Mark Cahill - Texas Revival Series 1 (RECAP)

Organizing the event to bring Mark to speak in Dallas was quite a bit more difficult that I ever imagined but well worth the effort. And I never would have imagined that it would end with me missing most of the events because my wife would have our 2nd daughter, Hope, two months early on my dad's birthday. More on that later.

I came up with the idea of bringing Mark a little over a year ago (or God planted it) and called up his booking agency, Ambassador Speakers, got a quote for how much it would cost to bring him to Dallas and then put it aside. In January of 2008 I started a blog. I almost didn't do it because I was so busy and who really cares what I have to say but because I started this, Jon Speed of Lost Cause Ministries, found me. We met for lunch and I told him I wanted to bring Mark to speak. He checked with his partner, Tim, and they said they wanted to help. So now I had a ministry that could help me with promotion and spreading the word. Now we just to find a venue, no problem right?

Another great break occurred when a friend pledged to go in halves with me for the money for the event. We were really rolling so I thought.

But we just couldn't find a place to hold the event. The churches in north Dallas we contacted would not return emails or calls. The YMCA in Coppell said that would allow us to do it there but we knew we needed a little more space. By April we put the project aside.

I'd like to thank my men's group - Men of the Word lead by John Nieder for keeping my event on the weekly prayer list. Even as time passed with no results on my part, they kept it on, encouraged me and prayed for it's success. Looking back now this means so much to me.

In September I was having lunch with Jon and he mentioned meeting this guy who was street preaching at the gay rights parade in Dallas. I said that I hated to give up on bringing Mark but I was running out of time with my second daughter due to be born in February of 2009. Jon put two and two together and said he'd ask Keith from City Church International in Dallas if they would host Mark for the Dallas event. We met with Keith next week and he said they were interested and we never looked back. Jon and I came up with Texas Revival Series as the name of the event.

December 6 and 7 turned out to be the dates of the event. Everyone worked really hard with the short period of time we had to promote it, especially Jon Speed and Marv of One Million Tracts. It was truly amazing to watch how God wove this event together as the word got out with so little time. Unlike all the shows I used to play as a musician before being saved, I prayed frequently for its success and that God would get the right people there.

Friday nite, December 5th, I was driving back from getting ice cream with my mom and my daughter, Kat. We were doing what my dad loved to do best as we celebrated his birthday (he's now in Heaven). Lily who had been at work called to say that she was being taken to the hospital because she was bleeding. I dropped off my daughter at my mom's house and sped to the hospital. By 10:30 pm I had a new little baby, Hope. More on Hope's birth which was full of amazing blessings that only God could fulfill later.



From what I am told the Saturday event was packed with around 200 people with some people traveling from pretty far distances. I attended the Sunday morning service and was able to meet a guy who had traveled from Houston to hear Mark speak. Sunday night in Justin had around 150 people. I believe it was worth the investment as many people were encouraged in sharing the gospel with people they come across in their daily lives. I am so pleased to have had booths exhibiting some great ministries that participated in our event - Fish with Trish (Way of the Master); One Million Tracts; Gospel for Asia, Voice of the Martyrs and The Lost Cause Ministries.

TEXAS REVIVAL SERIES plans on doing future events and bringing dynamic speakers who proclaim the name of Jesus Christ boldly without compromise.

In Christ,
Steve

Mark Cahill to speak in DFW - Dec 6 & 7, 2008

TEXAS REVIVAL SERIES presents:

Mark Cahill is the author of “One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven” and "One Heartbeat Away." He has shared the Gospel with celebrities like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Vanilla Ice, and Charles Barclay.

Join us for an evening of evangelistic motivation in Dallas, TX on Saturday, December 6th! After wards, we’ll be taking it to the streets!

Schedule:

Saturday, December 6th (City Church International)
5-6PM: Session #1
6-7PM: Session #2

7:30-10:00PM: Outreach in Dallas, TX (location TBD)

Sunday, December 7th:

10:00AM: Mark Cahill speaks at City Church International worship service

6:00PM: Mark speaks at First Baptist Church Justin in the evening service.

Registration will be FREE but go to www.texasrevivalseries.com to reserve your spot at the Saturday events.

If you can use some posters and\or postcards advertising the event at your local church or Christian bookstore, please contact us at stpreach@gmail.com to get free promotional items. To download and print out the poster/postcard yourself, go to this page.

For weekly updates please, join Lost Cause Ministries' email list by contacting jon@lostcauseministries.com

Host churches:

CityChurchIntl is located 1530 North Carroll Ave, Dallas, TX 75204.

First Baptist Justin is located at 402 8th Street, Justin, TX 76247.

Sponsors:

Lost Cause Ministries
One Million Tracts
Streetpreacher in Texas

Daniel's prayer

We've been studying The Book of Daniel in our men's group. Even though his prayer was written 2500 years ago, I believe it can relate to the world we live in today. No matter how bad it seems, God is still in control!

Daniel 9:3-17 (NIV)

3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

4 I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed:
"O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, 5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

7 "Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. 8 O LORD, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. 9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; 10 we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you.
"Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. 12 You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. 13 Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. 14 The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.

15 "Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. 16 O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.

17 "Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. 18 Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name."

Abortion

Some say that there are circumstances like rape that there is a need for an abortion. Some say if the mother's life is in danger. Some just say it's a woman's choice. Does the baby deserve a choice?

A family member sent me a link to Eduardo Verástegui's website. This is a very strong message against abortion and some of the pictures are graphic. He's a very popular hispanic movie star who made it a mission to speak for those who don't have a voice. After watching this video, I don't know how people could continue to hold a prochoice view.

Guysforlife.org is a great website with some interesting video interviews. They interview men who look back to their teen years having had a girlfriend who had an abortion and how the experience still haunts them years later. They also interview men whose girlfriend/wife had the baby while they were barely adults and how the child changed their lives. Very stirring footage that makes you stop and think.

Aaron choose abortion interview

Reproductive "Choice" Campaign (RCC)posts images of aborted babies on their trucks and then drive them around town. Some say this is going too far. WARNING: Graphic material. What is a life worth if someone sees this and doesn't go through an abortion? But children can see this truck as well and isn't that bad? I'm not even going to pretend I have an answer for this. It's interesting to read the responses on their feedback page. They are either very positive or super negative.

There's a movie based on a true story called "22 Weeks" WARNING: Graphic material about a young woman trapped in the bathroom of an abortion clinic who watched helplessly as her baby died after being born alive. This film was made by Angel Manuel Soto Vasquez.

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From the 1966 movie Alfie a deleted scene about abortion:

"Finger of God" DVD movie - review

I first learned about Darren Wilson on Sid Roth's show this year. In an interview Darren explains that he was commissioned by an angel to travel the world and document the miraculous. Darren comes from a non-"Word of Faith" Christian background and was resistant at first to all this healing business but an angel forcefully urged him to make the movie and the money to make the movie made itself available. How could it not be of God - everything fit in place for him to make this movie? Intrigued by this, I purchased the movie.

First Darren visits church meetings in hotels where people magically get gold dust on their body parts, heavenly jewels appear in people's hands, and mysterious manna is baked in their bibles. Sad thing is I suppose we'll never really know in this lifetime if these people are sprinkling gold dust when someone is not looking or pulling out a planted blue jewel out of their pockets. Darren's own uncle and aunt developed some gold teeth at one of these prayer meetings. Another reason he choose to explore the world of healing stems from the fact that he knows his aunt and uncle and can vouch for them being reasonable, sane people.

I believe it doesn't hurt to air a word of caution. The Word-of-Faith gang tries so hard to justify it's goofiness in similar activities that they lack or rarely show any discernment even though recent modern history has proved many of these healing ministries are complete scams that ultimately turn many away from Christ. A recent example is Todd Bently's dying false-fire empire who they are still making excuses for him even after he's getting divorced, admitting a problem with alcohol and God only know what else he's been into. Even though the guy was into all that and never preached a true gospel, they believe people were saved at Lakeland or more importantly healed while Todd was kicking them in the face with his bikers boot.

The movie also interviews young people in the US who go out and ask to pray for people they meet who have visible physical problems. I can't verify from the footage whether the injured who are prayed for are truly healed or not. Of course Darren doesn't follow up with any of the people at a later period so it's hard to say. One thing really bothers me is that they don't share the gospel with these people they have just healed. One young man even admitted it's weird going out with no tracts or literature about Jesus. Is healing more important than saving grace?

As the movie progresses, Darren goes into Africa and shows some amazing footage of the underground Chinese church. I have to admit I was brought to tears with some of these scenes.

I can't say if this movie is of God or not of God. And there are some things that leave you scratching your head. One is I didn't hear the gospel presented (I guess Darren assumes the potential audience already knows it) and never once do you hear anything about the ugly word - repentance.

Pilgrims Progress - Journey to Heaven - movie review

Recently, I purchased a copy of Reelchristian's "Pilgrim's Progress - Journey to Heaven" DVD. Having read the book a few years ago I had the story fresh in mind and was eager to see how they would portray John Bunyan's timeless book. The website describes it as a modern retelling of a classic story. Overall, it's is a very compelling rendition of the story combining some modern touches along the backdrop of the literal story. I liked the cast and the scenery along the way is beautiful.

The movie sells for around $20 and I would highly recommend it. After watching it a few times, it challenged me ask whether I was getting off the path in my Christian walk.

From their website:
"The goal was to stay as faithful to the book and its’ Gospel message as possible. At this time, over 6,000 people have seen the film in test screenings, with over 200 people surrendering their lives to Jesus. It is humbling to know that God is using the film for His glory and it’s just getting out of the starting gate."

Fireproof - movie review

This weekend my wife and I went to see "Fireproof", the movie from the guys who made "Facing the Giants." I was floored by this movie, it's really good. Fireproof is well written and acted. It is funny with romance and some pretty intense parts as this young couple tries to decide whether to end their young marriage or not. Kirk Cameron of Way of the Master plays the part of Caleb Holt, a frustrated fire fighter whose marriage is falling apart. This role shows us a not-so-nice side of Kirk that was good to see he could pull it off. The movie even deals with the difficult subject of pornography. There is a strong gospel presentation from Harris Malcolm who plays Kirk's father. I really liked Mr. Malcolm's character, very strong presence. Overall, this movie glorifies Jesus Christ our savior in such a way I almost had to ask if I was dreaming seeing a movie like this in the local movie theater.

I want to stress this is a good movie. I rarely go out to see movies because we all know what the majority of it is these days. But when I do see a movie I am very critical so I was very much pleased to have been entertained and enlightened by this one. Please consider going out and supporting it.

Bart Blair - "All for you" ep

My friend and former band mate of the 80's has released his new ep entitled "All of you" from Mississauga, Canada. The five song ep features some great Christian worship music in the vein of Chris Thomlin. The songs are "Follow You," "Psalm 148," "All For You," "You Are My Friend," and "Love Song for the Creator." The songs are well thought out and I've been listening to them for several weeks.

He also has an ep he did in 2006 called "Lifewater," I'd recommend getting as well.

His myspace page to hear the tunes.

His webpage to purchase a copy.

Here's a blog I wrote about Bart when we both had a lot more hair.
Bart, a friend from my past.

Jesus sign

Orissa India

Have you heard about the persecution that Christians in Orissa India are suffering? Orissa is located on the eastern coast by the Bay of Bengal. Churches are being destroyed, their homes are being burned down, people are being martyred for their faith in Christ. We really need to be praying for them right now. We are all busy but please make time for that prayer today.

How can you get involved? Check out Gospel for Asia's website.

Here's an update on the situation in Orissa India from K.P. Yohannan of Gospel for Asia (Sept 15, 2008)

Lost Cause Ministries

Last Saturday, August 16, 2008, I helped Lost Cause Ministries run their booth at the North Texas State Fair in Denton, Texas with several other volunteers who have a much better grasp at witnessing than I do. Ironically, the last time I was at the fair grounds was in 1992 when one of my bands played there. The same old stage was there, but they had added quite a bit to the fairgrounds since then.


We had a great time handing out "One Million Dollar bill" tracts and 10 Commandment coins.

Please listen to the interview I did with Jon Speed about his ministry:

Jon Speed
Lost Cause Ministries

Blow out...

Interesting story, I bought a new car a couple of weeks ago and we had to take it out of town this weekend because our other new car developed a light on the dash directing us to go to the dealership as we were attempting to leave that morning.

We drove up to Tulsa to see some relatives. We took 75N and got stuck for an hour behind the tragic bus wreck in Sherman where 17 people died. We had no idea what was going on at the time until we arrived in Tulsa and someone told us about it.

Saturday, mid-morning, while driving from Tulsa to Oklahoma City on 44 we had a tire blow out. I thought we could change the flat and get right back on the road but the jack in our new car didn't go high enough. About two inches short of what we needed. We were stuck out there for nearly two hours in the hot August sun. And I was praying pretty hard for someone to stop to let us borrow their jack but no one did even with a 2 year old baby sitting with us on the hill by the side of the road. If you're ever in a situation like this do not stay in the car, people mistakenly ram parked cars on the side of the road.

The guy from the service call finally shows up. He had driven by about 30 min before but missed us because he thought we were at another location! The dude was quiet and not saying much I think he knew he had screwed up. So he jacks up my car and we get the tire on in 5 minutes. Without saying goodbye, he gets in his tow truck and waits for us to leave.

I reached into my bag and pulled out a Mark Cahill "One Heartbeat Away" book and walk over to his truck. His girlfriend opens the passenger window. I asked if he ever read. He said some. I gave him the book and said it was good and walked off. Not easy to do when I wanted to ream him for leaving my family on the side of the road so long in August heat.

While stuck on the side of the road, I tried to think about Paul while he was chained to Roman guards (Acts 27:1) & (Acts 28:16) or how he and Silas sang in the prison when an earthquake opened the prison doors (Acts 16:16-40). And, amazingly for me, at one small point I prayed for the people who kept driving by and not stopping to help us.

All came out well. When we stopped to eat in Oklahoma City, the temperature was well over 100 and I realized that God's wonderful mercy had saved us from that kind of heat on the side of the road with no cover!

Also, after we got back on the road we saw several cars on the side of the road and we didn't stop. If you do stop to help someone, be very careful of the situation.

Acts 16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.


After our roadside experience: lunch time at Del Ranchos in Moore

LAMININ

A friend forwarded this video link in an email to me and I have to admit it blew me away. I watched it several times. Pretty wild. Actually amazing really. It's a Louie Giglio sermon, I'm not sure what his other teaching is like but this is good.

Robb Bell Bullhorn response

Have you ever listened to Robb Bell's bullhorn response? Here's an interesting game if you're up for it - let's compare his response to Todd Friel's response. By watching these two videos you can get a good understanding between their views on evangelism, the emergent (postmodern-influenced) Christian vs a Christian who takes the Bible as the literal, absolute truth of God. Bell holds that God is love and you'll get there when it works out but don't sweat it (Jesus is a big love teddy bear) and Way of the Master teaches that your next breath is not guaranteed so don't delay in seeking out Jesus. Interesting.

Robb Bell's Bullhorn response:


Todd Friel of Way of the Master radio's response.


Bullwhip guy: (from PerishNot Ministries) Using film footage of Jesus driving the money changers out of the temple (Mark 11:15-17) as a fake Robb Bell gives his view that event.


Many churches are moving towards Bell's style of preaching. What is your church preaching? Are they ignoring difficult sections of the Bible and never mention sin or hell? If so, are you being fed?

When I came to Christ, I realized fairly quickly that many, many of my friends and family weren't saved and therefore going to hell. In 2002 I started attending a church that really wasn't into evangelism other than inviting friends to church or doing nice things for people. And what I am about to say may be a little controversial but from my experience as a believer (although not a long, long time believer but I've spent many hours watching for this), that the casual encounters with unbelievers unless really touched by God will not bring people to Christ through being nice. And if an emergent is honest, they build everything on being nice to people and doing things for people rather than sharing the gospel with people or telling them what the Bible says on different subjects. In my experience I have not seen anyone come to Christ just because I was nice to them at the grocery store (ie a random encounter with a person you meet once or twice). They don't ask what I have that was different from everyone else. Now I do believe that people you work with or see often can see the love of Christ in you in a way that can point them to Christ.

