Apostle David Johndrow - Fire And Grace

October 31st is the anniversary of the date in which Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenburg in 1517. He had a list of grievances with the Roman Catholics; 95 points long. All I can say is that I know the feeling. He wanted to debate Scripture after having a personal experience with Jesus. The Pope, Purgatory and the selling of indulgences were on the list. The problems that we have in the global Protestant church are different. Mr. Luther and I have similar struggles. We see things that are very wrong with religion, and we want to fix them - or at least debate them. Because of an encounter with the living God, he began that work of changing the religious church culture. After he had apologized for his harsh tone, Luther began: Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring it to light, the following propositions will be discussed at Wittenberg, under the presidency...

Well for a lot of Christians Halloween is taboo. There are some that will allow it if the costumes are not related to witchcraft or the demonic - skeletons, mummies, Freddie Krueger or A-Rod. I suppose for others it's free-for-all, and anything goes. There are lots of reasons for not having Halloween : - It doesn't center are around a biblical event like Christmas or Easter, though all three are formed around pagan celebrations. - The word pumpkin isn't even in the Bible - tolerance isn't either, but that's another blog. - The few times dead things got up and walked around, it wasn't dark out. (Matthew 27:52, John 11:44) etc. - Some Satanists actually do human sacrifices on Halloween. - It's a Wiccan festival. - The trick-or-treat ritual was practiced by the Druids and their followers in medieval times. - Candy is bad for your teeth. But in case that doesn't scare you off, here are 5 1/2 costume ideas for your Halloween celebration or...

I have been a musician all of my adult life - well, the fact that I am either adult, or a musician are both questionable statements.Check with my wife for details. August 24th, 1978, my best friend Dennis and I went to Guitars Unlimited in downtown New Haven to buy our first guitars. (That's us together this past summer.) We didn't know a thing about music except that we LOVED it. He was a folkie, and I was rocker; nothings changed. There we stood talking to Rick Castaldi (I ended sitting in with him in my first gig a year later.) I bought an electric, and Dennis bought an acoustic. History in the making for both of us... Yesterday was a neat day for me. Not only did I celebrate 30 years of sobriety (which Dennis was a part of), but I also bought a new guitar - a Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty. My favorite guitarist was Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin who was well known for his late 1950's Gibson Les Pauls. I once owned a number of ...

The Mid-Term elections are only a week away, There are lots of issues at stake here: The economy, taxes, immigration, the national debt, and health care. I hope that you'll get out there and be a smart voter. Most voters fall into the following categories: -1 Party Voters: They vote party lines and pretty much agree with their entire agenda. On the left it's abortion, health care, Green energy, and homosexual rights. On the right it is lower taxes, national security, free-market Social Security, educational competition and pro-life. Not too long ago I received a survey from the RNC. I couldn't believe it when it simply asked if I agreed with this policy or that stance. YES or NO, those were the only choices. I was mad they didn't ask me what I thought about anything, or how important each issue is. I bothers me that folks pull the party lever without ever knowing anything about most of the candidates in it. -2 Marketed Voters: This group relies on political a...

I think the only kind of worship service I haven't participated in is one with snake handling. Believe me, I'm content to leave that one alone. All that experience is worth something - I once wrote a blog for Tracy over at Abundant Life... like most guest-bloggers, it had to be one of my best evers ! IMHO - it was. ;) It's taken a long time (since March), but here is the sequel. In my most sarcastic style (which my wife won't let me use at home), I thought I would follow up with, in no particular order, 10 more popular hot-button issues in the church today. -1 Building Funds: According to Dave Ramsey, most Christians don't tithe - I've been there. Some folks think that a church buildings (along with Christmas and Easter) are just a pagan tradition from the third century, and they also believe only house churches are the "true church." So how much pressure can churches put on believers to make love offerings, give tithes, gifts, alms and donate t...

