GREATER REVIVAL MINISTRIES

Silence: A blessed word for life from a friend

2011-09-21T19:00:00.000-04:00

From: Gregg Detwiler
Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:32:06

Mama Maggie Gobran who oversees a ministry to 20,000 orphans and poor children in Garbage City, outside of Cairo - describe what sustains her in ministry.

This is what she said:

Silence your body to listen.

Silence your tongue to listen to your thoughts.

Silence your thoughts to listen to your heart beating.

Silence your heart to listen to your spirit.

And silence your spirit to listen to His Spirit.

Leave the many to be with the One.

I hope that these words will minister to you in the season you are now in.

In repentance and rest is your salvation in quietness and trust is your strength… (Is 30:15)

Bless you,

Gregg Detwiler

Perhaps When the People Hear"

2011-08-08T13:43:00.003-04:00

August 7, 2011
Perhaps When the People Hear"

BY Ed de la Cour, Jr
Cape Cod - United States

Jeremiah 36:1-3

In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 “Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now. 3 Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.”

One of the greatest areas where we American Christians fail is our firm belief that America is such a blessed nation that we will never suffer judgment at the hand of God. Throughout our history, we have known blessing upon blessing -- even though our country was severely tested in a great civil war. But that was a very long time ago. Today we think we are being carried forward on the strength of all those past victories. What slavery, greed, racism, Nazism, and communism failed to do, we are accomplishing all by ourselves by ignoring the warnings contained in God's Word. God's many prophets have spoken on His behalf about the plain facts of our current national situation, but we will not listen.

The sad and tragic truth is that we have not taken God seriously. Oh, we will show up at church from time to time in order to give lip service to our faith, but we have simply and steadfastly refused to change our ways. As a rule, we have chosen to live for ourselves and not live for the Savior who, on the cross, paid the debt for our sin and rebellion. We speak religiously out of one side of our mouths but our lives are lived very differently. As a people, we are living in a painfully serious moment right now. We desperately need to listen to what God is saying to our nation and respond to Him.

I have been reading devotionally in several places in the Bible this past year, but I have to say that my attention has been arrested by the prophet Jeremiah as it has never been before. I’ve read the book at other times, but this time, my heart has been struck by the timeliness of God’s Word directed to me and to us. As we move through our lives day by day, we don’t seem to have found many compelling reasons to take God’s Word personally or seriously or deeply. My prayer is that today will be different.

It’s easy for us to criticize and call this politics, but Jeremiah was speaking the Word of God to his nation and to the political powers that ruled that nation. If you are thinking this will be only a political message, then I would encourage you instead to take this personally, not politically, and respond to it as if God were speaking directly to you and not to millions of other people out there.

If you are driving on the road later today and you notice oncoming traffic blinking their high beams in your direction, you know as well as I that signal is a warning. You have to interpret that signal, don’t you? Perhaps those drivers are warning you of an accident just ahead. Or, maybe there is a speed trap. In any case, what you do next will say a great deal about how seriously you receive warnings. I believe God has been giving us very similar warning signals for many years. Most people have not only ignored them, they are driving just as fast and living just as recklessly as ever before.

What happened during the course of Jeremiah’s prophecy is that God, even at this eleventh hour, offered His people opportunity after opportunity to repent, one more last chance to change their minds and their behavior, one more moment to move in a different direction as a nation. This small portion we just read represents this one last attempt on the part of God to move His people toward repentance, toward righteousness, and away from impending judgment.

Jeremiah had about a forty year ministry, beginning during the reign of King Josiah. But now, we have arrived at the tragic end of Judah’s history as a nation. The Lord moved yet one more time to plead with His people. At the risk of being repetitious, God asked Jeremiah to write down once more every word from God he had received since he began his ministry in the days of King Josiah. Jeremiah dictated the Words God gave him to his scribe Baruch and they produced a lengthy scroll that was to be read to Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, who was now the king of Judah.

The pertinent and key word in verse 3 is, “perhaps.” Perhaps the people of God will turn and change their ways. Perhaps, maybe, if only the people of God, the people who populate the churches, who sit in the pews, perhaps they will listen, perhaps they will heed, maybe they will take to heart the gracious offer God is presenting to them. Perhaps – not that God-haters would change their minds, but perhaps those who are known far and wide to be followers of God, those who are called by His name, those who are supposed to know His ways and be well acquainted with His Word – perhaps they will turn away from their wicked ways and repent.

God is seeking to show mercy here, isn’t He? While there will certainly be consequences if their behavior does not change, it is as though God was hoping against hope that they would repent. This reminds me of Exodus 34: 6 - 7, where the Lord declared: “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” Contrary to what many people think, God is not driving around the universe looking for people to whack. The truth is that God is looking for people to forgive! In Jeremiah, we are seeing God doing what God has always done: God seeks to show mercy.

Again, in Ezekiel 18: 32, God says, “‘For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone,’declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!” People laughed at this, but God didn’t laugh when Osama bin Laden died. God doesn’t laugh when Navy SEALs die when their helicopter is shot down. God doesn’t laugh when a driver with too much to drink dies at the wheel of his car. God wants to save, He wants to show mercy. If only we would listen to Him, turn away from our sin and wickedness and receive His forgiveness.

If people listen to what God is saying, they will know that nothing good is heading our way. God says a disaster is coming, and I believe He should know. Verse 3 goes on to show that God has planned to “inflict” disaster on His own people, not because He delights in disaster, but because His people have turned their backs on God. He used words like “inflict disaster” to demonstrate that those who heard this were living in complete denial. They showed no fear of God. There is no realization in our community today that would indicate God is to be honored or obeyed.

If we turn our attention just a paragraph or so earlier, Jeremiah 35: 17, there the Lord made this strong statement: “‘Listen! I am going to bring on Judah and on everyone living in Jerusalem every disaster I pronounced against them. I spoke to them, but they did not listen; I called to them, but they did not answer.’” We have all seen parents trying to make their children behave. They speak over and over, sometimes they yell, but the kids still do what they want to do. “I’m warning you! I’m going to count to three... one... two... I really mean it this time.” It doesn’t take long for the child to learn there are no consequences for rebellious behavior. The children have learned to whine but not to obey. The kids will complain but they will not do what they are told. The inconsistency of parental behavior produces bad behavior in their children. But God is not like us. God is not a dysfunctional parent. That may come as a great surprise to us who live every day in the midst of societal and cultural dysfunction.

I saw a news article this week about a lake in Texas that was drying up because of the great drought they are having there. What little water was left in the lake had turned red. A pastor preached a sermon that this is a sign of the end. Whether it is a sign of the end is not the point. The call of God to you and me is to repent and to turn away from our predisposition to ignore God and to continue to live in wickedness. Because there is no fear of God in the land, the media laughed at the pastor. But do you honestly expect those who have no love for God to endorse an invitation to repair our relationship with God? The call to prayer that went out across the nation for yesterday in Houston was laughed at in the press while others decried the event as completely inappropriate; but, again, that is not the point. The point is not whether people laugh or become angry, the point is turn to God. The point is repent of your sin, because disaster is coming.

God said, I spoke; no one listened. I called; no one answered. We heard the phone ring and we saw who was on caller ID. There is no reply from a smug and self-satisfied America. There is no response from a Cape Cod that is taken up with our own busy lives. God is not just looking for someone to pick up the phone. Look again at verse 3: “Perhaps... each of them will turn from his wicked way; then I will forgive their wickedness and sin.” God is not looking for a token response where two or three, or a few stragglers decide late in the game to surrender and come over to God’s side. He is seeking you, all of you, to turn our lives over to Him. God was looking for Judah as a nation to come back to Him. He is seeking a great response from our town, from Cape Cod, and from our nation – not to mention you and me.

That is the way God works. The repentance of God’s people always precedes their forgiveness. When we come to grips with the fact that this is not just more of the same, but that we are living in a time that is historically unlike anything we’ve seen before. Unless we take a stand in our own homes and in or own hearts, our nation will not survive and neither will we.

So Jeremiah dictated and Baruch transcribed. It must have taken a very long time to finish the scroll. Finally, in verse 8, Baruch read the completed scroll in the presence of the people in the Lord’s temple. Then the scroll was delivered to the king and it was read in the king’s presence. As the scroll was being read to the king, after every three or four columns were read, the king took a knife, cut the columns off and threw the Word of God into the fire to be consumed by the flames.

I think I might know why the king burned the scroll. He wasn’t bothered by the Word of God. It didn’t apply to him; he had gone to church that Sunday! Just like him, we present an appearance of moral one-upmanship rather than a tear-stained face of repentance. We’re bothered by world events. We’re bothered by raising the debt limit. This world bothers us politically, but we are not broken in our hearts.

God understands that we are hard to reach. He instructed Jeremiah to take yet another scroll and to replicate everything he had written the first time. How many chances shall we expect? Maybe the king thought that if he burned the inconvenient truth, he could make it disappear. A lot of us think that if we ignore the Word of God, it will go away. If we run away, God will never find us. That is a foolish strategy. Maybe you can burn the Word. Maybe you can trash God’s Word. Maybe you can try to erase the Word of God from the face of the earth. You can run but you cannot hide from God. God’s Word is eternal. God’s Word is everlasting. God’s Word cannot be destroyed and it will be fulfilled.

What God offered Jerusalem through the ministry of Jeremiah, God is offering to you and me today. You read the news and you know that all over this world people are experiencing unprecedented misery. Whole nations are on the verge of economic collapse. Even our own nation has, for the first time in its history, found its economic house under scrutiny. Millions of Americans are out of work and unable to pay their bills or feed their families. Hundreds of thousands cannot pay their mortgages. Home foreclosures are on the verge of skyrocketing in a way we’ve never seen before. Families are in distress and people are acting out their frustrations with beatings and abuses, with drugs and alcohol. Are you going to laugh like this king laughed when God is asking you to turn to Him and to turn away from your allegiance to your own ways?

God is making an offer to forgive us today. God is always looking for people to forgive and you look like you could use a double dose of God’s love this morning! You, all of Cape Cod, and all of America stand on the brink of a disaster. If there ever was an eleventh hour, this is it. When Noah built the ark and the animals came to find safety within it at God’s direction, the people who stood around laughed. The door of the ark stayed open and the invitation to receive salvation was extended. But one day, God closed the door, the rains came, and the flood was released. Don’t be on the outside looking in when that day arrives on Cape Cod.

--
Edmund C. de la Cour, Jr.
First Baptist Church of Pocasset
298 Barlows Landing Road
Post Office Box 1080
Pocasset, MA 02559

Church Office: 508-563-3164
www.pocassetbaptist.org

The Kingdom is a sound and sight real.

2011-07-19T21:19:00.003-04:00

By Stephen Cummings

The Kingdom is a sound and sight real. "But who has stood in the council of the LORD, That he should see and hear His word? Who has given heed to His word and listened?"(Jer. 23:18 NASB)

His thoughts contain all that is necessary to bring fourth life. They include the power, the emotion and the will to accomplish what they are set out to do.

We have all learned how thoughts create emotions is us and are largely taught by the church to control our thoughts and thus control our emotions.

This is also the foundation of most of the self-help and the foundation of all “Life Coaching” models used with or without the Holy Spirit.

This is a partial truth, for if we allow His thought then we can have His emotions, His truth and His will.

When we have His thoughts we can take other thoughts captive to the obedience of those thoughts.

Imagine, we are like a tuning fork, right now we vibrate with all that is going on around us and we vibrate from the thoughts we have.

As God brings us closer to himself, and as we submit our body as Romans 12:1-2 shows us, we become a tuning fork He can use.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spirituala act of worship.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:1-2 NIV)

He will teach us how His thoughts can resound in us and that those thoughts create space for Him to come into time and change things.

A simple picture is that intercession includes the birthing of realms.

Imagine His thoughts and feelings in us such that we as a tuning fork vibrate at a different frequency that changes the atmosphere around us.

Lord Jesus, I submit my body to you as my reasonable service for I do want to renew my feelings and understanding, my whole mind and experience the good the acceptable and perfect will you have.

I believe you created me in my mother’s womb and you chose me before the foundations of time and I trust that you know how my body and mind works better than I do.

Forgive me for letting the enemy continually resonate and use me as a tuning fork against myself and against you.

Forgive me for separating sight and sound and choosing which I give preference to.

Lord, please free me from this and baptize me in the fire of your love, baptize me with your fire – the fire that you are in the midst of – the fire you were with Daniel in – the fire which does not burn my skin but awakens my true identity.

Lord, please help me disconnect the tuning fork in me from my soul and connect it to your Spirit.

Let your Spirit be the one who hears all that is going on and responds instead of my soul. Lord, teach me to resonate with the ability to allow you to come in and sup with me. Not my will but yours be done... Come and save me.

Stephen Cummings
insights@charter.net
INSIGHTS
www.creative-economies.com
www.creative-economies.com/blog
www.twitter.com/creat_economies

Expectation & Hope

2011-07-17T17:42:00.003-04:00

By Josimar Salum

Expectation and wishing are not faith.

If I say I expect or wish that God blesses you at most it may be from the kindness of my heart or a sympathy of my soul. In fact what really is, it is just a weak effort leaned on the best of my thougths.

Other way to say I hope God blesses you, meant that it is founded on God's unchanging Word.

That against all odds it will work through who you are and through all circumstances you may have to go through to fulfill those blessings that originally I had hoped He may give it to you.

Hope is not an idea like a wish.

Hope is Faith in the life of the Spirit from Whom a blessing is more than a thought.

Hope is a mandate ordained to be accomplished, like released God's Words that cannot be void.

“A Uniform Rule of Naturalization”

2011-02-21T21:25:00.006-05:00

By Josimar Salum

“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”(Psalm 24:1)

My wife, my son and I are Americans today, because I believe that God established and determined that our family would inhabit the North America and because we had the privilege of fitting in the requirements of a specific Law of Immigration.

I also believe that God Himself sent us here the same way Abraham was sent to the promise land.

For each of us the day we took the Oath will be remembered for the rest of our lives. That was a quite special day!

My daughter, as I call her - my son’s wife – gave birth our grand son, Nathan, gift of God, natural born in America. And she herself is on her way to citizenship thanks to another of the many just laws of the land.

By our Constitution I am American, granted with rights and duties, as my grand child is, he who was born here.

Natural children have the same rights of the adopted children before God.

Before the Constitution I have all rights, but one, I can not be elected President of the United States of America. I maybe be kidding, but Nathan one day can and he has all chances to become one, as much as President Obama, George W. Bush and any other President of our history. And I guarantee there will be no doubt about his citizenship. He is a native born, born in Boston, Massachusetts.

I am against illegal stuff, any kind of disturbance of the Order and disobedience of the Law. I am against crossing the borders illegally, breaking of criminal and civil laws, any illegal behaviors, any crime and especially against terrorism…

I am also against injustice of all kinds, oppression, slavery and anything and anybody that hinder any people the Pursuit of Happiness and Freedom.

I believe that those who break the Law should be prosecuted through a Due Process as much as I believed anyone can find mercy at the Courtroom.

I have saw Honorable Judges and Prosecutors acquainting defendants, especially young people, for civil violations and for minor criminal acts.

I have saw Justice in all the instances and cases I served along, as a pastor, a father, a friend, a juror and even as defendant or a plaintiff.

Even when once I thought my case was not treated justly as soon as I finally realized the balance of the decision of the Judge it took awe from my heart.

The Justice is not relied in the severity of the application of the Law because there are Laws that are simply not right.

The Justice is that each of us, in the United States Justice System is judged individually.

The Justice is not relied on the possibility of an error or a mistake, they may happen, but it is relied on the power of the Democracy of this Nation.

The right to pursuing happiness is relied of individual freedoms that we still enjoy as any other place in this planet: The Freedom of Expression, the Freedom of Speech, the Freedom of Press, the Freedom to Worship, the Freedom to Gathering, and the Freedom to be an individual, etc.

The tyranny of Government and even from the Courtrooms never prevail because individuals with those kind of freedoms cannot be manipulated, all of them at the same time, never.

As our Nation was founded upon Principles of Life, Freedom, Justice even the most wicked criminals, Americans or not, should not and are not charged and prosecuted without been served by a Just Process.

I have learnt while reading, watching movies, researching, chatting hours with friends about our history that what we enjoy today is the result of brave men and women of the past and in this very present who serves and served and died here and abroad for this precious jewel called Freedom.

The concept of “Libertas quae sera tamen” – Freedom even at last does not fit our American Conscience. We want freedom now, never for tomorrow.

Even though people from other nations criticizes our mistakes and injustices around the world as a imperfect people like we are, the sum of everything is what makes us enjoy the prosperity, the good systems, the good structures of this nation and the assurance that there is always hope to start again even after the worse crises, economically or socially, we went through on our history, even after natural destruction and even after war.

Originally from Brazil, I worked there in many sectors of the society. I had the privilege to be part of great movements in influencing that Nation. I worked in the mountains of Government, Business, Education, Media, Arts and Entertainment, Religion and Family.

As much as Brazil has a Supreme Law in the Land called “the Constitution of the Citizens” it is not as quite for the Citizens indeed.

The Constitution was positioned for the welfare of the whole society and not for the individuals as it should be. By the way this 1986 Constitution had substituted many others and has so many amendments that are far away to end.

The general welfare in societies is only possible if each individual can pursue his own welfare and of his family. It is the right to pursue happiness that makes the individual responsible for each other.

I don’t know about you, but when I read just the Preamble of the American Constitution I always realize that I am touching serious fabrics of civilization.

And I imagine those men voting those words as they were in a Chamber not of human beings alone, but under God Himself, the Supreme of Universe.

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

It is in the Constitution Article 1 Section 8 that says that among many powers the Congress has the power to “establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization.”

Our history is filled of migration movements, good and bad, righteous and unrighteous.

The United of States has been a beacon and a refuge of hope from generation to generation that has draw more people from other nations than any other country in the world has done.

We are a blessed nation indeed, one Nation under God with Justice and Liberty for all.

Migration has been related to the US economy since the time of its foundation.

From Africans brought without their will to the Chinese who built railroads to Mexicans who farmed our produce to be served in our tables…

To Europeans, Asians, Latinos, Brazilians who built our structures. They have been cleaning our houses and market places. They have been serving our donuts and coffees, and entrepreneur our industries…

To Vietnamese, Afghans and Iraqis who migrated to flee from the war we also raged… They have found here the dreams they never had and the abundance they never imagined.

And as much as know we are all them and they are becoming us all, just Americans.

There is a cry in the land from all its inhabitants for a “Uniform Rule of Naturalization” that symbolizes our kindness, materializes our need for security and brings Justice to millions who entered here lawful and unlawful; lawful but have to go back though willing to stay, lawful but became unlawful because they stayed and unlawful by all means for lack of right laws and our broken system.

There many on waiting lines on our Consulates around the world who are willing to come even now, but there is no Law to fit them; not that the Law should fit them all, but I would not like to be one of them.

We are guilty as charged for all of these.

Our propaganda around the world about our prosperity and our freedom would for sure attract anybody who dared to dream to come to a place called the Land of the Brave and the Home of the Free.

We sold out millions of movies and have showed our youth well dressed and well fed on the hinge of extreme knowledge and progress for the world to see.

We collected technology and produced so many that put together inebriated young and old, even kids far way and at the most diverse places dreamed to grow old just to move to America.

