Leftist Evangelical Movie slamming Israel

In a recent email list of headlines which she's been sending out every day recently, Jan Markell included her article, Changing the Minds of Evangelicals in which she calls attention to a film, With God on Our Side, that promotes evangelical support of the Palestinians over Israel.  This is what is known as the Leftist Evangelical point of view.  I watched it and here are some comments:
 
It's a deceitful movie.  It's mostly accusations of misconduct by Israel toward the Palestinians, intended to shame American Christian Zionists out of supporting Israel.  Israel's misconduct includes restrictions on the movements of Palestinians, by checkpoints, the high walls built to keep them out and so on.  It wasn't until the end of the film that anybody said why Israel considers these measures necessary, then explaining that the walls had almost completely ended the suicide bombings that had been plaguing Israel for years.  But not one single "Palestinian" complained about the terrorism in their own population which is the reason for the restrictions.  The complaint was always that it's Israel's fault and it's a hardship for the Palestinians.

Supposedly the Palestinians are suffering from all this, it even "ruins lives" as one spokesman said, but then the film takes you briefly into their community to show you what a "vibrant" community it is, not a suffering community. 

I was alert to hear any mention of "Replacement Theology" as the reason Zionists shouldn't be supporting Israel, but it was only at the very end that two of the Christian spokesmen brought it up.  Otherwise the complaints against Israel were of unethical behavior which was criticized from a Biblical point of view.  The Old Testament is not so much about a covenant of land, one critic said, but a covenant of ethics, how you treat the foreigner, the orphan and the widow.  Without regard to why Israel has taken the measures it has taken.

The pastor's son who said he grew up with the understanding that Christians are to support Israel, had come to rethink all that, "started looking into things like the separation barrier and Israeli policies that are really having an effect on Palestinian life;  so I don't know" he says, "does supporting Israel mean we fully support every one of those policies?"  His brother adds "I still think that there is some truth there, to supporting Israel, but I don't think you can support any group of people... when they do things that violate other Biblical principles."   Not a word about the reason for those policies, not a word.    Apparently self-defense isn't an acceptable reason.

Gary Burge says "Palestinians are not defined by the radical wing of Hamas or Hezbollah."  Which I think was the first mention of those terrorist groups in the film.  What does it mean "not defined by?"  As I recall, for a long time it was clear that a suicide bomber could arise from any part of the Palestinian population, how would anyone know in advance who was "defined" by such a possible expression of Islam and who wasn't?  And again, shouldn't the Palestinians have been identifying terrorism from their own population as the cause of the restrictions on them? 

And it is always referred to as the "Israeli occupation" without the slightest nod to the complicated history of the region in which time after time it was the Palestinians who refused to accept any offer of an independent Palestinian state, and wars initiated by the Arab states against Israel, in which Israel won back land.

And "land confiscation."  Nothing in this film is explained, it's all accusations directed against Israel with very little in the way of context.  Even though supposedly the historical footage was supposed to explain what happened it was almost impossible to decipher.  The usual war pictures but I couldn't tell who the soldiers were.  Some breaking into somebody's house but no clear explanation, just the insinuation that it must have been one of the many indefensible actions by Israel.  This is an irresponsible deceitful film. 

Salim Munayer uses his own family history as the only argument against the claim that the area was a wilderness when the Jews started settling there.   "There were people here" he says.  Well, nobody ever said there weren't some people there, what was said was that they were few and far between, and Mark Twain who visited the region in the late 19th century is often cited for his report that the area was a desolate wilderness.  People few and far between.  And certainly no "Palestinians," such a people group never existed and still doesn't exist.  Where possible the arriving Jews purchased the property of those living there, but nothing about any of this was mentioned by Mr. Munayer.  What happened to his own family's property?  Did they keep it, sell it, what?  He insinuates something about how his family was badly treated by the Jews but the footage supplied at that point is ambiguous and probably had nothing to do with his personal experience anyway.  They were told to leave their home in 1948 right after Israel became a state, but who told them is not said, only insinuated, and who killed those who refused to leave is also not clear, but it was insinuated that it was Israelis, and for no good reason of course.  I end up having no idea about what happened to Salim Munayer's family or why, and the strong impression that they don't want me to know.

"Wait," says the narrator, "I'd always been told that the Palestinians were the aggressors."  Well, I was never told that.  I was told that the Arab states made war on Israel and that they warned the Arab people in the area to leave, and they are the ones who became the refugees without a state of their own.   Not aggressors, pawns of their own Arab people.  Numbers of refugees are mentioned in the film without one mention of how they became refugees, just the usual insinuation that this was Israel's fault.

One interview that was almost funny was the guy who said the intifada, which was an uprising of the Arabs, was very hard on his family because the Israelis closed the schools, they couldn't go to work, water was cut off, etc etc etc., without once mentioning that this was connected to Israeli self-defense in response to an Arab uprising.  Occasionally in the film the Israeli side is defended, but only in general terms, we never find out one thing about what happened in the specific events mentioned, such as this man's experience or Salim Munayer's. 

