Grace Notes

Merry Christmas and Blessings to You in the New Year!

2011-12-25T00:51:00.000-08:00

Luke 1:41-42: When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!

Luke 2:27-30: Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus... Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation...”

A baby hearing the news of the Savior and leaping in the womb, women getting filled with the Spirit and prophesying, old men being led by the Spirit and proclaiming that the salvation of God has arrived—the Kingdom of God is at hand in the coming of the Savior and the Holy Spirit moves as radical events took place!

The whole Christmas story is supernatural and miraculous from beginning to end. The Kingdom of God continues to be at hand for those who believe in the Savior, and the Holy Spirit’s power is available and works in those who have the faith to continue to believe for miracles.

May Christ’s Spirit work miraculously in your life at Christmas and all through the New Year, for the One who was born in a lowly manger to meet us in our spiritual poverty, gives us living water that springs up to new life, healing, and prosperity, as He leads, guides, and directs our steps.

Christmas blessings to you – Be filled afresh today and as you begin the New Year!!!

Ministry News: Brief Update

Europe Ministry Trip

We have been experiencing the miraculous in dramatic fashion: We recently returned from a three-month mission trip in Europe.

We started off in England, a country we haven’t been in over ten years even while doing other ministry trips to Europe over the years. We originally expected to only spend perhaps just a few days in England on the way to other places where we would be ministering. However, God opened door after door, and we ended up spending a month ministering throughout the whole country. We drove 2000 miles in England alone, going through every corner of the nation and even into other nations like Wales and up to the border with Scotland.

We ministered in London and in many other places throughout England. One meeting in particular exemplifies how God supernaturally opened doors for us as we went, where we ended up ministering at a rather large church in North Yorkshire (large for that area of England with around 250-300 people) which wasn’t scheduled at all. A sister we were staying with felt led to call the pastor the very day they had a meeting to inquire about having us preach that very same night. I must say I had no expectation that a last minute call on such short notice to a pastor of a rather large church would result in anything happening at all on the same day, since most places are usually very busy and require things set up far in advance, especially in Europe and that goes double for the UK—the miraculous nature of what took place reflects how God desired to lead us continually in what was impossible with man and was made possible by Him.

The pastor replied to our friend that he had a very unusual situation: A scheduled speaker who never confirmed and whom he didn’t know personally was set up for that night, so he thought we should come over to the church that evening and be ready to do a song or share just a short testimony. However, if the scheduled speaker didn’t show up, he said we may end up doing the whole meeting. Well, whomever Daniel—the scheduled speaker—was, he never showed. The pastor even called his name a few times from the pulpit. After no response, he said, “Bryan and Mercedes if you’re up for it, I feel led to have you do the whole message and then have you minister to the congregation.” We were blown away at such openness to the Holy Spirit’s spontaneous leading in this pastor—not the norm in Europe—and went on to have an incredibly blessed message that we both shared giving, and a very, very powerful ministry time going very late into the evening. The pastor said afterwards, “I felt like God’s anointing was on you when I met you before the meeting and that was definitely confirmed when you preached and ministered together—wow what a team!” We were definitely blessed, buoyed, and blown away at how God did all that with one phone call of faith from our friends Diane and Dave who we were staying with.

We had many other powerful things happen like this in England as well as in France, Sweden, and Norway as we ministered throughout what has become the world’s least evangelized continent. We’ll share more in our upcoming newsletter shortly—yeah, I think I said that before but the holidays get pretty busy so we’ll have it out soon.

Back in the States

We just did a conference on the Reformation up in Santa Barbara a couple weeks ago as well as preaching in the church there in Isla Vista. We had a radical Holy Ghost visitation as we shared about the Revelation of the Grace of God that revived the European continent centuries back and the outpourings of the Spirit that followed in its wake.

We also shared about our recent ministry trip to Europe and how the Lord guided our steps, including to the places where the Reformation took place.

God moved powerfully in the conference to the point that even we who were leading it found ourselves on the ground getting min- istered to by the Holy Ghost—just mind blowing!!!!! The Word of God is a double-edged sword that swings back upon those wield- ing it sometimes—Glory!!!

We also had the opportunity to witness and even lead some people to the Lord while out on the streets doing some outreach in the middle of the college party mayhem in Isla Vista that same weekend—Praise God!!

The Lord continued to move in power as we ministered in the church there on Sunday; we just had such an awesome visitation of God's presence the whole time.

We recently ministered at a conference on the Jesus People in the desert and had an awesome time sharing about some of the wild times out in that area with Lonnie Frisbee. In fact we took a hike up old Tahquitz Canyon and ended leading a young lady we met to the Lord and her friend into the filling of the Spirit and had a powerful encounter with the Lord under the waterfall up there where I was reminded of a vision I had after an accident in France of God taking us higher!! All right in the same spot where Lonnie had his encounter with Jesus years back.

We also preached at the Laguna Niguel Vineyard's Hispanic service a few weeks ago, as well ministering at the youth group there before that; we had an awesome move of God at both services. In fact, a fresh wind of the Spirit blew through the congregation as we ministered at the main La Viña service as the Holy Spirit filled many with fresh fire. Our friend said he'd never seen the pastor get so enthusiastic—he jumped on the microphone and encouraged everyone there to come forward and press in to receive all that the Lord was pouring out as a fresh wave of power washed over the congregation with glory and power.

We’ve also continued to see the Lord touch quite a few unlikely folk who you wouldn’t normally associate with a move of the Spirit—those with quite varied backgrounds like Nazarene and other mainline denominations who have been getting filled with the Spirit and ministered to and even healed. In fact, a young guy named Brandon just had his shoulder healed when we prayed for him at a Prayerfest at our friend Jeff’s place, where we were having this time of God moving amongst us. Praise God!

We just had an awesome time doing the Christmas service with Peter and Colette Crawford out at Goodnews church in Riverside where we had a great time experiencing the Christmas joy of Jesus perfect love as we reveled in the righteousness he has credited to us who have believed upon him and his finished work given to us by faith alone!!!

On a Personal Note:

Patrick is in 6th grade now and continues to enjoy surfing both long and short boards and skateboarding and biking and playing army with his friends. He even spoke at his first meeting at the La Viña youth group. We are continuing to catch up on things after being gone for three months which has a way of turning life a bit upside down. We had the opportunity to visit Colorado for a family wedding after returning from our Europe ministry trip which also gave us the chance to do a little hiking and fishing (the best freshwater fishing we’ve ever experienced) as well as a 24-mile bike ride that ended with a 1,100 foot climb straight up a mountain that definitely gave those legs a good burning, not as bad as Bryan’s recent sting-ray encounter but still quite the burn!!

We truly appreciate all your prayers and support and pray you have a Merry Christmas and blessed New Year!!!!

Bryan, Mercedes, and Patrick Marleaux

English scenes and views

Holy Ghost Prayer Invasion

2011-12-17T11:17:00.000-08:00

While conducting a retreat in Hamar, Norway on a ministry trip, we were having a closing prayer time when the Lord began to really visit us with His power. The Lord gave me a word about dreams and visions being released on some people. (Acts 2:17- 21)

Sometimes we think of these things as something that will happen later on in the future, but a sister named Torhild shared as we walked out: “I just had a vision of someone who needs to receive Christ who is struggling with addiction and needs prayer,” adding, “and I believe the Lord said today.”

Everyone was kind of talking and grabbing their stuff, getting ready to leave, so we began to walk back to some cabins where we had stayed for the retreat. There were quite a few different groups up there using this center. As we walked by the cabins, we noticed a girl sitting on a porch when Torhild said: “That is the girl in the vision.”

She went over and began to talk with her a bit. I joined in after a few moments and we started sharing about the love of Christ. The girl became overwhelmed and started crying, but then became embarrassed that she was crying and ran off.

Torhild caught back up to her a little ways down the road and talked to her some more. I and Mercedes and some others eventually began to join in with her again. Long story short: the young lady eventually received Jesus as savior. As we began to pray for her, she powerfully encountered the love and grace of God and was gloriously filled with the Spirit and ministered to in a very significant way. Many tears were flowing, and it wasn’t just the young girls tears either, we were all touched by the power of God’s grace in that moment.

It felt like something out of the Book of Acts. I think the Book of Acts has some good prayer models for us as believers, especially in the first two chapters:

The believers met and prayed, but with expectation. Expectation that was lit up by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Expectation is faith for God to move in the here and now. God filled and empowered and visited them. As they were filled, they took it out to others to reach them with the Gospel. Of course, some onlookers made fun of them because of the powerful manifestations of God’s presence upon them and mocked them—it was of course the religious community who mocked saying they were drunk. Explaining rather that this was actually the power of God moving amongst them and not a result of alcohol, Peter stepped out and opened his mouth and began to preach to them, and the Lord filled him with the words to reach those who were listening—he definitely had no three-point sermon prepared for this occasion. Wow, what a harvest that took place! (Read Acts chapters 1 and 2 for the whole story.)

Prayer is an important thing for us as believers, but we should approach it with the expectation and faith of a child who expects to receive, not as a drudgery or a ritual that just has to be endured with long drawn-out repetitions in order to check it off our list as some duty that just needs to be fulfilled. (Matt. 6-7) Nor should we think that we need to do this to make ourselves holy in God’s sight. Jesus, through His sacrifice on the cross has done that work for us already: “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:10) Thus, prayer is not meant to be a ritual that seeks to accomplish what Christ already did for us on the cross, but rather, it's to be communication with a Living Savior who we have been brought into relationship with. Through mercy and grace, He has adopted us and made us as sons and daughters, and wants to communicate with us, not have us do rituals.

I’ve had my own journey where prayer used to be a very ritualistic thing. Oh, what a relief when I got invaded by the Holy Spirit who spoke in to my heart and said: “Put down that shopping list you keep reciting like some catatonic robot and stop rambling.” The presence of God blew over me and became so thick with glory it was amazing as the Lord showed me: “I just want to spend time with you and speak to you. You don’t need to do all the talking.”

Wow! God wants to speak to us…what a concept. Oh yeah, Jesus said that His sheep shall hear His voice, and He said it repeatedly and profusely: John 10:3-4, John 10:14-16, John 10:27-30. Sometimes He just wants to tell us he Loves us!! Just gotta come with childlike faith!!

I used to do some work at the Vineyard Anaheim now and then, way back when, and I liked how John Wimber would sometimes interrupt the morning prayer time and right in the middle would say: “You know, let’s just forget about the big, long, macho prayers for a bit here and let God speak to us.”

Inevitably, there would be some visitation of God’s presence where some important word or ministry would follow when the focus changed to letting the Holy Spirit take over, something important for us to remember about prayer along with these Scriptures:

John 10:27

27 My sheep listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me.

Matt 18:3

3 Then he said, “The truth is, you must change your thinking and become like little children…”

Luke 11:13

13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Ephesians 3:12

12 In him [Christ] and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

Acts 2:17-21

17 ‘God says: In the last days I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will have dreams.  18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit on my servants, men and women, and they will prophesy.  19 I will work wonders in the sky above. I will cause miraculous signs on the earth below…21 And everyone who trusts in the Lord will be saved.’

Signs, Wonders, and Child-Like Faith

2011-12-07T14:45:00.000-08:00

Well it seems to be birthday season, Mercedes just had one and so did I and Patrick is next, striking a few memories of some wild things the Lord has done:

One year we had just come back from a mission trip and we were in that “cleaned-out” state from travel expenses and had literally no cash on hand.

In fact, I looked in my wallet and was thinking: “Well, no cash will make for an interesting birthday—I guess.”

We decided to head out on our bikes and go and do a bit of riding which is a relatively cost-free thing to do.

I just blurted out a little prayer on the way out the door: “Lord it would sure be nice to have a bit of money here to be able to do a few things today.”

That was one of those quick little prayers you say and then forget you even said it a few minutes later.

We headed out on the bikes and were cruising down this little ocean road when I spotted an old familiar face from way back from surfing and other things. He was standing in front of an elaborate bay front house with a “For Sale” sign in front of it.

I cruised over and after a few expressions to each other of what a blast from the past this chance meeting was, we each shared a bit of what we were doing lately.

This old friend had been doing real estate and seemingly doing very well, thank you! I asked who owned this palace he was currently representing and found out it was that of a popular Christian singer. “Looks like ‘Praise Pays’, eh?” I said as I checked out the elaborate marble and tile work on the place he was selling.

We chatted a bit and then he went inside his styling little car and came back and handed me a brochure from his real estate firm and said: “Make sure and take a look through this brochure later – don’t forget!” “Well, I’m definitely not in the market for real estate but sure, I’ll take a look.”

A little further on after riding our bikes for a bit we stopped to take a break and I decided to take a look at his brochure. We were blown away to find that five crisp and brand new 100-dollar bills had been tucked inside with a little note to us.

Wow! That will buy some lunch at least – ha ha! I was completely floored. What a miracle of provision. I hadn’t mentioned a word about our finances and was just chatting about surfing and other stuff with this old friend. Furthermore, I hadn’t mentioned it was my birthday and he had no way of knowing that fact.

However, God knew and heard my quick little prayer, a prayer that was just so quick and brief that in our humanness we sometime wonder if it is enough. That’s when the Lord spoke this Scripture to me:

Matthew 6:7-8

When you pray, do not use a lot of repetitious, meaningless words, as the pagans do, who think that God will hear them because their prayers are long. Do not be like them. Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him.

So often, we think that in order to get God to hear us we have to bend down on our knees praying so hard, loud, and long, until our knees bleed and our voices go hoarse, or that we have to fast until we are so pale and anemic that we look like we need a blood transfusion. And what is it anyways with all these people who want to tell everyone how much they fast all the time, disobeying Jesus’ clear command not to tell others when you are fasting?

Jesus makes it very clear that such an approach is born out of a clearly pagan ideal, which actually portrays a lack of faith in God as a loving Father. So often, there is a failure to understand the finished work of Christ and know that Jesus, by His blood, has brought us into a “New Covenant” whereby we stand holy, righteous, accepted, and adopted as our Abba Father’s kids, all by what Jesus did for us on the cross. The understanding that Jesus did it all for us on the cross gives all the glory to Christ, rather than to us fallen depraved humans. We so often want to think that we can earn something because we fasted enough or prayed loud and long enough, and thus want to boast in ourselves rather than in Christ who did it all for us.

It is such a comfort to know that Christ did the work for us on the cross and we are accepted and beloved by the Father because of what Jesus did and that we can approach God with the confidence of a child that says, “Hey Abba Father, I need…”

He often will amaze us with signs and wonders that blow our minds when we just come with that simple-child like faith!

The Herrnhut Revival: The Reformation's Far Reaching Impact

2011-10-31T00:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Reformation Day!

Well we got back in town recently from three months’ ministering in Europe, which is the maximum time allowed for non EU citizens without getting a special visa (we are presently working on writing up all the radical things God did—just takes a bit of time.) We then left again, right after we got home, across the country to Colorado for just about 10 days for a family wedding and a bit of hiking in the Rocky Mountains. So we've been running around all over the map and are still just getting back into the swing of things. It takes a little time to shift gears when you've gotten so used to packing it up, ready to hit the road for the next European city you’re going off to.

Well, it is October 31^st and while most Christians want to bury their head in the sand today or replace the day of pagan revelry with a harvest festival or something, it goes largely unremembered in the US that one of the most significant post-biblical Christian events in history took place on October 31.

The Germans celebrate “Reformation Day” as do some other Northern European countries, as they should, since on October 31,1517, Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany. Thus, without any forethought on Luther’s part, he had just hammered the nail into the beginning of a Reformation that would shake the nations. One of the most incredible things about the Reformation that is often overlooked is the incredible foundation it laid for revival and missions.

Luther, a tortured soul, had found the solace and mercy that none of the dead rituals in the institutional church system had prescribed would bring to him. All the fasting, and kneeling, and confessing, and praying all night long, and other rituals, did absolutely nothing for his soul but they did literally and permanently ruin his health. He had at last come upon the freeing, saving, life-giving, amazing grace Jesus offers, as he grappled with the Scriptures trying to understand what they meant in Paul’s letters in the New Testament. He says the Holy Spirit descended upon him as he read Paul’s epistles and he was “born again” through gates of paradise when he at last grasped that Jesus had done the work for him at the cross and paid fully for his sin and offered full grace without any merit or work on the believer’s part whatsoever.

The Reformation continued to spread as Luther taught and preached on this Biblical truth he had rediscovered, long lost in a sea of dead church rituals. However, he was surprised by the negative reaction and persecution he received from the institutional church system steeped in Romish Catholic traditions to something so plainly and squarely biblical. Nevertheless, others throughout Europe began to see the light and turned back to biblical truth as well and the Reformation began to move full force (learn more about Luther and the Reformation in this video).

One of the most incredible things about the Reformation that is often overlooked is the incredible foundation it laid for revival and missions. Many powerful revivals followed in its wake, as well as others who would be revivalists were born out of the Reformation. In fact, revivalist John Wesley was directly converted when he heard Luther’s commentary on Romans being read many years later.

One of the more significant revivals took place through a group of unlikely candidates that would give birth to the Protestant missions movement, sending missionaries throughout the world on the heels of the Reformation.

Even into the 1700’s Lutherans, as well as Moravians and other Protestants were being persecuted throughout Europe. The Moravians were spiritual descendants of Jan Huss who was a pre-Reformation reformer in Bohemia (modern day Czech Republic) who was martyred for his faith (link to audio program on Huss).

Running out of places to escape to and hide, a group of persecuted Protestants—mostly Lutherans and Moravians—ended up on the estate of a wealthy and devout Lutheran count in Germany named Nicolaus Ludwig Von Zinzendorf, who opened up his land and allowed them to take refuge there. Zinzendorf was very instrumental in forming the group into a movement and giving them a focus on missions. The estate was given the name Herrnhut (“The Lord’s Watch”) as many others arrived to take refuge.

Differences of opinion on some things led to some problems and conflicts, but an unexpected move of the Holy Spirit was about to break out that would literally go out to the nations.

During a child’s confirmation service in August 1727, a sudden, unexpected, and explosively powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place, and so great was this move that the inhabitants of Herrnhut realized they had entered into a revival. Many were taken over with intense weeping and swept with other overwhelming emotions as God’s Spirit visited them. A great renewal took place, and with that outpouring there also came a powerful impetus to take the Gospel out to the nations. This outpouring was also accompanied by a spirit of unity amongst those taking refuge; notice however that the unity was a result of the Holy Spirit’s outpouring and not a pre-requisite for the Spirit of God to move, regardless of what some who have recipes for revival may say.

The Holy Spirit’s outpoured presence took the focus of missions and made it into a reality, as many began to take the Gospel out to different nations. Within a few years, there were Moravian missionaries in the West Indies, Greenland, Lapland, Labrador, South Africa, Algeria, Ceylon, Romania and other places in Europe and the world.

Though other Protestants had made some missionary attempts and activity, many of the previous attempts had ended in tragedy. For instance, John Calvin had sent missionaries to South America who unfortunately were massacred by fanatical Catholics who were pillaging the land for its silver and gold. An early Protestant colony in the area of Florida was also massacred by the same. George Fox, leader of the charismatic Quakers, sent missionaries to China who disappeared and were never heard from again.

It took a move of God to bring forth a vital mission movement that would take Christ’s Gospel of the Kingdom out to the nations and be sustaining. And continue it did. The Moravians ended up sending more missionaries out in a short time with more results than all the combined Protestants had done in previous centuries. The Gospel of grace combined with the power of the Spirit is a dynamic force that shakes the nations!

The Spirit of God gives life (John 6:63) and power and makes His people witnesses even to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

Quick note: Another amazing product of the Reformation is the King James Bible; we celebrate its 400-year anniversary this year. Read and watch a video about its development here.

Euro Update: London

2011-07-01T03:42:00.000-07:00

We had a very powerful move of God when we preached in London, England this week. In fact one of the elders of the church had three of his sons get powerfully baptized in the Holy Spirit for the first time as well as some other kids who got powerfully empowered by the Holy Spirit too. One of the elder's sons had been quite far from God and was brought into a new relationship through God's touch.

We had absolutely no jet lag at all even though we had just arrived--thanks for your prayers! We did have some intense spiritual warfare just trying to get into Europe. For the first time in over 10 trips to Europe we were held for some time and questioned--more like grilled--extensively and basically had some accusations that had no application to us leveled at us for no reason, until they came to their senses and realized we were Americans and not trying to emigrate to Europe.

We have a more extensive update with lots of miracles, divine appointments, and lots of other stuff that God has been doing, check it out by clicking here: http://www.graceworldmission.org/news/pr_summer_2011.html

May God's richest blessings be upon your life!

Bryan, Mercedes and Patrick Marleaux

400 Year Anniversary of the King James Bible

2011-06-18T14:11:00.000-07:00

A woman and her children were dragged out of their house and fastened to a pole where dry brush was lit under them and they were burned alive. Their crime: reading the Bible in English, a practice strictly forbidden by the Catholic Church. It was England in the 1500’s when Catholic Bloody Mary had taken the throne and was determined to force Catholicism back upon those who’d been liberated from its idolatry and superstitions. Similar scenes were being repeated all over the country as Protestant Christians were being killed; possessing illegal Bibles in the English language could be deadly.

In January 1555 three pastors, Taylor, Bradford, and Saunders, who had all been former parish priests, were put on trial. They had come into the light of Christ’s grace and now preached the truth, for they had been able to read the truth in the available Scriptures made accessible by the work of William Tyndale, who had translated the Bible into English.

They were required to answer if they would acknowledge the Pope as the head of the Church and submit to His Authority, to which they answered that they acknowledged and submitted only to Christ. Death sentences were pronounced against them and they were taken away to be burned alive at the stake.

Taylor spoke before his death: “Good people, I have taught you nothing but God’s Holy Word and that which is from God’s blessed book the Holy Bible. I have come here today to seal it with my blood.” Taylor was able to say this because he had the Bible in his own language. Tyndale, who had translated it, was also killed for his efforts a couple of decades before. As the flames were lit and Taylor was about to be burned, he recited the 51^st Psalm in English when he was struck in the face: “You Knave, pray in Latin! I will make you!” the ultra-Catholic executioner told him.

Latin was the only language allowed for the Bible, prayers, or any other religious activity according to Catholicism and the Pope’s decree, and they fought viciously to keep it that way. Very, very, few knew any Latin at all however. Horrified with the realities of an English Bible and that the truth of Christ would be known, exposing their perversions of God’s Word, they launched a campaign of killing, maiming, and torture, to suppress any and all who would dare to even read or own an English Bible.

This year we celebrate the 400-year anniversary of the King James Bible. To properly understand this story, we must look back where the story takes shape—with the onset of the Protestant Reformation—to really understand the whole scene and the intense struggle of how such a work ever came about.

The Reformation, which had begun in Germany with Martin Luther, was now beginning to spread over other parts of Europe. Luther was a simple monk that was merely trying to find peace with God when he came into the revelation that Jesus had paid for his sins and he didn’t have to try and pay for them himself with works like prayer and fasting. While reading the Bible he came into revelation and understood Christ’s finished work for him on the cross. It was now all clear: simply by faith does one believe and receive what Jesus did for him on the cross, accepting his forgiveness and coming into his grace.

Luther had been born again while reading the Scriptures in the New Testament, specifically the books of Romans and Galatians. Seeking to find peace with God, he finally understood the finished work of Christ and the payment He made for sin.

That revelation spread throughout Europe, eventually leading men like William Tyndale to lay their lives down to reach others with God’s Word. Tyndale had been directly affected by seeing the great fruit of Luther’s efforts in Germany and the effect of Luther’s translation of the Bible into the German language to turn many to true faith in Christ.

After Martin Luther was born again he began to see serious problems with the institutional Catholic Church. He began to preach on Christ’s payment for sin and the grace He offers and also to write about the errors the church had embraced in resisting this truth. Then in 1517 he posted his 95 Theses on the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany. Luther posted his Theses solely for the means of debating the issues, as is commonly practiced in university settings even to this day.

Some years before this the printing press had been invented by Gutenberg and students now got a hold of his Theses, reprinted them without permission—if copyright had been an issue back then like now there would have been no Reformation—and distributed them all over Europe. Before Luther knew it he was an international figure in the middle of a conflagration. The Reformation began to spread all over Europe and eventually came to England.

Thomas Cranmer began to read Luther’s writings. As Archbishop of Canterbury—England’s head of the church—he began to bring forth reformation teachings, ideas, and practices to the English Church, breaking away from Catholic superstitions, traditions, and doctrines.

King Henry VIII of England had been unable to bear a male child to inherit the throne. Henry had been basically forced to marry his deceased brother’s widow when only a teenager by the political powers of his day—the Pope had broken Catholic canon law and granted a special dispensation for political purposes for this marriage. Henry when he came of age wanted a divorce so he could marry another woman he actually had affection for, Anne Boleyn, but, because the Pope refused to grant him the divorce, he chose to break away from the Catholic Church instead. Though human motives took place on Henry’s part God was using it for His larger purposes.

Together with the confluence of Luther’s teachings and Cranmer’s adoption of the same, King Henry’s actions in some ways helped fan the flames that eventually, together with the confluence of Luther’s teaching spreading into Oxford and Cambridge, a widespread reformation movement within England began to arise. It continued under Henry’s successor Edward.

In time groups like the Puritans began to spring up, who were not trying to become “purer” than others but rather wanted to purify the church from unbiblical Catholic idolatry, traditions, and superstitions. They desired to see a foundation of grace and the work of the Spirit take place in believers’ lives and are known today as the first Protestant mystics. They merely desired a return to New Testament ideals, both in word and deed by preaching about living for Christ and walking in His Spirit.

As the English Reformation spread however, persecution arose when Henry VIII’s daughter, Mary, or “Bloody Mary” as she later came to be known, took the throne. She was a dyed-in-the-wool Catholic who severely persecuted Protestants, seeking to turn England back to Catholicism while putting hundreds and hundreds to death, thus earning her moniker, even having the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer killed as well.

Cranmer was persecuted and pressured by the Catholics to sign a document recanting principles of Protestantism. However, when he was brought before trial, he decided to repent of his actions. So when it came time for his execution, he chose to place the offending hand that had signed the document into the fire first before he was killed by being burned alive at the stake.

Meanwhile, an avid scholar from Oxford named William Tyndale had been converted and influenced by the reformation, and was a contemporary of Martin Luther’s. Tyndale eventually began to work on a translation of the Bible, seeing the need for it to be in the common English tongue of the people and not just in the Latin of the scholars and the learned which resulted in keeping the Bible inaccessible.

Luther had translated the Bible into the common German tongue and Luther's translation began to have a great effect in spreading the Reformation and the understanding of Christ’s finished work and God’s grace.

Tyndale began a similar venture for the English people. Tyndale began work on an English translation of the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek.

John Wycliffe had done an earlier English translation a century before, but he and his Lollard movement were severely persecuted by the Catholic church and most of his followers, including women and children, were put to death just for having Bibles. Though the Catholic Church severely persecuted and killed many of Wycliffe’s followers they never actually caught Wycliffe himself. And yet in a perverse act of vengeance, they dug up his bones and burned them after his death.

Tyndale saw the need for another attempt at getting the Bible into the common everyday language of the English people. So Tyndale began work on a translation into the English from the Greek and Hebrew, using Luther’s German translation as well as Erasmus’ Greek text for assistance.

As an extraordinarily gifted scholar who spoke eight languages, he was able to bring forth, by God’s grace, a remarkable work. Nevertheless, no good deed goes unpunished, and for his efforts he was severely persecuted and had to flee England. He went and stayed in Wittenberg for a time with Martin Luther. A recent discovery confirms his time in Wittenberg even though he was attempting to hide there incognito. After some time there and many meeting with Luther, including time at the White Horse Inn where they would discuss theology and share a pint, he fled to Antwerp.

He finished his New Testament translation and was well on his way with the Old Testament, but spies and assassins who had been sent to eliminate him were hot on his heels.

As Tyndale smuggled New Testaments into England, they became hugely popular with the people but increased his position as a target of the Inquisition—the practice of torturing, consficating property, and killing those who strayed from the Catholic Church’s tenets. The Inquisition began in the 1100’s at the 2^ndand 3^rd Lateran Councils and fully inmplemented as official Catholic doctrine at the 4th Lateran Council in 1215 where torture and murder were made official doctrine by a so-called Christian Church continuing its hideous practices even until the late 1800’s. The early reform movement in France known as the Waldensians were its first mass victims.

Translating the Bible into the common tongue of the people was verboten and brought forth the Inquisition to those who attempted it:

Some reasons that the Catholic Church wanted the Bible kept in Latin and not translated in the common tongues of the people were:

They could prevent the common man from knowing what was really in the Bible and thus always hold power and sway over him/her, keeping them dependent upon the priests and the man-made religious system they had created of masses and rituals. This brought in enormous amounts of money through things like indulgences, i.e. forgiveness for payment rendered.

By keeping the Bible in Latin they made sure only certain high ranking clergy could read it—which they rarely did—but also false doctrines could be buttressed up by the inability of people to access the Word of God for themselves. The murky and largely inaccessible translation in Latin helped them keep false doctrines like penance and purgatory alive.

One of the early insights by Martin Luther in Germany was the discovery of a purposeful mistranslation of Christ’s words by the Catholic Church where they had changed the word “repent” to “do penance.” As Luther looked deeper into the meaning he saw vast implications: Repent meant merely “to change your mind” meaning that you agree with God that you are a sinner who needs and accepts His work of redemption on your behalf. “Do penance” on the other hand, meant to seek to work off the payment of your sin through your own works and rituals and efforts – exactly what the New Testament itself condemned as a slap in the face to Christ’s work on the cross for us at Calvary where he paid for our sins once for all.

Tyndale’s Bible spread the Reformation even more as people got hold of Bibles in English. Sadly, the assassins eventually caught up to Tyndale who was betrayed by a so-called friend. On October 6, 1536, in the town of Vilvorde, Netherlands, William Tyndale was tied to a stake, strangled, and then burned at the stake for doing God’s work of translating the Bible into the language of the English people so they could read it for themselves.

He was condemned by reason of a decree made by the Ultra-Catholic Holy Roman Emperor Charles V—the same Emperor who Luther took his stand before during the Diet of Worms, in Germany in 1521 where he cried out: “I cannot and will not recant anything. For to go against Scripture and conscience is neither safe nor right.”

Luther had escaped the death sentence by being hidden in the Wartburg Castle—specifically where he had done his Bible translation work. Tyndale however, sealed his own faith and efforts with his own blood.

As time progressed Bloody Mary’s half-sister Elizabeth eventually took back the throne, deposing Mary. Elizabeth, as Queen of England, was much more sympathetic to Protestants.

With the more open environment, Tyndale’s Bible spread even further. Over time, the popularity of the Bible grew and different groups like the Puritans even published various commentaries in the margins of Bibles.

When Elizabeth died she had no heir—populary known as “The Virgin Queen” she had no one waiting to take the throne. In an ironic twist of fate, it was actually Bloody Mary’s nephew who we know as “King James” who eventually came to power and would publish an Authorized Version of the Bible.

Known both as James VI of Scotland and James I of England he saw the need for an authorized version of the Bible for the whole of England.

Quite ironically, it was specifically because he was the son of Mary Queen of Scots that James had been raised in Scotland.

In an interesting turn of events it was in Scotland that religious freedom had actually been attained sooner than in England. After the killing by the Catholics of Patrick Hamilton and George Wishart, two popular Protestant leaders and preachers who were martyred for their faith, a popular rejection of Catholicism began to arise in Scotland. In turn John Knox later arose and helped lead the Scottish Reformation as well as the development and formation of the Scottish Presbyterian Church.

When James I of England a.k.a. James VI of Scotland took the throne, he was undoubtedly more sympathetic to Protestants than his mother but still remained quite traditional in his religious views. Those with power and means often live above the fray of common sentiment.

Thus, the Puritans, though appreciative of him for producing the Authorized Version of the Bible a.k.a. the King James Version, still found themselves on the short end of the stick with religious freedom in England. Being still persecuted specifically because they were seen as too radical a Protestant group, the Puritans eventually made their way to the New World and the American Colonies with King James Bibles in hand.

King James had assembled 54 scholars who worked on an Authorized Translation, which they completed and released in 1611.

However, they had continually referred back to the amazing and groundbreaking work that Tyndale had done as their reference point and the literal foundation of their work, directly incorporating so much of his translation in their work that, according to most scholars, including well-known Tyndale scholar David Daniell, fully 90% of the King James Bible’s New Testament is actually William Tyndale’s work. The same goes for the Old Testament from Genesis to somewhere around the Psalms—as far as he got when he was killed.

Thus, William Tyndale, the outlaw, the refugee, the man who did not and would not submit to the authority of the Pope nor the King, but instead chose to “obey God rather than man” (Acts 5:29), is the true unsung hero behind the publication of the King James Bible. It cost him his fortune and his very life but he laid it all down to do God’s will. Even today, generations are still reaping the benefits of his sacrifice to Christ’s purpose and calling.

The King James Bible not only helped spread the knowledge of God’s Gospel of grace that was regained in the Reformation, but was also carried across the sea to the American colonies by the Puritans, helping to lay a foundation of biblical faith in the new world of America.

Not insignificantly, the King James Bible gave the English-speaking world a codified, coherent, and unified language and lexicon, as well as a little thing that helped change the western world called literacy, changing in fact the course of human history.

One thing that is often overlooked in this whole scenario is that the King James Bible, this historic translation of God’s Word, is a direct product of the Protestant Reformation.

A reformation that started with a simple monk named Martin Luther who was merely trying to find peace with God when he came into the revelation that Jesus had paid for his sins and he didn’t have to try and pay for them himself with works like prayer and fasting. Rather, just by faith, believe and receive what Jesus did for him on the cross…That revelation spread throughout Europe leading men like Tyndale to lay their lives down to reach others with God’s Word…Glory!!!

Today you have the Bible in your hands, which others have paid for with their very lives and blood: READ IT !!!

*Special Note: The preceding article contains what may be for some disturbing historical facts. However, for the sake of mere political correctness or sensitive religious consciences one cannot rewrite nor water down historical realities to fit the religious and sociological political correct pressures of our day. A more mild view of history may do that and curve to those pressures, but then an important ingredient called truth would be lost. And this, Jesus said, is what “sets us free.”

New Website Launched

2011-06-16T14:35:00.000-07:00

Our website has a whole new look!

Check it out: http://www.graceworldmission.org

Other available resources and useful tools:

· YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/graceworldmission.org

· Grace Alone podcast on iTunes

· Companion Christian History Timeline for Grace Alone Podcast on iTunes

Pretty wild to be putting up a new website, it makes me think about my first introduction to the Internet way back when: I was working at a publisher and a colleague brought in this thing called a modem. “I can communicate with other computers with it.” he said. “What is the point of that?” I said dismissively…

With that great insight into the future we proceeded to find ourselves in the middle of this crazy dot-com boom and then suddenly bust. That was about the time we decided to finally get a clue and get on board and join the Internet party and launched our website—right when nobody cared about the web anymore, yay!!!

But it came right back around and everyone started to figure out well, yes I guess the web does have some actual uses. Yep, you can actually get access to a lot of helpful materials these days that actually don't freeze up every ten seconds.

So times have changed a bit If you’re using a halfway decent computer and not still on Windows 95 or AOL dial-up, guess what? You don’t have to go make yourself a ham sandwich and read the newspaper while you’re waiting for that confounded video to finally download. Yes, the modern age has arrived and you can actually get through a twenty-minute video these days in twenty minutes—what a concept!

We’ve geared up for what the web is best used for and have put together numerous video and audio programs on a plethora of subjects from Biblical Studies, Christian History, Missions, Signs and Wonders, Divine Appointments, and more. We have now actually begun to arrange them into cohesive playlists where you can easily find and watch and listen to audio and video programs from genres that relate to one another, we’re actually getting organized—miracles do happen!

All this hard work nobody paid us to do made us think we’d be real gluttons for punishment and do some more. So we slaved away—chained ourselves to the keyboard—and lo and behold after our skin has turned a few shades whiter locked inside with fluorescent lights, a new web page is born. While we were at it we thought, torture has its redeeming side too so why not rearrange everything.

A little background on our Audio and Video programs:

We’ve had the privilege to minister in numerous countries in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa, and on our last mission trip to Europe—we’re about to leave on our eleventh—we were in over 17 countries, including: Kosovo, Romania, Switzerland, France, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Italy.

While traveling through many different places I began to notice that many people’s knowledge of Christian history in the Body of Christ was pretty slim to nonexistent.

Some years ago while on a mission trip deep in Southern Baja, Mexico, where people don’t even have running water, I noticed that in spite of lacking some of life’s main essentials, everyone still had a TV with a DVD deck and a radio with a CD player. Even small plywood shacks with dirt floors had them. Yes, TVs, DVD players, radios, and CD players are more accessible than running water.

With that revelation we began to put together video and audio programs on different biblical and historical figures and topics, while using the same formats even people living in plywood shacks with no running water had access too.

One thing you learn quickly is that it takes a lot of resources and time in the research, recording, filming, and editing to produce even a short video. In spite of that, we have done our best to offer these videos free on the web, even though it isn’t free for us to produce them, while most other ministries charge for their resources. We have a passion to see the Body of Christ get built up and edified. It is essential to know how the truth of God’s Word and power of His Spirit has continued to change lives and shape history through the ages.

Do It Yourself! What?

A lot of this teaching and information is hard work to come by. I spent a small fortune at Seminary and wasn’t learning things about Christian History I thought I should and then heard the professors say: “Well, you gotta go do the hard work yourself and do research on your own,” when I asked some questions. And here I thought I was paying this overpriced institution all this money for that reason! “Why am I paying them all this money then and why do they need a salary, a parking spot, and so much more of my tuition money all the time then, if we gotta do all the work?”

Well, in spite of my complaining I still had to learn the vast majority myself, through God’s help and my own personal studies. Instead of just figuring out what case and declension that Greek word was in, we might have spent more valuable time learning how God’s power filled people like Charles Finney, and why he was used so radically by God. Well, at least I learned some $1000 dollar words, anyone up for a “paradigm shift”?

When I had an American Church History professor who didn’t even mention the “Azusa Street Pentecostal Revival” while covering that period—we’re only talking about one of the most important Christian events in the last century here—because “we have more important things to discuss” I knew then that we needed to produce our own materials.

