Wednesday, October 15, 2014

October News from Mission Surge

Dear Friends of Mission Surge,

I wanted to give you a brief update on what is happening with us.

First, if you have not watched The Oblivious Film yet, please take time to check it out and share it with those on your email list, Facebook friends, Twitter followers, etc.  It was, and still is, our prayer that God will use this film to wake up and shake up the Bible Belt to our desperate need for the Gospel.  You can watch the film at www.oblivousfilm.com

Second, if you have not taken time to follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and follow the Mission Surge blog, please do so today.  The links are below.




Third, we are currently in the final stages of a very strategic discipleship study that we have been working on for the past year.  It is a curriculum that we hope will help individuals mature as disciples and also be able to use to make disciples.  We hope to be announcing the details very very soon.  Please be in prayer for this and keep your eyes open for more details soon.

Fourth, I would ask that you please pray for me and with me.  I am in the midst of seeking God’s direction concerning several inter-connected issues/possibilities.  If you would pray that God would give me and my family His wisdom, discernment, leadership, guidance, and direction I would greatly appreciate it.

Finally, I wanted to ask you to pray for two of our affiliated ministries:  Coram Deo and ECCI.  You can learn more about both of them at www.missionsurge.com  Pastor Jerry Marcellino (ECCI) will be traveling, along with his wife, to Italy to work with Coram Deo next month (November 5-21).  I ask you to pray for them and for the work of Coram Deo.  If you are interested in more detail or if you are able to help them financially with this effort, please contact Jerry or donate through our website. 

Below is a personal letter from Jerry and I have attached more information about what they will be doing while oversees.

If you are receiving this email it’s because I count you a dear personal friend and brother in
Christ. And because I know you to be one with a heart for the gospel and a desire to see Christ 
proclaimed among the nations, I have written this note to request your prayers for my wife  
Dawn and me as we go minister in Italy and Sicily next month (November 5-21). Please see the
Above attachment for details about these two important leadership conferences. 

Basically, we are going to be addressing the topic of “Holiness” to both the male leadership and
women from the various churches who will be attending (including missionaries) these two
conferences from both the far Northern to the extreme Southern regions of Italy.

We are also seeking the Lord for roughly $3,500 at this “late” hour to cover some last second
unexpected costs for my wife and me, as well as for other conference expenses for putting on
these two weekends. If you can pray for this wonderful ministry opportunity and also consider
making a gift toward meeting these needs, either personally, or from your church or its mission’s
committee, that would be very encouraging to us and a blessing to Italian believers.
I remain, your affectionate brother,
In the co-labors of the gospel,
Jerry Marcellino
*Please feel free to call me on my cell number below.
**Please visit the link below for more important information related to our trip:


Jerry Marcellino
Pastor, Audubon Drive Bible Church
P.O.Box 8055
Laurel, MS 39441-8000

Mobile 601-466-6568
Office 601-649-8570



Thank you for your prayers and support of Mission Surge.  Please keep us on your prayer list!  Please keep us in mind if we can be of any use to you or your church for revivals, harvest days, missions conferences, etc.  Until next time…

Monday, October 13, 2014

Why I am Convinced America will Fall

Why I am Convinced America will Fall

I am not a prophet nor am I much on politics.  I am just a no name pastor.  So, what I am about to say is not coming from a legal scholar, a lawyer, a politician, or anyone with any national influence.  What I am about to say however, I do believe comes from godly wisdom.  Take it or leave it, I am convinced it is true; America will fall and it will fall due to slavery.  Yes, you heard me right.  Slavery.  Let me explain.
Between 1861 and 1865 America was involved in a civil war, at least partially, over the issue of slavery.  Thankfully, slavery in the United States came to an end after the Civil war.  It would take another one hundred years and a civil rights movement for black americans to be given equal opportunity.  All of this was made possible because slavery came to an end in the United States of America….or did it?  
After the civil war ended the sovereignty of the state was swallowed up by the authority of the federal government.  Thence ends one form of slavery, and thus begins another form of slavery.  States lost, and continued to progressively lose their sovereignty.  Through a multitude of grants for education, social welfare, construction, transportation etc. the federal government bought the states (and the citizens of those states) over the next 150 years.  Now, all 50 states and their citizens, are enslaved to their new master:  the political “powers that be” in Washington.  This epidemic of subtle slavery has spread like wildfire and it is for this reason that I believe America is destined to fall.  Consider the following thoughts.

1.  Senior adults (65 and over) are enslaved

Social security came into existence in 1935 and, since then, the senior adults of this nation have become more and more dependent upon the Federal government for their sustenance and medical care.  Caring for widows and the elderly is no longer a need for churches.  Uncle Sam has it “under control.”  If a politician wants to go down fast, let him mention touching social security.  Those of retirement age in America are, for the most part, totally enslaved to and dependent upon the federal government. 

2.  Adults (18-64) are enslaved

Consider the number of people who are working and how many of them are dependent upon the state for their employment.  They are city employees, state employees, or are employees of businesses that are subsidized and upheld by government grants etc.  (I am NOT implying that it is wrong to have a “state job!”  I am just stating the fact that those who work a state job are dependent upon the state and the tax revenue of the state i.e. federal government)  

Consider those adults who are not working, but who have learned to work the system!  The number of people who have been purchased by the federal government for the price of food stamps, EBT cards, medicaid, welfare, disability etc. is continually increasing.  Again, caring for the poor is no longer a need for churches.  Uncle Sam has it “under control.” As of 2011, almost 50 million people received food stamps and medicaid!  49% of the population received benefits from one or more government programs.  Now, not only the senior adults, but those of working age (whether they are working or are working the system) are enslaved to and dependent upon the state.  How many people have been sold at the auction block of America for the price of an EBT card?  All along they thought they were working the system, when in fact the system has been working them! 

3.  Young people (5-17) are enslaved

Consider the number of children in public schools in the nation.  As of 2011 that number was almost 50 million.  Say what you will, but the whole “our schools aren’t like their schools” argument no longer holds water.  All of the schools belong to Washington.  Why do you think the administrators and teachers go into panic mode when test time comes?  Panic ensues because the scores determine the ranking of the schools which determines how much federal funding the schools get.  After all, they cannot function without the funding of the federal government.  They have been bought with a price and are now the property, not of the people of the school district, but of the powers that be in Washington DC.  Consider the philosophy of Karl Marx who said that, “in order to establish a perfect socialist state, you have to destroy the family.  You have to substitute the government and its authority for parental authority in rearing children.”  Washington is training the masses in America to look to the state for protection, provision, and permission in every area of life.  There is an agenda in it all.  If you don’t believe this is reality today, two words should get your attention:  Common Core.  The Public schools, no longer belong to their communities. They belong to Washington.  

4.  Food, Water, Electricity and More

Consider the fact that Washington owns, at least on some level our nations farms and food (which is a whole other story) The government has its hand in our water and electricity production.  We look to the government to help us with climbing energy costs.  We look to the government for subsidies that will lower the costs of our food, water, and electricity never realizing that it is our tax dollars that provide the subsidies!  

Our enslavement has been so subtle, we don’t even own our own property anymore!  Uncle Sam does!  Consider this.  If you paid cash for your home and property you would say that you are debt free.  You would have no mortgage and that would feel great!  You would own your own home.  However, what would happen if you did not pay your property taxes each year?  The home is “yours.”  The land is “yours.”  But if you fail to pay your property taxes, the state will “repossess” “your” property and sell it because you failed to pay your property taxes.  If the state can take my property because I failed to pay them, the question naturally arises: who really owns my property?  

You see that virtually every aspect of our lives, our schools, our employment or lack thereof, our retirement, our homes, our state governments….all are enslaved to Washington!  We are a society that is as much a victim of slavery today as black americans were in 1860, if not more so.  We are just no longer enslaved to a plantation owner.  We are enslaved to politicians!  But that is not all.

5.  China and Russia

The vast majority of Americans have willingly sold themselves into slavery for a bowl of lentil soup.  But…and this is crucial to see….our task-masters…the federal government, have sold themselves, and us, to another master!  We have all been carried to the 21st century slave auction and sold to China and Russia.  The federal government’s fiscal irresponsibility has so indebted this nation(we are more than 17.5 trillion dollars in debt) that the average American citizen owes the government more than 55,000 dollars!  If China and Russia pull the plug on America and cash in on this debt, what happens?  

Who will Set us Free?
  1. Not the Politicians!

It seems that the Republicans and the Democrats are on the same paths.  Sure, one path may move a little faster to the goal than the other path, but the paths lead to the same destination.  We don’t have a two party system in this nation.  We have a socialist party and a socialist-light party.  The politicians are not the answer…they are the problem.  Are  we naive enough to think they will save us?  It is not going to happen.  It is too late.  We are too far, too gone.
Please don’t be so naive that you think the state government and politicians will save us either.  All the buzz about seceding from the Union is a bad joke.  It is not going to happen. It can’t happen.  Uncle Sam made sure of that after 1865.  Our states are enslaved to the federal government.  The federal government funnels money to them so that they can then use that money to keep their citizens comfortably satisfied with grants, social welfare, and smooth roads etc.  To stand up to Washington would threaten those funds which would then cause discomfort and displeasure to their clientele which could threaten their political standing in the state government.  No, the state politicians will play the game.  And let’s not forget that most of the state senators and representatives long to become federal senators and representatives.  Standing up to the big boys in Washington isn’t the quickest way to the top, so you can stop putting your hope in the local guys either.  They have sold themselves and their districts into slavery too!

2.  Not the Citizens

Please don’t wait for the citizens to stand up and do anything either.  For the most part the men in this nation have been castrated.  Can you see the Revolutionary War being led by a bunch of guys in skinny jeans and flip flops?  The younger generation is so feminized that the only place they could even begin to fight any type of battle would be on their game console!  
And let’s be honest…griping radio talk show hosts don’t help at all!  A griping head is no threat to anyone.  They just vent and give room for others to vent.  And please hear me when I say that liking something and sharing it on Facebook is almost as useless as playing your video game or watching fox news all day!  Do you really think the government gives a rip about your Facebook post?  They know as long as you are glued to the television and to social media liking and sharing you aren’t doing anything.  Carry on! 
Liking and sharing a post that says, “Try and take my guns and see what happens!” is as productive as me parking my vehicle in a crime-ridden neighborhood, leaving the keys in the ignition, and leaving the doors unlocked only to go into my bedroom, shut the door, and post on Facebook, “Try and steal my car and see what happens!”  While you are on Facebook, they are taking the car!
To make things worse, Americans citizens are as fiscally irresponsible as the politicians we elect.  The average american is more than 225,000 dollars in debt!  With our big houses, fancy cars, four-wheelers, boats, credit cards and more, we are so financially strapped, we can’t point a finger at Washington.  The federal government is up to its eyeballs in debt and so is the average citizen.  Bankruptcy awaits virtually everyone and no one seems to notice!  We are all amusing ourselves while Rome burns!

3.  No other nation

The Muslim world is not going to come liberate us.  They might make a Caliphate of us, but they aren’t going to liberate us.  The European Union will not come liberate us.  The UN is definitely not going to come to our aid.  And Russia and China, the new powers that be in the world, aren’t real interested in assisting us either.  News flash!  We have spent the past 100 years policing the world, and the world police department is about to implode.  All that will be left is lawlessness, until someone heavy handed and brutal enough forces his way onto the stage.  We are alone.

Conclusion:
America is enslaved.  The politicians in Washington aren’t going to help us.  The politicians in our state governments aren’t going to help us.  The citizens aren’t going to help us. And no other nation is going to help us either.  Our only help and hope is from God, who is not too pleased with our baby murdering, homosexuality promoting, unjust, greed saturated, self-centered, post-modern humanistic nation with its watered down churches.  So what can we do?  That will have to come in a later post, but until then let me give you some bullet points.
Again, I am not prophet.  I am no political analyst.  I am not a very smart man at all.  So, take these with a grain of salt, adjust them, add to them, but do something.

1.  We must prepare spiritually.  We must humble ourselves, pray, turn to God, and repent in sackcloth and ashes.

2.  We must prepare mentally.  We need to get our minds wrapped around the fact that the course we are on must someday come to an end.  We don’t want to be tossed off of the plantation and share-cropping for the next 100 years without at least mentally preparing for the difficulties and dangers ahead.  Get your mind prepared for trials.

3.  We must prepare financially.  Get out of debt and get out of debt fast.  Sell everything you have and start over with a 1970 model car and a 1970 model 14 by 60 mobile home on 1/8 of an acre if necessary.  Get over covetousness, greed, and the idea of the American dream and get out of debt!  

4.  We must prepare physically.  What are the necessities of physical life?  Make a list.  Try to prepare enough for your family, your neighbors, and so that you can offer hospitality to strangers during another depression-like era. 

5.  We must prepare socially.  One of the biggest needs that I see is community.  We live in an individualized, independent society where we park in closed garages and have privacy fences around our yards so that we do not have to see anyone.  If America falls, we will need each other.  Get involved in a church family where you can link arms with other men and women. 

Maybe I am wrong in my unprofessional analysis of the situation at hand in America.  I don’t claim to be an authority for sure.  I know my bullet list of what we should be doing is probably weak and very little help.  But, I hope that at least we can agree that with the economy of our nation, the immorality of our nation, the anarchy of our nation (just look at Ferguson, MO) as well as an ebola pandemic threatening our nation, we are not on a hopeful course in America or the world.  I fear the hand is writing on the wall and we have been weighed in the balances and found wanting.  My hope is that we will at least turn off the ball game long enough to realize it.