Another mystery was the statement that after the Oslo accords "everybody agrees that there was a drastic deterioration in the standard of living of the Palestinians."   Not a word about why this occurred.

I end up knowing less about the situation over there as a result of this movie than I thought I knew before. 

Replacement Theology really doesn't explain much in this movie.  Are we not to support Israel because it really doesn't figure in prophecy after all, or because supposedly they've committed all these ethical offenses against the Palestinians?  The two are not connected.  I think of Israel as a political ally of America, whether there is anything to the prophecies or not.  We can't expect the unbelieving world to accept explanations based on Biblical prophecies anyway;  Israel has to succeed as a political entity.  And I don't believe those accusations.  If any of them is in any sense true the film utterly failed to prove it. 

Arutz Sheva report on movie.

Mark Tooley at Front Page Magazine review of movie.

Right politics, bad history

Just ran across this video of Pat Robertson denouncing gay activists as terrorists and felt like posting it because I agree with him about that, but also because of what he says about the Inquisition.  He repeats the error that so many hold these days, treating the Inquisition as OUR heritage, as something we need to apologize for, the heritage of the Protestant Church as well as the Roman Church.  The ignorance of history is depressing.  Protestants, pre-Reformation Protestants, were the VICTIMS of the Inquisition. 

He also of course thinks it can never happen again.  I'm not so sure, but if it does, again Protestants will be its victims.  And since there is such ignorance about history the chances that it could occur again are thereby increased enormously.  Nobody is looking at the source from which it would arise. 

So here's Pat:



Oh, by the way, some pastors from across the country, and even Canada and Australia and Germany have sent sermons and Bibles to Houston's mayor as Mike Huckabee suggested they do.

I guess this is a good thing, at least it's some kind of action in response to her outrageous attempt to violate religious freedom.

My opinion on what hinders revival

No news yet about pastors preaching in solidarity with the Houston pastors whose sermons on gay rights issues have been subpoenaed, perhaps it didn't happen at all or only a few got involved.

I didn't want to get too deeply into the specifics of the Houston situation because for me it quickly became the source of an idea for getting the Church out of what seems to be paralysis in the face of every move made by the left, as if we just have to sit back and put up with it. I've been guilty myself of giving up and thinking Well, the Church was born in the Roman Empire which persecuted them, and it looks like we're just going to go back to being ruled by a pagan government that wants us gone, and persecution is good for the Church after all; the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church and all that. And besides this is the end times and prophetically we're right on schedule... Which is all true. But lately I think there may be ways to fight it after all and that's what's been preoccupying me.

THE HOUSTON CHALLENGE TO THE CHURCH

Just to say a few words about what's going on in Houston. First, the Mayor and City Attorney of Houston both denied knowing anything about the subpoena until the controversy was underway, and both affirmed that religious freedom is not to be infringed, and claim that wasn't their intention, it was just a matter of a badly chosen word, the word "sermons." What did they intend to say? Just "any and all communications," no emphasis on sermons. Supposedly this is for some kind of study, not an attack on pastors, just a necessary study connected with Houston's new equal rights ordinance that some pastors were strongly opposing. It is dubbed "the bathroom law" because it provides that public restrooms be available to either sex according to their preference, to allow access for transgendered individuals to the facility where they are most comfortable. No regard for how comfortable the majority may be with this arrangement, or the strong possibility that predators would take advantage of it.

About the denial, it isn't true that the mayor respects freedom of religion, which has been shown by the publication of a tweet of hers on the 14th that said "If the 5 pastors used pulpits for politics, their sermons are fair game." Clearly she is definitely targeting the Church for "hate speech" or violations of gay rights. I'm not sure what law makes political speech in the pulpit a crime, but if it is a crime we shouldn't tolerate this state of affairs any longer. I'm grateful for the recent discussions from many sources of the "Black-Robed Regiment" which proves that the early American clergy considered it a duty to preach on the politics of the day, which ought to be a model for the clergy in all times.

As for the "bathroom law" it's obnoxious and obscene and should be stopped in its tracks. This is a violation of public decency. When I was in rehab for my hip replacement summer before last I was shocked both by having a male nurse on some shifts, which made me decidedly uncomfortable, and by one incident where I was drying off after a shower and a nurse rushed into the bathroom saying she was going to bring a man in to use the toilet and needed to pull the shower curtain around me. I felt violated quite frankly. When he was behind his own curtain I rapidly dressed and left. The nurse commented that I "sure didn't like it" when she did that, did I, obviously implying I was the one out of order, not she. I'm a dinosaur and we're supposed to move with the times. Separate bathrooms is old fashioned, passé, a relic of an oppressive age. Do we protest or do we just let it all roll over us? Protesting takes work, it causes bad feelings, it's easier to just try to live with it, not make waves. So we back off. Wimp that I am, I said nothing more about it.

So on to today's news:

Newsmax today reports that Mike Huckabee wants all pastors in the nation to send their sermons to the mayor of Houston, any and all sermons, not specifically sermons on homosexuality or gay rights, and all those hearing him (see video) to send her a Bible. I've got to say this hits me as a useless gesture and a waste of Bibles. Huckabee says some good things about what the right to freedom of religion means and how this mayor is violating it, but in my opinion his solution is no solution. At best maybe it could show her that there are a lot of Christians in this country who disagree with her, and maybe that would have some effect.

THE CALL TO UNITE BEHIND THE HOUSTON PASTORS RAISES A TENUOUS BUT REAL HOPE FOR REVIVAL

But no, this just gets me back to Michael Brown's suggestion that pastors preach on homosexuality to support the Houston pastors, and I'd still like to see this sort of thing be considered as a way to deal with the problems we've been facing in America. I can see lots of plusses to such an action. It would aggressively defy the threatened repression of specific Christian teachings which is a violation of our First Amendment rights, it would give pastors strength in numbers who may be intimidated by such threats, and if the congregation supports the pastor and prays for the success of his preaching and prays against the repression of Christian teaching, we are also calling on God whose power we need to accomplish anything at all. Besides the goal of supporting the Houston pastors I allowed myself to expand on the suggestion to include all the problems America has been facing, dedicating a Sunday to each perhaps, although the specific method is something the pastors would have to determine, but some dedicated time when churches preach and pray in one voice across the nation against the evils we've all been only too aware of lately, especially perversions of American law that have been undermining the nation for decades now.

And just thinking along these lines reawakened my dormant hope for revival. It's dangerous to have this hope reawakened because of the disappointment that follows when we work for revival and it doesn't happen. I think I have a better grip on why it doesn't happen and that's good, but it doesn't mean the obstacles can be overcome. When I started my blogs I had the occasional rush of hope for revival that would deflate rapidly under a sense of the obstacles that would have to be overcome, back then mostly the specter of the "holy laughter" and other disruptive charismatic phenomena that were so prominent in recent "revivals;" along with the naysaying of a portion of the Church who believe God has given up on revival and now only seeks judgment on a sinful nation.

So my first thought was what a futility it is when I saw that David Ravenhill is continuing his father Leonard's preaching on the need for revival in America. A few decades ago Leonard Ravenhill preached many sermons and wrote many books trying to wake up the American Church to pray for revival, one titled America is Too Young to Die, all good and true preaching on a very important subject. You can find his preaching at You Tube. But what a disappointment when you know people were trying to follow his lead and nothing happened. No revival. Some bogus charismatic "revivals" but nothing like the Great Awakening that changed a nation, nothing like the revivals in Wales and the Hebrides that morally transformed those communities and left an indelible impression of the power of God on all who experienced them. Years later Martyn Lloyd-Jones still spoke of the impact of the revival he had experienced as a young man. It makes you yearn for the experience, but then you run up against all the reasons it probably can't happen.

Kay Arthur, who leads Precept Ministries Bible studies put out a call to pray for revival a few years ago to her Bible study members across the nation and the idea thrilled me. I did a couple of blog posts on it. That many people praying concertedly for revival surely ought to bring us revival. But it didn't.

So even thinking the thought of revival now comes with a cloud of gloom over it that I have to keep shaking off. If none of the pastors responded to Michael Brown isn't that already a sign we can't get a unified Church on any issue in America today? In earlier times you could get a revival if just one church was involved, or even just a few people started a prayer meeting focused on revival. I think it was the Hebrides where a powerful revival occurred when the elders of a church met to pray a few nights a week and were joined by a couple of elderly ladies praying in their home, a powerful revival that had people flocking to the church who hadn't even heard of its prayers, just drawn by the Holy Spirit. Then in New York City a man advertised for people to come pray for revival at a location he rented downtown and only a few showed up at first but then thousands and ultimately over a million.   I've kind of given up on that model of starting small, thinking the churches across the nation have to share in the desire and the work to bring it about. But maybe that's the Pollyanna element, maybe one just has to start where one can start.

I've been doing some minimal fasting and praying lately about the horrors of the daily headlines and I believe God has been rewarding my paltry and inconsistent efforts. I wake up early with my head full of thoughts along the lines of my latest blog posts. This morning I woke up with thoughts about what hinders a revival.

