Daily Devotional for Friday August 22, 2008

It is Time to Score and Win for Jesus

(Jonah 3:10)

It is time to score and win...for Jesus!!! I don't know where this Gospel of prosperity, this Gospel of ME came from, but I know it didn't come from the Bible. It is a perversion of the spiritual prosperity the Bible speaks of, used over the past 40 years to appeal to people's greed and make those who preach this false gospel rich in the temporal things of this world. While they are living in multi-million dollar mansions, driving quarter million dollar luxury cars, flying around in private jets, the nation around them is in spiritual free fall and they could care less. You see, their goal is to be successful and win for themselves, not to win for Jesus!

As Liveprayer turns 9 years old in just 9 days, I am grateful and thankful for all the Lord has done through this ministry over the years, but would love for there to not to be a 10th anniversary. That would mean our work was finished and we had accomplished all the Lord had called for us to do. That would mean within the next 12 months we had successfully helped turn this nation back to God and Biblical values, brought millions to faith in Christ in the process, abortion was illegal, it was no longer possible for people of the same sex to legally get married, porn and gambling had been scaled way back, and kids were once again able to pray and learn the Scriptures in school.

I realize that many of you are thinking if those are the goals, Bill Keller better start preparing for the 100th anniversary of Liveprayer! I say you are wrong! If the time, effort, energy, and RESOURCES that has gone into making ministries and churches wealthy beyond belief were put towards impacting our nation for Christ, all the things I just stated could happen VERY quickly! What has changed in the past 50 years when this WAS a Christian nation that honored God and His Word, when killing babies was illegal, when homosexuality was understood by all to be a sin, when porn and gambling were looked at as a scourge, when children went to school and opened their day with prayer and were taught the Bible?

There are many things that have changed during those 50 years, but the greatest change of all that has affected the spiritual direction of this nation has been the church. Rather than influencing the culture, the church has been influenced by the culture. Once great mainline denominations that helped form the spiritual foundation of this nation, now make a mockery of our Lord by denying the Truth of the Bible while supporting gross sins like homosexuality and abortion. You now have churches with pastors and those in leadership who are practicing, unrepentant homosexuals. You now have churches that don't even use the Bible, but books of the world to preach from.

People have come up with all kinds of clever marketing strategies to "do church" that fill multi-million dollar entertainment centers with warm bodies. They have abandoned preaching about sin since that offends people. You will never hear about hell since who are we to tell people that without Jesus they will die and end up in hell. As a matter of fact, just show up on Sunday, give some money, and you can believe whatever you want since God will understand. Just do your best and you will make it to Heaven is the prevailing message of our day, a lie from hell being preached from many pulpits and believed by the masses.

Because the church has abandoned evangelism for entertainment, it left an incredible opportunity for the wolves of satan. The better percentage of two full generations have never even been to church. They have become a ripe mission field for satan as he uses cults like the Mormons, the JWs, Scientology, false religions like Islam, and the New Age teachings, to guide these lost souls straight to the pits of hell. The sad fact is, the church doesn't even try to compete for these souls any longer, leaving them for satan to devour.

You want a classic example? On Larry King this week, you had Pastor Rick Warren on Monday's program and Bill Maher on Tuesday's program. Warren likes to think of himself as the pastor to the pastors of the nation. Yet not once did he look into those cameras at a nationwide audience and explain to them that we are all sinners and without Jesus, will die and go to hell. Not once did he hold up a Bible and tell people that God's Word is the ONLY Truth there is and our only answer to life's problems. Not once did he look at Larry King and give him the opportunity to accept Jesus and escape the horrors of hell. No, he was there for HIS agenda, not God's.

Contrast that with Tuesday's program and the Christ-hating, blasphemous Bill Maher, a true tool of satan. Maher spent the entire hour serving satan to the best of his ability. Mocking Christ and Christians. Dismissing the Bible as a book of fiction and fairy tales. Making the case that Christians are to blame for all of the ills of the world. Bill Maher did an incredible job serving his master, satan, while Warren did a pathetic job of serving his master, the Lord. In the end, Warren was on King's program to fulfill his agenda, not God's, while Maher was there to serve satan.

