Difficulties!!

Something has happened to the "sign in" on my blog and it is causing me much consternation!  I also do the martinsvillelinnparkamphitheater.com website which is set up in blogger so that I can post new events.

There used to be a notification at the top of the page telling me which blog I was in, and a place to "sign out" so that I could access the other one.  Now there is only a notification that says "Create blog" or "Sign in".  Whenever I choose "sign in" it takes me to whatever blog I was already signed into.  This has been going on for 2 or 3 weeks.  After 6 or 7 days the original notifications appear and I am able to sign out of one and into the other, but then the same thing occurs so I can no longer get into the one I signed out of.  I don't know if this is making sense, but I certainly would appreciate it if somebody out there knows how to solve this.  Please let me know.  I have spent hours trying to fix it myself.  Hopefully, our grandson, will have a few minutes to look at it this weekend while he is home from college.  Until then, I will post whenever possible on whichever one is available.

So frustrating!

Seventh Time Down's Brand New Day Tour with Jason Gray & Cloverton

Martinsville will be hosting the 7eventh Time Down's"Brand New Day Tour" with Jason Gray Cloverton on May 4, at the Linn Park Amphitheater if any of you who live nearby are interested in coming.  Here is the poster:

Charles Martin

     Don't you love a good story? A book that draws me in is like a mini vacation.  I leave cares behind and become enthralled to such an extent that I can't seem to get anything done till I know the conclusion.
      I have discovered a new (to me) author, Charles Martin.  I picked up one of his books, Water From The Heart, at a used book sale not knowing anything about him but liking the title.  When I purchase used books I bring them home and check Amazon for reviews before deciding if I want to spend time reading them.  The reviews for this book gave it 5 stars from over 1000 people, so I was excited!  And I certainly wasn't disappointed when I read the book!  I LOVED it!  I had taken it with me on our trip to Patagonia.  Since it was used I had intended to lighten my suitcase by leaving it behind after reading it, but it was so good I couldn't do that. I shared it with Country Guy who had finished the book he brought with him.  He also thought it was excellent so when we got home my friend, Donna, read it.  She loved it, too.
    I looked on my favorite used book site abebooks.com to see if I could get any more of his books.  I found several and ordered them all.
     Yesterday I began reading, Long Way Gone.  I believe, if it is possible, I am liking it even more than the first one.  He has such a wonderful way with words as he tugs at your heart with the story.  I especially like books that help me to see higher planes and cause me to want to be a better person.
     If you are wanting a good book, I highly recommend those by Charles Martin.

"Find Your Voice and Make a Stand!" Dutch Sheets

      It is so important for us to be doing this!  I have had Christians tell me when I have voiced my disagreement with abortion, or homosexuality, or the ridiculous notion of "choosing your own sex" that I should not be judging.  Their argument is that we all sin, so I shouldn't be pointing out specific ones.  My argument is--Exactly! We all sin!!  But if we don't realize it is sin, how can we confess and receive forgiveness?  When I attempt to tell them this is not judging but is actually the most loving thing we can do for those who are misguided, or who do not know what God has said about these things, they turn away or call me a fanatic.  No matter.  We must take a stand for righteousness, not only for ourselves but for those around us.  There really is a hell.  Are we content to see our loved ones go there because we are afraid to upset them by speaking the truth?
      The verse Dutch closes with from Ezekiel is the one that convicted me and convinced me to go to my dad who had broken his neck and was confined to a hospital/nursing home till his death.  Several had witnessed to him before but he had turned them away. When I read this verse, I knew that I did not want his blood on my hands.  I told him what I had read and that I wanted him to know Jesus.  I also said when he was ready I would like to share more about Him.  He mouthed, "I am ready," because, you see, he was on a respirator and had been unable to talk since the accident.  He gave his life to Jesus right then.  How amazing!  And it was only because I knew I must speak the truth and no longer be silent just because I thought he would be upset with me.
    It is time to know what God has said and to be bold and courageous in sharing it!

"Find Your Voice and Make a Stand!"

Dutch Sheets, Colorado Springs, CO

"To Ignore Evil is to Become an Accomplice to It"

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor, anti-Nazi dissident (he died in a German concentration camp) and author of The Cost of Discipleship, poignantly stated, "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak, is to speak. Not to act, is to act." The great reformer and civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr., said, "To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it." Sadly, these warnings are as appropriate and applicable to the Church of America today as at any time in history, for an evil beyond the scale of the holocaust is underway. We have now moved from killing babies, dismembering them and selling their body parts, to murdering struggling infants that have survived the brutality of abortion. America has lost its soul.

For various reasons, most spiritual leaders in America have chosen not to speak out on abortion, elections, and many other important moral issues of our day. These reasons include:

• a belief that spiritual leaders should remain separate from the political realm because it is "evil" and "divisive."
• a belief that spiritual influence in peoples' lives does not give them a right to speak into their followers' social, moral, or political views.
• a theological belief that this is not their responsibility.
• a fear of losing congregants.
• a fear of losing financial support.
• a fear of the IRS.

I'm sure there are other reasons which could be listed. However, regardless of the reasons, no honest person can refute the fact that most leaders in the Church have disengaged from public involvement in politics and national moral issues. While I respect my peers in the Body of Christ and understand the challenges facing them in today's polarized and volatile culture, I fear that our choice of silence on many issues has come at a devastating cost. Inevitably, this absolution has also filtered into the pew. Few Christians are willing to make a stand on social issues, preferring to remain aloof and silent. Only about half of Americans who claim to be evangelical Christians are even registered to vote, and many who are registered don't bother to do so. Most statistics make it clear that evangelicals could turn any national election in America if we all voted, and did so based on Biblical values, not party lines. Yet most spiritual leaders fail to confront this. (Photo via Pexels)

A Disengaged Church

Not only does the disengaged Church fail to vote or actively involve itself in social issues, most do not even pray regarding the challenges we face in America. A recent experience of mine in the Sunday service of a prominent mega-church exemplifies this fact. It occurred on the weekend during which President Trump would be making his decision regarding retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's replacement. This decision had the potential of shifting the balance of power on the Supreme Court to a conservative, pro-constitutionalist, pro-life majority, something America has desperately needed since the 1960s. The decision was so monumental that it would doubtlessly affect the lives of the children, and even the grandchildren of those present that day. Indeed, President Trump's appointments to the court will undoubtedly be two or three of the most significant decisions of our lifetime.

In light of this decision's magnitude, and since the pastor himself referred to his church that day as "a praying church," I kept waiting for someone to lead in a prayer for wisdom and guidance from Holy Spirit to POTUS Trump, enabling him to make the right decision. If not a 15-30 minute time of corporate prayer (perhaps this imminent decision was more important than the sermon that day!) then at least 5 or 10 minutes of prayer. No? Then how about a one or two sentence prayer while praying over the offering or sermon. When no prayer was offered, I held out hope that at the close of the service they would at least encourage people to pray about this decision on their own. As you have probably guessed by now, it was never mentioned. I was stunned, grieved and angered. Tragically, this is the norm, not the exception. The Church in America today may be the most culturally disengaged Church in our nation's history.

Based on the facts, any honest deduction must conclude that the American Church's silence and withdrawal from the public square has allowed those who do not espouse Biblical values nor honor our Christian heritage to take over much of America's leadership. Obviously, the opposite could have occurred: had the Body of Christ been engaged we could have prevented abortion, infanticide, the rejecting of America's Christian roots, the taking over of our education system by humanists and secularists, God's expulsion from the public square and more. By default, we helped create that which we loathe.

Can the Fruit the Church's Silence Be Reversed?

Can the fruit of America's sin and the Church's silence be reversed? Yes and no. Just as those who were killed by the Nazis could obviously not be brought back, we obviously can do nothing to undo the deaths of 60 million aborted babies. But we, like the allied forces of WWII, can stop the senseless killing and heal the land (2 Chronicles 7:14). This pro-death scourge on our nation's history need not continue. I believe God is offering the American Church – and consequently our nation – an opportunity for a historical course correction. For this to occur, however, a fundamental change must occur in the minds of Believers: we must choose to re-engage and become the salt and light Christ intends us to be. We must cease being conformists and reclaim our voice. Our times have dictated that there is no longer a middle ground. We are even now being weighed in the balances – and our decision will tip the scales – toward either continued apathy and irrelevance or the healing and discipling of a nation. (Photo via Pixabay)

We MUST make our choice, and we must do so NOW.

Find Your Voice and Make a Stand

If ending the lives of surviving, struggling babies on bloody abortion tables is not enough to motivate the Church of America and its leaders to regain their voices, I'm not sure what can. If literal infanticide, celebrated by governors and legislatures around this nation with cheering and lit-up buildings, is not enough to awaken the conscience of the American Church, then I fear it is too late.

Leaders, please do not try and circumvent this decision by pinning America's future on "the sovereignty of God." God's sovereignty does not negate our choices nor absolve us of the consequences. The prophet Ezekiel was told, "When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand" (Ezekiel 33:8 NASB). We, the Church, are God's voice in the earth and we must speak.

Church of America, I plead with you: find your voice and make a stand. (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)

Dutch Sheets
Dutch Sheets Ministries
Email: click here
Website: www.dutchsheets.org

Raise A Hallelujah (LIVE) - Bethel Music | VICTORY

This is a wonderful testimony and a glorious song!!

Effectiveness of Flu Vaccine

There is growing evidence the flu vaccine causes more problems than it prevents.  Read this informative article to help you decide whether it is best for you to be vaccinated.

The Effectiveness of Flu Vaccine 

That's My King! - SM Lockridge

Watching Oral Robert's speak about Jesus in the video I posted last week reminded me of this one by SM Lockridge.  I posted it in January of 2012, but it is certainly worth another listen!