A Renewed Mind
Rev. James C. Matthews

"Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God" Ephesians 4:23-24a.
If anything has become evident this past year, it is that we cannot continue to do what we've always done and expect things to change for the better in our lives. The jobs, people and systems that we've come to place our trust in have proven themselves insufficient, and as a result, many of us have come to a crossroads in our lives.
We've come to a place in our journey where we cannot afford to take another step backwards due to a bad decision, nor waste any more time on that which is unproductive in our lives. 
I know it may not seem like it, but in the midst of all of this bad news, God has really positioned us, if we make the necessary adjustments in our lives, to never have to circle this mountain again. Do I have your attention? I hope so, because I believe that God is using this trouble to change or transform our minds.  Let me explain.
God has shaken everything that has proudly exalted itself as being sufficient or a "source", exposing it as being only an illusion. Governments, institutions and people that once proclaimed themselves as being trustworthy have found themselves in need of help. 
To make it in this season of history, we are going to have to think differently and on a higher level to overcome the gravitational pull of our fallen economy and society.  Romans 12:2 warns us, "do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" and Ephesians 4:23 states, "be renewed in the spirit of your mind".  To "be conformed", means to be "patterned after" or to "think like".  To avoid the fate that this world's system is suffering, we cannot continue to think and operate like the world.  Our minds must be renewed.
The word "re" indicates that there was a former "state of mind" or "being" that is to be pursued.  In Genesis 1:26, the bible declares that we were created in the image and "likeness" of God.  The root word for "likeness" in the Hebrew is translated, "to think like".  We were given the ability to think creatively like God and to cause our thoughts to become things.  The only limitation of a creative mind is its imagination. Creators never run out of substance or suffer lack because they do not depend upon anything external for them to be productive. 
I believe the shaking that we are experiencing today is designed to awaken believers, who have become sedated by the world's system, to cause them to consider who and what they've placed their trust in.  God gave us the ability to know His mind and thoughts (1 Cor. 2:10-16) so that we would not be confined or limited by what the world says we can have or do. Because we've been indoctrinated through education to embrace conformity and not our creativity, many believers are unnecessarily suffering lack that are pregnant with ideas waiting to be birthed, that could provide for their generations. 
What creative ideas, innovations, inventions and projects has God placed within you that are waiting to be manifested?  These creative "thoughts" are the "things" God has given you to overcome what is overcoming the rest of the world.  However, this will require you to renew your mind and know that God is your Source and everything else is a resource!
 

Greetings all, this is Quincy.
 
I know it has been an extremely HOT summer, but it will soon come to an end in just a few short months.  Before you know it, we will be back in the blistering cold winter. In the meantime, before that time, I have been talking with some friends about swimming to cool off from this summer heat, so I thought it would be fun to open it up to everyone. 
 
So if you are interested in some fun in the sun with food, music, games, swimming and much more, please hit me back if you would like to attend.  This will help us get a count for how much food we will need to prepare.
 
The Musicians Fellowship by "Pool" will take place on August 9, 2008, featuring musicians from Baltimore, DC, Philly and VA area.
 
*Drums and keys will be provided.  Please bring your own instrument, if you do not play drums or keys. 
 
AND YES!!!  NON-MUSICIANS ARE INVITED!
 
Musicians and Artists coming together in fellowship
 
Date:      August 9, 2008
Time:      12 noon – until
Where:  2312 Caves Road
                 Owings Mills, MD 21117
Cost:       $5 donations please
 
Come with an empty belly for FOOD, energy to play some GAMES, cool down with some SWIMMING and FELLOWSHIP in conversation and music!  Feel free to bring the kids too!
 

Greetings Everyone:

I would like to first say that God is not a God of just the Temple, but the God of the Universe, he is The Creator God. We are created in His image and His likeness. All through scripture we see the people of God changing nations and being people of action.

The Lord has laid it on our hearts to organize a gathering Themed" Operation Do-Something". We will be focusing on going beyond the four walls of the church and hitting the streets with the power and love of God. The summit will be August 29-31st. That's a friday-sunday. We will be having workshops for leaders and young people to challenge and encourage us to take the power that we receive in church and use it outside the church. We will be posting the speakers and acitivies shortly. So keep an eye out for us, we will be coming for you. Be Blessed!

Elder Jake and The Underground

.. ..

