Church leaders in the nation say Muslim radicals want to rid Nigeria completely of Christian influence
Knowing they could face torture or death, hundreds of Nigerian Christians attending a leadership conference in early January knelt in front of a massive stage and told God they were willing to take the gospel into hostile Muslim regions of their divided nation.

“The hour has come for Nigeria, Africa and the world to recognize Him as their God!” shouted Mosy Madugba, organizer of Global PrayerQuake 2003, an event that attracted more than 8,000 church leaders to an indoor sports arena in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt. During six days of training, attendees focused on how to share Christ with Muslims, who are currently fighting for control of the northern half of Africa’s most populous nation.

Although some of the world’s largest churches are in southern Nigeria, 12 of the 19 states in the north have imposed Shariah, or Islamic law. In recent years, Muslims have gone on bloody rampages, killing thousands of Christians, burning churches and even slitting the throats of children gathered for Sunday school.

In March 2000, an estimated 5,000 Christians died, and 356 churches were torched during one weekend riot in the northern state of Kaduna.

“Islam is trying very hard to win our cities,” declared Steve Olumuyiwa, one of more than a dozen Nigerian evangelists who addressed the Port Harcourt conference. “Hundreds of Muslims gather in the streets of our cities, chanting from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. We must take on this challenge.”

On the last day of the conference, held Jan. 5-10, former Muslim occultist Isa El-Buba knelt on a Nigerian flag and dedicated the nation to Jesus Christ as thousands cheered from the rafters of the cavernous arena. He was joined on the platform by another Nigerian evangelist, Abu Bako, who was forced to flee to nearby Ghana a few years ago after Muslims marked him for assassination.

Shaba Adams, who also preaches in the north, told Charisma that Christians in southern Nigeria are paralyzed by a materialistic gospel. He is calling them to awaken to the threat of Islam before it is too late. While pastors are being beheaded and disemboweled by Islamic radicals in the north, believers in the south are “just thinking of themselves,” Adams said.

Based in the northern city of Jos, Adams told Charisma the international community must face the grim reality of a growing Muslim threat. “Where are the Christian lawyers? Where are the Christian journalists? We need people to be advocates for us,” he said.

Although Nigeria has a Christian president, Muslims in the north hold on to political power at the state level and reportedly receive aid covertly from the governments of Libya and Saudi Arabia. Islamic mercenaries from Chad and Niger frequently participate in armed raids in cities such as Kaduna and Kano, and al-Qaida operatives also have been active there, pastors said.

Lagos-based pastor Ladi Thompson said Muslims “believe they will completely Islamize Nigeria.” As founder of an activist organization called The Macedonian Initiative, Thompson is raising awareness of the threat both in his nation and abroad, partly because he believes local media outlets have been influenced by Muslims in the north.

Thompson’s work in Nigeria is groundbreaking because there are so few Christians addressing human-rights abuses that have occurred in the north. The Macedonian Initiative () is rebuilding burned churches, placing orphaned Christian children in families, and aiding a group of 11 nurses from Bauchi state who recently lost their jobs because they refused to wear Muslim clothing at work.

Soon, Thompson said, he plans to exhume the bodies of Christians who were slaughtered by Muslim mobs and buried in unmarked mass graves. He hopes to document a holocaust that most people don’t know about.

“The Western world has been blind to the threat that Islam represents,” Thompson said. “Nothing has prepared us for the challenge we face.”
J. Lee Grady in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

The move has stirred controversy among Messianics, but leaders say it could release God’s blessing in a new way
Some leaders in the Messianic Jewish community are cautiously welcoming a controversial move that is challenging Jews to repent for their historic sins.

Although they recognize some might find the idea of a people who have suffered so much persecution asking forgiveness for their own wrongs hard to swallow, they say such an initiative could release God’s blessing in a new way.

The move centers on a public appeal by David Dreiling, a Messianic believer with a prophetic ministry who says God has told him to “call for repentance by the Jewish people for their sins against the church.” Dreiling’s message was published late last year by The Elijah List, an Internet-based network for those in the prophetic movement.

Dreiling wrote that he repented to “my non-Jewish brethren in Messiah, on behalf of my people, for sins committed by my ancestors against those who first kept and shared the words of the gospel. … We are truly sorry for the pain and hurt that was caused as families were torn apart and lives destroyed because of Jewish prejudice.

“I ask you to forgive our people, even as G-d has required that we freely and with an open heart accept your repentance.”

Dreiling told Charisma that although the appeal was controversial, he has received
an overwhelmingly positive response from Messianic and Gentile believers. His effort, he said, was “getting Gamaliel-ed”–after the name of the Pharisee referred to in the book of Acts, who warned the Sanhedrin against persecuting the early believers.

“People are saying, ‘If this is God, don’t touch it; and if it isn’t, it will go away.'”

Dreiling’s appeal–which he wants to spread to the non-Messianic Jewish community, too–has sparked strong debate among Messianic leaders, said Curt Landry, who leads a Messianic congregation and is treasurer of the International Messianic Jewish Alliance (IMJA).

Since Landry himself shared a similar message–“repenting of the fact that we had been called by the Lord to bring the light into the world, we had not been good stewards”–with a church in Mounds, Okla., both congregations have experienced “an increase in the presence of God,” he added.

