Daily Boost
By Scott Harrup | May 14, 2013
Ever had a conversation ruined by someone’s lack of commitment to pure speech? Thought-provoking insights from Chaplain Scott McChrystal.
http://s1.ag.org/lc
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Weekly Drawing Reaches Milestone With Antigua Entry
By Ron Kopczick | May 3, 2013
Thanks to an entry from Antigua and Barbuda, the number of nations represented during the seven-year history of the Pentecostal Evangel Weekly Drawing has reached 50. Since the drawing’s introduction on the Evangel website in early 2006, thousands of readers from around the world have entered the contest to win a gift book and/or complimentary print subscription to the magazine.
Readers who haven’t entered the May 9 drawing can do so until 11:59 p.m. (CDT) on Saturday, May 4. The drawing winner will receive a copy of Q&A: Conversations with 50 inspiring people and a six-month Pentecostal Evangel print subscription. Contestants must be at least 18 years old and are limited to one entry per drawing.
Anyone missing the deadline for the May 9 drawing will automatically be entered in the May 16 contest, which offers a copy of Write the Vision by Richard G. Champion and a six-month Evangel subscription. Click here for more information or to enter.
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Daily Boost
By Pentecostal Evangel | May 3, 2013
In today’s Daily Boost, thoughts on one historic book, as well as the ultimate Book of history.
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Collaborators
By Scott Harrup | May 3, 2013
There was no real “Franklin W. Dixon” behind the Hardy Boys, or “Carolyn Keene” penning Nancy Drew. They were pseudonyms for groups of writers working for literary syndicate owner Edward Stratemeyer. Read more at Out There.
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The Loneliness
By Scott Harrup | April 29, 2013
We live surrounded by loved ones in a world full of wonder. Why would anyone trade that for a one-way ticket to Mars? More at Out There.
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Daily Boost
By Pentecostal Evangel | April 29, 2013
Need a pick-you-up for another Monday? Check out Daily Boost, the free Monday-through-Friday devotional from the Pentecostal Evangel. Here’s today’s selection by Pastor Gary Rogers.
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Persecution, Then and Now
By Ken Horn | April 29, 2013
The horrific ordeal that Pastor Said, a U.S. citizen, is undergoing in Iran, suffering solely for his faith, is but one of the latest examples of persecution of believers. A student recently asked me to respond to a question about persecution for a paper she was writing in school on the Azusa Street revival of 1906-08. Did participants in the revival suffer individual attacks because they were part of the revival?
Here is my perspective as I sent it:
The primary persecution suffered by those who attended the Azusa Street revival was in the form of ridicule. This was widespread. Major newspapers made extremely biased attacks, and some public figures denounced it, especially leaders of denominational churches.
There was also more personal abuse heaped upon the group as a whole, sometimes including physical attacks during street services held by Azusa Street personnel.
But individuals surely suffered individual personal ridicule, attacks and even discriminatory sanctions. Much of this was racial discrimination, those who felt it was scandalous for races to mix in such familiar settings. False rumors were spread.
Azusa participants were thrown in jail on trumped-up or non-existent charges.
A man named Owen Lee, nicknamed “Irish,” was spit on and punched in the face. He had been a drunken brawler before he was saved at Azusa Street and could easily have beaten the man who did this but, because of his newfound faith, he turned the other cheek.
One man was tossed in jail for speaking in tongues. The arresting police officers accused him of being crazy. One black street preacher spent 30 days on a chain gang.
Disturbing the peace was a frequent charge, even when the vocal prayer meetings were conducted in homes.
There are many other examples. So the answer is, yes, there was much personal discrimination and persecution of those who were part of the Azusa Street Revival.
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Book Review: The Calling by Ron Marinari
By Ken Horn | April 26, 2013
The Calling by Ron Marinari (2012, available from the author: http://ronmarinari.com)
I hadn’t read far when I knew I wanted to excerpt this book in the Pentecostal Evangel. It’s a great examination of the various aspects of the calling of the Christian, with especially perceptive insights. These views from Ron Marinari clearly come from a pastor’s heart. Both the content and the writing make this an excellent read for any believer.
To read the excerpt that was in the Pentecostal Evangel, June 2, 2013, “The Calling of a Servant,” click this link: http://s1.ag.org/i1.
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How the PE Staff Beats Stress
By Ken Horn | April 22, 2013
Our staff lives under the hammer of repeated and relentless deadlines—producing a magazine every week. The stress can be immense at times. But God has given us great grace and helped us work well together. The members of our staff share an incredible chemistry and harmony. I believe there are four things that have been keys to bringing that about:
1. We consider one another family.
2. We pray together.
3. We consider our work ministry, not just a job.
4. We laugh a lot! (Some more than others.)
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April 25 Weekly Drawing Offers “The Write Way”
By Ron Kopczick | April 19, 2013
Readers who haven’t done so can enter the April 25 Pentecostal Evangel Weekly Drawing by 11:59 p.m. (CDT) on Saturday, April 20. The drawing winner will receive a copy of The Write Way: A believer’s guide to effective communication and a six-month Evangel print subscription.
Since its introduction in early 2006, the Weekly Drawing has received entries from all 50 states, three U.S. territories, nine Canadian provinces, and 47 nations outside of North America. Pentecostal Evangel readers 18 and older are eligible to submit one entry per drawing.
