Thank You All!

As you could expect, the NET meetings over the last month were so intense that I had no time at all to blog. This, I believe, will me my last blog for Pray4NET.

God did marvelous work in our midst in the past few weeks. I keep thinking about the many ways in which we could see His hand at work, and regret too often I can't sit down to write about it, and I'll forget them. The pressure is great, and multiple decisions on a daily basis--many affecting the entire telecast, thousands of viewers, or hundreds of God-hungry people in the local site--are enough to break anyone down. In spite of that, the good Lord preserved my health and my voice. The last few weekends I've preached six times in 24-hr periods. But God was there each time. There were a number of short nights, and a shoulder pain I carry that got worse, but God provided all the way.

I've written and/or given several reports--the last to the NAD Year-End meeting at the GC earlier this week--but I've not shared what I'm about to share now. Halfway through the meetings, the local police got involved, and we had to hire local security to patrol the church premises during the meetings because there were phone and texts evidence of a death threat on my person. Details are irrelevant now, but God provided protection there as well. We traveled almost 3,000 miles that month, and again, the Lord provided.

Lisa and I returned from worshiping at our home church a few minutes ago. Six precious souls were baptized, and more will do so next week. Dwight Nelson, the pastor and my friend for years, told me more will be baptized before Christmas. We heard many reports from churches in Arkansas, California, Ontario, Ohio, Montana, Hawaii, Iowa, New Jersey, Virginia, British Columbia, Florida, Kentucky, Texas, Colorado, and many other parts of the world, such as Jamaica, Australia, Russia, the UK, that baptisms are taking place. In some places as many as 20 or 25, in some others as few as one or two. If we estimate three baptisms for each of the 650 churches participating, that's 2,000 baptisms already. In Nashville, we had 133 decisions for baptism/POF and 58 baptized as of last Sabbath.

Probably even a greater evidence of God's work has been the overwhelmingly positive response by hundreds of our church members from around the country. For many multi-generational, life-long Adventists, these meetings were a concrete renewal to their faith and walk with God. They are now convicted SDAs, ready to reach out neighbor and friend for Jesus, when before the meetings that was the farthest from their minds. Laodiceanism is curable, and the only medicine potent enough to beat such disease is God's word. That word will produce the faith and love--the gold in Rev 3--needed for character, the garments of righteousness to replace our filthy rags, and the Holy Spirit to provide the necessary eye salve needed to see things they way God does. I wish I could share the e-mails and reports with you. They are simply moving. May the Lord be praised!

All this to say THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR FAITHFUL PRAYERS! Without them, we would have had much more trouble and difficulties, and God could not have blessed like He has. Yes, I believe more could have happened--more churches, more people watching, more baptisms--but the Lord takes us little by little. Perhaps the success of this process and these meetings will open doors for similar opportunities where even a more powerful display of God's love and faithfulness can be seen by those who turn their whole faces toward Him.

To God be the Lord!

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, . . .

for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now."

Philippians 1:3, 5

The Lord at Work

Henry Blackaby says Christians should figure out where God is at work and simply join Him there. Well, God is definitely at work at the start of these meetings. And by His grace, we mean to join Him here!

The devil is always ready to distract, derail, and otherwise annoy us when we're in the employ of the Almighty. But God always wins. Last Thursday, for example, we suddenly ended up without Internet for about 16 hours. It was critical for me because my graphic artist and I have to communicate constantly, sending files back and forth, as we prepare for these meetings. In addition, my computer got so bogged down (likely with invisible programs running behind mine courtesy of some virus) that after each click I made it took four eternal seconds to respond! It was nearly impossible to work that way, and the clock was ticking. We were one day away from opening night and found ourselves far behind in preparation. We needed the basic slides, edit them all, make a final copy, and practice it. And all that for each of the 28 presentations! Days of work had to be done in hours (I'm not including in this story all the variables that led to this situation).

And then my computer simply refused to save anything anymore. That Thursday night I went into deep depression and self-pity. It is hard putting into words the darkness that surrounded my soul. Lisa went to the other room and prayed earnestly for Jesus to save me. And the Lord came to my rescue just in time. Mysteriously, the vital program that could not be saved was saved after I came back from a walk on the parking lot with Jesus. I cannot account for what happened because no one touched the computer during that time.

I had ordered a new computer two weeks ago because I saw these problems coming, but something happened and the order was never placed. They finally shipped one overnight, and I received it about four hours before my first NET session. The new computer has been working well, and we praise the Lord for His intervention!

We had a very good opening weekend at the live site in Madison Campus, in Nashville. We estimate about 900 people came to the two meetings, and between 350 and 400 of them are guests. We have some beautiful people coming: some who'd come to previous meetings such as archaeology, or creation, or the Easter series last April. A lady cut short her attendance to a funeral last night and drove 90 miles to be with us. We have a number of young adults, post-modern people, very interested in the subjects. We heard from my home church that they had to keep adding more and more chairs to an otherwise packed house. We've received a number of notes from life-long SDAs who are very encouraged from what they've heard, telling us they now understand things they had never quite understood from the Bible before. The people's courage is high. There is a spring in their step. And many of our guests have sensed this is really worth coming to.

So, please keep praying. I tell my evangelism students that when we do these meetings "every day counts." Not one of them can be spared. If we miss visiting, or connecting, or praying for them, that might be the day they make decisions contrary to the loving will of the Lord. The success of meetings number one and two do not in any way imply success for any of the rest. Every day counts. Every day we must lift our petitions before the throne of grace.

Here are our most urgent needs:

1.  PRAY FOR THE 640 CHURCHES. A number of these are small. If they have 20 coming and 4 are guests, any attendance drop by Monday will be very significant. Pray their courage remains high and their members continue to pray for their meetings. Pray for good attendance in every church come Monday night and the rest of the weeknights.

2.  PRAY FOR THE MEMBERS. Some members always criticize or boycott any efforts made to evangelize with the gospel. This is a sad reflection on their priorities and lack of love for others and for God. Pray that their hearts be changed, and that if they won't be changed shortly, for Satan not to use them as his tools to dishearten or annoy. Pray, in fact, pray that many members may actually come closer to Jesus as a result of these meetings!

3.  PRAY FOR THE PASTORS. Pastors sometimes get distracted with "minor matters," as Ellen White puts it. Pray that they remain extremely focused on the soul winning opportunities available to them over these next few weeks.

4.  PRAY FOR THE GUESTS. Many long for answers. Pray that they'd be given every opportunity to obtain them from the Bible, as they attend meetings, as they visit with members and pastors. May they be thoroughly impressed this is the church of God today, and the one Jesus is calling all to join before He comes.

5.  PRAY FOR THE MESSAGES. I have spent many hours on these messages, but with new graphics and editing, I need to spent 15-20 hours on each message still, along with leading, teaching a seminary class, writing, and preaching twice each night. Pray the my schedule will allow it. Pray for my graphics team to be wise, and expedient, as they help me with these presentations. Pray that the Holy Spirit be in total control, especially when I preach, so God may be heard in the hearts of people.

Thank you, thank you for praying. Let's press on on our knees!

"And let us not grow weary while doing good,

for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."

Galatians 6:9

THE TIME IS NOW

Admittedly, I feel we’re at the stage of the journey that reminds me of when Jesus moved His ministry to Galilee. For about a year and a half, He worked mostly in Judea, with little to show for His efforts. People there were heavily influenced by the religious leaders of the day, none of whom would acknowledge Him as the Messiah. But when John the Baptist was taken prisoner, Jesus understood it was time to take it to the next level.

The Lord decided to work in the coastal cities of Capernaum and Bethsaida, and as He did, His message was “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Yes, Daniel 9 had now come true, and the end of the age was at hand.

Similarly, after working hard and praying harder for so many months, “the time is at hand to believe in the gospel.” The new development with Direct TV carrying the meetings is a huge question mark full of possibilities. We’ve implemented and continue to work on ways to reach those untold thousands that would watch without us knowing.

But I must give you a brief report on the just-finished Astonishing Discoveries in the Land of the Bible archaeology series. If you tuned in eight days ago, you might have panicked just like we did. The production team at the Media Center always does a test an hour before they air something live. When they noticed our team in Nashville was not calling, they called at 6:05 inquiring about it. The person that answered misread the clock, thinking it was 5:05 and simply said it’s not for another hour. That was interpreted by the person in California to mean the entire broadcast was an hour later, so he set the server for 7:30 CDT instead of 6:30 CDT. When 6:30 came, we started and thought we were live—625 churches had opened their doors to this event!

