Pride stinks because it is the sulfuric stench of Lucifer himself.
British missionary Jackie Pullinger has endured lots of bad odors. When she moved to the slums of Hong Kong in 1966 to help prostitutes and drug addicts, I’m sure she held her nose a few times because of the rats, the human waste and the stench of death all around her. Yet Jackie exuded a fragrant aroma in that place—the same sweet smell of Jesus that follows every person whose heart has been broken for suffering humanity.

When I first suggested that we feature Jackie on our cover, I got some puzzled looks. “Who’s she?” people asked.

After all, Jackie is not a Christian celebrity, and she doesn’t have her own public relations office. She avoids the spotlight. Like Mother Teresa, she has been content to work in a hellhole of lost humanity for 41 years, expecting no recognition.

As you’ll read in our story, she was invited to receive commendation from Queen Elizabeth 20 years ago, but Jackie almost turned down the opportunity for fear that the honor would cause her to forfeit her heavenly reward. I wonder how some of our American ministry celebrities would handle a visit to the queen. Would they downplay it, or would they air the fanfare over and over on Christian TV—sort of like when Juanita Bynum’s $1 million wedding was broadcast repeatedly on TBN in 2003?

Don’t get me started.

Jackie is so uninterested in publicity that she almost refused to pose for photographs for this magazine. I had to beg her to set aside a few hours so that we could take pictures of her work among the poor. She later admitted to me that she is “media shy.”

I believe Jackie represents a model for ministry in this new season. God is requiring us to scrap the American-made superstar syndrome so we can embrace New Testament servanthood. In order to make this painful shift we must crucify our inflated egos and break our addiction to approval. As we redefine what ministry is all about, we must throw some idols into the fire:

»Get rid of entitlement. The Oral Roberts University scandal taught us that leaders must never view their positions as a means to get rich. If a leader succumbs to greed, God just might expose to the world what he has hoarded in his oversized closet. If he has misused money for personal advantage, his larceny may be exposed on national television.

»No more entourages. A pastor doesn’t need five people to follow him into the church carrying his Bible, water bottle, handkerchief, microphone and sermon notes. That pompous display is nauseating. The day of the “armor bearer” is over. Today’s leaders should be happy to carry their own suitcases—and help other people carry theirs.

»Eliminate special seating. The Bible tells us plainly that rich people are not to be treated with favoritism when they come to church (see James 2:1-7). Yet in many ministries today the poor are ignored while the rich “partners” get a private audience with the pastor—even if the wealthy donor is living in adultery. We are crazy if we think God is going to ignore such carnality.

Do you smell what I smell? There is a disgusting odor permeating many of our American ministries today. It is the putrid smell of haughty flesh. Pride stinks because it is the sulfuric stench of Lucifer himself. No wonder God resists it.
We must repent of this arrogance. The work of God’s kingdom is being accomplished today by the Jackie Pullingers of the world—the “little people” who learned long ago that they must decrease so that Jesus can increase.

While the celebrities steal most of the thunder from everyone else, at least temporarily, the Lord’s unsung heroes are feeding the poor, fighting injustice, healing the addicted and quietly salting the earth with the gospel of grace. They should be our role models.

I hope Jackie will challenge all of us to ask some tough questions. Will we clothe ourselves in fragrant humility, or continue to wear the stinking garments of pride? Do we really need the praises of men in this life? Or will we be content to hear our Father’s ultimate affirmation when we stand before His throne?

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J. Lee Grady is the editor of Charisma. To see additional photos of Jackie Pullinger’s work among drug addicts in Hong Kong, go to

If God is conducting His own heavenly audit, let’s welcome correction.
Depending on how you look at it, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa is either a crusader for righteousness or a devil with horns. The ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee made startling headlines in late 2007 when he launched an investigation of six major charismatic ministries and how they spend money.

The preachers who received the U.S. senator’s initial letter on Nov. 5 were Kenneth and Gloria Copeland; Joyce Meyer; Randy and Paula White; Creflo and Taffi Dollar; Eddie Long; and Benny Hinn. All were questioned about their spending practices and were asked to send the senator numerous documents.

At press time, Copeland and Meyer had obeyed Grassley’s request while Hinn and the Whites asked for more time. Dollar said he will not submit his finances to Senate scrutiny—claiming privacy rights—while Long’s lawyers said the senator’s request is out-of-bounds.

