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Pentecost is Sunday, May 23. Here are four reasons we should celebrate the Spirit’s outpouring.

Article from excerpts by Chip Brogden.

Dear Friend,
It is with a certain fearfulness that I respond to your inquiry, for I
am not an authority on such things. I can certainly relate to your
reluctance at being identified among the company of the prophets
when so many false apostles, prophets, and teachers abound. I
wish I could point you in a proper direction, but I can only point
you towards the Lord. It is He who selects His messengers, and
I have nothing to offer you by way of what to do.

At most, perhaps you can look upon me as an example of what
NOT to do, and take some word of counsel from a weak brother
who has made many mistakes and endured many failures along
the way. Perhaps you too will have to make even the same
mistakes in order to learn, yet following my advice could perhaps
help you to avoid the unnecessary heartache and cruelty inflicted
upon yourself and others when thinking that you are doing God a
service. I would counsel you, first of all, to be a Christian. Do not
spend too much time focused on that which is prophetic. Do not
come to others as a prophet, but as a child. Let Christ be your
obsession, not the prophetic word. For “the testimony of Jesus is
the spirit of prophecy.” There need not be turmoil in your heart
about your calling; it is clear that you are among those that are
“the Called, according to His purpose.” And what is His purpose?
That you be “conformed to the image of His dear Son.” That,
above all, is your first calling. Many are eager to wear the Prophet’s
mantle, but are reluctant to bear the Christian’s cross. This cannot
be. Given the choice between Christian or Prophet, choose Christian.
Serve God as the earthen vessel you are, in the place you find
yourself to be.

Perhaps the Lord will indeed use you in some prophetic way, but
if not then at least you have been faithful with the “one talent” you
have been given. God will not give five talents to those who cannot
be faithful with one, and will not give ten to those who cannot be
faithful with five. If you are a Christian first you will remember that
you should walk softly, with meekness and humility, while
esteeming others as better than yourself. Then the prophetic word,
when and if it comes, will be seasoned with the appropriate amounts
of mercy and grace.

Remember that without love you will inevitably become as
sounding brass – all judgment. If we cannot or will not stay in Love,
God will set out to humble us shamefully before our brothers and
sisters that we may know the depths of our hypocrisy and
self-righteousness. That is evidence of HIS great love for all of us.

Now, concerning the prophetic word itself. God will give you the
“what”, but the “when” and the “how” are left up to you. “The
spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.” You can be
right on target with the “what”, but if you screw up the “when”,
and especially the “how”, you do yourself and others unnecessary
harm…

Let us not only be familiar with His Word, but let us become
acquainted with His Ways. It is not enough to memorize what
He said, we must take His yoke upon us and walk in tandem
with Him. Since Christ bids us to “learn of ME”, beware of those
who will try to gain access into your life with an inordinate desire
to mentor or shepherd you. We may certainly seek the advice,
prayers, and counsel of other mature believers. Even the little
children in the Kingdom of God can teach us much. But people
can only carry us so far… Do you see dear friend, that God
is more concerned with the messenger than the message? Do
you see that the minister is more important than the ministry?

If the messenger is wrong, the message will be wrong too. If the
minister is wrong, the ministry will be wrong. And do you see that
the Lord of the work is more important than the work of the Lord?
Meditate on these things. There really is no famine of the Word
of God. If God is able to find the right vessel the Word will come
forth in abundance. Therefore, He takes much time to mold,
fashion, train, refine, purge, break down, build up, discipline and
create His prophets. Yield to that process. It cannot be rushed,
but it may certainly be hindered. We cannot force the Spirit, but
we may certainly quench Him. Ah, your gifts are given to you in a
moment’s time, but your fruit, your character, YOU, develops
over many seasons of God’s dealings. Do not be thrilled with
your gifts, only observe if you are fruitful in Spirit, bearing much
fruit, abounding in love, joy, peace, faithfulness, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, meekness, and self-control.You can be
sure that there are more gifted people in the world than you, yet
the fruit is what will remain when the gifts pass away. Never
neglect the place of abiding in Him, and you will remain a fruitful
branch in the Vine. Expect misunderstanding. Expect persecution.
Expect ridicule. Expect mistreatment. Expect suffering. Expect
rejection. Then, you won’t be surprised when it comes. And when
it comes, shut your mouth, go to the cross, and die so you can
live. Learn to kiss the hands that nail you to the cross, for as you
are decreased, He is increased. It is not a better living we need,
but a better dying. We cannot reach Pentecost but by way of
Passover. There can be no resurrection without a crucifixion…

Be afraid of the praise and acceptance of others, for they are the
fertilizer for the self-important and grandiose thoughts that are
yours by nature anyway, which spring up in the shallow ground
of your carnal mind. Carry about the Death of the Lord so you
may have the Life of the Lord. Be ready to suffer with Him, that
you may reign with Him. And now, some practical advice: As
much as possible, stay away from money…

Be slow to anger and quick to forgive. Before, you would never
apologize even when you knew you were wrong. Now, be willing
to apologize even when you know you are right.

This is my counsel, dear friend, and perhaps something I have
said in this brief letter will bear witness with you. With these
words then, I commit you to the care of the  Lord Jesus Christ,
Who is able to complete the work which He has begun in you
and see you through to maturity, as you are rooted and grounded
in Him, being thoroughly equipped and strengthened by His
Might which works in those who have taken up the cross to
find power in weakness…  –Chip Brogden.

http://www.christianpost.com/

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Half of pastors would leave the ministry tomorrow if they could. Seventy percent are fighting depression and 90 percent can’t cope with the challenge of ministry.

Those are the statistics Pastor Jonathan Falwell laid out to thousands of ministers who were in Lynchburg, Va., Tuesday for the “Refuel” conference.

The well-known pastor stated bluntly, “Something is wrong in ministry.”

Citing surveys from such groups as Barna, LifeWay and Acts 29, Falwell lamented that 1,500 pastors walk away from ministry every month because of moral failure, burnout, conflict, discouragement or depression. He was also shocked to find that 80 percent of seminary and Bible school graduates will leave the ministry within their first five years.

Part of the problem, he indicated, is trying to make it to the big numbers and most influential lists or aiming for the most Twitter followers.

“I believe that we have self-imposed measurements of success that are skewed, that are wrong,” said Falwell, pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church – which is notably one of the largest churches in the country.

“The measurements of success are all messed up,” he said.

While there is nothing wrong with the “Top 25″ or “Top 100″ largest churches or most influential lists, trying to make it to those lists has forced many pastors to focus on the masses rather than “the one.”

“Stop focusing on the ‘big ministry’ and the ‘big outreach,” he urged, noting that ministers place too much pressure on themselves. “Start focusing on one person, one hurting person, who’s lost, … who’s desperate to hear the Gospel.”

Falwell has been leading Thomas Road Baptist Church since 2007, after his father, Jerry Falwell, passed. He admits that his congregation is large and he can easily hand over duties of ministering to individuals, such as those in the hospital, to other pastors in the church.

But he reminded pastors on Tuesday, “We have a responsibility to minister to the one.”

And when pastors are faithful in focusing on one person at a time, Falwell believes God will then fill their churches with lots of “ones.”

So he encouraged them, “Don’t make it about the lists, the fame, … the respect. Make it about the one.”

Source

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Debkafile’s military sources report a decision by the Obama administration to boost US military strength in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf regions in the short term with an extra air and naval strike forces and 6,000 Marine and sea combatants. Carrier Strike Group 10, headed by the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, sails out of the US Navy base at Norfolk, Virginia Friday, May 21. On arrival, it will raise the number of US carriers off Iranian shores to two.

Up until now, President Barack Obama kept just one aircraft carrier stationed off the coast of Iran, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Arabian Sea, in pursuit of his policy of diplomatic engagement with Tehran.

For the first time, too, the US force opposite Iran will be joined by a German warship, the frigate FGS Hessen, operating under American command.

It is also the first time that Obama, since taking office 14 months ago, is sending military reinforcements to the Persian Gulf. Our military sources have learned that the USS Truman is just the first element of the new buildup of US resources around Iran. It will take place over the next three months, reaching peak level in late July and early August. By then, the Pentagon plans to have at least 4 or 5 US aircraft carriers visible from Iranian shores.

The USS Truman’s accompanying Strike Group includes Carrier Air Wing Three (Battle Axe) – which has 7 squadrons – 4 of F/A-18 Super Hornet and F/A-18 Hornet bomber jets, as well as spy planes and early warning E-2 Hawkeyes that can operate in all weather conditions; the Electronic Attack Squadron 130 for disrupting enemy radar systems; and Squadron 7 of helicopters for anti-submarine combat (In its big naval exercise last week, Iran exhibited the Velayat 89 long-range missile for striking US aircraft carriers and Israel warships from Iranian submarines.)

Another four US warships will be making their way to the region to join the USS Truman and its Strike Group. They are the guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy and guided missile destroyers USS Winston S. Churchill, USS Oscar Austin and USS Ross.

Debkafile’s military sources disclose that the 6,000 Marines and sailors aboard the Truman Strike Group come from four months of extensive and thorough training to prepare them for anticipated missions in the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean.

Source

Declining Donations force3 churches to adjust strategies

12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, May 23, 2010

By MICHAEL E. YOUNG / The Dallas Morning News
myoung@dallasnews.com

Even as First Baptist Church of Dallas launches a $115 million capital campaign, the most ambitious ever for a large Protestant church, congregations across the country struggle to pay everyday bills.

Nearly 40 percent of U.S. churches experienced declines in church giving and offerings in 2009, the second consecutive year of significant funding drops, according to the 2010 State of the Plate surveys conducted by the Maximum Generosity ministry and Christianity Today International.

After the October 2008 stock market plunge, 29 percent of churches reported declines in giving. In 2009, 38 percent of churches responding to the survey had experienced declines.

“What normally happens is a downturn hits churches about six months after it hits everyone else, and it takes about six months after the recovery starts for churches to see that,” said Simeon May, chief executive officer for the Richardson-based National Association of Church Business Administration.

“We aren’t seeing much improvement yet.”

It’s little wonder, then, that some churches have delayed or postponed capital campaigns and focused instead on “operational giving,” said Joel Mikell, president of RSI Church Stewardship Group of Dallas, which guides 200 to 250 churches through capital campaigns each year.

“Make no mistake, the economy has influenced a number of churches in a way that makes them say, ‘Let’s wait a year … let’s wait 18 months,’ ” he said.

First Baptist Church of McKinney, for example, ultimately decided to postpone a major capital campaign because of members’ concerns about the economy, employment issues and debt.

Church leaders are increasingly cautious about income, what’s being spent and how – a reflection of the economy in their towns.

But some churches, following well-defined visions that can change lives, have decided to go ahead with major projects, “because vision always trumps the economy,” Mikell said.

“That’s why in this economy with giving being cut back in many ways, here’s this church announcing a $100 million-plus campaign,” he said.

“First Baptist’s decision to reach downtown Dallas and the community makes this a transformational situation.”

Others, though, after experiencing years of double-digit growth, are now learning to deal with a much different fiscal environment.

On Dec. 30, 2009, members of Southern California’s Saddleback Church, one of the largest in the country, received a shocking e-mail from Pastor Rick Warren.

With roughly 10 percent of the 22,000-member congregation out of work, costs of caring for the church’s Orange County community had risen dramatically. But income was stagnant.

Saddleback was able to stay on budget through prudent financial planning, Warren wrote, until “the bottom dropped out” at post-Christmas services.

“On the last weekend of 2009, our total offerings were less than half of what we normally receive,” wrote Warren, “leaving us $900,000 in the red for the year, unless you help make up the difference today and tomorrow.”

Members responded with $2.4 million in last-minute donations. But Saddleback’s case points to the precarious circumstances for many churches, which, like some in their congregations, live paycheck to paycheck.

A report released earlier this year by the Barna Group, a research group focusing on faith and culture, found that budgets for Protestant churches were down about 7 percent on average from the year before. One in 11 churches lost 20 percent or more in annual income, with 2 percent reporting drops of 35 percent.

The declines come as Americans pull back in large numbers from gifts to nonprofit groups, Barna found. In interviews taken in January and February, nearly half of adults said they’d reduced contributions. The numbers weren’t quite so dire for churches, but 29 percent said they had cut donations.

“While many church donors have been able to maintain their typical level of donations, those who have cut back have dropped their giving substantially,” the Barna report noted. “Nearly one-quarter of church donors had cut contributions by 20 percent or more.”

And the number reducing donations more than doubled in 14 months.

But this isn’t a new problem, according to Scott Thumma of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, who said donations to megachurches were “basically flat between 2005 and 2008.”

“So it wasn’t a rosy picture even then,” he said. “When we look at those same things in 2010, I think we’ll see that it’s been a decade of trouble for the church, a whole lot of trouble.”

It is in that climate that First Baptist of Dallas plans to raise a total of $115 million to transform its downtown campus for 21st century ministry. But church officials are confident First Baptist can meet its goals.

“We have about $35 million right now,” senior pastor Robert Jeffress said, “so we have $80 million to go. Most of our members are not wealthy, but the people have really given sacrificially.”

Consultants like RSI – which isn’t part of First Baptist’s program – say an average capital campaign is two to three times the church’s annual income. First Baptist, with an annual income of about $15 million, is taking a large leap.

But Mikell of RSI said he has been involved with campaigns far more ambitious than the average, including one for $6 million at a church with an annual budget of about $1 million, and what began as a $105 million campaign at Calvary Chapel of Fort Lauderdale, which has about $25 million in annual income..

“First Baptist’s is an extraordinary commitment any way you measure it,” Mikell said, “and there will be skeptics and cynics. But having been there at Calvary, I look at these and say God just showed up and did something extraordinary.”

The Calvary Chapel campaign was ultimately reduced to $85 million, mostly because a number of large commitments were tied to investments in Florida real estate, where values plunged in the recession.

But that doesn’t mean the same will happen to First Baptist, he said.

“What makes people give these kinds of dollars in a down economy? It’s important to remember that church campaigns are spiritual before they’re financial,” Mikell said. “They’re built on stewardship. ‘Everything I have is from God.’

“Secondly, they’re highly relational, because our resources follow our relationships. We have a relationship with our church.

“That’s why capital campaigns in the church typically have such extraordinary results.”

