There are also those who say it’s OK to drink as long as you don’t get drunk, citing this verse: “Do not be drunk with wine, for that is reckless living. But be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18).

Yet I have seen and experienced both in thought and action.

When I first surrendered to the call into full-time ministry serving God, I had been delivered from drugs, alcohol and sexual perversion more than 18 years earlier.

When I say “delivered,” I mean delivered. There was no desire or taste for any of it for years later. The only thing I had a taste for was Jesus.

Then one disappointment after another set in. One rejection after another came through. Feelings of loneliness made a home with me, and I allowed them to do so. During the first few years of ministry, I was on fire. I was ordained, had my first and only child and started a small ministry. With all of this going on, I was under attack with my marriage. My then-husband and I were already having trouble, but I believed God for our marriage to heal. I prayed, fasted and believed God for three years and no change; things got worse. After Holy Spirit led me to catch my husband cheating, I heard the Lord say, “End it now.”

I was devastated. I didn’t want this. I didn’t want to be a single mother running a church. This was not my dream or my plan.

But I obeyed God. My life went from being married and covered to not married and covered anymore. Suddenly, I was single and overseeing a church. This is when it all began. The devil wanted to have his way with me. I had not yet been healed from mother issues, and now, I was divorced. I still had my son and the responsibilities of the church. I wanted to talk to the leaders from my church to tell them how I was hurting, but they depended on me to lead them to Jesus.

I plowed through. I kept preaching. I kept praising, I kept praying, seeking and knocking for healing. I kept praising Him. I knew Father would heal me and deliver me again someday. I never gave up no matter how my heart was broken, no matter how much my soul was in pain and no matter how alone I felt. I kept pressing.

This would go on for years. Two churches. Two books. A growing internet radio show and podcast until I finally got my deliverance. Hallelujah! But what a road from the beginning to now. I had given up when I took that first drink of wine. I got tired and didn’t know it. Too many disappointments. Too much discouragement and too much hurt. I really didn’t realize how much it weighed on me because I had become immune to it all. So when I took my first glass of wine on a New Year’s Eve some years back, I used the Scriptures I mentioned to justify my choice.

I started having a glass of wine once a week at a restaurant. Social drinking wine. That’s OK, right? I’m not drunk. One glass of this “Jesus juice” isn’t going to hurt, right? Then it became OK to drink with other Christians and so on and so on. I have been drunk, and so were my Christian friends. We drank together. Leaders, laymen, whatever and whomever, serving the Lord.

Some would say they don’t have a problem with alcohol. But I would say if anything holds you back from the fullness of God, it’s a problem. It became a problem for me. I would fast from wine and declare, “It will have no control over me.” Then I started liking tequila, not just liking tequila but loving tequila. The drinks were just tasting so good. The pressures of life were starting to kick in even more and before you knew it, I thought about a glass of wine or a margarita before turning to God up to four or five days a week.

The morning after, I would pray an extremely self-condemning prayer to our Father, who knows all and loves us all so much. The devil was sinking his hooks even further into my soul. After fasting often and trying to show some sort of discipline didn’t work, I totally surrendered to God. I chose to sacrifice my drinking.

That’s when Holy Ghost came in, and Jesus delivered me again. People don’t realize how much drinking is really going on in the church. With depression attacking God’s people, it is really hard to say who can handle drinking and who can’t.

It reminds me of when I first tried crack in the world. The woman who introduced it to me looked and acted fine. She didn’t look like an addict because she wasn’t. When she introduced me to it, she had no idea how this piece of rock would become the escape for someone like me, not yet healed from my mother, rejection and abandonment issues.

It’s the same with leaders and church folks drinking wine and offering it to people who may be coming out of some sort of addiction or emotional hurt and pain. God will look at this as being on our hands: “But whoever misleads one of these little ones who believe in Me, it would be better for him to have a millstone hung about his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:6).

No one introduced me to wine on that New Year’s Eve, but I have drunk wine and tequila with other Christians, old and new. The thought of how this can hinder the growth of a fired-up-for-Jesus Christian hurts my heart and soul so much. I am delighted God forgave and has set me free from the cause and the effect. I wanted to escape. I wanted to celebrate and pretend nothing was wrong. But no drink was strong enough. God stopped the enemy, and He gave me strength and power to war against him. Now the devil is defeated in that area of my life. I have been reinstated, and I am ready.

I can identify with Peter because I denied Jesus’ power. I denied the fact that I was on a winning team. I wanted my countenance back. I wanted the light of Jesus shining through me again.

