Daily Devotional for Tuesday September 28, 2010

I Really Dislike It When People Say, "I Told You So" but Today I am Going to be One of Those People

(Romans 10:14)

I really dislike it when people say "I told you so," but today I am going to be one of those people. For the nearly 20 years I have been in the ministry, for the 11+ years of writing the Daily Devotional, for the nearly 8 years of the TV and radio program, I have stated over and over and over how preaching to the choir as all major ministries and the vast majority of the churches do has virtually zero impact on our culture at large. George Barna just released some polling data that illustrates this fact, and confirms all that I have been saying for nearly two decades.

According to Barna, here are some statistics regarding the top Christian "personalities" of our day. Rick Warren, 75% of non-Believers don't know who he is, nor do 66% who are Believers. Dr. James Dobson, over 60% of non-Believers don't know who he is, nor do over 50% who are Believers. TD Jakes, 68% of non-Believers don't know who he is, nor do 60% who are Believers.

Tim LaHaye, 75% of non-Believers don't know who he is, nor do 67% of Believers. Joel Osteen, 67% of non-Believers don't know who he is, nor do over 60% who are Believers. In other polls taken over the last few years, well over 60% of non-Believers even know who Billy Graham is!!!

The point of these numbers should be obvious. Of course the people in the world have little clue who these people are. Why would they? All of these people work almost exclusively in the "Christian trough," or that comfortable, profitable, subculture created over the last 40 years that has extracted the salt and light from the marketplace and left the souls of men to the wolves of satan. The only reason these people are known at all is because of their compromised and watered down message that seeps into the culture at times, but has ZERO...ZERO... impact on our society.

Warren is famous for his "purpose driven" marketing strategy designed to fill churches with warm bodies, not converts to the faith, and associating himself with leaders of cults and false religions to advance his own agenda. While Dr. Dobson has spoken to Christians on the social issues of the day, he has also been quick to take money from the "Moonies" in the 80s, from the Mormons today, which is why he has been aligned over the years with the satanic Mormon cult on many family-related issues and never once in his numerous interviews of MORMON CULT MEMBER Glenn Beck, told his audience that Beck was part of the satanic Mormon cult and NOT a Christian as he claims to be.

TD Jakes doesn't believe in the Trinity and focuses all of his ministry efforts to African-American Believers. Osteen is little more than a new age motivational speaker who smiles all the time and will never speak the Truth of the Bible about sin since it might offend someone and hurt his book sales. LaHaye is the one guy in this group that has actually made some inroads into the culture with his "Left Behind" series. Sadly though, the bulk of the marketing efforts for the series have been confined to the Christian media and churches where he is guaranteed sales.

Once you get into other names of "Christian stars," people like Rod Parlsey, Benny Hinn, or anyone else you want to mention, less than 15% of the general public has a clue who they are. However, if you mention "Snookie," or "the Situation," or Lady Gaga, or any number of meaningless individuals who have done virtually nothing in their life and contributed ZERO to society, over 75% of the people know who they are!

Some days I feel like I should be preaching to a wall. When will people in the church wake up, realize that the vast majority of the last 2 generations have never even been inside of a church, and if we don't take the message of the Bible and the Gospel to them...WHERE THEY LIVE...they will never hear it. I've told you over and over that millions and millions of people around the world die every year and needlessly end up in the flames of hell for eternity because we have not done our job to simply share the simple Gospel message!

I love you and care about you so much. I want you to go back, read the previous paragraphs, understand clearly that despite the fact we have more churches, more Christian media, more Christian everything than ever before in our 2,000 year history, we also have virtually ZERO impact on our culture. Z...E....R....O!!!

I have never asked you for a dime to build a building. I have never used a penny of your gifts to this ministry to buy myself an oceanfront mansion, a new Bentley, or a private plane. I personally think those ministries who raise tens of millions annually and use donor funds for those luxuries of the world will one day answer to God for squandering the sacrifices of the people meant to go to HIS work, that went for THEIR pleasure!!!

What I DO with your gifts is reach the lost and hurting masses in the marketplace other ministries won't reach out to and the church can't be bothered with. I am issuing this challenge to you! There are 3 people today reading this who could make a gift of $1 million dollars and it will not affect you or your family. There are 6 people today reading this who could make a gift of $500,000 and it will not affect you or your family. There are 15 people today reading this who could make a gift of $100,000 and it will not affect your family. There are 50 people today reading this who could make a gift of $10,000. That is a total of 74 people and a total of $8 million dollars.

With those funds, we would double our current subscriber base at Liveprayer.com to 5 million people worldwide being fed daily. We would have a 6 month run on a major national TV network, and the ability to keep the turn going for years and years, that would expose tens of millions of people to the Truth of the Bible and the promise of Christ for all eternity. It would cover our first year of operations for 20111 at the permanent home of the "9-11 Christian Center at Ground Zero," a place that I believe will not only bring tens of thousands to faith in Jesus Christ, but spark a revival that will turn this nation back to God.

*Note: For $8 million dollars, less than what "Bishop" Eddie Long is reported in court documents to have spent on his young boy lovers, we could see tens of millions of lives impacted around the world every week, tens of thousands of people come to faith in Jesus Christ, and possibly this nation turned back to the God of the Bible and spared his wrath! Maybe I should start asking people to give me money for private jets, new Bentley's, huge state-of-the-art buildings, and immoral sexual trysts like the rest of these guys do, since it seems people don't really care about giving to save souls, only giving to allow some "pastor" to live like the ruler of a small nation!

Please pray today about helping me take a REAL STAND in this nation for the Lord. Pray about being one of those special 74 who will make a special one-time gift to help me in a major way today. I don't know why I was the ONLY Christian leader to speak out about the victory mosque at ground zero other than the wayward brother from Gainesville, Florida who thought burning a stack of Qu'rans was a Biblical idea. I don't know why these major ministries who take in $40 million, $70 million, $100 million plus a year can't take a real stand for Christ on SECULAR TV, telling people that without Jesus they will die and burn in hell. I guess preaching to the lost who can't buy you a new private jet isn't a good business model!

This recent Barna poll only illustrates all I have told you over these many years. The world is NOT even hearing the simple Truth of the Gospel. They aren't being reached. With all of the modern forms of communication we have today, that is unconscionable! I refuse to sit back and all people to go to hell needlessly. I have a verifiable track record of being willing to go into the marketplace and not backing down from the Truth or compromising the Gospel message.

I am asking you to stand with me today, help me today. The hour is at hand. It is our time to lead this nation back to the God of the Bible and lost souls to everlasting faith in Jesus Christ!!!

As we head into the last 2 days of September, we currently need to bring in just under $23,000 to cover the balance of our September budget. We were blessed to have one family send a gift of $7,000 to meet our second week of expenses at the new "9-11 Christian Center at Ground Zero," meaning I need 2 more people to make a sacrifce of $7,000 to cover the last 2 weeks of September. Lastly, we need just 4 more to make a special one-time sacrifce of $5,000 to finish covering the rest of our shortfall from 2009. That is a total of $57,000 to end the month with all of our basic operational costs covered. Please pray today about what God is calling you to do to help me, as we take this bold, visible stand for Christ in the marketplace to bring HIS Truth to the blind masses, and the love and hope of Christ to the lost.

--->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.

--->I really need $15,000 of that total amount immediately! If you are able to FedEx me a check today, or better yet, wire transfer the funds directly to our bank, please email me as early as possible today at: bkeller@liveprayer.com

Thank you for helping me to be here for the lost and hurting masses whose only answer and hope is Jesus Christ!

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