An Iranian evangelist says a spiritual awakening of unprecedented magnitude is occurring behind the scenes in a nation known for its terrorism.

Most Americans have put Iran on a blacklist. We’re concerned about Shiite militants who spread terrorism around the world, we don’t trust Iran’s nuclear weapons plans and we can’t stomach Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s human rights record or his maniac ways.

But my friend Lazarus Yeghnazar, an Iranian evangelist based in England, hopes you will develop some compassion for this part of the world. Most of us associate the Bible with Israel, but did you know that Esther, Daniel, Nehemiah, Ezra and Habakkuk all walked on Persian land that is now called Iran? In fact, the tombs of Esther, Daniel, Habakkuk, Cyrus and Darius are in Iran.

““Yeghnazar says the churches are growing so fast in Iran that some leaders have wondered if they should stop evangelizing. ‘One church leader told me they have stopped sharing their faith because every Iranian they witness to comes to Christ.’ “

Yeghnazar points out that Iranians were among the first Christian converts. The people known as Parthians, Medes and Elamites, who were in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (see Acts 2:9,11), were from what is now Iran. Jeremiah prophesied that God would “restore the fortunes of Elam” in the last days (see Jer. 49:39). Elam is modern-day Iran.

This promise of spiritual restoration is no longer a far-off dream. A vibrant New Testament church is thriving in Iran, in spite of brutal persecution under Ahmadinejad’s regime. And this growing spiritual awakening in Iran could play a significant role in end-time events.

“In this repressive atmosphere many Iranians are coming to Christ,” says Yeghnazar, whose 222 Ministries is reaching millions through television and Internet broadcasts. Currently more than 3,000 Iranians are converted each month through 222’s work, even though the Iranian government has cracked down on satellite television and smashed satellite dishes in Tehran and other cities.

“The need is so great,” says Yeghnazar’s wife, Maggie, who does special gospel broadcasts for Iranian women. She says the women respond to Christ faster than men because they tend to stay at home.

Yeghnazar and his wife fled Iran in 1988 to base their operations in the U.K. Their Farsi-language programs not only bring Iranians to faith in Christ but also serve to strengthen the underground house church movement. Yeghnazar says the churches are growing so fast in Iran that some leaders have wondered if they should stop evangelizing.

Says Yeghnazar: “One church leader told me they have stopped sharing their faith because every Iranian they witness to comes to Christ. [The leader] told me, ‘We don’t have enough New Testaments to handle the growth.’ There is a huge need for discipleship!”

The challenges in Iran are huge. The country has an extremely high rate of drug addiction, and at least one-fourth of the people are depressed. About 60 percent of the nation’s 71 million people are under age 26—and many of these are university students who are growing increasingly restless under Ahmadinejad’s dictatorship. Police brutality is common—and it is often aimed at Christians who gather in groups smaller than 20 to worship.

“Believers in Iran are not praying for persecution,” Yeghnazar told me, “but they know it is helping fuel the growth of their churches.”

Yeghnazar is aware of the danger lurking inside Iran. The country has exported trained terrorists for 30 years and has fueled the growth of Hezbollah, the Palestinian Intifada and suicide bombers in Iraq as well as radical Islamic movements in North Africa and the Philippines. Yet he believes there has never been such a huge open door for the gospel in Iran.

The evangelist quotes from Isaiah 65:1 to describe what is happening in his homeland. “God said, ‘I permitted myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, “Here am I, here I am,” to a nation which did not call My name.’” Today Iranians are not only coming to Christ in record numbers but they are downloading Farsi New Testaments on MP3 players, receiving smuggled Bibles and training young pastors to start new churches.

“In this repressive atmosphere people are coming to the Lord in record numbers,” Yeghnazar says, noting that almost 200,000 unique visitors come to 222’s Farsi gospel site each month. Many of them are seeking discipleship because they just gave their hearts to Christ.

I’ve been shocked to hear some sword-rattling Christians say they hope someone drops a nuclear bomb on Iran to stop Ahmadinejad. Let’s put aside hate and open our eyes to what God is doing behind the scenes. The next time you hear bad news coming out of that country, remember that a growing underground church full of new converts is spreading from Tabriz in the north to the southern city of Shiraz, where Esther prayed and stopped a genocide.

J. Lee Grady served as editor of Charisma for 11 years and is now contributing editor.

“Continue in the faith.”

Perseverance is the badge of true saints. The Christian life is not a beginning only in the ways of God, but also a continuance in the same as long as life lasts. It is with a Christian as it was with the great Napoleon: he said, “Conquest has made me what I am, and conquest must maintain me.” So, under God, dear brother in the Lord, conquest has made you what you are, and conquest must sustain you. Your motto must be, “Excelsior.” He only is a true conqueror, and shall be crowned at the last, who continueth till war’s trumpet is blown no more. Perseverance is, therefore, the target of all our spiritual enemies. The world does not object to your being a Christian for a time, if she can but tempt you to cease your pilgrimage, and settle down to buy and sell with her in Vanity Fair. The flesh will seek to ensnare you, and to prevent your pressing on to glory. “It is weary work being a pilgrim; come, give it up. Am I always to be mortified? Am I never to be indulged? Give me at least a furlough from this constant warfare.” Satan will make many a fierce attack on your perseverance; it will be the mark for all his arrows. He will strive to hinder you in service: he will insinuate that you are doing no good; and that you want rest. He will endeavour to make you weary of suffering, he will whisper, “Curse God, and die.” Or he will attack your steadfastness: “What is the good of being so zealous? Be quiet like the rest; sleep as do others, and let your lamp go out as the other virgins do.” Or he will assail your doctrinal sentiments: “Why do you hold to these denominational creeds? Sensible men are getting more liberal; they are removing the old landmarks: fall in with the times.” Wear your shield, Christian, therefore, close upon your armour, and cry mightily unto God, that by His Spirit you may endure to the end.

Brian McLaren & the “New Liberals”…

EMERGENT CHURCH is SPREADING SPIRITUAL CANCER
-Extracts by Marsha West.

In the Sixties the counterculture rejected consumerism,
individualism, traditional values and ideas, and protested against
their parent’s middle class values…. Now a similar assault on
historic orthodox Christianity is underway…

In John 8:31-32 Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are
truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth
will set you free.”

There is a growing movement afoot in the postmodern Church
that does not abide in God’s Word; hence they do not know
the truth. The movement calls itself “Emergent” or “Emerging
Church” (ECM) and it’s emerging away from orthodox Christianity,
spreading its spiritual cancer throughout the globe. ECM change
agents have made inroads into evangelicalism, big time. What
they preach is a counterfeit social gospel. They say they bring
a “message of peace.” Their hope is to make Christianity more
palatable to the world. Sounds altruistic, doesn’t it? But don’t
believe it! In order to accomplish their lofty goal, the shifters
must first repackage the Church.

So they’re touring the country, promoting their social gospel and
message of peace to the masses. Prominent ECM leader Brian
McLaren is spearheading the “Everything Must Change” tour.
According to McLaren’s website the planet is in Deep Shift – A
time of transition rethinking re-imagining and re-envisioning.

You may not have heard about The Shift yet, but you will – soon!
Shifters, like pod people, are in our midst… They lecture,
write for Christian news sources and they’re all over the Internet.
Now they’re touring the country. Many shifters are familiar faces
on TV and have become media darlings. Browse through your local
Christian bookstore and you’ll find their names lined up on shelves.
Brian McLaren, Jim Wallis, Tony Campolo, Marcus Borg, Dallas
Willard, Leonard Sweet, Erwin McManus, Phyllis Tickle , Rob Bell,
Dan Kimball, Doug Pagitt, Tony Jones, Scot McKnight, Eddie Gibbs,
Ryan Bolger, Jeff & Sherry Maddock, Peter Rollins, to name a few.
Every one of them are theological liberals!

But shifters are offended when they’re labeled liberal. And
besides, liberal is so yesterday! And let’s be honest here;
liberal has a negative connotation, thanks largely to vociferous
conservatives…

ECM’s beginnings

In his article, “Understanding the Emergent Church” Walter
Henenger says that while some of ECM’s leaders came of age
in the “new paradigm” churches of the Sixties and Seventies,
“the real starting point was the mid-1980s, when Gen X
ministries began catering to youth culture…”

In my research I ran across a panel discussion on You Tube,
“Let’s Talk Post-Modernism and the Emergent Church.”[16]
Here highly regarded orthodox theologians R.C. Sproul, Albert
Mohler and Ravi Zacharias had a “conversation” about
postmodernism, modernism, liberalism, and ECM.

The main thrust of ECM, the scholars say, is its rejection of
modernism and its embrace of postmodernism. Why reject
orthodoxy? Because the orthodoxy are absolutists. Absolutists
want to reinsert categories of right and wrong, whereas
postmodernists balk at doctrinal assertions. They gave as an
example Brian McLaren’s position on homosexuality in a Time
Magazine interview. Following is the  excerpt from Time:
“Frankly, many of us don’t know what we should think about
homosexuality. We’ve heard all sides but no position has yet
won our confidence so that we can say ‘it seems good to the
Holy Spirit and us.’ That alienates us from both the liberals
and conservatives who seem to know exactly what we should
think.” So McLaren suggested a five-year moratorium on making
pronouncements. And what will we do in the meantime? He
went on to say, “[W]e’ll practice prayerful Christian dialogue,
listening respectfully, disagreeing agreeably. When decisions
need to be made, they’ll be admittedly provisional. We’ll keep
our ears attuned to scholars in biblical studies, theology,
ethics, psychology, genetics, sociology, and related fields.
Then in five years , if we have clarity, we’ll speak; if not, we’ll
set another five years for ongoing reflection.”[17]

Um.the Bible says homosexuality is a sin, Brian. (Lev. 18:22,
Lev. 20:13, Rom.1:26-28, 1 Cor. 6:9-10,)

McLaren’s wishy-washy comment on homosexuality obviously
did not go over well with the panel. Near the end of the
discussion Albert Mohler commented that his response to the
homosexual question is the very essence of postmodernism.
He then cautioned, “It is the abdication of Christian responsibility.
It is the abdication of Christian conviction and it is a cave in of
Christian courag e. We do have an answer! And it’s not like we
don’t know what it is!”

As R.C. Sproul said so well, ECM appeals to Christians “who
don’t want to have to deal with theological conflict.” These same
folks relativize doctrine, and that makes Sproul angry. He then
points out that disagreeing doctrinally is a “bad thing.” Looking
rather grim-faced he said, “We can’t be satisfied with it. Because
truth is too important to kill it in the streets for the sake of peace!
You can’t do it!” Bravo!

The Emergent movement is most definitely gaining currency,
especially with young people and those who are dissatisfied
with mainline evangelicalism. Which is the reason it’s
imperative that committed Christians take a deeper look
into the “conversation.” Listen carefully to the language to see
whether or not what a person purports is within the pale of
orthodoxy. In other words, check to see if it’s biblical. Because
if the “conversation” doesn’t line up with Scripture, it’s not from
God. And if it’s not from God.it’s from the pit of hell.

By Riley Reade

Debunking the Stereotypical Glutton

• Gluttony is a sin (Pr 23:20-21, Pr 28:7)
• Gluttony is defined as eating so much as to waste or to eat in such a greed that none is left for others, hogging it all for oneself[1]
• Gluttony cannot be judged by ones personal appearance
• Weight is not a measure of gluttony
• Gluttony is not to be confused with slothfulness
• True – obesity can be a side effect of a glutton, but not every obese person is a glutton
• True – The thinnest man in the world could be the world’s worst glutton just as much as an obese person could
• Some people can eat a lot and gain little, and some people eat a little and gain a lot
• Gluttony is an act, not a condition
• A Glutton is a condition, but not a physical image.

The World’s “Image” Problem

To be healthy is the new fad. I agree, to be healthy is indeed something that is to be strived for. But in our world we are told that health has an image, and they are dead wrong.  We are told health looks like thin, tan, green, and fashionable. Only open up any magazine or watch any TV show; the world has a “one size fits all” image problem. Just a few hundred years ago beautiful was considered to be plump and fair-skinned. Now we have shifted to tan and thin. Who is right? What about people that are naturally fair-skinned and only burn. What about people that are born with a thicker figure? Are we to judge what God has made to be “good” or “ugly”? People, and even Christians, spend hours worrying about how they look and they try to mold themselves into an image that really does not exist. Our technology has made the fake image even more so and everyone is buying it. People do not like to accept the fact that everyone is different and it is a beautiful thing. It is sad to see people kill themselves to be something they are not and should never strive to be. Being obese is unhealthy, but just as much so is an extremely thin model. Since when is it ok to look like a holocaust survivor? That is a terrible thing, and so is this deception. If we cannot judge and discern even small things such as this that our society brainwashes into us, how can we have the mind of Christ?

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[1] Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online – http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gluttony

HAS TELEVISION Done THIS??
-Andrew Strom.

According to A.C. Nielsen, in a 65-year life the average American
will have spent 9 years glued to the TV. Now think about that for a
minute. Nine years of their life spent – doing what? Achieving what?
Can we imagine in our wildest dreams that this is what God wants
for us?

Statistics also tell us that on average, parents only spend 3 – 5
minutes per week in meaningful conversation with their children.
And yet the average child watches television for 1,680 minutes
per week. So who is raising these children? Parents or the TV?
Who is molding their minds, values, and attitudes? Why do so
many Christian children rebel and turn from God in their teen
years? Is there a connection?

We all know that a household of godly LOVE balanced with loving
DISCIPLINE is the ideal for bringing up children. But I want to put
it to you that HOURS OF INFLUENCE also make a huge difference.
I once wrote an article pointing out the two biggest factors in this:
TV and SCHOOL. In other words, TV hours and Peer pressure.
These 2 things alone have the power to change your child’s life.
And many times they are ripping them away from God. In that
article I recommended getting rid of TV and also starting to Home-
school. Many thought I was too radical. But we have seen it work
big-time. And we learnt the hard way.

What do children do when they have no TV? They read books, they
create things, they play with others. And they grow up without that
awful worldly cynicism and rebellion in their eyes. And of course
there are always DVDs if we want them to watch something.

We just had another minor “storm” on our Facebook page over
this quote from Leonard Ravenhill – “If you want your child to go to
hell, buy him a T.V. all for himself and (it’ll) destroy him!”

