Who Ya Gonna Call? (Pt. 1)

By Jim Bakker | | Filed in "Now" Words | Tags:

The beginning of my book, “The Refuge” starts with a fictional story about a young couple’s struggles for the necessities of life when things begin to fall apart in our world as we know it.  It was a very real possibility over14 years ago when I wrote “The Refuge” and today it’s more than a possibility, it’s more like a harbinger, a warning of things to come.  As you read this story, I hope you can see the wisdom in preparing for such a scenario as well as being a part of a Christian community.  This is a 12-part series.  Jim

“How long do you think the power will be out this time?” Christine asked pensively. “I’m afraid our food in the refrigerator is going to spoil.” READ MORE →

God Loves to Come Full-Circle – Mourning to Joy

By Lori Bakker | | Filed in Abortion, Motherhood, Teaching | Tags: , ,

When I was young and foolish, I destroyed the ability that God gave me to be a Mother.  I suffered tremendously because of my decisions back then, especially as I matured and realized what I had done.  I had wanted to be a Mother since I was a young girl.  I loved to play with dolls and play that I was a Mother, even from the very early years of my life.  To have that taken away from me was devastating, and I grieved over it for a long, long time and still do at times.

But God has a plan for all of His people that does not include grief and sorrow.  Instead of the ashes of my barren life, God gave me 5 beautiful children to love and raise.  He is a God that loves to restore and bring your life full-circle back to what He intended for you from the beginning.  He loves to give you beauty for ashes, and He will when you love Him and seek Him with all your heart.

I love the beauty for ashes verses in the Bible.  Isaiah 61 reads like my own personal memoirs from God:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me”…oh yes, it is!  He has given me His Spirit!

“Because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor” …oh yes, He has!  I preach whenever I get a chance that God has a better life for you to live, God has a better plan and He will show you that you don’t have to be poor in spirit; you don’t have to grieve over past sin and past hurts your entire life.

“He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted” …oh yes, He has!  I love to tell people that God is not mad at them!  He does not hold sin against you when you are brokenhearted over it yourself!  He wants to heal your heart, and heal your spirit.  He wants you to come full-circle and back around to what He intended for your life from the start.

“To proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound” …you see, just as God has a plan for your life from the very beginning, in this fallen world we have an enemy in the devil, and He will do everything he can to steal, kill and destroy the plan of God for you.  Sometimes we succumb to the enemy and he gets us all bound up in sin and unable to get free.  But God knows how to get us free and He will do it!  Once you get free of the enemy’s grasp, you can’t stop telling of the Lord’s freedom!  I will never stop telling people that you too can be free!  You too can be out of the prison of sin and free from its effects!

“To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God” …God said that vengeance belonged to Him alone.  God loves to put the devil in his place.  I like to think of the big hand of God just smacking the devil away as we repent, love God, praise Him, and thank Him for His loving kindness!   When we do this, a miracle occurs;  God exacts his vengeance through us, the born again ones,  in the form of FAITH.  Faith in God destroys the enemy!  When you believe God, and you resist the devil – He has to flee!

“To comfort all who mourn,  to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” …there it is!  This is what God will do for all of His people who come to Him heavy laden with sin!  As soon as you repent and give your heart to God, He starts bringing your life full-circle back to where He intended you to be.  He takes the stick that the devil beat you with and hands it to you so that you can beat the devil back.  Your mess becomes your message, your test becomes your testimony!  You can’t stop telling about the goodness of God and His restoration of all parts of you;  that child that loved to play Mommy, that little boy that loved to preach, that teen-ager who wanted to change the world for Christ…. When the devil comes in like a flood, God raises a standard against him.  God’s standard is truth and justice.

“For I, the Lord, love justice” …

There are many out there who are broken-hearted over sin.  You have gone down a wrong path and you want desperately to turn around.  You can do it today.  You can be restored to everything God intended for your from the beginning.  You can come full-circle in your life.  God can bring you right back to where you need to be.  Call out to Him.  Come to Him and you will see that His arms are wide open and He is ready and waiting for you.  He loves you and He hasn’t changed His mind about you.  He will receive you and He will comfort you and restore you.  He will give you beauty for ashes, and joy instead of mourning!

Jesus is the Bridge

By Jim Bakker | | Filed in Uncategorized | Tags: , ,

The Bible says that if we say we are without sin, we are fooling ourselves and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8, Romans 3:10, James 3:2).  There have been times in my life that I needed great grace and even now, today, I am an imperfect man.  I have sinned – I am a sinner – no doubt about it.

