When you have 40 min. to watch a sermon, check all 4 parts of this. They are 4 parts at 10 minutes a piece. Part four is titled lamminin. If you have ever faced impossible odds, or you feel that your problems are too small, and God really does not care. Or if you feel that God is way out there and we are here, please watch this. It will rock your world.
Part 1 - How Great Is Our God
Part 2 - How Great Is Our God part 2
Part 3 - Lamminin
Part 4 - Lamminin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_82lZ2PpYQE
Blessings,
Craig
Saturday
Friday
"Beware of the Doghouse"
This video is hilarious! Beware men. By the way this would be a great video clip for a marriage series.
http://bewareofthedoghouse.com/VideoPage.aspx
Blessings,
Craig
http://bewareofthedoghouse.com/VideoPage.aspx
Blessings,
Craig
Wednesday
Appreciate
The word appreciate literally means to take inventory of, to access the value of something, to return back. As we get ready for the food, family, football, and fun this Thanksgiving, have you taken the time to appreciate those that God has placed in your life? Who has blessed you that you have not taken the time to appreciate them? What blessing has been left unreciprocated?
Ps 116:12
12 What shall I render to the LORD
For all His benefits toward me?
NKJV
Gal 6:6-10
6 Be Generous and Do Good
Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches.
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.
NKJV
Paul says let him who has received something, return something back. If everything in life operates in cycles, a females reproductive organs, trees, grass, seasons, reproductive life... As we have learned the process of life is reciprocity. It is everything that lives receives and gives life. The moment we stop giving or receiving, we become like the Dead Sea or swamps where there is no life or fruitfulness. Jesus said give and it shall be given unto you pressed down, shaken together and running over men shall pour out into your lap, and with the measure you give, you shall receive (Luke 6:38).
If you give a little bit of kindness, you will receive a little bit back.
If you help somebody in need, when you are in need someone will help you.
If you can't find any good help in your business, were you good help for those you worked for?
If you want understanding, you must give understanding.
The power of this revelation is this, if you don't like what you are receiving, change what you are sowing. Everything in life starts in seed form. The law is whatsoever a man sows that will he also reap. If you don't like your harvest, change your seed.
The word behave is broken down into be have. Most people believe that if I have, I will be. If I have more money, then I will be more wealthy, If I get a new job, I will be more happy, if I get a new wife... The reality is if you have something but you are not process into the necessary development (capacity) to manage it, you will lose it. It is proven in the study of those who win instant wealth, but not very far down the road, they are worse off than they started. Why? Because they were never process into the necessary development to properly manage what same out of the seed.
Inside of you are seeds of greatness, great wealth, prosperity, fulfilled dreams, a abundant life. It's already inside of you in seed form. But as we learned God is not obligated to rain on your seeds until you are mature enough to manage them. If I want to have it, I must first be it. If I want peace in my home, I must first be peace. If I want to have prosperity, I must first be prosperity. If I become it, I can have it! If I want to have a great harvest, I must become a great sower.
One way you can do this, is take inventory of every person who has taught you something (increased your level of living) and start reciprocating back to them. This will break the cycle of famine and release a cycle of continual increase and harvest. Thanksgiving is nothing more than reciprocating back to someone who has increased your level of living, which keeps you in a season of perpetual blessing.
It is not an coindidence that the two wealthiest men in the world are Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, they are also the biggest givers. Those who give much, will recieve much.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Craig
Ps 116:12
12 What shall I render to the LORD
For all His benefits toward me?
NKJV
Gal 6:6-10
6 Be Generous and Do Good
Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches.
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.
NKJV
Paul says let him who has received something, return something back. If everything in life operates in cycles, a females reproductive organs, trees, grass, seasons, reproductive life... As we have learned the process of life is reciprocity. It is everything that lives receives and gives life. The moment we stop giving or receiving, we become like the Dead Sea or swamps where there is no life or fruitfulness. Jesus said give and it shall be given unto you pressed down, shaken together and running over men shall pour out into your lap, and with the measure you give, you shall receive (Luke 6:38).
If you give a little bit of kindness, you will receive a little bit back.
If you help somebody in need, when you are in need someone will help you.
If you can't find any good help in your business, were you good help for those you worked for?
If you want understanding, you must give understanding.
The power of this revelation is this, if you don't like what you are receiving, change what you are sowing. Everything in life starts in seed form. The law is whatsoever a man sows that will he also reap. If you don't like your harvest, change your seed.
The word behave is broken down into be have. Most people believe that if I have, I will be. If I have more money, then I will be more wealthy, If I get a new job, I will be more happy, if I get a new wife... The reality is if you have something but you are not process into the necessary development (capacity) to manage it, you will lose it. It is proven in the study of those who win instant wealth, but not very far down the road, they are worse off than they started. Why? Because they were never process into the necessary development to properly manage what same out of the seed.
Inside of you are seeds of greatness, great wealth, prosperity, fulfilled dreams, a abundant life. It's already inside of you in seed form. But as we learned God is not obligated to rain on your seeds until you are mature enough to manage them. If I want to have it, I must first be it. If I want peace in my home, I must first be peace. If I want to have prosperity, I must first be prosperity. If I become it, I can have it! If I want to have a great harvest, I must become a great sower.
One way you can do this, is take inventory of every person who has taught you something (increased your level of living) and start reciprocating back to them. This will break the cycle of famine and release a cycle of continual increase and harvest. Thanksgiving is nothing more than reciprocating back to someone who has increased your level of living, which keeps you in a season of perpetual blessing.
It is not an coindidence that the two wealthiest men in the world are Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, they are also the biggest givers. Those who give much, will recieve much.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Craig
Monday
Psalm of Thanksgiving
Ps 116:12
12 What shall I render to the LORD
For all His benefits toward me?
NKJV
As we approach the Thanksgiving Holiday, I want to take a moment and reflect on all that God has done for me. He has been truly faithful even when I have been faithless. Almost a couple of months ago I was layed off from my job. Because of God's faithfullness, we have not gone without. We don't know how He did it, but God has provided, and we have been sustained by His Grace and Mercy. Thank you God for taking care of us.
Many of life's trials come unexpectedly without warning. You get a report from the doctar, you find out your kid is on drugs, you lose a loved one who seemed to be healthy, your best friend betrays your confidance, you get blamed for something you didn't do, your husband walks out on you. All of these things happend without warning.
David the psalmist said what do I do when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. When trouble comes, I am thankful that I serve a God that knows the end from the begginning and He is never caught off guard, in fact He has already made a way out of my trouble, and is working everything out for my good and His purpose. God is faithful every day, and His mercy is new every morning, great is His faithfullness.
David ask a powerful question here. What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits towards me? The primary sign that you are walking into maturity is when you understand that life demands you give something back. Paul said when I was a child I thought like a child, spoke as a child, understood as a child...
The characteristic of a child is he always sees things to his advantage. What's in it for me? What can I get out of it? How can it benefit me? I want what is mine. I have 5 girls and when they come home from school they used to go right into the kitchen, open up the refridgerator, take out the milk pour them some milk, open the cupboard and get out the Oreos and go sit down and watch television, all the while they leave the empty carton on the counter, and they didn't think to leave milk for the next morning for Kelloggs corn flakes, and they didn't close the regrigerator door, wasting electricity... Why> The nature of a child is to think of nobody but themselves, while you pay the bills.
This childish nature thinks everything revolves around me. It takes no thought of the needs of others , or the consequence of my actions that affects those around me.
Maturity is defined as responsibility, it is understanding that there are benefits to relationships, to being a part of a house of faith, to living under the care of another and father , to serving a God who daily loads us with benefits. There is no better feeling than when one of my children sees me doing something and they say, Daddy let me do it, or when I come home the house is clean and the laundry is done and dinner is on the table. There is no better feeling than when they do something to give back without me having to ask them to do it. It is called responsibility.
The law of the earth is reciprocity, it is the law of seed time and harvest, it is how the earth operates. Rain comes down, then begins the process of evaporation, it gathers as vapor and moisture it goes back up into the heavens and forms rain clouds, and rains down again. It is the process by which it makes sure there is rain for another day. When you break this process it results in drought.
When a tree sheds its leaves in fall, they fall to the ground and die, then they fertilize the soil so that the ground can provide nutrients to the trunk of the tree , so that the tee can begin to produce leaves for another day, and when you break this process, the tree will begin to die.
Jesus said when you give pressed down, shaken together, and running over, then men will give back to you. If you release it from you, it will come back to you. But the day you hold it and break this process, famine begins. When we come to Church with a consumer mentality and are always taking but never giving anything back... We want the benefits but we don't want to release benefits back.
We need to be asking, what can I give back? How can I be a blessing? If you want to have friends, you need to first be friendly, if you want life to bless you, then you need to first bless it, if you want people to give to you, then you need to be a giver, if you want people to treat you kind, then you need to first be kind. It is the difference in marriage of lust and love. Lust always takes, but love gives.
This thanksgiving season, why don't you take inventory of the blessings and benefits you have received and give back. Instead of expecting your mom or wife to make Thanksgiving dinner to feed 10, 20, 30... Why don't you take the time to offer to do something special back, find ways to bless them back. If when you go out for dinner somebody always pays the tab, why don't you pay the tab. Instead of going to Church week after week and enjoying the benefit of having a Pastor who feeds you well, prays for you, the anointing on His life causes your life to rise, why don't you find a special way to give something special back. let your Pastors know how much you appreciate them, love them and value them. Why? Because what you don't value and reward will eventually exit your life. The moment we top being reciprocal we become the false image of Thanksgiving. A stuffed Turkey.
Blessings,
Craig
12 What shall I render to the LORD
For all His benefits toward me?
NKJV
As we approach the Thanksgiving Holiday, I want to take a moment and reflect on all that God has done for me. He has been truly faithful even when I have been faithless. Almost a couple of months ago I was layed off from my job. Because of God's faithfullness, we have not gone without. We don't know how He did it, but God has provided, and we have been sustained by His Grace and Mercy. Thank you God for taking care of us.
Many of life's trials come unexpectedly without warning. You get a report from the doctar, you find out your kid is on drugs, you lose a loved one who seemed to be healthy, your best friend betrays your confidance, you get blamed for something you didn't do, your husband walks out on you. All of these things happend without warning.
David the psalmist said what do I do when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. When trouble comes, I am thankful that I serve a God that knows the end from the begginning and He is never caught off guard, in fact He has already made a way out of my trouble, and is working everything out for my good and His purpose. God is faithful every day, and His mercy is new every morning, great is His faithfullness.
David ask a powerful question here. What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits towards me? The primary sign that you are walking into maturity is when you understand that life demands you give something back. Paul said when I was a child I thought like a child, spoke as a child, understood as a child...
The characteristic of a child is he always sees things to his advantage. What's in it for me? What can I get out of it? How can it benefit me? I want what is mine. I have 5 girls and when they come home from school they used to go right into the kitchen, open up the refridgerator, take out the milk pour them some milk, open the cupboard and get out the Oreos and go sit down and watch television, all the while they leave the empty carton on the counter, and they didn't think to leave milk for the next morning for Kelloggs corn flakes, and they didn't close the regrigerator door, wasting electricity... Why> The nature of a child is to think of nobody but themselves, while you pay the bills.
This childish nature thinks everything revolves around me. It takes no thought of the needs of others , or the consequence of my actions that affects those around me.
Maturity is defined as responsibility, it is understanding that there are benefits to relationships, to being a part of a house of faith, to living under the care of another and father , to serving a God who daily loads us with benefits. There is no better feeling than when one of my children sees me doing something and they say, Daddy let me do it, or when I come home the house is clean and the laundry is done and dinner is on the table. There is no better feeling than when they do something to give back without me having to ask them to do it. It is called responsibility.
The law of the earth is reciprocity, it is the law of seed time and harvest, it is how the earth operates. Rain comes down, then begins the process of evaporation, it gathers as vapor and moisture it goes back up into the heavens and forms rain clouds, and rains down again. It is the process by which it makes sure there is rain for another day. When you break this process it results in drought.
When a tree sheds its leaves in fall, they fall to the ground and die, then they fertilize the soil so that the ground can provide nutrients to the trunk of the tree , so that the tee can begin to produce leaves for another day, and when you break this process, the tree will begin to die.
Jesus said when you give pressed down, shaken together, and running over, then men will give back to you. If you release it from you, it will come back to you. But the day you hold it and break this process, famine begins. When we come to Church with a consumer mentality and are always taking but never giving anything back... We want the benefits but we don't want to release benefits back.
We need to be asking, what can I give back? How can I be a blessing? If you want to have friends, you need to first be friendly, if you want life to bless you, then you need to first bless it, if you want people to give to you, then you need to be a giver, if you want people to treat you kind, then you need to first be kind. It is the difference in marriage of lust and love. Lust always takes, but love gives.
This thanksgiving season, why don't you take inventory of the blessings and benefits you have received and give back. Instead of expecting your mom or wife to make Thanksgiving dinner to feed 10, 20, 30... Why don't you take the time to offer to do something special back, find ways to bless them back. If when you go out for dinner somebody always pays the tab, why don't you pay the tab. Instead of going to Church week after week and enjoying the benefit of having a Pastor who feeds you well, prays for you, the anointing on His life causes your life to rise, why don't you find a special way to give something special back. let your Pastors know how much you appreciate them, love them and value them. Why? Because what you don't value and reward will eventually exit your life. The moment we top being reciprocal we become the false image of Thanksgiving. A stuffed Turkey.
Blessings,
Craig
Thursday
Bishop T.D. Jakes said one time that someone approached him about a “friend” of his turning on him and saying bad things about him. His response was to say “not my purpose” and walk away. It was not Bishop Jakes purpose to know what others say or do about him, or to try to win everyone over to be supportive of who you are. As I say often if they like you how can it help you and if they don't how can it hurt you. It amazes me that people hate success so much that they become absolutely consumed with your failure. So obsessed that they search your blog for hours looking for "evidence:. Why don't they become obsessed with their own success and make a decision to stop playing the role of a victim.
As Bil Cornelius said, "Just run your race and don’t worry about all the other “drama.” Don't be a player in their scheme of life. Some people are so driven by drama that if there is none, they will create it. They are called drama queens.
This stems from what I call a victim mentality. A victim mentality is so self centered because they give you the impression not to expect much of them. When you fail at what you should have succeeded at, you will blame what happened to you. A victim mentality takes, if you let it it will squeeze the life out of you. They are the ones in the room that if they don't get all the attention, if everyone is not turned towards them...
Here is the reality, you are not the only one in the room that has not been hurt. Everyone has been hurt, everyone faces difficulties. Yes, I know that life is not fair. There are ups and downs, ins and outs, bumps along the way. It's time to press through all that crap and go after the dream, the prize, the degree, that promotion!
Here is the first key, the power to change your life is in your choice! No one chooses for you, it is yours. i have to make a choice to be happy, to have a good attitude, to believe in what Giod says about me. Some of you care too much about what people think, say, do... Paul said forgetting what is behind I press! your life will begin to rise when you take back your power. Stop waiting for that person to come to you to apologize, forget anyway. When you allow others opinion of you to sidetrack you and steal your focus, you are giving them the power to your future.
The first thing victims want to do is assign blame to somebody, the second thing is they wabnt to make it someone else's responsibility. As long as it is somebody else's fault you will never be healed. It is not their faulty, they don't have that much power over me. When I got the pink slip, it was not their fault, it was simply an opportunity to get a different perspective which is my sitution is God's opportunity!
Tommorrow I want to build on this thought. Many have become so damaged by life and other view of them that even if God gave you a breakthrough, you would live up to their words. Many of the challenges we face in our present are a result of words that were spoken in our past. When they called Martin Luther King mny names, he said, "It is alright, it is not what they call me, it is what I answer to." What are you answering to?
As Bil Cornelius said, "Just run your race and don’t worry about all the other “drama.” Don't be a player in their scheme of life. Some people are so driven by drama that if there is none, they will create it. They are called drama queens.
This stems from what I call a victim mentality. A victim mentality is so self centered because they give you the impression not to expect much of them. When you fail at what you should have succeeded at, you will blame what happened to you. A victim mentality takes, if you let it it will squeeze the life out of you. They are the ones in the room that if they don't get all the attention, if everyone is not turned towards them...
Here is the reality, you are not the only one in the room that has not been hurt. Everyone has been hurt, everyone faces difficulties. Yes, I know that life is not fair. There are ups and downs, ins and outs, bumps along the way. It's time to press through all that crap and go after the dream, the prize, the degree, that promotion!
Here is the first key, the power to change your life is in your choice! No one chooses for you, it is yours. i have to make a choice to be happy, to have a good attitude, to believe in what Giod says about me. Some of you care too much about what people think, say, do... Paul said forgetting what is behind I press! your life will begin to rise when you take back your power. Stop waiting for that person to come to you to apologize, forget anyway. When you allow others opinion of you to sidetrack you and steal your focus, you are giving them the power to your future.
The first thing victims want to do is assign blame to somebody, the second thing is they wabnt to make it someone else's responsibility. As long as it is somebody else's fault you will never be healed. It is not their faulty, they don't have that much power over me. When I got the pink slip, it was not their fault, it was simply an opportunity to get a different perspective which is my sitution is God's opportunity!
Tommorrow I want to build on this thought. Many have become so damaged by life and other view of them that even if God gave you a breakthrough, you would live up to their words. Many of the challenges we face in our present are a result of words that were spoken in our past. When they called Martin Luther King mny names, he said, "It is alright, it is not what they call me, it is what I answer to." What are you answering to?
Guest Blogger: Pastor Shelissa Hull
Go on over to the Winners Circle and check out Pastor Shelissa Hull. She is one of the up and coming prophetic voices of this generation. Me and Tara are blessed to call her a friend/
We were born to win…..to be successful in every area of our lives. TO live life at FULL CAPACITY POWER! I don’t want to be a half way successful, halfway happy, halfway powerful Christian. I believe that if we are going to fulfill the Great Commission to go ye into all the world……we will not be successful if we are weak wimpy whiney Christians!!!! We need the Power of GOD!!!
Ephesians 3:20 is by far one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible. “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us!!”
So here is the question I hear some of you asking now….Where did the power go? You say Pastor if the power is at work in me why I am not seeing it and feeling it and experiencing it in my life…..I’m glad you asked.
I think there are 3 main keys we must have if we want to see that power working at full capacity in our lives. Key #11. READThe Word of God has to become your primary fuel. Just like a car cannot run without fuel, your spiritual life cannot operate without fuel. Ecclesiastes 8:4 says “Where the word of a king is there is power….” Praise God did you hear that! Have you done what Psalm 119:11 instructs us to do……Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against You?? You MUST.......Because where the word is there is power! No matter what the situation in your life is speak the word. DO not side with the enemy……….Stop the negative talk and speak with the POWER OF THE WORD and watch your circumstances line up!!
There are laws found in scripture that are just like the law of gravity. If you pick up your mouse and drop it.....it WILL FALL. Well here is the law of declaring Gods word…..Isaiah 55:11 - So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Job 22:28You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways. So if His word will not return void and we declare a thing and it shall be established then I believe we will operate in the full capacity of power that God desires for us!!!!
Now listen I am not saying that you can just live any way you want randomly pick your favorite scripture quote it ten times and it shall come to pass. God is not a genie in a bottle…..but God is the all powerful Lord of the universe and everything in the universe is still under his command. The key is to submit to His word!!! Then declare it to be so. I have told you before life is a game of spiritual warfare. You are only on this earth a very short time and the enemy’s goal is to gain your soul at the end of this game. We don’t have authority that is independent of God. We were never commanded to simply stand against the devil and he will flee……If you will read it again in James 4:7 it says first to submit yourselves to God and THEN resist the devil and he will flee!
Which brings me to my next point…….
2. DESIRE
You must have a desire for the things of God!! I can’t tell you how strongly God spoke this to me last night and said Power and Desire go hand in hand. If we want to operate in greater power, if we want to see more miracles, if we want spiritual gifts in operation in our homes, in our church, if we want to live a lift of unexplainable power than we must desire it with all of our hearts. Even God’s word (1 Corinthians 14:1 nkjv) tell us to desire spiritual gifts!! But here is the key……..The proof of desire is pursuit! If you say you desire God but you have not picked up your Bible since you were at church last Sunday…..you have to ask yourself CAN I OPERATE AT FULL CAPACITY ON LAST WEEKS WORD? If you say you desire God but you would rather spend your time in front of the TV instead of in prayer…..YOU HAVE TO ASK YOURSELF CAN THIS TV HELP ME LIVE LIFE AT FULL CAPACITY? I want us to understand that GOD is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think, according to the power that works in us and then pursue it!!!
And my last point today……
3. You have to BELIEVE!!
Mark 16:17 says – These signs shall follow them that believe. Notice it does not say these signs shall follow believers!!! There are a lot of people that say they are believers but don’t necessarily believe. At some point, they believed Jesus to save them, but they are not believing him in the present to perform miracles on their behalf. They have lost their faith. Smith Wigglesworth always warned believers not to try to move a mountain with their “faith in God” Then how do you move a mountain? By yielding to the Lord as you walk in a faith filled relationship with Him allowing HIM to move mountains THRU you.
I don’t think we were intended to walk in the ordinary. You have a God given desire to win, succeed and dominate. Because God gave us dominion way back in the garden! To operate in full capacity power in your life…..you must remember
1. Your Word is primary and of most importance!
2. The proof of desire is pursuit
3. If you don’t believe you won’t receive!!!
READ, DESIRE, BELIEVE!
Be Blessed,
Pastor Shelissa
We were born to win…..to be successful in every area of our lives. TO live life at FULL CAPACITY POWER! I don’t want to be a half way successful, halfway happy, halfway powerful Christian. I believe that if we are going to fulfill the Great Commission to go ye into all the world……we will not be successful if we are weak wimpy whiney Christians!!!! We need the Power of GOD!!!
Ephesians 3:20 is by far one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible. “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us!!”
So here is the question I hear some of you asking now….Where did the power go? You say Pastor if the power is at work in me why I am not seeing it and feeling it and experiencing it in my life…..I’m glad you asked.
I think there are 3 main keys we must have if we want to see that power working at full capacity in our lives. Key #11. READThe Word of God has to become your primary fuel. Just like a car cannot run without fuel, your spiritual life cannot operate without fuel. Ecclesiastes 8:4 says “Where the word of a king is there is power….” Praise God did you hear that! Have you done what Psalm 119:11 instructs us to do……Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against You?? You MUST.......Because where the word is there is power! No matter what the situation in your life is speak the word. DO not side with the enemy……….Stop the negative talk and speak with the POWER OF THE WORD and watch your circumstances line up!!
There are laws found in scripture that are just like the law of gravity. If you pick up your mouse and drop it.....it WILL FALL. Well here is the law of declaring Gods word…..Isaiah 55:11 - So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Job 22:28You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways. So if His word will not return void and we declare a thing and it shall be established then I believe we will operate in the full capacity of power that God desires for us!!!!
Now listen I am not saying that you can just live any way you want randomly pick your favorite scripture quote it ten times and it shall come to pass. God is not a genie in a bottle…..but God is the all powerful Lord of the universe and everything in the universe is still under his command. The key is to submit to His word!!! Then declare it to be so. I have told you before life is a game of spiritual warfare. You are only on this earth a very short time and the enemy’s goal is to gain your soul at the end of this game. We don’t have authority that is independent of God. We were never commanded to simply stand against the devil and he will flee……If you will read it again in James 4:7 it says first to submit yourselves to God and THEN resist the devil and he will flee!
Which brings me to my next point…….
2. DESIRE
You must have a desire for the things of God!! I can’t tell you how strongly God spoke this to me last night and said Power and Desire go hand in hand. If we want to operate in greater power, if we want to see more miracles, if we want spiritual gifts in operation in our homes, in our church, if we want to live a lift of unexplainable power than we must desire it with all of our hearts. Even God’s word (1 Corinthians 14:1 nkjv) tell us to desire spiritual gifts!! But here is the key……..The proof of desire is pursuit! If you say you desire God but you have not picked up your Bible since you were at church last Sunday…..you have to ask yourself CAN I OPERATE AT FULL CAPACITY ON LAST WEEKS WORD? If you say you desire God but you would rather spend your time in front of the TV instead of in prayer…..YOU HAVE TO ASK YOURSELF CAN THIS TV HELP ME LIVE LIFE AT FULL CAPACITY? I want us to understand that GOD is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think, according to the power that works in us and then pursue it!!!
And my last point today……
3. You have to BELIEVE!!
Mark 16:17 says – These signs shall follow them that believe. Notice it does not say these signs shall follow believers!!! There are a lot of people that say they are believers but don’t necessarily believe. At some point, they believed Jesus to save them, but they are not believing him in the present to perform miracles on their behalf. They have lost their faith. Smith Wigglesworth always warned believers not to try to move a mountain with their “faith in God” Then how do you move a mountain? By yielding to the Lord as you walk in a faith filled relationship with Him allowing HIM to move mountains THRU you.
I don’t think we were intended to walk in the ordinary. You have a God given desire to win, succeed and dominate. Because God gave us dominion way back in the garden! To operate in full capacity power in your life…..you must remember
1. Your Word is primary and of most importance!
2. The proof of desire is pursuit
3. If you don’t believe you won’t receive!!!
READ, DESIRE, BELIEVE!
Be Blessed,
Pastor Shelissa
"Get Ready For Rain"
Gen 2:1-7
2:1 The Garden of Eden
Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
4 This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5 before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
NKJV
There is a great frustration in the earth that is crying out for true sons and daughters of God who have greatness on the inside of them. It is a cry for champions, warriors, stories that have never been told, history that has never been written, accomplishments that have never been achieved because it is lying dormant inside of you and I.
Frustration can be defined as heaven inside of you trying to break into the earth, it is when you know there is something great in you but all you are seeing is ordinary, it is a great marriage wrapped up in a struggling marriage, it is living underneath the bills when God has put in you a more than enough spirit, it is taking what the world throws your way, when you are a champion that can overcome on the inside, it is knowing that true success is in you , but you wake up every day in defeat. It is knowing there has to be more, life has to better than this, I'm was born for something great, but all I ever experience is good.
I hear God speaking tome tonight that He is about to break the spirit of frustration and struggle of sons and daughters who will stop shifting responsibility and blame on everybody including the devil, and realize no devil in hell, I mean nobody can stop the greatness God has put on the inside of you.
We are living in day when everybody wants to blame somebody and play the role of a victim. To hell with excuses and blaming everybody, it is time we put into action the ability to respond that Go has given us.
God is a God of order. God created the sun before He made the plants, because He knew the plants required light to live, He created the plants before He created the cattle because He knew the cows required grass to live. God is a God of order.
There are some things that must happen in order for other things to happen. God put seed in the ground for everything the earth would ever produce. He didn't say let there be grass, trees, no He took the seed of a thing and placed it in the ground, and he did not rain on it because there was no man to take responsibility for it in case it grew.
It is possible that there are seeds of greatness in you but God has never let it rain on your life because you have never took responsibility for your own personal development? I wonder how many great marriages with great kids, who serve a great God and who will do great things are inside of people like you and I because we have never taken responsibility. We can pray for rain, dance for rain, sing about rain, but until we take responsibility, God will not let it rain.
Could it be that the frustration is there because you know there are seeds of greatness in you but there is no rain? We go through spiritual calisthenics like rebuking the devil, speak to every mountain, go on a 40 day fast, but still there is no rain, nothing is happening. Could it be that the breakthrough you seek does not come with a prayer line or a anointed touch but is the result of developing character and integrity on the inside.
Success is not the result of you doing something, it is the result of you becoming something and no matter how gifted you are God will not rain on your gifts, He will only rain on your character. Could it be that there is level 9 blessing on the inside of you but you are a level 4 person on the inside and if God gave you level 9 you wouldn't have the inner development necessary to handle it?
There are millionaire seeds, fathering seeds, champion seeds, impact seeds, dominating seeds, entrepreneur seeds, success seeds, in you but are you willing to become the person who is developed enough to handle the greatness that will come out of you. I am convinced many of the scandals we see in leadership is the result of people arriving at a level outwardly that they were never developed for inwardly.
Will you do right, when right is hard?
Will you be a success privately as well as publicly?
Tonight I have made a new commitment to my personal development because I hear God saying that to those who refuse to die with their seed still inside of you and you desire to not just be a seedbed but garden of fruitfulness and you are willing to take responsibility for your ministry, marriage, personal devotional life, integrity... God is about to release a rain and businesses are going to come out of you, successful marriages are going to come out of you, debt elimination, success, is going to come out of you.
It is not being perfect, it is will you take responsibility? It is not are your fellow employees lying and sabotaging on you, it is will you take responsibility? You are not qualified if your home is perfect, you are qualified if you will respond.
I take responsibility right now for my family, marriage, future, prayer life... To hell with excuses and blame games, the responsibility is mine!
Blessings,
Craig
2:1 The Garden of Eden
Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
4 This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5 before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
NKJV
There is a great frustration in the earth that is crying out for true sons and daughters of God who have greatness on the inside of them. It is a cry for champions, warriors, stories that have never been told, history that has never been written, accomplishments that have never been achieved because it is lying dormant inside of you and I.
Frustration can be defined as heaven inside of you trying to break into the earth, it is when you know there is something great in you but all you are seeing is ordinary, it is a great marriage wrapped up in a struggling marriage, it is living underneath the bills when God has put in you a more than enough spirit, it is taking what the world throws your way, when you are a champion that can overcome on the inside, it is knowing that true success is in you , but you wake up every day in defeat. It is knowing there has to be more, life has to better than this, I'm was born for something great, but all I ever experience is good.
I hear God speaking tome tonight that He is about to break the spirit of frustration and struggle of sons and daughters who will stop shifting responsibility and blame on everybody including the devil, and realize no devil in hell, I mean nobody can stop the greatness God has put on the inside of you.
We are living in day when everybody wants to blame somebody and play the role of a victim. To hell with excuses and blaming everybody, it is time we put into action the ability to respond that Go has given us.
God is a God of order. God created the sun before He made the plants, because He knew the plants required light to live, He created the plants before He created the cattle because He knew the cows required grass to live. God is a God of order.
There are some things that must happen in order for other things to happen. God put seed in the ground for everything the earth would ever produce. He didn't say let there be grass, trees, no He took the seed of a thing and placed it in the ground, and he did not rain on it because there was no man to take responsibility for it in case it grew.
It is possible that there are seeds of greatness in you but God has never let it rain on your life because you have never took responsibility for your own personal development? I wonder how many great marriages with great kids, who serve a great God and who will do great things are inside of people like you and I because we have never taken responsibility. We can pray for rain, dance for rain, sing about rain, but until we take responsibility, God will not let it rain.
Could it be that the frustration is there because you know there are seeds of greatness in you but there is no rain? We go through spiritual calisthenics like rebuking the devil, speak to every mountain, go on a 40 day fast, but still there is no rain, nothing is happening. Could it be that the breakthrough you seek does not come with a prayer line or a anointed touch but is the result of developing character and integrity on the inside.
Success is not the result of you doing something, it is the result of you becoming something and no matter how gifted you are God will not rain on your gifts, He will only rain on your character. Could it be that there is level 9 blessing on the inside of you but you are a level 4 person on the inside and if God gave you level 9 you wouldn't have the inner development necessary to handle it?
There are millionaire seeds, fathering seeds, champion seeds, impact seeds, dominating seeds, entrepreneur seeds, success seeds, in you but are you willing to become the person who is developed enough to handle the greatness that will come out of you. I am convinced many of the scandals we see in leadership is the result of people arriving at a level outwardly that they were never developed for inwardly.
Will you do right, when right is hard?
Will you be a success privately as well as publicly?
Tonight I have made a new commitment to my personal development because I hear God saying that to those who refuse to die with their seed still inside of you and you desire to not just be a seedbed but garden of fruitfulness and you are willing to take responsibility for your ministry, marriage, personal devotional life, integrity... God is about to release a rain and businesses are going to come out of you, successful marriages are going to come out of you, debt elimination, success, is going to come out of you.
It is not being perfect, it is will you take responsibility? It is not are your fellow employees lying and sabotaging on you, it is will you take responsibility? You are not qualified if your home is perfect, you are qualified if you will respond.
I take responsibility right now for my family, marriage, future, prayer life... To hell with excuses and blame games, the responsibility is mine!
Blessings,
Craig
Wednesday
"The Most Valuable Thing You Have In Life"
My spiritual father Bishop Tony Miller taught many lessons to prepare me for life and ministry. The most important one is this: The most valuable thing you have in life is relationships. And you spell relationships T-I-M-E.
I have to be honest with you, I have not learned this lesson easily. Most of my life I have burned relationships or I didn't invest in them. You will only get out of them, what you put in them. In fact if the relationship is one way, then you need to say no way! Those are spiritual leeches and they will drain you. No relationship was ever designed to be one way, it must be give and take.
God spoke to me recently that one of the primary things He is doing in my life is reconnecting and connecting me to strategic relationships. He has began to bring new people and is reconnecting me to old relationships that are brand new in this season of my life. Anytime God is about to take you to a new level, He will first connect key people to you. Your highest level is determined by the relationships you have in life.
Here are the most important.
1) Those above you. (Mentors)
* My goal is to be the smallest guy in the room.
* Surround yourself with those who are presently on the level you are aiming for.
* These are the people who challenge you and make you want to pray, not those who constantly throw oil on you from beneath you. Little people surround themselves with Pygmies to make them feel bigger.
* This is someone that is not impressed by you, they are not your friend.
* Willing to give you success clues, to help you go farther than they have gone.
Jesus said Simon satan has desired to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith would not fail, and after you have returned strengthen your brethren.
A Mentor can be discovered by these three keys.
1) A Mentor can spot your enemy before you do.
2) A Mentor warns you about your enemy.
3) A Mentor will see and declare your coming out.
2. Those beside you (friends, peers)
* These are those that see you at your best even when you are at your worst.
* They will tell you the truth, even if it hurts.
* Not insecure of your successes, they celebrate you.
* Can be you, have fun, don't have to perform.
* Make your baby jump.
* Will make sacrifices to help you succeed.
* Don't want anything from you, just enjoy being with you.
3. Those under you. (Mentees, prodigy's, apprentices)
* Never share your problems with those who do not have the power to solve them.
* Your job is to to challenge them, provoke them to growth, and hold them to their foundation.
* Those that will shut their mouth so they can listen for wisdom nuggets, if someone wants you to mentor them but they are always talking...
* Not your friends, peers. Many times they are completely opposite of you.
* Your primary assignment is to pull their potential out of them by always referring to their future not their present and past.
Are always pulling the best out of you. It is their responsibility to pull, pursue, and press.
The most valuable relationship I have outside of the father, is my wife and family. I want to say thank you for allowing me to spend the last week with you on vacation. My favorite time is just being with you, and seeing your faces light up. Thank you God for giving me the best wife, and children. That is truly grace and mercy.
Blessings,
Craig
PS - One of the things I pray for every day is divine appointments. I have prayed for years and just now I am beginning to see this level open up to me.
I have to be honest with you, I have not learned this lesson easily. Most of my life I have burned relationships or I didn't invest in them. You will only get out of them, what you put in them. In fact if the relationship is one way, then you need to say no way! Those are spiritual leeches and they will drain you. No relationship was ever designed to be one way, it must be give and take.
God spoke to me recently that one of the primary things He is doing in my life is reconnecting and connecting me to strategic relationships. He has began to bring new people and is reconnecting me to old relationships that are brand new in this season of my life. Anytime God is about to take you to a new level, He will first connect key people to you. Your highest level is determined by the relationships you have in life.
Here are the most important.
1) Those above you. (Mentors)
* My goal is to be the smallest guy in the room.
* Surround yourself with those who are presently on the level you are aiming for.
* These are the people who challenge you and make you want to pray, not those who constantly throw oil on you from beneath you. Little people surround themselves with Pygmies to make them feel bigger.
* This is someone that is not impressed by you, they are not your friend.
* Willing to give you success clues, to help you go farther than they have gone.
Jesus said Simon satan has desired to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith would not fail, and after you have returned strengthen your brethren.
A Mentor can be discovered by these three keys.
1) A Mentor can spot your enemy before you do.
2) A Mentor warns you about your enemy.
3) A Mentor will see and declare your coming out.
2. Those beside you (friends, peers)
* These are those that see you at your best even when you are at your worst.
* They will tell you the truth, even if it hurts.
* Not insecure of your successes, they celebrate you.
* Can be you, have fun, don't have to perform.
* Make your baby jump.
* Will make sacrifices to help you succeed.
* Don't want anything from you, just enjoy being with you.
3. Those under you. (Mentees, prodigy's, apprentices)
* Never share your problems with those who do not have the power to solve them.
* Your job is to to challenge them, provoke them to growth, and hold them to their foundation.
* Those that will shut their mouth so they can listen for wisdom nuggets, if someone wants you to mentor them but they are always talking...
* Not your friends, peers. Many times they are completely opposite of you.
* Your primary assignment is to pull their potential out of them by always referring to their future not their present and past.
Are always pulling the best out of you. It is their responsibility to pull, pursue, and press.
The most valuable relationship I have outside of the father, is my wife and family. I want to say thank you for allowing me to spend the last week with you on vacation. My favorite time is just being with you, and seeing your faces light up. Thank you God for giving me the best wife, and children. That is truly grace and mercy.
Blessings,
Craig
PS - One of the things I pray for every day is divine appointments. I have prayed for years and just now I am beginning to see this level open up to me.
Thursday
"You Got Bread on The Inside of You"
1 Cor 2:9-3:1
9 But as it is written:
"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For "who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
NKJV
The natural man does not recieve the things of God. Paul goes on to say that the things of God are foolishness to the natural man. The word fooilishness in the greek is nonsense. The natural man only knows how to recieve things by the senses, what it can see, feel, smell... That is how the natural man gets his information, that's how he makes his decisions, and determines future possibilities. The natural man rejects the things of God because what the spirit has does not come from the senses.
Paul says it is written, eye has not seen nor ear heard... But God has revealed them by the spirit. What I see can not tell me what I am. That's why you can't let what you see determine your identity. Why? Because your eye can not see what the spirt has for you. As long as you go to people, surroundings to find out whats in you, you will always be limited and frustrated. Why?
God has hidden your life in your annointing (Col. 3). And it can only be released by the spirit. That's why it is imprtant to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Why? Because when a wrong relationship, decision, action comes, the Holy Spirit says no that does not line up with who you are on the inside. And unless you have that guidance on the inside of you, you won't know who to invite or reject in your life.
Your battel is not with the devil. Your battle is between your old man and your new man. Paul says in Romans 12 that when you are not conformed to what's around you but you are transformed by the renwing of your mind, you are abkle to prove the good, perfect and acceptable will of God. The word prove is to allow.
Your spirit knows it is destined for greatness, but your mind will never allow it. Why? Because your spirit is created in your new image and your mind can only remember your old image. Your spirit is futuristic but you mind can only remember past experinces... When I tell you that you are not going to struggle anymore and that you are the head and not the tail, you have a hard time recieving it. Why? Because your mind is not renewed in anew image, and it still has a vivid picture of your past. This is why you are frustarted. Your spirit know something great is coming but your mind is trying to talk you out of it.
Watch this! That's why when satan came and told Jesus to turn these stones into bread, Jesus wouldn't why? Why would Jesus turn these stones into bread when he is bread! Jesus said, I am the bread of life, he that belives in me shall live. Later he said, man does not live by bread alone but by what comes out of the mouth of God.
Jesus knew that everything he needed to be evrything the Father willed Him to be was already inside of Him. He didn't need exterbal things to tell Him who he was. Why? Because what was on the inside of him told him who He was.
In closing, you need to stop asking people who you are, you need to stop trying to get people to make you feel better about yourself. Everything you need to walk out walk out your future is already hidden in your annointing. Your annointing knows all things, has all the answers, solutions, you don't need bread, you already got bread in you! I don't care what the world thinks, why? i got bread in me. I don't need you to feed me on the outside, I'll just go ahead and start eating the bread on the inside. I am a divine partaker of the nature of God. I have the nature of God on the inside of me, meaning I have the ability to create the world I want to live in, and I'm not limited by what I see, smell, feel, or hear. My God can do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond what I can think (outside) or imagine (inside)according or in working with the power that is on the inside. You don't need their approval, acceptance, you got bread on the inside of you!
Blessings,
Craig
9 But as it is written:
"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For "who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
NKJV
The natural man does not recieve the things of God. Paul goes on to say that the things of God are foolishness to the natural man. The word fooilishness in the greek is nonsense. The natural man only knows how to recieve things by the senses, what it can see, feel, smell... That is how the natural man gets his information, that's how he makes his decisions, and determines future possibilities. The natural man rejects the things of God because what the spirit has does not come from the senses.
Paul says it is written, eye has not seen nor ear heard... But God has revealed them by the spirit. What I see can not tell me what I am. That's why you can't let what you see determine your identity. Why? Because your eye can not see what the spirt has for you. As long as you go to people, surroundings to find out whats in you, you will always be limited and frustrated. Why?
God has hidden your life in your annointing (Col. 3). And it can only be released by the spirit. That's why it is imprtant to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Why? Because when a wrong relationship, decision, action comes, the Holy Spirit says no that does not line up with who you are on the inside. And unless you have that guidance on the inside of you, you won't know who to invite or reject in your life.
Your battel is not with the devil. Your battle is between your old man and your new man. Paul says in Romans 12 that when you are not conformed to what's around you but you are transformed by the renwing of your mind, you are abkle to prove the good, perfect and acceptable will of God. The word prove is to allow.
Your spirit knows it is destined for greatness, but your mind will never allow it. Why? Because your spirit is created in your new image and your mind can only remember your old image. Your spirit is futuristic but you mind can only remember past experinces... When I tell you that you are not going to struggle anymore and that you are the head and not the tail, you have a hard time recieving it. Why? Because your mind is not renewed in anew image, and it still has a vivid picture of your past. This is why you are frustarted. Your spirit know something great is coming but your mind is trying to talk you out of it.
Watch this! That's why when satan came and told Jesus to turn these stones into bread, Jesus wouldn't why? Why would Jesus turn these stones into bread when he is bread! Jesus said, I am the bread of life, he that belives in me shall live. Later he said, man does not live by bread alone but by what comes out of the mouth of God.
Jesus knew that everything he needed to be evrything the Father willed Him to be was already inside of Him. He didn't need exterbal things to tell Him who he was. Why? Because what was on the inside of him told him who He was.
In closing, you need to stop asking people who you are, you need to stop trying to get people to make you feel better about yourself. Everything you need to walk out walk out your future is already hidden in your annointing. Your annointing knows all things, has all the answers, solutions, you don't need bread, you already got bread in you! I don't care what the world thinks, why? i got bread in me. I don't need you to feed me on the outside, I'll just go ahead and start eating the bread on the inside. I am a divine partaker of the nature of God. I have the nature of God on the inside of me, meaning I have the ability to create the world I want to live in, and I'm not limited by what I see, smell, feel, or hear. My God can do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond what I can think (outside) or imagine (inside)according or in working with the power that is on the inside. You don't need their approval, acceptance, you got bread on the inside of you!
Blessings,
Craig
Monday
What's at Stake in Vote 2008?
USA Today article referred to in the Election Letter
By Joan Biskupic, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — One candidate taught constitutional law and tapped a former Senate Judiciary Committee chairman as his running mate. The other once helped ease tensions in the Senate over judicial nominations, and has teamed up with a woman whose passionate opposition to abortion has energized conservative Republicans.
The differing experiences between the candidates are an intriguing backdrop to questions about how they would handle lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court, which is split on social policy issues ranging from reproductive rights to the scope of executive power.
On the Democratic side, presidential nominee Barack Obama is a lawyer and former University of Chicago law professor. His running mate, Joe Biden, also a lawyer, led the Senate Judiciary Committee — which vets high court nominees — for eight years.
The Republican side pairs presidential nominee John McCain — a senator who three years ago took the lead in resolving a dispute over President Bush's nominations to federal courts — with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. She is a vocal critic of abortion rights whose selection was embraced by conservative Republicans who have made moving the Supreme Court to the right a priority.
During a fall campaign dominated by the economic crisis, debate over two wars and arguments over who is more fit for office, discussion of how the next president will handle Supreme Court nominations largely has been overshadowed. Even so, the differing experiences of Obama, McCain and their running mates offer clues as to how the candidates might approach vacancies on the bench.
The appointment of life-tenured judges can be an administration's most consequential legacy, as Obama and McCain observed in last week's debate. Five of the nine Supreme Court justices are age 70 or older, so a new president might have to make multiple appointments.
Because the court is tightly split over issues such as abortion rights, race-based policies and the handling of Guantanamo Bay detainees, even a change of one justice could alter the law across the nation for decades to come.
Republican presidents have tended in recent decades to appoint men in their 40s and 50s, including Justice Clarence Thomas, who was 43 at the time of his appointment, Chief Justice John Roberts, who was 50, and Justice Samuel Alito, who was 55.
"People don't realize how much is at stake," says Walter Dellinger, who as U.S. solicitor general under President Clinton was the government's top lawyer before the court from 1996-97.
"It is highly likely there will be (up to) three vacancies in the next president's first term," says Theodore Olson, U.S. solicitor general from 2001-04. "Justices serve on average 25 years. That's six presidential terms. They make life or death decisions."
Olson, a chairman of McCain's legal team, successfully argued Bush v. Gore, in which the conservative-led Supreme Court resolved the 2000 Florida election dispute and gave Republican George W. Bush the White House.
Just whom either candidate would choose for the high court is impossible to know. Based on their backgrounds and outlooks, Obama and Biden likely would be centrally involved in the selection process. Obama says he wants a justice who will "stand up" for the disadvantaged.
McCain and Palin likely would hew to the values of their conservative base and seek nominees who would narrowly interpret the law, rather than expansively construe it to solve problems of the underdog. McCain has said he does not want judges who will reach out to solve social problems that might be best left to elected officials.
The eldest justices on the current court, John Paul Stevens, 88, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 75, are among the most liberal. If they retire and are succeeded by conservatives, the court would tip considerably. The appointment of Alito, who replaced retired justice Sandra Day O'Connor in 2006, has altered the law on abortion, race and campaign finance because he has voted more conservatively than O'Connor.
"It is not at all implausible that we are nominating someone for the next 50 years," says Northwestern University law professor John McGinnis.
As emerging technology introduces new legal questions, and gay marriage and other contemporary issues reach the courts, the next decades will bring a wide and unpredictable swath of cases. The court also is likely to see continued challenges to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that made abortion legal nationwide.
"Roe v. Wade is at the top of the list" of what could be immediately at stake in court appointments, Cornell University law professor Michael Dorf says. He emphasizes that the bench would change more dramatically if a McCain pick succeeded a liberal. Five justices — a bare majority that includes the four liberals — have endorsed the 1973 landmark ruling on abortion.
"Roe v. Wade probably hangs in the balance" this election, Obama, an abortion-rights supporter, said during the presidential debate last week. McCain has termed Roe "a bad decision" and says it should be reversed, but he said during the debate he would not use opposition to the ruling as a "litmus test" for his potential court nominees.
The Senate has the power to confirm or reject nominees. Democrats currently control the Senate, and the difficult economic climate, along with Republican Bush's unpopularity, makes it likely they will see substantial gains in November.
If Democrats make significant headway in the Senate and McCain wins the presidency, he likely would be blocked from choosing an ultraconservative jurist. Obama, however, might have the leeway to push through a relatively liberal nominee.
Their backgrounds and past statements offer a glimpse of how they would approach the search for a new justice:
Obama/Biden
Obama was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, a post equivalent to editor in chief. He taught law for 12 years at the University of Chicago. In his 2006 book, The Audacity of Hope, Obama devoted a chapter to the Constitution. He said he believes it is "not a static but rather a living document, and must be read in the context of an ever-changing world."
He opposed Alito, an appeals court appointee of the first President Bush who had voted against abortion rights and narrowly construed job-bias law.
A year earlier, Obama opposed Roberts for chief justice. Roberts, an appeals court judge appointed by President Bush, had voted to uphold the Bush plan to try Guantanamo detainees before a military tribunal. As a lawyer in the first Bush administration, Roberts had argued against Roe v. Wade.
When Obama voted against Roberts in fall 2005, he suggested he wanted a certain personal character in a jurist. The toughest cases, Obama said, "can only be determined on the basis of one's deepest values ... and the depth and breadth of one's empathy. ... (The) critical ingredient is supplied by what is in the judge's heart."
Obama has lauded former California governor and Chief Justice Earl Warren as someone who dealt wisely with societal problems and suggested he could seek a person with broad experience beyond the law.
Harvard University law professor Cass Sunstein, one of Obama's top advisers, says Obama's background would put him at the center of the selection process.
"Obama is a specialist in constitutional law of the sort we haven't seen in the White House in a very, very long time," said Sunstein, whose credentials and connections could put him on an Obama short list of potential nominees.
Outside analysts such as Dorf predict Obama would turn to women for early vacancies to bring the court, which has only one woman (Ginsburg), more in line with women's representation in the general population.
Eleanor Acheson, who as assistant attorney general for Clinton helped nominees navigate their confirmations, predicted Obama and Biden also would seek diversity of experience. All of the current justices came immediately from lower-court posts.
Acheson believes it "very unlikely" that Obama and Biden would believe nominees need long tenure as a lower-court judge.
"I think they would be looking for someone with a more varied experience," she says.
During Biden's chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee from 1987-95, ideology — more than diversity — was Topic A.
He voted against Thomas and for Anthony Kennedy, the conservative in the middle of the court, as well as for the more liberal justices David Souter, Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. Biden also helped torpedo President Reagan's 1987 nomination of Robert Bork, who narrowly interpreted the Constitution's protections for privacy and due process of law. Most recently, Biden opposed Roberts and Alito.
At the vice presidential debate this month, Biden said he fought the Bork nomination because he suspected that if Bork had been approved, "there would be a lot of changes that I don't like and the American people wouldn't like, including ... Roe v. Wade to issues relating to civil rights and civil liberties."
McCain/Palin
On the campaign trail, McCain blasts judges who he says "have taken it upon themselves to ... rule on matters that were never intended to be heard in courts or decided by judges."
Yet, he previously voiced more moderate views.
In May 2005, after months of Democrats blocking lower-court Bush nominations, McCain took the lead in a 14-senator bipartisan group to end the stalemate. Their compromise led to votes on three controversial appeals court nominees but ended the hopes of a few others who would have faced endless debate.
The deal drew scorn from conservatives, including Jan LaRue, chief counsel of Concerned Women for America, who called the pact foolish and referred to McCain and the six other Republicans as "the seven dwarfs (who) have handed the filibuster key" to Senate Democrats.
Since then, McCain has tried to reassure conservatives he would favor judges on the right, who would be "immune to flattery and fashionable theory."
"He is very, very committed to the notion that judges have to interpret the Constitution and not try to rewrite it," says Olson, who objects to Obama's reference to the "empathy" of judges.
"That's outside the law," Olson says.
During a speech about the judiciary last May, McCain said, "I will look for people in the cast of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and my friend the late William Rehnquist — jurists of the highest caliber who know their own minds and know the law, and know the difference."
McCain voted for Clinton appointees Ginsburg and Breyer, plus the five GOP high-court appointees since he was first elected to the Senate in 1986.
McCain's running mate, Palin, apparently has not followed the court closely.
When CBS' Katie Couric asked her last month what decisions other than Roe v. Wade she disagreed with, Palin answered generally and somewhat awkwardly, without specifying any other decision.
Yet, in her home state, Palin has been passionate about the most fractious topics that come before the court, perhaps more so than any other recent vice presidential candidate. Besides opposing abortion rights, she has endorsed teaching creationism — the theory that all of life was created by God — along with evolution in schools.
Her nomination drew immediate approval from leaders of the right-wing base, including the Family Research Council. She has invoked God on public occasions and suggested she does not believe in a high wall to separate church and state.
Notre Dame law professor Richard Garnett, a McCain legal adviser, says Palin's conservatism appeals to the GOP base yet adds, "Sen. McCain on his own has a pretty long and consistent anti-abortion record. He wouldn't need shoring up from the vice president."
McCain said in the most recent debate, "We have to change the culture of America. Those of us who are proudly pro-life understand that."
Last year, Palin condemned the Alaska Supreme Court for striking down a state law requiring girls 16 and under to get parents' consent before obtaining an abortion. The court noted that parental consent, unlike parental notification laws, can mean "a veto" of the abortion right.
In a statement after the ruling, nine months before she would be tapped by McCain, Palin struck a theme similar to his campaign rhetoric: "Our court is out of step with mainstream judicial decisions and our citizens. This decision is clearly a case of legislating from the bench."
.
By Joan Biskupic, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — One candidate taught constitutional law and tapped a former Senate Judiciary Committee chairman as his running mate. The other once helped ease tensions in the Senate over judicial nominations, and has teamed up with a woman whose passionate opposition to abortion has energized conservative Republicans.
The differing experiences between the candidates are an intriguing backdrop to questions about how they would handle lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court, which is split on social policy issues ranging from reproductive rights to the scope of executive power.
On the Democratic side, presidential nominee Barack Obama is a lawyer and former University of Chicago law professor. His running mate, Joe Biden, also a lawyer, led the Senate Judiciary Committee — which vets high court nominees — for eight years.
The Republican side pairs presidential nominee John McCain — a senator who three years ago took the lead in resolving a dispute over President Bush's nominations to federal courts — with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. She is a vocal critic of abortion rights whose selection was embraced by conservative Republicans who have made moving the Supreme Court to the right a priority.
During a fall campaign dominated by the economic crisis, debate over two wars and arguments over who is more fit for office, discussion of how the next president will handle Supreme Court nominations largely has been overshadowed. Even so, the differing experiences of Obama, McCain and their running mates offer clues as to how the candidates might approach vacancies on the bench.
The appointment of life-tenured judges can be an administration's most consequential legacy, as Obama and McCain observed in last week's debate. Five of the nine Supreme Court justices are age 70 or older, so a new president might have to make multiple appointments.
Because the court is tightly split over issues such as abortion rights, race-based policies and the handling of Guantanamo Bay detainees, even a change of one justice could alter the law across the nation for decades to come.
Republican presidents have tended in recent decades to appoint men in their 40s and 50s, including Justice Clarence Thomas, who was 43 at the time of his appointment, Chief Justice John Roberts, who was 50, and Justice Samuel Alito, who was 55.
"People don't realize how much is at stake," says Walter Dellinger, who as U.S. solicitor general under President Clinton was the government's top lawyer before the court from 1996-97.
"It is highly likely there will be (up to) three vacancies in the next president's first term," says Theodore Olson, U.S. solicitor general from 2001-04. "Justices serve on average 25 years. That's six presidential terms. They make life or death decisions."
Olson, a chairman of McCain's legal team, successfully argued Bush v. Gore, in which the conservative-led Supreme Court resolved the 2000 Florida election dispute and gave Republican George W. Bush the White House.
Just whom either candidate would choose for the high court is impossible to know. Based on their backgrounds and outlooks, Obama and Biden likely would be centrally involved in the selection process. Obama says he wants a justice who will "stand up" for the disadvantaged.
McCain and Palin likely would hew to the values of their conservative base and seek nominees who would narrowly interpret the law, rather than expansively construe it to solve problems of the underdog. McCain has said he does not want judges who will reach out to solve social problems that might be best left to elected officials.
The eldest justices on the current court, John Paul Stevens, 88, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 75, are among the most liberal. If they retire and are succeeded by conservatives, the court would tip considerably. The appointment of Alito, who replaced retired justice Sandra Day O'Connor in 2006, has altered the law on abortion, race and campaign finance because he has voted more conservatively than O'Connor.
"It is not at all implausible that we are nominating someone for the next 50 years," says Northwestern University law professor John McGinnis.
As emerging technology introduces new legal questions, and gay marriage and other contemporary issues reach the courts, the next decades will bring a wide and unpredictable swath of cases. The court also is likely to see continued challenges to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that made abortion legal nationwide.
"Roe v. Wade is at the top of the list" of what could be immediately at stake in court appointments, Cornell University law professor Michael Dorf says. He emphasizes that the bench would change more dramatically if a McCain pick succeeded a liberal. Five justices — a bare majority that includes the four liberals — have endorsed the 1973 landmark ruling on abortion.
"Roe v. Wade probably hangs in the balance" this election, Obama, an abortion-rights supporter, said during the presidential debate last week. McCain has termed Roe "a bad decision" and says it should be reversed, but he said during the debate he would not use opposition to the ruling as a "litmus test" for his potential court nominees.
The Senate has the power to confirm or reject nominees. Democrats currently control the Senate, and the difficult economic climate, along with Republican Bush's unpopularity, makes it likely they will see substantial gains in November.
If Democrats make significant headway in the Senate and McCain wins the presidency, he likely would be blocked from choosing an ultraconservative jurist. Obama, however, might have the leeway to push through a relatively liberal nominee.
Their backgrounds and past statements offer a glimpse of how they would approach the search for a new justice:
Obama/Biden
Obama was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, a post equivalent to editor in chief. He taught law for 12 years at the University of Chicago. In his 2006 book, The Audacity of Hope, Obama devoted a chapter to the Constitution. He said he believes it is "not a static but rather a living document, and must be read in the context of an ever-changing world."
He opposed Alito, an appeals court appointee of the first President Bush who had voted against abortion rights and narrowly construed job-bias law.
A year earlier, Obama opposed Roberts for chief justice. Roberts, an appeals court judge appointed by President Bush, had voted to uphold the Bush plan to try Guantanamo detainees before a military tribunal. As a lawyer in the first Bush administration, Roberts had argued against Roe v. Wade.
When Obama voted against Roberts in fall 2005, he suggested he wanted a certain personal character in a jurist. The toughest cases, Obama said, "can only be determined on the basis of one's deepest values ... and the depth and breadth of one's empathy. ... (The) critical ingredient is supplied by what is in the judge's heart."
Obama has lauded former California governor and Chief Justice Earl Warren as someone who dealt wisely with societal problems and suggested he could seek a person with broad experience beyond the law.
Harvard University law professor Cass Sunstein, one of Obama's top advisers, says Obama's background would put him at the center of the selection process.
"Obama is a specialist in constitutional law of the sort we haven't seen in the White House in a very, very long time," said Sunstein, whose credentials and connections could put him on an Obama short list of potential nominees.
Outside analysts such as Dorf predict Obama would turn to women for early vacancies to bring the court, which has only one woman (Ginsburg), more in line with women's representation in the general population.
Eleanor Acheson, who as assistant attorney general for Clinton helped nominees navigate their confirmations, predicted Obama and Biden also would seek diversity of experience. All of the current justices came immediately from lower-court posts.
Acheson believes it "very unlikely" that Obama and Biden would believe nominees need long tenure as a lower-court judge.
"I think they would be looking for someone with a more varied experience," she says.
During Biden's chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee from 1987-95, ideology — more than diversity — was Topic A.
He voted against Thomas and for Anthony Kennedy, the conservative in the middle of the court, as well as for the more liberal justices David Souter, Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. Biden also helped torpedo President Reagan's 1987 nomination of Robert Bork, who narrowly interpreted the Constitution's protections for privacy and due process of law. Most recently, Biden opposed Roberts and Alito.
At the vice presidential debate this month, Biden said he fought the Bork nomination because he suspected that if Bork had been approved, "there would be a lot of changes that I don't like and the American people wouldn't like, including ... Roe v. Wade to issues relating to civil rights and civil liberties."
