Is God Cursing The US Economy As Judgment On America’s Wickedness?

My note regarding Bill Keller’s devotional below: There was a time when I would have replied “YES!” But if this is the case then was the Great Depression the judgment of God? If so, for what sin on this nation’s part? Did Haiti, Africa, eastern Europe, etc. anger God? If so, how? And then you have the fact that communist China is having an economic boom. The socialist EU is lifting eastern Europe out of poverty. Venezuela, Russia, and several Middle Eastern nations are experiencing great prosperity by virtue of the $120 a barrel oil prices. Does communism, socialism, Islam, and the persecution of Christians that goes on in many of these nations please God, and are they receiving God’s blessings based on it? That is why we Christians have to be very careful when dealing with these types of things. The irony is that Keller himself has presented that message in the past when he stated that he doubted that Hurricane Katrina was God’s judgment against the city of New Orleans.

www.liveprayer.com/signup.cfm

How God could use the economy as an instrument of His judgment on the United
States.  God’s judgment can come in many forms.  Most people think of God’s
judgment as what we read about in the Book of Revelation when His wrath is
poured out on the world in the final days through devastating natural
disasters that will affect huge percentages of the world’s population.  We
also think of how God judged the children of Israel in the Old Testament
when He allowed their enemies to take their land and enslave them.

However today, I want to take a look at another form of God’s judgment that
is also in the Bible, but one that most people never really think about, and
that is the economy.  I personally feel that using the economy is not only
the most likely form of God’s judgment on this nation, but would be easily
the most devastating since it will affect the lives of each person in some
way.

The first issue to discuss is why would we even be talking about God’s
judgment on the United States?  My friend, you don’t need to be much of a
Bible scholar to know that this nation is not only due God’s judgment, it is
OVERDUE God’s judgment.  In the Book of Deuteronomy the Bible warns,” If you
ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down
to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.”

As I have told you many times, the promises in God’s Word are true but so
are the warnings.  This nation was founded on the Word of God and the hope
of Jesus Christ.  God blessed this nation abundantly, but over the past 232
years we have squandered those blessings and now live in complete rebellion
to God and His Word.  Just the fact we have abandoned God and have turned to
the false gods and idols of this world, is enough for God to pronounce His
judgment on this nation!

Sadly, in addition to worshipping the false gods of the world, we are living
in utter rebellion to the Truth of God’s Word.  Sexual sin is rampant.  Men
treat other men in the most inhumane ways imaginable.  People worldwide turn
to drugs and alcohol for strength.  Human life that can only come from God
is no longer respected or valued.  The greatest example of that is the fact
that we legally slaughter over 4,000 innocent babies in this nation every 24
hours.  That fact alone demands God’s judgment on our nation!

As you read through the Old Testament, we see the children of Israel turn
from God to the false gods of the world.  We see them living in rebellion to
God in every way imaginable.  At some point, God says enough is enough and
pours out His wrath and judgment on Israel.  That judgment came in many
forms, but usually it was allowing the enemies of Israel to take their land
and the children of Israel into captivity.  Sadly, it was only AFTER the
judgment of God fell that the people would repent and turn back to the God
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

PLEASE HEAR ME CLEARLY.  IF GOD SPARED NOT HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE FROM HIS
JUDGMENT, WHY WOULD ANYONE EXPECT THAT HE WILL SPARE THIS WICKED AND
APOSTATE NATION HIS JUDGMENT???

My personal belief is that God’s judgment on this nation will come through
the economy.  I remember distinctly back in he mid 80s when I was running
from God and very heavily involved in trading some stocks, but mostly
commodities and futures, how precarious the whole economic system really
was.  Now you have to remember, this was back in the mid 80s when the United
States was clearly the dominate economic power in the world and the US
dollar was the gold standard all currency was judged by.

