Admin

The President

zakotagirl — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 04:27:00 GMT

Here are some guidelines for praying for the nation's president:

The President
Dear Father, in Jesus' name I lift up our president to you. I know that our leader's heart is in Your hand, so I ask you to guide the head of our nation in the way You would have him to go.

Father, I pray that You would surround our president with wise counsel—men and women of integrity who place Your agenda and the good of this nation above their own and whose motives are for that which is right.

I pray that You would give our leader discernment, understanding and knowledge so that our nation may know stability internally and abroad.

I give thanks for our president according to Your Word and thank You for working in and through his leadership so that we might lead peaceable lives in godliness and honesty.

Scripture References
1 Timothy 2:1-2
Romans 13:1 NAS
Proverbs 28:2 AMP
Proverbs 21:1 NAS
Proverbs 16:10 AMP
Proverbs 8:15 NIV

"Direct my thoughts, words and work, wash away my sins in the immaculate Blood of the Lamb, and purge my heart by Thy Holy Spirit...Daily frame me more and more into the likeness of Thy Son Jesus Christ."

- George Washington, 1st U.S. President

Source: Pray for Our Nation
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
CLICK HERE to purchase your own copy of
Pray for Our Nation today!

What's Wrong With The Golden Compass?

CCs Admin — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 18:22:00 GMT

Note: This article by Kellie Copeland was originally published on kcm.org here; it was also published on CFAITH.com here.

In the days we are living in it is imperative that we be aware of God's plan for this generation. At the same time, we must not be ignorant of Satan's plan and devices. He has launched an all-out attack on our children in an effort to control their hearts and minds. Many Christian parents, while aware this is his goal, will unknowingly allow the enemy the access he is after.

The Golden Compass, a children's fantasy movie starring Nicole Kidman, released on December 7, is one such doorway into the minds of children. The movie is based on a novel written by avowed atheist Phillip Pullman. The Golden Compass is the first book in a trilogy called "His Dark Materials" which also includes The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass (for a summary of these books go here)

Many of you are aware of the anti-God, anti-church, anti-authority message of these novels. However, some parents will allow their children to see the movie where the anti-God message will be toned down significantly for the screen. Many will be deceived into allowing their children to read the books. As believers, we must take our position in opposition against anything that would exalt itself against the Word of God.

Despite saying he is only telling a story, the author is very passionate about his beliefs. This should be enough to keep believers away from seeing the movie or allowing their children to read these books. The purpose of this article is not aimed solely to discuss what is right or wrong, but reveals God's purpose and plan for this generation and expose the enemy's objective as being the destruction of God's position in the home, family and church.

Satan is afraid of this generation of believers and is doing all he can to divert their attention from the Lord. In "His Dark Materials" the content is the antithesis of everything the Lord has planned for our kids.

Consider the collective impact of the following points taken from interviews and quotes from the series and by Mr. Pullman himself:

THE FALL IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN

It is considered a positive step towards enlightenment and the improvement of life. It is a central theme of the trilogy. Lyra and Will (the two main characters) represent Adam and Eve, whose temptation was their love for each other.
In a recent interview¹, Mr. Pullman states, "...the Satan figure is Mary Malone, not Lord Asriel and the temptation is wholly beneficent. She tells her story about how she fell in love, which gives Lyra the clue as to how to express what she's now beginning to feel about Will, and when it happens, they both understand what's going on and are tempted and they...fall—but it's a fall into grace, towards wisdom, not something that leads to sin, death, misery, hell and Christianity."
In another recent interview², Mr. Pullman says, "...The thrust of the story, the sympathy of the story if you like, seems to be with the side that many traditionally minded Christians in particular have thought to be the wrong side. The general theme, the general gist of the whole book is that the famous story of the Temptation in the Garden of Eden and the Fall of Man so-called, when Eve gave way to the temptation to eat the fruit of knowledge and tempted Adam to eat it as well, that this traditionally [has] been presented as being a very bad thing and Eve was very wicked and we all got covered in sorrow and sin and misery from then on as a result of this...well, I just reversed that. I thought, wasn't it a good thing that Eve did? Isn't curiosity a valuable quality? Shouldn't she be praised for risking this? It wasn't, after all, that she was after money or gold or anything: she was after knowledge. What could possibly be wrong with that?"
In a speech³, Pullman states "We don't need lists of rights and wrongs, tables of do's and don'ts: we need books, time and silence. 'Thou shalt not' is soon forgotten, but 'Once upon a time' lasts forever." In the same speech, he also noted: "Wisdom isn't gained from God but from experience and making your own choices."

THE CHARACTER CALLED GOD IS THE ENEMY

In The Amber Spyglass, it reads: "The Authority, god, the Creator, the Lord, Yahweh, El, Adonai, the King, The Father the Almighty—those were all names he gave himself. He was never the creator. He was an angel like ourselves—the first angel, true, the most powerful...The Authority was the first of all. He told those who came after him that he had created them, but it was a lie."

THE REPUBLIC OF HEAVEN

Mr. Pullman says⁵, "We're used to the kingdom of heaven; but you can tell from the general thrust of the book that I'm of the devil's party, like Milton. And I think it's time we thought about a republic of heaven instead of the kingdom of heaven. The king is dead. That's to say I believe that the king is dead. I'm an atheist. But we need heaven nonetheless, we need all the things that heaven meant, we need joy, we need a sense of meaning and purpose in our lives, we need a connection with the universe, we need all the things that the kingdom of heaven used to promise us but failed to deliver. And furthermore we need it in this world where we do exist not elsewhere, because there ain't no elsewhere."
In yet another interview⁶, Mr. Pullman says, "The republic of heaven...stands for a sense of community. It stands for joy. It stands for a sense that the universe and we together have a common meaning and a common destiny and a purpose...I don't want to do without heaven, but I can no longer believe in a kingdom of heaven, so there must be a republic of heaven of which we are free and equal citizens—and it's our duty to promote and preserve this."
This philosophy is promoted by the main character, Lyra, who speaks of the Republic of Heaven⁷: "'We have to be all those difficult things like cheerful and kind and curious and patient, and we've got to study and think and work hard, all of us, in all our different worlds, and then we'll build....' 'And then what?' said her daemon sleepily. 'Build what?' 'The Republic of Heaven,' said Lyra."
When asked about Jesus' statement¹ "Unless you become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven," Mr. Pullman responded, "He wasn't right all the time."

THE NAME OF THE TRILOGY—"HIS DARK MATERIALS"—IS DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED TO THE WORD OF GOD

Everything in this universe is made up of light at its core. When God said, "Light Be," it was! God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all. We are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth (1 John 1:5-8). We are children of the light. Darkness does not comprehend us.

THE CHURCH IS ESTABLISHED AS THE ENEMY, AS ARE THE PARENTS

The main characters are hunted and kidnapped by the "Church." They seek to destroy Lyra, Will and others.

THE SOUL OF LYRA AND OTHER CHARACTERS EXIST OUTSIDE THEIR BODIES IN ANIMALS CALLED "DAEMONS"

The dictionary defines daemon as "a spirit, evil spirit, demon."
On Philip Pullman's official Web site⁸, he states, "...readers have told me that the daemons which at first seem so utterly fantastic soon become so familiar and essential a part of each character that they, the readers, feel as if they've got a daemon themselves. And my point is that they have, that we all have. It's an aspect of our personality that we often overlook but it's there."
In a BBC Radio interview⁹, he said, "...the daemon is conceived of as being the gift of the rebel angels. Now in the course of the myth, the rebel angels are on the side of right and decency and goodness and consciousness, and all these things. The rebel angels...gave to the beings in each world who were evolving, a gift that would help them understand themselves and become wise. In some worlds, they gave them a daemon."
The Golden Compass Movie Web site¹⁰ states in a character summation that, "In Lyra's world, a person's soul lives on the outside of their body in the form of a daemon—a talking animal spirit that accompanies them through life, always close to its corporeal half. In a description of daemons, they say that in our world it is possible that people have daemons as well, only they are invisible. You can create your own daemon avatar to take into the world with you by selecting "meet your daemon" on the Web site.

THE CULMINATION OF THIS SERIES IS THE DEATH OF "GOD"

With his death, society is freed from control, and the main characters are able to be free from danger and from a "king."
Consider the message sent: God is the enemy; the church is a dangerous enemy and a big mistake; the most mature and enlightened thing you can do is to disregard authority (include parents in that); fallen angels are the good guys; your "daemon" will speak to you from outside of your body and God is dead.

This is mind-altering stuff at 9, 10 and 11 years old. When a child reads or watches this type of demonic message, it will influence the thought processes and the heart toward God you have worked so hard to develop by prayer and discipline. Seeds will be planted that may not show up for years to come. But they will produce a harvest.

I encourage you to go online and do the research for yourself. Sit down with your children and talk with them. It is our duty to say "no" when they ask to go to a movie, read books or fill their minds with things that are in opposition to God. It is OK for them to be the only person in their class who hasn't seen The Golden Compass! Inspire your children by reminding them frequently of the amazing plan God has in store. Teach them of His faithfulness. Teach them about THE BLESSING!

I refuse to be silent and let Satan control their destiny in the name of entertainment. We are God's people and we must live to please Him! (Phil. 2:12-13 NLT)

FOOTNOTES

¹ http://www.thirdway.org.uk/...?page=3949
² http://www.abc.net.au/.../s510312.htm
³ http://www.randomhouse.com/.../carnegie.html
⁴ Harry Potter, Narnia, and The Lord of the Rings by Richard Abanes, pp.33
⁵ http://www.hisdarkmaterials.org/.../home
⁶ http://darkadamant.betterversion.org/...Pullman.txt
⁷ http://www.hisdarkmaterials.org/.../faq
⁸ http://www.philip-pullman.com
⁹ http://darkadamant...Pullman.txt
¹⁰ http://www.goldencompassmovie.com

Christmas Traditions

CCs Admin — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:14:00 GMT

Take a moment and tell the community a little bit about your family's Christmas traditions!

What do you do on Christmas, what special ways do you remember Christ's birth, what do you eat, where do you go, etc. Anything goes, as long as it pertains to your celebration of Christmas.

Or, if you're not the traditional type (which is OK too), what un-traditional ways do you use to commemorate the birth of our Savior?

Oh, and from all of us here at CFAITH, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Happy Thanksgiving from CFAITH Communities!

CCs Admin — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 20:00:00 GMT

All of us here at CFAITH would like to wish all of our members a very Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy your time with family and friends, and remember all that God has done for you.

Over at CFAITH.com, we posted some articles about thanksgiving on our home page and in our C-ZINE, so be sure to check those out. And if you're looking for additional thanksgiving articles, you can use CFAITH's full-text search here.

So, that leads me to my question: what are you thankful for this year?

How do I add an attachment to a forum post?

CCs Admin — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:45:00 GMT

Somebody asked me today how they can add an attachment to a forum post, and—since it's a pretty useful feature—I thought I'd cover how to do it in detail here. Please note this this also works for private messages! A private message uses the same exact "engine" as the forums, so it's exactly the same if you want to attach something to a PM.

Anyway, on to the good stuff!

How to attach a file to a forum post

First, when you are composing a forum post (doesn't matter if it's a reply or a new thread), click on the Options tab. Then under "File attachment" click Add/Update:

The "Upload File" screen appears. Click Browse to choose a file that you want to attach:

Navigate to the file on your computer. Click on the name of the file, then click Open:

Now you're back on the "Upload File" screen. Simply click Save:

Now you can see that your file is attached to this post. You can either update your attachment by clicking Add/Update next to its name, or you can remove it from your post by clicking Remove:

Once you publish your post, you can see the attachment just below the name of the post. Anyone can now view your attachment by simply clicking on its name.

Hope you found this guide helpful! Feel free to post any questions/comments about it in the comments section below.

Tip of the Day: How do I tell which forums have new (unread) posts?

CCs Admin — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:53:00 GMT

Have you ever been browsing the forums page but were unsure how to tell which forums have posts that nobody has read or responded to yet?

It's really easy to tell!

Forums that have a GREEN ICON next to them are considered ACTIVE; that is, there are new, unread posts. Forums that have a RED ICON next to them are considered INACTIVE, meaning there are no new posts:

This is useful for two reasons (well, actually more than that, but...these are the biggies!): 1. You can see which forums aren't being used (the red ones) and you can start a new topic there to spark interest; and, 2. You can see which forums people have not responded to yet (the green ones). It's important that we respond to everyone's posts.

So now, armed with this new and exciting information , you can find GREEN forums and respond to them, and/or you can find RED forums and start new topics!

New article by Larry Ollison

CCs Admin — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:26:00 GMT

Hey everybody! We've got a new article by Larry Ollison on CFAITH today. Here's an excerpt; follow the "read more" link at the end to view the article in its entirety on CFAITH.com:

Several decades ago, deep in the Ozarks, my great-grandfather taught school and preached the Word. He was a circuit rider. Much of his education came from a series of books called The Biblical Educator. It is such a blessing for me to now have these books in my possession.

At the turn of the century, the Word was being taught and people were being born into the church. However, the popular view of prophecy by the theologians of the day was full of opinions and speculation. The Biblical Educator was very strong in its belief that Israel would never physically become a nation.... (read more)

Does your church have an official "Fall Kickoff"?

CCs Admin — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:13:00 GMT

A lot of churches have a "fall kickoff" where they gear up for all the ministry/activities that take place throughout the fall/winter.

Does/did you church do a fall kickoff? Just curious....

Remember to leave comments!

CCs Admin — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 03:00:00 GMT

Hey everyone.

It looks like we've got a lot of good teachers on the community, and that's great. However, I would like to encourage everyone to spend at least as much time listening and responding to posts as you do writing your own. After all, there's a reason God gave us two ears and one mouth: we should be listening twice as much as we are speaking. The community will be much more enjoyable for everyone if we put an equal amount of time into listening to what others are saying instead of just worrying about what we have to say. Maybe make it a goal to leave a comment on someone's blog that you haven't interacted with before. Or, another idea is you could try and leave a comment on someone's blog every time you write a post (those are just suggestions, not hard fast rules or anything...I'm not a tyrant here ). So anway, let's make sure that everyone gets a chance to have their blogs read, and commented on. Thanks!

Just a friendly admonishment! God bless....

We have 1000 members!

CCs Admin — Thu, 31 May 2007 16:39:00 GMT

This is probably old news to most of you by now, but we have hit quadruple digits in our membership: that's right, CFAITH Communities has 1,000 members!

Remember back just a few months ago when we were getting excited about having 100 members? Well, look at what God had done in only a few short months.

So now we press on to five digits: 10,000 members, here we come! Thanks for being a part of CFAITH Communities. We are thankful for all of you, and we continually pray for in our staff prayer time.

God bless!

How to: Publish directly to your CFAITH Communities blog using Microsoft Word 2007

CCs Admin — Mon, 14 May 2007 19:34:00 GMT

The following video is a how-to that shows the steps necessary to publish to your CFAITH Communities blog from Microsoft Word 2007.

Before you watch the video, please pay careful attention to the following notes:

The video is not produced by CFAITH Communities; it was made by the company who created the software that we use on our site.
Also, at one point the video talks about a path that you're supposed to enter into Word to publish to your blog, but you'll actually want to enter this URL into word at the appropriate time: http://community.cfaith.com/blogs/metablog.ashx (it should be apparent when to enter this URL).

Ready? The tutorial can be found here.

National Day of Prayer 2007

CCs Admin — Thu, 03 May 2007 13:30:00 GMT

This week, on Thursday, May 3, the United States celebrates its National Day of Prayer 2007. The National Day of Prayer was established as an annual event in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman.

The observance of the National Day of Prayer is founded on the constitutional rights of freedom of speech and freedom of religion and can be celebrated by all Americans. President Ronald Reagan amended the law in 1988, designating the first Thursday of May each year as the NDP.

Why We Pray
As American troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, President Franklin Roosevelt called for our nation to unite in prayer. He also offered a prayer to prepare each citizen for the road ahead: "Let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons, wheresoever they may be. And, Oh Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee."

The victory that followed on June 6, 1944—also known as D-Day—began the march to Berlin. Eighteen months later, WWII was over and one of the world's greatest evils had been defeated. The prayers of a nation had been a powerful force.

Prayer has always been used in this country for guidance, protection and strength—even before we were a nation or a handful of colonies. The Pilgrims at Plymouth relied on prayer during their first and darkest winter. Our founding fathers also called for prayer during the Constitutional Congress. In their eyes, our recently created nation and freedoms were a direct gift from God. And being a gift from God, there was only one way to ensure protection—through prayer.

President Abraham Lincoln knew this well. It was his belief that, "it is the duty of nations as well as men, to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God." When it came to the fate of the nation, he practiced what he preached. Before the battle of Gettysburg, he turned to God in prayer. "I went to my room one day and I locked the door and got down on my knees before Almighty God and prayed to him mightily for victory at Gettysburg."

Won by the Union, Gettysburg was one of the turning points in the war that ended slavery and kept the states united. Today the need for prayer is as great as ever. Our nation again faces battlefields, along with an epidemic of broken homes, violence, sexual immorality and social strife. As the heroes of our nation did in the past, we must again bow our heads in prayer.

We must ask the Lord to bless our leaders with wisdom and protection, and that we will have the fortitude to overcome the challenges at hand. If Roosevelt, the Pilgrims and Lincoln never underestimated the power of prayer, neither should we.

It is our goal that you, your family and friends would participate in the National Day of Prayer. We pray that the event impacts your life, and that praying for our nation moves from a one-day event to a lifetime endeavor. So join us on the first Thursday in May and pray with conviction that God would continue to shed His grace on thee.

Pray for State and Local Leaders

Pray for State Leaders

U.S. Senator: _____________________________

U.S. Senator: _____________________________

U.S. Representative: _________________________

Governor: __________________________________

Lt. Governor: _______________________________

State Senator: ______________________________

State Representative: ________________________

State Supreme Court Justices: _________________

Pray for Local Leaders

County Officials: _____________________________

Court Officials: ______________________________

City Officials: ________________________________

Judges: _____________________________________

Mayor: _____________________________________

Police Department: ___________________________

Fire Department: _____________________________

School Authorities (public & private): ____________

Don't forget to check out the forums!

CCs Admin — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 04:20:00 GMT

Hey everyone! Just a quick tip here from your friendly CFAITH Comminites Administrator:

Don't forget to check the "Unanswered Forums" box on the home page's right sidebar. This shows you forum posts that have been written, but that no one has responded to yet:

In order to be a vibrant community, we should do our best to make sure everyone's forum posts get answered!

Also, don't forget about the handy "My Discussions" box that shows you all forums you are participating in:

Finally, the "Active Forums" box just shows forums that have had recent actvity:

That's all for this tip!

Site outage update

CCs Admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 21:38:00 GMT

Earlier today we noticed that some folks were not able to add new forum/blog posts. After some research, we pin-pointed the issue to one of the CFAITH Communities servers. In order to address this issue, we had to transfer our database to a different network drive.

For this reason, we had to bring the CFAITH Communities site down this afternoon from approximately 3:45 - 4:30 p.m. CST.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Everything is now back up to normal...so go ahead--blog away!

CFAITH Communities Introduces new WYSIWYG editor!

CCs Admin — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 13:30:00 GMT

We're excited to introduce a much-improved WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor for CFAITH Communities. With this new editor, you can:

Create and edit tables
Insert special characters
Right click on various objects to configure their properties
Insert Media
Insert a single line break (instead of a double space)
Remove Microsoft Word formatting on the fly
Switch easily between Design, HTML, and Preview modes
And much, much more....

Here is a before and after comparison of the two editors:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Addendum: you don't have to use the new editor if you don't care for it. Thought we've made it the default, you can still change it back to the old one if you wish.