Saturday, October 27, 2012

ELECTION ‘2012: THE RESOLVE OF INTEGRITY


2012 NATIONAL ELECTION APOSTOLIC BRIEFING
by Dr. Earl D. Johnson
 
Pray for those who have the rule over you…
 
Of wisdom, it is written in Proverbs 8:14-16, “counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding, I have strength. By me, Kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, and even all the judges of the earth!”
 
Cast the care of the election on the Lord. Give His wisdom an opportunity to work. Yes, be responsible and cast your ballot, but do not fret yourself because of evildoers. This is not the time for Believers to become entangled with the cares of this world.
 
This is a time of testimony. We are to testify of the effectiveness of God reign in our lives. We are to testify of His gracious provision in the midst of negative decisions governing they economy of the world, (cosmos – world’s arrangement systems, and order). There must be a vigilant adherence to the knowledge that we are “in this world, but not of this world.”
 
The exercise of our civic responsibility is to be carried out with the same watchfulness as in other responsibilities we have as Believers. As our example, Jesus paid taxes. This act alone is monumental for Believers because it establishes precedence. Jesus provided the example for us that by participating in this system, it clarifies our maturity and due diligence to civil authority while we diligently maintain our heavenly connectivity and loyalties.
 
to Romans 15Wow, what an assignment! To pray for those who govern has a specific and direct order for the Believer. The intent of the Holy Spirit is to maintain in the Believer a sense of loyalty to Kingdom and not political allegiances based on parties, causes, and events.
 
As citizens of the Kingdom of God, we are expected to participate in the political process. However, we are not to get preoccupied with the futility of systems, parties, and lies. For clarity on the actual condition of our age, read 2 Timothy 3 in its entirety from Amplified Bible.
 
While in Jamaica, I sat with an Elder from Barbados. As we talked about the campaign in America and other issues of importance, I was keenly aware of his astuteness on American affairs. He was not only versed, but demonstrated knowledge about how we arrived at the point where we are today. What point are we?
 
We are in the generation that does not know Jehovah. We are in the biblical time period where a form of godliness, but denial of the truth is inherent. We are in the age of apostasy. We are in the period of a lack of knowledge about the former works of God. We are lost in ourselves. We are seekers of the prosperity who blindly neglect posterity.
 
This election is not about the two candidates, it about which God America will serve. The God of the Amorites or the God of Israel? The God who parted the Red Sea or the god who invented new age philosophy and gnostic behavior in our nation?
 
Election ’12 in November is for this nation as repentance and substantive change is important to the Body of Christ. I will not tell you what to say to your congregation. I respect you as men and women of God. However, I would like to offer some suggstions that might be helpful in what NOT to say your congregation.
 
These four points need to find their way into the ears and hearts of your people:
  • DO NOT WORRY – When I pastored, a candidate that I had wanted to win lost the election. It set me back for a minute. The Holy Spirit spoke to me one day and said “Earl, there was NO election in Heaven, God is still on the throne!” Do not lose hope regardless of the outcome
  • PARTICIPATE IN THE PROCESS – Encourage voter participation, but remind them that their citizenship is in Heaven and not in the earth. They are officially registered as Saints of the Most High, Children of the Kingdom, and Heirs of the Promises. Vote, but avoid depression if your candidate did not win.
  • PRAY – The central most important activity during this election is PRAYER. Encourage individual and corporate prayer for the nation, cities, candidates, and people everywhere voting and participating in this crucial decision
  • EDUCATE THEMSELVES ON ISSUES/CANDIDATES – an informed individual is an effective aid to any process. Remember, “in all thy getting, get an understanding.”
 It is vital that the Body of Christ emerge from Election Day with a resolved heart. RESOLVE = make decision, solve difficulty, settle argument, dispel doubts, express joint opinion. Resolution, decision, steadfastness, determination, tenacity, firmness, and resolution
 
SUBMITTED BY:
APOSTLE EARL D JOHNSON
AND THE ATP APOSTOLIC TEAM

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Ministry Confidential | By Dr. Earl D. Johnson With Introductory Comments By Dr. Woodrow Walker

OCTOBER, 2012

2008 EDITION: MINISTRY CONFIDENTIAL
EDITIORIAL NOTE: The concept presented in this article was actually penned with the intention of release prior to the 2008 elections. For whatever reasons, that release did not take place. On the eve of election 2012 and after consultation with a myriad of persons, the decision is to release this article in full content and follow up with MINISTRY CONFIDENTIAL 2012 prior to November 2012.

The following statement precedes and has contributed to many of the minds that read this article. However, there is a purposeful insertion of comments made in the review by Dr. Woodrow Walker of Lithonia, Georgia. As a contributor in the history of the Civil Rights movement centered in Atlanta and having pastored many of the voices for change during the height of the quest for justice, Dr. Walker’s voice rings authoritative in assisting to analyze the past as well as the impact on both sides of this very complex coin.

Please review the prologue and then read the article penned in 2008 and stay tuned for a series of collaborative articles which will hopefully assist in navigating you and your congregations through the 2012 election and the myriad voices therein.

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INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS:


The primary reason for any article of this magnitude is to assist in harnessing the emotions of believers who participate in a political system but who are more loyal to the principles of God than they are in allegiance to political process or parties. This is meant to encourage this attitude and also to alert them of potential “land mines” naturally imbedded in a system laced with worldliness.

The assertions made about the nation being conflicted, along with the disappointments of the “Black” counterparts with both the system and the nation, has a deep and mostly unfinished history in America.

Dr. Woodrow Walker, long-time friend and Senior Pastor of Abundant Life Church in Lithonia, Georgia commented, “Good article and very direct. It addresses the epidemic among our culture to celebrate the person over the cause. There is a need for a voice to confront the error that exists among us. However, in the process of doing so, it may add insult to injury if there is no empathetic voice that gives reason for things being as they currently are. The mass mindset of African-Americans developed over time as a reaction to racism and discrimination. Many believe that whatever may be the conservative position contains a Trojan Horse for something that could possibly undermine the efforts of over 200 years of struggles.

This conflicted condition has given rise to the expression of deeply imbedded feelings in the hearts of many who have suppressed them over the years as result of legislation, We are now in a good place to address the heart of the matter and to direct people towards the heart of God, and towards the understanding that "Christ is the sum of every culture."

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AMERICA: LAND OF THE CONFLICTED, HOME OF THE CONFUSED

"[How to think about a problem:] The first step is to make the problem specific; The second step is to form theories freely of how to rid yourself of that burden; The third step is to develop in foresight the consequences of your proposals; The fourth and final step in thinking is to compare the consequences of your proposals to see which is best in the light of your scheme of life as a whole ; Whether you choose a vacation or a spouse, a party or a candidate, a cause to contribute to or a creed to live by - think! Brand Blanchard

Good Morning America! Election ’08 has caused to surface a condition of great magnitude. Growing up, I was told that worse than having a problem is the person who is not aware that they have one. Hmmm…

America, you have completed your fiscal examination and the lab reports that you are suffering from the disease of being CONFLICTED! The symptoms are experiencing or marked by ambivalence or a conflict of emotions.  Upon further examination, it also carries the symptoms of acute contradiction. This disease reacts to simultaneous and self-contradictory attitudes or feelings (as attraction and repulsion) toward an object, person, or action. Some of the behavior exemplified by being conflicted shows a continual fluctuation (as between one thing and its opposite); and an uncertainty as to which approach to follow.

The population in the nation that is most affected by the first wave of the disease is the people of color. Observations by experts note that the present experience of history is being made. It is being made in the fact that this nation from a person of color lawfully obtaining the nomination of a major political party. Those suffering most from the attack of the Conflicted are those whose moral conscience has never allowed them to vote for a liberal agenda that supports abortion at will, gay and lesbian lifestyles, and other positions clearly opposed in the Book from which they govern life and living.

On one hand, they are forced to review in their minds the past eight years under a person who they elected to uphold these ideals and under whose administration all of the above items flourished. When you figure all of these factors, please do not forget to include the larger number of non -blacks who have sought for years for an ideal political wagon. Thinking that they had found one, they hitched their little wagon to the larger one and headed for the utopian moon.

The wagon not only failed to reach its destination, but it fell short, plummeted to the ground, and is now wallowing in the mire of failure and greed. The nation has been plunged deeply in debt; prices are soaring, joblessness increasing, and godliness prospering. THINK, America! Aren’t both sides filled with jargons and sayings that do not touch where you live? They are irreverent of God, irrelevant on issues, and are confident that people are puppets that can be manipulated into the camp of the most persuasive. For so long, they have pushed their wares on abandoned street corners, feeling that lying to you is necessary for the security of the nation, or for the security of getting into the Oval Office.

America, you must deal with the reality of being conflicted! You cannot keep your head in the sand. You must awaken and take the control out of the hands of the deceivers. They must be stopped or greater evil will follow. Let’s imagine this political fan fare as a horse race.

How widespread is this disease? The Washington Derby, no less...The shadows of a negative economy; state and federal mishandling of important matters of state, and the uncertain navigation through murky economic waters, emerged the bulk of this conflict. But a factor, which is taboo, gave birth to the other side of this conflicted mood of this nation. It’s being born Black in America; It’s where you lived the most of your life as a Black citizen and what you were taught, exposed to and both a product and participant in as a black in this nation.

Whenever a Black man comes on the scene in this nation, extreme qualification must follow. He is singled out as a hero in one sense and a reject in the other. Let me give you an example: what pride can a nation have to still have country clubs with exclusion clauses which must be altered to allow the number one seed in golf to compete in the Master’s Open? We just suck it in America, and say, these changes shed light on the manner in which we must progress in order to keep pace with the times. Truth: America was not prepared for the eventuality of a person of color dominating in this particular sport, so the Jim Crow laws that discriminated by color remained in practice.

At home, the American black wanted to raise their hands and say, Lord, first the Williams Sisters and now a Black man, Tiger Woods at the helm of the golf world. Pride night! Then, News Flash: TIGER WOODS ANNOUNCES THAT HE IS NOT BLACK! The American Black is thrown once again in the cesspool of no one wants to claim blackness. Blacks are once again, CONFLICTED.

Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Democrats have had hard fought primary races. The zigzag across this country, the name-calling, the tears of disappointment and YES, history before our eyes… The very first time a black man has carried the distinction of being the Presidential Nominee of a major political party in this nation’s history!

CONFLICTED! A large majority of blacks hate that the highest abortion rates in America are in Black neighborhoods. Those blacks therefore vote against a platform that advocates rights, which, in the opinion of the analyst, empathizes with the “other side of the fence.” Blacks want to have a celebratory attitude, dance, shout, grab hands, and spontaneously sing, “We have overcome, and we have overcome, today!”

For many, however, that party is put on hold! America: The home of the Conflicted has done it again. She’s behaving like James Baldwin’s Native Son! Trying to help, trying to keep things in order and because of fear, the approaching blindness, he accidently kills the white girl he tried to protect.

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Earl D Johnson
Determined by destiny to serve!