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Manufacturing for South Africa – the proof

I wrote Manufacturing for South Africa on April the 30, quoting a word that God spoke to me when I landed in South Africa. He said “manufacturing for South Africa”.

Fortunately I didn’t know (having only been in the country for a few hours) that manufacturing was in dramatic decline…

The manufacturing sector shrunk by a record 22.1 percent in the first quarter. – Reuters

South Africa’s manufacturing output declined by a record 21.6% year-on-year in April – Engineering News

Had I known that I would have thought twice about saying “God said”! But I was ignorant of the conditions, so I just said it.

And look…

• S.Africa PMI ticks up, worst may be over: Kagiso
• Rand Gains for Seventh Day on Bets Manufacturing Slump Easing

South Africa’s manufacturing output declined by a record 21,6% year-on-year in April, recording its lowest output since January 2004, in the latest official data made available by Statistics South Africa.

The Kagiso Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose for a second consecutive month to 37,9 points on a seasonally adjusted basis in June, compared with 37,3 points in May.

The index, which was a key measure of manufacturing activity, had, in May, shown its first increase since January with sponsors Kagiso Securities saying that the rise could offer a “glimmer of hope” for the South African economy.
- Engineering News

I hope that leaders are beginning to notice that Jesus Christ is the only one who is able to predict, protect and sustain whatever He says. Who else can predict the future and then protect the world and protect countries and lift them up again? Who can do this? No one else.

Predicted, proven and documented

I have documented so many prophetic claims and shown the proof for each one…

• The Aussie rain miracle
• Hurricanes
• Rivers and lakes in the desert will run
• The financial crisis
• and now this manufacturing improvement.

This page shows using monthly graphs the dramatic turnaround in almost every economy.

• Read about and get links to all of those in 2008 Kanji of the Year: Change / Strange.
• Read about and get links to the financial crisis and it’s recovery in Is anything too hard for Jesus – the financial crisis.

I believe this is what you need to understand…

You are My witnesses, says the Lord,

and My servant whom I have chosen,

Before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no Savior.

I have declared [the future] and have saved [the nation in times of danger], and I have shown [that I am God]–

when there was no strange and alien god among you; therefore you are My witnesses, says the Lord, that I am God.

Yes, from the time of the first existence of day and from this day forth I am He; and there is no one who can deliver out of My hand.

I will work, and who can hinder or reverse it? – Is 43:10-13

If you are a leader…

If you are a leader, it is fiscally and morally irresponsible to ignore what Jesus Christ can do for your economy and for your people. It’s like ignoring the world bank or the IMF… but even better!

The favor of Jesus Christ is to be sought and desired – and wherever it lands, you can expect great benefits to occur.

Calm before the storm

I keep hearing these words every day or two “This is the calm before the storm”. I think significant change is coming. When I think about what the word “storm” means, I think it does not refer to calamity or hardship, but instead I think that it refers to a period of intense busy-ness with lots of people talking and wondering. I think whatever is about to change, people will be reacting to it and trying to figure it out.

It would be extremely exciting if what is about to happen is connected to the prayer that God has given me to speak out. His prayer is the whole of Zech 9, but especially in particular: Zech 9:9-12

⁹Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O Daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you; He is [uncompromisingly] just and having salvation [triumphant and victorious], patient, meek, lowly, and riding on a donkey, upon a colt, the foal of a donkey.

¹⁰And I will cut off and exterminate the war chariot from Ephraim and the [war] horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off; and He shall speak the word and peace shall come to the nations,

and His dominion shall be from the [Mediterranean] Sea to [any other] sea, and from the River [Euphrates] to the ends of the earth!

¹¹As for you also, because of and for the sake of the [covenant of the Lord with His people, which was sealed with sprinkled] covenant blood, I have released and sent forth your imprisoned people out of the waterless pit.

¹²Return to the stronghold [of security and prosperity], you prisoners of hope; even today do I declare that I will restore double your former prosperity to you.

If you wish, you can join me in this prayer. The key thing to notice is that the Messiah is described as coming on a donkey and we know that matches Jesus Christ in Matt 21. Then look at the wonderful promises and consequences that come from the Messiah Jesus Christ. There are even more promises in the rest of Zechariah 9. Check them out!

