Author Archives: Dr. Mike

-‘Answered Prayers’ on TV

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God still answers prayers. To prove the point, Roman Downey is involved with hosting and producing a new TV series on TLC called ‘Answered Prayers.’ Here’s the story from the  Christian Post:

Roma Downey’s riveting new six-part series “Answered Prayers,” which features real-life stories of people in potentially life-threatening situations who experience divine intervention, says she’s “thankful” and “humbled” by fans’ support for the show.

“We are humbled by the support of so many national prayer leaders, and thankful for how this show is inspiring so many to pray again,” said Downey about the series which has now moved to primetime at 8 p.m. ET Sundays on the TLC network.

As one of the show’s executive producers, Downey hosts each one-hour episode that incorporates actual footage and interviews paired with powerful reenactments.

<Read the whole article>

Response: A few years ago, Roma and her husband were able to convince TV executives to air their Bible series and that was a real demonstration of answered prayer. The success of that series has now led to this new one on TLC that shows God still working miracles and saving people today. A great uplifting series for family viewing. 

This is also a message that our secular culture really needs to hear and be exposed to. I am hoping that the series will pave the way for us to share our own answered prayers and miracles with our friends, neighbors, and family.              

-Lou Engle: A Vision for ‘Stadium Christianity’ and a New Awakening

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Lou Engle of ‘The Call,’ a prayer movement that has gathered hundreds of thousands together all over America for conferences featuring prayer, fasting, repentance, and worship, has a new vision for revival in what he is calling ‘stadium Christianity.’ From Charisma News:

Engle is believing for what he calls “stadium Christianity,” an outbreak of revival that will bring believers to stadiums across the country to worship and experience a new power in the Holy Spirit.

His dream is to hold “The Call” in Los Angeles Memorial Stadium on April 9, 2016, on the 110th anniversary of the Azusa Street Outpouring, which kicked off the Pentecostal/Charismatic renewal in the United States.

“Can you believe with us that denominations will unite, that the races could come together, that God could make us one, as the antidote to the terrific division in our day?” Lou asks.

“Could you believe with us for ‘stadium Christianity’ where signs and wonders are breaking out and mass evangelism explodes across our country?” he continued.

Response: The enemy is sowing racial discord and violence in the major cities all across America. The newscasters and press are exacerbating the problem by giving equal time and credence to every voice and picture of discontent.

The American church holds the real answer to this mess. What if  black and white and Latino Christians all got together in unity all across America in stadiums starting with LA.?  Remember, Azusa Street was an interracial revival and provided the foundation for the Pentecostal movement which includes some of the largest black denominations and churches.

The picture of white and black Christians along with other races praying together for racial unity and revival on the 10 o’clock TV News along with signs and wonders, healings, and miracles could go along way towards healing American cities and bringing on a new awakening.              

-Renewal Among the Methodists

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Here’s a report of a renewal going on right now in the United Methodist Church through Aldersgate Renewal Ministries. The report comes from David F. Watson:

I know many people who are praying for renewal in the UMC and beyond, and we should continue to do this. But what we need also to understand is that renewal is happening now. You just have to know where to look for it. And in the UMC it’s happening through Aldersgate Renewal Ministries. Thanks be to God.

<Read the whole article>

Response: Read David’s entire report of a recent conference sponsored by Aldersgate Renewal Ministries. It is really encouraging. We really do need to pray for a continuing renewal in the UMC. Wouldn’t it be great to see these mainliners on fire again and add spiritual gifting and power to churches all across the heartland that have been declining for years.

These folks already know how to reach out with social programs. Can you imagine what would happen if life changing healing and miracles were added on to what they are doing now? This is what our cities need in America- to be on fire with the Holy Spirit instead of racial strife. Praise God and bring on the renewal! Time for you intercessors to get busy.              

-My Prayer: Let Their Legacy be Peace, Love, and Reconciliation

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Psalm 11

In the Lord I take refuge; …if the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”

The Lord is in his holy temple…his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.
The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
…For the Lord is righteous;
he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face. (ESV)

Our Father,

In the news today, more Christians were killed in the Middle East, a whole village in Africa. The evil words of a young racist who killed nine praying folks in a church continues to haunt America and others continue to stir the pot of hate between the races in our big cities. Many are saying that riots are on the horizon while police are being ambushed and young black people continue to die in our streets. The voices of hate are running hot today with no relief in sight.

Father God, you are still our refuge and by your Holy Spirit let the agents of your love rise up and mediate between the forces that would tear our country and cities apart. Let agents of your love and justice rise up and speak words of conciliation in our communities and drown out the shouts of division and hate. Let believers in your Son Jesus walk over the bridges together in love Like they did with Martin LK in former days.

Let a legacy of peace and love come out of the church in Charleston, may they not have died in vain. Let Americans rise up and honor their prayers and faith. Let us be renewed and battle the hate that perpetrated this evil deed. Let it stop here, let their legacy be one of peace, love, and justice not more strife, recrimination, and division.

Let believers rise up and proclaim that you are still on the throne and your Kingdom of love and justice is coming. Let your Spirit reach down and touch the hearts of America this Summer and bring love and reconciliation all across our cities. Let your love, peace, and justice reign as never before.   

In Jesus name, Amen.

-Iran: Muslim Interrogator Accepts Christ Through Witness of Christian Prisoner

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Here’s an incredible story from Open Doors ministry. A Iranian interrogator came to Christ through the witness of a Christian woman prisoner. Here’s the story from the Gospel Herald (Link NLA):

Noushin, a house church leader in the predominantly Muslim country, was arrested for her faith and forced into solitary confinement for three days.

“I wasn’t ready to go to prison,” she told Open Doors. “I knew it was a dirty place, a place where people are tortured and locked up in solitary confinement. I was afraid that I would be so fearful that I would give up all the names of the members of house church. I even feared that I would deny my faith if they tortured me.”

However, after three days of being locked in solitary confinement, Noushin began tentatively sharing the Gospel with her interrogator.

“We talked about Jesus for hours until finally the interrogator gave his heart to Jesus. We prayed together,” she recalled.

“It’s an honor for me to talk about Jesus,” Noushin told the guard. “You also need Jesus in your life. I cannot be indifferent toward you. I want you to experience the joy and blessing of salvation. I can’t keep silent about this.”

Response: Open Doors reports that the revival in Iran continues in spite of the recent crackdown and arrest of Christian leaders by the government authorities. 

Please remember to pray for our brothers and sisters in that land. As many as half a million are said to have come to Christ in the last 10 years. There is no way to get accurate stats out of there but most have come to Christ through rather miraculous means and are meeting in secret house churches.

-Jesus Appears in Dream to ISIS Soldier and Tells Him: ‘You Are Killing My People’

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There have been many reports of Muslims coming to the Christian faith in the last few years through dreams and visions. The video above has a few of those testimonies. However the most dramatic that I have ever read about is one I found today in the Christian Post.

An ISIS soldier who actually ‘enjoyed’ killing Christians was visited in a dream by Jesus who told him: “You are killing my people.” Now he is being discipled as a new follower of Christ. Here’s the dramatic story from the Christian Post:

“One of our YWAM workers in the Middle East was contacted by a friend earlier this year and they met up and he was introduced to an ISIS fighter who had killed many Christians already.  …(He) went on to share that this Islamic State jihadi confessed not only to killing Christians but “that he had actually enjoyed doing so.”

“He told this YWAM leader that he had begun having dreams of this man in white who came to him and said, ‘ You are killing my people.’ And he started to feel really sick and uneasy about what he was doing,”

Fadely continued. “The fighter said just before he killed one Christian, the man said, ‘I know you will kill me, but I give to you my Bible.’ The Christian was killed and this ISIS fighter actually took the Bible and began to read it. In another dream, Jesus asked him to follow him and he was now asking to become a follower of Christ and to be discipled.”

“So who knows. Perhaps this man will be like Saul in the Bible … “God can turn it around.”

(Read the whole article)

Response: ISIS has killed thousands of Christians and destroyed hundreds of churches. They seem to be unstoppable lately. This conversion account gives me hope and demonstrates that God is still in charge regardless of what we see in the news. 

What I take away from this is a lesson that we should have learned a long time ago. We really should be praying for our enemies just like Jesus taught.             

-Jerusalem 2015: World Harvest Demonstrated

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So many American Christians are involved in the on-going ‘culture wars’ and the hopes for revival in our own country that sometimes we miss what God is doing in this generation all around the world. Nothing demonstrates this more than what happened last Sunday- Pentecost in Jerusalem.

The whole event was sponsored by Empowered21 and lead by American and Western Pentecostal and Charismatic church leaders including Billy Wilson, president of Oral Roberts University, and Dr. George Wood, General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God. Other notables attending included-  Reinhard Bonnke, Morris Cerullo, Jack Hayford, Marilyn Hickey, David Mainse and Vinson Synan who were honored for their past service along with many others.

Christians came to the event from  more than 70 different countries but among the largest groups in attendance were those from China along with a group from Indonesia. It really does demonstrate that a ‘World Harvest’ has been going on for quite a while and now new evangelists and world church leaders are being called forth from those nations.

Look for young missionaries and evangelists to begin to come forth from Asian countries like China, South Korea, Indonesia and from the well established churches in Africa. Do not be surprised if they start showing up in Europe and America to re-sow the ground that was once fertile and produced the missionaries that originally brought the Gospel to their own nations. 

