I have been thinking about the exchange the other day of prisoners between Hezbollah and Isreal. I am deeply disturbed by these developments. If you aren’t aware, Israel exchanged a few men in their jails and the remains of over a hundred dead bodies for the remains of two Israeli soldiers killed in action while fighting Hezbollah. Included in the exchange was a man, who in the 1970’s broke into an Israeli settlement with a squad of aboout 4 men and opened fire on innocent civilians. This particular murderer broke into a house and dragged a man and his four year old daughter out into the street and shot the man in front of the daughter and then this “hero” proceeded to smash her head with the butt of his rifle. Meanwhile inside the house, the mother accidently suffocated her 2 year old daughter because she was trying to keep her quite and remain undected.
These men were given a parade upon their release today. Multitutes lined the streets and threw rice at these “fighters” as the media calls them. Our “valiant soldier” declared to the adoring crowd that he could not wait to “encounter his enemy again” I was a little confused, was he talking about Israel in general or just those mennacing little Israeli girls?
I am outraged that Israel would even dream of letting this guy go. It seems that they are so weary of conflict that they will go to any measure to appease their enemies. I realize that Israel commits many attrocities and are not blameless, but child murders are not ever given a hero’s welcome. The fans of Hezbollah knew exactly what kind of scum bag this loser was and thought that his actions were laudable. What a joke. I really hope that people realize what an evil force that Islam is. They want Israel destroyed at all cost. Most of us here in the U.S. is more concerned with our bank accounts to open our eyes as to what is really happening in the Middle East. I have a feeling in a few years, this will be of great importance to American families. Imagine if Iran gets a nuclear weapon. They have vowed to wipe Israel off the map. (as has almost every other Islamic regeime in existence) Surely Iran only has their security in mind by developing these weapons. After all they claim they are a peace loving people.
Lou Engle and Mike Bickle called a 40 day fast beginning June 30. I am not doing 40 days without food obviously! I am doing more than one day though. It is amazing how your body can go without food. Jesus said that man shall not live on bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. God has given me a lot of grace to fast on this one. The reason why I am writing this is to point out how much our flesh dictates our life. Eating is a necessary thing, but it is clear that we don’t need it as much as we think we do. Physically I feel pretty good, but like every other time that I fast, the thought of food is really strong, almost overwhelming. I am not hungry, but I am craving different foods SOOOO bad. Why is that? It really shows me how much my carnal appetites control me, and that the flesh must die!
We schedule so much of our day around eating. It is kind of an empty feeling to not be planning on what you are eating later. The lust of the flesh is a powerful force!
We are back from our trip to Wichita for the Fourth of July, and my engagement at Faith Community Church. On the 4th our back windshield on the van was blown out. We think that a firework blew a rock thru it, or something. Our pastor found out and decided to pay for the windshield and also took a sizeable offering for us. I just wanted the three of you that read this to know how great Philip Wood and Faith Community Church is.
I thought that my sermon went surprisingly well. I was not booed off the platform. I felt more comfortable the longer that I was up there. I spoke on the Indwelling Spirit.
I believe that the Lord showed me how important discipleship is in this hour. As a sidenote, Philip has recently changed the direction of FCC. He is really focusing on discipleship. He is looking for people willing to be discipled and for them to go and make disciples. The attendence has dropped off quite a bit for various reasons. The main one being, it is hard to come and warm a pew and not do anything else. Anyway, as a Church we are in a crisis. Over 50 percent of Evangelicals believe that Jesus is not the only way to eternal life. We are about an inch deep in theology. Theology has become a bad word in so much of the church today. It is simply the study of God. We have a million sermons on how to have a blessed life, and a better you, or a “sermon that we can apply to our busy life.” The problem is, we do not know God. For the most part we do not hear about God’s attributes. We rarely hear the Diety of Christ being explained. We never hear about God’s justice needing to be appeased, which is why Jesus was sacrificed. No wonder we do not believe that Jesus is the Way the Truth the Life. House church leaders please begin to teach on these realities!
Are we bored yet? The summer before my junior year of high school we left my dad for the second time in my life. I was not nearly upset as I was the first time. I was sad, but I knew that my mom felt bad about the way my dad treated us, and overcompensated. I knew that I would be able to do whatever I wanted.
Parenthetical statement: My mom feels bad about the way she raised us. I want to say that I think she is the best mom in the whole world. I believe that my dad is the best dad in the whole world. The Lord has healed us of all that junk. My parents did the best they could. They had so many unresolved issues that it is amazing that we all turned out ok.
I was drinking all the time, and started driving drunk a lot. It is God’s grace that I never killed anybody. I had joined another band called Love and Rotation. This band was very popular. We started to play regionally. We played in Oklahoma to about 1500 people. This band made a demo tape. It is on Love and Rotation’s my space page. (I had nothing to do with the site) These songs were awesome if I do say so myself. I praise God that I only wanted to party and get some chicks back then. Of I was as driven as I am now. We for sure would have been famous, and I would probably be dead from a drug overdose!
My senior year of high school was much the same nonsense. I am actually getting bored thinking about all the crazy memories. I can’t wait to get to the God stuff. I really had fun during high school and partying was great fun. I think I was seventeed when I did cocaine for the first time. I was always searching for something. I would feel conviction, and would always feel the Holy Spirit calling me. I would tell the Lord, “I will follow you someday, but for now let me do my thing.” Pretty foolish, but God had such mercy. When I graduated high school I was on top of the world. I was friends with just about everyone. Jocks, nerds, stoners, everyone loved The Kid. I received the most applause at my graduation, and I have the video tape to prove it! ha, ha,ha
Next I will look at my first year out of high school. I had one more good year of insanity left, then I took a dramatic turn for the worse.
I am not proofreading this time I hope you can understand it.
The past few days in the Intro to IHOP class we have been doing inner healing. Whenever I am involved in ministry time, I never cease to be amazed by the hurt that parents inflict on their kids. Most of the hurts are generational curses passed down from our parents and grandparents. We unknowingly just live out the reality in which we were raised. It is so sad to see the damage this does to people.
It is shocking to see how many have suffered thru sexual abuse. The even more shocking thing is that it is a close family member who does it. Parents, and anyone for that matter, please be aware that this stuff does happen. If kids do not like being around a certain person, be sensitive to this. Maybe it is nothing, but be aware.
It is amazing the amount of damage and baggage adults carry from their childhood. My prayer the past two days has been that God would anoint me with prophetic words that would cut thru and heal people. I really want to be used to set captives free. He deserves all glory!