We championed in almost everything and the youth from other nations saw the brilliance of our schools and desired to come.

And they all came. Without our legal permission or not, they all came. And they stayed. So what?

We wrote broken Laws, illegally do not enforce they way they should be enforced and didn’t take care of our borders.

We have allowed our corporations to hire anyone for decades and our farms to absorb any help. We liked because we needed.

In the history of our migration in times of abundance we demanded and welcomed migrants.

In times of economic distress and depression we blame them, persecute them and want them deported.

Individually we may be not responsible. Individually the migrants should be responsible. But as a nation of individuals we should consider this.

The British came and killed the Native American. What an ignorance and cruelty! They did what they taught was right! They were wrong. And it costed a long effort of reconciliation and a long time of restoration. And even today there is no total and complete healing yet on this matter.

But the British also loved the Native American girls. And among themselves they had children. British and British… British and Native Americans… They came… the Dutch, the Swedish, and Italians, and all others… They got married, girls and boys…

Their children grew up. The natives born and they married each other.

They constructed houses, farmed the land… Built institutions, churches, schools, universities, a huge civilization…

In the beginning started with a commonwealth that did not end until this day…

They built a nation as if they were building a Kingdom, a Kingdom for God to bless the people, any of them, all of them.

America was a tower of refuge and a stronghold for security, a fortress for the persecuted and a fort of peace. And still is.

They developed the whole land. They united with each other and along with values, cultures, traditions, wealth, from different backgrounds and they became and came to be known as Americans.

Here we are, native born and from other nations, a society based in the gathering of principles never saw in any other nation, a melting pot as any other nation in this planet.

Here we are, hundreds of years later, facing a challenge of huge proportions of having to decide what we will do with our inheritance.

More than 12 million of so called illegal, they can remain illegal or not only until the Congress decides to act.

Maybe this time we will do it right and promote an amnesty not just for them but for all of us, once for all.

There is only one God and there is only one people of God.

2011-02-21T16:52:00.001-05:00

God has chosen Abraham and his descendants. They are called by God His Children and His people.

God’s sons and His people are not only of those who naturally are Abraham’s descendants, but those who are not natural descendants of him.

There are promises for the natural descendants and prophecies to be fulfilled in them to fulfill the ultimate purpose of God, the Father, crafted by Jesus (Yeshua) with His pierced body and His shed blood on the cross, which He reconciled all things to Himself and from many made one man and from many nations united in One body One people and One family for the Only One God.

God’s sons and His people are of those who received Yeshua, the Messiah.

Many of those who are natural descendants rejected the Messiah and are not sons of Abraham. According to Jesus those who rejected Him are sons of the devil and slaves of sin as are, all gentiles around the world who similarly reject Yeshua.

From those, Abraham’s natural and non natural descendants, who receive Yeshua, they become God’s people and receive the power to become His sons.

The Olive Tree is the Israel of God, in Abraham, not the natural nation, those who believe, the first fruits, in which, the wild olive, the gentiles became partakers and become just the Olive Tree as all are one in God.

The Israel of God (referring to the “qa’hal” of God is the Eklesia of God. Not two churches, not a Church of two races, two or many people, Jews and gentiles, The Church, because in the Messiah (in Christ) there are not Jews, nor Gentiles.

Ephesians 2:11-22 (NIV);
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)—

12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,

15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace,

16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household,

20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”

I love the natural Israel. I endeavor to participate in anything in which help to protect the land and her people. I want to see Israel and all His habitants coming the knowledge of the Messiah, Yeshua, the son of David. But I also love all other nations.

And I firmly believe that those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed as strong as I believe that the same applies to all descendants of Abraham, both Jews and gentiles who are in Christ and are one people.

AN ALERT FROM GOD TO A DECAYING NATION

2011-01-11T23:51:00.008-05:00

AN ALERT FROM GOD TO A DECAYING NATION
Especially for Christian Leaders

By Josimar Salum

On January 4th this year (2011) I had the privilege of sharing a message with pastors in the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, United States, at a meeting of the BMNET - Brazilian Ministers Network.

I understand, by God’s Mercy and Grace that He speaks to His children and reveals His will even today.

Therefore, what I have shared that day and I write down the registry here to submit it to you, wherever you are, so that you will be able to examine the instructions, as I believe, that I have received from the Lord for this time and this season.

I publish this text not with that kind of intent of making it something special or as an occurrence from an exclusive channel. Because I believe that God is not a respecter of persons I firmly believe that only Jesus Christ spoke with exclusivity, being God, perfect words.

TWO WARNINGS

First is about how leaders must treat the wounds of God’s people.
Wounds don’t get better because we say so. Wounds get healed because of God’s healing virtue and power.

Jeremiah 6:13-14:

13 “From the least to the greatest, are all the greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit

14 They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace”.

Three expressions require my attention in these Scriptures: Greed, deception and superficiality.

They are greedy for gain, they practice deceit and they dress the wound of my people, in other words, they treat superficially the wounds of my people covering them with bandages.

We live in the middle of a shallow, mediocre and superficial generation. Everywhere is moved to avarice and personal and collective greed.

Preachers especially, deceive themselves assuming they can continue being and acting intentionally greedy deceiving others. It is not what they say or they do, it is about the true motivation for ministry.

I believe that clearly I heard the Lord declaring: "Enough!"

A few years ago I had a dream where I saw a star, resembling the shape of a mine (bomb) with bits, which fell at the feet of a very famous preacher in the United States.

He had by his side another man I know well, "his right arm" as they call him in that ministry.

In the dream, I was still and they came towards me.

When the star fell, now at the feet of them, instantly I heard a voice saying: "A star has fallen."

At the same time I saw on the left side another famous writer and preacher that was playing a piano. As the star fell he stood up and came towards them.

Shortly after that day, in a few months, scandals started to burst in the United States with many famous preachers, both men and women.

To my sorrow, the preacher and the pianist, whom I always respected and still love them – they are considered in high esteem all over the world- they also within a period of less than three years fell, like the star that fell from above.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).

Second warning: alert to people for what is to come.

The Holy Spirit asks: “Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call; who will get ready for battle?” (I Corinthians 14:8)

In the United States economic depression drove back to Brazil thousands of people.

And every day, as tougher, harder and tighter that becomes the financial situation around here, combined with the natural tragedies and violence increasingly constant and rampant, the spiritual condition of the nation is proportionally colder and colder.

Society as a whole, in great strides, distances itself from God and His Word. It is led by a political class, business people, social and artistic leaders, and even by ecclesiastical leaders increasingly cynical and despicable about the fear of God.

Most of this present federal government all way down to the local authorities are totally immerged in defying the very character and nature of God, bound in His Love, the very reason Jesus Christ was crucified, with the acquiescence of thousands of dormant preachers who decided to embrace the Hell’s agenda of environmentally issues, global warming, etc, in despite of the supreme reason nations fall down and are destroyed.

Proverbs 14:34:
Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people.

There is no worse judgment that God can apply when He abandons a nation to do wherever they want to do.

Intercession only can hold God’s punishment, but only until a limit - the limit of His enduring patience. The truth is our nation is under God’s terrible decrees of judgment. While the judgment of God intensifies, as with what happened to the ship Titanic, the party continues with its orgy and ungodliness.

Today in Brazil, as it was with the United States, nationalist preachers are deceived to witness the economic success and prosperity as signs of blessings.

These fake signs of blessings are really to make misty of the following:

• The institutionalization of iniquity in the bowels of the Law and Government,

• The systemic dissemination of greed and avarice in the practices of the “Gospel”

• The worldliness, secularization and humanization of what they call "Gospel" while the voices of the righteous are ridiculed and silenced to allow the status quo to proceed in a church driven by results and not by the faithfulness and loyalty to Jesus Christ.

There is talk of peace, but there is no peace.

Isaiah 59:7-17:

Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil thoughts; ruin and destruction mark their ways.

The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths.

They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them will know peace.

So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us.

We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.

Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like men without eyes.

At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead.

We all growl like bears; we moan mournfully like doves.

We look for justice, but find none; for deliverance, but it is far away.

For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us

Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: rebellion and treachery against the Lord, turning our backs on our God, fomenting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts have conceived.

So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter.

Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice.

He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.

He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.

"Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.” (Ezekiel 33:7)

“For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

And, If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner”? (I Peter 4:17-18)

THREE WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

1) PREACH THE WORD

II Timothy 4:1-4

1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:

2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction.

3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

What word is preached in Brazil and the United States?

Which Gospel is preached by thousands and thousands of preachers and sermons every Sunday?

Is there any zeal left for the Holiness of God?

Is there any clamor to love and reach out the multitudes house by house, one by one, in two by two groups like Jesus strategically ordained?

Are the billions dollars Christian market ready for the application of the Word of God?

In Brazil and in the United States, have the crowds that throng the temples and fill evangelical concentrations and events heard the preaching of the cross? Have they heard the whole Council of God?

My fellow preacher: Which is the word that you preach? What word have I preached?

The Scriptures have been replaced by millions of sermons on TV, on radio and the Internet, by magazines and Sunday school lessons, by the thousands of books and magazines, by the millions of DVDs and CDs that overload the houses and saturate the time of the believers.

This massive mountain of knowledge had usurped the place of the Scriptures in the lives of God’s people which as statistically proven read less and lesser the Word of God.

Why not only the Scriptures, pure and simple?

Why not only the communion and fellowship with the Holy Spirit sufficient to build up our faith along with the simple fellowship of believers sharing with each other?

The Holy Spirit says to the churches: "Preach the Word. Preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Preach the Gospel of the Kingdom."

I Corinthians 9:23-27

23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.

27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

2) GO BACK TO FIRST LOVE

Revelation 2:4-5

4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.

5 Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place.

First Love: the love of Jesus that is expressed in love to the lost.

Simply this: you have to return to the practice of the earliest works. It is meaning, to sharing, personally the Gospel with people all around you.

May all believers and their congregations abandon all programs, events, shows, everything that don't generate uniquely the "single business" of God on Earth, the unique appeal of the Spirit (Who thirsts come and drink for free from the Water of Life) and the sole mission of The Son: preaching the Good News to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the captives, giving sight to the blind and put at liberty the oppressed. (Isaiah 61)

Matthew 9:36-38

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field”.

Matthew 10:7-8

7 As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near’.

8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.

FREELY YOU HAVE RECEIVED, FREELY GIVE

What we call the great commission must cease to be the great suspicion. Every church talks about the great commission but everybody doubt if it is serious.

The heartbeat of Jesus is sharing His Kingdom with all mankind.

Our cathedrals are not big enough to be filled with our shame, because we did not reach the whole world and we already have lost three generations at home.

It is a shame to pray for revival when we don’t share with our own people Jesus arrival 2000 years ago.

If we had spent in the last 10 years only 10% of our time of attending conferences and congresses to reaching the people with the Gospel, praying for the sick and casting out demons in our own cities we would have had long time ago a revival of millions into the Kingdom.

Where is the missionary ardor of the people of God? Why are we so centralized in our organizations, meetings, committees and meetings, in voting for budgets of maintaining buildings and programs, as dead as the mummies are in Egypt?

Why are we so stuffed with shoes, and clothes, and abundance, entertaining ourselves, and in giving BMWs and Mercedes to our famous preachers, calling these practices honoring our leaders?

They have substituted making disciples, which must be, one by one, for the multitudes, and crowds, and TV outreaches.

Let them preach to the multitudes and reach out even more millions and millions, that is not wrong, but 100% of those kinds of preachers I have spoken with would never come to a little town in America or in Brazil anymore because they became so big to preach for small crowds.

Let them do it whatever it pleases them.

What about you and me?

We do need the fire and fervor of reaching our day by day fellows as we go and meet them in our daily lives.

3) TO HAVE FELLOWSHIP WITH EACH OTHER

Hebrews 10:25

25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

To meet doesn't mean gather exclusively in temples.

In fact, the vast majority of meetings in temples are meetings according to "the altar" and not for fellowship - sharing, eating bread together, and ministering to each other, the fellowship of the saints.

For "the altar" I mean in terms of what one does or around "the platform or the pulpit" – for all those who are in front and not every one to each other. The fellowship of the saints became the fellowship around the altar. As we gather we don’t minister to each other, we are ministered by only few. Think about it!

I Thessalonians 5:11-13

11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

12 Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you.

13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.

Pastors will never be regarded with esteem if they do not learn to consider other pastors in esteem, the other pastors from their cities or community.

Some practical ideas for pastors:

1 – Personal encounters with other pastors and with other family pastors’ in your locality.

2 – Meetings between congregations.

In the town of “Tres Rios” (Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil) at the end of last year most temples closed its doors at a Sunday and got together at a Public Square, to cry out to the Lord Jesus in unity.

You can, now and then, the brothers and sisters of the street temples, or neighborhood, led by their pastors, go to one place to sing and pray and celebrate the Lord's Supper together.

Or at least leaders can preach on Sundays, one in place of another, in their meeting places!

3 – Retreats between pastors and churches. Not necessarily from the same denomination.

I am referring to pastors and ministers Christ centered and not of politically correct gatherings.

Groups of 3, 7, 15, 37 pastors who decide to meet in retreat, not to preach to each other or to discuss doctrines, but simply to have fun together, for churches as well.

God is moving across the Earth.

He is bringing his people together. Where I've been, especially in Brazil and in many places in US, apart of the events and agendas of organizations, the Lord is gathering His people.

Men do their agendas to serve themselves deceiving themselves as if they were serving God. “You cannot serve both God and money”, thus said the Lord.

90% of the events I have been involved in US in the last ten years money played a big role not just because of the need to get things organized (logistics) but as one of the main reasons for visiting preachers get their support to run their ministries.

God, however, is gathering His people in a separate move, a differentiated action, even if in many places, silently and unnoticed.

There is an underground revolution going on, especially with young people and teenagers, the Spirit instructing one by one, uniting thousands and millions of them. It is the sound of many waters. Is the Tsunami of God' Spirit.

They share with each other only the Spirit and the Truth and doing so they fight off all the deceit, avarice and greed.

They dare to love the Holiness of the Lord because they are saints.

They interrelate with others beyond the designed borders imposed by leaders who are not pastors, are robbers.

And together with the pastors and ministers of God, those who remain faithful, they cannot be manipulated and controlled.

Nobody can control the sheep who know the Voice of the Shepherd. Because the flock is the Lord’s only and there is just one Pastor: Jesus Christ.

On relationships, systems and God

2010-12-21T12:02:00.000-05:00

Old and good close relationships have been and will be shaken.

When the enemy takes notice of the plans someone has for the Kingdom and that his/her alignments were made with Kingdom like-minded people he furiously attacks.

“We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. (I John 5:18)

On my case the disappointment with some very close people had brought some bitterness into my heart. More than that, it filled my heart with a hate that I had never experienced before.

And I was required honesty and knowledge of my self to admit that I am naturally inclined to sins and their evil. Sins and evil I could never think I would sadly and painfully experience.

I can not justify the unjustifiable. I was shocked and had to admit I am capable to experience the worst of the evil just right here inside of me.

WHO I AM?

As I leaned on the Truth I looked at me and saw a wild animal. If it was not the Nature of God in me, His decree “I am holy” I would have succumbed to the fact that I am not better than any worse criminal on this planet.

Moreover, If the Blood of Jesus was not shed for all mankind including me I would have been deceived about who I am indeed. The Truth who set me free is that my identity is not related to a wild animal, a serpent, but to a lamb, the Lamb of God.

CONFESSION INTO FORGIVENESS

So I had to confess my sin, my hate, my bitterness, my wrath, my pride, calling plainly what they are.

I had to make a decision instead of relying on my feelings and on my own rational thinking: I have chosen in spite of all damage to forgive the people who offended and keep offending me.

I regret though. I should have done it immediately to be able to avoid any growing of even a little root of bitterness. I let the bitterness grew big in just few days and I guarantee you it is the worse of the worst that a son of God can experience it.

Forgiveness through the Mercy and Grace of God is the only way to continue being under the cover of God's Grace and Mercy.

Forgiveness is the only way of enjoying our true identity in Christ. A son of God can't be led by the old nature.

FORGIVENESS OR BITTERNESS

Bitterness distances us from God's Grace. So first of all, quickly forgive anyone that is bothering or harming you.

Hebrew 12:15 says: "See to it that no one falls short of the Grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many."

WHO IS THE TRUTH?

Second, the Truth must be established. The question is not “what is the truth”, but who is the Truth. Pilate wanted to know what the truth was because He could not see who was The Truth.

All words, facts, actions and everything else must be brought into the Person of Jesus.

We do things wrong because we do things from what they have to be done, and not Through Whom they should be done.

"I am the Truth" Jesus said.

"You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free." This is not a formula for deliverance. Religion is full of formulas while Jesus is the Way for Freedom. This is the clear separation of life and Eternal Life.

The Truth is related of being and not in doing it. Doing it is related to existing. Being is related to Eternal Life.

If I come out of a jail it doesn’t mean I will now enjoy freedom.

SLAVERY IS A CONDITION OF THE SOUL

Conditioning of the soul is what makes a slave. It is like a beautiful yellow canary that lived his entire life in a cage who decides to stay in it even after cage door was opened.

Religion, systems, traditions, cultures, methods and beliefs condition souls of men.

TRUE FREEDOM AND WORSHIP

No one can enjoy freedom if he/she is bound to a system. It applies to all aspects of life.

Even a Christian is not free, because Christianity is a religion. Christians like anybody else must Know Jesus Christ, the God-man in intimate relationship to be set free.

Christianity is a system full of ramifications, a huge bag of traditions, methods and beliefs, a religious culture detached of life and mystically spiritualized to let men/women try to escape from themselves. They can't.

Jesus Christ is a Person Who sets people free to live who they truly are; to live to worship Him and worship is they live, work, relate to each other and entertain themselves.

It is a second to second journey of an eternal walking of breathing liberty in every heartbeat to this unending life, free of fear and death, whose lives hope only for their King and His unshakable Kingdom.

FREEDOM TO WORSHIP. TO LIVE IS WORSHIP.

Even little matters bind us, because anything I can’t renounce to live freely for Jesus masters my soul. It is not a matter of speaking, it is a matter of being. Jesus only masters if He does it exclusively.

On this instance pastors and ministers (in the religion systems) can’t preach the Truth without costing them their position, employment and salary.

Muslins alike, per example, kill their children when they convert to Christ. Christians kill themselves because of their traditions, yet not literally for many reasons.

Men fight for subsistence and in many societies for extravagant living that lead them to be prisoners of money. Money slaves many, even those who doesn't need to strive to survive.

What kind of master is that, that mercilesly set anyone in bondage? The worse master of all people is money along with the legitimate need people have of providing for them and their families.

But even though when the cost of living may be high it is only a mirage in the world of our God who “feeds the birds and clothes the grass of the field.” A fake need always will entice people into slavery.

And generally anything I am bound to is my master. As I am not free, therefore I am in sin. I may be able to break the bondage of my master, but until Jesus sets free I am still a slave. The Freedom to be a true Freedom must be permanent. The slightest possibility of going back into slavery denounces the falsity of a proposed freedom. "If the Son sets you free you are free indeed."

I am not free indeed if I continue being who I am.

Freedom is not a condition. Freedom has to do with Who I am, the identity I carry.

The only way for freedom, if I want to be free (to be) I must become like Jesus, to Whom He is. This is what it means "You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free." Only Jesus was and is fully free.

“Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (See John 8:31-46)

A MATTER OF BEING WHO WE ARE AND NOT DOING IT

Third, we can't continue doing things for God with the best intentions but not in Truth.

We "do ministry" in structures that will keep us "doing more ministry" instead of being the ministry (the service) of God.

II Corinthians chapter 5 declares:

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

20 WE ARE therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

21 GOD MADE HIM WHO HAD NO SIN TO BE SIN for us, so that IN HIM we might BECOME the righteousness of God.

NO PEACEFUL PATH FOR CHANGE IN THIS WORLD

In fourth place, we must be convinced that there is no way to break traditions and old paradigms in PEACE.

As soon as you challenge the status quo and do things even slightly different or not as usual, wait for strong reaction and revenge.

Established systems persecute people of new systems.

People bound to systems are revengeful.

It is very easy for man and woman to enlace themselves into structures, systems and methods. It is their inside culture. It is their very nature.

Man's idolatry heart always makes something for him to be served and to be enslaved, so don't expect smooth and peaceful changes.

Change will infuriate someone.

Idols are not broken without offense, because before someone makes a sculpture or paint a portrait it was manufactured first in the heart. The idol is nothing. What makes it valuable is the heart that made it or owns it.

Systems, structures and idols are not like children, but for men they become alike.

First they become possessions (our own) and second we want to help them grow, we take pride of them and they become untouchable and indestructible.

Many call them “pieces of art”, but try to take them off and break one smallest of those pictures in some churches and you will discover that they are more than art: they are idols!

Change a tradition, sing a different song, do something new, burn their books and history, just try it... and you will know how much it costs.

Methods, systems, cultures and man made idols are idols of the heart. Destroy them and you may pierce many hearts.

Though in our culture we are convinced we do need systems, watch out!, new systems become old systems as soon as they are inaugurated.

And they are like a corpse of death.

Our thinking made us an flaunty image that smells rotted flesh before our Living God.

For instance, man doesn't need water, food or anything to exist. Man needs God. He is the Source of Life.

But this is hard to believe with a man-system-mindset. Because though I drink water and eat food, these are only provisions of God. Ultimately I only need Him, because He is the One Eternal.

In the Bible all systems were transitory like the donkey that carried Jesus through Jerusalem.

From ALPHA passing through time and space all the way to OMEGA, the house, the tabernacle, the temple, the ark, the sanctuary, the stones, the mountain of the Lord, the city and the list goes on, they all became the Being - God and His People.

All buildings have passed away. Even all existing heavens and earth soon will be gone.

We are God’s House, God’s Tabernacle, God’s Temple; God’s Ark; God’s Sanctuary, God’s Stones and We, The Church (people) are the Mountain and The City.

And my final point as simple as it could be is:

God always had used People. God always uses people. Men/Woman is the only method of God.

Josimar Salum

In Christ there are no Jews or Gentiles

2010-09-11T22:12:00.006-04:00

Today many follow the steps of Torah devotion and Jewish roots though all shadows taught in the Old Testament were fulfilled in the Name, in the Life, through the Death and Resurrection and in the Person of Yeshua.

In Him there are no Jews or Gentiles.

In the Church - no races, traditions or cultures.

There is no such thing as "Church history". The Church is Eternal, not temporal.

Through the Cross Jesus reconciled all men into One Body, Only One people - God's children; those who received Him by Faith like our brother Abraham.

Ephesians 2:10-22

10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)-

12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,

15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace,

16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household,

20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Galatians 2:14-16

14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

15 "We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners'

16 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

I Corinthians 12:12-13

12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.

13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Colossians 3:9-12

9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices

10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Romans 9:6-8

6 It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.

7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."

8 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.

Romans 12:5

5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

Galatians 3:26-28

26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,

27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Idols of the Heart A summary of Cat’s in the Cradle by Harry Chapin:

2010-09-04T13:42:00.002-04:00

By Jen Sousa -

Facebook: Jen Souza
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=732816969

For those unfamiliar with the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUwjNBjqR-c

A workaholic father maintains a superficial relationship with his son.

His son seeks a deeper relationship with him, but grins and bears it when it doesn’t happen.

He grows up modeling his father’s self-absorbed life-style and becomes increasingly self-absorbed as an adult.

As a result, the boy becomes a man that maintains a superficial relationship with his father. The father looks back in remorse realizing that he is responsible for his son’s distance and his own loneliness.

The moral of the story for parents: If you want a deeper relationship with your children when they are adults, you must invest by spending time with them while they are young. You are always teaching with your actions. They are modeling your every move. Consider carefully now what you want them to model.

Thirty-six years have past since that song was written.

There has been a slight mentality shift since then concerning relationships between parents and their adult children.

Many people these days seem to feel relieved when their children grow up and move out.

It seems they can’t wait to have more time for themselves---that they don’t really like or enjoy being with their children.

Fifteen years or so ago the average traditional desire was to have two children; a boy and a girl. Nowadays, however, it is not uncommon for people, even young women, to not want any children at all---or maybe just one, they say casually as if they were choosing an hors d'oeuvre off a tray. Children are too much work seems to be general consensus.

These sentiments are opposite those of the Father’s heart. This nation’s spiritual sickness has become even more severe. This is all evidence of a people growing more distant from God---which always results in idol worship.

God designed (and He still designs) human beings for worship.

If a person does not worship God, the soul will bow down to the idol(s) of personal choice to please the self. Idol worship is self-worship in disguise.

In ancient times those who did not know and worship God made idols of stone or metal to worship.

They looked to these idols for favor, power, victory, happiness, health, peace, and prosperity. In modern times, people now consider that belief primitive and foolish. They consider themselves too intelligent, educated, and enlightened to believe and behave in such a silly way.

Such pride however, blinds many to the truth that idol worship starts in the heart, and idols do not necessarily have to be concrete and visible.

There are 3 main idols that can rob God of his rightful place in our hearts: money, pleasure, and honor.

There is nothing inherently evil about these things, but because of our sinful human nature, our hearts can easily exalt any of them above God.

This is breaking the first commandment: you shall have no other gods before me. Any of these things can absorb our time, thoughts, energy, and motivation more than our heavenly Father.

Before we realize it has happened, it is possible to be depending on and serving any of these things, looking to them for needs and fulfillment.

We must constantly, vigorously seek the Holy Spirit’s aid to properly treat our hearts and keep us free from idol worship---which always leads to slavery and misery.

Money: Money is not evil. The love of money is a root of evil.

1 Timothy 6:10 (New International Version)

10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
You must make a conscious decision. Whom will you serve?

Matthew 6:24 (New International Version)

24"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

Money is linked to what it can buy for us.

Many in our society worship objects of metal that drive us from point A to B.

Many worship the wooden structures that serve as our dwellings.

Many slave to make them beautiful inside and out.

Many slave away decorating and grooming the property surrounding them. Many worship the fabrics and designs used to cover our bodies.

Many worship the latest gadgets that optimize their personal enjoyment and convenience. Many worship the places money can take us to visit.

Once again, having any of these things is not a sin, but our desires for them can lead us into the temptation of love of money.

We must learn to think, as the apostle Paul says: as those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away. 1 Corinthians 7:30-32 (New International Version)

Pleasure:

In modern times, options within these categories have been multiplying at an increasingly rapid pace: food/drink, sex, career/education, family, friends, entertainment, and leisure activities.

Money and pleasure are linked since many sources of it can be bought with money, but many pleasures are free.

Pleasure in and of itself is not a sin, the love of pleasure is. This is self-indulgence.

Luke 8:14 (New International Version)

14The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.

Titus 3:3 (New International Version)

3At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

Pleasure is a beautiful gift of God. Once again God has given us many pleasures that are free.

Most importantly, in His great love, He has given us his Word- His very Son, Jesus. He has given us his Spirit.

They help us to enjoy pleasure in a godly way, with joy, thanksgiving, satisfaction, contentment, and moderation.

In this way we are protected from becoming pleasure slaves (again).

Those of the world are enslaved by many sinful pleasures which will not be fully addressed here. The world also enjoys making celebrities and forms of entertainment objects of worship.

Here are the 3 A’s: actors, artists, and athletes.

Here are the 3 M’s: movies, music, and media.

Posters are plastered and stats are studied.

DVD’s are downloaded and melodies memorized.

These are the subject of much attention and fans take great pleasure in them.

There is nothing wrong with godly entertainment and leisure activities, but ask yourself the following questions.

Are they getting in the way of my prayer life?

Do I have more time for them than I do for Scripture study and meditation?

Do I choose them over being with and/or serving my family and the family of God?

Do I spend more time on them than in sharing the gospel?

Do I have to see that show or movie—or could I just as easily not see it?

Must I attend that concert/game, or would I simply like to (and I’m ok with it if I don’t go)?

Can I put down the remote, remove the IPOD, shut off the DVD player, go more than 24 hours without playing a video game or checking face book, log off the computer if someone wants to talk to me? Yes, these are tough but important questions.

It may seem strange to some that career/education, family, and friends have a place on the above list.

These are the “harder to detect pleasure idols”.

The priorities of time for God, nuclear family (household members), church family, unbelieving friends and relatives, and career/education requires a delicate balance that only Christ in us can maintain in a God-glorifying way.

Men and women should not worship and be slaves to their careers.

They should of course be hard-working, dedicated, and punctual.

Students should not worship and be slaves to their education.

They should of course be attentive and diligent.

Parents should not worship and be slaves to their children.

They should of course nurture, provide for, discipline, and instruct them in the way of the Lord.

Children should not worship and be slaves to their parents.

They do, however need to learn to obey and honor them. Spouses should not worship each other or be each others’ slaves.

They should, however, serve one another in love and respect.

Family is a wonderful gift from God, but it is not be worshiped.

It should not be an excuse for not having time for God or Jesus’ Church.

The Church must learn to be a family, rather than a series of activities, programs, and worship services.

Worship of the nuclear family (one or more household members) together with other types of idolatry is robbing people’s time with God (individual time for prayer, study of and meditation on Scripture).

It is also robbing time to be spent with church family---time for corporate prayer, Scripture study/meditation, worship, mutual edification, and deeper relationships. Apostolic teaching says we are to do good to all people as we have opportunity, especially to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Galatians 6:9-11 (New International Version)

9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

In many cases, believers are severely limiting those opportunities.

May God have mercy on us and give us sensitive hearts to be transformed by the Holy Spirit into Jesus’ image.

Acts 10:38 (New International Version)

38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

God is with us. He has anointed us with the Holy Spirit, so let us go around doing good and healing all who are under the power of the devil. Let us love one another as Jesus loves us.

John 13:35 (New International Version)

35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

This is crucial. It is how unbelievers will recognize that we are his disciples---if we love one another. This must be visible.

It is important to ask others, especially the Holy Spirit to show us if we are indeed doing this as individuals.

Am I doing good and loving all, especially my brothers and sisters in Christ?

Is this noticeable to everyone around me? Don’t answer for yourself.

Others will give you more accurate feedback.

The Holy Spirit will always give an even better evaluation, but just in case you can’t hear Him clearly yet, check with others, preferably those filled with the Spirit, but once again, you should not answer for yourself.

Let your brothers and sisters help you with your specks and blind spots.

Don’t be prideful (and stop saying what specks and blind spots?).

Honor:

It is good to honor others—recognizing God’s Spirit working in them. It is not honorable to seek one’s own honor. For any honor received the glory should be directed back to God. He is the one who has moved and empowered us. We should not steal the honor and glory due to Him alone.

Romans 12:10 (New International Version)

10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Proverbs 25:27 (New International Version)

27 It is not good to eat too much honey,
nor is it honorable to seek one's own honor.

1 Corinthians 4:7 (New International Version)

7For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

Philippians 2:13 (New International Version)

13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Honor has many definitions. The type of honor mentioned here is high public esteem, attention, recognition, respect and fame. Jesus vigorously criticized the Pharisees and teachers of the law for their honor lust:

Matthew 23:5-7 (New International Version)

5"Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries[a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'

The idol of honor always causes an ugly downfall:

1 Samuel 15:30 (New International Version)

30 Saul replied, "I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God."

1 Samuel 31:4-6 (New International Version)

4 Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me." But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 5 When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. 6 So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men died together that same day.

Jesus repeatedly warned against doing things to receive human honor. This sin can become a brutal slave master:

Matthew 6:1-3 (New International Version)

1"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

In the apostolic church, Ananias and Sapphira, a husband and wife, sought human honor and lied to the apostles about their gift. It is the story of another nasty downfall:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%205&version=NIV

Notice how the ungodly do their acts of righteousness and reward others for their acts of righteousness and accomplishments.

There has to be a public announcement, an award of some kind, a title, a degree, a plaque, a trophy, a news article, or a press release.

We should not imitate this eagerness for recognition nor exaltation of human accomplishment without any mention of the One who is truly worthy of honor.

Instead we should seek the praise that comes from God alone, and exalt His name by acknowledging His presence and hand in anything that is praiseworthy.

44How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God[d]?-John 5

We should desire to hear these words from our Lord only:

Matthew 25:23 (New International Version)

23"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'

Hosana! Save me! Save us! Save us, Lord! Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from the evil of idol worship. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil of idol worship. Teach me to worship you, and you alone in Spirit and truth. Teach us to worship you, and you alone in Spirit and truth.

Psalm 24:3-6 (New International Version)

3 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ?
Who may stand in his holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false.
5 He will receive blessing from the LORD
and vindication from God his Savior.
6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, O God of Jacob. [a]
Selah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onGbkeWkA64&feature=related

Say Goodbye to the Untouchable Preachers

2010-08-22T00:20:00.004-04:00

Say Goodbye to the Untouchable Preachers
By J L Grady

God is shaking His church and removing corruption. But we share the blame for giving charlatans a platform.

Al Capone once controlled all of Chicago. The notorious 1920s gangster bribed the city's mayor, bought the police and presided as king over an empire of casinos, speakeasies and smuggling operations. He dodged bullets for years and lived above the law—and earned the nickname "untouchable" because no one could bring him to justice.

Before Capone finally went to prison in 1932, he justified his crimes by saying: "All I do is satisfy a public demand." He didn't take responsibility for the pain he caused because he knew mayors, policemen, community leaders and bootleggers supported him the whole way.

"There is no way we can know how many unbelievers rejected the gospel because they saw the church supporting quacks who swaggered, bragged, lied, flattered, bribed, stole and tearfully begged their way into our lives—while we applauded them and sent them money."

I hate to compare any minister of God to a gangster. But the sad truth is that today there are a handful (well, maybe more) of unscrupulous preachers who share some of Capone's most disgusting traits. They are notoriously greedy. They are masters of deception and manipulation. They have bought their way into the charismatic religious subculture and used their uncanny hypnotic ability to control major Christian TV networks.

And, like Capone, their days are numbered. Justice will soon catch up with them.

These false prophets probably all started out with a genuine call from God, but success destroyed them. They were lured away from true faith by fame and money, and when their ministries mushroomed they resorted to compromise to keep their machines rolling. Now, in the midst of the Great Recession, God is closing in on them.

But before we rejoice that these imposters are being removed from their pulpits and yanked off the airwaves, let's hit the pause button and reflect. How did these false preachers ever achieve such fame? It couldn't have happened without help from us.

We were the gullible ones. When they said, "The Lord promises you untold wealth if you will simply give a thousand dollars right now," we went to the phones and put the donations on our credit cards. God forgive us.

We were the undiscerning ones. When they said, "I need your sacrificial gift today so I can repair my private jet," we didn't ask why a servant of God wasn't humble enough to fly coach class to a Third World nation. God forgive us.

We were the foolish ones. When it was revealed that they were living in immorality, mistreating their wives or populating cities with illegitimate children, we listened to their spin doctors instead of demanding that ministry leaders act like Christians. God forgive us.

We were the naïve ones. When they begged for $2 million more in donations because of a budget shortfall, we didn't feel comfortable asking why they needed that $10,000-a-night hotel suite. In fact, if we did question it, another Christian was quick to say, "Don't criticize! The Bible says, ‘Touch not the Lord's anointed!'" God forgive us.

We have treated these charlatans like Al Capone—as if they were untouchable—and as a result their corruption has spread throughout charismatic churches like a plague. Our movement is eaten up with materialism, pride, deception and sexual sin because we were afraid to call these Bozos what they really are—insecure, selfish, egotistical and emotionally dysfunctional.

If we had applied biblical discernment a long time ago we could have avoided this mess.

There is no way we can know how many unbelievers rejected the gospel because they saw the church supporting quacks who swaggered, bragged, lied, flattered, bribed, stole and tearfully begged their way into our lives—while we applauded them and sent them money.

When well-meaning Christians quote 1 Chronicles 16:22 ("Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm," NASB) to cover up corruption or charlatanism, they do horrible injustice to Scripture. This passage does not require us to stay quiet when a leader is abusing power or deceiving people.

On the contrary, we are called to confront sin in a spirit of love and honesty—and we certainly aren't showing love to the church if we allow the charismatic Al Capones of our generation to corrupt it.

J. Lee Grady is contributing editor of Charisma and author of the new book The Holy Spirit Is Not for Sale. Follow him on Twitter at leegrady.

PORTUGUEESE VERSION:http://jsalum.blogspot.com/2010/08/adeus-pregadores-intocaveis.html

"Copyright Charisma Magazine, 600 Rinehart Rd., Lake Mary, FL 32746 USA. Used by permission."

Democrats and Republicans - Get United! A honest look at the immigration issue

2010-06-13T01:40:00.004-04:00

Democrats and Republicans - Get United!
A honest look at the immigration issue
Josimar Salum

It’s clear now! The question of not backing up the cause of the immigrants, goes beyond the circle of Republicans. It includes the service areas of apartments and mansions of the Democrats and their business offices badly unlighted.

What I mean is about the decision of the Democrats State Senators in Massachusetts by the end of May (2010) to squeeze the immigrant community who are without documents, passing laws and more rigid measures without addressing the solution of the matter.

Like the Arizona controversial law, instead of showing and providing any solution to the country regarding the immigrants problems, these new laws make it harder to thousands of American young people and children, whose family parents have not yet American citizenship.

The borders with Mexico, the offices of the urban cities away from the borders and the political leaders for all aisles are getting nearer one another.

They meet any hour or day, preferring during the night, to pervert the cause of the needy ones, just to pursue votes of the Americans in the next Elections.

The leadership of the immigrant community, especially the Brazilians, will learn the hard way that neither Republicans or Democrats can honestly solve their problems.

Noble friends of the Immigrant Press should not let their preferences for the Democrats blind with empty words of rhetoric these coward acts of these Democrats in the State Senate of Massachusetts, acting like many Republicans from the rest of the territory .

These are facts – politicians don’t care unless they can get votes from it - now are confirmed by everybody, in spite of some preferring the illusion of fantasy, than reality, that this President will really keep his promises.

Our Governor Deval Patrick and our President who were backed up by the majority of the immigrant communities and their leadership, are not willing to back up the immigrant communities cause, because they don’t want to lose the election of their representatives in the State or Congress.

Neither Republicans! But we have known about them long time ago because at least they have always showed their positions.

To be a coward, is not only to omit before the injustice.

From the immigrant point of view, to be a coward is to pass by a sick man on the road and go on their way without showing mercy, when you could do, you could help!

However this issue is not only about mercy. It is about Justice. Millions of migrants without having the means to legally get a visa to move to America have found our broken borders and passed through them and here they have been working for many years.

The nonsense words from many now are: Thrown them away. Deport them all.

My friends of the Immigrant Press, community leaders, social activists, radio communicators, get united!

The voices of injustice are growing, invading the whole country, against the “illegal”, “invaders” and “the out of law ones” as if those who moved from their own countries to another land to get a better life is a crime.

They are also called “the deportable”, as if this word could be applied to a human being (immigrants), as if deportable means disposable like felt cups of the “dunking donuts” and paper towels in the restaurants, where the coffee and meals that everybody has been served most come from them.

Get united to tell the truth!

The truth is that the majority of the Republicans and Democrats politicians make a choir with the voices of injustice, to prejudice and persecute the immigrant community as they look now at them as mere statistics, numbers out of the broken system the same politicians have produced.

Even many who called themselves Christians don’t really care if a family is separated by some injustice law the economy gets better as they think if all immigrants leave the country.

These politicians are cowards, ignorant and blind.

They don’t want to see that the same pen used for signing a law to persecute the immigrant and make them be treated like criminals, is the same pen that can be used to sign an amnesty! It’s a question of wanting to do it, whatever the cost! The pen usually was manufactured by a Chinese in China employed by an American business man.

The truth is: the amnesty that we defend, is not to back up crimes, drug traffic, robbery, acts of terrorism betraying the country or any illegal criminal activities!

It is the amnesty for those who had the courage to cross the country’s borders to work with dignity to support their families and give a better education and life to their children.

Amnesty in favor of those who come in illegally, because the doors were never opened to immigration on laws with reality, justice and honesty.

The reality is that the human being feeling hungry, wanting to grow and prosper, having dreams, face anything like crossing rivers, jumping walls in order to obtain his realization! Unfortunately the laws don’t give them the right to come and go.

This is the history of civilizations. The Portuguese crossed the seas, so did the Spanish, the British colonized America, the Americans brought Chinese, Europeans to work in the country, and alike many other nations, forced the immigration of many and the darkest fact in human history, imported slaves from Africa and forced them to work in their land!

The difference between one another (those who say they belong to the land today) and others (who come to occupy the land) is in the dignity and justice as they do things.

All the immigrants… As they live and establish themselves when they arrive is because they have chosen this distant land to live in. Who can stop them?

Justice is to be above the law. Always when injustice prevailed, good men broke laws in their own land and where else. Countries were invaded by other nations, kings have been dethroned and in any way all the nations were established.

This is the history of America. America wasn’t built by Americans only to the Americans, but for all who became Americans and for all their descendants, and for all others who still arrive.

They have the same right to become Americans, because they arrived here like our ascendants did, and as our forefathers decided to live here they also can. And now their children were born here and their friends are among those who came first or were born here. America is a home for all the human beings who live in the land. This is what our Constitution says. And our Constitution is the best of all in the world.

Amnesty! How pleased I was to hear of a President called Reagan who passed a proper Amnesty law in the Congress! It was done long ago!

We need men and women who are prepared to defend the cause of the immigrants, not only with words and promises, but with attitudes any time and any day!

We need men and women wherever they are, to defend the immigrants and their descendants, who are responsible for cleaning many yards and service areas every day in this land and thousands of other jobs.

The same blood run in their veins either in whose who were born here or those called foreign, because God gives life and breath to all without distinction.

We need to look at one another as our brothers and sisters.

In spite of speaking a different language, we are similar, because we are humans. May be the color of our skin is different or we were born in different places around the world, but we are all human beings, and the distance only exists inside the hearts.

When our hearts one day stop beating and our eyes are closed, we will all face eternity and without any discussion, and finally after all, we will be equal and we will have no doubt about it!

वहत differentiate men from men

2010-05-27T20:40:00.003-04:00

What differentiate men from men, sinners from sinners is that some commit sin, some fail, some are overcome by other people and by things and remain the same.

Others sin, fail, fall, but call upon God.

They confess their sins, abandon their errors, get forgiveness and face their present and future challenges and fight.

And win.

Those are losers, these are more than conquerors.

Those fall and give up. These also stumble, fall, but never give up.

They get up and face Life with Grace.

The White River Report

2010-04-11T16:14:00.017-04:00

Rio Branco City, State of Acre, Brazil

The White River Report

04/11/2010 - 2:33 AM

Please, pray for Rio Branco, capital of the State of Acre, Brazil.

Pray for a total Kingdom transformation in the state. Pray for the leaders and all ministers (all saints). Pray for souls to flood the Kingdom of Heaven.

There is a great move of God specially among the youth. Kids, teenagers and young people are coming by thousands to Jesus in the city and dedicating their lives completely to Him. Churches with 100 members 5 years ago are now packed with 800, 1000, 5000 people.

We arrived here last Friday. Judson Oliveira invited me to come with his team to minister. Friday evening I shared a message on the sufficiency of the Cross. Judson spoke about the Presence of God.

Saturday night was simply awesome. It is almost 3 AM and I simply can't sleep. The Presence of the Lord is in this room. It is all over. No words can describe the move and the presence of God.

We didn't know what to do with the meeting after a while. There was no "preaching" though the Word of God was ministered from the beginning to the end. Actually we could not end the meeting. People were crying and repenting all over the gymnasium. Moms hugging their children and crying for God's presence. There was a overwhelming joy at the same time people were crying very loud.

This morning (Sunday) I will be ministering to them, God willing. There was a previous agenda and a theme I should minister to a specific crowd. I mean, the meeting was not planned for everyone, it was planed for leaders in the church and in the market place.

Pastor Alexandre, a young man of God who is the leader of the church that organized these meetings, asked us not to change GOD'S AGENDA. He asked "please, continue ministering in the flow of the Spirit."

The Holy Spirit's river is here. Deep waters. Waters that come from the Throne. Salvation. Healing. Deliverance. A new thing that will change not only the lives in the city but in the whole state. Community transformation (Isaiah 58). Signs of transformation are seen all over the place. Leaders are coming together in covenant relationships.

Please, pray. Please, pray.

Here is a link of a video taken
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1v2XqTHIYI&feature=player_embedded#

We are counting on your prayers.

A testimony:

I received good news from Aruba about the rain.

There was no rain in the whole country (the island) for months until three weeks ago.

After we prayed on the highest hill of the land and the church prayed together the next day, there was some rain the following day.

But now after we have left, almost two weeks later, this is the report I have received few days ago: "Hi Josimar, It has been raining for about 2x days here in Aruba." Alleluia!

Other quick testimony.

On February Bill Nicoson, Paul Taylor and I ministered in Muriae, Minas Gerais State in Brazil. We stayed in a farm after the congress for 2 days. There was no rain in the whole region for months. We prayed. The following day I drove my friends to Rio to catch their airplanes back to US. The next day it rained in the afternoon.

Four days later I arrived in US. Seven days later after we first prayed for rain it started to rain and it has been raining since February, almost every day, as never before, in the whole region.

The Lord reigns.

Josimar Salum

===========================

April 11, 2010 - 8:22 AM

From Paul Taylor - Boston, Massachusetts - USA

Hi Josimar,

So good to hear from you. Great to hear the news of what God is doing there. We will pray!

What is the difference between this move of God and all the others that we have been a part of over the past years?

Is it the same emotional move connected with the entertainment spirit or are these people understanding who they are in Christ and will move free from denomination?

Great to hear about the youth. May God reach many and may it happen here in the USA.

Blessings,

Paul Taylor

========================================================
April 12, 2010 = 12 AM

Paul,

I think it is a beginning. This is the first time in many years I travel with Judson.

I came basically to get along. Then he asked me to give a word Friday evening. As I mentioned before I spoke about the Cross. "It is finished." As Bill Johnson have asked, once I have heard: "What part of the "it is finished" do you understand?"

All over Brazil everything among many churches is about "money". You give as much as you want to be blessed. Those don't understand that "it is finished." We give because He gave His life. We give because it is finished. We give because Mamom and his dominion was completely destroyed on the Cross.

This morning I taught about the Presence of God. Jesus is the Presence of God. The Presence that make us rest. The Shabbat of God. Jesus' resting. We taught many practical things related to.

Judson spoke about the Bride in the book of Esther. The Church that have relationship with the King. The church that is all about the needy on the streets and villages of the land.

And I punched real hard some of the religious concepts and church stuff. And Jesus manifested His Presence. The meeting started around 9 AM and went until almost 2 PM.

Some of the leaders I have been in conversations since I got here are already astonished with their paradigms being broken. I have to contain myself sometimes. If they ask I answer. I answer their questions, some go wild. But the TRUTH will prevail. The TRUTH always prevails. THE TRUTH is indestructible.

We had dinner on Sunday evening with some ministers from different "churches" in the city. They come together after their evening meetings to dine together. A very influential State Representative and a Congressman candidate came and we spoke with each other for almost about 2 hours. People of character and good reputation. People who bring and influence the Government mountain with the Kingdom of God. It is amazing the measure of maturity I found specially on the State Representative on his 7th Legislature. 28 years serving the Lord Jesus. A friend of the Governor, the Judges and all his colleagues.

I do believe the harvest of souls in the city of Rio Branco in the last years - they calculate 50% of the whole city, about 160.000 people are "evangelicals" - is ready for the move of God.

I am not sure about if some "church leaders" are ready, but the people of God, Wow! they want JESUS and not the religion of "jesus" anymore. Many are coming out of the "system" and most of them don't even know what Christianity is, they don't have a history of been a "christian church." They are only disciples of Jesus and individually they are members of each other.

They are too young to know about that stuff. And I pray that they will never be infected by the decease of old wolves and old foxes.

In the meetings there is still a lot of emotions which is not basically bad.

We Brazilians are "hyper" in emotions. Anyway it is good to laugh and cry.

But as we believe in the totality of the message of the Cross, crystal and clear, we will be truly transformed. And the joy of the Lord will be the oil over our heads and hearts.

Repentance may come with emotions. Repentance always produce a lot of pain. Transformation is a painful and hurtful process. It is both emotional and rational.

Moreover repentance will always bring people to the place they will receive the Gift of the Spirit indeed.

And the GIFT OF THE SPIRIT (not the gifts), but the GIFT OF THE SPIRIT brings THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. The Fruit of the Spirit is JESUS: Love, joy, patience, kindness, self control...

I am willing to come back for teaching (Kingdom transformation teaching) if they want. And if God wants then I definitely will come.

Judson Oliveira is a big positive influence in the whole nation. I mean, God has been using Him and many others in demonstration of Power, but through Character.

I will tell you more about him. The good thing is that Judson is not an entertainer, not really.

I will tell you many more things the Lord is showing me these last days.

Today Judson told me about Gustavo from Brasilia. Do you remember him? The young man who had a band which along with Gabriel Bressane from Belo Horizonte led the music at The Call Brasilia in 2002?

Gustavo now is the one who is carrying "the Call" movement all over Brazil. Can you imagine? A seed from The Call Brasilia. We planted a seed and God gave a seed and seeds from that planting. It started secretly, like the dying process of a seed. It is a Voice calling out in the desert: Brazil, Repent, the Kingdom of God is HERE.

This current move of God now is toward the society, the communities and not SIMPLY to the church. It is not about growing the churches or bringing new members to the churches. It is not even about "building the pastors ministries." It is about saving the lost world. It is about taking the nations. It is about the Kingdom of God finally shutting down the kingdoms of this world and establishing the KINGDOM who (not which) will endure forever.

Acre is the last state of the "Union". The last state to become Brazil (a blazing wood). A tiny state on the far northwest of Brazil. The first on the list: Acre, Alagoas, Amapa, Amazonas, etc. Can you see it?

Acre is located far away from the Atlantic Ocean and near the Pacific Ocean.

Acre for me is the beginning (it is a little lamb).

The beginning because through the Word's view point is considered the last. The small one. The insignificant one. Even the forgotten one.

It is a lamb because of the ears he has to hear the small voice within, to differentiate the Voice from the voices. Upon Acre rests the vocation for the silence which falls upon him every day, as going every day to the place of butchery, as a pleasant sacrifice to God who accepted ONLY the perfect Altar and Sacrifice of THE LAMB. The lamb represents the insignificance of the small things that God Himself tells us not to despise.

God is saving the whole state. Believe me! And through his people nations will be reached as far as the east.

The West (where Acre is) is about to go East and going further to the West will reach the East, where West and East become ONE, where North and South intercepts the one line, the one point, the ONE who got in His hands two sticks to make them ONE in Bethlehem.

I heard Sunday morning that the message of the Bride is not the final message.

Yes, Jesus prepares the Bride.

Yes, Jesus is the Only One Who builds the Church.

Our work is to bring Him the nations to become ONE nation.

We all obey Him and become ONE in agreement, ONE THOUGHT, making just ONE PRAYER, thus bringing His Kingdom down.

In fact Jesus is not interested only in His Bride, because Jesus is not about Himself.

And the Bride "business" is about the Groom desires.

The Groom desires is the Spirit's desire Who came to glorify the Groom. And the Bride glorifies Him also.

The Spirit who works the Bride and partner with the Bride to call the ones from all nations, tribes and tongues to complete the UNITY, the becoming of ONE. The Spirit fulfilling the celebration of the weeding of THE LAMB.

The celebration of the final union, the ONE finalization of the metamorphosis of the ones, who get the glorified bodies to finally becoming THE ONE WHO WILL REIGN FOREVER at the last trumpet. The bride meets the Groom in the air and come down out of heaven from God "prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband."

God is a continuously giving God.

He is interested in the whole world, both heaven and earth.

He loved the cosmos that He gave His only (ONE SON)to whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

The ONE who died as only begotten Son to become the first born that resurrected from the dead to make millions of millions of sons so the Father would have only ONE family of sons united in One Body, the Body of Christ.

Jesus was born King, lived as the Servant King, who died as the King, who was buried, but resurrected as the King of kings. One King of the kings who become One Kingdom, all with Him.

The temptation of humanity was to become GOD, the One; the desire of God, the One was to become man, so man would become ONE with Him through the One, Jesus Christ, THE SON.

"The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life."

Finally, what moves people out of denominations and from all old wine skins is following Christ, only Christ Jesus. It is not that simple as stated here.

The Church has just one PASTOR, one APOSTLE, one PROPHET, one EVANGELIST, one TEACHER. God's math results are always ONE.

When all (the unities, the ones) become ONE in HIM, there will be only ONE SHEPHERD AND ONE FLOCK.

This present world in a fake movement is bringing everybody to become one, in what they call globalization.

The eternal move of God is bringing the whole universe as ONE. ONE IN HIM. It is what the Holy Spirit calls "ONE."

I pray you get it. I pray hard I really get it.

Josimar Salum

Mentoring for Kingdom Purposes

2010-03-16T08:16:00.004-04:00

By Bill Niconson & Josimar Salum

Why mentoring?

Mentoring is needed today on many levels.

Young married couples need to be mentored by older couples. Entrepreneurs need to be mentored by those who have been successful in business. Young men need to be mentored by older experienced men and young women need to be mentored by older spiritually mature women.

Mentoring provides accountability, stability, allows and encourages spiritual and emotional maturity.

It knits together community which increases the over health of that community.

When mentoring is properly done everyone benefits.

Mentoring is biblical. Moses mentored Aaron, Elijah mentored Elijah, David mentored Jonathan, Jesus mentored His apostles, and Paul mentored Timothy and so on.

Mentoring, apprentices, discipleship probably all overlap each other in terms of definition.

Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron so one friend sharpens another.”

What is mentoring?

Mentoring is a biblically based model of discipleship.

“Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve—designating them apostles—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.” (Mark 3:13-14 NIV).

It’s a journey to transform a person.

“As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." (Mark 1:15-17)

It’s a sharing of experiences in all levels that help a person transforms.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:1-2)

It’s an exchange of conversations, thoughts, processes and prayers designed to help a person mature and move into leadership to the point that they begin mentoring others.

Jesus makes us disciples to make other disciples. It is intergenerational. It’s reproducible. Therefore to Jesus view point anyone can become a disciple to lead someone else to become a disciple. It is a conscious understanding of a true disciple of Jesus the desire to mentor others to become Jesus disciples.

It usually involves someone who has demonstrated the ability to lead with respect and has been asked by someone of lesser experience to learn from, in order to further God’s kingdom.

Key Components

1 - Obedience

One of the keys to being a good mentor is that it is usually something you don’t seek. It seeks you.

Why? Because a true mentor is humble and understands their position before God. They see themselves as fortunate, blessed and loved by God and humbled just to be serving Him

“The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. "Stand up," he said, "I am only a man myself." Talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people.” (Acts 10:24-27).

One of the greatest blessings that can be bestowed on a Christ follower is that they be asked to be a mentor to someone.

Before someone can actually be a mentor they have to have a Christ experience. You have to know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord. Jesus can never do anything through you unless He has done something in you. You can not lead someone in Christ if you were not led. You can not lead someone if you are not following Jesus as His disciple.

It’s impossible to be a mentor unless you learn to be a follower.

Obedience in following the Lord is a dominant characteristic in a Christ’s follower.

”The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.” (II Corinthians 10:4-6)

“Only he who believes is obedient and only he who is obedient believes.” (Dietrich Bonheoffer)

It is a very dangerous thing to put people into a relationship with another person who has never demonstrated humility and obedience in following Jesus.

A “servant like” heart is needed in order for a mentor to be effective.

This person thinks about the other people that God places in his/her heart.

They move from being self-centered to becoming “other-centered”.

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Gal. 5:24-25)

2 - Discipline

A mentor must have the personal discipline to live a balanced life. Now it’s not to say that I mean we are “perfect” or we live like a “perfect”.

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:12-14 NIV)

But there needs to be evidence in the mentor’s life that there is always improvement! Our lives should always be moving forward to the life that Jesus has called us to.

A disciplined life means that we fit our lives naturally into God’s will all the time, honestly knowing this will be done as much as possible. However we will not let anything interfere or remove us from following God because if we do it means that we are out of balance.

"Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by anything” (I Cor. 6:12 NIV).

3 - Character

A mentor will be a person of character. This means that he or she will have exhibited to others the fruits of the spirit and a mind that is focused on Christ.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Gal. 5:22-23 NIV).

This person will be thought of as a holy person or spiritual person and is respected by their peers (Acts 6).

Character is the person you are when no one is looking. A person of character blesses God, themselves and others. They aren’t selfish.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than your selves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4)

Paul goes on to say how we, all saints of God, and in our case who are mentors should live.

“Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not mean and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8.)

This is exemplary of the person who has great character. A mentor most likely has a mentor as well. This is a person who is completely self-aware.

4 - Self-awareness

Because of our sinful nature is still part of our being how wicked our hearts can be! Being self-aware is acknowledging that we need help in our own lives because of our sinfulness.

You can think that your life is good and that everything is ok. That is not only the case. We can and do deceive ourselves. This is why mentoring is important, to have someone to speak into our lives, someone we can be accountable for through a relationship free of any controlling, manipulation and oppression.

5 - Accountability

Mentoring also provides a means for accountability. Just as Jesus held His disciples accountable we must do so as well.

The one flaw with accountability is that it is only as good as the integrity of the individual. I know that sounds contradictory but it’s true. You will only be accountable as you CHOOSE to be. I can’t make you no one can make you.

That is the reason trust is a vital factor in the mentor relationship. We will only share our thoughts, problems, victories and triumphs to people we trust.

I suggest that in order to be successful in a mentorship process a covenant agreement should be made between the two mentoring parties, the mentor and the mentoree. This agreement should include transparency, accountability, meeting times, confidentiality and a prayer covenant. This paves the way for Mutual respect.

6 - Mutual Respect

A mentor never control or dominate the life of the one he or she is mentoring.

Abusive models of what many have called “discipleship” have caused more damaged to people than helping them.

The mentor based on biblical principles never makes decisions, never interferes with directions and never demands exclusive submission or total obedience to the people he or she mentors.

It must be understood clearly that we “make disciples” for Jesus. The disciples are not ours, but the Lord’s.

“The next day John was again with two of his disciples. He saw Jesus walking by. John said, "Look! The Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him say this. So they followed Jesus.” (John 1:35-37)

The mentor is not superior to the one is mentored. Nor is the mentored superior to the mentor. Both parties will learn from each other.

A true servant of Jesus Christ knows that it’s by the grace of God that they are who they are, a human being who was once enslaved by sin and now being transformed by the Holy Spirit. A true child of God no matter how new they are in that relationship have begun to live and experience the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

We are all on a path towards transformation which means that no one is superior to the other. God is performing that work in all of us. “I am sure that the One who began a good work in you will carry it on until it is completed. That will be on the day Christ Jesus returns.” (Philippians 1:6 NIV)

A mentor should be willing to open up completely to the person that they are mentoring. Any question is “NOT” off limits.

A full transparent relationship is required in order for the mentoring relationship to move forward. Authenticity matters. It’s one way and a significant way that the world knows we are who we say we are.

7 - Self denial and Sacrifice

“Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.

And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.

In the same way, any of you who do not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:25-33)

Jesus appointed areas of self denial you and I will follow through when becoming His disciples.

It will affect our values and priorities in life.

Jesus Christ becomes the exclusive source of our trust, loyalty and learning resources.

Jesus Christ becomes the ultimate reason for living for or dying for.

Jesus becomes the exclusive dedication of our lives no matter what we loose or give up

The self denial and sacrifices of the mentor and the mentoree relationship is towards Jesus Christ and not to themselves. Because mentors and the ones they mentor are all equal disciples of Jesus Christ.

It is Jesus who places His priorities in our lives. Fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, children, brothers and sisters have theirs places already on Jesus’ list. Whoever prioritizes ministry over family had become worse than the unbelievers.

“If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (I Timothy 5:8)

Finally, mentoring requires patience, perseverance and grace.

Patience is required to be able to deal with everything on the way including with the dynamics of discipleship as it deals with living people, unforeseen events, life facts and unprecedented happenings in a real world.

Transformation is a process that requires a lot of time to be completed. It produces consequences as immediate results of changes that you and nobody basically did not want to go through. People around you will not always react positively to the changes you are experiencing.

Perseverance is required for both mentor and mentoree in order to finish the mentorship process until the mentoree is able to mentor others in this transformational life process of making disciples of Jesus. We are all being transformed to be like Him.

“Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.” (II Timothy 2:10)

“Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering.

Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated.

You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay.

But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” (Hebrew 10:32-38)

Mentoring requires Grace and God will gives us more Grace as we humble ourselves acknowledging that we can’t be faithful without His Spirit, we can’t transform ourselves or anybody else unless He does and that we are only His partner in the greatest business of Heaven on Earth which is transforming people like you and me into the Image of Jesus Christ.

“But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6)

Brazilian Pastor takes “no religion” message to India.

2010-02-05T17:26:00.004-05:00

By Eduardo Oliveira – www.oglobo.com

Translated by Ruth Johnson – email: ruthcdjohnson@hotmail.com

January 28, 2010

Pastor Josimar Salum, sitting on the right, talking with Indian children in a village near the city of Madurai.

https://seguro2.oglobo.com.br/cadastro/default.asp?pagfim=http://www.oglobo.com.br/blogs/brasilcomz/posts/2010/02/01/pastor-brasileiro-leva-mensagem-de-negacao-religiosa-india-262269.asp

As one of the directors of the Brazilian Ministers Network, a religious group of Boston, Josimar Salum is known as a pastor of strong opinions and likes to talk about everything, from politics to quarrels among couples.

However, this month, Salum started a missionary tour to India, Brazil and Aruba, that has a purpose: to spread the Word of Jesus and also to ask Christians to be less religious.

He says: “Our aim is to take the message of Jesus, the Only God, and to teach the leaders in these countries to make disciples in all nations, and not to be religious! The message is repent because his kingdom has come to earth, to stay”!

This reporter (blogger) interviewed Josimar Salum through the net during the intervals of his trip. Between one place or another, stopping to admire the spirituality of Mahatma Gandhi’s country, the pastor spoke of faith, terrorism, being Brazilian and the “nonsense” spread around by many religions, including the so called evangelicals.

EDUARDO:
What did you find most interesting in your journey?

Here in India as everywhere, people are full of religion; it’s the biggest problem in the world, because it produces wars, conflicts and lack of understanding among people.

From Hinduism, to Islam and all the other religions, including Christianity, it’s an expensive and miserable effort to make peace with the gods.

Without the knowledge of the true God, nothing satisfies man’s heart. As Jesus didn’t start any religion, not even Christianity, Christianity can’t satisfy man’s heart.

I met in India the same religious system of other countries, either Hindu or Christian.

People need to find the freedom to love and serve Jesus Christ, and as a result, their neighbors. The death and resurrection of Jesus proclaim that He is alive for ever and He is very well now, and He wishes to relate with men everywhere.

EDUARDO:
Is there any link between world history and your mission? I mean terrorism and globalization?

In Jesus cross (not those crosses that people carry along) but in the one where He died, Jesus made peace between men and God and He reconciled men of all races and religions.

He calls them to be reconciled one with another.

The world’s history is full of examples showing where religion dominated, including Christianity, with the Crusades and Inquisitions per examples, the injustice and terror were carried out in the name of “God”, of course, not the real GOD. Even now, bombs are exploded by muslins and many innocent people are killed in the name of Allah!

Where true relationship with Jesus predominated, peace, progress, a better way of life, Social Justice went forward without measure.

For example: the most important scientific discoveries of last century were financed by Jesus’ disciples.

The globalization is a parallel movement to imitate what the Lord is doing in all the Earth. He is forming a Flock, a group of followers with only one Shepherd.

In His Kingdom there are no slaves; only kings and He is the King of Kings.

His kingdom which was lost in the Garden of Eden with the sin from the first couple, returned to earth two thousand years ago, with His coming.

The globalization announced in the Bible, is that: He will dominate all the kingdoms of this world and will make it one Kingdom belonging to God and His Messiah Jesus Christ.

EDUARDO:
Do you believe that, to be a Brazilian brings a more interesting or more spiritualized vision about all what you have seen?

I believe as long as we share our experiences, fruits of a diversity and a pacific way of life that we bring from Brazil.

On the other hand I see that our religiosity blocks a correct vision of the real necessities of the human being.

Religion has a lot to do with misery.

Where religion dominates, there is ignorance, blindness, fanaticism and a lot of poverty.

When there is wealthy in these places, it’s only shared by leaders who oppress and explore the people. It is a “fat” elite that subjugate and explore their followers.

It can be the mercenary pastors who sell anointed little towels, or the Saduh, owner of the commercial shops and houses in the region, or the bishop, owner of the factory of saints pictures, or the ayatollahs to whom the petrol belongs, etc.

Here in India you see people of all social classes, washing themselves in dirty waters, in order to purify themselves.

You see famous actors, intellectuals and other people as well of all over the world, doing the same sort of thing.

In a local newspaper in Calcutta I saw a photo of a Brazilian model who took one of these “baths” and she said that an amount of energy took hold of her body.

A human being who experiments energy in an impersonal experience but doesn’t know how to explain it, this person lost its identity and authenticity, a gift given by his or her Creator.

This girl is special, formed by a personal God, unique in every era; her digital impressions are different from anyone else before or after her.

No doubt she and us need to experiment a personal relationship with Jesus and His Holy Spirit, and not with a cosmic idea, fruit of imagination.

Jesus is not an energy or force, but a Person who thinks and wants to have fellowship with us, people who also thinks.

EDUARDO:
For someone who is not evangelical, but has spirituality in some way, what element is missing in the life of that person?

Eduardo, I am so tired of religion, including the called evangelical.

There is a lot of “nonsense”.

What is really missing, is true Peace, not the talkative peace, but true Peace that only when a person receives Jesus and His peace, given to us between men and God on the cross of Calvary.

People feel lost and condemned, either in their conscience, or before the parameters of society, or even by their own sins, or family and so on…

Jesus didn’t come to condemn anyone, but to free the man from sin and shame.

He brought forgiveness for all who repent, trust in what His death and resurrection means.

Many people think that it’s by good works, they will be saved.

Also there are people that after receiving salvation (like many evangelicals) start observing a lot of laws and following rules to maintain it. No.

However Jesus completed in the cross our total and perfect salvation where good works comes as a result of that salvation.

What is missing in the lives of people, evangelicals or not, is JESUS.

A personal message of Thanksgiving… Because God has given us a message!

2009-11-26T22:17:00.011-05:00

How can we express enough gratitude for many special great blessings from Above, we have received in our lives?

Nathan, our first grandchild is not just a special blessing. Nathan is an awesome message from God, our Father; sent to each of us parents, grandparents, and great grandparents and to each individual of our family.

This is the Eternal Gospel message: He loves us!

Wow! How can we even try to grasp or come close to understand the deep or the high meaning of God's Love?

His Son Jesus died on the cross. The immeasurable gift of Love, His only own Son!

Would we have by our own this kind of love to even offer ourselves as a ransom for a friend, much worse for an enemy? How would we be able to offer our own son for enemies to be ransom?

If our son was totally ours, I mean, if he belong to us indeed, whose life was given from us! He had grown without any help from anyone, but counting exclusively on us! All he had be given came only from us to make us worthy to say the son was ours!

If our son had no sin because we didn’t transmit to him any sin, or even a bit of bad influence to make him blameless and pure. In all human families that has not been the case.

But God gave His only Son! Pure and blameless, with no sin whatsoever. And with His Son's own blood God the Father made a covenant with our great grandparents, and He makes a covenant with us.

He is the God of great grandma “Sinhá” Ana (1), great grandma Mariquita (2) and grandpa Jamil (3).

He is the God of our parents Josias & Leny (4). He is our God (5) and the God of our children, Tiago - Yaakov and Viviane (6).

He is the God of Antonio and Regina, Antonio Roberto and Elenir, Cristina grandparents and parents. He is the God of “Dona” Rita, Viviane’s mother!

He is the God of Nathan (7).

"God has given" is the meaning of his name. God has given us and we have given him back to God.

Yeshua will always be the God of our great grandchild.

In fact, from beginning to the end, we are all His.

This is the reason our hearts sounds unending thanksgiving beats for eternity.

Our hearts sounds the Love of the Father, Eternal, though always present.

Our hearts are full of emotion and overwhelmed with thanksgiving.

Our ears hear heaven's sounds of a Kingdom that can’t be shaken.

Our ears hear melodies of songs of the King, the One who will reign forever.

His melodies resonate within the deepest of our beings assuring us, we all shall reign with Him.

Our eyes have seen the Spirit of God descending upon the seventh generation of God's children in our family. The same Spirit the One who rested upon Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, King David, Mary and Yeshua.

The same Holy Spirit, the One who was upon Sinhá Ana, Mariquita, Jamil and Antonio...

The same Spirit who is upon us even now.

Nathan every day smiles at the Holy Spirit gentle touch...

The exclusive healing touch of His, who cures all deceases, originated from the pierced and wounded body of the Son of God, offered by Him on the only exclusive and acceptable altar on all ages in the whole universe: The Cross.

The unique salvation touch, that opens eternity with God, regenerates hearts through faith and repentance, all born again sons and daughters experience, those who dare call upon the Name of Yeshua.

The touch of the Holy Spirit… Comforting, protecting, leading, filing the thoughts with dreams and visions…

The complete shadow of the Almighty is upon Nathan, likewise Mary experienced when He covered her womb even before Jesus was born.

The Holy Spirit gentle touch that teaches greatness in humility, importance in servitude, authority in continuing serving others and obedience in Love as the ultimate goal of pleasing God.

Every day we are all learning to sing the songs of Heaven and to hear the melodies of the King.

Every day we are all learning to surrender to the melodies of Heaven, allowing our hearts to resonate the songs of this unshakable Kingdom, praying our hearts never grow weary or become dry or insipid by the world’s hardiness.

Because God is good, He is really good, we want our hearts always soften by the touch of the Spirit, melted by the tenderness of His heart, leaning to the certainty He is always near, He will never abandon us and that His Kingdom is here to stay.

Josimar Salum Gouvea
Thanksgiving 2009
Massachusetts - Nov 26, 2009

The key to transformation: Do you understand what you’re reading?

2009-07-15T23:53:00.003-04:00

The key to transformation: Do you understand what you’re reading?

By Josimar Salum

The great challenge that every student of the Bible faces is summed up in the classic question that Philip asked the Eunuch upon approaching his chariot and hearing him read from Isaiah the prophet: “Do you understand what you are reading?” (Acts 8:30)

Throughout the whole history of the church, interpretations of Scripture have created who we are, have formed our lives and have defined what the modus Vivendi of the “church” is today. Interpretations of Scripture have been filtered through concepts pre-established by church history and traditions, doctrines and dogmas, our culture, and the inevitable worldviews formed through our own spiritual experiences. They are also filtered through emotional spirituality and even through our own psychological predisposition.

A correct interpretation of Scripture and our matching faith is revealed through the love relationship that we have with God and with our neighbor. It is revealed through behaviors formed out of expressions of genuine biblical works that we develop and practice over time, and also through the mission that we fulfill each day as disciples of Jesus.

We are challenged by the Spirit of God, which guides us in all Truth to respond to the same question that Philip asked the eunuch. We don’t necessarily need all the history, the traditions, the doctrines and the dogmas, the worldviews and spiritual experiences, and we don’t necessarily need an exclusive person to explain the Scripture to us.

It is so frustrating to discover only too late that we have been wrapped up in fables, that we still take part in silly superstitions, and that for an entire lifetime we have believed, preached and taught lies as if they were Truths and mere inventions as if they were true revelations. We teach these inventions and fables as Truths when in fact they are simply imitations of something in history. Most of us have a tendency to act like parrots; we usually repeat what we hear without even taking the time to give proper thought to what we are repeating.

I’ve been pausing to think seriously if what we believe in is actually the Truth and I haven’t had any difficulty in coming to the conclusion that much of what we believe in is actually fantasy, myths, and lies.

I’ve been reflecting and thinking seriously if what we have been trusting in as the Truth is truly the Truth. And I’ve had no fear that in doing this I would be disconnecting myself from Jesus.

It is impossible to fall away from Jesus when we are seeking the Truth. It is the search for the Truth that brings us closer and closer to Jesus, thought by thought, step by step.

We need to question and investigate beliefs in order to find out if what we think and know today is truly biblical and if what we believe is the Truth. We must repent and begin this process. For it is in this process that we clearly experience a transformation of the mind, of our thoughts and our knowledge in the face of the Truth without getting ourselves worked up emotionally.

We must voluntarily and desperately desire the Truth, to know the Truth, to experience the Truth if we want to be servants of Jesus and of the Truth, and indeed, slaves to true Freedom.

The truth isn’t found in formulas, theories, doctrines, philosophies or theorems. The Truth is a Person. Jesus is the Truth.

Creativity is muzzled on when many of our leaders are afraid to respond to questions from their followers or they are afraid of having their faith tested. Any theology that cannot be questioned or confronted is one that fears the scrutiny of the Word of God. A new idea that cannot be explored further is suffocated by the fear of being discovered that it was wrong.

Along with this there comes the institutionalization and petrifaction of a “revelation” which creates a morbid environment where all creativity is rejected and classified as heresy. This is done as a matter of course to maintain the “status quo” and the comfort that is provided by sameness.

Creativity is stifled when there is no desire for experiencing change. Often there are changes made to the physical environment of the church and even sometimes in the language and jargon. But these are only superficial changes, which are the most that simply applying a layer of makeup can accomplish.

We can all see the extent of this stupidity by observing the wisdom found in the classic quote by W.L. Bateman: “If you keep on doing what you’ve always been doing, you’ve keep on getting what you’ve always been getting.”

However, as far as transformation is concerned, the Word of God is clear: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, perfect, and pleasing will.” (Romans 12:2 NIV)

The renewing of the mind is a process of creativity and rediscovery of the Word of God.

The result of transformation is: “Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is”.

The text “then you will be able” simply implies that we need the ability to test the will of God.

The text shows that the will of God cannot be tested by all.

The Will of God can only be tested by one who has gone through a metamorphosis by experiencing the renewing of his mind; in a way that now he may intelligently understand things, or in other words, one who has the rational ability to comprehend the Will of God. It is only through metamorphosis that one will be enable to experience the Will of God otherwise it is only intellectual exercise.

The following are some phrases that destroy the creativity of the church or reveal an adversity to change in any situation:

1) “This isn’t the way we do things around here”.

This is an expression that shows an addiction to sameness, doing the same things as they have always been done. An example of the result of this type of thinking is that the same “type of liturgy and worship service” that is practiced today is the same that has been practiced in many congregations for centuries.

Have you ever stopped and wondered if our type of worship service is in fact what pleases God? All of the services in all of “the churches” are the same all over the place. This uniformity is the result of an importing a “packaged” gospel that is exported to other nations. Per example, what is practiced in Brazil in terms of our worship services is the result of accepting the importation of the religion of foreign missionaries without questioning.

It is simply the proliferation of established, repetitive, and unquestioned religion, since the times of Martin Luther and Calvin, directed by liturgy, by the protestant ethic, and by tradition and conformity to the same daily routine.

The “routine” is unchangeable, because it has substituted the life of the Church (Ecclesia – the gathering together of the saved) destroying its revolutionary power to provoke changes in culture and society.

This routine has isolated the church in a religious and cultural monastery (a sub-culture). The church is either isolated in such a way that it’s no longer relevant and also it is not able to exercise its role as “salt” in the influential areas of society: Politics, education, religion, business, media, the arts and entertainment, and the family.

The practice of the Gospel today isn’t the same as it was for the Church in the first century in terms of being “a witness” of Jesus and an agent of transformation in society. The “Gospel” has become a product of a priestly class that considers themselves “holy” and everything else as mundane and secular. But we know that the Kingdom is in us and wherever we go the Kingdom is manifest through our words and deeds.

Even Mary having chosen a higher role did not become holier than Martha who went about with her household chores. We don’t become “saints” for sitting at the feet of Jesus; we are “saints” whatever we do in Him wherever we are, because He made us “holy” with the Blood He shed on the cross.

But the “church service” has replaced the deeds of the disciples, because it has transformed the believer into a “church member” and not into a Kingdom disciple that bears witness to and brings the presence of the Kingdom into every spheres of society that he enters.

The “church service” has created a wall around the “ecclesia” isolating it from the city “polis”, in such a way that the church cannot revolutionize the city because it has become isolated inside its own religious walls.

The “form” of worship became the church and the “temple” became the church. The “church” is only church when we are gathered worshiping and there is no church elsewhere unless we are inside a “temple”.

These extra biblical concepts, which are by the way heretical, have become the “Truth”. And there are so many other practices and ways of doing things that also have replaced the “Truth” and that are nothing more than mere human tradition.

These traditions need to be questioned, rejected and replaced through a “metamorphosis” process so we can test the perfect will of God as clearly taught in the Bible.

Because of this devotion to the form of doing things and to tradition we need to realize that much of what we have been doing in the past has not been truly from God. We need to be transformed.

2) “We already tried it once, it doesn’t work.”

This is a commitment to failure. We think “It’s not even worth trying, it’s better just to stay as we are.”

The traditional hymn “Just as I am” did not teach us that we should continue being what we were.

The Gospel is innovative. “I make all things new” is the eternal process of God. The Spirit is always moving over the waters. We will never be able to experience everything that is God. The Holy Spirit will always have something new to teach us.

3) “Well, we need to follow the Bible, you know.”

Of course we need to follow the Bible, but whose interpretation and which interpretation of the Bible must we follow?

Have you ever stopped to think why more than 90% of churchgoers in their whole lives have never even led one person to Jesus? It’s because the results that we have been getting are directly related to the way in which we act. If we keep on doing what we have always been doing, we’ll keep on getting the same results.

It’s like the story of the train conductor that would constantly get down from his train on a regular basis to hit the wheels on the train with a rubber hammer, because from his first day of work he had been instructed to do just that.
Until one day, a boy at one of the stops asked the engineer the question he had never asked himself: “Why are you hitting the wheels of the train with that rubber hammer?”

The conductor stopped; thought and intriguingly replied “You know what, I really don’t know myself.”

Most of churchgoers have repeatedly done the same things for years as they were instructed the first days not even knowing what they are doing. There are no results when we follow and do things we don’t even understand.

4) “I’ll pray about it”.

Clearly everything we do should be accompanied by prayer and complete dependence on God. However a common excuse that is often used when resisting change is to say that one is going to pray about it, when in fact nobody is going to pray about anything at all.

5) “I’ll ask the Pastor.”

The leadership structure in the majority of churches is centered on the “pastor”.
No change occurs in the great majority of churches if the pastor doesn’t first experience the change himself.

The principle of authority ought to be preserved because it is biblical, but any authority that impedes the creative operations of the Spirit of God in a church is anti-biblical and abusive.

And for any authority to be genuine it must be biblical.

However, the protestant model of church authority and leadership is modeled on the Catholic model, where the priest exercises the “whole ministry” usurping the working of the Body of Christ. Therefore there is a crisis of authority when the Biblical teaching concerning the authority of every Christian is not observed.

Every saved person is a priest and king of the Almighty and is just as anointed as his leader. The teaching of the priesthood of every Christian should be taught in contrast to Catholic and Protestant practices. Biblically, no one is the exclusive representative of God on Earth; every believer is an ambassador of God and minister of Christ.

6) “I’m not sure if this is the original Greek version of the Bible".

One of the biggest excuses that are used to resist something that we don’t accept is to appeal to a source of information that we ourselves don’t know well and that the people around us don’t have access to.

7) “I’m sure this will offend some of the church members”.

Any kind of change is going to offend people, especially those persons that are compromised and dependent on the current structure.

The idea of a “pastor” is basically related to what José Rego do Nascimento, the father of the Brazilian Spiritual Renewal movement during the 1960’s called “the professionalization of the faith.”

We must be willing to let go of anybody and many things that otherwise are going to really harm us if we truly desire to test and prove the perfect, good and pleasing will of God.

8) “We have to follow the rules”.

Every system when it is established self-generates rules to defend and preserve its own existence.

The rules are put in place to impede any initiative for change. They have the purpose of “loving” the organization and structure which then becomes more important than the people.

This is how the love of denominations comes about. This is how absolute loyalty to confessions of faith, to statutes and constitutions comes about without even taking into account the common good of neither the people nor the Word of God.

Any structure that becomes more important than people is “Antichrist”. I don’t refer to the eschatological person, but to the concept of being against Christ. Only the authority of the Word of God is absolute.

9) “That’s your opinion.”

Creativity is killed when the individual can’t express himself.

One person is so important to Jesus that He hears his prayers individually.

“No one comes to the Father except through me” echoes like the opening of all the gates of Heaven for all who call upon God in the Name of Jesus.

The Father draws near to Him who draws near to the Father in the Name of Jesus.

They who are heard in Heaven have the right to be heard on earth by whomever they may wish.

God may reveal Himself through any of His children and not exclusively through pastors, apostles and evangelists.

The only and unique exclusivity in the universe is reserved for Jesus Christ, and not for any human individual.

10) “This will probably cost a lot.”

This is the phrase that has caused the burial of more dreams, ideas and projects throughout all the ages.

The providence of God is available on earth in the same environment where His ideas, projects and dreams were generated.

God always begins with people. When He created the universe and planted the Garden of Eden, He already had in mind the man and the woman, just as if He had already created them.

The providence of God is given out upon the taking of each obedient step.
God never gives out all the resources at one time; He has it stored and provides for us as we walk along our way.

Every human being is born a millionaire. The cost of maintaining a human life from birth up until death is extremely high. Some lives will cost up to $1,000,000.00, others $2,000,000.00 and yet even some others up to $5,000,000.00.

For each of us there is a different cost associated to provide food, water, shelter, etc... But the cost is always high.

There are very few people out there that had all their money and resources available to them at birth. However we are guaranteed that will have all these things provided for us along our lives, covering all that we will consume and need for our lives up until we reach 70 years old.

It is for this that Jesus said: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

These things that Jesus was referring had already been given to everyone even without seeking the Kingdom of God first. God provides for all men just as equally as He clothes the lilies of the field and feeds the birds in the air.

It is unjust acts that cause all types of human suffering. However in concern to eating, drinking and clothing, God will provide the necessities even unto “the gentiles.”

But this is not why we search the Kingdom of God. The Scripture doesn’t tell us to seek the Kingdom of God to have all these things added unto us. All of us, the saved and the unsaved will have these things.

What Jesus wanted to show was that we must seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness because what we in fact truly lack is the Kingdom itself!

All of us are called to full-time ministry.

All of us are called to full-time ministry. This is the most basic concept that must be understood in order for transformation. Even after many years this concept still hasn’t been perceived in our studies of Scripture.

A majority of the time, if not all the time when the New Testament uses the term “minister” it is referring to all saved people, in the same way that the term “disciple” is used.

This religious division between “clergy and lay” doesn’t exist biblically, it is heretical.

All saved persons are priests and ministers of God.

The carpenter, the teacher, the student, the housewife, the doctor, and the engineer alike… All are priests and ministers of God, if born again. They are just as anointed as the “pastor.”

The transformation effect of the Gospel occurs in the workplace and not in the “church”.

The second concept that must be understood and practiced by each of us as ministers of Christ, or have you will, each saved person, is that transformation doesn’t occur in “church”, but in the workplace.

The Church is the gathering together of the saved, of the transformed. In fact, it is a redundancy to speak of the church and of the gathering of the saved, because it is the same thing. Only the saved gather together as the Church. They don’t gather in the Church, they are the Church as they are together.

It is in daily life that every Christian will proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom, in his life testimony and his words. The Christian is going to pray for the sick, expel demons, exercise his gifts and develop his talents and gifts for the Glory of God.

Every Christian is an ambassador of God, of the Kingdom of God, in every sphere of society where he works and lives, whether it is in politics, education, religion, business, media, and the arts or in the family.

More than 95% or what we call Jesus’ ministry was developed in the streets, houses, town centers, and in the work place.

More than 95% of what we recognize as the apostles ministry went on in the work place.

Even today all of Jesus’ disciples live 95% of their lives in the work place and so it is in the workplace there are the Kingdom’s transformation agents. The other 5% of the time is reserved for when they meet together as the church.

The generation and transfer of wealth through work is the way in which God expands His Kingdom.

The third concept that needs to be understood is that God’s plan for each of His children is that they invest in His Kingdom through the generation and transfer of wealth produced by their business and activities in the workplace.

"The wealth of the ungodly will be given to the just" (Proverbs 13:22). But it won’t fall from Heaven, nor will it be received by magically reciting “evangelical mantras” nor declarations, proclamations, decrees but by the force of the work of all who are saved, through intelligence and through wisdom. Work is adoration as much as the singing of hymns in the Assembly of God’s holy people.

From the construction of the tabernacle going on to the construction of the Temple of Solomon and to the reconstruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in the times of Ezra and Nehemiah and up unto the New Testament, God’s model for financing His work has been through the work place.

And it is Jesus’ disciples that understand this Truth that will disciple the most people into the Kingdom, since God uses them much more than He uses those that are considered “priests”.

In this way and throughout the whole world a “new church model” is coming about in the workplace, in schools and universities, in the cities and rural areas alike and in all spheres of society.

That is how a transformation is taking place in the structures of society and in nations throughout the earth until God “sends the Christ, who has been appointed for you – even Jesus - He must remain in Heaven until the times come for God to restore everything as He promised long ago through His holy prophets”. (Acts 3:20-22)

Notes:
This article was partly inspired by a speech given by Ed Silvoso.- www.harvestevan.org

Translated from the original in Brazilian to English by Mark Sittner –
Email: marksittner@gmail.com

Contentment

2009-07-13T09:56:00.001-04:00

By Robert Mac Donald & Josimar Salum (*)

Paul says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” (I Timothy 6:6)

Paul also says, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” (Philippians 4:11)

It is a wonderful thing to be content in the Lord. But, is it?

Are you aware that there are many Christians who view the word contentment in the negative? You know, words create pictures! Sometimes negative, sometimes positive.

It goes something like this:

“If you are content you have lost your vision, direction and purpose in life.”

“If you are content you are complacent and going nowhere.”

“If you are content your church will not grow and people will not be saved and brought into the Kingdom of God.”

The concept of contentment has developed a very negative connotation in the church today.

It seems to go against the Great Commission of “go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

But contentment is not complacence, alienation or inertia. Contentment is a source of strength, the only way to overcome frustration and develop a positive atmosphere wherever we live and work. It is in fact a source of happiness in life.

Allow me to share some insights that might empower you and impact your life and ministry for the Glory of God.

First and foremost we need to be content with “WHO” we are in Christ Jesus. This has many dimensions to it.

Our identity is who we are because of the New Birth experience. “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (I John 3:1)

Our behavior reflects our growth in Sanctification. “But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.” (I Peter 1:15)

It would be great if the two were identical: Our behavior matching who we are!

In reality we are on our journey of growth in Christ Jesus: “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, Who is the Spirit. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (I Corinthians 3:18, Philippians 3:12)

One of the biggest mistakes we make is to equate our identity with our behavior.

Our behavior is in a constant flow, sometimes moving forward and sometimes backwards.

But the spiritual reality is that despite of all this constant flow we are being transformed into the perfect image of our Lord and Savior because of Who we are. “And that is what we are! We shall be like Him.”

Our identity is fixed in heaven, it is unchangeable. It is because of our Lord and Savior who died, shed His blood, arose from the dead and ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father making intercession for you and me.

Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth and called them saints. Did you know that in the eyes of God you are a saint? Yes, that is amazing: You are a saint!

There is a difference between being a saint and be living a saintly life. One has to do with our identity (which comes from salvation) and the other has to do with our behavior (which it is being changed in the process of Sanctification).

Too often we spend most of our time looking at our behavior and not enough time glazing on our identity. This is no small point of truth to apprehend.

We are God’s workmanship! (Ephesians 2:10) We are lumps of clay in the hands of our Sovereign Father and that, my friend, is something to get excited about.

He is the Potter and we are the clay. Every breath we breathe, every step we take, every decision we make is bringing Glory to God because of who we are and not because of what we do or are gifted for. It is because we are God’s children and not because we are apostles, or prophets, or evangelists, or pastors and/or teachers.

When we are frustrated and don’t know what to do or what direction to take, we must remember we are in His hands. We are His workmanship indeed.

When we feel inadequate, discouraged, or depressed: even thinking God has failed us, let us remember that we “are complete in Him.” (Colossians 2:10)

Please think about these truths even if your flesh and natural minds tell you different. You are a saint (pure, justified and blameless). Not might be some day, but you are!

We are His workmanship! Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, four weeks a month and twelve months a year. Forever!

In you trials and challenges, in your joys and sorrows He has you in His hands and He is molding and fashioning you every day.

When you feel incomplete, and or maybe as a church leader get discouraged in seeing “other churches growing” when yours are standing still, fear not, you are complete in Him and God is at work in your life. It is not the size of your ministry or the work you do for Him that makes God happy about you, it is because of “Who” you are!

I will say it once more, we are His children, we are saints, we are His workmanship, and we are complete in Him. These are our identity! Let us be content in “which” we are. Let us rejoice and be thankful even in the midst of trials, even when things are not going well in our own evaluation.
Because we are, our behavior will come into alignment with our identity. As we understand these truths and get all the contentment that comes with it, our lives will be plenty of joy, our ministries will be more fulfilling and our families will be blessed.

(*) Robert Mac Donald is a "pastor for pastors." He is the founder and director of Trinity Ministries Inc, a ministry to pastors and their families. He specializes in Prevention and Crisis Intervention. Contact Info: Tel 617-471-7360 or email PastorBob5@abbanet.org

(*) Josimar Salum is the Executive Director of Greater Revival Ministries (Advancing the Kingdom, Transforming Society) and BMNET – Brazilian Ministers Network (Manifesting Unity through Relationships). He is also member of CCN – Cornerstone Church Network (http://www.ccnetonline.org/). He trains and equips believers to become leaders in all spheres of society. Contact Info: Tel 774-696-3714 or email jsalum@abbanet.org

We need to pray and win the lost!

2009-05-07T17:58:00.001-04:00

My dear friend Bill Nicoson, Executive Director of CCN - Cornerstone Church Network (www.ccnetonline.org) sent me this:

“Pastors prioritize Evangelism when asked to list up to 5 ministries in order of importance. 24% identified evangelism and outreach as #1.

These were followed by Sunday school, Bible study and small groups (17%); worship and specific worship services (13%); preaching, proclamation and teaching (10%); children and youth (9%); discipleship, spiritual growth, mentoring and counseling (7%); and prayer, prayer ministry and prayer groups (5%).

When a list of the 5 most often mentioned ministries was compiled, children and youth moved to the top and was identified as one of the 5 most important by 85%.

The other 4 most-mentioned ministries were evangelism and outreach (68%); Sunday school, Bible study and small groups (53%); discipleship, spiritual growth, mentoring and counseling (37%); and worship and specific worship services (33%). (LifeWay Research, LifeWay Communications 4/7/09)”

These statistics bring a lot of inquietude to my heart. Only 24% identifies evangelism as # 1 priority and only 5% identifies prayer as # 1. Evangelism is 68% the most mentioned ministry on the most mentioned ministries and prayer don’t even is cited.

I don't know if it is the way the survey was done, which makes pastors prioritize things in detriment of others activities, but the way it is, it means we, as pastors, can do all the work depending on ourselves and really almost nothing depending on God. Any way this is a staggering discovery for me!

Prayer was the first priority on Jesus ministry. He spent many nights long praying and praying and having fellowship with His Father, depending on Him to do the works that He did.

I am sadly positive about one thing: We are a lost church in a lost world. We have not really lost the sense of our mission! We don't really ever have one! We are lost as much as the world!

We don’t pray! God, help us!

We don’t even know how to pray!

We are professionals, religious activists, personal task oriented laborers and not ministers.

Ministers minister to the Lord, and not to men; they pray, they intercede, they talk more to God than to men.

Even though we get paid millions of dollars per year to do our work religiously, very few people are really saved. Maybe we are not saved. And I will tell why. We don’t pray! We don’t seek God’s Kingdom first and His righteousness. And we don’t bear fruits.

Jesus said: “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. "I am the Vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:4-8)
Only Jesus true disciples can make true disciples. To be a disciple of Jesus means that we do exactly what He told us to do, we do everything the way He did.
To be a disciple of Jesus is that we exclusively are dependent on the Holy Spirit power, wisdom and guidance, like He did.

And to become true disciples today we have to be honest enough to measure what we are doing according to Jesus teachings - not to our traditions, not to the way we have learnt - and renounce everything we find it is not His.

Maybe we will find out that our name on the “church weekly payroll” is not His will for us. It may have been our spiritual confinement and we will resign it immediately. We must be set free of all love of money, doing things for money. What I mean is that the ministry can not be our employment, because we would not be servants (ministers) of Christ if we were to please men. Thousands of ordained pastors don’t do what they should do or even preach what they should preach out of fear of loosing their jobs.

I was invited by a denomination many years ago to what they called “discover the family”. They brought us to a very nice place, like a four stars hotel, located in a wonderful piece of real estate, a marvelous landscaping, with lots of delicious food, practically served four times a day.

For three days we were oriented in all the good things the denomination had, the departments, the programs, the pastors’ assistance options, retirement plans, the access of all the books and education for everything we could imagine. We heard how wealthy and powerful we had become after hundreds of years and what a history of accomplishments like no others!

On first day it was promised that we, at the end, would have experienced different “worship services styles” from Native American to Contemporary. We discovered “our denomination was a home” for all kinds of people, all races, all colors, all sexes and sexual orientation.

A denomination all-inclusive, for conservatives and for liberals, a theological miscellaneous permeated with the offer of resources without limit and people to assist you at the touch of your fingers.

And as they told us constantly, we deserved all leisure and entertainment we could have. I joked with two other friends that we were being brain washed. And everything was paid for.

Before the end of the three days after hearing to all that the denomination had to offer I was convinced I did not need God at all to do ministry in America.

It is considered to be extremely radical to say these things, but the Truth is that lost people can’t help lost people, as Jesus asked once: “Can a blind man lead a blind man?”

I find very humbling in dealing with pastors, most Brazilian pastors, almost every day, we are no different than anybody else. We all are not accomplishing anything when it comes reaching the lost. We are failing! With all the good things about our ministries and our big and modern structures the great majority of people are still lost. We may find comfort saying that God may not want to save them, but it will be only an affirmation of our ignorance of God’s Love.

Bill Nicoson also shared with me these thoughts:

“I think that the church and pastors are thinking this: We talk about mission and evangelism. But our structure is making us do other things.

The structures of most churches are the real truth tellers. In other words, I am not against events, children’s ministries, small groups, etc., if they all are designed or structured to do one thing: WIN THE LOST.

But most of them are not structured that way. They are inward focused. Every ministry a church does needs to be given a 360 degree evaluation.

Asking questions like: Did the event do what we wanted it to do? How many people came to Christ? What was the return on the investment in dollars? Could we have better spent our money do something else that would bring more people to Christ? Was it worth the energy, time and dollars spent? Or was it just something that OUR kids could come to?

We aren’t asking the right questions, because we are to into ourselves.”

