April 1st - Court Sets Atheists Holiday

In Florida, an atheist became incensed over the preparation of Easter and Passover holidays. He decided to contact his lawyer about the discrimination inflicted on atheists by t he constant celebrations afforded to Christians and Jews with all their holidays while atheists had no holiday to celebrate.

The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the long passionate presentation by the lawyer, the Judge banged his gavel and declared, “Case Dismissed!”

The lawyer immediately stood and objected to the ruling and said, “Your honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter and many other observances. Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah .... yet my client and all other atheists have no such holiday!”  The judge leaned forward in his chair and simply said, “Obviously your client is too confused to even know about, much less celebrate his own atheists’ holiday!”  The lawyer pompously said, “Your Honor, we are unaware of any such holiday for atheists. Just when might that holiday be, your Honor?”  The judge said, “Well it comes every year on exactly the same date --- April 1st!  Since our calendar sets April 1st as ‘April Fools Day,’ consider that Psalm 14:1 states, ‘The fool says in his heart, there is no God.’  Thus, in my opinion, if your client says there is no God, then by scripture, he is a fool, and April 1st is his holiday!  Now have a good day and get out of my courtroom!!”

April 2nd - Jesus the Teacher

C. S. Lewis once said that there are only two responses one can have to Jesus: either you choose to simply ignore Him or you find that you must adore Him--there is no middle ground.

To me, there is no area where this truth is more evident than in the role of Jesus as the great teacher.  Of course, I must admit that that I am prejudiced in this opinion since I am a teacher myself.  I’m sure that those who stand in other offices of ministry would say the same thing about His role in the office which they occupy. 

Jesus never used Greek roots to prove His points, but was always able to get to the very heart of every issue.  Usually, he did so by using real life illustrations.  Through His simple but insightful teaching, He was able to relate to every strata of society: children, women, the religious, the illiterate, the gentiles… Everything He said was in agreement with the previously recorded scriptural truths even when He didn’t specifically say, “It is written…”  Even when He made statements which seemed to contradict scriptural teaching, or at least the current interpretation of scripture, He showed that His concepts were founded on biblical truth.  His teaching on divorce did not take its footing in Moses but went all the way back to creation.  He seemed to contradict the Law by saying, “You have it said…but I say to you…”  However, even in these teachings, He framed Hi teachings in such a way to parallel the heart relationship of  hatred and lust to the physical actions of murder and adultery in the same way that the Law had already coupled the heart attitude of covetousness with the physical action of stealing.

April 3rd - The Keys to Hell and Death

         

During the Easter season, we often see Passion plays which depict a scene between the death of Christ and His resurrection.  This episode in the story takes place in hell where Jesus and the devil engage in a hand-to-hand struggle over a ring of keys.  The  incident climaxes as Jesus rips the keys from Satan’s grasp and triumphantly throws the enemy to the floor, placing his foot on his neck and victoriously waving the keys above His head.  The scene is based on two scriptural passages: Revelation 1:18 in which Jesus says, “I have the keys of hell and of death,” and Matthew 28:18 where He says, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”  The assumption is that Jesus didn’t have all the power or the keys of hell and death until He went to the cross and then ascended into the devil’s realm to take them from him.  A further assumption is that the devil had these keys and the power associated with them in the first place.  Let’s consider one important idea about the nature of God Himself--that He is omnipotent.  If the keys to death and hell and the power associated with them were in the hands of the devil, then God was lacking in this area and no longer omnipotent.  Thus, regardless of how moving as this scene might be in the Easter pageant, it is actually heresy!  Secondly, we must remember the second chapter of Philippians which teaches us that Jesus was equal with God but gave up that authority to become a man for a certain period of time and was then exalted to the divine level again by God Himself.  Thus, we must conclude that Jesus did not win those keys as a prize in a cosmic wrestling match, but that they were graciously handed to Him by the Father Himself.


April 4th - Faith Goals

 

Everyone has goals, but not everyone acts on them. We all set goals, perhaps even without knowing it.  The more intentional we are in setting our goals, the more likely we will be to achieve them.  When we include God in the process, we are assured success.
        