Now I want to point out that Way of Master does not endorse people who are meanspirited when preaching the gospel. That's not in love. (1 Corinthians 13:2) But to have the attitude that it's a bad thing and doing more harm than good to share the gospel to someone you meet on the street is so against what Jesus and his disciples did it's almost laughable to contend that in our modern times sharing the gospel with a stranger doesn't work anymore. What was one of the first things Jesus ever preached? In Matthew 4:17 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

I would love to challenge the emergent Christian who is reading this and not really liking what he's reading to ask him or herself are you more influenced by the Bible or by a humanistic belief that you can make the world better? And if you disagree this might be a problem, I challenge you again to dig into your Bible and ask God to reveal what he wants of your life instead of letting the Bell's and McLaren's of the world do your interpretation for you. Several years ago I know that I had to do this when I stopped reading many of the popular Christian books because I had to admit I was reading them more than the Bible!

Remember: 1 Timothy 3:16 "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,"

MEGACHURCHES!!!

I won't make the claim that all big, big churches are bad but what percentage would you say that are bad? Pretty high if we're comparing them to churches that are biblically rooted. In my opinion the postmodern mindset of many big, big church leaders is that church growth is more important that staying biblically sound. The message have been softened not to offend, quotes from the bible lessened to keep people awake and more giant screen TV previews of contemporary movies for the newbies to relate to. And really all they are saying with these actions is the Word of God is not good enough for people today so we have to jazz it up, add to it. The farther we move from the Word of God and dumb down the message the more we embrace weak teaching.

Below is a video I found that asks the modern church goer to ponder what we consider church to be today. How did Paul ever manage without giant TV screens and million dollar sound systems?



You may ask why this concerns me? In the last days before Jesus returns people will move away from sound teaching and embrace that which tickles the ear. And when I read the two sections of scripture below, they tend to cause me some concern over what I see happening in the evangelical church world today. I don't know when the end times will begin but I know we are called to watch and be prepared (Mark 13:33). Poor teaching in our churches, no matter what the size, will make the job of the antichrist and his minions that much easier when he herds uneducated Christians into a one world religious system.

1 Timothy 4:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

2 Timothy 4:2-5
2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.



Mark 13:33 "Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come."

Forwarded emails - call for discernment

I believe we could use a little discernment in the emails we forward. A good place to reference those with outrageous claims is www.snopes.com to verify if they are true. And if it's one of those emails that claims if you pass this along to ten people and you'll get a pot of gold or whatever- PLEASE DELETE THOSE!

Below is from an email I sent out in reference to RE: TEXAS COACH SPEAKS OUT.

I found a blog where this guy researched the RE: TEXAS COACH SPEAKS OUT email and it's partially true (see snopes) website. They say that abc claims it was an overzealous programmer that answered the coach's email so the email isn't abc's official position. But the reality is that even though abc came up with an email apologizing for this email response, many writers in Hollywood and most of the people who run the media are very pro-homosexual agenda.

The blog I got this info from the writer lives in the town of Childress and couldn't find a coach named Jim Neugent. He makes some good points about emails like this - it's worth reading this.
http://www.treymorgan.net/2007/03/jim-neugent-coach-from-childress-abc.html

Back in March I wrote an article about how today's writers in TV and movies tend to twist right and wrong in their story lines. There is so much in TV and movies we should really avoid these days. Esp if we have kiddos.
http://stpreach.blogspot.com/2008/03/moral-relativity-on-your-television-set.html

Rapture ready?

I'm not going to even touch the timing of the rapture (post or pre-trib). Instead I'm going to ask you a potentially tough question, are you ready for the rapture? If it happened tonight, would you be ready?

At the building I work in they recently forced the smokers away from the entrance of the building, farther off. Because of this, the smokers have discovered nature in the trees and small fountains away the building. Yesterday, I was told by one of the smokers that there was several cute baby ducks swimming in the small fountain near the new smoking area. Because of this I brought my camera to take pictures today. But when I asked a smoker if she had seen the baby ducks, she said they were not there. And she said the mother duck seemed to be waddling about searching for her little ones.

I realized that this situation is a powerful analogy on how unbelieving or backsliding parents will feel when their children are raptured and they are not. How people who's dear friends are raptured and they are not will find themselves.

Today I watched an interested video by Monica Dennington of Tic Toc Ministries who biblically defends the view that Christ wanted us to be focused on being ready for his return rather than focusing or arguing on the actual time of his return.



All of us are going to die at some point. We have no clue when our number's up. Here's a clip from a film called "Drifting" featuring Brett Bower as the bad guy. In this clip a pastor and his wife pick up a hitchhiker who pulls a gun on them and challenges the pastor as to whether he's ready to meet his maker or not. Very powerful.



This is an interesting video that you either rejoice at the end or get really mad. If this made you mad, please think about what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 13:5-6 "5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? 6 And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test."



God bless,
Steve

LONG HOT SUMMER

One of my friends made the most profound statement when he described adult life by stating how we used to look forward to summer as kids but as adults it's basically just a beating that you endure till September. I'm not very good at planning vacations so I've never built those in to help with the long hot summer in north Texas. As a byproduct of the heat, I usually feel tired and not at all inspired when it comes to writing my blogs. During these times I've tried to dig in the Word of God.

My friend, Bill, likes to work with wood. He made little wooden crosses for all the guys in our men's group and told us we could pick a verse from the Bible that he would burn into the crosses. I picked the end of 2 Corinthians 12:10 - "For when I am weak then I am strong."

When in doubt, turn to the Word of God.

Prophecy

Prophecy (def) n 1: knowledge of the future (usually said to be obtained from a divine source) 2: a prediction uttered under divine inspiration

John Nieder discusses the signs of the times through the lens of Bible prophecy in the clips below:

PORN

Is porn bad for a Christian?

For the Christian that thinks the porn industry isn't so bad, I would refer them to Shelley Lubben's website. Shelley's an ex-porn star, ex-prostitude who came to Christ and now has a ministry to help educate people about what it is like to live/work in the world of pornography. She reveals that drugs/alcohol/sexual diseases run rampant and although they make good money they tend to blow whatever they make. The damage to these people's lives is devastating and some take their own lives after only a short career. After listening to her story, it's hard to claim no one's getting hurt by watching pornography. And whether we want to admit it or not, if we watch these movies we are watching someone's daughter/son in a legalized form of prostitution.

Having said all of that let me say that I’ve struggled with pornography most of my life. The Internet has made it a whole lot easier to get it as opposed to not just 10 years ago you had to drive some place or mail order.

As a believer in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”), we are called to not be of the world (see Galatians 5:16-26) and if we slip or fall into lust we must repent and turn from it. And not make the excuse that everyone does it...

Shelley recommends digging into the Bible for help. Her favorite Bible verse is 2 Corinthians 10:5 “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Another ministry that helps with porn addiction is
Pure Life Ministries.

I am currently using a porn filter (X3Pro) from XXXChurch which emails the websites that you visit to up to three accountability partners every week.

Evil Chuck of Death, a Christian or just spiritual?

Was Evil Chuck of the death metal band Death, a Christian or just spiritual at the time of his death in 2001? He had battled cancer for over two years and possibly this challenged what he believed. As I tried to find an answer to this question, I was amazed at the death metal fans who considered him a traitor or worse because he might had been a Christian. Statements from his mother simply stated that he had always been very spiritual never stating him as a follower of Christ. I searched the Internet high and low and couldn't find anything on him making a declaration of faith in Christ.

I have a friend who was on tour with Chuck in the 80s and many of the stories weren't very flattering. He would take the shirts bands would give him and put them on the steps of their tour bus to step on them. He wasn't very positive towards fans that came up to meet him either. He sounded like a pretty complicated guy. He might have been different in the 90s and I admit I never met him. I did see him play at Joe's Garage in the late 80s and I was amazed to see a blue-eyed baby-faced Chuck spout out such deep, guttural death groans.

Recently, as I was listening to the second song on Spiritual Healing, "Altering the Future," the question of the late great Chuck's beliefs came up. "Altering the Future" appears to describe abortion as murder that calls for the death of women who have had an abortion. I didn't hold antiabortion views at this time in the 80s. I believed in the horrible lie of abortion until 2002 when I became a believer. And, obviously, I don't believe that women who have abortions should be killed, they have a chance to repent of this sin and some truly have repented after having one. So all of this got me to thinking as to whether he had come to Christ or not. Chuck probably knew that there was a good chance he was going to die during his struggle with cancer.

In the Christian world we see a lot of people who claim to be spiritual but there's a big difference between being spiritual and knowing and trusting in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. The Bible states that there is one way to Heaven and that is through the blood of Jesus Christ. The world will tell you different and if you listen to some of Chuck's former fans Christianity is bad and has harmed society. But that's a subject for another blog.... I just hope Chuck decided to trust in Jesus before he died from brain cancer in 2001.

Altering The Future (lyrics)

Creating a life only to destroy
Saved from a life of the unemployed
Where crime is the only way to survive
Which is the best to be dead or alive?
Maybe a chance but maybe not
Born to be thrown in the trash to rot
To exist in this world may be a mistake
The one who is with child, it's their choice to make

Death and life taken so easily
Right or wrong, whose choice will it be?

Abortion, when it is needed
Execution, for those who deserve it
The giving and taking of life will always be
Altering the future

Look into the future to prepare us for our fate
Controlling our existence with every life we take

Life for a life should remain the rule
The innocent victim that is what's cruel
Look to the past is what we should do
When justice was done and justice was true
Using our laws to help their escape
An easy way out is what they create
Claiming insane is the way to freedom
People are stupid enough to believe them

Death and life taken so easily
Right or wrong, whose choice will it be?

Abortion, when it is needed
Execution, for those who deserve it
The giving and taking of life will always be

BONO

I have to admit I'm really sick of hearing U2 music in churches.

Why do Christians glorify Bono? Before I came to Christ in 2002, I was a fan of U2 and have seen them twice in concert during the 90s. And from knowing their lyrics and even how they portrayed themselves in concert, there wasn't much Christian about them that I ever witnessed.

This video takes a hard look at U2's lyrics and the songs they choose to cover. This is a must see for anyone who thinks "I still haven't found what I'm looking for" is a Christian song or is glorying Christ:








Matthew 7:15-16
15 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

What is the Emergent Church?

I have mentioned the term "Emergent Church" to several Christian friends and they are not familiar with term so I thought it's important to define it. Quite a few churches now are experimenting with some of the practices of the emergent church movement which at first come across as good ideas but can be very deceptive. You often hear people like Rick Warren say they want to change the way we "do" church. This is a good warning sign that you're about to hear some Emergent teaching mixed in with good teaching. The more liberal teachings of the emergent church I find are more deceptive, dangerous than a Marilyn Manson or Slayer because you know where they're coming from.

Definition: (from Encyclopedia) : "a label that has been used to refer to a particular subset of Christians who are rethinking Christianity against the backdrop of Postmodernism....

VOTM radio Todd Friel interviews John MacArthur about Brian McLaren's social gospel, one of the leaders of the emergent movement. MacArthur points out how the more liberal emergents believe that Jesus came to fix the world (Liberation Theology), and how they want to move away from teaching of sin. As Todd Friel has paraphrased them, "We can spend all our time making the world a better place so they can go to hell from." And another disturbing aspect to some emergents is that they do not accept the Bible as absolutely true. This is a must listen!

Recently I read an article on the web by Brian McLaren where he basically doesn't answer question posed to him on his church's stance on homosexuality and then tries to make the reader feel guilty for even wanting to know his answer. This guy is slick. When he later reveals that the couple who asked the question has a parent who is now gay and they want to know if the father and his partner can come to a wedding if they hold it there, it's almost like he's triumphant at this point attempting to make us feel guilty. You can't even tell if he answered their question from this article. He seems to imply people might come to Christ if we're wishy-washy tolerant.

Taken from that article:
"Perhaps we need a five-year moratorium on making pronouncements. In the meantime, we'll practice prayerful Christian dialogue, listening respectfully, disagreeing agreeably."

The last thing we ought to do according to this emergent guru is go to the Bible and actually see what God says. Now if McLaren went to the Bible he'd most probably pull out something like "The Message" so he can manipulate the meaning into the nothingness he's shooting for.

This is very similar to Joel Osteen - they doesn't wan to offend people. Jesus never offended anyone, did he? They put him on the cross because he tickled their ears? But they think things are different now in this crazy modern world? Their view is that we need to modify how we teach Christianity to be effective.

This is the kind of mindset many leaders of the mega-churches want to embrace as they throw old seeker sensitive methods on the dung hill and look for the next big thing. Six Flags over Jesus hasn't worked well for them. Now they turn to affirming, non threatening, kind and never state anything definite on the big questions just like a big teddy bear.

I was in a grocery store the other day and I witnessed an older white gentleman get mad at the cashier and manager because something wasn't working the way he wanted it. He stormed out and those minimum wage workers just shook their heads. And I thought you know that's bad when a Christian acts like that in public (I'm not saying this guy was or wasn't). But what I believe the emergents have allowed themselves to be formed by our postmodern society into thinking is that they don't want to be like the rude Christian in public when asked hard questions the Bible is straightforward in answering. I have no clue how it helps people to hear a sugar coated the message of the gospel, it certainly doesn't challenge them to repent, turn from their sins. And the tough questions can be answered in love without malice but there will be times that people hearing those answers will not be happy with the answer. Now McLaren in this article goes one step further by not even answering the question and then wants you to believe he's brilliant with his zen-like tolerance. Oprah would be clapping, "You, go girl!"

Here's an interesting quote from Mark Driscoll, founder of Mars Hill Church in Seattle.
"In the mid-1990s I was part of what is now known as the Emerging Church and spent some time traveling the country to speak on the emerging church in the emerging culture on a team put together by Leadership Network called the Young Leader Network. But, I eventually had to distance myself from the Emergent stream of the network because friends like Brian McLaren and Doug Pagitt began pushing a theological agenda that greatly troubled me. Examples include referring to God as a chick, questioning God's sovereignty over and knowledge of the future, denial of the substitutionary atonement at the cross, a low view of Scripture, and denial of hell which is one hell of a mistake." – Mark Driscoll

Mark Driscoll discusses the emerging church.

John Davis of Superdrag

John Davis is the leader singer and guitarist for the power pop band, Superdrag. I was lucky enough to see them play at The Galaxy Club in Dallas around 1995. A friend had dragged me to see an industrial metal band but all I can remember from that nite is Superdrag who opened the show. They dressed and sounded very much like a heavy Beatles and the lead guitarist looked like Roy Obison's little brother. The audience consisted only of apathetic goth kids who Davis berated and finally stomped off the stage in disgust because of lack of participation. To be honest he came off looking like a fool more than cool. I have no idea why they were on the bill and wonder if that show inspired Davis to write "Do the Vampire" for the next Superdrag album.

A year later I would borrow their first album "Regretfully Yours" from Dan, a friend at work, and listened to it nonstop for a long period of time. It took me a while to figure out they were the band I had seen opening for the industrial metal band.



I quit following the Superdrag till 2000 when I found them on the internet and discovered that the band with a new bassist, Sam Powers, had written an incredible album, "The Valley of Dying Stars," a power pop epic. I saw them live again a couple times in Dallas at Club Clearview.

A few years later, I was surprised and pleased to hear that John Davis had become a Christian. He had grown up strict Baptist but had fallen away from the faith in his teenage years. During his Superdrag resurgence in 2002 he had been drinking quite a bit and one day while driving his car felt the Holy Spirit hit him pretty hard. So he sobered up and quit doing Superdrag. He released a self-titled album in 2005 and in 2007 Arigato! Both dealing with Christian themes. I feel a little kinship to him since I came to Christ in 2002 as well.

Currently, he's touring with Superdrag again with original bassist, Tom Pappas. When I checked his myspace page to help with the writing of this blog, I don't see any mention of Christ and I hope he hasn't chosen the coolness over proclaiming his love for Christ because I know from my own experience acting cool does not bring people to the Lord.

His web site
( ( (( superdrag.com )) ) )

The Cult of Oprah & her New Age teachings

Panthesism (definition) is the view that everything is an all-encompassing, immanent abstract God.

Oprah's always pushing the cutting edge of the feel-good self-help gurus and once she places her approval on their book or DVD, it sells like hotcakes. Unfortunately, most of the stuff she endorses is deeply rooted in New Age teachings. What's scary is many of her fans call themselves Christians. Is she helping to program people to view Christians who view the Bible as the absolute Word of God as fringe fanatics? Since many post modern Christians believe they have salvation and can act and do pretty much what they want unless they slip and kill someone, they aren't spending too much time reading in their Bibles. Why read that old book when Oprah's going to give you something that feeds the flesh and doesn't make you feel guilty?

I have been looking for a good Biblical study on the subject and thanks to a heads up from my neighbor, Judy, I found a sermon by Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas from last Sunday, April 20, 2008.



Below is a clip from a Sid Roth show in which the testimony of a New Age yoga guru, Mike Shreve, who came to Christ is presented. At the end Mike describes very clearly what the New Age beliefs are as opposed to a belief in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The New Age description is strikingly similar to what Oprah professes to believe.



Here's another video on this:



Please be careful there is a lot of deception out there these days!

2 Timothy 4:2-5
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned to fables.
5 But watch in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of your ministry.

North Korea

This is a powerful and sobering account of the atrocities that occur in North Korea. Please pray daily for these people as well as the persecuted church around the world.



Taken from video description on Godtube:
PRAY UNTIL SOMETHING HAPPENS: There are 23 million people in this atheist State with a heavily fortified 250 mile border to the South with South Korea. NK is widely recognised as the most secretive nation in the world dominated by the Kim family, and today by Kim Jung-Il the ruling despot. The thoughts and writings of his father, Kim Il Sung control all of society and stand in direct conflict with the freedoms of the Gospel. There is widespread abuse of believers, extensive famine in rural areas, a moribund economy and zero toleration of criticism

This is another video that tells the story of a North Korean man named Kim Chul Min. OpenDoorsUSA has a great website striving to help and inform about the persecuted church.

Voice of the Martyrs is an organization that attempts to help the people of North Korea.

Memorial speech for my dad 2006

This is the email I sent out two years ago:

I’d like to thank everyone that came out to my dad’s memorial yesterday. He would have been pretty overwhelmed by the response, I know I was. I’d also like to thank everyone that has been there for my mom as well.

Below I’ve included the speech I tried to get out yesterday- that was one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do. I’ve also included the lyrics to the song I wrote about him in 1991. My mom told me that after she played it for him- he cried. Still brings a tear to the eye when I think about that.

God bless,
Steve


JFM Memorial Speech by his son – April 23, 2006

Jim F Murphy passed away 12:30 am on April the 21st. He was peaceful, they had him on morphine so I don’t think he suffered. Tough thing to watch someone die let alone your own dad, but he had made his peace and went to his reward. As Coach Fergie said, “It’s a hard thing.” Dad had everyone around him he loved and had had time earlier in the day to say goodbye. I told him I loved him which up until yesterday was something I had never said in person to him.

He had suffered quite a bit in these last six months with his battle with cancer, but I’m here to tell you he fought until the end. He was really a FIGHTER. It was amazing to watch him even at the end. When I die I can only hope for a portion of the courage that he displayed going through this. And although it was tough on him, he had time to be around his loved ones and let them tell him how they feel. He also renewed his faith in Christ in this period of his life. I think he was lucky in that over the past two years he knew things were serious, and he had time to reflect on the afterlife. I really think that was a blessing which most of us can’t be guaranteed that luxury. We’re moving at lightning speed, and we don’t realize that life is but a second. And now, knowing that my dad’s gone, kicks me in the head in a way that can only scream – every moment in your life is precious. And all I’m saying is that if you aren’t sure about where you’re going when you die, make the time because tomorrow is not guaranteed.

Looking back on my dad’s life, I can see the many friends he worked with. I remember one story about him at JYC, and they were doing a wastewater controls project. Another project manager, Weldon, was having trouble with one of their clients “the city of whatever”, he told them he was going to have to send Murphy in if they didn’t get their act together. The customer, looking horrified at the prospect of my dad coming in, said “Not the Sidewinder!” He played bad cop quite well.

He was also a great manager. It’s sad that today most people seem to have lost this art. My dad was a stand up guy who went to bat for the people who worked for him. People loved to work for him and remember him years and years after he worked for them. He was also amazing how he could get the best out of the people who worked for him and get them to be more productive than before. Now don’t get me wrong, if things didn’t work out, he would send in the Sidewinder. I worked with my dad at Team Controls as engineering aide in 1995. This was my first experience with computers and over the 3 years he helped get several of my friends to work there who eventually went to somewhat better things – Microsoft for them and my own company for me.

My dad’s passion in life next to his family was baseball. Man, he loved baseball. All the way back to Sulphur, Oklahoma, in the 50’s while he was still in high school, he dreamt of playing in the majors and getting picked up by a farm team for the pros. That life didn’t happen, and he went on to become an engineer. But he always kept that love, and I know he loved watching and coaching Todd and I play when we were young. Todd played catcher in high school when Coppell went to state, which I know meant the world to him. In later years, he would help coach select baseball teams around the area. Last week, I have one cherished time when we watched Pedro Martinez win his 200th game. He was dozing off, but after every inning, I would wake him by telling him what was going on. Another great memory is when he and I took a trip to Chicago, and we saw a Cubs day game at Wriggly Field so many years ago.

My dad was always the provider. He was there for us and always took care of things and didn’t want us to worry. He never would let me pay for meals but if you ask some friends like Rick, he’d say I didn’t want to pay. And that was true when I was younger, but now I want to pay because what he gave me as a son is beyond words. He was a great dad in a world where a lot of people don’t have that privilege.

