‘.. with persecutions 2’

Part 1 focused on how we need God’s perspective on life’s whole picture. We need to see what and how God sees: the overall view first and then the details. Often we do not see the forest for the trees; we get lost, hung up on the details and miss the whole point. Life seems a mysterious puzzle without any picture on the box. We grope about, trying to connect pieces that won’t fit, sometimes not even sure they belong to our picture! That’s what happened to Eve in the Garden. She got distracted, took her eyes off the centre Tree and lost her focus. Ever since, nothing really fit, but man has been still trying to pick up the pieces. We’ve been eating from the other Tree: out of focus, off balance, blurry-eyed, never satisfied and never able to come to the knowledge of the whole until…
Jesus Christ came and restored the Tree of Life!
In His Light, we can now discern what the enemy means for evil, and work with God to turn it rather for good. When we are ‘looking unto Jesus’, everything else comes into focus and finds its true, full image. Everything must ultimately find its place in Him: either in glory or judgment. When exposed, it must be either changed or consumed, developed or destroyed.
Reveal your whole picture, Lord: a forest of Trees of Life, your kingdom filling us and all the earth!

We can be confident that whatever is centred on Jesus will stand. He builds His Church securely, but not always comfortably, on the Rock. The only Foundation that will stand forever was laid at The Cross: Jesus Christ and Him crucified, who He is and what He has done. True apostles and prophets testify to this alone, build according to His true plumbline (The Word) and do not stray from His clear testimony (The Spirit). Anything more or less will be exposed as such when testing comes and the fires of suffering and persecution reveal the building’s true nature. Wood, hay and stubble are consumed; gold, silver and living stones manifest His Temple’s glory. Wise masterbuilders build accordingly. They do not fear or deny the tests, sufferings and persecutions which come. They welcome them as bringing the whole picture into clearer testimony, touching others, even entire nations, for the faith. True apostles with such vision are rare these days.

But we had such a man stay with us in our home about 20 years ago: a true apostle, not an ego-tripping, looking-for-position-to-validate-his-identity-wannabe. Prem Pradhan was the real thing and having him in our church and home felt like having the Apostle Paul right with us. Prem came from Nepal, a strictly Hindu-Buddhist kingdom tucked in the Himalaya Mountains between India and China. A generation ago, Nepal had no known Christians. Prem served in the Indian army during WWII with the British Air Force and was shot down and wounded. He walked with a noticeable limp from that injury for the rest of his life. In early 1950’s northern India, Prem, about 30 years old, heard a disciple of Bakht Singh proclaim, “It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment.” (Heb 9:27) It was a strange message for his Hindu understanding and he wondered how he could avoid that judgment. He asked the street preacher, who then challenged him to read the New Testament – 6 times! Prem did. During his reading, he gave his life to Jesus and God called him to go back to his country and preach the gospel that had saved him. Like Moses, Prem at first objected.
“I am a cripple,” he argued, “how can I walk up and down mountains?
And I don’t know all the different languages to reach all those isolated villages!
I can’t hike and I can’t speak. Call someone else.” But God would not relent.

One more problem: in Nepal at that time, it was illegal to not only preach, but merely to be a Christian! An automatic 1-year prison sentence if a person changed religions, especially if they became Christian. For the more extreme: 3 yrs in jail for preaching, 6 if you were caught baptizing converts! Sure enough, after he returned to his country, it only took a short time and Prem was in trouble with the authorities. A paralyzed woman was healed when Prem prayed for her and the miracle so stirred the town that many turned to Christ, even the local Buddhist lama! Prem wrote and invited the local authorities to the new believers’ open baptism. “Jesus suffered openly for us,” he taught. “We must be willing to suffer openly for Him.” The enraged authorities arrested the believers and threw Prem in jail. But they murdered the lama.
Prem languished in a dungeon of death. No ventilation in summer, no heat in winter. Sanitation facilities were non-existent, biting insects everywhere! Rehabilitation was not the goal of Nepalese jails. Prisoners were given bare survival rations of only one cup of rice per day to cook over their own little fires. Without help from relatives, many soon died.
He had done no harm; he was there just for who he was!

Prem was discouraged. “Lord, you saved me with a purpose: to preach the gospel to my nation. How can I do this when I’m stuck here in this filthy prison?” He first saw only filthy prisoners, but as he looked around, he noted that many were from outside his local area. He saw that the Lord had brought his mountain mission field to him! One by one, he started to minister to them naturally and spiritually, showing Christ’s love in this inside-the-prison Training Centre and one by one, he led them to Jesus. Eventually, on their release, they returned to their homes filled with Christ, shared their new faith and love with their families and friends, and started churches in their villages. God’s plan for evangelizing Nepal was different from what Prem had first envisioned: prison ministry with a twist! Soon churches began to spring up over the entire nation, more quickly and effectively than Prem could have ever done in his own way!
Then Satan’s persecution tactics changed. The prison warden grew very angry with Prem.
“Prem,” he said, “you must stop sharing your faith. After all, that’s why you’re here in prison! You must obey me!”
Prem responded like the early apostles: “I must first obey God in my life, in prison or out.”
The warden gave up in frustration and moved Prem to another prison. Prem saw the hand of God in this too: he had already finished evangelizing this prison; he was now ready for a new field to sow more gospel seed in other needy hearts!
Between 1960 and 1975, Prem spent 10 years in 14 different prisons!
Once his sentence was 20,000 days – 54 years! and his release came only when Western friends intervened and paid a ransom of 1 rupee per day, equivalent to $2000.

The only charge they could find against Prem was being a Christian. I wonder: if you were arrested for being a Christian, would the authorities find enough evidence to convict you?

At one point, Maoist political prisoners overcame the guards and ran for freedom. The gates were open, everyone was running and Prem found himself also running with them, caught up in the excitement. However, when he reached the gate, an invisible wall suddenly prevented him from running further.
He heard Holy Spirit say, “If you cross through that gate and run for your freedom, you will have to keep running all the way to India and you will never be able to return to your country. Then you will never be free to fulfill your destiny and my call on your life.”
Prem stopped immediately, transfixed at an invisible line, unable to move.
Other prisoners rushed past him, shouting, ‘Come! This is our chance!’
But Prem stood there.
Still others shouted, “Hurry, Prem! Don’t lose this opportunity. Be free! Don’t be a fool!”
Incredibly, he remained standing. All the others escaped and within a few minutes, army reinforcements arrived to restore order. All the prisoners were gone, except one: Prem. The soldiers stared at their lone prisoner, standing in the courtyard all by himself, freedom’s gate still open before him.
“Why are you still here?” they wondered in amazement. “Why didn’t you go with the others when you had your chance?”
Prem replied, “Do you really want to know?”
Little did they know what they were in for when they responded, “Yes, why?” and Prem proceeded to share Christ with them all. He had earned the right to share ‘the reason for the hope that was in him’ and now also reaped the harvest.

God eventually opened many doors for this man who would not just run through any.
He knew that when God opened a door, no man could shut it, but when man tries to open what God has shut, his efforts are in vain. During different interludes between prison sentences, Prem returned to his home village, where he continued sharing his faith and love for Jesus. Problems plagued Nepal: sickness, poverty and ignorance were rife and the traditional Hindu-Buddhist religions were unable to bring healing, life or light. The Light of Christ shone in thick darkness, and many were touched, even without their full understanding.
His village Hindu + Buddhist leaders could not agree on their local government council; the two sides were always fighting. So rather than choose a leader from either camp whom neither could trust, they asked Prem the Christian to serve as their mayor! They knew they could trust Prem. God has an ironic sense of humour: an illegal Christian became mayor of a Hindu/Buddhist town! God’s favour shone through Prem and he served in this capacity for many years, also founding orphanages and schools to care for his people. Even the King of Nepal heard of his humanitarian and educational work and presented him with a special Social Service Medal of Honour!

However, others became envious and conspired all the more against Prem. He found himself again in prison, under the watch of a very evil warden who hated him with a passion. He determined to do away with Prem and put him in an unimaginably horrible situation: a dungeon filled with prisoners’ dead bodies awaiting their families’ retrieval for cremation. No room to stand up or lie down, no food, no water, no light, but lots of lice! Chained hand and foot, in complete darkness with only the company of rats and disease-infested, rotting corpses! Imagine being in such a hell-hole! He survived only by scraping what little moisture he could from the dank walls and bread crumbs that other prisoners generously snuck through the cracks between the massive door and stone floor. Days passed into weeks, but Prem’s courage grew. When he closed his eyes, he could envision pages of his Nepali New Testament. That’s how he read and prayed.
One day the guard outside heard him praying out loud.
“Who are you talking to?” the guard asked.
“Jesus,” Prem replied.
“I’m on guard. No one gets by me! How’d he get in there?”
“Well, He’s here.”
The guard opened the door and shined in his light.’ “I don’t see Jesus,” he said.
“You won’t find Him that way,” Prem said. “Let me tell you how you can find Him.”
The guard squatted on the threshold and Prem led him to the Lord.

Weeks passed in this chamber and eventually Prem despaired for his life. He could not see how God would call him to preach to his nation, but have it end in this dungeon of death. It seemed all hope was gone and both the natural and spiritual darkness were overwhelming him. But just when Prem was at the end of his rope, suddenly a supernatural light appeared on the wall:
a glowing Cross radiated Christ’s presence, power and life.
Prem heard His Saviour’s voice, “Don’t be afraid, Prem! Don’t lose hope! You will preach the gospel in your own nation, and beyond, to other nations around the world!”
Shortly thereafter, the warden opened the door, fully expecting to find only Prem’s collapsed, wasted corpse. However, to his complete amazement, Prem walked out of the darkness and stood before him: a testimony of perfect health!
“But… how can this be?” he stammered. “I threw you among all those rotting bodies, without food or water for all these days, and now, rather than dead, you look more alive than when I threw you in! How can this be?”
“Do you really want to know?” Prem coolly replied.

