Partners 296: Be Trinitarian! Saints Not Sinners. Free Airline Tickets

Don't Forget the Father! Over the past 15 years or so , I have seen a tendency in local churches here to mainly talk about Jesus in their worship services. I suspect this is a national trend. Even a cursory study of the Bible argues for a more balanced focus on all three Persons in the Trinity, but especially a focus on God the Father. The entire Bible clearly shows God the Father is the Preeminent Person in the Trinity. Almost every reference to God in the Old and New Testament is to the Father. The Father is the one whose love sent Jesus to earth as John 3:16 so beautifully declares. Jesus talked about the Father and to the Father all the time. Jesus claimed he came from the Father, was given a Kingdom ( Luke 22:29) and followers by the Father, was going back to the Father and had an assignment to complete from the Father. Jesus prayed to the Father all the time on earth, taught us to pray to the Father and still prays to the Father in heaven for us ( Hebrews 7:25) . Jesus came to reveal the Father to us and one day will hand the Kingdom He had built on earth back to the Father who gave Him that Kingdom ( ICor 15:24). In summary, Jesus came so that we might know the Father. Jesus declares that eternal life consists in knowing the Father--and Jesus whom the Father sent ( John 17:3).

May I humbly suggest to church leaders that it is time to corporately recite the Lord's prayer again in Sunday services, Sunday School classes and the like? May I suggest that we teach people more about the "love of God" the Father as well as "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ" ( 2 Cor: 13:14). We live in a fatherless generation when millions of people have not grown up with a father in the home or had a terrible experience of being fathered. I was raised without my wonderful father or mother at home due to their divorce. Relatives tried to raised me, but without the love I needed. Experiencing the incredible love of my Heavenly Father as a small boy saved me from self-destructing into sin as a boy and later as a man. I want every person to experience that inner witness of the Holy Spirit that cries out "Abba, Father" ( Rom 8:15). To that end, I commend to you again this website: http://www.Fathersloveletter.com


Saints Are Not Sinners: I would like to challenge the saying, "I am a sinner saved by grace." We were sinners but now we are saved, sons and saints after becoming a new creation in Jesus! Sinners is a technical term in the NT to mean unsaved and unrighteous. Both the Jews and Jesus made that contrast many times using the same Greek word, harmatolos
(Strongs word # 268) in all 44 verses where it is used in the NT. There is just no way to reconcile the incredible declarations of who we are in Christ with the biblical concept of sinner. Christians do sin, of course, but we sin as chosen, beloved, accepted, justified, righteous, sealed, born-again, transformed, Spirit-dwelt children of the living God. Sinners sin continually with little regard for God or any relationship to God. Jesus came to save sinners (Matt. 9:13) but once saved, we are no longer poor, depraved, condemned, helpless, enslaved sinners. That's why the good news is so good! The devil wants us to focus on how bad we are/were. God wants the opposite focus once we know Him as Heavenly Father through Jesus!

Credit Card Ministry: Now that sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? But Merlin Miller, former pastor of Landsdown community Church in Virginia Beach made me a believer! Merlin travels extensively to Ukraine to help orphanages there. His plane tickets are free.

His company pays large commercial bills with a credit card that generates airline miles. Those business transactions are sending him on mercy missions several times a year to desperate children in Ukraine. Many businesses--even non-Christian ones-- would do the same to help desperate people around the world. Someone just needs to ask. There is probably a businessman in every church who could be the liaison with other businessmen for such things. Why haven't we thought of this before? May God give you all favor with businesses to partner with in pursuit of His glory in the nations! If you get more miles than you can use, please share them with other ministries. Personal ambition and jealousy have kept us from sharing resources with one another for too many centuries. Freely we have received; freely give.

May God give you all fresh wisdom and zeal to know Him as Father and build His Kingdom even during these hot summer months. The devil is not on vacation. Be alert. Be available. Tougher times are coming and our communities and the nations will need and want the Church's help more than ever.

Bob Fox
Editor

Partners 295: Electonic Evangelism, Spir. Strongholds Seminar, Women's Ministries

Electronic Evangelism: The Lord is leading me to encourage others to spread the Gospel via electronic means: email, websites (Skype, Pal Talk), newsgroups, chat rooms, phone , radio (ham, short wave, internet radio), podcasts, TV ( local cable, etc). Please send me your suggestions on this.

1. Receive phone calls or emails at home from people seeking to know God by volunteering with Need Him! See http://www.needhimresources.com/ and follow the links. This is exactly what CBN does about 12,000 times a day. You can lead people to the Lord and help them grow in the Lord right from your home!! Every city should have a service like this that local churches support.
   
2. Here's a good e-zine for using MySpace for non-profits. 2 teens raised $300,000 for Sudan recently using MySpace and another similar website.
   http://www.diosacommunications.com/myspacebestpractices.htm#sixteen
   

Identifying and Destroying Personal Spiritual Strongholds - Norm and Debbie Przybylski will present this key teaching used especially to prepare missionaries. The purpose of this seminar is to help and encourage believers to know and use the weapons of divine power in order to be free from emotions and behavior contrary to God’s design. The seminar is based on scripture and has proven effective in many lives. It is a key ingredient in spiritual warfare. For information or registration write to elijah@elijahcompany.org or call 403-3279. Date: July 14. Place: Kempsville Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach.


Women's Ministry in Tidewater: I have always felt that women's ministries in Tidewater face strong spiritual opposition--especially ministries for women in leadership. It is hard to find a long-term group for pastors' wives in Tidewater, for instance. Where are there support groups for other women in ministry? All this is related to the sins of our forefathers. The enemy has oppressed women through men in Tidewater since the founding of the Virginia Colony in 1607. Women were excluded from the first three ships to land here. Of the first two wives who came to Jamestown, one was killed by her husband--- to be eaten in the famine of 1610. In 1619, the the first large group of women came to Jamestown: 90 women sold as servants or wives to some very rough men. Many women, white and black, died here in those early years--worked to death as servants in the tobacco fields of Tidewater.

Therefore, it is important to encourage women and ministries to them and by them whenever we can to defeat the enemies plans to harm the lives and ministries of women. Marie Umidi has led The Man called Jesus play all over the world for over 20 years! Katherine Allen has led the region's largest ministry to sexually-broken lives through Sought Out for many years. Here is one such ministry that I just came across that you may want to know about. It appears to be led by an African-American lady with a healing ministry to women.
Chandra Moyer
Fruit of the Spirit Ministries
P.O. Box 16397
Chesapeake, VA 23328-6397
(757) 546-2545
fruitspirit@cox.net
http://members.cox.net/fruitspirit/index.htm

Giant Yard Sale June 23 to Support Pro-Life Group: at Kempsville Presbyterian in Virginia Beach this saturday, June 23 from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm. They are raising money for the mobile pregnancy ministry of Pregnancy Resource Clinic of Hampton Roads (PRC). People can still donate items by calling us for pick-up (497.4070)or bringing them to the KPC parking lot early Sat morning.
Tax receipts will be given.


Letter to White-Supremacist Group: I have a few pastors who have agreed to sign that letter decalring that the white pastoral community does not agree with the recent letter to Black residents here attacking them for being Black. Among those pastors are John Dooley of Apostles Lutheran, Bobby Collins of World Outreach Center, Frank Drake and Lynn Garrett of Level Green Baptist. I want to have 200 pastors sign that before we send it. Please email me to let me know if you will support this with your name and your church name.



Math Tutor: This is for my wonderful wife, Beth. She just retired form teaching math in schools and now wants to do more private tutoring in math. Beth has 20 years of experience teaching math in schools and as a tutor for grades 7-12, especially high school math. She is certified by the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) as a math teacher. Almost all of her students will tell you that she is one of the best teachers they have ever had--especially in math. You can reach her at 474-0729.


Healing America's DNA now available on Amazon.com. Click here
You can download the entire book as a PDF free at http://www.1607dna.com
This is a detailed historical and theological appeal to the Church to repent for the sins of our fonding fathers here in Tidewater, Virginia. Without significant repentance by the Church, these sins will continue to plague our region and qualify us for more of God's judgment that is coming on all of America. some repentance occurred in the last two months, especially for Native American issues, but 98% of the Church in Tidewater was not involved and is still clueless about those sins and their effects on people today.

My nose is better! The surgery went extremely well. I was full of joy that day and I can breath and sleep better now. Thanks for praying with me through that. ---Bob Fox

Partners 294: A Call to White Hampton Roads Pastors

Dear Pastor,

On May 25, 2007, 30 Virginia Beach apartment residents received racially-motivated hate mail from a national Neo-Nazi, white-supremacist group with a branch office in Roanoke, Virginia. The Black residents had complained to city officials about the racially abusive ways of their landlord against his Black tenants. The hate mail came to them in retaliation for that. There is an article in the Virginian-Pilot about it that you can read online at http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=126418&ran=7950

The letter that came to them claims to speak for white people. Obviously it does not. But white pastors in Hampton Roads now have a God-given opportunity to publicly respond to such sinful rhetoric by someone claiming to speak for whites on racial issues. Together, we white Christian leaders can send a letter to that white-supremacist group clearly declaring our opposition to their position. If we do send this letter, the Virginia-Pilot may do a story on our letter, according to the Pilot reporter I spoke with.

