PROTOCOL PRECEDES PROPHECY

            The 3:30 AM caller said one of my flock had sustained a heart attack and was in critical condition.  I tore down to the hospital, but it was quite obvious Rachel was dead.  I thought of asking the doctor why they had called me out at that hour when she was so plainly gone; I could have blessed the body after the sun rose as well as before.  But instead I observed protocol.  I asked politely what the doctor wanted me to do.  “I want you to raise her from the dead.”
 

            I know God can do anything, but my faith was not hot at that moment.  Fortunately my commitment to obedience was stronger.  The instant the doctor spoke I heard in my head, “Pray reverse.”  I told the doctor what I was hearing and we began to pray.  Two hours went by before Rachel began to breathe.  In a few more moments she opened her eyes and was soon fully conscious.  Later tests showed no damage whatever to her heart.  The Lord had reversed her injuries.

 

            I believe with all my heart that had I failed to follow protocol – the common courtesy of asking the person in charge what he wanted me to do before doing anything – the result would have been very different.  The prophetic instruction of what to pray followed immediately the practice of that protocol.

 

            Jesus is so committed to protocol that He washes the disciples’ feet before feeding them with His own hands on the night He knew they would all desert Him to the torture and death of the Cross.  Paul shows respect for the high priest who has just ordered him struck across the face.  Even Moses never appears before Pharoah without an appointment.  Our God – and His faithful servants – practice warfare by honor.  He is determined to honor people into the Kingdom.  He expects His people to practice honor as ambassadors of reconciliation made in His image.  Prophecy dons power when we do.

            God never speaks – even a hard word – without the intention to bless.  Yet some prophetic types – and some self-appointed prophets – sometimes imagine that because they speak truth they are entitled to an abusive or insensitive manner.  I know one man who is very gifted in words of knowledge – supernatural revelations of personal information about people.  One day he entered a local business and began telling people about themselves in front of others and without seeking permission to do so.  He so frightened and offended the staff that it took months of gentle healing conversation from my wife before they would even hear from another Christian on any topic.  Reality is that truth absent honor and love may be fact but it is not really truth.

 

            “But sometimes we have to confront, don’t we?”  This is true, whether we are addressing personal relationships or the critical issues facing our churches, state, and nation.  But there is a world of difference between I-told-you-so and I-need-to-tell-you-something.  It is the difference between approaching, for example, traditional marriage versus marriage alternatives with an attitude of us-versus-them and showing the genuine love and concern for all parties – including the gays and their lobbyists – that resulted in turning a pending (according to all the polls) loss for California’s Proposition 8 into a victory.  I remember the time I was in a debate during the campaign on National Public Radio and was approached after the broadcast by several people who said they had decided to vote for the proposition after hearing the presence of love and the absence of hate in my presentation.

 

            Readers are aware of my conviction that Barack Obama is the most corrupt president in American history.  Yet I pray for him daily, and for an encounter with the living God for all leaders, beginning with me.  I hope that shows should I ever meet him.

 

            Protocol – when it precedes – empowers prophecy.  I make periodic pilgrimage to the Little Bighorn Battlefield.  Although the land is a national park, it is still the proper possession of the Crow People.  When I go onto the land to pray for healing and reconciliation between our peoples I always obtain the blessing of the Crow elders first.  As a result I have been escorted onto the battlefield by these elders and have prophesied that when their free-grazing buffalo herd reaches this land there can be authentic peace.  The herd had drifted to within a couple of miles of the site at my last check-in.  The elders believe the prophecy; they and I can hardly wait to see what will happen when the herd arrives.  Protocol precedes authentic prophecy. 

 

James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at

praynorthstate@charter.net

 

REMEMBERING OUR ENVIRONMENTAL ROOTS

Agriculture Secretary Anthony Vilsack visited the NorthState to let farmers and ranchers know he is determined to restore their interests.  He might want to let Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in on the secret.  Salazar has cancelled the lease on an eighty-year-old oyster farm in the north bay area because he claims the farm negatively impacts harbor seals – who are apparently more deserving of honor than human families trying to make a living.  The irony here, by the way, is that no fewer than four studies indicated the farm has no impact on the seals whatever.  Salazar was simply catering to politically correct environmentalists of the type who prevailed on President Obama to cancel the Keystone Pipeline after builders satisfied every environmental concern anyone could think of.  There – and here – the politically correct fix was in.

            Two of the studies Salazar rejected came from the National Academy of Sciences before he decreed the oyster farm – and the jobs it generates – had to go.  The same set-up occurred in our own region a couple of years ago when Pacific Gas and Electric – with the complicity the Federal Emergency Management Agency – rejected consecutive impact studies showing the Kilarc reservoir had no impact on salmon populations and actually promotes ecological diversity.  PG & E and FEMA said – predictably – the reservoir and the dams supporting it have to go because – you guessed it – they damage the salmon.  Locals have fought the big brothers to a standstill so far but the issue is still being contested by PG & E.  When politically correct environmental decisions are issued they are often matters of faith, not science.  They are also matters of political advantage and – perhaps – greased palms.

 

            The environmental movement did not begin this way.  As recently as the 1960s Lake Erie was considered biologically dead and the Cuyahoga River in Ohio once infamously caught fire because of the industrial pollutants in their waters.  I personally witnessed the suds of pollution in the Housatonic River of Massachusetts and the Penobscot River of Maine when I traveled to the region in 1972.  It was absolutely necessary and proper to address these issues aggressively, and the nation committed itself to do just that in the last third of the twentieth century.  But, like everything else, the pendulum swung back – and back – until the unbalanced and rampant corruption of power had its day on the other side.  The environmental movement today is a jack-booted thug dedicated to stifling enterprise and progress – and it often features a secretive agenda that is the sole source of logic in otherwise incomprehensible decisions like the two I mention above.

 

            These aberrations range from the pathetically comic to the downright diabolical.  In San Diego’s La Jolla Cove the Children’s Pool was built in 1909 through a gift from Ellen Browning Scripps.  When harbor seals invaded the spot some eighty years later the city banned humans from using it in an explosion of twisted reasoning that was eventually overturned in court.  Much more sinister is the cap and trade scam in which companies are pressured by government to purchase ethereal “carbon emission credits” which are nothing more than government permission to emit more pollution than the law otherwise allows.  The scam is that government and companies purchasing these credits pretend pollution quotas are somehow addressed, but the only things changing hands are the dollars buying the credits.  In California the government even skims these funds and calls them loans. 

 

It gets cruelly evil when we think of the Keystone Pipeline, a project rejected by President Obama at a cost of between twenty and one hundred thousand jobs.  Now we can buy Canadian oil and have it shipped on tankers that can spill instead of through a pipeline that cannot. 

             What would sanity resemble?

            The application of real science is the goal, but to get there requires a radical change of perspective.  First we need to recall that we are not accountable to the planet, but to its Owner.  It’s a variant of Jesus’ “Render to Ceasar what is his and to God what is His.”  Second we need to re-discover that – while fouling our own nest does no one good – developing it for our prosperity is the meaning of the Biblical mandate to “be fruitful and multiply.”  

 

We are obligated to care for our world.  But inhibiting the abundant life for which God came in human flesh pollutes the very being of the earth more than carbon emissions can pollute its atmosphere. Finally we need to resurrect reality that our world exists to facilitate our abundant life.  Changing that perspective is called repentance by Christians.     

 

James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at

praynorthstate@charter.net

MAGIC VERSUS MIRACLE

When the Toronto Blessing broke out I “knew” this wasn’t the Lord’s doing. It did not fit my understanding of Scripture that people fall to the ground and twitch for extended periods of time, much less break out in prolonged laughter and claim God was healing them in it. I called myself a Spirit-filled Christian – steeped in tongues and healings – but this was not the way God did it in my experience. It turns out God wanted me to bust my own paradigm for reasons of His own, and He had His own methods for making it happen.

In July 1995 I attended a Congress on the Holy Spirit in Orlando, Florida, with some twenty thousand Christians of every denomination and style. I was having a wonderful time when Jack Hayford – one of my heroes – busted my chops saying Toronto was clearly a God-breathed event. I was so shocked to hear that from the mouth of this leader I gasped to God that if He wanted me to change my view I would have to discuss it with Dr. Hayford personally – knowing how impossible that would be to arrange as I stood behind a thousand people who wanted a moment of his time in front of me. Yet when his talk was finished I watched as the crowd literally parted and I was able to walk up and talk with Hayford – a talk which led me to take my family to Toronto and see for myself. The crowd parting under those circumstances can only be described as a miracle. I witnessed other miracles in Toronto, including a deep inner healing I did not even know I needed.
 

One was in the finances. To take my family to Toronto would cost $900.00 and change. Though I had never before just called on God for a particular amount, I had no way to afford the trip without His intervention; I prayed for the exact amount and asked no one else to help. Over the course of a week unexpected gifts came that totaled what I needed to the penny. I can only call this too a miracle.
 

What is the difference between magic and miracle? In an age in which we think spirituality a catch-all in which any variety is life giving that’s an important question to ask, but the answer is pretty simple. Magic is our effort to intervene in the life of God. Miracle is what happens when we permit Him to intervene in ours. 

Even in the churches we practice positive thinking and confessing what we want until we get it. We visualize having the things we seek and devise strategies to manipulate both circumstances and people. We watch movies like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, failing to discern that one is about seeking power and the other is about surrendering it. In business we attend seminars designed to unleash the power person within us. Only a few years ago a book and film series called The Secret made a splash amongst Christians and New Agers alike in which the author made the incredible claim that Jesus was just a guy who knew how to visualize and then obtain what He wanted; it was nothing but a rehash of the practice of conjuring and no more compatible with Christian faith than a ouija board. But we can only recognize the dichotomy if our heart is to accept God instead of manipulating Him.
 

The Christian scriptures tell us we will do the things Jesus did – and greater things than these – asked in His Name. But the clear meaning of “in His Name” is in accordance with His will for us. I received my chat with Jack Hayford and the funds to act on his advice because God had plans for me and I chose to want what He wanted. The fruit was a life re-shaping experience grounded in a season of repentance that looked a lot like progressive surrender to my God. It was great fun into the bargain.
 

I have watched limbs grow out, cancers and heart conditions healed, and the dead raised. I have prayed wildfires out, droughts broken, and monsoons ended. I have never thought these things happened because I wanted them enough, and never spent a moment thinking I somehow possessed the power to do these things. I have also experienced the complete success of my manipulations – only to stand jaw-dropped before the unintended consequences of having my way. I’ve tried magic and I’ve tried miracle. I recommend miracle.

 

 

Our God is a God of miracle – of intervention. Truth is, I recommend God.

 

James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at

praynorthstate@charter.net

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Niceness is Overrated

Hurricanes and Tornadoes get a lot of media attention these days.  The unsettling photos of roofs torn off and debris strewn streets can be very dramatic.  But guess what destroys a vastly greater amount of homes each year in America?  The phenomenon has been described as the “single greatest economic pest in the United States.”  What force of nature could possibly do more structural damage than violent storms, winds, flooding and wildfires combined, you may ask?  It’s TERMITES.    

Termites are nice and quiet while they chomp down your house.  They don’t seem to be bothering anyone at first.  But, if left unchecked, your home’s very foundation will crumble into a worthless heap of rubble.  They need to be aggressively confronted and resisted by constant treatment and awareness. 

Like violent weather, Islamist Terrorists are easy to spot.  They are crashers of planes, suicide bombers, throat slitters and rioters shouting “Allahu Akbar.”   They are readily identifiable as destroyers of society. 

Human Secularists, on the other hand, can probably be described as “nice guys.”  According to their philosophies, they want everyone to just be happy and do their own thing.  They believe man’s reason is superior to God’s reasoning.  They bring us pleasant sounding terms like “fair share”, “wealth equality”, “choices”, “public option”, and “civil discourse”…all of these sound so reasonable. Well…so NICE!

However, it doesn’t take long for these policies to slowly eat away at our foundations with more ominous sounding follow-up words like:  “mandate”, “penalty”, “requirement”, “control”, “compliance” and “enforcement.”  Apparently, if we want everyone to “play nice,” the government will have to impose it.  History shows us that when we hand over our freedoms to a nanny or police state, we will soon find ourselves in tyrannical bondage.  Then, when the violent societal winds of anarchy start to blow, we will fold like a termite-ridden house of cards.   

Out of curiosity, I researched the word “nice” in the Bible.  It didn’t show up in any of the three major translations of King James, New King James or New International versions.  I finally located ONE scripture in the New American Standard (no pun intended!) version.  Interestingly…it was a warning about the treachery of people who say “nice” things:

For even your brothers and the household of your father, Even they have dealt treacherously with you, Even they have cried aloud after you.  Do not believe them, although they may say nice things to you. 

