Newsletter Page 4

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=130 BGCOLOR="#99CC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03f8dfc3.jpg"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="11e786e0.gif" border=0 width="120" height="110" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=150 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0408dfe1esnpes.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#336666" FACE="Arial" ><B>Operation Save America  Buffalo</B></FONT><B>     </B><B>|</B><B>     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Operation Save America Buffalo"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=330 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0408dfc3.jpg"> <div> <I>Newsletter Page 4</I></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="864" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="852"><div> <B>FROM THE PULPIT</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 46 WIDTH="852"><div> Cycle of violence speaks  to our failures</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="643" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 241 WIDTH="631"><div>  </div> <bR> <div>    This article was printed on the front page of the Life & Arts section on Saturday February 7, 2004 in the Buffalo News. </div> <div>     We thought you could have missed it and  wanted to share it with you. It is not often that we can share the truth with those that read the Buffalo News. </div> <div>      We pray that God will somehow use this message to convict the church to get involved and use the authority it has to bring about change in our region and  the world.                                                  Rev. Bob Behn</div> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <IMG SRC="159c8fc0.gif" border=0 width="200" height="252" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <I>The Rev. Robert L. Behn was ordained in the Word of Faith Church in 1995 and has been executive director</I></div> <div> <I> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="208" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 14 ><NOBR><div> SHARON CANTILLON/<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Buffalo News</FONT></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 171 WIDTH="196"><div> <B>“Because we have not taken </B></div> <div> <B>this commandment seriously,</B></div> <div> <B>We have permitted Jesus Christ's teachings to be removed from the world we know”</B></div> <div> The Rev. Robert L. Behn</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></I></div> <div> <I>of  Last Call Ministries since its inception in 1981. He is director of Operation Save America Buffalo, a board </I></div> <div> <I>member of the Buffalo Dream Center and as such participates in several church related out reaches, and is </I></div> <div> <I>associated with Christians United for Buffalo.</I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> When Christ departed this Earth, He left the church of Christ the tools to complete the works He had begun.  These tools included His Holy Spirit, His word, (the Bible) and the authority to do the works that He did.</div> <div>      I challenge all of you to admit and accept the fact that we the church have failed in Western New York and the City of Buffalo.  We have failed to use the church's authority to bring about lasting change and restoration of an area beset by violence, that is decaying from within.  Unfortunately space and time will not permit me to address the myth of separation of church and government, even though this has helped give Satan the victory here and elsewhere in our nation.  Yes, we have failed the citizens of Western New York.</div> <div>     Jesus speaks to us in Matthew 28:18-20 saying:”All authority has been given to me in heaven and on Earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” In verse 20, He clearly commands us to teach <B>the </B><B><U>world </U></B><U>to observe all things that He had commanded</U>.  Because we have not taken this commandment seriously we have permitted Jesus Christ's teachings to be removed from the world we know.  This includes teachings as basic a prayer.  We have permitted prayer to be removed from our schools.</div> <div>      The recent needless and tragic death of Bobby L. Hayes in our city is stark evidence of the church of Jesus Christ's abandonment of our children in today's society to Satan's secular humanistic philosophy.  This type of church failure was never more evidenced than in Germany during Hitler's reign.  The Christian church had the power and authority to stop the Holocaust, but failed to do so.  Impossible you say, then consider this fact.  When I was in Israel, our group visited the Holocaust Museum.  The most important part of that museum was a framed copy of a newspaper article translated into English.  This article explained how the church rose up in righteous anger when the government began to kill handicapped children.  The result had such an impact that the government stopped this atrocity.  No such outcry came from the church for the Jewish children slaughtered in their innocence.  They had no parent able to protect them, no government that would protect them, and no church willing to save them.       </div> <div>      How long can we be silent?  Weeping for Bobby L. Hayes is not enough.  Many of us watched the Super Bowl recently, seeing two teams battle for the coveted victory.  The victors were glorified, the vanquished will be forgotten.  Those spectators who just watched the game will not share in the victory.</div> <div>      We the churches have become spectators.  We don't even cheer on those that are battling for the lives of our children.       </div> <div>      We have become so hardened to violence we have forfeited the world we live in without a fight.  We have failed to take seriously Christ's command to go into the world teaching all that He taught.  Instead we ignore the cries of our children.  We are no different than the churches that ignored the cries of the those being led away to slaughter. </div> <div>      Listen carefully and you will hear their cries, feel their pain.  In closing remember these words from James 4:17: “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”  The authority of the church is truly incredible, let's stop wasting it.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Operation Save America Buffalo"><U><B>HOME</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>