Daily Devotional for Tuesday September 7, 2010
The Opening of the 9-11 Christian Center at Ground Zero - Part One of Two
(1 Kings 18:16)
THE OPENING OF THE "9-11 CHRISTIAN CENTER AT GROUND ZERO" Part One of Two
The "9-11 Christian Center at Ground Zero" is open! This past Sunday, we opened the new "9-11 Christian Center at Ground Zero" at the NY Marriott, 85 West Street, in New York City. It was an amazing day, and an incredible 3-4 days in NYC. By Friday, I will have some powerful videos for you to watch. I have an incredible testimony from a firefighter trapped in the rubble on 9/11 for hours, only saved by his faith in the Lord. I will also have some video we took at the sight of the proposed victory mosque a block away from ground zero. Lastly, I will have the complete video of my sermon as we opened the "9-11 Christian Center at Ground Zero."
Saturday afternoon, my TV producer and I were privileged to go to a special place not open to the public that overlooks ground zero. It was a moving and emotional sight. From that special place I had the opportunity to interview Vincent Forres, a firefighter who was trapped under the rubble of the buildings for several hours on 9/11, only being able to escape due to his faith in Jesus. We then moved to the site of the proposed victory mosque to shoot some video. Almost immediately, I was descended on by about 20 people who knew who I was. Many were Muslims, and they immediately began peppering me with questions. I stayed for about 30 minutes, answering as many questions as I could before we left the location.
Sunday, the service at Marriott began at 11am. I was prepared for some press presence, but never expected the amount that showed up. Much of the press in attendance no doubt came due to the tons of coverage we received the week leading up to the opening service. I don't know what they expected, but apparently they came thinking I was going to sacrifice a pig at the altar or some other bizarre act. Represented were most of the local New York TV news stations, ABC national news, the three major NY papers (the Post, the NY Times, and the NY Daily News), AP, AOL News, Salon.com, Newsweek, the Christian Post, TV networks from Sweden and the Netherlands, and others.
Long time Liveprayer supporter and a true man of God and warrior, Danny Gallo, handled the service. We had hero Vincent Forres share his testimony, Danny led a great praise and worship team in some inspiring music, and then turned the service over to me. I knew that if I came before the service I would be hounded by the press, so I purposely didn't arrive until the praise and worship was underway. That way the press had to stay for the entire service. After being branded as a hate monger and every derogatory adjective you could name, I was determined that even though they would put whatever spin they wanted on my message, they were going to have to stay and hear my heart, hear the Truth of the Bible, and most important, hear that without faith in Jesus Christ a person will die and burn in hell! (By the way, if we really believe that, what are we so afraid to tell people that most important truth of all?)
My message came from I Kings 18, as Elijah challenged the people of Israel to quit wavering in their faith and the prophets of baal to see whose God was truly God! I spoke of two modern day prophets of baal, broadcaster Glenn Beck and Imam Faisel Rauf, the ground zero victory mosque Imam. I laid out the clear theological cases why both the Mormon cult and the false relgion of Islam are lies from satan leading their followers to the flames of hell. I knew the press was expecting some sort of commentary on Islam, so I first gave them another man who represents a cult just as satanic as Islam, whose followers will burn in the same hell Muslims will.
As I wrapped up the message, I explained that if you truly believe the
Bible, it is out of LOVE that you preach the Gospel and try to share the
truth with those whose eternal souls are in eternal peril. God doesn't have
to answer by fire any longer, since now His fire is the Holy Spirit that
indwells all at the moment they are saved. I also clearly stated that every
person has to decide for themselves what they believe. I, or nobody can
force a person to believe anything. In the end, each person has to make that
choice for themselves. My job is to simply insure they have heard the Truth
of God's Word and the hope we have in Christ. Once I have done that job, it
is up to each individual to make their own choice.
After the message I moved immediately into prayer, gave an invitation to all
who were assembled to make a decision to accept Jesus as their Savior by
faith, specifically praying for the press assembled to open their hearts to
all they heard that day, and closed the service by inviting people to the
front so I could pray for them. After about 20 minutes of praying for all
who came forward, it was finally time to face the press. For the next 2
hours, I stood and answered every question they asked, stayed until every
picture, every interview was complete. My time with the press actually
ended with the crew from the ABC Nightly News, which featured the opening of
the "9-11 Christian Center at Ground Zero" on their national news broadcast
Sunday night, followed up by a piece on Monday's Good Morning America
program.
If you Google the 9-11 Christian Center, you will find that this was one of
the top 3 news stories in the WORLD Sunday and Monday. It was aired on TV
stations and in newspapers all throughout the US and around the world. We
are most grateful for God opening these doors, since this has always been
and always will be about one thing....SOULS!
I love you and care about you so much. For those who have been with
Liveprayer for a while, you know that my only reason for being in the
secular media is to be able to tell a lost world that doesn't go to church,
and isn't going to hear the Truth of the Bible otherwise, that Jesus is
their only hope and answer now and for all eternity. After nearly 20 yrs of
ministry, I was probably able to reach more people in the last 48 with the
simple message of Gospel than ever before. That is saying quite a bit since
we have reached tens of millions of people worldwide over the years! All
praise to God!!!
Tomorrow in part two, I will share with you a critical message you can't
miss. I will be dealing with my personal observations regarding our new
"9-11 Christian Center at Ground Zero" and what I see it accomplishing in
the coming weeks, months, and years. I will also be dealing with some
larger issues such as why have so many people have reacted with vitriolic
hatred towards me personally. In addition, why is someone like me who goes
into the marketplace preaching a basic Biblical message demonized? Finally,
why am I out there all alone? Please, don't miss this message every person,
especially every Christian, most important every PASTOR, needs to read!
***We still need to make up the last $10,000 we were short last month. We
need to make this shortfall up immediately, so please praying about helping
me. Also, we only need 4 more people to make a one-time gift of $5,000 to
cover the rest of our 2009 shortfall. We need to cover that $20,000 as
quick as we can. Finally, we are thankful for a dear family that made the
sacrifce of $7,000 to cover our first Sunday at the "9-11 Christian Center
at Ground Zero." We still need 3 more friends to sacrifce $7,000 for each
of the last 3 weeks in September. Please pray about helping me as we stand
for the Lord at ground zero!
You can make a gift to Liveprayer on your major credit card at our website
www.liveprayer.com under the "Donation" button, or you can give from your
PayPal account by using my email address, bkeller@liveprayer.com , or you
can mail a gift to: Liveprayer 6660 46th Avenue North St. Petersburg,
Florida 33709 *For a gift to the 9-11 Christian Center, please mark 9-11 on
your check, or put (9-11) next to your name on the credit card or PayPal
form. All gifts to Liveprayer are 100% tax deductible.
---> If you are able to send a gift of $5,000 or more, I would be happy to
give you our bank wiring instructions or FedEx account information. Just
email me at: bkeller@liveprayer.com for that information.
Thank you for taking your stand with me and with Jesus!!!
In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller