Live from the 19th annual Harvest Crusade at Anaheim Stadium, where over 3.6 million people have come to hear the Gospel and 300,000 have chosen to become born again. And, thanks to you, our KKLA listeners, every person that comes forward this year will get a New Believers Bible that you guys paid for! This year is very special. Pastor Greg Laurie lost his son Christopher just three weeks ago, and many want to know, "Do these Christians really believe in the Hope of Heaven?" Tonight is Randy Travis, Leeland, and The Katinas. Saturday night is Leeland (6pm), P.O.D., Kutless, and Lincoln Brewster. And Sunday is Michael W. Smith, Leeland, and The Katinas.
• FYI: Don't forget to bring some non-perishable food items to the Harvest Crusade this weekend to help out the less fortunate at the Fred Jordan Mission. And, don't forget to be asking the Lord who you're supposed to invite!
• FYI: And, don't forget, tomorrow from 4-7pm, we'll be live from Saddleback for Rick Warren's "Civil Forum on the Presidency" with Obama and McCain. We'll be carrying the whole thing live right here on 99.5 KKLA, thanks to our friends at Park Place Real Estate Services and Applied Financial Planning.
Greg's message tonight is, "What do you live for?"
400-408 – John Collins, Executive Director of the Harvest Crusades (harvest.org), back in Anaheim this weekend (August 15th, 16th and 17th). This year, we're asking people to bring a non-perishable food item to help the Fred Jordan Mission. Since 1990 more than 3.6 million people have attended a Harvest Crusades event in person, and more than 300,000 have registered faith decisions in Jesus Christ. This Harvest will be very special – pastor Greg's son Christopher died just three weeks ago, on July 24, in a solo car accident.
• Harvest, A Word from Greg Laurie.
I wanted to thank the many of you who have contacted me with your words of comfort over the sudden departure of my dear son, Christopher, to heaven. I would ask that you continue to pray for our family.
I would also ask that you would prayerfully consider who you could bring to one of our Harvest Crusades events this year. As you know, we will be in Anaheim, Philadelphia, and New York City. Try to come and join us for one of these events, and bring someone with you that does not know the Lord. And don't forget, all of them are webcast live and will be archived for you to watch when you desire.
Christopher Laurie — our son, Brittany's husband, Stella's father, and Jonathan's brother — poured his heart into these events. In honor of his life — and most importantly, because Christ has commanded us to preach the gospel — let's pray for our greatest crusades ever with thousands coming to know Christ personally and thus finding the hope of heaven my son is now experiencing first-hand.
Thank you and God bless, Greg Laurie.
413-423 – Robert Spencer, founder of Jihad Watch (jihadwatch.org), and author of Religion of Peace: Why Christianity is and Islam Isn't, The Truth About Mohammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion and his latest booklet Muslim Persecution of Christians, on Barack Obama's belief that radical Islam's attack on the west is due to poverty in their country or a failure of U.S. foreign policy.
• Robert Spencer (8/1/08), Grover Norquist: "Spencer Hates Muslims".
428-437 – Hugh Ross, President and Co-Founder of Reasons To Believe (reasons.org), his latest book is Lights in the Sky & Little Green Men: A Rational Christian Look at UFO's and Extraterrestrials. Hugh talks about the end of Darwinism and E. coli bacteria. Who's right, Conway Morris or Stephen J. Gould? Morris thinks there's a yet unfound law of physics lurking somewhere to explain repeated outcomes. According to Gould, if you rewind the evolutionary clock, you'll get a different outcome every time. Scientists have done 40,000 permutations of E. coli development and got different results every time. So, Gould seems to be right. Thus, from a naturalistic perspective you can't explain repeated outcomes, but we see this as evidence for God since there are hundreds of examples of repeated outcomes in the natural world.
443-452 – Glenn Stanton, is Research Fellow for Global Family Formation at Focus on the Family (family.org), and we discuss his latest book Marriage on Trial: The Case Against Same-Sex Marriage and Parenting.
458-508 – Glenn Stanton, heterosexism, heteros have messed up marriage already, what about two loving gays?
• Fox News (8/15/2008), Murdered Gay Boy's Family Blames School for Letting Him Wear Makeup.
512-523 – David Rosales, pastor of the 10,000 member Calvary Chapel of the Chino Valley (calvaryccv.org), shares his testimony and why Harvest is so important.
