ICEJ - CHRISTIAN CHURCHES UNDER ATTACK IN EGYPT

CHRISTIAN CHURCHES UNDER ATTACK IN EGYPT
An overview of recent events from a biblical perspective



Coptic Christians pray at a church in Cairo (Beliefnet.org)

EGYPT MY PEOPLE

Scriptural references regarding Egypt can seem a bit contradictory as most refer to Egypt in negative terms, alluding to bondage and idolatry, while others foretell a national revival and times of restoration. Egypt is also mentioned more times in scripture than any other nation, second only to Israel who also was warned of impending judgment while promised national restoration.

In fact, in Isaiah 19 God refers to Egypt as “My people” and Israel “My inheritance.” Therefore, we need to consider current events in Egypt in light of these scriptures and be moved to a place of prayer for those whom God called His people.

THE LARGEST DEMONSTRATIONS IN HISTORY

In 2011, when the so called “Arab Spring” began, we followed closely as Egypt’s young people began a peaceful, non-violent protest resulting in the fall of the Mubarak regime. The demonstrators were seeking progress, jobs, and opportunity as found in western countries.

Unfortunately, the opposition was not politically organized and, when it came time for elections, the only party that could step into the void and win the elections was the Muslim Brotherhood. One year later, the people of Egypt realized that President Morsi was a far worse dictator than Mubarak had been. Islamist ideology was guiding the country and the government was going bankrupt with no way to import bread and food. A country of 80 million was about to descend into chaos.

They were able to collect the signatures of an astounding 20 million people calling for the removal of President Morsi and then organized a public demonstration of upwards to 30 million people. The military, led by General Sisi who had been appointed by President Morsi himself, responded to the people’s demands by removing President Morsi from power.

While clueless western leaders, including some U.S. officials, denounced it as a military coup, General Sisi appointed civilian Adly Mansour, a Supreme Constitutional Court Justice, as Interim President and respected economist, Dr. Hazem Beblawi as Prime Minister. He then asked the people to come back onto the streets to show America and the West their support for a military crackdown on the terror and crime that was plaguing Egypt at the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood and various jihadist factions.

It is estimated that as many as 40 million people, the largest demonstration in history, may have come onto the streets this time to show their support for the military’s actions.

And yet, some US officials are threatening to cut off aid to Egypt if they do not release the Muslim Brotherhood from jail and bring them back into the government. President Obama suspended shipment of four F-16s last month and Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham have threatened to cut-off financial aid as well.

THE CRY OF THE PEOPLE

One cannot begin to describe the disappointment and confusion felt by the people of Egypt. Egypt is a key American ally now turning to Russia and China for help when another ally, Israel, desperately needs a stable, pro-American Egypt for her own security.

Moreover, Egypt has already been experiencing revival, so the people’s heartfelt cry for help could be the beginning of a revival so huge it could sweep across the entire Arab world. Egypt needs our prayers at this critical time!

Roughly ten percent of Egyptians are Christian. They are now being used as scape goats and are accused of conspiring with the “Zionists” to bring about the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood. As a result, their churches are being burned - there are reports that over 20 have been burned this week - and the black flag of Al-Qaeda has victoriously been flown over several of them. The Christians are too afraid to leave their homes in some areas.

Until the US stops pressuring the government, and allows them to crack down on the Muslim Brotherhood sympathizers who are creating lawlessness and chaos in the streets, the Christians will continue to suffer and greatly need our immediate prayers.

INFORMED PRAYERS

The situation in Egypt has exposed the decline in western journalism in general and US media in particular. Due to budget cuts many news outlets no longer have many journalists in the field. Therefore, they rely on one of a handful of news wires. In the case of Egypt, Al-Jazeera became a trusted source due to their 24/7 coverage of the 2011 protests and the fall of Mubarak.

The difference this time around is that the pro-Muslim Brotherhood news channel was covering the fall of a Muslim Brotherhood government. Video footage and reports were skewed in favor of the ousted President and this misinformation was repeated by western outlets as fact on several occasions. However, Al-Jazeera’s coverage was so biased that some 20 journalists have now quit in protest.

The ICEJ is one of the few organizations that has a pulse on what is happening in Egypt and the region, not only politically but also spiritually. Our Isaiah 62 prayer initiative has encouraged prayer for Egypt for over two years now. And while a lot of the media has been silent, even misleading, about these unfolding events, the ICEJ has been covering them in our publications.

The Middle East is very complicated and the Christian world cannot afford to be at the mercy of ill-informed media monopolies when our informed prayers and activism are so desperately needed Your monthly financial support helps us – your Embassy in Jerusalem – be a resource for you.

Thank you for partnering with us in your financial support and please join us in prayer for both Egypt, His people, and Israel, His inheritance.

For Zion’s Sake,


Susan M. Michael
US Director

P.S Your donation of $30 or more this month will help us continue to provide the in-depth analysis and teaching you rely on, and will make sure that you continue receiving our expanded, 24 page Word from Jerusalem magazine for the next twelve months.

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Dream Turns Hate-Filled Muslim into Lover of Israel

By Julie Stahl and Scott Ross  CBN News
Friday, August 09, 2013

   
JERUSALEM, Israel -- Umar Mulinde was a Muslim who hated Israel until Jesus appeared to him in a dream. After that, he became a Christian and started a church in Uganda.


But his new found faith cost him.

On Christmas Eve 2011, Mulinde, now a pastor, was attacked by two Muslims with buckets of acid. The acid ate away his skin,
his eye, and his ear.



"I felt fire from up to down to my toes and I was like, 'Something's cooking me,'" he recalled about the attack. "And they shouted, 'Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar' three times. I realized I have fallen into the ambush of Muslim terrorists."

Mulinde now wears a special pressure mask to aid the healing process.

"My conversion from Islam and my love and promotion of the love of Israel in my community taught the people on the other side to haunt me and to hunt me for a kill," he said.

In a recent interview with CBN News, Mulinde gave the account of his conversion to Christianity, the details of the attack on him, the lessons he has learned, his forgiveness of those who attacked him, and his message to the West. Click play to watch his remarkable testimony.

CBN News Scott Ross interviews Pastor Umar Mulinde



Scott Ross - CBN News

CBN News Scott Ross interviews Pastor Umar Mulinde



 

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The Jewish Calendar - Holidays

The Jewish Calendar

BY STEPHEN J. EINSTEIN AND LYDIA KUKOFF

Jews often say: "The holidays are late this year" or "The holidays are early this year." In fact, the holidays never are early or late; they are always on time, according to the Jewish calendar.

Unlike the Gregorian (civil) calendar, which is based on the sun (solar), the Jewish calendar is based primarily on the moon (lunar), with periodic adjustments made to account for the differences between the solar and lunar cycles. 

Therefore, the Jewish calendar might be described as both solar and lunar. The moon takes an average of twenty-nine and one-half days to complete its cycle; twelve lunar months equal 354 days. A solar year is 365 1/4 days. 

There is a difference of eleven days per year. To ensure that the Jewish holidays always fall in the proper season, an extra month is added to the Hebrew calendar seven times out of every nineteen years. 

If this were not done, the fall harvest festival of Sukkot, for instance, would sometimes be celebrated in the summer, or the spring holiday of Passover would sometimes occur in the winter.

Jewish days are reckoned from sunset to sunset rather than from dawn or midnight. The basis for this is biblical. In the story of Creation (Genesis 1), each day concludes with the phrase: "And there was evening and there was morning. . ." 

Since evening is mentioned first, the ancient rabbis concluded that in a day evening precedes morning.

The list of the Hebrew months (below) and the holidays that occur during these months also indicates the corresponding secular months.



For the counting of months, Nisan--the month that begins spring--is considered the first. However, the Jewishyear is reckoned from the month of Tishri--the month that begins autumn. This would seem to be the superimposition of one calendar system upon another, which took place during the Babylonian Exile (sixth pre-Christian century).

According to Jewish tradition, history is reckoned from the time of Creation; Jewish years, therefore, are numbered from then. For instance, Israel declared its independence on 5 Iyar 5708 (corresponding to May 14, 1948). The year 5708 (and every Jewish year) was figured by commencing the count from the beginning of Genesis.

Christian custom has been to divide history into two periods: before the time of Jesus (called B.C. = before Christ) and after Jesus' birth (called A.D. = anno Domini = in the year of the Lord). Jewish books generally refer to these periods as B.C.E. (before the common era) and C.E. (of the common era).

The subject of the calendar is rather complex. We have, therefore, touched only its broadest outlines.

Taken from: http://www.reformjudaism.org/jewish-calendar

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Do you know the time?

Best you are aware of it.

Islamist Assault: 'Saturday Kill Jews, Sunday Kill Christians'

By Julie Stahl and Scott Ross

CBN News Jerusalem Bureau

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Persecution of Jews and persecution of Christians: Is there a link between the two? Journalist Lela Gilbert says yes.Gilbert has written extensively about the global assault on Christians around the world. She recently spoke with CBN's Scott Ross about her latest book, Saturday People, Sunday People.

The California author arrived in Israel during the 2006 war with Hezbollah in Lebanon for a three-month visit. Today, she spends much of her time in Jerusalem. She shared with Ross about radical Islamic plans to first rid the Middle East of Jews and then of Christians.But first, she said she has noticed that persecution by Islamists is not the only challenge for Christians in Jerusalem.

Disunity Among Christians
Ross: There are many Christian sects, denominations, etc, in this Land, how are they doing with one another?

Gilbert: Not too well. They're not doing much better than the ones in America.

Ross: It was Nehemiah that said, look we're divided on the wall one from another and how are they going to do battle if they don't have one mind and one strategy, one approach to everything? One! Jesus prayed it.

Gilbert: You know you've got Christians arguing about prophecy, I mean, evangelicals arguing about all kinds of things, much less the old churches who have ancient rifts within themselves - that go back to the fourth century. So it's not surprising but what we know is that we all look pretty much the same through a jihadi rifle site. And maybe we need to remember that.

Ross: Are you hopeful?

Gilbert: I'm hopeful because of my faith in the Lord and in His way of working things out. Politically, I can't understand what's going to happen…my hope is in Him…He's worked in my life in so many miraculous ways that I have to believe He's going to work amongst His people and bring them together and protect them.

Her New Book
Ross: And now out of all this, a book. I was fascinated by the title define that significance.

Gilbert: It's graffiti from radical Islamists that appears throughout the Middle East. In the best terms it says, "First comes Saturday, then comes Sunday." But there's a flag, a photo of a flag in the book that says, "On Saturday we kill the Jews, on Sunday we kill the Christians." And that's where I got the title.

Gilbert said even though many of the world's Muslims are not violent, their voice is drowned out by radical elements.

Video with Gilbert on CBN News

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The Restoration of Biblical Culture - Morris Ruddick

Morris Ruddick

The Restoration of Biblical Culture

Over the centuries, the church has been inundated by the precepts of men, draining the power of the first-century church. Even today, Christian culture reflects an intertwining of pure biblical truth with doctrinal precepts which serve as simplifications and sometimes props that stymie a mature grasp of the truth.

Yet, progressively over the centuries and even more in our day, there has been a remnant and a restoration in grasping and applying the truth and culture that operated in the early church. We live in a time of turbulence when more is needed.

A key part of this restoration of biblical culture today is found in the foundations in the biblical, Jewish roots to the faith. In 1967 there emerged a movement capturing and restoring an old dimension to the identity of Jewish believers. With that has come a growing recognition in the church of the Jewish foundations that were at the heart of the early church. Jesus' Kingdom message is culturally very Jewish.

"In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew saying," Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you." Zech. 8:23

This restoration now has extended to where Jew and Gentile, as "one new man" are recapturing dynamics of worship that were at the heart of the vibrancy of the first-century church.

"So that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace." Eph. 2:15

In conclusion, there is a culture war taking place all around us; but it's also happening within the ranks of our organizations. God never intended those known by His Name to be like everyone else. Our identity is to be distinctive, in Him. The response demands true leadership. That means a mature, strategic leadership in which we serve, like Joseph and Daniel, as ambassadors in the culture war within, as well as the one with which we are surrounded (2 Cor 5:20).

There's no perfect organization, just as there is no perfect believer. However, what is involved is a pure heart. What is required is in the reach for the higher standard. That holds great potential when it comes from the parallel between the poise of the soul and the culture. And THAT is an issue for leadership by anointing.

"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind." Phil.
___________________________________________________

Morris Ruddick has been a forerunner and spokesman for the call of God in the marketplace since the mid-90s. As founder of Global Initiatives Foundation and designer of the God's Economy Entrepreneurial Equippers Program, Mr. Ruddick imparts hope and equips economic community builders where God's light is dim in both the Western and non-Western world.

He is author of "The Joseph-Daniel Calling;" "Gods Economy, Israel and the Nations;" "The Heart of a King;" "Something More;" and "Righteous Power in a Corrupt World," which address the mobilization of business and governmental leaders called to impact their communities with God's blessings. They are available in print and e-versions from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and other popular outlets.

