Showing posts with label DAVID LANE. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

This City Is on the Verge of Implosion Following Its Spiritual Departure From the Faith of Its Founders - DAVID LANE CHARISMA NEWS

This City Is on the Verge of Implosion Following Its Spiritual Departure From the Faith of Its Founders

10/2/2018 DAVID LANE CHARISMA NEWS

Righteousness exalts, elevates, dignifies, ennobles, whereas sin does the opposite: it disgraces, degrades, lowers, sullies. Proverbs 14:34 mentions this in connection to a nation, but it applies equally to a state, a city or an individual.

San Francisco is on the verge of implosion following its spiritual departure from the faith of its founders.

"Once one of the most beautiful cities in America, San Francisco is now a bastion of progressive lunacy," according to a SaveSanFrancisco video posted to YouTube. "The law is basically ignored, the homeless are encouraged to camp out, convicted felons are given jobs over honest citizens, our military is hated and disrespected and droves of gay activists walk the streets stark naked. Public decency laws, federal immigration laws and plain common decency has been replaced by a city that no longer respects itself or others."

A bulwark of self-indulgence and wantonness, San Francisco has long been a magnet for radical secularists. It is today a place where present-day prophets of Baal are prevailing in their contest with biblical God Jehovah. The high toll of such a subculture will be apparent by now. Secularism's status and position are entirely in the hands of her devotees.

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The beautiful Bay Area tells a terrible tale, terrible in what it tells about life without the godly restraint of God.

For its improvidence, San Francisco's past progressive mayoral leadership could be in for a reckoning.

When God withdraws His sustaining hand, "the madness that is in our hearts by nature at once asserts itself, gains the upper hand, and leads us into a course of folly," A.W. Pink writes in The Life of Elijah.

"God cannot be at peace with guilty rebels until the claims of His throne have been met. Only upon a righteous basis can peace be established," Pink says.

Providence founded, nurtured and advanced an experiment that became known as the American experiment, to discern if a people could self-govern. The key question was whether a moral and religious people would be governed by conscience when in the possession of a Constitution based on religious liberty and free speech. Could this be buoyed by the pillars of "morality and religion as indispensable supports," as George Washington suggested in his Farewell Address, September 19, 1796?

The battle in California rages between two great faiths, two religions, Christianity versus secularism. Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Lord of life, established true Christianity. Secularism, on the other hand, is not born from God.

Under the sway of pietism, Christians abandoned the public square over the last 75 years. Pietism rightly stresses the importance of an individual's relationship to God, but wrongly reduces "the scope of the Christian's concern to his or her personal life, family life and the affairs of the church as an ecclesiastical organization."

Because of this, the foundation of a godly nation has not been maintained.

"Indeed, it was permitted to be well-nigh destroyed. So the Constitution and its Christian principles [are] increasingly ignored in practice. Hence, the size and scope of civil government [has] increased; power [has] centralized in the national government; and the rule of law was abandoned in favor of the arbitrary rule of men," Dr. Archie P. Jones writes in Foreword to The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States.

Which brings us to Gavin Newsom. In March 2000, 4.6 million California citizens voted to ban same-sex marriage (Proposition 22 - 61 percent - 39 percent). The Act added Section 308.5 of the Family Code, which read "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

In February 2004, newly elected San Francisco Mayor Newsom elevated himself above the law and God by "turn[ing] City Hall into [a] wedding chapel for 4,000 couples by authorizing same-sex marriage against state law."

A single San Francisco politician thus bestowed upon himself the right to override the vote of 4.6 million Californians. His tenure as San Francisco Mayor presents clues as to how he will lead the state if elected governor in November.

The San Francisco Chronicle cheered, "Gavin Newsom can't wait to get back in the driver's seat." More than anything else, the year 2004 showed Mr. Newsom's true face. Besides abandoning the rule of law, he committed adultery with his best friend's wife.

Universal health care is yet another of California Lt. Governor Newsom's pet projects. Newsom's boisterous endorsement of universal health care for the Golden State might just evoke another gold rush, this time of medical tourists and residents from other states swarming in to take advantage of the medical freebies. It goes without saying that California doesn't have the way or means of becoming a hatchery welfare state for the world's 7.4 billion population ... regardless of what spin Mr. Newsom puts on it.

