“Some see it as a way to fulfill or even transcend our potential; others see it as a darker path towards becoming Frankenstein’s monster.” –Dr. Patrick Lin, “Ethics of Human Enhancement”

In 2011, Nita and I released a book called Forbidden Gates, which outlined the future of humanity in light of a dangerous collection of scientific disciplines we call GRIN technology.

The acronym refers to Genetics, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Nanotechnology, a quartet of scientific imperatives that seek to reshape what it is to be human. Yet even though the book was a best-seller, most Christians I meet are still unaware of the shifting genetic sands beneath our collective feet. But ignorance is no excuse. Every believer should know what their children and grandchildren are about to face, and we have a duty to stand against it.

In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul explains the church’s responsibility as the agent of God’s wisdom, concluding this was by divine intention.

“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 3:10). Making known the “righteous” and manifold wisdom of God must include human-affirming virtues of Christian morality that are intrinsic to His divine order and the Great Commission.

Christian leaders must be actively engaged in ideological warfare for the mind of a generation especially in an age where people are seeking reasons to believe, despite everything they are being told, that the church remains relevant.

To fail this responsibility would be to abdicate to a frightening transhuman vision of the future such as was predicted by theologian and Christian apologist C. S. Lewis in The Abolition of Man. Lewis foresaw the day when transhumanist and scientific reasoning would win out, permanently undoing mankind through altering the species, ultimately reducing Homo sapiens to utilitarian products. Here is part of what he said: 

“The last men, far from being the heirs of power, will be of all men most subject to the dead hand of the great planners and conditioners and will themselves exercise least power upon the future. … The final stage [will have] come when Man by eugenics, by pre-natal conditioning, and by an education and propaganda based on a perfect applied psychology … shall have ‘taken the thread of life out of the hand of Clotho’ [one of the Three Fates] and be henceforth free to make our species whatever we wish it to be. The battle will indeed be won. But who, precisely, will have won it? [emphasis added]”

Lewis foresaw the progressive abandonment of what we would call “moral law” based on Judeo-Christian values. His reference to the “great planners and conditioners” corresponds perfectly with today’s transhumanists who have proposed a blueprint for the future of the human species in a 50-page U.S. National Science Foundation report titled “Ethics of Human Enhancement: 25 Questions & Answers.” Some of the topics covered include:

1. Policy implications of human enhancement.
2. Moral and legal significance of ‘natural’ vs ‘enhanced’ persons.
3. Social and communication issues caused by enhancement disparities.
4. Is enhancement a right, a requirement?
5. Military aspects of ‘enhancement’.
6. Copyright and patent issues regarding ownership of enhanced DNA and persons.

On July 8, 2015, Congressman Bill Foster updated the public on the disturbing possibility of enhancement technology in a feature article for  titled “Last scientist in Congress has human genetic engineering warning.” An excerpt from the article by Foster reads: 

“As the last scientist with a Ph.D. remaining in Congress, I feel a responsibility to transmit those concerns to my colleagues and to the public. The breakthrough in question relates to human genetic engineering. This has long been a theoretical possibility assumed to be decades away from practicality. In the last several years this has changed significantly due to recent breakthroughs that allow inexpensive and precise editing of chromosomal DNA. Yet what really makes this revolutionary is if genetic modifications are made to “germline” cells—sperm, eggs and embryos—these modifications will also be carried forward to future generations. …  We are on the verge of a technological breakthrough that could change the future of humankind… [underline and emphasis added]”

Clearly, the issues of GRIN technology are complex and terrifying, which is why SkyWatch TV has spent three years interviewing leading scientists and researchers to produce a new three-hour documentary titled Inhuman, but you can think of it as Transhumanism 101, covering these key issues.

Transhuman Eugenics

Advocates call transhumanism ‘self-directed evolution’, an exact repeat of a slogan used by early 20th-century eugenicists. This new eugenics combines biotechnology, nanotechnology, neural interfaces and related sciences to design a superior man and thus a new form of social Darwinism—the enhanced and the unenhanced. 

Synthetic Biology

Synthetic biology is a cutting edge discipline that builds new forms of life and biological functions not found in nature. Rather than building on “natural” nucleic acids, synthetic biology imagines an entirely new form of DNA.

