2008 ELECTIONS Part one

While as a ministry, we cannot endorse a particular candidate: although I personally feel we should be able to do so, we do have the duty to comment as it regards the Christian vote in November. Every other group of people in this country is afforded the right to speak up on the issue's, we Christians should be able to do the same.

There is a movement in America that is trying to remove God from American history and culture. One of the two major political parties along with the American Civil Liberties Union, spend millions of dollars on lawsuits aimed at keeping prayer out of all public and government places. They try to remove nativity scenes and even want to take God's name out of the pledge of allegiance. This leftist, evil faction wants the Ten Commandments removed from public buildings.


Back in the 1800's, Russia was a strong Orthodox Christian nation. Prayer and Bible reading was permitted in the public schools. Many teachers were christians and could freely share their faith. But from 1917 to 1937 there was an organized effort to remove all religious emblems and information from Russia. They had a ten point plan that they used to do this. It is the same thing we are now seeing happen in America in 2008. America is already on the sixth point. Four more steps to go before God could become illegal in our beloved nation. In Russia, the final step was making preaching illegal and arresting the preachers.

In our land, this tenth and final step will be finalized with " hate crimes" laws that will make it a crime to preach against any form of sin. This would never happen if christians would stand up for their beliefs. If christians would all get out and vote based on the moral issues, we could see this plauge in our land stayed. However, christians would rather hear preaching on prosperity than take a stand for righteousness. Today too many seeker-sensitive pastors are filling the pulpits of America and they think its cute to tell people that they can remain in their sin. Today rather than being committed to Christ, far too many seek the purpose driven life. I really hate to say it, but we are in deep spiritual trouble.

A WORD ABOUT PURITY

" Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God"[Matt. 5:8]

When we recieve a new moral nature by being born-again, we will then see God manifest Himself in our lives in every respect. Scripture tells us "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new".[2 Cor.5:17] Purity in our lives, hearts, minds--purity in every area, can only come about by us being washed in the Blood of Jesus.

God brings us into a place of maturing love and maturing faith. A person who is born of God is brought into an inward affection and a loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ that shrinks back from anything impure. You will see the purity of a man and a woman when there is a strong and deep natural affection and bond between them. They abhor and disdain the thought of either of them being untrue to each other. In the same way, by the measure that a person has faith in Jesus, they are pure.
Faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ upon the Cross will produce purity of heart, purity of thought, and purity in every area of life. The Holy Spirit can bring about the grace of purity in you, but only as you place your faith in what Jesus did at the Cross.

When the Cross of Christ, the work that He there did, is the object of our faith then the Holy Spirit is able to work God's will in us. Gods will is that we should be pure and holy. We cannot be pure and holy on our own, we must have the supernatural help of the Holy Spirit. We can only recieve that help if our faith is in Calvary.

THE INVISIBLE THINGS

You cannot see the smallest micro-creatures that exist in water, but they are there. You can in fact find a great number of these tiny, tiny creatures in a single drop of water. Just because they are unseen to the naked eye does not mean that they do not exist. How foolish it would be to claim that they do not exist simply because they cannot be seen without a microscope.

The Bible tells us that " The natural man recieveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."[1 Cor. 2:14]

The powerful lens of a living faith is needed to see spiritual and eternal things. When a persons eyes are opened by the Spirit of God, new life will appear in the vast ocean of God's revealed truth in the Bible.

"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,neither have entered into the heart of man,the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." [1 Cor. 2:9-10]
If you will look to Jesus Christ and Him crucified today: God will reveal wonderful truths to you. It all begins by putting your faith in what Jesus did at the Cross.

God longs for us to know Him and we only truly can when our faith is in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

"For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God."[1 Cor 1:18]

BEHIND THE LIES OF OUR ENEMIES

Someone once said that we can learn so much from those who position themselves against us. I really believe that is true. Beautiful truths often lay hidden beneath the lies of our enemies. This was the case with the foes of Jesus.
When someone hates your cause, all of your actions will be slandered. All your strategies of love will be twisted and slandered by those who oppose all that you are.

Jesus was astonished at this in His generation. "to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places"[Matt 11:16 paraphrased]. They won't dance with the flute and they won't weep with the dirge. John The Baptist was the dirge and Jesus was the flute. Israel would neither weep and mourn with John when he proclaimed their need for repentance nor would they rejoice with Jesus Christ.

How shall these two be silenced? Slander.


