A senior pastor messaged and asked someone he thought was a minor to “engage in sex acts with him.” Barely two weeks after the arrest, the pastor was discovered dead from an apparent suicide.  

Police found the body of the former head pastor of First Christian Church in a storage unit earlier this week.  

David James Brown was arrested on June 15 for soliciting a minor to “engage in sex acts with him,” according to multiple reports. Yet when the pastor arrived, he discovered the child was actually an undercover police officer.  

“This is a sad day for our church. On June 15, we learned of criminal allegations against our senior pastor, David Brown, that cut to the heart of the trust placed in the church. We take these allegations seriously. Once we became aware of the situation, Mr. Brown was placed on temporary administrative leave and relieved of all his ministerial duties pending further investigations. We pray for everyone involved, and we ask the community to pray for our church as we work through this difficult time,” the church said in a statement.  

Brown had been released on bond and was with family in Georgia. Police are treating the death investigation as a suicide.  

“I think the family would like to just mourn in peace,” his attorney said.

Republican nominee-in-waiting Donald Trump got some praise from conservatives who supported U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in the GOP presidential primary earlier this week when he announced he hired Jason Miller to join his communications team.

His newest hire might actually make a few of them excited.

Friday morning, Trump announced he hired Kellyanne Conway, a veteran pollster and strategist, to join his senior campaign team. She most recently worked as president of Cruz’ top-line Super PAC, Keep the Promise I.

Conway is Founder and President of The Polling Company and WomanTrend, and has more than two decades of survey research experience for political, non-profit and commercial clients. She is highly regarded as an expert on women consumers and voters.

According to a Trump campaign press release about the hire, she will serve as senior advisor to campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and as a member of the national polling team being led by Tony Fabrizio.

“Kellyanne is a tremendous asset to our rapidly-expanding campaign team,” Trump said. “She is a data and messaging expert and terrific on TV. It is great to have her on board.”

The Trump campaign also announced Friday the promotion of Karen Giorno to the national campaign team as a senior political adviser and as Florida Chief Strategist. She was hired in October to lead Florida, as the State Director, and was promoted to Southeast Regional Political Director, overseeing 11 states, after winning the Florida Primary on March 15.

She is the founder of Kingston Public Affairs, and previously worked as Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s director of external affairs as well as Florida director of the conservative group American Commitment. Prior to that, she worked for Meg Whitman’s California gubernatorial campaign and in former President George W. Bush’s administration.

Giorno’s national role will include developing and executing the general election strategy for Florida, and working with the national political director.

“Karen is a valuable asset to my team and a consummate professional,” Trump said. “She has done a tremendous job for me in Florida in the primary, which I won in a landslide, and I am certain we will win Florida again in the general election.”

We often take healthy food and clean water for granted in America, but people all over the world have no access to these basic necessities of life. Al Hollingsworth saw this need and says God inspired his newest invention—the Aldelano Solar ColdBox.

The Solar ColdBox is a large container that can refrigerate food and water. The machine can also draw moisture out of the air to convert into potable, clean water and ice. Crucially, however, the Solar ColdBox is completely solar-powered and easy to build and transport. That way, it can be used to care for people and potentially save lives in environments without electricity, including impoverished countries and natural-disaster-afflicted regions.

Hollingsworth says God placed a burden on his heart for this project after he saw statistics regarding food waste (due to a lack of refrigeration) and the scarcity of clean water in Third World countries. “These are the areas that God challenged me to think about, and He began to surround me with scientists from NASA and other engineers that caught the dream with me, and today we can say our dream has come true,” he says.

Hollingsworth says he sees himself as part of a larger movement of believers God is equipping to change the world.

“I’m so excited to have a personal relationship with the Master so that I can hear, and I’m willing to do whatever He tells me to do,” he says. “We’re expecting great things to be done in the body of Christ, being able to answer global problems of hunger and famine.”

For more information, visit .

Well, that was fast. Either Attorney General Loretta Lynch bowed to public pressure and recused herself from the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state, or she’s trying to make it look like she’s recused herself.

The New York Times reported Friday morning that Lynch was set to announce her recusal later in the day:

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch plans to announce on Friday that she will accept whatever recommendation career prosecutors and the FBI director make about whether to bring charges related to Hillary Clinton’s personal email server, a Justice Department official said. Her decision removes the possibility that a political appointee will overrule investigators in the case.

The Justice Department had been moving toward such an arrangement for months—officials said in April that it was being considered—but a private meeting between Ms. Lynch and former President Bill Clinton this week set off a political furor and made the decision all but inevitable.

Republicans said the meeting, which took place at the Phoenix airport, had compromised the independence of the investigation as the FBI was winding it down. Some called for Ms. Lynch to recuse herself, but she did not take herself off the case—one that could influence a presidential election.

Political pundits quickly took diametrically opposing views on the pending announcement.

On one side, many suggested Lynch caved to public pressure led by Republicans who are aiming to make Clinton’s email server an issue in the 2016 election. On the other, many suggested Lynch already knows the FBI won’t recommend an indictment—despite overwhelming evidence—and she tried to shut down the controversy of her meeting with former President Bill Clinton earlier this week.

A third option, not endorsed by many, suggested Lynch knows the FBI is about to recommend an indictment and staged her meeting with Clinton to force the Obama Administration into a situation where it couldn’t meddle.

Regardless of the reason, Lynch made it official during a speech Friday in Aspen, Colorado.

“The recommendations will be reviewed by career supervisors in the Department of Justice and in the FBI, and by the FBI director, and then as is the common process, they present it to me and I fully expect to accept their recommendations,” she said.

Our culture is inundated with prospective people to follow. Open up your smart phone and click on any social media app and millions of people are competing for your attention.

Twitter is full of people trying to stay relevant enough to be retweeted, and followed by hundreds and thousands. Instagram has millions of pictures crying out for your heart, Facebook had hundreds of posts in my News Feed this morning with people arguing about whether we should or should not vote for this candidate or another (#nevertrump #crookedHillary #lyinTed #feelthebern).

It’s very easy to get caught up in the spin of it all (Lord knows I have!) and chase attention from people we will never know personally and give attention to people we will never know personally. I’m not anti-politics, but I refuse to follow any candidate and here’s why.

1. Men of God don’t emulate personality traits of politicians that are unpleasing to God. When I use the word follow, I’m not using a Twitter or a Facebook or an Instagram moniker, but I’m literally talking about placing yourself subconsciously and consciously under the influence of someone else. If he doesn’t like this, I don’t like this. If he’s proposing to do it this way, I’m backing him tooth and nail because he has my vote!

Grown men are getting into fistfights at political rallies and grown people are name-calling and losing friends over political affiliation, even within the same party. I’m not discussing our right to vote for who we think will do the best job for America in the coming years—I’m sure going to cast my vote—but just because I’m voting for someone doesn’t mean I line up morally or ethically with all they say or do.

I have the ability, and so do you, to cast a vote for someone without acting like them. It’s unfortunate, however, that recent elections have required Christians to vote the lesser of two evils or sit out the election and be responsible for doing nothing.

2. Men of God know their kids watch them closely and will emulate them. Politics is a dirty business and a flesh-driven game. As men of God and dutiful Americans, it is our responsibility to teach our kids how to navigate the political process while still holding to our morals and ethics. My oldest daughter voted for the first time in the last presidential election and my middle child voted for the first time in this primary.

I’ve had to lead by example and show a love for our democratic process while maintaining a separation from the political fray. This is a difficult balancing act. Allowing our relationship with God to trump our political affiliation (see what I did there) will always help us adjust our behavior when needed.

3. Men of God know they are called to follow Jesus. Jesus said, “Follow Me”, and I followed. About eight years ago, I was a mess, my marriage was a mess and my kids were collateral damage. I ostracized myself from friends and family because of my passionate political beliefs. I chased things of this world and I had an opinion about everything. I was forced to one day make the decision whether to crash and burn, or choose Jesus. I chose Jesus.

In choosing Jesus, I lost my vehement views about politics and I lost my six-figure-salary career. I lost some material things, but I gained so much more! I gained grace, love, forgiveness, my marriage back, my kids’ respect, a career serving God and a new perspective on life and this culture.

The apostle Paul wrote my life verse in 1 Corinthians 11:1: “Follow me, as I follow Christ.” This verse changed my world. I don’t need to follow a politician or trust in a politician. I need to follow and trust in Jesus, and I can’t do both. Now, I’ll follow who God puts in my life, as long as I know they follow Jesus. Pastors, mentors, fathers, spiritual fathers—if they don’t follow Christ, I will not follow them. I’ll love them, I’ll pray for them, I may even vote for them, but I won’t act like them.

Let me leave you with something God placed in my spirit eight years ago.

“If I offend someone with my politics, I’ll never have the opportunity to tell them about my Jesus.”

Which is more important? {eoa}

is a website written by men for men. The goal of the site is to build more mature men spiritually. For the original article, visit .

A confused armed forces will open the door wide for our enemy to attack.

 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints (1 Cor. 14:33, MEV).

From CNN:

The Pentagon said Thursday it was ending the ban on transgender people being able to serve openly in the U.S. military. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the ending of the ban takes effect immediately and that no longer could a transgender person be discharged on that basis.

Transgender service members will also receive the same medical coverage as any other military member, receiving all medical care that their doctors deem necessary, according to Carter.

For current members of the military, the coverage will include hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery if doctors determine that such procedures are medically necessary.

The United States Armed Forces, debatably the mightiest in the world (at least for now), are mandated to be peacemakers, protectors of this nation. That mandate is now at risk. The enemy will have easy access as intentional confusion and disorientation spreads throughout the armed forces.

A spirit of confusion is not only being celebrated, but sanctioned, at this most critical level of national security. Instead of peace, confusion, as evidenced in the debacle of transgender affirmation in our culture, has infiltrated the military.

Be sober and watchful, because your adversary the devil walks around as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8, MEV).

Church, we have to step up and pray, but not only pray. It’s beyond time to make some noise, to decry this current madness and sound firm messages of repentance and awakening across our nation.

But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own authority. But He will speak whatever He hears, and He will tell you things that are to come. He will glorify Me, for He will receive from Me and will declare it to you (John 16:13-14, MEV).

Pray that the Spirit of truth invades the United States military at this very dark hour. Pray that it overwhelms the spirit of confusion that has been given rank and authority over our nation. Eyes must be opened. Truth and justice must reign.

Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand all things (Prov. 28:5, MEV).

They shall be ashamed and also humiliated, all of them; the craftsmen of idols shall go away in confusion together, but Israel shall be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation; you shall not be ashamed nor humiliated to all eternity (Is. 45:16-17, MEV).

Let the church arise, above the confusion, and lead the way into life!

Just in time for the Independence Day – a women’s spontaneous rendition of the national anthem has gone viral. G. Star Swain, the woman singing in the video, believes the reason it touched so many people had nothing to do with her, but it was “the Holy Spirit.” 

“It didn’t matter what the song was but it was the spirit behind the song. And we know that was the Holy Spirit. I had nothing to do with that, “she told CBN News’ Efrem Graham in an interview via skype Thursday. 

The video of Swain singing the national anthem earlier this month at Lincoln Memorial has gotten more than 30 million views.

She added, “It is the anointing that destroys the yokes—hands down—and I try to teach the praise and worship team at my church that, when we’re working together. It’s the Holy Spirit that will always make the difference. Your gift is a gift. It can sound as beautiful as it wants to but if there is no anointing, no yokes will be destroyed.” 

Swain lives in Tallahassee, Florida, and stays busy. She records videos for her YouTube channel , serves as the praise and worship leader at her church and is an Assistant Principal at a local school. She says singing is something that is at the heart of who she is.

“This is not something new for me. This has been a dream and a passion of mine for a long time,” she said. 

{eoa}

Reprinted with permission from . Copyright The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc., All rights reserved.

Following reports that U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton met privately for about 30 minutes at the Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, the government watchdog Judicial Watch is asking for an official investigation.

In a letter to the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General, Judicial Watch cited nearly a dozen federal laws, regulations and executive orders pertaining to ethical conduct that were violated when Lynch met with Clinton while his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is the subject of a criminal investigation by the FBI. Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton pledged to vigorously investigate the meeting.

“Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s meeting with Bill Clinton severely undermined the already low public confidence in her agency’s criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton,” he said. “In addition to this IG investigation, Judicial Watch has already sent Freedom of Information Act requests about this scandalous meeting.”

The letter to the IG, in part, states:

President Clinton is the spouse of Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former Secretary of State, who is purportedly the subject of a national security crime investigation pertaining to the mishandling of national defense information processed by Mrs. Clinton’s personal server during her tenure as secretary.

Additionally, there are press reports that a federal public corruption investigation is ongoing concerning conflicts of interest and abuse of official government office involving the financial “commitments” to the Clinton Foundation, speaking fees for President Clinton and former Secretary Clinton’s official acts. President Clinton may be a target of that investigation.

Attorney General Lynch’s meeting with President Clinton creates the appearance of a violation of law, ethical standards and good judgment. Attorney General Lynch’s decision to breach the well-defined ethical standards of the Department of Justice and the American legal profession is an outrageous abuse of the public’s trust. Her conduct and statements undermine confidence in her ability to objectively investigate and prosecute possible violations of law associated with President Clinton and Secretary Clinton. This incident undermines the public’s faith in the fair administration of justice. Simply stated, Attorney General Lynch’s June 29, 2016 meeting with former President Clinton creates the broad public impression that “the fix is in.”

Judicial Watch requests your immediate and thorough investigation of the facts, circumstances and appearances of ethical, regulatory and legal violations by Attorney General Lynch in connection with her meeting with former President William J. Clinton—and that you report your findings and recommendations to the American public.

While they tried to defend the meeting, Democrats in Washington struggled with it. And some were just as shocked as the rest of the country, even if they believed the meeting was an innocent social call.

Although he later tried to walk back his assessment, U.S. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said he agreed the meeting didn’t send the right signal to the American public. He made his initial comments during an interview Thursday with CNN’s Alisyn Camerota.

“[Lynch] has generally shown excellent judgment and strong leadership of the department, and I’m convinced that she’s an independent attorney general,” he said. “But I do think that this meeting sends the wrong signal and I don’t think it sends the right signal. I think she should have steered clear, even of a brief, casual social meeting with the former president.”

Former Obama aide David Axelrod was a little less diplomatic with his assessment on Twitter:

I take @LorettaLynch & @billclinton at their word that their convo in Phoenix didn’t touch on probe. But foolish to create such optics.

In the comments on my blog, I’ve read that some of you are struggling with anger issues. I feel led to write about biblical solutions for that.

Anger occurs when you feel your rights have been violated, your expectations have not been met, or you are outraged about an injustice that involves others.

Even God the Father and Jesus expressed anger.

However, many women don’t feel comfortable dealing with that emotion. Instead, they keep their mouths closed while seething inside. But keeping anger inside is like a pot on the stove set to boil. Just like that pot will eventually boil over, so does the woman.

And too often, it’s the people closest to them who get burned!

While anger itself is not a sin, there are godly and ungodly ways to deal with it. In this article, I’ll cover some principles of Christian anger management. First, let’s look at what Jesus says about anger:

“You have heard that it was said by the ancients, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘Whoever murders shall be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ shall be in danger of the Sanhedrin. But whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go on your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matt. 5:21-24).

Jesus tells us that before anger is expressed outwardly, it starts in that person’s heart inwardly. As I read this passage, I saw something I had never seen before.

When you add a ‘d’ in front of the word ‘anger’, what do you get? Danger! Jesus used the word “danger” three times in His description of the consequences of anger.

He even prioritized pursuing peace with others above bringing a sacrifice to God! Mark 11:25 makes it even clearer:

“And when you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven may also forgive you your sins.”

With this background, let’s look at the story of brothers Cain and Abel, the first instance of a person’s anger in the Bible (Gen. 4:3-8). In this case, lack of anger management had deadly consequences:

“In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. Abel also brought the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had respect for Abel and for his offering, but for Cain and for his offering, He did not have respect. And Cain was very angry and his countenance fell.

“The Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your countenance fallen? If you do well, shall you not be accepted? But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must rule over it.’

“Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.”

From Jesus’ words, we know that anger begins in the heart. So the murder of Abel was conceived in Cain’s heart.

Here are the facts:

1. Cain brought an offering to the Lord.

2. Abel brought an offering to the Lord.

3. God respected Abel and his offering.

4. God did not respect Cain and his offering.

5. Cain became angry.

6. The Lord asked Cain why he was angry, then gave him instructions as to how he could gain the Lord’s respect.

7. Cain talked with Abel. Time passed, and Cain killed Abel.

Cain was angry at God. Did his anger have a cause? No, it did not. So when you are angry, you should always ask yourself, “Why am I angry?” to determine if you have a legitimate cause for it.

Many of our negative emotions are birthed in lying thoughts. Cain apparently felt that God had wronged him because He did not respect him and his offering. But the Lord’s question, “Why are you angry,” tells us that there was no cause for Cain’s anger.

The Lord told Cain that if he did well, he would have been accepted. Cain did not respond to God’s instruction. That tells me that Cain had a prideful heart and was not teachable. It appears he was not bringing an offering to the Lord out of love; rather it seems he was just going through the motions, perhaps because of his parent’s expectations or he was just doing it because Abel did.

If Cain had been humble and was concerned with pleasing God, he would have asked Him: “Lord, what do you mean ‘if I do well’? What am I doing wrong? How can I do better?”

I believe that if Cain had a sincere heart to please God, then God would have answered these questions.

Instead, God told Cain that sin was crouching at the door. Sounds like danger to me! However, the Lord also said that Cain should rule over it. Rule means “to take authority.” The Lord would not have told Cain to do something that Cain did not have the ability to do.

This is an important principle. We have the power to take authority over anger. Too often, we let anger get out of control because it feels good to our flesh to do so. But as Christians, that is no longer an option because we are submitted to Jesus’ lordship.

Our heart should always be set on peace—peace with God, peace with ourselves and peace with our fellow man, as we are in position to make it.

In Cain’s case, he did not rule over sin in his heart—the desire to murder. Because he could not take his anger out on God, he took it out on Abel. Abel did nothing wrong.

Cain expressed his anger outwardly, and danger was the result. He ended up a marked man, separated from God and receiving judgment.

Cain is an example of how not to manage anger. Let’s look at advice from Psalm 4:4 (NKJV) for advice on how to manage anger:

“Tremble in awe, and do not sin. Commune with your own heart on your bed, and be still. Selah.”

Here are some points to keep in mind:

1. Be angry …  It is OK to feel the emotion of anger; however, always assess it to discover if there is a cause. If you are angry and can’t identify a reason for it, consider it an attack from the enemy. Submit your feelings to God in prayer or even write Him a letter about it. Ask God to open up your spiritual eyes so that you can see the truth of what is happening. Believe that you have God’s peace within and pursue that peace rather than indulging your flesh through unwarranted anger.

2. … and do not sin. If your anger has a cause, then ask yourself, “How have my expectations not been met?” or “How do I feel my rights have been violated?” If the anger comes from unmet expectations, were your expectations reasonable? Did this person have the ability, knowledge and will to meet your expectations?

Sometimes you have expectations, but the other person has no idea that you have them. You were expecting them to read your mind! Make sure the other person is at least aware of your expectations. Otherwise, it is not fair for you to expect something of them that you never bothered to tell them about.

If they lack knowledge about how to meet your expectations, could you supply the knowledge to assist them? If they lack the will, then you have a decision to make. Depending on the relationship, you may decide to limit your association with them or lower your expectations.

Were your rights violated? If you are in a place to do so, be assertive with the other person and state the facts about what happened and then set boundaries regarding the expected behavior.

Once again, your goal is to make peace so that a spirit of offense will not take hold. You don’t want to act in a way that will be a stumbling block to someone else coming to the Lord.

Finally, if you are angry about an injustice that doesn’t involve you directly, then pray for the situation, for God’s justice to manifest. Ask the Lord if there is anything you can do personally about the situation and for Him to give you the courage and resources to take action.

3. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah. Make it a regular practice to take your thoughts captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ. That way, when situations happen that can spark your anger, it will be second nature to shift your thinking to those things that are acceptable to the Lord according to Philippians 4:8:

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”

Take moments in your day to just “be still and know that He is God.” If you are always running around and don’t stop to catch your breath, then life’s pressures can make you short-tempered and more prone to use anger as a release valve.

4. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord. You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:21).

Even though it is tempting to let your flesh have its way, act in accordance with your true identity and put your flesh on the altar:

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:1-2).

Trust that if justice must be meted out, God will vindicate you:

“Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Rom. 12:19).

The way to give place to wrath is to bring it under the Lord’s authority in prayer. Let Him give you wisdom as to how to deal with your anger in a way that pleases Him.

Only then can you experience His peace, which surpasses all understanding. His peace will guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. {eoa}

Kimberly Taylor is the author of The Weight Loss Scriptures and many other books. Once 240 pounds and a size 22, she can testify to God’s goodness and healing power. Visit  and receive more free health and weight-loss tips.

For the original article, visit .

I had paid no attention to the term “Brexit” until I visited England in May and everyone was talking about it. It’s short for Britain Exit, and as you know, that nation voted 52-48 percent to leave the European Union.

My friend Steven Halford, who pastors a charismatic church on the south coast of England, feels so passionately about this that he calls it Britain’s Independence Day. As we celebrate our own Independence from England 240 years ago this weekend, I believe you will find his analysis interesting. You may also want to listen to my podcast with him—which took place weeks before this historic vote—on what is happening spiritually in the Mother country.

I invited Steven to write a commentary for our website from his perspective as a spiritual leader. I liked it so much I’m using it as a guest editorial in my newsletter today. I’ve done this only a few times before. If you enjoy it, share it on social media with your friends. He believes God’s hand was in this vote. It can encourage those of us who pray God will turn the tide from secularism in our nation as well.

‘We Are Seeing This Tower of Babel Fall’

By Steven Halford

On Thursday, June 23, I went to bed in Portsmouth, England, not knowing what the next day had in store. Earlier I had voted for my beloved England to exit the European Union. I believed without a shadow of a doubt that my side had lost.

I watched the results from Gibraltar roll in and knew the rest of the country had been swayed by the very strong “Remain” campaign. I asked God for peace and for His will to be done before drifting off to sleep. As a pastor, I knew there was a spiritual aspect to this controversy.

I started thinking how unhelpful the Remain campaign had been, calling those who wanted to leave “hate mongers,” “xenophobes,” “racists” and even “homophobic.” I’m not sure why the last one was relevant, but I’ve been called all those names (and worse). We didn’t hate anybody; we just wanted self-rule again. We voted to leave the EU. We did not vote for those inside the EU to leave Britain.

On Friday, June 24, I awoke to my wife: “Steven, We’re out! The U.K. has voted to leave.” I couldn’t believe my ears. Scrambling to find my laptop, I watched the news in utter disbelief.

My desire, dreams and prayers had been answered. We were now free. Our Independence Day had come. We were now free to make agreements, or no agreements, with whomever we chose. We could make laws that better reflect our nation. We can pave a way forward that the forerunners of this once-beautiful, once-Christian nation had known and dreamed of. Such news!

We became a sovereign nation once more. We severed ties to the godless and secularist EU.

We haven’t left Europe (you can’t leave a continent), but we did indeed choose to leave the European Union. An amazing 52 percent (17 million) people voted to leave. We had a 4 percent majority and over a million votes that made the difference. Brexit (Britain exit) had won!

In my opinion, this is the single greatest act of democracy in the U.K. in my lifetime.

This act will forever change the way we conduct our affairs, both nationally and internationally. Many of us feel that God ordained this. We don’t know why, but we do know He has a purpose for us still. It’s like a supernatural wave of His presence has engulfed us again, and even the heavens are taking note.

During the campaign, a few church leaders told me they were voting to leave but were afraid to say anything for fear of being ostracized by peers. I’ve heard the sentiment, “We just feel like it’s wrong. That there is an underlying demonic agenda. We can’t intellectually put our finger on it, but we just feel like it’s wrong.”

