Award winning rapper Lecrae: I am here to hold up the banner of TRUTH.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IpDGu87dm0

Grammy-Award winning rapper Lecrae recently appeared on the New York City radio station “Hot 97 The Morning Show” where he discussed being censored due to his lyrical content being informed by his Christian faith.

“I’m more censored than the most drugged out violent rapper,” Lecrae told host Ebro who asked if he runs into barriers due to being a Christian rapper. “They censor me more than anybody. I’m marginalized, put in a box, so it’s kind of weird. I’m sitting here trying to put substance in music and people are like, ‘nah nah.'”

Lecrae also enjoyed other mainstream exposure performing on the “Late Show with Jimmy Fallon” last month and knocking Nicki Minaj’s sex driven “Anaconda” out of the No. 1 slot on iTunes back in August with his single “All I Need is You.” He shared an exclusive quote with The Christian Post to celebrate that feat.

“I don’t look at it that way,” the rapper told Christian Post. “I think it’s phenomenal to make music that challenges people to think on morality, spirituality and the betterment of society. Many people do that. Some sing country or jazz — I rap.

At the end of the day I’m not here to hold up the banner of a genre. I am here to hold up the banner of Truth. It’s way bigger than genres and charts. I’m fighting to be a voice in culture. A voice in a dark world.”

GOD CAN USE YOU TO CHANGE A NATION

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Dominic Russo of Missions.Me in Honduras

Dominic Russo made history last year in Central America when he took 2,000 missionaries to Honduras for a week to preach the Gospel, provide medical aid and create sustainable change in every state of the country.

“July 20, 2013 was the first day of the new Honduras. The entire time, our goal wasn’t to move people to a moment where they pray a prayer but it was to make that moment the foundation and beginning of a new country,” Russo told The Christian Post.

He highlighted that after that 1Nation1Day event in Honduras, the entire nation’s deaths caused by acts of violence has decreased by 38 percent, the largest drug cartel left the country and the city of San Pedro Sula, previously known as murder capital of the world, has seen murders decrease by over 70 percent.

While in Honduras, he also tried to create permanent changes by implementing an educational, values-based curriculum intended to last six months. However, the Honduran minister of education has now made it a mandate for the program to become a permanent fixture in the country’s education system.

“We have an unrelenting passion to bring the kingdom of God and transformation to the nations. We don’t do anything outside of relationships. We seek deep and profound relationships with local churches and leaders across the nation and our goal is to serve their global vision.”

Russo may be young to have started such a large-scale ministry, but he has known for a long time that he was going to be a missionary. He shared that he felt God’s calling at the age of 12 when a guest speaker visiting his father’s church in Rochester, Michigan, prayed over him and declared his missions ministry. “I felt God for the first time in my life and more than that, I got a sense that I would be ministering to people around the world and that I was being called to an international ministry,” Russo recalled about that critical moment.

“I began to feel a compassion for people that didn’t have a relationship with God, it was an intense pain.”

Russo notes that within the next decade, Missions.Me will focus on working in Latin America and plans on taking their 1Nation1Day campaign to the Dominican Republic in July 2015.

For more information on 1Nation1Day or to partner with Russo and his team for the upcoming Dominican Republic campaign, visit 1Nation1Day or Missions.Me.

 

When churches unite, it is an unstoppable force

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This six minute video is of another story of city transformation when churches work together (John 17 unity). This time the city is Portland, Orgeon. Not too far from Whatcom County.

God is moving mightily in these last days. When we show the love of Christ to the hurting in our community, the city is transformed. The spiritual forces of darkness (demonic powers) disperse when the light of Christ shines brightly.

GOD transforms a community, where His church is One.

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Before going to The Cross JESUS prayed:

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word; that they all may be one as You Father , are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that you sent me.”

John 17:20,21

What amazing transformation in the Whatcom County, Washington, population 210,000. Unity within the body of Christ (unity with diversity) and cities, counties are transformed. See the transformation for yourself in this twelve minute video.

 

Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify You,

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Jesus on Cross

 

Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. John 17:1-3

What amazing words and JESUS spoke them knowing within hours He would be crucified. 

He also warned them; “Indeed the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think they are offering a service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have told you these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.” John 16:2-4 and”I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of Truth (Holy Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you.” John 16:12-14. 

Surely, this is proof enough, JESUS is who He said He was. Whatever He prophesied came to pass. It happened.

The HOLY SPIRIT did come upon the believers at Pentecost just as JESUS told them. It transformed them and empowered them to live their lives knowing they had eternal life. The Holy Spirit comes to ALL believers in JESUS, to empower them to live the Christian life. Christians know the truth because the Spirit of truth dwells within them.

JESUS also told them, He would be killed and resurrected in three days. Here in John 16:16, He said, ” A little while, and you will see me no longer; but again a little while, and you will see Me.” The disciples had no idea what JESUS was talking about. “JESUS knew that they wanted to ask Him, so He said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? John 16:19

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.” John 16:20

We know these nobodies (fishermen and tax collectors) went on to change the world by preaching the Good News.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” John 3:16

Jesus Christ the Creator, God the Son, though totally sinless, took on human nature, so He could become our Redeemer. He suffered on our behalf the penalty for mankind’s sin, which is death and separation from God. He did this to satisfy the righteous demands of the holiness and justice of God, His Father. All who truly believe in Him, repent of their sin and trust in Him have eternal life in a restored relationship with their Creator God.

 

SCIENTISTS COPYING DESIGN IN NATURE (Biomimetrics)

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Prof Stuart Burgess & intricate design of the Envisat ESA satellite drive shaft – nothing compared to the design in nature.

A world expert on biomimetrics (imitating design in nature),  Prof. Stuart Burgess, BSc, PhD(Brun), CEng, FIMechE, is Professor of Engineering Design, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bristol (UK).

Dr Burgess is the author of over 40 papers published in secular science journals, and another 50 conference proceedings. He has also registered 7 patents.

Is it more difficult for engineers—who spend so much time considering designed objects – to embrace Darwinian evolution than it is for biologists?

Stuart explains: “Yes, for two reasons. Firstly, since the design by human beings is not limited by the step-by-step change that evolution is limited by, human engineers should produce designs which are far more sophisticated than those found in nature. Yet the opposite is true. Nature has by far the most sophisticated designs. A second reason is that engineers know that you cannot design by making random mistakes. If you randomly change a single parameter in a car engine it will always result in a retrograde step. Design improvements always require careful planning and careful changing of many parameters at the same time.”

Stuart has ample experience of this, including working on the design of a solar array for the hugely expensive Envisat ESA satellite, as he explains:

“The Envisat satellite cost £1.6 billion4 and has hundreds of thousands of components and several million separate pieces of design information, like dimensions and material properties. It would only have taken one or two errors in the design information and the whole mission would have failed. This kind of project illustrates how difficult design is and how design does not happen by chance.”

This brings us to the nub of the issue—whether or not we are the purposeful Creation of Almighty God?

Stuart explains how his Christian faith connects with the work he has been involved in all these years.

“Engineering is a great profession for a Christian because it involves creativity. Man’s ability to create is one aspect of our being made in the image of God. The difficulty of designing and building things that are relatively simple makes you realize how great is the wisdom and power of God who has made all things.”

What would he say to those who argue that one’s Christian faith and convictions about the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ are largely separate from the issue of origins, and separate from the meaning of the text in the early chapters of Genesis?

“The doctrine of Special Creation is important because it helps remind people there is a personal Creator who was involved in the detailed design of man. Believing in Special Creation also helps people to appreciate God’s skill in creating such a vast array of intricate plants and creatures. I think it is very important to believe in a historical Adam and historical Eve. If you start to compromise by, for example, accepting evolution and ape-men, then the theological problems are very serious. If Adam and Eve were descended from an ape-like creature, then you have to argue that their immediate ancestors, though looking completely like humans, were not actually made in the image of God. This goes completely against what Genesis teaches and it also goes against the fact that God has the supernatural power to create in an instant. When Jesus turned water into wine and gave sight to the blind, He used His supernatural power to do this in an instant. I think the key to accepting Genesis as a literal account is to remember that God is infinite in wisdom and power. When you really grasp this, then you realize that creating the world in six days was never a problem for God.”

Go to http://www.creation.com for the complete article on Professor Stuart Burgess by Phillip Bell.

 

Terminally Ill and Eternally Full of Life

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Russell Wolfe is a producer for the recent hit GOD’S NOT DEAD and many other Christian movies. Recently diagnosed with ALS, Russell took to Facebook to contribute to spreading awareness and raising money for scientific research of this incurable disease – ALS also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease,

Regarding the Ice Bucket Challenge, Russell told Movieguide®, “So few people even know of the disease or even know what it is. I think it’s done a great job at raising awareness for that, but I felt that it was particularly good to link it to the fact that God’s not dead, mainly because I have faith that I’m healed, and I’ll receive that manifestation of that healing. Maybe there are some people I can encourage along the way.”

Encourage people he did. Within a week, his Ice Bucket Challenge had been shared over 34,000 times and over 3,000 comments flooded in with encouragement, prayers and others with ALS stories.

Moved by the huge response to the video, Russell said, “One thing that speaks specifically to me is the outpouring of people and their prayers. I’m so grateful for that. I’m actually taken back by how much it was shared, and how many people have included me in their prayers.”

When the news of his terminal diagnosis was revealed to him, Russell said his doctor was more surprised than he was because of Russell’s demeanor.

“I was so calm in reaction to the news,” Russell explained. “I’ve been through a lot of storms in my life, and God has certainly delivered me from each one. When I’ve had things that have happened that are bad, at the time, they might have seemed disastrous, but God has turned each and every one of them around so that in retrospect, I can look back at those, and I’m thankful that they happened, and I don’t feel any different about this. So when he gave me the news, I just looked at it as an opportunity to stand in my faith, and now we’ll just see how God uses this for his Glory.”

Romans 8:28 is a special encouragement to Russell, because God’s work and plan for his life is already so apparent.

“A part of the movie [GOD’S NOT DEAD] is sort of ironic, not only that I play the doctor that was delivering terminal news, and then I received that [same news] thereafter, but the letter that was in the movie that Kevin Sorbo read.

When we had the script, I felt that there needed to be a bridge between him being a solid atheist, and then converting to a Christian on the screen. So, I felt that while he was sitting in his office, he could pull out a letter from his mother. So, I wrote that letter. The idea behind that was, what would I tell my kids if I knew I was going to die at a young age? That letter that’s in the movie, I wrote it in that perspective. Again, the irony of writing that letter, and then getting a terminal diagnosis expresses the way I felt at that time and feel now knowing that I have this diagnosis.”

With his health deteriorating, Russell is still full of encouragement, faith and hope.

As he says, his message “is that God didn’t give this [ALS] to us. God didn’t give me ALS. I believe we live in a fallen world, and as such, bad things happen to good people. . . . What I do believe is that God can take any of those bad things and turn them into good. My message is to keep your faith. God is good all the time. He will turn things that are bad to the good. So, look for the hope in that.”

Pray for Russell Wolfe, his family and the thousands of others that suffer from ALS. Pray for physical healing through miracles and scientific advances through medicine, but especially, pray for a spiritual healing for all those who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

edited article  by Ben Kayser Managing Editor, Movie Guide

 

 

TIME: YOUR MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE

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On Time

Contrast this pivotal resource of life with others, such as energy and finances, and a sharp distinction becomes obvious. While these other assets fluctuate, time constantly diminishes. No matter what one possesses, no matter the financial resources at your disposal, time cannot be purchased or stockpiled. One cannot gain access to additional time; you merely have the amount given to you.

So, if time is the most precious resource life offers, the question then becomes how do we use it wisely?

    1. Spend time in prayer. For contemporary believers this seems to be one of the more taxing tasks the Christian life demands. For, prayer takes time, and time is short and the day is long but how else do you build a relationship with your Creator other than spend time in prayer and in HIS WORD. Moreover HE said, “And ALL THINGS, whatever you ask in prayer, believing you will receive” Matthew 21:22. If you want to be a person who changes the course of history, you will pray and seek God’s will for your life. He has a plan for your life don’t miss it.
    2. Invest in building relationships. This certainly has the potential to multiply time. Think of a Christian parent’s relationship with their child, and the ripple effect this relationship can have for decades, if not centuries of time and on numerous other relationships. Their actions will not only have the potential to impact society for good but above all can have eternal significance.

