Take a Stand

Come join me and sign this!!!!! As a Christian, as an American, is there any choice but to add our signatures and support for this?

http://www.manhattandeclaration.org/


The Manhattan Declaration

A Call of Christian Conscience
Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their faith, have defended the weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly to protect and strengthen vital institutions of civil society, beginning with the family.We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them. These truths are:
1. the sanctity of human life
2. the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife
3. the rights of conscience and religious liberty.
Inasmuch as these truths are foundational to human dignity and the well-being of society, they are inviolable and non-negotiable. Because they are increasingly under assault from powerful forces in our culture, we are compelled today to speak out forcefully in their defense, and to commit ourselves to honoring them fully no matter what pressures are brought upon us and our institutions to abandon or compromise them. We make this commitment not as partisans of any political group but as followers of Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Focus

Recently I heard a message message/question of why we don’t, more often, see the same instant power, the signs and wonders we read about in the Bible.
This is a question that has been on my heart as well for some time so I was doubly interested when I heard the question as a sermon topic. In my mind the question morphed beyond signs and wonders into why some churches are flourishing and growing while others seem to just limp along, then there are those that grow then shrink away. The answer became clear about 10 last night and more so around 4 this AM. It’s the focus. What is the focus of the church or the prayer.

“Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11He is " 'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (NIV Acts 4:8-12)

Peter didn’t heal the cripple for any reason other then that he was moved to by the Holy Spirit to do so. I am assuming the Holy Spirit moved him to glorify Christ in God (before men) as a testimony to the message the believers were speaking.The book of James stated you “have not because you ask not and when you ask you ask for the wrong reasons” (BC Translation) I cant prove it with chapter and verse but I’m pretty sure there is a nugget of truth here. Preaching Jesus and Jesus only is what brings life to churches and ministries. Great signs and wonders happen not just because He loves us but more so to validate HIS message. Taking HIS message, HIM, outside of the confines of the church building gives the Holy Spirit the opportunity to “prove” the message.That IS the message! “there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Through Jesus we can be united with the Father!

Focus on Him and everting else will come into view.

Catch the Vision

We were blessed to share some time over the past few weeks with my dear friend and brother Andrew McMillan. Andrew, his wife Kathy and their two sons, Andrew and Christian serve as missionaries in Colombia. Andrew had agreed, with God, to go to Colombia for two years, that was 23 years ago.

Just before he arrived he send me a copy of the attached letter he had written to someone in Texas. The power and vision of this letter humbles me.

My prayer is that the Lord will light in me such a fire as burns in Andrew. Better still would be that He lights this fire in all of us.

Dear Paul

I like talking about Abraham in Gen. 13:14 where God told him to climb up a mountain and look, and everything he could see, God would give it to him. God only said this after he separated himself from Lot (in the Hebrew : veil). So once we separate ourselves from fear, sin, self-pity or old securities, the veil is removed and we can see clearly the future full of revival. So, this morning, I feel like I am going up a mountain. Here is our vision for the next 10 years

*We launched 3 new churches this month. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to plant each new church with sound equipment, chairs, and a video projector (about $7,000 per church).

*Our children center now takes care of 157 kids(children of prostitutes and drug addicts). Our church is giving about $8,500 per month. It has been hard for us to keep it up, but how do you say no to kids? We also have two other ladies in the church with smaller centers for kids. We have a couple who are housing 12 street men. We have a small medical clinic for the poor. We could easily administer an extra $10,000 a month now. This does not include the dream to transform the day centers into orphanages. We are dreaming about building a home for the elderly next to the kids home, and have a place for pets, noise, joy, living confusion.

*For 3 years I have dreamed of a Bank of opportunities to give short term loans for starting small businesses. It would have a loan officer who would also teach classes on how to start and manage businesses. We would not loan to individuals but to groups of 2-3 people. This raises the payback rate up to 95%. For example, someone who wants to start a bakery would have to find two other people who also want to start their business, maybe a wedding dress rental store, or a beauty parlour.

*We just had 3 meetings on a Sunday in the city’s convention center. The Mayor and the president of the city council came…and some other big shots. We saw over 1,400 people saved. It cost $15,000. I would love to be there every month, maybe every 2 weeks, or even every Sunday when it is not rented out. If we had $120,000 to buy our own sound, we could make a deal with the city and be there at least every month for $4,500. The city would be changed. Jesus would be the talk of the town. (We need much better sound in the warehouse where we meet now. For $50,000 we could have sound that would bless 2,500 people in each meeting.) Many new people dont return because they cannot hear well.