Personally, I felt as if I would be disobeying God by choosing to remain. I know there are a lot of fears out there for the future. I have a disabled daughter. What if the U.K. could no longer afford to pay for her care? What if a wheelchair was no longer covered under our National Health Service due to the fears being actualized? We’d be done for!

But I knew within myself, as so many others have said since the vote, that they felt the same way. We were “quickened” to act, regardless of what our carnal minds were telling us.

In the past few weeks, we have seen more rain in the month of June than at almost any time in our history.

1 Corinthians 15:46 says, “However, that which is spiritual is not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual.” As it’s been raining in the natural, God has been raining in the spiritual. A downpour of His presence that will cover the land with the deep cleansing washing of His Spirit and Word. Even if believers didn’t feel that voting to leave was God’s will, we can mostly agree that God is moving and blowing on our once-great land again.

And as people from my church and the local churches were praying at dusk on the eve of the Brexit vote, they all blew their shofars to signal the clarion call for God’s people to gather, pray and act. The moment they blew the shofars, lightning filled the skies and thunder sounded out. These were people who prayed for God’s will but secretly knew what that will was. It’s almost like the Father thundered from heaven that He had heard our prayers and was ready to answer.

We have now severed the ties that bind by allowing us to become the nation we once were—God-fearing, Bible-believing, repentant sinners saved by the blood of the lamb, Jesus Christ. This is very optimistic, I know, but prophetically speaking, this is what many of us hear. Sever the secular ties to Europe, get on your knees, pray like Russia is about to invade and preach like Jesus is coming back today.

We church leaders are quite divided in the U.K. There’s been a huge silence from national leaders on this issue of Brexit, possibly for fear of offending the many nations we find in our churches. There is a spiritual heaviness and break down in our Christian heritage in the past 40 years of being a member of the EU.

Neo-charismatics within the U.K. have mostly seen the need to escape the throes of a culture of rules and regulations that are intended to strangle the life out of the church.

I believe the EU is tantamount to the tower of Babel—a place where we have one voice and one purpose, without borders where we can ascend our man-made tower to reach the heavens and become god to the people—where power is our religion.

This past week, we took back our power. We saw the need for borders—for national laws to govern people who have a rich heritage in biblical principles—and we are seeing this tower of Babel fall slowly but surely to the ground, causing those within the EU to scatter and seek refuge again within the people who made their own nations great.

I believe the EU is a denizen of godlessness, where politics has replaced God. It’s where Stalin left a fingerprint of communism, and socialism left enough influence in its violent past to finally infiltrate every level of European society, including the church.

We lost sight of the main goal of the church, which is to seek and save the lost, to introduce people to Jesus. Those who don’t have a heart for God have become overcome with fear. And those of us who don’t have this fear know we can go it alone as a nation, trusting God will lead us and even provide for us.

The nations have opened in a new, broader way, and those without fear can lead the way into this new mission field.

The Word says, “God has NOT given us the spirit of fear. But of power, and love, and self control” (2 Tim 1:7). Fear is a spirit, and those who fear this new future are partaking of this spirit.

I, for one, welcome this new future, the unknown. So do many fellow church leaders. We have lived in fear for a generation. For 40 years since our parents voted to join what was then called the EEC, we have slowly but surely lost our identity. Well, June 23, 2016, we started the process to get that identity back.

We pray the Lord will look favorably upon us again, with the Queen—a Bible-believing Christian—as our Head of State and her God-fearing government, and we pray He will deliver us from the European secularists who have caused so much division within our beloved nation.

Thank you, America, for your kind words to and about my nation. It needs help. It needs voices. It needs courage and deliverers to save it from the darkness it has found itself in.

May the Holy Spirit sweep across our land as we find the freedom we need to govern ourselves, free from secularist oppression.

As a gifted speaker and anointed motivator, Steven Halford strengthens churches in the U.K., USA and the developing world with an evangelistic ministry marked by revival fire. He also leads a congregation at home on the south coast of England called Living Word Church Lee in Lee-on-the-Solent.