How Would You Like to Save a Life – – or Two?
By: Donna Marable
It is Spring, a time of renewal and time for Women’s Care Medical Center’s 2023 Walk for Life. Since 1990 every man and woman who comes to their centers is offered dignified life-affirming options. WCMC not only seeks to save the life of the child in the womb, but they share with every client the eternal hope of salvation through Jesus Christ.
The Center’s website, https://friendsofwcmc.org/ tells the incredible facts about their beginnings and many successful missions; the Walk for Life information is under ‘events’ in the header. The success of the Walk, which culminates April 15th, is solely dependent on the involvement of businesses, churches and individuals. Participants can obtain pledges and walk or sponsor someone who is walking; donors can be billed for their one time pledge. The organization is affiliated with the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability and all gifts are tax deductible.
Thanks for your support in standing with them for the rights of ALL human life.
“Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40
Will The Asbury Revival Transform America?
By: Stuart Kellogg
The revival that began during the regular February 8th chapel service at Asbury University in Wilmore, KY caught the imagination of not just the church, but the country as a whole. For those unfamiliar with revivals, it was a strange occurrence, seeing young men and women for hours, days and eventually, more than two weeks, praying and worshipping. (“Isn’t that supposed to be something you do once a week?”) For the evangelical church it was a promise of an awakening within an increasingly secular and hostile culture. We won’t know the real impact for years. The question of whether it will go down as a localized experience, or the start of something much, much bigger will depend not on the thousands who were part of the outpouring. It will depend on those of us who heard about it and then responded or did nothing.
Whether an awakening or revival, it was a powerful event that began with young Generation Z members and touched many more than those who witnessed it in person, including several residents.
Now, America is certainly no stranger to revivals, being part of world-wide awakenings since before we became a nation. Some examples: The First Great Awakening in the 1700s, The Second Great Awakening in the early 1800s, and the 1970 Asbury Revival which occurred at the beginning of the so-called Jesus Movement and is popularized in the current hit movie Jesus Revolution.
These large movements are a testament to the Holy Spirit moving among His people, and drawing in those thirsting for more than what the culture offers. Dr. Timothy Tennent, president of Asbury Seminary (a separate school across the street from Asbury University), prefers to call the event an awakening. It will be a revival, he believes, if something more permanent comes of it. As he wrote on his blog, “It is first, last and foremost a tribute to the grace of God to reveal himself and to call a new generation to faithfulness at a time when we most needed it….However, a deeper look at this outpouring reveals that it has the same elements which are found in any authentic revival: people repenting of their sins; people being filled with the Holy Spirit; men and women finding reconciliation with God and their neighbor; people capturing a renewed love for Jesus, the gospel and the Holy Scriptures.”
“The Presence of the Spirit”
A Baldwin County pastor, Dr. Barry Carpenter who leads Resurrection Church in Daphne AL., experienced the power with five others who travelled with him to Kentucky. What made the time special? “One word. Presence. That’s the word that captures me, captives me,” Dr. Carpenter told me. “The presence of the spirit. It was gentle. There was no leader. He was the leader.”
Started during chapel service February 8th and lasting 16 days, Asbury University president Dr. Kevin Brown told The Christian Post that 50,000 students and visitors came to the campus to pray from more than 260 colleges and universities. Similar outpourings of prayer were reported at other colleges and universities across the country.
For Loxley, AL resident Tim Philpot, the revival was a reminder of the powerful work of the Spirit in 1970 at that Asbury Revival. Tim was a freshman at the time. The son of evangelist Ford Philpot, Tim was not a Christian. He told me the revival 53 years ago transformed his life. As he wrote on his blog when this awakening broke out, “About sixty hours into the revival, I knew it was my time. I located a friend and said, ‘I know you won’t believe this, but I am not a Christian.’ She smiled and said, ‘That’s no surprise. Five of your friends are in the basement right now praying for you.’
As Tim witnessed the incredible moving of the Holy Spirit in February, he was taken back to his own earth-moving experience. “This was my moment — one divine moment. I slithered to the altar, hoping no one would see me but also believing that this was the biggest moment of my life. And sure enough, it happened. I experienced God. I wrestled with God and He won. He redeemed me. He washed me. He healed me.”
The key, however, is not just the powerful experience, but the fruit of those awakenings. For Tim, he wrote that the change was immediate. “For starters, when I stood up from the altar, I loved people that I hated the day before. I am thinking of two very specific young people. It was a juvenile eighteen-year-old teenager rivalry, but very real at the time. Next, the incredible burden of sin was gone. It was like going from being a caddie carrying a 100-pound tour bag full of thirty clubs and junk up a hill to being the a ‘tour player’ with God Himself on the bag, carrying all my burdens for me. Essentially, it is the freedom that comes from being forgiven!”
That encounter with Christ didn’t just change Tim, it’s changed the hundreds of lost souls touched around the world through his one-on-one discipleship and various ministries he’s been involved with and led for more than half a century.
Lasting Transformation?
As Dr. Tennent from Asbury Seminary wrote, “Only if we see lasting transformation which shakes the comfortable foundations of the church and truly brings us all to a new and deeper place can we look back, in hindsight and say ‘yes, this has been a revival.’”
What is your church doing in the wake of this outpouring? What are we doing individually? If we simply cheer and go back to our everyday lives—-a little bit of Jesus mixed with a lot of other stuff—-odds are there will be little fruit. If, however, Christ followers become more engaged with Christ, listening, and obeying the work of the Holy Spirit, well, watch out world!
