Agape Love

The Beginning of Life

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May 292011

by Darrel Smith, Publisher, ChristsInternet.com

Many people seem to be confused about when life begins. Some maintain that life begins at birth, others believe that life begins when the unborn baby is capable of living independent of its mother, others argue that it begins when the baby can be felt moving inside its mother, and still others at the moment of conception or at some other time.

These arguments miss some very simple scientific facts. No one has ever observed the beginning of life because life began many thousands of years ago. Since that beginning, life is always transferred, and it is always transferred in kind. Eagles always transfer life to baby eagles, horses transfer life to baby horses and humans transfer life to baby humans. In humans, life is transferred through a living contribution from a mother and a father.

Conception is the beginning of a genetically unique new human life that was formed from this union of the mother and father’s living contributions. From the moment of conception, all this new human life needs to fully develop are the same things a two-year-old child or you or I need – nutrition and protection.

In our society, the Supreme Court has ruled that unborn humans don’t have the protection provided to “persons” in the Constitution. This legal argument has been used twice before in modern western history. In the early history of this country black slaves suffered from this same legal classification. Later in Germany, the courts classified Jews as non-persons. The supporters of this classification for unborn human beings are following a truly shameful and dangerous history.

What choice will you make? Will you protect human life?

Check out these sites for ways to become involved:

Personhood USA

National Right to Life

Prolife.com

The Mount Vernon Statement

SIGN the Manhattan Declaration

National Pro-life Religious Council

Prolife Across America

‘Passion’ star Jim Caviezel talks about Mel Gibson’s troubles, and his own, at Orlando church

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May 042011

By Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

9:44 PM EDT, April 30, 2011

Actor Jim Caviezel, his voice sometimes cracking with emotion, spoke of being “rejected in my own industry,” the problems of his friend Mel Gibson and his son’s cancer in an appearance Saturday night at First Baptist Church of Orlando.

The star of “The Passion of the Christ,” whom First Baptist pastor David Uth described as “more passionate about God” than anyone he’s ever met, was in town to give witness to his faith, to urge others to share it and to sell a new all-star audio production of the Bible that he has produced.

During a 20-minute talk, Caviezel spoke of the troubles that have dogged Gibson, his “Passion” director, who has been labeled an anti-Semite in addition to being caught on tape ranting and cursing out the mother of his youngest child.

“Mel Gibson, he’s a horrible sinner, isn’t he?” Caviezel, 42, said. “Mel Gibson doesn’t need your judgment, he needs your prayers.”

The actor recalled Gibson’s offering him the role of Jesus in the film, then calling him back to beg him not to take it:

“He said, ‘You’ll never work in this town again.’ I told him, ‘We all have to embrace our crosses.’ ”

But the actor noted that Gibson wasn’t far off the mark when he spoke of the damage playing Jesus could do to his career.

“Jesus is as controversial now as he has ever been,” Caviezel said. “Not much has changed in 2,000 years.”

Caviezel said he doesn’t worry about the career price he paid with that film — a global box-office smash that led to fewer, not more, film offers for him. “The awards, the hall of fame” that actors get into here on Earth, he said, don’t matter to him. His reward, he said, will come in heaven.

“We have to give up our names, our reputations, our lives to speak the truth,” Caviezel said.

A native of Washington state and a lifelong Roman Catholic, Caviezel has never shied from films with religious subtexts, sometimes controversial ones, from “The Passion of the Christ” (2004) and “The Stoning of Soraya M.” (2008) to “I Am David” (2003) and “Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius” (2004).

Caviezel has said his faith is his guide, both personally and professionally. He speaks of being “called” to the acting profession and says it was no coincidence that “in my 33rd year, I was called to play Jesus.” He even joked about his initials — J.C. — with Gibson at the time of his casting, which “freaked him out a little.”

Caviezel and his wife have adopted “special-needs” children from China, and one has cancer.

“Maybe God, through my son’s death, is going to teach me something.”

Caviezel will speak at the 9 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. services Sunday at First Baptist, 3000 S. John Young Parkway.

rmoore@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5369

David Wilkerson (1931 – 2011)

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Apr 282011

Pastor David Wilkerson died Wednesday, April 27, 2011 in a tragic car crash, according to a CBN report.

“It is with deepest of sadness that we have to inform you of the sudden passing of Reverend David Wilkerson, our founding pastor,” Times Square Church Senior Pastor Carter Conlon said in a statement on the church website.

Pastor David Wilkerson was first called to New York City to minister to gang members and drug addicts in February, 1958. Prior to that, he had been serving as pastor in small churches in Scottdale and Philipsburg, Pennsylvania. It was there that he saw a photo in Life Magazine of seven New York City teenagers charged with murder. Feeling moved with compassion, he went to New York and began a street ministry.