My dad’s main love was his family. I know he loved to spent time with his grandbaby, Molly, and was excited about Lily’s and my new arrival this fall -- Moo Goo Gai Pan Murphy. The last thing I said to him was that Lily was going to make a boy, so she’s working on that. And I know he truly loved my mom - - the love of his life. Even though he didn’t always tell her how he felt and could get grumpy like all men, he truly loved her, and she knows that. And I think he was pretty proud of his boys, both of whom owned their own businesses and married some pretty special girls who can deal with the Murphy mystique.

My dad wouldn’t want us to be too sad right now. I know him pretty well, because in a lot of ways, I’ve become him. I inherited his humor, his Irish temper, his love of food that’s bad for me and an intense love of cursing loudly. His birthday is one day after mine and I know this year, when December 5th rolls around (his birthday,) I will miss him just like I am now. He was a great guy, and we’ll miss him.


Admission

And the days go by so mercilessly
I thought I was wise to the ways of man
People and places, work of the world, to make those demands
I’ve seen changes and life in unto me.

Chorus:
And I’ll ways knew you were there for me
And I know it’s something to have some who cares
It’s always there being your son
It’s always there being

Still the days go by carrying me and my dreams
People and places, work of the world, to make those dreams
But I found the truth as you once told me of

Chorus:

Bridge-
The ways of the world we’ll never understand
The ways of the world diseased, refrain

And the days have gone and things that must be said are left until the end
People and places, work of the world, demands and more dreams
Are nothing compared to how I love you

Chorus

Note: If you read the lyrics to the last verse it’s pretty ironic how I wrote 15 years ago – “And the days have gone and things that must be said are left until the end.” I never told my dad in person I loved him till two days before he died.

John Nieder - a Man of God that I Know

I've had the privilege studying under John's teachings in my men's group (Men of the Word) for several years and he is truly an amazing teacher. In an day and age when many preachers are toying with dangerous "new ways of doing church," John focuses on Biblical teachings. Since the 80s he has been on the air with "The Art of Family Living" and for several years has had a weekly show on John DeBrine's Songtime about prophecy which I would highly recommend in the day and age we live in.

In 2007 he started a church in Coppell called The Chapel which has been another avenue I've enjoyed hearing his teaching. He has authored several books, including What You Need to Tell Your Child About Sex (Thomas Nelson Publishers), Forgive and Love Again (with Dr. Thomas M. Thompson, Harvest House Publishers) and The Marriage Maker (Harvest House Publishers), and The Wake-up Call, Hope for the 9/11 Generation (Xulon Press).

In November John had to be taken to the hospital and he was unconscious for a period of time. During this I remember crying out to the Lord, "You can't take him yet we need him." Since that time he's recovered fully and appears to me that he's stronger than before his time in the hospital. The Lord can makes us stronger when he's challenged us.

John's website
John's blog

Top excuses why people don't believe...

1 - Bible has mistakes.
2 - Bible was written by man.
3 - Hypocrites in church.
4 - Religion causes war.
5 - Evolution
6 - Hell is unreasonable.
7 - I don't believe in it therefore it doesn't exist.
8 - Jesus didn't exist.
9 - Jesus didn't really die on the cross.

How do you react when people say this to you?
***Taken this from a WOTM radio show in Dec 2007.

Don Piper in Lewisville Thursday nite

Thursday nite I went to hear Don Piper speak at the First Baptist Church in Lewisville on April 3, 2008. He spoke about his near death experience (NDE) and painful recovery from a fatal car wreck he had in a rural Texas area in 1989. Check his website for more detail.

It's an interesting story how I came across his. One weekend in 2007 I was watching my baby while my wife was at work. During this time it was just easier to stay home so I was switching through the channels on TV and I stopped on one because I thought the speaker looked like Grissom on CSI. And as I watched with the sound off, I could somehow tell it was a NDE story. Interested I turned up the volume. The weird thing was they kept showing this bridge that looked just like a bridge that I used to travel to get to my grandmother's house in rural Houston about 20 minutes east of Huntsville. When he said Highway 19 I knew exactly where he had had his fatal accident. I remember holding my breath more than once going over that bridge many years ago. After the show was over, I called my grandmother and asked her about it. She said she hadn't heard about it possibly because they had not moved to Trinity yet. I went out and bought his book and when done gave it to my grandmother who read it.

I would like to make the point you have to be very careful with stories about NDEs or out of body experiences because if they are not of God, they are of the enemy. Piper's story is very convincing and his brief experience in Heaven brings joy to the heart of any believer in Christ. Everyone who hears about these stories must ask himself or herself if it challenges you to the feet of your Savior or towards the world?

During his talk he gave examples of people that his book had helped. A strong theme running through most of his message urged people to get a "New Normal," that many people who have suffered tragedy needed to turn the page and ask God to help them get on with their lives. He can ask this as he is a walking example of a person who had had a lot of horrible things happen to him but God used his tragedy to spread the gospel and help people. Another point he made was he believed that if you aren't dead "the main reason we're here is to get people to Heaven." I was pleased to hear him make an appeal to share the gospel.

I found his speech to be solid Biblically. He stressed that not all roads lead to Heaven and stated that Christ was the only way to Heaven. He also asked people to pray more "We have not because we don't pray." He made the distinction that God can say No to our prayers and that this isn't "name or claim it." From his own experience he said that he had seen that prayer can still produce miracles.


We were in Trinity last weekend for a funeral and I took a picture of the bridge where Don had his accident. Driving through again made me remember how tense I used to get when going through. Good thing it's no longer the main bridge used.

Watch this! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!

Listen to this!!!

Or read this:
http://www.bibleword.com/rfyl.htm

PASTOR CARTER CONLON
CO-PASTOR, TIME SQUARE CHURCH - New York City