This is regarding my original posting on 18 May 2008 here on Facebook where "Website review condemns me to hell & calls for my repentance". It's the same old nonsense. Here is my comment if you don't want to read the original article by this blogger here http://www.discerningtheworld.com/2010/07/23/the-fires-of-hell-burn-bright-for-220genergation/#comment-16653

Hello Deborah, I don’t know what to say to you. My ministry is aimed at souls, saving it and nothing else. If you look at 220, it comes from Galatians 220 which reads ” I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me”. That IS my focus and absolutely nothing else. If you have taken time to read any of my other stuff besides this specific prophecy, you would really have a different view of my ministry.You also really need to get your facts straight; I have worked for Johan for 1 and a half year as youth pastor, I left after that for numerous reasons that has nothing to do with you. I went back to my home Church where I have been humbly serving since end of 2007. The website is aimed at one thing, getting young people closer to God. I haven’t been to Solid Rock or spoken to Johan van Wyk since then.

I have also never worked for or been affiliated to Kobus van Rensburg, I went there a couple times until God specifically told me not to go there again. You would know that if you read the book properly and not just scrolled the content of the book with your mouse looking for something to criticize.
I haven’t spoken to Doug Perry since my book came out in 2008 and Andrew Strom has a chapter in my book because the article is applicable to the application of the book. Besides getting permission from him for the use and perhaps a recommendation for the site, which he refused b.t.w, we never spoke. I hardly think he knows my name. So, once again you had done some bad research. I have since been submitting myself to more reputable leaders but I cannot disclose them to you since you have this inclination to drag everyone’s name through the mud if they’re not Deborah or her two or three “agreement buddies”.

You bring down people like Angus Buchan and Smith Wigglesworth which clearly shows your character. You think you have the gift to discernment confusing it with the gift to criticize. The gift of discernment is described in the Bible as “between true and false spirits” – not people. You are causing the Body of Christ great harm.

I never took quotes of Angus from your blog, I took them from the source, which I believe was the Beeld, Rapport etc. I didn’t quote you, I quoted the original. I have enough newspapers in my office coming in daily so I don’t need to run to your blog for a quote.

I told you, the reason you don’t get my articles is because I deleted you from my list. You exist to criticize and like I said Matthew 7:6.

If anybody says anything in the way of commenting except what you think is going to strengthen your article, you don’t post it and brush it off as insults. http://itodyaso.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/first-official-honorary-odmu-certificate/ You like posting insults at other people but don’t like others posting it to you. Anyone reading this: Please note that Deborah does not allow objective commenting.

Therefore, how can her blog hold any water, authority or anything else. She is a lone ranger in a field, enemy of the cross (Phil 3:18). The only reason her blog ranks so high and get’s so many hits is because she writes sensational articles about whatever is hot in the international news at the moment, doesn’t have to really be anything to do with Church. She thrives on watching her Google Analytics report and watching her destroy other people’s ministries. As seen on her sites left hand side she has numerous entries to blog promoting sites which helps her with her 650 “views” per day. Remember, it is “views” – not original visitors. Meaning people just click, click, click because they cannot believe the nonsense they are reading. She has nothing better to do.

As for Grants comment, you don’t know anything about me brother.You have, like Deborah, taken one article and blown it completely out of proportion – adding to it people and instances where they are in no way related.

And also, Grant, the Scripture of healing the sick etc is in Matthew 10:8. You sir, and anyone else in this commenting on this blog are clearly not in the fellowship of the saints. And you sir, don’t know the Bible. Otherwise you wouldn’t be so confident to say that it isn’t.

As for your comment on the College, we haven’t actually opened the College. So I don’t know what financial success you’re talking about.

I don’t know where you guys get that I am famous, successful or financially prosperous. I don’t have a ministry, besides the site perhaps where I have put up videos, games, cartoons etc from a lot of different sources to give young people an alternative from all the other junk in the world/internet. I also don’t make any money… I work in a advertising company for a small pay, I am a tent maker, working a job in the week and doing hardly any ministry at all. The only ministry I actually do is hand out food to people who are hungry and give the guys standing on the corner with pick n pay advertising boards around their necks some orangejuice to drink. That, my friends, is all ministry I do.
No Elmarie, like I said in my original response, I am not affiliated or associated with Johan van Wyk – he actually excommunicated me. We have hardly spoken since 2007, which you would know if your read the article properly. So, don’t grab at straws.

Biblebeliever: The article you mentioned is about Francis Xavier and the tremendous work he has done as a missionary. You guys have no respect for anybody, pulling apart even those that have died, now without the ability to defend themselves. And… once again you have your facts wrong, just like everybody else. I didn’t write that article, it was sourced from another site.

Really tho, look at who comments on her blog, Deborah, newcommer, Deborah, Deborah, Deborah, Elmarie, newcommer, Deborah, newcommer, Deborah, Elmarie, Deborah, Elmarie. Quite a fan club. What would Deborah be without her # fan Elmarie and the help of her blog promo postings.
This blog has and should carry no credibility or authority… and it doesn’t. It’s a bunch of nonsense. I mean they criticize the One Goal movement for “whatever” when all they wanna do is create awareness and help people and make countries their goal education for all Africans: What is wrong with that?
Discerning the world is actually what it is, it should actually be called Criticizing everything.

Grant mentions and Criticizes my “posting(S)” when he hasn’t read any of it. C’mon people really?
See, Deborah, just like the lady that took Johan to the ASA you have a personal vendetta. It is clear because like her, you keep on posting/complaining about the same stuff. She has been doing this (complaining about Johan) five times in the last couple years. Was it really necessary to post this article – again? If you call Johan and ask him he will tell you that we are so far from associated that we hardly speak, if at all. He will tell you that himself. You obviously have the cat at its tail.

Tell you what, why don’t you take of this article and ask the other lists on the internet where this is posted to also remove it because you are costing me everything I have ever worked for. I am NOT in full time ministry and I DO NOT have a Church so you’re targeting me is uncalled for. It is running not only my reputation for ministry (which doesn’t exist), but you are now attacking my character and that is becoming illegal.

Have those posts removed or I may just take legal action. It’s clear that none of you commenting here know me or know what you’re talking about as you’re facts are all unsubstantiated. It’s not a threat, I am just sick and tired of your personal vendetta.

I have spent too much time commenting on this article so don’t expect more comments from me. I’ve wasted enough of my time…

Hello friends

I always try writing cleverly thought out, provoking and Biblical revelation posts about whatever God puts on my heart at said moment. This time, my letter might have the potential of adopting the tone of my 2008 “dark-night-of-the-soul” backlash where I suffered great turmoil, disappointment and agony. I went through a process of great fire where I suffered my worst fears and most depressing circumstances. I feel like I might be heading back that way.

I had a great email list (which I raised through spam marketing), an excellent blog with the help of 24.com and published a book but somehow still feel like my efforts are void of God’s blessing. I might be blessing people with what I am doing, but I never hear of them. Having that in mind I’ve heard of an old man that have faithfully handed out Christian/evangelical tracts in George Street, Sydney for the best parts of 30 years never hearing of his fruit. I feel like that man. I spend myself daily on efforts I see might reach the maximum amount of people. Alas, it seems everything has dried up. I know I shouldn’t look at the natural, but since you have signed up for receiving mail from either my personal dotcom site or the youth resource site 220generation, I want to send out a hearty email (coming straight from my heart) and perhaps at the end of the letter I might feel a bit better.

Allow me to backtrack a bit and share with you some of what has been going on in my life and ministry. I started the 220website in 2008 because even though I had a successful blog, I wanted to make my collection of revival material available and a blog wasn’t able to administer it properly. I have been working on the 220 site for the best part of two years. I have been posting, uploading, administering and moderating it every workday for most of the day everyday. It hasn’t really bore any fruit in what I believe it was set up for. I work hard on it and embraced all the tricks of the trade to help promote it. Even though it has done some numbers I don’t think it is reaching enough people. I know how to get a reaction from people and creating a viral video or site, but doing that is not what I believe the Lord wants me to do. I tried those tactics before and I just lost friends and ministry partners through the process.

Then, seeing that people weren’t really engaging with the material on the site, I set in motion trying to start a College here in South Africa that focuses on revival and would set out on its appropriation. I worked very hard. I wrote the first year’s curriculum, planned the other two years, wrote a student manual and printed all the relevant documentation. I even got some friends to buy into the idea and got some to sign up for the college, even though only one paid. We (my wife and I) worked out the entire administrative process and spent a good deal of money on it. We even got a venue to have classes in. We recorded the lessons of the first module/semester but we eventually closed the college because we had only one student.

The thing about it is that we have had so much interest from overseas ministries, the college has great potential but we cannot get the college to where it supposed to be. To get it beyond the small classroom recorded sessions to the potential of where I believe God want it to be something needed to happen.   

See, I have a desire and a promise of a revival in South Africa and my passion is driving me   in such a way that I am doing all that I can to get it going. I want to see God’s promise to this generation come to pass and do my part to facilitate it.

Then, I tried two more endeavors. I want you to understand that these are GREAT endeavors! I mean, can you imagine someone attempting something like this? All these things I have worked on? In the space of two years or so?

So I published a book middle 2008 and it is my greatest achievement. Not that it has done amazing sales, but the fact that I published. A lifelong dream realized. I am very proud of that and so is my family. So, I am working on the second edition, fixing the mistakes in it and trying to solicit endorsements from peers and people of influence. Do you think I can get that done? I had to give away half the books I printed and cannot get anyone I know or of influence to write me and endorsement. It is difficult, but I am not going to quit, I am just going to approach it differently.

Then, I have always had this great desire to start a Church of my own where I could love on and serve people with my passion. I recently also put in place a process to get it done. I organized a meeting with what I though was close friends to meet me and hear of my vision. We met and 80% of them shot me down. I met with an “investor” and he sent me to meet some people in Cape Town. I went and am still none the wiser. Hey, I don’t know what God wants me to do. There’s many ways to approach this but hey, maybe God wants me to preach in the streets… there where real revival breaks out. I have done everything in my power to make it happen.

Oh ya, I have written scripts for a cartoon series being produced in America. It was a great project.  

I’m sorry for being so negative and I’ve probably taken the wind out of your weekend sails, built I had to write an honest letter, to people that have signed up for my newsletter, honestly. They want to receive it. So receiving this newsletter you are receiving it from a real person. I WILL encourage you, but I will be real. Like Jesus, not promising you things I know is not gonna happen. Telling you the truth, of persecution, trials and tribulation and extreme difficulties. Someone needs to tell the truth, because the name it and claim it culture of Christianity we’ve created has become pretentious and unfulfilling. Because sometimes our admonitions and encouragements to “prophesy this and confess that” has only but disappointed us.  

Let me look at the future.

After speaking to a couple people about everything I’m going through I have heard things like: “Is it the right time?” and frustrated I’ve been hearing, not only about the right time, but also rest. And I have been reluctantly chewing on that idea for a couple weeks now. A minister friend of mine again spoke to me about “rest” in the week and I’ve decided this:

I have done EVERYTHING I can do to be faithful. To do the best I can with what I have and I have yet to see fruit from MY efforts. I have grown tired. I literally have sandbags under my eyes and my wife have started to get me to put all sort of oils and creams on my face to make me look younger (or my age), less tired and just generally better. So,

I have faith that when God start to move in my life, it’s gonna be great. An international ministry that will impact nations. But perhaps, like Jesus at the wedding table at Cana I must realize and declare “my time has not yet come”. When my friend spoke about rest I resonate with that. I’ve tried to do this many times, but I have to make an effort to do something.

After speaking to a friend who will be visiting Johannesburg this weekend  for ministry he said he is on a forty day fast. I thought: “Sheesh, I can never do that. I don’t think I got it.” And then God told me that there is any other things I can give up. See, since it seems for me to be a season of rest and waiting, since I’ve done everything I know I can do, it’s time to had over “whatever” to God. I am tired of trying and failing.

So, I am going on a sabbatical. I am going to rest. For forty days and forty nights. I am not going to preach, work on the website, minister on Facebook, any social media contact at all. All I’m going to do is work on the second edition of my book (which is very important to me) and study. I have to. Well, maybe I’ll rest from studying even. I am behind as it is but perhaps “rest” will give me the focus and discipline needed to carry on with my vision – it’s a big vision.

So, thank you for listening to my depressing story, and if you like or regularly visit either sites, please encourage me by replying to this email and giving me a “good luck”, “be strong” or even a testimony. It would really help and give me hope and purpose while I “shut down” for this period of reflection.

I ask you that you pray for me the entire time. I am expecting great things. During this time I am not only taking a break, I will fast here and there where God directs, but I will be on my face before God for as long as possible. Please keep me in your prayers for strength, endurance, revelation and direction – I desperately need it. I hope that if I return my efforts will start bearing fruit.  

I have faith I will return with a BIG BANG (no pun intended).

So, there won’t be any updates of any sort on either site, or any of my social networking platforms for the next forty days.

I bow out until you see my words again.

Love to all!

"Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you" (Eph. 5:14, NASB).

We are in a fresh season of awakening. People are beginning to experience, hunger for and thirst for God in new ways. People everywhere are finding God as they have not found Him before. We have witnessed in recent weeks that people are beginning to think differently from before, perhaps even beyond how they've thought before. God promised to pour out His Spirit on all flesh (see Joel 2:28-29).

The Holy Spirit is at the center of all God's business. He is the One interacting with us and the world. We are waking up to recognize the importance of our personal relationship with the Holy Spirit more fully than in past seasons. Our spiritual eyes and ears are opening. We are beginning to see Him more clearly and see Him by the Spirit. Something supernatural is going on. We are hearing what God wants and what He wants for us through His Spirit. 

This awakening is not just for individual benefit. It is the restoration of the presence of Christians in our world as "salt" and "light." We are destined to be vessels of the living word for others. We are God's messengers.

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord" (Is. 61:1-2, NKJV).The Spirit has anointed us with a message of good news from the Father for people around us who may be presently sitting in spiritual darkness or suffering spiritual oppression. God is restoring the outstretched hand of His power to and through the body of Christ.

It's happening now. It's happening to you. We are anointed. It is His anointing. He has deposited in each of us the oil of His presence for the demonstration of the gospel accompanied by miracles of healing and deliverance. Everyone who knows His presence is a carrier of miracles.

I (Mahesh) like to hunt. One evening I was returning from a day of goose hunting. We had taken only a couple of geese, and the Lord said, "You haven't seen anything yet." Suddenly I was in a trance and I saw millions of geese and ducks flying toward me. I said, "What is this?" And the Lord said, "This is the harvest. You haven't seen anything yet."

Up to now we may have seen one or two or three or four or 50 or 60 brought into the kingdom at a time. But now the Lord is saying, "I am bringing the latter rain. Ask for the rain. The threshing floors will be full, and the wine vats will overflow with rejoicing." We haven't seen anything thus far that can compare with what He is about to do.

God wants to give us His vision for worldwide harvest and the part each of us has to fulfill in that vision. It's awakening. Lift your eyes. Let us look beyond ourselves, beyond our personal situations only. The fields of souls all around are ripe for harvest. The heart of God is turned toward all those He came and died for. People are His true treasure!

We are His treasure hunters. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16). He came Himself. He gave Himself. Jesus, personally, is the sacrifice given to create a new relationship, a direct bond with Almighty God!

This awakening is creating a fresh understanding of the value of a single human soul to God. It is changing our value system to His. Let us each make a fresh commitment today to be excited and available to share the good news of Christ with others.

Take a look and notice how hungry and thirsty for something more, something of God, the people you meet everyday are. Take note of their brokenness. Don't pass by their hurts as though you do not have the word of healing they need. It's time to cast our  nets "on the other side of the boat."

A great harvest of souls is swimming in circles right next to us, longing to come home to the Father. Forget your human power of persuasion or intellect. Don't let your own situation hem you in any longer. Look to the Father for His Spirit!

Begin to share the Lord with your neighbors. As you share, offer prayer for the sick. Expect salvation and look for His miracles to come along, too! As you seek His presence, pray for an increase of visitation in your family, church and nation. He says, "Ask for the rain in the time of the latter rain."

So today we are asking, "Send Your Spirit in a great downpour of supernatural intervention. Expand our hearts, deal with our mindsets and make us fresh carriers of Your glory as ministers to others in Your Name."

About the authors: Mahesh and Bonnie Chavda lead a worldwide apostolic ministry, proclaiming Christ's kingdom with power, equipping believers for ministry and ushering in God's revival glory. With over three decades of experience, the Chavdas have led more than 1 million people to Christ and have seen thousands of healings, including documented healings from terminal diseases such as AIDS and the resurrection from the dead. Authors of numerous bestselling books, Mahesh and Bonnie are co-founders and senior pastors of All Nations Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia (maheshchavda.com).

Here I go with another controversial article, but I have really been led to write this so that your eyes could be opened up. We as Christians are being mocked and ridiculed… and not in a blessed and Holy way.

I have started watching the WWE shows on e-tv recently and I don’t know why, but I am kind of intrigued and somehow entertained by it. It’s my job to look and process the media and comment on it and relate it to the Gospel. I actually think it’s like a soapie for men. The drama and intrigues in-between with their little interactions, setting up the next weeks matches are very entertaining.

But then I started listening closely to what they are saying, and I must admit that looking at entrances and the spirit surrounding ”The Undertaker” and perhaps his brother “Cane” is perhaps a little evil, okay, not a little, so one should watch with your armor on.  

I also noticed little nuances that may be mocking or taunting not only Christians, but also Christianity. Chris Jericho, last name alias referring of course to the city where the Judge Joshua had his great victory, has a little promo for him saying that he is “saved”. Does that mean…? No of course not. So much of what is happening in the “WWE Universe”  is nothing but “earthly copies of heavenly things”.

When asking myself if Chris Jericho is in fact “Saved”, which I must admit made me very excited because the undeniable word going out is that media will pick up on a revival and show it, I realized he is not in the Christian sense. Why? Well, look at his fruit, very braggadio, telling people they are of lower intelligence level than he is etc. OF course this is not from God.

It is important for us as Christians to not deny little children the right to look at WWE Superstars as heroes. We should hope that they would one day look toward Christ as the intimate hero that will save them indefinitely.  I know one Pastor friend of mine allows his children to wear shirts of John Cena. I must admit, comparing John Cena to “The Animal Batista” leaves Cena looking like a wholesome family man.

What we need to do, as we mature in our walk with God, is discern the spirit behind a thing. What is the WWE trying to portray? What are they trying to bring across? Do they have an agenda? I don’t think so, they’re male-soapie writers are just very unoriginal, and it seems that like they feed off Christian traditions which may just be a wake up call for Christians of all walks and denominations.

In walks CM Punk, the self-proclaimed “savior” of the WWE. Don’t hate him; the WWE is a show that has been created to “entertain”. Every move and word has been scripted. What the WWE wants to do, especially with CM Punk, is to provide you with a mirror so you could have a good look at yourself. What do you look like to the world?

Let’s look at a couple of his antics:

Punk has two “disciples” called “Luke Gallows” and “Serena”. What is a savior without a few disciples right? So, he’s got that down. And in true “savior” fashion, he demands “purity” from them having their heads shaved off. All a noble act. Purity, CM Punk claims, lies in the fact that he doesn’t smoke, drink or do drugs. But, if you become more mature in the Word you will know that those “good deeds” cannot save you – which Punk seems to preach can. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can wash away all your sins. Faith in the sacrifice of Christ is the only thing that can save you and make you righteous – nothing else.

The other evening I was watching WWE again and this time, in his pursuit to get Ray Mysterio on his team, he inducted three “civilians” into it. The team is called “The Straight Edge Society” which I presume meaning a commitment to walk the proverbial straight and narrow – Punks version of The Kingdom of God if you will. While they had their heads shaved they had to “raise their hands” and recite a pronunciation: “Bla-bla-bla…” I really can’t remember what they said, but clearly he was assimilating our “sinners’ prayer” with these young men at the proverbial “altar call”.

At first I had shivers go through my spine, kinda like I can’t believe what was happening. And the Lord spoke to me and said: “You’re not surprised, are you?” I answered: “I’m not?” He said: “You shouldn’t be, they’re not necessarily mocking me but they are more revealing very important things to Christians”

They are:

You cannot be saved by a simple “sinners prayer”, it doesn’t save you, it cannot change you. CM Punks gospel is a “works program”. I just ask of you faith in my blood and sacrifice, and repentance is key. Repentance is nothing but bearing fruit of your faith, showing forth what you believe. Are you saved? Then walk in freedom. A prisoner who has been freed don’t walk around the cells anymore.  

You are being showed, as a member of “The WWE Universe”, that here is a clear form of worship going on, not necessarily with Punk only, but with many other WWE superstars.

Lastly, during their new member’s induction, and during the fight that followed the antics, Punk kept on saying: “feel the power of the straight edge flowing through your body”. Sound familiar?  Many a crusade and miracle service has this element, especially with the altar call or healing line. It might be true, but how ridiculous does that look or sound to the unbeliever? I am trying to make all of us understand that we need to reach the lost, and if the lost hear words like those they dash for the first open door!

Yes, the power of the Holy Ghost is going through you, but isn’t it a bit “guiding”? You are now going to shake from the Holy Ghosts’ power, you are now all going to fall under the power – do they? Of course, they are sheep and that’s what they have been guided to do.

Do you see what we look like? CM Punk and the WWE is simply a mirror to us Christians so we can see what we look like. Punk never claimed himself to be the savior of the world, just a person that can save them (contestants) from their destructive habits.

Don’t fear or think bad of Undertaker or other “entertainers” that look or act evil, evil is evil. Make up can make us all look evil. But more times than none, it is not so much what is outside that should worry us, but what is on the inside.

The WWE is filled with “good intentions” and seems blaspheming here and there, but look at it as a mirror. Look at yourself, look at our churches. Perhaps the “evolvement” of the WWE and their subtleties is a wake up call for Christians. Let’s get real; what of our Gospel is “real” and what of it is fake and preposterous. What looks ridiculous?

Christ IS a savior, deliverer, and we are his ambassadors. Let’s not embarrass ourselves and Him by our antics. Let’s look at art imitating religion and take cognizance of where we are and where we are going. Are we effective and reputable? Are we effective? Let’s “evaluate” ourselves and get back to the power of the Truth amidst the falsity portrayed by CM Punk, Chris Jericho, the WWE Universe and all other media powerhouses that is simply copying us.

If it IS a mirror or a copy of what we are, is it perhaps time for us to change the picture?

Ivin

I have a great 2 part report but heed our title from 1 Corinthians 3:21.

Part 1

I just got mail of a new website that calls prodigals home. Yes, looking at the portion of Scripture referring to the parable Jesus told, the site is set with calling lost sons back into the house of the Father. It’s a great concept and  admirable effort at reaching this generation with the tools, speaking the language that especially young people use to communicate.

The site is great in the sense that it has great flash graphics and many pages with videos, mp3’s and articles admonishing people to get back into faith and fellowship. There couldn’t be a better time for this kind of thing to happen!

What makes the site attractive is that it is hosted by and acts as the ministry website of evangelist Steve Hill, the revivalist who preached during the Brownsville revival where countess souls got saved and many returned back to the Lord. No matter how much criticism he or the movement received or what was/is being said, one fact remain true: Jesus got the Glory and those who should have got saved… which is my primary cause for excitement regarding the revival who famously was indented into the revival history books.

Have a look at the site here and get refreshed!

Part 2

In this section of my article I want to maybe direct my pen to a topic that has been dear to my heart for a long time. In the above article you get the gist of an article written about Steve Hill and his new website where he has placed mp3’s of his own messages in the low percentiles and others preaching on specific subjects.

What has me frowning this morning is that Charismamag and revivalschool and so forth, who is in the business of reporting on revival promote their own websites and others likened to it, like recently published prodigalsonly.com . Little attention is paid to others in the same field.

The reason prodigalsonly.com has gotten a timely press release is because it’s moderator is a famed evangelist from a revival in the past. Where is the reports of work being done by the silent, quiet types? Work that is admirable and news/promotion worthy?

Look for instance at the site http://www.220generation.com

We, and when I speak of we, I am not speaking of myself in plural, … we have been working hard for the past two and a half years to put up a site that embraces youth culture and appropriates revival through it. The site has all the elements you could find on prodigal only – only times a thousand. And, like many of these other revival resource sites, we are focused on revival too, but mainly on young people. That’s why we have gone into every avenue we could think of to reach young people with the message of Christ: Comics, videos, mp3’s, books, articles games etc. And what is awesome about our site is that everything is available for absolutely free.

Download. It will set you on fire, and unlike other sites it won’t cost you a cent.

We have made deals and been in contact with all the material owners and authors and nothing appears on our site that is in any way copywritten, so anyone at any time may download anything they would like to read, see, hear experience – free!

Now, why am I writing this? We have approached revivalschool.com  to give our site a small plug, we have written to and linked our site to the charisma administrators/editors for the same, we have even spoken to a FB group called “The Bible” with more than a million members and asked to post a link to our site just once so they may go look-see in return for our service as administrators to keep the trolls off the walls.

????

Nothing, and you know why 220generation hasn’t received any press? It’s because we are not famous, have any great names or done great “visible” things that someone can boast about. No, we have only silently worked on making a great site available to young people so they may get saved, on fire, taught and sustained for good part of two or so years, working long hours everyday updating and producing new material.

I think that’s wrong…

Don’t you?

Well, if you do, do something about it. How hard is it for someone to share this link http://www.220generation.com with your mailing list, email friends, FB, Myspace, Twitter etc? It’s not like your endorsing someone ministry or giving them money. A simple five day promotion is what we call for. A drive of a couple days where you share the link for us so we may get some exposure and our message may get heard.

We have worked hard and we think 6800+ views to the site in close to three years is not that good, in fact we can do better. You can help us with that.

Share this link http://www.220generation.com wherever you can. Just once and ask others to do the same. Write an article about me, us, the site, write a review… whatever, it will really help.

We wrote this because we think God’s work deserves better press.

Ivin viljoen  

Western Christianity has become a well with no water! What could be worse to someone dying of thirst, than to finally come upon a well and then discover that it has no water. I think this is a good example of what modern religion does. It puts up a front that looks like it has the answer to life's problems and even offers that to the people. Yet in reality, what they get is a show designed to entertain and get their money. The shame is that the world is thirsty and
we are supposed to have Living Water, but when they come to drink they find only an empty well leaving them worse off than before.

2 Peter 2:15-18 addresses this very issue. By abandoning the straight path, they have gone the way of Balaam. Is not the same true today? The way of Balaam is the wide path. Not speaking the Word of God but rather speaking words that profit themselves, not giving the Living Water, but giving out something that tastes good to the carnal Adam.

On a recent preaching trip every church I ministered at people came forward confessing sexual sin, and not just a few but many. Some were even in leadership positions and were counseling people with the very same issues. The thing that brought this out was the Word of God preached without fear and the fact that I am very transparent about the struggles in my own life. This happens every time that I minister, even though I don't go out with the intent - it is just God opening up the chance for Living Water to come and fill the people once they confess their sins and repent.

We have a myth that's been put before the church for so long that people are numb to the Spirit. We have been told that we can make revival happen and that's not true. Revival only comes when the people are broken and they get clean before God. This means exposing the hidden sin in their life and being willing to suffer the consequences of that sin. You can pray for revival for years, but unless the people are willing to get clean it will not come.

So why is this such a problem? For one thing, many of the people in leadership are bound up in this very sin. It's estimated that 70% of pastors struggle with Pornography and the sad thing is they feel like they can never confess, therefore, they never come clean and Living Water cannot flow from the well that they tend. This must be exposed so people can get free. This sin is so easy to conceal that before long the person that is bound up in it can justify their bad behavior. I know I have been bound by this sin and only found freedom with deep repentance and confession.

It is the same in marriage. Many have sin in their marriage and will not come clean so grace can heal. Instead they move into coexistence that brings no glory to God and eventually they end up in affairs and broken marriages are the result. The divorce rate is the same in the church as it is in the world for this very reason. Trust me, sexual sin is just as bad in the church as it is in the world. Everywhere I go, this is a huge problem and I get many emails dealing with the same thing from all over the world.

We must address this now and very publicly so people can get free and we can see God move in His Body. 2 Peter 2:17 says these people are springs without water. It's time we become a well of Living Water for a thirsty world to drink from to become whole. To do this we need to go through a purification process by the Holy Spirit!!

Can you think of anything worse than dying of thirst and coming upon a well and finding out that even though it looks like a well and has the bucket to draw with, there is no water there to drink.

If you are clean, start praying that a wave of repentance comes upon the church. If you are not clean, repent and confess and get clean. We need the Living Water to flow through this world and it is not God who is holding it back, it is us.

The Background

Several months ago, I felt impressed of the Lord to read repeatedly 1 Kings 17:1 and 18:1, 41-45. As I wondered and pondered why these verses of Scripture seemed so compelling to me, my attention was once again drawn to 1 Kings 18:1; in particular, where it reads: "And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah..."

As I finished reading this verse of Scripture, the Lord began to speak to my heart.

"Did Elijah stop being a prophet when My word wasn't coming to him?" The Lord asked me.

This question from the Lord struck my heart and took my breath away. I myself had been enduring a time of great silence from the Lord. Yet even though the silence from the Lord was distressing in many ways, I continued to feel the Lord's presence with me.

Over the past several months, it was as if one tragedy after another was striking my family and loved ones. There were numerous stressful situations occurring at the same time. A spirit of intense weariness settled upon my heart. I usually felt as if I were bracing myself for the next blow to strike.

As I continued to seek the Lord for answers and direction, I had a very strange vision. This vision was so strange to me that I almost dismissed it as silly and unimportant. Yet, it haunted my thoughts. After some time, I felt clarity from the Lord in regard to this simple, "silly" vision.

I would like to share this vision, and what the Lord spoke to me in regard to this vision, with others; especially those
prophets of the Most High God who also may be enduring tragedies and/or a time of silence from the Lord.

The Vision

In the vision, I saw a long line of silent men and women. Each of the men and women had on a brown cape that
touched the ground and they were staring ahead intently. I glanced in the direction the men and women were looking
to see what they were staring at. To my surprise, I saw a large washtub such as was used in bygone days to wash
clothes. Hovering over the washtub, I saw an immense hand.

I watched as each of the men and women approached the washtub. The large hand plucked up each man and woman
one by one, and very deliberately placed that person (still wrapped within their brown cape) inside the washtub. Then
began what I can only describe as a "wash cycle."

During this time of being "washed," each of the men and women were being swirled madly around within the washtub.
Soap and water were in their eyes, ears and even in their mouths. The hand also "scrubbed" each of the men and
women on a scrubber, then would place them back into the soapy, turbulent water.

As I continued to watch all of this, I became aware of the soft murmuring of a voice. I couldn't make out the words that were being spoken, but the sound of the voice was gentle and soothing. At the end of the wash cycle, the men and women appeared absolutely exhausted.

Then began the "rinse cycle." The wash water was drained from the washtub, and clean water added. A bucket appeared grasped in the large hand. I watched as the large hand repeatedly poured bucketful after bucketful of water over each of the soapy men and women.

The voice continued to murmur gently and soothingly to the men and women, but with the soap and now the water in
their ears, they didn't seem able to hear the sound of the voice.

At the end of the "rinse cycle," I watched as the large hand set the bucket aside, grasped each of the men and women
one by one, and placed them into an old fashioned wringer. I gasped with dismay as I saw each of the men and women
being completely flattened and having the water pressed from them as they were put through this wringer. Then, the men and women were placed gently into a basket. By the time this entire process was completed, the men and women were totally limp and exhausted.

Then another hand appeared so that there was now a set of large hands. The hands reached into the basket and gently
removed the men and women one by one. The set of hands carried each man and woman to a clothesline and began to
"hang" the men and women on the clothesline.

As I stared at the men and women hanging on the clothesline, I saw that each of them had their eyes closed; almost as if they had fallen asleep after the ordeal they had just endured.

I then began to faintly hear the sound of a gentle breeze. This breeze seemed to envelope each of the men and women, and they were gently swaying back and forth on the clothesline. As the breeze gently blew on the men and women, the soft voice continued to murmur to them.

Gradually, the men and women seemed to become aware of the sound of the voice. They opened their eyes, began to slowly look around them, and became more alert.

The hands then took each of the men and women down from the clothesline. The men and women stood silently, as if waiting for something to happen. I realized that during this whole process, not one of the men or women had resisted, or even spoken.

As I stared at the men and women, I saw them become quietly animated. I noticed they were each staring off into the distance at something. I turned to see what it was they were gazing at, and saw a small cloud. The small cloud appeared as if from over the horizon. Then, each of the men and women set off towards the small cloud, and the vision ended.

The Interpretation As I continuously thought upon this vision, the Lord began to speak to me about it.

"Do you know who the men and women are?" The Lord asked me.

"No, Lord," I replied.

"They are My prophets," the Lord replied. "To one degree or another, I have been taking My prophets through a time of being purified and cleansed. For some of them, this process is quite open and apparent. For others, it is hidden and is being accomplished in secret and in isolation. For all of them, though, it is painful; for all within them that is impure or unclean is being laid open and is being dealt with and cleansed."

"Why, Lord?" I asked.

"For the coming days ahead," the Lord replied. "As I have  been dealing with My prophets, so will I also be dealing with
each of My children. When this cleansing process comes upon each of My children, My prophets will be there to aide
in this process."

"What is the purpose of this process, Lord?" I asked.

"I am moving in a different manner than I have before," the Lord answered. "I am speaking differently. Each of My prophets, and also each of My children, must be attuned to the changes in the way I am moving and speaking. If they are not attuned to these changes, they will overlook and miss My purpose and My will, and what it is I desire to see accomplished."

"And what is it that You desire to see accomplished, Lord?" I asked.

"I desire for My prophets to not only speak My word," the Lord replied. "I desire them to also have a solution to the word I give them to speak, and to know through My Spirit how to apply the interpretation of My word to them."

I felt confused by this answer.

"You do not understand, child?" The Lord asked me. I admitted that I did not.

"When I speak a word of warning or of coming calamity to one of My prophets," the Lord explained, "not only do I desire that prophet to speak forth the word of warning, I desire them to also have a solution to the coming calamity. Speaking forth My word is no longer totally acceptable to Me," the Lord said. "I would also have My prophets to become so mature in Me that they will also have clear direction for others in regard to the word I speak to them. Now do you understand?"

"Yes, Lord," I replied.

"The cleansing process for My prophets and also for My children," the Lord continued, "is for them to come to maturity. When they are mature, then will I arise with total strength and glory in the midst of My people.

The danger, though, during this process is that of My prophets and My children becoming dejected and overwhelmed by the situations I will and have been bringing upon them, and for them to quit. Another danger is that of not restoring and strengthening those who I will expose during the cleansing process. Before there is a cleansing of the flesh, there is first a decaying of the flesh. Whenever the flesh is decaying, there is a stench. The stench of the flesh decaying for many of My prophets and My children will be offensive to many others, yet it is not My desire
for their backs to be turned upon those who are going through the decaying process.

This is a very delicate time spiritually for My prophets and eventually for My children," the Lord continued. "Souls hang in the balance, and it will be through the maturity of My prophets and then of My children, that the fate of these souls will be decided."   (Feb 25th, 2005).

Hello friends

“BLESSED BE the Lord, my Rock and my keen and firm Strength, Who teaches my hands to war and my fingers
to  fight—“ Psalm 144:1

I have been writing on the subject of revival and politics in South Africa for quite some time now, not so much on politics itself but on God’s view on things and what His Word says about our situation. 

Since reading a great article by Andrew Strom called “The Ned Flanders Syndrome” I got involved with all kinds of media and social networking to “connect” with people all over the world. The idea is to share as much as possible with as many people as possible all over the world. This message has to get out.

As I have been joining discussion groups and pages of interests towards South African politics I have become very aware of fear-filled groups that preach/confess an eminent genocide towards white South Africans citing prophecies Siener van Rensburg prophesied over a hundred or so years ago. 

Then I look at all my friends and the people I meet in the street and cannot but see God’s goodness in all people. Sure, some are living in bad conditions, some are suffering but someone has to get the blame and be the scapegoat. So everyone is pointing fingers at each other and in the end a blame game ends up in mud slinging leaving all of us standing dirty as newly erected township statues.

Then I read constant reports about more threats of xenophobic violence towards foreigners worse than those in March 2008. People talk of war and it WAS a bloodbath. Among the victims were not only foreigners but South Africans too. Thus are the casualties of war.  

Now I start picking apart all comments, articles and posts by all involved and filter it through Christ’s message and the Gospel and I engaged them all with hope I believe Christ wants to offer us with. I advised that we rather preach God’s love and his plan for us all, and this country. I engage such because I believe a revival is coming to South Africa, a great outpouring of God’s Spirit that we could never imagine in our wildest accounts of revival. However, as to the time coming it seems we are very far from it.  

I realized that only one thing is going to make a change here; not silent protests, not social networking platforms, not the best preaching in the world could bring about change. It won’t help because I feel people’s hearts aren’t ready/prepared to receive the seed of the Word. 

While studying revivals for the last couple years I have realized this one thing: almost every great revival has started with one or two men…  and it wasn’t the men/woman of God that preached or ministered. It’s because of the silent heroes that are faceless and nameless upon whose shoulders every revival has been a heavy burden they were bearing. Truly one plants and the other one reaps and all are happy together. 

I have looked upon how we can approach the revival coming, perhaps a bit impatient at how we can “speed things along”. Knowing that this wasn’t God’s way and I don’t see the outpouring yet, I realized that if we asked ourselves “what we can do?” there would be only one question. 

See the reason why we are in such a catastrophe here in south Africa (we as South Africans focus on ourselves because Jesus said we should start in Jerusalem), is because we haven’t people that are praying. I have tested the waters a little bit, praying about Malema, the rising petrol price and other things… and by myself, without boasting of course, I’ve seen great results. Then I thought to myself; “Imagine if we were more people praying?”

Yes, if only more of us are praying. Yes, we are praying… we focus on our Churches’ individual challenges, finances, building programs and our shopping lists. And, not only do I not think God is not moved at all, I believe we aren’t seeing the results from prayer we need because we “ask/pray amiss”. 

When I ask God about the move of God in South Africa and why we see what we see, I believe He wants me to tell you that praying once a year at a synchronized, world wide event is not enough, Powerful, but not nearly enough. In fact it’s the atom in the drop in the ocean. It’s like Churches or youth ministries closing over Christmas – the time when the devils likes to attack. 

Yes, God is calling all of us to prayer. Serving hard time on our knees. Even if we dedicate one or two hours to this specific cause very day we might break through. We all have our issues and seek our time in the “basking presence of God”, … there’s time for that. In fact, we need to watch and pray, always being in contact with God. God is not a supplier we call once a day when we place our orders with Him. He is the commander and we are in a war. We need to be in constant contact with HQ to know what’s going on and where the enemies movements are or where he is vulnerable. 

So, call to action. I am calling on you pray for South Africa, the violence, the crime, the hate, the God-lessness… everything that will place God back onto His throne is key. We have so  many ministers and new mystics having made themselves like God or god-like claiming they are what they are not… Christ. We need to call on a Political Pentecost and trust the Lord to hear the prayer of righteous men and women (James 5:16).

If you are from South Africa, please join our Sa 516 task force FB group and we can be in constant communication regarding this. We can encourage each other, raise issues or share words from heaven we need to address and become a force the darkness need to reckon with. 

I believe, like with everything else, if we do daily maintenance, we can prepare this country for it’s promised outpouring through prayer. Remember that the fervent prayer of a righteous man avileth much. God won’t do anything until he reveals it to His prophets and He left the world (our country) in our hands, we need to take care of it through prayer the way Jesus did when He was on earth.

How will it be done? Well, my hands are pretty full as it is. We need people to join that will receive a daily blast everyday on what I feel is on God’s heart, we will raise issues in the media and watch the news to know what we need to pray about on a daily basis. Some topics will be constant, some will change. I believe if we do this we could not only see change but the promised revival. This is also something that young people will run with – I am convinced of it. I want to raise this up and hand it over to a dedicated person that will run it passionately on a daily basis. 

Will you join me, because there’s a war going on for the soul of South Africa, and per Psalm 144:1 God teaches our hands to war and our fingers to fight.

First tasks posted tomorrow.  

Yours in revival

Ivin Viljoen     

http://www.220generation.com    

"Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you" (Eph. 5:14, NASB).

We are in a fresh season of awakening. People are beginning to experience, hunger for and thirst for God in new ways. People everywhere are finding God as they have not found Him before. We have witnessed in recent weeks that people are beginning to think differently from before, perhaps even beyond how they've thought before. God promised to pour out His Spirit on all flesh (see Joel 2:28-29).

The Holy Spirit is at the center of all God's business. He is the One interacting with us and the world. We are waking up to recognize the importance of our personal relationship with the Holy Spirit more fully than in past seasons. Our spiritual eyes and ears are opening. We are beginning to see Him more clearly and see Him by the Spirit. Something supernatural is going on. We are hearing what God wants and what He wants for us through His Spirit. 

This awakening is not just for individual benefit. It is the restoration of the presence of Christians in our world as "salt" and "light." We are destined to be vessels of the living word for others. We are God's messengers.

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord" (Is. 61:1-2, NKJV).The Spirit has anointed us with a message of good news from the Father for people around us who may be presently sitting in spiritual darkness or suffering spiritual oppression. God is restoring the outstretched hand of His power to and through the body of Christ.

It's happening now. It's happening to you. We are anointed. It is His anointing. He has deposited in each of us the oil of His presence for the demonstration of the gospel accompanied by miracles of healing and deliverance. Everyone who knows His presence is a carrier of miracles.

I (Mahesh) like to hunt. One evening I was returning from a day of goose hunting. We had taken only a couple of geese, and the Lord said, "You haven't seen anything yet." Suddenly I was in a trance and I saw millions of geese and ducks flying toward me. I said, "What is this?" And the Lord said, "This is the harvest. You haven't seen anything yet."

Up to now we may have seen one or two or three or four or 50 or 60 brought into the kingdom at a time. But now the Lord is saying, "I am bringing the latter rain. Ask for the rain. The threshing floors will be full, and the wine vats will overflow with rejoicing." We haven't seen anything thus far that can compare with what He is about to do.

God wants to give us His vision for worldwide harvest and the part each of us has to fulfill in that vision. It's awakening. Lift your eyes. Let us look beyond ourselves, beyond our personal situations only. The fields of souls all around are ripe for harvest. The heart of God is turned toward all those He came and died for. People are His true treasure!

We are His treasure hunters. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16). He came Himself. He gave Himself. Jesus, personally, is the sacrifice given to create a new relationship, a direct bond with Almighty God!

This awakening is creating a fresh understanding of the value of a single human soul to God. It is changing our value system to His. Let us each make a fresh commitment today to be excited and available to share the good news of Christ with others.

Take a look and notice how hungry and thirsty for something more, something of God, the people you meet everyday are. Take note of their brokenness. Don't pass by their hurts as though you do not have the word of healing they need. It's time to cast our  nets "on the other side of the boat."

A great harvest of souls is swimming in circles right next to us, longing to come home to the Father. Forget your human power of persuasion or intellect. Don't let your own situation hem you in any longer. Look to the Father for His Spirit!

Begin to share the Lord with your neighbors. As you share, offer prayer for the sick. Expect salvation and look for His miracles to come along, too! As you seek His presence, pray for an increase of visitation in your family, church and nation. He says, "Ask for the rain in the time of the latter rain."

So today we are asking, "Send Your Spirit in a great downpour of supernatural intervention. Expand our hearts, deal with our mindsets and make us fresh carriers of Your glory as ministers to others in Your Name."

About the authors: Mahesh and Bonnie Chavda lead a worldwide apostolic ministry, proclaiming Christ's kingdom with power, equipping believers for ministry and ushering in God's revival glory. With over three decades of experience, the Chavdas have led more than 1 million people to Christ and have seen thousands of healings, including documented healings from terminal diseases such as AIDS and the resurrection from the dead. Authors of numerous bestselling books, Mahesh and Bonnie are co-founders and senior pastors of All Nations Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia.

Source: Charismamag.com

On Saturday, March 6, during a time of worship, the Lord spoke to my heart. I was caught up in His presence when the voice of God spoke these three things to me:

1. Church gatherings are about to experience a fresh wind of God's Spirit as whole meetings will be caught up in His manifest presence.
2. Mantles are soon to be released over the church, empowering people to do extraordinary things for the kingdom of God. Those who have been in a place of hiding and preparation are about to come forth in power.
3. The voice of the Lord will be heard not only from the pulpit, through anointed preaching and teaching, but also from the pews. A fresh anointing for the corporate prophetic utterance is about to be revived. God's voice will be heard through His people.

As I pondered these three revelations, the Lord began to speak to my heart about a shift that is coming in our mindsets concerning revival. God is transitioning the church from a "revival culture" to a "resurrection power culture."

A culture is a set of beliefs, values, practices, mindsets, actions, and behaviors practiced and esteemed by a group of people. Culture marks and characterizes your way of life. But before you can understand the difference between revival culture and resurrection power culture, you need to be aware of the spiritual season we are entering.

Prophetically, God is bringing His people into the time of the "Third Day." I want to explain to you what this means and how it will impact your life in this next season.

Hosea the prophet talks about the process of transitioning from the First to the Second to the Third Day and what each day signifies. Hosea's prophecy can apply on multiple levels, as prophecy often does. It can apply to your personal journey in God as well as to the corporate journey and process of God's people.

Hosea 6:1-2 says, "Come and let us return to the Lord, for He has torn so that He may heal us; He has stricken so that He may bind us up. After two days He will revive us (quicken us, give us life); on the third day He will raise us up that we may live before Him" [Is. 26:19; Ezek. 37:1-10] (The Amplified Bible).

DAY ONE

"Come and let us return to the Lord."

The first day is marked by a turning to the Lord. It is all about rending our hearts and fully repenting of everything that grieves God's heart in our lives.

Acts 3:19 declares, "So repent (change your mind and purpose); turn around and return [to God], that your sins may be erased (blotted out, wiped clean), that times of refreshing (of recovering from the effects of heat, of reviving with fresh air) may come from the presence of the Lord."

To repent means to "change your mind and purpose." It means to change your way of thinking and what motivates you. Repentance causes us to turn around and walk in the exact opposite direction of our sin, back toward God.

This complete turning toward God causes all our sins to be cleansed and removed and releases a fresh wind of God's presence in our lives. His refreshing then brings restoration from the effects of sin. True repentance brings not only a change of mind and motive but also a change in behavior. Repentance brings true inner change that produces outward transformation.

DAY TWO

"After two days He will revive us (quicken us, give us life)"

Day Two is marked by revival. Revival means "to quicken and give life," to bring something that is dead or dying back to life again. Revival is for the church. Revival brings an awakening to the hearts of God's people. Revival causes us to be filled with the fresh life of God. It stirs us from spiritual complacency and apathy and ignites a zeal in our hearts for the things of God. It creates a passion in us for intimacy with God and for the things that move His heart, such as the lost.

During revival the church is refreshed, restored and set on fire again. Spiritual passion is ignited. God encounters us in a profound and deep way, awakening our hearts for Him. We often experience deep inner healing, freedom and personal victory during this stage. God's manifest presence becomes real to us as we spend time fellowshiping with Him and just "laying on the floor" under His glory.

Though Day Two is glorious, we can't stay there! Some love Day Two so much they never want to get off the floor. They love the goose bumps and encounters. They could just stay there forever. Entire "revival cultures" have been formed around Day Two. But God has more for us!

DAY THREE

"On the third day He will raise us up that we may live before Him."

God is bringing us into "Third-Day living." On Day One we repent and turn to God. On Day Two we are revived, awakened and refreshed. On Day Three we are raised up to live before Him in power.

God is transitioning the church from a "revival culture" to a "resurrection power culture." Day Three is all about being raised up in resurrection power, as the prophet Ezekiel's experience shows. God took Ezekiel to a valley filled with dry bones and commanded him to prophesy life to them.

"Again He said to me, Prophesy to these bones and say to them, O you dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. [John 5:28] Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath and spirit to enter you, and you shall live; and I will lay sinews upon you and bring up flesh upon you and cover you with skin, and I will put breath and spirit in you, and you [dry bones] shall live; and you shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].

"So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a [thundering] noise and behold, a shaking and trembling and a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked and behold, there were sinews upon [the bones] and flesh came upon them and skin covered them over, but there was no breath or spirit in them.

"Then said He to me, Prophesy to the breath and spirit, son of man, and say to the breath and spirit, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath and spirit, and breathe upon these slain that they may live. So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath and spirit came into [the bones], and they lived and stood up upon their feet, an exceedingly great host [Rev. 11:11]" (Ezek. 37: 4-10).

First there is a divine alignment of the bones. This alignment signifies things being put in their proper places. The bones are shaken and brought together. When we turn in repentance to God, we get rightly aligned and joined to the rest of the body.

Once proper alignment occurs, then God revives the body by breathing into it. This is when He revives and awakens His people. It's a glorious Second Day.

But then God continues to move, and eventually the body is not only filled with new life but also raised up so that it stands on its feet, an exceedingly great army!

This is the Third Day!

God is causing us to move beyond personal and corporate revival to serve as His great army in the earth. We became so filled to overflowing in the Second Day that now His power, glory and grace overflow from us to everyone around us. We begin to live before Him in resurrection power. We move in His dominion, kingdom authority to see His power go forth in the world around us. We get off the floor from "soaking in His presence" to being mobilized, equipped and empowered to do great and mighty exploits.

It's time to shift and move with the Holy Spirit into the next season. As God revives us, we must move with Him off our comfortable church floors into the world, where His resurrection power will be seen. Get ready to be a part of the Third-Day church that God is raising up in these last days!

About the author: Matt Sorger is a prophetic revivalist who ministers the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit in conferences, prophetic healing revival services and miracle crusades throughout America and around the world. He also hosts pastors and leaders conferences to train and equip leaders in the power of the Holy Spirit and is the host of his own television program, Power for Life. In his meetings, many are instantly healed and infused with greater passion for God. Learn more about him and his ministry at mattsorger.com.

Source: Charismamag

With all the bad news coming out of Washington, D.C., and the assault on what I perceive as our religious freedoms, it's good to get some good news.

On Tuesday I was reminded by Dan Betzer, a well-known pastor in the Assemblies of God circles, that never has there been a greater time to spread the gospel nor a time when people are more responsive.

He gave a report on the growth of Assemblies of God churches in Cuba. They have grown since 1989—under a communist regime—from 12,000 members to more than a half million.

This is of special interest since my late father-in-law, Harvey Ferrell, and my mother-in-law, Rose Ferrell (who currently lives with us), made missionary trips to Cuba in the early 1930s through the Assemblies of God.

On Tuesday night, Hector Hunter, the Assemblies of God general superintendent in Cuba, gave a report that when Castro came into power in 1959 there were 89 small Assemblies of God churches. That number remained until 1989—when a revival took place. Since there weren't large church buildings, the people had to meet outside. During that time thousands of people came to Christ and it drew the attention of the authorities to the meetings. Government officials actually met with church leaders to ask if the large gatherings could be held in homes. It's amazing, the communist regime bent on opposing the gospel, actually authorized home cell groups. Today there are 3,000 cell groups across the 800-mile-long island and 900 church buildings or "templos," as they say in Spanish.

Hunter and an impressive group of young Cuban singers, most of whom had never been outside of Cuba, came to the District Council meeting because the Peninsular Florida District had adopted them as a "Sister District." The council has poured millions of dollars into the island to help build churches and rebuild the areas damaged by the devastating hurricanes over the last few years.

After a great missions sermon, Betzer showed a nine-minute DVD, which I have included in this e-mail. It gives a picture and a report of what's happening in Cuba and issues an appeal for Assemblies of God churches and individuals to help meet the need.

Having grown up in the Assemblies of God, I was well aware of Dan Betzer. For many years he was the primary broadcaster in the denomination. Today he pastors First Assembly of God in Fort Myers, Fla., which is reported to give more to missions each year than any other church in the denomination. In the last 16 years Betzer has served as the missions director and assistant district superintendent for the denomination. Under his leadership our district—which includes only 350 churches in the Florida peninsula--has given a total of $200 million to world missions.

Long-time friend, District Superintendent Terry Rayburn, told me that before Betzer took the post, special missions projects generated around $50,000 a year. Today it's typically more around $2 million a year—when they take on special projects as they have recently in Cuba.

The Assemblies of God has long been a missions-sending organization. In fact, when it was formed in 1914, part of the impetus was to give a denominational covering to the freelance Pentecostal missionaries who were already taking the gospel and the Pentecostal message around the world. Betzer stirred the congregation by telling stories of how churches have responded to the call to missions. They also introduced by name dozens of missionaries serving around the world and gave brief reports of breakthroughs that are happening.

I moved to Florida in 1962, about the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I have many friends, including several staff, who are Cuban exiles because of the persecution that happened there. Today my home is closer to Havana than it is to Chicago. So for those of us in Florida we are well aware of Cuba. It's exciting to hear what God is doing in that island nation and to be reminded that even with the worst government opposition possible--the communist regime-the gospel can be spread and churches can grow.

Source: charismamag

There are 5 strategic keys that will help propel you into your future and the destiny God has for you this year. Ask Him for specific insight and direction for you and your life, and allow Him to manifest in these areas throughout 2010.

1. God is sounding a wake-up call.

God is sounding a wake-up call to the body of Christ! There has been a lull and a spirit of slumber that has spread over much of the body in the last couple of years. We have become satisfied with "church as usual." Unfortunately, many people have settled into a place of comfort and complacency—but God is shaking and waking this sleeping giant once again!

I hear the Lord say, "Some of you keep trying to snuggle in and get comfortable. I will not allow you to get comfortable. I did not create you for comfort; I created you to be a weapon of warfare."

God has created you to be on the cutting edge. When it is time for eaglets to learn to fly, the mother eagle begins to remove the soft down feathers in her nest. As she does this, the nest becomes more uncomfortable, and soon the eaglets begin to feel the sting of the sharp briars beneath. In order to seek more comfortable living quarters, they are forced to fly. In this same fashion, God is removing your place of comfort because it is time for you to fly.

This will be a year of agitation for many of you. Expect to feel restless in many ways. Something in you will refuse to be comforted in your present condition this year. It might even become downright frustrating for a season—but know that God is making you uncomfortable so you will be motivated to move into something new.

2. God is releasing an anointing to leave your past behind.

There is a special anointing for inner healing this year. There is a release of grace in the body of Christ to finally put the pain of your past behind you. I see the Lord of Hosts raising a mighty sword of freedom and severing the hold of your past. Chains will be broken this year! No longer will the pain of the past have power over you.

Many of the wounds that God will heal this year are painful experiences from churches and Christians. Many soldiers in the body of Christ have been wounded by their fellow soldiers and leaders in the church. There will be a special anointing this year for healing these specific wounds.

As healing comes, God will change your words from confessions of hopelessness and despair to declarations of victory and freedom. Therefore, focus on your language this year. Watch what you say. As this grace for freedom is released, you must align your language with what the Word of God is saying over your life. Negative words falling from your lips will have the power to negate the release of freedom.

3. God is giving us a special anointing for breakthrough.

It is time to fight for your deliverance and freedom. If you have stopped trying to be free and have surrendered to the control of the enemy, learning to live in your present crippling condition, it's time to pick up the sword and fight once again. God will give you grace to get off the sidelines this year, but you must take the first step toward the playing field.

God is releasing warring angels this year to defeat the powers of darkness that have come against you. The angelic army has never been in this exact position before. Now is the time to rise up and fight for your victory!

God is pouring out the power to break that thing that has held you back, kept you down and kept you out of your full victory! God is giving you power and authority to speak to that mountain in your path and see it crumble before you.

Your breakthrough is now. Keep fighting! Keep warring! The victory is in your mouth and in your hands!

4. God is opening up doors to fulfill your assignment.

This is the year when you will discover what you were created for. Some of you have been searching for your purpose, wondering where you fit, wondering why you were put here. Rejoice! This is your year.

Take advantage of learning opportunities this year. Make this a season of preparation. As you wake up (see Key No. 1 above), leave your past behind (Key No. 2) and experience breakthrough in areas where you have been bound (Key No. 3), this preparation will come more easily than ever before.

Pay special attention to opportunities that God puts before you this year. Attend conferences, schools and gatherings that center on releasing saints into their destinies and training you in the supernatural. These times of training will be important for you.

Create relationships and form alliances with people who can help you move into your destiny. It will become clearer as the year goes on how important these relationships will be to you in your journey. As God opens unexpected doors, do not delay. Step out in faith and anticipation as God positions you in significant situations in 2010.

5. God is releasing a fresh anointing for supernatural power and boldness.

God is releasing a new level of power and authority to the body. There is a new anointing of the Holy Spirit for supernatural signs, wonders and miracles. What many people have been waiting for in this arena will finally begin to take shape. This is the year that God is going to use ordinary people to demonstrate extraordinary kingdom power. He is teaching us to be supernatural, naturally.

This release of power will become clear as you prepare for your assignment and find your place in the body of Christ. So besides training, be bold in stepping into ministry positions and taking advantage of ministry opportunities.

"Do not fear," says the Lord. "As you step out in faith, you will discover a level of boldness in this season along with the power."

Unbelievers will be drawn in greater measure to the true power of God that will be demonstrated in this new season. Be ready to build relationships with people for the purpose of making disciples of them. Use wisdom in forming relationships, however, as Satan will try to use some insincere people to absorb your time and energy.

Allow God to do His work in you this year as He prepares and positions you. Wait in expectation and anticipation of greater things.

The best is yet to be!

About the author: Nicki Pfeifer is co-founder with her husband, Mark, of Open Door Ministries in Chillicothe, Ohio (opendoorohio.com), where they serve as senior pastors, and Mark and Nicki Pfiefer Ministries (markandnicki.com). She is also the founder of the Fire School of Prophetic Training, which has locations throughout the United States, Asia and Africa. A recognized prophetic voice, Nicki is in demand as a speaker at conferences in the United States and other nations.

Dear Friend,

It is with a certain fearfulness that I respond to your inquiry, for I am not an authority on such things. I can certainly relate to your reluctance at being identified among the company of the prophets when so many false apostles, prophets, and teachers abound. I wish I could point you in a proper direction, but I can only point you towards the Lord. It is He who selects His messengers, and I have nothing to offer you by way of what to do.

At most, perhaps you can look upon me as an example of what NOT to do, and take some word of counsel from a weak brother who has made many mistakes and endured many failures along the way. Perhaps you too will have to make even the same  mistakes in order to learn, yet following my advice could perhaps help you to avoid the unnecessary heartache and cruelty inflicted upon yourself and others when thinking that you are doing God a service. I would counsel you, first of all, to be a Christian. Do not spend too much time focused on that which is prophetic. Do not come to others as a prophet, but as a child. Let Christ be your obsession, not the prophetic word. For "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." There need not be turmoil in your heart about your calling; it is clear that you are among those that are "the Called, according to His purpose." And what is His purpose?

That you be "conformed to the image of His dear Son." That, above all, is your first calling. Many are eager to wear the Prophet's mantle, but are reluctant to bear the Christian's cross. This cannot be. Given the choice between Christian or Prophet, choose Christian. Serve God as the earthen vessel you are, in the place you find
yourself to be.

Perhaps the Lord will indeed use you in some prophetic way, but if not then at least you have been faithful with the "one talent" you have been given. God will not give five talents to those who cannot be faithful with one, and will not give ten to those who cannot be faithful with five. If you are a Christian first you will remember that you should walk softly, with meekness and humility, while esteeming others as better than yourself. Then the prophetic word,
when and if it comes, will be seasoned with the appropriate amounts of mercy and grace.

Remember that without love you will inevitably become as sounding brass - all judgment. If we cannot or will not stay in Love, God will set out to humble us shamefully before our brothers and sisters that we may know the depths of our hypocrisy and self-righteousness. That is evidence of HIS great love for all of us. Now, concerning the prophetic word itself. God will give you the "what", but the "when" and the "how" are left up to you. "The
spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets." You can be right on target with the "what", but if you screw up the "when", and especially the "how", you do yourself and others unnecessary harm...

Let us not only be familiar with His Word, but let us become acquainted with His Ways. It is not enough to memorize what He said, we must take His yoke upon us and walk in tandem with Him. Since Christ bids us to "learn of ME", beware of those who will try to gain access into your life with an inordinate desire to mentor or shepherd you. We may certainly seek the advice, prayers, and counsel of other mature believers. Even the little
children in the Kingdom of God can teach us much. But people can only carry us so far... Do you see dear friend, that God is more concerned with the messenger than the message? Do you see that the minister is more important than the ministry?

If the messenger is wrong, the message will be wrong too. If the minister is wrong, the ministry will be wrong. And do you see that the Lord of the work is more important than the work of the Lord? Meditate on these things. There really is no famine of the Word of God. If God is able to find the right vessel the Word will come forth in abundance. Therefore, He takes much time to mold, fashion, train, refine, purge, break down, build up, discipline and create His prophets. Yield to that process. It cannot be rushed, but it may certainly be hindered. We cannot force the Spirit, but we may certainly quench Him. Ah, your gifts are given to you in amoment's time, but your fruit, your character, YOU, develops over many seasons of God's dealings. Do not be thrilled with your gifts, only observe if you are fruitful in Spirit, bearing much fruit, abounding in love, joy, peace, faithfulness, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, and self-control.You can be sure that there are more gifted people in the world than you, yet the fruit is what will remain when the gifts pass away. Never neglect the place of abiding in Him, and you will remain a fruitful branch in the Vine. Expect misunderstanding. Expect persecution. Expect ridicule. Expect mistreatment. Expect suffering. Expect rejection. Then, you won't be surprised when it comes. And when it comes, shut your mouth, go to the cross, and die so you can live. Learn to kiss the hands that nail you to the cross, for as you are decreased, He is increased. It is not a better living we need, but a better dying. We cannot reach Pentecost but by way of Passover. There can be no resurrection without a crucifixion...

Be afraid of the praise and acceptance of others, for they are the fertilizer for the self-important and grandiose thoughts that are yours by nature anyway, which spring up in the shallow ground of your carnal mind. Carry about the Death of the Lord so you may have the Life of the Lord. Be ready to suffer with Him, that you may reign with Him. And now, some practical advice: As much as possible, stay away from money...

Be slow to anger and quick to forgive. Before, you would never apologize even when you knew you were wrong. Now, be willing to apologize even when you know you are right.

This is my counsel, dear friend, and perhaps something I have said in this brief letter will bear witness with you. With these words then, I commit you to the care of the  Lord Jesus Christ, Who is able to complete the work which He has begun in you and see you through to maturity, as you are rooted and grounded in Him, being thoroughly equipped and strengthened by His Might which works in those who have taken up the cross to find power in weakness... 

Source: revival list

The Holiness preacher, a Godly man,
was seen riding his circuit with Bible in hand.
He rode in sunshine and he rode in rain,
he rode when he felt good, and he rode in pain...

