FRANKLIN GRAHAM URGES CHRISTIANS TO STAND UP FOR THEIR FAITH AMIDST A ‘CULTURE OF INTOLERANCE’
Franklin Graham said the gunman who killed nine people at a college in Oregon did so because he was “filled with hate.”
“This was not about gun control,” Graham said in a column for Charisma News. “It was about a man filled with hate, especially for those who bravely and boldly confessed they were Christians. The shooter, who listed ‘organized religion’ as a dislike on his Facebook page, perpetrated a hate crime against the name of Jesus Christ and those who follow Him.”
Graham said that there is a “culture of intolerance” against Christians in the United States.
“From the media, to the courts, to this current administration, there has been a flagrant, disturbing mockery of Christian values and beliefs,” he said.
Graham referred to the bakers in Oregon who were fined for refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex marriage. He also mentioned the florist in Washington who also would not provide services for a same-sex wedding.
“Who would have thought that, here in our own country, there would be less empathy for Christianity than for any other faith?” he said. “That God-fearing people who stand up for their biblical faith would be called bigots and be vilified while those who harass and mock Christians draw approval and applause?”
Today’s Christians need to take a stand against the “culture of intolerance.”
“Here’s what I know we can do: Like the courageous men and women at Umpqua Community College, in Roseburg, Oregon, we can stand up for our faith by unashamedly confessing Jesus Christ. They knew they would be killed when they stood and faced the gunman, and they stood anyway,” Graham said.
We must pray people in this nation who go to such extremes to show their hatred for Elohim. In this case, it was a high school football referee. May the fear of Elohim come on this spiritually backslid and destitute nation! Natan
Christian Today reports that 17-year-old Dante Turo ran 73 yards to score a touchdown in a high school football game in New York over the weekend.
After scoring the touchdown, Dante raised one finger to the sky in a gesture of thanks to God for allowing him to make the play.
Immediately after, the referee penalized Dante 15 yards for “taunting” and “excessive celebration.” Dante, his father, and others who watched, were incredulous and did not understand why the referee would penalize Dante’s action so severely for such a simple gesture.
In video replays of the offense, it is clear that Dante raises one finger to the sky only for a couple seconds.
“I talked to the referee and told him I wasn’t trying to do anything malicious or arrogant—I was just trying to give praise to God. He [referee] told me, ‘don’t do it again,’” Dante said.
Dante’s coach argued with the referee, stating that Dante was only praising God and not taunting, but the referee stood by his claim.
Dante’s father also said that his son was not being overly arrogant, but on the contrary, he was taking a moment to give God the glory so he would not become arrogant.
“When you score touchdowns, when you make big plays, it’s easy to become proud,” Geno stated. “It’s easy to take credit for yourself. I didn’t want my son to get caught up in that.”
In speaking of the referee’s decision, “It troubles me,” Geno said. “I think people have forgotten that we settled in this land to flee religious persecution. We’re supposed to have religious freedom here. But it seems like instead of religious freedom we are being persecuted for our beliefs.”
Dante has vowed not to let the referee’s warning deter him from giving glory to God. If he scores another touchdown, “Without a doubt I will raise my finger,” he said.
Just got this excellent question about mikveh from someone on this blog:
Doesn’t the blood of Yeshua cleanse us? I am a newbie so please bear with me.
My answer:
Yes, absolutely. Good question.
Hebrews 6:2 talks about the doctrine of baptisms (plural). The Greek word baptism means “full immersion in water.” Baptism for the remission of sins which one does at the beginning of one’s spiritual walk with Yeshua is but one type of baptism. It’s the most important one, but not the only one. There’s the baptism of the Holy Spirit and of fire as well. There’s also the baptism of repentance that John the Baptist did. Once we’re baptized for the remission of sins, do we ever sin again? Obviously yes. What do we do? We repent, ask Yeshua to forgive us, to cleanse us by his blood, and then we turn away from our sin (1 John 1:9). But sometimes it’s good to rehearse the ritual again even as we do communion every year at Passover, even as we do the Sabbath every week and biblical feasts every year. These are memorials of important things past, present and future. Same with the mikveh. It’s not a replacement for baptism for the remission of sins. It’s a rededication of oneself to YHVH.
Each time the priests came into the Tabernacle of Moses to minister, they had to cleanse themselves to be set-apart or holy unto YHVH. It wasn’t for Yah’s benefit. He looks at things from a heart and spirit perspective. It’s for our benefit, so we can better appreciate the difference between the common, profane, physical, polluted, and the earthly compared to the holy, set-apart, spiritual and heavenly realm. When we cross from one realm into the other, we need to stop and take note of it, and enter into the higher realm carefully and slowly through prayer, repentance and spiritual and even physical cleansing. This shows a good and willing heart attitude on our part before our YHVH Elohim, our Heavenly King.
Most us would take more care to come into the presence of the president of the U.S. or the queen of England than we do to come into the Presence of the King of the universe. Think about this for a moment. It’s true isn’t it! This is one of the big problems with modern Christianity. Most believers are too casual when it comes to spiritual things. We don’t take coming into the Presence of the Almighty seriously enough.
Yeshua our Bridegroom is coming back soon, and he expects his bride (that’s us — redeemed Israel) to get ready. That’s what the Parable of the Ten Virgins is all about in Matthew 25. In Revelation 19:7-9, the bride of Yeshua is to be adorned in clean and white garments, not filthy one. What are those white garments? The righteous deeds of the saints (verse 8). Go read it for yourself.
So when I do mikveh, it represents a lot of things to me. Try doing it yourself. See if this one ceremony doesn’t bring you great blessings and bring you closer to Yeshua!
Yesterday I quit work early, jumped in my truck and headed to a nearby mountain river for my annual fall feast days mikveh (ritual immersion). I like to do a ritual cleansing immersion, pray, repent and prepare my heart just before the upcoming fall biblical feasts. I like to do it in the spring, as well, just before Passover, but the river water is too icy cold around here at that time of the year! In can even be snowing.
While there, YHVH gave me my second teaching that I will be presenting on Yom Teruah this coming week. Of course, I will post the study notes and video on this blog. It’s on the subject of the resurrection of the dead. With all the bad news going on in the world, the Ruach prompted me to give a message on a subject that will hopefully encourage YHVH’s people and inspire great hope and joy in them during these dark times in which we are living.
I wish I could have shared my mikveh experience with you, but hopefully the photo, at least, will bless you.
You might consider finding a mikveh spot where the water is clean and pure to do your own ritual cleansing. This is what John the Baptist (aka Yochanon the Immerser) was doing at the Jordan River to help prepare the people for the the Messiah’s coming. We’re living in the times of John the Baptist again as we’re preparing for Yeshua our Bridegroom’s coming.
Kentucky’s Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis (right) told Decision magazine Wednesday: “If the Word of God isn’t worth fighting for, I don’t know anything that is.”
UPDATE: Shortly after this article was published, Kim Davis was found in contempt of court by a federal judge and taken into custody.
Davis’ attorney issued a statement that said, in part:
“Kim Davis is being treated as a criminal because she cannot violate her conscience. While she may be behind bars for now, Kim Davis is a free woman. Her conscience remains unshackled.
“… And the tragedy is that there are simple ways to accommodate her convictions. Just remove her name from the marriage licenses. That’s all she has asked from the beginning. … This is not the kind of America the Founders envisioned or that most Americans want.”
Kentucky’s Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis talked to Decision magazine on Wednesday. A more comprehensive story will appear in the October edition of the magazine.
No amount of threats against her life or her job, no edicts from the U.S. Supreme Court or the governor, could sway Kim Davis to compromise God’s truth.
She is so overwhelmed by His grace, so captivated by His love, so surrendered to His will that she can’t fathom caving to the ways and pressures of this world—regardless of the consequences.
“I cannot be separated from what I believe,” she said. “I have to love the Lord with my whole heart, mind, body and soul—with every ounce of strength and might that I have in me. It’s every breath we take and every beat of our heart.”
Davis, the Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk of court, has been at the center of a national firestorm in recent months over her refusal to issue same-sex marriage licenses even though she received court orders to do so.
Subscribe to Decision
Get your own subscription, or renewal, or bless someone by giving Decision Magazine as a gift. SUBSCRIBE NOW
Her voice cracked and she wept at times during an interview this week with Decision as she discussed her willingness to face dire consequences if necessary in order to remain faithful to her Lord, which could also include being impeached from office and being arrested.
“I have weighed the cost,” she said. “It’s definitely no place that I thought I would ever find myself, and it is definitely out of my comfort zone. I’m a very private person. For this to be everywhere [in the news] is just overwhelming at times.
“But it is through God and His grace and strength that I stand, that I can have a smile on my face.”
Because of the Bible’s clear teaching that marriage is the sacred union of one man and one woman, Davis prayerfully decided that she could not permit issuance to gay and lesbian couples since the licenses would bear her name.
“Those licenses leave my office through my authority,” she said. “I cannot be party to that. I just can’t. … If the Word of God isn’t worth fighting for, I don’t know anything that is.”
Her attorney, Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver, has asked the courts and Gov. Steve Beshear to change licensing procedures to accommodate Davis’ convictions and those of others with similar beliefs. Staver suggested several options, including removing the clerk’s name from all marriage licenses, making the state capitol the processing center for licenses and switching to an online application process.
Davis also tried to take pre-emptive measures to avoid the predicament immediately after taking office as clerk in January, writing state legislators in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of same-sex marriage in June.
“I urged and beseeched them to get legislation on the floor while we still had time to protect clerks who had religions objections to same-sex marriage,” she said. “I got only one response, and nothing happened.”
Some critics have suggested that Davis should resign her elected position, but she has no intention of doing so, partly because she ran for the office last year after 27 years as deputy clerk only because she sensed the Lord calling her to do so.
Her deep devotion to Christ is rooted in the love and grace she received at her conversion more than four years ago, which she said followed years of “living in a pit of sin that I had created with my very own hands.”
She was divorced three times and gave birth to twins conceived out of wedlock.
Her life changed in 2011 when she attended a Sunday evening church service in honor of her mother-in-law, who had died that morning.
“The pastor preached out of Galatians, and it really stirred my heart,” Davis said. “I repented right there on the altar, just fell on my knees and face and cried.”
Davis now prays regularly for the salvation and protection of the same-sex couples who have assailed her and says she believes there is eternal significance in remaining firm in her stance.
“For me, this is a Heaven or Hell issue because [of] someone else who maybe doesn’t know the Lord and is still searching,” she said. “This is real, and this is true.”
Though she has been under intense attack and pressure, she claims a peace and trust in God that surpasses human understanding.
“We serve a living God who is alive and on the throne,” she said. “He knows exactly where I am, and I know that His hand is upon me and upon His people. He is in full control.”
