Confessions at Sovereign Grace Fairfax

I have been aware of a church in the USA called Sovereign Grace Fairfax where one of C J's son-in-laws is on staff there. It is a church that has come under heavy criticism from the Survivors and Refuge blog quite fairly I think. Some extremely sad stories of sexual abuse of children have occured at the church - this is something that I react against very strongly. I've made my life's work protecting and defending children as a nurse and I HATE the thought of any child in pain or grief. So to read these stories where child abuse happened in the church and find pastors not defending the children - it's hard to read.

I was interested that the church held a "Family Meeting" this week and was considerably impressed with their transparency, honesty and openness on their flaws. Again I think it's important to give credit where credit is due. Here's some comments on what the senior pastor Mark said;

"The blog post from SGM that contained resolutions - I found that blog post to be unacceptable in tone and content. It seemed defensive, it seemed heavy-handed and for me it raised serious questions about the integrity and the legitimacy of the evaluation process that has been entered into with C J. It failed to invite dialogue and critique. The post that followed a couple of days later entitled; "Listening" was better - but overall I was disappointed and surprised by that blog post. Personal observation number 2 - there is a need for a through review of the leadership practice inside Sovereign Grace Ministries. Key questions are undefined or unclear. What does it mean to be a member church? Does SGM have any authority over it's churches or is it simply a para-church organisation? Are their deficiencies in conflict resolution that C J references in his blog post? How can communication between the SGM Board and pastors and member churches be improved?

These are not small items. A new coat of paint won't do.

Observation number 3. Let's slow down and take a deep breath. We are not talking about adultery. The matters before SGM are quite serious but on another level they are not that unusual. This is not in anyway to make light of anyone who has been sinned against. Personally I love C J - I love SGM. I hope that partnership continues for decades to come - let's be patient and let's pray.

Four personal questions. 1. What role does the SGM board have in addressing sins in C J's life? Were Dave, Jeff and Josh enabling him or questioning him? 2. How seriously does the SGM board see what we see? We need some more queues and understanding. The blog posts have not helped me see it's worse that we think. 3. What will the process of assessing look like for SGM? Will it involve ex-pastors who have been hurt or disenfranchised? What will the process look like? 4. How is SGM reaching out to ex-pastors and leaders who have been hurt and disenfranchised by the deficiencies that C J has described?

We are at a time when SGM has been critiqued for the way pastors have led. There are several blogs that have focused on these issues. Two stories in particular have appeared on those blogs that address situations in this church. What follows is a confession in response to what is called Noel's story and Wallace's story. Romans says "Weep with those who weep" - by now many of you are aware of two stories on Survivors and Refuge - both were members of this church and both have sad stories to tell. Noel (a pen name) tells of the sad sexual abuse of her young daughter in 1998. Wallace tells the same. In both cases the young men were perpetrators who were members of this church. These incidents are exceedingly painful for these families. No compassionate person can learn of these sins without grief, sorrow and heartache of the violation of these young children.

But it gets worse - when these incidents came to light these children were victims who were sinned against. Moments like this require extraordinary amounts of tender care. This is a time to bind up the broken hearted and weep with those who weep - and that's what your pastors did right? With deep regret I confess - we didn't. Noel and Wallace are justified in critiquing the pastoral care they received.

Sadly in seeking to care for them - we became part of their trial. We unwisely used a Peacemaker model for conflict resolution - this resulted in the victims families being corrected when they should have been cared for. I am so sad I did that. Our aversion to therapeutic thinking kept us from people and resources that would have helped these families and helped us to help these families. We didn't give hurting people room to help these people.

We have been accused of not getting it. Guilty as charged. I am so sorry (*breaks down in tears*)".

We are all human. And I know I can testify that the one word; "Sorry" - goes a massive way to heal a multitude of sins. I know not all will be satisfied with these comments but I really am encouraged by the honesty and openness characterizing the church leaders - may God use this to keep moving SGM towards healing.

Ern Baxter Joins the William Branham Crusade!

I have purchased a new CD-Rom from the wonderful "Revival Library" run by Tony Cauchi of Newfrontiers down in Southampton. It is an amazing historic collection of "The Voice of Healing" magazines from 1947 to 1966 - tracing the Healing Movement.

It's interesting - the Healing Movement is often criticized by cautious people who were put off by certain excesses or at times heretical statements made by some of the men and woman leading the Movement. But the actual miracles of healing don't seem to be denied. And I want to read and learn how these men and women were used of God so that we can not copy their mistakes but see these signs and wonders come back!

One comment on the back of the CD-Rom caught my attention particularly concerning Gordon Lindsay. It says;

"God raised up Gordon Lindsay to be a catalyst and chronicler of the revival and the Voice of Healing magazine was the vehicle he employed".

I have often wondered what my calling from God is - and I probably feel most affinity with this; "chronicling" through my transcribing. Now all I pray is that God will begin a move of His Spirit to chronicle! But I wanted to show one article in particular that is of special meaning to me:

One to One with Rob Rufus and Nigel Ring

I found this interview between Nigel Ring and Rob Rufus taken just after the "Together on a Mission Conference" in Brighton in 2006. It's so stirring.

NR: Were you brought up in a Christian family?

RR: I had an incredibly happy childhood but my mother was an agnostic and my dad was an atheist but a very good father. From about three years of age I was conscious of God's Presence and about the age of seven or eight, I began to read the gospels. However in my high school years I really went out of my way to undermine Christian faith; but I was longing for them to win the argument. When I finished high school my dad had convinced me that Christianity was a modern form of sophisticate superstition but I had the privilege of leading my dad to Christ many, many years later, three weeks before he passed on!

On "call-up" in the military I began to ask questions about the meaning of life even more. Then at university I got very involved with the Hare Krishna movement. I even joined a Hindu Ashram full time.

NR: Had you met Glenda at this stage?

RR: We met at university and got married. We had our first son Jay (Hindu for victory) by the time we had joined the Hare Krishna movement. In the meantime Glenda had an amazing encounter with God and was "born again". I ridiculed that a martyr could save the world. It seemed foolish that Jesus died on a cross; He could have done better as a teacher. One day a man wanted to join our community. I asked him how long he wanted to stay and he said as long as was necessary! That night he suddenly sat straight up and pointed at a picture of Krishna, shook his head and just said; "Jesus Christ is the pure sacrifice of God and He is the only way" - a pretty courageous thing to say in a Hare Krishna temple!

I was suddenly aware that I was not right with God. When I got up at 2am he had gone and I never saw him again.

NR: Angelic?

RR: I don't know Nigel. For months I tried to increase my performance in Hindu rituals. Then in the Ashram on my own, Jesus came and said; "My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Come follow Me!". So I was "born again" in a Hindu temple! That was in 1977.

NR: Did you walk straight out?

RR: I did leave as I was called up again by the South African military. But I went back and witnessed to every single one there. I heard later that some I had spoken to had left the movement.

NR: I think your second child had been born by this stage?

RR: Yes, Ryan was conceived whilst we were in the Hare Krishna movement. He is now part of our leadership team. We also have a daughter Bonnie who leads worship in our church.

NR: When you left Hare Krishna, how did you engage with a church?

RR: We went back to the university on a post-graduate course. I met Christians who had fasted for forty days for us when they heard we were going to the Hare Krishna people. They burst into tears and were amazed! We joined them as a community of people.

NR: How did you plant a church?

RR: After I graduated God called me to plant in our home town but there was nothing supernatural there. I began to read Acts and God asked me; "Do you believe everything that is My will will automatically happen?". I said; "Yes Lord!". "Do you believe it is My will to save people every week and add them to you?". I said; "Yes Lord!". "Do you believe it is My will that people get healed miraculously?". I said; "Yes Lord!". "Then how come it isn't happening?".

He spoke to me about going to sit under the ministry of Kenneth Hagin for three days. Initially I was quite critical and analytical but I watched the miraculous happening. Then God said; "Lift your hands - you can do this!". The Presence of God came on me overwhelmingly and powerfully for the first time in my life. The next Sunday our church was hit by the power of God. People with deaf ears began to hear, different people began to cry out. I felt God say; "Pray a blessing over the people". So I asked them to stand and said; "Father would you bless ..." and I didn't get any further.

I heard this amazing rushing sound through the building and saw people being picked up and carried two to three rows through the air. We had never seen anything like this. I called out and said; "You have seen that God is real. Come and get saved!". People literally ran to get saved that day. Even the local rugby team visited and broken bones were healed. The church grew by hundreds. Then God said; "I am going to lift this heavy anointing off you for a season and I want you to get to know me. I am going to link you with people that I want you to be accountable to. I want you to develop your doctrine and knowledge of Scripture. I am going to bring this power back on you at a later stage".

It was at that stage I met Dudley Daniel.

NR: Has God brought that power back to you?

RR: Every year I asked God; "Is this the year?". Every year He would say; "Be faithful - this is not the year". By 2001, 2002 I wondered if God would ever do this again but at the beginning of 2006 I heard God say; "This is the year not just for you but for much of the wider body of Christ". He promised He would restore this power at a higher level and I feel certain that as the year progresses we will see this more and more.

NR: Is this world-wide?

RR: There is fresh expectation in many parts of the world and reports of some unusual signs and wonders. I think 2006 is the year our Lord is taking His finger off the "pause" button.

NR: Such ministry comes out of an intimacy with God. How did you deepen your personal walk with God?

RR: I love to get out to solitary places; the mountains and the forests. When I first planted a church I would spend a day or two every week alone with God, not trying to prepare messages but wanting to get to know Him. I learned to fine-tune my spirit to hear His voice and talk to Him about who He is. He said; "Rob I want you to ask Me questions about Me. If you open your heart to me, I will open My heart totally to you - and reveal things to you". I found that if you develop a depth of relationship with God in the solitary places I could start hearing His voice in the noisy places. I can even stand in Mongkok - one of the densest population areas in Hong Kong and hear the voice of God.

NR: Many leaders would ask; "How did you carve out that time? Did you have a team with you?".

RR: Yes I did have a good team but there is also unnecessary guilt that comes. One day sitting on a mountain looking out over factories where members of my congregation were working, God said;

"Son those people want you here - they want you to come with dew of heaven on your shoulders and speak the living word of God".

NR: Moving in these dimensions, do you experience opposition?

RR: Yes! The enemy is against the anointing because it destroys the yokes, lifts the burdens off people's shoulders and breaks his strategies and attacks. There are anti-Christspirits trying to get the church to be more secular, to run programmes, entertainment with human wisdom. Reaction is mainly from religious people; the world longs to experience something that is supernaturally authentic. We need to redeem the supernatural back to sound theology, basing it on good doctrine, expressed by people who have healthy marriages, healthy families and so forth.

NR: Where do you find your own peer relationship that will keep you secure and where you weigh each other's ministry?

RR: A very good question! When God exploded into our church I had no understanding of proper Biblical government foundations or biblical wineskins. I had difficulty in hosting a big crowd! As I mentioned, it was then in 1984 that I was introduced to Dudley Daniel. I first met him on his day off. He came out of his study in a pair of shorts and hugged me. I got the shock of my life! I felt God say; "I have joined you to this man forever!". I began to realise that Dudley had an apostolic wisdom, understanding and grace on his life. He helped us lay proper New Testament patterns and Victory Faith Church is still very healthy today.

NR: How did New Covenant Ministries begin?

RR: When Dudley was baptised in the Holy Spirit, his denomination kicked him out. He was invited by a small group in Bryanstone, Johannesburg to pastor them. He also felt God say he should build relationships with pastors who are lonely, wanting friendship and looking for togetherness. Out of that came the phrase; "Friendship before function". This began to reflect what Jesus revealed so wonderfully with His friends who were disciples.

There were many BBQs with humour and laughter. Slowly the idea of a trans-local team began to develop; that is when I got involved. God began to open up the oath He made to Abraham to bless all nations. We began to see that we would have to plant New Testament local churches in every nation.

NR: Did you have a particular strategy?

RR: In Scripture proven ministries took the initiative to break new territory. For example Paul and Barnabas having established Antioch moved on. Dudley relocated to Australia. This sent a big signal to us all. We thought South Africa was going to fall apart but God actually blessed us. Then God called Glenda and me to join him.

NR: Were you creating South African churches?

RR: Not at all! As we planted we started working with indigenous people and they started coming on team. We wanted to reflect the culture of the kingdom not a religious sub-culture.

NR: Have you found that God has given you favour with particular sections of the community?

RR: In certain countries, doors open through situations of poverty. In others, it has come through Christian businessmen and women like Priscilla and Aquila.

NR: How did your next transition come about?

RR: When Dudley felt called to work into the USA, he handed the visionary leadership of Coastlands International Christian Centre over to me. In 2002 after seven years God called us to go full-time trans-local equipping churches in evangelism, signs and wonders and miracles so we handed the church over to Dudley's son Tyrone. Then our hearts began to turn to Asia and Glenda and I planted a church in Hong Kong.

NR: Did you know people on the ground?

RR: There were five people in Hong Kong and five young people from South Africa to help us for 6-12 months.

NR: How have you grown?

RR: Originally I thought we would build primarily with ex-pats using the medium of English. However Chinese people started coming because they heard about the Presence of God and were attracted to the message of grace. One young, very intelligent and hi-tech Buddhist man came. The Presence of God was so powerful in the meeting that he began to weep and said; "They are not singing about Buddha, they are singing about Jesus so He must be alive!". He gave his life to Christ and we baptised him very soon after that. We are, probably about 95 adults at this time plus children.

NR: Do you have any comments on multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-lingual church?

RR: When diverse ethnic groups come together that reflects the wonderful finished work of the Cross! The idea of the homogenous church for me is foreign to the Scripture. We are enjoying being a rainbow church.

NR: Has the signs and wonders ministry opened doors for you in Hong Kong?

RR: Yes! There is a lot of idol worship that opens people up to demonic influences so when God sets people free they go and tell their friends. The potential to have exponential growth in Hong Kong and into mainland China is enormous. The secular humanistic money culture has left a real emptiness in people's lives.

The Presence and power of God is a major means to impact that part of the world.

NR: Can you disciple others into this ministry or impart it to others?

RR: Both! The main way is through impartation. It is through association with people that are moving in the supernatural like Elijah to Elisha or Paul to Timothy or Moses to Joshua and so on. There also needs to be practical instruction; how to co-operate with God; how to co-labour with God; how to partner with God. I love to coach even in services on a Sunday morning - "This is why we are doing this".

NR: You referred earlier to what God was saying about 2006. Can you expand on that?

RR: I came to London in 2005 and I was praying in Richmond Park and suddenly I felt the clear voice of God saying He is going to come with a visitation of His glory to the British Isles. It may seem unlikely or like wishful thinking but I just felt it so strongly. He said He was going to call me back and have some involvement in facilitating, in a small way, some of those things. Something would rise up within these British Isles. It would be for everyone who is hungry for God. It would require people to look at wineskins to avoid another charismatic movement that will run for a while and then burst.

Those who have been faithfully establishing wineskins for years need to start looking with expectation that they have not laboured in vain. Others will need to be looking at Scripture and to people who have built according to a Biblical pattern. This is the time to prepare for this visitation by building proper Biblical government and pattern into the church.