Human Cloning

So-called “therapeutic cloning” is practiced every day in genetics engineering labs worldwide, where human and human-animal embryos are created for stem-cell harvesting. (The stem cells, in turn, are used to generate virtually any type of specialized cell in the human body.) A second form of human cloning is called “reproductive cloning” and is the technology that could be used to create a person who is genetically identical with a current or previously existing human.

Nanotechnology and Cybernetics

This technology merges human brains with machines, and it is progressing at a fantastic rate. Nanotechnology—the science of engineering materials or devices on an atomic and molecular scale between 1 to 100 nanometers (a nanometer is one-billionth of a meter)—will provide the matrix for brain-machine interfaces. 

Germ-Line Genetic Engineering

In 2015, the world became aware of a powerful new genome editing system called CRISPR-Cas9, which is used in biology labs around the world. CRISPR is a precise way of editing DNA and is already hailed as the engine of a new era of genetics including the possibility of permanently modifying the human race.

The Legal Battle and Patenting New Life-Forms

Even now, debate rages over the “patenting” of transgenic seeds, animals, plants and synthetic life-forms by large corporations. The rush to patent human genes will escalate these issues. Genomes will be altered, watermarked and uploaded—creating a nightmare database shared by governments, scientists, medical professionals, insurers and employers; while providing a pretty lure for hackers and blackmailers. Who is to say what legal protections will be assumed in an age where human biology is altered and personhood theory challenges what bioethicists like Wesley J. Smith (also featured in INHUMAN) champion as “human exceptionalism” (the idea that human beings carry special moral status in nature and special rights, such as the right to life, plus unique responsibilities, such as stewardship of the environment)?

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday that Tehran was ready to help bring democracy to war-torn Syria and Yemen, and blamed the spread of terrorism in the Middle East on the United States.

In a speech to the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York, Rouhani said Iran was prepared to assist in “the eradication of terrorism and in paving the way for democracy.”

“As we aided the establishment of democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, we are prepared to help bring about democracy in Syria and also Yemen,” said Rouhani.

Tehran has provided military and financial support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the four-year war against rebels, and supports Houthi rebels fighting for power in Yemen.

Rouhani, who has said previously that Iran would back the Syrian nation and Assad “until the end of the road,” did not mention the Syrian president’s name in his speech.

Anti-Assad rebels enjoy the support of Sunni Muslim power Saudi Arabia, Shi’ite-led Iran’s regional rival.

U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Monday offered different views on how to resolve the Syrian crisis. But Obama said he was willing to work with Russia and Iran to end it.

Rouhani blamed the crisis in the Middle East on what he characterized as the United States’ occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq as well as what he said was Washington’s support for Israel against Palestine.

“If we did not have the U.S. military invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the U.S.’s unwarranted support for the inhumane actions of the Zionist regime against the oppressed nation of Palestine, today the terrorists would not have an excuse for the justification of their crimes,” he said.

Rouhani praised the nuclear deal reached in July between Iran and major world powers, which will lift economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear program.

“The deal is a brilliant example of victory over war that has managed to disperse the clouds of hostility and perhaps even the specter of another war and extensive tensions from the Middle East,” Rouhani said.

He criticized the “incompetence and mismanagement of those in charge” of the haj tragedy in Saudi Arabia, in which more than 700 Muslim pilgrims were killed, including many Iranians.

Rouhani is cutting his U.N. trip short, returning to Teheran later on Monday to take part in ceremonies for the return of the bodies of Iranian pilgrims killed in the tragedy.

Across the street from the United Nations complex, a crowd of demonstrators gathered to protest the state of human rights under Rouhani and the Iranian government. Reuters photographers estimated the number of protesters at between 500 and 900. {eoa}

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by David Storey and Jonathan Oatis)

© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

You can hardly pick up a newspaper, go to a news website or turn on the television without some mention of conflict in the Middle East, and more specifically, conflicts involving Israel. Why is this? The answer is quite simple: Israel is in the eye of the hurricane of the great events of the end times.

Israel occupies center stage in God’s drama of the ages. She and other players are behind the prophetic curtain, and they are hitting their marks. The curtain on this drama has not yet opened, but it will soon. It all was predicted long ago by the Hebrew prophets.

One of the signs of the end, a supersign, if you will, is the miracle of Israel, the regathering of the Jewish people back to their homeland. In the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, God instructed the prophet to go to a graveyard. As Ezekiel stood there, bodies burst of out of graves, bones came together, muscle was attached to bone, and flesh was attached to muscle. Then God told Ezekiel what it all meant:

“Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. … “Pay attention, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up out of your graves. And I shall put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I the Lord have spoken and performed it, says the Lord”‘” (Ezek. 37:11-14).

