July
2012 Vo l u me 6 Is s u e 7
Rats to
Riches
The unlikely story of Myles Munroe, one of the world’s greatest Bible teachers
by Chuck Goldberg Natalie Nichols outlasted a disease that stole her health and her mind
I.am.clueless, by Mrs. Happy Fixing the 11 biggest mistakes in marital intimacy
PAGE 22
The Plague Years,
PAGE 12
PAGE 10
by May Olusola
My Father’s Unbusiness, by Sharifa Stevens How to see God in a society blinded by zombie-like distraction
July 2012 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • Page 2
Page 3 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • July 2012
CONTENTS Publisher May Olusola
8
The unlikely story of Myles Munroe, one of the world’s greatest Bible teachers.
10
Contributing Writers
by Chuck Goldberg
Columns 5
All Rights Reserved. No reproduction of any portion of this issue is allowed without written permission from the publisher. MannaEXPRESS reserves the right to decline advertising that is not in accordance with what the newspaper represents.
It Is Well
6
Talk Back
by Hank Lamb
21
7
Prayer Mountain This month’s focus: What is true religion?
by J. Lee Grady
22
Manna Confidential
Grace and Grit The Unbusy Movement: Abandoning the tyranny of the urgent but insignificant. by Sharifa Stevens
26
Soul Food Attain perfection with simple Summer Pasta. by Joanne Cutting-Gray
28
Third Watch Trust God for your second-half miracle. by Taiwo Ayeni
Entertainment 18
Manna on the Town Bishop T.D. Jakes celebrates 35 years in ministry.
by Bishop Charles Z. Barwon
12
Fire in My Bones The Southern Baptist Convention puts a nail in the coffin of religious racism.
Chris Keith’s ordeal; daring to discuss gay marriage; understanding your husband. by Mrs. Happy
Godly Man If you don’t know how to die, you won’t know how to live.
by May Olusola
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© 2012 MannaEXPRESS
20
For Dana Air Flight 0992, it was all over in the twinkling of an eye.
Kevin Dukes
To send a message to the Publisher, e-mail: editor@mannaexpressonline.com
“Be Strong and Take Heart and Wait for the Lord” Top student and former Beauty pageant contestant Natalie Nichols lost her health and her mind, but God restored what the devil had taken away.
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Reinhard Bonnke’s sea of humanity; the strange fire of Pastor Chris Oyakhilome; Benny Hinn and his wife decide to remarry.
Rats to Riches
Julie Lyons
Taiwo Ayeni Joanne Cutting-Gray Iris Delgado Chuck Goldberg J. Lee Grady Mrs. Happy Hank Lamb Trevor Main Stephanie Morris-Graves Sanele Ndebele Sharifa Stevens Michael Tummillo
The Remnant
Features
Editor
Jason McFarland Cover design by Jason McFarland
14
19
Manna Groove
How to fix the 11 biggest bedroom blunders.
The deep end and the wading pool: Pixar’s Brave vs. Madagascar 3.
by Mrs. Happy
by Trevor Main
23
Manna Fun Test your Bible IQ with our crossword puzzle.
July 2012 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • Page 4
Twinkling of an Eye I
can bet Maimuna Anyene, a human resources manager at United Technologies Corp. in West Hartford, Connecticut, was more than excited about her upcoming trip to Nigeria. Although she was going for her younger brother’s wedding, it It is well was also the first time she was by May Olusola taking her four young children Publisher home to her native Nigeria since her relocation to the United States 12 years earlier. On April 30, 2012, she bade farewell to her friends and neighbors as she and her family boarded an international flight to the capital city of Abuja, Nigeria. Captain Peter Waxtan, a Fort Lauderdale-based former Spirit Airlines pilot for 12 years, accepted an offer to fly for Nigerian-based, Indian-owned Dana Air in March 2012. His new job entailed a rotation schedule of 30 days of work and 15 days off. His time off was three days away, and I can only imagine he was looking forward to spending precious time with his family and friends in Florida.
church that morning, and after seeing some relatives, they set out for the airport to begin preparations for her brother’s wedding, which was scheduled for five days later. The Onita sisters were also looking forward to the wedding they were attending. One hundred forty-three passengers boarded the plane with them. There was a teenage girl and her mother, who was on her way to India for heart transplant surgery. Pastor Ayodeji Cole and his wife were on their way back to their ministry’s headquarters. This particular flight is a flight that will remain etched in the memory of millions of people for years to come. Just minutes before reaching its destination, the aircraft lost power in both of its two tail-mounted engines, after which Waxtan declared an emergency. At exactly 3:43 p.m., the plane crashed into a two-story building in a densely populated residential area in Lagos and exploded in flames. All 146 passengers and seven crew members were killed instantly. Some people in the buildings and environs were killed also. In one of the apartments affected, a family of five had just come back from church. The parents sent their three children on an errand to buy something. By the time the children returned, the unthinkable had happened. The building was on fire and both parents were dead.
By the time the children returned, the unthinkable had happened. The building was on fire and both parents were dead.
Sisters Jennifer and Josephine Onita of Missouri City, Texas, were also on their way to attend a wedding in Nigeria. Jennifer, 28, an accomplished engineer in both aeronautics and defense, recently worked in aeronautics engineering for a NASA contractor while pursuing a graduate degree at the University of Houston. Her younger sister Josephine Onita, 23, an accounting graduate of the University of North Texas, took over her father’s accounting practice upon graduation from college and grew the business from a single location to four thriving locations throughout the Houston area. They had a promising future, beautiful smiles, a tight family bond, and a great relationship with the Lord. Their parents Solomon and Lola Onita are pastors of The Redeemed Christian Church of God in Missouri City, Texas.
Just like that, the Anyene family of nine; Anita and Josephine Onita; Captain Waxtan; the co-pilot; the flight crew; and the passengers were gone forever. Among those lost was a flight attendant who was to be married in July; the son of the former vice president of Nigeria; the spokesman for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation; three generals; six Chinese businessmen; and so many others. The pain from the news was almost unbearable. The whole nation and many sympathizers from different parts of the world were thrown into shock and mourning.
This news sent very cold shivers down my spine. It reinforced the fact that life is too short; tomorrow definitely is not guaranteed. Although I did not know any of the On Sunday afternoon—June 3, 2012—circumstances passengers personally, my heart has ached nonstop for them brought all of them together. Maimuna and her family of eight (husband Onyeka, their four children, her mother, and and their families, and my prayer is for all of them to rest in peace and for the Lord to please give the families the two cousins), Jennifer and Josephine Onita, and Captain strength to bear their loss. Peter Waxtan boarded a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 for Dana Air Flight 0992 from Abuja to Lagos—Nigeria’s biggest city. Waxtan was the pilot. The Anyenes attended continued on page 6 Page 5 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • July 2012
Prayer Mountain
Talk Back Letters to the Editor
July 2012: What is true religion?
What point are you making? That God does not mind sin testimony to how simply trusting and believing in God anymore? You chose to avoid saying what you truly have can turn your whole life around. Stay strong! —Mary J. in mind. Should Christians not care what laws are passed? Does God not mind what laws are passed? God says lying, stealing, homosexuality, adultery, etc., are all sins. How Wow! This is a well-written article. I needed to read this would Jesus deal with a person caught in any sin? Would message of forgiveness. God bless Chris and his family. He say, “It’s not your fault because you were born that God bless this writer and MannaEXPRESS. —Calista F. way,” or “Go fight your best to make it legal so that you can then be free to do it”? How would He react if He saw That’s an intensely powerful example of God’s grace to people making a case for legalizing stealing, lying, killing, empower somebody with unconditional love to give them Very touching story. Makes me realize things aren’t as homosexuality, and so on? bad as I might make them seem. By just keeping faith the power to forgive. It just goes to show that through —P. Osahon and knowing that it will get better, God will give you a Jesus Christ you can overcome anyone and any obstacle prosperous life. God bless you and your family, Chris. in life. Stay strong in your faith, Chris, and continue to The church seems so hell-bent on the condemnation This was definitely something I was meant to read. spread the Word! —Ciprianna S. of same-sex couples that it seems to only so thinly veil —Zachary B.
Chris Keith’s Ordeal
This story really touched my heart [“Father to the Fatherless,” by Chuck Goldberg, June 2012]. We can endure so much through Christ Jesus. Thanks, Chris, for sharing such a painful time of your life. I’m sure that it will help countless others. —Albertha B.
I have been asking my God for something from Him to help me through this very low part of my life. This morning I opened Facebook to see your story. I will soon be 70 years old, and I know it’s not too late for me. I just need to get back in church and reading and living the Word of God. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your story to help others. May our Lord continue to bless and heal you. —“BUZ”
“Somehow, when we dress our sin in heterosexual rags, it looks better—to us. The distance of our separation from a holy God is equally great, however.”
continued on page 27
Let’s Talk About Gay Marriage
I know I’m guilty of it too, but it seems that lots of people view homosexuality as worse than other sins [“Can We Talk About Gay Marriage?” by Sharifa Stevens, June 2012]. I think we as Christians should “hate the sin, but love the sinner.” We shouldn’t be approving of their actions, but instead of judging them, we should help them with their struggle. I have a personal experience with homosexuality—my dad left my mother, my siblings, and me to live with another man. My father told You always think you have it bad, but someone else has it worse! I thank God for my parents, even if they weren’t my mother he’d been struggling since he was 7. He talked with one of the deacons from our church and admitted perfect. The devil always thinks he has control, but he to struggling and wanted help. My grandfather was never doesn’t! God has the last say! Thank you, Father. —Grace S. around for him during his childhood, either. —Sara There is a time for everything. Thank you, Chris, for Thanks, Sharifa, for this eloquent column. I think some sharing. Our God is an awesome God. May He dwell in are missing the point—I hear you, I hear you loud and you and your family richly. You are a blessing to us. —Nora clear. Many who proclaim to be followers of Jesus are not following Jesus. But you know it is easy—I mean, so easy—to judge someone else. I do not live in a theocracy, God is truly awesome and worthy of all praise. This and I am 190 percent happy that I do not. I live in a brought tears to my eyes. I was actually envisioning democratic republic, and I wish for same-sex couples to myself in your situation. God was truly standing over have the same rights as hetero couples. How many times you. I will keep you and your family in my prayers. You did Jesus speak out against homosexuality? I am not sure, are a living testimony. —“Divine1” but I know who spoke out against poverty more than once, and yet there is no rage against poverty. —“Beloved Adored” This was so touching. I am in tears as I type this. A true
It Is Well
continued from page 5 Dear Reader, are you making the most of every passing day? Do you have it in the back of your mind that it can all be over in the twinkling of an eye? If you are called to glory today, is your house in order? These are the questions I have been addressing ever since, and I hope you will take the time to address them yourself. It is well with all of us, in Jesus’ name. On a lighter note, our July issue is packed with must-reads: a deeply insightful conversation with outstanding Bible teacher Dr. Myles Munroe; the story of Minister Natalie Nichols’ recovery from unbelievable physical and mental suffering; Mrs. Happy’s lighthearted take on the “11 Most Common Sex Mistakes in Marriage” (for married readers only); Sharifa Stevens’ beautifully written reflection on the “Unbusy” movement; and the perfect summer recipe from our expert chef, Dr. Joanne Cutting-Gray. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the wonderful stories from the pens of our exceptionally talented writers. We really want to hear from you. Send your feedback to: editor@mannaexpressonline.com. Until next time, keep making the most of every day,
July 2012 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • Page 6
M
ost people misunderstand what God’s intention was when He gave man the Ten Commandments, so they have used them as an instrument to create competition. They compete over who will observe the most of them. This is the spirit dating from Jesus’ day that translates into our churches in the 21st century as seen in which church is more doctrinally sound or more holy than the other, and the fight rages on between churches and individual Christians. Jesus in the Gospel of Luke 10:25–37 tried to teach a young lawyer God’s real intention for giving man the Ten Commandments—and what the expression of true religion is. The young lawyer’s question was what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus asked him how he read the Ten Commandments. His answer was splendid: Love God and love your fellow man. But expressing the spirit of competition that pervaded his day and age, he said, who is my neighbor? The Bible writer notes that he was “justifying himself.” In essence, as he was looking over his shoulder, he was saying who can match my obedience of the law? Jesus then told him a story to teach him God’s goal for the Ten Commandments. It was not to make us compete while the needs of the world go unnoticed, it was not to put our sense of accomplishing obedience to the law over the needs of people, but it was rather to make us more loving so that we become channels and expressions of God’s love for man. This we do when our attitudes, body language, and interactions with people transmit the gospel message of a loving God.
