Category Archives: Uncategorized

February 26, 2010 · 7:13 am

The Death of Christianity’s Influence on Politics in America (Part 3)

Click on following links for earlier articles: Part 1 and Part 2.

Fast-forward twenty-seven years from my senior year in college to the summer of 1995. No longer was I an agnostic who had all the answers. But instead, I was now a seeker who needed answers from the Lord.

As I paced around the living room, softly praying and asking the Lord for His help in my financial needs, He dropped a bombshell on me.

“You don’t like America,” whispered a gentle voice to my heart.

I stopped in my tracks. “What?” I spoke aloud.

No sooner was the word out of my mouth, I had a vision. In it, I saw the anti-war rallies of the 1960’s, the books concerning the Vietnam War and America’s many mistakes in fighting it, President Nixon’s Watergate problems and all of my judgmental attitudes toward America and its leaders.

“How can you minister for Me to a nation you dislike?” whispered the gentle voice to my heart.

I fell on the floor and wept. How could I argue with the Truth? I did not like America!

“Lord, I’m sorry. Forgive me,” I cried. Then I added, “Lord, give me a love for America.”

And just like that, I loved America. Yes, it’s an imperfect nation. Yes, it has imperfect leaders. Yes, it has made many mistakes. But I love America; and so does Jesus.

From that day forward, this revelation reverberates within me: If you are going to give strong prophetic words to a person or a group or a region or a nation, check yourself first. Make sure you love them. And then, make sure you’re willing to identify with them and to suffer their penalties for them. This is what Jesus did for us at the cross and we are to be just like Him.

Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:26-27)

My journey in politics from one deep ditch along the side of the road to the ditch on the opposite side of the road is much like Christianity’s problems with politics.

(Continued in Part 4)

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January 27, 2010 · 9:30 am

Why All The Outrage To Pat Robertson’s Remarks About Haiti? (Part 2)

Click on the following for an earlier article in the series: Part 1.

The siege of Jerusalem which I used as a time warp short story in Part 1 is the New Testament’s clearest example of God’s divine judgment being prophesied to a specific people, and then, falling upon them. The actual siege occurred in 70 AD, nearly forty years after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

Let’s look at the facts as we know them today:

In Jesus’ time, the Romans had already been occupying Jerusalem for approximately ninety years. The Roman rule was harsh and exacted heavy taxes from the Jewish citizens. And of course, the Jews hated the Romans. Prosperity for most Jews would have been measured in the simplest of terms: food and a place to sleep.

The average Jewish male in 30 AD lived to the age of 42 years old while females lived to an average age of 38 years. Half of the Jewish children died before they were five years old. 90% of the people could not read and 95% could not write. Fifty per cent of the people in the Roman Empire were slaves and lived to an average age of 25 years old. Malnutrition was the single biggest threat to health.

Also, there was a religious revival going on. Herod was rebuilding the Temple to its former glory. (This was not fully completed until 60 AD.) And the Pharisees woke up the Jews to the importance of loving God, loving their neighbors and returning to the strict edicts of the Law and Prophets. They were known as the “hope of Israel.”

Josephus, the historian, estimated there were 120,000 people living in Jerusalem and a total of 3-4 million inhabitants in all of Palestine.

So, with these facts, we can better understand that when Jesus preached the gospel and performed miracles, the Jews were looking for an earthly king. One who would deliver them from the Romans and their everyday miseries.

However, Jesus preached a heavenly kingdom. A message which was so simple; and yet so hard for most Jews to swallow.

As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. (John 6:66)

Still, Josephus estimated that one third of Jerusalem and Palestine converted to Christianity during this time period. Plus, a large number of Pharisees were converted.

These facts should help us have a clearer understanding of the divine judgment carried out on Jerusalem in 70 AD.

(Continued in Part 3)

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Filed under Christianity, Christians, Church, Faith, Gifts of the Spirit, God, grace, jesus, Kingdom of God, Prayer, Prophecy, reformation, spiritual warfare, Uncategorized

December 25, 2009 · 6:59 am

And The Word Became Flesh

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Merry Christmas to all; and may your day be filled with joy.

Lord, Why Not Call Bill Instead of Me? (Part 10)

Click on following for earlier articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8 and Part 9.

Though I left the small church, I was still not set free from prophetic bondage . Every knock on the door and every ring of the phone sent waves of panic through me. What if the two pastors were there? What if they prayed for me again?

I preached and prophesied a message of boldness at the home church but lived a secret life encumbered by fear. My prayer times were filled with cries to the Lord for deliverance.

And yet, day after day, I continued to struggle. Where was Jesus, my Deliverer?

If somehow I could have talked with the top leaders in the Body of Christ, maybe a consensus answer could have been reached for me. But what would it have been?

Probably something like this: “Larry, you just need to pray more, fast more and study the Bible more.”

But to be honest, I’ve met very few individuals who prayed, fasted and studied the Bible more than I did during this time period. I slept, worked, prayed, fasted and studied. This was the sum total of my life. Period.

So, more was not my answer.

The Church needs a total change in perspective to operate in the supernatural. We cannot indulge in the laws of reason and logic and expect to fight off the demonic…I believe that God is reasonable, except when He chooses not to be. Then, we need revelation… (Graham Cooke in Permission Granted, pp. 158)

This time, my deliverance was a two stage process.

First, a prophetess came to the home church and taught on fear. As I listened, nothing really stirred within me. Her message was one I’d heard dozens of times before. At the end of her teaching, she asked if anyone needed prayer to be delivered from fear.

Two or three people went forward, but I didn’t give it much thought for myself. Then, when the prophetess finished praying for the people, she said, “I really feel someone else needs to come up her for prayer right now!”

Bingo! Her words lit up something within me. I went forward, she prayed for me and I was set free from the prophetic bondage which had caused me such agonizing fear.

Now, this in itself was like having a boulder rolled away from my cave’s door. No longer did fear strike me when the phone rang or someone knocked on my door. I was set free.

The second stage of my deliverance involves a revelation. One which will help keep me free from prophetic bondage until I finally meet my Lord.

(C0ntinued in Part 11.)

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December 7, 2009 · 7:37 am

Lord, Why Not Call Bill Instead of Me? (Part 9)

Click on following for earlier articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 and Part 8.

The man walked up to me at the end of the service. “Larry, could you pray for me. My life is a mess and I don’t know what to do,” he said with tears in his eyes.

I laid my hand on him and began praying. As I did, a quick vision crossed my mind. In it, I saw him sitting on a bunk in a small prison cell. He was facing the back wall; his face revealed extreme hopelessness.

As I looked on, the view of the prison cell changed. I could see the front of the cell and the door was open. There were beauty and life waiting for him on the other side of the doorway. He just needed to stand up, turn around and walk out the open door to freedom.

Though this vision was for the man on that day, it is also apropos for my situation at the little church I attended.

So, how was I finally set free from the prison with a steeple on the roof?

The first thing that happened is the husband and wife pastor team bought an RV and began traveling. They felt this would lead to a national apostolic ministry. In their place, they appointed a young husband and wife to replace them.

The new pastor team also had prophetic and apostolic callings, but their vision was a totally different one; and it did not include me.

My only responsibilities when the two pastors left for Texas were cleaning the church, helping with the food pantry and prayer. I still prayed for an hour at the church every morning and usually arrived an hour early to pray for each church service. Seldom – as in hardly never ever never – did anyone else show up to pray with me.

Well, a prophetess and her friends from a nearby city showed up one evening and prayed for me. The prophetess gave me a tough word. “The Lord is unhappy with you. He doesn’t want you to be this church’s prayer meeting. Every member needs to pray, not just you.”

I quit praying at the church in the mornings and before church services.

Next, a woman phoned and asked me to help her and her husband with their children’s outreach ministry on Thursday evenings. It was a time of teaching, prayer and evangelism. Dozens of kids gave their lives to the Lord through their ministry.

I prayed and felt the Lord wanted me to help her. Ever mindful of Hebrews 13:17, I asked the young pastor if it was okay. He said, “Yes, go ahead.”

As I helped the couple out, they allowed me to give teachings and to pray for anyone and everyone. Soon, the Thursday night meetings mushroomed into a Sunday meeting where I was also able to teach, preach and prophesy.

Now, it wasn’t long before I felt the Lord nudging me to leave the first church and go full-time to the house church. Once again, I asked the young pastor for permission and he said, “Go with my blessing.”

When the two senior pastors returned from their trip to Texas and discovered I had left the church, they called me on the phone. “You’re out of the will of God,” they told me.

“I don’t believe so,” I replied.

“Well, we do,” they said. “Not only are you out of the will of God, but your calling, and maybe even your salvation, will be hindered by leaving our church.”

I said goodbye and hung up.

So, was I totally set free just because I quit attending the prison with a steeple on the roof?

(Continued in Part 10.)

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November 9, 2009 · 7:28 am

“My Journey Out” (Part 16)

moses-parting-red-sea

Click on following for earlier articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14 and Part 15.

Feed My Sheep.

According to the Bible, what do sheep eat?

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. (Psalm 23: 2)

Sheep are herbivores; and thus, in the Bible, sheep graze on grass. No other diet or dietary supplement is mentioned for sheep.

Now, when it comes to comparing the word, or scriptures, to food products, Jesus used the analogy of sowing seed in Mark Chapter 4. The word was the seed and the sower was a type of preacher.

But in the Bible, sheep do not eat wheat or oats, they graze on grass.

In Hebrews 5: 12-14 , the word is referred to as milk and strong meat. And in John 6:48, Jesus refers to Himself as the Bread of Life, and you could make a good case that the Living Word is bread. Milk, meat and bread are certainly foods.

But once again, in the Bible, sheep graze on grass. Period.

If the words Feed My sheep are an analogy signifying that modern pastors are supposed to preach sermons to solemn congregations, then we are stuck with nonsensical mental images. (Remember: every analogy in the Bible is used to give clarity to the reader, not to add confusion.)

So, in order to justify a modern interpretation of Feed My sheep, you would have to envision a pastor walking out to his back lawn, clipping the grass, bagging it, carrying the bags to church, and then, tossing grass out of the bags from the pulpit to bleating, hungry sheep. Not a good mental analogy, right?

Furthermore, there are no supporting verses in the Bible for the interpretation of Feed My sheep as meaning a pastor preaching a sermon to a congregation. None. Zip. Nada. It is a modern tradition which is really a cloud without water, carried along by the winds of time.

But interestingly enough, the answer of what Feed My Sheep truly means is provided by Peter.

(Continued in Part 17.)

Trying To Find My Niche

This is just an announcement to let readers know that beginning today, I plan on writing three articles per week. Most of my scribblings will be series oriented and teachings of sorts, ie My Journey Out, Waiting on the Lord, etc.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy writing editorial, sound-off, give-a-piece-of-my-mind types of articles because I do. It’s just that my particular niche seems to be more along the lines of teaching rather than anything else.

Along with the three articles per week, I need to head back into the discipline of writing books, of which I have taken a detour from for a long time.

So, if you want, stop in on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I’m sure you will sometimes agree with me and sometimes not.

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October 8, 2009 · 7:21 am

Waiting On The Lord, You Know, Just Waiting On Him (Part 5)

The_Thinker,_Auguste_Rodin

Click on the following for earlier articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

So, what can a New Testament believer do to help bring a personal prophetic word to pass in his (or her) life?

C. If The Prophetic Words Are Confirmed, Then What? (Continued)

And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. (Hebrews 11: 32-34)

The above verses in the book of Hebrews point out an important fact: obtaining prophetic promises by faith is akin to warfare. It’s a battle.

