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Author: Geoff
Geoff Waugh is the founding editor of the Renewal Journal and an author of books on renewal and revival and Christian living.
Why Israel Folau is crucial
Why Israel Folau is crucial
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Millions of people disagree with what Israel Folau (Izzy) said or the way he said it, just as millions of people disagree with what the Bible says about a lot of things.
But the crucial issue here is not a Christian footballer, nor even the Bible. After all, Christianity has been violently opposed for 2,000 years since that crucifixion on Calvary.
The crucial issue is losing “freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of belief and freedom of religion” in this free land of the “fair go mate”.
Why religious freedom is a big issue in Australia:
Some examples:
- Bernard Gaynor has a background in military intelligence with three tours of duty in Iraq with the Australian Army. Married with eight children, Bernard’s courageous advocacy has cost him more than $400,000 in legal fees. In the process of defending himself he has lost two homes and now lives in rental accommodation.
Since 2013 Bernard Gaynor has faced 50 separate allegations of wrongdoing. Not a single allegation against him has succeeded. He has also defended himself in military inquiries and state tribunals, before magistrates and even in the High Court in Canberra.
- A Tasmanian bishop was sued for publishing his church’s and the Bible views on marriage. Some Ministers of Religion have been sued for preaching the biblical teaching on marriage.
- A Victorian teacher launched legal action against a Christian college claiming she was discriminated against over her political and religious beliefs in support of same-sex marriage, setting up a test case over faith-based protections for religious schools.
The Australian carried this story
1 June 2019, by Kel Richards.
On April 10, Israel Folau posted on his Instagram account the following message: “Warning: Drunks, Homosexuals, Adulterers, Liars, Fornicators, Thieves, Atheists, Idolators: Hell Awaits You. Repent! Only Jesus Saves.” Next to this big, bold statement was the message: “Those that are living in Sin will end up in Hell unless you repent. Jesus Christ loves you and is giving you time to turn away from your sin and come to him.”
This eye-catching text was from the Bible, a loose paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 6:9-10: “Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
If someone else had posted this it would almost certainly have slipped under the radar. But Folau was being watched. Partly this is because of his brilliance as a footballer. He holds the record for the most tries scored in Super Rugby. In 2007 he won rugby league’s Dally M Rookie of the Year award for having scored the most tries in his debut year. In that same year he was the all-time youngest international player (he was 18 at the time). …
The attack on Folau provoked an unexpected reaction: many Aussies were unhappy. They flooded open-line radio with calls in support of the right of Folau to hold and express his faith. This support was not limited to the 52.1 percent of Australians who called themselves Christian in the 2016 census. A bucket load of callers took the line of “I don’t support what he said or the way he said it, but, hey the bloke’s obviously sincere so why is he being bashed up like this?”
Whether articulated or not, the underlying feeling of much of this response was: Australia is a free country. There was a distinct unease about the possibility of losing at least some degree of freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of belief and freedom of religion in this wide, brown land. …
This is no storm in a tea cup: this is central to Australia’s character as a nation and raises three questions:
● Why should there be penalties for defending classical Christianity?
● Why do the rights of one group trump all other rights?
● What is the actual content of the view he is defending? …
But as Folau’s short post indicates, there is more to the story. Here’s the completion of those words from the Bible quoted above: “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:27-28).
There is the offer of God’s love and forgiveness and restoration: switching at life’s end from the bad option (separation, isolation, “hell”) to the good option (connection, community, “heaven”) as a free gift. From the point of view of classical Christianity, Folau saw people in danger and shouted out a warning. In other words, the intention of his message was the exact opposite to how it has been portrayed. And for that Folau is being punished.
[Folau’s] post no more expresses hatred toward homosexuals than cigarette warnings express hatred toward smokers.
- There is now a landmark judgment in the United Kingdom.
GROUNDBREAKING VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH IN UK
In a landmark judgment, the UK Court of Appeal has upheld the rights of British Christians to freely express their faith by handing victory to former student social worker Felix Ngole. Overturning a High Court decision to uphold Felix’s expulsion from Sheffield University, the crucial outcome represents a major development of the law. It is now clear that Christians have the legal right to express biblical views on social media and elsewhere in public without fear for their professional careers. This is the first Court of Appeal judgment regarding freedom of expression of biblical views which sets limits on the rights of professional regulators to restrict free speech on social media.
The ruling is likely to be relied upon in hundreds of future cases. Felix was expelled in 2016 from his social work course at the University of Sheffield after quoting Bible verses on Facebook that were deemed critical of homosexuality. In 2015, he had entered into a discussion on Facebook over the imprisonment of Kim Davies, the Kentucky marriage registrar jailed for refusing to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples. During an online political debate, many views were exchanged on the Christian faith. A devout Christian, Felix quoted Bible verses affirming the traditional Christian opposition to same-sex marriage and of the sinful nature of homosexual activity.
Some months later, Felix was reported to the University of Sheffield by a fellow student and was subsequently disciplined in a Fitness to Practise hearing. He was informed that he had brought the social work profession into disrepute and was then expelled from the course, losing the career he had worked so hard for. In the court hearings, the university argued that Felix had ‘lacked insight’ into the effect of his posts on social media. During his Fitness to Practise hearing, the University had told him that the expression of his Christian views was unacceptable and he was effectively told either to renounce his faith or stay silent on pain of losing his career.
In the High Court hearing, the University of Sheffield implied that Felix was not allowed to express his Christian viewpoint on same-sex marriage or homosexuality on any public forum, including in a church. The Court of Appeal held that it was the university that was ‘lacking insight’ in not understanding a Christian viewpoint. In addition, the Court of Appeal praised Christian Concern co-founder Pastor Ade Omooba MBE for urging that the university seek caution and compromise. The Court of Appeal condemned the position of the university whereby people would live in fear if private expressions of views were overheard and could be reported anonymously.
The court ruled that: “The expression of views on theological grounds does not necessarily connote that that person will discriminate on such grounds.” It was further recognised that Felix had never been shown to act in a discriminatory fashion. The outcome of this case will have significant implications for freedom of speech. Comments made by people on social media, often many years ago, have recently been arbitrarily used to silence viewpoints that people dislike or disagree with. Commenting on his win, Felix said: “‘My personal loss is gain for future Christians’. This is great news, not only for me and my family, but for everyone who cares about freedom of speech.
Felix continued ”I have suffered tremendously as a result of how I was treated by the University and I feel that 4 years of my life have been taken from me. Despite all this, I feel full of joy that what I have lost will be so much gain to Christians in the future as a result of this important ruling for freedom.” Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which supported Felix, said: “This is a watershed case for Christians and a resounding victory for freedom of speech. We are delighted that the Court of Appeal has seen the importance of this case and made a ruling that accords with common sense.”
Williams continued “It is shocking that the university sought to censor expression of the Bible in this way, and we hope this sends out a message of freedom across all universities and professions that Christians and others should be allowed to express their views without fear of censorship or discipline. “Christians now know that it is their legal right to express biblical views on social media or elsewhere without fear for their professional careers. This is a major development of the law and must be upheld and respected in all Christian freedom cases.
Source: CBNNews
Our Time
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
President Kennedy’s speechwriters attributed this quote to Edmund Burke.
Keyes says that the quote has not been successfully traced:
. . . which Kennedy attributed to Edmund Burke and which recently was judged the most popular quotation of modern times (in a poll conducted by editors of The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations). Even though it is clear by now that Burke is unlikely to have made this observation, no one has ever been able to determine who did.
Martin Isles interviewed Israel Folau at the Australian Christian Lobby conference in November 2019. The dispute with Rugby Australia was settled out of court in December.
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Novak Djokovic, Wimbledon, July 2022
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New Christian’s Guide
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New Christian’s Guide gives you a basic introduction to living the Christian life through faith in Jesus Christ your Saviour and Lord.
New Christian’s Guide is an introductory guide for new Christians starting out in their life in Christ. It covers basic essentials including Jesus’ instructions on loving God and loving others, with these topics:
Introduction: Welcome to God’s Family
1 Love God
Faith in God – God our Father
Saving Faith
Gift of Faith
Follow Me – Jesus our Lord
Follow Jesus in obedience
Follow Jesus in his Word
Follow Jesus in prayer & worship
Follow Jesus in fellowship
Follow Jesus in service
Follow Jesus in mission
Filled with the Spirit – the Holy Spirit our Guide
Born of the Spirit
Living in the Spirit
Led by the Spirit
Fruit & Gifts of the Spirit
2 Love Others
Love one another
Serve one another
Encourage one another
Conclusion
Here is the beginning of this book.
Introduction
Welcome to God’s eternal family. I’m writing this book as a personal letter to you, a new Christian who believes in Jesus. You have given your life to him and you want to follow him and live for him.
If you are already a growing Christian you may find some help in this Guide also. And if you have not yet chosen to be a Christian and follow Jesus, this may help you to decide.
Billions of people believe in Jesus, the Son of God, our Saviour, so you have joined a huge worldwide family of God. Probably somebody told you about Jesus, perhaps a preacher or a friend, or maybe you just want to read more about him.
So welcome to the family of God. We believe in God our Father, we believe in Jesus Christ his Son our Saviour and Lord, and we believe in God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, who lives in us and gives us new life, our Christian life. ‘Christian’ means Christ in you!
Our Christian life begins with faith. We trust in God. We believe in Jesus, God’s Son, as our Saviour and Lord or King. We have faith that God lives in us by his Spirit and that we live in God now and forever.
That’s good news. Really good news. The most famous verse in the Bible puts it this way:
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
Now that you believe in Jesus and trust him with your life you have eternal life. That eternal life does not start when you die. It starts now and never ends. Jesus said:
This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent (John 17:3).
You have done that. You have given your life to God and he has given you new life, his life in you. Because you believe in Jesus and trust him, God lives in you by his Spirit, and you live in God. You have given your life to him and he has given his life to you. So you know him, your God, and you know Jesus your Saviour, because God’s Spirit now lives in you and makes everything new:
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
What’s new?
You are forgiven. When you believe in Jesus your Saviour you ask him to forgive you for all your sin, and he promises to do that: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-9).
You are clean. That promise reminds us that God goes on cleansing us, not just once, but always, as we trust him and continue to acknowledge or confess our sin and failures. You can do that quickly, and at any time, such as thinking or saying, “Sorry.” Make it a habit. Keep short accounts with God!
You have new life, eternal life. That’s God’s promise. He gives his life to you and lives in you by his Spirit who is also the Spirit of Jesus. So Jesus lives in you by his Spirit and you now have new life: I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me (Galatians 2:20).
So the old life has gone and a new life, eternal life, has begun in you. You are born again with new life, God’s life ion you.
You are in God’s family. You have a worldwide family of God’s people, your brothers and sisters. You will get to know some of them well in your local church or group. You will also find many brothers and sisters in other places worldwide. We all share God’s life together and we grow in the unity of his Spirit.
What about problems?
Does this new life mean we are now free from all our problems and difficulties? No, but we do have a new life as we encounter problems and difficulties. We have God’s help and guidance in new ways. God promises to guide and help us, and Jesus promised that his Spirit, the Holy Spirit, would help us.
You now have this amazing new life with God your Father and Jesus your Saviour and Lord living in you by his Spirit, the Holy Spirit, who helps us. Jesus said:
If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever — the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you (John 14:15-18).
You have God’s help, always. That never ends. So we face our problems and difficulties trusting in God to help and guide us.
How do we go about living this new life with God’s help?
We keep on trusting him. We keep on living for him, with his help and strength. He is our intimate Friend and Guide.
So the title of this little book is not mainly about principles but about a Person. The New Christian’s Guide is God in us, Jesus living his life in us by his Spirit, and guiding us.
That’s a life-long adventure! We can all learn to let God be our Guide more fully, and trust in Jesus to lead and help us by his Spirit now within us, teaching us, leading us, helping us, empowering us, and transforming us.
So, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2).
Easy to say – hard to do!
Yes, in some ways it is easier said than done. Living the Christian life is not always a piece of cake. It can be tough at times as we keep listening to Jesus and obeying him. But, as an old hymn says:
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Living this new Christian life means that we trust and obey our Guide. He leads us by his Spirit within us. So now, as you read this, you could pause and thank him that he is with you, he is within you, and he promises to guide you.
If you find some resistance inside you, just confess it. We all resist God’s great love and holiness at times, so we need to just confess that, know that he forgives and cleanses us, and that he promises to help and strengthen us as we live for him.
The rest of this New Christian’s Guide is my attempt to help you follow your eternal Guide, your Father God, your Saviour Jesus, and your Guide and Helper the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said that the most important commandments of all are just two, so let’s explore that with our New Christian’s Guide:
‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it:
‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 22:37-40).
Our obedience springs from love and flows strong in God’s love. We love Him because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).
Love is why we obey
Jesus says that we will obey his commandments because of our love for him. We obey from love, not just from duty. Our duty becomes our delight. We love him and love to live for him and please him.
We understand about obeying in love with people we really love such as our parents or husband or wife. We love to please them because we love them. It’s our delight, not just a duty. We love to please or obey them, and we are so happy when our love pleases them.
Jesus’ obedience was a natural part of his loving relationship with his Father, and he calls us into loving obedience also.
If you keep My commandments you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love (John 15:10).
Jesus lived in full fellowship and intimate loving relationship with his Father. Consequently, his obedience flowed naturally and supernaturally from that.
So this book explores how we can obey Jesus in love by loving God and loving others. Loving God and loving others are inter-related. John, the Apostle of love, reminds us:
Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also (1 John 4:20-21).
Believing in God and in his Son Jesus changes us and enables us to love God and to love one another.
Love God
Jesus reminds us that the greatest of all the commandments is to love God.
God’s love for us brings us into a loving relationship with him and with others. You could thank him for his love right now!
C S Lewis wrote, “On the whole, God’s love for us is a much safer subject to think about than our love for Him. Nobody can always have devout feelings: and even if we could, feelings are not what God principally cares about. Christian Love, either towards God or towards man, is an affair of the will. If we are trying to do His will we are obeying the commandment, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.’ He will give us feelings of love if He pleases. We cannot create them for ourselves, and we must not demand them as a right. But the great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not” (Mere Christianity, Book 3, Chapter 9, emphasis added).
Jesus pointed out that our God who loves us is One Being. Jesus and the Father are one in eternal union with the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, I and the Father are one. … Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. … But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. (John 10:30; 14:23, 26). We have one God revealed in three divine persons who love us: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
That is a divine mystery, but God reveals himself to us as we believe in him and trust him daily.
Here is a simple way to understand how God is always with us and within us.
We breathe all the time, usually without thinking about it. Now that you are thinking about it you may even breathe more deeply, or take in more breath!
The Bible has one word for breath, wind and spirit. So translators choose the most appropriate English word to translate it from Hebrew (ruah) or Greek (pnuema).
Our natural breathing is rather like breathing in the breath of God of the Spirit of God, by faith. Just as our physical breathing helps to cleanse our lungs and bodies so our spiritual breathing also cleanses us.
We breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide continually without even thinking about it. Similarly, in our relationship with God we continually inhale God’s breath, his Spirit, and exhale impurities, by faith, by trusting God.
Another physical picture or parallel is how our heart continually pumps blood throughout our bodies without us thinking about it, cleansing our bodies. Similarly, the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, goes on cleansing us from our sin, for if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).
That verse gives us another picture or parallel. The sun always shines, even on cloudy days. So in daylight we live in the light without thinking about it. It’s natural. We can see. Similarly, as we live by faith in God we live in his light. God is light and in him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).
As a Christian, you are born again into a new life with God, who is light, so you live in his light. Living that way means that you are continually cleansed because of Jesus’ blood given for us all in his death on the cross. So now you have new life, the life of God’s Spirit living in you constantly.
All of that helps us to love and thank God for all he has done for us in creating us, redeeming us from sin, and living in us as we live in him by faith.
So this section on loving God looks at these three dimensions of loving God:
Faith in God our Father
Following Jesus our Lord
Filled with the Spirit our Guide
A prayer of faith you can pray:
Thank you my Father and God for loving me.
Thank you Jesus my Saviour and Lord for dying for me.
Thank you Holy Spirit of God for living in me and giving me new life, the life of Jesus in me.
Forgive me for my sin and I choose you now.
Thank you Lord my God for forgiving me and saving me.
I give my life to you and I choose to live for you.
Help me to live for you always.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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From Hatred to Love: How God transformed a brutal Australian gang leader
From Hatred to Love: How God Transformed a Brutal Australian Gang Leader
George’s gang brought 10 guns to kill Billy Graham in Melbourne
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He eyed the crowd until he saw his cohorts. They were all close enough to see George when he gave the signal. They would all fire at once, and Billy Graham would die, silencing one of the greatest voices the world had ever known for this so-called God that George hated.
https://www.facebook.com/100093067296973/videos/487951623994522
George Palmer’s heart was running away inside his chest. Every word out of Billy Graham’s mouth was like a drop of fuel on the fire that was raging in his soul. He had positioned himself on the grass in front of the stage at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia, with thousands of others who had come to hear the evangelist.
George was not interested in what Mr. Graham had to say. He, along with the other nine members of his gang, had come to the stadium, March 15, 1959, on a radically different mission. In his hand, under his clothing, was a zip gun he had made, using the lathe at his apprentice job at Victorian Railways. He had made 10 guns. Each member of his gang had one—and they were ready to fire.
He eyed the crowd until he saw his cohorts. They were all close enough to see George when he gave the signal. They would all fire at once, and Billy Graham would die, silencing one of the greatest voices the world had ever known for this so-called God that George hated.
It was a dream come true for George, a chance to make a statement to God in front of the whole world.
If God was love, like Graham proclaimed, He would not have taken George’s dad 10 years earlier, when George was 7 ½, his brother was 4 and their infant brother was just 5 weeks old.
Sept. 29, 1949 was forever etched in George’s memory. That was the day his mom came home from the hospital and told him that his dad had died of a heart attack. He would never see his father again.
George ran to the upper paddock on the farm, where his dad had just planted 100 cherry trees, and screamed at God: “You’ve got no right to take my dad! I need him, and now he won’t be here for Christmas. And because of that, I hate you. With all my heart, I hate you.”
The anger he felt at that moment swallowed his heart and enslaved his mind. It drove everything he did, every waking moment. When a schoolmate walked up to him not long after his dad’s death and called him a dwarf, George, merely 8, and indeed small for his age, turned around and knocked the boy’s front teeth out. He was sent immediately to the headmaster’s office. That became his daily ritual, whether he was in public school or private. His mom tried both, and things only got worse with each move.
“I just wanted to hurt people, and things,” George said. “We had a Bendix washing machine, and our cat had given birth to a litter of kittens. I put the baby kittens in the washing machine, filled it with water and watched them going ’round and ’round until they drowned.”
After technical college, George became an apprentice at Victorian Railways, starting out as an electrical fitter. He struck up a friendship with two of his co-workers and soon learned they were members of a gang. Before long, he was their leader.
They were 10 teenagers, and they were merciless, doing all kinds of horrible things that George, now 76, tries to push from his memory. Things like capturing the leader of a rival gang, holding his right hand to the ground and driving a car backward and forward over it five times.
In early 1959, when George heard that Billy Graham was coming to Melbourne Cricket Ground, he saw it as an opportunity for vengeance.
“I didn’t know much about Billy Graham, but we heard that he was an evangelist, and that was all I needed to hear,” he said. “We went to the Crusade with the aim of killing him because he stood for everything I hated.”
It didn’t occur to George or the other boys that they could be hanged for murder, or that in a crowd of more than 100,000 someone else might get caught in the gunfire. All George thought about was the hate and anger he felt. Why would all these people come here, anyway? he thought. Why would they believe these lies about a loving God? Utter contempt consumed him, until he heard a quiet voice.
“What are you doing here, George?”
He looked around. No one at the cricket ground knew his name except his gang buddies, and they were sitting farther away. The question came a second time, and a third.
“George,” the voice seemed to say. “I didn’t take your dad to hurt you or your mom. I took your dad because he was a very sick man. I would never, ever do anything to hurt you because I love you too much.”
Deep inside, something broke wide open. Tears gushed from his eyes and poured down his face until he could barely see. All night long, scenes from his life had played in his mind. When Billy Graham gave the invitation, instead of signaling his guys to shoot, George ran forward to ask for forgiveness of his sins. His gang buddies were not far behind him.
“Nine of the 10 of us were converted that night,” he says. “It was amazing.”
The next day, George felt God leading him to go apologize to the leader of the rival gang, whose hand he had run over with the car. For the first time in his life, he was afraid.
“That guy will kill me if I go there,” he told the Lord. But after a long talk, the two men parted as friends.
The second day, he felt God calling him to become a Salvation Army officer.
“You’ve got to be joking,” said George, who was only 4 foot 11 inches. “I wouldn’t even be able to see above the pulpit.” George grew 10 ½ inches that year.
On a Sunday morning, George rode his bike to the Salvation Army church, and an old man he knew from years earlier met him at the door. The man put his arms around George and said, “I’ve been praying for you.” They wept together.
Soon, a young woman named Judith who attended the church started talking to George. Two weeks later, he asked her out on a date and learned that she had felt the call to become a Salvation Army officer since age 14. They were married in 1964, went to college in 1965 and were commissioned as Salvation Army officers in 1967—serving in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and West Australia before their recent retirement. Together, they raised three sons, and they now have eight grandchildren, all of whom are serving the Lord.
“We were able to see so many people come to the Lord in our ministry,” George said. “Without Billy Graham, I don’t think I’d be alive today. I can see God working in my life right from when my father died. God worked through all of that hatred and won me over. I give Him all the glory.”
Have you allowed God to transform your life?
Receive His peace today.
See also
Billy Graham (1918-2018) – in his own words
Christianity for Australia – evangelism in 1902 & 1959
The Life of Jesus – Blog
The Life of Jesus – PDF eBook
Amazon link – paperback, hardcover, Kindle
Power Evangelism in Short-term Missions
The Disciples’ Mission and Ministry
Chapter 2 of Jesus the Model for Short Term Supernatural Mission
BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)
GENERAL BLOGS INDEX
BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)
BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)
BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)
BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)
BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)
BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)
BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)
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From Hatred to Love:
https://renewaljournal.com/2019/09/13/from-hatred-to-love-how-god-transformed-a-brutal-australian-gang-leader/
Renewal Journal – a chronicle of renewal and revival: www.renewaljournal.com
Light the Fire Again – Pensacola, September 2019
Light the Fire Again Conference
Pensacola, Sept 4-7, 2019
This page has links to Conference Sessions and Speakers.
All the speakers give their testimonies about revival.
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Light the Fire Again Conference
https://renewaljournal.com/2019/09/08/light-the-fire-again-pensacola-september-2019/
Brief comments about some speakers
and their testimonies
Selections from Final Decade, Twentieth Century Revivals
https://renewaljournal.com/2014/04/28/4345/
From 1982 revival stirred in Argentina. Large crowds attended meetings with Carlos Annacondia, a businessman turned evangelist. His healing evangelism included thousands reporting healings, deliverance from demons, and miracles. Thousands of people accepted Christ as Saviour and virtually every church grew. Pastors meet every week to pray with Annacondia for revival in the nation and the world.
In 1992, another movement of revival began with Claudio Freidzon, founder of a Buenos Aires church that in four years grew from 7 to 3000 people. Freidzon experienced a deep encounter with the Holy Spirit, after which his ministry became famous for the manifested presence of God, long services of worship and adoration, and a dramatic increase of healings and deliverance in the worship and ministry.
John and Carol Arnott from Toronto were powerfully touched in meetings led by Claudio Freidzon in Argentina in 1993. Randy Clark spoke at the Toronto church on Thursday, January 20, 1994, and the Father’s blessing fell on the 120 people attending. Randy gave his testimony, including how he had been powerfully touched by God when Rodney Howard-Browne (evangelist from South Africa) prayed for him. People fell all over the floor under the power of the Holy Spirit, laughing and crying. People were saved and healed, more in the next two years than ever before in the Arnott’s ministry. Thousands flew or drove to visit the little church which had to relocate into larger premises. The blessing continued, called by a British journalist, the “Toronto Blessing”.
On Father’s Day, Sunday 18 June 1995, evangelist Steve Hill spoke at Brownsville Assembly of God, near Pensacola, Florida. A thousand people streamed forward at the altar call as the Holy Spirit moved on them. Their pastor, John Kilpatrick, fell down under the power of God and was overwhelmingly impacted for four days. That morning service, normally finishing at noon, lasted till 4 pm. The evening service continued for another five and a half hours. So the church asked Steve Hill to stay. He cancelled appointments and continued with nightly meetings. Their wives, Jeri Hill and Brenda Kilpatrick tell that story in this 2019 Conference.
Dr Michael Brown founded the Brownsville School of Ministry in that revival and Evangelist Daniel Kolenda, now the Director of Christ for All Nations, was a student there then. Christ for All Nations hosted this 2019 Light the Fire Again conference.
Session 1 – Claudio Freidzon (Argentina)
Night 1 of the Light the Fire Again event from Pensacola Florida with Lindell Cooley leading worship and Claudio Friedzon preaching
Sessions 2&3 – Russell Benson (CfAN), & Lou Engle (The Call/The Send)
Join us from Pensacola, Florida for worship with Don Potter and messages from Russell Benson and Lou Engle as we start day 2 of this historic event.
Session 10 – Daniel Kolenda (CfAN)
Tonight worship with Eddie James and then we will hear from the President and CEO of CfAN, Daniel Kolenda with a faith stirring message.
Session 11 – Dr Michael Brown (Brownsville, Pensacola)
Join us for session 11 LIVE from Pensacola, Florida of Light the Fire Again 2019 as we worship with Roy Fields and then hear from Dr. Michael Brown.
Session 13 – Rodney Howard-Browne (USA)
Our final session from the Light the Fire Again 2019 conference LIVE from Pensacola, Florida and we have worship with Roy Fields and Rodney Howard Browne will be preaching.
See and hear global revival leaders NOW:
Session replays on GodTV: https://www.god.tv/
You can support Christ for All Nations – https://cfan.org/
GENERAL BLOGS INDEX
BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)
BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)
BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)
BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)
BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)
BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)
BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)
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Wonders of Worship
Wonders of Worship
Wonders of Worship: Long-playing Worship Music
See also: Virtual Choirs & Orchestras
See also: How Great Thou Art – anthology
See also: Messiah & Hallelujah Chorus – with Bible verses & references
See also: Hallelujah Chorus – International Choirs
See also: Easter Worship
See also: Christmas Worship
See also: 24/7 Worship & Prayer
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You can listen to background worship music as you worship, work and pray – in your chair or even in bed, with CDs and YouTube. YouTube video “Mix” gives you similar recordings – often a surprise.
You are invited to set aside an hour a week – or a day – to worship and pray. I use these YouTube songs as background worship for that, even in bed!
Here are some inspiring recordings you could play while you worship, work and pray. Scroll down to see more.
SECTIONS:
Instrumental: Mainly orchestras
Choral: Hallelujah – Hymns – Hymns set to Popular Tunes – Uptempo Hymns – Modern Worship Songs
INSTRUMENTAL
Long Playing Instrumental
100 String and Praise Favourites – Maranatha Strings & Steve Anderson (4 hours)
Hymns & Praise Music – Instrumental (7 hours! 4 million views)
Holy Spirit I Need You – Alone with Him – Prayer Music (5 hours)
Instrumental Hymns (3.5 hours)
Popular Hymns and Bible Praises, Instrumental – 3 hours
Beautiful Instrumental Hymns – Tim Janis (2 hours)
Piano & Orchestra Hymns – 1 hour (Greg Howlett, 2 million views)
26 Old Timeless Gospel Hymns – 1 hour (8 million views)
Relaxing Peaceful Instrumental Hymns | Harp, Piano, Strings, & Orchestra – 1 hour
Beautiful Instrumental Hymns – the Love of Jesus – 1 hour
Beautiful Instrumental Hymns – Prayer & Devotion -1 hour
Songs of Praise – Mantovani Orchestra – 1 hour
The Beauty of Hymns, Instrumental – 1 hour
Maranatha Music 1, 2, 3 – Instrumental Worship (2 hours)
Individual Instrumental
Glory – Michael W Smith with orchestra (50 min)
Anthony Burger – Compilation 20 minutes
Anthony Burger Medley – piano 9 minutes
Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah – Kim Collingsworth
Jesus shall reign where’er the sun does his successive journey run
Nearer my God to Thee – Andre Rieu (29 million views)
Amazing Grace – Andre Rieu (10 million views)
And Can It Be – Kim Collingsworth on piano
How Great Thou Art – Norm Hastings on piano
How Great Thou Art – piano arrangement, Wilson Chu
How Great Thou Art – piano arrangement, Mark Hayes – Carson Atlas
How Great Thou Art – Piano and Orchestra – Dan Forrest
How Great Thou Art with Moonlight Sonata (piano and strings)
Crown Him With Many Crowns – Trumpet and Orchestra
In the Sweet Bye and Bye – piano with variations
Let our praise be to you as incense
CHORAL
Long Playing Background Worship
10 hours of Christian music – beautiful background worship
Favourite Old Hymns – 8 hours – more background worship
America’s 25 Favourite Hymns (1 hour, 7 million views)
100 Praise & Worship Songs (3:30 hours, 50 million views)
120 Bible Hymns – in harmonies, no instruments (5:45 hours, 2 million views)
Hallelujah
Messiah – Lyrics with Bible verses and references
Hallelujah Chorus – international choirs
Hallelujah Chorus – Barcelona cathedral virtual choir
Hallelujah (Handel) – with Andre Rieu
Hallelujah Chorus – First Baptist Dallas
Hallelujah Chorus – 2,000 choristers
Hallelujah Chorus – Anthony Burger piano and band
Hallelujah Chorus from the movie Boychoir (with descant)
Hallelujah Chorus – Georgia Boys Choir
Messiah – 2:17 hours (4 million views, Hallelujah at 1.36 & 2.13 hrs)
Messiah – Academy of Ancient Music – 2:36 hours, gentle
Handel’s Messiah – Sydney Opera House
Messiah – 2:38 hours (1.5 million views, Hallelujah at 1:54 hrs) with commentary
London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis
He shall reign forevermore & Hallelujah Chorus
Joy to the World & Hallelujah Chorus selection
Modern Worship Songs
Beautiful Worship & Inspirational Songs (2 hours)
Beautiful Praise and Worship with Lyrics– 5 million views (2:15 hours)
10,000 Reasons – Bless the Lord – Matt Redman – 200 million views!