This is an opportunity to show our community where white pastors stand on racism and the so-called white supremacist agenda. To not say something in response can imply that the white pastors of Hampton Roads do not disagree with what has been publicly said against Blacks. Please lend your name and that of your church to this prophetic statement of truth. The white supremacists need to hear us and so does our region--especially the minorities in Tidewater who may wonder where the white pastors and their churches stand on such issues.

There were many decades when white pastors did not speak up against racial injustice and oppression in Tidewater against Jews and Blacks. Now is our chance to make amends and to not allow this group or any group to think that the Church will tolerate racial oppression of any kind in Hampton Roads.

The letter was designed to frighten and intimidate innocent people for daring to oppose racial abuse against Blacks. According to Susan White of the Virginian-Pilot, parts of the letter were so abusive that the Pilot could not print all of it in the newspaper. The letter used the N-word six times in three paragraphs. The cover story of an magazine included with the letter was called "The Negro Beast". The magazine carried derogatory articles about Jews and blacks.

This letter ended with this veiled threat:

"You may get one over on your landlord this time, and you may not. But know that the white community has noticed you and we know that you are and will never be anything more than a dirty parasite - and that our patience with you and the government that coddles you runs thin."

Jesus said His people were to be like a city on a hill--doing good works so that others would see them and glorify Him. This is such a time when the Christian leaders of Tidewater can glorify the Father by standing for His truth and His love for all people. Loving our neighbor requires no less than this. To not speak out now allows people to believe that we agree with such a letter--as many of our forebears have in this region just decades ago. Silencio dabit consentio: Silence gives consent.

I strongly encourage you to add your name and that of your church to this letter that will be sent to the group that has tried to intimidate our region's residents. To add your name, simply reply to this email with your name and the name of your church. Doing so means that you agree to have the letter below sent to the accusing group with your name and church name printed as signatories to the letter. By giving me your name and church name, you also agree that this letter and its signatories may also be printed in the Virginian-Pilot. Give us your name even if you cannot give us your church name to use due to church approval protocols that would substantially delay the sending of the letter. See the letter below.

If you need more information, this web link tells the story, complete with a short video:

http://www.wvec.com/news/local/stories/wvec_local_052507_hate_mail.db19fb9.html

This web link tells more of the story: http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=125448&ran=6137

Confession of a former Christian white-supremacist who used the Bible to recruit: http://www.geocities.com/onemansmind/hg/Cochran.html

The Letter

Mr. Bill White
Commander
The American National Socialist Workers' Party
PO Box 8601
Roanoke, VA 24014

Dear Mr. White:

The below-named pastors of Hampton Roads feel compelled to respond to your letter of last May to the residents of an apartment complex in Virginia Beach who filed a Fair Housing Discrimination lawsuit against their landlord on racial issues.

As you know, some of our Christian forefathers have not spoken out as clearly or as often as they should have against statements such as yours. We also deeply regret that. As white spiritual leaders in our cities and in this region, we ought to have clearly declared that God is totally opposed to racial discrimination of any kind against Blacks or Jews or any other group. Your previous anti-semitic statements are particularly hard for us to understand. All Christians follow Jesus, a Jew whom we believe to be the Jewish Messiah, who declared that "salvation is from the Jews" ( John 4:22).

In your letter to the apartment residents, Mr. White, you claim to speak for white people when you wrote:
"You may get one over on your landlord this time, and you may not. But know that the white community has noticed you and we know that you are and will never be anything more than a dirty parasite - and that our patience with you and the government that coddles you runs thin." ( Emphasis added)

The below-named white pastors of Hampton Roads cannot and do not agree with you. We, too, notice those residents you wrote to. They are valuable members of our community who have a destiny from God just as you do. America is a great nation partly because it is a blend of many ethnic groups and nationalities. Native Americans voluntarily kept starving white Englishmen alive with donations of corn in the 1607 Virginia Colony. Blacks later made America prosperous by their hard labor in our tobacco and cotton fields. Chinese helped build our railroads. Now Latins pick our crops that feed our nation. America is built upon the talents and hard work and mutual respect of many ethnic groups. This is what has made America great: her citizens have learned to respect and honor each other despite many differences.

Because these things are true, we cannot agree with your beliefs that the color of a person's skin or their ethnic derivation determines his or her value as a human being. If you had received a letter condemning you because you are white, we would be equally strong to defend your dignity and value. This is the American way. This is why God has blessed America for so many years. American values and laws are often rooted in the Bible of the Jews and the Christians. Respect and love for people of every ethnic group is one of those values. As a nation, we have not often followed that belief as well as we should, but today, in the 400th Anniversary of the white Virginia Colony that founded America, we affirm that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. Your letter, Mr. White, makes mockery of those rights. As white Christians and as Americans, we appeal to you to uphold the Bible and the Constitution of the United States which both affirm that all Americans should be treated with respect and dignity.

Sincerely,

The below-named Pastors