TRENDS IN MARKETPLACE CHRISTIANITY

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What are these trends and why are they so exciting?

Trend #1: “Less Talk, More Action”

Since the 1990s, the Movement has been focused primarily on highlighting problems such as the separations between sacred and secular, Church and the workplace, etc. Today, rather than waiting for an endorsement of their ministry calling to business, many marketplace Christians are simply doing what they are called to do.

For example, many of today’s Christian entrepreneurs are launching and growing successful companies for the foundational purpose of glorifying God in the marketplace. Telos Ventures Capital is an early-stage venture capital fund that has built and invested in aelof these “Gospel-centred, for-profit ventures” (ref. 1). The company invests $50,000 to $300,000 in viable, early-stage startups whose founders demonstrate a compelling response to the question, “How are you planning to live out your faith through this business model?”

God is revealing new technology to His servants. My eldest son’s new company is called REVELANT (Revelation from God of new technology that is relevant for today). Have you heard of nanofluidity? No! neither had I, in fact, it is new and it is about to revolutionise energy consumption and a whole lot of other industries, oil, water and even treatment of diseases. Take a look on You Tube under Revelant or nanofluidity or nanophysics or check out their website http://www.revelant.com.

Trend #2: “Division of Labour”

Every spiritual gift given by the Holy Spirit to the People of God (the Church) is represented in the marketplace. As marketplace Christians are discovering their unique ministry assignments in the business world, a division of labour among the extended Church’s ministry responsibilities is emerging. The uniqueness of our different assignments is the reason for the wide variety of terms and phrases currently used to describe what God is doing in the business world:

  • Biblical Entrepreneurship
  • Marketplace Ministry
  • Business as Mission (BAM)
  • Workplace Ministry
  • The Seven Mountains Mandate
  • Work as Worship
  • Theology of Work
  • Values-Based Investing
  • Theology of Business
  • Eternal Return on Investment (EROI)
  • Christian Companies
  • Social Entrepreneurship
  • Great Commission Companies
  • Christ-Centered Companies
  • Workplace Evangelism
  • Kingdom Business
  • Values-Based Business

Let’s not worry about trying to get everyone to use the same terms. It’s actually a good thing that not every marketplace Christian approaches marketplace Christianity in the exact same way. Every marketplace Christian’s gifts and callings are essential for the fulfilment of God’s will for the business world.

Trend #3: “Ministry Collaboration”

As we recognise the variety and diversity of the Church’s marketplace assignments, many of us are realising opportunities to collaborate with other Christians for the purpose of revealing the glory of God in the business world.

Christian business consultants are providing Spirit-led, Biblically-based business advice for Christian business leaders.

Christian venture capitalists are investing in the companies of Christian entrepreneurs.

Christian chaplains are serving the employees of Christian business owners.

Christian pastors are collaborating with business professionals in their churches to host marketplace ministry equipping programs.

Christian business professionals are referring new customers and clients to each other.

In the podcasting industry (internet radio), an entire eco-system is developing around the theme of “marketplace Christianity.” Since 2013, podcast shows such as The Success Edge, Church for Entrepreneurs, Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur, iWork4Him, Gospel Driven Entrepreneur, Eternal Leadership, Theology of Business, and others have emerged with the goal of helping Christians to apply their Christian faith to their work in business.

The Mission America Coalition has launched a new initiative in which key leaders in the Marketplace Christianity Movement have united under a vision to see 56,000,000 people reached with the love of Jesus in the workplace by the year 2020.

A similar initiative has been launched with marketplace ministries in Australia which includes Business GREENhouse, Paladin Group, Kingdom Builders, Called to Business, Wealth with Purpose and others.

If 56,000,000 people are going to be reached with the love of Jesus in the marketplace by 2020, it’s going to require that we as marketplace Christians work together across denominational, racial, professional, socio-economic, and any other lines that divide us. Approximately 85 percent of Christians spend most of their waking hours working in for-profit companies, so the potential impact of our ministry collaboration for the glory of God is enormous.

Have you noticed evidence of these current trends? Have you noticed any other current trends in the Marketplace Christianity Movement?

[i] http://telosventures.com/about/

Article by Darren Shearer Theology of Business, Three trends in Marketplace Christianity.

LIVE ETERNALLY NOW – Practice the Presence of God

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There is only one way to live eternally now and that is to endeavour to walk constantly as in His presence. Jesus made it possible for our Heavenly Father to send the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, to indwell our spirit. We need to remind ourselves constantly of His presence and purpose, to be our counsellor, our teacher, our comforter. If you have not read the book “The Practice of the Presence of God” by Brother Lawrence then get it now FREE on Amazon as a Kindle ebook. Let me give you two powerful quotes from the book.

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“When we are faithful to keep ourselves in His Holy Presence, and set Him always before us, this not only hinders our offending Him and doing anything that may displease Him, at least wilfully, but it also begets in us a holy freedom, and, if I may so speak, a familiarity with God, wherewith we ask, successfully, [for] the graces we stand in need of.” (Brother Lawrence, c.1614–1691)

“All things are possible to him who believes…They are less difficult to him who hopes, they are more easy to him who loves, and still more easy to him who perseveres in the practice of these three virtues.” (Brother Lawrence, c.1614–1691)

Moreover, if we did walk in His presence continually, I am sure we would start to see the power return to the church. Perhaps, we would begin again to see the church growing as the early church did, as recorded in the Book of Acts. “Continually, more and more people believed in the Lord and were added to their number – great crowds of both men and women as they met regularly in the temple courts in the area known as Solomon’s Porch… The apostles performed many signs, wonders and miracles among the people and the believers were wonderfully united.“

How difficult it is now, to find a church that believes in an inerrant/infallible Bible, and therefore teaches the truth:

1. God created a perfect world: the pinnacle of His creation was a man and woman made in God’s image to be in relationship with Him.

2. Death and suffering in the world is a direct consequence of their disobedience (SIN).

3. Sadly, just ten generations after Adam, wickedness caused God to judge the world with a world wide flood just 4,000 + years ago. Noah’s Flood is responsible for the billions of fossils found in rock layers all over the world, and the fossil fuels, not billions of years of slow gradual change.

4. Just about 200 years after the flood, God judged wickedness again, by confusing the languages at the Tower of Babel. This act is responsible for the dispersal of people groups and establishment of all the nations.

5. Another 300 + years, God then established a nation, Israel to represent Him. Sadly again, they did not do a good job, but its existence today as prophesied by most of the Old Testament prophets, is proof God exists, and the Bible is God’s Word.

6. Finally, just over two thousand years ago, God the Father sends His Son, Jesus, to divide history into BC and AD. It was also at the prophesied time and place. Jesus has provided the only way back for mankind into a right relationship with our Heavenly Father and the promise of eternal life. The penalty for SIN is death and Jesus the sinless son of God died in our place so we can be made righteous before God in Him.

Will you repent of your SIN, recognise Him as Lord of the Universe and accept His free gift of eternal life?

7. Jesus will return again also as promised and prophesied. Moreover, fulfilled prophesy indicates the time is near. God’s history book gives us the timing of all of these events (not the day or hour: “but you, brethren, are not in darkness so that this day should overtake you as a thief.” 1 Thess. 5:2-4). The world is just 6,000+ years old not billions as Satan would have you believe. God has and is constantly at work in His world. Sadly, much of the traditional church has been deceived and just as Jesus foretold, at His second coming, the majority of people including many church goers (apostasy – a great falling away) will be like the people of Noah’s day who perished when the flood came.

Are you prepared for Jesus second coming. Have you searched the Scriptures and heeded John’s instruction in Revelation: “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.” Revelation 1:3

BIG HISTORY VERSUS TRUE HISTORY

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The Big History project is funded by Bill Gates and it attempts to rewrite history to remove God and His Word from history. Moreover, Big History is now a referenced text for universities in the USA and around the world.

Authors: David Christian (D.Phil., Oxford University) is a lecturer in history at Macquarie University Sydney Australia. In 2010, he founded the “Big History Project” with Bill Gates. Cynthia Stokes Brown (PhD, John Hopkins University) has written extensively on civil rights history. She is also author of Big History: From the Big Bang to the Present (2007). Craig Benjamin (PhD, Macquarie University) is an Associate Professor of history at Grand Valley State University in Michigan.

These authors boast this is “the first modern text on big history”.

The authors claim to have formulated a new secular and materialistic origin to replace religious origin stories – especially the Biblical account of creation. To them origin stories are “naive and simplistic” (p 12), and the miraculous birth and death of Christ are dismissed as being merely great stories with “almost magical power”(p.12). In fact, they assert that it is a mistake to take the origin stories such as the Genesis account too literally, and that those that told them did not themselves always take them as literal truth.

The authors assert there is no verifiable evidence to support the creationist view and no way of testing it. Therefore, scientists regard supernatural creation as a matter of belief or a metaphor. Instead, scientists look for naturalistic explanations that can be supported by objective evidence.

The authors seem blind to the fact that big bang cosmology and biological evolution are mere forensic reconstructions that have no direct evidence and no way of testing them – talk about blind faith. There explanation for this universe is that it “appeared” 13.8 billion years ago. How it came into existence the authors don’t say.

The authors claim there is a single thread that runs through the whole story: the emergence of more and more complex things over time. And yet, all of the evidence and laws of nature run contrary to this statement.  The Second Law of Thermodynamics (Law of Disorder or Law of Decay) shows a world winding down. Moreover, genetic entropy demonstrates the human genome is deteriorating at a disturbing rate due to the accumulation of mutations which clearly shows mankind and many more animals are heading for extinction. There is no mechanism for taking you from “goo to you”. The emergence of more complex things over time is a myth.

This book is not a true work of history. It is merely a propaganda tool for the indoctrination of students with a materialist and indeed Marxist, worldview.

Students who want serious, well-researched and documented works of history should consult the book of Genesis, Geoffrey Blainey’s, A Short History of the World and Thomas Sowell’s, Conquests and Cultures, Wealth, Poverty and Politics, Migrations and Cultures.

ALIENS (DEMONS) – SATAN’S FINAL DECEPTIVE STRATEGY

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The gloves are off now, as we enter the “last Days”. Fallen angels masquerading as our space brothers. Extreme? You need to read on.

Satan has effectively used the Theory of Evolution to dispense with creation and therefore God, but now that his “evolution” deception has been uncovered/exposed by the overwhelming evidence for intelligent design, particularly in biology. The ENCODE project has revealed the complexity of DNA and exposed the lie of “junk DNA”. There is only one source for the complex information on the DNA that enables the cell to function and reproduce itself, and that is an intelligent designer – God.

Satan knew this would eventually happen, so for years now, he has been preparing the way for the next major deception. Moreover, he has cleverly targeted the next generation but not only them. They have been bombarded with movies and computer games featuring Aliens. The rest of the population have been captured by reports of UFO’s and alien abductions.

Take a look at my August 2008 post, Aliens and UFO’s – What are they really?

Satan has been working on this ploy for many years. He would have you believe the source of this intelligent design is of course aliens. Fortunately, God has raised up discerning Christians like Gary Bates and Joe Jordan.

gary-bates-and-joe-jordan

Joe Jordan (left) with CMI’s resident UFO authority, Gary Bates. They have on occasion teamed up at Roswell.

More about them later, but now in 2017, surveys estimate that more than 80% of Western peoples believe that ET is ‘out there somewhere’ which presumably encapsulates a lot of believers also. But many young people, in particular, have been influenced by science fiction notions of aliens traversing the galaxy in their faster-than-light spaceships and advanced weaponry. Moreover, young people’s belief in extra-terrestrials often goes hand-in-hand with a morbid fear of what aliens will do to them.

Belief in aliens—and fear arising from that—is a logical outflow of our young people having been sold the idea that we are the result of evolution, not creation. Life evolved on Earth (the argument says), therefore elsewhere in the universe—billions of years older than our solar system according to evolutionary reckoning—it would surely have evolved there, too.2 As well-known Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) researcher Seth Shostak said when asked why he believed in the existence of intelligent extra-terrestrials:

“To believe that they don’t exist requires positing that what’s happened on Earth is some sort of miracle. I find that premise a tougher sell than to think that intelligence is a fairly frequent development in a 14-billion-year-old cosmos.”1

Thus, Shostak reveals he sees the miracle of Creation as ‘a tougher sell’ than neo-Darwinian notions that everything arose by itself. So, he and the rest of the evolutionary fraternity sell us evolution instead— as ‘fact’. And by hawking evolution to a vulnerable public, they’re also hawking fear of aliens, too. (pardon the pun)

stephen-hawking

Renowned celebrity physicist Stephen Hawking is at the forefront of the search for extra-terrestrial life. But he warns against making contact with aliens as he fears they will be two-billion-years ‘more evolved’.

