In 1895, Sister Elena, a devout Catholic nun in Lucca, Italy, and foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit, prayed to God again and again. “Generi, in nome di Jesus, trasmettono avanti il vostro spirito e rinnovano il mondo….” “Father, in the name of Jesus, send forth Your Spirit and renew the world.”

As the world stood poised to enter the Twentieth Century, sister Elena’s passion for the Holy Spirit would spread far beyond the walls of her small order. 

Between 1895 and 1903, Sister Elena penned 12 confidential letters to Pope Leo XIII. She urged the Pope to lead the Church back to the “Upper Room” – to a posture of expectant prayer displayed by the apostles, Mary, the Mother of Christ, and other believers before Pentecost. Elena wanted the Church to experience a “perpetual Pentecost.”

“And the amazing thing is the Pope took it very seriously, and in fact, responded to that,” historian Al Mansfield told CBN.

Prompted by Elena’s letters, Pope Leo called for a special time of prayer each year between Ascension Day and Pentecost. The Bishops and Cardinals soon lost passion for the special prayers, but Elena did not. She encouraged the Pope to teach more fully on the Holy Spirit, which inspired him to write a letter to the bishops. The letter, entitled “Divinum Illud Munus,” emphasized the indwelling and miraculous power of the Holy Spirit.

“A landmark document on the Holy Spirit,” Al Mansfield said. “It’s still looked back today as just a milestone of writing on the Holy Spirit.”

Still not satisfied, Elena urged Pope Leo to invoke the hymn, “Veni Creator Spiritus” – Come, Holy Spirit – over the first day of the new century.

Outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Topeka, Kansas

“And of course, at the very same time, January 1, 1901, in Topeka, Kansas, there was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the little group gathered at the Bethel Bible School,” said Mansfield. 

Agnes Osmond, a student at the Bible school, received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues late New Year’s Day after prayer and the laying on of hands. Her experience – echoed by several other students – sparked the modern Pentecostal movement.

“So it’s interesting how something was happening in Rome, the Pope calling down the Holy Spirit, and then in Topeka, Kansas we have the beginning of the Pentecostal movement. It’s very interesting how the Lord began the twentieth century by pouring out his Holy Spirit that way,” remarked Mansfield. 

The Fruit of Sister Elena’s Prayers Spreads

By 1906, members of the Bethel Bible School group, most notably William J. Seymour, were leading the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles.

Sister Elena’s prayers again bore fruit in 1958 when white smoke billowed from the chimney over the Sistine Chapel, signaling the election of Pope John XXIII who, like Sister Elena, longed for the Holy Spirit to renew the Church. He said the Holy Spirit had inspired him to reset the Church’s relationship with the world. It was time.

Prayers for a “New Pentecost”

In 1962, Pope John convened a church council, later called Vatican II, hoping to pave the way for Christian unity. He asked Christians everywhere to join him and “joyfully echo” his prayer to the Holy Spirit: “Renew Your wonders in our time, as though for a new Pentecost.” 

“He was looking for energy. He was looking for power from on high. He was looking for God to do something. He was looking for new Pentecost,” said Dr. Ralph Martin, professor of theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary.

Pope John passed away in 1963 before Vatican II concluded. He was succeeded by Pope Paul VI who found the world devolving into chaos. A new generation was thumbing its nose at convention. Students took to the streets in protest. Turbulence ruled the decade.

Hungry for More of God

David Mangan was a graduate student in physics at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He belonged to Chi Rho Society, a group of Catholic students who met before classes to pray and study scripture. Hungry for more of God and seeking this “New Pentecost,” they went away together on a retreat at the Ark and the Dove in February 1967. 

“We were given a little paperback book called The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson, who was a Pentecostal pastor who worked with drug addicts and, in miraculous ways, brought them to healing and salvation merely through prayer,” David recalled.

Patti Mansfield was a 20-year-old French major at Duquesne when she attended the retreat. 

“I kept saying, ‘this is happening today? Well, why aren’t these things happening in my life?'” Patti said.

“Where’s the Dynamite?”

The students opened each session of the retreat with the hymn, “Veni Creator Spiritus,” –  Come, Holy Spirit – the same hymn Pople Leo invoked over the 20th Century. One of the speakers taught from Jesus’ words in Acts 1:8 – “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.”

