"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?"  Matthew 5:13

Whenever I have a get-together, I always invite Barry. Yeah, things can go just fine without him, but when he's there, he adds an extra spice to the party. I guess he's sort of half nuts, but the half of him that's nuts is a real fun nuts. He's kind of like the sweet and sour sauce that goes with your egg rolls ... that is, if you like egg rolls. You can eat them dry, but without the sauce, it tastes like something is missing.
Church is a lot like that. Oh sure, we have wonderful churches, with great pastors and real nice people. And I'm sure you all love your church services. But something is missing.
Ever wonder why so many folks out there are not flocking to your church? And I'm not talking about sinners - I'm talking about Christians! Ask them sometime. You'll find (if you can get around their initial polite responses) that they need something more than what they are finding at church. Something is missing and they are left still hungry when they leave. What is that thing?
It's not the setting or the message or the people. It's something that is difficult to put your finger on, but whatever it is, it isn't satisfying that hunger that so many people have in the depths of their souls.
I brought my family just recently to a service where someone was preaching that I knew was a real servant of the Lord. And it was good ... sort of. All the right theological elements were in place, the preachers said a lot of great stuff, and it was good to be there. But something was missing.
As we drove home, my wife pointed right to it - there was no anointing. Great message, wonderful preachers, nice place ... but no anointing. Egg rolls without sauce.

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 Noise

 Ever been in a crowded room straining to hear what someone is trying to tell you, but you can't hear anything because of all the noise!  That's how I've been feeling lately in the Christian arena. There's so much noise that I can't seem to hear anything that makes sense anymore.

It seems like everybody has a message they have to tell us - as if we've never heard this great new revelation before.  I'm glad that all these folks are excited, but pumping out the same old stuff in broad, general strokes is getting kind of old. When are we going to stop talking, and start doing something besides preach to each other? How about taking the message to the streets and winning souls? Read more

It's Christmastime again. I can't believe that I've been saved for almost 40 years now and have been able to be part of so many real Christmases.

It wasn't always so. As a young man who refused to believe in such nonsense such as a god that I couldn't see, feel, or touch, Christmas remained simply a time of tinsel, pretty lights, Thomas Kincaid settings, and presents that you couldn't afford. What a difference a simple prayer can make!

Over the years, I have heard all the reasons of why we shouldn't celebrate Christmas - and I'm sure you've heard your share also. Born in a desire for righteousness but nurtured in a sea of self-righteousness, the razor-sharp arguments contend for an elimination of anything that smacks of red and green hues. The reasons are prolific. Let's see: Read more

I have been to a lot of Revival prayer meetings lately.  They seem to be springing up more in these last 5 years than in the previous 20.  Perhaps that's because the need is increasing as the church world seems to be drifting more and more toward a social Gospel that is more consumer-friendly than abrasive.  The harshness of messages of repentance have not only become rare in this new modern Churchianity, but is becoming more and more frowned upon as unnecessarily judgmental, critical, and ungodly.  My, how things have changed!

Sin, however, cannot be scrubbed away so easily.  It takes soap to clean dirty clothes, and soap's active ingredient is lye.  God is a holy God, and cannot, will not, fellowship with sin.  If you want an outpouring of the Holy Ghost, sin has to be scrubbed away.  This Emperor does not wear dirty clothes.

Is it a small wonder that so many souls are left hungry, searching for a church where they can experience the real power of God and the real meat of the Word, rather than an anemic, social version of it?  Their choice seems to be either go naked or wear dirty clothes. Read more

G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton wrote his spiritual autobiography, Orthodoxy, in 1908.  The amazing thing is how relevant his arguments and insights are today.

I think there is an unfortunate tendency in our society to always be focusing on the 'new.'  The newer truth is always to be preferred over the older, even if this flies in the face of the definition of 'truth.'  Let's face it, we give incentives to make this happen.  A good example is in academia, where the surest way to fame is to posit the newest and most unique proposal- the more controversial the better.  One sees this very clearly in the 'historical Jesus' debate.   Jesus was married, Jesus was gay, Jesus didn't exist, Jesus was a philosopher, Jesus was... these proposals make headlines and the proposers famous.  Since scholars utter them, newspaper men assume they are credible.  There is little fame to be gathered from defending the 'traditional' line.  But the 'traditional' line exists precisely because after this weeks scandalous announcement is forgotten, the 'old' position still stands.  But that isn't reported, so no one ever hears that. Read more

"My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. Say unto wisdom, Thou are my sister; and call understanding my kinswoman: that they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words."  Proverbs 7:1-5

In 2 Thessolonians I read that there will be a great falling away from the faith.  The word used is "apostasia".  But there are some connotative shades of meaning  in that passage that suggest a "staying away" instead of just a departure.  If that is the case, that portrays  the Church in the last days not just of Christians making a choice to backslide, but of an absence of people coming to Salvation at all. 

I also read in 1^st Timothy that "some shall depart from the faith..."  "Depart" here meaning a type of rebellion, or pulling away, or a withdrawal of oneself. But again there are some linguistic turns that suggest more of a separation rather than a departure.  Read more

"You can't take it with you."  That's what we Christians think but I'm not so sure it is strictly true.Do you remember Matthew 6:19-21?

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where theives break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where theives do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I always understood the general idea of this passage but for a long time, the closer I looked at it the more confused I got.  How does one store up treasures in heaven?  Apparently, there are things you can take with you!  What are they?  And again, just how does one store something in heaven? Read more

A review of Maafa 21: Black Genocide in 21st Century America, a documentary produced by Life Dynamics.

Anthony Horvath is the Executive Director of Athanatos Christian Ministries and a member of Lutherans for Life's national speakers bureau. He regularly blogs at his apologetics site, sntjohnny.com.

Maafa 21: Black Genocide in 21st Century America demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt that organizations like Planned Parenthood have their origins in eugenics movements which in turn were formed to deal with the 'problem' created to society by the end of slavery.  Using primary source material throughout the 2 hour documentary, Maafa 21 details how birth control measures such as abortion and sterilization were originally presented in the context of eliminating 'undesirables' from society.  Highest on that list for the original eugenicists:  black people.

Maafa 21 focuses on the 'womb-lynching' of blacks in America but given my own personal story I want to emphasize that the same arguments given by eugenicists regarding black people was- and is- applied to other groups, as well.  Maafa 21 makes the important point that the eugenics programs under Hitler didn't merely single out Jews, but also targeted black people.  I should like to add that those with birth defects and disabilities were also targeted.  This is not to take away from the compelling argument that Maafa 21 makes, but simply to point out that eugenics arguments are not exclusively applied (in the past, or today) to black people.

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The recent passing of hate crimes legislation is causing some consternation in Christian circles but not enough and the concern it is raising is mostly of the wrong kind. 

True, it is bad law.  The idea that there can be different punishments for the same crime based merely on motive is a principle that is begging for abuse.  More worrisome is the idea that others can be held accountable for the crimes of another.  What this really does is make 'offending' a crime in itself.  Rather than an objective act in space and time- the criminal act, if you will- something becomes criminal if it is associated with something that others find offensive.  And being offended is something subjective.

The passing of the hate crimes legislation has a lot of meaning, will reveal many implications, and is a definite sign that the Christian worldview is under seige.  I contend, though, that the real battle was already lost.  I speak of the battle for logic, reason, common sense, and, in a word, the rule of law. Read more

Several surveys have been released over the last year.  It has been awhile since I've posted here and these surveys would have been good opportunities to do so.  However, the trends these surveys document have not gone away and now still remains a good time.

Here is the simple reality:  In under 20 years, the Christian church in America has declined by about 10%.  In raw numbers, Christianity more or less held steady.  This is deceptive.  First of all, America itself increased by tens of millions in the last century.  Christians made up a smaller share of these new Americans and the ones who are tend to be immigrants.  This is true of the Catholic Church in particular.  In the meantime, the percentage- and raw numbers- of 'religious nones' have increased.

When we translate these percentages into actual numbers, we come to the uncomfortable conclusion that millions of Christians in America have left the faith.  Not only have those who report having no religion whatsoever increased, but this group is composed largely of those who were Christian at one time. Read more

While in the midst of a prayer meeting for revival one night, the Lord showed me something so disturbing that I hesitated to share it with the others there. We had gathered together in a home with a sincere desire to pray for revival in our area, but I noticed that the prayers only seemed to be directed to each other, their pastors, their churches, and Christianity in general.  No one had even mentioned the lost and unsaved - they were only praying for themselves.

While I sat there, the Lord showed me this vision.  While I am sure that everyone would have said that they agreed with the vision, I fear that few would have been cut deeply enough in their hearts to make a real difference... 

I saw a large wharf set out over the ocean.  It was long and wide and stretched out a good distance over the ocean.  It filled with a crowd of people up and down its length.  It was a bright and sunny day, and I remember feeling how pleasant the weather was.  What a wonderful day for a stroll along the pier in your Sunday's finest, meeting and greeting all your friends! Read more

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." (Jer 29:11)

I am always amazed at how we can pluck a snippet of Scripture out of a passage and completely ignore the surrounding context so we can reinforce the consolations that we long for. How many times have we heard this scripture in reference to the blessings that God has in store for us? We strain our ears to hear anything that will lean toward the wonderful things that we yearn to hear, and applaud the teachers that we have heaped up to soothe our itching ears. Oh, how wonderful are our messages of peace that our prophets have consoled us with!

And yet, the substance of the Word of the Lord that carries these snippets of Scripture often brings a much different message than what we want to hear.

Jeremiah was called to prophesy unto Israel in the 13th year of Josiah's reign. It was a message of woe and repentance, of judgment to come and Holy Ghost conviction for rebelling against the Lord. Five years later, Josiah discovered the scrolls and instituted a great revival in the land, but Jeremiah still continued his message of judgment and repentance.

I can imagine the resistance from the Jews of the time. Couldn't this old judgmental prophet see how wonderful their churches were? Why did he not understand that they were in a time of revival? Surely his dark message of repentance no longer applied to them, but this caustic old prophet just wouldn't let go of his old ways. He must not be of God, because, Praise the Lord, we're all saved and praising the Lord now. There's no need to repent.

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“For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”  Jeremiah 2:13

Lately, I’ve been attending a Bible reading group at a church that I would have
never thought I would visit.  Their requests for discipleship from their pastor
has gained no traction, so out of hunger and desperation, they have formed their
own reading group, and have asked me to attend because they had read my booklet
on Four Steps to Revival and felt that I had something to offer.

I was surprised to find a genuine hunger for God in these people that I would
have thought had been dried up long ago.  There is no demonstrated move of the
Holy Spirit in this church, but rather an adherence to archaic liturgies and
formal worship repeated each week out of a book of prayers that was written
centuries ago.  And yet their hunger still pushes up through the arid ground of
a church that has remained fallow for longer than anyone can remember. Read more

"Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upholden by mercy."   (Prov. 20:28)

If there is any one message that can be deemed the most important of all, it is the message of mercy.  The Apostle Paul wrote that charity is even more important than faith and hope, the two pillars that our salvation rest upon. 

It is not enough to be righteous before God.  The Pharisees were so righteous that they were squeaky clean, and yet they wound up in Hell.  It is to the merciful that God will show Himself merciful, not the righteous.  Mercy is the core of God's personality.  Without it, He would have empty mansions in Heaven with no one to fill them. Read more

"Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory:
Where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? Are they restrained? ... O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance." Isaiah 63:15,17

Every time I return from Africa, I am deeply troubled by the vast difference between the wide open hunger of churches in Africa that I visit and the deadened spiritual landscape of America. In Africa, they can't seem to get enough of the Gospel. No matter how hard you preach it, they want more. They are sick of the anemic, easy-going Gospel they see on TV because they realize that it is only designed to soothe the flesh, not crucify it. They want a Gospel of power and they are ready to pay the price to get it.
The results in Africa have been astounding. After being home for only a couple of weeks, I am already getting reports of how the churches I visited are more on fire than they were before. Before I left, I printed 500 booklets of the message that I was preaching to them, and they are asking for hundreds more so they can give them to even more churches around them so that the fire can spread. I can't tell you how good it makes me feel to know that all the effort and money was not in vain - it's really working!
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We’re heading home tonight. I’m sitting here at my hotel in Nairobi, looking out the window and wondering if I will ever be back again.

