Whitney Houston: Innocent beginnings; quick emergence to superstar status; fame and fortune; slow but sure destruction; multiple attempts to recover; tragic pre-mature death.

This story involving music people who arrive at high levels of fame has been repeated way too many times. Whitney Houston is the latest tragedy in a long string of these heartrending human processes of abuse and addiction that lead to pre-mature death.

The concern being presented in this writing is one for the young generation that is now emerging to the forefront. We have many beautiful, talented, gifted, and yes, anointed young people who are currently standing at the beginning of the journey to fame and fortune. Whitney Houston stood in that place many years ago. What are we going to do to prepare these young creative innovators in how to manage the pressure that comes with fame?

Strong and consistent communication is one method of preparation we can develop. We can continuously communicate the privileges that come with celebrity, but also the pitfalls of fame. What is the proper view of fame? Is fame deserved, or is it a privilege? What responsibilities are connected to fame? What is the healthy mind set that will empower a young person to carry the stress of fame without cracking under the pressure? What lessons can be witnessed in the shifting values of a star like Beyonce? How can a young person avoid the pitfalls of a party girl like Lindsey Lohan? Is it possible to track the disastrous journey of Whitney Houston? What caused her to choose Bobby Brown? What caused Rihanna to choose Chris Brown? What caused some of the interesting behavior we witnessed with Michael Jackson? There are obvious privileges and obvious pitfalls. How can we effectively communicate both to the young generation? How do we gently, but aggressively push the conversation when our young people don’t want to listen anymore? We must find a way.

We can improve our presentation of life foundations. Biblical values are the basis for human morality. The Ten Commandments were given by God to provide humanity with a base line on how to live a successful life. Choices are so huge in life. How would Whitney Houston’s life and career have been different if she had chosen different relationships? Proverbs 13:20 will tell us if we connect with wise people we will increase in wisdom; but if we connect with fools we will be destroyed. How can we communicate this truth to young people in a way that will be appealing to them? Former President Calvin Coolidge once said, “The right thing to do never requires any subterfuge; it is always simple and direct.” The “right thing” is always the wise thing. Stephen Covey said, “Doing more things faster is no substitute for doing the right things.” The Covey quote addresses one of the issues of fame. Fame seems to push people into doing more things, and doing more things faster, in order to keep the momentum of a career building toward increasing popularity. Biblical values and righteous choices will lead a young emerging star to slow down the process. How can we teach our young people to control the process instead of allowing the process to control them? We must find a way.

We can also improve the life examples we are presenting to the young generation. How can we teach the young ones about making wise moral choices when we are captured in our cycles of immorality? Our marriages must be strong and healthy. Unmarried parents must live in emotional stability and moral purity. We must live our lives in holiness, which can be defined as single-mindedness. Our realization is that everything matters. We cannot afford to behave one way inside the church building, and then another way when we leave the building. We cannot chastise our teenagers about the way they dress, and then intentionally dress as provocatively as possible. We cannot manage our finances in dishonest or “shaky” ways, and then expect our young stars to effectively manage the fortune that could come their way. We cannot continue in our attempts to form identity by performance and pleasing people. That example will lead our children to emotional instability, cycles of rejection, co-dependency, and possible disaster.

The day after Whitney Houston passed away I was watching the video of her rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at the 1991 Super Bowl. No one has ever sung the National Anthem like she did that evening. She looked so vibrant, alive, and filled with joy. Her voice was absolutely glorious. She moved an entire nation with that one song, that one appearance. And then came the video of Ms. Houston at the Michael Jackson celebration in 2001. She looked like skin-covered death. We must search for and discover effective ways to prepare our young ones for success so we don’t have to witness that level of destruction again. Will our passion be stirred? Will we initiate an approach to our young ones? Will we have strength to endure to the finish? We must find a way.

Welcome to 2012! Isn’t that amazing? For someone like me, born in 1952, hearing about 2012 just seems a bit weird.