“Hawking says he worries that any aliens ‘will be vastly more powerful and may not see us as any more valuable than we see bacteria’.”4

Back to Joe Jordan, a UFO researcher who is now wise as to who the ‘aliens’ actually are. Joe is the National Research Director for MUFON in South Korea. The Mutual UFO Network is the world’s largest clearing house for UFO investigations and reports. Joe came upon something hugely significant. When trying to figure out what was really happening to people who were claiming to be abducted by aliens, he discovered that ‘abductions’ were being halted by people who called out in the name of Christ. What’s more, people who professed to be practising born-again Christians seemed to be generally immune from such experiences. He soon noticed that many in MUFON were already aware of this, but were ignoring it because it did not fit their belief that such experiences were of an extra-terrestrial nature. After being led to a Bible study as part of his research to find out what it was about Christians that “aliens didn’t like”, Joe realized that he was ultimately dealing with a spiritual phenomenon and not an extra-terrestrial one—and became a Christian.7

Other people who have also realized the real identity of the ‘aliens’ include Guy Malone who had also experienced alleged ‘alien abductions’. When exposed to the Gospel of Christ, the ‘abduction’ episodes ceased. Guy realized that what he had experienced were in fact spiritual encounters of the ‘ungodly’ kind—fallen angels masquerading as glorious ‘space brothers’.7

But for the younger generation, being schooled in evolution opens them to being vulnerable from multiple angles. As we’ve seen from the comments of Stephen Hawking and others, evolutionary teaching predisposes people to belief in the possible existence of aliens—and the concomitant fears arising from that. More fundamentally, evolutionary schooling lessens the likelihood of someone believing in God, therefore depriving them of the ability to clothe themselves in Christ and the demonstrated protection that affords from demonic visitation.

Ideas have consequences. Hawking evolution on to our young people is really doing them an immense disservice, to put it mildly. Thankfully, there are abundant creationist resources available on www.creation.com such as Alien Intrusion, to replace in the minds of young people any fear of aliens with the fear of the Lord—“the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10).

Extracted from CMI article: Why is Stephen Hawking afraid of Aliens.

          1. Di Gregorio, B., Interview: The alien hunter, New Scientist 199 (2674):42–43, September 2008

2. Catchpoole, D., and Bates, G.,ET needed evolution, 2016; creation.com/et-evolution.

3. Lineweaver, C., ‘If we find ET, don’t talk to it’, says the man who wants to find ET, abc.net.au

4. Bates, G., Reaching out at Roswell, 2009; creation.com/roswell-outreach.

PERSECUTION IN THE “LAST DAYS” FOR PROCLAIMING TRUTH

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Three Christian street evangelists are standing trial on Thursday (February 23rd, 2017) at the Bristol Magistrates’ Court in the U.K., facing public order offences for preaching the “uniqueness of Jesus Christ” and challenging homosexuality and the teachings of Islam.

Isis beheading 21 coptic Christians

Note the three issues: I contend they are clearly issues Jesus spoke of as “end times” indicators. 1. uniqueness of Jesus Christ, 2. challenging homosexuality and 3. Islam (greatest Antichrist religion – God has no Father, God has no Son, Ishmael is the heir of Abraham).

Are we preparing for Jesus return? Is the church prepared for increasing persecution?  “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.” Matthew 24:9. The beheading of Christians by ISIS in the Middle East and elsewhere, “all these are the beginning of sorrows”. Matthew 24:8.

Christian Concern has reported that Michael Overd, Adrian Clark and Michael Stockwell were accused by police of “challenging Islam” and “challenging homosexuality” for their preaching at a Bristol shopping area in July 2016.

The evangelists reportedly engaged with the crowd and pointed out the differences between Islam and Christianity, using references from the Bible and the Quran to speak of “God’s love, and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.”

persecution-in-these-last-daysMike Overd, a street evangelist and client of the British group Christian Legal Centre in the U.K. (seen in this undated photo), has been charged under Section 5 of the Public Order Act with “causing offence” for public remarks where he drew a comparison between Jesus Christ and Muhammad, September 2014.

