Author Archives: Dr. Mike

-America of the Founders and Now

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Much has been made of the variety of beliefs held by the founders of this country but their words and convictions remain not only on the paper they penned these words on but also in the hearts of the people. America has always been a nation ‘under God’ and ‘freedom of religion’ has been a primary right of its citizens.

One only has to visit Washington DC and look at all of the messages etched in stone to realize how much faith in God has been as part of the American experiment and experience. Stroll into the Jefferson monument and view the different references he made to the Creator. Yet he is supposed to be the champion of ‘Separation of Church and State’ and progressive thought. 

We now live in a generation when some are challenging those rights and liberties in the name of ‘separation of church and state’. Some would even like to remove all vestiges of religion or faith from the public square. Every week we find new challenges to our religious liberties.

I have seen many changes over the course of my life when it comes to religion in the public square. When I started school in the 50’s every day began with a prayer and the pledge. Also, I can remember studying the Bible in elementary school and when it came to Christmas all of the traditional Christmas carols were naturally sung. Prayers were still given at my baccalaureate, commencement, and even before some of the football games in the 60’s. None of the public displays of faith seemed out of place then.

Now that is all gone from the public schools and really no way that it can be recovered.

Growing up, I can remember that every family went to some church or another on Sundays except for the next door neighbor who was a Seventh–Day Adventist and the Jewish family down the street who preferred Saturdays for their worship instead.

It had been much the same way in America when my parents grew up and my grand parents also. In fact my mother told me that the readers they used in school (1915-20)actually taught them how to read using Bible passages. How foreign that would be today in our current schools.

It was also a time when America rose up and took its place among the top countries of the world on many different levels. This country has been tremendously blessed by God.

If God is erased from the public square and discourse of America, then what will be the new basis and foundation of our freedoms? So much of what we have was actually built upon the foundation of Christian civilization that owed its very existence to the Bible and the teachings of Jesus and his disciples. What will be the new standard if any that assures the continuity of freedom in America if not the Creator?

Shall we be left to rely upon politicians and judges and the sifting sands of popular notions? Or will scriptural principles continue to light the way like this NT passage did?:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” –Galatians 3:28-29

All distinctions were done way in Christ and American society eventually has followed suit and provided equal justice and freedom for all.

What kind of America will my grandchildren and great grandchildren be living in? Will America continue to lead the world in freedom, commerce, and faith or will it decline into the dust pan of history?

I pray that Americans will continue to respect and worship God from whom all of our blessings and liberties flow.            

-An Encouraging Sign: Prayer Movements

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From Charisma News:

A rising tide of concern is sweeping through the body of Christ as America drifts farther and farther away from its moral and biblical moorings. In response, prayer initiatives are budding in an attempt to call people across denominational and parachurch ministry lines to seek God’s intervention on behalf of America.

The article goes on to name a number of prayer movements across America. This is an encouraging development because it means that thousands of Christians are finally waking up and praying to save our declining nation.

This is anecdotal, but I participated in an all day 12 hour prayer meeting several years ago for California and the nation at the football stadium in San Diego- TheCall. Around 30,000 showed up including a number of key leaders and pastors from Southern California. What impressed me most was the variety of denominations and races represented. Better yet was the unity that the Holy Spirit brought to the place as the day rolled on. TheCall movement was not mentioned in the article but it is still going on sponsoring prayer events all across America and internationally. Their focus is on revival which I believe is our only hope to turn back the current tide towards moral decline in America.

Actually you can now see and witness the decline nearly on every front. Politically, religiously, economically, morally…

It is time to get down on our knees and pray for our nation but also pray for forgiveness since the church and most of us Christians in America have been in slumber for nearly a generation believing that we could solve our moral problems through political action. It didn’t work and now its time to pray for help and direction.           

-The Family, Same-Sex Marriage, and the Future of America

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In the last several months there has been a dialogue going on in America concerning our direction and the future of this nation when it comes to the major building block of society- the family.

Sunday we celebrated motherhood but earlier in the week the topic of conversation was same-sex marriage as President Obama came out in support of it and ironically cited the teachings of Jesus and the Golden Rule as having a part in his decision.