You see, Truth itself was and is the stumbling block. The only escape for the enemies of truth is caricature and half-truth.
Preacher, when you stand up in the face of this generation, at a time when truth lies fallen in the streets, and declare the message of the Cross, you can expect opposition. When you cry out to a church that is steeped in the Madison Avenue allure of the Purpose Driven Life scheme that they need to forsake that and return to the message of the Cross, you can count on being slandered. Preacher, when you stand in your pulpit and boldly declare that a man of God ought not to be a prosperity pimp and tell your people that so many of the health and wealth gurus of today are merchandising them, you will be opposed and even hated. Truth is what is at stake..

Stand up boldly and proclaim that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. Stand boldly and call the church back to the Cross. God Himself will be your vindication. If man called you then you need to get out of the ministry. But if you are called of God, then preach it straight and true. Stand up tall in the face of all slander and opposition and preach what "Thus saith the Lord".

To be sure, some will lie about you. They have lied about me. They lied about Jesus. Many voices will attempt to speak discouragement into your life. But let me tell you; for every soul that truly gets saved because you preach the right message[Jesus Christ and Him Crucified] to them, you will know true and lasting joy.

The only concern that we should have is--"Is God pleased with what we are giving the people?"

THE WORDS OF THE LORD

" The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, Thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." [Psalm 12:6-7]


This is a word picture taken from the process of purifying silver in a furnace or oven. These clay ovens are still in use in the Arab world today.The clay furnace represents the human element; the silver represents the Divine message which is to be conveyed through the human channel.[ 2 Peter 1:21]

The fire which ensures the absolute purity of the silver, that is, the absolute accuracy of the message, represents the Holy Spirit.
The phrase "seven times" indicates- as the number 7 does many times in the Bible-the absolute perfection of the Holy Spirit's work. So, the whole picture here assures us that the total accuracy of the Divine message in the scriptures is due to the perfect operation of the Holy Spirit, overruling all the fraility of human clay and purging all the dross of human error from the flawless silver of God's message.

The message is Divine. It is other than the messenger[man]. Man recieves God's word by the Power of the Holy Spirit which is made possible because of what Jesus did at the Cross.

A person cannot really understand the Word as it should be understood, unless they have placed their faith totally in what Jesus did at the Cross, thereby ensuring the help of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 7 says" Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever". This has a double meaning. God will keep His Words and God will keep His people. God will preserve His Words and He will preserve His people. No matter how evil and wicked men attack the word of God, they will not prevail.

From the very time that God uttered His Word it is most surely to come to pass exactly as He has spoken it.

DID JESUS DIE SPIRITUALLY?

In a word, no He did not.
The Jesus died spiritually doctrine is one of the most brutal attacks on the finished work of Christ upon the cross in todays church. This heresey is promoted mostly by the so called word of faith movement. This bogus doctrine has been made popular by false teachers such as E.W. Kenyon and Kenneth Copeland.

Paul says in 1 Cor 2:2 "For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Quite clearly the New Testament teaches that redemption was paid for by Jesus Christ, on the Cross. 1 Cor. 1:18 says "For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God". Every aspect of Salvation is carried out as the believer recieves the truth of Christ and Him crucified. The Jesus died spiritually doctrine attacks both who Christ is and also the finished work that He accomplished on the Cross of Calvary.

These people teach that Jesus' physical death on the Cross was not sufficient to redeem all mankind. They say that Jesus was defeated by satan at the Cross. Nothing could be any further from the truth. The majority of the word of faith teachers say that Jesus was impregnated with a sinful demonic nature. They wrongly interpret 2 Cor. 5:17 and teach that Jesus became a sinner. He did not...

Let me say it loud and clear, JESUS DEATH ON THE CROSS AND THE SHEDDING OF HIS PRECIOUS, INNOCENT, AND PURE BLOOD IS WHAT PAID THE PRICE FOR MAN'S REDEMPTION...

Jesus did not become a sinner. He became the perfect sin-offering. Calvary was not a defeat, it was where the eternal victory was forever won.. Jesus did not have a sin nature and He never one single time sinned. ever. PERIOD...

These false teachers also say that Jesus went to hell and burned there as a sinner and then was born again in hell, and that, they say is how redeemption was won. Kenneth Copeland even went so far as to say that God told him that he [Copeland] could have done the same thing if it were physical death that paid the price. This statement is utter, raw BLASPHEMY...

