ROCK

Rivoli Revue Attacks Reduced

2012-01-24T04:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I posted this message and similar character-reduced messages with and without links on YouTube and across the Cliff Harrison Network and social network pages:

For over four months period Google-owned YouTube has placed a banner ad for Obama on a Rivoli Revue Video and Obama ads on the YouTube page of a Rivoli Revue Video entitled CNN Republican Tea Party Presidential Debate - Rivoli Revue - Crazy Coincidence? Found at this YouTube site http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSnnurZ2Vic&feature=relmfu I felt that it is only fair to relay this message over my network of websites to demonstrate and denounce the unfairness of Google and YouTube management team toward its users. In reality, however, the ones getting screwed are the ones paying for those Obama ads since Rivoli fans are unlikely to click onto those ads.

I was referring to this Rivoli Revue video on YouTube:

CNN Republican Tea Party Presidential Debate - Rivoli Revue - Crazy Coincidence?

The power of words is magnificent. Others picked up the above message and relayed it across their own social network pages and brought YouTube not only to pull the undesirable Obama ads but to replace them with pro-conservative ads.

I posted the following message on my personal Facebook page this morning:

Cliff Harrison I'm happy to report this morning that due to the wide spread coverage on my network sites and social network pages of the Obama ad issue on Rivoli Revue above YouTube page YouTube apparently suspended Obama-ad attacks. Thank you God. We did not ask for an unreasonable thing, we only asked for a fair and equal voice.

All my fans know that I am a strong supporter and fan of Ron and Kay Rivoli and their Rivoli Revue.

In my own little corner, a distant part of the world, I brought attention to an injustice and an unwanted and unneeded exercise of power of the big guy over the little guy.

Google and YouTube are wrong to flex their muscles and use the resources of their company to suppress the freedom of speech of others. It is wrong for a company that desires users to force their own political opinion upon the masses overshadowing their users' exercise of freedom of speech. To do so is an absolute element of communism. I am pleased to see Google's YouTube management team chose democracy over communism and heeded the call to cease their unethical suppression of freedom of speech.

We live in a land where we don't always agree with what others say, but we all ought to agree with their right to say it.

UPDATE 27 January 2012
I'm sorry to announce Google has not only reversed course across the Third Wrench empire but Google steps up its war on conservatism, capitalism and Christian America. Google attacks conservative websites using AdSense with anti-conservative ads.

Google marches on the side with the 99% but is clearly in the 1%. The Wikipedia article tells not only about possible Google ties with the CIA to spy on Americans and the rest of the world but also accuses Google of Tax avoidance "Google has been criticized by journalists and others for using legal, but aggressive tax avoidance strategies to minimize its corporate tax bill.[158][159] Google cut its taxes by $3.1 billion in the period of 2007 to 2009 using a technique that moves most of its foreign profits through Ireland and The Netherlands to Bermuda. Google’s income shifting — involving strategies known to lawyers as the “Double Irish” and the “Dutch Sandwich” – helped reduce its overseas tax rate to 2.4 percent, the lowest of the top five U.S. technology companies by market capitalization, according to regulatory filings in six countries.[159][160]"

If a fraction of the stuff in this wikipedia article is true it brings a chilling reality to the once admired Google. If this stuff is true then Big Brother has arrived, his name is GOOGLE.

Google Street View Privacy Concerns
Is the Obama Administration's CIA & Google In the Same Bed?
Meet the Spy Named Agent Google

Starting My Day

2012-01-24T03:35:00.000-08:00

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner.

O heavenly King, O Comforter, the Spirit of truth, who art in all places and fillest all things; Treasury of good things and Giver of life: Come and dwell in us and cleanse us from every stain, and save our souls, O gracious Lord.

As I rise too early and suffer in my miserable pain I make my three morning prayers to the Lord beginning with the Trisagion Prayer. Then I pray for my Uncle Kenny who is going on 89 years old and suffering pain of cancer radiation. I pray for new leadership in our nation. I pray for our fighting units overseas and ask God to deliver them from harm’s way. I pray for my late brother’s son and daughter and his wife that they find comfort and a purpose in life in his absence. I pray that the people of our nation can settle their differences and make amends so that instead of being an increasingly divided nation we can once again become united. I pray for the lost souls of the world to surrender their evil and find their way to God where He wills delivery to them seeds of trees that produce good fruit. I pray for the homeless and the hungry, the cold and the frightened that they have a better day today than they did yesterday. And I pray for all in the world who suffer from the inflictions of the world to be healed of their wounds; of war, and their injuries of loss, and their grievance of the damage and harm against them due to the wrongs of the world and of the people of the world. And finally, I pray as I begin my morning and continue to write my morning installment in my book that He guides me toward writing a purposeful chapter and grants me the wisdom to craft words that will make the world a better place in which to live; that I might teach others, my readers, to love one another as the Lord has loved us. And my words of thank in the form of a prayer, a thanksgiving prayer, that the Lord has blessed me with blessings I do not deserve and of which I am most grateful for. Amen.

And now I begin my day writing in hopes of making the world a better place in which to live for all of us. And I write to make the best better.

Five Feet from the Finish Line

2012-01-14T23:57:00.000-08:00

The Devil & Me
By Cliff Harrison

I shouldn't let the cat out of the bag and go spoiling a good story prematurely, but I'll tell you why I chose the title, "Five Feet from the Finish Line." That's what it feels like.

One of the stories I'll publish one day in an up and coming installment of The Devil & Me is about a snowmobile race I was in back in the 70s. There I was leading the pack darn near a half a lap ahead of the nearest snowmobile coming up on the finishing line. Five feet before the finish line my drive belt broke, stopping me dead in my tracks.

There I sat unable to even push my sled across the line for a win. I was clearly ahead for most of the race and I only had sixty inches to cross the finish line and be the winner to take home the trophy. Sixty inches!

I just shook hands with the devil and thanked him as sled after sled passed me by as if poking fun at me for being that close to a winner only to be the worst loser of the entire race--dead last.

I feel like that now. Five feet from the finish line.

I've got so many writing projects that I just know are winners but I can't even get up enough energy to get them put together and published in the organized order they need to be in. Five feet from the finish line is where I am at stuck with a broken drive belt that went just like that.

I guess today I'll make more than one entry in my journal.

I can see the finish line. I can touch the finish line. I just can't get across the finish line. It's like in my mind as if I'm a cowboy in one of those old western movies and I'm crawling in the desert trying to reach the watering hole that is really nothing but a mirage while buzzards circle overhead. I'm just about there. But almost isn't good enough and those birds of prey are starting to call out to one another communicating about the bodacious dinner that's coming up.

Better men than me would have committed suicide by now. Just end it. Put themselves out of their misery. But not me. I like hanging around and giving the devil a hard time.

There are too many demons in this world to just up and leave them. It's more fun hanging around and making their life miserable like they do God's Children.

So, I guess I'll just have to plug along and do what work I can. My writing could be so much better if I didn't have this demon inside of me holding me back while draining my energy.

Well, what do you know? I meant this to be an entry for my journal. But you know what? I just wrote a piece for The Devil & Me. Why not? Maybe I can push my sled over the finish line.

The Devil & Me is a syndicated column by Cliff Harrison

The Value of Life

2011-12-18T22:17:00.000-08:00

By Cliff Harrison

Life as we once knew it has eroded. That erosion came about by the Liberal politicians and the Liberal supporters gaining favor of their agendas. Today, I’ll talk about one Liberal harm and only one—pornography.

How anyone can call themselves a Christian and a Liberal at the same time is beyond me. I don’t mean that as a mean statement—or question—but as a matter of fact and question of contradiction.

For the sake of defining liberal for this article as I’m interpreting it in my usage follows:

Many will say, but wait a minute, Jesus was liberal. Yes, He was liberal, but he was not a Liberal. The confusion comes from people failing to properly capitalize the political party Liberal name to distinguish from the term liberal as meaning “liberal with your money and material things verses being greedy.”

Note the previous sentence said “YOUR” money, not someone else’s money as in the meaning of the term liberal without the capital L. It is the opposite of being greedy. With the capital L denotes the high individual freedom as in the political party and using other people’s money to accomplish your goals.

Jesus never told us to take other people’s money to help the poor. He told us to help the poor with our own money. When we say Jesus was ‘liberal” and teaches people to be “liberal” we mean he teaches us not to be greedy. He teaches us to share. He teaches us to help others. He is not political. When people try to tell you that Jesus was political that He would be a Democrat, Republican, Liberal or Conservative, or belong to any other political party know one thing; that person making the statement knows little if anything about our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus hated liars. Jesus hated tax collectors. Jesus hated lawyers. Think. Why would He hate these things people do? Because they are counter to what He stands for and teaches us; truth as opposed to lying; volunteering or voluntarily giving as opposed to forced taxes; peace, love and good will, or forgiveness instead of lawsuits not disputes and arguments, hatred and war.

But now let’s go back to the pornography.

If you sit in front of your computer and look at the images on your screen of pornographic nature, you could sit in the same spot for the rest of your life, be those 20 years, 30, 40, 50 or 60 or more years, and never see the same image twice.

That is because there are billions, trillions, quadrillions or more images already on the internet and in the hour or so you might watch the images, that many more tenfold, a hundredfold, a thousand fold or million fold are being published and added to the infinite list.

Trying to view all of the pornography images that are out there would be the same as sitting down on a beachfront and trying to fish all of the fish out of the sea-in a lifetime it couldn’t be done.

Yet so many men and women do just that. They sit at their computer and since the internet now makes it easy to surf for pornography from the privacy of one’s home, we no longer need to go to the seedy side of town and look for it at adult bookstores, strip clubs, peepshows or adult movie houses as once was the case.

We can now explore free pornography in the privacy and comfort of our own homes and do so with unlimited supply of images to satisfy our lust.

So why do so many men and women waste their life away viewing endless pornography? It is an addiction not unlike any other, yet millions are addicted and are not seeking or getting the help they need to counter it.

Being Liberal means you are free to seek all the pornography you desire. No harm done. You are not hurting anybody as Liberals with a capital L will tell you so they see it as no harm done.

But you are hurting someone. You are hurting yourself. You are wasting your life and you are throwing away your soul as if it is an empty bottle.

The Liberals say it is Okay to view pornography and to view as much as you want to. God say it is not Okay, that viewing pornography is a form of lusting and lusting is a sin. So being Christian is endorsing what Jesus Christ tells us, that lusting or pornography is sin.

So, how can we be Liberal and Christian?

Now for the million dollar question, being that there are unlimited images that would take several lifetimes to view and never could one see them all—it would be impossible—is it worth throwing away that lifetime to view something which is only visual, not real in the flesh, and which is only a stimulate for momentary sexual pleasure and auto-gratification?

Are the thrills of the hunt and the pleasures of the capture worth the cost of the soul? Is it worth losing your soul?

The value of life is worth more than a quadrillion images of pornography, something you can never have or hold for more than a moment of time.

Precious is the time we throw away in exchange for the privileges and pleasures of pornography or any other addiction be that addiction, cigarettes, drugs, alcohol, sex, gambling, video games, computers or Internet or whatever. Anything that you can’t stop using at will is addictive.

Jesus is there to help us escape the addictions of sin. Trust Him. Turn to Him. Ask Him to help you. And He will.

Someplace Safe

2011-07-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

By Cliff Harrison

Troubled with the violence, unrest, natural and man-made disasters in America one man asked another, “Where is someplace safe that I can go where there is no harm, Nevada?

“Oh no, replied the man, it’s almost as hot as hell there and it has the highest of all the bad things like crime, unemployment, foreclosure and such and the lowest rating in education and all the good things.”

“California then?”

Shaking his head no the other man replied, “Earthquakes, high taxes and bankrupt communities and such.”

“Florida?”

“Hurricanes.”

“Georgia?”

“Droughts.”

“Louisiana?”

“High humidity and floods.”

“Texas or Oklahoma, maybe?”

“Tornados.”

“Then Arizona or New Mexico, maybe?

“Illegal immigrants, drug cartels and wildfires.”

“New York, Maine, Vermont, maybe someplace way up North away from it all or in the Northeast someplace? They never get hurricanes, tornados or floods, eh?”

“Too cold, blizzards.”

“Then Colorado, Montana or even Wyoming, yeah how about Utah?”

“Avalanches.”

“Where then? Where is someplace safe I can go and be free from harm.”

”Church,” the man said, “Go to Church and be close to God. You are always in good hands when you are with God.”

Barbaric America

2011-07-10T21:21:00.000-07:00

By Cliff Harrison

The dark clouds roll by. Some slow and hang low over head. Black clouds of evilness that engulf our nation.

Somewhere a child is dying. An abortion is being performed. A murder is taking place. The murder is a doctor. Assisting the doctor is a nurse, maybe two and perhaps a medical staff. All college-educated people willing to do the job. Not only willing, but they make their living doing this--performing abortions.

Can we say we are civilized? Certainly not. Murder is an everyday thing now, in almost every city in the United States. Murder by abortion is considered okay by many in our society. How can we consider ourselves civilized? We can’t. There are too many among us that are barbaric. So we are barbaric. We as a nation are barbaric because we allow those among us to murder defenseless babies in the name of a woman having a choice. A choice she most often knows nothing about.

Barbaric.

More often than not the one having the abortion has been lied to. She knows little or nothing of what happens to the child in the mother’s womb. The pain. The horrifying pain. Yet…

…a doctor and his nurses will go to lunch and hold it down.

Barbaric.

This is what America has become--a barbaric society.

Jesus Take The Wheel

2011-06-29T21:41:00.001-07:00

Carrie Underwood

Sometimes we've just got to let God guide us. When life is passing by too fast we often lose control. Jesus can keep us on the right path. This is a Carrie Underwood music video that tells a sad story about a young mother's icy journey.

Martina McBride - Concrete Angel

2011-05-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

Concrete Angel Lyrics

I Pick Up My Cross

2011-03-21T12:29:00.000-07:00

By Cliff Harrison

A photo of my late brother, Kenny, reminds me of a brother I loved. The photos of him in my photo collection remind me of the time when he was alive and well, so important to me and… being what older brothers are.