Leonard Ravenhill also wrote a book titled Why Revival Tarries. It's an indictment of a prayerless Church, prayerless pastors, prayerless Christians. Here's Page One of the book. And you can get a feeling for it by reading the Reviews of it at Amazon. It's a powerful book, it makes you very uncomfortable. One reviewer says it changed his life. Some of us just get overwhelmed by it, we can't do what he asks so we sink into deeper gloom. That includes me. He makes you feel terrible about it. I can't sustain the deep protracted prayer life he asks for though I admire it and wish I could. I've tried. I won't bore you with my futile efforts. They are something like closing my eyes, gritting my teeth and trying desperately to fend off alien thoughts with frantic flailings. I've come to think we may need revival to give us the ability to pray in depth. I occasionally succeed at the little my lazy American self feels up to and hope God will make more possible. Ravenhill's book may spur others on to the depths of prayer but I have to limp behind them, and I think there are many others like me. So I say let's just do what we can, even a little may be blessed by God and one thing we know: the more we have the more we will get, that's a principle Jesus taught that could keep us from giving up.

If we did pray as Ravenhill wants us to I'm sure God would finger all the problems in the Church that are hindering revival and move us to deal with them. But I'm sort of suspecting that the reason we can't pray in the depth we should is the same reason revival isn't happening:  We're under spiritual oppression because of the sins of the Church. My own answered prayers lately are giving me some idea of what we're up against.

The thought of them, as usual, takes the wind out of me. But here goes.

WHAT HINDERS REVIVAL

1) The main one, that I keep bringing up over and over, is ecumenism. I have the impression from somewhere that even Leonard Ravenhill didn't take a stand against the Roman Church. He may have tolerated it or been ambivalent about it, I'm not sure, but I don't recall his ever denouncing it. Billy Graham might have had an influence on him, he had a lot of people fooled, but we have to denounce Graham in no uncertain terms for his acceptance of Romanism, for sending Catholics from his Crusades back to the Roman wolf, and also for his horrifying admission to Robert Schuler that he thinks some people are saved who never heard of Christ. You can find this at You Tube. And we need to repent of all ecumenical prayer gatherings. I think this is absolutely crucial. Jonathan Cahn preaches a solid gospel sermon but doing it at an ecumenical gathering is as good as burying it six feet deep. God will not hear us if we hold hands with the followers of Baal, even if they are very nice conservative people we agree with on most other things. If they are Mormons or Catholics or whatever they are, they have to come out of their false Churches before we can fellowship with them on a spiritual level. If we want revival in this nation we HAVE to come together as a pure Christian body free of the influence of false doctrine. We can be nice about it, we just can't have it.

So I'm thinking it's possible that if Ravenhill was at all open to Roman Catholicism, even possibly for the sake of friendship with Billy Graham, he may have put the brakes on his own call to revival.

2) But I know for sure that he was open to the Charismatic Movement, like so many of us who believe God could still move in miraculous power and long to see it. But a lack of discernment in that area could also have stifled his call to revival, because the Charismatic Movement is based on false doctrine. They have a false idea of the Gifts of the Spirit and it is a big mistake to equate God's continuing will to bless us at times supernaturally with the particular beliefs of Charismatica. I do think most Charismatics are saved people and doctrinally orthodox on the most important points, but they are also particularly accepting of Roman Catholicism, and I also have to take the position that because they promote the false teachings about the gifts of the Spirit that they shouldn't be part of preaching and prayer for revival. I think of Michael Brown who called for the pastors to unite with Houston pastors and I feel bad about it but I couldn't include him in this effort toward revival. He says he regularly prays in tongues, it's part of his private devotions. He's deceived, he's not talking to God. I don't doubt his salvation, I don't doubt his orthodoxy on foundational doctrine, but any effort toward revival needs to be free of doctrinal problems wherever we can identify them.

I know this is going to offend a lot of people, which is one big reason why I have so little hope of success in seeking revival. We can't have revival if we don't do our utmost to purify the Church.

But wait, it gets worse.

3) The other thought that keeps coming to mind, apparently in answer to prayer, that is guaranteed to offend a great number of people, is that one hindrance to revival is the presence of sin in the churches, and the one sin that is in all the churches these days is divorce, and especially remarriage after divorce. I know that this is justified on the basis of scripture in many churches, for instance that sexual betrayal is preached as justification for divorce and remarriage. I'm not sure even that interpretation holds up (isn't dying to self the most central of all the commands to us?), but could it possibly be the reason for all the many divorces we see in the churches? Battering and abuse seems like a justifiable cause, although scripture doesn't mention it and as far as I know it's not a very common reason anyway. I can't determine the best interpretation of the scriptures on this subject, I haven't studied them closely enough but even if I had it wouldn't be my place. Different churches have different levels of strictness about it. I've strongly felt that some justifications are so lenient they amount to permitting sin in the congregation, but it's a feeling or impression and I don't want to try to defend it. All I want to say is I think the Lord has an objection to some of it, maybe all of it, and that if He does it could definitely interfere with efforts toward revival. How would we find out? By fasting and praying. This is what every church should do with any policy that could be controversial. God will reveal the truth about the controversy if the prayer is sincere. You have to be willing to accept the answer He gives. It could be very disruptive of the church, but each church would have to deal with it according to the Lord's leading.

If we want revival it's going to cost.

