After Christchurch Massacre, Sam Rodriguez Calls For ‘All of God’s Children to Repudiate Every Vestige of Hatred, Bigotry and Intolerance’

Faith leaders around the globe immediately rushed to prayer after news broke at least 49 people were killed in two mosque massacres in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Among them is Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

Reuters reported that a gunman broadcast livestream footage on Facebook of the attack on one mosque in the city of Christchurch, mirroring the carnage played out in video games, after publishing a “manifesto” in which he denounced immigrants, calling them “invaders.”

New Zealand was placed on its highest security threat level, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, adding that “this can now only be described as a terrorist attack.”

Rodriguez wasn’t the only prominent Christian to cry out to God after news of the massacre broke. Several faith-filled people used social media to share their prayers for the victims and country.

The Most Rev. Joseph D’Souza, moderating bishop of the Good Shepherd Church of India and president of the All India Christian Council:

“Our hearts are with the Muslim community in New Zealand after this heinous attack on the Masjid Al Noor and Linwood mosques. We applaud the prime minister’s right decision to quickly condemn the attack. This is the latest reminder that our world has descended into a social media-fueled decadence that consumes the political and religious class. That this kind of violence could happen in a peaceful country like New Zealand exposes the great danger all nations face when religious extremists or extreme nationalists take advantage of platforms like social media to propagate their twisted, hate-filled philosophies and call for violence to be unleashed on innocent people like those in Christchurch Friday. Our words and tweets and Facebook posts have an impact on vulnerable minds. We must remember that we reap what we sow. This attack is a reminder that the world is in dire need of peacemakers, who will sow peace and fiercely push back against the evil that aims to suppress the fundamental right of every human being to practice his or her religion as they would choose.”

Alex McFarland, organizer of Truth for a New Generation conferences:

On behalf of Truth For a New Generation, our staff, and myself, our prayers and condolences are with the families of the shooting victims in New Zealand. We condemn this violence in the strongest possible terms, and our hearts break to think of innocent people being gunned down in this manner. The Bible speaks of our connectedness with all of our fellow human beings: We do, “weep with those who weep,” at this tragic time (Romans 12:15). We call on people everywhere to pray for peace, to pray that the Holy Spirit would restrain evil, and we urge people to do all that they can to make those around them feel loved and valued. We thank the Lord that He is the God of all comfort (II Corinthians 1:3), and that through a relationship with Jesus Christ, hearts inclined toward sin can be transformed into souls filled with love.

Charisma News will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.



Beto O’Rourke, Climate Change and the End of the World

I’m going out on a limb. I’m about to make a bold prediction. Contrary to the prognostications of Beto O’Rourke, the world will not end in 12 years. At least not by climate change. There. I said it.

Now, it’s possible that the Lord will choose to return in 12 years. But that’s another story.

In the age of climate-change hysteria, the end-of-the-world clock is already ticking. And it’s ticking fast.

“The scientists are unanimous on this. We have no more than 12 years to take incredibly bold action on this crisis,” O’Rourke said. “Can we make it? I don’t know. It’s up to every one of us. Do you want to make it?”

Twelve years and counting to save the planet. Otherwise, we’re doomed.

Now, to make full disclosure, I am the opposite of a climate change expert.

I’ve never read a whole book on the subject. I’ve read only a handful of relevant articles. And to my knowledge, I’ve only had one expert on my radio show who addressed the issue (and that’s in more than 10 years of daily talk radio).

But I know enough to recognize hyperbole. I know enough to recognize appeals to mass hysteria. And this is certainly one of them.

I remember seeing a striking TV ad during one of Bill Clinton’s presidential campaigns. There was an elderly couple whose house burned down because the fire department arrived too late.

Why? It was because of the evil policies the Republicans would introduce if elected. The fire department and the police would be understaffed. The cutbacks would be deadly. Literally.

If Bill Clinton were not elected president, old people would be burning to death.