I go through this almost every time. It’s a bittersweet feeling leaving this place. I am worn out and spent after dozens of services in a score of little churches throughout Kenya, but exhilarated from watching the power of God work in the hearts of these people. I can’t wait to get home, but I can’t wait to get back.

The challenges that face my returning to Africa are more than financial. The hardest challenges have to do with slogging through spiritual battles, the blanket of spiritual resistance that Satan throws at me, and the weariness of this old flesh that has to be continually shoved aside. But oh, the excitement to see the power of God at work through this little ministry, and to hear and see the transformation that takes place in these little churches where I have been! This is more than just having some good church services – these are bursts of spiritual breakthroughs and transformations for these churches. Several places would cry out at the end of the service that they would never be the same again. When is the last time you heard that?

These people in Africa are torn wide open to the real Gospel, not the one of blessings, prosperity, and sweet love—they’ve had enough of that – but the Gospel of righteousness, power, and true revival. Services here are electrifying, not only during the singing that raises the rooftops with praises and shouting, but the poignant soul-searching at the Altar Call. This is a land whose fallow ground has been broken up and is ready for the seed to be planted deep in its soil.
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It's been three years since it has rained in Namanga, and it is so dry that the air is full of dust.  We are in the south of Kenya with the Masaai, a tribe of strange dress and stranger customs.  They are known for the way they mutilate their ear lobes and for their fearlessness in fighting lions.  They are also very clannish, and rarely get saved.

But here we are ministering in a Masaai church, to which they have walked for hours to come to.  Some of the Masaai that are here walked almost 30 miles from Tanzania just to hear the Gospel delivered in the power of the Holy Spirit. These are serious people with a serious desire for Truth. Read more

Revival is coming to Kenya.  It isn't just something that's in the air; it's in their hearts.

I listened to a lady from the U.S. as she told me how great the praise and worship services were in Kenya.  It's not the praise and worship that gets me excited -- it's the altar calls. Read more

It's Day One of my 7^th trip to Kenya. 

Just as each person you meet has a different personality, so does each trip I make here.  Unlike other trips to Africa, I have not had a lot of excitement or drive this time.  I actually wondered if I was going flat like a Coke that has been left out too long - still tastes like Coke, but have I lost my fizz?  Would I be an effective witness to the churches that I would visit?  Would the Lord be with me as in times past when the power of the Holy Ghost would crash down from Heaven?  Was anything going to happen that was truly supernatural, or would this just be a nice little trip to go talk about Jesus? Read more

"I will therefore that men pray every where..."  1 Timothy 2:8

It has been said that preaching moves men, but prayer moves God.  If that is the case, then it seems to me that we should do a lot more praying than preaching and a lot more time on our knees listening to God than sitting on our butts reading books.  Why is it that prayer seems to be the most neglected of all Christian duties?

The secret art of prayer intercession has become rare because it taxes the depths of your soul to contend before the Throne of God for hours in an all-out struggle to wage war. Few Christians care that much to pray that much. It is much easier to fellowship with other Christians than to lock oneself in that solitary closet for hours in travail with God.  That secret place of the Most High is not for the light and easy Christian who is content with Sunday services and professes a relatively clean life, but shrinks from crossing over to a crucified, broken walk of sacrifice.  They nibble at the Word of God and sip at the fountain of prayer, so they never receive the strength to break through to a deeper level in God.  They "have a little talk with Jesus" but never grapple with contending prayer.  Is it a small wonder that we have more faith in our carnal efforts than in a supernatural answer to prayer? Read more