A MAGA ZINE OF REVEL ATION AND RENAISSANCE
Issue #2
THE HOLLYWOOD ANOINTING
LETTER
FROM
THE
EDITOR
Welcome back for issue number two of Love Revolution! We are so excited about this and future issues of the emag. This month has been busier than most for our staff. As you can tell our emag is one week late because of our transition of not having all our team in one location, but its good! We fully enjoyed putting it together even in the midst of the move to Los Angeles. I recently was on an almost two week trip to Los Angeles trying to find a house, and I had the privilege of meeting up with several people who are involved or really trying to jump into the entertainment industry. What is awesome about this season out there versus many others in the past is there is a genuine favor of God and kingdom expectation in the Christian community who are trying to pursue the arts for the glory of God. I think fore running is always so hard though. Right now the industries of arts and entertainment are so full of compromise that every script or project that a Kingdom person looks at has challenges. One day though we will have gained enough ground that the market will be saturated with amazing projects that have excellent production qualities that people can be linked to. That is one of the goals of our ministry, is to speak faith into those who are pursuing the creative arts, music, theater, and the entertainment industry. On top of my personal theme, this month in Love Revolution we write about many themes that speak into the new, the transitions in the body of Christ, and the Hollywood industry. Enjoy and drop us a line about the mag! Your feedback is important to us so don’t forget to write us at Lrmag@expression58. org! Till next month, Shawn Bolz
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For magazine info: LRMAG@expression58.org No reprinting of articles without express permission from Expression58 Š2007 Love Revolution Magazine a ministry of Expression58
Table of Contents
pg. 6 - Hope for the Heart Paula Benne pg. 9 Hero or Victim Amey Celoria pg. 11 - King of the Poor Jennifer Toledo pg. 13 - Ordinary to the Extraordinary Life in God Andre Ashby pg. 15 - The Hollywood Anointing Shawn Bolz
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CONTRIBUTORS Issue #2 Shawn Bolz Shawn is the founder of Expression58, a mission’s base focused on training and equipping, the creative arts, the poor, and loving people in the entertainment industry. The base is currently mobile but will be planting in Los Angeles California in the Summer of 2007.
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Amey Celoria Ordained by Covenant Outreach Ministries in Lakeland, FL, Amey desires to see the Body function in unity and encourages people to cross denominational lines. She sings on worship teams throughout Central Florida and facilitates nights of worship with both local and national worship leaders. Her favorite worship times are spontaneous and prophetic worship because things happen when we worship - Jesus is exalted, people are drawn to Him, healings take place, destiny is discovered, God’s plans are set in motion, the Kingdom advances, and so much more than we can imagine. In 2006 she founded nameless. faceless. - a ministry centered around worship music and connecting people.
Paula Benne Paula is a founding member of the Expression 58 team as well as co-host with Shawn Bolz on an exciting new show that will premier in 2007 called “The Shawn and Paula Show”
Jennifer Toledo Jennifer and her husband Jonatan are the directors of Global Children’s Movement, a ministry birthed out of compassion for children at risk around the world. Their vision is to equip and release children into the fullness of the kingdom. They have ministered extensively throughout many different nations, seeing transformation come to communities as they embrace generational unity. Their passion is to see a whole generation truly fall in love with Jesus and be released to partner with heaven .
Andre Ashby Andre’s acute desire is to see the Body of Christ passionately in love with Jesus, and moving in the power of the Holy Spirit. His heart is to nurture and release the prophetic through the song of the Lord, as well as equipping seminars and personal ministry.
Featured Artist Issue #1
Embyrs Apparel Chris Drake Embyrs Apparel began in late 2006 with a series of supernaturally ordered circumstances. Chris Drake, the founder, was training in embroidery and digitizing for 5 months prior to starting the business with the intent to design for other embroiderers. During the training he would often find some of his own designs and begin designing some of his own creative work. Chris would use his friend’s commercial embroidery machines to stitch-out his new designs and finally received a few hoodies for his own creations. Of course he couldn’t keep these to himself, soon Chris was showing his work to friends and family. This is when people began to speak about an apparel line. At first this seemed like a kind gesture of encouragement from his friends, but slowly this vision began to sink into his heart. He knew that this was the right thing to do. He knew God was highlighting his path. With a background in computers and no knowledge of this industry, Chris began Embyrs Apparel. Soon after, people saw his designs and divine appointments came into his life to help build the business. People seemed to appear out of nowhere and wanted to work for free because they believed in the vision. There was more to this than one man’s dream.