Global Initiatives Foundation (www.strategic-initiatives.org) is a tax-exempt 501 (c) 3 non-profit whose efforts are enabled by the generosity of a remnant of faithful friends and contributors whose vision aligns with God's heart to mobilize the least of these our brethren. Checks on US banks should be made out to Global Initiatives and mailed to PO Box 370291, Denver CO 80237 or email us at sign@strategicintercession.org for access information on our secure web-site.

2013 Copyright Morris Ruddick - sign@strategicintercession.org

Reproduction is prohibited unless permission is given by a SIGN adviser. Since 1996, the Strategic Intercession Global Network (SIGN) has mobilized prophetic intercessors committed to targeting strategic-level issues impacting the Body on a global basis. For previous posts or more information on SIGN, check: http://www.strategicintercession.org

Morris Ruddick Global Initiatives Foundation www.strategic-initiatives.org www.strategicintercession.org  Editor's Note: I love Morris! He is a great example in doing what it takes to get it done. I have read all his books, and highly recommend that you do too! Steve Martin

SOMETHING MORE
BY MORRIS E. RUDDICK

Spiritually, the times demand "something more." For those called as Joseph-Daniels, this book outlines a pathway of stewarding your calling. It begins with going beyond absorbing information to entering a vibrant process leading to a path described by Jesus as having its entrance at the narrow gate. Find out more HERE...

THE HEART OF A KING
BY MORRIS E. RUDDICK

These are times that cry out for true leadership. Those paying the cost are a remnant with a heart and identity inexorably tied to God. They will receive the keys to release His Kingdom in their domains. These are the ones with the heart of a king. Find out more HERE...

GOD'S ECONOMY, ISRAEL AND THE NATIONS
BY MORRIS E. RUDDICK

God's economy operates against all odds - not an option in lands of distress or in today's post-9/11 environment. The faith-based roots that undergird God's purposes for business are releasing community-building initiatives. Find out more HERE...

THE JOSEPH-DANIEL CALLING
BY MORRIS E. RUDDICK

Modern-day Josephs and Daniels will serve strategically as instruments of God's purpose in secular positions of influence within seats of power of this world. This timely book addresses the dynamics of this calling, God's economy, and the preparation, character, and challenges of these uniquely called Josephs and Daniels. Find out more HERE...

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Secret Believers Share Faith under Fire

Secret Believers Share Faith under Fire

By George Thomas
CBN News Sr. Reporter


BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan: One-hundred-thousand Christians are murdered because of their faith each year. In many cases, governments are to blame because they pass laws that restrict religious freedom.

Recently, CBN News gained exclusive access to a gathering of secret believers inside a former Soviet Republic to get a close-up look at what life is like for Christians who face daily persecution.

Secret Strategy

The setting in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan could not have been more ideal.

"This is a beautiful location," Vitaly, a secret believer, said. "Seventy percent of the country is mountainous. Locals call it the second Switzerland of Asia. Our goal was to find a safe place away from the city to not draw attention of the authorities."

For a few days Vitaly and a handful of Christians gathered in a secluded villa tucked away in the mountains about a two-hour drive outside the capital city Bishkek.

"We worship, pray, and strategize how to effectively share the love of Christ in our countries," Vitaly said.

CBN News cannot show you their faces or reveal their real names for security reasons, but in a room inside a secret getaway are underground believers from Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. All are former Soviet Republics in Central Asia experiencing a rising tide of hostilities against believers.

They are members of a Christian ministry that's reaching young people in the former Soviet Union.

"It's practically impossible to openly share about Jesus Christ. Doing so will get you beaten, arrested, or killed," Vitaly warned.

Youth Not Allowed

But that has not stopped Marat, a youth leader from Uzbekistan, who said last year was a difficult year for him.

"Fortunately I wasn't arrested," Marat said. "But I was repeatedly interrogated by secret police accused of gathering people in my house. They said what I am doing is illegal."

Marat runs an informal Christian school training Uzbek leaders. He told CBN News that "the pressure is unrelenting."

"You can't relax. You are constantly under stress," he said. "You cannot trust anyone because you don't know if they'll turn you in or accuse you of proselytizing."

Doud is from Kazakhstan, the largest of the five Central Asian countries. There were no Kazakh Christians in 1990. Today there are about 15,000. But strict religious laws make it difficult for churches to register.

"According to our law you cannot attend church until you are 18 years old. That means we cannot hold youth meetings, discipleship classes or Bible study," Doud said.

One Life at a Time

Firuz is from Tajikistan. He gave CBN News exclusive access to home video of his secret house church that was smuggled out of the country. The meetings are small and typically held in a believer's home.

"The people in this video know exactly what's at stake," Firuz told CBN News in an undisclosed location. "Our parents taught us from childhood that one day we may have to sacrifice our lives."

Seven million people live in Tajikistan and only 1,000 are Christian.

"Each life counts," Firuz said. "God says, 'Be thankful every day, rejoice in every soul that comes into heaven.' That's what keeps us going: one life at a time."

Radical Islam On the Rise

Religious freedom exists in all five countries under the constitution, but barely. While Islam is the dominant religion, a more radical expression is taking root in Central Asia.

Dmitry Kabak is a human rights lawyer in Bishkek. He said fear of radicalism has led governments to adopt laws controlling all religions, including Islam and Christianity.

"Groups from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and elsewhere come in with a different interpretation and practice of Islam. That worries the authorities. Some of the radical groups have engaged in terrorist activities," Kabak told CBN News.

Oleg works in remote villages of Kyrgyzstan. He remembers what it was like spiritually after the fall of the Soviet Union.

"There was a lot of freedom in the 90s. People could openly share the gospel. But eventually, Islam started to make a move and gain influence," he said.

An Oasis from Persecution

All throughout the mountain areas of Kyrgyzstan the horse is another popular mode of transportation, especially to get around some of the tough terrain and step hills.

For the believers, the mountains are a spiritual oasis because it is an opportunity to get away from the almost daily routine, harassment, and persecution from the authorities and to come together in a safe place, a beautiful place, and to get spiritually energized.

"The beauty, the backdrop, (and) the scenery (are) wonderful distractions from (their) daily challenges," Marat said.

"To see Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Kazakh, and Tajik believers in the same place at one time is so encouraging," Firuz said. "We draw strength from each other. We know we are not in this spiritual battle alone."

After being encouraged, refreshed, and re-energized, the believers must travel back home to the uncertainty of the days ahead.

Yet they stand boldly, convinced of a calling to make the name of Jesus Christ known -- no matter the cost.

