Monthly Archives: July 2008

-Egypt: A Kentucky Fried Miracle?

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Nearly 10,000 attended a pastor’s conference in Cairo, Egypt conducted by evangelist Marilyn Hickey (From Charisma Mag-Link NLA). That in itself was said to be a miracle—the largest gathering of Christians ever in this ancient city.

However, a miracle of the Biblical kind occurred during lunch. 3,500 boxed-lunches from KFC were ordered, delivered to the conference, and distributed to the crowd. But there were far more in attendance than they had prepared for. Another 2,400 were supplied with box lunches that miraculously appeared out of nowhere:

After the food was completely distributed, and after the crowd swelled to about 5,000, she said volunteers were astonished to return to what should’ve been a room of empty tables to discover 1,200 more lunches. She said after they handed out the mysterious extras, another 1,200 appeared, leaving a surplus of food and dumbfounded witnesses. Hickey’s staff called it a “loaves and fishes” miracle.

“I am fully convinced that this was a supernatural occurrence,” Hickey told Charisma.

“It is something I have believed to see on my ministry and am overjoyed that it happened.”

The miracle was observed and verified by Egyptian and even non-Christians sources—the lunches were handed out by local volunteers and left everyone involved including many non-Christians marveling at what had happened. 

-Re: Prayer and Angelic Protection

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Here’s a powerful devotional I received today from Charisma On-line:

clip_image002 Angelic Protection

Today’s message is from Mrs. Gertrude Reidt.

One time in Africa thirty medicine men gathered to put a curse on a missionary and his family. It was a thirty-day contest between the medicine men and Jehovah God. The missionary, for some reason, said that he could not leave his station and call for help, so he decided to stay there and fight it out. The medicine men did put every type of curse on the man and his children. His children did get sick—but they prayed through together and the children became well again.

The medicine men were so desperate; they couldn’t fail. The last night of the thirty-day contest, the men came with their torches to burn down the grass huts, and to burn out the missionary. What did they meet? Tall men in white garments with great swords drawn so that they could not break through. Prevailing prayer—what a power there is in intercession. It is a great weapon in spiritual warfare.

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE:
READ PSALM 34

TODAY’S PRAYER:
Lord, thank You for the powerful protection of Your angelic host! In Jesus’ name. Amen.

-Re: The Great Harvest

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This devotional was emailed to me today from Charisma +On-line:
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Hour of Harvest

Today’s message is from John Arnott.

The scriptures clearly teach that a massive harvest will indeed come in supernaturally during the end times.

Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Luke 10:2, NIVclip_image004). Jesus is saying here that the harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few. The saints of God, the born-again church, are the ones called as harvesters, and we are to pray that God will raise us up.

Some do not hold in faith the expectation for this harvest. They are expecting things to get worse and worse. They have a “hold the fort” mentality in which the small remnant of the church is to hang on until rescued by the Rapture.

A lady in Switzerland asked me about this very issue. “Doesn’t the Bible teach that there will be a great falling away?” I assured her it did, but asked her, “Don’t you think we are in that time right now?”

The once “Christian” West is now almost totally secular-humanist in its beliefs. If that’s not a great falling away, then I don’t know what is. We’ve had the great falling away. We’re in it.

But God has promised us a harvest. I believe that in the last days there will be a glorious, overcoming church that will be on the job to bring in the harvest. He will find faith on the earth when He returns! The gates of hell will not prevail!

TODAY’S PRAYER:
Lord, this is indeed the hour of harvest. Send me into the fields and empower me to declare Your gospel to my generation.

Response: The Lord literally spoke to me about a coming world-wide Harvest more that 30 years ago. At the time, I was really looking and waiting for the rapture which I was convinced would happen any second.

The voice was loud and penetrating, the earth shook beneath me as He spoke and I couldn’t get low enough on the floor. Really did think that I was going to die right then! He did get my attention and I have been watching for signs of a great Harvest and world revival ever since! 

Now, there are places in the world where a significant harvest is already in progress. Come Holy Spirit, and bring it across the face of North America and then as a tidal wave let it wash up on the shores of the UK and Europe.  In Jesus name, Amen.         

-Revival What Ifs: What if John Wesley was Preaching Today?

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John Wesley (1703-1791) is said to have preached over 40,000 sermons and traveled more than 250,000 miles (400,000 km). He is most famous for his open-air revival services held in fields and parks throughout Great Britain.

Following an experience at Aldersgate, John believed that God had called him to bring revival to the nation. Thousands attended his services and tens of thousands were saved.

His brother Charles Wesley, supplied the music for the services. He wrote hundreds of new hymns that became popular during the revival and still grace many Hymnals today.

Many ministers in the Church of England opposed his ministry and denounced him as “promulgator of strange doctrines”, “fomenter of religious disturbances”; as “a blind fanatic”, and “leading people astray and claiming miraculous gifts”.

Sometimes officials tried to stop his meetings and there were actually riots on a number of occasions.

He had a major falling out with fellow revival evangelist George Whitefield over Calvinism, John became a strong advocate of Arminianism.

What if John Wesley was preaching today? …

1. Some would point out that the meetings weren’t sponsored or recognized by any authorized church.

2. Many of the parks he would try to preach in are now dominated by Muslim Imams and teachers, actual riots would follow for sure. After that, he would be excluded from certain Muslim dominated communities.

3. The Atheist organizations would be up in arms that he was using public land to spread his hate speech on. The officials need to do something about this religious fanatic.

4. Some would complain that the music by Charles Wesley was too popular and reminded them of songs usually sung in the pubs. (actually did happen)

5. The chief headhunter of Bible Answers Radio inc., would point out that Wesley’s Aldersgate experience–where he says: “I felt my heart strangely warmed”, was similar to Mormons who claim to have felt ‘a burning in their bosom’.

6. Several very fine reform blogs would point out that John Wesley was an arminian heretic. Others would say–”Well, maybe not a heretic, but just plain wrong on many major theological issues.” bottom line–his teaching is not to be trusted or supported.

7. 100+ blogs would report that John Wesley was unfit for the ministry; that he had an affair with a married woman or at the very least made improper advances, when he was on a mission and ministering in America, and then had to escape back to England before he was disciplined or defrocked (Actually true, though Wesley says that he really wasn’t a believer at the time).

8. The news media who cover the meetings would point out that Wesley is completely intolerant when he says that ‘everyone should repent’—including the homosexuals, I guess. Then he says that everyone should believe in Jesus like he does—even Muslims and news reporters presumably. Such bold intolerance should not be tolerated.

9. The Methodist Church would probably kick him out for being far too conservative and intolerant of others who disagreed with him, including many of the Bishops and Methodist seminary professors.

10. RelTV would cover the meetings and broadcast them 24/7, and Wesley would become a regular celebrity in the American colonies (USA and Canada).

11. His face would be on the cover of every one of the Grocery checkout Mags along with Paris, Jole, and Brad. There would be interviews with the married lady in question—the first one on 59 Minutes with Barbara Wawa.

12. Wesley would also have thousands of supporters who would point out that tens of thousands of people have come to Christ through his ministry…that he had an incredible God-given anointing for evangelism…that when he preached, the Holy Spirit would fall on the place and move the hearts of everyone there in a special way. Sometimes, even men who came to cause trouble and start a riot would end up being converted to Jesus instead. A Sovereign work of God indeed!

….If John Wesley was preaching today!

-Stillborn Baby Raised from the Dead

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Here is the testimony of some teens from North Carolina who went on a ministry trip to Guatemala. In one village they visited in the home of a young woman who had given birth to a still born baby the day before. They proceeded to pray for the dead infant:

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“We prayed for thirty to forty minutes.

At the end of that time, Julia screamed out to God, telling Him that she believed with all of her heart that this baby could be raised from the dead. After Julia screamed out, everyone was silent. We were quietly interceding and praying.

Within a few minutes, the baby started moving. Then the baby coughed and began crying. The mother came rushing into the room. She was screaming, what is going on? No one could answer her. We were just staring at the baby, who had come back to life. The mother asked us again, what is going on? She began crying as she saw that her baby was alive.

She ran out of the house and banged on every door in the village, telling all of the people that God is real because her baby was alive. Within about thirty minutes, the baby’s skin tone and movements had become completely normal.”

What an incredible experience! These young Christians will never be the same and obviously the Young woman, her baby, and that village also. Praise God!

I found the link to this on iamhealed.net blog. Kathi Sharpe mentions in the post that the teens had watched some of the Lakeland meetings on GodTV before they left on the mission and that’s where they got the idea to pray for the dead baby.     

-Muslim Converts After Vision of Jesus

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This is an incredible story.  Yasmin became a Christian after she had  a vision of Jesus during the difficult birth of her son. She tried to keep her faith a secret from her family, since she was afraid of how they would react. Later, when they did find out that she was a Christian, the persecution followed.

clip_image002clip_image004According to Yasmin, she was harassed on the street, and disowned by her family. Her husband hired thugs to beat her up and planned on having her killed. She finally moved out to another part of the country with her children in secrecy. Her husband tracked her down and tried to take the children, objecting to them being raised by a Christian. Here are some excerpts of her experience:

“He continually intimidated and harassed me and hired someone to beat me in the street. Wherever we went there would always be a car following us and watching us.”

“Everyone in the local Muslim community knew I was a Christian and didn’t want to know me. People would cross the street rather than greet me and often spat in my face. They tried to pressure me to leave town. But I had already been chased out of one town so I was determined not to let them intimidate me.”

