Back in Colorado

I am excited about speaking and singing at a retreat in Estes Park tomorrow. Tonight I am meeting with a former leader of our outreach here in Boulder, and Sunday night, after the retreat, I am meeting with new leadership for our outreach--Jonathan is getting married! Tomorrow I will get to meet Carrie, his soon-to-be wife. We are going to discuss goals for the ministry and present needs. They have exciting updates. Jonathan has been working on a site for the people he meets at the booth, and it is almost up and running. Plus, he has written a new tract for Buddhists against karma, so I will be ordering more for our other locations. Monday, I have more meetings planned with people/pastors working with Jonathan at our "Free Thinking" booth on Pearl Street. After his wedding, we are discussing starting an outreach in Denver. My prayer is that it would be focused on reaching people struggling with homosexuality.

But, as I walk along the old path I used to walk when I lived here years ago, none of that burdens me. I remember my faithful Friend in Jesus, who is still walking with me as my Brother and Savior...through every season. He had a plan for me to stay here for a year, begin this outreach, and He knew all along He would move me to NYC. So much has happened, since I returned to the old trail I used to walk when I lived here back in 2006. Now I am living in Atlanta. I talk to the Lord about my life and find comfort that He is the Author and Finisher of my faith, and my life is not my own. He shuts doors and opens them and works all things out for His glory. The ministry we do comes from the ministry of reconciliation we have been given in a love relationship with Jesus. With every single step He wants my heart. How I thank Him for living in it to STAY and never leave. No one understands me like my loving, healing, heavenly Father. My work continues to be an overflow of gratitude for His love for me. I wouldn't take anything for walking with Him.

Dwayna

A Closer Look at Zen

Essay by Daniel Mann:

Louis Nordstrom was a Zen master and is now an instructor at Hunter College. Nevertheless, childhood abuse, neglect, and abandonment that led him into psychotherapy, through which he finally realized that,

He sought to protect himself against the trauma of further abandonment by pre-emptively abandoning himself [to Zen “selflessness”]. If he wasn’t there [as a distinct person] in the first place, he wasn’t in a position to be cast away. The Zen concept of no-self was like a powerful form of immunity. (Chip Brown, “How a Zen Mater Found the Light (Again),” New York Times Magazine, April 26, 2009, 38.)

Nordstrom came to realize that instead of engaging reality, Zen offered him one of many means of denying reality and his feelings. His “conversion” was a matter of re-discovering his rejected self, however uncomfortable this might be. In his autobiography, Nordstrom wrote:

I’ve come to a point in my life where survival requires that I reclaim my narrative by refusing any longer to dismiss experience that was profoundly painful… (38).

His conversion involved acknowledging his self-deceptions:

His new insights were mostly a matter of intellectually understanding the way he used Zen to assuage the pain of the past, hiding the pathological aspects of self-abandonment and neglect in the rapture of Zen vacancy; how he hid from his own neediness, anger and grief…(38)

What positive benefits had he derived from Zen? A sense of being special! Nordstrom now sees that by giving up his university tenure in order to become a Buddhist monk represented the embrace of an “aggrandized narrative” and the acknowledgment of a “special destiny.” In psychotherapy, he learned that,

Forgetting the self is not a constructive approach. What one needs to do from a psychoanalytic perspective is remember the self. (38)

Psychotherapy might have helped Nordstrom regain himself, but it seems to have also left him raw and aching. It’s like the cartoon where the patient reclining on the psychiatrist’s couch longingly moans, “And I used to think that I was Napoleon!” As a Zen master, Nordstrom had thought himself “entitled” and “special.” He states, “I didn’t want to be like everyone else, running around like chickens with their heads cut off (39).”

These are painful and sobering realizations. Years of psychotherapy failed to pierce my self-delusions. It was only through the love of Christ and encouragement of His Gospel that I was able to face my buried psycho-manipulations and schemes of self-aggrandizement.

I respect Nordstrom’s painful steps into the light of self-awareness. However, without the Gospel, I fear that Nordstrom, having discarded his garment of self-deception, has left himself naked and vulnerable, like the patient who had surrendered his Napoleonic identity only to find that he had nothing to take its place. What happens in such a case? We find that we can’t endure the intensity of the light, which has stripped away our significance.

We all need to feel that we’re worthy and important. Where will this conviction come from now that he is no longer the Zen master? Will Nordstrom be compelled to replace that crutch for another? He had regarded himself as special and superior because he had the character to renounce the world. His new crutch might look like this—“I am worthy and superior because I can now face the ugly truth about myself?”

We can’t merely substitute one drug for another, one form of self-esteem for another. Instead, we need a relationship with the God who will never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) and the truth that has set us free from sin and all the ways we justify and promote ourselves (John 8:31-32). When I feel raw, I remind myself that my God loves me with a love that goes beyond anything I can understand (Eph. 3:17-20) and is powerful enough to protect me against all threats (Psalm 23). Only in Him can I find rest for my weary soul (Mat. 11:28-30).

Daniel Mann

challengingthedarkness@yahoo.com

"Jesus of Siberia"?

They call him "Jesus of Siberia":

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/gallery/070713/GAL-07Jul13-81250/index.html

Verses like Matthew 24:23-26 lets us know this is no surprise :-)

"LTW to the Smokies" at Sevier Heights Bapt. Church (Knoxville, TN)

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of sharing about LTW in all three Sunday School classes for Singles at Sevier Heights Baptist Church. We had many people express interest in working with us in this outreach location led by my mother, Claudette Litz. We enjoyed viewing a DVD of our "LTW to the Smokies" outreach to tourists in the Smoky Mountain National Park in action, as well as the DVD of our work to people struggling with homosexuality in West Hollywood, CA.

Today's update from Claudette Litz, leader of outreach, to people who expressed interest in working with us last Sunday:

As I went to the Sugarlands Visitor Center’s Ranger Station this morning (April 28), I was praying that the ranger in charge of the special use permit would be available. After waiting about thirty minutes, he arrived and was very helpful. Instead of waiting to send the permit in the mail, he took time for me to fill out the paper work and prepared the permit for me to bring home with me today. This was an answer to prayer. He is very busy and usually I have to call and remind him to get the permit in the mail to me. The first day for our ministry will be Saturday, May 9th. I will be setting up the table at 9:30 A.M. and taking it down at 2:00 P.M. I asked for the same spot (in the grassy area to the right of the front of the Sugarland’s Visitor Center) for every Sat. from May 9th until Sept. 5th. Although the permits are issued every two weeks, I feel certain there will be no problem. As you make your plans for the next few months, let me know if there is a Saturday you would like to work.

We can only have two people at a time working the table. I will go every week and set up the table. If two of you choose the same Saturday, I can leave after you feel comfortable with the ministry and come back around 2:00. If you would like to work with me on May 9th, please let me know. Since this is the first day for this season, I will stay for the entire time. I worked by myself last year, but having another person with me would be a big help. You may email me at claudettelitz@charter.net and let me know which Sat. between May 9th and Sept. 5th you would like to work.

The Sugarlands Visitor Center will be on your right after leaving Gatlinburg and driving toward the Chimney Rock area in the Smokies. Actually, it is located at the intersection of the main highway going up the mountain and the highway that turns right going to Cades Cove. There are two parking lots, one on each side of the Visitor Center. Our table will be next to the sidewalk by the second parking area. That is were the 1st Amendment sign is located and marks the area where we are permitted to set up.

God will bless our efforts. As we join Him in His work, He will bring people over to our table. His sweet Holy Spirit will give us the words to say. Sometimes people ask me to pray with them about a difficult situation they are experiencing. When Christians come over, we have encouraging conversations, but our main prayer will be that God will bring a lost person to the table. There is no greater joy than sharing the gospel of our Lord with such a person. May God richly bless each of us as we look forward to the opportunity to serve Him.

Nitoy Handing Out Tracts and Explaining the Gospel in the Philippines

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCwWExpdA9s&feature=channel_page

Witnessing at Gay Pride Parades in CA This Summer

Dan and the teams are gearing up to work at the Gay Pride parades in West Hollywood and San Diego, to share the love of Christ and the message of reconciliation through His blood.

June 12-14--West Hollywood

July 18-19--San Diego

Please email Dan if you are interested in working with us in witnessing at these events:

hubbardbuilding@gmail.com

Speaking at Healing for the Soul/ "Hope As Big As Texas" Retreat

I will be sharing my testimony and singing at the following retreat in Estes Park this weekend. I am excited about it!

Join us at our RETREAT: "HOPE...as BIG as Texas!"

Preparing for LTW Table Ministry in the Philippines at Batangas State University

Hi Dwayna,

As promised, here are the photos of the lobby of Batangas State University...Please pray that God's hands will lead the way for our partnership. God bless!!!

Yours in Christ,

Nitoy
P.S. I'm making a word press blog for our campus ministry. Check it out: http://rockthecampus.wordpress.com/

LTW to the Philippines: Details About Our Ministry Table There to Students

Location for new table outreach of apologetics...
...in the Philippines to students...
...with various ideas for where to set up the table...

...on campus...

Harry (who is working with Nitoy) Harry will lead the ROCK (Reaching Out for Christ's Kingdom) campus ministry in Lyceum of the Philippines Batangas City campus. http://www.lyceumbatangas.edu.ph/

My response to Nitoy is, "Yes!" I will send the materials he requested...

--------------------------------------

Hi Dwayna,

Are you excited? I'm very, very excited! Attached in this email are some photos of the campus and the booth area designation. In events in Lyceum of Batangas we can put booths in the gym or on the pathways leading to buildings. Also included in the photos are Harry's faculty mates and his students. We had a discussion on how we will handle the booths and who will man it. We decided that the Christian students will do it with our supervision. Also, we decided that we will do the table outreach the first day of class! That will be on June. The college kids have nothing yet to do at that time, and we think they will still have the vacation hangover. We will push through to the campus ministry...So with prayers we hope [the table ministry] will get recognized here...I will also set up a blog for the ministry soon. I asked Harry what other things might be helpful for the table outreach in a way many students could benefit. Aside from apologetics he suggested (and I think its a very good suggestion), to include some materials about campus, teen and relationship life. Materials about pre-marital sex, courtship, sexuality, abortion, homosexuality, friendship, alcohol, porn and drug addiction with a Christian prespective. In a way, we can answer those issues then present them with the Gospel. If it's OK with you, can we also request those materials? Thanks for your help, and we believe many will get to know Christ with our partnership. God bless you!

Yours in Christ,

Nitoy

P.S. ...As for the Moonies they are gone, and I hope for good. Also the JWs are absent from Thursday and Friday. I gave those tracts, and I think they got threatened. But they are smart people. They won't give up that easily. They had a look-out last Thrusday, a probable check on what I'm doing...

Silencing Christians One Hour Special (Obama vs. the Law)

Here is an interesting video warning of a direct attack on American religious freedom:
http://www.nmatv.com/video/1180/Silencing-Christians-One-Hour-Special

Comment on the Hymns

This comment came in response to Berit Kjos's article recently posted on the blog and my blog post on "All The Way My Savior Leads Me".


Dear Dwayna,

I'm no Fanny Crosby scholar, but I have yet to encounter one of her hymns that I don't really like. (Okay, I do have problems with calling us Jesus' children--when we are His brethren or siblings--in "Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus Our Blesséd Redeemer," but that's nitpicking and it's only one expression in the whole of a hymn that IDs the Lord as Prophet and Priest and King.)

I miss singing her hymns in church. (As much as I love our church, we sing very little that was written before the 1970s, when the oldest people in the band got saved.) She had such an intimate understanding of the Lord and His Word that she seemingly tossed off deep theological concepts so casually and effortlessly in her lyrics.

We have a number of hymnals in our personal library, and I'm always glad to run across one of her hymns. I wish I played the piano better to play them.

One of my favorites is "Conquering Now and Still to Conquer." The refrain is

Not to the strong is the battle,
Not to the swift is the race,
But to the true and the faithful
Vict'ry is promised through grace.

And the music fits the lyrics, both in meter and in tone. And it's singable by a group. (Much of what the evangelical church sings now is written and recorded by solo artists, and it's not easily sung by groups, as actual hymns are.) And the lyrics are really about Christ and not about us and our feelings. Look at how "All the Way My Savior Leads Me" is about Jesus doing all things well and our response to what is promised. I wonder whether modern congregations would even recognize the allusion to Mark 7:37. So much of what we sing now is only about the inner life, quite apart from the revelation of the Word of God, and it could be sung (and is) sung not only by evangelicals but by liberals who deny the authority of Scripture.

I happened onto Berit Kjos's Crossroads Website again last night and was amazed at how she connected the dots between postmodernism and the deterioration of the church's hymnody (if it can be called that anymore). I am by no means saying that the subjective has no place in Christian worship and experience. But by deliberately excluding the hymns of saints before us, we've made a god out of our own experiences.

In Him,
Doc

Excellent Blog on Church History

Read notes about John Wesley on blog from this "Doctor of Information" and LTW research contributor here.

Work Today/Update

I have not stopped and have gotten very behind on updates for the blog. Work for today has included:

Calling friends and setting up appointments for my time in Colorado next week. I have every day packed, and it has taken a lot of preparation. I am excited about speaking and singing at a retreat in Estes Park and then working with our ministry team in Boulder.

I have ordered more books (Not My Child by Linda Harvey--exposing the dangers of the occult in the media targeted at teens) for the Rio Grande Valley outreach, plus I have packaged up more of the booklets I wrote on American history quotes for that ministry location. The quotes were compiled for children and teens, and they all laud the Bible and faith in God, so this will be perfect for the table ministry in the town square.

I ordered 75 tracts on the Trinity for the outreach of apologetics in Minneapolis--these "True Way Tracts" are for cultists and Oneness Pentecostals who deny the Trinity.

I am preparing for Sevier Heights Baptist Church in the morning, speaking in three different large classes between 9:30 and 11:00. I wish I had more time to spend with friends in the area, but this visit will be short. I hope to get back to Knoxville, TN, the end of May to take more time with friends here and family.

Links from NYC Team Member

These links came from Eddie, who is a vital team member in our outreach of apologetics at Columbus Circle in NYC. (I am speaking with Joe, a sincere, sound, and humble pastor in New Jersey at Bread of Life Church, about finding a new leader for our outreach of apologetics. In the meantime, my former pastor, Matthew Carpenter at First Baptist NYC, is using the table ministry with youth groups that visit NYC on mission trips.)

From Eddie:

Jesus-is-Savior.com
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/

I have my own web site as well which is call Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to Heaven

Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to Heaven
http://www.christianster.com/groups/?tigger2008

Knowing WHY We Believe in Jesus...and the Joy of Sharing those Reasons with Others

Atheists for Dinner
by Daniel Mann

I attended an atheist-sponsored luncheon this Sunday. After asking some of the diners what they did for a living, they returned the question to me. “I teach theology,” I responded. There was a brief, confused hush.

“Where do you teach?”
“At the New York School of the Bible.”
“Then you must be a Christian?” they asked with some hesitation.
“Completely!” Atheists are not usually strong on formalities, so this question was followed by another, even more probing question:
“So I guess you came here to find out what secular humanists are all about?” Another added, “To see if we have horns?”

I enjoyed every moment of it, even the fierce challenges that followed. However, this wouldn’t have been possible had I not done my apologetics homework. It’s one thing to be confident in Christ. It’s another to be mentally prepared and assured that we have the answers. When we have this assurance, verbal jousting can be pleasant, even appealing and engaging.

When my nephew was 11 years old and half my size, I would wrestle him along with his five-year-old brother. I wasn’t fearful or defensive because I felt no threat and was confident that I had the upper hand. But now my nephew is a 200+ pound bruiser, and I made it very clear to him that this type of combat was a thing of the past, and that it would no longer be fun, especially for me! Fortunately, he respects my boundaries.

So often we become defensive with atheists or gays because we are not knowledgeable or confident regarding the defense of the faith (1 Peter 3:15). We might find ourselves becoming scornful and trying to compensate for our lack of certainty by raising our voices. In exasperation, we might even threaten our “friends” with hell. However, we have to take responsibility for our lack of love, patience and understanding (2 Tim. 2:24-26). All too often, the church has not affirmed what Jesus taught:

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:36-37).