Judging by the reaction from some sectors of the Christian public, you’d think Grassley had donned a black hood and launched another Spanish Inquisition. Some Christian leaders have openly suggested that Grassley is preparing to send IRS henchmen armed with clubs, hatchets and instruments of torture to every church in America.

“We must keep the government out of the church, or everything our founding fathers fought for is lost!” wrote Paul Crouch Jr. of the Trinity Broadcasting Network in an open rebuttal to one of my online columns about the investigation. Crouch even implied that Grassley’s probe resembles Hitler’s persecution of Christians in 1930s Germany. Huh? Must we be so paranoid?

Let’s cool off. We don’t need to demonize anybody. When asked how I view this crisis, I point out the following:

1. Grassley is a Christian with a reputation for integrity. The senator told me in a recent interview that he was saved at age 11. He and his wife have attended the same Baptist church in Cedar Falls, Iowa, since 1954. This man is not the Antichrist.

Grassley recently conducted an investigation of several secular nonprofit organizations. Those entities were not shut down because of his inquiry, but they made internal changes in order to correct financial abuses. That’s a good thing.

2. We shouldn’t rush to judgment. As a result of Grassley’s inquiry, we now know that Joyce Meyer has a marble-topped chest of drawers in her office. That is not a scandal. I doubt her supporters are alarmed that she bought some nice furniture.

Meyer pumps hundreds of thousands of dollars into global missionary projects, and the IRS recently notified her ministry that she is operating according to tax rules. She and the Copelands did the honorable thing by submitting to Grassley’s request on time.

3. This is not a conspiracy against churches. I don’t believe the state should tell a church how big a minister’s salary can be or what kind of car he can drive. But the government does have the responsibility to enforce laws. If a preacher is using a ministry plane for private pleasure or paying off his gated mansion or Rolls Royces with funds from a mystery account, then the government has every right to demand compliance with tax codes.

If Long and Dollar have nothing to hide, why are they balking at Grassley’s request? Wouldn’t it be better to obey the senator’s orders? After all, the Bible says we don’t have to fear the government if we aren’t doing anything wrong (see ).

4. We should embrace scrutiny. I’ve been praying about all the uncomfortable shaking that is taking place in the church today—from the embarrassing moral failures to the cavalier ministry divorces to the ORU scandal. I believe God is raising His holy plumb line over all American ministries, and He is demanding that we come in line with His higher standards.

Before we blast Grassley for asking questions, maybe we should consider whether God might be conducting His own heavenly audit. Perhaps the Lord is offended that our beloved gospel of prosperity has created a cult of selfishness. If so, our best response is to open our account ledgers and welcome correction.

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J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. To read his online columns about the Grassley investigation and Paul Crouch Jr.’s open letter, go to

Please pray. We can’t settle for anything less than a heavenly visitation.
Never in my 15 years at Charisma have I known a time of such intense spiritual turbulence. God is shaking everything that can be shaken, including our Christian colleges, our megachurches and our most prominent ministries.

At a time when a U.S. senator is investigating the financial practices of six well-known preachers, I sense that God has taken out His holy plumb line to conduct His own detailed inspection of every church and ministry in this country. He wants to unleash a nationwide revival, but He must bring His correction first.

These are desperate times that require desperate measures. That is why I have joined with the Awakening America Alliance to call for a solemn 21-day fast that will run from January 1-21. Here’s a list of the things I’m praying for during those three weeks:

1. The fear of God. Holiness was so tangible among early Christians that false prophets were blinded and greedy liars fell over dead. As a result of God’s judgment on Ananias and Saphira, “great fear came over the whole church” (Acts 5:11, NASB).

Where is this sense of “shock and awe” today? How can Christians be so cavalier about divorce or so flippant about adultery? How can television preachers sleep at night after robbing God’s people with manipulative fundraising appeals?

We celebrate His mercy but ignore His severity. We need a thunderclap from heaven and a display of Elijah’s fire to remind a wayward church that God will not be mocked.

2. Integrity and purity in the church. Our movement hit rock-bottom in October when charismatic pastor Donnie Earl Paulk of Atlanta announced to his stunned congregation that a DNA test had proved he is not the nephew of Bishop Earl Paulk but is in fact his son. That such unspeakable depravity was permitted to thrive for decades at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit is an indictment against the elder Paulk and all leaders who refused to challenge his behavior when they first learned about it years ago.