Could God have been any more specific? Yet during World War II, who would have thought such a thing was possible? If you were a Jew living in the Warsaw ghetto, would you have believed such a thing could happen? If you were a Jewish prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp, would you have ever thought there would be a homeland for your people again?

There was a time when a return of the Jewish people to their homeland seemed unthinkable, impossible. But God said it would happen. And it did. On May 14, 1948, a modern-day miracle took place: the establishment of the nation of Israel.

David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, made this statement that day: “Ezekiel 37 has been fulfilled, and the nation Israel is hearing the footsteps of the Messiah.”

And on April 11, 2010, on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made this statement:

We are not here by chance. We returned to this land because it is our land; we returned to Zion because it is our city. We are paving roads north and south, and transforming a barren land into a flourishing garden. This is our answer to those who seek our destruction.

As the prophet Isaiah said:

“Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Here is this modern miracle called Israel, yet it is such a small piece of land. Think of all the nations in the world and all the cities in the world. Why do we hear so much about Israel? The entire nation is about the size of New Jersey. In land area, it ranks 154th among the nations of the world. In fact, 32 nations of Israel could fit inside the state of Texas.

Yet those who have sought to eradicate or destroy the Jewish people or their nation have paid a heavy price, because God made this promise long ago: “I will bless them who bless you and curse him who curses you, and in you all families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). The nations that have tried to destroy Israel lay on the ash heap of history today.

One of the reasons God has blessed the United States of America is because we have stood by the Jewish people, and we have stood by the state of Israel. In fact, I believe the United States needs Israel more than Israel needs the United States. We have been a great ally for Israel. We have done a lot for them. As a result, God has blessed us. One of the reasons God has blessed our nation is because we have blessed Israel. We need Israel because we need the blessing of God. That is why I have great concern over the new tension we have with Israel today.

When the disciples asked Jesus, “What sign will signal your return and the end of the world?” he told them, “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: When its branch becomes tender and grows leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you shall see all these things, you know that it is near, even at the doors. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (Matthew 24:32-34).

On more than one occasion in the Bible, Israel is compared to a fig tree. In Hosea 9:10 God says, “Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, I saw your fathers. But they went to Baal Peor and consecrated themselves to a thing of shame, and they became an abomination like the thing they loved.” Joel and Jeremiah also refer to Israel as a fig tree.

Jesus was saying that the rebirth of Israel is a sign of the end. But it is not just a sign—it is a supersign.

God promised that the Jewish people would be scattered and regathered. That has happened. God promised they would return to the land of Israel. That has happened. God promised they would become a nation again. That has happened. God promised that Jerusalem would be their capital. That too has happened. There is a lot that has already happened. And there are still some things yet in the future that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24 and elsewhere.

These are signs of the times that Christ told us we should be looking for. However, Bible prophecy was not given to scare us but to prepare us. The more we know about the next world, the better we will live in this one. {eoa}

Greg Laurie is the pastor at the 15,000-member Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, and president of Harvest Crusades.

You are not normal.

Is this statement surprising? Or does it perhaps carry a negative connotation? It doesn’t have to. The reality is that you are an anointed child of the Most High God, the Creator of all things seen and unseen.

This means you are a potential threat to the enemy. But as you may remember, while you may be a target, you also possess the potential to be a hero. God has already written you into the storyline of faith heroes—and it is an epic of triumphant proportions filled with miracles, signs, and wonders.

The Bible describes the heroes who have gone before us as those “willing to live in the risky faith-embrace of God’s action for them” (Rom. 4:12, MSG). The relationship is further explained by looking to the story of our father of faith:

“We call Abraham “father” not because he got God’s attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody” (Rom. 4:17).

Have you felt like a nobody? Good news. God is in the business of making somebodies out of nobodies! He invites all of us into what He is doing. If we will trust in Him and yield to His leading, He will write His story in our lives. He will make us the heroes we were born to be. We read that:

Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own” (Rom. 4:3).

The question before us is, are we ready to do the same? If so, then it is time to step into all God has already done for us. This allows His Spirit to begin a new work within us. It shows we believe that in Him we are more than conquerors. As we turn this corner and set our hearts on this course, God positions us so that something unseen but wildly significant can happen.

