The Upper Room

My Sheep Know My Voice

2011-04-27T10:37:00.001-04:00

1Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

2But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

3To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

4And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

5And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

6This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

7Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

8All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.

9I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

10The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

11I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

12But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.

13The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
-John 10:1-13

Do not trust any man

2010-08-09T19:57:00.000-04:00

Psalm 37

2010-06-28T16:19:00.000-04:00

¹Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.

²For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.

³Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.

⁴Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

⁵Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

⁶And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.

⁷Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

⁸Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.

⁹For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.

¹⁰For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.

¹¹But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

¹²The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.

¹³The LORD shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.

¹⁴The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation.

¹⁵Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.

¹⁶A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.

¹⁷For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholdeth the righteous.

¹⁸The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever.

¹⁹They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

²⁰But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.

²¹The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.

²²For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.

²³The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.

²⁴Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.

²⁵I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

²⁶He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.

²⁷Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.

²⁸For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.

²⁹The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.

³⁰The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment. (Psalm 37, King James Version)

How DNA Proves God Made All Creatures Great and Small

2010-03-09T13:32:00.001-05:00

WWII codebreaker part of DNA sequencing discovery in 1957, according to Stephen Meyer, author of "Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design." DNA, itself, makes the case for God.

The Glory of God on Capecod

2009-12-14T09:29:00.001-05:00

Are we thankful?

2009-12-08T15:29:00.001-05:00

Romans 5:2

2009-11-07T12:20:00.000-05:00

Remember, Resolved, Humility + Wrestling

2009-11-06T11:38:00.002-05:00

These are names of some of the children listed in the ship's log of passengers who'd arrived in Plymouth harbor in November 1620. Like monuments made by man, we are to remember the Lord's promises when we see his rainbow:

Gen 9:12 - "And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

More on Remember, here, listen to Rob Shepitka from Light of the World Church in Latham NY.

Steve's baptism

2009-10-24T17:11:00.002-04:00

16And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

17And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
-Matthew 3:16-17

Nehemiah's call of anguish

2009-10-12T14:21:00.001-04:00

1The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,

2That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

3And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

4And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,

5And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:

6Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.

7We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

8Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:

9But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

10Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.

11O LORD, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.

Only footage of Anne Frank - July 22, 1941

2009-10-05T09:24:00.002-04:00

•Writing in a diary is a really strange experience for someone like me. Not only because I've never written anything before, but also because it seems to me that later on neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl. (June 20, 1942)

•I've learned one thing: you only really get to know a person after a fight. Only then can you judge their true character! (September 28, 1942)

•Sometimes I think God is trying to test me, both now and in the future. I'll have to become a good person on my own, without anyone to serve as a model or advise me, but it'll make me stronger in the end. (October 30, 1943)

•I long to ride a bike, dance, whistle, look at the world, feel young and know that I'm free, and yet I can't let it show. Just imagine what would happen if all eight of us were to feel sorry for ourselves or walk around with the discontent clearly visible on our faces. Where would that get us? (December 24, 1943)

•Mother has said that she sees us more as friends than as daughters. That's all very nice, of course, except that a friend can't take the place of a mother. I need my mother to set a good example and be a person I can respect, but in most matters she's an example of what not to do. (January 6, 1944)

•Peter added, "The Jews have been and always will be the chosen people!" I answered, "Just this once, I hope they'll be chosen for something good!" (February 16, 1944)

•Riches, prestige, everything can be lost. But the happiness in your own heart can only be dimmed; it will always be there, as long as you live, to make you happy again. (February 23, 1944)

•I want friends, not admirers. People who respect me for my character and my deeds, not my flattering smile. The circle around me would be much smaller, but what does that matter, as long as they're sincere? (March 7, 1944)

•Have my parents forgotten that they were young once? Apparently they have. At any rate, they laugh at us when we're serious, and they're serious when we're joking. (March 24, 1944)

•I'm honest and tell people right to their faces what I think, even when it's not very flattering. I want to be honest; I think it gets you further and also makes you feel better about yourself. (March 25, 1944)

•I don't want to live in vain like most people. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I've never met. I want to go on living even after my death! (April 5, 1944)

•I've asked myself again and again whether it wouldn't have been better if we hadn't gone into hiding, if we were dead now and didn't have to go through this misery, especially so that the others could be spared the burden. But we all shrink from this thought. We still love life, we haven't yet forgotten the voice of nature, and we keep hoping, hoping for . . . everything. (May 26, 1944)

•To be honest, I can't imagine how anyone could say "I'm weak" and then stay that way. If you know that about yourself, why not fight it, why not develop your character? (July 6, 1944)

•We have many reasons to hope for great happiness, but . . . we have to earn it. And that's something you can't achieve by taking the easy way out. Earning happiness means doing good and working, not speculating and being lazy. Laziness may look inviting, but only work gives you true satisfaction. (July 6, 1944)

•It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart. (July 15, 1944)

World's oldest Bible online

2009-07-07T09:01:00.000-04:00

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

2009-06-06T14:45:00.005-04:00

The love this father has for his son, touched me deeply. How much more does our Heavenly father love? That He would give His Son for us!

Thank you

2009-05-24T21:34:00.000-04:00

I will bless those who bless you

2009-04-23T12:45:00.008-04:00

Today is Holocaust Remembrance day. In a world where up is down, ominous dictators are joked with by a sitting president, and patriots are listed by the DHS as potential terrorists, are we surprised to see a remarkable paralell to the rise of anti-semitism in the world once again?

Until now, Holocaust remembrance has been about the past: the systematic murder by Nazi Germany of six million European Jews between 1939 and 1945. Suddenly, Holocaust remembrance is also about the future. It's about the threatened murder by Iran of nearly six million Israeli Jews. And, even worse, it's about the potential murder of many millions more. The meaning of "never again" has never been as clear, as urgent or as universal.

IN 1939, Adolf Hitler issued his "prophecy" that the Jews would be exterminated. And now Ahmadinejad, even as he races to build nuclear weapons, denies that the Holocaust ever happened and threatens the elimination of Israel.

In his speech Monday at the UN's "anti-racism" conference in Geneva, he called the Holocaust an "ambiguous and dubious question" and a "pretext of Jewish sufferings."

Hitler justified his animus against the Jews by accusing them of manipulating international finance and world governments. And Ahmadinejad, in his speech on Monday, justified his animus against Israel, as he'd done before, by hurling the same accusations against "the Zionists."

Here is the basis of our Christian recognition of guilt in consideration of what happened. We did not recognize the Lord Christ when he came into our lives in the form of a suffering brother. I didn't recognize him when he was put in the camp as a Communist, nor did I recognize him, when he was murdered as an incurably ill person, nor did I recognize him, when he was gassed and burned as the poor victims of his own people [probably an allusion to the fact that Christ was Jewish]. Here I became guilty in my very personal responsibility and I cannot excuse myself, neither before God, nor before humanity. -Niemoeller

The hand of God

2009-04-07T10:37:00.006-04:00

A must read from Gerard Vanderleun at American Digest. I could not help but notice the brightness just about where the nail would have been driven into the wrist of Him who'd died for me.

The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. -Psalm 118:15-17

"The scene, which spans 150 light-years, is about 17,000 light years away, so what we see now is how it actually looked 17,000 years ago." (from American Digest)

How quaint. How wonderfully secular the measurements and the standard pop quotes around 'Hand.' Sort of like dropping the word 'allegedly' in front of the name of someone who was caught on tape boosting a fifth of Maker's Mark in the back of the store. I love the unremitting pressure to qualify the obvious in 21st century life. It's so high minded and sensitive. It's a pose that makes everyone who assumes it appear so advanced, so non-judgmental, especially when it comes to "the facts."

It's a funny thing about 'fact.' We've spun so far off center we've actually used fact to replace truth. Indeed, there are whole industries dedicated to expunging truth with facts. This isn't really what the Enlightenment was hoping for when it set out to enlarge the edifice of fact in the search for truth, but facts are funny that way. Pile up enough into a "great complexity" and they can bury simple truths. Not that facts aren't an element of truth. They are. But they're not, as they say, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. If you wish to see lies built of facts, you have only to look about you.

"We had the experience but missed the meaning." We look upon the lies of fact in order to miss the miracle. It's part of our disease, our Adam's Curse, that we can see the miracle and strive, immediately and with all our might, to shrink it down into "facts." Our tragedy is that this base struggle to evict the soul from its vessel does not avail us. We simply lack the power to disengage the soul and erase the miracle. Our struggle to do so only deforms us. It does not release us.

The miracle persists. It persists right in front of our eyes, in all that we see in every moment of life. It persists, infusing everything from the farthest roof beams spanning the vault of heaven deep down into the vibrating phase-changes of the atom, and deeper in still until, in either direction, the great chain of being seems to have no top and no bottom, but like the Ouroboros locked in a Möbius spin becomes a circle every returning in to the self-same spot.

Many of those who spend their lives studying cosmology, as well as many of those whose lives are spent studying subatomic particles, strings, charm, quarks and the ever expanding pantheon of mini-matter, have noted, sometimes only in passing and without pause, how close our most cutting-edge physics come to our most ancient metaphysics. And so, beneath all the vast drifts of data and the oceans of facts, we always seek, with instruments always more powerful, to look deeper in and further out. Suspecting, only sometimes and only in passing, that it is the same direction; that as Heraclitus knew, "The way up and the way down are one and the same."

We have always looked to the heavens for signs. It is what we do. And we have always sought to understand those signs to the best of our always limited ability;
"And so each venture Is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate With shabby equipment always deteriorating...." This photograph gleaned from one of our most powerful, modern, and oh-so-technical instruments is just the latest emblem out of a million years of signs from the heavens. And in the end it is seen, as it is seen here by me and by you, through the oldest of our instruments, the soul.

Do I, an exemplar of the most advanced culture in history, actually believe that this is the image, the manifestation, the fading photograph of the hand of God, the Supreme Being? Of course not. Not for a moment do I think that what I see in this image is that. I believe... no... I know for a fact that what I am seeing is merely gas and stars in a seemingly random arrangement shining in a narrow, very narrow, part of the spectrum so that, to my deeper mind and imagination, I pull together some vague shapes in the play of color on the void and relate it to what I have seen elsewhere, felt elsewhen -- and out of that produce a feeling, thought, in my mind that makes my eyes see what appears to be an impossible hand reaching across space long ago in exactly nowhere. It's a cosmic Rorschach image, a glowing gasblot somewhere in limitless space. That it is a 'hand' is impossible. It is even more impossible that it is even an image of a hand.

But that is not the most impossible thing about this image.

What is even more impossible than this utter impossibility is the fact that you see it too.

Be thou my vision

2009-04-04T11:13:00.002-04:00

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

- The original Old Irish text, Rop tú mo Baile is often attributed to Dallan Forgaill in the 6th century. The text had been a part of Irish monastic tradition for centuries before its setting to the tune, therefor before it became an actual hymn. It was translated from Old Irish into English by Mary E. Byrne in Ériu (the journal of the School of Irish Learning) in 1905. The English text was first versified by Eleanor H. Hull in 1912 and is now the most common text used.[1]

Without a vision the people perish

2009-02-10T16:24:00.004-05:00

"Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt: First Inaugural Address. U.S. Inaugural Addresses.Saturday, March 4, 1933

The last sentence is taken from Proverbs 29:18 and although the King James translation is resolved as "the people perish" that is not the only way the proverb can be understood. Here are some variations. See if they strike a chord.

Proverbs 29:18
New American Standard Bible (©1995)Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)Without prophetic vision people run wild, but blessed are those who follow [God's] teachings.

King James BibleWhere there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

American King James VersionWhere there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keeps the law, happy is he.

American Standard VersionWhere there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Bible in Basic EnglishWhere there is no vision, the people are uncontrolled; but he who keeps the law will be happy.

Douay-Rheims BibleWhen prophecy shall fail, the people shall be scattered abroad: but he that keepeth the law is blessed.

Young's Literal TranslationWithout a Vision is a people made naked, And whoso is keeping the law, O his happiness!

from Vanderleun at American Digest

Peace in the Storm

2009-01-16T13:06:00.009-05:00

Date: Jan 17, 2009
Time: From 2:00 pm until 4:00 pm
Location: Cape Cod Community College, Tilden Arts Center

The Glory of God on Capecod

"Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven. Now this,'Yet once more', indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire" -Hebrews 12: 26-28

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." -John 14:27

Behold, I am coming quickly.

2009-01-01T19:22:00.001-05:00

Charlie Brown's Christmas Time is Here

2008-12-12T19:20:00.000-05:00

In the beginning was the word

2008-12-03T13:48:00.003-05:00

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.

3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood[a] it. -John 1:1-5

DNA has been found to have a bizarre ability to put itself together, even at a distance, when according to known science it shouldn't be able to. Explanation: None, at least not yet.

Scientists are reporting evidence that contrary to our current beliefs about what is possible, intact double-stranded DNA has the “amazing” ability to recognize similarities in other DNA strands from a distance. Somehow they are able to identify one another, and the tiny bits of genetic material tend to congregate with similar DNA. The recognition of similar sequences in DNA’s chemical subunits, occurs in a way unrecognized by science. There is no known reason why the DNA is able to combine the way it does, and from a current theoretical standpoint this feat should be chemically impossible.

Even so, the research published in ACS’ Journal of Physical Chemistry B, shows very clearly that homology recognition between sequences of several hundred nucleotides occurs without physical contact or presence of proteins. Double helixes of DNA can recognize matching molecules from a distance and then gather together, all seemingly without help from any other molecules or chemical signals.

In the study, scientists observed the behavior of fluorescently tagged DNA strands placed in water that contained no proteins or other material that could interfere with the experiment. Strands with identical nucleotide sequences were about twice as likely to gather together as DNA strands with different sequences. No one knows how individual DNA strands could possibly be communicating in this way, yet somehow they do. The “telepathic” effect is a source of wonder and amazement for scientists.

“Amazingly, the forces responsible for the sequence recognition can reach across more than one nanometer of water separating the surfaces of the nearest neighbor DNA,” said the authors Geoff S. Baldwin, Sergey Leikin, John M. Seddon, and Alexei A. Kornyshev and colleagues.

This recognition effect may help increase the accuracy and efficiency of the homologous recombination of genes, which is a process responsible for DNA repair, evolution, and genetic diversity. The new findings may also shed light on ways to avoid recombination errors, which are factors in cancer, aging, and other health issues.

David Warren's perspective on the election and irrevocable acts

2008-11-18T15:40:00.004-05:00

David Warren lives in Ottawa.

As I have quoted in the past, let me quote again, the profound words of the late Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz, replying to the central lie in Marxism, which remains the central post-modern or post-Christian lie: "A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death -- the huge solace of thinking that for our betrayals, greed, cowardice, murders, we are not going to be judged."

A great danger in democratic politics comes with just this denial. We are tempted to think that just by voting for a demagogue, a charlatan -- for any politician who tells us cynically only what we want to hear -- we can change the facts of nature.

We think that we can "make the rich pay," or otherwise transfer our personal responsibilities to the Nanny State. By some mysterious "social contract," we transfer to politicians the responsibility for what we have ourselves decided. And in due course, we may punish them, for what we got wrong.

I invite any reader with the stomach for it to consider the incredible demonization of the outgoing U.S. president, which was used in turn to secure the election of the incoming one. George W. Bush, from the balance of evidence a decent man with an honest view of his own limitations, served his country as well as he knew how. He has been made a scapegoat as if he were personally liable for everything that went wrong on his watch. A true scapegoat: for in the end he is blamed even for what was done to him.

John McCain is perhaps lucky to escape that fate. For the same forces in contemporary North American society would turn against him as turned against Mr. Bush -- the vicious machinery of recrimination by which "progressive forces" make their advance.

The president-elect may seem luckier, still, for he has an articulate gift for deflecting his own failures of judgment, and for finding plausible scapegoats external to himself.

Watch for this in the trials that will soon beset him.

Yet also, he professes to be Christian. So pray for him, that he will find the courage, perspicacity and prudence that come with the remembrance of our Lord.

The rebuilding effort by the Republican opposition will also need prayers.

Every attempt to disown "conservative principles" -- the principles not only of the free marketplace, but of moral absolutes and human responsibility -- will be a furthersetback. The abandonment of the specifically Christian heritage on which America was built can only contribute to her further destruction.
-more-

The Glory of God on Capecod | October 4th

2008-09-22T19:33:00.002-04:00

The Lord has stirred us to call pastors, ministry leaders, and intercessors across New England, to come together in a Solemn Assembly on October 4th, from 2-6 pm, at Harvest Ministries International in East Weymouth, MA. This will be a time of corporate repentance, intercession, worship, renewal of covenant, and united action. We will stand in the gap together for New England, crying out collectively for what we currently lack: the presence and the glory of God among us, and the subsequent outbreak of revival.

We are writing to you because the Lord has stirred our hearts with a burden for New England, the place where God has sovereignly positioned all of us at this time. As you know, the Bible speaks of "the sons of Issachar, who understood their times, and knew what Israel ought to do" (1 Chr. 12:32). Also, the Lord Jesus taught us to discern the times, and He rebuked the Pharisees for not doing so: "You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times" (Matt 16:2).

We collectively share the conviction that we, the church, currently live in a condition similar to that of Israel during the time of its Babylonian captivity. The body of Christ today is in a fragmented, weakened state, lacking the authority that comes from the manifest presence of God among His people. This is because of our own weakness, compromise, and lack of unity.

Lincoln, FDR, JFK & Clinton could invoke God's blessings on our nation, but not Sarah Palin?

2008-09-20T16:47:00.004-04:00

Charlie: "are we fighing a holy war?" Perhaps you ought to ask Osama Bin Laden that question.

Ezekial 38: 7-13

2008-08-11T19:42:00.005-04:00

If any country takes the words of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad more seriously than the United States, it is Israel. And that's not surprising: Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, and Israeli intelligence estimates that Iran could be two years away from having a nuclear weapon.

Correspondent Bob Simon got a rare look inside the organization that may well be called upon to do something about it: the IAF, Israeli Air Force.

+++++++++++++++

7 " 'Get ready; be prepared, you and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them. 8 After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. 9 You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.

10 " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. 11 You will say, "I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. 12 I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land." 13 Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all her villages [d] will say to you, "Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?" '

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn December 11, 1918 - August 3, 2008

2008-08-07T13:47:00.005-04:00

"When all of the rest of the civilized world, as well as the Marxist world, was tossing God into the dustbin of history, Solzhenitsyn realized that only God really matters. He chided the West for embracing materialism and forgetting God, a lesson that is just as true today as thirty years ago." - Bruce Walker

In the camps of the Gulag, the brilliant Russian atheist found God.

He also kept meticulous notes. He chronicled the inhabitants, the processes, and the regions of Hades. When Solzhenitsyn was released from the Gulag, under the thaw after Stalin, he wrote a short story for Novy Mir, the Literary Gazette, entitled "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich."

We tame moderns cannot imagine the courage that it took simply to submit that short story. The author, after all, was a Zek, a political prisoner, who had been released. It would have been less than nothing for the KGB to simply re-arrest him and send him to spend the rest of his life in the very monstrous system from which he had been released. No one else, as far as we know, did what Solzhenitsyn did - although others would follow in his footsteps.
more

Biblical Proof of Jeremiah Unearthed at Ancient City of David

2008-08-03T19:50:00.004-04:00

(IsraelNN.com) Archaeologists have unearthed proof of another Biblical story at Jerusalem's ancient City of David, this time corroborating the Book of Jeremiah.

A completely intact seal impression, or "bula", bearing the name Gedaliahu ben Pashur was uncovered. The bula is actually a stamped engraving made of mortar.

Gedaliahu ben Pashur's bula was found a bare few meters away from the site where a second such seal, this one belonging to Yuchal ben Shlemiyahu, an elder in the court of King Tzidkiyahu, was found three years ago, at the entrance to the City of David.

Jon Voight visits Israel

2008-05-25T09:19:00.001-04:00

Israel's Predicament at 60: World's worst neighbourhood

2008-05-08T09:38:00.002-04:00

by Daniel Pipes National Post

May 6, 2008

Two religiously-identified new states emerged from the shards of the British empire in the aftermath of World War II. Israel, of course, was one; the other was Pakistan.

They make an interesting, if infrequently-compared pair. Pakistan's experience with widespread poverty, near-constant internal turmoil, and external tensions, culminating in its current status as near-rogue state, suggests the perils that Israel avoided, with its stable, liberal political culture, dynamic economy, cutting-edge high-tech sector, lively culture, and impressive social cohesion.

But for all its achievements, the Jewish state lives under a curse that Pakistan and most other polities never face: the threat of elimination. Its remarkable progress over the decades has not liberated it from a multi-pronged peril that includes nearly every means imaginable: weapons of mass destruction, conventional military attack, terrorism, internal subversion, economic blockade, demographic assault, and ideological undermining. No other contemporary state faces such an array of threats; indeed, probably none in history ever has.

The enemies of Israel divide into two main camps: the Left and the Muslims, with the far Right a minor third element. The Left includes a rabid edge (International ANSWER, Noam Chomsky) and a more polite centre (United Nations General Assembly, Canada's Liberal Party, the mainstream media, mainline churches, school textbooks). In the final analysis, however, the Left serves less as a force in its own right than as an auxiliary for the primary anti-Zionist actor, which is the Muslim population. This latter, in turn, can be divided into three distinct groupings.

First come the foreign states: Five armed forces that invaded Israel on its independence in May 1948, and then neighboring armies, air forces, and navies fought in the wars of 1956, 1967, 1970, and 1973. While the conventional threat has somewhat receded, Egypt's U.S.-financed arms build-up presents one danger and the threats from weapons of mass destruction (especially from Iran but also from Syria and potentially from many other states) present an even greater one.

Second come the external Palestinians, those living outside Israel. Sidelined by governments from 1948 until 1967, Yasir Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization got their opportunity with the defeat of three states' armed forces in the Six-Day War. Subsequent developments, such as the 1982 Lebanon war and the 1993 Oslo accords, confirmed the centrality of external Palestinians. Today, they drive the conflict, through violence (terrorism, missiles from Gaza) and even more importantly by driving world opinion against Israel via a public relations effort that resonates widely among Muslims and the Left.

Third come the Muslim citizens of Israel, the sleepers in the equation. In 1949, they numbered merely 111,000, or 9 percent of Israel's population but by 2005, they had multiplied ten-fold, to 1,141,000, and to 16 percent of the population. They benefited from Israel's open ways to evolve from a docile and ineffective community into a assertive one that increasingly rejects the Jewish nature of the Israeli state, with potentially profound consequences for that the future identity of that state.

If this long list of perils makes Israel different from all other Western countries, forcing it to protect itself on a daily basis from the ranks of its many foes, its predicament renders Israel oddly similar to other Middle Eastern countries, which likewise face a threat of elimination.

Kuwait, conquered by Iraq, actually disappeared from the face of the earth between August 1990 and February 1991; were it not for an American-led coalition, it would quite certainly never been resurrected. Lebanon has been effectively under Syrian control since 1976 and, should developments warrant formal annexation, Damascus could at will officially incorporate it. Bahrain is occasionally claimed by Tehran to be a part of Iran, most recently in July 2007, when an associate of Ayatollah Ali Khamene'i, Iran's supreme leader, claimed that "Bahrain is part of Iran's soil," and insisted that "The principal demand of the Bahraini people today is to return this province … to its mother, Islamic Iran." Jordan's existence as an independent state has always been precarious, in part because it is still seen as a colonial artifice of Winston Churchill, in part because several states (Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia) and the Palestinians see it as fair prey.

That Israel finds itself in this company has several implications. It puts Israel's existential dilemma into perspective: If no country risks elimination outside of the Middle East, this is a nearly routine problem within the region, suggesting that Israel's unsettled status will not be resolved any time soon. This pattern also highlights the Middle East's uniquely cruel, unstable, and fatal political life; the region ranks, clearly, as the world's worst neighborhood. Israel is the child with glasses trying to succeed at school while living in a gang-infested part of town.

The Middle East's deep and wide political sickness points to the error of seeing the Arab-Israeli conflict as the motor force behind its problems. More sensible is to see Israel's plight as the result of the region's toxic politics. Blaming the Middle East's autocracy, radicalism, and violence on Israel is like blaming the diligent school child for the gangs. Conversely, resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict means only solving that conflict, not fixing the region.

If all the members of this imperiled quintet worry about extinction, Israel's troubles are the most complex. Israel having survived countless threats to its existence over the past six decades, and it having done so with its honor intact, offers a reason for its population to celebrate. But the rejoicing cannot last long, for it's right back to the barricades to defend against the next threat.

Old Testament Easter

2008-03-21T10:09:00.002-04:00

By Tom Flannery

The Easter story of Christ's passion and bodily resurrection from the grave will be celebrated in churches around the world this weekend. And while it's true that the secular aspects of Easter (the rabbit, egg hunts, etc.) are rooted in paganism, the religious aspects (the cross, blood redemption, etc.) have their foundation in the Bible – not the New Testament, where they were fulfilled, but in the Old Testament, where they were first prophesied and foreshadowed.

It was in the Old Testament God revealed, hundreds of years before it happened, that the promised Messiah would be "cut off" (put to death) but "not for Himself" (Daniel 9:26). He would die a substitutional death for the full payment of the sins of the world. The prophet Isaiah was given a vision of His death some 800 years in advance and described it in detail in the 53rd chapter of his book. In this chapter, God foretold through Isaiah that Messiah would be a Suffering Servant who would take our sins upon Himself and through His personal sacrifice make it possible for us to have peace with God.

Verses 5-6 tell us: "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord [God the Father] has laid on Him [God the Son] the iniquity of us all."

Furthermore, the animal sacrifices instituted by God in the Old Testament foreshadowed Christ's substitutional death. As we are told in Leviticus 17:11, "It is the blood that makes atonement for the soul." In Exodus, we read that God used the shedding of the blood of spotless lambs in the Passover to save His people and deliver them from bondage. In the Gospel accounts of the New Testament, we read that Jesus was the Lamb of God whose precious blood was shed at Passover for the salvation of all men who would ever trust in His sacrificial death for them. Through Christ alone, we are saved and delivered from the bonds of death to live forevermore.

Isaiah revealed that Jesus was the Spotless Lamb who would not speak to defend Himself at His trial though He faced a horrific death. The prophet wrote: "He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth" (Isaiah 53:7).

In verse 9 of that same chapter, Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would die with the wicked (He was crucified between two criminals) yet be buried with the rich in His death (He was buried in the tomb of a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea).

Some Jewish critics have labeled Isaiah 53 as "The Forbidden Chapter" and either banned its reading or simply ignored it. Others have said the Suffering Servant predicted in this chapter is the Jewish people – but that cannot be so. After all, God declares through Isaiah that the Suffering Servant would die "for the transgression of My people" (verse 8), and the only people God addresses as "My people" in Scripture (certainly in the Old Testament) is the Jews. Thus, the Jewish people are not only referred to separately and apart from the Suffering Servant, but they are identified as beneficiaries of the sacrifice He makes.

God also gave a vision of Messiah's substitutional death to King David, who wrote Psalm 22 from the point of view of Jesus on the Cross about 1,000 years before the fact: "I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint. ... They pierced My hands and My feet ... they divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots ..." and so on.

All of the prophecies of Psalm 22, like those of Isaiah 53 and many others throughout the Old Testament, were fulfilled in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as recorded in the New Testament by men whose lives were radically transformed by these events and who died as martyrs rather than retracting their testimonies.

The Old Testament also contains numerous stories that uncannily foreshadowed significant events in the life of Jesus, including His substitutional death and bodily resurrection. For instance, the Genesis account of when God commanded Abraham to take his beloved "only son" Isaac, the "son of promise," up on a mountain and sacrifice him (Genesis 22). When Abraham had Isaac on the altar of wood and was about to obey, God stopped him and revealed a ram whose horns were caught in a thicket (a crown of thorns). Abraham loosed Isaac and used the ram with the crown of thorns as a substitutional sacrifice as directed by God, just as Jesus wore a crown of thorns and was a sinless substitutional sacrifice on a mountain for each one of us on the wooden altar of the tree, or cross. The Old Testament states that "cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree," and Jesus literally became our curse upon that tree, the curse of our sin, and paid for it in full there.

Before climbing the mountain, Abraham told His servants that he and the boy would be returning together. That's because God had already assured him that the Messianic line would continue through his seed (Isaac, the first natural-born Jew whose descendants would include Moses, King David and ultimately Jesus, the divine "Son of Promise").

Now, Abraham had every intention of obeying God and sacrificing Isaac, as he demonstrated at the altar. So by telling his servants that the boy would be coming back with him, he was essentially saying he believed that God was going to raise his son from the dead. This, of course, foreshadowed the promise of a future bodily resurrection, the one hundreds of millions of Christians worldwide will celebrate this Sunday.

Tom Flannery writes a weekly political column called "The Good Fight" and a continuing religious column called "Why Believe the Bible?" for a hometown newspaper in Pennsylvania. His opinion pieces have appeared in publications such as Newsday, the Los Angeles Times, and Christian Networks Journal. He is a past recipient of the Eric Breindel Award for Outstanding Opinion Journalism from News Corp/The New York Post, in addition to winning six Amy Awards from the Amy Foundation.

UPDATE: Mid-Cape Gathering re-scheduled | Feb. 23, 2008

2008-02-18T09:20:00.006-05:00

The heavens declare the Glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. -Psalm 19:1-4

The Mid-Cape gathering is on Saturday, February 23, 2008 at the Cape Cod Community College,Tildon Arts center, from 3 pm -6 pm. It's open to all the body of Christ on Cape Cod.

If you haven't registered yest, please do so (free) on our website: http://www.thegloryofgodoncapecod.com/ , by clicking on "Special Events", then "Register for this event".

The gathering will be primarily worship and prayer, interspersed with brief sharing/impartation of key principles for the Glory of God in our midst:

Intimacy with God, which is the foundation of it all :It is the realization/revelation of God's love for us that compels us to respond to Him, that "we love Him because He loved us first"

Holiness in the context of (a.) above :Our obedience is motivated by, and is an expression of, our love for God

Our role as "watchmen" in Prayer and Intercession: " I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem (equivalent to Cape Cod forus), They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest, till He establishes Jerusalem a praise in the earth (equivalent to till He manifests His Glory in our midst on the Cape)". Isaiah 62:67

See how your enemies are astir,

2008-02-04T20:26:00.000-05:00

Psalm 83
A song. A psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, do not keep silent;
be not quiet, O God, be not still.

2 See how your enemies are astir,
how your foes rear their heads.

3 With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.

4 "Come," they say, "let us destroy them as a nation,
that the name of Israel be remembered no more."

5 With one mind they plot together;
they form an alliance against you-

6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
of Moab and the Hagrites,

7 Gebal, [a] Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the people of Tyre.

8 Even Assyria has joined them
to lend strength to the descendants of Lot.
Selah

9 Do to them as you did to Midian,
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,

10 who perished at Endor
and became like refuse on the ground.

11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

12 who said, "Let us take possession
of the pasturelands of God."

13 Make them like tumbleweed, O my God,
like chaff before the wind.

14 As fire consumes the forest
or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,

15 so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your storm.

16 Cover their faces with shame
so that men will seek your name, O LORD.

17 May they ever be ashamed and dismayed;
may they perish in disgrace.

18 Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD—
that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.

Cape Cod - Mid Cape Assembly Feb. 2, 2008

2008-01-04T14:50:00.000-05:00

Date:
Feb 2, 2008
Time:
From 3:00 pm until 6:00 pm
Location:
Cape Cod Community College

"Many people shall come and say,'Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths." Isaiah 2:3

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water" Hebrews 10:22

You are warmly invited to join the body of Christ on the Cape for this regional gathering of prayer and worship. The meeting is hosted in the Mid-Cape area, but is open to all the body of Christ on the Cape.

The gathering will be primarily worship and prayer, interspersed with brief sharing/impartation of key principles for the Glory of God in our midst:

a. Intimacy with God, which is the foundation of it all :It is the realization/revelation of God's love for us that compels us to respond to Him, that "we love Him because He loved us first"

b. Holiness in the context of (a.) above :Our obedience is motivated by, and is an expression of, our love for God

c. Our role as "watchmen" in Prayer and Intercession: " I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem (equivalent to Cape Cod for us), They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest, till He establishes Jerusalem a praise in the earth (equivalent to till He manifests His Glory in our midst on the Cape)". Isaiah 62:67

link

Abiding

2008-01-04T10:45:00.000-05:00

[I was not thinking about the Enlightenment or the Illuminati, or any such thing, when out of the blue, as it were, I heard Him say],

You are only as enlightened as your last illumination.

[Obviously He intended me to ponder that, so I did – and eventually responded]:

To receive illumination, one must abide in you. Then it comes as a matter of course, like physical healing.

When I walked the earth, each thing my disciples and I encountered became an opportunity for illumination, for those who had eyes to see it. Not all did.

Was the Bible filtered, to keep it simple – and profound?

You are asking if the Gnostics were right.

I did not realize I was, but as you say it, I see it. Part of me – the ego-driven part – wishes there were a hidden volume of secret wisdom, kept from us because, in the immortal words of Col. Nathan Jessep, “you can’t handle the truth!”

There’s a part of each of us that believes we can handle it, and that it has been purposely hidden from us.

Why would I do that? The other one entices the entice-able with suggestions that I or my Church have withheld truth, because it would make men like gods. Have you not heard that enticement before?

We have, Father. That was the temptation put to Eve. You had asked of her and Adam the same thing you ask of each of us: to trust and obey. Nothing has changed.

Why did I create mankind?

To become your companions for time and eternity – freely, of our own volition.

What would make a boon companion?

Someone who loves you enough to trust you, no matter what. Who will give you instant, exact obedience, regardless of what it might cost. Who has demonstrated under fire that you can trust them. And who never doubts your perfect love, even when it appears you have forsaken them.

Well answered, my son. Did it take great discernment or wisdom to arrive at that definition?

No. Anyone earnestly seeking you is going to wind up there, whether they are on clean-up detail in the kitchen, or a centurion in charge of a thousand troops. The lessons on the Way of the Cross are not hard to grasp. The difficulty comes in applying their simple truth to our complex lives.

Is there any hidden knowledge that would make it easier?

No. Everything we need for the journey is either known already or easily knowable. Your love – is where we begin. Your grace – encourages to believe we can do it, when the other one is doing his utmost to convince us we can’t. Your precious Blood – has already bought our souls for eternity.

And – we have each other. You put us on the path with other pilgrims who will be able to help us, when we need their help. Often, they will have surmounted obstacles now confronting us. Armed with the word of their testimony and the Blood of the Lamb, we can overcome – anything.

We know that in our heads. We are still learning it in our hearts. Each time you ask a new, seemingly impossible thing of us, we are learning that you would not ask, if we could not answer.

Book of Secrets? We have it already, though its contents are hardly secret. Your Word chronicles all that you have done with us – and are doing and will do. Easy to read, mark, learn, and inwardly absorb, it is a living entity that meets each reader at whatever level he or she chooses to enter. A young child laughs at its easy-to-picture stories. An aged scholar is overwhelmed, as with metaphysical tweezers he carefully lifts off each gauze-like layer of meaning.

At the end of his life, the great theologian, Karl Barth, was asked if he could sum up all he had learned in a lifetime of probing the mysteries of the Christian faith. He thought for a long moment, then smiled. “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

-David Manuel, Dec. 31,2007

7 years ago today, scientists authenticate The Sudarium of Oviedo

2007-10-04T08:02:00.000-04:00

Scientists: Relic authenticates Shroud of Turin

Exhaustive tests show sacred cloth much older than carbon-14 date

By Mary Jo Anderson

OVIEDO, Spain -- Scientists and forensic specialists gathered in Oviedo, Spain, this week to examine an obscure relic that many have claimed authenticates the Shroud of Turin -- believed by many to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ.

The Sudarium of Oviedo is reportedly the other linen cloth found in the tomb of Christ, as described in the Gospel of John. The relic, whose dramatic history is intertwined with the Knights Templar, Moors, El Cid, saints and bishops, has been in Spain since A.D. 631.

Meanwhile, in Turin, Italy, the last pilgrims of the Jubilee Year are winding their way past the Shroud of Turin before the exhibit closes on October 23.

Verses 5-8 of the 20th chapter of "The Gospel According to St. John" records, "... he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths, but rolled up in a separate place." This head cloth, the sudarium, has become the focus of increasing debates over the validity of the carbon-14 tests on the Shroud of Turin. The carbon-dating tests set the age of the shroud in the 13th century, which would make the Shroud of Turin a pious icon at best, a clever fraud at worst.

However, the scientific community is divided over the shroud dates because -- with the exception of the carbon dating tests -- medical, artistic, forensic and botanical evidence favors the authenticity of the shroud of Turin as the burial cloth of Jesus.

One example of microscopic testing that supports the Shroud as authentic is the 1978 sample of dirt taken from the foot region of the burial linen. The dirt was analyzed at the Hercules Aerospace Laboratory in Salt Lake, Utah, where experts identified crystals of travertine argonite, a relatively rare form of calcite found near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. It is a stretch, say researchers, that a 13th century forger would have known to take the trouble to impregnate the linen with marble dust found near Golgotha in order to fool scientists 600 years later.

Comparative Study of The Sudarium of Oviedo and the Shroud of Turin, June 1998

Above all

2007-09-29T22:22:00.000-04:00

Mary did you know?

2007-09-29T22:12:00.000-04:00

British Apostate from Islam gets Death Threats

2007-09-18T07:55:00.000-04:00

Nissa secretly went to church for several months...soon after my conversion, Muslims told me that if they had lived in a Muslim country, they'd have been the first to cut off my head...

Sometimes You Just Want to Get Straight Through

2007-09-17T20:35:00.000-04:00

The Wind at Ground Zero

2007-09-15T21:02:00.000-04:00

Can't Cry Hard Enough

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I.
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
-- Christina Rossetti

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. -Genesis 2:7

Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. -Psalm 27:12

10,000 FEARED DEAD
-- Headline, New York Post, September 12, 2001

AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY I lived in Brooklyn Heights in, of course, Brooklyn. The opening of the Brooklyn Bridge on May 24 of 1883 transformed the high bluff just to the south of the bridge into America's first suburb. It became possible for affluent businessmen from the tip of Manhattan which lay just over the East River to commute across the bridge easily and build their stately mansions and townhouses high above the slapdash docks below. Growth and change would wash around the Heights in the 117 years that followed, but secure on their bluff, on their high ground, the Heights would remain a repository old and new money, power, and some of the finest examples of 19th and early 20th century homes found in New York City.

When I moved to Brooklyn Heights from the suburbs of Westport, Connecticut in the late 90s, it was a revelation to me that such a neighborhood still existed. Small side streets and cul-de-sacs were shaded over by large oaks and maple that made it cool even in the summer doldrums. Street names such as Cranberry, Orange and Pineapple let you know you were off the grid of numbered streets and avenues. Families were everywhere and the streets on evenings and on weekends were full of the one thing you rarely see in Manhattan, children.

Brooklyn Heights had looked down on Wall Street and the tip of Manhattan from almost the beginning. It hosted the retreat of Washington from New York City during the Battle of Long Island, the first major engagement of the Revolutionary War. To be in the Heights was to hold the high ground and all the advantages that position affords.

-Gerard Vanderleun

Sep. 11th Demonstration Against Creeping Islamofascism in Brussels

2007-09-15T19:15:00.000-04:00

Update (Sep. 16, 2007) Accounts of the same event as recorded by bloggers at Gates of Vienna.

The following witness account by a Hajo J., a German Christian, was published on the Politically Incorrect blog [in German]. This is an English translation:

On 11 September 2007, at 11.30 o’ clock, I arrived at Place du Luxembourg. There were lots of policemen and armoured vehicles. I met an acquaintance with two other like-minded people at a pub. There was only meant to be a “meeting of tourists” and no coordinated action. I then went to another part of the square. Stephen Gash of SIOE was giving many interviews as he sat quietly in a pub, i.e. he was not demonstrating.

A short while later several people were taken away in a prison-van, without there having been any indication that they had “demonstrated” or done anything in particular (I was to hear the same observation again and again). It was almost 12 o’ clock. A murmuring went through the crowd, we had to do something , now was the remembrance moment for the 9/11 terror victims in the USA.

I decided there and then to take out the wooden cross I had brought and to hold it high – defying any kind of unknown. In remembrance of the victims, as a sign of protest against the threatening, creeping islamization of Europe, the lack of resistance and the increasing appeasement. And of course in spontaneous protest against the unjust banning of the demonstration by the mayor of Brussels, Mr. Thielemans. All this accompanied by a prayer and in remembrance of many Catholic saints, who resisted the same danger of Islamic rule centuries ago. Think only of Saint Marco d’Aviano, a Capuchin friar who encouraged the troops as the Muslim hordes of the Ottoman Sultan descended upon them at the battle of Vienna on 12 September 1683.

-more-

I'll Praise You in This Storm

2007-09-11T21:27:00.000-04:00

If your opponent has a conscience, then follow Gandhi and nonviolence. But if your enemy has no conscience like Hitler, then follow Bonhoeffer.

- Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds... Will our inward power of resistance be strong enough for us to find our way back?

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

We do not know whether Hitler is going to found a new Islam. (He is already on the way; he is like Mohammad. The emotion in Germany is Islamic; warlike and Islamic. They are all drunk with wild god). That can be the historic future.

- Karl Jung, The Collected Works Volume 18, The Symbolic Life (1939)

Here was the new Koran of faith and war: turgid, verbose, shapeless, but pregnant with its message.

- Winston Churchill on Adolf Hitler's autobiography Mein Kampf, in The Second World War, Vol. I (The Gathering Storm).

"The Stranger" - Rudyard Kipling
The Stranger within my gate,
He may be true or kind,
But he does not talk my talk—
I cannot feel his mind.
I see the face and the eyes and the mouth,
But not the soul behind.
The men of my own stock
They may do ill or well,
But they tell the lies I am wonted to,
They are used to the lies I tell.
And we do not need interpreters
When we go to buy and sell.

The Stranger within my gates,
He may be evil or good,
But I cannot tell what powers control—
What reasons sway his mood;

Nor when the Gods of his far-off land
Shall repossess his blood.
The men of my own stock,
Bitter bad they may be,
But, at least, they hear the things I hear,
And see the things I see;
And whatever I think of them and their likes
They think of the likes of me.
This was my father's belief
And this is also mine:
Let the corn be all one sheaf—
And the grapes be all one vine,
Ere our children's teeth are set on edge
By bitter bread and wine.

The Holy One of Israel

2007-09-08T18:57:00.000-04:00

13 I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel. -Isaiah 46:13

**********

3 Therefore tell the people: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Return to me,' declares the LORD Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the LORD Almighty. -Zech. 1:3

**********

24 And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. -Luke 21:24

When people criticize Zionists they mean Jews. - Martin Luther King

Blood-Washed Redemption

2007-09-08T13:39:00.000-04:00

From His hands it came down
From His side it came down
From His feet it came down
And ran to the ground
Between heaven and hell
A teardrop fell In the deep crimson dew
The tree of life grew

And the blood gave life
To the branches of the tree
And the blood was the price
That set the captives free
And the numbers that came
Through the fire and the flood Clung to the tree
And were redeemed by the blood

From the tree streamed a light
That started the fight 'Round the tree grew a vine
On whose fruit I could dine
My old friend Lucifer came
Fought to keep me in chains
But I saw through the tricks
Of six-sixty-six

And the blood gave life
To the branches of the tree
And the blood was the price
That set the captives free
And the numbers that came
Through the fire and the flood Clung to the tree
And were redeemed by the blood

From His hands it came down
From His side it came down
From His feet it came down
And ran to the ground
And a small inner voice Said "You do have a choice."
The vine engrafted me
And I clung to the tree

First hand report of Kassam missile attack in Sderot

2007-09-03T17:58:00.000-04:00

(Update: Sep. 4, 2007)
Yesterday Palestinian terrorists fired 9 Kassam rockets into Sderot, including one that landed outside a day care centre for young kids. 12 school children were treated for shock. The Jerusalem Post reported that Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility saying that it was a "present for the new school year."

*******************************************

Just hours after a Kassam missile landed just yards from his location, Shlomo Wollins was interviewed on the Tovia Singer Show (www.israelnationalradio.com) and described this near-death experience. And, in this 45-minute interview, Wollins provides a moving and comprehensive assessment of the situation in Sderot as well as the political/military landscape in the state of Israel.

2 I will gather all nations
and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. [a]
There I will enter into judgment against them
concerning my inheritance, my people Israel,
for they scattered my people among the nations
and divided up my land.

3 They cast lots for my people
and traded boys for prostitutes;
they sold girls for wine
that they might drink.

4 "Now what have you against me, O Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of Philistia? Are you repaying me for something I have done? If you are paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what you have done. -Joel 3: 2-4

Jerusalem of Gold

2007-09-01T18:20:00.000-04:00

I will sing a new song unto thee O God, upon an instrument of 10 strings. -Psalm 144:9

***

17 So Saul said to his attendants, "Find someone who plays well and bring him to me." 18 One of the servants answered, "I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the LORD is with him." 19 Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, "Send me your son David, who is with the sheep." 20 So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul.21 David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers. 22 Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, "Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him."23 Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him. -Samuel 16:17-23

***

But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel. -2 Chronicles 6:6

As clear as wine, the wind is flying
Among the dreamy pines
As evening light is slowly dying
And a lonely bell still chimes,
So many songs, so many stories
The stony hills recall ...
Around her heart my city carries
A lonely ancient wall.

Yerushalaim all of gold
Yerushalaim, bronze and light
Within my heart I shall treasure
Your song and sight.

Alas, the dry wells and fountains,
Forgotten market-day
The sound of horn from Temple's mountain
No longer calls to pray,
The rocky caves at night are haunted
By sounds of long ago
When we were going to the Jordan
By way of Jericho.

Yerushalaim all of gold
Yerushalaim, bronze and light
Within my heart I shall treasure
Your song and sight.

But when I come to count your praises
And sing Hallel to you
With pretty rhymes I dare not crown you
As other poets do,
Upon my lips is always burning
Your name, so dear, so old:
If I forget Yerushalaim
Of bronze and light and gold ...

Yerushalaim all of gold
Yerushalaim, bronze and light
Within my heart I shall treasure
Your song and sight.

Back to the wells and to the fountains
Within the ancient walls
The sound of horn from Temple's mountain
Again so loudly calls,
From rocky caves, this very morning
A thousand suns will glow
And we shall go down to the Jordan
By way of Jericho.

Yerushalaim all of gold
Yerushalaim, bronze and light
Within my heart I shall treasure
Your song and sight.

Herodian-Era Wall Discovered on Temple Mount

2007-08-31T15:44:00.000-04:00

Update (Sep. 5, 2007)

In his group's letter to the Christian world today, Rabbi Chaim Rechman, director of the international department at Israel's Temple Institute, pointed out what he said was the significant of the Islamic dig on the Temple Mount.

Aside from the political implications regarding the future of Jerusalem and the direct effect that this will have on the entire world, the spiritual implications of what is now transpiring are enormous. The Bible consistently emphasizes the centrality of the Holy Temple in the life of mankind; it is none other than the 'footstool' of God in the world.

The destruction of God's holy mountain is precisely what is taking place at this very moment under our very eyes. The purposeful destruction of remnants of the Holy Temple are an attempt to undermine God’s sovereignty and to erase His name from the one place on earth that He has chosen to manifest His presence throughout the saga of human history.

Update (Sep. 3, 2007)

JERUSALEM – Islamic authorities using heavy machinery to dig on the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – have been caught red-handed destroying Temple-era antiquities and what's believed to be a section of an outer wall of the Second Jewish Temple.

WND today obtained a photograph of a massive trench the Waqf, the Muslim custodians of the Temple Mount, have been blasting around the periphery of the holy site purportedly to replace 40-year-old electrical cables for mosques on the Mount. The Waqf has steadfastly denied they found or destroyed any Jewish antiquities during their dig.

Rabbi Tovia Singer on Israel National Radio discusses new destruction to the temple mount. (Audio file).

1Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2"Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
3As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" -Matthew 24:1-3
15"So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,'[b] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. 18Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. -Matthew 24:15-17

According to the Jerusalem Post, more archaeological destruction continues on the Temple Mount with Israel's Prime Minister Olmert's approval.

Islamic officials have said the trench was necessary to replace decades-old electrical cables, and have denied any antiquities have been damaged.

Among the antiquities that have been damaged are a 7-meter-wide wall that apparently dates back to Second-Temple times and was likely part of the Temple courts, according to Israeli archaeologists from the nonpartisan Committee Against the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount.

"This is the first time in the history of archaeological excavation in Israel that we have remains that could have been part of the courts of the Temple itself," Barkai said.

Leen Ritmeyer, an archaeologist who has worked on the Temple Mount as field-architect of the excavations led by the late Prof. Benjamin Mazar and independent scholar since 1973, reports:

According to this position, it is clear to me that the long wall encountered is the eastern wall of the Chamber of the Lepers (see plan on p. 345 of The Quest) and perhaps also part of the northern gate of the Court of the Women. The latter chamber was one of the four courtyards that belonged to the Court of the Women, with the other three being the Chamber of the Woodshed, the Chamber of the Nazarites and the Chamber of the House of Oil. As this area has never been built over since the Roman destruction of 70 AD, the wall cannot belong to a post-Herodian construction. It is therefore very exciting that the first concrete evidence of the Herodian Temple complex may have been found and ironically by people who deny that there ever was a Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount.

Solomon's Temple

A Tour of the Temple Mount

It isn’t the first time Israel’s government has turned a blind eye to illegal digging and dumping initiated by the Muslim religious trust, known as the Waqf. “The Waqf has been destroying our history for nearly three decades without interference from Israeli authorities, despite the country’s strict antiquities laws,” Hershal Shanks editorialized in 2000. “In late 1999 in the guise of building an emergency exit from the underground area known as Solomon’s Stables (which has been converted into a mosque), the Waqf began removing hundreds of truckloads of archaeologically rich material and dumped it in the Kidron Valley. Ultimately, it removed more than 6,000 tons of earth, allowing the creation of what the police commander of the Jerusalem District called ‘a monumental entry gate’ 200 feet long and 75 feet wide” (Washington Post, July 17, 2000).
The Barak government did nothing to prevent the cultural desecration, despite widespread rebuke from university presidents and professors, media commentators, Knesset members and other political voices in Israel, including Ehud Olmert, who was mayor of Jerusalem at the time. Described by the Associated Press as “Jerusalem’s hard-line mayor,” Olmert accused the Barak government of being pushed around by the Palestinians. “Jewish history is being trampled on with a heavy foot,” Olmert said. “We need to decide if we are the sovereign in Jerusalem or if we are under control of the Waqf there” (AP, Dec. 6, 1999).

Since that time, nothing much has changed, except that Mayor Olmert is now prime minister.

Cape Cod Sacred Assembly | Sep. 22, 2007

2007-08-26T21:59:00.000-04:00

Come let us appear before the Lord our God together as one, to turn to Him with all out hearts and stand in the gap for Cape Cod.

Sandwich High School Auditorium: 3-7 pm

{Download Event Poster}

12 "Even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning."

13 Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.

14 Who knows? He may turn and have pity
and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the LORD your God.

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

16 Gather the people,
consecrate the assembly;
bring together the elders,
gather the children,
those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
and the bride her chamber.

17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD,
weep between the temple porch and the altar.
Let them say, "Spare your people, O LORD.
Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
'Where is their God?' " -Joel 2:12-17

13 All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the LORD. -2 Chron. 20:13

The Lord is my shepherd!

2007-08-18T19:41:00.000-04:00

Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, [a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

Psalms 8:2: Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

Matthew 21:16: And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?

Israeli Rabbi speaks on Mark Twain and Prophecy

2007-08-13T19:56:00.000-04:00

...the greatest omen is when the land if Israel bursts open and gives off ample produce and fruit. In other words when we see the land of Israel give off lavish and abundant produce, then that is the greatest sign that the end of days is near. If we recall our history, the land of Israel had always been a land flowing with milk and honey.

