Recent blog activity has been caught up in a discussion over the Manhattan Declaration. This is a statement coming from Catholics, Orthodox, and Evangelicals concerning three major points about our current culture in America. The debate is over whether this is just some right wing political move or it’s legitimate.

Some of the disagreement comes down to theology. How can an evangelical stand alongside a Catholic? Some objections (like from John MacArthur) raise up old lines of division that show the Body of Christ really has a hard time standing together for just about ANYTHING without an argument breaking out. (There’s a reason it’s called the “family” of God, I suppose.)

Some objections raised would be Catholics and Orthodox theology. Perhaps it’s also the veneration of saints and icons. There are fundamentalists and Evangelicals who have a serious problem with the saints and icons of the Catholic and Orthodox traditions.

This stirred my thoughts. In my own sordid sense of humor, I would present the idea that while we don’t have “icons” in the sense of the Orthodox Church, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Charismatics, Reformed and other Protestants do have our own versions. We take the “high” road and say it’s not worship. But I would argue there are times we fall into celebrity cults in the Church.

It’s a serious issue I’ve seen raised since the days of Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker. Now, it’s even hit the Reformed movement. The likes of Mark Driscoll and others raise serious questions about our tendency to celebrate certain people. I am NOT saying Driscoll and others seek worship! I am saying we tend to set these guys up in places they do not belong.

I would offer (in a sense of humor kind of way) some of our Protestant “icons” through the centuries.

Luther

Calvin

Graham

Hinn

Driscoll

Piper

Governor Sarah Palin has often spoken of her faith in God as her source of strength in the many challenges she has faced in life. In the video below (h/tp Martha at @JoinTeamSarah), she refers to her faith in God, her family, and her freedom in America as the most important things in her life. It is her faith that has set the moral compass that has guided her life and her career.

Governor Palin met with Billy Graham and his family at Reverend Graham’s mountaintop home in Montreat, North Carolina last Sunday evening. While she was there, she recorded a video segment in which she talked about her faith in Christ. Here is the first clip from that session:

According to the BGEA website, additional video clips will be posted on their website on November 30 and December 4. More details about their visit can be found here and here.

See also:

Sarah Palin Talks With BGEA About Faith
http://www.billygraham.org/News_Article.asp?ArticleID=730

Franklin & Billy Graham Meet with Sarah Palin
http://www.billygraham.org/News_Article.asp?ArticleID=727

Sarah Palin dines with Billy Graham
http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2009/11/sarah-palin-dines-with-billy-graham.html

YouTube Video:
Sarah Palin Talks With BGEA About Faith
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUOhFPLpwnQ

YouTube Video:
Sarah Palin comes to Asheville NC to have Dinner with Billy Graham & Family http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADWQlRZlPag

“He’s a typical man. I don’t care if he’s 90 years old, he thought that she is so pretty. He loves a pretty woman.”

– Gigi Graham, quoted by Christianity Today, on her father’s meeting with Sarah Palin.

The I-77 highway runs north and south through the eastern portions of the United Staes from Cleveland, Ohio down to Florida. It was built along routes that were Native American pathways and wagon rails and Pennsylvania settlers traveled those paths as well.

All of the transit across the years since 1750,  both commerical and passenger, added up to make Charlotte a transportation hub of land and air as well as a gateway city to the South.

Healthcare, technological researchm WEducation, Travel and Tourism, and New Business Startup are all healthy industry sectors that together over 17,000 job openings in this metro area. Jobs have increased since 2005 and have been on a new upswing since July 2009.     

Fine out more at:

Smartest Cities in America: Charlotte

By far, my favorite thing about the National Youth Workers Convention in Atlanta was Perry Noble’s message to youth workers. Perry spoke on Saturday morning and left most people in the room feeling encouraged, energized, and pumped up for youth ministry. Perry Noble is a 6’ 6” 230 lb. Senior Pastor from New Spring Church in South Carolina. He started off by making a joke about his southern drawl. He said that in heaven, everyone will have a southern drawl, if you don’t believe that, you may not be going to heaven!

Perry’s message was based out of Acts 20:7-12. I’ve spoken to a few different youth workers at the convention and have heard mixed reviews/feelings about this message. The reviews/feelings ranged from “he nailed it,” to “he took the passage and made it apply to his topic!” When someone takes a passage and make sit say what they want it to say, it is known as “eisegesis.” Eisegesis is when you put your own ideas into the text to make it mean whatever you want it to.

For the record, I do not know where I stand on this matter! I loved what Perry had to say but I am not a Bible scholar so I don’t know if it was eisegesis or not.

Anyway, regardless of how you interpret the passage and the message he gave us, it’s time to move on. Perry went on to tell us that he believes there is a breakdown in communication with youth pastors and the church in general. He and many others believe that youth pastors are viewed as glorified babysitters in that we are supposed to watch the kids, teach them a few things, and when they are old enough to attend big people church and tithe; then they matter to the church. This is not the case and it should never be viewed as such. Perry was not saying that this is the case in all churches, but it is definitely something that he has seen happen occasionally. But regardless of whether your church falls into either of these categories, an alarming statistic is that around 80% of students are walking out the door when they turn 18, and many of them are never going to come back!

Youth ministry is a hard and vital job. Most people will disagree with that, but that is because they have no idea what it means to be a youth pastor. They think we get paid to hang out and play video games all day, but that is 100% inaccurate. There are days when we go home from youth ministry and it isn’t “Thank you Jesus!” it’s “Help me Jesus!” Rest assured…there is hope! Perry said that we, as youth workers, are game changers. We work in the ripest harvest in the world and if we can get our minds (senior pastors, youth pastors, volunteers) around several of these soon to be mentioned concepts, we could see a revolution in youth ministry and the local church. When youth ministry catches on fire through the local church, nothing can stop it!!!!

Perry and many of the other speakers who were senior pastors were very much in support of youth workers. Perry has four prayers that he is praying for youth ministry. Those prayers are: For Attention, For Submission, For a Biblical Foundation, and For Stewardship.

For Attention:

In the Bible passage that Perry spoke from (Acts 20:7-12), Paul was speaking to a group of people late into the night (because he intended to leave the next day) and basically had a long message planned for them. There was a young man (a youth) sitting in a window seal in the back of the room who fell into a deep sleep as Paul was preaching. Eutychus fell to the ground from the third story and died. Yikes! Perry said that in this story, Eutychus fell out of the window because no one was paying attention to the youth ministry of that church. When a church refuses to pay attention to the youth ministry, kids fall out of the window and die (a.k.a. – leave the church and never look back) each and every day.

Youth ministry is important, not just for the teenagers but for also for the church as a whole. The youth aren’t the church of tomorrow, THEY MATTER TODAY! Perry said “The kids that we are called to ministry to matter today and the church better wake up and smell the Starbucks because if not, the kids will fall out of the back window and die.” Perry’s philosophy is that you can tell if a church is paying attention to the youth by looking at how much money they spend on them. He says that you can never spend too much on your youth and children. I understand the premise of what he was saying, but I don’t know if it applies to every circumstance. Some churches simply can’t afford to put a lot of money in the youth fund, and they could be the church that supports their youth way more than the church with the large youth fund. Money shouldn’t matter and shouldn’t be a deciding factor on whether or not a church is paying attention to their youth (my thoughts).

Perry does something cool in his church. I don’t think it would work at every church, but it is something to hope for I guess. Perry believes that a youth group should never be asked to do a fundraiser for anything. He doesn’t allow the youth group at his church to do fundraising because he believes that the church and the older people should support them to show that they care.

If we want attention in our youth ministries, we need to start reaching kids for Jesus and seeing lives change! If the adults come into the sanctuary and have no place to sit because of the youth, the older people will pay attention and take them seriously. The last thing that Perry said about this first prayer for youth is that we need to not bang the budget drum, but we need to bang the kids need Jesus drum and change their lives!

For Submission:

The way a youth group gets noticed in the church is when they are completely submitted and sold out to Jesus! Perry says that we need less strategy and more spirit in our youth ministries, and I couldn’t agree more! Not only do we need submitted and sold out youth, but we need leaders who are as well. When God asks us to do something unbelievable, we need to say “Yes Lord!” In the Bible passage, Paul was so submitted to Jesus that he was willing to declare the impossible (that Eutychus was alive). We need to have complete submission.

In order to be completely submitted to God, according to Perry, “you have to be you!” We shouldn’t have the desire to be someone else or do ministry as they do it because you think they’re better than you. When you do this, it is known as ministry envy. You can read a post of mine about ministry envy by clicking here. Perry says that the problem with churches today is that there is too much imitation and no more revelation. He also said that youth pastors have a disease that he invented called “destination disease.” Destination disease is when people in ministry want to be over there (at the other church/ministry) because they think it’ll be better there. This is not true though because you take you with you and it will be exactly the same. You are you!

When we get to the point where we get it all figured out in our ministry, God will say “you don’t need me? Fine…go ahead!” We need to be in complete submission to God. When we do this, it is unbelievable. Leadership is as easy as listening to God and doing what He says! Perry’s prayer is to have a generation of youth pastors and workers completely sold out for Jesus. We are the ones who set the pace for what youth ministry will look like in 10-20 years!

For a Biblical Foundation:

After Paul (with God’s help) brought Eutychus back to life, they went upstairs again and broke bread. Paul got carried away preaching, the youth died, Paul declared something supernatural and brings the kid to life, and then comes back up to keep the focus on Jesus. Paul never stopped focusing on Jesus or teaching about him. This is an example to us. We need to never quite proclaiming who Jesus is to students. They need to know who He is and it is our job to tell them. Some people think that if we focus on only Jesus, then we won’t be relevant. Perry says that we won’t be irrelevant, we will be impotent! We’ve watered our youth ministries down with these next three things and the kids don’t even know who Jesus is when they graduate from or leave our youth groups. 1. Morality – we teach our kids to be good…problem is, if we teach our kids not to watch rated R movies or listen to “bad” music, they can become morally superior to everyone and no one likes them…we can’t teach them to be moral without Jesus. 2. Compromise – Everyone gets caught up in this game. We think that if a lot of kids come to our group and we do all kinds of fun things, we have a great ministry. But in reality, we are compromising who Jesus is to have a great crowd show up. Sometimes, youth ministries let kids show up and say it’s ok to do what you are doing and not repent. When they do this, they are leaving Jesus out of the picture…allowing compromise to creep into that ministry. 3. Personal Agendas – Don’t ever let your personal agenda trump the Gospel! We make our own personal agendas the agenda of the youth group. If we put anything in front of the cross, it becomes an idol in our ministry. Let’s worship God in splendor and majesty rather than trying to boil him down to fit into our social agendas.

For stewardship:

Perry’s prayer is that our prayer would be that we look at God and say “give me the ball…I’ll be hurt and play hurt, but I’ll do whatever it takes to push the ball down the field…I want the ball!” Perry said that in Acts 20:12, the youth ministry got brought back up and the church embraced stewardship…they said they want the ball.

We can do it, no matter how small our budget is. But if our attitude is that we want the ball, money doesn’t matter. It doesn’t happen because of lights, sound systems, looks, but because there is a sold out man and team saying give us the ball…and they are sold out for Jesus. Perry says that the senior pastor needs to make sure the youth ministry has everything they need and the youth pastor needs to sit down with his senior pastor and find out what his vision is…and then line up with that.

God’s plan is that youth ministry will thrive in the context of the local church to make a difference. When the church gets that right, it is on fire and is an unstoppable force!

Perry closed with the following comments:

“It’s always hard when we do what Jesus calls us to do. When we think it’s hard, may we think of Jesus hanging on the cross and bleeding! If no one else tells you this, I (Perry Noble) believe that you are the difference makers. Out of your ministries will be the next Billy Graham and other amazing church leaders! We will not fall…we want the ball!”

-          paulg

It may be hard for us to imagine now, but Mr. Graham was almost denied entrance to England in 1954.  In a news report received onboard the SS United States (Mr. Graham and the Team were traveling to England to hold a Crusade in London, which at the time was billed as the world’s largest city), it read:

“A Labour member of Parliament announced today that he would challenge in Commons the admission of Billy Graham to England on the grounds that the American Evangelist was interfering in British politics under the guise of religion.”

Mr. Graham writes in his autobiography, JUST AS I AM, “The message seemed simple enough on the surface, but at the same time it was mystifying and sent us to our knees.  Was one of the most important Crusades we had ever undertaken up to this time about to collapse because we would not even be permitted to get off the ship?

We were confident we had done as much as we could, humanly speaking, to prepare for the Crusade, but we also knew that Satan would not allow a mission like this to go forth unopposed.  Was the door now closing in our faces just as we were on the threshold?”

Mr. Graham goes on to explain that a draft text for a brochure urging prayer for London was written by someone unfamiliar with Britain and used the term socialism.  At the time, the term Socialist was almost synonymous with the term Labour Party.  A British proofer immediately noticed the possible misunderstanding and changed the word to “secularism,” but not before a few hundred had already been printed.   One of those older brochures then got into the hands of a British journalist.

Mr. Graham and the team were allowed into the country, but everyone questioned if anyone would actually show for the Crusade.  When the first attendance reports first came in, it looked bad…most of the seats were empty with only a few hours to go before the start of the Crusade.

On the way to the Crusade, Mr. Graham and Mrs. Graham rode to the arena and noticed that the usual traffic that greeted them before a Crusade was not there.  They were sure that this meant that not many people were going to show for the meeting.  However, when they got out of the car, one of the team members ran up to them and explained that the arena was overflowing with people.  The publicity from the news stories had created great interest for the British people. 

What had seemed like a trial in Mr. Graham’s life, God was able to use for His glory.  Mr. Graham writes, “I preached on the topic of ‘Does God Matter?’ Nearly 200 came forward at the Invitation, and they seemed to represent every stratum of society.  The unemotional British, as the newspapers called them, had tears streaming down their cheeks as they came to Christ.”

Our question for you today, how is God at work in your life through the trials you are facing.  We pray that you will continually re-dedicate your life to Him who works His plan through our lives.  God bless you today.

Flipping channels tonight and happened passed a “news” network I won’t stoop to give credence to.  I sat stunned as the anchor ridiculed Sarah Palin for her…wait for it…religious views.  Not her politics.  Not her career past, present, or future.  Not her book or her future ambitions.  Her religious beliefs.  She was ridiculed for having the audacity to believe in the literal restoration of Israel and a future apocalypse.  And for good measure, she shares this view with the most radical of today’s religious figures…wait for it…Billy Graham!  Wow.  Sarah Palin is a nut job for holding a religious opinion that millions of believers hold, including Billy Graham.  Man, contemporary media is certainly a thing to be proud of.

This visit between the former Governor and Rev. Billy Graham is so significant.  Usually, politicians (including Presidents) summon Graham’s presence for his counsel but this time, it was the most notable evangelist of our time who sought Palin.

Reported in The Brody File:

Sarah Palin Meets Billy Graham

Sarah Palin met with Billy Graham over the weekend in North Carolina. The video of her arriving and speaking to the media is below and the story about her visit is below the video.

(video from The Charlotte Observer)

Sarah Palin, the hottest name in the Republican Party, took a detour from her book-signing tour Sunday to dine with Billy Graham at his mountaintop home in Montreat.

“He’s followed her career and likes her strong stand on faith,” said son Franklin Graham, who was present for the 2 1/2-hour get-together. “Daddy feels God was using her to wake America up.”

The former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate told Billy Graham about how she came to faith in God as a girl in Bible camp.

She quizzed him on the presidents he’s known and wanted his take on what the Bible says about Israel, Iran and Iraq, Franklin Graham reported.

Graham’s son also confirmed his father got a call Nov. 12 from President Obama, a Democrat, who was phoning from Air Force One as he jetted to Asia.

“He said he wanted to come by and meet my father sometime,” Franklin Graham said. Obama also wished the evangelist belated birthday wishes – he turned 91 on Nov. 7. Graham told the president he’d be happy to meet with him and then shared a verse from Proverbs, his son said.

Billy Graham is no longer a regular visitor to the White House and his travels are now room to room, not country to country.

But a private meeting with the Charlotte-born evangelist – still one of the country’s most admired figures – remains high on the to-do lists of politicians from both parties.

Palin, who will sign copies of “Going Rogue,” her memoir, today at Fort Bragg, brought several family members with her to the Graham homestead: her mother, her father, a maternal aunt and daughter Piper and son Trig.

Billy Graham’s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, a Raleigh-based evangelist, also joined the dinner. They ate chicken breast, roast beef and green beans – washed down, of course, with that most Southern of beverages, iced tea. All the food was catered, Franklin Graham said.

A little after 3 p.m., Palin and her family arrived at the Asheville airport, where she was met by Franklin Graham. The two got to know each other this year in Alaska. She accompanied him as Samaritan’s Purse, a Boone-based international relief agency he heads, delivered 44,000 pounds of groceries to Eskimo families in villages along the frozen Yukon River who had been hit by a harsh winter.

Former governor of Alaska and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin arrives at the Asheville, N.C. airport on Sunday afternoon Nov. 22, 2009, for a visit with the Graham family. At left is Franklin Graham, who was there to meet her at the airport. (AP Photo/The Citizen-Times, Stephen Miller)

Samaritan’s Purse has an office in Alaska, and Franklin Graham owns a cabin in the state. Graham also leads the Charlotte-based Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which his father founded decades ago.

Billy Graham told his son that he ought to invite Palin to visit the next time she was near North Carolina. Palin accepted.

