No Perishing Point

Greetings fellow fire-breathers.
Did you know, though tested by fire, your faith has no perishing point? I'm going to be getting to that in a moment.

I had determined the next time I had some time to myself to spend it writing a study or a teaching on my blog, I had planned on getting around to this. I heard a sermon on Dave Roberson's podcast sometime ago while I was still in Holland that set me off thinking about this. This is the guy authored the book about praying in tongues that I have linked on the right, and pastors the Tulsa Family Prayer Center. I thought the teaching was phenomenal--as is almost anything I've ever heard him teach. It was called "Your Faith Has No Perishing Point". You know a good teaching impacted you if you can remember the point a long time afterwards.

I'm not ripping off what I got from him in it, but in the Body of Christ, I don't see why we need to cross-reference each other as if truth from God is copyrighted--BUT, I say I first heard this from listening to Roberson so that you don't think I'm smarter than I really am and realize I got started on this path when I heard that sermon.

Lately (as in the last 18 months) I've kinda swung the pendulum the other way in my thinking about faith and how it works. You can click on one of the tags below for more entries on the subject and see some of what I mean and have grown into. But some people get really offended at the implication that faith is something that grows and is developed--in other words, the idea of having more, implies you must not already have enough--and that gets used to condemn people for not being at certain stages of their life. Even when you're not, people think you are doing that to them. Of course, I think it's wrong to push people and make them feel worse about situations they're in and beliving God for help getting out of.

I try to be careful how I communicate that to people who are really discouraged or needing breakthrough in their life, of course, and I'd never beat other sheep of God's for not being healed and put guilt on them and blame them for not being healed yet. That is wrong (and oddly enough, by virtue of teaching HOW to grow in faith, it's an accusation I get launched at me often, but if you hear me out you'll know the truth behind my words).

That being said, I cannot for the life in me find what many people think about faith (and having it or not enough of it), IN the Bible. Our faith IS "growable" and spell checker is not letting me write that word, but it IS the word I want to make up/use--growable. But one thing I'm finding about faith, and this is what I want to write this time--that it has no "perishing point".

Look at this:
"In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, though it is tested so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 1:6-7 ESV

Gold and silver are perishable things (1 Pet 1:18). Those type of things are something I've spent considerable time mediating on and thinking about. Gold and silver are things you find in the ground, in caves or hidden in safe places. They require finding. They aren't just on the surface of the ground for any passer by to have who couldn't care much less about finding it. At intense temperatures with a lot of heat, these valuable stones are purified and all the dirt and dross burns away after a certain point.

Gold has a certain perishing point, that if you kept the temperature rising, it would eventually turn to liquid, and if you kept increasing the temperature higher still, then eventually the gold would evaporate. Or if you took a pile of gold and projected it into our sun, at some point before it got right near the sun it would have completely dissolved. Your faith has NO point at which it dissolves or perishes--according to Scripture. Peter refers to it as being more precious than gold, that perishes though it is tested by fire. Gold, not faith is the object here being referred to as perishable. Can you imagine that or think about that for a moment?

Later in the same chapter Peter says "Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever."

And this word is the good news that was preached to you."

1 Peter 1:22-25

If our souls need purification, and we're born of imperishable seed, and not perishable--then why do so many of us spend so much time dwelling on and feeding ourselves with perishable stuff and dwelling more on the 'perishable' realm of our lives? I know bunches of Christians that read the Bible for 5 minutes a day -if at all-- but gosh don't ever ask them to quit the TV for a week or suggest withdrawing from the internet for 1 week to dig into and dwell on that imperishable stuff that doesn't fade or have a perishing point.

Give that some thoughtful meditation.

FIRE On Your Head Episode 30: Can Satan cast out Satan: The Florida Healing Outpouring

How could we not jump on the blogging and podcasting bandwagon and NOT include an episode devoted to the hotly debated and controversial Lakeland Revival aka The Florida Healing Outpouring?

Join Dan Slavin & Steve Bremner this week as we share testimonies, discuss some of the concerns and criticisms, and Steve shares first-hand experience from attending for himself. Are Todd Bentley's tattoos really demon-inspired? Do signs and wonders really happen today? Is it possible or normal for Christians to have angelic encounters? Join us as we begin a discussion on these hot topics of the hour.

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Personal & Ministry Updates

Hoi Allemaal.
There's lots to share, and as always I don’t know how to condense it all into one update! This is a six-month follow up to the entry at the beginning of this year regarding postponing my return to Europe.

I've been reflecting on my time in Peru, and I realize in my recent post, I didn't really go into too much detail for the inquiring minds that want to know just what has been happening lately.

My time in Peru was amazing, and since last writing, I had the opportunity to take a few trips outside of Lima, and see more of the country. Doing so has really made a lasting impact on me. Seeing the depths of poverty and desperation that many Peruvians live in is something I’ll never forget, and I'm certainly not in danger of doing so any time soon.

I mentioned previously that I went with Ron to Chincha, and Pisco--the epicenter of last year's earthquake. He directs a food distribution program named “Feed My Starving Children”, through the help of an organization in the USA that currently sends containers of boxes of dried rice and meat. These meal packets are then shipped or delivered personally by Ron to various pastors and volunteers in areas who then make the meals for as many as 50 kids in their towns, several times a week throughout the month. Accompanying Ron for several of these deliveries during my last week in Lima created a real burden in me to be involved in such a task in whatever ways I can.

In a way, this ministry trip was one of the busiest and most productive times of ministry I've had in my almost three years of living abroad—and were among the most AWESOME 6 weeks of my life. This trip has been like a blossoming in my gifts and talents, specifically teaching, preaching and public speaking. It is almost as if the people I've met here have pulled things out of me.

That all being said, God has confirmed in my heart that I’m to move on from the work I’ve been a part of in Holland for almost 2 ½ years, and relocate to Peru where I’ll be working with Ron & Michelle Smith. I've known for almost the last 5 months I'm probably moving to Peru, and have not publicly said so until I've been able to make a trip there. The leadership in my life have all affirmed this decision as well. I know many of you have expressed to me personally that you expected this to be the case. I’ve been careful not to get ahead of myself until actually taking this trip to see if that’s where the Lord was leading. I was in Peru under 24 hours when I already knew with definite certainty in my spirit that I would be moving there.



How Exactly Did I Get Here?
When I returned from the Netherlands in October to attend the FIRE International Missions Conference and itinerate in Ontario, I assumed I was returning to Holland after Christmas. I left many of my personal belongings there. However, once I had been home for a few weeks this November, I had a tremendous sense that my time in Holland was coming to a close. We keep saying as a team about what God is doing in The Netherlands that "this is the momentum to step into", and I felt kinda guilty that I wanted to step OUT of this particular momentum.

I spent weeks praying about some of the challenges facing my return to Holland financially at the time, and for lack of a better way of saying it, did not "want" to try overcoming them anymore. I knew that my hindrances were not the devil stopping me, but God re-ordering my steps for His purposes. Hindsight and having moved forward since that time have also confirmed it for me. I shared my heart and concerns with one of my pastors, Stephen Best, and spent a few days with Harold and Loraine Collins--directors of Calvary International Canada--at their home in Woodstock, Ontario in the late fall--sharing with them each where I was at in ministry and in my life. At the suggestion of my pastor, I postponed returning to Holland until after I could take a ministry trip with him to Peru this spring, which I did in mid April. The purpose of going was always understood as being to see if the change of setting might be better for my calling and gifting.

Immediately after leaving pastor Stephen's office that day last fall, I knew in my spirit I'm probably going to actually move to Peru. I skyped with my missions director at F.I., Dr. Josh Peters not long afterwards and he gave me the go-ahead but strongly encouraged me not to publicly tell anyone I was thinking of relocating to Peru until AFTER I've been on the trip, just in case I hate it and don't want to go back. So, I have followed all the advice and instruction I've been given, and have merely gone through the right channels and been careful not to announce it or make assumptions or plans to do so until receiving adequate guidance from leadership in my life, such as from FIRE International in the USA and my missions covering in with C.I.C.. All the leadership in my life have so far been supportive and even encouraging of this endeavor and think this is from God. I feel God has really made a strong connection between myself and Ron & Michelle Smith while I was in Lima, and I'll be joining their ministry FIRE Peru, working alongside of them and helping establish the FIRE base there.

I wish to communicate that I don't feel as though I'm jumping ship on anything with the work in Rotterdam, and I don't feel as though I'm giving up or quitting on anything, but I've come to a realization specifically from being in Peru, that maybe the work I've been involved in in Rotterdam is not for me as I originally thought, and in retrospect has served as a learning experience that the Lord had me in for a season, which is now over and a new season begun. I'm pretty certain, this work in Peru is a better 'fit' for me than what I've been doing in Holland for at least the last 2 years. I don't say any of that against FIRE Nederland, because I've always been on board for what God called us there to do--I just have had the opportunity along with lots of prayer and personal reflection enough to see that it is not the best fit for me.

Lord willing, I will be spending the next few months in Canada and return to Holland for 3 weeks or so during the time frame of the Fire For Life Summer School and national day of prayer in the Hague for 08.08.08, and see many of you whom I haven't been able to formally say goodbye to. Then some time after that, return to Peru in September (again, Lord willing!) and begin afresh to serve God here and be a part of FIRE Peru. I'm more than happy to spend the first year in Spanish school, and I'm fairly certain that already being fluent in French will help me learn Spanish much faster as I've noticed many similarities between the two languages.

If all goes to plan, I will have been working until late July on a Strawberry farm outside of Peterborough, Ontario. I hope to afford my own plane tickets to Amsterdam and Lima. After that, I need help to raise my monthly support levels by about $400 more, as it has dropped significantly while I’ve been in Canada and currently is difficult to gauge my long-term budget by. Taking Spanish school in Peru to learn the language for the first year is also necessary for me, and will cost between $160-200 per month on top of my living expenses. I realize it’s really ambitious to try raising this support over the summer, and in just a few short months, but I’ve experienced how God is provider of all things.

Please keep this situation in prayer, and wherever possible consider if there’s a way you can help monetarily—especially in on-going monthly support. In order to apply for a visa, I need proof of adequate monthly “income.”

Thank you for all your encouragement, friendship, and prayer for my life and ministry.
The entry below this one is the most recent Fire On Your Head podcast show, with my long-time friend and fellow church buddy Jason, and I'm sure it will be interesting for a few of you wanting to *hear* about Peru.

Blessings, and fire on your heads
Bendiciones

Fire On Your Head Episode 29: Mission To Peru

This week my co-host on the podcast is Jason Kater. We talk about what the Lord is doing in Peru, and talk about the culture, some funny and not so funny experiences. We reminisce about recent trips to Peru, and share upcoming opportunities for those of you who may have a heart for missions, and Peru in particular.

For more information about Ron and Michelle Smith's ministry or FIRE Peru, visit http://peruenfuego.com/ or visit their FIRE International bio page.

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Obama, Jakes and the “Goose Bump” Factor

What kind of vibes did you feel when Barack Obama claimed the Democratic nomination?

Now that Hillary Clinton’s campaign has been kicked to the curb, the nation’s most powerful Democrat is steamrolling his way to the White House. The Obama machine is surging ahead with support from a huge army of young volunteers. And since John McCain isn’t doing much yet to attract the fractured evangelical voting bloc, Sen. Barack Hussein Obama will probably turn red states into blue ones in November.

A lot of people are excited about that possibility, including the nation’s most prominent African-American preacher, T.D. Jakes of Dallas. In a gushing endorsement, he told CNN last week that he “watched with visible goose bumps” as Obama claimed his party’s nomination. “This is not just a victory for African-Americans,” Jakes wrote, “it is a victory for democracy that proves that our country provides possibilities for all people.”

