As the successor to evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, Christ for All Nations President Daniel Kolenda has already seen millions come to Jesus at the ministry’s crusades around the world. But amid all the supernatural healings and miracles, find out what Kolenda says is more important when it comes to sharing the gospel with others.
Britain’s most senior family judge, Sir James Munby, has ruled against a Slovakian Catholic couple seeking to stop two of their children being adopted by a same-sex couple.
The parents, who cried openly in court when they heard the ruling, had accused Kent County Council of a “conscious deliberate effort … to transform our children from Slovak Roma children to English middle-class children” and argued that if the adoption went ahead it would cause their children psychological harm in the future.
“The children will not be able to be brought up in the Catholic faith because of the conflicts between Catholicism and homosexuality. They would not be able to maintain their Catholic faith if they are adopted by this couple and even if it was promised that they would attend church the children would at some stage be taught or learn of the attitude of the church to same-sex couples. This would undoubtedly be upsetting to them and cause them to be in conflict between their religion and home life,” they argued.
“If as expected our children will try to find us and their siblings and roots, then they will discover huge differences between our culture and the way they’ve been brought up. This is likely to cause them great upset and to suffer a conflict within themselves such as to set them against their adoptive parents,” they continued.
However, Munby refused their application to block the adoption.
Christian Concern CEO Andrea Williams commented: “We do not know all the details as to why adoption was deemed necessary, but leaving that aside, this case raises profound concerns. Why is it not possible to accommodate the beliefs of the natural parents and act in the best interests of the children? Why are these beliefs about marriage, which the government claims are protected, being trampled on?
“It is causing great present distress to the parents and, as they have outlined, is likely to cause great distress to the children in the future. Why not seek adoptive parents who share the beliefs of these parents?”
Last month, Munby outlined proposals for the reform of divorce law that would in practice lead to further dismantling of marriage.
In 2011, Munby was one of the judges who refused a call to declare that Christian couple Owen and Eunice Johns were suitable foster parents. The Johns had responded to questions from social workers indicating that they would love any child in their care but would not be prepared to promote homosexuality.
I previously posted this several years ago, before my wife and I were empty-nesters. I believe more in it today than I did then.
Sadly, as someone who studies marriages, I see more and more marriages that are just going through the routines of marriage without really enjoying the journey. At the same time, I do know couples who have learned how to make their marriage work for the good of both spouses and are truly enjoying life together. My wife and I want to be included in the latter group.
So, what does it take to put or keep fun in a marriage?
I first shared these tips at a pastor’s retreat, so that was the original audience, but I believe they work for all of us. Here are a 12 ways to make marriage fun again:
1. Prioritize your marriage. If you want to have fun in your marriage, you have to make your marriage a priority in your life; above your hobbies, work and even your children. All of us would say that our marriage is a priority, but do we practice what we say we believe? Our marriage should take precedence over every other human relationship and every other activity. My wife knows when I am putting her first and when something else has my greatest attention.
2. Schedule time for fun. We should schedule time to simply enjoy life with our spouse. Everyone I know is busy, but we should make sure our schedule never gets so crowded that we cannot enjoy time with the love of our life. As a pastor, I am never really off work, but I try to be home when I am home. Still, I will often hear my wife, and my boys when they were home, ask me something like, “Are you really listening to me or are you thinking about your next appointment?” We must set boundaries between our home and our work or other activities. Add to your calendar opportunities to have fun together. When is the last time you and your wife went on a date? You can be wise with your expenses and still plan for date nights.
3. Let worry go. Struggles will never completely disappear, so we should learn how to balance the need for control in our lives and the desire to live at peace and trust God through the hard times of life. It is important that we not allow struggles that come into the marriage to tear the marriage apart, but instead we should let our trials draw us closer to each other.
4. Expect surprises. Stuff happens! We know that; we see bad things happen everyday, but for some reason we are caught off guard when they happen to us. We should not be surprised when our marriage needs a little extra help because of the struggles of life. Cheryl and I have discovered the tough times bring us closer together if we allow them to work for us rather than against us.
