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….con’t – among those great powers. The second power domination across the world was religion. The crusades were the peak of this period where most of the powerful rulers of the world, such as the Ottoman Empire, were religious ones. The wars were fought over religion. Around the 1500’s through the mid-twentieth century civilization became engrossed in politics. New governments and social upheavals based on thought, traditions, and national identity overruled any and all major military and religious regards. Now we have moved into the economic era of power. The world is rapidly changing into an information and economy based platform. Major power is designated to those countries with the most economic leverage. Even religious struggles can be “bought”, to a certain extent, by economic appeases and power. Economic sanctions are the most powerful weapon to convince a rogue nation to adhere to world conformity while military power is the last method for economic security. But, it is all war. No matter what the method is, we are at constant war with each other on all fronts. Why is there war? What makes a person, country, or society war over all the powers? The bottom line is fear. One person or group will fear the outcome if they allow the other side to have their way. Whether the end result of the other side’s outcome from a specific situation is known or unknown the fear of that side having their way and taking over the existing status quo is the origin of fear. Even in our own minds we are fearful of what the outcome will be if we don’t do this or that, or if we do this or that. “What if they have their way?” “What if I don’t get my way?” “What if I can’t or won’t do something about this?” These are all questions that create the atmosphere of war in our own minds and hearts. Our struggle is to not allow ourselves to get into a place where we are unsure of the outcome or simply loose control. What about war in the heavenlies? War in the spiritual realm? What is going on there? Is God fearful? Are the angels in fear of loosing a battle? Not exactly. It is the enemy who is full of fear. He is so afraid of his own destiny that he is constantly at war with himself over the choices he made that got him kicked out of heaven. Now he simply creates what he is, a constant battle of self hatred and self consuming rejection. So, he is always trying to make you and I, our church, and our societies and countries suffer the same agonizing self war he is always engulfed in. Our angels war on our behalf. God fights on our behalf to protect us and to help us overcome the onslaught of war being waged on all three levels of our existence; our mind, our physical world, and our spiritual one. If you know an answer to a problem then is it still a problem? Many years have gone by and many of us have not realized how much we are at war with ourselves. Many of us simply battle every day with things that are not necessary. Somehow we’ve become convinced the struggle has to continue in order to even survive. Well, we do live behind enemy lines so to speak. But that doesn’t mean we have to live under the enemy’s rule or domination of war! There is a way to live in peace in the middle of war and God gave us the Prince of Peace to show us how. Revelation says there will be war in the end between heaven and hell again. The last draw between good and evil until all things are put under Jesus’ feet. He is not fearful. He is full of love. Perfect love. Perfect love casts out all fear. More next month! SOTERIA® is a Love based Church with IRS tax exempt status. We very much appreciate your support and pledge to apply all gifts to where God leads us in our mission. Please send your Love Gift to: PO Box 7 Mars Hill, NC 28754 Receipts sent yearly. THANK YOU! NEWS The best news is we are looking more like Jesus every day. Last Sunday we had a “foot washing” in our service while the entire meeting was more in tune with a home group, or practice “MASH” unit. We continue to minister to those in our world outside the four walls of the church. Two weeks ago we sent out a team to the local mall to pray for people. Yes, that’s right, a group of 7 people left our normal Sunday gathering a went to the Asheville Mall and asked people if they would like prayer. There were 13 people who accepted prayer for all kinds of reasons. It was obvious people wanted, needed, and liked prayer. The harvest is ripe. They just aren’t attracted to church as usual. That’s why the Lord told us to go “out” into the world to preach the good news, heal the sick, and help the poor. We will continue to do more of these outreaches so that people can get the prayer they need. We are praying the funds come in to complete the facilitation of electronic media presentation in our fellowship. We still need an overhead digital projector, a screen, a computer, and a few other items amounting to about $5000. We plan on having Saturday afternoon matinee’s and Saturday evening “family night” Christian movies once the equipment is finally completed. We have been in touch with a local Christian Film company, The Christiano Brothers, to help with our efforts. Also, a dear brother, Eric Rutherford, donated a huge TV monitor that is now sitting in our front window facing the street. I’ve mounted speakers outside so that we can play worship, preaching, and teaching videos to those people walking by on the sidewalk 24 hours a day. We will also be showing personal testimonies. So, if you can record your personal testimony, send it to us. Yours may be one to help someone to know Christ! CONTACT INFORMATION: If you need information please call 828-350-7744 or email - Pastors Ernest H. Hays pastor@soteriaministries.org Melody D. Hays Yeazell@juno.com CHECK OUR WEWBSITE - WWW.SOTERIAMINISTRIES.ORG ALL GIFTS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE