​For many years a prominent pastor had the reputation for his fine sermons which were not only inspirational, but unusually short.

When asked about his unusual awareness of time, he told this story:

"One Sunday I was delivering a sermon to my first congregation, and I became so carried away with the sound of my own words that I didn't realize how restless the people were becoming until a small boy, who had been squirming and fidgeting in the front pew, caught my attention.

I saw him tug at his mother's sleeve and then, in a voice that could be heard throughout the church, he shouted, 'Mommy, are you sure this is the only way to get to heaven?'"

Here's an unusual camp meeting. All of the speakers are dead, "yet speaketh." I knew all four of the preachers. 

Hugh Padgett Robinson was a masterful preacher. He could paint pictures. He often came to Holmes Bible College and Holmes Memorial Church to preach and teach when I was a student at Holmes Bible College.  His daughter Carol is married to Dr. Ron White, president of Emmanuel College. His wife was Agnes, and served as the Director of Women's Ministries of the IPHC.

James D. Leggett was a powerful preacher, and full of the Holy Spirit. After he served as the General Superintendent of the IPHC, he went to Holmes Bible College to build the new campus and pastor Holmes Memorial Church. I knew him well. He is one of the reasons I continued producing Hugh's News. After he launched the new 26-full color magazine, IPHC Experience, I was going to stop Hugh's News. He insisted that I not do so. He told me in the presence of Bishop Wesley Russ in Nashville, TN, that the church needed Hugh's News. He said it is the only medium to keep the church informed.

Ronald W. Carpenter, Sr. could preach at the drop of a hat. I worked with him and for him for 8 years when he was the Executive Director of Evangelism USA. He was chairman of Chaplains Ministries, IPHC. I traveled with him from coast to coast and from north to south in church growth and revitalization conferences. I heard him preach many times and he could touch your heart with the Gospel.

Mark Potter and I were close friends. He and I served on the World Missions Board for 8 years. He was the superintendent of the South Carolina Conference. He was a compassionate preacher who could build your faith. He died in an automobile/motorcyle accident. His death and the death of Rick Hurst has touched me deeply.

I don't do facebook, however,  I will get Greg to help me hear these sermons. I hope you will tune in.

This Camp Meeting is sponsored by the South Carolina Conference with headquarters in Lake City, SC.

There is no doubt about it, you will thrill to Barbara James book, Prayer Changes Everything. What a love story it is with Jesus and with Bane, her husband and big supporter. What God has done for her and her obedience to Him, He can do for you and me.

Order your copy or more today. Call 706-246-5771 today.

The Disciplines of Faith
(Continued)

Author: James O. Davis

Last week were looking at Abraham's discipline in faith in listening to God' calling. Abraham was not a fugitive. He was not running away from home. Abraham was not a vagabond. He was not looking for home. He was a pilgrim heading home.

As we continue walking in the hall of fame of faith with Abraham, I want us to learn many faith-powered principles. These life-changing principles will come out of our passage to help us to have that dynamic faith that will bring heaven to our soul. 

The Vision Principle

In Hebrews 11:10, we read: "For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God." In verse 13 we read, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises but having seen them afar off, having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." It is so easy to lose the focus of the right values. It is so easy to get earthly minded and worldly minded. The Apostle Paul states, "If ye, then, be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God." (Col. 3:1-2)

In Hebrews 11:1, our definition of faith is written, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." In verse 13: "These all died in faith, not having received the promises but having seen them afar off...." That is, they saw the invisible. They saw things that were not seen. Faith is seeing the invisible. By faith we see the invisible.

In 2 Corinthians 4:18 we read, "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen...." Is that double talk? Paul says we're not looking at what we can see, we're looking at what we can't see. Faith sees the invisible, knows the unknowable, and does the impossible. Our vision will focus with faith.

There is an invisible world. There is a world that is more real than this world. All of the heroes of the faith were people who could see the invisible world. Most of us live a life where all we see is what is before us - our car, our house, our job. We never get a vision. We never look upward. We never look onward.

You think of the people who make a mark in the material world - the explorers, the novelists, the artists, the creators, the inventors. All of these had the ability to see the invisible. When Disney World was being dedicated in Orlando, Florida, they opened it up with a grand procession. Walt Disney had died, and Mrs. Walt Disney was sitting there alongside one of the executives. There was a lady sitting next to Mrs. Walt Disney said, "It's a shame Walt is not here to see all of this." She said, "Oh, he saw it, that's why it's here."

What are you setting your eyes on?  We are going in the direction of our main focus. Faith brings focus. Everyday Abraham put his eyes on the city that God was building?  Is there any wonder why he was not interested in Sodom?  Sodom was not on the path to the heavenly city!  Each morning, we should begin our day by placing our mind and our spiritual eyes on what God is building. We need to take the long look instead of the short look.

The Vigilant Principle

In Hebrews 11:11 we read, "Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised."

God gave Abraham a promise, but you know that he got his eyes off the Lord and so did Sarah. They did some terrible things that have impacted our world ever since. Abraham went down into Egypt when God had put him in Canaan. God tested him and he failed the test at first.

Abraham went to Egypt because of the famine in Canaan. He did not pray about his decision. He got off the faith-path and became sexually involved with Hagar. Hagar bore him son, named Ishmael. God had given a promise to Abraham that he and Sarah would have child. Yet, when the years began to roll by, they doubted God and took matters into their own hands. You may say, what is the big deal about this?

Well, fourteen years later, Abraham and Sarah had a son, named Isaac. God did keep his promise!  However, Isaac and Ishmael did not get along with each other. God commanded Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away when Ishmael was 17 years old. Isaac and Ishmael did not get along together then and the Muslim world and Jewish world do not get along today. Think about it. The Muslim world believes Ishmael went up with Abraham to Mount Moriah to offer a sacrifice and the Jewish world believes that Isaac was the one chosen by Abraham to travel up with him to offer a sacrifice there. If Abraham would be waited on the Lord until He fulfilled his promise of a son, this would be completely different today!

God will test your faith. A faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted. The Bible speaks of the trial of our faith (1 Peter 1:7). Now when you live the life of faith, it's not all honey and no bees. Your faith is going to be tested. Abraham should have stayed there in the land of Canaan, even though there was a famine. If he knew that God had put him there, he should have said, "If I starve, I'm going to stay here. If God put me here, God's going to take care of me."

Your faith is going to come under attack. In life, don't think there are not going to be any heartaches or any tears. There are going to be problems. Abraham did return to Canaan and to live the life of faith. If you have gotten off the "faith path," I encourage to get back on it as fast as possible.

The Victory Principle

We are to enjoy the blessings. In Hebrews 11:11-12, we read, "Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged Him faithful Who had promised. Therefore, spring there even of one, the, therefore spring, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable."

Abraham's name is great. His descendants are great. Abraham has been a blessing to the world. He's been a blessing to you and me. God gave Abraham the land. Think of all the things that God did through Abraham. From Abraham came the Jewish nation, came the prophets, came the Bible and came our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

There is the victory principle. There is no way we can live in victory apart from faith. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. And all of these things are there, right there in the School of Faith for you.

Imagine God and Abraham walking together while the sun was setting over Canaan. God says to Abraham, "I am going to bless you like the stars."

Abraham says, "Like the stars? What do you mean?

God responds, "After the sun sets, the stars will begin to appear. I encourage to count the stars as they appear. However, I warn you; the stars begin appearing slowly but eventually will pick up speed in their appearance.
Abraham states, "I will be happy to count the stars. Arithmetic was my best subject at Ur Highschool."

As the stars appear, Abraham counts them one at a time. Finally, he says, "God, the stars are now appearing faster than I can count!

The next morning, God and Abraham are walking along a seashore. God says to Abraham, "You were unable to count the stars last night. This morning, I would like for you to count the grains of sand on this beach."

Can you imagine trying to count grains of sand?  How many grains are there in a handful? A cupful?  A bucket full?  A truck full? It would be impossible to count sand on one beach, much less all of the coast worldwide.

God said to Abraham, "I am going to bless you like stars and the sand. In other words, you will experience so many blessings, you will be unable to count them."

Do you have this testimony?  Isn't it true that God has given us more blessings in our lifetime than we are able to count?  It is the victory principle.  When we walk by faith, we can look back over the shoulder of time and see God's blessings like the sand and the stars.

Until The Last Person Has Heard,
 
Dr. James. O. Davis
Founder/President
Global Church Network
Cochair / Global Networking

How Ignorance and Negligence Sparked the Collapse of America's Biblical Culture

Author: David Lane 

America's Biblical culture has been lost due to our negligence and ignorance.

At some time in the late 19th century, the American culture was hijacked by atheistic secularism. The "One Nation under God" that the Founding Fathers cultivated throughout the 17th and 18th centuries had been designed to develop and evolve liberty under Biblically based conditions.

The prevailing attitudes, standards and "environmental" conditions were to be guided and guarded by virtue, the key component of liberty, embedded by the founders in the woof and warp of the Judeo-Christian culture.

Atheists and naysayers like to raise the obtuse question that if America's founders really wanted to establish a Christian nation, why didn't they just make that clear. "They did," answers Christian historian William J. Federer, "simply read the charters and constitutions of the original 13 colonies."

Ignorance, negligence and disregard of the care and safeguards put into place by the founders during the country's initial 170 years or so has predictably resulted in the collapse of the Biblically based culture. Due to the neglect and abandonment of the principle that "righteousness exalts a nation," America has gone from being extraordinary and exceptional—like no other—to being ordinary and mundane—like any other.

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich's warning last week of "vandals and barbarians" getting away with impunity with destroying public statues ... will result in "the end of civilization as we've known it."

The end of civilization as we've known it. Try to imagine that. And all of this because of the "shocking failure of nerve by almost everybody in a position of authority—from politicians, the police, our religious leaders and broadcast media."

The infernal and life-threatening organizations antifa and Black Lives Matter espouse Marxism, destruction of the nuclear family, abortion, transgenderism, Queer Nation, homosexuality and so forth.

Wholly in the spirit of the serpent and unopposed, both organizations work together in pillaging and marauding targeted cities of America. In their duplicity and subterfuge, they come close to or may even top the heinous terror outfit ISIS, which ransacked northern Iraq's historic Christian and Muslim shrines.

Dr. Peter Leithart's spiritual insight in relation to serpents menacing and terrorizing America is instructive: "Goliath's armor is given unusually detailed attention. We never learn anything about David's armor after he became king. 1 Samuel 17:5 says that the Philistine giant was wearing 'scale armor,' and the Hebrew word simply means 'scales.' This sort of armor is attested throughout the ancient Near East, but the fact that he is described as wearing 'scales' indicates that Goliath was a serpent."

Antifa and Black Lives Matter are serpents envenoming America and defiling its cities, arranging and coordinating the complete overthrow of its government.

Camouflaged under the guise of "neutrality," late 19th-century atheistic secularists managed to impose their pagan will and credo on America. Let there be no mistake about the fact that unbelief in the biblical God Jehovah is just as much a religious belief as is belief in Jehovah. American Christendom let itself be deceived by the false claim of "neutrality."

From its inception, instruction of America's youth began with the theological and epistemological foundation of instruction in Proverbs 1:7a that "The fear of the Lord is the beginning [Heb. 'the starting point'] of knowledge." Excellence in education, arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, attention and activity, which shaped the heart and character of the American people, were patently Christian elements.

Wisdom (hok'ma in Old Testament Hebrew) cannot be separated from knowledge (da'at in Old Testament Hebrew).

The Wall Street Journal recognized the 1962-1963 radical Warren Court's sleight of hand, conceding that the devotion of secularists to their religion was "the one belief to which the state's power will extend its protection."

Fast forward to the looting, trashing and burning of American cities by such unapologetic lackeys of Karl Marx as antifa and Black Lives Matter. Their behavior shows that what's happening in America and around the world is spiritual: There is a devil.

Required reading for these turbulent times is A.W. Pink's Gleanings From Joshua: "It would indeed be strange if we apprehended how that on the one hand Canaan was a free gift unto Israel, which they entered by grace alone; and on the other that they had to fight for every inch of it!

God has nowhere declared that He will preserve the reckless and presumptuous. He preserves in faith and holiness, and not in carnality and worldliness.

God is jealous of His honor and will not share it with another. It pleases Him, as a general rule, to select for His instruments those who have no glittering accomplishments: rather, plain, simple, homely men. It is not silver-tongued orators through whom He most shows forth His praises, but by those who have nothing more, naturally, to commend them unto their hearers than that which resembles the "rams' horns"! His most eminent servants have not been those of royal blood, noble birth, or high station, but taken from the lower walks of life. Spurgeon had neither university nor college training, nor was he a graduate of any seminary! Though after God's call to the ministry, [he] studied hard and long to improve himself! In proportion as the churches have made an idol of education and theological learning in their ministers, has their spirituality waned: that is a fact, however unpalatable it may be.

Nowhere in the Epistles is there a single exhortation for the saints as such to engage in public evangelism, nor even to do 'personal work' and seek to be "soul winners." Rather are they required to "witness for Christ" by their daily conduct in business and in the home. They are to "show forth" God's praises, rather than tell them forth. They are to let their light shine. The testimony of the life is far more effectual than glib utterances of the lips. Actions speak louder than words.

American Christendom has to get back to the fundamentals of Jesus' kingdom assignment found in Matthew 16:18, His ekklesia, where "the gates of Hades will not prevail." The quasi-Biblical model adopted over the last century—a church sheltered and hidden from view behind the four walls of the building—has been a fatal and mournful debacle.

Praise be to God that Gideons and Rahabs are beginning to stand. 

[David Lane is the founder of the American Renewal Project.]

​Created Equal

Author: Anne Graham Lotz

"As we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Galatians 6:10, NKJV).

When God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7, NIV), all human life became sacred because it came directly from God. Whether a person is a murderer on death row or the most beloved person in town, each one is to be treated with respect if for no other reason than human life comes from God.

Are you prejudiced toward someone? A person of a different race or educational background or economic level?

​Someone from another culture or denomination or religion? Someone with a different language or social status or skin color? There is absolutely no room for prejudice of any kind in a life that follows the Creator’s directions. All men are created equal, not in abilities or opportunities, but in the eyes of God because all men derive their lives from God.

Blessings,

Anne Graham Lotz

Copyright © 2014 Anne Graham Lotz (AnGeL Ministries) Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved www.annegrahamlotz.org.

​What You Believe Matters

Author: Bob Shafer

Today’s Scripture
“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things”(Matthew 12:35).

Over the last two decades, I’ve had the privilege of ministering to precious people from all walks of life. I’ve had the honor of meeting people in my congregation and at conferences around the world and hearing their stories. For those whom I didn’t get to meet in person, their letters and emails to me told their stories.

Stories of liberation from years of anxiety and depression. Stories of being rescued from the prison of fear. Stories of breaking loose from destructive habits and addictions.

Yet, for every person who found their breakthrough, I also know of many who are still struggling today. They are bound by severe insecurities, trapped by all kinds of disorders, and gripped by constant fear. They’ve tried every solution they can think of, but are still desperately clawing to be freed from their emotional and physical prisons.

How did those who experienced victory break free? Why are others still trapped?

The answer is simple but powerful: their beliefs. What you believe is critical.

You see, if you believe wrong, you will struggle with wrong thoughts. Wrong thoughts will produce unhealthy emotions that will lead to toxic feelings of guilt, shame, condemnation, and fear. And those wrong feelings will ultimately produce wrong behaviors, actions, and painful addictions.

Wrong believing starts you on a path of defeat. It is what keeps you trapped and drives you deeper and deeper into paralyzing captivity. Right believing, on the other hand, is the door out of this vicious cycle of defeat. When you believe right, you will live right. Right believing always produces right living.

Today, begin to believe right by choosing to know and believe in the powerful truths of God’s Word and in His love for you. In the days to come, set your heart to discover and meditate on the Savior you have in Christ and what He has already accomplished for you. Choose to renew your mind with God’s truths about who you really are in Christ and how precious you are to Him. I pray that as you begin to encounter the person of Jesus, you will begin to experience your breakthrough and lasting victory!

Today’s Thought
What I believe matters. When I believe right, I will live right.

Today’s Prayer
Father, because what I believe is so important, help me to renew my mind with right beliefs based on eternal truths from Your holy Word. I believe that my heart and mind are important to You. Open my eyes to see Your grace and Your love for me. Fill my mind with the good thoughts You have toward me today. I trust the Holy Spirit to lead me to right living and victory as I anchor my thoughts and beliefs on Your grace and Your Word. Amen. 

​Jude 20-21

20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. 
NIV
+++++
​Jude 20-21

20 But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 staying right at the center of God's love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life! 
(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

​While driving in Pennsylvania, a family caught up to an Amish carriage.

