This weekend, C-SPAN’s “Book TV” will air the talk I gave on Implosion as part of the “Implosion Simucast” event we did in June at Houston’s First Baptist Church. Given the recent massacre in Aurora and other bleak economic and spiritual events and headlines in recent weeks, I think the subject will be a timely one, though obviously I won’t be able to comment on these recent events since they happened after the program was taped. That said, I hope you’ll take the time to watch, or set your DVR to record the program and watch it later. Please also let family and friends who might be interested in the subject know when the program will air, and please be sure to post your comments on the book and/or the program on the Epicenter Team Facebook page.

The Implosion program will actually be broadcast twice:

* Saturday, July 28th at 11pm eastern

* Sunday, July 29th at 9:15am eastern.

For more details from the C-SPAN website, please click here. 

NOTE: At the moment I’m not certain whether C-SPAN will also air the Q&A portion of the event, but let’s pray that they will.

>> Join the conversation and follow on Twitter @jcrflashtraffic

On Thursday evening, August 9th, I’m honored to be speaking and doing a question & answer session on my new book, Implosion, in the Denver, Colorado area. The occassion will be the annual fundraising event for Ministry Architecture, Inc., a ministry my parents (Len and Mary Rosenberg) started 12 years to provide architectural services for evangelical Christian ministries operating in developing countries who need orphanages, training centers, medical missionary hospitals, and other facilities to show the love of Jesus. Before I speak, my folks will share a bit about the exciting work God is doing through this ministry in countries such as Mexico, Nigeria, Zambia, Sudan, Romania, Haiti, Thailand, Turkey, Israel, etc. Then I will discuss the enormous economic and spiritual challenges facing the United States, whether we could face not just a decline but a collapse, and the prospect of a Third Great Awakening. And I’m especially looking forward to your questions as that is my favorite part of the evening! The event will take place at Calvary Chapel South Denver in Littleton, Colorado, from 7:30pm to 9:30pm. Doors will open at 6:30pm. A contribution of $25 per person is requested to help support Ministry Architecture. Contributions are tax deductible. Registration is required, and you can register at www.ministryarchitecture.com. Please join us — I hope to see you there!

Ramadan runs from July 20th through August 18th, this year. Muslims around the world are fasting from all food and liquid during daylight hours, and then eating in the evenings. They are hoping Allah hears and answers their prayers. But they are lost. Would you join me in praying for the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims during this Ramadan season that they find the One True God?

Please pray that our Father in heaven opens their eyes and their hearts to the truth that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no one can come into a personal relationship with the Father except through Him (John 14:6). Please pray that God shows His amazing grace and unconditional love and draws many Muslims out of Islam and into salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (I John 5:1-5).

Millions of Muslims have come to Christ in the past three decades. Let’s pray that more find the Savior this year. Here’s a link to more suggestions of how to pray for Muslims — and for the persecuted Christians living in the Islamic world — this Ramadan.

• Iraq suffers deadliest day  of 2012 — at least 106 people dead from terrorist attacks — as Ramadan begins
• Haaretz: Gaza Christians fear the end of their tiny community — Fears exploded publicly when two members of the flock recently converted to Islam, prompting them to stage a rare public protest accusing Muslims of pulling followers from their faith.
• Christianity Today: The Other Iranian Revolution — In ‘godless’ eastern Germany, Iranian refugees surprise pastors with their interest in Christianity

America is in grave danger. The massacre in Aurora. The child sex abuse scandal at Penn State. The scourge of abortion and pornography and runaway spending and debt in Washington. The list tragically goes on an on. In Implosion, I try to document how serious the situation is, and how a Third Great Awakening is the only answer. In this context, I am encouraged by a new open letter to America written by Dr. Billy Graham. He makes some excellent points. Here are excerpts. Please read them, pray over them, and share them with as many as you can.

Pastors, would you consider reading excerpts from Dr. Graham’s letter at your Wednesday service this week? Would you consider turning your mid-week service into a call to prayer, fasting and repentance, along the lines of 2 Chronicles 7:14 and Joel chapter 2? America urgently needs a wake up call, beginning with the Church. May Christ Jesus use you to preach a clear message of repentance, and to lead the congregation you shepherd before the throne of grace to seek God’s mercy on our country before it is too late.

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Some years ago, my wife, Ruth, was reading the draft of a book I was writing. When she finished a section describing the terrible downward spiral of our nation’s moral standards and the idolatry of worshiping false gods such as technology and sex, she startled me by exclaiming, “If God doesn’t punish America, He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”

She was probably thinking of a passage in Ezekiel where God tells why He brought those cities to ruin. “Now this was the sin of … Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen” (Ezekiel 16:49–50, NIV).

I wonder what Ruth would think of America if she were alive today. In the years since she made that remark, millions of babies have been aborted and our nation seems largely unconcerned. Self-centered indulgence, pride, and a lack of shame over sin are now emblems of the American lifestyle.

Just a few weeks ago in a prominent city in the South, Christian chaplains who serve the police department were ordered to no longer mention the Name of Jesus in prayer. It was reported that during a recent police-sponsored event, the only person allowed to pray was someone who addressed “the being in the room.” Similar scenarios are now commonplace in towns across America. Our society strives to avoid any possibility of offending anyone—except God.

Yet the farther we get from God, the more the world spirals out of control.

My heart aches for America and its deceived people. The wonderful news is that our Lord is a God of mercy, and He responds to repentance. In Jonah’s day, Nineveh was the lone world superpower—wealthy, unconcerned, and self-centered. When the Prophet Jonah finally traveled to Nineveh and proclaimed God’s warning, people heard and repented.

I believe the same thing can happen once again, this time in our nation. It’s something I long for, and my son Franklin recently shared a vision for perhaps the greatest challenge in the history of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association—to launch an outreach called My Hope with Billy Graham that would bring the Gospel into neighborhoods and homes in every corner of America next year.

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• Breakpoint: Eric Metaxas’ excellent analysis of Office Depot promoting homosexuality, Oreo introducing a “rainbow cookie,” and Chik-Fil-A’s president defending traditional marriage
• Federal Government’s Debt Jumps More Than $1 trillion for 5th Straight Fiscal Year
• WSJ: Philadelphia Monsignor Gets Up to Six Years in Prison — “A Roman Catholic monsignor was sentenced Tuesday to as many as six years in prison for allowing a priest suspected of sexual misconduct with a minor to have continued contact with children.”
• Woman dies after abortion at Planned Parenthood clinic
• Fresno’s murder rate surges
• As murder rate climbs, Chicago mayor makes ‘values’ appeal — “Since coming into office 13 months ago, Emanuel has been shouldered with a soaring murder rate. As crime overall has dropped in the city and  across the nation, Chicago already has had 275 murders this year.”
• NPR: New Orleans now has the highest per capita murder rate in the country
• 2012 Evansville (Indiana) murder rate being described as “off the charts”

>> Implosion: Can America Recover From Its Economic & Spiritual Challenges In Time?

New rumors of war are emerging in the epicenter in the last 24 hours. “Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman on Tuesday said any attempt by Hezbollah to attain non-conventional weapons from Syria would prompt Israeli military intervention,” reports the Times of Israel. “He also commented on the Iranian nuclear threat, saying that ‘negotiations must end and actions must begin.’ ‘In the moment we see that the Syrians transfer chemical and biological weapons to Hezbollah, this is a red line for us, and from our point of view it’s a clear casus belli,’ Liberman said at a press conference in Brussels. ‘We will act decisively and without hesitation or restraint. It will be a completely different ballgame. And we hope for the understanding from the of the international community and we hope for cooperation.'”

Haaretz, meanwhile, reports that “IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said on Tuesday that if Syria’s chemical weapons were to get into the wrong hands, such as those of Hezbollah, IDF military action could turn into an unintentionally broad campaign.”

Another report in the Israeli media suggests Netanyahu is planning a September-October war to neutralize Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The economic sanctions against Iran are clearly having a serious effect, but there is no evidence they are persuading the mullahs to abandon their nuclear program. To the contrary, Tehran seems to be accelerating their efforts. Netanyahu commented on the Syrian and Iranian threats on Fox News Sunday, an interview worth watching given the current climate.

At the moment, I’m working on the final chapters of my next novel, The Damascus Countdown. It’s a look at how Syria’s alliance with Iran and Hezbollah could lead to the prophetic destruction of Damascus, as prophesied both by Jeremiah and Isaiah. I’m praying for the people of Syria that they will turn their hearts to Jesus Christ before judgment comes. Would you join me in praying for the Syrians, as well?

>> The Joshua Fund

>> WSJ: Philadelphia Monsignor Gets Up to Six Years in Prison — “A Roman Catholic monsignor was sentenced Tuesday to as many as six years in prison for allowing a priest suspected of sexual misconduct with a minor to have continued contact with children.”

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The unspeakable sex crimes against defenseless, innocent children by Penn State football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was an abomination. Sandusky was convicted in June on 45 counts of raping, molesting and abusing children, including on the Penn State campus. But also abominable was the cover-up of the ghastly crimes by coach Joe Paterno and other senior Penn State officials. The investigation by former FBI Director Louie Freeh revealed that Paterno was a serial liar — the man knew the truth about Sandusky but repeatedly lied about it, called Sandusky a “good guy,” and did nothing to stop the man from raping and molesting boys and getting him put behind bars.

By attempting to turn a blind eye and keeping silent about the travesties that were going on rather than turning Sandusky into the police immediately, the Penn State leadership essentially aided and abetted those crimes. How this implosion of morality and ethics and sheer decency could have happened in the first place is still something that makes me shudder.

>> Read full PDF version of the Freeh Report

What was done cannot be undone. But those reponsible can and should be brought to justice. Sandusky is in prison. Paterno has passed away. And now college football is dealing with Penn State. “The NCAA fined the school $60 million, imposed a four-year postseason ban on Penn State football, significantly reduced the number of scholarship players the team can field over the next four years, placed the program on probation for five years and enabled any current or incoming player to transfer and play immediately without restriction,” reports the Washington Post. “But perhaps the most significant individual sanction in the context of college football history is that all of Penn State’s wins from 1998 to 2011 have been vacated, which means that Paterno, who oversaw the Nittany Lions’ football program for nearly 46 years, no longer is the all-time winningest coach in college football’s Division I. That distinction now returns to the late Eddie Robinson, who recorded 408 career wins in 45 years as the head coach of Grambling State — a number surpassed by Paterno on Oct. 29, his last game as Penn State coach before he was forced to step down….The $60 million fine dwarfs any levied by the NCAA in the past; the four-year bowl ban will cost the school tens of millions of dollars; and the reduction to 15 from 25 annual new scholarships, while not unprecedented in scale, will  significantly handicap recruitment efforts, especially given the other negative fallout from the Sandusky scandal.” Sports Illustrated provides more details of the record sanctions here.

We need to pray that the Lord heals the children who were abused of this horrible trauma and enables them to lead healthy, productive, godly lives. We also need to pray for their families to find the love and healing and comfort that only Jesus Christ can provide. What’s more, we need to ask the Lord to have mercy on other children who are being sexually abused all across America, and ask the Lord to expose this scourge of abuse and bring it to an immediate end, and bring all of these abusers to justice. The NCAA and the Big Ten conference have done the right thing to send a strong message throughout the college sports community. But this scandal is just the tip of a very ugly iceberg. This scourge of child abuse and molestation — by some in the Catholic Church, by some at Penn State, and by many others across the country — is yet another reason America is in grave danger of implosion. Lord, please have mercy on us. Please cleanse us of this horror show. Please bring a Third Great Awakening and bring millions upon millions of Americans to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ before it’s too late.

>> Implosion: Can America Recover From Its Economic & Spiritual Challenges In Time?

Dear Pastors — in light of the evil unleashed in Aurora last week, and America’s desperate need for a Third Great Awakening, would you turn your Wednesday night service this week into a call to prayer, fasting and repentance along the lines of 2 Chronicles 7:14 and Joel chapter 2? More than ever, America needs pastors to boldly and passionately preach that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only message that will save this country. America needs pastors who will call this nation to humble ourselves and turn from our wicked ways and seek His face, before it’s too late. America cannot be saved unless the Church wakes up from our long and bitter slumber. “Blow a trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; surely it is near….’Yet even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘Return to Me with all your heart, and with  fasting, weeping and mourning; and  rend your heart and not your garments.’ Now return to the Lord your God, for He is  gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and  relenting of evil. Who knows whether He will not turn and relent and leave a  blessing behind Him, even a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God? Blow a trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out of his room and the bride out of her bridal chamber. Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, ‘Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not make Your inheritance a  reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?'” (Joel 2:1, 12-17)

UPDATED: What made James Holmes do it? Why did the 24 year old graduate student open fire in a crowded Aurora, Colorado, movie theatre last Thursday night at the premiere of the new Batman movie, leaving 12 dead and 58 seriously wounded? The investigation of this act of sheer evil is on-going, and we all await more details. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper called Holmes “twisted,” “diabolical,” “demonic” and a “terrorist.”

In the meantime:

• Please pray for the Lord to comfort and heal all those who were affected by this terrible tragedy —  for the more than 800 people were in the theatre that night; for their families and friends; for the first responders; for the suspect; for the law enforcement officials involved in the case.
• Please pray for pastors to rise up and show the true love of Jesus Christ to those who need that supreme love so desperately, and pray that these pastors are able to communicate the Word of God with clarity and authority to those who are suffering and frightened and angry.
• Pray especially for my friend, Ed Taylor, the pastor of Calvary Chapel Aurora. He is in the thick of all this — 33 members of his congregation were at that theater when the shooting started. Yesterday, he delivered a powerful sermon based on 2 Kings 6:13-17. You can listen to Pastor Ed’s message by clicking here. What shall we do when evil surrounds us? What shall we do when we face death and don’t know what to do and where to turn? O Lord, open our eyes, and let us see You…let us see Your power….let us see the hope You provide….give us courage to combat the fear we feel. Interestingly, this is the same text that the Lord told me to preach on in Haifa, Israel last week.

One thing clear today: the demons of violence and lawlessness are on the loose all across America, not merely in Aurora. Violent crime in the United States has surged by more than 460 percent since 1960. The further we turn away from God in our nation — or give mere lip service to religion — the worse things are getting. We are witnessing a horrifying explosion of murder. We are witnessing a gruesome crime wave unprecedented in American history. And there appears to be no end in sight. In recent years, we’ve seen brutal mass murders in high schools (like Columbine), on college campuses (like Virginia Tech), and in small towns all across America (a recent FBI report says the murder rate soared 18.2% in small towns in America last year alone).

Is this evidence of the early stages of cultural implosion? I believe it is. As I note in Implosion: Can America Recover From Its Economic & Spiritual Challenges In Time?, “Alarm bells are going off all around us. Lights on the dashboard are flashing, Warning! Warning! Yet America is sleeping through the alarms, blind to the warning lights. And tragically, for the most part, the Church — God’s chosen instrument to bless individuals, families, communities, and nations — is asleep as well. I shudder to imagine where we are heading if we don’t wake up soon, plead for the Lord’s forgiveness, and ask Him to use us to love our neighbors and revitalize our country….”If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:145)….America is on the brink of collapse. We desperately need God’s mercy. Without His grace, we will implode. It’s not a matter of if but when. Thus, now is the time we must urgently ask the Lord to give us a sweeping series of spiritual revivals in every part of our nation that will culminate in a Third Great Awakening. Whether God decides to say yes is up to Him. But let us not compound our many national sins by failing to get on our faces before Him and implore Him to pour out His Holy Spirit and save us from disaster.”

• WFAA: Congregations shaken by Colorado massacre
• Los Angeles Times: Aurora pastor to 33 members: “Very, very happy God spared you.”
• Blog: An Aurora youth pastor’s first hand account of being at the theater when the shooting began
• Denver Post: Aurora theater shooting: Stories of victims killed emerge
• Washington Post: Aurora, Colo., shooting spree: A day of tears for victims and of twists in case
• CBS News: 13 year old girl tried to save 6 year old’s life
• New York Times: Police at Home of Colorado Suspect Disarm Major Threats
• Wall Street Journal: Who is James Holmes? Suspect’s Rapid Descent — Holmes Bought Rifle, Bullets During Month After School Exit
• AP: Shooting suspect could face death penalty

Click here to watch video online.

Also:

• Mossad says Iran & Hezbollah have plotted terrorist attacks in more than 20 countries in last two years.
• Syria’s Next Act: With the rebels moving deeper into Damascus, and the regime’s days appearing numbered, the CIA is racing to find Syria’s chemical and biological weapons before it’s too late.
• Syria official: We will use chemical weapons only to defend ‘external aggression’
• Suicide bomber’s victimis in Bulgaria includes Israeli pregnant woman
• “Mahdi” computer virus targets Israelis
• To financially help The Joshua Fund provide food, clothing and medical equipment to bless the poor and needy in Israel, as well as educate Christians around the world to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus, please click here.

(Jerusalem, Israel) — UPDATED: Please pray for Michael Ben Ari. He’s a member of the Israeli parliament (Knesset) who this week was given the gift of a Hebrew New Testament study Bible by the Israeli Bible Society but chose to rip it to shreds and throw it into the garbage and do so in front of the press. It was a reprehensible act and a childish temper tantrum and the controversy over what he did and why he did it has made headlines here in Israel and around the world. The good news is several leading Israeli officials condemned Ben Ari’s action and called for him to apologize. Personally, I’d like to see Prime Minister Netanyahu make a strong statement condemning Ben Ari’s action, as well.

At the end of this column, I post some of my thoughts about why I believe this controversy is important.

But first, here are the latest details: “MK Michael Ben Ari (National Union), a member of the Israeli parliament tore up a copy of the New Testament and threw it in the trash, an act that was apparently caught on camera,” reported Ynet News. “Ben Ari and several other Knesset members received by mail on Monday a copy of the New Testament, sent by the Bible Society in Israel, an organization that distributes religious books. In the letter sent with the book, director of the Christian organization Victor Kalisher wrote that the new edition ‘sheds light on the Holy Scriptures and helps understand them….We hope the book will help you and illuminate your way.’….However, while most MK’s chose to ignore the book or return it to its sender, the rightist lawmaker chose to term the book a ‘provocation,’ tore it up into shreds and then threw it out. ‘This abominable book (the New Testament) galvanized the murder of millions of Jews during the Inquisition and during [other] instances,’ Ben Ari said adding that ‘Sending the book to MK’s is a provocation. There is no doubt that this book and all it represents belongs in the garbage can of history.'”

“The religious and ultra-Orthodox Knesset members should honor those who want to read the book, Kalisher said,” noted the Times of Israel, “adding ‘it could help them expand their own knowledge.’ Kalisher also denied the notion of missionary activity, saying his organization studied and spread the holy scriptures, providing people with knowledge and study tools. There was no intention to ‘hurt the feelings of Knesset members,’ he said. ‘It’s a Jewish book, written by Jews. To better understand Judaism you need to study the New Testament.’

MK Ben Ari’s deplorable behavior was denounced by other Knesset members, including the Speaker of the Knesset Reuven Rivlin. Rivlin condemned Ben-Ari’s act and said all religious books should be respected. “Holy scriptures are important to their believers,” Rivlin said. According to the Times of Israel, Rivlin asked “what would the Jewish reaction be if a parliament member from another country burned the Torah.” Democracy, he said, includes the freedom of expression, “but not the freedom of offending believers of other faiths. Freedom of religion is a cornerstone of this country.”

Israel’s official government spokesman, Mark Regev, also condemned Ben Ari’s act. “We totally deplore this behavior and condemn it outright,” said Regev. “This action stands in complete contrast to our values and our traditions. Israel is a tolerant society, but we have zero tolerance for this despicable and hateful act.” A source close to the Prime Minister told me Mr. Regev’s comments reflect Mr. Netanyahu’s views.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), to their credit, also called on MK Ben Ari to apologize for his behavior. Here is the statement the ADL released:  “The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was horrified by reports that a member of the Israeli parliament tore up a copy of the New Testament and posed for photographs with the destroyed bible. ADL called on Knesset Member Michael Ben Ari to publicly apologize for tearing up a copy of the New Testament he had received after a publisher sent copies to all members of the Israeli Knesset. ‘As Jews, we expect others to treat our holy books with respect and understanding,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. ‘We should likewise show respect for the holy books of other faiths. A member of parliament and a representative of the State of Israel should know better than to show such profound disrespect for another faith. His actions run counter to Jewish values and the standards of Israel’s democratic society.’ In a letter to Mr. Ben Ari, the League said he needs to apologize for his disrespectful act. ‘We understand that copies of the New Testament were sent to all members of Knesset,” the League wrote to Mr. Ben Ari. ‘In statements to the media, the publisher has asserted that the intention was not to proselytize, but rather to inform MKs of the wealth of religious texts produced in Israel.  However, if your belief was that this distribution constituted proselytizing, we believe a more proper outlet for your concern would be to call on the appropriate authorities to investigate if the manner in which this text was distributed constituted a violation of Israeli law.'”

I agree with the ADL and am encouraged by their statement.

That said, I would encourage all of the Members of the Israeli Knesset to read and carefully study this Hebrew edition of the New Testament and to proactively study the life of  Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth. Indeed, my prayer is that all Israelis would read and study the New Testament and decide this question: Is Yeshua the Jewish Messiah foretold by the Hebrew prophets, or not? This is the most important question in all of human history, and the most important and urgent of questions that must be answered by each and every Jew and Gentile. Indeed, our eternal destiny depends on how we answer this question and what actions we take based on our answer.

I am very sorry that MK Ben Ari did what he did. But I am grateful for the wisdom of Speaker Rivlin who saw in this controversy the importance of denouncing Ben Ari’s reprehensible actions and show solidarity with the Christian world by showing respect for the New Testament. I’m grateful for Mark Regev doing the same. I’m grateful for Abe Foxman and others doing the same. And I’m grateful that out of something bad that was done, some good might results — perhaps more people will wonder why Ben Ari is making such a big fuss over the New Testament and choose to read it for themselves.