Baltic States Difficult to Defend, China Massing Troops on Border with Vietnam, What is Wrong at My Church, Things Won't Find in a Godly Marriage, Sudanese Christian Sentenced to Die and a Promise to Beth Are This Week's Websightings


Hard for NATO to defend Baltic states from Russia: Spiegel

From the article: 

NATO would struggle to defend the Baltic states from any Russian aggression "with conventional means"

Russia is capable of building up a local or regional military threat at short notice and at an arbitrary spot, the draft document continued.

However, Europe at the end of the Cold War had concluded that "it could reduce its capabilities for fighting conventional, large scale and high intensity conflicts in Europe."
POSTED BY CHANKAIYEE2 ⋅ MAY 18, 2014


From the article:

A large number of People’s Liberation Armytroops have reportedly been spotted heading towards the China-Vietnam border as tensions between the two countries continue to escalate,

Thousands of Chinese nationals living or on business in Vietnam have already fled the country amid anti-China riots, which were sparked by a tense standoff between Chinese and Vietnamese naval ships near a Chinese oil rig in disputed waters off the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on May 4.

The Chinese foreign ministry confirmed Friday that at least two Chinese nationals have been killed and nearly a hundred were injured during violent protests last week that saw dozens of Chinese, Taiwanese and Hong Kong factories set on fire. The UK’s Guardian claims as many as 21 people have died.

Chinese netizens reported seeing an “endless stream” of PLA soldiers in full combat gear at Chongzuo train station, apparently on their way to the 97-kilometre China-Vietnam border at Pingxiang city

Pingxiang was where the Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979 began, and locals are reportedly preparing to evacuate the area out of fears of an imminent military conflict.


Exposing What is Wrong at My Church
From the blog post: 

No one said: “I need to change. I need to be in the Word. I need to leave early to get here on time. I need to get to bed at a reasonable hour so I am not tired. I need to greet people with a smile. I need to listen to good things on the radio on my drive here. I need to stop fighting with my spouse and children all the way to church. I need to drive slower. I need to come into the church building every week smashing my worldly idols behind me. ”



Beacon2Light: Proof perhaps that I was right that the Boko Haram leader had signed his own death warrant with the act of abducting the 200+ schoolgirls and saying what he was going to do with them (not to mention the potential end of the Boko Haram as a force to be reckoned with in that part of Nigeria). 

10 Things You Won’t Find In A Godly Marriage



Christian in Sudan sentenced to death for faith; 'I'm just praying,' husband says

Beacon2Light: various reports indicate that she was raised a Christian but has a Muslim father that abandoned her and her mother when she was 6. Since she married a Christian man, she is considered apostate. In prison with her is her toddler child and the one in her womb. Reportedly, they won't carry out the death sentence until the baby within her is 2 years old.

Christians in Egypt expect death at any time

“Leaders in the mosques were telling Muslims to attack Christ
ians and kill them,” says Boutrous, a Christian from Delga, Egypt referring to a rampage of radical Muslims in August 2013.

Boutrous and his father were in their family barber shop when a mob of Muslims attacked them.

“They broke into the shop, took everything, and burned the place down,” says Boutrous.

Boutrous was able to escape the mob, but his father was caught.

“They caught my father and shot him multiple times. Then they dragged his body to the mosque,” Boutrous said.

While all of this was going, someone in the crowd with a cell phone recorded a video of Boutrous’ father’s body, bloody and full of bullets, being dragged through the streets.

“When they reached the mosque, they tied his body to a tractor and dragged him through the village again,” says Boutrous.

The mob continued to mutilate his father’s body while chanting, “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for “god is great.”

Christians make up about 10% of Egypt’s 80 million population. They face daily harassment and often consider leaving the country.

However, Bishop Maracarius tells his church that they “must endure the persecution. We must consider it an honor to endure this persecution, otherwise it will contradict the level of our commitment to our faith.”

“Christians view the current situation as an opportunity to witness about Christ through our suffering,” says Boutrous. “We have to be tolerant and keep praying for our enemies.”

Beacon2Light:  During my time in the Word this morning, I read Jesus' quote from John 18:11 (NKJV):  

So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?”
And it hit me. That's what the persecuted Church is doing all around the world. They are putting their swords into their sheaths and drinking the cup the Father has given them. They are walking in the footsteps of Jesus.  Partaking of the suffering which is their cup to swallow, just as Jesus did.  

Would you continue to pray for the persecuted Church?


At the challenging age of 12, when kids’ most dreaded fears should be getting a mouthful of braces or figuring out how to communicate with the opposite sex, Jack Daylon is dealing with grown-up pain.

Over the past seven years, he has watched death claim his mother, father and brother.

“And now he’s stuck with me, someone he’s known for three years,” says his stepfather Keith Mallett, a 52-year-old operations coordinator with Entergy in Natchez.

But there is a clear bond between them.

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