I had to get all that said, I feel strongly that the Lord has pointed to these three areas in particular as needing Reformation before we can begin to expect Him to send us Revival. Others need to fast and pray to come to their own conclusions about it.

Later I have to add 4) Denial of Biblical Inerrancy has to be identified and shunned. Sad to say this is one of the things that was on my mind when I woke up early this morning, one of the things I believe comes from God in answer to my prayers to understand what hinders the revival we need to answer the deteriorating culture. And I forgot to write it here. Absolutely crucial. It's really all of a piece with "Liberal Christianity" too. Those individuals and churches who hold these views, who deny that God's word is inerrant and therefore affirm all kinds of worldly and ungodly positions, cannot participate in this revival effort. It's one of the things we need to preach down, denounce in preaching and prayer, like the rest on the list I've been putting together here.

Revival has a purifying effect in itself, it stirs up everybody's conscience and leads to personal reforms of all kinds, but in our current situation it seems we need to do some reforming on our own before we can think of being blessed with revival. But I feel optimistic that it's possible, if we were to do these things God could very well respond with revival.

5) and 6) I also have two other issues that are the subject of separate blogs that I believe could make a big difference too, the Bible Versions issue and the woman's head covering. There's unfortunately not much likelihood of convincing many of my views on these, but I'll just put it out there that if everything else is done and revival is still not happening it might be worth the experiment of women wearing scarves in church and the church using only the King James Bihle. Just a thought.

There could of course be other problems that need reform before we can have revival. I'll probably be thinking about it.

KNOWING WHAT HINDERS COULD HELP, OR OVERWHELM US 

It has to help to have some idea what may be hindering revival, when before we've had no way of explaining our continual defeats. There is always hope in having a direction that could conceivably be followed even if a difficult one. The particular issues I've identified are of course not likely to persuade many so in the end revival could well be prevented anyway as it has been for so long already. But if even a few churches agreed to these things we could possibly have a local revival at least.

Maybe not many Christians even want revival. But what if it's the only way we could possibly push back the pagan influences that have been overwhelming us lately? That's the context in which I think God brought these things to my mind.

I'll close this by saying we should be a David Church and I have some hope that we could be:

1 Samuel 17:26 And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?

But at the moment instead of being a David Church that stands up to Goliath, we're the ones who bring reproach on Israel by fleeing from him.

Daydreaming about a committed and powerful Church that can take down this upstart Philistine culture by faith in God

I don't know how many pastors preached against homosexuality today as Michael Brown suggested they should and I was hoping they would, in support of those in Houston being harassed by the Gay Agenda.  I haven't seen any news on it, though maybe it's just early.  I hope a good number were involved. 

 

I'm wishing as usual that this could be a trend, and thinking of it as the only hope we have to actually do something against this tide of evil that's been flooding the land.  This is the work of Satan and we're his greatest enemy, supposedly, but here we sit as if gagged and bound.   I don't think I can stand any more analysis, we need action.  But what action?  We're paralyzed, and it's not completely clear why.  Just sitting around waiting for the end times prophecies to manifest as we see them developing all over the place. 

 

How I'd love to see the churches unite to preach down the issues of the day in one voice as a regular thing, from time to time, or since the times are so emergently bad drop everything else and preach and fast and pray in the same unison more often than that until God hears us.  Great revivals came about with daily prayer but just praying for revival now isn't going to do it because there's too much wrong that has to be faced down first.

 

Weak Church, divided Church, compromising apostasizing Church.

 

Well, Gideon didn't need big numbers, just a small number, and God.  Samson destroyed the Philistine temple bound and blind and all alone, with God.  David felled the Philistine giant all alone, with God.  I'd even point to the little state of Israel who, surrounded by giant Arab nations who want her dead, defeated them in the wars they started against her.  I have no doubt that was with God too.

 

So OK, a remnant of churches. we don't need big numbers, just the purest of the churches
Start with self-examination and repentance, strip down to essentials.

 

Keep hearing how tax-exempt status conferred by Big Brother has a stranglehold on the churches, so GIVE IT UP.  Without freedom to preach the truth it's not worth it.

 

Pray for the churches, against the apostasizing, against fear and weakness, pray for strength of faith

 

Concertedly, systematically, consistently Preach and Pray down:

• The Gay Agenda
• Push back against the sexual sins that are undermining the nation and led to the gay agenda, unmarried cohabitation, "sex education" the "freedom" of pornography, easy divorce and of course abortion; pray to restore respect for God's Law.
• Marxism and Political Correctness in general. Take a few weeks on this one
• Islam. A few weeks here too. Pray for the salvation of many Muslims out of that murderous satanic religion. Pray for strengthening of laws against such a subversive "religion."
• The Roman Church. Take a few weeks on this one too. This will divide the sheep from the goats.  That eyes would be opened to false doctrine, that Catholics be saved.
• Against all the cults, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, Emergent Church, all of them, that eyes would be opened, people saved.
• And let's pray against the twisting of the Constitution and for some kind of reformation of the Supreme Court which is a major conduit for all these evils.

