Last week, Lee Grady shared his “10 Top Misconceptions About Pentecostal Christians.” I found the column enlightening and I agree wholeheartedly that Oxygen network’s Preachers of L.A. and National Geographic Channel’s Snake Salvation help forward wrong beliefs about Pentecostals and charismatics.

To use Grady’s words, “You might be tempted to believe all Pentecostals are either money-grubbing charlatans or misguided rural bumpkins. But the truth is never in the media stereotypes.” Be sure to check out Grady’s column for his top-ranking misconceptions. I’m adding a few more myths about Pentecostals and charismatics that I’ve experienced.

1. Pentecostalism isn’t all about the goose bumps. Many people believe that Pentecostals are just after so-called “Holy Ghost goose bumps” and seeking supernatural experiences like a thrill ride at a theme park. Although you will find expressions of the supernatural in healthy Pentecostal churches that believe in the gifts of the Spirit, solid Spirit-filled Christians are also students of the Word (2 Tim. 2:15). Pentecostal universities like Evangel, Lee and Jack Hayford’s King’s University are equipping the next generation of Spirit-empowered Christians with the Word of God. It’s not all about being slain in the Spirit. No, not by a long shot.

2. Pentecostals think they are better than other Christians. Nothing could be further from the truth. Mature Pentecostals and charismatics don’t think more highly of ourselves than we ought (Rom. 12:3). Being filled with the Spirit does and praying in tongues does not give us special status in the kingdom of God and any Pentecostal who believes that is not demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit. Oh, and I’ve met proud Christians from many denominations.

3. Pentecostals believe they have a corner on hearing from God. Although I’ve never met a prophet who claims to be a Presbyterian or Episcopalian, any believer has the ability to hear from God for themselves. And I’ve never met a Pentecostal who claimed that other Christians can’t hear the voice of God. Rather, I hear most Pentecostal preachers quoting Jesus’ words on this topic: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).

4. Pentecostals are a bunch of fruits, flakes and nuts. Mature Pentecostals are rooted and grounded in the Word and don’t fly off into super-spiritual Hookey-Bookey Land where preachers claim the Holy Spirit told them to punch someone in the stomach or lay around pretending to “smoke the Holy Ghost” while they meow like cats. There are extremes in every movement and the Pentecostals are not immune but mainstream Pentecostals don’t mock the Holy Spirit.

5. Pentecostals manipulate people for money. That’s not true, either. Well, some Pentecostals merchandise the saints for financial gain but you can’t make a blanket statement about the entire Spirit-filled camp. I’ve seen plenty of pastors from various denominations hyper-focus on bringing home the bacon. It just so happens that some extreme prosperity preachers are so flamboyant about miracle seed offerings that it’s left a bad taste in the mouth of many Christians—including God-fearing Pentecostals.

6. Pentecostals are so heavenly-minded that we’re no earthly good. Although Paul clearly instructs us to set our minds on things above and not on earthly things (see Col. 3:2) and although evangelicals have historically been on the front lines of the culture wars, I am witnessing a generation of Spirit-empowered believers rise up with social justice in mind.

Maybe you can think of some other myths, misconceptions and lies about Pentecostals and charismatics that I’ve missed. But I’ll leave you with this thought, which comes right from Grady’s mouth: We’re not going away.

“Pentecostals only represented 6 percent of all Christians in the year 1980. Today that number has jumped to 26 percent. And the Pulitzer Center reports that 35,000 people join Pentecostal churches every day,” Grady writes. “Some researchers predict there will be 1 billion Pentecostals in the world by 2025. No matter how you stereotype us, it cannot be said that Pentecostals are on the fringes of society. You might as well get to know us.” Amen.

Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including The Spiritual Warrior’s Guide to Defeating Jezebel and The Making of a Prophet. You can email Jennifer at @ or visit her website at .

When apostolic believers gather for a late night breakfast after a long day of church-building, there are a few threads that tend to get woven through almost every conversation: warfare, work and, if there’s a prophet in the mix, perhaps casting out devils.

But seriously, even though one can’t separate warfare from the apostolic—if we had a Christianese thesaurus these two words would surely be synonymous—apostolic living is not only about fighting principalities and powers over territories. (Really!)

So you don’t have to be a skilled warrior to cross over to the apostolic. Your local apostolic church will equip you to submit yourself to God and resist the devil. You just have to possess a determination to be all you can be in Christ.

Doubtless, the warfare will come just as sure as Jesus will come for a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle. But it’s not always the sharpest sword that wins the fight. The victor is just as often the one that can endure the longest. The apostolic grace is an enduring grace and apostolic living is a life of endurance. Jesus said he who endures to the end would be saved (Matt. 10:22).