Goals provide direction and purpose.  If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll never know when you get there.  Goals are our finish lines.  When we set goals, your choices for activity become purposeful.  Otherwise, circumstances, other people, and feelings determine where you wind up.  Goals help us crystallize our thinking.  If we aim at nothing, we will hit it every time.  When we set  goals, we focus our thinking on what we want to accomplish.  Our goals should be written, rather than merely thought or talked about.  A written goal gives an instant focus and reminder.  Goals provide personal motivation by engaging all that you are, all that you stand for, and all that you strive for.  A true goal is a statement of God’s will for your life since goals are stated as future objectives and only God lives in the future.  So when we set goals, we have implicitly made a statement that says, “God willing, I believe I should achieve the following…” Otherwise, for a Christian, a goal is merely a presumption.

“Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” (James 4:13-15)


April 5th - How to Set Faith Goals

1. Spend time with God.  Seek His will and direction and He will respond by giving you that direction.

2. Record your impressions.  As you spend time with God, you need to record what He seems to be saying to you.  As you write those things down, assurance and conviction will result.  Continually ask God, "What would You have me do?"

3. Make the goal measurable.  After spending time with God and recording what He says to you, you are ready to set a faith goal.  A faith goal is a statement of God's will. For example, "To be a good father" is not a goal but a purpose statement.  "To spend fifteen minutes a day with each of my children" is a goal that can be measured.

4. Take action.  Faith is acting on the basis of what God wants you to do.

5. The means of accomplishment may not be evident. But, if it is based on God's will, you can count on Him to show you the means.

6. The goal may be set with "apparent" inadequate resources.  If it is God's goal, it is God's responsibility to provide the resource.   And He will because He is faithful.

7. The goal may require you to set an objective without fully understanding it.  "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would afterward receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going." (Hebrews 11:8)


April 6th - Quotables

If you are going through hell, keep going. (Winston Churchill)

I couldn’t wait for success, so I went ahead without it. (Jonathan Winters)

The time is always right to do right. (Nelson Mandela)

If you want to test a man’s character, give him power. (Abraham Lincoln)

If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you’ll be fired with enthusiasm. (Vince Lombardi)

The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then  coming back. (Vince Lombardi)

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. (Ann Landers)

Produce after your own kind. (Dr. Lester Sumrall)

It takes leaders with vision to help people with dreams. (Hubert Humphrey)

In the Bible, patience is not a passive acceptance of circumstances.  It is a courageous perseverance in the face of suffering and difficulty. (Warren Wiersbe)

Be hopeful!  Tomorrow has never happened before. (Robert Schuller)

Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary. (Reinhold Neibuhr)

He climbs the highest who helps another up. (Zig Ziglar)

Grasp the things of life loosely so that it won’t hurt so much when God has to pry your fingers off of them. (Corrie ten Boom)



April 7th - It Makes Good Sense

The best way to get even is to forget.

Feed your faith and your doubts will starve to death.

God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.

Some folks wear their halos much too tight.

Some marriages are made in heaven, but they ALL have to be maintained on earth.

Unless you can create the universe in five days, Then giving "advice" to God, isn’t such a good idea!

Sorrow looks back; worry looks around; faith looks up.

Standing in the middle of the road is dangerous.  You will get knocked down by the traffic from both ways.

Words are windows to the heart.

A skeptic is a person who when he sees the handwriting on the wall, claims it’s a forgery.

It isn’t difficult to make a mountain out of a molehill, just add a little dirt.

A successful marriage isn’t finding the right person; it's being the right person.

The mighty oak tree was once a little nut that held its ground.

Too many people offer God prayers with claw marks all over them.  

The tongue must be heavy, indeed, because so few people can hold it.  

To forgive is to set the prisoner free and then discover the prisoner was you.  

You have to wonder about humans, they think God is dead and Elvis is alive!  

  If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, you can bet the water bill is higher.