In April one of the big topics on the political scene was a comment that was made by a Democratic operative that Ann Romney never worked a day in her life since all she ever did was stay at home and raise 5 boys. In March the big controversy revolved around contraceptives and abortives and whether the government would force insurance companies to pay for them -even self insured religious organizations who were opposed to their use. It really was a matter of freedom of religion but the mainstream media and one political party styled those who opposed that idea as being in a ‘war against women.’

However, the real war in America is against motherhood, parenthood, and God’s design for humanity and Creation itself. My question is this:

Can God continue to bless America the way we are going? I believe that the answer is no and that our very future is hanging in the balance.

Honoring God’s order and design of the family was important enough to be included in the 10 commandments as a requirement for those who were seeking his blessing:

Ex 20:11-12
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
ESV

This was also confirmed in the New Testament teaching on the family in Ephesians:

Eph 6:2-4
“Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”
ESV

Do you really think that we are really honoring God’s plan for mothers, fathers, and the family in America today? So many children are brought into the world with single parents or in households where the parents are not fully committed to each other in marriage. And now if that is not bad enough, marriage itself is being re-defined as including same-sex partners and families are being re-defined to include all of these different perversions. Not only that, but Christians who question this direction in our culture are being cast as bigots, homophobes, and hopelessly on the ‘wrong side of history.’

If we continue in this direction I am afraid that America will ultimately be on God’s wrong side of history.

Again, can we expect God to continue to bless America in the midst of this rebellion against his order in Creation? As long as we were a nation that honored God and followed his order in creation for marriage and the family we could expect his blessings and that our days would be long and prosperous in this land. But that is no longer the case .

How we need revival.                    

-A Move of God in Pakistan

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(Photo: Marilyn Hickey Ministries)

Pakistan is a place where Christians are constantly being persecuted. In fact it ranks 10th on Open Doors’ 2012 World Watch List of the worst persecutors of Christians. Also, on another one of my blogs I am frequently posting about the ongoing persecution there. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit is on the move in the radical Islamic Republic of Pakistan and thousands of Muslims are being brought to Christ every year no matter what.

Here’s an article about one such move going on in Azam Basti, a suburb of Karachi: “Pakistan’s Pentecost”

The Christian community has been allowed to build a number of large churches  in the area. Most started out as small house churches that expanded through conversions to number in the thousands even in the midst of all of the adversity and persecution. According to the article, even a number of imams have come to Christ sacrificing everything.

Even more astounding, a recent Marilyn Hickey healing crusade drew more than 200,000 people on one night in Karachi. Plus it was actually supported by a number of high-level government officials.

<Read the entire article, you will be blessed>

Pakistan is not a country you think of when the topic is Revival but there are Muslims being converted to the real Jesus every day there. Like everywhere else in Muslim countries, many are being converted through dreams and visions. However it is a very hard place for new believers and many lose everything including their families in the process but their blessings will last for all eternity.              

-Revival Continues to Explode in Iran

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Iran is in the news as a country developing nuclear weapons and preparing for war against Israel and ultimately the USA. However, regular folks in the country do not necessarily support their leaders particularly when it comes to Christianity.

A full blown revival is going on in the country and government officials are trying everything they can to stop it. Authorities continue to arrest pastors and persecute Christians to no avail. Recently the government issued a decree forbidding churches from meeting on Fridays. Friday is the traditional ‘day off’ and the time to worship in the Iranian culture and most of the Middle East for that matter. This decree is only going to affect the ‘official’ churches however since most Iranian Christians meet in illegal house churches in secret.

<Here’s the latest report in Charisma from Open Doors on what’s going on there>

The Iranian revival continues to expand through dreams, visions, and healing. Some put numbers now at 500,000. This article estimates 370,000 have converted to Christianity through the recent revival. There is no way to get an accurate account since it is all underground.

Please continue to pray for these brothers and sisters in Christ that are now under a great deal of persecution from there radical Islamic government. Also, at some point in the near future it does seem likely that Israel will attack the nuclear facilities in the country.

What follows is anyone’s guess. The Ayatollah claims that ‘12th Imam’ Mahdi is already appearing to him and demanding that Israel and the Jews be destroyed.            