No one ever questions when one views a photo of a deceased love one as something that is odd or unforgiving. Nor do they suggest such an act is anything of the nature of an occult or negative gesture. Everyone realizes such action is only an expression of love--of admiration--and of memory of an important one in their life.

Yet, there are a large number of protestants who condemn those of us who display icons of Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary and Saints of Christendom. There are those who condemn us who display the Cross as something of evil, or that in someway it represents our worship of a god other than our God.

They confuse idolatry with genuine worship--and faith.

They misinterpret the Bible because men before them that they study misinterpreted the Bible. They create meanings of false intentions. They destroy the image of the very thing they are trying to promote--Christianity.

God is not dead. Neither is my late brother. They just are not here, on earth. Or--at least where I can see them. They are invisible, but that does not mean they do not exist. They are together in Heaven. And God and Heaven are just as much of a mystery as life and death are. We know much, but we do not know all.

And, perhaps that is the way God wants to keep it.

My hanging icons and images of Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary, Saint John the Baptist or any other representative of God is nothing more or less than my respect of God and my determination to have a constant reminder of Him and His glory present.

My wearing the Cross around my neck or hanging several of them on the walls of my home and from the rear view mirror of my car is not disrespect of God but honor, loyalty and obedience to Him. Jesus Himself told us to take up our Cross. Yet men of ignorance will tell us there is a different meaning of the word spoken by Jesus, “Take up your Cross.” Men who claim to know all, but in reality know very little at all--about God or Christianity.

They only know what they have read from other men who have read what still other men have written, and none of those are in the Bible although they reference the Bible.

Perhaps that is why there are over 38,000 different “Christian” denominations, and growing. 38,000 divisions and disagreements of just what to believe when it comes to believing in God.

That’s why I’m an Orthodox. Long before the Western Catholic broke off from our Church and formed something different and then the Reformers broke off from the Roman Catholics and created the Protestant denominations, the Orthodox Church remained the same as in the days of Jesus and continues to remain unchanged today. The protesting of Catholic preaching continues to divide Christians today as more denominations separate from established Protestant churches. And they always will.

The reason is, a Christian feels in his guts that something is wrong, something is missing. Instead of returning to the ancient faith, the one established by Jesus Christ and His Disciples, they go on and form still other churches. Something new to experiment with.

Orthodoxy on the other hand is still practiced in the identical way that it was after Pentecost. It remains as it was the day the Holy Spirit visited the Disciples of Jesus as explained in the Book of Acts and found the original Church, the Orthodox Church.

And no matter what Orthodox Christian Church one walks into anywhere in the world, the faith, the worship, the practice are all the same, even if the cultures are different. We all are free to choose our religion, but it is the Orthodox Church that I choose. It is the one that practices what I have always believed. It is the one Church I trust. It is the Church for me. It is the closet Church to Jesus Christ, since it was there before any other Church came after. It was and is the Original Church.

The Orthodox Church is pre-denomination.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and religious beliefs. I do not condemn or even try to influence those of other Christian denomination.

I have always held the conviction, right or wrong, that if someone is a Christian and belongs to a denomination of the many tens of thousands of “Christian” denominations or “non-denominations“, at least they are Christians and perhaps in due time they will read for themselves in the Bible the correct meaning of being a Christian.

To me, it is much better for one to be a Christian, even among the wrong Christian fellowship than not to be a Christian at all.

So it is not my purpose to condemn or ridicule in anyway one Christian from another. It is my contention to say when I hang icons and images of Jesus Christ and His people of His Kingdom I do so because I love Him. I do so because I respect him, cherish Him and love and obey Him.

And for the same reason I where the Cross. And form the sign of the Cross over my body. It is a constant reminder to me-- as well as to others--that I love Christ and His Kingdom. And always will.

In Christ
Cliff Harrison

A Note to God

2011-01-18T13:06:00.000-08:00

Rhema Marvanne

Who Am I

2011-01-15T10:18:00.000-08:00

Casting Crowns

Celtic Woman: Amazing Grace

2011-01-11T07:33:00.000-08:00

We Now Need Peace, Prayer and Unity, Not Division

Problems and More Problems

2010-02-25T07:49:00.000-08:00

Turning Bad Luck into Good Luck
By Cliff Harrison

It hasn’t been easy. But then who has had an easy life since the Great Recession? Who has had it easy since the greatest economical threat since the Great Depression? Unless you live in a glasshouse, no one.

I’ve always had “bad luck”. Bad luck isn’t something that bothers me. It is to be expected.

My entire life while growing up someone might say, “There is light at the end of the tunnel.”

I’d say, “Sure there is, and it’s a fast-moving freight train.”

While standing in line at the Calvary Chapel Church one Thanksgiving Day while preparing for their annual event for the homeless, a volunteer joked with the first guy in line.

“Are you the first guy in line?” He asked.

“Yeah,” the homeless man answered, “I am.”

“Okay, you’ve got to get back at the end of the line.” He said admiring the homeless man’s surprised expression as he touched his shoulder playfully, “You’ve heard it’s the first and the last, haven’t you?” the volunteer said, jokingly, “You were first, now you are last!”

The First and the Last.

When I worked in the car business in Vegas, which is an ultra aggressive work environment for salesmen, my boss, Frank Madderra, was discussing with me about the car business and where someone stepped in front of me and cheated me out of a customer because I wasn’t aggressive enough. (I’m not sure if I spelled Frank’s last name right)

“You know where nice guys finish, don’t you?” Frank said.

“Last.” I said, nodding. He was correct.

“Last,” He said.

The First and the Last.

If it weren’t for an eternal life and knowing God was there to take care of me after this life on earth, I might have a problem, but I don’t.

My faith in God is my ticket to heaven. My faith in God is my assurance of a better life after this one.

If it weren’t for that, I might have a tough time dealing with the troubles on earth. But God tells us through the Bible that when believers die and go to Heaven there will no more sorrow, no more tears, no more pain and suffering and no more hardship. All of the troubles of earth will be left behind and we will have a new, eternal life.

That’s reassuring because like I’ve said, I’ve got about as much luck as a horse in an Alpo can.”

Having a strong faith in God will ease your mind when troubles on earth shadow over you like a black cloud. The skies above you can be dark and gloomy and dense enough that you may think death and destruction are looming. But beyond that is where a brighter day awaits. Beyond that is where God awaits with warmth and compassion.

In order to reach Him you need to believe in Him. You need to have faith through Jesus Christ. Having faith in the Father through the Son, Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit is your salvation. Salvation is your ticket to Heaven. It is your future after life on earth leaves us behind. Salvation is the sunshine of tomorrow.

Salvation is the calm after the storm. The peace after the war. The sunshine after the rain. The white clouds after the dark clouds. The beginning after the end. The hope after the discouragement—after giving up—after you thought you were defeated. The tomorrow after the yesterday.

Salvation is your future that you will spend with God.

So, be like me and don’t let problems get you down. Problems are only problems and all problems are solvable. It just takes time to find the answer. But the stronger your faith in God the sooner your answer will come.

Use my attitude when it comes to problems:

There is no such thing as problems, there are only solutions.

And, those solutions most likely will come from God.

Amend. Have a blessed day.

Palm Sunday

2009-04-12T20:29:00.001-07:00

Palm Sunday
Sunday, 12 April 2009

Today, for most American Christians is Easter Sunday. But for Eastern Orthodox Christians today is Palm Sunday.

Western Churches generally celebrate using the Gregorian Calendar.

Eastern Churches use the Julian Calendar, also called the Old calendar, Church calendar or Ecclesiastical calendar, and it is the calendar of the undivided Church of Christ.

The Julian Calendar would be the only calendar of the Christian world had it not been for Heterodox Pope Gregory XIII who in 1582 made changes and serious errors in dates pertaining to Jesus Christ. The Julian Calendar holds the correct date for Palm Sunday and Pascha as well as the period of Lent. Read More >>>Jewish Passover-Gregorian Easter-Orthodox Pascha Calendar Table

Easter or Pascha is the Holiest day of the Christian Calendar. It is the celebration of Jesus Christ resurrection from the dead.

Pascha is derived from the word Pesach, the Jewish translation for Passover.

In 325 AD the Council of Nicea ruled that, in the canons of the undivided Church, Pascha must only fall on a Sunday, the day Christ rose. After the Roman Catholic Church split from the undivided church the Western Church formed and thus conflict arose. Since 1582 the Western Church used the Gregorian Calendar while the Eastern Church continued to use the correct Julian Calendar.

In 2009 Orthodox Pascha (Easter) falls on Sunday, April 19.

To see the Orthodox Calender click on to the following link: Orthodox Calendar
If the calender has changed, simply insert APRIL and 2009 in each box on either side of "Orthodox Calendar" to find the information for this month, April 2009.

Palm Sunday Reading
Vespers Prayers
Online Chapel
Lent.goarch.org

If you are a Western Christian, Happy Easter!

If you are an Eastern Christian, Happy Palm Sunday!

God Bless,
Brother Cliff Harrison

Yoke to None but Him

2009-03-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

Salvation Is Free, Bondage Has a Price.

Do not be unequally yoked.

True Christians can not be easily led down the wrong road.

Christians whom dwell in Jesus Christ and whom the Holy Spirit dwells in can not be led down paths of evil.

True Christians will resist the efforts of men to lead them down the wicked paths.

Christians with the Holy Spirit as their Guide will only venture down paths of righteousness.

The Holy Spirit will warn the Christian servant, servants of our Lord Jesus Christ, when a dangerous snare is set before thee footsteps by Satan.

The Holy Spirit will warn you when danger is imminent, when falsehood is present, when His guidance is prudent and when victory is near. Know when to take His hand and then hold onto Him firmly without ever letting go of His grip. Then ride faithfully with His unbridled love. Ride upon the wings of His unbroken Spirit. For it is He who will free you from harm's way and bring you everlasting peace, joy and success. It is only He who can unshackle the chains which imprison you in Satan’s bondage. Only He can break the grip of Satan and free you from the evil spirits which pull you away from Him. Only He.

The Holy Spirit will sound the trumpet in the heart of the faithful when the evil demons are approaching or laying in wait of an ambush of wickedness.

Have unabridged faith and receive the Holy Spirit and the Shield of Armor will provide the undefeatable protection from the Prince of Darkness.

Take up your cross and follow Jesus Christ having unabridged faith in Him and He will cast out all demons in your paths through the Protector, the Holy Spirit.

Do not let man yoke you to wickedness nor let Satan’s disciples lead you astray for you find safety and all of your protections only amidst the Shepherd’s flock.

A sheep which wanders off and strays as a lost sheep falls victim to the raving wolves. Lone sheep have no protection from evilness, such protection which can only be found being in and belonging to the flock of the Good Shepherd.

He promised you a Helper and that Helper will provide the Light which will illuminate your path and shield you from darkness.

He promised you a Comforter, the Holy Spirit, and He will teach you all things.

The Spirit of Truth will be with you forever if you are truly faithful to Him. The world cannot accept Him because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him for He lives with you and will be in you.

JOHN 16:13-15: "But when He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own, He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to Me by taking from what is Mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is Mine and make it known to you."

Stand firm and do not waver when challenged by evil and He will guide you over and around all obstacles of destruction in your path.

Stand firm and falter not in the face of evil and He will reward you with salvation everlasting.

Journey not down wide paths of wickedness, but step along narrow roads of righteousness for He has sent your Teacher in the name of the Holy Spirit to guide you through all storms and debris-filled passages.

Travel no roads not lit by the Light for the darkness of evil looms with wickedness.

Challenge evil with the Shield, the Rock, the Fortress, the Deliverer, the Buckler, the horn of your salvation. Pick up your cross and challenge wickedness with the High Tower of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let the Eyes of Darkness be blinded by His Bright Light.

Let the Ears of Evil be deafened by His Thunder.

Let the Touch of Coldness and the Ice of Hate be warmed by His Forgiving Heart.

Follow Him and you shall not be lost.

Follow Him and remain with Him and you shall never be lost.

Yoke to no one nor anything except Him and His family of brothers and sisters, Children of God.

He will not forsake you, therefore do not forsake Him.

Be faithful, be blessed, and be prayerful.

In Christ

Brother Cliff Harrison

Starting Our CARS in the Name of Christ

2009-03-01T18:05:00.000-08:00

CARS
The busy highways of our lives without CARS.

CARS stands for Communication, Attitude, Respect and Scriptures.

It is frustrating sometimes for us Christians as we walk in God's world and try to understand some of the evil things we see around us.

We see so much evil around us and we wonder how such evil can rise up so quickly.

But nearly everywhere we look we see unkind acts and acts of pure evil.

Everywhere we go we see people being mean and rude to others.

People lacking CARS. Drivers with no vehicle to drive.

Communication, Attitude, Respect and Scriptures.

We all seem to be racing to go nowhere.

Racing down the highways of our own lives without a navigation map to guide us to where it is we need to go. Some of us have no clue where it is we want to go. We just get out on to the highway and speed forth and hope we land somewhere interesting.

We ask ourselves, where is the love for one another, brothers and sisters?

Are we all filled with such hate, self-centered egotism and a total lack of concern for anyone else?

Are we blind to anyone's feelings other than our own?

Are we on a solitary path were no one else is allowed or invited into our own little individual worlds?

Are we so greedy we will not share our world with others, not brother, nor sister?

That makes for an awful and lonely world, if it is true.

We seem to witness less compassion for others and more demanding outbursts from a greater number of members of our society. Outbursts which are crying for individual attention rather than appealing for solutions in which would benefit those needs or care of others.

We see these individuals who disrupt our clear thinking and righteous mind on a daily basis, even an hourly basis while we are out and about in the world. Sometimes it invades our homes through electronics; television, radio, sound systems or Internet use.

Sometimes we ask ourselves, are we the only one who disapproves the acts of those who insult and offend our compassionate mind? Are we the only one who disapproves of the mannerism so many rude, unkind and misbehaving persons present themselves to the public with?

Are we the only one who sees it? Hear it?

