I met Richard Brooks on a Russian train traveling from Vologda to Moscow in 1998. We had both finished preaching revivals in Vologda and Sokal. It was a 9 hour train ride sharing our compartment with a couple of Russian travelers. His drug smuggling days had brought him to the end of his rope in an Australian Prison. It was during that prison stint that he heard the gospel and called out on God. “Anyone who calls out upon the name of the LORD shall be saved”.

What he experienced transformed him on the inside. Fellow prisoners and guards wanted to know what had happened to him. His answers started a spiritual movement in that prison. This awakening spread from cell block to cell block and even to other prisons in Australia. Soon Richard, an American, was deported to America. He eventually found himself attracted to the Christian rock cafes in California. In Europe, the Iron Curtain was coming down. Richard joined a group of young Christians and travelled to the nation of Romania to distribute bibles and preach the gospel.

It was here that he met his future wife, Anna. Marrying Anna he decided to stay in Romania and start a church under the new democratic leadership. Christianity, having been persecuted and suppressed for so long, was now able to be talked about without threat of prison. Young people were attracted to a message that has rung true with people wanting more from life all over the world.

He pastored those young people for 10 years. The young people grew and prospered in the Lord. They married and became a beacon of light in Romania. The church grew and prospered. The church began to send some of their young couples out to other cities of Romania to spread the gospel. One couple was sent into Switzerland. The day came when Richard needed to turn what God had done through him over to one of the Romanian pastors he had trained up.

He has been an evangelist here in the U.S. for the last 8 years. He keeps a busy schedule, traveling overseas, to all corners of the world and returning to Romania to encourage the churches that are still growing and spreading in that nation. We will be blessed to have him preaching for us. We will start Saturday with some help from the Carbondale church followed by a meal at the church.

Jer 3:2 And you have polluted the land

With your harlotries and your wickedness.

NKJV

The tragedy of moral pollution is that the wickedness of it gets on everyone. There are two powers on earth that work like leaven or yeast. One is the gospel, the other is sin.

Which one is affecting your life? Which one is touching your friends?

Both of these powers are spiritual. Rom 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

NKJV

The key word is “whom”. The “whom” connected to sin is “Can you guess my name?” and the “whom” connected to righteousness is Jesus.

One is honest and open the other is deceitful and willing to lie.

“Its natural”. “If you love them, its OK”. “Its not a baby, yet”.

The pain that comes from the natural outflow of sin can only be relieved by the blood of Jesus. Yet, the person who needs it the most is carefully prepared by the spirit that rules their life to hate that message more than any other message.

Does this help you understand why only Christianity, of all religions, is so hated? Yet, tomorrow the gospel light can break into your life and allow you to say what you have always known: “It wasn’t natural.” “It was lust”. “I killed a baby”. Then and there the blood of Jesus will wash away the sin and guilt, leading you into a new life with no condemnation from the past.

We watched "Fireproof" last night in church. It is the best marriage movie I have ever seen. We had six visitors which made the night much more special. This Valentine weekend included a double date with Corey and Ebony. We went to a Japanese restaurant and a drive into Saint Louis looking for a place to have some ice cream. Saturday’s date was followed by the showing of “Fireproof” Sunday night. Following the film I talked of the joy of marriage and having the love of God in your marriage. This came easy as I looked at my beautiful wife in her pretty Valentine’s Day red dress and her red, puffy crying eyes affected by the movie we just all watched.

Going into this Valentine weekend I began reading "The King's Cavalier", by  Samuel Shellabarger. I finished it Sunday afternoon before the movie. Here is a historian who gave space to the romantic aspirations of his youth allowing him to write excellent fiction. Here is the quote from his biography: At the age of twelve Shellabarger attended a Sardou play, staring Sir Henry Irving. Struck by the romantic play, the lad decided then and there to become a writer. Then, in 1903, when Samuel was 15, he "first toured Europe; and the impressions of London, Paris, and Rome at the turn of the century became indelible in my mind and have left a nostalgia for the past which has colored my historical writing."

Every man should desire to be the hero in his marriage. I know I do. A hero is called to action. The curse on a man is to be lazy and just do enough to get by. This minimum effort way of living will never allow a man to be a hero in his wife’s eyes. God says that tough times build up our character. A hero doesn’t give up and he doesn’t quit. A hero finds a way to make things work no matter what the limitations of life are. A hero requires the love of a woman.

Where are the heroes?

“You never leave your partner, especially in a fire” is communicated to us early in the film "Fireproof". This is a film for everyone who cares about marriage, especially your own. It gives us two characters, Catherine and Caleb. We meet them at a bad time in their marriage. The film gives us a glimpse into our own marriages during times of miss-communication or no communication. Caleb says: “I get respect everywhere I go except for in my own house”. Catherine says: “If you would just communicate with me”. We recognize that Caleb has a porno problem and they don’t have a sex life. This is all done without offense to good morals. Catherine’s conclusion with her friends is that: “He doesn’t have a clue and he doesn’t care how I feel”.

We follow Catherine to work where we meet a doctor who likes her. We follow Caleb to work where we meet his buddy who is a Christian; “He’s the real deal”. Caleb shuts him down with: “If there is a God out there He is not interested in my problems”. Michael, the Christian, has a great marriage, they talk, Caleb wants to give up, Michael says: “Do you know what the ring on your finger means?” We get all of this while watching a great fire crew in action.

Caleb’s father shares a 40 day plan with him; a plan that includes great tips on winning your spouse back. Caleb’s father used it and it saved his marriage and led him to Christ. Caleb tells his father he will try the plan. A gift, $45 for flowers, give me the $25. Its not working, his father says: “you are doing just enough to get by”. A normal male way of handling anything they don’t really want to do. This leads to the moment when Caleb is told: “You can’t love her because you can’t give her what you don’t have.”

Now Caleb keeps working the 40 day plan with his heart in it. Michael greets him with: “You in? Great now you’re my brother from another mother but with the same father. Caleb patiently works the plan with his wife not buying into it. “OK Lord, no more addictions”. While Caleb tries his best, the doctor is winning her heart. The soundtrack includes a great song during this portion of the movie using the phrases: “I am waiting” and “I am hopeful” and “I am peaceful”. Caleb the hero is willing to go to the mat for his wife, but is it too late.

The climax is day 43 of the plan.

What a great film. This is a must see film. A couple can’t help but warm up to each other while watching this film.

I just noticed Newsweek’s new cover with the title: "We are all Socialists Now". Many people with spiritual eyes knew this election was going to change America. For some people, their spiritual vision sees this as a good thing. Others, me included, see it as bad for America, but right in line with God allowing the world to come together as one to defy God. I wrote from Proverbs about leadership and held out the possibility that Obama could rise to the position of President and be a leader of all of America. In this I have been disappointed. Instead President Obama has stayed true to the radical notions of his youth. I can relate to this having been there at one time myself before I became a Christian.

You might wonder what I am talking about. I am talking about a stimulus bill that looks like it is going to create layers and layers of government involvement in everything from industry to health care. Isn’t that good? Frankly it has been tried and it has failed, just look at any communist country. A stimulus bill that creates jobs that will sustain themselves is one thing. A stimulus bill that creates more government jobs that do not create wealth but take wealth away to be sustained is what we are looking at now. There will be a bill to pay eventually.

There are many ways to do this differently than what we are seeing. Unemployed, the stimulus bill will give you an extra $25 a week. Does that really change anyone’s life? How about an extra $50 a month in food stamps? Does that really change anyone’s life? How about allowing an unemployed person to collect unemployment while they access a small business loan? Now we have interjected hope and a future into the situation. When you are at the bottom, a little extra cash still leaves you at the bottom with no hope.

President Obama would do well to return to his themes of hope and change. He has reverted back to the failed social programs that tend to keep people where they are at. Instead of offering them hope and change we are offering to give them a little extra cash to make their life more bearable at the bottom of life in America. This plays well in the media but does exactly nothing to help someone rise above circumstances and make something of their lives. In a socialist system the poor are raised up a little and the middle class is lowered down a little with the hope that everyone will be satisfied where they are at with the government taking care of all of their basic needs. Newsweek said it right: “We are all Socialists Now”. I believe this is what President Obama believes is best for America. Politics have conspired to give him a one in a million opportunity to transform this nation overnight with a crisis and control of all of the branches of government.

What we lose is American Exceptionalism. For a socialist this is something that must be destroyed in order to get all of America to accept their new role as an equal among equals in the coming world order. Basically, we are going to take the “ICAN” out of American and replace it with what will eventually evolve into the mark of the beast. You won’t be able to make a move without the mark. American exceptionalism is linked to conservative politics and Christianity. America has been exceptionally blessed with winds from God blowing through the national fiber at key times in our history. The creation of America would not have been possible without the First Great Awakening. The second great awakening took place prior to the Civil War. The third one got us through the Great Depression and WWII. The fourth one gave us a counter balance to the new landscape of the 60’s and 70’s: a new sexuality that included abortion, homosexuality, divorce and new venereal diseases. What we are witnessing now is the creation of those anti-God social forces that were released in America at that time.

So who can give us real change. I noticed that the lady who asked for a house at the Presidential town meeting is going to get one. The man who asked about a job is also getting blessed. It is all reported at the USA Today's special section on “Tracking the Obama Presidency”. One newspaper for one nation. This surreal look into being one of the lucky one’s called upon by President Obama and then magically having the very needs spoken to the President supplied by others wanting to help and make the President look good I am afraid will become the new Oprah for many Americans. I wonder if living in a new house will really change her life.

The change that has always worked is the change of spirit. We call it being born again.

2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold , all things have become new.

When the spirit is reborn everything is seen and experienced in a different light, the light of God. It is futile to work to change the circumstances that surround a life when even if the circumstances change the life stays the same. God is bigger than circumstances.

Who gave President Obama this once in a life time opportunity? Many people talk of conspiracies on the left or on the right. There seems to be a conspiracy for every event in history. What caused the economic crisis that propelled Obama into the presidency and gave him this time to remake America in his image? Some day we might find out who started this run on the securities, but no matter who the culprit turns out to be, Russia, Muslims, CIA, Soros, it is the demonic power working behind the scenes to create a unified world that hates God. We know that is our future. The nail in the coffin for present day America will be if or when our new socialist nation turns its back on Israel or actively opposes Israel.

In the mean time let us pray for one more wind of God to sweep through this nation.

I was preparing a sermon last night on “Distractions”. For Jesus the perfect distraction was the politics of His day. In Matt. 22:15 we see an attempt to see Jesus drawn into the politics of His day. My distraction statements: Distractions only matter if your life means something. Distractions only matter if you are trying to accomplish something. Distractions can be a way of life. A distraction entertained at the right moment can destroy a life.

It is late at night while I am working on this. We had just got back from a marriage retreat in Carbondale with Pastor Kevin Foley. There was a knock on the door. I opened it to a woman in a bathrobe who greeted me with a very friendly “Hi neighbor”. She asked if she could come in. I realized she was from the special home down the street. I asked her what she needed. Could she use the phone? Why? To call the police. Why? I told her no, and that she needed to return to the home. She asked for a coke. I asked her to sit down and I would get her a coke. Could I have two? I got her two cokes with the intention of walking her home. Once outside we went back and forth about taking her home. Finally she headed off. I walked over to the home to let them know where she was. They thought I was the police. I let them know that she was OK and walking in this direction. I mentioned I gave her two cokes. They were very upset about that, she is not supposed to ask for things. I could see the lights of the police cars a little later. They took her home.

The point was that while I was walking over to this home I wondered if I was being distracted. Could this moment of trying to help this woman explode in my life? Would I be required to answer questions from the police tonight? Was I being distracted? No, we should always have time to show a little kindness. I think Jesus specialized in this.

I did something in the church that I like to do each year, we had a goal setting service. I provide everyone with worksheets to help us determine where we are at and where we want to be. As the day approached I received an email from Chile in Zambia letting me know that he just completed his goal setting worksheet there. I believe having and attaining goals is important. My preaching quote is: “One of the healthiest things a person can do is start something and finish it.”

Almost everyone in church had never done anything like this before. We looked at the different areas of our life and at the end we attached scriptures to show that God is concerned with our welfare in each of those areas. It seemed like a productive evening.

Although I haven’t filled out the worksheets yet, it got me thinking about an incomplete project that has been hanging over my head. We made the film "James Tembo, Detective" in Zambia, it was one of the last projects I completed before leaving. Actually, I left with it uncompleted, the guys involved finished the project and sent me a copy of the film 6 months after I left Zambia. Once I had the film I asked pastors I was preaching for to show the film before I preached. Part of my commitment to the folks in Zambia was to try and market it. That is why the web page is up. As in any business venture the issue is how to reach people and get them to visit the web page.

I had tried using this blog, contacting other live spaces folks and asking them to give me a link. This produced a lot of links and few purchases and a great review by Gregory Beamer. My mission in going to Zambia was to start a church, make disciples, send those disciples out to start other churches and then leave that church in their hands. That mission was completed and the work that God started goes on. The unfinished parts are the many life stories that tug on one’s heart after living in any third world country. I certainly do not want to sound off on all of the ways in which our lives are still being affected by our time in Zambia, but I did think that the film would be an excellent vehicle to inject some cash into the lives that we were a part of.

So back to my incomplete effort of marketing the film and injecting some cash into Zambia. Corey Britt put the film on GodTube so that it can be viewed online. I had to pay the price to keep the web page going. I got a request for school fees. And miracle of miracles someone purchased the film that just happened upon the web page. This took place the day after we did the goal setting in church. I decided that I need to renew that effort. We will see what we can manage.