2012 is going to be a great, great year! I believe it. The number 12 is interesting in scripture. 12 is connected with perfection of government; divine authority and appointment; governmental foundation; and rule through government. I believe that 2012 marks the beginning of governance for the body of Christ. Governance is the effective exercise of authority. This is the beginning of the people of God becoming prevalent in a righteous way. We have been a laughing stock to many for far too long. Our influence and significance will be elevated this year, and increasingly so in the years to come. There is an emerging remnant. But, we must emerge with wisdom instead of foolishness. When we come with wisdom we will also have the ability to think and plan strategically; and governmental structure will increase. The way to GOVERNANCE is through WISDOM. The way to WISDOM is through THE FEAR OF THE LORD. The way to THE FEAR OF THE LORD is through COMPLETE SURRENDER & BROKENNESS.

In II Chronicles 1 and I Kings 3 Solomon has an encounter with the Lord. We first see Solomon worshipping and giving in an extravagant fashion (1000 sacrifices). In response to such extravagance of worship (“on that night”) the Lord visits Solomon and says, “Ask for whatever you want.” That is an extravagant response from God. Solomon asked for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Solomon understood he had a governmental deficiency. He knew in order to govern he would need wisdom and an understanding heart. I believe we need to be calling out to God for a strong impartation of divine wisdom. Wisdom is the foundational strength of government (Proverbs 8:15,16).

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” researchers Rob Willer, Ko Kuwabara and Michael Macy devised a set of ingenious experiments that showed how distressingly easy it is to make people go against what they believe to be true.

One of the experiments involved wine-tasting, in which participants evaluate both the wine and one another’s wine-tasting skills. The participants were given three samples of wine. In reality, all three samples were from the same bottle. One had even been tainted with vinegar!

Before they delivered their evaluation, they listened to other participants, who were plants, who praised the vinegar-laced wine as the best. Half of the participants went against their own taste buds and joined in praising the vinegary concoction.

Even more interesting is what happened next. Another participant, who was also a plant, told the truth about the wines. But when it came time for the participants to evaluate each other, some of them were permitted to do so confidentially, and the others had to do so publicly.

The ones who gave their evaluations confidentially praised the truth-teller. But those who had to evaluate the truth-teller publicly actually turned on him and gave him low marks.

The researchers call this phenomenon “false enforcement,” which they define as “the public enforcement of a norm that is not privately endorsed.”

What sustains the norm isn’t its popularity, much less its validity but, instead, the desire to “avoid a negative social judgment from one’s peers,” according to the report. Important words.

And the desire to “avoid a negative social judgment” feeds what German sociologist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann called the “Spiral of Silence.”

Simply stated, out of a desire to avoid reprisal or isolation, people go along with what they think is the popular opinion — even if they object to that opinion personally. Instead of voicing their objections, they remain silent.

That’s precisely what’s happening in the debate over so-called same-sex “marriage.” Actually, “debate” is a misnomer. There’s no lack of evidence indicating that most Americans oppose it: Every time the question has been put on the ballot, voters have upheld the traditional definition of marriage.

Yet to voice that private opinion in public is to be subjected to a real-life version of what happened to the wine-tasters: an almost-universal chorus of people telling you that any “right-thinking” person favors so-called same-sex “marriage,” and that those who don’t are homophobes and “bigots.”

The result is the “spiral of silence.” People keep their supposedly “wrong-thinking” opinions to themselves, which, in turn, reinforces the impression that same-sex “marriage” is inevitable.

The good news is these kinds of spirals are fragile: Once exposed, they unravel. All it takes is someone like the little boy in Andersen’s fable to pipe up and say, “Hey, the emperor has no clothes!”

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Greg Howse

Life Paths #2

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Greg Howse

Life Paths

Our world is rapidly changing. As nations are being shaken the Holy Spirit is calling us to advance the Gospel of the Kingdom with His power. There is also a shaking taking place through the compound interactions of the multitudes by the use of multiple social networks. There are thousands just like us that God has anointed for such a time as this. I am inviting you to come and hear what the Holy Spirit has to say to the emerging Remnant. This is THE MANDATE Conference!