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Israel's Existence Disproves Christian Replacement Theology

Tuesday, June 11, 2013 |  Ryan Jones  
Israel Today magazine

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Bible

In an article published in a local Israeli newspaper around the time of Israel's 65th Independence Day, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Har-Noy puzzled over the fact that there are still so many Bible-believing Jews who refuse to celebrate the Jewish state's modern rebirth.

"Perhaps these dear Jews missed the words of Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik in his wonderful speech 'Kol Dodi Dofek' (The Voice of My Beloved Knocks)," mused Har-Noy.

Soloveitchik, a Boston-based rabbinical leader and one of the most renowned of modern Jewish philosophers, delivered a powerful public address in 1956 on the occasion of Israel's eighth Independence Day. In it, Soloveitchik argued that "all the claims of Christian theologians that God deprived the Jewish people of its rights in the land of Israel, and that all the biblical promises regarding Zion and Jerusalem refer, in an allegorical sense, to Christianity and the Christian Church, have been publicly refuted by the establishment of the State of Israel and have been exposed as falsehoods, lacking all validity."

Har-Noy noted that for centuries the Christian Church used the fact that the Jewish people had been deprived of their nation and could find no rest in their exile as evidence that God had made Christians the new "Chosen People."

"Then came the Holocaust and the torturous destruction of a third of our people. For the Christians this was incontrovertible evidence that the previous Chosen People would never rise again," the rabbi continued. "And then the State of Israel was established!"

For this reason, Har-Noy asserted, the rebirth of Israel was as much a deep spiritual event as it was the establishment of a safe harbor for Jews. "Independence Day is first and foremost a celebration of the rise of the Jewish people from the dust, as the verse says: 'Rise from the dust, dress in your garments of splendor, my people,'" the rabbi said, referencing the Lekhah Dodi (Come My Beloved), a liturgical song that is part of the Jewish service welcoming the weekly Sabbath.

With all that it means, how can there be Jews who will recite prayers and scriptures, but not mark the modern holy day that is Israel's prophesied rebirth? "Certainly there is much left to do and much to improve, and that is our mission," concluded the rabbi. "We must take what the previous generations have imparted to us and improve this wonderful gift called the State of Israel."

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Phil Keaggy - "Time" video (1980)

Rare, lost footage taken in December 1980 "Time"

Phil Keaggy (born Philip Tyler Keaggy, in Youngstown, Ohio on March 23, 1951 in a Catholic family) is an American acoustic and electric guitarist and vocalist who has released more than 50 albums and contributed to many more recordings in both the contemporary Christian music and mainstream markets. He is a seven-time recipient of the GMA Dove Award for Instrumental Album of the Year, and was twice nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album. He has frequently been listed as one of the world's top-three "finger-style", as well as "finger-picking", guitarists by Guitar Player Magazine readers' polls.

"Besides being one of, if not the most talented guitarists ever, Phil is one of the nicest and most humble men you'd ever meet. I worked for a time at a little radio station in Orange County California when he came by with some record company folk for an album release event at the station. Phil took time out to roll on the floor and play with his young child right in the office, in the midst of the suits". Rusty Perez (From YouTube comment.)


Editor: I wrote one of my Ahava Love Letters (#16) in regards to Phil's classic song, "Disappointment - His Appointment". I have reprinted it here below. (1st printed Feb. 21,2011).

If you use the "Search Box" in the top right hand corner you will find a few other songs of Phil that I have included on this Blog.

Shalom!

Steve Martin

Ahava Love Letter - "Disappointment - His Appointment"

Ahava Love Letter (#16)

 “Disappointment – His Appointment”

“…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith…” (Heb. 12:2 (NAS) 

Dear family of friends,

Phil Keaggy is a very gifted nine-finger guitarist, who many have said is better than another “famous” one, Jimi Hendrix. I never listened to Jimi (thank God!), but I loved Phil. I still have several of his albums (the real 33 1/3 black vinyl ones) and then several of his CDs. Great music; and his voice is very unique. 

Phil is a cool guy. In one interview with Harmony Magazine in 1976 he spoke of being one of ten children, with his mother being a very devout Catholic. (We have only eight kids in our family, and were pretty good Catholics.) He also spoke of how he lost his one finger.

“I was born in 1951. In 1955 I lost a finger on my right hand, my middle finger. We lived on a farm in Hubbard, Ohio, which had a big water pump, and I was climbing up on it. As I was kneeling on top of the platform, it broke and the faucets came crashing down on my finger and cut it off. I can remember it very vividly--as if it happened yesterday, and I can see my dad running down the hill, rescuing me, and taking me to the hospital. I can recall having a white cast and bandage; it was gigantic!

They tried to sew it on, but it didn't take, so I grew up with nine fingers. As a young kid, I was embarrassed about it a lot, especially when I was beginning to get into guitar. I used to be red when I'd play in front of people because I believed they were looking at my hand, which they probably weren't.” (The complete interview is at the very bottom of this Ahava Love Letter. But please read this part of my letter first!)

Phil was living at the Love Inn in Upper New York State, with Scott Ross (700 Club) and Ted Sandquist (who wrote the song “All Praise To The Rock,” which our band Ahava Love sings) when Laurie and I were also in a common purse community in LaSalle/Peru, IL in the late ’70’s. He came to Victory Community with his band in 1978, and held a concert at LP High School. What a concert that was! (They then stayed in our homes.)

I had the joy of taking Phil to the Charlotte, NC airport after he sang at Derek Prince’s Memorial Service on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2003. What a day that was. (He has an album called “What A Day” (1973), so I thought I’d use that pun here. Hope you caught it.) He actually sang two songs during the two hours of honoring Derek. One was “What A Day” that I have on the recorded video tape of the service.

Keaggy wrote and sang another great song on one of his 63 albums, entitled “Love Broke Through.” That specific song is called “Disappointment.” (Released: October 1976 New Song)  

When we sometimes think of disappointments in our lives, and dwell on the thought, “What was up with that, Lord?” Phil’s lyrics can surely help us in our considerations and wonderings. In fact, I still appreciate them so much, that I thought they are worth sharing here with you now. Read on…and allow the Lord to speak to you.

Disappointment - His appointment,
Change one letter, then I see
That the thwarting of my purpose
Is God's better choice for me.

His appointment must be blessing
Though it may come in disguise
For the end from the beginning,
Open to His wisdom lies.

Disappointment - His appointment
Whose? The Lord's who loves best.
Understands and knows me fully,
Who my faith and love would test.

For like loving, earthy parent
He rejoices when He knows
That His child accepts unquestioned
All that from His wisdom flows.

Disappointment - His appointment
No good thing will He withhold
From denials oft we gather
Treasures from His love untold.

Well, He knows each broken purpose
Leads to fuller deeper trust
And the end of all His dealings
Proves our God is wise and just.

Disappointment - His appointment
Lord I take it then as such,
Like the clay in hands of potter
Yielding wholly to Thy touch.

All my life's plan is Thy molding
Not one single choice be mine
Let me answer unrepining,
Father not my will but Thine.

(Phil Keaggy)

These lines stood out to me. “His appointment must be blessing, though it may come in disguise, for the end from the beginning, open to His wisdom lies. Disappointment - His appointment. Whose? The Lord's who loves best. Understands and knows me fully, Who my faith and love would test.”

If you recently had a disappointment, or even one from years ago that still haunts you, such as, “They should have done this”, or “You could have done that, but…,” consider again the answer to the “Whys” and the “Why Nots?” that we often ask ourselves and others. Start to trust again. As you seek Him, you will find that the answer will always be found in Yeshua (Jesus).

Let’s give our disappointments up to the Lord. We don’t need to keep fretting over what has been done. Move on. Get your eyes and faith fixed once again on Him, the Author and Finisher of your faith and mine.

He loves you. You can always be sure of that. Rest in His peace, His leading, His provision.

Ahava to you my family of friends,

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People, Inc.

Love For His People, Inc. truly appreciates your generous support. Please consider donating now on-line by clicking herehttp://www.loveforhispeople.com/ for our website’s “Giving Opportunities” tab, or by sending checks to the address below.Todah rabah! (Hebrew - Thank you very much.)

©2011 Steve  Martin      Love For His People, Inc.  12120 Woodside Falls Rd. Pineville, NC 28134

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Ahava Love letter #16   Date: Feb. 22, in the year of our Lord 2011    

    

Phil Keaggy Interview 

Harmony Magazine
Early 1976

His dark hair and beard frame a face that expresses the openness and serenity of an inner joy. And when he smiles!-- somehow his eyes get into the act. He is Phil Keaggy, guitarist extraordinaire.
Phil lives with his wife, Bernadette, at Freeville, NY and is an active brother there at the Love Inn community. Besides his solo album, "What a Day," on the New Song label, and the three he did as a member of Glass Harp (Decca), Phil has contributed to many of the best Christian releases to date: Honeytree’s "Evergreen,'' Paul Clark's "Good to Be Home" and the 2nd Chapter's "In the Volume of the Book."
Not so much an interview as a testimony, the length necessitated our presenting in it two parts, with the conclusion to follow in the next issue of Harmony.
To Chuck Brown, Randall Pflum and Billy Gray, the interviewers who gave such care to see that the spirit of that afternoon was maintained, our heartfelt thanks.

Harmony: Could we begin with a testimony?

Keaggy: Sure, I was one of ten children; my mother was a very devout Catholic, but my dad was just sort of hangin' in there. He was raised a Lutheran, but he didn't really commit his life to Jesus. He was a hard working man-an iron worker. He put all his time and efforts into supporting the family.
My older sister, Ellen, had sung with orchestras like Guy Lombardo's and others. Later she became an actress. Ellen has been a real influence in my life. I always looked up to her as the star of the family and someone I could relate to, because I was really into music and television sets and watching movies.
As a kid, I was interested in anything that spun on a phonograph. I was fascinated by my brother's Magnavox hi-fi console, and I remember we used to play Guy Lombardo, Mantovani, even the Hilltoppers. all kinds of old music. My younger sister and I--just learning how to walk and talk and everything, would be watching the records and cutting our incoming teeth on the console of the hi-fi. By the time my brother got rid of the hi-fi, there were teeth marks all along the front of it.
Musically, at this time, Mom got me some Fats Domino records like “Blueberry Hill.” Then I got into Elvis Presley. I can remember the day my brother brought home records like "All Shook Up" and "Hound Dog". So anyway, this was all shaping my musical interests--all this kind of music --all these kinds of records.

Harmony: You caught the late fifties, then.

Keaggy: Well, yes. I was born in 1951. In 1955 I lost a finger on my right hand, my middle finger.

Harmony: How did it happen?

Keaggy: We lived on a farm in Hubbard, Ohio, which had a big water pump, and I was climbing up on it. As I was kneeling on top of the platform, it broke and the faucets came crashing down on my finger and cut it off. I can remember it very vividly--as if it happened yesterday, and I can see my dad running down the hill, rescuing me, and taking me to the hospital. I can recall having a white cast and bandage; it was gigantic! They tried to sew it on, but it didn't take, so I grew up with nine fingers. As a young kid, I was embarrassed about it a lot, especially when I was beginning to get into guitar. I used to be red when I'd play in front of people because I believed they were looking at my hand, which they probably weren't.

Harmony: It's amazing that you can do the finger picking that you do.

Keaggy: I'm not amazing at finger picking. I use my thumb, my forefinger, my ring finger and my little finger, and I put try to use them the best that I can.
Before my accident with my finger occurred, my oldest brother was killed in a car accident and two weeks afterward my younger sister had her big toe cut off. These were all really heavy things for my mom and dad to go through.

Harmony: It sure was. Musically, where were you about this time?

Keaggy: Well, we moved to the city in 1958. So here I was, just out of training wheels on my bicycle, and I had a little plastic guitar. After third grade I moved to a suburb of Youngstown, Ohio, called Boardman, and I got my first real guitar. It was a Sears Silvertone for about $19 that my dad bought me for my tenth birthday. I had wanted a set of drums, but my folks couldn't afford them, so I got the guitar.
I didn't know how to tune the guitar;. as it was when it came, that's how I thought it was supposed to be. A good friend once told me that when he got his first guitar, he tuned them all the same. So for about nine months I learned funny little melodies with my guitar tuned out. Finally, my brother Dave said "Here, let me show you how to tune this thing properly." I said, "Well, O.K., but I gotta learn all over again." I was disappointed.
It wasn't too long after that we moved to California for a season. I can still recall being into Elvis and the Ventures back then; old groups like that. I liked funky stuff, too, and I was getting more into the guitar and going to church on Sunday.

Harmony: It was your mother, then, that was the dominant Christian force.