Fast forward just 20 years later and the world’s economic landscape has
dramatically changed.  China is clearly the dominate financial power today,
the booming economies of the UK, Japan, and the United States have been
replaced by India and many Middle Eastern nations, and the floundering US
dollar is no longer the monetary standard the world looks to.  The weak
dollar, sagging US economy, and what is now clearly a global economy in
2008, has all made the possibility of God using the economy to judge this
nation even more likely.

This is not complicated to understand.  I know economics can be
intimidating, but this is actually very simple.  Anyone who drives
understands the pressure of gas at nearly $4 a gallon.  With China, India,
and other nations using so much of the world’s energy resources, it wouldn’t
be a stretch to see gas at $10 a gallon.  With the population of the world
growing at the current rate, most people have no idea how precarious the
food supply is becoming.  We walk through our grocery stores with shelves
stocked full of food, but it wouldn’t take much for you to see many of those
shelves empty.

The US financial markets have always been more tenuous than most people
understand.  For the most part, they are one big ponzi scheme, lots of hype
with very little of substance to back-up any of the numbers you see.  We
have already seen the effects of this with the Internet bubble bursting in
2000, the failure of Enron and WorldCom, and the current nightmare the
housing market is going through.  If foreign money ever pulled out of the US
markets, it would cause stocks to tank, sending a ripple effect that would
be felt thought the brokerage and banking industries as hundreds of
trillions of dollars could be wiped out in days.

The point I am trying to make today is that it would not take much, a few
tweaks here and there for our economy to unwind and this nation to
experience a time far worse than even the great depression of the 1920s.
God would not have to do much to use the economy as a form of His judgment
on this nation and it would affect every man, woman, and child alive.  Most
people would be reduced to living like some people in other parts of the
world, simply living from day to day trying to acquire the basic needs of
life to survive.

I love you and care about you so much.  I am not trying to scare you today,
but to prepare you.  Prepare you that life as we know it at this moment
could change very easily and very suddenly.  Now is the time to get serious
about your faith and become bold in sharing that faith with others.  I know
God’s judgment is coming, I know we are living in the last days, and I know
Jesus is coming at any moment.  That is why I have worked so tirelessly,
especially these past 9 years since Liveprayer began, since I know that God
has raised up this ministry for this moment in human history.

A great revival is about to be unleashed on this nation and the world.  It
won’t be a revival of people chasing miracles, but a revival of souls as the
lost come to repentance and turn to Jesus.  They won’t need signs and
wonders to excite them, they will already be moved as they see the world
around them crumbling and realize that they need something bigger than
themselves to hold on to.  There will always be those with the hard hearts
who will curse God with their last breath, but hundreds of millions of souls
will bow their knee and confess Christ as their Lord and Savior by faith!

Never fear.  If you are child of God, no matter what form God’s wrath and
judgment on this nation takes, we have nothing to worry about since our
citizenship is not of this world.  We have a Heavenly home awaiting us.  Our
only job during these few years is to do all we can to bring as many people
to Heaven with us.  This is the time, now is the moment, our opportunity to
make our lives count for Christ is at hand.  May we be found faithful as we
take our stand for Him in these last days.

Also, I know from our daily emails for prayer that many people have already
been feeling the effects from the economic slowdown we are experiencing.
Many have been hurt by the problems in the housing sector.  Many hurt by the
increased cost of gasoline.  Many simply struggling to meet their monthly
needs.  Please know that I will be praying for you today and for the Lord to
not only meet your every need, but bless your finances and give you FAVOR as
you are faithful and obedient in that area of your life.  Amen!

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY?  The fact is you will die one day.  At that moment, you will either spend eternity with the Lord or be cast into everlasting darkness forever separated from God your creator. To know for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to:
http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.cfm

***I am excited to let you know that the Liveprayer Daily Devotional is now available via AUDIO each day.  Simply go to http://www.liveprayer.com/Audio.cfm Also, you can now listen to the Daily Devotional by phone by calling, 1-727-342-5673 or 1-845-510-2722.

(C) Copyright 2008, Bill Keller Ministries. All rights reserved.

Evangelicalism: Marketing Salvation Like Cell Phones

www.liveprayer.com/signup.cfm

(Galatians 2:20; 1 Corinthians 6:20; Matthew 16:24-25)

In our narcissistic, “What’s in it for me?” culture, we have learned how to
market salvation to the masses like we do cell phones, cars, and hamburgers.
In our zeal to win people for Christ, we have been very careful to focus on
the benefits of salvation, making sure people understood all the reasons why
this is a good choice, while being too afraid to tell them the WHOLE plan of
salvation. We sell salvation just like the late-night infomercials sell
weight-loss pills, whipping people into an emotional frenzy by hyping all
the benefits of getting saved, but never explaining to them the FULL COST of
getting saved. The “fine print” in the salvation message is not what we get
but what we GIVE!

I am saddened when I hear people share the Gospel, giving people an
invitation to know Christ, but never really explain what a person is
actually doing. Please don’t misunderstand me, I am grateful for everyone
who shares the Gospel, gives people the opportunity to come to know Christ
as their Savior, but my point today is that we MUST tell them the complete
truth about what they are doing. When a person makes the decision to accept
Christ into their heart and life by faith, they are surrendering their life
to Him. It is called giving your heart and life to Jesus because that is
exactly what you are doing. From that moment on, your life no longer belongs
to you, it belongs to Jesus. That is the critical part of the salvation
message so many fail to tell people.

We are quick to point out that if you accept Jesus you will have the
assurance of everlasting life with God your Creator. That is true. It is our
faith in Christ, the One who died for our sins that allows us to be
reconciled with a Holy God and know that when our brief journey through life
is over we will be with Him for all eternity. We also make sure people
understand the tremendous benefits of being saved. At that moment, the Holy
Sprit indwells a Believer to supply them with the power of Almighty God. By
accepting Christ as your Savior you have peace and joy in your life that is
impossible to know otherwise. You come to realize that your life has meaning
and purpose and experience the abundance of this life that Jesus promised.
All of these things are true and need to be pointed out.

It is easy to see why people would want to be saved. Most people on the
planet can accept that there is a Supreme Being or God out there. It is not
hard for anyone who is honest to admit they have sinned, so asking for your
sins to be forgiven makes sense. Even the heathen with the hardest heart
will admit that one day he will die. Everyone knows that is a day each one
of us will face. So, accepting Jesus by faith to have the assurance that
when this life is over you will go to Heaven and not Hell is a logical
choice to make. To also have the Holy Spirit living within you, know a
special peace and joy, have a purpose in life and experience its abundance,
all makes the decision to accept Christ very attractive and really something
only a foolish person would turn down.

So people make that eternal choice to accept Jesus by faith and nothing
really changes. They wake up the next morning in the same bed, the same
house. They have the same family and friends. They go to the same school and
have the same job. They have all the same problems they did the night
before, and maybe even a few new ones. They do all the same things. Even
though the Bible proclaims that they are “Born again,” that they are a “New
creature in Christ,” that the “Old has passed away,” their real, practical,
day-to-day lives have not changed. This is why so many people who accept
Christ are truly saved, but they never grow in their new faith and many of
them see very little change in their life from BS (before being saved), to
AS (after being saved).

The reason is when they got saved, what was left out or never really
explained to them was the complete story of accepting Christ as their
Savior. The part of the salvation experience that is often left out and
never properly explained to people is the fact that when you accept Christ
into your heart and life by faith you are giving your life to Him. It is an
act of sacrifice and surrender, two words that most people want no part
of.That is why this most critical element of what it means to be saved is
never really spoken about. The bottom line is, when you get saved you are
surrendering your life to Jesus Christ. Your life no longer belongs to you,
it belongs to the Lord. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice when He literally
gave His life in payment for your sins, and when you get saved, you are
making a sacrifice of your life to Him.

This is so important since it goes to the very core of what being a
Christian, a follower of Christ, is all about. We have sacrificed,
surrendered our life to Jesus. Our life is no longer our own but now belongs
to Him. All we do, where we go, everything regarding our life is now in the
Lord’s control. When you get saved, you are literally giving Him your life.
That is why so many who know Christ live without His peace, without His joy,
without any real purpose, without the victory, because they have refused to
fully surrender their lives to Him. That is why most of the false religions
of the world are so popular. You simply accept their false teachings but you
can still live your life anyway you want to. When you become a follower of
Jesus, your very life now belongs to Him.

I love you and care about you so much. That is why even though Liveprayer
reaches a massive audience each day through the Internet and on t.v. and we
have people accepting Christ as their Savior every single day, we do our
very best to first make sure they understand that in asking Jesus into their
heart and life by faith they are literally surrendering their life to Him,
that their life now belongs to Jesus. We send them a booklet that helps
guide them in the basics of their new faith, things like reading the Bible
and praying every day. We do our best to work with local churches to get
people plugged in so they can be properly discipled and start to grow in
their new faith.

When a person is saved, there is a supernatural change that happens to them
spiritually. It is now critical for that person to understand that their
life will never be the same again, that they are different now, and to help
them begin the process of transforming their mind and day-to-day life to be
a true follower of Christ. That doesn’t happen overnight, but over time. It
is that process of sanctification, or becoming more like Christ, that begins
at the moment a person is saved and continues to their very last breath. It
is vital that each person who knows Christ is not only being discipled by
someone more mature in the faith at all times, but that they are giving of
themselves to disciple someone who is younger in the faith at all times. We
can only grow in our faith as we are helped along by those who are more
mature, and we have that same responsibility to help those who are younger
in the faith grow in their relationship with the Lord.

I will be praying for you today. Praying that as you share the Gospel with
people like our Lord has commanded all of His children to do, that you will
clearly highlight the benefits of being saved, but not leave out the fact
that being saved also includes surrendering our very lives to the Lord. We
are actually cheating people by NOT telling them the whole story, since our
purpose in life, the fullness of our peace and joy in knowing Christ, the
true abundance of this life, can never be fully experienced unless we have
unconditionally surrendered our life to Christ. Getting saved is not just
about what we get, but it is also about what we GIVE-our life to Jesus
Christ!

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY?  The fact is you will die one day.  At that moment, you will either spend eternity with the Lord or be cast into everlasting darkness forever separated from God your creator. To know for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to:
http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.cfm

***I am excited to let you know that the Liveprayer Daily Devotional is now available via AUDIO each day.  Simply go to http://www.liveprayer.com/Audio.cfm Also, you can now listen to the Daily Devotional by phone by calling, 1-727-342-5673 or 1-845-510-2722.

Third Grader Plot To Murder Teacher Is More Evidence That Child Evangelism Is Necessary

www.liveprayer.com/signup.cfm

(Matthew 24:4, 2 Timothy 3:1-9; 2 Peter 3:3-10 )

Why would a group of 6-9 third graders, boys and girls between the ages of 8
and 10, have handcuffs, duct tape, electrical and transparent tape, ribbons,
a crystal paperweight, and a broken steak knife? To attack their teacher!
What did this teacher do to invoke the wrath of these children? She scolded
one of the girls for standing on a chair. School officials and police in
Waycross, Georgia, which is located just north of Jacksonville, Florida,
were tipped off Friday to this plot by the children to attack their teacher.
All of the students involved have been suspended, with two girls, ten and
nine-years-old, along with an eight-year-old boy, facing multiple juvenile
charges of conspiracy, possession, aggravated assault, all in the third
grade.

Waycross Police Chief Tanner says the students apparently planned to knock
the teacher unconscious with a crystal paperweight, bind her with the
handcuffs and tape, and then stab her with the knife. He went on to add
that the third-graders assigned themselves different tasks including
covering-up the windows so people couldn’t look in down to cleaning up
afterwards.

