General
Dream Releasers
This week an amazing “dream” came true when Jerusalem became officially recognized as the Jewish capital via the moving of the U.S. embassy. Other nations “sit on the fence” regarding this bold change, but a few others are following suit.
Yes, there was defiant reaction from the Arab world and over 50 deaths as a result of violence at the border. But the re-location was a right, for many reasons.
President Trump gets the lion’s share of credit by honoring a campaign promise no other U.S. president had the guts to achieve. Credit should also be given to Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security adviser John Bolton, and others behind the scenes who had the courage to work on this epic change.
On the other side of the world, plans are now in place for a summit meeting between President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to decide the fate of nuclearization of the hermit kingdom, possibly leading to the eventual unification of the Korean Peninsula.
Heady stuff. Momentous global happenings.
It appears to me that dream releasers are at work.
Are you a dream releaser?
One of the books I use frequently in my classes at Faith International University is Wayne Cordeiro’s Doing Church as a Team. Wayne is the founding pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship, with multiple church extensions throughout the Hawaiian Islands.
New Hope is a great partner to YWAM and I’ve spoken in some of their churches. My students strongly identify with Wayne’s book because it is honest, down-to-earth, practical, easy to read, and loaded with revelation on many subjects.
Cordeiro believes in empowering people–being a dream releaser–to see and realize their potential in God. He wants every believer to use those gifts in the Church and fulfill their purpose in extending God’s Kingdom. Here’s the clarion call:
“There’s nothing more spectacular than seeing people’s dreams released and being used for the glory of God. There’s no greater joy.”
Wayne is a dream releaser.
So is President Trump, regardless of what you don’t like about him. He should win a Nobel Prize for what he’s doing on the world scene.
Israel Dream
The nation of Israel miraculously celebrated its 70th birthday this month and the “present” that President gave to them is what every sovereign nation deserves–the right to choose its capital.
Gary Randall described the joyous occasion this way:
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the US delegation last night in Jerusalem—on the eve of the day America, the most powerful nation in the history of the world, officially moves its embassy to Jerusalem—affirming that Jerusalem is indeed the capital of Israel.”
“Other nations will follow America’s leadership, but not all. Before our eyes, significant history is happening. Promises are being kept.”
“Netanyahu said last night at a reception, ‘Our people will be eternally grateful for [President Trump’s] decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to move the American Embassy here tomorrow.’”
“Among those in the audience were Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog; Christians United for Israel founder John Hagee, American lawyer Alan Dershowitz; new Republican National Committee finance chairman Todd Ricketts; Senators Lindsay Graham (R-SC), Ted Cruz (R-SC), Dean Heller (R-NV), and Mike Lee (R-UT); Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), American Jewish Committee chair David Harris; Guatemalan Minister of Foreign Affairs Sandra Jovel Polanco, and many others.”
“Netanyahu praised President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem and transfer the embassy there, ‘It’s been the capital of the Jewish people for the last 3000 years,’ he said. ‘It’s been the capital of our state for 70 years. It will be our capital for all time.'”
“He said, ‘It took a President Trump to enunciate a simple basic truth.'”
Yes. Nations can choose their own capitals.
In this case, it looks like God Himself had a multi-millennium plan in selecting the capital city of His chosen people. The U.S. Administration, in 2018, helped to release that dream once again.
“When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed” (Psalm 126:1).
Some followers of Christ don’t believe that the resurrection of the Jewish nation means much to history. They think God has “replaced” the Jews with the Church due to their disobedience over the centuries. This is called replacement theology.
They might be right. It’s the Church that is currently extending God’s Kingdom to the ends of the earth.
But I personally think they’re wrong. Israel’s nationhood and now capital city in Jerusalem is too big a “sign” of God’s reality to overlook or explain away. A dream is being released.
But there’s another.
Korean Dream
On the other side of the world another dream appears to be emerging.
On June 12, 2018, President Donald Trump and his team will sit down with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in Singapore to begin the process of ending the eighty year Korean War, division of the Korean Peninsula, and denuclearizing of the north.
The first news of this stunning breakthrough came when three political prisoners of North Korean gulags saw their dreams answered–thanks to American leadership.
Who are the Americans freed by North Korea?
Kim Dong Chul is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in South Korea, who was seized in North Korea on October 2, 2015 and accused of spying. Though a resident of Virginia – he became an American citizen in 1987 – Kim had lived with his wife in Yanji, China since 2001. He worked just across the North Korean border in Rason-Sonbong where he ran a hotel services company. He was also a pastor. After a one-day trial in April, he was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor for his supposed espionage.
Kim Hak-song, in his mid 50s, was born in Jilin, China, and educated at a university in California. He had been working for the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), founded by evangelical Christians overseas in 2010, undertaking agricultural work with the school’s farm. He was arrested at a Pyongyang railway station in May 2017 on suspicion of committing “hostile acts” against the government as he was boarding a train headed for Dandong, China.
Kim Sang-duk is a former professor at Yanbian University of Science and Technology in China, close to the Korean border. He was arrested in April 2017 at Pyongyang’s main airport as he tried to leave the country after teaching for several weeks as a guest lecturer. He graduated from the University of California Riverside in 1990 with a master’s degree in business administration and had been involved in relief activities for children in rural parts of North Korea. A source described Kim as a ‘religiously devoted man.’
These three men saw their dreams of freedom realized when they landed at Andrews Air Force base early in the morning of May 10, 2018 and were welcomed home by the Trumps. Tears flowed freely. So did hope for a strategic part of the world.
In you’re an American, ponder this: Imagine that eighty years ago militant thugs took over everything west of the Continental Divide. They killed millions, imprisoned thousands, and cut off all communication with the eastern half of the nation–including families. Over eight decades, everyone in the western U.S. began to starve, while the eastern United States became prosperous.
How would you feel, pray, or dream of change?
That’s what happened to the Korean Peninsula since World War II. A totalitarian “wall” divided a once proud and godly people into slaves and free.
I’m been to South Korea many times, preached in their churches, and prayed for the re-unification of this passionate and vigorous people. As Germany was re-united after the fall of the Iron Curtain, let’s pray that some vestiges of the Bamboo Curtain will be swept away from Korean soil. This remains the dream of the Korean people–and certainly one that comes from the heart of God.
Yes, Jesus is the true Dream Releaser. He died for our sins, longs for our good, and has plans for individual lives and nations (Jeremiah 29:11-14).
As a teacher, during this last third of my life, I find myself being drawn more and more to cheer leading, encouraging, and being a dream releaser of all those who will listen. I want them to know their gifts, find their place in Jesus’ army of love, and help release the dreams of the Trinity upon everyone on Planet Earth.
Are you tracking with that–with Him–to be a dream releaser of others?
Inspire someone today in the cause of world evangelism and the consummation of Christ’s Coming Kingdom.
The New Jerusalem.
The Real Reason for Stormy Daniels
I wanted to title this “The Real Reason for SD” but I thought that some people might think of San Diego, STD’s, or other things–and stop reading.
Honestly, I didn’t want to put an infamous porn star’s name in the headline because I don’t believe she deserves this fleeting moment of fame.
Yet, she’s getting it because her emergence seems to be a primary strategy of the Democratic Party/mainstream media to bring down a sitting U.S. president and influence the 2018 elections. They must not have other issues to run on.
There are many reasons that SD is in the news. But, I’ve not seen one article on the real reason.
Here it is.
First of all, a little confession, but before that, a definition.
I did a Google search on the word pornography and they varied. Then I hauled out my huge Webster’s original 1828 Dictionary–a go-to-source for the proper meanings of words. “Pornography” wasn’t listed. Guess it wasn’t much of a problem then.
Finally I found an Oxford Dictionary definition that seemed accurate:
Pornography: noun. “Printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity, intended to stimulate sexual excitement.” (Origin: Mid 19th century: from Greek pornographos ‘writing about prostitutes’, from pornē ‘prostitute’ + graphein ‘write’.)
So, pornography literally means “writing about prostitutes.”
Keep that in mind.
Now to my confession. I have looked at pornography once in my life. When I was a young teenager, I remember a classmate giving me a magazine behind an abandoned house one afternoon. The cover displayed a fully exposed woman in a grotesque pose.
I remember being intrigued, but utterly disgusted at what I saw. Growing up with no sisters, I really didn’t have a concept of female “plumbing” and what it looked like. So that was interesting. But overall, I felt like throwing up. It didn’t seem right for my young eyes.
Fast forward fifty years. During these decades, I have faced the normal male temptation to look at pretty woman in low cut blouses or bathing suits and “admire their beauty” (tongue-in-cheek). Most often, I’ve learned to look away or click away from the web-sites after conviction from the Holy Spirit.
I’ve never looked at Internet porn or a magazine since my youthful surprise. I give God all the glory for any degree of victory I’ve achieved. Pursuing my own will, I’d be as debauched as any man alive.
Which brings back the topic of current porn star–SD–who is becoming a household name.
She allegedly had an affair with Donald Trump over a decade ago, signed a NDI (non-disclosure agreement), was paid $130,000 to not tarnish his reputation, subsequently broke the agreement–and now is being used to tilt the fall elections toward the Democrats so that the president can be impeached. Donald Trump denies the affair. (Only God and a few others know the truth.)
A number of reasons exist for SD. (Life has different levels.)
- The pursuit of fame and fortune–both of which she’s getting. (A friend believes her lawyer is being paid millions by nefarious groups to keep her story on the front pages through November.)
- Affecting the mid-term elections–already mentioned. The Republicans tried to do the same thing with Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinski in 1996. Their strategy failed.
- If the affair is true, maybe God is trying to use it to humble Donald Trump (who was married to Melania at the time). You reap what you sow.
But, there’s a much bigger reason why SD debuted with George Stephanopoulos, gave all the gory details (true or untrue) during numerous interviews, and appeared this past weekend on Saturday Night Live to the cheers of the audience.
Here is the primary reason for SD:
To mainstream and legitimize pornography.
This is not SD’s motive or those wanting to sway elections. It is the motivation of the demonic world to destroy human lives through the perversion of the beautiful God-given gift of sex within the confines of marriage. The demons have been winning this battle in our culture for decades.
Here’s the back-drop.
Many years ago, I noticed in the Old Testament that though all sins are equal in their motive (selfish and lawless), they are not equal in their ramifications or consequences. In fact, the teaching of the Bible and human history is that deviating from God’s wise boundaries of a man and woman experiencing sexual love in marriage is extremely hurtful and destructive.
That’s why the Old Testament elevates sexual sins above some others. Just peruse chapters such as Leviticus 18 or 20 and you will get the picture. Sexual sin is bad. It hurts and defiles people. That’s why God told the nation of Israel to hate it, avoid it, and legislate against it.
God does not want human beings to suffer the dreadful consequences of perverting his beautiful gift of sex.
Enter the 1950s. The world had just experienced two dreadful wars in which a total of 76 million people died (16M in World War I and 60M in World War II). That was about 4% of world population at the time. Millions more were wounded, displaced, some nations reduced to rubble, with psychological damage unfathomable.
Out of that devastation, a time of calm prevailed in the Western nations where GIs came back from the war, got married, had kids and begun to live more “normal” lives. At the time, a strong Judeo-Christian world view coupled with an evangelical awakening led by Billy Graham and others gave credence to biblical norms in sexual activity.
Most men and women married. Fornication and adultery were generally frowned upon. Homosexuality, incest, and pedophilia remained taboo. The Baby Boom generation–now the second largest generation in American history–were about to arrive. I was one of them, born into a normal, religious home in 1953. Those were the days of “Leave It to Beaver,” “Ozzie and Harriet,” and “Father Knows Best.”
That would all crumble in the late fifties through seventies when I graduated from high school.
The change seemed to start in Hollywood and the music scene. Famous actors and musicians began to sleep around. Stars like Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and others encouraged the young generation to rebel against the old, traditional (and biblical ways). The rebellion appeared to be against God, various authority figures, and sexual norms.
I remember the mini-skirts rising, the pot and sex parties, Woodstock, Playboy, and on and on it went. A new world was being created where sex was simply my desire for you, baby, to “Light My Fire.”
This was the plan: Over the past five decades, the Devil has mainstreamed fornication, adultery, and homosexuality–destroying millions of lives. All of these distortions of sexual love hurt our minds, hearts, marriages, families, children, and society as a whole.
Along comes SD to make some fame and fortune, influence an election etc. But the MAIN reason behind her notoriety is the demonic world wanting to make pornography appear normal, healthy, even exciting–so it can destroy more lives.
Don’t be lulled to sleep. Here’s the truth about SD and porn.
SD is a media prostitute who’s flaunted dirty, shameful sex with countless men to lure millions of others into sin. She’s being used by the demonic world is to obliterate the moral consensus of the West to destroy its blessings and fruitfulness.
Pornography is ugly, cheap, lecherous, dirty, horrible and defiling. Everything my eyes and heart told me fifty years ago when glimpsing a porn magazine proved true. Porn and its purveyors must never be “applauded,” interviewed, or lusted after.
Porn destroys people.
Don’t be lulled to sleep. You don’t need the “writing of prostitutes” or visualizing either. Resist becoming the boiling frog in the kettle.
On the grace side, pray for SD and others to be rescued from their sins. Regarding holy living, “flee immorality” as the Bible clearly commands (1 Corinthians 6:18). C’mon men. Look away and help start a new sexual purity revolution!
Don’t be numbed, tempted or seduced by the stardom of SD.
You now know the real reason she appeared.
The West’s Gravest Threat?
Momentous events populate the news this week including possible peace on the Korean Peninsula, the Israeli revelation that Iran cheated on its nuclear deal, and the National Day of Prayer taking place on Thursday, May 3.
The theme of the NDP this year is “Unity” which appears to be miraculously coming together in the Koreas and falling apart in the Middle East. I will write on these subjects in future columns.
Today, I’d like to take a critical look at Western culture and propose what might be our greatest threat. It originates from the cultural abandonment of biblical faith and the implications of turning away from God.
But it shows itself on a much smaller level, as basic as male and female.
What is the West’s greatest threat for survival?
Many grave dangers for people and nations exist in our world. Nuclear annihilation remains a top concern. North Korea appears to be taking steps backward on that front (Hallelujah), while Iran clandestinely moves forward toward nukes (Boo!).
There remains the problem of a great financial collapse due to our debt-burdened world and inter-twined economies–our flat earth. The scourge of social media evil and isolation looms large on the next generation while the present generation reeks profanities and vile comedy at a dinner hosted (but not attended) by the White House.
I’m sure you have your own list of dangers to your family and nation.
Have you pondered deeply that the greatest calamity in the Western World over the past two or three generations does not lies in bombs or vulgarities–but right in the epicenter of Western civilization: the breakdown of the nuclear family due to a loss of biblical understanding of masculinity and femininity?
God’s view of maleness and femaleness has been increasingly erased from our memory over the past half century. One obvious fruit of this change is the gender confusion of the present day with masculinity being out of style and feminism in vogue (and many young people not knowing which they are–or both).
These distortions are killing the West. Nothing stands more lethal to our existence than the destruction of the family unit. Men are not being encouraged to be themselves and women want to act like men.
This confusion destroys courtship, marriage, children and whole families.
Which brings me to the best clearest thoughts on this subject I’ve seen in some time. The following article by Suzanne Venker appeared recently on the Fox Business Network. I will quote it in its entirety while sharing some commentary.
“Chivalry is Dead Because Women Killed It.”
“A friend of mine whose mother died recently was going through her parents’ memorabilia and unearthed a Western Union telegram from 1954 that her father sent her mother just before they married. Here’s what it said:
“‘Darling, I shall be waiting for you at eight. With a lifetime of expectancy. My heart will be coming with you down the aisle. May God be with us tonight as we pray we will always be with Him. Thank you for becoming my wife. My love forever yours, Henry.'”
Heart-felt, romantic words. I spent yesterday with a friend from Mongolia whose culture shares Henry’s view. My friend wrote a song for his wife’s birthday that sounded just like Henry’s tender thoughts.
Venker continues:
“Several days after I’d read this note, I came across this miserable tripe on Facebook: ‘Chivalry is harmful to both men and women,’ relays the woman in the video. ‘because it reinforces this idea that women need to be helped or saved by a stronger man. And it takes away a woman’s agency.’”
“The video is part of an ‘Unpopular Opinion’ series on Facebook, a concept that in theory I’d support. But there’s nothing unpopular about a video that sells the same tired message feminists have sold for years and subsequently became the status quo: that men and women are ‘equal’ and should therefore be treated the same.”
We ARE equal in worth–but complimentary in roles.
“Women can open their own doors, pull out their own chairs and take care of themselves, women have argued for years. ‘I’m strong enough to do all these things,’ notes the woman in the video, who identifies herself as Emily Panic, as she flexes her arm muscles to viewers.”
“’And what’s the deal with guys giving up their seats on the subway?’ she adds. ‘If you do give me your seat, and I take it, I don’t have to talk to you. Please don’t talk to me, okay? I got like 20 podcasts loaded on my iPod that I would rather listen to than you. That’s not meant to be mean. I just don’t want to talk to you.’”
This sounds like both role denial and social-media-isolation disease. Ms. Venker responds:
“The stark contrast of the Western Union telegram and this video depicting modern gender relations speaks volumes.”
“If there’s one common theme in the media today about the relationship between women and men, it’s the claim that there are no good (read: marriageable) men left. Well, gee, I wonder why that is?”
“It’s clear as day why that is. The relentless message from women and society that men have nothing special to offer—that not only is their income unnecessary, so is their chivalrous behavior—has built a wall between the sexes the size of Mount Everest.”
“Funny thing, though, the equality meme hasn’t translated to women paying for their own dinner or asking men to marry them. Why is that? Could it be that deep down, women know something’s lost when men and women are viewed as the same? Could it be there was something special about men being men and women being women?”
Yes, God-given conscience confirms that truth–if we’ll listen. Men and woman ARE special, but in different ways.
“In the days when men were chivalrous, women held a different kind of power than they do today. Feminine power is far more potent than the power a woman gleans in the marketplace. But women don’t access it. And they reject masculinity as well. Today’s universities are in fact offering programs specifically designed to quash male nature. And still women wonder why there are no more Henrys. Mature, respectful, marriage-minded men like him have vanished. Can we blame them?”
Not really. Ideas have consequences.
“Fortunately, as I wrote back in 2012, women have the power to turn it all around—because they are the relationship navigators. Men only changed because women did. That’s because men are born to please women. Modern woman don’t know this, for they’ve been conditioned to think of men as oppressors. But it’s true.”
“Any woman who wants what Henry and his wife had—and who wouldn’t?—can have it. It will take time because women have made a real mess of things. Nevertheless, they can begin by rejecting the narrative in this video.
“Instead, embrace chivalry. Praise chivalry. Praise men, for God’s sake! And then watch what happens.”
Amen.
My new book, River of God: Where Religion Began and Why Grace and Love Will Triumph, discusses the epic worldview battles we face in the 21st century. On one side, the secular worldview blurs the sexes, creating the breakdown we’re currently experiencing–threatening our very existence.
The Islamic world view, on the other hand, stands at the opposite pole. Whereas secular progressives preach egalitarianism without exception, Muslims believe that women are the slavish property of men. A huge dichotomy.
Only the biblical worldview teaches the equal worth of men and women and the complimentary roles of masculine behavior and feminine prowess. It stands as the moderate and wise middle between two unhealthy extremes.
So, take Suzanne’s advice. Men–start acting like it. Get on your chivalrous horse and show women what loves looks like! And women–take the greater power you possess and entice maleness out of your mate or future husband.
Right roles–in wonderful biblical balance– create beautiful marriages and relationships. And great civilizations.
Just like Henry and his bride. I bet their love lasted a lifetime.