Lo and behold, no archaeology program was on. So, the churches started to call us, frantically. Nashville called California to get us on satellite, but it took an extra six minutes because of the new server. So, 16 minutes into the program, we were finally on. As you can imagine, a number of guests and members had left by that time, which is extremely unfortunate yet understandable.

How does one analyze such a far-reaching human error, something these professional people just don’t do? Our leadership team believes perhaps the Lord does want to surprise us with unexpected good, because we’ve met our share of difficulties and discouraging mishaps. I’d like to think that God’s power will be perceived as even greater when compared with so many things going array (many of which I did not write about in this blog).

The truth is that at in Nashville at least, people responded to the meetings very well. We had over 200 guests come, although we wished for more. But many told us how they are planning to be back for the main series next week. The meetings were an encouragement to the members as well. And one evidence that things went well in spite of that first night disaster is the fact that we had a major spike in the order of Bibles and other resources for the meetings, in addition to new churches signing up.

So, here are the matters that urge earnest prayer by everyone who loves God and His mission:

1.       Pray for the Blimp. A large blimp is circulating over the Nashville freeways with a 74-foot long banner written in bold letters: PROPHECIESDECODED.COM. This is unusual advertising and a bit costly, but our hope is that a number of the 100 to 200,000 people that will see it decide to register and show up. Pray for good weather, and perhaps the opportunity for the city press to notice and write about it, thus giving us more exposure.

2.       Pray for the Handbills. The handbills will begin to arrive in people’s homes as early as tomorrow (Friday). There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of pieces all over the country we pray angels go with to impress people to respond. Pray that those most ready to receive the Three Angels’ Messages will be deeply impressed to attend. Pray that all the participating churches may have encouraging numbers on opening night.

3.       Pray for the Church Members. Here is our greatest need for prayer. Evangelism is hard work, no matter how you slice it. And enemies do not only come from the outside, but, sadly, often from the inside. Pray that the Spirit of Jesus may overpower selfish and worldly interests by members in every church that wants to do evangelism. Pray that the devil be not allowed to take advantage of members’ lack of love to others. Pray also for the strength and courage of the often few dedicated members who are and will be involved in NET outreach. And pray for neutral members to get off the fence and decide to help other members, even if love for the lost is something they have yet to experience.

4.       Pray for the Music. We have secured the musical ministry of a number of good people, such as Committed, Charles Haugabrooks, Jennifer LaMountain, and Steve Darmody, among other artists from the Nashville area. Our prayer is that each song will be something the angels would sing along, and that the Spirit may use music for salvation. Pray for Gale Murphy as she coordinates all this.

5.       Pray for the Social Media Efforts. Facebook, You Tube, Vimeo, and other social media outlets is what we’re using to try to get the word out, especially to millennials (young adults). Please pray that a number of them can respond to the invitation to come to the church, not only to watch it at home. When young people look to God to fill their empty hearts, God’s miracles in their lives are nearly instant and often explosive.

6.       Pray for the Nation. I have asked the Lord to move in our division in some way that people may perceive searching Bible prophecies may have answers for them. Remember that Adventist meetings for the weeks following 9/11 a decade ago were full of searching people. I’m interested more in people seeking for lasting solutions than in curiosity seekers, but the Word sown in always better than the Word not sown.

7.       Pray for Me. As Paul plead before the Ephesians, “pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,” (Eph 6:19) I ask you the same. A number have told me they are doing so. We knew a year ago that this would be an all-consuming project. Yet, I still planned to have some of August and some of September to work and revise my messages. Well, that time has come and gone, used with even more urgent matters. But Jesus can still help me. May His message and His love shine through and through.

Thank you for your faithfulness in praying for NET 11. The time is now. Let’s storm heaven so God may open its windows and pour out a blessing beyond our expectations.

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel”

(Mark 1:15)

The Power of Prayer

It is time to honor the Lord by recognizing some answers to prayer. Here we go.

1. Protection in Italy. Lisa and I spent two weeks there on a research "vacation." We did rest, not much, but some. But I drove nearly 1,000 miles in a little car in Italy! That means narrow highways, dangerous drivers, mountain roads, etc. We did have a couple of scratches which, amazingly, didn't seem to bother the car rental. One of the highlights was visiting the Waldensian valleys where so long ago faithful, Bible-loving people gave their all for Jesus. God was good to us.
   
2. Book Publishing on Time. Yesterday, I got a note from Pacific Press saying they won't be sending the blue line for the author's read for Decoding Bible Prophecy because they have to print the book over this weekend, in order to make it! Well, I trust there won't be too many mistakes, and I'm very grateful we'll have this book in time for the NET meetings, and for churches to use. God answered our prayers. Just over three weeks ago it seemed impossible to pull this off!
   
3. The Madison Campus Leadership. Putting on something like NET 11 in one's church is enough to cause a revolution, or a revolt, whichever may be the case. With so many training events, and changes needed at the live site, it takes great patience and grace to accommodate for the sake of a national audience. The pastors at Madison Campus and a number of the lay leaders have been very gracious working with us. May the Lord repay their sacrifice with many new souls for the kingdom!
   
4. Russell Burrill. Russell has been our NET manager since nearly the start, and he has been a God-sent to me. NET management involves a myriad of details, contacts, phone calls, and follow-throughs. It was a God-inspired thought to ask him to help us. Thank you Russ.
   
5. NET on Direct-TV. Yes, this was confirmed a few days ago. As you know, Hope TV had decided months ago to forgo showing the NET meetings on its premier channel because of plans for different programing, now that Direct TV is involved. The entire series would only be shown on the Hope Church Channel instead. I was disappointed, but we accepted it. In addition, we weren't able to convince 3ABN to carry the NET this year. It's a complex issue. Anyway, we kept praying. God seems to have bigger plans than originally imagined because the NET on Hope TV (Direct TV) will have a potential viewership of millions! We praise God for this development.

So, two major items for prayer now.

1. THE ARCHAEOLOGY MEETINGS. They start this Wednesday, for the next five nights. I believe there is a high level of expectancy for these meetings. The handbills went out two days ago. Please pray that many of those getting the handbills will be impressed by the Holy Spirit to attend. Pray that the 625 or so churches showing it will have a wonderful experience getting to know their guests. Pray for Michael Hasel and I as we present, and for the media people and the equipment so things will go without a hitch. My sincere hope is that 25 to 33% of the guests coming to these meetings will transfer to the prophecy series two weeks later. This is a great series to bring people to your church. May God's people be mobilized for outreach!
   
2. THE NATIONWIDE STRATEGY. Due to this new development of having NET on Hope TV/Direct TV, we decided we needed a nationwide strategy, even if that was not in the budget. Somehow, we need to give the thousands that may be watching totally disconnected from a local church the opportunity to respond to what is being said, or to what the Holy Spirit is prompting them to do. We're creating a nationwide registration process which should really benefit the churches. Through an AIM 800 number, we'll give people the chance to call in and talk with a counselor that will help them spiritually, pray with them, and steer them to a local SDA church. We'll be making three book offers at different times during the series. This is the first time in SDA history that we have such large viewership potential for a NET series. Pray that Jesus may be in total control of me as the speaker, of the musicians, of the MCs, and any other person who comes before those cameras.

And even though I'm not adding it in the list, oh, how I wished a few more churches would choose to air these meetings and take advantage of all these resources! May God's loving will be done in all of our lives!

"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save;

nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear."

Isaiah 59:1

Roman Holiday

Lisa and I boarded a plane for Rome last Tuesday. I'd sent the book manuscript in on Monday, and had what may prove to be the last NET 11 Planning Committee meeting. Exausted, we went on a badly needed vacation thanks to frequent miles.

Vacation is actually not the right word, since I'm still answering key e-mails, making NET decisions, and will have some work to do that cannot wait. But it is as much of one as we've had in a long time.

Over the years, I've been to over 50 countries and just about every major city in the world, except Rome, curiously enough. My several trips to and through Italy never included the Eternal City, but I wanted to check this out before the prophecy meetings got going.

It is very hot here at this time, and there are kazillion tourists from all over the world. The closest thing I remember is the number of tourists at the Grand Canyon.