He began by taking runaway children into his apartment to sleep on his couch and floor. One night, his was room filled with more kids than he could handle. Feeling overwhelmed, thinking there was no way he could accept another child, there was a knock at the door. He opened the door to find two forlorn children, who quietly asked if they could stay there as well. He told them he was sorry, but no. His apartment was full. Looking devastated, the children turned and left. Pastor David felt terrible. He never forgot the look of despair in their eyes, and he determined that he would never turn a child away again.

Later that year, Pastor David Wilkerson founded ‘Teen Challenge,‘ an evangelical Christian recovery program that has since grown into a network of Christian centers in several countries. In 1967, Wilkerson began Youth Crusades, a ministry for middle-class teenagers who were restless and bored – whom he called “goodniks” – with the hope of preventing them from getting into drug abuse, alcoholism and violence. Through this ministry, the CURE Corps (Collegiate Urban Renewal Effort) was founded with a goal of being a Christian version of the Peace Corps and Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA).

David Wilkerson is the best-selling author of “The Cross and the Switchblade” and “The Vision.” Co-authored with John and Elizabeth Sherrill, “The Cross and the Switchblade,” published in 1963, is considered one of the most influential and evangelical books in history. It tells the story of gang member Nicky Cruz’s conversion and sold over 50 million copies in over thirty languages. A 1970 movie based on the book, starring Pat Boone as Wilkerson and Erik Estrada as Cruz, was included on Christianity Today’s “Top 50 Books That Have Shaped Evangelicals.”

In 1971, Wilkerson moved his ministry headquarters to Lindale, Texas, and founded World Challenge, an organization with the mission of spreading the Gospel throughout the world.

Fifteen years later, walking down 42nd Street at midnight in 1986, he was passing by live peep shows and X-rated movie houses when his heart broke over the prostitutes, pimps, drug addicts, runaways and hustlers crowding Times Square. Again overwhelmed, he cried out for God to do something to help all the spiritually dead and dying people.

Pastor David later said the Holy Spirit called him to return to New York City and to raise up a ministry in Times Square.

“I saw 9, 10 and 11-year-old kids bombed on crack cocaine. I walked down 42nd Street and they were selling crack. Len Bias, the famous basketball player, had just died of a crack overdose, and the pusher was yelling, ‘Hey, I’ve got the stuff that killed Len.’ I wept and prayed, ‘God, you’ve got to raise up a testimony in this hellish place…The answer was not what I wanted to hear: ‘Well, you know the city. You’ve been here. You do it.’”

He obeyed and in October of 1987, at the “crossroads of the world,” he opened the Times Square Church in rented auditoriums in Times Square (Town Hall and the Nederlander Theater). Later, in 1989, the ministry purchased the historic Mark Hellinger Theater, where the church then moved.

Since that time, he has faithfully led the congregation, delivering powerful biblical messages that encourage righteous living and complete reliance on God. Wilkerson’s sermons, such as “A Call to Anguish,” are direct and frank, emphasizing Jesus Christ, God’s holiness and righteousness, and God’s love for people.

He has also had a strong burden for pastors all over the globe. In the 1990′s, Wilkerson focused his efforts to encourage pastors and their families to “renew their passion for Christ” and since 1999, has traveled around the world holding conferences to strengthen and encourage Christian ministers.

In his own words:

“I’ve been an evangelist for 50 years, but I didn’t want to preach to pastors until I had gray hair, until I’d pastored. Now after 15 years of pastoring, sharing the hurts, pains, and difficulties of the ministry as a pastor, I felt the Lord finally release me, that I might have something to say.”

In 2006 Wilkerson and his wife Gwen began splitting their time between New York and Texas. They have four children and eleven grandchildren. His son Gary Wilkerson is also a Christian minister and evangelist.

According to Texas state troopers called on the scene, Wilkerson was hit head-on by a tractor trailer that moved into his lane. Although the truck driver saw the car and attempted to avoid the collision, Wilkerson crashed and was pronounced dead on the scene. Gwen Wilkerson is in critical condition.

Memorial services for Pastor David Wilkerson have been set for May 14, 2 p.m. ET at Times Square Church.

David Wilkerson was 79 years old.

