There is a saying that contains an important insight: “In Jerusalem, Christianity became a religion. In Greece, it became a philosophy. In Rome, it became an institution. In Britain, it became a tradition, and in America, it became an enterprise.”

Who Won

Everyone knows who won the election, but not everyone understands how big the win is concerning the impact that they can now have on the future of America. Their victory is huge, and Bush’s second term will be far more dynamic than his first. He does have a mandate now and will use it.

The Republican Party

         Continuing with the matter of understanding people, again we should not be surprised by how those who do not know the Lord put their trust in government. It is all they have to trust in. Even so, governments are failing and will continue to fail. The Great Commission is to offer the world a hope that will never disappoint.

        Why was it “the best of times and the worst of times?” We are living in precisely that situation now, and the best will get better, and the worst will get worse. Both are preparing this world for the age to come, and we are here to be the messengers, so we must understand our times.

     Many things bring life to a church, such as great preaching, prayer, worship, and fellowship. However, three things seem to bring the most life to the church—hearing from God, miracles, and new believers. In our local church, we have been blessed by an increase in each of these, which has come in waves. It seems that we may be in the first stages of yet another wave, which is creating a lot of excitement. A few weeks ago, I was also given a promise from the Lord—He said He is going to release a double portion of prophetic revelation to us.

     True holiness is not legalism but love. The reason the bride wants to be without spot or wrinkle is not out of the fear that if she is not perfect her Bridegroom will smite her, but because she is so in love with Him that she wants to be perfect for Him. This is the difference between being driven by legalism, which is fear based, and being motivated by the love that fulfills the Law.

     Before we go into the more in-depth teaching on the prophetic gifts of the Spirit and the ways that the Lord speaks to His people, we have been addressing the spiritual and moral foundation of prophetic ministry. There are two reasons why this is important.

         We recently did a cursory study of the “four winds of the earth” and how they unfolded over history. Next, we will cover how the sealing of the bondservants is taking place at this time, and how they will keep from taking "the mark of the beast."

Last week we discussed how the habitations of God in Scripture, the tabernacles, had three compartments, and how we applied this to our Katrina relief efforts, breaking it down into three phases, which were:

Phase I: Rescue. The main goal in this phase is simply saving lives and getting people to safety.

Phase II: Stabilization. The main goal of this phase is to establish PODs for sustaining the people with the basic needs of food, medicine, shelter, clothing, etc.