"Government has made California unsustainable. $1.3 trillion in debt is the amount to which California governments admit. Other studies believe it to be more. Indeed, one study says it is actually $2.3 trillion and a recent Hoover Institute stated that there is over $1 trillion in pension liability alone, or $76,884 per household. Incredibly, there are 4 million current pension beneficiaries, a number that continues to grow and that exceeds the total population of 22 states."[7]

"The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money," as Margaret Thatcher aptly summarized.

Californian evangelical and pro-life Catholic Christians have come to their providential kairos moment for decision and action.

Pink says in well in Exposition of the Gospel of John: "The one who has found mercy with the Lord is now put to the proof: his faith, his loyalty, his courage must be tested. The profession of our lips amounts to nothing at all if it be not confirmed by the character of our lives."

California's Gideons or Rahabs must begin to stand.

Friday, September 7, 2018

Why the Spiritual Temperature in These 3 Critical Cities Is Close to Zero - DAVID LANE CHARISMA NEWS

Why the Spiritual Temperature in These 3 Critical Cities Is Close to Zero

9/7/2018 DAVID LANE CHARISMA NEWS

Three geographic points represent the cultural centers of dominance in American life: New York as the business capital of the world, Los Angeles as the world's entertainment center and Washington, DC, as the nation's political hub.

The spiritual temperature in these three cultural spheres of influence hovers just around zero. Their present-day secularists' dominance is the fallout of 100 years of Christian torpidity in the public square. What was recorded for our instruction—"You have not because you ask not ..." (James 4:2)—shows the inevitable outcome of faith not exercised.

"Discernment is God's call to intercession, never to fault finding," noted Scottish evangelist Oswald Chambers [1874-1917] in his devotional My Utmost for His Highest.

My last two op-eds involved exposition of the spiritual fortitude of Congress and the nation in 1787 in passing the Northwest Ordinance, declaring "Religion, morality and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." Five years earlier, then 76-year-old Benjamin Franklin had produced a pamphlet with the purpose of apprising Europeans considering coming to America. As an additional picture of the spiritual climate of late 18th-century, normal American life, the pamphlet reads:

... bad examples to youth are more rare in America, which must be a comfortable consideration to parents. To this may be truly added that serious religion, under its various denominations, is not only tolerated, but respected and practiced. Atheism is unknown there; infidelity rare and secret; so that persons may live to a great age in that country without having their piety shocked by meeting with either an atheist or an infidel. And the Divine Being seems to have manifested his approbation of the mutual forbearance and kindness with which the different sects treat each other, by the remarkable prosperity with which He has been pleased to favour the whole country.

President Ronald Reagan famously observed that "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same." That same principle applies with regard to spiritual fortitude. "The serpent's final defeat under Messiah's heel is delayed to effect God's program of redemption through the promised offspring. In the interim, God leaves Satan to test the fidelity of each succeeding generation of the covenant people and to teach them to 'fight' against untruth."

In 1857, as the spiritual fires diminished in New York City, lay missionary Jeremiah Lanphier began inviting people to the 88-year-old Old Dutch North Church at Fulton and Williams streets in the heart of lower New York City for lunchtime prayer meetings. Six men showed up. When three weeks later, nationwide financial panic broke out, with banks closing and men out of work, Lanphier's attendance jumped to 40. Within six months 10,000 businessmen (out of a population of 800,000) were gathering daily in New York City for prayer. A modest beginning with six men showing up led to the Third Great Awakening in American history.

A real spiritual struggle is taking place in today's America. Christians face an array of invisible offensive powers, showing that "For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12).

Unsurprisingly, Satan and those who serve him therefore will go all out in order to gain power over America's various cultural mountains of influence.

To paraphrase A.W. Tozer, if Christianity in America were to be filled with new life and vitality, it will have to be done by other means than any of those now used. If evangelical and pro-life Catholic Christians are to recover from the harm suffered over the last 75 years, a new type of Christian must arise. The go-along-to-get-along type won't do. Ministry leaders can't any longer dip into politics with an election sermon to almost in the same breath allow the culture to deteriorate for the rest of the year. There is no sense in running a bus across the state the week before an election when 50 percent of the vote is already in from early voting.

Another type of leader must emerge. Christians and their families came within a hair's breadth of losing their freedom with a Hillary Clinton presidential win in 2016. Evangelicals must come to comprehend the scope and scale of what's at stake in the Nov. 6, 2018, and November 3, 2020, elections.