There were quite a few reactions – both for and against – so we are
going to discuss this on our website too. Here were a few of the
comments from people:-

David – “I agree… my husband and I have been without TV for about
2 months and we have seen God more clearly than ever working
in and through us. No more TV for us!!”

Mishael – “I am soooo anti-video games and t.v. We just got rid of
our t.v. in September. I hated it at first but am finally used to it!
Now when I watch t.v. at friends’ houses, I am shocked at what I
see because I’m not desensitized to it anymore.”

Austin – “I like what Paul Washer says about T.V. Men don’t do
great things by watching other men do nothing.”

Sandi – “In this modern day of technology, we can also include the
internet and our cell phones too. These modern day conveniences
can really preoccupy us, and take us away from Bible study and prayer.”

Marilena - “I agree to this, except that I only bought a TV for my
daughter so I can show her Christian DVDs on it and some cartoons
that are carefully selected by me… TV is a means of feeding things
into your heart… what seeds do you want in there? They will grow.”

Mark – “I’m not supporting TV but I’m also not supporting laws to
live by… If you have a problem with watching unclean things on TV
or the internet or doing anything unclean, making laws to control it
is not the answer. Something is wrong inside you. Laws are for the
unrighteous…”

Judah – “It wasn’t until I got the TV idol out of my life that I
started experiencing personal revival and hearing the call of God
to Street Preach.”

Sally – “Even many (or should I say “most”) of the so-called
Christian programs are eroneous, hypocritical, and/or phony.
According to God’s word, we are to set no unclean thing before us.
Is this law? or is this wisdom?… If you think TV is fine, I challenge
you to try turning it off for just a week or a month and see if
anything changes. If nothing else to prove to yourself that it’s just
a harmless box.”

Marilena – “It is not a matter of a law, but it is a matter of what’s
profitable and what is destructive.”

By Eric Barger
 
All of us have probably had the distasteful experience of overhearing someone cursing and using foul language. Sometimes, graffiti “artists” ply their illegal slogans and we’re the victims as we try to hurry our children or grandchildren past some freshly spray-painted wall, park bench, or boxcar. If you venture out very often to a mall or shopping area, then you have likely been subjected to foul language and unseemly activity at some point. If you lived much of your life without Christ in the world (as I did) then chances are that you remember the days when all of those off-color words were a part of your personal vocabulary. Praise the Lord that when He saved me He also cleansed me and, by the convicting power of the Spirit of God, He strengthens me to resist letting fly with a string of expletives in the manner that I once did. I’m not applauding myself here but just crediting the Lord for changing me and for continuing to refine His work in me day in and day out.
 
The fact is that our speech surely reflects what is going on in our soul. Jesus illustrates this in Matthew 12 as He makes the point that good men speak good things and evil men speak the opposite. He then states, “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37). He visits the same line of thinking in Matthew 15 and again in Mark 7. It should go without saying that this is surely no trivial teaching. After all, the Bible succinctly proclaims that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34b).
 
I’ve said all of that to say that, as repulsed as I am by the crude and filthy things that so effortlessly stream out of the mouths of so many around us these days, I am not shocked by them. Still, I was completely blindsided by such a display when I walked into a Starbucks coffee shop in the Seattle area recently. I wasn’t at all prepared for the blatant, in-your-face, vulgar proclamation spelled out in big block letters inside.
 
There in line in front of me – in the midst of a busy Saturday afternoon crowd – was an older teen with a brightly colored T-shirt which, on the back, displayed one of the most foul statements that one can make. In fact, I’m not even going to give you an idea of exactly what the shirt said so that your mind doesn’t participate in the guessing game as to what the words were. I lived in the perverted, anything goes world of professional rock music for two decades and I thought I had been around when it comes to what the world offers but, frankly, I stood there nearly dumbfounded, wondering, “Does that offend anyone else here?” As I looked around the busy shop, I took stock of the twenty or so patrons and the four baristas busy serving them. With the exception of one couple at a table in the corner, I may have been the oldest person present and, though I noticed others staring at the fellow whose shirt displayed the message, no one shook their head or seemed to act as though something was uncomfortably out of place. There was no outrage. No offense seemed to be taken. The fact is, I surmise that those present weren’t offended or shocked much at all. After all, it’s only words. Right? No, in reality, the people present, like the majority in our society (especially those under 40), have likely become accustomed to the particular phrase so boldly displayed on the shirt. They had become desensitized and hardened to the culture around them and probably had little if any problem with one of their peers displaying words that not long ago would have outraged the secular culture in a similar circumstance, let alone sorely offended us Christians.
 
As I stood waiting for my drink and watching the young man, a number of things crossed my mind. Should I ask for the manager? Should I make a scene and publicly call him out, exposing his uncouthness? (This was the response my flesh wanted to take.) Should I follow him outside and try to speak to him? Or should I just shrug my shoulders and be glad that my granddaughters hadn’t been with me to be subjected to the spectacle?
 
Once he exited the shop, I saw that the Lord had probably saved me a real, possibly dangerous, hassle, as he was obviously just one of several guys sitting around the tables outside. I couldn’t hear what they were saying but, by the looks of them, I can imagine that the text on his T-shirt might have been lightweight in comparison. Frankly, they had every appearance of thugs, young punks just waiting for a turn on “Cops” or a posting on “America’s Most Wanted.” I realize that today it is “cool” to repeatedly tattoo and pierce and display how tough you think you are, but this kid had decided to tell the whole world off in the foulest of words and his friends fit the sentiment displayed on his shirt!
 
Still angered in a way that simply does not come upon me often, I walked to my car, got in, and observed. Knowing it was fruitless, I decided to call the local sheriff precinct anyway, if only to vent my feelings. When I explained what the situation was to the officer who answered my call, he said, “Sir, I completely agree with you. It is gross and bad for the businesses, but the words on his shirt are constitutionally protected free speech and there is nothing we can do about it.” The officer again sympathized in agreement with me and we hung up.
 
THE “LOT” SYNDROME
 
Understand that I am obviously a huge fan of constitutionally protected free speech. However, the base level of which the courts have now ruled in favor does beg for an answer as to what might be protected next. Thanks to the efforts of the ACLU, Hustler’s Larry Flint, and liberal politicians, the courts have neutered nearly every existing obscenity law. It would appear that almost every vile ideal is now hunky-dory in America. We are surely calling evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20-21) and, sadly, biblically-literate folk know where it is all heading. As I sat observing the scene in front of the coffee shop, I thought to myself, “This is what the breakdown of truth, the loss of decency, and our new “liberal” interpretation of the words ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ have gotten us.” Now our kids take their lead from the pitiful role models and false heroes being turned out by Hollywood, MTV, and Comedy Central. Even the Christians – the real, authentic ones – have been conditioned and have lost much of their ability to blush.
 
I might add that Christians need to think twice before we condemn this kind of behavior and then shell out money at the box office or for DVD rentals to be fed the same by the growing number of misfits and social degenerates whose perceived talents have made billions while they advocate and validate the foul-mouthed, crude activities we are commonly subjected to.
 
It may be constitutionally protected free speech, but, until we Christians bring this stuff up and point out how prevalent and repulsive it is, we can expect only an escalation of the same. This is exactly the plight of Abraham’s nephew, Lot.
 
The Bible identifies him as a “righteous man” who was “vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked” (see II Peter 2:5-8). Yet, he had lived around such evil for so long that, when the two angels came to warn him of the pending destruction of Sodom (Genesis 19:1-11), he attempted dialoguing with demon-possessed men and even offered his virgin daughters to them in compromise! He had become used to living around the most evil attitudes and activities imaginable and, though disturbed by the foul “conversation of the wicked,” his sensibilities had been severely dulled and his judgment was skewed.
 
Though I wish somehow that I would have publicly confronted the young man, in retrospect, I should have asked for the manager of the coffee shop and complained that they had even served him. However, judging from what I saw, it would probably have done little good. I have learned since the incident that the corporate policy of Starbucks is to never refuse service to a customer due to offensive language or behavior. Frankly, though, I encourage store owners and even corporations such as Starbucks to institute a discrimination policy similar to “no shirt, no shoes, no service” when it comes to obscenity. Yes, this is America, and I thank God that our free speech – even that which offends – is protected. However, we also have the right to ostracize clientele who are in effect running customers off and whose presence works against the intended shopping experience that businesses count on giving customers, particularly in a social/leisure setting like a Starbucks store. As I was writing this, a friend told me of an instance when a teenager was actually thrown out of a Sam’s Club outlet because he was wearing a T-shirt similar to the one I’ve described here. Right on and Amen!
 
This is all a result of the culture’s creeping acceptability of offensive and down-right evil language, behavior, and attitudes. Moreover, the real core reason for this is often because of “freethinking” parenting that an 18- or 19-year-old could act out in this casual, laissez faire way. By the way, the young man walked away with a fellow easily in his 40’s. I wondered to myself, “Could that been his father???!!!” This is just a small reflection of what my generation has brought upon us with the hippies, free love, LSD, and the counterculture movement. Forty-five years ago we proclaimed, “If it feels good do it,” and “Do your own thing, man,” and the fruit of that thinking is now apparent in the teen culture of 2010.
 
SYMPTOMS OF THE END
 
But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
- Matthew 24:37-39
 
In 1 Samuel 15 we find that in God’s economy rebellion is equal to witchcraft. This is surely the spirit of our age today. Jesus, of course, had it pegged in the above passage from Matthew 24. Just as in the days of Noah, the world today is oblivious to its precarious spiritual plight and the judgment that is fast approaching – but wise followers of God’s Word do understand. The majority of those in the world around us seem to think nothing of what I’ve described above. The culture is careening headlong toward destruction and seems to be completely unaware of it. Here we are, condemning “free speech” and protected expression that would have horrified the world, let alone the Church, a short time ago. I feel certain that, instead of agreement, over time I’ll receive some anonymous mail telling me how prude-like and backward I am. Somebody – claiming to be “Christian” – is bound to repeat the tired old line continually voiced so often by the world: “Don’t shove your old-fashioned, outdated morality down my throat, Eric Barger!” Well, I’m not. If you are a defender of using dirty words and want to argue about it, take it up with God. After all, our now-extinct obscenity laws, which those hapless folks at the ACLU have managed to have stricken, were each reflections of biblical morality. Of course, though, who wants that now? Since we’re so “educated” and so enlightened and so very much ahead of every previous generation, then we surely don’t need to be concerned with the archaic rules that so restricted and repressed our thirst for immorality in times past, right?
 
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
- Ephesians 4:29
 
But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
- Colossians 3:8
 
Let’s also remember that, in the midst of all of this, we have a genre of people manning Emergent Church pulpits who claim it’s kosher and oh so freeing to let fly with any and every profanity (including the one on the T-shirt that provoked this missive) and that these counterfeit Christians do so from behind the “sacred desk,” the pulpit! I cringe to think of what many claiming to be followers of Christ have accepted – all because they don’t bother to read or believe the Bible. There, my friends, is the root of the problem.
 
HOPE
 
I imagine a few reading this might have a clue as to the type of talk and activity secular (and some Christian) teens engage in today. Frankly, however, most of you would be shocked to know the things texted by teens to one another. Each week we hear increasingly troubling accounts of children as young as 8 and 9 engaging in sexual activity and, as prevalent as this stuff might be, this grandfather of four isn’t taking it lightly. I surely don’t want to stand idly by while some foolish kid, flaunting his lack of morality and couth on a mission to acquaint my kiddos with the crudest of words in the English language, does so without any interference.
 
So, is it a lost cause? Have we so lost our way that we should just expect our teens to be drawn into the gutter that produced the T-shirt I saw this week? Many popular bumper stickers display the same sorts of messages and with atheist groups now proclaiming on billboards around the world, “There is no God,” it makes me wonder if the same gross phrases will soon be visible for all to see along our nation’s highways, too.
 
The most pressing question for the majority of those who will read this is, “What hope do our Christian teens and children have?” The psalmist asked the same question in Psalm 119. Verse nine asks, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?” and then continues with the only answer – “By taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” It is only a lost cause if we clam up and do nothing when we are faced with evil. It is only a lost cause when we fail to point the next generation to the truth Psalm 119 expresses in this passage.
 
The only hope for our children and grandchildren is a foundation rooted firmly in the Word of God and a solid and reverent relationship with the Savior, Jesus Christ. It may go without saying to some and may not fit the psychologically-bound mold that so many think can fix their problems, but resolving to follow God’s precious Word is simply the only antidote for what ails us and the only remedy that will stave off the judgment of God upon us.
 
I encourage you to be aware, yet not distraught, that we are watching as the end-times activities prophesied in the Bible are coming to pass all around us. Matthew 24 is a veritable checklist that alerts Bible-believers as to where we are on God’s sovereign, prophetic time table at present. It was just the kind of repugnant filth that I saw adorning the young man’s T-shirt inside the coffee shop that surely typified Noah’s day before the flood and the time of Lot just before fire fell from heaven. The orgies of ancient Rome were surely on par with the public acceptance of foul speech and perverse activities that we are watching become normal in this hour. We can be absolutely assured that, unless there is a dramatic acceptance of Jesus Christ accompanied by true repentance across our land, it will end the same way for America as it did for Egypt, Sodom and Rome. The question for us remains: will we stand and be counted, or will we just try to blend in with the perishing and act like evil is actually normal?

-The Berean Call Newsletter

Question: I have a friend who commented, “I’m so puzzled why the U.S. is giving Israel all the weapons they ask for. They’re forcibly taking over Palestine, [that has] nothing…no weapons, nothing. Israel is just bombing the heck out of them…leaving nothing and taking over everything. More people need to learn about this….Israel’s cause is not a good one, a Christian one, or a justified one in any sense of the word.” How should I answer this?

Response:Your friend’s errors concerning Israel need to be corrected. The U.S. has never given “them all the weapons they ask for.” Neither is it true that the “Palestinians” have no weapons. One of the reasons for Operation Cast Lead, the last Israeli incursion into Gaza, was that the Arabs were constantly firing missiles, rockets, and mortars into Israeli cities. Have we forgotten Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in the 1980s, where, after pinning the PLO in Beirut, the PLO was evacuated to Cyprus? In 1982, I was amazed to watch trucks loaded with all sorts of munitions being loaded for transport during this evacuation.