At the airport, prior to the dinner, she told reporters that she considered the prospect of meeting Billy Graham “a once-in-a-lifetime honor” and credited the evangelist with being perhaps the world’s most influential figure in passing along “issues that matter,” including the eternal ones.

At Graham’s Montreat home, he and Palin sat one-on-one for 35 to 40 minutes, talking about spiritual and other matters, Franklin Graham said.

Billy Graham has trouble hearing now, but Palin spoke directly and loudly enough, Franklin Graham said.

Graham signed Bibles for her parents, her aunt and each of Palin’s children. And he signed two for her – a small one she can carry with her and a large New King James version with margins big enough to write in during Bible study time.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin brought son Trig along for her visit with Billy Graham at his Montreat home Sunday.

Palin also came bearing a gift, Franklin Graham said. She brought the evangelist a late birthday present: a Carhartt jacket, a heavy outdoorsy coat that’s also considered a sort of uniform of sorts in cold Alaska.

BTW ~ Why is Trig Palin not wearing a jacket, socks, shoes or even a blanket on a cold winter day in North Carolina when everyone else is bundled up?

“Daddy feels God was using her to wake America up”

Franklin Graham, head of powerful Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is also the head of a $ raising scheme called Samaritan’s Purse. Franklin, got to know Palin early this year in Alaska and he invited her to North Carolina. She accompanied him as the Boone-based international relief agency he heads delivered 44,000 pounds of groceries to Alaskan families who had been hit by a harsh winter in villages along the frozen Yukon River.

Samaritan’s Purse has an office in Alaska, and Franklin Graham owns a cabin in the state. At least that’s what it’s called, but it is located near Lake Clark National Park and Preserve where only the elite own property. There are no real estate listings around the lake, but there is a vacation rental, which is currently unavailable, that costs around $7000 per month.

One would think that Franklin would be a little worried about his association with Caribou Barbie , a known wolf and wild animal hunter, while living in an area that is essentially a wild life preserve. But for some reason the elite seem to think that Barbyspin is going to save their a$$es from the wrath of disgruntled folks who are demanding accountability for the outright criminal waste of our heritage and treasure…G:

Nov. 23, 2009

guerreiro maasai

Joseph é um guerreiro da tribo Maasai na África. Há algum tempo atrás, ele encontrou um homem enquanto andava por uma poeirenta estrada africana. Esse homem contou para Joseph a história de Cristo e do amor de Deus que tornou possível o perdão de nossos pecados. Joseph se tornou um crente em Deus e se alegrou com a “estória de Jesus”. Com o passar do tempo, ele se tornou uma testemunha forte na fé em Cristo, até que conseguiu fazer a longa jornada saindo da África até Amsterdam (Holanda), para participar de uma conferência evangélica.

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Sua maior esperança era encontrar o pastor Billy Graham, que iria falar durante a conferência. Robert era um membro da equipe do pastor Graham que verificava quais pessoas podiam visitar o pastor Graham. A história de Joseph o convenceu tanto que ele deixou que o guerreiro Maasai contasse sua história diretamente ao pastor Graham.

E aqui está a história de Joseph, o guerreiro Maasai:

“Depois que eu encontrei Jesus, eu fiquei tão empolgado que eu sabia que todos na aldeia onde eu morava ficariam felizes em encontrá-Lo também. Então eu fui de porta em porta dizendo a todos que encontrava sobre a cruz de Jesus e a salvação que Ele nos oferecia.

Para minha surpresa, meu povo não somente não se importava, mas eles se tornaram hostis comigo. Os homens me agarraram preso ao chão enquanto as mulheres me batiam com cabos de arame farpado. Depois eu fui arrastado para fora da aldeia e abandonado no deserto para morrer.”

De algum modo, Joseph conseguiu se arrastar para um poço de água e ali, depois de dois dias entre acordado e desmaiado, ele sentiu que tinha de novo forças para se levantar. Ele estava pasmo com a recepção hostil de sua família e amigos, pessoas que ele tinha conhecido desde que nasceu.

“Eu decidi que eu devia ter esquecido de ter contado algo importante na história que lhes havia dito sobre Cristo. Então eu ali ao lado do poço, comecei a repetir comigo mesmo a história uma, duas, várias vezes. Depois eu fui mancando de volta para a aldeia para contar de novo para eles sobre as Boas Novas de Jesus”.

Eu fui de novo de choça em choça contando a meus vizinhos e amigos sobre Jesus, que morreu por nós para que possamos receber o perdão e conhecer o Deus vivo. De novo, eles me jogaram ao chão e me bateram, até abrir meus ferimentos que já estavam começando a curar. Eu desmaiei e quando acordei vi que eles tinham me arrastado de novo para fora da aldeia, pensaram que eu estava morto”.

“Eu acordei, muito machucado, mas ainda vivo. Pela terceira vez eu consegui ir de volta para minha aldeia e comecei a testemunhar. Mas eles já estavam esperando por mim. Eu fui agarrado, jogado ao chão e quando começaram a bater de novo eu desmaiei. Quando eu acordei, desta vez eu estava na minha cama. Os vizinhos que antes me haviam surrado agora estavam cuidando de mim. Todo mundo na minha aldeia havia se tornado crente em Cristo”.

Depois que Joseph contou sua história ao pastor Billy Graham, ele levantou sua colorida roupa africana e mostrou as suas cicatrizes. O pastor Graham disse a Joseph: “Eu não sou digno de desatar seus sapatos, e mesmo assim você queria falar comigo?”.

A tribo Maasai tem cerca de 840 mil pessoas e antes eram nômades que viajavam entre o Quênia e a Tanzânia pastoreando gado, do qual vivem. Fisicamente, são altos e esbeltos. São temíveis guerreiros e para provar sua coragem um guerreiro Maasai costuma ir individualmente por sua própria iniciativa caçar um leão, armado apenas com uma lança e seu escudo. Se sobreviver e voltar, ele ganha status na sociedade Maasai. Suas roupas e penteados são extremamente elaborados como na foto acima.

