Francine had scheduled several appointments, but she had canceled each one a few hours before we were to meet. When she called yet again to ask to meet with me, I wondered if I should double book because of her track record.

This time, however, she didn’t call to cancel. When she walked in, I could tell she was distressed.

I had barely introduced myself when she blurted out, “I’ve given up on God. I pray, but He doesn’t answer. I plead, but He doesn’t hear.” She took a deep breath. It was obvious she felt ashamed of her conclusions about God. That’s why she had missed so many appointments.

But now she was desperate. “In the past few months, my life has been turned upside down. Before all of this [COVID-19 crisis], I had enough trouble trying to cope with two generations in our family. My mother is losing her memory, and she requires constant attention. She lives with us now, but we can’t go on like this much longer. We’ve been paying for a home health nurse to come in three times a week, and that’s gone on for the past year, but our savings have been depleted. The other major difficulty is with our son. He graduated from college, but he hasn’t gotten a job. And now, with so many businesses shut down, there’s very little hope of him getting one anytime soon.” She paused for a second and then added, “Yes, he lives with us too. I’m exhausted, our finances are in shreds, I love my mother but I can’t care for her, and I’d like to strangle my son.”

I asked, “Francine, when you began, you talked about some struggles with prayer. Would you tell me more about that?”

She began to cry. “I’ve given up on God … I guess because He’s given up on me. My husband feels the same way, but he won’t admit it. He thinks it’ll make him look weak. He’s a pastor, and he wants to stay strong for the people in the church. What should I do?”

Dig Deeper

I can answer Francine’s question—one many of us who have become overwhelmed with our circumstances and disillusioned with God ask—with an analogy. In parts of Texas that get little rain, farmers have some of the biggest cotton fields in the nation. Irrigation has enabled them to draw an enormous amount of water from underground aquifers.

But there’s a problem: the vast fields of cotton are threatened because the water is running out. The farmers have a solution, though. It’s to dig deeper to tap into resources not previously available. That’s the solution for all of us during times of emotional, financial and spiritual drought. We have to dig deeper—in prayer.

God invites us to come to Him with our requests—big or small, clear or not. When we’re anxious, we pray for relief, for God to change the circumstances that cause us such worry and heartache. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with those prayers, but how do we respond when God doesn’t give us the relief we long for?

What happens when, if our situations are anything like Francine’s, the health of those we love declines, our finances dwindle away, opportunities are lost, and our sense of hopelessness goes through the roof? When the well is dry, we have to dig deeper.

In her book Passion and Purity, Elisabeth Elliot comments about God’s purposes in “unanswered prayer”: “The deepest spiritual lessons are not learned by His letting us have our way in the end, but by His making us wait, bearing with us in love and patience until we are able to honestly pray what He taught His disciples to pray: ‘Thy will be done.'”

When we pray, God sometimes miraculously changes our circumstances, but more often, He changes us. He refocuses our attention on Him and His promises instead of our problems; He reminds us that He’s God and we’re not; and He gives us assurance that He’ll accomplish His purposes, but not necessarily ours. Is that enough for us?

At different points and in different circumstances all of us come to a crisis of faith. Will we cling to God or drift away? Will we trust in His goodness when we don’t see evidence of it? Will we wait on His answers when our pain screams for relief right now?

The temptation to be angry with God for not coming through isn’t new to us or our circumstances. The Scriptures give us many examples of times when His people railed against Him for not giving them what they wanted or perceived they needed at the exact moment they wanted or needed it. Just consider the Israelites. They complained when they were enslaved by the Egyptians (see Ex. 2:23-24, 3:7-9). Then they complained—more than once—after God led them out of Egypt, away from their captors. They got so fed up they claimed they had been better off when they were in bondage! Sometimes we are like the Israelites: we want God to make our problems just go away—now. But we have to remember that even when we feel like giving up, God is there. When we believe all hope is lost, God has a plan. When we feel crushed under the weight of worries, God says, “Trust Me. I have a way forward.”

God Is Good and Great

Troubled times are watersheds for our spiritual lives. Heartache either drives us closer to God or further from Him—and if we’re honest, many of us would admit that although our biggest problems initially were barriers in our connection with God, they ultimately became paths of growth. When life makes no sense, prayer becomes a lifeline—not to magically make everything better all at once but to take us deeper into the heart of God. There we find Him to be good and great. If we view Him as only good, we might have pleasant feelings about Him, but we wouldn’t trust Him to do a powerful work in the depths of our hearts. And if we see Him as only great, we might think of Him as a mighty King but one who isn’t necessarily concerned about us.

No, our God is infinitely good and infinitely great. We can come to Him, pour out our hearts, ask Him for anything and rest in the fact that He will accomplish His purposes. {eoa}

This article was excerpted from Chapter 7 of Peace for Your Mind, Hope for Your Heart by Tim Clinton (Charisma House 2020).

In 1909, a young Leonora Wood volunteered to go to the Appalachian Mountains to teach in a one-room mission school. There, in the impoverished town of Del Rio, Tennessee, she became something of a living legend thanks to her deep faith in the power of prayer. Leonora knew how to turn dreams into prayer and prayer into dreams, and she believed we must step toward our goals in God’s presence through prayer.

Raymond Thomas was a foster teen who often stopped at Leonora’s cabin in his knee-high clodhoppers to talk with her as she sat on the front porch shelling peas or darning socks. Raymond’s seemingly impossible dream was to go to college.

Raymond asked Leonora to offer a “dreaming prayer” for him, and her prayer went like this: “Father, you’ve given Raymond a fine mind. We believe you want that mind to be developed, that you want Raymond’s potential to be used to help you lift and lighten some portion of your world. Since all the wealth of the world is yours, please help Raymond find everything he needs for an education.”

But she wasn’t done.

“And Father, we also believe you have even bigger plans for Raymond. Plant in his mind and heart the vivid pictures, the specific dreams that reflect your plans for him after college. And oh, give him joy in dreaming—great joy.”

I’m happy to share that Raymond Thomas did make it through college in four years, working 12 jobs to support himself and graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree, cum laude at that. He also served in World War II and later settled in Vienna, where he earned a Ph.D. in physics. He went on to visit 60 countries, master multiple languages and network with some of the most important people in Europe through his job with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

Years later, Leonora’s daughter, Catherine, wrote Raymond that she was coming to Europe. When Catherine arrived in Rome, she found officials ready to show her sacred sites few tourists can access. In Florence, she was taken to the top of the dome of the Duomo. In Venice, a gondola awaited her. Catherine realized her childhood friend was known across Europe.

When they finally met in Vienna, Raymond told her, “The fact that I could sit on your front steps and—with no money at all— dream of going to college and achieve it, proved something to me. Very simply, what your mother said was true—any right dream can be realized. And prayer helps you know if it is right and gives you the power to stay with it.”

No matter the hour or the circumstances, pray! As God begins to give you impressions and thoughts about your future, commit them to Him in serious, ongoing prayer. Many Christians have forgotten how to pray earnestly and with fervor. When did you last pour yourself into an earnest season of prayer? We get too busy, don’t we?

E. M. Bounds was a 19-century pastor who wrote inspiring books on the subject of prayer. Every page is so convicting I can only read him in small doses. “How vast are the possibilities of prayer!” Bounds declared. “How wide its reach! What great things are accomplished by this divinely appointed means of grace! It lays its hand on almighty God and moves Him to do what He would not otherwise do if prayer were not offered. Prayer is a wonderful power placed by almighty God in the hands of His saints, which may be used to accomplish great purposes and to achieve unusual results.”

Prayer is the divine energy that brings the power of God into the plans He gives you, but you must learn to pray with fervor, persistence and faith. I don’t know any shortcut for this. God guides His children as they learn the joy of praying to Him night and day.

This is an adaptation of Dr. Jeremiah’s upcoming book, Forward. Dr. David Jeremiah is among the best-known Christian leaders in the world. He serves as senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, California, and is the founder and host of Turning Point. Turning Point’s 30-minute radio program is heard on more than 2,200 radio stations daily. A New York Times bestselling author and Gold Medallion winner, he has written more than 50 books.

I want to highlight something the Lord revealed to me and which is key to be aware of during this month of September.

Apostle Chuck Pierce brought a word to our church recently in which he spoke about the importance of knowing the timing for things, and the importance of unblocking the flow of God’s promises in your lives by addressing the hidden issues that have somehow managed to remain.

