Friday, January 25, 2013

Five Minute Job Formula


Finding a Job is a Blessing from God. Need a little free help?

Need a little free help?(www.pixabay.com)


1. First: Pray constantly until you find the Blessing. Don't kid yourself. God is the real Provider.

2. Only 25% of jobs are advertised, and that's where all the competition looks. Approximately 25% are found through the boss and company staff. 25% are known only to the boss. 25% are not even preplanned by the boss. (So, where should you be looking?)

3. Visit the company boss in person, do not call or write. Be sure to dress for success. Visit at least three businesses per day. Don't stop until you are hired. See the ones you are most interested in first. And Never Ever miss an appointment without calling ahead.

4. And don't ask for a job! What?!

5. Visit only the boss. “I'm making a study about town businesses, I need to see Mr. Jones for five minutes....” “Mr. Jones, I need just five minutes of your time; I'm conducting a quick town study of selected businesses. I need a little basic information. Can you give me just five minutes?”

6. “I have experience as an (office manager, certified mechanic, etc.) but here's my first question. (Q1) How would you describe your current business success or problems in general? Do you find the current financial climate difficult?

7. “As my second question, (Q2) What do you forecast for your business over the next three to six months? Do you think things will be improving?”

8. (Q3)“I am looking for a position with a company like yours, would you pass on my name to someone who might have a potential need? Can you recommend anyone to me at this time?” (Notice, you have not asked him or her for a job....)

9. Obviously, answer professionally and carefully any questions the boss may have in turn. He may actually be interested in interviewing you—because you showed interest in his or her company. (Keep showing this interest as you answer.)

10. Leave a resume, saying, “I'd like to leave my resume in the event any opportunity shows up. Thank you for answering my questions.” (And make a very quick visit to check possible references two weeks later.)


Adapt these questions to your style.
Send me a comment or email as soon as you find a job!

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Bill Hunt, World Afire

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Wednesday, January 23, 2013

IRAN: Pastor Saeed Abedini no political motives


Iran says American Pastor tried to turn children against Islam.


(www.pixabay.com)

 



Colorado Springs, Jan. 20 (World Watch Monitor) — Iran on Monday accused an Idaho man of trying to entice young people to Christianity and away from the country’s official religion, Islam, the man’s American-based legal team says.

The trial of Saeed Abedini, 32, of Boise, began Monday in the Tehran courtroom of Abbas Pir-Abbassi, a Revolutionary Court judge notorious for harsh sentences. Abedini faces a lengthy prison sentence and possibly the death penalty for the alleged crime of attempting to undermine the Iranian government through the spread of Christianity.

The American Center for Law and Justice said prosecutors presented evidence that Abedini created “a network of Christian house churches” starting in 2000, the year he left Islam for Christianity.

The regime alleged that Pastor Saeed intentionally sought to sway the minds of Iranian youth by turning the youth toward Christianity and against Islam, the official religion of Iran,” the center said in a prepared statement.

The American Center for Law and Justice is a Washington, D.C.-based attorney group that uses litigation to press for religious and speech freedom. It has waged a lobbying campaign to persuade the Obama Administration to make a public demand for Abedini’s release.

Abedini was arrested in September during a visit in which supporters say he was managing the construction of a non-religious orphanage. His supporters say he had agreed in 2009 to stop building the church network and to focus exclusively on the orphanage project, and that he had made eight orphanage-oriented visits to Iran before his arrest.

The center said Abedini is represented in Iran by “Naser Sarbazi, a Muslim lawyer in Iran who is dedicated to preserving human rights and upholding the right for all individuals to practice their faith freely.” It also said Abedini’s father, who lives in Iran, was the only family member permitted in the courtroom.

Abedini’s wife, Nagmeh, posted this account of Monday’s courtroom proceedings on the “Pray for Pastor Saeed Abedini” Facebook page:

Saeed was able to share from the Bible to the Judge and say that he was not a political person and had no political intentions, but he was a follower of His Lord Jesus Christ. There will be no more hearings and the formal charges and sentences will most likely be announced next week according to his lawyer in Iran.

There seemed to have been moments when the judge was moved by Saeed's testimony. Please continue to pray for the Judge and Saeed's release and his return back to our family. We should be hearing some news next week.

The American Center for Law and Justice posted a report on its website Monday that claims several lay leaders of the house churches have been summoned to appear in court. But it also said it’s unknown whether the judge will permit any more witnesses, or whether the trial is essentially completed.

Abedini and his wife were born Muslim in Iran. She moved to the United States as a child, obtained U.S. citizenship, converted to Christianity, relocated to Idaho with her family, and eventually returned to Iran to connect with her extended family, said Lauren Phillips, coordinator for international outreach for Cavalry Chapel of Boise, where the couple are members. Though ordained after his work planting house churches in Iran, Abedini is not active as a pastor in his home church.

In Iran Nagmeh met Abedini, who had converted to Christianity in 2000 and was helping to start house churches. Married in 2004, they moved to Idaho in 2005 after Abedini endured an interrogation session over his church activities, according to an attorney at the American Center for Law and Justice. As the spouse of an American citizen, Abedini too was granted U.S. citizenship.

Copyright 2013 World Watch Monitor
World Watch Monitor is distributed to raise awareness of Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith. Articles may be reprinted, with attribution, by active subscribers only.
For subscription information, contact: info@worldwatchmonitor.org

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Thursday, January 17, 2013

Ways To Witness To the World


People watch what you do and remember how they feel about you, far more than they hear what you say.

Living for Jesus is Serving Others
(Photo c. Bill Hunt).


Live in the Spirit, not in the flesh.
How: Shine with the Fruits of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22 NIV).

Love as Jesus Loved.
How: “Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12 NIV). Walk as Jesus walked (per 1 John 2:6). To do so, you must know the Jesus of the Bible.

Pray Daily for the World.
How: God's love is not limited to your locale. Men severely lack faith to affect the whole world or their own nation. But, Prayer is the greatest Power on Earth. “Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” (Matt 6:10 NIV).

Be One with God.
How: Is this not God's objective for us? (per John 17:21). Living Love for God and Man is the great commands. Faith is the power. Prayer is the means.

Carry a Repentant Heart.
How: No man is without sin, except Jesus. We must know who He is, the Creator, and who we are, the creatures.
This is the one I esteem; he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word” (Isa 66:2 NIV). 

Always Forgive.
How: As Jesus said, “But if you do not forgive men their sins, your father will not forgive your sins” (Matt 6:15 NIV). Men widely disregard Jesus' warning.

Don't take Offense.
How: Golden Keys to Love. “It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Cor 13:5 NIV).

Be a Rock of Integrity.
How: “Till I die, I will not deny my integrity” (Job 27:5 NIV). “Surely you desire truth in the inner parts” (Ps 51:6 NIV).

Listen to the Heart of Others.
How: “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak” (James 1:19 NIV). Sensitive, sacrificial listening, means to be more willing to hear another, than yourself.

Trust in God with all your Heart.
How: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Prov 3:9-10 NIV).


Bill Hunt, World Afire
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Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Africa rises on World Watch List worst persecutors


SPECIAL REPORT: Arab Spring empowers militant Islamist movements.



Washington, D.C., January 8, 2013 (World Watch Monitor) —Africa, where Christianity spread fastest during the past century, now is the region where oppression of Christians is spreading fastest, a new report says.

The two-year-old Arab Spring has toppled autocrats across Northern Africa, but it also has energized militant Islamist movements that have killed hundreds of Christians and endanger thousands more, according to the annual World Watch List, released Tuesday.

The list, published by Open Doors International, a ministry to persecuted Christians, ranks the 50 countries it considers to be most hostile to believers during the year that ended Oct. 31. The countries on the list are home to about a quarter of the world’s 2.2 billion believers.

For the 11th straight year,
North Korea tops the list, and Open Doors says it figures to stay there as long as its combination of “communist oppression” and “dictatorial paranoia” remains in place. The ministry estimates between 200,000 and 400,000 Christians live in the country, where they face arrest, torture and even execution if exposed. It is the only country where the list says “absolute persecution” reigns.

 
But down the list, the story is Africa.
 
Mali, a west-African country never before included in World Watch List, was No. 7 in the 2013 rankings. Predominantly Muslim, Mali had long accommodated Christians peacefully until March 2012 when groups linked to al-Qaida seized power in the northern half of the country and imposed a regime based on sharia, or Islamic law. Open Doors said its contacts in the country reported that most Christians fled the north, abandoning homes and churches that later were confiscated or destroyed.
 
“If you stayed, you were killed,” said Ronald Boyd-MacMillan, who directs Open Doors strategy and research. “All the churches were closed. There were house-to-house searches. It was pretty clear they were looking for Christians to kill.”
 
Two other African nations, Somalia and Eritrea, are included among the World Watch List top 10. In all, 18 African countries are included on the list of 50 nations. Five are ranked closer to the top than they were in 2012. Five others — Mali, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Niger — are on the list for the first time.
 
The addition of new African countries, and the ascension of several already on the list, can be traced to Islamist parties gaining power in places where regimes had fallen, or where a hard-line, Wahabi version of Islam made inroads against more tolerant, Sufi forms, according to Open Doors. In some cases it was linked with gradual expansion of Islamist influences in local governments or societies; or plain terrorist violence; or a combination.
 
The trend isn’t confined to Africa. In Syria, rebel forces ignited by the Arab Spring in early 2011 already considered Christians as aligned with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Christians fled Homs, the city where many were concentrated, and the 2012 arrival of foreign jihadists only intensified the pressure on those who remained in the country. Result: Syria made the biggest jump up the World Watch List, from No. 36 to No. 11.
 
One country that didn’t move up on the list was Egypt, even though Islamist political parties have made deep inroads there as well. They won the presidency in 2012 and produced enough votes to pass a constitution built partly on the principles of Islam. Yet about one of every nine Egyptians is Christian, and at about 10 million, they comprise the largest Christian community in the Arab world. The new constitution, nearly unanimously opposed by Christians and liberal allies, was approved by voters in December, and its effect on Christian life has yet to be seen.
 
