Offended Christians

I have found those most consumed with themselves are most prone to offense.

Popular Eagle Story is a Myth

Found this tidbit on http://baldeagleinfo.com/eagle/eagle-myths.html

" For those of you ...wondering if it's true that an eagle goes into seclusion, plucks all of its feathers, sheds its beak and talons, and then renews itself, is a myth. An eagle's beak and talons grow continuously, because they are made of keratin, the same substance as our hair and fingernails. Eagles molt in patches, taking almost half a year to replace feathers, starting with the head and working downward. Not all feathers are replaced in a given molt. An eagle without feathers, talons, and a beak would die of starvation and exposure."

TOUGH ENOUGH?

"True toughness is how you respond to adversity."
Coach Tony Dungy

Purpose

"God is more interested in our purpose than he is in our pleasure."

Pastor Loraine

Money, Money, Money....

In light of the financial crisis facing America (prompting a $700 billion bail out of Wall Street), I thought it a good thing to re-post this quote from Teddy Roosevelt:

"The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get rich quick theory of life."

This is just the reason why we are facing an attempt by Uncle Sam to circumvent an American economic meltdown by providing a $700 billion bailout plan to Wall Street.

This is a mess caused by greed and the LOVE OF MONEY.

There I said it: THE LOVE OF MONEY. Take that prosperity preachers!

And you remember what the LOVE OF MONEY is right?

For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

1 Timothy 6:10

Many griefs. That's nice. As a nation, we are now looking down the shotgun barrell of many griefs.

What's up with the greed, anyhow? Why is there a bailout now? Didn't ANYBODY see this coming?

Of course they did, but since their pockets were being lined with dirty money, they turned their cheeks away from the financial disaster looming on the horizon.

Where was the church during all this?

Some cried to the people to get out of debt. Some obliged.

Others followed the world's lead in its lust for things and money.

Preachers became the poster children of wealth and affluence.

Congregants gave beyond their means to supply celebrity ministries life changing amounts of cash.

Money and the things money could buy became the measure of spirituality.

Poverty became the worst sin a person could fall into.

This is sick.

The church has raised a generation of people that believe true prosperity is found in the amount of stuff they have.

Prosperity is not linked to stuff.

If you have alot of stuff and are in debt over your butt, YOU ARE NOT PROSPERING.

Its like losing weight due to a tape worm. The pounds may come off but your body is sick.

Our god has become money.

Our trust is in the cheap stuff we buy on the market.

That's right: CHEAP! I don't care how much it costs.

Your Bentley and your mansion are CHEAP compared to the wealth of godly character.

A good name is to be more desired than great wealth, Favor is better than silver and gold.

Proverbs 22:1

But where is our character?

We are a nation and a church without character.

But we won't be that way for long.

The fires of adversity have a way of forging strong character.

And there's a $700 billion fire being stoked right now.

Hilarious!

This is a photo of a billboard ad for a local church. Got to admit, the idea is brilliant! Pure genius!

Your purpose is not found in the amount of your possessions.

Pastor Ellery

Wisdom #1

"Humility is the outward expression of wisdom."
Pastor Ellery

If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.

James 3:13

From the Desk of J. Lee Grady

Life After Lakeland: Sorting Out the Confusion
By J. Lee Grady

Todd Bentley’s announcement that his marriage is ending has thrown our movement into a tailspin—and questions need to be answered.

It was not supposed to end like this.

Evangelist Todd Bentley had heralded the Lakeland revival as the greatest Pentecostal outpouring since Azusa Street. From his stage in a gigantic tent in Florida, Bentley preached to thousands, bringing many of them to the stage for prayer. Many claimed to be healed of deafness, blindness, heart problems, depression and dozens of other conditions in the Lakeland services, which ran for more than 100 consecutive nights. Bentley announced confidently that dozens of people had been raised from the dead during the revival.

But this week, a few days after the Canadian preacher announced the end of his visits to Lakeland, he told his staff that his marriage is ending. Without blaming the pace of the revival for Bentley’s personal problems, his board released a public statement saying that he and his wife, Shonnah, are separating. The news shocked Bentley’s adoring fans and saddened those who have questioned his credibility since the Lakeland movement erupted in early April.

I’m sad. I’m disappointed. And I’m angry. Here are few of my many, many questions about this fiasco:

Why did so many people flock to Lakeland from around the world to rally behind an evangelist who had serious credibility issues from the beginning?

