Catch the fire!

I recieved this email today from Catch the fire...

Dear Family and Friends in Christ,

What a mighty God we serve! The revival meetings are into the 3rd week and people are beginning to travel from distant places to soak in His presence. We constantly give all glory to the Lord as those coming are receiving most powerfully from the Lord. Night after night the presence of God has been increasing as people stay and soak in His presence for hours at the altar.

Some said, “We’ve been use to only 15 minutes for worship, but now we worship God for hours and it seems not enough.” What an amazing statement, but then through worship (being in the presence of God) people have encountered healing and lives have been radically changed in the past 18 days.

Hungry souls continue to be healed, delivered and set free with many lives being surrendered to Jesus for the very first time. In the last 3 days, 2 ladies suffering with MS (Multiple Sclerosis) have been healed by the power of God. Both could hardly walk, but as God touched them they began to run – so exciting to witness as God reveals His power to heal.

Many more deaf people received their hearing! Every one clapped and rejoiced when one man in particular who was deaf for many years (in both ears) received his healing. The neighbour who brought this man (who also needed a healing touch) got so excited and started shouting because her friend received healing, that she forgot why she came to the altar! Her friend leaned over and whispered to Pastor Danny, “She needs healing from Asthma.” It was her turn to shout with joy and thanksgiving for her healing when she received mightily from the Lord.

Two other ladies suffering with 'Chronic Fatigue Disorder' for years were both brought to the altar, helped by family members. God healed both instantly and they started running all over the place.

Another woman was brought to the altar and placed on a chair as she could not stand for long due to a condition where her legs were so weak, with accompanying ongoing pain all over her body. When Pastor Danny prayed over her she arose from the chair and the rest is history. It wasn’t long before she started running and then literally leapt off the stage, as God’s goodness touched and healed her completely.

Many others were delivered from demonic activity. The demons leave resisting, but must go. One lady who got set free was set apart as a priestess in a coven, or possibly better known as a 'blood line Satanist'.

We are so encouraged to see so many young people and children coming night after night to drink from the refreshing river from the Lord. It is amazing how many young people who have been suicidal or have attempted suicide several times, have been set free in the name of Jesus from every demonic affliction. Almost every night there are similar testimonies of how they come out of darkness, depression and death to life, freedom and liberty. Free to live at last!

Pastor Danny said, “Our desire is to serve and assist the local church to arise into its God-given destiny and have the Body of Christ empowered by the power of God, so that they can release His love and fire in their community and reach the lost into the Kingdom of God’.

It does seem however, rather than being part of what God is doing in Australia (and rejoicing that it is happening at last) some pastors seem troubled that Pastor Danny may be inclined to start a church and they will be affected, so have decided not to promote the meetings. This is unfortunate and unfounded. Let me reiterate this very clearly, Pastor Danny has not been called by the Lord and has no plans to start at church.

We welcome local pastors to the revival meetings to come genuinely to drink from this wonderful refreshing river of the Lord, and to be empowered as their people are, to go back to their churches revived, encouraged and full of fire to see the Kingdom work escalate and gather many from the harvest God has prepared.

Here at Catch The Fire we love this nation of Australia and it is my belief that each of us (no matter what position we may hold in accountability to the Lord and His people) need to go deep into the river and swim in the provision and goodness of the Lord so that as the Body of Christ we can see this nation bow her knee before her only Lord – Jesus Christ.

In holding the meetings for four nights a week (Tues, Wed, Fri & Sat), we have sufficient rest, but can sustain weekly as long as the Lord leads us to do so. Please do come and soak in His presence and anointing to see lives changed.

We are prayerful that the body of Christ will not miss this opportunity given by the Holy Spirit at this now time, as we are aware of the hearts of many pastors and flock have been genuinely crying out for revival consistently for years now. What if this is the beginning of what we were waiting for??? Will you delay or embrace what God is doing? How we would love to see you come and join with us! We release great blessing over you as you fight the good fight in prayer and action, for the gospel to do its work as you grow in His grace and love.

Literally thousands of people have attended the revival meetings over the past 18 days with up to 50% new people each night. This is extremely encouraging and shows us God’s hungry people want to be satisfied and healed and restored, as they spend time with King Jesus, their soon-coming Bridegroom. See you there…

The Holy Spirit Revival meetings are continuing week nights on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7.30pm with Saturday at 6.30pm. Check website www.catchthefire.com.au for new updates and recent photos, including the leaflet for printing & distribution. Revival, healing meetings in Melbourne are held at Christian Community Church, 30 Star Crescent, in Hallam.

Blessings,
Dianne Johnson
Catch The Fire Ministries Inc

The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

Acts Chapter 2

1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"

13Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine."
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I always find it interresting how peoples reactions never change from Bible time to now. When the Holy Spirit starts moving He does weird and wacky things. He does things to people that makes other people feel uncomfortable, and often the people looking on don't understand what is going on and so they start bagging it. But we all know that the Holy Spirit has come to give us power to testify. To testify to Jesus the Messiah, His death and resurrection, and how we can inherit eternal life. Peter got up filled with the Spirit amongst the scoffing and preached and 3000 were saved that day.

Are you a scoffer?
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit and if you are have you gotten up to preach or are you just sitting still?

Father please forgive us for scoffing at different moves of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, please send the Holy Spirit to empower us to live our life for you dedicated to witnessing to the world about Jesus death and resurrection!

Spiritual Gifts

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. 1 Corinthians 12

Which of these gifts are you operating in? Not operating in any of them then I have two suggestions.

1) Get baptised in the Holy Spirit by repenting of all sin, dedicating your whole life to God, asking the God to baptise you with the Holy Spirit, then believe He is doing/has done it, then walk in and by faith.

Or

2) Step out in faith in a way that will force God to give you one of these gifts so that His will may be done, for example pray for the sick, or ask God for a word of knowledge to help in leading the lost to Christ, building up the church etc...

God determines which ones He gives, and from my experience I can see that God gives as we step out in faith and meet the challenges ahead. He chooses to give gifts to help accomplish the mission He has given us. (The Great Commission)

Step out in faith and see what happens!

Todd Bentley

I have been watching and reading some stuff Todd Bentley preaches and I am not convinced that he is a false prophet. Yeah I cringe when I hear him speak about angels and encounters. But he always says that who or what it is that is appearing to him in visions is not the big deal. What the big deal is is the message. And from the messages I have read and heard him speak about they seem fine and they seem to always bear fruit.

And as I was looking around I came across this from Bill Johnson found on his website...

What do you think about Todd Bentley and the Lakeland Revival?

"Todd is a good friend, but more importantly, he is a friend of God. I've met very few people in my life who are hungrier for God and will take extended periods of time just to seek Him. God has entrusted him with an extraordinary outpouring for a reason—He can trust him to do whatever He says, regardless of the opinions of others. He is bold—amazingly bold. The miracles are legitimate and increasing. The church of America has asked for a great revival. God wonderfully placed this move in a package that few would have expected, just to see if we're as hungry as we say we are."

And

Recent response to the above answer:"How in God's name can you endorse Todd Bentley?" This is my response:

Have you spent time with Todd? Do you know him? Have you watched him with his wife? Or have you seen how he treats his kids? Have you spent any time with his staff? Have you been to his ministry? Has he been to yours? Have you laid hands on him and prayed? Has he laid hands on you and prayed? Have you grieved over tragedy together? Have you celebrated victory together? Has he sought your counsel? Has he traveled a great distance just to meet with you privately for advice? Have you ever received his counsel? Have you been in the room when God has showed up on him, and used him in stunning miracles? Have you seen him operate in the word of knowledge or the prophetic? Have you met with his counsel of elders? Have you personally benefited from his gift? Has he benefited from your gift and ministry? Has he ever honored you for who you are in God? Has he partnered with you as a friend? Have you sacrificed for his welfare, or that of his family? Have you sought God with him? Have you ever worshipped the Lord with him?

I didn't think so. I have. And I'll continue to support those who I have walked with in life and ministry. He's my friend. More importantly, God calls him friend. And if you and I were ever friends in that level, and people hated you and turned against you, and started web pages to tear down your ministry, and criticized you to your friends, and wrote against you in Christian magazines, and criticized you on the radio and wrote emails to other conference speakers and authors, I'd still be your friend.

By the way - criticism in the form of a question is not a question. But to respond to your statement, "How in God's name can you endorse Todd Bentley?" It's easy. I do it in God's name.

Bill

I'm not going to criticse him because some things seem weird and I don't get them all. Todd waits on the LORD far more than anyone reading this blog guaranteed. After all, " But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." and " For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight." And "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."

MIRACLE WITH EVIDENCE

A letter from a friend of mine...

Dear James,

As I shared with you and at Macleod the other night, Len's healing was dramatic, instantaneous, and supernatural. He had suffered a major stroke and I was being told by the whole medical team at Maroondah Public hospital , to book my husband into a Nursing Home as he would never regain speak see, or have use of his right arm. leg and cognitive thinking again. There were scans to medically prove this , these scans are in our keeping and that there would be quote:''ABSOLUTELY NO IMPROVEMENT , ONLY DEGENERATION FROM NOW ON ", Len was aged 44 at this time. I knew & believed & prayed the fire of God into what seemed to be a "hopeless'' situation.

Myself & Major David Philp layed hands on Len & immediately power flowed into his right side & he began to speak his first intelligible words since the stroke .......the actual stroke had occured some 10 or so hours earlier.. The Doctors & nursing staff stared in disbelief as they watched Len beginning to recover, they could not offer any medical , logical reason for what appeared to be and was proved to be a powerful healing from JESUS ........as days went on , after a short period of rest , Len resumed his normal extremely demanding schedule as a Corps Officer with myself (Marney) at Ringwood Corps.EVD

I can only say ''PRAISE JESUS" for the miracle of healing on that night and Len continues to serve the Lord unhindered as an effective servant of Jesus in a very responsible position of leadership in The Salvation Army (Aus. South. Territory).2008! Please feel free to share this story ! By the way we have many others ......HALLELUJAH!

MARNEY

To check out her blog click here.

5 SALVATIONS!

Last night we had the discipleship group for Plenty and Macleod and it was great! It was the last one for the term and last one as me and Sarah as not married so we gave them the choice of what they wanted to do. Option 1 was to muck around, play card games and talk, Option 2 was to pray and talk and Option 3 was to pray then do outreach. It was 50/50 between outreach and prayer so it worked well.

In the prayer time one of the youth who we have been travelling along with decided they wanted to committ their life to Christ. Hallelujah! God started speaking to her and told her to do the outreach too. So we had over half wanting to preach the gospel and heal the sick/pray for whoever they could.

We split into teams and my team started talking to a bunch of boys 15-17 years old, we preached the gospel, they were convicted and told us they wanted to be saved. We all prayed and spoke about repentance and following God, we got their phone numbers and have invited them to hang out with us. They now know they are sinners deserving hell, that God doesnt want that which is why Jesus died, and if we turn from sin and follow God we will be raised as Jesus was to eternal life! We also prayed for the infilling of the Holy Spirit and 2 of the 4 said they felt something going on in their hearts. (remember wesleys heart was strangely warmed...)

So pray for those boys and the girl! Remember that Jesus saves! Remember the gospel is the power of God to save! Lets preach it as much as we can! The more we preach it and give people the opportunity to be saved the more people will get saved! Go do likewise today!

Thers a dieing world to save!

A question...

"You seem very certain in your beliefs. What convinces you that Christianity is the one true religion?" Clint

Thanks for your comment Clint! There are lots of ways to answer this question so I hope the following question suffices, if it does not please let me know and I will try again!

God is holy and God is just. We know that there can be no darkness in light. For example, when you turn on the light you never stand there wondering if the dark will overcome the light, the light always prevails. Thats what God is like. He is light and there is no darkness in Him at all...

On the other hand we humans do have darkness in us. We all sin (fall short, miss the mark etc see the side of the blog for some definitions...) and this for one makes us guilty of breaking Gods law, and leaves a stain of sin on us.

This makes it impossible for us to be with God, because there is no darkness in light. This means we are separated from God and destined for the place where we are dealt the punishment for our sin. Hell.

But God loves us. He is desperate for us to be with Him. To have relationship with Him. He wants to give us life in its fullness and definitely not hell. So God sent Jesus to die on the cross, to take our sin, our punishment for us. So that we can be purified and be with God. When Jesus, who is blameless and without sin, died on the cross He took our sin, and as He rises we too can rise with Him.

That is why Jesus is the only way. He is the only one that has, or can take away our sin leading us to a relationship with God. God is holy. God is just. And only by His grace can we be saved.

Once again, there are many reasons... Let me know what you think.

REVIVAL

Revival is happening.

I watched a bit of the Lakeland Revival this morning. Click here to watch more. I saw Todd Bentley preach and teach a bit and I have to say that I was impressed. I have never doubted what is happening in Lakeland. I have had doubts about Bentley in terms of exaggerating when it is not necessary. I've also had some concerns about some reports of the angelic experiences he has had. (In particular about the book of hebrews...) I have also wondered how much glory Jesus is getting, and the call to repentance or lack thereof.

This morning he preached Jesus. Jesus crucified. He preached that we preach with a demonstration of the Spirits power. Heres a bit I tried to write down, not quite word for word...

"I'm not getting anointed to heal. Jesus was about changing the atmosphere, demonstrating the Kingdom He is bringing. Thats why He said, "Your Kingdom come." When you pray, pray that it would be heaven on Earth, Get heaven to show up. When you pray pray that the Kingdom of heaven would show up." He continued to say that we need to show people the Kingdom!

I still have questions, but he definitely preached the gospel, definitely called for repentance, and definitely gave all the glory to God!

Also, he says has heaps of documented healings and they're asking everyone who has been healed to go to the doctor and get a written report. He then told everyone that he will give the documents to any major media station that ask for them.

click here for news articles on the Florida outpouring (theres quite alot!)

click here for some questions and answers about the outpouring (i have only peeked at this so far but it does cover a few issues...)

Also, Catch the Fire revival in Hallam is still going. I'm taking people, if you want to come let me know! Lets position ourself where God is showing up in really cool powerful ways which are demonstrating the Kingdom of God!

CATCH THE FIRE REPORT

Last night I went to the Catch The Fire meeting in Hallam and it was fantastic. I have to admit, I was a little cautious going in as I have never heard Danny Nahlia speak and knew some of the controversy which surrounds him. But I was very impressed...

Jesus was glorified. Danny and Jason Golden were great at reminding everyone that Jesus is to get the glory. They repeated that there was nothing great about them rather the God who used them was great. I saw them pastorally rebuke a couple of people for idolizing them and told them to glorify Jesus instead.

When we walked in they were in the middle of an altar call with people sprawled out on the ground after falling after receiving prayer. As they prayed for me I fell over and was paralysed for some minutes. I was in the presence of God and felt so at peace. God telling me just to relax and focus on Him, to soak in His presence. They were not praying/asking for this to happen, it was just a simple prayer for each person and if something happened it did, if it didn't it didn't and they moved on. No loud shouts of 'bang' or 'boom' no showmanship, just prayer.

There was lots of healings. But before they started praying Danny told everyone that the miracles accompany the message they actually want people to hear, the message that Jesus died and rose for our salvation and that is the greatest miracle of all. A little frail lady came in in a wheel chair and after some prayer she got up and was walking everywhere. The smile on her face was priceless! More deaf people could hear, a 13 year old girl deaf in one ear since birth was brought by her parents and she was healed! It was very emotional for that family.

There was alot of deliverance taking place too. There was an altar call for those who were addicted to come down the front and receive prayer. Danny explained it that God can touch you now, but to keep it going you need to follow Jesus and obey Him. Danny precisely prophesied and named demons and curses and prayed for these people. There was a great team of staff who counseled these people as Danny prayed for others. No one was left alone after the deliverance and the staff were more than capable.

The story of these meetings has been in the local newspaper and when someone was healed or set free they are asked to fill out a form saying their name and phone number and what happened so that when the news papers call they can say talk to these people about what happened. Danny wants it this way so that the papers dont talk about him but rather God and what He is doing!

The worship was good but nothing special, in fact some would say boring. There was no glitz or glamor, absolutely no hype, no going crazy, just a whole bunch of people seeking God.

The team kept repeating that this isn't to be something thats locked up in the church, rather if you get healed here then go home and heal someone there, you get saved here, go get your family saved type thing. The emphasis is not the meetings rather people being activated for the salvation of the world.

In my opinion, you need to get there and check it out. I'm going to go back, this time with more people, and I encourage you, that if you are skeptical, and not sure about these types of things, have a pray then go check it out for yourself.

30 Star Crescent Hallam
Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri start 7:30
Sat, Sun start 6:30

blessed...

Check out http://catchthefire.com.au/blog/
They report a huge host of miracles going on in their meetings they have been having this week. Alot of healing and deliverance is happening, and alot of people are getting saved! Hallelujah! I'm hoping to go, and if you doubt whether God still heals and does these things pop down and check it all out!
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Do you believe God loves you?
Do you believe God wants to bless you?
How does God bless you?

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I want to thank God for blessing me. Dieing on the cross, rising, sitting at the right hand of the Father. Sending the Holy Spirit. Family. Friends. There is heaps of stuff.

Some may know that my tooth got hit and it broke in half a while ago. I was praying that God would heal it. I know quite a few people thought that was stupid, and some of those people have told me. But thats ok. So, with the wedding approaching I was getting more and more worried...

I said to God, "You're the one thats telling us to get married at this time, and you know I have no money, so please provide me extra money or make a new tooth grow by Friday." When that Friday came nothing had happened to the tooth. But I received a phone call out of the blue asking me to do some laboring for a floor grinding company. I then worked all the shifts they gave me and the amount of money I earned minus the tithe was just over the price that got my tooth fixed!

So, while some may laugh, God healed my tooth. He gave me the money to get it done and I praise Him for that. Sorry Lord for ever doubting you.

I believe God answers prayer, just not always how we expect/want Him to.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

freedom

Sorry I havent been blogging much! Ive been flat out!

On the good side we are seeing God doing some amazing things at the moment, real life changing stuff. The girls that decided to follow Jesus the other week came back for Bible study yesterday where we spoke about Sin and Salvation and deliverance... Today at brekie club they were almost completely different looking kids. I dont know how to explain, they were happy, but something in their spirit is changing. Praise God!

I had a great opportunity to show Gods love today. I was able to give coffee to some people lining up outside in the cold which led to great conversations, and I was able to pray for a guys back. He injured his back years and years ago at work and hasnt been able to work since. He came intoday and it was really bugging him so I prayed for it and he became alot more peaceful, and as he left he said it felt great and that he wanted to come to church with me! Thank you God for loving people!

Heres some holiness stuff from the Holy Spirit via Paul in Galatians 5...

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery...

"You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature[a]; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."[b] 15If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. "

Lord, forgive us for sinning. Help us live by the Spirit! Thank you for freedom!

What to do

I remember when there were discussions around about if we should just evangelise, or evangelise and serve or just serve. There were two very distinctive groups, and I remember being stuck in the middle.

One group was that we shouldn’t waste our time on serving people. It’s better just to get them saved, that’s more important. The other was don’t preach it, rather just love them and they will find God. And I was in the middle saying can’t we do both? Why do they need to be separated?

The answer is they don’t need to be separated. Serving people is showing people Gods love. It’s a response from our heart to love God and love others. It’s about sharing the grace of God, whether that’s through a meal and a shelter, or an evangelistic sermon, or a talk over the coffee table.

These days there are people who try to write off the ministry of signs and wonders. They say we should just preach it, or preach it and act out of love. Then there are the people on the other side who say we should only preach with signs and wonders. (I haven’t met anyone from this side yet though…)

Again I am in the middle. I believe we are to preach the gospel, and serve humanity through our own strength and by allowing God to work His saving power in their lives. There is no reason why there needs to be division again. Lets do all three and we will see that they all interact with each other.

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This was in a table but I couldn't get it to fit...

Signs no preaching

Signs and preaching

Signs and preaching and serving

Only preaching

Serving and preaching and signs

Serving and preaching

Serving no preaching

DELIVERANCE - SALVATION - BAPTISM

Last night was amazing! We had our usual group at the hall after school yesterday and we had a few new people come. One guy came early because he wanted to get right with God. I was able to speak to him about the foolish man building his house upon the sand and the wise man building upon the rocks. This worked beautifully and he immediately wanted to pray and repent.
We spent some time in prayer then as I was leaving the room he kept saying how hes going to try to be good but he still has demons in him. I wasn't 100% if they were demons but I wanted to at least pray for him. So I simply accepted the authority Jesus has given us over the demonic (luke10:19) and started quietly praying if there was anything not of God in him that it would leave. I started getting names of unclean spirits so I simply told them to leave. He started shaking and falling backwards even though I had rested my hand on his shoulder. Wanting him to know that I wasn't pushing I decided not to touch him and I kept praying. Again, as I quietly commanded the demonic to leave he kept falling backwards. Then all of a sudden he was at peace and had a great smile!

Then a couple of girls came in as we finished up. They were swearing so I simply said no swearing in church. Then we started talking about church, to which I asked, "Do you believe in God?" They said yes, but when I asked if they were heading for heaven they didn't know. So I did the good test so they could find out of they were 'good enough' to go to heaven. Of course we found out that they both were headed for hell and they didn't like that thought. So I was able to tell them about the grace of God dieing and rising again to forgive us and to wipe away it all from us. To recieive this you had to say sorry to God and choose to follow Him from now on. They agreed so we wrote down on paper all the sins we could think of. Then we lit fire as we thanked God for Jesus and for forgiveness. They then committed to following Jesus.

We then mucked around with all the other guys but then we decided everyone needed to know how to listen to God speak. So we spent time listening to God and had some very prophetic stuff coming out for each other. I was particularly impressed with one prophetic word from one girl to the other saying she could see the girl walking away from a fight and walking towards Jesus. It was a great moment!

After this we spoke of the need to follow Jesus in more detail and how it can be hard but God has sent the Holy Spirit to help us to follow Him. I then asked if they wanted to receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands. They all indicated they wanted to so we started praying for each other. The Holy Spirit showed up and touched our hearts, and as a sign of Him touching the inside He also touched the outside causing us all to fall to the ground. We explained that the falling to the ground was an outward sign of them letting go and letting God take over, giving God full control so that He can touch our hearts. A great peace filled the room!

We had a great time. We all had fun and encountered the living God. We gave them our new Christian show bags that have devotionals, bibles, stress balls that say Jesus loves you, and a bunch of other stuff, and we also organised a new small group to be held every week so we can learn to follow Jesus better!

Praise God because He saves!

Apathetic and Mediocre?

Following yesterdays post WJE asked me when I was going to come back to mainstream Christianity. (Because I'm so out there!) I then went on to say how I thought mainstream Christianity is mediocre, apathetic and boring. So, of course people want to know why I think these things. This is what I think, feel free to disagree!

Mediocre

1.	of only ordinary or moderate quality; neither good nor bad; barely adequate.

2.	rather poor or inferior.

I use to fit right in with mediocre Christianity. It was nothing that different from how other people lived their lives. I had a belief and i was a good person. I prayed, I read my Bible, I did all the things I was suppose to do. I had a mainstream Christian life. Nothing 'extreme.'

But then I got filled with the Holy Spirit. How did it happen? I asked God to fill me with the Holy Spirit. And He did. Physically my hand shook for 4 hours and we couldn't stop it. But that wasn't the big thing, my heart changed. My attitudes changed. Not only that but my faith increased. And from this moment on I stepped out of mediocrity. I still had mediocre times in my life, but I had tasted something sweeter than what I had ever had before.

That has just grown and grown since then. These days I see people healed regularly. I see people get saved regularly. Visions, prophecy and words of knowledge are common place now. So, when I look back to how life used to be and compare it with now, everything else seems mediocre, its ordinary.

Apathetic

1.	having or showing little or no emotion: apathetic behavior.

2.	not interested or concerned; indifferent or unresponsive:

Now heres a word that I use to describe the mainstream Christian church. Little to no emotion! Not really interested or concerned. Why do I think that? I think that because much of mainstream Christianity doesn't care. Mainstream Christianity is about alot of good things, good morals, good attitudes, doing good things etc. But I see no emotion from mainstream Christians for the millions of people going to hell. They just don't seem to be all that concerned.

I read the Bible and see a God who has compassion on people, who heals the sick, casts out demons, provides, protects and speaks. I see a God who changes lives in a blink of an eye, not just to show people His party tricks, but because He loves them. Yet mainstream Christianity looks at these things and say they are nice, but then, doesn't expect the same today.

What am I advocating for? I'm advocating for a faith that is not just a head thing, something I learned from being at uni, or a belief system I grew up with. Its not just a warm feeling that I am saved. Its not just something that is good, and good to other people.

Im advocating for a fiery hot faith of which I'll blog on that later...

what to believe?

Check out Simon Maplebacks blog, hes got a couple of good vids on Oprah. I've had problems with her for ages so its good to see these videos... Ive only watched 2 of them but they reveal some interesting things...

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Someone asked me about how I can follow so many different types of people with different beliefs and practices and asked how I work out what to take and what to drop.

I barrack for Port Adelaide. I like most of our players, I think they are good. But some of them really need something a bit extra, they need to do things differently. When I look at other clubs I see players I think would work really well at my club. I would love to have Buddy Love in our forward line, Garry Abblet in the middle, and Scarlett down back. I don't want them to bring their own club, just themselves. I want a Port Power Buddy Love, a Port Power Abblett... That would do nicely...

William Booth did similar sorts of things. He took things that worked from one place, disregarded what wasn't that great and blended a whole bunch of things together. (One example Army with Church...)

So, for myslef, I take Way of the Masters 'Good Test' and some of their teaching, but I reject some of their Calvinist roots of election and pre-destination, I like some Extreme Prophetic stuff like giving people words from God, but some of their theology can bother me too. I love Charles Finney, Wesley, Booths, Bonnke, etc but it doesn't mean that everything they say I will agree with. But I am more than happy to take the bits do agree with!

I like to test things against Scripture, reason, history, tradition and experience. The main thing though is Scripture. If people disagree with me from Scripture I am so much more willing to debate and listen to them. Scripture is the authorative text that I will work with...

So, heres to having a Port Power dream team...

MUST WATCH

THIS IS A MUST WATCH VIDEO. ITS SOOOO FUNNY!

Letter from an atheist

Ray,

You are really convinced that you've got all the answers. You've really got yourself tricked into believing that you're 100% right. Well, let me tell you just one thing. Do you consider yourself to be compassionate of other humans? If you're right, as you say you are, and believe that, then how can you sleep at night? When you speak with me you are speaking with someone who you believe is walking directly into eternal damnation into an endless onslaught of horrendous pain which your 'loving' god created, yet you stand by and do nothing.

If you believe one bit that thousands every day were falling into an eternal and unreacheable fate, you should be running the streets mad with rage at their blindness. That's equivalent to standing on a street corner and watching every person that passes you walk blindly directly into the path of a bus and die, yet you stand idly by and do nothing. You're just twiddling your thumbs, happy in the knowledge that one day that 'walk' signal will shine your way across the road.

Think about it. Imagine the horrors Hell must have in store if the bible is true. You're just going to allow that to happen and not care about saving anyone but yourself? If you're right then you're an uncaring, unemotional and purely selfish (expletive) that has no right to talk about subjects such as love and caring.

James Franz

The entire discourse between Ray and this atheist is now in a fascinating book called, Intelligent Design versus Evolution—letters to an atheist

Taken from www.wayofthemaster.com

THE LAW AND EVANGELISM

I've had some people question me with one of the ways I do evangelism. The matter in question is the 'Good Test.' The test is used to get people to admit their guilt before we step into the grace of God. This is done by asking questions relating to the 10 commandments. But some have not liked this approach thinking that if we ask these questions then we need to live underneath all the law otherwise we are hypocrites. So, I'm going to try to show what I think scripture teaches on the subject...

In Galatians and Romans Paul speaks about how Abraham was declared righteous before the law, before circumcision. Paul continues to speak how we cannot be justified by the law, we are only justified by the grace of God in Jesus Christ accessed through faith.

Galatians 2:15"We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' 16know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified."

The law, or obeying the law does not save us. This leaves us with the question, what is the law for? Paul tells us, "But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin" and "The law was added so that the trespass might increase." The law is there to show us our sinfulness. The law was never going to save people, even Abraham who was credited with righteousness was done so before the law was given but he was credited as righteous because of his faith. So the law is there to show us our sinfulness and to point towards Christ who saves.

But not everyone is under this law that was given to the Jews. "All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law." So how can we use the law if people are not under this law?

"Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them." So the law can be used if it tugs at their conscience. In our world everyone knows that murder is not acceptable, we know that dishonesty is wrong. We all have a conscience and we have all gone against this conscience at some stage.

So when we use the 'Good Test' we are using it to get people to admit that they are a sinner, they admit because their heart, their conscience tells them they have done the wrong thing."For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." When we use the 'Good Test' we use it to point towards their need for Jesus.

When we evangelise we want to proclaim the grace of God, we want people to know they can be saved. But before they know that, they need to know they need saving. We use the "Good Test" to show them that yes they need saving. The test does not accuse, rather we ask questions and their own thought accuse them! They see that they are a sinner! "But where sin increased, grace increased all the more!" Hallelujah!

The 'Good Test' is not needed all the time, nor is it 'the way' to evangelise. But it does bring people to aplace where they see the need for a Saviour and gives us a solid platform to preach the love of God.

Why signs and wonders?

It seems I have confused some people with what to emphasize in ministry. Some are saying that I am emphasizing Signs and wonders and miracles too much when the focus should be on the death and resurrection of Jesus.

I completely agree that the most important emphasis should be on Jesus and His death and resurrection. Without a doubt. If I had a chance to preach one thing to a person on the street and I had to choose between Signs and wonders or Jesus and His death and resurrection I would choose Jesus and the resurrection. This is plainly seen in my ministry, if you come and witness with me you will see that I am all about getting people to realise their sinfulness followed by the grace of God found in Jesus death and resurrection.

So what do I see as the role of signs and wonders? I see the role of signs and wonders as confirming the message, as demonstrating the message, as an act of Gods compassion. I see it as one of the ways God uses to take the veil of the sinners eyes (1 Cor) to point them towards Jesus. I also believe that if God has given us Spiritual gifts we need to use them!

In TSA we often speak about what the point of the social services are and sometimes people who just want us to 'preach the gospel' get upset that we are helping and not preaching. But the fact is that God has told us to love the poor, to help people, and that by us doing that it preaches the gospel to them. If we only help and dont use words to preach though then it is in part defective because we want people to know Jesus and they can only know if we tell them. The same is for signs and wonders and miracles. God has commanded us to do participate with Him in doing them, they are part of the gospel but they must always point towards Jesus and our response of faith, obedience and repentance.

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Heres a list of why signs and wonders from a Wimber book...

Authenticating the message
Establishing the church
Demonstrating Christs mercy and compassion
Bearing witness to the truth of Christs claims about Himself
Demonstrating that Gods Kingdom has arrived
Showing Jesus was the one promised by the Father
Illustrating in the physical what God wants to do in the Spiritual
Bringing people to repentance
Showing that the gospel is for Jews and Gentiles

GHOSTING (P.S.I)

I love my sports and heres one I think is going to catch on...

Giving

Plenty Valley Westfield has just opened up down the road from our corps. This means that some of our youth no have jobs and are making money. So the need has arose to speak to them about giving, in particular money.

I was talking to someone yesterday about how to talk about it and without thinking my first comment was something along the lines of "giving back to God." Its a term I've heard from lots of people and its just in grained into me. However the person I was speaking to quickly rebuked me and got me thinking about it better.

Giving back to God terminology is no good. It implies that we get to keep this part and we give God this other part. This can lead to people thinking, 'Well, I've given this part, thats it... The rest is for me.' When really what God is looking for is all of us. All of our money is Gods. So it shouldn't be about what percentage we give, rather it should be about how we look after all of our money. Now it turns into stewardship.

Once its stewardship (looking after something for someone else) everything changes. Its not about percentages but the way we manage all of our money. This fits in really well with holiness theology of giving ourselves, every area of our life.

So, are you giving a part of your self, of your money? Or are you using it ALL for Gods glory?

signs and wonders

We watched this video last night at Strike. We're learning about Signs and wonders. But before you watch it, take a look at this table which talks about the term 'signs and wonders'...

WHERE	TIMES USED	BY WHO?	WHY?
Old Testament	27 times	God and prophet	Declare and save
Acts	13 times	God and apostle	Declare and save
Revelation	7 times (signs)	False prophets	Lead astray
Other	3 times	Both	Both

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[1] (2 Corinthians 12:12, 2 Thessalonians 2:9, Hebrews 2:4) (Gospel research still being done...)

The table clearly shows the reasons for a Sign and wonder. We do not want people chasing signs and wonders, rather we want people to chase after God. We want people saved and so it is with those intentions that we believe and pray for signs and wonders. Whether we get a sign or wonder or not is not the main point, the main point is that people turn to follow Jesus.

Now, watch this video and be challenged by a command of God...

God at work

Hows everyone going?

I've been copping some criticism for believeing that God raises the dead. Why? Because its too 'out there'. Becasue its crazy. Becasue 'it doesn't happen.' Well, I believe in a God who has done miracles right throughout time from creation through Moses days, through Elijahs days, Isaiahs days, Jesus' days, the disciples days... all the way up until and including now. I follow a God who does not change His mission. The kingdom of God is here.

Why do I want people to believe this stuff? Becasue God is the God that saves. Heals. Sets free! Makes whole! Makes holy! He loves everyone! And knowing Him and being with Him is better than anything in the world and I want others to know Him like I do. Because He is so good!

I have seen God do amazing things. Set people free from demonic possesion and oppression, heal people of cancer, tummy problems, head problems including depression! I have seen God turn lives around, lives heading towards hell turned to lives that bring glory to God, lives that bring the Kingdom of God to this world! I have seen people been made whole. I have seen people filled with joy. I have seen people filled with love. I have seen peoples condemnation, guilt and stress fall off. I have seen God at work in my life and the lives of others.

I dont need to make anything up. If you doubt come and see. And you will see that God is alive, that He impacts the world we live in becasue He loves us. He loves you. If you have doubts about how real God is then come and see. God can do a miracle in your life.

MY THEOLOGY

What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 100% Fundamentalist 86% Charismatic/Pentecostal 86% Neo orthodox 68% Classical Liberal 54% Reformed Evangelical 50% Emergent/Postmodern 46% Modern Liberal 25% Roman Catholic 25%

Door to door

Candidates weekend was great! There were 75 potential candidates/cadets there and there are some very good officers that will emerge in the next few years! The weekend was lots of fun meeting up with people from all over Australia! The Turners did a great job and the commissioners came down and spoke and they were both great!

But my favorite part of the weekend was going house to house door knocking. The idea was to promote the local corps. Heres a few thoughts on it...

Its terrible how many people did it and came back saying they had never done that before without asking for money. How crazy is that? Where do people live? In their homes. So where should we be trying to get them saved? It seems obvious to me that we should go to homes, thats where sinners live. It may be a surprise to some people but sinners dont go to church! (well some do...lol) So how are they going to get saved unless we go to them?

It made me angry, disappointed and filled me with a passion for souls because out of the 75+ doing the door knocking there was only a handful preaching the gospel. Others were just trying to get people to a program or a meeting. I had the privilege of leading a young man to Christ so it can be done because it happened. Praise God for his salvation!

BUT what sort of Salvation Army are we when our candidates, future leading officers don't preach the gospel? Heres a line from a Major, (it went along a bit like this...) "You can say you preach with your life, but be like Jesus! Even Jesus spoke! Use your words!"

Heres a great positive though. The experience made people think and challenged them to do more of this sort of stuff. Heaps of people came back really excited that people accepted them, welcomed them and opened up in conversation with them. So, although the gospel wasn't preached as much as it could have been, their were shadows of the gospel as people shared stories, had compassion, loved people and prayed with them. If only we could see that Jesus is the answer to their problems!

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This morning I read some more of a book by Catherine Booth and it just so happens it was on a chapter called, "Compel them to come in." The whole chapter is about door to door evangelism.

"Dear reader, here is a sphere for you! You have long wished to do something for your 'blessed , blessed master.' Here is work, boundless in extent, and momentous beyond an angels power to conceive. For it, you need no human ordination, no long and tedious preparation, no high flown language, no towering eloquence, all you want is the full baptism in the Holy Spirit on your heart, the Bible in your hand, and humility and simplicity of manner. Thus equipped you will be mighty through God to pulling down strongholds. You will find your way to many a heart long since abandoned by hope and given up in despair, and in the great day of account you shall have many a sheaf as the result of your labor, and the the reward of your self denial."