Joel Chernoff, president of the IMJA and general secretary of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, said he believes most people would agree with the idea of “taking ownership of things that we need to” and that repentance is “an important, foundational issue for the restoration of the Jewish people.”

But, he added: “Because of 2,000 years of Christian persecution of Jewish people, there are concerns within the Jewish community of anything that would be seen as giving more fuel to the anti-Semites. … There are issues that need to be well-considered if there is going to be a community response to it.”

Chernoff has incorporated Jewish repentance in his music ministry appearances in the last year or so. “We have not been a light to the nations, and fallen short in our calling, and for that I want to apologize and repent,” he said.

Negiel Bigpond, pastor of Morning Star Evangelistic Center, where Landry offered his apology for the failings of the Jewish people, said the initiative deepened the connection between his
predominantly Native American congregation and the Jewish people.

“We are both covenant people, who understand the land issues,” he said. The service with members of Landry’s congregation was “a special moment for us all,” and since then his church has experienced “a freshness and a joy,” he added.

At the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, General Secretary Russ Resnick agreed with the “broad picture” of Jewish repentance but said it would be “a really controversial thing” to suggest taking it to the larger Jewish community.

Jews for Jesus Associate Executive Director Susan Perlman said she did not think Jews or Christians could “take responsibility on a corporate level for sins that those individual Jews and Christians haven’t committed. I don’t see a biblical basis for that.”

Michael Brown, a Messianic Jew who leads one of the training schools born out of the Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, Fla., said he was “somewhat surprised” at Dreiling’s initiative, as Jewish persecution of the early church had primarily been of fellow Jews who had embraced Jesus as the Messiah.

“It was not an instance of Jewish persecution of the church, implying Jewish persecution of Gentiles,” Brown said. His burden is “to call my people to repent of their sins against God and the Messiah–the sin of rejecting the Son of God.”

In his written appeal, Dreiling said he recognized it would be “very hard to hear for my Jewish brethren.” He added: “Even for believing Jews the idea that our people need to repent to the believing world seems ridiculous. They are very clear about anti-Semitism, but are prone to doubt that Jews ever persecuted believers when they were the dominant religious group in the early days of the Church.”
Andy Butcher

Nurses began calling 75-year-old Roy Harthern ‘Miracle Man’ after doctors declared the Florida minister cancer-free
It was the day after Christmas 2001 and Orlando, Fla., minister Roy Harthern was enjoying a visit with family members when his physician and close friend, Don Colbert, called with urgent news. “Roy,” he said, “go to the emergency room immediately. I just received a copy of your latest lab report, and your kidneys have shut down completely.”

Hospital tests confirmed that Harthern’s kidneys had indeed deteriorated even though the 75-year-old felt fine. He was admitted to intensive care, where a doctor
delivered the stunning news–cancer.

“Not only was it inoperable,” Harthern told Charisma, “but they said it had already attacked my lymph nodes and was spreading rapidly throughout my body. Outside of a miracle from God, I would die.”

The news was especially devastating to Harthern, who has been a preacher for 55 years and was pastor for 11 years at one of Orlando’s largest churches, Calvary Assembly of God. “I had preached on healing all my life,” he said, adding that he
had witnessed hundreds of people healed through his ministry and those of others, including his son-in-law Benny Hinn’s.

“I had always believed that God was obligated to heal us just as much as He was obligated to save us, that healing was provided in the atonement,” Harthern said. Now that he was dying of cancer, he questioned his firmly held beliefs. “Had I been preaching the truth or a lie?”

After being admitted to the hospital, Harthern underwent dialysis for his failing kidneys. Then, a month later, in January 2002, Roy and Pauline heard the news they had been waiting for.

“The doctor walked into my room one morning and said, ‘Pastor, I don’t know what’s happened. I have no explanation scientifically or medically, but you have two brand-new kidneys that are functioning normally,'” Harthern said. “‘There’s not a trace of cancer in your body.'”

Harthern wept unashamedly. “They were tears of gratitude and praise to the Lord,” he said. His other doctors confirmed the report, stopping short of calling it a miracle even though the nurses began to call him “Miracle Man.”

Because his doctors were hesitant to accept the genuineness of the healing, they asked Harthern to undergo chemotherapy as a precaution. After praying about it and consulting with Colbert, Harthern consented. He had six treatments, and combined with his stay in intensive care was in the hospital for 50 days.

During that time, Harthern became convinced he had to accept and believe God’s promise in Isaiah 53:5, that by His stripes we are healed. At times it wasn’t easy.

“It didn’t help when I looked in the mirror,” he said. “I lost 45 pounds and all my hair. I was so haggard and thin that I didn’t even recognize myself!”

To make matters worse, his wife, Pauline, says the medical staff cautioned her “to stop having so much hope.”

“They would tell me as I left for the night, not to expect to see him alive the next morning,” she said, “but I refused to accept it.”

After being released, Harthern spent almost a year in bed until he completely recovered his strength. Today, he is well and says he feels stronger than before. He has even started preaching again, sharing his testimony in local churches. He has also received requests to minister in England and Australia.

“I praise God that I’m back in the battlefield–preaching for the Lord Jesus Christ,” he said. “I wouldn’t want anyone to go through what I have gone through. But I wouldn’t exchange the revelation and the visitation of the Holy Spirit that God gave me during those 12 months.”