What went wrong? Where did it all go wrong? How can we have so many people in our society who either point blank don't care about others or are so focused on themselves alone that they are blind to hurting the feelings of others?

Calling ourselves Christians and refusing to live in a Christian manner or a Christian way of life is one way it went wrong. Failing to speak up when speaking up was the right thing to do, is another area in which we went wrong . Allowing ourselves, as Christians, to be silenced when the issues at hand are critical to our Christian survival and our Christian belief is yet another. And allowing our nation, our state and our local communities to erode to non-Christian values and moral decay is another.

We were so certain with our being united with one another that we never saw the wedge coming which would divide us. A division of country, a division of faith, a division of community and neighborhood rose up and swallowed our unity almost over night.

That division continues for many of us in our own homes, between spouses, between parents and children, between siblings, between families.

That division divides us in our own neighborhoods, and our extended communities, in our work place among our co-workers and our employers and those we must come in contact with during our employment hours.

It spreads like cancer to our social, economic and political sectors and into our religious sector, even within our own churches.

Congregations often split over time due to that division which un-unites us, or divides us. Those wedges of evil are separating us from the one body of Christ.

From our homes to our workplace to our churches to our social gathering groups and all of our interchange between others we find great division and lack of concern for others. Genuine concern for others has evaporated like yesterday's rain. It has lifted into the atmosphere and dissipated without the feeling of something being loss from within us.

I call these situations getting our CARS stuck in the rut of the world around us. It is when there is a break down within society. It is when we no longer see ourselves in a society, but instead only in our own little individual worlds with others only being the nuisances we are forced to put up with.

Mankind has throughout the ages attempted to find the Fountain of Youth when all of the time it was as close to him as the Holy Bible. God promises eternal life, therefore the real Fountain of Youth is everlasting life. One only needs to be faithful and believe and obey in order to achieve everlasting life. Jesus is our commander. He is our Commander in Chief. Yet we close the door on Him. We close the very door He has opened for us. We get stuck in our lives and we wonder why?

Similarly is when our CARS run out of gas, or are stuck in the ruts of life. Like those who constantly search for the Fountain of Youth and will never find it unless they pick up the Holy Bible, those who practice individualism to the selfish extreme of egotism will never find true happiness in their lives either. They will constantly be in turmoil with themselves and with others around them. And we are sometimes those "others around them".

They will continue to deny God and they will continue to worship Satan. No matter how unintended, if you push God out of your life and close the door on Him, you open the door for Satan and invite him in.

CARS is something I put together in order to describe the wheels of progress which drive us as a society in which we live in harmony with one another.

Without CARS we can never make a successful journey into social harmony. Without CARS we live basically in isolation. That isolation is our own little world and not the greater world of society. We are kings and queens in our own little worlds and can let who ever we want in our own little world, or keep who ever we want out, because being king or queen we are as like gods.

Perhaps being a little god we resist giving up our little thrones. We feel threaten if others want to share our throne and discontent grows from within us and radiates outward.

CARS means Communication, Attitude, Respect and Scriptures. These are the four properties we need in our mannerism if we are to be harmonious with others.

CARS
Having good Communication with others.

Having a good Attitude toward others.

Having Respect for others.

Having a constant, daily diet of reading, believing and obeying the SCRIPTURES.

With CARS we have perfect harmony with others. With CARS we can interchange peacefully with others, we extend and receive love. With CARS we can coexist together in harmony, peacefully and responsibly.

There are four parts to CARS, and like an automobile with four wheels and tires we need all four in order to function properly. If one tire goes flat we do not move well. We can drive on a flat tire, but we won't get very far. If more than one goes flat, we are so disabled we can not quickly make the repairs we need. We become stuck and stranded until help comes our way. But we live in a world where help just might not come our way.

I've devoted an entire essay on each of the four elements in CARS, one for each, Communication, Attitude, Respect and Scriptures. I will publish them when time allows me to place them together in back-to-back posts.

Until then, we must understand that without the four ingredients to CARS, our four wheels which carry us out into society and allow us to motivate in a mobile society, we are at a stand still and we are stranded from ever becoming anything productive, useful or worthwhile to either ourselves or any one else. We are in fact, dead in the water. And, the only way we can recover as individuals and as a society is to reinstall and redevelop our CARS with full communication levels, full good attitude toward others and full respect for others as well as a daily balance and nourishing of ourselves by the Scripture.

In our world today, there is very little communication among us. Husbands and wives close their communication lines instead of keeping their communication lines open and sink into marital destruction. We do not communicate with our family, our so called friends, our co-workers or anyone else in our lives unless they are tuned in to our Ego Channel at ME ME ME TV or MY Radio Station MINE 101.1 I AM or http://www.mymymy.com/

People of today abound in bad attitude toward one another. Rudeness abounds. Customers are no longer treated as customers, but as annoyance which take up our time.

Respect, such things are being kind to one another, showing kindness in our acts, simple things like slowing down at a cross walk and allowing pedestrians to cross without fear of being hit, things like turning on our directional signal when we intend to turn to let the driver behind us know our intentions or even waving when someone lets us go ahead of them, or pull out in front of them, a gesture of "thank you", things like these have gone out the window along time ago.

There is no respect in today's society, and the bad attitude is king. With the inability or the lack of desire to communicate, we are reading a map of destruction. A map leading to the kingdom of hell.

Even thou the song was sung some forty years ago, we are on the Eve of Destruction unless we alter the course and that proper course is learning the parts which make our CARS work and run like a well tuned machine. The machine of a good society.

Scripture, the all important Holy Book which provides the glue which holds us together must be used along with communication, attitude and respect, all of which is within those pages of the Holy Bible to begin with. The Golden Rule of life. The Golden Rule of God's Law.

Until we meet again, enjoy your day and try to make someone else's day a more enjoyable day by practicing CARS. Let your CARS warm up before you pull out of the garage tomorrow morning and meet the world.

Let's not frustrate ourselves any longer. Let's polish our CARS and get to work rebuilding the society we all once loved and enjoyed driving our CARS down the roads of our home towns and beyond. Just like a brand new automobile, it is human nature to want to show it off to our family and friends and even strangers. Let's do that with our brand new CARS.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

In Christ
Cliff Harrison

The Light of Life

2009-02-01T10:12:00.000-08:00

In the Shadow of Death

Jud Wilhite doesn't look like a preacher, let alone the pastor of one of the largest churches in the Las Vegas Valley. Jud Wilhite looks more like a computer geek, rather than a man of God. He is young, he is vibrant and he commands a church which rises out of the Nevada desert shining the Light of Life on those walking in the Shadow of Death.

Jud Wilhite smiles like a male fashion model. When I first shook his hand, I sensed a hint of shyness, but I felt the propinquity of the Holy Spirit. Before I had met him in person at the Central Christian Church in Henderson, the church he heads, I had read one of his books, Stripped: Uncensored Grace On the Streets of Vegas; with Bill Taaffe.

I liked Jud Wilhite even before I had met him. The morning I had met him, I was on one of my recent missions. Once or twice a month I "camp out" with the homeless, my people, as I conduct the outreach programs of the RIVER Organization for the homeless.

Jesus said, "My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away [on] the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace. " Jer 50:6 KJV

When he greeted me, he had to assume I was homeless. I stood with my backpack sitting between my feet as he approached me. I was in the front pew at the center section of the huge church. The band was on stage playing their instruments and singing Gospel tunes. The tall, slender dark-haired pastor moved through the church greeting people along his way. He was casually dressed. His shirt tail was hanging out and if I hadn't known who he was, it is unlikely I would have thought he was the senior pastor of Central Christian Church.

This church is huge. When I say huge, I mean HUGE! More than 10,000 people attend Central's campuses on any given weekend. That is not a misprint. That is ten thousand people attend Central Christian Church every weekend. And this guy named Jud Wilhite leads it.

Jud Wilhite teaches people how to come to God. When I read his book, I understood what kind of man Jud Wilhite was. When I visited his church the very first time, I witnessed the truth of his words which I had read in his book, Uncensored Grace.

Jesus said, "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." Jhn 15:15 KJV

It was a cold, dark morning, a couple of hours before sunup, when a band of homeless men invited me to join them to go to "a church in Henderson". A black man named Issac, who later became my friend, insisted I go. He promised that this church was extraordinary and it was a must-see church.

So, around 4:30am, about a dozen of us, me and the homeless men, boarded the 107 southbound Boulder Highway double-decker bus and headed for Henderson from the DTC.

When the bus let us off along Russell Road, I followed my homeless friends along the dark side road. We were a pack of nomads drifting through the desert like wanderers following the Morning Star.

An hour or two before sunup is the coldest time during a 24-hour period. Like wildlife, without shelter, you have to keep moving in order to stay warm.

Some of the homeless men were burdened with heavy gear, backpacks, sleeping bags, bags of survival gear. Others carried no weight at all, bringing along only themselves.

Eventually we came to an opening in a fenced in area of a deep wash. The storm drains where some homeless people dwell was below us, to the right, like a gauntlet. We traveled along a narrow path between a wall at the boundary of condominiums and a fence protecting pedestrians from falling into the wash.

Jesus said, "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." Jhn 15:14 KJV

Forming a single file, the men begin their journey along the narrow path beside the wash moving toward the church. We followed the leader. The column of homeless men begin to stretch out and lengthen. Some are faster than others. Some are on sure feet. Some know the way, the ground, others like myself do not. And, it was dark... real dark.

The path was uneven and more than once I nearly stumbled. I strained with my eyes to see where my footsteps would lead, for small boulders or rocks and broken concrete and debris made hazardous our journey.

Last year I would not have been able to make this journey for my legs were in bad shape then. Even now, as I follow the other homeless men into the darkness of the early morning hours I thank God for healing my legs so that I could make this journey. I look behind me, there is only the shadow of one other homeless man. He is tremendously weighed down with his belongings. The other ten or so men are leading, some at a great distance ahead of us. There is just enough light illuminating from the dawning morning to make out the figures of their bodies. Silhouettes on a trail to God.

"We're almost there," one of the men ahead of me says, "It won't be long, now."

"Thank, God!" I say out loud.

I struggle to avoid becoming snagged by the jagged edges of torn fencing. There is only inches on each side of the shoulder between the wall and the fence. Eventually, there is light. Street lamps illuminate the area at the end of the path along the wash. It leads out into the opening and there is the mighty Central Christian Church standing like the Grace of God toward our left.

Jesus said, "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples." Jhn 15:8 KJV

The passage toward Central Christian Church and then to God, was long and narrow, but worth the journey. For me, it was an experience I would be able to tell others about as Issac had me.

The homeless men spread out and fan across the vast parking lot toward the church. You could park a city here. I look behind, the last man came through the opening of the path and is following us from the distance.

The sun is still hiding its face from the world, but now we have street lamps and the guides ahead of us to show us the way--like good shepherds gathering their flock of sheep and guiding them to their resting place. This will likely be the one and only place they will find real peace all week long.

Jesus said, "What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?" Luk 15:4 KJV

We move along the side of the church and line up at a side door. It is somewhere between five and six in the morning. The church provides shuttle buses for their homeless ministry, bringing the homeless from downtown to church and back, but the men I am with are the kind who like to keep their independence. They are also early risers. When you live on the streets, you get up early and move before the rest of the world comes awake. You are up and moving long before the sun comes up. While the world is still sleeping your day has already begun.

Someone presses a button, a doorbell, and the side door opens. Jud Wilhite's team of church members greet us and begin their activities of homeless services. One by one, the homeless men move inside standing behind a counter and sign in.

Then one by one, they are let through a saloon-type swinging wood door and step inside a small area where they are allowed to select and gather hygiene products from several baskets piled high, clothing, even brand-new underwear. The pleasant church people greet them, and talk to them on a humanly level. While each individual homeless man, and then women who came along later, are allowed adequate time to select clothes, pants, shirts, sweatshirts, jackets or whatever they need, the church people of Central Christian Church converse with them as if they are old friends.

Then after selecting their hygiene products of shaving gear, tooth paste, anti-perspiration deodorant, etc, and clothing, the homeless people one at a time head for the shower room where they can shave and shower and change clothes.

The next homeless person moves into the small area where clothing and supplies are piled high on racks of opportunity. Then the next and the next. All of this is conducted in uniform and organized fashion.

More homeless people arrive and come through the side door behind me.

Jesus Said, "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love." Jhn 15:9 KJV

I decline any supplies, although I had been out on my mission for five days, and had showered and changed, that afternoon I would be going home. But I did ask for a heavy coat a homeless man back at the DTC had asked me to find him. The church did not have what I needed, so I moved through the line and a church member showed me the way upstairs to a room where the homeless ministries is held, where coffee is served, where breakfast is served and where Bible Studies are held.

I enjoyed coffee and pastries, and fruits while I waited for my friends, my people, the Lord's flock to finish their showers and come join me.

Soon, they started to appear, looking like human beings again, clean shaved, clean clothes and smiling. We all gathered around and sat at several tables drinking coffee and orange juice, and having a continental breakfast while chatting with one another while the church people prepared a surprisingly delicious, full-size breakfast.

There were at least fifty homeless people in the room, and more were coming in all of the time.

I knew most of the homeless people there, but some I did not. I would later become friends with some of those I met there for the first time.

There was a peaceful, easy feeling in the air. Like most churches that turn out members to help the homeless, you could feel the caring hearts as the Holy Spirit united God's family.

As I looked around the room, everyone seemed content. The homeless and the church people seemed to mix and bond perfectly. The way they ought to. After all, they are brothers and they are sisters.

God must have been happy as He peeked into the room that morning.

After breakfast, we took a short break, some going outside to smoke cigarettes without being persecuted by non-smokers or church members. This was a church where everyone was welcomed. The way it ought to be.

Then after a short prayer, eating and drinking more coffee, the church members held their homeless ministries which included Bible studies. This is a significant difference here, which I want to point out early, compared to other ministries or churches.

Jesus said, "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." Jhn 15:10 KJV

Las Vegas has many good churches which help the homeless. For those who have never been to Las Vegas, or who have never left the famous Las Vegas strip, they may find it surprising to know that Las Vegas has hundreds of churches, hundreds of thousands of Christians and a large population which do care about the humanity of the homeless and poor.

