Released by China Aid Association, the document outlines a plan to promote ‘atheism research, propaganda, and education’
Despite China’s rhetoric concerning religious tolerance, recent arrests and raids reveal an ongoing nationwide crackdown on believers.

In October, Chinese government officials spoke of a willingness to loosen restrictions on religious worship and to reopen dialogue concerning religious freedom and other human rights. However, a secret directive recently released by China Aid Association President Bob Fu directly contradicts such statements and outlines a chilling plan to promote “atheism research, propaganda, and education” in order to combat Christianity.

Fu revealed the secret directive, dated May 27, 2004, during a press conference held in November on Capitol Hill. He was in Washington to testify before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

According to China Aid, the directive is responsible for a slew of recent extra-judicial killings and arrests. Along with the directive, the Midland, Texas-based ministry published a partial list of Christian prisoners that names 42 who have been arrested and five who have been martyred.

Among them is Jiang Zongxiu, who was arrested in June for distributing Bibles in a marketplace. Officially charged with “spreading a superstitious message,” she was beaten to death while being interrogated at the Public Security Office.

“The truth is, there is a systematic persecution of the house church and their leaders,” said Deborah Fikes, spokeswoman for the Ministerial Alliance of Midland, Texas, which co-sponsored the press conference. The alliance has made religious freedom in China a top priority.

News reports verify the overarching nature of the persecution. Compass Direct, a Christian news service, recently released details on three additional directives that were issued in August. These orders indicate the Communist Party’s intent to combat religious “infiltration” of the government and universities and the spread of religion and religious organizations.

China currently contains an estimated 100 million Christians, with more than 86 million belonging to illegal house churches, China Aid reported. For these Christians, religious persecution is not a recent phenomenon. In the last four years alone, more than 6,000 members of the South China Church have been arrested, harassed or imprisoned.

Observers are concerned that the recent crackdown represents a pre-emptive strike against religious dissidence in light of the upcoming 2008 Olympics. With the event being hosted in Beijing, religious-liberty advocates say Chinese officials may be concerned about a repeat of the South East Asian Games held in December 2003 in Hanoi, where protests by persecuted Vietnamese Christians generated international attention.

“The arrest and imprisonment of Christian leaders is one symptom of an overall aversion to religious belief that includes practitioners of Falun Gong, Tibetan Buddhists and the Muslim Uighur community in western China,” said Joseph K. Grieboski, president of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, which also co-sponsored the press conference. “We are only asking that China respect religious freedom as stated in their own constitution and the various international agreements to which they are signatories.”

In the meantime, numerous Web sites have been shut down and certain publications banned in the last few months. In one case, pastor Cai Zhuohua was picked up by officers from the Department of National Security in Beijing, China Aid reported. Cai, a well-known house-church leader, was charged with publishing “illegal religious literature,” including Bibles and a Christian magazine. His wife was also arrested, effectively orphaning their 4-year-old son. Both Cai and his wife face possible life sentences.

Of primary concern to Chinese Christians such as Fu is the impact these directives have on potential reform in the communist country. “As a result of these secret policies, free belief means only in your heart or in the bedroom,” Fu said. “We want not only to talk about freedom of religious belief but to make it so that every person can implement their beliefs.”
David Mundy in Washington, D.C.

Opponents of pro-gay moves hope the church’s top leaders will take more decisive action against bishops promoting that agenda
The top leaders in the worldwide Anglican Communion are to meet this month in Ireland, where conservative leaders within the church hope strong disciplinary action will be taken against the Canadian and U.S. churches for their support of homosexuality.

Congregations in North America have been steadily leaving the 70 million-member communion since 2003, when the diocese of New Westminster in Vancouver, B.C., sanctioned the blessing of same-sex unions and the head of the Episcopal Church USA consecrated V. Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as bishop of New Hampshire.

Observers say the trend toward a liberal theology has been ongoing for years. In October, the Episcopal Church’s Web site offered articles on paganism written by two priests who allegedly are also Druids, the Institute on Religion and Democracy reported. The group said one article called for Episcopal women to participate in a ritual for the “queen of heaven.”

In the churches in the West, there “has been over time a stepping back from the central tenets of faith that the church has held to for 2,000 years,” said Jay Greener, spokesman for the Anglican Mission in America, a network for churches that want to leave the Episcopal Church. “This is really not about homosexuality; this is really about the central doctrines of Christianity,” he added, noting that since 2000, the group has helped 72 churches align themselves with the diocese in Rwanda.

Canadian Bishop Donald Harvey said churches in his nation are not leaving at the same pace as U.S. parishes, but he acknowledged that many conservative ministers there are being treated harshly by their bishops. “They’re getting a terrible backlash by the diocese in New Westminster,” said Harvey, moderator of the newly formed Anglican Network in Canada, a fellowship for conservative churches in Canada. “There have been threats to remove licenses, threats to close churches, threats to sell their property, all of these things.”

Conservative ministers such as those in Harvey’s group, who chose to stay within the Anglican Communion, hoped the Windsor Report, released in October in response to the pro-gay moves by U.S. and Canadian dioceses, would offer them an alternative to submitting to leaders who they believe are deviating from Scripture. But most observers say the report fell flat, extending only an invitation for the offending churches to “express regret,” but not to repent and make changes.

Both the bishops of New Westminster and the Episcopal Church refused to stop blessing same-sex unions or ordaining gay clergy, as the report encouraged.

John Guernsey, dean of the mid-Atlantic conference of the Anglican Communion Network, a fellowship of conservative churches that have stayed in the Episcopal Church, said he hopes the primates, as the top leaders are known, will draw a clear line in the sand during their meeting Feb. 20-26.

“If strong and decisive action were to take place, it might open the door for biblically faithful Episcopalians to be acknowledged and given some structural way to remain,” Guernsey said. “While we earnestly hope and pray for that we also realize the actions of the primates may fall far short of that, even to the point of the communion coming apart.”

Last summer, three prominent Episcopal congregations in Los Angeles left the U.S. church to join the Anglican diocese in Uganda, and two in the Washington, D.C., area connected with the diocese in Recife, Brazil. Other congregations are gaining oversight from the bishop of Nigeria.

Observers say the trend is part of a global shift in leadership. They cite Penn State University religion professor Philip Jenkins’ 2002 book, The Next Christendom, which predicted that the center of gravity within the church would shift from the West to the “global south”: Africa, Latin America and Asia, where churches are growing at a much more rapid pace.

As they await the primates’ meeting this month, Anglicans in the United States and Canada are unsure whether church unity can be salvaged. “I don’t see the liberal revisionists backing off on their agenda of promoting the gay lifestyle,” said the Rev. Canon David C. Anderson, president of the American Anglican Council. “And hundreds of thousands of solid, orthodox Christians in the Episcopal Church cannot stomach that, so they’re going to be looking for places to go.”
Adrienne S. Gaines

Critics say Stan Telchin’s recent book is unbiblical and may cause unfounded distrust of Messianic congregations
An author’s claim that Messianic Judaism is unbiblical and causing division in the body of Christ has sparked controversy in the Messianic community and led some of its leaders to protest his book.

Stan Telchin, a Messianic Jew and author of Messianic Judaism Is Not Christianity (Chosen Books), says those within the movement think Messianic Judaism is superior to Christianity, which he says impedes the Bible’s call to unity.

The 80-year-old Jews for Jesus missionary adds that Messianic congregations appeal largely to Gentile Christians who enjoy traditional Jewish customs such as wearing yarmulkes and prayer shawls. Telchin says this offends and angers the Jewish community, which holds such practices in high regard and reserves them only for observant Jews. He says the Messianic movement may, in effect, alienate the very people it is trying to win to Christ.

“The Bible calls us to provoke Israel to jealousy,” Telchin told Charisma. “What Messianic Judaism is doing is provoking the Jewish community to outrage.” Telchin said this is because Messianic congregations make “a caricature, a charade” of what happens in synagogues.

Author of the best-selling book Betrayed, in which he shares his testimony, Telchin says his intent is to “reveal and to help heal the division that is occurring among brothers and sisters in the Messiah–a division being fostered by those who insist that Messianic Judaism is not Christianity.”

Barry Rubin, president of Messianic Jewish Publications and rabbi of a Messianic congregation in Columbia, Md., says the book, subtitled A Loving Call to Unity, does anything but promote unity. “In his interest toward unity, he has actually done the antithesis,” Rubin told Charisma. “He has not really come to Messianic Jews with his concerns. Instead he published a book that, for the most part, is going to Christians.”

The book has been surrounded by controversy since it released in August. The confusing title drew a negative reaction, prompting its publisher–Chosen Books, a division of Baker Book House–to issue a press release explaining that people needed to read the book’s lead-in line, title and subtitle: Some Messianic Jews Say, “Messianic Judaism Is Not Christianity”: A Loving Call to Unity.

Rubin says Telchin’s book focuses on minute issues that are in no way normative in Messianic Judaism. “Stan Telchin is not a theologian, he is not a leader of any Messianic congregation, and he is [in] no way a spokesman for Messianic Judaism, and yet he has chosen to act as if he were,” Rubin said.

Rubin joined Joel Chernoff, president of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America; Jamie Cowen, president of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, and other leaders in writing an open “letter to the editor” to trade publications that advertised Telchin’s book, including Charisma’s sister publication Christian Retailing.

“Telchin presents a skewed picture of the Messianic Jewish movement,” the letter stated. “By not presenting a balanced picture of today’s Messianic congregations, in effect Telchin portrays exceptions as the rule, characterizing them as standard fare.”

The letter went on to say the book might cause Christians to “shy away from standing with Messianic Jews in Israel at a time of their greatest need, and avoid connecting with us here in the States.”

Telchin, who was pastor of a nondenominational charismatic church in the Washington, D.C., area for 14 years, says he knew the book would draw criticism. “I want Jewish people to get saved,” he said, “but you’re not going to reach the Jewish people through Messianic Judaism–it’s not working.”

Moishe Rosen, founder of Jews for Jesus, writes in the book’s foreword that through the years Telchin has grown uneasy and troubled “by such terms as ‘Gentile Church’ when he knew that the Messiah established only one Church.” Rosen added that “questions should arise [from the book] and much discussion should be the result.”

Rubin estimates there are about 300 Messianic congregations in the United States. Telchin said the claims in his book do not apply to all Messianic congregations. Originally intended to be a vehicle to attract Jewish people, Messianic congregations appeal mostly to Gentiles, Telchin said. “About 80 percent, of those who attend Messianic synagogues are not Jewish,” he said.

In his ministry’s November newsletter, Rubin admitted that most Messianic congregations “consist of at least 50 percent non-Jews,” but added that most of these ministries have an excellent relationship with local Christian churches. He said the problems Telchin refers to in his book “barely exist, if at all” and that “by being so visible to the Jewish community, Messianic congregations are a strong witness of the faith.”
Nancy Justice

Through his stage shows and book, Rob Lacey presents the Scriptures in the language of popular culture
Rob Lacey didn’t receive a sudden revelation to rewrite the Bible. But in his personal study of Scripture, the 42-year-old Welshman discovered that rephrasing passages to fit modern language connected with believers and nonbelievers alike.

So the 16-year theater veteran set out to take the Word to the street–literally–by paraphrasing the Bible in a way today’s postmodern culture would understand. The project started off as a book, releasing as The Street Bible in Britain in 2003 and capturing the 2004 Book of the Year award at the United Kingdom Christian Booksellers Convention. In September, it released as The Word on the Street in the United States.

“It’s an overview of the Bible that’s perfect for non-Christians, and Christians love it because it gives a fresh angle to something they know very well,” Lacey told Charisma. “But I’m very passionate that everyone realizes it’s not the Bible. It’s an intro and advertisement for the Bible.”

In sometimes gritty and oftentimes witty language, Lacey presents Old Testament law as an instructional manual, the wisdom books as rock opera, the Gospels as one story with four narrators, the epistles as e-mails, and Revelation as virtual images. With a vocabulary and structure designed primarily for 18- to 34-year-olds, the passages reflect God’s eternal truth and wisdom.

The book also is performed as one-hour and 20-minute stage shows.

Accompanied by Bill and Rachel Beales on guitar, keyboard and vocals, Lacey opens the show by reviewing the entire Bible in two minutes. “The show is the Bible as performance art,” Lacey said. “It’s comedy, it’s theater, it’s performance poetry.”

Lacey gave dozens of performances last summer alone, but the ministry concept almost never got off the ground. Two weeks after inking the book contract in March 2000, Lacey was diagnosed with cancer in his bladder.

He underwent painful chemical treatments, but the disease continued to spread, and eventually Lacey had to undergo surgery to remove his bladder.

“I was a hermit in my own house, and the only positive thing in my life at that stage was writing,” he said. “It was my lifeline creatively, emotionally and certainly spiritually to be soaked in the Bible. It was the only thing that kept me sane.”

During the operation, doctors discovered a tumor and found cancer cells in Lacey’s bones. Lacey said if his physicians had known how much the cancer had spread, they would not have performed the surgery. Afterward, Lacey’s medical team told him he had less than a year to live.

“I had just finished the first draft of The Word on the Street, but it was nowhere near ready,” he said. “If that had been the end, the book would not have been completed.”

Rather than accept the doctors’ report, Lacey underwent alternative treatment in Mexico. A member of Glenwood Church, a Free Evangelical congregation in Cardiff, Wales, he also visited Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship to receive prayer for healing. But his condition worsened, and in December 2001, friends and family began visiting Lacey to pay their last respects.

Still determined to finish the project, Lacey began editing his book. The work proved both therapeutic and fruitful. “Because I had seen a lot more, I had a lot more authority and courage and a right to talk about the big issues,” he said. “I had looked death in the face, but because of what Christ had done, death blinked first.

“I had two very good options. I could either die and go to heaven and be pain-free, or God would heal me, and I could see my little boy grow up. It was totally dark at times, and at other times, it was glimpses of real intimacy with God, a very beautiful time.”

During the summer of 2002, Lacey began to improve. In August, no cancer could be detected in his lymph nodes, and by October he not only could walk without assistance, he also began swimming to regain his strength.

Today he is in good health, and tours the country with his stage show. Lacey said he has revised the format some to allow the audience to draw their own biblical insights from the presentation.

“I was preaching through drama and wasn’t just telling the stories,” he told Charisma. “I realized that was rather arrogant to an unchurched person, especially in this postmodern society. I began using Jesus’ model of parables and leaving it to the Holy Spirit and the listener to work things out.”