New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., need spiritual leaders, leaders who have seen visions of God and have heard a voice from the throne. More than one will be needed. When they come, "they will stand in flat contradiction to everything our smirking, smooth civilization holds dear. They will contradict, denounce and protest in the name of God and will earn the hatred and opposition of a large segment of Christendom."

This is our kairos moment, the appointed time in the purpose of God. With Christians being active in the public square, "Satan's work is held in check; but let them—the Holy Spirit and the Church—be removed, let the salt be taken away and the One who gives it pungency, and the restraining and preserving influences are gone, and then nothing remains to stay corruption or hinder the outworking of Satan's plans."

Thanks be to God there is good news. Gideons and Rahabs are beginning to stand.

David Lane is the founder of American Renewal Project.

Monday, June 25, 2018

The Pagan Influence Rapidly Degrading American Culture - DAVID LANE CHARISMA NEWS

A clash between two inimical worldviews is taking place in America: biblical Christianity vs. secular humanism. (Free-Photos/Pixabay)

The Pagan Influence Rapidly Degrading American Culture

6/25/2018 DAVID LANE CHARISMA NEWS

A clash between two inimical worldviews is taking place in America: Biblical Christianity vs. secular humanism. In order to dominate, secular humanists had to find a way to exercise complete control over the five levers of cultural influence: spiritual, intellectual, educational, economical and vocational.

Secular lawyers can be unflaggingly persistent as well as ruthlessly devious. They determined that to banish the Judeo-Christian culture from the public square, the Bible had to be expunged from public education first. Theological principles and debate then could be relegated to the recesses of the conscience, and safely lodged behind the four walls of the church. As a consequence, public education, higher learning and academia have become ever more intertwined with the state.

It was completely different in the 17th and 18th centuries. Public education and higher learning "had its roots in American Protestantism, in fact 106 of the 108 colleges were distinctly Christian. It was while the First Amendment was passed, requiring all new states entering the Union to have education systems in place emphasizing the teaching of both religion and morality," Arthur W. Hunt III says in The Vanishing Word.

Someone's morality will be legislated and someone's philosophy will be taught in public schools and universities, "for those who govern the minds of the young, direct the course of the future of civilization," Joseph Boot writes in The Mission of God: A Manifesto Of Hope For Society. For this reason, under the influence of pagan secularism, the culture has become gruff, debauched and vitriolic over the last 75 years.

Corporate Christianity should have countered secularism's attack by going full tilt to where the battle was fiercest, engaging the hard fight in the public square. While increasingly moving into the meetinghouse seemed good strategy at the time, it has been shortsighted and ineffectual. With Christian retreat from the public square, Western culture is rushing headlong into apostasy from the Triune God.

Christianity today hardly resembles the muscular faith, honed by persecution, that arrived at America's shores. Modern Christendom has near zero impact in the culture as it has become progressively esoteric and academic. It has been reduced to a subculture.

The Southern Baptist Convention had its annual meeting last week in Dallas.

Progressive liberals have no intention of letting up. Take Hillary Clinton's homily last week over Congress's inaction at the southern border. "Those who selectively use the Bible to justify this cruelty are ignoring a central tenet of Christianity ... [Jesus] did not say, 'Let the children suffer'," she pontificated.

Indeed, Jesus did not say that. The Greek word 'ἄφετε' is used, which translates as 'let', as in "Let the little children, and do not forbid them ..." Jesus is saying, allow and do not forbid children from learning my teachings. Yet, forbidden they are in public education by the law established in 1963 by nine unelected and unaccountable Justices. This is diametrically opposed to the intention and foundation laid down by the American Founders.

Hillary Clinton employed the use of a Bible verse totally out of context to make a 'policy' argument. This shows one of several things about her. Either she is: (1) Biblically illiterate, (2) duplicitous, or (3) both; you choose.

Not to be outdone, MSNBC Anchor and Business Correspondent Ali Velshi also took to the Good Book. Mr. Velshi, being a Muslim, obviously does not understand that cherry-picking a few selected verses from the Bible does not convey the real meaning of Jesus' teachings.

In his Gleanings from Joshua, A.W. Pink writes: "The deception which the Gibeonites practiced upon them illustrates the dual character in which Satan opposes the people of God and the methods he employs therein—as the roaring lion seeking to devour, as the subtle serpent using deceit. Both scriptural and ecclesiastical history demonstrate that the latter is far more dangerous and successful than the former. When open persecution fails either to exterminate or intimidate the faithful" (read: Obama administration), "Satan resorts to his secret wiles" (read: Hillary Clinton and Ali Velshi).