Thank You Lord.

Making democracy work requires maturity and truth

The reason I like democracy is because it is the only self-balancing system of governance (that I know of) through which a society can become a positive expression of the goodness or badness which is found in the majority of people. We are coming out of a time of badness because enough people realised how horrific our choices had been, and we used our democratic right to change our minds… so we did… and now our societies will reflect what we have learned, now we will vote not for greed but for the good of people in general.

May I recommend that you take the time to read these posts. Democracy is only effective if the people doing the voting are informed about the dangers that exist if they DON’T vote wisely, and if they are aware of the issues that they are voting about. You need to be informed and you need to stay informed and also you need to inform the people around you – otherwise the social fabric is broken and democracy won’t work.

For Christians

And if you are a Christian reading this, then your job is not only to be informed, but it is doubly important that you are active in raising people around you to take action on social issues and encouraging them to love, and to vote for bills and polls which match the command that Jesus Christ gave us… “And here is My command: love one another” (1st, 2nd)

Democracy – when it works – is simply an expression of what is in the hearts of active people. If the news media encourages fear, then the active people vote according to the fear in their hearts.

Passivity in people is as good as not voting. So it’s actually twice as hard for good to occur, because it’s “good versus passivity+negativty”. This is why we can never forget that “All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing“.

The posts

So here are the posts I’d like you to read and deeply consider your own thoughts about. We all have differing opinions on everything and that’s fine and great. What matters is that you come to your own conclusions…

Rick Warren to new U.S. Anglican Church: God loves all – “We are to love the people of the world no matter what they believe; we are to not love the value system of the world. And the problem today is lot of Christians are getting that reversed. They love the value system and hate the people,”

My thoughts… It is absolutely vital that we understand that God loves everyone, no matter what they think, do or believe in. God loves people. Christ died for people, He died even for the people who were crucifying Him, we know this because He compassionately said “Father forgive them”.

Proclaiming Christ’s Return – A Message by Billy Graham – Through the centuries men and women have been experimenting with their own social, national and international programs. They have been trying to bring about a righteousness that is not of God and, therefore, it is not obtainable… Today, when the church should be leading the way out of the darkness that covers the Earth, it is all too obvious that we are unable to do so because of our spiritual impotence and lack of knowledge. T

My thoughts… It is absolutely true that darkness covers the Earth. And the church is meant to be “first seek the righteousness of God” – and we know that Jesus Christ is the Righteousness of God. I am excited that we are coming to a time when the fullness of God’s “secret” (which is the cross of Jesus Christ, His perfect life, His death and His resurrection) will be revealed. It will be a time of very great change as everything adjusts to the spiritual impact of this change.

• The Real Lesson Of Iran — Beware America’s Republican Mullahs – if the Republican/Religious Right/Neoconservative agenda had come to full fruition over the last 35 years the Republicans would have plunged America into our own version of the misbegotten theocracy destroying Iran today. I know. As a former Religious Right leader I worked to make America “safe” for “Christian values” and dangerous to everyone else. Thankfully I, and those like me, failed.

My thoughts… This article is chilling in it’s message. Thankfully we averted this possible future. We are not out of the woods entirely yet, because much of the things introduced in those years have not been reversed as promised. Adding to that, the full extent of the evil done has not been uncovered and apologized for. The downside of this is that democracy is poorer and less effective. We need full disclosure if people are to realize what happened and what was averted. When people see the darkness, they recognize the light more easily.

Openness and darkness

Democracy is not a panacea. Implementing democracy doesn’t garuantee anything. The people who vote must have maturity, the ability to handle the messiness of real life, education and access to facts. In modern society with twitter and blogging, we certainly have access to facts and the ability to express ourselves. This is very good for maturity and that is good for democracy, because darkness will gradually be more and more exposed.

Permitting our past to hide in the dark disempowers democracy because people then cannot recognize what is light, because the contrast is hidden. Then they vote out of ignorance or emotions created by news networks, because they are poorly informed. Poor access to information on what the governments were doing was what enabled these evil acts to be done. Why should we encourage even more hiding and conceilment?