Last fall, Lacey opened the Gates Arts and Training Center with his wife, Sandra, in Cardiff. The center holds acting and dancing classes and produces plays for the community.
John Hillman

Colombian Student Alleges False Arrest

First-year theology student Luis Alberto Vera, 24, was arrested Nov. 26 on charges of firearms trafficking and aggravated theft. Though he said the charge is bogus, he faces a lengthy and likely expensive legal battle to clear his name, Compass Direct reported. A student at the Biblical Seminary of Colombia in Medellín, Vera is not an isolated case, observers say. Special anti-terrorism laws and a growing network of anonymous informants have increased the risk of regular citizens being wrongly accused of terrorism, Compass said. Ricardo Esquivi of the Evangelical Council of Colombia said at least 30 pastors and church leaders across the nation are currently imprisoned because of anonymous tips from informants.

Pentecostal Churches Double in Egypt

The president of the Pentecostal Churches in Egypt reported in December that the number of Pentecostal churches in Egypt has doubled in the last three years, Assist News Service (ANS) said. “When God called me [to] the ministry of being responsible for the Pentecostals in Egypt February of 2001, the number of the churches was only 35,” Bishop Azez Morgan told ANS. “However, in this last three years, the Lord has blessed us with the strategy for church growth and it now has doubled to 75. There are churches all over the country, but there are still places we still do not have our churches, but we have plans for this.”

House Church Leader Arrested In China

One of China’s most prominent house-church leaders was recently arrested for his religious activities. Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) reported that pastor Zhang Rongliang, 53, was detained Dec. 1 in Xuzhai village in Zhengzhou, located in Henan Province. At press time, no one had heard from him. Zhang, whose wife and children are now in hiding, leads the Fangcheng Mother Church and the China for Christ Church, which is one of the largest house-church networks in the country, with more than 10 million members.

Some 1.3 million people are believed to be addicted to the drug, which causes brain damage similar to the effects of a stroke
As use of a man-made drug spreads nationwide at a pace the National Institute on Drug Abuse says is unrivaled by any other in recent history, ministries are reaching into the lives of addicts, families and entire communities with a message of hope and healing through Jesus Christ.

Dubbed the “devil’s drug,” methamphetamine is a powerfully addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system, creating an intense high that can last as long as 24 hours. The drug causes brain damage similar to that caused by Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and epilepsy; use can also produce psychotic behavior, resulting in extreme violence.

Also known as “speed,” “meth” or “chalk,” methamphetamine is made in clandestine laboratories from everyday household products and is the most prevalent synthetic drug manufactured in the United States. According to a 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an estimated 1.3 million people used the drug during the previous year.

“It is the devil’s greatest tool in the world of drugs,” warns Paula Wood, reformed methamphetamine addict and founder of Break Free Ministry, an organization that reaches out to methamphetamine addicts and their families.

Founded in 2003, Break Free is run by Paula and husband Andy Wood from their home in Savanna, Okla.–an area that has been ravaged by the drug. The ministry consists of 10 team members, eight of whom are former meth addicts.

Wood says her team will go anywhere to spread the message that saved her life. “We tell them that there is hope,” she told Charisma. “The only hope is through Jesus Christ.”

The team travels to the streets equipped with a custom-built cooker that feeds hundreds. “We pray with them, we clothe them, we cook for them and we love them,” Wood added.

Since August 2003, Break Free has hosted four rallies. In just one weekend, approximately 90 people dedicated their lives to Christ, Wood reported. Now Break Free is working to establish a discipleship home for addicts because of the increasing need for in-house rehabilitation facilities specifically for meth addicts.

“It may take anywhere from three to four months to get into a facility,” Wood said. “By the time a bed is open, the person is back on the street. We get calls every day, asking if there’s a place to put them.”

One of those calls came from 26-year-old Cory Weidner, who was a drug addict by the age of 14. Weidner was facing a 20-year prison sentence when he met Wood in a county jail, where she works as a licensed practical nurse. “They loved me after everyone else gave up on me,” Weidner said. After his release, Break Free ministered to Weidner until his placement in Teen Challenge, a faith-based drug rehabilitation facility.

“It is an epidemic, a mushroom cloud that is exploding over this country,” said Dr. Mary Holley, founder of Mothers Against Methamphetamine, a ministry that distributes methamphetamine-related literature nationwide. “We haven’t seen the worst of it yet.”

An obstetrician in Alabama, Holley estimates that 10 percent of her pregnant patients are meth addicts. She says a faith-based approach is key to rehabilitation. “Faith-based programs tend to be far more successful because they go deeper into the heart of people,” she said.

John P. Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and President Bush’s “drug czar,” warns that methamphetamine is a threat to entire communities. “With meth, you have all the harms of other drugs, but there is also a safety hazard” because meth labs exude potentially explosive toxic fumes.

In October, Walters released the nation’s first comprehensive strategy for reducing the production, trafficking and use of synthetic drugs. The Bush administration’s National Synthetic Drugs Action Plan provides an overview of recent trends in the consumption and trafficking of synthetic drugs and outlines a plan for addressing the problem based on four core areas: prevention, treatment, regulation of chemicals and drugs, and law enforcement.
Suzy Richardson

BOOKS

Frontline Christians in a Bottom-Line World
By Linda Rios Brook, Destiny Image,
208 pages, softcover, $13.99.

With insightful, engaging and often amusing observations, former TV executive Linda Rios Brook sounds a warning to the traditional church: learn to utilize the gifts of businesspersons or they will soon depart.

A member of Peter Wagner’s International Coalition of Apostles, Brook also devotes considerable space to Bible exposition, applying various passages to a business context. Although taking traditionalists to task for antiquated methods of “doing church” that ignore taking the gospel into the world, the author is an equal- opportunity critic. Chronicling the business world’s horribly flawed ethics, she calls on marketplace Christians to take some heat for making tough choices.

The bottom line of Frontline Christians: both camps need each other. As Brook puts it, the redemption of the business world calls for marketplace and traditional church apostles. If enough Christians heed Brook’s call, they will be able to cooperate instead of fighting with each other.
Ken Walker

Books of Destiny
By Paul Keith Davis, Streams Publishing House,
softcover, 193 pages, $13.

There was a time when ministers held “Come to Jesus” revivals. The “kingdom” was utmost and people literally “saw the light.” In Paul Keith Davis’ Books of Destiny: Secrets of God Revealed, we find that God’s plan in expanding His kingdom includes periodically releasing throne-room wisdom to those who are given glimpses of the next genuine movement and their roles in it.

Davis sparks a belief in the reader that “the greater than these” generation is still to be awakened. A reading of this volume will convince the faithful of all denominations that the fulfillment of the word of the Lord “to make them one” is on the horizon (He’s not returning to a disjointed bride). Indeed, every “Son-rise” in church history involves individuals who are called to break through the darkness of the existing generation, not with enticing words of man, but with the power of the Holy Spirit.
J. James Estrada

Riches Beyond Measure
By Michael Blackwell with Ken Walker,
Creation House Press, softcover,
86 pages, $9.99.

In Riches Beyond Measure: Creating a Life Worth Living Michael Blackwell outlines 12 keys to an abundant life.

President of the Baptist Children’s Home of North Carolina since 1983, Blackwell is committed to helping and healing others. His compassion translates well into this book as he offers simple yet rewarding truths.

The 12 steps include accept yourself, be a friend, love abundantly, do good deeds, receive life and embrace the future. Step 2: Seek Help is particularly interesting because in many circles getting professional counseling seems to be taboo. But Blackwell explains that sometimes the key to reaching the next level in any stage of life is seeking outside resources.

Though there is not a direct correlation made between these concepts and Jesus’ life, many readers will consider His life as the ultimate example. If younger readers
would implement the principles that many adults only wish they knew when they were younger, they would have a jumpstart on a great life.

For others, the writing is refreshing with numerous stories and examples, communicated without condemnation. The author is simply hoping to inspire people to change their outlook–and their lives.
Leigh DeVore

MUSIC

The J Moss Project
By J Moss, GospoCentric/Jive Records.

J Moss has been one of gospel and mainstream music’s most sought-after producers for years. He is a relative of the late gospel legend Mattie Moss Clark and the Clark Sisters, and one-third of the dynamic production team PAJAM–consisting of Paul D. “PDA” Allen, Walter Kearney and James Moss. The group is responsible for making hits for some of the top names in music, including Karen Clark-Sheard, Hezekiah Walker, ‘NSync, Kelly Price, Patti LaBelle and Jennifer Lopez, just to name a few.

Releasing his debut project, The J Moss Project, Moss stuns the gospel community with his tight tenor vocals on this perfectly produced collection of songs. Moss introduces himself with the danceable track “I Wanna Be.” “Don’t Pray & Worry” is a fast-moving, inspirational jam. The pretty ballad “We Must Praise” showcases Moss’ impressive chops. He ends the song a cappella, closing in a mode of worship.

“You Brought Me” is another body-moving track about God’s ability to deliver. Also included on this album is the reality-based track “Livin’ 4,” the infectious song “Don’t Let” and the bumpin’ groove-laden offering “Psalm 150,” reminiscent of Trin-i-tee 5:7’s “Holla.” “Me Again,” penned by Moss (the principal songwriter), is a plea to the Lord for forgiveness and a very poignant track. “Work Your Faith,” a bonus track, finds Moss encouraging people to hold on to their faith.

Moss brings a contemporary flair and a wonderful voice to gospel music.
René Williams

Made For Worship
By Joel Engle, Doxology Records (Word).

After 10 years as an independent artist, including touring stints with youth speaker Dawson McAllister and playing at various youth camps, Joel Engle releases his major-label debut on Doxology Records titled Made for Worship. The disc features 11 original tracks, all penned by Engle, centering on themes of worship and family.