 

      April 8th - Victory in the Face of Defeat

When Elijah called for the draught in Israel, he actually put himself in the same jeopardy as the rest of the people because he was as dependent upon water as any other person.  However, God had a plan to provide for the prophet.  God’s first provision was at the Brook Cherith.  If you stop to think about this arrangement, it was very unusual because a brook would be the first body of water to dry up during the draught.  The Sea of Galilee or the Jordan River would have been a relatively secure source of water since it would take a while for these bodies of water to be depleted; however, a tiny brook would normally have disappeared after only a few weeks without rain.  God used this little brook to prove that He is bigger than any curse that can attack His people.  While the prophet was hold up at the brook, God saw to it that he had plenty to eat because a raven came twice each day to bring him bread and meat.  It is totally against the raven’s nature to bring food to anyone else.  This scavenger’s natural function would be to consume everything it could find until it gorged itself.  In fact, I’ve heard it said that these birds are not even very keen on sharing the carrion they find with their own chicks!  Finally, God send Elijah to Zarephath where he was to be cared for by a little widow woman.  Again, we see a divine plan which goes against all human logic.  This poor woman was “scraping the bottom of the barrel” and didn’t have enough for herself and her son--much less the prophet!  But the miracle of the whole story is that it was God who continually led Elijah into these impossible situations in order to prove that nothing is impossible when you walk with Him.

 

      April 9th - Transformation

Mizoram, India, is 85% Christian.  The state between Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Assam has 700,000 people. Almost 100% of the indigenous population is Christian and about 60% of those who have migrated there have been converted by Mizo missionaries. A series of spiritual renewals at the turn of the century and recent revivals have kept the Presbyterian, Baptist, and other large denominational churches full.  The state has sent 1,000 missionaries to the rest of India and other Asian countries.  "No nation on earth has sent out a higher proportion of their people as missionaries," Operation World said.  About 80% of the population attends services weekly and most churches have a daily prayer meeting. Teen pregnancy, prostitution, AIDS, and divorce are rare.
        
A spiritual transformation continues in Goiania, Brazil.  The city is experiencing increasing receptivity to the Gospel and evangelicals have grown from 7% to 45% of the population in the last 7 years.  Every Saturday, about 150 people reportedly become Christians and a new church is started most weekends.  The prayer also changes the spiritual atmosphere, increasing people’s openness to the Gospel.  One day, several women stood in front of a bar at which men were drinking.  "At first, they made jokes, asking us if we wanted a glass of milk," Cornelio said.  The women told them they wanted to preach the Gospel to them.  One man began to sob quietly, and they preached to the entire bar, Cornelio said.  "That evening, all 20 men decided to follow Jesus."
         
The end-time revival is genuinely changing cities, nations, and individual lives!

      April 10th - Are You as Serious as an Atheist?

In a Barna Group report which examined the self-image of Americans, the distinctions within Christian believers and non-believers were analyzed.  Among the findings: evangelical Christians comprise only eight percent of the population, but stand out from the rest of Christianity as more spiritual and active in faith. Evangelicals are more likely than non-evangelical Christians to see themselves as fulltime servants of God; deeply spiritual; more likely to seek to persuade others to adopt their views; and less likely to have an 'open mind' toward alternative moral views.  George Barna said in the report, "There are important distinctions between evangelical Christians and other segments within the Christian community.  That small eight percent segment of the public is substantially different from others in how they apply their faith principles to every dimension of their life. The only other faith group demonstrating similar consistency between faith and practice were atheists, whose fundamental dismissal of social conventions and participation in favor of more self-centered views and behaviors helped them to stand out from the crowd in a different way."

It’s interesting that the people who have nothing to believe in are just a serious about not believing in anything as those of us who have everything to believe in.

April 11th - Lessons For Leaders     Peggy Shirley

1-- Need a daily time to be alone with God - Jesus was our example. Mark 1:35
2-- Need to keep a servant’s heart. Matthew 20:26-28
3-- Need to stay humble - guard against pride. 1 Peter 5:6  Proverbs 16:18
4-- Need to be submitted to someone. Hebrews 13:17
5-- Guard against offenses. Luke 17:1 Ephesians 4:1-3
6-- Fight feelings of inadequacy. Exodus 4:10-12 1 Cor 1:25-31  2 Cor 10:12
7-- Fight discouragement.  Galatians 6:9  Matthew 25:40
8-- Be a leader integrity. 1 Corinthians 4:1-2
9-- What you want others to do you must do yourself.
10-- A good leader reproduces himself.

      April 12th - Statistics

A study published by the National Science Foundation showed that people who attend church regularly live seven years longer than non-churchgoers.  People of color who attend services can increase their lifespans by as much as fourteen years.

A 1995 survey among Canadians found that couples who attend church regularly are happier and have longer lasting marriages.  Those who attend every week have a 50% better chance to have a lasting marriage.           

Churchgoers suffer less stress and are less likely to consider lack of love and respect as grounds for divorce.

Only ten percent of the Christians the world live in the United States, but that ten percent control fifty-three percent of all Christian monies. Ninety percent of all money spent on spreading the gospel is spent trying to reach the five percent of the world’s population who live here in the United States?

The average evangelical spends seven times more time watching television than in any form of spiritual development. Fifty-four percent read their Bibles only once a week.  The results:

 

42% know that Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount.
48% know the first four books of the New Testament. Some think that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife.
40% know five of the Ten Commandments.
41% believe that the Bible is accurate.
1% live as directed by the Bible.

April 13th - Supernatural Protection

The spiritual harassment of Christians proved powerless in a Sri Lankan village, Mission India reported.  Pagan villagers in a region on the island off India's southeastern coast devised a plot to harass local Christians. Rather than attack the believers physically, they decided to attack them spiritually.  Staunch believers in their local gods, the villagers assembled to put formal curses on anyone who believed in Jesus.  They invoked their deities “to bring evil on the Christians by their magic power.”  To their dismay, nothing worked. Because of the miracle, numerous villagers, including many who participated in the cursing ceremony, realized that their gods had no power against the one true God, and many have become Christians as a result, the missions worker reported.
         
Sixty-five miracles saved a North African congregation. Radical Muslims intended to attack and massacre the congregation when they discovered their secret meeting place, but none of the people arrived at the appointed time, not even the special guest speaker.  The sixty-five people reported unusual delays -- from a flat tire to an unexpected family visit -- that prevented them from coming.

Our God has promised to post angels around those of us who fear Him.  If we genuinely trust Him, He will see that no harm will befall us.  Psalm 91 is a powerful scriptural promise of His constant watchcare over us.

     
     April 14th - Men of Influence

According to “Religion & Ethics News Weekly” the twenty-five most influential religious figures in the past century were (in alphabetical order): Karl Barth, Swiss pastor and theologian; Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor and theologian; Martin Buber, Jewish theologian; the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhist leader; Dorothy Day, pacifist and founder of the Catholic Worker Movement; Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science; Mohandas Gandhi, Indian spiritual leader; evangelist Billy Graham; Gustavo Gutirrez, Peruvian Catholic who is the father of liberation theology; Carl F.H. Henry, evangelical theologian and first editor of Christianity Today Magazine; Abraham Joshua Heschel, rabbi and civil rights activist; Pope John XXIII; Pope John Paul II; Martin Luther King Jr.; and Ayatollah Khomeini, Iranian Shiite Muslim leader; C.S. Lewis, Christian author and scholar; Thomas Merton, Trappist monk; Elijah Muhammad, Nation of Islam leader; Reinhold Niebuhr, Protestant theologian; Norman Vincent Peale, positive thinking advocate; Walter Rauschenbusch, known as the father of the social gospel; Albert Schweitzer, theologian and humanitarian; Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Lubavitcher rabbi; Mother Teresa; and Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and author.

You know, we may not make it into the top twenty-five, but we are all called to be men and women of influence among our peers.  In the Old Testament, we were commanded not to mix with the gentiles (the world) because of peer pressure; in the New Testament, the One who was with us in the OT is now in us, and He is greater than the world--therefore the world is no longer our peer!!!

 

 

      April 15th - Darwin Award Winners

When his 38-caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a holdup in Long Beach, California, would be robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder.  He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked.
        
  The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat cutting machine and, after a little hopping around, submitted a claim to his insurance company.  The company, suspecting negligence, sent out one of its men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine and lost a finger. The chef's claim was approved.

