Wednesday, April 18, 2012
JMC LIVE Interview: SOLACE Volunteers In Portsmouth Ohio
JMC Ministries/Jeremy Caverley Interviews Joann Krohn The Founder/Director Of SOLACE (Surviving Our Loss and Continuing Everyday) In Portsmouth Ohio. She shares about how through her sons struggle and unfortunate death due to drugs, started the SOLACE group, and what she and others are doing to raise awareness of the epidemic drug problems people are facing in Southern Ohio and across the State Of Ohio.
Jeremy also sits down with Former Chief of Police, Chief Horner and talks to him about what he and others at SOLACE are trying to accomplish and how others can get involved as well as what the steps are to getting help if you are struggling with a drug addiction.
To learn more about SOLACE visit
www.drugfreeactionalliance.org/solace
Or to Connect with Joann and many others in Portsmouth Ohio visit
www.facebook.com/solace.survivingourlosses
You Can also Contact Joann Krohn at
joannakrohn@gmail.com
JMC Ministries Speaking At SOLACE Meeting
Jeremy Caverley of JMC Ministries speaking at SOLACE Meeting In Portsmouth Ohio.
Jeremy shares his testimony of being a child of drug addicts growing up in Texas. How he was affected by the addictions of his mother, father, and stepfather. how he overcame the abuse, homelessness, and how he now works with others through a Facebook group called Straight Forward (To Help Victims Of Pill Addiction) in Chillicothe Ohio to help others with their addictions and heal the wounds of the victims of those with addictions.
To learn more about SOLACE visit their website at
http://www.drugfreeactionalliance.org/solace
SOLACE Portsmouth Ohio Facebook Page
http://www.facebook.com/solace.survivingourlosses
Straight Forward (To Help Victims Of Pill Addiction) Facebook Group
http://www.facebook.com/groups/268931699832872/
Independant Christian Film "Suing The Devil" Ranks In Top 12 Of Walmarts On Demand List
LOS ANGELES, April 18, 2012 /Christian Newswire/
-- It's official: 'Suing the Devil' is catching the nation by storm. On
Walmart's official On Demand site (Vudu.com), 'Suing the Devil' ranked
in the Top 12 films out of more than 15,000 movies in the 'Top Picks'
category.
'Suing the Devil' also ranked in the Top 40 of the 'Most Watched' category out of 15,635 films.
"It's astounding," says a spokesperson for Mouthwatering Productions, "to see an independent Christian film doing so well amidst the $100 million dollar secular films."
The film is also the #1 Christian movie in America on ChristianCinema.com. Some industry pundits believe it's possible over a million people could watch the film in the month of April alone.
"We're incredibly blessed," says David Turrell, one of the film's producers. "All the hard work of the past two years paid off and we owe it all to God."
Reached on location-scouting for his next film, 'The Underground Railroad,' director Tim Chey was ecstatic. "It's all about trusting the Lord -- letting Him fight your battles. And being at total rest that you will be vindicated in God's good time. I love that over a million people can be shared the Good News in less than four weeks."
The film famously survived a smear campaign of stalkers, film critics, atheist groups, and devil worshippers attacking the film non-stop since the film's theatrical release.
The film is also available through in 90% of all cable stations through On Demand (Comcast, AT&T, Time-Warner, Cox, Cablevision, Rogers, Verizon, etc) and ITunes, Vudu, Blockbuster, and Amazon On Demand in the U.S. and Canada.
Suing the Devil stars Malcolm McDowell, Rebecca St. James, Corbin Bernsen, Shannen Fields ('Facing the Giants'), Tom Sizemore, Ros Gentle, and Bart Bronson. Hillsong also participated in the movie shot in Sydney, Australia.
In the film, Luke O'Brien, a washed-up janitor turned night law student, decides to sue Satan (Malcolm McDowell) for $8 trillion dollars. On the last day before Luke files a default judgment, Satan appears to defend himself. On Satan's legal team are 10 of the country's best trial lawyers. The entire world watches Legal TV to see who will win the Trial of the Century.
