A prevailing thought that has crept into christian thinking is that God is outside of time and that He observes the past, present, and future simultaneously. Since men believe they can grasp how God perceives time, they also think that they can interpret scripture from this perspective. As a result, they begin to interpret and filter everything as if all of time had already been completed and that the passage of time is only a figment of our perception. However, the writers of the Bible never intended to have man try to live this life or interpret what they wrote in anyway outside of the context of time as humans experience it. Therefore, when people begin to interpret all of time as a frozen image of the past, present, and future which God fashioned and placed on His wall to admire, they begin to fall into error and distort the intended meaning of what has been written.

The entertainment industry in the United States which is frequently nicknamed Hollywood is not at its “essence” satanic or antichrist.  Its essence is “entertainment” or providing someone with enjoyment.  However, the vast majority of the directors and producers are not believers and are therefore servants of Satan.  These directors and producers try to provide enjoyment to their audience with foul wicked things and frequently portray what is evil as good.  Nevertheless, there are some directors and producers in the entertainment industry that do produce products that are edifying and/or not defiling.  Whether or not a film is full of perversion, people choose to view it for several reasons.  Some are merely seeking entertainment, others are doing research for educational purposes, and still others end up watching it because of their company.  Choosing to watch movies and TV shows produced by “Hollywood” should be done with caution and spiritual preparation for a potential trap of Satan.

What approach do you take to living a holy righteous life? Some people emphasis how they approach God. Others stress how they approach Sin and the Devil. Others still talk about how they approach each other to become holy and righteous. In any case, it is important that we are approaching all of these in the proper way. If we try to approach the Devil like we approach God we will be destroyed. If we try to approach God like we approach what is evil, then we will not be able to draw near to Him. If we approach believers like we approach God or the Devil, we will either wind up empty or in a fight. God has given us the right approach to the Christian life and by following it we can grow in holiness and righteousness.

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~ Summary Index ~ 
1. Godly Christian Ministries Updates 
2. New Audio Books
2. Godly Christian Music Updates 
3. Prayer Requests 
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1. Godly Christian Ministries Updates

Some of you are getting this newsletter for the first time after signing up for it a couple months ago, but I hope that you all will find it useful and that it will aid you in praying for this ministry.

What a year this has been for GCM!  So much has gone on behind the scenes, but the biggest thing that you have come to see is the amount of music that has been added to www.GodlyChristianMusic.com.  This site has tripled in size in less than a year and a half.  Even in the month of December several new artist and many new songs got added to the site.  Before the year finished GodlyChristianMusic.com broke 1,500 songs on the site. The size of the site has not been the only amazing thing.  Over the course of the last year Google has been changing its search algorithms and it has proved beneficial to GodlyChristianMusic.com in that it has been hanging right at the top of popular searches such as “free Christian music” and “free Christian Songs”.  This page ranking has brought in tens of thousands of visitors every month and has significantly increased the amount of music being downloaded.  The increased load overwhelmed the site’s previous hosting company and it was forced to be placed on a much more robust high end server.  This nicer server has had the power to accommodate some of the many features that were added to the site this last year including the download all link, play all link, and music juke box.  Overall, 2011 was a big year for GodlyChristianMusic.com and the site should continue to be a blessing to many in 2012.

This year has also been a big step forward for www.GodlyChristianMinistries.com.  Several new articles have been written and other new content has been added.  Just within the last couple days, I posted two new articles as well.  One article is entitled “Understanding the Gospel”.  This Article lays out the foundational principles of repentance, faith, and love as they work together to transform us.  It is loaded with illuminating analogies that will undoubtedly bring insights in the Gospel that even seasoned Christian’s will benefit from (though it is written simply enough for new converts).  In addition, another article was written to help people to understand where true assurance comes from.  Some people try to find assurance based on a doctrine and others based on works, but the bible points us to another way.  By reading this article you will learn how to find the deep peace that you are a child of God.  Both of these articles can be easily found by going The Godly Christian Blog

Godly Christian Ministries is pressing into the new year with hope and excitement to see what the Lord will do with this work!  (to learn why the news updates have not been sent out regularly please read the prayer request section below).

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2. New Audio Books

Four new audio books have been added to GodlyChristianMinistries.com.  These books were professionally recorded and provided courtesy of ForsakeAll.com.  All of the books were written by an older brother named Zac Poonen.  For those not familiar with Zac, he is from India and travels around teaching people how to overcome bondages in their life and how to walk in fellowship with God.  Zac has many great illustrations that are insightful both for the new believer and the mature.  You can find these audio books by going to the following link: Zac Poonen Audio Books

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3. Godly Christian Music - Updates

In the past, I would post the number of updates per musician since the last newsletter, but due to the sheer number of new songs and musicians, I will encourage you to simply go to:
http://www.godlychristianmusic.com/New_Updates_Artists.aspx

Nevertheless, I did want to specifically inform you that the featured songs list and featured artists list on the home page just got updated.  Many of the songs that are featured were recently added to the site within the last month.  Listening to the new featured songs will help you find some of the best music that has recently been added.

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4. Prayer Requests

This last season has been one of the busiest for me in a long time and doesn’t look like it is going to slow down any time soon.  I am currently in the transition of starting my own business doing photography, graphic design, and web development (www.FinestStudios.net).  At the present time, I am supporting myself by working the night shift at a children’s home.  Most of my time and money has been going toward making the necessary investments to get the business going.  I am guessing it will take me about a year to get all the photography equipment and become stable.  As a result, my time has been and will likely continue to be severely limited.  It is a constant struggle to find the balance between work/business and serving through GCM.  My goal is that eventually the business will be able to support me and yet, still provide me with time to continue the work through GCM. Please pray for me as I try to juggle a lot of things in life.

Great debate revolves around the topic of the assurance of the believer.  This controversy stems from people’s understanding of the salvation and election of God’s children.  While there are many different fundamental doctrines that fuel this debate, we will not find true understanding in this matter by arguing about such teachings.  Rather, by looking into the scriptures, we can find some simple truths that fit nicely into the various orthodox beliefs held by both those that call themselves Calvinist and Arminian.  These simple truths ultimately establish that outward transformation always accompanies true assurance of a right relationship with God.

Failure is often a part of growing, but it is not a condition in which we should constantly live in as Christians.  Listen as Zac shares insights into the why God allows us to fail and how to make failure benificial in your life. 

Dowload Audio Book: The Purpose of Failure - Chpt 1 (72min 39sec)

Dowload Audio Book: The Purpose of Failure - Chpt 2 (15min 42sec)

Download Written Book: The Purpose of Failure by Zac Poonen (print edition)

This audio book was provided courtesy of www.ForsakeAll.com

God had a great and glorious purpose for man when He created him. Of all created beings, man alone was created with the capacity to share in God's life and to partake of the Divine nature. But he could enjoy this privilege only as he voluntarily chose to live a life centered in God.

The two trees in the garden of Eden were symbolic of two ways of living. Adam could either partake of the tree of life (which symbolized God Himself) and live by the Divine life, or else he could choose the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and thus develop his own self-life and live independently of God. As we all know, he chose the latter. Having descended from Adam, we all have this over-developed self-life now.

But God's purpose for man did not change when Adam fell. The coming of Christ into the world was in order that we might be delivered from this self-centered life that we have inherited, and once again have the opportunity to partake of the tree of life. This is the abundant life that Christ offers us.

Isaiah had prophesied (Isa. 61:1-3) that Christ, when He came, would set people free from bondage. Man is bound not only by the Devil but also by his self-life. Christ came to set us free from both. Isaiah said that Christ would give those He liberated, beauty to replace their ashes. Ashes are a most appropriate symbol of the self-life - picturing its ugliness and its uselessness. Christ offers to give us the beauty of His own life to replace the ashes of our self-life. What a privilege! Yet many Christians do not enjoy this fully. Why not?

How can we enjoy it?

That is the subject of this book.

These messages were given at the Nilgiris Keswick (Deeper Life) Convention held at Coonoor, South India, in May 1971.

We shall look at four characters from the Bible in the pages that follow; and each of them will have something to teach us.

Zac Poonen

Bangalore, India

Dowload Audio Book: Beauty for Ashes: Introduction (2min 44sec)

Dowload Audio Book: Beauty for Ashes: Chapter 1 (41min 59sec)

Dowload Audio Book: Beauty for Ashes: Chapter 2 (46min 47sec)

Dowload Audio Book: Beauty for Ashes: Chapter 3 (52min 42sec)

Dowload Audio Book: Beauty for Ashes: Chapter 4 (54min 28sec)

Download Written Book: Beauty for Ashes by Zac Poonen (print edition)

This audio book was provided courtesy of www.ForsakeAll.com

Spiritual leadership is the need of the hour in the church.

This book contains a series of messages that were given to a group of Christian workers, Bible-college lecturers and pastors of churches.

The messages have been reproduced in their spoken form, for easy reading.

May the Lord speak to your heart through this book and challenge you to be a role-model for today’s younger generation - as an exemplary servant of God and a truly spiritual leader.

Zac Poonen
October, 1999

Dowload Audio Book: Secrete of Victory by Zac Poonen (111min 50sec)

Download Written Book: Secrete of Victory by Zac Poonen (print edition)

This audio book was provided courtesy of www.ForsakeAll.com

Spiritual leadership is the need of the hour in the church.

This book contains a series of messages that were given to a group of Christian workers, Bible-college lecturers and pastors of churches.

The messages have been reproduced in their spoken form, for easy reading.

May the Lord speak to your heart through this book and challenge you to be a role-model for today’s younger generation - as an exemplary servant of God and a truly spiritual leader.

Zac Poonen
October, 1999

Dowload Audio Book: A Spiritual Learder by Zac Poonen (189min 31sec)

Download Written Book: A Spiritual Learder by Zac Poonen (print edition)

This audio book was provided courtesy of www.ForsakeAll.com

There is an external righteousness we must clothe ourselves with!

We must “put on” the Lord Jesus Christ and clothe ourselves with every grace of His life.

Let us put on lowliness so men can see an example of humble delight in doing His will.

Let us put on meekness that is clearly visible by “deeds done” in the meekness of wisdom.

Let us put on kindness that will lead men to repentance as they taste and see that the Lord is good from the good fruit of the Holy Spirit being produced in our lives.

Let us put on love which is the perfect bond of unity and men will recognize we are His disciples by the love they see we have for one another.

Let us put on mercy and forgiveness so as to demonstrate to men how our Lord has loved us.

Yes, external righteousness is equally important as internal.    We can not have one without the other.

Can we show men our internal righteousness without works?   I think not; rather, we must show the world our faith by our deeds.