McCain/Palin
On the campaign trail, McCain blasts judges who he says "have taken it upon themselves to ... rule on matters that were never intended to be heard in courts or decided by judges."
Yet, he previously voiced more moderate views.
In May 2005, after months of Democrats blocking lower-court Bush nominations, McCain took the lead in a 14-senator bipartisan group to end the stalemate. Their compromise led to votes on three controversial appeals court nominees but ended the hopes of a few others who would have faced endless debate.
The deal drew scorn from conservatives, including Jan LaRue, chief counsel of Concerned Women for America, who called the pact foolish and referred to McCain and the six other Republicans as "the seven dwarfs (who) have handed the filibuster key" to Senate Democrats.
Since then, McCain has tried to reassure conservatives he would favor judges on the right, who would be "immune to flattery and fashionable theory."
"He is very, very committed to the notion that judges have to interpret the Constitution and not try to rewrite it," says Olson, who objects to Obama's reference to the "empathy" of judges.
"That's outside the law," Olson says.
During a speech about the judiciary last May, McCain said, "I will look for people in the cast of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and my friend the late William Rehnquist — jurists of the highest caliber who know their own minds and know the law, and know the difference."
McCain voted for Clinton appointees Ginsburg and Breyer, plus the five GOP high-court appointees since he was first elected to the Senate in 1986.
McCain's running mate, Palin, apparently has not followed the court closely.
When CBS' Katie Couric asked her last month what decisions other than Roe v. Wade she disagreed with, Palin answered generally and somewhat awkwardly, without specifying any other decision.
Yet, in her home state, Palin has been passionate about the most fractious topics that come before the court, perhaps more so than any other recent vice presidential candidate. Besides opposing abortion rights, she has endorsed teaching creationism — the theory that all of life was created by God — along with evolution in schools.
Her nomination drew immediate approval from leaders of the right-wing base, including the Family Research Council. She has invoked God on public occasions and suggested she does not believe in a high wall to separate church and state.
Notre Dame law professor Richard Garnett, a McCain legal adviser, says Palin's conservatism appeals to the GOP base yet adds, "Sen. McCain on his own has a pretty long and consistent anti-abortion record. He wouldn't need shoring up from the vice president."
McCain said in the most recent debate, "We have to change the culture of America. Those of us who are proudly pro-life understand that."
Last year, Palin condemned the Alaska Supreme Court for striking down a state law requiring girls 16 and under to get parents' consent before obtaining an abortion. The court noted that parental consent, unlike parental notification laws, can mean "a veto" of the abortion right.
In a statement after the ruling, nine months before she would be tapped by McCain, Palin struck a theme similar to his campaign rhetoric: "Our court is out of step with mainstream judicial decisions and our citizens. This decision is clearly a case of legislating from the bench."
.
"The Choice Is Yours"
We are on the brink of one of the most important elections in the history of our nation. A spirit of deception has been unleashed in our nation that has caused people to believe the focus of this election is our economy. The reality is that the economic status of our nation is a reflection of a heart issue. It is when we no longer put God first and we begin to worship other idols and we abandon God's principles that the bible says the heavens are shut up, and there is a famine in the land. The famine is not the result of a leader but rather it is the result of a nation choosing to take God out of the schools, legalizing the murdering of babies(not fetus), the abandonment of our moral values that our forefathers established established in the very foundation of this nation, the spirit that says ever man may do what is right in their own eyes, the acceptance of a counterfeit model for marriage (no where in the bible does it say that a man shall marry a man in fact Paul writes to the Roman Church (Rom. 1) that is is sin and a man that practices such will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. In a time that they call good evil and evil good, let's call it what it is sin.
I was blown away recently by a Pastor who told me in a Church that God is pro choice. Then tell me why the 6th commandment is thou shall not murder. God established what is right and wrong, and then gave man a free will to make a choice, but every choice has a consequence. I shudder at the fact that even the preachers in our pulpits have abandoned everything God stands for.
Deut 30:11-20
11 The Choice of Life or Death
"For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' 14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
15 "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.
19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."
NKJV
God makes it clear that we have a choice, but if we make the wrong choice we are accountable to the consequences of that choice. Let me explain, there are certain laws that have been established such as the law of gravity. These laws will never change. If you walk off the top of the Sears Tower, without a parachute, you will suffer the effect of the law of gravity. It is not that God did it to you, no you broke a law and and reaped the consequence of that law. If you put your hand in a fire, it is not God or the devil that burned you, it is the fact you broke a law and the law has in it the consequence of either obeying or breaking that law.
Tomorrow I will post the script from a timely message by a Pastor who I visited his Church in Chicago. Take time to prayerfully read it and then based on your convictions (not popularity, color of skin, political party, or your momma is voting for...)vote the Bible. Why? Because if we choose to be influenced by the spirit of deception, we will as a nation face the consequence of our choice. This election will not only determine who the next President is, but it will determine the future of the Supreme Court which is a lifetime position. Obama was part of the Open Forum with Pastor Rick Warren. In the interview Obama stated that he would like to see four of the Supreme Court judges replaced, and by the way all four are liberal judges meaning they favor pro-life and the biblical model of marriage between a man and a woman. If you vote by the popular opinion, you might as put you bible in storage because you are voting totally against the morals and values that God's word stands for.
I believe if the Christians do not take a stand and open their eyes to the ploys of the enemy trying to destroy the very fabric and foundation of our nation, we will have the most unglodly President that has ever been in office in America which will result in:
* Persecution of the Church and morality
* Even more destruction of the family
* Marking the next generation to be a generation that does what is right in its own eyes, no standard of righteousness, and lawlessness will prevail in the land.
* More babies being murdered
* Censorship in the pulpits, those that oppose the next president will be persecuted and jailed
* Begginning of the third world economy
* Mass confusion
* A time of great prosperity that will lead to the complete fall of America's economy.
* Release of even greater proportions of the spirit of violence and murder, and homosexuality.
This is not the time to vote with the crowd, this is a time to take a stand for what is right! Be informed, your choice matters.
Blessings,
Craig
Ps - Don't miss tomorrow's feature which I believe is the best presentation on this election I have ever heard.
I was blown away recently by a Pastor who told me in a Church that God is pro choice. Then tell me why the 6th commandment is thou shall not murder. God established what is right and wrong, and then gave man a free will to make a choice, but every choice has a consequence. I shudder at the fact that even the preachers in our pulpits have abandoned everything God stands for.
Deut 30:11-20
11 The Choice of Life or Death
"For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' 14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
15 "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.
19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."
NKJV
God makes it clear that we have a choice, but if we make the wrong choice we are accountable to the consequences of that choice. Let me explain, there are certain laws that have been established such as the law of gravity. These laws will never change. If you walk off the top of the Sears Tower, without a parachute, you will suffer the effect of the law of gravity. It is not that God did it to you, no you broke a law and and reaped the consequence of that law. If you put your hand in a fire, it is not God or the devil that burned you, it is the fact you broke a law and the law has in it the consequence of either obeying or breaking that law.
Tomorrow I will post the script from a timely message by a Pastor who I visited his Church in Chicago. Take time to prayerfully read it and then based on your convictions (not popularity, color of skin, political party, or your momma is voting for...)vote the Bible. Why? Because if we choose to be influenced by the spirit of deception, we will as a nation face the consequence of our choice. This election will not only determine who the next President is, but it will determine the future of the Supreme Court which is a lifetime position. Obama was part of the Open Forum with Pastor Rick Warren. In the interview Obama stated that he would like to see four of the Supreme Court judges replaced, and by the way all four are liberal judges meaning they favor pro-life and the biblical model of marriage between a man and a woman. If you vote by the popular opinion, you might as put you bible in storage because you are voting totally against the morals and values that God's word stands for.
I believe if the Christians do not take a stand and open their eyes to the ploys of the enemy trying to destroy the very fabric and foundation of our nation, we will have the most unglodly President that has ever been in office in America which will result in:
* Persecution of the Church and morality
* Even more destruction of the family
* Marking the next generation to be a generation that does what is right in its own eyes, no standard of righteousness, and lawlessness will prevail in the land.
* More babies being murdered
* Censorship in the pulpits, those that oppose the next president will be persecuted and jailed
* Begginning of the third world economy
* Mass confusion
* A time of great prosperity that will lead to the complete fall of America's economy.
* Release of even greater proportions of the spirit of violence and murder, and homosexuality.
This is not the time to vote with the crowd, this is a time to take a stand for what is right! Be informed, your choice matters.
Blessings,
Craig
Ps - Don't miss tomorrow's feature which I believe is the best presentation on this election I have ever heard.
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