Sentinels Prayer Update for February 2009 (Sentinels is a Link-Zone initiative - web pages are found at www.Link-Zone.net)

"Pray for Visionary Leaders"

Dear Friends

The future doesn't just happen it is created by visionary leaders.

George Barna says, "People of distinctive foresight and unflappable conviction, literally create the future."

"They conceive ideas that represent fundamental changes. They carefully and strategically propose them to the public. They tirelessly nurture acceptance of their ideas and they serve as relentless advocates for instituting them."

As Christians we are aware that every aspect of our values and lifestyles are being targetted and assaulted. The onslaught is unrelenting in purpose and strategic in its implementation but we are more than equipped to meet the challenges facing us.

This update draws attention to the need to be praying for our visionaries, those already positioned and those being prepared. We also look at the impact of visionaries, for good and bad, and the areas of our nation that are in great need of transformation.

We pray that you will find this update useful.

Under His Banner

Bev Holmes-Brown
CONTENTS:

The Impact of Visionaries
Some Key Areas in Need of Prayer and Transformation
You Tube VIdeo: Ravi Zacharias on the Life of Adoniram Judson (on web version only)
A Prayer for God to raise up Visionary Leaders
Training & Resources (on web version only)
Australian Visionaries - Non-Christian
A Teenage Bill of Rights (USA)

The Impact of Visionaries

George Barna is a visionary. A strategic visionary who provides "catalystic" and "transforming" resources to the church. He says:

George Barna, Founder of the Barna Research Group, Author, Speaker, Pastor"If you don't like American [Australian] society these days, look back at the past half century and identify visionary leaders who introduced seminal changes that describe the nature of our lives today... Vision is a clear mental portrait of a preferable future. Those who possess the vision become its primary champion. Through the force of their vision, reality is changed forever."

"Realise," he says, "that being a visionary is not synonymous with being well known or revered. It simply indicates that the convictions and efforts of the person have significantly altered the ways many people conduct their lives, whether the visionary's influence is acknowledged or not, whether the outcome of the visionary's influence is for the best or for the worst."

In his book, "Turning Vision into Action," Barna outlines the work of Alfred Kinsey, amongst others, to demonstrate the power of visionary thinking and behaviour:

Alfred Kinsey, "The Patron Saint of Sex." - Kinsey envisioned a bold new era of sexual freedom in America ... he emerged as the person most directly responsible for the sexual revolution in the USA. He 'burst onto the national scene in 1948 with the publication of "Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male" ... almost overnight he was established as a leading sex expert.

Unfortunately, most Americans did not realise his agenda was not to provide objective helpful facts about sexuality but to sexually liberate the nation ... his data, collected in the guise of scientific rigor, were horrifically (and intentionally) unrepresentative of the national public. For instance, a large proportion of his sample of males were prison inmates and more than one quarter of his male subjects had been convicted of male sex offences.... three quarters of his female samples were college graduates at a time when just 13% of the nations women had earned college degrees.

Social scientists were outraged at his practices and conclusions ... however, they missed the point ... Kinsey never sought scientific validity ... his aim was to promote sexual freedom and experimentation to facilitate happiness. He promoted homosexuality, premarital sex and even extramarital sex with abandon. Astoundingly some of his research, now nearly a century old is still used by groups seeking to promote sexual freedom.

Kinsey's public standing, academic credentials and fervour for his cause enabled him to lay the groundwork for a sexual revolution that has brought unnerving consequences ... Barna asks, "would you be as concerned about children's exposure to sex on TV or in the movies, or about the failty of marriages, or the public acceptance of homosexuality as a moral alternative to heterosexual relationships if Alfred Kinsey had turned his back on his vision for a sexually liberated America?

I cannot imagine anyone intelligently arguing that his or her existence has not been turned upside down by influence of the visions cast and aggressively pursued by such zealots."

Barna, George 1996 Turning Vision into Action, Regal Books, A division of Gospel Light, Ventura, California, USA, Pages 20, 21, 33
Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelations of God] the people perish; but he who keeps the law [of God, which includes that of man] blessed, happy, fortunate [and enviable] is he - Proverbs 28:18 (AMP)

Some Key Areas in need of Prayer and Transformation

In many areas, Western civilisation has risen to the highest standards of honour, justice, morality and the esteem for life. It is apparent that these qualities are the foundation of western progress. Now those foundations are being tested:

1. KNOWING WHAT WE BELIEVE AND WHY WE BELIEVE IT:

Charles Colson "Christians must see that the faith is more than a religion or even a relationship with Jesus; the faith is a complete view of the world and humankind's place in it.

Christianity is a worldview that speaks to every area of life and its foundational doctrines define its content. If we don't know what we believe - even what Christianity is - how can we live it and defend it?"

"Understanding this faith, once entrusted for all, is critically important today, for we live in a time when Christians and the civilisation they helped to build are under assault. ... The challenges of anti-theism and radical Islam could not have come at a worse time for the Church, because most Christians do not understand what they believe, why they believe it and why it matters. How can a Christianity that is not understood be practiced? And how can it be presented in its true character as peace, freedom and joy? How are skeptics to understand Christianity's positive aspects? Tragically postmodern culture has infected and weakened the Church, particularly in the West."

"... how in the world do so many people these days talk about the Christian faith and its doctrines as being dry and brittle? You may say its frightening, upsetting, life-changing, radical, extreme - but dull and boring, never! Yet that's what some are saying. How can this be?

... Is there anything more exciting than to know that you are part of God's great drama that has been played out through history? That you are taking your place alongside the saints who have gone before you? ... Remember you and I today, can believe exactly the same that the first-century apostles believed and for which they were willing to give their very lives... Don't you find joy in that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, the sustainer of all things, through whom and by whom all things were made?

Colson Charles, The Faith, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan USA 2008, pages 27, 207

THIS FAITH, WHICH ONCE BUILT THE GREATEST CIVILIZATION IN HUMAN HISTORY, MUST NOW ENGAGE IN THE TITANIC STRUGGLE FOR OUR TIMES.

2. RAISING A NEW GENERATION OF MEDICAL LEADERS

Rev. Rob Frost: "Thousands of Christians serve Christ in the Health Service, but many of those I meet feel powerless and frustrated by the kind of management culture in which they work. They tell me that they often feel trapped by the budget-driven agenda which makes it hard to keep on caring... any Health Service that is completely utilitarian, or driven by financial goals can produce only inferior results. As a Christian, I believe that the best health professionals must have a sense of the transcendant.

... A nurse friend of mine went to work with Mother Theresa. One smelly, wasted dying man was brought to her hospice late one night. Mother Theresa pressed my friend close to him and wrapped her arms around his withered body. "Love until it hurts," she whispered.

It was reminiscent of what the famous doctor Thomas Sydenham once wrote: The doctor must one day give an account to the Supreme Judge of all the lives entrusted to his care. The doctor's skill, and knowledge and energy s they have been given by God, should be exercised for God's glory and the good of mankind, and not for mere gain or ambition. The doctor should reflect that he has undertaken the care of no mean creature, for, in order that he may estimate teh value, the greatness of the human race, the only begotten Son of God became himself a man, and thus ennobled it with his divine dignity, and far more than this, died to redeem it."

Frost Rob, Doing the Right Thing, Monarch Books 2008, page 214, 215.

PRAY FOR A NEW GENERATION OF CHRISTIAN DOCTORS AND NURSES WITH A VISION TO SERVE WITH REAL COMPASSION AND A COMMITMENT TO CARE THAT GOES FAR BEYOND THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE SYSTEMS THAT CONSTRAIN THEM

3. DEALING SERIOUSLY WITH THE PROBLEMS OF EVIL AND JUSTICE

"Many experts agree, that the first hundred worlds of any book, article, presentation or speech are the most important. .... So just how did Jesus begin his ministry? What was the point he wanted no one to miss?

A World EnslavedIn Luke 4 we get a clue. During the first address of his public ministry, Jesus made it clear what would direct that ministry. In this chapter he states his life purpose - his personal mission statement - and he tells us exactly whom he has come to serve ... Jesus says that he came to bring freedom to those who are oppressed ... when it comes to justice and mercy for the least, the last and the lost, who really cares? Jesus does and so must we.

... What have the bible and justice got in common? The answer: Everything! ... when our mission efforts fail to address the serious injustices all around us, evil people and destructive ideologies will step in to exploit the vulnerable.

D'Souza Joseph, Rogers Benedict, On the side of the Angels, Authentic Publishing 2007, page 14

THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSION OF A KINGDOM PERSPECTIVE CHALLENGES UNJUST SYSTEMS, STRUCTURES AND PHILOSOPHIES THAT EFFECT THE ETERNAL DESTINIES OF PEOPLE.

4. ESTEEM FOR LIFE:

"In nature, preservation of life is the most basic and powerful motivation. Because of this, excepting only a few of the most base forms of species, family is a primary drive of life. There are few creatures in existence that will not quickly and instinctively sacrifice their own lives to protect their young.

Rick JoynerIt seems to have been no accident that the very first test of King Solomon's wisdom was concerning the issue of a mother's sanctity for life. The very first test of wisdom for any government is its commitment of the sanctity of life. However some feel that a woman's freedom and ability to live her life as she chooses supersedes her unborn child's right to live at all.

... It is unnatural for a mother to destroy her child, born or unborn, and it reveals a fundamental departure from civilization to embrace a barbarism in its most base and inhuman form.

Joyner Rick, The Power of a Creative Life, Morningstar publications 2001, Charlotte NC28219, USA, pages 88,89

THE RESOLUTION OF THE ABORTION ISSUE GIVES US THE OPPORTUNITY TO PROVIDE THE WORLD LEADERSHIP IN FINDING EVEN HIGHER STANDARDS OF MORALITY, JUSTICE AND THE ESTEEM FOR LIFE.

5. RESPONSIBLE INVOLVEMENT

"One of the greatest challenges Christians face is that of our dual citizenship: How do we live as citizens of both the Kingdom of God and of the Kingdom of this world? The question facing christians are many. How do we fulfill our responsibilities to church and state? What are their separate God-ordained roles? Can we work through political channels for Justice and Righteousness - or is politics inherently corrupting?

A period in the late eighteenth, early nineteenth century offers an inspiring and instructive example for us today. Believers in England, their hearts strangely warmed by Wesley's revivals and their consciences pierced by the barbarism of the slave trade and other injustices gainst the weak and helpless were stirred to political action. They rallied grassroots citizens' groups; they fought for humane legislation in the halls of government.

Charles Colson Their opponents were infuriated. "Things have come to a pretty pass when religion is allowed to invade public life," sniffed one Lord Melbourne. But in spite of the opposition of those who saw no connection private belief and public action, Christians gave leadership to some of the most sweeping reforms of modern times.

Today we hear many Lord Melbournes decrying religiously induced involvement in public life. Some candidates take pains to reassure voters that their fatih will have no bearing on their official conduct. The media and courts are zealous proponents of the same viewpoint, steadily stripping the public square naked of transcendant values.

The call for Christians today is to respond vigorously and responsibly, to bring a Christian witness modern society.

Colson Charles, Political Action, Navpress, 1988, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA, pages 7,8

WE ARE FORERUNNERS OF THE KINGDOM: WE WITNESS TO THE KINGDOM, WE MANIFEST THE VALUES OF THE KINGDOM, WE CAN BE THE INFLUENCE OF THE THE KINGDOM IN THE WORLD NOW. PEOPLE GET A TASTE OF WHAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS BY SEEING HOW CHRISTIANS LIVE THEIR LIVES AND MODEL THOSE VALUES.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?  Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
- Isaiah 58:6-7

A Prayer for our Visionaries

Father, We pray that:

  • You will raise up more Visionaries for our nation, those who are able to see beyond the things that are and into that which can be (Thy Kingdom come)

  • You will enhance their ability to see the possibilities and potential around them and protect them from the relentless onslaught of skepticism and cynicism

  • You will equip them with the wisdom, knowledge and courage to accomplish their task

  • for plans, strategies, solutions to the the malaises of the day we are living in, as well as the tenacity and strength needed to enact them.

  • You will give us the ability to discern who they are, those your hand is upon so that we can encourage and come alongside them to see them be all that they were made to be.

  • for a dedication to truth and morality and freedom from the fear of man.

  • that you will equip them with the humility needed to continually grow in the discipline of leadership.

The above is adapted from various sources, many of which are mentioned in this update - Please feel free to suggest ideas for prayer - I will add them to this page

But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? (Romans 10:14-15)

Some Australian Visionaries - Non-Christian

Visionary leaders make the times in which we live and if godly men don't rise up to lead, using time tested principles, ungodly men will:

Equality with the Apes

Peter Singer Peter Singer
(an Australian philosopher. He is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, and laureate professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE), University of Melbourne.)

"Consider what the Spanish Parliament did just last month. It became the first nation in the world to extend certain legal rights to non-humans.

As one newspaper account puts it, “The parliament’s environmental committee approved a resolution that commits the country to the Declaration on Great Apes, which states that nonhuman apes are entitled to the rights of life, liberty, and protection from torture.” That means gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and orang-utans will now be subject to various bits of human rights legislation.

For those familiar with the work of secular ethicist Peter Singer, the Great Apes Project will not be new. He and other academics started this project in 1993, demanding “the extension of the community of equals to include all great apes”.

The Spanish director of the Great Apes Project could hardly contain his glee at all this: “This is a historic moment in the struggle for animal rights. It will doubtless be remembered as a key moment in the defence of our evolutionary comrades.”

Muehlenberg Bill, Going Ape over Human Rights, 2008 Read More

ALSO READ: Peter Singer on LIFE issues

Since a capacity to experience suffering or satisfaction is a prerequisite to having any preferences at all, and a fetus (up to around 18 weeks) has no capacity to suffer or feel satisfaction, it is not possible for fetuses to hold any preferences at all. In a utilitarian calculation, there is nothing to weigh against a mother's preferences to have an abortion, therefore abortion is morally permissible.

