The Power of Prayer

Bill Wiese author of '23 minutes in Hell' had a younger brother who rejected the Lord almost of his life.  Bill and many family members prayed for his younger brother's conversion, but it was their mother who diligently prayed for 40 years. 

Bill's younger brother just couldn't seem to grasp that GOD was real and that the Lord loved him. Many, too many count episodes of chain smoking, drinking, depression, financial hardships, marked the downward spiral of Bill's younger brothers tumultuous hard knock life.  Finally, having lost everything he had to move into his parents basement which was a degrading low point for Bill's younger brother.  The tight living conditions and lack of employment coupled with no finances increased stress levels for everyone. 

Bill's younger brother hid from the world and his problems in his parents basement.  He continued to drink and chain smoke ignoring his parent's advice and concern, his time in their basement instead of chastising pushed him even further into his apathy and addictions.   Bill's younger brother refused to change in his lifestyle.

Then, one day, unable to shake a serious cold and a constant ache in his chest he finally went to see a Doctor.  That was when he found out he had cancer of the liver, lungs, and throat.  Bill and the rest of his family prayed for him night and day.  They told him repeatedly that God could deliver and heal him if he would only open his heart and accept JESUS CHRIST as his Savior.

He did pray and accept Jesus as his Savior but he still refused to FULLY surrender to JESUS CHRIST as Lord over his ENTIRE life.  As he lay in the hospital bed both his body and his mind were riddled with despair.  As his body began to shut down his mom kept a vigil never leaving his side.  She was herculean in her angelic acre for her youngest son.  Around the clock she assailed heaven with non-stop prayers.  She knew the power of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, she knew that Almighty GOD loves her youngest son so much HE sent HIS only begotten Son JESUS CHRIST to die on the cross so that her youngest boy might live. 

Finally, the end came for him and in his last two days he slipped into a coma.  With his entire family by his bed side, hand in hand, matching prayer for prayer, they shook the gates of Heaven on his behalf.  His mom said, leading them on..."If he can't pray for himself then we will pray for him." And...pray they did, for 36 hours straight, taking a break only to get a sip of water or to use the rest room.  Then, it happened....

His body hanging on by a thread, deep in an unrecoverable coma, he suddenly bolted straight up and shouted from the depth of his being.....

“Thank you, Jesus!” 

With that he lay down and the heart monitor went silent.  Glory to Almighty GOD who NEVER lets the righteous go forsaken! JESUS CHRIST had heard the prayers of Bill, his devout mother, and the rest of the Wiese family.   An awesome miracle of eternal joy allowed Bill's younger brother to glorify our Father who art in Heaven by letting his mother, Bill, and the rest of the family know that he had finally surrendered his heart to Jesus.  BY his great joy Bill says he knows that our Lord answered his younger brothers cry by accepting him into the Kingdom of our Father in Heaven.

Halleluiah

God is a loving and merciful Father.  Bill Wiese, his mother and the rest of the family never gave up believing that JESUS CHRIST hears our prayers and answers the righteous in due course. They never gave up and they never quit praying.  The Saint's of old called this praying through.  That is, praying, no matter how long, till you get an answer.  It may not be the answer we want, but it will be the answer that in GOD'S perfect eyes will be the best for us. 

Praise be to JESUS CHRIST who NEVER lets the righteous go forsaken...

Ahn Ei Sook a Korean Saint

  This is a biography of a woman living in Korea (before Korea was divided into the North and South, and was under a Japanese occupation.), who was imprisoned in prison camps for her faith, refusing to bow down to Japanese idol worship.

Her life is filled with God's interventions, and her faith-filled decision to go to the parliament (Diet)of Japan to speak out against the injustice of persecution of Christians is truly inspiring.

She spoke out against the mighty Imperial Japanese Army at the height of it's powers and warned them that if they didn't turn from their FALSE shinto gods that the TRUE GOD of Heaven and Earth would judge Japan by Fire and Sulfur from the sky.  The Japanese laughed at her and arrested her, mocking her for her folly. After all, the Japanese ruled the entire pacific from China to Korea and all the Islands in between.  Even America in 1938 was afraid of the mighty Japanese Naval power.

Fast forward 7 years and the very parliament building where she warned the Japanese to turn from their idolatrous ways was burned to the ground by the American Air-force which fire bombed the entire city.  Then, just as GOD had spoke through Ahn E. Sook the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima were vaporized by sulfurous fire from the sky.

When the word of GOD goes forth nothing can stand in it's way or alter its course!

Ahn E. Sook stood alone among thousands of kneeling people. Her bold defiance of the tyrannical demand to bow to pagan Japanese shrines condemned her to a living death in the filth and degradation of a Japanese prison. This brave woman remained faithful to Christ in the face of brutality, oppression, and ruthlessness of her captors. The story of how she won many of her fellow prisoners to Christ in the most deplorable conditions is an inspiration to all.

I just finished this book nearly in one sitting.  I could not put it down.  The sheer strength and determination of this tiny 90lb Korean Saint was mesmerizing.  Her weakness was overwhelming and she was terrified, yet she kept one tiny foot in front of the other and kept moving forward in GOD'S will.  She was unsure of herself, she worried, and felt the gripping hand on fear on her shoulder every day.  She KNEW that what she was called to do would end up with her in prison and most likely dead.  Yet, she pushed forward, sure that every turn the Japanese were going to kill her.

She accepted death in the service to our Lord JESUS CHRIST, but like most human beings it was the pain and torture that she feared most.  It was not that she sought to avoid hardship, it was the fear that during terrible physical suffering she would fail our Lord JESUS CHRIST. 

I recommend this book and more then that I recommend Ahn E. Sook as a role model for young ladies everywhere.

The Stages Of Sin From St. Bernard Of Clairvaux

There are just times when a saint speaks and one is stunned by the insight, the piercing analysis, like a surgeon’s scalpel dividing diseased from healthy tissue. Such is a quote from St. Bernard that Ralph Martin references in his Book “The Fulfillment of all desires.”


In this quote Bernard analyzes the descent into the increasing darkness of sin experienced by those who do not turn back, who refuse to hear the call to repent. And not individuals only, but, I would argue, cultures too.

St. Bernard’s quote is powerful as only the truth of GOD can be... Here is the full quote:

If this cold once penetrates the soul when (as so often happens) the soul is neglectful and the spirit asleep and if no one (God forbid) is there to curb it, then it reaches into the soul’s interior, descends to the depths of the heart and the recesses of the mind, paralyzes the affections, obstructs the paths of counsel, unsteadies the light of judgment, fetters the liberty of the spirit, and soon – as appears to bodies sick with fever – a rigor of the mind takes over.

Vigor slackens, energies grow languid, repugnance for austerity increases, fear of poverty disquiets, the soul shrivels, grace is withdrawn, time means boredom, reason is lulled to sleep, the spirit is quenched, the fresh fervor wanes away, a fastidious lukewarmness weighs down, brotherly love grows cold, pleasure attracts, security is a trap, old habits return. Can I say more?

The law is cheated, justice is rejected, what is right is outlawed, the fear of the Lord is abandoned. Shamelessness finally gets free rein. There comes that rash leap, so dishonorable, so disgraceful, so full of ignominy and confusion; a leap from the heights into the abyss, from the court-yard to the dung-heap, from the throne to the sewer, from heaven to the mud, from the cloister to the world, from paradise to hell. (sermon 63.6b on the Song of Songs, The Fox in the Vineyard).


Translated into more modern language By: Msgr. Charles Pope...


1. If this cold once penetrates the soul when (as so often happens) the soul is neglectful and the spirit asleep - For it too easily happens that we are morally or spiritually asleep. And this provides doorways for the evil one, for the world, the flesh, and the devil. Jesus warns, Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matt 26:41). And yet we love to sleep. We also love to anesthetize ourselves with alcohol, drugs, and other diversions. Jesus says in one of the parables that he sowed good seed in his field, But while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away (Matt 13:25). We love to sleep. Bad stuff happens when we are spiritually and morally asleep.


2. And if no one (God forbid) is there to curb it, then it reaches into the soul’s interior, descends to the depths of the heart and the recesses of the mind - If we are smart, we walk in spiritual company with the Church, and with close spiritual friends and spiritual leaders in the Church. Even if, at times we get sleepy, they rouse us and warn us. But too many do not do this and if they pray at all they are lone rangers and many drift from or discount the voice of the Church and family members. Thus, in our weakness there is no one, by our own fault, to warn us, or if some one does, we ignore or ridicule them. Thus the darkness of sin reaches deeper into our interior.
 

3. Paralyzes the affections, - our desires being to go awry first. Our desire for spiritual things is shutting down.


4. Obstructs the paths of counsel, The darkness of sin makes good counsel seem difficult at first, obnoxious later. For example, one may begin to wonder, “Why does it matter if I go to Mass or not? What’s the big deal….Why is looking at a little porn so bad….why is the Church so “uptight” about stuff?”


5. Unsteadies the light of judgment - Severed from good counsel our judgments become poor and self serving.


6. fetters the liberty of the spirit - The (human) spirit is that part of us that opens us to God, that delights in the truth and in goodness. But as the flesh begins to dominate, the spirit’s influence is diminished and its “liberty” to move within us to draw us to the good, true and beautiful, is hindered.


7. And soon – as appears to bodies sick with fever – a rigor of the mind takes over: – Our thoughts become distorted, stinking thinking begins to masquerade as sensible. As St. Paul says of the Gentiles of his time that, having suppressed the truth, they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools (Rom 1:21-22)


8. Vigor slackens - What was once virtuous, i.e. a good habit and easy to do, now seems hard and one lacks strength or vigor to do good.


9. Energies grow languid - Without the enthusiasm of an alive spirit infused with grace we begin to lack the energy to do what is good and right. It all seems so much harder, so much effort!


10. Repugnance for austerity increases - As the spirit goes more into a coma and the flesh becomes more demanding, any limits to pleasure make us wince and get angry. It is almost like a gluttony wherein  the stomach is stretched and must have a bigger meal each time to satisfy. Never, satisfied, the flesh demands more and more, and any notion of limits causes anger and avoidance.


11. Fear of poverty disquiets – The more we get, the more we have to lose and the less secure we feel. The world and the flesh now have in their grip through fear. Poverty is freeing, but wealth enslaves. You can’t steal from a man who has nothing to lose, you can’t intimidate him. But a rich person, a person rooted in the world has too much to lose and is thus disquieted by even the most benign of threats. The laborer’s sleep is sweet, whether he has eaten little or much; but the rich man’s wealth will not let him sleep at all. (Eccles  4:11)

 
12. The soul shrivels - Just as any part of the body which is underused begins to atrophy (weaken and shrink) so too the soul and its faculties, increasingly unused, recede, grow weak and go dormant.


13. Grace is withdrawn - as sin grows serious, now mortal sin robs the soul of graces.


14. Time means boredom - without spiritual insight, boredom is sure to follow. Nothing has real meaning. Even the delights of the flesh, now so demanded, fail to satisfy. Scripture says regarding a soul in this state: All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor is the ear filled with hearing. That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun (Eccles 1:8-9)


15. Reason is lulled to sleep - foolish thinking is not seen for what it is. One cannot follow the path of simple logic or reason because the flesh feel threatened by it. Sins of the flesh are not the most serious of sins (sins of the spirit are) but they are the most disgraceful because of their capacity to cloud the mind.


16. The spirit is quenched - The human spirit becomes increasingly dead.


17. The fresh fervor wanes away - Even good days, spiritually speaking are fewer and fewer.


18. A fastidious lukewarmness weighs down - one actually begins to cultivate mediocrity, compromise and to celebrate it as open-minded, tolerant and avoiding “extremes.”


19. Brotherly love grows cold - Was it Camus or Sartre who said, “Hell is other people.” Yes, sin is growing very deep now, the world is closing in on an increasingly petty object: “Me.”


20. Pleasure attracts - It always has, but now inordinately and with greater and greater power.

21. Security is a trap - In other words it is a lie. This world is a thief. It takes back everything, no matter what the John Hancock Insurance Co. says. But increasingly the sinful soul prefers lies to truth, even knowing deep down that they are lies.


22. Old habits return - If one had made progress in virtue, now it erodes.


23. Can I say more? The law is cheated – In other words, legalism and minimalism becomes a tactic. One seeks the “least expensive” interpretation of everything, parses words, and uses every trick to see how the clearly manifest will of God is either not clear, does not apply or how it can be observed in the most perfunctory of ways. One will often collect experts to tickle their ears. Whatever it takes to cheat the law, skirt the edges and reinterpret clear norms.


24. Justice is rejected – After cheating the law the next step down is just to reject it outright. The person does not care what God says. They now begin to exult the imperial autonomous self saying in effect that they will do what they want and they will decide if it is right or wrong.


25. What is right is outlawed, - next comes trying to outlaw others from proclaiming the truth. Call what they say “hate speech” fine them, arrest them make them answer in court. Banish the truth from schools and the public square. Demonize and criminalize all possible ways of proclaiming the truth.