COULD SOMEONE HELP ME WITH THESE QUESTIONS

Do you think GOD is pleased with America (please read how God feels about America, writen by John Mulinde)?  Do you think He's cool with the things we do? Do you talk to GOD? Can GOD talk to you? Do you think God is cool with how you're running your life? Is He number 1 in your life? Can a person be saved, and do the same things the unsaved are doing?  Is Jesus really coming back? Is Jesus really the only way? (A large amount of people believe that there's many paths to GOD)? Do you really understand why Jesus had to die? Do you know who you are? Can we get to God some other way, if so, how?   How long do we play the "peek-a-boo" game with what's happening all around us? Can "programs" change what's going in the world today? Dose prayer really work? Who should we pray too, for the real results?  Are you cool wit how world is going?? Are you saved? What dose saved mean? Do we even need to be saved?    eQ.Lips 2000       This next part was written by John Mulinde.     I asked the Lord to give me a word for America and he said "I will give it to you as you go along your journey." When I was in the UK one morning while I was praying the Lord gave me Genesis chapter 18 and chapter 19. He said "Read them and pray through them for America." I read them. You know the story how the three angels came to Abraham. He cooked for them and ate and then they talked about the coming of Isaac and then they talked about Sodom and Gomorrah and said they were going down to see the sin because it has reached up to the Lord. And how Abraham stood before the Lord and interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah. Then chapter 19 is how Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. I said, "Lord, what exactly should I pray?" And I got no further direction.   I went to a conference organized by a preacher that I went to see in Israel. This time the conference was in Chicago. I went to Chicago and the first night I was there I tried to pray and couldn't pray. I thought maybe it is because I am so tired. The second day I tried to pray and I couldn't pray. It was like I was just speaking in the air to myself or like my words were coming back to me. So I said, "O.K. Maybe I will pray later in the night when I come back." I went to the conference, came back in the night and tried to pray, I couldn't pray. Next morning, very early before morning I got up, got before the Lord, tried to worship, tried to pray, tried to do everything I normally do to come into the presence of the Lord and I couldn't. And I began to cry and I said, "Lord, what have I done to close me out?" and the Spirit of the Lord spoke to me and said "It's not about you." He said "The city; there are layers and layers and layers of darkness over this city over the land and it's because of that, that you cannot break through." I said "But Lord, what do I do?" And He said "Pray through, pray through. I am looking for a man who will stand in the gap for this land that I may not destroy it." And I didn't understand, so I told my roommate who was a Kenyan pastor. We started praying and praying and praying.   I left Chicago and came to Oklahoma and then as I was praying one morning around 5 am I saw a vision. This is what I saw in the vision: I saw before me a pillar, a white clay pillar, with blue flowers around it made of china clay. It was about one meter high and on top of this was a very light plate, about this size, it was light brown in color and on top of the platter was a cake. Beautiful, beautiful round cake. It was made like a castle, so beautiful. I was looking at the cake and the pillar and admiring it all and then it began to move away from me. The farther it went the larger it became and the pillar changed from a pillar into a hill like a very high hill. The plate disappeared and the cake became a city on top of a hill and there was a great light coming out of this city. Very bright and beautiful. And as I looked at it I marveled at the beauty. And then a voice spoke to me from behind and said 'This is the destiny of America, a city on a hill to give forth light to the nations and to proclaim the name of the Lord.' It was like, Oh my God, Oh my God. It was so glorious it was nothing I can compare within the natural. It was so beautiful so glorious. And after a pause the voice said, "But America has turned away from her destiny, America has rejected her destiny." And as I was watching it began to come back, come back and again turned into a pillar, into a plate and into a cake. By this time I focused on the pillar and I saw cracks in the pillar. And as I watched the cracks began to get bigger and bigger and my heart was gripped with panic. I don't know why but I was really gripped with a real fear and I began to say "Oh no, it's going to break, it's going to break and the word just went through my heart that says "When the foundations have been broken what should the righteous do?" I had no answer. It was continuing and there was a very slight tremor going through and the pillar was shaking and the cracks were increasing and I was shouting, "No, it's going to break!" And it broke. When it broke it fell down and the plate broke into two parts. One part fell this way, one part fell that way and the cake fell down and broke into pieces, it was like they were small pieces and smaller pieces and then it was like powder. The light remained shining in the air for a moment and then began to die out. And it was total darkness. And the vision disappeared. I came back to myself and I saw that my whole body was trembling, tears were flowing, I was sobbing and I was wondering what was the meaning of this. A voice spoke to me and said "I am looking for a man who will stand in the gap on behalf of this land but I have found none." It went. I prayed and I prayed and I pleaded and I pleaded and I went to bed. The next day I said, "But Lord, how can you say there is no man standing in the gap in America. This is where all the great prayer movements come from. This is where all the great preachers have been coming to the nations encouraging us. The books that we read, this is where it all comes from." And the Spirit of the Lord said to me, "The cry of sin in the land is louder than the cry of prayer, I am looking for a people that will stand in the gap for this nation, to cry out."     When I was in Oklahoma I was speaking to some churches as they would open up. I stayed there for about three weeks. I didn't know how to pray sincerely. There were nights I would spend the whole night on the floor. I was staying in a house in a very small room by a stable with horses. One morning the Lord showed me three things. I was crying unto the Lord saying, Please . . . how do I pray, how do I pray? He said, "Three waves of judgment are about to hit this nation. The first one is going to be a judgement against the spirit of mammon. Because money has become a god to My people and has replaced My place, I am going to bring judgement on the spirit of mammon in this land. I am going to bring a second judgment that is going to be against the pride, the pride of human achievement, the spirit of 'I can do it, we can do it ourselves, we don't need God'. "I am going to break the pride of human achievement until the time will come when men will know there is a higher power than themselves. The third judgment is going to come against the excesses of human liberties where men have demanded liberties beyond the boundaries of My standard. My hand is still holding back the consequences of their choices, but a day is coming when My hand shall be removed and the consequences of their choices will come like a flood upon them. Then everything they yearned for is going to bear fruit and then they will know that My standard has got life and the ways of the world are only death. The sin of this land has reached up to Me like the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah reached up to me and I have come down and I am looking for a person to stand before me, just as Abraham stood before me. I am looking for people to stand and cry out for this nation." I was so shaken, I was not eating, my house were puzzled what to do with me. I went preaching in one of the churches and I just shared, I didn't preach, I just shared what I was getting from the Lord, what I was hearing and even as I stood there, my whole body was trembling and as I was speaking the Spirit of the Lord just came upon me and went into deep detail, just about one judgment and what He was going to do with the money. As it continued and continued the whole congregation broke out into tears sobbing and weeping and people fell on the ground and I couldn't preach any more so I got down on my face and began to pray. And the Lord said to me, "They are not praying in repentance, they are praying in anger. How can I touch everything they have worked for, how can I be a just God and do this to them? How can I be a loving God and do this to them, destroy everything their life is about?" And that broke me. I cried and cried and cried. I went back home, I didn't speak to anybody went back to the room and said "Lord, is this the last word you have for this land, is there no hope for this land?" He said, "Pray for the remnant that it shall be big, if the remnant shall rise up and call upon me and live their lives before me I will have mercy on this land. I am not through with America, My best is not yet for America. I still want to raise this nation to reach its fullness of its destiny and I'll use it for my glory if my people will stand before me and pray." I came back to the USA in 1999 and the Lord showed me a window in the spirit. I was praying and we were going through New England praying and he said the window of opportunity and grace has been opened over the land, pray. I spoke to people but he didn't say to them but he said, "pray, pray that the remnant would rise up and take their position, pray that they will be people who will hear the call of the Lord to stand in the gap and take their position. And that's what we have been doing, just praying for that. When 9/11 happened, I was here. I arrived on 9/10 and I was asking the Lord what is the key to opening up nations which seem so bound, the system is so closed we seem to be going down, down, down. Where is the hope? The word He gave me was "Speak to my people and say this is the call of the hour "whether they will hear or not. Say to them, Thus says the Lord, "Set yourselves apart for me that I may work deeply in your lives, I will make you the people I can use to change this land." He said, "Anywhere you go there are men and women I have been speaking to, calling them, set yourselves apart for me, and they have been procrastinating, putting it off for one reason or another, excusing themselves for one reason or another." He said "Tell them the period of grace is running out." Now, there are things I can't even explain theologically but I just want to say them as I heard them. This particular time I have not come, not because of an invitation; I came because of a very direct call. It said to me, go and call out those who hear my call to be set apart and what I told you, what I've shown you, share and equip.   What does it mean to pass 'the period of grace'? The time came when no preaching, no teaching, no prophesying, no prayer could change the situation. Eli heard about his children . . . what they were doing. He said, "I hear this from all Israel." It was not a secret, it was going out and the nation was talking about it. The morality of the children the depravity of the house of the Lord. So Eli called them, he spoke to them he preached to them. They did not change. There comes a moment when sin has gone so far no preaching changes it. We are living in these days today where men's hearts have been hardened to the preaching of the Gospel. Even when it comes so direct that a person says "that is for me, only God can say that, that way when I am here." And yet there is no power to change, there is no power to put a stop to the things we know are happening and say, "Lord, I turn to seek your face." There are so many people today who hear, who read, who see and they hear that in the voice of the Lord, the preaching and the teaching and it doesn't change them anymore. There is no power to change. How many times today is this happening? The prophetic word comes forth so clear, so direct, we know God has spoken, only God could have said that. We hear the word and say "Sure, that's God." It is so sad this is where we are and yet we do not change, yet we do not have the power to let everything down and cry out like dying men, like the virgin that has lost the man of her youth. God said "Drop everything, the time has come to seek the lord until he should come and sow and rain righteousness unto us. Drop everything, be desperate, cry out." We know all this. We quote it to one another, we encourage one another with it, we speak about it in prayer conferences and yet there is no strength. When 9/11 happened there was a little awakening and there was activity in seeking God. But soon we die down, that's what happens. When there is no inward flame that comes alive, it's all outward activity. The little boy Samuel's life was different. His whole life was lived in the presence of the Ark of the Lord. He spent his time in the presence of the Lord. Every time the scripture speaks about the depravity of the land scripture says, "But the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord. Grew up in favor before God and before men." Every time this young man, although the environment was dirty and dark he chose to set himself apart for God. It was not easy, it would have been easier to go with peer pressure, to go with everything that was being done. The people in the temple had set an example that was so easy to go by, he did not choose to follow that example . . . he set himself apart for God. God is patient and is willing to wait until we learn to how respond to Him right. And when Samuel responded right, the Lord spoke. What did He speak? He spoke judgment. Today's church, especially in America, hates the word judgment, hates the word, it hates to think God has got a right to judge sin. Today we have removed that right from Him because of grace. But I want to say to you is He still a just God, if He will reward the righteous and the unrighteous the same way. If He is such a loving God, will He give the righteous and the wicked the same reward? He is a righteous God and that is His character from A to Z and it is His right to judge sin. He spoke judgment over the house of Eli, He said everything that was prophesied will happen to him and it is coming soon. And Eli knew that God had spoken to Samuel. Eli said to Samuel, "Tell me" and Samuel poured it out. What did Eli say? "He is God. Let Him do what He wants." Beloved, when we reach the place where even when God speaks directly to us and we have no power to repent and we say "He is God." Sure, He is a loving God, sure He is a sovereign God, let Him do what He wants at the end of the day, I know he loves me I know He can't destroy me I am His, I am His priest." That's what we are today. That's the church we have today. A church that hears it and immediately we want to raise a defense and say "God cannot do that, He is loving, Heis sovereign, He is for us, we are His people, His redeemed people, so we can go on the way we want we can allow things to fall apart." When the foundations are being broken what should the righteous do? Should they lay back and say we know God is for us, surely no, and eventually it happened. The day came when the judgment struck. 1. In one day the Ark of the Lord was captured in war. Eli's two sons died in war. Israel was defeated and thousands died in war and they ran in disarray. And when the messenger came back home to Eli he said, "We have lost it and your sons are dead" and Eli said, "What about the Ark of the Lord?" And he said "It's captured." Eli fell backwards and broke his neck and died that very moment and his daughter-in-law heard that her husband had died and immediately she went into labor, gave birth to a son and bled to death. As she was dying she said "Call him Ichabod. The glory of God has departed from us." But the boy Samuel, because he set himself apart, God came to him and his word began to come to Israel. Israel was filled with the Word of God and God moved again in the land of Israel. Beloved, I come to you in humility but I come as a messenger of the Lord and this is the message I bring to you. No amount of prayer is going to change America until we set ourselves apart for Him.   A lot of prayer is going out from this nation unto the heavens from the mind-set of the land, from the opinions of the land. The land has come so far away from God. The church has moved goalposts every now and then and most people are praying with genuine hearts and willing hearts, they really want to see God move. But they are unaware that a lot of the attitudes with which they approach God come from the system and come from the land, the understanding of the mind of the man. If God were to honor prayer and give revival in His fullness and pour out His spirit, He would be conforming the wrong attitudes, the wrong notions and values that have been adopted in this land. He would be denying His standard just as many have denied that standard of His Word. If He were to pour out His Spirit in this land today he would be saying "It's O.K., I can lower My levels to what you have chosen to go with." Because He is a loving God He will not do that. He's not calling for more prayer, more prayer. God is calling for a people who will step out and say "Lord, I choose your way from the ways of America, I choose your standards from the standards we have laid, I choose to go back and rediscover the will of God according to the Word of God and this is what God is calling." 2. And the Lord is saying "If you begin to seek you will be amazed how far the ways of men are from the ways of the Lord." And how willing and yearning He is to pour out His Spirit if only He would find a people that would set themselves apart; not only to pray, not only to fast, but to go back and rebuild the wall of the Lord. He said, "I am looking for man who would rebuild the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land." This is two different things, one is to rebuild the wall. What is the wall? When a city has it's walls broken down there are no standards. Anything goes, anything can come in anything can go out. There is no break, there is no sifting, there is no saying "That can't go, anything goes." Beloved, there are words God has given to us in the Bible that says "If you will do this, this will not come upon you. If you will do this I will fulfill that. You don't even have to ask me. Just keep the wall of my Word around your life. I will be true to my Word." The Word says in Ecclesiastes chapter 10, verse 8: "When a man breaks down his wall he shall be bitten by a serpent." That's the Word of God. When you break down your wall you will be bitten by a serpent. And if you break down the wall of My Word, the wall of My standards and you choose to choose your own right and wrong,then you have your own responsibility to keep you own security and your own safety. But if you want me to take care of it, it must be on My standards. Beloved this is the call of the Lord. This is what I carry as a message and as a messenger of the Lord. The politics we are experiencing today, the Middle East and everything, is nothing else but the God of Heaven and earth has put the biggest superpower and the nation of Israel in the arena and is saying to the nations of the world, "Watch what I am doing." God is saying to the nation of America, "Choose. I can use you in revival, I can use you in judgment, whichever way I will fulfill my purposes to the nations." This is the call. Will you consider what it means to be set apart unto the Lord, what it means to break away from the system, what it means to reject the standards of the land, to choose the standards of the Lord? What it means to empty ourselves and die to everything we think we are and to take on the identity that God has called us unto? May God help us.

 by John Mulinde  

 

I asked the Lord to give me a word for America and he said "I will give it to you as you go along your journey." When I was in the UK one morning while I was praying the Lord gave me Genesis chapter 18 and chapter 19. He said "Read them and pray through them for America." I read them. You know the story how the three angels came to Abraham. He cooked for them and ate and then they talked about the coming of Isaac and then they talked about Sodom and Gomorrah and said they were going down to see the sin because it has reached up to the Lord. And how Abraham stood before the Lord and interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah. Then chapter 19 is how Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. I said, "Lord, what exactly should I pray?" And I got no further direction.

 

I went to a conference organized by a preacher that I went to see in Israel. This time the conference was in Chicago. I went to Chicago and the first night I was there I tried to pray and couldn’t pray. I thought maybe it is because I am so tired. The second day I tried to pray and I couldn’t pray. It was like I was just speaking in the air to myself or like my words were coming back to me. So I said, "O.K. Maybe I will pray later in the night when I come back." I went to the conference, came back in the night and tried to pray, I couldn’t pray. Next morning, very early before morning I got up, got before the Lord, tried to worship, tried to pray, tried to do everything I normally do to come into the presence of the Lord and I couldn’t. And I began to cry and I said, "Lord, what have I done to close me out?" and the Spirit of the Lord spoke to me and said "It’s not about you." He said "The city; there are layers and layers and layers of darkness over this city over the land and it’s because of that, that you cannot break through." I said "But Lord, what do I do?" And He said "Pray through, pray through. I am looking for a man who will stand in the gap for this land that I may not destroy it." And I didn’t understand, so I told my roommate who was a Kenyan pastor. We started praying and praying and praying.