A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the twenty mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulaweyo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies.  The deception wasn't discovered for three days.

NOW, tell me again that you believe that humans have evolved from monkeys!

      April 16th - More on the Issue of Evolution

A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change.  When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided.  The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got  from the drawer...$15.  (If someone points a gun at you and gives you money, is a crime committed?)
        
  Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly.  He decided that he'd just a throw a cinderblock through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinderblock and heaved it over his head at the window.  The cinderblock bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas.  The whole event was caught on videotape.

As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran.  The clerk called 911  immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher.  Within minutes, the
police apprehended the snatcher.  They put him in the car and drove back to the store.  The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID.  To which he replied, "Yes, officer, that's her.  That's the lady I stole the purse from."

Honestly, I’ve seen smarter monkeys.  If there is evolution, it must be working in reverse.

      April 17th - Can You Take One More?

The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti, Michigan, at 5 AM, flashed a gun, and demanded cash.  The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order.  When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren't available for breakfast.  The man, frustrated, walked away.

In Kentucky, two men tried to pull the front off a cash machine by running a chain from the machine to the bumper of their pickup truck.  Instead of pulling the front panel off the machine, they pulled the bumper off their truck.  Scared, they left the scene and drove home with the chain still attached to the machine and their bumper still attached to the chain!  With their vehicle's license plate still attached to the bumper.  They were quickly arrested.

When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage.  A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline and plugged his siphon hose into the motor home's sewage tank by mistake.  The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges, saying that it was the best laugh he'd ever had.

Pardon me if I don’t wait around to see how long it will take for us to complete the evolution process.

      April 18th - Leadership

1,500 pastors leave the ministry each month.
7,000 churches close each year.
80% of pastors feel unqualified
50% of pastors would leave ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
80% of Bible college and seminary graduates leave the ministry within five years.
80% of pastor’s wives wish their husbands were in another profession.
The majority of pastors wives say that the most destructive event in their family was the day their husbands entered the ministry.
80% of ministers quit within their first 5 years.
80% of the ones who stay are experiencing burn out, resulting in 40% effectiveness.      

A poll on the confidence people have in various kinds of leadership revealed the following confidence levels:
Military                  40%
Medical                  27%
Supreme Court       22%
Religious                21%
Educational            20%
Not-for-profit         17%
Congress                  9%
Media                      7%

These are very sad statistics, but the wonderful promise is that Jesus is still head of His church.  No matter how many of His undershepherds fail or falter, the Great Shepherd of the flock will never fall short.

      Aprl 19th - Re-Arrangements

Believe it or not, someone went to the trouble to take a number of words and scramble the letters to see if anything meaningful would come out.  Here are the results:

DORMITORY                  DIRTY ROOM
PRESBYTERIAN             BEST IN PRAYER
ASTRONOMER               MOON STARER
DESPERATION               A ROPE ENDS IT
THE EYES                      THEY SEE
GEORGE BUSH              HE BUGS GORE
THE MORSE CODE        HERE COME DOTS
SLOT MACHINES          CASH LOST IN ME
ANIMOSITY                   IS NO AMITY
ELECTION RESULTS    LIES - LET'S RECOUNT
SNOOZE ALARMS         ALAS! NO MORE Z 'S
A DECIMAL POINT        I’M A DOT IN PLACE
THE EARTHQUAKES    THAT QUEER SHAKE
ELEVEN PLUS TWO      TWELVE PLUS ONE
MOTHER-IN-LAW          WOMAN HITLER

         

 

Other than the one about the mother-in-law (my mother-in-law was an absolutely wonderful woman), I think that there are some really fascinating outcomes.  However, these little word games are only a hint at the wonderful way that God can cause something meaningful to come out of our lives when the order that we know is re-arranged.  Just think of the example from the life of the Old Testament character Joseph.  When every bit of order in his life was by being sold into slavery and then thrown into prison and finally forgotten by his one hope of rescue, God took all the elements of his life and turned him into the savior of a nation and eventually his own family.