So we have sought to focus on many important aspects of Christian History while avoiding some of the extraneous details that typically bore everyone to sleep. You know, looking back, I remember that somehow that Church History Professor still managed to bore everybody to tears and then even squeezed in “The Birth of Fuller Seminary” in spite of all their “more important things” to discuss.

So we’ve been hard at work and have sought to produce materials that can inform and inspire while focusing on important acts of the Holy Spirit working throughout the ages. You can watch and hear some important biographical accounts, reflections, and insight as well. It is information you should get (but probably won’t) in a seminary and beyond, as we seek to focus on relevant topics in God’s redemptive acts through the ages: In-depth Bible studies of books like Galatians and Acts, to testimonies of missions, miracles, and divine appointments, as well as important historical events like the the Reformation and how God’s revelation of grace in Martin Luther’s life changed the course of Western History.

A Few Disclaimers

These materials are in both English and Spanish because shooting two videos of the same topic twice is four times the work—or something like that—either way it is way more work and who needs that. Moreover, English and Spanish are the two most spoken languages in the world, so you can actually learn another language while listening.

We are open to suggestions of re-shooting solely in English, or solely in Spanish, only if your suggestion is accompanied by a large suitcase filled with cash (small bills only please). Otherwise, try to practice Ephesians 4:29 “…let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.”

We do give permission to copy or duplicate our stuff; however, throwing them like frisbee's and beverage coaster use for DVD’s and CD’s (which we actually have seen some crazy kids at churches do) is strictly prohibited.

It may be noticed that we are human in some of our work and didn’t cover every aspect of a topic, or missed a point or two now and then. Working for free has its limitations!

In spite of being a bit direct with my jokes and references of my Alma Mater Fuller Seminary (they were the ones always saying I needed to learn to think critically- why not start with them) miraculously some of our materials are actually now in their David DuPlessis Center for Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies as well as in the MacAllister Library. Being direct and having a sense of humor hasn’t barred us from being included in the lineup there—they actually even paid us for some of our materials—so I’ve gotten 1/100,000 of my tuition money back.

Lastly, on a more serious note

We do live in some incredibly changing times. The advent of the computer and computer programs together with the Internet give us the ability to create and edit audio and video content like never before seen. What used to require enormously expensive machines and production equipment that only Hollywood movie studios and music production houses could afford can now be done on a decent computer. There hasn’t been a technology sea change like this since the days of Gutenberg and the invention of the printing press. So, just like those students who took Martin Luther’s writings, reprinted them, and spread them all over the world shaking the nations, we also, like Paul, intend to “use every means available” (1 Cor. 9:22) to further the cause of Christ and build up His Body until the day of His return……

What!? He didn’t come back on May 21st !?! Oh no—stop running up those credit cards, looks like we’re gonna be here a little longer!!!

Hopefully you can take the time to check some of our stuff out!

Blessings to you!

Bryan, Mercedes, and Patrick Marleaux

Available resources and useful tools:

· Updated website: http://www.graceworldmission.org

· YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/graceworldmission.org

· Grace Alone podcast on iTunes

· Companion Christian History Timeline for Grace Alone Podcast on iTunes

Ministry Update: June 2011

2011-06-11T16:22:00.000-07:00

Ministering to a brother getting empowered and filled

at the "Summer of Love" celebration, as a video clip of

Lonnie Frisbee is hovering above us - wow pretty wild that!

We just had a blessed time while ministering in South Orange County at the “Summer of Love” celebration. We spoke on reflections of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and remarkable salvations and healings in the days of the “Third Wave Outpouring” and “Jesus People Revival.” The Spirit of God moved in power, just like back in the day, as many words of encouragement and prophecies were released as God moved in glory. Words of encouragement are what we need in this spiritual battle. Pastor Gerard Driscoll said it well at the meeting: It is Christ’s cross of power and pain that we walk in. We experience the power greatly but we also feel the pain as so much of the body of Christ seems to have forgotten that Paul’s word in Eph. 5:18 to be filled with the Spirit is not an option but a command to all believers.

Report from Salinas: Thank you guys for taking the time to come up to Salinas! It was such a major blessing! God definitely made a major impact on us that is continuing to affect us in our personal lives and in ministry. God is really starting to reveal the power of the finished work of the cross to me. It's the most freeing thing I have ever known! From Dave E.

We had a powerful outpouring of the Spirit in Ontario recently when we taught on learning to be available for God and sharing the Good News with others. Jesus’ words: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and be my witnesses…” That Scripture definitely came to life as the Lord poured His glory and power over people, filling and anointing them. An incredible wave of power swept over many, preparing them to witness to His truth.

Praying in Ontario for evangelistic empowering -

you shall recieve power..and be my witnesses!

We experienced that anointing kick in to put those words into reality and bring some people to Christ in some different evangelistic outreaches we’ve been doing, including a recent evangelistic crusade in San Diego. God moved and people were filled, healed, empowered and saved.

Evangelistic crusade in San Diego with ministry for healing

We recently ministered in Santa Barbara and were rejoicing to see the Holy Spirit filling and empowering and pouring out His love and releasing an atmosphere of freedom as the Spirit of God moved in glory. One sister shared later: “You guys always bring forth a breakthrough for us when you minister up here.”

Ministering in Santa Barbara with IVC

and enjoying the glory, freedom, and fellowship!

The Lord has put it on our hearts to head out again. We recently found some deals on tickets and will be heading to Europe soon. If you want to help out, please feel welcome, as it is as much “the expensive continent” as well as “the dark continent.” (Support page: http://www.graceworldmission.org/contact_us.htm). For far too long missions have been associated with helping people in poverty, however Jesus said “go into all the world.” Because there isn’t a need for food assistance or the like, Europe has been overlooked as a mission field and thus fallen to have only 3% of the population that is born-again Christian. The spiritual warfare that surrounds everything you do there blows away almost every other place in the world we’ve traveled to, which includes ministering on every continent except Antarctica—penguins don’t really need the Gospel so haven’t been there. With such relatively few believers in Europe, it really shouldn’t be that surprising, but the warfare always seems to land on you like you’re trying to catch a falling piano—yeah, you get a little flattened and broken but God uses it for good!

We should also remember that the apostle John commended and applauded the brothers in his third letter for opening their homes and hearts and support to those in the work of the Lord even though those workers were strangers to those who received them (3 John 5:8). How much more when we know each as fellow workers in the harvest field should we show love, financial support, and hospitality to one another and especially to fellow laborers in God’s harvest.

Your support and prayers are a huge blessing and always appreciated.

Blessings to you! Bryan, Mercedes, and Patrick Marleaux

Summer of Love Celebration

2011-06-03T19:00:00.000-07:00

Getting a blast of the Holy Spirit as Lonnie Frisbee

and Jill Austin prayed over me-whoa!

God has been moving in power as we’ve been ministering in various places lately. Seeing the work of the Holy Spirit takes me back to where it all began for myself when I got filled in the early days of Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda, which later became the Vineyard.

Lonnie Frisbee was ministering in the notorious “back room” when the words: “He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire” became my own reality (click for my full testimony.)

What started in the 60’s during the Summer of Love with a few hippies getting saved, turned into the powerful Jesus People Revival. We reflect on that wild season and the ministry of Lonnie Frisbee in a short article and video that gives some interesting insights. (There will be a Summer of Love/Jesus People Celebration Tomorrow-see below.)

Frisbee became a main figure in the cultural mission field of a movement searching for spiritual reality. Many actually found it when they encountered the Kingdom of God during the Jesus People Revival. And then again when the Spirit was poured out in Yorba Linda on Mother’s Day.

A book called Jesus People in the Age of Aquarius reviewed various aspects of the movement. They note how dramatically charismatic were churches like Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in those early days, with spiritual gifts and signs and wonders being a regular part of the services back then.

During some waning years, Frisbee ended up doing overseas missions. He began to be seen later up at Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda, and then one Mother’s Day John Wimber had him share his testimony and a radical outpouring followed. Documented in numerous books and publications, it turned into what missiologist Peter Wagner called “The Third Wave Revival” spreading signs and wonders out to the nations.

I remember being at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa when I started hearing some talk about the fact that Lonnie was back in town, and man, things are getting a bit too wild up there at Calvary Yorba Linda. The complaint could be summed up like this: “Lonnie’s back and, my goodness, they have let him off of his leash up there!”

In reality though, it wasn’t Lonnie who came off the leash but the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit we see referred to over 70 times in the book of Acts—you think God might be trying to say something with that?!? Maybe?— Yes, the same Holy Spirit mentioned over 70 times in the book of Acts made a bold re-entry into His church that Mother’s Day.

Lonnie’s words on that day are as applicable as ever, “The church has been quenching the Spirit for far too long.” Time to stop grieving and quenching the Spirit, take a fresh look at the book of Acts, let the Spirit of God off the leash, and see some life again!!!

As Billy Graham said at Amsterdam 2000: “If we as Christ’s Body don’t start getting back to Acts Chapter 2 and start walking in the power of the Holy Spirit we will have no hope of reaching this present generation.” The little movie clips and nifty jumbotron at the mega church just ain't gonna cut it man!

There is a new short video with us being interviewed about those times. Meri Crouley, who is hosting the upcoming celebration, recently uploaded this video of an interview of us and others about the revival back in the day.

There will be a Summer of Love and Jesus People Celebration tomorrow (Sat. 6/4) in South Orange County. We’ll be sharing along with others as well as some worship and ministry so come out if you can.

We have a web page of our own reflections from the Jesus People Revival as well as a blog posting of the Mother's Day Service at what became the Vineyard. Check it out!

He is Risen

2011-04-24T08:59:00.000-07:00

Glory to God! Jesus is risen from the grave!

Well, we had a weekend of divine appointments starting out in Encinitas Friday night where the Lord happened to hook us up with numeous friends who just happened to all be in the same area at the same time. We ended up sitting down at a little street cafe to the surprise of finding out that the waiter happened to remember us all from a church around the area and bringing us out free food -- totally unexpected. More people showed up as the night wore on and it turned into a Holy Ghost prayer time as the Spirit moved in power as we prayed for friends right out on the street as we sat at the table.

Later, we headed out to do a live radio program with Lauren Dowler as our special guest on the program that night, and our son Patrick even shared a bit too for the first time on the radio about his experience of being touched by God when he spontaneously got filled with the Holy Spirit while our friend Dave Estrella shared his testimony up in Salinas. After hanging in Christ's risen glory all weekend, as well as more divine appointments--even praying with another group of people in a fish restaurant later on--and then and all-night worship session, we have just gotten a chance to put up this cool Easter message with ourselves and Lauren and Patrick.

Direct audio link: http://www.graceworldmission.org/audio/kprzlive-lauren_easter.mp3

So, seek not the living amongst the dead. He is alive just as He said--praise God! Click up above and check it out. (Please excuse our audio levels as a train kept us blocked from getting into the station early enough to get our mic levels just right.)

Grace Awakenings and Holy Ghost Surprises

2011-04-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

Somewhere near Salinas… I kept hearing that line from an old song reverberate in my head as we drove down the highway in Northern California just recently.

So as we were headed down the highway I figured the Spirit of God was seeking to direct us to something. So we got in touch with our friend Dave who lives in Salinas. We had met at Surfing the Nations (STN) in Hawaii and he got filled with the Spirit when we prayed for him over in the Islands. So we stopped by his place in Salinas and happened to arrive right when a friend of his was also stopping by, who happened to be headed the other way up the highway towards Washington State. Somehow, God is able to arrange that both of us came to Dave’s house at the same time; God coordinates things in such incredible ways it blows your mind.

Dave's friend from Washington had a recent encounter with the grace of God, something he never knew about nor understood even after being a Christian and attending church most of his life. After reading Romans and Galatians on his own where the Holy Spirit opened his eyes, he finally understood the full import of The New Covenant in Christ and The Righteousness that Comes From God. This opened up a long discussion with us where we were speaking even more of the grace of God into his life and then the Spirit of God began to fall on him and move on his life as we were talking, so we started praying for him. The Spirit of God began pouring out on him, and then also on other people who were there, as well as others who showed up later. We ended up having an all-night Holy Ghost outpouring as the Spirit of God filled everyone with His fire and glory: those who showed up to the house later who came straight into the glory when they came inside, along with a few who were there hanging out in other parts of the house that were drawn into the Holy Ghost fire. The Spirit of God moved with His power and filled, and filled, and filled, everyone there all night long. It was 3:33 in the morning when we finally hit the sack—basking in the glory while finally going to sleep.

Dave’s friend from Washington headed up home that next morning. However, the next night, another friend who was part of the Jesus People Revival back in the day came by, as well as another guy starting out in ministry who realized he needed the power of God, and with them and a few others we had another Holy Ghost all-nighter. God poured out his power, bringing forth another time of people being Filled with the Holy Spirit intensely, and after praying for hours for each other, we flowed into singing old Jesus People songs and worshiping in the Spirit late into the wee hours.

Well after another night of going to sleep around 4:00 AM I'm getting the feeling in these outpourings that there isn't going to be much sleeping going on in heaven, just basking in the glory! Praise God!

Broken things can be frustrating but....

On another note, sometimes you wonder how God can work all things for good: After trying to figure out how to mow the lawn after the lawn mower died on us and it was beginning to look like the Amazon jungle, we finally broke down just yesterday and hired a guy to do a quick job for a few bucks until we got it fixed. I began to think there was something more to why this guy was with us mowing the lawn. We began to witness to him and he was listening and interacting pretty well but he then began to talk about all this stuff he learned from the Jehovah's Witnesses. Instead of giving into the temptation to argue about the Jehovah's witness stuff I began to get a word from God that seemed like it might be offensive but I went for it anyways: "You keep getting involved with the Jehovah's Witnesses and you'll find out that what they want from you is money." Instead of being offended, he began to laugh hysterically and told us that’s exactly what he had experienced as he was involved with them. That word actually opened him up even more to what we had to say. He said he knew "that Christ doesn't charge us." We told him: "That's right. He offers salvation freely to all who will receive Him as Savior and Lord." He then prayed with us on the driveway to receive Jesus the Son of God, God the Son, as His Savior. Hallelujah!! Even broken stuff like lawnmowers can be used for higher purposes in God's Kingdom.

Columcille--A Spiritual Descendant of St. Patrick

2011-03-17T01:31:00.000-07:00

Tower named after Columcille

in County Donegal, Ireland

One of St. Patrick’s spiritual descendants who had a similar impact as a pioneer missionary was Columcille (in Gaelic) also known as Columba (anglicized.) Much like Patrick, he crossed a treacherous sea to bring the Gospel to a foreign people, only Columcille did it in a curagh, a small, open boat made of hide and wood, and this going all the way from Ireland to Scotland in some pretty heavy seas in a tiny vessel.

Columcille, who was known for having a temper, had instigated a battle in his native Ireland where a large number of people were killed, something in the neighborhood of 5,000. Lamenting his involvement, he cried out to God that he wanted to spend the rest of his life seeing at least as many souls saved as were killed in the battle.

After being banished for his involvement in the battle—let’s not forget about Moses’ killing of an Egyptian and subsequent exile, as well as David’s time in exile—he was moved by the love and mercy of Christ and headed off from the coast of Ireland with some companions to reach the Picts in the land of Scotland.

As Columba sought to reach out to the tribe of the Picts in Scotland, he soon encountered opposition from Druids, just as Patrick had in Ireland, as well as from Brude, a chief in Inverness who wanted nothing to do with him or the faith he was proclaiming and in fact locked the gates to his city to keep Columcille out. Columcille persisted and remained steadfast, praying in front of the massive doors, when the gates suddenly flew open as he made the sign of the cross before them. Having witnessed the power of God in this miracle, the formerly closed and resistant Brude now listened and welcomed Columcille into the city. He began to reach people but also saw continued resistance from Druids and other pagans, but breakthroughs came mostly through power encounters as Columcille and his disciples relied on the power of God as they saw modeled with the disciples in the Gospels and the Book of Acts.

One of the most important aspects of his ministry was establishing a center on Iona—a small, bleak, and foggy Island off the coast of Scotland—where missionaries and evangelists were trained to go out with the Gospel. These Celtic missionaries went all over continental Europe proclaiming the Gospel of Christ; they held to justification by faith and the Scripture as the true authority, refusing to involve themselves in politics. Popular misunderstandings not withstanding, they were not Roman Catholic and in fact were very much in conflict with the Catholic Church as they sought to follow God’s Spirit and proclaim the Gospel as they saw it in Scripture. This incensed many a bishop and priest who were appalled at their willingness to enter their areas and preach, as well as their refusal to submit to the Pope and the Roman hierarchy. It seems rather, that these Celtic Christians chose to look at the whole of Scripture recognizing that God led Moses to resist Pharaoh and thus Christians shouldn’t be dictated to by a spiritual pharaoh and took Jesus’ words to heart: "But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant." (Matthew 23:8-11--King James Version)

The studious and prayerful lives of the Celtic Christians led them to be standard bearers during a bleak time when Catholicism slid further and further into a political malaise; they persevered not only in holding to the true Gospel during a time of spiritual darkness but also preserved numerous important manuscripts and important works when the scourge of the Vikings later threw much of Europe and especially the British Isles into havoc. It is why it has been said that “the Irish saved Civilization” during that time.

Columcille was from County Donegal in Ireland, a place we’ve been blessed to visit on occasion and we’ve found out firsthand how rough that sea can be, in both good and bad ways—great surf when the conditions are right but treacherous when they’re not. We were driving through Donegal on one particular trip when I felt the Holy Spirit leading me to turn back towards a place we had just driven past. I wrestled with the why’s for a moment, as did Mercedes. However God’s presence prevailed and we went back to a small set of ancient buildings we had passed, to find not only a church that Columcille was part of, but also a tower that his disciples had later erected to watch for marauding Vikings coming ashore. (Ireland isn’t so great in marking out important historical places.) They had used these towers to not only hide important works but themselves as well from the menacing hordes invading from the north. We took a moment while visiting there to reminisce on that great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us: those who have proclaimed the truth of Christ long before our time. Columcille stands as one of those very witnesses in that great cloud and it is inspiring to know what he did for the sake of the Kingdom.

For further reading click here and for related sources click here.

MINISTRY UPDATE--FEBRUARY 2011

2011-02-05T14:22:00.000-08:00

We were performing some worship songs—something the Lord has us doing more and more of lately—at a meeting of radio producers, and had a real visitation of the presence of God while we worshipped. This led to us leading some worship as well as speaking at a church, where again the Lord poured out His Spirit in power. Many people in this small Hispanic congregation testified of how the Lord met them in grace and power that day. The pastor was amazed at how heavily God poured out His power after what he saw as merely a straightforward evangelical message on God’s grace: “You weren’t screaming or yelling or jumping up and down or wearing a shiny expensive white suit or any of the things associated with Charismatic stuff I see usually, and yet we experienced this powerful and incredible outpouring of God’s power!”

Even more amazing though was a surprise move of the Spirit at the end of the day. After eating lunch at the pastor’s house and talking a while, we were getting ready to leave and saying a quick prayer for God’s traveling mercies before heading out the door. As our quick prayer was closing up, I felt led to lay my hand on a young woman who had showed up during the middle of lunch, so as I was quickly saying a few words, suddenly she was powerfully struck by the Spirit of God and collapsed down to her knees and began to cry out in tongues with the sound of languages from places like Greece and Macedonia, which began to reveal a mission call on her life. This time the pastor’s mind was really blown—all we were doing is saying a closing prayer and this unexpected outpouring again, now on this sister?

