The only way you will be able to remain strong and unshaken in the face of criticism, rejection, condemnation and ultimately persecution is by seeing yourself as God sees you.

However, in order to see yourself as God sees you, first you must see God as He truly is. You will only know your true identity and worth when you first know God—as He has revealed Himself, not how the culture, church or you have defined Him.

When you grasp how holy and loving and merciful He is—all at the same time—it gives you an incredibly deep appreciation for what Jesus did for you on the cross. The same God, who is so holy that nothing even remotely associated with death could come near His manifest presence in the temple, actually took death upon Himself because He wanted you so intensely, because you’re so valuable to Him. In the Torah, there was nothing more contaminating than a corpse, yet He became a corpse to have a relationship with you. What does that say about your worth, value, identity and security? It’s simply off the charts.

When you picture the throne room scene in Revelation 4 that is described with diamonds, emeralds, fire, and a sea of glass surrounded by nonstop worship, adoration and elders falling on their faces because He is worthy to receive all glory, honor, and power—and then realize that the same God who is worthy of 24/7 praise and worship would become a man and die for you because He wanted you so badly, because you’re so valuable to Him, because He desires you and enjoys being with you—what does that say about your worth, value, identity, and security?

God’s ‘Insane’ Love

I call it an “insane love,” and He did it all because He wanted intimate relationship with you! Getting that truth down into your heart is the key to healing any strongholds you may have of being unwanted, worthless, or fearing rejection and disapproval. I can proclaim this with much boldness and confidence because I personally have experienced deep healing of those very strongholds in my own life through these truths.

For example, recently I was down on myself and condemning myself for not getting my work done and for being so far behind schedule. I confessed the self-condemnation as sin (it’s aligning with how the enemy sees me) and God spoke these words to me, “You are beautiful to me even in your weakness,”—which is from Song of Solomon 4:7—”You are altogether fair, my love; there is no flaw in you” (MEV). I also looked up the NIV version: “You are altogether beautiful, my darling! There is no flaw in you!”

This verse reminded me that even when I am behind, even when I am not meeting everyone’s expectations, God still sees me as beautiful! How He sees me needs to determine how I feel and how I see myself, not how everyone else sees me. He died so that I could have intimate relationship with Him. He just wants to spend time with me. He enjoys being with me. I bring Him delight.

It’s the heart knowledge of being so intensely desired, wanted, accepted and valued by God that you are going to need to stand strong and unshaken in the face of criticism, rejection and persecution. All of these are increasing and will continue to intensify in these end times.

Otherwise, you will be controlled by fears of rejection, disapproval, not being liked or accepted, being criticized, or being unfairly judged. We are all human and we all have the need to be liked, accepted, have friends and feel wanted.

I’ve never met anyone who actually enjoys being rejected. It’s the way we were all wired and designed by God. But again, those needs can only be fully met by God Himself and by seeing ourselves as He sees us.

I sincerely believe that seeing yourself as God sees you is no longer a “nice to know,” or something you need to know for your own healing or happiness, or even what you need in order to fulfill God’s purposes for you. In these last days as darkness increases and believers are seen as barriers to world peace and love, with more and more being accused of hate crimes, it is going to be absolutely critical for standing strong with the Lord!

Don’t wait until times get tougher; get it into your heart now. Ask God to show you what lies you are believing about yourself or about Him. Experience who He is and how He sees you now, before the real pressure comes, and then you will be able to stand strong with Him and for Him, no matter what happens in your own personal life or in the world! {eoa}

Jeanne Nigro is a frequent speaker at conferences, churches, and retreats worldwide.  Her teachings are relevant, practical and life-transforming, whether she is bringing Old Testament truths to life, healing strongholds of the heart, or preparing believers for Jesus’ return. Her latest book, Unshaken:  Standing Strong in Uncertain Times, will be released by Destiny Image in October of 2016. All of Jeanne’s teachings and blogs are available on her website at .

Christian education in traditional school settings has been under attack for the past several years in California, and now “educrats” in the Golden State are taking aim at another school choice option popular with many evangelical parents.

According to the Home School Legal Defense Association, members in the San Benito High School District received a letter saying, “[U]nder California Law, a home school is not a private school, nor is it a lawful alternative to public school … ” The organization’s president, Mike Smith, issued the following statement in response:

The private school exemption has been used by California homeschoolers since the revival of the movement in the late ’70s. Many school districts and the California Department of Education took the same position that the San Benito High School is now taking. But despite years of official opposition in numerous places in a variety of ways, HSLDA successfully advocated for many families whose homeschooling was challenged by school districts and other public agencies.

Then in February 2008, in a confidential juvenile court case (subsequently known as Jonathan L.) that initially we were not made aware of, the Court of Appeals ruled that homeschooling in California is not legal. Because HSLDA was not involved in the underlying case, the appellate court was not properly briefed about the many ways the legislature had made provision for parents to teach their own children under the private-school option.

When the court published its opinion, HSLDA led a large coalition asking the appellate court to reconsider. In August 2008, the same three judges who had said back in February (before we were involved) that homeschooling was illegal now reversed course and held that “California statutes permit home schooling as a species of private school education.”

We cannot understand or explain how a school district today, so many years after the decision in the Jonathan L. case, could still be sending official correspondence that is so clearly wrong. When we learned of San Benito’s letter, we quickly responded on behalf of our member families, explaining that homeschooling is indeed a legal exemption to public school attendance pursuant to the private-school exemption.

This episode demonstrates the continued opposition to homeschooling by some in California.

The Wesleyan Covenant Association was not founded to promote schism from the United Methodist Church, WCA organizer Rev. Keith Boyette says.  

Despite information the WCA was founded to consider a split after the consecration of a married lesbian bishop, Boyette says this is patently false.  

“WCA is seeking to provide a form for traditionalists to come forward and discern the best way to continue to work in UMC and global pan Methodist family to advance a historic Christianity,” Boyette says.  

Along with the five founders, 40 ministerial leaders and lay ministers have endorsed the WCA formation.  

Boyette says he believes some confusion stems from the wording of Council of Bishops President Bishop Bruce R. Ough’s statement: 

We began by acknowledging the profound dissonance between what the Council had proposed to the General Conference in May and the reality within the church in July. The landscape has changed dramatically. The reported declarations of non-compliance from several annual conferences, the intention to convene a Wesleyan Covenant Association and the election of the Rev. Karen Oliveto as a bishop of the church have opened deep wounds and fissures within The United Methodist Church and fanned fears of schism. The church finds itself in an extremely fragile, highly contested season. We lament that, for some, these actions disrupt and detract from the effective ministries of congregations across our global connection. We confess that we have all played a part in delaying God’s kingdom reign. 

“Any number of people may speculate the purpose of WCA is schismatic, slash, an intent to form new denomination,” Boyette says. “Readers can draw their own conclusions and watch what unfolds in coming days.” 

According to their website, the WCA was founded to:  

• Connect evangelical, orthodox United Methodists with one another in a common ministry of the gospel.
• Provide mutual support and encouragement of traditional United Methodists, including those who feel isolated and marginalized in their own annual conferences, and provide an effective voice for a classical Wesleyan understanding of the faith.
• Cooperate in visioning toward what a revived and authentic Wesleyan ministry could look like.
• Facilitate ministry partnerships with Bible-based United Methodist brothers and sisters outside the United States for mutual learning, resourcing and equipping for ministry.
• Collaborate with like-minded ministries, as well as foster partnerships within the WCA, to resource and extend the ministry of local churches in such areas as missions development, leadership training, resources for ministry, and planting and resourcing new churches.
• Empower and stimulate congregations and clergy to engage in risk-taking, bold ministry strategies to reach their communities and the world to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
• Strategize together for the future growth of a faithful Methodism, including a joint response to the recommendations of the Bishops’ Commission on the Future of the Church.
• Foster mutual accountability among congregations and clergy through Association membership standards and informal means of accountability and support.
• To uphold and promote biblical teaching on marriage and human sexuality.

Schism over Oliveto was never a contributing factor.  

“Evangelicals within the 12 million member UM Church are attempting to be faithful as best they can,” Rev. Thomas Lambrecht, vice president of Good News, said. “We are not seeking schism. Separation may occur one day in the future, but the WCA was formed to be a united voice to play by the denominational rules and live with faithful integrity in a very volatile situation.” 

The WCA will hold their first meeting in October. When asked if the meeting indicates the formation of a new denomination, the WCA responded:  

That is not the association’s intent. The WCA hopes the UM Church can remain united. We pray we can all find ways to live as Jesus’ joyful and obedient disciples in covenant with one another. We long for a church that leads with grace and is committed to the truth of God’s will revealed through Scripture and embodied in Jesus Christ. We plan to work for a vibrant expression of Wesleyan Christianity within The United Methodist Church.

However, we are mindful of the deep disagreements that exist over the inspiration and primacy of Scripture, its interpretation and God’s power to transform lives through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, particularly as these core confessions pertain to our church’s sexual ethics. We believe it is imperative that United Methodists definitively answer the question: Are we a truly united church or are we two churches pretending to live as one? If we are united, then we must live according to our covenant with one another. If we are unwilling to live in covenant with one another, then we must frankly confront that reality and act accordingly.

Courtship and dating are some of the least discussed topics in the church. Yet dating has caused the most havoc, destroyed countless lives, resulted in unwanted pregnancies and abortions and even split churches apart.

Since most of the church doesn’t teach on this subject, a vacuum exists resulting in our teenagers adopting the worldview of popular culture. This has led many church youth groups to become havens for dating and premarital sex.

I am attempting to give some biblical clarity on this all-important subject for the sake of our local churches and for the sanctity and safety of the next generation who will soon have their own families. The following are guidelines that best fit young people but many of the principles still apply to older and more mature single adults looking for a mate.

Dating

I have taught each of my five children the difference between dating and courtship. Dating is an unbiblical method crafted by the world with no boundaries or ethics with the following assumed rules and values:

• Two people can mutually claim to be “boyfriend and girlfriend” if they are physically attracted to one another and (this is the litmus test) have a crush and claim each other for themselves in a special relationship.
• There are no boundaries or ethics in this type of relationship. Thus, what initially starts off as French kissing quickly accelerates to petting, fondling and then full-blown sexual intimacy.
• Although they are committed to one another as “boyfriend and girlfriend,” they most often end their relationship after several months when one “feels a crush” for someone else. Thus, the relationship ends with at least one of the individuals feeling devastated and wounded especially because of soul ties that were created from sexual intimacy.

Although the above three points are generalizations, they are true depictions of most cases regarding dating. Its devastating results on the human soul cannot be fully measured! Even worse, the double-mindedness that results from numerous sexual encounters with various people carries into future relationships and even marriage. This is because of unhealthy soul ties that have been developed, increasing the chances one’s marriage will end in adultery and divorce, which drags down children and creates generational curses due to family fragmentation.

It is amazing that most churches and youth groups do not speak about this in their discipleship processes! Every pastor should have church guidelines that include boundaries for how their youth groups should be conducted. Every youth pastor should be trained on the difference between the worldly concept of dating and the biblical concept of courtship.

Dating is revolutionized if the following guidelines are followed:

• Dating should only take place in the context of having an accompanying chaperone with young couples. Or, only group dating should be encouraged. Groups can go to a movie or have an outing, or go for dinner so that two people can sit together and get to know one another in the safety of other trusted believers.
• Dating should not be encouraged for anyone under a certain age. I would say at least 18, although others would say 16.
• Dating should not involve any physical contact. Even something as harmless as a hug can lead to petting, which will then lead to a sexual encounter.
• Youth groups should be taught that believers should not to commit themselves to anyone God hasn’t clearly indicated will eventually be their spouse. This is the only way to avoid soul ties through sexual intimacy. Also, parents, pastors or trusted mature people should all be part of the process of discerning the will of God to counter the blindness that comes when feeling in love.
• Youth should be taught to have greater criteria beyond physically attraction. They should be taught what to look for in a lifelong partner: someone who has God-given aspirations with their career, an education, the right concepts of family and God, the ability to handle money well, connected to a local church, and so on.
• People should be taught to back off and not run to a person to whom they are attracted. This is to give themselves enough time to pray, seek counsel and hear from God about the other person before they fall hopelessly in love and reach the point where their heart has already made a choice to be with the other person—whether it be the will of God or not!
• Youth should make chastity vows before they enter high school. With these vows they should pledge to their parents before God they will not give their bodies over unless they are married to the other person.

Courtship

Although the Bible does not lay out specifics regarding courtship, since some of the biblical marriages were arranged by families (for example, the Old Testament patriarch Isaac and his wife Rebecca were brought together supernaturally by God with the order of Abraham), when we piece together all the principles of Scripture we have a good plan for courtship.

Courtship based on the biblical model of love, romance, sacrifice, dignity and covenant implies the following about how two people could begin a process that may eventually lead to marriage:

Pre-Courtship Stage
A person should not even begin to look for a mate unless they are adequately prepared for the responsibilities of marriage and family, and are themselves emotionally healthy and spiritually mature. When two emotionally needy people get together in marriage, it is usually a disaster.

Go on group dates to get to know the other person or work with them in some meaningful innocuous way. This will enable the development of a deep friendship to help discern the will of God before beginning the process of committing to each other more formally.

Both parties should back off, receive counsel, and pray to hear from God with other mature leaders and/or parents before allowing their hearts to be pulled towards each other romantically. Part of discerning the will of God is judging whether or not the other person meets the biblical criteria and qualifications of being a good mate, being able to raise children and being a family leader.

Attraction should never be only physical. Based on 1 Thessalonians 5:23, we should be attracted to another person in three areas: physically, emotionally and intellectually, and spiritually (this includes personality). That is to say, a person needs to meet the criteria in each of these three areas. For example, it is a huge mistake to marry a person because they are strong spiritually when not attracted to them physically. Or, it is a mistake to marry a person for their personality when their spiritual life is a mess.

Courtship Stage
Two people who have confirmed it is the will of God for them to be together should begin a process of spending time together. They should make a covenant together before God involving strict guidelines for not having physical contact or being alone where they can fall into sexual sin, and walking in the light and having open communication with one another.

This process should involve marital counseling conducted by older, successful married couples with spiritual depth and experience in raising strong families.

At some point, the man should formerly ask the woman’s father, parent, or relevant guardian for permission to marry the woman before he officially proposes to her.

Both families should get to know each other since marriage also unites two families, not just two people.

Money should be set aside during the engagement, and jobs and education should be already secured. This is so the focus of the first few years of marriage is on building the relationship rather than on the distractions that come from financial stress, education and other things that can destroy a relationship (although many make a good case  for people getting married young so they can mature emotionally together). 

Going into debt and spending a lot of money on the wedding ceremony is not advised. Money should be channeled for life together more than on the one-time wedding ceremony. If you don’t have the money, be simple and modest with excellence on your wedding day. Don’t overdo it and go into huge debt. Invest in your marriage, not in your wedding day.

Practical and Biblical Understanding of Courtship

During the courtship Bible studies should be done together on the role of husbands and wives, and the purpose of children (Gen. 1:28). The book of Proverbs should be studied frequently together for practical wisdom and prudence in relationships and business.

Couples should especially study biblical love as found in 1 Corinthians 13 and understand that it is the commitment that arises out of covenant that will sustain their marriage—not merely the feeling of love. For example, someone may wake up without those strong feeling of romance and be deceived into thinking they are no longer “in love” with their mate. This gives an excuse to begin another search for their true “soul mate” to experience romance again! All couples must understand the difference between romantic feelings/the world’s definition of love and the biblical definition of love, which is based on action, commitment and sacrifice.

During courtship, much prayer should be offered for wisdom, favor and understanding.

Mentor couples should be secured both during the courtship stage and after the marriage takes place. Mentor couples are experienced married couples who take younger couples under their wings, coaching them through personal issues that will eventually come up.

The courtship should last as long as necessary to work out all the kinks in the relationship. No date for the wedding should be set until numerous marital empowerment sessions and counseling sessions are conducted (we do eight sessions in our church called Marriage Builders), and a test from Marriage Savers is taken (). This will further ensure the will of God is known and there is compatibility between the two people. Of engaged couples that take the Marriage Savers test, 25 percent break up. They realize they don’t have enough compatibility to make a marriage work.

No doubt, some reading this will scoff at my old-fashioned approach. But after 30-plus years of marriage, and having five biological children and hundreds of spiritual children over the past 34 years of full-time church ministry, these principles come out of watching many relationships succeed and many fall apart. {eoa}

Joseph Mattera is overseeing bishop of Resurrection Church and Christ Covenant Coalition, in Brooklyn, New York, and author of numerous books, including Ruling in the Gates: Preparing the Church to Transform Cities. Follow him on Facebook or visit him online at .

Former NFL star Deion Sanders vowed to praise God like there is no tomorrow in a recent Instagram post.  

But the star of OWN’s Deion’s Family Playbook isn’t limiting the glory to God in just one Instagram post. Rather, the praise flows through his social media feed.  

“God was there when many of yall talked about me,doubted me,lied on me,cheated me,turned your back on me,bet against me,hated on me,stole from me and tried to kill me physically & verbally. THAT’S WHY I PRAISE HIM LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW! #Truth @revjahwar@twh_phd” he wrote in one post.  

In another, he shared, “Get Ready baby your time has come! You’re about to receive your breakthrough & your blessing. Stay focused and don’t look back at yesterday trials & tribulations. You got this baby. It’s your time but please don’t forget how u made it thru & who brought u thru. In JESUS Name let us all shout AMEN!!! SEND THIS TO EVERYONE THAT NEEDS TO HEAR THIS IMPORTANT MESSAGE RIGHT NOW.#Truth @revjahwar.”

In the NFL, Sanders played for the Atlanta Falcons, the San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Washington Redskins, and the Baltimore Ravens, winning the Super Bowl with both the 49ers and the Cowboys, according to his website.  

In baseball, he played for the New York Yankees, the Atlanta Braves, the Cincinnati Reds, and the San Francisco Giants.  

Now the versatile athlete coaches kids through his Truth program.  

“I’m walking in my calling!#Truth #Truthcamp2016,” he says of the program. 

Immediately following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, which “legalized” same-sex “marriage,” U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) drafted the First Amendment Defense Act.

It quickly built an impressive list of co-sponsors: 171 congressmen in the House and 37 senators in the Senate. In part, the legislation stated:

The Federal Government shall not take any discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis that such person believes or acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.

But recent changes have many wondering if a bait-and-switch deception was perpetrated on Americans. A number of the FADA’s biggest early supporters have now become its most vocal opponents.

Prior to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s hearing—during a period known as “markup”—Labrador offered an amendment that substantially changed not only the text of the bill, but its intent, as well. The revised House version of the FADA now includes same-sex “marriage” as a new protected class.

It in part states:

The Federal Government shall not take any discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis that such person believes, speaks, or acts in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of two individuals of the opposite sex; or two individuals of the same sex; or extramarital relations are improper.

Liberty Counsel founder and chairman Mat Staver said the new language, if adopted, would mean that for the first time, the federal government would formally recognize and condone same-sex “marriage” on par with the natural marriage. He said his organization can no longer support the FADA unless Labrador’s proposed amendment is abandoned and the bill is restored to support only biblical marriage.

“I urge all members of Congress to reject the proposed amendments to the First Amendment Defense Act that include same-sex marriage,” Staver said. “Pro-family organizations will no longer be able to support what was once a good bill unless it returns to its original language regarding marriage as between one man and one woman.

“The last minute hijacking of the otherwise good bill must be reversed to protect people of faith.”

The murder of the 84-year-old priest earlier this week in France has raised this question: Are Christians to be the next target in the West?

As reported by BBC News, two men entered the church during morning mass.

Emily Fuentes of Open Doors USA says, “Some attackers came and held the people hostage and eventually ended up attacking and slaying the priest who was there, with a knife.”

The assailants were killed. Shortly after, Islamic State claimed responsibility.

“What makes this event especially notable,” Fuentes says, “is this was the first time really that an attack by the Islamic State […] was actually carried out in a Western church.”

A History of Persecution

According to Open Doors, global persecution of Christians has been increasing in the last few years. Through the World Watch List, they have been able to record nations with the most persecution year after year.

But even as this begins to spread to the West, it seems as though it will be harder to determine which nations are most under attack.

Fuentes says we have a lot to learn from nations where persecution has been the norm for Christian communities for a long time.

“I think we need to be holding onto the lessons we can learn from our persecuted brothers and sisters who’ve been facing this for a long, long time and not give into a spirit of fear.”

The Example of Nigeria

“An average of five churches are attacked every single Sunday in Nigeria. Yet, believers are still brave enough to go to church and stand firm and are inviting their neighbors to come to church and reaching out to others with the gospel.”

Fuentes says that over the last two to three years, the ministry has witnessed and recorded unprecedented levels of persecution. And now, it seems that it is spreading into the West. But, there is a silver lining.

“It’s interesting that while the church is facing persecution, […] the countries where maybe there’s the most persecution, the gospel is thriving the most. Persecution causes people to draw closer to God and causes them to have braveness really about them even to reach out to their persecutors with the gospel.”

Lessons From the Persecuted Church

In areas where Islamic extremism has been plaguing Christians with violence for a while, we discover that for some extremist groups, Christianity and Western Civilization are the same thing. That is why Christians are so often targeted in the Middle East.

Knowing this can help us understand why fear spreads so quickly in countries like France. BBC says the major religion in France is Christianity; however, the CIA World Factbook reveals the number of evangelical Christians is rather low.

“Everyone’s fearful just because everyone’s Western in that country. But now it’s honing in the attack even more and specifically going after peaceful people who are completely vulnerable in a church setting instead of large crowds.”

Fuentes says the country must reflect on why IS is targeting Christian groups now. “I think for those who don’t know Christ, it’s dismal and can seem overwhelming.”

She encourages us to cling to the lessons we can learn from our persecuted brothers and sisters: refuse a spirit of fear, and reach out to neighbors with the gospel.

Take Action

In light of the presidential race in the United States, there are a lot of agendas being pushed. The subject of terrorism has circulated through debates and speeches. However, the topic of fighting Christian persecution hasn’t really even hit the radar.

That’s why Open Doors encourages you to sign a petition for your candidate. The petition is asking both candidates how they will respond to religious persecution.

You can find that petition here. 

And, of course, pray. Pray for Christians to remain strong in the face of violence—to not give in to their fear. Pray that more people would come to know Christ in these dark times. {eoa}

This article originally appeared on Mission News Network. 

Something wonderful and beautiful happens as we begin to equip ourselves to heal: We become equipped to minister healing to others!

A good first step when ministering to others is to take some time to build the person’s faith by sharing God’s will to heal. As we share what God’s Word says about healing, our faith also will be strengthened in the process.

I cannot overemphasize the importance of faith when ministering in the area of healing. Faith is an actual invisible substance that brings into reality the hope upon which we are standing, as the following verse attests:

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1).

Our faith grows when we hear God’s truth: So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).

We each have been given a measure of faith, as Romans 12:3 proclaims. It is up to us to grow that measure into a mighty force by learning God’s Word and drawing close to the Lord so we build our confidence in His power to heal. Faith is critical when we are ministering to others because it is what empowers us to stand firmly upon God’s truth and speak to the situation at hand.

I sometimes relate faith to a small, invisible muscle that I can nourish and exercise as I hear the Word of God and boldly speak it with expectation. As I take the time to build faith, it can grow large and strong, becoming the vital tool needed for healing to manifest.

The Holy Spirit partners with me, releasing His power as I act upon what I have learned in His Word. It may take years to grow your faith, or it may take only a few minutes. Whatever the case, God’s Word needs to become more real to you than the seemingly impossible situation.

The original generation of Israelites wandered for years in the wilderness after leaving Egypt with Moses and was not able to receive its promise—entering into the land of Canaan—due to their unbelief. They had more confidence in the obstacles they faced than in the mighty power of God.

Even Jesus asked those who were unbelieving to leave the room before He healed certain people. In some towns He was unable to do many miracles because of the high level of unbelief residing there.

This is why we must be wise regarding what we take in through the television, newspapers and magazines, which emit streams of negative words, visuals and audio that glorify the limitations of walking by sight. If we consume a steady diet of this, we can take on the doubts, worries, cares and negative mind-sets that are presented.

These place strongholds in our minds, often with very little resistance from us and virtually no resistance from our children.

Speaking of children, did you know that a child’s brain waves are different from an adult’s? They are similar to those of an adult under hypnosis. That means whatever goes into their minds enters through totally open doors. They believe it all.

We must remember that faith is the key to seeing healing become a reality as we pray for others, so we must carefully guard what we allow into our hearts and minds:

“Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your unbelief. For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move. And nothing will be impossible for you'” (Matt. 17:20).

“He said to them, ‘Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?'” (Mark 4:40).

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6).

This is what a lifestyle of faith produces: “A faithful man will abound with blessings … ” (Prov. 28:20).

“Now Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people” (Acts 6:8).

I want this type of faith, don’t you?

The Bible tells us faith works through love:

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith which works through love” (Gal. 5:6).

This tells me that we must have an intimate relationship with our heavenly Father and compassion for those we serve. Knowing who God is and that He loves us empowers us in this respect. Daily praise and gratitude water this love and keep it vibrant.

Remember, we speak to the mountains of ill health in faith. So what do we do while we are waiting for the results? We might see the results instantly, sure, but what if we don’t? Many times in Scripture, a time lag was present between the time a person prayed and when he received the response. Sometimes evil forces delayed the result, as in the case of a prayer of Daniel’s (Dan. 10.)

We will grow weak and weary if we start thinking like the world or listening to the pessimism of others and the devil while we wait for someone we are praying for to be healed. Instead, we must keep our focus on God’s good promises and reports:

“So that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:5).

“Watch, stand fast in the faith, be bold like men, and be strong” (1 Cor. 16:13).

“My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith develops patience. But let patience perfect its work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2–4).

Patience and endurance are a perfect work that occurs while you are standing in faith waiting for healing to manifest, or while that mountain is starting to break up and go. Stay focused on the prize ahead. Share with supportive friends what you are doing. Keep your thoughts and words in line with your goal to see healing manifest in people’s lives:

“Above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the fiery arrows of the evil one” (Eph. 6:16).

“That the sharing of your faith may be most effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you from Christ Jesus” (Philem. 1:6).

“Do you see how faith worked with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?” (James 2:22). {eoa}

Excerpted from Healing Words by Sylvia Rogers; published in 2016 by Siloam/Charisma Media/Charisma House Book Group. To order the book, click here.

Sylvia Rogers is committed to teaching scriptural healing techniques to help people take more responsibility for their health and partner with their heavenly Father to experience wholeness and lasting wellness. She holds a bachelor of science in nursing and is a certified nutritionist, a natural health consultant and herb specialist, and a national lecturer and teacher for Nature’s Sunshine Products. She is also a certified biofeedback specialist who has assisted her clients in praying biblical promises and principles during biofeedback sessions with eye-opening and astounding results. 

The mass rape of hundreds of German women mostly by Muslim migrants last New Year’s was recently revealed to be far worse than originally acknowledged. Authorities now believe that more than 1,200 women were sexually assaulted—over twice the original estimate of 500. While more than 2,000 men were allegedly involved, only 120 suspects—about half of them recently arrived migrants—have been identified.

One explanation for why it took half a year for the full extent of the crime to be revealed is the German police’s effort to avoid a public backlash against refugees. But ultimately, Holger Munch, president of the German Federal Crime Police Office, acknowledged to the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung that there is “a connection between the [sexual assaults] and the rapid migration in 2015.”

Denial is not a strategy. Western countries that cherish women’s rights must wake up to the fact that many migrants could challenge those values. Most of the mass migration comes from violence-plagued, Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and North Africa, where women are second-class citizens subject to honor killings and various legal restrictions, and where the local culture often condones rape, encourages wife-beating, and treats women as sexual objects (with 72 virgins promised to Muslim men who reach heaven).

Thus, just as the mass migration from the Middle East and North Africa raises the specter of regular Islamist terror on European soil, it also augurs the kind of sexual abuse that those regions have traditionally tolerated. German officials implicitly seemed to acknowledge as much with their laughably impotent campaign to re-educate migrants using signs that explain acceptable behavior towards women.

Non-Muslim (“infidel”) women are especially vulnerable to sexual assault: Christian women are often abused and denigrated in Islamic societies, as extensively exposed by Raymond Ibrahim, author of Crucified Again. The Islamic State (ISIS) regards the Yazidi, another religious minority, as devil worshippers and reportedly enslaved up to 5,000 Yazidi women, subjecting them to rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution and other acts of extreme brutality, like burning alive a 20-year-old girl “because she refused to perform an extreme sex act.”

Saudi Arabia, arguably the leader of the Sunni Muslim world, has a legal system based on strict sharia law, which prohibits women from dressing as they wish or even driving a car. Saudi rulings are notoriously abysmal when it comes to rape. Last year, a Saudi woman was sentenced to 200 lashes after being gang raped by seven men. In 2013, a Saudi preacher who raped, tortured, and murdered his 5-year old daughter was punished with just eight years of prison, 800 lashes, and a $270,000 fine. With such legal norms, it’s not surprising that when members of the country’s ruling elite travel to the West, their behavior may not change accordingly (last October three women accused a Saudi prince of sexual assault in Beverly Hills). By ironic and tragic contrast, U.S. soldiers stationed in Muslim majority countries are trained to respect local norms to the point that marines stationed in Afghanistan were actually taught to look away if they find Afghanis raping children, a common local practice.

While sharia advocates often claim that the Islamic dress code protects women, the brutally unfair treatment of women by Islamists seems driven more by power-hungry male chauvinism and/or sexual insecurity than by any genuine concern for women’s welfare, judging from the staggering hypocrisy of its proudest proponents. The 9/11 jihadists visited strip clubs, and paid for prostitutes in their motel rooms.

Anwar Al-Awlaki, the American-born imam whose sermons continue to attract recruits to jihad, frequented prostitutes. Osama bin Laden had an extensive pornography collection, and is among the many examples of jihadis obsessed with porn and prostitution collected by Phyllis Chesler, a CUNY emerita professor of psychology and a fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Between 1997 and 2013, well before the recent mass migration to Europe began, an estimated 1,400 children had been sexually abused in Rotherham, England, predominantly by gangs of British-Pakistani men.

While that scandal involved mostly “white” victims, an Oxford-educated Pakistani-British woman revealed her own exploitation, noting that “sexual abuse has been systemically under-reported among Asian girls due to deeply entrenched cultural taboos—obscuring the reality that there is a similarly rampant problem of minority girls being abused by members of their own community.”

A few weeks ago, Swedish police received 35 complaints from girls aged 12 to 17 who claimed that “foreign young men” sexually assaulted them at a popular music festival.

Soeren Kern, a distinguished senior fellow of the Gatestone Institute, compiled details of dozens of sexual assaults by migrants in Germany during the first two months of 2016, and noted the enabling reaction from “the upside-down worldview of German multiculturalism: Migrants who assault German women and children are simply rebelling against German power structures. Germans who dare to criticize such assaults are racists.”

In contrast to the initial cover-up by German police of the mass rape by mostly Muslim migrants, France’s top security official recently spoke with candid alarm about the threat that his country faces. Just two days before the truck-ramming, ISIS-inspired massacre in Nice, Patrick Calvar, chief of the Directorate General of Internal Security, warned members of the French parliamentary commission that France is on the verge of a “civil war” that could be sparked by the mass sexual assault of women by migrants.

There are remarkable exceptions within Islam itself, such as the Tuareg, an Islamic tribe in Africa, where women embrace sexual freedoms, dictate who gets what in divorce, and don’t wear the veil because men “want to see their beautiful faces.” But how long can the Tuareg’s enlightened version of Islam survive in southwest Libya when ISIS is expanding there, or in Mali, Niger and northern Nigeria, where Boko Haram is on the march?

There are also brave Muslim reformers trying to improve the way Islam treats women. However, they mostly operate in the West, where they still face death threats; one example is Irshad Manji. Another, Fadela Amara, founded Ni Putes Ni Soumises, a group that defends Muslim French girls against the pressures they face to wear the hijab, drop out of school, and marry early without the right to choose their husband. Amara went on to serve in the government of Nicolas Sarkozy, but she, too, received death threats for her efforts to liberate Muslim women.

Muslim feminists outside of the West assume far greater risks. Pakistani social media celebrity Qandeel ‎Baloch, who openly expressed her feminist views online, was recently strangled to death by her brother in their family’s home, in an “honor killing.” Her “intolerable behavior” is what drove him to murder her, he said, because her risqué persona was bringing “dishonor” to the family. There are an estimated 1,000 honor killings per year in Pakistan.

Even in the West, few feminists dare to criticize Islam because doing so can invite threats and violence. Absurdly, those brave enough to do so also risk being prosecuted for “hate speech.” 

Western countries must support courageous Muslim reformers while protecting all women living in their territories from the sexual abuse often encouraged by Islamist culture—whether that abuse is perpetrated by recent immigrants or long-time residents. The survival of the West depends on it. {eoa}

Noah Beck is the author of The Last Israelis, an apocalyptic novel about Iranian nukes and other geopolitical issues in the Middle East. 

Reprinted from 

Dr. James Dobson is still getting questions about Donald Trump’s faith following his statement last month that the Republican presidential nominee had accepted a relationship with Christ.

The claims have since been called into question by many—although most evangelical faith leaders are willing to accept that Trump is at least sympathetic to their issues—which has led to even more questions for the pro-family advocate. So Thursday, he issued the following statement in an effort to answer those questions.

I can only tell you what I’ve heard. First, Trump appears to be tender to things of the Spirit. I also hear that Paula White has known Trump for years and that she personally led him to Christ. Do I know that for sure? No. Do I know the details of that alleged conversion? I can’t say that I do.

But there are many Christian leaders who are serving on a faith advisory committee for Trump in the future. I am among them. There are about 25 of us that include Jerry Falwell, Jr., Robert Jeffress, Jack Graham, Ben Carson, James Robison, Michele Bachmann and many others whom you would probably know. We’ve all agreed to serve. How will that play out if Trump becomes president? I don’t know. It is a good start, I would think.

If anything, this man is a baby Christian who doesn’t have a clue about how believers think, talk and act. All I can tell you is that we have only two choices, Hillary or Donald. Hillary scares me to death. And, if Christians stay home because he isn’t a better candidate, Hillary will run the world for perhaps eight years. The very thought of that haunts my nights and days. One thing is sure: we need to be in prayer for our nation at this time of crisis.”