We have disregarded this greatest of commands at great cost. Christians have either been co-opted by the prevailing philosophies or, failing to have used our minds faithfully, have alienated ourselves from centers of learning. In his Heresies, written in 1984, Harold Brown warned about this very thing:

Although it was winning the battle for individual hearts in millions of cases throughout Christendom, Christianity was no longer winning the battle for the mind, neither for the mind of society nor for the minds of individuals. Lives were changed, churches were transformed, some major legislative changes were introduced, but the foundations of doctrine were not consolidated. The Christian world and life view was gradually lost and Christianity became, for the first time since Constantine, primarily a private religion. (418)

A religion that only pertains to one’s private life is incapable of answering the big questions and entering into the public forum. We now find ourselves pushed to the margins of society. At the end of the dinner, my main protagonist asked if I’d be open to a dialogue/debate/cook-out that he will be hosting. “We’d welcome hearing from a Christian. We just don’t know any who’d be willing to speak.” They’re probably looking for a Christian to beat-up, but adversity is better than marginalization.

--Daniel Mann
challengingthedarkness@yahoo.com

"All The Way My Savior Leads Me"

I have done all of the blog posts I plan to do tonight. I am fasting from television for an indefinite period of time. (I find comfort in doing this from time to time as I pray about people and things in my life. Sometimes I don't want the distraction of the TV and just want the quiet of my room to read and pray and think...) I am looking forward tonight to getting more bookkeeping done and reading...and a few more web site updates..

The following old hymn has been a favorite of mine for as long as I can remember. It brings back vivid memories of growing up in church and turning in a "hymnal" to sing (for readers who don't know what a hymnal is, it is a book with classic songs about what it means to follow Jesus; churches have used 'hymnals' down through the ages, until recent years when the Power Point screen slide shows replaced them :-). I can remember growing up in the South with hard church pews and wooden holders for the hymnals in front of every pew for the people in the congregation to take. My grandparents knew them all, as well as my mother. My dad knows many of them. My brother and I were raised on them. What a gift, as they sure do mean more to me now then they did then. It is almost impossible to be raised Baptist in the South in the 70s and not know them.

Tonight, this old hymn is sure a precious reminder to me. I have had a good day with the Lord, and I can thank Him for every single step of my life. I read earlier in the Bible this morning that He "jealously desires...me". He does not want me to love anyone more. If anyone thinks 'believing in Him' does not involve the heart, they don't know His love.

------

"All the Way My Savior Leads Me" is a Christian hymn with lyrics written in 1875 by Fanny J. Crosby (1820-1915) to a tune written by the Baptist minister Dr. Robert Lowry.

Hymn History

The hymn was first published in Brightest and best : a choice collection of new songs, duets, choruses, invocation and benediction hymns for the Sunday school and meetings of prayer and praise (edited by Dr. Lowry and W. Howard Doane) in 1875 by the New York publisher Biglow & Main...This hymn came to Fanny as a result of a prayer. Struggling financially, she desperately needed some money. As her usual custom, Fanny began to pray. A few minutes later, a gentleman offered her five dollars, the exact amount she needed. Later recalling the incident, she said, "I have no way of accounting for this except to believe that God put it into the heart of this good man to bring the money." The poem she wrote afterward became "All The Way My Savior Leads Me...[which was later put to music and made into a hymn.]

vs.1
All the way my Savior leads me;
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy,
Who through life has been my Guide?
Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,
Here by faith in Him to dwell!
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well;
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well.

vs.2
All the way my Savior leads me,
Cheers each winding path I tread;
Gives me grace for every trial,
Feeds me with the living Bread.
Though my weary steps may falter,
And my soul athirst may be,
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see;
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see.

vs.3
All the way my Savior leads me
O the fullness of His love!
Perfect rest to me is promised
In my Father’s house above.
When my spirit, clothed immortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day
This my song through endless ages—
Jesus led me all the way;
This my song through endless ages—
Jesus led me all the way.

LTW in Church Research Archive (Contemplative Prayer, Beth Moore, Richard Foster)

From James Sundquist:

Here is my expose on Contemplative Prayer:

I have also taken the liberty of attaching my expose on Brennan Manning, which I wrote when confronting Christian Missionary Alliance leaders for promoting him.

Here are my two exposes on Richard Foster (whom Moore promotes):

"Spiritual Formation"/Richard Foster...
Blog post on Richard Foster and comments

Here are other very good exposes on Beth Moore:
The Subtle Error of Beth Moore
Beth Moore's Bad Teachings
Beth Moore Reprised
Beth Moore Revisited
Beth Moore's "Breaking Free"

Blessings,
James Sundquist
DirectorRock Salt Publishing
http://www.voiceoftruthradio.com/james.htm

LTW Update: Rio Grande Valley

(Caveat: I just shipped them out more tracts in Spanish and English by Mike Gendron for Catholics today for their regular table outreach at the town fair in Harlingen.)

Hi Dwayna:

Just wanted to let you know that we received:
10 - Brave New Schools- Kjos
10 - Who's Driving the Purpose Driven Church- Sundquist
Curt likes Who's Driving the Purpose Driven Church and also Deceived on Purpose by Warren Smith (we have several copies of that which you sent some time ago).

Also, we did go and check out the "San Benito Market Days" set up. We weren't real impressed with it and we will pray about setting up our table at that one. We will certainly continue setting up the table at the Harlingen, Jackson St. location, which is the first Saturday of every month. We're looking forward to a visit from you on the 1st Saturday in June, Lord willing!!!!

Relying on Him as "He Directs Our Paths",
Curt and Janie

Update from Tel Aviv

Dov and Olga are continuing to shine a bright light in the dark brothel district of Tel Aviv as they set up a table offering free food, Bibles in Russian, Arabic, and Hebrew to addicts...

Rescue those being led away to death;hold back those staggering toward slaughter.(Proverbs 24:11)

I often ask myself: why does it seem that relatively few believers feel the urge to share the Good News with other people? Why do many churches, instead of focusing on evangelization, tend to spend so much time, energy and financial resources on various projects that have nothing to do with salvation of human souls? When I look at myself, I often feel that though I evangelize regularly I could have cared more for the unsaved and could have done more than I do now.

Why is that so? Why do we evangelize so little? The main reason, in my opinion, is lack of love and compassion for people in general and for sinners in particular. We do not care enough for our neighbors. But even those of us who do love other people sometimes seem to take the gravity of God's future judgment too lightly. In our minds we know what awaits those who enter eternity without Christ, but our hearts do not weep for the lost. We grieve more for those who suffer physical pains than for those who are on the way to eternal spiritual suffering. We often care more about total strangers who have got into a traffic accident than about our close relatives and friends who can get into hell any given moment. We do not fully comprehend that according to the truth about God's judgment and salvation, the future of the healthiest and strongest of sinners is a million times worse than that of the sickest and weakest of believers whose inheritance is in Christ (Eph. 1:18).

Another explanation for the fact that we do not pay enough attention to sharing the Gospel in our every day lives is that we do not talk much about evangelization in our churches, though it is one of the most important commissions given to us by the Lord. Speaking about love as the first commandment, how can we assume we love our neighbors if at the same time we can watch with a frightening indifference how multitudes of people are heading for hell?

Dear praying friends, please pray that the eyes and hearts of God's children would be open to evangelism, that they would participate in ministries that ultimately aim for conversion of human souls and that we would not let ourselves rest until the last sinner repents.

NEWS, SPECIAL EVENTS AND PRAYER REQUESTS

We are very grateful to God for everything He does in our ministry and we pray that He would help it grow and develop even further.

It is joyful to see new people join our Negev groups and congregations. Some people return after a long absence -- like T., a woman from Dimona, whose son is a drug addict serving time in prison. Please pray for her and for others like her -- that God would bring back more people who attended our congregation in the past but then left it for different reasons. Pray also that God would give our Negev groups leaders they desperately need.

Our Tel-Aviv Bible studies for drug addicts go on very well. Up to 15 people attend, and some of them do so regularly. One day we met an addict, D., and invited him to participate in our studies. He came and then also told us he lived in a shelter for homeless people, which was occupied by 70 more addicts. He invited us to come to the shelter and share the Good News with all its occupants. Please pray for this opportunity.

Please pray for more ministers who would help us work with the addicts. We would like to have more Bible studies in Tel-Aviv during the week. We also need a woman to help us in our work with prostitutes. We keep holding Bible studies for them, but fewer women attend them now.

Please pray for our new Bible study groups in Ashdod, Ashkelon and Bat-Yam. The Bible study in Ashdod is attended by the parents of four drug addicts from Bethel rehab center in Haifa (run by my co-worker Maxim), and also by a girlfriend of one of these addicts. They are very open to God and say He answers their prayers and gives them peace. Once a month Maxim brings the sons from Haifa and we have a Bible study for the parents and their children together! Please pray for this group and for the development of this ministry in general -- that we would be able to reach more parents of drug addicts.

The group in Bat-Yam began when I met a young man, A., a believer who fell but is returning to the Lord now. He invited me to start Bible studies at his home -- where he lives with his mother who is addicted to alcohol. Please pray for her: she was present at two Bible studies, but then she missed another two. A. also has an ex-girlfriend, K., who works as a cashier in a brothel, and one day he asked me to visit her. I did so, and we had a very good talk. It turned out that since her childhood she had understood God existed and had prayed to Him. In the age of 15 she attended a church for a short period of time, but then she fell under bad influence of her peers and left the Lord. Now she wants to return to God and start a normal life. She hates her job and wants to leave it, but it is not easy for her because of complicated financial problems. Please pray for both A. and K. Their life stories remind me of the prodigal son parable...

Thank you for your prayers for our family! We are all doing well now. Please pray that we would be able to take a helper for Yossi. We are thinking to ask the authorities for an official long time care worker.

Thank you for all your prayers and support, and may God bless you!

Dov and Olga Bikas

Update from England

This is such an exciting update from William and the team in Pickering. Their table looks good, along with the new banner!

Greetings Dwayna,

You’ll be pleased to know that we had our first day out in the town centre today. It was good to get back among the indifferent masses. We did have one or two constructive conversations though. To God be the Glory.

The blog address is: http://pickeringpost.wordpress.com

Press on.

William Horsburgh

From Freedom to Servitude: "Service Learning" Through Soviet Brainwashing

New article from Berit Kjos:

From Freedom to Servitude - Part 2
"Service Learning" through Soviet Brainwashing

Here is an excerpt:

Last March, North Dakota gave us a heart-warming demonstration of traditional voluntary service -- in minus 20 degree weather. As the rising Red River threatened to flood Fargo, willing volunteers gathered by the thousands. Before long, they had filled and stacked over 2 million sandbags to barricade the city against the raging waters. Christians prayed for victory over the forces of nature, and by God's grace, the make-shift dikes held.

About 6,000 volunteers of all ages had simply followed their conscience, worked together and met the need. Unlike President Obama's plan for government-directed "service," neither prayer nor God's comforting Truths were banned. Volunteers weren't hindered by trained facilitators and unconscionable boundaries. As the flood subsided, they were free to thank God together for the amazing victory.

Traditional American volunteerism and self-giving service has served people around the world. But it may soon be replaced with a government system of mandatory service and re-education for all ages. Obama's signature on H.R. 1388 "Serve America Act," [See 2] will usher in a new era. While people of all ages will be recruited, the main focus will be on the youth. Words such as "uniforms," "youth corps," campuses" and "boarding" [i.e. "grouped together as appropriate in campuses for operational, support, and boarding purposes" SEC. 1516] bring memories of totalitarian government-controlled youth service.[4]

"Service learning" -- the heart of this evolving program -- is grounded in Soviet ideology.

Banning Biblical sharing, it reflects Communism's "dialectical materialism" and notorious "re-education" camps. Its basic formula is simple:

1. Immersion into a group [collective] environment with diverse beliefs and values. For decades, our government has been guiding migration and assessing cities on their success in building "unity in diversity," i.e. social capital."[5] Such facilitated oneness may sound benign, but the manipulative methods used to build socialist values undermine both personal freedom and family-taught convictions.

2. Dialogue led by facilitators trained to manipulate the diverse groups of servers (with their assortment of values) toward a new consensus. Edward Hunter's 1956 book, Brainwashing, gives us this glimpse of Communist mind control [...]

“I would like to tell you what I think of Jesus”

I grew up singing a hymn:

I would like to tell you what I think of Jesus; Since I found in Him a Friend so strong and true; I would tell you how He changed my life completely; He did something that no other friend could do; No one ever cared for me like Jesus; There’s no other friend so kind as He; No one else could take the sin and darkness from me; Oh how much He cared for me; Every day He comes to me with new assurance; More and more I understand His words of love; but I’ll never know just why He came to save me; ‘Til the day I see His precious face above; No one ever cared for me like Jesus; There’s no other friend so kind as He; No one else could take the sin and darkness from me; oh how much He cares for me.

Tonight I have been reminded that I am not alone. When I get done writing, I am looking forward to my prayer time—it is just a simple time when I pour out my heart to the Lord, and He meets me by His Spirit on my knees. Other spirits meet people in transcendental meditation and yoga meditations and offer a “peace”. Yet, Jesus gives a peace “not like the world gives.” His Spirit is different and good and true.

How do I explain a relationship with this Jesus who is my Friend? I have been going through something out of the ordinary now for about a month. During this period, I found myself signing emails I have answered:

“With a faithful Shepherd”

He sure is faithful. Tonight, at my Bible study, I was reminded that when I walk through a valley, I don’t walk through it alone. Jesus comforts me, because I am His.

Someone told me recently, “Jesus is my Savior if I need Him. I just don’t need Him.” Well, to love Him is to need Him. As a matter of fact, He is responsible for making His own need Him! I would like to challenge that person to try NOT turning to addictions such as cigarettes or alcohol during fearful transitions and try to save himself! Then, when not leaning on these other “saviors”, I’d like to hear him tell me he still does not need Jesus. Jesus is certainly a better Savior than self-destructive crutches. Yet, in all of our rebellious pride and autonomy, so often we would rather turn to disdainful, degrading habits to relieve pain instead of going to the God of all comfort.

I am close to Jesus tonight because of Him and not me. HE is the one who took action to save me (as even a desire for Him is God’s mercy at work on a person). Tonight He comforted me through the Bible, His Word:

“Now the God of peace who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ to whom be the glory forever and ever . Amen.” (Hebrews 13:20-21)

All the way home from the Bible study I sang softly, reminiscing with the Lord, songs I used to sing growing up. People reading this may say, “She was reminiscing with a God she has not seen?” By His Holy Spirit, He lives in me. He came to live inside my heart at age 5 when I accepted this pure Savior as my own. (For anyone reading this who does not know Him, who may be running from the notion of ever knowing Him, it is by His mercy that you would even desire Him. If there is conviction or any hint of needing Him, that is His mercy on you. The Bible says that God is the one who softens a heart, and He is the one who makes a heart hard. So often people come to Him nonchalantly. But it is no small thing!)

Knowing Jesus is like knowing a best friend, except better, because He is the Best Friend of all. He never leaves. He calms fears. He is alive and with us through the Holy Spirit who gives us faith and lets us feel His love. The Holy Spirit is described as a “Helper” in the book of John, chapter 14. There is no physical shaking required to know such a Spirit! And no barking like dogs (akin to the occult) like some people purport! Something strange happens with such a sweet Holy Spirit: we want Jesus; we want purity; we want to flee immorality; we love a pure Savior—the ONLY pure Savior.

The problem is the world hates Jesus. It hates the Jesus someone like me loves. So, sometimes people I love don’t love me, all because of Jesus in me. Sometimes people who would otherwise like me leave, because the light of Jesus is so bright, even when I don’t speak of Him. There is something different, as the Holy Spirit lives in me. And the Bible calls it a “reproach” to people with an aversion for Jesus. I become a “reproach”? To someone I love?

If the person hates Jesus, I become a reproach. The Bible says in Hebrews 13:13 [Hebrews is a book in the New Testament] that I bear “His reproach”, for I do not have a “lasting city” in this world but I am “seeking the city which is to come.” (Hebrews 13:14)

Weird. People around me are living for this world, and they cannot say for sure if anything “is to come”. Perhaps reincarnation. At least all of the TV shows suggest it is real. Maybe psychics could tell of the next world? Who knows?

People who believe in Jesus, the Jesus who bears the reproach. I am called His “sheep”, and He is my Shepherd. I am wayward, and He leads me and protects me, and closes doors and opens them. No one can touch me or steal me away from Him, because He guards His own. (John 10).

So, as I was softly singing hymns in the car I grew up singing in churches as a little girl, I loved Jesus—the Shepherd of my life—more than ever. I sang the song I sang at my grandfather’s funeral—“Jesus Paid It All.” I sang “My Jesus I Love Thee” and “Jesus Keep Me Near The Cross.” And I knew I was not alone in a life that was bought with a price—the blood Jesus shed for me. My life is not my own. People come and people go, and ministries begin and funds get low, and families ebb and flow, but one thing stays the same: the love of “my Jesus”.

The Jesus I know and love is not the perverted one of the new age, who does not punish sin; He is no “christ consciousness” that makes the world comfortable, appealing to pride and power; He is the one who draws me in His purity and makes me want to live for Him, even with His reproach, not just for a faith and certainly not for a “religion”, but for His LOVE to lay down His life for me and take it again as my LIVING SAVIOR to never, ever let me go AS MY SHEPHERD. The Jesus I know and love is the pure one. Some people believe in a different “Jesus” who does not require repentance from sin. They can have such a “jesus” as they please, anytime they want…because such a jesus is not the real one. There is only one Savior who is pure, offering to “pay it all” as the hymn sings. The other gods require us to pay, but Jesus paid it all on the cross. He makes us desire to be uniquely pure, like Him, when we love Him:

“Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled, for fornicators and adulterers God will judge…for He Himself has said, ‘I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU,’ so that we may confidently say, ‘The Lord is my Helper. I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?’…Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:4-9)

Jim Reimann ended tonight’s lesson reminding us that we should live like Paul states in Philippians 4:9:

“The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

By God’s grace, I desire to be such an example. “The God of peace” is certainly with me as the “author and finisher” of my faith. (Hebrews 12:2). I didn’t give my faith to myself, and I am not in charge of keeping it. God gave it to me, and He is the One in charge of all my life has accomplished for Him and anything yet to come. As I have been praying for years, tonight I look forward to getting down on my knees before going to bed and telling God to take all of me from head to toe. Romans 12:1 has become a dear verse and one I think of daily, as there is nothing more powerful than such a testimony of giving God my body as my “spiritual form of worship” to Him. That is how pure He is! He is so pure that I cannot love Him and live for Him any other way.

So, let the “lost” mock me. I have a Shepherd in Jesus, and I am not lost! They would arrogantly purport they are not lost, as they pollute the air with profanity, puffing on a cigarette, nursing a bottomless glass of alcohol. I have something better and a LOVE they know nothing about…and a peace not as the world gives. (John 14:27)

I was reminded that it is only “through Jesus” that I can offer up praise for any sorrow in my life, in the midst of walking through a valley as people come and go. It is not on my own that I can praise God in all things—only “through Jesus”.

“Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.” (Hebrews 13:15). How I pity people who don’t have such a glorious option.

Jim Reimann reminded us tonight that knowing Jesus is worth the cost. Jim said, “Whatever we see as a cost doesn’t make Him a debtor to us. He rewards us time and time again.”

Indebted to such a loving, faithful, caring Shepherd, who ALWAYS gives me more than I deserve,

Dwayna

New LTW Video!

This explains our work in West Hollywood!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldq2pBlH730

Update from Jerusalem (From Rami and Evette at the New Gate)

Dear Friends in Christ,

Thank you for your prayers and donations, which helps us continue this ministry.

Pray for the following Muslim women who are seeking the Lord and interested in having workshops. Rhonda needs a lot of comfort after the war in Gaza. Ichlaas likes to sit and talk with us about the Lord Jesus. Zuhuur is interested in knowing more about our ministry. She asks us to meet with her and pray for her teenage children. Jehaan desires more communication with us to comprehend the reason for our love. Najilaa is divorced and has wrapped her life around her daughter. She keeps contact with us for prayer. Fidaa' is a believer and grateful for your prayers. Her father expressed regret for his actions toward her in reaction to her faith. Fatima wants to know more and to bring others with her to the workshops. Hanaa' wants to know more after reading the book The Torn Veil. With many questions about Jesus, she is afraid of her husband. Sireen, and her sisters, Hiba and Sa'eeda, want to know more about Who God is.

In February we met with a number of women who were very encouraged in our Educational Workshops. One of the women asked the cost of the book The Greatest Gift. When I told her it was free, she took 2 to give 1 to her niece. Another lady had the courage to take some books and asked if we accepted her with her head covering. It gave me an opportunity to tell her of Jesus' love. She began to weep, but as a man in an Arab culture, I cannot talk too long or personally to a woman.

People also surprised me in our Jericho meeting of about 90 people when they began asking to sing gospel songs! At the same time, one person was trying to turn others sitting near him away from the faith. God gave me wisdom and authority. I observed what he was doing and called on him to come and share his message with all of us. He refused, became silent, and stayed for the entire meeting. I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to give an invitation to accept Jesus. 9 raised their hands. As I prayed for them, I sensed their fear.

We have had many profitable encounters. Faadi surprised me by telling me that God's Fatherhood toward humans is true! He said he is ready to confront others concerning their ideas against Christianity. During our clothing distribution, many women came, but only to talk with us. Our helper, Usera, assisted in watching their daughters, so we could pray with them. On the same day, Alaa' gave his life to Jesus Christ after a Bible study. Another Moslem woman with a head covering asked me about Jehovah's Witnesses. I said I was not one of them, because we believe Jesus is the Son of God. She seemed to hate them and I asked why, but she did not reply. She left with a Bible, a story book for her son and a smile. After a Moslem man took a Bible, we began talking. He believed people need to read and not throw books away; that it is wrong to humiliate religion. It was comforting to us to hear of his concern for youth committed to following ignorance. A Christian man expressed a desire to know Jesus better. A bus driver passing by drew my attention. He stopped and took some books. He then sent another person to our table and we were able to have a nice conversation with him. A Christian lady took Bibles for her daughters who were asking about the Christian faith, but she did not know how to answer them. She asked what to do. I said "Go to church". She said, "We go". I advised her, if her church was not helpful, to find another church where she would receive spiritual benefit.

One day a municipal authority came and asked us to close the table. We asked why. He said there was a complaint about us. We didn't make an issue of it, since we were already planning to leave. However, we knew the reason; we were reaching-out to Moslems with the message of Jesus!

Rami and Evette

P. O. Box 14244

Jaffa Gate – Jerusalem

God's Truth Never Changes

Here is a comment I received by email:

Phil Johnson posted the following sermon by Charles Spurgeon. What is so incredible is that he preached it in 1856! It is so appropriate for our time and with what is going on within the visible church and how we need to defend all of God's Truth.

http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols52-54/chs3093.pdf

Comment on Previous Post

Oh, that we could make it clear that the Lord loves these people and died for them, that their religiosity is but man-made works, and that all they need do is trust in Christ's finished work! As this age grinds on, though, the visible church is going to be more and more characterized by having a form of godliness but denying its power.

We live in exciting (though frustrating) times!

Yours in Him,
Doc

Without Measuring Truth According to the Bible, All Religions are Man-Made

“There are professing Christians who accept the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches as validly Christian, but if Christianity is pre-imminently a matter of sinners being saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and His atoning death, these churches are certainly not Christian. It is true that they profess belief in the Trinity, the Bible, the miracles and the death of Christ for sinners at least in some sense, and if these truths alone comprise essential Christianity, then they are Christian. But what about the gospel of salvation? Does this not lie at the very heart of biblical revelation? Cast a brief glance at what Roman Catholicism teaches about salvation, though claiming to believe that Christ died to save sinners. The church, with the pope at its head, is central in Rome’s salvation tenets, which say that there is no salvation for anyone outside that church. [This is not biblical, so it is a different “salvation” than what the Bible teaches.] …Rome has systematized its way of bestowing salvation. First baptisimal regeneration…followed by…penance and the mass, and…purgatory—they claim that all of these are necessary to salvation and vast throngs throughout the centuries have believed and practiced them…[However, none of this is taught in the Bible. Therefore, it is a mission field to stand for the Bible within the context of nominal Christianity just as much as we are called to stand for the Bible when befriending atheists, New Agers involved in occult meditations, Buddhists, Hare Krishnas, Scientologists, Mormons, and mind science cultists.]”

Five Minutes to Midnight, James Stewart and Mission to Europe
--p. 91
T. Omri Jenkins

Photos soon to come from the Philippines

Just to let you know this morning we will be in Lyceum of Batangas taking photos. Maybe by evening I'll send them to you by email. The BSU campus will be shot on Monday. The campus ministry leader is in Bohol attending a teachers' conference, and she'll be back Monday.

Yours in Christ,

Nitoy

LTW Update; Witnessing to Moonies in the Philippines

Below are more details from Nitoy on our new table ministry, which will begin this year. God has given us the money to ship him materials. Pictures of the mission field, where the table will be located, will follow soon.

Hi Dwayna,

This new table ministry will be set up in the foundation day or special events of the university. The colleges that we have now is Batangas State University http://www.batstate-u.edu.ph/ and Lyceum of the Philippines Batangas http://www.lyceumbatangas.edu.ph/ because of the presence of a campus ministry there. As of now I have not yet got the dates of the events. I wasn't able to contact my partner, Harry, because he is so busy in teaching and working at the hospital. By Friday I'll visit the campus to check again and take some photos.

It will be in the campus belt of the Batangas City area only. http://www.batangascity.gov.ph/

This will be a campus ministry to students and teachers, and it will also be facilitated by our pastors and workers. I'll let you have the photos by Saturday...

Here are my updates:

I had a six day break from my ministry, laptop and Internet. Now I'm refreshed and fully charged. But in those days I read the Bible and read some Christian books. Since there is nothing worthy to watch on holy week (and even in regular days!) I get in tuned with reading the Scriptures and had a chat with my mother and aunts.

But since I'm a Christian I have no escape from people who want to undermine the gospel. As I have told in my previous update, that I have found out that the Moonies are out in our city and peddling pens and religious cards for money...I've printed out some articles to give out. I thought that last Wednesday will be the last of these [Moonie] people; I was wrong. I encountered someone, whom I have to admit that I didn't handle too well, so I gave him the papers. Then another one with whom I have had a good conversation.

His name is Robin. I've told him that I don't give money to people who have a questionable leader; asking for "donations" from strangers is unbiblical. As always, they are very clever and want to stump you before they leave. They start friendly, but as soon as you mention Sung Myong Moon claiming Messiaship, they become a little bit arrogant. We had this conversation and I shared the gospel. I gave him the papers...Please pray for Robin.

Since these people won't go away, I launched a text message campaign to other Christian friends to text it to other Christians to beware of this group and their modus operandi. If ever rebuke them and witness to them. I will also sent a message through Friendster. Please pray against the deception of the Moonies awareness campaign here in the Philippines!

Last Monday the security and other bystanders in the park started to somewhat question these Moonies again. We found out they are not from our place (Batangas province or city); some are minors and have no endorsement of any government officials from there province. If sholarship is their problem, someone said their province can accommodate their needs. Our security asked them to leave, but at 7 P.M. they were still in our premises asking for money. As you read this, please help us in prayer. My hearts goes out for these deceived people. Their leader really duped them to this cult. I've talked to one of them again and told them there is a congressman who is a Baptist, who wages war against homosexual rights, child pornography and gambling and we will ask him push to investigate their group for getting money if they dont stop doing it. Again, they are unmoved.

Maybe tommorow I'll search in the internet more about them and still give them the gospel and the papers. Also I caught them on a video I'll upload in YouTube. I will also upload a video of a child actress here who is dabbling with witchcraft. Whether she is telling the truth or just a publicity stunt for her first movie break (a horror movie title T2) to reek more money in the box office, anything with witchcraft brings spiritual deception. Also please pray for our rondalla group. I missed them playing in a Police station then our pastor preached the gospel and gave tracts.

Wow, video worthy stuff! Two visitors accepted Christ. I guess they will pray in a Bible Study we are conducting. Please pray for them. If you don't know it yet there are videos of our rondalla on YouTube.

Simply go to: http://www.youtube.com/allstarboyscout or search "GSBM San Pascual Rondalla" on YouTube or Google. It's truly a blessing to play music for God and reach others in Christ.

Thanks for reading this update and God bless.

Yours in Christ,
Nitoy

Evangelism

“Though Scripture has much to say about the poor and leaves none who believe it free to ignore them, its overriding concern is for the lost souls of men and women. Jesus Christ came to preach the Gospel to the poor, not merely to relieve their physical distress. He had eternity in view, and the liberation He died to secure for mankind was not from man’s social afflictions, but rather from the chains of sin and the tyranny of Satan. Alone in heaven and earth, He breaks the power of cancelled sin and sets the prisoner free."

"In other words, the unique message of true Christianity is spiritual, having to do with people of all kinds and categories who are lost in sin. It views men and women, whatever their physical conditions, not in comparison with others in better or worse conditions, but as in the sight of God. And in His all-seeing eye there is no difference between the cultured, prosperous Westerner, and the starving, semi-naked jungle dweller. ‘All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.’”

Five Minutes to Midnight,
James Stewart and Mission to Europe

(p. 89-90)
T. Omri Jenkins
© 1989

Sex Sermons in Seattle

Dr. John MacArthur writes about why people come to church to hear about God and not sex from the pastor!

http://www.shepherdsfellowship.org/pulpit/Default.aspx

http://www.shepherdsfellowship.org/pulpit/Posts.aspx?ID=4168
http://www.shepherdsfellowship.org/pulpit/Posts.aspx?ID=4169
http://www.shepherdsfellowship.org/pulpit/Posts.aspx?ID=4172

Quick Update

Today I have been answering emails and catching up on web site updates, as well as working on a new video presentation to show all of our ministry locations in action. I have had a cold this week, and I am off to bed tonight with more cold medicine.

Tomorrow I will be working in the LTW storage unit organizing supplies and preparing new shipments for our ministry locations.

Soon to come: updates from the Philippines, Pickering (UK) and our domestic locations.

Hard to Believe This is Happening in America...

Read this article on the recently passed GIVE Act that is now awaiting a conference committee in Congress after already being approved by both the U.S. House and Senate a few days ago. It calls for a "National Service Reserve Corps" of individuals dedicated to carrying out government mandated "service projects". Provisions in the Act call for:

...those in an "approved national service position" may not try to influence legislation, engage in protests or petitions, take positions on union organizing, engage in partisan political activities, or, among other issues, be "engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of proselytization.

For the full story go to:

http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=94373

"the Father of spirits"

Are all spirits the same? If so, it would not matter whether one is a Buddhist, Moslem, Christian, Hindu, or a Hare Krishna. Often people from other religions purport that "all is one" (monism), yet the Bible clearly teaches to "test the spirits" (1 John 4:1), warning, "...do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God."

When I worked at Venice Beach, the spirits were certainly out to sport with people. People would practice "astral projection"; psychics would tell me casually they had seen apparitions of "Jesus"; witches had seen tables levitate; spirits would speak in audible voices or appear as black figures. No, these people were not crazy. One guy had come from an Indian reservation where he had been taught to pray to his ancestors, and praying to the dead would invoke "very scary" spirits in his life, he told me.

Then, there is the Holy Spirit. The difference between demonic spirits (which are counterfeit spirits of darkness masquerading as light) and the Holy Spirit is the demonic spirits work to seduce people away from Jesus and humility, always coming to appeal to the arrogance and autonomy in the person, whereas the Holy Spirit lifts up Jesus. When the Holy Spirit is at work sometimes people cry, feeling the "presence" of the Lord when simply singing a song about Jesus and His love, as hearts are touched to feel love from God. Interestingly, the demonic spirits also come in the name of "God", however as we "test the spirits" the demonic spirits are deceptive. I once spoke to a man at Venice Beach who had just heard a voice from "god". "She" came to him in a female voice and said that 'he had been chosen' to change the world through his music. I couldn't help but get tears in my eyes as I told him that was a demon. I told him that the demon in the female voice had spoken to him such a message, which would never point him to Jesus or to humility, but, rather, uplift his own egotistical autonomy. The middle aged man cried as I spoke to him. His name was Edward. Edward said, "I wanted to talk to you about this, because I have been watching you for over a year, and you seem sincere. I think God came to speak to me, but I am not sure, and I am scared." We both stood there in the parking lot as the sun set over Venice Beach and cried, because I knew that Edward's encounter had been demonic. I told him his only hope was in Jesus. The Bible says Jesus makes the demons tremble. (James 2:19 says, "Even the demons believe in God, and they tremble.") Satanic spirits are lying spirits. What a comfort to know that there is no lie in Jesus--no lie in the God with authority over the demons.

"...God deals with you as with sons, for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline...then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us...shall we not much rather be subjected to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness." Hebrews 12:7-10

"Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; let Your good spirit lead me on level ground." Psalm 143: 10

Walter Martin Debates New Age Mystic Roy Masters

Walter Martin, the original "Bible Answer Man" debates Roy Masters, a New Age mystic via the link below. I respect Dr. Martin for his patience with this man who is quite a heckler. It is so hard to not give up on the person. I know I would have been tempted to cut off the conversation, but Dr. Martin patiently and respectfully continues to contend...(This is too good to miss)!

http://www.fhu.com/player/roy-masters-debates-walter-martin-highspeed.html

Roy Masters, founder and director, was born Reuben Obermeister to a Jewish family in London, England. At age 15 he worked at his uncle's diamond-cutting factory in Brighton after his father died. As a young boy he became interested in hypnotism. He added to his hypnotism techniques after studying African witchdoctor rites during his apprenticeship at South African diamond mines when he was 18. He came to America in 1949, at age 21, to lecture on diamonds. He legally changed his name to Roy Masters in 1954 (yet never acquired American citizenship) and eventually became a professional hypnotist claiming he could "save people by teaching them self-sufficiency meditative hypnosis."... [Source here ].

Excellent on Church History: "Why Were Our Reformers BURNED" by the Church of Rome?

Once again, I am reminded as to why I have such an aversion for religion and no predilection for Catholicism. Most of the Christians who were burnded under the reign of Bloody Mary were burned because the did not believe in transubstantiation! Here are excerpts. (I had to mute the background music to read it from the Tyndale site):

For one thing, I ask my readers never to forget that for the burning of our Reformers the Church of Rome is wholly and entirely responsible. The attempt to transfer the responsibility from the Church to the secular power is a miserable and dishonest subterfuge. The men of Judah did not slay Samson; but they delivered him bound into the hands of the Philistines! The Church of Rome did not slay the Reformers; but she condemned them, and the secular power executed the condemnation...

For another thing, I wish my readers to remember that the burning of the Marian martyrs is an act that the Church of Rome has never repudiated, apologized for, or repented of, down to the present day. There stands the huge blot on her escutcheon; and there stands the huge fact side by side, that she never made any attempt to wipe it away. Never has she repented of her treatment of the Vaudois and the Albigenses;-never has she repented of the wholesale murders of the Spanish Inquisition; -never has she repented of the massacre of St. Bartholomew;-never has she repented of the burning of the English Reformers. We should make a note of that fact, and let it sink down into our minds.

Rome never changes. Rome will never admit that she has made mistakes. She burned our English Reformers 300 years ago. She tried hard to stamp out by violence the Protestantism which she could not prevent spreading by arguments. If Rome had only the power, I am not sure that she would not attempt to play the whole game over again.

From "Why Were Our Reformers Burned?" (Article here).

Buckhead Church

Hi Dwayna,

I was just curious about Andy Stanley. I had a friend who went to his church and she left because it was, in her view, a purpose-driven church with watered-down theology...I've always thought that he was part of the emerging church. Have I been misinformed? I respect your opinion and was surprised when you spoke of him so highly.

Debbie,
Louisville, KY

-----------------------

Debbie,

I want to thank you very much for writing.

...I will promise you that if you go to the web site and hear the last two sermons from Andy Stanley for the last two Sundays, which I have attended and heard in person, you will agree that these are EXCELLENT, sound sermons. What I love about his teaching is he has a gift to teach people about Jesus who don’t believe in Him, in the same way we do at our booth locations in this ministry! He gives apologetics for believing in Jesus, and the sermons are great.

I hope to set up a new booth here in Atlanta in outreach, and, if I do set up an outreach of an evangelism table to people who struggle with homosexuality, I know that Buckhead Church will be a church where they can come and hear a sound message, taken from the Bible, and find out more about Jesus and how to be saved. I know they will be welcome there. They will not necessarily feel comfortable either! [The sermons are so sound that if someone does not believe in the Bible or Jesus, apart from God's mercy, the person will certainly not feel comfortable.] The teaching is very, very sound and the Holy Spirit is at work. [I would certainly never call it watered-down theology. Plus, I can walk to it from where I live, as it is about a city block or so away from my condo unit.]

Yesterday morning I sat behind a man who had tears streaming down his face, obviously touched by God’s love. Last week, I sat in front of a man who was reading My Utmost for His Highest (the unedited version, because he said that he wanted to read old, meaty language from Oswald Chambers). So, to say that Buckhead Church is not a singular ministry would be amiss. It cannot be lumped with the other 'seeker-friendly' churches I have ever visited in my opinion.

So, that being said, I am going to meet with Andy Stanley soon. I will mention the emergent church speakers, etc…and why I do NOT consider myself “emergent”, but I cannot dismiss the blessing I have gotten myself from the last two Sundays when I have visited. They also sing the hymns, which I love, and the music brings tears to my eyes. I feel refreshed and renewed to live for Jesus from the services, and I hope to be a part of the church if this is what God wants. I am going to pursue some meetings there this week.

[With the joy of knowing Jesus as my Savior],
Dwayna

Living for Jesus (Relationship vs. Religion)

Anything it costs is worth it...Living a pure life for Jesus in Him and Him in me...is worth it...

“I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Galatians 2:20

Easter Sunday

Andy Stanley spoke about why we can believe in the veracity of the resurrection and pointed out that Christians don't just believe in the resurrection because the "Bible says so"--It is not that simple. The music with the old hymns brought tears to my eyes, as we sang "Jesus Paid It All" and "When I Survey The Wondrous Cross."

I found the CD slide presentations I had hoped to find today, and we are now working on our next video for LTW presentations. I plan to call Buckhead Church this week and get involved in the music department.

Well, I have had a wonderful Easter Sunday. At the end of the day, I am so thankful that Jesus would live inside of me through the Holy Spirit. A friend asked me today, "Where is He [Jesus] now?" I answered, "In Heaven," but I should have also said, "living in the hearts of those who believe in Him as Savior through the Holy Spirit." He makes His home in our hearts when we are saved to never leave. No matter what I do or say or where I go, He lives in me through the power of the resurrection. Anyone who says that such a relationship is "simple" has never thought much about it. I am thankful for how Jesus is at work to continually change me inside out....and it is a change for the better, because He is so good.

Secularism

Although psychologist Carl Rogers popularized the notion of “unconditional positive regard,” virtually every psychotherapist recognizes the need to treat his/her clients with respect if there is going to be any improvement. This speaks loudly of our need for respect and value, without which many want to end their lives.

However, without the dignity bestowed upon us by a God, who created us in His image (Gen. 1:26-27) and then graciously redeemed us from our indignities (Titus 3:1-7), the “dignity” that is left is no more than a grotesque shadow of what God had intended. This is because, without God, there is no basis to respect all our fellow humans.

For example, take secularism, which denies any spiritual reality. Secularism’s viewpoint is strictly materialistic—what you see is what you get. This has a tremendous impact on how we see and evaluate others! If you only have eyes to see what is before your nose, then you will not see the transcendent and are compelled by the limits of this worldview to evaluate others from the only perspective you have—the material perspective. However, from this perspective, worth can only be assessed from the standpoint of one’s contributions (performance). Therefore, the one who wastes valuable resources by going to drug programs and jail (or the incurably “mentally ill”) should have a negative worth and therefore, not be worthy of any respect.

As a result, the secular therapist fails to operate in a consistent manner with his worldview when he extends respect to someone who is “unworthy” of it. If the secularist does extend this respect, he is hypocritical. If instead, he operates in accordance with his worldview, he must disrespect the “unworthy one” and conclude, as Freud had:

I have found little that is “good” about human beings on the whole. In my experience most of them are trash, no matter whether they subscribe to this or that ethical doctrine or none at all. (Psychoanalysis and Faith)

In contrast, a Christian should know that calling another “trash” does not accord with Biblical truth. If any are trash, it is we (1 Cor. 1:26-30)! It wasn’t the worthy for whom Christ had come, but the unworthy (Mat. 9:13). This is because none are worthy of God (Luke 17:10; Rom. 3:10-18). We have all become trash (Eph. 2:1-3), in a limited sense. However, to call another “trash” or even think this way is both a denial of God and His transcendent reality that humanity bears His likeness (James 3:9).