Often he fasted, God's will to achieve,
striving for perfection, lest the Spirit he'd grieve.
Often his congregation numbered just a few.
He preached without compromise and he helped them pray through...

He preached against demon rum and the dance.
He spoke against painted up women and games of chance.
The Holiness preacher, a Godly man,
kept up with the times, God's kingdom to expand...

Few people attended in fancy clothes.
They didn't come to look at others, down their nose.
As he entered into this modern age
he preached against radio as though in a rage.

Avoid the theater also he'd say.
Avoid worldliness, walk the strait narrow way.
When moving pictures made their debut
he preached against this devil's invention so new.

Movies corrupted our morals said he,
the things they portrayed weren't fit for Christians to see.
During the depression he bought a tent,
in which to hold meetings, telling men to repent...

A Messianic evangelist believes revival is breaking out among Jewish communities in the U.S.

Sid Roth, founder of Georgia-based Messianic Vision and host of the It's Supernatural television broadcast, said he has seen dozens of Jewish Americans profess faith in Christ in recent months during evangelistic events in New York and California.

Last summer in Brighton Beach, N.Y., nearly 400 Russian Jews reportedly attended an evangelistic meeting billed as a lecture on the paranormal. People were healed, Roth said, including a wheelchair-bound woman who had not been able to walk for five years.

"There was just a move of God's Spirit, and almost the entire group stood up to make public professions of Messiah," Roth told Charisma.

Later, at a similar meeting in California, roughly 30 Jews professed faith in Christ. "In my opinion this is unprecedented in America," said Roth, who has ministered among Jewish communities in the Soviet Union for more than 15 years. "I've been in Jewish ministry over 35 years, and I've never heard of anything like this before."

During a trip to Israel last year, he said roughly 50 elderly Holocaust survivors professed faith in Christ during two meetings he led there. "Again, by Israeli standards, this is an unprecedented thing," Roth said.

He believes the meetings mark a "change in the atmosphere" of Jewish evangelism. "I took those two meetings as signs that blindness was coming off the eyes of the Jewish people," he said.

Because of his conviction, he launched a campaign late last year to mail copies of his book They Thought for Themselves to 1 million Jewish homes across the U.S. The book features the testimonies of 10 Jewish believers in Jesus, including former Brownsville revival leader Michael L. Brown and Messianic worship leader Batya Segal. The ministry will pray regularly for the salvation of every Jewish person who receives a book.

Since it was first published in 1996, the book has been translated into eight languages, and more than 600,000 copies have been distributed in the Soviet Union alone.

"Sure, a lot of [the books] will be torn up without even being read," Roth said of the mailing campaign, "but the ones God is dealing with, they're going to read this and they're going to come to the Lord."

He believes evangelizing the Jewish people carries prophetic significance.

"From a spiritual viewpoint, it's going to cause an explosion," he said. "Or I like the way Paul says it [in Romans 11:12], if it was a blessing when Jewish people rejected their Messiah, how much greater blessing when they receive their Messiah. It'll be life from the dead, resurrection power. I think it's going to release a resurrection power and miracle-working power in the church like we haven't seen in our lifetime."

Messianic Vision launched a Project 77 campaign to raise money for the evangelistic mailing. It asks for $77 donations to mail seven books to Jewish families. So far, Messianic Vision has raised enough money to mail 82,000 copies of the book, and someone recently made an anonymous $100,000 donation.

Roth said after the first million copies are mailed, he hopes to begin mailing another million.

He said bringing together Jews and gentiles as believers in Jesus would create the one new man Paul describes in Ephesians 2 and lead to the greatest revival the world has ever seen. 

"Paul says the reason Jesus came was to break down the middle wall of separation between Jew and gentile [and] to form a new species of being that will be the dwelling place of God," Roth said. "Well, I feel the church is incomplete without Jewish believers, and the church is incomplete without gentile believers. Each brings a special spiritual DNA to the table to make the complete dwelling place for God.

"When the Tabernacle of David, or as it says in Hebrew, the 'family' of David is restored, or the Jewish people, [Amos 9] describes the greatest gentile revival the world has ever seen," he added. "So I see these Jewish people coming to the Lord, entering the church [and] forming the one new man to catapult the greatest gentile revival in history worldwide. That's my vision. That's what I believe."

Here's a video series I started in 2008 for anybody that wants to start a youth ministry. It delves deep into the intricacies and difficulties you may experience, how to deal with them and what to do to have an awesome meeting. Here is the first one:



Here is the play list address if you wanted to view them all in one. Or, just check back later on this blog for more:

  Valerie G. Lowe

 Students in the U.S. and abroad will fast for 30 hours this weekend to  draw attention to the plight of starving people around the world.

 Sponsored by World Vision, the 30-Hour Famine will begin Friday and run through Saturday. Participants will not only turn their plates down but also will perform community service projects and make donations to help earthquake victims in Haiti and support World Vision's work to feed hungry people in nearly 100 nations.

Organizers say that since 1992 students worldwide have raised more than $130 million. "During 2010, more than half a million teens nationwide will participate and hope to raise $12 million," said Pat Rhoads, manager of the 30-Hour Famine.

Rob Morris, youth minister at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Boston, said teens are getting involved because they want to help make a difference in the world.

"When we have done the famine in the past, students have relayed a greater sense of awareness of the needs around the world, awareness of their own privileges and gifts, and an increased desire to do all they can to help meet those needs both right here on the North Shore of Boston and around the world," Morris told Charisma.

"They have also relayed a spiritual growth from reflecting on how inherently selfish so many of our mindless daily decisions are and a desire to live with a little bit more deliberate awareness of our dependence on God for all our needs."

At Canoe Creek Christian Church in St. Cloud, Fla., youth have had mixed reactions to the famine. "A few have been optimistic, but some are dragging their heels," said youth minister Ross Runnels. "This is exactly why we are doing this, so their eyes will open and their compassion for the hungry will increase."

Students spend months preparing for the event by participating in fund-raisers. Another 30-Hour Famine will be held April 23-24.

Source: charismamag.com

Verashni Pillay


 







It's already a running joke. Church in a casino. I've given up trying to explain the weekly parking slips for Montecasino lying around my   car. But I don't really go for the beer on sale in the theatre foyer afterwards. I'm more of a wine drinker.

My faith as a Christian often comes as a surprise to some. Perhaps in the same way as the thought of a church in a casino, with rock-concert-loud worship and a bar open before and after services.

"Church is changing," confirms Godfirst head pastor PJ Smyth, known to his parishioners simply as PJ. "The church needs to be naturally where people are. And most Jo'burgers enjoy the Monte vibe, so it's just a natural place."

It's Sunday evening in the Peter Toerien Theatre at Montecasino. The lights dim and dazzle in a kaleidoscope of colours. Smoke pours on to the stage and the band's electric guitars growl into life. Welcome to church.

A more cynical reading of the choice of venue might imagine the church preying on hapless gamblers.

While there has been the odd disenchanted gambler or bored spouse wandering into a service, PJ notes: "It's great, but not really our agenda in being here.

"Our goal is not to see Montecasino converted," he says, acknowledging that some are suspicious of the church's motives. "The big goal is to minimize the number of hurdles that the unchurched person has to jump over.

"Interestingly, the people who give us the most stick for being here are very religiously minded Christians who say: you can't do church in a casino.

"Which we'd think is a silly response because Christ would have been in this sort of place. He was always accused of hanging out with the wrong people in the wrong places at the wrong time."

Godfirst Church was launched in 2005 in Fourways by PJ, who previously started and led the popular River of Life in Zimbabwe, Harare. The church now has 1 700 people in seven congregations scattered around Johannesburg. When I moved to Johannesburg from Cape Town six months ago most Christians I know recommended the church to me.

At this point you're probably wondering what denomination I am. It's a question I get a lot and the answer, "non-denominational", never seems to cut it. Even though non-traditional churches have become mainstream, the inherent suspicion of evangelical churches makes me shy away from the term -- even if it does describe a style rather than a denomination.

Technically churches such as Godfirst would belong to a family of related churches from all over the world; in this case New Frontiers.

"We get the best of it which is friendship and accountability but we avoid the trappings and the red tape that often go with a denomination," says PJ.

Other "families" of churches that I have attended in the past include New Covenant Ministries International and Every Nation, both similar in their focus: Bible-based and spirit-filled with an aversion to ritual and tradition.

But the stigma still clings -- and PJ is not insensitive to it: "Modern evangelical churches have an appalling reputation. High-profile church leaders are in scandals with money, getting divorced. The reputation is that our kind of church is dubious at best. I completely appreciate that and we are not critical, we're humbly trying to do church like it was done in the Bible so that's why people don't call me 'pastor', I don't get paid an enormous amount and I love my wife."

Indeed 39-year-old Smyth, a gifted preacher on stage, is exceedingly thoughtful in the interview, thinking hard before answering every question and very cognisant of the other person's point of view.

Given how experimental the church is, the biggest surprise perhaps is how conservative its beliefs are, though it may not seem that way on the surface.

Last year they ran a "Sex in the City" sermon series advertised in a billboard campaign. It was eventually axed by the Advertising Standards Authority. The provocative slogan, "Jozi loves sex. God loves sex. Let's talk", didn't go down well with certain religious groups. But while the church ran sermons like: "All Night Long" and took controversial live questions, the focus was unapologetic-ally biblical.

Says PJ: "We are brutally Bible-focused … and so conservative in that regard, but we're liberal in that we're very happy to do church in a casino and make the message relevant."

And despite the attention the church has attracted for its campaigns, it's pressing on with the "Real Man" series, in conjunction with a number of other local churches.

Real Man was sparked by what PJ sees as a crisis of masculinity.

"Nine out of 10 sex offenders are men, eight out of 10 prisoners are men, for every one woman who commits suicide, four men do. There's a lot of work to be done on men and there's loads in it for women."

Church certainly is changing -- but I haven't really noticed. Evangelicals may seem like a new freak phenomenon but I grew up a "happy clappy" as the derisive term goes, standing on school hall chairs and singing at the top of my lungs.

My faith has informed my life in every way but, like a church in a casino, I may seem like an anomaly to some: hopelessly deceived or strangely out of sync.

But this church in a casino is no anomaly. Others like it are mushrooming across major cities, seeking to serve and influence the culture in which they live.

PJ offers a challenge: "I think the greatest defense is to come along and take a look -- or take a swing. I don't mind which. Take a swing or take a look, just don't criticize from afar."

Source: www.mg.co.za

A North Carolina-based evangelist hopes to help lift a spirit of heaviness that has fallen over Haiti since a massive earthquake rocked the island nation in January, killing more than 200,000 people.

Ben Cerullo, 33, wants to bless and encourage the Haitian people through Hope Alive, a large-scale event in Port-au-Prince Friday that will include music from Christian rap and reggae artists The Ambassador, J.R., and Prodigal Son, as well as praise and worship.

"With the cancellation of carnival this year by the president of Haiti and the ongoing spirit of heaviness, we felt it was important to provide encouragement and bring a message of hope to the people," said Cerullo, grandson of TV evangelist Morris Cerullo and son of Inspiration Network CEO David Cerullo.

"We believe that Hope Alive will be a time to celebrate in an exciting atmosphere of entertainment, praise and worship," he added. "We're inviting people of all ages to gather, relax and simply enjoy the day with some great music. They haven't had that in a long time."

Cerullo, who launched into full-time evangelistic ministry in 2007 and has preached in 26 nations, also plans to present a message of salvation during Friday's event and to pray for healings and miraculous signs and wonders. He said Haiti is at a precipice where the destiny of the nation and its people is being reformed.

"I'm praying for God to do unusual miracles—for Him to really release an awakening to shift a nation that was so demonically controlled back into the hands of God's people and His kingdom and establish His church there," Cerullo said.

The free festival, to be held across from the ruins of the National Palace, is being hosted in partnership with a youth-focused event planned by the alliance of pastors who led the three days of prayer and fasting Haitian President René Préval called last February. The prayer call was unprecedented in a country whose former president proclaimed Voodoo the national religion.

Observers say the days of prayer and fasting released an outpouring of God's power that has resulted in 3,000 people giving their lives to Christ, including former Voodoo practitioners. (Watch a Florida pastor's account of the three days of prayer and fasting below.)

On Friday morning, the 300-plus pastors in the alliance hope to gather as many as a million youth to march into Port-au-Prince from four points of the city and plant trees to represent a new Haiti.

"Through the prayers and the cries of God's people over the years, through this earthquake, God's bringing people to a place where, I believe, spiritual awakening can take place," Cerullo said. "We don't care to just go do meetings. Our desire is to shift destinies of nations and release the kingdom of God. We believe it can be more than just an event."

Cerullo said since the magnitude-7 earthquake struck Haiti Jan. 12, his ministry has supported Convoy of Hope's work to provide medial assistance, food and shelter to the millions left homeless and living in tent cities across Port-au-Prince. Though some may accuse him of taking advantage of the desperation of the Haitian people, Cerullo says emergency spiritual assistance is also in order.

"It's an unfortunate circumstance that the people have gone through, but it's a perfect time to come and tell people about that hope," Cerullo said. "It's a perfect situation to come and show them love. I don't see it as any different than why we want to go in and feed them and appeal to their natural needs. As Christians we've got to do both. ... We're not coming to take advantage of people. We're just obeying the leading of the Holy Spirit."

Cerullo is asking Christians to pray five minutes on Friday for the outreach.

"God's just waiting to show His glory," Cerullo said. "He's just looking for somebody to use, so to be in the right place at the right time when God breathes is amazing."

Soure: Charismamag

Adrienne S Gaines

A charismatic evangelist is spotlighting what he describes as the world's "largest numerical revival" in a new documentary that premiers Friday.

1040, hosted by minister and musician Jaeson Ma, explores the spread of Christianity throughout Asia, where the church has grown at an unprecedented rate in recent decades.

Photo: Jaeson Ma traveled throughout Asia to film the 1040 documentary.

In China alone, the number of Christians has mushroomed from roughly 1 million in the 1970s to 70 million today, with some sources estimating that there are more than 100 million Chinese believers. In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, almost 10 percent of its 245 million people are Christian, according to U.S. State Department statistics.

"It's such a mind-blowing movement because really what you see out there is the book of Acts, it's happening just like it was written in the Bible," said Ma, 29, a U.S.-born evangelist who founded Campus Church Networks, a student-led church-planting movement based in California. "People are being raised from the dead; signs and wonders are happening, miracles and healing. Churches are being planted every day. Millions are getting touched with the gospel. It's shaking society and transforming the culture."

The film's title refers to an area known as the 10/40 Window, a region between 10 degrees and 40 degrees north latitude that spans from North Africa to East Asia. Most of the nations are predominantly Muslim or Buddhist, and many of the world's least-evangelized people groups live in the region.

For nearly three months last spring, Ma toured China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia, filming interviews with church leaders as well as with Asian celebrities, artists and entrepreneurs representing both Christians and non-Christians. (Watch film teaser below.)

"I think we understand in the West that things are quickly, rapidly moving toward the East—and that's not just politically, that's not just economically, that's not just militaristically, but it's spiritually," Ma said.

"I truly believe that the Eastern church is rising up to be a global leader in the body of Christ in this hour to be used by God to kind of spearhead the finishing of the Great Commission," he added. "I think for us it's important that those in the West are educated to see what's happening with their own eyes and to join in on what God is doing and to partner with our brothers and sisters in the Eastern cultures who are really laying down their lives for the gospel."

1040 also features interviews with prominent Christian leaders and missiologists such as Mike Bickle, founder of the International House of Prayer; Youth With a Mission founder Loren Cunningham; Campus Crusade for Christ President Steve Douglas; and prayer leader Cindy Jacobs, co-founder of Generals International.

"What's happening in Asia right now is actually the greatest move of God in human history ... and a lot of the church in the West is not really aware how dynamic the church in Asia is right now," Bickle said. "There is a grass-roots movement that the Bible clearly talks about that will be so powerful in its influence, and I think it's mostly young people.

"They will operate in the power like the apostles did in the book of Acts, and they will so influence the culture and even the government in Asia that it will create the influence that causes Asia as a whole ... to resist the enticements and the threats of the Antichrist," he added. "That is massive in its implications."

Hip-hop artist M.C. Hammer, a minister and mentor to Ma, is also featured in the film. "The world is looking at Asia at this historical moment," he said. "With its economic rise, there is also a powerful spiritual movement that is spreading and transforming entire cultures."
Produced by Adventures.TV in conjunction with Arowana Films, 1040 is scheduled to premier Friday at the City of the Angels Film Festival in Hollywood. The movie will then be shown in churches nationwide as part of a grass-roots screening campaign. Screening information is available at the film's Web site. 1040 releases on DVD in June.

Source: Charismamag.com

The Blind Side topped the winners at the 18th annual Movieguide Awards this week in Beverly Hills, Calif., taking home the $100,000 Epiphany Prize for most inspiring movie of 2009.

The film, which also received a best picture Academy Award nomination, stars Sandra Bullock and tells the true story of Michael Oher, a homeless youth who was adopted by a white family in Mississippi and eventually went to college and became a professional football player. It beat out the Arthur Blessitt documentary The Cross, Disney's A Christmas Carol, Knowing, T.D. Jakes' Not Easily Broken, The Soloist, and Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself for the top prize.

Quinton Aaron, the 6-foot-8-inch actor who played "Big Mike" in the blockbuster film, accepted the award Tuesday on behalf of the cast and crew. He said the film's message of faith and triumph over adversity are themes he personally can relate to. And the film is one his church and family can see without hesitation.

"I am a strong believer," Aaron told Charisma. "God has my back; He has my blind side. And I want this movie to tell kids across the nation who have dreams or are in a similar situation that they can get out, they are not stuck to that way of life. The role of Big Mike fit me as a human being because I went through some tough things and God brought me out."

Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story received the $100,000 Epiphany Prize for Most Inspiring TV Program of 2009. Its stars, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Kimberly Elise, also received the Grace Award for the most inspiring performance in television in 2009.

Actor Albert Hall, who portrayed Bishop Wilkes in Not Easily Broken, won the Grace Award for most inspiring performance in a feature film in 2009. Other nominees included Sandra Bullock and Ray McKinnon for The Blind Side, Nicholas Cage for Knowing, Jim Carrey for A Christmas Carol, and Tyler Perry for I Can Do Bad All by Myself.

Movieguide sponsors the annual gala to honor Hollywood productions that feature faith and family values. The Camarillo, Calif.-based organization that also reviews movies and hosts a Web site meets with studio executives to encourage them to make more positive and family-friendly movies. The group also compiles an annual report card on how Hollywood is performing.

"Every year gets better," said Ted Baehr, publisher and founder of Movieguide and author of The Culture-Wise Family. "It is all God's grace. Last year when 43 percent of the movies in Hollywood had Christian content, I thought we had hit the mountaintop, and this year it is 54 percent. When we see people from studios here talking about Jesus, [it] is a big change."

The Blind Side centers around a Christian family, but Baehr said most of the top-grossing films this year had clear Christian content. "Knowing, Up and Invictus-the press couldn't figure out why these were popular but we figured it out a long time ago," Baehr said. "Create movies for families because that is what people want to see."

The Stoning of Soraya M., about an Iranian woman whose arranged marriage to an abusive tyrant leads to tragedy, tied with Invictus, based on events following the election of Nelson Mandela in South Africa, to receive the Faith and Freedom Award for promoting positive American values.

"Forgiveness leads to reconciliation," said Invictus producer Lori McCreary, who attends the Vineyard Christian Fellowship in West Los Angeles. "It doesn't take very big gestures sometimes for people to come toward you. This is what Mandela was genius at."

Other honorees included Up as the best film for family audiences and The Blind SideBedford: The Town They Left Behind as the best film for mature audiences. The television film also was awarded the Faith and Freedom Award for promoting positive American values in 2009.

Sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation, a $50,000 Kairos Prize for spiritually uplifting screenplays by beginning screenwriters was awarded to four films: $25,000 for The Good Doctor written by Dwight Carlson and Gregory Carlson, $15,000 for The Shoebox by Sherry Cook, and $10,000 divided between Lion of the North by Johnny Davis and The Translator, written by Alan Sproles and co-written by Lizanne Southgate.

Source: charismamag

On December 31, 2009, the Holy Spirit spoke through me and said: "I'm going to shake the earth. You will begin to see earthquakes—I am going to shake everything that can be shaken. Look where the earthquakes are hitting because God is going to release a wind of Pentecost in those places."

Since that time we have seen an increase in earthquake activity on a large scale. Haiti experienced horrible devastation during a recent quake. But afterward, the president called for three days of fasting and prayer for the nation. This was a miracle in a country that had formerly been dedicated to voodoo.

With only five days’ notice, Christian leaders were able to gather about 1,000,000 people for a prayer meeting. On that day, the winds of Pentecost did indeed blow. Three thousand people were saved—among them 101 voodoo priests. It seems the back of the strongman of the occult was broken in that land, and I believe a new Haiti will arise.

Chile also took a hit from a high-magnitude earthquake. And I was amazed to awaken one morning and find that a tsunami had rolled over an island called Robinson Crusoe. The night before the shaking, my husband, Mike, and I had done something that was unusual for us, considering our busy schedule. We had stayed home and watched a movie—about Robinson Crusoe!

The Holy Spirit spoke to me and told me exactly where the tsunami had taken place. It had swept toward the Hawaiian Islands, where I had prophesied in the Aloha Bowl in 1992 that Hawaii would be the first Christian state. Because of an early warning about the tsunami, many prayed, and the tsunami did not sweep the islands. Other places, such as Japan, did have strong waves and strange-colored seas.

Two Scripture passages that prophetic voices have been proclaiming for some time are Haggai 2:7 and Hebrews 12:26-29. Each of these passages speaks about shaking. Hab. 2:14 tells us what the results of the shaking will be: “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (NKJV).

There is no doubt that God is speaking through nature. The earthquakes also tell us that the earth is “groaning” for the manifestation of the sons of God (see Rom. 8:19).

God is about to be the God of creation in ways we cannot imagine. These things come to wake us up.

One of the prophecies I have been giving is to “look for the earthquakes in unusual places” because these would be places of visitations of His glory.

Baja, California, recently experienced a 7.2-magnitude earthquake. Many people there have been praying over our borders with Mexico. Prophetically, I say to the drug lords on the border: “Beware! Turn, or the spirit of San la Muerte will turn on you and exact payment. I, says the Lord, am going to deal with the cartels and those who would shake their fists in My face. The shaking has begun, and it will increase.”

Another place that has experienced shaking recently is Los Angeles. Jaeson Ma (jaesonma.com), my son in the Lord, noted that a 4.4-magnitude earthquake hit at 4:04 a.m. on March 16. Tremors related to the quake hit northern California with a magnitude of 4.1 at 4:01 a.m.

God gave Jaeson Psalm 4:4: “Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.”

After the earthquake on March 16, Jaeson wrote in his prayer letter, “It just so happens [that] this year Easter lands on 4/4. God is warning us—waking us and urging us to wash ourselves clean of all sin and unrighteousness to prepare for a great glory that is about to be revealed in our land, but it will not come without impending shaking and possible judgment.”

He went on to share that he had spoken about this in a prayer gathering in Hollywood for people in the arts and entertainment industry. Jaeson touched on the significance of 4-4. One leader pointed out how important “4s” are in music. Music is often notated in 4/4, 4/8 or 4/32 time signatures. He felt that the “4s” that are rocking the city of Los Angeles are significant.

Another earthquake rocked Los Angeles on Easter— 4/4. I encourage you to look to the areas where all these earthquakes were felt and ask God to shake the things that need to be shaken to reveal His glory. It is time for His glory to be revealed so all can see it!

As I prayed about these signs the Holy Spirit spoke to me once again and said, “Winds of Pentecost.” I immediately thought about what I had prophesied at the memorial service for Freda Lindsay, the former president of Christ for the Nations Bible Institute in Dallas: “The winds of Pentecost are blowing, and they are going to take the seeds that she has sown and blow them across the face of the earth. There are mantles falling if you want them.”

On April 5, the Lord said to me: “Cindy, Pentecost. Check out the dates for this year’s Pentecost and call my people to cry out on that date.”

Pentecost this year is May 23, and it will be somewhat unusual because the eastern and western traditions will be converging, with the celebrations being held on the same date. This does happen, but rarely. In addition, the last Global Day of Prayer event (these prayer meetings have been going on for 10 years and this is the last one), will be held on Pentecost Sunday in Capetown, South Africa.

God wants His winds of Pentecost to blow at Pentecost. The Lord says: “I want My people to pray in a new Pentecost that will sweep the face of the earth, for I am coming with divine visitation that will touch heaven and earth. Many will be swept into the kingdom of God, and My glory will pour out with signs and wonders both in heaven and [on] the earth!”

In the Russian Orthodox tradition, the night of Pentecost calls for a special “kneeling prayer” service in which everyone makes a full prostration, touching their foreheads to the floor. We may not be called to a similar demonstration, but let’s all participate in a day of fasting and prayer as the Holy Spirit has directed so that a Pentecost of wind, fire, and glory will break out across the earth in unusual ways.

About the author: Cindy Jacobs is co-founder with her husband, Mike, of Generals of Intercession (generals.org) and host of God Knows, a weekly television program on which she interviews leaders, teaches, prophesies and prays for the sick. Also founder of the United States Reformation Prayer Network (USRPN), Cindy is inviting individuals and leaders across the nation to join the Jacobs' ministry in a national prayer initiative for 2010 named "Root 52"—a 52-week prayer strategy to bring the United States back to its covenant roots.

Source: Charismamag.com

Adrienne S. Gaines

Some 21 percent of all adults—and a quarter of all Christians—consider themselves Pentecostal or charismatic, according to a new Barna Group poll.

The study found that the demographic crosses denominational, geographic and political lines, with 20 percent of Catholics and 26 percent of Protestants stating that they have been filled with the Holy Spirit and operate in at least one charismatic gift, such as tongues, prophecy or healing. Nearly a quarter of Republicans, 23 percent of Democrats and 21 percent of Independent voters identify themselves as Pentecostal or charismatic.

But the national telephone survey of 1,005 adults found striking generational differences among the group. Baby busters, or those ages 26 to 44, were the most likely to describe themselves as Pentecostal or charismatic, with 29 percent embracing that label. Some 26 percent of Mosaics, or 18- to 25-year-olds, and 25 percent of Christians aged 64 and older described themselves as Pentecostal-charismatic. Only 20 percent of baby boomers, or those between the ages of 45 and 63, described themselves as Pentecostal or charismatic.

Younger Christians-56 percent of Mosaics and 49 percent of baby busters-also were more likely than were baby boomers (44 percent) and older Christians (30 percent) to believe charismatic gifts such as tongues and healing are active and valid today.

Roughly 43 percent of those under age 45 also believe the gift of tongues is valid and active today, compared with 37 percent of those age 45 and older. However, only 7 percent of Mosaic Christians and 9 percent of baby busters said they had spoken in tongues, while 13 percent of the baby boomers and 9 percent of those over age 63 said they had spoken in tongues.

But while they embrace the charismatic gifts, younger generations had unexpected views of the Holy Spirit. Older believers were morel likely to say they "consistently allow their lives to be guided by the Holy Spirit"-64 percent of older Christians and 59 percent of baby boomers, compared with 54 percent of baby busters and 38 percent of Mosaics.

Mosaics were much more likely to believe the Holy Spirit is just a symbol of God's power or presence rather than the third person of the Trinity, with 68 percent saying the Holy Spirit is not a living entity. Though the percentages were lower for the other generations, more than half of the respondents in each group held the same view. Fifty-nine percent of baby busters, 55 percent of baby boomers and 56 percent of older Christians said they believe the Holy Sprit is only symbolic.

For younger Christians, the charismatic, Pentecostal and Spirit-filled labels are not as divisive as they were for their parents' generation, said Barna Group President David Kinnaman. And though they spend less time defending their views, they also seem less certain about what they believe or how to put their faith into action, he added.

Kinnaman said that though the Pentecostal-charismatic community has become more influential in the 50 years since the movement emerged, generational shifts and the flow of Pentecostal theology across diverse denominations have made its beliefs less focused. He believes connecting young Pentecostals and charismatics to better theological training will be vital to the future of the Spirit-filled movement.

"Facing less criticism from within the ranks of Christians, they must focus on being grounded theologically and finding a way to live faithfully within the broader culture of arts, media, technology, science and business," Kinnaman said.

The report comes just days before the anniversary of what many consider to be the start of the charismatic movement. On April 3, 1960, the late Father Dennis Bennett told his Episcopal congregation that he had been baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. The revelation led to his resignation but sparked charismatic renewal among mainline denominations worldwide.

Adrienne S. Gaines

A Christian conference challenging men to become mighty men of God drew at least 250,000 men and boys to Greytown, South Africa, last weekend.

Hosted by farmer turned evangelist Angus Buchan, the Mighty Men Conference was the largest gathering at his farm, known as Shalom Ministries, since he launched the event seven years ago. Some estimate the attendance was as high as 300,000 during the meetings, which began Friday and ended Sunday.

"I have farmed maize. I've seen a lot of mielies [corn], but I've never seen a crop of people as big as this," said Buchan, whose autobiography, Faith Like Potatoes, was popularized in a 2006 film that released in the U.S. last year.

Through three days of evangelistic meetings often marked by signs and wonders, Buchan challenged men to become godly leaders in their homes and to rid themselves of such sins as adultery, fornication and hatred.

The event was centered on the theme "watchmen of the house," drawn from Ezekiel 3:17, which says, "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me."

"Angus preaches a simple faith," said South African businessman Bruce Winship told the national Sunday Tribune newspaper. "Potentially it lacks some detail, but the reality of Christianity is that it is a simple message to follow... it's about being down-to-earth, living an honest, wholesome life and correcting your priorities. I have seen the change that Angus has made in many lives, including my own."

A Zambian farmer of Scottish descent, Buchan moved to South Africa in 1977 and became a Christian two years later. In 1980, he and his wife, Jill, established Shalom Ministries, based on the farm, with a vision to help fulfill the Great Commission, take care of widows and orphans and train Christians to reach the world around them.

Since he started the annual Mighty Men Conference in 2004, attendance has grown steadily from 240 men to 7,400 in 2007 to 60,000 in 2008. That year, the Sunday Tribune noted that to draw more than 60,000 men to a non-sporting, Christian event "is not just an achievement, it could be deemed a miracle."

This year's event had 60,000 participants registered before the gathering began.

Buchan said 2010 would be the last hosted at Shalom. But the events would continue to be held elsewhere, both in and outside of South Africa, with various leaders organizing the meetings.

"Jesus took 12 men and changed the world. I see hundreds of thousands of men in this place," Buchan said. "We need to seize the moment. The future of South Africa, indeed the world, lies in the believer, in your hands and my hands. God is asking you 'what are you going to do about it?'"

Next year's conference could be held in Soweto. Buchan also has announced plans to begin a television broadcast, The Mercury reported.

During times of discouragement, if answers to prayer are long in coming or not what we had expected, we can begin to lose hope and even doubt that God will answer our prayers. To help us through, God sometimes encourages us by dreams or visions.

He did this for me and my husband shortly after I gave birth to a son with a facial birth defect. A woman who lived 45 miles from our home had a vision of a baby with socks on his hands and feet. She began to pray for the baby even though she did not understand the vision.

Later that week we were dedicating our son to the Lord during a Friday night service. Our son’s birth defect was so sensitive that we had to keep socks on his hands to keep him from harming himself. When our son was held up during the dedication, the woman, who was visiting that night, recognized that he was the baby in her vision.

God used the vision to inspire this woman to organize prayer for my son during his early days of infancy and corrective surgery. The vision and prayers blessed us with fresh encouragement and hope during a very traumatic season in our lives.

However, our experience was not an unusual one. There are many examples in the Scriptures of God’s bringing comfort and hope through visions and dreams.

Prophetic Promises

Abraham was a wealthy man to whom God gave great promises. He owned cattle, silver and gold, but he had no son to inherit his wealth, for his wife was barren. The Lord appeared to Abraham in a vision and promised him an heir (see Gen. 15:4).

God also said that his descendants would be as many as the stars in the sky. Abraham believed God, and the Lord credited it to him as righteousness (vv. 5-6).

After God spoke to him, Abraham fell into a deep sleep, and God gave him a prophetic promise through a dream. The Lord showed him his descendants would be enslaved in cruel bondage in Egypt for 400 years. Then the Lord would deliver them, and they would come out of Egypt with great possessions and return to the land He had promised to Abraham (vv. 12-16).

The birth and destiny of an entire nation was revealed in this dream. Abraham had longed for an heir, and God gave him a promise far beyond his expectations.

Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, received great promises from God, also, not only for himself but also for his descendants. When he was a young man, Jacob had stolen his elder brother Esau’s birthright and obtained the blessings normally given to the firstborn. Esau sought to kill Jacob for his deceit, so Jacob’s mother, Rebekah, sent him away to seek a wife in the land of her brother Laban (see Gen. 28).

On the way, Jacob stopped for the night, and as he slept, he dreamed: “And behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

“And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: ‘I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants’” (vv. 12-13).

The Lord assured Jacob that He would be with him wherever he went and that He would bring Jacob back to the land He had promised to him (v. 15).

Two wives and 11 sons later, God spoke to Jacob again in a dream (see Gen. 31:10-13). Jacob had been working for his father-in-law, Laban, who continually cheated him. In the dream, God revealed a plan for dividing the cattle of Laban’s flocks fairly and giving Jacob his rightful portion.

This is the first recorded instance of God’s imparting sound business strategy through a dream. God also used this dream to tell Jacob to take his wives, his children and his flocks and return to the land of his father.

The Lord let Laban deal deceitfully with Jacob. God was purging Jacob. It was a long, arduous process, but through this process the promise was fulfilled and Jacob became Israel, meaning “prince with God” (Gen. 32:28).

Dreams often challenge us to change just as Jacob was challenged to change. God had not addressed Jacob’s character flaws in his dreams, but that did not mean that God approved of all that happened in Jacob’s life.

Similarly, when we receive a word from the Lord, whether through a prophecy, a dream or a vision, we must know that the outcome will depend on our obedient cooperation with God’s maturing and purging work in our lives.

Joseph was a young man of 17 when he had two dreams that seemed to bring him nothing but trouble. He was Jacob’s favorite son, which made his 10 older brothers intensely jealous.

The strife in Jacob’s household was exacerbated when young Joseph had two dreams—one in which his brother’s sheaves bowed down to his sheaf, and the other in which the sun, the moon and 11 stars bowed down to him. Joseph shared these dreams with his brothers and, perhaps understandably, his brothers hated him all the more. Even his father rebuked him, although he also kept in mind what Joseph had said (see Gen. 37:5-11).

Perhaps Joseph was unwise to share these dreams with his jealous siblings. I believe he shared them not because he was prideful but because he had more zeal than wisdom. Whatever the reason, the outcome was that his outraged brothers sold him into slavery.

After many years in slavery and prison, Joseph became prime minister of Egypt and helped the country survive seven years of famine. When his brothers came to Egypt for provisions, they bowed before him just as the dreams had foretold.

The dreams gave Joseph hope, guidance and encouragement during difficult times and kept him from forsaking the God of his fathers. God had a destiny for Joseph that would be fulfilled only after many years of holding fast to Him in a strange land and under trying circumstances.

Joseph’s faithfulness to God was the key to his success. God in turn remained faithful to Joseph and, in His time, fulfilled His word and brought these dreams to pass, saving not only Joseph and his family but the future nation of Israel as well.

Dreams and visions may reveal your future ministry and destiny, but they rarely reveal the process God will use to bring about their fulfillment.

Assurance and Healing

We were building a new home, and anxiety about the cost of the tile roof was stretching my faith. Then one night I dreamed that we were putting a very strange roof on our house—a roof made from dried, preserved tarantula spiders!

In my dream, everyone was excited about our new roof, but I couldn’t see what was so exciting about these strange tiles. Then I visited the homes of people I knew and found them raising baby tarantulas with great joy and excitement.

I awoke perplexed. I looked up “tarantula” in the encyclopedia. It said that in the Middle Ages people believed that anyone bitten by the tarantula spider became ill with tarantism—an imaginary disease that gave the victim a strong desire to dance! In reality, the bite of a tarantula is not harmful to humans.

The dance, the disease and the spider were named after a town in Italy called Taranto—which called to mind the Canadian city of Toronto, where there had been highly publicized outpourings of joy among God’s people.

The Lord used my dream to tell me that He was going to cover our home with rejoicing—symbolized, strangely enough, by a tarantula. In the Middle Ages, people feared the spider’s bite without cause in the same way I had feared not having the provision for the roof. God was assuring me that my worries were unfounded because He would provide joy and abundance.

The dream showed me that His joy would be poured out in every home in our congregation, producing a boldness to go forth in His name and destroy the strongholds of the enemy. I was overcome with joy and laughter and filled with faith. Who would guess that a tarantula could cause rejoicing?

Just as dreams can bring assurance, they can reveal unresolved matters in our hearts. When we dream about suppressed issues, we become aware of them so we can deal with them and be made whole. Often when we have built walls around areas of emotional pain to shield us from the hurt, God uses dreams to bypass those walls and go directly to the source of the pain.

On a conscious level, we may feel that we have dealt with those past wounds, but our subconscious minds recognize areas that still need healing. By bringing such matters to mind, God makes us aware and begins the healing process.

A man who had lost several family members in a short period of time came to me because he was troubled by dreams of his loved ones. Consciously, he felt that he had accepted their deaths, but still he dreamed about them.

I asked if he had grieved over his losses or if he felt that he had to be strong for others who were grieving. He replied that he had never let himself grieve. I prayed with him, asking the Lord to help him process his grief. From that night forward the dreams ceased.

This man’s conscious mind had not let him feel his grief, but his subconscious mind would not let him forget it. God spoke to his need through his dreams and prompted him to seek the Lord for emotional healing.

From these examples we see that God often identifies a need in our lives, then gives us a message related to that need. The need may not be met immediately; however, promises revealed in dreams and visions give us the determination we need to press through difficult circumstances until promises are fulfilled. 

Jane Hamon is a gifted teacher and author of Dreams and Visions (Regal). She and her husband, Tom, pastor Christian International Family Church in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. Adapted from Dreams and Visions by Jane Hamon, copyright © 2000. Published by Regal Books. Used by permission.

At the Empowered 21 Conference last week in Tulsa, thousands of people celebrated the renewal of a movement.

At a time when many Christian conferences are suffering from sluggish attendance, at least 10,000 people jammed into the Mabee Center on the Oral Roberts University (ORU) campus last week to honor the pioneers of the Pentecostal movement and to pass the torch of Holy Spirit renewal on to the younger generation.

The Empowered 21 event, nicknamed E21, was a bold attempt to bring every stream of the charismatic and Pentecostal movements together under one huge roof. When I arrived on Wednesday night for a welcome dinner, I met leaders from the Assemblies of God, Church of God in Christ, Foursquare Church, Pentecostal Holiness, Church of God of Prophecy, Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.) and even the United Pentecostal Church International—plus directors of such varied ministries as Teen Mania, Every Home for Christ, International House of Prayer and Convoy of Hope. We even had Matteo Calisi, an Italian man who gives leadership to thousands of charismatic Catholics.
"If God can quicken the dead womb of Elizabeth and bring forth one of the greatest preachers in biblical history, surely he can visit the dead wombs of Pentecostalism and bring forth an army of young spiritual warriors."

The real purpose of E21, aside from this obvious show of unity, was to bridge the generation gap and call younger Christians to take responsibility for the future of the charismatic renewal. The question on everyone's mind during those three days was a serious one: Is this movement going to survive? Or will it die off in a few more years because of religiosity and irrelevance?

I came away from E21 with so much hope for the future—mostly because at least half of the crowd in Tulsa was young. Many of the kids were from ORU. But I kept bumping into young people who traveled a long way to grab the Holy Spirit's torch from the older generation. On Friday I had dinner with a young guy from Ecuador who is starting a publishing company to distribute Christian materials in Spanish. On Saturday I ran into a group of 20-somethings from Wisconsin who had driven down to Oklahoma with their pastor. That same day I met a young Nigerian who has just started pastoring a church in Seattle.

Everywhere I went on the ORU campus I kept bumping into younger Christians who are stoked and on fire for God. Many of them stayed late into the night each evening for extended times of worship with musicians including Kari Jobe and Desperation Band.

But what blessed me most during the three day conference was a message by Georgia pastor Jentezen Franklin. He reminded us on Friday night that when God brought His Son into the world, He did a two-fold miracle. Not only did He overshadow a virgin and cause her to conceive the Messiah, but He also visited an older, barren woman named Elizabeth and caused her to conceive John the Baptist. God was working with two generations at one time to bring about His redemptive purpose.

Franklin reminded us that in the next move of the Holy Spirit, God will not only release fresh new anointing upon young people, but He will also bring vitality and growth to older movements that have stayed faithful to His Word. God loves the Marys as well as the Elizabeths.

There are naysayers who insist that heaven has no intention of renewing older denominations. They insist that groups like the Assemblies of God or the Church of God in Christ have become too rigid; that such "old wineskins" can't be revived. They even teach that people should leave these groups if they want to be on the cutting edge of God's work.

After listening to Franklin's message, and after seeing thousands of young people from these groups streaming to the altars at E21 for a fresh impartation of the Holy Spirit, I have no doubt that God has some surprises up His sleeve. We are headed toward a massive movement of renewal—and we will be surprised by the way some older groups are reborn in the coming season. If God can quicken the dead womb of Elizabeth and bring forth one of the greatest preachers in biblical history, surely He can visit the dead wombs of Pentecostalism and bring forth an army of young spiritual warriors.

We are helpless to break the power of spiritual barrenness on our own. If this task depends on us, we are doomed—because so many of our churches and denominations are currently paralyzed by tradition, lukewarmness and political division. But in Elizabeth's case, all it took was a visitation from God. Only nine months later she was holding a baby who would eventually prepare the way for the Lord.

God can do the same amazing miracle for us. I encourage you to embrace the call of the E21 conference—and expect a new generation to arise.

J. Lee Grady served as editor of Charisma for 11 years and is now contributing editor. His new book, The Holy Spirit Is Not for Sale, is now in stores.

Source: Charismamag.com

This weekend I have rejoiced when I saw SABC2 covering the Mighty men conference. I thought that is what we have all been speaking about for years. God is going to do great things and the media is gonna pick up on it, follow it and do it for free.

Well, after Saturday nights news coverage, not to speak of the many newspaper articles regarding it has been strengthened by Cell C’s Gospel drive and many other subtle things that have crept into the media where Christ is glorified. I am very excited about this.

The question then is this: Should Angus Buchan have stopped Mighty Men?

Reports are, and I believe the Shalom Ministry offices (The Mighty Men Conference’s administration arm) have confirmed this, that Uncle Angus has decided that this will be the last one. He cited the number seven being representative of perfection and that He feels God released him from it.

Now, let’s look at this real quick. The Mighty Men conference has been the only event/movement that might represent a revival in South Africa. And I can vouch for the fact that God has been speaking to many in South Africa that a revival is definitely on the cards.

At this point my heart is crying out: “How long?!” because I am sure all in South Africa is groaning to see the sons of God manifest here and God’s glory fill the street and people reacting with repentance and prayer. The answer, however, seems to be “in God’s timing”.

Now, without trying to help God along like Uzzah and end up being destroyed in the process, we know from history that some have been called with the responsibility to play a part in the build up: hearts have to be prepared, young people have to be trained and support structures have to be put in place.

Sadly, as I have shared before, we are too wound up in building up for the Fifa World Cup than with what God may be doing… Brother Andrew Strom have been preaching for a long time that there is a window for revival to come to countries and I want to ask South Africa if perhaps our window is closing?

Here is where the question must be answered”: Is the MMC ending this year a good thing? Have we built enough momentum to see the fullness of God’s promises for this country come to pass?

I fear perhaps not. But seven is a good number, and Uncle Angus is quite old. Far be it from me to comment on anything he says or does, he gets enough of that, I just want to ask a question. Seeing that perhaps the greatest move of God this side of the millennium is now over, who is going to grab the baton? Who will carry on the race?

Sadly this is the problem with many “revivals”, a “man of God” gets burnt out or falls into sin and an entire move suffers.

Recently God shared with me that the coming move of God will be like a treadmill. There are many aspects to this picture but one part of the Word God gave me is a quite an unorthodox thought… Can one run a relay on a treadmill? Using the treadmill as an illustration to a move of God which is always ready for those who are prepared to run on it, the question God asked me got answered thus: Yes, of course we can run relays on a treadmill. Sure it’s unconventional and in our own minds defeats it purpose in the natural. But if God says that the next move of God is like a treadmill, then someone better be running the race, like Paul encouraged.

We are very much like many Gym enthusiasts. We run the treadmill and when we are tired or had enough, we stop. And so we stop the move of God. When will we run relays? Where is the young man or the ministry that’s going to pick up the baton from Uncle Angus?

We need to stop looking at our own ministry of making disciples, but rather make disciples that make disciples. Otherwise I fear the Christian and its values will be come unfit for the Kingdom.

Ivin Viljoen is a Christian author and columnist Ivin Viljoen in South Africa. He is an itinerate minister, youth pastor and moderator of 220generation.com

Four young Christian young men have been arrested for distributing tracts in Bhilai, in India.

A group of young men want around distributing tracts  in Bhilai, MP state of India when people opposed to the gospel surrounded them and beat them up. They then called the police which arrested four of them.

Unfortunately, they have been booked under the "Anti Conversion Law" that is effective in Madhya Pradesh State (India) and people booked under this law cannot get bail. Kindly pray for these brothers.

Johnson C. Philip

Source: Christian Thought.

Prophetic ministry is not something that you can take up. It is something that you are. No academy can make you a prophet. Samuel instituted the schools of the prophets... But there is a great deal of difference between those academic prophets and the living, anointed prophets. The academic prophets became members of a profession and swiftly degenerated into something unworthy.

All the false prophets came from schools of prophets, and were accepted publicly on that ground. They had been to college and were accepted. But they were false prophets. Going to a religious college does not of itself make you a prophet of God.

My point is this - the identity of the vessel with its ministry is the very heart of Divine thought. A man is called to represent the thoughts of God, to represent them in what he is, not in something that he takes up as a form or line of ministry, not in something that he does. The vessel itself is the ministry and you cannot
divide between the two.

THE NECESSITY for SELF-EMPTYING

That explains everything in the life of the great prophets. It explains the life of Moses, the prophet whom the Lord God raised up from among his brethren (Deut. 18:15,18). Moses essayed to take up his life-work. He was a man of tremendous abilities, "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians " (Acts 7:22), with great natural qualifications and gifts, and then somehow he got some conception of a life-work for God. It was quite true; it was a true conception, a right idea; he was  very honest, there was no question at all about
his motives; but he essayed to take up that work on the basis of what he was naturally, with his own ability, qualifications and zeal, and on that basis disaster was allowed to come upon the whole thing.

Not so are prophets made; not so can the prophetic office be exercised. Moses must go into the wilderness and for forty years be emptied out, until there is nothing left of all that as a basis upon
which he can have confidence to do the work of God or fulfill any Divine commission. He was by nature a man "mighty in his words and works"; and yet now he says, "I am not eloquent... I am slow of speech..." (Exodus 4:10). There has been a tremendous undercutting of all natural facility and resource...

We go through times of trial and test under the hand of God, and it is so easy to get into that frame of mind which says in effect, 'The Lord does not want us, He need not have us!' We let everything go,
we do not care about anything; we have gone down under our trials and we are rendered useless. I do not believe the Lord ever comes to a person like that to take them up. Elijah, dispirited, fled to the wilderness, and to a cave in the mountains; but he had to get somewhere else before the Lord could do anything with him. "What doest thou here, Elijah?" (I Kings 19:9). The Lord never comes to a man and recommissions him when he is in despair. 'God shall forgive thee all but thy despair' (F. W. H. Myers, 'St. Paul') -
because despair is lost faith in God, and God can never do anything with one who has lost faith.

Moses was emptied to the last drop, and yet he was not angry or disagreeable with God. What was the Lord doing? He was making a prophet. Beforehand, the man would have taken up an office, he would have made the prophetic function serve him, he would have used it. There was no inward, vital relationship between the man and the work that he was to do; they were two separate things; the
work was objective to the man. At the end of forty years in the wilderness he is in a state for this to become subjective; something has been done. There has been brought about a state which makes the man fit to be a living expression of the Divine thought. He has been emptied of his own thoughts to make room for God's thoughts; he has been emptied of his own strength, that all the energy should be of God... That was the great lesson this prophet had to learn. 'I cannot!' 'All right', said the Lord, 'but I AM.'

A great deal is made of the natural side of many of the Lord's servants, and usually with tragic results. A lot is made of Paul. 'What a great man Paul was naturally, what intellect he had, what training, what tremendous abilities!' That may all be true, but ask Paul what value it was to him when he was right up against a spiritual situation. He will cry, "Who is sufficient for these things?... Our sufficiency is from God" (II Cor. 2:16; 3:5). Paul was taken through experiences where he, like Moses, despaired of life. He said, "We... had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead" (II Cor. 1:9).

MESSAGE INWROUGHT by ACTUAL EXPERIENCE

You see, the principle is at work all the time, that God is going to make the ministry and the minister identical. You see it in all the prophets. The Lord stood at nothing. He took infinite pains. He worked even through domestic life, the closest relationships of life. Think of the tragedy of Hosea's domestic life. Think of Ezekiel, whose wife the Lord took away in death at a stroke. The Lord said, 'Get up in the morning, anoint your face, allow not the slightest suggestion of mourning or tragedy to be detected; go out as
always before, as though nothing had happened; show yourself to the people, go about with a bright countenance, provoke them to enquire what you mean by such outrageous behaviour.' The Lord brought this heartbreak upon him and then required him to act thus. Why? Ezekiel was a prophet; he had got to embody his message, and the message was this: 'Israel, God's wife, has become lost to God, dead to God, and Israel takes no notice of it; she goes on the same as ever, as though nothing had happened.'
The prophet must bring it home by his own experience. God is working the thing right in. He works it in in deep and terrible ways in the life of His servant to produce ministry.

God is not allowing us to take up things and subjects. If we are under the Holy Ghost, He is going to make us prophets; that is, He is going to make the prophecy a thing that has taken place in us, so that what we say is only making vocal something that has been going on, that has been done in us. God has been doing it
through years in strange, deep, terrible ways in some lives, standing at nothing, touching everything; and the vessel, thus wrought upon, is the message. People do not come to hear what you have to teach. They have come to see what you are, to see that thing which has been wrought by God. What a price the
prophetic instrument has to pay!

So Moses went into the wilderness, to the awful undoing of his natural life, his natural mentality; to be brought to zero; to have the thing wrought in him. And was God justified? - for after all it was a question of resource for the future. Oh, the strain that was going to bear down upon that life! Sometimes Moses well-nigh broke; at times he did crack under the strain. "I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me" (Num. 11:14)...  A terrific strain was going to bear down upon him, and only a deep inwrought thing, something that had been done inside, would be enough to carry through...

With us, too, the strain may be terrific; oft-times there will come the very strong temptation - 'Let go a little, compromise a little, do not be so utter; you will get more open doors if you will only broaden out a bit; you can have a lot  more if you ease up!' What is going to save you in that hour of temptation? The only thing is that God has done this thing in you. It is part of your very being - not something you can give up; it is you, your very life. That is the only thing. God knew what He was doing with Moses. The thing had got to be so much one with the man that there was no dividing between them. The man was the prophetic ministry.

He was rejected by his brethren; they would not have him. "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?" (Ex. 2:14). That is the human side of it. But there was the Divine side. It was of God that he went into the wilderness for forty years. It had to be, from God's side. It looked as though it was man's doing. But it was not so. These two things went together. Rejection by his brethren was all in line with the sovereign purpose of God. It was the only way in which God got the opportunity He needed to reconstitute this man. The real preparation of this prophet took place during the time that his brethren repudiated him. Oh, the sovereignty of God, the wonderful sovereignty of God! A dark time, a deep time; a breaking, crushing, grinding time; emptied out. It seems as if everything is going, that nothing will be left. Yet all that is God's way of making prophetic ministry.

Source: http://www.austin-sparks.net

My husband and I are privileged to lead a church that has experienced revival many times down through the years. We have seen thousands changed by the power of God. But I have discovered from personal experience that revival does not begin in the church; it starts in the depths of our hearts.

Revival means to be restored to life or health, to be quickened from sickness, discouragement, faintness or death. Only those who have at one time been alive in Christ can be revived in the true sense of the word from a state of spiritual faintness.

HIDDEN THINGS OF THE HEART

I have experienced revival many times as God has revealed to me the hidden things of my heart. Though I am a Spirit-filled believer and a pastor’s wife, I had things submerged in my heart that I was unable to deal with and get free from. These hidden things completely blocked my ability to respond to God.

Psalm 19:12 says: “Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults” (NIV). The original language reads, “His errors, who can understand? From secret _______ forgive me.”

 The psalmist leaves a blank for us to fill in. So our prayer is to be, “Forgive the secret _______ that I’ve covered up and concealed. Forgive, Lord, the _______ that I’ve sheltered.”

For many years, I avoided praying this prayer. I attempted to deal with my heart through my own efforts. When I failed, I would justify my actions in order to absolve myself from the need to change.

Then one day I read Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” I finally realized that my heart was beyond cure humanly speaking. I couldn’t understand it, let alone fix it.

I was bound by anger and bitterness that had come into my life for no obvious reason when I was a very small child. My parents were good people who raised me in a loving home. But as I grew up, I nurtured these wrong attitudes until they became rooted in me.

I didn’t have to say a word. I could walk into a room, and somehow the bitter root would suck all the life out of my relationships—with my husband, my daughter and most of all the Lord.

Hebrews 12:15 tells us, “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” I didn’t know it was possible to miss the grace of God, but the Bible makes it clear you can, especially if you allow a bitter root to grow up.

Bitterness begins with a seed—often just a thought—that germinates in our hearts. Given time, the seed takes root and then springs up. Other people see it blossom, and soon you can no longer hide the evidence of it.

By the time revival had begun in our church, I could no longer hide my bitter root. It had germinated and poked its head up. When it finally reached full bloom, I felt powerless to change myself.

One day Ephesians 4:31 came alive to me: “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” I suddenly realized Paul wasn’t talking to prostitutes or people at a bar. He was talking to believers. He was talking to me! I was a believer, and yet there were things I still needed to get rid of.

TWO-FOLD DELIVERANCE

How was I able to get rid of the bitterness? My spiritual rescue involved a two-step process. I personally experienced both the height and the depth of revival in a miraculous way that changed me forever, ripping out the bitter root from the core of my being.

First, God opened my heart to the depth of the Word and made it alive to me by the Holy Spirit. I had a deep realization of the truth about my deceitful heart and could no longer justify myself. “It’s me, oh Lord! I am a bitter mess, and I have defiled my whole life!”

The awesome fear of the Lord washed over me. I didn’t want to grieve His Spirit or lose His presence. I decided I did not want to miss my destiny in the Lord by cherishing a bitter root any longer. I stopped defending my non-biblical, non-Christlike position.

Freed from self-justification, I acknowledged my sinfulness and sought intense, life-changing prayer. I gathered the most powerful women in our church around me. As they prayed, the fire of God came down and struck me to the floor.

God had already revealed me to me. But now I was personally experiencing God Himself. Like a skilled surgeon, Jesus eradicated the bitter root from my soul.

I was set free in January of 1997. Shortly afterward, I received a letter from our daughter, who was in college at the time. She wrote: “Dear Mom, for so many years, I just wanted you to love me and to really mother me. But I knew you couldn’t. Now I see you’re so changed. All I want to do now is walk hand in hand with you the rest of my life and serve Jesus with you.”

Read more: http://charismamag.com/index.php/newsletters/spiritled-woman-emagazine/26714-growing-in-spiritual-fervor-revival-of-the-heart#ixzz0l9LY2rws

Then she prophesied in her letter, “When I have a little girl I want her to be just like you.” She and her husband now work with us in our ministry and recently had a beautiful baby girl—another miraculous blessing of revival.

SET FREE TO RESPOND

I know that I am not alone in the need for heart revival. So many of God’s people have unresolved issues hidden in their hearts! Anger, depression, fear, religiosity—all of these prevent us from responding to God. Thankfully, His Word and the power of His Spirit are greater than our ignorance and self-justification.

The first step to freedom from any secret sin is to allow the Holy Spirit to probe and uncover it by the light of God’s Word. That’s where true revival starts. I needed the Holy Spirit to reveal me to me. When I accepted the truth of who I really was, the release of my soul began.

As I’ve shared my testimony and the principles of revival around the world, I have seen hundreds of women respond and receive deliverance from their hidden “fill in the blanks.” Recently, in England, a pastor stood in awe watching several hundred women and girls rush to the altar after the truth of God’s Word revealed them to themselves.

While they repented, the power of God swept through. Soon these women experienced another dimension of revival as God revealed Himself to them in a mighty way. Some collapsed under the weight of His glory, moaning, tears streaming down faces. Others, with hands in the air, experienced a release and an uplift they had never dreamed possible. They allowed God to do surgery in the depth of their souls and take the ax to the bitter, greedy, impure, angry roots of their lives.

In a recent meeting a little old lady in her 70s, bent over from years of bitterness, wept as the power of God swept over her frail body. Collapsing onto the floor, she lay still as the Lord did surgery on her soul.

Later she came to me with tears in her eyes, saying: “I have lived with that bitter root for most of my life. It ruined my relationship with my daughter and husband. That thing is gone. I feel totally different. And I believe God is going to restore my family relationships.”

There is lasting fruit in true revival. Four years ago, a young woman came to us on her birthday, ready to commit suicide. Every year on her birthday her father would sexually abuse her.

She had decided to kill herself rather than live with that secret shame and torment any longer. She came hungry and desperate, deciding to give God another “chance.”

The power of God struck her, and she responded. Today, she is a team member of a church, working with youth and children and touching others with the fire of revival.

Another woman who had been married 30 years had always allowed a bitter root to contaminate her husband’s attitude toward the churches they had helped to pioneer. After about three years at each church, she would allow a spirit of offense to rise up. This would force them to leave the church with some flimsy excuse and go on to help some other new work, where the same cycle of offense and bitterness would occur.

After hearing my testimony, she repented, responded to the Lord and was released from the spirit of offense. She and her husband are now concentrating on their marriage and feeling like newlyweds. Her grown children are rejoicing that they have a new mom.

To get free from an unresponsive, hard-hearted, religious attitude, you must become so desperate that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to change. A woman who was determined to find freedom from religiosity came to one of our Women in Revival conferences. During a powerful time of praise and worship, she shocked her friends.

When the glory of God became heavy in the room, she jumped up on one of the chairs and stretched upward with all her might, bellowing out praises to the Lord. Later she explained: “The lightnings of God suddenly struck me. I received instantaneous healing of chronic pain. But the most glorious healing I received was that of my hard, religious heart. I’m free!”

TRUE REVIVAL

That is what real revival is all about—experiencing the height of His glory along with the depth of His digging. As our hidden “whatevers” are dealt with, we are loosed from our self-justifying, self-centered ways. Our self-effort ceases as the power of God removes the bitter roots and their poison. God’s power comes into our lives, and healing pours out into every relationship.

True revival is supernaturally initiated when God steps down from heaven into the midst of His people to bring vigorous life to the half-dead. When we respond to this visitation with hunger and repentance, our hearts are turned back to our first love. We are cleaned up, equipped and empowered to do the works of the kingdom of God. We, the revived, are then prepared to become effective evangelists and gather in a great harvest.

I like to think of revival as having two dimensions: height and depth. The height of revival is God’s revealing Himself to us. His presence is manifest, and the weight of His glory settles on us. As God reveals Himself, His power is released, and people are miraculously changed and healed both physically and emotionally.

The depth of revival is God’s revealing us to us so that we see ourselves in the light of His Word. Deep conviction pierces our souls, and our hearts begin to break as we see how far we are from God’s plan for our lives. The sword of the Spirit digs deep, quickening the Word and making it operative in us.

That’s when release and deliverance come. Only when both the height of His glory and the depth of His digging come into our lives are we able to be set free from the hidden things of the heart.

True revival comes in response to our hunger for God. We can’t work it up through religious habit—crying, moaning and burying our heads at the church altar as we have for the last 10 years—or by responding out of guilt or a fear that God is mad at or disappointed with us. We must allow Psalm 42:1 to become the cry of our hearts: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.”

God will not ignore our earnest cry. He will touch us, one by one, by manifesting Himself to us and showing us our hidden sins so that revival can begin.

Kathy Gray  and her husband, Steve, pastor World Revival Church of Kansas City, Missouri, formerly Smithton Community Church, where revival began in 1996.

Source: Strangmail.com

"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves." (Matthew 10:16)

LOVE:

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matt. 5:5)
“But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.” (Matt. 5:39)

The picture we have of Jesus in human flesh walking on earth is of a loving Jewish Rabbi, teaching, healing and reaching out to the lost. He is the perfect picture of love – always turning the other cheek. Even when unfairly beaten and abused, although He was innocent, He didn’t say a word to defend Himself. Not one.

But wait! When Jesus saw what was going on in His Father’s house, what did He do?
In John 2:15 we see that Jesus calculated what He was going to do…..
So he made a WHIP out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables…
…and who does He drive out?? He DRIVES out ALL…Do you think He stood there and said “gentlemen, it is now time to leave” NO!! He used His whip….they left so fast they left their money behind.
Why is it that the world think Christians are all weak pathetic push-overs?

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matt. 5:43-45)

Recently I have been targeted by an unbeliever on facebook. Every time I posted a Scripture or comment, this Gentleman was there to ridicule the Word of God and mock it in the most horrific way imaginable. I told a number of believers that if my salvation depends on my love for him, I am going straight to hell! I know we are saved by the grace of God, but this person was here to steal my joy every step of the way. I really struggled and prayed for guidance and the right Scripture at the right time.

A friend of mine started to chat with me on facebook chat. I told him that if God could forgive me and loved me, then I should love this man! My friend told me to tell him, publicly, that I loved him. I told him that I would be a hypocrite if I did that. “Trust me,” he said, “I’ll be watching. No pressure…”

I sat there, and then finally forced myself to do it…So publicly, on The Bible page, I declared: “Hey, Sir, Jesus loves you and if you are good enough for Him, I MUST do the same. You can continue humiliating me, that's fine, I will be praying for you, starting today. He loves you enough to die for you...so who am I to do otherwise? :)”

Although his reaction was EXACTLY what I expected, the moment I declared those words, the love followed! I really loved him! I said to my friend, ”How is it possible?” He told me that, when we make a decision to love the unlovable, we grow in ourselves, and although it may hurt, it makes us stronger in the spirit. We crucify the flesh. Then we have more room to love others! In much the same way a weight lifter pushes himself past the pain barrier, and causes actual physical damage to his muscles….It is here that true growth takes place. When we stretch ourselves beyond what we would normally do.