~Jeremiah 12:6

This scripture is a warning to believers about those who are claiming kinship.  Today’s churches are overly concerned with nice-sounding sermons.  They are dealing treacherously with God’s people.  Their focus is mainly for their own popularity and profit.  Just like termites, they thrive in sandy soil…Soil that is no longer on a firm Rock-solid foundation.  Like the proverbial house built on sand in the Bible, they will fall with a great crash (Matthew 7:27).

Jesus/Yeshua has been depicted in many ways throughout the last two thousand years. However, I don’t believe “nice” would ever really be an accurate portrayal of Him.  Jesus didn’t mince words.  He told one of his best friends “Get thee behind me Satan.”  Can you imagine how well that would be received today at our next family dinner party?  As for government officials, he showed disdain…calling Herod a “fox” and telling Pilate he had no power over Him that God didn’t ordain.

Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin."

~John 19:11

This verse reminds us that the CHURCH and apathetic Christians are guilty of the greater sin for the failures of our society than the politicians.  Yeshua reserved his most scathing pronouncements for religious phonies calling them VIPERS and SNAKES.

You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?

~Matthew 23:33

23=DEATH

33=PROMISE

 To those that used the Temple of God as a personal profit-making venture, He flipped tables with more passion than The Real Housewives of New Jersey. 

He aggressively CONFRONTED evil and sin!  He didn’t restrain Himself with the concern that perhaps someone may get offended.  In fact he said…if your eye offends you PLUCK IT OUT.  If your hand offends you CUT IT OFF.  In Strong’s concordance, one of the shaded meanings of the Greek word “offend” here means “to make indignant”, “to cause displeasure.”  The Greek word is “skandalizo” the root from which we get the word scandalous.  Jesus SCANDALIZED society with His words and actions.  He knew that OFFENSE was the catalyst in the chain reaction ultimately resulting in REPENTANCE. 

Niceness may prevent you from being violently crucified.  However, like Jesus, if we want to save the peace and security of our national home and the foundations of the world…

Nice won’t suffice.

"What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?"
- Thomas Jefferson

They say to the seers, "See no more visions!" and to the prophets, "Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.

~Isaiah 30:10


~Posted by permission of Pastor Jeff Daly

Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are

Olly, Olly, Oxen Free!
~Childhood game catchphrase

 

Remember those carefree days of innocent childhood?  Nobody questioned the seemingly nonsensical rules for “Kick the Can” or “Hide and Seek.”  We just simply accepted that you had to abide by certain precepts and repeat specific sayings in order to properly play the game.  When someone chanted “Olly, Olly, Oxen-Free!” you knew it was safe to come out into the open without getting tagged.  If you failed to follow the rules you were called OUT!

In religious terms, the word ecstasy has an interesting meaning.  “EK”, in Greek means: “to come out from, being called out.”  “Stasy” has the root of “Stasis” meaning, “standing, stopping, remaining status quo”.  It is where we get words like homeostasis (maintaining equilibrium, standing still) or static (showing little or no change).  So, if we put these two Greek root meanings together we get a meaning like: 

 

COME OUT FROM YOUR APATHY

When Jesus was preaching his amazing revelations and insights, his family came to “lay hands on him” or “take a hold” of him because they said he was “out of his mind.”

 

When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."

~Mark 3:21

The Greek word here for “out of his mind” is eks-ē'-stā-mē. 

Like Jesus, if you are experiencing a true revelation from God you are literally “out of your mind!”  You become “in the mind” of God, not your own.  The Catholic Church refers to the passionate state of believers experiencing a vision as having a “religious ecstasy.”   

So, similar to the childhood game…”Ecstatic” Christians need to start “calling out” people from their static unchanging positions.  Come out from the unchanging, lukewarm-ness of your compromised lifestyle!  Take a stand—show yourself.   For the apathetic Church, this means it is high time to make a public break from the apostasy.    

Interestingly, the gay movement uses terminology of “coming out.”  It is no coincidence, that at the same time, Christians are being required to “get in the closet and shut up.”  We are being marginalized and shamed with the new human secularist “make-believe” sins of homophobia and intolerance.  Apparently, Human Secularism has turned out to be an alternate new religion after all with its own set of transgressions and commandments.  Who knew?  

In a recent interoffice memo at the Department of Justice, employees were informed that they are required to AFFIRM homosexuality.  Neutrality is no longer an option.  Come out, Come out says the government!  How is this possible for sincere Christians? 