      April 20th - Noah’s Flood

Deep-sea explorers have discovered an ancient coastline on the floor of the Black Sea, providing evidence of a sudden catastrophic flood about 7,500 years ago that spread almost overnight over thousands of square miles of land.   Explorers led by Robert Ballard and funded by the National Geographic Society captured the sonar images of the coastline 550 feet below the surface of the sea.  Radiocarbon dating of the remains of mollusks dredged from the beach was used to determine the date of the flood.  Ballard said the findings indicate a flood occurred during that 600-year gap.  This discovery offered independent verification to an idea advanced by geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman who theorized that the Black Sea formed when melting glaciers raised the sea level until it broke through a natural dam at what is now the Bosporus Strait.  The resulting deluge quickly submerged massive amounts of land overnight, probably killing thousands of people and billions of animals.  Ballard found the ancient coastline almost exactly were their thirty years of research indicated it would be.

Some Christians, eager for scientific proof to back up their belief in the Bible quickly proclaimed this discovery to be evidence of Noah’s flood.  As exciting as these finds may be, we must not rush to accept them as documentation of the Bible.  The dating is off by three millennia and this was a localized flood, not the universal one described in the Bible.  In essence, we must always be careful not to sell ourselves short by believing everything that is offered to us--no matter how sensational--unless it totally aligns with the Word of God.

    

April 21st - Hollywood vs. Holywood

More Christian themes are being portrayed in movies. Christian Film and Television Commission director Ted Baehr praised the film industry for the increase in Christian-themed movies last year, journalist Dan Wooding said. "There were more movies with a moderate to strong Christian worldview and content released in 1998 than ever before -- twenty-six to be exact," Baehr said.  There were fourteen such movies in 1997. There were seventy-five movies with a clear Christian worldview, elements and/or content, up from forty-nine the year before, he said. The commission based its figures on reviews and content analysis of two hundred eighty-six movies released in 1998.
         
However, a February 16, 1999, report from the Dove Foundation stated that Hollywood continues making films full of sex and violence even though they are less profitable.  In the decade 1988-1997, Hollywood made seventeen times more "R" rated films than "G" rated, even though the average "G"-rated film brought in eight times more revenue.  After reviewing their report, "Profitability Study of MPAA-Rated Movies," film critic Michael Medved concluded that the study "proves that the real edge in Hollywood goes to competently crafted family entertainment."

Since the media is one of the greatest tools in sculpting the mentality of our society, we must pray that god will continue to raise up Christian writers, actors, and producers to bring a godly influence to the film industry and at the same time awaken the secular producers to the profitability of wholesome movies.

 

 

 

       April 22nd - Power of Prayer

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” (I Timothy 2:1-4)          
         
A city delegation in Goiania, Brazil, asked a Christian radio show to return to the airwaves.  Elisabeth Cornelio had hosted a daily prayer program with 200,000 listeners, but devaluation of the Brazilian Real pressured the station owner to charge much higher rates for airtime. The prayer movement could not afford the increase, so it stopped broadcasting for three months. During that time the station’s ratings reportedly dropped from 3rd to 17th place among the other stations, and the city's crime rate rose 40%. City officials, including the mayor and chief of police, asked Cornelio to restart the broadcasts at the original price. Every month the city updates the prayer program on the latest criminal trends so its listeners can pray.  Evangelistic efforts are proving fruitful, Christians say.  Christian midwives anoint newborns with oil and dedicate them to God.  Others visit supermarkets, praying for the shoppers.  Some Christians rise at 4 AM to walk among commuters on public transportation and pray for them.  Mobile prayer teams are starting churches. Christians go door-to-door offering prayer to those they meet.

      April 23rd -Speaking in Tongues

Ten-nation study by Pew Forum on Religion Forum that in six nations at least forty percent of Pentecostals said that they never speak in tongues.  In the US, forty-nine percent of Pentecostals and thirty-two percent of charismatics said that they didn’t speak in tongues.  Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, and the US.  “More people joining Pentecostal churches for the lively worship and preaching, but not seeing the need to experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit for themselves,” Kenneth Bell, spokesman for Church of God.  Dwight McKissic Sr., pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, TX, has asked the Southern Baptist Convention to include a statement on speaking in tongues in their statement of faith.  He criticized the anti-tongues position of the convention’s International Mission Board.  His message given at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminar where he serves as a trustee was not posted on line as is the standard practice due to objections of the seminary’s president,  Paige Patterson.  When the school issued a statement that they would not endorse charismatic practices or appoint professors who advocate such practices, he was the only trustee to vote against the measure.  He predicted a mass exodus, especially among black congregations, if the convention bans speaking in tongues.  Present regulations for missionaries who speak in tongues is almost identical to those concerning homosexuality.  July 2006, Rear Admiral Robert Burns became the first Pentecostal Naval chaplain chief over 1,100 active duty and reserve chaplains.