*We are renting now,but we dream daily of a lot across the street that God has kept empty. The price is very high: 20,000 meters(215,000 sq. Feet) for 7 millon dollars. We dream of a place for 14,000 worshippers, a children’s church for 2,000 and 1,000, offices and schools and a university.

We are starting South American Christ for the Nations this coming August. I graduated from Yale Divinity School and for some time, did not have much faith is advanced education. But Yale was originally founded to train men to proprogate the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need higher Holy Spirit education here….like an extention of Regent University. The buildings would have to have 2-3 levels of underground parking. So, we are talking millions. We are dreaming.

*Our boys, Andrew 18 and Christian 17, want to go to Regent Unversity and study Cinema & Television. They run our weekly TV program that aires on local secular stations. They have an anointing for it. I want this year to have a 3 minute program that gives a zinger to the heart. When we get the program on the daily news show, it would touch the city of 3 million people. We do not want to have a Christian TV channel. We think it is better to produce quality programs on the major secular channels on prime time. That is our dream. Christian TV channels seem to reduce the impact of the Gospel to a sub-culture, instead of being salt and light throughout the culture. So, my boys are dreaming of a huge studio for Christian soap operas, movies, reality shows, etc. For example, imagine a reality show where a group of Christians pick a poor house with problems and give them a soul lift, fixing up their house, helping them start a business, bring them to Jesus, heal their marriage and relationship with their kids, and bring them the Father’s love. Wow.

*Our marriage pastor, Lucho, dreams about a retreat center in town to have retreats ever weekend (We presently have retreats every weekend for the new believers outsider of the city). Pastor Lucho said to me, “Pastor, just think how it would be to have a building where everyone in the city would know where to go to recieve healing for their home. Imagine, 24 hour counselling, a room to show films like Fire Proof, etc.”

*Our evangelism pastor, Juan David, dreams of having a truck with sound, light and projection. My son, Andrew, dreamed about this when he was a little boy. We could have up to 5 cruzades every weekend.

*Our children pastor, Rafa, dreams of bringing the fire of revival to children churches. He and his wife have already touched about 800 church through conferences.

*Kathy and I will host the annual conference for pastors who are forgotten, struggling and tired. We bring them to Medellin and pay for their food, put them up in homes and in our retreat center. Last year we had 300. This year we hope to have over 500. We do all this for about $6,000. Imagine if we could put them up in nice hotels and send them homes like kings. Id like to do it twice a year.

*Our praise pastor, Manual, could take a few hours talking about instruments and lighting.

*Our pastor, Adolfo, over the new converts, dreams of having a call center with 200 volunteers.

So these are just some of our burning dreams. They keep us up at night. Sometimes they make us feel wonderful and alive and sometimes they make us feel foolish and idiotic. But we are fools for Christ.

Thank you for the opportunity to write my dreams.
Bless you brother.
Long live Paul for the Glory of Jesus.
Andrew

See see our latest video the boys produced and narrated, go on line:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsRkKjdqMX8or just search Miracle in Medellin in youtube

Pastor Andrew & Kathy McMillan
Comunidad Cristiana de FeA A 58000Medellin, Colombia

www.fepaisa.com
Sowing Seed into Revival
Andrew & Kathy
Mission South America
P.O. Box 12523 Norfolk, VA 23541

Its not the Knot

Way back in the day, what seems to have been another life, I used to really enjoy fishing. I was never a true fishing addict but I did carry a fishing pole in my truck. If I passed an interesting looking pond or lake during the day and time permitted I would find a way to make a few casts at lunch time or before heading home at the end of the day.

Back in “those days” I did my best to keep abreast of the latest cool fishing knot. For the nonfisher-persons reading this….. There seems to be a never ending stream of the latest “best” knot to use to tie your lore or hook to your state of the art fishing line. After a hard day of fishing, freshwater anglers will disagree and debate over the best knot. However, when subject of best knots comes up among saltwater anglers you would do well to back out of the bar, quickly. Their passion for the knot runs a bit deeper.

I was reminded of this just a couple weeks ago while taking my dear friend Andrew McMillan for an evening sail and troll across the bay, www.fepaisa.com. Andrew and his family were back in the USA for a bit of R&R (for a missionary a vacation = preaching and raising support). Andrew noticed, after catching a nice little blue fish, that the spinning rod I had quickly thrown together did not have a swivel on the line and therefore the line was twisting. This is inexcusable for a real fisherman. Andrew is a real fisherman. I quickly cut off the silver spoon and tied in a snap swivel using a Double-Figure-Eight- Loop knot. **This is not a very elegant knot. However, it is very quick to tie and it makes adding or removing tackle a snap. **

Andrew, seeing the knot I used, commented, in a very knw way, that he had never seen anyone tie fishing line like that before. Remember Andrew is a real fisherman. I explained to him that I was shown this very simple and quick knot by the deck hand on a fishing charter I had been on a few years back. The deck hand knew all the “proper” knots but chose this knot because it was fast and easy and “more then strong enough”, in his words, for anything we might catch. Plus it allowed him to rig and un-rig a dozen or so fishing rigs at the start or completion of a day in a fraction of the time it would take using the “real fishing knots”.

