Monthly Archives: April 2009

“A Fresh Anointing”

Posted on April 29, 2009 by Michael| Leave a comment

Here’s some great thoughts from Pastor Mark Batterson:

“The longer I preach the more cognizant I am of this fact: my words don’t mean anything without the quickening of the Holy Spirit. I’d rather have people hear one word from the Lord than a thousand of my sermons!
My prayer coming into 2009 was simply this: a greater anointing. Honestly, I don’t even know what that means or how it happens. Just keeping it real. But I know I want it and need it. And I feel it. I preach with more conviction now than I did six months ago.”

<<Read the Rest>>

Response: Praise God! That is what I call an encouraging word in these troubled times—more of the Lord, more of his anointing, more of his Holy Spirit, more of HIS word. Rejoice! This is exactly what the whole American Church needs. *Top

Posted in Anointing, Ministry

Tagged Holy Spirit Anointing, Ministry

American Church: Good-Bye Cultural Christianity Hello New Reality

Posted on April 27, 2009 by Michael| Leave a comment

(Dr. Mohler via Wikipedia)

All sorts of articles, polls, and publications have sounded the warning trumpet lately—calling attention to the ‘decline of Christianity in America. What we really are experiencing is the death of ‘cultural Christianity’—the kind that I talked about before– in the 50’s growing up with everyone in my neighborhood identifying themselves as Christians except the Jewish family down the street but they believed in the same Biblical morality as every other American.

Times have changed indeed—the culture wars are basically over and the church has substantially lost—even among a whole lot of folk who identify themselves as ‘Christian’. Here is a recent quote of Dr. Albert Mohler addressing the new cultural environment that the American church could soon be facing:

"We are going to discover that cultural Christianity is what eventually disappears in a secularized age.

Cultural Christianity has been so much a part of the environment of our ministry and of the expectation of our churches that it’s going to be a very different situation for the pastor of the First Baptist Church to worry about being arrested rather than to worry about whether he’s going to get the first seat in the restaurant.

… When you start looking at a lot of the logic of what is becoming endemic in the culture toward the future, we’re going to be in a very different situation than we’ve ever faced before.

And we’re going to discover that we are not as many as we thought we were.

… We’ve got to prepare students to be ready for that and to be able to lead churches to be able to understand what it means to be the church when we no longer have the cultural supports that we had counted on, wrongly, I think, all these years."

—Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler Jr. [Baptist Press, 4/23/09]

Posted in American Church, Christian Living, Culture Wars

Tagged American Christianity

Judging According to Appearance?

Posted on April 24, 2009 by Michael| Leave a comment

Britain’s Got Talent started on 11 April as expected with all sorts of folks with a rather inflated and deluded sense of their own talent. Then along came Susan Boyle which seemed to offer more of the same–a 47 year old frumpy woman.

The judges started joking and Simon Cowell was snearing as Boyle took the stage with jeers and laughs from the audience. Then she began to sing and it all changed in a moment! One week later she is an international sensation.

This was all in the natural–think of what could happen in a moment supernaturally!

Posted in News Commentary, Perseverance

Miss California’s Support of Traditional Marriage Causes Media Furor

Posted on April 22, 2009 by Michael| Leave a comment

When asked by judge Perez Hilton whether she believed in gay marriage, Miss California–Carrie Prejean replied:

"We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite. And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised."

Carrie Prejean did get ‘first runner up’ but quite a few folks believe that her support for traditional marriage may well have cost her the Miss USA crown. Her statement caused a media feeding frenzy that included all of the AM TV shows and was the topic of the day on many radio programs across America, particularly on the liberal coasts.

While under fire on the "Today Show" yesterday morning, Prejean defended her answer:

"I knew at that moment after I answered the question, I knew, I was not going to win because of my answer, because I had spoken from my heart, from my beliefs and for my God. I wouldn’t have answered it differently. The way I answered may have been offensive. With that question specifically, it’s not about being politically correct. For me it was being biblically correct."

Response: The persecution of conservative traditional Christian perspectives is already a reality in the main stream media. It is really shocking how the press has been rather one-sided and biased towards the homosexual agenda.

Since the passage of Proposition 8- ‘The traditional Marriage’ amendment in California, the media has been particularly active in putting down Christians and pastors who support traditional marriage. 20 year ago and even maybe 10, the statements of Miss Prejean would have been considered normal—then again that question would have never even been asked!

We now live in times when that which is ‘Biblically correct’ is considered evil and controversial and that which use to be hidden and immoral is now called good. Nevertheless, ‘for such a time as this’ we are called to stand up for the truth. *Top (Cross-Posted on ANSWERS For the Faith)

Posted in -Bible Issues, Culture Wars, News Commentary, Persecution, Secularism

Tagged -Gay Agenda, -Marriage, miss usa

What Ever Happened to Revival? or Barack Obama is Our Saul!

Posted on April 19, 2009 by Michael| 1 Comment

-Pres. Obama at Georgetown U. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

From late in 2005 through last year there were literally thousands of articles on the internet from Christians looking for revival to breakout in America at anytime, many from prophetic folks of note. What happened?

Myself, I had an open vision of revival on the very day that George Bush was inaugurated in January 2001. I really did expect it to breakout while he was president. Last year when Lakeland started out I really thought that it could be the beginning and spread quickly and nearly simultaneously to hundreds of different churches in places spread out all across North America at once. What a major disappointment that turned out to be!

I could not explain it at the time and I am just now beginning to understand some of it, but last fall America turned some kind of corner–probably around Jewish new year. It has to do with the entire nation getting caught up in the presidential election, even most Christians, and placing their hopes for change and a better world to come out of a political process.

When I asked the Lord what happened recently, I was reminded of Israel in the Old Testament when the nation asked for a king and got Saul. Before that, God was recognized as the King over Israel and when they needed a strong leader they would pray and He would send them a ‘judge’ to lead and rule in His name.

But now they wanted a strong king like the rest of the world had–this was not God’s perfect plan but he gave them Saul. Saul was head and shoulders above the rest in Israel and the perfect picture and choice of a leader in ancient times.

Barack Obama is our Saul.

I’m sorry, but I’m speaking on a spiritual level here and this has nothing to do with politics–it could have been McCain if he was elected. At this point I am sure that I’ve got everyone mad at me. Nevertheless—

Barack Obama is our Saul and he will not be able to solve our ‘Philistine’ problems–the economy and Muslim extremism and terror (but neither would McCain). I’m sorry but it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Here’s the good word:

God is setting up 100′s of ‘lighthouse’ churches across North America. Places that will provide the clear light of his Kingdom–places of revival and provision. Places where the blind will see, the lame will walk, the deaf will hear, the dead will be raised, and the Good news will be preached to the poor. *Top

Posted in Revival

Re: Loading Problems and Browser Checks

Posted on April 17, 2009 by Michael| Leave a comment

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that this blog was loading rather slowly and some of my other blogs took forever (30 seconds) and at other times not at all. At first I attributed it to a possible database attack like I had experienced early last year.

After checking all my databases, running ‘tracerts’ for my hosting co. and doing a bunch of different things to get a grip on the reasons for the slow load I finally figured out that the dated themes were not working very well with the WordPress 2.71 upgrade and with the latest Firefox browser which upgraded about the time when I started noticing the problem.

In the meantime, overnight I had lost nearly 1/2 of the normal traffic on my sites. I checked them all out on Internet Explorer and found that it still loaded ok using that browser, that’s why I still had at least retained half of my normal visitors. Then I checked out how this blog and the others worked on Safari and found that they would not load up on that browser at all.

After downloading the most recent version of the theme for this blog and spending a week tweeking it–it is still slower than I like but it at least loads up on every browser and my traffic is back to normal. Obviously I’m going to have to find a new WP theme soon and I really don’t look forward to all the work. You folks with Blogger and at WordPress.com can be thankful that all the upgrades are done for you.

So here is a lesson to be learned at my expense:

It is a good idea to check out how your blog or website reacts and loads on different browsers!

I have known this in the past and have noticed that by blogs look somewhat different using different browsers. My daughter alerted me one time a couple of years ago that my site looked somewhat distorted on her Mac–she was using Safari as many Mac folk do. After that I had her checking it out once in awhile. Also another time by accident I discovered that some of my blogs looked different on IE 6 than they looked on IE 7. So it is important to even check out different versions of the same browser at times.

Right now I have the current versions of Firefox, IE 8, Safari, and Chrome installed on my computer just for a quick check. However, it takes up a lot of memory. Here is a great site where you can check out how your blog or website resolves on all of the different browsers and versions currently in use:

<<<Browser Shots>>>

*Top

Pirates lose 3 and the Captain is Free

Posted on April 13, 2009 by Michael| Leave a comment

(Capt. Richard Phillips with U.S. Navy Cmdr. Frank Castellano)

Praise God! Captain Phillips had his family and church back home praying for him on Resurrection Day–the pirates didn’t have a chance!

For those who haven’t been following the story, Richard Phillip was the Captain of the American ship that was being held hostage for ransom by Somali pirates. Navy Seal sharpshooters rescued the Captain yesterday afternoon. *Top

Posted in News Commentary

Easter: Facts About The Resurrection of Jesus

Posted on April 11, 2009 by Michael| 1 Comment

Here’s a great article by William Lane Craig, professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California.

This is one of the best summaries that I’ve ever found of all the important facts concerning the resurrection of Jesus–all on one page too:

“To answer the question of Jesus’ resurrection from a historical standpoint, we must first determine what facts concerning the fate of Jesus of Nazareth can be credibly established on the basis of the evidence and second consider what the best explanation of those facts is. At least four facts about the fate of the historical Jesus are widely accepted by New Testament historians today.”

<Read the Whole Article> *Top

Posted in -New Testament, Bible Study, Easter, Resurrection

Tagged Easter, Resurrection of Jesus

It’s Friday, But Sunday’s Coming—

Posted on April 10, 2009 by Michael| Leave a comment

(-Reprinted from last year)

My Favorite message of all time for Good Friday is by Dr. Tony Campolo. Here is a link to the famous tape and where it can be downloaded.

The whole tape is great but the best part is at the end when Tony Campolo recalls one Sunday when he had a little preaching competition with the head pastor at the church where he attends.

Dr. Campolo tells how he preached the perfect sermon in every way and had taken the congregation to ‘the heights of glory’. As he sat down beside his pastor, Dr. Tony patted him on the knee and simply said, “Top that.” The older black pastor looked at him and said, “Boy, watch the master.” Then Dr. Campolo recalls for us the very brilliant message which followed.

The following is a short printed version of the 45 minute sermon–the printed version doesn’t really do justice to the original, but you can at least get an idea what the last part is like:

It’s Friday. But Sunday’s coming—

It was a simple sermon, starting softly, building in volume and intensity until the entire congregation was completely involved, repeating the phrases in unison. The sermon went something like this.

It’s Friday. Jesus is arrested in the garden where He was praying. But Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. The disciples are hiding and Peter’s denying that he knows the Lord. But Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. Jesus is standing before the high priest of Israel, silent as a lamb before the slaughter. But Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. Jesus is beaten, mocked, and spit upon. But Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. Those Roman soldiers are flogging our Lord with a leather scourge that has bits of bones and glass and metal, tearing at his flesh. But Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. The Son of man stands firm as they press the crown of thorns down into his brow. But Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. See Him walking to Calvary, the blood dripping from His body. See the cross crashing down on His back as He stumbles beneath the load. It’s Friday; but Sunday’s a coming.

It’s Friday. See those Roman soldiers driving the nails into the feet and hands of my Lord. Hear my Jesus cry, “Father, forgive them.” It’s Friday; but Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. Jesus is hanging on the cross, bloody and dying. But Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. The sky grows dark, the earth begins to tremble, and He who knew no sin became sin for us. Holy God who will not abide with sin pours out His wrath on that perfect sacrificial lamb who cries out, “My God, My God. Why hast thou forsaken me?” What a horrible cry. But Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. And at the moment of Jesus’ death, the veil of the Temple that separates sinful man from Holy God was torn from the top to the bottom because Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. Jesus is hanging on the cross, heaven is weeping and hell is partying. But that’s because it’s Friday, and they don’t know it, but Sunday’s a coming.

And on that horrible day 2000 years ago, Jesus the Christ, the Lord of glory, the only begotten Son of God, the only perfect man died on the cross of Calvary. Satan thought that he had won the victory. Surely he had destroyed the Son of God. Finally he had disproved the prophecy God had uttered in the Garden and the one who was to crush his head had been destroyed. But that was Friday.

Now it’s Sunday. And just about dawn on that first day of the week, there was a great earthquake. But that wasn’t the only thing that was shaking because now it’s Sunday. And the angel of the Lord is coming down out of heaven and rolling the stone away from the door of the tomb. Yes, it’s Sunday, and the angel of the Lord is sitting on that stone and the guards posted at the tomb to keep the body from disappearing were shaking in their boots because it’s Sunday, and the lamb that was silent before the slaughter is now the resurrected lion from the tribe of Judah, for He is not here, the angel says. He is risen indeed.

It’s Sunday, and the crucified and resurrected Christ has defeated death, hell, sin and the grave. It’s Sunday. And now everything has changed. It’s the age of grace, God’s grace poured out on all who would look to that crucified lamb of Calvary. Grace freely given to all who would believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary was buried and rose again. All because it’s Sunday.

At the end of the message the pastor shouts out:

It’s Friiidaaaay!

And the whole congregation responds:

But Sunday’s Coming!

Posted in Jesus, Resurrection

More Than 100,000 Britons Want to be ‘De-baptized’

Posted on April 8, 2009 by Michael| Leave a comment

Over 100,000 Britons have downloaded a ‘Certificate of Debaptism’ from the National Secular Society (NSS) in the UK to publicly demonstrate their separation from Christianity. The majority were baptized into the Church of England as infants and now as adults have decided to reject the church.

According to the article, similar movements are spreading to other countries, including a well organized move against Catholicism in Argentina.

Response: This is a rather sad development. A generation ago most Britons were baptized into the state church as infants. Now as the secular and the atheist movements gain numbers and cultural credibility many adults are seeking to ‘divorce’ themselves from their former ‘Christian’ identity.

Actually this is really not all bad. It is far better to be either hot or cold. After all, the declining British ‘cultural Christian’ identity has lately produced a weak church. It is actually harder in many ways to bring ‘Cultural Christians’ to Jesus than any other religion. Their ‘luke-warm’ version of Christianity actually inoculates them from seeking the real McCoy.

One good sign, the Charismatic and Pentecostal churches are growing significantly in the UK. Also, those who now identify themselves as Christians in the UK are far more likely to be seriously committed. *Top