This and other recent religious scandals have so tarnished our credibility that we have become a curious freak show. Many unbelievers now associate ministers with wife-swapping, wife-beating, no-fault divorce, gay affairs, financial investigations and $10,000-a-night hotel rooms. We need a Holy Ghost housecleaning.

3. A return to evangelism. In the 1970s we were less sophisticated but so much more zealous for Jesus. We handed out tracts and witnessed to everyone. Sharing our faith was the priority. Yet most people in churches today have never led anyone to Christ.

We are no longer contagious. Spirit-filled believers spend more time chasing “financial breakthroughs” than lost souls. We have rejected sacrifice and compassion and embraced a counterfeit gospel that produces bored, selfish spectators.

4. Godly leadership. As we head into an election season it’s obvious that our nation is facing a leadership crisis. But this leadership vacuum is not just in the political arena. Many of our spiritual fathers have disappointed us, either by their own moral failures or by their refusal to confront sin.

I pray that God does not give us the president we deserve in 2008. If we cry out for mercy, perhaps He will upset the current slate of candidates and put someone in the White House who can model Christian integrity. May He also give us spiritual shepherds who care more for the flock than for the crowd’s applause.

5. A national spiritual awakening. There were seasons in America’s past when sinners became so convicted of their sins that they collapsed under the weight of their guilt. During the days of revivalists George Whitefield and Charles Finney, huge waves of conversions led to widespread transformation of society. Drunks became sober, prison inmates sang hymns, stingy business owners stopped oppressing their workers, atheists surrendered their unbelief and rebellious children returned to faith.

Can such a movement happen again? It must, or our country will descend into its darkest hour. I urge you to join me in this solemn fast. Pray with desperation for the five topics outlined here. We can’t settle for anything less than a heavenly visitation.

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J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. Learn more about the 21-day fast sponsored by the Awakening America Alliance at . For helpful tips on biblical fasting go to

Those leaders with a spirit of entitlement should be disqualified.
Twenty years ago we were holding our heads down in shame as we endured the ugly PTL scandal—which added new phrases to our national vocabulary such as “air-conditioned dog house” and “gold-plated faucets.” Televangelist Jim Bakker went to prison, and many disillusioned people lost faith in evangelical ministries because donor funds were misused.

Hopefully we learned some lessons from that debacle. Or did we? I don’t know about you, but I’m having flashbacks from 1987.

It was déjà vu all over again when leaders at Oral Roberts University were accused of serious ethical and financial wrongdoing in October. In a lawsuit filed by three professors, ORU officials, including its president, Richard Roberts, were accused of misusing donor funds and violating IRS tax codes. The suit triggered an uproar in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where ORU’s 5,300 students, as well as alumni, faculty and community leaders, are now forced to take sides while the school’s reputation hangs in the balance.

The professors who filed the suit say they took legal action because ORU’s Board of Regents would not listen to their grievances. Before Richard Roberts temporarily stepped down from his post, he told students that the lawsuit is about “intimidation, blackmail and extortion,” and he announced to a national television audience on Larry King Live that all the allegations are false.

It is way too early to make judgments about the case (although that hasn’t stopped zealous bloggers from calling for Roberts’ head). Our legal system guarantees that people are innocent until proved guilty. I hope things will cool off so that responsible adults can sort through the mess, throw out any false accusations, correct any wrongs and preserve an institution that has served the cause of Christ since it was founded in 1963.

The worst thing that could happen is that the ORU scandal could become our Christian version of Enron. While we pray for everyone at ORU (and that should be first on our agenda), I’d like to challenge all churches in this country to use the unfortunate situation as a learning experience.

If a ministry is getting sloppy in any area of legal or ethical compliance, its leaders should take this simple test—which is based on the word “Enron.” The letters in that infamous name form a helpful acrostic:

E is for entitlement. Do leaders in your church or organization believe they deserve to be treated like kings? That style may work OK in a monarchy, but Jesus said that in His kingdom leaders must behave like servants. Those with a spirit of entitlement should be disqualified.

N is for nepotism. When leaders show favoritism to family members, they create arbitrary double standards. Christian organizations must stop building spiritual dynasties.

R is for robbery. If a Christian leader is using donor funds to purchase lavish perks for himself, he is stealing from God. Let’s call it what it is. Though the Bible makes it clear that a Christian worker is worthy of his hire, it also condemns ministers who have their hands in the coffer. When the prophet Malachi asked the probing question, “Will a man rob God?” (Mal. 3:8, NASB), he was not addressing just the people who didn’t tithe. He was pointing also to priests who stole part of the offerings meant for the poor.

O is for overinflated egos. Too many leaders today are drunk with power. Like Nebuchadnezzar, their pride has caused them to go insane. When an egomaniac drives an organization, you can be sure he will eventually crash—and hurt a lot of people in the process.

N is for negligence. God looks for integrity in the little things. He judges leaders not by the size of the crowd or the volume of their preaching but by the way they conduct themselves when no one is looking. In this hour when our enemies are ready to pounce on our every mistake, we must be faithful in the smallest things. That means we must get our houses in order financially.

As the Board of Regents looks into the allegations at ORU, let’s pray that God will guide the process so the school’s credibility will be restored and its mission accomplished.

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J. Lee Grady is the editor of Charisma. Check out his weekly online column at .

Sometime around 1966 my Baptist grandmother tried to set me straight about racial issues. I was just a clueless kid, oblivious to the impact the civil rights movement was having on the world around me. Old mind-sets were being uprooted in Georgia and Alabama, where all my relatives lived. My grandmother was probably worried that I might grow up to be one of those long-haired hippies who marched with their black friends to protest segregation.

I’ll never forget her stern lecture. “Lee,” she drawled, “the black people have their church, and the white people have their church. And that’s the way the Lord wants it.”

Somehow my 8-year-old brain refused to absorb her message. Even at that age I knew something wasn’t right about segregation. So by the time I became a teenager, I rebelled against Southern white attitudes and embraced African-American culture.

In fact, I wanted to be black. I used AfroSheen on my curly hair, watched Soul Train on Saturday afternoons and listened to 1970s rhythm and blues on the radio—especially the Staple Singers, Stevie Wonder and the Four Tops. I even made my father take me to a Gladys Knight and the Pips concert in downtown Atlanta. I think we were the only white people in an audience of 10,000 at the Omni arena.

I was searching for togetherness in a divided world. Yet during that time I never ventured into a black church. On Sunday mornings I was still in my regular pew in an all-white congregation where we sang traditional hymns and ignored the turmoil that had erupted in Memphis, Montgomery and Birmingham.

But everything changed when I was baptized in the Holy Spirit a few years later. Suddenly I found myself worshiping with black Pentecostals—and their exuberance stirred something deep inside me. As I spent more time with them I discovered a missing dimension of my faith. Up until then I had experienced only the white version.

Over the next several years I came to appreciate the infectious passion of the black church—where people stand and shout during sermons, clap off beat instead of on beat, dance during worship and carry their zeal into the streets to fight injustice and poverty. I learned that there is a difference between going to church (which I had done my whole life, in air-conditioned comfort and always for one hour at a time) and “having church”—the African-American way of describing a four-hour-long marathon revival service that can leave you hoarse and drenched in sweat.

I’ll never forget the first time I decided to join some saints at the altar at a Church of God in Christ congregation in Orlando. People were lingering near the stage after the sermon, waiting for the Holy Ghost to fall on somebody. The choir, swaying to the rhythms of a bass guitar and a Hammond-B organ, belted out a gospel anthem that seemed to go on forever.

I couldn’t contain the joy that kept building in that electric atmosphere. I started moving my feet. Before too long I was tearing up the rug while the drummer provided his ecstatic accompaniment.

I didn’t know that black Pentecostals have a special theology and terminology for this experience. They call it “dancing in the Spirit” or sometimes just “getting the Holy Ghost.” It must have been a strange sight to see the only white man in the place cavorting wildly to the beat while six or seven elderly “church mothers” wearing hats and white gloves circled around me, clapping and praying, “Help him, Jesus!” and “Bless him, Lord!”

When I collapsed in a cushioned pew a few minutes later, I thought to myself: If only my Baptist grandmother could see me now.

You know it’s the work of God when a white guy is plucked from the suburbs and finds a new level of anointing among his black brethren. That’s what the power of Pentecost will do. The Holy Spirit likes to mix things up. He’s not into barriers, so why should we tolerate spiritual segregation?

Let’s have some church, y’all. The beat is on. It’s time to dance on our divisions.

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J. Lee Grady is the editor of Charisma. Check out his weekly online columns at .

Jesus is the only way. There is no Plan B for Jesus.
Almost all evangelical Christians I know love Israel. We respect the heritage of Jewish people, we adamantly support Israel’s right to exist as a nation, and we believe Israelis have a right to defend their democracy from terrorists. We also honor Jews for preserving the Old Testament, and many of us make pilgrimages to Israel to enrich our faith. In both a historic and a spiritual sense, Israel is at the core of Christianity.
Yet I am concerned that some recent teaching about Israel has become unbalanced and unhealthy. Some misguided Christians, for example, insist that churches must celebrate Jewish feasts and observe a kosher diet in order to be in true fellowship with God.
Others require the use of Jewish prayer shawls or Hebrew-style music during worship. And recently a charismatic preacher suggested that God demands special financial offerings to be made during a Jewish holiday to secure God’s blessing.
These teachings usually begin as innocent fads. But before you know it, someone writes a book or airs his views on Christian television. Then everyone jumps on the bandwagon.
Of course there is rich prophetic meaning in prayer shawls, Passover seders, shofars, the Day of Atonement and many other Jewish traditions found in Scripture. But we must remember that these things are meant to point to Jesus Christ. He must be our focus. If we allow traditions or rituals to replace Him, then we are guilty of idolatry.
What troubles me even more is a doctrine that is slowly making its way through our ranks called “dual covenant theology.” Its proponents suggest that Jews—because of their ethnic heritage—do not need to believe in Jesus Christ in order to obtain salvation. In other words, Jews have their own separate track to heaven because they are God’s chosen people—and they get a special ticket.
Dual covenant theology is doubly dangerous because it is rooted in human sympathy. Christians who feel sorry for Jews, mostly because of the horrible treatment they endured during the Holocaust, can’t see how they could deserve God’s judgment. The reasoning goes something like this: “Jews have suffered enough. I don’t think a loving God could ever send a Jew to hell.”
One of the earliest proponents of this philosophy was actually a Jewish rabbi from Italy, Elijah Benamozegh, who taught that Jews and Christians can work as “religious partners in telling the world that God is One.” He believed Jews should aim to be good Jews by following Old Testament laws; meanwhile, he proposed, gentiles should become Christians.
It might sound compassionate to offer Jews this unique privilege, but dual covenant theology is really just another warmed-over version of the ancient heresy of universalism. It’s a first step toward embracing the idea that everyone will eventually find salvation, regardless of his religious beliefs. And it is absolutely at odds with the core message of the gospel—which tells us that all people, Jew and gentile alike, can find salvation only through Jesus the Messiah.
The apostle Paul, a former rabbi himself, certainly did not teach that there were separate paths to heaven for Jews and gentiles. In fact, he angered many Jews when he taught that they had been cut off from the blessings of Abraham because they rejected Jesus. Paul argued that a true Jew is one who trusts in Christ alone—not in keeping laws, observing Sabbaths, making sacrifices or being circumcised (see Rom. 2:25-29).
Paul was not ashamed of the fact that the gospel is exclusive. The New Testament tells us plainly that every man and woman—no matter their ethnic background—must stand before Calvary’s cross to obtain forgiveness and eternal life. We have no right to change the rules, no matter how much sympathy we feel.
Jesus is the only way. There is no Plan B for Jews. To suggest that a Jew is given some type of free backstage pass to heaven is the most blatant form of deception. If we truly love Israel and want God’s blessings for the Jewish people, we will unapologetically tell them the truth and urge them to believe it.

J. Lee Grady is the editor of Charisma. Check out his weekly online column at .

Youth today are not interested in anything fake or pretentious.
One of my weaknesses is a stubborn refusal to grow up. The years keep ticking by and my metabolism keeps slowing down, but I still feel 21 inside. I’ve talked with a lot of guys my age who feel the same way: It’s almost as if we froze emotionally during our junior year in college. Perhaps it had something to do with the food in the dorm cafeteria.