Keaggy: Yeah. She was fantastic. She had so much love, and she was such a giving woman; she gave all of her time to her children and to people that she loved. She brought joy into a lot of people's hearts, so I put wanted to please her as well as I could as far as going to church. My dad didn't go. He'd just drop us off and then come back and pick us up, so there wasn't a spiritual unity in our family. My dad drank, which was a hardship for my mom, and all of us, too, and scared us kids a lot with the things that go along with drinking. Some people, they can't drink without being kinda mean sometimes. But I'm not talking down on my dad, because I know it was just the fact that he wasn’t born again, then. He is now. He just didn’t have a personal knowledge of Jesus then, and so he became a slave of drink and it would take him over.

Harmony: When did you get your first electric guitar?

Keaggy: For Christmas, when I was in fifth grade. It was a hand-made electric guitar and when I got it, wow. I was so happy! I spent most of my time with it. And when I was 12, I got my first good electric.
I was very interested in how record players worked, especially stereos, and Nick, who really impressed me as a nice guy and who worked at this electronic store, would show me around and let me work the different systems, stereo components and all that. One day I mentioned that I really liked playing guitar and he allowed me to record on the Sony Tape Deck and put sound with sound. I played little tunes like "Malaguena" and some different instrumentals I had made up.
One day Nick took me to a music store and said, "'Do you like all those guitars up there." I nodded and he said, "Pick one out.” So I tried them out and chose a Fender Stratocaster. I played it for a while and expected to put it back but Nick said, "Do you like that?"
"Sure!" "Well, it's yours," he said and bought it for me. I paid him back by sweeping driveways and working in the electronics store.
I had that guitar for quite a while and put a lot of time and effort into playing it.
We moved back to Ohio and I joined a group called the Squires. I was an eighth grader at a Catholic school, and everyone else in the group was out of high school. I played in clubs when I was that young, but I was protected from a lot of evil back in those days. The Lord had a shield about me. It wasn't until I was much older that I began to get into loose living and drugs and things like that.
After two years with the Squires, I joined another group, The New Hudson Exit. But the strain of going to school and playing all the time got to me so I left and went to California. I stayed with my sister there until my folks came out. We found an apartment and they lived there for a year and a half, I only stayed seven months. They allowed me to come back home to be with a friend who I'd been writing to, that I'd known since grade school. His name was John Sferra.
John and I had written back and forth expressing our desire to form a group of our own to play the kind of music we wanted to play, especially our own music. Our desire was to have a group that was big--nine piece--like the Electric Flag and Blood, Sweat and Tears. We had big dreams.
Over the neat year and a half Glass Harp was formed consisting of John, myself and Dan Pecchio. My god, at this time, was my instrument. I worshipped musicians, listened to their music, copied their styles and spent hours playing along with Beck or Bloomfield or Hendrix, with Harrison, Clapton and others. I wanted to be a really good rock guitarist and become well known; that was my heart's desire. The Beatles were idols to me. I had every album, every European album, every single they ever recorded. I tried to fashion my vocal style like McCartney. Now I realize the Lord’s given me my own style and I appreciate that, though I still consider McCartney a much better vocalist than myself.

Harmony: Well, I don't know about that.

Keaggy: (laugh) Anyway, we were beginning to become better known in record contracts, our crowds began to grow and we were beginning to play second billing to well-known groups.
But the 18th year of my life was very dark; I was into drugs by now. I knew my mom was concerned about me. My dad didn't know anything; if he did, he'd have hit the ceiling. The unity and discipline wasn't happening in our home, the Bible was not openly read. That was something you heard about in church; that's the way Catholics were taught, at least in those days. So I never read the Bible till I was saved when I was 19. Ever! Now, it's like my road map to heaven; I read it every day. It speaks to my heart; it speaks to me about. everything I need to be and do.
Anyway, back in '69 I was experimenting with LSD. I had done some trips and it was terrible, I thought it might enhance my creative ability in music, but it didn't. I once heard a tape of me playing when I was high and it was awful. I sang weird and I played badly. I thought I was doing such a great job, but it was a deception.
People I was supposedly very close to, who were close to me, were turning on me. It seemed really strange. They were making gestures or mocking me. The things that people do under the influence of drugs is incredible! It's satanic. I was experiencing such fear, I thought I was going to get my head bashed in once because this guy looked at me and I saw hatred coming out of his eyes and oh ! it was just, oh ! terrible. It was like a nightmare.
During these days I would take naps in the afternoon because I'd be so tired playing at night, staying up till 4 in the morning, getting up early and napping again in the afternoon. I'd wake up having nightmares, or daymares, whatever you want to call them; whatever it was, it was like flashbacks.
I was into that whole scene! I had "Peace" written on my wall and I went around giving the peace sign, but I didn't experience peace in my life. I didn't know what peace really meant; it was just a cliché.

Harmony: How did you get turned around?

Keaggy: On February 14, 1970, my dad and mother were on their way to take my sister to her girlfriend's house. At the time I was down in Maryland playing with the group and was high as usual. When I returned I received word from my brother Bill that they were in an accident, a head-on collision. The steering rod had punctured my dad's lung; mom was in critical condition and, as a result, members of the family came from Arizona, California, Pennsylvania and all over. Dad was going to be all right but he was shattered. His world, his whole life was crumbling.
Mom looked very bad but I thought she would snap right out of it, I was very insensitive to the reality of what was going on. I was living in my own world, trying to do my own thing, not really caring about people, just myself. I remember visiting her at the hospital and saying, "Don't worry, mom, you'll be okay." A week later she died.
I was in Mansfield that weekend playing. I came home at 5 in the morning and the lights were on as I entered the house. They told me mom had died at such and such a time and I remember that I fell right to floor in despair. My whole world was shattered, too, because I had really loved mom and I knew that she prayed for me and wanted the best for me. I began now to experience an emptiness in my life--right down deep, gut level, right where my spirit is. I felt I was lost and needed help.
My sister, Ellen, who I hadn't seen for about three years, told me she had an experience that changed her life completely, a born-again experience. She had met Jesus Christ and her life was changed. I just listened to her as she shared her experience with me. And as I looked at her, I saw that she had hope. I could see that she was reflecting peace in her life, and joy, and love.
She shared with me that mom, before she died, praised Jesus. She said that mom had a vision of Jesus, that she literally saw the Lord and beckoned everyone to come see what she was seeing. Mom could only whisper but she was saying, "Praise God."
Mary Ellen was sharing with me and my younger sister, Geri, about how we both could come to know the Lord and have our lives changed. She invited us to an Assembly of Cod service one Sunday morning while she was in our area. I heard the Gospel preached and I responded with my need, I went forward, knelt down and said, "Jesus, come into my life."
I knew I'd tried a lot of other things; I'd seen the other side. I wanted to see what God had to offer me. But I didn't know a whole lot. I didn't even know what He was going to do, but I knew Jesus was the answer.

Part 2:

Keaggy: So I was saved on a Sunday morning, two weeks after my mom passed away. I experienced a joy that morning; a burden was lifted from my shoulders and something new took place. In the Bible, I John I, it says that I wasn't born of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the living and abiding word of God, so that when I received Jesus, I received the seed of eternal life and it's been growing ever since. My life began to change -- even my desires that very day that I accepted Jesus were different. I went home and listened to "Presence of the Lord" by Blind Faith. Out of all my rock collection, I just wanted to hear that song; something to talk about the Lord.

Harmony: What was the reaction of your friends to your experience?

Keaggy: Well, there's a verse in the Bible, Psalm 118:7, that says, "The Lord is for me among those who help me." That's a verse that I'll always remember because God's people, the few that I knew, were beginning to be a blessing to me, and lead me by the hand to answer some of my questions and to pray with me, because I had no fellowship.
The rest of the band just couldn't figure out what was going on. I liked them; we got along well and were united in our goals for the band. But something had happened to me. I saw something in my own life that I had never seen before, and I saw that the reason that I had been given a talent was to glorify God. I was to write music that expressed the love of Jesus.
I began to refuse their dope. We traveled in a little Fiat together, and we'd squeeze in and they'd offer me a joint, but I just didn't want it. The Holy Spirit had spoken directly to my heart. I remember being stoned one night and I just started feeling a conviction happening inside me. It was like hearing another voice saying, "What are you doing to yourself? You don't need that, it's deceiving you." But on the other hand, I heard other people saying, "Here, come on. What's wrong with you? Be like us." Hey, that's a really heavy thing to go through as a very young Christian, and I really sympathize with your young Christians, became it's really hard to take that step. But I was strengthened at this time by some regular fellowship at a little place called The Barn.

Keaggy: We signed a contract with Decca in the summer of 1970 and in September we recorded our first album. It was recorded in New York City in about a week. Even though I had bronchitis and had to sing one verse at a time, it worked out. And I was even able to get in a witness for the Lord Jesus in "Can You See Me" and "Look in the Sky." "Look in the Sky" was completely spontaneous in the studio, at a warm- up practice at 10:00 in the morning. The words just came, they flowed; nothing really spectacular, but it came out of our hearts. We enjoyed playing together and we really got tight musically. But spiritually we were going different directions.
We did a California tour right after we recorded our second album, Synergy. I met a lot of Christians there, I remember leading a brother to the Lord in San Diego who later gave me an acoustic guitar valued at close to $1,000. He just gave it to me. I was not expecting it. That album was a real experience because I was able to sing The Answer, a song I wrote right after my conversion to Christ. And with two Jewish producers and an engineer that didn't care about Jesus, I was surprised that out of 15 songs, one of the ten that got on the album was The Answer. I praise Jesus for that work, because it's just a simple song of testimony.

Harmony: The California tour was a very successful one for you?

Keaggy: Well, yes. It opened a lot of doors for the group. We played Winterland out there, and Whiskey A Go-Go, and we did a KSAN-FM live concert, which was aired over the whole San Francisco area. We played on the same bill with Michael Bloomfield. Mike's a guitar player I'd respected for a long time. I learned his licks and I worked with his style, but when I saw him I was kind of disappointed because he was going through a lot of changes. It's like the Bible says: "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." It's the same way with a musician. If he's living in despair, if he's down a lot, it will come out in his music.
I was very up: I was the most up at that concert than I had been in a long time because, first of all, I wanted to play well: I was clear-headed, I loved Jesus, and I wanted to play unto the Lord with all my might; secondly, Michael Bloomfield was there and I wanted him to be impressed. What we played was recorded that night and to this day I am happier with that recording than I am with any of the albums that we recorded, it's that good. But when Bloomfield's band played it seemed down and just wasn't flowing. But I still respect him; I don't know what he's doing these days, but I pray that he's beginning to see the light. I know he's Jewish, and the Lord is doing great things among Jewish people. So I pray for him.
Anyway, as far as recording, after the second album, we did a concert in Carnegie Hall, which was recorded and supposed to be the third album. It was good, but it wasn't released for some reason. We then went into the studio and recorded It Makes Me Glad. We all worked the best that we could. The group knew that it would be our last album together because I had given notice that I was going to leave. And on August 8, I did. It was a really heavy thing for everybody. I had changed my mind four times previously but this time I knew that if I stayed, I'd be disappointed.

Harmony: So you left. What then?

Keaggy: I was out of Glass Harp for only two weeks, and started searching for "a kingdom of God in the flesh." I stayed four days at Love Inn, worshipped and sang my songs for them. The day I left to go back to Youngstown, Ohio, they cried; they had attached themselves to me.

Harmony: How did you know about Love Inn?

Keaggy: Well, Peter York's brother Bruce told me that he had stopped there on the way back from his honeymoon in Cape Cod. He told me that I should check it out, that the Lord was doing some really great things there.

Harmony: Who is Peter York?

Keaggy: Well, he's a brother that I had met and spent some time jamming with even when I was with Glass Harp. He was only 14 at the time. He wasn't Joe Musician, but I sure enjoyed his company. He was simple, not heady or highminded, and he and I hit it off as friends. We got together and wrote a couple of songs and really experienced something between us. The Lord was joining us without our knowing it.
Bruce had said, "Someday you ought to get together with Peter and just sort of play once in a while.” And I said, "I’d enjoy it occasionally, but I couldn't think of a permanent thing with him." But it ended up that way for about 51/2 years, Peter and I touring together.

Harmony: How did the What A Day album get recorded?

Keaggy: After I left the Love Inn I went back to Youngstown and did the music for some children's films. I really hit it off with the engineer at Motion Picture Sound in Cleveland. His name was Gary Hedden. He suggested that I cut some of my songs there. So things started falling into place.
I had also met a man by the name of Al Stevenson who had worked at Channel 25 in Cleveland. Out of the goodness of his heart he said he would back me in this album project. So he put forth $2,800 and said, "Whatever the cost is, go right ahead. You can pay me back when the album comes out." It was really incredible how God was doing this; the desire of my heart for two years before this had been to record an album of the songs that the Lord had given me. So on January 2, 1973, What A Day began to be recorded. I spent six days in the studio with Gary. Sessions were from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Everything flowed; there was no striving. Gary and I became good friends, and I didn't preach at him; I just showed him how Jesus had changed me and let him know how I felt about the Lord when he asked me. The Bible says, "If any man ask you to give the reason for the hope that lies within you, do it". I was able to do that, and a week later Gary accepted Christ on his own. Both he and his wife became Christians and they're doing well. They're both baptized in the Holy Spirit. I was baptized in the Spirit in 1970 at a Kathryn Kuhlman service: It was a beautiful experience.

Harmony: Back to the album, what next?

Keaggy: Well, after Scott Ross and I had shared his vision of a record company called New Song when I visited Love Inn. I believed in it and wanted to be a part of a record company that would be totally for the Lord and guided by scriptural principles. So I sent the masters to Freeville with a note saying, ‘This is the album and if New Song wants to release it, I'm all for it.’ But due to lack of experience and finances we were unable to put the album out until June ‘74.

Harmony: What finally made you leave Youngstown for Freeville?

Keaggy: In June, 1974, while touring with Paul Clark and Peter York, the Lord spoke to my heart and told me to 'get off the road, quit being a lone-ranger minister and get plugged into a body (join a community).'
Bernadette (my wife of 11 months at that time) and I were still in Ohio but we knew our hearts were at Love Inn. I felt a part of Love Inn and the album connected me with them.

Harmony: How did the Love Inn begin?

Keaggy: Love Inn began as an idea in Scott Ross' head and grew into a large fellowship group with a national ministry.

Harmony: Could you describe Love Inn and the function of its ministry?

Keaggy: The elders at Love Inn are Scott Ross, a former deejay turned minister and Ted Sandquist. The Love Inn Community of Freeville, New York, is a body of believers functioning primarily according to New Testament patterns, and is not just another church on the corner, or a commune. We're a family and God is teaching us more and more. There's a quality of life that's being experienced here, in a practical outworking of the Lordship of Jesus in our lives, that is surpassing anything I've come from.
In addition to New Song Records, we publish Free Love, a bimonthly newspaper, produce biblical teaching tapes, and produce the Scott Ross Show, which is a nationally distributed contemporary gospel music show. Our worship and business center is in a completely remodeled barn, which also homes the book and record store and studio where Scott's show is produced.

Harmony: What was your immediate reaction upon joining the community?

Keaggy: One of the first things that happened to me here was that I had to come under authority. It's been hard for me to let go of my independence, but I am learning that they are not trying to hold me down, or restrict me out of jealousy, or just to put their thumb on me so that I won't be happy. It means less time spent on the road sometimes but I'm experiencing a lasting closeness with other Christians. I look in my brothers' faces and see the love they have for me.

Harmony: What is your function at Love Inn?

Keaggy: To learn discipline and how to serve others. I've taken on the responsibility of being part of the Love Inn staff. If I show faithfulness in this job, the Lord will entrust me with greater things. When I'm not on the road, which is most of the time now, I work at Love Inn. Nine to five, Monday through Friday, I work in the tape duplicating room. I clean the place, unpack twenty-five tapes of the Scott Boss Show each day and duplicate a total of 800 shows on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday afternoons, I work in the recording studio with Ted Sandquist on a song to go along with Scott’s show topic. It becomes tedious and menial work sometimes. I get my eyes off Jesus and say, 'Oh, Lord, this is a drag I could be out there telling people about Jesus with my music realize, though, that He's trying to tell me, 'Son, I’m not finished with you yet."

Harmony: Where did you and Bernadette meet? Is she a hometown Ohio girl?

Keaggy: Yes, she is. We met in '71, when the Glass Harp was playing at Oden's Den in Akron. I'd see her there Monday nights with her friends every week. She can tell it, if she likes.

Bernadette: Well, you about said it. We used to go hear the band play and I guess I hadn’t ever planned on meeting him. I just enjoyed their music. One time, during a break, he came over and stated talking to me. And gradually we became good friends.

Harmony: Did he reveal he was a Christian at the time?

Bernadette: Yes, he shared the Lord Jesus with me, and it was a totally new thing for me. I was brought up Catholic but I had strayed from that, so it was a different approach and it really interested me, I was open to it. He took me to a couple of prayer meetings that he regularly went to and introduced me to some of his Christian friends, and I could see that they bad something special, a glow and a happiness that I really desired.

Keaggy: People need to see it in us. I'm sorry that I couldn't have been more loving toward people when I was a young Christian. I was so zealous and interested in winning them to Jesus that I forgot about loving them first. I think marriage has helped me understand that. We have been married since July 1973, and our relationship is as exciting as it was when we were first married. Jesus renews our love. daily. Because of our relationship, we can learn how to love others well. Down deep inside, people can sense whether or not you receive them in love, or you are trying to rap on them or Bible belt them.

Harmony: Bernadette, what's it like being married to one of the top guitarists in the world?

Keaggy: First of all, I'm not. Not even in New York.

Bernadette: You know, it's funny. A lot of people ask me that and also questions like "What's it like to be ministered to 24 hours a day?" But even when I first met him, I just saw him as a person, not as some famous musician up there playing in front of hundreds of people. I love his music and I listen to it, and I don't play his album every day but just once a while.

Keaggy: (laughter) Mostly when I'm gone.

Bernadette: And I love to hear him when he creates new music.

Harmony: Getting back to What a Day, the album really ministers.

Keaggy: I appreciate that. The album came out of my life. Now I Can See is the song that really speaks what my heart is saying. When life goes into an album, life comes out. There is a lot of music that is fantastic technically but it lacks life and spirit. Jesus said, "The flesh profits nothing, but the Spirit gives life." I've got music that's fantastic musically, but then there's music that the Lord ministers through. He anoints it. The input that you receive is also your output. Its roots go back to influences in a person's life that have been good and pure. You know, when it comes to anointing, that's something only the Lord can do: He can use someone who isn't as talented or someone who is much more talented than I am. I encourage people to get into music but I remind them to remember who's the author and giver of that gift. I discourage people from getting a guitar just to be like me. When someone is given a gift from the Lord, the Lord will accomplish that which concerns that gift. It's all for the purpose of glorifying Him, to build up the Body, to edify the Body, and to bring news to the fainthearted -- -- to those who are lost, and to set the captives free.

Harmony: What are your goals?

Keaggy: I know I can't let my music take prominence over the Lord’s will. We haven't had the finances to put out my second album, but I'm been doing backup work and production. I guess my goal is to really trust the Lord for all of it. I want the album to be released and I want to know more about guitar -- those are the desires of my heart. Those are desires God can grant if you delight yourself in the Lord.

As this story goes to press, Phil is going into a west coast studio to cut his second New Song album. The album, produced by Buck Herring is scheduled for a fall release. As reported in Vol. I No. 6 of Harmony, New Song is now distributed by Word, Inc.(http://www.museweb.com/keaggy/harmony76.html)

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