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.

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 .

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Yael Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, warned the spirit of Haman is attacking just days before Jews are set to celebrate Purim.

“It’s amazing how we can from everything being quiet and calm to war in a matter of seconds. We’re not at war yet, thank God, but we just had two rockets launched at Tel Aviv,” Eckstein says in a Facebook LIVE video.

The rockets were launched at Israel’s most populous city from the Gaza strip.

“What we know is Islamic Jihad is taking responsibility for this, and what this means is a huge escalation, because they think long and hard before they launch any rocket,” Eckstein says.

Islamic Jihad denied these allegations.

No matter who fired, there’s a significant spiritual angle attached to the attack.

Watch the video for more.

Jesus Culture’s Kim Walker-Smith recently preached a powerful word about the importance of forgiveness at Jesus Culture Sacramento. She talked about how Jesus gives us the grace and ability to love and forgive even the people we least want to love and forgive. She says, “Jesus did not go to the cross and die for one moment with you, the point of your salvation and redemption, but He went to the cross and he died for a lifetime of moments with you.” And He wants you to live out that same lifestyle and have a unified Bride. Watch Walker-Smith’s message here.

Mark Biltz, author of the book Decoding the Antichrist, is described by Jim and Lori Bakker on a recent episode of The Jim Bakker Show as a detective, solving clues to the Antichrist’s identity. Biltz has examined the clues—and he’s come to a shocking conclusion.

He says the Antichrist may be “a human cyborg, someone who has all these implants that makes them so intelligent and wise, but the deception is going to be … everyone’s going to look for a Solomon. Someone who is famous, someone who is wise, someone who has all this power, and people are going to say, ‘Let him solve the problems in the Middle East.'”

He believes artificial intelligence is going to become very persuasive and wants Christians not to be deceived. Watch the full clip here.

Last week, I wrote about part 1 of my in-depth interview with Jim Bakker, where he shared fascinating stories about his early work in revival preaching and Christian television. Today I want to share with you part 2, in which Bakker shares new details about his downfall and time in prison as well as his eventual restoration. (Click here or scroll to the end of this article to listen to part 2 of our interview in its entirety.)

Bakker told me he never does these kinds of interviews because the leftist media repeatedly misrepresents him. But since we’ve been friends for so long, Bakker knew he could trust me with his personal stories. He tells me that his days in prison were some of the hardest moments of his life, and he remembers one wintry night in particular when his depression overwhelmed him.

“I thought I couldn’t go on,” Bakker says. “And all of the sudden, it was like hands—great hands—had picked me up, and I was floating in my bunk bed in that prison cell. And I said, ‘God, what’s happening?’ … He said, ‘This is the prayers of the people.’ And I know I would have never made it through prison without the prayers of the people.”

Many of you may remember the scandal surrounding Bakker’s arrest in 1988 for wire fraud. Later, news came out about an affair Bakker had with a church secretary. As a result, he lost Praise the Lord (PTL) Ministries and his resort, Heritage USA.

I remember when PTL and Heritage USA closed. I was heartbroken because not only had I benefited from those ministries, but I knew many others who had been as well.

“I never dealt with that—the pain of losing [those ministries] and what happened to me and what happened to it,” Bakker told me during our interview. “I still don’t know why [all that happened.] I do know it all worked together for good because I studied in the prison. I studied Revelation one word at a time, and it’s changed my life, changed my theology a lot, and it all worked together for good. I believe that. I have to.”

When Bakker was originally indicted, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison. But by God’s grace, Bakker’s case was thrown out, and he was released after eight years after his lawyer proved the judge was biased against the Christian television host. During those eight years, Bakker got a doctorate in biblical studies. He asked God for a miracle—all A’s in his courses. Although Bakker says he was never an all-A student, God gave him straight A’s while getting his doctorate in prison.

Although Bakker’s sins were grave, I can’t help but wonder if the media wouldn’t have been so ruthless with him if they hadn’t already formed a feeding frenzy. A few months before Bakker’s scandal broke, Oral Roberts had been trying to raise money for a medical school, and he said on his television show that if he didn’t raise the money, he felt God was going to take him home. The secular media jumped on that, of course, and falsely reported that Roberts said God would kill him if he didn’t raise enough money. That clearly wasn’t what Roberts meant, but it put the media in a position to latch onto any Christian scandal, and as a result, they blasted Bakker’s sins as national news.