I was better off in the state I was in than where I ended up. The enemy wants to kill us. When we are weary, that’s when He comes in.

“Ahithophel also said to Absalom, ‘Let me choose twelve thousand men so that I may arise and pursue David tonight. I will overtake him while he is weary and weak and strike him with terror; all of the people who are with him will flee. Then I will strike only the king'” (2 Sam. 17:1-2).

“The thief does not come, except to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

We must hold on to the fact that Jesus came so we might have life. He didn’t die on that cross for nothing. He wasn’t raised from the dead for nothing. We have been redeemed and resurrected because of His love for us.

I know some of you are tired. Some of you have turned to food, sex, alcohol and even anorexia. Please hear me: God can fix it! He knows all. Let Him pick you up, son. Let Him clean you off, daughter. You have work to do. You win!

Use the experiences of your past to set the captives free. You are not alone. Don’t be ashamed of the gospel. This is gospel: Moses, Elijah, David, Jacob, Peter, Paul, just to name a few. God forgave, healed and delivered them all.

Get back up, and let’s do this! You got this! Because the King of kings has you! You have seen God move for you many times. Don’t give up! You have seen Him provide for you. Don’t give in! You have seen Him do miracles. Don’t stop now. Don’t stop believing. Don’t stop seeking. Don’t stop praying.

If I had stopped, I probably would have been back on crack. If I had stopped, I would probably be dead right now. God is faithful. Don’t allow the cause to give power to the action that destroys your destiny. This is your opportunity right now. Take it. Give it back to our Father!

We all fall short of His glory. He is waiting right now for you to trust Him. Trust Him with everything. Run to Him! He is still in control.

To listen to Dr. Gina’s entire teaching on this topic, listen to this episode of The Keys Against the Enemy here. {eoa}

Gina R. Prince is an apostle of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She has a podcast show called The Keys Against the Enemy on . Connect with Gina on Instagram and Twitter @ginarprince as well as Facebook at “The Keys Against the Enemy.” Visit her website at .

Jennifer Eivaz gave her life to Jesus as a college freshman and has been living for Him ever since. Despite her faith, she had fears associated with her decision. To overcome that, Jennifer prayed, “Holy Spirit, teach me how to be your friend.”

Those lessons taught her to be a glory carrier and have a vibrant relationship with the Holy Spirit. Her book, Glory Carriers, shows how you can enter into more intimate fellowship with the Spirit of God and experience miraculous encounters. You’ll learn how to step into the supernatural and follow God’s leading—and carry His glory to the darkest places and see His kingdom come.

The home is so important. Your home encompasses your spouse, your children, your parents and your grandchildren. Marilyn Hickey’s book, Satan-Proof Your Home, teaches you how to lay a solid foundation for a godly home and also what to speak in your circumstance. You will reap great blessings when you learn how to use the Word of God in your home. There are divine instructions to set yourself up with godly principles so you can build your house on the rock. Learn how to take your weakness to Him and become strong.

Sometimes it’s difficult to be honest and candid. Ashley Abercrombie wrote Rise of the Truth Teller to help people tell their stories in an honest way. Story connects people in deep and powerful ways, give us understanding and help us know one another in an important, significant way. To do that, you can’t wear a mask. Rise of the Truth Teller instructs you on how to take your mask off so you can live in real relationship with others, tell the truth and live with holy gumption. Stories make you well, and secrets make you sick.

Catch these episodes of Today with Marilyn & Sarah on the Charisma Podcast Network. {eoa}

Surveys reveal that people believe in hell, but most don’t believe they themselves will go there.

The reality is that no one ends up eternally separated from God and suffering unfathomable punishment for drinking booze, casual sex or not being good enough. People go to hell for failing to repent and rejecting Jesus as risen Lord and what He accomplished by His finished work on the cross.

Our eternal fate rests totally upon our individual choice. As God reveals our sin and His solution through the death, burial and Resurrection of His Son, we condemn ourselves if we refuse His merciful provision.

Obama, Trump, Putin, Hillary, Lady Gaga, Brad Pitt, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, LeBron James, Queen Elizabeth and on and on, every single person who ever lived, including you and me, will all individually stand before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10) to discover our eternal destiny.

Watch this brief video presentation to motivate you in your evangelism to follow the biblical model encompassing both the mercy and holiness of God. You’ll no longer wonder whatever happened to hell. {eoa}

At the beginning of 2020, none of us expected the COVID-19 pandemic. And few expected that battling the outbreak would create governmental powers in which America would begin to look like a police state.

As new restrictions on gatherings were lowered to fifty and then again to fewer than 10 people, it quickly became apparent that this pandemic would be a game changer. Going to sporting events, movies, theatrical events, concerts and church meetings was suddenly forbidden.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio threatened to close churches and synagogues “permanently” if they refused to shut down during the pandemic. And Virginia Governor Ralph Northam declared that church gatherings of 10 or more could result in a $2,500 fine and up to a year in jail.

Yet in the face of such restrictions, a number of businesses in various states, including liquor stores, were deemed “essential” and allowed to remain open. Why were churches so quickly deemed “nonessential?” And why was the public so quick to accept this?

Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne, a longtime friend of mine, was arrested and booked into a local jail on Monday, March 30, after holding Sunday worship services at The River at Tampa Bay, the church he leads. Howard-Browne was charged with unlawful assembly and violating the county’s stay-at-home order. He was later released on bail.

Originally coming to the United States as a missionary from South Africa, Pastor Rodney has been holding services where God’s presence has been moving in power for many years. His intention was to allow the Holy Spirit to move and heal the sick as they would come for prayer. After all, that is what the Bible says for us as believers to do.

The media loved this story: “crazy Pentecostal pastor endangers the health of his church members by recklessly disregarding governmental edicts for no ‘nonessential’ gatherings over ten people.” But the case brought up some interesting legal issues.

Whether churches are “essential” in the midst of this coronavirus crisis is a critical question that must take into consideration many factors. The related question, whether churches should open or close, must be considered in the context of each church and community.

Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, came to Howard-Browne’s defense, and the results were amazing. The county dropped the case because Staver sued for violation of the church’s constitutional rights to freedom of religion and freedom of assembly.

Thankfully Christian law firms are defending freedom against these anti-God trends in the culture that manifested themselves during this time of crisis. The double standard has been obvious.

As the country went into lockdown mode, America’s pro-life leaders voiced alarm that churches were being forced to close down, while in most states abortion clinics were allowed to stay open.

“How dare they jail pastors and close the doors of the church while the abortion industry remains open to spread the virus and put our lives at risk?” said Janet Porter, president and founder of Faith2Action and the author of the original pro-life Heartbeat Bill.

“While free speech and freedom of religion are being banned, Planned Parenthood continues to get away with murder,” said Mark Harrington, president of Created Equal, a pro-life group. “The cure is now worse than the disease.”

“In a pandemic, a double standard is deadly,” Porter said. “Either there is a threat or there isn’t. We must either close the doors of the abortion business or open the doors of the church.”

“By definition, the surgeries abortion centers perform are elective—that’s why they call it ‘choice,'” said Harrington.

To classify abortion as “essential medical care” during the novel coronavirus crisis is “preposterous,” said Mark Crutcher, founder and president of Life Dynamics, a Texas-based pro-life organization. “Abortion providers don’t care that there’s a pandemic. All they care about is killing babies. There can be no sacred cows in a pandemic. It is indefensible.”

Though the governors of several states committed to halting nonessential and elective surgical abortions, judges blocked most of their orders from being enforced.

“The abortion industry continues to defy state orders and national health directives, putting us all at risk of the deadly COVID-19 virus,” Porter said in March. “Until the abortion centers are closed, none of us are safe.” {eoa}

Article excerpted from Chapter 6 of God, Trump and COVID-19 (Charisma House 2020).

A Christian pastor in the United Kingdom was told by the local police that if he offends the LGBT community with a social media comment, he could be breaking the law, even though a pro-LGBT mob threatened to burn down his church.

Christian Concern, a U.K. persecution watchdog, reports Pastor Josh Williamson of Newquay Baptist Church was warned by police to keep his views in a “safe environment” after being targeted by a wave of anti-Christian abuse, including threats of violence and calls for his church to be burned down.

Last month, Williamson, 34, replied to a post on a local news outlet’s Facebook page that reported this year’s Cornwall pride event would be canceled. Williamson simply wrote, “Wonderful news!” under the post.

When he was questioned about his comment by another user, he replied, “because I don’t think sin should be celebrated.”

Answering more questions from other users, Williamson quoted what the New Testament says regarding homosexuality from the books of John, James and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.

Then on his personal Facebook page, he shared the news article and wrote, “Hallelujah!! We prayed at our prayer meeting on Tuesday night that this event would be canceled. We also prayed that the Lord would save the organizers. One prayer answered, now we wait for the second prayer to be answered.”