Paul's words again and again remind us of the importance of walking in the power of the Spirit as a central core to the Christian life not only for ourselves but to influence others to do the same. It is His words that tell us in Romans 8:14 to be led by the Spirit. When we do, exciting things can happen, and we can be naturally supernatural about it. It is also exciting to continue to pass on to others that glorious blessing.

CAR UPDATE

I shared about some car problems we were having a while back so here’s a little update: We were having a mechanic work on one of our vehicles, but ended up getting stuck at his place when we went to pick it up as it immediately failed again right when we started driving off. We were stuck at his place for quite some time while he tried to figure out what was going on. With nothing to do, we began to talk with him and he began to open up a little bit and share how he had first come to the Lord. As we talked to him some more, I began to feel we needed to pray for him, though we had no idea for what or how he would respond. He didn't seem terribly open but we went for it and laid hands on him and nothing really happened right away. It was a bit uncomfortable for a bit there, but as the Lord started to give us specific revelation about what to pray for, a tear came down his face and then another one and more and more to where finally like a river God was pouring His Spirit into him while his tears flowed out. God powerfully moved on his heart and he was touched deeply by God’s grace; he seemed like a different guy after that prayer.

Well, we were stoked just on what God did with that. The blessing continued when he called us and said, “I’m not going to charge for the first car and have torn up the check.” Praise God for a breakthrough there as we really needed it! The other broken car still needed repaired too though and needed a lot of parts but he did discount the labor charge on that one too. Praise God for the breakthroughs and the work of the Holy Spirit in this guy’s life which is incomparably more important than money—God can use even car problems for good!

The car warfare continued though—each time these car problems happened it was on the way to some ministry event. We were on our way to a home meeting where we’ve been seeing some people from backgrounds not really known as Charismatic get filled with the Spirit when the hood came loose and was looking like it would fly up into the windshield. We had to immediately get off the freeway and drive slowly on surface streets, which of course made us pretty late to the meeting. Didn’t stop God from doing awesome stuff though.

We were quoted about two hundred dollars for a repair for that hood. However, Mercedes was driving around town one day and felt the Lord leading her down a street and ended up at a junkyard, where she started talking to the guys there. They are probably not used to having pretty female visitors on a regular basis and thus they went out of their way to help her out—not my experience at junkyards at all! Well, they not only found the right part to fix the hood but gave it to her and installed it all free of charge! Praise God! It’s awesome how God can use even car problems for good!! Hallelujah!

Thank you for your prayers and support, as they keep us out there “doin’ the stuff” as John Wimber used to say, in all kinds of different situations and settings.

Click here to donate: http://www.graceworldmission.org/contact_us.htm

Merry Christmas and Blessings to You in the New Year!

2010-12-24T01:16:00.000-08:00

Listen to our Christmas message

about the supernatural God invading

our natural world with a little bit of Holy Ghost

Christmas worship in the beginning.

THE MIRACLE OF THE INCARNATION

Only through the revelation of the Holy Spirit can the glory and the enigma of the incarnation be understood.

That the Holy Spirit came upon a little peasant teenager living in an obscure village in an area most Jews referred to derogatorily as Galilee of the Gentiles should make us take pause and reflect a bit.

The town of Nazareth is so obscure that driving there, it’s easy to miss it, which is what happened to us when we visited it some years back. Mary was the ultimate nobody from a real nowhere town, and yet we’ve become so familiar with the story that we forget how ordinary and unassuming was the person and place through which God chose to bring his Son into the world.

Furthermore, Mary travels what would be considered a huge distance—while most likely 9 months pregnant—from her home in Nazareth to Bethlehem to fulfill the Roman census demand. A demand that seems most harsh, and yet God allowed it to come forth right when the woman carrying His very Son is closing in on baby day, so that the ancient Hebrew prophecy would be fulfilled.

The next scene has to really boggle the mind, and yet the familiarity of it all obscures its reality: Mary is out in a manger giving birth to the Savior amongst barnyard animals. The true rawness and grit of it all is often lost on us modern folk who see so many romantic depictions of this scene in Christmas plays and Christmas cards. We forget that this was a dirty, smelly barnyard. It is a place not much different from where the poorest of the poor often still dwell in our world even today.

While in a little Mexican village one time we visited some of the little plywood shacks with their dirt floors where I saw a little baby lying all wrapped up with a little teenage mother—the significance of the scene was not lost on me.

God reached down to the lowliest point in both the manger and on the cross to our lowest depths of sinful broken humanity. In all our poverty of spirit He identifies himself as one of us while still remaining sinless and God the Son, taking on Himself the transgressions of a fallen race that we might receive grace and redemption.

Much like the New Testament, which is written in the crude koine Greek of the marketplace, not the high Greek of Homer or The Iliad, with even some of its portions being penned by fishermen and tax collectors, hardly the scholarly type. It was in fact Alexander the Great’s conquest that spread the Greek language all over the known world and made it a language that was no longer high and scholarly but that of the everyman. God’s Living Word—both written and incarnated—reaches down to us right where we are in our human lowliness and brokenness.

On every level, God the Father reaches down and meets us right where we are. Stripping away all human pride and loftiness, He meets us with compassion when we are willing to divorce ourselves from the arrogance that stains the human condition and humbly receive His grace and mercy that He offers so freely—another thing the mind of fallen man has a hard time accepting—yet freely He forgives and receives us, adopting us as His very own.

The little baby crying in the manger cries to us to receive His abundant grace in Christ the Savior and the comfort of the Holy Spirit so that our human brokenness might be healed.

THE COMFORTER AND CHRISTMAS

Another aspect of the Christmas message that is often overlooked is the prominent role the Holy Spirit plays in the Christmas narrative.

Luke’s Christmas narrative is infused throughout with references to the Holy Spirit. Often overlooked in the Christmas story, the Spirit of God is in fact at its core. From beginning to end, the story of Christmas is an account of the supernatural invading the natural world with angels, dreams, visions, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

To the question Mary had of how she a virgin could bear a child, the angel answered, “The Power of the Holy Spirit will come upon you…” She wasn’t told the miracle would just all of a sudden take place; no, the Holy Spirit must come upon her first for the miracle to take place. The Holy Spirit came upon her and thus God brought forth the miracle of a virgin who bore forth the Christ Child—the supernatural invaded the natural through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We’ve been blessed to experience the Holy Spirit moving in power. The wind of God was blowing in a recent meeting at a church, and the pastor’s wife testified that the wind of God blew directly upon her with an angelic visitation as we ministered amongst the congregation. On another occasion, some guys asked us to pray with them before a worship meeting, when the Holy Spirit began to be poured out right then, and what was supposed to last just a few minutes, lasted for close to two hours as they were overcome with the presence of God bowled over on the floor. Numerous healings have also been taking place, as well as a number of people receiving Christ, including a young Latvian woman who was selling things door to door that we led to Christ right on our driveway. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you”…”You shall receive power”… “Live by the Spirit.”

Nothing could be more central to getting into the Spirit of Christmas, for the true Spirit of Christmas is THE HOLY SPIRIT!!

Christmas blessings to you – Be filled afresh today and as you begin the New Year!!!

Bryan, Mercedes, and Patrick Marleaux

SOME SCRIPTURES TO MEDITATE ON DURING CHRISTMAS TO GET INTO THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT, THE HOLY SPIRIT:

The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Luke 1:35

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:41

He [John the Baptist] will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Luke 1:15

His [John the Baptist’s] father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied. Luke 1:67

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Luke 2:26

Giving Thanks for America's Revival Heritage

2010-11-25T00:27:00.000-08:00

Watch this video on the Great Awakening,

an important view into the revival that helped shape America.

Link directly to video

Listen to this impacting audio message

on how the Reformation led to the development of America.

Luther’s admonition on prayer: “Pour out your heart before God and say, ‘I am empty, fill me…strengthen me…warm me and make me burn,’” as well as his insistence on the need for the Spirit's power: “Unless you are continually baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire you will fall back into unbelief" were taken up in practice by the Puritans in England when the Reformation spread there. They inveighed against a Christianity that went only through the motions and rituals, but instead preached that “one must have an encounter with God; Christ must fill the heart.” This was a central focus of early Puritan faith. They were, as historian Sydney Alhstrom points out, “an extended revival movement.”

Thus, when Puritans (those who desired to purify the church from Romish chains and return to a New Testament standard) and Separatists (those who sought to ‘come out and be separate’ from Roman Catholicism) came and formed the early American Colonies, they did so in personal obedience to the Great Commission. They sought to establish a place where worship could be free, free from the restrictions of dead institutional religiosity, returning to that of the early church in Acts. They were all about revival and eagerly sought after it.

Through long travail and many trials, revival finally came forth when Jonathan Edwards, a descendant of Puritans, and George Whitfield, who was converted to Christ directly by the teaching of reformers and the Reformation, ministered in the early American Colonies and the fire of God began to fall.

Edwards began to seek God concerning the lethargy that was later setting in amongst the Christian Community in the colonies and was directed by the Holy Spirit back to the central focus of Christ’s payment for sin and God’s prevailing grace for all who will believe. As he preached a tightly reasoned sermon series on justification by faith through grace, “a great acceleration of the Spirit’s presence took place.” This was followed up later when he invited George Whitfield, who would regularly preach on “the righteousness from God given to us as a free gift wrought by Christ’s work on the cross for us who believe.” Edwards, an unemotional person, would often weep through the entirety of Whitfield's preaching, so touched by God was he.

The embers Edwards stirred exploded into a raging conflagration through Whitfield’s preaching. The fire of God began to spread and powerful manifestations began to take place on a regular basis as revival took hold. The colonies were turned upside down with an outpouring of the Spirit and manifestations of many falling to the ground under the power of the Spirit, shaking, crying out, profuse weeping and laughing. All these took place regularly as the Spirit’s power spread. Whitfield crisscrossed the colonies and began to have massive crowds come out to hear him regularly. Crowds of eight to ten thousand people (for the size of the colonies this was huge) were the norm, culminating in him preaching to over 30,000 at one time on the Commons at Boston. Benjamin Franklin, a self-described skeptic who nevertheless was always interested in Whitfield's effect, measured the crowds and recorded the events, giving even more credence to the phenomenon of the revival. When Whitfield would preach, absolute mayhem would often take place, with crowds running to the event and stirring up so much dust it looked like a cloud had descended, with the added phenomenon of boats and carriages crashing in their attempt to get to the meetings.

Through the effects of the revival many were raised up to be preachers, missionaries, evangelists, and the like, and took the Gospel out to further reaches of the expanding settlements; churches were strengthened and grew and many colleges were raised up to train preachers, including Dartmouth (originally called Moors Charity School for Indians), and Brown University.

This revival, like all revivals, was of course not without controversy, as many in staid and formal churches didn’t appreciate “such enthusiasm” as they called it, looking down their noses at such base behavior, much like Michal looked down on King David’s worship and dancing. It is interesting to note, however, that many of those who opposed the revival would themselves fall later into liberal ideologies like Unitariansim; it isn’t really possible to resist the Holy Spirit on one hand and think He’ll bless you on the other. Whitefield's comment on that situation was "The reason there are so many dead churches is that dead men are preaching to them." Gilbert Tennent also wrote and preached on "The danger of an unconverted ministry" reflecting the reality that many leaders in a lot of churches resisting the revival didn't even know Christ personally themselves.

Nevertheless, denominations today like Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists owe their size directly to their participation in this and other revivals that took place in early America. However, the vast majority of churches in which the Great Awakening took place were Puritan. The Spirit of God was poured out in power with mighty manifestations taking place and so the Gospel spread.

This is a large unsung part of our Thanksgiving Heritage: Thank God for the way the grace of Christ and the power of His Spirit gave such a Christian foundation to this nation in its earliest days.

Ulrich Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation

2010-10-31T17:22:00.000-07:00

Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.

Place cursor over image to play Zwingli Video (This was shot on location in Zurich).

On October 31^st, 1517 Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany. Thus began the Reformation, which quickly spread all over Europe, leading multitudes back to Christ and the truth of His Word!!

Martin Luther said: “Unless you are continually baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire you will fall back into unbelief.”(1) The words of the great reformer couldn’t ring more true. So many of the people I knew from way back who played a game of safe Churchianity and warned against being too focused on that “Holy Spirit stuff” are not even walking with God now but have fallen back into the world while pursuing its empty nonsense. There is nothing better you can do for your walk with God than to pursue being filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit!! For the Holy Spirit is God, and He leads us into all truth, opens our eyes to spiritual reality, and gives us life.

Luther’s highlighting of Paul’s creed (Rom. 8:1-16; Gal. 5:16-25; Eph. 3:16-19, 5:17) puts into perspective the reality that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but spiritual forces of darkness who constantly assault the believer on every front. The battle of faith constantly wages on and we need the light and illumination of the Holy Spirit to see clearly the battle we are in.

Like the character Susan in C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe who crosses over into another world she previously knew not existed and whose eyes open to a reality she beforehand knew nothing of, Luther himself says he entered into the paradise of God’s grace when the Holy Spirit opened his eyes to God’s Word declaring, “I was born again through gates of paradise and the whole of Scripture took on a new meaning,” (2) (click here for an overview of Luther’s life) as he finally understood that Christ had once for all paid for his sins on the cross at Calvary. Luther’s clarity on the finished work of Christ and subsequent confrontation of Catholic errors on things like:

Indulgences—the Catholic Church selling documents proclaiming forgiveness to those who rendered sufficient payment, a practice that still continues in the Catholic Church in parts of Italy and elsewhere.

Relics—the worship and idolatry of pieces of bone and hair from already-deceased, well-known Christians. This is actually a forbidden practice in the Old Testament called necromancy, yet one that the Catholic Church did and still persists in carrying out.

Confronting these abuses spurred the Reformation forward like wild fire, so many throughout the continent were sufficiently disgusted at the constant unbiblical abuses and money grubbing going on in Catholicism that when Luther’s sharp and clear words regarding the freely given grace offered through Christ’s finished work along with the pointed rebuke at the abuses the Catholic Church was carrying out, the sentiment spread like a wild conflagration.

Luther’s clarity in his writings on Christ’s finished work and confrontation of the errors of the Institutional Church turned many back to the truth of God’s Word and towards real relationship with Christ. Students grabbed hold of his writings and began reprinting them on the recently invented printing press (click here to learn about Gutenberg's printing press), disseminating them all over Europe, which stirred a movement that spread throughout the nations and eventually to the formation of a nation that would become known as America.

One of those impacted by Luther’s teaching and preaching was Ulrich Zwingli in Switzerland as well as his contemporaries like Heinrich Bullinger and William Farrel.

Zwingli, a Catholic priest like Luther, was greatly disillusioned with Catholicism as well and yet, unlike Luther, found himself unable to live up to the demands of celibacy (like many priests we see in the news today). Zwingli later, like Luther, turned his back on the unrealistic idea of celibacy and married. He was influenced by Luther’s writings early on and experienced a conversion to Christ and began to disseminate Luther’s teaching in Switzerland. He subsequently began to lead the Reformation in Zurich and brought a great impact to the area and just as Luther, he taught on God’s grace while speaking out against the abuses and errors of Catholicism. (As former priests, all these men were intimately in touch with the damage caused by such institutionalized error.) Luther and Zwingli as well as the other reformers, stressed the authority of God’s Word over against the teachings of man found so much in institutional religion.

Zwingli also proffered great insight into the breaking process one goes through as we learn to lean on the cross of Christ. Faith and grace come forth “when one despairs of oneself and trusts wholly on Christ alone.” Salvation is known and matures when “a man casts himself off and prostrates himself before the mercy of God alone.” Until one stops looking to oneself and one’s own works “you remain yet to know the depths of the grace he offers.” Though Zwingli and Luther saw a few small details differently, on the main essentials their belief were the same: by faith through grace alone—nothing more and nothing less—does one receive the great gift of pardon and mercy God offers in his Son Jesus Christ.

This essential Biblical foundation held in common by all the reformers became the cornerstone of later revivals at: Hernhutt in Germany, in England, and in the American Colonies. Revivals that, because they had a solid Biblical foundation, lasted, flourished, and spread the Gospel, unlike many of the so-called revivals of today that spring up quickly and seem focused more on an individual and his personality and die out just as quickly as they arose. (Can anyone say Lakeland….etc.)

Zwingli also influenced many others in his area that joined the Reformation as well, and these Reformers like Bullinger and Farrel, did much to reach out to the poor and bring reforms to not only the Church but social situations as well. Bullinger made Zurich a refuge for Christians being persecuted by the Catholic Church and fleeing the burning at the stake, especially other Lutherans. Farrel was a fiery preacher who raised up many young preachers and sent them out to reach others with the Gospel of grace as well as reaching out to the poor and sick. He was also a figure who shone the light of Christ and even reached out to the Waldensians who had been persecuted centuries earlier and had taken refuge in Switzerland.

This simple turning back to the fundamentals of the New Testament’s core teaching of Christ’s finished work and the grace he freely offers through faith in His blood, shook not only these regions but also the nations. As even Life Magazine put it, Luther and his influence remain in the top three of most important events over the last one thousand years.

I'll share with you shortly the radical divine appointment story of how the above video on Zwingli came to be made. Stay tuned!

Footnotes:
(1) Luther’s Sermons, Volume # 2, Page 182
(2) Martin Luther quoting on his conversion. Here I Stand by Roland Bainton.

Understanding God’s Processing In Us Through Trials

2010-08-28T00:45:00.000-07:00

I want to give a quick synopsis of a recent message I gave as I believe it is timely for many people at the moment:

Joseph, Moses, and David all had important calls and purposes God had for their lives but all of them went through severe and extended trial, testing, and preparation, in being made ready for the blessing the Lord would eventually bring so as to handle it correctly once it came.

Imagine Joseph in prison wondering what had become of the dreams he had received and how on earth could this severe trial possibly have anything to do with those dreams. However, that trial was indeed part of the preparation for those dreams being fulfilled; God had indeed called him and would use him later in a very important way. Likewise with both Moses and David, trials did rule their lives for quite an extended period. David must have wondered what being pursued like a fugitive all over the countryside by Saul had to do with being anointed as the next king by the prophet Samuel. He, in fact, was having the Saul tried out of him however.

King Saul never had that preparation and in fact completely faltered when brought into a position of leadership; he thought his own human reasoning could take the place of being led by God’s Spirit, and it led him alright, right into disobedience and catastrophe. David learned to seek God through these severe trials and those lessons stayed with him later.

In the same way, God often takes us as his children through heavy trials but they have a purpose if we have ears to hear. He wants to teach us reliance on Him. The Apostle Paul learned to not rely on his own strength and instead learned to say, “When I am weak then I am strong, for God’s grace is sufficient for me.” Likewise God will extract out of our lives everything that keeps us from being centered on anything but the sheer grace of His glorious Son Jesus.

Jesus alone paid the whole price and all the glory goes to him. He will have no competing thoughts, idols, or strongholds that might lead us to think that our own works, or abilities, or accomplishments, have anything to do with the great blessing He brings. Christ and Christ alone is to be glorified. As Luther said: God creates out of nothing and until he makes us realize we are nothing He can do nothing with us. Oh, what do you know? Christianity actually has a cross in it (!) in spite of what some TV preacher guy may have told you about unbridled prosperity. The cross and trials are indeed part of the preparation process for us to handle the blessings and increase that He will eventually bring.