The fruit of those earlier revivals, or awakenings, is obvious. Elmer Towns and Douglas Porter wrote The Ten Greatest Revivals Ever, and noted that each movement had a lasting impact because of major changes in the church and the culture. “The First Great Awakening in England, for example, resulted in Sunday school and educational reform, changes to labor and child welfare laws, significant prison reforms, and the abolition of slavery,” they wrote. “During the Welsh Revival, the culture was so transformed that new mules had to be secured to work in the coal mines: The old mules wouldn’t’t respond to miners who no longer cursed and abused the animals! In these and many other ways, revivals in England, America, and other nations have historically shaped those societies into more Christian communities.”
The Second Great Awakening birthed many great evangelistic organizations, such as the Baptist Missionary society, along with the modern missionary and Sunday school movements. Calvary Chapel is credited with planting more than 1400 churches in the wake of the Jesus Movement of the late 60s and early 70s that began at that small church.
In other words, there was no “going back to normal.” It was a wonderful new normal, with a revived church plus many, many new followers. You know what term didn’t rule the day after these revivals? “We’ve never done that before!”
Will the awakening/revival at Asbury University be more than a fondly remembered event in a year or two? It all depends on us. There has never been a greater need for Christ and what He can do to heal the wounds, repair relationships, and lead a country full of sinners to repentance and a new life. What are we willing to do to make that revival a reality?
Stuart Kellogg, author of The Post Covid Church: An Action Plan to Thrive Not Just Survive ( amazon.com) is host of What Now? The Post Covid Church Podcast, available on your favorite podcast platform. (Contact: stuart@thepostcovidchurch.org)
What Real Love looks like
What real love looks like…
By: Jeff Sutherland
I almost walked out of church last night. One of my favorite pastors started speaking and asked if we remembered Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs pyramid, and a few people in the congregation were quick to google and share what Maslow taught. At this point I was getting angry. This is supposed to be church not psychology class.
But quickly our pastor asked, where is God in that pyramid? And he wondered what our needs pyramid should look like if God is the center of our life. At that point not only did I want to stay and hear what he had to say but I wanted to create a ‘God’s hierarchy of our needs pyramid’.
In Maslow’s pyramid and in the world’s view love is all about ME. Most people only think about love being the good things that happen to me but the Bible stands this whole idea on its head. Consider being sold into slavery, false accusations, imprisonment and other horrible things that happened to Joseph yet in the end he was able to say, ‘you meant it for evil but God meant it for good’.
Consider 400 years of slavery for God’s chosen people followed by 40 years wondering in the wilderness before they made it to the promised land and only two of those original two million people actually crossed the Jordan into Israel.
And to see what real love looks like we only need to look at Jesus.
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, anyparticipation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2
What real love looks like is not pleasing ourselves and getting what we want so we can move up the ladder toward self-actualization. God showed us the way. He did the opposite, He climbed down the ladder, all the way down. His focus was on our real needs, the only need that matters. Life. His death gave us life and He require those who believe Him to follow His example to die to self and live for others.
Ephesians 5 says to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. Husbands love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Husbands should love their wives as their own bodies, and they shall become one flesh.
This totally destroys Maslow’s hierarchy. Life isn’t supposed to be about me and getting what I need, it is about following Christ’s example and dying to self and living for others.
Next time your pastor wants to make his sermon into a psychology lesson, walk out. Run from that church. I am so thankful for a man of God who preaches the Word. Those who follow Maslow sound a lot like the lesson plan for church last night in Proverbs 4.
Do not enter the path of the wicked,
and do not walk in the way of the evil.
15 Avoid it; do not go on it;
turn away from it and pass on.
16 For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
We can’t worship the world’s ways or worship self while putting God first. Quit trying to blend psychology and the Bible. Thank you pastor!
Below is Maslow’s pyramid. God provides our needs. If we are having trouble breathing, eating, sleeping He has a greater purpose. God is our security and if we lose a job, or a house He has a better purpose. If we show love, others may not show it back but we will grow in our love for God. Our achievement, our confidence, our status is based on what He has done for us, Godly esteem. Our potential rests not on our effort but on His.
This pyramid should be turned upside down and the cross should be the pinnacle and focus of our lives and others should see that in us.
That is what real love looks like.
Cynicism: An Enemy to Defeat
By: Donald Ward – Elder, United Church of God
Society has been trained to be cynical. No one trusts anyone else. We are continually reminded of our dishonesty. Leaders in virtually every institution you can name have had suspicion cast on their behavior. We have been taught to lampoon and poke fun at time-honored traditions and values. Nothing is sacred—everyone and everything is fair game for critical review. Unbridled criticism is the precursor of cynicism.
Are you cynical? Do you sit in the seat of the scornful (Psalms 1:1)? The Free Dictionarydefines cynicism as an attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others. One of the key words in the definition is the word “motive,” which can be defined as the reason and cause for one’s actions. The cynic believes that actions taken by organizations, and/or individuals are based on ulterior motives.
Is it any wonder that cynicism is one of the nation’s deadliest diseases?
Within the Church of God, we’ve had so many ups and downs in recent years that it would be easy to take up a seat with the scornful. But cynicism is a very insidious affliction and will result in eternal death unless we repent of it. For some people, cynicism is part of their being—their psychological make-up. They have a need to be cynical and critical in order to feel complete.
Cynicism is in fact a form of self-righteousness, in that the cynic always knows a better way. If the cynic were in charge, we wouldn’t be where we are today. The cynic criticizes and becomes bitter in his heart.
Respecting the Messenger
What would it take for you to become cynical and sit in the seat of the scornful? God’s Word says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful” (Psalms 1:1). The Hebrew word translated as “scornful” means to talk boastfully, to mock and to deride. It is the equivalent of cynical. God pronounces a blessing on the man that does not sit in the seat of the scornful—in the seat of the cynic.
But sadly, the pages of the Bible are filled with men who sat in the seat of the scornful and became cynical. God identifies these people in Jude’s epistle to the Church of God. “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousand of His saints, ‘to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.’ These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage” (Jude 14-16).
One major reason people become cynical is because they perceive that there are double standards at work. Yet there will be double standards as long as humans are in the flesh. By contrast, there are no double standards with God. The standards of God and Jesus Christ as revealed in the Word of God do not change. He is faithful. With Him there is no variation nor shadow of turning (James 1:17).
Paul wrote, “Let God be true and every man a liar” (Romans 3:4). In other words, the truth of God (the faithfulness of God) does not change because of the actions of men.
Will you let the actions or words of imperfect men take your crown? It’s a terrible irony that for a cynic, it is often the very person or situation they are cynical about who takes their crown. They become so cynical that they cannot separate the Word of God from the messenger. It can be easy to think that if the messenger is imperfect, it nullifies the message. Jesus’ detractors used this tactic against Him. They called him illegitimate and accused him of being demon-possessed.
But when the Word of God is spoken and you hear it, you had better take heed. Isaiah wrote down the proper view of His Word: “For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,” Says the Lord. “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word” (Isaiah 66:2).
You may not respect the messenger, but you had better respect the message—the Word of God. Cynicism toward the messenger can be forgiven if repented of, but to be cynical toward God’s message is to flirt with the unpardonable sin.
Respecting the Message
In each generation, people think that if God were to speak to them, they would listen. But when the Living Word was on the earth and speaking directly to them, they would not listen and take heed. Christ warned the cynical Pharisees to clean up their act—to stop trying to impute evil motives, to stop trying to trap Him (Matthew 23:29-33).
Time after time they came to Him with a statement, or a question filled with double meaning. “Master, we know,” or “the law says”; “show us a sign”; “by what power…” They were speaking cryptically, with hidden meanings. They spoke with nuance and innuendo, saying one thing, but meaning another. God’s warning against double talk is very clear: “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your ‘Yes,’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No,’ lest you fall into judgment” (James 5:12).
Love of God
Another reason people become cynics is because they have not developed a loving, sincere relationship with God and Jesus Christ. They allow the various ups and downs of organizations and men stand in their way. And sadly, oftentimes they are looking for an excuse to criticize and justify their actions. But we must never allow any excuse, reason, or cause to separate us from being faithful to our covenant relationship with God and Christ.
When you repent of your sins, are convicted of the truth by the Spirit and Word of God, are baptized, and exercise faith in the sacrifice of Christ for remission of sin, you enter into a covenant with God and Christ. You make the commitment to crucify the flesh and live by the Word of God. If you persevere and finish the race, a crown awaits you in the resurrection.
Cynicism’s Insidious Results
In the first chapter of Job, Satan comes before the throne of God. God asks Satan if he has considered His servant Job, who He says fears God and shuns evil. Satan replies: “Yes, Job fears God, but not without good reason!…But take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!” (Job 1:9, Job 1:11, New Living Translation). In other words, Satan cynically accuses Job of serving God because of ulterior motives.
Satan’s cynicism began long before the days of Job. He was at the very throne of God as the anointed cherub that covered (Ezekiel 28:14-17). He looked at his self-perceived importance, beauty and wisdom, and said in his heart that he shouldn’t play second fiddle to anyone in the universe. Revelation 12 reveals that he drew one third of the angels with him in his rebellion. Rebellion can be caused by dropping words of doubt and by becoming cynical and bitter.
After Cain murdered his brother because of jealousy, God asked him, “Where is your brother?” Cain cynically replied: “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). But God clearly instructs throughout His word that we are our brother’s keeper. And we should love one another fervently with no ulterior motives. Note the words of the apostle Peter, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart” (1 Peter 1:22).
Cynicism Can Be Defeated
All the enemies of faith can be defeated. And every excuse for being cynical can be conquered. We can develop the same mindset that is in Jesus Christ. In fact, we are exhorted to have the same mindset as Jesus Christ and follow his example (Philippians 2:5).
Having the mind of Christ begins with examining ourselves in God’s spiritual mirror. We can hide the Word of God in our hearts and meditate on it. We can control our thought patterns and focus on the things that edify, exhort and comfort.
We can follow the admonition given by the apostle Paul, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things” (Philippians 4:8).
“Cynicism: An Enemy to Defeat” ©2023 United Church of God, an International Association
https://www.ucg.org/united-news/cynicism-an-enemy-to-defeat
Neo-Paganism/Harry Potter/WICCA
By Rev. Clete Hux
Another area in which Christians have taken license is with the Harry Potter phenomenon. Through the vehicle of creative imagination and encouraging reading among the young, the Neo-Pagan and Wiccan worldviews have been on display in Potter films and books for a long time. By the way, did you know that in addition to Harry Potter merchandise, you can get Wicca & Witchcraft for Dummies at Walmart.com? That’s right, and not only this, you can get many other “how to” books on the same topics from this same retailer known as “America’s store.” (10) This alone should alert us not only to how prevalent occultism has become in our culture, but also to how enamored our culture has become with witchcraft.
