Tim Tebow: More than just a football player

New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow became the first sophomore in the history of the NCAA to win the coveted Heisman Trophy as the best football player in the nation.However, Tebow's accomplishments may never have been supported had his mother followed a doctor's recommendation to have an abortion.

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With 29 passing touchdowns and 22 rushing touchdowns, Tebow displayed the kind of versatility that has become more valued at the quarterback position. Pam Tebow and her husband were Christian missionaries in the Philippines in 1985 and they prayed for "Timmy" before she became pregnant.

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Unfortunately, as the Gainesville Sun reports, Pam entered into a coma after she contracted amoebic dysentery, an infection of the intestine caused by a parasite found in a contaminated food or drink.The treatment for the medical condition would require strong medications that doctors told Pam had caused irreversible damage to Tim -- so they advised her to have an abortion.

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As the Sun reported, Pam Tebow refused the abortion and cited her Christian faith as the reason for her hope that her son would be born without the devastating disabilities physicians predicted. Pam ultimately spent the last two months of her pregnancy in bed and, eventually, gave birth to a health baby boy in August 1987.

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As she told the newspaper, Pam was not surprised that her son would be up for the Heisman despite no underclassman receiving the award since its inception in 1933."The combination of Timmy's God-given talent, hard work, character and leadership have made a mark on and off the football field," she said.

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As prominent researcher Joel Brind writes in a new LifeNews.com editorial, doctors are frequently telling women they should consider abortions when confronted with various medical situations affecting their health. Yet, as he notes, physicians can successfully treat both mother and child without suggesting that the baby be killed to spare a mother's life.

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Because Tim Tebow was spared, he's wowed a nation by his athletic skill and, at his younger age, has an opportunity to become the second person to win two Heisman awards.

ASHAMED TO DIE!

"Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity" Horace Mann

Educational reformer, Horace Mann, was so well known for the above statement that it was chiseled into his headstone upon his death—and the student body of Antioch College (where he served as the President) still recite it at each commencement ceremony.

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Mann's desire was that at the end of his life and his student's lives that they would feel confident in that they made some impact upon the world in which they lived. While Horace Mann was anything but a devout follower of the Lord Jesus—he certainly touched on something that we would all be well served to consider in this New Year.

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It is no secret what we are now up against today as followers of Christ. The condition of this world in every facet is in a steep moral decline—and sad to say—the Body of Christ has been satisfied with serving in a spectators role as it has happened.

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Go stand on any inner-city street corner and the chances of finding a battle-tested, heart-broken street preaching crying out for the lost souls of a generation is pretty slim.

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What you will find though are the drug dealers and gang-bangers devotedly selling their demonically fueled fix of drugs, and violence on the sin infested turf that has been long abandoned by churches looking for greener pastures and more desirable real estate.

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Go visit most any Christian secondary school or College and rather than finding a student body yearning for the deep truths of God's Word and weeping for revival to sweep their generation; You'll probably find the same self-indulgent, self-centered, sensuality infested environment offered by the world.

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Go sit in some of the most "successful" churches in America and you'll be hard pressed to find people craving the uncompromising, hard-hitting, Word of God as they soak the altars with their tears.

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What you'll find are coffee bars, flat screen televisions, wi-fi connections, and messages devoid of a call to repent that are neatly packaged and sold later for $29.95 in the lobby book store.

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Go listen to most conversations between professing believers, and rather than hearing the wailing of the intercessors or the encouragement of a word brought in season—–you'll hear an endless flow of critiques and criticisms as they shred other people's character and vomit out their self-willed and self-righteous opinions….all the while trying to dress it up as genuine concern!

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You may not personally be…
Standing on that street corner as it is being ravaged by the adversary.
Visiting that campus as Satan infiltrates and defiles our young people.
Sitting in that church as people draw near with their mouths while their hearts are far from Him. Or
Listening to that conversation that is sowing seeds of discord among the brethren.

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But you had better know this...Jesus is standing on every corner and visiting every Christian school and college, sitting in every Church, and listening in on every conversation.

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There is a fleshly rancidness where there should be a spiritual righteousness. There is the self-consuming lust, pride, and jealous where there should be the fear of the Lord and the endless crying out for the mercy of God to move in our midst! "Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity."

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The word "victory" s found (12) times in the Word of God. Six times the word is found in the Old Testament and six times it is found in the New Testament.

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That is one victory for each of the twelve Tribes of the Old Covenant and one victory for each of the twelve Apostles of the New Covenant!

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In each of the New Testament instances it is referring to the VICTORY that the genuine follower of the Lord Jesus will experience in the day we see Him face to face.

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Matthew 12:20 speaks of the day in which victory will carry the justice that the Lord will bring upon the nations at the end of this age.

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1 Corinthians 15:54 speaks of the victory which will be experienced what the Bride of Christ is snatched from this word and into the presence of the Lord.

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1 Corinthians 15:55 speaks of the victory that causes us to prevail over death itself!

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1 Corinthians 15:57 speaks of the victory that unites our testimony to that of Jesus so that they become intertwined and inseparable!

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1 John 5:4 speaks of the victory that promises that we'll eat from the tree of life and of the hidden manna; that we'll receive a pure white stone with our new name written on it, and that will be clothed in white raiment as we are given power over the nations!

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Revelation 15:2 speaks of the victory experienced by those who were ashamed to die until their life impacted humanity!

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Is that the type of VICTORY-PRODUCING life that you lived in the year of 2008? Is that the type of life that you are determined to live in 2009?

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If not—then you need to cease from all of the self-righteous gum-flapping and the dry-eyed, self-indulgent testimonies and fall on your face before a Holy and Righteous God and cry out for a life of true victory that is only realized through devout consecration.

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This world has seen more than enough of itself wrapped up to resemble the Church of Jesus Christ

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This world has tired of our religious lip service that only amounts to vain communication

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This world is looking for something or someone who will be "ashamed to die" until they have impacted their schools, churches, families, neighborhoods, jobs, cities and nations!

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This world is searching for someone who will fall on their face each and every day and beg God for just one more day to solidify their testimony so that they will never be ashamed!

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Will this New Year be another year of shameful excuses as to why we refused to obey the will of God for our lives or will it be our Year of Victory?

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Will this New Year be the year that His Body finally looks, acts, and talks like the one who has gotten us the victory through the Cross of Calvary?

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Psalm 25:2 "O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me."

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Lets live each day of this New year as though it is the day in which we will stand and give and account to God face to face—–unashamed

LIMITED TIME OFFER!

"OFFICIAL" RAVEN LETTERMAN JACKET!

Wherever we go, peopl are always noticing and commenting on our Raven T-Shirts. You cannot imagine how many tremendous converation (and) witnessing opportuities have come out of our wearing these black Raven Shirts.

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Many of our teams have asked about getting Jackets made that (unlike t-shirts) would hold up for years to come. When we have looked into having jackets produced like the one above in the past--the cost was usually $150 or more. That is just too much money!

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Recently we came across the opportunity to have these jackets made available (in limited qualtity) for 1/2 that amount. ($75.00) which will include USPS Priority Shipping to you. These jackets are the perfect weight for outreaches like Mardi Gras and the streets of San Francisco!

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Again--this price is for a limited amount of jackets that we have available. The sizes and quanity that we have on hand are: (2) Small, (4) Medium, (7) Large, (10) X-Large, (4) XX-Large, (1) XXX-Large. THESE ARE AVAILABLE ON A FIRST COME - FIRST SERVE BASIS.

IF YOU WANT ONE OF THESE LIMITED ADDITION JACKETS, Follow these directions:

1) Email raven@biggrace.com to confirm the size you are requesting is available

2) After you have received confirmation; PayPal the $75 to us and include your shipping address

Your jacket should be delivered to you within (10) days of payment.

Son of Hammas founder accepts Jesus!

Read the compelling transcript of this interview by going to:

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,402483,00.html

LIVE! From Raven West Coast Today!

Pastor Rudy Gonzalez of Raven West Coast

will be ministering LIVE today @ 8:00 PM EST

Here on RAVEN TV

Pastor Rudy Gonzalez of Raven West Coast invites you to join the LIVE webcast today at 8:00 PM (EST) right here on Raven TV. The service will be webcasted from Foundation Christian Fellowship in Santa Rosa, California - lead by Pastor Brian and the FCF Family.

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Pastor Rudy leads a tremendous team there in Northern California that has made great inroads into the local commmunity through a combination of benevolence/missions work and Street Church.

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In the past several years this teams has distributed tons of food items to local familes, brought clothes to the needy and their regular Outreach Baby Showers have ministered to hundreds of at-risk young mothers.

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Pastor Rudy is joined in the ministry by his wife, Lori and daughters Maddie and CeCe--who work to keep Pastor Rudy "on his toes!" (and on his knees!) Assisting Pastor Rudy and Lori there in West Coast are Rich and Karen Donaghy.

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Today's service will include Praise & Worship being lead by Maddie and another young man, Bennie - who works with the local team there as well.
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Foundation Christian Fellowship is located in a very strategic location of the City near adult-oriented business and as a heart for reaching the community with the life-transforming message of the Cross of Christ.

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Pastor Rudy came to be a part of Raven Ministries follow his meeting Raven Founder and Director, Pastor Troy D. Bohn during an outreach in Tijuana, Mexico organized by mutual friends Bobby & Dot Chance of Streetwise Ministry of Hollywood, California.

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Since that time Pastor Rudy has worked and ministered with the team from Coast to Coast and continues to be a leader and innovator in finding ways to reach and minister to the most desperate and overlooked in our society.

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Pastor Rudy also frequently leads teams into San Franciso's "Tenderloin" areas and is planning a future outreach in the Castro District--which was recently featured on National News after a group of Christians were assaulted by militant homosexuals there.

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Get more info on Raven West Coast by visiting www.UGO4God.com

Happy New Year 2009: RAVEN STYLE!

Praise the Lord for another year of having served Him in this lifetime!

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Matthew says 24:44-46 "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing."

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Last night we took a team out to the streets of Daytona Beach to "Do" the New Year by "Doing" what Jesus has called us to---Preach the Gospel!

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I always like to close out a year preaching to the lost...and launching into another year of doing the same. Well we said, "Good Bye to 08'" reaching out to a new generation of young (lost) people and christened 09' by calling them to "repent and believe the Gospel."

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The young man that you see Lucy speaking with in the top photo had been out of prison for just three days when she stopped him. He had served a two year sentence and had claimed to have come to know the Lord during his stint. Unfortunately the Jesus he met in prison wasn't Jesus Christ is was "Jailhouse" Jesus---the impostor who often slips into cells during times of incarceration to offer temporary sollace and not eternal transformation.

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Lucy brought him over and introduced him to me and I took him down and sat with him for a while and read some scripture to him about genuine salvation. He was very open and respectful--but terribly shapen by the two years of compromising Christianity that he had been exposed to while in prison. Pray for him---he goes by "T".

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Pastor Sam and Pastor Thomas had quite a bit of "tag team" action last night as they picked off people one-by-one as they passed by in front of where they were standing outside of a local night club. Pastor Thomas looks like a "Jedi-Master" underneath that hoodie! (It was only 55 degrees---you'd of thought it was snowing outside!---we're pretty wimpy when it come to the cold here in Florida)

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Troy Morris is such a blessing. This young man moved to Daytona Beach this past summer from New Orleans to be a part of the ministry and to be discipled. He lives in the home of Pastor Scott and Robin Durrance and works a job during the week.

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I cant say enough by his heart for the Lord and his passion to reach the lost and dying for Jesus. As we say here, "There ain't no shame in his game" this young man is true blue for Christ and a formidable foe for the adversary as well.

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The guy that he was witnessing to in the third picture here was a drunken-belligerent backslider---but that did not deter Lil' Troy (as he is called here) from standing firm in his witness and constantly taking him "Back to the Word."

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Mehgan Croghan (age 16) is another precious jewel. (Here with her mom and little Troy). Never afraid to "mix it up" this young lady, is a regular fixture on our local and national outreach teams and a very willing servant of Jesus.

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With a generation of young people slipping deeper and deeper into the abyss of sin, compromise and spiritual destitution---young people like Troy and Meghan are bright lights that truly bring a ray of hope to the situation. We just need more young people to have their eyes opened to the truth so that they will get desperate for the spiritual condition of their generation.

The young man (24 years old) pointed out by the arrow is typical of the condition of so many today. He sat and talked for over an hour about his "relationship with God" and what God thought and expected--yet had never personally picked up and read a single scripture from the Bible. He had undoubtedly had someone--a grandmother, aunt or undecerning preacher tell him that he was okay at some point.

While admitting to selling dope and smoking pot and drinking--he was still confident that he was fine in his relationship with Jesus (once saved always saved???--yea right) Where is the holiness? Where is the fear of God? Until it is preached in our pulpits--it will never we seen or felt in our streets.

Happy New Year.