Of course so many questions remain unanswered at this point. Were these
children seriously going to follow through with their plan and actually
carry out this assault on their teacher that could easily have killed her?
Who are these kids? The teacher who was their target and school officials
described the children as “good kids,” and not known as trouble makers.
What types of home environments do these kids come from? More critical is
what was the thought process that went into this whole scheme? Who
initiated the plot? Why did the other children choose to go along with such
a brutal plan? It will be interesting in the coming days and weeks as these
details emerge.

I am dealing with this sad story today because it is simply another classic
example of what I have been talking about these last 9 years, and sounding
the trump of warning about frequently over the last few years. This nation
is in spiritual freefall. We are in a spiritual abyss. This story of 3rd
graders plotting to brutally attack and most likely kill their teacher is a
clear symptom of a society that is out of control. Kids see acts of
violence as a form of expression. No longer do the vast majority of people
have any sort of moral or ethical compass to guide their lives. Right and
wrong are now determined by each individual.

I have had the sad experience of seeing our society and culture literally
disintegrating over my 5 decades of life. This is NOT the same world, the
same culture, I was born into and grew up in as a child. We legally
slaughter 4,000 innocent babies EVERY 24 HOURS and nobody says a word. The
sin of homosexuality is now accepted as a mainstream lifestyle. Sex is no
longer viewed as a gif from God for a man and woman in the bonds of
marriage, but a sport to be played by anyone, of any age, at any time, with
anyone, in any way. The proliferation of porn and gambling have destroyed
any stigma they used to carry and have helped to further erode the moral and
ethical choices people make.

The daily avenue of escape most people choose are drugs and alcohol, which
further deadens a person’s ability to make wise choices. Living together
outside of marriage is considered perfectly acceptable and God’s holy
institution of marriage has been turned into little more than a legal date
by most. Most children no longer grow up in a loving, nurturing home with
their mother and father, but in every kind of unstable and unhealthy
situation you can imagine. THE BETTER PERCENTAGE OF TWO FULL GENERATIONS
HAVE NEVER EVEN BEEN TO CHURCH AND HAVE NO FAITH OR CONNECTION TO GOD!

So why are we really shocked when a bunch of third graders decide they want
to attack their teacher? If you haven’t read the Bible and the various
passages that describe the signs of the last days, we are living in them
right now. Time is very short and Jesus is coming soon. These children in
Georgia are just further evidence of that. Look at the recent news
regarding kids. Gangs of teen girls brutalizing people and involved in
serious crimes like robbery, stealing cars, dealing drugs, and even murder.
An 8-year-old who raped an elderly woman. 12-year-old girls who were
suspended for having a contest on the school bus to see how many boys they
could give oral sex to on the way to school. Those are just a few, there
are many more.

The legitimate question is where are children of this age learning this type
of behavior. First, at home. So many are growing up in Godless, faithless,
broken and blended homes where the only modeling they see by adults is
negative. Second, is the media and technology kids are exposed to and have
today. Please don’t for a second underestimate the power of television,
movies, music, advertising, video games, and the internet has on shaping the
thoughts, ideals, and values of kids today. With very little positive
influence at home, without any spiritual influence in their lives, the minds
of our kids today are being shaped by our Godless culture that promotes
every kind of sin and debauchery you can imagine. Understanding this, why
are we shocked when we see the type of behavior we see from children today?

Let me give you my personal thoughts on these kids in Waycross. When all
the details come out you will find that they are most likely from middle to
above middle income homes. 80% of the kids will be living in homes that do
NOT include their biological mom and dad. Most likely 80% don’t go to
church, though with the state of our churches today I wouldn’t be shocked if
many did attend. FOX recently had a reality program involving young
children of this age who were left on their own with no adult supervision to
create and live in their own town, and they did it. Crime shows like CSI
are blueprints for how to organize and commit crimes.

