I’m very excited about it, too!    Eighteen of the books were REVIVALTIME  sermon books, messages I preached on the 700-station radio network for the Assemblies of God.   Alas, they are all out of print.   One of the books was a novel called BEAST.   It, too, is out of print as is my devotional book I wrote for the Thomas Nelson publishers.    So it’s great to have a new book on the shelves.     This one is called:

G O D C A S T

It is published by New Life Press.     It contains 254 articles I wrote for the TV/Radio BYLINE programs, although some of the articles are new.     We produced BYLINE for the Assemblies of God for many years.      Some of the programs were produced on location in such incredible places as the Kremlin in Moscow, at the Great Wall in China, on a camera-safari in the jungles of Africa, in Jerusalem and many other places as well.     

One TV reviewer told me last week he thought GODCAST was the “strongest daily devotional for men” he had ever read.     But the ladies will be blessed by it, too, I truly believe.     There is one new and fresh devotional for each work-day of the week.     

New Leaf is distributing the book all over the world.   You should be able to find it in your favorite Christian bookstore, Barnes and Nobles, Sam’s, Walmart and a host of other locales.     If you cannot find it, we have it available at the church in Fort Myers.   Simply call (239) 936-6277 and ask for my secretary Ginny Traycik.   She will give you all the details.

Please tell your friends about GODCAST.    I believe they really will be blessed by it.    And I would love to read your comments.     Blessings!

Pastor Dan Betzer

The Senior Adult Ministries of the Assemblies of God, led by my life-long friend Dave Weston, planned a cruise this year in the Gulf of Mexico.     Guess when they planned it?    September 8-13!    Guess who else planned to cruise the Gulf at the same time:   IKE, the Hurricane!

So…..was the cruise canceled?   Not at all.    Last Monday afternoon our group of 350 Senior Adults from across America met at the Tampa Port and boarded the Carnivale ship INSPIRATION and headed across Tampa Bay, under the Sunshine Bridge, and into the open water.     The Captain spoke to us via intercom and said not to worry.    Well, he was right.    He cleverly outmaeuvered IKE at every turn.    We were supposed to make our first port of call at Grand Cayman Island; however, that was just pushing too close to the hurricane.   So instead our ship crossed the Gulf diagonally, ahead of Ike, and docked at Progresso, Mexico (a very inappropriate name for that town, I might add!).      The crossing was smooth.   No problem.    Then we headed for Cozemel.     I love Cozemel!     We spent a great day there before heading back across the Gulf after Ike had already crossed it ahead of us before crashing into Galveston and Houston, Texas.      So weatherise, our trip was uneventful.   The ship, newly refurbished, was beautiful, the crew great, the good more than enough and the travelers a joy to be around.

Every afternoon at 3, we had a service in the gorgeous Candelight Lounge.     Not only were the services attended by the 350  in the group, but a number of other travelers asked if they could join us.   Still others gathered around the lobby of the Lounge just to listen.     Dave Weston, himself a brilliant pianist and arranger, surrounded us with lots of music.   We had a men’s quartet, soloists, duets, instrumentalists and, of course, the worship singing from the group.   Then I had the joy of opening God’s Word, my favorite thing in the world to do.     Among those who joined us inadvertently was the Secretary of State for Alabama.    She said the services were such a help and blessing to her.

So….thank God for a safe journey and being with God’s people.   And….thank God we didn’t meet IKE along the way.

It is one thing to have a strong belief system that you can back with solid reasoning; it is quite another thing to hate those who hold contrary views.     How can followers of Christ hate?     While still alive, gasping for His last breaths on the cross, Jesus prayed for forgiveness for those who crucified Him.     God loves; some people hate.      Sad to say, some people I have met boasted of hating without even knowing why.     I prayed once with a man who told me he had hated another fellow so badly for twenty years that if he could kill that man and get away with it, he’d do it!    I asked him why he despised the other?    He looked at me blankly and mumbled, “I don’t know.”    Unbelievable, isn’t it?    Like the old Hatfield and McCoy feud that just kept perpetuating generation after generation.

One reason people hate is because of fear.   We fear something that is different from what we are accustomed to.    The color of skin, another person’s belief system, the culture of a segment of society that differs from our’s — just anything that deviates from what we consider the “norm” is often grounds for hatred.     Even in church circles this can happen.   For example:   Sometimes people who are fervent and vocal in worship look down on those who love the majesty and repetiion of liturgical worship.    “How can they really love God?” they snort.     And, on the other hand, some who love the “high” church celebration look down on the fervent worshipers as ignorant and less than worthy.     There is often hate for people in different denominations or fellowships.    Intolerance of those who believe differently is unacceptable Christian behavior.

Sometimes people hate because of their own inadequacies.   Jealousies and envy become the fertile ground out of which unbelievable hatred generates.    If you have time for a fascinating study, read of the numerous Nazi leaders who had grievous feelings of inferiority so they built themselves up in their own minds by quashing others, especially Jews.

People sometimes hate because of past grievances.    That’s the way it was in the book of Esther.    The Jew Mordecai refused to bowdown to the self-important Persian Haman.    That infurated Haman and he determined to wipe out all the Jews.   Fortunately, God intervened through Mordecai and Esther and Haman was “hoisted on his own petard,” so to speak.     A person is never built up by knocking down others.      But….how does a person get rid of hate?

First of all, by being truly born again of God’s Spirit.     A person in whom Christ truly dwells cannot show forth non-Christian virtues.     For example, no true follower of Christ could ever belong to a white supremist organization.    No true Christian would be anti-Semitic (after all our precious Lord Jesus was a Jew).     A person who is born of the Spirit will be a person of understanding and compassion, showing forth the fruit of the Spirit.     “By their FRUIT ye shall know them,” scripture teaches.

Second, the “hater” should ask God to help him or her develop an understanding of those who are different.   Ask God to put you in their shoes.   We tend to live within the narrow framework of our own experiences.   We need to be comfortable even with that which is new to us.     This does not mean that we accept their thesis or belief systems for our own.   Certainly not!   But it does mean that we are Christ-like to everyone around us.     Jesus was – and so should we be!    How can we ever be light in the darkness when …. we are afraid of or hate the dark?