Harthern says God promised to restore his health, ministry and finances. “He said that He would do something that no man can do … that He would accelerate my ministry during the remaining years of my life. I can hardly wait.
Nancy Justice

Gospel Crusade and its Christian Retreat centers, founded by Gerald Derstine, have touched millions of lives worldwide
When evangelist Gerald Derstine was traveling the United States preaching the gospel 50 years ago in tent revivals, he never dreamed that one day his ministry would have more than 1,000 affiliated churches in 40 countries worldwide.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary in April, Derstine’s Gospel Crusade Inc. has embraced the growth, along with numerous changes, since it was founded by the former Mennonite pastor who experienced a supernatural revival in his church in 1953 that turned his life and ministry upside down.

In the half-century, Gospel Crusade has grown from a financial partnership between Derstine and Florida Mennonite Henry Brunk to a second-generation ministry–Derstine’s son, Phil, is now president–that continues to witness the life-altering power of the Holy Spirit around the world today.

The ministry has spawned the internationally known Christian Retreat centers in Bradenton, Fla.; Ogema, Minn.; and upstate New York. The centers offer camp sessions to teach families, plant churches to support missions work worldwide, and aid church leaders through 10-week ordination sessions and weeklong training workshops.

“I felt a special drawing to teach across denominations about the Holy Spirit,” Gerald Derstine told Charisma.

It wasn’t always easy. In 1955, after witnessing supernatural events such as exuberance in the Spirit, being slain in the Spirit, speaking in tongues and other charismatic manifestations during a revival in his Strawberry Lake Mennonite Church in Ogema, Derstine was removed from the Mennonite church.

“They thought we’d gone crazy, or that it had to be a work of the devil,” he said. “But there were too many confirmations that it was from God.”

Derstine began to evangelize with passion the charismatic message and opened the doors of Strawberry Lake Christian Retreat 39 years ago. Christian Retreat Bradenton–Gospel Crusade’s worldwide headquarters–followed in 1968, and the New York campus opened 12 years ago.

“When we opened here in Bradenton, we held sessions every week of the year, even Christmas week, for the next 18 years,” Derstine said.

Today, the ministry has a local church, Christian Retreat Family Church pastored by Phil Derstine; a TV program named Reality TV; a series of “extreme” evangelistic ministries such as its racetrack ministry–with a car that races for Jesus; the 10-week Institute of Ministry; missions work around the world; and a mobile semitrailer ministry to truck drivers.

“In our ministry training school, we have trained more than 4,500 church leaders since 1975,” Derstine said, “equipping them to go back to their churches and leave a definite impact on their denominations. Almost every denomination has accepted a branch within their denomination now that includes the Holy Spirit and the Spirit-filled.”

The Derstines say they feel blessed that many nationally and internationally known ministers have been guest speakers or have gone through training at Christian Retreats. “Benny Hinn was ordained here at our place,” Gerald Derstine said.

This year the retreat center has hosted such guests as Los Angeles Dream Center pastor Matthew Barnett and evangelist Mike Murdock. A special 50th anniversary meeting will be held April 2-6, with guests including pastors Billy Joe and Sharon Daugherty of Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, Okla.; Vinson Synan, dean of the Regent University Divinity School; Bible teacher Marilyn Hickey; and Jim and Lori Bakker.

Today Gospel Crusade and the retreat centers are looking toward the future, discipling those who flock to them and teaching them to reach out to the world around them. “I think one thing that has characterized us is that we call ourselves interdenominational, not nondenominational,” Phil Derstine said.

“We love to see various denominations–including Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, every denomination–come to learn about the Holy Spirit.”

“We are evangelizing still, as we were from the very beginning,” Gerald Derstine added. “It’s been a great blessing.”
Natalie Nichols Gillespie

Rodney Howard-Browne has vowed to win 100 million souls in memory of his teenage daughter, Kelly
A month after his 18-year-old daughter’s death on Christmas morning, revivalist Rodney Howard-Browne said God has given him “an indescribable, incredible peace, beyond anything I have ever seen.”

As an infant Kelly Howard-Browne was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a terminal genetic disease of the mucus glands. Sufferers have an average life expectancy of 30 years, but Kelly’s doctors in South Africa didn’t expect her to live beyond the age of 4.

“We had seen God heal her many times,” her mother, Adonica Howard-Browne, said. “It wasn’t the doctors [or] the medicine.”

The couple say Kelly loved worship and recorded a song on the church’s Christmas
album despite a failing lung. She also wanted to preach, travel, plant churches and get married someday, her father said. “Kelly never lived with an idea that death was imminent,” he said. “She lived life to the fullest.”

But in late 2001, with her respiratory system weakened, Kelly needed to receive oxygen. She suffered serious bouts with her illness at least once each year, but her father says he realized she might not recover this time. On Christmas Eve 2002, Kelly refused to be put on a ventilator. Her parents said it was the first time in her life that she began to consider she might die of the disease.

Her body began to shake violently, Rodney Howard-Browne recalled, as she told him that her spirit wasn’t afraid of death, but her body was. The couple prayed and sang to her, and rocked her until she died at 4:37 Christmas morning.

“It’s kind of like you go numb,” Adonica Howard-Browne said. “At the time there was a peace, [but] it’s not the easiest thing, to let go of your child. We cry, we grieve. It’s more for us than for [Kelly].”