Keep up the self-examination and repentance, that's fuel for the work.

The list could grow quite a bit from here of course, and it may need to be rewritten, it's just meant to be an idea for how we could approach the problems.

Individuals can participate up to their ability even outside the church sessions.  Fasting helps.  Some can't do a complete fast, but just cutting back counts as fasting, cutting back on food but also on all the other comforts of life.  Turn off the TV except for the news programs, spend the time praying or reading up on the issues of the day that we're focusing on.  Eliminating specially loved foods and eating simple foods just for nourishment is a fast, you can do it as a version of Daniel's fast in Daniel 10:3 if you want, and that's one you can keep up for a long time.  If there's one thing I've discovered about fasting it's that it's important not to turn it into a hard and fast set of rules or deprive yourself of things that are only going to make you rebel and give up too soon. It's supposed to be a sacrifice but there's no point in pushing your limits or you can defeat the whole purpose. Eating half of what you'd normally eat at a given meal counts as a fast.  Make a sandwich, cut it in half and save half for another meal.  Do it for as many meals as you can;  do it for a few days in a row and you'll feel quite hungry.  But when you have to, go back to normal eating, then do it again when you feel you should.  Remember to pray though, the point of fasting is to clear the channels for prayer and especially for hearing from God, who will give wisdom for dealing with these issues we're praying about.

Just my daydream for today.

Update:

 Can't believe I forgot to mention that since revival could very well be the result of such a concerted effort by the Church, we need to pray that the phenomena the Charismatic Movement embraces won't dominate such a revival. Andrew Strom (see link top right of page) did a good job of proving that they are not Christian phenomena but commonly occur in Hindu settings, even under the evil guru Rajneesh. John MacArthur's Strange Fire Conference last year effectively debunked the claim that such phenomena have anything to do with the gifts of the Spirit given to the New Testament Church.

Nevertheless, such phenomena have often occurred in genuine revivals, even under Jonathan Edwards, Whitefield and Wesley, so they probably can't and shouldn't be totally suppressed. But they should be treated as aberrations, kept to the sidelines and not made the center of attention as if they are the whole point of the revival, which has often been the case in the "signs and wonders" charismatic fiascos such as the "Toronto Blessing," the Brownsville "revival," the Lakeland "revival" and whatever it is that has been going on in Redding California.

We want a Church full of people who resemble Jesus, and that is salt and light to the culture, not a Church that is breathlessly awestruck by physical manifestations.

Black-Robed Regiment model?

Maybe I'm being pollyanna -- Me?? Pollyanna? Me?? Well, sort of, or maybe on the upswing of bipolar, not that I've ever been classified as such. I'm talking about really really hoping a great number of pastors and their churches will see the value in rallying together on the issues of the day, starting today in preaching God's word against homosexuality. The more the better to stand in support of the Houston pastors who are under attack by their Gay Agenda-driven mayor.

Individually they all get picked off one by one. There should be some strength and safety in numbers. That's what I'm hoping. I'm sure I'm putting so much hope into this because the evil that has been growing around us has been getting me down, and especially the sense of helplessness. Then the thought comes, God's Church helpless? Don't we have the power of the omnipotent God behind us? WHAT IS GOING ON?

I was just listening to Alex Jones from a year ago where he has two pastors on talking about the government tyranny against the churches already well underway, and the main message is the WIMP FACTOR, the COWARD FACTOR, how many pastors out there won't stand up against the tyranny. They've got tax-exempt status and they don't want to risk it by speaking out. Getting in debt building huge churches, trying to live the prosperous American Dream.

THIS IS NOT THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH!

JESUS SAID: HE WHO WOULD SAVE HIS LIFE WILL LOSE IT, BUT HE WHO WOULD LOSE IT FOR MY SAKE WILL FIND IT.

WHERE IS OUR FAITH?

I found the Jones program by looking for some preaching on the Black Regiment. It's mentioned on Jones' program, one of his guests wrote a book on it.

I wanted to hear something on the Black Regiment because of what Larry Kutzler had to say about it in his blog yesterday on the Houston situation.

The Black Regiment is the model we need today, the clergymen of the Revolutionary War period who preached war against the tyrant and took their guns to church, ready to use them. And they did use them, they fought in the war when it came. A model of a pastor who is the complete opposite of the pastor who doesn't want to make waves.

A great need in the church today is to raise up courteous leaders who are not afraid to tell the truth and fight for what is right in our society. Too many pastors end up compromising their calling in being silent about the issues that are controversial.

If you contrast what we see in the pulpits today with the pulpits back in the Revolutionary days, you will find a stark contrast.

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Preachers were not only religious leaders, they understood that their religious duty was to serve their country by defining the Constitution of the United States. Beneath those black robes they wore as they preached, was a soldier who willing to defend the country with his life.