Have we forgotten that in 1948 the UN partitioned the promised land, and the Arabs were given Gaza, the West Bank, and substantial portions of the land? They refused to accept it, and shortly thereafter, five Muslim armies invaded. Had they accepted the land, the so called Palestinians would have had their state then. The term “Palestinian” was only adopted because the Arabs perceived its political value. Not too long before the Six-Day War, the Jews were called “Palestinians.” During WWII, the British had a Palestinian Brigade, all Jews. The Palestinian Post(now The Jerusalem Post) was a Jewish newspaper. The Palestinian Symphony was an all-Jewish orchestra.

There is certainly enough documentation to demonstrate that Arabs wanted nothing to do with the name “Palestinian” or “Palestine” until they saw the advantage of the same. As Walid Shoebat has asked, “Why is it that on June 4th, 1967, I was a Jordanian and overnight I became a Palestinian?” Consider the following quote: “There is no such country as Palestine. ‘Palestine’ is a term the Zionists invented. There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country was for centuries part of Syria. ‘Palestine’ is alien to us. It is the Zionists who introduced it” (Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi, Syrian Arab leader to British Peel Commission, 1937).

If Israel is “bombing the heck out of them…leaving nothing and taking over everything,” why did they relocate settlers out of Gaza and turn it over to Hamas? It cannot be overemphasized that the Palestinian Charter has always called for the literal destruction of Israel. We often forget that Islamic prophecy demands the literal extermination of every Jew. Imams are often fond of quoting from the hadith: “Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said, ‘The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say, ‘O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him’” (Volume 4, Book 52, Number 177). The “hour” means “the last day.” So, for the last day to come, the last Jew must be killed. This is Muslim theology.

Some feel that the Jews no longer occupy a special position with the Lord. Jeremiah 31 spoke of the time to come when the Lord would make a new covenant with them. In that day, the nation of Israel would no longer need the old covenant that He had made with their fathers (i.e., the law). More wonderful yet, each one would know the Lord from the least of them unto the greatest (vv. 31-34). This same passage states that the Lord has given specific signs (the sun, moon, and stars), promising that He will never totally cast away the nation of Israel. If there is no sunrise, phases of the moon, or the stars cease shining, we’ll absolutely know that the Lord has cast away Israel. We must not let our preconceptions dictate the pronouncement of Scripture.

THE HOLY SPIRIT is NOT AN “IT”
-by J. Lee Grady.

We charismatics celebrate the Holy Spirit, yet our theology of the
Spirit is often off balance.

Two popular charismatic speakers stood on a stage two years ago
and decided they should demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit.
One guy pretended to throw an imaginary “fireball” at his friend,
who promptly fell over as if he had been zapped by the divine power.
Then, feeling equally playful, the guy on the floor stood to his feet
and threw the “fireball” back at his friend—who fell after the “blob”
of God hit him.

Everybody laughed and had a hilarious time at this outrageous
party. There was just one problem. The Holy Spirit is not a blob,
a fireball or any other form of divine energy that can be thrown,
manipulated, maneuvered or controlled.

This scenario happened in a charismatic church—a place
where the ministry of the Holy Spirit is presumably honored
and understood. It’s incredibly sad that many of us who wear
the charismatic label have forgotten what the Scriptures teach
about the third person of the Trinity. At the risk of sounding way
too elementary, I’d like to offer this basic layman’s guide to
pneumatology—the study of the Holy Spirit and how He works:

1. He is the Spirit of the Lord. He is not a force (as in Star Wars),
a magical power or an “it.” The Holy Spirit is God, and we should
revere Him as God. The concept of the Trinity doesn’t make sense
to the human mind. Yet Scripture reveals God as a triune being.
As theologian Norman Geisler writes: “God is one what (nature)
with three whos (persons). This is a mystery but not a
contradiction.”

2. He is our Regenerator. Jesus told Nicodemus that we are
born again by the Holy Spirit (John 3:5). True conversion is the
most supernatural thing we will ever experience! When a person
puts his faith in Christ for salvation, it is the Spirit who opens the
heart and quickens divine life. He then indwells us. While this is
an invisible process, it is no less miraculous. When we are
converted our hearts cry out, “Abba! Father” because the Holy
Spirit is “the Spirit of adoption” (Romans 8:15); He gives us
confidence that we are now children of God.

3. He is our Empowerer. When we are baptized in the Holy
Spirit we are “clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49,
NASB). The Spirit who already indwells us fills us to the point
of overflowing. Jesus said the Holy Spirit’s power would flow
out of us like “rivers of living water” from our innermost being
(John 7:38). This overflow releases supernatural boldness
(Acts 4:31) as well as the anointing for various gifts of the
Spirit including prophecy, speaking in tongues and healing.

4. He is the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit has access to all the
wisdom and knowledge of God. When we abide in Him, He
leads us continually into truth—causing us to grow and
mature spiritually. He wants to fill us with the treasures of
heavenly revelation. We can fully trust Him because He never
does anything to violate the Word of God. As our teacher
(1 John 2:27), He knows the difference between truth and error,
and those who depend on Him will walk in discernment and
avoid deception, pride and carnality.

5. He is our Counselor. This word is also translated “Advocate,”
“Comforter” or “Helper.” The Greek word, parakletos, means “one
called alongside to help.” It implies that the Spirit comes to our
legal defense when we are accused or troubled; it also means
He is a close friend who offers encouragement, consolation and
direction when we face any difficulty. He is truly a friend who
“sticks closer than a brother” (Prov. 18:24).

6. He is our Intercessor. This is probably one of the greatest
miracles of grace. The Spirit who lives inside of us “intercedes
for us with groanings too deep for words” (Rom. 8:26). Even
when we don’t know how to pray, the Spirit prays the perfect
will of God. No matter what kind of dark difficulty we face, the
Spirit travails for us until we emerge on the other side.

7. He is our Unifier. Like the master conductor of an orchestra,
the Holy Spirit pulls together each individual Christian—with all
of our diverse gifts—and causes us to flow in synchronization as
one body. The Spirit distributes His gifts to individuals (1 Cor. 12:11)
and He brings about the “fellowship of the Spirit” (2 Cor. 13:14)—
a supernatural, loving harmony among believers that overcomes
jealousy, envy, strife and bitterness.

8. He is our Refiner. The Spirit took the form of a dove at Christ’s
baptism, but He is often portrayed in Scripture as a fire. He is
the “refiner’s fire” (Mal. 3:2-3) who purifies us of selfishness, pride
and wrong motives. The Holy Spirit is indeed the fire of blazing
holiness, and He can be both grieved (Eph. 4:30) and quenched
(1 Thess. 5:19) when we disobey His promptings.

As we prepare to celebrate the day of Pentecost in less than a
month (it’s on May 23), let’s meditate on all aspects of the Spirit’s
work in our lives—and invite Him to fill us in a fresh way.

by Pat Holiday

Mark dedicates more of his account to Jesus’ miracles than any of the other Gospel writers. For Mark, these miracles were a demonstration of Jesus’ power. His power over disease, death, to provide food, His authority to forgive sin, the forces of evil, power over evil spirits not in His immediate proximity, power to heal the blind, and even over nature.

Many flocked to Him to be healed and fed. Some wondered who Jesus was. However, others followed Him. Jesus is a miracle worker.

• Water changed to wine, (Jn. 2:9).
• Nobleman’s son, (Jn. 4:46).
• Drought of fishes, (Lk. 5:6).
• Demoniac in the synagogue, (Mk, 1:26; Lk. 4:35).
• Peter’s mother-in-law healed, (Matt. 8:14; Mk. 1:31, Lu. 4:38).
• Cleansing the leper, (Mt. 8:3; Mk. 1:41; Lk. 5:13).
• Paralytic, (Matt. 9:2; Mk. 2:3; Lk. 5:18).
• Impotent man healed, (Jn. 5:5).
• Withered hand, (Mt. 12:10; Mk 3:1; Lk. 6:6).
• Centurions’ servant, (Mt. 8:5; Lk. 7:2).
• Raising the widow’s son, (Lk. 7:11).
• Demoniac, (Mt. 12:22; Lk. 7:11).
• Tempests stilled, (Mt. 8:26; Mk. 4:39; Lk. 8:24).
• Raising of Jarius’ daughter, (Mt. 9:18; Mk. 5: 42; Lk. 8:41).
• Issue of Blood, (Matt. 9:20; Mk. 5:25; Lk. 8:43).
• Blind men, (Mt. 9:27).
• Demoniac, (Mt. 9:32).
• Feeding five thousand, 9Mt. 14:15; Mk 9:41; Lk. 9:12; Jn. 6:5).
• Walking on the sea, (Mt. 14:25; Mk. 6:26; Lk. 9:37).
• The daughter of Syro-Phoenician, (Mt. 15:22; Mk. 7:25).
• Feeding the four thousand, (Mt. 15:32; Mk. 8:8).
• Deaf and dumb healed, (Mk 7:33).
• Blind man, (Mk. 8:23).
• A lunatic child, (Mt. 17:14; Mk. 9:26; Lk. 9:37).
• Tribute money, (Mt. 17:24).
• Ten lepers, (Lk. 17:12).
• Blind man, (Jn. 9:1).
• Lazarus raised, (Jn. 11).
• Heals the woman with the spirit of infirmity,( Lk. 13:11).
• Man with dropsy, (L. 14:2).
• Blind men. (Mt. 20:30; Mk. 10:46).
• Cursing the fig-tree, (Mt. 21:19).
• Malchus healed, (Lk. 22:51).
• Second drought of fishes, (Jn. 21:6).
• His resurrection, (Lk. 24:6; Jn. 10:18).
• Appearing to his disciples. (Mt. 14:14; 15:29-31).
• Ascension to heaven. (Mk .16:19).

Peter miracle worker

• Lame man cured, (Act. 3:7).
• Ananias and Sapphira, (Act 5:5; 5:10).
• Aeneas, (Acts :34); Dorcas, (Acts 9:40).

Paul is a miracle worker

• Elymas blinded, (Acts 13:11).
• Lame man cured, (Acts 14:10).
• Damsel with the spirit of divination, (Acts 16:18; 19:11).
• Eutychus restored to life, (Acts 20:10).
• Viper’s bite, (Acts 28:5).
• Father of Publius healed, (Acts 28:8.
• Other special miracles by Paul, (Acts. 14:3; 19.11.

Miracles performed by the disciples and apostles.

• By the seventy, (Lk. 10-17).
• By Stephen, (Acts 6:8).
• By Philip, (Acts 8:6-13).
• Design of, that men might know the power of the Lord.

In his statement about looking at a woman lustfully (Mat 5:28) he acknowledges that men are attracted to woman visually, see Adams comments on seeing Eve for the first time:

(Gen 2:22-23) Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. {23} The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman, ‘ for she was taken out of man.”

Pornography is not a modern phenomenon, it has existed for millennium, but modern technology has made it more realistic through print, film or video. Pornography is closely allied to idolatry because one is worshipping the image of a woman and attempting to become one flesh with the image. It encourages mental promiscuity, it is never satisfied, it never finds fulfillment other than an orgasm, it is searching for perfection, the original Eve. It exalts and idolizes one’s image of woman, but at its heart is the amelioration of the inner loneliness of Adam, but it fails because it involves an image of a woman. There is no commitment involved. The joys and difficulties involved with a real woman are not encountered, she is an image of man’s creation. She is passive unlike a real woman, who responds to ones caresses.

Worley, Win     Demolishing the Hosts of Hell -

“Marital relationships are often broken or marred by the work of evil spirits which commonly work in the husband. Because of wrong information and erroneous conditioning in our society, he will lust after his wife.
This lust expresses itself in a strong masculine sex drive with selfishness and a brutal indifference to the sensitivity of the wife and her feelings and needs.

A woman senses this lust and is offended by it, often feeling her husband has approached her as if she were a harlot to be exploited and used for his pleasure. As one wife expressed it, “There are times when I feel like a spittoon.”

Such an encounter leaves the wife wounded and unsatisfied, often feeling unclean and unvalued by her spouse. This can bring a distaste and repulsion in her toward sexual contact with her mate. This in turn generates frustration and anger in the passionately aroused husband. He is mad to feel inadequate by her rejection (active or passive) and yet his approach often makes it almost impossible for her to respond warmly. Too often the only time there seems to be any tenderness toward or interest in her is in the bedroom. No woman can stomach this repeatedly.

Men must be reprogrammed to love, not lust after, their wives. Love does not rule out the strong sexual desires or fulfillment of them in marriage, but does refine and sweeten them so that the maximum satisfaction and benefit can come to each partner in the union. Women must never use the bedroom as a time for bargaining or airing of grievances. There is time for this, but it is not when the husband is romantic and aroused with desire for relations with his wife. If she presses such things on him at such a time, one of two things will happen. He may quickly accede to her every demand in order to have his way in bed. However, repeated episodes of this nature will build up a deep resentment against her for doing this to him. On the other hand he may begin to develop an aversion for sex – with her – because of the emotional price he has to pay. Woe to the woman who puts her man through these gymnastics in order to consummate a sexual relationship. He may find he can do without her nicely or find a substitute in another person, his work or some other outlet. Males are equipped with a very strong sex drive but if a woman thwarts him repeatedly on various pretexts, she will live to regret it.

A wound to the male vanity in the area of sexual adequancy or potency is very difficult to heal and even more difficult to live with. Many women have discovered that it would have been far simpler to have accommodated their spouses more often rather than to face the results of their repeated refusals and rebuffs which created deep frustrations and anger in the husbands. Because sex is such a mental thing, the real meaning of the sex act can easily be destroyed for the male. It then becomes nothing more than a physical release of pressure, much like urination. This can trigger dangerous dissatisfaction and restlessness in a male and has contributed to marital discord and breakup. No wonder the Bible admonishes older women to teach the younger to love their husbands.(Titus 2:3-5). Unfortunately many of the older females have damaged their own marriages by sexual rationing to their husbands and what they teach the young will not help.

Man must learn to bridle and control his sex impulses and not expect his wife to satisfy him always, regardless of cost to the wife. He must learn to pace and practice abstinence for the benefit and blessing of the wife. Mutual happiness is the goal, not unbridled satisfaction of one partner at the expense of the other. Many men enter marriage like spoiled brats who have always had their way. They have never denied themselves sexual pleasure whenever they desired it, either through sexual relationships or masturbation. They must recognize this as childish selfishness and work to satisfy and please their mate rather than themselves.