The Bible says " How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God".[Heb. 9:14] and " By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all".[Heb. 10:10] You see my friend, it was on the Cross and by the shedding of His Holy Blood that Jesus paid the sin debt and broke the power of sin over us..

Jesus Christ did not die spiritually. He had never sinned. Jesus Christ did die physically and shed His Pure blood for our sins. If we will recieve Christ and what He did at the Cross, we can be redeemed and live a holy life.

These people who teach the false Jesus died spiritually doctrine expose themselves that they have opted for a redemption plan that God will have nothing to do with... You cannot be saved unless you are saved by the Blood of Jesus Christ. The Cross is the only way.

DO MORE THAN YOU CAN DO

In Deuteronomy 9:1, scripture says, " Hear O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven"

Notice first of all that without the Lord, they could not have done that which God told them to do. We likewise cannot accomplish our callings without the Lord. With the Lord however, all things are possible...
God told them to do more than they could do within themselves.. God's plans for our lives always seem to be more than we can do. This is so we have to look to Him and believe in His ability to work through us in achieving those plans.

When you really believe that because of Calvary and the finished work of Christ upon the cross; Christ lives in you and His power has been made available to you, God will begin to show you how He is going to do those "impossible" things in your life...

God will open the right doors for you. He will send the right people to help you. God will uncover ways of obtaining the necessary finances that you will need. We simply need to move out on faith and have confidence in our God. We will see miracles.

MY VALENTINE

Valentines Day is a couple of days away and I want to say that I am so very thankful and blessed that the Lord has given me Angie to be my wife. She is my very best friend and a constant source of strength and encouragement to this preacher.

So, Angie, my love, my wife, and my best friend-----HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

You have my heart now, and forever............

CHRISTIAN? PANDERING

The modern church seems willing to resort to any method of attracting people. Many churches today have replaced heart felt worship with entertainment.Serious preaching and teaching of the word of God is now being laid aside for comedy routines.One so-called church recently advertised a sermon??series called " Funky Things Christians Do ". The message titles were "The groovy ghost"[A so called message on the Precious Holy Spirit] " The Funky Dunk" {Their idea of baptism] And "Daddio's Dinner"[ The Lords Supper] This is from a church that calls itself christian. Ladies and gentlemen, this is blasphemy...

This type of thing is not needed in the body of Christ... John the Baptist did not give away free camel rides to get people to come and be baptised. Remember what became of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts chapter 5? In Numbers 16 remember what happened to Korah?. These are but two examples of the fact that God does not like any form of irreverance. It is a sad commentary on the modern church, but instead of confronting the world, many churches are intent on pandering to worldly lusts.

" For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
2 Timothy 4: 3-4

A PRAYER FROM THE CHURCH IN CHINA

" But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." [Matt. 24:13]

Once when preparing for a Sunday sermon I ran across the following thoughts. I am writing here my modified version.
A leader in the house church movement in China was asked by a missionary from America, " How should Christians in America pray for the church in China?" The leader from the church in China answered-" Stop praying for persecution in China to end. It is through persecution that the church has grown." Then he added " we in China , in fact are praying that the American church might taste the same persecution so that revival would come to the American church like we have seen it in China."

It is amazing to me that in America we pray and ask God to bless us with many "things" - prosperity, success, etc.. while other Christians around the world suffer so very much and wonder when we are going to act like the blessings we were made to be.

This Christian leader in China constantly faces arrest for preaching the Gospel and worshipping the Lord. History does seem to bear out that the times of greatest church growth have been times of persecution. During the reformation, the Gospel spread like wild fire while those who preached it were burned at the stake.

We do not pray for persecution and we do not want nor desire it to come to these shores, but if it should, how would we act and would we endure unto the end?

Persecution does not always create growth in numbers, but it does eliminate nominal believers who only go to church for all the wrong reasons. The Christians who remain-that are willing to endure suffering for the faith, demonstrate a powerful and faithful witness to unbelievers.

Often we glibly speak about " witnessing to our neighbors" by which we mean telling them about Jesus. The Greek word for witness is "Martyr". This does not mean that we should promote persecution or cultivate it. But we must be thankful to God for the relative peace and safety that we have known. And we must get on fire for God. We should always resist persecution.

However, suffering that we do not want, enduring trials and tribulation out of our control, can be a refining fire, forcing us to depend ever more on Christ. Despite the clear teachings of the bible, many of us actually think God has abandoned us when we go through difficulties, failures, and sorrows. We seem to think that none of these things should be allowed to come into our lives. We must always believe for victory but sometimes the sweetest victories come through the most bitter of pains.

