Daily Devotional for Wednesday March 11, 2020

Jim Bakker isn’t helping the cause of Christ!

(Mark 9:38-40, John 17:21)

***DAILY PERSONAL PRAYER FOR YOU: Dear Lord, let this Lord’s day be a reminder that every day is the Lord’s day. Our walk with You is 24/7! Please dear Lord, let me focus during this year on the Biblical Truth that tomorrow is promised to NONE OF US! Each day is a precious gift from You! Let me remember that each day is a day like none other and special. Guide me through this day oh Lord and use me for Your glory! In the name of Jesus I pray...AMEN!

***THE DAILY LIVEPRAYER TV NUGGET: Many people point to 1962 as the year when the spiritual decline in this nation began in earnest. A decline that clearly has left the United States in the year 2020 as a post-God, post-Christian nation! As Christians have prayed and worked tirelessly to fight the war on life, for the most part we have accepted that the banning of prayer in our public schools 60 years ago was a done deal. Well, just as we have seen more victories and real movement in the life area last year, we have some Christian leaders who have not given up on bringing prayer back to our schools and are taking advantage of a pro-Christian President and administration to push for yes, bringing prayer in our schools! In signing an Executive Order on religious liberty a few weeks ago, it provides new guidance regarding prayer in public schools! It protect the rights of students to pray and discuss God in their schools and champions and reinforces the freedom of religion guaranteed to us in the Constitution as one of our most important rights! President Trump stated, “we will not allow anyone to push God from the public square, and won’t allow Christians to be bullied.” As I have stated many times, the best hope Christians can have for our political leaders is that they don’t actively work to hurt us, and if we have a season where we can actually get some help from our government, let’s take full advantage of it. It doesn’t replace the work only we as Christian leaders can and must do, but should encourage us to work that much harder!!! AMEN!!!

*Don’t miss the Liveprayer TV program, airing “LIVE” every Monday thru Friday from 11pm EDT to Midnight! For details on viewing options for the Liveprayer TV program, “LIVE” or “On Demand,” go to: https://liveprayer.com/liveprayer-show-about.cfm

Jim Bakker isn’t helping the cause of Christ! Sadly, Jim Bakker is back in the news and not for anything that will help the cause of Christ. After his prison stint was over in the early 90’s, he came out with a book titled, “I Was Wrong.” It was a book denouncing the perverted prosperity gospel. Yet within a few years, Bakker was back operating out of Branson, Missouri with a new “Tammy Fae” and the same old money hype that ultimately doomed PTL.

Bakker has been relatively low-key, back on TV on a handful of Christian TV stations with a bare bones version of the old PTL. He has primarily been raising money selling health products to his elderly audience as well as “end days packages” of dried food and other products geared towards people living during the final days.

Sadly, Bakker is back in the news as the State of New York has issued a cease and desist from him selling a product he is claiming cures the “coronavirus.” Like all of the health products hawked on Christian TV, few of them are FDA approved but simply natural nutrients that make claims of curing different illnesses.

I am well aware of alternative medicines and am not here to debate how viable these products are. God uses many instruments to heal people so that is not the purpose here. Jim Bakker is not a stupid man and has to understand the damage he has done to the cause of Christ from the PTL days. For this reason alone, he needs to stay as far away from anything that would call into question the Christian faith.

I can tell you that after nearly 30 years of evangelistic ministry, people who have NO CLUE about what is in the Bible, know all about Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, and the preacher at the local church who ran off with the choir director. While God will not be interested in their excuses, I can tell you that those who deny Christ will look for any reason to justify their denial.

For full disclosure, one of the men the Lord put into my life at the very beginning of my ministry and who became a spiritual father was the late Pastor Richard Dortch. Pastor Dortch was a long time Assembly of God missionary, pastor, and District Superintendent that was being groomed to possibly become the General Superintendent of the Assembly of God church. At a critical time in his life, he instead chose to become the president of Jim Bakker's PTL organization.

As we know, God chose to ultimately wipe out PTL. In less than 60 days, it went from a ministry that employed over 3,000 people, taking in $80 million annually, to NO EMPLOYEES, NO INCOME, totally shut down. Pastor Dortch went to Federal Prison for 6 months for his role in the fall of PTL, but after being release God used Pastor Dortch's life in a great way through his many books and being a spiritual mentor to many Assembly of God pastors until he was called home in 2011.

I had the wonderful opportunity to minister with him on television and on the road during the mid-90's. Every place that we went, dozens of people would come up to him and share how they got saved thru PTL, or how God worked a miracle in their life thru that ministry. While PTL became a national joke, I can tell you this for certain. Hundreds of thousands of souls will be in eternity due to how God used that ministry to reach people for Christ.

Millions of people worldwide were touched by God thru PTL. Jim and Tammy, Pastor Dortch, all the rest who were in leadership will have to stand before God one day in regard to their personal actions, but for a season it was an incredibly powerful instrument that God used to minister to millions worldwide!!!

So pray the Lord will speak to Jim Bakker and help him to realize that he has been used to impact millions of lives, for Christ and in opposition to Christ. He has to use wisdom more than most since he is a target and can’t allow satan to use him as a punching bag for the Christian faith!

The disciples of Jesus were concerned over a man casting out a demon in the name of Jesus, and told him to stop since he was not part of their group. Modern translation: he didn't go to their church . . . they didn't agree with his doctrine . . . he didn't give to their ministry . . . any or all of the above. But what did Jesus say? He said, "DO NOT TRY TO STOP HIM." He also said, "anyone who isn't against us is on our side." Let me repeat what JESUS SAID, "ANYONE WHO ISN'T AGAINST US IS ON OUR SIDE."

