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October 2000 Newsletter

October 2000

Welcome to the Gentle Revolution!

The battle has been waxing hot all across the nation since we returned from our spiritual warfare at the gates of hell in St. Louis. Brothers and sisters have reported increased incidents of violence toward them at the mills and at the high schools. It seems a universal truth that the police believe that we are the troublemakers. If we get beat up by some passer-by on the street, we are only getting what we deserve. Be that as it may, the victories you have been reporting to us are glorious!


Radical Homosexual Pastor Presses Charges against National Director of Operation Rescue

(Press release issued September 17, 2000. Also read Homosexuality vs. Christianity)

Immediately following the Sunday morning services on September 17, 2000 at the Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, Texas, Pastor Michael Piazza pressed assault charges against Rev. Flip Benham. Cathedral of Hope claims to be one of the largest homosexual congregations in the country and is a part of the Metropolitan Community Church sect.

Benham, the National Director of Operation Rescue and Operation Save America, attended the 10:00 a.m. service and shook the hand of Piazza while reminding him of his false portrayal of Christ. Piazza, who fashions himself a very tolerant and enlightened man, was absolutely intolerant of Benham's greeting and asked him to leave the premises. Benham complied, reminding Piazza of his exclusionary and bigoted portrayal of Christians during his sermon.

After leaving the premises, Benham was told by Dallas Police that Mr. Piazza filed assault charges against him. Piazza claimed Benham held his hand too long during the greeting. Ironically, the title of Mr. Piazza's sermon for September 17, 2000 - "HOLD MY HAND"!

"This is simply another example of Mr. Piazza's absolute intolerance and contempt for those who hold to the Gospel of Christ and wish to see those trapped in the sin of homosexuality set free. Piazza wants it his way or no way - there is no room for disagreement," said Rev Benham. "Piazza's laughable overreaction to a sincere rebuke is really the lonely whine of the entire homosexual community looking so desperately for the Father's love in the arms of another man. When someone dares to say that Father's love cannot be found in such a way, watch out!"


In Birmingham, Alabama...

Dave Lackey reports that the number of abortions is down and that many of the abortion industry employees are quitting and giving their hearts to Christ. Officer Morro, a Birmingham policeman and a part-time security guard for an abortion mill, ran for mayor of a small suburb outside Birmingham. Dave held a press conference in the town and revealed the truth about Officer Morro's absolute assault on Christians outside the mill. He told of the over fifty arrests Morro made at the mill and how not one of them resulted in a conviction. He told of Morro's penchant for lying under oath. Morro, who was just three votes away from winning the election outright before the runoff, ended up losing the election by over 200 votes after Dave was done with his press conference. Over 89% of the electorate turned out to vote. This was the largest voter turnout ever in the city. Dave was thanked profusely by the mayor, the police chief, and the fire chief. Many of the citizens would never have known the truth about Mr. Morro unless someone had the courage to tell them. Way to allow your theology to become biography, Dave!


In Bridgeport, Connecticut...

Though the saints in Bridgeport, Connecticut have come under fire from both within and without, the Spirit of Almighty God is still manifesting Himself wonderfully through them. Forty to fifty gentle Christian warriors are turning out at the gates of hell every day the abortion mill is open. Many of them are kids from a nearby Christian high school. The abortion mill itself, the only one in Bridgeport, is now open only two times a week. It is breathing with a death rattle and we pray it will be closed forever very soon. Please pray for the saints in Bridgeport!


In St. Louis, Missouri....

The St. Louis contingent is fighting well even though the lion roared and arrested Pam Cunningham, one of the most gentle sidewalk counselors I have met. The enemy thought this would intimidate the Christians of St. Louis but it did just the opposite. Others came and stood in Pam's place. There have been no more arrests. More than 100 Christians turned out last Saturday at the Planned Parenthood abortion mill including Al Gross of the Tim and Al Show. Listen to what the saints are saying about the event in St. Louis:

"Through OSA, the Lord showed me the vast difference between the playground of American Christianity and the battleground of Biblical Christianity, and placed in me the desire to change diets from the cursory cotton candy of 'conservatism' to the solid strong meat of Scripture."
- Sarah Zes

"I felt as though my family and I were fighting this battle by ourselves until we met you in February at Kiener Plaza. We were hungry for Jesus, and what a better way to come to know Him than our week with OSA in St. Louis. Surrounded with the great prophets of our time and Christian saints from morning til night, our hearts were turned! And our eyes saw the vision we had yearned for! God bless you and thank you for saving this family."
- Daniel and Angela Michael and their 11 arrows

"Now I have lived taking the Gospel of truth to the gates of hell. Now I have lived taking a stand and not budging. Now I have experienced the continued importance of God's righteous standard. Now I have a glimpse of why there were riots or revival everywhere the apostles taught. How can I any longer quietly accept compromise and deception?"
- Mike Wolf

"I had heard the words, 'Here I am, use me', countless times before, but I did not take hold of them and make them mine until the week of OSA. I realized during that week that it was an all or nothing deal. He brought me to the place where I am willing to sacrifice all for the sake of Christ. My life is not my own, it is His."
- Rebecca Zes


The Treachery at Willow Creek Church Continues - We will storm the gates in Chicago, October 22, 2000

In a letter dated September 6, 2000, Bill Hybels continued to "whitewash" his own sin (the cover-up at Willow Creek Leadership Summit) and the sins of his friend, President Clinton. He speaks of the "scandal of grace" as if there were nothing by which one could or should judge between good and evil. The Gospel according to Rev. Hybels is that grace is something that God gives to anyone who calls on the Name of Jesus whether or not he repents of his sin. It appears God's Law has no place in Rev. Hybels' "scandal of grace."

The Law of God, however, is the teacher that leads us to Christ (Gal 3:24). It is crucial in bringing a man to the end of himself and to a Savior who died for him. When a man's heart has been broken beyond all human healing over his own sin … when his hopeless estate before a holy God is revealed - it is then, and only then, that God's magnificent mercy and grace can be found. Mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:13) because judgment is now no longer the last word. Christ is the last Word! He paid the terrible price for our sin. It cost Him much. His mercy and grace are now lavishly poured out upon all those who repent and call on His Name. But mercy can never be had apart from judgment. It is precisely the whole aspect of judgment and the Law of God that was overlooked in the interview between Mr. Hybels and the President. Here is the letter:

Dear Friend,

Thanks so much for taking the time to write to me regarding my interview with President Clinton at the Leadership Summit. As you might imagine my office was flooded with correspondence from all over the world because of his interview. Much of it was strongly supportive, and of course, some of it expressing deep disappointment with our decision to conduct the interview. I originally intended to respond to each communiqué personally--point-by-point--but soon realized that my "day job" would be put on hold for months if I attempted that. Therefore, this letter is being sent to everyone who contacted my office, pro or con. I hope you will understand.

In the final analysis God will be the final judge about the wisdom *(or lack thereof) of this decision. There is coming a day when I, and the elders of Willow, will receive divine feedback for proceeding with the interview, and we will stand accountable to God that day. From this day until that day, we intend to continue to proclaim the scandal of grace to each and every sinner we can get a hearing from, and I trust you will do the same.

God's best, Bill Hybels

Here is a response from our own Brenda Spurlock dated September 10, 2000. I found it quite insightful.

Dear Mr. Hybels,

"While the 'scandal of grace' you refer to in your letter sounds poetic, and proclaiming it to President Bill Clinton makes you appear important and noble, the truth, as you surely know, is that the grace of Jesus Christ covers only those who repent from their sins. Mr. Clinton obviously has not done that. Because He truly loved them, Jesus warned those He counseled to go and sin no more. He talked about entering by the narrow gate and how broad the path to destruction is. He warned that "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." He said that to some he will declare, 'Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.' (Matt. 7:21-23).

You've held up to Christians and the world an example of what the 'scandal of grace' can accomplish in a man who, even now, is in open rebellion against God. Pretending that you don't know that and can't know whether you've acted correctly until Judgment Day is preposterous. Christians, even pastors, have been given the wherewithal to make those kinds of judgments in the here and now. Our standard of measure is the Bible. Christ said, "He who rejects me and does not keep my words, has that which judges him- the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day." (John 12:48).

Jesus said we can recognize wolves who just pretend to be sheep by their fruit. During his presidency, Mr. Clinton has supported, promoted, and enshrined the sins of (child) murder and homosexuality. Under his watch we've gone from killing babies in the womb to legalized infanticide of delivered babies. Remember how he "prayed about it" before vetoing the ban on that gruesome form of baby-killing, partial birth abortion? No wonder Paul told Timothy that some men's sins are so obvious they precede them to judgment (1 Tim. 5:24). Bill Clinton has had the Justice Department harass Christian pro-lifers who protest at child-killing clinics. He paved the way for researchers to use aborted children in their experiments. This led to the recent scandal regarding abortion clinics selling babies' body parts. No repentance evident here.

Recently Mr. Clinton used the Justice Dept. and the Dept. of the Interior to intimidate the Boy Scouts of America because they will not allow homosexual leaders. Mr. Clinton had these departments investigate the BSA to determine whether the organization is in violation of his recent anti-discrimination Executive Order. The Dept. of the Interior's investigation held the threat of ejecting BSA completely from all federal lands. Such "wolfish" responses to the righteous actions of others portray the president's wicked and unrepentant heart.