• Harvest, Statement on the Death of Christopher Laurie. Christopher Laurie, son of Pastor Greg Laurie and Cathe Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, died this morning in a car accident in Riverside. A resident of Huntington Beach, Laurie, 33, served as the art director at Harvest Christian Fellowship for the past three years. In addition to his parents, Christopher is survived by his wife, Brittany, and daughter, Stella, as well as his brother Jonathan. Christopher and his wife are expecting another daughter in November.
528-539 – • Barna (8/11/08), Understanding Evangelicals. 40% of American adults say they're "evangelicals," 83% of them intend to vote in November, and they favor McCain over Obama 39/37% with 23% undecided. But, when you apply the 9-question faith test, just 8% of Americans are "evangelicals," 90% intend to vote, and they support McCain over Obama 61/17%, with just 14% undecided.
One of the most frequently reported on groups of voters is evangelicals. Most media polls use a simplistic approach to defining evangelicals, asking survey respondents if they consider themselves to be evangelical. Barna Group surveys, on the other hand, ask a series of nine questions about a person's religious beliefs in order to determine if they are an evangelical. The differences between the two approaches are staggering.
Using the common approach of allowing people to self-identify as evangelicals, 40% of adults classify themselves as such. Among them, 83% are likely to vote in November. Among the self-reported evangelicals who are likely to vote, John McCain holds a narrow 39% to 37% lead over Sen. Obama. Nearly one-quarter of this segment (23%) is still undecided about who they will vote for.
Using the Barna approach of studying people's core religious beliefs produces a very different outcome. Just 8% of the adult population qualifies as evangelical based on their answers to the nine belief questions. Among that segment, a significantly higher proportion (90%) is likely to vote in November, and Sen. McCain holds a huge lead (61%-17%) over the Democratic nominee. Overall, just 14% of this group remains undecided regarding their candidate of choice.
• Barna (1/18/07), Survey Explores Who Qualifies As an Evangelical.
Here's my summary of the 9 Barna Questions to Determine Who Is A True Evangelical:
1) Have you made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in your life?
2) Do you believe you will go to Heaven when you die because you have confessed your sins and accepted Jesus Christ as your savior?
3) Is your faith very important in your life today?
4) Do you believe you should share your faith with non-Christians?
5) Does a personal being named Satan exist?
6) Is salvation possible only through grace and not works?
7) Was Jesus sinless?
8) Is the Bible accurate in all that it teaches?
9) Is God the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today?
544-554 – • Sojourners, 2008 "Voting All Your Values" Christian Voter's Guide. Guess what items they want you to focus on instead of abortion and same-sex marriage? From their website, "What issues are included in the 2008 guide? Compassion and economic justice, Peace and restraint of violence, A consistent ethic of life, Racial justice, Human rights, dignity, and gender justice, Strengthened families and renewed culture, Good stewardship of God's creation."
Let me translate: "Higher taxes and more wealth redistribution, passivity in the face of evil, opposition to the death penalty and waterboarding, slavery reparations, quotas, and affirmative action, gay rights, a redefinition of 'family' to include all possible combinations, and support for global warming hysteria."
• Rasmussen (8/14/08), 47% Favor Government Mandated Political Balance on Radio, TV. Who are these people? 47% of Americans want a Fairness Doctrine applied to radio and television? 57% say it should not apply to the Internet, but 31% say it should. 58% of Obama supporters want the Fairness Doctrine applied to all radio and television, while even 40% of McCain voters do.
558-608 – Willie Jordan, wife of Fred Jordan of the Fred Jordan Mission, and Greg Laurie's aunt.
• John Hawkins (8/15/2008), 25 Reasons You Might Be a Liberal.
612-623 – • Michelle Malkin (8/15/2008), Cheating ChiComs, Crouching IOC.
628-639 – • USA Today (8/15/2008), Georgia men claim hairy, frozen corpse is Bigfoot.
• Dick Morris & Eileen McGann (8/15/2008), The Clinton Convention.
• Jonah Goldberg (8/15/2008), Nightmare on Dem Street.
• John Bolton (8/15/2008), After Russia's invasion of Georgia, what now for the West? At least for now, the smoke seems to be clearing from the Georgian battlefield. But the extent of the wreckage reaches far beyond that small country.
• Fox News (8/15/2008), Russia: U.S. Missiles in Poland Won't Go Unpunished.
644-655 – How has Harvest changed your life?
• Fox News (8/15/2008), Gymnast Alicia Sacramone an Internet 'Hottie' Despite Screwups.