One of the things that grieves the heart of God more than anything else is the war within the Body of Christ. It is a prayer of our Lord, just hours before going to the cross that we find in John 17:21, that has yet to be answered.

An unsaved friend of mine once shared with me that over the years, he has been approached by many of the cults in addition to Christians. He said that if 10 members of the same cult talked to him, they always said the same thing. However, if 10 Christians talked to him, they were each more interested in "selling" their particular church and had reasons why the other churches weren't as good as theirs.

Having personally preached in over 500 churches of every denomination over the years, I can attest that far too much time is spent condemning other churches and denominations. Liveprayer reaches over 2.5 million people worldwide daily, apx. 1/3 of those are not saved or in any church, and the other 2/3 represent every type of church and nationality that you can name. Sadly, too many of the emails that I receive each day is in regard to the internal divisions within the Body of Christ.

ONE OF THE GREATEST WEAPONS SATAN USES IS THE WEAPON OF DIVISION!!! JESUS SAID HIMSELF THAT A HOUSE DIVIDED CANNOT STAND!!!

The wars, the way we have found to divide ourselves as the people of God are endless. Music. I personally love the old hymns, however, some people think that Contemporary Christian Music and Christian rock and rap are of the devil. The Bible. Some people say that you should only read the King James Version, others say that you should only use the Old Testament, while yet others say you should only use the New Testament.

Race and ethnic origin. Too many churches are still segregated by race and ethnic origin. Denomination. Hundreds of denominations, and the now the ever popular non-denomination. Ministries. Para church ministries that specialize in every kind of need imaginable that people have.

ONE OF THE GREATEST WEAPONS SATAN USES IS THE WEAPON OF DIVISION!!! JESUS SAID HIMSELF THAT A HOUSE DIVIDED CANNOT STAND!!!

As for music, let me say that everyone has different tastes. God reaches some people thru the old hymns that would never listen to Contemporary Christian Music. God reaches others thru Contemporary Christian Music that simply don't enjoy the beauty of the old hymns. Still others God reaches thru Christian rock and rap that would never be reached any other way. Arguing about versions of the Bible is foolish since to compare English TRANSLATIONS makes no sense, because they are all derived from the original Hebrew and Greek text. THAT is what they need to be compared to for accuracy, NOT each other.

I realize that many churches are NOT purposely segregated, that it is due to the surrounding community they are located. But it should be a goal of ALL churches to reach out to people of different races. The denominations are interesting, since if you really study their doctrinal positions, they ALL hold the basic tenets of the Christian faith which is what makes them Christian in the first place. Specialized ministries are necessary since they are meeting the needs of specific groups of people. It is these specialized ministries that are used by God to help lead many people to Christ that the church is simply not equipped or able to reach.

ONE OF THE GREATEST WEAPONS SATAN USES IS THE WEAPON OF DIVISION!!! JESUS SAID HIMSELF THAT A HOUSE DIVIDED CANNOT STAND!!!

What I am trying to say is simply this. It is ONLY your faith in Jesus Christ coupled with God's grace that will get you to Heaven, NOTHING ELSE. The name on the church building that you go to cannot save you, only faith in Jesus can. There are people sitting in the pews of any Baptist church that are lost, just like there are people sitting in the pews of any Catholic or Assembly of God church that are lost. Their church membership can't save them, ONLY faith in Jesus can.

You see my friend, when you die, there will only be two lines, one for the lost and one for the saved. There will be no line for Protestants and another for Catholics. There will be no line for Methodists, and another for Presbyterians. There will be no line for blacks and another for whites. There will be no Asian line and no Anglo line. When you die, the ONLY thing that will matter is whether you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

ONE OF THE GREATEST WEAPONS SATAN USES IS THE WEAPON OF DIVISION!!! JESUS SAID HIMSELF THAT A HOUSE DIVIDED CANNOT STAND!!!

I say that to tell you that God uses MANY unique and marvelous ways to bring a person into that everlasting relationship with Himself. I can assure you that there are people He uses me to reach, that possibly would not be reached otherwise. By the same token, He uses others to reach people that would NEVER be reached thru a ministry like Liveprayer. EVERY PERSON HAS THEIR OWN SPIRITUAL HOT BUTTON.

ONE OF THE GREATEST WEAPONS SATAN USES IS THE WEAPON OF DIVISION!!! JESUS SAID HIMSELF THAT A HOUSE DIVIDED CAN NOT STAND!!!

I love you and care about you so much. I say often that man really has not changed since the Garden of Eden. What a great example of this in today's verses. The disciples of Jesus were concerned over a man casting out a demon in the name of Jesus, and told him to stop since he was not part of their group. Modern translation: he didn't go to their church...they didn't agree with his doctrine...he didn't give to their ministry...any or all of the above.

But what did Jesus say? He said, "DO NOT TRY TO STOP HIM." He also said, "anyone who isn't against us is on our side." Let me repeat what JESUS SAID, "ANYONE WHO ISN'T AGAINST US IS ON OUR SIDE."

I will pray for you today to really examine your heart in regard to this issue of division within the Body of Christ. There is a world out there that is lost, hurting, and a large percentage of them are currently standing in the line marked "lost." If we took all of the time, energy, and effort that we use to divide ourselves, and really came together as one unified BODY, we could make a global impact almost overnight that would be mind boggling.

May the prayer Christ prayed in the Garden finally be answered, that we may be ONE!!!

In His love and service,

Your friend and brother in Christ,

Bill Keller