The owner of the carriage obviously had a sense of humor, because attached to the back of the carriage was a hand printed sign:

"Energy efficient vehicle . . .

  Runs on oats and grass.

Caution: Do not step in exhaust."

Sundays are my Sabbath Day of Rest, Worship and Relaxation. 

Therefore, be advised that you will not be receiving a Hugh's News on Mondays. That policy is new. However, should there be a fast-breaking news story I feel you need to read, I may make an exception.

I hope you all have a wonderful Fourth of July.

I love the United States of America. I am grateful that Lord allowed me to serve in the Marine Corps, the Army and the Air Force. I had a total of 29 years and 29 days.

These are uncertain days, but we know that God is still sovereign and rules. Our lives are in the palm of His hands. Jesus holds us close to his heart, and will never let us go. He is the God Who never quits.

Your editor, 

Hugh H. Morgan

An Amazing Tribute & Celebration of James Paul Ward, Sr.

Author: Rick Haug
​
The late morning North Carolina lay heavy under cloudy skies as scores of individuals made their way to the beautiful North Pointe Church facility in High Point, NC on June 27, 2020.

Family and friends from across the U.S.A.'s lower forty-eight and  Alaska gathered to pay an amazing tribute to the godly patriarch of the Ward clan. Rev. James Paul Ward, Sr.'s memory was feted by a cadre of family, friends and IPHC dignitaries. Pastor Darrell Greene set an eloquent tone for the celebration as he welcomed attendees, expressed condolences to the Ward family and offered a touching invocation.

Grandchildren of James and Joyce Ward shared Old and New Testament passages during the service. The inimitable James Paul Ward, III (Tres) led the congregation in a spirited rendition of "Blessed Assurance". Bishop Doyle Marley (life long friend) took the podium to describe a 50+ year acquaintance and affection that the Wards and Marleys shared from their Holmes Bible College days. Bishop Marley stressed the sincerity, simplicity and spirituality of the godly friend, whose passing he grieved. It was a heartfelt presentation.

Tres Ward rendered an eloquent summation of the life and ministry of his grandfather. The narrative reflected his brilliant and insightful admiration of his beloved family patriarch. It was an overarching theme throughout the service. James Ward, Sr. had impacted his homeland and also foreign countries with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His humble, gracious demeanor moved people to come to a saving knowledge of his Lord. From pastoring, to children's ministry to teaching to short-term missions work, James and Joyce Ward blazed a path for generations of believers to follow.

The Ward family made their way to the platform and surrounded Tres at the keyboard. Their "Gaitheresque" musical tribute left the attendees rejoicing and praising God. The medley included "At the Cross; When He Was On The Cross; Mercy Came Running; Sheltered In the Arms of God; A Happy Journey (by T.N. Ward)". It was a glorious and profound presentation.

The Director of World Missions for the IPHC, Bishop Tal Gardner, paid a superb tribute to James Ward, Sr.( as only he can). His sincerity and compassion expressed beyond words the IPHC appreciation for its beloved missionary. (It should be noted the IPHC Missionary Statesmen Joe & Elsie Arthur were in the audience).

North Pointe Lead Pastor Darrell Greene brought solace to the Ward family and the congregation. In a gentle and gracious fashion, he wove Scripture and consolation together of several notable Biblical characters whose lives were full-lived, Spirit empowered and then "gathered to their people." It was a masterful job in uplifting the family and many friends assembled.

Cornerstone Conference Superintendent, Bishop Mike Ainsworth, spoke kindly of the blessing that James Paul Ward, Sr. had been to the conference and denomination. He then presented a beautiful bronze medallion to Sister Joyce Ward in honor and memory of James' devotion and service to the Kingdom of God.

In conclusion, a heart-tugging video tribute by Guatamalan Bishop Atilio Chavez highlighted the appreciation of the people of Guatamala for their beloved "Santiago"- James Paul Ward. It was a remarkable presentation.

Attendees included the notable Dr. Jack & Frankie Goodson (retired General Treasurer), Pastor Bill Rose (First Church, Goldsboro, NC), singing greats Don and Parmalee Tuttle, Dr. Tim Nelson and his wife; Pastor Stan Tuttle; Rev. Eddie & Lisa Mishoe; the aforementioned Rev. Joe & Elsie Arthur;  and a throng of friends and fellow soldiers of the Cross!

P.S. Resplendent in his Army dress uniform was Chaplain (Major) James and Joy Ward, II of Ft. Richardson Army Base, Anchorage, Alaska. James is soon to be assigned to a new post in Kansas. He carries on his father's tremendous devotion and commitment to the Kingdom!

Rick Haug
Lead Pastor
Living Word Church
Maiden, NC
828-428-2351

​Confidence in the Lord

Author: Greg Morgan

Insecurity is defined as uncertainty or anxiety about oneself; lack of confidence. Counselors tell us that insecurity can be either true or perceived. In either case, the feeling is real.

A Catholic orphanage had a large population of three and four year old children in the 1970s. They were well behaved and seemingly happy, however, every night before bed, they would all starting crying. The nuns were perplexed as to why they sobbed every night and had a hard time falling asleep. They decided to pray and fast about the situation.

They believed that God told them to give each child a piece of bread before they went to bed. Sure enough, each boy and girl was comforted by the little amount of food that they could hold in their hands. They were no longer anxious about the prospect of not having anything to eat the next day.

Dennis Prager, a radio talk show host, once said that people want to be taken care of even more than having freedom. To me that is quite sobering.

Romans 8:38-39 in the Amplified Bible states it like this:
38 For I am convinced [and continue to be convinced—beyond any doubt] that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present and threatening, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the [unlimited] love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 
The Contemporary Christian trio First Call, went on a trip to the Holy Land in 2007. There they sang their song "Nothing Can Separate Us". Enjoy their powerful ministry through music.
 
Be blessed and secure, free of anxiety,

Greg

Nothing Can Separate Us -- First Call (Click on the Red letters)

​James D.G. Dunn, 'Man of Grace,' Dies at 82

Author: Rev. James F. Linzey

James D G Dunn, Ph.D
James Douglas Grant Dunn passed away June 26, 2020. The cause of death was cancer.

Also known as "Jimmy," Dr. Dunn was born October 21, 1939, in Birmingham, England. In 1964, he became a licensed minister in the Church of Scotland. One of the initial marks he made on the academic world was his first book, The Baptism in the Holy Spirit (SCM Press, London), published in 1970, the year he transitioned from being a chaplain at Edinburgh University to overseas students (1968-70) to the position of lecturer in divinity at the University of Nottingham, In 1979, he was promoted to reader (senior lecturer), at which time he also served as a Methodist minister. In 1982, Dr. Dunn transitioned again to the position of professor of divinity at Durham University, and there, in 1990, he was promoted to the position of Lightfoot Professor of Divinity. He retired in 2003.

Dr. Dunn's alma maters were University of Glasgow and Clare College, Cambridge. His doctoral advisor was C.F.D. Moule, and in his thesis, The Baptism in the Holy Spirit, he espoused the classical Pentecostal position of the baptism with the Holy Spirit as confirmed by speaking in tongues. This book became one of the standard bearers of the classical Pentecostal position. Though he diverged from this position while at the University of Nottingham, the year he retired from Durham University he wrote a stunning comment for The Baptism With the Holy Spirit by Verna M. Linzey.

Linzey's work was published in 2005, and in 2006, on the 100th Anniversary of the commencement of the Azusa Street Revival, she received the 'Best Non-Fiction of the Year' Award from the Christian Writers Guild. Dr. Linzey's work was reviewed by the Hollenweger Center, and, with Dr. Dunn's name on her book, it became a standard textbook for 100 Bible colleges and schools around the world.

Dr. Dunn's discipline was Biblical studies, and his sub-discipline was New Testament studies. His doctoral students were Helen Bond, Simon J. Gathercole, James F. McGrath, Scot McKnight, Ken Schenck and Graham Twelftree. He influenced Scot McKnight, Verna M. Linzey and N.T. Wright. His most notable work was The New Perspective on Paul (2007).

I had the good fortune of becoming personally acquainted with Dr. Dunn in 2003, during which he invited me to call him "Jimmy." During our acquaintance, I was struck by the quality of grace which exuded from his innermost being, and I have coined for Dr. Dunn the appellation "Man of Grace."

Monday, April 13, 2020, was a life-altering day for me. At 8:47 a.m., Dr. Dunn sent an email to me wherein he stated that he had recently been given the "death sentence" by his doctor due to cancer. I wept. But I am indeed blessed to have been influenced by this "Man of Grace," both spiritually and theologically, and I know that I will see him again.

Senate Chaplain Offers Biblical Prescription for Racial Healing, Revival

Author: Charlene Aaron, CBN NEWS

The U.S. Senate Chaplain, the Reverend Barry Black, delivers his eulogy during the memorial service for the late Senator Edward Brooke (R-MA) at the National Cathedral in Washington March 10, 2015.

U.S. Senate Chaplain Barry Black knows what it is like to pray about political differences in our nation's capital.

As the 62nd chaplain of the Senate, Black is the spiritual leader for some of the most powerful people in the country. He pastors 100 senators and he ministers to hundreds more in Washington, D.C.

As protests and riots continue following the deaths of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks, Chaplain Black is also praying about the need for healing and change in America.

"We have had challenges with race almost from the start because when we said all people are created equal, we were not talking about, certainly not people of African heritage," Black told CBN News. "And so we have had to work toward a more perfect union."

During a recent opening prayer in the Senate, Black referenced recent officer-involved shootings and the need to sympathize with those affected.

During a recent opening prayer in the Senate, Black referenced recent officer-involved shootings and the need to sympathize with those affected.

He believes that is something that Christ would do. 

"I think that our Lord and our God has a passion for the marginalized," explained Black. "In the judgment story in Matthew 25, how do you make a difference in the lives of the marginalized? Did you feed the hungry? Did you give water to the thirsty? Did you clothe the naked? Visit the sick, minister to the incarcerated. And then did you take care of the stranger? So, God has this passion for the marginalized and the oppressed."

As hate, sin, and despair fill the streets, Black is calling for a spiritual vaccine.

"I think that people of faith need to be thinking about spiritual health and that is a vaccine that will help eviscerate hate, eviscerate arrogance, eviscerate pride, and teach us how to fulfill the entire law," he said.

Black believes that love is the needed inoculation.

He said, "Galatians 5:14 says you fulfill the entire law, wow, when you love your neighbor as yourself," said Black. "That really is the vaccine. If we could only learn, teach, positively reinforce people in such a way that they actually grew in spiritual maturity in health until they love their neighbor as they love themselves. You love your neighbor as yourself then you're down there with a knee on your neck in Minneapolis when you watch the George Floyd tragedy."

Despite the unrest across the country, Black says there are signs that God is at work.

"I firmly believe in the truths of Romans 8:28, in everything God is working for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purposes. And I firmly believe that there are a lot of people who love God in this great nation of ours," he said.

Meanwhile, the chaplain is urging Christians to embrace the Biblical mandate recorded in 2 Chronicles 7:14, which calls for humility and repentance as the way forward.

"If every born again believer would pray daily 2 Chronicles 7:14 and then do their part in that promise, 'cause it's an 'if-then' promise, we would bring about a revival in this nation that would dwarf the Great Awakening in the earlier days," said Black. "That is what I pray for and that is what I think people called by the name of Jesus Christ should pray for as well.

​Do You Believe This?

Author: Anne Graham Lotz

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies"(John 11:25, NIV).

Do you believe this? Do you believe that . . .

when there is no hope,

when there is no recourse,

when there is no answer,

when there is no help,

when there is no way,

when there is no remedy,

when there is no solution,

when there is nobody,

there is hope if you have Jesus?! Do you believe that Jesus can make a way when there is no way?

With Jesus, all things are possible!

Blessings,

Anne Graham Lotz

Copyright © 2014 Anne Graham Lotz (AnGeL Ministries) Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved www.annegrahamlotz.org.

​Beyond Civility
Why Pleasantries Are Simply Not Enough

Author: John Inazu Sally D. Danforth 

Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University in St. Louis

SPRING/SUMMER 2020

Last year, The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer warned of “the false promise of civility” in an article entitled, “Civility is Overrated.” He has a point. Civility, by itself, does not change hearts and minds. And it doesn’t restore the social fabric or establish justice among the nations. Indeed, as Serwer noted, civility is sometimes invoked by evildoers to mask their transgressions or temper their critics.

Take the political demagogue who shakes all the right hands, the church pastor whose outward charms mask inner demons, the neighborly churchgoer whom Martin Luther King famously labeled the “white moderate.” Too often, civility is a ploy by the powerful to defend an unhealthy or unjust status quo. American evangelicalism is not immune from this danger, especially when Western civility norms are claimed as Gospel imperatives.

And yet I still think Christians are called to something like civility. Not compromise, passiveness or capitulation. Not niceness, likeability or even winsomeness. The civility to which Christians are called is something closer to the costly engagement that Scripture counsels us to pursue with other image-bearers.

This kind of engagement is what Tim Keller and I advocate for in our book, Uncommon Ground: Living Faithfully in a World of Difference. With 10 friends who contributed essays — artists, pastors, scholars and ministry leaders -- we explore how Christians can engage with others who have deep and irresolvable differences over the things that matter most.

Humility, Patience and Tolerance
We believe the answer starts with the embodied practices of humility, patience and tolerance. These practices are fully consonant with a Gospel witness in a deeply divided age. In fact, they not only make space for the Gospel but also point, respectively, to the three Christian virtues of faith, hope and love.

The first of these practices, humility, recognizes that in a world of deep differences about fundamental issues, Christians and non-Christians alike are not always able to prove why they are right and others are wrong. Christians are able to exercise humility in public life because we recognize the limits of human reason, including our own, and because we know we have been saved by faith, not by our moral actions or goodness. That confident faith anchors our relationship with God, but it does not supply unwavering certainty in all matters.

Patience encourages listening, understanding and empathy. Patience with others may not always bridge ideological distance; we are unlikely to find agreement on all of the difficult issues that divide us. But careful listening, sympathetic understanding and thoughtful questioning can help us draw closer to others as we come to recognize the shared experiences that unite us and the different experiences that divide us. We can find common ground even when we don’t agree on the common good. Christians can be patient with others, because we place our hope in a story whose end is already known.

Tolerance is a practical enduring of beliefs and practices that we do not share. It does not mean accepting those beliefs or approving of those practices. In fact, the demand for acceptance is a philosophical impossibility. Every one of us holds views about important matters that others find clearly misguided. There is no way that anyone can embrace all the differing and mutually incompatible beliefs in society today. But we can do the hard work of distinguishing people from ideas, of pursuing relationships with people created in God’s image while recognizing that we will not approve of all their beliefs or actions. Christians can demonstrate tolerance for others because our love of neighbor flows from our love of God, and our love of God is grounded in the truth of the Gospel.

All three of these practices — humility, patience and tolerance — encounter stiff resistance in an era of sound bites and echo chambers, where news channels and social media personalities trade nuance for popularity. Too often, Christians are caught up in these very same currents. But if our culture cannot form people who can speak with both conviction and empathy across deep differences, then it becomes even more important for the Church to use its theological and spiritual resources to produce such people. Let us be shaped and reshaped into people whose every thought and action is characterized by faith, hope and love -- and who then speak and act in the world with humility, patience and tolerance.

From Tolerance to Love
In fact, when we are motivated by the love of Christ, we can do far more than simply tolerate. Think about your relationships with friends who hold beliefs different from your own. You don’t just tolerate them. You laugh, cry, celebrate and mourn with them. You risk a kind of personal vulnerability that requires more than just coexisting together in the same space. And what about those who overtly reject you or even show hostility to you? The answer is the same. Jesus doesn’t tell us to tolerate our enemies. He says to love them. And thank God that Jesus does not merely tolerate us — He embraces us across the greatest difference of all.

Christians should be leading the way toward engaging with others across difference, because we are called to embody the love that Jesus has shown to us. We should do so with confident hope rather than stifling anxiety, regardless of the political and cultural context that we confront. We should risk entering uncertain and messy spaces. We should risk connecting with others in more tangible and more vulnerable ways, beginning with ordinary acts like sharing a meal or simply having a conversation.

Some people may cast aspersions on us for the company we keep or the places we go. They did that to Jesus, too. And Jesus engaged the world, not just at the possible risk of His comfort or reputation but at the sure and certain cost of His life.

“He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner,” they murmured threateningly when Jesus went to the house of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:7), but He still went. “Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans,” the apostle John underscored in Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman (John 4:9), but Jesus still spoke to the woman at the well. “Today you will be with Me in Paradise,” Jesus told the thief on the cross (Luke 23:43), and then He died. Through our confidence in the Gospel and in the Author and Perfecter of our faith, we seek to live as Jesus lived in a world of difference.

This article originally appeared in Evangelicals magazine. In Today’s Conversation podcast, John Inazu shares more about how to survive and thrive across deep difference.

[John Inazu
John Inazu is the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University in St. Louis. His scholarship focuses on the First Amendment freedoms of speech, assembly, and religion, and related questions of legal and political theory. He is also the executive director of The Carver Project, a ministry empowering Christian faculty and students to serve and connect university, church and society. He is the author of Liberty’s Refuge and Confident Pluralism and co-editor (with Tim Keller) of Uncommon Ground. Inazu holds a B.S.E. and J.D. from Duke University and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.]

​It’s Never Too Late

Author: Bob Shafer

"The gifts and calling of God are without repentance" (Romans 11:29, KJV).

What could be worse than to come to the end of life filled with regrets? “If only I had pursued that dream. If only I had been more disciplined. If only I had taken that step of faith. If only I had forgiven.” Don’t let that be you. You may have put things off a lot longer than you should have, but the good news is that it’s not too late to get started. You can still become everything God has created you to be.

Today, make the decision to stop making excuses. If you always make excuses, you’ll always have one. Don’t wait for a more convenient time. It says in Ecclesiastes, “If we wait for all the conditions to be just right, we’ll never move off of dead center.” Make a decision to just do it! Be a now person. Your destiny is calling out, and it’s never too late to be all that God has created you to be.

A Prayer for Today
Father, I love You and praise Your holy Name. I let go of all my excuses today and I choose to trust You with my life and dreams. Thank You for making all things new. Thank You for renewing me, restoring me, and setting me on the road to victory. Show me Your ways and give me the strength to embrace every opportunity that comes from You in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Wake-Up Thought
Never put a question mark where God has put a period. Quit living in a negative frame of mind, stewing about something that is over and done. Focus on what you can change rather than what you cannot. Shake yourself out of that “should have, could have, would have” mentality, and don’t let the regrets of yesterday destroy the dreams of tomorrow. It’s time to get up and get going. God has another plan for you. And it is better than you can imagine! 

Romans 11:33-36
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable His judgments,
and His paths beyond tracing out! 
34 "Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been His counselor?" 
35 "Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?" 
36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
To Him be the glory forever! Amen. 
NIV

​An eye witness account from New York City, on a cold day in December, some years ago: A little boy, about 10-years-old, was standing before a shoe store on the roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold.

A lady approached the young boy and said, "My, but you're in such deep thought staring in that window!"

"I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes," was the boy's reply.

The lady took him by the hand, went into the store, and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her.

She took the little fellow to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with the towel.

By this time, the clerk had returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy's feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes.

She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said, "No doubt, you will be more comfortable now."

As she turned to go, the astonished lad caught her by the hand, and looking up into her face, with tears in his eyes, asked her:

"Are you God's wife?"

[Editor's comment: John in his prologue to his Gospel (the Gospel of John) wrote this in verse 14, "And the Word (Jesus Christ) became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood" (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

This story is a lovely illustration of how the Word (Jesus Christ) living in you can move into your neighborhood. Give some prayerful thought to selecting someone you know who is in need and minister to that person's need.]

​No Broken Bones
 
Author: Dr. Frank G. Tunstall
​
When I first began to think seriously about this story, I wanted to weep. John the apostle was at Golgotha in those final moments when Jesus took His last breath. But the great apostle did not leave Golgotha immediately. John could not seem to walk away – something held him at the cross. So, he lingered.

 “Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water” (John 9:31-34).

According to the Law of Moses, a dead body could not be left exposed overnight because even a criminal deserved a smidgen of respect (Deuteronomy 21:22-23).  This meant Jesus the sinless Savior could not be left on His cross overnight either. 

Jesus made my curse His curse, and made yours His curse too.  

Jewish leaders saw no holiness in Jesus of Nazareth, but they were highly motivated to protect the ceremonial holiness of the Passover festival. They went to Pilate and asked him to order the legs of the three crucified victims broken to speed their deaths; they had to be taken down from the cross before the sabbath began at sunset.  The soldiers went to do this final brutality of crucifixion and actually broke the legs of the two thieves. But they found Jesus was already dead, so His legs were not broken. 

Did Jesus actually die on His cross? Many unbelievers even today ask that question. It is clear the soldiers certified Jesus as dead. What the soldiers did not know was in those moments very precious prophecies would be fulfilled. 
Four passages of Scripture frame this discussion. First the Prophet Moses decreed the bones of a sacrificial lamb could not be broken. Moses pronounced it during the sacrifice of the first Passover that launched the Exodus from Egypt 3500 years ago (Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12; Psalm 34:20). 

Faithful Jews kept the practice for the next 500 years before King David addressed Moses’ prophecy in a second affirmation. David turned it into an even clearer Messianic prediction: “He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken” (Psalm 34:20 KJV; Exodus 12:46; John 19:36).

When Jesus launched His ministry some 1500 years after Moses lived, John the Baptist prophesied Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament laws regarding sacrifices. John baptized Jesus and identified Him as the Lamb of God. Jesus was not another lamb in the long line that began with Moses’ Law, but the very special one-and-only Passover Lamb, the Lamb of God in the tabernacle in heaven. There would never be a need for another (Hebrews 9:11).

Jesus was scourged with the fearsome Roman whip that literally cut Him open. So why not broken bones too? And, if a priest is going to kill a lamb, why would there be an injunction against breaking a bone? The ordinary person would not see significance in whether or not a bone of a sacrificial animal was broken while preparing or during a sacrifice. I wondered myself in years past if you are going to kill a sacrificial animal and drain his blood as a substitutionary sacrifice for sin, why does it matter if a bone is broken at some step in the process?   

For the Messiah to make the perfect sacrifice, not having a bone broken had to apply to Him too. The fact that Jesus could suffer such a brutal beating without having a single broken bone is itself amazingly miraculous.  

Think about it. There does come a time when we must obey God even when we do not understand why. 

Jewish priests kept the sacrificial code even after King David went on to his reward. Every priest who slaughtered a lamb took care not to break a single bone of the possibly million or more animals and turtledoves who were killed from Moses to Christ. King Solomon offered 142,000 cattle, goats and sheep at the dedication of the temple, for example (1 Kings 8:63). Moses’ injunction was preserved in the sacrificial system for 1500 years, until Jesus Christ our Savior and Messiah took it off the shelf of history and fulfilled it. 

But the question remains – why? Why in the ancient councils of God was it put into the master plan of the ages at all? 

About 1500 years after the Holy Spirit led Moses to put that command in the Law, and a thousand years after David gave it Messianic focus, the purpose became clear. Jesus was the reason why it was in the Law as a prophecy. He would fulfill Moses’ and David’s prophecies on His cross.  

Two compelling reasons follow. The all-knowing mind of God Who sees the end from the beginning put it in the Law and let it sit on the dusty shelf of history so that its fulfillment would be a striking proof of the power of prophecy in the death of Jesus, the Messiah and Son of God. And second, Isaiah quoted God as saying prophecy proves God’s own identity: “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come” (Isaiah 46:9-10; Hebrews 10:1-18). 

Jesus died just minutes before the soldier arrived at His cross to break His legs; hence, Jesus met the requirement and died the death of a sacrificial lamb, without a bone being broken.  

A third prophecy to be fulfilled in those moments came from the Prophet Zechariah: “They will look on Me Whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10). One of the soldiers, for no good reason known to the soldier, thrust his spear into Jesus side, and did it forcefully enough to penetrate Jesus’ heart and lungs. It brought “a sudden flow of blood and water.” When Jesus’ heart stopped pumping, a little blood and a little water was left in His body. Yes, Jesus gave it all for our salvation.

In that inhuman historic moment, this soldier’s random act of cruelty gave added proof Jesus died. These hardened soldiers who had seen many men die certified that Jesus was in fact dead. Then to add to this certainty, when the soldier thrust his spear into Jesus’ side, if there had been any life at all left in the Lord’s body, the spear would have caused some kind of a visible reaction, like a jolt.

Could it be possible Satan danced a jig when Jesus died, leaving these three prophecies unfulfilled? Did he gloat saying, ‘I’ve got Him now; here are three He missed?’ But if Satan did, it surely was short-lived.

With these prophecies in full view, how can anyone deny the actual death of Jesus Christ?

Three prophets had spoken about these first moments after Jesus’ death.    

Moses: “Do not break any of the [sacrificial lamb’s] bones” (Exodus 12:46). 
David: “He [Messiah] keepeth all His bones: not one of them is broken.” (Psalm 34:20 KJV). 
Zechariah: "I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me Whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10). 

This understanding should be considered from another perspective. If Pilate had succeeded in sending Jesus back to the Sanhedrin for punishment, the authority of prophecy would have been shattered. Stoning was the form of capital punishment with the Jews, and Jesus would not have been crucified, as Jesus Himself had prophesied. Bones surely would have been broken by the stones (violating both Moses’ and David’s prophecies, and Jesus’ side would not have been pierced, leaving Zachariah’s prophecy unfulfilled. 

Think about it. None should doubt with these kinds of prophetic fulfillment happening, prophecy serves to convince people Jesus is the sacrificial Lamb of God. These prophecies foretold by three prophets (Moses, David and Zechariah) were like icing on a cake. [The function of icing is to make an already good cake even more delicious.] These prophecies help to give the Gospel a tantalizingly sweet taste for all people who taste and see (Psalm 34:8; Luke 2:10-12; 24:52). And, they open the door for the fulfillment of a fourth prophecy. King David predicted the Messiah’s grand resurrection (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:27; 13:35). 

It is worthy of repetition: John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, apparently stayed at the cross through more of the ordeal than any other disciple. Those were surely hours of horror beyond imagination for John. He watched Jesus die like that. John felt totally helpless because He could do nothing to aid his Lord. It all happened right before John’s eyes that were no doubt very red from his hot tears. 

John recorded it as his testimony, saying he knew he was telling the truth as an eyewitness. This kind of prophetic fulfillment simply cannot be fabricated. Only God can predict accurately what will be happening a thousand years in the future. The Apostle John said he was there on the scene and witnessed the fulfillment of these prophecies in what had to be an act of God. The events probably occurred in about ten minutes’ time. John went on to record the story as his personal testimony in his Gospel, “so that you also may believe.”

Let me please say it again. When I first began to think seriously about this story, I wanted to weep, and feel sure John was crying his eyes out amid the agony. But the great apostle did not leave Golgotha immediately. John could not seem to walk away – something held him at the cross. So, he just lingered. Then the soldiers arrived and with cold hearted ruthlessness began to carry out the order to break their legs. 

“The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: ‘Not one of His bones will be broken,’ and, as another Scripture says, ‘They will look on the one they have pierced’" (John 19:35-37; Zechariah 12:10).

It is appropriate to add a fourth prophecy to conclude this study. King David penned a thousand years before this event that our Savior would not suffer decay (Psalm 16:10). Instead, He came out of His borrowed tomb on the third day in a glorified body, the firstfruits of the resurrection (Matthew 27:59-60; 1 Corinthians 1:20; 15:42-53). “[Jesus] Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24-25).

Now, I have two questions for you, my dear reader: 

Is your heart open to prophetic ministry in your church? And,

Have you been spending enough time lately at Jesus’ cross?