Reflections on The Gathering

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Gathering in Jerusalem

As mentioned in the previous report it is difficult to describe what God is doing with these Gatherings. They started in Canada with God raising up Watchmen for the Nations to gather a remnant from that nation to unite in John 17 unity to fulfill His purposes.

When Watchmen for the Nations began to prophesy that God was going to use Canada to bring healing to other nations particularly Israel, it seemed impossible, but then transformation began  with constant prayer being offered up in the nation’s capital.

The liberal government was replaced by the Conservative Party with Stephen Harper, a committed Christian as their new Prime Minister. A group from ICCC Canada also played an important role in bringing repentance and unity between the indigenous people’s – First Nations and the Inuits.

Stephen Harper initiated the nation to repent of turning away almost 1,000 Jews on the MS St Louis in 1939 and recently vowed to stand with the nation of Israel during their current trials.

Watchmen for the Nations next call was to China and the first Gathering took place in 2010 with 3,000 in attendance in Hong Kong, 6,000 attended in 2011, 12,000+ in 2102 and 24,000 in 2013. Through the “Kingdom Come” DVD’s and CD’s (www.asiagathering.hk), you can experience the journey of the 2012 Gathering. God has led believers from more than twenty nations to affirm the leadership role He has called the Chinese to play in His end time purposes on earth.

Chinese Christians believe God put them through over 40 years of persecution under Mao to prepare them for a final three Silk Roads evangelism effort back to Jerusalem. These evangelists  go as Jesus sent his disciples just one pair of shoes. The passion Chinese Christians exhibited at The Gathering in Jerusalem put me to shame.

The Gathering in Japan in July was another watershed event with 3,000 in attendance. The Japanese Christians believe that God sent many Christians from other nations to break open the demonic stronghold over Japan. They saw themselves as the lame man who was lowered down in front of Jesus after they had broken open the roof of the house. The timing of the Gathering – 70 years after the end of World War 2 was also considered significant. The Japanese Christians now believe that God has finally released them to take part in the final evangelism effort being launched by the Chinese. A friend of mine reported that a breakthrough was achieved on the second night with the praise and worship reaching new heights.

Where will the next Gathering take place? I can now confirm that the next Gathering will be in Kobe Japan in 2015 to follow up the one in July of this year. I am still praying that God will bless Australia with one.

RADICAL EVANGELISM IN SOUTH AMERICA

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Almost 2.5 million accepted Christ in one day

During the seventh International street evangelism “The Gospel changes” that took place on October 18, about 2,483 567 people accepted Christ, said the press-center of the movement “Gospel changes,” reports The Christian Telegraph.

The evangelism was attended by 26 countries: Austria, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, USA, France, Honduras, Mexico, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Russia, Ukraine, and Uruguay.

Recall that the main motto of the seventh evangelization was: “Together Save 2 million people.”

It is worth noting that during the last evangelism more than 1.6 million people were saved.

Such evangelism is held every three months. Any church of any denomination may participate in the international evangelism. (John 17 unity)

The vision of “The Gospel of change” was born in Venezuela. Due to the movement, which is now bearing its fruits in many different countries, the Gospel has been introduced to millions of people around the world. Despite the fact that the vision of “The Gospel of change” was born and began to spread mainly in the Spanish-speaking countries, it is actively coming to the English and Russian speaking world. The ministers from different countries gather at a huge conference in Venezuela, and the ministers from the Eastern European countries come to Spain to learn from their experience.

CHECK OUT THIS WEBSITE  www.evangelieizmenyaet.com/

GOD’S WISDOM versus SATAN’S/MAN’S WISDOM

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The problem with worldly wisdom is found back in the very first words of the Bible: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

God conceived, created, defined, rules, and judges the entire universe. God alone is ultimate. Therefore, creation and all creatures (including us!) are derived and dependent.

That is why Genesis 1:1 is the most offensive verse in the Bible. If this verse is true, then every premise and postulate of the world’s wisdom is a lie. This is why men respond in such fury against even the obvious – the universe demonstrates Intelligent Design. If there’s a Designer, then I am not ultimate—and if that is the case, everything collapses.

If we turn to the last pages of the Bible, we see this:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. (Revelation 21:1)

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:5)

God is Lord, on His throne. He designed and created the original universe, which was ruined by sin. God will design and create the new heavens and new earth. So we see here: God’s words (not Satan’s, not ours) that are faithful and true, and God’s deeds (not Satan’s, not ours) that are final and determinative. Worldly wisdom is false, temporary, and doomed.

Our only hope lies in the wisdom of God, which centres in the cross of Jesus Christ. We must turn from the pipe-dream of our own ultimacy, bow before the ultimacy of the Lord God. It is only when we start from God’s ultimacy, and the sufficiency of His Word, that we have any hope of true wisdom and knowledge (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10).

see complete article Competing Wisdom’s by Dan Phillips on http://www.creation.com

GOD transforms a community, where His church is One.

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Before going to The Cross JESUS prayed:

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word; that they all may be one as You Father , are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that you sent me.”

John 17:20,21

What amazing transformation in the Whatcom County, Washington, population 210,000. Unity within the body of Christ (unity with diversity) and cities, counties are transformed. See the transformation for yourself in this twelve minute video.

 

Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify You,

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Jesus on Cross

 

Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. John 17:1-3

What amazing words and JESUS spoke them knowing within hours He would be crucified. 

He also warned them; “Indeed the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think they are offering a service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have told you these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.” John 16:2-4 and”I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of Truth (Holy Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you.” John 16:12-14. 

Surely, this is proof enough, JESUS is who He said He was. Whatever He prophesied came to pass. It happened.

The HOLY SPIRIT did come upon the believers at Pentecost just as JESUS told them. It transformed them and empowered them to live their lives knowing they had eternal life. The Holy Spirit comes to ALL believers in JESUS, to empower them to live the Christian life. Christians know the truth because the Spirit of truth dwells within them.

JESUS also told them, He would be killed and resurrected in three days. Here in John 16:16, He said, ” A little while, and you will see me no longer; but again a little while, and you will see Me.” The disciples had no idea what JESUS was talking about. “JESUS knew that they wanted to ask Him, so He said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? John 16:19

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.” John 16:20

We know these nobodies (fishermen and tax collectors) went on to change the world by preaching the Good News.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” John 3:16

Jesus Christ the Creator, God the Son, though totally sinless, took on human nature, so He could become our Redeemer. He suffered on our behalf the penalty for mankind’s sin, which is death and separation from God. He did this to satisfy the righteous demands of the holiness and justice of God, His Father. All who truly believe in Him, repent of their sin and trust in Him have eternal life in a restored relationship with their Creator God.

 

GOD answers every sincere prayer

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If you have any doubts that God answers ALL/EVERY heartfelt prayer, you must watch Jason Upton’s testimony on YouTube. It is a powerful and wonderful story of a young believer who had an illegitimate child with an unbeliever. She had to give the child (Jason) up for adoption  but before she did, she wrote down many prayers to God – her hopes for her boy. Hope that he would be a worshiper and used mightily by God. These were put in Jason’s Adoption Folder kept at the agency.

Hear Jason’s story of how every prayer his mother had written down was answered and some. Imagine his elation on reading those prayers his mother had written thirty two years earlier when he accessed his file at the Adoption Agency

Terminally Ill and Eternally Full of Life

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Gods-Not-Dead-ALS

Russell Wolfe is a producer for the recent hit GOD’S NOT DEAD and many other Christian movies. Recently diagnosed with ALS, Russell took to Facebook to contribute to spreading awareness and raising money for scientific research of this incurable disease – ALS also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease,

Regarding the Ice Bucket Challenge, Russell told Movieguide®, “So few people even know of the disease or even know what it is. I think it’s done a great job at raising awareness for that, but I felt that it was particularly good to link it to the fact that God’s not dead, mainly because I have faith that I’m healed, and I’ll receive that manifestation of that healing. Maybe there are some people I can encourage along the way.”

Encourage people he did. Within a week, his Ice Bucket Challenge had been shared over 34,000 times and over 3,000 comments flooded in with encouragement, prayers and others with ALS stories.

Moved by the huge response to the video, Russell said, “One thing that speaks specifically to me is the outpouring of people and their prayers. I’m so grateful for that. I’m actually taken back by how much it was shared, and how many people have included me in their prayers.”

When the news of his terminal diagnosis was revealed to him, Russell said his doctor was more surprised than he was because of Russell’s demeanor.

“I was so calm in reaction to the news,” Russell explained. “I’ve been through a lot of storms in my life, and God has certainly delivered me from each one. When I’ve had things that have happened that are bad, at the time, they might have seemed disastrous, but God has turned each and every one of them around so that in retrospect, I can look back at those, and I’m thankful that they happened, and I don’t feel any different about this. So when he gave me the news, I just looked at it as an opportunity to stand in my faith, and now we’ll just see how God uses this for his Glory.”

Romans 8:28 is a special encouragement to Russell, because God’s work and plan for his life is already so apparent.

“A part of the movie [GOD’S NOT DEAD] is sort of ironic, not only that I play the doctor that was delivering terminal news, and then I received that [same news] thereafter, but the letter that was in the movie that Kevin Sorbo read.

When we had the script, I felt that there needed to be a bridge between him being a solid atheist, and then converting to a Christian on the screen. So, I felt that while he was sitting in his office, he could pull out a letter from his mother. So, I wrote that letter. The idea behind that was, what would I tell my kids if I knew I was going to die at a young age? That letter that’s in the movie, I wrote it in that perspective. Again, the irony of writing that letter, and then getting a terminal diagnosis expresses the way I felt at that time and feel now knowing that I have this diagnosis.”

With his health deteriorating, Russell is still full of encouragement, faith and hope.

As he says, his message “is that God didn’t give this [ALS] to us. God didn’t give me ALS. I believe we live in a fallen world, and as such, bad things happen to good people. . . . What I do believe is that God can take any of those bad things and turn them into good. My message is to keep your faith. God is good all the time. He will turn things that are bad to the good. So, look for the hope in that.”

Pray for Russell Wolfe, his family and the thousands of others that suffer from ALS. Pray for physical healing through miracles and scientific advances through medicine, but especially, pray for a spiritual healing for all those who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

edited article  by Ben Kayser Managing Editor, Movie Guide

 

 

God enables Ethan with incurable cancer to live eternally now

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Post on Ethan Hallmark

Four years ago, Ethan just 13, was just another kid baseball player with the dream of being a doctor. Since his diagnosis with stage 4 neuroblastoma, he has become an involuntary hero who has demonstrated to his family, friends and community incredible courage and shares a message of hope greater than this terminal disease.

Ethan’s mom, Rachel Hallmark, said, “With the current treatment options our son’s disease is not curable. Its complex genes are just too smart for us at this point. Our son is slipping from our grips. We’re trying to get him to 14. We’re trying to give him the best quality of life possible. Each day without pain is a gift, and we’re trying to give him many more of those.”

The Hallmarks and their small hometown of Midlothian have forged a deep bond, sharing equal measures of despair and optimism in an extraordinary relationship of mutual encouragement.

“Obviously I want to beat this disease,” said Ethan. “But I’m not going to be that sad if I don’t. I mean, Heaven is not a pretty good place, Heaven is a perfect place. Of course I want to live a long life, who doesn’t? I want to watch my sister and brothers go to middle school with me. Go to high school. Watch them graduate. Even I want to graduate. It’s not my plan though. It’s His plan. And His plan is perfect. So really in the end, I will win either way.”

While speaking to a church congregation during an interview by a pastor last year about his many treatments, tumour discoveries, and setbacks, Ethan said, “Through all that, God has truly protected my heart from any bitterness. He’s been with us through this the whole time. He walks with us every single day.”

“We don’t want to waste this cancer,” said Ethan’s dad, Matt Hallmark. “I mean, he has it. And there’s absolutely nothing this world can do to take it away. So the question is, ‘What are you going to do with it?’ So we choose to make the most out of every day and making the most out of every day is enjoying what days God gives.”

Death and Suffering – only credible HOPE

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Twin Towers attack

The only truly satisfying answer to the existence of death and suffering is found in God’s word. Pain, suffering and death are intruders into God’s creation and He has already provided a way out with the promise of eternal life.

The BIBLE tells of the creation of a once-good world, in which death and suffering are not “natural” at all, but are intruders. They occur because of humanity’s rebellion against its maker (Genesis 3).  But if fossils formed over millions of years, which so many Christians just blithely accept as “fact”, then that wipes out The Fall as an answer to evil, especially “natural evil”. The fossils show the existence of things like death, bloodshed and suffering. So if these were there millions of years ago, they must have been there before man and hence before sin. This is the rock against which old-age compromises inevitably founder. This is also the reason why the age of things is not some obscure academic debate that Christians can put in the “too-hard-for-now” basket. Because it strikes to the heart of the hugest questions of all in relation to the nature of God, sin, evil, death; questions at the very core of Christian belief (or reasons given for no belief, for that matter).

When we try, however inadequately, to see things from God’s viewpoint rather than our own, things become quite different. There is suddenly nothing unfair about the deaths of any one of us, no matter what the circumstances.

God is the sovereign Judge who is totally holy (1 John 1:5). It is impossible to overstate His utter abhorrence of even the slightest sin. He is our Creator, He establishes the rules for our existence. Just as He destroyed almost all of mankind with Noah’s Flood which incidentally buried the myriad of dead things found in rocks all over the world (fossils); we know from His Word that He will eventually wind up the history of this fallen world and there will be a new heaven and new earth.

“and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away.” Revelation 21:4

Thank goodness God is merciful and loving (2 Peter 3:9), and long-suffering. In the most profound display of mercy and grace imaginable, He stepped into our shoes as a man, JESUS CHRIST, God the Son. He came to suffer and die so that God’s righteous anger against sin could be appeased and the penalty paid for those who place their trust in Him and receive His free gift—forgiveness of their sin and admission into God’s family—by faith.

There are daily reminders of His Curse on all creation all around us. When they are punctuated by horrifically sad concentrated bursts such as recent disasters, we are doubly reminded of the awfulness of sin. Does knowing the answers to the “big picture” make us callous to suffering? Far from it: we are moved even more by compassion, just as the Lord Jesus was when He lived among us. Because of Jesus, Christians—those who take the Bible as the Word of God, and know Jesus Christ as the Creator incarnate—are at the forefront of digging into their pockets to help alleviate suffering.

“If (since) Christ is God and died for me, then nothing I can do in obedience to Him can ever be too much”.  paraphrase C.T.Studd.

For more information check out article by Dr Jonathan Sarfati, “Why would a loving God allow death and suffering?” on http://www.creation.com.

TIME: YOUR MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE

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On Time

Contrast this pivotal resource of life with others, such as energy and finances, and a sharp distinction becomes obvious. While these other assets fluctuate, time constantly diminishes. No matter what one possesses, no matter the financial resources at your disposal, time cannot be purchased or stockpiled. One cannot gain access to additional time; you merely have the amount given to you.

So, if time is the most precious resource life offers, the question then becomes how do we use it wisely?

    1. Spend time in prayer. For contemporary believers this seems to be one of the more taxing tasks the Christian life demands. For, prayer takes time, and time is short and the day is long but how else do you build a relationship with your Creator other than spend time in prayer and in HIS WORD. Moreover HE said, “And ALL THINGS, whatever you ask in prayer, believing you will receive” Matthew 21:22. If you want to be a person who changes the course of history, you will pray and seek God’s will for your life. He has a plan for your life don’t miss it.
    2. Invest in building relationships. This certainly has the potential to multiply time. Think of a Christian parent’s relationship with their child, and the ripple effect this relationship can have for decades, if not centuries of time and on numerous other relationships. Their actions will not only have the potential to impact society for good but above all can have eternal significance.

Peter Kreeft, a Christian philosopher, offers an important understanding of time and prayer. He notes, “We have time and prayer backwards. We think time determines prayer, but prayer determines time. We think our lack of time is the cause of our lack of prayer, but our lack of prayer is the cause of our lack of time.” This understanding of the relationship of time to prayer is not a pithy saying to be taken lightly, but biblical insight into the significance of both. For the One who listens to the prayer knows about multiplication.

Matthew chapter 14 speaks to the ability of Christ to multiply scarce resources in order to maximize their potential. Yet, consider if the child had never offered his five loves and two fish. Christ’s ability to multiply would, at least in this instance, never been engaged.

Succinctly put, life in modern society is belligerently backwards. Modern life is arranged around tasks and duties which consume a large portion of the time given us each day. This utilitarian view of time has riddled modern society, families, and individuals with discontent, loneliness, and want of purpose.

How now should we live?

Remember The Lord’s Prayer – “Your Kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. Invest your time in building God’s Kingdom on earth and you also build treasure in heaven which has ETERNAL value and significance. Don’t waste your time on building your Kingdom on earth, it is fleeting and ultimately brings no peace or joy.

Time is precious and limited, yet of eternal value. What makes it so is how you use it and whom you give it to. Begin now to start living eternally.