Read More From Christian News Wire
'Suing the Devil' also ranked in the Top 40 of the 'Most Watched' category out of 15,635 films.
"It's astounding," says a spokesperson for Mouthwatering Productions, "to see an independent Christian film doing so well amidst the $100 million dollar secular films."
The film is also the #1 Christian movie in America on ChristianCinema.com. Some industry pundits believe it's possible over a million people could watch the film in the month of April alone.
"We're incredibly blessed," says David Turrell, one of the film's producers. "All the hard work of the past two years paid off and we owe it all to God."
Reached on location-scouting for his next film, 'The Underground Railroad,' director Tim Chey was ecstatic. "It's all about trusting the Lord -- letting Him fight your battles. And being at total rest that you will be vindicated in God's good time. I love that over a million people can be shared the Good News in less than four weeks."
The film famously survived a smear campaign of stalkers, film critics, atheist groups, and devil worshippers attacking the film non-stop since the film's theatrical release.
The film is also available through in 90% of all cable stations through On Demand (Comcast, AT&T, Time-Warner, Cox, Cablevision, Rogers, Verizon, etc) and ITunes, Vudu, Blockbuster, and Amazon On Demand in the U.S. and Canada.
Suing the Devil stars Malcolm McDowell, Rebecca St. James, Corbin Bernsen, Shannen Fields ('Facing the Giants'), Tom Sizemore, Ros Gentle, and Bart Bronson. Hillsong also participated in the movie shot in Sydney, Australia.
In the film, Luke O'Brien, a washed-up janitor turned night law student, decides to sue Satan (Malcolm McDowell) for $8 trillion dollars. On the last day before Luke files a default judgment, Satan appears to defend himself. On Satan's legal team are 10 of the country's best trial lawyers. The entire world watches Legal TV to see who will win the Trial of the Century.
Read More From Christian News Wire
Prosperity Theology Growing In Christian Churches In America
Anchorage Daily News--In 1905 Max Weber wrote "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism" in which he described how a religiously instilled work ethic
became a moral imperative in forcing capitalist economics. Weber went
beyond the surface structure of Protestantism and probed deeper
political and economic aspects of how religion became the foundation of
pre-corporate capitalism.
The economy has moved on and so has Protestantism. Today the
largest and fastest growing Christian churches in America espouse a new
type of Christianity called prosperity theology, also known as Gospel
prosperity or Christian materialism, which does for 21st century
corporate capitalism what early 20th century Protestantism did for
regular capitalism: connect economics to God's blessing.
Today prosperity theology is
promoted by mega-churches and televangelists. Its message is, if you
tithe and attend church, God will bless you with material wealth. Some
of the best known prosperity theology televangelists are Joel Osteen,
the late Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson and Creflo Dollar.
Osteen is head
of the largest church in America, the Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas,
and today's most prominent televangelist. He is quoted as saying, "God
didn't create you to be average or poor," and "God wants you to live in
abundance."
Dollar has stated, "Some people
say it's about peace, joy and love. No. It's about money." Wealth has
become a manifestation of the sacred.
Mega-churches catering to middle
and upper-middle class parishioners are the core of prosperity churches.
The surface message may be born-again salvation, but the theological
back-story is material wealth.
The most prominent prosperity theology church
in Alaska is the Anchorage Baptist Temple headed by Rev. Jerry Prevo. In
a May 15, 2011, "Judgment Day" sermon posted on YouTube, Rev. Prevo
concluded, "I've got a lot ... God's blessed me (materially), ... I
don't apologize for that ... God says, 'Seek you first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you'
(paraphrasing Matthew 6:33). I've just tried to do what God says to do
and he's added (wealth to me)."
Were he alive today, Max Weber
would almost certainly point out that prosperity theology is much more
than the delusion of the blessing of wealth. Prosperity theology is the
religious basis of corporate capitalism, promoting the sacrament of
consumption and unsustainable development for the material benefit of
the very rich (who may or may not be religious at all).
