All posts filed under: z171

Entering the void

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If you are like me, you want the comfortableness of certainty in your life. And over these past few months that has been completely shattered, I have said ‘we will get through this’ to myself and others too many times. Often, when we enter a desert time, familiarity is stripped away and uncertainty becomes our ‘new normal’. This season has several names, the unknown, the void or the desert. Yes, we can get through this, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that things will be better. It may also be different from what you were expecting. If you are counting on certainty, this fleeting hope could ruin your life. There is a risk that comes with living and instead of constantly fighting it, we need to go with it. It’s the tension of the unknown and realizing that nothing is for certain that keeps us alert and alive. This is where God’s grace needs to become our ‘new normal.’  Getting through these times, requires us to recognize the tension that grace holds for us. Grace holds …

Can the Tabernacle of David heal the racial divide?

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In his article on Charisma News entitled, Is Rebuilding David’s Tabernacle the Solution to Our Racial Division?, Michael Thornton believes that the rebuilding of the Tabernacle of David may be the key to healing the racial issues in the US. He writes: King David also lived in similar times thousands of years ago. The nation of Israel was culturally and politically divided. Communities were fragmented. There was a major disconnect between the law enforcement and local communities. The whole nation was on edge. The atmosphere was filled with anger, hostility and civil unrest because of King Saul’s prior leadership. In the midst of this crisis, King David brings a solution. He recovers the ark of the covenant (presence) and places it in a tent in the middle of his city. He gathers and employs over 4,000 musical prophets and initiates a 24/7 worship reformation that lasts 40 years. Imagine an unending worship and prayer meeting erupting from a team of over 4,000 prophetic musicians! He goes on to the say that the 24/7 worship and …

Are you easily offended?

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In an interview with ABC‘s George Stephanopoulis, Ben Carson, who serves as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the US government, made the amazing statement that Americans need to toughen up (he actually said grow up) and quit being offended over everything. And this is all the more incredible considering that Ben Carson is black. Some would argue that he has multiple reasons to be offended in today’s American society. But Carson refuses to go down that road telling Stephanopoulis: “We’ve reached a point in our society where we dissect everything and try to ascribe some nefarious notion to it. We really need to move away from that. We need to move away from being offended by everything, of going through history and looking at everything, of renaming everything. . “I mean, think about the fact that some of our universities, some of our prestigious universities, have a relationship with the slave trade. Should we go and rename those universities? . “It really gets to a point of being ridiculous after …

Taking captive dementia?

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A recent study undertaken by researchers from the London-based University College concluded that repetitive negative thinking could be a risk factor for dementia. In their study, the researchers followed 300 older people for a period of two years, tracking their response to negative situations in their life. They particularly focussed their attention on “repetitive” negative thinking where you rehash situations or particular thoughts in your mind again and again. They also tracked how much these individuals worried. In addition, the researchers did brain scans on 113 members of the study group to determine if two proteins, amyloid and tau, were accumulating in their minds. These are known contributors to Alzheimer. The researchers concluded from their study that four years later people with high rates of negative repetitive thinking had higher accumulations of the tau and amyloid in their brain and as well were showing a greater cognitive decline than those who weren’t as negative. There was a noticeable decline in just four years. Speaking on behalf of the research group, Dr. Gael Chételat said: “Our …

Evil Guilt

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Some things about sports that I like are that there are rules and assigned times and places. As much as I love hockey if a bunch of hockey players turned my bedroom into an arena at three in the morning, I would not be very enthusiastic about it. And if a team followed the other team home and harassed them after the game, it would not be tolerated by the league. Unfortunately, there is no league of self. There are no rules about time and place. There are no provisions for fairness. I’d rather face the toughest team in the world than go up against the King of Kaos, the Twister of Tales, the Slayer of self, that most vicious fighter of all time…me! Yup. Little old me. I wasn’t always a servant of the Most High God or even a reputable and credible man. It took some time to get here, and there are battles that go on still today. Many of these fights are spiritual such as victory over temptation or choosing prayer …

When Our ‘gods’ Fail

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I don’t like bad news, and I don’t like spreading it, but here is a problem. When the world locked down to flatten the curve of the Coronavirus spread, other things were ignored. The solution became a problem. In British Columbia, in Canada, overdoses from drugs rapidly increased, and many people died. Many more people died from drugs than from the virus. Illegal drugs are an old problem, but during the lock down attention went to a virus from China, and other things were ignored. When those dangerous things were ignored, they did not go away. READ: B.C. records highest ever number of opioid deaths in May The most dangerous drug is probably Fentanyl. This is a medication that can be made in a lab, without harvesting plants like cocaine or opium poppies. The labs can be close to us, so there is no need for smuggling routes around the world. We have probably all seen an episode of “Breaking Bad” where the lab was in a motor home. The problem with problems is that …

Redeeming and healing the land?

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CBN reports that dozens of people have been saved, some water baptized, and others healed at the very street corner in Minneapolis where George Floyd died at the hands of a city police officer. George Floyd’s death has sparked protests around the world, with many turning violent. Before his death Floyd was trying to turn his life around and was involved in a church ministry in Houston, before he moved to Minneapolis. But videos and photos are circulating on social media of the spiritual awakening taking place on the very street corner where Floyd died. Many of the postings are by a group called Circuit Riders. This is a ministry associated with Youth For a Mission patterned off the circuit riders in American history who travelled on horseback from town to town preaching the Gospel. Based in Huntington Beach, California, those involved with Circuit Riders similarly travel out from their base sharing their faith. And a group recently went to Minneapolis to share Jesus in open-air meetings after Floyd’s death. One of those Circuit Riders …

Can forgiveness heal a nation?

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I am convinced there are extremists trying to take advantage of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of a white police officer to create anarchy and sow division in the US. But a recent article on Christian Post is giving me hope. It is a story about a group of white believers in Houston, Texas called Praytest. It was started by a white Christian rapper Bobby Herring and recently they went to a black public housing complex in Houston, Texas called Cuney Homes. It was in the same area of the city where George Floyd grew up before he moved to Minneapolis. At the complex, Praytest met with a group of black believers many who attend Free Indeed Church, pastored by Johnny D. Gentry. In an interview with Click2Houston, Herring explained what happened next: “One of the videos that went viral with Pastor Johnny Gentry and myself on one side facing each other, white people kneeling asking God for forgiveness and then you see my black brothers and sisters kneeling asking God for forgiveness, that …

Being led by the Holy Spirit is a struggle for believers

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I recently read two stories, that from outward appearances appear to be polar opposites, but both garnered positive responses, because I think both reflect the leading of the Holy Spirit. The first involves a story out of Cary, North Carolina, when two groups of believers, one led by Pastors Soboma and Faith Wokoma of Legacy Center Church and the other by Love Wins Ministry’s Shara and Daniel Chalmers, peacefully walked arm and arm with demonstrators who were protesting the death of George Floyd in that community. Then at the end, as Jesus did with His disciples, the two Christians groups voluntarily washed the feet of the demonstrators. This included two Christian police chiefs from the area who also participated, showing, like Jesus, they were there to serve all people. Shara Chalmers told CBN: “We really need to have action now, not just prayer. It was an incredible movement of unity and there was such a presence of Jesus.” But something completely different happened at a demonstration in Georgia. When Georgia State Trooper O’Neal Saddler showed …