Many men force their wives into oral, anal and other sexual perversions. What they do not realize is that this gives openings for spirits to enter, setting them up for homosexuality. In this realm, what a woman can do, a man can do better, because he understands male anatomy and responses and can be quick to comply. These practices can cause a man to fall into the snare of perversion when the situation is right. The same is true of a woman and lesbianism.

Fear of Homosexuality is a driving one in many American men, primarily because most have at some time in their life had homosexual contacts. They fear falling into the snare and therefore throw up a great facade of hatred of anything resembling homosexuality. One man in his thirties I dealt with recently, while in the fifth and sixth grades, was introduced to new erotic pleasures by some older buddies. Mutual masturbation led to oral sex. After he finally broke off the practices, he was left with a fiercely demanding habit of masturbation. He had no further homosexual experiences, but became exceedingly heterosexual, plunging into many affairs, which often involved oral sex with the women.

When he married, he and his wife experimented with many forms of sexual gratification detailed in the sex manuals, including oral sex. After they were both saved, by mutual consent they dropped all such things and settled into a satisfying sex life without any of the former overtones of perversion. He came to me seeking release from a terrible foreboding sense of fear which tormented and upset him. It was vague and he could not analyze exactly what it was. As I prayed with him, the Lord said it was Oral Sex and a deep-seated terror of being a homosexual. When I questioned him about his area he told me of his encounters as a youngster.

When I demanded that the ruler of Oral Sex manifest, a cackling laugh came forth and he informed me that he was an exceedingly powerful spirit and had had this “fool” for all these years and by no means would he come out! He declared that he and Homosexuality had this “stupid bastard” bound and they would never release him. I pointed out that the man had had no homosexual contacts since he was a young teen and also that he was very happily married.

The demon snarled, “I know it! That lousy bitch, we would have gotten him a lot of times if she hadn’t been so damned loving and met his needs. But we still have him… and he doesn’t even know it.” Then angrily, “That fool! He has fought so against us. I tried to get him to look at the other guys in the showers and locker rooms. Damn him, he just won’t cooperate, just goes home to that bitch he married. I even arranged for him to have a gay roommate in the service and had guys approach him at work. The idiot! He could have such fun if he would just listen. I hate his damned guts, and I hate your too, Worley. We’ll still get him though. We’ve got our hooks in him and have made him so miserable and the dummy doesn’t even know where it is coming from. For years we had him hooked good on Masturbation and tortured him regularly with that, but he got control over that. Damn him! We’ll get him back though and wear him down.

Let him climb. We will shoot him down eventually for we are all still here.” Deliverance eventually dislodged them. Oral Sex spirits lodge in the lips, tongue, taste buds, jaws, mouth and the throat. They are also in the sex organs. After dealing with many spirits of perversion, we know that they can enter through the eyes, the ears or participation, active or passive. In one case, a friend of mine was delivering a woman who had been introduced and forced into oral sex by an uncle when she was only 5 or 6 years of age. As she grew up she continued this with her dates. At her deliverance large gobs of slimy material were vomited which reeked with the strong odor of male semen.”

The corrupted church had so many saints and gods to be prayed to and worshiped, and so many monasteries, pilgrimages, lifeless churches, relics manufactured and invented for the sake of formalism, ritualism, and legalism, and lying miracles that only by the grace of God did any foundation or remnant of believers so remain. The church worshiped dead stocks and stones; it gave adoration to a piece of bread rather than to Christ; it gloried works instead of the blood of the lamb; it recognized the word of man as that which is the final authority rather than the Word of God; it confused the Law of God and the Gospel into the same thing of understanding the law and the gospel and their differences; its leaders committed adultery and fornication simultaneously following a vow of celibacy; it invoked a vow of poverty, but possessed great wealth; it petitioned itself to be separate from the world, but tried and did rule over the world; it took a reign of incorruption and immortality, and made it into a reign of corruption and mortality; it replaced the grace of Christ with that of worldly, carnal, and exterior fixtures that constitute formalism, legalism, and ritualism such as the mass, hours-singing-service, Lent-fast,  jubilees,  the advocation of saints, the advocation of angels, praying to images, pilgrimages, vows of chastity (or celibacy), wilful  poverty, pardons, indulgences, penance, buildings of chapels, and other things.

In this church, the ritual, rites, and ceremonies became the central theme and the central essence of worship rather than the grace of God without any such thing as this.  If all this is necessary, then, the death of Christ is in vain and grace is dethroned!

Source

Many Christian and Jewish yogis are incorporating prayer and religious teachings into the practice. ‘It allows us to blur the line between the physical and the spiritual,’ one leader says.

Christian pop music played quietly in the background as instructor Bryan Brock led a recent yoga class at the nondenominational Church at Rocky Peak in Chatsworth.

Incorporating prayer and readings from the Bible, Brock urged his class of about 20 students to find strength in their connection to their creator through yoga’s deep, controlled breathing. “The goal of Christian yoga is to open ourselves up to God,” he said. “It allows us to blur the line between the physical and the spiritual.”

The instructor then recited the Lord’s Prayer while his students moved slowly through a series of postures known as the sun salutation.

Such hybrid classes, which combine yoga practice with elements of Christianity or Judaism, appear to be growing in popularity across Southern California and elsewhere.

Some Christians call their versions of the discipline holy yoga or Yahweh yoga and some teachers urge participants to “breathe down Jesus.” Jewish yogis, in turn, have developed — and in some cases, even trademarked — Torah yoga, Kabbalah yoga and aleph bet yoga, applying Eastern meditative movements to Jewish prayer and study.

Meanwhile, Californian Muslims who practice yoga have yet to merge it with the teachings of the Koran or worship of Allah, a local leader says. And there are skeptics within all three Abrahamic religions who question whether it is proper to integrate the Hindu-based spiritual practice into Western monotheistic traditions.

Rayna Mike said she was skeptical of yoga before she started going to Brock’s class at the Church at Rocky Peak, an evangelical congregation. “I never did it before because I considered it Eastern philosophy and I didn’t want any part of it,” said Mike, a Bel-Air businesswoman.

Mike changed her mind when her trainer at the Church on the Way in Van Nuys recommended the yoga class, and she said the practice has improved her health while feeding her soul.

“You can go and sweat anywhere, but that’s not the point,” she said. “This is a beautiful thing. It’s an answer to my prayers.”

Brock completed a 200-hour accredited course in Phoenix designed by Brooke Boon, author of the book “Holy Yoga.” Boon has trained nearly 200 Christian yogis, about a dozen of whom are teaching in Southern California.

“Christ is my guru. Yoga is a spiritual discipline much like prayer, meditation and fasting,” Boon said in a telephone interview. “No one religion can claim ownership.”

Some fundamentalist Christians distance themselves from yoga, saying it is inseparable from Hinduism or Buddhism and therefore dangerous, even blasphemous. Some Orthodox Jewish authorities warn that if practiced with all its Eastern components, including Sanskrit chanting and small statues of deities, it amounts to avodah zarah, or the worship of false gods.

For many religious Jews, Christians and Muslims, viewing yoga as a physical rather than spiritual practice solves the dilemma.

But Rabbi Avivah Winocur Erlick, a chaplain at Providence Tarzana Medical Center, says it is impossible to separate yoga from her Jewish spiritualism. About six years ago, Erlick began having intense spiritual experiences while doing yoga. She sought advice from a rabbi.

“He said, ‘God has been trying to reach you all these years and he is reaching you through yoga,” Erlick recalled. The rabbi challenged her to reconcile yoga with Judaism, which led to five years of study to become a rabbi. “For me, yoga is prayer,” Erlick said.

Erlick, who is writing a book on the subject, says Jews have vigorously debated the issue for two decades. She counts 83 active teachers, mainly in the U.S. and Israel, who combine yoga and Judaism.

One is Californian Ida Unger, who draws on Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, to interpret yoga postures as Hebrew letters. Unger recently demonstrated her aleph bet yoga to seniors at Los Angeles’ Milken Community High School.

“I was in a triangle pose and I had an epiphany. I was an aleph,” Unger told the class, posing in the shape of the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

“In Kabbalah, letters are the building blocks with which the holy creator is channeled to Earth.”

Unger chants shalom (peace) instead of om, and recites the daily Jewish prayer for awakening when she does the sun salutation.

Milken students Jamie Mayer and Sharon Winter, both 17, said they found the hybrid yoga class more spiritually fulfilling than conventional synagogue services.

“I want my yoga practice to be my daily prayer. It’s not instead of, but in addition to, my other Jewish practices,” Jamie said.

Rabbi Yechiel Hoffman, who teaches the teens’ Jewish Thought class at Milken, said there are “places of alignment and integration” between yoga and Judaism — particularly in Kabbalah — but he cautioned that important elements may be watered down or lost when religions borrow from one another.

Still, Hoffman has no problem with Judaism embracing yoga as it has embraced aspects of other cultures throughout history. “Judaism has always borrowed from other religions to re-energize itself,” he said.

For local Muslims, the debate is just beginning.

Although Islam’s mystical strain of Sufism was influenced by Indian yogic practices, some strict Muslims view it as out of bounds. In 2008, Malaysia’s top Islamic authority issued a fatwa, a nonbinding prohibition, against yoga. That angered Muslim yoga teachers across Asia, and many continue their yoga practice.

Muslim daily prayers already offer a “personal and direct connection with the creator,” says Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California. He also believes that as long as there is no Hindu or Buddhist religious content, yoga is “no different than jogging around the track.”

Syed fully expects that some Muslims in California will eventually develop a hybrid spiritual practice.

“I’m sure one day somebody will try to combine yoga with Islam and they will get a following,” Sayed said.

Source

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/12/2010 22:14 -0500

And all the pundits thought that the IMF would be on the hook for just €10 billion… The IMF has just announced that it is expanding its New Arrangement to Borrow (NAB) multilateral facility from its existing $50 billion by a whopping $500 billion (SDR333.5 billion), to $550 billion. The current lending participant group of 26 entities will be increased by 13 new members all of whom will contribute token amount of capital to the NAB. The one country most on the hook in the new and revised NAB – the United States of America, will provide over $105 billion in total commitments, or 20% of the total facility. The US is currently on the hook for just $10 billion, meaning its participation in global bail outs just increased by $95 billion. And the bulk of these bailouts will certainly be located across the Atlantic. What is most troublesome is the massive expansion of the NAR. If the IMF believes that over half a trillion in short-term funding is needed imminently, is all hell about to break loose.

Never one to present a realistic picture Dominique (or is that Mrs, Pisani?) Strauss-Khan said: “The expansion and enlargement of the NAB borrowing arrangements provides a very strong multilateral foundation for the Fund’s efforts in crisis prevention and resolution, as an essential back-stop to the Fund’s quota resources. This will help ensure that the Fund has access to adequate resources to help members that are vulnerable to financial crises.”

If memory serves us right, the Fund’s current resources give it acces to about a third of a trillion, so as of today the IMF has recourse funding to just under a trillion. Something big must be coming.

Some more details on the NAB from the just released PR:

The NAB is a standing set of credit arrangements under which participants commit resources to IMF lending when these are needed to supplement quota resources. The expanded NAB will become operational when it receives formal acceptances from the required proportion of current and potential participants, which will require legislative backing in some cases.¹
“The expansion of the NAB will make an important contribution to global financial stability, but it is not a substitute for a general increase in the Fund’s quota resources. The Fund is, and shall remain, a quota-based institution. It is important now that member countries rapidly take the necessary steps to make the increased resources available,” Mr. Strauss-Kahn underscored.
Background
The NAB is a credit arrangement between the IMF and a group of members and institutions to provide supplementary resources to the IMF when these are needed to forestall or cope with an impairment of the international monetary system. The NAB is supplementary to quota resources, which are made up of the quota subscriptions each country pays upon joining the Fund, broadly based on its relative size in the world economy. IMF members’ quotas currently total SDR 217.4 billion (about US$330 billion). Like quota allocations, the NAB is reviewed on a regular basis.
The recent unprecedented shock confronting the global economy has led to a sharp increase in the demand for IMF financing. To ensure that the IMF continues to have sufficient resources to meet demand, leaders of the G-20 agreed in April 2009 that immediate financing from members of US$250 billion would subsequently be folded into an expanded and more flexible NAB, increased by up to $500 billion. This call was endorsed by the IMFC. The G-20 leaders reaffirmed their commitment on September 25, 2009 to a tripling of the resources available to the IMF, from a pre-crisis level of about US$250 billion. At its meeting in October 2009, the IMFC welcomed the expected agreement to expand and enhance the NAB. Pending the entering into force of the expanded NAB, member countries have pledged more than $300 billion in immediate bilateral financing should the Fund require additional resources for lending.

We have a few questions:

1) Just where will central banks suddenly find access to over three hundred billion in SDRs (which is what this facility is based on)? Also, we are curious just how this SDR expansion will impact dollar levels. As the dollar is the primary component in the SDR basket (17%), banks will have to sell more dollars than other currencies on a pro rata basis to increase their SDR holdings. What will happen to the DXY when $85 billion new dollars flood the market via assorted CBs but mostly the FRBNY?

2) Who came up with the expansion factor? Why is Japan’s allocation increasing by 18.7x, that of the US by 10.4x, while that of the Bundesbank only by 7.2x? We thought the IMF is more of a eurocentric bailout facility? Why does it fall upon the US taxpayers to disproprtionately bailout Greece?

3) What is the joke with having Greece join the group of new participants? The IMF sure has a sick sense of humor.

4) Curious how this comes the day before Greece is supposed to auction off some ultra-short term debt. If this facility is enacted, watch for socereign credit curves to hit 60 degrees, with near-term risk disappearing, once again courtesy of Joe Sixpack. We hope you pay your taxes by the April 15 deadline.

5) Funny money will galore. At this point nobody will allow anyone or anything to fail.

Here is the full table of old and existing contributors. Congrats US – you are once again leading the charge in the world bailout.

By Pat Holiday

“And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts; and yet show I unto you a more excellent way,” (I Cor.12:28-31).

The apostle Paul says in (Eph. 4:11), that “Jesus gave.” This passage also says, “God set.” It doesn’t say that Peter Wagner gives the Body of Christ Apostles or prophets… Jesus gave and God sets them into the Body of Christ. Notice this Corinthians’ passage calls the Body of Christ “the Church.”