The thinking goes: God has chosen
people, both in human and corporate form, to be wealthy. We should seek
wealth to seek God's blessing. We should honor that blessing by
reducing taxes and other restrictions on the rich and their
corporations. It's God's will people are rich and secular governments
should not impede God's will. Taxation is tantamount to sin. Poor folks,
meanwhile, must be nonbelievers or at least back sliders because they
aren't rich and aren't worthy of God's blessing. The sacred becomes the
profane.
In Alaska the multinational oil
companies' wealth is a sign to prosperity theology adherents of God's
blessing, and the demand for lower oil taxes has God's blessing as well.
Resource development, if not sacred, is close to it. By implication,
those who would channel Alaska's wealth into public use such as roads,
schools, and communications infrastructure via oil taxes must be the
devil's consorts.
Many prosperity preachers also
endorse a pre-tribulation rapture which they believe is coming soon. The
combination of consumerism, resource extraction and end times does not
bode well for sustainable conservation. The recent change in the mission
statement of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources promoting the
oxymoron of maximum sustainable development of natural resources is in
line with this type of theology.
That Anchorage's most prominent
prosperity theology church, the Anchorage Baptist Temple, hopes to erect
a cross 100 feet taller than the Captain Cook Hotel would clearly brand
Anchorage as the northern capitol of Christian materialism. That, of
course, may be true.
Some of the harshest critics of
prosperity theology are Pentecostal fundamentalists who call the idea
that God blesses through wealth blasphemy. They would note, for example,
that a few paragraphs before the passage cited above by Rev. Prevo is
Matthew 6:19-21: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth ...
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Traditional Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox churches are also critical of prosperity theology.
But prosperity churches will
continue to expand as long as materialism is the dominant value of our
culture and the corporation's sole purpose is wealth for shareholders.
New Bible Translation "The Voice" Removes Jesus Christ, Angels, and Apostle
Christian Post--A new translation of the Bible into English does not contain the name "Jesus Christ" nor the word "angel." It also prefers the word "emissary" over "apostle."
The Voice, a Bible that replaces "Jesus Christ" with terms like "Jesus the Anointed One," had its complete edition released by Thomas Nelson Publishing last month.Frank Couch, Thomas Nelson's lead editor on the project, told The Christian Post that the purpose of The Voice was to make the Gospel message easier to understand for modern audiences.
"The Voice has not claimed to be more accurate than any other translation, rather it is more easily understood than any other translation," said Couch.
"When translators are limiting themselves to conveying the complete essence of a word from the Hebrew or the Greek with one English word they have difficulty bringing in the nuances held in the original language."
Because other translations have more literal renderings, Couch believed they are "why it has been necessary for commentators and preachers to spend so much time explaining what the words in the original language mean before the lay reader can understand fully a text of Scripture."
"Because we have a more expansive translating technique we can more fully develop the English translation and thus bring out the more difficult nuances found in the original language," he explained.
The scholars and authors who collaborated on the translation say their intention was to help readers "hear God speaking."
"One of the byproducts of the information age in the church has been its focus on biblical knowledge. Many Bibles reflect this, packed with informative notes, charts, and graphs. While there's nothing wrong with having a deep knowledge; a personal connection and deep relationship are far better," according to hearthevoice.com. "The Voice is focused on helping readers find (or rediscover) this connection with Him. Scripture is presented not as an academic document, but as an engaging story."
The idea for The Voice came in January 2004, when Thomas Nelson Publishing met with the Ecclesia Bible Society, whose leadership includes pastor Chris Seay of the Ecclesia Church in Houston, Texas. The project came in portions, with the complete New Testament according to The Voice being released in 2009.
The name comes from the Bible translation's rendering of the Greek Word logos in John 1:1. Although the typical English Bible translates logos to "Word," in this translation it is rendered "Voice." The first verse of John, which in the NIV reads "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" becomes "Before time itself was measured, the Voice was speaking. The Voice was and is God."
A new video posted on the translation's Facebook further highlights that "The Voice offers an opportunity to hear afresh by telling the stories that have always been in the Bible in a beautiful and poetic way." It is written in screenplay format "so it's easy to follow or act out in a group."
Despite the approval of a major publisher like Thomas Nelson, which also sells other more established translations of the Bible, The Voice is not without its opponents, including many critical online reviews.
On the website "Life More Abundant," poster "Coralie" commented that the format of The Voice, which includes commentary in the body of the text, was a concern.
"The … effect of the inclusion of midstream commentary is the blurring of the line between inspired word and human opinion," wrote Coralie.
"My fear in our postmodern world is not that a new reader would take the commentary as the very word of God, but that he would read the words of God with the casual ease of another form of commentary."
The blog "Extreme Theology," an apologetics website, declared that The Voice was a "distorted version of the Bible."
Read More From Christian Post
Canada Public School To Ban Free Handouts Of Gideon Bibles
CHESLEY, Ont. - Public school trustees defied vitriol, threats and
impassioned pleas by finalizing a ban Tuesday on the free handouts of
Gideon Bibles.
The 8-3 vote at the Bluewater District board barring distribution of any non-instructional religious materials ended months of fractious and emotionally charged debate over the ending of the decades-old practice.
The decision, which follows in the footsteps of several other public school boards in Canada, was made on legal advice that allowing the distribution could violate human-rights legislation.
Bill Donovan, of Owen Sound, Ont., a father with one child in the Bluewater system, opposed the distribution because it "undermines the secular nature" of public schools.
"I feel most pleased, though, that the decision derived from the law of the land, administered by an elected board, in a secular fashion," Donovan said.
"It bolsters my faith in the admirable society we have here in Ontario and Canada."
Vociferous opponents of the ban had accused trustees of betraying their Canadian and Christian heritage.
Several trustees received threats and hate mail, much of it anti-immigrant.
As a result, the board took security precautions for the evening vote, which went off without incident.
Before the vote, one speaker, Bevan Lougheed, told the board that he wished on behalf of the Christian community to "explicitly condemn" expressions of hate.
"We just want to be consulted before you change a practice important to our heritage," Lougheed said.
Another public speaker said allowing the Bible giveaway amounted to discrimination.
The local chapter of Gideons International in Canada and some church elders had previously distanced themselves from the more extreme views espoused by ban opponents.
Still, the invective unnerved members of the board, which has more than 18,000 students in 53 schools in Ontario's Bruce and Grey counties.
Trustees stressed the ban applies only to non-instructional religious materials.
"Multi-faith content in the public elementary and secondary school curriculum for educational purposes will continue," board chairwoman Jan Johnstone said earlier.
"Bibles and other religious texts will continue to be available in our libraries."
Some parents have said they might take their children out of the public school system in light of the ban.
Gideons International in Canada, which has been offering the free Bible to Grade 5 students, said the organization would take a ban with "complete acceptance."
Johnstone rejected as out of order a proposed "compromise" amendment that would have sent the ban motion out for system-wide consultation before a final vote.
Another trustee, holding a Gideon Bible she once received, called it a sad day.
Read More From Winnipeg Free Press
The 8-3 vote at the Bluewater District board barring distribution of any non-instructional religious materials ended months of fractious and emotionally charged debate over the ending of the decades-old practice.
The decision, which follows in the footsteps of several other public school boards in Canada, was made on legal advice that allowing the distribution could violate human-rights legislation.
Bill Donovan, of Owen Sound, Ont., a father with one child in the Bluewater system, opposed the distribution because it "undermines the secular nature" of public schools.
"I feel most pleased, though, that the decision derived from the law of the land, administered by an elected board, in a secular fashion," Donovan said.
"It bolsters my faith in the admirable society we have here in Ontario and Canada."
Vociferous opponents of the ban had accused trustees of betraying their Canadian and Christian heritage.
Several trustees received threats and hate mail, much of it anti-immigrant.
As a result, the board took security precautions for the evening vote, which went off without incident.
Before the vote, one speaker, Bevan Lougheed, told the board that he wished on behalf of the Christian community to "explicitly condemn" expressions of hate.
"We just want to be consulted before you change a practice important to our heritage," Lougheed said.
Another public speaker said allowing the Bible giveaway amounted to discrimination.
The local chapter of Gideons International in Canada and some church elders had previously distanced themselves from the more extreme views espoused by ban opponents.
Still, the invective unnerved members of the board, which has more than 18,000 students in 53 schools in Ontario's Bruce and Grey counties.
Trustees stressed the ban applies only to non-instructional religious materials.
"Multi-faith content in the public elementary and secondary school curriculum for educational purposes will continue," board chairwoman Jan Johnstone said earlier.
"Bibles and other religious texts will continue to be available in our libraries."
Some parents have said they might take their children out of the public school system in light of the ban.
Gideons International in Canada, which has been offering the free Bible to Grade 5 students, said the organization would take a ban with "complete acceptance."
Johnstone rejected as out of order a proposed "compromise" amendment that would have sent the ban motion out for system-wide consultation before a final vote.
Another trustee, holding a Gideon Bible she once received, called it a sad day.
Read More From Winnipeg Free Press
NASCAR Drivers Help Lead Man To Christ Through Volunteerism
Charisma News--For these five NASCAR drivers, it was not just an early Saturday morning.
Oh, it was early all right. When you race the night before, 7 a.m. can really sneak up on you.
But these guys didn't care.
There was ministry to do.
An 83-year-old man's yard was full of trees and fallen debris from the recent tornado that had swept through Dallas.
And with the help of Motor Racing Outreach, the opportunity to join Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team in being "the hands and feet of Jesus" was offered up, and five NASCAR drivers hit the ground running.
"They worked like it was a pit stop," said Rapid Response Team Chaplain Dennis Sanders. "I've never seen people work so hard and fast. It seemed like about 20 seconds to do it all."
Of course, if you don't follow NASCAR closely, you wouldn't know that these five young men wearing bright orange shirts were famous drivers racing at nearby Texas Motor Speedway either the night before or later that day.
And even 83-year-old Jay Vaughn, a NASCAR fan who watched qualifying the day before, didn't recognize Trevor Bayne, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Josh Wise, Mike McDowell and Blake Koch when they were busy whipping his back yard into shape.
"The sheer amount of work that got done in a short amount of time was just amazing," said McDowell, who estimated that 20 to 25 Samaritan's Purse volunteers were working on the lot. "I've never done anything like this. It was crazy."
"They moved a mountain of trees," Sanders said.
Bayne, the 2011 Daytona 500 champion, hadn't exactly prepared for such an adventure and trudged through the debris in his ostrich-skin boots. McDowell, trying to carry some branches down an embankment, slipped and fell on his rear bumper.
"We're race car drivers," Koch said. "We like to get down and dirty."
Stenhouse Jr., who likely had the least amount of shut-eye the night before after winning the
O'Reilly Parts 300 race, ran into a tree branch. With his face.
But the mishaps didn't stop these guys from working 2.5 hours all in the name of Jesus.
"What was really cool to me was to see how many people were out there just to help, like the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team," Koch said. "They were just there to listen to people and to pray with them. It's really cool to be around people like that."
Koch, who had lost his sponsor recently due partly to his Christian faith avoided driving a blank car with a last-minute one-race sponsorship deal with ChristianCinema.com.
'
Along with a smattering of NASCAR pit crew volunteers, Koch and the four other drivers devoured the work, cutting down trees with chain saws and hauling the wood away as if they were competing in the Lumberjack Games.
For one morning, anyway, Koch was convinced more than ever that he was right where God wanted him to be.
"We weren't NASCAR drivers there," Koch said. "We were there to share the love of Christ."
And that's exactly what happened. As the drivers showed Christ's love by meeting Jay's physical needs, Jay started opening up to Dennis and Ginger Sanders about his spiritual needs. When the Sanders asked Jay if he hadn't survived the storm, would he live eternally in Heaven, he replied, "I'm not sure."
So on the porch of his damaged home, the Sanders led Jay in a prayer to receive Christ, and word quickly spread among the NASCAR drivers.
"The most gratifying thing I took from it was the homeowner who accepted Christ into his life," said McDowell, who couldn't help but notice all the houses around Jay's that appeared unscathed by the storm. "It's kind of mind-boggling. That path was particular for a reason.
"I think it's very clear in these situations that God intends to use everything for good and draw people to Him in the process."
Read More From Charisma News
Oh, it was early all right. When you race the night before, 7 a.m. can really sneak up on you.
But these guys didn't care.
There was ministry to do.
An 83-year-old man's yard was full of trees and fallen debris from the recent tornado that had swept through Dallas.
And with the help of Motor Racing Outreach, the opportunity to join Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team in being "the hands and feet of Jesus" was offered up, and five NASCAR drivers hit the ground running.
"They worked like it was a pit stop," said Rapid Response Team Chaplain Dennis Sanders. "I've never seen people work so hard and fast. It seemed like about 20 seconds to do it all."
Of course, if you don't follow NASCAR closely, you wouldn't know that these five young men wearing bright orange shirts were famous drivers racing at nearby Texas Motor Speedway either the night before or later that day.
And even 83-year-old Jay Vaughn, a NASCAR fan who watched qualifying the day before, didn't recognize Trevor Bayne, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Josh Wise, Mike McDowell and Blake Koch when they were busy whipping his back yard into shape.
"The sheer amount of work that got done in a short amount of time was just amazing," said McDowell, who estimated that 20 to 25 Samaritan's Purse volunteers were working on the lot. "I've never done anything like this. It was crazy."
"They moved a mountain of trees," Sanders said.
Bayne, the 2011 Daytona 500 champion, hadn't exactly prepared for such an adventure and trudged through the debris in his ostrich-skin boots. McDowell, trying to carry some branches down an embankment, slipped and fell on his rear bumper.
"We're race car drivers," Koch said. "We like to get down and dirty."
Stenhouse Jr., who likely had the least amount of shut-eye the night before after winning the
O'Reilly Parts 300 race, ran into a tree branch. With his face.
But the mishaps didn't stop these guys from working 2.5 hours all in the name of Jesus.
"What was really cool to me was to see how many people were out there just to help, like the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team," Koch said. "They were just there to listen to people and to pray with them. It's really cool to be around people like that."
Koch, who had lost his sponsor recently due partly to his Christian faith avoided driving a blank car with a last-minute one-race sponsorship deal with ChristianCinema.com.
'
Along with a smattering of NASCAR pit crew volunteers, Koch and the four other drivers devoured the work, cutting down trees with chain saws and hauling the wood away as if they were competing in the Lumberjack Games.
For one morning, anyway, Koch was convinced more than ever that he was right where God wanted him to be.
"We weren't NASCAR drivers there," Koch said. "We were there to share the love of Christ."
And that's exactly what happened. As the drivers showed Christ's love by meeting Jay's physical needs, Jay started opening up to Dennis and Ginger Sanders about his spiritual needs. When the Sanders asked Jay if he hadn't survived the storm, would he live eternally in Heaven, he replied, "I'm not sure."
So on the porch of his damaged home, the Sanders led Jay in a prayer to receive Christ, and word quickly spread among the NASCAR drivers.
"The most gratifying thing I took from it was the homeowner who accepted Christ into his life," said McDowell, who couldn't help but notice all the houses around Jay's that appeared unscathed by the storm. "It's kind of mind-boggling. That path was particular for a reason.
"I think it's very clear in these situations that God intends to use everything for good and draw people to Him in the process."
Read More From Charisma News
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