Category Archives: Spiritual Gifts

-SBC Mission Board Drops Ban on Speaking in Tongues

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Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board (IMB) dropped its ban on those who spoke in tongues along with several other rule changes at a recent meeting. Nevertheless, missionaries are expected to faithfully represent Southern Baptist churches and Southern Baptist teaching which does not include any kind of an emphasis on charismatic gifts.

This has been a long time in coming and considering the large number of cessationists in the SBC it is still surprising. However, years ago (2007) we discovered some research that showed over 50% of head pastors in the SBA believed in tongues so maybe the change is not so odd after all.

It does go along with what is happening overseas in the mission fields. I have heard that an increasing number of SBA missionaries had to hide their involvement in the ‘gifts’ from their board and their sponsoring churches just to continue. Healing and giftedness were not something they ever expected or sought out or even theologically believed in for that matter. It just happened in the midst of their ministry.              

-False Prophets and Strange Fire?

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(Moses and the Burning Bush: Wikipedia)

From: Bethel Church, Redding

“Jesus didn’t warn us of prophets. He warned of false prophets.

He didn’t warn of signs and wonders. He warned of false signs and wonders.

Knowing the real helps us to recognize the false.

For this reason those with little to no fire think all fire is strange fire.” – Bill Johnson

-Liberal Pundit Converts to Christianity After Seeing Jesus in a Dream

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Have you seen this testimony? A liberal pundit, Kirsten Powers*, who could barely tolerate Christians had her life completely turned around beginning with a dream where Jesus appeared to her. Well worth reading on several different levels. Here are some quotes from the Christianity Today article:

Just seven years ago, if someone had told me that I’d be writing for Christianity Today magazine about how I came to believe in God, I would have laughed out loud. If there was one thing in which I was completely secure, it was that I would never adhere to any religion—especially to evangelical Christianity, which I held in particular contempt.  …

“To the extent that I encountered Christians, it was in the news cycle. And inevitably they were saying something about gay people or feminists. I didn’t feel I was missing much. So when I began dating a man who was into Jesus, I was not looking for God. In fact, the week before I met him, a friend had asked me if I had any deal breakers in dating. My response: “Just nobody who is religious.”

A few months into our relationship, my boyfriend called to say he had something important to talk to me about. I remember exactly where I was sitting in my West Village apartment when he said, “Do you believe Jesus is your Savior?” My stomach sank. I started to panic. Oh no, was my first thought. He’s crazy.

<Read the whole article>

Response: This is a testimony that gives me real hope.

The last few years I have read accounts about how Muslims were secretly converting to Christianity after Jesus or angels appear to them in dreams and visions. This is how revival was initiated in Iran which is a country where one cannot openly talk to people about Jesus.

Today in America so many have become alienated from Christianity particularly among the intelligentsia and media that revival would seem to be a real uphill battle. But as bad as it is here Iran is far worse of an environment for revival and yet it is happening there. After all is said and done it is a sovereign work of God regardless of all of the circumstances.

*Kirsten Powers is a contributor to USA Today, a columnist for Newsweek/The Daily Beast, and a commentator at Fox News.

-What kind of Earthquake Are We Going to Have in California Anyway?

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(1906 San Francisco earthquake: Wikipedia)

A small earthquake shook Southern California 24 years ago and a new move of God surrounding the gift of prophesy and the ministry of the prophetic came forth.

I remember it well since I was at that conference in Anaheim when it all started and I have the tapes and the t-shirt to show for it so to speak. John Wimber was scheduled to speak the first night and he referred to the earthquake as introducing and confirming the new speaker. Then he proceeded to introduce Paul Cain to the 5,000 or so folks attending the conference that was supposed to be about ‘Spiritual Warfare’ but ended up being about the gift of prophecy, the ministry of prophets, and the modern church instead. A shaking followed in the Vineyard Movement.

It doesn’t seem possible but 24 years have come and gone with some incredible highs along with lows and lessons learned the hard way. It was the beginning of what some call ‘The Prophetic Movement’ but no one involved calls it that. It was introduced out here following a small quake but how it has shaken the American Church since then has been anything but small.