I’ll say amen to the fact that we are finally putting racism behind us. But I must admit that the goose bumps I felt last week were different from the ones Jakes experienced. I sensed sadness, and a bit of dread, as I realized that the people of the United States are hellbent on electing another leader who has no problem with killing unborn babies.

Sorry for being so old-fashioned, but I think abortion is still a relevant issue. Many Christians today say it’s politically impossible to elect a pro-life candidate. They’ve changed the channel. Opposing abortion is, like, so 1980s. Many young Christian voters love to quote the line that says, “There are other issues that are just as important”— listing the environment, food programs and ending the war in Iraq as the trendy new evangelical agenda.

At the risk of seeming out of touch with our Sex in the City culture, I’d like to mention three things to those Christians who are already plastering their cars with Obama bumper stickers:

1. Maintaining the current policy on abortion is not “change.” Obama promises change every time he makes a speech. He’s out to change our economy, our health care system and our foreign policy. He’s a one-man change agent. Yet whenever he has voted on the abortion issue, all he’s done is protect the right to kill our most vulnerable citizens. No innovation here. All he offers is the same old same old.

Everyone on Capitol Hill knows Obama is a radical when it comes to abortion policy. He opposed a ban on partial-birth abortion (a clinical term for stabbing a baby in the neck when his arms, legs and torso are already outside the mother); then he criticized the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold that ban. While an Illinois lawmaker, Obama opposed a bill that would have prevented the killing of an infant born alive during an abortion.

To top that off, Obama said in April that if his young daughters got pregnant out of wedlock, he didn’t want them to be “punished with a baby.” In other words, he wants the abortion industry to thrive.

2. Abortion is racist. African-American pastor Wellington Boone pointed out in an article in Charisma last month that 36 percent of all abortions in the United States are performed on black women—even though they make up only 12 percent of the population. And Obama is OK with that?

It baffles me that liberals who pride themselves on being racially sensitive can get away with supporting a practice that destroys black families. It’s equally baffling that when pro-life African-American politicians enter the political arena they are ignored rather than cheered with Obamaesque fervor. So not only do we kill black babies; we also silence black leaders who don’t worship at the altar of Molech.

3. Abortion contradicts the essence of Christianity. I have dialogued with young Christian voters who say they are supporting Obama because they believe he will bring justice to poor people who’ve never achieved the American dream. Who are we fooling with this empty talk about justice? Hello? The God of justice abhors the slaughter of unborn babies!

Many Christians who support Obama do so because he opposes the Iraq war. I respect their position about a muddled conflict that has lasted too long. But has anybody done the math?

The number of U.S. soldiers who have been killed in Iraq since 2002 currently stands at 4,092. Yet a slightly smaller number of unborn babies, approximately 3,900, die every day in this country because of abortion. Currently we kill 1.4 million babies a year. Since abortion was legalized we’ve snuffed out more babies than the entire populations of Iraq, Israel and Jordan.

That’s more than 40 million people. It’s a holocaust we deny ever happened.

The mantra of the 2008 Democratic contest has been “every vote counts.” Yet no one, including Obama, is talking about the rights of an unborn infant whose skull is about to be stabbed with scissors or whose brains are about to be sucked out with a vacuum tube. His tiny hands—complete with fingernails by 14 weeks—will certainly never be allowed to press a button in a ballot booth. That gives me goose bumps.

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. On Tuesday, June 17, he will be doing a live interview at 8 p.m. (EST) with Christian musician TobyMac. To sign up for this free conference call, or to submit a question for TobyMac, click here.

Why I don't listen to a lot of (or practically ANY) secular music

Hello folks.
I'm sure that title got your attention. I write this entry from the new outdoor patio in my parents' backyard, back in Canada. I first started to write this post in Peru before coming home, but time restrained me. Then as I went back to it, I couldn't help but ask myself why bother posting this? I had to search my motives, because I know many if not most reading will disagree with me and think I'm being melodramatic. But I'll get to that in a moment.

I had a great trip to Tarma, which is 8 hours south of Lima. You might have listened to the mp3 I posted and seen the pictures below. After speaking on the Holy Spirit, Pastor Omar came forward and asked anyone if they had not received the baptism in the Holy Spirit before and wanted to, to come forward. At least 15-20 people came forward, and never mind that also when Nina preached in the afternoon on the love of the Lord to a group of women from the church, she prayed for 9 people to get baptized then too! So the mp3 attached below is what I shared on that led to the Holy Ghost bubble bath aftermath that is depicted in some of the pictures below and even more on my photo album on Facebook.

But I want to relay an incident that happened on my last Saturday in the country, at Ron and Michelle Smith's. We all went with his Bible school group to see the movie Prince Caspian (which I thought sucked, but this isn't a movie review). Names will not be used, and certain details will be omitted to keep this vague and protect the dignity of those involved. I'm also not sharing this story to glamorize deliverance ministry and give demons any credit, but quite frankly, I write this as a warning about Christians opening themselves up to seemingly harmless worldly activities, and believing it wont affect us.

When we got back to his house, a young Peruvian man and his friend stuck around and were chatting with Ron in Spanish, and Ron would periodically inform me of what they were talking about. Then, at the request of the young man, we stood up to lay hands on him and pray because he had been having migraines and neck pain ever since he had started telling people he planned on coming back to Ron's Bible school. We knew that was an attack, so we went after the healing through prayer and laying our hands on him.

Mere moments into the prayer session, this young man snapped, and started looking intently at Ron's chest without blinking. Minutes and minutes went by and he had his eyes open the whole time and started dripping tears from his eyes, all while still not blinking. Ron turned to me and made a remark like "do you remember when I told you we prayed for a guy for over 4 hours to be delivered from a demon? Well this is him--you better be doing some serious warfare praying!"

My heart sank. I knew the verse that says when an unclean spirit is cast out of a person, it goes away and comes back finding its former house swept and in order, and goes away and finds 7 other demons to come back with him (Matthew 12:43-45). If it had taken 4 hours previously and this man opened himself up again, then how much energy, effort and time is tonight going to take....?

Little did I know a six hour labour in prayer lay ahead of us:

At first the young man tried grabbing at Ron, so myself and the other Peruvian there held on to his arms. After a while that got way too tiring, so we managed to get this guy to sit on the couch, so we could "lean" into it more and not wear ourselves out. However, the young man was no longer responding to us by name or seeming to recognize us. Never in the few times I've gotten to see people delivered of demons have I seen so much fight coming from the person, for so long.

So we did all the stuff we knew to do, but basically just kept asking God to show up. We played worship on Ron and Michelle's computer full blast. But two hours went by with seemingly no outward indication of impact. Finally at one point in my heart, out of utter desperation, I just asked God to maybe reveal what could be the root of this--what is it that has happened, since maybe the other guys had already discussed it in Spanish and I didn't catch it. Immediately at that moment the young man we were holding down started to reach for and scratch at his right pocket, so I helped him reach in and grab his phone (keep in mind we're holding his arms down the whole time so he wouldn't harm himself or one of us). As soon as we pulled out the phone it dawned on each of us that there's music and probably videos on this phone. We were right: as soon as we took the phone away and put it on a nearby couch, this demon got more agitated, and kept reaching in the direction of the phone.

A while of this went on, all three of us holding him down and getting extremely worn out. Finally we realized a Bible was nearby the phone, so since this demon kept reaching towards the phone, we tauntingly asked it if it was wanting the Bible. Keep in mind this guy didn't speak any English, but during this ordeal, was responding to everything I asked in English. We put the Bible on the phone, and kept praying and asking God to show up and move.

I know, you're disappointed that I wasn't smarter than that. As David Hogan says "I know, YOU would have done it better, but you weren't there!"

We kept speaking to the root of this problem; we kept commanding spirits to come out; we kept doing all the Bible college stuff you get taught to do or read in books as being the proper way to minister deliverance--but we just got desperate, and repeatedly asked God to show up with freedom. In fact, after a while, we finally decided to try READING aloud from the Bible. At this point in the night, I guess it was a battle of wits-- to see who would give up first--the demon or us!

I read almost ALL of the red letter print in the book of John, and the whole time this man's head kept shaking "no" in response to everything I was reading. Great! I thought maybe it would get tired of hearing the pure Word of God and leave! Well, some of them did--apparently there were several in there. One of them tried telling Ron, in Spanish that we were tired, and to give up and call it a night. It would say things to me in Spanish and Ron and the other guy would laugh and tell me not to worry about it--which was easy since I didn't understand it anyway. On and on this went, so finally this man's friend got the idea to just go delete the music from the phone himself. To this, the demon/demons freaked out and we had to hold the young man down with even more force than previously. I'd never thought such a small individual could put up with such a fight with two guys weighing over 200 ilbs each on top of him holding his arms down--but if you had several demons in there, then I guess it's no surprise!

When the music was finally deleted, the young man was a lot calmer, but not quite responsive to us yet. He finally said something about not being able to see us, but being able to see demons in another realm. We understood what that meant, and kept asking God to move, to intervene. After quite another while going by, we finally decided to check the phone again, and realized there was movies and pictures on there. I don't know what all was on there, but I know a Harry Potter movie, and pornography were among them.

This time, the young man was able to cooperate a little more with his own will power, and asked us for help setting him free, and helped point out the buttons and instructions for how to delete the movies and music on his cell phone. We did so, and he calmed down again. I'm not much of a "feeler" (I don't typically shake, fall down, etc.. when the power of God comes into a room), but it was obvious that something "lifted" in the atmosphere of that room. I thought we were done, but when we let go of his arms, this guy tried to choke himself (ie, the demon, as a last resort, I believe tried to harm and/or kill him). We proceeded again to hold his arms down, and Ron later after the fact told me he almost fell asleep at this point in the night (at LEAST five hours had gone by by this point).

We prayed and worshiped and declared Scriptural things, believing that we'd make whatever demons were left him in (apparently just one) leave and get tired of putting up the fight. The power of God came down on this man, and he shook and shook, and then finally calmed down, "woke up" in his right mind, and smiled through his worn out face. Ron's wife Michelle got him some water to drink and an orange, and we told him about what had happened and what time it was. He had little to no recollection of the night.

Why Am I Sharing This?

I'm not writing to glamorize deliverance ministry to parade myself as a weekend warrior and boast of something powerful I got to see God do. The majority of readers of this blog--insofar as I know--listen to secular music, and some of you listen to outright blatantly sinful music that you think nothing is wrong with or that you have "liberty in Christ" and think my opinion about it is legalistic. I figured why open myself up to a debate that I'll never be able to follow up much on--and almost didn't bother posting this, but then finally was gripped to make a warning to those this applies to.

When I'm in certain circles, especially in Peterborough, people have argued with me about the proper way to minister deliverance or that 'Christians can't have a demon'. Frankly, I was not ready for the all-evening battle that night, and was worried in my spirit that I'd reveal how unspiritual and unprepared I was for this kind of stuff to the other guys who had more tenacity than I about seeing peoples' freedom come about all the way to the completion. We had determined earlier in the evening, that we weren't letting this man leave the way he came--messed up.

But when the light exposes the darkness, it brings things to light, and in this case, the power that this rap music, witchcraft movie (but Steve, it's JUST a kid's movie, what's the big deal?--I want to cuss responding to that!). Please, dear reader--don't dabble!

The account I shared is the truth, with a lot of details omitted. You can write comments and try one-sided debates about if you think Christians can or can't have demons in/on them or wherever, but I don't care, I know what I saw and I write this post as a warning and might not respond to any comments posted--especially stupid ones.

Not only do I plead with you, I beg you, it's NOT just "something harmless" --the dope of this world is not worth participating in. Anyone wanting to kid themselves into thinking they can listen to some of this crap (I'm not picking on the genre of rap music, but anything that is anti-christ in spirit) and NOT be affected by it can go right ahead living in such ignorance. But I had that Saturday night put a holy fear in me of avoiding evil in any way, shape or form, and I want to STAY free from it.

That is all, thank you for reading this with an open mind, because I know secular music and demonology have polarized opinion groups about it, but please take this account to heart and do whatever is right to rid yourself of the open doors to sin and demonic influence. I want to make clear I'm not saying that listening to secular music just by default makes you get demon possessed! But frankly, I do believe it's better to not stick one's straw into the cesspool and drink.

One of the first podcast episodes Dan and I did last year was on Secular music. It's a little bit old, and I'm not sure how similar our opinions are as they were back then when we shared this stuff, but I'm sure the discussion will at least prompt you to think and pray about it in your own life. It can be listened to here:

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Other than that, I have a job interview tomorrow which I believe is already locked in place. Then this weekend I'm finally going down to Lakeland, Florida to check out the revival that's been going on nightly for the last 2 months. I'm sure I'll write something about it afterwards next week.

Blessings, and fire on your heads!

FIRE On Your Head Episode 28: Divine Healing

This week, the sacred cow killing continues as we tackle some theological questions we’ve been asked about divine healing, including: If God wants to heal, then how come He cursed people with sickness and disease in the Old Testament? Were some of the healing commands God gave the disciples only for them to do in their generation? Does Matthew 7:21-23 teach that healing ministers are apostate? Does healing the sick really interfere with God’s sovereignty? How does sowing and reaping play a part in sovereignty and divine healing?

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More Study on Matthew chapters 7 & 8:

Healing Anointing on the Believer is Like Tools in the Hands of a Mechanic

Questions Regarding Matthew 8

Stuff to Think About Regarding Divine Healing/Sicknesses and Diseases

Please visit our site at http://firenederland.podbean.com/, or consider subscribing to us in the iTunes store, listed as “FIRE On Your Head”, where you will also have access to many other teachings from our conferences.

Holy Spirit: More Than a Reservoir

This is a message I preached in Tarma, Peru on May 22nd/08 with Spanish interpretation--as depicted in the pictures below. The subject is the Holy Spirit and specifically speaking in tongues and what doing it for extended periods of time unlocks in your Christian life. There’s a LOT more than just having Him dwelling inside of us…

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More Study:

How's Your Connection To The Vine?

More Food For Your Mouth

On "Being Drunk" In The Holy Spirit

Please visit our site at http://firenederland.podbean.com/, or consider subscribing to us in the iTunes store, the Zune Marketplace or at ZenCast listed as “FIRE Nederland”, where you will also have access to many other teachings from our conferences.

Pictures from Ministry Trip to Tarma, Peru

Newfie "English", Coffee Teeth & The Worst Sermon I Ever Preached

Bendiciones

I finally have enough time to try recollecting any important details from the past week and a bit worth documenting on here for people who refuse to join Facebook--which, BTW I think is a missionary's best communication tool besides podcasting. To read captions with most of my pictures, it really is best to view them on Facebook. On my blog I try posting them in one entry, so I don't have one entry per picture, and in the process it's hard to put the captions properly underneath or next to each picture in a way that doesn't look retarded.

Things I've been doing lately:

In really important missionary news (to me), I went to the dentist for the first time in almost 8 years. I was scared that over the years I'd maybe not taken enough care of my teeth in light of not having the looming threat of dental visits twice a year to keep me in line, and was worried I might have some cavities. In some of the only English Ruth could speak, she congratulated me for not having any, but it was necessary to go through some teeth whitening procedures, based on how I've got "coffee teeth". She made a mold on my teeth and used that to make a plastic thing that fits over my teeth. I then fill that with this whitening cream she gave me, before going to bed and then removing it in the morning. While going through this process, I'm not allowed to drink coffee or tea, no colored pop, and no oranges or lemons, no really hot food or really cold food.

In other words, no happiness.