Highlights include the pop-rock sounds of “Louder Than the Angels,” “I Bow Down” and “Wonder of Your Love.” “Living Sacrifice” is a rousing rock song of dedication, much like the anthem “We Need You.” There are also tender moments on “Shadow of Your Cross” and “I Will See You Again,” which offers an eternal promise for a departed loved one. On “Be a Father to Her,” Engle asks for divine intervention in the life of his daughter. Similarly, he shows his thankfulness for his own life in the autobiographical “The Father I Never Had”: “You’re the father I never had / Just hold me in Your arms and heal me of the past.”

Engle displays a talent for writing emotive tunes as well as a versatile vocal range. Made for Worship should be a welcome listen for those looking for memorable pop tunes.
DeWayne Hamby

I Speak Life
By Donald Lawrence, QuietWater
Entertainment/Verity Records.

Donald Lawrence has positioned himself as one of gospel music’s most versatile and gifted artists. A producer, songwriter and recording artist, he’s responsible for some of the best songs to hit radio including (with the Tri-City Singers) songs such as “Never Seen the Righteous,” “Seasons” (with Bishop Walter Hawkins), “The Best Is Yet to Come,” and “When Sunday Comes” (recorded by Daryl Coley). Now with his new label, Quiet- Water Entertainment, he introduces I Speak Life.

Divided into five sections, Contemporary Gospel, Inspirational, Praise & Worship, Prophetic and Final Thoughts, the release opens with the festive and exciting tune “Healed.” The title cut is a duet with famed gospel crooner Donnie McClurkin and includes exhortations to “speak life” over challenging situations. Hezekiah Walker joins Lawrence on the celebratory track “You Covered Me,” and Vanessa Bell Armstrong shares the mic on the smooth jazz cut “Miracles.”

Lawrence has us stepping (in Chi-town style) with R&B singer Carl Thomas on the groove-laden “Angels.” Lalah Hathaway, daughter of the late singer Donny Hathaway, and jazz great Ramsey Lewis join Lawrence on the easy listening, smoothly provocative “Don’t Forget to Remember.” “Say a Prayer,” with mainstream songstress Faith Evans, is a powerful track as is the breathtakingly beautiful “Lamb,” featuring piano work from Richard Smallwood. “Coming Strong,” a laid-back, rhythmic cut and a bold declaration of God’s deliverance, gives us a nice slice of funk. “Beautiful Feet,” taken from Romans 10:15, is a pretty, fully orchestrated song and a sweet closing to a strong project.
René Williams

VIDEO

A Fight for Faith
Pamplin Entertainment.

The Wacky Professor is up to his old fiendish tricks in the 16th episode of the Bibleman Adventure Series, but he finds himself matched against a new Bibleman.

The Fight for Faith is the first adventure since the departure of the original Bibleman, Willie Aames, who toured the country the last eight years putting biff, bam and pow into Bible-verse memorization. The episode introduces Josh Carpenter (Robert T Schlipp) as Bibleman.

The new Bibleman is faced with foiling Wacky Professor’s (Jef Scott) plot to create a dimension where there are no Christians, no churches and no God. Bibleman, with the help of his familiar sidekicks Cypher (Brady Williams) and Biblegirl (Heather McSmith), hurries to rescue two young vacation Bible school leaders from a colorful animated world absent of God.

For the first time in a Bibleman episode, Bibleman invites young viewers to accept Jesus and to pray the salvation prayer along with the Bibleman team at the end of the adventure. In addition, the Bibleman Adventure Series is launching a new “Daily Bibleman” program now available through daily e-mail video clips from Bibleman. More information is available at www.bibleman.com.
Gail Wood

In his book The New Slavemasters, Bishop George D. McKinney boldly speaks about the issues that plague the African American community–materialism, rage and instant gratification, among a well-known list of others.

The “new slavemasters” concept came to him two years ago during a sermon at his church, St. Stephen’s Cathedral Church of God in Christ in San Diego. “The term just rolled off my tongue–a [truly divine] inspiration,” he said.

Born in 1932, McKinney remembers going to segregated Arkansas schools with no libraries. “They were still lynching black people,” he said. His Pentecostal parents taught him to rise up from the racially unjust environment through a relationship with Jesus Christ and a good education.

Fueled by the desire to see a corporate deliverance for the African American community, McKinney founded St. Stephen’s Ministerial Alliance. This coalition of 20 churches opens their doors to 30,000 of San Diego’s inner-city youth every day after school. Volunteers teach math, reading, social skills, music and chess.

“Twenty-two schools are failing 85 percent of their students,” McKinney said. “It seemed that there was no solution. But we have joined together to derail the train that is driving these young people to jail, drug pushing and drug addiction.”