Now a major earthquake- ‘The Big One’ is long over due in Southern California and many Christians in the last five years or so have had dreams and visions of it. Most believe that it is just a matter of time -God’s timing. But remember, sometimes what God is doing in the natural reflects something that going on in the spiritual realm just like the small quake did 24 years ago.

Along with the dreams of doom many Christians out here and elsewhere have also seen visions of a new revival or ‘Jesus Movement’ that will shake Southern California once again. This time for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. A major Kingdom event that could end up shaking the whole church.

So what kind of quake is is going to be? Natural or Spiritual or maybe both?

Actually at VCC Laguna Niguel we are preparing for both. Across the street from our church is the huge federal building parking lot which is designated as a site for emergency services and medical care in the event of a major catastrophe in South Orange County, California. Meanwhile, we have a 24,000 square-foot warehouse filled with food and clothing and 2 years ago we were able to send a cargo container with 100,000 bottles of water and other emergency supplies to Japan when the big one along with the tsunami that followed hit there.

But more indicative of what I am really talking about is the mini revival that seems to be going on in that same warehouse. Hundreds have come to Christ in the last year and major miracles and healings continue to happen nearly every time the place is open to the public offering food and clothing to those in need. The expectation is that it is merely a foretaste of what God wants to do Spiritually all across Orange County and Southern California.

I started thinking about this and decided to share some of my thoughts after I read an account in Charisma of a dream that James Goll had where he saw Southern California represented as ‘a womb’ that would bring forth a major revival once more. A birth that is imminent and overdue just like the ‘big one’ in the natural.

-Burkina Faso: Deaf Hear and Blind See

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          (Image via Wikipedia)

A short report by from the Christ for All Nations’ Gospel Campaign in the Central African nation of Burkina Faso with Evangelists Reinhard Bonnke and Daniel Kolenda:

“The Holy Spirit was poured out on the multitude in a mass baptism of fire! Dramatic signs and wonders accompanied the preaching of gospel.”

“An old mama who was totally blind for two years received her sight. A woman with a lump in each of her breasts, said that during the prayer both lumps vanished. A totally deaf woman was also completely healed along with another blind girl.”

Saturday morning marked the grand finale of the Fire Conference. Peter van den Berg preached with Kolenda following. Before he could take the microphone, Kolenda says the Holy Spirit was already falling.

“We just took our hands off the ‘reigns’ and let the Holy Spirit have His way.  It was glorious!”

Response: Just a reminder that revival is going on all over the world. Also, genuine signs and wonders and healing attend those genuine moves of God and thousands are coming to Christ. 

One wonders how America would respond to a genuine revival? I am increasingly believing that this country will never be the same unless a new awakening breaks out across America.  

-God’s Healing Power in Asian Village

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Here’s another one of those encouraging testimonies from indigenous missionaries supported by the Gospel for Asia. This is the story of Mihir Gavde whose church has made considerable headway in bringing folks to Christ in his village through a number of miraculous healings. Read the account, it will encourage and empower your own faith.

-It began with a Prayer and a Miracle

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Here’s the story of how a major radio ministry and business began with one prayer and a miracle:

Vic Eliason still remembers the exact spot on the floor where he stood with three students in 1961, praying for a miracle…

“We prayed on that spot on a Friday, believing that if God wanted us to have air time, He would have to provide it,” Eliason recalled. “On Monday, the door slammed open and a man I had never seen before asked, ‘Could anybody here use some free air time?’”

That was just the beginning of a life of miracles. On another occasion Eliason was involved with trying to purchase their first radio station -a 100,000-watt station evaluated at $465,000 even though the ministry “didn’t have a dime”:

“The bank said they’d look it over, to see if it would be wise for us to take on that size of an expansion. And not only did the bank suggest it was a good idea, but they also said, ‘The people you reach are your greatest resource. We urge you to do it. How much do you have to put down?’

“I went like this,” Eliason said, holding his forefinger to his thumb in the shape of a zero. “’Well,’ the bank said, ‘I guess we’ll have to write your whole check.’”