Os Maasai não têm cavalos: tocam suas boiadas… a pé! E por isso têm grande preparo físico e performance em corridas, como dizem: passam a vida correndo atrás da boiada ou fugindo dela! Isso quando não têm que lutar contra alguma tribo vizinha que tenta roubar seu gado. Alguns Maasai participaram de maratonas em Londres, Nova York e outras cidades durante 2008 para levantar fundos para tratamento da água em suas aldeias e conservação da natureza.

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Following my videos on Give me the Truth Part 1 and Part 2 and my post on ‘Did God actually say that?‘ I realise that the things mentioned in these posts happen predominantly in charismatic circles where I came from. Now let me say from the very start that not everything in charismatic churches is bad as there is bad in every church and I would agree with John Macarthur when he says:

I’m very much aware of the fact that not everyone who is associated with the Charismatic movement is engaged in the kind of extreme error that we will be, from time to time, referring to.  There are people who are more moderate.  There are people within the Charismatic movement who, themselves, are very, very concerned about the heresies and the aberrations that exist within that movement

However, there are so many things in there which is error that we cannot ignore it.

Here are some classic examples

Now there may be somethings below that you may not agree with but on the whole, I think that John Macarthur hits it right on the head. You can listen to each sermon by clicking on the appropriate link or download it by right clicking on the link and saving the files. 

Does God Still Give Revelation?

Does God Still Give Prophecies?

Proper Biblical Interpretation

Does God Do Miracles Today?

The Third Wave

How Do Spiritual Gifts Operate?

What Was Happening in the Early Church?

Does God Still Heal?

Speaking in Tongues

What Is True Spirituality?

Does God Promise Health and Wealth? Part 1

Does God Promise Health and Wealth? Part 2

Does Experience Determine Truth?

Pilgrimage Statistics

Consecutive Days Riding: 41                              Consecutive Days Blogging: 42

Today’s Mileage:  6                                           Total Trip Mileage: 350

As I ride the bike and review my day I realize I truly love what I do for a living!  I relish the opportunity to stand before a room of young adults and share my knowledge and experience and get paid for it!  However, the evaluation and testing of students is less enjoyable but necessary. Yet from the student responses and ratings, they appear to enjoy my classes! 

Genuine teacher: Dalai Lama

 Am I a good professor because the students like me and the majority of them learn the material?  I would argue that makes me an “adequate” instructor. When I recall the professors I had in my undergraduate training only three stand out: an Economics professor, a Psychology professor, and a Chemistry professor. But was it their knowledge in the field that made them a favorite of the students?  No, it was that they brought the subject matter to life!  The classes they taught were an experience!

How many twenty year olds, caught between parties, social life and football, would have imagined that Economics was such an integral part of life?  Those who took Dr. Barton’s Economics class did!  Who would have imagined the vast role Chemistry played in life or the psychological motives that underlie all behaviors.  Haven’t we all taken classes where we studied the material, did a memory dump on the test, took our grade and then never thought about the subject again! Good instructors brought the topic to life, making it real  with poignant examples and stories.  They might have even raised their voices, waving  arms as they pounded on the podium. 

Genuine teacher: Mother Teresa

Good professors don’t just make a point, they plant seeds!  They open you up to new possibilities and to a new world view. I’ve had students tell me that a particular lecture, or story immediately changed their perception of life.  I’ve had many call me back years after they have moved on with life, to tell me that the seeds I planted in my classes had sprouted and were now bearing fruit. These interactions are gratifying and reinforce me to keep planting those seeds.

How is all of this relevant to our daily spiritual journey? I encounter many people of different faiths and spiritual practices who desire to influence other individuals’ spiritual life. In some cases it’s a desire to see suffering relieved.  In other cases it’s a desire to increase their flock with converts. Some do it because they are told by their faith. Many do it out of a fear for the salvation of others.   I remember a time in the Navy when a neighbor returned to the dorm in the evening with a beaming smile.  I asked him about it and he exclaimed: “Two and a half, two and a half souls I’ve saved!”  I asked him the obvious question about the fraction of a soul.  He noted that he and a fellow believer witnessed to a sailor who “gave himself to the Lord” so he figured they should each get half a soul credit!

Genuine teacher: Gandhi

I have found that if you want to be effective at influencing other people and have fun in the process of doing it, you need to be genuine and authentic!   I often see my students looking back at me with that wide eyed expression associated with a “he is really into this stuff” mind set.  At that moment I know I am “in my grove” and that I am planting the seeds of possibilities, of new horizons, of new ideas and experiences.

 I remember sitting with a group of my church teens as we spoke with an orange robed, shaved head Buddhist nun.  I felt that sense of congruence as she spoke her story and told “her truths.”  These were not mere words, she lived them!  None of us rushed out and converted to Buddhism, but we all knew we had been in the presence of a special human being. Words and sermons attract, but the power to influence comes out of actions. Of course I am not telling you anything new, anything you haven’t heard from the pulpit.  Embrace the love of God, live the love, be an example of it!

Genuine teacher: Billy Graham

I have a friend who is very devout in her faith.  She attended a church workshop about the qualities of a “true believer.” She noted to me that “you have all the qualities they talked about, but you aren’t a believer!”  I smiled, nodded and then added: “I believe, just not in the same things you believe!”

We have the greatest impact on others when we present them not just with a new idea, but with a new experience: an experience that challenges them to open up, consider, expand, grow and become something new!

I posted an excerpt of a sermon by Billy Graham on the issue of having TRUE “change” occur – here.  Below is yet another reminder from the incredible Rev. Graham as to the only “change” that is necessary and meaningful…as well as the only “revolution” that matters:

All said and done I stand alone
Amongst remains of a life I should not own;
It takes all I am to believe in the mercy that covers me…

I just woke up from the most random of random dreams. None of it made sense. Nothing flowed. People just…appeared. One of those people was my sister. She just appeared, out of nowhere, and, of all things wanted to know my favorite song out of every song out there.

At first, I protested that I loved music too much to have just one favorite, but seconds later realized that I did, in fact, have a “favorite of favorites.” It’s “Worlds Apart” by Jars of Clay, the final song on their debut album, which premiered in 1994.

Fifteen years later, it is still as evocative and profound as it was then. And though I’ve heard it dozens and dozens of times, when it gets to the bridge, the tears slide down my cheeks every time.

I was singing it in my mind as I woke up this morning, and it made me think of my grace vs. karma post yesterday. I am more baffled than ever how anyone who lives in reality rather than the delusion of wishful thinking could believe that karma could possibly exist.

Is it fair that there are children dying of hunger and AIDS and the most heinous abuse imaginable — and often that which is not imaginable? Karma would say that those children did something to earn those afflictions.

Is it fair that there are men whose hearts are so perverted by a “peaceful” religion that demands its followers cut off the heads of the infidels and pour hot oil down their throats that they walk into a room on an Army base and mow down 44 people, killing 14 of them, in the name of that religion?

Is it fair that my grandmother’s brain is so diseased by Alzheimer’s that she melts down and yells hateful, harmful things at my mother, who has sacrificed so much to care for her?

No. It’s not fair. There is no karmic balance in a world where, often times, the good suffer and the bad prosper.

Which is why I’m glad that we’re dependent on a God of grace. There are those who would take the above scenarios and use them to convict a loving God who seems absent in the worst of times.

But that’s, sadly, what happens when we live in a fallen world. It’s what happens when we have a God who loved us so very much that, despite knowing every single bad thing that would ever happen, He chose to give us free will. Don’t you think He could’ve snapped His fingers and eradicated sin? Don’t you think He could’ve just made us all love Him? Of course. But would you rather have someone love you because they’re forced to, or because they choose to? God wanted our love to be genuine and not coerced, and so He gave us free will, even knowing that it would one day cost Him the live of His son.

My friend Steve commented on my last post about “spiritual” karma, and I understand what he meant. Except that are there any of us out there who deserve heaven on their own merit? There aren’t. Not even Billy Graham and Mother Teresa, the most virtuous people with whom I could come up.

Romans 3:23 tells us that we have all fallen short. All of us. And if Billy Graham falls short, how much further away do I fall? A great deal, let me tell you.

Thankfully we have Romans 5:8, which assures us that even while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Christ’s atonement is the great equalizer, and accepting it — and Him — allows me to one day stand shoulder to shoulder with Billy Graham…and Jeffrey Dahmer.

That’s right. I said Jeffrey Dahmer. The serial killer.

Because it is said that while he was in prison, he learned of Christ’s love, death, and forgiveness, and he confessed his sins and made Christ his savior. Which means that when he was killed by another inmate, he went to heaven.

I’m sure there are those out there who would be appalled by that fact. And I’m so glad they’re not judging me, because they obviously have forgotten Ephesians 2:8-9, which says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, lest any man should boast…”

We cannot earn our way to heaven, and we cannot sin our way out of it, once we have accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf and made Him Lord of our lives.

Which brings me back to my weird dream and my favorite song.

It so aptly describes me. And I am so glad that we have the grace of a loving God, which takes our world apart.

“Worlds Apart” — Jars of Clay
I am the only one to blame for this
Somehow it all ends up the same
Soaring on the wings of selfish pride
I flew too high and like Icarus I collide
With a world I try so hard to leave behind
To rid myself of all but love, to give and die

To turn away and not become
Another nail to pierce the skin of one who loves
more deeply than the oceans,
more abundant than the tears
Of a world embracing every heartache

Can I be the one to sacrifice
Or grip the spear and watch the blood and water flow

Take my world apart
I am on my knees
Take my world apart
Broken on my knees

All said and done I stand alone
Amongst remains of a life I should not own
It takes all I am to believe
In the mercy that covers me

Did you really have to die for me?
All I am for all you are
Because what I need and what I believe are worlds apart

I look beyond the empty cross
forgetting what my life has cost
and wipe away the crimson stains
and dull the nails that still remain
More and more I need you now,
I owe you more each passing hour
the battle between grace and pride
I gave up not so long ago
So steal my heart and take the pain
and wash the feet and cleanse my pride
take the selfish, take the weak,
and all the things I cannot hide
take the beauty, take my tears
my sin-soaked heart and make it yours
take my world all apart
take it now, take it now
and serve the ones that I despise
speak the words I can’t deny
watch the world I used to love
fall to dust and blown away
I look beyond the empty cross
forgetting what my life has cost
so wipe away the crimson stains
and dull the nails that still remain
so steal my heart and take the pain
take the selfish, take the weak
and all the things I cannot hide
take the beauty, take my tears
take my world apart, take my world apart
I pray, I pray, I pray
take my world apart…

Dallas' First Baptist Church Plans to Spend $130M U.S. on This Downtown Complex

• The Office’s Rainn Wilson is not a believer, but he does ask a good question:   Is television an acceptable method of ministry to the masses.  Personally, I like what Billy Graham did — nothing on a weekly basis, but quality crusade coverage once per quarter.   Better yet, I think would be for a church to pour resources into an annual prime time special.   Read the replies at Soul Pancake.
  