In the Military, the commandments have flipped over to DO ASK and DO TELL if you are gay.  However, if you are a committed Christian, DON’T ASK and DON’T TELL!  Oppose this decree and you risk being court-martialed.  Does anyone besides me find this ironic?

Innkeepers, Photographers, Bakers and “Candlestick-makers” are being sued all across the country for refusing to compromise their religious beliefs.  One by one they are being “called out.”  If they comply…they may get a temporary “olly, olly oxen-free” pass from the government.  However, it may not be truly safe. 

Playing it safe or…”going along to get along” may buy you some friends and time in the natural realm, but in the spiritual realm you will be dealt with harshly.

Plainly and simply:  If you deny Christ…He will deny you.

Jesus/Yeshua said: 

But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.

~Matthew 10:33

10=Man’s Government/Testimony

33=Promise

It’s as if Jesus is saying:  “Deny me in front of your government with your testimony, and I promise you, I will deny you before my Father in Heaven.”

Interestingly, just a few verses prior to this one Jesus said:

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

~Matthew 10:28

In Revelation, God tells His Church…Come out from her (Mother of Abominations/Whore of Babylon) lest ye share in her punishment. 

Then I heard another voice calling from heaven, "Come out of her, my people. Do not take part in her sins, or you will be punished with her.”

~Revelation 18:4

We need to take this warning to heart.  As supporters of our Judeo-Christian beliefs, we need to make a public stand against sin and apostasy.  We need to “call out” government and church leaders that have gone astray.  We can’t just continue to be silent or wishy-washy about our convictions hoping we will maintain the “homeostasis” of our lifestyle.  Soon, the harsher door knocks will begin and the “Nazi Gestapo” will be at your front door.  Next week it may be your profession or religious beliefs that are under fire.  Comply or die.  The authorities will begin to DEMAND that all those hiding need to COME OUT.  You will NOT escape by trying to stay hidden…you will be found.  The question is by whom?  Will the government find you cowering in your workplace first or will it be Jesus/Yeshua that finds you hiding behind a bush?  I’d rather that when Jesus calls “olly, olly oxen-free” He finds me out in the open so I’m not tagged out.  

Ready or not…   

 Here He comes

 

Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?

~Isaiah 29:15

Come out, come out, thou bloody man

~2 Samuel 16:7

 

PRAYER:

O Lord, according to your Word, we enter your courts with Thanksgiving and Praise. 

Most High God, Master and Creator of the Universe, we humbly bow before you and worship you with all of our heart, soul and mind.  Like Jesus instructed us, we start this prayer out with Thanksgiving—deeply grateful and thankful that you DO, indeed, hear the prayers of your children.  We reverence You with awe and wonderment as we try to fully grasp this fact. What is man that you are mindful of him?  We are but fallible “lumps of clay” and yet we are invited into the most Holy of Holies to commune with you.  Like Esther, we are welcomed in even when un-summoned by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  We are free to enter your chambers like favored children to a Father.  This is almost too wondrous to take hold of.  When we get a complete divine revelation on this promise, then we will truly understand this scripture:

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

~James 5:16

We acknowledge the incredible right and privilege you have given us to walk directly into the Presence of the most Powerful and Effective force in the Universe and BOLDLY ask for assistance.

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

~Hebrews 4:16

We pray for courage to COME OUT from the apostasy all around us.  We rely on your Divine assistance and protection during these globally tumultuous times. Help us to be fully ready for Your return and not to be caught unaware like a wicked servant.

We pray this prayer with great expectancy, looking upwards for our ultimate Salvation when you will return to set things right forever and ever.  Amen.   

~Posted by permission of Pastor Jeff Daly 

Shame On You

There’s a new program out on The Discovery Channel called “Naked and Afraid.”  If you haven’t already been unfortunate enough to see it, I don’t recommend you do so.  American Family Association’s One Million Moms protested it as “soft porn” on TV. 

 

Basically the premise of the show is very simple.  Two complete strangers, a man and a woman, get fully naked and try to survive in a harsh wilderness for 21 days.  That’s it.  That’s all folks.  This is what American entertainment has devolved into.    

 

America has fallen far from its original founding ideals.  In the novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, 17^th century life in Puritan Boston was characterized by a distinct set of societal rules.  Adultery was (and should still be) shameful.  While I don’t intend to suggest we go back to the days of public humiliation in the town square, perhaps something is to be said for the inhibition factor required to curb detrimental societal behavior with good old-fashioned SHAME.  If America was to have a scarlet “A” inscribed on her chest today, it should stand for “Ashamed.”  We should be ASHAMED of how we have promoted ungodly behavior resulting in the decimation of today’s family structures.  Studies indicate that broken family structures are the driving force behind poverty, lawlessness and most of our societal problems.  A child born and raised in a traditional family structure, with a married mother and father, simply and clearly has the best odds of succeeding in life.   

In Greek, the word “stigma” means “mark”, or “puncture”, or “sign.”  If someone is described as “stigmatized”, they have a discerning feature or event that clearly characterizes them.  Persons experiencing a “stigmata” are said to miraculously bear the marks of the Crucifixion on their own bodies.  Paul the Apostle was believed by some to have had a stigmata experience as noted in this scripture:
 

I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

~Galatians 6:17(b)
 

Whether he was speaking literally or figuratively, we cannot know for sure today. Perhaps he was referencing the many scars he endured as a result of the religious persecutions he experienced from whippings and beatings.  According to the Catholic Church, St. Francis of Assisi, in 1224 A.D. was the first recorded stigmatic in Christian history.  Interestingly, St. Francis is most known for REPENTANCE.  He probably knew quite a bit about the necessary function of shame.    

 

Back to modern day America:  The “Land of the Free, Home of the Brave” is now the biggest exporter of pornography and largest importer of illicit drugs. The FBI just busted a ring of 150 child sex traffickers with some of the victims as young as NINE.  It’s wretched, revolting, appalling…dare I say, SHAMEFUL?    

When will we recognize our shameful condition?  Adam and Eve HID from God in the garden when they became aware of their nakedness.  They recognized how far they had fallen from communion with God and were ASHAMED of their nakedness.  They covered themselves in fig leaves.  In the Bible, Fig trees are representative of Church leaders or priests.  When they are performing their proper function, they should provide their flocks with the understanding of how to obtain a spiritual “covering” for their sins.  They should be producing spiritual figs or “fruit” to feed their hungry flocks.  The True Church ought to be leading people to Yeshua/Jesus to cover over their “stigma” with his “stigmata.”  He was marked and punctured so we could be cleared and made whole. 

 

Interestingly, Jesus cursed the fig tree on his way to Jerusalem as a “shadow-picture” for the Apostate Church.  It was kind of early in the year in Jerusalem for figs to be sprouting at that time, but Jesus cursed the tree anyway.  Why?  Like the First Century religious leaders, so it shall be with much of the Christian Church worldwide in the final days.  For goodness sakes, BY NOW the Church should be bearing all sorts of fruit.  Instead, our religious organizations seem to have worldwide systemic failure. 

 

If our churches do not begin fulfilling spiritual hunger soon, they will be cursed when Jesus makes His second “swing by.”  There needs to be recognition of our shame and then a massive move towards REPENTANCE.  More maturation time will not make any difference for those who have knowingly chosen apostasy over Truth.  In fact, they will be the first to experience God’s refining wrath.   

For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God

~1 Peter 4:17(a)

The Bible has this to say about SHAME:

 Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not even ashamed at all; they did not even know how to blush.  

~Jeremiah 6:15 
 

The only people who should have NO SHAME are those who have confessed, repented (turned away from sin) and accepted Christ's covering.

There is therefore now no condemnation (SHAME) to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

~Romans 8:1

Everyone else should rightly feel disgusted with themselves.

 

~Posted by Permission of Pastor Jeff Daly

_____________________________

 

Prayer of Repentance for the Nations

O God, we sincerely repent of our personal and national sins. We repent of the sins of omission as well as commission. These sins include idolatry, murder, anger, stubbornness, dishonesty, corruption, greed, sloth, lust, envy and the ultimate sin of Pride. We take no solace in the fact that some of us may not have personally embraced sins such as abortion or marriage redefinition BUT by apathy or indifference have allowed evil to flourish. We have not followed your Biblical mandate to resist the Devil and have a passionate zeal for your commandments.

Master, please have mercy on us. We beg for your grace and mercy. We are undeserving of your mercy but your Holy Word says you are patient, kind, loving, merciful and longsuffering. Please, because of who YOU are and not because of what WE are—hear our prayer and grant our petition this day.

Then may all the kingdoms of the world truly know that YOU are our God and that we have no other gods but You.

May you get all the glory, honor and praise.  May your Kingdom come quickly and may your will be done here on Earth as it is in Heaven.

We pray this prayer with great expectancy, looking upwards for our ultimate Salvation when you will return to set things right forever and ever. Amen

 

 

As Scripture says, "Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame."

~Romans 10:11

 

The Congress, therefore,…earnestly recommend[s],…a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer.

~signed by John Hancock, President of the Congress (1776)

THE ZIMMERMAN TRIAL AND AUTHENTIC RECONCILIATION (Part 2)

     The death of Trayvon Martin is a tragedy – an unnecessary tragedy.  That the trial brought forward the reality that his death was caused by his own violent actions does not make it any less tragic – and unnecessary.  To make matters infinitely worse, his death has escalated the polarization of our nation along racial and ideological lines.  Some are using what they perceive as injustice to excuse their own commitment to injustice and general lawlessness – including high ranking officials in the federal government.  Yet Christians and others committed to peace and a healthy culture have an opportunity to stand for the template God gives for society in the face of hysteria and violence.

     Attorney General Eric Holder has promised the NAACP to investigate whether or not George Zimmerman violated Trayvon Martin’s civil rights.  (Of course it would be necessary to demonstrate racial bias in Zimmerman to try him on federal charges and even the prosecution in the case found no such evidence.)  Holder has declared his certainty of Zimmerman’s bigotry.  The problem here is that only Zimmerman’s rights have been violated in the way Holder imagines – as a matter of fact. 

 

     Zimmerman – not Martin – is the man who was assaulted and threatened with death while walking on a public street.  He is the man who was prosecuted for second degree murder and had the additional charge of manslaughter illegally added during summary arguments – a violation of his sixth amendment rights.  He is the victim of a prosecution team that held back evidence and introduced perjured testimony against him, and of an NBC News effort to compromise his defense by editing the tape of his 911 call to make him sound racist; he is suing NBC for this and he ought to sue prosecutors.  One might ask why Eric Holder is not investigating and arresting New Black Panther leaders like Micah Muhammad for conspiracy and making the terrorist threats anyone can see on You Tube.  Muhammad calls Zimmerman a wicked white beast and a dirty Jew while placing a $10,000.00 bounty on his head days before Holder addresses the NAACP.

 

     Authentic reconciliation begins with a commitment to deal with the realities of a situation.  It does not end there, but it must begin there.  Reality begins with facts but includes much more – if justice is truly the goal.  President Obama should be commended – I have often criticized him for fanning flames, but not this time – for expressing just such a commitment.  In a recent surprise appearance the president accepted the jury verdict as final and appeared to rule out any further federal investigation of Zimmerman.  At the same time he expressed the reality that many black men – and Native Americans and other minorities – have experiential and historical reasons for believing they cannot get fair play.  He said he could have been Trayvon Martin thirty-five years ago; this is not inflammatory rhetoric, but simply harsh reality.  I have many black and native friends who share how their children begged for different skin so they would not feel judged and persecuted.  They have been boxed and labeled and refused services I can take for granted. They have also had my back in multiple nations and I am proud to have theirs.  So how would Jesus re-frame the present conversation? 

     First He would say truth is objective, not subjective.  He calls on His disciples to let their yes mean yes and their no mean no.  He reminds them that the moral law is not finished but enabled by His death and resurrection; that includes the parts about not bearing false witness against neighbors or attacking them in the street.  People who do these things, whether prosecutors, activists, or criminals should and usually do receive consequences.  So much for persecuting George Zimmerman for defending himself, making him out to be some sort of symbol of historic oppression of minorities.

 

     But Jesus likewise makes it crystal clear that the model for neighbor is the Good Samaritan who bound the wounds and paid for the care given his natural enemy when he found that enemy helpless and bleeding in the road.  That means I can no more get away with writing off a Trayvon Martin – or an angry demonstrator – because they “have it coming” – than they can legitimately attack me for insisting the Zimmerman case be decided and resolved on its own merits and demerits.  It means the time is here for Christians – and any Americans who believe the American dream is for every American – to be the Good Samaritan rather than just admiring him.  It is time for honesty across the board.  That’s what repentance looks like.

 

James A. Wilson is the author of

Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at:

praynorthstate@charter.net