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"Voters
Want To Know What A Person's Values Are And What Motivates And Animates Their
Life" - Candidates for Governor in Virginia Take Their Faith Out on the Campaign
Trail
March 27, 2005
Republican
and former state Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore and Lt. Governor Timothy M.
Kaine, a Democrat, are both gubernatorial candidates for the state of Virginia,
and both hit the campaign trail this week, fearlessly extolling their religious
beliefs.
According to an article
in The Washington Times, for Mr. Kilgore, a Baptist, and Mr. Kaine, a
Catholic, "their belief in God is a cornerstone of their lives and has played a
prominent role throughout their careers."
Says Mr.
Kilgore: "As a young boy growing up in a small town, [my parents] instilled in
me the values of hard work, honesty and a deep and abiding faith in God. I would
attend services at our small church nestled among our majestic mountains --
overshadowed only by the importance of our faith and the size of our dreams."
Mr. Kaine brings up the
time he spent building medical clinics and schools and teaching poor teenagers
carpentry skills in Honduras when he was 22, according to the same report. "I
was a young guy searching for a direction in life," said Mr. Kaine. "The
experience taught me a life in service is a fulfilled life."
One
Virignia expert says it's "politically smart for candidates to discuss faith and
values, given the results of last year's presidential election. Virginians want
to know where a person's values are and what motivates and animates their life,"
he said.
Teresa Neumann Reporting
by Christina Bellantoni / Teresa Neumann Reporting : Mar 27, 2005 :
The Washington Times
Read Full Story...
http://www.breakingchristiannews.com/articles/display_art.html?ID=431
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March 27, 2005
God asked me, "Why Are You Persecuting Yourself?" (For Those Disillusioned by
the Motivations of their Hearts)
by Kathie Pelton
www.the-war-room.com
 Today
a friend sent me a short revelation he had received concerning Saul's journey on
the road to Damascus. As I read it, the Holy Spirit began speaking to me. I have
been on a journey of my own the past month or so . . . it has been the journey
of searching my heart. Just yesterday I told the Lord that it felt like He had
blinded me on this road of searching my heart. I was asking Him why?
When this short revelation came (via e-mail) from our family friend, my
spiritual eyes began to see. I began to see Saul, on this journey in Acts 9,
breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He was intent on
ridding the world of those who would follow "The Way."
Saul was neither searching his heart nor asking for wisdom to walk in
righteousness while traveling the road to Damascus. He was not fasting and
praying about how he could love his neighbor better or confessing his
shortcomings. Saul was up to no good! His thoughts were on killing those who had
been saved by grace and threatening those who would even consider this "Way" of
living.
As Saul was on this journey to meet with the high priest, in order to find out
the names of the men and women who had come to know Christ as their Savior, he
is suddenly interrupted. Just as he approached his destination of Damascus, he
"suddenly" encountered a light from heaven that flashed all around him. After
falling to the ground, he hears the audible voice of God who asks him why he is
persecuting Him and then gives him direction about what to do next. Saul was
then lead by the hand (though blinded for three days) to the place that the Lord
had directed.
God's Sovereignty on our
Journeys
After seeing this story so clear in my spirit, the Lord began to ask me some
questions also. The first question was, "What are you doing, Kathi?"
My response was, "Searching my heart, Lord."
Then He asked me, "What do you see?"
And I answered, "I can't see anything, but I know that You are leading me by the
hand."
Then He began to show me how He is able to interrupt our journeys, like with
Saul, and lead us onto the right paths. I realized that so often we begin to
play Holy Spirit in our own lives because we have stopped trusting in the
sovereignty of God. I had become judge and jury over the condition of my heart
and over my lack of human ability to love my neighbor enough. As a leader, I was
looking for a higher standard of love and servanthood then I was seeing in
myself. But what I forgot is that it is only by the sovereign hand of God that I
can love or serve, and it is up to Him to search my heart.
Saul was not doing any of these things . . . fasting, praying, groaning,
repenting, searching . . . He was intent on evil. This did not stop God! God
interrupted his journey to speak to him and to change him into the Apostle Paul.
The Lord chose Saul to be an instrument of His and to bear His name. Saul did
not choose the Lord. In the most unlikely moment, He encountered the kindness of
God on a journey to destroy His people. Yet, I found myself not trusting that He
would reach out to me, His daughter, in the same kindness to speak to me and to
take me by the hand and lead me on a right way. I had taken matters into my own
hands.
Blinded By His Love
Just yesterday I was asking Him why I couldn't see (being a seer, this was quite
disorienting). Today I realize that His love and mercy came in and blinded my
pursuit to "persecute my own heart". It was as if the Lord said, "Kathi, why are
you persecuting yourself?"
With that, He took my hand and brought me back to the place of stillness where I
can rest in the trust that He is the One who will search my heart and lead me on
right paths. He says in Romans 9:15-16,
"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will
have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it does not depend on the man
who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy."
As a pastor and leader, I see so many people every week that are weary due to
searching their own hearts and motives. They are exhausted by their own efforts
to love or to serve. They are disillusioned by the motivations of their hearts.
I think that we need to return to the amazing grace that we were given upon our
salvation. The realization that He chose us -- we didn't choose Him -- is
something we need to remember. Our prayer is that He would search our hearts and
see if there is any wicked way within us . . . not that He would help us to
search our own hearts and try to change it by our human efforts.
He is taking His sons and daughters by the hand, blinding us from finding our
way on the road of human effort (or self persecution), and leading us into that
still place of knowing that He is God and He is able to keep us from falling.
God will interrupt our journeys, and His sovereignty will stop us and change us
even when we least expect it. If He did it for Saul, He will surely do it for
you!
Kathi Pelton
www.the-war-room.com
"The
Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind"
by Bill Johnson
$13.99 Book
You can live a supernatural life.
In fact, moving in the supernatural realm should be as routine as prayer,
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You too can move from an intellectual faith and tap into an abundance of
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1. Change Your Mind
2. Becoming the Dwelling Place of God
3. Revelation and Understanding
4. Understanding is an Experience
5. Becoming Students of Miracles
6. Guilt-Free and Forgiven
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8. Enduring Uncertainty
9. Learning from Your Body
10. Dreaming with God
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and The Lost Art of
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In these last days I'm setting my hope in Jesus on not being a part of the usual
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There's Always Enough,
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and International Conference Speaker
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Feel free to
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have partnered for revival. This leadership network has crossed denominational
lines, building relationships that enable church leaders to walk successfully in
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Bill and Brenda (Beni) Johnson are the senior pastors of Bethel Church in
Redding, California. All three of their children and spouses are involved in
full time ministry. They also have four wonderful grandchildren.
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