Many Christians are living in utter sinful lifestyles that grieve the heart of God. Francis Frangipane said: "The greatest danger facing the Church today is exhaustion because God is resisting us as a proud Church."
 
The scriptures say plainly: "God resists the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." If you do not humble yourselves now then there will be a "day" of humbling to come. We must repent and humble ourselves while it is still called "today." The time is short.

Leonard Ravenhill stated it is "either Pentecost or Holocaust." These are our choices! We must either humble ourselves and allow God to revive His Church or continue in our proud self-confident Christianity and send the multitudes to hell.

~Igy

Over $150 Million for the 2009 Inauguration!...What a Joke!!

Once again we are seeing media bias. Liberals claimed that the $42.3 million dollars that President Bush spent was so much money and it is. However I don’t see the same people up in arms with the cost of this years Presidential Inauguration.  In fact I doubt anyone knows since it doesn’t seem like a whole lot coverage is on it.  Well the estimated cost of the 2009  Presidential Inauguration will be between $150 and $160 million. (assoicatedcontent.com)

I am simply blown away at the cost of the Presidential Inauguration. I think its insane that Obama would spent that much money especially when we are having a financial crisis.  I think its extremely wasteful and it shows poor judgment.  That amount of money can be used for so many other really important things.  He claims he cares so much about the public then why not give the money to help people who need money for health insurance, food or gas. 

What bothers me the most about this huge cost is the double standard.  A lot of liberals were upset that Bush spent $42.3 million dollars.  Now its funny to think they were so mad at Bush but not Obama.  $42.3 million dollars is a lot of money however $150 million dollars is such a huge difference that I don’t understand how the same people who were mad at Bush are not mad now.  People should be up in arms that Obama is spending this much money when were having a tough time in are economy.

This is plain two faced hypocrisy!

~Igy

A Stinking Cesspool!

I heard of a rural area where one elderly farmer had a three-acre fishing pond on his property. One day the water supply that fed into the pond became clogged and the water stopped flowing. Soon, all the life in that pond died from suffocation and the algae took over. After a while that beautiful fishing pond was reduced to a stinking cesspool. When the farmer unclogged the source of fresh water, the life-giving flow was restored and life eventually returned to that pond.

Our lives are like that stagnant pond. We are denied the life-giving presence and power of God because we have allowed our disobedience, our lack of surrender, our rebellious sin, and our lack of prayer to clog our fellowship with our Source. Remember, the devil only exercises authority when it is given to him. Only repentance and an unrelenting pursuit of God will break his power and rescue our cities and nations from his dominion.

I don't know how much of a stronghold the devil has on ....America...., but I can tell you that God isn't finished with this nation. God dearly loves the people of this nation, and He is sounding a wake up call to our churches! He is speaking to His people. He has already paid the price for our freedom. Now He is asking us, 'Will you pay the price to save your land?'

The Word says, Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).

Our problem is that we conveniently forget the first half of that verse! We like the 'fleeing' part, but we avoid the 'submitting' part like the plague. The truth is that no fleeing will take place until the submitting takes place. If the devil isn't fleeing from you, don't blame God. If you want the enemy to flee, you have to yield. You must submit to God.

~Igy

Don't Go To The Place Called Hell!

Here's a good (word) article from my friend JC Smith for Christians voting 3rd party. He changed my mind. ..Check it out...~Igy

Christians voting third party

by JC Smith

..

The following quotes are from two different men. The first man's quote is in plain text and the second man's is in bold face, just below here...

"I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so."

"The folkish-minded man, in particular, has the sacred duty, each in his own denomination, of making people stop just talking superficially of God's will, and actually fulfill God's will, and not let God's word be desecrated. For God's will gave men their form, their essence and their abilities. Anyone who destroys His work is declaring war on the Lord's creation, the divine will."

"And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly, it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people. And when I look on my people I see them work and work and toil and labor, and at the end of the week they have only for their wages wretchedness and misery. When I go out in the morning and see these men standing in their queues and look into their pinched faces, then I believe I would be no Christian, but a very devil, if I felt no pity for them, if I did not, as did our Lord two thousand years ago, turn against those by whom today this poor people are plundered and exploited."

He "felt God's spirit beckoning me," he writes in "Audacity." "I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth."

"We do what we do because God is with us."

"At some fundamental level, religion does not allow for compromise. It's the art of the impossible. If God has spoken, then followers are expected to live up to God's edicts, regardless of the consequences. To base one's life on such uncompromising commitments may be sublime, but to base our policy making on such commitments would be a dangerous thing."

Just because you claim to be a Christian, does that make it so? As can be seen in the above quotes, both of these men made clear statements of being a Christian. Both men attended a church and both men appealed to the masses who were uninformed by simply telling them what they needed to hear in order for them to feel okay for their support.

Obviously, saying you are a Christian does not make it so. But for many out there, it does. We live in an age when the church is getting steadily more and more liberal, when the Emerging Church is trying to make young Christians feel okay about their vote for Obama. The Republicans have not been overtly Christian and so many are either not voting at all or are voting for a 3rd party with no chance of actually winning.

But votes that go to candidates with no real shot at winning are effectively votes for Abortion in this election. And that is exactly what we must look at right now. Not the economy, not Iraq, not eloquence or charisma but what the real issues are for us as believers right now. Those issues are our freedom of religion, free speech and abortion. Because those issues directly affect our lives as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, not just as citizens of the United States.

So does attending a church make you a Christian? We know that it doesn't.

Do grand statements about finding Christ or the importance of God's will make you a Christian? Anyone can talk using Christian buzzwords, friends.

So what is the important quality that we should look at? The decisions that we make that are in line with God's word. The fruit of a changed life. Our nature being transformed to be like His nature. Those are the important things, not the words that you say in order to win an election.

Obama's statements about his faith paint him as a Christian but his actions against life disqualify him. You can not claim to be a Christian and yet hold the most radical abortion record ever for a Presidential candidate. Listen clearly; you CANNOT be a Christian and vote for the harming of innocent babies, in the womb or out.

Some say that we should not have an opinion as Christian leaders, that we should talk about God in church and leave the politics out of it. If I were to remain silent while an imposter masquerades as a Believer, all the while standing on a platform of abortion, infanticide and socialism, then I should share in his just damnation.

How can I claim he is not a Christian, after all, I can't see in his heart, right? Well, that is true, I must admit. I can, however, see his actions and determine what kind of tree it is by its fruit. The second set of quotes, the ones in bold, are from Obama. When I look at what he says, it sounds wonderful. When I look at what he has done, I see the real person behind the hype.

The first set of quotes, those are from Hitler. Apparently, he was a Christian as well. The argument could be made that he was a "better" Christian than Obama because the hill of bodies that he stood on while claiming to be a Christian was "only" six million. Obama stands on a hill of FIFTY MILLION and GROWING and is CALLING FOR MORE.

And while everyone who says anything about Obama is labeled a "racist", let's look at this another way.

While only 14 percent of the women in the United States of childbearing age are African-American, the most recent national statistics (1997) show that 35.9 percent of all abortions were performed on African-American women.

While African-American women constitute approximately 14 percent of the women of child bearing age in this nation, many centers report that well over 50 percent, and in many cases a much higher percentage, of their clients are African-American.

Since abortion was legalized in 1973, more than 14 million African-American babies have been killed. This is more than the total number of African-American deaths from all other causes combined (heart disease, diabetes, cancer, crime, accidents, AIDS, etc.) This is about 1/3 of the 43 million abortions that have occurred since 1973.

* About 1,200 African-American babies are killed by abortion in the United States every day.

* A disproportionate number of the nation's abortion clinics are located in low-income and minority neighborhoods, where a majority of African-Americans live.

* Approximately 35% of all abortions in the United States are performed on African-American women, while they represent only 13% of the female population of the country.

* In 1990, African-Americans comprised the largest minority group in the U.S. Hispanics are now the largest minority group.

* African-American women who abort their first pregnancy have a 2.8 to 4.7 times greater risk of developing breast cancer.

So, not only is he pro-abortion, he is also guilty of supporting genocide against his own race. Now, I know that Obama has never performed an abortion but Hitler never personally killed a Jew either.

I praise God for the Word of God.  Those of us who are believers and followers of Jesus, we grow in God as we read and obey the Bible. The Word of God will change you if you allow it. Really, it is the Holy Spirit who is working and empowering you to obey. The Word says in Php 2:13  "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Praise God, we can't do it without Him, our role is to yield and surrender ourselves to Him and obey Him as He reveals things to us that need to change.

This current blog will be the first of several new blog teachings from the Word of God. This will actually be my first crack at doing a blog series. This will not be a deep exhaustive series of studies, but hopefully these can provoke thought and spur you onto a deeper study on our own. So please comment and follow the teaching as we learn and grow together.

The Bible says in 2Ti 3:16 "All Scripture is God-breathed, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." Notice the function of the Word should produce in us: good doctrine, reproof, instruction and righteousness.

It is impossible to read and study the Bible and not be changed. You will either have your heart changed to obey or your heart will be hardened to continue in your sin-It's your choice.

Below I pasted in an article by Andrew Strom, this is his current e-mail article I just received it this morning. I found this a very sobering article - I agree with much of what he wrote. I still hold out hope that we as a nation will repent and cry out to God. This is serious people of God. I ask the question: ''Has the depression begun?''-- I'd love to hear your thoughts. ~Igy

The DEPRESSION HAS BEGUN
-by Andrew Strom.

Ten months ago in November 2007 while preaching in Wisconsin, I felt a strong unction from the Holy Spirit to speak about the future of the United States and the imminent Crash. As often happens under that kind of anointing, a real boldness came over me, and for the first time I found myself clearly putting a "date" on the coming financial Depression - something I had never done before - except in the vaguest of terms. I found myself predicting that tragically within six months America would be in Recession, and within 12 months the actual Depression would begin. (-This audio is on our website - http://www.revivalschool.com )

So let us look at the evidence. It is now ten months later. Has the Depression begun? Sadly the answer has to be "Yes". In the last two weeks the two largest mortgage giants in the world (Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac) failed, the largest Insurance Company on earth crashed (all taken over by the US Government), Lehman Brothers went bankrupt (almost taking the entire financial system with it), Money Markets reeled, the two remaining giant Investment banks sought protection as "holding banks" - which means the end of Wall Street as we know it, etc, etc. Stocks are in turmoil, Oil leapt on Monday by the most ever recorded, gold is volatile - and on it goes. -The most shattering two weeks since the Great Depression. Meanwhile the US Treasury is seeking 700 billion dollars in a forlorn effort to put Humpty back together again - tragically too late.

THERE ARE "JONAHS" on THE BOAT

Why is this storm hitting America at this time? There are certainly many reasons - most of which we have discussed before. But let me put something else before you that I believe God spoke to me not long ago:- There are "Jonahs" on the boat - and they are sending the nation down.

Who are these Jonahs? I believe they are the "prophets" of America who will not preach the truth - who sleep comfortably in the bowels of the nation while chaos reigns all around them. Too afraid to deliver God's word 'Repent', they run the other way - toward smooth talk and pleasant sayings - "Peace peace" when there is no peace.And the depths of this great crisis can be laid directly at their door.

Yes - that's right. A big reason why the ship of America is sinking is because her prophets ran away from their God-given task and message at the crucial moment.

If only these prophets had preached the TRUTH when the nation so desperately needed to hear it. If only they had begun - way back in the 1980's - to call the lukewarm church to repentance, to rebuke the people for their love of money, their greed, their sin. But no - the siren call of "popularity" was too strong. The call of  "grace, grace", of mass acceptance, of big reputations and even bigger offerings. And so they sold out. And now they sleep bliss-fully in the midst of the ship, while the storm whips to fury all around. How do you sleep, O Jonahs, who would not cry "Repent"?

And it is not just the "prophets" either. It is the televangelists too. Caught up in a world of fakery, hype and money-grubbing unseen in the church since the Dark Ages, these hucksters are spreading their garbage to every Third World Revival nation around the globe. Greed, manipulation and pride on a scale that only America could generate. Where is your shame, O charlatans of greed?

And so God is forced to act. And just like Jonah, the storm will not abate until the wayward preachers are thrown overboard. Until America is rid of these international thieves and prostitutes, she is finished. And she will not recover until they are gone.

You see, it is not just the leaders who are at fault here. It is also the people, who "love to have it so". And thus until the heart of the people is scourged and purged they will accomodate the "Jonahs" - even seeking more of their ear-tickling fables to comfort themselves in this time of breaking.

Until the heart of American greed is shattered - until her people act of their own volition to throw these Jonahs overboard - this storm will go on and on. In fact, it is about to grow a whole lot worse.

Mark my words, America: Until you remove these Jonahs, your nation cannot recover. They have held the whole world in thrall by their apostasy. And God cannot have it so any more. How long will it take you to realize? How long will it take you to act?

THROW THE JONAHS OVERBOARD and be done with them!! Only then will this mother of all storms subside.