We American Christians have become so prosperous, so successful, and so blessed that perhaps we have also become spiritually soft and thus, ineffective. So, when you find yourself struggling with hardship and opposition or, even more so when you are rejoicing in your success and popularity, remember--someone in China is praying for you

GODS HELP IN THE PRESENCE OF OUR ENEMIES

A devoted child of God has no need to fear anything from their enemies. Our enemies are helpless unless we aid them by allowing them to affect us. No matter what they hit us with outwardly, they can not take us out of our Fathers hand of loving care if we dont walk away from God. Our enemies cant take away our grace from the Lord. Nor can they take the joy of the Lord from our hearts.

The word of God is filled with absolute proof of our Gods commitment to defend and bless us and avenge us in the very presence of our enemies. '' Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.''[Psalm 23;5]
Really, enemies can be a blessing to the child of God because they move our God to stand up on our side. God delights in doing just that..
When evil people concoct devilish schemes against you, lift up your heads. You dont have to make one effort to defend your self, begin waiting on God. Do not think or speak any evil. Spend some time seeking God for them and praying in the Spirit. Allow love to abound. If you are totally God's, then He is in charge.

''Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you,and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.'' [Matthew 5: 10-12]

The word blessed means ''to be envied,fortunate, and well off''. Watch the persecuted church and people of God as God lifts them up and showers His presence in their midst. You have never seen anything more beautiful than Gods Holy table spread before His persecuted and reviled children. Both in this world and the world to come.

One last scripture before we close. "Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.''[Psalm 37: 1-4]

Every ''blood-washed'' child of God is His joy.. Let us live by this inspiration.

THE FOCUSED HEART

Psalm 112:7-8 says ''He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.
His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon
his enemies.


The christian must keep his/her heart firmly fixed and focused on Jesus Christ and Him crucified at all times. When the storms of life assail the believer from all sides, the believer will come through each storm-provided they are maintaining their faith in the proper object,ie.. THE CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST......

All of mans self-help programs and humanistic psychology offer no lasting help and protection from lifes storms. our only, and i mean Only hope can be found in the finished work of Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary.

I am a human being as I suppose all of you to be as well, and sometimes my heart bleeds. When that happens for whatever reason, I fix my heart and hope on the cross. This gaze of true faith brings healing, help, and hope to the believer.

Our victory in life, despite circumstances, depends on what we have as the object of our faith. The Holy Spirit will help any believer who is trusting in what Jesus did at the cross. That in fact, is the only way the Holy Spirit can help the believer. If the child of God is trusting in their own strength and self-effort, the Holy Spirit cannot and will not aid in such.

Gods desire is that each of us as believers walk in total victory through the storms of life. He desires further that we focus our hearts on the cross of Calvary. This my dear friend is true,bible faith. On the cross, Jesus provided everything that you and I need in life. Peter tells us " According as His Divine Power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and Godliness, through the knowledge of Him Who has called us to Glory and Virtue; Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and Precious Promises; that by these you might be partakers of the Divine Nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.'' [2 Peter 1:3-4] All this is made possible by what Jesus did at the cross....

Evil tidings from the world around us should not put the believer in fear because we can be certain of the constant help of the Holy Spirit in our lives if our faith is properly placed in what Jesus did for us at Calvary.

Keep the main thing, the main thing

The message of the Bible is the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

It seems however, that much of the modern church little recognizes this all important truth.
Todays seeker sensitive pulpiteer looks much more like an Amway salesman or motivational guru than any of the prophets of old. On any given Sunday, one can hear a most excellent little talk on '' How to improve thyself'' but precious little Gospel truth about the real need of mankind, which simply stated is that our sins have seperated us from our God and the only remedy is for each of us to be washed in the blood of Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul said in 1 Cor 1:17-18
For Christ sent me not to baptize,but to preach the Gospel; not with wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the Preaching of the Cross is to them who perish foolishness: but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

We as preachers are not called to give self help talks. We are called to declare the fact that men are sinners and God loves them and has provided a way for all to be saved, at least all who come God's way. And that way is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. To preach anything else is to violate the sacred trust of the call.

So, preacher friend of mine, let us join together in calling America and the World back to the Cross of Christ.
Let us plead with men and women, boys and girls, to repent of their sins and run into the open arms of the savior today.