Overd was also charged in 2014 for “causing offence” when he publicly denounced the Islamic  prophet Muhammad for marrying a 9-year-old girl, and was subsequently interrupted by a police officer and forcefully removed from the area.

The officer at the scene accused Overd and his friends of purposefully trying to agitate the crowd, arguing that the preacher has “gone over the top” and “he’s just wound up people.”

The evangelists were taken to Patchway Custody Center in Bristol and held for several hours, after which they were charged under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and the Public Order Act 1986.

The three men are arguing that their freedom of speech and freedom of religion are being violated, and insisted that all they were doing was sharing the teachings of the Bible and responding to questions from the crowd.

“Mr Overd and his friends are motivated by love. They want to share the Good News of Jesus with people who might not otherwise hear it. Sometimes that means addressing the false claims of other religions or ideologies,” said Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre. “Robust debate is sometimes necessary, especially when objections are being raised or abuse hurled. We shouldn’t be afraid of it,” Williams added. “The aggressive treatment of Overd and his friends by the police and prosecution is shocking. The police should be defending freedom of speech, not clamping down on it.” Williams further argued that being “offensive” is a subjective accusation, as it goes down to people’s individual viewpoints. “This was not just an attack on freedom of speech but an abuse of power. We will not only be seeking the acquittal of these Christian men but seeking an apology from the Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset police, compensation and assurances that officers are better trained to protect freedom of expression,” she continued.
“We cannot allow the Gospel to be shut out of public debate. Please pray for a successful outcome to this important case,” she added.

CAN YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THIS WORLD?

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Listen to Jessica Jackley on poverty, money and love. She shows how you can make a difference in this world and still be dead centre in God’s will for you. Also, see how Jackie is still a witness for Jesus in this rapidly changing world.

NEW FILM “IS GENESIS HISTORY?” SAYS UNEQUIVOCAL YES!

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Dr. Del Tackett is part of an upcoming film titled “Is Genesis History?” and he’s hoping the documentary will give Christians the confidence they need to stand strong on the Word of God, particularly the creation account, without compromise.

“I’m hoping that people will look at the film and they would realise that they don’t have to accede to the accusation that if you hold to a position of [young earth], of a literal historical position in Genesis, then [you are] unscientific or stupid,” Tackett told The Christian Post during the premiere screening at The Creation Museum earlier this month.

“My hope is that those people that want to hold to biblical truth would walk away with the confidence that there is credible evidence and there are credible scientists, that they could be sure that what God has given us is true and can hold onto that.”

The documentary follows Tackett as he embarks on an eye-opening educational journey through evidence that supports historic claims from the book of Genesis, featuring commentary from renowned scientists and Bible scholars.

The film explores the questions and findings of the universe being created in six literal days, as well as whether or not humans evolved, the validity of a global flood, what happened to the dinosaurs and more.

“Here’s my position, and I think it’s one of the things that I’ve learned throughout the film: We are in an amazing time when the research is allowing us to see so much data that reinforces a Creator, that reinforces what He told us in the beginning,” Tackett said to Christian Post. “And I think it’s going to be increasingly difficult for the current paradigm to last much longer.”

“I would tell Christians, ‘If you are going to put your trust in Evolution and you’re going to say that God’s Word is now just an analogy, or it’s just some kind of simile, you’re twisting the Word of God because of a paradigm that is already really shaky.’ I would say, ‘You have that backwards. We start with the Word of God. We start with the record that God has given to us and stand on that, then begin to view the world around us. That’s when things will make sense.'”

The same is true when people try to make sense of evil, he noted. “If you come from a natural position, you won’t understand it. But if you come from it as it is described in the word of God, then it does make sense.”

“We live in a time where the current scientific paradigm is infiltrating a lot of the seminaries and a lot of the hierarchy in evangelical Christianity because people have been led to believe that science has settled this issue of deep time,” Tackett lamented.

If Christians are now feeling that they have to somehow rectify their faith for a scientific perspective, Tackett said then they are ripping out the foundation of everything that God has given to His creation.

“You lose the concept of a God that speaks life into existence, you lose the concept of male and female, you lose the concept of marriage, and the origin of sin and why there is evil. You lose the concept of a God that is holy, who judges sin and who will judge sin again,” he explained.