In this message, I want to share keys for unblocking the issues that have hindered breakthrough. Now is the time to come into your promises! Many of the Lord’s people have put in an effort to pray consistently and have been disciplined in seeking breakthrough, and yet they still feel like they are stuck. I want you to know that this does not mean that breakthrough is not coming.

Rather it is a sign that it is time to learn the patterns of breakthrough and what it looks like from beginning to end.

Understanding Resistance and Breakthrough

It is vital to recognize that whenever new ground and new territory is being taken, there will be a time of resistance. This may manifest as a moment in time where it feels like your strength is gone, and as though your power has been sapped by some sort of kryptonite.

It is in this very moment that you need to push through and aggressively pursue God and look for the stirring of a fire inside your spirit. This fire will focus you for purification and consecration and propel you again before God.

If you haven’t been to this place before, it may feel unusual at first, as it is a place in which your spirit sees something happening that has not yet shown up in your circumstances. However, as you embrace this fire of God and allow yourself to live within it, you will find yourself changing and becoming more sensitive to the things of God. You will begin to see more clearly the signs God is using to point you in the right direction and notice the smaller breakthroughs along the way that He is using to strengthen your heart and your resolve, and to guard you from deception and discouragement.

Discerning the Moment of Resistance

Our example comes from Exodus 31:18 and 32:1-2. Moses had gone up to the mountain of the Lord to receive the Law. In a divine encounter, the Lord was handing to Moses the blueprint for the nation of Israel. The people at the bottom of the mountain, however, did not see this, nor did they appreciate what was taking place.

The people had an expectation for the time of Moses’ return and when that time had passed ever so slightly, the children of Israel allowed the mindset and culture of the Egyptians that had tagged along with them to rise up in the form of a voice demanding a god to worship. They went to Aaron the priest with the demand, and straightaway, he had an idea in mind as to how to create one for them! This is shocking, but let’s explore it and see what went wrong.

The moment of delay in Moses’ return and the uprising of the people with an inappropriate demand was the moment of resistance. It came just as a historical breakthrough for an entire nation was about to be revealed. Aaron was the rightful priest and was called to his office, but he did not recognize the meaning of the moment or what to do.

God had brought the Israelites out of Egypt supernaturally with signs and wonders, and these had been given to the people to assure them of God’s plans and promises and to ground them in His truth. At this point, Aaron was meant to discern the moment and point the people back toward the truth of God, reminding them of the signs He had given and of the help He had given them thus far. He was meant to bring alive the testimony of their nation to them anew, to strengthen them and to bring their minds back to the words of Moses and to the instructions given to them for their period of waiting.

However, Aaron buckled in the face of the demand and gave in without any argument. It was as though his strength was gone. His mind was drawn into what was immediately before him, and he was distracted from the big picture. Rather than allowing the fire of truth to stir in His spirit, he sided with his circumstances and became ensnared in an idolatrous scheme in which a different kind of fire was used to melt the gold of people to produce something abhorrent.

Validating Truth

The pivotal moment came when Aaron used his voice to validate the voices of untruth that had risen up around him. What does this mean for us in this season? I believe the Lord is warning us not to use our priesthood to validate any voice that is contrary to His voice or truth. Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth (Zech. 8:3). We need to know clearly what the Lord has spoken in this hour to each and every one of us, and hold to it.

The priesthood in us needs to discern the moment we are in, and if there is a delay in the breakthrough we are praying for, we must be careful not to validate whatever voices of untruth are present in our surroundings. The Egyptians in the midst of the Israelites represented those that have attached themselves to the move of God, but without commitment to the purpose of the journey.

In life, there are those who latch onto the move of God in another person’s life but are not themselves committed to the godly character that is required to sustain the move. In their impatience, they simply want to see something happen and to have another one of their needs or demands met, whether it preserves truth or not. If you as the priest and person of God are not strong enough, you may give into their demands and give permission for an idol to be created. You must avoid this by all means.

An idol may momentarily take away the need to wait on God and so offer temporary relief, but in return will make you wait forever for a real breakthrough, as this is not something it can provide. God shapes us and gives us His strength, but idols take our strength to shape them. Idolatry will substitute the truth of God for whatever ideas with which you are able to come up, and His glory for whatever you can create by your own means. After all, the Israelites created the idol using their own gold and craftsmanship, but it could do nothing for them in return.