As this shaking continues God’s Remnant is rising!

* Elijah discovered 7,000 remnant prophets who had not sold out.

* Gideon found 300 faithful, courageous, remnant warriors who brought deliverance to a nation.

* Paul changed the city of Ephesus, starting with just 12 Spirit-filled people.

* Jesus baptized 120 with power and they turned the world upside down.

The Spirit of God is gathering His remnant, spiritual warriors just like us that want to make an impact with their lives.

Join me and our Mandate team, along with others, November 16-18, 2011, at Cornerstone Christian Center in South Chicago Heights, IL for THE MANDATE Conference. Our theme is EXPANSION: BREAK THE LIMITS!

Get ready to receive . . .

Prophetic ministry
Revelation knowledge
Understanding to break demonic opposition
Strategy for establishing Kingdom Culture
The unlocking of spiritual authority for the purpose of EXPANSION
Apostolic equipping, empowering, activating, and sending

Identity – Purpose – Healing – Refreshing – Impartation – Courage

For more information go to www.sharpeningstoneministries.com or call our office at 708-756-3358.

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Greg Howse

What It Takes To Plant & Pastor A New Church

I have recently been teaching on Evangelism in our local church setting. I have been emphasizing the power of one by one personal interaction with people. We can change a city, or the world by winning people to the Lord Jesus one at a time. Every time one person comes to Jesus it means one less person pushing the agenda of darkness and one more person releasing the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This morning I was reading a piece written by Prince Handley. This is the tremendous truth he shared in his writing. If you could win 1,000 people to Jesus every day, how long do you think it would take to evangelize the whole world? At this time, the population of the world is about six (6) billion people. It would take you 16,427 years to reach every person (even at 1,000 every day!).

However, if you would lead only one person each year to Christ, and would really train them, here’s what would happen:

At the end of one year there would be two of you to take the “Good News” to others. If each of you would lead one person to Christ that next year, there would be four of you at the end of the second year to go tell the “Good News”. At this rate, it would only take you a little over 32 years to reach the rest of the world! (Even if the population increases to 8.5 billion, it would take only one extra year, or 33 years.)

This is why Jesus said, “Go, then to all peoples of the world and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember! I will be with you always, to the end of the age.”

That is the power of exponential growth. We read in Acts how believers were ADDED to the church. Then there is a tipping point by which Luke tells us that believers were MULTIPLYING in number. That is what we desire today.

Let’s go for it!

I have been strongly discerning in my spirit that this is a time for the growth of local churches. I am fully convinced that God wants every local church to grow. It is not growth just for the sake of bragging about numbers. But, it is increased numbers in order to have increased influence in the city.

You have probably heard or read that to have something you have not had before you will need to do something you have not done before. I want to add to that. To do something you have not done before you will have to think in a way you have not thought before.

Last Saturday at the Michigan Mandate MIchael Posey presented some excellent preaching on breaking through limitations. He said that when limitations are broken we will be empowered to do what we could not do before. This is what is happening with us right now. We are being empowered to do what we could not do before.

Romans 12:2 tells us to be TRANSFORMED by the renewing of the MIND. We must pursue INTERNAL change. Something in our mind set has to be adjusted or renovated. The way we see things must be shifted. Once INTERNAL change is established we will experience the EXTERNAL transformation that is desired. Renew your mind (internal) and everything around you (external) will be transformed.

I know that something has to be renovated in the way I see church growth. I must shift from thinking in terms of “hundreds” to thinking in terms of “thousands.” The people around me also have to shift in their thinking and approach.

This is a time for enlargement. A new mind set and a higher level of exercised faith are required.

The Mandate is happening in Muskegon, MI July 28-30. We will be at Rivers of Living Water Ministries. Our speaking team will consist of myself, Michael Posey, Dan Caldwell, Stephen Garner, and Rod Stevenson.

There is growing enthusiasm about this Mandate session because of the rising tide of revival that is happening in Michigan.

Check us out at www.sharpeningstoneministries.com.