Lincoln: 'the Judgements of the Lord, are True and Righteous Altogether'

Abridged from Jay Stapleton's WND, Jan. 26^th commentary:
In his second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln called his generation to face the greatest challenge in our nation's history: to accept the Civil War as God's judgment on the moral sin of American slavery.
That generation, while grieving the loss of 2 million dead or wounded loved ones, took up the president's challenge. They drank his words and found them to be healing medicine for their wounds. Tragically, our generation has relegated Lincoln's cure-all to the ash heap of religious superstition...We reflexively deny credibility to any who might suggest, as he did, that a just God holds our nation accountable for it's sin...

....On March 4, 1865, a crowd of 30,000 Northern sympathizers had gathered at the east entrance to the White House. They came to cheer their newly re-elected president, and expectation filled the air. Generals Grant and Sherman were in Virginia and South Carolina, respectively, mopping up what was left of the Confederate Army. Lee's formal surrender would come in less than 6 weeks, and the crowd came to hear their commander in chief gloat over his vanquished foes.
...But rather than skewer the rebels, Lincoln sermonized the nation. He delivered an Old Testament-style prophecy Jeremiah would have approved. Lincoln may have deflated the crowd, but he laid the foundation for rebuilding the country.
In the window of the Omni Parker House on the corner of Tremont and School Streets, is displayed a short history describing one of the Hotel's more infamous guests: John Wilkes Booth. He was the youngest and least talented of three actor brothers. His older brother, Edwin, believed in the Union cause, and proudly cast his first vote ever for Abraham Lincoln in the mid war elections of 1863. Edwin, later expressed in a letter dated 1881, "When I told him I had voted for Lincoln's re-election, he expressed deep regret, and declared his belief that Lincoln would be made king of America. This, I believe, drove him beyond the limits of reason." John W. Boothe stayed at the hotel April 5-6th, 1865 (a week before Lincoln's assassination, April 14) visiting his brother, Edwin and spending practice time at nearby Edward's Shooting Range.

Boston's Quiet Revival

From Christianity Today's featured article on Boston's Quiet Revival, here's an interesting statistic: Not since the 17th century has there been so many evangelicals at Harvard University, religious historian and Harvard campus minister Peter J. Gomes told The Boston Globe, in 2003. As Harvard and other elite colleges opened their doors to students outside their traditional ground of eastern aristocracy, Midwestern evangelicals and minority Christians—mostly Asian—began swelling the numbers of the once beleaguered Ivy League campus ministries. Because of the growth of these groups, Daniel Harrell, associate minister at Park Street Church, says university students today make up 40 percent of the congregation.

Jeff Bass of the Emmanuel Gospel Center says he not only expects this "quiet revival" to continue, but he looks forward to it gaining momentum. Bass says people often tell him that God sent them to Boston. Churches in Boston have gained a tremendous amount of unity as pastors pray together and evangelize together. "A lot of the groundwork has been laid," Bass says.

"The 'quiet revival' is a precursor to something more major," Bass says. "Another revival is coming, more along the lines of the Great Awakening."

Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly

Roberto Miranda, in his recent email to Tremont Temple's January 20th participants, encourages us with scripture: Scripture clearly declares that revival is never the product of a unilateral, sovereign move of God. It is always in response to clamour and repentance on the part of God's people. Joel chapter 2, which demonstrates a special affinity with the advanced times we are living here in America, calls us to "Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly... Let the priests who minister before the Lord, weep between the temple porch and the altar... Then the Lord will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people. The Lord will reply to them: I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to satisfy you fully." (Joel 2: 15-19) The grain might perhaps refer symbolically to the bread of God's Word, new wine to the joy of the Lord; and oil to the anointing that opens the doors to the manifestation of God's power and gifts.

The Great Good Place

Jim Luther of The Marketplace Community has a vision. Although he lives in New Hampshire, the Lord has inspired him to begin a marketplace church in downtown Boston, The Third Place, a place where "everyone knows your name". Jim hopes to come down to Kitty O'Shea's, next Monday @ noon, to share the early stages of this vision.

Here's some recommended books for reading:

• The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21 Century Church
• The Great Good Place

Lou Engle/ JHOP speaks in Lowell, Feb. 5th

Lou Engle is coming to Lowell, MA on Sunday February 5th, 2006. He will be speaking during the 10:30 AM Sunday morning service and again at 6PM at a Regional Gathering. He will be sharing more about Harvard's upcoming 40 days of prayer and fasting beginning March 1st, leading up to the launch of the 24/7 Justice House of Prayer Boston on April 9th.

Place: Community Christian Fellowship. Pastor Raffoul Najem. 105 Princeton Boulevard, Lowell, MA 01851 (978) 934-9414. 10:30 AM - Sunday morning service. 6:00 PM - Regional Gathering. All who would like to hear more about the vision for JHOP Boston and to hear Lou speak are welcome to attend.

David Manuel: Astonished that over 1,000 attended Unity Meeting at Tremont Temple

David Manuel gives an account of the unity meeting at Tremont Temple on January 20, 2006 : "Astonishing" is the word that comes to mind, to describe what happened at Tremont Temple Friday night.

For those who may not have heard about it (and many have told me they'd have come, had they heard), a little over a month ago, Roberto Miranda, Pastor of the Leon de Juda Church, invited everyone with a heart for revival to gather Friday evening at Tremont Temple, 7:30 to 9:00. I heard he was hoping for 300-500. My own expectations were more dour: 200-250, tops. But there was not much notice, though Alex did interview Roberto on WEZE and shifted the daily radio invitations for the Noon hour over to Roberto's event...

40 days of Prayer and Fasting at Harvard University

From March 1 - April 9, some college students from across America will be opting to spend their Spring Break at Harvard University fasting and praying for another Great Awakening. At the close of the gatherings on April 9th, the Justice House of Prayer Boston, (JHOP) will be launched, a house that contends with every other house.

From the (pdf file) leaflet: We have taught our students to feast and play. Now let's teach them to FAST and PRAY.

Cambridge Vineyard Begins Healing Rooms Jan. 26-27th

Cambridge Vineyard opens Healing Rooms Jan. 26th 7:30 - 9:30pm, - Jan. 27th 10:30am - 12:30pm.

Are you or anyone you know dealing with a physical ailment or disease? Do you know that God's desire for your life includes living in perfect health? Do you also know that God continues to miraculously and powerfully heal people of their illnesses all over the world, every day? Experienced prayer team members from ten Boston area churches will join together to pray for physical healing for anyone seeking God's touch.

And these signs shall follow those that believe....they shall lay their hands on the sick, and they shall recover. - Mark 16:17-18

• Download (pdf file) leaflet here.
• Download (word doc) Jan - Feb 2006 Schedule here.

Kitty O’Shea's Prayer Group

Seven regulars met today to pray, after an extended break due to public holidays and the change in management at Kitty’s. We welcomed Kevin who had recently relocated to Boston, and who had been encouraged by a previous prayer in his previous location that he would find people with whom to pray.

The group took time to catch up on a number of recent happenings. First, four members had been present at the Tremont Temple gathering the previous Friday; and they shared a sense of the joy (“Couldn’t stop smiling” as one member put it), expectation and unity which was there. In response, one member reminded us of Ps 126:

1 When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion,
we were like men who dreamed.

2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."

We rejoiced as we reported a sense of refreshing, repentance and re-clustering around God-given ministries which is taking place in churches; and recognized that Friday’s event was really just a continuation of a much longer flow of God’s working with us as individuals and churches.

Second, Greg reported that a New Hampshire church had decided to plant an inner city congregation for market place ministry; and was now actively seeking the way to do this. Third, Marty reported back from a recent national intercessors meeting in Texas on the power of having a broader vision.

In prayer, we lifted up:

• The New Hampshire church seeking wisdom on how to engage in the city
• Area pastors who had repented publicly on Friday, that they would see a clear way forward, would be refreshed and would be held up and supported appropriately in their congregations.

We prayed too for new wineskins for the fresh flow of the Spirit and for release from captivity for all who are bound.

Of Heart Transplants, Inner Transformation & Christianity

From The Dr. is In blogspot, here's a fascinating account of why Christians are "easy targets" for hypocrisy in a secular world:

Religion in general, and Christianity in particular, are not simply benign, quirky notions without consequence, such as believing in alien spaceships or in your fairy godmother. Religious conviction has consequences–consequences which require personal decisions which often go counter to our natural inclinations. Although generally dismissed as mere superstition by secular skeptics, religious faith demands that we change, and conform our lives to the dictates of morality and–particularly in the case of Christianity and Judaism–be accountable to a personal God. The religious person asserts, through both his faith and his actions, that behavior has consequences beyond that easily foreseen...
...Christianity is not really about self-betterment or mere behavioral change, but is rather an exchange: a heart transplant, if you will, where something of the God-life begins to live within the spirit of a man. There is, as a result, a conflict: the mind and emotions still following another, older set of rules, while the spirit slowly, almost imperceptibly changes those rules. To the outsider, this may appear to be hypocrisy, with the Christian acting out of sync with his or her stated beliefs–as all do to greater or lesser degree. But this discord is in reality the antidote to hypocrisy: not changing the outside to hide the inside, to deceive and mislead, but rather having the inside changed, leading to inexorable and lasting transformation of the whole man. For true hypocrisy is to change only the outside, to improve oneself through self-sufficiency, strength of will, or even religious observance....

Is Revival Coming to New England?

Something is shaking New England. Something's turning people to prayer. Something is making them dance for joy. It feels like the rumbles of revival.

Rev. Roberto Miranda of the Congregación León de Judá remarked, “Staid, intellectual, overly-rational New England is, I think, experiencing a visitation of the Holy Spirit."

"There are a lot of hotbeds," said Rev. Paul Taylor from the Northeast Prayer Center.
Streams Ministries International’s John Paul Jackson declared, "There is a hunger for God now, and a hunger not only to experience God, but a hunger to see God do something."

Multi-Church gathering, January 20th @ 7:30pm

There will be a Multi-Church gathering for Celebration, Envisioning and Prayer at Tremont Temple on Friday evening, January 20th - 7:30pm. This event is being organized by a number of pastors who participate in the Boston Prayer Summit and who are interested in learning to connect and cooperate in fresh ways - in response to the vision expressed by Roberto Miranda's "Master Plan." - This gathering is for all churches in the Boston area that would like to participate. We would like to get our people together to worship, celebrate and pray early in the year, as we anticipate an exciting 2006. * Jan. 20th, 7:30pm, Tremont Temple (downtown), parking can be validated for $5 at One Beacon St. - For more information, contact Tom Griffith (tgriffith@rolcboston.org) 617-524-3478

Recommended Reading

Here's a collection of books some of us read over the Christmas break:

• Heaven, by Randy Alcorn.
• Christ Plays in 10,000 Places, by Eugene H. Petersen.
• Now Discover Your Strengths, by Marcus Buckingham.

Welcome to The Upper Room!

This page is a meeting place of Boston-based Christians who meet on Monday's @ noon, in The Upper Room at Kitty O'Shea's on State Street. We're from various denominations and gather together regularly to pray for revival and a move of the Spirit.

We'll be starting an Alpha group on Monday nights in the Spring. Check back soon!

And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. -Acts 1:13