Here are some things I prayed for and didn't get - now I know who is smarter. God! Most folks pray, but I decided to sit down and look back at some of the tough spots I was in where I prayed for God to fix it. -1  Car Repairs: In 2000 I had the only accident I have ever had while I was behind the wheel. I also had the only uninsured (collision) car I have ever owned. I asked the Lord for money to get it fixed. The next day I came to work with my headlights dangling, and on my keyboard was a title to a 1998 Honda signed over to me! -2 My Mother's Healing: In 2001 I prayed for my mother to be healed of cancer. I went out to visit her not long after she wad diagnosed, and the Lord said that he wasn't going to heal her. Instead I learned to deal with loss, I learned how important phone calls are, and my view of the eternal changed. HERE is more of the story. -3 Ministry: In 1998 I asked God to grow my ministry which was flourishing ...

I guess Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle made another uproar. He said that Yoga was demonic. The opinion bloggers got on board - well isn't that what bloggers do, have opinions? Why does this matter? Well, for one thing, church is already a tough place. We have denominations (doctrinal opinions) , we have Christians that hate Christians, Christians that mistake patriotism for Bible and we have those that like to stay in the middle, and then there is the black and white crowd. How could anyone sort through all these opinions, and actually be right? Here is my take on the whole mess. -1 Lack of Study:   Barna Research said that a large number of Christians said that they relied on their own opinions and feelings as a moral guide over the commands of the Bible. And that is one of the big problems - people think  they know what's best for themselves. Honestly, if that were the case, we wouldn't have the Darwin Awards , or the ...

Well, it's down to the wire and the negative ad campaigns are making me sick. I guess politicians think that most Americans are too stupid to know what's going on. I hear that statistically, that in fact may be true. So, what does a guy like me, who checks this stuff out on more than MSNBC , NPR , Fox , the Times , the Globe  (actually it is becoming a pay site - how irrelevant!), the Post  and the WSJ , do? All you have to do is Google "negative ads"  and you'll see how effective they in fact might be. Most of it is severe distortions - - in the case of Rand Paul, kinda true with a twist. You won't believe this! It appears from Internet sources (which are always true), that Rand went to Baylor and was apart of a “secret” society, that everyone knows about, called the NoZe Brotherhood  (possibly very profane). The NoZe basically do various pranks around campus and put out a satirical newspaper call...

“Do it again!” The sounds of a delighted child echo across the yard as a dad pushes his daughter in a swing. The warm summer air glides by her cheeks as she goes to-and-fro. Safely, just a few feet above the ground, she giggles with glee. After all, her dad is right there by her side. Mom stands by with the camera recording that toothless smile for generations. Life. Life in the 21st century charges on at an ever dizzying pace. We find ourselves saying, “We’ll get together,” to acquaintances when we know we don’t have the time to vacuum our house. Our pat answer to “how are you?” is more often “busy” or “tired,” neither of which, incidentally are feelings. There is so much to do and so little time to do it. How is it that our children are born one day and going to college the next? Life, do we define it by what, or how, we are doing, or by where we are going— or where we have been? Do we need a plan or a goal, or are we simply carried away by the river of passing of time? How d...

October 13th marked the safe rescue of 33 Chilean Miners - I know you heard about it and probably saw them getting out of the NASA designed rescue capsule. It was exciting! ¡Gracias Señor! - Thank you Lord! It is interesting, the miners thanked God. One said. "I never used to pray, but after to collapse crushed a truck we were trying to escape in, I started to." Another said that "God and humor kept them alive." Certainly there was great joy as, one-by-one, 33 of them ascended 2,000 feet to the earth's surface after 68 or 69 days. Even Jesus wasn't in the tomb that long! In the midst of great joy, I thought about the Sago Mine disaster of 2006 , in which Randal McCloy was the only survivor. It has been an ongoing tragedy, as some of the family members have committed suicide. I wrote and article for the New England Flame about the incident. At the time all I could think of was the notes written to the families of the those that lost their lives. I...