• If you haven’t already, check out the podcasts featuring debates between A Christian and An Atheist.
• Brant Hansen at Letters from Kamp Krusty (also linked a few lines below) had a link to seven pictures — be sure to see all seven — in the London Telegraph showing a human fetus (or foetus, as the Brits spell it) developing in the womb.
• Perry Noble notes 15 signs that a church is in trouble.    #8 – Scripture isn’t central in every decision that is made!  … #10 – The people in the church lose sight of the next generation and refuse to fund ministry simply because they don’t understand “those young people.” Check it out.
• Speaking of churches in trouble, try to wrap your brain around the plans of First Baptist, Dallas, Texas; in spending 130 million dollars to build a Tower of Babel new sanctuary in the city core.  (See picture, above.)  Be sure to click the links to watch the series of seven or eight videos, especially “The Experience” and “Worship Center.”   To warm up, the insanity begins at Arthur Sido’s blog.
• TC Robinson blogs at New Leaven and suggests there are Five Deeply De-Christian Doctrines.  (Pastors love alliteration…)
• The blog, The Word from the Hood features a dramatic narrative of the life of Tina Barry and her attempts to learn her mother’s identity and reconnect with her siblings.    Her story takes about five minutes to read, but is well worth the time.
• This one is for seminarians and theology junkies, not mathematicians:  Stephen Manskar on understanding the role of Scripture, tradition, reason and experience — Teaching The Wesleyan Quadrilateral.  (See picture below.)
• If you’re a woman, or even worse (!) a SAHM, you’re going to love the story of what one Methodist pastor did.
• Here’s some quick wisdom from Chuck Swindoll that will only take 15 seconds, but will stay with you all day.
• This one is at the other end of the spectrum.  You’d want to allow a good 10 minutes or so to read this Boston Review article on Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and religion.
• Finally, on the lighter side, Brant Hansen at Letters from Kamp Krusty believes he has found what is truly The Best Christian T-Shirt Ever.

You'll want a degree in Theology, not Mathematics, to understand the Wesleyan Quadrilateral

In my last post on False teacher Billy Graham I ran across a website ~ a MASONIC website even ~ that states famous freemasons! I am posting the list here: from http://southernbrotherhood.org/famous . To make sure this is indeed a TRUE Masonic website here is their mainpage: http://southernbrotherhood.org ~ so it isnt fake just to discredit the mentioned people!! But an actual Mason Lodge located in India ( of all places!!LOL)

NOTE: I have highlighted in BOLD a few curious names – and although all the names are of interest – Walt Disney is mentioned as is Billy Graham, Oral Roberts ( mentor to Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar and MANY others) and Joseph Smith ( founder of the Mormon church) Fans of Walt Disney may want to THROW OUT ALL THEIR KIDS VIDEOS after this post!!

Was I ever floored at the depth of satanic deception is the mainstream Christian Church when Father YHWH first revealed to me the phonies behind the pulpit! Even more so i was more floored at the fact that my own pastors and fellow Christian friends would not believe the evidence against Billy Graham that I presented to them! They just didnt want to believe beloved Billy could be an agent of the enemy!!

Billy Graham the tare

 Amazing Billy Graham has been loved by the world and honored with many awards. Since when does an Evangelical preacher get loved and honored by the world? That right there should be an indication that something is very wrong with Mr Graham!! Yahushua said they would HATE US because they FIRST HATED HIM! True believers are persecueted for their faith…

Why is he loved? because he is one of them ( the global elite) in particular a 33rd degree Freemason. There are numerous sources for this accusation!

An Ex Freemason testimony of Billy Graham attending his 33rd degree masonic initiation

Billy Graham’s endorsement of a Masonic Youth Group

Billy Graham endorsing and affiliated with other New Age/ Masonic reverands such as Oral Roberts, Robert Schuller and Norman Vincent Peale

Billy Graham believes that JESUS LIED

Billy Graham being praised by many other 33rd degree Freemasons

Billy Graham listed on Masonic Website

Many other numerous Masonic/New World Order/Satanic connections

Billy in a Masonic handshake with US Pres Harry Truman

A few more points:

•  As early As 1966 He boasted that he attended the WCC assembly in New Delhi in 1961, and he hoped he would attend the 4th assembly in Uppsala, Sweden in 1968 (which he did). He has attended all but two WCC assemblies ever since. This policy continues. The World Council of Churches is unabashedly devoted to bringing all the world’s religions together in what has been called the Ecumenical Movement. New Age writers pronounce that the Ecumenical Movement is the forerunner of the Religion of their New Age Christ [Antichrist]
•  As early As 1966 He boasted that he attended the WCC assembly in New Delhi in 1961, and he hoped he would attend the 4th assembly in Uppsala, Sweden in 1968 (which he did). He has attended all but two WCC assemblies ever since. This policy continues. The World Council of Churches is unabashedly devoted to bringing all the world’s religions together in what has been called the Ecumenical Movement. New Age writers pronounce that the Ecumenical Movement is the forerunner of the Religion of their New Age Christ [Antichrist]
•  As early as 1964 Billy Graham’s Columbus, Ohio, crusades was sponsored by the modernistic Columbus area Council of Churches. This policy continues.
•  As early as 1957 In the New York crusade, Billy Graham had Henry Pitt Van Dusen, President of Union Theological Seminary, take a place of responsibility and authority. U.S. News wrote that Van Dusen’s school was “one of the most LIBERAL and LEFT-WING schools in America.” Yet for all this, they wrote that “Dr. Van Dusen is considered by Graham as a GREAT RELIGIOUS LEADER.” Graham has also used noted apostates in his B.G.E.A. work, notably Robert McCraken and Norman Vincent Peale. Peale was a noted Freemason, also.
• . As early as 1963 He had United Methodist Bishop, Gerald B. Kennedy, as his Los Angeles Crusade Chairman. Kennedy wrote in one of his books: “I believe that the testimony of the New Testament, taken as a whole, is AGAINST THE DOCTRINE OF THE DEITY OF JESUS …” Thus, we see that Graham was affiliating himself with apostate “Christian” Tares as early as 1963.
• . As early as 1957 He sent … 373 of his New York City decision cards to the apostate Marble Collegiate Church. This trend continues, sending decision cards to apostate Protestant churches, Catholic churches, Jewish synagogues, and elsewhere. Graham single-handedly revived modernist, apostate, Liberal Protestant churches, as well as giving the Roman Catholic Church new converts from his Crusades. These types of Protestant churches were going down in flames as so many members left rather than accept the new Liberal direction of their denominations. Without Graham sending them these new converts, Apostate churches would have closed their doors.
• . In 1963, Mr. Graham had spoken at the Roman Catholic Belmont (NC) Abbey College. [Cutting Edge Commentary: Denying, in 1964, that Graham had spoken at any Catholic Church, when he had, in fact, spoken at Belmont Abbey College the year earlier, does not this qualify as an bold faced lie?!] In 1967 He again spoke at this college at the Institute for Ecumenical Dialogue, receiving his honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (D.H.L.) from them and saying that this was “… a time when PROTESTANTS AND CATHOLICS could meet together and greet each other as BROTHERS & ” Today, Graham is regularly seen complimenting the Pope, whom Graham believes is the greatest religious figure of this century. In NEWS1052, we report that, in 1991, New World Order planners declared that the Pope would be their top religious leader in the religion of The Christ, thus making him the False Prophet. It is very revealing that Graham is closely cooperating with the future False Prophet.
• . As early as 1959, in Christianity Today, it was reported: “Without elaboration, the evangelist [Graham] said his thinking [about Communism] had undergone some CHANGES … and he indicated that his attitude toward EASTERN EUROPE is more open.” Of course, Graham was speaking of Communism because Eastern Europe was under the Communist yoke at the time. In 1982 He visited the Moscow Peace Conference and said: “I saw no evidence of religious persecution in Russia.” This was in spite of his visit to the Siberian Pentecostals staying in the American Embassy.
• . In 1973, Graham said Communist Mao Tse-Tung’s eight precepts are basically the same as the Ten Commandments. In 1973, he praised the Roman Catholic mass as a ‘very beautiful thing’, and in1978, he said Muhammed Ali’s beliefs in Islam ‘are something we all could believe’.”
• . In 1961, Dr. Graham said this of infant baptism: “I do believe that something happens at the baptism of an infant … I believe that a miracle can happen in these children so that they are regenerated, that is, made Christian through infant baptism.”
• . Apostate Leslie Weatherhead Speaking On Billy Graham’s Platform In London “In 1966, Dr. Graham said: ‘I remember during our London Crusade of 1954, I preached a sermon … Dr. Leslie Weatherhead sat on the platform that evening and to my surprise commended my sermon.’ Dr. Weatherhead was a notorious blasphemer who wrote in his book, The Christian Agnostic, that the Lord Jesus Christ was born an illegitimate child, and that Mary was no virgin, but a temple prostitute.” Note: this is typical New Age Luciferian doctrine.
• . Billy Graham Doesn’t Think The Heathen Are Lost “In 1978, McCall’s Magazine reported Dr. Graham’s ‘updated’ understanding of the way of salvation. ‘I used to think that pagans in far-off countries were lost — were going to hell — if they did not have the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached to them. I NO LONGER BELIEVE THAT … I believe there are other ways of recognizing the existence of God — through nature, for instance — and plenty of other opportunities, therefore, of saying yes to God.”
•  As early as 1957 In the New York crusade, Billy Graham had Henry Pitt Van Dusen, President of Union Theological Seminary, take a place of responsibility and authority. U.S. News wrote that Van Dusen’s school was “one of the most LIBERAL and LEFT-WING schools in America.” Yet for all this, they wrote that “Dr. Van Dusen is considered by Graham as a GREAT RELIGIOUS LEADER.” Graham has also used noted apostates in his B.G.E.A. work, notably Robert McCraken and Norman Vincent Peale. Peale was a noted Freemason, also.
•  As early as 1963 He had United Methodist Bishop, Gerald B. Kennedy, as his Los Angeles Crusade Chairman. Kennedy wrote in one of his books: “I believe that the testimony of the New Testament, taken as a whole, is AGAINST THE DOCTRINE OF THE DEITY OF JESUS …” Thus, we see that Graham was affiliating himself with apostate “Christian” Tares as early as 1963.

Here is a video of Robert Schullers Crystal Cathedral TV program where Billy is stating that Jesus is NOT the only way to heaven!! ( Quite a far cry from what he used to preach I would say!!)

Here are more indepth articles with PLENTY of evidence AGAINST Billy Graham:

http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/awful_truth_billy_graham.htm

http://www.cephasministry.com/evangelists_jesus_must_have_lied_so_it_seems_to_some.html

http://endrtimes.blogspot.com/2008/03/robert-schuller-33rd-degree-freemason.html

http://cantontruth.blogspot.com/2008/02/billy-graham-is-33-degree-freemason.html

http://educate-yourself.org/cn/robertschullerfreemasonbyfspringmeier.shtml

SOUTHERN BROTHERHOOD OF LODGES

There are many many more links but i think everyone reading this gets the point and if they dont then you really need to examine yourself! Billy Graham is a TARE and a False teacher. Period. His son Franklin and that organization of his – Samaritans Purse is also a tare organization I would assume.. as the apple doesnt fall too far from the tree!! The fact that Franklin Graham prayed at  George W Bushs presidential Inaugeration would make perfect sense considering W is also a freemason and Illuminatist. Yes it is incredibly hard to swallow at first as a believer to find out all the beloved well known preachers are FALSE and TARES. But Father YHWH and our messiah Yahushua would have believers not deceived and in apostasy!!

Astazi renumitul predicator-evanghelist Billy Graham implineste 91 de ani.
O varsta frumoasa. Iata ce spune la anii astia, dupa doi ani de cand sotia lui ,Ruth, a trecut la cele vesnice:
“ I’ve experienced God’s gracious love in a personal way all these years,’ Mr. Graham said, pausing to reflect on life’s blessings as he enters his tenth decade. ‘Today my heart is filled with gratitude to the Lord for all He has done for me, and for all the prayers from so many people over the years.’
…‘While I know God keeps me here for a purpose, I look forward to the time when I will be reunited with Ruth in Heaven,’ Mr. Graham said. ‘However, I am enjoying this season of life, watching my children and grandchildren – and now even my great-grandchildren – grow more fully into their own ministries. It is another blessing of these senior years.’ ” (assistnews.net)