Early last year, McKinney’s wife of 47 years, Jean Brown, died of cancer. But this so-called modern-day abolitionist presses on to make a difference.
Jevon Oakman Bolden

Charismatic Top Sellers

1. A Divine Revelation of Hell
Mary K. Baxter (Whitaker House)

2. Total Forgiveness
R.T. Kendall (Charisma House)

3. The Three Battlegrounds
Francis Frangipane (Arrow Publications)

4. Pigs in the Parlor
Frank and Ida Mae Hammond
(Impact Christian Books)

5. A Divine Revelation of Heaven
Mary K. Baxter (Whitaker House)

6. My Spiritual Inheritance
Juanita Bynum (Charisma House)

7. The Tongue: A Creative Force
Charles Capps (Harrison House)

8. The Final Quest
Rick Joyner (Whitaker House)

9. Prison to Praise
Merlin R. Carothers (Merlin R. Carothers)

10. The Torch and The Sword
Rick Joyner (Morningstar Publications)

The president always appreciates it when people tell him they pray for him.

On January 20, George W. Bush will take the oath of office for his second term as president of the United States. After a narrow victory in 2000, he won by a clear majority last year. His re-election, I’m sure, is an answer to prayer by millions of Christians who believe that “righteousness exalts a nation” (Prov. 14:34, NKJV).

Last May I had the privilege, along with seven other religious journalists, of interviewing President Bush in the White House. Each of us had the opportunity to ask one question. When it was my turn, I asked about the election and then added that I pray for him and his wife every day.

The president paused, looked directly at me and replied that he always appreciates it when people tell him they pray for him and that he never takes their prayers for granted. He added that previously when he would shake the hands of well-wishers after a speech they would say, “Good luck, Mr. President.” But more recently about one in three said, “We pray for you, Mr. President.”

For the inauguration, we decided to publish an updated version of our best-selling book The Faith of George W. Bush, which we copublished with Penguin Group (USA). It has sold approximately a half million copies and was on one of the New York Times best-sellers lists–a first for us.

We are humbled by the success of the book, not just because it shows that the author, Stephen Mansfield, did an outstanding job, but also because it propagates the story of a man whose life was changed when he came to faith in Christ.

We would like to send a copy of this book as a blessing to men and women serving in the U.S. armed forces. If you know of a serviceman or servicewoman who might be interested in receiving one, send his or her full name and APO/FPO (Air/Army Post Office or Fleet Post Office) address to Christian Life Missions, our nonprofit partner, at P.O. Box 952248, Lake Mary, FL 32795-2248.

I wrote a prayer for the new edition I hope readers will use to pray daily for the president and his family. I’ve included it here so you can begin this tradition with the new year.

Our dear heavenly Father, We come to you in the name of Jesus on behalf of our president, George W. Bush. We thank you that he is a man who fears You and who seeks You for wisdom as he leads our great nation during one of the most turbulent times in our history.

We pray that Your Holy Spirit gives him both the ability to discern Your will and the courage to carry it out. We pray that He surrounds him with people who will encourage and support him. We ask that He direct the president’s decisions each day.

Please protect President Bush and his family from harm. Surround them with Your peace and love. May the president always trust in You and make every effort to fulfill the responsibilities of his office in a way that pleases You.

We pray this in the name of Your Son. Amen.

One thing about the president I particularly admire is his habit of reading the Bible on a regular basis. It’s a commitment I share. In fact, I make a pledge every few years to read through the entire Bible as a matter of discipline.

To encourage you to do the same, we’ve included a weekly “Bible-Reading Guide” on page 72 of this issue that, if followed, will help you read the entire Bible by the end of 2005. Reading the selections in the order indicated will provide variety and prevent you from getting bogged down in the difficult passages.

Then, if you write us at the end of the year, we will send you a certificate of completion suitable for framing. I did this several years ago and was encouraged by how many not only did the Bible reading but also wrote in for the certificate.

If you haven’t made a habit of reading the Scriptures daily in the past, you’ll be amazed how much benefit you receive from regular study. Don’t be put off by the lack of a good Bible. The Bible-study section on page 68, which describes the various translations available, will help you find the Bible that’s right for you.

We’re excited about the new year. We believe that a lot of good things, which I’ll tell you about in upcoming issues, are in store for our ministry. I pray this is a good year for you and your family as well.

The choice is easy after you’ve identified your specific requirements. The following three basic questions–who, how and what–are designed to help you in choosing the appropriate Bible.

Who is the Bible for?

How will the Bible be used?

But Christians are being warned not to limit their concerns to only gay marriage and abortion
Moral values topped the list of reasons voters re-elected President Bush Nov. 2, presenting what one Christian leader called an unprecedented evangelism opportunity.

“I think it’s obvious that the church has not created a wave, we’ve struck a nerve,” said Rod Parsley, pastor of World Harvest Church in Ohio and founder of the Center for Moral Clarity. “We’ve tapped into the views of the majority of Americans. The left has done just that, they’ve left, and they no longer represent mainstream America. That gives us a tremendous evangelistic opportunity.”