Now it’s even worse. The whole world will be destroyed if we don’t act quickly. And that means we must elect Beto O’Rourke for president. He will save the planet.

To quote him again, science has made clear that “we should do nothing less than marshal every resource in the country to meet that challenge, to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, to get to net zero emissions, which means not only must we emit less greenhouse gasses, we must plant things that absorb greenhouse gasses and carbon and invest in the technology to allow us to claim some that are in the air now.”

And we have 12 years to do it. Or else.

The scary thing is not that this new presidential candidate believes this timetable to be true.

It’s that today’s intellectual environment is such that he can say these things without being laughed to scorn. Worse still, he believes that this kind of rhetoric will help his campaign rather than hurt it. And he might well be right.

In other words, it isn’t just a radical leftist like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who suggested that “it may not be ethical to have children, given the difficulties that climate change will likely cause in the years to come.” (To quote her directly, “There’s scientific consensus that the lives of children are going to be very difficult. And it does lead young people to have a legitimate question: Is it OK to still have children?”)

Rather, as a recent headline announced, the “New ‘Birthstrike’ Movement Has Women Saying No to Kids Because of Climate Change.”

Yes, “A number of women in recent years have found a way to reduce the average carbon footprint just by doing nothing.

“The research suggests not having kids is the most impactful thing we can do to decrease our carbon footprint, more and more women have begun questioning whether or not they should have children at all.”

So, we save the human race by not having children. Brilliant.

This is even more shortsighted than China’s one-child per-family policy.

Yet many believe that the end of the world is near—again, not based on biblical prophecy but on a climate change apocalypse. And the fear-based rhetoric of Ocasio-Cortez and O’Rourke will only fuel the fires into a burning frenzy.

And can you imagine what would happen if Nancy Pelosi had her way, and the voting age were dropped to 16?

I freely admit that Donald Trump has consistently used fear-based rhetoric in his presidential campaigning and presidential tenure. (In fact, politicians commonly do so on all sides of the aisle.)

And I acknowledge that there are environmental issues that deserve attention. The book of Revelation even addresses those who destroy the earth (Rev 11:18).

But this over-the-top, apocalyptic, climate change rhetoric deserves a skeptical response. The question is: Will it get the skeptical, critical response it deserves, or will the hysteria reach a fever pitch?

O’Rourke is betting on the latter.

I sure hope he’s wrong.

That’s because right now, climate-change hysteria is far more dangerous than climate change itself.



Prophetic Perspective: Christchurch, New Zealand Mosque Shootings

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is calling it “one of New Zealand’s darkest days.” Forty-nine people were killed in shootings at two mosques in Christchurch and more than 20 others are seriously wounded.

The tragic event marks the worst act of violence in the nation in almost 30 years.

Ardern did not mince words, calling it a terrorist attack. And New Zealand’s Police Commissioner Mike Bush is warning not to “presume the danger is gone.”

My ministry has two Awakening Blaze prayer cells in New Zealand, one near Christchurch and another in Auckland. We’re coordinating prayer through these cells. You can find them at .

At this time, I want to remind the world of a prophetic word I released over New Zealand while holding meetings there in Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland:

I will move and you will see Me move in extraordinary and unusual ways. But it’s not going to look like what you think. So, don’t reject what I do, the new wine that I’m pouring out. But prepare your heart even now to receive it.

In this season, as you read the Gospels, as you read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and you read the miracles of Jesus, I’m going to give you new revelation, new insight, a new perspective on that what you have read many, many, many times before because I’ve called you as change agents in your nation. I’ve called you, yes, as revival carriers, as kingdom releasers, as glory dwellers in your nation, and I will send you to and fro, not just with the word, but a demonstration of My Spirit.”

Even as Smith Wigglesworth prophesied a Word and Spirit movement in the last day—the combination of My Word and My Spirit—I will use you to demonstrate and to manifest this movement among your people in your land. This will spill out upon the edges of this great nation. This will spill out over into the nations of the earth as the glory will cover the earth in the last days. The knowledge of the glory of the Lord— the knowledge of the glory of the Lord—will come from this nation.

When I was preaching from this word, the Lord showed me He wanted to bring a new voice of healing movement to New Zealand. He showed me He was putting the government of the nation back into the hands of the intercessors.

Here’s how you can pray:

—Pray for the hedge of protection to rise up around New Zealand.

—Pray for an end to terror in New Zealand.

—Pray against this constant attack on New Zealand’s spiritual inheritance; bind the hand of the thief that is working to dampen fervor for awakening.

—Pray that intercessors on the land will repent for the sins of the land and work as agents of healing.

—Pray that the Lord would empower politicians and police with strategies to eradicate terrorists and thwart future attacks.

—Pray that intercessors in New Zealand will not grow weary.

Keep on praying.



49 Dead in Mass Slaughter at Mosques in Christchurch

At least one gunman killed 49 people and wounded more than 40 during Friday prayers at two New Zealand mosques in the country’s worst ever mass shooting, which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern condemned as terrorism.

A gunman broadcast livestream footage on Facebook of the attack on one mosque in the city of Christchurch, mirroring the carnage played out in video games, after publishing a “manifesto” in which he denounced immigrants, calling them “invaders.”

New Zealand was placed on its highest security threat level, Ardern said, adding that “this can now only be described as a terrorist attack.”

Police said three people were in custody, including one man in his late 20s who had been charged with murder.

He will appear in court on Saturday.

“We were not chosen for this act of violence because we condone racism, because we are [an enclave for extremism,” Ardern said in a national address. “We were chosen for the fact that we are none of these things. It was because we represent diversity, kindness, compassion, a home for those who share our values.

“You have chosen us but we utterly reject and condemn you.”

Police Commissioner Mike Bush said 49 people had been killed in total. Health authorities said 48 people were being treated for gunshot wounds, including young children.

U.S. President Donald Trump condemned the “horrible massacre” in what the White House called a “vicious act of hate.”

“The U.S. stands by New Zealand for anything we can do,” Trump wrote in a post on Twitter.

The gunman’s manifesto praised Trump as “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The video footage widely circulated on social media, apparently taken by a gunman and posted online live as the attack unfolded, showed him driving to one mosque, entering it and shooting randomly at people inside.

Worshippers, possibly dead or wounded, lay huddled on the floor, the video showed. Reuters was unable to confirm the authenticity of the footage.

One man who said he was at the Al Noor mosque told media the gunman was white, blond and wearing a helmet and a bulletproof vest. The man burst into the mosque as worshippers were kneeling for prayers.

“He had a big gun … he came and started shooting everyone in the mosque, everywhere,” said the man, Ahmad Al-Mahmoud. He said he and others escaped by breaking through a glass door.

Forty-one people were killed at the Al Noor mosque, seven at a mosque in the Linwood neighborhood and one died in hospital, police said. Hospitals said children were among the victims.

The visiting Bangladesh cricket team was arriving for prayers at one of the mosques when the shooting started but all members were safe, a team coach told Reuters.

Three Bangladeshis were among the dead and one was missing, the consulate said.

Shortly before the attack began, an anonymous post on the discussion site 8chan, known for a wide range of content including hate speech, said the writer was going to “carry out an attack against the invaders” and included links to a Facebook live stream, in which the shooting appeared, and a manifesto.

The manifesto cited “white genocide,” a term typically used by racist groups to refer to immigration and the growth of minority populations, as his motivation.

The Facebook link directed users to the page of a user called .

A Twitter account with the handle @brentontarrant posted on Wednesday images of a rifle and other military gear decorated with names and messages connected to white nationalism. What looked like the same weapons appeared in the livestream of the mosque attack on Friday.

Facebook and Twitter said they would take down content involving the shootings.

KILLINGS CONDEMNED

It was not immediately clear if the attacks at the two mosques were carried out by the same man.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said one of the men in custody was Australian.

All mosques in New Zealand had been asked to shut their doors and post armed guards, police said, adding they were not actively looking for any other “identified suspects.”

Political and Islamic leaders across Asia and the Middle East condemned the killings.

“I blame these increasing terror attacks on the current Islamophobia post-9/11,” Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan posted on social media. “1.3 billion Muslims have collectively been blamed for any act of terror.”

Al-Azhar University, Egypt’s 1000-year-old seat of Sunni Islamic learning, said the attacks had “violated the sanctity of the houses of God.”

“We warn the attack is a dangerous indicator of the dire consequences of escalating hate speech, xenophobia, and the spread of Islamophobia.”

Six Indonesians had been inside one of the mosques, with three managing to escape and three unaccounted for, its foreign minister said.

Afghanistan’s ambassador said on Twitter three Afghans had been wounded. Two Malaysians were wounded, their foreign ministry said.

Muslims account for just over 1 percent of New Zealand’s population, a 2013 census showed.

‘FIRING WENT ON AND ON’

The online footage, which appeared to have been captured on a camera strapped to a gunman’s head, showed him driving as music played in his vehicle. After parking, he took two guns and walked a short distance to the mosque where he opened fire.

Over the course of five minutes, he repeatedly shot worshippers, leaving more than a dozen bodies in one room alone. He returned to the car during that period to change guns, and went back to the mosque to shoot anyone showing signs of life.

One man, with blood still on his shirt, said in a television interview that he hid from a gunman under a bench and prayed that he would run out of bullets.

“I was just praying to God and hoping our God, please, let this guy stop” Mahmood Nazeer told TVNZ.

“The firing went on and on. One person with us had a bullet in her arm. When the firing stopped, I looked over the fence, there was one guy, changing his gun.”

The video shows the gunman then driving off at high speed and firing from his car. Another video, taken by someone else, showed police apprehending a gunman on a pavement by a road.

Police said improvised explosive devices were found. The gunman’s video had shown red petrol canisters in the back of his car, along with weapons.

The Bangladesh cricket team is in Christchurch to play New Zealand in a third cricket test starting on Saturday.

“They were on the bus, which was just pulling up to the mosque when the shooting begun,” Mario Villavarayen, a team coach, told Reuters in a message. “They are shaken but good.”

The third cricket test was canceled, New Zealand Cricket said later.

Violent crime is rare in New Zealand and police do not usually carry guns. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, the head of state of New Zealand, said she was deeply saddened by the shootings.

Before Friday, New Zealand’s worst mass shooting was in 1990 when a gun-mad loner killed 13 men, women and children in a 24-hour rampage in the tiny seaside village of Aramoana. He was killed by police. {eoa}

© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.



Beware of This Snake-Like Spirit at Yoga’s Root

There are many people doing yoga these days. But is yoga for Bible-believing followers of Christ?

We live in a world where two dimensions intersect: physical and spiritual. From the beginning, Satan wanted to be like God. Isaiah 14:12-14 describes Lucifer’s five “I will” statements. The last one says, “I will make myself like God.” Satan wants our worship, and he will do anything it takes to make that happen.

I went to a women’s event at a small fitness studio owned by a sweet new believer. There were Bible verses on the walls and Christian music playing as we followed her exercise routine. She encouraged us and even stopped to pray for us. I wondered if we were doing yoga. The thought came and went many times throughout the routines. She didn’t call it yoga, nor did she use any familiar yoga terms, so I continued going along with her positional stretches.

A few days later, I woke with terrible pain in my abdomen. The pain went through to my back and made any position uncomfortable. Trying everything to rid my body of the pain, I changed my diet, thinking I was reacting to dairy products. I ate little food, even fasting, hoping it would help, but still, the pain continued.