Various private and government agencies monitor persecution, but Open Doors claims its World Watch List is the only annual survey of Christian religious liberty around the world. Based on a mix of face-to-face interviews with underground Christians, surveys of church leaders, opinions of Open Doors field workers and external experts, and review of publicly available data, it claims to measure “the degree of freedom of a Christian to live out their faith in five spheres of life: private, family, community, congregation and national life.”
 
It also measures the degree of violence experienced by Christians, a category that thrust Nigeria to No. 13. Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria was ranked No. 27 as recently as 2010, but has ascended partly because it has become, by the World Watch List measure, the most violent place on Earth for Christians.
 
The militant Islamic group Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for numerous mass killings of Christians and other Nigerians in an attempt to impose an Islamic system over Nigeria’s north. Two churches in northeastern Nigeria were attacked on Christmas Day, leaving eight worshipers dead. Authorities openly suspect Boko Haram.
 
Taken as a whole, Boyd-MacMillan said, the 2013 list describes a world where persecution of Christians has intensified overall, mostly because of the rise of militant sectarian movements, not only in Africa but in some of the world’s most populous countries, such as India, where Open Doors says Hindu extremists routinely assault Christian worshipers.
 
Other monitors of religious freedom have documented a similar global pattern. A 2012 study by the Pew Research Center Forum on Religion & Public Life concluded that government restrictions on religion rose worldwide during the year. Sub-Saharan Africa was one of three regions where the report said both government restrictions and social hostilities toward religion increased. The Pew forum is concerned with all religions, not only Christianity.
 
"Our study found, for instance, that in Nigeria, violence between Christian and Muslim communities, including a series of deadly attacks, escalated throughout the period," said Brian Grim, senior researcher and director of cross-national data for the Pew forum.
 
Even so, the World Watch List did detect a decline in persecution in some areas.
 
China fell furthest in the rankings, down 16 spots to No. 37. Its Christian population is growing faster than anywhere, and the government’s direct suppression of the Mao era has evolved into a wary watchfulness, according to Open Doors.
 
“There does seem to be the possibility of greater rapprochement,” Boyd-MacMillan said, as Communist Party leaders begin to regard the church’s ability to moderate social tensions as an asset during and age of rapid economic and societal change.
 

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Wednesday, January 2, 2013

OK to Yell for Angels


You see, I'm in a battle, a war with the devil. He has an assignment to kill me.

Angels Sent to Serve (www.ChristiansUnite.com).
  


Brake! I shouted. BRAKE! I shouted louder. No time to pray. This time, my wife driving saw the sudden danger.

Ahead on the freeway was a crawling, old battered wood farm trailer camouflaging a big black pickup truck hauling it. No tail lights. I saw only a flick of red light from the truck through the trailer's wood grating.

My wife slammed on our brakes with a second to spare. I thrust forward in my seat-belt  We slowed just short of crashing through the trailer and the truck at highway speed. The white pickup behind us slammed on his brakes.

For the next miles, on Route 12 north of New Orleans, we thanked God and his Angels for saving us. How did I give credit to the Angels? Sometimes I see Angels. Sometimes I see the effects of their presence.

How did I notice just the one flick of light?

You see, I'm in a battle, a war with the devil. He has an assignment to kill me. Many times he's tried. He hates me. I have an assignment to stop his works. I have some tall warrior friends to help me, the Angels. Many times, they've protected me.

Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14 NKJV).

Angels of God and Warriors of the Lord,” I pray. “Servants of Adonai Sabaoth, protect my wife, our children, and our grandchildren (name-by-name) today, and me.”

I prayed just a few hours earlier at the start of our day's return travels.

At the start of this trip to visit two of our adult daughters and their families, just days earlier, I prayed the same faith prayer.

In the middle of the dark night, a black van at high speed cut us off from turning toward a toll booth approach on the complicated Sam Houston Toll-road. My wife, driving, amazingly veered to the left lane, avoiding him, barely seeing his threat coming at our right side. We missed the tollgate approach. Once again, the devil acted. The Angels saved our lives.

I'm expecting a bill for the tollgate fee in my mail. Now the devil doesn't just attack on the road, but these three times he did. 

Some drivers leave themselves open to his evil inspiration.

Again, coming down a hill curve, where the speed reduced on the Florida Panhandle Freeway, a driver from behind ignored the speed limits and charged our rear bumper obnoxiously blowing his horn. He wanted to force us to move to the outside lane, but another car was right beside me.

Finally, I was able to move over. This van driver racing by in the left lane looked, at my glance, like the devil himself. He flashed on ahead as he dangerously executed an improper right exit and threatened other drivers ahead of him, even as he disappeared out of sight around the single exit lane.

It's OK to yell for the Angels.

Bill Hunt, World in Christ
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A Blessed New Year 2013 to You!

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