Parsley traveled across his state before the election, urging Christians to vote and to support righteousness. He said many of those who cited values as their primary concern on Election Day were not all committed Christians. “Americans realize our basic common values … were under attack,” he said.

Many Christian leaders celebrated Bush’s win, crediting prayer with the decisive swing to the right. Bush gained 62 percent of the Christian vote, according to a poll by the Barna Research Group, which attributed Bush’s win to strong turnout by born-again voters. With the House, Senate and White House under Republican control, many believe an amendment banning gay marriage has a stronger chance at passage.

“The move to amend the U.S. Constitution to preserve traditional marriage will move full steam ahead,” said Mathew Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, which champions religious liberty, pro-life and traditional family issues. “Although the battle for the U.S. Supreme Court is not over … this election sets the future course.”

Gay marriage may have been the issue that gained Bush more support among Hispanic and African American voters, analysts say. Bush won 11 percent of the black vote, a 2 percent increase over 2000, and 44 percent of the Latino vote, a 9 percent increase over 2000, according to exit polls reported by CNN.

Before the election, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank that specializes in African American issues, predicted that Bush might double his percentage of the black vote, from 9 percent to 18 percent. That didn’t happen, but the group’s president and senior analyst, David Bositis, said Bush got more of Ohio’s black Christian vote than he did in 2000.

Had those votes gone to Sen. John Kerry, he said, it would have been possible for the Democratic nominee to win the state that ultimately decided the election. “Given negative black attitudes on the war and the economy and negative views on Bush, I really wasn’t expecting that kind of movement,” Bositis said, noting that Bush gained 16 percent of the black vote in Ohio, up from 9 percent in 2000.

Similarly, pre-election polls showed that Latino voters were strongly opposed to gay marriage, though a majority was still likely to vote for Kerry. A poll by the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) of the University of Southern California, which studies Latino voting patterns, found that although more than 70 percent of Latino voters said religion was very important to them, many opposed the war and preferred Kerry’s policies on education and the economy. TRPI president Harry Pachon said many elected officials were blindsided by the role moral values played in the election.

“We hear that in New Mexico, evangelicals were instrumental in mobilizing Latino voters,” Pachon said. “Twenty percent of Latinos are … evangelical or Pentecostal. If you had a significant number of them mobilized to vote for Bush, that may explain [the increase in support over 2000].”

In 11 states, voters approved constitutional amendments limiting marriage to one man and one woman, most by wide margins. In an article by PlanetOut Network, gay activists called Bush’s win “a really tough defeat.”

But Matt Coles of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project told the publication that his group is vigorously pursuing gay rights-related lawsuits in several states, including California, New York, Washington, New Jersey and Florida.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Evangelicals is promoting an agenda of its own, which Richard Cizik, the group’s vice president for governmental affairs, said includes broadening the definition of moral values to include an array of issues from human rights to the environment.

“[Moral values] should impact everything from tax cuts to social security,” Cizik said, adding that evangelicals must not be seen as a single-issue special-interest group.

“The challenge is to appreciate that here in Washington, D.C., [values] is not merely about legislation,” Cizik said. “It’s about broad-based ethical renewal. By focusing on ethics, we immediately signal that changes must be directed toward institutions other than government, such as Hollywood.”

But there is one government institution that many conservative voters kept in clear view on Election Day: the Supreme Court. Bush is expected to choose as many as four new justices during his second term, which some observers say will significantly affect abortion.

“Many of the religious liberty cases we deal with are decided on a 5-4 basis,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice. “With news of [Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s] medical condition, it now appears that the issue of the Court will be front and center for the nation over the next several weeks and months.”

Still, it is well known that not all socially conservative Christians supported Bush, and talk of Justice Clarence Thomas’ replacing Rehnquist if he retires doesn’t sit well among many African American voters–Christian and non.

“We need to have a family meeting with Clarence Thomas because his stance on civil rights is illogical and insensitive,” said Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr., a Washington, D.C., pastor and leader of the High Impact African-American Church Coalition. “The truth is, we haven’t made things right yet.”

Though he is a registered Democrat, Jackson announced his support for Bush in October and predicted that black Christians would decide the election. He believes that happened in Ohio. Considering the race riots that have plagued Cincinnati in recent years, Jackson said, “for that many black Christians to vote that overwhelmingly for Bush … that is nothing short of miraculous.”

His coalition is planning summits nationwide to mobilize black Christians to support a federal amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman. But he said the group also will promote “justice” issues, such as reducing poverty among African Americans, reforming the education and prison systems, helping minorities gain better health-care access and ending the Sudan conflict.

“We’ve had Watergate and all these other gates; I think now we have a Justicegate,” Jackson said. “It’s unconscionable that Americans would vote out of fear about marriage but would not vote out of responsibility for justice. That’s a matter of maturity and having a biblical worldview as Christians.”
Adrienne S. Gaines