Dear Revolutionaries,
Greetings in the wonderful name of salvation, Joshua. That is the actual English name of Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew), and what a perfect name for He Who procured salvation for the entire world.
The Lord became known as Jesus when Christianity was made the official state religion of the Roman Empire by Constantine. In an attempt to make the new religion more palatable to the Greek pagan-dominated Roman world, Joshua’s named was altered to Jesus (or Je-Zeus) which literally means “of Zeus”. And thus the misrepresentation of who Jesus (Yeshua) actually was and what His all-world impacting work had actually done for ALL humanity was codified into state law.
This is how the Greek concept of an eternal underworld, Hades, got merged into the message of Christ. The same is true with the high holy days of Christmas (Jesus was not born on December 25th, it’s the pagan celebration of the winter solstice) and Easter (a festival in honor of the queen of fertility Eshtar, hence all the bunnies and eggs). Jesus has about as much to do with these as He does with a religion based on belief and performance, not much. Fast-forward a couple thousand years, and we are still reaping the harvest of this pagan, worldly, self-righteous, man-made, mixed-up, legalistic religion (aka Roman Catholicism and Evangelical Christianity).
But thanks be to God that we live in the time of world history that the truth of His all-encompassing love and redemption for all has been uncovered through the Gospel Revolution and others. The preaching and teaching of the reality of the Gospel, that Jesus is not of Zeus, but is the Redeemer of all people regardless of belief, religion, race, national origin, sex, or sexual orientation is THE eternal message of unity, acceptance, and tolerance. Can you think of a more important perspective needing to be heard at this time?
Well, more of this good news will be proclaimed tonight on the Glenn Klein Online Webcast from 9-10 EST as Mike and Glenn return to their normal format after a successful Winter Pledge Drive. The boys will be giving a full report on the outcome of the drive. Plus, send in your questions and comments to webcast@gospelrevolution.com and listen to the answers live or on the archive by logging onto www.glennkleinonline.com.
For those of you who listened to last week’s show, you know how powerful that 90 minutes was. Towards the end Michael closed the program with a call to Ted Haggard to repent for Ted’s claim that he was delivered from homosexuality during a three week stint at some sort of rehabilitation center. We have seen first-hand how harmful to other gay men and women and their loved ones it can be to say that one could be “set free” from their sexual orientation. Mike said, “Ted, at some point let something more than money and prestige give you a heart for truth…Saying you went into intensive therapy for three weeks and are no longer gay, you are a liar and are destroying many lives who will try to be delivered in three weeks, fail–as people did when I used to make those kind of claims–and try to commit suicide out of frustration.”
You won’t want to miss more direct and poignant conversation and the opportunity to communicate with Mike and Glenn directly tonight!
During the Pledge Drive our good friend Mike Farmer of GospeLogic.com took advantage of our offer to dedicate an entire Webcast by making a donation of $250. Chris and Lizzy Essymeyer of beautiful Butte, Montana are Mike’s honorees for tonight’s program. (Chris and Lizzy were recent donators, also!) You too can sponsor an entire Webcast for a gift of $250 or more. Simply log on to the web site, click on donations, make your gift of $250 or more (or send a check to MWM – if mailing outside the U.S., please include USF or United State Funds on the check or just send a money order) and then e-mail us at webcast@gospelrevolution.com to let us know for who or what you would like to dedicate your program. Perhaps you want to honor someone’s birthday, anniversary, or an organization. This is a great way to show your appreciation to them and to the Gospel Revolution!
Well, we hope you can spend an hour with the Webcast tonight or sometime soon on the archive. In the meantime, please contemplate that you are loved without conditions or reservations by the Creator of the Universe.
Enjoy,
Mike Williams Media