About 10 years ago, we heard that Prem went home to be with Jesus. He fought the good fight, ran his course and passed the baton to his Timothy, Sundar Thapa. Sundar, who now leads this growing fellowship of over 400 churches, a Bible Training Centre, schools and orphanages, has also visited us since. Nepal has gone through revolution: both political and spiritual. One of their princes massacred 10 of his own royal family a few years ago, sending shock waves through a once invincible traditional ruling hierarchy. Today, Maoist communists control a parliament trying to govern a bitterly divided nation. The traditional religions have lost much of their respect and control, but Christ’s Church has multiplied throughout the land. Where there were once no known Christians 60 years ago, now hundreds of thousands (some estimate up to 1 million!) follow Christ and fill the streets of Kathmandu in Jesus Marches, witnessing and proclaiming the gospel!

How can this be? In such a short time!
We in the West find it difficult to recognize, let alone, experience true revival.
The Western Church is caught in a snare of competing forms, programs and experiences, enticed by distractions, building our own ministries, churches and kingdoms to the detriment of His. Self-centred materialism, entertainment, endtimes fallacies, politics and other fleshly pursuits have taken our focus off Jesus.
We have lost His power to do what He has called us to do because we are no longer what He has called us to be! We have chosen to go to church rather than be it!
We’ve read and interpreted the Scripture according to our own comfort zones, taken the popular parts like ‘they overcame by the blood + word of testimony’ but deleted the equally important ‘loved not their lives to the death’.
We’ve cut out the uncomfortable parts like ‘suffering’ and ‘with persecutions’ because our self-centred focus does not comprehend ‘for my sake and the gospel’.
Our Western church has lived off a legacy from previous generations, but the time has come for our generation to ‘fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ’ (Col 1:24).
We don’t have to pray for persecution: live truly godly and persecution will come.
The emerging 3rd World Church does not need what we have; we need who they are!
We’ve been spoiled! We need to return to our roots in the simplicity of Christ. (2Cor 11:3-4)
We need to repent of our fabrications of new, improved gospels; they are nothing more than hyped-up manipulations!
The true gospel is simple and it works! Christ died, buried, resurrected, seated on the throne, ruling and reigning NOW! His kingdom filling the earth…first to hungry and thirsty individuals, then to the fields around us….multitudes!

I sense the frustration and questions out there: you are tired of old forms, regurgitated Old Testament theology dressed in empty New Testament terms, programs lacking the life and power of the Living God!
How did we ever get so far away from that simple experience of Christ’s faith and love in action that first won our hearts?
‘Having begun in the Spirit are you now going to be made perfect by the flesh?’ (Gal 3:3)
How can this be?
Like Prem standing before both the astonished guards and warden, I see the body of Christ rising up, overcoming …even ‘with persecutions,’ challenging those yet in darkness,
“Do you really want to know?”

Gang-busters – the Jesus Way!

Guns, violence, murder! Local newspaper headlines shout this message lately in virtually every issue. Rival gangs fighting for control of the highly lucrative drug trade have spiked our city’s crime rate. Not just handguns, but arsenals of heavy-duty weapons. Bodies dumped in ditches; brazen afternoon shootings at busy city intersections, gun battles in our malls and subdivisions. Must more innocent bystanders become victims in the turf-wars’ cross-fire? People are crying out for action, demanding increased police surveillance, calling for court reforms to a revolving-door policy which releases drug felons all too quickly on mere technicalities. With no more than ineffective slaps to their wrists, they are soon freed to continue their illicit activities. When will judges favour victims’ rights, rather than criminals’? Police are overworked and discouraged, fighting a war the ‘bad guys’ seem to be winning.

I’m tired of hearing ‘Another shooting in Abbotsford…’ on nightly newscasts. Why is our city so well-known for not only grow-ops, but violence and murder? The ‘Abbotsford Murderer’ put us on the international map, but who wants that distinction? One item even ranked us as Crime Capital of Canada!? But what really stirs me are those reports which then continue by describing our city sarcastically(?) as the ‘Bible Belt’ of B.C.! Bit of a paradox: crime + religion linked so closely? Makes me wonder: with all our churches, has the Bible Belt lost its Buckle!?

Who indeed is in control here: God or the drug gangs? Rather than throw up our hands in defeat, I believe the Church of Abbotsford needs to take a pro-active stance. The solution is not building bigger barns or jails. Nor is it blaming outside influences like Mexican-Colombian drug wars for British Columbian problems. We need to fight these problems by faith solutions here in our city. Demand here stimulates the supply there! We need to cut off the drug trade at its source: addiction, hopelessness, helplessness, here.
Empty lives here in Abbotsford need filling. Wounded hearts here need healing.
Comparing statistics of church attendance to rampant drug use is futile: the devil laughs at such religious vanity! I believe the Holy Spirit is here to lead us through this if we will follow.

Jesus defeated the works of the devil at His 1st Coming; His kingdom faith and power give us dominion over violence. Before Jesus came, there was no demonic deliverance. People tried their best, but the world lay under the power of the evil one. But when He appeared as God in the flesh, the forces of hell recognized Him.
He did not debate theologically with them; He simply commanded them: “Go!”
They objected, “It’s not time yet.” (Matt 8:29)
But Jesus countered, “You’re not calling the times here. My time is not your time.OUT!”
They had no choice but to leave.
Don’t ask devils or drug dealers whether it’s their time to go or not.
Nor will legalizing the problem solve anything. These gangs will simply seek other schemes to destroy our youth and enrich themselves. I know from personal experience.

But we need something more than stricter law-and-order, caving in to criminals or hiding in religious buildings. God is calling His Church to rise and stand up in faith for our city! We have good news for Abbotsford! Jesus conquered death and violence and has a better way!
In Matthew 12:22-30, Jesus went to the root source and solved the problem.
First: bind the strongman! He didn’t offer mere strategy or spiritual warfare principles. What He prophesied He actually did at The Cross, even when it cost Him His life! Satan did not take Christ’s life; Jesus yielded it up… for us, for you, for our city. When He rose, Jesus broke our bondage to sin and in turn bound the strong man! It’s already done! Revelation proclaims what Jesus did on Calvary: He bound the devil and cast him into the bottomless pit. (Rev 20:3) This is not some future event. Colossians 2:14-15 and Hebrews 2:14-15 confirm how Jesus bound the devil and his demonic gang THEN… at The Cross. As we once were bound, but now are free, so he was free, but now is bound.The Risen Christ has given us authority to plunder Satan’s goods and release souls too long deceived and imprisoned by drugs and darkness. He overcame and so we are now overcomers, called to make a difference in our city.
Satan doesn’t care how often we go to church; in fact, he prefers we stay in our buildings so he can rule in our streets. He’ll let us be comfortable in our churches if we give him our city.
He only has as much power as we give him, so let’s give him nothing!

Prayer-warriors! Intercessors! Be encouraged in the midst of battle: victory is sure!
Stand together: 1 body united, under authority of Christ’s Blood, on His sure foundation. Proclaim: “The Lord rebuke you!” against the forces of darkness.
Evil, both spiritual and physical, cannot stand against the Blood of Christ. They will flee.
Demons are not only fallen, but falling, angels. Let’s make them fall further every day!
Our community needs His light! Psychological strategies are not enough. Only the whole, simple gospel effectively pulls down these strongholds.

Christ has commissioned us to restore this embattled generation that Satan has targeted to wipe out in senseless carnage. Light overcomes darkness; truth defeats lies; His life always triumphs over death and violence!

P.S. This article was written for our local Abbotsford newspaper but has yet to be published.
However, I felt an urgency in my spirit to post it now because my local community isn't the
only one facing such difficulties that only the gospel can confront and overcome.
I would appreciate any dialogue/feedback you might have on this?
Is Satan really bound? Is Jesus really already crowned?
If so, what effect should this have on our real-life situations? What do you think?

PPS!!! The News still hasn't printed this article, but since I posted it here, a number of us got together one Thursday evening to pray about this. Using Rev 12 as a base and launching out from this foundation, we took authority in Jesus' Name by His Blood! And guess what? Not only did the presence of the Lord fill our hearts and the meeting, but the next morning, one of the members of the Red Scorpion gang confessed to the police that he had been part of the murder of 6 men last year, and gave evidence against 3 other prominent leaders, including one of the notorious Bacon Brothers! Police were ready and arrested these other 3 right that very morning!
They are now off the streets and awaiting trial. Now I know others have been praying also, but we were so encouraged by the timing...right the next morning after we had prayed! Thank you, Jesus! It's enough to make you want to keep praying, eh???

“May God Himself, who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole – spirit, soul, and body.” (1Thess 5:23- The Message) God’s will is for people to be healed, completely at one with Him, themselves and others. He is the God of peace. Jesus is The Prince of Peace, the One who breaks confusion. Last year, our STC (now Simply Transformed by Christ) outreach teams ministered both in Mexico and locally in Canada. Just as Jesus sent his disciples out to heal, so after six months of training, He sent us out to freely give, even as we had freely received. And good news reports have returned with us. Whether here or abroad, hearts are open to receive the kingdom of God now being manifest in all the earth!
We saw miracles take place! God has not stopped doing miracles. The same Holy Spirit that worked through Jesus and the apostles of the early church still works miracles today. Hopeless cases are possible with God. Miracles of heart, mind, soul, body; every part of our human being needs to be whole and just as Jesus moved in compassion and healed multitudes, so He continues by faith today!
Our students prayed for a deaf child and where there had been no hearing, suddenly full hearing came in one ear and the other began to open also. Why didn’t full hearing come to both ears immediately? I don’t know, but I thank God for the healing that did take place. Others prayed for a man whose leg had been crippled, stiff, inflexible. Shortly afterwards, they heard bones cracking, he began moving his leg and soon he was jumping around on it before them! Another lady had come with her arm bandaged and in a sling. As the students prayed with her, she suddenly tore off the sling, began waving her arms wildly and even clapping her hands together. Her actions and joy witnessed her evident healing.
But God heals more than physical bodies. He sets captives free spiritually also. After hearing our message, one woman became quite overcome, fell down and began writhing on the floor, very distraught. Three of us prayed over her, took authority, and together with the pastor, broke the demon’s power, and cast it out. The woman was freed to receive Christ in her life and be made whole! It’s exciting to see “every knee will bow” happening today! The kingdom of God is present and filling the earth just as Jesus said it would. He is only looking for hungry hearts of faith to respond to His Word & Spirit’s leading.
Personally, I saw a beautiful testimony of God’s willingness and ability to heal the deepest hurts of the heart. One evening, I was drawn towards a group of adults and children off to one side of the church. I had a strong leading towards a man, woman, little girl and older woman, but I had no assurance they were actually a family. However, as I prayed, I saw them more as a family, and even spoke over them in my broken Spanish, “familia”. When I prayed over ‘Mama’, she broke into tears; then I continued with the husband, the little girl, and Grandma (?) Then they brought a younger boy and I was assured it was their son and this was indeed a family. The Holy Spirit ministered and Mama and Grandma were both in tears as they explained through my interpreter that as I had spoken ‘familia’ over them without even knowing they were a family, God had brought healing to their hearts. They had been going through marriage difficulties, on the verge of divorce, and now God had shown and reassured them that they were indeed “His familia”. What a joy to see the couple restored, hugging and kissing with their children together: a whole family!
I believe God wants more of this ‘whole’ healing take place. That same evening, the church asked us to bless their children; the parents had been fasting and praying for them all day. We laid hands on them and then invited any others who wanted to become as little children in the kingdom of God to give their hearts to Christ and be born again. Immediately a number of young and old, men and women responded and the miracle of new birth became reality again! Without God we are incomplete. Only Jesus can make people whole. Healing in Jesus is for the whole person: body, soul and spirit; heart, mind and will. This wholeness is available and happening today wherever hearts are open in faith to His love. How’s your wholeness?

SMILE! GOD'S TAKING PICTURES!

Our plane landed at 6pm, the sky darkened, and immediately the heavens unleashed a massive wave of crashing thunder, lightning and an overwhelming flood. This was my welcome to Nigeria last June on the second leg of my African mission. I was soaked, but ran across the tarmac toward the baggage depot, appreciative that any later, our plane could not have landed or even worse crashed, like one a few months earlier at this very airport, killing all on board. The thunder wasn’t just noisy: it shook the whole earth; the lightning illumined whole sections of the sky. One child put it this way: “God is taking pictures!”
But how were His pictures developing in me that day? Port Harcourt is not my favourite airport, but it is my most eventful. I ‘expect the unexpected’ there. 25 years ago on my 1st arrival, I was arrested by the military police before even entering the country. Years later, I spent an entire day in its sweltering terminal, jostling 500 other passengers for only 125 seats, all holding ‘OK’ tickets. Seats opened for those who had proper connections and money, in stark contrast to the prominently posted warning: “It is illegal to give or take a bribe.”
And here I was again, back in this same memory-provoking terminal. Another drumroll of thunder shook the entire building and… God took a picture. So far, the day had been manageable; no emergencies. I felt relieved. I waited as the baggage carousel emptied; passengers claimed their luggage and headed into the raging storm. My clothing bag appeared, but my second suitcase didn’t. One bag, same shape as mine but different colour, circled around and around unclaimed. Then the belt stopped, only this bag remained… and mine was still nowhere in sight. Another thunderclap, the unexpected was expectedly happening; my bag had gone missing; questions filled my mind and …God took another picture.
Three hours of bureaucratic hassle followed. Security officials refused to believe someone had inadvertently taken my bag and left theirs. No one could get by security without the proper luggage tags, so my bag must be back in Lagos. We had to get information “into the system” and my bag would arrive in the morning. I obediently followed them from building to building, getting even more soaked. In a typically abrupt Nigerian manner, my 3 baggage officers argued, blaming each other while quizzing me for information about my bag. The loudest thunderclap of all then effectively knocked out the power; we sat there in darkness, but they continued arguing non-stop. The power eventually returned, but not my bag.
My missionary friends had advised me to stay at a nearby hotel where they would pick me up the next morning. It is not safe to travel after dark: police roadblocks often turn out to be masquerading bandits. One agent sympathetically called me a taxi driver whom she knew because, “Some drivers just come to take you and then they take you away!” Not too assured, I drove off into the night with her driver, hopefully to the hotel. More lightning and thunder filled my senses; rain and fear were now driving me more.
I had stayed there before, but that night this hotel seemed eerie. No other guests were in the lobby. I asked the desk girl for a room. “$100 US cash, no VISA; has to be one $100 bill.” A cashier took my money and gave me neither a word nor a receipt. “If you and your room are ‘OK’ tomorrow, we might give you some back,” she muttered. Not very reassuring. A porter took my only bag. By this time my imagination was running wild and he looked to me like Igor from the horror movies. He even dragged his one leg behind him as we headed for the elevators! And the power outage had rendered them out of service, so I followed ‘Igor’ up 6 flights of stairs. Why up 6 floors in an empty hotel? At the landing, 2 uniformed ‘guards’ confronted us; one carried what resembled a submachine gun. I hoped he was what his uniform professed. Igor assured them I was a real guest and led me down the hallway, sloshing through 4 inches of water. The leaks had become a river. He turned the key and opened the door to my room. All appeared fine until I thought to tip him, but without any change from the cashier, I only had a 100 Naira bill. Not knowing its value, I thought that would suffice. Igor however took it, fumbled it, mumbled at me, and threw it down! I didn’t want to offend the only friend I had left in the world, so I frantically searched further, added another 20N, and offered him both. He grunted, took them, walked out and locked my door with his key behind him! I ran to the door and slammed the deadbolt shut from my side. The storm again shook the whole building. God took another picture and I wasn’t looking too good.
Fear gripped me. I had to contact someone. I grabbed my cell, dialed my missionary friends’ number. No response. Using my Roaming Network, I hoped to touch home base in Abbotsford somehow, regardless of the cost. I dialed the familiar numbers of wife and family - home. It rang, but an unfamiliar generic telephone voice answered. I could have coped with, “Wrong number,” “Busy,” or “Out of Service,” but this voice declared, “This number does not exist!” and my heart dropped. I felt I had fallen over the edge. Nothing that really mattered existed any longer. More thunder and lightning followed and God continued taking my pictures: Fear exposed and despair developed.
How do you counter Fear (believing that something bad you cannot see/control is going to happen)? I would like to say I dealt with fear better than I did that evening, but I didn’t. Only when I subjected my shaken thoughts to the Faith of God’s Word did I find peace. I remembered Revelation 4:5: thunder and lightning proceed from God’s Throne. God is in control; not the devil. Satan only twists what God has set; he creates nothing on his own. When Faith (believing that something good you cannot see/control is going to happen) rose in my heart; I trusted God and rested.
In morning light, Igor really didn’t look so fearful, the cashier gave me some money back, the traveler who’d mistakenly taken my bag returned it, and my friends arrived to pick me up. Things are not what they often seem to be; we need not fear, but have the faith of God. Thunder and lightning really mean that God is taking your picture. Smile!!!

Revival ???

I've been wondering about modern revival in our contemporary North American Christian church. Is it a one-time event, a series of exciting meetings featuring miracles, strange phenomena, changed lives, or..? 'Revival' simply defined is 'raising to life what was once dead.' But how can a resurrected spiritual body like Christ's Church become so dead it has to be continually revived? And how often? Every generation needs its own move of God, but how genuine is Christian 'revival' if it needs to be raised from the dead every couple years… or months or days? Is it a seasonal thing? How many times can you be 'born again' again? Perhaps we are drawing more from hyped-up North American canned religious marketing gimmicks than a whole gospel. Believers in Christ receive a full gospel: Christ lived, died and rose again and this simple but powerful faith changes lives – once for all! We must not compromise this simple truth with lesser religious substitutes. We are the body of Christ, not Lazarus. Angelic stirrings, superficial manifestations and partial spiritual awakenings are incomplete and even deceptive when they only heighten expectations but do not clearly exalt Jesus and affect the genuine goods.

We have forgotten our simple roots in Christ and this is evidenced by how Scripture is often taken out of context to justify assumptions and then twisted into something far removed from its original intent. For example, John 5:1-15, the Pool of Bethesda scenario: a man with a 38-year long infirmity waits at the pool’s edge for an angel to stir the waters so he can get in, be healed and revived. This passage has been used to promote special geographically-located 'revival' healing wells, but I have a few questions about its relevance and relationship to real revival.

First, my marginal notes indicate that the last part of verse 3 and all of verse 4 are not in our earliest Bible texts. The Bible records no other such healing manifestation in Bethesda; no Jewish historical records contain that story. This is a Bible notation of mere Jewish tradition. It's a myth, a human form of religious superstition! But people have wrenched it out of context to build 'healing' ministries on watery, unstable, leaky foundations. Healing is in the fountain of Jesus' Blood, not in some pool of mystical pilgrimage.

Second, this situation is totally inconsistent with God as the Bible reveals Him. The Great I AM is a God of love; not selfish, competitive ambition. . Yes, God can do what He wants and His ways do change; but His changeable ways are ever consistent with His unchangeable nature, never in contradiction to who God is. “In the beginning… God. The Great I AM. I am the Lord, I change not. I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday today and forever.” He does not reward those who sense angelic stirrings and beat everyone else into the pool. It's incredible that such a misrepresentation of God is tolerated, let alone celebrated in much of today's church. Such teaching and manner of ministry is totally inconsistent with the Bible's revelation of Jesus Christ. Healing is definitely connected with faith, but is it that type of run-to-Bethesda, Lakeland or wherever ‘faith’, first-in-the-pool-gets-healed ‘faith’, even if it means pushing others aside for your miracle ‘faith’ that God is revealing here? A 'faith' that heals the few who make it in before everyone else but leaves the sick and dying at the edge, clinging to residues of mystical hope is not the faith of Jesus. Such a charade leaves not only a poolside of rejected, unhealed victims behind in its wake, but a bad taste in my heart and a stain on the misrepresented image and character of God. An entire revivalist culture has built around this supposition. It is a false revelation.

Christ's healing is deeper and fuller than merely requiring a physical response to some supernatural surface manifestation. However, much North American Christianity seems bored with the real thing and has instead dug up 'superspiritual' substitutes and passed them off as Christian life. Jeremiah writes to us:

"My people have committed two evils:

They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,

And hewn themselves cisterns – broken cisterns that can hold no water." (Jer 2:13)

Pools, cisterns… systems that hold no water; religious systems based on myth and tradition; ministry extravaganzas that exalt personalities and gifts. We have hewn them out. They are neither God's Hand nor Kingdom, but works of human flesh and idolatrous religion. In the end, they yield nothing but false hope, disappointment and delusion.

We are like that paralytic, lying at the edge, waiting on arbitrary stirrings of revival. And as in the Bible account, the real Jesus, the Way the Truth and the Life Jesus, comes to us, deeply moved by our constant infirmities, and asks, "Do you want to be healed?" Not just surface, physical release from pain, but body, soul, spirit, mind, will and emotions whole! In other words, do you want complete salvation, deliverance from not only physical infirmity, but healing in your entire being, even your thinking and feelings changed, a will transformed by His Life?

There is an unhealthy imbalance in Charismatic Christian church life today. We need more than the package form of revival. We need more than surface stirrings of waters; they only stroke bruised egos and ease wounded comfort zones. We need a stirring in our religious root systems. We have failed to recognize and acknowledge The Lord for who He is and the way He truly works. He is Love, Mercy and Healing. He is wholeness. The Bible proclaims, “In Christ dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily and you are complete in Him.” We cannot settle for speculative substitute manifestations when Jesus Christ has made the Way into the Holy of Holies clear and open for us by His Blood once for all. His Presence is poured out for us, in us and through us. We don’t just need a pool to jump in. We have a whole river to swim in and in Christ there is more than enough, even a well to drink in. Anyone really thirsty? Jesus said, “Come to me and out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water, not into you, but out of you! Christ challenged a self-centred religious system in His day; He defeated it at the Cross and continues to confront it today. It is finished! It’s time for the body of Christ to move out of Old Covenant types and shadows into New Covenant light! The River of God’s healing is for the whole: body, soul and spirit whole; individual members and corporate whole.

We need a deeper experience, a depth yet not probed. Spiritual awakening by itself is definitely not enough; there must be a raising up of the body, following through with specific, personal discipleship, changing from religious forms (even and especially when we pride ourselves that we are not ‘religious’) into the real image from glory to glory, not just from experience to experience, where self is the standard of measurement. Those awakened must know His healing faith and power to arise from their hearts and raise their whole being from their pitiful poolside existence. We have been crippled too long without the strength and maturity to truly walk the talk and take real steps forward. We need to drink, eat, and swim in the full River of God’s love. We need more than a visitation; we need, and in Christ we are, a divine habitation. Do you not know that individually your body is the temple of God and corporately we are the body of Christ, the temple of His Holy Spirit?

Church: will you rise from your bed of excuses or keep playing with religious games and gimmicks? Jesus is calling us to be and make disciples, those who will know Him and respond at His leading; those who truly follow the Lamb wherever He goes. We are His sheep, not a groupie following of healing junkies trying to lasso and market hyped-up miracle manifestations that fall far short of His truly revealed glory. We must discern and discount what is not God but what we have called God anyways because that’s all our poor souls have been trained and addicted to. The Law never saved anyone, but neither does license. All they can do is convict that we are in a ditch, need our Saviour and direct us to the Cross. Angels have never saved anyone’s soul nor have they been agents of healing without directing the needy to Jesus. An unhealthy overemphasis of their ministry is nothing more than a renewed cultish Gnosticism. Anything less than the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus is dead religion. It may be a different package, but it’s the same old deception; perhaps a different form or manifestation, but still the same empty religion. Christ challenged a self-centred religious system in His day and still does today. He defeated it then at the Cross and continues to expose its emptiness. It is finished! It's time for the body of Christ to move out of Old Covenant types and shadows and walk in New Covenant light! We have lain crippled too long; it's time to truly rise and walk the talk. While others wait for waters to move, let the Cross move you to look to Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our faith. Right now He's crying out to a needy world and a distracted Church: "Anyone here want to be whole?

I long to see what happens when we answer 'Yes!' and He adds, "Then take up your bed and walk!" The Church -- rising up, walking in love, unity, revelation and obedience…glorious and whole! Jesus paid for a revolution, true reformation in individuals and community! Let's not settle for lesser forms of 'revival'.

Poipet --- the Armpit???

Here are 2 contrasting scenes from my recent experience. Can you relate?

Scene I: Our missions team returned from 2 weeks’ ministry in April in Cambodia. It is a unique country, truly like no other place I’ve visited, except perhaps Albania during the 1999 Kosovo Crisis. Highways are so potholed that driving 150 km. to Angkor Wat took over 4 hours. The Khmer Rouge/Pol Pot /Killing Fields atrocities so decimated the nation (3 million were massacred out of a 13 million population!) its people appear traumatized, stunned, hopeless, without vision. Garbage lay deep in the cities; piles of clothing littered their streets; open sewers spewed forth a sour, putrid, pervading stench of decay and refuse. Cattle ambled by, surreally munching on plastic rummaged from fields of rubbish. This is Poipet, a Thai-Cambodian bordertown, comparable in size to Abbotsford. The Lonely Planet guidebook describes Poipet as the armpit of Cambodia with nothing of interest and advises tourists to move on.

We stayed. In fact, this was our destination. The good news of Jesus Christ is hope for every nation and the poor and hopeless especially need it. We encountered more than natural filth. Garbage, open sewers, and litter were mere shadows of even more horrible human devastation. Thailand entices its poor neighbours with promises of money, riches and a better life. However, at least 15% of Thailand’s flourishing GNP thrives on a sex trade which deceptively lures and then entraps poor, homeless orphans into a web of child pornography and prostitution. Sex and money, a lethal combination, know no borders to its lust and greed. Sexploiters infiltrate Cambodia, prey on its orphans and steal them away into a 21^st Century slave trade. Sadly, many of this trade’s customers (the people who supply the demand) are Canadian sex tourists who travel to Thailand for this very purpose. Fortunately, the RCMP is now recognizing this problem, exposing and prosecuting those Canadians who engage in these illicit and inhuman abuses. Children 10 years and even younger are trapped in prostitution, coerced into videoed sex acts for the warped pleasure of perverted, twisted minds. Some even justify this as ‘inter-generational sex’! While there, over 100 of these sexploited women and children were repatriated from Thailand back to Poipet. But this tragedy of traffic in human souls continues.

One Poipet pastor and his wife decided to make a difference. In addition to their own 3 children, they began taking in homeless, orphaned, abandoned children that would otherwise have been forced into sex slavery. 1…2… eventually they added 23 other children. Their growing family became a church, and in turn became an outreach army to wash, feed, and care for hundreds of other abused children. We joined them in a Las Vegas-like strip of Thai-run casinos in a gambling no-man’s land between the 2 countries (sexual exploitation is permitted in Thailand, but gambling is not!). About 150 homeless children jostled about the field, each waiting for 1 of only 100 individually prepared meals of rice and fish. Like Jesus feeding the 5000, his disciples aligned the children in orderly rows on the grass. They ate and every one cleaned up after themselves. Not one piece of litter remained; the lawn was even cleaner and joy filled the air! But security officers from the adjacent glitzy casino intervened and forbade further feedings. They said the children wrecked the grass! Grass more valuable than children?!? Societies based on self, greed and lust, are not only are blind to the poor, but forbid those who help those who cannot help themselves.

Scene II: After returning here to Abbotsford, I attended a Christian meeting. The speaker concluded his message with an altar call: “Who is not happy with your life?” Over half of the congregation stood and waited for the man of God to pray. Were they hoping he would utter magical words to dispel their unhappiness? Perhaps wave his hand and expel their problems to Neverland? Or maybe touch them and break off anxieties that blocked their tangible happiness until their next meeting and altar call?

I watched, listened and felt a mixture of empathy and frustration. Empathy: I can identify with a desire for more of Christ’s fullness and glory to be manifest and evident in my life and the church; definitely I am not happy with the status quo. Frustration: why are so many North Americans, who have so much in this life compared with others in our world, and especially Christians, who confess eternal and abundant life through faith in Christ, so dissatisfied and unhappy? I believe we often measure our lives by the same standard as the world…self. Our ‘happiness’ is then tied to ‘happenings’ (when they’re good, we’re happy, when they’re bad, we’re sad) more than to the joy Jesus’ resurrection life gives. Why is so much of our Christian experience measured and governed by the standard of self when Jesus says His followers are to deny our selves and not use self as a standard of whether or not we are happy! (Matt 16:24)

I asked the Lord what He saw. Scene I’s homeless, hungry Cambodian children intermingled with Scene II’s unhappy North American Christians. I thought: If these ‘well-fed but unhappy with themselves’ Christians would take their riches, invest in Poipet’s poor (or wherever) instead of Starbucks (Walmart or wherever), then I am sure that within 30 seconds they would really get real joy, a vision beyond themselves and even get a life, like really ‘saved’. After all, Jesus said, “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.” (Matt 25:40)

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