If America is to survive, evangelical pastors and pews must take their civic skills to the next level. We were granted a reprieve with President Trump. A Hillary Clinton presidency would have set back America for a century by, among others, stacking the Courts with godless progressives. Would we even have survived, keeping in mind that the loss of religious liberty, the loss of the right to keep and bear arms, and President Obama's transgender military policy were just the warm-up acts?

Pastors must begin to comprehend that religious liberty will be won by participating in political action, in addition to Sunday sermons. A Sunday sermon is not a denomination of political currency. Mustering and marshaling parishioners to the public square is. The teaching of the whole counsel of God in America's pulpits, the resurrection of prayer in America's churches, and evangelical and pro-life Catholic Christians bringing biblical values to the public square will determine if America remains free.

If successful, history will declare that the early 21st century was one of the most momentous periods in HisStory since the 16th-century Protestant Reformation.

Gideons and Rahabs are beginning to stand.

David Lane is the founder of American Renewal Project.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

A Gideon Stood Up in Texas - DAVID LANE/AMERICAN RENEWAL PROJECT

A Gideon Stood Up in Texas

3/14/2017 DAVID LANE/AMERICAN RENEWAL PROJECT

The Texas Legislature heard debate last week on Senate Bill 6, a so-called "bathroom bill" requiring people to use the bathroom or shower facility that corresponds to their biological sex at birth. Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick is leading this charge in the state capitol of Austin.

Dan Forest, Lt. Governor of North Carolina, traveled to Austin to testify before the legislature in support of the Texas bill, which is fashioned after North Carolina's House Bill 2 (HB2). You may recall that last July the National Basketball Association pulled its All-Star Game out of Charlotte to aid a growing boycott of North Carolina that began in opposition to HB2.

The secular left has been on a roll for much of the last decade. As a result, they seem to have developed an exaggerated opinion of their clout, which does not correspond with social and electoral reality.

A popular and cool Barack Obama lied at the Saddleback presidential debate in 2008. Pastor Rick Warren: "Define marriage." Obama: "I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian—for me—for me as a Christian, it is also a sacred union. God's in the mix."

A democratic republic, where ultimate authority and power is derived from its citizens, remains viable only as long as people can, on the whole, rely on candidates and elected officials to tell the truth.

Once Obama was elected president, in flat-out contradiction to his word, he led the U.S. gay rights revolution globally, even using American embassies around the world to promote same-sex intercourse and marriage. This was all in defiance of U.S. citizens who had voted in state-after-state, supporting traditional marriage with overwhelming majorities. Consider:

Mississippi—86 percent
Tennessee—81 percent
Louisiana—78 percent
South Carolina—78 percent
Georgia—76 percent
Oklahoma—76 percent
Texas—76 percent
Arkansas—75 percent
Kentucky—75 percent
North Dakota—73 percent
Missouri—72 percent
Alabama—71 percent
Kansas—70 percent
Nebraska—70 percent
Montana—67 percent
Nevada—67 percent
Utah—66 percent
Idaho—63 percent
Florida—62 percent
Ohio—62 percent
North Carolina—61 percent
Michigan—59 percent
Wisconsin—59 percent
Oregon—57 percent
Virginia—57 percent
Arizona—56 percent
Colorado—56 percent
California—52 percent
South Dakota—52 percent

(Source)

With President Obama's encouragement of gay pride parades in major cities around the nation, diplomats taking part in parades around the world, embassies flying the rainbow flag beside the Stars and Stripes, and six openly homosexual ambassadors—Obama and the left were large and in charge. It must have seemed like a small matter to bulldoze over the 61 percent of North Carolinians who voted in 2012 to ban same-sex marriage in their state.

Then a Gideon appeared on the public stage. Dan Forest, although up for reelection in November 2016, stood for the unseen against the seen.

First, the seen: "More than 100 top executives from major companies, including major Charlotte employers like Bank of America, have signed a letter opposing the "anti-LGBT" legislation."

