In This Month's Report:
* Editorial - Nice Enough for Heaven?
* October Events - 'American Band' Competition Brings Harvest of Souls
* October Ministry - Impacting the Northeast
* Tips and Resources - Answering Islam
* Products - Two New Resources (see link below)
* Partnership - Invest in God's Program for the Northeast of America

We would love to hear from you; please send us your feedback today. Don’t forget the ever-popular 'GOD THOUGHTS' at the end of this report. Enjoy! JB

 "We must not suppose that even if we succeeded in making everyone nice we should have saved their souls. A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world -- and might even be more difficult to save. For mere improvement is not redemption, though redemption always improves people even here and now and will, in the end, improve them to a degree we cannot yet imagine." - C. S. Lewis

INTRODUCTION

This December, a multi-million dollar film version of C. S. Lewis's "Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" will be released to be seen by many millions of people worldwide. This rendition will focus on just one of seven stories that Lewis composed with a Gospel analogy in mind (watch for annual sequels).

THE SUPERNATURAL STING

The 'Narnia' movie will perpetuate a message that makes no sense to the logical mind, but is spoken of as a mystery in 1 Corinthians 2:6-8: "However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." This scripture suggests that God conducted a massive 'sting' on the dark powers, completely outwitting them in the process, with Jesus overcoming all sense of self-preservation for the sake of others. The 'Christ' character in 'Narnia' is a lion called Aslan (Turkish for 'lion'), who dies so that one of the main characters might live. Aslan is resurrected and returns to lead the good forces to victory.

HIDDEN WISDOM

The 'hidden wisdom' of Corinthians goes to the heart of one of the Bible's main themes, that the shedding of blood is necessary for the forgiveness of sins. That is the way it was described under the 'Law' in the Old Testament, but at a predestined time, there came into the world a Perfect Sacrifice, whose atoning death and triumphant resurrection showed a better way. He died once for all! He now can offer a 'gift' to everybody - one that cannot be earned but can only be received by faith!

ABOVE REPROACH

Colossians 1:19-23 wraps it all up: "For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight — if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister."

NICE NOT GOOD ENOUGH

America is full of 'nice' people. One of the central themes of post-modern thinking concerning spiritual things is that people are basically good and God would never exclude 'nice' people from Heaven. Unfortunately, this notion does not line up with the biblical description of the fallen nature of humanity, which is described as having a desperately wicked potential. As C. S. Lewis says, being nice is not enough to guarantee redemption. You have to buy into the 'mystery!' #

David Cartledge - After a battle with a brain tumor that lasted less than a year, David went to be with the Lord on October 24th. This was a great loss to the Body of Christ worldwide. I had worked closely in the ministry with David and his wife, Marie, for over 20 years. I will miss him dearly.

Marie wrote this tribute shortly after his passing, "My very dear friends, as you know, David passed triumphantly into the presence of His Lord on Monday, 24th October at approximately 6pm. It was a very peaceful and glorious passing and I am so thankful to the Lord that I was with him at the time.

I want you to know that my confidence is in God, whose plan is always perfect. I have learned to know this year more than ever before, that God is a good God and that His eye is always on us, which means that we are NEVER out of His sight.

The family and myself are blessed to have had him as our husband and father, he certainly passed on the faith to us all and not only us but to thousands of people all around the world. One of his most common messages in the last few years was 'The Power of Passed On Faith' and the most frequent phrase that came out of his mouth in these past nine months, every day, and sometimes many times a day, was "I believe, I believe in you Jesus."

David was a man who was living by faith when he died and has left a legacy of faith for others to follow. I dearly, dearly loved him and we were soul-mates and partners in the Kingdom and I know that I will miss him, however I am at peace with God's choice, David's work on this earth was complete and now he has heard "Well done, thou good and faithful servant".... Love and blessings, Marie Cartledge"

"My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought His battles who now will be my rewarder." —John Bunyan

More on the Second Defense of Marriage Clergy Press Conference and Prayer Luncheon -  The following report is from Tom Campisi, of the Tri-State Voice, "At the [Rally] on Oct. 3, Dr. Lawrence White, a pastor from Houston, issued a Texas-sized challenge to the ministers who had gathered on the steps of the Capitol Building in Trenton. 'God has placed you where you are so you can take a stand for life and family as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ,' he said. 'If you will take that stand, God will stand with you. We’ve been off doing other things and looking the other way. That’s why we are in [this] mess.'

Approximately 280 Evangelical, Catholic, and Jewish clergy and ministers gathered for the purpose of clearly affirming the traditional view of marriage being between one man and one woman and called on the New Jersey Supreme Court and State Legislature to do the same. The group presented a pro-traditional marriage petition signed by 900 clergy and supporters to the governor’s office...

'This is a historic day,' said Len Deo, President of the New Jersey Family Policy Council. 'So many different denominations are standing together for marriage...'

A group of seven clergy and a gay activist held a counter demonstration across the street from the rally and displayed a banner that read, '250 New Jersey Clergy and a majority of all New Jerseyans support marriage for gay couples.' Rev. Jeff Beacham, a member of the New Jersey FAITH Alliance, said a majority of New Jersey residents are not in favor of same-sex marriage and noted that the assembled clergy represented millions of potential voters.

'Some believe our stand is a minority in this state. But the reality is just the opposite,' he said. 'What gives us the arrogant right to think that we have the right to change the definition of marriage?' The pastors let their collective voice be heard regarding that definition, especially in light of a case pending before the New Jersey Supreme Court that could determine the outcome of same-sex marriage in the Garden State."

City Action Coalition Hosts Seminar, "Who Said Same-Sex Marriage is a Civil Right?" in Harlem - Rev. Eugene Rivers (see photo on left) is ordained with the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) and is based in Boston, MA. He has been at the national forefront of these issues for years. He was our guest speaker on October 12th at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building in Harlem, NY.

Among Rev. Rivers' comments were these succinct statements, "We are called to communicate with individuals who do not share our world view…. But we have not effectively communicated our position... God has called us to be loving. I am not intolerant just because I disagree with you…. There is no basis for the historical and political equivalent of the gay movement and the black experience. While other groups have experienced hardships, none have experienced the black experience.... We are all equal but not everything we do or say is equal… When my sexual identity centers around my sexual satisfaction, that trumps the common good!"
 

'American Band' Competition Brings Harvest of Souls - Abundant Life Worship Center in Whippany, NJ, devised a relevant way to reach the lost. Under the direction of worship minister, Donnie Rosa, they hosted a competition between 10 local bands based on the 'American Idol' concept. Donnie, David Moyse and myself were the judges. David and I were both professional musicians for many years in Australia (he was in 'Air Supply') and were among the founding musicians of the church known today as the Hillsong Church. The competition was held on Saturday, October 15th and all competitors returned to the church service the next day to hear who won. Several gave their lives to Christ after an impassioned appeal from senior pastor, Joseph Arminio. This is a novel and relevant way to reach this generation.

Long Overdue Vacation - On October 19th, I was able to go on a cruise ship out of New York City to the Caribbean (St. Thomas, Tortola, St. Maarten, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and back tom NYC) for 10 days. This was a great time of refreshment and refirement!