This was all ridiculously cheap compared to what I'd pay in Canada--which is part of the reason I'd never gone since I didn't have any insurance for it. I paid 189 sols--which would be about $70 at the moment. So other than the inconvenience of not having any happiness, I'm pleased about being able to do something so important for so cheap while I'm down here. I will see her tomorrow to determine if I need to go longer (for the love of coffee, NO!), but I anticipate taking them for a few more days--my teeth are not so yellow no more, but definitely not bright white or anything.

On Thursday and Friday much of Lima was shut down for some crazy celebration here with over 20 presidents of other nations--mostly from South America and Europe--were meeting for some kind of summit about helping the poverty and hunger in Peru with exporting some of their products--like all these unique varieties of potato they have. There's a picture below of a picture of a giant inflated potato that looks like it has eyes on it. If you were wondering why, now you know that it was part of a parade.

I preached again this past Saturday night, and this time for my largest group, which was at Catedral De Fe, where my interpreter attends and works as receptionist. Unlike the other occasions so far where I would preach my heart and share what God had given me, they asked me (through Sara, the interpreter) if I could preach on sharing your faith. That's easy. So I got a few of my Scriptures together to make it Biblical, and then just shared some funny and not so funny stories from experience mostly geared about methods, but most importantly--getting out of one's comfort zone. I am told it went over well.

As per part of the title I gave this entry (for effect), I'm not satisfied with what I shared that night, because the next morning in the shower it hit me like a ton of barking chickens that I never adequately taught on the cross and Christ crucified. In my endeavor to correct some mistakes that are commonly done in the Body of Christ, I didn't appropriately explain the most important aspect of all. I totally took for granted that these youth would already know the way to be saved. Nobody I asked had noticed it or deemed it a problem, but still, I repented and have vowed never to make that mistake again.

On Sunday we went to Pachakutec, which is about an hour away from Lima, where people seem to live in shacks and might have running water. A missionary I've met through Dean lives and works there and directs a mission that evangelizes to a lot of children, leading Bible studies and games and so on, as depicted in the pictures below from my visit.
Then on Monday I went with Ron Smith, the FIRE International missionary here, to Chincha and Pisco. Pisco was there epicenter of the big earthquake last August, killing many thousands of people and destroying much property. Ron has a program he initiated called "Feed My Starving Children" where he gets an order of food where each rice and dried meat packet contains 23 or some number of vitamins that if the children eat only this meal, they'd get all their necessary vitamins.

This initiative is something that keeps him particularly busy, and he invited me for the day long road trip down there and back. In fact, it was eye opening, because given the fact that only 1% of Peruvians live at a standard of living of the area of Lima I'm staying in, I still hadn't really left Lima (it's a HUGE city, somewhere around 13 million people is what I've been told). So to see more huts in the mountains and shacks that apparently 45% of Peruvians live in was eye opening for me, and broke my heart further for this place.

Now, I'm at Dean's apartment chilling and trying to edit another healing podcast I recorded with Dan before coming here. On Friday I'm going with Rolando--a good friend of Dean and a local here--to central Lima where apparently it's dangerous for a North American like me to go to alone, and with his reputation he's going to help me get a good podcasting microphone for only $70. I've finally caved and decided to try improving the quality of our shows, given that more and more people outside of The Netherlands listen. I don't know how soon before posting a new FIRE On Your Head show with the new mic, but I can't wait to use it and have it in place.

This trip has gone so fast, and it's hard to believe I'll be home late next week. I really don't want to leave. Tomorrow I'm going to a town or village named Tarma. Whatever it's called, it's near the Chilean border about an 8 hour bus ride to get there and I'm told if I haven't gotten sick to my stomach on this trip yet (which--praise God--I have not gotten sick like some other people)--then that this trip would do the trick! We shall see, and I'm sure it will make a great experience/story to share.

My next week before going home is not specifically planned out, but I shall make the best use of it.

Blessings, and fire on your heads!
Ciao!

Pictures for May 20th, 2008