It is also important to understand the dynamics among the people that led to the situation. When fear or anxiety or any other emotional torment grips a person, they want to make it corporate. They do this by looking for others with similar fears or anxieties to align with.

When this happens, a kind of cabal is formed, and that cabal can become a voice calling for something that is completely contrary to the mind of God, because it arises from a wrong spirit. If this voice is allowed to prevail, it can bring progress to a halt. This sort of coming together is not an agreement for change or for transformation. Rather, it’s an agreement for false comfort, for shelter from unmanaged emotions or even for revenge against someone or something that has caused wounding. Be careful not to be drawn into such relationships that are about affirming your negative emotions or experiences.

These things create chains rather than break them. If you really want to break your chains, draw close to the fire of God! Do not cleave to crowds that reinforce your problems, but press into God and through your personal Gethsemane so you can move forward to occupy His promises.

Service Unto God Alone

Our service is unto the Lord, and He is breaking idolatry out of His church right now. This includes the idolizing of the things of our own strength, of our giftings and the things we are able to do. The purpose of the church is to be found in serving the Lord, not in grouping around giftings or giving voice to the hearts of the wounded who are too impatient to see God move in truth. It isn’t about appeasing people with our ideas and skills, but rather pointing people towards the signs of God’s work and the burning mountains of His revelation. Every gift and talent needs to be laid at His feet, and we need to be careful not to create idols of people. Such things provide a kind of empty satisfaction but not the revelation that brings freedom.

The priesthood is called to validate truth, and although that truth will sometimes be hard to swallow, the journey you have taken with God should give you the confidence to stay the course. As a priest, your purpose is to point people towards all that God has done so they can enter into that same confidence and lift their eyes towards the one that can really help. Delay does not mean denial. Stand in your office and teach those around you about the fruit of the Spirit instead of allowing their impatience to move you into building something that is in complete opposition to the blueprint of heaven.

In every move of God there will be people who feel pulled by their own circumstances or wounds. In recognizing the authority that God has placed in your life, they will gather around you and look for you to validate their needs and demands. You need to make sure you do not yield to their dysfunctions, but rather help them to break free from what has enslaved them. If you don’t, you may find that you are entrapped by their mindset and their ways, and that the movement becomes hindered. If we serve God, then the anointing breaks the yoke. In this day, God is raising up a company that will not validate dysfunction but will rather move in the authority that can shift nations. Look for the fire that brings transformation, as that is what this hour requires.

Prayer

“Lord, I pray that Your people will be stirred by the fire of truth that brings about purification, consecration and breakthrough, and never again go towards a strange fire that makes idols of their own wealth and giftings! Let Your body be a kingdom of priests that ministers to You in truth, laying down its gifts to adore You in worship, and never taking those same gifts as objects to be worshipped. Let idolatry be removed from the midst of Your people! Let Your priests always validate Your voice and Your Word, and never again validate an ungodly voice that causes compromise. In Jesus’ mighty name!” {eoa}

Rev. Betty King is a world-renowned speaker and prophetess. She is a true embodiment of the Father’s love and compassion. Her passion to fulfill God’s call has seen her travel to all the continents, moving in the prophetic, touching and transforming many lives and rekindling hope. She is a woman full of love, wisdom, kindness, hope, compassion and grace.

Though prophetic ministry is vital to the body of Christ, Jesus made it clear that false prophets would arise and deceive many.

Prophetic witchcraft is rising in the midst of world chaos, but when you know what it looks like, you won’t find yourself bewitched.

Check out this video for some shocking prophetic witchcraft exposures. {eoa}

What kinds of riches are in heaven? How can I receive my spiritual inheritance? What impedes my access to this heavenly abundance?

For the answers to these questions, join Dr. Candice and Patricia King as they discuss Accessing the Riches of Heaven.