For those of you who are already living the apostolic life, this may not be a new revelation, but it should be a welcome reminder. And for those who are entering into the apostolic, I want to emphasize that we do more than fight the good fight of faith. We also take coffee breaks, vacations and enjoy popcorn and a good, clean movie when we need a quick breather from taking the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. Apostolic living means working hard, but it also means balancing that work with healthy fun because we know that our adversary the devil is roaming about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

The apostolic brings with it an endurance-boosting grace that will carry you through the most trying times if you follow the Spirit of God. Brother Webster calls this inner grit a “firmness of mind and spirit, an unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger.” Excuses are your enemy and in the Church of Jesus Christ there is no such thing as instant grit.

Excuses or “excusions” as a German minister I know calls them, are not tolerated. I tried every excusion in the book during my first year or so in an apostolic church. No matter how well I pled my case, the leadership wasn’t swayed by my full symphony orchestra with its classical reasoning tunes. That’s not to say that there is no compassion in the apostolic church. Just like God, apostolic leaders love you too much to leave you the way you are. They know that in order to be more than a conqueror you need to graduate from the milk to the meat of the Word, from bacon and eggs only to apostolic grit.

Apostolic living requires dedication and commitment to searching one’s own heart and allowing leadership to speak into your life. Every maturing Christian (and we’ll all be maturing until Jesus comes back to get us!) should have those they minister to and those that minister to them. Don’t hesitate to get feedback from both sides. I recently asked one of my leaders what was the biggest flaw in my mindset that was holding me back. She said, er, I won’t tell you what she said. What I will tell you is that she spoke the truth in love, I received the truth that is setting me free and I am thankful for it (and a little grittier, too).

Remember, apostolic living is a life of endurance. We endure spiritual attacks. We endure hard truths. We endure growing pains. We endure, endure and endure some more. And we have the grit necessary to do it.

Whenever my emotions begin to rage against thoughts of the discipline required to till the ground of my soul and plant seeds of change so that God can bring a supernatural harvest of spiritual growth, I read the Apostle Paul’s second letter to Timothy and the sage advice it contains to a young believer embracing the first apostolic reformation.

“When the going gets rough, take it on the chin with the rest of us, the way Jesus did. A soldier on duty doesn’t get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders. An athlete who refuses to play by the rules will never get anywhere. It’s the diligent farmer who gets the product. Think it over. God will make it all plain” (2 Timothy 2:3-7 MSG).

Somehow that always straightens me right out. Apostolic believers aren’t perfect. They stumble and fall just like everybody else. The difference is that they get right back up and get right back into the fight. They are ready to take it on the chin for Jesus. They are ready to strain to reach the end of the race and receive the crown that God, through Christ Jesus, has for us. They are willing to endure to the end for the sake of the lost souls that have not yet heard the Good News.

Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including The Making of a Prophet. You can email Jennifer at @ or visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.

Remember how excited you were when you got that prophetic word five, 10 or even 15 years ago? You set your heart to prepare yourself to walk it out. You confessed it out of your mouth. You declared it shall come to pass. You prayed it through.

You did everything you were supposed to do, but that prophetic word still hasn’t come to pass. In fact, it may even look like the exact opposite is happening in your life. It may look like to enemy has already robbed your prophecy. It may seem like the prophetic word will never come to pass.

Now is your moment of decision. Will you give up on that tried-and-tested prophetic word that you know that you know that you know is from God? Or will you go back to the author of that prophecy—Jesus—and remind Him of the prophetic word?

Jacob’s Vow at Bethel

Jacob got a prophetic word from God while he was fleeing his angry brother, Esau, whom he cheated out of his birthright. Imagine the scene: Jacob was traveling alone from Beersheba toward Haran, and when the sun started setting, he decided to rest. He used a rock for a pillow and had prophetic dreams of “a ladder that was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it” (Gen. 28:12). Next came a prophecy that was exceedingly abundantly above all he could ask or think:

“I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you” (vv. 13-15).

Jacob believed the prophetic word, set up a pillar to God, poured oil upon it and made a vow to give a tenth to God if He kept him safe during his journey, gave him food and clothing, and allowed him to reach his father’s house in peace. Of course, God kept up His part of the covenant. Despite being cheated by his uncle Laban for more than a decade, Jacob prospered wildly in every respect in Haran. He had exceeding abundant children, livestock and favor with God.

Wrestling With God

Finally fed up with Laban’s dishonesty, Jacob decided to return to his country. Laban pursued him, and Jacob boldly confronted his uncle—but when Jacob learned that Esau was coming out to meet him, fear struck his heart. Jacob did what we need to do when it looks like our prophetic word can’t possibly come to pass—when it looks like the devil is devouring our prophetic dreams. When the enemy comes in with fear that what God said will never happen, we need to take the prophetic word back to its author in prayer.

“Then Jacob said, ‘O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, “Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you”: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children. For You said, “I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude”‘” (Gen. 32:9-12).

But Jacob didn’t stop there. Jacob wrestled with God over the issue until the break of day. You’ll recall the determined words of Jacob’s mouth: “I will not let You go until You bless me!” (v. 26). Jacob got his blessing, but he walked away with a limp.