Now remember: the Lord is not the one fighting us. He wants His prophetic words to be manifested in our lives, especially about our callings. And He will bankrupt heaven to supply us with whatever we need to obtain them.

So, who is the fight of faith with? Demons and ourselves (the flesh).

This is the command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. (1 Timothy 1:18-19)

What does heaven consider a good fight? Winning the battle. Period.

Let’s consider my personal situation in 1987:

I was an unknown nobody in a small Midwestern town. No money. No car. A marital separation. A 1o’ x 8′ apartment. A minimum wage job at a motel. I walked in all types of weather wherever I had to go. No one believed in me or my calling. And I had no open doors to preach, teach or prophesy, as in none, zilch, nada and zero.

Then, what did the Lord do? He gave me a vision that I would eventually preach, teach and prophesy in large cities and large inner cities of the United States; and I believed in the vision.

Now, I could have said, “Okay, God, I’ll just wait and see if You can do this in my life or not. Who knows, right?” But I didn’t. You see that’s not fighting a good fight, that’s sitting on the sidelines, covering yourself with fear and doubt.

So, what did I do?

I hung a map of the United States on the wall with all of the major cities and the toughest inner cities marked on it. Then, each morning, I would get up and place my hand on the map and proclaim, “Lord, I’m coming to these cities. And I command these cities to open up to me because I’m on my way!”

Then, I walked around my small apartment and proclaimed, “Lord, You called me; I didn’t. And Lord, I’m fully persuaded that You are able to do what You have promised to do. Furthermore, I don’t believe any man or demon can stop You and Your promises. So, unless You kill me, I’m going to preach, teach and prophesy in those cities.”

Nobody heard me or saw my faith while I was doing this. It was strictly between God and me.

I did this for years until I knew that God knew how determined I was to obtain His prophetic promises.

But I did other things, too.

(Continued in Part 6.)

Back of Larry’s Truck

DSCF1681

This is the back of my truck. No signs, no bumper stickers, just a license plate. Sort of boring, huh?

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September 16, 2009 · 9:11 am

Swimming Upstream: “Want To Be A Peacemaker?”

division Throughout my Christian journey, I have failed often and made numerous mistakes. Some of my errors have been catastrophic in size.

But usually, after my failures, I have met people who felt led by the Lord to pray for me during my struggles.

I refer to these intercessors as peacemakers. It was their prayers, along with the grace of God, who prayed me through stormy seas into peaceful, calm waters on the other side of my problems. Without them, I have no doubts I would have ended upon the shoals and rocks, bloodied and destroyed.

Now, America is sailing through stormy waters which could easily scuttle our nation onto the trash heap of forgotten powers, such as Greece, the Roman Empire and the British Empire. To think otherwise and view our political situation as just “politics as usual” is naive and shortsighted.

When George Bush was President, the favor of God was upon him. Yes, he was hated by many; yes, he was victimized by the media; and yes, the church let him down with her faithless praying. But God’s favor bridges over what the enemy dishes out and where saints fail.

Our nation has had no terrorists attacks since September 11, 2001. Period. Enough said, okay?

Now, we have President Barack Obama who has thirty to forty percent of the nation idolizing him and the media bowing down before him. But unlike President Bush, Obama does not have the favor of God upon him.

And what good is man’s favor upon our elected leader when our nation is facing enemies who are backed by demonic powers? Zero! None! Nada! Zilch!

We Christians need to lay our ideological opinions down and begin praying with fervent love and passion for President Obama just as if he were our son. We need to shut our mouths and pray!

It’s a new day in America. And we can no longer depend on a few Houses of Prayer and individual intercessors to carry what is supposed to be a corporate burden for our nation’s welfare. To continue relying on just a few doing the work for all the rest of us will invariably result in dead bodies covering the streets of our cities.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. (Matthew 5:9)

Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s a little of this and a little of that, all written to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian journeys.

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