The priest and Levite chose the second alternative. They would rather have a clean record than help a dying man. The sense of competing had destroyed their sense of compassion, just as is the case with the church today. We compete over doctrinal issues, denominational distinctions, and selfish ambitions so much that we grow callous to the needs of the suffering around us. The Samaritan, on the other hand, did totally opposite of the religious folks, for he fulfilled the terms of true religion and the goal of the Ten Commandments. He had compassion, risked his life, and spent his resources to help a total stranger. When he did this, he demonstrated what true religion is. It is to love God and love your fellow man. Jesus affirms his actions and understanding of the Ten Commandments to the shame of the young lawyer and the religious folks of his day. The point of Jesus’ teaching is that the Ten Commandments are not intended to create competition but to make us more loving. They are intended to make us love God and love our fellow man. They are intended to make us channels of the divine love. True religion does not have laws at its center—touch not, taste not, etc.—it has love at its center. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
Prayer requests from our readers: On May 18, 2012, my family and I lost the place we called home that night to some people shooting at my home. I have six kids and two grandkids, and luckily, no one was harmed. I come to you for prayers for a place that we can call home. —Anonymous Please pray for the safe return of my little cousin, who is missing. Please ask God to return him home safely to his family. Please pray for my daughter for help finding a good, stable job and to please keep her safe and healthy. Please lift up my family in prayer. I feel like we are under constant attack. —Jeanette Please pray that I am relieved of my past memories, which are blocking my growth with God and are possibly the reason for my mental illness. —Anil
plain, in the name of Jesus. • O Lord, help me to be at the right place at the right time throughout this month, in Jesus’ name. You can be doctrinally right, deeply church-centered, • O Lord my Father, perfect your will in my life and let and have a distinction above all other Christians, but if your name be glorified in the name of Jesus. your life does not touch another life, your religion and • I am an overcomer! By faith in the Word of God, I will Christianity are fruitless. They fail to express the divine love overcome ungodly worry, anxiety, heaviness of spirit, or communicate the gospel message of the love that made The story Jesus told is the Good Samaritan. In this story sorrow, depression, all the tricks of the devil and lust of the greatest sacrifice to bring salvation. We become holy are four major characters. The man robbed and beaten who the eyes and the flesh, in Jesus’ name. when we are more loving. This is the ultimate goal of God’s • No weapon that is formed against me shall prosper, and was half-dead; the priest from Jerusalem who had come commandments. fresh from worship and had just come from interacting they that gather together for my sake shall stumble and with God; the Levite who had also come from Jerusalem; fall, in Jesus’ name. If your religion is true, take time to express it in the ways • Help me, Lord, to forgive others from my heart and and the Samaritan who was thought to lack true religion. you treat others. not from my mouth. The priest—along with the Levite, who was more curious • Holy Spirit of God, help me to identify and uproot —Bishop Charles Z. Barwon than he—came by and saw the man lying in a pool of anything in my life that is attracting sin, in the name of blood, half-dead. This was a perfect opportunity for them Jesus Christ. to demonstrate that their religion was true. They had the Scriptures: • As I touch the hem of Jesus’ garment by faith in the Psalm 136; I Chronicles 16:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:18; laws of true religion, the Ten Commandments. But they place of prayer, I pray that the dry bones in my life will Psalm 7:17; Philippians 4:6; Psalm 75:1; 1 Corinthians had two alternatives: 1) to help the man by touching receive life, in the name of Jesus. 15:57; Colossians 3:1; Revelation 4:11; and Psalm 150. and lifting him to safety. Of course, if the man was not • I profess by faith that those things that have worked half-dead as thought but dead, their touching him would against me up till now will work for my good, in the Prayer points: amount to breaking the law, since touching a dead man name of Jesus. violated the law and made one unclean for seven days. 2) • Father, make me a person of big faith and bless me • I will look up to the hills of God from where my help with unsurpassed wisdom. The second alternative was to remain on top of the chart comes and not to the heels of man, in Jesus’ name. • Lord, let it be more of you and less of me during this with a spotless record, a record that would say they had month, in Jesus’ name. never broken the law in all of their religious life, thus Intercession: • Every mountain standing between me and the plan of boosting their pride and setting them above all others. Mighty God of battle, send your angels to minister to those God for my life this month, I speak to you to become a going through one hardship or the other, in Jesus’ name. Page 7 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • July 2012
Rats to Riches
The reason why principles are so important is because principles make life predictable. In other words, God designed life in such a way that it is very simplified. Principles are laws that are established by the creator or the manufacturer by which a product functions. If you violate those laws, then you produce malfunction, which is what we call failure. If you obey those laws and align yourself with those laws, then you are guaranteed success.
The unlikely story of Myles Munroe, one of the world’s greatest Bible teachers
I
walked in some minutes after the “Spirit and Power of Effective Leadership” seminar had kicked off. There was an impressive gathering of people in Arlington for the event, hosted by Pastor MEN OF VALOR Darrell Wilson’s The Acts by May Olusola Church. They all seemed Publisher to share the joy of delving deeper into leadership training. Aside from the rhythm of pens hurriedly scribbling on notepads like there was a prize for the fastest writer, the voice of the speaker, bestselling author and senior pastor of Bahamas Faith Ministries International, Dr. Myles Munroe, dominated the airwaves. Munroe is known worldwide for his revelation-laced expository teaching. “What does the lion think of when he sees an elephant?” Munroe asked in his subtle Caribbean accent. To buttress his question, he changed the slide on a nearby projector to the picture of a benign but intimidating-looking lion. An assortment of answers came from different angles of the room. A minute later, Munroe explained, “When the lion looks at an elephant, the word that comes to his mind is lunch. He doesn’t see with his eyes but with his mind, because he has no sense of limitation. “The difference between a leader and follower,” he continued, “is attitude. People don’t change until their belief system changes. You are as big or as small as you see yourself.” He grinned, wrapped in an air of confidence like the one the lion seemed to possess.
it in a box of faith to be opened when the time came. In the meantime he occupied his mind with watching television until the day his mother cautioned him, saying, “The more you watch TV, you will never get on TV.” That statement got him thinking and empowered him to substitute the time he was spending watching television with reading books. Today, he has written many bestselling books. Munroe formed a successful Christian music group in his teenage years. Although his songs were about his life experiences, they attracted many young people into the Kingdom of God. He worked for the government of the Bahamas for four years as an administrative secretary of education and managed a Bible study fellowship at the same time. He was passionate about seeing people gain knowledge about God, although he had no plan of ever becoming a pastor. In no time, the Bible study outgrew his secular job, and he was about to find out that man can behind Munroe going before world leaders, kings, queens, propose but God will dispose if it is not in His will for governments, church leaders, and many others. the individual. “Leadership is birthed out of anger!” he said. “I was angry The turning point for Munroe was a trip to attend a at things that are not the way they should be. In life, religious program in Tulsa, Oklahoma. On one of the purpose is defined by the thing that makes you angry. program nights the scheduled speaker, the late Archbishop Martin Luther was angry; Mandela was angry; Mahatma Benson Idahosa, wasn’t able to make it. Like a bolt out Gandhi was angry; Mother Teresa was angry. If you are of the blue, Munroe was not angry, you do not have a ministry yet. chosen to replace him. He spoke at 7:30 p.m. that “I am still angry at the oppressive spirit, a byproduct evening; it was the only of colonization that exists in Third World countries. evening that week when Many people are leaders trapped in a follower’s body. A the media, including leader can transform an army of frightened people into TBN and some radio fearless people. A leader does not have stinking thinking. stations, were present. We came to earth to be the answer to a question—the He was at the right place solution to a problem.” at the right time. He preached about the same As the clock ticked away during the seminar, so my heart Kingdom principles he was ticking with anticipation of the opportunity to sit down is teaching today. From and interview Munroe. It turns out he had much to say. that night, his life story was rewritten and his Can you share with us how you came from international ministry was sleeping on the floor with rats to arriving in born. Book publishers, Dallas two days ago in your own private jet? radio, and TV stations God designed the world in such a way that everything began approaching him. functions on principles. Principles are eternal laws “If you refine who you established and inherent in creation that make creation are, the Lord will expose you when you are ready,” Munroe function. That includes the created race called the said as he told this part of his testimony. humans. Everything in life is built on principles—plants, seas, birds, all of the natural elements of nature, they all Munroe admits he is angry at things not being the way follow and obey certain basic fundamental principles. they ought to be and churches not reaching people the God also built that into our relationship with nature and way they should, and that has been the propelling force also with Him.
“The difference between a leader and follower is attitude. People don’t change until their belief system changes. You are as big or as small as you see yourself.”
Born into a very poor family, Munroe lived with his parents and 10 siblings in a two-bedroom shack in the Bahamas. They spent their early years sleeping on the floor among rats and cockroaches. At the age of 5, Munroe had his first vision while seated on a heap of dirty clothes. He saw himself as very successful, wearing nice clothes, driving nice cars, and traveling around the world in a private jet. Although too young to grasp what he saw, he took it and stored
July 2012 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • Page 8
So the same way failure is predictable if you break laws, success is predictable if you obey laws. I discovered and learned that truth when I was 14 years old. Not everyone discovers that. Some people take a lifetime to learn that. I learned it when I was living in the poorest part of my island in Nassau in the Bahamas. I was reading the Scriptures one day as a teenager, and I saw where it says, “If you keep my laws then you will have good success” [a paraphrase of 1 Chronicles 22:13]. So I discovered that success has very little to do with education or race or disposition; it has more to do with principles and following those principles.
why I was able to move from rats to 40,000 feet in the air in my own aircraft.
need to wonder or worry about having to misplace your importance as a person.
Earlier on you talked about not letting the gift get to you, and that is something that is not very easily done by a lot of people up there. How can you suppress the urge to be proud of your accomplishments when you are up there?
Your value in life is determined by the problems you solve through your gift. I encourage people to stay humble. One of the things that God told the prophet Elijah is, “Stay small in your own eyes.” This is one of the greatest pieces of advice I ever heard. No matter how many people celebrate your gifts, don’t ever think that you are more important to them than your gift is to them. This is why many people fail: They fail because they think that people came to follow them. You must keep a careful, correct perspective on life that this is not about me but about me serving my gift to the world. After all, Jesus said, “If any man wants to be great, He must become a servant to all” [Mark 9:35]. Serve your gift, serve your way to leadership, and keep yourself in perspective— people don’t love you, they love your gift.
“No matter how many people celebrate your gifts, don’t ever think that you are more important to them than your gift is to them. This is why many people fail: They fail because they think that people came to follow them.”
First of all, every human being was born with an inherent gift, and that gift is their gift to humanity; they are supposed to serve humanity in the area of their gifting. No one came to earth empty; everybody came with a contribution to make to their generation. Most of them never find that gift and even more die So when I applied those principles in my state of poverty, never releasing it. However, things in my environment began to change. First they when you discover your changed internally, and that is where I believe the first gift and authority, that change must take place. External circumstances will not gift attracts people. When change until internal belief systems change. And so at people come to you, they age 14, my belief systems began to change about myself, are not really coming to about God, about humans, about values, and about moral you for you but for the gift standards. I also began to align myself with the principles and the vision that you are serving the humanity of your that are laid down by the Creator in the book called the generation with. Bible. So I could say that I went from one state of life to another state of life by obeying, understanding, and If you are aware that people are coming to you to receive applying these principles that are laid down in the Bible. your gift and not necessarily to you as the person, it keeps you very humble. Many people make the mistake I also discovered that of confusing the attraction the Bible is really not a of people to their lives as religious book but a divine something that has to do manual written by the with them as a person or a manufacturer of humanity personality, and this is very by which the product dangerous and not true. For man is supposed to live. If example, an apple tree has we learn those principles gifts called apples; when the and obey them, then we apple tree bears the apples, find that the process of it attracts us to the tree. But failure to success becomes we never go to the tree for more inevitability than the root or the trunk or the experiment. branches or even the leaves. No one goes to the apple tree I can guarantee people, to pick apple leaves but to then, that if they learn, pick apples. So if the apple discover, understand, tree begins to confuse the explore, and apply the motivation of those who are same principles that I attracted to it as coming to learned, that success is its branches, to its trunk, or predictable. Failure of to its roots, then the apple success is not race-related; tree is misplacing its value, it’s not socioeconomics-related; it is really predictable, which does not come from the trunk, branch, or tree but based on principles that are laid down by God the from the fruit. If you keep your perspective correct and Creator by which we are supposed to function. If we find understand that people are coming to you because your them and obey them, success becomes inevitable. That’s gift makes room for you in the world, then you do not
“Purpose is defined by the thing that makes you angry. Martin Luther was angry; Mandela was angry; Mahatma Gandhi was angry; Mother Teresa was angry. If you are not angry, you do not have a ministry yet.”
Page 9 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • July 2012
We are in a time where people are looking for relief spiritually, financially, and maritally, and even in the church many people are not getting the much-needed relief. Like you said earlier on, there are glorified manipulators behind the pulpit. What is your advice for people really seeking relief? I believe that if you are talking about economic stress, the systems of the world are very fragile, and if we put our hope and trust in the systems that men have created, they will guarantee failure. My advice is for people to learn the principles laid down by the Lord God our Creator regarding how we are supposed to sustain our lives. I have been teaching a new series called “Kingdom Commonwealth”—helping people to realign their priorities toward God being the source and not the systems of men or men themselves. People are losing their jobs; companies are downsizing; businesses are collapsing; people are losing their houses, their cars, and their hope because they trusted in the systems. My greatest fear is that the spirit of religion is lurking in so many churches today. Instead of men and women of God preaching about and applying Kingdom principles to everyday living, they have given the spirit of religion the power to cloud the path of others. I admonish everyone reading this article to read Matthew, Mark, and John and reconnect with the Kingdom. If we place our trust back in the source, which is God Himself, He has principles continued on page 20
“Be Strong and Take Heart and Wait for the Lord” Top student and former beauty pageant contestant Natalie Nichols lost her health and her mind, but God restored what the devil had taken away
F
Witness
rom beauty pageant contestant to wheelchair-bound dementia patient, Natalie Nichols feels like she’s been to hell and back. But she’d do it all again because of how deeply the experience brought her to Christ.
by Chuck Goldberg
At first, Nichols seemed to be on track for a storybook life—talented, beautiful, and always achieving her goals. She finished high school in two years and began college at 16, eventually transferring to Baylor University at age 18 in 1989 as a music education major. In the upper five percent of her class, Nichols also had scholarships for master’s and doctoral degrees. Plus, she was already a sought-after motivational speaker, so she felt God had abundantly blessed her. But shortly after she joined Baylor, a mystery disease took hold, beginning her downward spiral. Severe fatigue set in, causing her to miss classes to seek medical help. The doctors, however, were stumped.
Symptoms continued during the pageant, but Nichols just pushed them aside and competed. About six weeks later, though, she began to have such severe pain in her right hand and forearm, she became unable to play the piano. Concerned that continued playing would cause long-term damage, her piano professor sent her to a hand specialist who diagnosed tendinitis and said that with complete rest, her arm would be fine. For an entire year, Nichols refrained from using that arm. She took all class notes with a tape recorder and secured permission to take her tests orally. Yet, after all that time, she saw no improvement. Furthermore, her symptoms spread throughout her body, including what she called a “foggy brain,” rendering her unable to read a textbook or write a simple summary.
Natalie Nichols wailed night and day for three years. Sometimes she would lock herself in a closet, hoping to insulate her mother from her constant screaming. She says she was so loud, the neighborhood dogs would howl along with her.
Meanwhile, friends convinced Nichols to enter the Miss Texas pageant, believing she would enjoy the experience. And they were right, she says, because all of the demands were perfect for her selfdisciplined personality. She thrived on the preparation: exercising to get fit, studying world events for the interview, and intensively rehearsing piano for the talent phase. “Life was a complete blast at that point,” she says.
“I began getting concerned because this was the first time in my life that things were not going according to plan,” Nichols says.
The plague years
With a year to go before graduation, she dropped out of college on the advice of her doctors, who thought this would help. As she struggled with growing fatigue, expecting God to heal her within a year, she moved ahead with wedding plans. Fervently seeking the Lord, Nichols received great encouragement when He answered from Isaiah 49:19—”Though you were ruined and made desolate and your land laid waste, now you will be too small for your people, and those who devoured you will be far away.” She married in 1993, but six weeks later Nichols had to
By 1995, Nichols’ mother lived with her and her husband on weekdays to help out. During that time, the pain became so intense from the feeling of burning and electrocution, Nichols wailed night and day for three years. Sometimes she would lock herself in a closet, hoping to insulate her mother from her constant screaming. She says she was so loud, the neighborhood dogs would howl along with her. Doctors encouraged her parents to have her institutionalized, feeling she had lost too much of her mind.
read music, which she had learned before she knew how to read—yet she never lost the Scriptures she had memorized years ago. When she didn’t see a way to make it another minute, the Holy Spirit would bring out a Scripture. In one of those moments, she remembered Psalm 27, which speaks of singing again to the Lord, of seeing His goodness, with the closing line to be brave and wait for the Lord.
All in all, Nichols went undiagnosed for eight years, spent 10 years in a wheelchair (1993–2003), bedridden for seven of those years and with dementia for three. As she saw her friends move on in life while hers stood still, she complained every day to God, experiencing great despair.
“We encounter trials that we might be made complete. He’d lay out God’s perspective. It’s because of those moments, year after year, that I came to love Jesus so much and came to value Him.”
“If I could have killed myself, I would have,” Nichols says, “and He’s saying to hope in Him. It’s not just words on a page, but it’s alive and I’m living off this Word “Every moment was a desperate moment. Every moment,” she says. “I was very aware of the pain of all of that’s giving me His peace, His perspective, His joy, His power, His life. It was His grace, moment by moment, it, and I remember screaming like an animal night and day. I would often live on baseboards and floors and go in making up for my lack. The Holy Spirit would fill me up and speak the Word of God to me that God’s power was the closet and shut myself in, thinking that would spare accomplished in my weakness. my family.”
get a wheelchair; she was simply too weak to get around. The marriage took longer to deteriorate, ending in 2000. She saw at least 60 doctors over the next five years, receiving more than 20 diagnoses—everything from fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis to lupus and chronic fatigue syndrome. When one doctor wrongly asserted psychosomatic causes, Nichols’ health insurance company canceled her coverage, forcing her to pay out of pocket. This caused her evangelist father to become bivocational, adding cattle brokering, which he now does full-time. With the added help of friends, her husband’s income, and her large extended family, Nichols was able to pay the nearly $800,000 her treatment has required over the years. Also, her mother sold her preschool-daycare to take care of her. “It took a village,” Nichols says. “I’m just very, very grateful.” Confined to bed, Nichols had to be carried around the house, bathed and fed, leaving only for doctor visits. At one point, she was administered massive doses of steroids that turned out to be the worst possible thing for someone in her condition, she would learn much later. It further suppressed her immune system, causing the yet unspecified disease to run rampant. It affected her brain so adversely, she says it felt like she was being burned alive or electrocuted. Confident the next doctor’s appointment would yield a cure, Nichols told the Lord that if He would just get her to that date, He’d be doing the greatest thing. She did make it, but no cure came. The years passed by—all with intense physical and mental suffering—descending into what she called a form of dementia, leaving her unable to speak in sentences or look anyone in the eye, though she retained full awareness.
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“I got mad, I got angry, I cried, I got depressed,” she says. “Especially in the early years I moped—what I put my family through.” She says that Job 17:11 thoroughly encapsulated how she felt for a long time: “My days have passed, my plans are shattered, and so are the desires of my heart.” Unlike Job, however, she did not wish she had never been born. Instead, she longed to die, causing her family to hide anything she could use to hurt herself.
Promises, promises
Satan was also active, she says, trying to take advantage of her compromised mental state. One of the ways he used to keep her depressed was the lie that God does not work through hardship—that instead, God’s way is to remove hardship.
“Every moment was a desperate moment. Every moment. I was very aware of the pain of all of it. I would often live on baseboards and floors and go in the closet and shut myself in, thinking that would spare my family.”
Nichols had sought the Lord throughout her ordeal and He gave her many promises; His timetable, however, never coincided with hers. Back at Baylor, she had spent weeks praying when she got her answer from the book of Zephaniah.
“I remember being on my bed, and the bed was soaked with tears,” Nichols says, “and He answered through Zephaniah 3, 19, and 20. He said, ‘I will undo all that afflicts thee; I will gather her that was driven out; I will bring you home at that time that I gather you.’” I got so excited; I went and told all my professors, ‘God is going to give this back. Let’s just hang on here and sit tight a little while.’ But the disease kept progressing.” In her dementia, she lost all memories—even how to
(Above) Natalie before her illness during the Miss Texas pageant. (Below) Natalie in San Diego after receiving her first live cell injections.
“I realized later I had bought a lie that robbed me of peace, spiritual contentment, and growth,” Nichols says. “Paul said, ‘In all things we are conquerors.’” As her physical and spiritual struggle continued, so did the agony of seeing her life coming to nothing. As much as anything else, this was a big source of her complaints to God. “I wanted so much for my life, and I could see it vanishing,” she says. “The longer I stayed sick, the more my dreams were dying.”
Mystery solved Finally, in 1996, she received the correct diagnosis— late-stage Lyme disease—a bacterial infection stemming from a mere tick bite. It is only curable within the first month, according to Nichols. Once it becomes advanced, it likely becomes permanent, especially when steroids are administered. Every organ system is affected, including the brain. Thus, from 1996 to 1998, Nichols took antibiotics intravenously, orally and via injection as well as a host of alternative therapies.
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Taking all the treatments America had to offer for Lyme disease, Nichols suffered from her dementia—without improvement—for another year. Three doctors met and concluded that she likely would not live. Even if she lived, they said, she would remain in her “vegetative state.” “But,” Nichols says, “I had God’s Word to revive me and give me hope.” Year after year, Nichols says she was growing deeper in the Lord, while more of her was being burned away and she was gradually acquiescing to His will. Through Psalm 62, God spoke to her again. “He was telling me, ‘You’re not waiting on the doctor, a cure, a spouse, a husband. Your expectation is on me alone.’ I was looking to doctors, to man, looking horizontally. As deep as I was growing spiritually, I was just looking for relief. He was saying, ‘Natalie, I’m your rock and fortress, let Me be your rock and fortress.’ He was saying, I don’t have to fret about how to get out of this. ‘I see the end of this. Natalie, I have infused you with the life of Christ. There’s no I can’t. Let Me be the continued on page 13
Manna Confidential Editor’s note: This column is intended only for married individuals.
“Be Strong and Take Heart and Wait for the Lord” continued from page 11
But because of the wonderful grace of God—say it with me now, church—I don’t have to stay that way.
Turn to your neighbor and say, I.am.clueless. What are the most common sex mistakes in marriage? Amen. Mrs. Happy sheepishly Mrs. Happy admits that she watched a few R-rated movies in the past, though she will no longer watch films of any rating that have significant sexual content. Anywaaaay…back in the day, Mr. and Mrs. Happy would be watching a movie together, and there would be the inevitable sex scene. Mrs. Happy would watch incredulously as a man and woman flailed away in simulated sex. “That doesn’t work!” she’d exclaim to Mr. Happy. And sure enough, the depictions of sex she saw onscreen were almost guaranteed not to be satisfying to the woman. The position wasn’t right, the angle was off, the speed wasn’t gonna get her there…well. It is no surprise to Mrs. Happy that the vast majority of film directors are men. And clearly, like much of the rest of humanity, they don’t know what they’re doing when it comes to sex. Mr. and Mrs. Happy entered into marriage utterly clueless, so they can relate. But they didn’t stay that way. They experimented, practiced, and listened to each other. They even prayed. Slowly but surely, they developed skills. Sex became easy most of the time. But Mrs. Happy has observed that many couples remain clueless, because they never went through that period of active and cooperative learning. And she knows why, in most cases: They participated in sexual immorality before they got married. Is it really surprising that sexual relationships forged in back seats and in secrecy—hurried couplings in dorm rooms and on couches and who knows where else—do not lead to satisfying sex in marriage? What they do, however, is build bad sexual habits, because undue haste and a lack of communication are the enemies of satisfaction in sex. So, if your sexual relationship with your spouse isn’t what you hoped it would be, admit it—you’re clueless. There’s no shame in that. Men and women are really different, and they have to undertake to learn how to please each other. Even at Mr. and Mrs. Happy’s advanced ages, they are still learning a few new things. So say it together with me: I.am.clueless.
The 11 Most Common Sex Mistakes, in Semi-Random Order: 1. Having intercourse before the woman is fully aroused. There couldn’t be a bigger mistake concerning technique, yet this happens all the time. It’s obvious when a man is fully aroused and ready for intercourse; it isn’t so obvious for a woman. Take careful note, however: Your wife is not ready for intercourse before that point and will find it difficult if not impossible to reach climax before the man ejaculates. Mrs. Happy has occasionally observed the forlorn jar of Vaseline on a couple’s nightstand, and she knows what it likely means: The couple is in the habit of having intercourse before the woman’s body is ready, and therefore they must use a lubricant for penetration.