This grace I need has a name – and his name is Jesus.  Jesus is the bridge that connects us, even though we are sinners, to our Father God.  It took two pieces of wood and three nails to build this bridge.  It’s a holy bridge – one of supreme sacrifice for our sins.

I need Jesus – and I need His Grace on a daily basis.  I remember a time when I thought I had sinned so badly that even Jesus had left me.  But in my darkest hours, He assured me that He would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER leave me nor forsake me (Hebrews 13:5).  I am His, and He is mine – and nothing will ever change that fact.

Yet, I am mystified that there are other Christians who want to blow up this bridge of forgiveness and reconciliation to our Father – a bridge that they themselves or maybe someone very close to them may need to cross over sometime in their lives.

There are people who want to condemn others who have sinned, and think themselves better off because their particular sin is not the one they are condemning.  Most often, when the perspective changes to yourself or others you love, the bridge will be in tact.

As soon as pride lifts its head, especially in the area of who and what the Blood of Jesus will or will not cover, you can be sure that Grace will much more abound (Romans 5:20).

Don’t blow up a bridge that you, yourself, or your loved one may need to cross at some point in their lives.  Others have crossed over this bridge, and it is on the road to their salvation.

If we need one thing in the End Times, it’s Grace and Love.  And we ALL need the Bridge by which we can be forgiven – Jesus.

Love,

Jim's Signature Mailchimp

The Proverbs 31 Woman Prepares!

By Lori Bakker | | Filed in Teaching | Tags: , ,

Not many people think of the Proverbs 31 woman with a characteristic of being prepared for emergencies or natural disasters.  But, the Bible does bear out that this woman, the example of a virtuous woman for all generations,  does indeed prepare ahead of time for any situation.

The society we live in doesn’t really assign much value to a virtuous woman – but God does.  That’s why we have a context in the 31st chapter of Proverbs to help us understand what real virtue looks like.

First, this woman is a thinker.  She has her priorities in order and  she pays attention to the things she knows are right – those things which are beneficial for herself and her family.  And I’m going to add here, since we’re 21st century Christians, she also knows her Bible and she bases her life on its precepts.

When I’ve done all I can do, then I will rest in the Lord.    I have always said “faith without works is dead.”  While others say they will just trust in the Lord – I believe we should act on our faith.

James 2:17,18 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

While television, movies and magazines will try to convince today’s woman that her priorities lie in looking good and a variety of other petty issues – the Proverbs 31 woman knows that beauty fades and charm is deceiving, but her strength is in her virtuous character.

Oh, I know what you’re thinking…. but Lori, you always look so ‘put together.’  Ladies, when you see me on television, that’s not really me.  The real me has her hair in a pony tail with a baseball cap on, and no makeup!  And I know you’ve heard Jim tell on the air that my favorite thing to do is clean the house!  It’s true!

But one thing that is constantly on my mind is emergency preparedness.  Why?  Because I believe we’re living in the Days of Revelation and it’s only a matter of time before some catastrophe or event challenges our status quo lifestyle.  I’m not afraid of what’s ahead, but I do respect the warnings in the Bible that there will be Times of Trouble.

I don’t know exactly what this ‘trouble’ may be, but I’m not going to take chances with the lives of the ones I love.  It’s my responsibility to see to it that my family has their best chance of survival when a catastrophe hits.  If I can alleviate any of their suffering, why wouldn’t I?  I believe that’s why the Bible tells us ahead of time that these things are coming…. so that we can prepare!

“She looks well to the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness.” Proverbs 31:27

“She is not afraid of the snow for her household, For all her household are clothed with scarlet.” Proverbs 31:21

“Strength and dignity are her clothing, And she smiles at the future.”
Proverbs 31:25

Surrounded by your Enemies

By Jim Bakker | | Filed in Last Days, Teaching | Tags: ,

In the Last Days, the Bible says that Israel will be surrounded by her enemies on all sides (Luke 19:43, Zechariah 12:3, Luke 21:20).  We’ve all seen this play out in the news every day.  Israel is indeed surrounded by her enemies, and we can be sure that without God’s divine hand upon her and His covenant that He established long ago with her, she would have little chance of survival in such a hostile environment.

When the agenda by your neighbors is to “wipe you off the map,” there is little peace or time for carelessness.  Indeed, Israel is ‘on guard’ every hour of every day.  She has a solidarity among her people that is based in survival.  They know that they must stand together in unity and they have united together under Prime Minister Netanyahu to speak with one voice.

Lately, in our world, all of Christianity has felt the same encircling by the enemies of Christ.  The antichrist spirit is at work in our nation and in our world.  Christians are coming under persecution by a world system that is moving rapidly towards not just a secular mindset, but a full-fledged antichrist agenda.  What is the antichrist agenda?  It is to rid the world of Christ and to eradicate all Christians.

Of course, this is not going to happen, but as the Last Days play out, Christians will feel more and more surrounded by their enemies and we will need each other to make it through the offensive this is mounting.  It’s even more important to remember that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities, and rulers of high places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

You would think that it would be easy for Christians to know their enemies, and to know the spirit of the antichrist by which they operate, but it’s not all that clear-cut.   Sometimes, it’s the enemy within that challenges the plan of God for His Church and His People in the Last Days.  Have you noticed that instead of a great coming together in the End Times against a common enemy (like Israel has done), Christians today are fighting each other with a fierceness that is very disturbing?

I’m convinced that a major strategy of the devil in the Last Days is to ‘divide and conquer’ God’s Church.  There’s no better way to do that than to convince each group or individual that they alone are the holders of the entirety of God’s truth, and that the rest of the Christians who hold differing viewpoints are all enemies.

In a paraphrase of a famous line:  “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

Our Prayers Live On

By Lori Bakker | | Filed in General, Teaching | Tags:

Prayer is an often misunderstood topic for a lot of people.  Some people think that for prayer to be effective, it has to be done a certain way.  There is much written and taught on the subject of prayer.

I’ve always taken the simple approach to prayer.  Heartfelt prayer can never be done wrong.  You won’t offend God by praying from your heart in the manner you choose.  Sometimes prayer can only be expressed in tears that flow from a broken place inside.

I know that there have been times when I have had no words for the things that  I took to God… but He knew.  There are times when I’ve seen women wail and cry out, indescribable grief and travail that only He could understand.

I also remember my Grandmother and Mother praying for me and not giving up – even when I ran from God for so many years.  Those prayers didn’t fall on the deaf ears of an uncaring God.  No, they were all saved as they rose up to God.

In the Book of Revelation, chapter 5, verse 8, John writes, “And as he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense — the prayers of God’s people! (NLT)

David, in Psalm 56, verse 8, writes this of the Lord: “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” (NLT)

Tears in Scripture play a unique role in spiritual prayer.  This passage, along with numerous others in Scripture regarding a spirit of brokenness, pictures a variety of reasons and functions related to what might be termed “the ministry of tears,” a ministry Charles H. Spurgeon defined as “liquid prayer.”

Don’t ever think that your prayers are just here and gone and that God forgets.  Your prayers do, in fact, live on in the spirit realm.  If you have petitioned God for something that is in keeping with His will, your prayers rise as incense to a loving God, and He saves them until such time that He works all things together to accomplish His will and purposes for you and through you and your loved ones.

Even if your prayers are just tears – God hears and understands, and your prayers live on in Heaven.

Whatever you’re going to do… do it NOW!

By Jim Bakker | | Filed in "Now" Words, Last Days, Prophecy | Tags: , , , , , , ,

It is an amazing time to be living as the Bible’s Last Days events are taking place on a daily basis. Earthquakes have increased and even tornados have quadrupled!  This should not scare us but reassure us that the Bible is true!  Jesus said when all these things take place, He will take us, who believe in Him, to a home He has prepared for us!

Whatever we are going to do for Christ, NOW is the time to do it. Israel is God’s Time Clock and the alarm is telling us we are near earth shaking events. The AP news service declares; “U.S. Intelligence Officials say Israel won’t warn the U.S. if they decide to launch a preemptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.”

Iran has declared their goal is to wipe all Jews off the face of the earth including those in the United States and around the world!  Israel is surrounded by her enemies, just as the Bible says that they would be in the Last Days. We could be one bomb away from an Armageddon!

This is just one of the reasons Lori and I and all of us at Morningside are preparing for the Last Days great harvest time!  We are enlarging our school and adding a new production studio to reach the youth of the world. Our new ministry and food storage center, with housing for visitors coming for teaching and encouragement and a safe place in Times of Trouble, is under construction. The steel has arrived for this important building we call Morningside Old Mill Inn, which by the way, will house even a tornado-proof shelter for residents and visitors.

Lori and I are not only storing more food at Morningside and doing more to help our friends and faith partners get ready, we are adding to our personal storage for our family! The Bible even says that a person is a fool who sees trouble coming and does not prepare!  We believe what Jesus said would come to pass, will come to pass! And what Jesus told John to write down in the book of Revelation is coming to pass NOW!  Remember tribulation simply means pressure!  WOW, are we already there!

Why are we preparing this City of Refuge with power generators and its own food and water supply? It is to encourage and teach God’s Word, and store and grow food, and save babies, and train young and old alike, and to broadcast the Gospel around the world 24 hours a day!

I will give you just a few reasons why I am storing more food right NOW!  The number one reason is that I have spent the last two decades studying the Bible and focusing on the book of Revelation, researching in the Greek each word of this amazing book one word at a time and I am totally convinced we are living in Revelation Days NOW!  The “Four Horseman of the Apocalypse” are not only out of the barn but they are beginning to gallop throughout the world!

The number two reason why I am storing more food and have even put in emergency power into our home is America has turned her back on God!  The Harbinger warnings from God before Israel was destroyed have all taken place in the United States!  It was ten years after the bricks fell that Israel was destroyed and we are in the tenth year since 9/11!  Read Rabbi Cahn’s book, “The Harbinger” if you do not know of this important warning from God to America!  2012 is not the end of the world like many are saying, but as Rick Joyner has said, it may be the end of the world as we know it!

The third reason is that Jesus says in Matthew 24, that a sign of His return is there will be “no food to eat,” and there will be earthquakes all over the place!  In case of earthquakes or hurricanes or tornadoes or lack of food or riots or power failures, do you have a plan where you will go and where will your family meet if all phone lines and phone towers are down?  Iran plans to explode an Electric Magnetic bomb over America shutting down all transportation that has motors and our electric grid system. Do you agree it is time for America to turn back to God?  Our only safe place is in Jesus Christ;  He will never leave us or forsake us! The Bible says, “Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord!”

It’s time to prepare food and water, for this is key to sustaining life!   Look over our food offers and get ready NOW!  One day it will be too late!

What do you think the Bible means when it says “In the Last Days perilous times will come?” Perilous means difficult, dangerous, furious and reducing the strength!  Are these difficult days?  Dangerous days?  Are people furious and has even the strength of America been reduced?  The warning signs of God’s prophetic words are flashing NOW!  Will you heed them and be ready?

Don’t be afraid – be ready!  Get your food ready for your family and have some for others too!  We can’t give them Jesus until we give them food first!

Remember that we love you and God loves you, He really does!

Jim's Signature Mailchimp

Master’s Media Kids Need Our Support

By Jim Bakker | | Filed in "Now" Words, Ministry Updates | Tags: ,

Right now, we are focusing on our Master’s Media kids and preparing them to “go ye” into all the world with the Gospel of Jesus.  This can’t happen unless you and I, the older generation, gets behind these kids with our prayers and our finances.

You know, the world doesn’t really look like the world we knew as teenagers.  Before, in the traditional church, we sent missionaries to occupy and evangelize other nations and other places that had not heard the Gospel.  Now, we find that our nation is one of the top mission fields of the world.  We need to embrace a new breed of missionary that knows how to “go” in a new way.  We are doing this with our Master’s Media kids.  We are embracing the technology and their way of evangelizing.

The way we evangelize, especially to the new generation, must be a way that can reach these kids that they understand.  Most kids are not coming to church – they can’t relate to church.  So we need to go get them.  We need to find a way to reach them with Jesus, and it’s not going to be by traditional means.  It’s going to be different – it’s going to be through social media and other web-related technologies.

You see, it has all changed from when you and I were young.  Back then, the social environment didn’t include a world-wide spectrum.  It only included those in your home town and maybe a few close neighboring towns.  Today, kids are influenced by many, many voices world-wide.  Most of those voices are not the ones they should be listening to – but they’re out there, influencing our kids.  Our voice needs to be out there too – dispelling the lies that they’re hearing from every imaginable source.

Here at Morningside, we are busy training young people, and getting them prepared to evangelize in their own way.  We have just remodeled the Tabernacle into a state-of-the-art studio for them to use to creatively produce Christian programs that other kids will see, world-wide.  We have ordered brand new cameras that are dedicated to the school and the student’s work.  We have just launched a new website built for them to express their faith and give their testimonies (see generationNOWiptv.com).   This week, we are taking them all to Dallas, Texas for a Master’s Commission conference.

For those of us who are older, our job is not done – we must support this new generation, not only with our prayers, but with our means. There are many ways to do this.  You can call our Customer Service department at 417-779-9000 or 1-888-988-1588 and:  (1) give a one-time donation for scholarship funding; (2) you can specify support funds for a particular student. We can leave no greater legacy than to support the next generation in their work for the Lord.  Let’s get behind them.

We can leave no greater legacy than to support the next generation in their work for the Lord.

Love,

Jim's Signature Mailchimp

God Save Me!

By Jim Bakker | | Filed in Last Days | Tags: , , , ,

You only have to look around you to see that things are coming apart in today’s world, quickly!  Every day we read and hear things that are pointing to dire days ahead.  Sometimes I don’t even recognize this country in which we live.  One news article I read today said that the ‘new’ American dream was renting a home.  Remember when the American dream was actually owning a home?

But that issue is minor compared to what’s happening in our world at large.  Governments are being overturned.  Israel is fighting for her life.  People are calling good things evil, and calling evil things good.  In the midst of all that, we are see another thing happening which, unfortunately, we sometimes become complacent about.   We’re seeing a rise in natural disasters, freaky weather, terrorist attacks – any of these things could put us in a life-threatening situation in a matter of minutes.

You may say, “well Jim, hasn’t it always been that way?”  The answer of course, is “yes.”  But keep in mind that these things are increasing in frequency and intensity, just like the Bible says in Matthew 24.  When you see the increase… that’s the time to act.  When you see the ‘birth pains’ getting closer and closer, you can be sure that the baby is coming.  You better get to the hospital!
Keep in mind that the people who were watching Noah build the Ark were scoffers.  Why did they scoff?  Why didn’t they act on the warning?  They were busy with life as usual… building, marrying, partying.  It’s a sad thing when people hear the warning sound, but decide to ignore it.  It’s sadder still, when Christians disregard the Bible’s warnings.

Yet, these same people will be calling out to God for help when Times of Trouble come.  Bill Whaley, a recent show guest that specializes in self-sufficiency and survival techniques using everyday ‘junk’ , said that the people who snub survival warnings are the same people who scream “God save me!” when things come apart.

Perhaps He will.

But God sent His Word ahead of these things so that those who are wise will prepare.  I’m not the only one crying out with the warning.  Many others are warning people as well.  Even secular sources are warning people – so much so that the suppliers of emergency food and survival equipment can’t even begin to keep up with the demand.

Will you be one who prepares ahead of time when you see disaster coming?  Or will you be the one praying “God save me!”  If you’re prepared, you can help others.  If you’re not prepared, you’re the one needing help.  Don’t be a victim.

Love,

Nighttime Rendezvous

By Lori Bakker | | Filed in General, Teaching | Tags: ,

Recently on one of the show tapings, the subject came up of Jim being inspired at all hours of the night to get up and get alone with God.  Early in our marriage, I would be alarmed by his strange nighttime habits of working in the wee hours and sometimes I would object loudly.  But it wasn’t long before I came to understand that when the demands of the day would cease, Jim could finally quiet his spirit and focus in on the God things.  I was then at ease about him working at night.

God often awakens His servants during the night for many reasons.  Sometimes, it’s a call to action.  Sometimes, it’s a revelation, etc.  Often, it’s just to commune with Him.  For Jim, it could be any of those things as well as other I’m not aware of.

I do know one thing… Jim carries a heavy burden for all of us.  He is the one whose message for the Revelation Days is going out to millions.  He is the one who understands the significance of being a Watchman, and feels its weightiness.  And he doesn’t take it lightly.

I remember a few weeks ago when he was preparing his message about the “Five Words” God had given him.  He spent untold hours researching and documenting that message.  In fact, I couldn’t believe it myself when I saw his sermon notes:  40 pages of notes.  Who studies hundreds of hours and then writes 40 pages of notes for anything?

I’ll tell you who… Jim Bakker, that’s who.

Now I’m not telling you this to pat Jim on the back.  Ok, so I am.  But the greater message I want you to hear is that it’s time to get alone with God.  It’s time to hear from God.  It’s time to obey God.

Jim has said that this year of 2012 may be the last chance we have to get our houses in order.  Make sure you don’t let the cares of life make you miss your greatest hour with God… even if it’s in the middle of the night!

Love,

Lori Signature