But refusing to be cowed, Forest stated:

What is happening here [in North Carolina] is so much bigger than a basketball game. A sovereign state is being blackmailed by a private business (NBA) who is being threatened by a national LGBT lobbying effort, all to force North Carolina to open female restrooms, showers and locker rooms up to men. All of this was done under the guise of "inclusiveness'" and other politically correct buzzwords. But the reality is that had we not blocked the Charlotte Bathroom Ordinance from going into effect, sex offenders and pedophiles would have had full access to our women and children in bathrooms around the state. I enjoy the NBA and wanted them to hold the All-Star game in Charlotte, but if that game comes with strings attached, strings that would expose women and children to danger, molestation, assault and voyeurism, then no thank you. Take your business elsewhere, and I have no apologies about saying that and never will. The NBA knows the economic hit North Carolina will take from this decision. I wish the NBA would likewise acknowledge the pain, sorrow and devastation a child or woman feels when they are exploited. We will never value a dollar over a woman's or child's safety and security.

It's worth noting that Pat McCrory, the Republican Governor of North Carolina, vacillated on HB2–and that voters did not re-elect him to office in November. In contrast, Lt. Governor Forest "went on to win his re-election by more votes than any other elected candidate in the state, including President Trump."

Which brings us back around to Texas SB 6.

In a stunning turn of events, the Texas Association of Business and Chambers of Commerce president Chris Wallace, the most influential business lobby in Texas, testified before the legislature last week and argued for transgender bathrooms in Texas. Wallace filled his testimony with fear and misinformation, stating that SB 2 "could cost the state up to $8.5 billion and more than 100,000 jobs, according to a Texas Association of Business report."

But then a Gideon appeared on the public stage, in the form of Texas state Senator Kelly Hancock. Watch the 11-minute video above.

We must reestablish prayer in America's churches, led by the senior pastor, if America is to survive. But that said, prayer is not all that is necessary. We have relinquished public education, higher learning, media, big business, federal courts, the Supreme Court and Hollywood to the godless, secular left. Men and women of Issachar must run for local office and bring biblical values to the public square in 2017-2018.

But there is good news, as Gideons and Rahabs are beginning to stand.

David Lane is the founder of American Renewal Project.

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Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Opportunity is Tapping Christians on the Shoulder - DAVID LANE/AMERICAN RENEWAL PROJECT CHARISMA NEWS

(Reuters photo)

Opportunity is Tapping Christians on the Shoulder

11/15/2016 DAVID LANE/AMERICAN RENEWAL PROJECT CHARISMA NEWS

Over the last 60 days, the American Renewal Project hosted "Pastors and Pews" events in six key battleground states: Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Iowa, Missouri, and Virginia.

Additionally, one million doors were knocked on and phones were called, targeting low-propensity, Evangelical voters—those who had voted only once in the last four political cycles.

We hired seventy bi-vocational pastors to help orchestrate and accomplish this massive task. Although the ARP does not endorse or oppose candidates or tell people who to vote for—what was demonstrated Tuesday night is that when Christians turn out and vote they impact elections. For example, take the effectiveness of the American Renewal Project's bi-vocational pastor effort in North Carolina:

In 2012: 35% of the vote came from Evangelicals, and Romney received 79% of those votes.
In 2016: 38% of the vote came from Evangelicals, and Trump received 81% of those votes.

Politically, a 3% higher Evangelical turnout in 2016, with 2% additional votes for the Republican candidate, is a massive number. It's the difference between winning and losing an election. This is what bringing Christian values to the public square looks like. Small steps are often the beginning of great enterprise.

Other components of our plan in the last 60 days included:

1 million contacts
500,000 personal interviews
1,500 participating churches in four states
$35 million in social media ads targeted at Evangelical and Pro-Life Catholic Christians online

THIS ELECTION IS OVER, BUT PASTORS MUST CONTINUE TO FIGHT IF AMERICA IS TO BE SAVED.

Scott Walker was elected Wisconsin Governor in November 2010 and sworn-in on January 6, 2011. He immediately began to fulfill his campaign commitment to return power to the people of Wisconsin. And, once the unions and power brokers recognized that the Governor intended to keep his word, the Left manufactured a hundred thousand protestors on the streets of the Wisconsin Capitol.

Then, he and his wife received death threats. But Walker took courage and persisted in doing what he told voters he would do if they elected him.

As we begin to dismantle godless Secularism from the warp and woof of America and remove the different parasites dependent upon the government (those gaming the system over the last 2-3 generations), all hell is going to break loose. There's going to be a hair-raising brawl in the public square, and someone's values are going to reign supreme. Pastors and Pews must stay engaged.