Does Aaron Rodgers throw the ball to the same place every time on first down? Dude, you’re gonna have to learn your wife’s playbook. Helpful hint: If the woman is fully aroused, she most likely won’t need a lubricant, and if she does, she will probably need only a tiny amount. Certain physiological changes take place in a woman’s body when she is fully aroused, meaning she is on the verge of climax and simply needs to be pushed over the edge by her husband in whatever way she finds most pleasing. Her vagina elongates, allowing room for the man so intercourse isn’t painful. Also, she produces her body’s own lubrication, which is way, way better than anything you can buy from a shelf. Much of the time, foreplay is necessary before a woman is ready for intercourse. Brothers, use your hands or any other part of your body to stimulate her—or allow her to stimulate herself. Or both. Be gentle—you’re stronger than you think, and every woman enjoys being touched
in a certain unique way you’ll just have to figure out, with her help—and if necessary, bring her to climax before intercourse so she can learn the signs that her body is ready for penetration. (She’ll be fine with intercourse afterward, trust me.) The good thing is, the more often she reaches climax during sex, the easier it gets for her, because she anticipates a happy ending. And when she anticipates a happy ending, her body can become aroused with relatively little foreplay, opening up new possibilities. 2. Rushing right to intercourse. Do you start a good meal with dessert? See above. Using gobs of lubricant and immediately initiating intercourse—what Mrs. Happy calls a “cold start”— hardly ever works for the woman. Sure, she might get aroused eventually, but usually within moments the man has finished, leaving her frustrated and unsatisfied. 3. Starting with the missionary position and persisting in it even when it doesn’t work for your wife. Snap quiz: Do you know anyone who didn’t have intercourse in the missionary position the first time when they got married? (And probably in many frustrating attempts afterward.) Yeah. That’s what I thought. Married couples work this position to death, even though it is probably the toughest position for a man in terms of delaying ejaculation until his wife has reached climax. Brothers, brothers…if it isn’t working for your wife, try something else, OK? Does Aaron Rodgers throw the ball to the same place every time on first down? Dude, you’re gonna have to learn your wife’s playbook. (And no quarterback sneaks, Mr. Smarty-pants.) And, chances are, she doesn’t even know it yourself, so you’re gonna have to learn together. (Which, by the way, is awesome.) This being a family newspaper, and Mrs. Happy being the model of decorum, decency, propriety and all, we cannot go much deeper into the various alternative positions that produce happy results for all parties much more easily and consistently. So you’ll have to use your imagination for now, at least until Mrs. Happy’s book comes out. And just so ya know, Mrs. Happy believes there are only three or four positions that actually work, with slight variations thereof, unless you are an acrobat, gymnast, or contortionist (none of which describes Mrs. Happy). So Mrs. Happy’s playbook is actually quite brief. But, y’know, it works. Everybody ends up happy, which, by the way, is how Mrs. Happy got her name. continued on page 25
July 2012 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • Page 12
those years of suffering, why He delayed fulfillment of His “It became my sustenance day in and day out. I wanted to promise. In our Westernized American culture, we put give up, but He kept filling me with his hope.” all our stock in health and prosperity, and we have so Then, about a year later, it happened: Nichols unconditionally surrendered her plight to God. That was relegated any hardship to being second-rate.” the turning point. impenetrable force.’
In December 2003, Nichols walked the graduation line at Baylor, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in music education. Today, Nichols, 41, lives in Nacogdoches, as does her oldest brother. She maintains an active schedule on behalf of her ministry, Natalie speaking of her experiences on the Alfa and Omega TV progam Shades of Grace. Together Just four to eight weeks later came the start of her with her mother, she helps deliverance. Talking about Nichols’ condition while attending a seminar, her husband heard about a treatment her audiences apply Scripture to every circumstance. Christ,” she says. “I had to have His thoughts. I had to available in Mexico called live cell therapy—injection of have His strength. I had to have His abilities, His peace, Nichols says she accepted Jesus as her Savior early in life live cells from shark embryos. His joy. If it wasn’t there, I didn’t have it. So it caused me and served Him in high school and college, but she never to experience Jesus in such a greater way than I ever could grasped how much she could love Him and His Word. She began treatment in 1998 and her restoration came imagine. It caused me to love Him and to love His Word very slowly and incrementally. At first, she had brief so much more than I ever could have imagined.” “There’s a big difference between having Christ’s Spirit moments where she could think, smile, and read. Most living in us and Him living for Too often, Christians view success in terms of important, her mental us,” she says. “One thing I miss accomplishments, even done for God. Nichols says that agony began subsiding. about having my autonomy Her ability to walk was the way she subconsciously thought. She learned that back is that I can go the whole the truth is not found there at all. and her stamina also day without depending on gradually increased over Him. I didn’t have that choice the years. “When I no longer had any ability to do anything, not then, so I can miss God now. even to feed myself, God gave me His perspective of “My grace is I can miss the sweetest, most my suffering. He showed me what an eternal work it sufficient for you” valuable treasure. Everything was doing in me, so who cares what I do on this earth? Today, Nichols is still about me was crucified and His Knowing Jesus, nothing compares to that.” • receiving monthly live life replacing my life was the cell injections and takes greatest miracle I could ever Natalie Nichols is the founder and president of Shades of Grace a regimen of vitamin know on this earth. Ministries, where she shares God’s comfort for life’s trials. See supplements. She www.shadesofgrace.org for more information. doesn’t understand why “We have it backwards. We God chose the gradual think that success, being able to Chuck Goldberg has a degree in journalism and a Master of approach to restore her have a certain house, a certain Divinity in Christian education. A former newspaper reporter but is fully on board car, do certain things, that that and magazine managing editor, he is now an ordained is success. And in reality, it is because she knows minister and freelance writer-editor. He and his wife Dolly God had a higher purpose. She embraces 2 Corinthians really empty. Jesus is the only thing that can completely, have three children and live in Layton, Utah. 12, where the Apostle Paul speaks of how God’s grace is totally fill us and fulfill us.” sufficient and that he will boast in his weaknesses. Nichols says the story of her life is clearly stated in Psalm “Whatever His reasons were, I’m just glad He took His 119:71–72—“It was good for me to be afflicted so that time,” she says. “That’s why I like fasting so much, because I might learn your decrees. The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver it’s a way to crucify the flesh. We’ve raised everything else above Him—healing, prosperity. We define blessing and gold.” according to temporal examples, but there are eternal blessings that count more. The biggest miracle to me was “I was so full of depression and horrible brain chemistry the life of Jesus living for me. That’s why I’m so grateful for that I had to have His mind. I had to have the mind of “Finally, finally, finally, God brought me to a place of contentment where I just let go,” she says. “I got it. I really got it. That’s when I finally relinquished everything in my life. I just said, ‘You know what? This thing of knowing you is so much more valuable than being able to play the piano, or being healthy, feeling great, having a great, happy mind. Knowing you is so much better. Everything else is worthless.’”
In her dementia, she lost all memories—even how to read music, which she had learned before she knew how to read—yet she never lost the Scriptures she had memorized years ago.
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The Remnant Reinhard Bonnke’s Sea of Humanity The photos have a monotonous consistency—homely but functional platform, enormous speakers, towering lights—all facing a sea of brown-skinned humanity as far as the eye and camera can see. I’d seen these photos of Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke’s African crusades before, but they didn’t register as the unbelievable, historic phenomenon they really are until I heard Bonnke speak in a rare stateside appearance in May.
I have been a professional journalist for more than 25 years, with the great majority of my experience in secular media as a reporter, columnist, and newspaper editor. I am stunned not just because of the sea of humanity—I know that’s a cliché, but if it ever had a specific, concrete meaning, this is it—but because I have read so very little about it in American media. History is being made. Millions of souls are coming to Christ on a continent that has only experienced a few generations of Christianity, and the first couple rounds were brought by white men and women who in many cases imposed their culture and their racist colonial ideals as well as their religion. This says one thing: We are witnessing an undeniable move of God, unprecedented in the annals of Christianity.
a dying man…the gospel is the medicine to a sin-sick world. Go into all the world to preach the gospel.” That is exactly what this man does. What do you preach on Sunday? —Julie Lyons
The Cover Jinx
There is a legend about Sports Illustrated, the muchrespected weekly sports magazine, that says whoever The slideshow staged by Bonnke’s Christ for All Nations gets featured on its cover is destined to fall from glory ministry hit me all of a sudden—along with the mindto shame. The supposed SI cover jinx is well known in boggling numbers accompanying the photos: 540,000 American sports, and Emmitt Smith was so wary of it salvations in Monrovia, Liberia; 429,255 salvations in that he adamantly wanted off the cover before Super Bowl Why haven’t you read about it? I’ll be blunt with you. I Ouagadougou, Burkina have decades of experience XXVIII, after the 1993 NFL season. Smith made the Faso—and those are actually cover anyway, and the Dallas Cowboys went on to win in media to back it up, some of the smaller figures, that game. Research has shown, in fact, that the jinx is along with great respect noted in CFaN’s latest for my many secular peers little more than urban myth. (Though try telling that to newsletter. I jotted down Nomar Garciaparra, Jay Cutler, Jimmer Fredette…) But who carry on their work one statistic in my notes: let me inform you about a “jinx” that really does exist. with integrity and skill. 1.4 million people in Port (In other words, I’m not Harcourt, Nigeria, a city It is well-known among Dallas media that if you put a inclined to take cheap I have visited before. This black person on the cover of your general-circulation shots.) number represents not newspaper or magazine, not as many readers pick it up. attendees of the crusade, • Africa doesn’t matter spanning several days, but Some publications—like the paper I edited for nearly 12 much to American those who filled out decision readers. The significance years, the Dallas Observer—recognize this fact but have cards, which are passed on to of anything that happens chosen to ignore it; they put on the cover whoever they local pastors for follow-up. want to put on the cover and deem newsworthy, thank in Africa is discounted. you very much. Sorry, folks, we’re That sea of humanity prejudiced in ways we in many cases exceeds Believe it or not, we at MannaEXPRESS have observed fail to see. We place 1,000,000 souls, especially this cover dynamic as well, even though we probably greater value on palein Nigeria, where the have the most diverse staff, coverage, and readership in skinned souls. German-born Bonnke is American Christian media. • These are Christian revered as a great man crusades, and disdain of God. And you know what? We have taken our stand as well: for Christianity is the Reinhard Bonnke at one of his crusades in Africa. We will decide what is on the cover, and that is that. This acceptable bigotry in Now just let that sink in month it is incredible Bible teacher Dr. Myles Munroe, American media. for a moment. One million men and women, gathered who is a brown-skinned Bahamian national. If you • We get all gooey-eyed when we hear about poor in one day in one place to hear the good news of Jesus haven’t heard him before, snatch up one of his books or children who get saved or fed or schooled, but we Christ preached by a simple gospel preacher, followed by recordings on leadership, prayer, or Kingdom principles don’t care as much about the adults who are on their verified healing miracles and hundreds of thousands of and be enlightened. way to hell. commitments for Jesus Christ. • Bonnke is a simple (but exceptionally skillful) gospel I, for one, couldn’t care less what the marketers and preacher. He isn’t gonna wow you with depth, This, by the way, has been going on for several years. business minds have to say about our cover choice, one of profundity, novelty, and controversy. As if it matters many brown-skinned believers we’ve featured. If anyone to God. “We are after souls,” Bonnke said in his soft German in media should have the guts to stand behind what’s accent on May 19, when he and his partner in ministry, right and ignore the rest, it should be Christians. I’m “The gospel must be preached crystal clear,” Bonnke Evangelist Daniel Kolenda, visited Dallas for a prayer told the few hundred privileged enough to hear him and proud that MannaEXPRESS publisher May Olusola had breakfast of CFaN supporters. “I want hell empty and an opportunity to talk to Munroe. Kolenda in person in Dallas. “An unpreached gospel heaven full.” is like no gospel. It is like a bottle of medicine next to continued on page 24 July 2012 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • Page 14
GOD’S NOT DEAD TOUR • JULY 27, 2012 • ALLEN EVENT CENTER, ALLEN, TX Page 15 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • July 2012
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T. D. Jakes: 35 Years in Ministry B
ishop Thomas Dexter Jakes, senior pastor of the 30,000-member The Potter’s House Church in Dallas, knew his family and church members were planning something to mark the anniversary of his 35 years in ministry. He had no idea about their relentless determination to make it a night he will never forget. Strategically themed “A Triumphant Journey,” the main focus of the event was to salute and tell the story of Bishop Jakes’ remarkable career in ministry spanning more than three decades. Starting at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 8, 2012, Christian leaders, dignitaries, celebrities,
church members, and well-wishers from different parts of the world began gathering at the AT&T Winspear Opera House in downtown Dallas to celebrate the man who has impacted their lives in one way or the other.
from Jordin Sparks, Ledisi, BeBe Winans, Pastor Shirley Caesar, Fred Hammond, Israel Houghton, Karen Clark Sheard, Kelly Price, Kirk Whalum, Chaka Khan, and more made the night one to write home about.