 

 

      April 24th - Did You Ever Consider?

It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.  Do not ever let anyone claim to be a true American patriot if they ever attempt to separate religion from politics. (George Washington)

What goes in your mouth determines how you grow; what comes out of your mouth determines where you go.

Underpromise, but overdeliver.

Christians are like tea bags; it’s only when they get into hot water that you find out how strong they are.

You don’t have to change the world overnight; but if you do one thing differently each day, you’ll soon see a change In you that will effect he world you live in.

If you lack knowledge, go to school; if you lack wisdom, get on your knees.

Education is preparation to accept opportunity when it presents itself.

Take time to laugh.

Main things are the plain things.

If you miss God, don’t get worried; He is big enough to find again.

You can only coast if you are going downhill.

Jesus didn’t really have twelve disciple; He actually only had eight disciples--along with one traitor, two managers, and one leader.

Jesus treated Peter more severely than others because he was the leader.

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

 

If you decide to “go with the flow,” you are only drifting.

Do not pray for an easy life; pray to be a stronger man.

 

      April 25th - Points to Ponder

Be in your place, full of grace--or fall on your face.

To succeed, ya gotta wanna.

The key to treading on serpents is to keep your focus on Jesus, not snakes.

Value and worth are not the same; the olive wreath awarded in Roman events cost only a few cents, but the athletes were willing to run marathons and fight gladiators to win one.

The employer who is only willing to pay peanuts will get only monkeys on his staff.

Keys to spiritual breakthrough: pray, pay, stay, say, obey.

Secrets to longevity: purpose, power, promise, purity.

Your expression is the most important thing you can wear.

You should be interested in the future because you are going to spend the rest of your life there.

A clown is like an aspirin, only he works twice as fast. (Groucho Marx)

Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.

Go the extra mile.  That part of the road is never crowed.

One delivery company boasts, “The extra mile is on our regular route.”

I not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow. (Woodrow Wilson)

Goals are dreams with deadlines.

At end of rope, the people you have helped along the way will add extra length to get you to your goal.

If I have seen further than others, it is from standing on the shoulders of giants. (Isaac Newton)

     
      April 26th - Success Thoughts

Why use a crowbar to open a door when God has given you a key?

Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently. (Henry Ford)

Life is not worth living until you have something worth dying for.

Just when you think that you have graduated from the school of experience, someone comes up with a new course.

Top cats often begin as underdogs.

We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.

A man who doesn’t stand for something will fall for anything. (Peter Marshall)

The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.

The first step toward your future is a step away from your past.

I can live for two months on a good compliment. (Mark Twain)

Experience is the name everyone gives to mistakes. (Woodrow Wilson)

Too much of a good thing is wonderful. (Mae West)

It’s not whether you get knocked down.  It’s whether you get up again. (Vince Lombardi)

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others hire public relations writers.

Diligence succeeds over intelligence or talent every time.

A genius is a talented person who does his homework. (Thomas Edison)

 

 

      April 27th - Thoughts on Successful Living

A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which.  He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine if he is working or playing.  To himself he always seems to be doing both.
         
When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.  Live your life so that when you die, you’re the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

You must decide whether you are going to live life as the one who takes the photographs or one who gets into the picture.

Remember that no matter what it is that you are going through, you must have the attitude that you are eventually coming out the other side--you are not stopping in the problem; otherwise you are not really going through the issue.

John the Baptist said that he must decrease so that Jesus could increase.  The same is true in all our lives--if we decrease, the life of Jesus inside us will increase.  We must sacrifice what we are so that we can become what Jesus wants us to be.

