This Week's 66/40 Radio Broadcast

Articles and Commentary

• Malaysia Churches Attacked Over Use of 'Allah' - (Read)
• Making Gas From Trash - (Read)
• Worship: Finding Fullness of Joy - (Read)

Important News Headlines

Memory Verse of the Week

MALAYSIA CHURCHES ATTACKED OVER USE OF 'ALLAH' - (Print)

A chain of nine church attacks have disrupted Malaysia since late December. The recent violence appears to have had a specific trigger - the High Court's recent decision to overturn the country's ban on the Christian use of the word "Allah."

It is not terribly unusual in the Arab-speaking world for Christians to use "Allah" as the word for "God" without any specific reference to Islam. Malaysia's Christian communities also use "Allah" because it is the word used for God in Malay-language Bibles – which largely originate in Indonesia where Christian use of "Allah" is common. In Malaysia, though, Christians were not allowed to use "Allah" for "God" in other written publications. The High Court changed that by removing the ban on December 31st.

Malaysian Muslims immediately protested, declaring that "Allah" belonged to Islam and was not a name for other religions to use. A spurt of attacks followed, including spray-painting, rock throwing, and even firebombing of Christian churches. The Metro Tabernacle Church in Desa Melawati was the first hit and was badly damaged. The others attacks have left superficial damage, and churches will have to remove paint and replace windows. Regardless of the severity of the attacks, they have shaken up people of both religions in a land where religious tensions have been kept relatively low.

The big issue, say protestors, is they fear that Christians will try to convert Muslims by using "Allah" for the Christian God as a way to make Muslims feel comfortable. Other Malaysian Muslims disagree with the conflict, arguing that it is not a dire issue. Marina Mahathir wrote in her blog that a confident Muslim "will not walk into a church, hear a liturgy in Malay or Arabic where they use the word ‘Allah' and then think that he or she is in a mosque."

The Malaysian government has made a policy of promoting religious peace in their land and has condemned the recent attacks. The Home Ministry secretary, Gen. Mahmood Adam, told reporters, "These outrageous incidents are acts of extremism and designed to weaken our diverse communities' shared commitment to strengthen racial unity."

Still, the government is planning to appeal the High Court decision. "Allah" may be used by Christians in Indonesia to the south, the government argues, but Indonesia is a different situation.

Adam also told reporters: "Be fair, you have to compare apples to apples, oranges to oranges. Our landscape is different from other countries. Malays here are different from other countries. The landscape here is different from Indonesia so we can't compare."

One Muslim, Stephen Ng, on MalaysiaKini.com urged his fellow Muslims to seek unity in the country. Local businessmen also want the quarrel to calm down. Those who depend on tourism do not want the fear of violence to dissuade visitors from coming and spending their money. According to The Malaysian Insider, one businessman involved in regional IT business says that investors are watching the situation closely.

"Malaysia was known in the past as a peaceful multiracial country. But now attacks on churches are beginning to happen. If you are an investor, the attacks are something you would consider a high risk. The question now is: were the attacks a one-off thing or is it going to get worse?"

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MAKING GAS FROM TRASH - (Print)

Even as gas prices climb during these cold winter months, the US Army is investing in technology that promises to convert garbage into oil. We reported in the December 18, 2009 eNews about technologies that use algae and bacteria to turn straw, wood chip and cooking oil waste into usable fuel. The US Army is hoping to make the trash that it would normally incinerate into diesel through a catalytic depolymerization process that mimics the way oil is formed under earth's crust.

Anytime the Army goes into a foreign country, it has to make sure its personnel and their vehicles are properly supplied. That means millions of gallons of gas have to be transported to support US forces, often in the middle of hostile territory. According to the US Government Accountability Office, the US Department of Defense supplied forces in Iraq and Afghanistan with an average of 68+ million gallons of fuel every month in 2008. That's a lot of fuel transport convoys – convoys that can get attacked.

Garbage disposal is another issue in foreign lands - because the Army can generate quite a bit of trash. Getting rid of that waste can be a problem because it's expensive to build incinerators that will only be used for a year or two, and burn pits produce smoke that can cause health problems.

The US Army hopes that it can solve both difficulties by taking its garbage and turning it into diesel fuel through a process that uses pressure and heat to break long chain polymers like plastics into short-chain petroleum hydrocarbons - trash to gas.