It was that kind of courage that forged this great land, and we are now on the brink of losing everything our foundering forefathers fought and died for.

The last radio program I heard from Chris Pinto was his discussion of a book he'd recently discovered on the preachers of the Revolutionary War period, Sacred Scripture Sacred War that I'm hoping I'll be able to get eventually.

The United States was born from the pages of the Bible, despite the fact that some of the big name Founders were anti-Christians.

What will it take, Lord? Is it possible? Have we gone over some line we can't return from? Will the Church wake up or not? Will the pastors come out of hiding and stand for Your truth or not? If building projects must be abandoned and tax exemption lost and we have to meet in a warehouse isn't that better than letting the evil powers overrun us? If we have to go to jail for telling the truth, far far better than cowering. Will we call down the evils that are destroying America and the west or not?

Have mercy on us, Lord, give us the wisdom and the courage we need to rid ourselves of everything that keeps you from blessing us and restoring the American church and the American nation. Amen.

Gay Agenda Preach-It-Down Sunday

I'm hoping pastors all over the country are getting the word out about Michael Brown's suggestion that they preach on homosexuality tomorrow, in solidarity with the Houston pastors whose Constitutional rights are being threatened by their current mayor, for preaching and otherwise promoting God's truth about homosexuality.

While any individual pastor might feel intimidated in spite of himself because of the aggressive tyrannical litigiousness of the Gay Rights people, it should help if a majority dedicate a Sunday to a concert of preaching on the same subject all at once, not to mention that that much concentration on a single issue could reach God's ear in a very effective way.

This is the first idea I've heard that gives me any hope whatever for dealing with the horrors of the times we are living through. The Church has seemed to be helpless to do anything about any of it. Our individual voices get muffled in the roar of Political Correctness, and of course intentionally suppressed as well.

AND LOTS OF PRAYER TOO: Although Christians pray about all these things, as individuals, in prayer meetings, in Bible studies and so on, nothing much has been happening.

THROW OUT THE ECUMENICAL ABOMINATION!

Why is nothing happening? I've written on what I think is a major dampening effect on our efforts to move the nation to repentance and move God to give us revival, and the main one is Ecumenical Prayer Gatherings in which Christians pray together with members of other religions, with Roman Catholics for instance, with Muslims, Jews and any other groups traditionally understood to be anti-Christian in their beliefs. George W Bush included Romanists, Muslims and Jews in his prayer for the nation after 9/11 held in the National Cathedral, which could only have increased God's judgment on the nation. All ecumenical prayer gatherings since then on behalf of the nation can only have added to it, and yet these are absurdly continued year after year after year despite a glaringly obvious lack of success, and even obvious negative effects. The most doctrinally perfect gospel-oriented prayer by a member of such a group can't stand up to the God-denying effect of including unbelievers in the group. He won't hear us. We need to throw out all the idols and that means scrupulously NOT praying with unbelievers.

Some wonder why on earth Islam's popularity and influence keep rising after their attack on us, but we still go on practicing exactly the sort of thing that is guaranteed to bring God's judgment on the nation, and Islam is most certainly one of God's instruments of judgment. Where in scripture does God approve of the People of God praying with the followers of Molech or Dagon or Baal? It is hard to understand why Christians don't recognize this problem.

That's the first thing we need to repent of in my opinion. We need to be purified of all such idolatrous deviations if our prayers are to reach God's ear.

Then we need to acknowledge the other sins we are guilty of and the nation is guilty of. With a sincere desire to clean up our act God will also show us individually what we need to repent of, and as we obey individually and corporately the channels of prayer will get clearer and clearer. I know whenever I make a serious effort to pray more, one of the first things that happens is that He shows me where I am not faithfully obeying Him.

One thing I particularly like about this idea of pastors preaching in concert across the nation is that it gives us a powerful way to focus on the sins that are crippling the country and bringing down God's judgment. It could be the answer to our felt helplessness as the devil just keeps rolling on and over us all. If we want revival we have first to finger the sins that need correction, and good solid preaching backed up by prayer against each of the sins we are able to identify. What a powerful voice we should have if thousands of churches join together in one voice, one mind and one heart. He is in the midst of us when we gather together in His name.

I know it's a wild daydream that the churches could agree to a preaching and prayer agenda to deal with all the sins of the nation, but I'm going to let myself hope and pray for such a wild blessing anyway.

But first how wonderful it would be if some churches followed Michael Brown's advice just for tomorrow, and preached on God's view of homosexuality in one impassioned voice. Just for tomorrow. I'll write more about my daydream eventually I'm sure.

I do want to highlight this blog by Larry Kutzler , whom I know from Jan Markell's ministry, who calls for the resignation or impeachment of the mayor of Houston, and on good grounds. She's shown she doesn't have the interests of her constituency at heart, but her own personal private interests and those of a small contingent who share the same narrow interests, as she works to deprive a large segment of the population of Houston of their right to freedom of religion. This is one way the preaching and praying could go for what I'm calling Preach-It-Down Sunday.