After two weeks, I believed I had cancer growing inside my gut. Overwhelming fear overtook my rational thinking and told me I was dying.

I intended to go to church on Sunday morning and ask our prayer warriors to pray over me. But that morning, the pain was worse, so I decided to stay home. The Holy Spirit reminded me no one would pray for me unless I went to church. I asked the Lord to help me feel good enough to go.

During prayer, a friend said she felt impressed by the Spirit that my illness came from something I had done at the women’s event. She told me it was not physical, but a spiritual issue and to ask the Lord to show me what it was. When I did, God revealed it was the “yoga” I had done.

My friend rebuked the pain and the spirit associated with it. God healed me at that moment. I also asked the Lord to forgive me for taking part in the yoga routine.

He taught me a valuable lesson about the power of yoga. It is far from innocent.

An elder at our church, born and raised in India, taught a class on Eastern religion. After receiving permission from the Lord and knowing God would protect him, Doug’s former Indian pastor released him to join the yoga school so he could learn and then teach others the dangers of this practice.

Doug explained what I had experienced was the Kundalini spirit. It is a snake-like demonic spirit associated with yoga that sits at the base of the spine and causes tremendous pain.

Christian music and prayer do not make this ancient practice a Christian exercise. Dismissing its foundations by turning yoga into a sanguine practice is impossible. An evil spirit doesn’t leave because you call something godly.

Cutting down a tree does not kill its roots. They are still in place. My husband had to chop down many live trees on our property. Getting rid of roots is difficult; they go deep, traveling far and deep to find water and nourishment for the tree. You can only kill roots by pulling them out of the ground.

Yoga has spiritual roots in an ungodly religion. Created as part of a ritual to serve and worship false gods, it opens our mind to other spirits as we practice it, even if we are meditating on God. You cannot remove the roots from yoga.

We must seek God and His wisdom regarding yoga. What is the worst thing He can say? “No”?

God wants what is best for us. He wants to protect us. The Holy Spirit tried to protect me, but I did not listen. And in my case, I suffered the consequences. {eoa}

Stephanie Pavlantos is passionate about getting people into God’s Word. She has taught Bible studies for 15 years and has spoken at ladies’ retreats. She wants to get people into the Word where they can discover God’s love for them, their identity in Christ, and find healing for the wounds of this life while forgiving those who caused their pain. Visit her blog at .

This article originally appeared at .

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

.



Ray Comfort Delivers Another Challenging, Thought-Provoking Film Sure to Stir the Pot

Is abortion moral? Is current U.S. law too permissive? Are there circumstances that make terminating a pregnancy an ethical choice? These are just a few of the loaded questions at the heart of the ever-contentious abortion debate.

They’re also topics that are creatively grappled within filmmaker Ray Comfort’s riveting new film 7 Reasons. The movie, which released on March 15 at , will challenge viewers to think deeper about the abortion debate, as Comfort asks a variety of men and women about their beliefs on abortion—and whether it really is truly a woman’s right to choose.

READ ALSO: 5 Real-Life Stories of Abortion Survivors

“I feel like it’s a woman’s right to choose,” one interviewee responds. “We have rights over our own body.” Others are seen agreeing with this conclusion.

Those featured in 7 Reasons give a variety of justifications for why they believe abortion should be permissible. From the inconvenience of pregnancy to parental incompetence, the circumstances offered up were sweeping.

Some argued that fetuses simply aren’t babies—or that some women seeking abortions are justified in doing so, as they aren’t ready for the responsibility of being a parent.

“People who don’t have money can’t pay for themselves,” one person says, citing financial barriers.

Watch the 7 Reasons trailer:

But Comfort patiently questions each person and, before long, it’s easy to see the house of cards come tumbling down, with hearts and minds changing in the process.

“You’d sacrifice willingly because God’s given you an instinct to love your offspring,” Comfort told one woman, encouraging her to reject abortion as a moral option and turn to God. “God can grant everlasting life as a free gift.”

READ ALSO: “12 Heartwarming Family Movies About Adoption”

As the conversations unfold, something fascinating happens in 7 Reasons: people start to realize the true gravity of their perspectives.

You can watch the film starting March 15 at 7 Reasons. {eoa}

This article was originally published on Pure Flix Insider. Visit Pure Flix for access to thousands of faith and family-friendly movies and TV shows. You can get a free, one-month trial here.



‘Papa Bear Alaska’ Exposes Satan’s Agenda to Derail Your Faith

Many Christians today feel unfulfilled in their walk with God. But they have no idea it’s because of little decisions they make each day that lead them into lives of compromise. That’s why Ron Pratt—affectionately known as “Papa Bear Alaska”—wrote a new book called Navigate Your Faith: A Christian’s Field Guide to Not Getting Lost, which I had the privilege to publish and highly recommend. Pratt’s goal is to expose Satan’s agenda to derail Christians’ lives and slowly turn their hearts away from the Lord.

I had the chance to interview Pratt, who traveled all the way from Alaska to Florida, in our podcast studio recently. We talked about his new book. It teaches readers how to pursue spiritual correctness over political correctness, how to honor God in their engagement with the media, and, ultimately, how to make Jesus the center of their lives. It’s a refreshing read in today’s era, as it addresses the many pitfalls of our society’s nominal Christians. Click here to listen to the podcast or scroll to the end of this article.

“We would probably be amazed at how many people who live or claim to have that banner of ‘Christian’ over their heads—how many are actually walking lost in their Christian walk,” Pratt tells me. “God literally woke me up in the middle of the night … and downloaded the entire storyline, the characters, the whole book. And I knew it was God because, frankly, I’m not that creative.”

Pratt’s wisdom comes from the Holy Spirit as well as from his many years in ministry. In fact, he got the first version of his nickname, “Papa Bear,” when he started a youth ministry in the early 1980s in Southern California. In 1997, though, God told him to sell everything and get ready to move. Pratt didn’t know at first that God would eventually move him to North Pole, Alaska. But after he settled there, he founded This Generation Ministries, which develops ministries and equips leaders in Alaska.

Throughout his time in ministry, Pratt has seen the devil’s schemes over and over again. So how does Satan manage to lead believers away from Jesus? Pratt says he slowly erodes our passion for Jesus by getting us to prioritize our own pleasure, entertainment or career goals over our relationship with Christ. Before we know it, we’re bored with our faith because it has become stale, but we don’t realize we did it to ourselves.

“Often we make it so easy for the enemy to put us in a compromised situation,” Pratt says. “And there’s really no need for us to go through some of these falls that we go through as Christians if we’re just divinely walking through some protocols that have already been set in stone in the Word of God. But we’ve gotten so far away from the Word of God, and we’ve gotten [to the point where] everything is subjective. The culture decides what’s moral or immoral, when really we have a book called the Bible that makes that decision for us.”

Culture seems to prove Pratt’s point. Take a quick glance at the state of our culture today, and you’ll see that people think they can simply choose what truth is. America has fallen for the lie that we can decide whether killing babies is actually murder and whether homosexuality is actually sexual immorality. I asked Pratt why he thinks this has happened in our culture.

“I think we as Christian leaders have allowed it,” he says. “In Alaska, we’ve got some pretty rough roads. … I’ve been on roads where after I drove over the road, it collapsed because there was undermining that happened. Undermining is something you don’t see; it happens underground. And it happens slowly; it doesn’t happen overnight. It happens where there’s seepage, and there’s a crack in the foundation. Water starts to wash out the foundation. Then eventually, all you have is the crust of the pavement, and it will cave through. I believe that we’ve allowed undermining to happen in our churches. We’ve allowed it to happen in our families. We’ve allowed it to happen in our individual lives, this slow deterioration of our foundation.”