I loved college. Maybe that is one reason I joined Facebook, the social networking Web site that is so popular among college students today. A few months ago I created my own page on Facebook mainly to interact with my four daughters. But since then I’ve been linking up with lots of students who have heard me speak at their churches.

Older and less tech-savvy people probably think Facebook is a waste of time. But the typical student spends hours filling his page with all kinds of personal information, including favorite movies and music, inspirational quotes, hobbies and goofy photos.

All this data is shared with friends who connect online and write short messages on one another’s “walls”—the Facebook term for a message board. People can’t see your Facebook page unless you grant them access­—unlike the MySpace site.
Besides connecting me with some college-age friends and introducing me to a new vocabulary, Facebook has helped me understand how the digital generation ticks.
I’ve come to appreciate their authenticity and their craving for relationships. And I have come to realize that I must make adjustments in my life if I expect to relate to the emerging Christian generation.

Here are some things I’ve learned about the Facebook nation:

want fathers and mothers. I was surprised when a group of guys from a charismatic church in Gainesville, Florida, “tagged” me on Facebook and asked me to be in their network of online friends. I am old enough to be their dad.
This showed me that today’s generation gap is really not as wide as I imagined. Many young people, including those who grew up in fatherless or dysfunctional homes, crave meaningful relationships with older people who can offer mentoring, encouragement and affirmation.

2. They despise phony spirituality. We are way past the time when preachers can afford to be cocky and unapproachable. Those who arrive at church in limousines might as well forget about attracting the younger crowd. Youth today are not interested in anything fake or pretentious. Today’s audience wants the real deal, not the swagger of the slick televangelist.

If you show genuine love and share the gospel with humility, today’s young people will go to the ends of the earth with you. They want to heal the sick, stop child slavery and end the crisis in Darfur. On the other hand, if you spend all of your time talking about your latest “prosperity breakthrough” or taking offerings for your private jet, they will yawn, roll their eyes and find a better cause to support. (And they can spot a religious con artist quicker than many adults who have been in church for years!)

3. They speak the language of culture. Young people today integrate music, movies and TV shows into their daily lives—whether it’s a quote from Spider-Man, a line from a 50 Cent song or a scene from Grey’s Anatomy. If we expect to relate to the emerging generation we must learn their language and be willing to talk with them on their level—rather than lecturing them about their entertainment choices.

For example, instead of blasting Harry Potter for being demonic, how about using J.K. Rowling’s books to start a conversation about how her last novel offers obvious literary allusions to Jesus’ death and resurrection? I guarantee students will line up to talk about that.

4. They are radical for Jesus. Many of the young Christians I meet today are more passionate about their faith than their parents. They spend their summers on the mission field, get involved in 24/7 prayer efforts and forfeit cars and careers to serve the Lord. If they are willing to give 100 percent, we should be willing to tear down the walls that divide us.

It is time for the hearts of the fathers to be turned toward the children. Today’s younger generation is worth the investment.

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J. Lee Grady is the editor of Charisma. Check out his weekly online column at .

My immigrant friends, have made my life richer and more colorful.
On most social issues I usually fit in the staunch conservative category. But when it comes to the hot-button topic of immigration policy, I guess you’ll have to call me a liberal. I just don’t fit in with the folks who are ready to hang a NO HABLAMOS ESPAÑOL sign on the Statue of Liberty.

Call me naive if you want, but I happen to believe that the United States is a great nation because we embrace people from all cultures. We’ve had our struggles with racism through the years, for sure, but Christian hospitality has always triumphed—even though terrorism has forced us to get tough on border controls and undocumented workers.

I love the spicy smell of America’s melting pot. In recent years my immigrant friends have made my life richer and more colorful. Even my taste for food has changed as I have come to enjoy Bolivian salteñas, Egyptian hummus, Ukrainian borscht, Indian curry, Indonesian satay and Nigerian moi-moi.

Last year I met Gennady, a 21-year-old college student who fled to the United States from the former Soviet Union when he was a young boy. He and his Pentecostal parents had to leave Belarus because the anti-Christian government there was persecuting believers and denying their children access to education. The U.S. government granted Gennady’s family religious refugee status, and he was able to attend school and earn a college degree.