On new years day, Chris and his wife Jennifer visited a party in a house hosted by his friend, John Filler. Chris working through the crowd ended up talking with another friend, Rick Hurt. His excitement was paramount as he relayed the events of the past few months and the favor that seemed to be upon Embyrs Apparel. As Chris was talking, Rick interupted him and pointed to Chris’ right shoulder where gold dust was falling. The Glory of God fell on him and Chris began to weep. God was confirming His favor and pleasure with this venture. The real launch happened in February of 2007 when Chris showed his entire line at the Quantum Glory conference in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The response was overwhelming. People couldn’t wait to wear this prophetic clothing. Chris works with his wife Jennifer who has a background in embroidery, and his sister Haeven who is helping develop the business. Many of the designs that Chris works on are inspired directly from God. One of the articles of clothing, the Reveal Sweatshirt, was designed after seeing a picture while worshipping at a local conference. Another was inspired from a prophetic experience he had a few years prior. Chris is currently working on a t-shirt design for the Spring/Summer line that he received through a dream. The vision of Embyrs Apparel is to bring a quality line of clothing to the industry that brings the light of the kingdom into dark places. Many designs in today’s shopping malls are filled with darkness, it is Chris’ heart to provide something that calls to the mystery in all people •
Chris, although excited about what was happening, still didn’t have a clear sign from God about his direction. With very little money coming in, he felt like he was stepping onto thin air.
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*hope for the heart
perhaps God has not answered your prayers in the way you expected them to be answered? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions then be encouraged. I have some very good news for you. Jesus wants to deliver your heart and your soul from the prison of hope-deferred and fill you up with fresh hope and fullness of joy!!!
Romans 15:13 “Now may the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (suggestion: instead use NIV which says “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”)
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am writing to you this month bringing some very good news. As you read on you may want to pause and ask yourself a few of these questions. As you do, please be honest with your heart and yourself. Here we go... Are you a victim of hope-deferred? Do you suffer from any of these symptoms that have made your heart sick:
*discouragement *despair *depression *hopelessness Are there places in your heart that are shut down, places where walls have gone up towards God and/or other people?
Do you suffer from deep disappointment? Are you experiencing some anger towards God because life did not turn out the way you had hoped it would, or maybe things did not happen like you thought they would, or
There is such an amazing realm of healing grace that is being poured out in this hour for those who are suffering from hope deferred. Jesus, the Great Bridegroom, LONGS to heal the heart of His bride so that she can be fully alive again and run with Him whole-heartedly. He desires that she be completely healed of all traces of hope deferred and its paralyzing symptoms. His bride must rise up and be healed so that she can move forward with Him into the “NEW and the NOW” of all He is doing.
Proverbs 13:12 “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” I have personally experienced the depth and pain of this very real heart-sickness. In fact I felt like the Queen of hope-deferred during a long season that I call “the heart journey.” Thankfully Jesus came in a powerful way and set me free! So please join me next month when I will be sharing with you how Jesus set me free from the bonds of hope deferred. I will also be bringing “KEYS” for freedom with me. Be encouraged, it’s time for your healing, so that by God’s grace (or maybe through God’s love) we can all cross over from the “old” into the “new”. Paula Benne
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See you in Nashville at The Call 07-07-07!
nameless.faceless.
the music & message of the revolution
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We believe... > Worship is a lifestyle. > God desires for us to live as Jesus lived—looking to Him for what to say, where to go, and what to do. > Character is more important than gifting and talent. > Jesus is the only man who should be exalted. > God is glorified in righteous relationships—our relationship with Him and our relationships with each other.
Hero Victim or
I t ’s U p to Yo u
Amey Celoria
“When I look at you I see a little girl surrounded by walls – almost like a tower around you. You’re standing there shooting arrows over the top of the walls just trying to protect yourself from being hurt again. What you don’t know is that all you’re doing is wounding the people God has brought into your life to help you...” That wasn’t what I expected to hear when my friend Josh introduced me to his father, Ted. He was right, though. I’d spent most of my life and energy trying to keep myself from ever being abused by anyone again. In reality, I only hurt myself worse and wounded the people I said I loved, but I’d bought into a lie. I believed I was a victim.
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When I met Ted I’d been crying out to God for His help. I wanted to give up.
Christianity didn’t work for me like it did for my friends. I held tightly onto my pain because it was familiar… it was the only consistent thing in my life since I was a child.
being beaten and thrown into prison for believing in Christ if you can’t handle unfairness? Life isn’t fair. It’s not going to be fair. It wasn’t fair for Jesus to die on the cross.
Abuse comes in many forms: physical, emotional, and sexual. It comes through many avenues: parents, relatives, authority figures, complete strangers and sadly, even ourselves. I don’t need to go into details, but if there were an abuse checklist I’d have a lot of checkmarks on my sheet.
I always got frustrated with him because I didn’t believe that my suffering at the hands of my friends or my parents or my leaders at church was the same thing as suffering for the sake of the Gospel.
T h e G o s p e l of Love In time Ted became a mentor to me. When I would get angry about the slightest injustice or mistreatment, he would challenge me with this question: how are you going to handle
But just recently Holy Spirit revealed to me that it is the same thing. We endure suffering at the hands of those around us so the Gospel of Love can be shouted to the world by our lives. If I can choose to love when I’ve been wounded, then I am being Christ-like. I am living the Gospel.
T h e O n l y A n s we r I recently read a book by Gene Edwards called Climb the Highest Mountain. He wrote the book to address the behavior of a Christian during times of personal and church crisis. One of the main principles in the book is this: There is no need that a man has that can be answered by anything other than Christ. Anything less than Christ is not enough. Anything more than Christ is too much. Anything other than Christ is harmful. The only way to offer Christ is to choose to live and respond the way He did. He asks us to follow Him. He willfully chose the way of loss and humility. He never
defended Himself. He chose the cross. The way of the cross is to lose everything and in losing everything God is glorified. As Andrew Murray says in Humility, it’s our job to humble ourselves and God’s job to exalt us. A To u g h Pi l l to S wa l l ow Not too long ago, while wrestling over things in my past, I heard His still, small voice speaking to me again. “Every situation in your life was hand-picked and tailor-made for you – to conform you to the image of Christ for the purposes of the Kingdom. I want you to be grateful for the wounds because they are preparing you to serve My Kingdom purposes.” It wasn’t easy to accept what He said but if I look in the Bible I can see that I’m not the only one. I’ve thought a lot about Joseph. I’d really like to talk to him about all those years as a slave and in prison unjustly. What about David? Mary (Jesus’ mother)? Stephen? Paul? If I take an honest look at the Kingdom it becomes clear that there is a high price to pay to have an impact on the lives around us. For the most part we don’t have a record of the process they each went through on the road to being the heroes they are to us today. Except for Paul… we have a very clear record of his life as a follower of Christ. He suffered, horribly. He went to his death willingly. He loved unconditionally. And his words have impacted
countless people ever since. Li ve i n Fo rg i ve n e s s So here I was struggling to forgive someone for hurting me. The new wound triggered buried emotions from the past… things I thought I’d forgiven. But in His great mercy towards me He brought it all before me again so I could choose to live in true forgiveness this time. It wasn’t easy, though. In fact, He had to hit me pretty hard to get me to deal with things. “Amey, are you going to keep holding onto the offense? If you do, then I have to hand you over to the tormentors.” Ouch. Immediately I went back to Matthew 18:33-35 (Amplified). 33 And should you not have had pity and mercy on your fellow attendant, as I had pity and mercy on you? 34 And in wrath his master turned him over to the torturers (the jailers), till he should pay all that he owed. 35 So also My heavenly Father will deal with every one of you if you do not freely forgive your brother from your heart his offenses. It didn’t take me long to let go of it once He put it that way. I’d been tormented long enough by all of these things. There is nothing that anyone has ever done to me that is worth a trip to the tormentors. I encourage you to choose the way of forgiveness. Let it all go. Isn’t the
abuse enough suffering without carrying the weight of unforgiveness and bitterness? A V i ct i m H a s N o Ch o i ce A victim has no choice in what is happening to him. A hero chooses to submit to suffering for a higher purpose. It will look the same to the outside observer. It’s the placement of the heart that makes a difference. It starts with knowing our identity…really knowing it. Jesus knew who He was so He had nothing to prove… nothing to defend. He willingly laid His life down in complete humility. In Philippians 2 Paul begins by admonishing his followers to live in humility with one another. In verse 5 he begins speaking about Jesus. 5 Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:] 6 Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained, 7 But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being. 8 And after He had
appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross! 9 Therefore [because He stooped so low] God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, 10 That in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 And every tongue [frankly and openly] confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Amplified) If I was at the crucifixion I don’t know if I would have recognized Jesus as the hero He is. Would I have seen an innocent man who had been punished horribly to appease angry men? Would I have seen a man who chose to die so that others could live? They look the same but the hero brings life. If I want to bring life to others, then I must follow the example of the Greatest Hero. I challenge you to do the same. •
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ll throughout scripture Almighty God reveals himself as the compassionate, merciful God who cares for the poor and needy. James 5:8 “The Lord is full of compassion and mercy” Ps. 140:12 “I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.” Ps.68:5 “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing..” The Living God is the champion King of the poor and needy. He has faithfully demonstrated mercy and love towards those in need and continually challenges others to do the same. Jesus Christ demonstrated great compassion for the poor while walking on the earth. He never sought after political religious position or got caught up in his own “ministry”. He was simply and truly about the father’s business—and so much of what Jesus did was demonstrate great love towards the poor and
broken. Jesus not only befriended the poor, but he partnered with the poor—he shared his life and ministry with the poor. God has always demonstrated extravagant mercy towards the poor, unlike man, God does not show partiality to the rich. (Job.34:19) James 2:5 “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?” Commanded to the Poor Loving and caring for the poor is not just one of God’s suggestions, it is commanded of us, it is a kingdom law. We cannot love God and disregard the poor, Mathew 25 makes that clear for us. There are numerous scriptures that call us to love and reach out to the poor. 1 Jn. 3:17 “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” Is.58:6-7 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it
not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter; when you see the naked to clothe him and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” James 1:27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” The Lord requires us to act justly, and to love mercy—both of these require intentional action. Anointed to “Go” to the Poor Not only does God send us out, but he has anointed us with everything that we need to get the job done. Is.61:1 “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners…” God’s spirit is on us, we are anointed to carry this beautiful message of good news to the poor. Most people feel
overwhelmed by the needs of the poor, and only offer pity. But as believers, we come bearing good news. For our God is the God that heals the broken, feeds the hungry, sets the lonely in families, and he loves to use us to do it. As believers we do not have to feel overwhelmed by the needs of the poor, for God has placed in us the kingdom that overcomes and transforms. We have been given the beautiful calling of partnering with Jesus to alleviate suffering and to bring good news. We do this because Jesus first loved us, and the love of God is in us. It is never the will of God for people to stay poor, or for people to suffer. He is a God who provides for the needs of his children. There is a blessing that comes from being “poor in spirit”—when we live in dependency on Christ. But it’s the desire of the Good Father to bless all of his children and to see their needs cared for. In this, we must rise up and advocate for the poor, be a voice for the voiceless, and be extravagant in our love both in word and deed. Children at Risk The term “children at risk” is a commonly used phrase to refer to children in need, or poor children. The majority of the poor today, are children. First of all, over half of the earth’s population is children and two out of three of those children live in dire poverty. According to the latest statistics over 70% of all refugees world-wide are children under the age of 15. Because children comprise the majority of today’s poor, it is vital that we be intentional in bringing good news to children. The Lord grieves over their situation and it is most urgent that as friends of God we partner with him for the young. Never before has it been so vital that we rise in our anointing and carry good news to the poor, our children. Believers everywhere should be actively pursing ministry to poor children, the poor are amongst us and we cannot ignore their cry. •
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t the end of December I was in a prayer meeting where I had an encounter with God. The Lord began to speak to me about the season we are moving into. I was a vocal performance major in college, so the Lord used a musical term to describe where the church was going in this season. He said the church was entering its Pisagio. Pisagio is an Italian term that means literally “little passage.” I understood immediately what He meant when He spoke this to me. Negotiating the pisagio is the most difficult part of the voice to learn. It is a very dangerous place, because if you do not learn how to negotiate this transition correctly the voice will split wide open as you go from one register to the next. We have heard people do this all the time and usually someone says that the person cracked. The sad thing is that some singers never learn to negotiate the pisagio successfully and because of this, they never really are able to access the full potential of their voice. The voice is like an hourglass; you have a large amount of sound going from one register, through a small passage into the next. The Lord said to me that we are entering a place that is very precarious. We have a window of opportunity to make a quantum leap forward if we can successfully negotiate this transition. It is a very dangerous time, not all will be willing to, but if we will lay down our will for His, He will bring our focus off of what is not important and put it on things that have an eternal value. The church is busy with many things, but most of what we do has no eternal value, the signature of God is not upon it. God is calling for us to refocus, not all good things are God things. He is calling us to go after those things that are branded by eternity. He is awakening our hearts to that which is most important. 2006 to 2007 was not just another New Year. I believe that God is releasing a Holy Invitation to come
into greater revelation of who He is. Ephesians 1:17. The Lord said to me that there are many Christians that we think are great men and women of God. They have and outward show of piety, and they seem to do everything they are supposed to do. But in reality there hearts are far from Him. He said that they saw Him as one of the things on there to do list. God is releasing His jealous love, He says I don’t want to be just one of the things on the list; He wants to be the list. He desires the throne of our hearts. He is challenging us to lay down the desire for the American dream and pursue Him with a vengeance, whatever that might look like for each one of us. We are to passionately pursue his purpose and destiny for our lives. It is a must for us to realize the season we are living in and do what is required for the day. Hosea 10:1, says, “Ask the Lord for Rain in the time of the Latter Rain”. The Holy Spirit wants to bring us into greater revelation of the hour in which we are living. He is releasing urgency for the day. I also saw the Lord come and begin to pull people up by there heads, I believe that this speaks to Him dealing with mind sets and breaking the traditions of men. We are moving from the church age and an understanding that is limited, into the reality of the Kingdom. God is bigger than the four walls of the church; He is commanding that we should take dominion. As the people were caught up, there were things that were connected to them that had to fall off. The Lord then said to me that to be promoted into this new place, it is imperative for us to let go of baggage from the past. Whether it is the past revivals and how God has moved before, or even if it is being stuck in our own emotional healing. We have got to let go of every hindrance so that we can move out of the old and into the new. Repentance is a must, but that doesn’t mean that we simply turn away from what we are doing, we need to change the way
we think. If we don’t allow the Holy Spirit to change our mindsets we will continually go back to the thing we have turned from. We have heard so much about the new wine skin; I believe God is calling us to stop just talking about it. It is time to move into it, allowing God to do the new thing that He wants to do in us. We are on the verge of incredible breakthroughs, but we have got to be willing to move out of the ordinary into the extraordinary. God is calling us to shake of the old and put on the new. The suddenly of God is coming, but are we willing to go with what He commands. Malachi 3:1 says that the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple, and that is each one of us, not a building made by human hands. Yes to go where God is leading will cost us everything, but He is well worth it. Romans 8:18 says for these light and momentary afflictions cannot compare to the Glory that will be revealed in us. I don’t believe that this is just pie in the sky bye and bye. I believe that this is a prophetic promise to those who would see the bigger picture in this hour and with violence take the kingdom by force. It is the greatest time, I believe, to be alive on earth. We have the opportunity to see the Glory the Apostles and Prophets only dreamed to see. They longed for this day, but God chose us for this hour. Let us rise to the occasion in the power of His Spirit and be all that we can be in Him! Lets us go for the gold, accepting nothing less than His best for us. It is time for us to step out of mediocrity in our Christian walk and advance the Kingdom. •
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ordinary to the
extraordinary life in God by Andre Ashby
THE HOLLYWOO A New Reformation During the great reformation in the church in the 1500’s, God’s intention was that all society be transformed and so he began to inspire big dreams in peoples hearts. One man, Martin Luther, was a young priest who had a spirit of revolution burning in his bones. He did many things wrong, but just like David of the Bible, we can remember him for what God did through him, not the weakness of the human vessel.
In Martin Luther’s day, he believed that every believer should be able to read the Bible. This was extremely controversial because the church held ultimate power in not allowing people to formulate their own ideas about the Word. Martin Luther believed that each man, woman, and child was justified by their own faith in the Word of God, not someone else’s interpretation so he began to translate the Bible into its first common tongue translation. It was a translation that everyone could read
OD ANOINTING By Shawn Bolz
and an amazing thing happened at the same time. God released an invention that went along with the burning dream of Martin Luther. For the first time in history, there was a machine that could mass produce a book, but it wasn’t just created for just any book. It is no coincidence that it was created during the same period that this refomationist was translating the very word of God.
God gave Luther an invincible heart to see radical reformation and change in society, but it wasn’t just a hope or a wish. No, God birthed the printing press in complete orchestration to what he was doing in His Kingdom in that time period.
A Modern Printing Press So today, God has been burning dreams into the hearts and imaginations of the spirits of Christians
all over the world in regards to the new tools He has released onto the earth. Many people in our generation have a revolutionary mindset where they can not rest without manifesting something that would stay trapped only in their dreams if not for the release of the great technology of film, television, music industry, and the Internet (amongst other mass communication devices).
church and that because their job is not spiritual in nature that it can not function as a spiritual device to bring God His glory. In other words, its a support role.
This time its not just a few, but a company of new breed thinkers. They are not radical idealists, because their philosophical truths are not going to just stay hovering in thought. Instead, God is beginning to unveil a plan to equip and activate them to birth creative projects that show truth through all of the greatest platforms known to man.
Jesus gave a commission though that most churches are completely ignoring because they are so preoccupied with their archaic programs and structure. The commission in Matthew was to go into ALL the world and preach the Gospel of Salvation. God was looking throughout history knowing where He could get glory and preparing those industries for people like you and I to infiltrate with the Gospel of love and peace.
Much of the church looks down upon any desire to impact through these tools unless it is a direct specific Christian effort of filming a Bible story, or an escitological story. There has been such a misunderstanding of the tools because of their misuse that people have all but thrown them away in the church. So here is our problem: God has given the world the most incredible visual and story telling tools to spread mass information and the church is the furthest behind in the whole race to use them. Not only does most of the church shy away from them, but they make those in the Kingdom who pursue to use them feel like they are immoral or worldly.
God is Ordaining People for The Entertainment Industry There is such a gap right now between a secular job and a ministry calling in the church and it is undermining true spiritual authority. The perception or felt reality of most of the church seems to be that people who do a secular job are a second class citizen in the
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Especially jobs in industries that have so much corruptness or immorality in them, these are especially blacklisted as undesirable ways to serve the Kingdom.
Sure there are places in the world that we are not called to work in or associate with because their very root is immorality. You can not tell me as a Christian that you are called to man a camera on a porn set, work in a strip club, in an illegal drug operation, etc. But we are not talking about these places which are inherently immoral. We are talking about going as one who is sent into the entertainment industry to use it as a tool of war. In Joel 3, Joel saw people farming with pruning hooks and plowshares. Then he saw something amazing—The people heard the sound of a trumpet. Not just any sound, but a war call, they began to beat their plowshares into swords and their pruning hooks into spears. This was an end time picture of what God is calling for now. He is having people go into the entertainment industry not to just get provision by farming it, but to actually use it as a tool of war that reveals the Kingdom all over society.
Society is about to Embrace Kingdom Principles through Story Telling Jesus was so amazing in His ability to impart the very culture of the kingdom to society through story telling. He couldn’t just teach people in a seminar style way. He had to tell them what the Kingdom was like by telling them all kinds of scenarios and stories. These parables are still relevant today, and they condition the Spirit to open up to deep truths. Jesus was not just interested in imparting knowledge, He was imparting Kingdom. This is the first time in history that there is a tool where millions in society go to just watch stories. These stories are imparting culture, and this culture has warped our political and social economic cultures. What would happen though, if Christians who were filled with the culture of the Kingdom started to just tell the stories that did the same thing: condition society to receive this Kingdom? What would happen if someone would shoot a movie that was just a love story that showed the spiritual and natural effects of a young girl throughout her life who had an abortion? But not a preachy message, just a real life story that could not help but be palatable to its viewers? Not just moral issues, but what if someone began to make movies that were love stories that showed the complete real value of love in relationships through showing the struggles of romance but from a Kingdom perspective? There is so much room to just show a life that is right but struggling living out right before the viewer.
The Value of A Picture There is a famous old saying that says “A Picture is worth a thousand words.”
One day while sitting with the Lord He showed me the entertainment industry and its value to the Kingdom. He said, “One movie can be worth a thousand Sunday services in its impact on the heart.” So why is the church running last in the race to pursue these incredible resources? Why are Christians just making a Christian version of what the world has already done better? Because we don’t understand how to send anointed people into the world to express the fullness of their Spiritual calling to create without limiting them to religious expectations. The church has put such a pressure on their people who are using these tools to just make Bible stories, and yet Jesus rarely told Bible stories. He told heart stories, spiritual stories, that imparted
a culture. He told relevant stories to society that challenged the way the Jewish people were thinking. If someone would grab hold of the tools in the entertainment industry and beat the plowshare into a sword with a desire to impart Kingdom culture, we just might have a revolution! •