By the way, here is a classic quote from Bill Maher's appearance on King's program last Tuesday, "Yes, right. And by the way, let me just preface this by saying I'm asking people for perspective. I have it also. Rick Warren, big improvement over Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. If we have to have a pope of the super Christ-ies, I'd rather it be him. He's got good ideas about actually, you know -- actually helping people. Because you know, one thing I don't like about religion is that, you know, ask any of the truly devout. It's not mainly about doing the right thing or being ethical. It's mainly about salvation. It's mainly about getting your butt saved when you die. And that's why I think they're less moral than ethicists."

Very telling words from a tool of satan like Maher. Maher referred to Christianity as "the ultimate hustle." Guys like him are OK if all we talk about is feeding the starving children, trying to wipe out AIDS, and other social programs the religious left like Warren advocate. However, start talking about sin, or being held personally accountable for your life, deal with issues like killing babies, homosexuality, and the minions of satan like Maher go berserk. Most of all, talk about rejecting Jesus and dying in your sin and going to hell and they go crazy! Why do you think even satan's workers have no problem with Osteen, Warren, Schuller, Jakes, and other high profile Christians? They eat them for lunch because they don't have the guts to take a real stand for Christ and His Truth in the national media!!!

That is exactly why we don't see victory. Those in leadership don't even have victory, at least victory for Jesus, as their goal. For those who have been part of the Liveprayer family for any time, you know my heart by now. I have only ONE desire, and that is to serve the Lord. Not for my glory, not for my gain, but for HIS glory and for HIS gain. I know this. If I can mobilize 5-6 million fellow Believers who feel like I do, who want to see victory for Jesus NOW, TODAY, we can see and experience that victory. Victory in leading this nation back to God and Biblical values. Victory in leading millions of lost souls to faith in Jesus Christ. Victory over the social ills that are ripping out the soul of this nation.

I love you and care about you so much. That is what the Jonah Project is all about. It is not a one day event that comes and goes and is forgotten just hours after it ends. It is an ongoing, daily, high profile effort to call this nation to repentance and to turn back to God or face His judgment. In the process, it will be an opportunity to help lead millions of lost souls to everlasting life through faith in Jesus Christ while ending the scourge of abortion, gay marriage, and cutting way back the accessible of destructive vices like porn and gambling. In the process, we will amass this army of 5-6 million faithful followers of Christ whose only desire is to see victory for Jesus!

I realize most people are too focused on their own lives to think about leading our nation back to God and His Truth, to fathom leading millions of souls to faith in Christ, to comprehend ending abortion, gay marriage and other social ills. I am telling you today that this is not only possible, but CAN HAPPEN, and you can help! I need people who aren't willing to accept defeat any longer. People who are willing to make the sacrifice of their life to Christ. God is calling me and the Liveprayer family to take this stand and lead His charge.

Everyone can and must play a role in this. Go the Jonah Project website by clicking the link on the Liveprayer.com homepage and watch the vision video and sign up. Once you are signed up, go to the ACTION page and use the tools in place to invite everyone you know to join as well. The numbers will grow exponentially and quickly if you will get the people you know involved, they in turn get the people they know involved, and so on. This is a powerful way you can make your life count for Christ.

The key component to the Jonah Project is the daily TV and radio programs that will air all over the nation on secular networks. The first quarter, 13 weeks, is going to cost us right at $4 million to cover the airtime costs. That is 65 days of programming to reach the nation on both radio and TV. It may seem like much money, but in reality, it is a very small amount when you consider the millions and millions of people we will be able to reach each day that aren't currently being reached. The ongoing costs to support the national TV and radio programs will come from the new people we recruit into the Jonah Project, people like you who are tired of seeing satan winning, and ready to do their part to see victories won for Christ.

We are working right now on putting together a group of 40 people who can each make a sacrifice of $100,000 between now and September 5th. There are 40 people right now reading these words who can make this commitment, or have the influence over those who can. There are a few reading these words who have the ability personally or through their contacts to put this $4 million together quickly. Please, I need your help. Time is of the essence. The fact is, there is NOBODY, NOT ONE, national Christian leader who is on secular TV and radio daily calling this nation to repentance, leading the lost to faith in Christ, amassing a true army of millions to wipe out the social plagues of our day like abortion, gay marriage, pornography, and gambling.

I am willing to sacrifice my life to lead this charge. God has given me the plan for victory. I need people who are willing to give everything they have, even their very lives, for our Lord. It is time to score and win....for JESUS!!!

In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller