40 STORIES: POWERFUL TESTIMONIES OF AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL BROTHERS AND SISTERS

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Are you ready to journey with Jesus behind the scenes? See some of the amazing ways that Jesus leads the 40 Stories story-gathering team. Then watch this video.

40 STORIES: Real people… Extraordinary stories. As you watch these amazing stories you come to the realisation that only God could have brought about the transformation in these peoples lives. They are great witnessing tools. Share them widely. I will be putting them up one at a time on this website so watch out for them under the title 40 STORIES.

THE PROBLEM OF SIN

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Most people are comfortable even happy with their life of SIN. If you are a Rock Star earning lots of money with lots of young girls wanting to be with you, regardless of the cost, then why would you want to repent? The Gospel is not good news to this Rock Star not unless the Holy Spirit convicts him of his SIN.

Nevertheless, as ambassadors of God, we are called to beg people on His behalf to turn from their SIN, to come back into relationship with Him but on His terms. They need to know their eternal destiny is at stake. However, we must also convey to them the extent of their Creator’s love for them (Jesus died that they might have life).. But, ultimately they must want to be in relation with God, to love Him as He loves them and as a result are prepared to repent i.e. turn from their sinful life and keep His commandments.

SIN IN THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM

“Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.” Revelation 20:4-5

The most unexpected aspect of Jesus coming Millennial Kingdom on this earth is Satan’s part in the story. We are told an angel seizes him and bounds him with a great chain, throws him into “the bottomless pit”, shuts it and seals it over him. Note that only another angel was needed to do it. My guess is the angel Michael. Satan is bound for almost the entire 1000 years.

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.” Revelation 20:1-3

Why must Satan be released?

“And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them” Revelation 20:7-9

Jesus and the resurrected Saints have been ruling and reigning for 1000 years. Mind you, we are told they rule with a rod of iron. Even with Jesus ruling and Satan bound, Sin is still a major problem. It is a heart problem, people still want to be God and not have anyone, even their Creator to rule over them. Remember, despite being in the presence of God, Satan and a third of the angels rebelled against God. It will still be a major problem with Jesus and the Saints ruling and reigning in the Millennium. The number that rebel is like the “sand of the sea”.

“The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.” Revelation 2:27

PPAYERS AND PETITIONS

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“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4-7

What an amazing and encouraging Scripture. Do you believe what is says? Is it your experience? It should be, it is mine. Mind you, I am 85 years old and have been serving the Lord many years. For 30 plus years, I owned and managed Christian Press and Care & Share Products distributing Christian materials to Christian and secular gift shops. Over those years I have seen God answer our prayers in amazing ways. You can read about those in my book Build a Kingdom Business – Empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Available on Amazon as an ebook or from me as a trade paperback book – ron@bakb.com.au

CHAPTER 5

God’s Provision and Protection
God miraculously intervenes in a watershed event at Care & Share Products to dramatically impact two organizations and the lives of a number of individuals.
The following scripture is appropriate to this story.
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
As I previously explained, I purchased Christian Press Pty Ltd from Bill Dalrymple in October, 1983.
Bill owned the premises and was very generous in giving us a low rent. One consideration in that decision was the fact we employed his two sons. Both were mentally retarded, one significantly so.
In early 1988, Bill advised me that he needed to sell the premises and he gave me 18 months notice so that I had sufficient time to look for a new home for Care and Share.
We had only just changed the name of the company from Christian Press to Care & Share and our customer focus from Christian Bookshops to Card & Gift Shops. As this was God’s call, we knew Care & Share had a future so were confident He would provide a new home for His company.
Bill employed a major real estate group, Raine & Horne, to look after the property sale. Enter Ted Angus – the protagonist of the story. He is our hero.

Ted Angus was our contact at Raine & Horne. Ted was in his 50’s and I knew on his first visit to inspect the premises that the Holy Spirit was “knocking on his door”. He was not attending a church but had Christian friends and was clearly searching for meaning and purpose in life. Every time he brought people to view the property, we had deep and meaningful discussions. At times, embarrassingly, he was oblivious to the fact that his clients were ready to leave. Over the course of about nine months that it took to sell the property we became friends.
During this time, I gave Ted a number of Christian books to read. As well, he became a regular visitor at the Christian Bookshop in Bankstown which was walking distance from Ted’s, Raine & Horne office.
Cecil, the owner of the bookshop and Ted also became good friends. It was a joy therefore, for both of us when Ted finally came to know his Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ about 6 weeks before we moved out of 3 Harley Crescent, Condell Park.
I remember the phone call when Ted told me (“the penny had dropped” – his phrase) he had come to realize who Jesus Christ really is. Ted subsequently repented and accepted Jesus as His Lord and Saviour. The circumstances were interesting; Ted had just finished reading a Christian book Cecil had sold him. Whilst I can’t remember the title, I do remember Ted telling me, the author died before the book was published.
The book was about the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus. The author had had problems with
what he perceived as discrepancies in the different Gospel accounts. I remember Ted’s excitement as he explained to me how the Holy Spirit had given the author understanding. “It was like he was at a football match and realized that a person on the other side of field would have a different perspective on the match and therefore give a different report on it”.
Amazingly, the Holy Spirit’s inspiration prompted the author to write the manuscript. Though he died, it was the instrument God used to convert the author’s brother and get the book published so it could
aid the Holy Spirit to change the lives of people like Ted Angus.
Also, if Bill had not sold number 3 Harley Crescent, I would never have met Ted and be used by
God in his conversion. No doubt, God could have done it differently but as you will see, God had
much more to show Ted through the relocation of Care and Share.

If you want to read the rest of this amazing story which includes God using a hail storm to get us into the right premises, you will need to purchase the book.

GOD AT WORK IN JAPAN

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Hopefully, this post will give you a glimpse of what God is doing in Japan. The following move of God in young people started with Japanese Christian Churches wanting to see God use the recent Olympic Games in Tokyo, initiated the ambitious Japan1million campaign (1 million souls won for Jesus).

A 20 year old student joined the first night of the Olympics Opening Prayer time when Japanese Churches came together to launch Japan1million. Moved by what was happening she became aware that missing from this gathering were young people praying. She cried out, “Please Father can young people get together to pray?”
She had no idea how God was going to answer that prayer and that it was going to happen in part through her brother! He heard of the vision to get young people praying but was unsure of what his role would be. He “just so happened” to be at a Starbucks in greater Tokyo (37 million people.) He saw a couple who he had seen on a Youtube Japanese worship channel. He introduced himself. This couple’s vision was to see groups of young people across Japan worshipping and praying for an awakening across Japan. They called themselves Generation Revival as they are convinced they are the generation that will see revival come to Japan.
At this meeting and subsequent ones they discussed how Japanese young people could come together to pray at the conclusion of the Paralympics. And so it happened. Over 100 young people largely from Japan joined together over zoom. Akira Mori, a Japanese Pastor was invited to bring a message. This is what he said,

“God has touched our hearts. He has raised up people around the world to pray for Japan. So many have been praying for revival. We believe God’s mind is fixed to reach this nation. He does it with us taking our part. He wants us to receive our destiny – to rise up to the call of God. We can’t do anything alone.  God will use a method called united prayer. It is not that we need big prayer gathering. What we need is small groups of prayer cells- 5-7 people praying regularly for Japan – here and around the world. It will cost. Once you receive this conviction from God you can’t escape. It will chase you. If you truly desire to say yes tonight then pray with a new heart and mind.”
Across screens, spontaneously, hands rose to commit. Everywhere, willing hearts saying yes to God. They knew it was time for Japanese young Christians to step up and pray.
Akira concluded, “This is not a onetime one off thing – keep the fire burning. Let’s make prayer fire starters across Japan – small fires that will ignite the whole nation. These prayer groups across the country that will fire everyone. We can’t manage them. People will want to join in cause they don’t want to miss out on what God is doing.

29 young Christians from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt watched the first part of the evening and then spent time praying in Arabic for Japan. The Thailand Sports ministry team, sensing the significance of the evening,  chose to fast and pray for the Youth prayer night.

A young Japanese man commented, “This is happening in Japan! I am witnessing the beginning of something I know I want to be part of. Tonight I saw young people free to live with purpose.
When the Prayer gathering concluded the organizers were stunned. They sensed they were caught up in a move of God. Rio, the young lady who had prayed for a youth prayer meeting joined the debrief. She cried as she shared her ask of God at that first prayer meeting. Overwhelmed, she thanked God for answering her prayer.

You may want to add this move of God in Japan to your Prayer List or at least ask God if this is something you should do.

PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS ESCALATING IN CHINA

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A U.S.-based persecution watchdog says it has documented more than 100 incidents of Christian persecution in China between July 2020 and June 2021 as the country’s communist regime seeks to forcefully convert independent religious groups into mechanisms of the Chinese Communist Party.

A significant trend throughout the past year was an increase in church raids, says a report published by International Christian Concern. It notes that “not only were churches shut down or demolished, but pastors and church attendees were often arrested.”

One example of this crackdown happened earlier this month when more than 30 officials from the CCP, including SWAT officers, police officers, religious affairs bureau officials and local school district administrators raided Maizi Christian Music High School in Harbin city in China’s Heilongjiang province, the U.S.-based rights group China Aid reported at the time.

In August, officers from Chenghua District Mengzhuiwang office in Sichuan province forcibly entered the home of a church member, He Shan, where the small group of Early Rain Covenant Church members were meeting for worship, CBN News said at the time.

ICC has also tracked 23 incidents of authorities demolishing religious structures and symbols during its reporting period. “The CCP has torn down, destroyed, and removed numerous churches in China, especially those that refused to submit to its control,” the report says.

The persecution watchdog adds in the report that it recorded 14 cases of “Sinicization,” which is a state campaign to forcefully assimilate religious groups into CCP-defined Chinese culture.

As an example, ICC highlights the plight of a church bookstore that was forced to display Mao Zedong’s Little Red Book instead of the Bible. The Administration for Religious Affairs also ordered Christians to study President Xi’s book and memorize his speeches.

Chinese authorities are also removing Bible apps and Christian WeChat public accounts as new highly restrictive administrative measures on religious staff went into effect earlier this year.

The ICC report says that almost every province in China has seen an increase in Christian persecution, and this rise has been especially apparent in Sichuan, Hebei and Fujian provinces where the independent churches have been very visible and active.

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This persecution of Christians is escalating all over the world and is evidence we are in the “end times” that Jesus spoke about that precedes His return. Jesus gives us many signs in the following passage from Luke. The same is given by Matthew. Jesus tells us that He is providing opportunities to witness for Him and that the Holy Spirit will even give us the words to speak. This is training and preparation for us to rule and reign with Jesus on this earth during the Millennium.

“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.” Luke 21:10-19

“HOW TO” SERIES FROM TORBEN

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MESSAGE FROM TORBEN:

Welcome to this powerful teaching that gives you some amazing tools for how to set other people free, or how you out there can become free! Deliverance is a big part of setting people free, but it’s not always deliverance that needs to take place. Sometimes, it’s a renewing of the mind that’s needed. But renewing the mind is not always the answer either. It’s the Gospel that is needed! But as you see in this first video, repentance is not enough when it comes to setting people free in some cases. No, they also need to forgive and cast their worries onto Jesus, or cast their issues onto Jesus. This is a very simple teaching, but has helped many people to become free and helped the Christ-followers set other people free! I believe this teaching will also help you out there! So see it! Learn it, and become more effective when it comes to setting people free, and when it comes to you experiencing your freedom! This is the first video in a new series I am doing called “HOW TO”, and you can see more videos come out soon in the playlist linked here: HOW TO… https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…

TIMING OF THE RAPTURE SCRIPTURES APPRAISED

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God has used this video to change the minds of countless (ex-)pretribulationists over to the prewrath view in the past year. In it, Chris White and Alan Kurschner do a good job of presenting the case for the PreWrath position of the timing of the Rapture. I believe they also do a good job of appraising the pretribulation position fairly, giving extensive citations.

The timing of the video and its addressing the seven pretribulation problems is shown below.

Intro: 0:00 The Basics: 1:45 The Precursor Problem: 6:06 The Olivet Discourse Problem: 19:28 The 2 Thessalonians Problem: 40:23 The Revelation Problem: 58:59 The Imminence Problem: 1:18:29 The Same Time Problem: 1:44:04 The Early Church Problem 1:55:39 Outro / Credits: 2:13:32

FACING SIN REALISTICALLY AND HONESTLY

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“Sin will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, cost you more than you would ever want to pay.’ This quote was made by Ravi Zacharias.

In the Bible we have the story of King David as a perfect example of the truth of Ravi’s words. Starting with neglecting his duty by not being with his army during a significant battle, then adultery, betrayal, deceit and ending up with murder.

I wonder, now, if Ravi didn’t speak these words as an echo of his own broken soul. I think he was a man who wanted to honour God with his life. But he was also a man in whose heart sin had wreaked all kinds of havoc and Ravi had somehow justified his behaviour in his own mind.

Sadly, this is a common pattern for many ministry leaders today. They enter into ministry as normal men with flaws, sin patterns, and areas in need of sanctification, just like anyone else. They are trained to understand and exposit the Bible, to lead the church, and to build the ministry. And, along the way, the institution assumes their personal, emotional, and sexual health are all growing at the same pace as their ministry capability. 

The truth is; that their soul—like all of ours—is still desperately in need of being discipled and trained into wholeness and holiness. The only catch is, for the leader, this permission—this pathway—does not exist. Once the leader is in place, the institution expects him or her to have it all together and to lead his congregation well, and certainly not struggle with sexual sin. And if they do? Well then, at this point, the easiest thing to do is hide it or lie about it. The environment that has been created in Christian ministry inadvertently encourages the leader to perform well and hide the negative issues of their personal life.

Nearly 100 years ago, German Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wisely stated:

“The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is that we are all sinners.” (Bonhoeffer, Life Together, p. 110. HarperOne, 1954.)

In the following scripture, David tells us of the consequences of hiding our sin it adversely affects our body and how we function.

“For when I kept silent (about my sin), my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah” Psalms 32:3-5

Every leader needs to have mentors, a place of true accountability. True accountability means that the leader has a safe, trusted group of peers they purposefully choose to go to with everything.

Culturally, even within the church, the following questions are never addressed. Why is our sexuality holy? Why is gender important? Why does intercourse illustrate the same kind of oneness God desires to have with us? Why is marriage sacred? Why is repentance so important?

Parents also need to understand a 15 year-long conversation about sex is far more effective than several “talks” at various stages of life. There is no shame or embarrassment in talking about something God created.

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.” Mark 9:42

YOU NEED TO KNOW JESUS

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“For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow — of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth — and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11

JESUS MILLENNIAL KINGDOM IS COMING (This Kingdom by Geoff Bullock)

VERSE 1: Jesus, God’s righteousness revealed, The Son of Man, The Son of God, His Kingdom comes, Jesus, Redemption’s sacrifice, Now glorified, Now justified, His Kingdom comes.

CHORUS: And this Kingdom will know no end, And it’s glory shall know no bounds, For the majesty and power of this Kingdom’s King has come, And this Kingdom’s reign, And this Kingdom’s rule, And this Kingdom’s power and authority, Jesus, God’s righteousness revealed.

VERSE 2: Jesus, The expression of God’s love, The Grace of God, The Word of God Revealed to us, Jesus, God’s Holiness displayed, Now glorified, Now justified, His Kingdom comes

CHORUS: And this Kingdom will know no end, And it’s glory shall know no bounds, For the majesty and power of this Kingdom’s King has come, And this Kingdom’s reign, And this Kingdom’s rule, And this Kingdom’s power and authority, Jesus, God’s righteousness revealed.

BRINGING CLARITY TO THE GOSPEL

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The book of Genesis is foundational to the entire Bible. Jesus and all of the New Testament writers considered the Old Testament as true history and foundational to all that they wrote. The foundational doctrines are all established in Genesis, origin of man, nature of man (made in the image of God), sin, death, marriage, God’s judgement of mankind with the worldwide flood of Noah’s day, origin of God’s nation Israel and its purpose. Jesus and the N.T writers all quoted from Genesis.

Did you know that having clarity about the opening chapters of Genesis (i.e. clarity about origins) brings clarity to the Gospel itself? It’s true! Thus, one of the enemy’s tactics is to spread a fog of compromise over the Bible’s account of origins. Learn how we can detect wolves in sheep’s clothing—who are distorting God’s Word—and why compromising ideas such as theistic evolution, the gap theory, day-age theory, the framework hypothesis, and progressive creation, obscure the plain gospel message.

Dr Mark Harwood of Creation Ministries does a great job of bringing clarity to the Gospel by addressing these compromising views of Genesis. As I have explained many times on this website, fulfilled prophecy proves the Bible is the inerrant word of God. Moreover, CMI and many PhD scientists such as Dr Mark Harwood on http://www.creation.com show clearly that the physical evidence of the world, particularly for a worldwide flood, supports a young earth history of this world. His presentation runs for about 45 minutes. The balance is Q & A. and explanation of the resources that are available from CMI.