The Church is the Body of Christ. The Gift of Miracles is a supernatural gift that God gives for the Body of Christ is the Church. The Holy Ghost sets ministry gifts in the Church – not man. There is a vast difference between God’s setting some in the Church and a man setting some in the Church. A study of Church history reveals how down through the centuries various groups have endeavored to get back to what they call New Testament practices.

They’ve set up Institutions which often were something man manufactured – something in the flesh, something carnal. These men “called” and “set” people who had no divine calling into certain offices.

• This is unscriptural.
• God does the setting.
• God does the calling.
• You simply do not enter the ministry, any phase of it, just because “you” feel it is a holy calling and “you” want to do it.
• You never enter the ministry because “someone else” tells you that you are suited for it.

“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the boy of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: That we hence forth be no more children, tossed to AND FRO, AND CARRIED ABOUT WITH EVERY WIND OF DOCTRINE, BY THE SLEIGHT OF MEN, AND CUNNING CRAFTINESS, WHEREBY THEY LIE IN WAIT TO DECEIVE,” (Eph. 4:11-14).

If God calls you, then he will properly prepare you through study of the Word and your committed walk with Jesus.

Acts 9:13-16, –“ Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: 14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. 15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: 16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” KJV

The PROOF and the POWER of the RESURRECTION

by Eric Barger

This article is taken from Eric Barger’s live seminar teaching and video presentation
“The PROOF and the POWER of the RESURRECTION.”

Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?

And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins…If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
I Corinthians 15:12, 17, 19

Today, the life and deeds of Jesus Christ are perhaps under more skeptical scrutiny than at any time since His earthly life some 2000 years ago. Along with the virgin birth, the nature of the miraculous in His ministry and of course His very deity have long been the target of many skeptical claims and theories. However, no facet of Jesus’ life is as contested as is His bodily resurrection from the dead.

The resurrection is certainly one of the most debated and perhaps the most critical of the major doctrines that comprise the bedrock of Christianity itself. Though each of the so-called “central” or “essential” doctrines relating to Jesus’ godhood are equally important, the physical resurrection from the tomb stands as the very lynchpin of the Christian faith. That is, all other claims about Jesus find overwhelming validation and completion in His triumph over the grave. It proved His deity as the Son of God whom the Scriptures foretold and it gave those who would place their trust in Him the greatest hope of all – the assurance of eternal life (I Corinthians 15: 12-19, 51-57). My hope is that in this reading your faith will increase and that you will gain more awareness of the utter necessity for Christians to be ready “to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you…” (I Peter 3:15).

24 / 7 / 365

I hope it is evident that the resurrection of the Lord is a pivotal event, the scope of which goes far beyond the yearly commemoration of Passion Week. In fact, it is no overstatement to conclude that the resurrection of Jesus is an event on which the very existence of the Church depends. I often comment that if the events ofJesus’ earthly life accomplished the fulfillment of the other 323 Messianic prophecies concerning the Jewish Messiah – yet had He remained lifeless in the grave – then, regardless of the sum of His great works, example and teaching, He was NOT the Savior. Thus, without a physical resurrection from death, He couldNOT have been the Messiah and we are then still hopelessly lost in our sins and destined for eternal separation from God.

In our day, when doctrine is undermined, ignored and replaced by feelings, flesh and sloppy exegesis, I find myself often embroiled in discussions with those who want to claim the title of “Christian” yet do not hold to the essential teaching that actually allows one to use the term. Bluntly put, one cannot be an authentic “Christian” and at the same time deny essential doctrines such as the virgin birth, sinless life, deity and resurrection of Jesus. While they may be sincere, devout and very religious, those who deny these and other essentials (see The Apostles Creed) are also sincerely deceived, horribly mistaken and lost.

RESURRECTION FACT? – THREE SOURCES

There are three sources to consider when examining the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection.

1 - Eyewitness Accounts

2 - Scriptural Evidence

3 - Statistical Evidence

So with that, let’s examine the evidence for the resurrection.

1 - Eyewitness Accounts

After that, He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
The Apostle Paul, 55 AD (I Corinthians 15:6)

Skeptics enjoy pointing out that the only known eyewitnesses that lend credence to Christ’s resurrection are those mentioned in the New Testament. While this is true, when one understands the reliability of the Bible as a history book it actually adds to our contention that Jesus came out of the tomb alive. We only have miniscule recorded data from ancient times as opposed to the veritable overflow of information being created today…not everyone blogged on the Internet or surfed through hundreds of cable channels back then!

The above statement by Paul holds tremendous weight. Five Hundred Eyewitnesses? Think of that. Paul is chiding the Corinthians, rebuking them for entertaining any thought that Jesus could still be in the tomb. If five hundred people witnessed any event today we can rest assured that it would be recorded as a bonafide historical event! The fact that this account is found in the Bible should be of no controversy to us either.

The Bible is the best kept record in the history of mankind. No other book (actually 66 different unique letters and accounts) has been so well guarded. The Old Testament stands as the longest kept record in the history of mankind. It is a common argument of the skeptics that the text is inaccurate because of language translations and the passing of time itself. This idea is dismissed for several reasons but becomes nearly laughable when one examines the fact that we have manuscripts dating back thousands of years that were copied meticulously by scribes who knew that if they changed anything (i.e. “one jot or tittle”) from one copy to another it would cost them their very lives. The New Testament was carefully recorded and maintained with the same standards as was the Old Testament.

So, when the New Testament speaks of or records information concerning the direct encounters people had with the risen, glorified Christ, can it not be trusted for pure historical content? Of course – providing one’s skepticism doesn’t outweigh one’s quest for truth.

2 - Scriptural Evidence

Obviously, we have plenty of biblical evidence for the resurrection. Here are just a few instances:

- The resurrected Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene (John 20:10-18).

- He appeared to other women (Matthew 28:8-10).

- The longest such event took place as Jesus walked up to seven miles with Cleopas and his unnamed companion (perhaps his wife?) on the road to Emmaus. As they walked, Jesus unfolded a “prophetic apologetic” concerning Himself (Luke 24:13-32).

- Jesus appeared to eleven disciples as well as others (Luke 24:33-49).

- He appeared to ten of the apostles and others (John 20:19-23).

- The famous “He is Lord and God” encounter with Thomas and the other apostles (John 20:26-30).

- He appeared to the apostles several more times (John 21:1-14, Matthew 28:16-20, Luke 24:50-52 and Acts 1:4-9).

- Saul (soon to be Paul) encountered the risen Lord in Acts 9:3-9 as well.

3 - Statistical Evidence

There is no doubt that to reach the most intellectual around us a statistic or two may get their attention. As a good friend of mine says, “Bait the hook with what the fish are biting on.” So let’s examine a couple of interesting, make that mind-blowing, facts.

In the 1950’s a statistician named Peter Stoner wrote a book entitled Science Speaks. In the book he examined the mathematical odds for any person perfectly fulfilling just 8 of the 324 Messianic prophecies and yet not being the Messiah.

Prophecies such as: Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), Messiah is to be preceded by a Messenger (John the Baptist) (Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1), Messiah is to enter Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9), Messiah is to be silent before His accusers (Isaiah 53:7) and four other documented events prophesied in the Old Testament and completely fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ.

Stoner states that the statistical probability of any man fulfilling just these eight prophecies as Jesus did and yet not have been the Messiah is 1 in 10 to the 17^thpower. Friend, that’s 100,000,000,000,000,000 to 1 !!!

Stoner illustrates this number by supposing that we take 10 to the 17th power the amount of silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover theentire state of Texas in stacks two feet deep. He then says, to take one silver dollar and mark it and stir the whole mass thoroughly.

Now blindfold a man and tell him he can travel the entire state – roughly 850 miles east to west and 900 miles north to south – but instruct the man that he must then pick up one silver dollar on the first try and show that it is the right one, which has been marked. What are his chances? 1 in 10 to the 17th power.

If one investigates just 48 of the O.T. prophecies fulfilled in Jesus’ life, the number is 1 in 10 to the 152^nd power, or roughly double the amount of electrons in the entire Universe! Truly, if a person is honest, statistical probability of fulfilled prophesy destroys skepticism!

SO WHY DOESN’T EVERYBODY BELIEVE?

To allow themselves to feel better about sin and to remain firmly planted as their own “god,” men have devised many theories concerning the resurrection. After all, if He didn’t rise from the dead, then all bets on Christianity are off and we’re free to live any old way that we so choose.

Concerning theories, my vicarious mentor, the late Dr. Walter Martin, said: “A theory is a magnificently developed idea ganged up on by a brutal bunch of facts.”How true. In my seminar presentation we examine each of these theories and several others to see if there is any possibility of truth lurking about in them. Limited space allows just a mention of them here.

The Wrong Tomb Theory – The women went to the wrong tomb and thus led Peter and the others there as well and nobody figured it out. Hummm, I can think of one group who would have corrected such as error – the Pharisees! As soon as Peter began raising havoc by proclaiming the Gospel they would have directed everyone to the “right” tomb – if Jesus had still been there!

The Swoon Theory - This theory espouses that Jesus never died on the cross but merely passed out and was mistakenly considered dead. Then, after three days He revived, muscled his way out of the grave clothes, rolled away a stone weighing approximately 2000 lbs, exited the tomb and overwhelmed a group of Roman soldiers single-handedly and appeared to His disciples unscathed who believed He had risen from the dead.

Dr. Hugh J. Sconfield’s book The Passover Plot taught this. German apostate Frederick Schlermocher did also. If you believe this could be true, may I suggest that, regardless of any theological disagreements you may have with Mel Gibson, you see the movie “The Passion of the Christ” and tell me if you believe that a man could survive without food, water and medical attention for three days and then come strolling out of the tomb ready to assume His duties as the Savior of the world! This theory also makes Jesus into a LIAR.

The Replacement Theory -Taught by Islam in the Koran and believed by many non-Muslims, the replacement theory suggests that someone took Jesus’ place at the foot of the Cross and died in His place allowing Him to slip away without anyone noticing!!?

The Stolen Body Theory – Depending on who is espousing this theory, the ideas are in direct conflict. First, one theory states that the Jews/Romans removed the body for “safe keeping.” If the Romans or Jews had the body, they could have brought it out and, as Dr. Martin taught, “paraded the rotting corpse down the streets of Jerusalem” and simply destroyed Christianity on the spot.

This theory goes up in smoke because of the Biblical record and because of logic as well.

This particular Stolen Body theory is in direct conflict with the one mentioned in Matthew 28. If the Jews or Romans had the body, why did they need to accuse the disciples of stealing it and in doing so give healthy bribes to the soldiers who were standing watch at the tomb? (Matt. 28:11-15 records this.) This leads us to the other “stolen body” theory.

If the disciples had the body and were merely attempting to fake Christ’s resurrection, then we’re faced with accusing the disciples of being completely lunatic.

Wouldn’t the idea of the disciples possessing the non-resurrected body of Jesus put a damper on every one of them preaching a bold faced lie that would eventually cost them their own lives and also the lives of dozens, if not hundreds of their family and friends?

Somebody would have cracked and eventually admitted that the resurrection was actually a hoax. Considering that all of the disciples except John died of martyrdom (and John’s exile to the island of Patmos wasn’t a vacation!), the supposition that they stole the body of Jesus is so far out that no further comment is needed. (Matthew didn’t comment on it either in Matthew 28.)

So if the body of Jesus wasn’t taken from the tomb by the Jews, the Romans or the disciples as the soldiers watched, our next theory needs examination…it is“The Sleeping Soldiers Theory.”

The Sleeping Soldier Theory – First, Roman guards were not likely to fall asleep with such an important duty. But if the soldiers were sleeping, how did they “know” it was the disciples who stole the body? It could have been someone else!

Second, it seems physically impossible for the disciples to sneak past the sleeping soldiers and then move a two-ton stone up an incline in absolute silence, unwrap the body, rewrap it in grave clothes they brought with them, and finish by carefully folding the head piece neatly next to the linen? PLEASE…give it a rest!!! Certainly the guards would have heard something.

Third, the tomb was secured with a Roman seal. Anyone who moved the stone would break the seal, an offense punishable by death. Do you think the disciples were ready for that after watching their leader’s horrible death? Not yet…not without RESURRECTION POWER!

RESURRECTION POWER !!!

You see, the world can have their theories as to why they think Christ didn’tresurrect and we Christians can have our evidences as to why we know that Hedid. But when it comes down to it, the real proof of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is in the fact that after 2000 years that same power that brought forth the King of Kings from the dead is still rescuing sinners from spiritual death; still healing sickness and disease and still setting captives free from the bondage of Satan’s grip!

What could have possibly motivated Peter to boldly preach “Christ and Him crucified” just 40 days after denying that he even knew Him? It was RESURRECTION POWER!

It is this same power that has driven Christians worldwide to proclaim “He is Risen” for 2000 years – even if in doing so it meant torture or death.

I encourage you to use the facts surrounding His resurrection as you dialog with the lost following the biblical command to “defend the faith” (Jude 3) and give men answers for the hope that lies within you” (I Peter 3:15). But I encourage you to celebrate, walk in and magnify the power of the resurrected Christ in every facet of your life. There is an unspeakable reward for those who will diligently seek Him on “resurrection day” and also the subsequent 364 days of the year.

Matthew 5:28 seems to indicate that even seeing a woman and having the slightest thought of her attractiveness could equal the actual carrying out of sexual sin. Because of this, too many times we have been confronted with Matthew 5:28 and this type of interpretation that leads us into condemnation. It has time and time again been said that there is no difference between the thinking of Adultery (sexual sin) and committing it. All of this type of thinking is based upon Matthew 5:28, but Paul correctly defines that there are levels of sins and that the acts of sexual sin–indeed the acts of sexual perversion– are far greater sins than the mere thinking of sinful thoughts in the realm of sexual activity (1 Cor. 5-8). To Paul, the very acts of sexual sin are not the same thing as the thinking of any sinful act.