To put it bluntly, we’re just plain gullible.

From the first week of the Lakeland revival, many discerning Christians raised questions about Bentley’s beliefs and practices. They felt uneasy when he said he talked to an angel in his hotel room. They sensed something amiss when he wore a T-shirt with a skeleton on it. They wondered why a man of God would cover himself with tattoos. They were horrified when they heard him describe how he tackled a man and knocked his tooth out during prayer.

But among those who jumped on the Lakeland bandwagon, discernment was discouraged. They were expected to swallow and follow. The message was clear: “This is God. Don’t question.” So before we could all say, “Sheeka Boomba” (as Bentley often prayed from his pulpit), many people went home, prayed for people and shoved them to the floor with reckless abandon, Bentley-style.

I blame this lack of discernment, partly, on raw zeal for God. We’re spiritual hungry—which can be a good thing. But sometimes, hungry people will eat anything.

Many of us would rather watch a noisy demonstration of miracles, signs and wonders than have a quiet Bible study. Yet we are faced today with the sad reality that our untempered zeal is a sign of immaturity. Our adolescent craving for the wild and crazy makes us do stupid things. It’s way past time for us to grow up.

Why didn’t anyone in Lakeland denounce the favorable comments Bentley made about William Branham?

This one baffles me. Branham embraced horrible deception near the end of his ministry, before he died in 1965. He claimed that he was the reincarnation of Elijah—and his strange doctrines are still embraced by a cultlike following today. When Bentley announced to the world that the same angel that ushered in the 1950s healing revival had come to Lakeland, the entire audience should have run for the exits.

Why didn’t anyone correct this error from the pulpit?

Godly leaders are supposed to protect the sheep from heresy, not spoon feed deception to them. Only God knows how far this poison traveled from Lakeland to take root elsewhere. May God forgive us for allowing His Word to be so flippantly contaminated.

A prominent Pentecostal evangelist called me this week after Bentley’s news hit the fan. He said to me: “I’m now convinced that a large segment of the charismatic church will follow the anti-Christ when he shows up because they have no discernment.” Ouch. Hopefully we’ll learn our lesson this time and apply the necessary caution when an imposter shows up.

Why did God TV tell people that “any criticism of Todd Bentley is demonic”?

This ridiculous statement was actually made on one of God TV’s pre-shows. In fact, the network’s hosts also warned listeners that if they listened to criticism of Bentley, they could lose their healings.

This is cultic manipulation at its worst. The Bible tells us that the Bereans were noble believers because they studied the Scriptures daily “to see whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11, NASB). Yet in the case of Lakeland, honest intellectual inquiry was viewed as a sign of weakness. People were expected to jump first and then open their eyes.

Just because we believe in the power of the Holy Spirit does not mean we check our brains at the church door. We are commanded to test the spirits. Jesus wants us to love Him with our hearts and our minds.

Because of the Lakeland scandal, there may be large numbers of people who feel they’ve been burned by Bentley. Some may give up on church and join the growing ranks of bitter, disenfranchised Christians. Others may suffer total spiritual shipwreck. This could have been avoided if leaders had been more vocal about their objections and urged people to evaluate spiritual experiences through the filter of God’s Word.

Why did a group of respected ministers lay hands on Bentley on June 23 and publicly ordain him? Did they know of his personal problems?

This controversial ceremony was organized by Peter Wagner, who felt that one of Bentley’s greatest needs was proper spiritual covering. He asked California pastors Che Ahn and Bill Johnson, along with Canadian pastor John Arnott, to lay hands on Bentley and bring him under their care.

Bentley certainly needs such covering. No one in ministry today should be out on their own, living in isolation without checks, balances and wise counsel. It was commendable that Wagner reached out to Bentley and that Bentley acknowledged his need for spiritual fathers by agreeing to submit to the process. The question remains, however, whether it was wise to commend Bentley during a televised commissioning service that at times seemed more like a king’s coronation.

In hindsight, we can all see that it would have been better to take Bentley into a back room and talk about his personal issues.

The Bible tells us that ordination of a minister is a sober responsibility. Paul wrote: “Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others” (1 Tim. 5:22). We might be tempted to rush the process, but the apostle warned against fast-tracking ordination—and he said that those who commission a minister who is not ready for the job will bear some of the blame for his failures.I trust that Wagner, Ahn, Johnson and Arnott didn’t know of Bentley’s problems before they ordained him. I am sure they are saddened by the events of this week and are reaching out to Bentley and his wife to promote healing and restoration. But I believe that they, along with Bentley and the owners of God TV, owe the body of Christ a forthright, public apology for thrusting Bentley’s ministry into the spotlight prematurely. (Perhaps such an apology should be aired on God TV.)