 

I left Chicago and came to Oklahoma and then as I was praying one morning around 5 am I saw a vision. This is what I saw in the vision: I saw before me a pillar, a white clay pillar, with blue flowers around it made of china clay. It was about one meter high and on top of this was a very light plate, about this size, it was light brown in color and on top of the platter was a cake. Beautiful, beautiful round cake. It was made like a castle, so beautiful. I was looking at the cake and the pillar and admiring it all and then it began to move away from me. The farther it went the larger it became and the pillar changed from a pillar into a hill like a very high hill. The plate disappeared and the cake became a city on top of a hill and there was a great light coming out of this city. Very bright and beautiful. And as I looked at it I marveled at the beauty. And then a voice spoke to me from behind and said ’This is the destiny of America, a city on a hill to give forth light to the nations and to proclaim the name of the Lord.’ It was like, Oh my God, Oh my God. It was so glorious it was nothing I can compare within the natural. It was so beautiful so glorious. And after a pause the voice said, "But America has turned away from her destiny, America has rejected her destiny." And as I was watching it began to come back, come back and again turned into a pillar, into a plate and into a cake. By this time I focused on the pillar and I saw cracks in the pillar. And as I watched the cracks began to get bigger and bigger and my heart was gripped with panic. I don’t know why but I was really gripped with a real fear and I began to say "Oh no, it’s going to break, it’s going to break and the word just went through my heart that says "When the foundations have been broken what should the righteous do?" I had no answer. It was continuing and there was a very slight tremor going through and the pillar was shaking and the cracks were increasing and I was shouting, "No, it’s going to break!" And it broke. When it broke it fell down and the plate broke into two parts. One part fell this way, one part fell that way and the cake fell down and broke into pieces, it was like they were small pieces and smaller pieces and then it was like powder. The light remained shining in the air for a moment and then began to die out. And it was total darkness. And the vision disappeared. I came back to myself and I saw that my whole body was trembling, tears were flowing, I was sobbing and I was wondering what was the meaning of this. A voice spoke to me and said "I am looking for a man who will stand in the gap on behalf of this land but I have found none." It went. I prayed and I prayed and I pleaded and I pleaded and I went to bed. The next day I said, "But Lord, how can you say there is no man standing in the gap in America. This is where all the great prayer movements come from. This is where all the great preachers have been coming to the nations encouraging us. The books that we read, this is where it all comes from." And the Spirit of the Lord said to me, "The cry of sin in the land is louder than the cry of prayer, I am looking for a people that will stand in the gap for this nation, to cry out."

 

 

When I was in Oklahoma I was speaking to some churches as they would open up. I stayed there for about three weeks. I didn’t know how to pray sincerely. There were nights I would spend the whole night on the floor. I was staying in a house in a very small room by a stable with horses. One morning the Lord showed me three things. I was crying unto the Lord saying, Please . . . how do I pray, how do I pray? He said, "Three waves of judgment are about to hit this nation. The first one is going to be a judgement against the spirit of mammon. Because money has become a god to My people and has replaced My place, I am going to bring judgement on the spirit of mammon in this land. I am going to bring a second judgment that is going to be against the pride, the pride of human achievement, the spirit of ’I can do it, we can do it ourselves, we don’t need God’. "I am going to break the pride of human achievement until the time will come when men will know there is a higher power than themselves. The third judgment is going to come against the excesses of human liberties where men have demanded liberties beyond the boundaries of My standard. My hand is still holding back the consequences of their choices, but a day is coming when My hand shall be removed and the consequences of their choices will come like a flood upon them. Then everything they yearned for is going to bear fruit and then they will know that My standard has got life and the ways of the world are only death. The sin of this land has reached up to Me like the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah reached up to me and I have come down and I am looking for a person to stand before me, just as Abraham stood before me. I am looking for people to stand and cry out for this nation." I was so shaken, I was not eating, my house were puzzled what to do with me. I went preaching in one of the churches and I just shared, I didn’t preach, I just shared what I was getting from the Lord, what I was hearing and even as I stood there, my whole body was trembling and as I was speaking the Spirit of the Lord just came upon me and went into deep detail, just about one judgment and what He was going to do with the money. As it continued and continued the whole congregation broke out into tears sobbing and weeping and people fell on the ground and I couldn’t preach any more so I got down on my face and began to pray. And the Lord said to me, "They are not praying in repentance, they are praying in anger. How can I touch everything they have worked for, how can I be a just God and do this to them? How can I be a loving God and do this to them, destroy everything their life is about?"

And that broke me. I cried and cried and cried. I went back home, I didn’t speak to anybody went back to the room and said "Lord, is this the last word you have for this land, is there no hope for this land?" He said, "Pray for the remnant that it shall be big, if the remnant shall rise up and call upon me and live their lives before me I will have mercy on this land. I am not through with America, My best is not yet for America. I still want to raise this nation to reach its fullness of its destiny and I’ll use it for my glory if my people will stand before me and pray." I came back to the USA in 1999 and the Lord showed me a window in the spirit. I was praying and we were going through New England praying and he said the window of opportunity and grace has been opened over the land, pray. I spoke to people but he didn’t say to them but he said, "pray, pray that the remnant would rise up and take their position, pray that they will be people who will hear the call of the Lord to stand in the gap and take their position. And that’s what we have been doing, just praying for that. When 9/11 happened, I was here. I arrived on 9/10 and I was asking the Lord what is the key to opening up nations which seem so bound, the system is so closed we seem to be going down, down, down. Where is the hope? The word He gave me was "Speak to my people and say this is the call of the hour "whether they will hear or not. Say to them, Thus says the Lord, "Set yourselves apart for me that I may work deeply in your lives, I will make you the people I can use to change this land." He said, "Anywhere you go there are men and women I have been speaking to, calling them, set yourselves apart for me, and they have been procrastinating, putting it off for one reason or another, excusing themselves for one reason or another." He said "Tell them the period of grace is running out." Now, there are things I can’t even explain theologically but I just want to say them as I heard them. This particular time I have not come, not because of an invitation; I came because of a very direct call. It said to me, go and call out those who hear my call to be set apart and what I told you, what I’ve shown you, share and equip.

 

What does it mean to pass ’the period of grace’? The time came when no preaching, no teaching, no prophesying, no prayer could change the situation. Eli heard about his children . . . what they were doing. He said, "I hear this from all Israel." It was not a secret, it was going out and the nation was talking about it. The morality of the children the depravity of the house of the Lord. So Eli called them, he spoke to them he preached to them. They did not change. There comes a moment when sin has gone so far no preaching changes it. We are living in these days today where men’s hearts have been hardened to the preaching of the Gospel. Even when it comes so direct that a person says "that is for me, only God can say that, that way when I am here." And yet there is no power to change, there is no power to put a stop to the things we know are happening and say, "Lord, I turn to seek your face." There are so many people today who hear, who read, who see and they hear that in the voice of the Lord, the preaching and the teaching and it doesn’t change them anymore. There is no power to change.