You can’t change history, so go after the future.

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” (Helen Keller)
“Teamwork makes the dream work.” (Bill Wilson)
Catch the waves; don’t make them.
Define issues; refine solutions.

 

 

      April 28th - Jesus’ Three Days in the Grave

Where Jesus go during those three days between the cross and the empty tomb and what actually happened while He was there?  When He spoke to the thief who hung on the adjacent cross, He told him that they would be together in Paradise (Luke 23:43)--not exactly a description we would expect Him to use of the devil’s realm.  A paradise in biblical times was an enclosed garden with beautiful flowers, water fountains, and caged or wild birds.  The one thing that is significant about this definition is the word “enclosed.”  You see, just outside that wall was another world with all its raw reality--death, starvation, disease, and human depravity of every kind.  I’ve personally been in many paradises in places like India and Nepal; inside was a beautiful retreat while lepers, thieves, and prostitutes lived in misery just outside the gate.  Apparently, God had prepared a paradise for those Old Testament believers who died in hope of a coming messiah where they awaited the news that He had finally come while the unbelievers suffered the torments of hell just outside the boundaries. (See Luke 16:20-31)  I Peter 3:19 says that Jesus preached to the spirits in prison.  Ephesians 4:8-10 refers to Jesus’ descent in the lower parts and His ascension carrying captivity captive, suggesting that His journey into the realm of the dead was to bring out those Old Testament saints who had died in faith but could not enter heaven until after He made the sacrifice of which all their symbolic sacrifices had prophesied.  When He told them that He was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth, they were able to believe on Him and go with Him to heaven. (See Matthew 27:52-53)

 

     
      April 29th - It is Well

Millions of people have found comfort in the great gospel hymn “It Is Well with My Soul” since it was written more than a century ago.  But few people know the tragic story behind the composition of the hymn--a story of a soul finding peace in God even in the midst of grief and loss.  Horatio Spafford was particularly hard hit by the great Chicago fire of 1871 because he had invested heavily in real estate along Lake Michigan.  Only a short time before the financial devastation, he had suffered the loss of their son; yet, even worse was to come.  Two years later, he and his wife and four daughters were headed to Europe on vacation, where he was to assist his friend Dwight Moody with an evangelistic campaign.  When last-minute business kept Spafford home, he sent his wife and children ahead on an ocean liner.  Halfway across the Atlantic, an English vessel rammed the liner and cut her in two.  Within just twelve minutes the ship had sunk, taking with it the four young girls.  Mrs. Spafford was rescued and taken to Wales where she cabled the terrible news to her husband, “Saved alone.”  Spafford immediately boarded the next ship and set off for Wales to be with his wife.  As his ship approached the mid-Atlantic, he looked out over the billowing waves that had taken the lives of his beloved daughters.  Inspired by the sight, the bereaved father penned the words of his now famous hymn:  “When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, It Is well, It is well with my soul."

 

     
      April 30th - Islam

Quoting from a statement once made to him by a Muslim leader, an Italian bishop told a Vatican synod, “Thanks to your democratic laws, we will invade you.  Thanks to our religious laws, we will dominate you.”  He said that the Muslim nations are pursuing “a clear program of expansion and re-conquest” in Europe, citing facts such  as the oil-rich nations use of their money but to build mosques and cultural centers in Christian countries rather than to create jobs in poor countries of North Africa and the Middle East.  He went on to point out that Islam has become the second largest faith in Italy where mosques have been built in several cities.  He documented the fact that a fifty-million dollar mosque in Rome was financed by twenty-three Muslim nations, with almost two-thirds of the funding coming from Saudi Arabia.  The bishop then called on the pope to convene a special synod to address the issue. 
       
The Catholic Church has attempted to foster better Muslim-Christian relations, and the pope has visited several Islamic nations--including Morocco, Tunisia, and Sudan--preaching a message of religious tolerance.  He has asked Muslim nations that forbid Christian worship to afford equal rights to all.
         
The sad reality is that where we Christians have failed in our responsibility as missionaries to the Muslim world, we have become the mission field of the Islamic faith.