What the Bible scholar sees today is a generation caught in the current belief of creation without God.

“The world is still captive in the current paradigm. That paradigm, just as every paradigm in the past, really doesn’t allow any other questions,” Tackett pointed out.

What Tackett failed to say is that the theory of evolution has been the most successful ploy that Satan has concocted. It provides the excuse for fallen man to reject God, and despite the fact their is no mechanism (or evidence) to take you from “goo to you”, they won’t except the obvious – intelligent design because it requires a designer – GOD.

HOPE ETERNAL COMES FROM KNOWING GOD

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“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast….  Hebrews 6:19

In his book about hope, Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie wrote, “Hope is not wishful thinking…. Hope is not simply cheery optimism. Hope certainly can produce an optimistic attitude, but an optimistic attitude is no substitute for true hope…. Hope is a gift of God through Christ that produces a confident, unshakeable trust in His faithfulness, and a vibrant expectation of His timely interventions in keeping with His gracious promises to us.”

Hope sustains us as we wait on the Lord. In fact, in the Bible it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference between the words wait and hope. Isaiah 40:31 in the New King James Version says, “But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength….” But in the New International Version, the same verse says, “…but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.”

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Hope is simply waiting expectantly and eagerly for the day God will perfectly fulfill every promise and do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or imagine.

Hope is a deep-seated confidence in God that anchors our souls, even in rough seas. Make very sure your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock.

Authentic hope is always a by-product of a personal relationship with God. It comes from knowing God.
Lloyd John Ogilvie

BETSY DE VOS APPOINTED EDUCATION SECRETARY

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With the election of Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary, there is NO doubt now, that Trump is God’s man to bring Him back into the Nation’s life and hopefully make what is on their currency “In God We Trust” meaningful.

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Rev. Robert Sirico, the founder of the Grand Rapids-based Acton Institute and a long-time DeVos family friend, describes her as a “solid evangelical Christian” who is active in her church and “orthodox in her beliefs and personal commitment to Jesus Christ.”

John Booy, another long-time friend, told CBN News that DeVos integrates her faith into all areas of her life and that it’s led her to a “deep sensitivity to those who have not had the privilege she’s grown up with.”

DeVos and her husband Dick DeVos spoke at a 2001 Christian philanthropic gathering about their faith.  She described a desire to be active in education to influence the culture and help “advance God’s kingdom.”

Dick DeVos spoke about wanting to drive better performance across all education.  “Our Christian worldview, which for us comes from a Calvinist tradition, which is to be very much a part of the world and to provide for a greater opportunity, a more expanded opportunity someday for all parents to be able to educate their children in a school that reflects their worldview,” he said.

Booy is principal at the Potter’s House, a Christian K-12 school in Grand Rapids.  DeVos has actively supported the school for years and Booy says she became passionate about reforming education while meeting parents there.  The school opened in 1981 to provide a choice for families in the low-income neighbourhood surrounding it.  At the time, their public school ranked third-lowest in the state.

Ingersoll, the University of North Florida scholar, says that “it’s a long-standing goal of the religious right to dismantle public education” and that religious conservatives like DeVos “don’t see public schools as religiously neutral.” If an education is not Christian, then it is anti-Christian. This is a view, she suggests, DeVos shares with Mike Pence, the religiously conservative vice president, who is expected by some to have Dick Cheney-level influence in the Trump administration. Moreover, it is a view that can’t be ignored. Creation cannot be taught in public schools only evolution which is also teaching children atheism.

This is just one more Christian appointed by Trump to high office in government.

 

THE POWER OF PRAYER TO CHANGE NATIONS

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Some prophetic voices believe the United States of America shifted, spiritually, Oct. 21, 2016, on what may go down as one of the most important days in American history. Did this National Day of Prayer for First Nations affect the outcome of the November Presidential election? Does America get another chance to repent and change its course? Yes is does, under Trump. Under Hilary Clinton its course was clear, further moving away from God and increased marginalisation and then persecution of Christians.

Largely unnoticed, 1,000 Native American Indian tribes from the United States and Canada collectively forgave the U.S. government for breaking treaties with their ancestors during a public ceremony on the National Mall.

