OUT OF THE BOX

CUBA'S EXAMPLE There was a revival among the Christians and churches in Cuba as Fidel Castro and the communist party were coming to power. A missionary who was in Cuba at the time told me that most of the Christians supported Castro. They believed his promises. Like the socialists and communists of today, he was promising them equality and all the utopian benefits that come about by redistributing the wealth. Once he was in power…reality struck hard. Everyone became equally poor and under the power of a government that controlled everything and told them what they could and could not believe. RUSSIA'S EXAMPLE The Bolshevik revolution in Russia promised to free the people from what they considered to be a repressive regime and replace it with the equality and prosperity of a socialist and communist utopia in which all their needs would be met by the government. But with communism’s rise to power came oppression, suffering, poverty, shortages, and the absence of freedom. The com...

THE CAT AND THE RAT Courage to Face the Battle Dear Friends, This post continues our message on the spiritual battle and illustrates how Christians tend to enjoy church but fail to take the message of the Gospel out into the world. While Christians have been reluctant to face the world, we need to be aware that the battle may now come to us. The spiritual forces that hate God and His word will also hate Christians. But to be more specific, they may claim to love God, but just hate Jesus Christ and those who follow Him. That's why the Bible calls the end time "man of sin" the “anti-Christ." As the western world tends to unite under some all-inclusive religious unity devoid of Christ, it will begin more and more to attack Christians personally and legally through the laws of the land, and thus attempt to silence the testimony of Christian who would share the good news of Jesus Christ and His Word. We are in a spiritual battle. And Christians who have tended t...

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN SUFFERS VIOLENCE. "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." Matthew 11:12. "But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying, 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we mourned to you, and you did not lament.'” Matthew 11: 17. The first verse quoted above describes the intensity that occurs around the Kingdom of God—the aggressiveness of those who seek it, and the violent resistance of those who reject it. The second verse compares the religious world to children sitting in the marketplace playing games rather than engaging the realities occurring around them. It is a picture of typical Sunday morning church-goers’ failing to recognize they are participants in a spiritual war. Taken together these verses urge us to put on our spiritual armor and be prepared to fa...

“For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” Philippians 1:29 The “Others” Hebrews 11:32-35a gives an impressive list of victories and conquests achieved by God’s people as they moved in obedience and faith. We emulate their experiences as we read how they subdued kingdoms, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle and turned to flight the armies of aliens. Some even received their dead raised to life again. As Christians we stand in faith and believe that we also will see these same victories accomplished by followers of Christ today. However, we must also be to prepared to join and stand with the “others” described in the next few verses (Hebrews 11:32b-40). These “others” also stood in faith and were strong in the grace of God, but they did so during suffering. “Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that...

Dear Friends The following paragraphs tell my personal testimony of how Jesus revealed Himself to me and healed me of mental torments I went through suffering silently during my youth. I pray this will speak to and encourage others who may be experiencing similar afflictions. Billy Long “BILLY, STOP THE HUMMING” PANIC DISORDER No one knew the mental torment I was going through, and I managed to keep it hidden from my parents, sisters, and friends through all my years in elementary, junior high, and high school. The problem was a blend of some sort of panic disorder accompanied by an obsessive-compulsive disorder. I first experienced it in the car returning home from my tonsillectomy surgery. As the car approached our home at the crossroads in Longs, SC I suddenly felt different and strange in the head. I thought to myself, “Something isn’t right.” I was only eleven or twelve years old and did not have the maturity or vocabulary to explain it to anyone that my mind was different....

Dear Pastoral and Ministerial Friend I am sending this email out to a limited audience, mainly to pastors and friends who are involved in ministry. I pulled this message from a file I wrote a couple years ago. The article is not comprehensive, but rather is just the "tip of an iceberg" of material that could and may follow. It deals with the issues of control versus allowing ministries and spiritual gifts in individuals and the church body to mature and grow. Billy Long Control vs Releasing Ministries Excessive control by leaders can be rooted in wrong motives, not trusting people, and not trusting God with people. It can stem from a leader’s inflated opinion of himself, from a desire for power, or even from insecurity. Often it is used to hide flaws and lack of integrity within the organization or in the leadership itself. The need to control is often manifested in the fear of delegating responsibility. When a leader is reluctant to release people to their various areas o...

This post is worth reading. It is written to encourage you to stand in faith trusting God’s ability to perform His will in your life as you surrender to Him in faith and obedience.-- -Billy Long   Facing discouragement us and seeing the failures of God's people we are often tempted to lose heart and faith. We have seen what we thought were the wrong people succeeding and the wrong people failing. Like John the Baptist we have seen the glory and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God!" Then we have sat in our "prison cells" and said, "Are you the one or do we look for another? Did I miss it?" We have stood on the mountain top and cried out, "This is it!" And we have crawled on the valley floor crying, "Where did it go?" We have said, "Lord, I'll never leave you nor forsake you" and later denied Him before the rooster crowed. We have slept while others were in their Gethsemanes. We have had friends walk into our Gethse...