As to whether or not Harry Potter stories promote witchcraft, there should be little doubt about it. Those trying to draw Christian parallels with the series seem to be straining to make a bona fide case. The very name Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry ought to be a dead giveaway. What flows from J.K. Rowling’s books and movies, the number of which is unsurpassed in the area of children’s literature, is an occult worldview that has been glamorized and marketed specifically for children.
The proponents have said, “Oh, no! You’ve got it all wrong, Harry Potter is not real witchcraft, it’s fictional fantasy and Christian allegory!” If that is the case why use messages and symbols aligned with paganism and witchcraft rather than with Christianity? Using that which best aligns with paganism and witchcraft yet calling it Christian is nothing more than the baptism of paganism.
A warning sign to parents should be the vast number of pagan and witchcraft websites over the years that have promoted Harry Potter as representing occult practices and beliefs accurately. Consider a few of these endorsements:
“[The Harry Potter series], both as books and in movie form are a wonderful metaphor of how we, as witches/Wiccans/Pagans/Magical people, perceive our own spirituality/works/studies, and our vision of the world. The symbolism is so strong and I have found myself reacting so many times…positively, mostly thinking, “this is SO right!” Even, as I think Quirrell himself has said it so plainly…, ‘There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it…’ This might actually offend some, but it hides one of the great truths of Witchcraft, that there is no White or Black Magick, there is only Magick, and it is the use we make of it that defines its purpose, although we usually see a dark use of Magick as weakness, rather than strength.”(11)
“Sure you are seeing witches in Harry Potter…But it is positive. They are friendly. They are good. The book may change the way people feel about us.” (12)
“Harry Potter happens to be one of the best things for witchcraft, and the understanding of it.”(13)
Claiming to be Christian as Rowling does and claiming that Harry Potter has a Christian allegorical meaning, while at the same time promoting a worldview contrary to Christianity, defeats the purpose of any purported Christian message. Claiming to be Christian yet promoting a worldview hostile to Christianity is contradictory. We do not promote witchcraft in order to lead someone to Christ. We do not promote something contrary to a Biblical worldview in order to promote a Biblical worldview.
While Rowling’s works can be considered fiction, they do not fit the fantasy genre. Some have likened Harry Potter to C.S. Lewis’ stories which are true fantasy. In Lewis’ stories, the setting is an alternate reality quite different from our own. Have you met any talking beavers or talking lions lately? Do people enter alternate realities through a wardrobe? Of course not, that is fantasy. However, in Harry Potter, the stories take place in our present reality. While Harry Potter may be fictional, actual occult practices are being performed by Harry, who was born a wizard from his witch mother and wizard father who also attended Hogwarts, a school very similar to the modern day boarding schools found in England. It is there that Harry, like his parents before him, is in training to learn sorcery, complete with the casting of spells, learning to use potions, rituals and divination, similar to those who participate in these practices today.
There are plenty more instances of reality-based sorcery illustrations including a real historical character, Nicholas Flamel, in the book and movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The students have conversations with the dead Flamel as he walks the halls of Hogwarts, endorsing necromancy, communication with the dead. Flamel was a French alchemist who supposedly succeeded in making the Philosopher’s Stone in the late 1300’s. Students of alchemy know that the Philosopher’s Stone is a metaphor for turning our base, physical natures into our more metaphysical self’s, attaining self-actualization with the Higher Self. This inner transformation supposedly produces everlasting life. (14)
While I do not endorse Catholicism, I do however, endorse Catholic writer, Michael O’Brien, for his excellent critique of Potter. He compares Rowling’s’ Potter world to being gnostic in essence and practice saying, “The wizard world is about the pursuit of power and esoteric knowledge, and in this sense it is a modern representation of Gnosticism, the cult that came close to undermining Christianity at its birth. The so-called “Christian Gnostics” of the 2nd century were in no way Christian, for they attempted to neutralize the incarnation and to distort the concept of salvation along traditional Gnostic lines: man saves himself by obtaining secret knowledge and power.”(15)
Using gnostic-like power as ideal magical power seems to be the modus operandi in Potter. O’Brien further states, “This is consistent with the author’s confused notions of authority. In reality, magic is an attempt to bypass the limitations of human nature and the authority of God, in order to obtain power over material creation and the will of others through manipulation of the supernatural. Magic is about taking control. It is the fundamental rejection of the divine order in creation. In the first book of Samuel ({1 Sam. 15:23}) divination is equated with the spirit of rebellion.”(16) I agree with O’Brien about this being a rejection of the fundamental order in divine creation. The occult/pagan/witchcraft worldview is an upside down world. One should get a sense of this from the beginning of Harry Potter. The natural has traded places with the superstitious, the normal for the abnormal. Witchcraft is portrayed as normal while the “real” or normal (the “muggle” world) is portrayed as abnormal.