Cornwall Pride organizers saw Williamson’s personal page, took a screenshot of the post, and then tagged Newquay Baptist Church and posted it along with negative comments made by other users about gay pride. They then blocked out the names on each comment, making it appear that all of the comments were posted by the pastor.

The pastor’s wife also received online threats, and Williamson’s head was superimposed onto an image of homosexual pornography, which was then shared online.

The LGBT group then called on its supporters to report the pastor to the police for a hate speech/crime. Activists also made several threats, including protesting at the Newquay church’s Sunday services, having the church’s charity status revoked by the government and threatening to have Williamson deported to his native Australia.

Click here to read the rest of this story from our content partners at CBN News.

I believe there’s been some confusion within the body of Christ as to what our responsibilities are as individuals in the kingdom of God. Many, well-intentioned kingdom brothers and sisters have decided that they are going to change the world. They are going to do everything in their power to transform hearts and minds and cultures. Whether at their workplace or their schools or through their daily outings, they have decided they are going to impact their culture by their words and their actions. While I believe God desires for us to be influential, I don’t believe He expects it to happen through our own doing.

Something powerful takes place when we make Jesus King of our lives. His reign doesn’t just empower us to do more, create more and speak better. His influence in our lives encourages us to actually become who He says we are. When we take on His yoke, our positions as sons and daughters are no longer something we strive to attain or prove. That sonship or daughtership is something we become. It is something we walk in.

We gradually become what and who Jesus is. We trade in our efforts, our dreams and our desires, and we begin to realize the excellence that is formed in our being. In a recent episode of the Next Level Podcast With Michael McIntyre, I had a discussion with actor and producer Fab Altamura of Bethel Church. He explained that recognizing your God-given gifts, talents and desires is an important first step in becoming the influencer you were created to be.

“Be excellent at what you do … people notice that over what you say,” he said. “If you’re good at what you do, if you’re fun to work with and if you’re humble, that’s going to speak more than anyone going and saying ‘I want to be a star. I’m going to go and convert Hollywood.’

“That’s not the way to convert Hollywood,” Altamura said. “Our mandate shouldn’t even be to convert Hollywood. Our mandate should be to go and do what you love doing and be fruitful in what you love doing. Because that is going to be an expression of who God created you to be. When you are like that, you become infectious.”

That’s it. That’s what it’s all about. It’s about allowing the character of Jesus to infect you. To transform you. It’s not about perfectionism (which is something we can strive for); it’s about excellence (which is what Christ working through us looks like). If we can learn to become who we were created to be, we will then learn to do what we were created to do.

I’m not against effort. I’m actually someone who practices and preaches effort: not holding back and giving your best. But I am against the mindset that tells us we have to do to become. I believe we should become so that we can do. It’s the position of sonship or daughtership that I want to launch my efforts from. And if I know who I am as a son in the kingdom of God, then I can expect His excellence to flow through me in every area of my life.

Now that’s being influential.

Listen to the full interview with Fab Altamura here. {eoa}

The Christian community refused to let city officials in Seattle, Washington, shut down a Labor Day worship event organized by “Hold the Line” founder Sean Feucht.

In a video posted on Twitter, Feucht said, “The city decided to barricade the entire park for our peaceful worship and prayer gathering.”

We’re calling tonight a “Worship Protest” for legal reasons.

See ya in the streets next to GasWorks Park!

Live on Facebook at 6pm!

Already so many people here next to this bulldozer. Tonight could get a little wild #LetUsWorship

— Sean Feucht (@seanfeucht) September 7, 2020

So the event became a “worship protest” and was moved into the street near Gas Works Park.

Seattle Parks and Recreation closed the area on Sept. 4, citing that the decision was “due to anticipated crowding that could impact the public health of residents.”

Feucht told CBN News that the worship protest was still powerful and “the Spirit of God moved.”

“The Lord called me to declare that this is a new Jesus People movement,” he added, saying that the restrictions imposed by politicians “are only making the church stronger.”

