At the risk of offending some folks who I care about, I want to direct all readers of my email, living in the United States to the following website www.thejudeo-christianview.com. It will probably take you 45 minutes to read the contents and watch all the videos. I know we are all busy, but we are facing an historic election and never has there been more at stake. This site will inform you on the positions both leading candidates have on two key issues.

For the record, neither of the leading candidates are who I would choose to lead this country. I find myself in the position of once again of having to choose between blocking what I believe to be the worst of the two leading choices instead of voting for who I really want to see in office.

My friend Dr. Gary Cass, former executive director for Dr. D. James Kennedy’s Reclaim America ministry, now heads up the Christian Anti Defamation Commission. He asked me to make you aware of the important information on his website. Perhaps the most disturbing has to do with child sacrifice (abortion) here in America. The last video shows Dr. Bernard Nathanson, formerly the director of the largest abortion clinic in the western world who claims responsibility for over 75,000 abortions. His confession is compelling.

Please share this with pastors and other believers.

Thank you.

“In the world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

If you haven’t read the posts on yesterday’s blog, I recommend you do. It has to do with the trials we as the corporate body of Christ are walking through. I asked you to comment because the enemy of our soul wants us to feel alone… discouraged… fearful. Did I mention feeling very alone? Your comments put the enemy on the run!

Here’s the deal… Jesus told us we would have tribulations. He also promised “he that overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” In fact, read Revelation 2 and 3 again. He has much to say about those who overcome. And how could we overcome if there wasn’t something to overcome? This is the moment we are living in right now. This is our opportunity to overcome! Blessed be the name of the Lord forever!

Make no mistake.
Greater trials are ahead for the nations of the world and for us as a people. We are currently in the workout room. Tomorrow we head into battle. (This I say by way of comparison and not to minimize the reality of our current battle.) To win in the battle going forward, I believe we need to be joined with a network of like minded, like hearted individuals who understand the gravity of the hour, the ferocity of the battle and the seriousness of the stakes!

Here is my commitment to you…
In response to the hour we’re in, I am dedicating this next season of my life to pulling together just such a network of people. I will invest heavily of my heart, my time and my finances into raising up a network of people who are called to the battle in the marketplace. I will work full time on their behalf, researching, seeking God and distilling into relevant, actionable intelligence the information and wisdom we need to overcome in the days ahead.

The investment on your part will be embarrassingly modest, but I cannot tread out the grain without eating a little along the way. It will be called the R.A.I.N. Report and it will be delivered to your door, not via email. It’s that important. (We will accommodate international subscribers via either a membership site or PDF delivery for the sake of speed and cost.) Those of you who have purchased the Rainforest Strategy book will get a 50% discount. (The book is foundational to concepts and content going forward.) Details will be following in the very near future.

It is my honor to serve with you!

“Wait upon the Lord: Be of good courage and He will strengthen your heart.” (Psalm 27:14)

I’m hearing about tough times from every corner. In addition to the economy, I’ve been hearing from ministry leaders here in the US and around the world a resounding theme. It goes something like this… “In all my years in ministry I have never been through anything like the last 6 – 12 months. This is the toughest time in over 40 years, 30 years, etc of ministry.”

The sense I am getting from the reports I am hearing is like there is an ever increasing level of spiritual pressure being applied frontally to the body of Christ. Not to everyone, but to many who are trying to make a difference and advance God’s kingdom here on Earth. I am asking if you have noticed the same thing and if so, please post what you are observing, because I want to discern what is happening in the corporate body of Christ. I think this will help us all.

Furthermore, my staff approached me today with this concern and made a suggestion of how we could help folks who are struggling right now with respect to their business and financial life. First and foremost, we need to draw near to God and He will draw near to us. But for some of you or someone you know, there is a need for some practical, Biblical guidance to put action to faith. It’s kind of like baseball… If you don’t step up to the plate, you will never get to first base. Please check this out if not for you, for a friend in need. You will be glad you did!

“Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”…“I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.” John 15:2, 5

I am writing this blog looking at out at a hedge that has a few branches shooting out above the rest of the hedge. It is mostly in shape, just a few overly exuberant branches growing out of sync with the rest. What it needs is a light trim. Sometimes we are like that. Doing mostly fine with just a thing or two out of balance that God wants to trim.

But if I leave the hedge alone until Spring, it will get way out of control and it will be time for a major pruning. Sometimes when we avoid the minor pruning the Holy Spirit does through the Word when we choose not to be trimmed back by its instruction, He sends in something a little harder to ignore. Tough circumstances. That feels a lot more brutal but usually has the effect of making us more receptive to the still small voice of the Lord and the guidance of Scripture.

There are bushes however that are perfectly fine, doing just what they are supposed to do and are only pruned way back for one purpose. That purpose is not to punish or correct, but simply to create more fruitfulness. Perhaps that’s you. Knowing the purpose of the pruning doesn’t make it less painful, but at least we can take some comfort in what we know is to follow.

Yesterday I was interviewed on a radio station and was asked “What about all the folks who are now losing their homes due to current economic conditions?” Well first of all, it is sad and it is painful but I also believe it is a pruning of sorts. When the pruning is done, healing begins and a season of fruitfulness opens up better than before and that is something to look forward to. Fruitfulness always follows pruning. Boom follows bust. It’s just the way things cycle. Better to understand the cycles and cooperate with them than to whine and complain and fight against them. Read my chapter called Strangler Fig Phenomenon in Rainforest Strategy to learn how to cooperate with and profit from cycles.

Speaking of pruning, it seems the US markets dodged the bullet on Friday, but this week is quite another thing and possibly another one for the record books. Collapsing hedge funds look like the trigger this time. I am planning on attending a teleseminar this week that speaks to causes and remedies for the madness going on in our economy. Check it out here for details.

“Two beers please.”

“But sir,” the stewardess warned, “the flight is only 30 minutes.”

As he settled into the window seat by my wife, Casey replied, “I could down a six pack.”

Casey was clean cut, tattooed with matching earrings and an attitude to match! It was an early morning flight and I had planned to have some quiet time reading my Bible and didn’t want any interruptions. The Lord had other plans. Before long Casey and my wife were in deep conversation and she was trying to involve me. Judging by how quickly he was downing his favorite brew and by his seemingly carefree attitude, I didn’t perceive him as a ready candidate for to receive Christ in the 20 minutes remaining in our flight.

As much as I wanted to leave the chit chat to them so I could continue with some much needed time in the Word, the Holy Spirit kept stirring in me to participate in what He was doing. “But Lord,” I argued, “there are only twenty minutes before landing… that’s not enough time to do any good.”

As I opened the Scriptures, my eyes fell upon this passage in Proverbs 24:

“Deliver those that are drawn toward death, hold back those that are stumbling to the slaughter; If you say, Behold, we knew it not; does not He that weighs the heart consider it? And He that keeps your soul, does not He know it? And shall not He render to every man according to his works?”

I may be slow, but I’m not stupid! I immediately turned to Casey and told him how the Lord had been dealing with me to speak to him and how reluctant I was until He directed me to that passage. When I read it to him, he was visibly shaken.

Read the rest of the story…

“Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”…“I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.” John 15:2, 5

In our last blog we talked about unfruitful Christians, a condition caused by dirt (sin) blocking the light and rendering us unfruitful. It’s a season most of us have experienced at one time or another and one that Jesus remedied with the washing of the water of the word (John 15:3, Eph 5:26). There are plenty of folks who are “in Christ” but stuck in the mud of sin. If that describes you right now, ask the Lord to wash you with His word. As He does, you will naturally respond by turning to the warmth of His light and in the process turn away from the dirt that held you in its grip.

But suppose you have produced some fruit. That’s good, but here comes the shears. God likes fruit and wants plenty of it, so he will cut you back in ways that seem frightfully painful at the time, but always draw you closer to Him. I don’t believe that is in the form of sickness or by making a loved one suffer but rather an altering of your circumstances that affect the flow of the resource you most need to produce the fruit you are after.

As my wife likes to say, “You’re pruned if you do and pruned if you don’t. Blessed be the name of the Lord!” Catch the next blog as I share the difference between a trimming pruning and a radical pruning. The latter being the most exciting and most painful. I know whereof I speak… I am completing a season of radical pruning (I hope) right now.

“Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”…“I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.” John 15:2, 5

If you pay close attention to the above verses, you will see that Jesus is speaking to those who are in Him. Of those that are in Him, you will find four kinds of Christians… Those who produce no fruit, those who produce some fruit, those who produce more fruit and those who produce much fruit. All of them are Christians, but some are more fruitful. And really, it’s probably not four kinds of Christians, but rather a representation of Christians at four different places in life. Progressing through each phase is at once both painful and joyful if you can see it for what it is.

So what does God the vinedresser do to those who produce no fruit in their life? At first glance, it looks like He removes them from the scene, that He takes them away. But “take away” is not the best translation here. It really means that He “lifts up” every branch that bears no fruit. A good vinedresser notices the branches hanging low to the ground. He cleans off the dust that prevents them from receiving the light and producing fruit, lifts them up and ties them to a trellis. They may feel confined, but they are finally in a position to produce fruit.

If you have not been fruitful in your life of late, maybe it’s time to ask the Father to lift you up from the ground, wash off the dirt that so easily besets us, blocks our vision of the light and deprives us of fruitfulness. Ask Him to fasten you in the place you belong in the light and help you keep you there. It won’t be long before you start seeing fruit.

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine; neither can you, unless you abide in me.” (John 15:4)

But what about all those people who accomplish so much while never abiding in Christ? If they can do it why can’t I? And more to the point, if I’m a Christian doesn’t that mean that what is produced in my life is fruit? The answer is no. Not everything we produce with our lives is fruit. We often spend a lot of time creating wooden apples and wax pears so to speak. From a distance it looks like real fruit, but it bears no life. No seed from the Divine heart of God. It is impotent, foul tasting and can serve only as a façade to fool those around us into thinking we are fruitful, when we are not. If you keep producing imitation fruit, you will start believing it’s real. Maybe you already do.

We must discern the difference between works of the flesh (imitation fruit) and works of the Spirit which produce real fruit. Producing imitation fruit will keep you busy, frustrated and unfulfilled because deep down inside you know something is missing. That something is the Seed, the deposit of the Spirit that originates, propels and completes the production of real fruit.

You can’t experience that without a continual abiding in Christ. Do you know what that looks like in practical terms? Can you describe it to me experientially instead of merely theologically? If you can’t, then it’s a good indicator that you may not be really abiding in Him. You may believe in Him and go to Heaven, but I am talking about something quite different. I am talking about bringing Heaven to earth by manifesting in the here and now the fruit God wants to produce through your life.

I recently discovered I have a very short time left to live. I actually read about it in James 4:14 and decided to follow the advice of Moses in Psalm 90:12. It’s very sobering. Bottom line for me going forward is fruitfulness. With what time I have left, I want to bring forth much fruit. Care to join me on that journey?

Last week I predicted on Sunday that the coming week would make history in the markets. It did. We suffered the worst weekly loss in 112 years of the Dow Jones. No worries though. The central bankers of the world got with the political leaders of the world and hatched a plan. Then our president assured us that all would be well. I feel better now. How about you? For a brief overview of what leading political and economic figures have had to say in previous turbulent times, you really need to check out this link. Pay close attention to the last quote by FDR. It should rock your world.

To give you some context for the times, you really need to familiarize yourself with this chart from the depression era. What you will notice is that the 1929 crash was not nearly as bad as what followed in 1931 and 1932. It took three years for the markets to lose 90% of their value. We on the other hand are only down 40% in the last year. What you need to pay close attention to is the enthusiastic spikes upward every few months that led folks to believe the recovery was on the way. It was not. Not until they had reached nearly total collapse.

What’s going to happen this week? I don’t know. A precipitous drop or a spectacular gain are both probabilities in my book. The latter will only last long enough to get some more sucker bets from folks who think this is a great time to buy back in. Been there. Done that. Not true. Read the links above to understand where I am coming from.

So what does this mean to you and me? First and foremost, do not get into fear. Fear tends to lead people to make poor decisions. This is a time of crisis and the crisis will worsen before getting better. Be Issacharian in nature. Discern the times and know what to do – and how to do it! Crisis creates opportunity.

In my book Rainforest Strategy, I talk about the Fungus Factor – How to Get the Most From the Least. It’s about creating tremendous value out of what other folks see as valueless. It can make you a lot of money because the cost is very low and the upside can be very high. I call the process fungigation. One of the ways to make it through this coming tough time is to learn how to fungigate. It’s a new way of seeing old things and then helping others see what you see. It is probably the most significant wealth secret in the rainforest.

There’s more to it than that and space does not allow. Besides, I really want you to buy the book. It won’t bring world peace, but it can bring economic peace if you apply the rainforest wealth secrets I share inside its pages. Get it now and let me know how you apply the wealth secrets to your life. Blessings on you all.

The Dow is down about 3000 points in the last 30 days. If I had told you on Labor Day weekend that was going to happen would you have believed me? Well consider this… You ain’t seen nothing yet. We are coming through the gate. What’s on the other side is new territory for all of us and it’s not pretty. If you are not prepared, you need to act now.

We are collectively being herded through the gate into unfamiliar territory. More than ever you will need to put your trust in the Lord. And more than ever you will need new skills to survive and thrive in the new economy. Fear not little flock. It is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. He will take you into His ways if you have eyes to see and ears to hear.

Want to know His ways? Consider this… The first thing God did when wanting to bring order to chaos in Genesis 1 was to bring light to the situation. Light enables vision. Light reveals. In the rainforest light powers everything. In business, light is vision. Vision enables clarity and cash follows clarity. Need more cash? Get more clarity. Need more clarity? Find and focus on the vision.

The first wealth secret in the rainforest is the fact that everything in the rainforest grows toward the light. There is a reason for that and you need to understand that reason and use that knowledge to power you through the transition we are now in. Go to www.RainforestStrategy.com/about-the-book and order your copy of Rainforest Strategy now. You won’t be disappointed. It has been written for such a time as this.