I suggest we pursue maturity and become used to openness. We all know wrong happened, let’s find out the details. It’s really not going to shock anyone, but it may bring healing and tolerance and understanding. But if we hide what happened… we know that unless these things come into the light, they fester and continue on. Future generations won’t have learned anything from these events and history could repeat itself.

For the sake of democracy we should have a global truth and reconciliation in each country, because openness can result in forgiveness and understanding, which then may lead to tolerance and social cohesion. But hiding the past away under a rug just cripples the maturity of the very people whose democratic vote can stop the next bout of madness. The Tories and the Republican Party can lead the way and forge for itself a completely new start with voters.

Simms, a longtime civil rights activist, recommended a formal process of racial reconciliation as South Africa underwent in the 1990s after the end of government-sanctioned segregation in that nation. “I would like to see us get over it,” he said. “But it’s not going to happen without the mechanical steps. They had a truth and reconciliation process that became a source of healing. We have to have truth and reconciliation in America. When that happens, we can all do better.” – desmoinesregister.com

Obama

And in the vein of openness I am delighted to be able to point to this page…

The Obameter: Tracking Obama’s Campaign Promises is a wonderful development, but I also feel it’s unfair to hold someone to promises made before he had the highest security clearance, and in what seems almost like a bye-gone era.

But my point still stands, even if we are heading into a time of light flooding the world, we must still deal with our sordid past.

Government vs democracy

I understand that the growth of technology has enabled governments to do more (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th). But this causes a terrible imbalance of power and breaks democracy, because openness has not been increased at the same rate that powerful people are able to become even more powerful. Previous governments collected power illegitimately and modern governments don’t want to give it up and let it go.

It is not an either-or situation. We must deal with our past and bring openness and forgiveness into our past – in order to save the future. Only light can combat darkness. Darkness cannot be used to combat darkness. We use light to combat darkness!

I have culled some superb scriptures from this bible study on Light.

Hiding in darkness

Job 24:13,15,17 (NIV) “There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths… The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he keeps his face concealed… For all of them, deep darkness is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of darkness.”

Isa 29:15-16 (NIV) Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, “Who sees us? Who will know?” You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!… Can the pot say of the potter, “He knows nothing?”

Isa 28:15 (NIV) You boast, “… for we have made a lie our refuge, and falsehood our hiding place.”

Ps 139:7,11-12 (NIV) Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me…” the night will shine like day….

Jer 23:24 (NIV) “Can anyone hide in the secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord.

Jer 16:17 (NIV) “My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.”

John 3:19-21 (Phi) “This is the judgment: that light has entered the world, and men have preferred darkness to light because their deeds were evil. Everybody who does wrong hates the light and keeps away from it, for fear his deeds may be exposed. But everybody who is living by the truth will come to the light to make it plain that all he has done has been done through God.”

Darkness revealed by Light

Mat 10:26-27 (NIV) “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops.”

Mark 4:22 (Jer) “For there is nothing hidden but it must be disclosed, nothing kept secret except to be brought to light.”

Ps 90:8 (NIV) You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

Job 12:22 (NIV) He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into the light.

Job 28:11 (NIV) [God] … brings hidden things to light.

Dan 2:22 (NIV) He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him.

1 Cor 4:5b (Phi) He will bring into the light of day all that at present is hidden in darkness, and he will expose the secret motives of men’s hearts.

An idea for radical job attraction to South Africa

I’ve been here in for 8 weeks now and I’m ready to follow up blogged my comment that I said on my second which was “manufaturing for outh africa”. In the interim I have been volunteering at an informal settlement and praying and writing lots. I’ve had a great time in the rainbow nation.

I’ve delayed forming an opinion or writing about life here until I could suss things out. Life here is intensely multi-cultural and it takes a while to get used to. It’s radically different to other countries I’ve had the pleasure of living in over the last 13 or so years.

But after watching and learning for 2 months, I can say I am delighted to be here. I love the people. I love the atmosphere and vibe. The outspokennes of the people is shocking at first, but having been in politically and mentally sterile places in the past, I soon overcame my shock and began to tremendously enjoy hearing other people’s points of view – no matter how jarring or upsetting to my ears. I love the diversity and energy. This place is alive and willing to laugh at itself.

And then I stumbled on a possible solution to the word I was given “manufacturing for South Africa“.

Within a few h0urs of landing at the massively impressive Oliver Tambo Airport (AKA Johannesburg International Airport), I had this word or impression placed within me: low cost manufacturing boom like in China. – Manufacturing for South Africa

In recent weeks I have felt led to pray for jobs, not just locally but globally.Then in Jacob Zuma’s national adress he spoke of massive job creation. I was excited. Then in the last few days I got a glimpse of HOW we can achieve that creation.

This post describes how we can do this, but it also explains WHY we should do it, and it explains what my view is of the context in which we live – the material world.

Capitalism matures… slowly

I am excited by the maturity that I see developing in capitalist circles. I know that God is in favor of us making a profit, because He said of Himself

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you in the way that you should go. – Is 48:17

That profit doesn’t prove God is a capitalist, but only that He loves us and He wants to help us to improve our conditions.

Nevertheless, when I wrote this post “Opinion – The role of governments in this financial mess” …

Let’s understood that in the same way that children cannot moderate their own behaviour, capitalism cannot moderate it’s own behaviour. This idea of letting the market decide was obviously a terible idea and it was invented by the out of control children themselves. It’s like letting the inmates run the jail – an idea put forward by the inmates that can only end badly.

Most parents know that – generally – children are a great blessing. BUT. If they are left unsupervised they will eat junk food until they vomit and run around naked and uncovered. In the same way capitalism is a blessing. BUT. If it is left unsupervised it will eat junk bonds until they vomit and they will run around naked and uncovered.

To solve this problem, a parent has to take the wild child under their wing and watch every step, retraining them. This is called reparenting. The child will yell, scream and rebel. But the change is needed. Children are fabulous and a treasure. We need well behaved children.

And a few days ago I was delighted to hear George Soros say almost the exact thing – except he used the correct economic phrases!

‘Decidedly the worst (of the crisis) is already behind us. This is not like previous crises but marks the end of an era. ‘The system to date had been based on the false assumption that markets can independently regain their equilibrium and that the system is self-correcting‘.

He also said the regulation in the economy should be aimed at controlling market bubbles. ‘We need international regulations to retain international markets. This won’t be easy… If we won’t be able to do this… then globalisation, as we now know it, will fall apart,’ he said. He said the current crisis should be tackled with intervention. – Reuters

Without new international regulations, “globalization will fall apart,” possibly spawning a system of “state capitalism” like the one that exists in China, he said. – Bloomberg

Remember those words: “state capitalism”. This recognition that the state must get involved (in helping people and stabilising economies) dove-tails nicely with my idea to attract jobs to South Africa.

Here is my logic:

1. Manufacturing jobs are being exported from rich countries to poor countries. It’s a reality. Whoever gets those jobs benefits.
2. South Africa is a poor country and should be benefitting from this bonanza
3. BUT. The jobs are going where there is a cheap labor force and lots of university graduates
4. Crime, red tape and other negatives don’t put companies off, they expect the local government to step in and assist – as India removed red tape in Bangalore to attract call centers and then to attract IT companies. Companies main concern is to lower their input costs (salaries, taxes) so that their products can compete internationally.
5. South Africa has lots of universitites and an investor friendly government which is willing to do what it takes to win the FIFA World Cup 2010 and Rugby World Cups etc. We can host big events. We have shown that we can reshape our landscape to suit the event.

So what is missing?

Yes we have workers available to work. And yes we have many universities and graduates. No problem there.

But companies are looking to lower their input costs and this means tax vacations and especially it means lower slaries. And here is the problem. When I mention my idea of lowering salaries to people they all say COSATU won’t permit it. But I think they will, if we do one thing. Let’s lower the costs of houses and land prices. We can do this by passing one law, which will upset the richest few, but delight the vast majority.

You see, if we go to COSATU and tell them we are dropping everyone’s salary by 50% they will have a rolling strike action because they are actually demanding higher salaries at present. This is because people’s morgages are going higher, because land prices are going higher.

But if we said that we are dropping salaries 50% and that at the same time land prices will go down 80%, then in fact I think COSATU and the people would be delighted!

All it takes is one law

If we passed one law, just one, then house prices would adjust and salaries can be safely lowered. What is this law? I got the idea from my reading of Isaiah

They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.  No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. – Is 65:21-22

I suggest a change in our thinking. Unrestrained capitalism consumes resources until they are so scarce that they can be traded for profit. For example…

• We consumed clean air until it had a negative effect on the ecology and now we are about to begin trading schemes to barter permits that allow us to produce filth.
• Capitalism consumes bush and natural habitat until animals are rare enough that they are seen as desirable and people visit expensive game parks and zoos.
• OPEC long maintained that the output of oil in the world exceeded the actual demand… and that it was gamblers who were making a $50 per barrel of oil turn into $160 and could go as high as $200. It was clear that this was utterly true when the gamblers were taken out of the market by the financial crisis, then oil returned to $50. Now that gamblers are back on their feet, oil is on it’s way up.

The predatorial behaviour and correlating events is sickeningly clear.

Don’t drive up prices on necessities needed to live

I’ve already clarified that I’m in favor of sensible and moral capitalism. But how do we determined where to place limits? What should we limit?

We don’t allow a market economy in children’s school books to drive up the prices until the breaking point of what people are willing to pay for school books. Why not? It seems that someone somewhere realised we should not drive up the prices of basic necessities needed for people to live.

I suggest that having a house is a basic necessity for the stability of a society. A job is too.

So if we passed a law that removed the gambling from housing, then prices would return to simpler “supply-and-demand” levels. So the law change I propose is this: a house is a necessity for a family, so each family can only own one. This simple change would remove all gamblers and profiteering from houses.

Supply and demand would still exist, because houses at the beach will still be far more expensive than a shack in an informal settlement. And it should be more expensive! It’s in a more desirable place!! But now that only one family can own one house, rich people can invest in other instruments, companies can look elsewhere for their profits.

With house prices coming down dramatically – just as oil did when the gamblers were temporarily removed – then we will see the true price of residential land. Far lower. And then upward salary pressure will be reduced.

Come to South Africa and employ our people

Then let’s get everyone we can over to any country and every company which is looking to move to China and India.

Ask them… why go there?

• Come to South Africa. We will give you a tax break for 10 years, provided you employ our people (the people will pay taxes, so the government still wins).
• Come to South Africa. If you encounter red tape, we will fast track changes you need.
• Come to South Africa, we have the workers and the university graduates for you, ready and willing to work.
• Come to South Africa, we have held over 200 major sporting events in recent years, we have improved our telecommunications and transit system for 2010, we know how to do things BIG.

Pursue excellence in every area and respect

And we simply must pursue “excellence” in every aspect of government delivery. As I arrived in the country at the hugely impressive Oliver Tambo airport in JHB, I saw excellence in every aspect. When I learned about the banking changes and FICA laws, I saw excellence. If there is conflict between “the African way” and excellence, we must pursue excellence. It is a required change in mindset, if we are to attract 4 million jobs by 2014.

“Between now and December 2009, we plan to create about 500,000 job opportunities,” Jacob Zuma told MPs. He promised his government would create a further four million jobs by 2014, but did not explain how. – BBC

Bringing companies here on a tax holiday must be given with the proviso that they create significant employment for a time period. There is no tax loss because companies pay no tax, because that company was not here to begin with. There is a lot of tax gain because people pay income tax and the resources used in the manufacturing has VAT on it.

Resolve the wage pressures by taking the gambling out of house prices, because it is a necessity for a stable family and by extension and stable society.

Keep some perspective about things

State capitalism is symbolized by the “sovereign wealth fund” and it is already a FAR FAR larger source of income than the measly few private equity investors and hedge funds which get all the media attention…

private equity’s assets under management reach $2.5 trillion (€2 trillion) last year, a rise of 15% despite the economic turmoil…

The figure, which includes real estate funds of $495bn, dwarfs the hedge fund industry, which controlled assets worth $1.56 trillion in October – wealth-bulletin.com

So private equity and hedge funds seem to control lots of cash. Do they?

Assets under management of SWFs increased 18% in 2008 to reach $3.8 trillion… There was an additional $5.5 trillion held in other sovereign investment vehicles, such as pension reserve funds, development funds and state-owned corporations’ funds and also $6.1 trillion in other official foreign exchange reserves. – Wikipedia: Sovereign Wealth Funds

So a total of $15 trillion in SWF – much larger than private equity. Is that large or small? What is the size of the US economy?

U.S. GDP is $12 trillion – International Monetary Fund

Ouch. Money controlled by SWF is larger than the whole US economy. But it gets worse…

the total value of traded securities (debt and equity) denominated in U.S. dollars is estimated to be more than $50 trillion, and

the global value of traded securities is about $165 trillion – International Monetary Fund

These are BIG numbers, so it’s really no wonder that when the stock market turns down the world goes into recession, and when it reinflates we see green shoots and talk about the end of recession. We really MUST manage the gamblers as they are a huge risk to the world, don’t you think?

Unfortunately, there’s a lot we don’t know about sovereign funds. Very few of them publish information about their assets, liabilities, or investment strategies.- International Monetary Fund

I could rant on about this, but it’s pointless. We can only focus on what we can do, not what we can’t.

We must decide what we CAN compete on

We need to be realistic about what we can do to get to full employment. I’ve been thinking about what each country can do to create growth. It is vital that each country uses this time of change to invest in an “enabling technology”. That means that the government sinks money into something that enables a massive number of innovations and new products and companies.

• The iPhone is an enabling technology, you can tell because it spawned 15 000 applications and with the latest refresh in technology, released on the 15th of June 2009, is set to enable not just free applications, but paid applications. This is a BIG enabler.
• The internet was a phenomenal enabler technology (and the decision not to tax ecommerce done in the USA was genius!)
• For Melbourne, France and Geneva it was pouring money into the science black hole – but now that super-colliders are about to benefit medical science, these places look set to bring in the revenue from all the technologies that will be enabled.
• For Australia investing into an enabling technology means building the NBN. It is an enabling technology which can spawn great benefits.
• And for the USA the biggest enabling technology that will shortly be invented is the even larger “smart eletricity grid“. The impact of this enabling technology is staggering and I can only guessed at the amount of changes it will bring to every day appliances. The amount of innovation enabled will be staggering. When the electricity grid is “smart”, then every appliance can decide when to switch on and off, based on the cost of electricity at that time. A fridge will be made smart and it will know the price of electricity and it will make smart decisions. Every appliance will be refreshed with this new technology in ways we can hardly imagine. The first country to enable this will take the lead.
• Everyone knows that nano-0tech and biotech will also enable new products.

But what about South Africa? If we are competing for investment and land/income costs is your choke point, then be aware that your competitor China is not against lowering their land prices in order to attract even more investment and jobs for their people!

BEIJING, May 14 2009 (Xinhua) — China’s Ministry of Land and Resources has announced a 30-percent cut in the minimum purchase price of land for industrial use in order to boost investment. – Source

So let’s make the changes we need to, let’s get everyone over there and start knocking on doors. We need our people employed in order to stabilize the nation. 25% unemployment and 40% poverty must change. And it can, with boldness. As Hillary Clinton said: never waste a good crisis“. Now is the time to make bold and even radical changes. Ask President Obama, he’s doing it. He is forming health care, banks and anything else he can think of. Why shouldn’t we be reforming too?

When the income starts coming through, we can focus on bigger and more expensive enabling projects.

Last words…

Don’t be fooled. What Soros calls “state capitalism” is already here – as I showed above. It is fantasy to think that the market will simply work. It’s size is dwarfed by comparison to the sovereign funds. The nation must have a top down strategy to prosper.

I remember describing SWF and saying it was “inevitable”, while I was having breakfast about 4 years ago. This world works on a fittest-will-survive mentality. Unfortunately. But we ARE learning that we must moderate our behaviour, or suffer the consequences.

I believe that global openness will resume again and become the larger and dominant force, it is in it’s infancy now. But that will only happen when China’s voracious hunger is satiated and it has to move to the next level of maturity… but that is a way off.

