By H.G. Bishop Moussa

"Information through Satellite" is becoming a common issue. It means that a universal knowledge will spread over the whole world, through the influence of the media, either by local television or by satellites. It will influence humans, namely the youth. They will behave accordingly, ignoring the patriotic concept, the social traditions and the values governing nations.

We live in an "Open Horizons" era. Limits, obstruction or censure of any new information, ideas or behavior in our society no longer exist.

In France, a study of the French Television concluded that out of the 70 thousand hours of broadcasting per year 63 thousand hours were broadcast in English and coming from Hollywood - U.S.A. It promoted the habits and values common to this country. Only 7 thousand hours per year were produced and edited in France. This dangerous American invasion will definitely influence the growing French generations. The American lifestyle and concepts will dominate on the expense of the autonomy of the French language, traditions and culture, in spite of the reputable refined and humanistic French culture. For many years we were associated with the French literature, arts, laws and philosophy. Let us take guard against the dangerous American invasion of the world through widespread known media.

The features of the invading concepts are:

1. The Concept of Consumption:

In essence the American culture is based on the income from advertising. Ads are so convincing that they force people to buy things that are not suitable for them or that they do not need. As a result, consumption increases in the family, and, in most cases, expenses exceed income. This may lead to corruption in order to obtain money. This also leads to the mind becoming superficial, ignoring knowledge, culture and creativity, and being only enslaved into the appearance as far as clothing, shoes, furniture and specific kinds of foods, etc…

 

2. The Concept of the Body:

The American freedom in this subject turned into perversion. This is obvious in the television programs imposed on our screens. This sexual corruption is dangerous and destructive, for example, " premarital sex". Unfortunately, according to statistics, the young man or women change sex partners 12 times between the ages of 15 and 18 years of age!! As a consequence:

1. The youth are too involved in lust resulting to addiction to pleasure.
2. Addiction to pleasure results in addiction to drugs.
3. Addiction to drugs results in violence and crime.
4. Violence and crime end with prison, failure and perdition.
5. Aids is quickly spreading, even among young females, as a result of changing sex partners.
6. This conduct affects the couple’s concept of marriage. They enter it for lust rather than for its spiritual meaning or even its logic. The consequences are broken marriages, torn families and lost children.
7. In many cases the wife and husband separate after 10-15 years of marriage leaving behind one or two children. They remarry, leave their children without any family ties and the children become lost.

"Pornography" is becoming popular in order to satisfy the "concept of sex". Impurity, sin and adultery are becoming common, thus marriage becomes a temporary relation, without intimacy and resulting in corrupted children. It is also becoming common to hear about the states and churches legalizing gay and lesbian marriages. Marriage is no longer a sanctified relation between a man and a woman committed to raising children. Marriage between two people of the same sex destroyed the family. The family will never succeed as a cell in the society and church as long as the "family values" are neglected.

 

Love of self turned the heavenly to earthly and took Adam and Eve out of Paradise.

The western education relies on teaching children the love of self. This is dangerous; early in life, it teaches the child to ignore the advise and opinions of the adults and to refuse the parents’ guidance with emphasis on self reliance – which has its virtues – but, unfortunately, it isolates him from the established values, the social traditions and the family directives that is now called " over protection". So the child leaves the family to the university dorms, an unfounded marriage or any other form of diversion.

We advise parents of the importance of communicating with their children. In many cases the children do not find this satisfactory because of the dependency on their own self. Which entices children to call the police for their parents if they insist on the importance of the family rules.

These were just some of the features of the "Satellite teachings". In addition we find the "satanic worship", "rock and disco music" and other means of corruption for the youth in the West. Undoubtedly the fear of spreading these concepts is a real concern. Remedial ways of solving the conflicts caused by these concepts is eagerly awaited.

El-Kerazah issue 25/26 July 1999

Translated by St. George Church. Bellflower, CA

Preacher of The Christian Faith / Africa

St. Mark was a native of the North Africa county of Libya. He was born in the city of Cyrene in Pentapolis, The western part of Libya, west of the border of Egypt.

His original name was John and his surname was Mark : "And when he {Peter} came to himself ....., he {Peter} came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many gathered together praying" (acts 12:11-12); and " Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark" (acts 15:37); "And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark" (acts 12:25). St. marks parents, Aristopolos his father and Mary his mother, migrated to Palestine shortly after the birth of St. Mark because of the Berber attacks on their town and property. They settled in Cana of Galilee not far form Jerusalem A few years later St. Mark's father died and Peter Simon {St. Peter}, who was married to a relative of St. Mark's father took care of St. Mark and considered him a son: "The Church that is in Babylon, elected together with you, salutes you and so does Marcus {Mark} my son"; (1 Peter 5:13). Peter Simon saw to it that St. Mark got a good education. St. Mark studied law and the classics.

Church Traditions state that Mary, St. Mark's mother, was admirer of Jesus Christ and followed Him everywhere and that St. Mark was one of the attendants who served at the feast in Cana of Galilee at which Jesus Christ turned the water into wine: "And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee ... and both Jesus and was called and his disciples, to the marriage .. when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, ... This was the first miracle Jesus did ..." (John 2:1-11)

+ He was born in the Pentapolis or Qairawan (Now Tunisia or Libya according to other sources).

+ He witnessed the preaching of our Lord in Palestine as well as his passion.

+ He is the author of the earliest Gospel to be written (it was written in Greek).

+ He was the founder of Christianity in Egypt or in Alexandria at least. He came to Alexandria approximately 48 AD.

Foot Note: According to some sources, St. Peter preached in Babylon about the same time St. Mark was in Alexandria, however he focussed on the Jews of Babylon (A city near Memphis, Cairo now).

+ He was martyred in 68 AD when pagans of Serapis (the Serapion-Abbis Greek Egyptian god ) tied him to a horse's tail and dragged him through the streets of Alexandria's district of Bokalia for two days until his body was torn to pieces.

+ The Church celebrates his martyrdom on the 8th of May each year.

+ His head is in a church named after him in Alexandria, and parts of his relics is in St. Mark's Cairo's Cathedral. The rest of his relics are in the San Marco Cathedral in Venice, Italy.

+ Of his titles are: The Evangelist, the Apostle, the Witness and the Martyr.

Mother like me? With three children between the ages of 12 years and one year at the time. How can a mother of young children find time to have daily devotion when she is on call 24 hours a day?

Moms of preschoolers are rarely free, and if they are, it is only for a few minutes here and there. Even those little pockets of peace come at unexpected moments. One of my constant frustrations was finding time to meet the Lord regularly, a time I could count as my very own.

No matter how much I tried, failure dogged my steps. One time, I made grand plans to get up 15minutes early in the morning to have my quiet time reading my Bible and praying. Within days, however, exhaustion conquered me.

I tried another scheme, meeting the Lord before I went to sleep at night. This was also a dead-end idea, since I was usually dreaming before I read five verses. As I found myself spending less and less time with the Lord, it came to my mind that "God loves children" , meaning our three were gifts sent from his hand. Surely, He knew each day was chopped up into small chunks of time, no periods of calm to count on. Yet I also knew God desired to meet with me. As the time passed, day after day, I hated disappointing the Lord. I also knew I desperately needed a steady stream of His advice to do a good job as a mother.

May be the Lord could meet me right in the middle of the lively events of my busy days! Didn’t He meet Peter out in a boat? Didn’t He communicate with two men on the road to Emmaus as they walked? Didn’t He get Zaccaeus’ attention on a tree? Didn’t He share His wisdom in gardens, on mountain sides, during meals, at the beach, in courtrooms and even in cemeteries?

Why couldn’t He do the same with me? Of course He could. May be He could talk to me while I folded clean clothes or peeled carrots as the children played nearby. He could even share His heart in the middle of the night as I rocked a sick child.

I started looking for ways to acknowledge Jesus and share some time with Him every day. I took a spare Bible on errands with me. If I was waiting at a dentist office, I turned to Proverbs. If the children dozed off in their car seats while I waited for a long time, I popped open Philippians.

I borrowed my son’s radio, put it on the kitchen counter, put some Christian tapes. God met me on the airwaves, not just through sermons, but through glorious music too. Walking behind a stroller, He gave me the chance to sing a hymn, my favorite hymns and choruses. The Lord was willing to meet me even while I puffed and panted. My times outdoors, enjoying nature, brought me to a new level of appreciation for His greatness.

The more creative I became in spending time with the Lord, the more I saw his creativity was much greater than mine! He began solving many of my problems and providing many nuggets of wisdom. I discovered so many moments of joy and peace during my hectic days that I wondered why it had taken me many years to figure out a solution to my problem.

The Lord knows our hearts. He knows if we are really trying to get close to him, to learn the things He wants us to know. He will meet us where we are. Glitches in our schedules do not limit Him in getting through to us.

Answer: Magazine issue # 4

I once made a remark about the hidden books of the Bible It was a lulu Kept people looking so hard for facts and for others it was a revelation! Some were in a jam especially since the names were not capitalized but the truth finally struck home to numbers of readers To others it was a real job We want it to be a most fascinating few moments for you Yes there will be some really easy ones to spot Others may require judges to help them I will quickly admit it usually takes a minister to find one of them and there will be loud lamentations when it is found A little lady says she brews a cup of tea so she can concentrate better See how well you can compete Relax now for there are really sixteen names of the books of the Bible in this paragraph.

1. Mark 2. Luke 3. Kings 4. Acts 5. Revelation

6. James 7. Ruth 8. Numbers 9. Job 10. Amos

11. Esther 12. Judges 13. Titus 14. Lamentations

15. Hebrews 16. Peter

Christine Barhoma

Andrew Kamel

Janine Mina