One thing really strikes the well-informed visitor about this city: the total unity between the pagan and the religious. You see it in the architecture, the historical details, the landscape. So many times a pagan site from imperial Rome was converted into a house of worship by a pope years later. The tour guides say it with certainty: When imperial Rome collapsed, the city was ruled by the popes until the start of the republic. Do you know when that is? The 19th century. It all coincides with the biblical view of the conflict between good and evil.

St. Peter's Basilica is something to behold. Inside is that famous sculpture of Peter which is probably the god Jupiter, and many other items of interest. Peter himself called this city Babylon (2 Pet 3:15). So, I'm taking mental as well as real notes of what I'm seeing; plus as many suitable pictures as I can.

This morning, Lisa and I traveled from our hotel to worship in the largest Italian church in Rome. It is the one at the Union office, and for those coming from America, it is striking to see how small it is. Maybe 75 people were worshiping there today, and the church was full. We have yet so much work to do!

We look forward to traveling along the Waldensian Valleys next.

So, where are we in terms of prayer needs?

1.  Pray for More NET Churches. We believe this will be a very good series, and wish more churches would take advantage of this opportunity. There is a lot of supporting material to conduct a successful meeting, and churches can use as much or as little of it as they wish. Let's pray that even though it's only a month away, more churches would choose to use this as part of their evangelistic initiative.

2.  Pray for the Promotion.  This includes the social media approaches we're engaging in, the handbills a number of churches will use, and the various other forms of advertising. Of course, the key piece of advertising will always be the personal invitation by a caring church member.

3.  Pray for Church Revival.  Oh, how much we need the churches to fall in love with Jesus! A key to that objective is the commitment and heart of the pastor him/herself. If the leadership is focused on Christ and His mission to the world, it'll be easier for the congregation to follow. So, please pray for the pastors involved in the NET series, and for the congregations to develop an earnest desire to reach out to others as Jesus has reached out to us.

4.  Pray for the Archaeology Meetings. Dr. Hasel and I are looking forward to these meetings starting Sept 14. We hope and pray that many may come to them, and that many guests may choose to come to the prophecy meetings because of their experience with Astonishing Discoveries in the Land of the Bible. A new website about it should be up any time now. This is a great mini-series to invite friends, neighbors, family, and co-workers.

5.  Pray for the Equipment. My personal computer may be on its last dregs, and that makes me think of the various bad things that can happen when equipment you rely on suddenly stops working the way you expect. We have a lot riding on this.

6.  Pray for the Broadcast on HOPE. We weren't able to convince 3ABN to carry this NET series, which was a personal disappointment for me. However, there is a good chance now that Hope will carry the series on Hope TV, not just on Hope Church Channel. This means that for the first time ever evangelistic meetings may be before a potentially large secular audience across the country. We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit for every word we say, every song we sing, and every Bible explanation we give. God must be in control of everything, for His glory!

7.  Pray for the NET Music. Due to a limited music budget, it has been more challenging to get well-known Adventist artists to give their time to the NET meetings. They want to do it but they live off their music ministries, and that's understandable. We have a lot of excellent local talent (after all Nashville is Music City USA), but some are untested when it comes to performing for live television. Pray Jesus will guide our music coordinator, Gale Murphy, to bring on those who'd most clearly honor God and be a blessing to those coming to the meetings.

8.  Pray for the Local Fundraising. Fund-raising has depended on me, and we haven't had but one chance to do this work in the Nashville area. We need to raise at least $45,000 to cover our basic budget. Play pray the Holy Spirit may convict men and women of good will to invest financially in the work of the Lord.

Thank you so much for your prayers on behalf of the prophecy book. The title of it is Decoding Bible Prophecy and will be published by Pacific Press. It will be made available to the churches at a very low price. Our plan is to give the book to everyone coming to the prophecy meetings at least six nights. It'll be our incentive for first-week attendance. We now plan to give the Andrews Study Bible to them after attending twelve nights.

Let us not grow weary in doing good. The Lord will sustain us. Thanks for much for your prayers!

"Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy,

and keep those things which are written in it;

for the time is near."

Revelation 1:3

Lord, I Give You My Heart

I'm listening to that song, "Lord, I give you my heart, I give you my soul..." It's Sabbath morning, and that is what I've done. That's all I really want to do. My sense is that this will soon come to an end, and I want all to be in the hands of Jesus.

The NET journey has been long and challenging. On Monday, we will likely have one of our last planning committee meetings. On Tuesday I leave for Rome. Once back, I'll be in the Northwest, after which the archaeology meetings begin (Sept 14). A week later is the Consecration Weekend with the Nashville churches and Prophecies Decoded starts.

We have done our best. We produced the extensive evangelistic/empowering DVD, wrote the detailed manual, offered training for Bible studies, small groups, youth evangelism. We developed ways to use the social media, and selected many resources for churches to use during the meetings. We edited archaeology and creation mini-series and created guidelines for home use. We have done fundraising. We have done all the accounting and distributing necessary. We encouraged revival and reformation in the churches, and wrote a book on the Holy Spirit to complement such focus. All this while teaching full loads and traveling 120,000 miles so far this year.

The book on prophetic interpretation (the actual title hasn't been decided yet) is almost finished. I wrote what I think will be the last chapter earlier this week, and have been doing some re-write and editing since. With the help of God, that will be finished tomorrow. Thanks for the many of you who have been praying.

What now? It's all in God's hands. Sometimes I think other institutions or organizations, and other speakers, are much better equipped to do what we are doing and will yet be doing for these NET meetings. But God has entrusted us that awesome responsibility this year. And all we can do is our best unto the Lord. He will do His part, which will make forget our best and forgive our worst.

1. Pray for the Prompt Publishing of the Book. Pacific Press will have to do an extraordinary effort to get this out in time for the churches to use. We've decided to make a change in our live site. Instead of giving the book on opening night, we will give it after they've attended six nights. Pray that the book will be a great blessing to people reading it, so they can get a better handle on how to study God's word, and why some of the things they've believed so far are not from the Lord. 
2. Pray for the Efficient Use of Social Media. We've had a couple of young adults working on this, and have put adds on Facebook, links to the website, the promo DVD on YouTube, etc. Oh, how I wish this, somehow, went viral. That it would stir the interest of many young people, especially, to call the 800 number, or go to the website and seek to register to attend a nearby church.
3. Pray for More Churches to Join. We have about 640 churches signed up (we thought we had more, but after an audit, we realized a number of duplications). While a very respectable number, how I wish we had 1,000 of them! It is still possible, but it would call for a miracle at this point. It is so much better for people to go to a church than even to someone else's home to watch Prophecies Decoded. We realize there will be perhaps thousands who will be watching this at home, by themselves. But the best opportunities to respond to the Spirit of God will be while people attend church.
4. Pray for the Churches Involved. At this point, pastors are getting anxious to be ready, to find all the volunteers needed to do this work well. Churches are sometimes stretched financially and lack people resources. Pray that they may have enough laborers to do the work, and enough financial resources to advertise and promote and resource guests well. Pray that the Spirit of God may be fully in control of their setting and bless each church abundantly. That they may find great joy and a bountiful harvest of souls.

Thank you for your faithfulness. It's been a great source of encouragement to know a number of you have been lifting me and the NET meetings before the Lord.

Lord, I give you my heart.

"Give me your heart, my son, and let your eyes delight in my ways."

Prov. 23:26

Four Critical Issues

The reason it's been so long since my last blog is that I have yet to come up for air. Yet the issues are so pressing right now I cannot afford not to communicate this with you. Please pass on this need for prayer far and wide to people of faith who believe in our mission.

My trip to Australia took 32 hrs each way, from door to door. Quite a trip, huh! For two years the Queensland Conference president had been trying to arrange for this, and the time to go was not working out. Finally, about eight months ago, we agreed on the early August dates because I knew I had to have been long finished with the book on prophecy. Boy, was I wrong.

Talking with one of my readers for this project, a writer and scholar of some note, I realized I should have asked him to ghost-write it or co-write it with me. Too late for that. This process has been a crucible for me. For months I've studied and read, but nothing was coming to the surface about the writing. Finally, two weeks ago, I began writing. I've been working on this 18 hrs a day, and am now, I believe, two chapters away from finishing it. The reason I cannot let up is we need this for the NET meetings, and Pacific Press needs it yesterday!

The meetings overseas were greatly blessed, as all of them seem to be when I speak on the Holy Spirit. But I returned home Thursday night, and hours later I was headed to Sacramento, for the ASI meeting. The Sabbath afternoon interview went well, except for the fact I wasn't aware 3ABN needed the promo DVD and graphics hours ahead of time. I pray the NET announcement may get some of those hard working lay people to sign on for the meetings.

In an hour, Lisa and I will drive to Nashville to begin tonight Decoding Revelation an in-depth study of Revelation's seals, trumpets, and plagues I'll be largely skipping for the big meeting. Our plan was to leave two days ago, but that had to change because of the book. Two chapters were written in the meantime.

Due to all this work, I've not been able to revise the presentations for this weekend. I'll be doing some of that today when Lisa is driving. The bad news is that we've only got two AIM registrations for this series. Normally, we should have gotten 50. Something is definitely not working, and only prayer will turn the tide. These meetings are meant for the church-going evangelical interested in prophecy. Most of them would come over to the main series once they attended this one.

In addition, this poor response problem will be worsened by the fact a miscalculation was made allocating the number of handbills to send for the Nashville site, so that only nearly half of them will be sent over the original number I had planned. This is a real problem because the conference, stretched as they are already financially, couldn't come up with the money for more.

So, I beg you to trouble the Lord on the following issues:

1.  DECODING REVELATION MEETINGS. That begins tonight in Nashville, and ends, after five presentations, on Saturday night. Pray God's Spirit will do extraordinary things to bring people to this meeting, because the handbills, apparently, have failed. We don't want to just use these meetings for various ministry teams to practice for the big one, we want to attract people to meet Jesus in the Revelation. Pray also for me, for I am exhausted, and will need to spend time revising the presentations as we go. Our plan is to tape these and make them available later as a set from NADEI.

2.  LOCAL FUNDRAISING. The NET 11 budget is split into the national and the local one. Both budgets require I raise a total of over $200,000. We've not been able to make any progress on the local fundraising yet, but we have lined up four critical visits for Thursday and Friday. Please pray that the Lord may bring conviction to these folk to contribute generously to the cause. If we had had more money available, we could have covered all of Nashville with the handbills. We need help in this regard.

3.  BOOK ON PROPHECY. This goes without saying. I've been sending various chapters to top-notched readers--scholars, writers, evangelists--quality people who've been giving me excellent feedback. But that's just it, it'll mean more time to make the needed revisions. I wasn't kidding when I said PPPA needed this yesterday. The pressure to finish this NOW is tremendous. I know God is near and He is blessing. More miracles are needed for this. The books needs to be simple to read, yet we're dealing with complex prophetic material. It needs to have enough of a "bite" to draw guests' interest and yet I cannot say too much before first winning their confidence with the live meetings. It is a needed book, but one difficult to pull off.

4.  HANDBILL ADVERTISING. The results so far, have been very disappointing. Much lower than anyone expected. We don't know if demonic push back is strong on this issue or if there is something unusual going on that we have yet to figure out. We simply cannot have this low a response for the upcoming archaeology and the main prophecy meetings. That will be a disaster. We have other advertising planned in addition to handbills--a blimp, highway billboards--but response to the handbills will need to drastically improve. Pray the Lord leads us to understand what we should do differently, if anything.

Thanks for your faithful praying. To the outside, this must sound like a crazy life. But we're doing, frankly, the best we know how, while trusting the Lord and counting on Him all the way. For that we need major prayer support. Yours. Thanks for that.

"I love the Lord because He has heard my voice and my supplications.

Because He has inclined His ear to me,

Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live."

Psalm 116:1, 2

Alaska

Lisa and I went to Alaska last week for camp meeting. It's not like we drove there or anything. The flights alone took close to seven hours--just flight time. I had only been at the Anchorage airport once before, by mistake. On a flight to Seoul, Korea, about three years ago, one of the first-class passengers had a bit too much to drink, got belligerent, and we had to detour to Alaska so the police could take care of him.

Alaska is big. I mean really big. I you were to overlay the state in the middle of the lower 48, the top of it would be in Chicago, the bottom in the tip of southern Texas, the peninsula strip where Juneau is reach close to Florida, and the Aleutian Islands in the East reach all the way to California. Everyone packs a gun there and most a rifle to boot, even church members, even church pastors. There are more private little planes registered than private cars.

We enjoyed our visit very much. Even though I spoke nine times--nine times!--we had the chance to ride a boat and see one of the hundreds of glaciers, check out a gorgeous mountain pass, visit the national park for Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America (over 20,000 ft high), and even be given a private fly-over the camp region, including lakes, mountains, and or course, another glacier.

God blessed enormously there. This is the sixth and last camp meeting this summer, but the only one where all the presentations were on the Holy Spirit. Maybe we can go back someday, but with more time. This really is God's country--the myriads of wild animals often seen, the lakes, the mountains, the scarcity of people. A great place to contemplate and think.

I'm headed to fulfill a commitment in Brisbane, Australia on Wednesday. When made last year, I was sure I'd be done writing this current book. But it is not so, and no trip can come at a most inconvenient time. I only have chapter one done, and four days to write the rest :-(

If that actually happens, it'll be hard for me to think of a more amazing miracle in my life in many years.

Thank you for praying.

The Power Is in the Word

About a month ago I reported on the struggle to write this new book--the second book, I called it--on prophetic interpretation to give away on opening night of the NET prophecy meetings. My deadline to finish the book was last week. Well, I have yet to write it. All this time has been spent on research and note-taking. Between travel, NET administration, and lack of a clear pathway where to go with this work, my plans have not turned out as hoped.

Why is this so important now? Because I have not found a book like it in the market. Most of the books dealing with prophetic interpretation are, understandably, scholarly books. But this is a book for regular folks interested in prophecy. Other books deal with the broader issue of revelation and inspiration. Then, others tackle the problem of literalistic interpretation leading so many sincere Christians to believe the nation of Israel today is in fulfillment of prophecy, that a secret rapture will precede seven years of tribulation under the world rulership of the Antichrist, when 144,000 Jews will end up trying to evangelize the world. This Dispensationalist model of interpretation is simply a cancer in Christian circles, the biggest impediment to understanding the truth of what the Bible really says about the end.

We have been raised by God as a prophetic movement at the time of the end--that is, since 1844--to give the world "the entire counsel of God." God has given this church the entire picture, without which so many sincere souls remain deceived, lured by Babylon in the guise of orthodox Christianity. Satan has managed a multi-prong, clever approach at this most crucial time in the history of human beings. Through Enlightenment ideas he has eroded faith in Scripture via critical--faithless--approaches to Scripture. Through evolution-based scientific explanations he has destroyed faith in God and made irrelevant the Sabbath of the Lord. Through Post-modern social attitudes the Bible is now viewed as a quaint book for a minority in the world insistent in tradition. The ONLY counter to this onslaught of clever deceptions lulling men and women to slow perdition is the wake-up truth of Jesus Christ as revealed in His Word! Nothing else will be able to open people's eyes to see things as they really are.

But to make matters worse, who studies the Bible anymore? Even our own members seem to be reading it less and less, and those outside our faith who still look into it do so through the glasses of Dispentationalism, thus end up just as confused as those who hardly know a word from the Word. People inside and outside of Christianity are still interested in Bible prophecy. A number of them will come to hear a lecture on Armageddon or the Antichrist. But they don't know how to read Scripture.

This is why this book needs to be written. But there are so many ways to go about it. And that's where I lack clarity, wisdom, and insight. We often hear that a writer's block is cured by writing, regardless of how good it is or where the writing takes you. Perhaps that helps in some type of writing, but not every type. I need a vision from God, perhaps not literally, but nevertheless just as real, of the steps to pursue. After so many weeks, I believe I'm closer to discovering what it is that has been elusive to this point. But the reality is that I'm out of time. In two days, I'll be speaking numerous times in Alaska, and mere days after I return, I have another commitment overseas. And after that, the schedule is full again, and the publisher wouldn't have enough time to produce it for the NET meetings. The way I figure it, my last chance to finish this will be the week before the overseas trip. So, one week left! What is that to organize the writing, write each chapter, and get feedback from readers to avoid the most glaring misses?!

For some time now I've wanted an I-Pod to listen to Scripture while running in the mornings, something I used to do with Bible cassettes years ago. My tech-savvy kids convinced me to simply get an I-Phone instead, and I'd have everything there already. So, this past Father's Day we did that. What a blessing to my soul has again been the listening of God's Word! It stimulates my thinking, it helps me understand God Himself, it answers existential and/or biblical questions I've had for years, it builds my confidence in an all wise and loving and powerful God. This is the God of the Universe and the God who knows me--even me--by name.

All I desire is for people to give themselves a chance to understand the God of the Bible. The rest will take care of itself. Would you join me praying for this?

Thank you. I know He will do it.

"The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.

I opened my mouth wide and panted, for I longed for Your commandments.

Turn to me and be gracious to me,

After Your manner with those who love Your name."

Psalm 119:130-132

Update and Needs

It's July already. Less than 90 days before opening night! Where are we according to plan?

1. We're resolving the advertising issues. We've taken weeks now to sort this out. The blimp we're planning to use over Nashville presented some logistic and financial issues, but I believe they are finally getting worked out.
2. The guidelines for Archaeology are ready. Something that should have been ready months ago turned out to be a nightmare. The DVDs took months longer to produce than we had planned, and the guidelines for home use had to follow. I believe we have those ready now.
3. 612 churches have signed up. The signing of additional churches after the Creation-Evolution series has been slow coming. My hope is to get at least 1,000 churches by opening night.
4. Several camp meetings have been covered. I've been to Ontario, Kentucky-Tenn, Pennsylvania, and earlier this week returned from the Wisconsin and Arizona camp meetings. I only have Alaska left for this summer. My hope is that a few more churches will join the NET.
5. Prophecy book writing is stalled. Unfortunately, this has been the reality, for a number of reasons. This needs to change radically.
6. Broadcasting will be via Hope Church Channel. Our expectation was to broadcast the NET on Hope Channel and even on 3ABN. However, different decisions were made by both broadcasters which we could not influence. We pray the Lord will still work through these plans.
7. A renewed communication focus began. As of today, I believe the Reach NAD News newsletter coming from Bernie Delafield's office, will dedicate more focused updates on NET 2011. This goes to the entire NAD field.

We need urgent prayer for the following:

1. Spanish Translation. We've been working for months on this, and have finally found a good interpreter (they're not easy to find, especially to do simultaneous translation) able to do it. However, this was not part of our original budget and it will mean a considerable expense we can't cover at this time. We must resolve this issue in the next few days--which means find the finances to pay for it.
2. The Prophecy Book. To be honest, there has been a great controversy between good and evil over this in my life. I need the direct intervention of the Spirit, mostly in my heart. I need the Lord to perform heart surgery in me, and I believe the rest--the writing--will follow. I'm running out of time.
3. More Churches. With such an excellent opportunity to engage in soul winning this fall, it is sad to note so many churches still unsigned. Pray that the Spirit of God may stir the hearts of pastors and church leaders everywhere to sign on to the NET series and see people come to Jesus.
4. Youth Mobilization for Outreach. Later this month (22-24), the Jesus in Jeans Youth Rally will take place in Nashville to mobilize youth for peer outreach. Let's pray that our young people may be powerfully by the Spirit to reach out to others, and that many of them may make decisions for Christ.
5. Better Use of Holy Spirit Book. I have met people all over the country who've found Adventism's Greatest Need a blessing to them. The Lord led me to write this for personal revival and church renewal. Oh, how much we need this! My prayer is that many more can take advantage of this resource, especially as they meet in groups.
6. Guidelines for Creation-Evolution. This is the equivalent of what was done for archaeology. Again, the development of this resource is taking an inordinate amount of time. Pray this may be expedited so members may use the resource in their homes.
7. More Faithful Prayer Warriors. We live in crucial times, with so many people who could turn their faces towards the Lord Jesus. We desperately need more "knee laborers" to press before the Lord His very own agenda.

Please join me in praying for these issues. They weigh heavily on my soul. And pray especially for me. My spiritual health has been on the wane lately, and I need an urgent intervention of the Spirit in my life.

"And He was saying to them, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.'"

Luke 10:2

The Rest of the Story

Thursday I got good news. The Kentucky-Tennessee Conference, local sponsor for the NET meetings in Nashville, approved going out on a faith limb. This took courage, much courage and faith. And that's what the Christian life is all about.

You see, from the beginning, we had two budgets: the national budget of almost $700 thousand and the local budget of just over $300,000. The NAD has largely underwritten the national budget, although I'm responsible for raising about $160,000 of that money. A chunk of that has been raised, for which I thank God profusely. But the local budget called for fund raising about $45,000, and we had zilch to date (I've not been concentrating on that).

Now, before I go on, a word on fund raising. I'm not a fund raiser. I asked for help from the professional people at headquarters but it became obvious they were not used to raising money for evangelism. They deal with education, health, and other objectives. Most of the times, NET meetings are run by media ministries which survive on fund raising and have a network of people they depend on. Obviously, that is not our case, as my team and I teach at the Seminary, instead. The fact we have over $130,000 raised to date is a true and amazing miracle! This money has come from only a half a dozen friends and family members. I simply don't know more people I could ask.

Here is an example of God's intervention about this. One evening, after a weekend in Nashville, I was driving to another town, when the Lord--it was Him, unequivocally--brought forcefully to my mind to call somebody right away. I had seen that person three months before, and expressed our need for financial help, but nothing had come of it. It was mostly a case, I believe, of "out of sight, out of mind." Well, that crisp night, the thought entered my mind with amazing clarity: "Call such and so now." I called.

To my surprise, he answered the phone, and after talking for a few minutes, we agreed to see each other the next morning. Due to our schedules, our window of opportunity was open for only 15 minutes: a series of things would have to work just right for us to meet. Amazingly, all worked flawlessly, and we had our 15 minutes together, after which he promised me, clearly moved by God, to help me with a substantial contribution.

Back to KY-TN. I had not even began to raise funds for our local needs, knowing we'd have time as we got closer to the meetings, and during them as well. Now, keep in mind that large amounts are also budgeted to come in through offerings and material sales--a much larger amount that most would expect. So, it wasn't only donor money that was expected, and needed, to come in.

The conference treasury, understandably, got a bit nervous because that money not yet raised would be the only way to pay for some planned advertising. And we had no guarantees offerings and sales would reach our hopes and expectations. Should we, then, scratch those advertising plans now? They are already making a larger-than-ever-before financial commitment to evangelism this year. This already shows their conviction and courage. But in addition to mass mailing handbills throughout the metro area, we were considering the use of a blimp--yes, a blimp, like the Goodyear blimp--to float around the major Nashville freeways several hours each morning for two weeks! Tens of thousands of motorists each hour would see our website on the sides of the blimp that would lead them to check Prophecies Decoded, and perhaps register to attend. We'd even expect some press attention to it.

After having a candid discussion with all the officers, and ending with prayer as I boarded a plane to the Pennsylvania camp meeting last Tuesday, the decision was made to go for it, and trust the Lord would provide in His time. That's the news I received from the ministerial man on Thursday. This was a very difficult and courageous decision by the conference, and in my heart, I'm convinced God will repay their trust in Him with great dividends.

Now, we'll use mass mailing, the blimp, and two large billboards along a key interstate highway. Please pray that those efforts may bring many interested guests to the doors of our churches. I'm convinced once there, the Spirit of the living God would move powerfully in many of those hearts. And pray, of course, that we're able to raise the necessary funds to pay for it all.

So, the lesson today is that we must live by faith and not by sight. This is what pleases Jesus. His heart is warmed when we put Him to the test. Is it His will for us to do everything possible to share the Three Angels Messages with the world? Of course it is. Then, we must act accordingly. I never forget the many miracles our Lord made when on this earth, which included the caveat: "let it be done according to your faith."

"And without faith is is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."

Hebrews 11:6

The Second Book

Writing a book is a real challenge, I imagine, even to those who write books. For the rest of us, it can be overwhelming. I'm getting there fast these days.

Several times I have thought about how amazing it was to end up writing the book on the Holy Spirit last December and January in such a short time. I gave it my best, and I believe the content has the potential of really changing people's lives, if read carefully, prayerfully, and with others of like mind. But there is a major difference between that one and this one: I had been living with the contents of the subject of the Holy Spirit for years already. I just needed to write it.

The present challenge, however, could undo me. The book is meant to be a primer on how to study Bible prophecy. It is intended to be the gift book for opening night or the first night people come to the NET prophecy meetings. It is a needed little tome because nothing is available from our presses to date that fits the bill. Now, I figured since this would be at least half the size of the other one, that a few weeks (the only ones I have to work on it!) would suffice. Alas! How wrong was I!

The biggest obstacle has been the fact I'm not an expert on the subject, and neither have I lived with the subject for the last decade plus, such as it was in the case of the previous book. That means I've had to amass any number of books by the real experts on the subject, but since what I have in mind is rather unique, I have found no true models to pattern any type of writing after.

The second challenge is the actual format and flow. I have key subjects in mind, for instance, the need for a Christ-centered hermeneutics (interpretation), dealing with Matthew 24 as a template for other prophetic portions, and the necessity of chipping away at that most noxious of theologies--Dispensationalism--which has been the bane of so many otherwise sincere Bible students. But exactly what to say and how to say those things has proved very tough.

The scary challenge is the fact that time moves on unabated. The last two weeks have been the most clearly dedicated to book-writing and yet the progress has been, quite frankly, dismal. Next week, I begin camp meeting travels again (PA, WI, AZ), and by the time I return my writing should be done. Well, I have barely began.

I guess I'm opening my heart here, in case someone is willing to be a strong prayer partner with me on this great challenge. You see, other NET issues don't wait, they don't stop until I get this book written. Phone call after phone call, e-mail after e-mail, project after project keep demanding my daily time, and this is after much of it has been filtered by my able coordinator, Russell, and preciously willing NADEI staff. In other words, these are the MUST things I need to deal with.

This is not about the loss of face if I don't get the book written, it is much more about the loss of a clearly God-given opportunity, a door He Himself has opened, for potentially thousands of Bible students to benefit from a little help deciphering how to study Bible prophecy. And that is really the issue.

More than once, I have concluded this entire NET 11 project is larger than what someone like me should have tackled, and yet, I have, and others have, also concluded that God has not left us nor forsaken us, but that He has given us multiple evidences He is still in control. God is in this!

Please pray for me over the next 30 days. Please pray, first of all, that my heart be surrendered to God each and every day, so that my great desire would be to honor Him and love Him above anything else in the world. Pray, secondly, that the Holy Spirit may illumine my mind in ways unknown before, that a real miracle may take place in my mind. That thought and text and concept may come together as only God can make it possible. And last, pray, as Joshua prayed in chapter 10 of his book, that time may stand still, as it were. That, somehow, this can be accomplished in time to be published, and thus be of help to the NET churches that wish to use it as a necessary resource.

This blog should not be understood as fodder for discouragement. This is my cry for help before the Lord, and I fully believe, all things are possible with Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.

"Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think,

according to the power that works within us,

to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus

to all generations forever and ever. Amen."

Ephesians 3:20, 21

Providential Leadings

This blog should have been written last Monday or Tuesday, but, oh well. Now, here is a story.

Months ago, Marvin Lowman, from the Kentucky-Tennessee Conference, the sponsoring conference for the NET 11 meetings, asked me to speak at their camp meeting for this weekend. At the time, I already had a commitment elsewhere, and offered to come the previous weekend (last weekend). That was not possible because they already had a speaker lined up for some time (three years, as it turned out), for that weekend. It seemed important that I had exposure at this camp meeting since it is less than an hour away from Nashville, and it is so critical to have good support in the Nashville area for good NET meetings. But it was out of our hands.

A few days later, Marvin offered I do a seminar on evangelism Sunday afternoon. It was not the prime time spots of Friday night and Sabbath, but at least it was something. As the weeks went on, a couple of extra appointments were added, such as speaking to the pastors Monday morning, the retiree workers Sunday at lunch time, and an 8-minute evangelism feature for Saturday night.

God, however, continues to work in mysterious ways. Last Friday, already packed and ready to go to the airport to fly to Nashville, Marvin calls with an emergency. The speaker planned for so long for the weekend is stranded in Brazil, his airplane struck by lightning (nothing happened to anyone). Could I come and speak in his place? I had to smile at the turn of events. Evidently God still wanted that exposure to the largest possible number of people for that camp meeting during prime time speaking slots. I also teased the Lord a bit, saying that it would have been a bit easier to prepare four sermons with a few weeks of advance notice rather than the time it takes to fly to Nashville. The truth is, God probably figured I wouldn't take too much more time than the one I did in this emergency.

So, I arrived 20 minutes after Friday night's program started, yet in time to speak. I spoke four times on Why, Who, and How of Revival. It gave me the opportunity to study and arrange new material for at least two of those sermons. And the Lord, as usual, blessed beyond our limited expectations. Everyone seemed to sense God was in this change of plans.

Even though there have been a number of challenging things regarding the planning and preparation of this entire NET 11 package, this past weekend developments remind me of a number of interventions by the Almighty.

Last January, I don't think I shared this yet, my wife and I were traveling to the airport for appointments in California and Alabama. The flight was early in the morning, it was dark, had snowed, and was a bit windy. As soon as I turned in to the freeway access ramp, I lost control of the GMC, even though it was on 4-wheel drive, and we went careening down the embankment, landing with a significant thud 50 feet below the on-ramp. After checking we were unharmed, Lisa said, "I guess we're not going to the airport today." I thought to myself of the trouble that would mean, missing the chance to speak to significant communities, including pastors, about NET 11. We thanked God we were OK, and asked His intervention. The thought of spending the morning trying to get help to pull my car out of the ditch was enough to discourage me. I couldn't afford wasting time like that.

After the quick prayer, it occurred to me to put it on reverse (it was obvious we could not move forward), even though behind us was a significantly steep hill. As I did, the vehicle simple shifted SIDEWAYS about 45 degrees, so the hill behind us was no longer there. Slowly, we backed out of there, then put it on drive, making a wide circle on the snow, and steadily climbed up the ramp as if that was the most natural thing in the world. I went outside to appraise the damage, and hardly saw any, so we decided to go on the airport. I made all my appointments. The whole incident had taken but five minutes.

No one saw us that dark, snowy morning, but my wife and I sense our angels did something special at God's command to help us out of there. Another confirmation that God is in this NET 11 project. Every time we go by that embankment, we look down it and raise our thankful hearts to our great Protector and Deliverer.

And I could share many more interventions, such as getting Russell Burrill to join our team and become coordinator when it was his inclination to say No. Or getting Tim Standish to join me for the Creation-Evolution series when his schedule seemed prohibitive. Or getting the NAD to approve a budget larger than ever before in NET history.

There are still challenges ahead--the writing of the prophecy book (more on this next time), fund-raising, communication with the field, guidelines for archaeology and creation DVDs, etc.--but God blesses us each step of the way. All we must do is trust Him with all our hearts, and He will bring it to pass.

"Trust in the Lord and do good;...

Delight yourself in the Lord;

And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him, and He will do it."

Psalm 37:3-5

End of the World Musings

Back last night from Toronto, where this weekend I spoke and provided evangelism training for the college church in Oshawa. It was a pleasure to work with Pastor Edgar Nunes and other pastors whose churches are part of the NET 11 process.

Last Sabbath, as I'm sure you know, was supposed to be the rapture and the start of the Great Tribulation. Well, it sure didn't happen in Toronto, and apparently neither did anywhere else. Seventh-day Adventists knew this (and most of the world suspected it), but the whole affair leaves us thinking about how this may actually impact NET 11 plans for this fall.

You see, Harold Camping, head of Family Radio and the originator of the Judgment Day May 21 debacle, as of today, has changed his tune--slightly. What he shared through radio was picked up by the secular media, and here is the new scenario: the whole thing was "spiritual." The rapture and the series of earthquakes were spiritual, not physical happenings. October 21 is still the end of the world. And that will be the real thing. (He had always maintained that the desolations of the world would culminate on October 21).

Camping begins with typical Dispensationalist/futurist thinking: the rapture, the tribulation that follows, disasters everywhere ushering Christ's return. But he goes beyond most by extrapolating dates, basically out of the air, to calculate the dates for these events. Whatever little credibility he had before anyone other than his closest followers is now gone altogether, after the May 21 non-event. However, this makes our work harder. Or does it?

Let me explain.

On the one hand, this May 21 non-happening, with all the billboards and the surprisingly large secular media coverage it received, has created a lot more skeptics out of those who already had second thoughts about religionists who focus on end-time issues. Secondly, it has turned secular people into plain, open mockers of the whole thing. Talk shows on radio and TV have derided the non-event and poked serious fun, not only at Camping and his followers, but, by extension, at religious people in general. There are pro-Bible people who will now make sure they don't say much about the Bible, to avoid any more trouble. Tragically, the May 21 fiasco has brought discredit on the Bible itself, as many see it.

This is a serious challenge to our mission. We firmly believe that Jesus is coming soon, but now more people will be bound to laugh the whole thing off since they have fresh evidence nothing did happen when it was predicted. I guess it shouldn't be surprising that Camping's new interpretation of the non-event was made to be "spiritual." That is exactly how a number of Millerites explained the fact Jesus did not return physically on October 22, 1844. Those people made the life and ministry of young Ellen White very grievous.

What we face is the possibility that, as the prophecy series approach, the media will also begin to focus on October 21, fully convinced it will also be a non-event, poised to mock again all who might think it is. Camping promised no one will be passing out tracks or using billboards this time. However, the use of billboards is something we're considering just as I write these lines!! Will we be grouped with these false prophets for drawing attention to the end times?

What gets to me more than anything else, is the real possibility that we may pull back advertising plans because Camping and co. has brought disrepute to the whole issue. What shall we do?!

But here is an alternative thought. What if God, somehow uses this mess for His glory? The weeks leading to May 21 clearly showed that a lot of people are interested in end-time scenarios, otherwise the secular media wouldn't have gotten so deep in it. Would the nearness of October 21 be a catalyst for people to come out to our meetings? Or would they stay away fearing association with extreme people devoid of common sense?

If there is a time to think about this it is right now. We're making important advertising decisions RIGHT NOW, and we need the guidance of the Spirit of God about them. Only God knows what will happen this coming September and October. Only He knows what the mood of the world will be at that time.

"O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before his great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You."

2 Chronicles 20:12

Survival of the Unfitted

The Creation-Evolution mini-series is over (I've been so busy, I couldn't write for this blog!), and a certain chagrin hangs over my soul. I supposed we worked so hard on the series--mistakes and imperfections not withstanding--that it's a bit like losing a loved one you've known for a long time.

But let's review. Working with Tim Standish, GRI biologist and co-presenter, has been a real pleasure, as well as with Matt Lucio, my graphic designer, who can work under pressure. Russell Burrill, my right-hand man and NET 11 coordinator, has also been a blessing. And Lisa, my wife, continues to be long-suffering with her busy husband. God has blessed our efforts, though I'm fully (and somewhat painfully) aware of the things that should have been better. This is a first in the Adventist Church, and we can draw a few conclusions:

• There is a lot of interest out there on this subject, and meetings like these reach a demographic not reached before by the church: smart, thinking, mostly well educated people. I spent each night talking with some of them--beautiful people.
• At least in Nashville, three fourths of the non-SDA guests that came had a Christian background, along with a science background. One fourth were secular people with little or no Bible background.
• In general, the guests were thrilled about what they heard, and many members were also quite excited.
• We probably should hold back before live audiences the fact this is on TV or Internet; it's too easy to stay home the next night.
• Outreach continues to be hard to do, perhaps increasingly so, in Adventist churches. Most members simply do not reach out to others. In general, we are a seriously Laodicean church exempted only by a very small minority of faithful members whose lives belie Jesus is first in their lives.
• When it comes to outreach, process is important. Little by little, more members are tuning in to what we're doing, and more guests are finding out about Adventist offerings to the community.

Since last November, this NET 11 journey has been the survival of the unfitted. First, putting budget and planning team together and getting appropriate administration approval. Second, developing equipping and promotional calendars plus materials for the churches' Early Bird packages. Third, writing and getting published Adventism's Greatest Need. Fourth, planning and broadcasting Jesus in Your Church. Fifth, fundraising over $135,000 for NET 11. Sixth, writing the NET 11 Manual plus conceiving a number of other equipping pieces. Seventh, preparing and broadcasting In the Beginning. All this in addition to full-time teaching responsibilities at the Seminary. 

I look at this and wonder, not at my ability to accomplish it all, but at God's willingness to work with such a frail vessel and trust him with so much. At every juncture we've made mistakes, and yet, they seem rather inconsequential compared to the gains for the sake of the gospel.

So, here we are, only four and a half months from Prophecies Decoded's opening night, and here is a new list of prayer requests--seven, for good measure:

1. For the 575 churches so far engaged in NET 11 to not lose track of new friends made over this past weekend, and for them to maximize every opportunity for outreach this summer;
2. For pastors to carefully read the NET 11 Manual so they can be better prepared for what's coming;
3. For my research and writing of the book on prophecy, the gift book churches are to use for opening night. Unlike the previous book, I'll need to do more research for it, and only have a few weeks to do it;
4. For God to bless my summer travel--camp meetings, training events--and even open a door for what I consider a needed trip to Rome on behalf of the upcoming meetings;
5. For more donors to have a burden to give to NET 11--we need financial help;
6. For the Holy Spirit to use Adventism's Greatest Need to awaken dormant churches and people; and
7. For my health (I know many have had this burden--thank you), especially my spiritual health.

I don't know if I'll ever have the privilege to meet most or all the NET 11 prayer warriors, but that would be an enormous treat for me. I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your dedication to this cause. I am absolutely sure we could be nowhere where we are today without the faithful and faith-filled prayers that each of you offer. To God be the glory!

God bless you more than you can imagine.

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now."

Philippians 1:3-5

Semester's End

It does not cease to amaze me how faithful God is blessing those who need Him most, such as your truly. Take, for instance, last Sabbath. My plan was to produce two manuscripts for the Easter series, Friday's and at least half of each of the following days. Well, I never got to the second set, so I went to bed tired and with a prayer: Lord wake me up at the time you know I need to prepare tomorrow morning's sermon.

Typically, this is not a good situation--preparing sermons the morning you preach them. Yet, that was my situation. At 3:30, God said, "it's time," and I went to the other room to work. One of my sources was a very good sermon (if I may say so myself) I had preached 12 years ago in So New England: What's the Big Deal About Shabbath? This morning, I was trying to answer the question: Why did Jesus rest in the Tomb (on Sabbath). Well, to make a long story short, it impressed even me.

A number of lifelong members commented that they'd never heard anything on the Sabbath so fresh, relevant, and compelling. What it did, is make believers in NET 11 out of a number who'd stayed on the margins to date. And, yes, somehow, in four and half hours, that Sabbath afternoon, while holed up in a baptistry changing room away from everybody, out came the next 11-page manuscript for the evening service. My intention is not to say "look what I did," but to say "look what He did with what I gave Him." God is simply amazing!

The meetings were blessed, but the attendance at the church concerns me in no small measure. If we have this trend continues, the live broadcasts won't be successful. We easily need 300 more people committed to simply showing up.

-----

Lisa and I came home yesterday afternoon, and I gave two finals today. I stayed for quite some time talking with students at the end of each period. And I prayed with a couple. I've had the privilege of teaching some great people this semester. God truly blessed. I made considerable adjustments to the Field Evangelistic Preaching course, and that clearly improved it. Students even clapped at the end of the last period. Last year, the story was quite different. Now, we have to finish grading projects and exams. I must turn grades before I leave next Monday.

As I recall, this is the first time in four years I'm in town for a May graduation. It will be a nice experience, and a good excuse to put on that doctoral garb we otherwise use so seldom. Over the last 18 years of teaching undergrad and grad students, I've seen some excellent talent come out of various educational halls. I've also come to know beautifully consecrated men and women of God whom He is bound to use for His glory. There are always some memorable classes, mostly because a group of people happen to confluence that really leave their mark. Education is a very worthy profession, even if I may not be able to give my best to it. I'm always surprised to see the impact made on certain students, impact that becomes a turning point in their lives. God uses us in spite of ourselves.

Next week is the big one. The Creation-Evolution is on. I have thought about sharing on this blog some of the serious trouble we've encountered on various fronts over the last few weeks. But it will give more glory to the devil I intend to give him. One thing I know, we must remain faithful, doing what God is giving us the opportunity to do, and then see Him at work. His undoing of the devil's schemes is something to behold.

Don't forget to pray for these meetings.  Pray for

1.  Tim and I to finalize the best content possible
2.  Good support from the SDA membership
3.  An encouraging turn out from the guests
4.  God to do something special for people during this time

"Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies,

For they are ever mine.

I have more insight than all my teachers,

For Your testimonies are my meditation."

Psalm 119: 98, 99

Back from California

The third major trip this month is about over. I should board my plane home in about an hour. Of course, tomorrow, another flight, this time to Nashville for the Passover/Easter mini-series. At least Lisa is coming with me this time.

Well, Tim Standish and I worked around the clock the past five days. We gave our Creation-Evolution seminar at the Beaumont Church in Southern California, and even though we have things to improve and tighten up, it went quite well, overall. I really think this seminar can be a blessing to people.

So, thanks for praying for it. Quite frankly, I don't know how we pulled it off. Mere hours before our time to speak we were often trying to figure content and order issues, and the PPT slides were only started. And yet, somehow, 120 slides of mostly coherent and almost surely compelling material emerged by the time we stood up to speak. If it wasn't for God, I don't know where we'd be.

Here is what we want to do with these meetings, to be aired live from Nashville, May 4 through 8 at 7:30 EDT.

1. We want to honor God by talking about what He did in the universe and the world
2. We want to acknowledge the powerful forces behind the evolutionary worldview and deal with it accordingly and with respect
3. We want to reach, especially, those young adults who may come from Christian backgrounds but have become steeped in evolutionary concepts and don't know what is what anymore
4. We want to reach the secular-minded educated person who never thought much about the creation and Flood stories in the Bible
5. We want to bring out facts from both sides that will be particularly enlightening to Joe Church in the pew with little science background

The agenda is ambitious and very challenging. Please continue to pray for us so the Spirit will take this under His absolute control. That is what we're praying for.

A second major request for prayer is the Passover/Easter series I start in two nights. The last six months have been non-stop for me, literally. Even though all the concepts and content are somewhere in my head, and I've done these meetings in the past, it is a new configuration and focus for this weekend, and I have yet to produce one complete sermon. Here are the titles, so you can pray each day for what's coming. This will only be of local reach, in Nashville only.

Series: UNCOMMING INSIGHTS ON JESUS THE SAVIOR

Thu, April 21, 7:00 p.m.  Why Jesus Died Before the Cross

Fri, April 22, 7:00 p.m.    Why Christ Did Not Think He’d Resurrect

Sat, April 23, 11:20 a.m. Why He Rested in the Tomb

Sat, April 23, 7:00 p.m.   Why Is Jesus the First-Born of the Dead

Sun, April 24, 7:00 p.m.  Why Christ Promised to Return

I had to file an extension for my taxes, something I hadn't done in a long long time. My last two days of teaching are today and tomorrow. So, lots of papers and projects to grade. Finals are next week. And then the Creation-Evolution broadcast. Beginning May 10, I will breath again for two days, before I start research for the book on prophecy.

Blessings to all of you. God is good, and He proves it day by day. We praise Him for who He is!

"Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power;

for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created."

Revelation 4:11

Impossible, Yet...

April looked foreboding months ago, but now that I'm in the middle of it it looks impossible, particularly this week. I'm in Huntsville, AL, where yesterday I spoke to the GC Spring Council meeting at Oakwood University. The Lord blessed, as He always does, but it is taking three critical days out of an impossible schedule.

On Wednesday, I fly to Southern California, so Tim Standish and I present our Creation-Evolution program at the Beaumont Church, from Thursday through Sunday nights. Problem? We're 20% ready, if that. We've been working hard, but have simply ran out of time. I've sent only one nearly completed PPT script to Tim and Matt, our graphic designer. I have another four to do. If I can manage numbers 2 and 3 before I go Wednesday, we'll be doing well.

In the midst of all this are some academic e-mails and regular classes that cannot be ignored, and needed preparation for the following week's mini-series on Jesus for the Easter Evangelism weekend we plan for Nashville. But that's not all, somehow, I have to do my 2010 taxes this week. When? How? I honestly don't know. It doesn't pay to have someone else do it because I still have to do the grunt work of collecting all the data.

So, that's my week.

And my need is obvious. Yet, somehow, God is in control.

"And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

Phil 4:19

Creation and Creativity

What I love about life is seeing a plan come together. That is, seeing a God-size project work out where the whole is much bigger than the sum of its parts. This NET 2011 plan is much bigger than I or even those composing the planning committee.

Take, for instance, Creation. My last class in biology or physics was in high school, almost 40 years ago (I know, I only look young). And because I did that overseas, where high school education is stronger than at typical US schools, they waved all my science requirements once I got in college in California. In those days, however, I was a social rather than a real student. You know, one of those focused on friends, but with enough gray cells to pass with decent grades without learning much.

My point is that I'm in trouble trying to prepare for a series of nationwide lectures on TV about creation and evolution. It's like going to school once again, except this time I just love it. Cosmology, biology, geology, physics, what fascinating subjects they all are! Even though there are years of learning to process in just weeks, I wouldn't trade it for anything--except the assurance Tim (Standish, my co-presenter) and I will be ready. I've been reading fascinating books, and some not-so-easy textbooks. I've been watching magnificent DVDs such as the ones put out by Illustra Media. I recognize that I'd better let Tim, a molecular biologist researching at the Geoscience Research Institute, talk the science, but I can't wait to pitch in.

The truth is I've come to realize not too many years ago that my role in this world is to be an interpreter. Preachers must interpret the Bible to help listeners understand God better. Teachers must interpret data and make that palatable enough for students so they want to know more or perform better. Writers interpret reality and articulate it so readers make sense of their own world. What a joy and privilege to be about the business of interpreting the God of the Universe! And this series explores what God has done and is doing, revealing such amazing examples of His wisdom, foreknowledge, and care, that I for once, would want to find my seat on the front row.

But this business is dangerous. Interpreters are only a hair's breath from mis-interpreting. The safest thing would be to avoid it all together. And scores of people in the world do exactly that: "I'd rather not do something than make mistakes doing it." I would agree this is probably the best course of action about inconsequential or secondary things or even personal wants. But when it comes to something that really matters--and Creation, with its implications on the nature and the love of God, the Sabbath, the end of time, really matters--perhaps caution should not be the rule of the day, and casting ourselves in faith at the feet of Jesus for wisdom and ability, maybe the ticket to ride.

A hundred other speakers and a thousand other faithful can do better what, by the grace of God, I and others are trying to accomplish with this NET. But it is us who have the chance to do something big for God. And our prayer is that God may show himself strong in spite--and specially because--of our weakness and inadequacies.

Please pray for In the Beginning: Making Sense of the Creation-Evolution Debate. We have to accomplish in mere days what normally takes months to do well. Tim and I have committed to present an initial version of the mini-series at the Beaumont Church in Southern California, April 14-17, and we are not ready yet. I have been so busy with getting all the pieces needed for the Early Bird churches (just over 500 by the April 1 deadline--including equipping DVDs, manual, other resources, and the books on the Holy Spirit), plus other major training events (like the evangelism rally) and organizational needs, and article deadlines, aside from Seminary teaching responsibilities, etc., that this prep has really suffered. And to top it off, my graphic designer has been in Europe. It will take a miracle to do in eight days what three months may not be enough. But God, I believe, will be with us and the program. And this will be even more clearly demonstrated if you join me in prayer.

Today was the first of the fasting and prayer Sabbaths recommended by the GC's new initiative on Revival and Reformation. It had been a while since I last fasted. I used to do this regularly when pastoring in California. And I had forgetten the joy and the confidence in God that come with focusing exclusively on His will and power on our behalf. So, pray. Pray and fast, if you must. If you do it with the purpose of seeing God revealed in your life, He will not disappoint.

All this scientific reading and learning about Creation, along with deep reflection on the book of Genesis have led me to a renewed conviction that we serve a very big and wonderful God. One who created us for His glory, and for the everlasting joy of every creature. I cannot be silent about this. We shouldn't be silent about this.

"The heavens are telling of the glory of God;

And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

Day to day pours forth speech,

And night to night reveals knowldge.

There is no speech, nor are there words;

Their voice is not heard.

[Yet] Their sound has gone out through all the earth,

And their uttenrances to the end of the world."

Psalm 19:1-4