The following courses are on sale for $99: Soul Transformation at or Accessing the Glory Realms . {eoa}

Dr. Candice Smithyman is an international prophetic revivalist and healing minister who is executive pastor of Freedom Destiny Church and vice president of Dream Mentors International. She is also the host of the Glory Road television broadcast, which showcases international prophetic voices and can be seen on Faith USA, U.K. and Africa, and other outlets. She is the host of Manifest His Presence on the Charisma Podcast Network and On the Glory Road with the Destiny Image Podcast Network.

What looks like political opposition, anarchy and terrorism is actually the enemy of God seeking to destroy anything he can—especially all that is important to God. What we are witnessing is the battle between evil and righteousness.

While COVID-19 has impacted the world, giving ample opportunity for fear-mongering, God is at work, exposing the corruption and bringing justice. Depending on the news sources you rely upon, you will not know the truth of the times we’re living in. Deceiving people is the enemy’s specialty.

Hearing of the protests and rioting in Atlanta, Bakersfield, Columbus, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Denver, Des Moines, Detroit, District of Columbia, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento and San Jose—with extended rioting in Portland, Seattle, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and more recently Kenosha, Wisconsin—it seems the whole nation is under siege.

Learning that some cities are ravaged night after night while the elected officials who are to serve the people permit it, is entirely inconsistent with any rule of law and order. Hearing the mantra “Defund the Police” to any rational mind is simply giving carte blanche to evil.

Governors order us to wear masks and stay inside, limiting the number of people in gatherings, not permitting churches or home groups to sing or chant and then order churches not to open, while bars and abortion clinics are permitted to remain open. Clearly common sense has been assaulted, while our rights are violated.

Where Christian influence has been withdrawn, a vortex is created for the enemy to fill.

Listen to the full episode of Faith to Live By on the Charisma Podcast Network here.

Click this link for the full article from Pamela Christian. {eoa}

As dawn breaks each morning, many of us must face personal fears of what might happen during the new day. Some days we struggle to put one foot in front of the other in pursuit of the path set before us.

Aerialist and high-wire walker, Nik Wallenda, recently joined the Greenelines podcast to discuss his new book, Facing Fear. His many thrilling walks across Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon and most recently over the active Masaya Volcano, among many others, make him a proven expert in facing fear.

“I want to help everyday people step out in faith even when they are afraid. Most of us will never walk a tightrope, but we face things that scare us every day,” Wallenda said.

Following a 200-year tradition established over seven generations, Wallenda has pursued God as earnestly as a safe arrival on the other side of his wire. “I was actually accepted at Southeastern Bible College in Lakeland, Florida, when I finished high school. I was going to become a youth pastor or study further to become a pediatrician,” he said. “But that was about the time the phone rang, and our family was invited back to re-create that pyramid [a seven-person pyramid his acrobatic family made famous] for the first time since the tragic fall in 1962.

“I had this passion within me and wanted to perform. And all the while, I struggled to understand how God was going to get the glory from all this,” Wallenda said. “By 2011, I was in the process of seeking permission to walk across Niagara Falls, and in order to get permission to walk across the falls, I had to change two laws in two countries that were over 100 years old. It took over a year and a half to get the walk approved. The walk was broadcast live by ABC.”

Most of Wallenda’s walks are miked, and the audience hears him speaking Scripture and praising the Lord as he traverses the wires.

He listens to worship music as he trains and clearly sees his high-wire walks as his ministry.

“I think the key for me is continually keeping God at the center of my life, no matter what situation I’m in, to seek Him first, so that all of his righteousness will be added unto me,” Wallenda said. “You know, in Isaiah 41:10, it says, ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am Your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

“That is a Scripture that I’ve held onto often,” he said. “It is so easy during these times of COVID to be dismayed. But if we can just realize that our God is the Creator of the universe, that He created us in His image and He knows the beginning from the end, and He will get the glory. All things work for good.”

Wallenda has learned to keep his eyes on the rock set before him.

“When I’m walking across Niagara Falls, I’m not looking at the heavy mist and the heavy winds and the wire moving underneath me,” he said. “I’m looking at the solid rock that my wire is anchored to on the other side. And if we can look through, even in those dark times, and know that good will come from this, every negative situation I’ve been through has only led to great things. Every valley has only led to the mountaintop.”

Listen to the entire podcast here.

