One of the reasons I find prison ministry rewarding is because most inmates who come to chapel regularly are well versed in the Bible. With plenty of time to study it, they already have. So even though they may not be familiar with the documentary theory of the Pentateuch, second or third Isaiah, the synoptic problem, redactions, etc. they know what it's pages say because they've been reading them. And more than a few share my own keen interest in current events as fulfillment of Biblical prophecies. Several may even read this column now that it's posted weekly on the chapel bulletin board. They call me "the heavenly Hebrew," so Sunday I talked about the rift in Abraham's family that was caused by Sarai's plan to let her handmaid, Hagar, provide the heir Abram needed for his line to continue. It was a common practice (according to the Jerusalem Bible) in ancient Sumerian culture of 2000 BC, for the female slave to acknowledge her offspring from her master as belonging to his wife, her mistress. But when Hagar conceived, she showed no such agreement. Instead she looked with disdain upon Sarai, who was still barren. Being an Egyptian may have caused her to be haughty, since that was a mighty empire. So Sarai wondered if her husband would side with the newly expectant mother. She had doubted whether the LORD could even allow her to have a son, because of her old age. And now she also wondered if her husband would stick by her. But he sure did, letting Hagar become the outcast, who was allowed to stay only until Sarah's miraculous son Isaac was eight days old. By then, teenager Ishmael had gained the same attitude as his mother, Hagar. So Sarah evicted them both as they were to become ancestors of the Arabs. Yet because Abraham had prayed even for his illegitimate son, the LORD promised a great destiny to Ishmael's descendants. And by the eleventh century AD, they formed a major Islamic civilization from which we gained our numbers and maybe our alphabet. Thus we see the origin of Jewish(Isaac) and Arab(Ishmael) rivalry, Biblically speaking. Of the latter, GOD said that Ishmael's hand would be against everyone (Jews and Christians) and he wouldn't even get along with his brethren (fellow Arabs). Islam, the Arab religion, has laid heavy stress on brotherhood and submission to Allah as a corrective. Yet the so called Arab League of 22 nations depicts that quality even now, with the only factor uniting them as a loathing for Israel. That offer from the Beirut Conference in Lebanon last month to accept Israel's existence in return for a division of the land with Palestinian Arabs was a very unlikely prospect. They couldn't deliver if Israel had accepted because their hatred for Israel runs too deep, in my opinion. And now our secretary-of-state Powell is sent into an impossible Mideast situation. Like v.p. Cheney before him, Powell's getting thrown to the wolves (politically so to speak). Yet all the inmates at LARC certainly don't agree with my assessments. Sunday marked six months of this war and I saw the conflict as an outward sign of the spiritual warfare begun in the New Testament, where it states that "we wrestle not with flesh and blood" (Eph.6) Conversely, one inmate maintained that this whole struggle with terrorism is the creation of American giant corporations bent on making more money from it. He claimed that they will stack up huge profits while the administration spends even our social security trust funds for increased armaments. "A trillion has already been taken out" he claimed. When I asked where that information came from, he said "the Wall Street Journal." Since I don't read it, I couldn't refute what he said. And I have to realize that some of those guys really use the prison library trying to stay informed. There's always a time for prayer requests, so I said "for the peace of Jerusalem" as Ps.122 enjoins. Everyone said "Amen" and one said "That she lives up to her name." I agreed, for Jerusalem means "city of shalom(peace)." Then I thought of how only King Jesus can bring such a miracle to earth. Ps.122:6-8 is showing that we need to pray for the Savior's soon return (if only the pope had so stated Sunday's call for prayer, but I never hear Catholics mention the parousia). I even spoke to the inmates of that stand-off in Bethlehem where those 200 gunmen are holding out inside the church of Nativity, which stands right over His place of birth. Have visited it twice myself; and learned that Muslims, Christians and Jews all agree on the location. If only agreement could go further, to where "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!" Truly it will, when He comes again and Jews recognize their own Messiah, while Muslims behold the last Mahdi they've long expected as Christ. Monte is an inmate at LARC who is also a gifted musician. He's always very joyful when he plays for our singing; and he testifies about Christ's return when he says "I'll either die or fly." That means to be raised from death if it's after his lifetime, or caught up (raptured) if he's still living. So he can't loose either way, and lives joyful in the Lord even while doing time in prison.
A Discovery spaceshuttle is to arrive Wed. at the International Space Station with seven more astronauts aboard. Maybe we'll get a colony started up there soon. Wonder if they could throw out paper airplanes the way our Mar.24th Oklahoma launch from the Burns Flat spaceport did from over 95,000 feet above El Reno. Some of the 550 were made in Pauls Valley and about 100 were returned by April Fool' Day, with more being found as days come and go; some perhaps from clear across in Europe. Christ's shalom/salaam
As I watch reports of the scandle in Roman Catholacism that seems to be spreading from Boston across our nation where 62 million are members, I wonder if it will become world wide. One spokesperson said that cardinals around pope John Paul II were probably trying to shield him from learning of it because of his frail health. It made me recall how the CEO of Enron claimed to have been unaware of the sorry state of affairs preceeding it's collapse. Hard to believe that such social entities coubld function like that. God forid that prsident Bush should ever be so ill informed. The value of an open society is that it precludes such operations, though the Catholic system was seen as off limits for public exposure. Now it's all out in the open and too late to make amends. Cardinal Law has to go, as I see it.