5. Celebrate along the way. I have been told that it takes three or four positive life occurrences to offset every negative. If this is true then each of us need to look for opportunities to celebrate the good things of life. When times are especially stressful, Cheryl and I try to make sure we are remembering the positives in life. They are always there, but we have to sometimes look for them. Have you ever just taken time to reflect together how many things you have for which you are thankful? You may even have a better life than you thought you did; once you take time to celebrate.
6. Enjoy each other’s interests. It’s okay to have outside interests, but one of the goals of marriage is to enjoy life together. That usually involves enjoying each other’s activities together. I don’t like to shop necessarily, and there are certain stores where I refuse to shop, but I go shopping regularly with Cheryl because I love her and she loves shopping. It has always amazed me that when I invest the time to shop with Cheryl she always tries to give back to me by allowing me to enjoy one of my interests—with no guilt.
7. Get away. We all need time away from all the demands of life. On a pastor’s income, I can’t always take fancy vacations, but I am not afraid to invest in my marriage. My wife and I love to travel. One of our more fun things to do together is to plan inexpensive day trips. There is something about physically leaving the environment in which we are comfortable that pushes us closer to the ones we love. For years, while my boys were younger, I gave Cheryl a trip for Christmas to be used sometime during the year. She looked forward to the gift and the trip every year. On bad days during the year, the thoughts of the gift or trip to come fueled her positive emotions.
8. Serve together. We have discovered that the more we serve other people together the more fun we have in our marriage. It gives us more common ground with each other. Taking mission trips have become a fun way to spend time together. Serving our church together brings us closer to each other. Sharing ministry stories and experiences helps us draw from each others’ strength.
9. Little things matter. Moments in a marriage that may seem to be minor details have the potential for major impact on the marriage relationship. It is important to handle little issues or conflict before they become big things. If a husband and wife have a minor disagreement it can easily escalate into a major division in the relationship if left unattended. Keep the relationship fresh and free from minor drama.
We should also allow little pleasures to bring happiness to the marriage. One of my favorite times of day is the walk Cheryl and I take at night. That few minutes each day keeps us close relationally, allows us to catch up from our day away from each other, and helps me to enjoy Cheryl in a fun setting.
10. Laugh at life. I read a statistic once that preschoolers laugh an average of 300 times a day and adults laugh an average of 17 times a day. The older we get the less we laugh. Laughter is good for our health and laughing together builds stronger relationships. Couples need to learn to laugh through life together. Cheryl and I laugh much!
11. Dream together. When couples are dating they seem to have fun discussing their future plans. Once we get married we tend to lose the art of dreaming. Dreaming inspires and encourages the heart. Dreaming together as a couple keeps the relationship fueled with new passions and desires. (I wrote a whole post about that HERE.)
12. Spread the pain. I am trying to model my pastoral responsibilities like the Acts 6 model in the Bible. I am learning that I cannot do everything. I must be a good at delegation. Don’t be afraid to say “no” in order to protect your marriage. (I wrote about that in THIS POST recently.) Many couples I know are so busy they never have time just for the two of them.
It is also important, however, to have some close friends with whom we can share life’s burdens. None of us were meant to live on an island to ourselves and the same is true for married couples. Cheryl and I intentionally build relationships with other couples we can trust. (Yes, pastors, you can do this too. I wrote some tips on that HERE.)
Try these steps and see if the fun comes back into your marriage. Marriage is supposed to be fun!
What tips do you have for making marriage fun again?
Ron Edmondson is the senior pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky.
For the original article, visit .
In 2008, R. Loren Sandford, pastor of New Song Church and Ministries in Denver, shared a vision of what he believed the American church was becoming amid a nation in upheaval and cultural transition. Watch how his prophetic insight still rings true today.
I may have figured out why the Department of Veterans Affairs had such difficulty finding time to treat patients. It’s because it was working overtime to give its chapels a religiously neutral makeover.
But as VA officials in Iron Mountain, Michigan, learned, one man’s renovation is another man’s desecration.
Some folks in Iron Mountain became infuriated earlier this month when they discovered that statues of Jesus and Mary, along with a cross and altar, were hidden behind a curtain in the chapel of the VA hospital there.
The chapel still has stained glass windows, though for how long is unclear. A VA hospital spokesman told me they are still trying to figure out what to do with the windows.
The decision to hide the religious icons came after the National Chaplain Center conducted an on-site inspection and determined the hospital’s chapel was not in compliance with government regulations.
Richard Riley, pastor of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, said he was “exceedingly disappointed” by the move.
He posted photographs of the hidden religious icons on the church’s Facebook page.
“We are not a politicizing kind of church,” Pastor Riley told me. “But we also believe Christians have constitutional rights. We have a right to voice our opinion. Just because you are a Christian doesn’t mean you lose your First Amendment rights.”
Riley said the decision to turn the formerly Christian chapel into a religiously neutral room is evidence of a bigger problem.
“Christianity, not only globally, but particularly in the United States, is really under attack,” he said. “Christianity is coming under some horrendous conflict from the media and to some degree from our own government.”
The situation in Michigan is not unique. In April something similar took place at Fort Meade Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Fort Meade, South Dakota. There was concern over a makeover to the facility’s chapel.
In a written statement to the Rapid City Journal Black Hills Health Care System Director Stephen R. DiStasio said “the VA Black Hills is sensitive to each veteran whose care often includes spiritual counseling and access to their religious symbols. … Their [the chapels’] key purpose is to provide a designated space for a religious service at the request of the veteran and their family, a space for personal reflection and a space for community services,” he said. “This plan necessitates some changes in the appearance of the chapels, but it continues to support our ability to meet the spiritual needs of veterans and others.”
Retired Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin of the Family Research Council called the hiding of Christian icons an “assault on the Christian faith.”
“It’s an egregious violation of tradition as well as religious liberty,” Boykin said. “Most of these hospitals were built at a time when there was no issue associated with public displays of Christianity.”
Brad Nelson, a public affairs officer for the Oscar G. Johnson VA Medical Center, told me the edict to make the chapel religiously neutral came from Washington.
“It’s a policy that’s been in place since 2008 that we were not in compliance with,” Nelson told me.
That policy mandates that “the chapel must be maintained as religiously neutral, reflecting no particular faith tradition.”
“The only exception to the policy on maintaining chapels as religiously neutral are the chapels at VA facilities which were built with permanent religious symbols in the walls or windows before the establishment of the Veterans Affairs Chaplain Service in 1945,” the policy states.
I suspect the only reason they granted the exemption was because of the cost they might incur by hiring demolition crews to rip crosses from the walls.
“Only these chapels and those permanent religious symbols that pre-date the Chaplain Service are allowed to remain because of their historical, artistic and architectural significance,” the policy further states.
I couldn’t help but notice the government policy does not mention the religious symbols’ “spiritual” significance.
To comply with the government orders, Nelson told me the Iron Mountain hospital decided to erect curtains.
“We put up some nice curtains,” he said. “When not being used for Bible study, prayer or services, they are closed.”
As it now stands, whenever there’s a Christian service, Jesus is allowed to be displayed. Otherwise, He’s hidden behind the curtain.
Heaven forbid someone finds himself offended at the sight of a cross. For the record, the public affairs officer told me that 98 percent of the patients there identify as Catholic or Christian. So the curtains are for the remaining 2 percent.
Pastor Riley told me it’s as if Christians are being marginalized.
“We need to be active,” he said. “As Christians, we don’t throw our First Amendment rights out the door.”
It’s not the first time Veterans Affairs has been accused of stifling the Savior. Last Christmas a group of Georgia high school students were given a list of government-approved carols to sing at a VA hospital in Augusta. A VA hospital in Texas refused to accept holiday cards that included the phrase, “Merry Christmas.”
And two Baptist chaplains told me they were forced out of a VA chaplaincy program when they refused to stop praying in the name of Jesus Christ. They said they were also told to stop using references to the Bible during classroom sessions.
While certainly not new, Boykin said the VA policy on religious neutrality is evidence of what he called a “Marxist agenda.”
“Marx called religion the opiate of the masses,” he told me. “This is all part of a Marxist agenda to remove God and replace God with government—government regulation, government control, government influence. The sad fact is we are letting it happen and very few of us are protesting.”
Considering the VA hospital’s recent troubles, you’d think they would welcome all the prayer they could get.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. Sign up for his American Dispatch newsletter, be sure to join his Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter. His latest book is God Less America.
The South Korean government urged North Korea on Sunday to release a South Korean missionary, Kim Jong Uk, who was sentenced to life with hard labor by a North Korean court on Friday.
“It is regrettable that North Korea went ahead with perfunctory trial procedures in a unilateral manner and gave our citizen severe punishment. We strongly urge North Korea to release and repatriate our citizen to South Korea as soon as possible,” South Korea’s Unification Ministry said in a statement.
North Korea sentenced Kim to life with hard labor on Friday after convicting him of espionage and setting up an underground church. North Korea’s official KCNA news agency reported that the missionary had admitted his guilt at the court.
“We have demanded North Korea free and repatriate Kim on several occasions, but it has not responded to our and the international community’s legitimate demand. This clearly violates the international norms as well as universal value of humanitarian spirit,” the statement added.
In an apparent stage-managed confession, Kim admitted in February to spying for the South Korean intelligence agency as well as trying to topple North Korea’s isolated regime.
Pyongyang has rejected calls from Seoul for his release and for his family to visit him.
“We once again urge North Korea to provide him with safety and convenience and allow his family and lawyers to visit him until he is repatriated,” the South Korean statement said.
North Korea is still holding Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary sentenced to 15 years of hard labor on charges of trying to use religion to overthrow its political system.
Reporting by Narae Kim; Editing by Matt Driskill
© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.
Although recent studies suggest the resveratrol in red wine, chocolate, and grapes might not be as healthful as previously thought, take heart. Chocolate contains other ingredients that are good for you.
Most people know green veggies like broccoli are good for you, and blueberries are rich in healthy antioxidants. Now doctors say flavanol, the antioxidant found in cocoa, helps keeps your blood flowing.
“Flavanoids are something that, depending on what food it is, will help different systems,” Laura Jeffers, a registered dietician with the Cleveland Clinic, told CBN News. “And so the main flavanoid in chocolate is called flavanol. And flavanol will help to improve blood pressure; it helps the blood to clot better so it doesn’t get sticky in the arteries.”
Chocolate as a health food sounds too good to be true, and it turns out there are a couple catches.
Make sure you choose the kind of chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa because it contains the most flavanols. Unfortunately, flavanols tend to make chocolate taste bitter.
“You really want to look for dark chocolate and that high percentage of cocoa, you know, maybe having that 70 percent,” Jeffers continued. “So the brand doesn’t matter. It just really matters on the type of chocolate so that dark chocolate, that high percentage of cocoa.”
To reap the most benefits from chocolate, you only need a small amount.
“I would recommend one ounce of a dark chocolate a few times a week,” Jeffers said. “I don’t think it’s something that you have to have every day.”
Some people avoid chocolate because it contains fat. But Jeffers says don’t worry about that.
“The stearic acid was shown that it does not improve or make your cholesterol worse so that type of saturated fat in chocolate is actually okay to have,” she said.
The bottom line: chocolate can be good for you. Just go dark and enjoy it in moderation.
For the original article, visit .
Though he had followed Jesus since a teenager, Mark Virkler spent much of his adult life years frustrated because He couldn’t hear God’s voice. He embarked on a 10-year search to hear the Lord clearly, out of which has come a ministry centered on equipping people to hear God’s voice clearly and that includes an astounding track record of success over more than 30 years. Watch Mark explain the four keys to hearing God’s voice–and the story behind his discovering them–in this two-part video.
They are tired after more than three days with almost no sleep but their eyes shine with battle fervor as they man the rebels’ frontline barricade in Donetsk, the eastern Ukrainian city where dozens were killed in a battle over the airport this week.
“We are Russians, and we will take revenge for everything the Ukrainians have done to us. We will be here until the very end,” said a 29-year-old native of the Sea of Azov port city of Mariupol, who only identified himself by the nickname Chrome.
Chrome and his 24 comrades on the barricade are part of a new pro-Moscow unit formed three months ago. Calling itself the “Russian Orthodox Army,” it has been engaged in the heaviest fighting against Ukraine’s army in the Donetsk region this month.
It is just one of several armed rebel groups fighting in Ukraine’s tumultuous east, with blurred command and coordination lines—and varying motivations and allegiances.
Chrome previously worked on building sites and was an amateur diver and underwater hunter—two blue dolphins tattooed on the left side of his neck a reminder of that time.
Around his waist is wrapped a length of cloth on which prayers are written. Some of his comrades carry little Orthodox icons in the pockets of their mismatched camouflage fatigues.
“There are many lines in the Bible. The New Testament speaks of turning the other cheek, but we will take it no more. We have the Old Testament here—an eye for an eye,” said Sergei, a thin, black-haired sailor from Mariupol, who commands the last rebel barricade on the road from Donetsk to the airport.
But this is no religious crusade; theirs is primarily a patriotic zeal that cleaves to Russia, even though most were born in the Donetsk region.
Ukrainian army firepower pushed the separatists back from the airport earlier this week in a fierce assault in which about 50 rebels—many of them apparently from Russia—were killed.
The Russian Orthodox Army’s barricade—made of sandbags, trucks and hunks of concrete—now sits between residential blocks in the city, significantly raising the risk of civilian casualties in the event of fighting.
Russian Link
Sergei said his men were also in control of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) building in Donetsk and that he was appointed commander by the separatists’ top military figure Igor Strelkov, a Muscovite.
Strelkov has set up his main base in the town of Slaviansk, some 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Donetsk, where the rebels on Thursday shot down a Ukrainian army helicopter, killing 14 soldiers.
Violence intensified in eastern Ukraine in the run-up to the May 25 presidential elections, which handed outright victory to confectionery billionaire Petro Poroshenko. Kiev stepped up its operation to crush the separatist rebellion following the vote.
In Donetsk, two days of heavy fighting on the outskirts of the city have alarmed its citizens and eroded the show of support for the rebels on the streets. But it seems to have only stiffened the resolve of the Russian Orthodox Army and other militia groups.
“We did not have any special training apart from the usual conscription service in the army. But none of us is afraid when we are in combat. We shoot to kill,” Chrome said.
For all the rhetoric, the unit acknowledges it is short of ammunition and other supplies and relies on locals for food.
They fought in the fierce fire-fight with the Ukrainian army around the Donetsk airport on Monday and Tuesday and in the village of Karlovka last week when one of their men was killed.
In both cases they were aiding “Battalion Vostok”—or the “East Battalion”—the most heavily armed pro-Russian force that is now engaged in fighting in the Donetsk region.
Vostok is widely believed to have fighters in its ranks from Chechnya, a formerly rebel region of Russia that fought two separatist wars against Moscow and is now run by a Kremlin appointee Ramzan Kadyrov who runs his own pro-Moscow militia.
In Donetsk on Thursday rebels said the bodies of some “volunteers” from Russia, killed this week in the airport fighting, were being prepared to be returned to Russia—an acknowledgement of involvement by militia fighters from over the border.
Coffins were later loaded on to a vegetable truck at a Donetsk morgue and driven away.
Ukraine’s interior minister, Arsen Avakov, has accused the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind the airport violence, which began when rebels seized a terminal on Monday.
Weapons collected at the airport after the rebels withdrew bore serial numbers and years of production that clearly indicated they had been brought in from Russia, he said.
Most men in the Russian Orthodox Army had never met before early March when, they say, 10 of them made contact online to deliver an appeal for help to Moscow via Russian envoys in Rostov, a Russian city 100 kms south-east of the Ukrainian border.
“Now one of our men is a coordinator for us in Moscow,” Chrome said, refusing to give any more detail.
Additional reporting by Sabina Zawadzki in Donetsk; Editing by Richard Balmforth and Will Waterman
© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.
If you are over 50, you probably remember it. It would do you well to reminisce a bit.
If you are under 50, you may not know much about it. You need to read on to appreciate what God did and wants to do again, differently but even more powerfully.
In the midst of a very turbulent and discouraging time in our nation’s history, God intervened in a supernatural way during a five-year period from 1968 to 1973. A grass-roots spiritual movement burst forth on the scene with a soft explosion that revolutionized millions of lives. It was called the “Jesus People Movement.”
Recently, Christianity Today magazine selected their annual “Book of the Year” award. They chose God’s Forever Family: The Jesus People Movement in America by Larry Eskridge. It boldly proclaims that “the Jesus People Movement was one of the most important American religious movements of the second half of the 20th century” and that it “must be considered one of the formative powers that shaped American youth in the late 1960s and 1970s.”
Are you aware of what happened? Do you realize the significance of this divine intervention for the church and the culture?
Here’s the deal: Ecclesiastes 7:13 tells us, “Consider what God has done.” In the midst of the daily barrage of disturbing and depressing developments in our culture, we desperately need something like this to stir up memories of a time when God’s fire fell upon our nation. Then let’s remind ourselves that He wants to rekindle that flame afresh today!
Rewinding the Tape
The 1960s was a disturbing, unsettling time of cataclysmic change in the United States of America. President Kennedy was assassinated; prayer and Bible reading were banned from public schools; the “British Invasion” played a major role in bringing rock ‘n’ roll, unrestrained sexual activity and drugs to our shores; the Gay, Women’s Lib, Anti-War and Black Power movements exploded on the national scene; and when Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated amidst student riots and burning cities, Time magazine declared 1968 as the “knife blade that severed past from future.”
Rebellion and cynicism abounded. A hippie and drug counterculture blossomed as America’s youth were seduced even as they are today by the radical gay agenda and secularists. I know firsthand because I was there pounding away on my drums for a Cleveland rock band called The Lost Souls. Like scores of confused youth, I was lost and in need of God’s saving grace.
Then something unexpectedly happened. Smack dab in the epicenter of California’s Haight-Ashbury hippie subculture, the Holy Spirit began drawing bummed-out and disillusioned young people to a genuine encounter with Jesus Christ! Only God knows how many people and for how long they had prayed for this divine intervention.
Scores of naive guys and gals who had grabbed their love beads, put flowers in their hair and fallen in line behind Pied Piper Scott McKenzie for a “Summer of Love” in San Francisco (Recall his hypnotic song? “If you’re going to San Francisco/ You’re gonna meet some gentle people there. … All across the nation … there’s a whole generation with a new explanation/ People in motion, people in motion.”) were suddenly being radically converted and set free from drugs, sexual immorality and deception.
New converts began enthusiastically pointing their one-way finger heavenward and hitting the streets to tell others about a living, dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ. They were baptized—many in the ocean! They swayed to new forms of music and found themselves gathering informally in coffee houses where they shared testimonies about the living God.
Like wildfire, this move of God spread across the country from city to city before—imagine—the advent of cellphones, computers, smartphones, tablets, Facebook, Twitter and other social media.
God imparted a burden among young people to reach their generation. He instilled in them a hunger for His Word, evangelism and genuine community. There was spontaneity and a simplicity that characterized the come-as-you-are gatherings.
New and innovative expressions of art were displayed through Jesus newspapers, posters, bumper stickers, T-shirts, jewelry and buttons. Rock and folk music creatively communicated their beliefs and new identity to curious crowds. Bottom line: God had intervened and was at work to rescue a generation that Satan, just like today, was trying to destroy.