It’s true that many sports fans take their sports very seriously. But to watch sports is to watch people play a game. It is a distraction from the real world. It is meant to be entertaining. It is meant to be a fun break. That’s why it’s so difficult to mix cultural and political messages with sports. We’re watching sports to get away from our troubled world for a bit.

It’s one thing when athletes use their platforms to stand for causes that are dear to them. That’s their right, and they can use their platforms however they please. More power to them, especially if they are standing for good causes.

It’s another thing when spectators are forced to listen or to watch cultural or political messages before or during a game. That feels like an unwanted intrusion, as if the sports world is saying, “You cannot enjoy the game until you hear our message.”

How would you feel if your favorite restaurant had a similar policy? Before you order your meal, the server lectures you on social justice, and then before dessert, another message is shared. Wouldn’t that feel like an unwanted intrusion?

But I don’t say this to criticize professional athletes today who feel the need to raise their voices. They have a right to their convictions. And the fact they’re making millions of dollars because of the American system doesn’t mean they can’t address perceived problems in that system. Just because they made it to the top doesn’t mean they must forget their roots.

I’m just saying that trying to mix politics with sports will result in a loss of fans, a trend that has been growing over the last few years.

“But,” you say, “there’s a reason these pre-game protests are taking place. It’s because the national anthem is sung before every game. The athletes were already forced to make a political statement. Why criticize them now for making a different statement?”

Actually, I’m not just talking about pre-game protests. I’m talking the NBA blanketing every game with non-stop BLM-related messaging. I’m talking the commentators during the games giving their woke lectures. I’m talking about the media making the messaging almost as important as the event itself.

As for singing the national anthem, that’s a very fair question. Isn’t that making a political statement at the start of every game? Isn’t that calling for a patriotic response, both from players and spectators alike?

It absolutely is, in which case it’s only right to ask: Then what about players who have a problem displaying their patriotism because of perceived injustices in our country? Why should they be forced to do so? Or why should be they penalized for sending a different message?

Again, these are all good questions, but they can be answered by going back to the purpose of playing the anthem before major sports events.

According to Time magazine, citing Marc Ferris’ book Star-Spangled Banner: The Unlikely Story of America’s National Anthem, “The earliest documented performance [of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ at a baseball game] occurred on May 15, 1862, during the opening game played at Union Base Ball and Cricket Grounds in Brooklyn, New York.”

But because it was too expensive to have a band present to start off every game, the anthem was reserved for major events. This included “the first game of the World Series on Sept. 5, 1918.

“Americans were so rattled by World War I that the game ‘almost didn’t happen,’ according to the World War I Centennial Commission. ‘Out of respect for the soldiers, baseball officials wanted to cancel the World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs. When it became known, however, that American soldiers fighting in France were eager to know the Series’ results, the games commenced.'”

So, the anthem was a celebration of patriotism and unity and courage, also standing as a tribute to our soldiers fighting for freedom overseas. And that’s why protests staged during the anthem, however well-intended they may be, are perceived by many Americans as a slap in the face to our country, in particular to those who fought and died for our country.

Most Americans sitting down to watch NFL games during a holiday like Thanksgiving will not appreciate what they perceive to be anti-American sentiments. They want to enjoy their sports and celebrate their country, not be lectured about how bad America is.

Even for Americans who are concerned with police brutality and/or racial injustice, many do not appreciate the BLM movement. Yet it is BLM that is shouting from the rafters of our COVID-emptied arenas, especially in the NBA. Add to this the NBA’s rank hypocrisy in its cozy dealings with China, whose atrocities are infinitely greater than those of our country’s bad cops, and it’s understandable why many fans are dropping out.

What, then, is the best way for these professional athletes to express their convictions and make public statements? I’m not entirely sure, although the Miami Dolphins football team came up with a unique way to make their point. What I am sure about is that many (if not most) Americans will not take kindly to sports being intertwined with politics. Can’t we just have a little fun? {eoa}

The 2020 iVoterGuide Presidential and Vice-Presidential Voter Guide provides millions of voters fact-based, heavily researched reviews of how each candidate has used the power of public office. Linked articles throughout the entire website deliver facts to voters who want to make an informed vote, especially about the vice presidential candidates. Since too many voters are uninformed about those and other down-ballot positions, this inclusive and wide-ranging voter guide provides voters with an easy-to-navigate tool to help make wise decisions about who should be entrusted with power to impact their lives.