Eliason could only shake his head, saying, “To God be the glory.”

From there the ministry –VCY America, has grown to operate nearly 30 Christian radio stations across the mid-west and provide on-air content for dozens more.

Response: Just a good story to remind all of us in the middle of a major recession that God is still in the miracle business. Whether you are starting a ministry or a business in his name.

Thousands of ministries and churches across America got started with miracles of their own and in today’s recession keep on keeping on depending on God’s alternative kingdom economy.

This well could be the finest hour of the American church where everyone must turn to God in a new way just to pay the bills. But not only that, we are called to expand and take the Gospel to every nation. That is going to take a bunch of miracles, but Praise the Lord he is still in that business.       

…and the Blind See!

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Pastor Mike mentioned this during the morning service at VCC today:

At Bethel Church:

“A man came to be baptized at church last night. He was completely blind. As soon as he came out of the water, he began to see! After additional prayer, he began describing what he saw. He could read the signs in the hallway!”

Response: There’s a life changing event both in time and eternity-Praise the Lord.

Can’t tell you how many hundreds of folks are healed through their ministry there in Redding CA . Thousands if you include the Healing Rooms International ministry which was started by one of their Elders.

Hear about it all of the time since they are kind of a ‘sister’ church to ours. Last time our youth got together with theirs on a trip to Mexico it took several hours in a service at VCC to tell about all of the healings and miracle

-A Vision of St. Patrick and a Hedge of Protection

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Yesterday morning I attended the Marketplace Prayer group at our church as usual. During the worship I had a remarkable vision of the ministry of  St. Patrick:

I saw him walk into the center of a village and challenge the pagan priests to a test of power. He called for the people to bring all of their sick to him. Then he asked which ones the pagan priests had been paid to heal but didn’t. Then I saw him pray for those first, heal them and later heal all the rest.

Then I saw him walk around the entire parameter of the village praying for a hedge of protection around it casting out all demons and calling for God’s protection over the village against attacks from snakes, vermin, and devouring animals.

Following the vision I asked the Lord what meaning it might have for us. Then I immediately saw a picture of myself circling the parameter of my own property praying, and stranger still praying over my check book.

Later that morning Pastor Mike and others started talking about how we are in the midst of a battle and that we need God’s protection over our jobs, businesses, and over everything we own. The enemy wants to steal and devour. I then told the group about my vision.

Afterward another bother leaped to his feet and told us how just the day before a snake had crawled up on his porch and he had prayed for protection over his family. Then the Lord’s told him that it was a sign in the natural that he and his were really under a spiritual attack from the enemy. He related how he had circled his entire home and property praying for God’s hedge of protection.

After the prayer meeting I immediately went home and circled my entire home and property praying for a hedge of protection over my family and everything I own. Then I went on to work.           

-Muslims Coming to Christ Through Dreams, Visions, and Miracles

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We have talked about the hidden revival among Muslims before.

Although on the front pages of the world media, radical Muslims seem to dominate the news with terrorist acts and promises to take over Europe and eventually put America under the yoke of sharia law, here is the latest report from Charisma magazine about the ‘tsunami of faith’ miraculously bringing thousands of Muslims to Christ (Link NLA):

“…a tsunami of faith is quietly overtaking the Muslim world. Islamic adherents are laying aside their allegiance to Muhammad to follow Jesus Christ, despite the social ostracism, persecution and possible martyrdom that converts to Christianity face. Propelled by dreams, visions and miracles, this wave of revival is bringing vast numbers of Muslims—some say millions—into God’s kingdom.”

The article ends with this plea for Christians to pray with their Muslim brothers:

Prayer is vital. However, three converts in Egypt told Janssen that Christians in America should pray “with” them, not “for” them.

“If you pray for us, you will pray for our safety, and the persecution will stop,” they told him. “If you pray with us, we can be sure the persecution will increase. Pray we will see millions [come] to Christ. We know there will be backlash. Pray we will be faithful, even if it costs us our lives.”

Lord, continue to do a revival work among Muslims, praise your name, Amen.