"ABC is reporting the largest turnout of the Evangelical vote in history" blared the headlines on Tuesday night.

There is no worse arrow in the quiver of hell than the falsehood that God cannot deliver His people. The old lie resurfaces in each generation— "God has forsaken them" (Psalm 71:11).

That said, anyone who thinks that Christians won anything other than an election last Tuesday is confused. This stunning "miracle" offers us an opportunity to restore America to her Judeo-Christian heritage and re-establish a Biblical-based culture—IF we will stay engaged. This opportunity likely will not come around again in our lifetime. Like a neon sign flashing high in the sky, the Obama Administration serves to remind us that departing from God's fixed boundaries consistent with His moral character will bring judgment on a nation.

Pat Buchanan observed:

"Few anticipated Tuesday morning what we would have today: a decapitated Democratic Party, with the Obamas and Clintons gone or going, Joe Biden with them, no national leader rising, and only the power of obstruction, of which the nation has had enough."

The last time the Republicans controlled the House, Senate and presidency (Bush 43) —they frittered it away. In 2015, Mark Steyn wrote about that missed opportunity: "I describe Republicans as a party of seat-warmers-until the pendulum swings and the Dems come roaring back. When the left wins, they're in power; when the right wins, they're in office, and that's all."

With MoveOn.org and Black Lives Matter now fomenting anarchy in the streets, an opportunity is tapping Christians on the shoulder. We must not blow this one. We must stay engaged.

We need a Gideon or Rahab to stand.

David Lane is the founder of American Renewal Project.

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Monday, August 22, 2016

CBN News Exclusive: New Cash Infusion Will Lead to Massive Evangelical Vote Effort - David Brody

CBN News Exclusive: New Cash Infusion Will Lead to Massive Evangelical Vote Effort

08-22-2016

David Brody

The Brody File has learned that organizers with the influential American Renewal Project will meet this week in Dallas to plan a massive, "Get Out the Vote" effort aimed at mobilizing pastors and their evangelical congregations.

In just the last week, the conservative Christian group, headed up by influential evangelical leader David Lane, has raised nearly $10 million. GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump recently spoke at their most recent Pastors and Pews event in Orlando, Florida, and will be invited to speak at these upcoming events along Mike Pence, his vice-presidential running mate.

Trump's ability to connect with evangelicals at occasions like this throughout the fall will go a long way in determining whether or not he becomes president of the United States.

Right now, the six states the American Renewal Project will target are Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, and Iowa. They plan to hold at least six Pastors and Pews events in the next 40 days leading up to the election with the first event to start sometime in mid-late September.

These conferences will be attended by hundreds of pastors and their wives. When all is said and done, organizers are hoping thousands of pastors will get their congregations fired up and engaged about voting this fall. Additionally, the group plans to follow up with a substantial ground game, equipping pastors with all the necessary material to make sure their parishioners flock to the polls in November. That includes making voter registration cards readily available as well as information about the closest polling station.

Getting evangelicals registered to vote is critical. Estimates put the number of "self-identified evangelicals" at roughly 90 million in America but only half of them are actually registered to vote. Of those that are registered to vote, only half of them show up on Election Day.

A dozen or so evangelical organizers tasked with implementing the strategy will attend the meeting this week in Dallas. With early voting scheduled to begin in states like Ohio in the next few weeks, time is of the essence.

Besides David Lane, the attendees will include Wayne Hamilton, who works closely with Texas Gov. Greg Abbot and Dave Carney, who's been one of the top political operatives in the country. He was the former political director at the White House for George H.W. Bush and has also been a longtime top aide to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. He's very well-known in GOP national political circles.

"This infusion of resources will allow the American Renewal Project to expand into six top target states with an aggressive ground game to engage voters through their pastors to register and turn out this fall," Carney tells The Brody File. "With all the confusion and lack of success that the so-called Super PACS have enjoyed this cycle, this is the alternative approach to reach voters who would not otherwise become engaged."

There's no doubt that the latest $10 million cash infusion has been a game changer but the group may be close to raising even more cash for this effort.

"When additional resources become available, additional states will be added," Carney says.

The central theme behind this effort is a need for spiritual revival in America. Lane recognizes that a president, whether they are Republican or Democrat isn’t going to save America. This is spiritual warfare playing out in an arena where somebody's values are going to rule the day. Lane says it's time for pastors to step up and lead from the pulpit.

