Jack, Joshua, Thomas, James and Daniel were the most popular boy baby names in the United Kingdom 10 years ago. Oh, what a difference a decade makes.

With Islam’s influence in the U.K., the demographics are changing and so are baby name choices. According to the United Kingdom’s Office of National Statistics, close to 3,500 boys born in 2013 were named Muhammad, with nearly 3,000 named Mohammed.

Even though Oliver was officially the most popular boy’s name, 18 variations of Muhammad made it on the list—making this Muslim namesake the nation’s most popular boy name for babies in 2013.

As Muslims continue making inroads into America, is this our future too?

Surely now President Obama must believe at least part of the Bible—specifically, I’m thinking about the part that says: “Pride comes before the fall.”

If there is a perfect modern-day application of this biblical injunction, we have been watching it unfold during the last six years.

Oh, how Mr. Obama used to brag that he could handle foreign policy better than his predecessors. He often explained how, because of his ethnic background and upbringing, he understood the Muslim people and identified with them. Through his empathy, he would cause them to love America and the West.

He even made his first foreign trip as president to two Muslim countries—Turkey and Egypt. There, he apologized for America and its previous foreign policies. He assured them that he was their friend and that they could trust him.

President Obama even surrounded himself with Islamists and Islamist-sympathizers as advisers in the White House. He boasted that his envoy to the Organization of Islamic Conference had memorized the Quran.

But nearly all of his bragging has now collapsed like a bad soufflé. Islamists do not trust him. Muslim leaders do not respect him. And around the world, leaders have no confidence in his once fawned-over rhetoric.

The resulting tragedy is that the American people are the victims of his misguided self-confidence.

But the core problem with all secular-thinking leaders on both sides of the political aisle is they create foreign policy that is divorced from the other-worldly realities of Islamists.

“Secular,” by definition, means “this age,” which is opposite of the invisible world where Islamist minds reside. Their religious gurus have convinced many that when they die in the act of killing “infidels,” they will live in paradise, with lots of alcohol and 70 virgins for their sexual pleasures.

To be very clear, not all Muslims embrace that viewpoint—for I have many Muslim friends who reject the notion.

But when you put secular thinking up against such other-worldly fantasies, you have a formula for global explosions with catastrophic results. That is something I have written about since the early 1980s to a skeptical world across the political spectrum. Sadly, now the whole world is experiencing it firsthand.

Our foreign policy—regardless of whether it is Democrat or Republican in origin—must understand the other-worldly motivations inherent in Islamist thinking. They not only resent our secular approach to their demands, but they reject and outright ridicule them.

If politicians in the West truly want to protect their fellow citizens, they must fully understand the Islamist mind. Then those politicians will not be able to avoid facing the reality of the situation: It is either kill or be killed. That is the reality Churchill faced when dealing with Hitler. And unfortunately, that is the harsh reality that we face today. Any other thinking is delusional and, ultimately, suicidal.

I’m sure some on social media will attack my Christian bona fides after expressing such a terrible choice. As a Christian—especially as a Christian—I find such a choice very disturbing. But as a Christian, I must also face the reality of the present world and not advocate that our country lie to itself and run from its troubles.

Michael Youssef, Ph.D., is the founder and president of Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, a worldwide ministry that leads the way for people living in spiritual darkness to discover the light of Christ through the creative use of media and on-the-ground ministry teams. Youssef was born in Egypt.

A lengthy operation by the Shin Bet and the Israel Defense Forces thwarted a Hamas plot to overthrow the Palestinian Authority government in Judea and Samaria and carry out terrorist attacks in Israel, the Shin Bet revealed this week.

Working together over the course of months, the Shin Bet and the IDF arrested 93 Hamas members who were operating in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, of whom 46 were transferred to the Shin Bet for interrogation. Weapons and ammunition, including 24 rifles, six handguns, seven rocket launchers and several magazines, were confiscated.

According to the Shin Bet, the planned toppling of the PA was directed out of the Hamas headquarters in Turkey and was assisted by a network of operatives in Turkey and Jordan, who funneled over 2 million shekels ($569,000) into Judea and Samaria. The money was used to acquire weapons and safe houses. Israeli authorities confiscated more than 600,000 shekels ($171,000) of the smuggled funds.

Riad Nazzer, 38, of Dir Kadis, was in charge of the plot to overthrow the PA government. Nazzer has served a number of prison sentences for his involvement in Hamas military activity. One of the top Hamas operatives in Ramallah, Nazzer was recruited in March 2010 by Salah Aruri, 48, a senior Hamas operative who has also been imprisoned a number of times. In March 2010, Aruri moved to Turkey as part of an agreement with the High Court of Justice, and since then has been in charge of the Hamas headquarters abroad.

To carry out the plan to oust the PA and commit terrorist attacks in Israel, Nazzer established an extensive military infrastructure in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria. He recruited numerous operatives through imprisoned Hamas leaders and former Hamas prisoners. Students and academics, particularly those from the chemistry and engineering fields, were also recruited to prepare and store explosives.

The heads of the plot kept in contact with Hamas headquarters in Jordan. Former security prisoner Uda Zaharan, 54, originally from the Jerusalem area, who has been living in Jordan since 2006, handled money transfers and communications with Ramallah.

Another important figure arrested was Majdi Mafarja, 32, a resident of Beit Liqya who holds a doctorate in computer engineering. Mafarja, who served as head of Hamas’ security apparatus, was originally recruited in Malaysia and trained in encoding correspondence and cyber warfare. He was arrested on May 22.

Salah Barekat, 35, an Israeli citizen from Beit Safafa near Jerusalem, was also arrested in the sting on July 1. Barekat was a senior operative in the “dawa”—Hamas’ social and civilian infrastructure—and was a messenger for the Jordanian network from 2010 to 2012.

“The detainees are from [places ranging from] Jenin in the north to Hebron in the south, from 46 cities and villages,” a senior Shin Bet official said. “Exposing the plot shows how deep our intelligence penetrates. Good work was done over a long period of time. This infrastructure didn’t carry out any terrorist attack.”

The official said characterized the Israeli operation to foil the plot as a “classic pre-emptive strike,” and said the plot had operated according to the model that ousted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party from the Gaza Strip in 2007.

