Following Jesus

Kenneth Gentry: Postmillennialism and The Great Tribulation

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A great and thoughtful article by Kenneth Gentry places the Great Tribulation at around 70 AD. I’m glad we missed it!

This is my second in a multi-part series explaining how we can believe in postmillennialism, even though Jesus teaches about “the great tribulation” that is to come. In this series of articles we will learn a remarkable fact: The great tribulation is past. Indeed, it occurred long ago in the first century and was concerned with the destruction of the temple in AD 70.

Obviously, if this is so, then the great tribulation punctuated the beginning of Christianity (as the new covenant-phase of God’s kingdom) and has no direct bearing on the end of the Church Age (supposedly lying in our near future). Thus, it does not contradict postmillennialism’s historical optimism. Let us consider the evidence.

Most evangelicals focus on the remarkable judgments in the Matthew 24. And they do so to such an extent that they overlook important contextual clues that go against the popular conception of the great tribulation. And they do this despite the fact that these clues are quite clear and compelling.

These clues revolve around Matthew 24:34 which involves the key observation for a proper understanding of the great tribulation. This is the text we must focus upon; it will be our guiding star shedding light on our pathway through this dark and frightening passage.

Read the full article here

Jodie Hughes: It’s Time To Dream Again

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“It’s Time to Dream Again”Jodie Hughes, Graham, Texas

“This is what God says…’Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.'” (Isaiah 43:16,18-19, The Message)

Dreaming helps us formulate new strategies and allows for maximum capacity of creativity as we pursue new “frontiers.” We will pioneer and take new territory in the spirit in this new era and in the natural. It’s time to dream with abandon once more and stir hope for what is yet possible, and build what hasn’t yet existed. Dreaming doesn’t just activate hope and provoke creative juices, it stirs faith to go where we’ve never been before.

It doesn’t take a prophet to know that the world is in a season of rapid change. As things shift and change, God is compelling His people to prophesy and decree what He is saying. He wants us to partner with Him to establish on the earth the dreams and plans of Heaven, as we, the Body of Christ on Earth, are called to pioneer change and extend into new territory. We are being invited to walk in something fresh, something brand-new—and it’s time to dream again!

Read the full article here

Key Principles of Cell Churches: Ralph Neighbour

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Here is an article about Cell Church that I rediscovered on our web-site. Apart from the Triad Principle we have very effectively grown intho these principles over the years.

Key Principles of Cell Churches

by Ralph Neighbour

Back in 1987, as we prepared to prepare pastors from all over the world who knew nothing about the Cell Church, a group of us met for two days to discuss the core values that would be mandatory for cell group churches. Here is what we prepared:

Every Member is a Minister

The Priesthood of all believers is pointedly taught in scripture. A priest touches a person with a need with one hand and touches the Lord with the other hand and becomes a channel for Christ to manifest His Presence to meet that need.

Further, Ephesians tells us that the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher are to be equippers of every member to minister. If leaders are equippers, every member will be prepared for ministry. This is the exact reverse of how a traditional church sees things: they see the FiveFold as the ministers and the members as offering support.

Equipping Will Be Done in Cells

Learning how to minister is not done in classrooms. It is done in the context of ministry situations. The activity of priests is done in the cell as all confess their crises and others receive the anointing to share spiritual gifts.

Thus, the cell itself is the place for equipping. When the member must minister, only then will the anointing required be manifested. Priestly ministry is not taught—it is caught.

Evangelism Will be Done through Cells

I Corinthians 14:24-25 along with verse 3 explains that if the Power and Presence of Christ is being revealed as all prophesy, the searching unbeliever will fall on his face and repent. This is “Body Life Evangelism,” where Christ Himself is the One who draws all men to Himself.

There Will be Clear Accountability

In the cell, we gather first as Triads: I John 2 explains it: the “Little Child” is mentored by the “Young Man,” who in turn is mentored by the “Father.”

Like the slogan of the U.S. Marines, each member says to another, “I’ve got your back!” The constant care and trust between the people of God allows them “to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, for God is working in them.”

Legalistic accountability is replaced by a desire to look after other’s interests with agape love.

There Will Be No Competition with Cells

The priestly life is focused on life together in community and penetrating the households of new believers. All the focus of the cell is directed toward fulfilling the task the Father assigned to His Son when He was returned to earth to occupy His next body, the ecclesia. There is no need for the precious time of the priests to be diverted to running and attending endless church programs. The Cell Church is an equipping and ministering organism, not an organization.

Kathy DeGraw: We Must Squeeze the Life Out of This Python Spirit

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Prophecy: We Must Squeeze the Life Out of This Python Spirit

 

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As Christians, we must suffocate the python spirit gripping our nation by diligent prayer. (Photo by David Clode on Unsplash)

Our flesh can walk in disobedience to the Lord, but over time, it can build a stronghold in our lives. The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).

Have you ever wondered why you can’t press through to your breakthrough or get your spiritual walk back to where you want it? Our lack of spiritual desire can be more than our flesh or laziness. It can be a principality and power in operation!

I was recently in the presence of the Lord when He revealed to me there is a strongman python spirit operating over the earth.

 

A python spirit in the spiritual realm would be referred to what a python snake would be in the natural. A python kills its prey by constriction and asphyxiation. Constriction is a narrowing or tightening. Asphyxiation is being deprived of oxygen, which can result in unconsciousness or death. A python spirit or snake squeezes its prey.

The Spirit of the Lord revealed and brought my attention to COVID-19 and the recent racial tragedy where an African American man died because his airway was being constricted and he mustered out, “I can’t breathe.” When we look at both of these circumstances that have impacted our world, they were both related to respiratory or breathing issues.

The python spirit constricts and tightens around your trachea, making it difficult to breathe. When you are in a territory dominated by witchcraft, you may even feel your trachea tighten. When we look at both COVID-19 and the recent racial injustice, we see the airway being attacked. This is a python spirit in operation.

 

Python spirits generally want to make you prayerless and come to attack your spirit walk. The Lord was showing me that this spirit wants to come against revival.

A python spirit attacks a Christian’s spiritual walk and the Christian thinks they are in a dry place or “the wilderness.” The truth is a Christian can’t see and doesn’t acknowledge that the majority of the cause of their stagnancy and lack of desire for spiritual growth and breakthrough is because there is a principality in operation against them.

This same principality is in operation over the world and against revival. It may be releasing a spirit of death through COVID-19. Spirits of trauma, stagnancy, distraction, depression and fear are being released as a result of COVID-19. These are direct attacks against revival. Yes, we need to pray for individual situations, but truly we need to attack the power trying to come against revival.

Racial tensions can additionally come against revival as we get in disunity, judgment and criticism of others. We must not merely look at what is happening on the surface, but at the larger picture. Attacking the principalities in operation that are causing all of this is where our prayers should be targeted.

Acknowledging demonic powers and operations instead of people causing these destructions will be the true way we win the war. Over the last several weeks, the Lord has released multiple words to me about what is happening in the spiritual realm. The common word He continues to release is the principalities and rulers over the earth. When we target them, expose them, and decree and declare against them is when we will have victory.

The python spirit will continue to attack until we annihilate it through prayer. Its operations and tactics may change to a different demonic deploy.

You may or may not recognize its next move. Our job as Christians is to squeeze the life out of the python spirit through prayer before it squeezes the life out of us physically, emotionally and spiritually.

 

 

Kathy DeGraw is a prophetic deliverance minister releasing the love and power of God, to ignite and activate people, release prophetic destinies and deliver people from the bondage of the enemy. She is the founder of Kathy DeGraw Ministries and K Advancement LLC. Kathy hosts a weekly podcast show called Prophetic Spiritual Warfare on the Charisma Podcast Network. She additionally, has several online empowerment courses at charismacourses.com. She is the author of several books, including: Speak Out, Discerning and Destroying the Works of Satan, Unshackled and Warfare Declarations. You can connect with Kathy on Facebook or visit kathydegrawministries.org.

 

 

“Come to me…”

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Just lately this verse has been coming up a lot:

Matthew 11:28-30 
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I realised this afternoon that with everything going on over the last 6 months or more, I was weary. Not weary in body or mind, just weary in spirit. Being ill at the end of last year, dramas with allergies at the beginning of the year, then dealing with the Covid thing- it had all sapped my relationship with God. The passion was no longer there- I believe, and I love Jesus, but something was missing in me.

I read earlier this week that another prominent formerly christian musician has lost his faith. It no longer makes sense to him and he finds worship is boring.

In contrast I think of the passionate cry from the heart by Kim Walker-Smith on one of the Jesus Culture albums where she shouts out something like,”If you don’t know Jesus tonight, and you would know if you did because everything would be different.”

It’s true, just one touch from the Lord and everything changes.

But we get tired, distracted or discouraged, and gradually worship becomes boring, and Jesus doesn’t make sense any more.

So I realised I needed to reach out to the Lord. I sat in a quiet place and said “I need you Lord.” Then I just sat and received. I felt a tingling come through my hands and a new burst of the Holy Spirit. I was renewed again.

A fresh touch of the Lord is what we all need from time to time- a fresh encounter with the living Lord.

If you haven’t received Jesus into your life, make that decision today. And if, like me, you’ve been walking too long since drinking the living water, take time now.

Drink from Him. Receive His love.

Thousands join outcry against NSW Premier’s religion crackdown

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From Family Voice Australia:

Thousands join outcry against NSW Premier’s religion crackdown

NSW restrictions meme for website4

Pressure is building on NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian to end her discriminatory COVID-19 church crackdown.

Over six thousand people have signed a petition launched by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney on May 27.

Presently in NSW fifty people can meet at hospitality venues. But as few as eleven people are prohibited from meeting at a church.

“Churches have cooperated at every stage with the Government’s public health directives during this pandemic,” Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP said.

“We understand that the shutdown was necessary to flatten the curve, but it came at a cost – not only to the economy, but also to the spiritual and mental health of our people.

“They miss gathering for worship and praying in a sacred space. I am at a loss to explain to Catholics in Sydney why our reasonable requests to the government are not being granted. 

“Contrary to what has been said throughout this pandemic, we do not consider church attendance to be non-essential; indeed, nothing is more essential than the practice of our faith,” reads the petition.

“Catholics are not asking for special treatment, we are asking for equal treatment.

“This unequal treatment of religious worship leads us to ask whether the Government is listening to the concerns of Catholics and other people of faith or indifferent to the effect the closure of our churches is having on people during these difficult times.

“The freedom to practice faith is necessary for human flourishing and a great contributor to the common good.” 

FamilyVoice Australia National Director Peter Downie said, “Governments have been heavy-handed and unjust in their treatment of churches during the COVID-19 crisis.”

J. Lee Grady: Why Is the Gift of Speaking in Tongues So Awkward?

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J. Lee Grady: Why Is the Gift of Speaking in Tongues So Awkward?

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This Pentecost, don’t apologize for the secret of the apostle Paul’s power just because it’s awkward. (Aaron Amat via Getty Images)

From Charisma

Churches across the world will commemorate the day of Pentecost this next Sunday, whether they meet online or in their buildings. Most will celebrate the need for the Holy Spirit’s power, and they might read Acts 2:1-4, which tells how the Spirit’s flame rested on all the disciples who prayed in the upper room that day.

But when they read verse 4 (NASB)—”And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance”—some people will shift in their seats or clear their throats. This aspect of Pentecost makes people uncomfortable. We don’t know what to do or say about tongues. It’s just too weird for most people.

It was awkward for me too, when I first heard about it. I’d never met a Pentecostal. Speaking in tongues wasn’t part of my church tradition, and I had never heard anyone do it. In fact, the first person I heard speak in tongues was myself, when I was baptized in the Holy Spirit in 1976!

Since then, I have prayed for countless people to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I don’t force them to speak in tongues. I just warn them that it might happen, since it happened in Acts 2.

 

Several years ago, when I was teaching at a ministry school, a 22-year-old guy from Maryland asked if I could pray with him. He had heard me share how I was baptized in the Holy Spirit at age 18, and he wanted the same experience.

This young man, Eric, understood that he already had the Holy Spirit living inside of him. But he knew that Jesus offers us more. He knew the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a second experience in which the fullness of God’s divine power anoints us for ministry.

I explained to Eric that speaking in tongues makes no sense in the natural. It actually sounds like gibberish, yet the Bible says praying in the Spirit strengthens us profoundly (see 1 Cor. 14:2, 4). I laid hands on Eric and asked Jesus to fill him with divine power and to release the Holy Spirit’s language as a manifestation of the overflow.

Nothing dramatic happened at that moment, but I told Eric to remain expectant. I’ve learned that oftentimes, the release of the Spirit comes more easily when people are alone and not distracted by people standing around. I encouraged him to go home and pray some more.

