Occupy: conduct business God's way

I am taking a class at my church called "Doing Business God's Way" based on the book of the same name. The following is a quote from Doing Business God's Way, by Dennis Peacocke, published by REBUILD, 1995, page 8.

Earth is our workshop assigned by God, and we are not here simply to keep ourselves from sin. We are also here to drive sin away and nullify its effect in the created order.

In Matthew 16:18, Jesus says the gates of Hell will not prevail against His Church. Most Christians line as if our job were to keep the gates of Hell from swallowing us up until, at the last minute, Jesus rescues us. That is not Christ's point.

Jesus calls us the "ekklesia." The ekklesia was an institution familiar for centuries throughout the Hellenic world. It was the representative assembly that ruled over civic affairs. It was not a ragtag guerrilla army or a cowering, persecuted minority; it was the duly constituted authority. By calling His people the ekklesia (which we translate "church"), Christ implicitly gives us authority in world affairs. That is part of why the Roman Empire considered the Church such a challenge and was so threatened by it.

Christ's intent is not that we should bar the gates and somehow weather Hell's fury; it is that we, acting under His authority a His ekklesia, should storm the gates of Hell and crush them, radically reducing Hell's influence in the world and so expressing the truth that Christ is all in all.

Peacocke eloquently states the reason and the basis of our political activism. I may ask permission to use this as a quote on our Occupy Page. We have a duty to occupy or 'do business God's way' until Jesus returns. I suggest this book to everyone. So let's do it. Below are some urgent issues that need our attention.

• Christian Chaplains are being forbidden to pray "in Jesus' Name". How absurd!!! We have protected freedom of religion. The American Center for Law and Justice has a petition for you to sign which asks President Bush to execute an Executive Order giving the Christian Chaplains the right to pray in accordance with the spiritual practice of their denomination. Please use this link to sign the petition. http://www.aclj.org/
• The American Family Association has issued an alert: the House of Representatives is very close to voting on a "hate crimes" bill which would give homosexuals special rights and make it against the law to preach the Word of God about the sin of homosexuality. Ministers have be thrown in jail in Sweden and prosecuted in Canada where such legislation exists. Click on http://www.afa.net/ to get the entire story, to see the actual bill, and most importantly to send an email to your Representative.

We must pray for our President as never before. Ask God to make him receptive to the Holy Spirit. Ask God to lead him by the Holy Spirit to make a stand for righteousness. To speak out on the issues in our nation. Our President is a professing Christian. Pray that his religion becomes public and not just personal. Pray that he will execute an Executive Order so that the chaplains can pray in Jesus' Name. Pray that the prophecy you can find on nationalgpa.org (click on prayer alerts then look under prophecy) that President Bush would become a burning bush for God's kingdom, if we pray, will come into being. Pray that our President will make his faith effectual. If our President does make his faith effectual in the political arena in the next two years, we will have a spiritual revolution in America. Please Pray!!!

My husband and I will be enjoying much needed R and R during the next two weeks. The Blog will resume on March 8th or 9th.

In Jesus love,
Ellen~