As soon as the Jewish people went into exile, the land "closed up" out of allegiance and loyalty to the Jewish people. It would not allow all of the other nations to enjoy its fruit and other bounty.

The well renowned author Mark Twain visited the land of Israel roughly 180 years ago. He sent a letter back stating that "it seems as if the holy land has been cursed, or is enveloped by some sort of an evil spell..."

The Iranian Underground Church Grows!

2007-08-08T18:45:00.000-04:00

8"To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 9I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death. -Rev. 8-11

If my people, who are called by my name,

2007-08-06T19:12:00.000-04:00

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. --II Chronicles 7:14

Psalm 83

2007-08-05T20:54:00.000-04:00

A song. A psalm of Asaph.

1 O God, do not keep silent; be not quiet, O God, be not still.

2 See how your enemies are astir,
how your foes rear their heads.

3 With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.

4 "Come," they say, "let us destroy them as a nation,
that the name of Israel be remembered no more."

5 With one mind they plot together;
they form an alliance against you-

6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
of Moab and the Hagrites,

7 Gebal, ^[a] Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the people of Tyre.

8 Even Assyria has joined them
to lend strength to the descendants of Lot.
Selah

9 Do to them as you did to Midian,
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,

10 who perished at Endor
and became like refuse on the ground.

11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

12 who said, "Let us take possession
of the pasturelands of God."

13 Make them like tumbleweed, O my God,
like chaff before the wind.

14 As fire consumes the forest
or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,

15 so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your storm.

16 Cover their faces with shame
so that men will seek your name, O LORD.

17 May they ever be ashamed and dismayed;
may they perish in disgrace.

18 Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD—
that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.

Ezekial 38

2007-08-05T19:49:00.000-04:00

10 " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. 11 You will say, "I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. 12 I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land." 13 Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all her villages ^[d] will say to you, "Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder?" '

14 "Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: In that day, when my people Israel are living in safety, will you not take notice of it? 15 You will come from your place in the far north, you and many nations with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army. 16 You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud that covers the land. In days to come, O Gog, I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.

17 " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Are you not the one I spoke of in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel? At that time they prophesied for years that I would bring you against them. 18 This is what will happen in that day: When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign LORD. 19 In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. 21 I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign LORD. Every man's sword will be against his brother. 22 I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. 23 And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.'

On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives

2007-08-05T19:08:00.000-04:00

Zechariah 14

The LORD Comes and Reigns

1 A day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided among you.

2 I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.

3 Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. 5 You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake ^[a] in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

6 On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost. 7 It will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime—a day known to the LORD. When evening comes, there will be light.

8 On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea ^[b] and half to the western sea, ^[c] in summer and in winter.

9 The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.

10 The whole land, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up and remain in its place, from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses. 11 It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.

12 This is the plague with which the LORD will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. 13 On that day men will be stricken by the LORD with great panic. Each man will seize the hand of another, and they will attack each other. 14 Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected—great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. 15 A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.

16 Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. 17 If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain. 18 If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The LORD ^[d] will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

20 On that dayHOLY TO THE LORD will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the LORD's house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. 21 Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite ^[e] in the house of the LORD Almighty.

South Korean Pastor Shot by Islamofascists

2007-07-25T19:03:00.000-04:00

Update (Sep. 12, 2007) S. Korean captives were told "convert (to Islam) or die".
Update (Aug. 28, 2007) Korean hostages will be freed but not without capitulation.
Update (Aug. 8, 2007): Indian Christian comments "on where is the uproar?"

Update (Aug. 1, 2007): Michelle Malkin has a few words to say on this matter:

Across Asia, media coverage is 24/7. Strangers have held nightly prayer vigils. But the human rights crowd in America has been largely AWOL. And so has most of our mainstream media. Among some of the secular elite, no doubt, is a blame-the-victim apathy: The missionaries deserved what they got. What were they thinking bringing their message of faith to a war zone? Didn't they know they were sitting ducks for Muslim head-choppers whose idea of evangelism is "convert or die."

Eric Young

Christian Post Reporter

Wed, Jul. 25 2007 12:23 PM ET

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed. -Rev. 6:9-11

Police in central Afghanistan found the bullet-ridden body of a South Korean man after a purported Taliban spokesman claimed the militant group had killed one of its 23 captives.

The victim had 10 bullet holes in his head, chest and stomach, and was discovered in the Mushaki area of Qarabagh district in Ghazni province, said police officer Abdul Rahman, according to The Associated Press. Korean public broadcaster KBS identified the victim as 42-year-old pastor Bae Hyung-kyu, who led the team of Korean volunteers on a humanitarian aid mission to Afghanistan.

"Since Kabul's administration did not listen to our demand and did not free our prisoners, the Taliban shot dead a male Korean hostage,” Qari Yousef Ahmadi, the alleged news representative for the Taliban, told Reuters by phone from an unknown location.

Ahmadi said earlier that the insurgents would kill “a few” of the hostages before 5:30 a.m. EDT after talks over the fate of the 23 South Korean Christian hostages had stalled. Three deadlines have passed since the Koreans were abducted last Thursday.

Since the last deadline, which was set for Tuesday 10:30 a.m. EDT, some of the Korean hostages have been freed and taken to the U.S. base in Ghazni, according to two Western officials who asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized to speak publicly.

Although prepared for martyrdom. , I preferred that it be postponed. -Winston Churchill

For the word of God is living and active!

2007-07-20T13:08:00.000-04:00

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. -Hebrews 4:12

In 1994 Dr. Shelli Jones Baker healed herself from cancer by listening to Dodie Osteen's healing tape, 24/7. Last night she gave a workshop at Tremont Temple encouraging believers to take authority in His word.

My son, pay attention to what I say;
listen closely to my words.
Do not let them out of your sight,
keep them within your heart;

for they are life to those who find them
and health to a man's whole body. --Proverbs 4:20-22

Does Jesus heal today? 75,000 attend Benny Hinn Meeting

2007-07-20T11:15:00.000-04:00

"Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever." -- Hebrews 13:8

Last Saturday night I attended a Benny Hinn meeting at the Giant Center in Hershey, PA. Anticipating a large gathering I left an hour and a half early from nearby Lititz, arriving at the Hershey town line at about 5:45pm. The streets were bumper to bumper all the way to the parking lot. I didn't arrive into the stadium until 7:45pm, finding a seat near the top rows. It took just as long, if not longer to get home, arriving about 2:00am. According to the local police, 75,000 people were in attendance.

As I looked down into the rows of people I saw faces of all colors and races, including some local Amish and Mennonites with their young children. I wondered at the time if these Amish were related to any of the little girls injured in the school house attack of last year. Seeing them reminded me that we share the same faith in Jesus the Messiah, and as such, we're family, and that we're not to be "religious" in faith. Rather, we're to be in relationship to Him. Many came to Christ that evening, including Japanese tourists with cameras still hanging from their necks!

I sat next to a woman about my age with her mother. When we got a chance to share she'd explained that her mother had been healed the night before, leaving her wheelchair behind. Many in the audience were healed, including children.

The woman with the issue of blood had been my encouragement the morning of the meeting, and it was this very story Benny Hinn began the evening with. Here was a woman the physicians had not been able to heal for 12 years. She'd become socially isolated, even from worship. She was embarrassed about her condition. Someone must have told her "get ready, Jesus is coming by soon!" Her sense of self was so low, she'd crawled into the crowd's midst, on her hands and knees, grabbing at the hem of His garment.

30At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
31"You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' "

32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." -Mark 5:30-34

This is the only instance in the New Testament where Jesus addresses a woman as "daughter". Jesus, omniscient, knows full well who had touched him, yet insists on her testimony, her confession. I find it fascinating that Jesus is interrupted by her on His way to heal Jairus' 12-year old daughter. Perhaps this girl's birth and the woman's condition began on the very same day all part of revealing God's glory.

According to Benny Hinn, there are seven purposes for divine healing, with the largest miracle of all being, salvation.

There was truly an anointing flowing there that night, like the breeze of Pentacost. He said we are a "favored" people, to be living in these last days. We read the headlines and see the Bible prophecies coming to life. He spoke, too, of the Gospel being preached throughout all the world, including the fact that many Muslims are coming to Christ in great numbers, including 1 million a year in Egypt, according to the baptismal records. One town in Algeria with a population of 50 thousand, all came to Christ in one day after God came to each of them the night before in dreams.

In Europe, God Is (Not) Dead

2007-07-14T10:55:00.000-04:00

Christian groups are growing, faith is more public.

Is supply-side economics the explanation?

By ANDREW HIGGINS, Wall Street Journal
July 14, 2007; Page A1

Stockholm

Late last year, a Swedish hotel guest named Stefan Jansson grew upset when he found a Bible in his room. He fired off an email to the hotel chain, saying the presence of the Christian scriptures was "boring and stupefying." This spring, the Scandic chain, Scandinavia's biggest, ordered the New Testaments removed.

In a country where barely 3% of the population goes to church each week, the affair seemed just another step in Christian Europe's long march toward secularism. Then something odd happened: A national furor erupted. A conservative bishop announced a boycott. A leftist radical who became a devout Christian and talk-show host denounced the biblical purge in newspaper columns and on television. A young evangelical Christian organized an electronic letter-writing campaign, asking Scandic: Why are you removing Bibles but not pay-porn on your TVs?

Scandic, which had started keeping its Bibles behind the front desk, put the New Testament back in guest rooms.

"Sweden is not as secular as we thought," says Christer Sturmark, head of Sweden's Humanist Association, a noisy assembly of nonbelievers to which the Bible-protesting hotel guest belongs.

After decades of secularization, religion in Europe has slowed its slide toward what had seemed inevitable oblivion. There are even nascent signs of a modest comeback. Most church pews are still empty. But belief in heaven, hell and concepts such as the soul has risen in parts of Europe, especially among the young, according to surveys. Religion, once a dead issue, now figures prominently in public discourse.

God's tentative return to Europe has scholars and theologians debating a hot question: Why? Part of the reason, pretty much everyone agrees, is an influx of devout immigrants. Christian and Muslim newcomers have revived questions relating to faith that Europe thought it had banished with the 18th-century Enlightenment. At the same time, anxiety over immigration, globalization and cutbacks to social-welfare systems has eroded people's contentment in the here-and-now, prodding some to seek firmer ground in the spiritual.

Some scholars and Christian activists, however, are pushing a more controversial explanation: the laws of economics. As centuries-old churches long favored by the state lose their monopoly grip, Europe's highly regulated market for religion is opening up to leaner, more-aggressive religious "firms." The result, they say, is a supply-side stimulus to faith.

"Monopoly churches get lazy," says Eva Hamberg, a professor at Lund University's Centre for Theology and Religious Studies and co-author of academic articles that, based on Swedish data, suggest a correlation between an increase in religious competition and a rise in church-going. Europeans are deserting established churches, she says, "but this does not mean they are not religious."

Upstarts are now plugging new spiritual services across Europe, from U.S.-influenced evangelical churches to a Christian sect that uses a hallucinogenic herbal brew as a stand-in for sacramental wine. Niklas Piensoho, chief preacher at Stockholm's biggest Pentecostal church, says even sometimes oddball, quasi-religious fads "tell me you can sell spirituality." His own career suggests that a free market in faith is taking root. He was poached by the Pentecostals late last year after he boosted church attendance for a rival Protestant congregation.

Most scholars used to believe that modernization would extinguish religion in the long run. But that view always had trouble explaining why America, a nation in the vanguard of modernity, is so religious. The God-is-finished thesis came under more strain in the 1980s and 1990s after Iran, a rapidly modernizing Muslim nation, exploded with fundamentalist fervor and other fast-advancing countries in Latin America and Asia showed scant sign of ditching religion.

Now even Europe, the heartland of secularization, is raising questions about whether God really is dead. The enemy of faith, say the supply-siders, is not modernity but state-regulated markets that shield big, established churches from competition. In America, where church and state stand apart, more than 50% of the population worships at least once a month. In Europe, where the state has often supported -- but also controlled -- the church with money and favors, the rate in many countries is 20% or less.

"The state undermined the church from within," says Stefan Swärd, a leader of Sweden's small but growing evangelical movement.

Consider the scene on a recent Sunday at Stockholm's Hedvig Eleonara Church, a parish of the Church of Sweden, a Lutheran institution that until 2000 was an official organ of the Swedish state. Fewer than 40 people, nearly all elderly, gathered in pews beneath a magnificent 18th-century dome. Seven were church employees. The church seats over 1,000.

Hedvig Eleonara has three full-time salaried priests and gets over $2 million each year though a state levy. Annika Sandström, head of its governing board, says she doesn't believe in God and took the post "on the one condition that no one expects me to go each Sunday." The church scrapped Sunday school last fall because only five children attended.

Just a few blocks away, Passion Church, an eight-month-old evangelical outfit, fizzed with fervor. Nearly 100 young Swedes rocked to a high-decibel band: "It's like adrenaline running through my blood," they sang in English. "We're talking about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus."

Passion, set up by Andreas Nielsen, a 32-year-old Swede who found God in Florida, gets no money from the state. It holds its service in a small, low-ceilinged hall rented from Stockholm's Casino Theatre, a drama company. Church, says Mr. Nielson, should be "the most kick-ass place in the world." Jesus was "king of the party."

The message has lured some unlikely converts, including a heavily tattooed, self-described former mobster. "I've gone soft," says Daniel Webb, the son of an English father and Swedish mother, who spent five years in jail for illegal arms possession and assault. He was baptized, like most Swedes, in the Church of Sweden but never prayed. He went to church for the funerals of fellow hoods but scoffed at Christian sympathy for the meek.

Mr. Webb first went to Passion Church three months ago with a female friend. Expecting to be bored, he got hooked. "An ocean of anger has calmed," he says. His ex-wife, he says, "thinks I'm ridiculous." He says he's turned his back on crime.

Europe's upstart churches aren't yet attracting anywhere near enough customers to offset a post-World War II decline. But they are shaking up and in some places reviving the market for religion, argues Rodney Stark, a pioneer of religious supply-side theory at Baylor University in Texas.

Mr. Stark first developed the notion of a "religious market" in the 1980s as a way to explain America's persistent faith. It posits that people are naturally religious but that their religiosity varies depending on the vigor of what he calls religious suppliers. "Wherever churches are a little more energetic and competitive, you've got more people going to church," he says.

The notion that Adam Smith's invisible hand reaches into the spiritual realm has many detractors. Steve Bruce, a professor of sociology at Aberdeen University in Scotland, says market theory "works for cars and soap powder but it does not work for religion." Christianity in Europe, he says, has reached the point of no return, like a dying language doomed because too few people transmit its vocabulary to their children.

The Church of Sweden is also skeptical of the supply-side view. "We don't sell a product," says archbishop Anders Wejryd. With 1,800 congregations, he says, his church must cater to a spectrum of views. He says the Church of Sweden's more dynamic parishes, some of which mimic evangelicals' methods, are thriving.

Predictions that Christianity is doomed in Europe date back centuries. Writing in the early 1700s, Thomas Woolston, an Englishman, estimated it would die out by 1900. A century later, France's Auguste Comte proclaimed the end of mankind's "theological stage." Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels viewed religion as a symptom of capitalist ills that would be cured by socialism. More recently, the demise of Christianity in Europe has led to warnings that the continent risks becoming "Eurabia," a land dominated by Islam.

Conservative U.S. preachers and politicians curse European nonbelief and trumpet the religious values of America's pilgrim fathers. But Mr. Stark, the supply-side theorist, says America's religiosity is relatively recent. In 1776, he says, around 17% of Americans belonged to churches. That is about the same as the current proportion of the population in Belgium, France, Germany and the U.K. that worships at least once a month, according to 2004's European Union-funded European Social Survey.

In the U.S., the American Revolution ended ecclesiastical hegemony in the 11 colonies that had an established church and unleashed a raucous tide of religious competition. As Methodists, Baptists, Shakers and other churches proliferated, church-going rose, reaching around 50% in the early part of the 20th century, he says.

Europe never developed such a religious bazaar. The Church of Sweden, the Church of England, the Catholic Church in Italy and France, state-funded churches in Germany and others lost their de-facto "monopoly" status to other denominations over a century ago. But they retained their ties to the state and economic privileges.

Grace Davie, professor of sociology at Britain's Exeter University, compares them to "public utilities" -- institutions that people look to for basic services such as weddings and funerals but that don't demand day-to-day involvement. The Church of Sweden, for example, has a near-monopoly on death. Its broad property holdings, gathered since the 16th century, include most of Sweden's graveyards. The state still pays it to oversee funerals, even those involving Muslim rites.

Around 75% of Sweden's nine million people are nominally members of the "state church" -- though few ever worship and around 10% are avowed atheists, says Jonas Bromander of the Church's research unit. Sweden's evangelical churches, by contrast, have only 31,000 members, but they worship regularly and are growing, slowly, in number.

Tension between the Church of Sweden and would-be competitors goes back to the early 19th century, when early evangelicals were banished into exile. So-called free churches were later permitted but they remained in the shadow of the state-coddled Church of Sweden.

After World War II, the Church of Sweden followed the leftward direction of Swedish political life. The Ecclesiastical Department, the ministry that supervised the church, was headed for years by a prominent atheist. Liberal theology triumphed. Church attendance plummeted.

