Daily Devotional for Monday February 3, 2014
Attacks on Liveprayer
(Genesis 50:20)
***ASK BILL: Pastor Bill, I'm not sure if a loved one has ask our Lord to be his Lord and Savior. Would it be ok if I prayed to our Lord to be his Lord and Savior? Does the Lord need to hear it from each individual?
ANSWER: Unfortunately there is no such thing as "salvation by proxy." Just because your parents, a spouse, a friend are saved, can't make someone else saved. That is a choice each person has to make for themselves. All you can do is share the Gospel with this person, explain why they need a personal relationship with Jesus by faith, and encourage them to make that decision. In the end however, it is up to each individual to make the profession of faith for themselves.
"What man meant for evil, God meant for good!" (Genesis 50:20)
Attacks on Liveprayer. Over the years, Liveprayer been the target of every major group that has sought to destroy the ministry and silence me. Despite the hate, the abuse, the persecution I deal with daily, I do it since it also brings people to us and ministry opportunities we would never reach otherwise. It has been God who has not only has protected us, but enabled these events to become great opportunities of exposing God's Word to an audience we never would have reached otherwise.
We experience attacks on the ministry by trying to shut down our website, disrupt the TV program, defame me personally all the time. It seems every other time it is happened over the years God uses it to make us known to millions of people who would have never heard about us otherwise. Many of these people have come to us as they were going through a difficult time in their life that allowed us to minister to them and pray for them. We have seen many making the decision to come to faith in Jesus!
Through the years, I have shared glimpses into what I face on a daily basis. The hate mails, the persecution, the death threats. Over the years, many in the Liveprayer family have forwarded certain Devotionals and received a hateful response. Unfortunately, I deal with this type of venom each and every day because unlike most pastors, I take the Truth of God's Word into the marketplace, into the secular media, and to the lost and hurting masses that for the most part have rejected Biblical Truth and the Gospel.
I have had a great working and personal relationship with the FBI, Homeland Security, as well as our local police and sheriff these past 15 years. Due to the fact I am considered "high profile," they have all gone out of their way over the years to stay on top of threats against me, our office, staff, and where I live. They have amassed a large file over these past 15 years of being in the public eye so prominently, and I have been thankful for their support, protection, and that they really do care.
It is sad so few pastors really get out of the four walls of their church, and virtually no Christian leaders will go into the secular media. Not only don't they want to deal with the persecution it brings, it doesn't bring in any donations so why bother? Just like so many of the priests in the Old Testament God's prophets railed against since their number one priority was money, the same charges Jesus made to the religious leaders of his day, nothing has changed. You would think with the tens of thousands of people we have helped get into local churches, churches would support Liveprayer. Just the opposite. Churches view Liveprayer as "competition!" How sad is that?
Major ministries don't like me because I refuse to play their games. The oldest game goes like this. A large minsitry invites you to speak, lets you sell your books and trinkets to their people. Gives you a large check or takes a love offering for you. In return, you invite them to speak to those you minister to. You let them sell their books and trinkets. You give them a large check or take a love offering for them.
In the end, it is an incestuous world dominated by money first, ministry simply the "product" to generate the money. I saw it for what it was early on in my minsitry 22 years ago, and refused to play those games. Everything I have done these past 22 yrs in serving the Lord, the 15 years of Liveprayer, has been focused on bringing the Truth of the Bible to the lost and hurting masses in the marketplace and sharing that faith in Jesus Christ is the ONLY hope for each person in this life and for all eternity. Money is necessary to get that message out, but it has never been or ever will be, my motivation.
I love and care about you so much. The one thing I can promise you, I WILL NEVER COMPROMISE! I will never be silenced. You can count on my 22 years of faithfulness that I will NEVER sell-out our faith! As long as Liveprayer exists, as long as I have breath, I will never back down from sharing the Truth of the Bible with the hurting and the Gospel with the lost. The only hope for this nation is to repent and turn back to God, and the only hope for each person is to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ by faith!
I need you to do 3 things for me today. First is to pray. Pray for God's protection and favor on Liveprayer, all of our people and operations, and myself. I have no problem going into the secular media and take a stand for the Lord and Biblical Truth. The only hope of turning this nation back to God is to see the masses outside of the church repent and come to faith in Jesus, just like the people of Nineveh did. The only hope of leading souls to faith in Jesus is to reach them where they live and let them know Jesus loves them, died for their sins, and wants to have a personal relationship with them.
Second is to pray about what you can do to help me with a gift. Each month for 173 months now, God has used the faithfulness of those in the Liveprayer family to help us cover what we need to operate for one more month. As we are now 3 days into February, we are still $20,000 short of covering our shortfall from January. I am seeking the Lord today that everyone in the Liveprayer family who is able will send the most generous gift they can so that by the end of the week our $20,000 January shortfall will be covered and we can begin working on the $40,000 we need for our February operations.
TO GIVE A GIFT TO LIVEPRAYER, you can use your major credit card on our secure server at: www.liveprayer.com under the "Donation" link, you can give using your PayPal account using my email address: bkeller@liveprayer.com,or you can mail your gift to: Liveprayer, 6660 46th Ave. North, St.Petersburg, FL 33709. All gifts to Liveprayer are 100% tax deductible.
Third is to share this Devotional with everyone you know. If those who love the Lord will come together as ONE, we can make our voice heard, we can impact our culture, and we CAN help lead this nation back to God and His Truth and the lost to faith in Jesus Christ!
As long as Liveprayer exists, as long as Bill Keller lives and even after, we will be attacked by those who deny God's Truth and the hope we have in Christ! With your prayers and support, I will continue to preach God's Truth and the Gospel to the lost and hurting masses. The one thing I can assure you, as long as I have breath I will not stop boldly and without compromise preaching from God's Holy Word. The soul of this nation and the eternal souls of men are at stake!
In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller