the clothes, the styles of high school when she hasn't
even finished elementary school. Psychologist Neil Postman called it "the
disappearance of chlldhood." So many years ahead to be grown-up. Can't we
let them have those few short years of being a child?
If they act like they're 14 when they're ten, they'll be acting like they're 20
when they're 14. And often going to a very bad place.
3. Selfish boys: Who
know the words "I love you," but who really mean, "I'll use
you." Their hormones are in charge, and they're takers not givers. If
we've let our daughters buy the lie that a guy gives them worth, they'll do
almost anything to get and keep one. Giving what they cannot get back - only to
end up used, not loved.
4. Unchallenged lies:
Like, "it's all about how you look." And Hollywood tells her what
that look is. Leaving most girls looking in the mirror and seeing someone they
think is "fat" or "ugly." And not worth much. Desperate to
please anyone who gives her a little attention. And easily lost.
Join the Conversation I've always thought an inventor knows best
about what he's made. And our Inventor says, "Don't be concerned about the
outward beauty...you should clothe yourselves with the beauty that comes from
within, the unfading beauty..." (1 Peter 3:3-4 - The Bible).
No one on earth gives a girl her worth. And no one on earth can
take it away. She is, in the Inventor's words, "God's workmanship"
(Ephesians 2:10). Every daughter is a princess. Making sure she knows that
is the best way to keep her safe.
Boko
Haram and the Kidnapped Schoolgirls
The Nigerian terror group reflects the general
Islamist hatred of women's rights. When will the West wake up? By Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Since the
kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls in Nigeria in April 2014, the meaning of Boko
Haram—the name used by the terrorist group that seized the girls—has become
more widely known. The translation from the Hausa language is usually given in
English-language media as "Western Education Is Forbidden," though
"Non-Muslim Teaching Is Forbidden" might be more accurate.
But little
attention has been paid to the group's formal Arabic name: Jam'at Ahl as-Sunnah
lid-da'wa wal-Jihad. That roughly translates as "The Fellowship of the
People of the Tradition for Preaching and Holy War." That's a lot less
catchy than Boko Haram but significantly more revealing about the group and its
mission. Far from being an aberration among Islamist terror groups, as some observers
suggest, Boko Haram in its goals and methods is in fact all too representative.
The
kidnapping of the schoolgirls throws into bold relief a central part of what
the jihadists are about: the oppression of women. Boko Haram sincerely believes
that girls are better off enslaved than educated. The terrorists' mission is no
different from that of the Taliban assassin who shot and nearly killed
15-year-old Pakistani Malala Yousafzai—as she rode a school bus home in
2012—because she advocated girls' education. As I know from experience, nothing
is more anathema to the jihadists than equal and educated women.
Israeli Inventions That Could Save Your Life: The
First Care Emergency Bandage, invented by an Israeli military medic, is
credited for saving the life of US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in a 2011
shooting. Jerusalem-based Mobileye technology for identifying and alerting to
driving hazards is being built into virtually every new vehicle in the world.
SensAheart, by the Israeli diagnostic technology company Novamed, can be used
at home and in the hospital to detect a heart attack coming on. The Agilite
Instant Harness, the world's smallest Class II rappelling harness, saved the
lives of South African miners trapped underground in 2013. Israel’s Babysense
breathing monitor has helped protect more than 600,000 babies from crib death.
When the iMayDay iPhone app senses that your car has been in a collision, it
sets off an alarm and emails five pre-determined addresses (or generates up to
50 SMS messages) to inform emergency workers and/or loved ones about the
accident. PerSys Medical's Blizzard Survival jacket was pivotal last March in
the rescue of a mother and son by the Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team in Wales.
(Israel21c) "Israel
will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit." Isaiah 27:6
Palestinian TV Show Encourages Chil-dren To Kill
Jews: Just days after its
much-vaunted reconciliation pact with Mahmoud Abbas' PLO, Hamas' official TV
channel aired a children's program in which viewers were encouraged to
"kill the Jews." During the show, called "Pioneers
of Tomorrow," young children are interviewed by a young presenter and
her "bumblebee" co-host and encouraged to carry out a variety of
violent attacks. At one point, a young girl says she wants to be a policewoman
when she grows up. "What do the police do?" asks the host. "They
catch thieves and troublemakers," her co-host answers. "And they
shoot Jews, right?" she responds. "Yes," the young interviewee
smiles to her interviewer's obvious delight, "I will shoot all the
Jews!" The clip, translated by the Middle East Research Institute (MEMRI)
is just the latest of countless instances of incitement to genocide and
terrorism in both Hamas and Palestinian Authority-run media. (Arutz-7) Only
the truth that sets men free is strong enough destroy the lies and hatred being
perpetrated among Palestinian children about Israel, also Christians.
Humiliate Christians
Until They Convert: A British Islamist
leader has outlined how under an "Islamic State" Christians and other
non-Muslims would be systematically humiliated and persecuted. Abu Walid, an
Islamist affiliated with the hardline Salafi stream, cited sources in the
hadith (Islamic teachings based on the words of Mohammed's companions) which detailed
how the "People of the Book" - referring to Jews and Christians -
were to be treated as second-class citizens, or dhimmis, if they chose not to
convert to Islam. Those measures include, among other things: being forced to
walk on the narrower side of the street to Muslims, shaving their foreheads,
wearing red belts around their necks, and only being allowed to travel sideways
on donkeys. The aim is to bully them into accepting Islam. The sermon footage
was recently published by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
While the ideas expressed in the sermon might sound frankly bizarre, they were
in the past implemented in the aftermath of the Islamic conquests of the Middle
East, Africa and other regions. Those non-Muslims who were not "People of
the Book" were usually given a much simpler choice: convert or die. Even
today, Salafi Islamists - including al Qaeda-linked groups - often impose variations
of the humiliating dhimmi status on non-Muslims under their control. In the
northern Syrian town of Raqqa, for example, the few Christians who remain have
been allowed to retain their non-Muslim faith only under condition of accepting
second-class citizenship and the payment of the jizya tax. And following the
ouster of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Morsi last summer,
Islamist extremists took control of several towns with large Coptic Christian
communities, systematically abusing and humiliating them until being driven out
by the military. In the most recent high-profile attack against Christians,
Islamist terrorists kidnapped nearly 300 Christian girls in Nigeria - and then
released a video mocking their relatives and threatening to sell them into
slavery. (Israel National News)
IDF General Defends
Messianic Jewish Cadet: A cadet in the IDF
Officer's Training School has been thrown out of the program for refusing to
participate in a lecture about Messianic Jews. The cadet was removed from the
course after refusing to listen to a talk from a fellow Messianic Jewish
trainee on the New Testament and his faith in the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua.
Cadets in the elite officer's training school learn to lecture on a topics of interest
for their training officers and fellow trainees. The bold decision taken by
General Avi Gil Commander of the IDF Officer's Training School reflects a new
chapter in respect for Messianic Jews and Messianic Jewish faith in Israel. In
a statement from the cadet's trial, General Gil said, "the cadet acted in
a way that is in absolute opposition to the character and conventions of the
IDF. There is no place in the IDF for officers holding extreme positions. A
cadet cannot negate another's religious beliefs and refuses to listen to
them." (Israel Today/David Lazurus)
Source for this page:
JNN, PO Box 7411,
Jerusalem 91073, Israel