 

A couple of days later I received a message from him, letting me know that a small miracle had occurred in his life. He wrote: “Thank you for praying for me to speak in tongues. That night was interesting because phrases started to pop into my head. I began speaking the phrases, and by the next night I was speaking in tongues as I was falling asleep. Now, every moment that I am not worshipping, praying, eating or speaking to someone, I am practicing this gift. Praise God!”

Many of us fall into the trap of downplaying speaking in tongues, even after we’ve received the gift ourselves. We may consider it divisive (and it certainly can be when it is abused) or we’re embarrassed because it seems fanatical to our friends or family members.

Yet when I read the apostle Paul’s comments on the issue, I realize that speaking in tongues was a key component of the New Testament church. Not only did tongues play a fundamental role on the day of Pentecost when the church was born, but this strange gift also fueled Paul’s personal zeal. The same apostle who wrote the book of Romans and preached to Caesar wrote: “I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all” (1 Cor. 14:18). Paul most likely prayed in tongues for hours at a time.

Paul also instructed the Corinthians: “Do not forbid to speak in tongues” (1 Cor. 14:39). He knew that even though some people might be tempted to misuse this gift (and this is usually why people restrict it), we must never shut it down.

Eliminating the gift of tongues can have a direct impact on the flow of the Holy Spirit’s anointing in the church. If you forbid tongues or pretend this gift is not needed today, you might as well flip a breaker switch and turn off all the lights.

Speaking in tongues doesn’t make us holier than anyone else. And if we don’t exhibit love and Christian character, Paul said it becomes a useless gift comparable to a noisy gong (see 1 Cor. 13:1). But when stewarded properly and tempered with humility, this seemingly insignificant gift becomes an invisible spiritual weapon.

I’m not saying we should showcase tongues in church gatherings, scream at people in tongues or make people feel like misfits if they haven’t experienced the gift. (We must forgive immature Christians for doing those things.) When the Corinthians put tongues on the platform and turned their meetings into chaotic circus sideshows, Paul rebuked them sternly.

But the same apostle who warned his followers not to flaunt tongues in public also spent countless hours praying in tongues privately—because it’s a vital source of spiritual power that we must never neglect. This Pentecost, don’t apologize for the secret of the apostle Paul’s power just because it’s awkward. We need the Holy Spirit’s power like never before.

The Kingdom Of God Is An Enclave

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Recently, while on youtube, I came across this fascinating video about enclaves.

An enclave is an area in a country that is governed by another country, an island within a nation’s borders. Although the video relates to Pakistani enclaves within India and vice versa, they pop up all over the place.

One of the weirdest enclaves is a railway line which belongs to Belgium but passes through Germany. A ribbon of land a few metres wide in Germany is Belgian territory. Either side of the railway is Germany.

An example closer to home is Jervis Bay on the NSW South Coast. Parts of that area are governed by NSW, but other parts are governed by the Jervis Bay Administrative Authority which, I think, is now an agency of the ACT Government.

Many enclaves are the results of historic anomalies. Sometimes a population of migrants may end up in a region of another country and become so dominant that they demand to be governed by their homeland. Sometimes extended wars result in population movements and the subsequent settlement terms require parts of the country to be ruled by their former enemy.

This all got me thinking about another enclave- God’s Kingdom.

The Kingdom of God exists wherever a person decides to follow Jesus. From that time on, they are subject to the laws of God’s kingdom rather than the culture of the people around. We are still obviously bound to obey our civil rulers, but only in as far as those laws do not contradict God’s rules. This was established early on in the church when Peter and John were ordered not to talk about Jesus, but they responded, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than Him? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20)

In most Western countries, there generally is not a huge area of disagreement between christians and government at the moment, because of our strong christian heritage.

One area that is changing is the whole attitude to sexuality and reproduction. In Australia, the Government legislated to allow same sex marriage. This was an area of great disagreement between churches and government. Christian ministers were given an exemption from discrimination law to allow them to marry only a man and a woman.

Most christians would say that it would be wrong for an unmarried couple to move in together or to engage in sexual intercourse before marriage. That is considered by many in the wider community to be an odd belief.

Most christians would believe that there is absolute truth, that morality and ethics are absolute, that we should live in obedience to God’s law. These ideas are all contrary to what many people believe.

So, increasingly christians are in a kind of enclave. The values of God’s Kingdom are very different to those of the world. Every day we need to decide whether we follow the ways of Jesus or the ways of the world.