Similar to his argument for abortion, Singer argues that infants similarly lack essential characteristics of personhood - "rationality, autonomy, and self-consciousness"- and therefore "[s]imply killing an infant is never equivalent to killing a person."[

Wikipedia contributors, "Peter Singer," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peter_Singer&oldid=273115580 (accessed February 26, 2009).

Killing is justified if some of those at risk of being killed stand to benefit from the killing

Julian Savulescu
(Romanian-Australian philosopher and bioethicist)

In some of his publications he has argued for the following: (1) That parents have a responsibility to select the best children they could have given all of the relevant genetic information available to them (Bioethics, vol. 15 no. 5/6, pp. 413–25), a principle that he extends to the use of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and preimplantation genetic diagnoses (PGD) in order to determine the intelligence of embryos and possible children. (2) That stem cell research is justifiable even if it means killing a (human) person (Bioethics, vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 508–28). His argument is based on the principle that killing is justified if some of those at risk of being killed stand to benefit from the killing and whether those benefits are more likely in a world in which the killing occurs. Thus, he concludes that even if embryonic stem cell research involves the killing of a person, it is justified.

Wikipedia contributors, "Julian Savulescu," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Julian_Savulescu&oldid=268349738 (accessed February 26, 2009).

We are the universe thinking

Bob BrownBob Brown
(Australian Senator, & Parliamentary Leader of the Australian Greens)

"Long ago I ceased to believe in religious dogma. What I do see is the continual unfolding of the human spirit, or conscienciousness, and an awareness greater than that of any other creature on earth. The universe, through us, is evolving towards experiencing, understanding and making choices about it's future. We are the universe thinking."

Brown Bob, Memo for a saner world, Penguin Group (Australia) 2004, page 12
When the [uncompromisingly] righteous triumph there is great glory and celebration, but when the wicked rise [to power] men hide themselves - Proverbs 28:12 (AMP)

A Teenage Bill of Rights

Ron LuceRon is the President and Founder of Teen Mania Ministries, a Christian youth organization that is based in the USA but reaches millions of young people worldwide. Ron passionately declares the truth of the Gospel without compromise as he challenges teenagers to take a stand for Christ in their schools, communities, and throughout the world.

The Battle Cry Campaign is one of many initiatives that Ron Luce oversees. This amazing & inspirational Teenage Bill of Rights is from the Battle Cry Website - (links below)

We, a new generation of young Americans, in order to protect the heritage of our forefathers and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and generations to come, do affirm and pledge this declaration:

When character and morality are uncommon qualities,

When corporations and marketers seek to profit from our destruction,

When pop culture icons do not represent our values,

When Judeo-Christian beliefs are labeled as intolerant,

When activists seek to remove God from our schools,

When truth is deemed relative and unknowable,

It is necessary for us, the emerging generation of young Americans, to stand for what is right and reclaim the values that have made our nation great. We call our nation to a higher standard, a lifestyle based

not on convenience, but on character,

not on what is easy, but on what is excellent,

not on what feels good, but on what is good,

not on popularity, but on principle,

not on what is tempting, but on what is true.

We, as young Americans, assert our right to determine our future and the future of our great nation. We hold these truths as our God-given rights, and we embrace them with our hearts and our lives:

We recognize that God, our Creator, is the source of all truth.

We will live with honor, always striving to do the right thing, even when it is unpopular. We will be honest and truthful in matters large and small, regardless of the consequences.

We will take responsibility for our actions, and not point to governments, schools, celebrities, parents, or friends to justify our wrong decisions.

We recognize that we are responsible for our mistakes. We will pursue purity throughout our lives.

We will not be seduced by a fabricated idea of sex and love.

We will save our bodies and hearts for our future spouses, and once married we commit to pursue faithful and enduring relationships.

We will see through the lies of drugs and alcohol and refuse to let any chemical influence our thinking or destroy our lives.

We will respect the authorities placed in our lives, even though some may not live as honorably as they should.

We will honor our parents, teachers, and other leaders.

We will reach out with compassion to the hurting and less fortunate, both in our society and around the world.

We refuse to be absorbed with our own comforts and desires.

We recognize the value of each life, whether born or unborn, and we seek to protect those who are unable to protect themselves.

We will do our best to represent and communicate our Creator to our peers, leaders, and society as a whole.

We will work to see that every person has the opportunity to see and hear about the true nature of our God.


In signing, we commit to pursue a life that exemplifies these standards.

We refuse to sit idly by and witness the destruction of our generation.

With God's help, we envision a bright and prosperous future for the nation we love.

 

Source Link: http://battlecry.com/teen_bor.php
Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are His. He changes times and season; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning." Daniel 2:20-21

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