Today my young Belarusian friend is the worship leader in his congregation in Philadelphia, a city that hosts more than 200,000 Russian-speaking immigrants. He has traveled with me on two missionary trips, and we plan to venture someday to Siberia, where he will translate for me when I preach.

Then there’s Fernando, a Brazilian pastor I’ve known since the late 1990s. He and his wife became U.S. citizens several years ago. Now they lead a thriving Portuguese-speaking congregation in Orlando, Florida. Even though he grew up in São Paulo, Fernando and I have much in common, and we lean on each other for encouragement.

A few years ago I met an Egyptian woman who had immigrated to Texas. Besides introducing me to some of the best food on the planet, she got me involved in a ministry project that is now transforming lives in the Middle East. I can’t share her name because her evangelistic work has put her life in danger.

There are some immigrants who have become role models in my life. I met Indonesian church planter Paul Tan in 2003 and immediately recognized that he was a man I could emulate.

Paul came to the United States as a student and began a thriving campus ministry. Today his network of City Blessing churches is reaching thousands of people both in this country and back home in Indonesia. Through my relationship with Paul, we were also able to launch an Indonesian version of Charisma that is now touching thousands of people in the world’s largest Muslim nation.

These immigrants have taught me that Jesus is all about relationships—and that He wants to move us beyond our fears and prejudices so we can build His kingdom across ethnic lines.

In the days of Jesus, Jewish rabbis preferred to live within their holy borders so they wouldn’t be “polluted” by foreigners. Yet Jesus walked right into Samaria and befriended an abused woman who had a different accent and ate non-kosher food. Jesus shows His love to people regardless of their immigration status or what country is listed on their passports.

Jesus poured out His Spirit on the early church on a day when international visitors had turned Jerusalem into a first century melting pot. When the miracle of Pentecost occurred, the disciples could hear dozens of languages in the streets—and the Holy Spirit did not adopt a “Hebrew only” policy when speaking to them. Jesus manifests His presence in the midst of cultural diversity.

Do you want more of the power of Pentecost? Perhaps you need to befriend an immigrant. Maybe you need to cross a border in your own heart. Start spending time with the Samaritans of your city. You will experience a deeper level of Jesus’ love when you open your arms to those who don’t look or talk like you.

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J. Lee Grady is the editor of Charisma. Check out his weekly online column at .

About 15 years ago I was in a department store in northern Virginia with my oldest daughter, Margaret. She was a precocious, talkative 6-year-old with a flair for the dramatic. You just never knew what this child might say to perfect strangers.

We walked past the women’s lingerie section and Margaret impulsively grabbed a pair of lacy, pink panties off a rack and twirled them in the air with her finger. Then she declared to every shopper within range: “I am going to wear these panties when I am 18!”

Horrified, I ducked my head and pulled Margaret toward the escalator, trying to avoid eye contact with the amused customers who overheard her awkward proclamation. They were probably thinking to themselves, That little girl is going to be quite a handful when she grows up.

Fast-forward to 2007, on Father’s Day, when I received an e-mail from Margaret while I was on a ministry trip to South America. She was writing me from college, just before she was to leave for her own missionary trip to Peru. She wanted to thank me for my influence in her life, and to assure me that she and her boyfriend, Rick, have stayed sexually pure throughout their three-year dating relationship.

Margaret wrote: “It is kind of sad that a lot of Christian couples—though waiting for marriage to have sex—still push their limits. I know you probably already know this but Rick and I don’t push limits. We abide by the ‘bathing suit rule,’ which says that while kissing you should never ever touch anything a modest bathing suit covers.”

I kind of lost it emotionally when I read the next sentence: “You have been a wonderful, loving, patient father. That is probably why it is not hard for me to see God as my loving, patient Father.”

Thanks to God’s grace and my wife’s influence, Margaret did not turn out to be a “handful” when she turned 18. She is 21 today, and is preparing for the ministry. She and my other three daughters have matured into godly women who love Jesus and know their sexual boundaries. I am even more grateful for this when I meet women—in the United States and around the world—who have been scarred emotionally by the men in their lives.

When I got Margaret’s e-mail I was speaking at a women’s conference in Peru, which has the world’s highest percentage of women who have been abused by their own fathers. I spent a week praying for throngs of women who have been abandoned, beaten or neglected by dads, uncles, boyfriends and husbands.