The National Day of Prayer for First Nations, held near the Washington Monument, included intercessory petitions, proclamations and declarations of forgiveness by leaders from All Tribes D.C., a fellowship of Christians representing 1,000 American Indians from the U.S. and Canada.

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A full-blooded Euchee (Yuchi) Indian, Negiel Bigpond coordinated the first-ever national prayer gathering of Native Americans in the nation’s capital.

Like the annual May observance of the National Day of Prayer, signed into law by President Harry S. Truman in 1952, First Nations intercessors will convene again in 2017 during the third week of October.

Dr. Billy Graham, whose son and daughter have served on the National Day of Prayer Task Force, is a prophetic voice who believes that forgiveness by Native Americans might be part of a spiritual awakening within the nation.

“The Native American has been a sleeping giant,” Graham writes. “He is awakening. The original Americans could become the evangelists who will help win America for Christ. Remember the forgotten people.”

Bigpond agrees that Native Americans have taken a good first step toward aiding national awakening by extending forgiveness to the nation.

“We chose to forgive the U.S., whether it asked for it or not,” said Bigpond, a fourth-generation pastor who offered forgiveness and spoke blessings over the nation alongside other tribal prayer warriors.

Bigpond, who has evangelised on 143 reservations, believes the U.S. has suffered spiritual consequences for breaking treaties with Native Americans.

In Scripture, breaking a vow or treaty brings a curse on the land, and the U.S. government broke every treaty it made with the Native American tribes, according to prophetic voice Rick Joyner, who called the prayer event one of the most important in the nation’s history from his ministry headquarters in North and South Carolina.

“This is very real,” Joyner said. “National injustices are a major issue we’re facing now, whether we want to or not, and this is a big one.”

Bigpond is an apostle at Morning Star Evangelistic Center in Oklahoma, which is affiliated with Joyner’s MorningStar Ministries.

The nation’s crises parallel conditions on the reservations, according to Bigpond, a certified drug- and alcohol-abuse counsellor.

“We don’t want the nation or our people to suffer further,” said Bigpond, who holds a doctorate in divinity and is a Euchee tribe chief.

Mary Faus, who represented the Ojibway and Cree tribes at the prayer event, said the unity and power of forgiving a nation that’s never apologised or asked for it was amazing.

“We believe this has shifted the nation and we are already feeling the effects of what was accomplished in D.C.,” said Faus, who is the director of a house of prayer in Pennsylvania and lead intercessor with husband Jon at Hope of Nations Christian Centre.

Joyner agrees that forgiveness and love are major weapons in waging spiritual warfare on behalf of the nation.

“This is one of the most noble acts of true Christian charity I have ever heard of by any people group,” Joyner said. “Very few may even know that anything special happened.

“Some of the greatest things happen that way, and only a very few who have their eyes open looking in the right direction, see them,” Joyner said.

Portions of a proclamation posted on the All Tribes D.C. website were read by tribal leaders gathered on the National Mall.

The proclamation reads in part, “We forgive every atrocity and broken covenant ever designed to destroy us as a race of people. We break every curse and renounce every lie purposed to decimate us as human beings.

“We forgive the government, the church and the educational system for the use of residential schools that attempted to destroy our culture and silence our voice as people by stealing our language.

“We stand in the gap for those who are unable or unwilling to forgive, and call upon the Master of Life, to forgive us for harbouring unforgiveness, resentment, hatred, bitterness and rage.

“We repent of every curse spoken over America by our ancestors and we release the power of forgiveness to bring healing and the peace of Creator God to this land.

“We declare and decree that our voice will no longer be silenced and that this nation and the world will hear our voice as we speak life and blessings over the Americas and the world.

“We stand in faith believing that our citizenship lies in heaven, and we too, all await the return of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Being all of one mind and heart, having compassion for one another, we declare our love as brothers; not returning evil for the evil perpetuated against us, but on the contrary we choose to release a blessing, knowing that the Father of us all has called us as his children to bless and not curse, that we may inherit a blessing. Amen.”

God is doing something in Australia as well, our Christian Aboriginal brothers and sisters are planning a Solemn Assembly Gathering in Canberra, hopefully in 2017, to join with Christians from all denominations to ask repentance from God and to forgive one another for past sins.