-Taking Jesus into the Marketplace

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Europe is full of huge empty cathedrals and most people there think of Christianity as something from the past.

In strategizing over how to take Jesus back into that continent, Global Advance is trying to advance the faith through Marketplace ministry hoping to make the church relevant to young Europeans.

Here’s an article about their efforts in Germany:

“Global Advance Trains Germans for Marketplace Ministry”

According to Jonathan Shibley, president of Global Advance:

“We really felt like it was a sovereign time for the Lord to pull together people during an economic crisis, because that’s where our faith comes out and shines.”

“Three years ago, we were challenged at Global Advance to begin to look at Europe much like we would other developing countries: as an underserved region of the world, and almost an unreached region of the world to some extent.”

“People are hungry spiritually, but they don’t know what they’re hungry for. So the gospel’s got to be demonstrated in a fresh way. So many people associate religion with empty cathedrals. They haven’t made the connect with their faith and the relevance to their personal lives. Somehow the church has got to become relevant again.”

In talking about the recent conference Shibley concluded

“It was just a wonderful time to bring a wide variety of people from different denominations, different backgrounds, and also different industries together under one common cause—and that’s to see Christ lifted up through the workplace in Europe.”

Response: I believe that marketplace ministry is also part of God’s heart for transforming America and particularly the American church. For too long American Christians have lived separate lives dividing the sacred from the secular and profane. 

Most of us Christians spend a majority of our lives in the marketplace, in schools, jobs, or in businesses. Yet we mostly keep the most important things of our lives separate from that experience, our families and our faith.  For too long, American Christians have separated their working lives from their faith, viewing work as a necessary evil to pay the bills. Not really the ‘spiritual’ part of our lives but the secular.

You can see where this has gotten us when well known church-going evangelical business leaders end up in jail over corrupt business practices. One famous energy company in Texas comes to mind as an example. The CEO was a deacon in his church and now he’s in prison.

It wasn’t always that way in America nor was it that way in Europe. The protestant work ethic transformed the West. All thing were done as unto Christ. But it was in America that religion and business would go hand in hand to build up a new nation that would lead the world for an entire century. However, somewhere in the last 50 years or so, Christianity became something that primarily happened just in a church for one hour on Sunday or two if your Pentecostal or Charismatic.

Again, it wasn’t always that way. One of the greatest revivals in America happened in businesses in New York City in the 19th century just before the civil war. Over 50,000 businessmen were converted to Christ and they transformed the entire American economy for the next 50 years until America became a leading world economic power.

It is time once more for American Christians to put it all together and live our entire lives under the banner of Christ including the marketplaces where we spend most of our time and efforts. I believe that the marketplace is the key to the next major revival that will transform the American church and change it into a relevant and dynamic witness to a secular American culture which has abandoned God and the very foundation it was originally built upon.           

-China: Revival in the ‘Official’ Churches Also

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Most of the time when it comes to China, Western Christians hear about all of the great stuff happening in unofficial house churches while many contend that the official ‘Three-Self Patriotic’ Churches are somewhat compromised by the government.

According to the following article, that is no longer the case as real revival has also come to the official churches and faithful leaders are becoming pastors and leaders in that movement and are increasingly left alone to teach and preach the Gospel.

Here’s a link to the article: “Fires of Holy Ghost Revival Burning in China”

According to the writer, revival has been going on for some time in the house churches in the rural areas of China now it is raging also in the large official churches in the big cities with thousands of young people coming to Christ. Not only that but the ‘official’ churches are experiencing a genuine Holy Spirit revival with healings,  praying in tongues, and prophesying.

All we can say about this is that it is a real mark of a genuine move of God when a revival goes beyond the organizational, denominational, and political boundaries that people are comfortable with and touches people and places where most proper Christians will not go.

For a long time the ‘official’ churches were considered to be cursed and tainted by the government but God is doing a work there anyway touching thousands of young people in urban areas and bringing with it exponential growth. Praise God.           

-China: The Biggest Revival in History?

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Here’s quote from a recent article in Charisma magazine (Link NLA):

“Every day, 30,000 people believe in Jesus—even communist party members. It’s the greatest revival in church history.”