Of course, God always intended to keep his prophetic word to Jacob. There was never a question in God’s mind that He would watch over His word to perform it (Jer. 1:12). And the same holds true for you. Although some prophecies are conditional, some are set in stone—no man on earth or devil in hell can stop what God has planned. But we can stop it with our doubt, unbelief, fearful mindset, complacency and apathy.

So if you’ve been waiting for months, years or decades for a prophecy to come to pass—and when you’re afraid people and circumstances are going to kill your promise—do what Jacob did. Pray. Remind God of His prophetic word. Wrestle with God in prayer until you have the faith to get up and run toward His perfect will despite what things look like—even if you have to run with a limp. Amen.

You can download a sample chapter of Jennifer’s new book, The Making of a Prophet, by clicking here.

Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including The Spiritual Warrior’s Guide to Defeating Jezebel and The Making of a Prophet. You can email Jennifer at @ or visit her website at .

Few of us know what we want to be at the age of 9, but evangelist Reinhard Bonnke is one of the exceptions. The German evangelist, who has preached in front of crowds exceeding 1.6 million in Africa, says it was at that tender age that he got his calling to be a missionary.

Now, after 35 years and preaching in front of more than 74 million people, Bonnke is bringing his message, “American Shall be Saved,” to the United States. His gospel crusade will bring his message from the Lord to Miami, Greensboro, Long Island, Houston, and Pittsburgh.

“Evangelism must always lead into the church,” Bonnke says. “This is a central truth I have practiced everywhere. I, the evangelist, bring my nets and borrow the boats of the local churches. Together we will cast our nets into the human ocean and pull them in to be emptied on the beach. My promise to you is not to take a single fish but to leave them all with the local churches. Then I will dry and mend my nets and move to the next place.”

Bonnke’s next stop is Miami, where he will preach to a crowd at the American Airlines arena on July 18-19. Over 200 churches across racial, denominational, cultural and even linguistic barriers have joined forces to help Bonnke witness Jesus to South Florida.

Ordained in 1964, Bonnke first started working as a missionary in Africa at the age of 27. His first fellowship meeting in Lesotho attracted 100 people,but his audiences quickly grew until they filled an entire stadium. During the 1980s, he preached to crowds of 75,000 in Cape Town and 150,000 in Malawi, eventually peaking at 1.6 million at a crusade in 2000 in Lagos, Nigeria. In 2001, Bonnke moved to the United States after he saw the need to do similar work here, and in 2013 he moved to Singer Island.

“I am scanning the skies for men and women who pray and weep for the salvation of America. As Bill Bright used to say, ‘Let’s leave our logos and egos.’ Let’s rally at the foot of the cross of Calvary and preach the Gospel of salvation to the nation,” Bonnke says. “The Holy Spirit will cooperate. God is pouring out His Spirit with glorious indifference to our differences! He said, ‘I will pour out of my Spirit on all flesh.’ And it seems to me He pours Himself into the mold of any vessel.”

Nothing succeeds like success.

Reportedly, this oft-repeated proverb was first put into print in 1854 by Alexandre Dumas, the author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. 

Now, 160 years later, Christians are seeing the truth of this proverb bearing much fruit. This year, the movie industry is releasing more than 15 faith-based movies in theaters nationwide, and so far these movies are having a tremendous success at the box office.

In March and April, for example, faith-based movies made it into the top five movies at the box office, sometimes at No. 2 or No. 1, and sometimes at No. 3, every week, including Son of God, Noah, God’s Not Dead and Heaven Is for Real. 

Truth be told, most of the other top movies at the box office these days are faith-friendly.

For example, the science fiction movie Divergent, which led the box office the weekend it opened, was written by a Christian and features Christian themes. Also, in the new Captain America movie, The Winter Soldier (which was fast on the heels of the No. 1 movie at the box office, The Lego Movie), Christian themes show the hero risking his life to save a lost sheep and undergoing a symbolic baptism, itself a metaphor of death and resurrection.

All this good news is to a large degree the result of God’s calling the son of two 1930s Hollywood stars to redeem the mass media of entertainment.

The Rest of the Story: A Personal Reflection

“In 1946, at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood, I was born to Theodore Baehr (whose stage name was Robert “Tex” Allen) and Evelyn Peirce. Both of my parents were successful stage, screen and television actors,” says Dr. Ted Baehr, founder of Movieguide. “Growing up in New York with extended times in Hollywood and on location with movie productions in which my father was starring, I followed reluctantly in my parents’ footsteps, performing in commercials, movies, television and stage, but I was not fond of being in front of the camera or even waiting in the background.”

What Baehr did enjoy was living the high life, which included everything from horse shows to fancy trips to debauchery from a very, very young age. After his mother died in 1960, when he was a young teenager, he renounced the concept that he thought was God and dove completely into the sordid life of drugs and looking for love in all the wrong places.