“The plot that has been exposed, one of the most extensive we have known, demonstrates the extreme inherent danger in having a Hamas command center abroad working with operatives in Judea and Samaria, in light of Hamas’ strategic plans to topple the Palestinian Authority,” the official said.

A statement from Abbas’ bureau said that the PA president had “instructed the Palestinian security forces to obtain all necessary information in light of the news. The arrests of Hamas operatives and the suspicions against them could have dangerous ramifications.”

For the original article, visit .

Many of us claim that God is first in our lives. But do we live out this reality in our everyday existence—or have we made something else preeminent?

Order, both in nature and in human life, depends upon right relationships; to achieve harmony each thing must be in its proper position relative to each other thing. That’s why it is so essential for God to have His proper place in our lives. When He does not, everything is out of order.

We are right when, and only when, we stand in a right position relative to God, and we are wrong so far and so long as we stand in any other position.

So let us begin with God. Back of all, above all, before all is God; first in sequential order, above in rank and station, exalted in dignity and honor. As the self-existent One He gave being to all things, and all things exist out of Him and for Him. “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created” (Rev. 4:11, KJV).

Every soul belongs to God and exists by His pleasure. God being who and what He is, and we being who and what we are, the only thinkable relation between us is one of full lordship on His part and complete submission on ours. We owe Him every honor that is in our power to give Him. Our everlasting grief lies in giving Him anything less.

The pursuit of God will embrace the labor of bringing our total personality into conformity to His. I do not here refer to the act of justification by faith in Christ. I speak of a voluntary exalting of God to His proper station over us and a willing surrender of our whole being to the place of worshipful submission that the Creator creature circumstance makes proper.

The moment we make up our minds that we are going on with this determination to exalt God over all, we step out of the world’s parade. We shall find ourselves out of adjustment to the ways of the world and increasingly so as we make progress in the holy way. We shall acquire a new viewpoint; a new psychology will be formed within us; a new power will begin to surprise us by its upsurgings and its outgoings.

Our break with the world will be the direct outcome of our changed relation to God. For the world of fallen men does not honor God. Millions call themselves by His name, it is true, and pay some token respect to Him, but a simple test will show how little He is really honored among them.

Let the average man be put to the proof on the question of who or what is above, and his true position will be exposed. Let him be forced into making a choice between God and money, between God and man, between God and personal ambition, God and self, God and human love, and God will take second place every time. Those other things will be exalted above. However the man may protest, the proof is in the choices he makes day after day throughout his life.

“Be exalted, O Lord” (Ps. 21:13, NKJV) is the language of victorious spiritual experience. It is a little key to unlock the door to great treasures of grace. It is central in the life of God in the soul.

Let the seeking man reach a place where life and lips join to say continually “Be exalted, O Lord,” and a thousand minor problems will be solved at once. His Christian life ceases to be the complicated thing it had been before and becomes the very essence of simplicity. By the exercise of his will he has set his course, and on that course he will stay as if guided by an automatic pilot.

Let no one imagine that he will lose anything of human dignity by this voluntary sell-out of his all to God. His deep disgrace lay in his unnatural usurpation of the place of God. His honor will be proved by restoring again that stolen throne. In exalting God over all he finds his own highest honor upheld.

Anyone who might feel reluctant to surrender his will to the will of another should remember Jesus’ words, “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). We must of necessity be servant to someone, either to God or to sin.

The sinner prides himself on his independence, completely overlooking the fact that he is the weak slave of the sins that rule his members. The man who surrenders to Christ exchanges a cruel slave driver for a kind and gentle Master whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.

I hope it is clear that there is a logic behind God’s claim to preeminence. That place is His by every right in earth or heaven. While we take to ourselves the place that is His, the whole course of our lives is out of joint. Nothing will or can restore order till our hearts make the great decision: God shall be exalted above.

“Those who honor Me I will honor” (1 Sam. 2:30), God said once to a priest of Israel, and that ancient law of the kingdom stands today unchanged by the passing of time or the changes of dispensation. The whole Bible and every page of history proclaim the perpetuation of that law.

“If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor,” (John 12:26), Jesus said, tying in the old with the new and revealing the essential unity of His ways with men.

Sometimes the best way to see a thing is to look at its opposite. Eli and his sons are placed in the priesthood with the stipulation that they honor God in their lives and ministrations. They fail to do this, and God sends Samuel to announce the consequences.

Unknown to Eli, this law of reciprocal honor has been all the while secretly working, and now the time has come for judgment to fall. Hophni and Phineas, the degenerate priests, fall in battle; the wife of Hophni dies in childbirth; Israel flees before her enemies; the ark of God is captured by the Philistines; and the old man Eli falls backward and dies of a broken neck. Thus stark, utter tragedy followed upon Eli’s failure to honor God.

Now over against this set almost any Bible character who honestly tried to glorify God in his earthly walk. See how God winked at weakness and overlooked failures as He poured upon His servants grace and blessing untold. Let it be Abraham, Jacob, David, Daniel, Elijah or whom you will; honor followed honor as harvest the seed.

The man of God set his heart to exalt God above all; God accepted his intention as fact and acted accordingly. Not perfection, but holy intention made the difference.

In our Lord Jesus Christ this law was seen in simple perfection. In His lowly manhood He humbled Himself and gladly gave all glory to His Father in heaven. He sought not His own honor but the honor of God who sent Him.

“If I honor Myself,” He said on one occasion, “My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me” (John 8:54). So far had the Pharisees departed from this law that they could not understand one who honored God at his own expense. “I honor My Father,” Jesus said to them, “and you dishonor Me” (v. 49).

Another saying of Jesus, and a most disturbing one, was put in the form of a question. “How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44). If I understand this correctly, Christ taught here the alarming doctrine that the desire for honor among men made belief impossible.

Is this sin at the root of religious unbelief? I believe it may be. The whole course of life is upset by failure to put God where He belongs. We exalt ourselves instead of God, and the curse follows.

In our desire after God let us keep always in mind that God also has desire, and His desire is toward the sons of men, and more particularly toward those sons of men who will make the once-for-all decision to exalt Him over all. Such as these are precious to God above all treasures of earth or sea.

In them God finds a theater where He can display His exceeding kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. With them God can walk unhindered; toward them He can act like the God He is.

In speaking thus I have one fear: that I may convince the mind before God can win the heart. For this God-above-all position is one not easy to take. The mind may approve it while not having the consent of the will to put it into effect.

Though the imagination races ahead to honor God, the will may lag behind, and the man must make the decision before the heart can know any real satisfaction. God wants the whole person, and He will not rest till He gets us in entirety.

Let us pray over this in detail, throwing ourselves at God’s feet and meaning everything we say. Let’s ask God today to be exalted over our possessions, our friendships, our comforts, our reputations. Let’s ask Him to take His proper place of honor above our ambitions, our likes and dislikes, our family, our health and even life itself.

No one who prays thus in sincerity need wait long for tokens of divine acceptance. God will unveil His glory before His servant’s eyes, and He will place all His treasures at the disposal of such a one, for He knows that His honor is safe in consecrated hands.

A.W. Tozer (1897-1963) was pastor of Southside Alliance Church in Chicago for 31 years. He also was the author of more than 40 books, including Faith Beyond Reason; Man: The Dwelling Place of God and The Knowledge of the Holy.

Note: As I said last month in Dan Juster’s article for Reconnecting Ministries, I am beginning a new focus with The Reconnection; to bring this issue in God’s family to the forefront of the church by interviewing many of its leaders, both from Jewish and Gentile perspectives; where they will be free to express their views and beliefs.

But, what will this spiritual reconnection between Jew and Gentile actually look like in the church as it begins to take hold and develop amongst us? I truly believe that the full revelation of this new unity in the family of God will only develop as more of His love and forgiveness flows between both groups. In my mind, this will naturally broaden our tolerances of how each of us practice our faith in Jesus/Yeshua, with some overlaps I might add that will become wonderfully enriching to us all.

Papa Don Finto, as I call him, who is one of my mentors in the faith, pastored Belmont Church in Nashville, Tennessee for over 30 years. More recently over the last 10 years, God called him out to help father and mentor Messianic leadership in the church, which is so greatly needed. Papa Don overflows in the Spirit with the Father’s love and runs a ministry with Tod McDowell known as Caleb Company, which is training church leadership to refocus on Israel. Don Finto has a great love for Israel and the church and has written 2 books on the Reconnection, which lay a wonderful foundation for Christians first discovering and embracing the Israel piece, a phrase he has devised and one that I use regularly in my sermons and teachings. “Your People Shall Be My People,” is one of the titles. So here’s what he has to share with us (Grant Berry, Reconnecting Ministries).

We have been robbed of a significant part of our godly heritage through a calendar that was intentionally removed from the biblical one. The early believers in Jesus were all Jewish. Not until Cornelius were the Gentiles received into the fellowship without converting to Judaism. But even these early Gentile followers observed the biblical feasts as a prophetic statement of their newly found faith in the Jewish Messiah who is also Redeemer of the nations. When Paul wrote to the predominantly Gentile believers of Corinth, he spoke of “Christ, our Passover lamb (who) has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival …” (1 Cor. 5:7-8). The biblical feasts had become the feasts of the Gentile believers as well.

Paul’s special assignment was to Gentiles (see Acts 9:15), yet he never lost his passion for the Jewish people and remained an observant Jew all his life, always going first to synagogues with the message of the gospel, before going to Gentiles (see Acts 13:5, 14:14:1; 17:2, 10, 17; 18:4; 19:8). Late in life, Paul told the Roman commander, “I am a Jew” (Acts 21:39), and to the Sanhedrin, “I am a Pharisee” (23:6).

As Gentile believers increased and Jewish persecution, including the destruction of Jerusalem that followed, the church began to lose touch with the Jewish roots of their faith and turn against their Jewish brothers and sisters. By the time of Emperor Constantine in the early 4^th century, the estrangement had become so severe that Constantine called the bishops together in the Nicene Council in order to finalize the church’s separation from these “polluted wretches” who had killed Jesus.

They needed a resurrection day other than Passover. Passover was too Jewish. At the conclusion of the Nicene Council, Constantine had his way. The Roman calendar had conquered. The annual celebration of the Lord’s resurrection would now have a new name—Easter—strangely similar to Eostre, the Teutonic goddess of spring, dissimilar to Pesach or Passover. The Roman calendar, named after Roman gods and Caesars, replaced God’s calendar, and for the next 16 centuries, both the church and the synagogue agreed that Jewish people who became followers of their Messiah must relinquish all their Jewishness and get on the non-biblical calendar. If they refused, they were persecuted and often killed. Can you honestly believe this? But it is sadly true of our church history.

The prophet Daniel had envisioned four great beasts and a king that would “change the set times and the laws” (Dan. 7:25). In his insistence that the church change the calendar of God, Constantine became a foreshadowing of another world ruler who is to come. And the church was further divorced from her roots and her spiritual “parentage.”

Our Roman/Gregorian solar calendar has no biblical significance. God’s calendar is based on lunar months with a solar year. The sun and moon are to “mark seasons and days and years” (Gen. 1:14). The first day of the new moon following the vernal equinox in the spring is the beginning of God’s year (See Ex. 12:1). Months always begin with the new moon. The 14^th or 15^th of the month will always be a full moon. The days begin in the evening (see Gen. 1:5).

Passover (Pesach) is always on the 14^th day of Nisan, also called Abib (meaning barley). God told Moses to “tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb” (Ex. 12:3). The lambs were to be “year old males without defect” (v. 5), and were to be sacrificed on the 14^th day of the month (v. 6). Israel was to “take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of their houses” (v. 7). “The blood will be a sign … when I see the blood, I will pass over you” (v. 13), was the Lord’s assurance.

John’s gospel indicates that Jesus’ “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem took place on the 10^th day of Nisan (see John 12:1 and 12), the day the lambs were selected. All the gospel writers tell of the questions and scrutiny that Jesus endured over the next four days as He was brought before Caiaphas, Annas, Herod and Pilate. On the morning of the 13^th of Nisan, after being carefully examined by Pilate, Pilate declared, “I find no fault in this man” (Luke 23:4, KJV). In other words, “This lamb is flawless and ready to be sacrificed.” Jesus was taken to the execution site and nailed to the cross. At 3:00 in the afternoon (See Luke 23:44-46), after three hours of darkness, and at the exact time when Passover lambs were being slaughtered for the evening feast, the soldiers pierced the side of Jesus, and redeeming Blood flowed from His side.

HaBikkurim

A relatively unnoticed “first fruits” festival (HaBikkurim) occurred three days later when the priest was to waive a barley sheaf as a celebration of the harvest that was to come (see Levi. 23:9-14). Paul calls Jesus’ resurrection from the dead the first fruits of all those who are to follow (see 1 Cor. 15:20 and 24).

Shavuot

Fifty days after Passover was the festival of Pentecost (Shavuot). Pentecost is not just a “Christian” festival, but a biblical feast of harvest that also commemorates the giving of the law on Sinai. This is the day God chose for the initiation of the “law of the Spirit of life” (Rom. 8:2), a day when Joel’s prophecy that “I will pour out my Spirit on all people” (Acts 2:17) began to be fulfilled. Pentecost is one of the “appointed feasts of the LORD” (Lev. 23:2), and always arrives on the 6^th day of the 3^rd month, the month of Sivan.

Yom Teruach, Yom Kippur, Sukkot

After the spring festivals, there is a long season of growing and harvesting before the autumn festivals that celebrate the final harvest. Jesus compared Himself to a master who entrusted talents to his servants, went on a journey, then “after a long time” (Matt. 25:19) returned to hold his servants accountable. There is “a long time” between the spring and the autumn feasts.

Three feasts take place in the fall: the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruach) on the 1^st day of the seventh month of Tishrei, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) on the 10^th day of Tishrei, and the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) from the 15^th to the 22^nd days of Tishrei. Jewish tradition calls the first day of Tishrei Rosh Hashana (“head of the year”), and celebrate this day as the beginning of the civic year, but the beginning of God’s year is in the spring, on the first day of Nisan.

The fall festivals are important for us because they have yet to come into their full prophetic significance. If Jesus used God’s calendar for the spring festivals, we can well assume that He will do the same with the fall feasts. In Paul’s letters to both Corinth and Thessalonica, he refers to a trumpet call that will resound at the second coming of Jesus. The Day of Atonement is a day of introspection and judgment. Tabernacles looks forward to the time when we will “tabernacle” together with God.

But there is more! Jesus calls Himself “the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Rev. 22:13). He often begins and ends at the same place. He left from the Mount of Olives and He is to return to the Mount of Olives. There seems to be biblical evidence that Jesus will not only return during the fall season, but that He was born during the Feast of Tabernacles.

Zechariah “belonged to the priestly division of Abijah” (Luke 1:15), serving in the Temple in the eighth rotation, thus the later part of the fourth biblical month (See 1 Chron. 24:10). Mary’s pregnancy occurred six months later when “God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth (v. 26), thus the later part of the 10th biblical month. This would mean that Jesus was born nine months later, in the later part of the 19^th month following Gabriel’s announcement to Zechariah, thus in the later part of the seventh biblical month at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. No wonder John said that “the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us” (John 1:14, Amplified). It’s fascinating, don’t you think?

We’ve been robbed of our heritage and our connection to our roots, which is why Grant Berry burns the trail to help reconnect us spiritually with his ministry focus. God has a calendar; we have a calendar. He will never get on ours, but it’s best we get on His!

People who struggle with gay feelings are usually told they should simply accept their homosexual identity. Many psychologists believe it’s wrong to suggest that homosexuality could be or should be treated as a problem. You’re gay. Big deal. We accept you. Have whatever kind of sex you want.

But what about people who struggle with same-sex attraction and yet genuinely want freedom from homosexuality because they believe it violates Christian morals? These people face a triple dilemma because (1) some Christians are prejudiced against gay people and don’t really care; (2) many churches just aren’t equipped to offer counseling; and (3) our mainstream culture believes that once you’re gay, you’re always gay.

But this didn’t stop my friend William Dobson from abandoning the gay lifestyle. His story needs to be considered.

William was a sensitive boy. So when kids his age started calling him “sissy” and “queer,” he was emotionally scarred. He gave his heart to Jesus at age 12 and found safety and security in a world of bullying. When he was filled with the Holy Spirit as a college student, he admitted to a pastor that he struggled with gay feelings. He found a measure of freedom after being honest about his secret. He began pursuing God.

William became a successful architect in Tampa, Florida, and served as a volunteer worship leader for many years. But he suffered shipwreck in his faith at age 44 after a pastor he trusted experienced a moral failure. William quit church, and his anger grew to the point that he stopped resisting his unwanted sexual impulses. He threw himself headlong into a gay lifestyle.

He went to gay bars, dated men and became fully immersed in Tampa’s gay community. He also got hooked on Internet pornography and lived with his gay boyfriend for three years. But he never found true satisfaction, and he always knew deep down in his heart that he was running from God.

“I had no peace at all during my time in the gay lifestyle,” William told me last week. “My coping mechanism was alcohol. But even when I would get plastered, I could still hear the still small voice of Jesus calling me back to Himself.”

William sought help and ended up at a Methodist church in Tampa. But the pastor who offered counseling told him it was OK to be gay and encouraged him to accept the lifestyle instead of offering an exit strategy.

Says William: “I never bought into that [pro-gay] teaching. First Corinthians 6:9-11 is clear that those who practice adultery, idolatry, drunkenness, stealing or homosexuality will not inherit the kingdom of God. That same scripture also declares that to believe such practice is acceptable is deception.”

William struggled for a while. But one day while driving to work he began to sob while listening to the song “You Are Holy” on a Hillsong recording:

Here in Your courts /

where I’m close to Your throne /

I’ve found where I belong.

“In that moment, I made the decision to break up with my partner,” William says. “I decided I would not yield any longer to my sexual passions, and I acknowledged that God had a calling on my life. I had walked away from that calling. I had been living for myself, and that life had left me empty. I begged God to lead me away from my own derailed life of bad choices and back to Him.”

William’s deliverance didn’t come overnight. His journey was slow, but God proved to be patient. A breakthrough came three years later when William worked up the courage to leave his network of friends in Tampa and isolate himself for a while. During that time, he asked God to help him break free from his porn addiction.

“I was addicted to internet porn for years, even for some time prior to me diving into the gay lifestyle,” admits William. “Today I am completely free of that addiction. I no longer search the internet for the videos and photos of naked men that at one time gripped and fed me. I have no desire for that any longer. I have been free of that addiction for more than a year now.”

William did not find his freedom alone. He called a local Tampa ministry, New Hearts Outreach, and spilled his guts to a man who understood his struggle. He joined a support group, enrolled in counseling, and started spending time with God every day. Today he no longer identifies himself as gay. He traded his old life for a new one—in Christ.

“My relationship with Jesus is more intimate than it has ever been,” says William. “I’ve connected with a ministry that has offered real tools to overcome my misplaced sexual identity. I have found leaders who love Christ. And I have found within myself the very Spirit of the Living God, who calls, leads, teaches, confirms, loves, affirms and accepts me.”

William does not fit the stereotype of a narrow-minded Christian who wants to force his beliefs on gay people. He’s not “homophobic,” and he doesn’t stand in the streets holding signs condemning gay marriage. He still loves his gay friends and even stays in contact with his former live-in boyfriend.

But this story raises an interesting question: If our culture demands that we accept homosexuality in the name of freedom, should we not also respect the rights of people like William Dobson if they want to leave the gay lifestyle? The answer to that question might prove whether or not all the talk about “tolerance” in our culture today is actually a smokescreen for intolerance.

J. Lee Grady is the former editor of Charisma. You can follow him on Twitter at leegrady. He is the author of 10 Lies Men Believe and other books. If you’d like to talk to someone about a struggle with sexual identity, you can go to or . These websites list local ministries that offer counseling and small-group support.

As I write this, my body is trembling under the power of Holy Spirit. I was at a meeting at The Altar in Port St. Joe, Florida, with David and Cindy Fernandez on Aug. 15, 2014 when I received a vision from the Lord.

I saw and heard the radical remnant of the Lord pregnant with the dreams and visions of the Lord. They were pregnant with the purposes of God in the Earth. 

Many are pregnant with awakening revival for their nation, cities and families.  Others are pregnant with a harvest of souls. Still others are pregnant with signs, wonders and miracles. Then there are those who are pregnant with His presence, intercession and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Beyond Full Term

The radical remnant I saw and am seeing is beyond full term. Something is keeping them from delivering God’s purpose. The remnant is not able to deliver. Groaning and travail as with a woman in pain of childbirth is on the remnant. But no one can deliver.

The Accuser of the Brethren

Suddenly, I began to see why we could not deliver. The accuser of the brethren was standing there making accusation against the remnant. Dreams and visions from the Lord are being held hostage in the womb of the sons and daughters of the Lord by this accuser. (See Rev. 12 and Zech. 3.) 

The accusations were strong and demanding, going back many generations. Some of the dreams and visions have been within the womb of the remnant for decades. Some have been passed through the generations but have yet to be birthed. Many of the dreams and visions will deliver nations and bring awakening to generations, even generations yet to come.

Judgment Released Against the Accuser

I then heard the Lord say, “I am shutting the mouth of the destroyer, and I will establish a throne of righteousness and worship in the land.” A release of joy came to my spirit as I heard the Lord release the vengeance of our God against the accuser of the brethren (See Is. 61:2).

A Season of Giving Birth

After this vision/word, I looked up the Hebrew month we are in. It was the 19th of Av. Today we are in the 20th day of Av. On the Hebraic calendar, Av is a month of GIVING BIRTH.

War Over the Harvest

The accuser is warring over your harvest. But it is your season to travail to prevail.

We must enter into the place of Isaiah 54:1-3:

“Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, You who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord. 

“Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.”

Don’t try to answer the accuser based on your merit or righteousness. Our answer is based on the righteous Blood of Jesus that was shed for remission of sin.

Strategy: Travail to Prevail

It’s important that you enter into a time of worship in this season.

 I want to encourage:

• Churches, pastors—Take a Sunday to dedicate the entire service to worship. Encourage your congregation to press into worship for the harvest and for awakening in your city.

• Prayer groups—Spend time entering into Harp & Bowl (Worship & Intercession-Rev. 5:8) and give birth to the purposes of God.

• Worship teams—Worship leaders, gather your team to enter into worship and exalt the Lord.

• Houses of prayer—You are an important part of this. Enter into a place of worship over the harvest of souls in your region.

• Home groups—Press in through worship. We need your voice to reach into the heavens.

• Families—Restore the altar of worship in your home. This will unlock the dreams and visions you are pregnant with.

• Business leaders—Take time to worship the Lord in your office or with your employees. Unlock the hidden resources of heaven in your business.

Question – Is it really all that important to use the four keys to hearing God’s voice? I mean, some people have five keys, and some have three keys, and some just say do it. This whole formula thing doesn’t really work for me. I can hear God’s voice without using any keys–I just listen and hear. The vision and journaling doesn’t sit too well with me either…

Answer – I believe these four keys were given to me through divine revelation and that they make hearing God’s voice easy for naturally analytical people to do, while at the same time making it possible for more naturally intuitive people to communicate to others what they instinctively do. And yes, since God can do anything, He can also speak through other means; I am simply saying this is an easy way for all believers to daily hear God’s voice.

When you begin to intentionally use these four keys, you should give yourself a couple of weeks to become fully comfortable with purposely using them. If you do, you will hear God’s voice daily and easily and so will those to whom you teach the four keys. Let me explain why.

The Night God Chased Me Down

In 1979, the Lord woke me up with a booming bass voice (the only time I have ever heard God as a booming bass voice!) and said, “Mark, get up, I want to teach you how to hear My voice.” This was after six months of intense searching to answer the question of how I could hear God’s voice. I sat bolt upright in bed, wide awake. Then I lay back down and said, “You can teach me here.” He again said, “Get up and go to your office! I am going to teach you to hear My voice.”

So I got up, went to my office, and He showed me that Habakkuk did four specific, simple things to hear God’s voice (Hab. 2:1,2). They are: stop, look, listen and write.

1. Stop – Become still – “Went to my guard post” means he quieted himself down to listen and hear.
2. Look – Look for vision – “Kept watch to see” means the prophet was looking for vision.
3. Listen – Recognize God’s voice as spontaneous thoughts – “What He will speak to me” means he recognized God’s voice. We define God’s voice as flowing or spontaneous thoughts, because John 7:37-39 says the Holy Spirit within is sensed as flow. Likewise God’s vision is flowing pictures.
4. Write – Two-way journaling – “Record the vision” means he wrote down the flowing words and flowing pictures (visions) that were coming to him.

If you think about it, this is what we naturally do when conversing with a friend. We stop thinking about other things and put our focus on them; we look at them; we listen carefully; and when it is important, we write down what they are saying so we don’t forget it. It is completely normal and accepted to record words that we consider important, as for example, a stenographer would do in a courtroom. We are simply saying why not apply these steps to our conversations with God? Are not the words of our Lord to us the most important words we will ever hear?

So Who Else in Scripture, Besides Habakkuk, Used These Four Keys?

It is now 35 years later, and I hear the Lord speaking within me that I should take note that the four keys that Habakkuk used were used by others throughout Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation. So let’s take a look at a dozen individuals in the Bible who used these four keys.

The Apostle John used the same four keys when he wrote the book of Revelation. In Rev. 1:9-11 we see:

1. Stop – “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day”
2. Listen – “I heard a voice behind me saying”
3. Write – “Write in a book”
4. Look – “what you see”

King David was a man after God’s own heart, and he certainly used the same four keys:

1. Stop – “Be silent my soul before Him” (Ps. 62:1).
2. Look – “I have set the LORD continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken” (Ps. 16:8); “I saw the Lord always in my presence; for He is at my right hand” (Acts 2:25) means he saw the Lord with the eyes of his heart, with him constantly.
3. Listen – After King David would quiet himself (i.e., Selah), God would speak. “Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you; I am God, your God” (Ps. 50:7).
4. Write – David journaled out the details of the Tabernacle, and as he did, he said it was the Lord’s hand upon him (1 Chron. 28:19). In addition, he recorded many of his prayer times in the Psalms.

How about the Apostle Paul, did he also use these four keys?

1. Stop – “… appeared to Paul in the night” (Acts 16:9)
2. Look – “Was caught up into Paradise” (2 Cor. 12:4)
3. Listen – “Heard inexpressible words” (2 Cor. 12:4)
4. Write – Paul prayed for revelation (Eph. 1:17,18; Col. 1:9), and then wrote Ephesians and Colossians which are both FULL of divine revelation. I am convinced his epistles record the revelation Paul received from God during his prayer times.

How about Abraham, the Father of Faith – did he use the four keys?

1. Stop – “A deep sleep fell upon Abram” (Gen. 15:12,13)
2. Look – “The word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision…” (Gen. 15:1)
3. Listen – “Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country…'” (Gen. 12:1)
4. Write – Since Genesis 15 was written by Moses, I am going to assume that Abraham recorded it in some way so it was available later for Moses to draw upon.

Moses used the four keys (Ex. 3:1-5).

1. Stop – Moses said, “I must turn aside…” 
2. Look – He looked, and behold the bush was burning.
3. Listen – God called to him from the midst of the bush and said…
4. Write – Moses wrote out this experience in the book of Exodus.

Did Isaiah use the four keys when he heard God’s voice?

1. Stop – He wakens me morning by morning (Is. 50:4)
2. Look – “The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem, which he saw” (Is. 1:1)
3. Listen – For the LORD speaks… (Is. 1:2)
4. Write – Obviously he is writing it down, as that is how we got the book of Isaiah.

Jeremiah used the four keys to receive from the Lord.

1. Stop – Jeremiah was a priest who was ministering before the Lord (Jer. 1:1)
2. Look – “What do you see, Jeremiah?” … “I see a rod of an almond tree.” (Jer. 1:11)
3. Listen – “The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying” (Jer. 30:1)
4. Write – “‘Write all the words which I have spoken to you in a book'” (Jer. 30:2)

Ezekiel used the four Keys (Ezek. 1:1-4).

1. Stop – “While I was by the river …”
2. Look – “As I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming …”
3. Listen – “the word of the LORD came expressly to Ezekiel …”
4. Write – He wrote the book of Ezekiel.

Daniel used the four keys.

1. Stop – As he lay on his bed (Dan. 7:1)
2. Look – “I was looking in my vision by night” (Dan. 7:1)
3. Listen – “I approached one of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things” (Dan. 7:16)
4. Write – He wrote the dream down (Dan. 7:1)

Peter used the four keys.

1. Stop – “I was in the city of Joppa praying” (Acts 11:5)
2. Look – “I saw a vision, an object coming down like a great sheet” (Acts 11:5)
3. Listen – “I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.'” (Acts 11:7)
4. Write – We have a biblical record of his encounter.

These biblical writers composed 663 chapters of the 1189 chapters in the Bible (over 50%). That is not to say that the rest of the writers didn’t also use these four keys. If we explored the Minor Prophets and discovered they also used the four keys of stop, look, listen and write that would add another 68 chapters to the total.

Should We Be Using the Four Keys?

If God models a behavior from Genesis to Revelation, is that something we are to do? If God is a God who hides himself, and it is the glory of a king to search a thing out, then we have searched this thing out and found that these four keys are prevalent in Scripture, which means we ought to be following this pattern.

We stop, look, listen and write. Not too hard to comprehend. We teach our children to stop, look and listen before crossing a road. Now we need to teach ourselves to stop, look, listen and write. If we do, we will receive daily revelation from the Lord just as these did: Habakkuk, Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, John, Paul and Peter. I know there are many others from Scripture whom we have not even mentioned in this article.

Will YOU Use These Four Keys?

How many of these keys can we neglect and still expect to receive the fullness of God? My guess is none! So let’s take the time to train ourselves and our people that hearing God’s voice is as easy as quieting yourself down, fixing your eyes on Jesus, tuning to spontaneity and writing.

Isn’t it time for you to stop, look, listen and write? Isn’t it time for the church to train its people to stop, look, listen and write? God certainly puts a huge emphasis on writing (Deut. 17:18,19). Rather than saying, “I can’t write,” we should be saying, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!” (Phil. 4:13).

Rather than saying, “I can’t see,” how about if we say, “God heals the blind with just a touch. Lord, I ask for You to touch my blind eyes and heal them so I can see. I command blindness to go, in Jesus’ Name. I command the eyes of my heart to see in Jesus’ Name! Muscles in these spiritual eyes, be strengthened in Jesus’ Name. Lord, I receive Your healing touch. I look and I see (Dan. 8:2,3; Rev. 4:1). It is Your will for me to see (Acts 2:17). Thank You, Lord.”

It is time for the church to arise and be the church and receive revelation knowledge and divine visions on a daily basis.

We Saved the Best for Last – The Example of Jesus

“Jesus is perfect theology” according to Bill Johnson, and I certainly agree. Jesus did nothing of His own initiative, but only what He heard and saw the Father doing (John 8:28).

1. Stop – Jesus went alone to pray (Matt. 14:23)
2. Look – “I do only those things I see the Father doing” (John 5:19,20; 8:38)
3. Listen – “I do only those things I hear from the Father” (John 5:30; 8:26)
4. Write – While there is no record that Jesus Himself wrote what He heard, He shared it with His disciples who wrote it down for us. (And remember, John said that Jesus did so many other things that the whole world would not have room for the books that would need to be written to record it all. (John 21:25)!

Make this golden pattern a part of your daily life!

Which Leaders Down Through Church History Used the Four Keys?

We haven’t even started this discussion, so let’s begin it…

1. Stop –
2. Look –
3. Listen –
4. Write – 

Would you help by adding to this blog (below) an additional example from either Scripture or church history of individuals who used the four keys to hear God’s voice? Thank you for the additions you provide. Let’s let this blog grow. Let’s be doers of the Word! Let’s stop, look, listen and write.

Closing Prayer – Lord, bless and anoint Your church as they follow this biblical pattern, found in hundreds of chapters of Scripture, and modeled by essentially all great spiritual leaders from Scripture and from church history. Lord, we thank You for patterns and examples in Your Word which instruct our lives. Thank You for this pattern that has taught so many of Your children to hear Your voice in recent years. YOU are restoring truth to Your church. You are restoring our lives! You are taking us back to the pattern in the Garden of Eden where in the cool of the day You appeared, and walked and talked with Adam and Eve. You are our Wonderful Counselor. We worship You. To God be glory forever and ever, amen!

Mark Virkler is founder and president of Christian Leadership University and co-founder of Communion With God Ministries. The co-author of more than 50 books with his wife, Patti, Mark has received a Master of Theology from Miami Christian University and a Ph.D. from Carolina Christian University.

A lengthy operation by the Shin Bet and the Israel Defense Forces thwarted a Hamas plot to overthrow the Palestinian Authority government in Judea and Samaria and carry out terrorist attacks in Israel, the Shin Bet revealed this week.

Working together over the course of months, the Shin Bet and the IDF arrested 93 Hamas members who were operating in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, of whom 46 were transferred to the Shin Bet for interrogation. Weapons and ammunition, including 24 rifles, six handguns, seven rocket launchers and several magazines, were confiscated.

According to the Shin Bet, the planned toppling of the PA was directed out of the Hamas headquarters in Turkey and was assisted by a network of operatives in Turkey and Jordan, who funneled over 2 million shekels ($569,000) into Judea and Samaria. The money was used to acquire weapons and safe houses. Israeli authorities confiscated more than 600,000 shekels ($171,000) of the smuggled funds.

Riad Nazzer, 38, of Dir Kadis, was in charge of the plot to overthrow the PA government. Nazzer has served a number of prison sentences for his involvement in Hamas military activity. One of the top Hamas operatives in Ramallah, Nazzer was recruited in March 2010 by Salah Aruri, 48, a senior Hamas operative who has also been imprisoned a number of times. In March 2010, Aruri moved to Turkey as part of an agreement with the High Court of Justice, and since then has been in charge of the Hamas headquarters abroad.

To carry out the plan to oust the PA and commit terrorist attacks in Israel, Nazzer established an extensive military infrastructure in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria. He recruited numerous operatives through imprisoned Hamas leaders and former Hamas prisoners. Students and academics, particularly those from the chemistry and engineering fields, were also recruited to prepare and store explosives.

The heads of the plot kept in contact with Hamas headquarters in Jordan. Former security prisoner Uda Zaharan, 54, originally from the Jerusalem area, who has been living in Jordan since 2006, handled money transfers and communications with Ramallah.

Another important figure arrested was Majdi Mafarja, 32, a resident of Beit Liqya who holds a doctorate in computer engineering. Mafarja, who served as head of Hamas’ security apparatus, was originally recruited in Malaysia and trained in encoding correspondence and cyber warfare. He was arrested on May 22.

Salah Barekat, 35, an Israeli citizen from Beit Safafa near Jerusalem, was also arrested in the sting on July 1. Barekat was a senior operative in the “dawa”—Hamas’ social and civilian infrastructure—and was a messenger for the Jordanian network from 2010 to 2012.

“The detainees are from [places ranging from] Jenin in the north to Hebron in the south, from 46 cities and villages,” a senior Shin Bet official said. “Exposing the plot shows how deep our intelligence penetrates. Good work was done over a long period of time. This infrastructure didn’t carry out any terrorist attack.”

The official said characterized the Israeli operation to foil the plot as a “classic pre-emptive strike,” and said the plot had operated according to the model that ousted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party from the Gaza Strip in 2007.

“The plot that has been exposed, one of the most extensive we have known, demonstrates the extreme inherent danger in having a Hamas command center abroad working with operatives in Judea and Samaria, in light of Hamas’ strategic plans to topple the Palestinian Authority,” the official said.

A statement from Abbas’ bureau said that the PA president had “instructed the Palestinian security forces to obtain all necessary information in light of the news. The arrests of Hamas operatives and the suspicions against them could have dangerous ramifications.”

For the original article, visit .