“The word for ‘power’ is the same Greek word where we, in English, would get the word ‘dynamite.’ And He likened the coming of the Holy Spirit to dynamite,” said David. 

David joined his small group session and asked a question, “Where is the dynamite?” He later recorded in his notes his desire to hear someone speak in tongues.

“And then I put a dash,” Mangan said. “And I put ‘Me!’ with an exclamation point.

David then went off by himself to reflect on the teaching.

“When I opened the door and walked into the chapel, the presence of God was so powerful, I could hardly move,” he recalled. “The only way I could say it was, ‘I was lost in Christ and happy to be so.”

“And I forgot – completely forgot – about all my pushing to say, ‘Where’s the dynamite, where’s the dynamite?’ and that’s exactly what it felt like,” David described. “It felt like little explosions in my body were going off as part of this whole experience. I don’t even know how to describe it beyond that. So I started opening my mouth to thank God for what He had done, and I started praying in another language.”  

Later, Patti joined David in the chapel.

“I began to tremble,” Patti recalled. “I remember thinking, ‘But God is here.  And He’s holy and I’m not holy.’ And so just kneeling there in the quiet of my heart I said  ‘Father, I give my life to You.  Whatever You ask, I accept it.”

Other students were also drawn into the chapel. 

“Some people were laughing for joy, others were weeping for joy,” Patti said. “Some said they felt like they wanted to praise God but they didn’t know if it was going to come out in English.  And anyway, we were there and just in awe, just in awe of the sovereign God.”

The small gathering of Duquesne students who walked away from that retreat center say they were never the same. But what they didn’t know at the time was that their life-changing experience was meant to be shared – and it was just the beginning.
 

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Joe Darby, a prominent South Carolina pastor who leads the Nichols Chapel AME Zion church in Charleston, recently criticized the outreach of some Democratic presidential candidates in the state where six in 10 Democratic primary voters are black.

The criticism came just days before voters go to the polls on Feb. 29 and a day before the candidates are expected to make their case to the nation in a Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina on Tuesday night.

Darby, in an interview with The Washington Post, said while candidates like former mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar D-Minn., who are both struggling to attract black voters might blame their struggles on things like a lack of money or name recognition, he believes the disconnect is due to a lack of their investment in the state as well as their understanding of the issues in the community.

“I finally got a call from someone on behalf of Amy Klobuchar, who wanted to talk to me. But my first question is going to be where have you been?” Darby told The Washington Post on Saturday.

He was also critical of their advertising in the state.

“The basic message to me is ‘Hello, I’m Pete Buttigieg, and I like black people. Clearly, black people like me too because I’m surrounded by them. Amy Klobuchar’s too,” Darby said. “I’m waiting for dashikis and the Afro wigs to come out.”

Darby noted that he has told voters seeking advice on the candidates to vote their conscience and measure how much each candidate has invested in the state.

“They know who’s been here and who hasn’t been here,” he said. “They know who’s alien and who’s familiar. They know who fell in love with the state recently and who has history. And I think they’ll respond accordingly.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Leonardo Blair

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Keeping the Spirit of Christmas All Year Round #3

Charles Dickens said, “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”

This is Daniel Whyte III here to encourage you to keep the spirit of Christmas alive all year long, not just around the holiday season, in celebration of the greatest gift mankind has ever and will ever receive—the Savior born in a manger, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our verse about Christmas from the Word of God today is Galatians 4:4-5 which says: “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”

Our featured quote on Christmas today is from Stuart Briscoe. He said: “The spirit of Christmas needs to be superseded by the Spirit of Christ. The spirit of Christmas is annual; the Spirit of Christ is eternal. The spirit of Christmas is sentimental; the Spirit of Christ is supernatural. The spirit of Christmas is a human product; the Spirit of Christmas is a divine person. That makes all the difference in the world.”

Our song about Christmas today is “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” translated from Latin by John Mason Neale in 1851. Its lyrics are as follows:

O come, O come, Immanuel,
and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.

Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel
shall come to you, O Israel.

O come, O Wisdom from on high,
who ordered all things mightily;
to us the path of knowledge show
and teach us in its ways to go. Refrain

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
who to your tribes on Sinai’s height
in ancient times did give the law
in cloud and majesty and awe. Refrain

O come, O Branch of Jesse’s stem,
unto your own and rescue them!
From depths of hell your people save,
and give them victory o’er the grave. Refrain

O come, O Key of David, come
and open wide our heavenly home.
Make safe for us the heavenward road
and bar the way to death’s abode. Refrain

O come, O Bright and Morning Star,
and bring us comfort from afar!
Dispel the shadows of the night
and turn our darkness into light. Refrain

O come, O King of nations, bind
in one the hearts of all mankind.
Bid all our sad divisions cease
and be yourself our King of Peace. Refrain

PRAYER

Now, if you are listening today, and you do not know “the Reason for the season”—the Lord Jesus Christ—as your Saviour, allow me to show you how.

First, accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God’s law. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

Second, accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”

Third, accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Also, the Bible states in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Now this is bad news, but here’s the good news. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will.

Romans 10:9-13 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Until next time,

Remember to stay in the Christmas spirit all year-round!

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Some 80% of arts and cultural workers say they mute their support for conservative or politically incorrect ideas due to fear of backlash from the public, colleagues or people who fund their work, according to a new study.

The new data was reflected in the results of ArtsProfessional’s recently published Freedom of Expression survey in the U.K.

In the survey, more than 500 artists and arts workers responded to questions about their experiences navigating controversy and coercion and their responses revealed a culture of self-censorship in which they were pressured into silence out of fear of harassment and humiliation as well as through the use of nondisclosure agreements.

Even though 90% of respondents agreed that “the arts and cultural sector has a responsibility to use its unique talents to speak out about things that matter, regardless of the potential consequences,” more than 80% thought “workers in the arts and cultural sector who share controversial opinions risk being professionally ostracized,” according to the survey.

ArtsProfessional editor Amanda Parker told ArtsProfessional magazine that the results of the survey show “a deep division between public perception and the reality of working in the arts and cultural sector.”

“Our survey shines a damning light on the coercion, bullying, intimidation and intolerance that is active among a community that thinks of itself as liberal, open minded and equitable,” she said.

“We are very aware that this research doesn’t reflect all views, but it’s a sad and timely indication of the suppressed hurt and anger felt by many, despite the loud and growing conversations about collaboration and inclusiveness,” she explained.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Leonardo Blair

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A megachurch pastor and bestselling author has challenged American Christians to abandoned an “easy” version of their beliefs and pray “dangerous” prayers instead.

In the final part of a sermon series titled “Dangerous Prayers” that was preached on Sunday, Life.Church pastor Craig Groeschel implored people to pray for God to “break my heart.”

Groeschel labeled it “the most dangerous prayer,” telling his congregation that they “probably won’t like this prayer” and some will “refuse to pray” it.

“It is not a common prayer, it is not an easy prayer,” he said at the beginning of his message. “It doesn’t match the normal safe prayers that many of us pray.”

“It’s not consistent with the ‘God should make your life easy’ version of Americanized popularized Christianity.”

Groeschel said he “likes the easy prayers and it’s OK to pray them,” citing examples of prayers for good meals, green traffic lights, well-behaved kids, and “no zits on the important days.”

Nevertheless, Groeschel advocated for the breaking of heart prayer, stressing that “following Jesus was never meant to be safe.”

“God, break my heart,” said Groeschel, who added that he wanted God to “crush it” and to “strip me of comfort, ease, and spiritual apathy.”

Groeschel went on to suggest that “God’s greatest blessings come from God’s greatest breakings,” asking “what if the very most special blessings from God come on the other side of the pain that moves you out of self to care about people on His behalf?”

“What would happen if God really broke your heart to the things that break His?” he asked the congregation. “What if God blessed you with a heavenly burden, a divine burden, a holy hurt?”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Michael Gryboski

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The United States Senate failed to get the necessary 60 votes to advance two pro-life bills, one of which was aimed at banning abortions after 20 weeks into a pregnancy while another required medical care for babies that survive the procedure.

On a vote taken Tuesday, the Senate voted 56-41 on Senate Bill 311, known as the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.”

Introduced by Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, S. 311 mandated that a healthcare practitioner must provide medical attention to a baby that survives an attempted abortion.

Also on Tuesday, the Senate voted 53-44 on Senate Bill 3275, also called the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.”

Introduced by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, S. 3275 banned most abortions performed 20 weeks or later into a pregnancy.

Both measures failed to get the necessary three-fifths majority, with nearly all Democrats voting against both bills and nearly all Republicans voting in favor of both.

Notable exceptions included Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who voted in favor of both measures, and Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who voted against the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Michael Gryboski

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