How many times today is this happening? The prophetic word comes forth so clear, so direct, we know God has spoken, only God could have said that. We hear the word and say "Sure, that’s God." It is so sad this is where we are and yet we do not change, yet we do not have the power to let everything down and cry out like dying men, like the virgin that has lost the man of her youth. God said "Drop everything, the time has come to seek the lord until he should come and sow and rain righteousness unto us. Drop everything, be desperate, cry out." We know all this. We quote it to one another, we encourage one another with it, we speak about it in prayer conferences and yet there is no strength. When 9/11 happened there was a little awakening and there was activity in seeking God. But soon we die down, that’s what happens. When there is no inward flame that comes alive, it’s all outward activity.

The little boy Samuel’s life was different. His whole life was lived in the presence of the Ark of the Lord. He spent his time in the presence of the Lord. Every time the scripture speaks about the depravity of the land scripture says, "But the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord. Grew up in favor before God and before men." Every time this young man, although the environment was dirty and dark he chose to set himself apart for God. It was not easy, it would have been easier to go with peer pressure, to go with everything that was being done. The people in the temple had set an example that was so easy to go by, he did not choose to follow that example . . . he set himself apart for God.

God is patient and is willing to wait until we learn to how respond to Him right. And when Samuel responded right, the Lord spoke. What did He speak? He spoke judgment. Today’s church, especially in America, hates the word judgment, hates the word, it hates to think God has got a right to judge sin. Today we have removed that right from Him because of grace. But I want to say to you is He still a just God, if He will reward the righteous and the unrighteous the same way. If He is such a loving God, will He give the righteous and the wicked the same reward? He is a righteous God and that is His character from A to Z and it is His right to judge sin. He spoke judgment over the house of Eli, He said everything that was prophesied will happen to him and it is coming soon. And Eli knew that God had spoken to Samuel. Eli said to Samuel, "Tell me" and Samuel poured it out. What did Eli say? "He is God. Let Him do what He wants." Beloved, when we reach the place where even when God speaks directly to us and we have no power to repent and we say "He is God." Sure, He is a loving God, sure He is a sovereign God, let Him do what He wants at the end of the day, I know he loves me I know He can’t destroy me I am His, I am His priest."

That’s what we are today. That’s the church we have today. A church that hears it and immediately we want to raise a defense and say "God cannot do that, He is loving, Heis sovereign, He is for us, we are His people, His redeemed people, so we can go on the way we want we can allow things to fall apart." When the foundations are being broken what should the righteous do? Should they lay back and say we know God is for us, surely no, and eventually it happened. The day came when the judgment struck.

1. In one day the Ark of the Lord was captured in war. Eli’s two sons died in war. Israel was defeated and thousands died in war and they ran in disarray. And when the messenger came back home to Eli he said, "We have lost it and your sons are dead" and Eli said, "What about the Ark of the Lord?" And he said "It’s captured." Eli fell backwards and broke his neck and died that very moment and his daughter-in-law heard that her husband had died and immediately she went into labor, gave birth to a son and bled to death. As she was dying she said "Call him Ichabod. The glory of God has departed from us." But the boy Samuel, because he set himself apart, God came to him and his word began to come to Israel. Israel was filled with the Word of God and God moved again in the land of Israel. Beloved, I come to you in humility but I come as a messenger of the Lord and this is the message I bring to you. No amount of prayer is going to change America until we set ourselves apart for Him.

 

A lot of prayer is going out from this nation unto the heavens from the mind-set of the land, from the opinions of the land. The land has come so far away from God. The church has moved goalposts every now and then and most people are praying with genuine hearts and willing hearts, they really want to see God move. But they are unaware that a lot of the attitudes with which they approach God come from the system and come from the land, the understanding of the mind of the man. If God were to honor prayer and give revival in His fullness and pour out His spirit, He would be conforming the wrong attitudes, the wrong notions and values that have been adopted in this land. He would be denying His standard just as many have denied that standard of His Word. If He were to pour out His Spirit in this land today he would be saying "It’s O.K., I can lower My levels to what you have chosen to go with." Because He is a loving God He will not do that. He’s not calling for more prayer, more prayer. God is calling for a people who will step out and say "Lord, I choose your way from the ways of America, I choose your standards from the standards we have laid, I choose to go back and rediscover the will of God according to the Word of God and this is what God is calling."

2. And the Lord is saying "If you begin to seek you will be amazed how far the ways of men are from the ways of the Lord." And how willing and yearning He is to pour out His Spirit if only He would find a people that would set themselves apart; not only to pray, not only to fast, but to go back and rebuild the wall of the Lord. He said, "I am looking for man who would rebuild the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land." This is two different things, one is to rebuild the wall. What is the wall? When a city has it’s walls broken down there are no standards. Anything goes, anything can come in anything can go out. There is no break, there is no sifting, there is no saying "That can’t go, anything goes."

Beloved, there are words God has given to us in the Bible that says "If you will do this, this will not come upon you. If you will do this I will fulfill that. You don’t even have to ask me. Just keep the wall of my Word around your life. I will be true to my Word."

The Word says in Ecclesiastes chapter 10, verse 8: "When a man breaks down his wall he shall be bitten by a serpent." That’s the Word of God. When you break down your wall you will be bitten by a serpent. And if you break down the wall of My Word, the wall of My standards and you choose to choose your own right and wrong,then you have your own responsibility to keep you own security and your own safety. But if you want me to take care of it, it must be on My standards. Beloved this is the call of the Lord. This is what I carry as a message and as a messenger of the Lord.

The politics we are experiencing today, the Middle East and everything, is nothing else but the God of Heaven and earth has put the biggest superpower and the nation of Israel in the arena and is saying to the nations of the world, "Watch what I am doing." God is saying to the nation of America, "Choose. I can use you in revival, I can use you in judgment, whichever way I will fulfill my purposes to the nations." This is the call. Will you consider what it means to be set apart unto the Lord, what it means to break away from the system, what it means to reject the standards of the land, to choose the standards of the Lord? What it means to empty ourselves and die to everything we think we are and to take on the identity that God has called us unto?

May God help us.

Hosted By: Quincy Phillips
When: Sunday Jan 13, 2008
at 5:00 PM
Where: East Baltimore Deliverance Church
1001 N. Caroline St
Baltimore, MD 21205
United States
Description:
Quincy Phillips

Click Here To View Event

Oscar Emmanuel Peterson will be honoured posthumously next month at a prestigious annual gathering of the global jazz community in Toronto.

The inimitable technician and composer – celebrated for a swinging approach that permeates more than 100 recordings – succumbed to kidney failure and stroke complications at his Mississauga home Sunday night. He was 82.

An unprecedented partnership between the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts and the Canada Council had arranged for Peterson to receive a $25,000 fellowship along with other jazz masters (including Quincy Jones and Gunther Schuller) during the International Association for Jazz Education conference at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

The Jan. 11 tribute will go ahead as planned, with Montreal pianist and former Peterson student Oliver Jones playing excerpts from the late great's 1964 Canadiana Suite during the gala concert.

"I kind of puff up my chest when I hear it," Jones said of Peterson's best-known composition, which was inspired by various regions of the country. "I can visualize different parts of Canada."

The suite was indicative of the pride Peterson took in his Canadian roots despite his international recognition. The Montreal-born pianist, who battled arthritis and had been using a wheelchair since a 1993 stroke, completed a U.S. tour in the fall of 2006, but spent much of this year in poor health.

Celine Peterson, 16, the youngest of his seven children, told the Star her father died "peacefully."

"I'm very shocked. It hasn't hit me quite yet," she said when asked how she was coping with his death. Standing in the doorway of the family home, she said her mother, Kelly, Peterson's fourth wife, was "doing okay" and that the family would be having a private funeral and planning a "public memorial within the months to come."

Accolades continue to pour in for the eight-time Grammy winner and Order of Canada recipient who played with Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, and ranked with Glenn Gould as our best-known musicians.

"Oscar was the most famous jazz musician in the world, and his passing further marks the end of a rapidly approaching era," said TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival executive producer Pat Taylor.

Peterson's last recording was the live album/DVD A Night in Vienna in 2004. His final public appearance is believed to have been at a May 6 fundraiser for Mount Sinai Hospital at Roy Thomson Hall where headliner Diana Krall acknowledged the jazz giant to warm applause from the audience.

B.C. native Krall was one of dozens of musicians, across generations and genres, but particularly keyboardists, who cited Peterson's artistic example.

American pop/soul icon Stevie Wonder reportedly made a low-key visit to Peterson's home following his November concert in Toronto.

"I consider him the major influence that formed my roots in jazz piano playing," U.S. pianist Herbie Hancock said. "He mastered the balance between technique, hard blues grooving and tenderness."

Though Peterson was noted as a brilliant soloist, Toronto pianist/educator Mark Eisenman posited that some of his best playing was as an understated accompanist to the likes of Fitzgerald and trumpeter Roy Eldridge.

"He was a complete musician," said pianist Jones who knew Peterson growing up in Montreal's St. Henri district. "Never has there been another piano player who could swing so much, then be just as soft and tender. And his work ethic was of the highest standard."

Peterson was the fourth of five children of a railway porter father who encouraged music as an option to the menial jobs to which blacks were then relegated.

Peterson started off on trumpet at age 5, but moved to piano after a bout of tuberculosis. Taught by a sister, he won a national CBC music contest at 14 and became the star of a weekly local broadcast, quitting school to pursue a career in music.

"He had the ability to play classical as well," said Jones, "but that arena was not very inviting back in those days for many black musicians."

Peterson's big break came when New York jazz impresario Norman Granz visited Montreal and heard Peterson on the radio during a taxi ride. He arranged for the 24-year-old to appear on a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert at Carnegie Hall in 1949. As the Jazz at the Philharmonic pianist, Peterson toured with such luminaries as Fitzgerald and Gillespie. His most popular format was the trio, the most definitive being his partnership with guitarist Herb Ellis and bassist Ray Brown from 1953 to 1958.

Influenced by musicians Nat King Cole and Art Tatum (whose image is carved into the front door of his Mississauga home), Peterson, whose style was somewhere between swing and bop, was a technically dazzling player whose sound was akin to raindrops – if they were made of crystal.

"There's an extreme joy I get in playing that I've never been able to explain," he said in a 1996 interview. "I can only transmit it through the playing; I can't put it into words."

But his days weren't all bright.

Peterson never forgot his experiences with racism – a patron who wouldn't shake his hand in a Montreal nightclub, the Hamilton barber who refused to cut his hair, segregated halls and hotels in the U.S. south, criticism for employing white guitarist Herb Ellis. But he was proactive, writing "Hymn to Freedom," which became a battle song of the civil rights movement, and campaigning to get non-white faces on Canadian TV in the 1980s.

However, there were more heartbreaking setbacks. Peterson, who had five children with his first wife, Lillian, and one with his second wife, Charlotte, was plagued by misgivings about the incessant travelling that compromised his duties as a father.

Only in later years, with fourth wife Kelly Green, a restaurant manager he met on Florida tour stop in the '80s, and their daughter Celine, born when he was 66, did he finally enjoy a fulfilling home life.

Personally, Peterson was a 6-foot-3 teddy bear of a man.

"He had a wonderful sense of humour," said Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion.

"I often had dinner with him and his wife at their home and we would just sit there and chat. You wouldn't know he was so famous, he was so down to earth, had a marvellous sense of humour. He teased you a little bit. You never knew when he was serious or not. He always had a twinkle in his eye."

In a 2003 Star interview, Peterson scoffed at retirement: "When it doesn't come out, I'll shut the piano down. Playing is manna to me. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't play. It's not the playing but the travelling that is wearing, so maybe in the future I'd have to adjust that. If I could live my life all over again, I wouldn't change a thing musically. It's been an education."

Body: You are in your car driving home. Thoughts wander to the game you want
to see or meal you want to eat, when suddenly a sound unlike any
you've ever heard fills the air.

The sound is high above you.
A trumpet?


A choir?

A choir of trumpets?

You don't know, but you want to know.

So you pull over, get out of your car, and look up. As you do, you see
you aren't the only curious one. The roadside has become a parking
lot.

Car doors are open, and people are staring at the sky. Shoppers are
racing out of the grocery store.
The Little League baseball game across the street has come to a halt.
Players and parents are searching the clouds. And what they see, and
what you see, has never before been seen.

As if the sky were a curtain, the drapes of the atmosphere part. A
brilliant light spills onto the earth. There are no shadows. None.

From whence came the light begins to tumble a river of color spiking
crystals of every hue ever seen and a million more never seen. Riding
on the flow is an endless fleet of angels. They pass through the
curtains one myriad at a time, until they occupy every square inch of
the sky.

North.

South.

East.

West.

Thousands of silvery wings rise and fall in unison, and over the sound
of the trumpets, you can hear the cherubim and seraphim chanting,
Holy, Holy, Holy.

The final flank of angels is followed by twenty-four silver-bearded
elders and a multitude of souls who join the angels in worship.

Presently the movement stops and the trumpets are silent, leaving only
the triumphant triplet: Holy, Holy, Holy. Between each word is a
pause. With each word, a profound reverence. You hear your voice join
in the chorus. You don't know why you say the words, but you know you
must.

Suddenly, the heavens are quiet. All is quiet.
The angels turn, you turn, the entire world turns and there He is.

Jesus.

Through waves of light you see the silhouetted figure of Christ the
King.

He is atop a great stallion, and the stallion is atop a billowing
cloud.

He opens his mouth, and you are surrounded by his declaration:

"I am the Alpha and the Omega."

The angels bow their heads.

The elders remove their crowns.

And before you is a Figure so consuming that you know, instantly you
know:
Nothing else matters.
Forget stock markets and school reports.
Sales meetings and football games.
Nothing is newsworthy..
All that mattered, matters no more....
for Christ has come.

And, please put the exact time you read this in the subject line
before sending. It is mystical--honest

This morning when the Lord opened a window to Heaven, he saw me, and
he asked:
My child, what is your greatest wish for today?
I responded:
"Lord please; take care of the person who is reading this message,
their family and their special friends. They deserve it and I love
them very much"

The love of God is like the ocean, you can see its beginnings but
Not its end.

This message works on the day you receive it.

To some it may sound dumb, but the person who sent this to me was
impressed with its timing. Let us see if it is true.

ANGELS EXIST, but sometimes, since they don't all have wings we call
them FRIENDS, SUCH AS YOU.

Let's pray, because if this BILL is passed....
Please look at this...... they are real slick with the wording, but its not looking good if this BILL is passed....

Congress passed a bill (HR 1592) that clearly infringes upon our freedom of speech. President Bush has publicly announced that he would veto the bill, but despite this we must pray! We must also be made aware of the issues. God said that His people perish for a lack of knowledge. BE INFORMED!

Hate Crime Bill - House Resolution - HR 1592
(Congress passed this bill on Thursday, May 3, 2007)
On April 17, 2007, I attended a hearing regarding the bill, House Resolution-HR 1592 on Capital Hill. My incentive for writing this document is to put the body of Christ on high alert concerning this matter. I believe that many saints are unaware of the ground that has been gained toward the passing of this bill. Under the guise of a hate crime, this bill is a potential "gag order" against preachers who speak out against homosexuality. Those who support this bill insist that it will not infringe upon our 1st Amendment rights in relation to freedom of speech. However, we have congressmen and lawyers (who oppose this bill) that strongly disagree. They have informed me that the language presented in this bill (along with other laws already passed), WILL AFFECT WHAT WE CAN AND CANNOT SAY IN OUR PULPITS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY! Believe it or not, our freedom of speech is at jeopardy in America.

Article 18 U.S. Code 2(a) of the Federal Criminal Code states:

Whoever aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces or procures a crime's commission, is punishable just as if he is the principle offender.

This means that if any religious leader preaches that homosexuality is a sin and someone hears it and commits a crime against a person that practices such an act, the religious leader can receive the same penalty as the person who committed the crime. This is a law in effect now!

HR 1592 literally lays the framework for preachers to be investigated, prosecuted and persecuted for preaching Romans the 1st Chapter. Similarly, "hate crime" laws have been passed in Canada and England. Some states have passed "hate crime" laws and Christians right here in America have been jailed as a result of it. For example, a 75-year-old grandmother was arrested in Philadelphia (2005) for witnessing at a "Coming Out" rally for homosexuals. She was passing out tracts and telling people that Jesus loved them. Because this offended homosexuals, it was considered hate crime. This woman and eight others (including a teenager) were arrested. They faced 47 years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines.

Another major concern is that this bill will give millions of government dollars to National Hate Crime Prevention Curriculum for schools. 'Healing the Hate' curriculums have already been funded by the government and put in schools, even at the elementary level. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Program sponsor this curriculum, and children are being taught things such as:

There are no 'girl colors' or 'boy colors'
There are no 'girl games' or 'boy games'
It seeds ideas in the minds of our children like "boys playing with baby dolls"
They teach that families come in all different shapes and sizes, including two daddies and two mommies in some families.
They give children definitions such as "a gay man is someone who loves another man best of all and a lesbian woman is someone who loves another woman best of all." That "heterosexuals are people whose dearest love is of the other sex" or "people are 'bisexual' if they sometimes fall in love with a woman and sometimes with a man." They teach that "people who have always felt as if they were in the body of the wrong sex are called 'transsexual', and that some transsexual kids grow up and get sex change operations and some don't." (This is going on in our schools today)

This bill is built on deception and lies and paints the picture that hate crimes are so rampant that homosexuals and cross-dressers have to flee across state lines to escape persecution in their own states. It also claims that homosexuals cannot find work or purchase goods and services in their home states. However, statistics show that there are homosexuals who have some of the highest paying and most prestigious positions in America.

Benjamin Rush was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. At his funeral, he was quoted to have said, "I have already been called an Aristocrat and a Democrat. I am neither. I am a Christocrat!"(1813). No matter what our personal convictions are in life, when everything is said and done, believers should be able to stand before heaven, hell and all of the earth and say that above all, THEY ARE CHRISTOCRATS. This is not to establish some new political order but to establish spiritual order that confirms that we are Christ's and we support His agenda, above all others!

Congressman John Conyers Makes Spurious Statements
Congressman John Conyers is the father of this bill and it is strongly supported by the NAACP and the Black Caucus. They are comparing the plight of people with gender identity issues to the civil right struggles of blacks in America. This is an abomination!
During a hearing on this bill, Mr. Conyers stated that he met with a group of African American pastors and assured them that an amendment presented by Congressman Artur Davis, that was to be added to the bill, would protect their freedom of speech. Mr. Conyers did meet with a group of pastors; however, this meeting was brief and inconclusive. I am sharing this information because I don't want the misperception that those of us who took time out of our busy schedules went to Capital Hill and compromised. Not only was no conclusion reached, we expected the opportunity to discuss the issues further, but to no avail. It is apparent that some of these politicians do not take the church seriously. They need to know that our voice counts. We must use our resources and be heard on Capital Hill. This law cannot pass in America. The demons that are operating to persecute pastors in Canada and England will not cross the borders of America. The words of the weak amendment that Congressman Artur Davis has added to the bill are not strong enough to stop local law enforcement officials from arresting us if we preach against homosexuality, because this will be entirely decided by the interpretation of the law, and we know from Plessy v. Ferguson, that the 14th Amendment was 'interpreted' to permit segregated facilities. It took 58 years, from 1896 to 1954, for the US Supreme Court to overturn that "separate but equal" doctrine.

Congresswoman "Disses" Preachers
As I sat in a hearing on this bill I could feel the hatred from some of the sub-committee members that were attempting to pass it. In particular, I heard Congresswoman Jackson-Lee of Texas say (on record) that she was aware that some preachers were saying that homosexuality was a sin from their pulpits. She added that this was a message that she would not particularly want to hear. It was not what she said, but how she said it, with so much hate! As a preacher, her comments offended me. To me they were mean and hateful. Isn't it ironic that she seemed to be motivated by hatred to pass "hate crime" legislation? Where are my rights as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ in America? We must fight for our rights as believers to:

Preach the gospel freely without hatred against the message we preach
Raise our children without the indoctrination of the homosexual agenda
Be assured that we will not have to hire homosexuals under quotas in our churches
Be assured that the tax dollars we pay will not go toward the homosexual indoctrination of our children. (Janet Reno used her position to push her views on sexuality into the minds of our children while she was in office - she was the force behind the Healing the Hate curriculum placed in our schools.)

In Closing
If this bill is passed in America it will give special rights, all under the guise of sexual preference or orientation to:

Pedophiles
People that get sexually aroused by bumping into people
People that asphyxiate themselves to produce longer orgasms
People that have sex with animals

What should our response be as believers?