26. The fear of the Lord is abandoned - The delusion that one will never face consequences of judgement for what they do is embraced. They will answer to God, but they deny it and are permitted a very deep delusion that they will never have to answer for what they do.


27. Shamelessness finally gets free rein Things that ought to cause shame, and used to do so are now celebrated. Scripture laments them saying, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them (Rom 1:32). The celebration of sin, even the exultation of it as virtue shows that the darkness is now complete, the fall reaches as cracking and crushing thud. St Bernard describes it this way:
Make no mistake, there is no life in sin, no matter how sexy it is, no matter how good it makes you feel. 

Sin is Death

To often you hear, but I love her she completes me. I'm proud to be a Lesbian...

Sin is Death

We are all gods and we have to answer to no one but ourselves...

Sin is Death

Men should be allowed to marry other men and sleep with as many men as they desire...

Sin is Death  

There is no life in death, no love in hell, there is only eternal separation from GOD

Sin is Death

Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) to Outlaw Christianity

The bill currently in Congress called the “Employment Non-Discrimination Act,” or ENDA ­ passed the U.S. Senate on Thursday by a vote of 64-32. Ten Republicans disgracefully joined liberal Democrats in this effort to ultimately outlaw all forms of Christianity in the work place. 

 According to Homosexual Lobby in Washington ENDA would merely insulate people who choose to engage in homosexual conduct (sexual orientation) or those who suffer from gender confusion (gender identity) against employment intolerance. 

The truth is ENDA would the Homosexual agenda down Americans throats with the full force of the Federal government. 

Homosexual radio personality Michelangelo Signorile confessed that, of any potential ENDA legislation that might reach President Obama’s desk for his pledged signature,  "should include any religious exemptions."

 If Signorile and other “LGBT” activists get their way, this would mean that churches, synagogues, and religious schools, Bible bookstores, as well as any and every other business in America with 15 or more employees, would be forced, under penalty of law, 
to abandon the biblical Family values.  Christian values would be  forced underground by threat of imprisonment.  While those who wish to have sex with young boy, underage girls, animals, men with men or women with women would be allowed to flaunt their sexuality and godlessness through out the work day.

 AND...

If at any point, for any reason some one would dare ask these sexually deviants to reign in their overt sexuality that business and it's employees would risk serious Financial penalties and or jail time.

In its current form ENDA contains EXTREMELY weak religious exemptions.  The second that ENDA becomes law the homosexual lobby plans to close that loop hole.  The reason for the vague and easily removable exception is to lure in the Christian churches and business into a false sense of fair play.   This easily removable exemption, even if left in the bill, would leave most others ­ such as the aforementioned Bible bookstores and many Christian schools and para-church organizations ­ entirely unprotected. It would additionally crush individual business owners’ guaranteed First Amendment rights.

 Although Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., attempted to amend the bill to strengthen religious protections, his amendment was shot down 55-43. Unbelievably, he betrayed the American people once again and voted for ENDA anyway.

 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on the other hand, wasn’t even considerate enough to feign concern for the First Amendment. He promised homosexual pressure groups that Democrats would remove all protections for Christians and other people of faith on the flipside ­ after ENDA passed.

 The homosexual news site Washington Blade reports that homosexual activist Derek Washington of “GetEqual” confirmed Reid’s promise. In a conference call with homosexual activists a week earlier, Washington admitted that Reid plotted and said “the main thing to do was get the vote taken care of, and then deal with the meaningless exception later. As often times happens, you have to pretend to be nice until you don't have to be nice anymore..."

What REID is really saying is..."pass the bill, then once it's LAW we can change the language, to say, and do, anything we want.  By then it's too late for the Christians..."


 According to the Blade, “That account was corroborated by Faiz Shakir, a Reid spokesperson, who said the Democratic leader understands the concerns, but wants to get the bill passed first, then go back and remove the exemptions.”

This is all about criminalizing Christianity! There will come a day in the very near future where, just like in Canada and the European Union, it will be illegal to preach the BIBLE, to quote from GOD'S word, or to even intimate that there is a GOD...

 
 ENDA represents government-sanctioned viewpoint discrimination, plain and simple. It is no different from forcing a deeply religious business owner to hire and accommodate an “out and proud” homosexual pedophile” It directly alienates the unalienable rights of people of faith. It pits the government directly against the free exercise of religion and is, therefore, unconstitutional on its face. Which means NOTHING to this administration.


 President Obama ­ has vociferously endorsed the bill and promises to sign it into law should it pass both houses of Congress. 


 Chai Feldblum is a lesbian activist who, in the past, has publicly supported legalized polygamy and bisexual polyamory. She is Obama’s recess-appointed commissioner to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). As ENDA’s chief framer, Ms. Feldblum would be charged with its ENDA'S brutal Financial enforcement. 


Ms. Feldblum and staunch homosexual activists has repeatedly intimated by her many pro-homosexual views that  religious freedom and unfettered sexual debauchery cannot possibly coexist in her new modern America. 

 When asked about the Christian business owner or religious organization that morally objects to hiring people openly engaged in the homosexual lifestyle, Ms. Feldblum snapped: “Gays win, Christians lose.” 

And where Americans’ constitutionally guaranteed right to religious liberty comes into conflict with the homosexual agenda Ms. Feldblum has admitted having “a hard time coming up with any case where Christianity should win.”

Waking Up In Heaven by Crystal McVea

 

The former teacher remembers being in the hospital on Dec. 10, 2009. After accidentally overdosing her on pain medication, doctors called a code blue and worked on McVea for seven to nine minutes, all while her mother watched in horror as her daughter lay dying.

“I remember almost every detail. I remember being in the bed. My mother was at my feet and I remember starting to drift off — and I remember opening my eyes and telling her that I loved her,” McVea recalled. “I remember just closing my eyes in that bed and I opened them and I was standing in the most beautiful tunnel of light I could ever describe.”

McVea said she instantly knew she was in heaven. The difference within her was noticeably profound. Negative feelings and emotions were gone and she said it was as though all knowledge had been instantly downloaded to her brain.

“On Earth I was chained with human emotions like shame and guilt,” she told TheBlaze. “I had an abortion as a teenager. After that abortion I thought, ‘I’ve done it now — if he was real, he could never love me now.’”

But in heaven those thoughts were suddenly gone. McVea said while she knew she was dead, she was overtaken by a level of happiness she had never felt.

She also soon realized she wasn’t alone.

“I had two angels standing to my left whom I recognized as angels immediately … they took on vaguely human shapes,” she said, describing them as emitting an amber light.

She recalls communicating with the angels, but that she didn’t need to use words to do so; it was as though they all could telepathically and effortlessly speak with one another

It didn’t take long to realize that there was a third figure nearby. To her right, McVea said she recognized God. After years of lamenting over his existence and wondering why he would have allowed her to suffer through sexual abuse at such a young age, as well as other challenges, she said she instantly fell before him in worship.

“What I saw and felt was just this beautiful, radiant, glowing light. That’s the only word I can even think to decide it,” she told TheBlaze. “But I was very aware that I was in front of the presence of the one true God. I’m a Christian. I believe it was the presence of the father, and the son and the Holy Spirit.”

McVea loved heaven so much in those moments that she had no urge to return to earth. But she says the Almighty gave her a choice.

“In that instance … God showed me my four children and he told me I could go back and be their mother or I could stay there,” she remembered. “For the first time in my life I chose God … I chose to stay with him. I’m so glad that he allowed me to remember that.”

As God, the angels and McVea moved toward the light, she says God told her that the decision was final and once they crossed through she wouldn’t be able to go back. At the time, she felt completely comfortable with this choice.

As they continued toward heaven’s gate, she said God showed her something she’ll never forget: He conjured the image of a little girl laughing and playing — a child that McVea felt intensely moved by.

“My spirit could not contain all the love I had for her. When I looked back down at her, I recognized her as me,” she said.

McVea believes God wanted her to know that he never abandoned her even in her darkest hours, so he showed her herself at the age of 3 — before sexual abuse forever changed her life. The love McVea felt while looking at herself, she believes, is the same compassion and care God has always had for her. The experience allowed her to see herself through God’s eyes and, as a result, healing took place.

As they were approaching the gate at the end of the tunnel, McVea said she suddenly heard her mother scream her name. As a result, she was instantly filled with compassion and asked God if she could return briefly to tell her mother she was OK. God again gave her a choice.

“I just felt such pity (for my mom) and I turned around to find her voice — and (God) said, ‘Tell them what you can remember,’” she recalled, noting that she responded, “I’ll remember everything and I’ll be right back.”

McVea suddenly opened her eyes and found herself surrounded by nurses, doctors — and her grieving mother. As they bombarded her with questions to ensure she was alert, McVea said she kept trying to drift away back to the tunnel, but was unable.

“I felt trapped,” she said of her inability to escape back to the afterlife.

 "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love him."  1 Corinthians 2:9