He wants to prepare long distance runners that persevere and hear His voice and follow His will and direction, those that are led by His Spirit and rely on His grace and love and power, and not human-centered individuals that look only to their own strength and resources and their own human reasoning and like Saul, falter when given a task to carry out by Him. And the only road that will get us to that place is through the cross.

Thirty-Year Anniversary of Mother's Day Outpouring

2010-05-08T19:20:00.000-07:00

Canyon High School gym where God poured

out His Spirit thirty years ago on Mother's Day

Follow this link for a video and background to the

Jesus People and Third Wave Revivals.

This Mother’s Day is the 30-year anniversary of an outpouring of the Spirit that gave birth to a very powerful revival that went out to the nations and affected many lives, including my own.

Known by a few different monikers including “The Third Wave Revival” (named thus by missiologist and Fuller Seminary Professor Peter Wagner who includes it as one of the three most important outpourings in the Twentieth Century) it has also been called the “Vineyard Revival” and, though this may be a more popular term, I prefer Wagner’s term because the roots and the reach of the outpouring went way outside the bounds of the Vineyard movement.

Thirty years ago John Wimber, pastor of the then called Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda, had Lonnie Frisbee come share his testimony for a service which happened to be on Mother’s Day. Frisbee had previously been the instrumental evangelist in the Jesus People Revival, a movement which had given rise to the growth of Calvary Chapel churches—as well as being the leading evangelist at Calvary Costa Mesa, Frisbee had also actually led now well-known evangelist Greg Laurie to the Lord, discipled him, and started his church out in Riverside, now known as the mega church Harvest Christian Fellowship—though Frisbee never received much credit for all God did through him (follow this link for more on the Jesus People Revival and the Third Wave Revival.)

What ensued on that Mother’s Day has been the subject of multiple books (1), articles, research, documentaries, and even seminary discussions. Frisbee basically just shared his testimony, which was nothing unusual. What happened afterwards was what turned things on their head. Straight after his testimony, as Frisbee began to invite the Holy Spirit to move on this pretty straight-laced evangelical group, the Spirit of God began to be poured out in radical power. People who didn’t even believe in speaking in tongues began to speak in tongues; in fact as the Spirit moved on people and knocked some over to the ground, a dog pile of young people fell near the front inundated by the power of the Spirit, and one of them ended up on top of a microphone crying out in tongues over the amplification system which seemed to cause a reverberation of the Spirit’s power throughout the meeting. An all out radical outpouring of the Holy Ghost took over. Wimber, who had no idea what was happening, was completely perplexed and in his own words “fit to be tied.”

After such a wild service he was at first angry, but as he began to pray and examine the Bible, he came to the conclusion that “Lord, maybe this is from you.” In the middle of the night he received a call from Tom Stipe, a fellow Calvary Pastor who knew nothing of what had happened that day and had a word from God for him. Calling in the literal middle of the night Stipe told Wimber that he had been kept awake all night long with this word from God for him: “John, the Lord says ‘This is [of] Me.’ ” With the word from God confirming this was of the Lord and a fresh examination of the Scriptures, Wimber had what in the lingua of Fuller Theological Seminary, where he had previously taught, was now his very own experience, a complete paradigm shift, and went forward full force with what God had just done.

That Mother’s Day outpouring sparked a revival that continued on at full throttle. The church in Yorba Linda tripled in size over that very year and many, many people began to get saved, filled, healed, delivered as well as experiencing the outpouring and fullness of the Spirit in their own lives.

In time a team was assembled from the Yorba Linda church that went out to different nations with Wimber and Frisbee doing conferences on the subject of “The Power of God,” further spreading and widening the acclaim of this move of God.

This outpouring was made even more prominent by Wimber’s subsequent course at Fuller Seminary entitled “MC510 – Signs, Wonders, and Church Growth” which became the most popular course in the mainline evangelical seminary’s history.

Some people just don’t know a good thing when they have it, as Fuller eventually caved to those whining about people getting healed on campus, like when Prof. Peter Wagner got healed of high blood pressure during a class by Wimber. The view that prevailed was that a seminary should be a place for mere extracted thought and not practice and so Wimber was pushed out, but not without having had a huge impact on the place and those attending.

I was blessed to attend one of the last classes Wimber taught there with Wagner, which had been synthesized with some other issues to keep the basic course and idea going titled “Spiritual Issues and Church Growth.” The Signs and Wonders name was just too potent for some, so the name was dumbed down a bit, but the basic premise was the same: the Power of God as seen in the Bible is integral to the spread of God’s Kingdom on earth—why such a clearly biblical topic should be so difficult for some to stomach is still hard to figure out.

Like Dr. John White says in his book When the Spirit Comes with Power (another book that recorded these events): When one steps out to radically follow God he is usually met with scorn by those who hold to the status quo, later on however he is often given an honorary doctorate—usually posthumously—by those who finally realize the contribution he has made to the community of believers. Such is the case with figures like William Seymour who is only now, a century later, being recognized by publications like Christianity Today as one of the top ten most important Christian leaders in the Twentieth Century. Previous to this, Seymour received mostly the obligatory scorn from the larger Christian community for founding the Pentecostal Revival. Surely the same pattern is already starting to emerge for Frisbee and Wimber as even many who had no connection to this revival are looking back, documenting its events, and seeing the major contribution to the Body of Christ of these two as well as other players who played pivotal roles.

Political correctness ruling the day, Wimber’s Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda was eventually given the left foot of fellowship and asked to find itself a new name, not one with “Calvary Chapel” in it and so joined up with another former Calvary Chapel leader named Ken Gulliksen and his small group of churches called “The Vineyard.” Folk singer Bob Dylan was hanging around these fellowships back then and radical things continued to happen and spread as the Vineyard movement with Wimber taking the helm became a major force for renewal and revival over time.

Frisbee’s impact on both Calvary Chapel and the Vineyard has been mostly understated and underreported. His impact, however, in both these movements is huge and instrumental. (Click here for more info on Calvary Chapel history)

Wimber’s first ever “Power Encounter” took place when Frisbee ministered on that Mother’s Day service, according to Wimber’s own words in his book Power Evangelism. The fact that his four books Power Evangelism, Power Healing, Power Points, and Power Encounters as well as his conferences on “The Power of God” are all based and flow out of that seminal encounter, clearly demonstrates the enormous impact of Frisbee’s influence on Wimber’s subsequent thought and practice, thought and practice that had a huge impact on the body of Christ.

Nothing ever happens in a vacuum and the Third Wave/Vineyard Revival itself was actually rooted in the Jesus People Revival, which interestingly enough, has itself roots that tie back to the Pentecostals—both Lonnie Frisbee and Chuck Smith were originally in the Pentecostal movement. Chuck Smith was originally a Foursquare Pentecostal Preacher and Frisbee originally came to Christ as a youth at a Pentecostal camp. John Wimber’s own spiritual roots are from the Quakers, itself an early radical revival movement that sprung up in England and the American Colonies but which later became mainstream, seemingly being led back to his true roots unaware.

Furthermore, one of the most interesting things I’ve noticed is how much the Third Wave/ Vineyard Revival as well as the Pentecostal Revival so closely resemble powerful historical revivals of the past: The Great Awakening as well as the Camp Meetings along with the English Revivals all experienced similar outpourings and manifestations which were duly noted by some of their leaders and participants, something I’ll expand on more at another time.

My Own Experience in Context

The unexpected outpouring of the Spirit way back on Mother’s Day in the high school gym where Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda (later to become Vineyard Anaheim) held its services, turned life upside down in a good way for many people, myself included.

I was dragged to one of its services by others, hoping to receive healing for an injured knee that was putting the brakes on my surfing/life-guarding/modeling career. I had been surfing the amateur circuits for years where contemporaries like Tom Curren and eventually Kelly Slater were making their mark, it was a wild time to be involved in such a sport (find out more about this time and experience by clicking here) definitely a season of great change in many aspects of society. I had been influenced to turn pro by my sponsor Quiksilver and shortly after I did, I had a massive knee injury while surfing, which brought my new venture to a complete halt. Having appeared recently in an advertisement in Surfing Magazine for Quiksilver, the pressure was on to get healed up and get back on track with things. And so it was that I went to this odd church up in Yorba Linda with the goal of getting my knee healed and moving on with my life, having no idea of the whitewater rapids I was about to be thrown into.

Like being thrown into a raging river, I entered into this weird gym with people holding their hands up in the air and singing what seemed like songs that never ended, all just connecting together for what seemed like forever.

Due to the lack of windows and air conditioning in the gym the place was about as hot as a Swedish sauna. I looked around as some were singing with hands raised, others were crying or laughing, and some had even fallen over or off their seats, while still others seemed to be muttering strange languages. All I could equate it with was a Shriners Circus I’d been to as a kid where my friend and I were the only ones without a disability and where I spent more time looking at everyone around me than at the performance itself.

Here I was in this church that met in a school gym sweating every ounce of fluid out of my body, listening to all this singing and mesmerized by people crying and laughing for no reason whatsoever.

Finally after all this endless singing the speaker John Wimber, did his best to ramble on in the unbearable heat for a while and finally wiped his sweaty face and said, “ You know, it’s really hot in here, let’s move on to some ministry.” And then got down to the reason I came and sent all those who wanted prayer for healing to a back room.

I was expecting some kind of mini miracle service in that back room but instead found a completely disorganized mess with what seemed like just regular people praying for one another. I was expecting someone in a three-piece suit to be throwing crutches in the air and proclaiming people healed but nothing really significant seemed to be happening here.

Then a crazy hippie guy seemed to take charge of things—I remembered having seen him before at the Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa church as well as at a small group one time where I also happened to be dragged to by some other people.

This small group I had gone to before had been another endless singing escapade, singing and singing all night long. I got bored at one point and started singing too rather than just looking around the room, just to make the time pass faster. All of a sudden something happened when I started singing, that same crazy hippie guy, who I later found out was Lonnie Frisbee from Calvary Chapel, came up behind me and placed his hands on me. Immediately something happened where I felt the warmth and love of God come over me just momentarily. I’d never experienced that before.

When the small group meeting ended I told some people outside what had happened, and their response to me was: “Don’t you know anything about the Holy Spirit? That was the Holy Spirit starting to come on you.”

I told them that the guy over there had prayed over me without even asking me or anything. Someone said, “Hey, that’s Lonnie Frisbee. Everywhere he goes radical things happen!”

Now, here a little later on, as I was in that back room of the gym at Calvary Yorba Linda just kind of looking around and thinking, “This is a big disappointment. This thing isn’t even organized.” And suddenly out of nowhere something began to happen to me, this heavy feeling of God’s presence just began to come over me. I suddenly began to feel an incredible sense of God’s presence multiplied exponentially a thousand times over, God and His glory were right there with and upon me. All at once I began to be overwhelmed by God’s manifest glory, and like those people I had watched mesmerized whom I thought were disabled and/or strange out in the gym, I was starting to cry and then laugh and then cry and then laugh and on and on for no visible reason whatsoever. His love and grace began to be downloaded from my head into my heart at light speed and it was overwhelming me. Waves of something like liquid love began to wash over and over me, again and again.

Next, Lonnie Frisbee, while standing on some wrestling mats, started pointing at me and praying over me and saying stuff over me; I didn’t know at that time that he was speaking prophetic words over me. He started yelling that the Spirit of God was moving powerfully now on this young guy here as he prayed over me. It was like being thrown into an ocean of God’s presence and suddenly, gloriously, drowning in His tangible mercy and grace. I became so overwhelmed I couldn’t stand up anymore and some people sat me down on some rolled up wrestling mats where they prayed for me as I continued to get hammered, being baptized in the Holy Spirit for the next three and a half to four hours at least.

When I finally opened my eyes from what seemed like an altered state of consciousness, the place that had been full was now almost empty. Without a doubt I had been in the presence of God in a major way. It was an encounter with God that would change my life forever.

Much like the people Paul encountered on the way to Ephesus (Acts 19:1-7) who believed in Jesus but knew nothing of the Holy Spirit or His power, I had been in that same boat. Paul had immediately prayed for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit though they had limited knowledge, likewise God didn’t wait for me to take a course on the Holy Spirit before he filled me to overflowing. The gift came without any knowledge, effort, study or merit on my part whatsoever. Just like the Bible teaches, “You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, and to your children, to…all who have been called by the Lord our God.” (Acts 2:38-39.) In my limited knowledge, I had the same experience as those Ephesians Paul prayed for, getting filled unaware and even speaking in tongues later while praying at home after this.

This was a life-changing event, my life was completely transformed at this point as I began to pray and read the Bible regularly, something I never had done much of before, and I also began to realize that God had a higher purpose and calling for me regarding serving Him and ministry versus just doing and pursuing my own thing.

Being baptized with the Holy Spirit like this brought a complete paradigm shift in my thinking regarding the reality of God’s love and presence and the reality of His call and purpose for my life, which soon began to be played out as I began to witness to others and even lead others to Christ and eventually even starting a Bible Study with those I’d led to Christ where we had our own Holy Ghost times. And so it was that I was led into ministry and became a witness of God’s grace, love, and power by God’s Spirit soon after being filled with the Holy Spirit just like Jesus says will happen. (Acts 1:8.)

God brought complete healing to my knee over time rather than bringing an instantaneous miracle; He knows best that I would have just returned to my own pursuits soon after if this is all that happened. He indeed works everything for good, as I was brought into the reality of God’s presence and love and grace and directed into God’s call and ministry all through the filling of His Spirit.

Mine is just one of countless testimonies of so many whose lives were changed and impacted for good in this revival.

The Third Wave/Vineyard Revival went on to spread out to many different parts of the country and different nations, bringing renewal and reviving many.

This is just one of many of God’s great outpourings throughout the centuries that traces itself all the way back to the Day of Pentecost recorded in the Book of Acts where Jesus’ words were fulfilled: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

Good Friday and Easter Reflections

2010-04-01T16:57:00.000-07:00

Listen to our Good Friday and Easter audio message

One of history's most dramatic trials played out as the the son of a carpenter stood before a son of the glorious Roman Empire. Pilate, stunned by what he was presented with when the very King of Glory stood before him on trial, still failed to see what true glory was really all about, and gave way for the Son of God to be crucified as a common criminal even though he himself declared three times that he was innocent of any charge:

Pilate went out to the Jews and said "I find no basis for a charge against him." (John 18:38.)
Pilate came out and said to the Jews, "Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him." (John 19:4.)
But Pilate answered "You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him."(John 19:6.)

How a Roman Governor whose word is as good as law could still allow someone, much less Jesus Christ famed for healing and helping the sick and downtrodden, to be crucified when he himself just declared three times unequivocally to be innocent of any charge, is one of history's great enigmas.

The answer to such perplexing enigmatic circumstances is found in Jesus' own words: "I lay down my life--only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and to take it up again." (John 10:17-18)

Christ laid his life down that we might have forgiveness, redemption, and life. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). True redemption, mercy, and grace are found only in Him!

(For Further Reading: In this dramatic trial of Jesus before Pilate we see the perplexity of man's condition: Created in God's image but so bound to sin we must be redeemed from this fallen state, thus the cross was absolutely necessary for our salvation due to our utter depravity, but praise God Jesus has come and paid the price that we might be freed and have life --read more by clicking here.)

Remembering Harald Bredesen

2010-03-04T16:00:00.000-08:00

Check out our audio program on The Charismatic Renewal
Also recommended is audio program on the Pentecostal Revival since they are closely connected to each other

Holy Ghost Harald Stories Video

It was about three years ago right around this time when a large group of people, including many well-known figures in Christendom, gathered at Church on the Way in Van Nuys, California, to celebrate the life and passing of one of the more unique and significant figures in the Body of Christ in the twentieth century, Harald Bredesen.

Harald was one of the principal fathers of the Charismatic Renewal, along with Dennis Bennett. As the first proto-charismatic—he was an ordained minister in the Lutheran Church, a mainline and historic denomination, who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and yet stayed within his denomination—he was instrumental in ushering in the Charismatic Renewal into the mainline denominations, as well as introducing that renewal even to places like the Ivy League colleges of Yale and Dartmouth. He humorously called the Yale students who got filled with the Spirit and spoke in tongues “GlossoYalies.” He also reached and impacted many world leaders like Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and Anwar Sadat, and led quite a number of well-known figures like Pat Boone and Dale Evan Rogers into the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Harald was someone who exemplified Romans 8:14: “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” When I first met him, however, I thought he was more like the bumbling Maxwell Smart from the Get Smart TV series. As I waited to meet him in his office for the first time, I noticed telephones everywhere, and out on his patio I even found a phone hidden down in a small wooden compartment underneath the cement right by his Jacuzzi. I totally expected to find a phone in his shoe next, just like old Maxwell Smart. He always wanted to be available to minister to whoever might call needing a word or some prayer, even while relaxing in the Jacuzzi. I soon found out that, behind the wild and crazy character who ate in my ear while I talked to him on the phone—he was notorious for chomping away at his lunch or dinner while talking on the phone—there was a very wise individual who was always deftly paying attention to the Holy Spirit. While my wife and I were eating dinner with him during our first meeting, our faces ended up pretty much in our food as Harald suddenly started praying and God’s power fell upon us. We were overcome by the Spirit’s presence and we ended up getting a little bit more intimate with our dinner than expected as Harald suddenly began prophesying over us.

Here was a man who had paid the price behind the anointing, much like I wrote about in the previous blog with Jill Austin, and whose numerous antics and missteps sharpened him in the place to discern the voice and leading of the Lord in a dynamic way in his life. You can read about all that in his book Yes, Lord! (for more info click here), which chronicles the trials of those early formative years. At one of the lowest points in his early life, he found himself sitting in a little broken-down decrepit hostel, his only furniture being a broken old stool missing a leg and a bed full of bed bugs, sick and wondering if he was really hearing God right, he unknowingly found himself at a decisive point in his life, where he was going from seeking to fulfill God’s purposes in his life by way of his own power and flesh, to being yielded and led by the Holy Spirit and relying on God’s power instead.

His many years of learning to discern God’s leading gave him an uncanny way of knowing where some area of one’s life needed some breaking, reforming, and embracing of the Cross. I remember being in a shopping mall and Harald got going on a witnessing spree to the clerks and employees in Target; next he said, “Let’s go through the aisles praying out loud in tongues and see who God leads us to talk to.” This was fun and fine with me and we ended witnessing to some more people. All of a sudden however, with arms locked together, he pulled us out of Target and started making a beeline for another store. As we got closer I freaked: it was a surf shop, I was yelling inside my head go anywhere but in there, but he went straight in, praying at the top of his lungs in tongues to the shocked look of all inside. He had hit on the head an area in my life that needed a little deathblow. Growing up as a surfer and spending many years in the competitive surfing arena as well as being sponsored by different surf companies there was always that issue of wanting to look cool amongst your peers, and this was a needed deathblow to that pride. The Holy Spirit fell on me in power with the Scripture, “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.” (1 Cor. 1:27)

I’ve had many divine appointments involving surfing (read more here) and almost always it happens while listening to the Holy Spirit and doing something that would be considered foolish to the world’s eyes by His direction, but which leads to some miraculous encounter. He uses those willing to take risks, be foolish, and step out in faith, not worrying about one’s reputation but willing to be a vessel of His word and power. Harald was a great example of this. You can never learn to swim without jumping in the water and flailing around a bit. You’ve got to take that risk; like Peter, you’ve got to step out of the boat if you want to follow the Lord and walk out on the water! Peter got out of the boat and had that radical experience of walking on the water while all the other disciples just sat in the boat watching and he got to walk on the water twice as Jesus helped him when he faltered and sank and then walked him back to the boat. It was easy for the others to just sit in the boat and possibly even criticize, “Look he doubted! Now he’s sinking.” Armchair critics are a dime a dozen and the world and the church are full of them while only a small percentage of the Christian population even gets involved in the actual activity of the Kingdom.

It takes guts and faith, however, to step out and take a risk and be willing to be used by God; you’ve got to be willing to make mistakes and missteps, you can never make it to the goal if you don’t pick up the ball and run and that means risking falling on your face. Too many want to play it safe and sit in the comfort of the pew and let someone else step out and do the Kingdom stuff and unfortunately this status quo is all to often encouraged by the powers that be.

You can listen to many sermons but there’s nothing like that living sermon of stepping out to follow Christ, which presses you in to discern His voice. Over many years of trial and tribulation, Harald learned to discern the Lord’s voice in his life and he is a wonderful example of that important dynamic in a believer’s walk.

Scriptural Insight:

"Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord. To obey is better than sacrifice.” 1Sam. 15:22

“Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God,” Romans 8:14

“If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.” Gal. 5:18

“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Gal. 5:25

The Great Awakening, the Puritans and their Roots in the Reformation

2009-12-17T14:42:00.000-08:00

Check out our video on The Great Awakening

Maybe you had a chance to hear our recent program on Thanksgiving talking about America’s Christian roots that were born out of the Reformation in Germany, an event that spawned the Puritan movement out of England and which in turn was brought to the American Colonies and became the young country’s spiritual foundation (if you missed that one you can still hear it by clicking here).

As a follow-up to our Thanksgiving program, we wanted to touch on and share the video on one of the most radical revivals in American history and history in general: The Great Awakening.

This Revival spread Holy Ghost fire throughout the early American colonies with radical manifestations: people being slain in the Spirit, profuse weeping, and much holy laughter and mass conversions.

It changed the spiritual atmosphere and furthered America’s Christian heritage and foundations in a great way.

This incredible revival however, was born earlier on through the Reformation, initiated by Martin Luther and then sown spiritually by the Puritans and their longing for revival that later saw its fulfillment in The Great Awakening.

Interesting facts on the Puritans

The term Puritan was derived from their desire to purify the church from Roman Catholic errors and go back to New Testament standards and not a quest for personal purity, popular misunderstanding of their name notwithstanding. They sowed in tears and prayer hoping to see revival, which was later fulfilled through the Great Awakening. In fact one of the main preachers of the Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards, was a direct descendant of Puritans.

They valued and longed to see these realities become widespread:

Conversion: They wanted to see people come into a real relationship with Christ and not just become religious, but be converted into a vital and living relationship with the Living Savior Jesus Christ.

Encounter: They were adamant that mere Bible knowledge and knowledge about God alone was not sufficient and by itself could lead to dangerous spiritual pride and arrogance. Though they held the former as of utmost importance, they were strong believers in the biblical example of the need for a real encounter with the living supernatural God and experiencing his real and living presence in one's life, Christ must fill the heart with His Spirit!! They were known as some of the first Protestant-Mystics.

Revival: They wanted to see a revival of true and living faith spread across the different lands they inhabited both in England and the American Colonies

They sowed in suffering, prayer, and tears many years, hoping to see these things become widespread realities in their old and new worlds of England and America's colonies. Their sowing in tears and suffering saw fulfillment in the later radical revival known as the Great Awakening that swept the American colonies with intense revival fire.

For more information on one of its main preachers you can watch this video on George Whitfield and the 18th Century Revivals:

Other little-known facts:

Contrary to popular misconception the Puritans were not negative about sex. In fact they were one of the first known groups to depart from the traditional Catholic view that sex was merely for procreation alone and really shouldn't be enjoyed but rather just endured for the sake of producing children. The Puritans declared that sex between a married husband and wife is a gift from God that should be enjoyed and indulged in regularly. Puritan families thus usually had hordes of children. They were however, adamantly against adultery and fornication.

The United States and the Americas (Latin America) might have had more of a French influence and flavor if not for what happened... French Huguenot Protestants fleeing persecution in France, much like the Protestant Puritans in the North from England, set up a colony in the southern area of what would be now known as Florida. It did not endure due to the fact that Spanish Catholics who saw them as heretics and were inspired by the ways of the Inquisition hunted them down and massacred every last man, woman, and child, wiping out the colony. The same exact thing happened to missionaries sent out by Protestant leader John Calvin (originially of France) to South America.

Shoulder Update--Victory in Christ

2009-10-28T16:34:00.000-07:00

Praise God! 100% range of motion has returned to my injured shoulder which is one of the biggest battles, this after two medical professionals said I’d be lucky to get an 80% return at best, and this with no pain as well as beginning to get strength back. Orthopedic Specialist Doctor said there is no need for the surgery he was previously convinced I was going to need.

When you are in the middle of a dark tunnel and see no light at the end things can begin to feel awfully bleak. However, the Light of the World—Jesus—can break through in the darkest of situations and bring light, life, healing and hope and turn everything around.

Just two months ago I was in the middle of trying to recover from this major shoulder injury that occurred at the beginning of summer (what a bummer!), having dislocated my shoulder while skateboarding with my son, and things were not going so good.

The physical therapist was concerned that my full range of motion wasn’t returning, he had said I'd be lucky if I got back to 80%, and he was the second therapist to say that, I was in pain using ice packs and pain pills regularly and had no strength in my right arm. Then came the appointment with the Orthopedic Doctor who put me into a state of shock by preparing me for the fact that I was almost certainly going to have to have surgery in order to have a full recovery.

He immediately wanted to do an MRI which made me even more worried because everyone else I'd known who had any kind of injury like this had to fight like a dog at a kennel for the last piece of meat to get approved by their insurance for an MRI. The fact that he was so willing to do an MRI caused me more worry because he said, "You have all the signs of a rotator cuff tear which will need to be repaired by surgery but we have to check for sure and the only way to know is to do an MRI." (A two thousand dollar procedure that insurance companies resist approving like North Korea does tourist visas).

While going through all the energy-taxing processes of wrestling through all this, my prayer became like the blind man in the Gospels: "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me."

If there is one thing God is full of, it is mercy and grace. From Old to New Testament, we see the declaration again and again: “The Lord is compassionate and gracious,… abounding in love. (Psalm 103:8) “The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion...when I was in great need, He saved me.” (Psalm 116:5-6)

At first I was frustrated that I had so much of a time gap to get another appointment with the Orthopedic Doctor and to get an MRI, but then it hit me that this would give me plenty of time to get lots of prayer for the Lord to heal it. There came with the process a lot of further learning about God's healing ways, something He always seems to want to keep teaching us as His children.

Having put out the word that I was wanting others to pray for me many sent messages and words that not only encouraged me but brought a lot of ministry too.

When I was younger and had a knee injury (link to blog) and went to seek prayer for healing for the first time in my life I was expecting some guy on a stage in a suit and tie to yell and jump around and come up and throw my crutches in the air and exclaim I was healed and then I could go out and run a marathon the next day. The healing process was different then than how I expected it to be, and this time around it was different too. In fact, in the middle of it all, I just happened to stumble upon a preacher from the East Coast on the radio who said: "God can heal and do His work in any way or process He chooses. It doesn't always have to happen in one moment—we have to be careful not to put Him in our little human boxes." God used this preacher to communicate about what he was doing and the way He as choosing to do His work.

I have actually experienced instances of immediate healing, like when I was having a severe stomach pain issue that went on for months and months years ago for which I received prayer one day, and I was healed and delivered instantly from that point on, while there have been other times when God's healing took more time and more than one prayer.

In this particular situation with my shoulder, it was a process that seemed like every time I got prayer it got better and then better and better, and certain words and moments of ministry including people praying through emails on the internet and at different churches fellowships and ministries would take it another step forward to where I just began to notice the pain being gone, my range of motion coming back, my strength returning, and my shoulder moving more normally again. There were definite moments when it was being ministered to significantly but equally important—and this is key to understand God's ways—He was using each instance to minister something deep to me spiritually and doing a healing process inside of me as well.

Furthermore, the Lord communicated to me that I needed to cooperate with what He was doing by being diligent with the exercises that I had been given by the therapists.

By the time I had got an MRI and gone to see the Ortho-Doctor again, after getting so much prayer, the signs I'd had showing a rotator cuff tear before had all dissipated; I had 100% range of motion (something that defied what the therapists had predicted) the pain was gone and my strength was coming back. The MRI results showed not even a single tear anywhere on my shoulder, and I didn't need the surgery that the Ortho-Doctor was so sure I was going to have to have last time he saw me.

During one of the times I was receiving ministry for this, I had a picture of Jesus sewing things back together and Him clearly saying that He was healing me. The MRI results showed that he has done just that—Praise God!

I am thankful for what God has done, especially watching others who've had to have this surgery, and man it looks and sounds like a hard thing to endure.

There is still recovery left in that I have three months of atrophy to recover from and the shoulder needs to be slowly restrengthened and some stiffness worked out after not being used regularly for a while; lifting light weights and eating lots of protein are part of the routine for a while, but having a license to eat all the steak, hamburgers, shakes and cakes I want ain't all that bad (ok I threw in the cake which isn't protein but ahh it's close enough.) Other regular exercises like swimming to keep things loose as well as surfing in some small waves on a longboard, which I am stoked to be starting to do again, are all part of the process for a full recovery for a while, none of which I'll be complaining about.

Rehabbing the shoulder in some small longboard waves. The unusually long Indian Summer with warm water, until just recently, has helped with the process since getting a wetsuit off and on can be a bit of a chore.

The big mountain has been crossed and Jesus carried me over by His grace and mercy and I give him all the praise and Glory for it. This is a victory in Christ for all those in the Body of Christ who prayed—THANK YOU. He has answered; thanks be to God in Christ in Jesus’ name!!! Praise the Lord!! Amen!!!

Psalm 103: Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.

Now we just need to get our finances healed from all these medical expenses, thanks for all your help click here to contribute. Thanks.

(P.S. One of the lessons out of this is the importance of taking time to maintain physical health, otherwise all your time has to go to repair your physical health. We have a video on this topic that we'll put out there when finished with the re-editing process.)

God Works All Things for Good--Filled with the Holy Spirit and Fire

2009-08-25T21:29:00.000-07:00

Lonnie Frisbee and Jill Austin (two heavy hitters in the
things of the Spirit) praying as the Holy Spirit falls
with fire and power over me some years ago.

Check out Bryan's Testimony Video above and

also click here to see a little bio on his surfing background

Trials aren’t fun, let’s get that straight right away here. They are just like the word implies, a time of testing and trying that brings suffering, stress, and often even confusion. We know however that as the Bible promises, God does work everything together for good for those that love Him and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

Trials can bring, in the end, maturity, perspective and even compassion for others who are also suffering, as well as many other things that can only be learned and brought forth through such hardship.

One doesn’t mine as much spiritual gold and the deep things of the kingdom in a seminary or Bible school as you do in God’s intensive school which could be called U.H.K. -- the University of Hard Knocks. You only need to think of Joseph in prison, Moses in exile, David as a refugee, Peter in prison, Paul in prison as well as beaten and sick, and of course Jesus who faced the cross, to understand that trials are often part of God’s plan to bring His children into deep places of revelation and purpose. Not to forget others like Job or the fact that two-thirds of the Psalms are laments and pleas for God’s help and intervention in the face of tribulation.

The idea that we would be exempt from the testing furnace of affliction really shows a lack of familiarity with the pages of Scripture. Jesus after all promised that in this world we would face tribulation.(John 16:33)

Trials come in many forms and can test us on many levels of our faith and trust in God. Be it financial or physical or both, or many other forms of testing, when in the middle of the dark tunnel the journey to the light at the end of it can seem impossibly long.

As bad as the pain is of an injury like say uh…a dislocated shoulder—what I’m personally enduring and recovering from at the moment—it is equally difficult to have your plans interrupted.

Someone said, it can be a bit disconcerting to know that God is still working on things in our lives long after we thought that chapter was finished. The reality we find instead is that the process goes on pretty much until as David says in the Psalms: “I will be satisfied when I awake with His [God’s] likeness.” (Ps. 17:15) If you didn’t figure that out, that means only once we are dead and go to heaven will God’s processing end in our lives here on earth. If you don’t continue to go through the processing, grinding mill, and refining fire—whatever term you’d like to attach to it—there is a good chance you’ve plateaued or drifted off into a place of trying to just be comfortable in your walk. Be forewarned He has ways of getting our attention.

This present trial and interruption of mine is not unlike others I’ve experienced before. Many years back, pre-marriage and ministry, I was a young Christian who got saved by “accidentally” listening to a black preacher on the radio and was later shanghaied through a divine appointment (get the whole story here-check out my surf bio) into going to a church. In the middle of pursuing a pro surfing career, modeling, and lifeguarding, life was dramatically and completely interrupted by a severe knee injury. In the matter of literally one mere second everything seemed to come crashing down around me like the World Trade Center.

Suddenly all the things that I’d trained and worked so hard for were decimated like wreckage on the freeway during a crash. In the passing of literally one mere moment I now had no job, no ability for a long time to pursue competitive surfing aspirations, nor to model—people hobbling around on crutches need not apply. In one fell swoop all forms of income, pursuits, and enjoyment were eliminated. The disappointment was further enhanced by the fact that I had been recently training with one of the coaches for the Olympic swim team at a local college who let me train with him to enhance paddling speed for surf contests and had garnered some victories and other strong results in surf contests recently, and had never been in such excellent physical shape in my life. Then, having it all come crashing down in one moment with a severe knee injury was a huge and crushing blow.

I may not have known a lot about the Kingdom and God at that point but one thing was clear about God that I did know—He was in the miracle and supernatural business. It didn’t take much to deduce this correctly from the Scripture I did know. All of a sudden, after previously resisting invitations from friends, I suddenly took interest in a fairly new church called Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda that I was told had supernatural things going on. They had recently had an outpouring of the Holy Spirit—though at that time I wasn’t sure what was meant by that—and were experiencing revival after Jesus People evangelist Lonnie Frisbee had ministered there.

It sure seemed different than I expected though when I got there, they met in a high school gym that was about as hot and made you sweat as much as a Swedish sauna. People were doing all kinds of weird things like lifting their hands in the air and I couldn't figure out what they were trying to reach or do, while others were crying and some laughing, some even fell over or off their seats. All I could equate it with was a Shriner’s Circus I’d been to as a kid where me and a friend had been made to go by his dad who said it would be a good experience for us; we were the only ones in the audience without a mental or physical disability and spent more time looking at everyone around us than at the circus performance itself.

Here I was in this weird church in a school gym sweating every ounce of fluid out of my body, watching people cry and laugh for no reason whatsoever, with their hands in the air and listening to this big heavy-set white-bearded dude on the stage drone on forever about who knows what—I couldn’t understand what he was saying—not a word of it. I was wondering where the miracles were. All I could see were reflections of the Shriner’s Circus—people around me laughing, crying, and some falling over for no known or obvious reason whatsoever. I thought, “Well, at least all these mentally challenged people have a funky church here where they can let it all hang out and be free, it was a good place for them. For me, I don’t know.”

Finally the bearded guy (John Wimber) wiped his sweaty face and said, “It’s really hot in here. Let’s move on to some ministry.” I was like, “Finally! I thought he’d never stop blabbing…is this where the miracles take place?”

He said everyone who wanted prayer to go into a back room. Along with a pretty good-sized crowd, I hobbled in my cast and crutches back there. I really wasn’t wanting to pray about anything, I just came for the miracle part and wanted to get out of there asap after that. Just get me a miracle here for my leg and I’ll be on my way, thank you and you can continue on with all your laughing, crying, and falling over stuff, all you want on your own.

I didn’t know what to expect, maybe a mini miracle service in this back room or something. “They may run out of seats,” I thought “so I better hurry up and get back in there” and started trying to hurry pushing my way in to get back there through the crowd. What happened next was so far outside my expectations it caught me off guard.

As I entered the room it was completely disorganized, there was no miracle service going on or any seeming organization to this thing at all. There was just a bunch of normal people praying for others and putting their hands on them which seemed kind of weird. One crazy looking hippie-type guy, who I later found out was the Jesus People revivalist named Lonnie Frisbee, was waving his arms around and yelling now and then about something, while standing on top of some school wrestling mats that were rolled up. I just stood there a bit perplexed with this whole scenario, looking around, and then mere moments before I could even process my thoughts, something happened.

Out of nowhere this heavy feeling came over me, I suddenly began to feel an incredible sense of God’s presence. Having been saved a few years back, there was already that awareness of God in my life. Suddenly now however, it was like that had been multiplied exponentially a thousand times over and God and His glory were right there with and upon me. All at once I began to be overwhelmed by God’s manifest presence right there upon me, and like those people I thought were disabled out in the gym, I was starting to cry and then laugh and then cry and then laugh and on and on for no visible reason whatsoever. His love and grace began to be downloaded from my head into my heart at light speed and it was overwhelming me. Waves of something like liquid love began to wash over and over me again and again.

Next, Lonnie Frisbee, the crazy hippie guy on the wrestling mats started pointing at me and praying over me and saying stuff over me; I didn’t know at that time that he was speaking prophetic words over me. He started yelling that the Spirit of God is moving powerfully now on this young guy here as he prayed over me. It was like being thrown into an ocean of God’s presence and suddenly, gloriously, drowning in his tangible mercy and grace. I became so overwhelmed I couldn’t stand up anymore and some people sat me down on some rolled up wrestling mats where they prayed for me and I continued to get hammered, being baptized in the Holy Spirit for the next three and a half to four hours at least.

When I finally opened my eyes from what seemed like an altered state of consciousness, the place which had been full was now almost empty. Without a doubt I had been in the presence of God in a major way. The last few people who were hanging around still praying for me said “Wow, God really filled your tank tonight. Boy you really got filled with the Holy Spirit.”

I was completely perplexed by their figures of speech, what tank? Filled with the what? I was totally naïve to these concepts and the “Christianese” language that surrounded them.

Much like the people Paul encountered on the way to Ephesus who believed in Jesus but knew nothing of the Holy Spirit or his power I was in that same boat. Paul had immediately prayed for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit though they had limited knowledge, likewise God didn’t wait for me to take a course on the Holy Spirit before he filled me to overflowing. The gift came without any knowledge, effort, study or merit on my part whatsoever. Just like the Bible teaches “you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, and to your children, to…all who have been called by the Lord our God.” Acts 2:38-39.

This was a life-changing event, my life took a complete change at this point as I began to pray and read the Bible regularly. I never had done much of that before, and I also began to realize that God had a higher purpose and calling for me regarding serving him and ministry versus just doing and pursuing my own thing.

Being baptized with the Holy Spirit like this brought me a complete paradigm shift regarding the reality of God’s love and presence and the reality of his call and purpose for my life, which soon began to be played out as I began to witness to others and even lead others to Christ and eventually started a Bible Study; I was pulled into ministry by God’s Spirit soon after being filled with the Holy Spirit.

God brought complete healing to my knee over time rather than bringing an instantaneous miracle; He knows best that I would have just returned to my own pursuits soon after if this is all that happened. He indeed works everything for good, I was brought into the reality of God’s presence and love and grace and directed into God’s call and ministry all through the filling of the Holy Spirit.

There is a reason that John the Baptist—who was the greatest of the Old Covenant prophets according to Jesus—declared only two things regarding the ministry of Christ: That he was the lamb of God who takes away sin and that He will baptize us in the Holy Spirit and fire.

I had already received the forgiveness of sins and now I was receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit and definitely the fire was being poured upon me at this time in a life-changing way. It was a pivotal and seminal moment that brought great change and revealed God’s purpose and call. There is a reason it is so emphasized by John the Baptist, Jesus, as well as in the book of Acts by Luke and by Paul the Apostle, because the reality of God’s presence released in one’s life through the Holy Spirit brings one into a reality of God’s love and grace and purpose like nothing else can.

We are encouraged to ask, seek and knock for the Holy Spirit’s fullness and gifts (Luke 11:9-13) in our lives and walks with God. I encourage you to do the same.

Even in this present trial of mine God the Holy Spirit continues to take things to a deeper level as he heals things of the past and specifically is healing some undealt with grief and pain from the death of my younger brother while we were on the mission field traveling and ministering through 17 different countries last year at this time; it isn’t easy to process something like that while constantly traveling and ministering. Sometimes he slows us down to deepen and expand the well so it can hold more. This way, he can then pour more into us so that more can flow out through us as things continue on.

The Bible encourages us to ask, seek, and knock and press in to be filled with the Holy Spirit and lean in on Jesus in your trials and tribulations.

Evangelizing the Empire

2009-06-29T15:26:00.000-07:00

The Gospel in the Roman Empire--
The Setting and Times of the New Testament

The Gospel in the Roman Empire--
The Rise of Persecution

The Gospel in the Roman Empire--The Rise of the Romans

One of the most amazing things when thinking about the Gospel and its advance through the ages, is how it went from being a small outlaw faith during the early days of the Roman Empire, to later becoming the official religion of the very empire that had spent so much time and effort trying to stamp it out.

How it went from first being a fringe movement led by a former carpenter turned itinerant preacher/healer who was crucified like a common criminal outside the city gates, to becoming a persecuted outlaw group whose adherents were often rounded up and made sport of in their deaths, to later being declared the official faith of the very Roman Empire that had tried to rid the earth of it, in the relatively short span of 300 years, is one of the more fascinating inquiries of the ages.

The Persecuted Minorities

Not too far along in its earliest days, persecution began to be directed towards the first Christians as we see in the first half of Acts with Peter and others being put in prison and James and Stephen being put to death. This would only become multiplied on a grand scale as time went on.

In Acts 18:2, packed into a small and seemingly obscure verse we find a dark foreboding of things to come: “Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome.” The Jews were getting into disputes with others so Claudius basically booted them out of town.

This actually affected many Christians who were also Jews since Christians were seen as an offshoot of Judaism at this time. The prophetic insight of what was coming down the pike in this seemingly obscure verse foreshadows a troubling future for the minority Christian community as Emperor Claudius continued his reign.

Claudius was sickly and weak and seen by the Julio-Claudian dynasty as an embarrassing leader who stuttered, drooled, had various nervous tics and poor public presentation. Yet he could still govern adequately enough when compared with both his predecessor and successor. His predecessor and uncle Caligula was mentally unstable and had even suggested naming his horse as a senator; he later was assassinated. Claudius too was a better leader than his dreaded successor Nero. Claudius, however, was easily manipulated by women. He actually told the Praetorian Guard after another of his marriages failed, to please kill him if he ever got involved with another woman. Ironically, it would actually be a woman who would cause his demise and inadvertently usher in the wholesale persecution of the Christian faith.

Claudius’s third wife and niece Agrippina schemed to have her son Nero put in place as the next in line for the throne, instead of Brittanicus who was Claudius’ biological son. Once her wishes were in place, Agrippina then got rid of Claudius by poisoning him so that Nero could rise to be emperor at 17 years of age, which in turn unleashed a descent into destructiveness of all kinds.

Unfit for the task by many and varied accounts in every respect, Nero fulfilled his sinister family history by first murdering his very own mother Agrippina, the very one who had gotten him to the throne in the first place. He continued to carry on this accursed family tradition by also murdering his wife and putting her severed head on display for his mistress, only to later kick her to death while she carried his very child.

Nero soon turned his venom on the small minority group often derided as “the atheists” (quite ironic!) so called because they refused to worship the pantheon of Roman gods; they were also called “Christians” as followers of Jesus Christ, the name with longer-range sticking power.

Nero was garnering heavy criticism as emperor for burning down a good portion of Rome with a fire he had started in a land grab to build a monument unto his ever-expanding ego. Needing a scapegoat to cover up the mess he created, he pointed the finger at the small minority Christian population and blamed them for starting the fire. Following this, a campaign of wholesale and severe persecution was unleashed against the community of believers. They were thrown to the lions in arenas; they were covered with bloody hides as wild dogs were unleashed on them, tearing them apart; they were also burned alive in public places, and even used as human flaming torches in Nero’s very own garden, providing a hideous backdrop for his parties as he would entertain his guests by singing and playing the lyre.

Nero’s life ended in suicide when a coup was brought against him. He was facing certain execution and took his own life with the words: “What a showman the world is losing in me.” He had set a precedent of persecution against the Christians that would continue even after his demise.

As we can see from these scenarios, the believers in the days of the Roman Empire faced very real and very serious threats because of their beliefs. They also lived in a complex, often cruel, and yet at the same time advanced civilization with multiple and constant challenges.

Paradoxically, the world they lived in also offered exceptional opportunities to help perpetuate their faith and even to carry it forth into the world in great and unique ways. It really isn’t all that much different from our world today with its milieu of complexities, threats, and often-untrustworthy leaders on the one hand, while on the other hand presenting unique and never-before-seen opportunities to spread the faith. Nevertheless, we cannot understate the fact that it was more threatening to live as a believer back then than it is now.

We can also see and take heart from the fact that the Gospel can and does still live and even thrive in spite of a hostile political and civil climate, as well as ungodly—-yes, even crazed—-political leaders. Moreover, it must be noted that it wasn’t necessary for the political leaders to be won over for the continued advance of the Kingdom of God. Jesus' words, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” reflect the reality that the Kingdom of God’s advance is not dependent upon some politician giving it his endorsement.

Unique Opportunities of the Times

In spite of the sometimes-crazed Roman leaders and the threats they often brought to the Christian faith there were still outstanding aspects of the Roman Empire itself that actually did greatly aid in Christianity’s spread. As touched on previously, the Roman Empire was a high point of ancient times with an advanced and highly developed civilization—-not terribly unlike our own developed Western society in today’s world.

Its complex road and travel system could take one anywhere from Britain to Cairo to Mesopotamia, extending throughout Europe, the Mediterranean, and parts of Africa and Asia. This, in fact, became a very key feature in the spread of the Gospel as the Romans unwittingly and quite literally paved the way for the Gospel’s spread with these incredible roads they built throughout the Empire, which were used by those like Paul and many, many, other disciples to take the Gospel far and wide.

Another key factor was the international Greek language, the veritable lingua franca of the world. Greek was spoken everywhere, and along with Greek culture and philosophy it had spread abroad, fulfilling the earlier vision of Alexander the Great, who was prophesied about metaphorically in the Book of Daniel; as a matter of fact, the New Testament came to be written in koine (common) Greek. This was a tool in God’s hand and greatly aided the spread of the Gospel. Speaking a common language, the believers could readily communicate with others even when they were of different cultures and nationalities, without having to spend years learning a new language just to be understood.

Additionally, the final conquests of Augustus ushered in what became known as the Pax Romana or Roman Peace, which brought an unparalleled time of peace to the known world of that time. Augustus was the emperor mentioned in the Gospel of Luke who ruled during the time of Jesus’ birth. As Julius Caesar’s adopted son, he inherited the throne and put down all his enemies, pursuing Brutus and Cassius, Julius Caesar’s assassins, into Greece until they were eliminated, then proceeding to put down Anthony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Attica. With no more real competitors to the throne, an unprecedented time of peace came over the Occident of the Roman world, which came by way of military might and superiority and was one of the few times of real world peace the planet has ever seen. Not surprisingly, it served as a great advantage as well in the Gospel’s spread. It is not always easy to minister in a war zone.

Other aspects of the Empire also aided in the Gospel’s spread. The international monetary system, where with one currency—the Roman denarius—people could buy and sell goods, would ease travel for the disciples. The ingenious aqueduct system that brought fresh drinking water into city centers also aided those who gave themselves to Christianity’s spread; they could focus on the task at hand versus time spent just trying to survive and meet basic needs.

All these things unequivocally worked in favor of the Gospel’s spread as the early believers co-opted them for higher means. There is a lesson here for us today: we must also, as Paul says, “Use every available means” to also propagate the faith in our day as well. Be it media, Internet, technology, ease of travel–jets and cars are faster and easier than walking on Roman roads—mass ability to print and disseminate Bibles and literature, and whatever else comes our way; all of this should also be co-opted for a higher purpose: that of spreading the truth and ultimately fulfilling the Great Commission.

The Deciding Factor

Though the early Christians used the means of their times to advance the Gospel, and although those means aided the Gospel’s spread greatly, they were not, however, the ultimate deciding factor in the Gospel’s advance. As pointed out, Christianity had become an outlaw religion and began to suffer severe persecution soon under Nero. If one were to look at this situation through a natural lens, Christianity should have disappeared from the face of the earth under such extreme pressure and threat even with the great Roman infrastructure to aid its spread. Instead, it grew and even thrived, later becoming the official faith of the very empire that had spent so much time and effort trying to stamp it out.

It would take much more than some paved roads and a common language for someone to join up with an outlaw faith being preached by persecuted preachers, a faith that could ultimately cause one to end up as a torch in a maniac’s garden or as a meal for a hungry lion! There definitely needed to be something very compelling to win people over to such a persecuted faith.

The task of sharing the Good News, much less just standing firm as a Christian in that complex and challenging world of the Roman Empire, could be formidable to say the least. The incredible transition from having to hold underground meetings in catacombs and caves, to becoming the official faith of the Empire that had tried to exterminate it certainly demanded a compelling power that was beyond human strength or agency.

Not by Might Nor by Power (i.e. Not by human strength or agency)

We can clearly find one of the main keys to the incredible transition right in the pages of Scripture…there is a reason why the Book of Acts mentions the Holy Spirit over 70 times!!!

Jesus' words in Acts 1:8, “It is not for you to know times or dates… but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth” are more than an interesting phrase for a Bible study. No, this was the locus classicus of the early Christian existence.

Being filled with and relying on the Holy Spirit was something not only taken as a necessary and essential equipping for the believer just to live as a Christian in that day, but also something that resulted in the believers being bold witnesses even in the face of serious and severe persecution.

Furthermore, as Jesus said: “He [the Holy Spirit] will convict people of sin, righteousness, and judgment.” (John 16:8-10) It was the fact that believers relied on the Holy Spirit which so empowered their witness so as to make it compelling and convicting to hearers.

In addition, the believers’ witness was commonly accompanied by miracles, signs, and wonders that served to illuminate their message in a dramatic way. For example Paul says in Romans 15:19-20: “…By the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. From Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.” Paul also said: “My message and preaching were not with wise and persuasive words but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power so that your faith might not rest on man’s wisdom but on God’s power.” 1 Cor. 2: 4-5.

It is apparent that the early believers took this to heart and sought to follow Paul and other apostles’ example of relying on the Holy Spirit and having miracles, signs, and wonders often serve as a witness to the message they were preaching.

Noted historian Ramsay MacMullen points out that miracles were something of a staple that accompanied the believers’ witness and served as a tool in reaching out to others, demonstrating the power and superiority of the Gospel and of the one true Savior and God.

Macmullen states in his book Christianizing the Roman Empire: “Driving all competition from the field head-on was crucial. The world had many dozens and hundreds of gods. Choice was open to everybody. It could only be a most exceptional force that would displace alternatives and compel allegiance. We should assign as much weight to this chief instrument of conversion [signs and wonders] as the best early reports do.”(1)

Furthermore, it cannot be overlooked that the early Christians, as we ourselves do today, lived in a pluralistic and advanced society with all kinds of pseudo-spiritual things out there vying for people’s attention and allegiance. Yet back in the Book of Acts as in much of the Early Church, they relied on the Holy Spirit as they were told by Jesus to do, and eventually won the day.

In spite of the difficulties and persecutions of their day they relied on the Holy Spirit’s power and took advantage of the opportunities provided by the Empire they lived in and harnessed and utilized them for the purpose of the Gospel’s advance. Through trial and tribulation they persevered and in time went from being the persecuted minority to eventually becoming the official faith of the very Empire that had literally sought to eliminate Christianity from the face of the earth.

Important examples exist for us from these early believers that we need to take note of. The Gospel’s existence and spread wasn’t dependent on politicians being in league with it for its expansion and life. The early believers utilized the means of the day and of their culture and maximized them for God’s higher purpose of taking the Gospel throughout the earth. Most importantly though, they depended on the power of the Holy Spirit to carry out the seemingly impossible task of reaching the world, a hostile world at that, and by persevering in these things they eventually won the day.

(1) MacMullen, Ramsay. Christianizing the Roman Empire. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1984).

Note: New video on Christianizing the Empire coming soon.

The Cross and Man's Fallenness--

2009-04-10T15:55:00.000-07:00

Listen to audio message: Christ's Trial, Crucifixion, and Resurrection

Bound and finite we are helpless in this puddle of muck without a savior…

It is really easy to forget that the cross, regardless of the fact that it has become a religious decoration, was a hideous instrument of torture and death reserved only for the lowest of criminals and reprobates. Roman citizens, if they should be found guilty in a trial of an offense deserving death, were actually exempted from capital punishment of such a cruel and hideous nature as dying on a cross like Jesus did. It should make one who believes in redemption actually shudder that this was actually the punishment needed to pay the penalty for our sins. Those who find forgiveness at the foot of it need revelation of just how dark the human condition is that such punishment, pain, torture and agony was necessary to bring forth redemption.

Many scenes in the redemptive narrative of Christ’s going to the cross are fraught with commentary on man’s hideous fallenness and absolutely sinful state, something all too easily overlooked in the Zeitgeist of “live your best life now,” saccharin-laced, shallow, pop religiosity these days.

At the heart of this redemptive story we see Jesus, One who had done nothing other than heal those suffering from terrible diseases, care for the outcast and downtrodden, and oh yes! clearly point out the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of the day, being marched up to a show trial, all while being beaten, mocked, and degraded.

Standing before Pilate—a man who was governor in one of the greatest and most advanced ancient civilizations the world had ever seen, with a system of justice that put all others before it to shame—we see the human enigma and dilemma revealed: Humankind at one of the zenith’s of its very existence meets the very embodiment of truth and love in Christ, and yet man in his bondage can do no other than demonstrate his corrupt, brutal, and wicked bondage to sin by crucifying this One who had done no wrong, committed no sin, condemning Him to the most unthinkable and hideous death imaginable.

In this moment we see that man in all his God-given capacity to build, construct, govern and exist is still yet completely and utterly incapable of doing what is right. Weighed down and bound to sin he carries out evil even at the best and highest of circumstances in his existence.

The Roman Empire was the high point of man’s existence during ancient times, with a road and travel system that could take one anywhere from Britain to Cairo to Mesopotamia reaching far and wide throughout Europe, the Mediterranean, and parts of Africa and Asia. All roads did in fact lead to Rome eventually.

Furthermore, they had an international monetary system that worked all throughout the empire, where with one currency, the Roman denarius, people could buy and sell goods, a feat unequaled throughout history and one it seems many are bent on duplicating. They boasted a truly international language given by the Greeks before them that was the veritable lingua franca of the world. Greek was spoken everywhere, and along with Greek culture and philosophy it had spread abroad, fulfilling the vision of Alexander the Great before them; as a matter of fact, the New Testament came to be written in Greek.

Cities had fresh spring water flowing to them thanks to the elaborate and ingenious system of aqueducts that the Romans had built and homes even had central heating systems constructed to carry heated water under the floors to each room. These particular achievements were not even matched again in history until the latter 1800’s in the developed world, and still are not matched today in much of the two-thirds developing world; it doesn’t take long to think of the many places in the world that don’t even have a decent drinking water system.

Here are some of the greatest achievements of ancient human history viewed from the time when the Roman Empire was itself at its very height, at its greatest pinnacle, having ushered in a time of peace throughout the known world, which came to be known as the Pax Romana, that is still the envy of all history. Yet here at the same time we find the perplexing dilemma of man with all his achievements at hand, unable even for a moment to extricate himself from the very evil that he is bound to, sinking constantly as he always does, back down the shafts into the corridors of hell from where the chains that hold him spring.

Created in God’s image yet so marred and bound by sin, the image of the Creator is unrecognizable. When the very Creator appears before him, he descends back into his darkness with the dark prince who bids him on towards more evil. At the very height of man’s existence in all his glory and achievements we see the cringing cowardice, evil, and cruelty of man’s bondage to his sinful state making itself manifest: Here Jesus, the very embodiment of truth and love stood before a Roman official, a governor at that, having committed no crime, One who had merely pointed out the obvious: that the Jewish religious leaders had completely corrupted and perverted the Mosaic Law they claimed to live by. But this was a thing intolerable to religious men who prided themselves as followers of God’s written code. Once again, rather than hearing the message sent by God to them, they did as their forefathers before them had done to the prophets of old, and conspired to kill the messenger.

This time however, it plays out in a drama that illustrates the fallenness of all who are born of women.

Pilate, caught in the middle of a Jewish conflagration regarding truth and messiahship, is first confused and then alarmed by this Jesus: many have called Him the Christ, a known prophet, a healer of the sick and downtrodden, a defender of the outcast and weak, yet now He stands before him with a disregard for defending himself and with claims about having a Kingdom not of this world.

Here the Roman governor is confronted with the Son of Man and is caught quite off guard with it all.

While listening to Jesus and His warning about accountability to the Most High, Pilate examines Him and comes to the clear conclusion that Jesus has done absolutely nothing wrong, but rather it is because of jealousy that the religious leaders have handed Him over.

Both Luke and John show that Pilate pleaded with the Jews regarding the fact of Jesus’ innocence. It says then that three times Pilate pronounced without equivocation that Jesus had done no crime. In fact, John points out that Pilate even tried to set Jesus free.

Here we see a Roman governor publicly declaring without a doubt a verdict of not guilty regarding Jesus in front of everyone. Not one time, or two times, but three whole times he did this—three, of course, is a number of completeness in Scripture.

Then the course of things becomes exceedingly strange, for after the Roman Governor makes this public declaration three different times of Jesus’ innocence, he suddenly descends into a mire of fear. Overcome with the darkness that plagues the human heart, after making such a public declaration of Jesus’ innocence three times in front of everyone, out of fear Pilate suddenly concedes to the people’s demands that Jesus be crucified.

Here the Roman governor, the head of state of that area, a leader in the most advanced civilization the world has seen up to that time with a sophisticated judicial system at his behest and a powerful army at his command, after publicly declaring Jesus’ complete innocence to all assembled three times, suddenly quivers in fear, abandons all virtues and values that embody the Roman ideal, and capitulates to the bloodthirsty demands of a mob filled with jealousy.

From a rational point of view it makes no sense at all: the one with all the power the world could deliver at his fingertips suddenly becoming afraid of a loudmouthed mob. He knew that the Jews and their leaders were filled with nothing more than jealousy and bitterness because Jesus had pulled the rug from underneath their feet by showing that they couldn’t justify themselves by their works as they zealously sought to do.

Suddenly, this powerful Roman leader now quivers at the sound of a bunch of loudmouthed powerless Jews who have no army, have no political representation, and they can’t even get a decent insurrection going with a miserable failure like Barabbas. After repeatedly declaring publicly that Jesus is innocent and even trying to set him free, Pilate suddenly and completely abandons every aspect of the heritage of the proud Romans who have built a system of justice and civil living and quivers in cowardice by conceding that an absolutely innocent man—whose innocence he declared publicly and emphatically just moments before—should be put to death, a hideously cruel and awful death at that, only to satisfy the bloodlust of a bunch of corrupt Jewish hypocritical Pharisees and Sadducees.

Here we see the cracks in the foundation of the existence of humankind and the paradox of the human existence. Created in God’s image with the ability to create and build and flourish with all kinds remarkable achievements and yet something down in the foundation is rotten to the core. Man is so stained with sin and so fallen that even at his best and highest point he is the worst monster one could imagine. Here Pilate, a Roman governor in the days of the epitome of Roman greatness, after publicly declaring Jesus’ innocence, gives him over to be tortured, maimed, horrifically beaten and finally crucified, when he from his own lips three times has declared this Man, this Jesus, to be completely innocent.

There is no other explanation other than sin. Man at his best is still the worst he can be. Bound with feet of clay and chained to the post of bondage, he can’t liberate himself even in his best moments. Even when the very Creator, the very Existence of truth and love stands before him, he still fumbles the moment and descends into the pit of depravity and does what is wrong in the most crucial time. Even when he has all the best resources at his fingertips he still carries out the worst, thus the bondage of the sinful condition is here manifest. The reformers called it “The bondage of the will.” Indeed it is the situation for all of us, “The whole world is a prisoner of sin.” (Gal. 3:22a)

The only hope is found right here in this very situation as Jesus willingly takes all of humankind’s sin for exactly this very reason. We are bound and cannot lift ourselves up by our own bootstraps as much as we might “believe in ourselves” or any other gobbledygook the world tries to ram down our throats. Bound and finite we are helpless in this puddle of muck without a savior. Yet the very One who was betrayed by a kiss from His own disciple is the same One who still reaches out His hand to deliver us if we will open our hands and hearts and receive. He goes to the cross willingly and takes all this punishment for me and for you. This is the price for our fallenness and He pays it willingly.

Though we are corrupt and sinful He goes to the cross for us and there bears the burden for a sinful humanity upon Himself. “He who knew no sin became sin that we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor.5:21)

Yet at the same time that we receive this grace of forgiveness from Christ who paid so dearly on the cross for our redemption, we must remember that we are still within ourselves sinners who must learn to embrace the cross and die to that old man every day, that sinful nature that still lives on within us. As Martin Luther said: “We are saved and yet at the same time still sinners.”

Renowned scholar F.F. Bruce points out that those who forget this are bound for all kinds of abuses, like we see with the Pharisees and Saducees in Jesus’ day.

History is fraught with man’s corruption, even in the name of the One who came to redeem man from his very fallenness. Torture chambers have been found in the basement of some monasteries; that sinful corruption turned them from preaching peace to carrying out the Inquisition, the more hideous the action when we realize it was done in the name of Christ. Man stinks up and stains every last thing he puts his hands on.

Human claims of infallibility are the biggest farces in history there ever were, be they by religious leaders or institutions, be they papal or otherwise. Every human being is a stinking sinner and is saved only by sheer grace and mercy in spite of our wanton wickedness, a wickedness there is no escaping from but which must be crucified while following Christ. Any thought to the contrary leads to the tragedy of errors that has been acted out throughout the history of institutional religion. Killing in His name wasn’t on Jesus’ list of things to go and do.

At the end of it all, only one hope remains for a fallen humanity who can’t even do what is right at the best of times, at the best of all history, when the best ever created, spotless and without sin, stood before it. Only one hope remains, which is to fall at the feet of that cross and the One who died on it, asking for mercy from Him who paid the steepest of prices for our sin and for the sin of all of humankind.

Thoughts on St. Patrick

2009-03-17T12:47:00.000-07:00

To view St. Patrick Photo Essay and Video Page click here

While I was growing up the only thing I ever heard about St. Patrick’s Day was to wear green and pinch anyone who doesn’t. Some kids went so far as to bring pliers to school so they could give a real heavy pinch to anyone who didn’t comply. I remember being held down while given a serious pinch with some pliers on my backside because I didn’t wear green one time, thankfully I was wearing jeans so the pain inflicted was minimized. The only result was to make me not want to wear green even more next time in defiance. Many still want to do the same thing today—give a harsh pinch to any non-compliers or non-conformists who don’t heed to the politically correct status-quo of pop culture.

The view from both popular culture and pop Christian culture is that St Patrick was Irish, Catholic, and chased the snakes out of the Emerald Isle, none of which is true. Over the many long years and decades of involvement in evangelical church circles I never heard anything different there either.

It wasn’t until I was attending Fuller Theological Seminary, working on a Master’s Degree, with a concentration in History, that I ever came across anything about St. Patrick that contradicted the pop culture view.

Once the subject was broached though, the floodgates unleashed a plethora of material from high-level scholars as well as primary sources that was completely different from the popular cultural view.

Jesus’ words stand eternal: “The truth will set you free.” John 8:32. Thus there is an obligation to do one's best in speaking the truth about a situation even if it ruffles feathers. When dealing with a topic like St. Patrick there is no way to talk about the realities of history without stirring some controversy. There are those who seem to revel in being offended, claiming that the mere recounting of actual historical events is an attack on others, or that those who contradict their view of things are intolerant and divisive, all while they act intolerant towards any who dissent from their particular views. Well, they can go ahead and get their pliers ready all they want, but the mandate from the Savior and His Word stands: Speak the truth.

And there is much in the true and real story of Patrick that can help lead and reinforce people towards freedom:

Patrick wasn’t part of the religious system of Roman Catholicism, nor did he seek theirs or other men’s approval when stepping out to do what he saw as God’s will in serving the Lord.

Rather, he was one who was led by the Spirit through a vision to return to Ireland, the land of his servitude, to preach the Gospel. (Get the whole story on our video and web page.)

In fact Patrick helped establish the Celtic church in Ireland, which was quite distinct and different from Roman Catholicism (link) and in fact was in conflict with Roman Catholicism for hundreds of years.

This conflict was especially inflamed because later Celtic missionaries, much like Patrick before them, didn’t seek approval, covering, or permission from the Pope, Catholic bishops, or priests when they went into their areas on the Continent and preached and evangelized. In fact they are known for driving the Catholic leaders mad with the Celtic missionaries' refusal to seek their approval before entering what they saw as their territories. This caused much heated conflict and animosity between these two groups, which carried on for centuries. So much for the idea of one seamless institutional church; the Christian existence has always been through different autonomous groups.

In the end though, it is the Celtic Christian missionaries with their dedication to the Gospel and scholarship and preservation of many important works that are seen as those who saved Western civilization.

The Celtic missionaries and Patrick before them put into practice the words of Paul: “But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was.” Gal. 1:15-17

Patrick’s independent mission to Ireland, which was led by the Spirit and supported only by God, succeeded while Paladius before him who was sent officially by the Institutional Catholic Church with their support and endorsement ultimately failed. Patrick and the Celts, for the most part, put into practice the words and example of Jesus, “But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.” John 2:24-25. (link)

During the Reformation the priesthood of all believers was re-emphasized after a long period of neglect. In Scripture we see that Jesus sent out not just the twelve but many others including 72 other people to do the same things He was doing: heal the sick, cast out demons, and preach the Good News. (Luke 10:1-23) In Acts we see that all the community of believers preached the word everywhere they went. (Acts 8:4)

Even with the Apostles, however, we see that a conflictive attitude arose early on from amongst even themselves, who resented others outside their circle who were doing the kingdom work besides them. This exclusive attitude had to be rebuked by Jesus who informed them they shouldn't be trying to stop others who were out doing God's work just because they're not of their particular group, a thing that has happened in history so much. (Mark 9:38-41 & Luke 9:49-50)

Christ’s commission has already been given; He is the King of Kings and the head of the Church . We have God’s Word. The commission stands: Go!! Preach the Gospel, heal the sick, set the captives free. This command and commission is available to whosoever wants to take it up and should be a staple and regular practice for all of the Body of Christ until the day Christ returns.

Wherever you find yourself, whatever you do, remember that as a follower of Jesus you’ve been commissioned already by His word: so be free in your walk in God and step out to lay hands on the sick, take authority over demons and cast them out, and share the Good News. We are to be a priesthood of all believers and have a King who has commissioned us already.

Patrick the missionary to Ireland, as well as the Celtic Christians and missionaries that followed after him are a good example of those that put into practice the priesthood of all believers. Women were not excluded from ministry either like in Roman Catholicism but were included and encouraged to minister and the ministers were permitted to have wives and families.

It is time to recapture the priesthood of all believers and move away once and for all from the idea of some kind of false divide between the laity and the leadership. Martin Luther said this false construct has done nothing but create a chasm and an implacable divide in Christ’s body between leadership and so called lay people, whereas all Christians should be enjoying true evangelical fellowship with each other regardless of position in society or church and no one should consider themselves higher than or “superior” to another. Jesus’ words should be guiding us: "You are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:8) Instead man's traditions tend to replace the Divine Word and we stand again in need of another reformation, and the beat goes on.

The Celtic church was later absorbed into Roman Catholicism due to political pressures, and Patrick’s memory was altered when he was made a saint to win the hearts of the Irish to the Catholic Church. The remnant of Celtic Christianity was further erased by the invasion of the Vikings later; however; it was the Celts who helped to evangelize these brutal barbarians (to watch or listen to our program on this follow this link and search for "Conversion of the Vikings.")

History is unfortunately often remembered from the view of those who write it and thus since the Celtic Church is no longer in existence the real story is only found through digging into scholarly works.

Once we come to know the truth of this story, however, it really does reinforce that biblical paradigm of the freedom of the believer from the bonds of bureaucratic, institutional, and tradition-bound religiosity like the Pharisees promoted, and instead it reinforces the Bible’s words which lead us back to that organic, relational, fellowship and vision of knowing, and walking with, and simply following Jesus the Savior, who still calls out, “Come follow me.”

Go ahead and get your pliers ready if this offends your sensibilities. Just be forewarned though, that my skin has grown quite a bit thicker these days, and I’ve learned a bit about defending myself, so just be aware, I might just pinch back.

Sources for Further Reading:

Reflecting on Jill Austin's Early Ministry Days

2009-01-31T21:08:00.000-08:00

Once a person becomes well known, the early days when they were slugging it out in the trenches, trying to forge ahead through the fires of trial and tribulation to do what they felt the Lord was calling them to do, can easily be forgotten.

We’ve been blessed to have the privilege of learning and having been in some insightful discipleship situations from some significant figures in the Body of Christ.

God, by His grace, let us learn some important lessons through relationships and friendships with people like Harald Bredesen, who was one of the fathers of the Charismatic renewal and who ministered to presidents and other heads of state, as well as Lonnie Frisbee, who was significantly used in the Jesus people movement and a catalytic figure in the birth of the Calvary Chapel and Vineyard movements.

Jill Austin was another minister with whom God connected us and had us glean many important lessons from, especially in the earlier days of her ministry. I keenly remember those times, and still draw not only from many of the things she said but also from what she was experiencing and going through as she sought to follow that heavenly call.

Jill would speak about the price behind the anointing on many occasions, but these were not just idle words drawn from some vague theory divorced from personal reality. No, she had lived out and was living out the very things she would speak about at her meetings, being a living example of the very lessons she was trying to instill into our lives.

My wife Mercedes, back when we were dating, worked for Jill as her secretary at her office in Tustin. I happened to work for a modeling agency located a couple doors down from Jill’s office. I would stop in to see Mercedes, and in the process, got to know Jill. Jill on occasion would start ranting about the heathens from the modeling agency. I ranted along with her and then let her know I was over there working with those heathen. Later she’d rant about the place just to make fun of me and the crazy stuff I was doing like modeling, surfing, and going to Fuller Seminary, all at the same time.

Jill’s response about Fuller was that they sure give you a lot of boring reading to do and not enough fun stuff, and so I should keep on modeling and surfing, so I wouldn’t become a stodgy, stuffed-shirt, conservative, boring Pharisee.

Anyways, seeing that I was in fairly decent physical shape and that we were game to go to a lot of the meetings she was doing, she started recruiting us to help with some odd jobs, odd being the operative word here.

The first crazy thing was helping her push start a VW Carman Ghia she was driving for a short time. The starter or something was dead and so you’d have to push the car and pop the clutch to get it started. This was old hat for me as I used to have to do it regularly with an old Volkswagen I once owned, I was always recruiting guys so we could cut school and go surfing, now I was on the other end being recruited by Jill.

So you could say I was primed for the challenge, except for when Jill wanted to be in the car while I pushed. It’s hard enough to pop the clutch and turn the key all at the right time, which she was struggling with, but pushing the car by myself with her in it was an exercise in futility, so we soon had to change that routine to doing the whole thing myself, pushing and jumping in starting it all myself.

On one occasion after a home meeting in Tustin, it was running so bad I had to drive it back home for her while she and Mercedes followed in my car; it would stall and then I’d have to push start it again as it then lurched around when it started. I almost hit another car because the brakes were bad on top of everything else.

She soon moved on to a station wagon, which worked a lot better for her because now she could bring all her materials more easily to the meetings. The station wagon didn’t need any push starting, which was a relief as it was huge, but we helped her out by carrying stuff in and helping her set up her table of materials that she would sell to help fund the ministry, a job that was less stressful and straining, but lacked the wild and sort of fun adventure of the crazy car.

Jill’s need to raise funds led to other crazy stuff. We were visiting her mom’s place when she was living there in Mission Viejo, when she asked if I could go down and feed the cats in the garage. I was thinking, “No big deal,” expecting to feed two or three cats. My eyes popped out and my jaw dropped when I got in the garage and there were all these cages filled with cats. I don’t know how many there actually were, but it seemed like she had about 30 cats in cages. “What on earth do you got goin’ on here?” I asked.

She meekly explained in a sort of embarrassed way that she was breeding cats to try and raise extra funds. All I could say was, “This looks like it costs a lot of money just to feed all these things plus all the cleaning up after them, and you’ll probably just get a lot of cat hair all over you and not get a lot of money out of it.”

I was smitten with hilarity every time I thought about going in that garage and turning on the lights and seeing all these cages filled with cats. I felt like I had been translated from Jill’s house to some secret cat experiment in the back wing of a laboratory.

This is a bit of a slice-of-life of what Jill was going through and experiencing in her stepping out to follow God in the ministry He had called her into, back in those early days. She wasn’t well known at this point, and was doing whatever she could, even if that included breeding cats or push starting cars, in order to keep stepping out and doing the work of the Kingdom that God called her to do. She was ministering by and large mostly in home meetings, but doing it willingly and obediently and sticking it out by doing the work full-time as God had called her.

Those home meetings were extremely powerful and we saw the Spirit of God being poured out regularly in a mighty way. These would often go on for hours as Jill prayed and gave many prophetic words to those there; the words she gave to us really helped us move forward towards God’s call on our own lives. The power of God was at full bore in her ministry even in those early days, and I truly don’t see any difference in the power that was moving through her later on when she became more well known. Rather, she just became more prominent and thus more people were touched with, and affected by, that same level of Holy Ghost power!

There was absolutely a price behind the anointing though. She experienced years and years of struggle before rising to prominence with many different rivers to cross: including shortness of funds and all that comes with that, but also with hoping and praying for some newer and bigger doors to open and to be able to move forward to reach more people with what God had put on her life to share and minister.

We saw firsthand that she was really going through some trials, but nevertheless she sought to do these meetings wherever the doors would open, often in homes, sometimes in small churches. Wherever God would give her opportunity to minister in those earlier days, she would take it and was willing to cut her teeth in the tough trenches that come with stepping out to do the ministry that the Lord had specifically called her to do.

She was not willing to compromise by following the vision of some other pastor or preacher in an established setting or church, which of course would have been much easier and would have been the much more respectable and accepted thing to do in todays Christian world. Rather, she chose to be faithful to the unique calling of God upon her own life, doing the things that God, and not men, had specifically called her to do, and she was willing to pay the heavy price that comes with following the specific vision and ministry that the Holy Spirit had placed on her life.

Trials and more trials followed, even with churches and pastors, which seemed to be the norm in those days, and I remember her saying on occasion: “Please pray for me. I cast out a demon in this last meeting and now the pastors are all over my case.” I was perplexed that they could be upset about this: “What, they want the demons to stay in the people?”

But just like in the Scriptures, even the disciples got upset about people who cast out demons who weren’t part of their little inner circle clique. They had to be rebuked by Jesus—yes, even Jesus’ very own disciples needed rebuking for opposing the work of the Holy Spirit. (Mark 9:38-41) Welcome to Spiritual Warfare 101!

Jill sought to see people filled and empowered by the Spirit and her heart’s desire was to see others fulfill their destinies in God. She was willing to pay the heavy price of following Jesus all the way and not looking back, of walking through trial after tribulation, through one suffering circumstance after another, in order to do what God had called her to do. Pull on that mantle and you’re going to find there is a very, very heavy price to walk it out, so don’t do it lightly or flippantly!!!

She was willing to fight it out in the trenches and pay her dues when pastors of certain big churches ignored her, even though she had attended faithfully and jumped through all the hoops they had put before her to get their endorsement, but even then they still wouldn’t give her the endorsement she wanted. Later, of course, when she became well known they wanted her back to help pack out and fill the seats at their conferences.

She was, as Paul said of Timothy, one who proved herself in suffering for the Gospel, a soldier for the Kingdom. She paid the price behind the anointing and further on in her ministry saw the mountaintop and now has her reward with the King of Kings.

We ourselves learned so much and were really helped and prepared for our own ministry in renewal in the Holy Spirit, evangelism, teaching, and missions, not only through hearing her speak about the price behind the anointing so often but also by watching her actually pay that price in her own life.

When we are toughing it out in the trenches in Mexico or the barrios of San Diego or living out of a suitcase on another lengthy mission journey in Europe, or sweating it out in Africa, often struggling with funds just to do the work God called us to, we are reminded of Jill. Not only of her words but also of her example and the trials and Cross she willingly endured as we saw her walk out right in front of us “The Price behind the Anointing!!”

It was a blessing to know her and be her friend, but also to gain that important revelation she often shared about being willing to endure whatever the cost.

I remember standing in Germany at the prison camp in Buchenwald on the very spot where Dietrich Bonhoffer was hung and martyred for his faith by the Nazis who were actually his own fellow countrymen. At that moment I was taken and impacted by the Holy Spirit with Bonhoffer’s theme of “The Cost of Discipleship.” Reflecting now upon Jill’s death reminds us that she lived out before our very eyes what Dietrich Bonhoffer talked about regarding “The Cost of Discipleship”: she not only spoke of it, but lived out “The Price behind the Anointing.”