It was one of the most amazing things I have done in my walk as a believer!

If Jesus said love your enemies, He means just that, go and love your enemies and He will surely make it possible for you. Remember, nothing is impossible with God!

Okay, I know that what I have experienced on Facebook is in no way real persecution. But when persecution comes – and it will - that is how far-reaching our love as followers of Christ should go – even towards those who persecute us.

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

The world sees Jesus as a pacifist coward for submitting to the crucifixion. But we know that He laid down His life – no one took it from Him.

“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.
Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” (Matt 26:52 – 54)

He could have stayed safe at home, with 12 legions of angels guarding him……but did He??

“When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead he trusted himself to Him who judges justly.” 1 Pet. 2:23

“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” 1 Pet. 2:21

ISN’T THIS KIND OF LOVE FORCING YOU OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE?

You may have to love the unlovable in ways you do not want to, but you will grow through it.

Yes, you can stay safe at home behind your 4 walls…..but to what advantage???

THE WARRIOR:

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” (Matt. 10:34)

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Peter 5:8)

“You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.” (Psalm 91:13)

“The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.” (Prov. 28:1)

“In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.” (Eph. 3:12 )

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:3-5)

The early Christians were fearless. They were being thrown into prison, tortured, stoned, and run out of their homes, yet they kept telling people about Christ.

“On that day (the day Stephen was stoned for preaching Christ) a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison. Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.” (Acts 8:1-4)

How many hours of sleep have we or any of us lost for the gospel? How many insults? Hurts? How far are we from stripes, chains & humiliations? How many of us run from telling others about Jesus.
Just think about it: when we are getting insulted and persecuted for our faith in Jesus, and we don’t falter, can we give a better testimony to the persecutors than that? Loving them in the midst of them hurting or humiliating us?

THE DAYS OF PLAYING CHURCH AND RELIGION ARE OVER!

It is time to get off our butts and do what we have been called to do.

What have we been called to do??

GO!! and do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This means...GO!! Get up. Whatever need is presented to you, be it salvation, food, blankets, clothing…money....meet that need, as best as you know how. Dont pick and choose what you want to do.....just do it!

How many of us have gone and done anything worthwhile for the Kingdom, say in the last week?? When was the last time we told someone about Jesus? Or sin? Or righteousness?? Or Hell?? When was the last time we prayed for a non believer who was sick?? When was the last time any of us cast out a demon??

Let’s go to the Scripture in Revelation 17:

“I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” Revelation 17:6

The world as we know it has reached a point in time when it is crying out for world peace. The world is desperate for religious TOLERANCE. There will come a time, (and it has already started), when all the world religions will be united, with the goal in mind to create world peace.

World peace – APPARENT world peace – will come. But you know who will be spoiling their fun? The Christians – the born-again Spirit-filled ones, that is. Jesus said “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

The world will accuse us of never being satisfied. “Can’t you see that we have world peace at last? What is it with you Christians?” We will have to speak up and refuse to submit to their new age deity called “god”. The so-called Christians who will submit to a universal god pleasing everyone are those preaching a bloodless gospel. The gospel of Jesus is so offensive to the world, because we proclaim that you can only be saved by the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. Hebrews 9:22 says that without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.

No matter what your view may be on end time prophecy – everyone agrees: it’s getting harder and harder to be a follower of Christ.

“Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” (Rev. 20:4)

Are we even remotely ready to lose our lives for the gospel of Christ?

Are you comfortable in your Christian life, rather not stirring what you don’t want to face, being a pacifist, keeping the gospel to yourself and sharing only with those who are reachable in your own strength? Or are you being a WARRIOR FOR CHRIST? Walking in the Spirit, using the Sword of the Spirit? “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb. 4:12)
My challenge to you is this…Go!! and find a sinner who has been kicked around by life…..If you look hard you can find them, robbed of hope, just look into their eyes and see the emptiness. And say “Jesus loves you!!” Pray for them.

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”(2 Cor. 4:7-11)

"Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts". (Zech. 4:6)

Father God, we come to You in the mighty name of Your Son Jesus, who paid the ransom for us with His blood on the cross. Father we realise that we are still on this earth with one purpose – to be bold witnesses of the things which You have revealed to us through Jesus. The revelation of You and Your love for us. You have saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to Your own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. Father God, for Your purpose, give us boldness and strength, not by might nor by power, but by Your Spirit. In Jesus’ name we pray!

AMEN.

This article was written by a good friend of mine, Retha Collet.

Hello friends

I am so excited about what God is doing in us and through us. And when I’m speaking about “us”, I am speaking of the 220 team which sacrificially give of themselves, glorifying God with their talents and passionate service.

We are not a lot of people yet, but a tidal wave of servants and young ministers are coming. I have this promise of the Father, and even though the things I’m prophesying don’t always manifest immediately, I know that the prophetic is God’s Word and not subject to man’s timetable.

I’m growing and educating myself daily regarding the internet and investigating all the avenues that are available for us to use, to spread the Gospel and the fire of revival around the world and reach our target market: young people – a generation. And if we ignite a couple older people… Glory to God.

What motivates us? Our motivation is God’s inspiration that he gives us, and then to follow that vision with all our hearts. As God places the seed of expectation into us that provide an attractive glimmer in our eyes, he let’s that which he’s planted germinate (all Scriptural right?), and when the time is right, he opens the doors we’ve been trying to push open.

That is what this report is all about: what God has done. To properly give Him Glory, I need to tell you about the difficulties we’ve experienced in trying to implement our/God’s plans first. We’ve attempted to open a Revival College in July last year and I wouldn’t say it failed but we haven’t received enrollments, save one. I think it was a sign for me to study and get my degrees the way I know God wants me to.

Then we have a radio station with an allocated stream ready to launch. We didn’t have the right speed, bandwidth etc. and it was too expensive for us at the time. We also have a streaming station ready to go for the site. Also, we need to upload the videos to the stream and it would cost us lots of bandwidth to do that. Besides, our connection at the moment is too irregular and slow.

So, testimony time. In the last week, it seems God has heard my prayers a couple months now, for my sole desire is for the 220 website to catch on, not for popularities sake, but for impacts sake. And South Africa is so b ehind in everything that we couldn’t really reach the world effectively.

Well, God has made some fires under some people and inspired some companies to take bold steps in the marketplace. Firstly, we were struggling to put our products online for sale, because the web service we are using uses Paypal for it’s shop processing orders. If you have ever investigated the matter, you would know that paypal does not have any deals with South African Banks. They reckon that it was not viable for them as South Africa’s user market is too small to break into. Goodness is last night FNB announced on the news that they will host Paypal in South Africa. Theirs is that problem solved and we can reach the world with our ground breaking, God-inspired products.

Secondly, we have those two stations on ice, radio and TV which will be streaming revival videos and audio 24/7, reaching young people all over the world. This is the way I believe God wants it done. I have many friends with similar sites and more potential than we had before, and even if we sometimes get disheartened, we were keeping faithful with what we had. The dream is about to be fulfilled.

I want to announce that a couple months from now; we will have a full fledged youth revival site that will be the biggest resource site available for young people and impacting them with the fire of revival. I would love to be done and finish with all the plans that God inspired us with before September this year. So we may properly launch the site for the world. There’s lots of work to do before then. And I need help. Please let me know if you are willing to serve and in which capacity.

I’d like to tell you of our new features. We have a podcast that has reached the #1 spot on the top 100 Christian podcasts list. We have a comic strip that comes out every Friday. We have several preaching series coming out periodically on our podcast. There is a series on Grace and a prophetic series on a visitation.

I want to motivate you to help us grow this email list of ours. Would you helpo us spread the Word of God through us? We are for a prophetic generation and reaching them where they are… technology. Everything we preach or do is always fresh from heaven. I like new things, so we will never present you with last weeks bread.

Todd Bentley had an album released a couple years ago called: Marinating. Remember that? I remember it vividly because it helped me draw so close to God that I could feel the wind of His breath. I was lucky, because as I got saved I dived right into material like this to help me grow in God and intimacy with my savior.

The resources and material like Todd’s ”Marinating” is truly precious to me. Our site is filled with material that will set you on fire and once a month I want to inspire and encourage you with a newsletter that will share all the new development and material.

So, if you will help me share and grow our email list, I will send you and those that sign up to our list in the next two weeks links to Todd Bentely’s new additions to the album. Yes, Todd has recorded brand new “Marinating” tracks and any one signing up to our list will receive the links to those tracks on 09 March 2010 when it will be released. Only then, and only from the 220 email list. You can find the sign up here http://www.220generation.com on the top right hand corner of our site.

How can you share it? Simple. Just forward this email.   

Well, praise God for His goodness and that He is the one fulfilling His plans for our lives.

I love you and pray the best for you in this great time following in the next season.

God bless.

Ivin  

Praise God, We have received favor from God and our messages through our podcast has reached # 1 on the Top 110 Christian podcast list. Below is a screenshot.























Onward we march brining Glory to God and reaching this generation!

Ivin

We, the Body of Christ, should be a revolutionary force on this earth, not a sub-culture bound by the walls of our buildings and our lifestyles. If you look around you in the culture today, we are losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the people. Our families are in decay, our cities are in decay, our nation has become a nation of godless people living for themselves in rebellion to God. We really don't want to address the problems, instead most of us that claim to be Christians bury our head in the sand and refuse to look. Instead, we go to church rather than becoming the Church that God ordained. We even build doctrines around our lack of concern for what's happening around us and become even more self-centered and ineffective. Then we wonder why even our own families are falling apart. Is it surprising that the divorce rate in the church is the same as the secular world? Not really, because you can't find any difference with the modern church and the world; we copy all the things that they do. In reality we have become them.

I am about to bring up a couple of points that will anger a whole lot of people, but I really don't care if it causes them to think. The first point is the whole "We can change this land in the political arena." This is not true and should be examined. Consider this, does the River of Life flow out of Washington DC or out of the body of Christ? Does the healing flow come from the halls of the most corrupt Congress ever, or from the Holy Spirit? If not, why do we spend so much effort and time trying to get man-made nstitutions to take over this work? We should be in the process of a complete world takeover by the Kingdom of God, by carrying out the mandate of Christ our King: go into all nations making disciples. Would this not bring about the change needed on this
earth or have we, in our foolishness, come up with a better plan than the Great Commission? I think not!! Instead, we have created a man-made religion that has no power at all, and a secular gospel that has no power and, in fact, is no gospel at all. Our idea of the Great Commission is to create a Christian castle filled with people all looking for something for themselves - not to sacrifice their life for Christ.

This system of religion is simply a business designed to grow and support itself. Their idea of being radical is to send out emails telling everyone they know to get stirred up about such holy things as taking the little plastic baby Jesus out of the courthouse square. I get hundreds of these emails where people think they are fighting the good fight by getting into such things. God help us if that is radical faith. I really don't care if they take the little plastic Jesus out of the city hall or courthouse square and I don't believe Jesus does either. Part of the problem is that the little plastic Jesus is the only Jesus that most of our country recognizes. They don't know the King of Kings, nor do they take Him seriously. If they did, they would get radical about living His message instead of rushing to the mall on black Friday to prepare for what the culture calls His birthday. Wow, is that how Christ would want us to remember Him, by filling up our shopping carts and credit cards with more junk we don't need, instead of bringing people into His Kingdom? Would He rather us spoil ourselves even more or would He have us put our money and time to good use by feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, taking care of widows and orphans? Or what about sending out preachers and ministers of the Gospel to take over this world - do you think Christ would choose this or the commercial American Christmas? Guys, I'm telling you that Christ will return to this earth to judge it and He will not return as the little plastic Jesus that you can buy at Wal-Mart made in China - no, He will come back as a roaring Lion with fury and there will be no excuse for those who are truly His disciples.

At judgment day Christ will not ask for your voter registration card to make sure you are a republican or a democrat, He won't even ask you if you were mad about them taking down little plastic Jesus or saying "Happy holidays." Friends, He won't ask you if you protested the taking down of the Ten commandments off of the courthouse wall or how many Christian t-shirts you wore, or even if you bought all the latest praise CD's. No friend, He will ask questions like these: What did you do for the least of these? Did you care for the widow and orphan, feed the hungry, give without expecting anything in return? Did you love God with all your heart, love your neighbor as yourself without expecting his friendship? Did you repent and live a life that shows it, did you forgive so you could be forgiven? Yes, these are the questions that will be asked and no amount of religious activity will make up for these things, the sheep and the goats will be separated.

Many of you may say right now I never hear this at my church. If this is you, I say get out of there as fast as you can and pray for a true body where you will be challenged to get this right.

To say this as simply as possible.... we must become radical and I would say even militant. Read Matt 11:12. Yes we must forcefully take hold of the Kingdom and advance it with all we are. We must truly bombard this land with the truth. We must charge the gates of Hell and tear them down. Matt 16:18. We have the power from on high - why don't we use it? We would rather stay in our comfortable buildings and homes and hope maybe the Lord will forgive our lack of passion for Him. Why is this true? Because we are just like Demus that deserted Paul - 2 Tim 4:10. We love this present world.

You say its not that bad; well, I beg to differ. This world is heading to Hell on a runaway train and for the most part the modern church is adding fuel to the engine. The ones out here trying to throw on the brakes are called "too radical, extremist, critical" and even divisive. Brothers, I would rather be called all these things than "complacent" or a casual Christian. We are doing all we can to get this message out and are looking for like minded people from all over this world to join the fight. If this is your heart please let us know. The Revolution has begun and man will not be able to stop it. The question is whether are not you will join.

Are you willing to lay down your life and take up your cross and follow Christ? Will the Christ that shed His blood for you on the Cross and beat death and hell for you be your Christ or will the little plastic Wal-Mart Jesus be the one you choose?

-Darren Smith,
www.streetscapeministries.com
www.revivalstreet.com
www.unitethefight.com  

The prophet in his day is fully accepted of God and totally rejected by men.

Years back, Dr. Gregory Mantle was right when he said, "No man can be fully accepted until he is totally rejected." The prophet of the Lord is aware of both these experiences. They are his "brand name."

The group, challenged by the prophet because they are smug and comfortably insulated from a perishing world in their warm but untested theology, is not likely to vote him "Man of the Year" when he refers to them as habituates of the synagogue of Satan!

The prophet comes to set up that which is upset. His work is to call into line those who are out of line! He is unpopular because he opposes the popular in morality and spirituality.

In a day of faceless politicians and voiceless preachers, there is not a more urgent national need than that we cry to God for a prophet! The function of the prophet, as Austin-Sparks once said, "has almost always been that of recovery."

The prophet is God's detective seeking for a lost treasure. The degree of his effectiveness is determined by his measure of unpopularity. Compromise is not known to him.

He has no price tags.
He is totally "otherworldly."
He is unquestionably controversial and unpardonably hostile.
He marches to another drummer!
He breathes the rarefied air of inspiration.
He is a "seer" who comes to lead the blind.
He lives in the heights of God and comes into the valley with a "thus saith
the Lord."
He shares some of the foreknowledge of God and so is aware of
impending judgment.
He lives in "splendid isolation."
He is forthright and outright, but he claims no birthright.
His message is "repent, be reconciled to God or else...!"
His prophecies are parried.
His truth brings torment, but his voice is never void.
He is the villain of today and the hero of tomorrow.
He is excommunicated while alive and exalted when dead!
He is dishonored with epithets when breathing and honored with
epitaphs when dead.
He is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, but few "make the grade" in his class.
He is friendless while living and famous when dead.
He is against the establishment in ministry; then he is established as a saint
by posterity.
He eats daily the bread of affliction while he ministers, but he feeds the Bread of
Life to those who listen.
He walks before men for days but has walked before God for years.
He is a scourge to the nation before he is scourged by the nation.
He announces, pronounces, and denounces!
He has a heart like a volcano and his words are as fire.
He talks to men about God.
He carries the lamp of truth amongst heretics while he is lampooned by men.
He faces God before he faces men, but he is self-effacing.
He hides with God in the secret place, but he has nothing to hide in
the marketplace.
He is naturally sensitive but supernaturally spiritual.
He has passion, purpose and pugnacity.
He is ordained of God but disdained by men.

Our national need at this hour is not that the dollar recover its strength, or that we save face over the Watergate affair, or that we find the answer to the ecology problem. We need a God-sent prophet!

I am bombarded with talk or letters about the coming shortages in our national life: bread, fuel, energy. I read between the lines from people not practiced in scaring folk. They feel that the "seven years of plenty" are over for us. The "seven years of famine" are ahead. But the greatest famine of all in this nation at this given moment is a FAMINE OF THE HEARING OF THE WORDS OF GOD (Amos 8:11).

Millions have been spent on evangelism in the last twenty-five years. Hundreds of gospel messages streak through the air over the nation every day. Crusades have been held; healing meetings have made a vital contribution. "Come-outers" have "come out" and settled, too, without a nation-shaking revival.

Organizers we have. Skilled preachers abound. Multi-million dollar Christian organizations straddle the nation. BUT where, oh where, is the prophet? Where are the incandescent men fresh from the holy place? Where is the Moses to plead in fasting before the holiness of the Lord for our moldy morality, our political perfidy, and sour and sick spirituality?

GOD'S MEN ARE IN HIDING UNTIL THE DAY OF THEIR SHOWING FORTH. They will come. The prophet is violated during his ministry, but he is vindicated by history.

There is a terrible vacuum in evangelical Christianity today. The missing person in our ranks is the prophet. The man with a terrible earnestness. The man totally otherworldly. The man rejected by other men, even other good men, because they consider him too austere, too severely committed, too negative and unsociable.

Let him be as plain as John the Baptist.
Let him for a season be a voice crying in the wilderness of modern theology and
stagnant "churchianity."
Let him be as selfless as Paul the apostle.
Let him, too, say and live, "This ONE thing I do."
Let him reject ecclesiastical favors.
Let him be self-abasing, nonself-seeking, nonself-projecting, nonself- righteous,
nonself-glorying, nonself-promoting.
Let him say nothing that will draw men to himself but only that which will move
men to God.
Let him come daily from the throne room of a holy God, the place where he has
received the order of the day.
Let him, under God, unstop the ears of the millions who are deaf through the
clatter of shekels milked from this hour of material mesmerism.
Let him cry with a voice this century has not heard because he has seen a vision
no man in this century has seen. God send us this Moses to lead us from the
wilderness of crass materialism, where the rattlesnakes of lust bite us and where
enlightened men, totally blind spiritually, lead us to an ever-nearing Armageddon.

God have mercy! Send us PROPHETS!

About the author: Leonard Ravenhill (1907-1994) was a well-known British evangelist who brought many people to Christ through his straightforward preaching of the Word. In 1959, he and his family moved to the United States, where Ravenhill continued to travel, ministering in tent revivals and evangelistic meetings. He placed great emphasis on the subjects of prayer and revival, and though he wrote many books, he is probably best known for Why Revival Tarries. ("Picture of a Prophet" was taken from ravenhill.org and used by permission of the author's son, David Ravenhill. Copyright (C) 1994 by Leonard Ravenhill.

Source: Charisma.com

I have come across a lot of heresy hunters in my time of ministry, some of them are even friends on Facebook. I have even gone on the occasional hunt myself being swaddled and swayed into following this disastrous practice that some believe is a ministry. I have even had a lady pull my website and entire ministry apart after a prophetic word I released and it saddened my heart.

Right off the bat, I want to apologize for writing this article to all my friends and my foes – because this seems to be a legitimate ministry in the body of Christ to some. My purpose here is not to refute its validity or even argue about whether God wants it to be part of ministry to the Body of Christ.

All I endeavor to do is deliver a prophetic word God had me speak out into this realm regarding this issue. I wrote it down and want to publish it here for your discerning ears to hear and judge it as I believe this is something the body of Christ needs to hear.

Following is the word:

All heresy hunters do the entire day is hunt heresies. They are addicted to and find their fix by finding a doctrine, ministry or supposed heresy to expose. But God says you have not the anointing and have long ago tasted my Glory – too long ago.

It is impossible for you to have experienced My Glory and do what you do. Repent! For the Word says do not touch my anointed and do my prophets no harm. Instead of preaching the Gospel you bring guile to Me and My name by ridiculing, criticizing and reproving my servants.

You discredit, badmouth and criticize everything I do. You are Nazareth! I was born in Bethlehem and came up in Nazareth, a place of identification only, for Nazareth have always persecuted Me, tried to push me off a hill and stone me, I had no place too lay my head and received no honor from you. I was identified as Jesus Christ of Nazareth because this is where I am from. When Nathanial found out about Me, he was flabbergasted to hear of Me because it was unbelievable that the Messiah comes from Nazareth, because nothing good can come from it.

This is not about a Nazarene vow where you consecrate yourself and shave not your hair or not drinking from grapes. You’re ministry is Nazareth because nothing good can come from it.  

Shortly after Elijah was carried to heaven in his fiery chariot, a group of young prophets asked Elisha to go with them to build new living quarters near the Jordan River. While one of the young men was cutting down a tree, the blade of his axe fell in the water and sank into the murky depths of the riverbed (see 2 Kings 6:1-7).

The construction project came to an abrupt stop. This was before the days of flashlights and sonar devices. These guys were in trouble.

Knowing that his friends could not replace this expensive iron tool they had borrowed, the young prophet cried to his mentor Elisha for help. The wise prophet threw a stick in the water where the axe head had sunk. Immediately the heavy iron blade floated to the surface-defying the laws of physics and proving that nothing
is impossible with God. Elisha's faith saved the day.

We can gain so much comfort from this story. It reminds us that God has power over the natural world. It also proves that He cares about the seemingly trivial details of our lives-and that He is even willing to bail us out of the messes we make.

As I have meditated on this passage in recent days I've also applied it to our current situation in the American church. It illustrates how desperately we need to recover what we've lost.

Perhaps you've noticed that our blade is missing. I don't know exactly when it fell off the handle, but it seems as if we've been trying to build God's house without the sharp edge of His genuine anointing. We've traded the real for the phony. We've cheapened Pentecost to the point that it's been reduced to dry religious programs and circus sideshow antics.

We've mastered the art of hype. We know how to fake the anointing. We push people to the floor during our altar times. We know how to manipulate music and crowds so that we can create the atmosphere of the anointing. But in so many cases the real anointing isn't there. In its place is a hollow imitation.

Some charismatic leaders today are even selling specially handcrafted oils that promise the Holy Spirit's power. Others sell scented candles that claim to bring God's presence. And last year one brother was traveling the country with feathers in a jar - claiming that these belonged to an angel with healing powers.

Lord, forgive us for our charlatanism. We need the blade back! We must cry out to the God Who has the power to raise iron from the bottom of a river.

We are not going to advance Christ's kingdom, or build His victorious church, using scented oils, fake charms, ear-tickling prophecies and goofy charismatic gimmicks. This is all wood, hay and stubble destined for the furnace. What we need today is the sharp blade of the Word that is empowered by the Holy Ghost and fire.

In my world travels during the past few years I have met humble Christians who carry the genuine anointing of the Spirit. I've spent time with Chinese believers who see miracles inside their prison cells. I've met an Indian evangelist who has seen six people raised from the dead. I've met a Pakistani apostle who regularly sees
Muslims healed during outdoor gospel meetings.

Last week I interviewed an Iranian church leader whose ministry is leading 5,000 Iranians to faith in Christ every month. In the midst of persecution and political upheaval, a New Testament-style revival is erupting in that Shiite Muslim stronghold-all because the church in Iran is weilding the axe head of genuine Holy Spirit
anointing.

Where is the God of Elisha? There is a cry in the American church today that resembles the cry of the desperate young prophet in 2 Kings 6. We have not been good stewards of the Holy Spirit's gifts, and now the precious power of God has eluded us. We dropped it. Yet we are beginning to acknowledge our blunder.

Let's fully humble ourselves. Let's repent of fakery and fraud. Let's ditch our counterfeits and our cheap substitutes, and ask the Lord to restore the axe blade. Let's cry to Him for a pure, unadulterated, genuine, life-changing, planet-shaking revival.

-J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma.

Ever been in a crowded room straining to hear when someone is trying to talk to you, but you can't hear anything because of all the noise!  That's how I've been feeling lately in the Christian arena. There's so much noise that I can't seem to hear anything that makes sense anymore.

It seems like everybody has a message they have to tell us - as if we've never heard this great new revelation before.  I'm glad that all these folks are excited, but pumping out the same old stuff in broad strokes is getting kind of old. When are we going to stop talking, and start doing something besides preach to each other? How about taking the message to the streets and winning souls?

Then there's all the modern prophets that abound with their great magnanimous words from the Lord that all have that same homogenized, bland feel to them. Nothing new there either.  Same ol' God loves you stuff about how He's going to do great things in your life. It used to be that prophets were broken, crucified men who had paid a price of decades before the face of God before He released them to bring a word of repentance to the Church.  That's all changed now. I guess God figured that wasn't working anymore and didn't fit with today's socially acceptable Gospel, so he's decided to use every Tom, Dick, and Harry novice with a word of "peace and safety" so that it would encourage everybody to just "love on Jesus".  Those old judgmental, cranky old men are just not with the times anymore.  Besides, it's so easy to pump out these "feel good" messages that everybody can do it ... and so they do.  But it just ends up making a lot more noise.

Filling in the cracks are the guys with their messages about how bad the churches are - which I'll admit is an easy target, but I already got the message. How many different ways can you say it and still not offer any definitive solutions?  If everybody is wrong (which I am not debating), then please tell me what is right and I will listen to you.  Give me some concrete examples, some definitive directions, or something other than sweeping generalizations that lose their significance in the wide spread of their ambiguity.  Worn out expressions like, "You just have to seek the Lord", or "Stay in the Spirit" are great sound bites but have no distinct significance if you don't know how to do that.  Let's face it, everybody thinks they are seeking the Lord and staying in the Spirit.  It's the other guy that they think is off the true path and out of the Spirit.  So we end up with just more noise.

As a matter of fact, even this letter is beginning to sound like a bunch of noise.

I haven't been able to write a column for almost 2 months now. I'm tired of hearing all the same old stuff and not seeing anything come from it. I'm tired of saying the same old stuff and not see any reactions to it.   What's the point? Just to hear ourselves pontificate? Yeah, I know that faith comes by hearing, but after a while I can't hear anything because of all the noise!

At some point, the jangling has to give way to action.  Just before the Lord left to ascend into Heaven, He gave us one last instruction. We call it the Great Commission. He didn't ask us to build humongous ministries, study for ministerial degrees, or yak ourselves into a mind-numbing trance - He told us to go win souls.  It was the last thing He asked us to do. Think it might be important?  Have we done that, or are we so busy making noise that we can't hear the voice of God leading us to go out and win souls.

If you want to get away from all the noise, go out to the streets and witness. It's real quiet out there because so few have chosen to deny themselves, pick up their cross (instead of their microphone), and follow Him. 

But out in the quietness of that solitary walk, you will hear the Spirit of God speak as clearly as you will ever hear Him.

"And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:  And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire:

And after the fire a still small voice."  1Kings 19:11,12

Brother Dale Garris

Today we see many fledgling prophets trying to set the house of God in order, often creating disorder instead. I spent a couple of years in this category, standing in churches, "warning them" and being rejected. Rejection led to anger, and suppressed anger led to bitterness. Bitterness led to unforgiveness and pride. What started out as a gift given to a lowly believer, turned into the festering, stinking sore of pride. James wrote:

Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, "The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously"? But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble." (James 4:4-6, NKJV)

This is the story of how God dealt with me in His wilderness.

One day in 1980 I was praying and seeking the Lord for direction on what He wanted me to say in my church home meeting, He showed me a vision of myself standing on a pedestal in a white robe with all the people in my home group on their knees around the bottom of the pedestal giving glory to God. As each word of praise went upward to heaven and passed me by, I reached out and grabbed it and tucked it in my robe next to my heart. After seeing this I cried out, "Oh God! Is this what I am doing to you? If it is, then Lord kill it!" The gift in me was releasing praises to God, but in my immaturity and desire to be recognized as valid I had sought to be exalted above others and thereby invalidated the gift He had given me.

You see when one is truly dead to self and alive to Him, there is no offense taken when your word is rejected and no pride generated when it is received. There is only one way that I know that God can work so great a death in an individual and that is through tribulation and wilderness.

Shortly after I prayed that prayer of death, God started answering it. First He asked me, "Michael, if I cease to move by my Spirit in your meetings, will you try to fake it?" I said, "No Lord, you quit and I quit." The next day two of the key families in the group called me and told me that they were not coming to the meetings any more. I blessed them and told them that I thought the Lord was telling me that I was to shut it down. The following meeting I announced to the group that it was the last meeting that we would be coming to, but that they were free to continue without us. They had one more meeting and it died.

Next, the church that I was affiliated with was split by a prophetic holiness cult. As the leaders of this group called me in on the carpet and tried to rein me in and get me under their authority, I refused and came under attack and curses by them. My response was to say to them, "I have had all this fun with you Christians I can stand. I'm out of here! I'm heading for Midian on the back side of the desert. I'll see you in about 40 years!" The leader said a most curious thing, "Michael, it need not take that long."

After that meeting I was mad at the Church and mad at God. The next thing I knew His clear voice, which spoke to me so often, ceased to be heard. The scriptures that had so nourished me seemed dead and dried up. I could not find meaningful fellowship with any other Christians. My prayers seemed to fall off the edge of my lip and hit the floor. I felt so alone and betrayed.

Then the Sabean raiding parties started coming in (Job 1:15). I could not find work anywhere! I had three journeyman licenses in my billfold and was sure that I would always have a "meal ticket," but no way! I had been cut off from my supply. I was too proud to accept unemployment, and we (my family of six) were reduced to gleaning food from muddy farm fields and diving in supermarket dumpsters at night for food. Some days I was so depressed I just laid in bed, curled up in a fetal position.

About this time, my wife was near the end of her rope. She prayed one day, "God this school for prophets is very hard. Why do I have to audit all the classes?" The Lord spoke to her clearly, "You are not auditing the classes. You are a matriculated student." She saw me through my wilderness and now she is in her own wilderness, being purified by God.

Finally when we were just about to get a third month behind on our home mortgage and the banker was about to foreclose, I found work. It was humbling to accept a job opportunity through my Mormon uncle, but it was work. The job was an electrician position on Akutan Island in Alaska's Aleutian chain, a treeless, wind-swept volcanic rock on the edge of the Arctic Ocean. Now I was in a literal wilderness as well as a spiritual one, and my family was not allowed to come.

I was cut off, dying inside, missing my family, but most of all missing my Lord. At one point in my tenure on that rock, sitting on my bunk in my depression I watched my consciousness get up out of my body and head for the door as if to say, "I can't stand to live with you anymore, I'm leaving." I cried out to Jesus to please hold me together long enough to get me back home to my family again. He did.

From that point on it was a very slow and gradual ramp up out of that terrible pit, but for the next ten years He kept drawing me to Him with invisible cords, but not enough that I could perceive it. I spent 14 years in all in that spiritual wilderness.

I had a significant encounter with Him in 1990 at a men's' retreat in Idaho. The pastor had another brother and myself stand in the midst of the men and explained to them that God had called us to the prophetic and that He had us in a time of wilderness, asking them to pray for us. The next day I confessed to the men and to God that I had been mad at God for letting Christians attack me and for taking away from me all things that were spiritual for all those years. I confessed that I had sinned by judging God and His church and asked for forgiveness. That started the "big thaw" in my spiritual winter. Things were finally coming back into perspective, "He is God, I'm a sinner," not the other way around.