"Christians founded America, not secularists, agnostics, atheists or multicultural proponents like the current president," Lane tells The Brody File. "Evangelical and pro-life Catholic Christians have to engage in 2016 if America is to be saved."

The other main component of these events coming up this fall will be what organizers call, "Issachar Training" events. It's a hands-on workshop for pastors interested in running for political office.

Already, through this mechanism, more than 200 pastors gave committed to run in this election cycle and a few hundred more have committed to take the plunge in the next election cycle.

Friday, July 8, 2016

How America Is Following Nazi Tactics to Eradicate Christians - DAVID LANE CHARISMA NEWS

How America Is Following Nazi Tactics to Eradicate Christians

Secularism is edging out Christianity in America. (REUTERS/Noah Berger)

Secularism and Christianity—like National Socialism and Christianity in Germany in 1930—are irreconcilable. There will be no reconciliation of immutable, competing religions and worldviews; someone's worldview and values are going to reign supreme.

Adolf Hitler recognized the battle: "One day we want to be in a position where only complete idiots stand in the pulpit and preach to old women".

As part of the battle for control of resources and ideological supremacy, "the Nazis changed the calendar to downplay Christian celebrations and emphasize non-Christian ceremonies. Thus, in 1938, carols and the nativity play were forbidden in schools; at the same time, Christmas was replaced with the new term 'Yuletide'." - Inside Hitler's Germany, Life Under the Third Reich, pg. 80-81

Who We Are Forms What We Do

In Methodist minister-counselor Ronald Greer's book on integrity, he tells of the dark days of Nazi takeover of Holland. With Gestapo everywhere, and Jews vanishing, some Dutch Christians asked former missionary Hendrik Kraemer what they should do.

He said: "I cannot tell you what to do but I can tell you who you are. If you know who you are, then you will know what to do."

Then Kraemer read to those scared Christians words first written to the early scared Christians in 1st Peter: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may declare the goodness of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." The people thanked him, left and started the Dutch underground resistance.

The American Renewal Project will host The Response-Cleveland, a National Prayer Gathering in Cleveland, Ohio, on Saturday, July 16, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (EDT). No book sales, DVD sales, no concession stands: simply fasting and praying for America. Would you either join us by internet at your church or ask your flock to watch at home? Our live streaming feed is at: www.theresponseusa.com

If Jesus could say to Lazarus, "Lazarus, come forth", He can say to revival in America, "Revival, come forth". We intend to ask Him.

David Lane is the founder of American Renewal Project.

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Monday, January 18, 2016

Christians Must Stand With Courage and Conviction - DAVID LANE/AMERICAN RENEWAL PROJECT CHARISMA NEWS

Jean-Leon Gerome's "The Christian Martyrs Last Prayer"

(Artwork by Jean-Leon Gerome)

Christians Must Stand With Courage and Conviction

Lutheran Pastor Wolfgang Schuch was one of the giants of the 16th century. According to Charles Spurgeon's The Treasury of David, Schuch was imprisoned for denying "the Church and the sacrifice of the mass" and was sentenced to be burnt at the stake. Upon hearing his sentence, he began singing the 122nd Psalm, "I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go into the house of the Lord.'"

In fact, it was in the 19th-century Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon's aforementioned commentary on the Psalms that I read about Schuch. But Spurgeon read about Schuch from within the pages of Foxe's Book of Martyrs. When Christians stand with courage and conviction—even in the face of death—their testimony inspires others for generations to come.

Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis faced her own trial and dilemma in 2015. She would either knuckle under to secular judicial elites and compromise her beliefs as a Christ follower, or she would go to jail. Confrontation with evil is nothing new; John N. Oswalt says believers throughout history have been "flayed alive, impaled, mutilated and killed" (Isaiah Commentary). Theology can make for splendid Bible study discussion in the safety and comfort of a yet-free society, but the real question is this: Will you bet your life on it?

Secularism is a pagan ideology, a religion. According to Harold J. Berman's Law and Revolution, secularism divorced itself from Christianity, and yet still retained "from traditional Christianity both its sense of the sacred and some of its major values." But a rival now challenges secularists in the form of revolutionary totalitarianism.

For instance, homosexual militants once lobbied for a libertarian acceptance of its lifestyle with this mantra: "Allow us to live our lives in the privacy of our homes." But then, the homosexual movement shifted to a totalitarian posture: "Bakers, photographers and Christian retreat centers will take part in our weddings or be bankrupted." Finally, the situation Kim Davis faced introduced us to the next chapter: Fascism, with its declaration, "You will ceremonialize and pay homage to our weddings, or you'll spend time in jail."

Pro-life evangelical and Catholic Christians have favored an esoteric, academic approach over the last two to three generations. But in the battle with secularists for ideological supremacy in the public square, the cancer of secularism has now run its course. The decay to this once-great Christian nation is nauseating.

In plain English, Peter J. Leithart spelled out his diagnosis and corrective to the gathering storm when he wrote in Between Babel and Beast:

"Until American churches actually function as outposts of Jesus' heavenly empire rather than as cheerleaders for America—until the churches produce martyrs rather than patriots—the political witness of Christians will continue to be diluted and co-opted."

Edmund Burke observed that those who refuse to look backward to their ancestry would not look forward to their posterity. Jewish talk show host Michael Medved observes, "The Founders weren't atheists, agnostics or secularists; they were, almost without exception, deeply serious Christians."

I predict that a future American leader will conclude that America's greatest need is a spiritual awakening. Once inaugurated, repentance will be the first order of business; first confessing his own sins, and then admitting his and the nation's folly for replacing Jehovah and traditional Christianity with a "religion of secularism." (This is U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart's prophetic language in his lone dissent in the 1963 SCOTUS ruling to remove the Bible from public schools in America: "It led not to true neutrality with respect to religion, but to the establishment of a religion of secularism.")

According to Eric Metaxes, this historic figure, "something like what a Moses was to Israel" will have set in motion a movement to oust the false religion of secularism from the political, legal, economic, religious and cultural institutions of America. And analogous to Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, a "cataclysmic" explosion of faith will rock the world for generations.

But this movement likely won't come into view until the church returns to the priority of prayer, establishing righteousness above sacrifice and the priority of ethics over ritual. God's name has been brought into contempt, but like the prideful Philistines in 1 Samuel 5, secularists have misinterpreted their victory:

"The only reason that they had defeated Israel was because Yahweh was using the Philistines to discipline His people. How much better it would have been for His glory to be revealed on the battlefield, but He couldn't give victory to a disobedient people. The living God cannot be used, manipulated or managed. God allows Himself to be humiliated and exalted. But through it all, He will not compromise His holiness or integrity. In the church God often appears to be losing because Christians refuse to submit to His lordship. The Lord longs to show up in a powerful way, but He is waiting for us to be holy as he is holy (1 Pet 1:16). So instead of blaming the church for being anemic, lethargic and irrelevant, perhaps we should blame ourselves" (Dr. Keith Krell,1 Samuel).

Once we return to God, He will then attend to the honor of His name. Public education and universities will again focus on the principal component of education: incorporating the character of the Father into our children, thus creating an exceptional and virtuous people. Test scores in education will soar for, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Prov. 1:7).

Once gospel righteousness is restored to the public square, virtue will suddenly come to the forefront at City Hall. America will again bring forth outstanding men and women of character, produced by a Christian culture, Christian thought and biblical wisdom. As Charles Spurgeon said, "He who is taught of God has a practical wisdom such as malice cannot supply to the crafty; while harmless as a dove he also exhibits more than a serpent's wisdom."

We simply need a Gideon or Rahab to stand.

David Lane is the founder of American Renewal Project.

For a limited time, we are extending our celebration of the 40th anniversary of Charisma. As a special offer, you can get 40 issues of Charisma magazine for only $40!

NEW from CHARISMA: Do you want to encounter the Holy Spirit and hear God speak to you? Increase your faith, discover freedom, and draw near to God! Click Here

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Christians Must Stand With Courage and Conviction - DAVID LANE/AMERICAN RENEWAL PROJECT CHARISMA NEWS

(Artwork by Jean-Leon Gerome)

Christians Must Stand With Courage and Conviction

In plain English, Peter J. Leithart spelled out his diagnosis and corrective to the gathering storm when he wrote in Between Babel and Beast:

We simply need a Gideon or Rahab to stand.

David Lane is the founder of American Renewal Project.

For a limited time, we are extending our celebration of the 40th anniversary of Charisma. As a special offer, you can get 40 issues of Charisma magazine for only $40!

NEW from CHARISMA: Do you want to encounter the Holy Spirit and hear God speak to you? Increase your faith, discover freedom, and draw near to God! Click Here

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Wednesday, October 3, 2018