Can anything good come out of this?

That depends on how people respond. If the men assigned to oversee Bentley offer loving but firm correction, and if Bentley responds humbly to the process by stepping out of ministry for a season of rehabilitation, we could witness a healthy case of church discipline play out the way it is supposed to. If all those who were so eager to promote Bentley now rush just as fast to repent for their errors in judgment, then the rest of us could breathe a huge sigh of relief—and the credibility of our movement could be restored.

I still believe that God desires to visit our nation in supernatural power. I know He wants to heal multitudes, and I will continue praying for a healing revival to sweep across the United States. But we must contend for the genuine, not an imitation. True revival will be accompanied by brokenness, humility, reverence and repentance—not the arrogance, showmanship and empty hype that often was on display in Lakeland.

We are weathering an unprecedented season of moral failure and spiritual compromise in our nation today. I urge everyone in the charismatic world to pray for Bentley; his wife, Shonnah; his three young children; Bentley’s ministry staff; and the men and women who serve as his counselors and advisers. Let’s pray that God will turn this embarrassing debacle into an opportunity for miraculous restoration.

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. To read Charisma’s news story on Todd Bentley’s recent announcement, http://www.charismamag.com/cms/news/archives/081208a.php.

Gee, You Think?

"The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first
instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get rich quick theory of life."
-- Theodore Roosevelt

The Principle Thing

"God's wisdom is the blueprint of life."

- Pastor Ellery

President Who?

'The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the LORD.'
Proverbs 16:33

The outcome of the Super Bowl, every card game played in Vegas, every lottery, and even our Presidential elections do not take God by surprise.
He knows - and even determines - the outcome of every event.

Let's look at Proverbs 16:33 in several different translations:

'We may throw the dice, but the Lord determines how they fall.' (NLT)

'The dice are thrown, but the LORD determines every outcome.' (God's Word)

'Make your motions and cast your votes, but God has the final say.' (The Message)

'The lot is cast into the lap, but the decision is wholly of the Lord [even the events that seem accidental are really ordered by Him].' (AMP)

So basically, we can live our lives to their fullest, knowing God controls the outcome of every event put into play.



Have your enemies risen up against you? Circumstances wearing you down? It ain't over until God says it's over.

Assets and Liabilities

"When we live for ourselves, our weaknesses become liabilities. When we live for God, our weaknesses become assets."

- Pastor Ellery

The Golden Compass: BRING IT!

First, I just want to say that New Line Cinema's "The Golden Compass" is IN NO WAY CONNECTED WITH Walden Media's "The Chronicles of Narnia" series.

I say that because someone I know erroneously mentioned that "The Golden Compass" was written by the 'same guy' who wrote "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".

C.S. Lewis wrote the entire Narnia series.

Philip Pullman, who wrote the book upon which the "The Golden Compass" is based, was no fan of C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia".

According to Focus on the Family:

Pullman represents the polar opposite of Lewis. Pullman has repeatedly—and with apparent glee—lashed out at both Lewis and the faith he represents. "I hate the Narnia books, and I hate them with a deep and bitter passion," he told one interviewer, "with their view of childhood as a golden age from which sexuality and adulthood are a falling-away."

You can read that entire article here.

Here is brief synposis of the "The Golden Compass" from Wikipedia:

The Golden Compass is a fantasy film based upon Northern Lights (titled The Golden Compass in the US), the first novel in Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials.The story concerns Lyra, an orphan living in a fantastical parallel universe in which a dogmatic dictatorship, the Magisterium, threatens to dominate. When Lyra's friend is kidnapped, she travels to the far North in an attempt to rescue him.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Compass_(film)

So, should you take the young-uns (or yourself) to see this movie?

Focus on the Family had this to say in their review of "The Golden Compass":

This epic journey to a world in which a theocratic agency [the Magisterium]kidnaps and tortures children is grim and joyless. The violence may be generally bloodless, but the tale's tone is anything but inviting. No matter what the ads may say, it fundamentally lacks the wonder and the splendor of C.S. Lewis' and J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy creations—not to mention their grasp of spiritual truth.

Read Focus on the Family's complete review of "The Golden Compass".