“I even tried to bring as many people as I could with me on the road to perdition by throwing parties with lethal concoctions,” Baehr says. “Some never recovered. Some ended their precious lives.”

After studying abroad, Baehr graduated with high distinction in comparative literature and as a Rufus Choate Scholar from Dartmouth College. He then received his Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law, where he served as the editor of the NYU Law School newspaper, the editor of the Drug Law Review and the editor of the Environmental Law Review.

At the same time, he got involved in radical causes, including leading the Law School Coalition to End the War and the National Lawyers Guild and starting the environmental movement at the U.S. Attorney’s Office SDNY and the environmental studies focus at NYU Law, motivated by a particular hate for capitalism and business.

God Rescues Him

“Then in 1975, God rescued me from debauchery,” Baehr says. “While I was financing independent movies for Canon Films, an older friend who had come to know Jesus Christ at the Billy Graham crusade in New York City in 1957, suggested that I read the Bible to show her what was wrong with it. Reading God’s Word written to refute it changed my perspective both professionally and personally.

“God rescued me. Suddenly, life made sense. Chasing after empty promises lost their appeal. Hedonism relinquished its hold on me. I stopped the debauchery by God’s grace alone. There was no withdrawal, only the peace that comes from a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.”

Immediately, Baehr was compelled to marry his beloved. The week before the wedding, a friend asked him if he wanted to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and be filled with His Holy Spirit. He did.

“Filled with the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ, I decided to attend seminary at the Institute of Theology at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine,” Baehr says. “To support myself through seminary, I was miraculously offered a position as the director of the Television Center at the City University of New York and was hired at the same time to head the television and radio ministry of Trinity Church at Broadway and Wall Street.”

God Directs Every Step

During his tenure at CUNY, Baehr worked closely with academia, researching the impact of the media. He joined with more than 60 professors to develop and test the first intergenerational media literacy course.

Convicted by his previous financing of salacious and despicable movies, he started the Good News Communications ministry in 1978 to redeem the mass media of entertainment.

“Miraculously, I was elected president of the Episcopal Radio & Television Foundation in 1979 and began conceptualizing another ministry, the Christian Film & Television Commission,” Baehr says.

During his tenure, the Episcopal Radio & Television Foundation won an Emmy Award for best animated special for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, which aired on CBS and was watched by more than 37 million viewers.

Baehr was nominated for another Emmy Award for the one of the programs in the PBS “Perspectives” series, War and Peace. He served as the executive producer, creative director and host.

In 1983, while serving on the communications board of the National Council of Churches and the National Religious Broadcasters, the great movie producer Ken Wales (The Pink Panther, Christy and Amazing Grace) introduced Baehr to George Heimrich and his work at the Protestant Film Office. Ken and George reminded him of the history of the Motion Picture Code that used to improve movie content.

“George told me the story of the breakdown of morality in the entertainment industry,” Baehr recalls. “He said that part of the reason for the breakdown of morality in movies and television today, and in the culture at large, is that people of faith retreated from being salt and light in the culture.”

From 1933 to 1966, Christians were one of the predominant forces in Hollywood. During that period, the Roman Catholic Legion of Decency and the Protestant Film Commission (which started several years after the Legion of Decency) read every script to ensure that movies represented the largest possible audience by adhering to high standards of decency. As a result, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It’s a Wonderful Life and The Bells of St. Mary’s rang out across the land.

“It took 10 years and God’s grace acting through three dedicated Christian men to position God’s people to be such a powerful moral influence on Hollywood,” Baehr says. “As the videotape Hollywood Uncensored all too clearly demonstrates, prior to the involvement of these Christian men in 1933, American movies were morally bankrupt—full of nudity, perversity and violence.”

From 1922 to 1933, churchgoing men and women tried everything, including censorship boards, to influence Hollywood to make wholesome entertainment. Nothing succeeded until Christians volunteered to work alongside the Hollywood studios to help them reach the largest possible audience.

When the Protestant Film Office closed its advocacy offices in Hollywood in 1966 (in spite of many pleas to stay by the top Hollywood filmmakers), Baehr says not only did its closure open the floodgates to violence (The Wild Bunch), sex and satanism (Rosemary’s Baby), as well as perverse anti-religious bigotry (Midnight Cowboy), but it also caused a severe drop in movie attendance, from 44 million tickets sold per week to about 17 million.

“Inspired by George Heimrich and George’s beloved wife, Lucille, I began contacting prominent members of the entertainment industry,” Baehr says, “and in 1985, formed the Christian Film & Television Commission ministry and Movieguide: A Family Guide to Movies and Entertainment.”

“In his will, George Heimrich donated his Protestant Film Office files to the Good News Communications, Inc.—Christian Film & Television Commission ministry, where they now reside,” he says. “The ministry uses the same vision for positive change in those files to redeem the values of the mass media of entertainment according to biblical principles by influencing key entertainment executives to adopt higher standards and by informing and equipping the public, especially parents with children and families.”

God’s Call

As a result of an unexpected and miraculous telephone conversation with Sir John Templeton beginning in 1988, the Christian Film & Television Commission ministry initiated the Annual Movieguide Faith and Values Awards gala and its Report to the Entertainment Industry in 1992 in Los Angeles.

The gala now features the prestigious $200,000 Epiphany Prizes for the most inspiring movie and TV program, supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, for the movie and television program that helps people know God and understand Him better; the Friess Free Enterprise Prize, supported by a grant from the Friess Family Foundation, for the one movie that, through fine craftsmanship and inspirational storytelling, does the most to encourage appreciation of free markets, ownership and stewardship; and the Faith and Freedom Awards for promoting positive faith and values.

The gala also features the $50,000 Kairos Prizes for spiritually uplifting screenplays by first-time and beginning screenwriters, supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation; the $50,000 Chronos Prize for spiritually uplifting screenplays by established screenwriters, also supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation; the annual Grace Awards for the most inspiring performances in movies and TV, given to the two actors whose performances best displayed God’s grace and mercy toward us as human beings; the Movieguide Teddy “The Good News” Bear Awards for the 10 best movies for families; and the Papa Bear Awards for the 10 best movies for mature audiences. Baehr seeks to acknowledge those movies, TV programs and actors truly deserving of praise and those persons responsible for bringing them to the screen.

“To add glamour to the event, actors and actresses are invited to emcee and to be presenters of the awards,” Baehr says. “Music and entertainment are also added to make it a memorable event. We also hand out Bibles and other redemptive materials to carry out our mission to reach Hollywood for Christ. Within the context of an elegant affair, I present Movieguide’s ‘Report to the Entertainment Industry.’ Through careful analysis of box office figures and Movieguide criteria on all the major movies released (nearly 300 a year) by the six studios controlling the industry, I present valuable and unique information to the highest-level Hollywood leaders through a high-impact report.”

The purpose of the gala and the report is:

• To encourage filmmakers to continue to make movies with moral and spiritually uplifting values
• To share the concerns of the majority of the American public in regard to the negative influences of today’s movies
• To present an in-depth study of the annual movie box office and not only dispel myths that extreme sex, violence and nudity sells, but also to show that family movies and movies with morally uplifting, Christian values and positive Christian content make the most money by far

This annual report is having an impact. When Baehr started Movieguide in 1985, the major studios in Hollywood released few movies with any positive Christian content or values—less than 3 percent! By the time Baehr started the annual Movieguide Faith and Values Awards gala and Report to the Entertainment Industry in 1992 and 1993, however, there were 27 such movies, or about percent of the market share. Incredibly, 22 years later, in 2013, at least 179, or percent, of the movies released by the movie industry contained at least some positive Christian, redemptive content. That’s a numerical increase of almost 563 percent and a percentage increase of nearly 532 percent.

“Also, when we started in 1985, less than 6 percent of the major movies were aimed at families,” Baehr says. “In the past several years, movies marketed to families have increased to nearly 40 percent of the top movies released in your local movie theaters. Finally, since we started in 1985, there were only about one or two movies being made with strong, explicit Christian content or values, but now there are 65 or more such movies each year! That’s at least a 3,150 percent increase.”

The former chairman of a major Hollywood studio told Baehr he attributed all these positive shifts directly to Movieguide’s influence as well as the Christian Film & Television Commission’s box office analysis and the annual Report to the Entertainment Industry. Many major movie studios now have a Christian, faith-based film division, and several studios are doing major movies with strong and overt Christian or biblical content. Also, now all the major studios, not just Disney, are doing movies for young children and families.

“This doesn’t mean, of course, that the studios aren’t doing bad or horrible movies anymore, but it does mean there are fewer and fewer bad movies and an increasing number of good ones,” Baehr says. “It’s our prayer that the movie industry will make more and more commendable movies and remove all offensive elements from them.”

All along the way, Movieguide has been helping and encouraging Christian filmmakers and even non-Christian filmmakers to put faith-based, family-friendly content in their scripts, movies and television shows and improve their storytelling abilities so they can reach and influence as many people as possible.

Transforming Hollywood

“By God’s grace, we’ve seen an explosion of inspiring, faith-friendly family movies being produced, including some of the potential Epiphany nominees listed above,” Baehr says. “Many of these movies are animated and reach the top of the box office charts, such as Frozen, which Movieguide picked as the best movie for families in 2013. Frozen promotes a Christian, biblical view of love and has grossed more than $ billion worldwide so far.”

The success of faith-based and faith-friendly movies and television shows like Son of God, Heaven Is for Real, God’s Not Dead, The Bible miniseries, the Duck Dynasty reality TV show, Frozen, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Noah, Despicable Me 2 and The Blind Side is no fluke. In fact, Baehr calls it a miracle from God.

When Christians abandon the mass media, they abandon their culture and their fellow man. When Christians get involved in the mass media, as Baehr with the staff at Movieguide and people like George Heimrich have done, God honors that commitment with success.

Nothing Succeeds Like Success

Movieguide’s long-term strategy of redeeming the values of the entertainment industry is working. God has blessed these efforts tremendously, as recent history has shown. Of course, Movieguide needs the faith and support from Christians all over the globe.

“That faith and support is vital, especially if we are to continue the never-ending struggle to transform our culture with the gospel of Jesus Christ for the benefit of future generations—our children and grandchildren,” Baehr says. “The mass media creates the culture that shapes the hearts and minds of our children and grandchildren.”

By lending Movieguide your faith and support, you help and protect the weakest among us. By helping and protecting them through Movieguide, you honor God and His Word, the Holy Bible, by promoting His love (1 Cor. 13:1-6), commending “those who do right” (1 Pet. 2:14), exposing “the fruitless deeds of darkness” (Eph. 5:11) and focusing on “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, and whatever is admirable” (Phil. 4:8).

“It only took Jesus Christ 11 apostles—12, if you count the apostle Paul—to change the world and create the liberty, righteousness and prosperity that Western civilization produced under Jesus and His church,” Baehr says. “Imagine what billion Christians could do with the mass media, applying biblical principles through Movieguide and the Christian Film & Television Commission!”

Megachurches have plenty of critics—including the pastor of one of the most popular megachurches in America.

Indeed, Bishop T.D. Jakes, senior pastor of the Potter’s House in Dallas, says he has one issue with megachurch culture. Oddly enough, it has to do with how pastors fit into the mix.

“There are pastors whose ego demands that type of adulation. … It’s the part of ministry that I hate,” said Jakes while promoting his book Instinct. “I hate it because from the inside out I see myself as quite normal. The pressure to live up to all of your expectations frustrates me.”

That’s right, he doesn’t like how pastors are exalted as demigods—or pastors who demand to be exalted like some idol.

“I’m the same guy that pastored 50 people on Easter Sunday,” he said. “I didn’t turn into some kind of creature when they became 5,000.”

You’ve heard it said, “When in Rome, do as the Romans.” But what do you do when you are smack-dab in the middle of a Muslim nation that disdains Americans, offers little respect to women and is determined to make sure you know it?

The ongoing news about the crisis in Egypt caused me to look back at some of my own experiences with Muslims. I have had wonderful experiences with Muslims in the U.S. and terrible experiences with Muslims in Islamic nations—and wonderful experiences with Muslims in Islamic nations.

I will never forget my weeklong visit to an Asian Islamic nation. I couldn’t blend in. I stood out like, well, like an American woman in a Muslim nation. I’m clearly a modern Western woman with the red hair and freckles to prove it. While I was in this Islamic nation, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Christ in me seemed to stir the principalities and powers that wondered why I was there.

To say the heavens were hard would be an understatement. To say the people were rude to me would pay them a compliment. And to say I didn’t struggle to maintain a positive attitude would be an outright lie. You see, my appointed escorts took noticeable pleasure in running me ragged, giving me the silent treatment, leaving me stranded at airports and feeding me unclean food. (The squid and rice actually had a large metal staple in it.) Again, to say I wasn’t working overtime to be diplomatic in the face of this treatment would be less than truthful. They openly laughed and joked with one another about how they were mistreating me. I could hardly believe it—and I wasn’t really sure what to expect next in the midst of what had turned out to be a nightmare assignment.

Friends were text messaging me with suggestions that I take the next flight home. I somehow knew I had to stick it out to the end. I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to do it gracefully, but I did know this: These Muslims had a dossier on me that told them who I was, what I wrote about (read: radical Islam, prophetic ministry and fervent Christian living) and they were dishing out an American hazing in the most politically correct manner possible. In other words, I probably wasn’t in any imminent physical danger, but I was not being treated with common respect. Rather, I was being harassed for my faith and on behalf of my nation.

So what do you do when you are in a Muslim nation where they don’t like you? The answer is not to do as the Muslims. Sure, there was a temptation to fall back on the “eye for an eye concept” and dish out the rudeness in return. But these folks knew I was an active Christian, and they were watching my every move. They were trying their level best to provoke me, to see if I would lose my composure, to break me. As an ambassador for Christ, I knew I had to let them see Christ in me. But in a jetlagged, utterly exhausted and poorly nourished state, I also knew I couldn’t take another step without a specific strategy. I needed more than a pat answer from the Bible. I needed a rhema word from God. So I cried out to God in my hotel room, “How do I respond to these people?”

It didn’t take Him long to answer. In that still small voice, He made it all so simple: “If a man compels you to go a mile, go two.” At first I thought to myself, I’ve already walked 15 miles with these people! But, alas, this wisdom from above was pure, peaceable, considerate, fully of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. And peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness (James 3:17-18). I turned immediately and began reading the Beatitudes. I took great comfort reading verses like:

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matt 5:9-12, KJV).