“You have to understand, Oral Roberts is a man of God,” Bakker says. “And he was going to finish what God called him to do—or die. He really felt that. But they make fun of it. That’s why I don’t do interviews anymore. They just make fun of what is holy and special.”

Bakker’s relationship with Roberts reaches way back to the early years of his ministry. In last week’s interview, Bakker told me Roberts had mentored him and poured into him in ways few others have. As a result, he has a deep affection for Roberts and a strong respect for his faith and healing ministry.

In fact, Bakker considers Roberts and Billy Graham two of his mentors. At one of the lowest moments of Bakker’s imprisonment, Graham visited him and offered the comfort of Christ. Bakker had at one point interviewed Graham at the National Religious Broadcasters convention, but now he was cleaning toilets throughout the prison. The last time the two men interacted, Bakker was his clean-cut, charismatic self, but now his hair was a mess, he was sick with the flu and his toes poked out of his worn-out shoes.

“You have to have clearance to [visit] the prison, but Billy Graham just went up to the prison and said, ‘I want to see Jim Bakker,'” he says. “The [prison officials] asked me, ‘Do you want to see him?’ And I said, ‘I look like a man who’s been sleeping under a bridge.’ But I said yes. I didn’t want to say no to someone who had been so kind to come.”

When Bakker walked into the visitors’ room to see Graham, many people in the prison were crowding to see the prominent crusade evangelist. But all Bakker could see was Graham’s kind expression.

“My eyes were glued to Billy Graham’s eyes,” he says. “He has amazing eyes. And he put his arms around me, and he held me. He wasn’t ashamed to hug me. And on the radio, just hours before, he had been voted one of the top three most-respected men in the world. And here he is showing up at my prison unexpectedly, but he held me and he said, ‘Jim, I love you.’ The world stopped. Somebody loved me. I was at the bottom of the barrel. My ex-wife left me in prison.”

But Graham’s kindness didn’t end there. As soon as Bakker got out of prison, the Grahams invited him into their home and ministered to him.

“People always tell me, ‘There are no real Christians,'” Bakker tells me. “I’ll tell you what, there are a lot of real Christians, and I’ve seen them. When I stepped out of prison with no place to go—I didn’t have a house, I didn’t have a car, I didn’t have anything—Ruth Graham invited me the first Sunday I was out to go to church with them and then to come to their house and have dinner with them. They’re the most real Christians, and they’re real people.”

God used genuine Christians like the Grahams to prepare Bakker to go back into ministry. And as Bakker says, the Lord truly did use all of his mistakes and all the evil that happened to him for good. He married Lori Beth Graham in 1998, and the couple adopted five children. He records his new television show, The Jim Bakker Show, and at his new ministry, Morningside, in Blue Eye, Missouri. I’ve visited Morningside several times, and I can attest that Bakker hasn’t lost his creativity for television and entertainment.

Bakker shared many more fascinating and encouraging details about his downfall and restoration. To listen to them, just click on the podcast below. And if Bakker’s story of grace encourages you, share this article on your social media and remind your followers of God’s unlimited kindness to those who fear Him.

Hallmark reportedly fired actress Lori Loughlin, who appeared in the hit series When Calls the Heart as well as several films, after news broke that Loughlin and her husband allegedly participated in a bribery scheme to get their daughters into college. Makeup brand Sephora dropped her daughter, Olivia Jade, over the same incident.

“We are saddened by the recent news surrounding the college admissions allegations. We are no longer working with Lori Loughlin and have stopped development of all productions that air on the Crown Media Family Network channels involving Lori Loughlin including Garage Sale Mysteries, an independent third-party production,” Crown Media Family Networks said in a statement sent to USA Today.

According to People magazine:

Loughlin, 54, is among dozens charged in an alleged college admissions scam involving elite colleges and universities including Yale, Georgetown, the University of Southern California and Stanford. Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, allegedly paid $500,000 to make it appear that their daughter had been a rower, the indictment states. (Olivia Jade is not currently listed on the USC women’s rowing roster. It’s unclear if she was aware of the alleged scheme, and she was not charged.)

Both Loughlin and Giannulli were both arrested this week—she on Wednesday and he on Tuesday—on a felony charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. Giannulli appeared in federal court on Tuesday and was released after posting a $1 million bond. Loughlin made her first appearance in federal court on Wednesday in Los Angeles where a judge set her bond at $1 million, according to the Associated Press, the Orange County Register and the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

The scandal made headlines around the globe and garnered the attention of some Christian leaders.