Pratt says it’s even worse nowadays, as if Satan is giving one final effort to undermine God’s church before Jesus returns.

“As you study Revelation, you see that it’s going to get worse as we’re in the last days,” he says. “And now people are saying we’re in the last of the last days. That might be correct, and so I think because we’re in the last of the last days, the enemy is doing some overtime. I don’t know if I can back that with theology, but it seems like he’s doing that last-ditch effort to grab as many as he can because he knows he’s running out of time.”

Pratt believes this book will pave the way for many personal miracles in people’s lives. He’s praying the Holy Spirit will use this book to convict His people to seek Him with all their hearts again. That’s why I want to do everything I can to get this book in as many people’s hands as possible. Just visit to order your own copy of Navigate Your Faith, and click on the podcast below to hear more spiritual insights from Pratt!



‘New York Times’ Highlights Jonathan Cahn

On a Sunday morning at Beth Israel Worship Center in Wayne, N.J., a bearded pastor named Jonathan Cahn stood on an elevated platform, gazing over a full house. Stage lights shifted from blue to white as the backing band played a drifting melody. Two men hoisted curled rams’ horns and let out long blasts.

“Some of you have been saying you want to live in biblical times,” Mr. Cahn said, pacing behind a lectern. Then he spread his hands wide. “Well, you are.”

Sitting at the end of a sleepy drive an hour from Manhattan, Beth Israel may look like any common suburban church. But the center has a highly unusual draw. Every weekend, some 1,000 congregants gather for the idiosyncratic teachings of the church’s celebrity pastor, an entrepreneurial doomsday prophet who claims that President Trump’s rise to power was foretold in the Bible. {eoa}

Click here to read the rest of the story in The New York Times.



Real Talk Kim: We See a Mess; God Sees a Chance!

The obstacles in your life are God’s opportunities to reveal Himself to you. He turns your mess into a message and your test into a testimony. God never wastes a hurt. Psalm 56:8 (NLT) says, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in a bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.”

God is sensitive to your pain and desires your wholeness. Your wound might not be your fault, but your healing is your responsibility. What you deem as failure, God uses to promote you into your next season.

When David wrote Psalm 56, he was held captive by the Philistines and knew that only God would be his strength. He trusted God, knowing He understood every sorrow and fear and would take care of him, no matter how deep his despair was. I’m not sure how David saw his tears being collected in a bottle, but those tears resulted from pain, so his insight was very personal. David could not help sharing how God made sure none of his tears went to waste. We talk about accepting Jesus as our personal Savior; what an example David was of having a personal relationship with God!

God loves us intensely. In Ephesians 5:2 Paul said that Jesus’ death on the cross was a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. I am amazed that our heavenly Father gave His only begotten Son to walk this earth as a sacrifice, to be our pattern in life and to die in our stead. I don’t know how I could have lived so many years in selfishness, not even considering what Jesus Christ did for me. My only consolation is knowing that when God saw the mess my life had become, He also saw the chance to make it amazing.

For God to elevate you to your next level sometimes requires separation from the things that have kept you stuck. It can be your busy lifestyle that puts everything before God. Even your friends may influence you to look in every direction before you seek God’s will. After his conversion, Paul could have allowed doubt and fear to distract him from God’s will. The fear of what others might think could easily have defined his direction. He could have gone straight to Jerusalem to learn from the apostles who had walked with Jesus and to seek their approval. He could also have gotten ahead of God by immediately building a ministry platform, traveling, and sharing his testimony.

Paul did none of those things. Instead, he spent three years in Arabia, realizing that he needed to separate himself even from religious circles. Galatians 1:12 suggests that Paul spent that time studying the teachings of Christ. His time was obviously fruitful because when Paul went to Jerusalem 14 years after his conversion and met privately with church leaders, they found that “there was absolutely no difference between what he had been teaching for 11 years in Antioch and what the apostles had been teaching in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.”

