“Happy Church”

Every day, the scriptures are pointing the way to more and more global events that are definitely right out of the book of Revelation.  But you may not recognize the events of Revelation if you’re going to “Happy Church”.  “Happy Church” isn’t teaching about Revelation events!  They’re too busy teaching the prosperity gospel!  There are too many people putting their faith and their money into “Happy Church” when the world and its money systems are falling apart before our very eyes. 

Please!  Don’t put your faith in money.  Don’t stick your head in the sand and pretend that we are not experiencing the book of Revelation every single day!  It’s time NOW to awaken from your slumber and get ready!  Even if you are already a Christian, the Lord says He will “spew you out of His mouth” if you are lukewarm. 

If your church isn’t teaching Revelation, find one that is!  It’s later than you think – and time to get ready!

God loves you!  He really does!

Motherhood (Pt. 2)

“Empty and Angry”

1980

I stared at the new-patient history form I was filling out in the surgeon’s office.  “Number of pregnancies,” it said.  I couldn’t bring myself to fill in that blank.

Jesse was sitting next to me, thumbing through a magazine.  I looked over at him.  “It asks how many times I’ve been pregnant,” I said.

“So, what’s the problem?”

“I’m embarrassed to say I’ve had five abortions.”

“Why?”

     You really don’t get it, do you?  I thought.  “Never mind,” I told him.

“It’s not that big a deal, Lori.  Just answer the questions so the doctor can find out what’s wrong with you.”

I finished filling out the form, and Jesse took the clipboard back to the receptionist.  Just getting up and down from a chair hurt.  I’d been in pain for almost a year—ever since my last abortion actually, although I had not made a connection between that event and my pain.  My right side hurt all the time and it kept getting worse.  I have a high tolerance for pain, so I put off going to the doctor for a long time.  When I finally couldn’t stand it anymore, I sought help.

The doctor had sent me for an ultrasound—the technology was still fairly new in 1980—and then for a surgical consultation.

“From the ultrasound, it looks like you have a grapefruit-sized cyst on your right ovary,” the surgeon said when I was finally ushered back to his office.  “That’s not uncommon.  I’ll go in and remove the cyst, and hopefully that’s all we’ll have to do.”

“You mean you might have to do more surgery?”

“Possibly.  But the most I’ll have to do is take the one ovary.  That way you’ll still be able to have children—if you want to.”

“Yes, I do.  Very much.”

“I see you’ve had several abortions.”  He was looking at the medical history I’d filled out, and I blushed as I confirmed it for him.

“But, I would like to have children someday,” I said.

“You’re young and otherwise healthy.  Even with one ovary you should be able to get pregnant, and we’ll try to save both ovaries if we can.”

I was so relieved by his answer.  And so ready for an end to the pain.

A few days later, after surgery, I woke up briefly in the recovery room, and a nurse gave me a shot for the pain.  When I awoke again, I was in my hospital room.  Jesse was standing on one side of the bed and my mom on the other.  Dad was pacing around the room.

The pain was excruciating, and no one had to tell me what had happened.  I just knew.  I felt empty.

I looked at Jesse and asked, “They took everything didn’t they?”  My voice was groggy from the medication.

“Don’t worry about anything right now, baby.  Just get some rest,” he said.

I didn’t trust Jesse to tell me the truth, but I knew my mother wouldn’t lie to me, so I asked her the same question.  “They took everything, didn’t they, Mom?”

“They had to, Lori.”  She looked as if she’d been crying.  “They had to save your life.”

“God, no . . .” I was still too sedated to even cry.

“You’re going to be okay, honey.  Just go to sleep and get some rest.”  Mom squeezed my hand as I gave up the struggle to stay awake.

Motherhood – Part 1
Motherhood – Part 3
Motherhood – Part 4
Motherhood – Part 5
Motherhood – Part 6
Motherhood – Part 7

Now is the Time (Pt. 1)

Yesterday, there were over 50 people killed at a Catholic church in Baghdad.  The news says they were targeted because they were Christians.  John 16:2 says …the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God a service. Can there be any doubt we are in that time?  We are entering a time of woes and it is not going to get better.  But we do have good news.  All of these things are just birth pangs.  Jesus is coming soon!

Saints of God, it’s time now to let go of everything that would hinder you in these last days.  The Lord wants people everywhere to know that NOW is their time.  You don’t have to just sit and die.  You may have been told it’s over, you’re done.  I tell you that the right time is NOW, the Day of Salvation is NOW.  It’s your time to get up, get out and do what the Lord has called you to do.  Every single seed that has been planted in your life will come forth!  Don’t give up!  Let the pain go and let the healing begin!

Now Is the Time – Part 2

Motherhood (Pt. 1)

“Talking Heart to Heart”

When Jim and I were dating, we often talked on the phone into the night about everything; sharing personal stories, learning all about each other as sweethearts do at the beginning of a relationship.  He described the emotional devastation he had gone through in prison, and I started opening up about my past.  He never pushed me to reveal anything I didn’t want to, never even asked me that many questions.  It was months later, for example, before Jim ever knew my ex-husband’s first name.  What Jim really wanted to get was a glimpse of my heart—to know the real me—and what a priceless gift that was.

One of the things I began to talk about was the crushing loss of my dream of motherhood.  “Ever since I can remember,” I told Jim, “All I wanted to be was a mommy.  In my childhood photographs, I’m always carrying a baby doll—sometimes one under each arm.”

“I can picture that,” Jim said.  “I’ve seen you with kids.  You’re so nurturing.”

“I know that nurturing was born into me.  It was a gift of God, a gift meant to be used for my children.”

“You never had any children after your abortions?”

“No, I couldn’t.”

I acknowledged that my abortions had eventually robbed me of the opportunity to ever bear children, and I told Jim the story of my hysterectomy at the age of twenty-two. . .

Motherhood – Part 2
Motherhood – Part 3
Motherhood – Part 4
Motherhood – Part 5
Motherhood – Part 6
Motherhood – Part 7

End Times in the News

Almost every  day when I awake, there seems to be a new prophetic event happening somewhere in the world.  It’s a daily occurrence, or more than daily with several things happening at once.

For example, today’s news talked of earthquakes and volcanoes in Indonesia, tsunamis, hurricanes raging in the Caribbean, terrorist bombs in packages bound for the U.S, and a young mother who shook her baby to death because she wanted to play “Farmville” on Facebook and the  baby kept interrupting her. READ MORE

Marriage (Pt. 4)

My years of ministry in Master’s Commission had prepared me for whatever might come my way… or so I thought.  When I met Jim and fell in love with him and then married him shortly after, there were many challenges I had to face and overcome.  Some of the challenges had to do with who Jim was, what had happened to him, and Jim’s high-profile life.

I was instantly catapulted into the life of the famous, or in Jim’s case, infamous to many.  I had always had lots of friends but I also had a side of me that was private.  READ MORE

Now Is the Time (Pt. 2)

Several times in the last couple of months, I have given away watches to the entire studio audience here on Grace Street and included them with other love offers.  Along with the watch comes a message from Lord.  I tell the people, every time you see this watch, think “NOW is my time!”

Many of the Lord’s people have been oppressed, depressed, and repressed.  There is one commonality in all those words – it’s the PRESS.  Many of us feel as though we have been in a press lately, and some feel as though their entire life has been a press of one form or another.  Take heart!  Your best days are just ahead. READ MORE

Marriage (Pt. 3)

By the spring of 1989, I was getting my life together.  The ten-year nightmare of my ill-advised marriage was over.  I had recommitted my life to Christ, joined Master’s Commission, and began this wonderful life of living and ministering for Jesus.  I had been in ministry for several years when I met Jim at the Dream Center in L.A.

Shortly after I met Jim and we had our first date, both of us knew that it was far more than a date; we were already falling in love.  And we knew that it was God bringing this love into our lives at the very time both of us had just about given up on ever finding love again. READ MORE

A Fourth of the World’s People – Gone!

 The fourth horse and rider are about to emerge, following closely behind the second and third horsemen. (Remember, when the events of revelation begin to unfold, they will happen in rapid succession.)

When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. (6:7 NKJV) READ MORE

No One Cares For My Soul

Matthew 24:12 tells us one of the characteristics of the last days will be that the “love of many will grow cold”.  I don’t know about you, but when I thought of that verse before, I always thought Jesus was talking to those who were outside the Church; those that were in the ‘world’.  But of recent days, I have begun to see how this verse may apply to those who are within the Church, or appear to be in the Church. 

In the last days, churches will contain both, wheat (the real deal Christians) and tares (pretenders).   Within their ranks, there will be those who are ruled and motivated by many things; some by a search for significance, some by a need for control, some by a need for recognition, and some are motivated by love.  Jesus said not to try and separate them because only He knows the heart – and if you try to uproot the tares, you may pull up and destroy some wheat with them.  But be assured, there is a Church within the church.

Jesus also said that you would ‘know them by their love’ for one another.  Yet, this love that is supposed to exist for one another is suspiciously absent in many churches.  I’m not talking about congeniality or surface social graces.  I’m talking about the kind of love that stands with a brother or sister in the dark hours of trials, even when the reason for the trial may have been self-inflicted. 

Today’s Christianity all too often casts aside those who exhibit anything less than perfect performance according to the letter of the law.  In the Old Testament, David gave us much to think about in how we treat our brothers and sisters in Christ.  David had made far too many mistakes.  He had not only made mistakes but also had committed deliberate, treacherous acts of adultery and even murder.  He had repeatedly sinned against God and his fellow man – yet he was still God’s chosen leader!  Though God chose David and never changed His mind, David’s friends and family had all left him!  David’s anguish can be heard in the following verse:

Psalm 142:4 “Look to the right and see: there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for my soul.”

You see, David had a heart that was repentant – many times repentant!  God described David as a “man after my own heart”.  He had sinned grievously and repeatedly but he had also repented from his heart, with tears and cried out to God not to take His Spirit from him, but to create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him.  He was a God-seeker, though he had given in to his natural desires and even to his rages on many occasions.  David appeared to be the epitome of a hypocrite – yet he was anointed of God to lead and defend God’s people! 

David was well aware of his own failures and he grieved over them!  He hated the weaknesses of his own flesh and despised himself for giving in to them.  But one thing he could not and would not do is to deny who he was in God.  If there was one thing he was sure about – it was his identity and the anointing that was on his life.  God had ordained him in his youth to be a king and a king he would be!  Though the world, the flesh, the devil and all of hell had tried to remove David’s God-given purpose, they could not!

Saints of God, the enemy of your soul is after your very identity in these last days!  Do you remember when Jesus asked the disciples, “who do you say I am”?  Every single religious authority had challenged Jesus’ very identity.  In fact, they crucified Him for telling the truth of Who He really was!  If those who said they loved him didn’t know who He was, then how could the world be expected to?  Only by divine revelation of LOVE can any of us love the other as Jesus commanded. 

One of the most devastating and psychologically damaging things that can happen to a person is to take away one’s identity.  Sometimes this is done when people are abducted or kidnapped, sometimes when they are abandoned or imprisoned, sometimes when they simply move to a place where nobody knows them.  The feeling of being unknown or anonymous is very close to feeling as if you do not exist at all.  

As humans, we are relational and if we are normal, our desire is to know others and to be known, i.e. relationships.  As spiritual beings, it is even more essential that we are known (intimately) in the recesses of the heart by our fellow followers of Christ.  Jesus said, you don’t know ME because you don’t know my Father (referring to God the Father), because if you did know God the Father, you would have known ME!  When others challenge your identity in Christ, you would do well to remember how Jesus handled that accusation.  And if you challenge the identity in Christ of another, remember who the Accuser is.  It is not your place to judge another’s heart – that is reserved for the One Who can.

It’s your job to LOVE one another and encourage each other.

Those who are survivors and champions of life, those who held onto the promises of God though none stood with them, and those who fought the good fight of faith;  those who through it all, did not lose their faith or the knowledge of who God had called them to be…. Are worthy of honor and of love and of respect.

Care for someone’s soul today.