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REALLY REALLY MUST READ!!!! 4 WILD THINGS that happened in Seattle (SWIPE): 1. A local pastor prophesied an earthquake would happen during worship and ONE ACTUALLY DID (swipe). 2. Freaky agitators showed up in hazmat suits with bowls of blood to pour on me (thank you security & Seattle Police for stopping them). 3. Law enforcement surrounded us and had a powerful moment of prayer and reconciliation. 4. I led worship in front of a bulldozer (unrealized life goal). Don’t miss these nights people! You never know what could happen #LetUsWorship

A post shared by S E A N F E U C H T (@seanfeucht) on Sep 8, 2020 at 12:25pm PDT

Click here to read the rest of this story from our content partners at CBN News. {eoa}

Imagine a prayer meeting this October with one clear goal: to repent and ask God for forgiveness. For what we’ve done with our freedom in America. For the sins we’ve committed. For the way we’ve treated others. For how our nation has turned against the Lord and squandered the countless blessings He has bestowed on us.

One prayer meeting. One goal. One day only. No strings attached.

Pastor Carter Conlon, general overseer of Times Square Church, is heading to Plymouth, Massachusetts, to ask God for forgiveness on Oct. 6, 2020, 400 years after the historic arrival of the first Pilgrims on our soil, a place where they sought to worship God freely and according to conscience. And it’s why, this fall, Conlon is asking everyone who believes in God, no matter where they are, to join in online as the Times Square Church Worldwide Prayer Meeting is livestreamed from Plymouth on Tuesday, Oct. 6, from 7-9 p.m. EST.

There is no fee. No registration needed. There is no mailing list; no products are being sold. “We are going to believe God for a mercy moment for our nation,” says Conlon. “Mercy moments are initiated by God. We see these moments throughout the Bible and throughout history. Moments where God has already decided to move and to show mercy, but He is looking for people who will agree with him.”

It is a cry to God for the future of our nation at a pivotal time in our history.

“God called this prayer meeting,” stresses Conlon. “It’s a God-initiated moment. The future of America depends on our prayers.”

He adds, “I felt the Lord speak to me about this prayer meeting. He asked me to go back to the very spot where our nation began 400 years ago, and He wants me to ask for forgiveness for what we have done with the freedom He gave us. That is the crux of this. I am hoping that many others join with me in this moment.”

The Worldwide Prayer Meeting, which occurs weekly, draws prayer requests from thousands of people in over 200 self-reported countries and dependencies throughout the world. It does so via website submission form and text message. The weekly live prayer meeting is livestreamed every Tuesday at 7 p.m. EST at , and on the Times Square Church Facebook page and YouTube channel.

For more information, visit . {eoa}

Times Square Church is an interdenominational, multinational congregation, located in the heart of New York City at 51st Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, founded by Rev. David Wilkerson, author of the best-selling book The Cross and the Switchblade. Over 10,000 people representing more than 100 different nationalities gather to pray together each week, finding true unity through Jesus Christ. Every Tuesday, Times Square Church livestreams its Worldwide Prayer Meeting, which draws prayer requests from thousands of people in over 200 self-reported countries and dependencies throughout the world, via website submission form and text message. The weekly live prayer meeting takes place each Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. EST at , and on the Times Square Church Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Throughout the past several decades, prophetic ministry has been front and center in Christendom. The insatiable thirst for knowledge and foreknowledge has created a vacuum that has been filled with many voices.

The urgency for direction, information, instruction and spiritual insight has created a demand for the emergence of new prophetic voices. We have seen prophets rise to great heights as well as experience extreme lows. Just as there has been the rise of the true and authentic, there has also been the rise of the false.

In my new book: The Rise of the Micaiah Prophet, I address the grey areas of the prophetic, dealing with the real and the false as well as the immature and the seasoned prophet. What happens when there are true prophets with wrong motives? What happens when there are false prophets with very accurate words?

How are people affected when prophets have untamed fleshly desires for material possessions or lust? What occurs when there is a rejected prophet who performs only for the applause of man?

When we see these scenarios, it is an indication that there needs to be a purifying of the prophetic. There has to be a standard! There has to be a true distinguishing between what is right and what is wrong.

If prophetic ministry is not purified, the church at large will experience a grave deficit and a decline. For this reason, God is purifying His church and sanitizing prophetic ministry. In 1 Kings 22, Micaiah is a model prophet; trained by the well-known prophet Elijah. He would not be manipulated by politics or personal gain and he stood firmly for righteousness, even in the face of persecution.

History is repeating itself, and there is an emergence of uncompromising prophets on the rise. This is the season that God is raising up a company of Micaiah prophets that will proclaim His Word and spark revival, awakening and a revolution in the earth!

To learn more about Micaiah prophets rising, order my new book on Amazon or wherever you purchase books.

Listen to my latest episode on the Charisma Podcast Network, The Rise of the Micaiah Prophet. {eoa}