ISIS has been moving quickly from the beginning, and its violence is especially felt in Iraq. This morning CNN reported that Kurdish troops had regained the Mosul Dam. This was a particularly dangerous post for ISIS to control. If the dam fails or gets blown up, it could flood Mosul and Baghdad and other downstream cities with the potential to kill many civilians.

Meanwhile, Iraq struggles to get solid leadership in place. Iraq’s Parliament named a new Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi. It seems everyone is holding their breath to see what is going to happen to Iraq and the surrounding countries.

No matter what happens, there will be people suffering. Many of the millions of refugees from Syria and internally displaced people in Iraq have nowhere to go. When they fled their villages, there was no time to pack necessities. And now many of their homes are destroyed.

Christian Aid Mission, your link to indigenous missions, hears disturbing reports from Iraq, but they also hear inspiring stories about something much bigger.

Tragedy and Revival

“Norya is a Syrian refugee who got saved in a camp in Iraq. She lost five children and her husband when a rocket fired by Syrian government forces toward the terrorists landed on her house causing their death. She sings hymns with us at our church group meetings.”

Norya’s story is one of several sent to Christian Aid Mission by a native ministry leader working in the Kurdish region of Iraq. Those working with him spend the majority of their days sharing Christ with the destitute masses crowding the refugee camps.

The workers go from tent to tent, sitting down with frightened families who have fled ISIS, the merciless Islamic terrorist group that succeeded last week in purging all non-Muslims from every town and village in the Nineveh region.

Kurdish forces had been protecting the last remaining cities in the region, including Qaraqosh, the largest Christian town in Iraq, until last week when they abandoned their posts after a conflict with ISIS.

Arguably one of the most extreme and brutal terrorist groups in history, ISIS now controls a huge portion of the country. They have kidnapped, raped and sold women. They’ve beheaded children. On Aug. 11, a report emerged that ISIS had sliced a 5-year-old boy in half.

More than 200,000 people have escaped to the Kurdish city of Irbil, 55 miles east of Qaraqosh, with literally nothing but the clothes on their backs.

“Their homes and churches were burned to the ground,” the ministry leader reported.

What would normally be a 45-minute drive between Qaraqosh and Irbil took the fleeing masses 12 hours.

More than 2 million internally displaced Iraqis and Syrian refugees, also fleeing ISIS, are currently packed in the Irbil region. These have filled every building in the city beyond capacity, leaving thousands to live and sleep on the streets.

For those people without shelter, ministry workers organize “sleeping groups,” where a large number of families gather together to sleep in one area for safety.

“The Lord’s hand is clearly upon us and protecting us from evil,” reported the leader. “Even though some of us are going through trials, we believe strongly that the Lord is taking us to another level of faith and a higher place of blessing.”

Akra

In the Kurdish town of Akra, some of the displaced are living in buildings originally built to hold Iranian prisoners during Saddam Hussein’s reign. Each bathroom is being shared by approximately 10 families.

Most of the others live in a refugee camp, and the only school is without a roof. It collapsed during the winter. The teachers asked ministry workers for help to replace the windows and roof, even with just a plastic tarp. The workers prayed with the teachers and shared the gospel with many of the students.

“Most of the refugees asked for food. They told us this was their primary need,” the leader reported.

As they were going from tent to tent in the Akra camp, gospel workers came upon Abu Mustafa, a 50-year-old man who has three girls with cerebral atrophy and whose wife was killed. Mustafa was blaming God for his tragic situation, but allowed the workers to read the Bible to him and pray for him.

“This is the first time, I feel relief,” Mustafa told the workers. “For three years, I couldn’t smile or feel safe, but now I feel differently. I have peace in my heart. Please pray for my girls. I believe Jesus can heal them and heal me from the inside.” He daily calls the workers to ask when they will visit him again.

Who Are These Workers?

According to multiple ministry leaders working among the internally displaced in the Kurdish region, workers are plentiful.

In a conversation with Christian Aid Mission’s Middle East Director, one ministry leader reported an “army of volunteers from local churches and house churches are ready and willing to help.” These workers, he said, are all born again, evangelical believers with at least basic Bible training, most of whom he has worked with previously.

With funding wired from Christian Aid Mission, the ministries are easily able to buy supplies from local markets to distribute to the needy.

“Everything is available locally and could be purchased in a matter of hours and distributed within a few days,” reported one ministry leader.

Typically, one group of workers is assigned with the task of purchasing the supplies and another group with distributing the supplies. Everything is overseen by the ministry leaders.

The greatest needs are food, clothing, mattresses, medicine, fuel for transportation, Bibles, and worker support.

“In addition to their need for prayer and spiritual strength from the Lord, the workers have personal needs. At the end of the day when they return to their homes, they have to take care of their own families,” a ministry leader told the director.

Long after foreign aid agencies leave the region, these native workers will remain to continue their outreach to the many broken people, hungry for hope and truth.

“In a crisis like this, we are experiencing a time of revival and awakening everywhere,” reported a ministry leader. “God is not just moving people geographically; He is moving in their hearts, as well.”

The Needs

God is using native missionaries in Iraq to share the saving message of Jesus Christ with those who have been forced from their homes. But the needs are great! Gospel workers want to meet physical needs, as well as spiritual needs, and they require our help to do so.

One of the ministries Christian Aid Mission is assisting in Iraq sent the following request for funds, sufficient for two months of relief aid:

• Food. Two meals daily for 100 people at a cost of $2 per meal: $24,000.
• Clothing. Used clothing for women and children, especially those sleeping in the open air: $5,000.
• Mattresses: A piece of foam covered with fabric costs about $30. The need is for 400: $12,000.
• Medication: The ministry would like to start a fund for people in need of medicine for diabetes, asthma, heart problems, blood pressure problems, and other health concerns: $10,000.
• Fuel: To transport basic necessities to the refugees, especially those without any type of shelter. To run five vehicles a day for two months: $15,000.
• Bibles: The ministry has exhausted its supply of Bibles. Thousands of people are hearing the gospel. Bibles, New Testaments, and children’s Bibles for two months: $30,000.
• Worker support: The ministry currently has 12 men and women who are working full-time without support. To provide each worker with $600 per month for two months: $14,400.

This article originally appeared on .