This past Saturday I had promised our grandson, Christian who was spending the weekend with us that we would go fishing. More pressing needs had to be attended to and the fishing did not happen as planned. A promise is a promise, the scheduled work was postponed and we went today. Late this morning we shoved off and in about three hours we caught 9 flounder and 3 sharks. Christian had a ball.

Today as I sat on the dock straightening out the fishing gear I noticed a very fancy knot on a flounder rig that was in my Dad’s tackle box. I assumed it must have been tied by my father, Dad is also a “real fisherman”. Tangled up next to the real fishing knot was my trusty, but unassuming, double-figure-eight-loop knot. The knot my Dad had tied really looked sharp. It had a commending presence that said “HAY! I AM A REAL FISHERMAN”. My knot was,, well, just a knot.
While comparing the knots it occurred to me that the two flounder I had just filleted didn’t have a clue what kind of knot was used to drag them to my dinner table. The same applies to my grandson and wife. They neither knew nor cared what kind of knot I had used to tie their hook to the fishing line. All they knew was that there was a fish on the hook and when they reeled the line in the fish came along.

Then, as you might expect, the Holy Spirit used these simple knots to make His point.

Like fisherman, we (those professing to be Christians), all too often become caught up in what kind of knot we use. Obviously, I am no longer talking about knots. What I am referring to, and what the Lord was pointing out to me, is that I (we) get caught up in the way we were taught it should be done or how we think it should be done.

For reasons I don’t care to go into now I have had the privilege to attend many different churches, with many different forms of worship. It’s easy for me to find “things” to point out that “they” are doing wrong. The choir sings too much or not enough, the songs the congregation sings are too fast or too slow. The preacher reads his notes too much or he is too much off the cuff, he is too emotional, or there isn’t enough emotion. “I” think they should do an alter call,,,, too much emphasis on this or that. Bla- Bla- Bla- Bla-----------.

Its all just knots. What makes a fisherman, a fisherman, is that he fishes, Its not what kind of knot he uses. When the day is over……………………………, How many fish did you catch?

How powerful is your God? vs. How powerful is God?

I sent an internet link http://tinyurl.com/nc6qff to a friend other day about a ministry in Mozambique Africa. God is moving in a mighty way through that ministry and some of the claims made by the ministry, and those reporting on it, are admittedly a bit hard to fathom.

The friend responded with an almost expected bit of skepticism. They underlying, but unstated, question in his response was. “How can this be true?”

My response to his skepticism is printed below with a couple small changes to de-personalize it.

….” A month ago I would have been saying much the same.

Fantastic things are happening elsewhere in the world but in safe - secure- well fed- healthy USA, we sift what we hear to a consistency we have come to expect here. We have dined on well fed lamb so long we can no longer tolerate to eat an old goat.

Why is it that ( here in this time in the USA) we don’t see blind healed in our churches? We were commanded to heal the sick, ( Matt 10:7) we were told we would be given power (Acts 1:8). You and I have both seen this, have been part of this, we know it to be true. But here we go to church and “hear about” IT. We read about it, we talk about it, we sing about it,,,, BUT we don’t DO it. Why do demons cry out in the presence of Godly men in poor uneducated countries and not here? Surly we don’t believe they (the demons) are not among us. So if the unclean spirits are here, and they do not cry out--- then something is missing here that is present where they do cry out.

I know how to sail and I own a sail boat. Unless I get on it and cast off the lines and SAIL IT, it will just sit floating at the dock. I can read and talk all I want to about sailing but never go anywhere unless I go DO IT.

Now if I read some fantastic story about sailing in the Southern Ocean in 50+ knot winds and 50+’ seas I may choose to qualify (sift) the story because, after all, I have never done or seen such a thing, therefore it is highly unlikely that it is true (?)

Because you haven’t heard about Heidi Baker ( the person in the interview) http://www.irismin.org/ and the work there does that make it not true or not done? We, as a nation, people time, have a problem, we spend more time learning about sport stars then we do about God Stars. We spend more time promoting the natural world then we do the Spiritual world. We have become so wise and knowing that we discount or ignore what does not fit in our box.

If we believe we are living in the end times, and we must be because the writers of the NT thought so, therefore the end times must still be going on. Then we must believe that great works are still going on and will continue to grow. Nothing else can be true or we, in the words of Paul, are to be pitied above all men because our faith is a sham. (BC paraphrase)"

Here is another link with more interview ans vids about Heidi Baker and Iris Ministries http://www.fathersglory.com/insp/Roland_&_Heidi_Baker.htm

worth watching

My son posted this to facebook today. Its wwll worth sharing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-3X5hIFXYU

The Swine Flu, or if you prefer H1N1

First of all, DONT DO THIS!!!! It may not give you the flu but it is just WRONG.

My daughter, who lives in Los Angeles, California has been fighting a case of the Swine Flu for the past two weeks. In light of all the media hype and hysteria she took the time to share her insights on the experience.

"It would be nice to do something positive for others out of this experience. "

In regards to the H1N1 virus, I agree that it's important that the world know the precautions that have been so thoroughly explained by the media. However, it is also important for those "unconfirmed" cases who are sick at home diligently taking their Tamiflu® to know how to care for themselves now that they are already sick. These poor individuals have nothing better to do than stay at home alone watching scary television reports, as they lay in bed terrified. The media has failed them as far as letting them know what they should do NOW.

I am not a doctor, but this would be my personal advice for those of you already ill:

You NEED to take care of yourself!Keep taking your Tamiflu®.

If you have a bad cough and/or bad congestion, here are some things to remember:

Do not lie down flat to sleep. Try to keep up at least a 45degree angle. You can do this by simply propping pillows up behind you in bed.

Take a cough suppressant/expectorant such as Robitussin.

Take a hot bath (if your temperature seems normal) or take a steamy shower to loosen congestion.

Vapor rubs for the chest are helpful.

Call your doctor for advice if any symptoms worsen, change, or your breathing becomes labored.

This flu attacks the respiratory system, putting you at high risk for pneumonia if you are not taking proper care. If you are coughing up yellow or green flem, you may need an antibiotic as well to help you recover as you may have developed an infection as a result of the flu.

If you have a high fever you can rub alcohol all over your body with a wash cloth (start at the top of your head and work down to your toes) to reduce fever quickly. If you don't have rubbing alcohol in the house, vodka also works. ;-)Tylenol will help with the headache and is also a fever reducer.Drink lots of water and also OJ and chicken broth, which has natural antibodies to help you get well.

Drink hot water or hot mint tea with lemon and honey for that sore throat. Throat sprays such as Vicks Sore Throat formula 44 offer fast pain relief for your throat.

Eat mild foods like toast that are gentle on your sensitive stomach. Plain crackers will help with nausea.

Theraflu Flu & Chest congestion offers pain relief, and aids in chest congestion, sore throat, headache, body ache and fever which are almost all the symptoms one experiences with the H1N1 virus.

Tissues with lotion will help so your nose doesn't become more sore than it already is. Kleenex makes an anti-viral tissue that helps cut down on the amount of germs floating around.

Keep washing your hands and washing away germs!

Sleep! It's the best medicine.

If you've been in bed for a few days and it's not too cold outside, then open a window to let some fresh healing air in.

If you are in bed- watch funny movies on TV when you are not sleeping because laughter actually IS good medicine!

I thought this might be helpful to those ill with H1N1 flu/virus.

If you are sick at home with H1N1 or any other flu, send a loved one or friend with the following shopping list of items that will help to ease your discomfort as you fight & recover from flu.H1N1

Shopping List:

PHARMACY/DRUGSTORE-Tamiflu® (as prescribed by your doctor)

-Inhaler or nebulizer treatment (if prescribed by your doctor)

-Antibiotic such as Zithromax/Azithromycin (if prescribed by your doctor to fight infection caused by flu aggravation)

-Airborne formula

-Robitussin DM (cough suppressant/expectorant)

-Tylenol (for headache and fever reduction)

-Triaminic Runny Nose/?Congestion Chewable Tablets

-Vick Vapor rub

-Theraflu Flu & Chest congestion

-Vicks Sore Throat formula 44

-3 boxes Kleenex anti-viral tissues-Rubbing alcohol (rub on entire body to reduce fever)

-Hand sanitizer*Please make sure to read and follow all instructions for any medication!GROCERY (4-5 day supply)

-1 gallon orange juice-2 quarts chicken soup

-1 loaf bread (for toast)

-Saltine crackers

-Jell-O

-Mint tea

-Lemons

-Honey

VIDEO STORE

-Any movies that will make you feel happy!

I also found the following link somewhat helpful. http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/sick.htm

I hope that this has been helpful and wish all who are ill a speedy recovery!

Editor’s note;
Peter 2:4 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

James 5:14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.