Paul did not allow his past to determine his future. He released himself from the guilt of his cruelty to others. He walked in forgiveness, even forgiving himself. He also allowed the Lord Jesus to instruct and prepare him for his next season.

I doubt the devil was happy about Paul’s conversion and ministry. Scripture tells us to be “strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Josh. 1:9, NIV). The enemy can see who you are, even in your premature state. He is not trying to kill you. He is trying to kill the deliverer in you. He’s not after who you are but who you are going to be.

If I had known at 18 about the international call on my life, I might not have created the storms that kept me in crisis. I had no idea that my decisions at 18 would hinder my life for another 18 years. Yet God knew every decision I would make before I made it, and still He decided to be there when I called.

If you knew what God purposed when He wrote your name in His book, you would disconnect from people who are trying to steal your dreams. Scripture says, “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in your book, they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them” (Ps. 139:16). When you discover that you have been chosen by God to fulfill a purpose, you know you have to make decisions for your future. Paul’s decision for Christ changed everything. Before that, he was revered by the Jews as one of the most learned men of the day. After that, he spread the gospel everywhere he went.

I have seen many people’s prophetic words go unfulfilled because they lacked character or were too lazy to pursue God and begin to walk out the plans He spoke through those words. I have learned in my journey that God does not answer your list of wants with a bagful of goodies. He took time to give you your unique attributes, gifts and abilities for His own good pleasure and yours. However, you have to prepare yourself to use them.

When Your Bad Meets His GoodAdapted from When Your Bad Meets His Good by Kimberly Jones-Pothier, © 2018, published by Charisma House. Motivated by her personal testimony, the author shares how God turned her mess into a message and how He can do the same for you. To order your copy, click on this link.

Prayer Power for the Week Beginning March 17, 2019

Remind yourself this week that God can take your mess and turn it into a message that brings Him glory. Increase your faith by seeking Him daily through Scripture and prayer. Thank Him that He already has a plan for you and trust Him to direct your steps. Continue to pray for the nation and our allies (including Israel). Remember those in authority over us and ask for divine intervention where needed. Read: Joshua 1:9; Psalm 56:8, 139:16; Ephesians 5:2.



After Christchurch Massacre, Sam Rodriguez Calls For ‘All of God’s Children to Repudiate Every Vestige of Hatred, Bigotry and Intolerance’

Faith leaders around the globe immediately rushed to prayer after news broke at least 49 people were killed in two mosque massacres in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Among them is Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

Reuters reported that a gunman broadcast livestream footage on Facebook of the attack on one mosque in the city of Christchurch, mirroring the carnage played out in video games, after publishing a “manifesto” in which he denounced immigrants, calling them “invaders.”

New Zealand was placed on its highest security threat level, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, adding that “this can now only be described as a terrorist attack.”

Rodriguez wasn’t the only prominent Christian to cry out to God after news of the massacre broke. Several faith-filled people used social media to share their prayers for the victims and country.

The Most Rev. Joseph D’Souza, moderating bishop of the Good Shepherd Church of India and president of the All India Christian Council:

“Our hearts are with the Muslim community in New Zealand after this heinous attack on the Masjid Al Noor and Linwood mosques. We applaud the prime minister’s right decision to quickly condemn the attack. This is the latest reminder that our world has descended into a social media-fueled decadence that consumes the political and religious class. That this kind of violence could happen in a peaceful country like New Zealand exposes the great danger all nations face when religious extremists or extreme nationalists take advantage of platforms like social media to propagate their twisted, hate-filled philosophies and call for violence to be unleashed on innocent people like those in Christchurch Friday. Our words and tweets and Facebook posts have an impact on vulnerable minds. We must remember that we reap what we sow. This attack is a reminder that the world is in dire need of peacemakers, who will sow peace and fiercely push back against the evil that aims to suppress the fundamental right of every human being to practice his or her religion as they would choose.”

Charisma News will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.