When I consider how Christ threw out the moneychangers who were polluting the temple, and how jealously Paul guarded the reputation of the church, your responsibility in this situation seems very clear. You need to make a public apology for spotlighting this unrepentant sinner as though he has been redeemed. You have potentially misled many people into believing that they can continue in gross sin and expect heaven's mercy.


Update On the Benham Twins

Many of you have inquired about our twin boys and wondered how they have been doing in their baseball careers. They are now 24 years old and graduates of Liberty University. They played all four years of college baseball at that grand old Christian University. David married Lori Pelletier two years ago. Lori went to college with Dave and is a dynamic witness for our Lord. Last October Lori gave birth to a son, Bailey Joseph Benham (our first grandchild). Jason is going to be married this December 29th to Tori Cantidore, a marvelous young lady who loves Jesus and large families. This is very good!

As most of you know, David and Jason have always had a dream of playing baseball for the glory of Jesus. Many of our springs and summers were spent on baseball diamonds all over Texas. For almost twenty years, the Benham family would take an annual summer vacation to Georgia to visit Faye's parents and brothers and sisters. On the way to and back from vacation we would pass the big AA baseball stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. David and Jason always prayed, as I imagine a lot of young boys have prayed, that one day the Lord would bless them and they would play in that stadium.

After graduating from Liberty in the spring of 1998, both David and Jason were drafted into the pros. The Boston Red Sox drafted David in the 11th round and the Baltimore Orioles drafted Jason in the 37th round. They were excited and thankful to Jesus for the opportunity He had given them to lift up His Name in professional baseball. Many of you were in Orlando that summer of '98' when they were drafted and both shared their testimonies at one of our rallies. Rusty, Luther, Pastor Bill, Dave Lackey, and all the men of God gathered around them and laid hands on them and asked God to have His way in their baseball careers. It was a prayer that was never to be forgotten by these two arrows.

In Dave's second year of pro ball he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for a major league pitcher named Kent Merker. The Red Sox were making a run for the pennant that year (1999) and needed some pitching help. Dave loved the trade and this year moved up to the Cardinal's AA team in Little Rock, Arkansas. Jason did not fare quite so well as he had his shin shattered while playing baseball in Hickory, North Carolina, in the spring of 1999. Many of you prayed for him and God saw fit to bring a wonderful healing to his leg. He was able to attend spring training this year and make Baltimore's high A team in Frederick, Maryland.

In May of this year, however, Jason was released from the Oriole's roster and his boyhood dream of one day playing on the AA baseball field in Shreveport, Louisiana, was over. He coached a college baseball team in Connecticut for the rest of the summer and knew that God, who does all things well, had a plan for him.

As God would have it, David played his baseball this summer with the Arkansas Travelers which is the St. Louis Cardinals AA team. One of the teams they play during the season is the Shreveport Captains (San Francisco AA). Yes, the Shreveport Captains play on the field the boys had prayed over for twenty years. Faye, the kids, and I traveled to Shreveport to watch him play. We remembered the prayers that the boys prayed when we passed that field on our vacations. We couldn't believe we were actually on the field. We called Jason while we were on the field and he wished so much that he could be there with us to share the joy. Jason lived the answer of his boyhood prayers through the life of his brother. He was so excited that David had made it.

Well, that was a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday, we found out that Jason, who had been visiting his brother in Little Rock, had been asked to sign with the AA Arkansas Travelers. We were absolutely stunned! Jason, who was out of professional baseball for three months, was asked to sign on his brother's team! This never happens in professional baseball. What's even more amazing is the fact that the last three games the Arkansas Travelers play will be at the stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. Can you believe it?


David and Jason Benham

I wept as Jason called and told me that the Arkansas Travelers had signed him. When he told me that he also would be playing on the field that both he and his brother had always prayed they would play on - I could hardly contain myself. What a wonderful way to close a dream! David said that he believed this miracle was simply God's confirmation on the life of his brother. Jason, you have been faithful and we rejoice with you!

This excerpt was written Monday, August 28, 2000. Today, I want to testify that only God knew the significance of that baseball field to our family. Only He could have orchestrated such a miracle. The whole family packed up bags and made the big trip to Shreveport. Jason had a magnificent performance on the field going 6 for 11 with 2 doubles and 4 singles. We paused and remembered the God whom our family serves. We thanked Him for His inexpressible goodness to us. Let the Name of Jesus be praised!

Keep pressing the gates in Jesus' Name,

Flip Benham,
Director


Upcoming Events

Let's Finish It! - Return to Wichita
2001 Summer Event, July 15-21