In 1991 I had my first real Holy Ghost encounter with God in eleven years. I was at a Vineyard conference and His presence came down on me with such intensity that I could hardly breathe. I was back at the Motel between meetings, sitting on the floor in the laundry room between two washing machines reading the book of Jonah. All of a sudden He filled the room! The book of Jonah came alive! Every word was jumping off the page and straight into my heart.

There were more encounters with Him and more testings and trials at the hands of Christians after that, but I kept "short accounts" and had learned to forgive and keep seeking His face in each one. I had determined that I was tired of a diet of, as my friend called it, "roast pastor." I was not accepted with open arms back into church ministries for I still saw things from that prophetic prospective, but I didn't make it my duty to set all of them "right," either.

Jesus said of the Pharisees, "They are blind guides leading the blind. Leave them alone, they will fall into the ditch.""All good gifts come DOWN from the Father of lights." God opposes the proud and lifts up the humble. Sometimes, the best cure for a disease is to let it run its course. When one is on his back in a ditch, it might just be the first time that he has ever looked up and become humbled enough to seek help! Saul the persecutor of the Church found this out.

Well, I said all that to say this... You who are called to be prophets, study the scriptures and see the common thread of wilderness in the lives of God's prophets and invite His mighty humbling hand to prove your heart in His crucible of affliction, that He might truly use you as His purified instrument. Even after this period of wilderness, called by some "the dark night of the soul," I find that He continues to work His death in me as I continue to follow Him and speak His words. As Paul said, "So then death is working in us, but life in you." (2 Corinthians 4:12, NKJV)

The servant is not greater than the Master.

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice [came] from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. (Matt. 3:16 to 4:1)

Source: www.awildernessvoice.com/wilderness.html

I received a forward email from my friend Andrew Strom who in turn received a report from a brother in Finland about a youth revival bursting forth. Here is that report:

"I thought you'd be interested in what's happening here in Finland.

There is an extraordinary movement of the Holy Ghost here. Something unprecedented in its size and growth.

Young people are Coming To Faith; they have an immediate desire to go out into the streets and bring others into the fold. There is NO interest in "church" or religion at all!

They want teaching and spiritual fathers & mothers; they know "only milk" yet go out and teach that to kids in the streets ...  And they Come To Faith!

We have had to open our houses to them ( we were told to buy an old village school 20 years ago...  so surprise-surprise  we have two classrooms where we can train groups of future leaders ). Kids are leaving the churches and seeking The Lord elsewhere because they can't find Him in the religion and ceremonies and that applies just as much to Pentecostal as to Free church, Lutheran, Orthodox, Anglican, Baptist as it does to ALL Organised Religion: they WANT what I call "inspired disorganisation" where MAN doesn't do the organising; we just LISTEN ... And then do as we are told!

One young man ( to whom I have lent my copy of Out Of Church Christians before I even read it myself ! ) is co-ordinating these groups and acts as an enabler; bringing teaching from elders ( in the "mature Christian" sense ) to beginners; arranging meetings and encouraging these young people to keep going ! Very Book Of Acts!

The LORD is doing extraordinary things in India, in Andaman and in Finland ... Thought you'd like to know!

-Dr Mike Story".

Healing evangelist Oral Roberts was remembered Monday as an extraordinary but imperfect minister who was driven by a passion to obey God.

Thousands of mourners filled the Mabee Center at Oral Roberts University (ORU) in Tulsa, Okla., to honor the legacy of a man Crystal Cathedral pastor Robert H. Schuller called one of the most inspiring voices of Christ of the last century. Roberts died Dec. 15 of complications from pneumonia. He was 91.

Among the attendees at Monday's memorial service were Bible teacher Marilyn Hickey, Atlanta pastor Creflo Dollar, Christian Broadcasting Network founder Pat Robertson and Fox News anchor Kelly Wright, an ORU alumnus who sang during the service.

ORU President Mark Rutland said what made Roberts an "extraordinary" man was that "he experienced a gracious and powerful God."

"There was something when Oral leaned into that television and said, ‘Something good is going to happen to you today.' There was something that leaped inside of us and said, ‘It's true.'" Rutland said.

Roberts rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most influential Christian leaders of the 20th century. His message of seed faith and divine healing spread around the world through his books and television broadcasts. In 1963, he founded ORU, which is now one of the nation's leading Pentecostal universities.

Roberts emerged at a time when the church was "weary and dreary," Rutland said, and "made us believe in a God who enjoys blessing people." 

"He was not a perfect man; he was an extraordinary man—a giant who served a perfect God," Rutland added. "What an interesting and historical irony that He took a young man with a speech impediment and caused him to be named Oral, healed him of tuberculosis and made him a world-changer, a healer of the sick and an inspirational leader. That is the God of Oral Roberts, and that is our God as well."

He called Roberts controversial seed-faith message "entirely biblical" and not "some unusual or bizarre doctrine from the edge of Christianity."

"Jesus himself said, 'Give and it shall be given unto you,'" Rutland said. "Oral didn't make up those words, but he made them manageable and bite-sized."

Roberts' surviving children, Richard Roberts and Roberta Potts, remembered their father as a man who was committed to obeying God despite the fact that it often meant he was absent from home.

"He left his family behind, knowing they would be hurt," Potts said. "He chose to go where God's light is dim, then he chose to build that university that God called him to build. ... There may be some of you whose fathers or grandfathers made a similar choice. It hurts. You have to make the decision as to whether you believe he made the right choice. I know my father made the right choice. And I'm so proud that he made that choice."

"He was singing at the top of his lungs," Potts said. "Then he would stop for a while and say: ‘I'm going home. I'm going home. Hallelujah.'"

Richard Roberts read statements from Christian leaders including Schuller, Korean megachurch founder David Yonggi Cho, Lakewood Church founder Joel Osteen, healing evangelist Benny Hinn, Trinity Broadcasting Network Paul Crouch and evangelist Billy Graham, who said he it was a privilege to count Roberts among his friends.

Richard Roberts recalled how his father was dedicated to God before he was born and was healed of tuberculosis at age 17 in 1935 during a tent revival. "Two months later he preached his first message, ‘Healed by the Power of God,'" Roberts said.

He said God healed his relationship with his father when he was 19 and had gone through a season of rebellion. From that time forward, Richard said he walked beside his father in ministry. "I have been with him every step of the way—until he drew his last breath on earth and his first breath in heaven," Roberts said.

He said his father taught him "Jesus is a healing Jesus. He taught me how to walk in love. He taught me how to forgive."

Marilyn Hickey, whose mother was healed while watching Oral Roberts on television, challenged the attendees to follow Oral Roberts' lead in building altars and making sacrifices so God's fire will fall.

She said Roberts sacrificed his finances and his reputation amid criticism of his message on seed faith and divine healing. She added that he could have given up faith when his daughter, Rebecca Nash, died in an airplane accident and his oldest son, Ronnie, committed suicide after a long battle with drug addiction.

"But he put his depression on the altar. He put his grief on the altar. And what happened? The fire fell," Hickey said. "Because he sacrificed, he produced thousands and thousands of sons and daughters."

Yesterday I spent some time with the Lord and seeking him for personal things I believe he wants me to seek. During my time spent with Him, I saw a vision and during this time I wondered why the Lord hasn’t opened up ministering opportunities for me to preach. As I did this my meditation moved toward the prophetic words spoken over me and the Lord directed me to the most recent one I received a little over a year ago; some of you might remember.

He said: “Remember that Word?”

“Yes?” I said.

He said “What was it about?”

I said “You anointed me to write…”

“So”, the Lord answered me,” Why do you want speaking dates if I anointed you to write? And you wonder why you can’t be speaking?”

I speak enough. Youth, podcasts… Yes, it would be great to travel and minister under the anointing in congregations and stadiums, but let me be faithful with what I am commissioned to do.

As I was spending time with the Lord I saw a vision and I really want to see more, to go deeper into the spirit and have even perhaps the veil of the unseen open up to me. I’ve seen some, but nothing definitive or imagery.

The vision I DID see was two great big worker ants pushing closed two great big steel doors to heaven. And the interpretation I got from the Lord was that the workers in the Church are deliberately closing up the heavens to the rest of the church. What does this mean?

Well, I’ll have to tell you a couple things so it may make sense to you if you understood my context.

A little while ago I visited a Church and we haven’t really stated worshiping yet, but we simply sang a chorus. And as I sang I closed my eyes. I saw a vision of me stepping onto the platform and holding a mike. I thought: “yeah, right. I’ve seen that before.” And wonder upon wonder the worship leader called me forward and asked me to pray as the spirit lead me. As I stepped onto the stage I flowed with the remainder of the worship because I myself loathe it if someone doesn’t flow with whatever is going on and just starts to pray. So I flowed with the Holy Ghost and ministered through the Spirit.

As I was singing, the worship band let the music die down and what was actually supposed to happen was we were supposed to carry on. I submitted under the leadership and prayed. Afterward, some days onward from there, many people came to me and said there was a great anointing when I was on the stage and felt the worship had to continue.

Now, I am not sharing this because I think it had anything to with me. To share my heart I must take you to another example, but before I do, let me make the vision I saw practical.

I have written volumes about the clergy and leaders in the Church holding back so much of the potential that is available to the body in their congregations which you could find in articles called: “No permission needed” and perhaps my controversial article “Above the Priest”. What is important to understand from the vision I saw is that unfortunately, or fortunately, I don’t know which word is appropriate in this case, the clergy and their workers are keepers of the heavens, of sorts, especially when we congregate for Church meetings.

What happens is they vaccinate us, when you get a flu shot you are injected with just enough of the flu virus so you do not contract the full virus. And this is what Church leaders are doing. They give you just enough so that you won’t contact the full things, just enough of heaven and the glory of God so that you may be able to get by.  

I had the privilege of raising a small army unit for the Lord a couple years ago and we had a great time of spiritual visions, importations and revelations from the Lord. The Pastor came to me one day and told me that he wanted us to take it slow. He commanded me to give the kids just enough so that they come back the next week. Never give them all of what is available.

Like the worker ants in the vision, the workers in the Church are shutting the full potential of the heavens to us so that they may “control” what we get, like handing out rations in a concentration camp.  I hope you see the seriousness of this. It’s a spiritual principle that God allows. They will be answerable, yes, but we will LOSE out!

To understand the steel doors of heaven they are closing, you have to look at how engineers control the flow of water at a dam wall. They let out just enough at the doors so that the wall doesn’t burst and don’t let out too much for fear of a flood. This is exactly what Church is like. We have a mega Church down the road from us where this is sooo practical, and every time I leave that anointed apostolic Church, I am sad and grieved.  

This concept is completely scriptural as we look at the prophet Elijah when he told the King it would not rain unless upon his word. The heavens were shut for three and a half years. And even though it was a supernatural experience it affected natural things. So, we can affect natural things by our spiritual actions. What we bind on earth is bound in heaven, and what we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Let’s open our eyes!

I don’t know exactly what we could do about this but I know there’s more. I was at a Camp meeting once a couple years ago, and as we were worshiping I felt compelled by the Spirit to cry out more and more, louder and louder: “There’s more!!!” We received an amazing outpouring on that day. And once again, it has nothing to do with me, it has to do with your hunger.

So, what I want to encourage you to do is to get to God yourself. Don’t live on the rations the Church gives you, because if Church meeting on Sunday is your only Spiritual food, I’m afraid I have to tell you that you’re spiritually starving and you’ll be dead soon. All that’s happening is you’re being vaccinated every Sunday.

We had a spat of xenophobic attacks in March last year here in South Africa that resurfaced a little in the late part of this year. I wrote a couple poems about it but an incident that happened there is very applicable to what I’m trying to teach you.

All the refugees were staying together in a refugee camp and as it came time to hand out the food rations, thugs and criminals somehow took over in the food line and made old ladies and defenseless women pay for their food. They were supposed to get it for free, the food was donated. Don’t let this happen to you in Church.

Your soul is your responsibility too! The Bible says that Pastors have responsibility, but if you feel you are not getting the Spiritual feast the way the Lord had prepared it, better you eat at home first as explained in Paul’s instruction on communion where he said everyone must eat at home.

You cannot live on bread alone! And the Glory and revelation you have seen and received along with all your experiences is NOT EVEN a drop in the ocean. It’s a joke how little it is.

You can walk in the anointing every minute of everyday. You can have your own personal relationship with Jesus Christ and don’t need priest to stand proxy for you. You can receive your own revelations from heaven every single day without having to rely on the ration meal the preacher gives you on Sunday.

You’ll get to heaven and you’ll be severely disappointed seeing and hearing of all that was available to you and you never saw, seen, tasted, smelled or felt them.

Please note: I’m a Pastor too, but I’m on a mission to get mine! How about you?

Ivin Viljoen

I have been to a lot of Revival prayer meetings lately.  They seem to be springing up more in these last 5 years than in the previous 20.  Perhaps that's because the need is increasing as the church world seems to be drifting more and more toward a social Gospel that is more consumer-friendly than abrasive.  The harshness of messages of repentance have not only become rare in this new modern Churchianity, but is becoming more and more frowned upon as unnecessarily judgmental, critical, and ungodly.  My, how things have changed!

Sin, however, cannot be scrubbed away so easily.  It takes soap to clean dirty clothes, and soap's active ingredient is lye.  God is a holy God, and cannot, will not, fellowship with sin.  If you want an outpouring of the Holy Ghost, sin has to be scrubbed away.  This Emperor does not wear dirty clothes.

Is it a small wonder that so many souls are left hungry, searching for a church where they can experience the real power of God and the real meat of the Word, rather than an anemic, social version of it?  Their choice seems to be either go naked or wear dirty clothes.

 The prophet Joel wrote that, in the last days, people would be groaning like beasts for pasture, but would not be able to find it.  We have arrived at those days.  I am told repeatedly from real, sincere, passionate Christians that they have given up in their search for a real church that is full of the power of God.  Some compromise by going to a church just to go to church; others have just quit looking.

But oh, how I hear of people praying for revival for their church!  I hear it all the time, "God send revival to our church and pour out the power like You have in times past!  Revive us, O God!" 

Excuse me, but haven't you missed the focus?  The true purpose of revival is not to pump up your church or to energize your services and make you feel so much more excited.  The purpose of revival, true revival, is to win souls - first, foremost, and final.  Energizing your church is only a by-product, not the real focus.

When we forget that, we shift our focus onto ourselves and away from the mass of humanity that are flowing like a great river into the pits of Hell.  We are willing to do all sorts of stuff for our church, but how many are willing to go to the streets and witness to the lost and dying?  Listen to what we ask for when we are asked for prayer requests.  It is always about us, never about the lost.  And yet, was that not the last request that Jesus left us with just before He ascended into Heaven?  Have we forgotten? Or are we so wrapped up in our Church that we no longer care?

Throughout Africa, wherever I would preach, I always emphasized this one point: the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not about you.  It will never be about you.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is about others, others, others.  If you do not grasp this principal, you will never understand the Cross.

Revival is about winning souls, not pumping up church services.  It is the flowing of Blood to wash away sins.  It is the pumping of the very heart of God from which the Blood flows. 

When you forget the true purpose of revival, you lose your mandate from God. 

Brother Dale

Source: Revival ministries mailing list

THIS WORD IS SO AWESOME, IT HAD SET ME FREE RIGHT NOW! PLEASE READ IT ANDCOUPLE IT WITH MY ARTICLE "NO PERMISSION NEEDED AND GO AND DO GOD'S BIDDING!!!

If God has called you to be really like Jesus He will draw you into a life of crucifixion 
and humility, and put upon you such demands of obedience, that you will not be able 
to follow other people, or measure yourself by other Christians, and in many ways He 
will seem to let other people do things which He will not let you do. Other Christians 
and  ministers who seem very religious and useful, may push themselves, pull wires,  
and work schemes to carry out their plans, but you cannot do it, and if you  attempt it, 
you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make  you sorely penitent.

Others may boast of themselves, of their work, of their successes, of their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing, and if you begin it, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.

Others may be allowed to succeed in making money, or may have a legacy left to them, but it is likely God will keep you poor, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, namely, a helpless dependence upon Him, that He may have the privilege of supplying your needs day by day out of an unseen treasury.

The Lord may let others be honored and put forward, and keep you hidden in obscurity, because He wants to produce some choice fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade.  He may let others be great, but keep you small.  He may let others do a work for Him and get the credit for it, but He will make you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing; and then to make your work still more precious He may let others get credit for the work which you have done, and thus make YOUR REWARD TEN TIMES GREATER WHEN JESUS COMES.

The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings or for wasting your time, which other Christians never feel distressed over. So make up your mind that God is an Infinitely Sovereign Being, and has a right to do as He pleases with His own.  He may not explain to you a thousand things which puzzle your reason in His dealings with you, but if you absolutely sell yourself to be His love slave, He will wrap you up in Jealous Love, and bestow upon you many blessings which come only to those who are in the inner circle.

Settle it forever, then that you are to DEAL DIRECTLY WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, and that He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that He does not seem to use with others.  Now, when you are so possessed with the living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this PECULIAR, PERSONAL, PRIVATE, JEALOUS GUARDIANSHIP AND MANAGEMENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OVER YOUR LIFE, then you will have found the vestibule of Heaven.

In April of 2006, during the worship service of a conference at which I was scheduled to speak, an unusual presence of God began to settle upon me. The heavier God's presence became, the more caught up in a heavenly realm I was. I found myself in the middle of an IMAX or 3-D-like experience. It was as if I were in the middle of an action movie.

I saw an unusually large number of men coming toward me, dressed like rugged, ancient men. They were scruffy-looking, strong and muscular—almost scary—and were wearing animal skins. They had swords, clublike weapons, axes, bows and arrows, and shields. Many of them were on horses. The best way to describe them is to liken them to the army in the movie Braveheart. They formed a massive ancient army.

All of them were rushing toward me in attack mode. The army was so aggressive and intimidating in its advancement that I asked the Lord, "Are they for us or against us?"
He said to me, "They are for you."

As soon as the Lord answered me, it was as if I were taken up into the sky to the altitude where jets fly. I looked down at the United States and saw that there were very few lights on anywhere in the nation. The whole nation looked like very rural or remote places I had flown over. There was one light here and another light there, far removed from each other.

However, as this army galloped across the nation, lights began to turn on in the places that the army was moving through. Furthermore, the lights remained on in the places they had already passed through. The lights increased in number until the cities and towns across the nation were completely lit up. It was as if a massive fire had been set that engulfed entire areas.

Going back to Earth, I saw that the galloping army was not deterred by anything; it galloped through walls, buildings, obstructions, fences—anything that stood in the way. Nothing slowed the men down or stopped them.

They were supernatural in strength and courage. There was no hesitation in them. It was as if someone had placed a computer chip inside of them that said, "Straight ahead; don't stop or look back until you have reached the other side of the nation." Billboards, buildings, skyscrapers and houses flew every which way as they galloped right through them.

The further they advanced, the more lit-up the nation was, until there were huge areas where the lights had become contiguous. What had been dark was now fully lit. I looked down on almost blindingly bright cities, towns and even rural areas.

The Lord said, "This is My army."

When I first received this vision, I interpreted it spiritually. In other words, this was not a physical event but a spiritual one—one that happened invisibly but had natural results.

However, now that I have been observing the unfolding of current events both nationally and globally—both in the church and outside of it—I believe that the army I saw is one God is sending to level entire organizations or certain aspects of them, as well as various structures, corporations, governments, churches and so on that are not in line with God's purpose or His nature and character. God is doing something brand new. He wants to fill us with Himself.

Just as what Cain built was outside the presence of God (see Gen. 4), so is much of what has been built in our day. But we are on the verge of a great awakening, a revival of unprecedented proportions. God's presence is going to fill His people in such an all-encompassing way that what we thought was the glory in times past will pale in comparison to what is about to be manifested. William Seymour, the leader and visionary of the Azusa Street Revival, prophesied that there would be another move of God about 100 years after Azusa that would outshine it. His timeframe would put us into the present day: 2009-2010.

But before God can come in this all-encompassing manner, certain things have to be moved out of the way. We are in a massive restructuring and rebuilding "program." God has removed and is removing His blessing from those things personally and corporately that are not carriers of His presence and power. He is allowing them to fall or to fail. He is even throwing "grenades" into programs and activities that keep us busy and distracted from our No. 1 priority: Himself.

God also has to break our trust in everything that neuters our faith in Him. He is looking for a people who are radically surrendered to and dependent on Him. The kingdom of God can move with the greatest power and demonstration only through those who dare to risk all and believe.

Do not fear or be anxious about what you see falling apart or breaking down in this season. I believe God is orchestrating the destruction to:

• Cleanse us of the things we put our trust in that will keep us from leaning wholly on Him
• Break down formal structures that impede His presence and movement so the original intent of Pentecost as a grassroots, bottom-up movement (not a hierarchical, rigid structure) can be recaptured
• Move out of the way the things that consume our time, energy and devotion but are no longer our assignment
• Restore our focus on relationship rather than tasks. It is relationships—first with God and then with people—that frame the mandate for our tasks.
• Create desperation. When everything we have been, done and trusted in breaks down or goes awry, we begin to cry out. There is a crying out that not only saves but also delivers. The Israelites experienced it in Egypt (see Ex. 2-3). But the cries weren't birthed until the way they were living no longer worked for them.

Do not fear the breakdowns occurring all around you. Begin to lift up your voice and cry out to God. God is about to light up every person, every place that cries out in honest desperation.

The army has arrived and is marching across this nation. Things are falling apart on every side. However, the purpose of the collapse is not destruction but transformation. If we respond to God, the lights will turn on across this nation with the greatest awakening in history—greater than Azusa Street.

It is time to cry out. Don't delay! Lift up your voice and unabashedly cry until God hears, comes and pours out His salvation.

About the author: Barbara J. Yoder is the founder and senior pastor of Shekinah Christian Church (shekinahchurch.org) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and is known for her cutting-edge apostolic and prophetic breakthrough ministry. She travels nationally and internationally ministering in churches, conferences and seminars. Yoder is the author of several books, including Taking on Goliath (Charisma House). To order a copy of the book, click here.

If you google “Tiger Woods” right now, you will get around 40 million returns and over 7,000 news articles.

I’m pretty sure this isn’t the kind of popularity he desires right now.  The mainstream media is (as expected) executing the typical “pile on” maneuver and reporting on anything they can get their hands on, and if you’re like me, you’re ready for this story to run its course.

Of course, it won’t anytime soon.  We’ll be treated to headliner stories and sordid details that the generally morbid population feeds on like sharks in frenzy. We’ll get theories, speculations, and allegations that may go on for weeks - even months.

Until, that is, somebody else in the limelight pulls a different bigger-than-life train wreck that turns into the next menu item for TMZ and all manner of gossip-loving folks who love to read about failures so they can feel better about themselves.

But it should be different for Christians. While it may be virtually impossible for us to escape the story, rather than judging or condemning, as Christians, we should focus on what God can teach us through Tiger’s transgressions. 

So…what can we take from the saddening saga of the Woods family?

First, look up.  Our personal failures and spiritual breakdowns so often happen as a result of not keeping our focus on Jesus Christ.  Here’s the way the writer of Hebrews puts it:

Such a large crowd of witnesses is all around us! So we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially the sin that just won't let go. And we must be determined to run the race that is ahead of us. We must keep our eyes on Jesus, who leads us and makes our faith complete (Hebrews 12:1-2).

I have no clue as to Tiger’s spiritual condition, nor is it my place to evaluate or judge since I don’t know him - I haven’t even met him.  But this story reminded me that if I take my eyes off of Jesus, I’m headed for a crash that involves a lot more than a fire hydrant and a tree.

Second, look around.  There are people everywhere who carry a load of loneliness, emptiness, and even depression because their deceptive worldview tells them that contentment and happiness can be found through something material.  Do we really need another story like this to be reminded that all the money, fame, success, and possessions in the universe still do not come close to providing a real and satisfying life?  God created life, so doesn’t it follow that life without a relationship with Him is pretty, well, lifeless?

There was a king named Solomon who lived thousands of years ago who had more bank and bling than anyone has or probably ever will.  He went on a party journey for quite some time to see if he could find contentment and happiness with things here on earth.  In fact, this is what he wrote:

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
       I refused my heart no pleasure (Ecclesiastes 2:10).

In the end, he found himself in a darker place than he ever imagined and he came to the conclusion that without God everything is “meaningless.”  Why?  Here was his reasoning:

He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

What Solomon is saying is that there is a “God-shaped hole” in each and every one of us and trying to fill a spiritual void with a thing or an experience is an absolute waste of time.

But what isn’t a waste of time is the pursuit of God.  Here’s the promise from Jesus Christ:

“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends” (Revelation 3:20).

This “meal” He is referring to is a spiritual feast that no earthly possession or experience can rival.  If you’ve trusted Christ, you already know this, but again, please look around at all the people that are desperately looking to fill the eternity-sized empty space in their hearts.  What they want is what Tiger Woods wants and it is what you have found: Jesus. 

Don’t keep this great discovery to yourself - knock it off the tee like you were playing for your life and the lives of your friends…because you are!

Source: Dare2share
Image: scrapetv.com

South Africa is a country riddled with so many different cultures, beliefs and heritages that it’s hard to keep track of everything. The result is that as a politician you have added to your plate, pleasing the people that submit to different cultures rather than those reasonably acceptable and provided for in the constitution. That’s besides trying to please the alliance parties you cannot rule the country without.

I guess everyone wants a piece of you and you have to please almost everybody, otherwise you may be facing public protests, political demonstrations and strikes. But I guess this is the result of serving a political office in a rainbow nation.

I want to however address the religious side of an issue that has caught my attention in the past month, and that is the Zulu practice of killing bulls at the hand of obedient youths so the King might be strengthened. I kid you not.

This is where we have to discern Christ above culture.

I strongly believe that South Africa is a little way from revival but these attitudes and religious/cultural rites is driving a wedge in the spoke of God’s countrywide visitation. The issue was raised in an article before, probably by a Citizen reporter that thought this is a huma… I mean animal rights issue, and rightly so. Why?

The practice is that a black bull gets driven into a sizeable kraal with a considerable amount of sheep. The sheep is then let out and the bull remains. Zulu youths then chase the bull until it has been completely tired out and then strangled to death. The sangomas then come and skin the bull, harvesting meat they need, and then the rest is burnt along with the bones. The meat may not be eaten, sound familiar?

This is done so the king might be strengthened, because with age he is of course weakening. And through public caucus and interaction with the courts it has been stated that this cannot be interfered with because it may upset the ancestors.

When will South Africans realize that God’s hand is on this country? For instance: where do you think it is ever possible for a country to host an esteemed event like the FIFA World Cup having the highest crime rate on the entire planet, incomplete infrastructures and an irresponsible and a useless soccer team who will by no other way have part in the event unless they were the host country? That’s called God’s favor and Grace. We are truly blessed of God. This is just one way of looking at it. And now we want to honor the forefathers?

South Africa, you have but a year or two at most left to repent. Let your idols and cultural customs go. We MUST let our worship of the forefathers go too. The reason why I think this is such a relevant issue is that were it but an individual or a tribe it was probably different. But in this case the high court ruled in favor of the practice, reportedly because of pressure from cultural leaders.

I am not by any means an animal activist, setting aside my love for animals, but the question we have to ask ourselves is: Who will we bow to? Because you cannot bow to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Jehovah, the upholder and giver of justice, the creator of both the cultural leaders and the bull; and the ancestors. Scripture is very clear that you cannot serve or worship both.

This is a very important issue because the Word of God is very clear on the judgments a nation may receive were they to keep on observing this practice and refuse to repent. My heart is set on South Africa’s salvation, praying, preaching and prophesying the way for South Africa to receive the full blessing of God on this nation.

My point is that the word of God is very clear and the cultural leaders will tell you that observing this tradition is over 3,000 years old. So you see, the problem is not a new one, it was addressed in the New Testament by the writer of Hebrews:

“¹FOR SINCE the Law has merely a rude outline (foreshadowing) of the good things to come--instead of fully expressing those things--it can never by offering the same sacrifices continually year after year make perfect those who approach [its altars].

“²For if it were otherwise, would [these sacrifices] not have stopped being offered? Since the worshipers had ^[a]once for all been cleansed, they would no longer have any guilt or consciousness of sin. ³But [as it is] these sacrifices annually bring a fresh remembrance of sins [to be atoned for],” Hebrews 1:1-3

See, what these sacrifices do, be it to the honor of a Zulu king (which has so many things wrong with it) or be it to honor the forefathers (another red flag going up?) or simply practicing the tradition for the sake of the Scriptural application, all counts bring South Africa before the judgment seat.

We must remember that we as South Africans are held accountable for what we observe and who we honor. This is why the book of Exodus teaches us that those who love God will be blessed for a thousand generations to come, but, and on the other side of that  coin it also means that those that love other gods will have visited upon them the sins of their fathers two to three generations before them. That means that in our current state, we are doomed.

Let us return to God and repent from our ways so we may see the blessings God has extended to us and have in store for the nation of South Africa. God is our heritage and revival is our portion.

Ivin Viljoen.

PS. Ivin Viljoen is a youth minister and provides political commentary in the light of God’s  Word. He is also the moderator for 220genraton.com

All aspiring DJ’s – Audition now!

Have you ever thought of becoming a DJ? Not? Have you ever been frustrated because you cannot find an avenue or platform to live out your calling and passion for the Lord? Do you feel that you have a message that nobody’s hearing at the moment? Do you have a vibey personality mixed with passion for God that you feel could minister to the different youth cultures in our society today?

Well, I know I have, and yeah, you could probably start your own podcast and get your own voice out like that and do your own thing. What we offer you is a family, support and a body of soldiers that bring the Gospel with various flavours to a world of young people who are bombarded with a lot of negative influences in media. We want to offer them a Holy alternative. This is why YOU should audition.

Our next project is a big project, we will be launching a radio station from the website 220generation.com and it’s going to be massive! However, we don’t have the time or the capacity to do everything ourselves. So, if you’ve been to our website and been checking it out, you’ll have seen that we aren’t about ourselves, we are about you and yours, showcasing the very many talents that God has blessed us all with.

The 220 is aptly called so, and not ivin viljoen ministries because the vision of the site is not about lifting me up and making my own ministry prominent, but it’s about all of us getting involved in bringing Christ to the world, filled and lost and confused young people.

So, here is the commission: We need around 168 aspiring DJ’s, from cultures and countries worldwide who want to produce a weekly radio show to feature on our 220radio station or 24 dedicated DJ’s who will commit to a show a day. We have secured the stream and we are getting sponsors for the stream but the 220 airwaves are gonna be pretty dull without varied programs.

As soon as God provides the stream finance we will put up 220radio with some of Pastors Ivin Viljoen’s revival messages, lots of revival comps (these are messages with  either hymns or hip-hop beats in the background), some podcast shows from many of our partners, from partner ministers’ music and interview programs for the meantime.

We want YOU to audition by recording a program and sending it to us.

How do you audition? Here’s how: you enter the audition process by simply entering the following info in our contact form found on our website and title it “220 radio dj auditions”.

* Required fileds

Name *

Surname *

DJ name.

ID number *

FB URL (if applicable)

Twitter account (if applicable)

MySpace account (if applicable)

Daily email, *

Any message or info you think we might need. Add to that your motivation for                 submitting an audition. *

Level of commitment: one program a week or 1 program a day, keeping in mind that we expect a show of 1 hr from DJ’s passing the auditions and a minimum commitment from them of a 6 month period. Quote for instance: “I commit myself to (program regularity, and period), and *

A short bio *

You will probably need the following:

1. Audio recording equipment (or you could just use a computer – this makes it easily accessible for anyone to record a show)
2. A mike (you can use your webcam audio input too, if you have one).
3. A program to record in. We use http://www.audacity.com
4. Content. (Many different content is found on our website and we actually prefer you use it to audition with).   

Guidelines:

1. You may use any of the material available on the 220generation website

2. Any music used in your show may not be signed to a record label i.e. we DO NOT pay royalties, any music used must be submitted for promotion reasons only and carry the full permission of the creator/s.  

3. Your clip must be in MP3 format

4. Your clip must be 15 minutes long, give or take a few seconds.

5. Your clip must have a tag or intro “jingle” that will help people identify with YOUR show

6. The rest of the show must be Christ centered, embrace youth culture, driven towards saving souls and keep in  mind the mandate of the 220 website (the host of these auditions) to bringing revival to young people. 
7. Use any music/genres that apply to youth culture.

8. A separate recording promoting your show.

9. No pet doctrine may be propagated. Anything presented in the program must be Christ centered and lifting Him up.
10. Of course no vile language, sexually explicit material or worldly music or topics of the same kind are allowed. Make it Holy as He is Holy. 

11. You may preach, act, talk (interviews) etc. anything you think will attract listeners to your show.
12. You may give shout out’s and promote your Church, your youth group or any events and programs directly connected to your church or ministry, but we reserve the right to do the advertising.

13. Your show must unfortunately be in English.

14. Unfortunately, the following ages need only audition – any youth ages 16 – 35 years of age.

15. Your show opening must include the following: Your DJ name and 220radio@220generation.com. 

Disclaimer:

Any jingles, taglines or catchphrases used in any audition or show will become property of 220generation.com when you pass the auditions. I.O.W you wave all copyright by entering.

We reserve the right to air your audition program as to be listened to by the listeners of 220radio and used in a competition should we decide to do so. 

Please take note of this very important piece of information: the idea of these auditions is to recruit young people or moderately young adults that have a passion for young people, love Christ and want to see the harvest as spoke of in John 4.

Therefore, we DO NOT pay any salaries to any of the DJ’s chosen to form part of the line-up on 220radio. The entire project is volunteer driven and you will be serving Christ in a very big vision God has given to many prophets worldwide regarding a youth revival in the world. What we do offer you is an opportunity to be part of a great move of God.

Please note, we are by no means professionals, so don’t be intimidated. We are also feeling this out as we go along. It was hard enough to figure out how to get the stream up and connected. But we learn fast. Check out our website, we built that starting a year ago with NO KNOWLEDGE of web designing or programming language at all.

What are the benefits? You’ll be provided with a voice!

OH, also, the judge’s decisions are final.

Promotion: marketing will be done on the following platforms.

Your social networks, 220 platforms which include the mailing list, FB group, Twitter Fam, the 220 website (line-up), video promo’s (Youtube and tangle) and audio promo’s.

Remember: you need to impress the fans/listeners, they vote you in, however, judges have final word.

To give you an idea what we’re looking for, I want to quote a portion Peter Greig’s “vision:

“Herald the weirdo's! Summon the losers and the freaks!”

The opening date for auditions is 6 December 2009 and the auditions close 28 February 2010. We are entering the holidays, so everyone should have ample time to put something together.

Don’t let anything stop or discourage you. If you need guidance or help, don’t hesitate to get in contact with me.

Get recording and good luck!

COMING SOON! Creative designing competition, 220radio launch, 220liveTV launch

Ivin Viljoen

Moderator: 220generation.com

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.

We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much, and  pray too seldom.  We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.

We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life; we've added years to life, not life to years.  We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor.

We've conquered outer space, but not inner space.

We've done larger things, but not better things.  We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've split the atom, but not our prejudice.  We write more, but learn less.

We plan more, but accomplish less.  We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships.

These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition.

These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes.  These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw-away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet, to kill.
 
It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom; Indeed, these are the times!

God gave me a vision 1 1/2 years ago about one of the biggest names in the Christian world and showed me what this person and many other leaders are doing to the body. I saw a HUGE "SUBTLE" written in the sky after this person's name came up. I was sobbing like I've never sobbed before. It was breaking the heart of Jesus. I kept asking Jesus what was breaking his heart so badly and that's when this scripture came to mind..."How I wish I could gather you as a mother hen gathers her chicks but you would not listen." I knew that Scripture and cried even harder because I knew that Jesus wanted the church to turn from her deception and follow Him. That told me that Jesus is very much aware that many in His body are being lead astray. They are deceived and the only one who can open their eyes and get them to repent is Jesus. It's a mixture or amalgam of the truth and lies.

The sense that I got was that much of the church had been contaminated. Poisoned and didn't even know it. Doctrine of
demons had entered, New Age/occult ideas and books had infiltrated the body (many are in the Christian bookstores) and famous pastors were leading thousands down the "Apostate Church " road. Not the true church of Jesus Christ. They were leaving out the name of Jesus, the cross, repentance and the blood. It has become a "Social"gospel to many in the church. Just do "good things" and attach the name of God to it... Oh how I pray that people in the church will wake up!!

Well, that was my interpretation of this 20 minute sobbing session that I had with Jesus. Even though I felt like Jesus was extremely sad at how easily His leaders and sheep were lead astray...I still felt like He was going to do some shaking and gather back as many "chicks" as possible from the enemy's camp. He doesn't need a huge army... he just needs a few people that will do what he tells them to do and HE will make the needed changes. Not everyone has fallen into deception. That's the good news. Just like Elijah thought he was the only one left and God showed him that there were 7,000 other people that didn't bow their knee to Baal. That's the situation with the church today. Praise God!!

Source: http://www.revivalschool.com

We all know what that means. Well, it’s time we all do.

How does it work? Well I’m not from the pink society but I have many friends that belong to this fabulous, free and liberal group in our society. All Christian opinions to the side, all I know is Jesus loves everybody, not wanting us to carry on in our convictions, however, there is an interesting concept coming from the great revealing (erm) of this very peculiar part of society, and that is their struggles to,… - well, come out.

It makes sense that before one comes out, one is inside…? Um. You know what I mean. Well, as you might know, I am a very visual person and process everything visually, and this is how God speaks to me. So, I tried envisioning, physically coming out of the closet. I realized by doing this exercise, that I could apply it in two ways, biblically… through Christianity.

For my first example, I would like to speak to and address unbelievers. There’s something peculiar about coming out for heterosexual individuals, out into the gay and lesbian community… and as I understand it, it’s quite a big deal.

Well, if you become a Christian the principle is the same. Yes, you step into a new community, but more-so, what happens is you step out of the dark closet of the world into the light of the Gospel. And therein is not only the great unveiling, but also finding of salvation for the soul.  

There is a passage in the book of Colossians sharing with us how the salvation experience happens practically. In the first chapter and verse 13 which tells us that we have been translated (that implies we speak an entire new language) from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of the Son of his love.

When one is part of a Kingdom, and you can check this principle in pop-culture and fantasy, you realize that you serve it when you’re in it. Simple. So, being part of the darkness might imply that you are still in the proverbial “closet” and haven’t experienced the brilliance or excellence of a new creation like illustrated in the C.S Lewis novel adapted for the big screen – The lion, the witch and the wardrobe. 

Come out today!

Next example is for Christians. Closet Christians. And the term speaks for itself I’m sure, and is probably more applicable to the gay culture than the previous.

See, as I understand it, many people believe some people are born gay, and that may be partly true, as we are all born sinners. But, the practical side here is that many gay people “coming out” says they believe they were gay all along, fancying someone of the same sex or having softer tendencies. They either “come out” by themselves or they are pushed/nudged out by friends of theirs. And believe me, there is a lot of conversion going on that people do not necessarily see or know about. And that my point.

“Coming out” as in the gay-lesbian community means that you stop keeping your orientation to yourself and let everyone know what you are… Stand up proudly and tell everyone that your are in fact… well gay/lesbian.

I know that I will probably be razzed for this article by said community, but I want to apply this to Christianity. Imagine the next conversation:    

“John, I’ve been thinking about this al long time, and what I want to share with you I’ve been hiding it so long that I can’t even remember, and I thought it’s only fair that you know.

It really makes up a big part of who I am and my convictions are so strong that I need to let everyone know, shouting it from the rooftops as it were, but before everyone knows, or the news spread, I wanted my friends to know first. I hope it doesn’t make a difference to our friendship or the way you see me, but I wish for you to respect me for my decision. And, I hope you will allow me to share my story with you and explain how I got here and why I had to change, I couldn’t be the same anymore.

I have been changing a lot lately and I owe it all to my best friend. He showed me what it was to live, fulfill your purpose and be completely free from your past. He made me see that I wasn’t true to myself and therefore my turning or great revelation is radical and I will probably seem to have changed 180degrees. But it is natural in this case… for my case.

He also showed me that I cannot live or do things in my own strength, I need a partner, someone that can carry me  everyday and help me by pleading my case when it’s needed, show me love when I feel like I deserve it the least and give me a home I can feel safe in.

I realized you can’t be on the fence about it. I needed to decide, am I going to be on the one side or on the other side. John, I have decided and I want you to know. I’m coming out of the closet today and I want you to know, I’m gay!”

Now, imagine that same conversation ending simply with the words: “I’m a Christian”

Be a man, have some guts and tell everyone who you really are. Stop being ashamed because it will cost you dearly in the end.  

Come out of the closet today!

Tell everyone you are a Christian.

Ivin Viljoen

Pastor Ivin Viljoen is a youth minister, published author and moderator of 220generation.com

It was a dark eerie night. The smells from the sewers and human waste inside them seared into the streets, mimicking death and enclosing all living beings walking around the paved streets of the city. The click-clack of Dolce high heels and Italian designer shoes draws a dark nuance from the thick smog filled air.

Down a small street the paved walkway doesn’t reveal much to be recognized save for a dim light at the bottom. At the top stands a bulky, stern faced man with five-a-clock shadow and a Texan cigarette hanging droopily from his mouth. He’s dark, meager and seems ill-to-do as he slowly reveals a smirk, eyeing the light at the end of the walkway.

Slowly, but not cautiously, he takes his first step down to where the light is. He’s holding a chain, playing with it by pulling it up and down with his fingers as he rolls it carefully between his fingers. At the end of the chain, providing a small but sufficient weight is an omen, a sign within reach that’s separated by only a few small chain connections.

Down in the street is a building providing a fitting end to the picture displayed from the top of the paved walkway. A light is coming from a room with embedded wooden windows. The stage inside the buildings ground floor foyer are hidden slightly by bright, immaculate curtains of the finest cloth that would make the most skilled weavers envious.

The inside of the building is something everyone will experience, depending on certain things some may enter and others not. As one approaches the entrance a doorman dressed in the finest couture opens the magnificent wooden door. Upon entering the building, following the beckoning of the doorman it’s difficult not to notice the pure love and kindness coming from his honest, friendly face. His eyes sparkle as he graciously pulls you by the hand into the foyer.

A servant approaches you extending a youthful, yet mature hand by accepting your coat and scarf from you welcoming you from out of the cold, dangerous, unpleasurable darkness.

If you’re still not awed and impressed you do stop dead in your tracks noticing the brilliance coming from the closed white door. Death for the last time. Adding to the door’s brilliance are carefully embedded stones of the purest, most beautifully cut diamonds.

But the brilliance is strangely not coming from the stones on top of the door. It is coming from behind. The light is really blinding ones sight and it penetrates your retina only from ones slightly enclosed eyes.

“Are you sure he is coming Father?”
“I am confident about it. Leira has a job to do and the game tonight has great stakes. It won’t only influence our purpose, but there are many more people that stands to lose if we mess this up”

To be continued...

© Ivin Viljoen

Last month God used a poor pastor from Malawi to challenge my suburban American priorities.

When I arrived in Nairobi, Kenya, last month to conduct a woman's conference, my host, a journalist named Gideon, mentioned that my "pastor friend from Malawi" was waiting to see me. I was surprised to hear this, since I wasn't aware that I had a pastor friend from Malawi. I've never been to that country and I didn't remember talking to anyone from there.

"He says you've been e-mailing each other," Gideon said. "And he arrived today to see you."

Then I vaguely remembered receiving a message a few months earlier from a man from somewhere in southern Africa. He asked if I would come to his country to speak at a woman's conference, and I told him that I can't do events like that with people until I have met them and established a relationship of trust.

In a few hours I met this man, Pastor Peacepound. After a few minutes of small talk I learned that he had traveled on a crowded bus from Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, to Nairobi. It was a four-day journey.

Four days on a bus? I was stunned. I've never met anyone in the United States who has traveled that long to attend a Christian meeting. We simply aren't that spiritually desperate. But this guy was so concerned about the way women are abused in his country—through domestic violence, molestation and mutilation—that he made an astonishing sacrifice.

Then he stunned me again with a question. "You said you could not come to Malawi unless we met. Now that we have met, will you come?"

What was I supposed to say? I almost laughed out loud as I imagined a possible response. "Well, pastor, I'll have to pray about that," just didn't seem appropriate. How could I deny this man's petition when he had paid such an incredible price?What was there to pray about?

This pastor's request reminded me of the apostle Paul's vision of a Macedonian man who said to him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us" (Acts 16:9, NASB). Pastor Peacepound's appeal was as sincere as it was humbling. Before the afternoon was over I had committed myself to coming to Lilongwe. It was the least I could do in light of this man's faith and tenacity.

I'll have to make a few sacrifices to go to Malawi next year. I don't enjoy being away from my family that long. But when I consider the fact that my plane ride from Florida to Africa will take less time than Pastor Peacepound's famous bus ride, it puts things into perspective.

In my recent travels in the developing world I have met so many precious men and women like Pastor Peacepound. They know little of our Western comforts. They've never seen granite countertops, flat-screen TVs, iPods or GPS systems. They can't imagine needing garage door openers, leaf blowers, security systems or the other suburban niceties we think are so crucial. The concept of gated communities or home theaters is an unthinkable concept to them.

These people live in poor countries where many people don't even have access to clean water or reliable electricity. They are just thankful to have enough rice and beans on the table. (Meanwhile some of us are obsessing about whether our gourmet vegetables are organic.)

As I have built friendships with Christian leaders in the developing world, God has totally messed with my suburban values:

• My friend Raja, who rescues throwaway baby girls from trash cans in southeastern India, runs an orphanage for dozens of kids yet lives on a miniscule salary.
• Lydia, a Christian lady I met in Kenya, runs a charitable school in Nairobi's largest slum and cares for numerous special—needs children—even though the school cannot cover her own living expenses.
• Oto, a pastor I work with in Guatemala, feeds more than 100 needy children every day—but he has no health insurance or retirement plan and he has never been able to afford a vacation.

It's uncomfortable to think about these jarring disparities, but I think we should let reality sink in. So much of the world today is struggling while we Americans—even in an economic recession—are living at a level of unimaginable abundance

I pray we will hear and answer the Macedonian cry coming from so many parts of the world. I pray we will act. I pray that someday soon you will meet your own version of Pastor Peacepound, and that you will begin to view the world through his eyes.

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. He is ministering in Canada this week. You can find him on Twitter at leegrady.

In this season we must rehearse the Word! We must meditate on what God says until the power of that revelation enters our bloodstreams and cell structures. We also must learn to worship and minister in our homes. Doing so will allow our gifts to be activated in new ways in small groups. When the time comes that we are not free [to worship publicly in our church buildings], we will already know how to continue in our homes. Take the points below and use them to speak into your life and the environment around you.

Linda Heidler is a scribe in God's house who tries to capture the revelation that is coming forth each time we meet for corporate prayer, discuss in meetings what the Lord is saying from heaven and prophesy. We then "watch" and war with this revelation. Below are 10 key revelatory war points she gleaned during the last two weeks of October for you to decree into your atmosphere:

1. In the season of Ayin, or "The Eye," when God will open your eyes to the demonic realm in a greater dimension, you must see beyond the dark structure that you have discerned and view into the realm of God. The Lord is showing you the demonic so you will know what is resisting you or what will attempt to block or discourage you. When you see these foes, do not be overwhelmed. Remember Elijah saw the "word and the demon gods" that Jezebel was aligned with and ran from his position of authority (see 1 Kings 19:1-2). His actions postponed the Lord's plan to change the government of Israel.

2. The Spirit of God is giving you the prophetic revelation you need before you need it. Be alert to look again at what He has already said to you in the past seasons. He will refresh His voice so you can gain the revelation you need now and see a manifestation of His grace and promise in your life.

3. God has released engineering and conducting angels. The Spirit of God wants many things engineered (as in construction) and conducted (as in electricity) in this season. We are entering into a new 16-year building season. The apostolic leaders who are being raised up today will be downloading heaven's building plan for His kingdom projects. Invite these angels as messengers to bring God's plans.

4. God will be sending some of His people into dark structures. Do not fear the darkness. He will give you "night vision" to see a path of righteousness through any unrighteous structure. This will be like moving in the Gulf Stream through the normal ocean currents. The Gulf Stream is a warm stream that originates in the Gulf of Mexico, goes through the Florida Straits and then moves into the colder waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The demon forces will part like the Red Sea and will be held back while God's children go into their new assignments.

5. We must go up to the source of the river. Do not look at just "jumping in the river" in this season, but go to the source—the place where the river is beginning. Go to the high places. Topple old thrones of iniquity, follow the river down, and break all dammed structures. Find the supply sources that have been withheld from you in the last season. God is opening your eyes to see those in need and is filling your mouth with the word that will bring them past the plan of the enemy.

6. There is a shout rising from us that will cause God to meet us with His shout. He will open the fountains of the deep to release the revelation about how [we are] to enlarge our tents and walk forward in this season. There is a shout deep in your belly where the "springs of living waters" exist. Play skillfully with this shout as it rises and flows from your mouth (see Ps. 33).

7. There is a new "drink" [spring] bubbling up within us that will expel bitterness, pain and sorrow.

8. God will open our eyes to things we could not see in the last season so that He can activate the vision within us and finish what He has begun in us. He is Alpha and Omega. Alpha will show you what needs to be finished. Omega will show you how to walk things to the end.

9. God is making our minds new. The crowns you received in the last season need to be cast at His feet. Those crowns were meant to be given to our Lord and not worn into this season. He is fitting us and giving us new crowns to present to Him. He is putting new turbans on our heads and developing a new mindset for a new season. Read Zechariah 3.

10. You will see Babylon arise in a new way. Do not fear. The kingdoms of the world are becoming His. This will happen as we are sent, as Daniel was, to be the greatest influencers in the Babylon system.

About the author: Chuck D. Pierce is the president of Glory of Zion International Ministries in Denton, Texas (gloryofzion.org). He is known for his accurate prophetic gifting and has been used by God to mobilize prayer throughout the world. Pierce is also the author of many books, including his two most recent, Interpreting the Times and Redeeming the Time (both Charisma House).

Source: Charismamag.com

Even with the box office success of Passion of the Christ and Fireproof, Christian films still conjure thoughts of bad acting, flat storylines and syrupy Sunday school lessons. But the producers of a new Christian horror film say they have created an atypical thriller that is genuinely scary.

Dangerous Calling will be screened in churches this weekend as an alternative to traditional Halloween events.

The film centers on a new pastor who faces dire opposition from his leadership as he attempts to make changes to their small-town church. Although it lacks the gory scenes often seen in films of this genre, the movie is sure to hold the attention of young people, the film's distributor says.

"Because there are so many occultish or dangerous films we wanted to provide churches an alternate," said Andre van Heerdan, CEO of Cloud Ten Pictures, the film's distribution house. "Dangerous Calling delivers in a big way and is genuinely watch-through-your-fingers scary in a number of spots."

Van Heerdan, whose company is best known for producing the Left Behind series, says the film is not overtly Christian but that it will minister to young people through it's subtle messages of faith situated in everyday circumstances.

"[Faith] is part of the story," van Heerdan told Charisma. "You have elements of faith, but it's really everyday people dealing with everyday things."

The movie's writer/director duo, Josh and Jeremiah Daws, say they pulled from their father's experience as a pastor and from their time in youth groups to create the film. They believe the movie's realness will cause it to minister beyond the four walls of the church.

"I believe there's a market for this type of movie within the body of Christ and beyond," Josh Daws said.

Recently Dangerous Calling sparked an online debate about whether Christians should produce or even watch faith-based thrillers.

"A film like this would encourage negative thought patterns, paranoia and fear," one poster stated. "These are the tools of Satan to rob us of our God given joy."

But another blogger, referring to Paul's sermon on Mars Hill in Acts, said Christians should be willing to use nontraditional tools to reach people with the gospel.

"Some folks who would never watch a typical Christian movie will watch a film like Dangerous Calling," the poster wrote. "I personally believe that we need to stop preaching to the choir with our films and use the 'unknown god' of filmmaking to our advantage to reach the lost world for Christ."

The PG-13 rated flick will not be played on the silver screen but will be released on DVD in 2010. Churches that want to show the film this weekend can purchase a public license on the film's Web site.

We often pray for more of the Holy Spirit's anointing. But if God gives you His power, will you actually use it?

A few years ago the Lord challenged me about my level of spiritual hunger. He showed me that even though I had stood in many prayer lines and repeatedly sung the words, "Lord, I want more of You," I wasn't as passionate for Him as I thought I was.

In 1999 my church sponsored a conference on the Holy Spirit. At the close of one service I was lying on the floor near the altar asking God for another touch of His power. Several other people were kneeling at the communion rail and praying quietly for each other.

Suddenly I began to have a vision. In my mind I could see a large pipeline, at least eight feet in diameter. I was looking at it from the inside, and I could see a shallow stream of golden liquid flowing at the bottom. The oil in the giant pipe was only a few inches deep.

I began a conversation with the Lord.

"What are You showing me?" I asked.

"This is the flow of the Holy Spirit in your life," He answered.

It was not an encouraging picture; it was pitiful! The capacity of the pipeline was huge—enough to convey tons of oil. Yet only a trickle was evident.

Then I noticed something else: Several large valves were lined up along the sides of the pipeline, and each of them was shut.

I wanted to ask the Lord why there was so little oil in my life. Instead I asked: "What are those valves, and why are they closed?"

His answer stunned me. "Those represent the times when you said no. Why should I increase the level of anointing if you aren't available to use it?"

The words stung. When had I said no to God? I was overcome with emotion and began to repent. I recalled different excuses I had made and limitations I had placed on how He could use me.

I had told Him that I didn't want to be in front of crowds because I wasn't a good speaker. I had told Him that if I couldn't preach like T.D. Jakes does, then I didn't want to speak at all. I had told Him that I didn't want to address certain issues or go certain places. I had placed so many cumbersome conditions on my obedience.

After a while I began to see something else in my spirit. It was a huge crowd of African men, assembled as if they were in a large arena. And I saw myself preaching to them.

Nobody had ever asked me to minister in Africa, but I knew at that moment I needed to surrender my will. All I could think to say was the prayer of Isaiah: "Here am I, Lord, send me." (Isa. 6:8). I told God I would go anywhere and say anything He asked. I laid my insecurities, fears and inhibitions on the altar.

Three years later I stood at a pulpit inside a sports arena in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. As I addressed a crowd of 8,000 pastors who had assembled there for a training conference, I remembered seeing their faces in that vision. And I realized that God had opened a new valve in my life that day in 1999. Because I had said yes, He had increased the flow of His oil so that it could reach thousands.

Many of us have a habit of asking for more of God's power and anointing. But what do we use it for? He doesn't send it just to make us feel good.

We love to go to the altar for a touch from God. We love the goose bumps, the shaking, the emotion of the moment. We love to fall on the floor and experience one filling after another. But I am afraid some of us are soaking up the anointing but not giving it away. Our charismatic experience has become inward and selfish. We get up off the floor and live like we want to.

Pentecost is not a party. If we truly want to be empowered we must offer God an unqualified yes. We must crucify every no. We must become a conduit to reach others; not a reservoir with no outlet.

Search your own heart today and see if there are any closed valves in your pipeline. As you surrender them, the locked channels will open and His oil will flow out to a world that craves to know He is real.

I have been bullied, lambasted and had my chops busted because I reached a place I thought was good for me to be. I floated high above the ground, was mesmerized by angels and prayed for any person I though had a slight ailment God can heal. Little has changed, sans a few isolated things, but today I am slightly more bearable.

I have always been a loaner even though I was surrounded by people, lots of people… And it wasn’t long before I got branded, yep, branded… and branded properly.

Once I was branded I was proud of it. I was classified into a section of the Christian society very few got to be classified in. I was proud about my new stature… but that was just the problem,… it made me proud. It made me look down on others that didn’t have the faith that I had, that couldn’t believe what I could believe for. A bully with a Bible in my hand.

In I walk into an auditorium as our youth group was rehearsing their hip-hop set for a danced number we were to perform as guest performers at a Church near where I lived. I liked the venue… the fact that it seemed the people had money and the opportunities. I realized however they might just need a Pastor to be assistant to their Senior Pastor, an assistant Pastor – I was in fact looking for a job…

I have been eyeing up the SP’s mannerisms and looking at what kind of person he was. I knew people and could read them well, not necessarily a spiritual gift, but hey! I walked over speaking to God about how this is the perfect opportunity for Him to bless me. Open doors, you know. Well, it seems God agreed, because he told me “You were begging me for a Church to work at close to home… well, here you go”. Today, I’m not entirely sure it was His will for what I was about to do, but over I went.

I came closer to the SP and immediately realized that our personalities would clash… heavily. It’s not that he won’t like me much (I later learnt it was rather the “board” that didn’t like me), but it was that I didn’t like him much. Hey! Jesus said love your neighbor, not like him… anyway… As I came closer I said to God: “Oh Lord… I can’t do this… It’s gonna be very hard for me to get along with him. He has the personality and mannerisms that REALLLY irritate the bugs out of me.

Well, the rest of that story is for another time, but what I want YOU to take away from that is that there was a certain “feeling” or inclination that we will not jell well. Next story.

I took our youth out a couple times to a fast food joint, coffee shops etc. and what we’ll do is take up a communal offering, order what we want and trust the Lord that there would be enough to pay for everything. It never failed me. Then after we had our fill we I would share a parable with them from some object lesson God would share with me in that week. But one day, two or three of the youth members got the brand too!

They stood up immediately, not because of my lesson, because my lesson was about letting go of sin, they responded they want to go pray for EVERYBODY in the coffee shop. Some of you might say that’s the way to go… and I would usually agree. I love and condone going into the streets, preaching the Gospel and praying for the sick and oppressed. But these kids didn’t serve God, had lots of questionable motives and were unfaithful. As much as I knew that was probably the right thing to do… It didn’t seem like it was this time. Let me tell you why:

Myself, the Senior Pastor in my story and the youth all had something in common. We were branded! We carried around a specific brand that is offensive to everybody, Christians and non-believers alike. Also, along with that branding comes a certain characteristic, personality and fruit… albeit bad ones.

The brand is SUPER-SPIRITUALITY.

Well, to conclude my story, I was supposed to start broadcasting a radio show two weeks or so back and when I got the hook-up I was very excited. I mean this will not only be great but also good for the website. Imagine every two minutes: “You are listening to 220radio, broadcast ministry of 220generation.com!” Awesome eh. Well, that didn’t materialize.

First, my material had to first be “listened to”… to screen and watch for good sound doctrine and I understand 100%, but that doesn’t make sense if you were looking for a friend request from me and told me about “…we’re inviting people to broadcast on our show”. I thought: “What a break!” and was excited but should have listened to my inclination when I went and tuned in to sample the show.

All I heard was “praise the lord…” and “we pressing in for the anointing…” and “we cry out to you Father…” which is all good an Biblical… but the tone and … I don’t know something was off. And I didn’t listen to God voice when he said: “Hey! Remember Pastor so and so? How you almost turned around before doing your ministry pitch to ‘em?” – “I remember…” I said as we shared a chuckle. Yep, it okay… you can share a laugh with God. After all, He said He’s your friend.

I wouldn’t remember or write down this account if it didn’t hurt me so much. First, I should be offended after someone approached me and then once I sent my material told me that they haven’t heard from God if we should broadcast on their station. What in heavens name are we speaking to each other then? – but that’s just me.

Then, once or twice, on a status update and a personal message here and there I asked what was happening… Because this “station” was very unprofessional. Luckily I haven’t shared with anyone where I was going to broadcast, so no-one knows which station or who I’m speaking about. We were agreed on a time… twice. Now if you have any professional courtesy and experience of website marketing, you will know that when you tell people something’s gonna happen, you best make it happen. Because otherwise people lose faith in you and your “product” suffers.

It was simply unacceptable to me. I mean, I made sure from the station manager the times, we agreed on a slot etc. Of course, like any person in my position would have, I got in contact and explained my disappointment. The response I got is that I can not be disappointed as it is a blessing – i.e free. Always being the least and keeping my nose clean I apologized and asked what is the next move. We agreed on another time.

When the second time I awaited my program to air, imagine my amazement as I heard someone else preach in my slot. And then songs, in the slot we agreed upon. Now I got angry, because I haven’t been in ministry too long (compared to veterans) but I have been serving God diligently for six years. I work hard… and  I spent a considerable amount of time preparing and recording the show. It had music, messages of mine and other news, missionary focus, prayer focus, scripture and website of the day. It was aimed at youth and therefore vibey etc. Can you see where my anger comes from? And the more the program launch dates pushed on, the news given in the program of almost three weeks ago is now… well, old news.

I got angry because this is another time where an agreement was  made between myself and a “man of God” flowing in the anointing… spirit filled etc. etc. Another agreement broken and promises dissipating to lies. I was tired of this.    

I told the dear brother that he was being a stumbling block to me. You know what he told me? I should pray more, yeah, and He says what I’m saying is a lie from the pit of hell. He, he says, is a blessing! “Well,..” I thought, “brother, a blessing ain’t such if it isn’t received”.

Well, according to Him God opened the door and I closed it. Lol! Most of you know me, and some of you would even brand me. So, if I brand someone, you know it’s real intense.

Let’s place our feet back on earth. Before you criticize this article or vent on other platform, go listen to my messages on my website (link below) and see where I’m coming from. I get it, but let’s stop thinking we glow in the dark, fly with the angels and walk through walls (I have a friend who left the Church because the Pastor couldn’t – see what I mean?) … C’mon.

We are people, who have to deal with people. Jesus knew that, that’s why he sat with sinners, prostitutes and tax collectors and he told them parables. The simple man understood Jesus well, but the Pharisee who is supposed to “get it” didn’t . Why? Because he was branded: Super Spiritual. “You’re a teacher of Israel, and you don’t know these things?” Jesus said to Nicodemus. “You don’t believe me if I tell you of earthly matters. How can I explain to you the things of heaven…”.

In short, here is a list of characteristics common to a Super-Spiritual:

1. SS’s always have to “pray about…” everything. No decision can be made without days of prayer on the subject.  I agree if it’s a life changing decision, but to meet someone or to help someone out – yes or no would do! Most of the time it’s a lie until someone can think of a good excuse.
2. SS’s will always tell you to go pray more. Even if they don’t know you, you need to pray more and you’re definitely NOT on the same spiritual level they are!
3. They always pray in tongues, loudly! I always pray in tongues too, in fact all the time, but not loud so everyone can hear me. Pray loud if you’re by yourself, if you have to or in a prayer meeting/service, sure. But at your workplace or even in church… C’mon. Refer to what Jesus said the guy praying on the street corner’s reward is.    
4. They always have to check people out. If someone is so spiritual, couldn’t your discernment tell you what’s the deal? No, you have to go pray about it and so on and so forth… Not so spiritual after all.
5. SS people have a lot to “share”, always have wisdom from either the Bible or some vision/ dream they had and suffocate you with it. If you don’t understand, you’re not spiritual enough.
6. Finally, SS people can do all the spiritual things; speak in tongues, claiming to pray for hours, heal people… some may even claim to do crusades on a daily basis in countries you’ve never been to, of course. However, you fail to see much fruit from it. In their ministries and their character.

