Tag Archive - Marriage

Manhattan Declaration

October 16, 2010 in Future, Present with 0 Comments

The Manhattan Declaration is the unifying of ALL Christian believers to make a stand for LIFE, MARRIAGE, and RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.  I hope the Preamble below will remind you of our Christian heritage and why it is so important that we continue to stand for these moral issues not just by the signing and sharing of this document but by the walking out of what God has called us to as Christians.

PREAMBLE
Christians are heirs of a 2,000-year tradition of proclaiming God’s word, seeking justice in our societies, resisting tyranny, and reaching out with compassion to the poor, oppressed and suffering.

While fully acknowledging the imperfections and shortcomings of Christian institutions and communities in all ages, we claim the heritage of those Christians who defended innocent life by rescuing discarded babies from trash heaps in Roman cities and publicly denouncing the Empire’s sanctioning of infanticide. We remember with reverence those believers who sacrificed their lives by remaining in Roman cities to tend the sick and dying during the plagues, and who died bravely in the coliseums rather than deny their Lord.

After the barbarian tribes overran Europe, Christian monasteries preserved not only the Bible but also the literature and art of Western culture. It was Christians who combated the evil of slavery: Papal edicts in the 16th and 17th centuries decried the practice of slavery and first excommunicated anyone involved in the slave trade; evangelical Christians in England, led by John Wesley and William Wilberforce, put an end to the slave trade in that country. Christians under Wilberforce’s leadership also formed hundreds of societies for helping the poor, the imprisoned, and child laborers chained to machines.

In Europe, Christians challenged the divine claims of kings and successfully fought to establish the rule of law and balance of governmental powers, which made modern democracy possible. And in America, Christian women stood at the vanguard of the suffrage movement. The great civil rights crusades of the 1950s and 60s were led by Christians claiming the Scriptures and asserting the glory of the image of God in every human being regardless of race, religion, age or class.

This same devotion to human dignity has led Christians in the last decade to work to end the dehumanizing scourge of human trafficking and sexual slavery, bring compassionate care to AIDS sufferers in Africa, and assist in a myriad of other human rights causes – from providing clean water in developing nations to providing homes for tens of thousands of children orphaned by war, disease and gender discrimination.

Like those who have gone before us in the faith, Christians today are called to proclaim the Gospel of costly grace, to protect the intrinsic dignity of the human person and to stand for the common good. In being true to its own calling, the call to discipleship, the church through service to others can make a profound contribution to the public good.

I have posted the Preamble on my site in hopes that you will go over to the Manhattan Declaration website yourself.  You will be able to read the rest of the declaration in full, as well as SIGN THE DOCUMENT AND SHARE WITH OTHERS! I find this to be very important for our age in HISTORY.

Thanks for participating,

Patrick Judah

TheCall: Aftermath

September 14, 2010 in Future, Present with 1 Comment

Hello Friends,

It has now been 10 days since TheCall in Sacramento, California.  I was blessed to be able to attend it with friends and family, what an impactful day!  We were blessed the night before with a sweet compilation of worship and prophecy that released a peace into our hearts that prepared us for a full day of prayer and fasting.  I don’t know if any of you have been to a Call before or if you made it to this one, but they can be physically draining.  I really think that the night of worship before prepared my heart for the day to come.

This years Call was filled with hungry hearts of young and old, it was really cool to see full family’s there with there babies and young children, just as Joel 2:16 says, “Gather the people, sanctify the congregation,Assemble the elders, Gather the children and the nursing infants.”

Cambria Esther Atkins

There is something that happens when you gather the Body of Christ together!  The rest of Joel 2:16 says, “Let the bridegroom come out of his room And the bride out of her bridal chamber.” TheCall brought us all out of our comfort zones, our prayer closets, our churches, and into the public arena to declare our love and devotion to our Bridegroom King, Jesus Christ!  And guess what?  He came and met us where we were and He responded to the cry of our hearts.

The day started with personal reflection and repentance of anything in our own hearts that may be hindering us and those around us from getting closer to the Lord.  It was a time of searching, seeking, and asking what it is that we need to repent of and let go of to move forward.  This Call had a huge Cross in the back that we would draw our attention to so that we could lay it all down before Him, the One who took all our sins and washed it away with His blood as He was nailed to the cross.

After this personal call to repentance we were lead by different leaders in the Body of Christ to pray against some of the devastating immorality and idolatry that plagues our nation, government, social fabric, educational systems, churches, family’s, homes, babies, and personal lives.  Some of these issues included sex trafficking, abortion, homosexuality, immoral governmental leaders, personal compromise, and more.  I must say I was heavily impacted when a documentary film producer of sex trafficking held up a little child’s blood stained clothes that were found at the scene of a sex trafficking bust.  How can this be happening in our nation,  a nation with a deep conviction against slavery?  Yet this is happening in most major U.S. cities! The good news is God is revealing this darkness and answering our prayers by catching the sex traffickers, healing and setting victims free, as well as having Craig’s List ban “Adult Services” on it’s page.  May I remind you, as well as myself, to continue to pray for this issues as we know the Lord is listening and responding.

Another thing that really convicted me was the call sent out for HOLINESS and PURITY!  My generation is so filled with excess and over stimulation that we don’t even know what true holiness and purity even is.  We are surrounded by constant entertainment, technology, fashion, noise, celebrity’s, gossip, slander, drunkenness, compromise, darkness, deception, depression, immorality, etc… that we don’t even have a mindset for what the Lord has called us to.  Corey Russel shared from the stage that,

“Christianity isn’t boring, you are!”

WOW!  How can we know if God is truly fun, exciting, and adventurous if we are giving all of our time to the counterfeit with self seeking pleasures and gratifications?  O’ Lord, set my generation free from the bondage and raise up an army of young reckless abandoned lovers of YOU!  Set us free Lord.  Take our generation from holy-less to HOLINESS!

I know this little blip can’t give you the fullness of what was poured out at the solemn assembly of prayer and fasting but I pray that it will stir you enough to seek out what God is saying to you individually and what He is pouring out to His Body corporately. Join TheCall by responding and joining a world wide movement of lovesick believers that will not back down or compromise until the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

START WITH ME, SEND REVIVAL!

Thanks for tuning in.  Here is a list of websites that are affiliated with TheCall and it’s message….CHECK EM OUT!

www.prayandact.org

www.luke18project.com

www.stonewallnow.com

www.bound4life.com

www.thezoefoundation.com

www.thecall.com/nonotthisone

www.ihop.org/theprayerroom

www.exoduscry.com

www.jhop.org

BLESSINGS,

Patrick Judah

Man of the Month: Lou Engle

August 19, 2010 in Mystics, Present with 1 Comment

Hello Friends,

I hope all of you that are reading this, are aware of TheCall and it’s founder Lou Engle.  If not, may this article encourage you to find out more about them both and even inspire you to attend this upcoming Call in Sacramento, Ca September 3-4, 2010 to see for yourself.

TheCall is not an event. TheCall is a movement emphasizing prayer, worship and fasting for Spiritual breakthrough. It is a nameless and faceless movement joining the generations. It is not a convention of celebrities or rock show. The musicians on stage are worshipers, not entertainers. The board of directors will not receive financial compensation, speakers and leaders come at their own expense.

I have seen Lou Engle at several different events outside of TheCall and his message has always pierced my heart with truth and conviction.   The first time I saw Lou Engle was at a Jesus Culture in Redding California.  He was speaking to a large gathering of teenagers and young adults and the atmosphere was hungry for a deep relationship with Jesus.  Lou Engle was teaching on Joseph and Daniel and was declaring and prophesying over the crowd that God is raising up young ones to live as Daniel and Joseph did.  Then he made a call for those that want to make a vow, like the Nazarites, to come up and commit themselves to the Lord and not to the things of this world.  The front of the room was filled with fiery young ones and the Spirit of the Lord was moving.  Yes, Lou Engle is very intense on the stage and his intensity is followed with words that are even more intense, but the man and the message need to be received! There is something about a message that is filled with fire and passion that reminds me of the apostolic teachings of the disciples and of the Prophets of old in the Bible.  It seems like in this day and age there are too many teaching about how to get comfortable now and how to be accepted by everyone.  From what I have seen and heard from Lou, I know that he has compassion for this nation and for the Words that the Lord has spoken that have upheld this nation.  He has been called to call those that are hungry and are longing to see the Father return to this blessed nation.  He is calling us to a lifestyle of fasting and prayer, not out of a “religious duty” but out of a relationship with Jesus that says, “I am hungry and only You can satisfy and only You can come swiftly with justice to those who cry out day and night for You.”

I also saw him at TheCall San Diego in 2009.  This was another crucial time for the state of California when Prop 8 was being voted on.  The whole day was filled with repentance and crying out for forgiveness.  There is something about gathering together with one voice and one heart that causes you to realize that God is the only answer.  You don’t have to be a scholar of the Bible, you don’t have to have it all figured out, you don’t have to be a pro faster, you don’t have to have the best prayer life ever, you don’t have to be perfect, all you have to be is weak and all you have to do is show up.

This Call in Sacramento is being held at another critical time for our nation and state.  Not only is it the 10th year anniversary of TheCall, but it is also right before the elections and I’d say anytime is a good time to gather the Body of Christ together to fast and pray to see the Lord respond to His people.  The time is now and the trumpets are blowing, will you respond?…BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN INVITED!

Also check out this message, CALIFORNIA DREAMING, to hear Lou Engle himself about the history of TheCall and the importance of it all.
See you all there!

Patrick Judah

P.S.

As some of you may know I have been writing about mystics of the past that have had some major impact and influence on our Christian History.  Now, I don’t want to get anyone confused or upset, but I am putting this article under my “Mystic of the Month” category.  I am not titling him to being a mystic in the sense that some may use the word.  However, I feel that Lou Engle, in his passion for prayer and fasting is reviving some of the ancient paths that many of the apostles, disciples, and mystics walked out in their time. Let me know if you have any concerns or questions. Thanks.

The Choice Movement?

August 4, 2010 in Future, Movements, Present with 1 Comment

Today marks a very dramatic shift in California’s HISTORY as well as for the United States of America. Marriage has been defined as being “between a man and a woman” since the beginning.  I know you might be asking, since the beginning of what? Well, God had ordained marriage in the book of Genesis.  For any one that needs another source, let’s look at the definition in Noah Webster’s first Dictionary that was published in 1828:

MAR’RIAGE, n. [L.mas, maris.] The act of uniting a man and woman for life; wedlock; the legal union of a man and woman for life. Marriage is a contract both civil and religious, by which the parties engage to live together in mutual affection and fidelity, till death shall separate them. Marriage was instituted by God himself for the purpose of preventing the promiscuous intercourse of the sexes, for promoting domestic felicity, and for securing the maintenance and education of children.

Marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled. Heb.13.

1. A feast made on the occasion of a marriage.

The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king, who made a marriage for his son. Matt.22.

2. In a scriptural sense, the union between Christ and his church by the covenant of grace. Rev.19.

So why has Proposition 8 been such a big deal?  Because it wanted to re-clarify the wording of California’s Constitutional “Family Code” definition of marriage as, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” that was previously voted in through Prop 22 by 61% in favor and then invalidated by a 4-3 decision by San Francisco judges.  The previous wording before Prop 22 was, “a personal relation arising out of a civil contract between a man and a woman, to which the consent of the parties capable of making that contract is necessary.”

But what about the peoples choices, equalities, and rights? Saying yes to Proposition 8 has not removed the choices from those that want to engage in a homosexual lifestyle.  Saying yes to Proposition 8 has not slanted the playing field of equality; homosexuals still have the right to a civil union with legal benefits that approach or are equivalent to those of marriage.  All Americans have the right to vote, no rights have been removed by saying yes to Prop 8; it is the rights of the voters that have been denied in this case.  7 MILLION (52%) CALIFORNIA VOTERS WERE DENIED THEIR RIGHTS THROUGH THE OVERTURNING OF PROPOSITION 8!

But, Antonio Villarigosa says, “Today, the sun is shining is little brighter on the Golden State, because by overturning Prop 8, a federal judge has affirmed what a majority of Californians know to be true: love doesn’t discriminate.”

I am thankful that our CREATOR and NOT man DEFINE TRUE LOVE.

What were some of the reasons that the opponents used against Prop 8? (Taken out of Prop 8 Ruling, pdf Link below)

1.    It prevents each plaintiff from marrying the person of his or her choice;
2.    The choice of a marriage partner is sheltered by the Fourteenth Amendment from the state’s unwarranted usurpation of that choice; and
3.    California’s provision of a domestic partnership —— a status giving same-sex couples the rights and responsibilities of marriage without providing marriage —— does not afford plaintiffs an adequate substitute for marriage and, by disabling plaintiffs from marrying the person of their choice, invidiously discriminates, without justification, against plaintiffs and others who seek to marry a person of the same sex.

To Perry, marriage would provide access to the language to describe her relationship with Stier: “I’m a 45-year-old woman. I have been in love with a woman for 10 years and I don’t have a word to tell anybody about that.”

-        Marriage is not the word to describe a relationship between two female partners.

To Stier Marriage would be a way to tell “our friends, our family, our society, our community, our parents * * * and each other that this is a lifetime commitment * * * we are not girlfriends. We are not partners. We are married.”

-        You can still have a lifetime commitment without being married.

To Katami, marriage to Zarrillo would solidify their relationship and provide them the foundation they seek to raise a family together, explaining that for them, “the timeline has always been marriage first, before family.

-        Marriage is the foundation between a man and a women and the foundation for a strong family.

To check out the 138 page article on the Prop 8 Ruling click below:

prop8ruling

If our basic rights are being overturned and our basic definitions of words are being redefined so that people can have their choice without being wrong…then at what point do we stop and realize we have lost everything that has been defined?

Lord, I thank You that You spoke everything into existence with Your Word, and that You uphold Your Word, and that Your Words will not be broken or redefined, but Your Words are the DEFINITION for ETERNITY! AMEN.

Keep praying,

Patrick Judah

Hebrews 13:4

May 26, 2009 in Future, Present with 0 Comments

California high court upholds gay marriage ban! In a world growing deeper in darkness daily, it is encouraging to see a VICTORY FOR CHRIST in the physical realm! I know that there is spiritual breakthrough in the hearts of man every single day that goes unseen to the world as a whole. But to see breakthrough in the natural while being broadcasted around the nation and beyond is huge. Many states look to California for new trends and fads and this latest statement declares that THE PEOPLE still hold the vote even when it is not generally liked. This was a very close call and it is sad to see that this issue of Gay Marriage has even made it this far; this is only the beginning! We still have to stand our ground regardless of the persecution! When the disciples and believers were persecuted in the Bible times for their faith, it only SPREAD THE GOSPEL! What do we have to fear other than GOD himself? As believers in Christ it is up to us in our personal lives to stay true to our Makers Law. As the Body of Christ it is up to us to stand as a whole to uphold what God has created as pure. As a nation we are responsible for the results of the votes so let’s continue to walk down the Road of Righteousness and uphold Justice knowing that GOD loves all of His people and will bring His Will to pass.

Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Hebrews 13:4

Check out Miss CALIFORNIA!!! As she stands on her truths despite what the judge, voters, and others may think. God Bless Miss California!

Go California!

Thank you for your SUPPORT!

Patrick Judah