And we don't pray! We don’t cry for souls! We don’t even get afflicted with our families and relatives that are not saved! The reason is we don’t have the compassion Jesus had referred we should have for the multitudes that are lost, sheep without pastor.

We don't reach out to the lost, because we are entrapped by our fake Christianity, busy with our Christian programs, spending hours in preparing our dead sermons, entertaining the members of our congregations and planning our next events to keep the ship afloat.

If not doing all of this, we keep stressing ourselves resolving unending conflicts of people that strive among themselves because they don’t have anything else to do.

We don’t save souls; we don’t reach them, simply because the millions of souls don’t attend “our churches services”.

They are out there, in the bars of our towns, in the schools of our broken educational’ systems, in the prisons crowded by criminals we have produced with our silence. They are in the fields playing or attending games we are eager to watch more than anything else, but pray.

We build our ministries around our buildings. We call them "churches”, very organized “churches”, holes of money spending, factories of bills to be paid, products of high costs of programs, traditions, church styles, agendas, schedules, staff meetings, comfortable activities, nice lunches and dinners, buildings maintenance and on, and on. And we find time and money for them all, but not for prayer which requires no money and reaching out the lost, which should be the top priority on our budgets. Actually we should cut money for anything if not all activities that do not produce souls for the Kingdom.

We are lost. Please, believe me, we are lost!

Our “churches pews” are holding every Sunday many thousands and thousands of people very nice, but only religious. People that never met the Lord Jesus personally who are not born again and who never won a single soul for the Kingdom. Actually most of them never had heard a strong biblical message on the sinful nature of mankind which is very politically incorrect; people who need to hear the Message of the Cross, even if may become the last sermon of their pastors before they are fired by the Church Board.

We must be born again, which means sin no more, sin as a rare accident. We must get born from Above to truthfully abide in the Word, doing what it says and less talking or teaching about it. We must become doers rather than talkers.

We must repent of our inertia. We must repent of our selfishness, our men made programs, our worldly methods and strategies, our 5, 6 or 10 steps on how to become successful, our philosophers’ logics of doing God’s ministry by world thinking, our American way of doing church, our retirement’s plans, our shopping carts and you named it.

We must get on our knees, humble ourselves before the King and get converted to the point we find no pleasure in this world, but only in obeying Him.

We must find God's way of simplicity, get out of fancy boxes, our laziness, and go, two by two, depending on God alone, to share the Gospel of the Kingdom that transformed first us. Then all people of all ages will hear.

We must heal the sick; raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, cast out demons. Freely we have received, freely we have to give. Believe me, there are millions of demons in America do be cast out and even with all the medical technology we are surrounded with we must pray for the sick to be healed. We must proclaim Jesus Christ, who died on the cross, was buried and on the third day rose from the dead. We must proclaim Jesus is Lord and King. We must announce He is coming back to judge the living and the dead.

People go to Bible colleges today to learn to do the same things that are not working for more than many decades now.

Where are those professors, filled with the Holy Ghost that will teach every student to win souls through prayer and personal testimony, with the authority of those who had won souls first at their own?

Where are those pastors, filled with the Holy Spirit, that will have courage to change, first to pray fervently and constantly for a true revival transformation of their own lives and families and then for the church and then for the city they live in?

Oh! Lord! There is a cry on my soul and a desperate groaning in my heart for souls to be won, for believers to be filled with the Holy Spirit and for ministers to equip the saints in demonstration of Power and Truth.

There are about 5.600.000 People in Massachusetts going to hell right now, maybe thousands more who called themselves Christians and are members of Christian churches, deceived by false ideologies and false religions, by humanism, by liberalisms and by a fake Christianity. They need the Lord! They don’t know, but they need it desperately!

The last thing we need is more of events, more of children programs, more counseling, more of what we have been doing for years and of the same results. There will be place, a right place for these things, done the way Jesus would do it, but never as substitutes of what He came to do and command us to do “to save that which was lost”, which is more than winning souls.

The bottom line is: We need to pray! Prayer is not one of the church programs; it is The PROGRAM, because we need God’s mercy to inflame our souls to reach the lost! We need to do it: prayer and power evangelism!

LOTS OF MONEY, THOUGH WITHOUT THE POWER OF GOD

2007-09-08T00:15:00.000-04:00

Why success became a priority in the lives of thousands of Christian Leaders and the means to get it even more distant from the Word of the Lord they seem to proclaim?

The god of these times is Mammon, and his domain has already reached the evangelical streams long time ago. His sordid pursuing of the pleasures of this world has recently put down many leaders. And even all scandals and negative examples we see today are not enough to avoid others to fall into the same pit.

The measures of the success of many leaders are deceiving their hearts. The sinful pleasures of this world, the adulteries, the physical and spiritual prostitution, the luxuries, the avarice, the greed, are announced in their preaching and teaching Sunday after Sunday. The message they proclaim is of a fake prosperity, of a distorted abundance of goods, filled with earthly treasures and shaped by an egoistical wealth without limits.

When finally the scandals hit the media they had already and a long time ago hit the Heavens. Their preaching revealed their distance from God. God knew it since the beginning. They had already fallen when they were preparing their sermons and books. Their sermons only revealed what they are for and their live styles didn’t deny it. We just didn’t want to admit!

The Holiness and the Salvation of the Lord for a long time were substituted for a compulsive preaching of collecting offerings and donations.

The “Plant a Seed message” has been dispossessed of its Biblical meaning and has echoed in the hearts of the people because their eyes are blinking dollar symbols as they give more and more, for what they are promised to get – the presumed satisfaction of their consumption appetites.

They act as if they were saying out and loud: “Oh! The millions who perish without the Gospel are not my responsibility; are of those poor missionaries without money - who gave up everything to live in the Lord’s fields. One of these days we will send an offering to some of them and then, we will make public how we love the missionary work!”

That is a lie! More than 50% of the income of our churches is not destined to the missionary work. Actually, the most part of the money we spend in our ministries in America don’t even save one soul.

If we take 100.000 Christian churches in America we have 100.000 preachers that preach 100.000 sermons every Sunday with a total of 5.200.000 sermons per year. As Keith Green appointed many years ago, think about the money spent in salaries, buildings, electrical bills, etc. to sustain them all!

In Massachusetts, per example, more than 5 million of people are perishing as of now – they don’t know the Lord Jesus as their Lord and Savior. What about the rest of the country? And are we still boasting that we have here millions of born-again believers? That we are well!

What about the millions, more than three times of those who are born again? They have never met the Lord. What about the millions seated in our pews that are still lost because “no one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.” (I John 3:6)?

The Power of God is unknown for the millions because most of the preachers in America don’t know the Power of God for salvation of souls. They know only the power of marketing and the power of numbers and statistics!

This “church of prosperity preaching” and of unending campaigns of offerings through Radio, TV, Internet, and of its millions of businesses can’t even save itself.

I hate poverty and the misery in peoples lives. I hate the sin that leads people into deprivation and starvation. But I also hate the kind of wealth that oppresses and make many miserable not only materially, but spiritually. So don’t tell me that I am against tithes and offerings, that I don’t believe that God is the One Who gives power to get wealth, that I don’t believe that God wants us to be the head and not the tale. Don’t tell me that I don’t believe that we should and will lend too many but will borrow from none and that we will eat the best from the land if we are obedient to God!

This insistence of a minister in getting more and more money and only talking about money is only a sign and a symptom of an imminent falling.

Many people give because the reason they live is to get rich and wealthy, to fulfill the American Dream and to continue despising the poor, the widow, the missionary work and the causes of the Kingdom of God.

By the way, what many call the Kingdom of God investments are only religious hooks to make people feel good in giving! It is outrageous to hear a preacher asking U$10.000 of offering for the giver’s privilege to have his/her name stamped in his special prayer’s room of his ministry airplane. What makes him a special intercessor for such thing? That is a manipulation from hell inspired by the Jezebel Spirit meant to make people sin instead to focusing on God.

We have to recognize that we are living in times “of unprecedented spiritual shaking” as J. Lee Grady called it: this unending number of leaders divorcing and involved in scandals, this uncontrolled competition of who is bigger and better, of these empires built around personalities is a serious symptom of a apostate church that lives the manifestation of the anti-Christ in its midst.

We are a church that needs to get back, totally and completely to God and His Word (the Scriptures, Old and New Testament). Don’t you see these pleasing men preachers - just to get the Catholics offerings -praising the Catholic popes who send more people to hell with their Mariolatry doctrine than Hollywood with its sexual immorality? What about to be politically correct and deny the Truth of God’s Word? I remember well when many Christian Leaders got upset with Franklin Graham when he denounced the hate of Islamism after 9/11! We must tell out and loud that the Bible denounces Islamism as a false religion, because Allah is a false god. Only Jesus Christ is God! The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit! Only Jesus is Great!

We are a church that needs to get back to the simplicity of the Gospel and get back to the exclusive Message of the Cross. Jesus Christ is the Only Name that saves! Period! His sacrifice on the Cross and His resurrection from the death is the sufficient message for salvation, deliverance, healing, peace, etc. The preaching of the sufficiency of the Cross is enough!

We are a church that inexorably needs to abandon the modisms, exoterisms, mysticisms, amulets and the brightness of the platforms. Don’t you see the preachers announcing on TV the pictures of “Jesus”, the little angels in crystal, the “faith contact points” merchandises for an offering? For what many call it “art” the Word calls “idolatry”. These “Jesus pictures” stamped in the Protestant and Catholic temples are idols representing demonic hosts. Many have them as inoffensive. What about many leaders cultivating their own images with their fame? Both are offensive to the Lord. This modern paganism is an offense to our Lord Jesus indeed!

We are a Church that desperately needs to humble, and recognize honestly that we are poor of God’s power because we don’t preach God’s Word. And we don’t believe it! We don’t live it!

So immediately we have to go back to the loneliness of our rooms where our knees may touch the soil and our prayers may touch the Heavens as we repent of our sins and confess them name by name, crying to the Lord to have mercy on us. Mercy is what we do need a lot!

We have to find our way to the get close to the Holy Lord where broken hearts meet the Spirit of God as we face eternity only to intercede for Heavenly treasures.

We will be occupied exclusively with what we are in Christ – our identity – and not of what we possess. We will learn again to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness for what He is and not for the things He can add to us.

Yes, we will be a people that seek the face of Jesus more than we seek His hands. Because success with God is measured by what we are in Christ and not for what we own.

Josimar Salum é Diretor Executivo do BMNET- Brazilian Ministers Network e do Greater Revival Ministries - Contato: Email jsalum@greaterrevival.com, telefone 508-519-1773

Immigration reform stopped. What now?

2007-06-28T22:41:00.000-04:00

The Senate's immigration reform bill died once again on June 28th in its morning hours. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Bush made phone calls to lobby wavering Republicans apparently to little avail. Only 46 senators voted in favor of the bill, with 53 casting votes against the measure. Sen. Ted Kennedy, one of the authors of the bill, vowed he would continue to fight for the principles of the bill. So what now?

Many are my thoughts about this issue that divides the nation. I have read and discussed the immigration issue from many - if not all - different view points. And now my mind looks for Scriptures that could be relevant at this very hour, to refresh all my thinking regardless the fact that the Senate, an authority in the land could have provided a way to bring the “illegal immigrants” into legality, but didn’t. The headline is: Immigration reform stopped. So I ask myself: What now?

The Lord God, the Creator of all, still watches over the immigrants and clearly demands: "Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him…” (Exodus 22:21)

The same Lord also demands for all, “legal and illegal”, native born and aliens, citizens and non-citizens: “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.” (Romans 13:1-2)

Then in the light of these last words many demand: “Judgment to all illegal immigrants. They didn’t obey the law when they entered and stayed here illegally, so they must have to face the consequences. Deport them all.”

Others, including more than 12 million people - more than 12.000.000 people! They just plead for amnesty. Amnesty is the act of an authority (as a government) by which pardon is granted to a large group of individuals.

Let me be clearer, the same authorities that make laws to forbid immigrants to get into the land are the same authorities that can give them all amnesty. The same authorities that write restricted laws to immigration are the same authorities that can write immigration laws more receptive and favorable.

I am reminded of the Israelites who immigrated to Egypt by the means Joseph provided. Jacob and all his sons and servants immigrated to Egypt. They became all legal immigrants in Egypt. They got the best of the land because the immigrant Joseph was the ruler in the land.

But the time went by and things changed into a new reality. “Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly, and became exceedingly numerous so that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt.”(Exodus 1:6-8)

And the new king by his rule made them all “illegal” with no rights whatsoever. And we know the rest of the history. That is one example of what authorities are able to do: Change laws as they are pleased. They also can write laws against the Laws of God.

We know what God did for the Israelites at that time: “The Lord said, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.” (Exodus 3:7)

God said: “I have heard them crying. I am concerned about their suffering.”

There is someone I know that rejects this thinking: “God heard His people crying, His people, not the illegal immigrants of America, because they are unlawful, wicked and rebellions.”

When men fail to help others in the name of the rule of law there is just one thing you can do: Cry before the Lord.

With no favorable immigration laws things are still the same as before. Millions deprived of things many native born take for granted, as to get a Driver’s License, to apply for a better job position, to get a College degree and simply to travel freely.

With no favorable immigration laws things may get worsen for thousands of undocumented families. Then what? You must cry to the Lord.

I have spoken and written many times to the immigrant community that I serve that if they would not cry to the Lord intensively, if they would not repent of their wicked ways and get right with Him, if they would not seek for help from Heavens the immigration reform would not pass. Humbly I say that maybe now they will understand what I have perceived as a cry from Heaven to them.

The Lord established an eternal principle that is very relevant for this nation and everybody have to consider it, regardless what they think of the issue: “If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever. (Jeremiah 7:5-7)

The Lord says: “The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice.” (Ezekiel 22:29). Let us hear the Lord saying again: “Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice” (Deuteronomy 24:17)

There is Justice to be done on this land for the immigrant community. Justice and not judgment as if this is the only way to deal with everyone who breaks the law. There is a higher Authority Who watches over us all that is seeking for someone to show mercy.

“From one man He made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. (Acts 17:26) So let the Governments of Earth make provision of laws for this Godly decree. Let America wake up and fulfill her destiny, to continue being a land for all pilgrims, and a refuge for the needy.

Josimar Salum is the Executive Director of BMNET – Brazilian Ministers Network and Greater Revival Ministries.

2007-02-02T02:34:00.000-05:00

A BIBLICAL VIEW ON IMMIGRATION
By Josimar Salum

The America’s “ethnic churches” are facing dilemmas about the law and the role of the church in the lives of undocumented people. There are legal and social concerns demanding answers for problems that impact thousands of communities all across America.

In America there are millions of undocumented people that are in desperate need to be reached with the Gospel of the Kingdom.

The Church of Christ in America has thousands and thousands of undocumented people participating in its life, leadership and ministry.

U.S. officials recognize that there are 12 million of “illegal” people living in America soil that may be benefited with the President Bush Guest Worker’s Program.

However these numbers are far from the real number which nobody has true knowledge, some saying that the numbers can reach the total of at least 30 million undocumented people living today in the United States.

These are the questions we ask today in the light of this reality:

· How the ministers deal with the legal issues facing the immigration community?

· How the church can help integrate the immigrants into the American society?

· Why people leave their countries to come to America?

· Does God bless illegal immigrants and churches filled with them?

· What is the main role of the church (if any) in dealing with the immigration community?

· Why is the Anglo speaking church indifferent with the issue of Immigration?

· Does the Bible speak about Immigration?

DEBATING THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN THE IMMIGRATION COMMUNITY

In May of 2005 the BMNET – Brazilian Ministers Network and World Vision promoted a Congress in which a debate over this issue was part of the program.

The speakers were Paul Freston, Ricardo Gondim, Ronaldo Martins, Cairo Marques and Josimar Salum.

We summoned the churches of the “Evangelical Diaspora” to develop a Theology of the Undocumented” - a Theology of the Immigrant that answers the following questions among many others:

ü Can a Christian live and work illegally in another country?

ü Can a Christian pay bribes to authorities to cross the borders of the United States?

ü Can the Church develop its work of evangelization in another country ignoring the problems of its members who break immigration laws and live in secrecy?

ü Does a Christian have an ethical and moral justification to break the Immigration laws of a country giving as excuse his survival necessity?

ü Is Ethical standard relative when the survival is in game?

ü Is it right the simple desire of expansion of the Gospel to justify “illegal” immigration?

ü Is it right to move a ministry to another country that can offer better alternatives for the ministerial prosperity like the corporations commonly do to get more profitability?

Ricardo Gondim affirmed four things as a result of the Congress discussion that is relevant for our debate today. To that I am adding some comments:

1 – The Evangelical Ethics is convenient and varies according to the culture.

It prioritizes some “sins” that had been culturally taught as more serious – to drink alcoholic beverage, the adultery, the homosexualism, etc.

When collated with the necessity to coexist other circumstances – to pay a bribe to a Mexican officer to cross the border, to lie to the Immigration officer or Consul, to drive without a Driver’s License, to work with a fake Social Security number - they start to see these things “small sins” and have more “condescension”.

Perhaps the Church needs exactly this “condescension” to be more humane. The Church in centuries co-existed with the Theology of “Moral Perfection”, and always had much guilt as believers could not admit their sins, errors and imperfections. The Victorian and Puritan Ethics always generated a lot of hypocrisy, hurting many people.

The Pastors of the Ethnic Churches have to show this kind of condescension if they don’t want to be left alone in their buildings.

The believers of the Diaspora Church can teach the rest of the Church that the complexity of these issues can lead us all to be more merciful and less legalistic and see that life is more complex than we think.

2 – The evangelical perception is triumphantly exaggerated.

The Brazilian Evangelicals per example believe that they were called to change the world indeed.

In Brazil many of their institutional projects are megalomaniac and sometimes inconsequent as the Evangelicalism became a movement of the multitudes drawn by a triumphalism message without the Cross.

But far away above the Ecuador line pastors are confronted with another reality as they don’t experience the same success in reaching other cultures even their own people who here are vested with other cultural characteristics. Church growth is not as fast as in their home countries.

Experiencing these difficulties along with the immigration, ethical and moral issues can help making us more humble.

3 – The leaders of the Diaspora Church do need to rethink their Evangelical Theology deepening it into a more Biblical academic perspective.

The ultimate goal of the today’s church emphasizes more on results especially on numbers than the Character of its constituents.

Their message and their preaching became more appellative to the emotions and the well being of the listeners than to the conversion and sanctification of their lives.

A Christian church can not impact a society with words of non-sense, but only with the transformed lives of the people through experiencing the transformational power of the Gospel.

4. The Evangelical Missiology is not transparent.

Few have the courage to admit that there are financial interests behind this new wave of missionary work outreach to the nations of the First World.

There are cases that the move of the ministry to US and Europe is based on financial reasons and not on a calling of God. And a denial of this is condemnable because it may lead to opportunism and greed.

What is the main reason to plant a church to reach immigrants in a country? How this church can contribute to the country where it is inserted? How this church can impact the society and bless the community around it?

There is no problem at all in leaving your country to get a better life overseas. There is nothing wrong in being an immigrant.

Ultimately it is not immoral to seek for a better life for your family.

Jeremiah 29:4 –7 declares: “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

THE FACTS AND THE REALITY OVER THE IMMIGRANTS

These are the facts, cruel reality for some people. However it is only the daily challenge for millions of families accustomed to live in secrecy, those who crossed the borders to live in the United States.

The majority of the immigrants who had entered and live in this country did not carry a work visa or legal documents to inhabit here. In all the history of immigration in America this proves to be accurate.

Since the Pilgrims and throughout the history millions of immigrants flooded ships and airplanes and ultimately the Mexican borders and moved to America with the solemn dream to live in the Land of the Freedom and the Home of the Brave. With papers or no papers they arrived here to stay and here they lived in the past and live in these days. Their children born in American soil are naturally born although their parents may not even get the chance to become citizens in their life time.

Those who walk through the borders prayed to find the “right coyotes”, paid them a high sum of money (most of the time borrowed from relatives, friends and in the worse scenario from strangers paying exorbitant finance charges) and asked God not to be caught by the Immigrant Officials.

Others go prayerfully to the American Consulates in their countries and apply for a Tourist Visa, writing in the forms the promise they will not work when they arrive in U.S. The Consul grants the Visa and they come. And after a few days, if not the next day, they find a job and they began their lives and prosper doing jobs most of the natural born Americans don’t want.

Many preachers who come to visit US and preach in the churches are not allowed to share the Gospel, because they were granted with B1-B2 Visas and not with R-1 Visa (Religious Visa).

Those who arrive with Tourist Visas and those who cross the borders without a Visa are not allowed by Law to work in US, but here as I previously said they find jobs, they attend schools, they even file taxes as the Government issues a Tax Identification Number for them.

As a matter of fact, anyone can apply to IRS to get an ITIN and with that number they can report the money they receive from their jobs or their businesses though they are not allowed to work.

WHAT THE BIBLE SPEAKS ABOUT IMMIGRATION?

I myself have read the Bible with the eyes of an immigrant looking for answers about my own dilemmas and the dilemmas of my people.

And I have found amazingly how the Word deals with the subject and tell the history of many immigrants who crosses borders to live in other countries.

The Bible has a lot to say about Immigration.

The Bible is par excellence a history book of immigrants. From Genesis to Revelation this subject predominates.

Since Abraham to John, exiled in the Patmos Island, the Bible tells the history of men and women who had left their native land to live in other people's lands.

1 - The Bible is the Revelation of the God of the Immigrants, the God who protects and defends the immigrants.

Psalm 146:9: The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

2 - God commanded Israel to treat the immigrants well and to love them, to feed them, therefore in the past they had also been immigrant.

Exodus 22:21: "Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt.

Leviticus 19:34: The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

Deuteronomy 10:19: And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.

Deuteronomy 14:29: So that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

Leviticus 23:22: 'When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.'

3 - God commanded the same laws to be observed by the native-born and the aliens.

Leviticus 18:26: But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things,

Leviticus 19:34: The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born

Numbers 15:29: One and the same law applies to everyone who sins unintentionally, whether he is a native-born Israelite or an alien.

Deuteronomy 24:14: “You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates.

4 - God made provision to make the aliens live lawfully among His people.

Deuteronomy 29:10-12: All of you are standing today in the presence of the LORD your God—your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, together with your children and your wives, and the aliens living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water. You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the LORD your God, a covenant the LORD is making with you this day and sealing with an oath.

Deuteronomy 31:12: Assemble the people—men, women and children, and the aliens living in your towns—so they can listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and follow carefully all the words of this law.

5 - God demanded His people not to take advantage of anyone who are poor and needy, even if they were immigrants.

Deuteronomy 24:14: Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns.

6 - God ordered the Justice to serve all, including the immigrants.

Deuteronomy 24:17: Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge.

Deuteronomy 27:19: "Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

7 - God established the right of the Israelites to live in their own land summoning them to treat appropriately the immigrants as a condition to preserve that right.

Jeremiah 7:5-7: If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever.

8 - It is in the Bible that God reprehended severely the leaders of His people for their oppression to the aliens.

Ezekiel 22:6-7: 'See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood. In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the alien and mistreated the fatherless and the widow.

Ezekiel 22:29: The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice.

Zechariah 7:10: Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'

Malachi 3:5: "So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty.

9 - We are after all aliens and immigrants in this Earth.

Leviticus 25:23: 'The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.

1 Peter 2:11: Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.

10 - The Bible narrates the history of His pilgrim people in strange lands.

1 Chronicles 16:17-22: He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: "To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit." When they were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it, they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another. He allowed no man to oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings: "Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm."

11 - In the days of King Solomon 153.600 aliens were living in Israel and they were assigned to build the Temple.

2 Chronicles 2:17-18: Solomon took a census of all the aliens who were in Israel, after the census his father David had taken; and they were found to be 153,600. He assigned 70,000 of them to be carriers and 80,000 to be stonecutters in the hills, with 3,600 foremen over them to keep the people working.

12 - Solomon prayed to God mentioning that aliens were going to come to Israel attracted by His Great Name and asked Him to hear them as they would pray to Him.

I Kings 8:41-43: "As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name- for men will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple, then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.

THE BIBLE: A BOOK OF IMMIGRANTS

The Bible tells the History of Joseph in Egypt and how he became the Governor of the land in order to preserve the life of his own family; the history of Ruth, the woman immigrant who chose to make Israel her land and its people her people and Daniel and his friends, exiled immigrants in Babylon, who prospered there as they served the Lord in despite of the unjust laws of the land.

Acts of Apostles is an epic book of immigration. It tells how the disciples were traveling around the known world and living in other countries reaching the nations with the message of the Kingdom.

In general the Bible is the history of heavenly Citizens strangers and aliens in this world.

Hebrews 11:13: All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.

The two direct orders of God to bless the people of the Earth are in its nature and mission emigrational:

1) TO ABRAHAM:

Genesis 12:1-4: The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him.

God said to him: “Leave your country and go to the land I will show you.” In other words: Immigrate!

And in the immigration journey he lived a live with the dilemmas that many live today – how to live lawfully in the land of his journeys.

To protect himself and his wife Abraham instructed her to tell the Egyptians she was his sister instead of his wife.

Genesis 12:1-20: Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you." When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman. And when Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels. But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai. So Pharaoh summoned Abram. "What have you done to me?" he said. "Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!" Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

How to tell the truth when there is life threatening danger? How to stand with the truth when the system does not give you a way out to accommodate your conscience to your moral patterns?

The same dilemma David lived where he fled to the stranger land of Gath.

I Samuel 21:10-15: That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. But the servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David, the king of the land? Isn't he the one they sing about in their dances: 'Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands'?" David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard. Achish said to his servants, "Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?"

2) THE GREAT COMMISSION

Matthey 28:19-20: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Mark 16:15: He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
Jesus commanded them to go to all the nations. In other words He said: Immigrate!

Yes, it is an immigration charge. The disciples were charged to the entire world and by doing that they were made immigrants by the Great Commission.

Acts 1:8: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

SIN AND ILLEGALITY

It is illegal to preach the Gospel in many countries, but I am not convinced it is a sin at all.
With this statement lies a broader question: What it is illegal and what it is a sin?

The immigration community lives with this dilemma every day, although they wait for a change in the Law of the land so they may get the right to become “legal”. Yes, simply by a Government decree they may be able to stay in the land they have chosen to build their lives, to grow their families and to worship their God.

Five years ago a friend of mine asked me if I was going to develop a entire Theology of the Immigrants out of the Bible after I began to share with him some of the thoughts of this essay.

I simply responded him with another question: Why not?

Do the Scriptures have something to say to the millions of immigrants of this world? Do they are justified by God when they lie to the officers of a country and break its laws to live in the land they entered legally or illegally? Is it just and right a country that denies the rights of the people of the world to become their own citizens?

Those questions are not easy to answer and it was not my intent to answer them all here, even a few, because of the complexity of these issues and the delicacy of the subject.

One thing I am sure is that the Word of the Lord talks about immigration as well talks about the Laws and the Authorities we are suppose to obey and respect.

With no demagogy or false moral I have written openly about the immigration issue into the immigration world of ethical conflicts that millions face every day in living without papers and documents in a stranger land.

They have chosen this kind of life and face the consequences. But it is not that simple for them to return to their home land even knowing they may ever be able to collect social security benefits without getting their legal status.

MY OWN HISTORY AND EXPERIENCE

The life of an immigrant is not easy. My great grandfather Mr. Mussa (Moses) was a Lebanese who fled to Brazil in the beginning of the last century with his brothers and sisters.

They fled to save their lives, from the Turkish who invaded the Lebanon and were killing thousands and thousands of them.

He went to Brazil and lived illegally there in the first years. My grandfather Jamil used to tells us histories of how they lived in poverty and how the family survived despite of hunger and misery. Great grandfather Mussa died very young.

My grandfather Jamil started his own grocery business as well his other three brothers and they were successful.

In 1997, I myself immigrated to America, as a missionary, with my wife and our child. Here by God’s grace we have succeeded and He willing in the next months we will become American Citizens. The privilege to live in this county is something we do not take for granted.

In the last years, actually every year, millions of citizens of almost every nation on the planet come to America seeking for a better life, fleeing famine and hunger, unemployment, wars, genocide, or simply come with the dream to live in a land of opportunities as any other place in the world.

This blessed America became what it is today because of God’s blessing through many generations of immigrants from the past and in the present.

They have partnered with the native-born - who are all Immigrants descendants, except the Indians. They built this great nation and every minute millions of them are still working to make this Nation even greater and blessed.

In the last years thousands and thousands of true Christians immigrated to America to seek a better life. They challenged some of the laws of the land, argued themselves with conscience conflicts, but stay, living here with their families, preaching the Gospel and embracing the Church life.

Meanwhile thousands and thousands of them applied to the Permanent Visas and after years became Citizens as the Law changed and granted them the right.

To me the following Words of the Holy Spirit give light and a direction to this entire issue:

Acts 17:26: From one man he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.

And they all came, with Visas and without them to the American north lands:

Zechariah 6:8 Then he called to me, "Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit rest in the land of the north."

2006-08-12T14:18:00.000-04:00

THE POWER OF PRAYER EQUALS THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

I was born in an environment surrounded by prayer. Although my parents at that time didn’t believe much in the power of the Holy Spirit as displayed in the Book of Acts, my mom taught me how to pray. And, we needed to pray since we had to pray for everything.

One of the cherished memories I carry from my infancy is the many occasions my dad would awaken me to pray with him in the temple. Oh, how I loved to walk with him to the church at 4 a.m. just to pray! I have learned since childhood to depend on prayer. As a matter of fact, prayer is my survival tool.

In 1997 God was using our ministry to touch hundreds of lives in Brazil. I told my wife that the U.S. Visas on our passports were not the final answer from God that would allow us to return to America. God, however, spoke to us clearly in Zechariah 6:8: “Then He called to me, ‘Look, those going toward the North Country have given my Spirit rest in the land of the north.’”

What a charge! Just to think about it still humbles my spirit and gives me a feeling of total dependence upon the Lord. Moving to the United States was indeed God’s direction for my family, and I have known since the beginning that only prayer would enable us to fulfill His plans for us in this land.

New England is a cradle of great visitations from God even though Worcester, the city we live in and love very much, never experienced a revival in the past. We planted a church in Worcester in 1991 and another in October 1997. We won and baptized many lives during these years. We helped open doors for other churches to be planted in the city and through Massachusetts because we believe that Christ-centered congregations are agencies of God to reach out to the cities. But digging a brand new well of revival in the city of Worcester would require lots of effort in prayer and intercession, and a high cost in suffering and pain – a statement that has proved true during these last years.

There is a mountain on the north of the city about 15 miles away that I have visited many times just to pray there. I’ve cried many times: ‘Holy Spirit, why don’t you come down again as you used to do in the past? Come down, Holy Spirit, come down!” (Isaiah 64:1-3)

“Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.” (Isaiah 64:1-3)

New England requires a different strategy for advancing the Kingdom, namely planting hundreds of churches (small ones) and home churches (cell groups, home groups, etc.) in every corner instead of planting mega-churches. Now, a silent revival is occurring in the Boston area, where hundreds of small churches have been planted in the past 10 years. (Ed. note: See the article “Boston’s Quiet Revival,” Christianity Today, www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/104/32.0.html.)

I want to share a secret with you that has not been captured by national media: There is a strong movement in New England of ongoing, travailing prayer focused on city transformation, rather than individual salvation, that is paving the way for revival right here in the midst of cold, dead religion, humanism, false ideologies and intellectualism.

Let me share a few experiences with you:

· In December 1999, 14,000 Brazilian and Spanish-speaking people came together at the Fleet Center in Boston for a Day of Prayer and Repentance. All these warships (believers) came together under a single Commander, Jesus Himself. (And Fleet means just that; it was fleet indeed!)

· God put in our hearts to call for 40 days of fasting and prayer in Worcester in January 2000. Our church met every night to pray and worship, asking God to send His Holy Spirit. During that time we planned a city outreach event for May, called “Worcester for Jesus Crusade.”

· In May we called for 21 days of fasting and prayer before the crusade. Several pastors came together and on the last day we prayed for 24 hours. During that time we consecrated seven gallons of oil. We rented a helicopter and on Saturday at noon, while some pastors were praying on the ground, we flew over the city and anointed it with oil. At midnight, we sent seven groups out and they anointed every exit of the city, claiming the city of Worcester for God.

· On the first day of the crusade God healed a woman from heart disease, and she left her wheelchair by the power of Jesus. As a result, 35 people from her family were saved. God moved powerfully during those days saving people, healing the sick and a tithe of the crusade fundraising was sent to India to help missionaries with a rehabilitation center. Another significant result of the spiritual warfare of those days was that in the three years following the crusade, the crime rate of the city dropped dramatically.

· September 1, 2001, we again rented a helicopter and anointed the city of Boston with oil; we focused especially on Harvard University. Since then dozens of campus prayer groups have formed, praying for revival of Harvard. This anointing was in preparation for The Call, New England, on September 22, an event which drew 50,000 young people to City Hall Plaza from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. to fast and pray for America. We could not have imagined that on September 1 two airplanes would depart from Boston to hit the World Trade Center towers 10 days later. We still believe God spared Boston because of the prayers of His saints.

You may pray as I did when I was a child, not knowing the power of the Holy Spirit. But we must pray today and intercede while we dream to reach our neighborhoods, our cities and even the nations, relying only on the power of the Holy Spirit. His power is still available and He still performs miracles as in the early church, if we dare to believe Him. If we dare to preach repentance and faith as John the Baptist did, as Jesus did, as the Apostles did. If we dare to preach the Message of the Cross, the only message He is committed to fructify.

Josimar Salum is a member of the Cornerstone Church Network Vision Architects, Director of Greater Revival Ministries located in Worcester, Mass., and Executive Director of BMNET, Brazilian Ministers Network. Email: jsalum@greaterrevival.com

2006-08-12T14:17:00.000-04:00

THOU SHALL LOVE THE JEWS, THE LEBANESE AND THE TERRORISTS...
July 25, 2006

In view of the facts of this cruel war that is unfolding in the Middle East, I found these words that directly relate to its events:

“Behold, their heroes cry in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly. The highways lie waste; the traveler ceases. Covenants are broken; cities are despised; there is no regard for man. The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is confounded and withers away; Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves. “Now I will arise," says the LORD, "now I will lift myself up; now I will be exalted.” (Isaiah 33:7-10)

The valiant cry out in anguished appeals muffled by tears pouring down before the atrocities and the unending agonies of the little ones, victims of the hatred, rancor and revenge.

The peace-ambassadors are weeping bitterly because all diplomatic avenues are closed by the interests of great powers camouflaged as agents of the peace.

The roads are full of destruction, desolate and empty – no ones hears any more children playing or the sounds of families out walking, nor the horns and running engines - the workmen are blocked from supporting their houses.

Pacts have been breached, even the minor agreements despised, witnesses mutually ignored and, my God! There is no regard for man... Ouch, what cutting pain to the soul! There is no regard for man... So this is why the Lebanon is ashamed and withers and the shriveled leaves fall because of the vapor of fire of the war weapons.

“There is no regard for man" is also the moan of the Lord while He contemplates from heaven the war of the men in these territories, Israeli and Lebanese.

However He Who "He makes wars cease to the end of the earth… breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two… burns cars in the fire." (Ps. 46:9) did not lose control of the universe nor his sovereignty over the doings of men. He will raise Himself and He will be exalted in everything. He who knows all and knows all about everything has a plan that He is setting in order to bring to the Earth His permanent peace. We cannot perceive, much less understand how, but in the end He will have "new heavens and new earth where he Justice dwells."

I see many around me in (my evangelical milieu) that are promoting the love of Jews in detriment of other peoples, especially of the Arabs. Shalom is the greeting of peace that always sounds spiritual and appropriate, but Jesus declares Himself Peace, just as well by saying Salaam as by Shalom! Let us love the Jews: it is the commandment of the Lord - the people whom He chose among the peoples of the earth to bless the nations. But equally by orders of the Lord let us love the Lebanese and all the Arabs. Let us love all the members of Hamas and the Hezbollah, since He also has commanded us to love our enemies.

I have worked and promoted prayer movements for the Peace of Jerusalem because I love Israel. This year once again, on the first Sunday of October we will observe The International Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem in favor of all its inhabitants (http://www.daytopray.org/, http://www.oreporjerusalem.com/)

But I do not love Israel more than I love other peoples and nations. God did not teach this to me in the Bible, I mean, that I should love Jews more than I love other nations. Rather, in our evangelical community, I see many defending the ungodly acts of Israel as though justifiable in fulfillment of prophecies and soliciting prayers for Israel only, when we are called by God to pray and to intercede for all peoples, for He has sheep that are not of this fold in every corner of the earth.

The Bible that I have in hand categorically affirms that God loves all, without exception, the Arabs too.

This current war in the region of the Lebanon, Israel and Palestine is a horror.

I understand the Israeli position. I understand that nations have the right of self-defense against fortuitous aggression as just before the Lord, but I see no reasonable justification for all of Israel’s acts of war. Our community seems to excuse everything Israel does as acceptable and this is not righteous before God. God does not approve unrighteous actions.

I abhor the terrorist position of Hezbollah, even while loving them as they too, are lives in need of the knowledge of the Love of God.

I place myself in solidarity with the impotence of the Lebanese - they can do nothing in the face of it all but wait, in fright, until it is all over. They are held down beneath a double cross-fire: first the fire of the influence that Hezbollah won with its social benefits to the needy Lebanese people and now under the fire of the Israeli airplanes and tanks.

Israel too is suffering the deaths of civilians targeted by the missiles of radical terrorists that indiscriminately launch their rockets at Israel not caring who is hit, since the Hezbollah’s main mission to exterminate all Jews from the map. This is a devilish, ungodly and inhuman purpose, and completely abominable.

"Behold the darkness is covering the earth and the gross darkness the peoples... The earth is in anguish and darkness..." The Light of the Prince of the Peace, Jesus, the Messiah is necessary to intervene in the region. And we need to pray for all, indiscriminately; and to love Jews, Lebanese, Arabs and terrorists equally.

Josimar Salum (Lebanese and Jewish descendant) is a minister of the Gospel. He is director of Greater Revival Ministries located in Worcester, MA and Executive Director of BMNET – Brazilian Ministers Network.