PROPHESIES

In April 1973, Pastor David Wilkerson had a vision regarding the U.S., which he then gave a sermon and wrote a book concerning. (called ‘The Vision.‘ )

Some of the details:

1. “Worldwide recession caused by economic confusion”
* “At most a few more fat flourishing years, and then an economic recession that’s going to affect the life style of every wage-earner in the world. The world economists are going to be at loss to explain what’s happening. It’s going to start in Europe, spread to Japan and finally to the United States.”
* There will be a move toward a worldwide, unified monetary system. The US dollar will be hit bad and it will take years for it to recover.
* The only real security will be in real estate (until a somewhat later stage, at which point this security will also disappear).

2. “Nature having labor pains”
* Environmentalists will come under heavy criticism.
* There will be major earthquakes.
* There will be a major famine.
* Floods, hurricanes and tornadoes will increase in frequency.
* “A new kind of cosmic storm appearing as a raging fire in the sky leaving a kind of vapor trail.”[4]

3. “A flood of filth and a baptism of dirt in America”
* Topless women will appear on television, followed by full nudity.
* Adult, X rated movies will be shown on cable television. Young people will gather at homes to watch this kind of material in groups.
* Sex and the occult will be mixed.
* There will be an acceptance of homosexuality, and the church will even say that it is a God-given gift.

4. “Rebellion in the home”
* “I see the new number one youth problem in America and the world as hatred towards parents.”

5. “A persecution madness against truly Spirit filled Christians who love Jesus Christ”
* There will arise a world church consisting of a union between liberal ecumenical Protestants and the Roman Catholic Church, using Christ in name only.
* There will be a hate Christ movement.
* There will be a spiritual awakening behind the Iron and Bamboo Curtains.

6. Others
* There will be another wave of riots.
* There will be a fall in moral conduct.
* There will be a new drug that will be popular with teenagers that will break down resistance and will encourage sexual activity.
* Homosexual and lesbian ministers will be ordained and this will be heralded as a new breed of pioneer.
* There will be nude dancing in church, but this will never be widespread.
* There will be occult practices in churches.

http://www.tscnyc.org/history.php

http://www.worldchallenge.org/about_david_wilkerson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wilkerson

Iowa High School Wrestler Defaults Match So He Wouldn’t Face Girl

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Feb 172011

Iowa High School Wrestler Defaults Match So He Wouldn’t Face Girl

Published February 17, 2011 | Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa — A standout Iowa high school wrestler refused to compete against a girl at the state tournament on Thursday, relinquishing any chance of becoming a champion because he says wrestling a girl would conflict with his religious beliefs.

Joel Northrup, a home-schooled sophomore who was 35-4 wrestling for Linn-Mar High School this season, praised his first-round opponent, Cedar Falls freshman Cassy Herkelman, and Ottumwa sophomore Megan Black, who became the first two girls to make the state wrestling tournament in its 85-year history.

But in a brief statement issued through his school, Northrup said he defaulted on his match with Herkelman because he doesn’t think boys and girls should compete in the sport.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy and Megan and their accomplishments.

However, wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times,” said Northrup. “As a matter of conscience and my faith I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner. It is unfortunate that I have been placed in a situation not seen in most other high school sports in Iowa.”

There were several thousand fans at Wells Fargo Arena on Thursday, but many were watching other matches when the referee raised Herkelman’s hand to signal her win. There was a smattering of cheers and boos from the crowd before Herkelman was whisked into the bowels of the arena.

Tournament organizers declined to make Herkelman available for questions. She entered the tournament with a 20-13 record and will wrestle Friday in the quarterfinals of the 112-pound (50.8-kilogram) weight class.

Her father, Bill Herkelman, told The Associated Press via text message that he understands and respects Northrup’s decision.

“It’s nice to get the first win and have her be on the way to the medal round,” Bill Herkelman wrote. “I sincerely respect the decision of the Northrup family especially since it was made on the biggest stage in wrestling. I have heard nothing but good things about the Northrup family and hope Joel does very well the remainder of the tourney.”

According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, more than 6,000 girls competed in wrestling in 2009-10 — compared with nearly 275,000 boys. Though most states require girls to wrestle boys, California, Hawaii, Texas, Washington and Tennessee sponsor girls-only high school wrestling tournaments.

“My Bad” Manute Bol, God gave him “Heart Enough to Look Back”

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Jul 152010

Manute Bol: Sudanese, Christian, NBA Basketball Player

Manute Bol, 1962-2010 | Mindy Belz World Magazine

Convinced that a man who had towered over him in life would not easily go down to death, Tom Prichard made four trips to Virginia to see former NBA basketball player Manute Bol during six weeks of hospitalization. “We thought he was going to make it before he took a sudden turn for the worse,” Prichard told me. Bol died a day later on June 19 at age 47. He suffered from acute kidney failure and a severe skin condition called Stevens-Johnson syndrome.

Prichard, a Kansas pastor and longtime friend, worked alongside Bol to start Sudan Sunrise, building schools and churches in Bol’s native South Sudan. Along with other prominent Sudanese-Americans like Olympic track star Lopez Lomong, Bol aimed through Christian-Muslim efforts to reconcile communities racked by 22 years of civil war. “We need something to symbolize how far we’ve come,” Bol told Prichard.

It was a remarkable undertaking, considering that Bol himself had 250 members of his own extended family killed at the hands of Khartoum’s Islamic government during the war. (His father named him Manute, meaning “special blessing.”). Remarkable also for a 7-foot-7 NBA star drafted by the Washington Bullets in 1985 and later traded to the Golden State Warriors, 76ers, and Miami Heat. He played 10 seasons as the tallest center in the NBA, earning an estimated $6 million that most who know him say was spent on helping Sudanese. “God guided me to America and gave me a good job,” he notably said, “but he also gave me a heart so I would look back.”

Bol’s NBA career was notable also for an expression he invented on the court. In early practices when he missed a shot, Bol—who never had a formal education and knew little English—told teammates, “My bad.” Players repeated the phrase to poke fun at him, until it spread into sports and then mainstream vernacular.

According to Prichard, the same thing that motivated Bol in life drove him to his death: love for his homeland.

He made three trips to Sudan in 2009, the last in November with Prichard and former Reagan national security adviser Bud McFarlane. The trio surveyed progress on the first of 41 schools Sunrise is building—this one in Bol’s home village of Turalei. Nearly complete, it’s being constructed by Christian and Darfuri Muslim laborers.

“He was going to stay a matter of weeks,” Prichard told me. But Bol picked up “a whiff of a plan” to derail elections scheduled for April—the first multiparty elections in Sudan in 24 years. Pro-Khartoum candidates were turning up in Twic County, his county, to run against established locals from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), the majority (and largely Christian) party in the south. Bol was someone locals would listen to, and SPLM leaders asked him to stay. Twice he delayed his return to the United States—until early May.

Lacking medication for his kidney ailment, Bol’s health declined. Eventually he became so sick he had to be hospitalized in Nairobi, Kenya, for a week. But when he learned that some candidates were trying to buy votes in Twic, he left the hospital and returned to Sudan: “If they give you money and food, take it,” he told villagers. “But don’t give them your vote in return.”

On election day the candidates Bol favored won. According to Prichard, “he was very pleased but he was also very sick.” When finally he arrived at Dulles airport outside Washington, he was too ill to board his connecting flight to his home in Kansas. Taken by ambulance to a hospital in northern Virginia, he remained there for five weeks before he was transferred to the burn unit at the University of Virginia hospital in nearby Charlottesville. Apparently medication he received in Nairobi for his failing kidneys brought on Stevens-Johnson, a severe skin reaction that burns the tissue from the inside out.

“He lived for his country, and he died for his country,” Prichard said. “He gave his life to try to thwart the plan to manipulate elections and to try to keep plans on track for a [2011 independence] referendum.”

Happy Birthday to an Exceptional Man

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Jul 012010

Roland John Morris, Sr. July 1, 1945 – June 9, 2004

Roland Morris, Sr., 58, ascended to heaven on Wednesday, June 9th after a four year fight with cancer. Roland, a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, was born July 1, 1945, in Cass Lake, MN. Ojibwe was his first language, and he grew up fishing, hunting, and gathering wild rice with family and friends. He also played intramural basketball, worked hard in the woods, spent time in a foster home and various jails, drank, smoked, and played guitar with friends at various bars.

Roland went to college in Kansas and was a draftsman for a short time before becoming an upholsterer. While he struggled with many difficulties in his early years, he was a perfectionist with upholstery and throughout his life performed his craft well.

After a life changing spiritual experience with Jesus in 1988, Roland moved his second family to Ronan, Montana to be near his cousin and Christian evangelist, Frank (Scotty) Butterfly. There, in 1992, Roland and his wife, Elizabeth, created Montana’s first patient transportation service, Mission Valley Medicab. They also helped instigate the Montana Passenger Carriers Association and the charitable organization, Valley Missions, Inc., all without tribal assistance.

Roland taught his children about wild ricing, hunting, fishing, and a little of the Ojibwe language. But the biggest, strongest desire of his heart was that his children, grandchildren, and entire extended family come to the saving knowledge and acceptance of Jesus Christ. Having watched many friends and relatives die physically, spiritually, and emotionally from alcoholism, violence, and suicide, Roland could no longer stand aside and do nothing. He was concerned for the children and felt distress at the attitudes of many adults within his community. He wanted the self-destruction to stop.

Roland’s relationship with Jesus coupled with his conviction that much of the reservation system was harmful led him to some amazing life experiences. Actively opposing much of federal Indian policy, Roland served as President of the Western Montana organization All Citizens Equal, was a board member and Vice-Chairman of the national organization; Citizens Equal Rights Alliance, was the Secretary of Citizens Equal Rights Foundation.

He also ran as a Republican candidate for the Montana House of Representatives in the 1996 and testified before the US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in April,1998, the Minnesota Attorney General in 2000, and numerous Mont. State committees. With his family, he also had a private meeting with a member of the President’s Domestic Policy Council May, 2002 in Washington DC.

As time progressed, Roland became more convinced of the importance of Jesus in his life. So in 2000 he attended a year of training at the Living Faith Bible College, Canada. Over the last three years, he and/or his family went on mission trips in Canada and Mexico. During a 2003 trip to a children’s home in Juarez, Mexico, he fixed most of their dining hall chairs, taught 6 boys how to upholster, donated materials, and preached a Sunday street service.

Through the years, he has appeared in numerous newspaper articles across the country. The last article he appeared in was on Friday, May 14th, in the Washington Times. Reporter Jennifer Lehner wrote, “the ICWA [Indian Child Welfare Act] protects the interests of others over [Mr. Morris'] grandchildren,” and “Mr. Morris said that once children are relocated to the reservations, they are subject to the corrupt law of the tribal government. Instead of preserving culture, he said, the tribal leadership uses the ICWA to acquire funds provided through the legislation.” Ms. Lehner quoted Mr. Morris as saying that the law is “supposed to help children, but instead it helps tribal governments.”

Finally, in February, 2004, he and his wife founded the Christian Alliance for Indian Child Welfare. The purpose of this was to encourage preaching, teaching and fostering of the growth of the Christian Faith in all places, encourage accountability of governments to families with Indian heritage, and educate the public about Indian rights, laws, and issues.

Roland praised God to the very end. When his final struggle began, several of his friends and family were praying with him. When those present sang old-time hymns, he raised his hand in the air for as long as he could. When “I Surrender” was sung, he sang the echo. While Pastor Kingery sat next to Roland, holding his hand, Roland looked him straight in the eyes and pointed his other hand up to heaven. When he passed on to greater life, his good friend Marvin Bauer was softly playing Gospel songs for him on his accordion.

Roland is survived by his wife, nine children, twelve grandchildren and a great grandson. Also important to his heart was his “special” son, Jesus Garcia, in Juarez, Mexico. Surviving brothers include Harry Morris and Steven Jones; and sisters include Clara Smith, Bernice Hurd, Sharon Goose, and Christine Jones, as well as numerous nephews and nieces and his great cousin, Scotty Butterfly.

Roland was preceded in death by his parents, Jacob and Susan Jones; siblings Thomas and Wallace Morris, Robert, Martin, Caroline, Frances, Barbara and Alvina Jones, Loretta Smith, and grandson Brandon Kier.

Roland’s loving friend, Jim Ball, crafted a beautiful casket for him as a gift. Funeral services were at the CMA Church in Ronan, MT, on Sunday, June 13, 2004 and the CMA Church in Cass Lake, MN, Tuesday, June 15. Internment was at Prince of Peace Cemetery. He is strongly remembered for his strength, character, and love for the Lord Jesus.

Roland, our husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, cousin, and friend; We Love you and Miss you so very much. You are with God now.

Gi gi wah ba min me na wah

Christian Alliance for Indian Child Welfare
Independent Indian Press
.

The Revival Hymn

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Nov 302009

The Revival Hymn

This is a great compilation of voices of true men of God. Listen for yourself…

“The church of Jesus Christ is largely sleeping, like a great bedroom and you have all the Christians in bed and they’re all sleeping … and they’re saying “Please, don’t wake me up! I want to sleep on!” And of course when God starts to operate a revival people cannot sleep, you can’t sleep in church when the Spirit of God awakes the people. Look at the 1st verse of this 52nd chapter… “Awake! Awake! Put on strength!”Wake up! You’re sleepy Christians! Awake thou that sleepeth, Arise from the dead! Christ will give you life!”

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Christ's Internet.com – News & Resource Portal

Agape Love

The Beginning of Life

‘Passion’ star Jim Caviezel talks about Mel Gibson’s troubles, and his own, at Orlando church

David Wilkerson (1931 – 2011)

Iowa High School Wrestler Defaults Match So He Wouldn’t Face Girl

“My Bad” Manute Bol, God gave him “Heart Enough to Look Back”

Happy Birthday to an Exceptional Man

The Revival Hymn

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