But what separates this church, the Central Christian Church, from the dozens of others that I have visited while being homeless or during homeless missions afterwards, is this:

They offer food first! The homeless people eat first and then they are invited to stay for church services.

Central Christian Church does everything backwards. By my saying that they do things BACKWARDS, I mean they do things right, they do things correctly. I am not certain that Jud Wilhite is aware of this, or is even instrumental in directing it, but the fact of the matter is, I believe this church does things the way Jesus would approve.

At Central Christian Church, the homeless eat first. That is, after they shower and shave and are provided clean clothes to change into. Then they attend Bible studies before church services. At anytime after eating the homeless could leave. There is nothing preventing them from leaving the church grounds after eating. Nothing!

Yet, during the times I have visited Central, I don't recall a single homeless person leaving the premises after eating. If anyone did, the numbers were so few they left unnoticed.

Other than, and after Bible studies, the homeless attend church services, a service where several thousand sit in the pews side by side them. The homeless are not segregated or provided a separate church service in the sanctuary for the homeless only. This church is a real community and everyone is accepted equally and without prejudice as it should be.

Jesus said, "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." Jhn 15:14 KJV

Certainly, the church under Wilhite's direction practices a true Christian philosophy in regards to its congregation, but particularly in the manner they service the homeless is what is prevalent as a Christian practice set forth by Jesus Christ.

I am not trying to take away from other churches who help the homeless. They are all obviously good. It is just that some have stronger points than others. And some have a weakness which needs to be addressed and improved upon to strengthen their Christian desires. I point out Central Christian Church and Jud Wilhite's overall philosophy because it is more in line with what I believe Jesus Christ wants us as His children to do and how He wants us to act with our fellow brothers and sisters.

I have written another couple of articles about my visits to Central Christian Church, as I have other churches or ministries which help the homeless, yet unpublished, so I'll save some of those experiences for a later day. What I want to focus on here in conclusion, is why I believe Jud Wilhite and Central Christian Church is so accurately close if not right on target to teaching God's Word correctly.

Jesus said, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." Jhn 15:16 KJV
Not only can you see, hear, touch and feel the difference of this growing church in the desert, you can read the tone of Senior Pastor Jud Wilhite's philosophy in his books. He is an articulated writer who puts his words in print eloquently enough so that you can pick up the feelings of his heart without the sense that he is unmeaning.

In the entire 216 page book, Stripped: Uncensored Grace on the Streets of Vegas, I only read two lines in which I could not agree or approve. I'll mention that in subsequent articles on this subject, but due to being at the end of our journey and there are no gas stations along the road, I want to accelerate. Other than those two lines I wish he hadn't written, his view of what a Christian church ought to be is correct.

Jesus said, "These things I command you, that ye love one another." Jhn 15:17 KJV

Over the pass decades many churches have lost members or would-be members due to ignorance of not only the heads of those churches, but also the congregation in general.

God tells us not to judge, lest we be judged. Yet so many so-called Christians do just that, they judge others and denounce them, depriving them a place in their churches. Jesus called these people hypocrites.

There are just as many hypocrites today as there was back in the time of Jesus Christ. These people have no understanding of what God's Word is. Nor would they know the Bible if they tripped over it.

Wilhite's attitude is different. He and his church recognizes the weakness of men. We are all human beings with the burden of sin carried on our backs.

A church the size of Central Christian Church, with ten thousand people attending each weekend, must be doing something right in order to appeal to that many people. Folks, that is the size of two small American villages. Yet, all of these people come to Central to worship or to be part of the Central community.

Wilhite admits in his book that not all that attend Central are Christians. He claims those individuals would even admit that they are not Christians. Then why on earth are they even in his church, you may ask?

Jesus said, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin." Jhn 15:22 KJV

Because Central Christian Church responds to those converted and unconverted with the love and the grace of God. Sinners are welcomed in the church. I'm not speaking of the kind of church that tries to say sin is okay, and the church twists the Bible and the Word of God to conform and comfort man. I'm speaking of Central being a hospital of faith where one comes to be healed.

They don't reject those sick with sin. They do what a church is suppose to do, they bring them into the church and let these sinners belong to their community. Then in time, these sinner believe in Christ if they had not already. Then eventually, they heal. They sin no more. Just like getting well in the hospital when you are very sick, cleansing yourself of evil and healing your sins take time. Central is willing to let you recover while they be your shoulder to lean on.

Central has a number of smaller group meetings for various purposes. There is a small group of friends where everyone can find something they fit into and feel welcomed.

Church goers are accepted on who and what they are. The church understands they are sinners and need healing. The church makes it clear, they do not accept sin, but they accept the sinner.

Wilhite puts it correctly when he describes in one of his later chapters, A Place to Belong, and how his church adjusts the deficiency of other churches without attacking those churches.

Jesus said, "He that hateth me hateth my Father also." Jhn 15:23 KJV

"God, through the people of the church, saved my life," he writes as he tells of his own experience while young, growing up, broken and confused. "That's what the church should do, what it should be. And that's why I've dedicated my life to helping others who are like me."

I couldn't agree more. Churches have turned away the very people they ought to be helping. Churches have said no to helping those in the greatest need, those who needed healing, those who needed the comfort of God.

And we agree with Jud Wilhite when he indirectly says that a church ought to open its doors and its heart to help those sinners who need God the most.

Wilhite speaks very little about himself in his book while he tells many stories of others who his church has helped heal. People most other churches would shun if they had come to the other church. In fact, his book is loaded with example after example of stories of church members who had been rejected at other churches but are now leaders at Central.

He correctly explains in that chapter how even in the very first chapter of the Bible, in Genesis, and the very first three verses, the Trinity appears. God's community is formed early and the Bible goes on to tell us the story of God's Word.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we join the community of God.

Jesus said, "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, [even] the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:" Jhn 15:26 KJV

As Wilhite tells it, the matter of Christian religion, of church, of church members, of church community is sometimes messy. Big or small, people cause problems in churches. People also solve problems. It depends upon the direction the church leaders take to lead the church in the right or wrong direction.

He explains how some churches had practiced and still do practice that one must first believe, then behave, and "finally" belong, to the church.

"For these churches, belief in Christ is the first step in being part of a church, but you do not really belong until you behave." [Wilhite explains with a footnote that he rearranged the order of pecking through personal experiences that others authors have mentioned in their work.]

He mentions how many churches today, out of a love for people distant from God, are reversing the order of allowing potential church members into the church.

Some thought the order was behave, believe and then belong to the church. Others, such as Wilhite feels it has been, belief, behave and then belong. He discusses how Central and many churches today now follow the philosophy of first belonging to a church, followed by then believing in God or actually, the Trinity, through Jesus Christ, and finally behaving, or in other words no longer sinning.

Jesus said, "And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning." Jhn 15:27 KJV

He claims that sometimes a person belongs for months or even years before they believe in Jesus Christ.

We are running out of fuel, so I'll step on the gas and hope we have enough energy that we can make it across the finish line before we lose our momentum. We will come back to this topic in the future, because Jud Wilhite raises an interesting point in church attendance.

Our nation has fallen to greed. Greed in our governments, from local to national. Greed in the corporate boardrooms and even greed in some of our churches.

Jesus Christ did not force anyone to believe. One has the total freedom in which to believe or not to believe. If one believes, he will gain his reward. The eye of the needle is a very small hole in which to make passage. The narrow passage to the Central Christian Church for some homeless people is a long, dark and stony path in which to take. But it is a path that many homeless people take every Sunday.

They take this narrow path for a reason. Not just for food. Not just for a shower and shave or even a change of clean clothes. They take this path because this church, unequivocally accepts them. The homeless takes this path because through the darkness of their lives, through the Shadows of Death, at the other end is the Light of Life--Jesus Christ--is waiting for them, and too, are friendly church members with opened arms and hugs.

At Jud Wilhite's church, as he states in his book, people are invited to belong first, then they are encouraged to believe, and then, sooner or later one begins to behave. And, that is the way it should be.

Jesus said, "But [this cometh to pass], that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause." Jhn 15:25 KJV

People who come to the Central Christian Church, not just the homeless, but many if not most people who live in the City of Evil, come with great baggage being carried on their shoulders. Like that homeless man who lingered and lagged far behind me as our group of homeless men traveled that narrow path on my first visit to this church, they carried the heavy load of burden.

Wilhite's church is a church of the common people, for the common people, of the common people, by the common people. The common people of God. We are, after all, all God's children. It is the love of the common people that makes this church work. Ten thousand people a weekend would not attend unless there was a reason to.

The same applies to the homeless who journey so far to be there. The Central Christian Church gives them a reason to come to church. That reason is not just food or clothing or any other tangible thing. It is the homeless ministries and the open heart of the church. It is God's love. It is the Grace of God, the Uncensored Grace Jud Wilhite writes about.

We'll cover this topic again in some date in the future. But before I let you go, I want you to know, that during the course of a couple of years while living and sharing among the homeless, I have seen many great things come of darkness.

I have stood beside harden men who cursed the idea on needing to say prayer before being served food by some church organization. I've heard some of these men denounce Jesus Christ. Some blamed Him for their plight, others simply refused to reconize Him at all, being non-believers.

I saved those I could, and I continued to be friends with those I could not. But the miricle of it all was when some of these very same hardened street people one day connected with God and allowed themselves the chance for change. Someone in one of the many church organizations found a way to connect with them, individually, and then I'd see these very men being saved and beginning their Christian journey. Men who only months before was being lead around by the devil and denying God.

Jesus said, "And when he cometh home, he calleth together [his] friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost." Luk 15:6 KJV

There is nothing more rewarding, I think, than seeing a man who not so long ago was denying God and willing to give up his own soul be lead like a lost lamb back to the Shepherd.

It takes time to harvest God's fruit. It takes time to find the lost lambs and bring them back to the flock. It take time, sometimes months, sometimes years, to reach an individual through an outreach mission and gather the scattered sheep to bring them back home.

When the sheep come to the Shepherd, like silhouettes in the night, crossing mountains and valleys where raging wolves roam, I am humbled to be among them.

Knowing exactly where they are going, and precisely what it is that brings them on this journey, being part of that flock of sheep, being right there with them, making the journey along beside them, makes me want to work all the harder for our Father.

Although there are many lost sheep out there, lambs which strayed from the flock, these sheep were not lost sheep. They knew faithfully that the Light of Life, would illuminate their path so they would not stumble during their journey.

There would be people waiting for them at the end of their journey. Church people with true, everlasting love in their hearts. People with open hearts and open minds. People waiting to share what they have with thier unfortunate brothers and sisters. People who obey Jesus and love their neighbors as they love themselves. People with love.

It is the love of the common people.

Jesus said, "This is my commandment, That ye love
one another, as I have loved you." Jhn 15:12 KJV

Jud Wilhite and his Central Christian Church is one church which is doing something right. They give God's people reason to come to the community. They let people belong, (to their church) then they offer them an opportunity to believe, (In Jesus Christ) on their own term and at their own pace and then... behaving (giving up sin) comes natural. Once someone has achieved the first two, belonging and believing, the third, behaving, is a given.

When other churches, young and old, begin to follow this same pattern, more people will not only return to church, but will flock to church like lost sheep coming back home.

That is the way it is suposed to be. That is the way we please Jesus.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit;

Go and sin no more.

RIVER's JukeBox
Paul Young: Love of the Common People

In Christ
Cliff Harrison

Merry Christmas

2008-12-21T15:05:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas!

What If Mary Had An Abortion?

2008-12-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

50 Million Americans Have Died In Their Mother's Wombs Since Abortions Became Legal In The United States of America In 1973.

Before Jesus was born, Joseph thought about putting Virgin Mary away. What if Joseph had encouraged Mary to have an abortion? Had Joseph not listened to the angel of the Lord, possibly the angel Gabriel, little baby Jesus could have been destroyed before He could have saved the world. As it was, Herod would have killed little baby Jesus had he had found Him.

Jesus lived to save His people from their sins. He died on the Cross for our sins. That was God’s Plan, but abortions are not God’s Plan for Jesus so loves the children. Abortions are sins. Murder is sin.

Does a mother have the right to deny her child the same right she had, to be successfully born from her own mother’s womb?

With over 50 million abortions performed in the United States alone, since abortions became “legal”, how many of those killings were the murders of children who may have solved some of the worlds many problems? How many of those babies who died in their mother’s wombs, and sometimes outside of the womb, were possibly human saviors of the world?

Were the minds that would have cured cancer, AIDS, blindness, chronic liver disease, Hepatitis, diseases of the heart, brain or any one of the longest uncured diseases in mankind's history, loss due to being aborted? There are thousands of chronic diseases which still remain uncured.

The top seven uncured diseases in our country include heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, arthritis, depression, diabetes, and osteoporosis. Millions of Americans suffer from each of these uncured diseases. Millions more suffer from other diseases.

Were the minds that could have cured these diseases and solved millions of other mankind problems wasted by being aborted? With over 50 million induced abortions since 1973, it is extremely likely that some of those losses would have been of minds which would have done society much greatness had they been allowed to develop. Murdered in the wombs of their mothers, however, the world will never know.

Jesus died on the Cross for our sins. Of course, He did not die in His mother’s womb. He died for the sins we humans commit. Of the many sins we humans commit, abortions are the absolute most sinful.

For a mother to claim the right to her own body at the cost of the life of an innocent little baby, an unborn human being, is the most sinful act a mother can claim. The allowance of abortions is the most sinful act a society can claim.

Abortion is nothing more or less than the justifiable murder of the most innocent and defenseless of human beings—babies.

Throughout the month of December, I have always prayed for the babies who have died in their own mother’s wombs. The place which should be the safest for the innocent, defenseless babies is often the death chamber of their doom. The evils of society which the Pro-Death groups advocate as a “right” for women—abortion—is nothing more than a killing field of the most precious members of our society—babies.

More unborn—and in some cases born, due to botched abortions—babies have died in their mother’s wombs by abortionists in the United States of America, (over 50 million) than Americans who have died in all of the combined wars of the United States. That means more babies died at home, in their own mother's wombs than Americans who have ever been engaged in war during the entire U.S. combat history.

Ironically, as He was being crucified on the Cross, among the last words spoken by Jesus Christ were:

“… Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.

For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed [are] the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.

Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.

For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?”

Luke 23:28-31 KJV

I pray and I ask you to pray with me for these innocent, defenseless and precious babies who die in their mother’s wombs of the murders by abortionists and by our society. I pray also for the mothers who have had abortions and pray that they heal from the psychological trauma they endure during their post abortions. And, I pray for the abortionists and our society, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”

PREGNANT? NEED HELP?
MARTHA AND MARY HOUSE
ABORTION FACTS
POST ABORTION HEALING (For Men & Women)

NEW MARTYR ELIZABETH

U.S. ABORTION STATISTICS

MINNESOTA CITIZENS CONCERNED FOR LIFE

Every Day throughout the Month of December Please Join Us in This Prayer for the Unborn Children

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us, sinners.

We pray, Heavenly Father, for those babies in their mother’s womb. We pray that their mothers who are thinking about having an abortion change their mind and give birth to their child.

We pray, Father, for all of the innocent, defenseless and precious babies who die in their mother's wombs at the hands of murderous abortionists.

We pray for the mothers who have had abortions and pray that they heal from the psychological trauma they endure during their post-abortion period.

And, we pray for the abortionists and for our society, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” Amen.

Joesph, nor anyone else could have convinced Virgin Mary to have had an abortion. Man can not out maneuver God. I have watched people close to death and I have looked men in the eye while they died. This article was to get your thinking up. The moral of the story is this: The loss of a single life can and will impact the world.

In Christ
Cliff Harrison

PREGNANT? NEED HELP?

The Demon Possessed Mute

2008-11-11T16:58:00.000-08:00

A Servant's Heart (XXII)

By Br.Johnson (JCILM) Jcilmministriees

God's love is unconditional; however, His love for us shouldn't be an excuse to continue in sin. We must know how to properly respond to God's love. We demonstrate that we love God by obeying His commandments. If we don't obey God, we demonstrate that we don't really love Him.

Satan doesn't want us to obey God. He wants us to obey our selfish desires.

1. You will have to deal with negative emotions, but don't allow them to take you away from God's will for your life.

2. Satan wants you to justify your desires even if it means disobeying God.

3. You have to judge your desires daily and make sure they line up with the Word of God.

a. You can't simply make decisions based on your feelings. What you feel like doing, may not be good for you in the long run.

b. When you learn to deny your selfish desires, you begin to choose only those things that will be beneficial to God's will for your life (Matthew 16:24).

4. Those with a pure heart will see God (Matthew 5:8).

Be Blessed And Delivered

God bless you and your household.

Don’t miss Church on Sunday.

Jcilministries

Mark 5:19 Jesus said "Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and what mercy He has shown to you"

Br. Johnson JCILM jcilministriies@yahoo.co.in

LOVE ELVIS STYLE

2008-10-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

Sent in from an e-mail by The Homeless Native

LOVE

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love.
---------------------------------------------------
The above is one of Elvis’ favourite Bible passages, 1 Corinthians 13.
This is taken from the New International Version.
http://www.ag.org/ was his Pentecostal church.

Many of these congregations sought to partner with existing religious movements, such as the Christian and Missionary Alliance, but many Pentecostals left following controversy over the doctrine of "The Initial Physical Evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit."
These early leaders where licensed as ministers by Charles Harrison Mason, founder of the Church of God in Christ, a predominately African-American denomination.

http://godtube.com/
The Homeless Native

[Editors Note: Be sure to watch the video at the Assemblies of God and then venture into GodTube to find excellent family video]

Bums 'R' Us Jukebox
ELVIS PRESLEY:IN THE GHETTO
LISA MARIE & ELVIS PRESLEY:IN THE GHETTO
"PRISCILLA" SINGS IN THE GHETTO

A Prayer of Thanks for Our Prayer

2008-10-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

This is actually a reverse prayer.

I'd like to thank all of those who make prayer requests at Our Prayer for their dedication in service of our Lord.

The power of prayer is magnificent.

Our Lord helps us when we are in trouble and many come together to pray for us when we are in a time of need.

But seldom do we remember that our prayers had been answered and sometimes we simply forget to give thanks, to Jesus Christ, our Lord, and to others for forming the power of the prayers which came to our rescue.

So, I say thank you on behalf of the RIVER Organization, for all of you, unseen like God, yet we know you are there and we know we can trust your prayers will be heard by God.

Thank you for being there for us.

[Don't forget to pray for others. With the Our Prayer widgets on this site, you can help pray for those in need everywhere. When we all ban together and pray for others, the power of prayer is the miracle which brings God's answers and help to us.]

In Christ
Cliff Harrison

A Letter from Our Prayer

2008-10-19T17:05:00.000-07:00

From: OurPrayer <ministry@ourprayer.org>
To: Cliff <Riverorganization.org@gmail.com>

Date Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 11:26 AM
Subject: Personal Prayer Response

Oct 9 (10 days ago)

O Most Gracious Lord, thank you for always listening to our every prayer and answering them in the way you know is best for us. Lord, bless Cliff for his compassion for this homeless man. Please put someone in his pathway that will lead him to medical help for Josh. Perhaps a local Pastor or priest would be of help. Let Cliff's kindness be apparent to all who observe, and bring him extra blessings. Please guide Cliff to a church organization or a community health care center so that he [Josh] can be healed. I ask it all in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen

[A homeless man, Josh, was bitten by a black widow spider while sleeping outdoors and became very ill. The UMC hospital here in Las Vegas, refused medical treatment for Josh because he was homeless and had no means to pay the medical bill or to make a payment arrangement. Such falls under violation of Federal medical emergency laws. I gave up my bed for Josh, the sick homeless man and prayed without ceasing. I also enlisted others to pray with me for Josh to recover. Eventually he recovered, and is now well. This was a dangerous situation, but with no alternative, we turned to God and God did not let us down, He answered our prayers.]

The Choice is Yours

2008-10-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

The Son's Friend

By Brother Johnson (JCILM) Jcilministries

After a few of the usual Sunday evening hymns, the church's pastor once again slowly stood up, walked over to the pulpit, and gave a very brief introduction of his childhood friend. With that, an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit to speak. "A father, his son, and a friend of his son were sailing off the Pacific Coast ," he began, "when a fast approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to shore. The waves were so high, that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright, and the three were swept into the ocean."

The old man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact with two teenagers who were, for the first time since the service began, looking somewhat interested in his story. He continued, "Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life....to which boy he would throw the other end of the line. He only had seconds to make the decision. The father knew that his son was a Christian, and he also knew that his son's friend was not. The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torrent of waves. As the father yelled out, 'I love you, son!' he threw the line to his son's friend. By the time he pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beyond the raging swells into the black of night. His body was never recovered."

By this time, the two teenagers were sitting straighter in the pew, waiting for the next words to come out of the old man's mouth. "The father," he continued, "knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus, and he could not bear the thought of his son's friend stepping into an eternity without Jesus. Therefore, he sacrificed his son. How great is the love of God that He should do the same for us."

With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room. Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man's side. "That was a nice story," politely started one of the boys, "but I don't think it was very realistic for a father to give up his son's life in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian."

"Well, you've got a point there," the old man replied, glancing down at his worn Bible. A big smile broadened his narrow face, and he once again looked up at the boys and said, "It sure isn't very realistic, is it? But I'm standing here today to tell you that THAT story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give up His Son for me.

You see.... I was the son's friend."

Be Blessed And Delivered

God bless you and your household.

Don’t miss Church on Sunday.

Jcilministries jcilmministriees@yahoo.co.in

Mark 5:19 Jesus said "Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and what mercy He has shown to you"

I Need A One to Put in My Wallet

2008-09-24T12:55:00.000-07:00

Speak Right and You Have Likeness

By Brother Johnson (JCILM) Jcilministries

[The] Ticket collector in a train found an old worn out wallet in a compartment full of many people. He looked inside to find the name of its owner. There was no clue. All that there was in it, was some money and a picture of Jesus Christ. He held it up and asked, 'Who does this wallet belong to?'

An old man said, 'That's my wallet, please give it to me.' The ticket collector said, 'You'll have to prove that it is yours. Only then I can hand it over to you.'

The old man smiled a toothless smile and said. 'It has a picture of Jesus Christ in it.' The ticket collector said, 'That is no proof; anyone can have a picture of Jesus Christ in his wallet. What is special about that? Why is your picture not there in it?'

The old man took a deep breath and said, 'Let me tell you why my picture is not there in it. My father gave this wallet to me when I was in school. I used to get a small sum as pocket money then. I had kept a picture of my parents in it.

When I was a teenager I was greatly enamoured by my good looks. I removed my parent's picture and put in, one of my own. I loved to see my own face and my thick black hair. Some years later, I got married. My wife was very beautiful and I loved her a lot. I replaced my own picture in this wallet with a picture of her. I spent hours gazing at her pretty face.

When my first child was born, my life started a new chapter. I shortened my working hours, to play with my baby. I went late to work and returned home early too. Obviously, my baby's picture occupied the prized position in my wallet.'

The old man's eyes brimmed with tears as he went on. 'My parents passed away many years ago. Last year my wife too left her mortal coil. My son; my only son is too busy with his family. He has no time to look after me. All that I had ever held close to my heart is far, far away from my reach now. Now I have put this picture of Jesus Christ in my wallet.

It is only now that I have realized that He is the eternal companion. He will never leave me. Alas! If only I had realized this before. If only I had loved the Lord all these years, with the same intensity as I loved my family, I would not have been so lonely today!'

The collector quietly gave the wallet to the old man.

When the train stopped at the next station, the ticket collector went to the book stall at the platform and asked the salesman, 'Please give me a small pictures of Jesus Christ? I need a one to put in my wallet!'

Be Blessed And Delivered

God bless you and your household.
Don’t miss Church on Sunday.

Jcilministries
jcilmministriees@yahoo.co.in

Mark 5:19 Jesus said "Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and what mercy He has shown to you"

[Editor's Note: Brother Johnson is preaching in Dubai this week from 22 September until 26 September at the Hitoof Building , 2nd floor, Zabeel road, Karama, Dubai , UAE. Visit www.jeevan.info/book to download and learn The Word of God from Brother Johnson.]

How to Stay Safe

2008-09-24T12:07:00.000-07:00

By Brother Johnson (JCILM) Jcilministries

How to stay safe in the world today.
(Think Right and You Have Image)

1. Avoid riding in automobiles because they are responsible for 20% of all fatal accidents.

2. Do not stay home because 17% of all accidents occur in the home.

3. Avoid walking on streets or sidewalks because 14% of
all accidents occur to pedestrians.

4. Avoid travelling by air, rail, or water because 16% of all accidents involve these forms of transportation.

5. Of the remaining 33%, 32% of all deaths occur in hospitals.
Above all else, avoid hospitals.

You will be pleased to learn that only 0.001% of all deaths occur in worship services in church, and these are usually related to previous physical disorders.

Therefore, logic tells us that the safest place for you to be at any given point in time is at church!

Bible study is safe too.
The percentage of deaths during Bible study is even less.

FOR SAFETY'S SAKE
- Attend church and Bible study today.

IT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE!

Be Blessed And Delivered

God bless you and your household.
Don’t miss Church on Sunday.

Jcilministries
jcilmministriees@yahoo.co.in

Mark 5:19 Jesus said "Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and what mercy He has shown to you"

[Editor's note: Brother Johnson is in Dubai preaching the Word of God this week from 22 September until 26 September.]

THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT!

2008-09-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

A Collection of Articles Concerning Lust & Self-Abuse
From Living an Orthodox Life

One of the neat things about ROCK is that Christians who have questions they would prefer to keep private can be answered here. There is no need for embarrassment. In order to learn, one needs to ask a question, or find an answer to what they have on their mind.

Writers from the Orthodox Church have numerous articles to cover the questions of modern-day tolerance on subjects which we prefer not to address in public. As we fully read some of these splendid articles we can clearly see where we may unintentionally invite demons that could endanger our salvation.

As Archbishop Chrysostomos states, this topic is something which we are often reluctant to speak or write about, nevertheless, hesitant or not, we must address it in order for a Christian to understand the true impact the subject has on our minds, bodies and souls--our Christian health.

Self-Sin

What starts out as a minor experiment, or chance expression, may snowball into a courtship with the devil.

Study the prayers provided here and protect yourself from falling into a pit that you won't easily be able to climb out of.

Prayers to Protect Against Defilement

Humble-Mindedness: The Doorway to Pure Prayer

God Bless You and Continue to Learn!

THE BIBLE

2008-08-18T20:19:00.000-07:00

By Scott Tighe

The Bible includes past, present and future history with historical accuracy. It is the only self-authenticating book in the history of the world. It was written by 40 men, representing 20 occupations, living in 10 countries, on three different continents, in three different languages, over a 1500 year time span; working with a cast of 2,930 characters, in 1,551 places, yet fits together like a jigsaw puzzle that is incomplete if any one piece is missing. Together the greatest publication project of all time produced 66 books, containing 1,189 chapters, over 31,000 verses, 774,000 words, and over 3 1/2 million letters called the Bible. It covers every conceivable subject and is expressed in all literary forms such as poetry, prose, etc. The Bible has complete unity in spite of the great diversity of compilation. There are over 25,000 archeological digs, that correspond to 25,000 places, people, or specific events in the Bible that proves the skeptics wrong and the truth of the Bible. The Bible is set apart from every other book or religious writing due to the fact that it is the only book that is filled with over 3,000 exact prophecies about people, lands, and nations, that cover from a few decades in time, to hundreds and even thousands of years. Out of the 26 books in the world that claim to be, or have claimed to be Scripture, there is not one that contains any predictive prophesy. This fact sets the Bible apart from all other literature that has ever been recorded, as 25% of it is prophesy. History and archeology has proven the Bible to be 100% accurate and the skeptics 100% wrong.
Dr. Nelson Glueck, the most outstanding Jewish archeologist of this century said, "It may be stated categorically that no archeological discovery has ever controverted any Biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible."
A respected scholar named Dr. J.O. Kinnamin declared, "Of the hundreds of thousands of artifacts found by archeologists, not one has ever been discovered that contradicts or denies, one word, phrase, clause, or sentence of the Bible, but always confirms and verifies the facts of Biblical record."
There have been over 2 billion Bibles published since 1455. Every minute somewhere on the planet, several million people are reading or studying the Bible. Basic Instuctions Before Leaving Earth.