Anyone missing the deadline for the April 25 drawing will be automatically entered in the May 2 contest, which offers a copy of Theology in a Nutshell by Ken Horn and a six-month Evangel subscription. For more information or to enter, click here.
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Daily Boost
By Pentecostal Evangel | April 18, 2013
Unchanging truths from the Pentecostal Evangel archives in today’s Daily Boost.
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Daily Boost
By Pentecostal Evangel | April 17, 2013
Our ultimate loyalty is to God. Thoughts from Pastor Gary Rogers in today’s Daily Boost.
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Where Do You Read the Evangel?
By Ken Horn | April 16, 2013
Send us your picture holding a copy of the Pentecostal Evangel in front of your home church, college dorm, home, or wherever you enjoy reading the magazine. It could be with a pastor or Sunday School teacher … Even on a short-term missions trip. We’re looking for readers to post on our Facebook page. (Under 18? You’ll need to be pictured with a parent or guardian.) Select photos will go on this blog and in the printed magazine. We are found on Facebook as Pentecostal Evangel magazine. Posting to our Facebook page gives the Evangel your permission for possible use in those venues.
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Daily Boost
By Pentecostal Evangel | April 15, 2013
Visit the Pentecostal Evangel website to read this inspiring call to personal revival by Convoy of Hope President Hal Donaldson.
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Due Dates
By Scott Harrup | April 15, 2013
Thoughts on that standard Monday specter — deadlines!
Read more at Out There.
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A Negative Sermon with Positive Results
By Ken Horn | March 8, 2013
A year before Jonathan Edwards’ famous “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” sermon during America’s Great Awakening, there was another famous sermon preached by one of the leading lights in the revival.
Gilbert Tennent’s father, William, had founded the “Log College” (which eventually became Princeton) to train ministers. William’s sons trained there and some became fiery preachers in a day when many pulpits were lackluster and lukewarm. Gilbert has been called by some the second most important preacher of the Great Awakening, behind only George Whitefield. Others would place him behind Edwards.
Read more at Snapshots.
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Pre-Guilty
By Scott Harrup | March 8, 2013
How should someone be treated if, in advance, you know they plan to do something terrible? It’s a question with biblical implications. Read more at Out There.
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Attacking Sexual Slavery
By Ken Horn | March 7, 2013
The Assemblies of God and other evangelical organizations have been stepping up the attack on sex slavery in many corners of the world. The AG’s David and Beth Grant have made incredible inroads with their ministry Project Rescue, begun in India and now in other countries as well.
Yesterday, March 6, marked a notable time in the history of Christian ministry and intervention in this diabolical enterprise. On that date in 1901, Irish-born Amy Carmichael took in a runaway, a young girl who had been forced into ritual Hindu prostitution, providing income for the temple priests. It was considered her first kidnapping and landed her in legal hot water. As did her many other “kidnappings.” When she took in a 5-year-old, already being abused in the local temple, her owners demanded her back. The child disappeared to a safe place where she couldn’t be found. Charges were brought against Carmichael and she was threatened with 7 years in prison.
Amy was truly a courageous heroine. Despite her own severe physical challenges that often sent her to bed for long periods of time, she conducted this heroic and risky ministry.
Before she went to India she had already instituted classes and prayer services for poor Belfast children. This was the same year she became a widow. She did the same for poor girls who had to work in factories. She reached hundreds.
When she went to India as a widow, she dressed like a local, and often passed for such. The criminal case against her was eventually dismissed.
Unfortunately, more than a century after her first rescues, there are countless in the bondage of sexual slavery. I admire the Grants, and the increasing number of others who are waging spiritual warfare on this deadly front.
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America’s first religious journal
By Ken Horn | March 5, 2013
On this date, March 5, in 1743, in the midst of widespread spiritual awakening, Thomas Prince published America’s first religious journal, The Christian History. Prince was a Congregational minister and Boston Puritan with an affinity for the great revival known as the Great Awakening. George Whitefield preached in Boston at his invitation and Jonathan Edwards corresponded with him.The Christian History was a contemporary account of the ongoing revivals America and Europe were home to.
The magazine didn’t run long — only two years, but Prince became an influential pastor noted for spiritual depth and genuinely concerned about revival.
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Teardrop Chapel, Dominus Flevit, in Jerusalem
By Ken Horn | March 5, 2013
This photo was taken during the November 2012 Discipleship Journey with the Center for Holy Lands Studies of the Assemblies of God.
Dominus Flevit means “The Lord Wept.” This is a Franciscan church on the upper western slope of the Mount of Olives. It commerorates and marks the place believed to be the site of Luke 19:41-44: “Now as He [Jesus] drew near, He saw the city [Jerusalem] and wept over it, saying, ‘If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.’”
This was fulfilled when the Romans under Titus destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70.
The church was designed by Italian architect Anton Barluzzin and built in 1954, and features structures shaped like tears. It stands over the ruins of a 7th-century church. Some mosaics from that church are still here.
According to the Israel Ministry of Tourism, the church “is a beautiful teardrop chapel which was only built in 1955 over the site of a Byzantine construction. It commemorates the occasion of Jesus looking at the city of Jerusalem and, when realizing that it was going to destroy itself by violence, weeping bitterly.
“In the grounds are the remains of the Byzantine church, as well as part of the first century necropolis that surrounded the city. The view is extraordinary. “
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