Monday, December 23, 2019

Max & Donna Solbrekken with Peterson Sozi, Kampala
THE TRIUMPH OF CHRIST'S 
GOSPEL TOUCHES THE WORLD!
 By Rev. Max Solbrekken, D.D.
- Written in 1994 -

   JESUS said: "I will build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it!"                                                               The Gospel of Jesus Christ is spreading across the globe at a tremendous pace, We have recently returned from Uganda, East Africa, where 200 churches sponsored our crusade in the Muslim Stadium Park.  
   More than 500 pastors and workers attended the Minister's Seminar, and reports of our services were carried nationally on UNTV News each evening!
   An interesting fact is that two of the churches sponsoring our crusade there have more than 5,000 members each, and one is building a sanctuary to seat 10,000 people.  Several other churches have memberships of 1,000 to 2,000 each!  
     Evangelical Christianity is sweeping Eastern Europe and it is estimated that 6,000,000 convert to Christ each year on that continent!
  While spiritually-blind-and-dumb, nominal Christian politicians in Canada are breaking their necks in a race of political correctness, in order to please a few radical feminists, sodomites, bleeding-heart-liberals and One-World-New-Agers, a large percentage of the world's population is turning from paganism to embrace the Living Christ!
    Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, evangelical churches in South Korea are growing faster than the population!  Every hour 400 people are baptized and join an evangelical church in Latin America and an estimated 6,000 people respond to the Gospel message daily, across the former Soviet Union!
USA TODAY RELEASES STAGGERING REPORT!
In a May, 1993 story about Russia, 'USA TODAY' stated:  "Religious resurgence is so strong that Russia's 65,000 principals, teachers and administrators are now being required...to attend a course on Bible-based ethics.  Officials say up to 55% of Russian teachers...have made personal commitments to Christ."
      Wow! What an exciting and encouraging report, by a secular newspaper about an amazing revival of Christianity, now taking place in Satan's former bastion of atheism and communism!
     And where it is happening, makes it even more special and unique...in the heart of academia! One born again teacher remarked:  "Faith is freedom, Stalin was afraid of freedom.  He must be rolling in his grave."
      Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin rejected God, the Bible and Jesus Christ, bringing untold cruelty, pain and poverty upon multiplied millions of East Europeans for more than 70 years!
      As soon as the yoke of atheistic-marxism was broken however, the rush was on to embrace the gospel of Christ and the good life that faith in God brings!
      The devastating results of official atheism - in the former Soviet Union - underscores Martin Luther's prophetic pronouncement concerning the Bible and education!
      In the early 1500's the famous Protestant Reformer stated:  "I am much afraid that schools will prove to be great gates of hell unless they diligently labour in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth.
    "Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God, must become corrupt."
  The sad point is that while former communist nations have recognized their errors and are turning to Evangelical Christianity, many American Universities - which were founded upon Bible principles by preachers of the Gospel - have become cesspools of agnosticism and humanistic rationalism!
     Since the recent break-up of the former Soviet Union, high schools and universities have been requesting Bible courses to be taught in their academic institutions!
    As early as May, 1991 a number of former Communist Party leaders from the Soviet Bloc expressed great interest in the Christian faith, according to Daryl McCarthy, executive directive of the Overland Park, Kansas-based International Institute for Christian Studies.
    Among the compulsory and elective courses now being taught in a number of universities in Eastern Europe are, 'Moral Development and Values Education' and 'Belief in God'!
                       SECRET OF AMERICA'S GREATNESS!
    After his 1831 visit to the USA, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote:  "I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbours, and her ample rivers, and it was not there; in her rich mines and her vast world commerce, and it was not there.
     "Not until I went into the churches of America, and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness, did I understand the secret of her genius and power."
      But things have changed drastically in the USA since 1831, and Canada is heading for real trouble as well, if we do not reverse our course and get back to the basics of Bible morality, decency and traditional family values!
    Even the secular world is saying, "It's gone too far.  We're out of control.  Let's get back to normalcy".
   Stephen Carter, a liberal, black Yale law professor writes:  "The intellectual class thinks religion is fine if conducted in private as a personal pursuit like woodworking or chess.  But if religion brings their moral concerns into the public arena the elite is always ready to stomp its collective feet and howl about dangerous zealots and a crumbling wall between church and state".
    But while some TV reporters believe that church-state separation in the USA "means religious dealings in moral political issues are inappropriate subjects in the news", Carter objects to "rhetoric that refuses to accept the notion that rational public-spirited people can take religion seriously".
  Law professor, Stephen Carter believes that the Me-first individualism and "choice" of the special group lobbyists are no substitute for moral traditions.
     Clearly, society as a whole is the loser when laws that destroy family values, are enacted to conform to the perverted desires of several small lobby groups!
   President Abraham Lincoln stated:  "Our nation has become so intoxicated with unbroken success and prosperity that many of us have forgotten The Hand that feeds us"!
     Let us then, dear friends, return unto God and the faith of our fathers, lest the blessings of God depart from our land and our loved ones!
TOP STUDENTS FROM STABLE HOMES!
    Here is a factual report which reinforces my point-of-view.  Stable homes with traditional family values and Christian morals goes a long way in developing a strong and caring society!
   'Educational Communications' compiles and publishes 'Who's Who Among American High School Students'.  Here are the findings of the 1993 report in which 55,000 juniors and seniors with better than average grades, from 22,000 public, private and parochial schools across the USA, were polled:
   * 85 % high achievers are reared in homes in which both natural parents are reared in homes in which both parents live and formal religion is practiced.
    * Nearly 45 % live in rural areas and 84 % favour traditional marriages, and reject the use of cigarettes and illegal drugs.
   * Only 4 % have used marijuana, and 89% have never smoked cigarettes. Another 7 % tried smoking and then quit, leaving only 4 % that smoking regularly'.
       * Most held conservative political views.

EXEMPLARY CITIZENS ARE 
A TRIBUTE TO CHRISTIANITY!
     Reaching back into history, let me share a story about two men; one an atheist, the other a preacher!
    Max Jukes, the atheist, lived a godless life.  He married an ungodly girl, and from this union there were 310 who died as paupers, 150 were criminals, 7 were murderers, 100 were drunkards, and more than half of the women were prostitutes.  His 540 descendants cost the State one and one-quarter million US dollars.
    Jonathan Edwards, a great preacher of the Gospel who married a godly girl, lived at the same time as Max Jukes.
    Of his 1,349 known descendants, 13 became college presidents, 65 college professors, 3 United States Senators, 30 judges, 100 lawyers, 60 physicians, 75 army and navy officers, 100 preachers and missionaries.
     There were 60 authors of prominence, 1 vice-president of the USA, 80 public officials in other capacities, 295 college graduates, among whom were governors of states and ministers to foreign countries.
      Jonathan Edwards' descendants did not cost the State a penny! Jesus Christ said, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church".  What did He mean?
    During the time of Christ's earthly sojourn, the "Gates of the City" always referred to "City Hall", for the place where city councils were held was immediately inside the city walls, beyond the gates!
     Therefore, The opinions, goals, plans, purposes, power and kingdom of demons and darkness shall nit win. The Church of Jesus Christ shall forever be victorious! 
   A number of years ago someone asked Dr. Billy Graham, "Who is winning in the battle of good against evil?"  The great evangelist wisely replied:  "I have read the last chapter of the Bible and it says We Win!" I heartily agree!  AMEN.