You will find the child who was the mastermind of this scheme was influenced
heavily by television, and the others were willing followers. Most all of
the kids play video games, which if nothing else, desensitizes them to
violence and cheapens the value of life. If you put all those factors
together with children who have no sense of right and wrong, and this story
is not as unbelievable as it may seem at first blush. These children are
simply a byproduct of a culture and society that is in spiritual freefall
and deteriorating right before our very eyes.

I love you and care about you so much. If stories like this don’t wake
people up to the state of our culture and the times we are living in, I
don’t know what will. I already know many will simply chalk this up as an
“isolated incident.” I wish it was. Seeing over 40,000 emails daily, we
sadly are dealing with sad stories like this that never make the headlines.
I see the results of this deteriorating culture every day in the destroyed
lives of people. I remind you often of satan’s goals, to kill, steal, and
destroy. He is having his way at this time in human history as he virtually
goes unchecked about his business of stealing people’s souls, destroying
their lives, and killing them.

This is a war for the souls of men, and sadly, satan is fighting virtually
unopposed in the culture. If the church would get as zealous about saving
souls as they are about building projects, if ministries would leave the
comfort, safety, and profitability of the Christian media and move their
message to the secular media, if publishers would write books and magazines
geared to and marketed to the lost world as opposed to other Christians, we
could see some dramatic changes in our culture overnight. But sadly, most
are more worried about the temporal pleasures of this world and money more
than souls. So they keep on fleecing the choir to preach to the choir,
while the lost and hurting masses are left to the wolves like Oprah and the
lies of satan who is serious about taking them to hell.

Pray today for these children. They are young, it is not too late for them.
They need the Lord. Pray for their parents. They need Divine guidance to
deal with their children and provide an environment that teaches the type of
scheme they were involved in is not something a person should ever consider.
Pray for this teacher, as God has protected her from what would have been a
horrible experience. Pray for the legal and school authorities as they are
led to properly punish these children for their actions.

In closing, I pray for you today. WAKE UP! This is not some isolated
incident, but this IS the world we live in today. This IS what our culture
has become. The only hope we have, the only answer there is, is for this
nation to turn back to God and Biblical values. Nothing short of a true and
sweeping spiritual revival is going to turn our nation and culture back to
the foundation of faith it was originally based on. Unless that happens, we
will be seeing these types of stories more often, and even more shocking
examples of a culture that is spiraling out of control.

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY? The fact is you will die one day. At that moment, you will either spend eternity with the Lord or be cast into everlasting darkness forever separated from God your creator. To know for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to: http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.cfm

***I am excited to let you know that the Liveprayer Daily Devotional is now available via AUDIO each day. Simply go to http://www.liveprayer.com/Audio.cfm Also, you can now listen to the Daily Devotional by phone by calling, 1-845-510-2722

(C) Copyright 2008, Bill Keller Ministries. All rights reserved.

On Barack Obama’s Universalism, John Edward, Homosexuality, McDonald’s And Fitna

*By Pastor Bill Keller

www.liveprayer.com/signup.cfm

McDonalds, John Edward, Obama, and FITNA. Today is an interesting day since
there are several different news items that I want to share with you. Each
is important since they all represent critical issues I have been dealing
with for years in the Daily Devotional. They are the mainstream acceptance
of homosexuality, those who claim to talk to the dead and people who claim
to be psychics, the lie that many think there are many roads which lead to
God, and the false religion of Islam. These news items simply reinforce
that these issues are not going away and how important it is to have a voice
in the marketplace to tell the Truth about each one.

It was recently announced that McDonalds Vice President of Communications,
Richard Ellis, has been named to the Board of the National Gay and Lesbian
Chamber of Commerce. McDonalds is listed on the website of the National Gay
and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce as a “corporate partner and organization
ally” for an undisclosed financial contribution. Ellis state, “I’m thrilled
to join the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce team and ready to get
to work. I share the NGLCC’s passion for business growth and development
within the LGBT community and I look forward to playing a role in moving
the