“The Faith and Education Coalition is thankful to our law enforcement and justice system for exposing these cases of dishonesty and bribery in the college admission process,” says Girien Salazar of the Faith and Education Coalition – NHCLC.

“We are committed to biblical justice in American education and to issues of education equity and high standards in public education for the expressed purpose of ensuring college-career ready students. We want all students, regardless of their family’s income level, ethnic background or area of residence, to have the same opportunities to succeed in education, and that includes getting into college. We are thankful for tests like the SAT that allow students to be evaluated based on aptitude, for colleges that consider a students robust application and not a prominent last name and for federal grants that assist financially burdened families,” he continues.

“However, we are heartbroken that a small community of individuals would use their wealth, status and position to abuse these systems and subvert justice and fairness for selfish ambition. We pray that the persons and universities involved would repent of their actions, find forgiveness and restoration in Christ, and commit to a fair and equitable college admissions process,” Salazar says.

Actress Felicity Huffman was also charged in the scandal.

“For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).

Those who are familiar with my writings know I don’t usually mince words. The devil is always behind sugar-coated truth and a slimy tongue. Be sure of that.

Abortion, homosexuality and Islam are the greatest dangers facing America in the 21st century. Each of them has opened up portals of entry into our culture and way of life. These are ideologies that have infiltrated the minds of multitudes—shaped and fueled by the unprincipled mad media.

Abortion

Abortion is not an opinion about what women have a right to do or not do with their bodies. That’s the devil’s facade to hide what it really is. Willful abortion is murder at any point of a woman’s pregnancy. It’s a demon just like the Old Testament god of Molech to whom people sacrificed babies. It’s the same altar where many Americans now worship.

Think about it. Why are there abortion rights that have killed 60 million babies in the America alone? Blunt answer: mainly because of fornication and adultery.

There are some cases of rape and so forth, but that’s a very small minority. Yet it’s one of the main talking points of what people debate on. It’s hogwash. Sexual immorality is the biggest reason we have abortions. People want sex without the commitment and covenant of marriage and responsibility of the consequences. In fact, what they say by their actions is “A baby will ruin my happiness, so kill it!” How much more demonic can it be?

But do you know what is fueling the increase of promiscuous sex and now pedophilia, as well as all sorts of perversion? One word. Pornography. If you shut down the billion-dollar industry of pornography, you will radically decrease sexual immorality and perversion on every level. Abortions will also decrease exponentially.

Pornography is another portal of entry for demonic access. These evils are all linked together. It’s Satan’s master plan and worldwide web.

Homosexuality

How about homosexuality? I wrote an article over four years ago on homosexuality being a demon, and demons flew from every direction to attack my words. People were calling our ministry phone, writing nasty comments, sharing the article with right-wing watch groups and mocking it. They were fuming in venomous rage. That alone proves it was a demon because it’s the very point that nearly everyone attacked.

People accused me of having no compassion, but guess what? I also received calls and messages from homosexuals who knew I was telling the truth and wanted help. My compassion was directed toward those.

Now, it’s not only acceptable in our culture, but it’s celebrated and legalized. What happened? Demons, through the agency of deceived people and lawmakers, pushed it through and legalized it. When they did, it opened up a larger portal of entry for the release of more demons and the rule of a principality in our nation.

As long as the majority of people want their demons God will let them have them because He honors the human agency of free will—a debased mind void of judgment will be their most terrible portion (Rom. 1:24-28). Eventually homosexuality will destroy the culture of a nation and bring down the judgment of God as it did in days of old. Wherever homosexuality is prevalent, and alas, made law, evil rules and reigns and anyone who fights it is preyed upon.

Islam

Now this one will make people angry. The mask to Islam is that it’s a nice religion of peace. Much of the gullible populace has swallowed this lie—hook, line and sinker.

Have you ever read the Quran and the ideologies that are written therein?

The Quran says:

Muslims must not take infidels as friends (3:28).

Any religion other than Islam is unacceptable (3:85).

Maim and crucify the infidels if they criticize Islam (5:33).

Terrorize and behead those who believe in Scriptures other than the Quran (8:12).

Muslims must muster all weapons to terrorize the infidels (8:60).

The unbelievers are stupid; urge the Muslims to fight them (8:65).

When opportunity arises, kill the infidels wherever you catch them (9:5).

The Jews and the Christians are perverts; fight them (9:29).

Make war on the infidels living in your neighborhood (9:23).

According to its own holy book, this is a religion full of hate that believes it does God a service by killing all non-Muslims, especially Christians and Jews. Jesus warned us of such.

“They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he is offering a service to God” (John 16:2).

Yes, some Muslims are good, peaceful Americans, but when push comes to shove, they will stand with their ideology.

The more people understand the entire Islamic strategy to kill and conquer, the more society will wake up to it, and the better it will be for America and its future. This religious war is filled with deliberately thought-out, methodical strategies to take over every nation Islam enters. It’s called jihad. This dark Islamic strategy is so much bigger than the average person realizes. The big plan jihadis have devised for America is to destroy it from within.

Take note of the similarities between abortion, homosexuality, and Islam. Abortion is death to the most innocent. Homosexuality is death to the family, normal reproduction and the increase of confusion and perversion. Transgenderism came in right behind homosexuality to pile on more confusion, darkness, and death upon the human race. Finally, Islam declares death to all nations who do not worship their false god.

Death has gained great access into America. We are in a very serious and intense war. Satan is playing for keeps. It is time for every believer in Jesus Christ to enter this spiritual fight and stop living in denial. It’s time for fire to erupt in the bellies of preachers and for their mouths to thunder truth and righteousness. Quit being passive and politically correct. In doing so, you are actually being an ally to the devil. It’s time to rock the boat and demolish the strongholds in people’s minds through not only heartfelt, fervent prayer, but through strong, straightforward preaching.

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:4-5). {eoa}

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

“We’re out here just praying for people and handing out Scripture, and God is doing some amazing things.”

A biker himself, Jim Pitman recognizes a ripe mission field when he sees one. And during Bike Week in Daytona Beach, Florida—with a notorious reputation for raucous behavior and debauchery—Pitman and his team are doing some serious damage to Satan’s playground.

The director of CLC Multi-language Media in Pennsylvania, Pitman partnered with Biker Church Europe—a network of Christian motorcycle clubs and associations that distributes the Biker Bible and wants to reach all of Europe with God’s Word—to distribute Bibles and spread the gospel to thousands of bikers in town for the annual event.

Biker Church Europe has sent individuals from countries like Sweden, Norway, Finland and Poland to help Pitman witness to the lost.

And they are making an impact. As of Thursday, the group had distributed more than 15,000 Bibles in what is usually one of the biggest party atmospheres in the country.

“It’s been amazing. We’ve seen a multitude of people get saved,” said Pitman, whose company distributes Bibles in almost 100 languages. “God has been giving us great opportunities. Biker Church Europe has been praying for years to be able to send people to Daytona for Bike Week.

“Motorcyclists have kind of their own culture. They are a group of people who are loyal to their country and are all about freedom, but very few of them actually have true freedom in Christ. They come together here to rally, and some just to get drunk. But we’ve had a lot of people pass by and actually stop and ask us to pray for them.”

To learn more about what’s happening at Bike Week, tune in to the podcast below.

As I was praying, I saw a vision of a huge wave, and the Lord spoke to me that there is a momentum gathering of the power of the Holy Spirit. A wave gathers power and goes towards the shore, and I see that there’s going to be many, many people working together. There’s going to be many groups working together.

This is a time of not only acceleration but momentum. I see momentum for businesses that are believing to multiply your numbers. I see momentum for people who are saying, “My life seems like it’s stuck, like I’m not going anywhere.” Well, the Holy Spirit is going to reveal to you—this may sound funny—where to “surf” the big waves.

And the Lord says, “My child, this is up to you. What do you want to do? Do you want to be in a place where you’re not in the move, or you’re not in the momentum? Or do you want to be at the forefront? Do you want to be part of the wave that is gathering for the harvest of souls? I will open a door for you. Don’t feel useless.”

I see some people feel like your time has passed you by, or you just feel like you’re not useful anymore. Maybe you’re a senior. But the Lord says, “Oh no, you are needed now more than ever.” And the Lord is going to show you how to plug in, whether you plug in with intercession for ministry, whether you will start visiting people, whatever it is. There’s no small ministry; there are only great children of God.

So I want to say to you: Rise up, catch the wave, get in the momentum, and you will be a person who helps mark history. God bless you. {eoa}

Cindy Jacobs is an author, speaker and teacher with a heart for discipling nations in the areas of prayer and prophetic gifts. She and Mike—her husband—co-founded Generals International in 1985.

This article originally appeared at .