Influential ministries like Calvary Chapel, the Vineyard, Willow Creek, Jesus People USA, plus outdoor Jesus festivals like “Cornerstone,” “Creation” and the Florida “Jesus” festivals as well as the entire Contemporary Christian Music industry and Jesus Music radio all trace their roots back to this incredible Jesus People visitation.
Musicals that continue running to this day, Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell were birthed. Leaders like Steve Strang, Greg Laurie, Mike Bickle, Michael Brown, Scott Ross, Bob Weiner, Lee Grady, Che Ahn, Lou Engle, Rick Joyner, Arthur Blessitt, Phil Keaggy, Andre Crouch, the late Keith Green and Larry Norman—plus scores of others—recognize how God called and fashioned them in or around this season of unique blessing.
I was converted in 1969 in the Jesus People outpouring. In the nation’s capital I aligned with a dedicated woman named Lydia Little and dozens of others who had been radically saved in this season. Starting with a handful in her home, a ministry was launched that in a few short years grew to over 2,000 primarily young people meeting weekly just 15 minutes from the White House. Every week people got saved, filled with the Spirit and healed. The majority were middle school, high school, college students and young professionals.
Cars lined the streets outside the facility and people arrived early in order to get a seat. A United States senator, son of a Supreme Court Justice and a young evangelist named Sid Roth sat in the crowd.
A publisher challenged me to write my story, which I did in the book Clap Your Hands! When it became a quarter-million bestseller, I knew I was truly a part of something supernatural.
In 1972, Campus Crusade for Christ held a massive event in Dallas called EXPLO ’72 and 85,000 Jesus People attended the five-day event. The Saturday all-day closing concert drew a crowd estimated at 180,000. Billy Graham came, as did Johnny Cash.
The Jesus Movement Captures National Attention
In June 1971, the Jesus People phenomenon landed on the cover of Time magazine, which featured an eight-page, positive report.
In his book, Eskridge cites a front-page story in The Wall Street Journal, an article in Newsweek as well as coverage in Life magazine. Here is how he stated it:
“In many ways, the advent of the Jesus people must have seemed like an oasis in the desert of several years’ worth of distressing news about the younger generation. The Jesus movement had, as one article put it: ‘an uncommon morning freshness, a buoyant atmosphere of hope and love along with the usual rebel zeal. A love that seems more sincere than a slogan, deeper than the fast-fading sentiments of the flower children.’
“For adults buffeted by several years worth of bad news about the sexual revolution, the rise of the drug culture, the generation gap, the domestic chaos and violence surrounding the civil rights movement and the seemingly intractable nightmare that was the Vietnam War, both over there and on the home front, the Jesus People were a refreshing bit of good youth news.”
To give an accurate report, the Jesus People Movement did have its casualties and counterfeits. The leading evangelist was “Samson-like,” who died at 43 of AIDS as he did not make a clean break from homosexuality. Another individual yielded increasingly to pride and ended up in polygamy, sex trafficking and assault. He is currently in prison for life. The “Fallen Angel” pioneer of all the Jesus music went through divorces and World magazine reported he fathered a son with an Australian woman during one of his tours. He died at 60.
In spite of the blemishes, the Jesus Movement was an authentic visitation from God. Let’s humbly learn lessons to avert the errors while gaining motivation to seek God with passion that He in our time might be merciful, spare us His wrath and do it again, however and through whomever He sovereignly chooses.
There’s no question we are reaching a tipping point and a place of desperation in our land. May we pray like the prophet Habakkuk did in his day for a fresh visitation from Almighty God before the clock runs out.
“Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy” (Hab. 3:2).
Please share this article with five to 10 others to encourage them plus get them praying and believing!
Larry Tomczak is a best-selling author and cultural commentator with over 40 years of trusted ministry experience. His passion is to bring perspective, analysis and insight from a biblical worldview. He loves people and loves awakening them to today’s cultural realities and the responses needed for the bride of Christ—His church—to become influential in all spheres of life once again.