Old Way #1: Burn It:
The idea of turning waste into energy is not new. The US-based company Covanta operates more than 40 power plants that each take local garbage and burn it in order to heat water that turns turbines that create power. Burning trash for power plants is a useful idea, as long as the plants employ air-pollution controls like Covanta's plants. The leftover ash is then transported to landfills at a fraction of the garbage's original weight.

Old Way #2: Superheat It:
A process called pyrolysis has also been around for awhile. Pyrolysis involves breaking down organic matter by heating it to extremely high temperatures and is used in the chemical industry to produce charcoal or methanol from wood, or to make the PVC plastic used in water pipes, or syngas (synthesis gas) from biomass.

KDV:
The process the Army wants to use is different than either of these. The German company AlphaKat has developed what it calls the KDV (Katalytische Drucklose Verolung) process, a catalytic low pressure depolymerization of waste materials. Covanta has gotten into the action and is working to use AlphaKat's patented catalyst to develop this technology for the Army.

Basically, what is supposed to happen is this; metals and glass and sand are removed from trash, leaving only plastics and other carbon-based materials like food and paper. This waste is dried and chopped up and mixed with used oil. Then, a catalyst containing aluminum, sodium and silicon is added, and the whole mess is dumped into a turbine that spins at 3000 rpm. Inside that spinning turbine all the organic matter is broken down to a pure hydrocarbon diesel that is just like the stuff that gets drilled out of the ground - and at a much faster rate than oil is created naturally. Throw the stuff in the mixer, spin it, and in three minutes you've got oil.

Not only does this process allegedly turn garbage into fuel, but all the gasses and liquids are contained in the specially-designed turbine itself. It's environmentally friendly and supposedly cost-effective.

The question is, does KDV really work? Have they actually taken milk jugs, banana peels, and leftover burger bags and turned them into oil, or have they succeeded only in making diesel out of used cooking oil, which isn't half so big a deal?

The Army Corps of Engineers seems to have some faith in the technology, and so does Covanta. The company wants to do more than just supply the Army; it is planning to develop the technology for plants in the United States and keep more garbage out of landfills by putting it into people's trucks. 

We look forward to future developments.

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WORSHIP: FINDING FULLNESS OF JOY - (Print)

"Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." - Psalm 16:11

Worship is of key importance to our lives, and we know we need to do more of it.  We can express the worth of God in many ways - in the way we live our lives, in loving people, in obeying Him in adoration, or in singing or dancing.   There is a very special kind of worship, though, in which we have a divine encounter with God Himself. It's coming into His presence, bowing down, falling down and showing Him our complete reverence.

Worship is the place that God promises to "meet with us," because worship is something that is done on the inside - i.e., in our spirit. As Jesus tells us in John 4:23-24, "the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth."  Worshiping the Lord, then, means coming into His presence, adoring, praising and loving Him in the same nature as He - in the spirit.

Most believers know that they have a responsibility to worship, but when asked to define what true worship means or how it's done, they are unable to offer any answers. This is what we want to explore over the next few months. What is true worship? How and when are we to do it? And, what makes worship so important?

Whom Do We Worship?
Man, in general, has an inbuilt need to express his love and gratitude to some deity and that "someone" is who determines his worship.

Believers can worship the Lord with all their heart and soul because they have already invited Him into their lives - their spirits have already been united with and quickened by His Spirit. In other words, believers in Christ can "internally" communicate their love of the Father through the spirit. John 6:63 validates this: "It is the spirit that quickeneth [or makes alive]; the flesh profiteth nothing...."

Nonbelievers, on the other hand, cannot really worship the Lord in this way because their spirits are not yet united with or quickened by God's Spirit. In other words, they cannot "internally" communicate or fellowship directly with the Father. They can only have an external form of worship. Therefore, they cannot personally or intimately know the Father. Listen to John 3:5-6:

"Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the spirit , he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

We often read about being created with a "God-shaped hole" in our hearts. And, it's so true: without an intimate, internal relationship with Christ, nothing on earth will ever fill us.

Though God does not need our worship, He is seeking those who are worshipers. (John 4:23-24) Thus, one of the reasons we worship is to minister and to bless Him. Worship is the time we forget about ourselves, concentrate on Christ and experience His presence.

What Makes Worship so Important?
Worship is important because, as Tozer once said, "...it's the reason Christ came, the reason He was crucified and the reason He rose again." Furthermore, the entire book of Revelation concerns the importance of worship and what God thinks of worship. Listen to Revelation 4:8-11 as an example:

 "The four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things and for Thy pleasure they are and were created."

