The Power of Prayer

The Biology of Belief

Time magazine has come around this week- again, in publishing an article confirming the long-held relationship between prayer and healing. These secular purveyors of all stories that are fit to print found,"Here's what's surprising: a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that faith may indeed bring us health. People who attend religious services do have a lower risk of dying in any one year than people who don't attend. People who believe in a loving God fare better after a diagnosis of illness than people who believe in a punitive God. No less a killer than AIDS will back off at least a bit when it's hit with a double-barreled blast of belief. 'Even accounting for medications,' says Dr. Gail Ironson, a professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Miami who studies HIV and religious belief, 'spirituality predicts for better disease control."

Surprising? Not to God's children, who know that while His common grace extends to all His human creatures- believer and non-believer alike ("the rain falls on the just and the unjust"), we realize that He will respond particularly to the prayers of the saints to bring healing- physical and spiritual. The book of James tells us that "the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:16). What may confuse some who read that passage in James, is the seeming guarantee of healing by prayer...you know like the ones helped along by cash contributions seen on certain TV networks. They quote the half-brother of Jesus verbatim; "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven (Ja. 5:13-15).

What the Bible does teach is that a prayer of faith and perseverance are the keys to healing and the acknowledgment that the healing comes FROM God and at times THROUGH man and medicine. Furthermore, God may not heal our loved one or ourselves when sick or immediately, because He is sovereignly working another or better plan for His glory and our- your good.

LIFE and Liberty in the Coffee Shop

Medical board revokes license of Fla. doctor after live baby delivered during botched abortion
I was witnessing to an older agnostic man at a coffee shop recently who asked, "Why is it that so many of you Christians are pro-lifers, obsessed with the abortion issue?" Well if this man had half a conscience and heard about the recent case of another botched abortion in South Florida, in which a live baby was delivered, but ended up dead in a cardboard box, he might have begun to get a clue.

According to a Sun-Sentinel report, The Department of Health said a doctor was scheduled to perform an abortion on a teenager who was 23 weeks pregnant. According to a complaint, she gave birth at a Hialeah clinic after waiting hours for the doctor to arrive. The complaint said one of the clinic owners put the baby in a bag that was thrown away. Police found the infant's decomposing remains a week later. The doctor was reported to have left his home country to work and train in the United States. It was never his intention to do abortions, he said."That was not part of my goals when I came to Florida," he said. "But I had to do it to survive."

Isn't it ironic that our country allows some people- including licensed doctors, the right to take the lives of some people in order"to survive?" this case was such a barbaric display of infanticide that even spokesman in the pro-abortion crowd condemned it and one Florida Legislator from Miami said, "These events are nothing short of murder." Has our own newly elected President and other abortion rights supporters realized that legal and perfectly executed abortions at 23 weeks (before and after), result in the same death- same murder in our country every day?

Indeed it was a banner week for the enemy and the age of darkness that permeates health and education, as Dr. Death himself, Jack Kervorkian was actually paid by Nova University in Broward, to spew more garbage about the benefits of Euthanasia. Kevorkian pulled another stunt in front of an audience of thousands at NSU. "Let's all say the Pledge of Allegiance," he said, then flipped a U.S. flag to reveal a replica on the other side with a swastika where the blue and stars would have been. From cradle to grave the culture of death continues to run rampant in our society as thousands gathered to hear 'Dr. Jack', with many cheering for the man who has made a career of snuffing out largely older, suffering, sick and impressionable citizens. Yet, we've legalized (in two states so far) that agency of murder as well. When does it stop? When will we say enough is enough?

Yes mister coffee shop man who thinks all pro-lifers are 'Bible-thumping' wackadoos, yes mister President and members of congress who think Christians and pro-lifers are single-issue voters and advocates, we're weird that way. We believe that children- those who pass from being unborn to born within seconds, as early as 23 weeks of gestation and from conception, should have rights, should be protected, should not be murdered and thrown in the trash, should be given the opportunity to have "LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Should I have another opportunity to address mister coffee shop man, and his position that women and "doctors" such as in the above storty have the right to do with children as they wish, I might ask, "Sir, how does one defend the indefensible?"

The Subtle Surge of Socialism and Remembering Snow?

Two headlines and stories from today's news should give the discerning and biblical Christian pause, if not cause for concern -at least if you're a biblicist who believes the scriptures give justification to a market-driven, classic, capitalist economy and government such as the one this nation has been under for over two centuries.

First, Obama signs into law expansion of SCHIP health-care program for children... "President Barack Obama signed legislation Wednesday to expand publicly funded health insurance for children, marking a historic shift in Washington's political landscape and providing the White House its biggest victory since Obama took office." Less than 18 months ago, President George W. Bush had blocked similar bills by congressional Democrats, labeling the proposed expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program as a step toward government-run health care.

While on the surface it sounds like a wonderful thing to expand health-care to uninsured kids (who hates that idea?), one may ask, 'who will pay for that expansion (you will- it's the people's taxpayer dollars)?' 'Where will the accountability come from?' 'What will such a program do to private enterprise- the backbone of our economic system?'

Then, Obama to restrict pay of bailout firms' execs.. Reflecting widespread outrage over bonuses and perks at firms that already have received bailout money, the new rules would limit executive pay at the most distressed institutions to $500,000 in annual salary.

Now, should the president hold big business accountable for the government bail-out money (again courtesy of the tax-payer) it's receiving? Absolutely. Should the White House even in difficult circumstances order wage controls on corporate executives- the people that make decisions on business and economic growth? That's a different question all together. Who should be running this economy or exerting the greatest influence on it? Our 3rd president and architect of our Declararation of Independence, Thomas Jefferson said, "A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government…"

Jefferson allegedly a Deist, not a Christian, made a profound statement that seemingly echoes the author of 1 Sam. 8, who in response to God's chosen nation of Israel demanding a King (read President today) so they could be "like all the other nations," said, "He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. ...He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves (1 Sam. 8:15, 17)." Hmmmmm.

C. S. Lewis, that great Christian apologist peered behind the “compassionate” actions of government and discovered instead threads of tyranny. He notes that the most benevolent ideas imposed on others through the rule of law can often result in the exact opposite of what is intended. He wrote, "Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." Food for thought...

How about the frosty weather we're experiencing in South Florida over the last day or so? Has it ever been colder? Well, if you visit this video link you'll see and some of you will remember, the day it "snowed" around here just over 22 years ago. That's right, the real white stuff made a visit to the Sunshine State in 1977 ( http://www.miamiherald.com/video/index.html?media_id=3025144/t_blank ) . Thanks to sister Alina, our fine kids Bible Study teacher for this story.

Pop Goes the Bible!

Churches Urged to Utilize Pop Songs to Boost Bible Reading ...

What's next in the worship wars? A "Christianized" cover of Wully Bully by Sam the Sham and the Pharohs? According to a Christian Post story, "With Bible illiteracy plaguing Christians in areas even where Scriptures are in abundance, one bishop is urging churches to use hits by bands such as U2 and the Beatles to help their congregants connect with the teachings contained in the Bible. 'For many people the language of the Bible has become inaccessible," says the Rt. Rev. Nick Baines, bishop of Croydon in South London, “and yet pop song writers can make a connection with people because their language is fresh. They are able to open our imagination to a way of thinking about God that we've become deaf to in church language.”

In his latest book, Finding Faith, Baines argues that Christian themed pop music can convey deep theological concepts in a way that is more accessible to the younger generation.
"Songs get more into the soul than simply reading an ancient book,” he told the Telegraph. A simple "ancient book?" I've heard some churches are plaing Pink Floyd's classic, "Money" during the ofeeratory. Without getting into musical forms, and the pre-evangelistic nature of some secular pop, let's not lose sight of what worship music in the house of God is to be about. Eph. 5:18-19 and Col. 3:16 remind us that we are "to let the word of Christ dwell (make its home) in us richly by singing psalms, hymns and spritual songs, making melody to the Lord in our hearts." That means that those various forms of song are to Bible-saturated and therefore theologically rich. That means God is to be glorified and the body of Christ (church) is to be edified or built-up musically, and we are to be filled or led by the Spirit biblically.

Does the Christian music you listen to fit that mold? Anyone who knows me understands that I've been the biggest Beach Boys fan that ever lived and while I can try to justify my listening pleasures with classics like God Only Knows, nothing can replace the musical Word of the living God to nourish the soul.