The Gay Agenda Aims Its Guns at the Church in Houston and the Church is Called to Respond to it this Sunday October 19th

Eric Barger of Take a Stand! Ministries sent out a newsletter yesterday about the lesbian mayor of Houston Texas ordering the pastors of the city to turn over everything they've said or preached about homosexuality.

American Family Association's One News Now reported the following:

"Mayor Annise Parker and two homosexual city council members pushed through a non-discrimination ordinance that protects homosexual men and lesbians. The proposed 'bathroom bill' ordinance passed 11-6 in May despite vocal opposition by the Houston community, which was led by local churches and their pastors."

The Houston Chronicle reported opponents of the ordinance launched a petition drive that generated more than 50,000 signatures - triple the 17,269 needed to place a referendum on the ballot. However, in August, City Attorney David Feldman invalidated the petition's pages citing "irregularities," effectively ending the citizen-led effort by killing the possibility of the referendum making the November ballot.

Next, opponents of the bathroom bill filed a lawsuit; the city's attorneys responded by issuing subpoenas against several key pastors who were part of a coalition of some 400 Houston-area churches that opposed the ordinance. The city is demanding that select pastors now turn over any and all communications - including sermons - that dealt with homosexuality, gender identity, or Annise Parker herself! Just let that sink in for a second and then ask, "What country is this, anyway?"

He goes on to report that

Commentator and radio host, Dr. Michael Brown, commented, "I urge every pastor in the city of Houston to address the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism this Sunday, announcing this for the entire world to hear but at the same time, refusing to obey the unrighteous decree of Mayor Parker's office to turn your sermons over for government scrutiny."

Here's Brown in the Christian Post:

In light of this egregious example of gay activist bullying – the very kind that I and others have documented for years now – I urge every pastor in the city of Houston to address the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism this Sunday, October 19th, announcing this for the entire world to hear but at the same time, refusing to obey the unrighteous decree of Mayor Parker's office to turn your sermons over for government scrutiny. (This should be done respectfully, in the spirit of Acts 4:19-20; 5:28-29.)

I also urge every congregational member in Houston to tell your pastors that you are standing with them, encouraging them to stand up for what is right in the face of bullying and intimidation.

To my fellow-leaders in Houston and around America, let's seize this moment and use it for the glory of God, preaching His love for all people and His real interest in those who identify as LGBT while at the same time proclaiming that His ways are best, that marriage is the union of one man and one woman and that gender distinctives are not to be discarded or despised.

Good for Michael Brown! I don't support his charismatic theology but I support his call for unity of the Church on issues like this. It would be wonderful if churches all across the nation responded to this call.

Barger rightly adds in his newsletter that the Church needs to respond to this and respond now, that too many younger church members are being persuaded that gay marriage should be accepted and that there won't be time to respond if we wait.

Hey Church! We're all tired of watching the devil triumph in this world lately, aren't we? In this nation and this world, and even in our churches. He's been coming in "like a flood" as scripture describes it. A lot of us are feeling helpless and maybe even scared at what we see happening around us, as evil is put for good and good for evil, as God's judgments are coming down on the nation.

There are lots of us but how do we get our act together as the formidable force we should be?

What are we, Church? Are we the army of the Lord or not? Are we called "Terrible as an army with banners" for no good reason? Are we called The Church Militant for no good reason? Do we have it in us to fight at all? And of course I mean fight with the Lord's weapons, not carnal weapons. I mean praying, I mean preaching, I mean speaking the Lord's word into all these situations where the evil one has dared to raise his ugly head against the Lord.

I love this recommendation that churches all together in one voice dedicate this Sunday's service to calling down this Houston mayor's unrighteous challenge to the people of God, even against our Constitutional rights but mainly against God Himself. Who are we if we don't stand in the power of our God for His honor?

Sure, be polite as Brown suggests, but there's also a place for declaiming and denouncing when it comes to being salt and light and calling down sin. I think of the late Ian Paisley's denouncing of the Pope as the Antichrist in the European Parliament, and in fact his style of preaching which could startle you out of your seat listening to him, not that I recommend it as a general thing, but the point is there is a place for shouting down the devil from our pulpits.

Quote all the scripture references against homosexuality, quote God's judgments. If they're going to call us "haters" and "homophobics" let them call all the churches in the nation "haters" and "homophobics" as we implore God to rend the heavens and act against this unrighteousness.

The angel of the Lord encamps about them that fear him and delivers them.

What a glorious idea.  Concerted preaching and prayer across the nation for a whole Sunday service against this offense against God and all the other offenses we could name in their turn.

Remember, it doesn't have to begin and end with this Sunday either; we have lots of challenges we're facing and lots of Sundays to do it in if the Lord tarries.

 Please inspire Your people to this, Lord.