In the early 1980s, Ulf Ekman, a Church of Sweden priest, set up Livets Ord, or the Word of Life, an American-style congregation in Uppsala. His strict Bible-based message and charismatic preaching style attracted a flood of worshippers, and also controversy. The Church of Sweden stripped Mr. Ekman of his status as a preacher. The media denounced him as a cult leader bankrolled by America. The government investigated. Today, his church has around 3,000 active members.

A big impetus to the return of faith is fear of the future, says Elisabeth Sandlund, editor of Sweden's main Christian newspaper, Dagen. In Sweden and across Europe, old moorings are coming loose as cradle-to-grave welfare systems buckle. "People want something solid to hold on to," says Ms Sandlund. While working as a financial journalist, she started sneaking off to church and in 1999 eventually told her husband she believed in God. "He was not happy," she says.

Whether competition for believers actually boosts belief stirs bitter academic discussion. Measuring religiosity is difficult and each side cites different statistics. The latest data from a major research project that tracks churchgoing and belief in concepts such as God and soul, the European Values Survey, were compiled between 1981 and 1999. (They show a decline in faith in the 1980s followed by a leveling off and, for some indicators, a slight bump in the 1990s.)

To try to refute the supply-siders, Aberdeen University's Mr. Bruce points to Poland and Ireland, highly religious countries each dominated by a Catholic "monopoly church." Mr. Stark and those in his camp counter that market mechanisms in Poland and Ireland were trumped by the church's role as a vehicle for nationalism. More revealing, they say, is America's boisterous religious market and its high levels of religiosity.

One factor now spurring religious competition in Europe is the availability of state money that traditionally flowed almost entirely to established churches. It still does, but the process is more open.

In Italy, the state used to pay the salaries of Catholic priests, but in 1984 it began letting taxpayers choose which religious groups get financial support. The proceeds of a new "religious tax" of 0.8% are now divided, according to taxpayer preference, among the Catholic Church, four non-Catholic churches, the Jewish community and a state religious and humanitarian fund.

The result is an annual beauty contest ahead of a June income-tax deadline, as churches try to lure taxpayer money with advertising campaigns. Catholics get the lion's share -- 87% of nearly $1.2 billion in 2004, the last year for which figures are available. But according to a 2005 study by Italian lawyer Massimo Introvigne and Mr. Stark, the system "reminds Italians every year that there is a religious economy."

Sweden has also overhauled church financing. In 2000, the government gave up formal control of the Church of Sweden. With great fanfare it replaced what had been a church "tax" with an annual "fee," still collected by tax authorities, levied on Church of Sweden members.

For the first time, taxpayers were told what they owed in cash -- instead of being given just a percentage figure, which is typically under 1% of household income. Church of Sweden membership dropped abruptly, and the church launched a publicity drive pitching religion. Membership stabilized, though church-going continued to decline. Still, the established church last year received around $1.6 billion in membership fees via state tax collectors. The church also brings in some $460 million in funeral-and-graveyard administration taxes.

A government-run commission provides money to 28 registered religious groups outside the Church of Sweden, but these funds totaled only $7 million last year. Passion Church and other such ventures rely mostly on voluntary donations by their worshippers. This, says Kjell-Axel Johanson, an evangelical priest, keeps upstarts more in tune with their flock. He recently set up a new church that, unable to afford a permanent home, rents a bar for a few hours. "God doesn't care about packaging," he says.

Hotel chain Scandic, meanwhile, has reversed course. Before Christians mobilized, it planned to keep a few copies of the New Testament at the front desk, along with the Quran and Hebrew Bible. With the hotel under new ownership since April, Bibles are back in rooms. The Swedish arm of Gideons, a Bible distribution group, recently gave the chain 10,000 New Testaments in Swedish and English.

Write to Andrew Higgins at andrew.higgins@wsj.com

Tiny tablet provides proof for Old Testament

2007-07-11T17:09:00.000-04:00

London Telegraph
By Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correspondent

The sound of unbridled joy seldom breaks the quiet of the British Museum's great Arched Room, which holds its collection of 130,000 Assyrian cuneiform tablets, dating back 5,000 years.

But Michael Jursa, a visiting professor from Vienna, let out such a cry last Thursday. He had made what has been called the most important find in Biblical archaeology for 100 years, a discovery that supports the view that the historical books of the Old Testament are based on fact.

Searching for Babylonian financial accounts among the tablets, Prof Jursa suddenly came across a name he half remembered - Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, described there in a hand 2,500 years old, as "the chief eunuch" of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon.

Prof Jursa, an Assyriologist, checked the Old Testament and there in chapter 39 of the Book of Jeremiah, he found, spelled differently, the same name - Nebo-Sarsekim.

Nebo-Sarsekim, according to Jeremiah, was Nebuchadnezzar II's "chief officer" and was with him at the siege of Jerusalem in 587 BC, when the Babylonians overran the city.

The small tablet, the size of "a packet of 10 cigarettes" according to Irving Finkel, a British Museum expert, is a bill of receipt acknowledging Nabu-sharrussu-ukin's payment of 0.75 kg of gold to a temple in Babylon.

The tablet is dated to the 10th year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, 595BC, 12 years before the siege of Jerusalem.

Evidence from non-Biblical sources of people named in the Bible is not unknown, but Nabu-sharrussu-ukin would have been a relatively insignificant figure.

"This is a fantastic discovery, a world-class find," Dr Finkel said yesterday. "If Nebo-Sarsekim existed, which other lesser figures in the Old Testament existed? A throwaway detail in the Old Testament turns out to be accurate and true. I think that it means that the whole of the narrative [of Jeremiah] takes on a new kind of power."

Cuneiform is the oldest known form of writing and was commonly used in the Middle East between 3,200 BC and the second century AD. It was created by pressing a wedge-shaped instrument, usually a cut reed, into moist clay.

The full translation of the tablet reads: (Regarding) 1.5 minas (0.75 kg) of gold, the property of Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, the chief eunuch, which he sent via Arad-Banitu the eunuch to [the temple] Esangila: Arad-Banitu has delivered [it] to Esangila. In the presence of Bel-usat, son of Alpaya, the royal bodyguard, [and of] Nadin, son of Marduk-zer-ibni. Month XI, day 18, year 10 [of] Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

My Redeemer Lives!

2007-06-29T21:27:00.000-04:00

Job 19
1 Then Job replied:

2 "How long will you torment me
and crush me with words?

3 Ten times now you have reproached me;
shamelessly you attack me.

4 If it is true that I have gone astray,
my error remains my concern alone.

5 If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me
and use my humiliation against me,

6 then know that God has wronged me
and drawn his net around me.

7 "Though I cry, 'I've been wronged!' I get no response;
though I call for help, there is no justice.

8 He has blocked my way so I cannot pass;
he has shrouded my paths in darkness.

9 He has stripped me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.

10 He tears me down on every side till I am gone;
he uproots my hope like a tree.

11 His anger burns against me;
he counts me among his enemies.

12 His troops advance in force;
they build a siege ramp against me
and encamp around my tent.

13 "He has alienated my brothers from me;
my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

14 My kinsmen have gone away;
my friends have forgotten me.

15 My guests and my maidservants count me a stranger;
they look upon me as an alien.

16 I summon my servant, but he does not answer,
though I beg him with my own mouth.

17 My breath is offensive to my wife;
I am loathsome to my own brothers.

18 Even the little boys scorn me;
when I appear, they ridicule me.

19 All my intimate friends detest me;
those I love have turned against me.

20 I am nothing but skin and bones;
I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth. ^[a]

21 "Have pity on me, my friends, have pity,
for the hand of God has struck me.

22 Why do you pursue me as God does?
Will you never get enough of my flesh?

23 "Oh, that my words were recorded,
that they were written on a scroll,

24 that they were inscribed with an iron tool on ^[b] lead,
or engraved in rock forever!

25 I know that my Redeemer ^[c] lives,
and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. ^[d]

26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet ^[e] in ^[f] my flesh I will see God;

27 I myself will see him
with my own eyes—I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!

28 "If you say, 'How we will hound him,
since the root of the trouble lies in him, ^[g] '

29 you should fear the sword yourselves;
for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,
and then you will know that there is judgment.

July 3rd & 4th, Solemn Assembly @ Harvard University

2007-06-28T15:20:00.000-04:00

This is a call to prayer not a regular prayer meeting, but a Solemn Assembly.

The difference between our regular prayer meetings and a Solemn Assembly is the way we approach God. When we, as a community or a nation, come to a great situation of despair, trouble, sin, it is most necessary at such a time as this to face the situation head on, presenting it to God--all the facts--with a contrite heart and with repentance. A Solemn Asembly is a time and season of desperate crying out to God for His mercy and forgiveness, in order to be free again (Joel 2:12-18). Personally, I don't believe we can reverse the curse that sin has brought over the land (Deut. 28:15), without Solemn Assemblies around the country. The land is contaminated by all kinds of sin. There is no short way to get God's grace back. We have to recognize that we and our country have sinned against him, and we must confess and repent of our wicked ways.

Why Harvard University?
Harvard University, the first college established by Christian leaders in this country in 1636, is a historic location and a strategic institution for our prayers. The early history of Harvard shows us that one of the most serious subjects in the lives of the students was the morning and evening prayer meetings. Next to Harvard University's campus is the Cambridge Common, where George Washington established the Continental Army on July3rd, 1775, one year before Independence Day. As we do every year, we are going to use the same location for a Solemn Assembly and prayer, spending time under the same tree that Washington and his army met under on July 3, 1775. We are inviting you to pray with us on behalf of higher education in America. Please help us to PRAY and mobilize intercessors to dedicate July 3rd and 4th for Jesus. These dates are very important and are very prophetic dates, as we will be proclaiming total dependence upon and submission to our Lord Jesus. Our cities, towns, communities and institutions should be taken from the dominion of darkness and brought into the Kingdom of Light (Col. 1:13-14), in the name of Jesus Christ as we pray, "Then your light shall break forth like the morning. Your healing shall spring forth speedily. And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call and the Lord will answer, YOU SHALL CRY AND HE SHALL SAY, HERE I AM." (Isaiah 58:8-9) "Those from among you shall build the oldwaste places; You shall rise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach; The restorer of Streets to dwell in." (Isaiah 58:12)

Where: Harvard Square (Cambridge Commons, next to Geo. Washington monument), Cambridge, MA
12 noon, July 3rd - 12 noon, July 4th, 2007

Preparation: Please increase your daily prayers and ask God to honor us, releasing protection, anointing, revelation and grace.

Increase your Bible reading on a daily basis and ask God to give you scipture passages and prophetic words.
The Daniel Fast starts June 27th and ends on July 17th. (Vegetables, fruits, natural juices, water, no meats, no milk, no sodas). Other options, skip one meal a day; stop drinking coffee, sodas, sweets or something very important to you. Under medication or special diet? Ask your doctor.

What to bring: Bible, notebook, prophetic words and verses God gave to you. Instruments you like to play. Blanket, water, food. God bless you for your prayers and for your desire to usher in the glory of God and to build a spiritual climate for Revival and Transformation.

Edson & Eneida Porto Joshua Project - Reclaiming Colleges for God
Cell# 617-642-9549
email

Stand with Israel

2007-06-24T16:44:00.000-04:00

Psalm 122

A song of ascents. Of David.

1 I rejoiced with those who said to me,
"Let us go to the house of the LORD."

2 Our feet are standing
in your gates, O Jerusalem.

3 Jerusalem is built like a city
that is closely compacted together.

4 That is where the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD,
to praise the name of the LORD
according to the statute given to Israel.

5 There the thrones for judgment stand,
the thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
"May those who love you be secure.

7 May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels."

8 For the sake of my brothers and friends,
I will say, "Peace be within you."

9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your prosperity.

New Wave of Christian Persecutions in Iran

2007-06-23T11:09:00.000-04:00

IRAN – On June 19, 2007, The Voice of the Martyrs confirmed reports that believers in Iran are being detained, interrogated and in one case, imprisoned because of their faith in Jesus Christ.

According to VOM sources, this new wave of persecution is coming against Christians that meet to worship God in the privacy of their homes. VOM sources said, “We have confirmed reports that several believers have been interrogated and one house was stormed by an elite police team that confiscated a computer, several CDs and Christian materials. A Christian was arrested in this attack, and remains in prison.”

Christians in Iran are concerned about these recent incidents. Pray believers in Iran will remain steadfast in their faith despite this new wave of persecution. Pray for the release of the believer in prison and for protection for all Christians in Iran.

“Clearly, Iran’s government is alarmed at the growth of the Christian faith there,” said VOM spokesman Todd Nettleton. “This is a key time for the church in Iran. We call on Iran’s government to release this Christian believer who is being held, and we call on Christians around the world to pray for our brothers and sisters in Iran.”

-Stacy L. Harp - VOM

Isaac Newton deeply spiritual, decodes scriptures

2007-06-20T22:08:00.000-04:00

His famously analytical mind worked out the laws of gravity and unravelled the motion of the planets.

And when it came to predicting the end of the world, Sir Isaac Newton was just as precise.

He believed the Apocalypse would come in 2060 – exactly 1,260 years after the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire, according to a recently published letter.

....The exact words from the Book of Daniel that inspired his prediction are not clear.

But he got at least one thing right – in another document, he interpreted biblical prophecies to mean that the Jews would return to the Holy Land before the world ended.

The Truth About Israel & Jerusalem

2007-06-16T10:49:00.000-04:00

Memorial Day 2007

2007-05-27T21:25:00.000-04:00

The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

-Thomas Paine

Almighty God: our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity. Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith. They will need Thy blessings. Their load will long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph. They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest – until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war. For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home. Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom…I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts. With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace – a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God, Amen.

-President Franklin D. Roosevelt , June 6th 1944

AIDS in Africa - Its not OK with Janine Maxwell

2007-05-26T13:32:00.000-04:00

...that every 14 seconds a child is orphaned in Africa due to AIDS. And that 30,000 children die in Africa each day from starvation and malnutrition.

Janine Maxwell, former Public Relations maverick, was thrown into a deep depression after being caught in Manhattan Island on 9/11/01. An invitation from Christian friends brought her to Africa where she met homeless orphaned children living on the streets. Her life changed forever, as described in her book Its Not OK With Me.

For more information on what you can do, please visit Heart for Africa.

In the flood waters

2007-04-26T11:59:00.000-04:00

Today was another glorious Noon hour -- another foretaste of the Awakening. I know I keep saying that, but if you think it's exaggeration, ask any of the 50 who were there today. Even better, come next week!

The best part, of course, was God's Presence, which was with us from the beginning. We did not have to invite Him. We did not have to plead for Him to come. When we got there, He was already so there (as our young members might put it) that we even laughed about it.

And as last week, there was a sense of expectation, of imminence. Which He encouraged.

Prepare to shout for joy.

Prepare to shout in exultation.

For the glory of the Lord will be here,

Sooner than you imagine.

Shouting and praising and weeping,

Come to me,

For I am coming to you

With more glory than you have ever seen.

After the hour was over, and the benediction was spoken (by first-time visitor Reggie who came all the way from Maine), hardly anyone left. We just wanted to linger in His Presence. I began to wonder if maybe the first preliminary wave of the Revival had already come ashore. He did seem to indicate that in a word to Kathy, one of our regulars, who sent it to me earlier in the week:

I woke up with the words: I am commandeering my churches. It is a matter of conscience. . . . At that point I came fully awake, ad He continued to give this word to me: The wave I have sent is a wave in which to soak. What I have started, only I can complete. Some will walk away at this time. . . . Just as when I told my followers: you must eat of my flesh, to have life in you. The teaching was too strange, too difficult to understand. Many walked away. But those I had chosen, remained. They knew that there was no other way.

There is no other way today, than the one I have chosen. If you will be humble and reject your understanding, you will receive my understanding. The waters of this first wave are flood waters that will tap into the wellsprings of salvation. Waters from deep ancient wells beneath your feet will rise to the surface. At first, there will be an oozing, and then, a gushing. Do not strike my rock again, in impatience. The gushing will come!

* * *

For those who would like to be on intimate terms with God, able to hear Him speak to you in your own heart, the next Hearing His Voice workshop will be on Saturday, the 28^th , from 10:00 till 3:00, in the little chapel at Tremont Temple. While He may not call you to be a prophet, He is calling you to hear Him, as His prophets do. These are prophetic times, for a prophetic people. If He would have you join us, you know who would not have you there, so. . . . beware of sudden obstructions, and take a moment now to send me an email.

-David Manuel

Master Surgeon

2007-04-17T15:29:00.000-04:00

Last Wednesday, we had another wonderful Noon Hour. And each week, as the hour progresses, His Presence grows stronger. Now at the end of the hour, we are beginning to experience miracles, and each week one or two come into the fullness of the Holy Spirit. If you think that's speaking evangelistically, ask anyone who's been recently. Better yet, come and see for yourself.

Several of us are now receiving words of encouragement from the Lord.

My faithful watchers on the wall, Your hearts continue to please me. You have been patient, when strongly tempted to impatience or indifference. You have been steadfast in your love for me, whether in season or out, convenient or inconvenient, in stormy weather or sunny climes.

You have received my love, and you have freely given my love. Know that you have delighted my heart, and for this reason, what I am about to do in Boston will be centered here and a few other places. You are my foundation stones, well placed and well laid, and on your love will I build my Awakening.