Worthy is the Lamb – Brooklyn Tabernacle – 20 million views
What A Beautiful Name / Agnus Dei (Holy – Worthy is the Lamb)
Agnus Dei – Worthy is the Lamb – Michael W Smith & First Baptist Dallas
Agnus Dei – Worthy is the Lamb – Michael W Smith (12 Million views)
Reckless Love – Michael W Smith – 1 million views
Worship with Michael W Smith in Canada, 2.4 million views (1:15 hr)
Worship – Michael W Smith (1:15 hours)
Because He Lives – 73 million views
He Touched Me Medley – Heritage Singers
Uptempo Hymns
All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name & Crown Him with Many Crowns
Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise
All Creatures of our God and King
Praise Him, Praise Him, Jesus our Blessed Redeemer
Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine
Hymns
How Great Thou Art – Songs of Praise (1.7 million views)
How Great Thou Art – Chris Rice (over 26 million views!)
How Great Thou Art – updated (over 13 million views)
How Great Thou Art – Billy Graham Choir with George Beverly Shae
How Great Thou Art – last time with Bev Shae
How Great Thou Art – Combined Choirs Arrangement
How Great Thou Art – Loyiso Bala ft. Don Moen
The Story of How Great Thou Art with choir and scenes
Gloria – Angels from the Realms of Glory (26.8 million views)
The Lord’s Prayer – Ardrea Bocelli & choir (8 million views)
The Lord’s Prayer – Only Boys Aloud
I Hear Thy Welcome Voice – Only Boys Aloud (in Welsh, 3 million views)
Wash me, cleanse me, in the blood that flowed from Calvary
I Hear Thy Welcome Voice – (in Welsh, male choir of 8,000, 1.4 million views)
Crown Him with Many Crowns – St David’s Hall Cardiff – with Orchestra
Crown Him with Many Crowns – Fountainview Academy
Thine be the glory (music by Handel)
All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name (Diadem, 1.6 million views)
All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name (Diadem)
And Can it Be (Charles Wesley) – Songs of Praise (3 million views)
And Can it Be (Wesley) combined congregations
And Can it Be – African – in English and Swahili
Christ the Lord is Risen Today (Charles Wesley)
He Lives – I serve a risen Saviour
When the Trumpet of the Lord shall Sound (1.4 million views)
Praise Him, Praise Him, Jesus our Blessed Redeemer
Love Divine – Blaenwern – 1,000 voices in English & Welsh
Hymns set to Popular Tunes
Joyful, Joyful we Adore Thee
Music: Ode to Joy, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony
Down from His Glory
Music: O Sole Mio (The 3 Tenors, Rome)
I Cannot Tell Why He Whom Angels Worship
Music: Londonderry Air (Danny Boy)
Make Me A Chariot of Fire
Music: Theme of the film Chariots of Fire
Be Still My Soul
Music: Finlandia
We Rest on Thee
We Rest on Thee – photos of 5 Ecuadorian martyrs
Music: Finlandia
GENERAL BLOGS INDEX
BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)
BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)
BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)
BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)
BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)
BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)
BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)
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Revival with Iris Global – Roland & Heidi Baker
Revival with Iris Global –
Roland & Heidi Baker
Iris Global, based in Mozambique, currently feeds well over 10,000 children a day, including 4,000 families in Malawi. Its network of churches also numbers more than 10,000, including some 2,000 churches among the Makua people of northern Mozambique. Iris operates five Bible schools, in addition to its three primary schools and its school of missions in Pemba.
Heidi Baker became a Christian after hearing a Navajo preacher’s message while volunteering on a Choctaw reservation. She has a Ph.D. in systematic theology from King’s College London (1995).
She met Rolland Baker (now with D.Min.), the grandson of missionary H. A. Baker, in 1979. They married six months later in 1980; they left for the mission field two weeks after that. They were ordained as ministers in 1985.
In 1980 the Bakers founded Iris Global, a non-profit Christian ministry dedicated to charitable service and evangelism, particularly in developing nations. They served God together in Indonesia, Hong Kong, and London, then in Africa. Iris – rainbow – living in the promises of God.
In 1995 the Bakers moved to Mozambique in order to begin a new ministry focused on the care of orphaned and abandoned children. A year later, Heidi Baker became sick with tuberculosis and pneumonia, but despite her doctor’s recommendation, she went to a healing meeting in Toronto, Canada. There, she had a vision where Jesus showed her thousands of children to feed; when she exclaimed that it was impossible to help them all, he said “There will always be enough, because I died.” After which, she was healed.
Iris Global negotiated with the Mozambican government to assume financial and administrative responsibility for a former government orphanage in Chihango, near the capital city of Maputo. There were roughly 80 children present. Since that time Iris Global’s operations have expanded to include well-drilling, free health clinics, village feeding programs, the operation of primary and secondary schools, cottage industries and the founding more than 5000 churches in Mozambique, with a total of over 10,000 Iris-affiliated churches in more than 20 nations. Their ministry is known for its reports of miracles, and in September 2010 the Southern Medical Journal published an article presenting evidence of “significant improvements” in auditory and visual function among subjects exhibiting impairment before receiving prayer from the ministry.
Beyond their administrative duties the Bakers are authors and frequent conference speakers, traveling worldwide to speak on Christian ministry and spirituality. Candy Gunther Brown, professor of religious studies at Indiana University, has called the Bakers “among the most influential leaders in world Pentecostalism.” [Wikipedia]
Roland Baker tells their story:
For years we longed to get to Africa in fulfilment of our calling to prove the Gospel in the most challenging situation we could find. We wanted to see a continuation of “Visions Beyond the Veil,” and believed with my grandfather that the most likely place to see such revival again was among the most unlikely! So we were drawn to Mozambique, officially listed at the time as the poorest country in the world.
A few days into my initial visit to Maputo, Mozambique’s capital, I was offered an orphanage that no one could or would support, not even large churches in South Africa or European donor nations. It was horribly neglected and dilapidated, with eighty miserable, demon-afflicted orphans in rags. I thought it was a perfect test of the Sermon on the Mount. Our Father in heaven knows what we need. Seek first His Kingdom and righteousness, and these things will be ours as well … Take no thought for tomorrow. Why worry? Jesus is enough for us, for anyone.
Alone and without support, Heidi and I offered to take over the center and provide for the children in return for the opportunity to bring the Gospel to them. Within months the children were saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, weeping while still in rags with gratitude for their salvation. Jesus provided miraculously, more all the time as our children prayed night and day for their daily food. We brought in teams, improved the center, and took our children to the streets to testify to more orphaned and abandoned children. Some were lost in visions, taken to heaven and dancing around the throne of God on the shoulders of angels.
But abruptly, after we got up to 320 children, the government evicted us and denied our children permission to pray and worship on our property. Totally without a back-up plan, our children marched off the property barefoot without a home. We lost everything. We also lost tremendous amounts of support because we welcomed the increasing Presence of the Holy Spirit in our meetings.
But we were only beginning to taste the power of God in Mozambique. Land was donated by a nearby city. We got tents and food from South Africa. Provision came in from supernaturally touched hearts all over the world. Soon we could actually build our own dorms. Bush pastors longed for a Bible school, and to receive what our children had received from the Holy Spirit. Graduates went out and began healing the sick and raising the dead. Church growth in the bush exploded.
Then revival was fuelled exponentially by the desperation caused by catastrophic flooding in 2000 when three cyclones came together and brought torrential rain for forty days and nights. More damage was caused by that flood than Mozambique’s many years of civil war. A cry for God rose up like we had never experienced or imagined, and our churches across the country multiplied into thousands. God provided a bush airplane, which we used constantly to spread the Gospel through remote “bush conferences” at dirt airstrips in every province.
Now we have networks of churches and church-based orphan care in all ten provinces in Mozambique in addition to our bases in main cities. In recent years Heidi and I have concentrated on the Makua, a people group of four million in the north who were listed by missiologists as “unreached and unreachable.” With tremendous help from missionaries and nationals, around two thousand churches have been planted among these people in the last eight years.
Two devastating cyclones in 2019 flattened thousands of homes and villages. Iris Global, working with international efforts, brought relief along with thousands of solar Bibles in local languages, eagerly wanted by previously resistant people groups.
Iris Global currently feeds well over 10,000 children a day, as well as various members of many other communities, currently including 4,000 families in Malawi. Its network of churches also numbers more than 10,000, including some 2,000 churches among the Makua people of northern Mozambique. Iris operates five Bible schools, in addition to its three primary schools and its school of missions in Pemba. Current major projects include continuing outreaches to very remote coastal regions via Iris’s recently acquired boat, expansion of Iris’s air transport abilities, investment in a range of cottage industries, and a special well-drilling initiative. Iris, having recently acquired a drilling rig by generous funding from several U.S. churches, intends to transform life in desperately dry villages everywhere possible. One by one.
“The primary mission of Iris Global as a family is to seek the face of God with all our hearts, that we might glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. We proclaim Jesus. He is our salvation, our prize, our reward, our inheritance, our destination, our motivation, our joy, wisdom and sanctification — and absolutely everything else we need, now and forever.” – from their website.
This story is now included in Chapter 5 of my updated book Revival Fires.
Podcast – Heidi Baker talks with pastors at Riverlife Church, Brisbane
The Primacy of Love, by Heidi Baker
NIFENTO: LOVE IN THE MIDST OF MOZAMBIQUE’S WAR OF TERROR
https://www.nifento.com/
BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)
BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)
BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)
BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)
BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)
BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)
BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)
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Research – prayer is good for the body as well as the soul
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength
They shall mount up with wings and eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faith.
(Isa 40:31)
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Research shows that prayer is good for the body as well as the soul:
https://renewaljournal.com/2019/08/11/israeli-research-prayer-is-good-for-the-body/
RESEARCH SHOWS PRAYER IS GOOD FOR THE BODY AS WELL AS THE SOUL
A new Israeli study has found that praying regularly can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by 50%. The study, which was funded by the National Institute of Health in Washington, D.C., found that women, who have a significantly larger chance of developing forms of dementia, could stave off the disease through prayer. The findings confirm earlier studies that indicated religion can play a positive role. “We found that people with higher levels of spiritual well-being had a significantly slower progression of Alzheimer’s disease,” Yakir Kaufman, the head of the neuropsychiatric department at Herzog hospital in Jerusalem said.
The Israeli organization Melabev has ten centres serving about 600 Alzheimer’s patients for whom prayer is part of the daily routine. “If prayer is done in a centre or a religious facility, it is communal and there is a social aspect,” Susan Sachs, the director of public relations and development at Melabev said. “It gives hope and perspective, and for many people it helps retain their dignity. They’re doing something that they did all their lives.” Melabev provides an alternative to institutionalizing Alzheimer’s patients by providing a full day of activities. Sachs estimates there are 100,000 people suffering from the disease in Israel.
The centres provide them with laminated cards with the most popular prayers printed in large type, although many of the patients rely on memory, which also helps strengthen their cognitive function. While prayer has some cognitive elements, it strengthens emotional functioning even more. As the patients’ cognitive function declines, his or her emotional function may be strengthened, according to Leah Abramowitz, the head of the Institute for the Study of Aging at Melabev. She said that, “It’s like a baby who can feel his mother’s emotions and will start crying if she is angry or tense. It’s like the person who is fully blind having more acute hearing.”
Prayer can also lower stress levels – one of the risk factors for Alzheimer’s. Other risk factors include high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. As people live longer, there is more chance that they will develop dementia. Israel’s life expectancy – 80 years for men and 84.2 for women – is the world’s fourth-highest, exceeded only by Japan, Hong Kong and Switzerland. Professor Rivka Inzelberg of Tel Aviv University, who led the research, told a conference that the study indicated that 50% more women than men suffer memory impairments. She said “rituals, like prayer, are especially comforting to Alzheimer’s patients. Prayer is something that went into their long term memory many years ago. It is a ritual that is very comforting for them.”
Source: The Media Line
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RESEARCHERS FIND THAT PRAYER IS BENEFICIAL EVEN ON A SCIENTIFIC LEVEL
An interesting study was recently done by German psychologists at Saarland University and the University of Mannheim, on the effects of prayer on those who pray. Some of the findings revealed that praying can help a person maintain self-control and resist temptation, as well as help alleviate depression and other benefits. In the study—published online in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology—the authors noted that “a brief period of personal prayer changes the self-control depletion effect…these results are consistent with and contribute to a growing body of work attesting to the beneficial effects of praying on self-control.”
The 79 participants—41-Christian; 14-atheist; 10-agnostic and 14 of other religions—were given tests designed to measure their level of self-control when faced with temptation. The researchers found that those participants who prayed before the start of the test showed they maintained high levels of self-control to the end.
In another study, the effect of a belief in God in relation to treatment for depression was researched. The results showed that those patients who had no, or only a slight belief in God were “twice as likely not to respond to treatment” than the patients who claimed to have a higher level of belief in God.
January, 2014.
[We know it first and best from the Bible. Nice to have confirmations.]
HEALING BLOGS
Included in BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL
BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)
BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)
BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)
BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)
BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)
BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)
BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS FROM BOOKS)
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Research shows that prayer is good for the body as well as the soul:
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Servant Songs
Servant Songs
The Servant Songs (also called the Servant poems or the Songs of the Suffering Servant) are four songs in the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible, which include Isaiah 42:1-4; Isaiah 49:1-6; Isaiah 50:4-7; and Isaiah 52:13-53:12. They were first identified by Bernhard Duhm in his 1892 commentary on Isaiah. The songs are four poems written about a certain “servant of YHWH” (Hebrew: עבד יהוה, ‘eḇeḏ Yahweh). God calls the servant to lead the nations, but the servant is horribly abused among them. In the end, he is rewarded.
Some scholars regard Isaiah 61:1-3 as a fifth servant song, although the word “servant” (Hebrew: עבד, ‘eḇeḏ) is not mentioned in the passage. [Wikipedia]
Here are the Servant Songs from the New Revised Standard Version. You can compare other translations in The Bible Gateway
Isaiah 42:1-4
Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
2 He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
3 a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
4 He will not grow faint or be crushed
until he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his teaching.
Isaiah 49:1-6
Listen to me, O coastlands,
pay attention, you peoples from far away!
The Lord called me before I was born,
while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.
2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me away.
3 And he said to me, ‘You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’
4 But I said, ‘I have laboured in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my cause is with the Lord,
and my reward with my God.’
5 And now the Lord says,
who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honoured in the sight of the Lord,
and my God has become my strength—
6 he says,
‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’
Isaiah 50:4-7
The Lord God has given me
the tongue of a teacher,
that I may know how to sustain
the weary with a word.
Morning by morning he wakens—
wakens my ear
to listen as those who are taught.
5 The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious,
I did not turn backwards.
6 I gave my back to those who struck me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face
from insult and spitting.
7 The Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12
See, my servant shall prosper;
he shall be exalted and lifted up,
and shall be very high.
14 Just as there were many who were astonished at him[b]
—so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of mortals—
15 so he shall startle many nations;
kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
for that which had not been told them they shall see,
and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.
Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him of no account.
4 Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By a perversion of justice he was taken away.
Who could have imagined his future?
For he was cut off from the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people.
9 They made his grave with the wicked
and his tomb with the rich,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.
When you make his life an offering for sin,
he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;
through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.
11 Out of his anguish he shall see light;
he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.
The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he poured out himself to death,
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 61:1-3
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.
See Luke 4:14-21
Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15 He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.
16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
18 ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’
Chapters and Verses
The chapter divisions commonly used today were developed by Stephen Langton, an Archbishop of Canterbury. Langton put the modern chapter divisions into place in around A.D. 1227. The Wycliffe English Bible of 1382 was the first Bible to use this chapter pattern. Since the Wycliffe Bible, nearly all Bible translations have followed Langton’s chapter divisions.
The Hebrew Old Testament was divided into verses by a Jewish rabbi by the name of Nathan in A.D. 1448. Robert Estienne, who was also known as Stephanus, was the first to divide the New Testament into standard numbered verses, in 1555. Stephanus essentially used Nathan’s verse divisions for the Old Testament. Since that time, beginning with the Geneva Bible (1560), the chapter and verse divisions employed by Stephanus have been accepted into nearly all the Bible versions (as in the King James Bible of 1611).
Gutenberg’s printing press, invented around 1440, made Bibles widely available, beginning with the Vulgate Bible in Latin (1450s) without chapters and verses. The use of chapters and verses became normal in the Scriptures from 1560.
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