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When the Communists took over China in 1949 there were only about 900,000 or so Christians in the country according to the best estimates. Now there are more than 150 million and no one really can keep tabs on the actually number since there are actually thousands of Chinese coming to Christ every day. Some are calling it the greatest revival in History.

It is transforming the country and has real implications for the future. Consider that at the current growth rate of the church, China could actually become a majority Christian nation within a generation or so.

Nevertheless, most of the Christian ‘house’ churches do not have official recognition and their existence is rather precarious even though most are meeting openly. Also, there are still jurisdictions in that rather vast country where Christians are still being persecuted and must meet in secret. However, increasingly the government is leaving them alone in most areas.  Note also that nearly all of the major Christian leaders have spent at least some time in jail and prison for the faith.

Here’s one report from the article:

“I’ve never seen this in America.  I saw hungry people, people getting healed, and heard of stories of revival. It’s like the book of Acts. Living here we have a completely different perspective [than Westerners have.”

-Miami: ONE Conference Unites 200 Local Churches

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Last weekend in Miami, Florida, Christians from 200 local churches of different denominations across the greater Miami area came together to worship God at the ONE Conference.

The 3 day conference, held at the BankUnited Center on the campus of the University of Miami, brought together folks from every denomination including  charismatics, Pentecostals, non-denominational evangelicals along with  traditional Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists and others.  The get together for Jesus was the culmination of a vision by Pedro Garcia, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Kendall. He hoped that the meetings would ignite a new passion for Jesus and impact the the entire region and world for the glory of God.

Approximately 6,000 attended the event sharing a common focus on Jesus Christ, with teaching from more than a dozen well known Christian leaders as well as worship music by Hillsong United, Dominic Balli and the Rebel Band.

Each speaker challenged the body of Christ in Miami to rise to a higher level of experiencing God and through the Spirit of Unity to actually make a difference and change the world for the better in the name of Jesus. The vision of the conference was “to have charismatics working alongside Evangelicals and other mainline Christian denominations in Miami to demonstrate the love of Christ with strength and unity.”

<Read about it here>

Response: Conferences of this type need to be repeated all across America. It is time for all Christians to stand up and be counted and united together in the name of Jesus.

It is time to see what the Father is doing and follow through. It is time for Christians to reach a new level of worship and love of Jesus. For too long we have allowed ourselves to be divided. America needs the church to be unified as never before if this nation is come out of its current trouble and continue to lead the world in freedom. Otherwise we could well see our nation descend into the dust bowl of history.   

The vision I was given many years ago of a major revival in America went across denominational lines and brought a new unity to American Christians and turned them into a force for cultural change pulling the nation out of the fire and destruction that the enemy had planned on.

This year is a critical moment where our nation is facing a number of different choices and paths. Most are not good and do not include or even recognize the hand of God. It is time for American Christians to stand up and be counted in this critical juncture of history. 

Our enemies are planning our destruction but God has different plans for our nation if Christians will stand up and be counted together bringing a new spirit of unity throughout the land—Not by military power, not by might but by my Spirit says the Lord. 

-Burkina Faso: Deaf Hear and Blind See

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A short report by from the Christ for All Nations’ Gospel Campaign in the Central African nation of Burkina Faso with Evangelists Reinhard Bonnke and Daniel Kolenda:

“The Holy Spirit was poured out on the multitude in a mass baptism of fire! Dramatic signs and wonders accompanied the preaching of gospel.”

“An old mama who was totally blind for two years received her sight. A woman with a lump in each of her breasts, said that during the prayer both lumps vanished. A totally deaf woman was also completely healed along with another blind girl.”

Saturday morning marked the grand finale of the Fire Conference. Peter van den Berg preached with Kolenda following. Before he could take the microphone, Kolenda says the Holy Spirit was already falling.

“We just took our hands off the ‘reigns’ and let the Holy Spirit have His way.  It was glorious!”

Response: Just a reminder that revival is going on all over the world. Also, genuine signs and wonders and healing attend those genuine moves of God and thousands are coming to Christ. 

One wonders how America would respond to a genuine revival? I am increasingly believing that this country will never be the same unless a new awakening breaks out across America.