The Burn: Friday March 28th

Hey all - We're burning before the Lord in worship this Friday (March 28th) at the House of Prayer/King' s Corner from 10 am until at least midnight and I'm looking for those who are interested in taking a "slot" to lead worship. Interested? contact me a.s.a.p. so I schedule you in at the time you prefer. My email is gworship9@yahoo. com Love! t

Praying for America

(I've listened Asher teach and he's brilliant - with a tender heart toward God & His people. Can we also include Gov. Patterson & Spitzer in our prayers? Love, t)



Asher Intrater is a Jewish believer in Jesus Christ, serving the Messiah in Israel. Asher's perspectives and insights are highly valued in Israel and beyond.

Praying For America
by Asher Intrater
(En Español)

Israeli press briefly covered the story of Barak Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ, preaching a sermon in which he repeatedly shouted, "God damn America, God damn America!" (There is no word in Hebrew for "damn" and the statement had to be translated as "God curse America".)

It is not my purpose in this article to deal with the political implications of his connections with Obama, nor with the theological issues of "liberation theology," nor even from the question of Obama's personal faith – as he openly professed that he "found Christ" in that church. I would like to approach it from a perspective of prayer: the need for us to be PRAYING FOR America.

The Jewish people were commanded to pray FOR the nation of Babel (Iraq) when they lived there in exile in the 6th century BC – Jeremiah 29. All Christians are called to pray FOR those in authority – I Timothy 2.

Jeremiah 29:7
Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it: for in its peace you will have peace.

No doubt it was difficult for the Israelites in Babel to pray for the nation they felt had abused them. Yet in their generation, Babel was the world leader, just as America is the world leader today. Although it seemed to them paradoxical, praying for Babel's well being would result in their well being. So today, America's well-being is still beneficial for most Christians, Jews, and suppressed peoples around the world.

It is easy to feel resentful against America, even for those who live there. The entertainment industry has spread sexual immorality and licentiousness; the people are often over-fed, comfort-worshiping, and self-indulgent. And yet, would you really want a world without America?

America is the only nation that has made a clear stance against Islamic Jihad. It is the only nation that has consistently supported Israel in the U.N. It is the nation which has produced most of the biblical and faith-based literature that is available. It is the nation with the best form of elections, court systems, and law making in the world. (On Friday, Iran held national elections in which all of the candidates who stood for reform against Ahmadinejad' s regime were disqualified before the voting began.). America guarantees civil rights and freedom of religious expression more than any nation.

Over the last six months the U.S. dollar has fallen almost 25% on the international market. The majority of Christian charitable organizations, as well as evangelistic missions, receive their financing through the dollar. That means this year all those ministries have effectively lost 25% of their support base.

While most true believers in Yeshua (Jesus) would never voice such harsh statements as Reverend Wright, the spirit of revenge and resentment against America has had a subtle influence on many. Much so called "prayer" or "prophecies" concerning America have been nothing more than complaining and accusations before the throne of God. The result has been an inadvertent cursing of the nation and its leadership. Others have had their prayers simply neutralized, figuring it is just best not to pray for America at all.

I believe it is urgent to pray for America right now. Here are a few key pointers:

1. Moral repentance – May there be a sweep of revival across America, resulting in a sincere turning to God, integrity in government and business, a breaking of the spirits of Jezebel, rebellion and lust, a flourishing of true communities of faith.

2. Politics – May godly and righteous people be elected for the presidency, the Congress, the Senate, governors, mayors and judgeships in this year's election in November 2008. May President Bush have an effective and fruitful last year in office.

3. Economy – May the dollar stabilize and rise again on the international market, and may all the charitable and missionary organizations have their budgets met. May godly men and women arise to prosper in the business world.

4. Military – May there be a clear victory in Iraq, with the international terrorist forces being broken and scattered, with a stable and just government coalition of local Iraqis arising to run the country, and with the return of American troops. (And I personally would hope for Bin Laden to be captured or removed approximately 60 days before the elections in America.)

5. Israel – May the U.S. continue to be a loyal friend to Israel in these End Times. (The Israeli papers were quick to note that Wright's "damning" of America was partially connected to America's support of the State of Israel.)

Note: President Bush and other world leaders will be in Jerusalem for the celebration of Israel's 60th anniversary at the same time as the Global Day of Prayer and "The Call, Jerusalem" scheduled for May 11. (In fact, they will be meeting immediately after us in the same auditorium at the Jerusalem Convention Center.) Perhaps you should plan to come take part in this sacred assembly, or at least take the day to fast and pray together with us.


www.frangipane. org

Wisdom for the Generations

I thought I'd pass on what is a well thought out, balanced challenge to the current state of the church and should initiate thought provoking questions.

Last week I had a dream that a variety of people were ministering in the House of Prayer and I was loving that it reflected the resources of many churches and really was being fueled by cooperation. Then, I was alone and it was my slot. As I began to worship a group of young people began to ram the door and I wasn't sure if they were attacking and destroying the House and planning on killing me or just wanting to get in. They broke in, went right past me and through another door into the school building we were housed in and I realized they had no problem with what we were doing, but they were heading to the office area and I knew they wanted change and input. As you read the article, ask the Lord to help discern what is legitimate and what is incendiary and then perhaps we can pray and consider how to respond personally and locally.

---------- Forwarded Message ----------

They Love Jesus They Don't Like The Church
Gary Wiens
Mar 11, 2008


Greetings, Everyone!

Marie and I received this article recently, and we believe it is a powerful word to us who are interceding for the coming generations. Please read it with sober minds and prayerful hearts.

They Love Jesus; They Don’t Like The Church
Michael Craven

This appears to be a growing sentiment among many younger Christians in America today. They love Jesus but they want little to do with His Church. It’s not that they don’t like the their local church or even other Christians—it’s that they don’t like how Christianity in America is frequently represented by many professing Evangelicals, which in their minds is often unloving, judgmental, arrogant, and hypocritical.

This assertion finds support in the data revealed in Barna’s most recent research. For example, “four out of five young churchgoers say that Christianity is antihomosexual; half describe it as judgmental, too involved in politics, hypocritical, and confusing; one-third believe their faith is old-fashioned and out of touch with reality; and one-quarter of young Christians believe it is boring and insensitive to others.” (Kinnamon & Lyons, unChristian, Baker Books, 2007, pp.33-34)

Those outside the Church hold increasingly negative views of Christians as well. Among young people (aged 16-29), roughly 49 percent hold an “extraordinarily negative” view of evangelical Christians and only 3 percent have a “good” impression!

Kinnamon and Lyons summarize the problem well by pointing to the comments of one thirty-five year-old believer who says, ‘Christians have become political, judgmental, intolerant, weak, religious, angry, and without balance. Christianity has become a nice Sunday drive. Where is the living God, the Holy Spirit, and amazing Jesus, the love, the compassion, the holiness? This type of life, how I yearn for that.”

Before you dismiss this criticism as overly simplistic or somehow lacking in credibility, humbly listen to what the next generation is actually saying. Love of Christ, love of one another and humility should compel us to try and understand why so many young people and Christians, in particular, feel the way they do. In my own frequent interactions with younger serious-minded Christians—many of whom invigorate me by their enthusiasm and zeal for Christ—I often find that they are very turned off and even angered by the watered-down, politicized, shallow, culturalized Christianity that has come to dominate American evangelicalism. According to Kinnamon and Lyons, “The Christian life looks so simplified and constricted that a new generation no longer recognizes it as a sophisticated, livable response to a complex word.”

This younger generation of Christians is simply and rightfully frustrated by the fact that this very real condition serves to inhibit their efforts to share the love of Christ with others. In other words, contemporary American Christianity carries with it a lot of negative baggage. So much so that “they feel raising the ‘Christian flag’ would actually undermine their ability to connect with people and maintain credibility with them.” And so, they feel they must “distance themselves from the current ‘branding’ of Christianity.” (Kinnamon & Lyons)

I can tell you from the perspective of one who spends a great deal of time engaged with those outside the faith; a significant portion of any conversation begins with me making apologies for the many misrepresentations of Christianity, the abuses suffered at the hands of misguided Christians, and correcting their many misconceptions—this—just so I can get to any meaningful dialogue. I can fully appreciate the need to “distance” one’s self from the mainstream “brand” of Christianity in order to earn any credibility with the person to whom I am speaking.

This generation sees what many are only recently coming to realize; the Church is in a pathetic state of decadence and decay. It is, to a large degree, fragmented, watered-down, and retreating from cultural relevancy. Biblical and theological ignorance, cultural apathy, and social indifference are a plague upon the American Church and what passes for Christianity in many circles is often a mere shadow of historic orthodox Christianity or worse something altogether different.

I recently spoke with a young man who is training to be a pastor. He was absolutely heartbroken and angry at the state of the Church. He laments the culturalized Christianity that surrounds him. He described the Christian culture where he lives as one in which “So many people live their lives avoiding hell instead of seeking the kingdom of God.” I think he makes an excellent point: for many American Christians; the purpose of their faith is ultimately bound up in going to heaven when they die. In the meantime the real world, the one into which Christ’s kingdom has come and is coming is ignored and the Christian’s purpose abandoned. We end up living for ourselves instead of for Christ. As I have said before, the gospel is more than just the personal plan of salvation; it is more accurately as the Lord himself said, the “good news” of the kingdom. The former has led to narrowly programmed evangelism; the latter fulfills the great commission by means of the two greatest commandments.

What concerns me most is that this reaction among young evangelicals is fraught with peril as are all reactive movements. On the one hand they can, in an effort to accommodate the increasingly antagonistic culture, become so generous in their orthodoxy that they compromise the faith. On the other hand, they can become so angry toward the Church that they fall into an un-biblical ecclesiology that encourages revolution instead of reformation. Both movements are in place right now and their respective “leaders” are gaining converts. In either case, the results will no doubt be destructive.

I believe the Lord is awakening many in this generation. They seek an authentic, life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ and they understand His lordship extends to every aspect of life and culture. I can’t tell you how often I encounter this positive spiritual theme and yet it is almost always accompanied by an equal frustration with the present Church.

What is desperately needed is spiritual wisdom that can carefully guide this generation between these two extremes toward real and orthodox reformation. The younger generation can offer insight that can properly contextualize the full gospel in such a way that it is once again relevant and our generation can provide sound guidance that preserves and promotes a love for Christ’s Church and orthodox theology. We must be willing to listen to each other, to learn and work together being of one mind and one spirit. This we must do for the sake of the Church and the next generation.
________________________________________________
S. Michael Craven is the President of the Center for Christ & Culture, a ministry of discipleship and Church renewal that works to equip Christians with an intelligent, thoroughly Christian and missional approach to culture. For more information on the Center for Christ & Culture, additional resources, and other works by S. Michael Craven visit: www.battlefortruth.org

Anna's Note on Human Traffiking

Everyone: Please read this carefully and methodically. What I am writing I honestly believe is of upmost importance to the heart of the Father. We can be used by Him, partner with him with our prayers and worship to change this situation…… So to get right to it…….I am currently in school getting a degree in political science, and one of my classes this semester is “Human Traffiking and Contempory Slavery”. A sobering subject and quite a party killer! But seriously this thing is so on the heart of God guys, many times in the middle of class I am crazy close to weeping because the Presence and absolute love of God falls on me for his people that are literally(and spiritually) in slavery! We have to be a part of what God is doing in this, I believe so desperately that us crying out to the Father in the midnight hours we can put a stop to this!!!!
Some numbers for you…… 27 million people around the world exist has slaves (sex slaves & labor slaves). 800,000-900,00 NEW people(children of Jesus) are enslaved every year. 80% are women and 50% are children.Selling people is the 3rd largest criminal activity in the world, behind selling illegal drugs and arms. The Int’l Labour Office estimates this generates $32 billion per year .Every year 1 million children forcibly take part in the commercial sex industry. So something that is crazy, and I think just another showing how God has stratigicly placed the Burn.

The other day in class my professor put up a slide showing the “routes” that sex traffikers take victims across the US. The first thing that I noticed was how many of them are where Burns are located or are close too!!!! Here is a short list of some of the cities…..(I have also attached the slide that shows the routes in the US, take a look)Seattle, Sacramento, Denver, Dallas, OKC, Mineapolis/St.Paul, Houston, Detroit, Boston, NYC, Richmond.These are just the major cities!

Most likely, by their proximity to bigger cities, I would guess that every single Burn city has human trafficking go through its limits. And mind you this is only the routes for Sex Trafficking in the US, this doesn’t even include those that are forced into labor. Human Trafficking is something that is happening in our communities, not just overseas!! We need to be lifting this up before the Father!! His children(literally those under 18) are being sold for Sex. His children are being sold to be nannies, and maids, and to pick crops. They are constantly physically, verbally, and sexually abused. We must open our eyes to this, bring this before the Father and plead and interceed for those who can not!! We need to pray that the routes that are taken in and between our cities would be abolished and that the Love of the Father would overtake the traffickers and pimps and that instead routes of the His Presence and His Love would be established!I know that is hardcore guys,, but we need to be hardcore and we need to listen to the heart of the Father for his children. We can be a part of downfall of Trafficking just by Burning!!! Let God Arise and his Enemies be scattered!!!!

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The Bridge Builder - will allen dromgoole

Jamie gave me this poem describing the reason we are building the House of Prayer and the Burn. Thought I'd pass it on.

An old man, going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.


The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.


"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim, near,
"You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again must pass this way;


You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build you the bridge at the eventide?"
The builder lifted his old gray head:
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,


"There followeth after me today
A youth, whose feet must pass this way."


"This chasm, that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him."