I urge you, go to God today and commit yourself to engage with what He is doing. Invite Him to lead you and make more out of your life than you could have imagined possible. Who can say what great things are in store if you will but believe!

If you want to dig deeper into this topic, check out Lisa Bevere’s book Girls with Swords: How to Carry Your Cross Like a Hero.

At our Messiah’s House Messianic Center in Greenwich, Connecticut, we encourage all believers both Jews and Gentiles alike to celebrate the Feasts of the Lord. It is on these special dates assigned by God Himself that the portals of heaven are heaven are opened that much wider that His children may experience a greater closeness in the kingdom, as these are actually divine appointments with the Godhead (Leviticus 23:1).

And, each Feast has a spiritual fulfillment in Yeshua/Jesus and reminds us of different aspects of the kingdom that are significant to us today. So, why shouldn’t we celebrate them today as believers when they so richly connect us to our God?

It is on Yom Kippur, which occurred this past week, that we are reminded of the holiness of God. As New Covenant believers, we know that Yeshua/Jesus is our Kippur, our atonement who opened the door for each of us to have intimacy with God so that now we can actually call Him friend.  But sometimes in our familiarity and closeness with God we can forget that He is most holy as well as being a consuming fire, which Yom Kippur quickly reminds us of, when we reflect on its significance.

When Yeshua/Jesus hung on that tree and cried out it is finished, as He gave up His Spirit, at that very moment the veil hanging in the Temple in Jerusalem that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies that housed the Ark of the Covenant was split in two. Beforehand, only the High Priest was aloud to enter the Holy of Holies, and only once a year on the Feast of Yom Kippur to atone for the sins of Israel. 

Jesus’ obedience unto death and resurrection to become our atonement for sin opened the way for the Spirit of God whose presence dwelled over the ark to be released into us through His sacrifice.

Fifty days later, on another of God’s Feasts known as Shavuot/Pentecost, that Spirit of God was released in fulfillment of the New Covenant prophesied through Jeremiah that the temple of God might reside in each of us. This happens now when we believe in Yeshua/Jesus and His message and surrender our lives to him through faith, so that the Father and the Son may take up residence in our spirits through the Holy Spirit, where we now become the temples of the living God. Wow! (Jer. 31:31-34; John 14:23; 1 Cor. 3:16).

On this most holy of days it is a wonderful thing for us to be reminded of this and the transaction that has taken place between God and ourselves in the New Covenant through Yeshua/Jesus. 

This Yom Kippur we invited special guest Teacher Pastor Nick Uva from Harvest Time Church in Greenwich, Connecticut to teach us some of the deeper insights of the Feast and how they apply to us today. Pastor Nick has a great love and appreciation for the Jewish people and the heritage of our faith and points out to us some very relevant connections between the Ark of the Covenant, the ark of Noah and the Ark of God in each of us.

Here’s a small glimpse of Pastor Nick’s teaching on the atonement of God and how the covering over the Ark with blood points to Yeshua’s atonement for us:

“In the days of the Holy Temple, the word atonement signified a covering—meaning that you are covering something by smearing something on it. Back when Noah built his ark, he covered it with “pitch,” like a tar or resin, so that it would be watertight. And what Noah did and what the High Priest did on the Day of Atonement are very much related.

In Hebrew, “covering with pitch” and “making an atonement” are actually the same Hebrew verb, kaphar. In much the same way that Noah covered the ark with resin, protecting the people inside from God’s judgment, the High Priest would cover the ark of the covenant with sacrificial blood. Those who trusted in that atonement were likewise preserved from judgment. In both cases, we have a powerful word picture of the Messiah. God invites us to enter into Messiah, trusting in the atonement He made.

To view the rest of Pastor Nick Uva’s teaching, please click on the link above:

Grant Berry is a Jewish believer in Yeshua/Jesus and author of The New Covenant Prophecy and The Ezekiel Generation. He has founded Reconnecting Ministries with the specific focus to help the church reconnect spiritually to Israel and considers it vital to the kingdom of God in the last days. His website is .

Weeks before his 95th birthday, Billy Graham said, “I am ready to start my next book!”

We had recently completed work on his book The Reason for My Hope—Salvation. It was the fall of 2013. Thinking he would want a break from going through drafts of another manuscript, I was stunned at his drive and asked: “Would you like to take a little break and start work on a new book after Christmas?” “No,” he said, “I might not be here next year!”

Oh, but he was—and still is. Nearly two years later, at almost 97 years old, his 33rd book will be released. He had remarked about the contemporary books that had been written on heaven and hell. There was still a book he wanted to write on this subject because, he said, “Many people today do not understand the fundamental truths about mankind’s eternal destinations and that each person has a choice to make concerning the most critical matter of life—where they will spend eternity after death.”

“Mr. Graham,” I replied, “you have written and preached on heaven and hell for nearly 80 years.”

“Well,” he quipped, “I don’t feel quite that old.”

In spite of his weak eyesight he said with a twinkle, “I just may live until my 100th birthday! … The more I listen to the news of what is going on in the world, and in the church, there is great confusion about the end times. Some people wonder how to get to heaven and others don’t seem to care if they wind up in hell. God has a lot to say about this, and He has not kept His promises hidden, but few pastors preach on it today. I would like to shed some light on what the Bible has to say about the subject of eternity for today’s generations.”

He asked me to assemble an outline from which we could work and ended the meeting with this thought: “Do it quickly because I’m an old man,” he said with a sense of Graham revival in his voice.

Before I left that day, I posed this question: “When people ask if heaven is a literal place and where it is, what will you tell them?” Looking through the window that framed the beautiful Carolina mountains surrounding his home he proclaimed, “Of course heaven is real because Jesus is real—He is the way, the truth, and the life—and heaven is where Jesus is—and I am going to Him soon.”

In our several visits we talked about the wonderful aspects of a heavenly home and the devastating darkness of those who will never know such joy. He wished he could take all those who do not believe in the Savior to the foot of His cross where they could settle their eternal destination once and for all and have the hope of eternity in heaven.

Pouring through his literary works that span nearly eight decades, a fascinating outline emerged and, in time, the book Where I Am was completed—with foundational teaching from the Word of Almighty God. It is not surprising that all 66 books of the Bible point to everlasting life. It is a repetitive theme of Scripture. While Mr. Graham’s preaching was the gospel message of Jesus Christ, his evangelistic aim was to focus the light of salvation on eternity—where the human race will transcend the confines of a fallen world.

This man who wants to be remembered as a preacher of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has said, “Man is precisely what the Bible says he is. Human nature is behaving exactly as the Bible said it would. The course of human events is flowing just as Christ predicted. And God’s Word is real—from eternity past to eternity everlasting.” This is the essence of his new book Where I Am.

God’s Word is eternal, and eternity’s destinations will last forever. He has declared that mankind can choose the eternal flame of His judgment or live forever in His everlasting peace. The Good News is that God sends out a booming invitation that says: “Return to Me; come and share My eternal home and be with Me where I am.” That is heaven! That is home eternal!

Who would not want to be where Jesus is? He is preparing a place for those who love and serve Him—now! Jesus has filled this place with the riches of His eternal truth and everlasting righteousness where the fruits of His works will be forever glorified. There will be continual rejoicing over His eternal wisdom. The Bible proclaims that we will praise Him continually and serve Him unending before His eternal throne when He reigns—eternally!

In this book, Billy Graham points to God’s eternal deliverance, God’s eternal sacrifice and God’s eternal love and joy. These are the anchors at the heart of Mr. Graham’s sermons that have drawn millions of people to their hour of decision. The everlasting gospel that is washed in His eternal love will be proclaimed until the end. When that day arrives—eternity will come clearly into view. Mankind throughout the ages will witness the eternal kingdom and the everlasting King on His throne forever. This is why Jesus calls the lost and weary to His everlasting salvation with this promise of eternal forgiveness, mercy, grace and love: “That where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:3). {eoa}

©2015 BGEA

Nine months ago, I heard in my spirit a strong and clear word from the Lord. This encounter was at a stadium prayer event that changed my mind about the supernatural—and signs and wonders have been following me ever since.

I’ll always remember it. It was January 24, 2015 at The Response prayer rally in Baton Rouge. Thousands of people were crying out to God for our nation when I heard the words below in that still small voice I so love. I’ve waited nine months to release them on this platform because I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of what the Lord was saying—and I was waiting for His timing. I believe the time is now. Here is the prophecy:

“My blood is sufficient. My covenant is sure. 2 Chronicles 7:14 is truth. You need not operate in fear but embrace the power to cleanse that’s inherent in repentance. I want to cleanse America. But it starts with purifying your hearts.

“The church in this hour must herald the message of repentance in the same way as preachers in the Voice of Healing movement heralded the message of healing. Then will you see the manifestation of My presence and the wells of the supernatural will be unlocked and many who are lost will be restored to My love.

“It starts with the message of repentance. This is the message that I need you to shout from the rooftops in this hour. Everything the church needs to fulfill her call in this hour flows from a contrite heart. You can sound the alarm but without repentance it will fall on deaf ears.

“Many are entering eternity every day without My Son because they have not heard this message. Some of them are sitting in the church right now. Start there with this message and it will position the church to rise up in My power for My glory.”

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When I asked the Lord how the voice of healing preachers heralded the message of healing, He gave me three points: repetitive, passionate and scriptural.

The Voice of Healing preachers were repetitive. You heard many of the same core messages about God’s power to heal and deliver over and over again in these tent meetings. The Voice of Healing preachers were passionate. Think of A.A. Allen jumping up and down and Jack Coe’s exuberant singing. And, of course, the Voice of Healing preachers were scriptural. These preachers knew that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word (see Rom. 10:17) and they kept their messages in line with the Word of God.

Two-Sides to One Word

After much prayer, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are two sides to this prophetic word: We need to repent in the sense that we need to ask forgiveness of our sins and stand in the gap for our nation. Indeed, we need to see repentance in the church—widespread repentance. But it’s not just changing the way we think about sin—and turning away from it—that is required in this hour. We need to change the way we think about the supernatural.

When Jesus rebuked the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida for not repenting after they saw the mighty miracles He did (see Matt. 11:20-21), that word repent is the Greek word “metanoeo.” Metanoeo means “to change one’s mind, i.e. to repent; to change one’s mind for the better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins.”

The spirit of religion, along with a lukewarm mindset, prayerlessness and the tradition of men, has all but killed miracles, signs and wonders in our churches. Paul saw this threat in his day, which is why he gave his spiritual son Timothy this advice about those in the church that “have a form of godliness but deny its power.” In 2 Timothy 3:5 he said, “Turn away from such people.”

We need to turn away from thoughts that limit God in our lives. We need to turn away from a powerless expression of the gospel. We need to turn back toward faith in God to heal the sick, cast out demons and, yes, even raise the dead. God is a God of miracles! Jesus walked on water. Jesus healed a man born blind. Jesus healed the deaf and dumb. Jesus fed many thousands of people with a few loaves and fishes—more than once. Jesus raised people from the dead. Jesus healed a man’s withered hand. Jesus turned water into wine. Jesus healed a paralytic.

Getting Back to the Great Commission

I could go on and on—and it wasn’t just Jesus. The apostles and the disciples in the book of Acts did miracle after miracle—even special miracles so that handkerchiefs which Paul had touched were brought to the sick who were then healed (see Acts 19:11-12). And Jesus told them, “Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes in Me will do the works that I do also. And he will do greater works than these, because I am going to My Father. I will do whatever you ask in My name, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:12-13).

The supernatural is part of the Great Commission! A lost and dying world doesn’t want to engage with a lukewarm religion. In fact, it’s obvious that the world finds lukewarm Christianity tasteless. When Jesus issued the Great Commission in Mark 16, He was very clear that “these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

We need to repent—to change the way we think about the supernatural. We need to believe God to walk in His supernatural power. People are dying and going to hell because the power of the gospel has not been demonstrated. Religion in many cases has replaced relationship. It’s time to press into what God wants to do in this hour—and I believe He wants to restore the supernatural to the church in a convincing way. Like Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said: “For the kingdom of God is not in word, but power” (1 Cor. 4:20). {eoa}

Jennifer LeClaire is senior editor of Charisma. She is also director of Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, co-founder of , on the leadership team of the New Breed Revival Network and author of several books, including The Next Great Move of God: An Appeal to Heaven for Spiritual Awakening; Mornings With the Holy Spirit, Listening Daily to the Still, Small Voice of God; The Making of a Prophet and Satan’s Deadly Trio: Defeating the Deceptions of Jezebel, Religion and Witchcraft. You can visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter. Jennifer’s Periscope handle is @propheticbooks.

In the commonwealth of Kentucky, the desperate cries of this generation are igniting a revival that could change the face of this country. 

From out of the cornfields of one of the poorest areas in the country, men and women are experiencing miracles and the fresh presence of the Lord. 

“People are running to the altar and there’s a groan of revival,” Ryan LeStrange says. LeStrange is an apostolic minister, co-founder of  and senior leader of New Breed Revival Network. “Repentance and weeping are breaking out. … There’s a real intense kind of intercession for the state, and Kentucky is the upper room state.” 

People from neighboring states are pouring into the cornfields of Kentucky to see deaf ears healed and the lame walk, LeStrange says. The key to letting the revival spread is embracing the supernatural. 

To describe what’s happening, LeStrange recalls a vision he had in which the borders of Kentucky were on fire: 

“I watched as fire moved from the borders into the heart of state,” he says. “The fire was going in and out, pulsating like the beating of the heart … (It’s) the ignition of many fires that are ultimately going to set the heart of the state on fire.” 

LeStrange isn’t the only one seeing the prophetic significance of Kentucky … or the flames. 

Renowned prophetess Cindy Jacobs released the following word over the state: “The Lord would say … ‘I am moving you into a new season where you are going to start seeing flames.’

“I am literally seeing this vision of these small camp fires. They are small camp fires all over the state. …  The Lord says there are roots that are becoming shoots in the state of Kentucky that are going to grow to oak trees … that are going to help preserve this nation in surprising ways. You will see some good news come in some ways that people will say, ‘What state is this? … Oh, it’s that state of Kentucky.’ 

“The Lord says, ‘I have got it in the works and I’m going to do it. I am going to bring the great revivalist out of this state once again. Great revivalists … My burning ones are going to come out of Kentucky. They are going to be used to set this nation aflame once more.'” 

But to understand where Kentucky is going, one must first understand its history, says Rick Curry. Curry is the senior pastor of King’s Way Church in Pensacola, Florida, and chairman of the board of The Sentinel Group, which documents transforming revival in the nations.

Many of these areas where the Lord is moving are old coal-mining towns that have been nearly destroyed from economic downfalls. 

Coal mining was the heartbeat of the land. Even though young boys would watch their fathers die from mining-related illnesses, they would still carry on in the mines, putting tradition and history first.  

When the industry went under, these families not only lost their incomes, but their identities.  

“I think there is really a great measure of desperation particularly in Eastern Kentucky, in the mountains, an increased desperation in those areas by and large because of loss of jobs in coal mines,” Curry says. “This desperation is drawing hearts of people to return to the Lord, and it’s reflected in the revivals that are happening.”   

What’s driving the Kentucky revival is the synergy of the generations, Curry says.  

“There’s a cry for the heart of the Father to manifest His holiness, His goodness, His mercy, His grace that indeed we might see a harvest reaped as never before.” 

So how appropriate, how prophetic, that this new harvest is beginning in the cornfields of Kentucky. 

One of the most interesting characters in the Bible is Jacob.

Isaac and Rebekka had twin boys, Esau and Jacob. The character of Jacob was seen at the time of the birth of the two boys. Esau was born first but when Jacob came out of his mother’s womb he was holding his brother’s heel. Therefore, he was named Jacob, “one who trips another.”

This flaw in Jacob’s character was made evident when Esau was returning from hunting and was famished. Jacob bought Esau’s birthright for a pot of beans. Now, Jacob owned the birthright but knew his father Isaac would never bless him with it. Therefore a plan was contrived between Jacob and his mother Rebekka to deceive Isaac and obtain the birthright.

Esau was a hairy man and Jacob was not. So Rebecca placed animal skins on Jacob’s arms so the almost blind Isaac would think it was Esau. Isaac was manipulated through deception to bless Jacob with the birthright instead of Esau.

Deception is very prevalent in today’s culture. Advertisers blatantly deceive consumers promising their product will do wonderful things for them. That same advertiser will always list all the positive aspects of their product but never tells the negative results and aspects of the product. The unwitting consumer, expecting to buy the wonder product only to find out they were not told the complete truth or they had been deceived.

The practice of deception is rampant through out our entire culture. Children are deceiving parents, parents are deceiving children, wives and husbands are deceiving each other, pastors and churches are practicing deception and my list could go on and on. Lest I forget this one, politicians are deceiving the voters, never telling us the complete truth.  

The opposite of deception is honesty. Where has the principle of just being honest gone in our society? One principle I have operated by for a number of years is, “Just give me all the facts and I can make a wise decision.”