Peter Kreeft, a Christian philosopher, offers an important understanding of time and prayer. He notes, “We have time and prayer backwards. We think time determines prayer, but prayer determines time. We think our lack of time is the cause of our lack of prayer, but our lack of prayer is the cause of our lack of time.” This understanding of the relationship of time to prayer is not a pithy saying to be taken lightly, but biblical insight into the significance of both. For the One who listens to the prayer knows about multiplication.

Matthew chapter 14 speaks to the ability of Christ to multiply scarce resources in order to maximize their potential. Yet, consider if the child had never offered his five loves and two fish. Christ’s ability to multiply would, at least in this instance, never been engaged.

Succinctly put, life in modern society is belligerently backwards. Modern life is arranged around tasks and duties which consume a large portion of the time given us each day. This utilitarian view of time has riddled modern society, families, and individuals with discontent, loneliness, and want of purpose.

How now should we live?

Remember The Lord’s Prayer – “Your Kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. Invest your time in building God’s Kingdom on earth and you also build treasure in heaven which has ETERNAL value and significance. Don’t waste your time on building your Kingdom on earth, it is fleeting and ultimately brings no peace or joy.

Time is precious and limited, yet of eternal value. What makes it so is how you use it and whom you give it to. Begin now to start living eternally.

DEMONIC POSSESSION is REAL & DEADLY

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Robin Williams is interviewed by James Kaplan for the US Weekly, January, 1999, p. 53

“Yeah! Literally, it’s like possession ‑ all of a sudden you’re in, and because it’s in front of a live audience, you just get this energy that just starts going…But there’s also that thing ‑ it is possession. In the old days you’d be burned for it…But there is something empowering about it. I mean, it is a place where you are totally ‑ it is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, where you really can become this other force. Maybe that’s why I don’t need to play evil characters [in movies], ’cause sometimes onstage you can cross that line and come back. Clubs are a weird kind of Petri dish environment. I mean, that’s where people can get as dark as they can in comedy ‑ in the name of comedy, be talking about outrageous stuff and somehow come out the other side. I mean, that’s one place where you really want to push it”

Robin Williams acknowledged that he had opened himself up to transformative demonic powers that aided him on stage. Without the aid of such demonic powers, it is likely that you would have never have heard of Robin Williams and many other celebrities.

Williams also recognized that these powers had manifested a very evil influence on stage and that there could be a hefty price to pay for their assistance. Williams told James Kaplan of US Weekly. This last statement answers the question as to why the demonic powers use entertainers. Their goal is to promote evil and darkness and increase mankind’s rebellion against God.

It was in Williams’ stand-up where he would go into his manic, stream-of-consciousness rants filled with vulgar language, perverse sexuality and the glorification of illicit drugs and drunkenness. Many people express shock after seeing Williams’ stand-up, not knowing his act was so perverse.

Brian Wilson, considered the musical genius of the Beach Boys, claimed that he had been harassed by several different demonic spirit entities that so tormented him that he was bed ridden for years.

Extract from Rolling Stone, August, 1988, p. 51-52

“Brian Wilson hears voices. They talk to him. They frighten him, distract him, confuse him…the voices are calling. His eyes roll toward the ceiling; they’ve gone blank. His brow is furrowed with thick worry lines. He is silent. Gone. He looks up, jerks his head back and forth for a few seconds, as if physically shaking away the voices”

Former Warner Brother Records President, Larry Waronker, claims to have met at least five different entities possessing Brian Wilson’s body.

Most people are blind to this diabolical pattern of celebrities giving themselves over to satanic power for fame and fortune, only to be exploited, used and abused, and then spit out after Satan is done with them.

The truth is that only the Lord Jesus Christ has the power and authority to deliver humans from satanic powers. The scriptures reveal that the demonic powers tremble before God’s mighty power (James 2:19). It is in Jesus’ name that believers have victory over the demonic realm. God’s Word declares:

“For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).

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