Bible--A Click Away

2008-08-18T19:57:00.000-07:00

By Brother Johnson (JCILM) Jcilministries

There are four kinds of church members:
The tired, tireless, tiresome and retired.
________________

If you are tired, tiresome or retired; remember:
God never promised a comfortable flight. Just a safe landing.
________________

God bless you and your household.

================================================
Jcilmministries jcilministriies@yahoo.co.in

Mark 5:19 Jesus said "Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and what mercy He has shown to you"

[Editor's Note: The Bible is available in various online editions in the right sidebar under "Online Bibles". The Bible is just a click away.]

Do You Believe God Can?

2008-08-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

It Must Be Love
By Brother Johnson (JCILM) Jcilministries

Why should you the God of greatness

Simply love someone like me

And how could you so pure and perfect

Know my faults yet meet my needs

I'll never know or understand

Just what you see in me

My mind is amazed to think your plan

Includes me for eternity

It must be love, It must be love

In spite of who I am you still came to where I was

Although my life is torn and scarred

There room for me inside your heart

I can find no other reason but this one

It Must Be Love

You keep turning my curses into blessings

That’s your love and nothing else

Forgiving my sins and then forgetting

That’s your love and nothing less

If I could give my everything

It wouldn’t be enough

For every good and perfect gift

Is more than I deserve

It must be love, It must be love

In spite of who I am you still came to where I was

Although my life is torn and scarred

There’s room for me inside your heart

I can find no other reason but this one

IT MUST BE LOVE

Be Blessed And Delivered

God bless you and your household.

Don’t miss Church on Sunday.

Jcilministries jcilministriies@yahoo.co.in

Mark 5:19 Jesus said "Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and what mercy He has shown to you"

God vs. Doctor

2008-08-18T19:01:00.000-07:00

According to an msnbc article, one in two believe prayers saves the dying.
God vs.Doctor

Faith or No Faith
What Readers Say

Rivers of Living Water

2008-07-24T14:18:00.000-07:00

"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
John 7:38

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Thank You, Jesus, for the great gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Wings of a Dove

I Am a Believer

2008-07-24T14:02:00.000-07:00

A Desire to Change
By Brother Johnson (JCILM) Jcilministries

There are three reasons why people don't desire to change.

1. Fear that they can't change.

a. If you are afraid, change won't happen, because you won't initiate the process.
b. Know that you have the power to change (2 Timothy 1:7).

2. They perceive the need for change as an admission of weakness.

a. People don't want to admit their weaknesses, so they deceive themselves into thinking they don't need to change.

b. It takes a strong person to look at themselves and admit they need to change.

3. People don't want to unsettle things in their lives.

a. Sometimes, you have to stir things up in order to initiate change in your life.

b. Don't live a life of mediocrity because you are unwilling to change.

Sometimes, it will look like things are getting worse before they get better.

1. It is not uncommon for things to look worse when you make a decision to change.

2. When those things you want to change seem to be getting worse, you know you are headed for a breakthrough.

Be Blessed And Delivered

God bless you and your household.
Don’t miss Church on Sunday.

Jcilministries
Mark 5:19 Jesus said "Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and what mercy He has shown to you"

From:
"Br.Johnson (JCILM)" jcilministriies@yahoo.co.in

The Helper, The Holy Spirit

2008-07-24T13:33:00.000-07:00

"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
"In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you."
John 14:1-2

"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." John 14:26

House For Sale

The Greatest of these is Love

2008-07-19T09:16:00.000-07:00

By Brother Johnson (JCILM) JCIL Ministries

How To Forgive

One day a while back, a man, his heart heavy with grief, was walking in the woods. As he thought about his life this day, he knew many things were not right. He thought about those who had lied about him back when he had a job.

His thoughts turned to those who had stolen his things and cheated him.

He remembered family that had passed on. His mind turned to the illness he had that no one could cure. His very soul was filled with anger, resentment and frustration.

Standing there this day, searching for answers he could not find, knowing all else had failed him, he knelt at the base of an old oak tree to seek the one he knew would always be there. And with tears in his eyes, he prayed:

'Lord- You have done wonderful things for me in this life. You have told me to do many things for you, and I happily obeyed. Today, you have told me to forgive. I am sad, Lord, because I cannot. I don't know how.

It is not fair Lord. I didn't deserve these wrongs that were done against me and I shouldn't have to forgive. As perfect as your way is Lord, this one thing I cannot do, for I don't know how to forgive. My anger is so deep Lord, I fear I may not hear you, but I pray that you teach me to do this one thing I cannot do - Teach me To Forgive.'

As he knelt there in the quiet shade of that old oak tree, he felt something fall onto his shoulder. He opened his eyes. Out of the corner of one eye, he saw something red on his shirt. He could not turn to see what it was because where the oak tree had been was a large square piece of wood in the ground.

He raised his head and saw two feet held to the wood with a large spike through them. He raised his head more, and tears came to his eyes as he saw Jesus hanging on a cross. He saw spikes in His hands, a gash in His side, a torn and battered body, deep thorns sunk into His head. Finally he saw the suffering and pain on His precious face. As their eyes met, the man's tears turned to sobbing, and Jesus began to speak.

'Have you ever told a lie?' He asked. The man answered - 'yes, Lord.'

'Have you ever been given too much change and kept it?'

The man answered - ' yes. Lord.' And the man sobbed more and more.

'Have you ever taken something from work that wasn't yours?' Jesus asked? And the man answered, 'yes, Lord.'

'Have you ever sworn, using my Father's name in vain?'

The man, crying now, answered - 'yes, Lord.'

As Jesus asked many more times, 'Have you ever'? The man's crying became uncontrollable, for he could only answer - 'yes, Lord.'

Then Jesus turned His head from one side to the other, and the man felt something fall on his other shoulder. He looked and saw that it was the blood of Jesus. When he looked back up, his eyes met those of Jesus, and there was a look of love the man had never seen or known before.

Jesus said, 'I didn't deserve this either, but I forgive you.'

It may be hard to see how you're going to get through something, but when you look back in life, you realize how true this statement is.

Read the following first line slowly and let it sink in.

If God brings you to it - He will bring you through it.

Be Blessed And Delivered

God bless you and your household.

Don’t miss Church on Sunday.

Jcilministries

Mark 5:19 Jesus said "Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and what mercy He has shown to you"

From:"Br.Johnson (JCILM)" jcilministriies@yahoo.co.in

DOWN TO THE RIVER TO PRAY

From the Byzantine Catholic Church In America:
From the Church Fathers
Do we forgive our neighbors their trespasses? God also forgives us in His mercy. Do we refuse to forgive? God, too, will refuse to forgive us. As we treat our neighbors, so also does God treat us. The forgiveness, then, of your sins or unforgiveness, and hence also your salvation or destruction, depend on you yourself, man. For without forgiveness of sins there is no salvation. You can see for yourself how terrible it is.
--St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, Journey to Heaven

Love without Limits

2008-07-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

By Brother Johnson (JCILM) JCIL Ministries

A Servant's Heart

True servanthood is doing the will of God from your heart. In order for God's life (His will) to be expressed through you, you must lay your life (your will) down. God's will for your life supersedes the plans, purposes and pursuits you have designed for yourself. Laying your will down is an act of service to God; and you will reap a great reward.

Each of us has received a gift, a spiritual endowment from God to be used to serve Him (1 Peter 4:10, AMP).

1. God has commanded you to serve your earthly masters as service to Him (Ephesians 6:5-8).

2. You must discover the path for your life, not choose it for yourself.

3. Your gifts are to be used to serve others; they aren't just for you.

4. Don't just use your talents in the world; use them to serve the body of Christ in the church.

5. You are a steward over the gifts God has given you.

a. A steward is a manager, not an owner.

b. Use your gifts to benefit the owner, who is God.

Be Blessed And Delivered

God bless you and your household.

Don’t miss Church on Sunday.

Jcilministries

Mark 5:19 Jesus said "Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and what mercy He has shown to you"

[Editors Note: We welcome Brother Johnson and his ministries to our chapel. Thank you, Bother Johnson for your contributions. Brother Johnson can be reached at jcilministriies@yahoo.co.in]

Amazing Grace: Scottish Bagpipes

Prayer without Ceasing

2008-07-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

From The Way of the Pilgrim
God's Call to the Pilgrim

"BY the grace of God I am a Christian man, by my actions a great sinner, and by calling a homeless wanderer of the humblest birth who roams from place to place. My worldly goods are a knapsack with some dried bread in it on my back, and in my breast-pocket a Bible. And that is all...."

About The Pilgrim

Read the story about the Pilgrim and explore ways to pray as well as other Christian connections.

GOD IS ON OUR SIDE

2008-07-10T15:19:00.000-07:00

READ PSALMS 10-14

"WHY do You stand afar off, O Lord? Why do You hide in times of trouble?
The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor; let them be caught in the plot which they have devised..."

The Book of Psalms is a collection of songs of praise, particularly those from the Old Testament of Psalms. Many are songs or psalms of David. Psalms contain short readings which provide spiritual, even musical, uplifting. Collectively, there are five books covering 150 psalms. In no time at all, you can read the entire five books and gain much knowledge and insight about our Lord.

Psalms can be read in short sessions without consuming much of your time. Read Book One Psalms 1-41 in steps. Begin with Psalms 10-14, then proceed by reading 15-18, 19-22, 23-26, 27-30, 31-34, 35-38, 39-41 and then 1-9 and repeat reading in proper order again.

Psalms can help you overcome many troubles in life. After you finish reading the first book of Psalms go on and read the balance of the other four books and 150 Psalms. Read a few at a time, let them sink in, digest them. Then move on to the next.

After Psalms, the Book of Proverbs can be read in much the same way, a few chapters at a time. You will then grow with your faith in God as you continue to read the Bible. You will find answers to your problems, solutions which will help you solve many of your troubles.

Both Psalms and Proverbs are fairly easy reading. There are far less words to stumble on and get hung up with than in other parts of the Bible. So, it is a good place to begin reading to Bible, it is also a good place to return to time again and again.

Remember, if you ever have problems reading the Bible, just ask Jesus to help you and He will.
Elvis Presley Amazing Grace
In Christ

Confessing Jesus Christ As Your Saviour

2008-07-08T13:28:00.000-07:00

Being Saved & Asking Jesus to Help You.
Confessing Jesus Christ as your Saviour will begin the process of your being saved. Believing in Jesus, and obeying Him will begin your Christianity. As you learn and grow in Christian faith you will obtain the knowledge needed for your spiritual fulfillment in Christianity.

Being saved is a process. You are being saved. You are not automatically saved. It takes time to be saved. During the time in which you are being saved, you will grow closer to God and understand the route toward your salvation, through Jesus, and eventually become Holy.

Confessing Jesus Christ As Your Saviour; Asking To Be Saved.
Say these words, in prayer, to begin the process of being saved and asking Jesus Christ to come into your heart, with the Holy Spirit as your Helper.

"In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Confessing to God that I am a sinner, and believing that the Lord Jesus Christ died for my sins on the cross and was raised for my justification, I do now receive and confess Him, Jesus Christ, as my Saviour."

Congratulations! You Are Now A Christian!
Doesn't It Feel Wonderful?
Remember the time and date of this, since from now on, your life will change for the better. One day you will think back on this time and note just how much more rewarding your life became since you allowed Jesus Christ into your heart, when you received Him.

Then Pray, and repeat this prayer as often as needed for Jesus Christ to help you. He Promised to send you a Helper, and that Helper is the Holy Spirit.
"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. Lord Jesus, please help me understand as I read the Holy Bible. Lord Jesus, please guide me in my knowledge as I learn of You. Please teach me all there is to know, teach me to be righteous and teach me to be your servant. Teach me how to obey You, and teach me how to pray to God. Be my rock, my shield, my buckler and my deliverer, my salvation. Guide me through perils and lead me to salvation."
Elvis Presley Amazing Grace
Amen!
In Christ

We Are Our Brother's Keepers

2008-07-01T14:26:00.000-07:00

IF WE DECIDED TO DISOBEY GOD or even if we decided to no longer believe in Him, then we might have an excuse for not being our brother's keeper. To disobey God or to not believe in Him at all, we would have all the reasons and excuses not to care about our fellow mankind.

We could be careless in whatever we did. It wouldn't matter. If we saw someone suffering and did nothing, it would be okay. Why concern ourselves with someone else's problem. They got themselves into the mess they are in. We had nothing to do with their failings. I'm going to take care of me, that is all that really matters. My survival is the only one that counts. If no one else survives, what does it matter?

Such thinking was like those of Godless passengers when the great, unsinkable ship, the Titanic, went down in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic Ocean after striking an iceberg on the night of 14, April 1912.

It was two hours and forty minutes after hitting the iceberg that the Titanic sank. Although there were ample lifeboats and time to save many additional passengers, those who had climbed into the first lifeboats refused to go back to save others. In all, 1,517 people ultimately perished. Many of those could have been saved had the fleeing passengers listened to those who were trying to get those in the first boats to turn around and go back and save more lives. When some did go back, it was too late. Those who had perished could hang on no more. Survivors from the three classes, first, second and third ranked in direct proportion as their class. A far greater number of wealthy first class passengers survived as did those of second class and the fewest survivors were from the poorest, third-class.

It may be interesting to note, the Titanic was never christened.

Celion Dion:My Heart Will Go
On-Titanic

When we think of only ourselves and not others, we can not call ourselves Christians.

Jesus laid down His life for us. He did so, because He loved us. No greater love, He said, is there than a man who lays down his life for a friend. So, He laid down His life for us, and washed away our sins. He washed away our sins when He died on the Cross. He washed away our sins with His blood, so that we could be righteous.

Can we deny the sacrifice Jesus Christ went through when He laid down His life for us so we could be righteous? So we could be free of sin? Of course, not.

So, therefore we must be our brother's keeper. We are our brother's keeper.

We must love our brothers as we love ourselves. We must love our neighbor as we love ourselves. That is the commandment of Jesus, to love one another.

And if we love one another, we must in a righteous manner save our brothers from unrighteousness. From sin, and from harm by others. From the perils of the world.

In the previous entry I posted from the Scripture what Jesus said in Matthew 18:12-15.
Here is what He says about the lost sheep in Luke.

"What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them , doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance." Luke 15:4-7

That is significant, folks. That is our road map. That is our mission orders. It does not say, we should wait for the lost sheep to come to us. It clearly says, "...go after that which is lost, until he find it".

And when you have found it, carry the weight of the lost on your shoulder and rejoice.

Of course, some may argue that this is a figurative question rather than a literal statement. But, really, doesn't it all boil down to the question of just how hard one may be willing to work for the Lord?

The way I see it, God commands us to obey Him. And if we obey Him, then we must do that which is right. To do righteousness. It is not our decision. It is His decision.

We are to go where the lost sheep can be found and bring them back home. And, to rejoice when we arrive home, and tell all of our Christian friends and ask them to rejoice with us.

Heaven will be in joy. Our Father shall be pleased.

For He went to make a place for us....

If we follow our Father, how can we go wrong?

Imagine the joy we can make for ourselves and for Heaven by bringing as many homeless people back home as we possibly can. Our brothers and sisters who are homeless are not too heavy to carry on our shoulders and bring home again.

For one to perish, is one too many.

We are our brother's keeper.

In Christ

I Am My Brother's Keeper

2008-07-01T09:53:00.000-07:00

ON A COLD, WINTER NIGHT in 2007 I was sleeping on Foremaster Street. I don't remember at the moment, rather it was David or James (Biblical names, no less) who was sleeping next to me, on my right. Now that I think about it for a little bit, as I pause, it must have been James, for David would have been revengeful against the attackers who came in the middle of the night. You see, David had not yet converted. He was still street hard, a defender of his territory, his "turf". He was a little guy, but he packed a punch like a stick of dynamite. He was a fighter, not a trouble-maker, but one who stood his ground in self-defense. James on the other hand was a Jew from a Jewish father and a Christian mother--a soft spoken man with a meek mannerism.

As I reflect back and my mind tries to remember one night out of months of homelessness and frequently living on the streets, I only had a single blanket to wrap myself up in and protect myself from the elements of the harsh Nevada winter-winds. So, it must have been James who lent me one of his two disaster blankets. Often, there is more humanity on the streets, among the homeless people than there is in the greater society. We are our brother's keepers.

Foremaster Street is Las Vegas' Skid Row. The Homeless Corridor is along Main Street and Foremaster. It's not a nice place to be, even for the destitute. It is certainly no place to be alone and without friends, although there were many cold, dark nights I had slept there alone without my friends.

On the night of the attacks, I was sleeping under a street lamp. James and I both liked to read, and the street lamp was the pole lamp of our living room. We probably tucked in somewhere between seven and nine o'clock.

It was shortly after midnight. For some reason, I woke up. When you sleep on the streets, you don't really sleep well. You only rest. Your survival mechanism kicks in. (The Holy Spirit). I am partially deaf, but I could feel the vibrations from the cold concrete beneath me. Something bad was about to happen.

I stirred under the covers of my disaster blanket. I heard shouting, angry shouting, but I could not make out the words. Then the vibration grew more intense. I lifted my face above the disaster blanket and saw the bright flash.

As the cold night's wind kissed my face like ice, I heard the intense scream, "Bums get out of here!"

Everything was a blur because my eye-glasses were tucked inside my work boots.

A plume of black smoke lifted into the pungent air and engulfed my vision to my right. With my mind swallowing the split-second scene in frame-by-frame slow motion, I see the attackers while my hand reached inside my work boots for my eye-glasses.

Two late-model quad-cab pick-up trucks, the red, full-size one leading, the small pewter one following, made their escape down Foremaster Street to North Las Vegas Blvd.

The dense smoke lifts into the windy air, drifting rapidly into the seedy night. Homeless men are shouting. Confusion abounds from men waken in the middle of the night. The man on the other side of James was hit with the road-flare, or smoke bomb. He was scrambling to escape injury. The road flare burnt a 12" diameter hole in his blanket and burned through to his winter coat which also caught fire. Fortunately, he had covered his head with his thick, winter coat. Had he not used his coat to dampen the sounds of drunken, drugged-up homeless men on the hill, he surely would have been injured.

It was just another night on the streets. After awhile we all went back to bed. Once our chatter simmered down, we again covered back up. All except the man who had been hit by the flare. He wandered off into the night, toward North Las Vegas Blvd, probably to catch the 113 bus and ride it through the night for safety.

At five in the morning, there was another attack. This time on the hill. The same words were shouted, "Bums get out of here!"

Those of us at the bottom of the hill on Foremaster braced for another attack, but the same two pick-up trucks raced by and turned up North Las Vegas Blvd, fading in the early morning hour.

Later that day I went to the Las Vegas Library and used the express computer to email a local friend to tell him about the attacks. You only have 15 minutes to use the express computer. In my haste, I had accidentally entered my sister-in-law's email address into the "send to" line of my email. Her name, is listed in my contact list, being similar to my friend's, the intended recipient.

Needless to say, my sister-in-law received the email intended for my local friend. That sent panic through my family. No one in my family knew I was homeless except, Daniel, one of my brothers. I had asked him to keep it a secret so the rest of the family would not worry about me.

Of course, my sister-in-law immediately sent a forward of that email to another sister-in-law, Daniel's wife. And she in turned forward the email to several other relatives including my nieces.

By the time I went back to the library to read my emails, I was flooded with emails from worried family. My brother Daniel was making arrangements for a flight from New York to come find me in Vegas and take me back home to New York.

Now, it was my turn to panic, and I fired off emails to put the brakes on the family rescue mission. First, I emailed Daniel, and told him I was going to stay in Vegas, this was were God wanted me to be. (So just unpack your things and chill out, okay?)

Then I jumped around town to different libraries to use the express computers to let each of my family members know, this is where I had to stay, and help these homeless people. It was, I was determined, what God wanted me to do. All of my family are Christians, they certainly could understand that I thought.

But the next wave of emails that came in said, "Come home and get disability we will help you get the care you need." (I had numerous medical problems, including fragmented knees and needed a cane to get around, walking was considerably painful. The homeless doctor, Brian Lane, placed me on three-month disability while evaluating my knees and other medical problems. A case worker at Social Services had shut me off from housing assistance and forced me back onto the streets because I couldn't produce the paperwork she required. Hey, I was homeless, what am I suppose to be, a walking file cabinet?) "You have to save yourself, before you can try to save the world." My sister-in-law tried to convince me through email.

It took some time to calm my family down and make them understand that I wasn't budging from where I knew God wanted me to be. I pleaded with them not to worry about me. With strong faith, God gives us strength, even during our weakest hour. The whole reason I ended up homeless to begin with, I feel in my heart, with all of my heart, is because God put me there. While others in such position might blame God for their suffering, I knew God put me on those very mean streets so that I may see what was happening to the homeless people in Las Vegas and do something about the conditions there. I did not know how, but the visions of the RIVER Organization was already well-formed in my mind and forming stronger in my mind each and everyday.

My family and friends were there for me. My homeless friends that I met on the streets were there for me. They taught me street survival, they taught me many things. I taught them a few things too, especially about God. When social services and some of the nonprofit agencies around town turned me down or looked the other way, my homeless friends opened their arms for me.

It was much easier walking the domain of Satan when I had friends like those homeless friends I had found, than it would have been making that journey alone.

Eventually, friends who I used to work with here in Las Vegas, gave me shelter, food, use of their computers so I could write my experiences down, a Christian environment to work and study in. And, a whole bunch of other good things.

They were my keepers. They were their brother's keeper.

As I tried to move forward to get on with my own life, God kept pulling me back. He was like a little kid pulling on my shirt sleeve. "No, don't go that way. This is the way I want you to go. It's not about you. It's all about them. Come! Come with Me! You have more work to do. Open your eyes and see. Let your ears hear. These are My Children, and My Children are your brothers. The homeless can not be left behind. Go after My little lambs. Go after your brothers! You are your brother's keeper! That is My Commandment!"

Bringing the Lost Sheep Home (The Words of Jesus)
"How think ye? if a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." --Matthew 18:12-15 KJV

Yes, I am my brother's keeper. All true Christians are our brother's keepers. We look after one another like a shepherd does his sheep.

Encouraged by a friend, I will tell more about myself and the experiences I had lived through while homeless on the streets of Las Vegas. There is much work to do, ahead, in order to get the RIVER Organization's projects running smoothly. I will write about some of my own personal experiences here, at the ROCK, and in the Homeward Bound Publications when I have time. But it is not about me. It is all about them--the homeless--our brothers & sisters.

[The last time I saw David, I was off the streets and working. That was over a year ago. He was still on the streets. I gave him some money, it wasn't much, but it was all I had, ten or twenty dollars, so he could buy whatever comfort he could. His last words to me after we embraced and said good-bye, were, "God is great!"
James, who is still homeless, informed me a few months ago, when I ran into him for the first time since last year, at a local soup kitchen, that David is in Tennessee under going a Christian rehabilitation program in which a local office of that church offered him. Yes, God is great, David!]

Gregorin-The Sound of Silence

In Christ

THE FACE OF SATAN

2008-06-29T17:14:00.000-07:00

Chapel Bells at Sino

WHEN DARKNESS FALLS we can see evil. When the sun goes down, Satan shows his face. Unrighteousness can be seen where there is no Light.

Greed is the one word which can best describe the fall of righteousness. Greed has brought this once great nation to its knees. All across America, greed is conquering justice. And, America's poor are suffering from it.

Greed once almost ruined the world.

The financial pyramid grows. More people on the bottom and fewer on top. The magnificently wealthy and the magnificently poor. Destitution has a new definition. A single CEO making more income than the entire workforce of some companies. The light at the end of the tunnel is but a fast moving freight train for some who live in poverty.

Greed. Magnificent greed.

Darkness falls over the land. The sun goes down on a nation. Unrighteousness prevails. Satan shows his face. The destitute huddle together to hide from the evil one. But there is no place to hide... or is there?

"THIS know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." II Timothy 3:1-5

Sound familiar? Doesn't this describe our modern world?

During the Soviet Union era Russia's large Christian population had to do their worshiping in secret. They had to meet in secret places and hide from the communist atheists who would surely execute them if they were caught. Many were discovered, and punished, most often with the lost of their lives. Not only in Russia, but in all of Soviet controlled land such as Ukraine.

That is a strong faith! To face instant death or brutal punishment if you were discovered practicing your religion. Still, the Christian Russians and Ukrainians and others in that region at that time continued their faith. In the face of Satan, they did not let one of the most phenomenal military forces in the world defeat them. They survived. The Christian Russians and Christian Ukrainians survived even after looking Satan in the face. After feeling the heat of his fire breathing down their necks. They continued to not only believe in God, but to obey Him as well.

Greed rolled over the people of Soviet land with brute force. People lost their homes, their farms, their processions and often their very lives. Yet, they never gave up faith in God.

As America's poor become poorer and those who are homeless suffer more and more, faith in God must never be surrendered. Faith in God is what keeps our salvation and hope for a better future, here and beyond.

Don't you ever do it, give up faith. Faith is the one thing you can hang on to when all else is gone. Faith is the one thing nobody can take away from you when you loose everything else. Faith and hope are your salvation. Faith and hope are your future.

Unrighteousness is sin. Sin is unrighteousness. Sin is evil. Unrighteousness is evil. Doing evil is wrong. Being unrighteous is wrong. Being unrighteous is obeying Satan.

Righteousness is obeying God. Righteousness is doing right. Doing right is good. No matter how hard times are. No matter how rough the waters we navigate become, when we give up faith and do unrighteous, unfruitful deeds, we succumb to Satan's domain. And that's no place anybody wants to go.

Don't let the face of satan get you down. Be strong. Have faith. Things will get better. Others have been through worst events than we have and they survived. You can survive, too!

Continue doing the right thing and reject the wrong things. Turn away from evil and do good works. In time, you will find your reward. And Grace will satisfy you.

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." II Timothy 3:16-17
Amazing Grace Bagpipes
Until Next Time
In Christ

Perilous Times

2008-06-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

Chapel Bells at Sino

IF YOU HAVE NOT YET READ the previous entry,"Chapel Bells of the ROCK" please scroll down and do so now. Reading the previous entry first will give you a better understanding of what we are discussing this morning.

"THIS know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come." II Timothy 3:1 KJV

Does this mean the end is near? Not necessarily so. So you can relax a little. What it does mean is that we are at the beginning of the end. The Alpha of the Omega.

How do we know this? Because the Bible tells us so. Jesus Christ told us that we will not know when the end will come. Only God will know when the Omega will arrive.

Yet there is clear evidence around us that gives us a clue that the beginning of the end or the Alpha of the Omega has begun. The world around us is in perilous times. As discussed in the previous entry, day after day shocking news arrives at our doorsteps. We either except or tolerate things we would never have considered to tolerate even a decade ago, let alone several decades ago. More people are doing things which are far more hideous than the evils done in the 50s or 60s in the United States.

That is not a reason to get carried away and believe the world will come to an end tomorrow. It is not a reason to get emotionally charged and go off and do goofy things as if there is no salvation. But it is a reason to prepare ourselves much like we would if we knew a severe storm was about to move in.

If we know a food shortage might arrive, we stock up on food. If we know bad weather is moving in, we find shelter from the storm. If we know we are running low on fuel, we stop and fill up with fuel.

That is how we prepare for our future--with rational decisions. When we see the signs around us indicating something terrible is occurring or about to occur, or something which threatens our existence, safety, normal living patterns or standards, our livelihood, our general welfare and/or our comfort zone, we prepare for it. We prepare for it with rational decision-making.

When we look around us we see an increasing amount of evil. The world around us is becoming more and more dangerous. We are in perilous times.

The way we prepare ourselves so that we may protect ourselves and our families from this perilous environment is through God. God is our Rock. God is our salvation. God is our wisdom which leads us through perilous times with knowledge. God is our shield. He protects us from evil. There is no armor in the world, or the universe more powerful than the armor of God. None!

So, okay, if we accept God as our protector, and He is our buckler, our shield, our armor, our rock, what else do we need in order to safely journey down a path surrounded with evil? Just how do we survive a world of peril? How do we survive perilous times?

How do we even recognize evil? How do we know good from evil?

If we use the Holy Bible as our guide and the wisdom of God with the knowledge He provides us we will better understand what we need to survive and we will be able to identify evil.

The Bible holds the answers to any of the questions we have about life. The Bible has all of the solutions to any and all of our problems.

But we still need something else. And that something else is best answered by asking a question.

Imagine, if you will, that you are walking alone down a dark street late at night. Evil looms all around you. You are in a bad neighborhood. You know from history many bad things happen here. But, you must cross through this neighborhood in order to get to where you are going. You have no choice. There is no way around it. You know from experience, many people have been attacked or violated by demons along this route. What can you do to make your journey safer?

Many of us who are homeless or who have been homeless at one time or another in our life understand this scenario. Homeless people live through such environments every day of their lives. Even in broad daylight, evil looms and lurks all around them. They see much more evil than the average person. And they see the evils in places where evil shouldn't be. The evils in higher places of society. But even as evil surrounds them, they have no choice but to continue their journey onward. Evil on the streets, evil in government offices. Evil abounds.

A Christian has faith in God to help him journey down a demon-laced path. But wouldn't it be better to journey down dark alleys of the night with a friend by your side rather than to journey alone? If there is no friend, and one must go alone, God will see him through. But having a friend come along can make the trip a whole lot less scarier. More safe, less stressful, that's what the company of a friend does for you.

Having a friend around to accompany you on your journey is what the ROCK is. The Chapel provides friendship in common. Having a friend come along while you venture down perilous roads makes one feel safer, more secure. That is what the purpose of a church congregation is all about. Having other Christians to relate to, to give and receive support from and to you.

When friends are together, especially Christian friends, they share their knowledge about God with each other. They share inspirational food with each other. They give the other a shoulder to lean on. They bond in common interest--Spiritual interest. Christian friends keep other Christians from growing too weak, or from back-stepping. They learn and live together to help one another as siblings. And siblings they are. Spiritual siblings,--brothers and sisters--Children of God.

SO THEN, while we live in a perilous world in perilous times, we need to put our armor on and protect ourselves from the evil which abounds in our world.

We need three things in order to prepare ourselves for an ever increasingly evil world and to protect ourselves from the perils of that world. Those three things are God, The Holy Bible and Christian friends.

With God, The Holy Bible and Christian friends we can accomplish anything. We can defend ourselves against anything.

With Christian friends, either through a congregation or through mutual, individual friendship or both, (the preferable way) we can grow spiritually and continue to learn all of the knowledge we need to learn in order to survive even the most perilous of times.

So finding a good church or chapel where you fit in, one with good Christian people who accept you and in which you feel comfortable being with, is an all important step toward spiritual growth.

Surround yourself with good, Christian people.

Regularly (daily) studying and reading the Bible, continuously praying and speaking with God and surrounding yourself with and spending as much time as you can with Christian friends is the key to protecting yourself during perilous times. Your salvation will be your reward. And once you reach a certain height in your Christian education; your knowledge of God, His Word, His Wisdom; it won't really matter rather the world around you is perilous or not.

Evil will come. That is a given.

The most perilous times of all should have little or no effect on you if you are a true Christian. That is, if you are a true believer and an obedient disciple of God, one who understands and obeys Him. For, with the Bible, with God and with an abundance of Christian friends you have faith, hope and salvation.

And that is really all that you need.

With God, the Holy Bible and Christian friends who can defeat any evil force in your life. You can accomplish what ever it is you set out to accomplish. You will achieve the ultimate success. You will not know the word failure. And, you will never be lead down a road of unrighteousness.

God, the Holy Bible and Christian Friends. What a team!

In Christ

Amazing Grace-Judy Collins & The Choir

Chapel Bells of the ROCK

2008-06-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

Chapel Bells at Sino

WELCOME TO CHAPEL SERVICE this morning at the ROCK. We hope we can make your visit an enlighten one.

While we are having fun during our start-up phase, that is until we can assemble good people for our ministry to preach the Gospel, we will do our best to bring you the word of God.

Until we can find better church bells to provide sound effects for our chapel, we've borrowed one from YouTube. Just click on the link above to get yourself in the mood and provide yourself with a Christian atmosphere.

The world we live in today is full of perils. We can't go through a single day without hearing about some kind of bad news or another. Daily we hear of people doing unspeakable things. We read the news or watch the news in shock. Yet every day more and more bad news comes.

For those of us who are homeless, we see bad news every day, every hour. Evil surrounds us. Evil abounds.

Yes, everyday more and more bad news comes or more violence is seen. More injustice. More crime. More demons and more shameful acts.

And the next day more still. And it just keeps getting worst and worst. Each day we find ourselves shaking our heads and sighing.

We ask ourselves, how could someone do such a thing?

We wonder if there will ever be an end to the bad news we receive. We wonder how the world around us can be so evil. We wonder rather evil will win over good.

Brothers against brothers. Sisters against sisters. Family against family. Neighbor against neighbor. Nations against nations. Governments against individuals or groups. Groups against other groups. The fighting goes on. Nobody wins. But everybody is in.

Whites against blacks. Blacks against Hispanics. Hispanics against Asians. There is no end to the feuding. Brothers are against brothers.

We can all find a reason to pick a fight. We can all find a reason to start a war. We can all find an excuse to hate someone else. But can we find a reason for peace? Can we find a reason to love one another?

Yes, we can. That reason is God. Jesus Christ commands us to love one another. If we fail to obey that commandment, then we are not Christians. We are something else. We are... of the world!

It was after the Rodney King beating by police a few years ago, that Mister King asked the question: "Can we all get along?"

Yes, why can't we all get along? Can't we all get along?

"THIS know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come." II Timothy 3:1 KJV

"We all can get along" --Rodney King

Yes, we all can get along--if only we try!

The next entry will take us into the pages of the Holy Bible to find the knowledge we need so we can all get along. The wisdom we need to help us through perilous times can always be found in the Book of Knowledge.

[Editor's Note: In 1991,Rodney Glen King, an African-American taxicab driver was stopped and then beaten by four Los Angeles Police Department officers. A bystander videotaped the police brutality by the LAPD in which up to 10 officers participated or watched. The event was broadcast around the world and resulted in public outrage. Tension increased and such issues as unemployment, poverty, racial tensions and injustice took the limelight. After the four LAPD police officers were acquitted of using excessive force, in 1992, the massive 4-day Los Angeles riots broke out and many more innocent people were injured. A total of $1 billion in damage, 55 deaths and 2,383 injuries. Other cities were the scene for smaller riots, including Las Vegas, Nevada.]
Gregorian:Brothers in Arms
In Christ

COLORS

2008-06-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

BORROWING FROM, TYLER, THE SON of a friend of mine, I'll explain the colors of the web page of ROCK.

At first glance, the colors appear bold and loud. No, they do not represent Las Vegas with its bright neon lights. They represent something far more significant. And that representation should be bold and loud.

They represent God.

My friend's young son, Tyler, has a cloth Cross with the different colors and description of what they represent on the fabric.

I added the color purple.

Purple represents the Royalty and Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Yellow represents God's perfect Light.

Red represents the blood Jesus shed for us.

Green represents the new life we have in Jesus.

Blue represents the baptism that identifies us with Jesus.

White represents the cleansing of our sins.

Black represents our sins.

Our Sins
The black background represents the overwhelming sins of our society. The absence of white indicates the lack of cleansing of our sins. We as individuals and as a society have many sins needing to be cleansed.

As a society and as individuals we have pushed God further out of our lives. Bringing God back into our lives, closer to us, can only be good for us.

The Knowledge of Good and Evil
God teaches us the knowledge of good and evil. Listening to God's Word will make our lives perfect. He is the Wise One. His wisdom and knowledge gives us hope and faith for a brighter future. One with His Perfect Light.

The Holy Bible has all of the answers in which to solve all of our problems. But do we listen? Do we read? It is never too late.

There is no better time than now to join together as Christians and read the Bible. As the world around us becomes gloomier and full of sin and unrighteousness, our neighbors become weaker. There is no better time than now to pray--for us and for them--our neighbors.

The Lord showed us the wisdom we need to succeed. He gave us the knowledge we need in order to survive even the most difficult of hardship on earth. Even during our darkest hour such as when we are homeless, God will comfort us and show us how to make it through the night. He gave us the ability to defeat the perils of our lives. All we need to do is use it.

The colors of our lives show. We are showing our true colors as a society. Black, the color of sin and the robe of the devil, brings darkness and unfruitful deeds all around us. Don't let the color of your heart be black.

Let the color of your heart reflect God's Perfect Light. Let the Holy Spirit in to guide you as the Helper. Jesus promised He would send you a Helper. All you need to do is ask for Him to come inside of you and be your Comforter.

"And you took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of various colors, and played the harlot on them, which should never come about nor happen." --Ezekiel 16:16

He Will Come to be Your Helper & Comforter If You Ask Him To Come
"And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you.
"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
"After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you will behold Me; because I live, you shall live also.
"In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
"He who has My commandments and keeps them, he is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him." --John 14:16-21

Thank You, Tyler. God Bless You!
The Color of Friendship
The Color of Love
In Christ

BROKEN LINKS

2008-06-26T10:38:00.000-07:00

BROKEN PROMISES. Broken dreams. Broken hearts. Broken lives.

That is the typical thought of the homeless. A child grown up to go nowhere. To be nobody.

They live in a world of forgotten voices just like the Las Vegas street newspaper for the homeless, Forgotten Voice, states.

Brilliant minds going to waste. Talent which could be used productively in society lay idle.

Society turns its back on them. Nobody seems to care much about the homeless. Those who do are so overwhelmed that angels come and angels go.

Hello, I'm Father River.

Welcome to our Chapel!

I'm not a real priest. I've never been ordained by anyone or any church. Maybe I've been ordained by God, but if so it is only to carryout His Word. Father River is my pen name for this site. I'm an imaginary figure in a very real world. A world of darkness. A world of evil. The world of the homeless.

With the pen name, I'm having fun while keeping my faith. Keeping my faith while wading through murky waters looming with demons. Demons which shed darkness over Children of God. On the streets of the homeless, the devil's disciples do their unfruitful deeds. God's Word drives those demons back into the pit they come from.

Father River the Street Priest goes deep into Satan's territory to bring God's Children back home.

I walk among shattered lives. Lives the devil has a strong grip on. It's not an easy task leading lost souls out of the pit of destruction. Prying lost souls from the demon's relentless hold is challenging. But the reward of righteousness is in pleasing the Father.

ROCK is the name of our Chapel. It's full name is the RIVER Organization's Chapel of Knowledge. The RIVER Organization owns and operates ROCK. The RIVER Organization is a Christian-based nonprofit charity operating out of Las Vegas, Nevada. The organization was founded to eradicate homelessness, feed the hungry, help the needy and give to the poor. We begin in Las Vegas, the meanest city in America in which to be homeless. We have visions to expand and go beyond our own city limits, someday. To go where ever the homeless are.

ROCK was established to provide spiritual guidance to the homeless via the Internet and through street evangelism. As a Christian outreach program we will go where there is a need for spiritual inspirations--to the homeless in the streets. As an online chapel we will provide ministry which homeless people can visit by using public library computers.

We also connect homeless people and people in need of spiritual guidance with local chapels and churches. In the near future we will post the spiritual services available locally for homeless people. When we expand, we hope to have our own chapel, working in partnership with local churches. Our common goal to provide spiritual services and inspiration to the homeless, the hungry, the needy and the poor.

With faith, we can provide hope for the destitute of our society and give them something positive to look forward to. It is God's Will.

We hope to attract clergy from different ministries to help us establish a solid Christian program offering a variety of ministry choices for the homeless. We feel that different homeless people would be attracted to and better adjust to different ministries and therefore lead us to greater success. We will talk more about this later, but in that note we require that the future ministries, and postings by clergy not only be Christian but true Christians. That is, we will not allow any far-fetched, distant preaching which leads away from the Holy Bible and the True Word of God.

At ROCK, we hope to fix the broken links, the broken hearts, the broken lives of homeless people through our religious programs. We believe God will guide us in establishing hope and faith for those who are struggling in their darkest hour as homeless human beings living on the streets.

The broken links to society can be mended. Working hard, understanding the plight of the homeless, we can with God's will and the wisdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, lead them back into productive society.

The ROCK will provide the knowledge base for homeless people to achieve the knowledge they need to succeed in getting off the streets and back into mainstream society. The Knowledge of God.

The RIVER Organization is "the RIVER flowing with the Living Water of Life." The four "rivers" sort of speak, which divides, are the RIVER Organization, The River Street Bridge Club, Homeward Bound (Two street newspapers for the homeless on the Internet; "The Homeless Voice" and "Voices from the Streets") and ROCK. Each division, or branch within the RIVER Organization has its own email address and web page. [Check the sidebar to the right for links to our family of web services for the homeless.]

"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and unfathomable His ways!" Romans 11:33

As we end this debut of our chapel's opening post, we wish to thank Google for making this all possible. Google's team and Blogspot's team and Gmail's team are invaluable to our success and have linked our websites so we can function and grow as an organization. As we move forth to repair the broken links and mend the broken lives of homeless people, we shall forever be indebted to Google for allowing us the opportunity to do so without expense.

It all comes together thanks to Google. So, Google, THANK YOU!

The ROCK is the chapel where we teach the knowledge of good and evil.

Down to the River to Pray

In Christ
Father River, The Street Priest