-SBC Mission Board Drops Ban on Speaking in Tongues

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Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board (IMB) dropped its ban on those who spoke in tongues along with several other rule changes at a recent meeting. Nevertheless, missionaries are expected to faithfully represent Southern Baptist churches and Southern Baptist teaching which does not include any kind of an emphasis on charismatic gifts.

This has been a long time in coming and considering the large number of cessationists in the SBC it is still surprising. However, years ago (2007) we discovered some research that showed over 50% of head pastors in the SBA believed in tongues so maybe the change is not so odd after all.

It does go along with what is happening overseas in the mission fields. I have heard that an increasing number of SBA missionaries had to hide their involvement in the ‘gifts’ from their board and their sponsoring churches just to continue. Healing and giftedness were not something they ever expected or sought out or even theologically believed in for that matter. It just happened in the midst of their ministry.              

-2015 A Turning Point in America?

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“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…’’

America is Moving in 2015 But Which Way is it Going to Go?

Many of us have been praying and looking for revival and a new awakening in America and many of us have hopes that 2015 would see the beginning of a new move of God –a turning point to bring the nation back to God and his purposes.

Another Kind of Turning Point

In the midst of that real hope that the Holy Spirit has been guiding many of us to pray for is another reality that is rising up in America. An evil design that could bring a different kind of turning point in our country where our religious liberty and freedom are questioned and re-defined. Where churches are forced to decide between following the Bible or the increasingly secular culture.

If the trend continues like it has so far this year, it is not too difficult to see that conservative churches may find themselves as outcasts and receive real discrimination in the years to come with 2015 being an evil turning point. It is critical that intercessors and prayer warriors rise up now while there is yet day for the night may be descending quickly and take us all by surprise if we stand silent and motionless at this critical time.

Here’s a prophetic word that I found completely on point and one which confirms what I have recently been seeing in the early months of this year and have been concerned about. From Daniel K. Norris:

“2015 will demand believers to be resolute in their beliefs. The media and culture has found a voice of influence into the church and this year will begin to exercise that voice with a greater authority. Culture will seek to define what is and is not acceptable Christianity. Many will allow their faith to be shaken. Some will come into agreement. Many will choose to simply be silent. Very few will stand as a resolute voice. We must unashamedly declare truth and boldly display love. There will be many who disagree with you, but let them not be uncertain about your love for them.”

Read the whole article where he addresses the current trends that support what I am writing about. Evangelicals including Charismatics and Pentecostals are in danger of seeing major divisions in their churches and denominations/associations over homosexuality and same-sex marriage in the near future and this year could be the turning point in America and the American church one way or another.           

-Christian ‘Forgiving ISIS’ Videos Go Viral in Muslim World and Reports of Revival Among the Refugees

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“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” Matthew 5:44

Here’s a video of a Christian child, 10 year old Myriam, forgiving ISIS even though her family has lost everything because of the terrorist group.  She said:

“I will only ask God to forgive them.

Now comes the news that the video and several others like it have gone viral in the Middle East demonstrating the teaching of Jesus to ‘love your enemies’ in a culture where ‘eye for an eye’ is the normal response. From Christianity Today:

To date, more than 1 million people have seen her witness online. [Full video at the bottom]

SAT-7’s 5 channels reach an audience of 15 million in North Africa and the Middle East, though it’s impossible to measure how many people watched Myriam. However, numbers can be tracked through the social media campaign, which has reached 25 times its normal audience, with subtitles of the video provided in English, Spanish, Turkish, and Chinese. Word spread not only through SAT-7 affiliates, but also in the local secular press.

Pan-Arabic al-Arabia praised Myriam for confronting ISIS with love. “Everyone who listens to her is astounded,” echoed the Egyptian Youm 7. Leading Lebanese daily al-Nahar called for the clip to be shown in the nation’s schools as a lesson in humanity.

<Read the whole article>

Response: What a lesson in faith! File this story in the  “for such is the Kingdom of God” (Luke 18:16) category. They are far better Christians than I.

Most of us in America wonder what kind of ‘Christians’ these displaced Iraqis really are. Since they mostly attend Catholic and Orthodox affiliated churches many of us have an erroneous impression that they might only be so-called ‘cultural Christians.’ Maybe that is why so few of us are upset or up in arms when we read the reports of their persecution and death. But hundreds of thousands of these Near Eastern Christians have lost everything for their faith and thousands have paid the ultimate price as martyrs. They actually have a greater right to bear the name of Christ than many of us living in safe and comfortable communities in the West.

The video above should transform our thinking about these fellow believers. I know of several missionaries and relief personnel loosely connected with my home church which are working among these refugees in Iraq. The word and reports we receive from them is that there is real revival going on among these folks with abundant healing and miracles in their midst. Please keep praying for these bothers and sisters and those who are ministering in their midst.