How many times have we as parents only received part of the facts from our children concerning a situation in their lives? Using partial information we storm up to the school to set the teacher straight about our darling who would never lie. We enter the parent/teacher conference with an attitude of righteous indignation. We are going to defend our little, sweet, innocent child to the death. The conference begins and we find out the teacher had not mistreated our child, but our darling had been the guilty party and the teacher had acted very responsibly in the situation. Armed with all the information we return home again with righteous indignation but this time we have all the facts and our little darling will be on restrictions the rest of their life. Our little, sweet, never tell a lie darling had deceived us.  

The answer for deception is truth and honesty. The Scripture teaches us we will know the truth and the truth will make us free. It is time for the body of Christ to take off our masks and become real, speaking all the truth and nothing but the truth. Let’s just lay the facts on the table and then we can all walk in the freedom brought by the truth.

While on staff at a church when my wife and I began dating, I pondered how to keep the talk to a minimum and make sure the right information gets out. So, my decision was very simple. I simply got up on a Wednesday night and told the entire congregation I was seeing someone and told them who it was. I did the same thing when we became engaged. The church embraced us and today we serve together at that same church. But if we had deceived them and slipped around to see each other, tongues would have been a wagging and our relationship would have been doomed.   

Final thought: We are at a crucial time in history. Awakening is beginning to happen but also evil is abounding. The answer for the deception of this time is for prophets, especially, to rise up and begin to boldly declare truth to this nation. Today, our society and especially political leaders need prophets like Nathan who will boldly confront the king decreeing, “David, you are the man,” prophets like Elijah who will unashamedly confront the false prophets of our day regardless of personal danger.

We desperately need voices like John the Baptist crying out, “Herod, it is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” In the history of our nation it has always been the church that has held governmental leaders accountable. The cries of liberty and freedom came first from the pulpits of America. Pulpits across America thundered with the cries to abolish slavery prior to the Civil War. God, may the churches of America resound with truth and honesty. Of course, all of the fivefold ministers must declare truth, but the heralding voice of the prophet must be heard above all crying out. {eoa}

James Rawlins is the Founder and President of Keys of Awakening Ministries Inc. He has served in ministry for over 40 years as a pastor, teacher, apostle, prophet and author. He pastored churches in Florida, Georgia and Mississippi and served as a missionary in Romania. He has served as a college professor, principal and teacher of a Christian school.  He has authored several books and his latest book is Twenty-one Keys of Awakening, A Prayer Journal for Personal and National Revival.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani is publicly holding American Pastor Saeed Abedini and the other wrongfully imprisoned Americans as hostages, demanding ransom for their freedom.

Rouhani told CNN:

“If the Americans take the appropriate steps and set [a number of Iranians in the United States who are imprisoned] free, certainly the right environment will be open and the right circumstances will be created for us to do everything within our power and our purview to bring about the swiftest freedom for the Americans held in Iran as well …

“If the Americans take the appropriate actions vis-a-vis Iranian citizens who are being imprisoned here, then the right atmosphere and environment will be created for reciprocal action perhaps.”

This is an absurd and insulting demand, treating Pastor Saeed—who has committed no crime and is merely imprisoned because of his Christian faith—as a hostage for ransom.

Pastor Saeed’s wife Naghmeh emphatically responded:

“My husband is not collateral. He is a father and a man who broke no law. Yet Iran is treating him like a pawn in a game of chess. President Rouhani’s demand that America release 19 criminals in exchange for his consideration of releasing individuals like my husband, imprisoned solely for his faith, demonstrates that the Iran of today is no different than the Iran who took Americans hostage during the Iranian revolution.

“The environment is ripe for Iran to demonstrate it is ready to re-enter the global market and international scene of diplomats; it is time to show its good will, to change its image from one of a pariah to a member of the global society who will protect fundamental rights.”

As Iran’s president prepares to address the United Nation’s General Assembly in New York—on American soil—now is the time to garner goodwill on the world stage and release the wrongfully imprisoned Americans. It is time for the U.N. to directly engage and urge Iran to release these wrongfully imprisoned U.S. citizens and allow them to return home—especially Pastor Saeed.

Naghmeh explained the importance of this moment on Fox News recently. 

Our team, along with Naghmeh, is currently in New York, engaging with key world leaders and U.N. delegations to increase pressure on Iran, as Iran’s president is on U.S. soil—where Pastor Saeed belongs.

Over 1 million have signed our petition for Pastor Saeed’s freedom. Please continue building on this momentum as we aggressively fight for his freedom by adding your name today.

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