President of Guatemala Alejandro Giammattei proclaimed his country the “pro-life capital of Latin America” for its ongoing vow to protect the sanctity of life and defend the unborn. In a presentation at the recent Ibero-American Congress for Life and Family in Guatemala City, he also declared an annual “National Day of Life and Family” and unveiled a “Monument for Life” at the National Palace.

Giammattei has been a vocal critic of pressure from U.S. and Western nations promoting pro-choice policies in other countries. Giammattei in 2020 prohibited abortion provider Planned Parenthood from setting up operations in Guatemala. The Family Research Council reported the following year that Giammattei added Guatemala to the nearly three dozen other nations signing on to the Geneva Consensus Declaration that upholds there is no international right to abortion.

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, co-founders of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary recently. The year 2022 also marks 55 years since Kenneth responded to God’s call to ministry received in an Arkansas riverbed, leading to the formation of KCM.

“When Ken and I married, we began a journey that led us both to the light of the world,” Gloria tells their ministry’s magazine, Believer’s Voice of Victory. The couple had only met once, but at the end of their first date Kenneth proposed.

“The only thing more shocking than that was what I heard myself say, ‘Yes,'” Gloria says.

As Kenneth recalls, he walked her to her front porch and asked, “Will you marry me?” After she said yes, she went inside and closed the door, leaving him, as he puts it, “Standing there stammering and muttering in disbelief.”

Six decades later, the Copelands have built a global ministry that has brought the Good News to hundreds of millions of people through a wide spectrum of media, ministries, outreach and programming touching every corner of the globe each day.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries preached the Word of Faith around the world in 2021. The seminal program Believer’s Voice of Victory began its 42nd year on television and 45th year by radio, having reached billions of viewers and listeners. KCM’s Victory Channel on-demand portal counts:

• over 600,000 YouTube subscribers
• over 21 million video views
• averaging over 77,000 views every day.

The ministry continued spreading the gospel through many different products:

• over 80 million products distributed over the ministry’s lifetime
• over 3 million free copies of Believer’s Voice of Victory Magazine
• nearly 10,000 Salvation Packages sent
• over 300,000 copies of books and other ministry products to prison chaplains and prisoners.

KCM is charging into social media with 3.4 million Facebook followers, and over 500,000 on Instagram and 650,000 on Twitter

Eagle Mountain International Church near ministry headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, hosted weekly services counting almost a thousand worshippers in-person and over 10,000 remote worshippers viewing online from over 35 countries.

Twitter locked the account of The Babylon Bee recently for alleged “hateful conduct” after the leading satire website named U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine its “Man of the Year.” Levine is a biological male but identifies as female. Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon took to Instagram to announce their account was locked. Twitter claimed the tweet violated its ever-shifting rules of acceptable speech. A few days later, USA Today named Levine its “Woman of the Year.”

“We’re not deleting anything. Truth is not hate speech” Dillon said on Instagram.

The Babylon Bee has been through dubious allegations before. The Twitter episode marks the latest skirmish in the cancel culture battles over censorship by Big Tech.

In the past few decades, young girls and boys increasingly have been sexualized in dance and performance arts with erotic moves and sexually explicit music. “Young girls look and act like mature women,” according to Dance Awareness, an organization committed to “bring awareness and education to adults in order to stop the hypersexualization of children in dance.”

The group cites many effects of the sexualization of children, including eating disorders, poor academic performance, teen pregnancy, higher risk of abusive relationships and co-dependence, among others.

Dance Awareness leads a movement to protect children through resources including the ebook Healthy or Harmful Children’s Dance and social media. It began as an offshoot of SonLight Dance, a studio created to honor John 12:35-36 (NIV): “The man who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going; put your trust in the light while you have it so that you may become sons of light.” Dance Awareness later spun off, while SonLight became Soul to Sole Choreography.

Dr. Gerald Derstine, founder of the Christian Retreat conference sites and former president of Gospel Crusade Inc., died recently at age 93. The ministry announced his passing on Facebook, “Our beloved founder … transitioned peacefully to glory … Thank you for your fervent prayers on his behalf over the past few weeks. … He has left a legacy that will continue to impact millions worldwide.”

Derstine was a newlywed in Minnesota when he and his new bride visited a Pentecostal revival in Michigan in 1949. Energized by Pentecostal evangelist T. L. Osborn, he felt a call to ministry, later joining his uncle’s Mennonite church in northern Minnesota.

Outpourings of the Holy Spirit and revivals followed, but the charismatic events did not sit well with Mennonite leadership. Derstine was threatened with removal from ministry unless he publicly stated the supernatural manifestations were an act of Satan. The young pastor stood strong in the Holy Spirit and refused, and his ministry blossomed. He would later reconcile with the Mennonite church.

Derstine followed the Holy Spirit’s guidance to Bradenton, Florida, popular with the Mennonite community for winter vacation homes. In 1968, he acquired 110 acres in Bradenton and founded the first Christian Retreat charismatic conference site.

In 2020, Derstine donated a large volume of his ministry materials and archives to the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center in Springfield, Missouri. He is survived by his second wife, Shirley; son and daughter-in-law, Pastors Phil and Jannette Derstine; and other family.

During the worst of the pandemic in 2020, Lee Grady led an Indian man named Mahipal to faith in Jesus and began discipling him. A few months later, the man’s Indian boss, Venkat, also decided to follow Jesus after watching the change in Mahipal’s life. At that point, Grady began writing a Bible study to help these men understand the basics of Christianity.

Grady then expanded the study, which consists of 30 short lessons on the character of God, the Trinity, what Jesus did for us on the cross, the Resurrection, water baptism, why the Bible is the Word of God, why we need the church, the priority of prayer, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and many other topics. Published as a companion book with Lee’s 2022 book Follow Me: Make Disciples Like Jesus Did, the Bible study releases in May from Charisma House.

“People often ask me what book they can use to help a new Christian grow strong,” Grady says. “There are many great resources out there. I wrote Let’s Go Deeper especially for people who don’t have a faith background, or they don’t know much about the Bible.” The Bible study, which includes fill-in-the-blank questions as well as discussion questions for a small group, can be used with teens as well as adults of all ages.

Order the book at or from your local bookstore or favorite online retailer.

When you spend time worshipping and loving the Lord, you minister to the Lord, not for the Lord. Your ministry to the Lord is the foundation of your ministry for the Lord. This is a compelling truth. Let it soak into your very being.

Your ministry to the Lord is the foundation of your ministry for the Lord.

Deuteronomy 10:8 (KJV) talks about God establishing the Levitical order:

— “At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.”

— God established a whole tribe assigned to do one thing only: minister to the Lord. They were to stand before the Lord to minister unto Him.

Our ministry to God comes before our ministry for God. You cannot minister to people if you have not ministered to Him first, because you can’t give away what you don’t have. If you’ve been in His presence, you can take people there. If you’ve been in His presence, you know exactly how to get in and take them with you. When you worship, He shows up.

The Scripture in 1 Samuel 3:1 says that Israel was going through spiritual dryness, a season of spiritual famine. The voice of the Lord was not heard: “And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision.” One can’t help but notice that this is the condition of America and the world now.

Samuel started ministering to the Lord when he was a child, which brought back the prophetic. When Samuel lay down, the Lord called his name. He did not even recognize the voice of the Lord the first, second or third time. Then, the fourth time, he realized it was the Lord speaking. But why did God speak to him? Because he was ministering to the Lord. When you start worshipping, God will talk to you. It’s quite simple. He even spoke to a little boy who had never heard His voice before.

In 1 Samuel 3 God visited Israel because of a little boy, and in 2 Chronicles 5:13 Solomon finished building the temple. God didn’t show up when they finished the building. He didn’t show up when they sacrificed all the animals. He showed up when all the people of Israel worshipped the Lord in one voice. The glory of God descended. In 2 Chronicles 7:1–3 the fire also fell on Israel because they ministered to the Lord.

In Acts 13 God called the apostle Paul while he ministered to the Lord. Verse 2 says, “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul [who became known as Paul] for the work whereunto I have called them.” God did not call Paul on the road to Damascus. God didn’t call him when he went to Arabia either. Paul went to Arabia for 14 years and then came to Jerusalem to ensure that what he had heard and seen was true. He went back into tentmaking in his hometown.

Barnabas found him and brought him to Antioch, which is present-day Syria. While he was in Antioch ministering to the Lord, God said, “Now I want him.” They were ministering to the Lord. Every time worship moves, God moves, calling people into ministry like Paul.

Do you want God to call you into ministry? Do you want to be used of God? Today, begin to minister to God; make it your priority. The practice of your ministry to the Lord will be the foundation, the launching pad of your ministry for the Lord. {eoa}

The preceding was excerpted from chapter 13 of Benny Hinn’s book Mysteries of the Anointing (Charisma House, 2022). For more information or to order the book, please visit .

Read articles like this one and other Spirit-led content in our new platform, CHARISMA PLUS.

Very few people have gotten to the place of total transformation, perhaps because there aren’t many willing to pay the price. But before the Lord takes me home, I want to get there.

A young pastor from Nigeria once asked me a powerful question. He said, “Is it possible to become one with God, and have you known people who were one with God?” I told him that of course it’s possible because that was the prayer of the Lord in John Chapter 17.

“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:20–21, KJV).

I have known of three people who were one with God. All of them were women: Basilea Schlink, Corrie ten Boom and Kathryn Kuhlman. Let me tell you a little about each of them.

Basilea Schlink

Basilea Schlink was born in Germany in 1904. Her university studies included a thesis on sin consciousness and its effect on faith. A leader in the Student Christian Movement, she came under investigation by the Nazis during World War II for her stand in defense of the Jews. After the war ended, Schlink understood the importance of repentance for the atrocities committed by her homeland. She decided instead of marrying, she would remain single and devote her life to Christ. In 1947 she co-founded The Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary and served there until her death in 2001, sharing her faith with others and authoring 10 books.

I went to the place she founded, called Canaan, in Darmstadt, Germany. The presence of the Lord in that place was so powerful that I began to weep. I went to the chapel, and I did not want to walk out. It was like being in heaven inside that chapel. It was empty, but the presence of God in that place was so glorious, so real, that it felt as if I had gone to heaven and was walking with the Lord in glory. I felt that presence because Basilea Schlink walked in total transformation. She knew the Lord and was one with the Lord.

Corrie ten Boom

Corrie ten Boom was born in the Netherlands in 1892. A watchmaker by trade, following in her father’s profession, she was part of the Dutch Reformed Church and served the people of her neighborhood and established a youth club. After Germany invaded the Netherlands in World War II, youth clubs were banned and Jews were persecuted. The ten Boom family took in Jewish refugees, hiding them from the Nazis. For this, she and other members of her family were arrested; she and her family were confined in German concentration camps. Some did not survive the war, but she did.

When ten Boom preached, her face glowed, and I was mesmerized that Jesus walked into the room when that lady walked on the platform.

Kathryn Kuhlman

Kathryn Kuhlman was born in Missouri in 1907. She began preaching at the age of 14, traveling with her older sister and brother-in-law. In the 1940s she began holding healing crusades and continued her crusades into the 1970s. Her weekly television program, I Believe in Miracles, extended her ministry’s outreach, and she authored several books over these years. An estimated 2 million people reported healings through her ministry. She was diagnosed with a heart problem in her late 40s but refused to allow this to impact her ministry.

Kathryn Kuhlman embodied total transformation and oneness with the Lord. I can’t tell you how often I sat in her meetings at First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh and saw her face glowing. The presence of the Lord was manifested within her in such a glorious way that it is difficult to describe in words. This total transformation made Jesus a reality in her daily life. When Kuhlman walked on the platform, the reality of Christ in her life was now in the whole building. The presence of Christ Jesus saturated the entire place, and it immersed everyone in it.

Now think about what would have happened if there were no such reality of Jesus in her life when she walked onto the platform. The crowd would have gotten entertainment, signs, wonders and good preaching, but those things can’t change us. The reality of the Lord Jesus is what changes us. The reality in Ms. Kuhlman’s life combined with the power on her, and when she walked on the platform, the power on her transmitted the reality in her.

When the power of God comes on you, it transmits what’s inside you to everyone around you. They sense it; they feel it; they become part of it. {eoa}

The preceding is excerpted from chapter 6 of Benny Hinn’s book, Mysteries of the Anointing (Charisma House, 2022). For more information or to order the book, please visit .

Pastor Benny Hinn is known around the globe as a noted evangelist, teacher and the author of bestselling books, including Good Morning, Holy Spirit; Prayer That Gets Results; Blood in the Sand and Lamb of God. His television program, This Is Your Day, is among the world’s most-watched Christian programs, seen daily in 200 countries. His popular website and ministry app reach millions of people every single day in areas of the world that may not otherwise hear about the gospel. Through his ongoing multimedia outreach, Pastor Benny continues to take the message of God’s life-saving and miracle-working power around the globe, and to go “into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

Read articles like this one and other Spirit-led content in our new platform, CHARISMA PLUS.

We cannot worship until we have entered in through praise. Psalm 100:4a (KJV) says we “enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.” Praise erupts in the courts and brings us to the doorway. As we enter, our thanksgiving and praise lead us into worship.

We must never insult Him by praising Him halfway. If we return to Psalm 95:3–5, we see why we have to praise God with our whole hearts.

“For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.”

I once traveled to Sinai, and I will never forget the experience of climbing Mount Sinai at night. Because there was no pollution, we could clearly see the Milky Way. At the sight of it we broke into spontaneous, exuberant praise like never before. Everything in us erupted, and we began shouting our praises with tears flowing down our cheeks. We realized God’s greatness because we saw the Milky Way. Isaiah 40:12 says God marked off the heavens with the span of His hand. God created the stars of the midnight sky. Scripture declares God counts the stars and gives them names. Oh, what a mighty God we serve!

Nature reveals His greatness to us, but only the Holy Spirit can reveal His holiness. When you see His holiness, your attitude toward Him and the way you interact with Him will completely change. You will fall on your face and worship the Lord. This depth of worship will transform your life.

Praise crucifies the flesh, and worship puts a new robe on us. As you dismantle the influence of your flesh through praise, it falls into submission to Him. Now as you dress yourself in the robe of worship, you invite God’s presence in a new way.

You can see how this process progresses. First, you destroy the weaknesses of your flesh with the praise; then you pick up the robe of worship and put it on. When you add the deeper level of worship to your praise, you elevate yourself into a closer encounter with the presence of God.

We see this shift from praise to worship in David’s call to worship.

“O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice” (Ps. 95:6–7).

He is our God. He is the only being worthy of worship. You may be permitted to praise a person, but you are not allowed to worship a person. You may only worship God. One reason is that whatever you worship will control you.

Many people worship other people, and they come under bondage. They are controlled by an individual they have thought of too highly. They placed that person on a pedestal, but soon everything came crashing down.

If we do not worship the Lord, then is He really our God? Is He really our Lord? Remember what the Lord Jesus says in Matthew 7, and I’m paraphrasing: “You call me Lord, but you don’t live it.” How does this happen to people? They stop living it because they stop worshipping Him as Lord. Worship is the key.

We worship because we are responding to His love, His care. Psalm 95:7b says, “We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” That shows that we are in His care, and we worship in response to receiving that care.

Amazingly the psalm doesn’t end here; it closes with a warning. Verses 8–11 say,

Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

Worship brings us into faith, and faith brings us into rest. But what is His rest? Rest means no more striving. You do not have to work to achieve His rest; you just have to receive it. He has done it all, so enter in and rest. The Christian life is not all “do, do, do.” The Lord Jesus didn’t say, “Do” on the cross. He said, “Done.”

Now, this brings a decision before us: Do we worship or not? When we worship, we hear His voice. Upon hearing His voice, we obey and enter His rest. So, worship brings us into rest. Jeremiah talked about this too.

“But this thing commanded I them, saying, ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you” (Jer. 7:23).

If it is well with you, you are in a place of blessings and rest. It’s not about prayer and fasting, begging and pleading, pounding the floor, and concluding that God is not listening to you. You are not trying to make it happen; it is happening by itself. Again, obedience follows worship. Worship produces obedience. Praise does not produce obedience; worship does. You see, the moment you move from praise into worship, you hear His voice. Once you obey His voice, there is rest.

Worship is vital. People who don’t worship are dry and dead. And when they try to minister, it is obvious there is no anointing there. You just want it to stop because it is powerless. But when true worshippers minister, the atmosphere becomes charged with dynamic power. The presence of God cannot be mistaken here. Everyone is glued to every single thing that these worshippers say and do because God is there with them. When praise turns to worship, everything changes. The climate shifts and lives are transformed. You can sense His presence best in an atmosphere of worship. {eoa}

Pastor Benny Hinn is known around the globe as a noted evangelist, teacher and the author of bestselling books, including Good Morning, Holy Spirit; Prayer That Gets Results; Blood in the Sand and Lamb of God. His television program, This Is Your Day, is among the world’s most-watched Christian programs, seen daily in 200 countries. His popular website and ministry app reach millions of people every single day in areas of the world that may not otherwise hear about the gospel. Through his ongoing multimedia outreach, Pastor Benny continues to take the message of God’s life-saving and miracle-working power around the globe, and to go “into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

The preceding is excerpted from chapter 12 of Benny Hinn’s book, Mysteries of the Anointing (Charisma House, 2022). For more information or to order the book, please visit .

Read articles like this one and other Spirit-led content in our new platform, CHARISMA PLUS.