That word was confirmed by Lois, a first-time visitor from another prayer fellowship, who declared we do not have much time, and we must prepare our hearts for the first layer of the Joel 2 Anointing. We also had five visitors from a prayer fellowship that meets on Mondays. We hold them up in prayer each Wednesday, just as we do the Revere men's prayer group that meets at Noon on Wednesdays, and as they do us. In fact, praying for one another's prayer groups, attending one another's events, spreading the word of each other's initiatives all of this is part of God's new pattern (and so different from what has happened in the past).

And it's happening everywhere. Bob Weiner's wife Rose says that they, too, are experiencing miracles. She's asked me to come pray with them this Sunday evening in the Longfellow Room of the Charles Hotel at 7:00 an invitation I extend to all of you. And Tatsuo, a Japanese-American evangelist on the West Coast called a moment ago, to say that God is starting to do the same things there that He is doing here. He knows this, because he shares these updates with his prayer groups there, where God is striking the same chords.

More grist for the mill: last week Rose sent me a prophecy from Hope Reeder in North Carolina, that pretty much confirms everything that God has told a number of us He's about to do in New England. Many of you have already seen and passed along that prophecy, but in case you haven't seen it, it's attached.

One thing is becoming increasingly apparent: God expects all of us who love Him, to hear Him in our hearts with the same confidence and clarity that His prophets do. Regarding that, a number of you have asked when there will be another Hearing His Voice workshop at Tremont Temple. I'm happy to announce that the next one will be on April 28th, a week from this coming Saturday, from 10:00 until 3:00 in the little chapel. If you're interested, drop me an email.

Many of you have asked about Alex. In meeting with him recently, his surgeon could not have been less optimistic. And yet, the Master Surgeon, who met with him this morning, could be more encouraging! Here is what He told Alex: I know that you are not anxious about the status of your healing (a gift from heaven), but my grace has strengthened you to yield more fully to my gift of faith, as expressed in the now.

As I said to Martha just before I raised Lazarus from the dead, I now say to you, my son, regarding your full restoration of health: "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? "It shall come to pass, my son, that the word I spoke to you recently has come to pass: This disease has not been given to you for your demise, but for the sharing forth of my glory." (John 11)

-David Manuel

Minutemen of God

2007-04-05T12:43:00.000-04:00

We had an extraordinary Noon Hour yesterday. The presence of the Lord was so strong, we thought the building wave of the Awakening might finally be ready to break.

Kathy received a word which witnessed to many hearts present:

My children, I am calling you to be my Minutemen today. You must be prepared to take up your arms at a moment's notice. Like the Minutemen of old, you will be both farmers and warriors. You will be farmers, sowing and reaping the Great Harvest. You will be my soldiers, wielding the weapons of the Spirit. Your ammunition will be my love, and my mercy. I will take some of you into my War Room, into my counsel, and I will show you my battle plans. Others will be called into the Throne Room, for I tell you, the fragrance of this battle will not be gunpowder but the incense of worship. I have stationed watchers to see my signal light. The time for the midnight ride is here. The enemy is entrenched in the land, but the Spirit of the Lord comes in by the sea. The Living Waters of my Spirit will rush upon this land and will overtake the enemy. Be alert, be ready, Minutemen of God! Make ready for battle!"

Towards the end of the hour, Bethany Yeo, the young leader of the Justice House of Prayer in Boston, stirred our hearts with her battle call to prayer. Reminding us of Dutch Sheets' prophecy, she declared that Massachusetts was the spiritual birthplace of the nation. What is birthed here, will be birthed throughout America. And what is allowed to die here, will die everywhere else.

Then she shared the dream of one of her young prayer warriors. In the dream Goliath was coming up a hill that overlooked the city of Boston. Several of his lieutenants were with him. As they reached the top of the hill, the giant chuckled and spread his arm out in a gesture that took in all they surveyed. "This city was supposed to be the wellspring of the Revival. . ." and he just laughed.

The boy woke up then and Bethany said that God had awakened him before the end of the dream, because we can still affect its outcome. We cannot grow weary. We cannot turn away in discouragement or despair. We are soldiers of the Cross, and we will pray, pray, pray as long as it takes! And we will have the victory!

I was stunned. Last Sunday, I'd been led to preach on Goliath, having not thought of him in years.

For each of us, the giant down there in the valley represents our worst fear. Every morning and evening we listen to him taunting us, mocking the army of the Living God, cursing us by his own gods. And he will keep it up, until we go down there and shut him up.

In his inaugural address three months after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt reminded his countrymen that the only thing we had to fear was fear itself. That is as true today, as it was in 1942.

At God's prompting, I've had to confront my own worst fear: death. Not a normal or anticipated death, for which I can be prayed up and ready to go home, whenever He calls me. Nor a sudden, accidental death, in which there is brief flash of pain before joining Him.

My greatest fear is a martyr's death deliberately cruel and prolonged, extraordinarily painful, and wholly out of my control. The sort of death some of us might actually have to face in the darkest of the dark times ahead.

Offered the choice of recanting my faith to save myself, I would have to refuse and face the lion, in whatever form it took.

A few years ago, in Kenya on the Masi Mara, I marveled at the world the way God made it, before man messed things up. I bonded with a pride of lions, spending several days just hanging with them. For those unable to go, The Lion King gets it right. The only part about the Circle of Life I wasn't comfortable with was the kill when the lions pull down a wildebeest or a zebra. Being a writer, I identified with the stricken animal.

I asked God about that, and in the Nairobi airport awaiting the flight home, He provided the answer. In an article in a travel magazine, a South African naturalist explained that the moment the predator's claws sink into the prey, the latter goes into complete shock and does not feel a thing that is being done to it. I marveled at God's infinite mercy.

Christians in the Coliseum, about to be forced out into the arena where roaring lions prowled about, seeking whom they might devour, had the same fear. Transparent with one another, they did not hide it, but shared it. They agreed to a signal: whoever went out first, when the lions struck them, if there was no pain they would sing, so their brothers and sisters would know. That was how it was, and that was why the next batch of Christians went out singing, even before the lions reached them.

When I shared that last Sunday, someone pointed out a piece in the Berkshire Eagle that very morning. In his 1857 book, Missionary Travels, Dr. David Livingstone, the renowned Scottish explorer, described what it felt like to be attacked by an African lion, which was eventually scared off by a friend firing a gun. "Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a terrier does a rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to that which seems to be felt by a mouse after the first shake of the cat. It caused a sort of dreaminess, in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of terror, though [I was] quite conscious of all that was happening."

That explained how martyrs could face hideous deaths with such sublimity. William Tyndale, burned at the stake for having translated the Bible into English, preached for four hours, as more and more wood was piled on the fire. Jean Brobeuf, burned at the stake by the Iroquois, praised God and shouted out encouragement to other captives for so long that his awed tormentors ate his heart in the hope of consuming his courage.

For me, the enemy's ultimate intimidation was martyrdom gruesome torture followed by an agonizing death. Because if, God forbid, I am called to go through such an ordeal, His mercy will be instant, total, and eternal. And consider this: any man or woman unafraid of death, cannot be intimidated.

God had a word for us last Sunday:

My children, I have been training you as an army of spiritual warriors who have the quiet confidence to face any giant the other one puts before you. Heed not his taunts. Quail not at the length of his spear or the weight of its tip. Do not think to cover yourself in the world's armor. Though others see you as a stripling, I have already preserved you from the paw of the lion and the bear. When they came for your sheep, I filled you with righteous anger and guided the stone from your sling. You felled them, as you will the giant. Because you know the battle is not yours, but mine. You are the army of the Living God, and you are in close fellowship with me.

-David Manuel

Nineveh & Boston

2007-03-30T11:18:00.000-04:00

In all things spiritual (and many things temporal, too, it seems), God is teaching us patience. It is not an easy lesson to learn, and a lot of us are having to learn it..

Alex will soon be done his chemo and radiation. Thanks to your prayers, he has come through both procedures at the top of the charts. But he still has cancer. And recently God reminded him (and us) that while He will heal Alex totally and completely, it will be a long process.

Through prayer Marilou received a miraculous healing; for the first time in months, her hips are in alignment, and she can walk without a limp. But she is still in pain, and still has two steel rods holding her spine straight. Kris is fighting a long uphill battle to preserve the sanctity of traditional marriage in Massachusetts, aware that the enemy is attacking the family unit, the foundation stone of God's social order. It is a battle being waged in the Heavenlies, which requires wave after wave of sustained prayer. We cannot stop praying, no matter how weary we are.

Shelli is also fighting an uphill battle, as she raises awareness and support for CUFI's Night to Honor Israel, the black-tie event at the Statehouse, on the night of May 13. She has experienced mini-miracles, but none of the magic-wand, now-your-troubles-are-over variety.

God could do instant, transformational miracles, if He chose. Yet in many of our lives, He is choosing not to. What we hoped would be a dash, has turned out to be a marathon. And we have no choice but to heed Paul's advice and run with patience the race He has set before us. [Heb. 12:1]

Why is everything, including the Revival, taking so long? He is building stay-the-course endurance into us, the true grit we will need to finish the race, breast the tape, and gain the prize. Because when the cresting wave of Revival finally breaks, there will be no rest, no time to enjoy the laurel crown. The new course will be already set before us, and He will be beckoning us to the starting line.

It is coming. At the last Noon Hour, Dick heard in his heart: My people, your prayers for Boston have ascended to my throne. Like Nineveh, I will turn Boston back to me. But unlike Jonah, my servant, you are interceding for Boston. I hear, and I will bring Revival to Boston.

-David Manuel

Alex Update from David Manuel

2007-03-11T19:26:00.000-04:00

As you know, last December, my co-steward of the Boston Noon Hour, Alex Canavan, was diagnosed with colon cancer. As it had recurred for the third time in the same place, the prognosis could not have been less promising.

We went into prayer. You prayed, we prayed, Alex prayed, we all prayed often with the laying on of hands.

From the beginning, Alex's faith never wavered; in fact, the further he went into the shadow valley, the firmer his faith became. God had told him, as He had told a number of us, that He was going to heal Alex, though it would be a long process.

When he went in for surgery at Mass General, the surgeon discovered that it was far worse than anticipated. There was a mass behind his sacrum at the base of his spine, where it had been hidden for years from the CAT scans. The doctors decided to shrink it as much as possible with focused radiation.

At the next Noon Hour, while Alex was in hospital, we came against the cancer with spiritual radiation, focusing with our prayers on all aspects of his healing. At the end of the hour, God gave me a word which I shrank back from declaring. It was too explicit, too extreme. But I checked it with Basil, who had gotten the same word.

So with more holy boldness than I really felt, I declared that Alex would be totally and completely healed, and that his healing would be one of many miracles associated with what God was about to do in Boston. Afterwards, Dick O came up to me and said that if I hadn't declared that word, he would have. Because he'd been given the exact same word.

Last Wednesday Alex attended the Noon Hour. He looked good and felt great. Leading the worship with gusto and exuberance, he was the old Alex and then some. But that night, the bleeding from his rectum, which had gone on for weeks, built to a crescendo. He was up all night with the heavy bleeding which continued into the morning. Though he refused to dwell on it, he began to wonder if this was the beginning of the end.

Later in the morning he got a call from an old friend out in Seattle, Ronnie Svenhards, whom he had not seen or heard from, since they were together at the world convention of the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International fourteen years ago. Ronnie, who had been International Vice President of the FGBMFI, when Alex was an International Director, had learned of Alex's condition from Diane Scott, executive secretary to Demos Shakarian, the late founder of FGBFMI. She did not tell Ronnie the nature or location of Alex's cancer, only that it was life-threatening.

As Ronnie went into prayer for Alex, the Lord abruptly directed him to Mark 5:25-34 the account of the woman with the issue of blood, who had been suffering from it for twelve years. The moment she touched the hem of Jesus' garment, she was healed. After Ronnie finished reading it, the Lord told him to call Alex and tell him that the Lord was giving Alex that Scripture as a gift.

Alex thanked Ronnie, but several hours passed before he realized that he was no longer bleeding. Not a drop. It has not recurred and it has been six days.

Wisdom might dictate keeping silent for a season. Let's make sure the bleeding really has stopped. We don't want to get everyone's hopes up, only to have them dashed. Besides, if you hold up Alex as an example of God's miraculous healing power, you're only inviting the devil to take him down. And don't go overboard prophesying complete healing for him. If he dies, you'll look like a fool.

But that would be conventional wisdom. What we're dealing with here, and have been from the beginning, is highly unconventional wisdom. Supernatural wisdom. If Alex and I had been careful, if we had heeded the counsel of cautious friends, we would never have started the Noon Hour. What could be more ridiculous than to think that in the stressed-out marketplace, anyone would have time to give an hour in the middle of their busy day in the middle of the work week, to just come and pray.

Speaking for myself, I've already burned all my bridges behind me. If I turn out to be a false prophet, it will be a relief. (Nobody in their right mind would want to be a prophet.) Meantime, we'll just keep on keeping on. Here's what I heard in my heart, as I asked the Lord about all of this:

I want you to proclaim this far and wide. It is only part of the healing I am doing in your brother Alex, but it is an important part.

Should I put it out in an update?

Absolutely. Write with economy. Let the story tell itself, and I will do the highlighting, as each one reads it.

Grace me, Father. Do you have a word for the Noon Hour?

I do.

My children, gather close, for the time is drawing close. You have seen my hand on Alex. Soon you will soon see it on all of you. Not one heart that enters my temple on Wednesday will leave untouched.

Open your hearts to me, and from my heart I will give you more love than you have ever experienced. When you fell in love with me at the beginning of our walk together, you experienced a sense of awe and wonder, that the Creator of the Universe could care so much for one of His creations.

You are about to experience it again.

-David Manuel

A Shi'ite Muslim tells of Jesus appearing to him

2007-03-01T15:28:00.000-05:00

We had an extraordinary event at the Noon Hour yesterday, thanks to a divine miscommunication and the kindness of Bob Weiner's wife Rose who shares his burden and ours for the coming Awakening in Boston. We heard the testimony of a Shi'ate Muslim from Iran, to whom Jesus appeared, and who, faced this supernatural but unshakable reality, gave his heart to Him.

We've all heard the stories "little more than rumors" of Jesus appearing to Muslims throughout the Middle East. We hoped they were true; our hearts told us they were. But I had actually met only one eleven years ago in a refugee camp in Croatia. Ruja was a badly-frightened young woman in Mostar at the height of the Bosnian War. On a night when the entire city was reeling under the shelling of Serb gunners on the surrounding mountains, the Lord appeared to her in her room.

She had been a cultural Muslim; she became a vibrant Christian. Kamran Yaraei, the very tall, very humble, very likeable young man who shared his story with us yesterday was no cultural Muslim. From childhood he had known God was real, and he had a deep love for Him. Islam was the only religion he knew, so of devout Muslims he became the most devout. He read the Koran faithfully and prayed five times a day. Year after year he poured out his heart to Allah, who never replied, never gave him the slightest indication that his prayers had been heard. Never returned his love.

Disheartened, Kamran came to America, to Atlanta, to become an actor. As it turned out, his acting coach was a deeply-committed Christian. She started challenging his faith. If he loved God so much, why was he angry at Him? "Because He doesn't love me back!" Maybe you should try praying to Jesus, the Son of God.."That's blasphemy!" Kamran exclaimed. "God is too holy to have a son!" She smiled. "The God I worship could not be more holy, and He does have a Son. Try talking to Him."

So Kamran told Jesus that he didn't believe in Him. But “ if He was whom his coach said He was, then he was willing to be convinced. A little while later, at the urging of his friend, he attended a big church in Atlanta. That Sunday there were several thousand people in the congregation. He was late arriving, so an usher took him to one of the only seats still available in the front row.

Soon the pastor was preaching up a storm, pacing back and forth in front of the congegation. And behind him there was another man, robed, with a rod in His hand. He, too, was walking back and forth. Then He came over to Kamran, touched his heart, and stepped inside of him. Instantly Kamran felt so much love, he could not move. He could not speak. All he could do was weep at the overwhelming love that Jesus had brought with Him. Love was all he had ever wished for from God, and now He had so much, it blew out all his receptors.

The rest of the story is charming and delightful and too long to go into here. (You can check out his website at holyspiritadventures.org.) Last night he spoke at Harvard, in the Law School, to some eighty students of all ethnic backgrounds. They were more than captivated; they were enthralled. He's speaking again at Harvard tomorrow night, and undoubtedly there will be a far greater number attending. Pray for him, as we did yesterday, for the Lord to mightily anoint him, for warrior angels to surround him, that all attempts of the enemy to challenge and disrupt be thwarted, and for God to be glorified.

Other news: Alex was with us and in fine fettle, leading the worship with gusto. Medically his situation has not improved, but he feels great, and his faith is through the roof. Keep praying for him. He has been receiving daily radiation for a week and the chemo starts today.

A number of you have asked about my workshops. Next Thursday and Friday, the 8th and 9th , at Gateway Christian Fellowship in West Haven, Connecticut, I'm doing a two-day distillation of the five-day workshop I lead each summer at Gordon Conwell Seminary (August 6-10 this year). And then on Saturday, the 11th , also at Gateway, I'm leading a day-long hearing God's voice workshop. If your spirit quickens to either (or both) of these, don't do as we so often do, and put off making up your mind till the last possible moment. Last year, so many came to the hearing God workshop that we had to turn people away. So call now to register [203-934-0880]. And remember, if God wants you there, guess who doesn't? Don't let the other one distract you with schedule conflicts and/or last-minute emergencies. A description of each workshop is attached.

Finally, Dick O. heard this in his heart this morning; You noticed how the maturity and strength of those there, are increasing weekly. That will continue until my call for Awakening sounds. You are all readying, although you will never be ready in your own strength. But you will be mighty warriors in My strength. Be still, and know that I am God. Listen to me and pray, pray, pray.