“One of the most difficult things about becoming a Christian from a Muslim background is losing your family. There are such tight family networks in our communities. If someone becomes a Christian then they are considered to bring shame on the whole family and the only response is to cut them out of the family.”

Response: I hear of and read that more and more Muslims are converting to Christianity through Visions and direct experiences with Jesus. This is becoming common, particularly in Muslim countries that outlaw conversions and missionaries.

What is really incredible about this story, and the surprising and stunning punch line is this—Yasmin lives in the UK!

We really do need to remember to pray for Yasmin and her children. Also, for all the others like her who have converted and face persecution and even death for the sake of their faith in Jesus.     

-Revival What Ifs: What if "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" was Preached Today?

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Jonathan Edwards preached his famous ‘Great Awakening’ sermon- “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, on July 8, 1741 at Enfield, Mass. (later Connecticut). When I studied “Sinners…” in seminary it was presented as a bad example of ‘hell fire’ sermons that no modern minister would or should ever dare to preach. In Church History class, it seemed like no one could figure out why it became so famous.

Obviously, you had to of been there and the Holy Spirit had to of shown up in an amazing way, and from all accounts that certainly was the case. According to reports of the occasion, Edwards quietly read the sermon with very little flare, but when he started talking about natural un-regenerated people being held in the hand of God over the fiery pit of Hell, a great commotion broke out in the congregation with quite a few folks being convicted by the Holy Spirit. Here is an excerpt from the sermon:

“So that thus it is, that natural men are held in the hand of God over the pit of hell;

they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked,

his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell,

and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger,

neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold `em up one moment;

the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up;…”

It is said that when Edwards spoke with this imagery of Hell, that some in the church that day actually felt and saw the fiery pits of hell beneath their feet and smelled the burning sulfur. Historians find those accounts to be suspect (I don’t). However, regardless of what really happened, many came to Christ that day following Edward’s invitation at the end:

Therefore let everyone that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come.

The wrath of almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over great part of this congregation:

let everyone fly out of Sodom:

“Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed” [Gen. 19:17clip_image002]

What if Edwards preached his famous sermon today? Probably a better question- could it be preached today?:

1. The board of Elders would meet to vote on whether Pastor Edwards should be retained.

2. The UCC denomination would distance themselves from Pastor Edwards ‘negative’ theology. Pastor Jeremiah Wright would probably be a spokesman at a press conference.

3. The Professors at Yale University where Edwards graduated from would condemn the ‘exclusive’ theology of the sermon and promise to censure any future books or publications.

3. One lady with an unbelieving husband, in the congregation that day, would be on the evening news condemning the Pastor for scaring them and saying that a loving God would send ‘good folks’  like them to an everlasting Hell.

4. On “55 Minutes” TV show over the next weekend, a psychologist from Harvard would explain how it was all a hoax, that Edwards obviously hypnotized the entire congregation with his ‘hellish’ imagery just to increase the size of his church and get larger offerings. After all, Edwards is a maniac with 10 children.

5. On Bible Radio, the Dr. Smiley the chief cult headhunter would explain that the ‘Hell experience’ was similar to what ‘mind control’ cults subject their members too.

6. Jewish rabbi Dr. Conn on the weekend ‘Religion Dialogue’ TV show would be offended that Edward’s implied that ‘righteous people’ who don’t believe in Christ would end up in Hell. The Right Rev. Dr. Bishop Wonderful of the Episcopal Church would agree and sympathize. Dr. Ali of the Islamic U. would find that it is the first time that he actually agreed with a Rabbi.

Dr. Donald, the famous atheist, would point out that it confirms what he said in his latest book about religion being a divisive force that needed to be controlled. Pastor Charlie of the 20,000 member Valley Community Church would explain that most Christians today preach about the ‘love’ of God and how preaching about Hell is not the norm and actually a bad idea if you want to grow a large effective community organization and church reaching out in today’s culture.

The panel would conclude by agreeing that ‘God’s love for all people’ needed to be stressed today in the face of radical fundamentalist religion.

7. Osama Muhammad the al Queda leader would come on Algazerra TV and lay out plans to send Edwards and his entire congregation to hell in the name of Allah. After all, a visiting Muslim student converted to Christ that day.  

8. There would be at least 10 blog posts about how the service reminded them of the ‘so-called’ Toronto revival. According to reports, there were all sorts of undefinable noises coming from the congregation.  Some sounded like animals and many were flat on their faces just unintelligently moaning and groaning.

God could never be the author of such a confusing uproar. After all, show me in the Bible where anyone ever experienced the fires of Hell beneath their feet!

…If Edwards preached his famous sermon today!