What’s the difference? How do we see the true “spiritual” man? BY HIS FRUIT. What fruit you might ask? Well, for starters, the ones in Galatians 5:22. Start there, that is challenge enough.

…and honor your word, answer your emails or messages, make the appointment you said you will get back to someone to make, meet deadlines YOu set, Make sure you’re conversation is finished before loggin off, …ag wat!

These are just personal gripes and experiences. Can you share any? Comment below!   

“First the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear” Jesus said. “Precept upon precept, line upon line”… the prophet said. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual”.

“But the natural, nonspiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him; and he is incapable of knowing them [of progressively recognizing, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them] because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated”

Let’s be very spiritual, and walk with Jesus through fellowship with Holy Ghost ON EARTH, like Jesus did.

If you’re offended with this article, good! I was once just like you, I hope I helped you.

Pastor Ivin Viljoen is an author, youth minister and moderator of 220generation.com.

Go to our website http://www.220generation.com

Hey everyone. I make this appeal to all who wants to get into writing or have been writing for a while and fancy having their work published. I have an assignment for you.

Before I tell you what I would like for you to do, I must first clarify the word publishing. Right now, I could go on the net and copy/paste some clever definition from a unaccredited online dictionary, giving you the description of what publishing really is.

Well, since the interweb weaved itself into our lives everything changed… the world became significantly smaller. People that were faaaar away from us can now be instantly connected with in a simple click and ideas shared across cultures and corporate divides without boarding a plane.

Things have surely changed. And so have publishing.

Let’s look at it for real. If you’ve been blogging… on a recognized platform perhaps, you’ve been published. Simple. No arguments can be afforded. People think that you are published once you’ve got a book on the shelf in CNA, Cum or Exclusive books (not necessarily the best sellers shelf), but they are wrong.  I am of the opinion that if you’re material would, whatever format or genre it befits, be found in a shop or even a warehouse, it’s simply braking you’re real potential. There’s other means of getting you’re voice out there other than the tradition bound copy book.

Don’t get me wrong, the concept I am explaining is rewarding, but should not be confused. I want you to understand two things. First, there is the Author, you are an author if you write… no matter how utterly disastrous you are. Secondly, you are published if you have even one article published in such a way that it is available for someone to read. I could have written an article on Benoni attack beetles destroying the roses of the old age homes in the vicinity, crushing the meaning for life for our dear senior citizens… and being mildly successful, it might have even rallied people of all ages to action and protest. That’s effective publishing.

Now being paid for publishing is a different story and that’s where I want to encourage you. Don’t think because you are no Wilbur Smith, writing a novel over the weekend and having it on the New York Times bestsellers list the next, you are not worthy of writing. You are. Not all published, paid authors are noteworthy… I mean look at the latest, horrific renderings of author Dan Brown. That alone should encourage you that you could also write good pieces of litterature… Anyone for that matter. That opinion is perceived as biase, I’m sure… but it IS my opinion.

When getting started, you shouldn’t focus on getting paid. Do it as you’re hobby, and for the love of it. Just that. You hone your skills over the years and sharpen your pen every article you write and eventually, if you persevere with this as a dream, it might become profitable for you.  

How does one get started? Well, as the simple metaphor explains, crawl before you walk… or run for that matter. And I would like to get you started. You do an assignment, and I’ll publish it for you… I need you and I can do something for you in return. Once you did the assignment, I will publish it as widely as possible… people will read your name, and if you’re work is good, you might even be picked up by a magazine or as a columnist of a paper. You might have better luck than me.

I am not promising you anything, make sure you understand that… All I’m offering you is giving you an assignment. Let me tell you what it’s all about:

I have a website called the220 and it is located at http://www.220generation.com It exists for one reason, and that reason is found on the page called “The vision”. I read an article three years ago and it changed my life. I realized that if we are gonna see a revival of religion (not traditional, but in the sense of returning to God), we gotta embrace the times. I would love to see young people embrace the tools our time has provided us with reaching other people with the Gospel.

We are periodically launching various projects from our website to promote revival among young people (of which I have extensively written in the past, and been published on) and to get them involved in evangelism. One of those projects, which is a poetry competition, has already launched and here is another one.

Okay, I have explained everything properly, here is the assignment: I have several things that I need reviewed, and here is an opportunity to start at the bottom of the ladder (we all have to) and write your first piece (if you have been writing for a while I would appreciate your input too!) and get it published.

Simple.

First assignment: go through our website http://www.220generation.com and surf the site extensively, give your opinion and be brutal. I value the public’s opinion on my writing. Comment on the design, the content, opinions, the bias (if any) etc. Do your review extensively. When you’re done tag me on Facebook (ID ivintherevivalist), email the review to ivin@220generation.com or sned it to me via @the220 on Twitter.

I hope you enjoy the site and I hope to receive your review soon!

Ivin Viljoen

Pastor Ivin Viljoen is an author, youth minister and moderator of 220generation.com.

Go to our website http://www.220generation.com

I have thought about Facebook as a ministry tool and I’m sure the subject has been discussed tirelessly. I believe I have a few angles I could add to the never-ending process of learning and development of our skills and networking abilities.   

See, I have cursed Facebook at first and spoke of it as a tool of the devil… and it could be, if you use it in the wrong way. But by being equipped and trained, I believe you can use Facebook to the benefit of the Kingdom and for reaching souls and submitting to the works set out in Isaiah 61:1-3.

I have read a book called Facebook for Pastors http://ministrymarketingcoach.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/facebook-for-pastors-by-chris-forbes.pdf but I want to offer unconventional tips and guiding points that I believe haven’t been looked at before. I will approach them out of a “revelation” standpoint as something I haven’t read before. The Church of God has been using platforms like Facebook etc. but I believe the tools and tricks have not been exhausted and haven’t been fully explored yet, however, I believe God’s people can do with some training in etiquette and integrity. I hope you find it educational and a measure of equipping.

As you may have realized, I endeavor to tackle a measure of issues that I feel the Lord asking me to address and provide guidance about. This will make part of a series of posts that will be posted as notes on Facebook or on the blog on my website. Here goes:

I want to start of with deleting Facebook “friends” as a springboard to this series. I have two cases to share with you:

Firstly, as a Christian, using the platform of Facebook to not only connect with ministers all over the world, but you are also able to reach out with the Gospel to people you may think are unbelievers. Speaking of deleting “friends” on Facebook, it is very interesting to note that (and sure, this is a personal experience) the people that delete you are Christians.

Now, I don’t know what you do, but I like to post articles, videos and mp3’s that is related to revival and winning souls on my “personal” (please note the word “personal”) Facebook profile page. Now, Facebook is designed so that all your updates appear on a page cleverly bringing all your posts and your friends posts on one page – thus promoting everyone’s interaction and contributions equally. This helps you as a person to see all the posts by all your friends, “share” them with others on your profile, or comment when you have a view, an opinion that might differ from others, or even if you agree.

What happens is that Christian “friends” then delete you from their profile (not that I am sore about a person deleting me from their “list”). This, of course happens because of two reasons: One, they either say that your posts and updates are too much – crowding up their home page (C’mon, are you serious? That’s what the home page is for…) or… two, they don’t “agree” with what you (yes, they think it’s you…) are saying (now, posting a video or article rarely makes it my opinion. That’s why there is a button next to the article/video reading: “share”… not “when you press this button you are expressively  proclaiming to all and sundry that THIS is by no doubt or debate your  expressive opinion”.

It is interesting to note that rarely, if ever, an “unbeliever” (and I use this term with the uttermost respect as referring to a person that does NOT serve Christ) has ever deleted me from their “friend” list because of what I posted. Actually, I know of one person that did – the rest are all loser Christians that cannot communicate or play with others. If you don’t know, these are tools God has made available to use for His glory. By you commenting on a video or article I posted an unbeliever friend of yours may see it on your profile… (yes, they are watching you) and actually receive something from the Lord, perhaps even receive salvation… but nooooo! You’re too spiritual for that. In fact I bet all your friends on your profile are all Christians.      

This makes me think: is it a confirmation that a lot of Christians are lukewarm and don’t really have a passion for souls? The reason we are so ineffective is because we are “herded” together like sheep ( we are sheep, I know…) and  never will we meet other sheep of other herds or farms… share with them grazing techniques, lustry grazing spots or techniques for evading that ferocious wolf we all herd (hehe) about. No we take after and care for our own… all ten or even hundred of us.

The problem here is actually deeply seated in many things I have not space enough to write about. But to name a few: one, we cannot receive from each other, two, we cannot biblically interact… (if a brother is off the path, make errors or even offends, there are biblical ways for us to deal with them – but excommunicating them? I think this action defeats the point of ministry) and; Three, we have been “classifying” ourselves in such a measure that we cannot agree, and anyone that doesn’t agree with us is “not of us”.

I know I could be over the top, too much and I test even my wife’s patience and degree of love (bless her heart), but don’t you think people like me (and others of course) have been placed on earth, or in your Facebook domain, so that YOU can work on your character and develop patience and exercise faith etc. I don’t know how many people actually read the articles I write, but isn’t it possible that you could actually learn something from me (and visa-versa of course).

Then for my second point (and I hope this opens your eyes): There are two kinds of “deletion” scenarios. One, you could be deleted by some conceited badger who thinks life is to be lived in hibernation and hiding… because they either don’t like you or your posts,… or… two, you delete someone because ”something doesn’t feel right in my “spirit” when I read his updates or look at his profile pic”. And I’m realizing this instance because I also did the latter.

Perhaps this post is a bit biased because I am an acute “rejection-sufferer” (and don’t pass me your sympathetic comments. You didn’t care before…), but also because there is a certain “power” trip you get from deleting someone… especially after an argument or fall-out about something really trivial (if you go and think about it).

Recently I also had that “super-spiritual”, I have a check in my spirit about someone…, “picking something up…” kinda feelings and deleted two people from my Facebook. I have been looking at both their pages frequently (sinners and unbelievers who are generally “lost” fascinate me), and looking at both their pages I realized, only afterward, that their profanity etc changed, they aren’t posting unsavoury or derogatory comments and even the “boxes” on their profile about weird groups and questionable pages have been removed.

Here it is important to follow the voice of the Holy Spirit in everything you do (without being super-spiritual, there’s a difference), because as soon as I deleted them the profile flashed before my eyes in a vision. And it’s only then that I realized; “Hey! They don’t have those compromising things on their profiles anymore.” And then the thought:; “Is it possible that I had some influence in his life with all the various forms of ministering?”  And it’s as if God slapped me upside my head and said; “why do you think you get in touch with them through Facebook. You have nothing in common with each other. Now you done and deleted them!” Gulp.

Sometimes we are too spiritual and misuse the “power” you have to delete people. In my case: “Well, everybody deleting me, I think I might as well delete some people too. Let me see who’s avatar looks the worst and writes the most ungodly thing…” Not realizing that it’s them who needs Christ… not the Christians!

So, all Christians, please delete me from your profile now, because what I have to say and what I do can help you nothing. I am sold out to get souls saved and then equip them to share their faith with the different tools I’ll teach them how to use. I’ve been trying to show you but you delete me… (I’m joking of course, if you’re offended right now, please refer to Revelations 3:15-17). The sad thing is, those that I have deleted , I cannot find anymore.

Sigh.

Of course, if you are being stalked, harassed or abused; block, report or inevently delete. By all means. But in other circumstances… Who do you think you are anyway?

My only regret in this article is that those “delete everyone I don’t like or agree with”-Christians won’t be able to read this… unless the article is shared.

[End note: What is the difference of being super-spiritual and being led by the Holy Ghost. The one is submitted and obedient and the other is hypocritical. The superspiritual and hypocritical tells everyone he listens to the Holy Ghost for what he wears, eats, speak to, being friends with etc. The submitted, obedient one you will probably not know about that trait, because he doesn’t proclaim THAT from the rooftop but listens to the Lords voice regarding everything. Don’t ask constantly “what shirt should I wear Lord, should I eat whole bran, cornflakes or pronutro for breakfast… or says” I’ll pray about it” every time he is asked something, etc. He just heeds to the voice of God in all matters)         

Ivin Viljoen

Pastor Ivin Viljoen is an author, youth minister and moderator of 220generation.com.

Hello everyone

It's been a long time since I've blogged about anything, but I've been discouraged, burnt out and looking for fruit - I didn't really see any the last three months or so. However, I am making great connections all the time... it just takes time to get to them.

Great news is that season 2 of The Wartley's have jumped off this week and I should have the cartoons I scripted up soon. Also, I made a connection recently in New York where I will be broadcasting on internet radio daily from 12h00 - 12h00 New York time. That's very exciting for me, and  I have been writitng articles for a magazine in India.

Well, bless God. I'm sure you don't want to hear me brag about all the stuff I'm doing :p Please look at our poetry competition and see if you can enter. Also, get involved with the 220 as we are brining revival wherever you are.

I will start blogging again soon and hope you will read my politically inspired and christian views on the news posts everyday.


Your in revival.

Ivin a.k.a Tony2Cents

Times are tough, for everybody. And if you’re carrying burdens of people and have compassion for your neighbor the way Jesus told us to have love for our neighbor (Matthew 22:39)– for you, it’s going worse.

I’ve been talking with a couple Pastors since I-Net Bridge announced we are in a recession and what I’ve been saying for a year now I need to repeat: The Church structure, all the things man built, our hierarchies, the temples and buildings … all of it is coming down!!!

We are facing foreclosures everywhere and financial pressures are rife. It really seems this is happening. And for those of you who want to razz me about where this is in Scripture, I gladly oblige...:

MATTHEW 21:12,13.

Let’s start with where Jesus burned with passion for the Temple (Church in today’s terms) that he DROVE OUT the people selling stuff with the moneychangers. We DON’T preach THAT in our congregations!?!

“Let’s talk today about how Jesus drove out hawkers in the church buildings… Before we do tho’, take a look at this beautiful sandblasted clock with the Church logo on it: This particular piece costs RX and we have it at a special…”

Ah, you salesman you, if we “sold” the Gospel “without price” (Matthew 10:8) more we would probably get somewhere quicker than the snail pace at which the Gospel is advancing right now.

Maybe there’s a reason why He drove them out; perhaps because we have put the light in the Church (under a bushel?) and everyone who HAS a light hide in the four walled buildings. I just see my dog shuddering in the cold and my heart cringe. Last night, on the way to prayer meeting, the wind blew so strong that I didn’t know how to keep my scarf etc on because of the force – and did I mention it was cold? I caught myself praying: “Thank you Lord, that I have a roof over my head with a wall to protect me from the elements. And the question a friend of mine often ask is: “How many beds do you have that’s empty?” Umm. Yeah.

JOHN 2:19

What about Jesus speaking to the Pharisees about the temple (which He just drove out from the Church (sorry, temple) – look at after Stephen’s standing,  how God allowed persecution through the very vessel He was to use later to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles and writing 2/3’s of the New Testament.  What did God allow that for? Perhaps to DRIVE OUT the Church OUT OF JERUSALEM!!!

He told these guys that he will destroy this building (Temple/Church: remember?) completely and then rebuild it in three days. The Bible CLEARLY states he was talking of HIS BODY! (John 2:21)

He was passionate about it! Instead of being the Body, walking in the street (Peter’s shadow healed people while walking IN THE STREETS! – Meantime we’re “manufacturing” miracles to seem “authentic”. Maybe we won’t have to if we were where we are supposed to be)  we lock ourselves into a building.

JEREMIAH 1:10

God calls Jeremiah as a prophet and 2/3rds of his calling is to “to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down”

Assess your motives, or the motives of your Church (if you’re not in power [lucky person!]) and see if what is happening and what you’ve built is from God and His direction, or is it from YOUR PLANS & PROGRAMS.

If it is from God, it will stand, but one thing is sure; the structures and hierarchies are coming down. You may ask like the disciples did after Jesus said it’s hard for the rich to get into the Kingdom: “Who then can be saved”.

Being in the will and direction of God is key. Find out from Him what should the Church look like in your town, and what should they be doing, TOGETHER…

Finally, a last Scripture for those who seek such support for a post of prophetic insight:

“And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken,

as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”

Hebrews 12:27

The current climate of all things are designed to bring revival. It’s ripe and coming.

Who will be used? Those that cannot be shaken.

Who will not be shaken? Let’s look at this:

“And every one that heareth these sayings (God’s word – what Jesus taught) of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” Matthew 7:26,27. Emphasis mine.

Yours in revival!

Ivin Viljoen

 

         

Hello everyone.

I hope you have been blessed and that you are excited about revival in south Africa and all over the world. The times, as they say, are ripe with opportunities to preach the Gospel.

Some news from my side is that the 24.com platform I have been using to blog my Tony2Cents stuff from have been closed down. I am archiving all the posts there to see what I can do with them, However, I have moved the blog onto Wordpress for lots of different reasons. If you are familiar with it the writings, here is the new link http://tony2cents.wordpress.com/ I just started a new series of posts that might just make it into a book. It’s called “Surviving in South Africa: A practical guide for Christians to survive South Africa’s hostile climate”. I hope you will follow me there…

This message is actually to familiarize yourself with the 220generation website. I have already posted to you the “Hot Tip# 1” a couple weeks ago and I hope you went and played with it a little bit. It’s a great way to share the Gospel without actually preaching one on one, street or on platforms. Here though, is Hot Tip # 2 :

The thing that started almost everything I do regarding youth ministry was sparked by a vision I saw – and funnily enough I read a one page blurb of a vision someone received and wrote it down. Aftyer reading Pete Greig’s rendition of “The Vision” I flipped, but like completely. It was something that puts into words exactly what I felt God was about to do.

Now what I want to you to check out is the many renditions of this vision many youth groups and even Pete’s staple “transformations” have done of the written vision. Go to the page called “The Vision” at the website http://www.220generation.com or use this direct link http://www.220generation.com/page2.htm. Here you can read a transcript of it, download the pdf and watch the many videos posted there.

Now first thing you can do to inspire your friends and everyone your meet for revival, especially among young people, is to hand out the printed “vision”. That alone will start a fire.

Also, what you can do is choose your favorite video, let it play right through, then when the screen goes small you’ll see two codes: one is to embed with – usually the bottom one (share it on your blog and website if you can) and also you’ll find the “link” that directs straight to the youtube page from where it plays. Copy it.

Now, on the websites menu, go to “downloads”. Click on the pic that says “download youtube videos”. Download the program and then go here http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/codecs_and_filters/ffdshow.cfm download it and install. Now, open yotube downloader and it will automatically register your youtube link you copied. The button “Download video from Youtube” should be marked, Click OK. Let it download. Then, select the button that says “Convert Video” but make sure that you go into the folder you saved the download from and choose that exact same file (it ends in flv.) Then click OK. There you have the file of “the vision” video you like.

Now, altogether now: “Print it on CD/DVD’s, write http:/www.220generation.com on the disc with permanent marker and give out as many as you can”

Well, that’s hot tip # 2 for our website and give me some feedback huh? On the site, these tips, the group, whatever.     

Please invite your friends to this group or tell them to sign up for my newsletter.

var addthis_pub="the220";

Hello everyone.

The 220's "slogan" is "embracing youth culture, appropriating revival". Revival is all about having people realize God's call on them and embracing Him as their Savior.

Well, I want to call on you to get busy. Have you ever heard of Christian comps? It's a relatively new concept that people started with around 2005. It's a tool for people who have a heart for the lost but don't feel quite comfortable to preach open air (God knows the pulpits are forbidden ground...).

So, what you can do is make use of tracts... I know, I know, those boring, seem-to-be-clever papers that have some lame cartoon or illustration on them everybody since my grandma saw. No, no, this is very different, and radical I might add...

Do you think you can share CD's with your friends? You do? Well, go to the flea market and get some empty or blank CD's, the cheapies would do. We all get about a hundred at a time which should cost you about R1, $0.10 per Cd.

Do you have a CD writer? If not, get a friend who has one involved and he could even help you hand them out. Then, if you like hip hop, go to our Sermon Jams page here http://www.220generation.com/page47.htm They are radical revival sermons snippets over hip-hop beats. Listen to a couple you like and download them by right clicking your mouse and click "Save as". Then drop them onto a Cd and hand them out to everyone you feel you want to reach but don't have the boldness to preach open air yet.

On the CD, you can then write our address http://www.220generation.com with a permanent marker on the CD. It will then direct them to the site which could help people find the Lord through he Gospel preached, cartoons, video's, other audios and even some pages that provide answers to many of peoples struggles today.

That's it.

Don't like hip hop much? Don't think your "patrons" would like such? Go to  http://www.220generation.com/page7.htm where you'll find revival preaching over hymns and worship music.

That's our HOT feature fro this week. Please invite your friends to the 220? http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/group.php?sid=2a2d2b0c3f6e4316034c2cc390393c19&gid=21128536683&ref=search

God bless.

Ivin

What does God really want from us? Have you ever asked that question? I know I sure have. So many times I have cried out to the Lord and asked Him that question, “What do You want from me Lord?” His answer is usually one of two responses. He either says, “I want you to obey Me”, or He says, “I want you to trust Me”.

Have you ever considered that those two desires that the Lord has of us are so closely related? Why would we obey Him if we don’t trust Him? The truth is, if we won’t obey Him concerning any particular thing that He tells us to do, then we don’t trust Him. If we really trusted Him, then we would rest assured that He knows what’s best for us and that He wants what’s best for us.

If we don’t believe and know those two things, it’s probably because we have some distorted view of what kind of Father He really is. How we see Him is far too often determined by things that have happened in our lives. Maybe our earthly dad or some other authority figure in our life had abused us in some way.

Maybe we look at God through a distorted lens because of our own expectations of how we think God should act or what we think a father should look like. I’ve even known people to have a false expectation of God because they believed that their earthly father was a better father than God is. This happened because their earthly father gave them what they wanted and God wouldn’t do that.

Instead, God gave them what they needed. The truth was that their earthly father had made a spoiled brat out of them and they wanted God to do the same, something I too have been guilty of. Whatever it is, there is obviously something that is holding us back from seeing God for who He really is so that we can trust Him and obey Him.

I know that many of you have heard me use this same verse many times (Proverbs 3:5&6), but that’s because God has used this one verse to make such an impact on my life and to teach me so many things. This is what Proverbs 3:5&6 says,  “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge God, and He will direct your paths.”

I find it quite amazing how this verse relates to what the Lord is having me share here. This verse lays out three things that we are supposed to do, and then it tells us what God will do.

First of all He wants us to trust Him, in fact, it isn’t just a request. He is not asking us to trust Him. In that verse He makes a statement. He commands us to trust Him, but He does it in a very gentle way. He does it like a Father.

Secondly, He wants us to lean not on our own understanding. He wants us to stop trying to reason things out. Our ways are not God’s ways. Our understanding is not God’s understanding. We don’t see the big picture. But God does.

- Many times the Lord tells us to do things that make no sense to us, but that’s why He wants us to trust Him. He knows everything that we don’t know and He sees everything that we don’t see. His understanding is way better than our understanding is because He sees everything and His plan is perfect.

Thirdly, He wants us to acknowledge Him in all our ways. Simply put, that means to ask Him about everything. He wants us to ask Him what to eat and when to eat. He wants us to ask Him what to wear and what time we’re supposed to get up in the morning. Why? Why does He want us to ask Him about even the smallest details of our daily lives?

Well, here’s an example of what I’m talking about. God knows whether your wife has a special dinner planned for the two of you when you get home from work today. If you get an invitation from one of your buddies to stop off at the local café and grab a bite to eat after work, and you don’t ask God about it or He just tells you No and you don’t obey Him, then how happy do you supposed your wife is gonna be when you get home.

To take it a step further, when you get home and realize why God told you “No” about eating with your buddy and you don’t confess that to your wife and ask her forgiveness, then how much do you really love God or your wife?

We are humans and we make mistakes and we sin. The question is, once you sin and you see the repercussions of it, what are you going to do about it? Will you try to hide it and just let the damage to your wife, your marriage and the rest of the body of Christ continue, or will you stop the cycle of ravish that you put into play and confess your sins to your wife and ask her to pray for you so there can be healing?

 I believe that you understand how this example relates to every detail of our lives. If we trust and obey God, it puts Him in charge and we don’t sin.

That’s exactly what the last line in that verse pertains to. If we trust Him with all our hearts, if we don’t lean on our own minuscule understanding, if we acknowledge Him in all our ways, then He will direct our paths. He can direct our paths so much better than we can because He sees and know all that we don’t. He’s Daddy, and He’s really good at what He does.

Isn’t it time that we let go of the steering wheel and let Him drive? If you have a distorted view of who God is or who you think He should be, will you ask Him to seek out and destroy any distorted views that you might have of Him so that you can trust and obey Him? I’m not pointing my finger at you. If I’m pointing my finger at anyone, I’m pointing it at myself.

Isn’t it time for us to work out our trust issues with God so that we can trust and obey Him? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and if we don’t obey God then we will sacrifice and it will probably cost us far more than we are really willing to pay.
 
P.S. If you need someone to pray with you, please feel free to contact me and maybe we can pray with each other.
 
I love you all
Chris
rancherforChrist@gmail.com

This article was a very difficult article for me to write. I realize nostrils will probably flare up and animosity could be created because of what God has shared with me in this specific word, and the word is this: the days that the clergy had first and only dibs on Holy things and revelations are finished.

"Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?" 1 Sam. 21:1 KJV

David had constantly been in war, sent to it by his king, king Saul. However, because of David's success in the battlefield and the praises he received from the people, Saul got jealous and pursued to kill David. David knew God and heard his voice very well, we know that by simply looking at his life and also reading the Psalms. David and God were like peanut butter and jelly.

However, David knew the practice of honoring men. He has been fighting the many battles of King Saul against the Philistines, a nation Saul was too afraid to fight himself. David rescued king Saul from Goliath and for all of this he only got persecuted by the very people he served.

But knowing honor, even though he knew the Lord and his voice, he went to the priest Ahimelech. The fame of David had spread all over the land and stories of exploits were rife all over society. David sought counsel, he sought solace and comfort because he was being pursued and persecuted.

After Johnathan honorably brought him the message that he was to flee away, David arrived at the priest.  However, here from verse one it seems that the priest was afraid of him. Ahmelech asked him two questions:

1) Why are you alone?

2) Why is there no man with you?

Now here, we need to ask a pertinent question: why was the priest afraid of David? David had just come out of fierce battles with the enemy, one of which he paraded the champions head in the streets with his armour in keep; the women singing his praises.

The priests are also always asking for "references" from young people, not understanding that, like David, they have been anointed as kings, here to serve. Also, references are few, because they had just been called by God, like Jeremiah, and don't have much experience - save perhaps a calling that God provided.

There could also be some time spent in the wilderness which produces character and maturity. The thing about the wilderness is that it is an obscure place few are aware of or know what happens there.

The priests or clergy hold onto what they have so tight that the Spirit of God Himself is seldom welcome in their midst. The priests don't like it if young men of God, those with no reputable backgrounds, no published books on the shelves, no TV programs or thousands following them suddenly rise up out the ashes and start moving in God's power.

They can't understand how it's possible for young people, without having gone to a Bible school like they had, not having sucked up to the mainline pastors for years like they had, suddenly grab the helm of a revival or a major move of God. They can't and won't accept it.

But like in Malachi 4:6 the hearts of the children will be turned back to the fathers and likewise the fathers to the children - this is God's design. But what the hierarchies are concerned, Jesus clearly taught that last will be first and the first will be last. These last days are days when these Scriptures will become very relevant.

There is a place for facilitating and accountability, but the days of the clergy squashing the fervour and the fire of young people because they are young will be no more! Ask David, Jeremiah, Moses and others how that applied to them. This move has been muzzled and downtrodden for too long. I want to remind you of what Gamaliel said:

"And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or

this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest

haply ye be found even to fight against God" Acts 5:38,39.

The clergy is so scared of losing their place of prominence and stature that they are doing everything in their power and influence to keep this move from happening because they are the spiritual authorities and need to be in control. It's reminiscent of the Catholic Church in Martin Luther's time.

It took Samuel laying down in the very presence of God to receive a very tough word for his master, Eli, like this one I'm giving you now for instance for instance, and deliver the judgment of God to Eli. Judgment because Eli hadn't fulfilled his Biblical, Divine responsibility.

What preceded this conversation in 1 Samuel 21:1? King Saul had been looking on as

the fame of David spread through the country. There will be a time when young people will take the spotlight from the clergy and noblemen and envy will break out in their camps.

The person who fights the system and the accepted norm in which God's purposes gets lost

will not be a favorite in the congregations, but neither was John the Baptist. An even he got offended with Jesus when He was getting more followers that John while in jail.

Many time men and women of God get entangled behind "prison doors" because they pursue some fleshly exploit - like perhaps a new building or a television ministry. And those who are rather pursuing the presence of God and His word will get used and anointed at the time - because they are doing what the Father was doing (John 5:19).

Jesus did not say build a building, he said I will build the temple in three days. Then pastors try build a building in the natural putting the responsibility for the hundreds of thousands or millions needed for it on the people.

Jesus did not say "start a television program" or "build a channel". Weighing up the disgrace televangelists produce for Christians and the good, what is the balance in all this? I agree that souls are the most important and they are being reached in the darkest corners of the world - but God didn't say we must do this; He said "If I am lifted from the earth, I will draw all men onto me" (John12:32).

I might be shot down here by many, and perhaps contradict myself when I spoke of a media revival - but is television ministry God's plan? Isn't going out physically and making disciples, preaching the Good News the Great commission? Perhaps a smile and a warm heart could be much better in person than on a cold television screen. I think that's why called it the Body (a warm one) of Christ and not the broadcasting of Christ.

Listen to me: don't look for favor witH the clergy, young man or woman, you won't get it, and if you receive it, you're truly blessed. Do what God called you to do in this time. Don't seek for the nod and assurance from the priest class; they won't give it to you. The clergy is a protected and revered class.

I said this in a previous article: there's too many of us laity and servants of God outside the priest class for al of them to "okay" everything God has called us to do. Respect for young men of God is very little and I respect any man or women of God which respects and honors the anointing or calling on a young persons life.

As a prophetic voice I have only but received resistance and persecution. I want to warn you: when you follow the vision and the purpose of God for your life, you will be alone for the most part - because you'll wrestle in the spirit and fight for the cause and when this thing breaks out, they'll act like it was their idea, a result of their prayers and divinely inspired by them.

They'll put you on TV, interview you and praise the Lord for this generation two minutes after

they rebuked your plans, fervor and fire. So don't expect a pat on the back; we are the nameless and faceless generation and that's how Jesus wanted it.

Jesus didn't take Glory for Himself, even though it was the Glory of the Father, but He bounced it back to the Father. John the Baptist even declared: "He must increase and I must decrease" (John 3:30).

Joseph had an awesome revelation from God; his peers, brothers and elders laughed, mocked him and scoffed at him. There will come a time at the great revelation, when the young ones will shine and the Pharaohs will promote them to rulers of countries because the supposed seers and clergy couldn't produce revelation that changed their world.

There is NO NONE greater than and that has the authority OVER God's purpose and call for this generation. That's where from the title of this article: "Above the Priest". The order of the priests and clergy has kept back this generation for fear of substitution and omission - but those days are gone!

"And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and

hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business where about I send thee, and