Christianity Today offers this insight:

And so we come to the film's treatment of religion. Serafina [the witch who serves as the films narrator] says the coming war—which, in the second and third books, is revealed to be a war against the Judeo-Christian God—will bring an end to "destiny" and establish a new era of "free will." What that means exactly is not spelled out, not in this movie, but we can get a sense of it from the fact that nearly all of this film's villains work for the church-like Magisterium, which spends much of its time "telling people what to do."

Read Christianity Today's complete review of "The Golden Compass".

Movieguide (Dr. Ted Baehr's organization) wrote:

THE GOLDEN COMPASS is not a great story like THE LORD OF THE RINGS or THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, after which it is purposely patterned. Many of the themes of atheist Philip Pullman’s book are merely reactionary devices to the CHRONICLES OF NARNIA that try to express his hate for parents in general, his hate for Christianity and its leaders and people, and his hate for authority. The book is also designed to motivate the reader through fear and self-gratification.

Read his full review here.

Some other troubling concepts arise in this film.

From Focus on the Family:

Every human being in Lyra's [the films protangonist] world has a dæmon, an external animal representation of their souls. Dæmons shift form while a child is growing up, settling on one particular animal in adolescence. Even though dæmons are a part of each person, they have a functionally independent identity and personality, appearing to be something along the lines of what our world refers to as familiar spirits.


Dr. Ted Baehr adds this:

...in the interest of self-satisfaction, it motivates children to seek to be joined with occult, demonic powers and principalities to get their own way. The official website has an area where children can meet their own daemon. It says: “To discover your very own Daemon, look into your heart, and answer the following twenty questions openly and honestly. Your true character and the form of your Daemon will be reveled…”

Not cool.

On the secular front, most reviews have been less than stellar. So far the film has only garnered a 44% positve rating from Rottentomatoes.


The attacks on Christianity from Pullman in his writings are hard core, but we serve a very big and very real God.

This is but one sign that the fires of adversity are being stoked against the American church.

But we are about to enter our finest hour.

This adversity will only help to burn the idolatry, laziness, nihilism and complaceny that has has gripped us through false prosperity (materialism and greed).

So if men like Pullman want to turn up the heat...BRING IT!

It's Black Friday, What Would Jesus Buy?

Well, Black Friday came and went a couple of weeks ago and for the first time in years, I decided not to participate.

No standing in lines, no waking up at 2 am to get somewhere to buy something.

It's not like I didn't know what was on sale. You can find those sales ads online (http://bfads.net/).

It's just that I didn't care.

Yes, in the world of Wal-Mart altars and consumer created gods, this is heresy I know.

But it's at the point for me, that what the most powerful retailers in America have to offer, doesn't add up to a hill of beans.

In Luke 12:15 we read what Jesus said:

"Be careful to guard yourselves from every kind of greed.

Life is not about having a lot of material possessions."

Stuff doesn't make us happy. Jesus does!

Stuff breaks or ends up in garage sales. Jesus never does!

My relationship with Christ is eternal and valuable beyond the big screen trinkets of life.

I was shocked to see that people were camped out in front of Best Buy since the day before Thanksgiving this year.

But am I against stuff? How can I be, since I myself have my fair share.

Am I against Black Friday? Not really, I know retailers have profits to make and employees to pay.

What I stand against is the never ending hunt for bigger and better stuff in an attempt to fill the empty void in our lives.

Stuff can't do that. Only Jesus Christ can.

There will always be bigger TV's, faster computers and cooler I-Pods.

Jesus is the only constant that never changes.

Jesus is the only one who can truly add value and purpose to our lives.

Only Jesus can fill the aching void deep within.

With Jesus, everything changes.

Historically, Jesus was crucified and died on a Friday. That was the day he purchased us from the mastery of sin.

That was his Black Friday.

He went shopping that day on the cross of Calvary.

What he bought was you. The currency he used was his own life.

If you don't know him, today is good day to invite him into your life.

A simple prayer is all it takes:

"Jesus I need you, give me a new life, a new start.
Forgive me of my sins...of all the wrong I've ever done...
I believe you died for me...
paid the price of my wrongdoings and sin...
I believe you rose from the dead and are alive today.
I believe you are who I need right now to change my life for the
better."


God bless.

Who are You this Halloween?

A preacher friend of mine recently talked to me about Halloween, saying:

"You know, it's funny. Some of us Christians won't participtate in Halloween. We refuse to go out and buy a mask or a costume and play dress up like most other people. "

"How is that funny?" I asked.

"It's funny because some of us don't have a problem wearing a mask year round and pretending to be someone we're not."

"Ah, I see, " I replied, "the hypocrisy thing, right?

"Yes, of course. But I was thinking how sad it is that many of us are deathly afraid of removing our masks for fear of rejection from others."

"That's interesting...."

"Sure. Think of it...How ironic that most Halloween masks are designed to turn us into monsters...Into something horrible...Yet the typical Christian mask we wear is designed not to scare others, but to hide our monstrosities from the world at large.
Some of us feel so unworthy, so destitute, so...not up to par with everyone else, that we feel the need to cover ourselves up with the smiling mask of fickle commitments and fair-weather friendships."

"Wow..."

"Yeah, 'wow'...So who are we going to be this Halloween?"

"I'm sure you have an idea."

"Wouldn't it be interesting if we used Halloween as the occasion to unmask ourselves before the world? As others prepare to be someone or something they're not, we capitalize on this night to become the someone we really are?"

"Scary!"

"Yes, but only then will most of us discover the liberating freedom and healing that's in Jesus Christ."

"So we shall know the truth..."

"'Yes, and that truth shall make us free."

Weak and Naked in the Presence of God

A pastor I know had quite an experience recently at one of his Sunday morning services.

I will recall it as best I know how:

Apparently, at the tail end of the worship service, his worship leader shared with the congregation what he felt the Lord was saying to his heart.

"It's time! " he said as he played his guitar, "The Lord says the time is now!"

After this, the pastors wife got up and told everyone how she was feeling a sense of urgency from the Lord.

"Don't let this moment pass... " she stressed as the musicians played spontaneously behind her.

There seemed to be an atmosphere for people to make some important decisions about their walk with God.

Suddenly, the word "disarm" went through the pastor's mind.

Was this word of the Spirit of God or just a random imagining?

Then he saw it... In his mind's eye, he saw his pulpit (he uses a rather fancy music stand as one) tilted on its side in front of the altar.

That was it.

When his wife had finished speaking, he shared that word with the congregation.

"I keep hearing the word 'disarm'" he said, "I think we should take anything that we have right now that is a symbol of all of our strengths, gifts, talents and abilities and lay them down at the altar before the Lord. We need to disarm before God."

At that point, he lifted the pulpit and said "Right now...this pulpit serves as the symbol of my authority here in this church. We teach from it, we preach from it...So...I'm going to lay it down at the altar..."

At that point, one by one, people began to flood the altar.

A Berkely music school grad, along with a local business owner, a member of the local Chamber of Commerce, a head of a local ministry, and others came forward. Each of them either kneeling or spreading themselves face down on the floor before the Lord.

Even the worship leader took his guitar and laid it on its side as he prayed.

After a few moments, the pastor said he fought every inclination in his soul to try and "explain" to everyone what was happening.

"This too was symbol of my strength..." he said.

So off came his headset mic as he continued to kneel at the altar.

Minutes later, amongst the weeping, the prayers and the soft music being played by what was left of the worship musicians, a few people at the altar spoke up.

One said the Lord was requiring this time of surrender inorder to prepare His people to effectively minister to others.

Another cried out to the Lord that we would all continue to pursue and not miss the will of God for our lives.

Finally, someone shared that this 'disarming' was an experience of being naked before the Lord.

They continued to say we should even lay down our righteousness before Him. This was to be in gratitude for the righteousness that was all his to begin with. We took what we grasped as our own and acknowledged it was never ours to begin with.

This truly was a day of being weak and naked in the presence of God.

1 Corinthians 1 (AMP)

26For [simply] consider your own call, brethren; not many [of you were considered to be] wise according to human estimates and standards, not many influential and powerful, not many of high and noble birth.

27[No] for God selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is foolish to put the wise to shame, and what the world calls weak to put the strong to shame.

28And God also selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is lowborn and insignificant and branded and treated with contempt, even the things that are nothing, that He might depose and bring to nothing the things that are,

29So that no mortal man should [have pretense for glorying and] boast in the presence of God.

30But it is from Him that you have your life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, [revealed to us a knowledge of the divine plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as] our Righteousness [thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God], and our Consecration [making us pure and holy], and our Redemption [providing our ransom from eternal penalty for sin].

31So then, as it is written, Let him who boasts and proudly rejoices and glories, boast and proudly rejoice and glory in the Lord.