-David Manuel

Kitty O'Shea's Prayer Group - January 22, 2007

2007-01-23T18:42:00.000-05:00

Five regulars gathered at Kitty’s to pray today.

After some catchup sharing, S encouraged us with his recent realization that all, even the most hardened, have the propensity to believe, and do in fact believe in something—they just choose to ignore the subject of belief which is trustworthy and true.

As we went to prayer, we asked that we would ourselves exercise our ‘muscles’ of belief and faith, even when we could not see things happening or changing, for example in the longed for revival in Boston. We asked that our ‘dry bones’ would live again.

We also prayed for one another in various needs and circumstances which we had shared at the beginning:

K—for his team as they meet in Orlando this week
For the upcoming Africa retreat prior to the National Prayer breakfast
S —on his upcoming holiday to Costa Rica;
D—for ongoing wisdom about adopting a third child, even though their decision has been postponed for now, and for wisdom as he considers how to expand his practice/company;
T—for his work search, including recent promising discussions with Dick’s Carpenters’ Trust, for which we also prayed.

We also remembered to pray for and bless Kitty O Sheas, and held out the prospect that it might one day be filled with pray-ers.

January 19th Praise & Worship Service @ Tremont Temple

2007-01-15T17:31:00.000-05:00

An invitation from Roberto Miranda Senior Pastor, Congregación León de Judá and Chairman of Covenant for New England:

Covenant for New England is inviting God's people from all over New England to gather at Tremont Temple on Friday, January 19, 2007 for a service of worship, intercession and proclamation of God’s Word. Our purpose is to continue promoting the unity of God’s people in this region, to clamor for a visitation of the Holy Spirit upon our spiritually dry land, and to continue pressing in toward the renewal of the Church in New England.

In times of dryness and scarcity, God calls us to gather and seek His face, to repent and mourn in the Spirit, and to call for His refreshing rain. In Joel 2:12 He declares:

“Even now, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” As we seek Him earnestly and collectively, He promises to respond and pour His blessings upon the land: “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 2:18) There is, of course, a spiritual dimension to this imagery. Grain, wine and oil have always been symbols of the blessings of God’s Spirit, His Word, joy and anointing.

The history of revival shows that when God’s people gather across denominational and geographic lines to seek His face in a sustained way, major blessing takes place. Covenant seeks to be an instrument to facilitate such gatherings in the future. We want to make these gatherings as meaningful and purposeful as possible. We want them to reflect the diversity of Christians in this region. They should be an opportunity for Christians of all denominational backgrounds to be refreshed, inspired and instructed on the dynamics of a Spirit-filled life, a life that is contagious and impacting.

If we covenant together, as God’s regional Church, to seek Him with all our heart until He pours the blessing that He intends, I believe that we will see major change in the spiritual condition of this land.

Please come on Friday, January 19 at 7:30 p.m. to Tremont Temple and invite others. Pray that the Lord will pour out His blessing upon us that evening, and that we will all be refreshed and strengthened.

A note about parking: Limited validated parking is available at One Beacon Street. More reliable parking available at the Boston Common Underground Garage. Enter on Charles Street South. Directions to Tremont Temple

Kitty O'Shea's Prayer Group - January 8, 2007

2007-01-08T19:10:00.000-05:00

Five regulars gathered at Kitty’s to pray today, joined by Theo who was originally from Cameroon and had visited the group once before. Andrea noted the frequent connection to Africa which came up in some way in the group; in prayer later, we asked God to reveal whether this had further meaning for any of us.

Kelly shared Jeremiah 29:11 as we went to prayer: For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Kelley also felt a strong assurance of God’s love and acceptance of us all. For David, the future and a hope in Jeremiah linked to Paul’s placement of hope in the context of love in Romans 5:3-5: 3Not only so, but wealso rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

As we pondered on the new year, we prayed for clean hands and pure hearts; and we asked that God enlarge our vision of him as he revealed his will to us. We recalled some of the images and pictures received in prayer last year of dams or levies bursting, and we invited God’s spirit to continue his work in Kittys, in Tremont Temple, Boston and surrounding areas, and to bring more healings.

We also prayed for one another in various needs and circumstances which we had shared at the beginning:

T—for wisdom in his ongoing job search;
D—for God’s grace and wisdom as he and his wife continue to work through the question of adopting a child;
J—grateful for God’s provision and for the recent change in her mother, and praying for protection from a possible work-related health hazard discovered recently;
K—thankful for provision of new support but seeking further;
A—considering the implications of changing work circumstances.
G—grateful for some work-related stability.

We remembered too those regulars who were not present today; and prayed for healing for A from Tremont Temple who has cancer.

A word for Alex - and all of us

2006-12-08T12:16:00.000-05:00

Dear friends of the Noon Hour,

Our brother Alex is facing the prospect of major abdominal surgery before the end of the year. So Wednesday, as Basil and I drove to the Noon Hour, we felt the entire hour should be spent raising prayer for him.

It was a glorious time. We took Alex on and prayed the prayers God gave us to pray. The presence of the Lord was so strong, and continued so strong, that a lot of us just hung around together with Him for a good half-hour after the hour was over.

At the end, this word came:

My children, I am pleased with your heartfelt prayers and concern for your brother Alex. I have already begun the healing in him, both in his heart and in his nether regions. I am going to heal him completely and totally, and this will be one of the healing miracles associated with the Awakening I am bringing to Boston. So be of good cheer, and keep your brother in your prayers.

It's not soon anymore; it's already begun. Merry Christmas!

-David Manuel

Feel unloved? It's a lie!

2006-12-04T20:40:00.000-05:00

When I awoke this morning, I was weighed down with discouragement. Nothing seemed to be working out. All our prayers, all our efforts -- all seemed in vain.

So I got with the Lord, who reminded me that weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. [Psalm 30:5] That helped. Then He gave me the names of friends with hearts for Revival who felt similarly discouraged, and called me to pray for them, right then, at that moment. That helped more.

Then our friend Madeleine emailed me a picture of the Noon Hour, and that really helped. And then the Lord called me to include here the Word He had given, at the previous Noon Hour -- the perfect antidote to the other's one poisonous lie that nothing you are doing or praying matters.

I love you, each one of you. In the stillness of the night, you will know my love. In the stress of the marketplace, you will know my love. In the suffering you endure for my sake, you will know my love. When the other one would have you believe that I have left you or forsaken you, there shall you suddenly know the depths of my love. So open your hearts right now, and let me fill them to overflowing with my love.

Join us tomorrow. Do your shopping before or after, write that report before or after, make that call before or after, but come -- and receive the greatest present He has to offer: His limitless, unfathomable, surprising love. And you can expect a time of healing right after the Noon Hour, for He seems to be taking us in that direction. Here's a word Alex received two days ago.

But I have come to give life abundantly, first in the preaching of my Gospel that produces eternal life in my people. One of the great signs that the Kingdom of God has drawn near, that salvation is for all who call upon my name, is the healing gifts that I shower upon my people. As I have mentioned before, I am interested in the restoration of the whole person, health to spirit, soul and body.

Need restoring? Come pray with us.

-David Manuel

The story of Squanto & the First Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T14:14:00.000-05:00

Sam brought up the story of Squanto on Monday, as an example of the difficulties Christians often face in their walks of faith. Here was a Native American, literally, ripped from the New England shoreline for gain by unscrupulous European merchants, who, through a series of providential meetings, learns English (as well as Spanish), & converts to Christianity (when monks "buy" him, essentially freeing him).

"Estas libre (es-TAS LEE-bray)! You are free." Squanto looked into the clear eyes of this man of God. Though he knew no Spanish, he understood. Over the next few weeks he pieced it together. Their love for Jesus had prompted these Christian brothers to buy Indian slaves and teach them the Christian faith. As the monks nursed him back to health, Squanto began to love this Jesus, too.

Amazingly he makes his way home, only to discover more heartache. His people, including his family had been destroyed from disease. Alone, he found solace in a neighboring Rhode Island-based tribe, lead by Samoset. When the pilgrims arrived 6 months later, he'd been prepared to help these fellow Christians. What Satan meant for evil, the Lord had turned to good.

William Bradford, the colonists' governor, prayed: "Thank You, great God, for the bounty You have supplied to us. Thank You for protecting us in hardship and meeting all our needs. . . ." Towards the end of the long prayer, Squanto was startled to hear his own name. "And thank You for bringing to us the Indian Squanto, your own special instrument to save us from hunger and help us to establish our colony in this new land." Squanto stood proudly. It was a day to remember.

Two Fathers, Two Feasts

2006-11-18T21:55:00.000-05:00

Excerpted from Max Lucado's Eye of the Storm:

I drove the family to Grandma’s last night for Thanksgiving. Three hours into the six-hour trip, I realized that I was in a theology lab.

A day with a car full of kids will teach you a lot about God. Transporting a family from one city to another is closely akin to God transporting us from our home to his.

A journey is a journey, whether the destination be the Thanksgiving table or the heavenly one. The fact that my pilgrims were all under the age of seven only enriched my learning experience.

As minutes rolled into hours and our car rolled through the hills, I began to realize that what I was saying to my kids had a familiar ring. I had heard it before—from God. All of a sudden, the car became a classroom. I realized that I was doing for a few hours what God has done for centuries: encouraging travelers who’d rather rest than ride.

I shared the idea with Denalyn. We began to discover similarities between the two journeys. Here are a few we noted.

In order to reach the destination, we have to say no to some requests.

Children have no concept of minutes or miles.

Children can’t envision the reward.

It’s worth it.

As we sat around the table today, no one spoke of the long trip to get here. Yesterday’s challenges were lost in today’s joy.

That’s what Paul meant. God never said that the journey would be easy, but he did say that the arrival would be worthwhile.

Remember this: God may not do what you want, but he will do what is right … and best. He’s the Father of forward motion. Trust him. He will get you home. And the trials of the trip will be lost in the joys of the feast.

Kitty O'Shea's Prayer Group - October 30, 2006

2006-10-30T18:05:00.000-05:00

Ten regulars gathered at Kitty’s to pray today.

We met in the week of Halloween, mindful of the shadow cast by all the attention given to occult practices, especially in places like nearby Salem. However, we were encouraged by the news K brought of ministries like the Bridge which sought to use the gifts of the spirit to minister powerfully to people in that area. K’s children had also been encouraged and challenged by powerful prophetic words spoken into their lives during the preceding weekend. Also, we were blessed by M’s account of ministering freedom from oppression to a woman at the Greater Boston Healing Center last week; and A’s reminder from the Psalms of the God who turns the traps of the evil back on themselves.

D pictured the biblical account of the statue of the false Philistine God Dagon falling repeatedly before the ark of the true God (1 Samuel 5). We prayed with him that all would fall at the feet of the true God; and that his covenants would be respected; and that we would make wise and bold use of the authority given us as his people.

We specifically remembered:
That the people of Salem, and especially those drawn to the occult and to that area this week, would know the true prince of Peace, and receive freedom from the Prince of darkness.
That there would be economic alternatives which brought true prosperity to Salem, not based on its reputation.
Law enforcement agencies during the Halloween period.To ask forgiveness for times, like in the witchburnings, when we the church have taken matters into our own hands and not sought God’s word and ways.
J’s friend T who seemed to be taken in by certain practices, and for J as she continued to be a faithful friend to her.
D’s forthcoming work-related presentations over the next two weeks—and his concern that his words would not fall to be ground but be fruitful.

We also gave thanks for:
The woman healed by God through the prayers of M and her colleague
Success at work
The complete healing of D’s eyesight.

Kitty O'Shea's Prayer Group - October 23, 2006

2006-10-26T19:43:00.000-04:00

Six regulars, with Ron, gathered at Kitty’s to pray today.

We met, remembering God’s sovereignty over the nations, prompted by S’s encounter with Vietnamese students during street evangelism in Cambridge; and the visit of an Uzbek pastor to Boston on a sabbatical; and over the city of Boston as well. We prayed for these students to be touched by the words on the Vietnamese language tracts which they read; and for the Uzbek pastor as he prepares to return to a nation in which persecution is growing. We prayed too for the forthcoming elections in this nation.

We lifted up the choice of new Police Commissioner in Boston; and again, prayed for Kitty’s, which seemed to be thriving with much noise and activity as we met.

We also gave thanks for:

D’s successful eye operation;
Provision in J’s existing work situation;
The recent retreat with area pastors at which J. spoke;
K’s children.

We specifically remembered:

G. in the midst of intense work pressure
D. who had attended previously
Provision for K. in his new ministry.

President Bush sees Third Awakening

2006-09-29T16:31:00.000-04:00

From Rich Lowry & Kate Kate O'Beirne's story @ National Review Online, Sep. 12, 2006
The President mentioned that he is struck by the number of people he meets who tell him they are praying for him. He jokingly noted, “Now maybe the only people who pray in America come to my events,” but he wonders if there is evidence of a Third Awakening saying, “It feels like it to me.” He talked about the two constituencies that faithfully supported President Lincoln, noting that he had recently read extensively about the former President and his own policies aren’t based on his insights (nor obviously does he consider himself another Lincoln). Bush explained that Lincoln’s strongest supporters were religious people from the Second Awakening “who saw life in terms of good and evil” and who agreed with Lincoln that slavery was evil, and the Union soldiers who Lincoln had “great affection and admiration for.”

About the current situation, he added, “A lot of people in America see this as a confrontation between good and evil, including me.” He kept coming back to how cultures change, both in America and overseas. “Cultures do change and ideological struggles are won.” “There was a stark change between the culture of the ‘50’s and the 60’s—boom—and I think there’s change happening here.” “It seems to me that there’s a Third Awakening.”

Joseph Ratzinger on the destiny of reason

2006-09-27T11:04:00.000-04:00

(Abridged from the 10/2/06 Weekly Standard article, by Lee Harris)

Ratzinger is troubled that most educated people today appear to think that they know what they are talking about, even when they are talking about very difficult things, like reason and faith. Reason, they think, is modern reason. But, as Ratzinger notes, modern reason is a far more limited and narrow concept than the Greek notion of reason. The Greeks felt that they could reason about anything and everything--about the immortality of the soul, metempsychosis, the nature of God, the role of reason in the universe, and so on. Modern reason, from the time of Kant, has repudiated this kind of wild speculative reason. For modern reason, there is no point in even asking such questions, because there is no way of answering them scientifically. Modern reason, after Kant, became identified with what modern science does. Modern science uses mathematics and the empirical method to discover truths about which we can all be certain: Such truths are called scientific truths. It is the business of modern reason to severely limit its activity to the discovery of such truths, and to refrain from pure speculation.

Ratzinger, it must be stressed, has no trouble with the truths revealed by modern science. He welcomes them. He has no argument with Darwin or Einstein or Heisenberg. What disturbs him is the assumption that scientific reason is the only form of reason, and that whatever is not scientifically provable lies outside the universe of reason. According to Ratzinger, the results of this "modern self-limitation of reason" are twofold. First, "the human sciences, such as history, psychology, sociology, and philosophy, attempt to conform themselves to this canon of scientificity." Second, "by its very nature [the scientific] method excludes the question of God, making it appear an unscientific or pre-scientific question."

...Socrates hated the very thought of slavery--slavery to other men, slavery to mere opinions, slavery to fear, slavery to our own low desires, slavery to our own high ambitions. He believed that reason could liberate human beings from these various forms of slavery. Socrates would have protested against the very thought of a God who was delighted by forced conversions, or who was pleased when his worshipers proudly boasted that they were his slaves. He would have fought against those who teach that the universe is an uncaring thing, or who tell us that freedom is an illusion and our mind a phantom. Ultimately, perhaps, Socrates would have seen little to distinguish between those who bow down trembling before an irrational god and those who resign themselves before an utterly indifferent universe.

In his moving and heroic speech, Joseph Ratzinger has chosen to play the part of Socrates, not giving us dogmatic answers, but stinging us with provocative questions. Shall we abandon the lofty and noble conception of reason for which Socrates gave his life? Shall we delude ourselves into thinking that the life of reason can survive without courage and character? Shall we be content with lives we refuse to examine, because such examination requires us to ask questions for which science can give no definite answer? The destiny of reason will be determined by how we in the modern West answer these questions.

Pope Benedict Demands Reciprocity

2006-09-26T19:21:00.000-04:00

(abridged from Captains Quarter's Blog, Sep. 26)

Pope Benedict XVI met with envoys from several Muslim nations today, greeting them warmly and emphasizing the need for dialogue between the faiths. He did not offer another apology for his remarks at Regensburg two weeks ago, but he did remind the envoys that they have not fulfilled their responsibilities in ensuring freedom of religious practice for Christians:

Pope Benedict XVI told Muslim diplomats Monday that ''our future'' depends on dialogue between Christians and Muslims, an attempt to ease relations strained by his recent remarks about Islam and violence.
The pontiff quoted from his predecessor, John Paul II, who had close relations with the Muslim world, when he described the need for ''reciprocity in all fields,'' including religious freedom. Benedict spoke in French to a roomful of diplomats from 21 countries and the Arab League in his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo in the Alban Hills near Rome.

After his five-minute speech in a salon in the papal palace, Benedict greeted each envoy individually, clasping their hands warmly and chatting for a few moments with every one.

''The circumstances which have given risen to our gathering are well known,'' Benedict said, referring to his remarks on Islam in a Sept. 12 speech at Regensburg, Germany. He did not address those remarks at length. ...