How many times have I personally been brought into a situation where the man and  woman are condemned, believing that they have already committed a physical sexual sin because of sexual thoughts coming into their mind. Their thinking, if not checked I agree, will lead them into the very acts of physical sexual sins. Yes! Sinful sexual thought is wrong. The thoughts come from Satan as an impulse to cause us to truly commit physical sexual sin (some type of fornication). If we dwell on that thought, then it does become sin. If we rebuke it, there is no sin committed at all. The point is that the thought itself, if rebuked, is not sin, and even if we dwell upon it, it is not the same as the sins of the flesh, real physical sexual acts done with another person. The statement, therefore, refers to intentional and conscious desire, not to unintentional desire. Even the later is sin; but a sinful thought, without the consent of the mind and the carrying out of that desire in the physical realm, is not of the same level of sin as the physical act of fornication, murder, and other types of sins of the flesh. Nevertheless, it is sin, but included in the general forgiveness.

Greek Scholars have seen a difference here meant in Matthew 5:28 between the physical sexual sins and those evil sexual thoughts dwelt upon in our minds. According to the Greek New Testament, the precise meaning should in this verse be kept in mind, as the neglect of it, may lead into the error mentioned above. Our Lord is speaking of the sin of adultery (sexual sin), and therefore, however the saying may undoubtedly apply by implication to cases where this sin is out of the question—for example, to the impure beholding of a married or unmarried woman with a view of fornication, it being borne in mind that spiritually, and before God, all fornication is adultery, inasmuch as the unmarried person is bound in loyalty and chastity to Him. In other words, according to Matthew 5, all men and women who are unmarried are truly married to God regardless of who is saved and unsaved only in the sense as already mentioned—loyalty and chastity. The direct assertion of Matthew 5:28 must be understood as applying to the cases where this sin is in question—the sin of Adultery (Sexual Sin). The Greek text where we have “gazing to lust” must not be interpreted of the casual evil thought which is checked by holy watchfulness, but the gazing with a view to feed that desire, committing in your heart already the sin, and with the focus on bringing that lust into the physical realm—actually committing that sinful and sexual act. The Greek text states quite clearly that the man who can do this—with a view to feed unlawful desire—has already in his heart passed the barrier of criminal intention, made up his mind to commit this act of sexual sin, stifled his conscience, and will finally commit the act itself. It is more than the mere thought of sin; it is the very process of carrying it out. Jesus locates adultery (sexual sin) in the eye and heart before the outward act.. We must remember that the eye and the heart are the two brokers of sin.

Process of Sin.
From Satan to Lust.
From Lust to thought.
From thought to choice.
From choice to habit.
From habit to loss of control.
From loss of control to bondage.
From bondage to almost total demonic control.
From almost total demonic control to total demonic control.

Further, the desire here mentioned is such a desire (lust) as gains the full consent of the will, and will finally terminate in the action of the deed thought of, desired, and lusted after. The desire is an unrestricted desire for a forbidden person or thing. The desire is not mere desire, coming and going, being sent by Satan and later rebuked. It is a desire that consumes the person so much so that he acts upon it and was and becomes even more an adulterer and fornicator.

The very look is supposed to be not casual but persistent, the desire not involuntary or momentary, but cherished with longing. It is an intensification of lust, more than mere sinful thinking. While wrongful and sinful thinking is absolutely sin, it is not the same as here mentioned, nor the same as the physically committing adultery or fornication. It is the focus on an object to lust after in order to push forth the final act. We must remember James 1:15 and what it truly means. James 1:14-15 reads, “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” For lust to be sin, lust must conceive to bring forth its sin.

In Greek, the present participle characterizes the man by his act of continued looking, not the causal looking, but looking continually to feed that lust and finally to satisfy that lust by committing sexual sin. The construction with the infinitive denotes purpose, not result; it is somewhat like our phrase, ‘with a view to.” Jesus does not say that by the accomplished lusting or by and during the act of looking at the woman the man in question commit adultery. The aorist, emphasizing the feature of the time, precedes these acts. Therefore, the aorist sees the man who casts lustful looks is already an adulterer to begin with physically before his thoughts and lusts. The sin is already in his heart and has already been acted upon. In other words, he is someone who has already physically fallen into such sin, and continues to follow his sinful career. If the heart were pure, without adultery, no lustful look would be possible. According to Jesus all sins begin on the inside.

The occurrence of a true Great Awakening requires judgment from God upon the lukewarm, worldly, and backslidden churches.  There is no escaping this fact. A study of past Great Awakenings and major revivals across the world reveals that for a true Great Awakening to take place, God’s judgment upon the church and upon the nations must also occur.

God’s sequence for revival is clearly revealed in studying the past. We must know and respect His divine sequence. The common sequence of the Great Awakenings is as follows:

1. Powerful Prayer.
2. Powerful singing of songs or hymns (occasionally this was omitted).
3. A kind of preaching where the power of God was released throughout the congregation as the minister spoke. The focus of the sermons was always Jesus; He was their center.  Everything is about Jesus from the beginning to the end.  A few times, preaching in a service was omitted or shortened, but this was not the rule.
4. People experienced the power of God through the preaching especially.
5. The power brought on hard conviction, repentance, healings, miracles, and other godly manifestations.
6. Salvation was not easy; the people experienced salvation in a groaning, agonizing way so that they would keep it; and most did keep it.
7. If there was no preaching like this, there was very little moving of God.
8. When the people focused on signs and wonders, the revivals fell into trouble.

I agree that we are ripe for another Great Awakening. But what concerns me is that our desperation for the moving of the Lord has left us even riper for the Last Days’ deceptions. Yes, we are apt for deception.  To prevent this, we must have discernment to see through the lies and craftiness of our adversary; and a mature saint will be able to do this. God has His own pace, and if we move ahead of God, we will pay dearly.  Therefore, we must be able to discern between good and evil—between the profane and the holy. If good things or benefits alone are the very criterion by which something is judged to be of God, we may have already fallen into the arms of deception. There is something more important than benefits, something more important than being released from depression, sickness, or addictions—that “something” is the holiness of God, His name, His honor; it is God Himself.

Receiving benefits of a dubious kind is too high a price to pay if it is going to throw any shadow upon God’s great Name. We have lost everything for the sake of benefit when the desire for benefit is, in itself, suspect.

It is remarkable that, though we are explicitly warned about End-Time lying signs and wonders (2 Thess. 2:9; Matthew 24:24), we somehow imagine that it is future, and mindlessly trust ourselves in our greed for experiences, empowerments, or releases, to dubious personalities who have caught the public fancy in incredible overnight popularity. I profoundly respect God’s use of the weak and the foolish thing, but I cannot, for that reason, endorse what is garish, cheap and coarse as being that weak and foolish thing of which Paul speaks. “Holiness unto the Lord” is still the standard of God’s House, even when it is unspectacular and unassuming in the eyes of the world, and even in our own eyes.

Waiting is a priestly function. We need to wait to see if our spirits are hospitable to what is being mediated from church platforms. Is it compatible with our existing knowledge of God? If it is not compatible, those involved can stand on their heads, run all over the platform, and display every other kind of madness, and we should be grounded in the Word enough to know that not everything is the genuine moving of the Lord. There is a counterfeit! We are not to mindlessly give ourselves to every manifestation we see. Our integrity in God needs to be guarded, and we should not allow ourselves to be influenced, taken up and affected by church trends, or else we will never have anything significant to give of ourselves to our Lord.

The teaching of the Scripture is to seek out, through the Word and prayer, the roots of the problems that come in life. One will usually find that unacknowledged disobediences are at the root of nearly every problem we face in this life. Absolution of our problems is accomplished primarily through that part of the Body to whom one is accountable and authentically joined.

But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love (Eph. 4:15 -16).

Once more, we are shown fanataicsm, hysteria, and satanic devices all working  together to undo, corrupt, or hinder the moving of the Holy Spirit.  We are in a mess spiritually.  We have become blinded or deceived into believing that all manifestations are of God, or none are from God.  We cannot afford to be ignorant of the devices of Satan.  We cannot afford accepting all manifestations or denying all manifestations either.  We must judge all manifestations by Scripture.  We must never accept experience over the Word of God.

If this is not all, the church has accepted almost completely Seeker Friendliness.  The church has become disarmed, and if the power of God does not come back to the church, America will fall.  A repentant church is the hope of America.  A repentant church will revive America.  We should be searching our hearts, asking forgiveness, standing upon the Word, exalting Jesus, repenting of our sins, and believing that God will move for us.

Every war or battle that has been or will be fought has a connection to the supernatural realm.  They are fought there first.  The direction of America has slowly but surely moved toward a socialist, communistic, or statist country far from the founders’  view.  We have sown into the wind, and now we are reaping the whirlwind.

Going to the source will only save the church and only save America.

In these days of widespread debauchery, concupiscence and uncleanness, married Christian couples are being bombarded with messages about sex from the church pulpit and various forms of Christian and secular media. Amidst these messages is the constant reassurance that the marriage bed is undefiled. Hebrews 13:4 is usually cited to “prove” the marriage bed is automatically and unconditionally undefiled in the sight of God:

Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

Hebrews 13:4 does not make the case that the marriage bed is incapable of ever becoming defiled. Rather, it contrasts the purity of the marriage bed with the impure behavior of debauched individuals–whoremongers and adulterers.

Could it be that only the marriage bed as God intended it is undefiled? Has God placed any restrictions regarding sexual expression in marriage? Does God have a specific plan for the practical physical outworking of the marriage bed?

The Natural Use Vs That Which is Against Nature

Romans 1:18-32 is addressed to people who knew God but refused to glorify him as God. Consequently they were unthankful and became vain in their imaginations and their foolish hearts were darkened. They actually changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped the creature more than the Creator. In response to their wicked idolatry, God “gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves.”

These verses should be instructive to the Christian. Those who hold the truth that is revealed in the Holy Bible while continuing to engage in unrighteous behavior are in danger of the judgment of God. God judges idolatry by giving idolaters over to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts. If you are committed to certain forms of sexual pleasure over and above your commitment to the revealed will of God then you are setting yourself up to be given up to uncleanness as well.

Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. Romans 1:25

Do you serve the creature (including yourself) more than the Creator? If so, you are also in danger of being given over to vile affections (degrading, shameful passions).

Romans 1:26 reveals that God makes a clear cut distinction between natural sexual union and that which is against nature. God places intimate coupling that is against nature in the category of vile affections. Male and female homosexuals reject the God-designed natural use of the woman and dishonor their own bodies between themselves.

Women who are physically intimate with other women change “the natural use of the woman” because they reject God-ordained male with female coupling:

For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: Romans 1:26

In like manner, men who reject the natural use of the woman work that which is unseemly in the sight of God:

And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. Romans 1:27

Here again we see God’s division between the “natural use” and that which is not natural (unseemly). Like the women who rejected the natural use, the men also left the natural use of the woman because they rejected God’s natural order of things. In Romans 1:26 the women changed the natural use into that which is against nature and in this verse the men left the “natural use” of the woman and burned in their lust toward one another.

The Bible is clear that God has determined the sexual use of the woman. It is the natural use.

Adulterers and whoremongers often have relations confined to the natural use of the woman but that does not sanctify their actions in the sight of God:

Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Hebrews 13:4

God ordained one place for the “natural use” of the woman: the marriage bed. The marriage bed in which “the natural use of the woman” is not changed or abandoned is undefiled. What about Christian married couples who engage in not only “natural use” coupling as God intended but also engage in oral and/or anal practices inspired by the perverse spirits who work in those who reject the natural use of the woman? Does God condemn those of the same sex who go “against nature” while sanctioning the same behavior as long as it is performed in the marriage bed?

God cannot condemn the one while sanctioning the other.  Both are the same behavior.  Therefore,   Sodomy and other types of unlawful (ungodly) sexual behavior cannot be brought into the marriage bed and it remain undefiled.  There is nothing, absolutely, nothing that brings forth demon activity (demon possession) faster than unlawful (ungodly) sexual behavior.   There is no way that Christ will continue to be joined to a saint if that saint practices such acts of depravity.  I Corinthians 5 through 8 speak of fornication as having to do with two persons or more.  Paul also says that such acts separate us from Christ absolutely.  Repentance can come and people can be forgiven and Christ be joined again with us, but that does not mean that any can go back into such activity.

Nothing is more vile than acts of perversion.  All forms of fornication are the worst type of sins that there are, except blaspheming the Holy Spirit.  Further, even regular sexual acts outside of marriage are still acts of perversion because these acts are done outside of God’s will and what God has setup as normal and moral.

Paul makes it clear in 1 Cor. 5 through 8 that Christ cannot be joined to us if we commit such acts.  At the moment of that act, Christ removes Himself and the person backslides.  Only an unholy Christ could be united with us.  And that Christ would not be the true and real Christ.  The person is opened up to demonic possession in particular by the incubi or succubi. I cannot believe the tongues of that person nor anything about that person to be of God.  Personally, I have dealt with women and men who have these spirits in them.

Paul in 1 Cor. 5 deals with a saint, part of the community of saints, who has committed fornication.  Paul sees him as backslidden.  Paul does not see him as saved any longer.  Paul ex-communicates him from the community and then throws a curse (or judgment) upon him.  The curse is that his body will be turned over to destruction so that his soul can be saved.

From that point on, Paul deals with marriage and fornication.  Paul re-interprets Jesus’ saying about adultery and fornication and concludes for there to be real fornication, there must be two subjects, man and man, woman and woman, man and woman, man or woman with an animal.  Fornication to Paul cannot be committed by one person, that is you can do it upon yourself.

Sin and wickedness have levels to them.  Some sins will be destroy your relationship with Lord at the time of committing while others will not.

The easiest  way to be possessed is through ungodly sexual behavior.  The person opens himself or herself up completely to another emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically.  Such a union must be sanctioned by God to prevent such negative results from occurring.

To restate what has already been said:

Let us suffice to say, then, that the theme of a “natural function versus the unnatural function” of men permeate both the Old Testament and the New Testament in support of the principle that vaginal intercourse alone is God’s prescription for healthy sexual activity.

It follows that sexual practices such as oral sex (or “falatio”) or anal sex must be considered perversion (sodomy) since, in these instances, as well as other instances such as bestiality or incest, the sexual organs are being used for that which is unnatural in the eyes of God and for which they were neither intended, designed, nor ordained.

Peter warned of this, stating that many people followed their own sensuality and maligned the way of truth by indulging their own flesh (2 Peter 2:2,9,10,18,19,20,21).  And again, Paul admonished a church not to make any provision for the flesh and it’s  lusts (Romans 13:14), noting that the Body is not for immorality but for the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:13).

And we may conclude from Romans chapter 1 that God’s stance and support of the “natural function” of male and the female coming together to utilize that function, is the only righteous and holy doctrinal position of scripture. Indeed, Paul goes on to say that because of the use of “unnatural functions”, those who partook in such sinful acts, using the sexual organs for functions for which they were not intended, were given over to a STRONG DELUSION.

The foolishness of mankind usually exalts the actions of violence, conquest, war, and bloodshed as their subjects of their highest esteem.  It is quite true that in a righteous cause of defending a man’s country or his life, all actions of valor are just.  But in other cases, these actions are no more than murder and rapine.  And thus those who practice such are the scourges of God and the greatest plagues and calamities that occur to the world!

Nothing will cause God’s anger to come forth worse than forceful and prideful sinners.  In truth, defiant sinners, blaspheming God day in and day out, will cause a nation to be under the wrath of God faster and greater than anything else.  Therefore, they become a worse danger to a nation than any other.  In fact, defiant sinners may be seen as a plague upon a nation.  Sinners time and again have been the cause of a righteous God pouring His vengeance against a whole nation or an empire.  Remember Sodom, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Rome, Persia, and other such examples.

The Bible speaks of righteousness as exalting a nation, and sin as a reproach (Pro 14:34 KJV). The Bible also speaks of a sinner destroying much good (Ecc 9:18 KJV). Therefore, the sins and wickedness of people are in fact the cause of a just God bringing judgment, and all those who are defiant in their sins and wickedness become even more the trigger or the main cause for God actions. Those who walk in righteousness can only intercede for so long before God moves.

If only ten righteous would have been found in Sodom, this city would have been saved. Pray that America has at least ten righteous left!

In the years that I have done marriage counseling, I have found that many do not know the definition of Sodomy. They do not know that, according to the Greek New Testament and even backed up by Webster’s, that a man and a woman married can commit Sodomy.

Marriage must be a place for natural use of sex, not unnatural.

Just look at the definitions.

Sodomy: [Webster's 1913 Edition]

Sodomy (Page: 1366)

Sod”om*y (?), n. [From Sodom. a country mentioned in the Bible: cf. F. sodomite.] Carnal copulation in a manner against nature; buggery. Gen. xix. 5.

From the Webster’s 1828 edition:

SOD”OMY, n. A crime against nature.

From Merriam Webster Online:

Main Entry: sod·omy
Anal or oral copulation with a member of the same or opposite sex; also : copulation with an animal http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sodomy

Sodomy \sa-de-me\ n 1 : sexual intercourse with a member of the same sex or with an animal 2 : noncoital and esp. anal or oral sexual intercourse with a member of the opposite sex. sodomize \sa-de-mz\ vb (C) 1995 Zane Publishing, Inc. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (C) 1994 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.

Sodomy = unnatural carnal intercourse between man and woman (New Lexicon Webster’s Encyclopeic Dictionary, and Dictionary of English Synonyms, Checkerbooks)

Sodomy..1: anal copulation of one male with another. 2: anal or oral copulation with a member of the opposite sex. 3: Copulation with an animal. Reader’s Digest Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary.

The Early Church saw that people could be possessed with demons working in the capacity of familiarity.   They mostly called familiar spirits “pythonic spirits.”

The evocation of the dead through familiar spirits was a feature of that Gnosticism which assailed the Christian church in the Apostolic era, and against which Paul, by the Holy Spirit, speaks of particularly in his epistle to the Colossians.

Some of the church, however, in later times saw no problem with seeing visions of the human dead, the dead saints,  and communicating with them.  Problem!   Paul in 2 Cor. 5:8 said to be absent from the body is to be present with the  Lord.  What is  more clear and explicit then this?  For a saint to be absent from the body is to be present  with the Lord (that is, the soul of the saint being absent from the body is present with the  Lord).

Ecclesiastes 12:7 says, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” Please notice 2 Samuel 12:23: But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

The Practice

The practice of inquiring by familiar spirits can be traced back to the Egyptians.  This art was discovered by the Israelites from their capacity by the Egyptians.  All abominations were introduced to the Israelites by the Egyptians.

The practice of familiar spirits was commonly found during the times of rebellion or apostasy.  It had to be stomped out many times. Notice the Witch of Endor (1 Sam. 28:3).

It was a forbidden practice (Deuteronomy 18:11; Isaiah  8:19; 1 Samuel 28:7-25). This shows that the trafficking of spiritual spirits was foreign to the true worship of God. God should be called upon, not demons or the human dead.

The ob of the Hebrews was in fact the same as the pythons of the Greeks. It was commonly used to denote the medium and his spirit (familiar). With this trafficking (with) of familiar spirits is many times found ancestor-worship, nature worship, and other types of paganism.

The trafficking with familiar spirits by the Jewish people, in particular by Rabbis continued to be found. Some rabbi was able to visit with the spirits of Adam and Abraham. It has been reported that some rabbis conjured up for questioning the spirits of Titus, Balaam, and Jesus.

A Jesus that you can conjure and manipulate is not the same Jesus that went up.

Familiar Spirits and their Mediums.

The medium prepares himself or herself for the entrance of the spirit.  Most mediums were women.  There was sexual practices involved as well.  The mediums liked to be around grave yards.

The mediums would empty their minds so that the entity would come and possess them. The mediums may show physical signs of the entity entering and taking possession. The spirit would speak audibly only to the questioner and not to the necromancer who alone who could see the spirit. The spirits when taking possession and thereafter may show other signs:

The phrase “peep and mutter” in Isaiah 8:19 in particular deals with the spirits peeping and muttering through the mediums. They squark and gibber from the earth. They speak with their own voice or imitate the voice of the human dead.

Notice about the mediums:  There can be no doubt that mediums can receive communications from another world. And there can be no doubt either that mediums receive this communications from evil spirits.

Prophetic ministry is not something that you can take up. It is

something that you are. No academy can make you a prophet.

Samuel instituted the schools of the prophets… But there is a

great deal of difference between those academic prophets and the

living, anointed prophets. The academic prophets became members

of a profession and swiftly degenerated into something unworthy.

All the false prophets came from schools of prophets, and were

accepted publicly on that ground. They had been to college and

were accepted. But they were false prophets. Going to a religious

college does not of itself make you a prophet of God.

My point is this – the identity of the vessel with its ministry is the

very heart of Divine thought. A man is called to represent the

thoughts of God, to represent them in what he is, not in something

that he takes up as a form or line of ministry, not in something

that he does. The vessel itself is the ministry and you cannot

divide between the two.

THE NECESSITY for SELF-EMPTYING

That explains everything in the life of the great prophets. It explains

the life of Moses, the prophet whom the Lord God raised up from

among his brethren (Deut. 18:15,18). Moses essayed to take up

his life-work. He was a man of tremendous abilities, “learned in all

the wisdom of the Egyptians ” (Acts 7:22), with great natural

qualifications and gifts, and then somehow he got some conception

of a life-work for God. It was quite true; it was a true conception, a

right idea; he was  very honest, there was no question at all about

his motives; but he essayed to take up that work on the basis of

what he was naturally, with his own ability, qualifications and zeal,

and on that basis disaster was allowed to come upon the whole

thing.

Not so are prophets made; not so can the prophetic office be

exercised. Moses must go into the wilderness and for forty years

be emptied out, until there is nothing left of all that as a basis upon

which he can have confidence to do the work of God or fulfil any

Divine commission. He was by nature a man “mighty in his words

and works”; and yet now he says, “I am not eloquent… I am slow

of speech…” (Exodus 4:10). There has been a tremendous

undercutting of all natural facility and resource…

We go through times of trial and test under the hand of God, and it

is so easy to get into that frame of mind which says in effect, ‘The

Lord does not want us, He need not have us!’ We let everything go,

we do not care about anything; we have gone down under our trials

and we are rendered useless. I do not believe the Lord ever comes

to a person like that to take them up. Elijah, dispirited, fled to the

wilderness, and to a cave in the mountains; but he had to get

somewhere else before the Lord could do anything with him. “What

doest thou here, Elijah?” (I Kings 19:9). The Lord never comes to

a man and recommissions him when he is in despair. ‘God shall

forgive thee all but thy despair’ (F. W. H. Myers, ‘St. Paul’) -

because despair is lost faith in God, and God can never do

anything with one who has lost faith.

Moses was emptied to the last drop, and yet he was not angry or

disagreeable with God. What was the Lord doing? He was making

a prophet. Beforehand, the man would have taken up an office, he

would have made the prophetic function serve him, he would have

used it. There was no inward, vital relationship between the man

and the work that he was to do; they were two separate things; the

work was objective to the man. At the end of forty years in the

wilderness he is in a state for this to become subjective; something

has been done. There has been brought about a state which

makes the man fit to be a living expression of the Divine thought.

He has been emptied of his own thoughts to make room for

God’s thoughts; he has been emptied of his own strength, that all

the energy should be of God… That was the great lesson this

prophet had to learn. ‘I cannot!’ ‘All right’, said the Lord, ‘but I AM.’

A great deal is made of the natural side of many of the Lord’s

servants, and usually with tragic results. A lot is made of Paul. ‘

What a great man Paul was naturally, what intellect he had, what

training, what tremendous abilities!’ That may all be true, but ask

Paul what value it was to him when he was right up against a

spiritual situation. He will cry, “Who is sufficient for these things?

… Our sufficiency is from God” (II Cor. 2:16; 3:5). Paul was taken

through experiences where he, like Moses, despaired of life. He

said, “We… had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we

should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead”

(II Cor. 1:9).

MESSAGE INWROUGHT by ACTUAL EXPERIENCE

You see, the principle is at work all the time, that God is going to

make the ministry and the minister identical. You see it in all the

prophets. The Lord stood at nothing. He took infinite pains. He

worked even through domestic life, the closest relationships of life.

Think of the tragedy of Hosea’s domestic life. Think of Ezekiel,

whose wife the Lord took away in death at a stroke. The Lord said,

‘Get up in the morning, anoint your face, allow not the slightest

suggestion of mourning or tragedy to be detected; go out as

always before, as though nothing had happened; show yourself to

the people, go about with a bright countenance, provoke them to

enquire what you mean by such outrageous behaviour.’ The Lord

brought this heartbreak upon him and then required him to act

thus. Why? Ezekiel was a prophet; he had got to embody his

message, and the message was this: ‘Israel, God’s wife, has

become lost to God, dead to God, and Israel takes no notice of it;

she goes on the same as ever, as though nothing had happened.’

The prophet must bring it home by his own experience. God is

working the thing right in. He works it in in deep and terrible ways

in the life of His servant to produce ministry.

God is not allowing us to take up things and subjects. If we are

under the Holy Ghost, He is going to make us prophets; that is,

He is going to make the prophecy a thing that has taken place in

us, so that what we say is only making vocal something that has

been going on, that has been done in us. God has been doing it

through years in strange, deep, terrible ways in some lives,

standing at nothing, touching everything; and the vessel, thus

wrought upon, is the message. People do not come to hear what

you have to teach. They have come to see what you are, to see

that thing which has been wrought by God. What a price the

prophetic instrument has to pay!

So Moses went into the wilderness, to the awful undoing of his

natural life, his natural mentality; to be brought to zero; to have

the thing wrought in him. And was God justified? – for after all it

was a question of resource for the future. Oh, the strain that was

going to bear down upon that life! Sometimes Moses well-nigh

broke; at times he did crack under the strain. “I am not able to

bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me”

(Num. 11:14)…  A terrific strain was going to bear down upon him,

and only a deep inwrought thing, something that had been done

inside, would be enough to carry through…

With us, too, the strain may be terrific; oft-times there will come

the very strong temptation – ‘Let go a little, compromise a little, do

not be so utter; you will get more open doors if you will only

broaden out a bit; you can have a lot  more if you ease up!’ What

is going to save you in that hour of temptation? The only thing is

that God has done this thing in you. It is part of your very being -

not something you can give up; it is you, your very life. That is

the only thing. God knew what He was doing with Moses. The

thing had got to be so much one with the man that there was no

dividing between them. The man was the prophetic ministry.

He was rejected by his brethren; they would not have him. “Who

made thee a prince and a judge over us?” (Ex. 2:14). That is the

human side of it. But there was the Divine side. It was of God that

he went into the wilderness for forty years. It had to be, from God’s

side. It looked as though it was man’s doing. But it was not so.

These two things went together. Rejection by his brethren was all

in line with the sovereign purpose of God. It was the only way in

which God got the opportunity He needed to reconstitute this

man. The real preparation of this prophet took place during the

time that his brethren repudiated him. Oh, the sovereignty of God,

the wonderful sovereignty of God! A dark time, a deep time; a

breaking, crushing, grinding time; emptied out. It seems as if

everything is going, that nothing will be left. Yet all that is God’s

way of making prophetic ministry.

“Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him” (1Sam 18:12). Satan envies and fears most those who have been with God in prayer and are determined to stand up and fight in faith. Satan fears even a small army of those who are girded up in faith for a fight.

He cowers before those who are up on their feet and ready to resist. And because he fears you, his design is to neutralize your fighting spirit. The devil does this by trying to flood your mind with defeating, distracting, hellish thoughts that breed mistrust and questions about God’s power. He’ll scream into your mind and spirit, “It’s no use fighting any more. You are too weak from your personal struggles. You’re never going to be an overcomer.

The powers of hell are just too big to overcome. So, you might as well relax. You don’t need to be so intense about the battle anymore.” This is all a distraction! Satan’s entire strategy is to get you to take your eyes off the victory of the Cross. He wants to turn your focus onto your weaknesses, your sins, your shortcomings – and that’s why he turns up the heat of your present problems and sufferings. He wants to make you believe you aren’t strong enough to go on. But your strength is not the point: Jesus’ strength is!

The fact is, we’re all going to be in a fight until we either die or Jesus comes back. We may be given seasons of calm, times of reprieve. But as long as we are on this earth, we are engaged in spiritual warfare. And there is simply no end to these battles.

That’s why Paul says Jesus has given us weapons that are mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. We have been equipped with weapons that Satan cannot withstand: prayer, fasting and faith. The time has come for us to get our focus unstuck from our current afflictions. We must take our eyes off our trials and fix them on the Captain of this war.

Jesus holds the key to all victory and he has promised us: “I have supplied you with every weapon needed for battle. And I am ready and willing to give you strength in times of weakness.”