Other pertinent Scriptures are Revelation 11:16 and 19:4, and there are many other Scriptures in the Word that tell us God is seeking true worshipers. Scriptures like Psalm 95:6-7: "Oh, come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand..." And Psalm 99:5, "Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at His footstool; for He is holy."

Worship is critical because it's the key to God's presence. It's what brings us intimacy with the Father. In other words, worship is a two-way communication. We come into His presence by loving, adoring and exalting Him. He then makes Himself known by communicating His Love and His inspiration (and revelation) back to us. This, of course, results in inexpressible joy for us.

This daily communion is what allows us to endure difficult circumstances. If we are hearing from the Lord and keeping our eyes only on Him, we can withstand anything. Worship, then, is not only the key to intimacy, it's also the key to withstanding trials and problems and restoring the joy of our salvation.

[This article has been excerpted from Nancy Missler's book Private Worship: The Key to Joy.]

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Netanyahu Firm On United Jerusalem, Post-1967 Borders - January 12, 2010
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Tuesday that Israel would never cede control of united Jerusalem nor retreat to the 1967 borders, according to a bureau statement. The statement came after Egypt's foreign minister said in Cairo last week that Netanyahu was ready to discuss making "Arab Jerusalem" the capital of a Palestinian state. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority could abandon its demand for a freeze on construction in East Jerusalem in exchange for an easing of the siege on Gaza and a halt to Israeli assassinations in the West Bank. Haaretz

Mousavi-Supporting Teheran Prof Killed - January 12, 2010
A nuclear physics professor who publicly backed Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in the disputed June presidential election was killed Tuesday when a bomb-rigged motorcycle blew up outside his home. The blast, apparently set off by a remote trigger, left a puzzling mix of clues about why a 50-year-old researcher with no prominent political voice, no published work with military relevance and no declared links to Iran's nuclear program would be targeted. The Jerusalem Post

History Professors Testify Against Prop 8 - January 12, 2010
The trial of a legal challenge to Proposition 8 may decide whether same-sex couples get the chance to marry in California in the future, but on Tuesday it was all about Ivy League history professors. Prop. 8 lawyers depicted both witnesses as unabashed proponents of gay marriage. In fact, within minutes of Cott leaving the stand, Prop. 8 counsel Andrew Pugno told a news conference her testimony was "a disaster for the plaintiffs" and that many of her views actually supported the arguments for Prop. 8. San Jose Mercury News

Global Warming or Another Ice Age? - January 11, 2010
The world could be in for a spell of cooler temperatures, rather than hotter conditions, as a result of cyclical changes in ocean currents for the next 20 or 30 years. Research by Professor Mojib Latif, one of the world's leading climate modellers, questions the widely held view that global temperatures will rise rapidly over the coming years. According to Prof Latif of the Leibniz Institute at Germany's Kiel University, "A significant share of the warming we saw from 1980 to 2000 and at earlier periods in the 20th Century was due to these cycles perhaps as much as 50 per cent." Telegraph.co.uk

Astronomers Say They Found Antimatter - January 11, 2010
Astronomers meeting in Washington last week announced that a recent search for bright exploding stars -- commonly called supernovas -- found something quite unusual: antimatter. Usually stars like our sun are powered by fusion reactions in which the nuclei of two atoms fuse together to form a heavier nucleus. In Y-155, a star in the constellation Cetus, the astronomers argue that another process was crucial: the making and unmaking of antimatter particles. Inside Science

Denzel's Eli Depends on Bible - January 11, 2010
Denzel Washington's latest role in "The Book of Eli" has him playing a wanderer in a nuclear war-ravaged America who leans on his Bible for guidance, and the actor says if he was in that situation, he'd do exactly the same. The movie, which opens in U.S. theaters on Friday, blends elements of old-style Hollywood westerns, in the form of desolate landscapes and frontier towns, and Old Testament spirituality -- a change for Hollywood studios which tend to avoid religious themes in modern, big-budget action flicks. ABC News

1200+ Crimes Against US Churches in 2009 - January 05, 2010
There were at least 1,237 crimes committed against Christian churches and ministries in the United States this past year, according to a report released Monday. Included among the crimes are 12 homicides and 38 other violent incidents including three sexual assaults and three kidnappings 98 arsons and over 700 burglaries, according to the 2009 "Crimes Against Christian Organizations in the United States" report published by the Christian Security Network.The network said the church burglaries resulted in an estimated $24 million in property loss. The Christian Post

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
1 Timothy 2:1-3 KJV

"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32

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