Benedict cited John Paul II's statement that ''Respect and dialogue require reciprocity in all spheres,'' particularly religious freedom, a major issue for the Vatican in Saudi Arabia and other countries where non-Muslims cannot worship openly.

Defending reason, from David Warren online

2006-09-20T20:25:00.001-04:00

There is more, far more, to be said about Pope Benedict’s speech at Universität Regensburg last week. It was an important statement, not only for Catholics. But what he said has almost dissolved in the international fracas over a quotation of a quotation, taken maliciously out of context. The Pope was speaking about the ground rules for “dialogue”, not only between Muslims and Catholics. He was saying that Reason -- let’s give that a capital letter -- was the only ground on which we could discuss anything, since in matters of Faith, we are bound to disagree. But even our respective beliefs may be examined in the light of reason, and must be, if our dialogue is not to be a sham, an imposture, a dissemblance, a cheat.

The first thing is to note that the speech was only obliquely about Islam. Angry Muslims who think it was all about them have been badly misinformed. The Pope was addressing the intellectuals of the West, through a fine old institution of higher education where he used to teach. He was offering a “Selbstkritik der modernen Vernunft” -- a critique “from within” of modern reason. He was very careful to take no article of Catholic faith for granted, to play by the rules of strict reason...

Tolerance applies only to persons, but never to truth…or principals. About these things we must be intolerant…right is right if nobody is right; and wrong is wrong if everybody is wrong. And in this day and age we need not a church that is right when the world is right, but a church that is right when the world is wrong.

-Bishop Fulton Sheen

-more-

Kitty O'Shea's Prayer Group - August 28, 2006

2006-08-28T19:42:00.000-04:00

Seven regulars, including newly passed Dr Madden, gathered at Kitty’s to pray today together with Matt who had visited once before.

We shared various needs since several arrived feeling beleaguered for various reasons; and impressions, including Sam’s from recent evangelization in Chinatown that people there were:

Often aware of Christ and his claims; but had felt hurt or rejected by the church, and had left it; and/or
Were able to rationalize to themselves their involvement in questionable and sinful activities.

Kelly read from Scripture of “not growing weary of doing good”; and of the armor of God, in which, having done all, we stand.

In prayer, we sought to lead our way into warfare with praise. We were grateful for Kelly’s successful defence; and for the various ways in which God was at work in and around us. We acknowledged the broken covenants which surround us in our society—through failed marriages, lapsed Christians and churches. In the spirit of Isaiah who saw Jerusalem as beautiful and bedecked in jewels, even while she was ruined and broken during the exile, we prayed for the city of Boston—that God would remove the spiritual ‘refuse’ of brokenness and unforgiven sin which is piled high in her streets. This was as true for Chinatown as for the city as a whole. We prayed for the church as a whole; and for workers to be sent into the ‘fields white for harvest’.

We also prayed for Kitty O’Sheas—that it would experience and know God’s blessing; such that in years to come, we could look back to the time when it was a place for alcoholic spirits but became a place for God’s spirit.

We continued to pray for trouble spots in the wider world, including Afganistan, Uzbekistan, and southern Lebanon. We remembered missionaries we knew who were in, or shortly to be in, Africa.

We also remembered personal needs including:

Joanna’s work situation;
The marriage of Hank’s friend Tim;
Andrea’s new situation of misunderstanding in the workplace.

We asked that all would sense God’s hand in and through circumstances, so that they would be alert to his signals where change was needed; and that they would receive clear confirmation of what God is saying.

-D. Porteous

This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice!

2006-08-23T07:44:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

It's time to share what happened Friday evening, August 4th , during the weekly healing service at Gateway Christian Fellowship in New Haven, Connecticut. Before I do (and before you do), heed the timely word of caution that my co-steward of the Boston Noon Hour, Alex Canavan, had for me. Resist the temptation to amplify or embellish, or try to make anything happen next. As Oswald Chambers so wisely advised in My Utmost for His Highest, sit under the inspiration of the vision, and wait for the Lord to do whatever He is going to do.

Saturday, I drove down to Gateway, to interview Pastor Brian Simmons about what had happened in his church. He'd been in Europe at the time, but one of his associate pastors was present, along with about 75 regulars. Pastor Brian put it in perspective. Last fall, Dutch Sheets had a prophetic dream. In it, he was preaching at Gateway, and God was giving him a three-point sermon: Miracles are coming to this house. They are coming through covenant. Baptize them into the miraculous. And the miracle that would presage the Awakening would come to a young person at Gateway.

Dutch called Chuck Pierce, his friend and fellow prophet, with whom he'd traveled to all fifty states in the past year's two forerunners telling of the imminent Awakening. He related the dream to Chuck, because he was in it, too, there at the church in New Haven with Dutch. The dream witnessed to Chuck, who recalled that several months earlier, God had told him that the coming year [2006] would be His year for New England. When you see the weather change in winter and the sixty-mile-per-hour winds, you will know that the Awakening wind is come to New England.

Dutch contacted Gateway's pastors, Brian and Candy Simmons, who invited him and Chuck to come share with their congregation. They arrived on January 19th the day after a storm front had roared through New Haven with unprecedented force. The headline in the Register that morning was "BLOWN AWAY!", with the story reporting record-setting 69-mile-per-hour winds.

I remembered hearing a CD of what Dutch had shared with his own congregation back in Colorado Springs, about his visit to New Haven. Lord, he'd asked God at Gateway, why this church? Because of the name. Years ago He had told Dutch: You must turn the prayer movement toward the northeast. You must get the northeast gate open. It is the womb of the nation, and until the womb is open, I cannot birth what I want to birth for the rest of the nation. The beginnings of what I do will start in the northeast .

Then he'd asked the Lord, why this city? Brian had helped him there. New Haven (or New Heaven) was founded by two men who'd come with a dream to build a covenant city, patterned after the Tabernacle. They had covenanted with God, with one another, and with all who'd gone before them. And now Dutch understood what God had meant in his dream sermon, when He said the miracles were coming through covenant.

So what exactly happened? I interviewed Shelli Baker, an evangelist from Branson, Missouri, with a heart for revival, who had led the healing service at Gateway on Friday, August 4th. Having been at the Benny Hinn services at Boston Garden the previous Thursday and Friday, she and her team dared to pray that God would bless their service at Gateway with as strong a healing anointing as He had the Garden.

Apparently He did. When she prayed for individuals, her hands were so hot that it felt like she had curling irons for fingers. The last person she prayed for was a young man who had been a regular at Gateway for several years. He was well known to the congregation and to Shelli, as he had been brought by a friend to previous healing services she had led there. He had a sweet spirit, but he was a deaf mute, who communicated by writing on a notepad. He had been deaf and dumb since his birth, 21 years before.

In her heart, Shelli heard God's direction. She was to put her fingers into the young man's ears. When she did, the young man recoiled, as if he'd received an electric shock. Grabbing his notepad from his friend, he scribbled, "Fire in my neck!"God then told Shelli to command the ears to open. When she did, the left one opened. The congregation crowded in closer.

Now God told her to do what Jesus had done: Cast out the dumb and deaf spirit, a spirit of infirmity. [Mark 9:25, Luke 13:11] She did. (Later the young man reported that at that moment he saw the devil leaving the building and angels come in.)

God told Shelli to put her hand on the young man's throat and command it to open. She did. The young man uttered a high-pitched guttural sound as the first sound he'd ever made. Then, syllable by syllable, she led him in pronouncing his first word: Hal - le - lu - jah!

The congregation went wild with joy. But God was not finished; the right ear was still closed. Now Shelli explained that everything had begun when God said, "Let there be light." Or in Hebrew, simply, "Light: be!" She asked the congregation to join with her in praying "Hearing: be!" Over and over they cried it in unison, ever louder, until the young man's right ear opened.

The congregation was ecstatic. It took a long time for things to calm down, but eventually the people went home, rejoicing. Only a few lingered in the hospitality room, one of whom was the young man. He pointed to Shellia's harp, wanting her to play it. He'd seen her, but never heard her. She agreed, and as she played, the Lord filled the young man with His Spirit, and he began to sing with her in a new prayer language on key, with perfect pitch.

Thats what happened. In my heart God seemed to confirm that it was the beginning of the public events of the Awakening that would become the greatest outpouring of His Spirit since the Day of Pentecost. As you have been telling others, you will now be so busy you will not have time to listen to anything but me, read anything but my Word, do anything but what I specifically call you to do.

Then today is the day?

This is the day that I have made, and you will rejoice and be glad in it.

-David Manuel

Kitty O'Shea's Prayer Group - August 14, 2006

2006-08-14T19:11:00.000-04:00

Six regulars gathered at Kitty’s to pray today.

Several of us came bearing Scriptures and a sense of how God was speaking to us through them:

Dick mentioned 2 Chronicles 7:14, which has been a motif for the Tremont Temple Noon Hour Prayer: if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. He also spoke highly of the Tremont gatherings and recommended David Manuel’s latest book (2004).

Andrea brought the verse Deuteronomy 4:29 from a church retreat the previous weekend: “But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.” This was an encouragement that God was not to be found in the temple alone, as before, but was accessible to all committed seekers.
David had been encouraged through reading Walter Bruegemann’s book Hopeful Imagination, about the prophets of exile and homecoming—Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah. In the midst of enormous turmoil, which resulted in the destruction of Judah and Judaism as then known, they spoke words of hope, such as Isaiah 54:1: "Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband," says the LORD.” Here, the prophet Isaiah drew on the memory of the exiles (from the story of Sara & Abraham) to call into being fresh hope of new life and homecoming for them. He felt encouraged to remember other times of being ‘pregnant’ with a word God had spoken, which had then come to pass; and to have now the same joyful certainty that God was at work in Boston and in our lives.

We also discussed for a while how God seems to use certain places repeatedly in history (such as maybe Tremont Temple and Park Street Church again now) versus his doing something ‘new’. We noted that ‘newness’ for Judah in 6^th Century BC meant uprooting and destruction of life as they knew it, but was followed by the promise of homecoming through the prophets, for the people who heard it as Judah collapsed.

In prayer, we asked to hear God’s voice amid all the competing voices seeking to make sense of our times, that we might pray and respond widely to them. We prayed that the Boston business community might not be left out of God’s work as the result of busy-ness or pride, but that they hear his voice and co-operate. We also prayed for peace in the Middle east, and especially Lebanon & Israel, remembering victims of the violence, and asking for change of heart in the war makers. We asked that God would be glorified in the midst of all the tough circumstances there.

David shared his sense during prayer that, rather than being pregnant with God’s word in Boston, the spiritual birth of revival or of God’s newness had already happened here: we were living in times akin to those between the birth of Jesus, heralded in the spiritual realms by scores of angels and on earth by only a few shepherds and wise men, and the time when he emerged (after some 30 years or so) into public ministry for a short period, which changed the world. We prayed that we would be wise watch-people, looking for the signs of God’s emergence and preparing ourselves and others for that time, whenever that might be and however that might happen.

We also remembered to pray for:

Dick’s lunch with Matthew, for whom we have prayed before, on Thursday;
K.’s dissertation defense next Monday; and
Afterwards, J. asked for prayer as she followed up with a call this week to her recent job interviewer.

-D. Porteus

Kitty O'Shea's Prayer Group - August 7, 2006

2006-08-08T13:43:00.000-04:00

Five regulars gathered at Kitty’s to pray today, joined by L. who had visited before.

Among the updates, we discussed how easily fear can become pervasive—noting that healthy, reverent fear of God is a positive thing, which has characterized many revivals; but that Jesus often said "Fear not", when addressing his disciples and others who, like us, could easily be frightened, including by his appearance. Fear was not something to dismiss as simply being an attack of the Devil, since it could shake ungodly confidence and lead people to God.

B. shared his recent encouragement through reading Katherine Marshall to dream big—with God’s invitation and encouragement.

In prayer, we expressed gratitude for the many opportunities which had been given us in this city. We prayed for deep fruitfulness in our lives, and boldness to match, with a full recognition of how our feet were planted on the Rock. We prayed for two girls, who were drawn by the games console near the new prayer corner in Kitty’s and who were playing as we prayed. We prayed too for Kitty O’Sheas and asked God’s blessing on the place and all its customers.

We continued to pray for the Middle East, praying against all warmongers and all those who use God’s name in vain there, and for real peace in the region under its true King.

Among individual prayer foci, we:
Prayed for S’s upcoming medical checkup—that the last vertebra would have been fully fused;
Discussed the changes coming at Freedom and Destiny street evangelism ministries which is now without a coordinator;
Remembered J’s friend Matt; and
Asked that God would give wisdom to J, and open new doors for her, following the positive job interview last week.

-D. Porteous

Kitty O'Shea's Prayer Group - July 31, 2006

2006-08-07T10:32:00.000-04:00

Eight regulars gathered at Kitty’s to pray today, joined by Martha.
We gathered with news to share:

Of M’s short term mission trips to New Mexico; of a new job interview for J; and news of last week’s Tremont temple gathering which was filmed by PBS.

We went to prayer, recognizing that a large part of the purpose of our gatherings is to listen and hear through each of us what is on the Father’s heart. D brought the story of someone whom he had seen that morning, watering the sidewalk with a watering can. This led to prayers that God would reveal to each of us where we were wasting our energy and focus; and that he would direct us to where to sow and water. We prayed for fruitfulness in our work, to counter in part the selfishness of those who give up working simply because they don’t need the money to live. We also asked for wisdom to know when to move and when to go.

However, we also remembered the vivid ministry of Old Testament prophets who prophesied using strange actions and even performances to underline their message. We prayed that the watering of the sidewalk would be prophetic of God’s work in bringing fresh water to hard and dry places, like people’s hearts in the city, which he alone can break open, heal and touch. We asked to be faithful in our own ministry in the market place to those around us, trusting God for the outcomes but being change agents ourselves.

We prayed too for the various ministries touching Boston at this time:
For the aftermath and follow up to the Benny Hinn meetings; and
For Park Street and Tremont Temple, as two churches at the centre of the city geographically and also spiritually in many ways.

We remembered the war in the Middle East, praying for Israel, and for the victims of the recent violence on all sides.

Among individual prayer foci, we:
Prayed for the family to whom M had ministered on the mission’s trip;
Remembered J’s brother, currently in Italy; and
Gave thanks for D’s clean bill of health after a recent health scare.

-D. Porteous

Lincolnshire (UK) Police enlist the power of prayer

2006-08-06T19:39:00.000-04:00

By Ruth Gledhill

Police in Lincolnshire are turning to prayer in their latest efforts to tackle crime. The force is asking churchgoers to concentrate their prayers on crimes such as burglaries and violent attacks.

The Prayer Watch scheme, a spiritual version of Neighbourhood Watch, has been proposed by members of the Lincolnshire branch of the Christian Police Association. The plan is for the police to e-mail churches and Christian groups with details of specific crimes, which worshippers can then focus on in their prayers.

Dick Holmes, a police spokesman, said the project is designed to encourage communities to keep an eye on the churches themselves. “They are prime targets for thieves and vandals and there have been well-publicised spates of trouble across the county.

“Obviously there is the spiritual element which lets communities know about specific incidents in their area so they can focus their prayers on them if they wish.”

So - what happened?

2006-07-31T19:52:00.000-04:00

So what happened when Benny Hinn came to town? History will settle it out, but it may not be premature to make a couple of observations. For two nights, some 18,000 people (I forgot to count the 2,000 chairs set up on the floor of Boston Garden) experienced a joy and a unity which many had not thought possible. And there were two major new cracks in the egg containing an eaglet called Awakening.

Alex said it was the greatest expression of unity he's experienced in forty years of ministry. Ditto. I've been writing about what goes on in the Body of Christ for nearly that long. I was at the Kansas City Charismatic Conference, the first Washington for Jesus, and Promise-Keepers "Stand in the Gap." What we experienced at the Garden belongs on the same shelf with those events.

Curiously (but not surprisingly) there was no mention in the Boston Globe. In Sunday's Ideas section, there was a front-page article on the abortion-rights movement rediscovering religion, but not an inch on what happened at the Garden.

It is reminiscent of New York City in the fall of 1857. Jeremiah Lanphier's Wednesday Noon prayer hour had become an underground phenomenon. His church, "Old North Dutch, could not hold all the people who came to pray. Neither could all the other churches in lower Manhattan" or the firehouses and police stations, the restaurants and theaters.

Word reached the uptown editorial offices of that city's two great newspapers: Something extraordinary was going on downtown. "Nonsense!" scoffed James Gordon Bennett of the Herald. "If it was news, we would have heard about it!" His arch-rival, Horace Greeley of the Tribune, had exactly the same response.

Nevertheless, on the remote chance that something might be going on, they each sent their best man to cover it. When their ace reporters came back born-again and praising God, the astonished editors realized something significant was afoot. They began to cover it, and word began to spread of the Great Prayer Revival of 1857, which eventually went around the world and sparked revivals in both the Union and Confederate Armies.

When the one who controls secular media does not like a newsworthy event, he renders it a non-event by withholding coverage. That happened in Washington in 1980. Other than couple of photos of bizarre fringe elements and two column-inches of copy, the Washington Post ignored the fact that a family event of epic proportions had taken place on the Mall. But other newspapers did cover it, and the further west one got, the wider and deeper the coverage.

Twenty-six years later, there are many more vehicles to get the word out: ipods, live-streaming video, Christian radio and television networks, email, and the Internet itself. All who should know, will know.

So pass the good news on and keep an eye on that egg in Boston....

-David Manuel