Known for his “holy laughter” revival meetings that began in Lakeland, Fla., in the 1990s, Rodney Howard-Browne said he felt overwhelmed by the peace of God after Kelly’s death, and his wife said she felt bathed in the love of God.

“God doesn’t see death the way we do,” she said. “We see it as an end. For Kelly, she just stepped over into the fullness of the presence of God.”

Despite their daughter’s death, the Howard-Brownes believe that God heals, and they pray for the sick and continue to see miracles in their ministry. They said they believed God would heal their daughter until the end.

“But ultimately, it was His plan for her [that prevailed], not ours,” Adonica Howard-Browne said.

Kelly’s siblings, Kirsten Bendixen, 20, and Kenneth, 15, were surprised by her death, Adonica Howard-Browne said. “She had been hospitalized so many times before and got better.”

But the family says they have been overwhelmed by the prayers, calls, flowers and e-mails they have received from Christians around the world. Rodney Howard-Browne said the outpouring of prayer and love from the body of Christ, along with the peace of God was “more than I could bear.”

A memorial service was held Dec. 29 at Revival Ministries International in Tampa, Fla., where the couple are pastors, and a smaller, graveside funeral was held Dec. 31. “We miss her, but it’s not grief,” Rodney Howard-Browne said. “We think of her, we’ll have tears come to our eyes, but it’s not despair. This is a hope, which I believe only the Lord could have given.”

Some 30,000 Americans, 3,000 Canadians and 20,000 Europeans are living with cystic fibrosis, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation reports. The Howard-Brownes say parents with terminally ill children should ensure that they know Jesus as Lord, get rid of all fear because the child will sense it and trust God for a complete miracle.

“Stand with them,” Rodney Howard-Browne said. “Don’t try to pretend it’s not there, but really stand with them.”

Howard-Browne said Kelly’s illness helped make the ministry strong because it kept them in constant prayer. “Kelly caused us to fight,” he said. “The more she suffered, the more we attacked the enemy. Right up until she went home, I just wouldn’t quit.

“Kelly is totally healed now,” he added. “She’s better off than any other Christian on the planet. Whether it be 10, 20, 40, 50 years [until we see her again], it’s not long.”

But Howard-Browne is turning his grief into action. “My daughter dying is the worst career move the devil could have made. We’re going after 100 million souls, and he will pay.”
Adrienne S. Gaines

Jerald and Sandra Tanner say a 1999 legal case attracted national exposure that still benefits their ministry
A Utah couple’s decision to post portions of a Mormon handbook on their ministry Web site triggered an unexpected lawsuit that attracted national attention–an action that instead of thwarting their Christian work has benefited it, they say.

The 1999 copyright-infringement suit centered on Jerald and Sandra Tanner and their Utah Lighthouse Ministry’s (ULM) use of the Church Handbook of Instructions, Book 1. The manual addresses several issues of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), including directions on how to officially leave the worldwide church body, headquartered in Salt Lake City.

The Tanners, both former Mormons, are regarded as premier ex-Mormon scholars. They have authored more than 40 books about Mormonism and have extensively studied Mormon history and doctrine. They founded their ministry in 1983 to provide critical research and documentation about the LDS church.

Sandra Tanner said that although both sides ultimately agreed to drop the lawsuit, it gave ULM national exposure that resulted in hundreds more people contacting the ministry through its Web site. “And it hasn’t hampered anything we wanted to do or say,” she said. “It was a face-saving deal for the [Mormon] church.”

LDS spokesman Donald Jessee disagreed. He claims the arrangement forced the Tanners to “cease and desist.”

“The handbook is copyrighted material, not to be given out to anyone other than bishops and state presidents,” he said. “It was never intended to be available to the public.”

Although the Tanners had removed the portions of the LDS handbook from their Web site, they had posted some e-mails they received about the suit. As the Tanners pointed out on their site, “Two of these e-mails contained URLs, or web addresses, purporting to contain all or part of the Handbook. Note, these were never posted on our site as links.”

However, the references caused the Tanners to get caught in a legal firestorm. On Dec. 6, 1999, a judge found the Tanners liable for contributing to copyright infringement. In a written statement the couple said: “The judge reasoned … when a person merely went to one of the sites containing the Handbook, they made an illegal copy, as the text would have been temporarily copied in the computer’s … memory. By our posting Web addresses where a person might be able to find the entire Handbook, we were contributing to their copyright infringement.”

This attracted national attention, with observers saying the judge’s decision could dramatically change the Internet’s future. The suit was settled without the Tanners admitting to any wrongdoing. They were obligated to destroy all the copies of the Handbook in their possession and not to quote more than 50 words of it in any of their newsletters.

The litigation was not the couple’s first time in court. In 1983 a student conducting post-graduate research on the history of the LDS church filed a lawsuit against them, alleging unfair competition and infringement of copyright. A ruling was handed down in the Tanners’ favor after a three-year legal battle.

Another case that involved the Tanners peripherally concerned a young document dealer named Mark Hofmann, who claimed to have found sensational documents relating to the history of the Mormon church. Hofmann even brought one of his first forgeries to the Tanners for inspection.

In 1984 Hofmann claimed to have unearthed a document that could have damaged Mormonism’s credibility. Ironically, Jerald Tanner had serious concerns about the document’s authenticity. “Here you have two apostates from Mormonism challenging the veracity of this letter,” Sandra Tanner said.

When the Mormon church began checking documents more closely, two people ended up dead. Hofmann later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, fraud and theft by deception, and is now serving a prison term.

The Tanners both have Mormon ancestry. Jerald is the great-great-grandson of John Tanner, well-known for his sizeable financial contributions to LDS founder Joseph Smith and the Mormon church in 1835 when it was deeply in debt. Sandra Tanner is a great-great-granddaughter of Mormon leader Brigham Young.

The couple accepted Christ as young adults when they independently began researching the Mormon church. Today they are part of a Christian congregation in Salt Lake City.

Sandra Tanner says the Mormon church has felt ULM’s presence through the years. She notes: “We’ve had great influence in forcing the Mormon church to deal more straightforwardly with their history and acknowledge that there are problems.”
Jeremy Reynalds

BOOKS

Family Guidebook

In-laws, Outlaws and the Functional Family
By Harry R. Jackson Jr.,
Gospel Light, paperback,
192 pages, $

The traditional Western family may perhaps be the next item to be placed on any endangered species list–with the culture of divorce; homosexual adoptions and child-rearing; violence, drug use and promiscuity among youth; and all manner of societal factors working against encouraging healthy families. Harry R. Jackson Jr. has worked to provide a resource with which to build strong families in In-laws, Outlaws and the Functional Family.

Jackson is the senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in the Washington, D.C., area. He focuses on offering a manual of sorts for individual families to use to develop a game plan to stop power struggles within marriage, raise each child to have a personal sense of destiny, develop strong values and principles in children, and help women and daughters use their unique influence to promote godliness.

Jackson uses his own failures and successes as a father and husband, as well as his years of pastoral counseling experience to navigate. He includes anecdotes from historical and religious figures to provide living color to his points. Jackson, who has earned an . from Harvard, appears weekly on The Hope Connection, and the ministry includes a Bible college and an active missions ministry involved in sending worship and teaching teams to various nations.

In-laws, Outlaws and the Functional Family is a good read for anyone looking for advice on raising godly children and cultivating strong family relationships.
Tracee N. Mason

A Heart of Worship

Kissing the Face of God
By Sam Hinn, Charisma House,
paperback, 208 pages, $

Worship leaders frequently liken a life of worship to conceiving a child. In order to have a productive relationship, one must embrace an unmatched level of intimacy. This is the type of intimacy God is longing for, writes Sam Hinn in his book Kissing the Face of God. Brother of well-known televangelist Benny Hinn and senior pastor of The Gathering Place Worship Center in Sanford, Florida, Hinn says God is beckoning His children into a deeper level of communion with Him through worship.

Hinn writes that God is giving His children a longing for Him, an unquenchable thirst. Through this thirst, we must long for God Himself–His presence, not His presents. Hinn goes on to highlight the hindrances of true worship, and discusses the importance of prayer and what can interrupt the smooth flow of communication between God and man. He speaks of the coming glory he believes God will be sending to His church.

Then Hinn closes the book with the poignant reminder that worship is meaningless if in the end it doesn’t burden our souls to reach the lost. This book is an essential component, not only for the worship leader, but also for the worshiper seeking a deeper intimacy with God.
Andrea R. Williams

MUSIC

Sixpence Sings of ‘Divine Discontent’

Divine Discontent
By Sixpence None the Richer,
Reprise Records/Squint Entertainment.

In 1997, Sixpence None the Richer climbed the charts with a song called “Kiss Me” that brought big success. But shortly after landing on top, the band was caught in limbo after their label splintered. After a long caught-in-limbo hiatus, the group is back with a new breezy pop album, Divine Discontent.

Lead singer Leigh Nash carries a soothing, melodic voice to breathe life and hope into lyrics that often express doubt, confess struggles and question life. The album isn’t overly preachy, but rather loaded with observations that carry double meanings.

“Breathe Your Name” could be sung both about an earthly companion and God. “Waiting on the Sun” could be restated as “Waiting on the Son.” Most of the cuts, including the upbeat “Tonight” and a cover of Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over” could stand on their own as singles.

Overall, the album is more refined and studio-polished than their last recording but carries the trademark contemplative lyrics, clever hooks and pop sound that make this a great album.

Margaret Feinberg

Teaching Character

Character Classics
By Tony Salerno,
Character Building Company.

Here’s a good CD to play for the kids while you’re driving or if you’re trying to emphasize good behavior in a classroom. There are even storybooks and activity books for visual accompaniment.

Tony Salerno has been creating character-building media for children for almost 30 years. Salerno created the award-winning Music Machine and Bullfrogs and Butterflies. His Character Building Company was formed to continue teaching positive character traits.

The Character Classics series uses classical melodies from composers such as Mozart, Bach, Mendelssohn, Strauss and Beethoven to teach principles that encourage good character. Captain Kind is a friend to everyone, saves the day and can stop a fight before it begins–all to music from the opera Carmen.

The orchestration is top quality and does not grow boring after repeated play. The recording artists bring such character to the lyrics, such as the bravado of Captain Kind, you will find yourself imitating them randomly.

It’s a simple approach, and there is nothing to substitute for being a model of good character, but these are abstract ideas and explaining them to young children is not always simple to do. The Character Classics series covers confidence, love, goodness, faith, honesty, responsibility, obedience and more.

But rather than being used to shame or scold children, the series seems aimed at getting kids thinking. Parents, teachers and even principals rave about the effect.

Putting these character goals in a fun package children can see and hear and draw makes them appealing, and there is nothing like music to fix ideas in your head.
Marsha Gallardo

Wells provide a life-giving substance that flows beneath the surface. With this imagery in mind, mega-church pastor Rod Parsley encourages Christians to remember the ancient wells that serve as the foundation of the Christian faith. In Ancient Wells Living Water (Charisma House), Parsley explores 10 wells of scriptural doctrine that he believes the church desperately needs to redig.

These include the one Martin Luther dug when he denounced the doctrine of salvation by works and reminded the world that salvation was through grace alone. Parsley writes also of John Wesley’s well of holiness, E.M. Bounds’ well of prayer, Charles Finney’s well of revival and John G. Lake’s well of healing.

“We owe an immense debt of gratitude to pioneers like these, who showed us the way to redig the mighty wells of doctrine so that we may drink freely of their cool waters in our desert of modern humanism, pessimism, New-Ageism and worldwide anti-Christian movements,” Parsley writes.

Parsley says people are thirsty for truth, purity and security. God has an abundant supply “if we return to the wells of our fathers, dig them free of the dirt of doubt and the rocks of religion and reclaim our spiritual inheritance.”

These truths can cause a spiritual rejuvenation, Parsley says, so that “the well of God in our hearts will fill to overflowing with His power, provision and presence, so we can rediscover God’s plan of redemption for mankind.”
Adrienne S. Gaines

CHARISMA RECOMMENDS

Natural Health Remedies
By Janet Maccaro, Ph.D., .;
Siloam Press;
252 pages; paperback; $

Respected author and radio and TV personality Janet Maccaro offers a complete guide on natural remedies. She explains the body’s grand design, arms readers with necessary tools to prevent illness, explains why and how to detoxify the body, and much more. She believes now is the time to be renewed and restored to good health naturally.

The Word on Healing
By Richard S. Fleischer, M.D.;
Creation House Press;
133 pages; paperback; $

Dr. Richard S. Fleischer says that we should not just believe the reports about medical conditions; we should also allow the Word of God to change those “facts” into the truth. Blending his knowledge as a Christian and physician, he has cross-referenced all the Scriptures on healing, including references on health issues such as barrenness, blindness, fear, anxiety, broken-heartedness and more. Fleischer wants readers to know that God wants to heal us spirit, soul and body.

Another Way
By Jim D. Seratt,
Creation House Press,
156 pages, paperback, $.

We must be wary of taking the route of comfort at the expense of missing the path of the Comforter, Jim D. Seratt writes in Another Way. He offers a prophetic challenge to live a life of the cross–fulfillment through self-denial rather than self-assertion. We must be willing to release control of our lives and understand that God can make so much more of us than we could ever imagine–if only we’ll choose to live another way.

Clean House–Strong House
By Kimberly Daniels,
Charisma House,
224 pages, paperback, $.

Jesus came to set us free! Kimberly Daniels’ book Clean House–Strong House is spiritual warfare training 101. Daniels clearly and simply explains that with God’s power and protection we can take back what has been stolen from us and kick Satan out of our lives forever.

Islam and the Jews: The Unfinished Battle
By Mark A. Gabriel, Ph.D.;
Charisma House;
224 pages; paperback; $.

Former professor of Islamic history, Mark A. Gabriel, Ph.D., helps Christians understand the deep hatred between Jews and Muslims. Included in this book are chapters for Christians with information about the challenges of sharing the gospel with Muslims and Jews, testimonies from former members of the PLO and instruction on how to pray for Muslims and Jews.

To order these books call (800) 599-5750 or go to .

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The Lord has been showing me that worship is so much more than simply singing songs.
The Heart of Worship” by Matt Redman is a song I hear everywhere I go. It was written after the leaders of Redman’s church in England realized that the congregation had lost some of the dynamic that occurs in worship when people are totally involved at a heart level.

In response, Redman said in a recent interview, “The pastor made a brave move: He ‘banned’ the band!” For a while after the pastor took away their props, Redman led worship with only an acoustic guitar or, at times, just voices.

During this season of abstinence from the outward trappings of worship, Redman says everything was stripped away “to check where our hearts were at,” and he was led to write the words to the song that has become so popular: “When the music fades, all is stripped away, and I simply come, longing just to bring something that’s of worth, that will bless Your heart. I’ll bring You more than a song, for a song in itself is not what You have required. You search much deeper within, through the ways things appear; You’re looking into my heart.”

Clearly, worship is not something new; it existed before the beginning of the world. As John Piper writes, “The chief aim of God is to glorify God and enjoy Himself forever.”

However, for too many of us, “worship” is a service we attend on Sunday mornings. Even in charismatic circles, in which the time of praise and worship is an important segment of the service, we tend to interpret praise as the fast songs and worship as the slow songs we sing before the announcements and the offering.

In many charismatic churches, the music is often performed by trained musicians whose worship music is slick enough for a concert hall or TV performance. Like Redman’s church, we just follow the worship leader, singing the well-rehearsed songs projected on a screen and calling that worship.

The Lord has been showing me it is so much more! King David, who according to scriptural accounts was a worshiper and a man after God’s own heart, understood the true nature of worship. And the book of Acts prophesies that the kingdom of David will be restored (see 15:16). Many interpret the prophecy to mean that the Tabernacle of David–where worship occurred around the clock–will be reinstated in the church.

I believe God is calling not just Redman’s church but also the entire body of Christ back to “the heart of worship.” We need to be reminded, as his song says, that “It’s all about You, it’s all about You, Jesus.”

Recently during a time of fasting and prayer I went to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri, headed by my friend Mike Bickle, where intercessory worship goes on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. More than 400 people from around the country have moved to Kansas City to be a part of this ministry. It’s phenomenal, and I felt as if I had a true worship experience basking in the presence of God for three days for hours at a time.

But worship is more than just meditating in God’s presence, as Dick Eastman, president of Every Home for Christ, has helped me see. In his wonderful Delight trilogy (Regal) he maintains that the fulfillment of the prophecy the apostle James quotes in Acts 15:17 (NLT), which declares that “‘the rest of humanity'” will “‘find the Lord, including the Gentiles'” hinges on the restoration of the spirit of intercessory worship to a degree unlike anything the world has ever experienced. He writes in Heights of Delight (2002), “I am convinced that only a restoration of a passion for God’s presence will transform whole nations.”

If Eastman is right, the only way we will fulfill the Great Commission–Jesus’ mandate to go and make disciples of all nations (see Matt. 28:19)–is to have a revival of worship-filled intercession in the church. This is not an outlandish claim.

After all, as Eastman notes in his book, “Fasting and worship … produced powerful results when linked to proclaiming the gospel” in the days of the apostles. In light of this truth, I pray: May we all come to an understanding of both the importance of worship in our own lives and its crucial role in the expansion of God’s kingdom on Earth.

Carlton Pearson defends his belief that Hindus and Buddhists will go to heaven.
Bishop Carlton Pearson says for years he has been preaching a “more appealing and attractive message of God’s unconditional love for all.”

But after he lost a bid for mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, last year and a Charisma article called attention to his “new” doctrinal stance, Pearson came under widespread public scrutiny regarding his teaching of universal reconciliation or “gospel of inclusion,” which promotes the idea that confession in Jesus as Savior is not a requirement to go to heaven.

The pastor of Tulsa’s Higher Dimensions Family Church has said he will stand by his commitment to preach universal reconciliation, despite a mass exodus of his congregation, a large drop in numbers at his annual Azusa summer conference and outright rejection by high-profile leaders. Pearson agreed to answer questions from Charisma about his controversial doctrine.

How did you come to adopt your new view of salvation?

I was influenced into this thinking in much the same way as Paul in Galatians1:11-20 described his indoctrination into a more inclusive gospel that reached outside normal Jewish circles.

Do you teach that Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims will go to heaven? What do you believe about other religions?

Second Corinthians 5:16 implies that the gospel is not biased and doesn’t judge people and/or God’s love for them based on religious or cultural outward appearances. Acts 17:26-29 indicates that we are all children of God and that He is not far from any of us.

What do you teach about hell?

I believe some will go to hell (see Heb. 6:4-6; 10:26-31), but since the gates of hell will not prevail (see Matt. 16:18), the only people who will spend eternity there are those whom Jesus failed to redeem-those whom His blood was too weak to reach and wash (see 1 John 2:1-2; 1 Cor. 3:10-15; 1 Cor. 5:5).

Many of your Christian mentors, such as Oral Roberts, have distanced themselves from you, saying that you are in error. Do you believe they are in error?

Those who have distanced themselves from me are as sincerely convinced of their opinions as I am of mine. I love and respect them all, especially Oral Roberts, my father in ministry.

You have also made some statements about homosexuals that would be considered radical in the evangelical-charismatic mainstream. Do you believe that practicing homosexuals will go to heaven?

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not a demand for righteousness; it is a declaration of it. Homosexual sins or sinners are no more sinful than heterosexual sins or sinners.

There are two Greek words for sin that help me understand how practicing sinners can still go to heaven. One is hamartia (“offense”). John 1:29 refers to Jesus as “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin (harmartia) of the world” (NKJV). Another one is hamartano (“to miss the mark”) as used in 1 John 2:1-2, “If anyone sins [hamartano], we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous [One].” John goes on to say, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins [hamartia]-and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world” (v. 2, NIV).

Second Corinthians 5:19 says, “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.” Because of Calvary, God does not count men’s sins against them; why do we?

What impact has your teaching on universalism had on your ministry?

In the broadest sense of my reality, my teachings on Inclusion have grown my church to thousands even if most of them are outside its walls. For the first time in my 30 years of preaching, Jews, Hindus, Muslims and even atheists are listening to my message and considering it relevant and appealing to their hearts. The audience for the message of Inclusion is huge. It is global and crosses all ethnic, cultural and religious barriers. It is indeed, as we were taught at Oral Roberts University, “going into every man’s world.”

What is the biggest misconception about your teaching on universalism?

Some interpret our inclusion of other religions in the redemptive work of the cross as a suggestion that there are other ways to God than the way of the cross or of Christ. Nothing’s further from the truth.

I teach that Jesus is everybody’s way to life and God, as Adam was everybody’s way to sin and death. Nobody gets to vote on such realities. They are automatic (see Rom. 5:12-14).

Any other comments on universalism?

According to Isaiah 53:5, Jesus paid the full price for our peace with God. If, in fact, He paid the full price for the full purchase, why would He settle for less? He did not finance His repurchasing (redeeming) of the world to God; He paid it in the cash and currency of His own life and blood.

If you purchased 1,000 acres of land and paid for it in full, would you be satisfied to get the deed for only 10 acres? He paid it all, He owns it all. We don’t have a vote on it. It was done before the foundation of the world (see Rev. 13:8).

What has the Lord showed you regarding the controversy over your teaching of universalism?

Nothing is new under the sun. Not only is what I am preaching not new, but the controversy around it is also common to all new views or presentations of Truth. The difference between a heretic and a prophet is often time.

This interview was conducted by Charisma associate editor Eric Tiansay.

Rick Husband and Michael Anderson were members of Grace Community Church in Houston
After the Columbia spacecraft disintegrated on Feb. 1, international news media fulfilled space shuttle Commander Rick Husband’s last wish. TV and newspaper reports widely reported the deep Christian faith of the 45-year-old astronaut, whose final pre-mission instructions to his pastor included the plea to “tell them about Jesus–He means everything to me.”

His pastor, Steve Riggle of Grace Community Church in Houston, honored that request during a special memorial service for Husband and Columbia Payload Commander Michael Anderson, who also attended the charismatic church. Riggle spoke about heaven, and offered attendees tapes explaining how to have a
relationship with Christ.

The astronauts’ friends and relatives say they would have wanted the focus to be on Jesus, not on their personal accomplishments. “You can’t talk to anybody who is close to either of them without the word ‘humble’ coming up,” said Russell Naisbitt, men’s ministry leader at Grace Community. “They were both unassuming, humble men.”

“Mike loved what he was doing and was very focused. He was committed to his faith and family,” said his wife, Sandy Anderson, in a videotaped interview with Riggle that was shown at the memorial service held at Grace Community. Anderson left behind two daughters: Sydney, 11, and Kaycee, 9.

“Rick had his priorities straight, and God made sure of that before we came here,” said Evelyn Husband, who became prayer partners with Sandy when their husbands were assigned to the mission. “Rick loved the Lord, and that was his first and foremost priority. My children and I were a very close second.”

Husband talked about his priorities in a recent videotaped interview with Riggle. He said that before becoming an astronaut, he received a letter from a friend who had been assigned to fly an airplane he had always wanted to pilot. In the letter, his friend referred to Psalm 37:4: “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

Husband said he felt God was asking him, “What are the desires of your heart?”

“Initially, the first thing that I brought to mind was I want to be an astronaut,” he said. “Then, it was like God said, ‘Think about it for a little while and tell me what really is the desire of your heart.'”

Husband said, “I finally came to realize that what meant the most to me was to try and live my life the way God wanted me to and to be a good husband to Evelyn and a good father to my children. … It was like a light came on all of a sudden where I finally realized that this thing about being an astronaut was not as important as I thought it was.”

Despite a rigorous prelaunch schedule, Husband made devotional tapes that his two children (Laura, 12, and Matthew, 7) watched each of the 16 days he was in space and the day of the landing.

Although the news about Columbia was devastating for Evelyn and Sandy, Riggle said, they have shown incredible strength and depth. “I can’t think of anything worse than this,” Evelyn said, “but He is carrying us through. … My God is incredibly strong, and that’s where my strength comes from.”

Before the launch, Evelyn hosted a reception at Calvary Chapel in Merritt Island, Fla. Participating in the event were Steve Green, a Christian singer whom Husband met four years ago; Zola Levitt, a Jewish believer who heads up a teaching and evangelistic ministry; and Doug Stringer, founder of Somebody Cares, an inner-city ministry in Houston.

“Rick gave his witness in a very simple and natural way,” Green said. “Some
people make [spiritual] statements, and it’s irritating because the rest of their life undermines it. Rick made those statements, and everyone quietly respected him because the whole of his life validated those statements.”

Since the tragedy, Naisbitt said men in his home group have remarked that Husband and Anderson presented them with a challenge “to move to a deeper relationship with God–a higher level of consecration–so that people can view our lives the way we viewed theirs.”

“I think their lives were like a seed that was planted, and we’re going to watch and see what grows and becomes of this,” said Sandy, noting the huge risks all of the astronauts were willing to take. “We need people who are willing to take those risks and climb those heights.”

Michael FitzPatrick, an environmental systems flight controller for a NASA contractor, said his shift for STS-107 ended two days before the tragedy. When he saw the events unfold on the news, he was in disbelief. “As flight controllers, we’re used to being the heroes–if something goes wrong, we fix it,” he said. “In this case, we didn’t get a chance.”

A member of Grace Community, FitzPatrick has been involved in prayer groups at Johnson Space Center (JSC) for about 12 years. In 2001 he started walking the inner campus on Saturdays to pray for the staff. At the end of that year, he started a worship group that now meets every third Thursday on site.

After going through some significant red tape, he formed the “JSC Praise and Worship Club,” and 20 to 60 people meet each month to have praise and worship during the lunch hour. Local pastors, he said, will be attending upcoming meetings to pray with those who would like personal prayer.

Stringer believes the recent tragedies in America are signs that “it is time to watch and pray,” referring to 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11. “We should be preparing our hearts for the ark of His presence and preparing the church as an ark of refuge–for shakings are coming around the world. The body of Christ should be an ark of refuge for people coming to find their hope and answers in Christ.”
Carol Chapman Stertzer in Dallas