We must pray but remember, faith without work is dead
We must also call Capital Hill (202 225-3121) in protest of SR 1105 & HR 1592 (Hate Crime legislation) ,Please ring the phones off the hook; your voice counts!
Begin to decree and declare that the president will veto this bill if it passes through the senate
A bill has also been presented to give homosexuals special hiring rights
The NAACP, the Black Caucus and most of the Democrats are supporting the 'homosexual agenda'. This is about more than men or women and their sexual preferences. It is organized hatred against righteousness. Romans 1:30 declares it!

We do not want a homosexual or any other person abused through hate crimes. Despite this, we stand against this legislation because we know that it is a 'behind the scene' attack against the church. The enemy wants to gag the church and make preachers afraid to preach against sin. If we took a vote in hell today, we would have a 100% vote against this bill!

It may seem as though we are behind in the game but this is only an opportunity for the church to rally. The enemy has come in like a flood, but God will raise the standard! God has already given us victory over partial birth abortion. Let us ride on this victory and RALLY! THERE ARE MORE FOR US THAN AGAINST US, IN JESUS NAME.

The powers that are pushing this bill are using the case of David Ritcheson as an example. David is a Hispanic young man that was an unfortunate victim of a brutal beating by two skinheads. Though my heart goes out for this young man, it was proven that even David's situation did not need "hate crime" legislation. His persecutors received "90 years" and "life" as sentences.

Hate Crime Legislation is both "useless" and "senseless" to our criminal justice system. It repeats laws that protect all citizens in any kind of motivated crime. And it especially distracts the federal law enforcement agencies from issues that need more attention around the borders of America, such as terrorism.

 

Christocrat

(Please review attached supporting documents for your information)

(Attachment #1) Pro-Homosexual/Drag Queen Hate Crimes Bill Will Move Quickly!
Begins to lay the legal foundation and framework to investigate, prosecute and persecute pastors, business owners, and anyone else whose actions are based upon, and reflect, the truths found in the Bible
It is vital that Bible-believing people immediately contact their U.S. Representative and Two (2) U.S. Senators.

We must defeat H.R. 1592, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007, by Congressman John Conyers, (D-MI), who is Judiciary Committee Chairman! Also, it is expected that Senator Ted Kennedy, (D-MA), will soon introduce similar legislation in the U.S. Senate.

Without your action, this anti-Christian legislation will pass -- under the guise of hate-crime prevention -- and accomplish the following homosexual goals:

Silence the Bible-believing Churches, Pastors and Christians
Criminalize so-called "hate speech," - which is any speech that is critical of homosexuality or cross- dressing behaviors. The suppression of free speech will be justified by the claim that such speech "incites" individuals to commit violence against homosexuals, cross-dressers etc. Any remarks about homosexuality, such as reading Bible passages, preaching on these passages, telling a person they can come out of the homosexual lifestyle, etc. could be deemed critical remarks and could be ruled to be outside the bounds of First Amendment protections for pastors, business owners and individuals.
Elevate homosexuality and cross-dressing behaviors such as drag queens, transsexualism, she- males, etc. to the status of federally protected minorities. These behaviors will be considered equal to race under the federal law.
Interfere with local law enforcement by elevating alleged incidents of "hate" against a homosexual or cross-dresser into a federal crime.
Fund anti-Christian curriculum for children K-12, through the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice to promote homosexuality and cross-dressing as normal behaviors in schools.

The passage of H.R. 1592 will be a serious threat to free speech and freedom of religion. This so-called Hate Crimes Bill begins to lay the legal foundation and framework to investigate, prosecute and persecute those who refuse, for moral and religious reasons, to agree or teach their children that homosexuality, transgender, cross-dressing etc., is normal and desirable.

Ultimately, a pastor's sermon concerning homosexuality could be considered an incitement to violence and punished with a fine or prison.

This has already occurred in Sweden, Canada, and England and efforts are underway in Brazil to punish any person who speaks out against homosexuality.

IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED

Send an urgent email to your U.S. Rep. and 2 Senators
For more information on Hate Crimes go to - http://www.traditionalvalues.org

DISTRIBUTE TO YOUR CHURCH AND 10 FRIENDS.

Pro-Homosexual/Drag Queen Bill on Fast Track in House of Representatives!
Under the cover of fighting so-called 'hate crimes,' H.R. 1592 will be used to fund anti-Christian, pro- homosexual/drag queen materials for children - and divert scarce federal resources away from fighting Islamic terrorism.
H.R. 1592, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 is moving quickly in the House of Representatives. A hearing on H.R. 1592 is scheduled in the House Judiciary Committee for April 17th; with a mark-up in subcommittee expected the next day! A week later, the legislation is expected to be voted out of the full committee and move to the House floor for a quick vote.

We must defeat this dangerous bill.

If passed and signed into law, it will be used to establish a legal framework to investigate, persecute and prosecute pastors, businessmen and others whose actions are based upon and reflect the truths found in the Bible. So-called "hate speech" could become the target of zealous pro-homosexual federal prosecutors - which could include a pastor's sermon against homosexual behaviors!

H.R. 1592 is based upon a false premise: That there's an epidemic of so-called "hate crimes" against homosexuals and drag queens that needs federal involvement for local law enforcement officials

There is no epidemic of hate directed against homosexuals or drag queens! FBI statistics from 2005 show that there were only 1,171 cases of sexual orientation bias crimes that year. Of those, 301 are listed as intimidation - which is name-calling; 333 are listed as simple assault (pushing or shoving) and 177 were listed as aggravated assault (where bodily injury occurs).

Traditional Values Coalition's staff conducted in-depth research on hate crimes and discovered the following facts: In 2005 there were a total of 862,947 cases of aggravated assault. 177 cases of aggravated assault based on sexual orientation bias is only 0.000205 percent of all cases! This is not a national epidemic that requires federal meddling in local law enforcement efforts!

This so-called "hate crimes" bill will make homosexuality and cross-dressing into federally protected minority groups! These sexual behaviors will be considered equal to race under federal laws! Once this happens, these behaviors will be protected by civil rights laws too.

H.R. 1592 will, under the guise of hate crime prevention:

Interfere with local law enforcement by requiring the Justice Department to monitor how state and local agencies deal with alleged "hate crimes."
Divert scarce FBI personnel and resources away from fighting international terrorism into investigating name-calling, pushing and shoving and a small number of actual cases of violence against homosexuals and drag queens.
Provide millions of dollars to fund "anti-hate" educational materials that will be used to promote the homosexual agenda and denigrate Christians as intolerant. (Under the Janet Reno Justice Department, a "Healing the Hate" curriculum was developed that attacked Christians as bigots, comparing them to the KKK and Skinheads!)

Immediate Action is needed: Contact your U.S. Representative and tell them to vote NO on H.R. 1592 when it comes up for a vote. (Senate S-1105)

Distribute this email to your church leadership and at least 10 friends and ask that they contact their legislators!

God Bless!