A Biblical wineskin embraces three elements:

1. Biblical authority structures which is proper government based on what the Bible teaches not on democracy.

2. Biblical vision which involves going to the nations and involves reaching the lost.

3. Biblical values - how we do it, with integrity, humility, with team, accountability etc.

Prophetic ministries around the world are picking up an excited expectation of something significant. This time hopefully we won't have a Philistine cart with our Uzzah's and Ahios. We will receive this visitation with a lot more reverence and honour who this is for. This is for the honour and pleasure of our great God not to make certain movements more famous or our churches grow faster. This is to see the glory of God come into the nations that multitudes can be saved.

NR: Thank you so much Rob - An excellent place to conclude!

Healing of a Baby in Mobile Alabama!!

Being a paediatric nurse I have a very soft spot in my heart for babies and children. So as I have been following the "Bay of the Holy Spirit Revival" (I love that name!) in Mobile, Alabama I was instantly gripped by this video and this beautiful child - who it seems has been healed of deafness. I find it incredibly moving how emotional Nathan Morris is when he hears the child has been healed. Every servant of God who moves in signs, wonders and miracles will generally be accused of being a phony by cessationist septics. This to me isn't a phony man. This is a desperate and passionate man who is thrilled his God is moving and acting.

Here's the video. I took a screen shot of the medical results shown on the video at 2:23. I am quite familiar with these results in nursing. I would interpret this results card as a baby passing all audiology tests but follow-up being recommended because the hospital staff don't understand why the child has passed!

Here's the results screen capture;

And By the Way ....

I know the first thing the cynics always ask is - well where is she now? That's all very well she seemed to have got "healed" at the meeting. But is she still healed now?

I have just found this video of the lady walking onto stage and worshipping;

The Lame Shall Walk!!

I was taken aback by a "sovereign surprise" when I got back from the gym today. I turned on the TV and was channel flicking. Normally I tend to whizz past God TV but was caught by something called "Revival - Mobile Alabama". Intrigued I stopped - Mobile is a place dear to my heart because it's where the Ern Baxter Memorial Library is. What I saw on TV was a young evangelist praying for a gorgeous tiny little baby. It looked somewhat similar to Lakeland although I didn't know any of the individuals on stage.

I'm absolutely gutted to say that my initial thought was; "Oh no - not again". What I meant by that was - not another flash in the pan "revival" that will excite for a few months and then be gradually whittled away by cynics and critics - and even possibly the leaders falling into some error.

But then I kept watching and was softly and lovingly rebuked by the Holy Spirit. Dare I ever let cynicism and weariness from unfulfilled promises tarnish our openness to something new? Surely not! I never, ever, EVER want to become one of those Christians I saw and feared becoming back in Dunstable. Who were bitter and resentful and suspicious of anything new - just because they weren't used to it. This Mobile uprising may perhaps be "another Lakeland" - but I really really want my default position to be - I hope not! I hope it's the start of something new that God is doing in our day! There's nothing I dread more than - nothing.

So here's what I know so far:

Nathan Morris - a UK evangelist - came to John Kilpatrick's (former pastor involved in Brownsville in Pensecola) church in late July to close a conference. The power of God broke out and he has cancelled his other commitments and stayed there to this day. There have been some very notable miracles that Charisma Magazine has reported:

"Woman Walks for the First Time in 22 Years".

This was videoed and has attracted over 100,000 hits on You-Tube! Here it is;

So I don't know what's going to happen - and I don't know how it will all end up. But I'm excited to watch and see what breaks out - and by God's grace get touched by a personal revival myself (because God knows I need it!). I've been listening to Nathan Morris - the evangelist - preach for the last half hour or so and I must say I'm impressed so far by his commitment to mission and the Word of God.

Imperfect Faith Can STILL Bring You Face to Face with Jesus - Part 2

Just before Easter I posted the first half of this sermon of Rob Rufus's - he preached it in November last year in Hong Kong. The fact is that we are indeed facing a war. And I am increasingly convinced that the war is NOT to give into lust or anger or other "sins". I am increasingly convinced that the war is to give into bitterness and disappointment against God - and ultimately to lose our faith in a loving and gracious and passionate God. The devil simply uses those temptations - because he knows that if we as Christians do fall in those areas, we will most likely think that God is angry or disappointed with us. And then his job is accomplished.

But if we can hold on resolutely to the finished glorious work of the Cross - that when God promises; "He is no longer holding our sins against us" - that He means it, then I suspect that the devil has lost probably his only weapon. Why are we as Christians so determined to believe that God is constantly angry or unhappy with us?

Here is Part 2 of the sermon;

"Quickly go to Romans chapter 3:3-4. “Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true and every man a liar”. What is so important today is that we need to see there is a difference between facts and truth.

So many people in the church are believers in theory. But the reality is that the administration of their life is closer to a practical atheist. There is very little in these Christians lives that you have to say they are solving problems through faith. They are solving their problems by “what is” and are dealing with “what is” by “what is”. So they are multiplying their problems.

This creates so much controversy and pain and I wanted to deal with this so sensitively and I just don’t have the time. Let me say I am dealing with this from a sensitive heart.

The fact is that you may have sickness in your body. The truth is that by His stripes - you WERE healed. The fact is you may be in financial debt - the truth is that at the Cross He has ALREADY redeemed you from the curse of poverty that the prosperity of Abraham may come upon you. The fact is that you may have sinned and done something seriously wrong - you may have failed God - that is the fact. The truth is you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

There is coming a defining and dividing dispensation in our time of the people of God who chose to be wrapped up in the facts or be wrapped up in the truth. If you focus on the facts then you will chose the things that are to nullify the things that are. But if you focus on the truth then you will chose the things that are not to nullify the things that are. You will seek the covering presence of the cherubims and the glory to get into the Presence of the God who calls things that be not as though they were.

I want you to look in John chapter 8 very quickly. Any fact that does not line up with the truth of God’s Word is a fact waiting to be nullified by the things that are not. I want you to look quickly at John chapter 8. I want to show you that Jesus constantly spoke about the two worlds - the superior world of heaven and the world that is from below that is temporarily corrupted by satanic deception. Satan has a system of politics, economics and education of doing things and God has a heavenly system of doing things and He says - let Your kingdom come, let Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. When we begin to get into the world’s system, we begin to try to deal with problems of what is - by dealing with what is.

Jesus says here - in John chapter 8 and verse 23; “I am from above, I am not of this world”. If you go to verse 28, Jesus said; “I am the One I claim to be … but speak what the Father has taught Me … He has not left Me alone”. That is the key theme of what I want to talk about in the coming weeks. He has not left me alone. “The truth will set you free”. What will the truth set you free from? It will set you free from the facts. Are you wrapped up in the truth of God’s Word or are you wrapped up in the facts? Now we are not to deny the facts - we have to face the facts and recognise that they are there. But we are then to look on the things that are unseen and get wrapped up in the truth.

It is not a waste of time to be lying on the floor soaking under the manifest glory of God - it is not a waste of time to go into the secret place and let God love you and manifest His glory over you and saturate you so every cell in your body is vibrating with eternal life, divine virtue and divine quickening of your mortal body so that God can then do the things that are impossible to do.

I wonder has God really called us to have faith for miracles? Or has He called us to have faith to surrender our whole life to come under His hovering Presence? Because when you want to have faith for miracles, it puts all the pressure on you to have faith. If all you are saying is; “God I know I can have faith for Your manifest Presence” - then the God who does miracles does the miracle.