There I found grace for the next few days of my journey through Islam with the power of the Holy Spirit to be a witness. And something amazing happened. By the last two days of my visit, these Muslims who had treated me so rudely began to change their attitude toward me. We discussed Christianity, Islam, Judaism and other religions in an openminded exchange of ideologies. We laughed together, began to understand each other, and started to look at one another not as Christian and Muslim but as people. By the end of the journey, they were saying things to me like, “You are not like other Americans. You’re different.” And they meant that in the most positive sense.

What about you? You may never go to a Muslim country that’s hostile toward your religion. But you may go to a workplace where you feel like you don’t get a fair shake. You may have to deal with unsaved neighbors who work your last nerve every weekend. How will you respond? Will you turn the other cheek? Will you walk the extra mile? Will you love your enemies? Will you stand in your role as an ambassador for Christ?

Christ sent the Holy Ghost so we could be witnesses. Paul said we are living epistles. Like John the Baptist, we need to burn and shine. That doesn’t always mean looking for the quick conversion. It may just mean walking in love so people can see the real Christ.

At the end of my Asian adventure, as I was riding back to the airport, God did something I didn’t expect. Earlier in the week I asked Him how Jesus would respond to Muslims. In the wake of extreme terrorism, the Western world tends to do its own fair share of persecuting those who practice Islam without considering the people who practice Islam. Jesus loves people, including Muslim people.

As I was riding in that van to the airport, God exposed His heart to me. His heart aches for everyone that is dying and going to hell every day. The intensity of Christ’s love for all people pricked my heart, and it was all I could do not to weep violently. I could not contain the tears, and I began to pray for that nation and the Muslims who live there. Scripture says that “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

So whether you find yourself in the midst of a spiritual clash in an Islamic nation or in the midst of a workplace war on the job front, remember this: God hates sin, but He loves people. He’s counting on you to be the salt and light that opens the door for lost souls to enter into the kingdom of God, where Jesus is waiting for them with open arms.

Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including The Making of a Prophet. You can email Jennifer at @ or visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.

If you are one of the hundreds of thousands of people who have downloaded the Charisma News smartphone app for iPhone or Android, we have good news. Our breaking Christian news app is getting a major upgrade over the next couple of weeks.

While we work to offer an improved experience on our app—which provides you with up-to-the-minute Christian news on your smartphone, as well as spiritual insights from respected Christian leaders like Joyce Meyer, R.T. Kendall, and J. Lee Grady and spiritual growth teachings, study resources and more—you may experience some glitches. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause.

We know how important apps are to today’s mobile readers and we’re committed to staying in touch through this transition to let you know the status of our upgrade. During this time, please feel free to contact us if you are having issues with the app so we can move swiftly with our IT team to correct them. We’re relying on you for feedback that will ultimately help is improve your mobile experience.

Here are some issues you might experience as we transition: (1) You may not be able to get the most recent articles delivered to your smartphone; (2) Some features, such as Favorites, Search, and Offline Reading, may be temporarily disabled; (3) The app may appear frozen or unresponsive. If that happens, you can always log on to for our latest news stories.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience you may experience. With every opportunity for change, there are challenges—especially with technology. Please know that we are working diligently to provide you with an app you can rely on to access your trusted resource for breaking Christian news and teachings.

One last important note: At a key point during this transition, we will send out a notification asking you to upgrade the app. Once you get this notification, it will be crucial for you to upgrade the app. Until you do, you will not be able to receive any new articles and the app may even appear completely empty, like an empty bookshelf.

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When Jesus took a seat on the mountainside to deliver His timeless Sermon on the Mount, the twelve apostles of the Lamb were among the crowd of disciples who hung on His every word. They were amazed at His teaching. There was something different about this Jesus. He taught as one who had authority and not as the scribes. He lived His message.

The newly ordained apostles probably marveled when Jesus called those who are persecuted for righteousness blessed. I can imagine their brains went “tilt” when Jesus told them to love their enemies, bless people that curse them, do good to people that hate them, and pray for people that despitefully use them, and persecute them (see Matt. 5).

Indeed, Jesus’ teaching was a far cry from the world’s ways—or even the Law’s ways that commanded an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The Sons of Thunder were among those in the crowd who were “astonished and overwhelmed with bewildered wonder at His teaching” (see Matt. 7:28, AMP). They heard the words, but they didn’t catch the revelation. They counted it as the best teaching they had ever heard, but the principle Jesus was imparting—the principle of moving in the opposite spirit—wouldn’t soon play out in their everyday lives.

How do I know? Luke 6 records the same sermon. Jesus actually delivered the Sermon on the Mount right after He chose the 12 apostles—and right after giving those 12 apostles the authority to preach the gospel of the kingdom and the power to heal the sick and cast out devils.