“Too few voters, even seasoned voters, are knowledgeable about the vice-presidential candidates and how they’ve handled power, which could be more important this year given the unlikelihood of the current presidential candidates serving beyond 2024,” says iVoterGuide president, Debbie Wuthnow. “We at iVoterGuide want to change that.”

The iVoterGuide Presidential Voter Guide provides much-needed in-depth, accurate research about the candidates’ positions on key issues, scorecards from organizations that scored their votes while in office, endorsements, selected contributions, a candidate issue survey and other additional background information that only iVoterGuide provides with such precision.

iVoterGuide gives voters the ability to see a balanced narrative about the accomplishments of each candidate from dozens of sources across the spectrum, from The Wall Street Journal to the Heritage Foundation, CNN to Fox News, World magazine to The New York Times, with links to the original sources for voters to read for themselves.

A critical question iVoterGuide helps voters answer is, “What have elected officials done with their power and responsibility while in office?”

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“In less than two months, voters face the most important election of our lifetime,” says Wuthnow. “iVoterGuide shows voters how presidential and vice-presidential candidates have used or even abused power. The only remaining question is, ‘How will voters use theirs?'”

iVoterGuide is a one-stop resource for candidate ratings and election information in 2020. From a Christian and conservative perspective, iVoterGuide’s expert researchers gives an in-depth analysis—and overall rating—for over 8,000 candidates in 3,500 races.

In addition, iVoterGuide gives election dates, registration deadlines and polling locations. iVoterGuide has the information needed to vote wisely and to identify candidates on the ballot that share one’s values and will help restore the principles of limited government, free enterprise and traditional American values.{eoa}

For the first time ever, the Los Angeles Dream Center will be hosting a virtual gala for its annual “Night of Dreams” celebration, due to the current circumstances and the current health and safety guidelines established by the City of Los Angeles. The theme for this year’s annual celebration is “Dream Again.” The goal is to raise awareness and build support for the Dream Center’s residential and outreach programs for veterans and the homeless, pandemic meal drive-thru relief and restart learning centers. “Dream Again” will take place on Oct. 14 at 9 p.m. EST/ 6 p.m. PST.

“This year has been a challenging one for the people of Los Angeles and for the residents and staff here at the Dream Center,” said co-founder Matthew Barnett. “But there is still hope. There’s always hope. And that’s exactly why we have a forward-looking vision, and it’s why we’re calling our yearly celebration a night to ‘dream again.’ Despite many setbacks this year, we believe in a God who is capable of carrying us through the deepest valleys and over the highest mountains—and the pandemic has not taken Him by surprise. No matter how tough life has gotten for the people of Los Angeles, we are not going quietly into the night. In fact, we’re doubling down on compassion; we’re doubling down on generosity; and we’re doubling down on love for the people in this city. My prayer is that everyone will leave our “Night of Dreams” more optimistic about the future than they ever have before.”

With actress and comedian Melissa Peterman as the featured host, along with Dream Center founders Matthew Barnett and Tommy Barnett, guests can expect a night as full of excitement, giveaways and inspirational stories as live events have featured in years past. It’s a time of reflection on the past year of lives changed and dreams fulfilled, and also a time of setting new goals for the year ahead. An assortment of entertainment and special performances will be featured by celebrities such as:

—Olivia Newton-John.

—Sherri Shepherd.

—Roma Downey.

—Jason Kennedy.

—Justin Turner.

—Dyan Cannon.

—Natalie Grant.

—And many more.

All viewers will have the chance to bid on once-in-a-lifetime experiences such as virtual meet and greets with celebrities, special events and exciting vacations.

For more information about what to expect and how to register, visit . {eoa}

The Los Angeles Dream Center is a faith-based nonprofit organization located in Echo Park, dedicated to transforming lives and underserved communities in the city of Los Angeles. By offering residential and outreach programs to individuals, families and communities in the areas of homelessness, hunger, poverty, addiction, domestic violence, education and human trafficking, the Dream Center is committed to enabling immediate and long-term transformation. The Dream Center welcomes those in need into our community completely free of charge with the resources, training and support they need, regardless of faith, age, gender, orientation, nationality or any other defining factor.