Again, this is another example where intention does not change meaning. The problem that most Christians have in trying to Christianize Harry Potter may not be that they do not understand that the Bible speaks against witchcraft and sorcery. Their problem is twofold: They really do not understand witchcraft and they really do not understand the Biblical teaching against such pagan practices. It needs to be said that we are not given Biblical liberty to mimic forbidden practices. To be honest, this is where the church has failed. It is not enough to say “stay away from witchcraft” if believers do not understand what they are supposed to stay away from. It appears that believers have not been properly warned enough to “abstain from all forms of evil” or that light does not fellowship with darkness.
Conclusion
In closing, Yoga and Harry Potter are just two of many examples that fit the mold of the “Trojan Horse” that has been camping out in Christian circles for a number of years. In Part Two, we will look at the Enneagram craze and the Contemplative Prayer Movement, both of which are penetrating the church.
Scriptures both warn and encourage us to see things from a Biblical perspective. God, through the prophet Isaiah says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8-9). Judges 21:25 tells us “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Proverbs 21:2 says, “Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts.” Further, Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Against such warnings we are encouraged to “Trust in the LORD with all our hearts, and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Prov.3:5-6).
It is easy to get off base when popular human opinion or experience has become the reference point for interpreting life instead of the scriptures being the only rule of faith and practice. Unfortunately, some are using the Bible as merely one rule and not the only rule of faith and practice. It was for freedom that Christ has set us free. But we are set free to do His will, not ours! Since we have been set free, we are to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (II Cor. 10:5).
Footnotes:
1Rev. Clete Hux. Attempts to Secularize Yoga in Alabama Schools. https://1593137887-da8479395cd0c713.wp-transfer.sgvps.net/product/2020-spring-worldviews-newsletter/
2Dr Peter Jones. Confronting Neo-Paganism Part 1. https://truthxchange.com/2019/08/confronting-neo-paganism-part-1/
3Swami Param, New age yoga: Old age theft and surrender. The Costal News Group March 25, 2013. (internet article accessed at https://www.thecoastnews.com/new-age-yoga-old-age-theft-and-surrender/ )
4Alabama Administrative Code (AAC), Rule 290-040-040-.02, Certain Teaching Techniques, (1) d, e.
5see: www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/testing-prayer/201908/why-christian-yoga
6 Ibid
7 Hans Ulrich Rieker, The Yoga of Light: Hatha Yoga Pradipika, New York: Seabury Press, 1971, p. 101, ( cited in Ankerberg and Weldon, Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs, 606. )
8Rev. Clete Hux, The Evangelical Dictionary of World Religions. Baker Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Kundalini p. 295
9 Swami Param, New age yoga: Old age theft and surrender. The Costal News Group March 25, 2013. (internet article accessed at https://www.thecoastnews.com/new-age-yoga-old-age-theft-and-surrender/ )
10 Diane Smith, Wicca and Witchcraft for Dummies. https://www.walmart.com/ip/For-Dummies-Wicca-and-Witchcraft-for-Dummies-Paperback-9780764578342/3401529
11 Richard Abanes, Fantasy and Your Family (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 2002), 194-195.
12Phyllis Curott, witch, as quoted in Buck Wolfe, “Witches Bless Harry Potter,” ABC Newscom. August 18,1999.
13quote from witchnox.net by “Heather.” Message #1432, November 24, 2001
14 Richard Abanes, Harry Potter and the Bible (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 2001), 26.
15Michael O’Brien’s Harry Potter and the Paganization of Children’s Culture https://1593137887-da8479395cd0c713.wp-transfer.sgvps.net/culture/harry-potter-and-the-paganization-of-childrens-culture/
16 Ibid
Mold Grows in Dark Places
By: Nancy Kilpatrick
What a title for an article! I chose to add another bedroom and walk in closet to my house a few years ago. For the first couple years I had a leaking roof periodically. I’d have it fixed, but it would leak again a few months later. Finally, I had complete reroofing done that stopped the leak, and I quit being frustrated when it rained. A year later my daughter came to help me move some furniture and she discovered mold in the baseboard and told her husband.
A couple weeks later, my two sons and two son in law showed up at my house to rip out the molded areas and repair and paint. Needless to say, my house was a wreck for a couple weeks. All the furniture had been moved into the living room, the damaged areas on the wall removed, and replaced with new material. I’ve been leak free ever since.
Why did I say all of this? What does this have to do with anything several years later? It is a perfect picture of what I’ve been learning since I had my eyes opened in 2008, and I began to study and investigate what is taking place in America.
As a country, we did not just wake up one day and discover that we have all the division in our country that we see and hear every day. I can tell you, for sure, that America IS divided. Two parties, at opposite ends of the fight, one side fighting for liberty, freedom, constitutional rights, common sense, balanced budget. And the other side wanting to do away with everything our Founding Fathers and our ancestors fought and died for.
My personal terminology for that group is demonrats. Demonrats, meaning anyone who is actively promoting and upholding this trend to destroy our Constitutional Foundation regardless of what political party they support. The fake news calls them “global elite”. The term “elite” according to the internet means: superior in terms of ability or qualities to the rest of a group or society. The truth is: they are narcissistic. Also, according to the Goggle search: a narcissistic individual must have at least five of the following qualities. 1. self-importance 2. entitlement 3. superior 4. arrogance 5. grandiose fantasies of success, power, beauty, or love 6. need for admiration and craving attention 7. using other people to reach their goals 8. lack of empathy 9. envying others or believing that other people envy them. Surprised? These Demonrats have all these traits. The news media is evidence of all nine of these traits coming from those who support this agenda of transforming America.
America needs a change, that is true, because these Demonrats have passed legislation in Washington DC to take over our schools, our health insurance and hospital personnel; they constantly attempt to take away our gun rights, and many other areas as well. The constitution clearly states that the federal government has no authority that is not precisely stated in the Constitution, or the Constitution precisely denies the state to have control. That limits what the Federal Government can do. It’s time we got back to Constitutional law and save America from these Demonrats.
The mold in Washington DC has been growing for several years. It’s time to rip out the baseboards and portions of the wall that has been damaged and get back to a safe America. Our Great America, where our kids can go to school without fear of armed intruders, where food is available for consumption without GMO so it can sit on the shelf a year before you buy it, where pharmaceuticals are purchased that did not come from a country that hates us, where Government actually protects us from terrorists coming across our southern border instead of stealing our God given rights that the Constitution actually guarantees us, and where our leaders have the common sense to know what a “woman” is.
Satan and 1/3 of the angels were thrown out of heaven because they rebelled against God. Today, we have these Demonrats trying to replace God. They are saying that what God made “good” in Genesis, like food, isn’t good enough. It needs to be genetically modified or hormones added to it. A child born “male” can change to female and vice versa. They have legalized same sex marriage and sex change surgeries. They have given teachers licenses to give hormone medication to students against parental knowledge and went so far as to say that parents rights end when a student enters the school building.
When God looked down on the world in Noah’s day, He saw the wickedness going on and He destroyed everything and everyone. Scripture says that “as it was in the day of Noah, so will it be when He return to earth again.”
My question to Washington DC is this? Just how much more time do you think you can try to undo or redo God’s creation before He comes back and puts a stop to your agenda? I say, Let’s tear down the walls and the baseboards and rebuild Washington DC before it’s too late. Tony Perkins at Family Research Center in Washington, DC made this statement in a recent e-mail: “you and I know neither the President nor this Congress can revitalize the spiritual condition of our nation. Only a national repentance and a move of the Holy Spirit can restore our nation. The Biden administration’s domestic agenda is poisonous toward that end.”
It’s time for the Church and the Conservatives of this country to join hands and pray that God will intervene and bring our nation back to a Godly worldview and, Lord have mercy, let us install Constitutional law back into our government. I implore every Pastor to step up and inform your congregation of the necessity to protect our Constitution, our Rights, our Children from the enemy that is attempting to destroy Freedom in our America. It was God who gave us this country, and just as God instructed Adam to tend to the Garden of Eden, He expects us to tend to our Country. God Bless those Pastors who are already active Shepherds over their sheep. But shame on those Shepherds who are not. You will be accountable one day. The Scriptures are also very clear about those Shepherds who are not leading their sheep as He intended.
When you find a mold in your home, you must consider immediate actions for its removal.
A Tale of Revival and Super Bowl Prophecy
By: Dawn Hill, The Lovesick Scribe
On February 8, 2023, a mandatory chapel service at Asbury college in Kentucky commenced and did not end, as students continued to linger and to return to the sanctuary in worship and prayer. As of now, the gathering is still going as students and many outside the college and the state of Kentucky travel to be a part of what some are saying is the manifest presence of God. Revival is said to have broken out on this campus, and other colleges, such as Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, are claiming the same, as students gather in prayer meetings and in worship.
Many of us have heard the word revival, and this word can spark a mixture of A TALE OF REVIVAL AND SUPER BOWL PROPHECY
emotions. We have heard and read of revivals, and many of us have personally attended large gatherings where revival was attested or claimed. While there are people who desire to go where the revival is said to be, others are skeptical yet hopeful. Even with hesitancy and concern, there is a desire to see people truly transformed by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ and to use Biblical discernment, as instructed in Scripture.
I have seen many posts online pertaining to this revival. There are numerous clips of people worshiping and singing. There are photos of individuals kneeling at the altar. There are video testimonials full of zeal, and if you search for it, you can watch the sermon that initiated these extended gatherings. Asbury has a history of these types of occurrences, as noted on their website, and many are taking note of the current revival.
In addition to the news of these gatherings, there is chatter online concerning a prophecy said to be from the late Bob Jones, a minister once affiliated with the Kansas City prophets. It is said that he told numerous people throughout the years that when the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl, the billion-soul harvest was coming through the emergence of apostolic chiefs. Though this same prophecy was mentioned in 2020 after the Chiefs won the Super Bowl, it is being called into remembrance once again, given the current state of affairs.
What does it all mean? How are we to navigate claims of revival, and are we to hang our hope of revival on a football prophecy? Must we travel to a specific location to meet with God? Is this truly revival? There are many questions individuals are asking during this time, and they are valid questions to consider. (Here is a helpful article about the characteristics of true and false revival.)
Revival Food for Thought
A friend and sister in Christ, Emily Massey, shared this on her social media, “Don’t believe the lie that because you don’t travel to a college campus where hundreds are flocking to worship God that His presence is not with you in the kitchen while you wash the dishes.” The mentality that we must be in a specific location in order to experience God negates His omnipresence. One could even say that it “puts God in a box”, a common phrase stated when those on the other side of the aisle dare to question or to raise concerns about spiritual matters. You and I are able draw closer to the Lord and to be refreshed in the reading of Scripture, in prayer, and in the local church gathering. You are also not a Pharisee for asking such questions or for testing all spirits. In fact, you are obeying Scripture (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22, 1 John 4:1).