All of them were starving to know that their heavenly Father’s love is tender and compassionate, not abusive. By the end of the week, the Holy Spirit had released waves of healing. Women who had been depressed found new joy, and those who had been burdened by years of secret shame discovered deep forgiveness.

Restoration comes when we truly encounter the Father’s love.

My daughters are fortunate to have two parents who love each other, model sexual faithfulness and live out their faith in front of their children every day. You may not have experienced that kind of healthy family life. And you may think that because your own dad was abusive, distant or a poor example that you will always suffer for it.

That’s a lie. I have found that God’s amazing love is abundantly available no matter how painful your past. He can restore the wounded soul.

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J. Lee Grady is contributing editor of Charisma and the author of 10 Lies the Church Tells Women. You can learn more about his ministry, The Mordecai Project, at .

 

God is so serious about holiness that He will expose religious corruption.
When Hurricane Katrina shattered New Orleans almost two years ago, the disaster triggered the most massive human migration in American history. About half the city’s residents have since moved away, almost half the area’s health care facilities are shut down and 70 schools remain closed.

One big storm redefined an entire city. The faint smell of garbage still lingers in the humid air, months and months after crews worked nonstop to haul away 22 million tons of abandoned cars, ruined refrigerators, tree limbs, roof shingles, moldy sheet rock, rancid food, mud-soaked clothes and toxic chemicals.

If you drive by the old Faith Church facility near downtown today, you’ll learn that relief ministries use the damaged building to supply food to Katrina victims. The congregation, now much smaller because of displaced members, meets in a shopping mall several miles away.

Katrina redefined ministry for Faith Church and many other churches in the storm-ravaged city. Priorities have changed. Life will never be the same.

When I ponder Katrina’s sobering aftermath I can’t help but draw some unsettling spiritual implications for all of us. I am by no means a doomsday prophet, but I believe a strong storm is headed our way. It will redefine church as we know it.

When the Ted Haggard scandal made headlines last year I had a sense that this was only the first domino to fall. Many respected voices in the Christian community have warned us since then to prepare for an imminent spiritual wake-up call.

They’ve challenged our leaders to deal with sin in their own lives and to get rid of the arrogance, greed and shallow carnality that characterizes so much of American Christianity. They’ve told us that God is so serious about holiness that He will expose religious corruption.

When God visits us to bring His winds of revival, those winds will also destroy man-made religious structures. It’s time for all of us to find shelter. Here’s how I believe we must prepare:

1. Reinforce our foundations. I fear that some of us have veered from the basics of faith to follow the latest spiritual fads. We charismatics tend to chase after anything trendy. In some churches today people are delving into exotic teachings and coining new terms including “spiritual fathering,” “apostolic alignment,” “armor bearers” and “heave offerings.” Any new believer who wanders into our meetings will need a translator to understand this spooky vocabulary.
There’s a place for such things (and a biblical basis for some of them) yet it’s possible that the trendy can overshadow the important. If the devil cannot deceive us outright, he will tempt us to get out of balance so that we lose our primary passion for Jesus. Let’s keep the main thing the main thing.

2. Get rid of the junk. The smelly garbage in the church today is going to fly when the winds of God hit us broadside. We must remember that revival is not just about the impact of church growth and new converts; it is also about gut-wrenching repentance and judgment. You can’t have Acts 2 without Acts 5. The exciting fire of Pentecost is also the fearful fire of holiness.

An alarm has sounded. Those in ministry who have not heeded the warning have little time left. I am pleading with you: Get your house in order. Destroy your materialistic idols. Stop all sexual compromise. Stop defrauding people and misusing God’s money.

3. Hide in God. I love the new worship bands on the scene today, but recently I’ve been having some unusual times of intimacy with God while singing from an old Baptist hymnal I owned as a child. Today when I open that book and begin to sing the words to “Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross,” “Jesus Paid It All” or “‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus,” I get choked up and can’t finish.

I can’t explain my reaction, but it’s not due to religious nostalgia. I suspect my heart is aching for something of substance in an age of cheap imitations. Those lyrics, although they are old-fashioned, are still charged with power because they anchor us to the bedrock of simple devotion to Christ. As this storm approaches, I plan to cling to what matters most.

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J. Lee Grady is the editor of Charisma. Check out his weekly online column at .