I normally don't post on politics on here. But this is ridiculous. This is not an abortion issue even. If you have a live baby that is living outside of the womb (from a botched abortion) only Obama is fine with throwing it in the dumpster (and he voted this way THREE times). Not one other liberal senator from Kerry to Kenedy to Boxer are for this extreme type of legislation. I realize that there are other issues, but how can anyone vote for this man? Isn't this type of behavior enough to cause one to vote against him regardless of ANY of his other views? Can you really picture Jesus voting for someone who would vote in this way? If this doesn't concern you, what does?

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VIdbYjmbFzo

I'll share with you another point of alarm. All one needs to do is do a search in regards to Obama's relationship to Odinga, his cousin. While some argue that the African culture calls friends cousins, it really does not matter if they are cousin's by blood. The reality is that Odinga's desire was to bring about radical Islamic law to Kenya, and Obama was a huge supporter of him. As one article states, "Clearly, Obama campaigned for someone who is corrupt, ruthless and has financial ties to terrorists. More importantly, Obama campaigned for a candidate who had the stated objective of dismantling US & Kenyan government efforts to root out Al Queda and other terrorist organizations. Organizations that had already caused the deaths of hundreds of Americans and Africans in embassy bombings. Senator Obama’s actions—intentional or not—were in direct conflict with the efforts and interests of US national security. I think this raises serious questions about the judgment, maturity and readiness of Senator Obama."
http://africanpress.wordpress.com/2008/08/10/senator-barack-obama-in-kenya-obama-and-odinga-the-true-story/

Please, please pray about this upcoming election!!

Good Preaching

I heard Damon Thompson preach the other day, and man did I LOVE his message. I just wish he preached in Minnesota. Anyway I searched for any youtube clips of him and found this one. Enjoy! Note: he might be a bit blunt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8HP1Vbd9P0

Inner Healing

Well, this is a dangerous post. We’ll see if I get slaughtered. The odds are a lot higher when I’m picking into people’s wounds. At any rate, I’m only trying to help and am simply tossing out some ideas here in the wee hours of the morning. Feel free to tell me if/where you think I’m off or if you think I’m right on.
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Throughout life, one frequently seems to get hurt by those they come in contact with. Most of the time, for a lot of people, little things aren’t that big of a deal – a guy cuts us off in traffic and while we might be tempted to do something wrong in that instant, generally, the incident is forgotten before too long. However, there are other bigger hurts. When we get wounded, we can frequently put up a wall and think to ourselves how we will never allow that to occur to us again. And while it is true that we should have healthy boundaries in our relationships with others, it is also true that allowing that wall to come into our life can drain the life out of us, long after the situation or person is possibly a threat to us. In our desire to not get wounded again, through our response, we actually create an environment where the healing cannot get in. So we can cling to our wounds, sometimes even taking some sort of weird perverted joy in massaging and nurturing them all the while becoming more and more wounded by what was done to us. In the end, the “victim” seems to do more victimizing to themselves than the person that did the harm to them due to their response. And while it is true, what they did is wrong, the victim needs to understand that they are only aiding the one who did it to them by ganging up with them in afflicting themselves.

So how does healing occur? Well, it truly is a work of the Lord (though I must say deliverance from a spirit of resentment or bitterness is sometimes necessary, healing through relationship with others – James 5:16 - also can be, or grieving, etc.). One can’t really heal themselves. And while time can sometimes help, sometimes it just gives an appearance that the issue is dealt with when it is still under the surface. Then some poor unsuspecting person says something that catches the wound wrong, and what normally wouldn’t be a big deal causes the “victim” to lash out at this person. Or lash inward at themselves. Or both. It had nothing to do with the person doing something wrong; it had to do with a below-surface-wound getting irritated. In fact, I’d venture to say that frequently when we flip out over the things that aren’t that big of a deal, tend to be because of deeper wounds. Back to the Lord being our healer, here’s the thing about Him. He seems to care far more that we establish a close relationship with Him than that we are healed. To simply use God for what one can get out of Him, but remaining distant is kinda like someone visiting a prostitute. It is just using them. Typically, He doesn’t let people do this with Him. This is why the doctrine of obsession with legalism is so damaging. I hear Christians with nearly non-existent relationships with the Lord keep from getting close to Him because they don’t “have time” (as if any of us have time – it just depends on what we make time for) or don’t want to be “legalistic” about it all. The reality is that they claim to endorse having a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ as their closest friend, but through their actions they deny what they endorse. At best, they have a casual relationship or acquaintance – just enough to have an inoculation. They taste enough of the Lord to think they have it figured out, but the reality is that they can’t get their head knowledge down to their heart because the empowerment to live out what they believe only comes through ongoingly (don’t know if that’s a word) living filled with the Holy Spirit which isn’t going to happen when God is only a casual acquaintance. So people get disillusioned and give up. Their spiritual pride deludes them into thinking that they lived a "good" Christian life and if inner healing didn’t occur for them in their time frame, that it must not exist. But nothing could be further from the truth. They just simply approached God for healing from their perspective, rather than from His. And that’s what relationship does… it allows us to see another’s perspective.

Quotes

"Ninety-five percent of today's church activities would continue if the Holy Spirit were removed from us. In the early Church, ninety-five percent of all her activities would have stopped if the Holy Spirit were removed." -Billy Graham

“It’s really quite amazing that the ones who see Heaven most clearly have little desire for this world, yet they are the ones who have the greatest impact on the world around them.” –Bill Johnson p.125 Dreaming With God

“Revelation is not poured out to make us smarter. Insight is a wonderful benefit of this encounter, but our intelligence is not God’s primary concern. His focus in revelation is our personal transformation. Revelation leads to a God encounter, and that encounter forever changes us… Without the encounter, revelation makes us proud. This was the nature of Paul’s warning to the church at Corinth: “Knowledge puffs up…” (1 Cor. 8:1). The actual effect on our intelligence is according to the measure of transformation we’ve experienced. Revelation come to enlarge the playing field of our faith. Insight without faith being released to have the truth realized through experience keeps truth unproven- only theory. It is the birthplace of religion. …Revelation gives us access to the realms of greater anointing available to us to make that truth a personal experience and lifestyle. The greater the truth, the greater the anointing needed to demonstrate that truth to the world. Anointing must be pursued, not assumed. The measure of anointing that we carry reveals the measure of revelation we actually live in. –Bill Johnson (italics are Bill's)

I love it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JAMKh4pSF4&feature=related

I love the guitarist's take on it all!

Excellent Interview

Watch this to the end. I love his response at the end about living in debt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezLi99_hOYg&feature=related

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“In studying the Old Testament prophecies quoted in the New Testament, it doesn’t take long to realize that Jesus and other writers of Scripture took many Old Testament passages out of context to prove their point. The common thought today is that the Holy Spirit worked that way for the Scriptures to be written, but it is unacceptable to do this today because the canon is complete. How could it be wrong to use the same principles used to write the Scriptures to interpret the Scriptures? That rule is designed to keep us from creating doctrine by experience and contradicting orthodox Christianity. While the reason is noble, the rule is not biblical. It keeps us from some of the fruitfulness that has been assigned to the church of this hour.

...How is it possible to set a rule of Bible interpretation that the Holy Spirit Himself did not follow in inspiring the Bible? And to say that it is no longer allowed because the canon is complete has little merit as the Holy Spirit is with us, and He knows what He meant when He wrote it. This is potentially dangerous because of the bent of some toward creating unholy and/or inaccurate doctrine, but it does not justify removing a necessary tool of the Spirit that He uses to speak to His people. There is danger, but there is also great treasure. This is the necessary tension.” Bill Johnson 145-146 Dreaming With God

Without a doubt, I absolutely love Bill’s chapter the Holy Spirit and biblical interpretation. I only wish that I would have read this before I did a monster paper on biblical interpretation for school…

Quotes

I've been reading a book called Enough is Enough by a guy I met named Dave Carlson. It is a very interesting book. Anyway, here are some quotes from it...

"Many books have been written on overcoming fear and pride, removing offense, bitterness, and unforgiveness in the Christian life. Sometimes we become so involved with “working” to be set free from different curses and a hardness of heart that we fail to see that what is right in front of our face: How can Christians hold in their hearts any bitternss or offense toward another when their hearts and souls are filled with the love and compassion of Jesus Christ? They cannot! …We are not abiding in His divine presence. We desire for God’s glory and power to be manifested in our lives, but we contingue to ignore Him throughout the day. We find ourselves so caught up in this world that we neglect the Father who adores us beyond understanding. We are told to count it all joy when we fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces patience (James 1:2-3). When we place our faith and trust in the love of the Father, we find a place of rest where we can abide in peace and joy." (p. 91)

“We are called to produce good fruit for the Kingdom of God, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The ability to produce quality fruit hinges upon our ability to find a sustained level of consciousness of Jesus in our lives. The moment we realize the truth of the power of Christ, our spirits, souls, and bodies enter into a place of rest where doubt and fear cannot exist. It is then that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is released to grow abundantly. Holiness becomes a life-centered desperation for the Father’s touch.” (p. 83)

“A pastor once said that the anointing experienced on ministry trips in other countries is no greater than the anointing found here in the United States. The only difference is that the manifested glory of God is in the measure of desperation from the people being ministered to. Our desperation and hunger for the promises of the Kingdom of Heaven enable us to pull into our existence and experience the glory and power of the Holy Spirit… Blessed are the poor in spirit, Jesus was saying for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He explained that those who received an outpouring of God’s glory and power were the desolate, the desperate, those poor in spirit and hungry for a touch of God. It was through their broken spirit that the Kingdom of Heaven was released into manifestation in the physical realm.” (p. 81)

“The process of establishing holiness in our souls and bodies is about “getting” the truth of the Holy Scriptures into the depths of our consciousness that we may begin to live out the promise of the New Covenant. Holiness is not what we do, but who we are. Holiness is no longer about the law; it’s about the treasures of our hearts. No longer are we a part of this world. Holiness is a rest in the truth of the Word of God and a trusting in God to be faithful to His promise. Holiness brings a person closer to the heart of God and allows man to experience the Father’s glorious presence. All our thoughts, perceptions, and focus must be on the Kingdom of Heaven and all that it provides. Holiness is about getting our focus off this world and anchoring it securely, and permanently, onto God.” (p. 72)

“The irony of Christianity and the fulfillment of the desire of our hearts lies in our ability to completely surrender to the Father’s will. We prosper when we come to the complete understanding that it is not us who prospers, but He who has empowered us to prosper.” (p. 41)

Well said, Bill!

"Israel was called upon to manifest the reign of God in their departure from Egypt and their entrance into the Promised Land. Normally this journey should have only lasted a couple of weeks at most, yet it took Israel 40 years. They wandered through the wilderness for 40 years. IN reality, they were only doing on the outside what they were experiencing on the inside. “Therefore I was angry with this generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts, and they did not know my ways’; as I swore in my wrath, ‘they shall not enter my rest’” (Heb. 3:10-11 NASB). The phrase go astray means “to wander.” They wandered in their hearts first. What was going on inside of them defined and shaped the world around them. In other words, their internal realities became their external realities. The lesson is simple: What is going on inside of us affects what goes on around us. This principle affects health, relationships, success in our occupation, and our gifts and ministries. All things flow from the heart. Solomon realized this and taught: Watch over the heart with all diligence, for from it flows the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23)." - Bill Johnson