Worth must be assessed primarily from God’s point of view! From this perspective alone is there any transcendent basis for respect and dignity, not based on our shifting and inadequate performance, but on His Being and performance. (This is not to deny the perspective of earthly guilt and innocence, but Christ gives us the necessary intellectual framework to treat others as their deeds deserve and also to respect them as their God-resemblance requires.) Once we embrace the fact that, ultimately, our worth doesn’t depend upon us but Him, we can begin to lay our façade aside and to emerge into the freedom that comes from knowing that we are entirely safe and valued in Him.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, it is popular around college campuses to hold to a “oneness” spirituality as the best basis for love and respect. According to this understanding, if we’re all actually one and participate equally in god-hood or the universal consciousness, there is no better reason to love and respect others. However, the late British writer and philosopher, G.K. Chesterton persuasively unmasked the incoherence of this alternative:

I want to love my neighbor not because he is I, but precisely because he is not I. I want to adore the world, not as one likes a looking-glass [mirror], because it is one’s self, but as one loves a woman, because she is entirely different. If souls are separate, love is possible. If souls are united, love is obviously impossible. (Quoted from The Journey, Os Guinness, 102)

Instead, we need to have one foot in the real world and the other in heaven. We need both perspectives, the very thing Christ promotes.

--Daniel Mann

challengingthedarkness@yahoo.com

Goals/Update

I have finished one of the videos, instead of both like I had planned. I will get to the other on Monday. We had some techinical problems with the first one.

I have been on the phone about leadership for our outreach in NYC. It is still being overseen by my former pastor, Matthew Carpenter, but we really need another leader. Some people in New Jersey are praying about leading it...

I have ordered ten copies each of Brave New Schools, Who's Driving the Purpose Driven Church, and Heaven Can't Wait, to equal about 150.00, for our table outreach in the Rio Grande Valley.

I am still waiting to hear back from Nitoy about details for the Philippines table...

We think we have someone who can show up at the lotteries weekly at Venice Beach to save us a spot on the boardwalk on the weekends.

I am preparing for Colorado and still praying about how long I am meant to stay. I will be there the first of May to speak and sing at a retreat in Estes Park.

I speak and sing on the 26th at Sevier Heights Baptist and am preparing for that.

I am going to be looking tomorrow for two of our slide presentations (for NYC and Boulder) and will be organizing more of my cabinets in my condo, plus ordering more tracts on the Trinity for the outreach in Minneapolis.

I'm looking forward to Easter Sunday tomorrow with another great sermon from Andy Stanley!

Comment on Genesis 1

Dwayna,

I just read this article regarding Genesis 1 and it is good...If one can dismiss Genesis 1 as being historical truth and really not part of the given Word of God, why not dismiss other parts of the Bible also?

Creation or Evolution? The Problem of Origins

God's Gift to Us (by Daniel Mann)

We need to remind ourselves where we’ve come from so that we can truly appreciate where we’re going! Christ’s Cross should remind us, “You are guilty and deserve nothing but death!” But then it also asserts, “Christ has died for your sins, loving you beyond belief, forgiving you, and bestowing upon you His gift of eternal righteousness.”

Now, let’s consider what this means. We’re exposed, condemned and humbled for our many sins—arrogance, denial, self-justification, self-righteousness, self-deception, our self-centered motives, self-entitlement, self-promotion, selfishness, and the abuse and manipulation of others. The Cross leaves us without excuse or rationalization.

However, Christ loves us too much to leave us to stew in our corrupt juices. He opens our minds to the radical message of the Cross and frees us from sin, self-absorption, self-elevation, the struggle of trying to prove ourselves to both self and the world, blindness, bitterness, jealousy, and the wearisome burden of image-management.

It’s God’s gift to us, and we must never suppose we can earn it. A man named Simon proposed to buy one of God’s gifts, and Peter sternly corrected him:

"May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin" (Acts 8:20-23).

When we fail to see that we are unable to buy or earn God’s gifts, it means that we’re utterly blind to both the depths of our sins and the transcendence and love of a God who can’t be bought. It also means that we’re pretty stuck on ourselves—not a sin that God takes lightly.

Knowing that we’re so undeserving and yet so incredibly beloved, we increasingly (it’s a process!) find ourselves free to put others’ needs before our own. We no longer need to be defensive about our true status, because we’ve come to accept the fact that we’re nothing without Christ. We no longer need to denigrate others in order to lift ourselves. Because we no longer require their love and approval, we’re freed to love them. People no longer have the same power over us, and so we need not resent or fear them! Slights and rejections can now become occasions for laughter.

But how do we appropriate the healing benefits of the Cross? It always starts with trust:

Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. (Psalm 37:3-6)

But don’t leave out obedience. Trust and obedience are inseparable. If we trust, we’ll obey:

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. (Psalm 1:2-3)

Trust and obedience do not exist independently, anymore than I can have a functioning brain without a heart. This doesn’t mean that we’re saved by our good deeds, as if we can earn something from God and convert His gift into a wage, something we deserve (Rom. 4:1-8). However, if we truly believe, we will act on those beliefs. Take, for example, the man who goes to a trusted doctor but throws away the prescribed pills. He then explains that he trusts his doctor so much that he doesn’t have to take the pills. This, of course, is ridiculous! If we trust God, we do what He tells us to do (John 14:21-24)! Also, if we trust God, we’re free from proving ourselves trustworthy. What a relief!

Daniel Mann

challengingthedarkness@yahoo.com

Taking Genesis at Face Value

This again makes me think of Tim Keller (Redeemer Presbyterian NYC) and his teachings that Genesis is a poem made up by the people. Tim believes and says that death was on this earth for many years before there was Adam and before Adam sinned. Of course, if this was true, it would negate the Gospel, for it is an attack on the veracity of the Bible.

http://www.gty.org/Resources/Articles/A262

Truth of the Cross Against Today's Spiritual Distortions

From Berit Kjos:

Dear friends,

Here is my latest article – an attempt to show the truth and wonders of the cross and resurrection in the context of today’s spiritual distortions.

http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/009/warren-prop8.htm

Truth or Lies?
Rick Warren's Moral Compromise

By His grace alone,
Berit
www.crossroad.to

Hebrew Roots, Homeschooling, and the Kabbalah

Here is a new post from Joyfully Growing in Grace, which addresses a book often used in home fellowships affiliated with the Hebrew Roots and homeschooling networks. The book teaches Kabbalah, entitled The Family Guide to Biblical Holidays. Here is the review from Amazon, which the article from JGG references:

I was extremely disappointed with this particular item. The cost of the book is not worth it. The authors claim to make efforts to educate people on the biblical feasts, but have included an immense amount of information that is rooted in cabala [Kabbalah] without addressing it as such. As a parent who purchased this book in order to supplement the teaching of Truth, I was dumbfounded by the authors lack of research concerning the roots of certain celebration practices. My own elementary school children were able to pick apart the errors in teaching and doctrinal half truths. This book should come with a warning label. If you are pursuing information on practicing biblical feasts the Jewish way: Buy. If you are interested in information on Biblical feasts: Walk! Just as there are many pagan traditions in “Christian” holidays, there are just as many pagan traditions in the “Jewish” holidays. Buyer be aware.

"Christ Our Substitute" (by Charles Spurgeon)

"Christ our Substitute." The message is on the verse 2 Corinthians 5:21.

"For He has made Him, Who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (NKJV)

http://spurgeongems.org/vols4-6/chs310.pdf

the Gruesome Death of Jesus Christ--Why? If He Was Not the Savior...Why did He die?

Stay tuned, because the resurrection is coming!!! The story is not over!!

"Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. They said therefore among themselves, 'Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,' that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: 'They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.'... "Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, 'I thirst!' Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, 'It is finished!' And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit." John 19:17-30

Upon that cross of Jesus mine eye at times can see
The very dying form of One Who suffered there for me;
And from my stricken heart with tears two wonders I confess;
The wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness.

See: The Cross and the Resurrection (by Berit Kjos)

It Really Happened!

(Verses compiled by David Fraser, Scotland)

The Resurrection of Christ
I wouldremind you, brothers (and sisters), of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received:

that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
that he was buried,
that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

and that he appeared to (Peter), then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

(1 Corinthians 15)
EYE WITNESS TESTIMONIES--THIS IS HISTORY, NOT FAIRY TALES.