400 Year Anniversary of the King James Bible

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^nd and 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

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

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

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!