A good Berean tests and goes back to the Word of God for truth out of love for God and love for others, and this should encourage us in our faith. When we see areas of revival taking place in Scripture, we find a consistent pattern of God’s people being taken back to His written instructions, reminding them of His ways and His commandments. We see the typology of the gospel in the Old Testament, and we see the fulfillment of the gospel in the New Testament through Jesus Christ. We remember His promises, His love, and His holiness, and we are compelled by His Spirit to walk in those ways and to obey His instructions. Regeneration comes in the proclamation of the gospel, where dead men are raised to life in Christ Jesus.
Like others who have expressed caution, I pray that revival and regeneration does come to people. Lasting fruit of God’s true work in the lives of people will be the evidence of true revival, not hype, emotion, or sensationalism. Lasting fruit is not in the length of public gatherings or lines of people outside of buildings. Fruit is cultivated in the repentant and obedient before God.
Let’s remember that as believers, we are to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is part of the lasting fruit in the life of a believer. People are unable to be regenerated and to understand the love of God apart from Christ’s atonement on the cross for our sin. The Lord is daily adding people to His Kingdom through the preaching of the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Hearts of stone are transformed by God into hearts of flesh, and His Word is being written on those hearts. People who have never graced the walls of Asbury and other locations marked as revival spots, have been brought to repentance and saving faith in Christ in the privacy of their homes and in local church gatherings, apart from any well-known gathering.
Let’s also consider the power of music and that worship is not in song alone. I love music, and I love to worship the Lord in music. I along with many of you can understand how influential music can be, especially as a former “worship leader”. A believer revived by God will worship the Lord in every area of life, even when the tune fades, and what we do in word and deed is to be worship unto the Lord, even when washing the dishes.
I want to see revival in the hearts of God’s people and to see others come to saving faith in Christ. I want to see brothers and sisters in Christ increase in their passion for the Lord. I pray it is not temporal or fleeting based on emotion and location. I say yes and amen to God’s work in the hearts and lives of people while testing claims of revival and knowing that enduring fruit testifying of Christ and the truth of His Word is where this is to be grounded.
Listen to this episode discussing the Asbury revival and Bob Jones’ revival prophecy: The Lovesick Scribe Podcast: A Tale of Revival and Super Bowl Prophecy on Apple Podcasts
This Leg of the Race
By LeeAnn Witzigman
“Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”
1 Corinthians 9:24-25
In the summer of 2021, our oldest son Blake enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and was bused from his hometown to Parris Island, South Carolina for 13 weeks of bootcamp. He had confidently committed to a calling on his life and we leaned forward as we watched from the sidelines when he took off on this new leg of his race. For Patrick, the following weeks served as a trip down memory lane as he read the letters Blake sent and relived his own bootcamp experience from days gone by. We decided before he even got on that bus that we would each write him a letter every day, so he’d never go a day without hearing from someone who was cheering him on. This proved to be the sweetest season of my relationship with Blake, who was 14 years old when God turned the ashes of two failed marriages into beauty for a family that was destined to be rebuilt on faith. I took such pleasure in the one-sided conversation I got to have where I could just affirm him, tell stories of how much he meant to me in moments I’m sure he didn’t remember, and to have the ear of his heart without the interruption of everyday distractions. And I could often feel the response from him as he was being met in a place of fatigue and weariness with words of love and life. Our God can place the weight of His glory on a weightless piece of paper marked with postage to the place of military training and extreme testing of endurance, so that His words light up dimly lit places.
The day before his graduation from bootcamp, we arrived early and decided to walk around the military base. We heard the sound of marching feet and followed it into the outdoor arena where rehearsal was being held by thousands of newly minted Marines. As we stood to the side of the entrance gate, every few minutes hundreds of young, uniformed soldiers would run by us. It seemed highly unlikely that we would find Blake in the sea of identical boots, clothing, and hats. After a few moments, Patrick erupted beside me with tears and clapping. Blake had spotted us first and I wish you were there to see his face when all of our eyes met. It was an expression I had never seen before on my son … who was now a man I might add! It was as if all the emotions, every drop of sweat, each thought of throwing in the towel, and the hope of the assured coming victory was displayed all at once in his eyes, smile, and tears. He was truly unrecognizable, except that I was deeply tucked into the pounding heart within him.
I was thinking about that unforgettable moment this week as I begin a new leg of my race at another church where God has recently called our family. As I was praying and re-dedicating my heart to God in this season of trust and newfound faith, He brought that split second memory of Blake before me. I know He was showing me that He’s the one at the entrance to this next open gate and His claps and tears are louder than every collective sound on the earth right now. He has also spent eternity writing daily letters to me and using every possible moment of my life to reveal Who He is and has always been. And I saw myself in gratitude and humility as I almost didn’t recognize who I was, because the woman who journeyed these last five years certainly is not the same one who is crossing over this threshold of glory and goodness today.
I feel that God has many of us in a season of training right now and we are being developed for greater Kingdom assignments. I sense that He is repositioning and moving His army of warriors into places where the enemy has established strongholds among His children. I hear Him calling out, though only a few will respond and have the courage to move at the sound of His voice. But I want to encourage the Body of Jesus Christ that whatever you must lay down and place back into the Father’s hands, He will surely exchange everything for a greater portion of Himself, which is better than all we’ve come to know and experience in this life.
I’m praying for my fellow Kingdom advancers that you would be faithful to endure the testing and spiritual exercise that will be necessary to grow you into the useful servant who will see great glory. And I smile to know there is a day coming where the look on your face as you cross over into whatever God has next for you shines brighter than all the heavenly lights turned on at once.
Press onward and run to win that His beautiful name might be exalted in all the Earth! And see the everlasting crown He has promised you is hanging in the air above you like a kiss blown right from His prized heart.
The Perfect Valentine
By: Tresa Walker
As Valentine’s Day approaches and store shelves are covered with red hearts and quips of love, I can’t help but reflect on the lack of love displayed daily in our society today. We live in a world that is fostering attitudes of hostility and hatred. It seems that people have become more hostile and less patient, more judgmental and less kind, more selfish and less caring. Proverbs 10:12 says, Hatred stirs up conflicts, but love covers all offenses. In spite of all of the negative influences, God has called His people to influence the world with His love and mercy. Imagine how much better this world would be if we, as Christians, faithfully showed God’s love rather than acting and living like the world.
It is special to have a day to recognize those that we love. But we should also recognize the One who truly and forever loves us and remember the true definition of love which is shown in John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Relationships are complicated, and many do not survive the test of time. Whether you are single, married, or in a committed relationship, Jesus will always be the perfect Valentine. How can you know that Jesus loves you?
- He gave his life for you. – This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. 1 John 3:16
- The bible tells me so. – Jesus says, As the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. John 15:9
- He offers salvation and hope. – I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. John 10:28
- He cares for you. – Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7
- His love never fails. – His faithful love endures forever. 1 Chronicles 16:34
- He never changes. – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8
- He pursues you. – For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10
- He is faithful. – Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! Lamentations 3:22-24
- He is the only way to heaven. – Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14:6
The love of Jesus is for all people! 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 defines love: Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not conceited, does not act improperly, is not selfish, is not provoked, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. We may live in a world full of hatred, but we have a perfect love in Jesus!
Because we do live in a negative world, it is important to consider the world’s influence in our personal life as well as that of our churches. We are surrounded by unholy influences every day, so we must be careful that while we are in the world we are not also of the world. Romans 12:2 says, Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. If we are not careful, we may find that we have conformed to the ways of the world, so we must be on guard to keep our attitudes and actions in check. On the flip side, we can also impact those around us, but in order for us to be a godly influence, we must daily renew our mind by reading and studying God’s word and also maintaining an active relationship with Him.
As Christians, we are called to love others because He first loved us. In John 15:12, Jesus says, This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you. Instead of being influenced by the negativity in the world around us and reacting as the world would, we are called to love. We must be sharing the love of Jesus in hopes of giving others the salvation and hope that can only be found in Him. It is not always easy to love people as Jesus does or to avoid reacting as the world does; this is why the renewing of our minds and daily interaction with Him is so important. The more time we spend with Him, the more we will begin to look like Him.
Ephesians 3:17-19 says, I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Valentine’s Day is only one out of 365 days in a year, but there is One who shows us love 365 out of 365 days. There will never be anyone who loves you more than Jesus Christ
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So That You Will Know That I Am the Lord
By: Jeff Sutherland
Many people listen to sermons about the love of God. They hear that God loves them and accepts them as they are. This is a common belief but in reading Ezekiel a few weeks ago, I discovered a very different view of God’s love.
Over twenty times God spoke through Ezekiel to His chosen people, Israel that He was going to send swords from nations to destroy them, send plagues to decimate them, send strong nations to overtake them and put them in slavery, send pestilence to demolish their crops. In every instance the love and purpose of God shows through. He put His people through these things for one common purpose, so that they would know that He is God.
In Ezekiel God’s love is shown toward His people in all of this utter destruction. Today we usually don’t think that way yet God does not change. The truth is He will do whatever is necessary, have us go through much in order to cause change, to get us to the point where we see Him as the God of Gods, Lord of Lords and King of Kings, a God who loves us too much to leave us where we are, in our sin. A God who loves us more than we know.
Here are a few examples:
I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes; and they will know that I am the Lord when I lay My vengeance on them. (Ezekiel 25:17)
Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have made the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations that they have committed. Ezekiel 33:29
Your outrageous conduct will be repaid to you, and you will bear the guilt for your idols; so you will know that I am the Lord God.’” Ezekiel 23:49
7 The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am the Lord. Ezekiel 6:7
4 So I will tear down the wall which you plastered over with whitewash and hurl it down to the ground, so that its foundation is exposed; and when it falls, you will perish in its midst. And you will know that I am the Lord. Ezekiel 13:14
There are over twenty more references to ‘so you will know that I am the Lord’ in Ezekiel and hundreds more in the Bible. But I share this because God impressed on me during the reading of Ezekiel that God’s love is much deeper, more purposeful and more salvific. If you are going through hard times or know someone who is and you don’t understand why take the time to dig into His Word looking for God’s purposes.
One of my favorite stories in the Word is that of Joseph. In Genesis 37-50. He went through horrible, unfair times but in the end he realized God’s purpose in it all. Genesis 50:20, to his brothers he said, “You meant it for evil but God meant it for good in order to bring about this result and keep people alive.
If you would like to discuss this I am available. Jeff Sutherland HOME | Fortmorgan (fortmorganministries.com)