I can’t do the miracle and neither can you. What do we need to have faith for? His hovering Presence. God has to come out of the invisible and manifest tangibly. No miracle can happen unless the Presence of God manifests tangibly in reality so that your very physical body can feel His Presence. Go to Jeremiah 32. Jeremiah 32 is God’s announcement of the superiority of the New Covenant. Most of you have heard me read this and quote it but I want to read it again. Verse 40. We no longer earn or deserve the blessing, Jesus Christ earned the blessings on our behalf and redeemed us from the curse of the law that the blessings may come on our lives through faith and faith alone. So Jeremiah 32:40 says; “I will never stop doing good to them”. How long is never? Does never ever run out? “I will rejoice …”. The Hebrew word means; “To turn and twist with deep emotions of ecstasy and joy in doing us good”. V41 again.

Let me put these two verses together - then the will of God is to NEVER stop doing you good! 24/7 every second He wants to do you good! How does He do us good? With rejoicing! So if He never wants to stop doing you good then it means that He never wants to stop dancing with deep emotions and twists and turns and ecstasy in doing you good. The greatest fun God gets - is doing you good!

Why do so few Christians feel a consciousness that the Creator is not remote and a distant deity but He is a very engaged Being that is literally dancing over me and you with ecstasy and deep feelings of wanting to do us good and never will stop doing us good? How come that is not reflected in the life of the church?

I think it was when Jesus said - your traditions have nullified the Word of God. I don’t think people believe this. I don’t think people have the faith to surrender to the covering Presence of the God that calls the things that be not as though they were. I think people have got caught up in rituals and religion and ceremonies. Religious principles and protocol - but have we got caught up in revelation and eternal intuition and insight into this God dancing over you all the time? We have been told that when God manifests over us it is a sovereign initiative and there is nothing you can do about it and He will just come. Now the gifts of the Spirit operate as the Spirit wills but I am not talking about the gifts here today. Jeremiah 32 is not God talking about the gifts - it is God talking about Himself dancing over you all the time!

Some of you have heard my account of when I went to Brighton two years ago and I was invited to be the main speaker at a conference for about 5000 leaders. The weekend before the conference Terry Virgo invited me to come to the church he is based at that he has planted - it is quite a large church - and minister Sunday morning and Sunday night. So I preached Sunday morning and came back Sunday night and it was packed out. People had come from all over and they had brought lots of sick people and I preached again in the evening but realised I had to pace myself because I had to preach seven times in the week to thousands of people. At the end of the evening service I thought I had to get out of the door and then saw this long queue lining up and the first one had crippled hips and I just knew that it was not going to happen. I couldn’t do it. Someone said “Will you come over?” and as I am walking over I suddenly felt over my physical body, my head and everywhere the dancing God. He was wanting to rejoice over doing me good and anyone that got into my radius.

Any time you watch a DVD of an evangelist or a preacher and see someone bringing them out of the wheelchair with boldness and no lack of confidence - anytime you see that, don’t think that is their natural temperament. They are under something. I am tired of ministering to broken lives if I am not under something. It is just flesh and religion. “Come out in Jesus Name!”. “I am not coming out”.

As I got closer I could just feel the intensifying dancing of a God who just wanted to do me good and anyone around me - this God of perfect love. I walked up to the first lady and I said; “Lady what do you need?”. That’s all I did. I didn’t put my hands on her or pray and I felt this all around me. She started to describe her symptoms and about 30 seconds into her describing the symptoms (I had said nothing - just fixed my eyes on her) she started shaking. I hadn’t prayed for her, hadn’t said “In the Name of Jesus” or put my hands on her and she started shaking and vibrating and then she falls over! I just was standing there listening to the symptoms. A minute or two later she got up and her hips were totally straight. I said “Next!”. 20 people - about 8 out of 10 - the exact same thing happened. I never prayed for them - it was effortless! I didn’t have to speak! While giving me their symptoms they were healed!

I think that is closer to the Jesus ministry than what I see. Mark chapter 1 He walked into the temple and a demonised man started screaming. “Aaagh why have You come before our time?”. He hadn’t preached yet! Shut up - and come out. They marvelled at His authority.

In Eastbourne in southern England quite recently I went to speak at a conference there with Glenda and Millie was there. On the last night I was tired. The pastor came and in the large hall there was a bunch of people there who had the worst crippling conditions I had seen. I know if you are trying to get cripples healed and that thing is not over you - it is shocking. You are trying to pretend you know what you are doing but you don’t have a hope of getting them healed! You can go through the religious formulas and pretend something has happened but everyone with the know-how knows that nothing is happening. It is almost disgusting and discrediting the real ministry of Jesus!

So I walk over there and as I get closer the dancing God comes over me. Suddenly I am not Clarke Kent - I am now Superman. But it is not me! As I am walking it is getting stronger and stronger and I see this woman who is crippled and as I get closer and closer the demons start screaming; “Aaagh leave us! Leave us!”. Literally! And they are out. They are gone. She topples over and gets up healed. Everyone I step towards are healed. Many of you saw the DVD I brought back of dozens of people. One lady was so crippled she couldn’t pick up her child - and her husband had to leave his career to look after her children full time. She went down under the power and the next morning she came dancing into church.

How many of you think this is the love of God - how many of you think it is shocking and disgusting that we do not see more of these things?

Because of the traditions of men! Let me tell you honestly and vulnerably - I have been doing this for 30 years. I want to tell you what I have just described today has only happened to me maybe about 100 times. I have daily anointing! I am not talking about anointing here or the gifts of the Spirit but God coming. Actually He is not coming - He is always there. But why isn’t He always manifested? He said I will never stop doing you good - I will rejoice and dwell to do you good! If I can come under the dancing God all the time then maybe you and me can start approximating the promise of John 14:12; “Anyone who believes in Me .. And even greater works”. Acts 10:38 said that God anointed Jesus with power and He went about doing good and healing ALL. If Jesus could go about any time of day, any second if anyone touched Him in the crowd, anyone that asked for healing, He could give healing on the spot!

I suspect that Jesus walked under the glory Presence of the Father all the time! The religious world has told me that any time He comes and does that it is just a sovereign mood of God. I think you and I have got something to do. I am now convinced that the will of the Father by the witness of the Spirit in my heart - the inheritance of every person that says Jesus is my Lord are meant to walk for most of our time under the manifest Presence.

I have said before that you wouldn’t be able to get to sleep it is so powerful. If you have never experienced this I wish I could put it on you today because you can never describe it - you don’t know what it is like to walk up to crippled people without that and know the fear that comes over you. The terror of knowing you are going to disappoint them. You have no idea what that is like if you havent done it. Neither do you have any idea what it is like when you are moving towards them and He comes over you - there is NO fear just utter, reckless boldness! You just know that nothing can get in the way, just an invincible sense of God over you.

People have watched people with that power over them and when they don’t have that power have tried to copy as a formula and have tried to pull people out of wheelchairs and then they just fall on the ground. When you are under that power you do things that you would never do. You are not copying. You are not mimicking someone else under the power - just because God is on you! Maybe it will lift slightly in intensity every now and again so you can relax a bit but I believe it should be there on call so quick! Imagine how your mortal body would be renewed in your youth with resurrection life. The grey hair turned dark again! Cellular regeneration! Rob how do you live in that all the time? You want to know? There are people who lecture in Harvard on how to run a business who have never run a business. You have theology professors teaching on the gifts of the Spirit in seminaries who have never moved in the gifts of the Spirit.

You cannot give away what you don’t have.

I don’t want people giving me information on the Kingdom - I am sick and tired of Bible information. I know the Bible pretty much well from back to front - but my biggest need right now is to learn from someone who has got the goods. It is a sign of hunger that you say you want to know - but to tell you the truth, I don’t really know. I have never met a person who does know. Except One. This is what I suspect He is whispering to me (and I am just giving you my suspicion). Two words; “Total surrender to the Holy Spirit”. Not less of me and more of you. NONE of me and ALL of you! Every part of my life, everything that I am - whatever you want me to do and give up - everything I surrender. I want to be branded by your jealous love and possessed by your jealous love. Rob how do you surrender?

How do you come to that place of surrender? I don’t know but this is what I suspect - you have to become so disillusioned with your failures to get the sick healed and so horrified at the lack of knowledge of the revelation of God chosing the things that be not to nullify the things that are and so horrified with your failure. You have to come to the end of your reputation in the eyes of men and so utterly embarrassed. I think you have to go through pain and try to get the sick healed and misunderstood and accused by those who didn’t get healed that it was your fault and you are a failure. And live with the rejection and misunderstanding. You have to live with the agony and lay on your face at night and say I am a failure in so many areas of supernatural ministry.

Dear Jesus all I have left is my love for You and if you can take that and take something that is not and nullify the things that are then I offer my body and soul and spirit as a living sacrifice that something I have only seen 100 times will become something that happens all the time. That the millions in Hong Kong do not need to be deprived of a church that has fully surrendered. I know not everyone wants to surrender like that. The vast majority of Christians are more caught up in the things that are and more caught up in their careers.

I can't describe to people the pain and rejection I have walked through in the last few months - the rejection involving thousands of people, people we have known for 25 years, the lies and cold shoulders. That could make you paranoid and reactionary and bitter or it can backfire on the devil and precipitate in you a face on the ground, a laid down lover that surrenders all. I live with eternity with nothing and surrender. We have to be emptied of every fleshly delusional arrogance and pride and all controversy against God and come to trust Him. When you sin and make mistakes and lose your temper, you look to God who chooses the things that are not to nullify the things that are. His grace to me is abounding - He will never reject me or disapprove of me - He is for me! What can be against me? He so sees you as precious that He doesn’t want you to have any idols or distractions - He wants you because you are such a jewel and precious. He wants you completely! And we don’t!

We think we have surrendered all but we have had hostility and defences and complaints and pride and self-promotion against Him! But pain takes that away. It either makes you bitter or makes you better. Every time Satan comes, he comes to make you bitter. If you chose to use the things that are to make the things that are then you are going to get bitter. But if you get revelation to use the things that are not and get into the Presence of the Living God who uses the things that be not as though they are then this good God will manifest His dancing over you. And when you walk through a place that place will be benefited because you were there. People in your radius will feel the unseen world touching you.

Close your eyes - He is here now.

Kathryn Kuhlman used to say “God isn’t looking for golden vessels or silver vessels - but yielded vessels”.

My Attempt at Q and A on Grace/Healing

I haven't forgotten the "Suicide" post - it's on it's way. Incredibly it seems jinxed though. Every time I type it, Blogger keeps crashing and losing my work! So I have taken it to Word and am typing it there. Until I get it done though - I received a fascinating email asking a key question. My first thought was to pass it onto someone else because I simply do not and am not qualified to answer this sort of stuff. But then I thought I would give it a go.

So here it is. If anyone has any improvements or further thoughts then please, please add comments and let me know!

The question the guy asked was this:

"Since God's grace has brought blessings and made us receive His healing, how come we believers who believe in pure Grace with no condemnation, still fall sick?".

My answer:

"Many thanks for your email - it's great to hear from you.

You ask an excellent question and it's one that I will try to the best of my ability to answer you. But you should know that I answer it from being in a position similar to yourself. I.e - I also believe in God's grace and believe we are not under law, but struggle to understand this. So please don't think I am writing as any expert - merely a fellow Christian seeking truth!

My understanding is this - sickness is and has never been God's will. It is not God's will that any should be sick. Sickness came in as a result of the Fall, and it will never be glorifying to God. I think Christians can glorify God THROUGH suffering but do not glorify God by passively ENDURING suffering.

Secondly I believe that one of the mission points of Jesus Christ was to banish suffering as an effect of the coming of His Kingdom. He said Himself; "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed me to preach ... to HEAL .... to bind up" and so on. He did absolutely that during His earthly ministry and then He commissioned His church to "go" and do likewise. The church was equipped to do just that when the Holy Spirit was poured out thereby empowering and anointing the church.

So we have the commission from Jesus - and the empowerment and anointing to do so from the Holy Spirit in the understanding that sickness is not to be tolerated.

Back to your question -

Why then do people get sick? There may be a variety of reasons. Rob Rufus (one of my favourite grace teachers) says that the LESS law is in our lives the MORE glory (i.e healing) we will see in our lives. So like you - I don't believe I am under law. But I wouldn't say that the law has no influence on my life still. I can testify to it's effects - every now and then I feel condemnation creeping in. Once our beliefs starting changing us and soaking into our complete personality then that is when (I think) we will see healing begin to manifest in and through our lives.

That being said, I am NOT NOT NOT saying that people who are sick are guilty of not throwing off law off their lives. There may be a number of reasons - they may be in a church hearing preaching that mixes law and grace. They may be receiving teaching from a pastor/elders who mix law and grace. I think the very grace message means that it cannot be anyone's "fault" that they don't get healed - apart from those whom God has entrusted with responsibility to reveal His Word to them if they are teaching legalism in the gospel - i.e Ephesians 4 Ministries.

So I hope this shows how absolutely vital the gospel of grace is. We have absolutely categorically GOT to believe that God is passionately for us and it is His desire that while we may endure suffering, we should not endure sickness passively. We have GOT to see that it is God's will that we see healing and signs and wonders and miracles come into our lives! Otherwise if we do not believe God is 110% for us, then we will not completely believe that He wants to heal us and if we do not completely believe He WANTS to heal us, then we will question why He SHOULD heal us.

I've gone on long enough! But I hope some of those thoughts are of help. I am no expert in grace, but I'm thinking through these things and pray they will be of blessing to you.

Please don't hesitate to come back to me if you have any further comments/questions".

He Reigns!! ... Even in a Pandemic

I've mentioned every now and then that I've been working on a new job - essentially I'm working on a team at the Children's Hospital focusing on the swine flu pandemic sweeping the nation and the world. Anyone based in the UK will know the West Midlands statistics are very high compared to the rest of the nation so it's quite a challenging role. Part of my job is to take phone calls from staff, patients and relatives who have concerns and need answers and advice. And there is a LOT of concerns which is quite understandable. So these phone calls mean that in the last month I've had to learn a lot, quite fast about swine flu and what it does and may do.

What I didn't expect (maybe naively) was for that panic and fear to worm it's way through the Church. I took a fascinating but rather surprising question from someone in a church. They asked whether (based on guidance from the group of churches they belong to) - whether they should be pre-cutting up the communion loaf to limit the spread of potential infection. I did some research yesterday and I was increasingly surprised to find that this guidance is quite tame. Other churches are looking at sterile pre-packing wafers and a small goblet of wine. Other churches are banning communion altogether.

The most sensible advice I read was by a Lutheran minister in the USA who advices those with flu-like symptoms to stay at home until they are better but states that she will not stop sharing communion or shaking hands or hugging her congregation. This is precisely the advice that I gave - to me, taking the excessive step of pre-cutting the communion loaf is like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. A Christian microbiologist did some research into what germs are in the communion communal cup and found some rather terrifying things. That being said, she concluded you stand more chance of catching something from your children at home than if you partook in communion every day.

Essentially the issue is this - someone with flu-like symptoms who potentially has swine flu should not be coming to church and sitting in close proximity with other worshippers for over an hour. If they are doing so then the flu virus will spread through their coughing and sneezing whether the communion loaf is pre-cut or not and whether each worshipper has pre-packed individual wafers and wine or not.

The Christian bloggers are of course busy debating whether this is the final wrath of God or not on the back of the economic collapse. What utter rubbish. What about the Black Death of centuries back? What about the seasonal flu pandemic of 1968 to 1970? God is not mad. He spent His wrath at the Cross and His Son cried; "It's done! It's finished!". Rather this is an opportunity. This is an opportunity for the Church to stop being afraid and to rise up and show the world that we are not afraid. This is in an opportunity to show the world that healing and signs and wonders really do exist now, right now and totday here in the 21st century.

What chance does swine flu have if the fire of God were to fall in response to the authoratative command of His people? Does He reign or doesn't He? Does He heal or doesn't He? If John G Lake could confidently take some infected saliva infested with bubonic plague in South Africa and put it on his skin and watch it die because of the anointing upon him, then why should swine flu stand any more chance?

Enough fear. Enough cutting up of communion bread. Stop! Do we believe or do we not? Does He reign or doesn't He?

And Signs Following ... !!

I found this video clip on You-Tube today. One of the discussions Mark, J-D and I enjoyed was discussing signs, wonders and healing and it really re-enforced my conviction that this is no "secondary" issue to be abandoned and ignored for "true gospel unity". Rubbish! If God were truly to restore signs, wonders and miracles like they saw in the book of Acts then we wouldn't need to be resorting to flashy lighting, amazing bands and music and language and jokes to reach the lost. They'd be hammering the door down to get their hands on this power.

I know my history - you don't need to remind me what happened to A. A Allen and so on. But the fact is they saw signs and wonders and miracles that we are only dreaming of.



And I truly believe the answer is a restoring of the gospel of grace and the faith of Abraham - just a belief that God is for us and God is wanting and willing to bless us!

You Have Heard It Said ...

I was reading Phil Moore's "A Healthy Theology of Healing" in the Newfrontiers Theological Papers section with great interest and I've always struggled with the well-known evangelical phrase; "Already But Not Yet". It's never sat quite comfortably with me because it seems to me that there is a built-in excuse for leaving things we can't manage or like to heaven. Sort of like the word "Continuationist" - which admits yes the gifts of the Spirit may continue but there is no suggestion of an "eagerly desiring" such gifts from a willing Holy Spirit to manifest in the church!

Phil Moore presented a much-better alternative!

"The Kingdom now but not yet ... We can say that there is evidence in the Bible that God may not choose to heal everyone immediately, but this is a long way from saying that sickness is either God’s normal means of sanctification or a
primary means for His glory. Jesus and the apostles talked very frankly and in some detail about the suffering we must endure as Christians, but not one of them ever talked about the suffering of sickness in this context despite being surrounded daily by crowds of sick people. Importantly, not one of them ever told anyone who came to them for healing that they should go home and continue to glorify God by the faithful way in which they bore their sickness".

But rather;

“A Healthy Theology of Healing: The Kingdom has Already Come and is Ever-Increasing”

"Despite the fact that Jesus had given the Twelve “authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and every sickness” (Mt 10:1), the combined efforts of nine of them failed to heal a child with epilepsy because the disciples lacked faith in the Father’s willingness (v16-20) and had not pursued the kind of intimacy with the Father which results in effective partnership (v21). We have not placed enough confidence in God’s willingness to heal those around us because we would rather not attribute their continued sickness to our lack of the persistent prayer which characterises true faith".

This is such a challenge and I found it so encouraging. Enough with the excuses! God IS willing to heal! The nuclear power station of the empty Cross and empty Tomb are producing enough power to raise the dead! The question is what my fuse box of faith is upto ...

Terry Virgo proves me wrong ... again!!

I am increasingly loving being proved wrong - I think in the past when I used to be puffed up with pride reading my theological books and liking to convince myself that I was something of an "academic" then being proved wrong was horrid. But as I am growing older I am realising that there is a wonderful joy in being proved wrong especially when it is by older and wiser heroes of the faith!

Many know that I expressed some doubts about our recent visit to Church of Christ the King in Brighton and my discomfort with the style of how they conducted the evening meeting. It seemed a bit too "Driscoll-esque" for my liking and I pondered over how effective it is for churches to be so militantly "missional" or whether our focus should be on seeing the Presence of God break out in our churches and then the unsaved will come - as they did in the book of Acts!

The demonstration of true New Testament churches proved to be irresistable to the lost!

Frankly at present the church is anything BUT "irresistable" because we are preaching a mixture of law and grace and bluntly - the non-Christian wants to feel good about him or herself. And they come into church and feel worse about themselves and that is not through an effective preaching of the Gospel for that will bring them to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ - the Saviour! No - the feeling worse is through a preaching of legalism and an atmosphere of judgementalism.

But I digress. I was wrong! Yes I am really grateful that my friend Mark Heath advised me not to judge CCK purely on one service. I guess the danger is to get a snapshot and then draw assumptions from that. My wrong assumption was to worry that since Mark Driscoll's visit to Brighton - CCK, Terry and Newfrontiers were abandoning the charismatic heritage and the emphasis on the Presence of the Spirit for "mission" (excessive!? Me?!?! Well at least I'm not lukewarm Laodecian!).

Terry's latest blog had this comment in it;

"Kings have power downward and priests have power upward prevailing with God. It is through our priestly prayer ministry that we reign with Christ. Without a powerful priestly ministry, ruling is mere ambition. The priority is to reach God, then people – not the reverse".

It is a powerful and wonderful reminder that we have a dual inherited ministry of being a "royal priesthood" and I would love to hear more sermons unpacking that reality in our lives! Rather than constant reminders of how sinful we are. And I love that final underlined sentance - that we reach God and then people! What is the point in going out to the lost multitudes when we have got nothing to show them? What is the point in going if our message is just "words only" but no power accompanying?

I am not saying that we do the Pentecostal-style "tarrying" because we have the power already! The heavens are open! The Spirit has been poured out! We are in a New Covenant!! But the question is are our churches living in the full freedom of that? Are our churches expressions of the full glory of the power and freedom of the New Covenant? Or are remnants of legalism and law still affecting and hanging over? Because I guarantee you on good authority - unbelievers will know when there is law and legalism about. I think they are actually better discerners of it than many Christians.

But John Piper once said that the more we spend time nearer the heart that is white-hot ablaze for God (and there is NONE more white-hot for God than God Himself) the more we will be changed into His likeness "from glory to glory". And that means taking Sundays beyond just the peripheral charismatic "tongues and prophecy". That means prophecies that expose the secrets of men's hearts and cause them to fall down in worship! That means gifts of healing and signs and wonders will be in operation and finally we will see Jesus' declaration come to pass;

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord".

A "Glory and Grace Blank Bible" Entry!!

Since my two volumes of Jonathan Edwards "Blank Bible" have been complimented with my "Notes on Scripture" - I have come to deeply appreciate again and again this form of pastoral and more experiential "commentary" on various Scriptures as opposed to my more academic commentaries. And it has given me a renewed passion to steadily add to the "Glory and Grace Blank Bible" blog I set up last year. I am glad I didn't simply limit it to the "Rob Rufus Blank Bible" as I had a suspicion that other preachers such as Ryan Rufus or Bill Johnson would have something to add. And indeed I've added some quotes from Alec Moyter and Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones!

Last night I finished writing the transcript of Rob's third sermon in the "Established in the Gift of Righteousness" series - Part 1 is published here - (I just need more time at a computer - am believing God for a laptop I can take to work!). And there was an incredible commentary that Rob gave on the passage in Luke 11 concerning the crippled woman. It may quite possibly be the longest entry into the "Glory and Grace Blank Bible" but WOW is it worth it! I sat there with tears running down my face wondering how I DARED pride myself on coming from a "Word" church and never seeing the insights that were so obviously there!

Here it is;

(Luke 13:16) "And this woman, a daughter of Abraham" - Abraham had been dead for near 2, 000 years. "... as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years" - Jesus could have said '18 years' - but He said 'long' - He is making a point. " ... should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?" - now that is the law.

How did this woman find out that she was a daughter of Abraham? Those synagogues would have been full when Jesus was preaching. The woman would have sat at the back and she was bowed over and crippled for 18 long years! It wasn't by God but by Satan. As a woman in a chavanistic society - Jesus wouldn't have even been able to see her. But while He is preaching, He is preaching about Abraham.

Jesus would have preached the law to the self-righteous and would have preached Abraham to the broken and to the hungry.

How did she find out that she was a daughter of Abraham? It was the content of His message. He would have been telling them about the covenant of grace. He preached first to remove unbelief and wrong thinking. That is why long preaching is good! Thinking needs to be changed!

(vv7-9); "'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down!" - He is talking about a fig tree that needs to be cut down because it is not producing any fruit. The fig tree represents Israel under law. There are two trees that represent Israel. The olive tree and the fig tree. The fig tree represents the death under law. The abscence of the supernatural, dead religion. Adam and Eve covered themselves up with fig leaves. Jesus cursed a fig tree in Mark 11. If you want to talk about the supernatural and the line of Abraham in Israel - then look at the olive tree.

The olive tree is the life of God. If you go to Romans 9:7, 11:1 - you will see it talks about the descendents of Abraham - not all are descended from Isaac. He had Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael was born through human effort and the flesh and Isaac was born through the power of the Spirit in the supernatural of God. In Romans 11:17-24 he says we Gentiles have been grafted into the olive tree.

The olive tree is the anointing - the life of God.

If you read the context going back to Romans 9 then he is saying about not the law - the olive tree is a result of Abraham!

True Israelites are descendents of Abraham - not descendants of the law but the faith that Abraham had! We are not grafted into the fig tree but the olive tree. We have got Christians today trying to get grafted into the fig tree. How will Israel get saved if we get grafted into the fig tree of law?! They will envy us and get saved when we get saved and grafted into the inheritance of Abraham - the olive tree!

So Jesus is preaching Abraham! But when He gets with the arrogant self-righteous He lays the law on them big time to expose how arrogant they are. That they are NOT keeping it!

Don't take the outlandish things that Jesus says in the Gospels and say I have got to live by that. See the context is that He is saying it to arrogant people! Christians say; "That is the new law of the New Covenant! Jesus is preaching under the Old Covenant that you must not commit adultery but under the New Covenant even if you look at someone with lust then you have committed it!". Oh pleaseeeeeee! There is no faith in that! We are ALL dead if that is the case!

He was preaching Abraham however to the broken and hungry for God.

(v10); "He was teaching in one of the synagogues" - Jesus taught, explained and unpacked truth! (v11); " ... she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all" - You will never be able to straighten up under the law. (v12); "When Jesus saw her" - How did Jesus see her? She was sitting at the back, crippled and bent over! "Woman, you are freed from your sickness" - He is speaking in past tense but she is still bent over! (v13); "immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God".

As Jesus was preaching the wonder of Abraham, suddenly in this woman's mind she realised this - "I don't have to be a daughter of the law! Abraham's covenant is still available! I don't have to go to God through the law - I can come to God through Abraham!". And I can imagine that she got a little bit angry. She probably thought; "I have never heard the synagogue rulers tell me that I am a daughter of Abraham. All they told me is that I am a daughter of the law. They told me that to get the blessing I have got to keep the law and deserve it and be good enough and they told me the reason I am sick is that God is against me and punishing me!".

But she said; "Today I realise I am a daughter of Abraham - and this means I can get healed today without deserving it!". Today I can get out of financial debt without deserving it! Today I can get out of depression without deserving it! Today I can get out of bondage and addiction without deserving it!

When you reason in your heart that I can get the blessing without deserving it then you are thinking the thoughts of faith - you are thinking faith! The law is not based on faith. The law would tell you to forget about faith; "Just get good enough to deserve it!".

When you preach Abraham - people realise they can get the blessing without deserving it! That is what produces faith!

Her FAITH got Jesus' attention!

Smith Wigglesworth said that God will ignore 10 million people that don't have faith and find the one in the crowd that does have faith. There was a whole synagogue full but Jesus found the one woman. She was sitting there thinking; "Wow I am a daughter of Abraham - I am not a daughter of the law! I can get things from the Father who loves me - things I don't deserve! They are available NOW!".

This is the tragedy although the story ends well. On the first day that this daughter of Abraham got sick - healing was available that day. The 2nd year healing was available. The 3rd year, the 4th year. Because only when she had a clear message on grace did healing kick in.

For 18 "long" years she had no capacity to have faith for her healing because the law is not based on faith.

She saw herself now as a daughter of Abraham. 18 years of bondage ended the day she understood grace. 18 years of bondage ended the day she understood I am no longer a daughter of the law but He is calling me a daughter of Abraham.

I HATE it when I hear people saying that miracles are only for a certain time - one day in the right time. The right time for this lady was 18 "long" years ago! Why did Jesus say "18 long years"? Isn't it amazing that Grace Himself said; "Should not this daughter of Abraham be healed on the Sabbath?". Why is He saying that? And who is He saying that to?

He is saying that to the synagogue rulers. Jesus is saying it to the law people who have robbed the church of faith. Should not this person have come out of financial debt? Should not this person have a healing in their body? Should not they get a better job? Should not they prosper? He is saying that they SHOULD but you are saying that they should NOT!

All heaven is obligated once they come out of law and rise up in faith - then heaven can't help but be obligated to heal! Those who are of Abraham's faith are blessed along with Abraham - when the law is taken off people then we can get them all healed.

18 long years. 18 is the number of bondage. It is the number in Scripture for captivity. In the book of Judges it says Israel went into captivity for 18 years. 6 - 6 - 6 = 18. 3 = perfection. 6 = human pride and human effort. What is the mark of the Beast? Legalism. Babylonian religion and dead works. Not the Gospel or the Old Covenant! This woman was "bowed over" by a demonic spirit. She attended that church for years and the Pharisees didn't help her. They made her a daughter of the law. When Jesus came she discovered she was a daughter of Abraham.

What was she looking at for 18 years? Dust. The Bible says in the book of Genesis - He says to the serpant Satan - "Dust shall you eat". The woman spent 18 years looking at the food of Satan. 6 - 6 - 6. All she saw was human effort. People's feet. The food of Satan. When Jesus touched her with grace, the first face she saw in 18 "long" years was Jesus the Messiah! When you live under law you spend your life psychologically looking at dust - human effort - condemnation - disappointment and struggle.

When the revelation comes that you are a daughter of Abraham - when that comes, you will see that lovely Face every day shining on you and you will move in a new realm of freedom and glory.

Can you believe these synagogue rulers tried to oppose Jesus and stop Him bringing a member of their congregation out of bondage?! That is how the religious demon has opposed us as we preach this message consistently!

A pastor in that synagoguee tried to oppose grace to keep a member of his congregation crippled in the name of religion!

(v14); "But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath". (v15); "But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites!".

Don't you like Jesus' attitude to religious people?! He doesn't get sweet and back off! He just says; "You hypocrites!". This is the Jesus we love! I love Him!

(v17); "As He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him" - In any culture Jesus was not afraid of humiliating people that oppose grace because His eyes were on the broken multitudes that need grace. He didn't hold a board meeting and discuss law and grace - He just preached grace and produced faith in the people.

I promise you this lady would not have got healed if Jesus had preached the law there - because the law is not based on faith. He preached Abraham and she realised in that flash of revelation - that I am a daughter of Abraham and that God will give me what I DON'T deserve!

THAT'S The Kind of Pastor I want!!

The last 2 or 3 posts have been related and have spiralled from a Christmas newsletter I read back at my parents house. The comment that prompted this pattern of thought was directed towards Todd Bentley and; "his fall from grace". I hope I dealt adequately with how I do not believe that the term "fall from grace" can be biblically applied to anything or anyone other than individuals who have begun in the Spirit and by grace and have stepped back into law and are attempting to achieve some sort of standing before God by their own works. I just can't see it! My US friend Janelle Phillips has raised the question of church discipline and it is a post that is currently being written by both Pete Day and myself. She rightly noted that I didn't comment on church discipline in the most positive light - and the question therefore remainds - do I believe in it?

Well the Bible does - and therefore I do. But the way that current churches practice discipline does not greatly impress me - it seems to be done in legalism and from a desire to control rather than "gently restore". But before we finish that post - I wanted to make draw attention to Bill Johnson and the way he has made comments about Todd Bentley. It was after-all a comment about Todd Bentley that started this train of thought so it is well within context.

What is no secret is the Todd Bentley-haters who disapprove of the man and his ministry - we all know what they believe. They haven't stopped calling for his blood since he first walked on stage - tattoos and all. I am sad to admit that I think this moral fall was exactly what they were hoping for. A comment about Bill Johnson made by one of his fellow pastors caught my attention. Kris Vallotton said:

"The only trouble I have seen Bill in, in 31 years is when he refuses to treat people the way they deserve and he believes in them the way they don't deserve. And then when they fall, he refuses to treat them the way that their fall requires and he wants to believe in them again".

That impressed me! My first thought was: "THAT is the kind of pastor I want .. and have never had". A kind of spiritual father who acts like God Himself and refuses to treat people the way they deserve and in the style of 1 Corinthians 13:5 takes no record of wrongs. So here is what Bill Johnson said regarding Todd Bentley - it's in 3 parts:







It's well worth watching in entirety. I think the teaching component is awesome for everyone who has some form of responsibility in their churches - this is how a Christian CAN be dealt with. Why do so often we take it so personally if fellow Christians fall? I must admit my first reaction when I heard about Todd Bentley was "Oh no ...". Did that mean I was wrong to be hugely interested in Lakeland and what happened there? Not at all! I've heard and seen enough by way of testimony from personal friends and over the God TV to know that God was most certainly at work!

Todd Bentley certainly isn't the first Christian leader to fall into sin and do so publicly and I am sure he won't be the last. The thing that I am considering is this: what brings more glory to God and His Church? Christians gathering like vultures nodding their sage heads and saying; "Ah well - he had tattoos and piercings - what do you expect?". Or Christians who stand up like Bill Johson and weep over their brothers and sisters falls and yet KEEP on believing in them and are prepared to do WHATEVER it takes to see them restored to full fellowship and encounter with God?

Let me take a moment to comment personally. Pete's recent wonderful post: "Just get over it?" made some reference to my personal experience with church discipline. I haven't made a secret that I still believe that those particular church leaders were wrong and unbiblical to act the way they did. But I think God has brought me on far enough since then to appreciate what they did do - that they were courageous enough to attempt to do something they surely knew would be unpopular but because they believed it was right. I can see now that they did what they did because they were honestly concerned. But genuine motives can't be an excuse forever.

Bill Johnson sets an awesome example of what it is to be a real pastor - a real spiritual father. Let's learn and follow!

Ern Baxter with William Branham

Just couldn't resist a final quick post and a link to a site I discovered set up I think by supporters of the late William Branham. It's called: "Believe the Sign" and there is a seperate page devoted to Ern Baxter and his involvement with William Branham. They very kindly link to the website that is hopefully being still developed with Pete Day - "Ern Baxter dot com" and make reference to an interview with Ern that I published about Branham.

The photo that they published was also of great interest to me - it is Ern Baxter standing deep in thought in front of a ministry car for William Branham. The website very honestly makes note of the fact that in his later years Ern Baxter seperated himself from Branham's doctrines yet never, ever (a point I had to argue and battle with some of the elders at my home church in Dunstable who were trying to claim that Ern Baxter didn't support Branham) argued with the verifiable and authentic miracles that he witnessed while travelling with Branham.

Here's a video that I published some time ago - of an interview with Ern where he was discussing William Branham:



Why do I make mention of this? I mentioned yesterday that Rob Rufus provokes me by his relationship and continual encounters with the manifest Presence of God and the resulting signs and wonders that follow the message of grace that marks his ministry. I have found a video on You-Tube of testimonies from Kings Church in Eastbourne following Rob's visit that we were able to be at (Pete, Scott and myself along with Nick and Malcolm):



The difference to me - the unfolding revelation that is clear to me marking us out as different from the days of William Branham and the other healers of the 1950's is that in those days people flocked to those men and women seeking a miracle from them. And God blessed them graciously! But what I feel passionately now is that Rob Rufus among many others have opened up the truths of the Scripture to us to show that we ALL are responsible for seeing signs, wonders and miracles following OUR ministry and OUR witness.

The question is - will we accept that we are the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ and as such are equipped by God the Holy Spirit to go out and make His Name famous among the nations!?

Do Something Unexpected!!

I have a confession - I am a major "Heroes" fan. I love everything about it - the drama, the superpowers and the character development of the various people coming to terms with their powers - such as learning they can fly, learning they are invulnerable, learning they can paint the future, learning they can freeze time or time-travel - but most interestingly (and the character I am fascinated with the most - Peter Petrelli) learning that he can absorb the abilities of anyone else that he is around - or in other words an empath. In Series 1 of "Heroes" Peter Petrelli goes through some training with another character who can make himself invisible. He realises he has numerous abilities but does not know how to control them.

Watch this video clip to give you an idea of what the training involves;



I was gripped by that phrase; "Do something unexpected!". I have just been typing up Rob Rufus's sermon; "The Administration Of Healing Authority" and was again impacted by something that he said during the course of the sermon;

"I believe I am releasing the faith that you have already got. When you come to pray for the sick, don't have an Old Covenant mindset. Old Covenant mindsets always think; "I haven't got enough or I need more or I'm not ready or I'm not prepared". New Covenant mindsets - you are ready! You are in Christ! The Spirit of life is in you! He knows what to do - you have ENOUGH! You are ready! Don't let the devil say to you; "You have got to fast to get this demon out". You do NOT need to fast to get that demon out!".

I must admit, despite my years of being a Christian - this is a new concept for me. I've come from the more traditional revivalist belief that we should be constantly praying that He would "rend the heavens and come down" and earnestly be seeking to be "filled with the Spirit" like a leaky cup! While I still believe that has it's place and there most definately are climates where God falls on a community, a church or on people (such as at Lakeland) - this shouldn't become an excuse for us to not pray for the sick but to sit back waiting for some "power" to fall on us and boot us out to go and do the job that God called us to!

So where does "Heroes" and Rob's quote come together? That comment; "Do something unexpected!". The invisible man forced Peter Petrelli into a state where he HAD to do something - where he HAD to demonstrate a power or an ability to stop himself from being beaten by that stick. I think when I heard that quote of Rob's, I suddenly began to walk with a new awareness about myself. And it's my prayer that everyone who reads this blog will begin to do the same. It's this truth;

" ... what is the surprassing greatness of His power towards us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule amd authority and power and dominion , and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put ALL THINGS in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church".

When we are presented with that absolute power and authority then suddenly the truth of sickness or cancer or blindness or deafness or paralysis or even death itself doesn't seem to be much of an obstacle at all. Yet that "surpassing great power" is towards US! Who believe! And we have that very Holy Spirit within US who raised Jesus from the dead! It's there already. Within us. And every prayer we utter to God pleading for "more" surely is grieving to the wonderful precious Person of the Holy Spirit.

Like Peter Petrelli off "Heroes" - it seems to me all that is waiting for us to do is "something unexpected"! Who knows - the next blind person we pass, the next cripple we come across, the next cancer victim we encounter just could be the one that stands up healed and praising the power of God!