But before He sent them out to preach and work miracles with the authority of heaven, Jesus first equipped His chosen nation-shakers with the principles of moving in the opposite spirit. Jesus knew they would need to guard their hearts in the face of mean-spirited opposition and show religion a better way. Jesus taught them not to resist evil, to gladly give up their personal rights, to avoid judgmental attitudes. (You are familiar with the message.)

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the apostles had authority to cast out devils, but they didn’t have the revelation about moving in the opposite spirit of those same devils (or the sinful flesh). In other words, they had the information, but they didn’t have the revelation. Fast forward to Luke 9, just three chapters after the Christianity 101 workshop. What do we find?

First we see that the disciples weren’t able to cast the demon out of the child. Right after that, the disciples got into an argument about who would be the greatest. Then, John rebuked a man who was successfully casting out demons in the name of Jesus because he wasn’t part of the inner circle. (Hardly living the Beatitudes, were they?) And, finally, James and John, the Sons of Thunder, took offense when the Samaritans wouldn’t offer Jesus the hospitality He deserved. These apostles actually asked the One who came to save the world, “Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?” (Luke 9:54, KJV).

Um… were these disciples napping when Jesus taught the principles of moving in the opposite spirit on the mountainside? Surely they had front row seats and heard the message loud and clear. When the Samaritans snubbed the King, the apostles should have asked Jesus if they could hold a feast for the Samaritans and end the party with a healing service. But they didn’t catch the spirit of the message that offered them the secret to true power. So instead they started flowing in the wrong spirit. Jesus rebuked James and John and said, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of” (KJV).

James and John weren’t moving in the opposite spirit of the Samaritans. The words of their mouths revealed that their hearts were not fully aligned with the spirit of Christ. They weren’t in agreement with the Holy Spirit. The disciples wanted to use their authority to exercise the Law’s eye-for-an-eye principle—compounded about 1,000 times. They were offended and they wanted to retaliate. But Jesus not only teaches us not to retaliate. He teaches us not even to resist. The natural mind can’t comprehend Matthew 5:38-48. Let’s look at this passage in The Message translation:

“Here’s another old saying that deserves a second look: ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.’ Is that going to get us anywhere?

“Here’s what I propose: ‘Don’t hit back at all.’ If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.

“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst.

“When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty.

“If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

“In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”

All of this is foolishness to the natural mind. The carnal mind wants to strike back twice as hard, file a countersuit, tell everyone who will listen what they did to you, make them pay. To stand there and take it, to give away even more than what someone is trying to force from your hands, to pray a blessing on the ones who are cursing you … that, my friends, is called moving in the opposite spirit—and there’s a reward in it. When you move in the opposite spirit, you avoid the bondage that the one who strikes you, sues you, takes advantage of you, gives you a hard time, or mistreats you in any way, is living in. You walk free—you walk in power. And your response might even set them free, too. We overcome evil with good.

Now, you can’t try to move in the opposite spirit, not really. You have to get the revelation of it and move by His grace alone. That’s why we have to give the apostles a bit of a break. They didn’t have the benefit of a leather-bound book that displays the Sermon on the Mount in red letters so they could meditate on it day and night until it renewed their minds. We do. They also didn’t have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of them. We do. When we move in the opposite spirit of the ones who come against us, we are moving in the Holy Spirit. After all, in Him, we live and move and have our being. And we, too, can live His message for the glory of God.

Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including The Making of a Prophet. You can email Jennifer at @ or visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.

Chuck Pierce released this prophetic word earlier this month:

“This is not the same as you’ve seen in the past. This is not the same as what you’ve asked for in other seasons. This is a different glory—a glory change that I’m bringing into the land! You will shudder at the changes that are on the way in your land and in other lands and with other people!

“For this is a time that the blood that runs deep will now be sanctified. This is a time that My Spirit will go deeper than I have gone in the past. For this is a time of birthing what is new, but yet bringing forth that which is old, and treasures will erupt! Treasures will erupt! Treasures will erupt!

“I will bring forth what has not been seen, and I will cause your gifts to come alive in ways they’ve never come alive. You will feel the shuddering birthing pains within you, and from that you will bring to birth the change that is necessary for you to enter into this season.

“So know this: Dragons are on the move, and even the Great Dragon is now mounting up. Nations that will align are now aligning. So watch carefully and look deep into the circumstances around you. For these are days of great change.

“Watch the signs on your road for your road is now changing. New opportunities are coming. Watch now, for I will realign your path!”

Three Dragon Storms

According to Airing News, “This is a really unusual weather situation, according to the National Weather Service: Three low pressure systems in line over the entirety of North America. NASA Goddard describes them as ‘three atmospheric dragons.'” 

Charles D. “Chuck” Pierce serves as president of Global Spheres Inc. in Corinth, Texas, an apostolic, prophetic ministry that is being used to gather and mobilize the worshipping triumphant reserve throughout the world. He also serves as president of Glory of Zion International Ministries, a ministry that aligns Jew and Gentile. He is known for his accurate prophetic gifting that helps direct nations, cities, churches and individuals in understanding the times and seasons in which we live.