By the time the black-tie festivities kicked off at 7 p.m., a cavalcade of surprises also kicked off for Bishop Jakes. Playwright and actor Tyler Perry and CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien hosted the evening with a surprise appearance by entertainment guru Oprah Winfrey and tributes from many celebrities. Music performances
“I have been blown away; I love God and have always loved people; your presence here tonight says you love me back. It’s hard to overwhelm me, but you’ve done it this time!” an emotional and undeniably shocked Bishop Jakes said as he took the stage to a standing ovation from the crowd of well-wishers. Photos by Kevin Dukes
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July 2012 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • Page 18
Pixar’s Joan of Arc: F
rom its posters and advertising, Brave, directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman, gives off a Joan of Arc impression in the way that the heroine must undergo physical, dark MANNA GROOVE challenges and face her by Trevor Main worst fears to achieve a certain goal. Even though the idea of physical struggle is a part of this story, if you go into the theater expecting this to be what the movie is really about, you’ll walk out confused and perhaps uninterested. But make no mistake, Brave has a message significant to every human being who’s ever lived.
Brave deconstructs girl power
thing to begin with. False hope cannot last. It’s in those moments that God refills us with a new hope we never knew before but can never experience until we let go of the old, hence a crisis. Whatever is now called a catastrophe will one day be recalled as an adventure in the presence of the living God.
simple yet far from easy. We can gain unity by seeking to understand one another. But to do so requires suffering and pain. It requires a moment of crisis. Many people think of struggle, battle, or stress when they think of crisis. Brave suggests a new definition: A crisis in one’s life is the complete loss of hope. Without a crisis point in life, our words are simply words. Just like when Brave would not have been the same movie if it had not Merida was trying to fix the tapestry: Her goal was not been set in the Celtic era. It gives the film a sense of raw, to fix the problem but merely to evade inconvenience. earthy pride reminiscent of Braveheart and Highlander. The It is only at the very end when she has lost all hope that first sequence of Merida as an adult captures the primal aura Elinor is restored, along with their relationship. of freedom and sets up the film as a story of Scottish lore. But the most frustrating point for analytical thinkers Brave has all the iconic Pixar traits of humor and is that even though we are aware that we need a crisis creativity, but cleverness isn’t this movie’s strong suit, nor point, we can’t make it happen ourselves. So in a way, subtlety, seeing how it uses two scenes of rear nudity to the before-the-second-sunrise deadline was not so induce chuckles. But what it lacks in creative humor it much a point of no return but a point at which Elinor makes up for in the depth of its message. could be returned, because at no other time would The film breaks a lot of new ground for Pixar. Not Merida truly believe she had lost her. only is it the first of their movies that stars a female You will notice some all-too-familiar themes in this film, protagonist, it is also the first of their stories in which such as being forced to marry out of duty and obligation It is here that one finds the true meaning of the magic is introduced—in contrast to Toy Story, for rather than love; wanting to remain single and free; movie’s title. In relationships each of us must be brave example, where the characters’ life-like qualities aren’t and a character being transformed into an animal by a to endure the suffering required to understand each owed to a particular phenomenon. curse and learning some important lesson thereby. This another. Without suffering, mankind couldn’t survive, movie presents these themes in a fresh way by involving for we would all die at the hands of each other’s selfish Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) is the princess of characters you wouldn’t expect. Most stories that have hearts as was once the path of Elinor and Merida. one of four united Scottish clans. According to their bestial transformations involve romantic relationships, creed, she must marry the winner of the competition like Lady Hawk and Beauty and the Beast. But there is no adagascar 3, featuring the voices of Ben Stiller, for which they’ve all gathered. But Merida’s free spirit romance in Brave, and it becomes clear that none of these Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, and Jada Pinkett causes a rift between her and her mother Elinor (voiced familiar themes is what the story is really about anyway. Smith, is a movie for the little ones with little effort by Emma Thompson). Relying on a spell to make her made to reach out to older audiences. With talking The movie digresses to the popular plot point of two animals running amuck in Monte Carlo, monkeys mother change her mind about making her marry, people forced being together in an extraordinary going incognito as humans, and lions trapezing with jet Merida accidentally turns her mother into a bear, and the clock is ticking to the second sunrise, when the circumstance, and through the experience they come to packs over pools of cobras, it’s safe to say this movie is spell becomes permanent. understand one another. This dead horse has been kicked unpredictable if nothing else. one too many times in movies such as Avatar and The Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria begin in Africa, Hope is a funny thing. There is never a tangible Last Samurai. Instead of conflicting countries or armies, where the second movie left us. They miss their home reason to have it, and yet without it, the quality of however, the conflict is domestic between mother and in the zoo, and the penguins and monkeys fly off in life dramatically dwindles. In this movie, hope is daughter, but again, this movie doesn’t stop there. their airship to gamble in Europe. Instead of waiting illustrated in two different stages. The first is when for them to come back, the four beasts decide to travel Merida thinks she’s cracked the riddle that will reverse The core message begins to unfurl when the solution to Europe to meet them. But when their ship breaks to Elinor’s plight presents itself through the mending the spell put on her mother. She believes the riddle down, they have to hide out in a traveling circus bound of the tapestry. But physical solutions are too easy. Any refers to her mother’s tapestry, a sewn wall portrait of problem between two people is relational, and no amount for New York while policewoman DuBois (Frances the royal family that Elinor stitched before she turned McDormand) tracks them with the intention of killing of muscle, hacking and slashing, or sewing can repair into a bear. But this hope is misplaced in something them and mounting them on her wall. that technically fits all the clues but has no chance in intangible problems. In the movie, mending the torn eternity. The tapestry is only a shadow, a representation tapestry illustrates that which you and I intellectually Unlike Pixar’s films, Madagascar 3 lacks subtle humor of the real deal—the thing that is eternal, which is the know to be true about our neighbors, our spouses, our and decides to go straight for the slapstick approach God. What we say about our Father means little, if relationship between the two women. anything at all. But believing that which we know requires with absurd situations and manufactured danger. The first half-hour or so is unimpressive. The pacing True hope is something pure and cannot die. Losing a brokenness of spirit rather than cloth. feels awkward and forced. The animals are in Africa hope is often a good thing, because whenever hope Likewise, the quest for unity in the body of Christ is is lost, it’s a sign that we were hoping in the wrong continued on page 24
M
Page 19 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • July 2012
Learning to Live Well O
ur culture is afraid to face death because it has never beheld the only One who defeated death. Our lives are shaped by our focus. Which simply means, what we behold we become. Our culture has GODLY MAN yet to behold the One who by Hank Lamb conquered death. That’s why we’re so afraid of it and have perversely become obsessed with it. The culture of death is so prevalent in our society—just look at TV shows like CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, and so many others that have a voyeuristic obsession with corpses, and the myriad ways by which a person can be killed or die (like 1001 Ways to Die, a warped show on Spike TV), with a voracious appetite in forensics, motive, means, and so forth. The Bible gives us a solid foundation and perspective on life and death in Psalm 90:12 when it says, “So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.”
coming death that I can become authentically alive.”
who defeated death.” What you behold you become.
If you knew that tomorrow night at 10 p.m. you were going to die, what would you do? If you knew that tomorrow was the last day of your life, what would you do? How would you spend that day?
As the author of Hebrews so eloquently put it, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (12:2, NIV). •
Kristin Armstrong was married to the seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. After their very public and contentious divorce, she wrote a book called Happily Ever After. She wrote it to help women recover from the trauma of divorce. In one entry she addresses our subject. She writes: “If I knew tomorrow was the last day of my life, I would get up early. I would make coffee and have my prayer time before the kids woke up. I would praise God for all the days He gave me. I would snuggle my children and make pancakes for breakfast in the midst of noise and chaos in my kitchen. I would pack lunches, braid hair, find shoes, brush teeth, and hand out backpacks. I’d probably drive to school in my pajamas.”
If you knew that tomorrow was the last day of your life, what would you do? How would you spend that day?
How old are you? Your answer is relative! If we knew the “number of our days,” we could then accurately answer how old we are. For example, I’m 52. My father died at the age of 55. If I follow in his footsteps and die at the same age, then right now, I’m very old. I’ve got less than three years to live!
The undeniable fact is we will all one day die. What should we think of that, and how should we prepare ourselves? And how could we help someone else die if we haven’t spent time considering our own mortality?
She continues, “I’d pray a blessing over my children in the car and kiss everyone. After I was alone, I’d go running. I’d feel my lungs and legs burn and notice the way the sunlight filters through the trees along Town Lake. I would try to meet a girlfriend for coffee. I would call my parents and my brother to say, ‘Hi, how are you? I love you.’”
And then Kristin concludes, “In other words, on my final day, I would do the same exact things I do every day. I would live the life I am living right now. If I had to choose, I’d choose what I have.” That’s the testimony of someone who realizes their days are numbered, and they have subsequently learned to live wisely and well.
The Message Bible’s paraphrase of Psalms 90:12 is spot-on regarding this point: “Oh! Teach us to live well! Teach us If you’re afraid or unwilling to talk about death, to to live wisely and well!” consider your death, then I’m certain you have yet to fully live. My point is, in order to live well you must come to When we have properly contemplated our own mortality grips with your death. and patiently considered the brevity of our lives—then we will learn wisdom. We will learn to “live wisely and well!” In his helpful book The Art of Dying Well: Living Fully Into the Life to Come, Rob Moll writes, “Death deserves our While dying well is often a matter of living well, to live attention in life. Because we instinctively want to avoid it, well we must come to grips with our death. It’s difficult, to turn our face away: It is good to look death in the eye but it can also be invigorating. One preacher concluded, and constantly remind ourselves that our hope is in God, “It is only by facing and accepting the reality of my
Hank Lamb is senior pastor of Central Christian Church in Richardson.
Rats to Riches
continued from page 9 laid out by which He wants to take care of you. Even though you are in the world, you should not be of the world system. So I have been trying to adjust people’s priories and adjust their sense of security from earthly supply to heavenly supply. That is not some super-spiritual, impractical advice. I am talking about principles on earth that God placed here for us to prosper through. We need to learn those principles. For example, the most important principle we need to learn is that God does not want us to own anything, but He wants us to have access to everything. Access is freedom from stress. God wants to supply your needs from a place you never expected, through people you never knew, in ways you never thought, but first you have to believe that it is possible. Once you understand that His ability to meet your needs is bigger than your job or your business, you will find that your source of life is bigger than the resources that you have been accumulating. I encourage people at this time, do not put your faith in any preacher, in any human system, but put your faith and trust in the Living God. I am convinced that God Himself is tampering with the economic system of the world to reduce us back to Him. Until God becomes your only hope, you can never have security. So, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths [Proverbs 3:5–6].” • For more information on Myles Munroe, visit his website at www.mylesmunroeinternational.com.
July 2012 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • Page 20
Dismantling America’s Religious Racism T
he election of a black leader for the Southern Baptist Convention is a huge step forward. But we still have a long way to go. In the early 1960s, when I was too young FIRE IN MY BONES to understand the by J. Lee Grady turmoil of the Civil Rights era, some men in our Southern Baptist congregation in Montgomery, Alabama, asked my dad to stand outside our church with a baseball bat on a Sunday morning in case blacks showed up to protest. Thankfully, my father refused. Later, a Southern Baptist relative sat me down and tried to explain the turbulence. She said sternly: “Lee, the white people have their church and the black people have their church, and that’s the way the Lord wants it.” I remember feeling an alarm bell go off inside me when I heard those words, even though I was too young to understand this grown-up subject of racism. Even a kindergartner knows God doesn’t divide people. Maybe I learned that truth from a song we sang in my Baptist church. It said: “Jesus loves the little children/ All the children of the world/ Red and yellow, black and white/ They are precious in His sight.” Fast-forward to June 19, 2012, when delegates at the Southern Baptist Convention’s meeting in New Orleans voted to end their racist past by electing their first black president. The choice of 55-year-old Fred Luter, Jr., pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, was even more historic because it occurred on “Juneteenth,” the day some AfricanAmericans celebrate the end of slavery in America. That was no coincidence. What happened this week in New Orleans is extraordinary. After all, the Southern Baptist Convention was formed in 1845 because Baptists in the South defended slavery and objected to Northern abolition movements. In 1995 the SBC publicly repented for defending slavery and segregation, but the selection of a black president this week surely puts the nail in the coffin of Baptist racism. A spiritual stronghold is being torn down before our eyes.
Luter, whose church was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and then was rebuilt, told Southern Baptist delegates: “My election is a genuine, authentic move by this convention to show our doors are open to all. For years we’ve been talking about racial reconciliation. Now we’re putting our money where our mouth is.” I know many people are pooh-poohing this week’s vote or scoffing at the fact that it took 167 years for Southern Baptists to take this stand. But before we accuse our Baptist brothers of foot-dragging or symbolic posturing, let’s examine our hearts and make sure we don’t have logs of prejudice in our own eyes. Racism is not just a Baptist problem. It’s time for every sector of the American church to ask some hard questions:
When our generation gives an account to God for the way we handled our racial tensions, we will not be able to blame it on Mr. Obama. God wants His church to lead the way in transforming society. 1. Why are so many predominantly white congregations opposed to black leadership? In many charismatic and Pentecostal groups today, black leaders are the rare exception. And because of the divisive political issues triggered by the election of President Obama, racial walls in the church have been reinforced rather than weakened during the past four years. When our generation gives an account to God for the way we handled our racial tensions, we will not be able to blame it on Mr. Obama. God wants His church to lead the way in transforming society. 2. Why do black churches still maintain an exclusive black identity? Many younger Christians today are asking the forbidden question: Why do we have to
Page 21 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • July 2012
have black churches, white churches, or Hispanic churches? Isn’t it time to dismantle the systems that have kept us apart? Might it be possible, for example, for the Church of God in Christ to merge with a predominantly white denomination like the Assemblies of God in order to dramatically demolish our divisions? I won’t hold my breath for that to happen. But I suspect that by the time my grandchildren are grown, the idea of an all-black or all-white church will seem bizarre. 3. Why do so many churches neglect the needs of immigrants? Our nation’s demographics are changing rapidly, but many churches cling to their racial and ethnic identity because of fear while ignoring foreigners who need Christ’s love. Yet Jesus actually had strong words for religious people who ignored strangers (see Matthew 25:31–46). I believe He is waiting for us to renounce our insensitive demands to “make them all speak English” so that we can begin to demonstrate true compassion to people who are seeking freedom and opportunity within our borders. Although I’m no longer a Southern Baptist, I’m dancing for joy over what happened in New Orleans. I just hope it is more than a momentary victory. I pray this historic breakthrough will inspire every one of us to bury all forms of religious segregation once and for all. • J. Lee Grady is contributing editor of Charisma magazine. You can learn more about his ministry at themordecaiproject.org. This article is reprinted by permission from Charisma magazine online.
Unbusy W
e live in a hypertechnological society, bombarded constantly with opportunities to “connect” with “friends” with tweets and status updates and comments and likes and YouTube videos. There’s grace and grit always more to skim, by Sharifa Stevens post, and respond to. God help you if you have a smartphone alerting you in real time to the email you just received.
Manna FUN! by strategically abandoning diversion in order to be present in actively seeking God’s movement. “Unbusies” break the insidious codes of the culture that demand that every moment be preoccupied, and resist the urge to pull out a phone or iPad in the pauses of the day. In a society blinded by trivial amusement and zombie-like distraction, Unbusy people can see the real brokenness and hope and beauty and challenge. They see God at work. They work where he’s working.
Bad Bob! continued from the last issue
We don’t have to be Old Testament prophets to have super-sight, but we do need to be awake and aware. We unwittingly boost the enemy’s ability to surround and ambush when we miss the depth of life simply by failing to look up and around. We drain our time with frivolity I want the eyes of Elisha in 2 Kings 6:9-17. Do you know (don’t you just feel when you’ve crossed the line of healthy the story? Elisha the prophet forewarns the king of Israel amusement into the anesthetic use of social media, the Internet, or TV?). The dull buzz of entertainment and about where his enemies, the Arameans, plan to mount information droning out the trials of life (which build an ambush. The people of Israel give the Arameans the character) numb us into passive, preoccupied people slip time after time, so much so that the King of Aram (when we ought to persevere…and pray). We’re not suspects there’s a mole in his ranks. When the king necessarily busy, but we’re not available either. discovers Elisha is the root of his problems, he and his army surround the town This is not Unbusy. It’s just a of Dothan, where Elisha’s blind waste. staying. This is the sight that greets Elisha’s fearJesus is the hero of the stricken assistant (probably Unbusy Movement. Too representing the rest of us) many times, my eyes in the morning. “What wander to the insignificant, shall we do?” the assistant the urgent, and the asks. Elisha responds, “Do unimportant. Unbusy not be afraid. Those who people desire to echo with are with us are more than their lives the words of the those who are with them.” author of Hebrews: They The assistant probably fix their eyes on Jesus. He is thinks his boss has gone both the end and the means; senile, but Elisha prays for the inspiration, subject, and his eyes instead. I can only model of how to properly imagine the awe of the sight see. I long to emulate the of celestial chariots, flaming way He allowed the Holy gloriously, reducing Aram’s Spirit to direct His path, army to a dingy foil. through fasting, testing, through silent retreats to the Elisha’s vision is sharper and water; from the wilderness to the mountaintop; from the deeper than anyone else’s in the story, because he could see beyond what was in front of him. (The Aramean army teeming waters to the garden, the Cross, the sky. eventually gets struck blind and led away from Israel He was so…present. Rustling the hair of children. before their sight is restored.) Breaking fresh bread. Fishing. Touching leprous skin, spitting into blinded eyes. Unfurling scrolls and wielding If Elisha were here, I think he’d be a part of movement whips. Praying a lot. Telling enigmatic stories that only of discernment, a movement to get our eyes back for spiritually tuned-in people could comprehend. good, worthy use. Let’s call it the Unbusy Movement. This counter-cultural campaign would be characterized You know what I miss in this media-saturated din? My eyes. They are strained from iPad and laptop screens and apps and Facebook perusing and TV consumption. They suffer from a lack of depth perception.
Jesus did not spend every moment of his 33 years preaching, healing, and exhorting. He went to a lot more dinner parties than I would expect if I were drawing up the schedule of the Savior of the world.
Copyright 1983 by Jack T. Chick. Reproduced by permission of Chick Publications. Website: www.chick.com.
Jesus focused. He connected. He did not parse out his day into 15-minute power slots. He carved out time to stop on the way to his appointments. You wouldn’t get Jesus’ shushing index finger in your face while he wrote a text message. My family is originally from Jamaica, and though we are fully acculturated into American society, there are still valuable vestiges of the JA culture that remain. An, ahem, alternate view of punctuality, or “Caribbean Time,” is one of those vestiges. Although it’s really annoying at meal times and weddings, Caribbean Time helps me to make sense of Jesus’ flexibility. If Jesus mercilessly kept a schedule, then Mark 5—the entire chapter—would not have happened. A demon-possessed man would continue to be the tormented living dead; a woman with 12 years of blood issues would remain an anemic outcast; and a little girl would die. Jesus was just trying to ferry across some water, after all. Whatever his agenda, Jesus unbusied himself so he could reach his ultimate goal. There were many pressing in on him, day by day, but he reserved his time so that each word and deed answered a single question: How do I get to glorify the Father today? He was not careless with his time, however. More surprising, Jesus did not spend every moment of his 33 years preaching, healing, and exhorting. He went to a lot more dinner parties than I would expect if I were drawing up the schedule of the Savior of the world. What a relief! Pleasing God doesn’t require looking busy all the time. It requires a hushed and humble discernment, and the daily goal of answering the question: How do I get to glorify the Father today? One day, glorifying God means perseverance through excruciating trial. Another day, it might mean sushi with friends. The way you glorify God is as unique as your fingerprint. continued on page 27
July 2012 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • Page 22
Solution to last issue’s crossword!
The Silent Treatment A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. Suddenly, the man realized that the next day, he would need his wife to wake him at 5 a.m. for an early morning business flight. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper, “Please wake me at 5 a.m.” He left it where he knew she would find it. The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9 a.m. and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife did not wake him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed. The paper said, “It is 5 a.m. Wake up.”
You and Your Bible Crossword Puzzle Across
1. have made themselves an idol ___ in the shape of a calf (Exod 32:8) 5. the oxen, and the ___, and the camels (1 Sam 27:9) 9. spaces (Neh 4:7) 13. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such ___ ___ (1,7) (Acts 8:22) 14. See how the faithful city has become a ___ (Isa 1:21) 15. Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor ____ (Luke 12:24) 16. The king got up in ___ ___ left his wine (1,4) (Est 7:7) 17. Men at ___ have contempt for misfortune (Job 12:5) 18. he that endureth to the ____ shall be saved (Matt 10:22)KJV 19. like a warrior he will ____ up his zeal (Isa 42:13) 20. plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as ___ leads to poverty (Prov 21:5) 21. ____, full of faith and power, did great wonders (Acts 6:8) 23. also learn to maintain good works for necessary ____ (Titus 3:14) 25. A time to get, and a time to ____ (Eccles 3:6) 26. cakes mixed with oil, and wafers ___ with oil (Ex 29:1-3) 29. nor change it, ___ ___ for a bad (1,4) (Lev 27:10) 32. we pray you in Christ’s ____, be ye reconciled to God (2 Cor 5:20) KJV 34. Jesus, walking by the ____ of Galilee, saw two brethren (Matt 4:18) 36. wolves; they ____ not the bones till the morrow (Zeph 3:3) 38. those men, when they had ____ the miracle that Jesus did (John 6:14) 39. he was three days without sight, and neither did ____ nor drink (Acts 9:9) 40. she began to wet his feet with her ___ (Luke 7:38) 43. see that ye love one another with a pure ____ fervently (1 Pet 1:22) KJV 44. death of the righteous, and may my end be like ___ (Num 23:10) 46. appeal, request (2 Chr 6:19) 49. Sallu, ___, Hilkiah and Jedaiah. These were the leaders of the priests (Neh 12:7) 50. Men of Sidon and Arvad were your ___ (Ezek 27:8) 54. Jesus went out beside the lake. A ___ crowd came to him (Mark 2:13) 57. till thou hast paid the very last _____. (Luke 12:59) KJV 58. what King Solomom’s mines produced 59. and Asa destroyed her ____, and burnt it by the brook Kidron (1 King 15:13) 60. banish (1 Chr 6:15)
61. authority to drive out all demons and to ___ diseases (Luke 9:1) 62. that they may know the mystery of God, ___, Christ (Col 2:2) 63. Then he ___ Barabbas to them (Matt 27:26) 64. Noah found favor in the ___ of the LORD (Gen 6:8) 65. and the hold of ___ fowl spirit (Rev 18:2) (KJV) 66. You lie on ___ inlaid with ivory and lounge on your couches (Amos 6:4)
Down 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Cast your ___ on the LORD (Ps 55:22) ___ ___ that will not be moved; its stakes will never (1,4) (Isa 33:20) made it grow up over Jonah to give ___ for his head (Jonah 4:6) the curtain of the temple was torn in two from ___ to bottom (Matt 27:51) I will make thy windows of ___ , and thy gates of carbuncles (Isa 54:12) KJV 6. Demetrius, who made silver ___ of Artemis (Acts 19:24) 7. the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning ___ (Rev 22:16) 8. Tabitha, arise. And ___ opened her eyes (Acts 9:40) 9. Their heart is as fat as ___; but I delight in thy law (Ps 119:70) KJV 10. ____! for that day is great (Jer 30:7) 11. Go, ___ a lookout and have him report what he sees (Isa 21:6) 12. flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of ___ (Job 20:24) KJV 19. your feet ___ with the preparation of the gospel (Eph 6:15) KJV 20. A large ___ of pigs was feeding on the nearby (Mark 5:11-12) 22. he that ploweth should ____ in hope (1 Cor 9:10) KJV 23. but ____ a little wine for thy stomach’s sake (1 Tim 5:23) 24. He ___ on the ground, and made clay of the spittle (John 9:6) KJV 27. before the throne there was what looked like ___ ___ of glass (1,3) (Rev 4:6) 28. the roebuck, and the fallow ____, and the wild goat (Deut 14:5) 29. They shall still bring forth fruit in old ____ (Ps 92:14) 30. You strain out a ___ but swallow a camel (Matt 23:24) 31. knowing that God had sworn with an ____ to him (Acts 2:30) 33. papyrus basket for him and coated it with ____ and pitch (Exodus 2:3) 35. Go to the ____, thou sluggard; consider her ways (Prov 6:6) 37. Roman emperor (54-68 A.D.) 38. thou art as a whale in the ___ (Ezek 32:2) KJV 40. and went into a far country for a long ____ (Luke 20:9) 41. ____, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find (Matt 7:7) KJV
Page 23 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • July 2012
42. for the ___ shall suddenly come upon us (Jer 6:26) KJV 43. The Lord needs it and will send it back ___ shortly (Mark 11:3) 45. They were swifter than ___, they were stronger than lions (2 Sam 1:23) 47. Aquila, born in Pontus, ___ come from Italy (Acts 18:2) KJV 48. The carpenter measures with ___ ___ (1,4) (Isa 44:13) 51. the weasel, and the ____, and the tortoise after his kind (Lev 11:29) 52. for the one who ___ by sinning unintentionally (Num 15:28) 53. Each one is to gather as much as he ____ (Exodus 16:16) 55. thou knowest not what ___ ___ may bring forth (1,3) (Prov 27:1) KJV 56. his appeal to the Emperor I decided to send him to ___ (Acts 25:25) 57. Rescue me from the ___,do not let me sink (Ps 69:14) 60. It is easier for a camel to go through the ____ of a needle (Mark 10:25) 61. and a quarter of a ___ of seed pods for five shekels (II Ki 6:25)
Answers in the next issue!
continued from page 14 By the way, I have my own Myles Munroe leadership story. In late 1995 or early 1996, I heard the Holy Spirit say to me, “Learn all you can about leadership.” I heard about an upcoming Munroe leadership seminar at The Acts Church in Fort Worth and off I went, for three days of excellent instruction on servant leadership. At the end, Munroe prophesied to those who attended that some of them would be elevated to new and unexpected places of leadership within just a few months.
Christ Embassy International, is making major inroads into the United States through television, social media, and conferences. Pastor Chris, as he’s affectionately called by his many devoted followers throughout the world, appeared in the Dallas area last August for what was one of the very few conferences in the U.S. that he’d done up until that point. I attended for all three days, wanting to check out the teachings of this superstar preacher few have heard of here.
recognize something from the ancient past of our faith: Gnosticism. A false, heretical school of belief in the early church—Paul, John, James, and Jude rail against it in the Epistles—that teaches, among other errors, that whatever sins we commit with our mortal bodies have no spiritual significance whatsoever. You can see exactly where that’s headed. It’s a handy excuse for all kinds of sin.
You can read my full report on Pastor Chris, “Miracle I went with a receptive mind, because my friend had a Man,” in the October 2011 issue of MannaEXPRESS, In May 1996, I was very suddenly—and unexpectedly, to relative who’d improved significantly after receiving prayer available online at www.mannaexpressonline.com through from Pastor Chris for some sort of chronic ailment. most people—promoted two levels to editor-in-chief of the list of Most Popular stories. But Pastor Chris is the Dallas Observer. My mentor at the time noted that making a big move into the U.S.—his was one of This was a slow-burn kind of situation. I stayed for the I was one of the youngest and least experienced persons the ministries with a major presence at the National whole conference, listening and observing and taking ever hired for that position, which I held for nearly 12 Religious Broadcasters Convention earlier this year— copious notes. I am not a trained theologian, but I started and I recommend that you check out J. Lee Grady’s years until I stepped down in 2008 to write a book. to pick up on things that didn’t seem to jibe with what recent report on Pastor Chris for Charisma magazine I’d read and studied on my own in the Word of God. For online (see the June 27 Fire in My Bones column My point is, I know who to thank for that promotion: one thing, Pastor Chris would do altar calls but never God. But I appreciate His servant, who has worked titled “False Prophets, Foreign Charlatans and Global mention sin—the impassable gulf that separates you and Deception” at www.charismamag.com). tirelessly to empower some of the least expected people, me from God until we receive Jesus’ blood sacrifice. especially in the Third World. Thank you for being a faithful teacher, Dr. Myles Munroe. You’ve been forewarned. See to it that you don’t fall prey What are you being saved from, after all, if you’re not to deception. —Julie Lyons being saved from sin? —Julie Lyons It took me sitting through hours of teaching to realize what Pastor Chris was really saying: Sin doesn’t matter anymore, because once you make a decision for Jesus Christ, you are an entirely new, immortal spiritual being, and anything you might do in your flesh simply doesn’t count. Think about the implications of that for a I’d heard from a close friend in Africa about the healing moment. miracles that follow the ministry of “Pastor Chris” Oyakhilome, the Nigerian evangelist whose ministry, If you have any knowledge of church history, you might
The Strange Fire of Pastor Chris Oyakhilome
Manna Groove
continued from page 19 at the beginning, and Alex gets the idea to follow the penguins and meet them in Monte Carlo. Then poof— in the next scene they’re in Monte Carlo, ignoring the months it would take to walk there. This first part of the movie just seems like a big excuse to get them to meet the circus animals, where the story finally begins to take shape. Well…almost. After the main characters pretend to be circus animals to join the real circus, you can expect that at some point the real circus folks will discover the lie and lose faith in their faux friends. But this plot unfolds in an awkward moment right after they all put on an extremely successful performance in London. After that show, who cares if Alex and his friends aren’t really circus animals? Yes, they were improvising, but they proved themselves, so it seems silly that the European circus should feel betrayed.
continued from page 12
6. Thinking you can’t talk to your husband or wife about what works and what doesn’t work. Your husband won’t know how to please you if you don’t:
If the missionary position isn’t working for you, give it up till you master bringing your wife to climax by some other means (that doesn’t involve pornography; see below).
1. Experiment with different kinds of touch to see what works for you.
Manna Confidential
The Remnant
The actual performance in London shows real creativity in its visual effects, mixing the psychedelic colors of Star Road from the Mario Kart video game with the disco aura of Saturday Night Fever, if you can imagine such a thing. One theme the movie focuses on, particularly near the end, is the idea of adventure—not the zoo—being the four companions’ true home. They spend so much of their focus on returning to what is comfortable that they don’t see the blessings in the new friends they make or the thrill of the unknown. Many of us Christians tend to strive for the predictable and the comfortable, whether we realize it or not. It’s the epitome of the American Dream: comfortable, safe, stagnated. The zoo that they’re from symbolizes a prison not only for their bodies but for their minds as well. It’s the same thing that happened when Moses led Israel out
of Egypt. On multiple occasions the Israelites begged to go back to Egypt where they might be slaves but life was predictable. It’s like the Joker says in The Dark Night, “Nobody panics when things go ‘according to plan.’ Even if the plan is horrifying!” Why else are there so many movies out there where the poor street-smart wanderers enjoy life so much more? Because they realize the thrill is in the risk; a lesson we Christians must learn, because comfort is like coffee. It stunts your growth. • Trevor Main has a B.A. in fiction writing from Columbia College, Chicago, and is working on his master’s degree in communication at Dallas Theological Seminary. His ministry experience with Youth With a Mission has taken him across Europe, Africa, and Asia.
July 2012 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • Page 24
Remember ol’ Marty Schottenheimer, head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs? Why did that guy win buckets of games in the regular season but rarely advance in the playoffs? Because he always did the same thing—run, run, pass—and this sort of simplistic strategy didn’t work on the dynamic, shape-shifting teams that made the playoffs and were destined to advance. Yet he wouldn’t change his approach, even in the face of serial playoff failures. So, the moral is, don’t play Martyball. Make your wife Mrs. Happy today. My prayers are with you. 4. Faking orgasms. Among the 10,056 reasons why pornography is horrendous and awful and has no place whatsoever in a Christian marriage is the fact that it portrays women responding in ridiculously unrealistic ways to climax. In many years of marriage and consistently good-to-great sex, Mrs. Happy has never felt compelled to carry on like a screaming, writhing fool. Yet she has thoroughly enjoyed herself. Brothers, real orgasms don’t look like that. And if that’s what you’re getting, you’re either in a sinful relationship with a girlfriend who’s totally faking it, or your wife has learned to bluff it in a misguided attempt to protect your ego. Sisters, cut.it.out. You will consign yourself to an unsatisfying sexual relationship if you keep it up, and you can blame yourself. You will end up reinforcing bad sexual habits, and your husband will be none the wiser. If you’re a serial faker, confess to your husband—but be prayerful and kind. It can be a blow to his pride initially, but a decent man cares enough about you to want to please you. Here’s another motivation to ‘fess up: Faking orgasms is a form of lying.
2. Give him gentle feedback on what feels good and what doesn’t. I’m sorry, but there’s just no other way around it. You’re gonna have to communicate if you want to have a satisfying sex life. Good sex doesn’t happen automatically.
life, in spite of my past disobedience. He cares about every detail of my life. 8. Believing that pornography and sex toys will put a spark in your sex life. You might have a spark for a few seconds, but it will trigger a wildfire. Demonic spirits are attached to pornography. When they get their hooks in you, what started as curiosity can turn into compulsion. Don’t be a fool and kick the door wide open to satan in your marriage through pornography. You will reap destruction.
Neither pornography nor sex toys have a godly source. They are manufactured and marketed in an atmosphere of Yes, it all comes back to relationship. You’re in this thing perversion. God gave you all the tools you need to please for life, so you might as well man or woman up and begin your husband or wife—you’ve just got to learn to use the open conversation. them skillfully. 7. Thinking sex is dirty because you’ve sinned in the past. Satan hates your guts. He’ll seek to twist and distort everything God has made good. He can’t take our soul once we’re in Christ, so instead he steals our joy and fills our mind with thoughts of fear and torment. He especially loves to parade our mistakes before us in a sickening, never-ending lowlight reel, hoping to persuade us that our past will forever hinder us.
So Mrs. Happy’s playbook is actually quite brief. But, y’know, it works. Everybody ends up happy, which, by the way, is how Mrs. Happy got her name.
Don’t be a lazy lover. Take the time to learn how to please your spouse. 9. Thinking you know what you’re doing. Repeat after me: I.am.clueless. Then, see above. See below. See past columns. Mrs. Happy recalls an incident some years ago in which a young brother and sister got married. Mrs. Happy gave the brother a good Christian book on sex that dealt with technique, among other subjects, and the brother sneered and said, “What’s there to know?” Fast-forward a few months later. The wife of said husband takes Mrs. Happy aside after church, and says, with embarrassment, that she doesn’t know what to do concerning sex, because, to put it bluntly, her husband is too fast and he don’t last. Sadly, Mrs. Happy did not possess the boldness she has now, and she was unable to help the young woman. So say it with me, brothers and sisters: I.am.clueless.
10. Thinking sex is over if the man reaches climax too soon. If you committed sexual sin and you’ve sincerely repented, No, no, no. Every man messes up the timing some of the God has put away your sin. The enemy remembers, time. That doesn’t mean sex is over. God gave you strong however, and his agenda is to keep you in bondage for hands. Use them to please your wife. Sow deception, reap deception. the rest of your life so you’re unfruitful in the Kingdom of God. He wants you to think your past has disqualified By the way, brothers, it’s very uncomfortable for a woman A hint for the brothers: There are real physiological to get oh-so-close to climax but not quite—just like it is changes in a woman’s body when she’s experiencing orgasm you from ever enjoying sex, and he wants to keep your marriage at the level of being merely tolerable, at best. for you, though the physiology is different. that can’t be faked. You will be able to see and feel them. 5. Thinking that because it worked with some other woman in the past, it’ll work for your wife. It doesn’t take much for a man to ejaculate. But for a woman to have an orgasm during sex, a lot more has to be working right. A man has to learn how to please his wife. I don’t care how “experienced” he is—that knowledge isn’t automatic. Every woman is different. He needs her feedback to get it right. He’ll never learn to please her without feedback.
When you feel those feelings of loss, of shame, of regret, recognize the source. Hint: It isn’t God. That’s not the way your heavenly Father communicates with you.
11. What’s that TV doing in your bedroom? Get rid of the stupid thing and spend your time in more fulfilling pursuits. •
Remember God’s truths and revisit and speak them instead: I am fearfully and wonderfully made. God made me for intimacy and sexual pleasure. His will is to bless my marriage. He wants me to enjoy sex with my spouse, because He created sex. I can ask Him to renew my sex
Mrs. Happy has been married to one man for a long time. She loves to read your comments online at www. mannexpressonline.com, and might even weigh in on your earnest questions. Just keep it holy, y’all. And be happy until next time.
Page 25 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • July 2012
The Holy Grail of Summer, the Red Ripe Tomato Y
es, you can have perfection.
You say you haven’t gotten around to trying a MannaEXPRESS recipe yet? Well, let this be the month—for perfection. Soul Food If I could summarize by Joanne Cutting-Gray all the glory of summer in one sublime dish, it would be Summer Pasta. Easy, fresh, delicious, and doesn’t even heat up the kitchen. It uses everyone’s favorite summer ingredients: juicy red ripe tomatoes, fresh basil, mozzarella cheese, garlic, and olive oil. Have I whetted your taste buds yet?
embody the essence of the earth, bounty, summer sun, and divinity, the Tuscan tomato can. Have you ever wondered why food often tastes better on a picnic, or camping, or on holiday visiting friends, family, or a foreign place? Is it that things actually taste better or that we learn to better taste them? I think the latter. We rediscover taste and food when we’re not in a hurry, not frustrated, not thinking of the next thing to do, not eating prepackaged stuff that bears little resemblance to fresh and home-grown. Can we rejoice in something as mundane as a tomato? Yes, by accepting it with humble gratitude as a gift of God’s bounty.
Attention to food is thankfulness for the goodness of the earth. So whenever June, July, and August come around, we eagerly look forward to this earthy goodness. We cooked this dish in Tuscany—that fairytale part Preparing and eating it, we are transported to the of Italy of rolling hills interspersed with olive groves mountainside village of Radda, where you buy just what and vineyards around tile-roofed, stucco, and ochreyou need for the day at the local market—fresh bread, colored villas and castellos. We cooked it there but cheeses, sausage, vegetables, and herbs with the earth discovered it here years still clinging to them and ago after a famous New smelling like “every good and York chef was asked perfect gift [that] cometh from what dish he would above.” We return up the steep, eat on returning to his dusty, winding road lined with Add a few drops of cooking oil to the native Italy. His answer: cypresses to our tiny rented pasta water to keep it from boiling over. Summer Pasta. apartment in the Tuscan village of Volpaia and cook the simple If you chop basil too vigorously or too The Italian countryside hearty dishes Italians are famous small, it will become soggy. Gently roll is a place where man for. But they can taste just as the leaves in a loose cylinder and then and nature harmonize, good here at home with quality cut them in small shreds. where fresh produce is ingredients. never compromised, where vegetables taste Obviously, Summer Pasta needs of the landscape itself. And the tomato—well, the the best and freshest tomatoes possible. If you can’t get tomato tastes like tomatoes you remember before ripe home-grown, farmer’s market, or stemmed tomatoes they were subjected to our system of marketing. The that actually have a smell, wait until you do. But don’t tomatoes we get today are often a far cry from the even think to make this dish if you can’t also get fresh “love apple,” the fruit first grown in South America basil. And don’t compromise by using anything other and transplanted around the world. You know the than extra-virgin olive oil. Extra-virgin is oil from the first kind—those pink, hard, green-inside things picked pressing of the olives. As quality and taste goes down with early, sprayed red, smelling of nothing, and tasting each subsequent pressing, you want the first and best— either watery or spongy. extra-virgin. Tuscans are as discriminating about the taste of olive oil as they are about their wine. They jealously The Italian tomato is smaller, sweeter, and more dense guard their home-grown olives, certain they are the finest, than those grown here, has a slightly tougher skin and compete for the best-tasting oil. because of the dry growing season, and smells spicy but with a piquant sharpness like the plant, if you’ve Italians are also persnickety about their pasta. The type ever grown and smelled one. But the taste! Perfectly of pasta must perfectly match the dish and won’t be the ripe and fresh-picked from Paradise. If anything can same with a substitute. This recipe is made either with
Joanne’s Quick Tips...
Perfection: Summer Pasta 1 lb. mozzarella cheese diced small 8 medium ripe tomatoes diced 4 cloves garlic crushed 1 c extra-virgin olive oil 1 c fresh basil chopped ¾ T kosher salt Pepper Red pepper crushed 12 oz. linguine or fettuccine cooked Toss mozzarella cheese with tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, basil, salt, pepper, and a pinch of red pepper. Let stand 30 minutes. Boil pasta al dente, drain, add fresh mixture. Serve hot or at room temperature. Makes 8 servings.
linguine (little tongues), or fettuccine (little ribbons), flat pasta a bit wider than spaghetti. The Al Dente brand that you find in supermarkets makes linguine and fettuccine from semolina flour, a coarse grind of durum wheat that gives pasta its special texture. Best of all, it takes only three minutes to boil al dente, or “tender but firm to the bite.” • Joanne Cutting-Gray, Ph.D. is an author, scholar, and lifelong student of cooking. She lives with her husband in Savannah, Georgia.
July 2012 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • Page 26
Talk Back
continued from page 6 the rampant immorality—of a heterosexual nature— occurring in our church leadership and ranks. We want to divert the attention of the sheep and the Shepherd from the hedonism and promiscuity that goes on behind closed doors—whether the sanctuary doors, the pastor’s office doors, or the hotel room doors. Somehow, when we dress our sin in heterosexual rags, it looks better—to us. The distance of our separation from a holy God is equally great, however, and like it or not, we all—straight or gay—stand doomed and helpless without the saving grace of God manifested through Christ’s perfect work. —Bill B.
but we must pray for guidance to understand it before we read. We have an enemy who will mislead us if we do not! The more time we spend in prayer, Bible study, and witnessing, the more we will reflect Jesus. —Vaun
Feed and Caring of Husbands
already thinking about last night! Funny how I came across this today, but this really does show how God made a man and his wife to become one body and why God made sex to be for marriage. It goes to show how much a married couple truly need each other. I just wish these young and very immature girls today would grow up and realize that their virginity is a gift they give to their husband and he in return honors it. I tell my little sister this, and thank God she is listening! —Berlinda
Great article [Manna Confidential, “Do you understand how God made your husband?” by Mrs. Happy, June 2012]. We women need to remember and understand that men do not relate the same way we do. This article is a wonderful reminder that my husband’s needs are This is great! I’m convinced that when you serve your different from my own needs. husband well by showing him you enjoy him (sex) just as Yes—we can and should talk about gay marriage. And —Diane D. much if not more than he does makes for an awesome, listen. And pray. The discussion won’t be easy, but let’s wholesome marriage. not be cowards. I fight hard to love my homosexual I am an avid reader of Mrs. Happy’s column. She always —Ladrena S. brother and walk holy before the Lord. Thankfully, says it the way it is. Bless her heart. there are a lot of encouraging verses for me, such as 2 —Thomas B. I really enjoyed this article. It brought clarity and insight Corinthians 5:19: “That God was reconciling the world to to my marriage and how to deal with and understand my himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. I know you were addressing women but, as a widower, husband. The people perish (relationships perish, families And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” may I add some male perspective? My wife loved me in and friendships perish) for lack of knowledge. This leaves us little excuse for walking away from spite of who I was and what I did or didn’t do. It was as —“Smileyjoyful” relationships with people close to what the Father’s who are different from us love might be as I could This article was very interesting. I truly understand now. or disagree with us, even imagine. In return, I did my The funny part is that I’m reading this on my wedding about moral issues. Thank best to be an Ephesians 6:25 anniversary. Thank you, Lord, and Mrs. Happy. you for articulating so husband. I loved, honored, —Christina S. well every question that’s and respected her. How do I ever crossed my mind know she felt loved? She had many health problems, and concerning this debate! Unbusy one day she asked if I’d ever —Mallory continued from page 22 thought of “trading me in on Pinterest and Facebook can be unhealthy tools of a younger woman without It’s amazing to me how comparison, competition, and false presentation. That health issues.” I think it was people get all selfmother who makes sculpture out of veggies for her the way I answered rather righteous and talk about preschooler while she miraculously loses all her baby than what I said that said how the Bible says this weight in five minutes? She’s doing her. You do you. I was in for the long haul: and that. We all sin, Stop looking for comparison and competition and “What? Break in a new wife? and when we ask for look up and around at your life. It’s a beautiful gift. Are you out of your mind? You’re stuck with me for the forgiveness, we’re looking to God and nobody else. This rest of your life!” One day about a year before God called is puzzling to me, especially because of the history of Kinda puts each day in stark relief, doesn’t it? We her home, she looked at me and in a tender voice said, “I Christianity in the first place. The Bible says we’re not can see more of the world than any generation supposed to eat shellfish, and there’s no big debate about have never felt so loved and secure in a relationship in my before, with as little effort as a mouse click, but that. Why is everyone acting like getting married is going life.” What more could a man ask of his wife? Husbands, are still in desperate need of the discerning eyes of honor your wives—truly love her and she will respond to to stop a show that’s going to continue anyway? Elisha. What if, as followers of Christ, we unbusied —Talika you both emotionally and physically in ways unexpected. ourselves so that God could put people in our paths —Mike to pray with, hold afloat, encourage and exhort, or We should be concerned with the laws our governments chill and dine with? Wow, thank you—this was such a confirmation. Me and enact; they should reflect our collective views. As Christians, we must try to influence those who make the my husband were just talking about our intimacy today. God is crafting an exquisite and unique story within We had a rocky start at the beginning of our marriage. laws to reflect God’s laws as much as possible. To stand our time each day that we can only begin to fathom We’ve been married for 13 years; we’ve gotten out a lot back while laws are passed that go against what God has when we are still enough to look up and around. • revealed and do nothing is wrong. Because of the times in of the kinks, and we are still growing. But we have finally which we live, there will be more laws that are passed that gotten to the point of respecting each other and truly Sharifa Stevens is a wife and mother, singer, and being free to love and make love to each other. Thanks for go against His ways. Until Jesus returns, sin will become writer. She earned a B.A. from Columbia University the article. more flagrant, sinners more bold. To be true to living and a Master of Theology degree from Dallas —MSJ like Christ, we must accept the sinner while rejecting the Theological Seminary. She lives in Dallas. sin. Remember John 3:16—God loves all of us, and He I love this article so much, and a majority of it I was calls us to learn from Him. The Bible reveals God to us,
“I just wish these young and very immature girls today would grow up and realize that their virginity is a gift they give to their husband and he in return honors it.”
Page 27 • Volume 6 • Issue 7 • July 2012
Delivered for Honor W
elcome to July, the 5. God’s intention from the beginning was to create you for glory or honor. This is one reason He puts you month of God’s in dominion: “And God said, Let us make man in our fullness! We’ve completed image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion the first half of the year, over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and and for this we need to over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every give God thanks. Some of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Genesis us may be disappointed, 1:26. Additional references: Genesis 1:27–28; Leviticus however, that our 2012 26:9; Exodus 23:25–26; and John 10:10.) expectations have neither Third Watch been fulfilled nor show 6. It follows, then, that you were created to be in by Taiwo Ayeni signs of happening at all. dominion so that you can show forth His praises or glory (I Peter 2:9). But don’t be discouraged—the month of His fullness is here (5 = grace, 6 = empowered man, 7 = fullness of grace or completion, 8 = new beginning). Don’t be affected by the half-time defeat syndrome; God is never late. You might be four goals down, but your miracle of 5-4 defeat of your enemy is in the second half. Cheer up—this is your time. Trust Him for your secondhalf turnaround! Let’s look at the ways deliverance and honor are connected. Take heart in this truth: You are delivered by God to be put in the place of honor. “Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land” (Psalm 85:9). In another translation, the same passage reads as follows: “Certainly his loyal followers will soon experience his deliverance; then his splendor will again appear in our land.” The Word reveals several principles about experiencing His deliverance: 1. You must fear Him, just as the Scripture says: His salvation (or deliverance) is nigh them that fear him. He will “arise with healing in his wings…” for those who fear Him (Malachi 4:2). 2. Blessed also is everyone who fears Him (Psalm 128:1–5). 3. And those who fear him shall see the glory, or honor, of God (Isaiah 35:1–2). 4. Which means that not fearing God is an open door to bondage and dishonor; no wonder the Bible says, “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10).
Limitation makes you arrive late at your destination, like Methuselah, who had his first son at 187 years old.
7. If glory or honor is missing in your life, then bondage is at work—in the spirit of Ichabod (which means “The glory has departed”). But the greatest desire of the Son is to make you free (John 8:32, 36). Therefore do everything by His grace to be set free!
the power of death (John 11:44), the colt was bound by impossibility. What is impossibility? This is when all doors are shut, and no sure hope is in sight—for example, a woman who married seven brothers in succession yet produced no children from any of them, then each brother died (Matthew 22:25–27). The colt was bound by the door of destiny, just like a brother who is always interviewed but never gets the job or gets invited for interviews but never succeeds in attending. It was tied where two roads met, but Jesus chose to remove the confusion. Therefore He told His disciples, “Loose him and bring him” (Mark 11:2). Honor met the colt along the way as it was being brought to Jesus (Mark 11:7-9)—“Honor and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary” (Psalm 96:6). Limitation makes you arrive late at your destination, like Methuselah, who had his first son at 187 years old (Genesis 5:25). As we see in John 11:44 through the experience of Lazarus, a man suffers limitation when his: • Vision is bound. • Hands are bound. • Legs are bound. (For more on this subject, read my books Help for Troubled Destinies and Smashing the Gates of the Enemy, available at www.authorhouse.com.)
Stagnation, going around in circles, failure at the edge of success, profitless hard labor, as well as delayed blessings are all indicators of bondage and dishonor, but The Lord is so particular about deliverance that He shows us when there is deliverance (Ezekiel 34:27) there will be in Mark 11:1–10 an illustration of bondage through a colt, fruitfulness (Revelation 22:1–2); increase (Psalm 85:12); tied by the door of destiny where two roads met (confusion). showers of blessing (Ezekiel 34:26–30); and honor. Jesus dispatched two of his disciples to set it free. Beloved, seek His fear and connect to honor. God As I write, there are innumerable destinies tied down in bless you. • every village, town, and city, yet they have no helpers. But for the colt, which was in an impossible situation, the day Taiwo Ayeni is president of Rehoboth Bible Ministries, Inc., of deliverance and honor came. In contrast to Lazarus, in Grand Prairie, where he lives with his wife Abidemi who was still bound by the spirit of limitation—signified and their son and daughter. You may contact him at by his grave clothes—even after he was delivered from rehobothbministries.org.
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