“Old Europe” became settled long ago and has been a steadying force in the world for a while now. America recently moved to the next level of maturity, discovering that it’s safety depends on other people, and suddenly realizing that it’s happiness is not provided only through it’s own consumption. But China only recently became a teenager and it is now tearing around the world, buying buying and spending. It will take them time to mature and not be entirely ego-centric as teenagers always are.

Africa has hardly begun down this road. But the fact that South Africa displays it’s TV schedules in “CAT” (central african time) is indicative of the growing co-operation that is occuring in Africa. There is a huge hydro-electricity project happening in central Africa to provide power to many partners, that is great. The wars are gradually lessening. That is great. But it’s depressing that we haven’t managed to achieve more. But it’s also exciting, because so much of life is still ahead of us and we can learn from others who are in front of us on this learning curve!

Jesus Christ

And the greatest enabler of all is the favor of Jesus Christ. Wherever that lands, you can be sure that the country will turn around and benefit. If you are truly looking to be in power until Jesus Christ comes back (2nd) then you must follow through on that and seek His favor.

God’s mercy and judgement (Why it sucks to be Balaam’s donkey)

If you want, have a read of Num 22:21-34 or read this pretty good biblical study about Balaam.

It’s a thankless task being the donkey that Balaam rides on – let me tell you!

Just think about it, Balaam is a fortune teller, that is how he makes money. He is hired to curse Israel, but God warns him about it. Balaam then rides his donkey towards the place where he can do his wrongful act and make some money.

So God sends an angel of the Lord to strike Balaam down. Balaam’s donkey can see the angel about to strike Balaam, so the donkey turns away. As he turns away and saves Balaam, he scratches Balaam’s leg on something.

Balaam can’t see the dangerous angel of the Lord, so Balaam gets upset and hits the donkey. Think about how unfair that is. The donkey saves Balaam’s life and then gets hit by Balaam. This wouldn’t have happened if Balaam could have been able to see the angel of the Lord with his sword drawn and ready to strike, but Balaam’s heart is set on making money so his eyes are not opened to God and God’s ways.

Now… there is a second layer to this story. Because of Balaam’s wrongful choices, he was about to be struck down by the angel of the Lord. But God’s mercy was also available and it was God who opened the donkey’s eyes to see the angel of the Lord and the danger that Balaam was in.

The donkey protected Balaam three times. The angel of the Lord continued to be a threat, but because of Balaam’s lust for money he didn’t stop and he couldn’t see the danger - so he kept beating the poor good willed and helpful donkey!

God could have killed Balaam right then and there, but His mercy continued even further and enabled the donkey to speak to Balaam. But even that didn’t stop him… Balaam was so angry he argued and then declared he wanted to kill the donkey.

Again God could have ended it then, but His mercy continued still further. The Lord opened Balaam’s eyes to the problem so he can see for himself.

What can we learn from this story? God shows us His mercy in the face of His righteous judgement in that story. Both are available at the same time.

I am convinced that many people in power are so blinded by money that they are not at all seeing the immense danger that our choices have brought upon us.

Here is a link to a prophetic post which refers to another post… Something is stirring concerning a past warning given to America by James Robison in 2006. (The original post is here.)

Meanwhile, these same people are punishing the donkey who is trying to save them through intercession with God. And it pisses the donkey off, let me tell you!

But God’s mercy extends further. The angel still stands ready to strike. But I know that for as long as Christians are interceding, this evil is held back. In the story what comes next is for God to open Balaam’s eyes to see the danger for themselves.

I have read that post and others like it. Many Christians are seeing an impending disaster. But my response is to intercede and to believe in Jesus Christ, because we know that He died for us while we were still sinners.

Think about it… when God showed Abraham the danger coming to Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham felt love and care for the people in the cities and he negotiated with God. 50 people Lord?  45? 40? 30? 20? 10?

I remember the exact place and day when I had a similar conversation with God. I was standing in Garema and I saw the danger coming.

For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and dense darkness [all] peoples, but the Lord shall arise upon you [O Jerusalem], and His glory shall be seen on you. – Isaiah 60:2

I understand that Balaam couldn’t see the dense darkness, but I could and it was terrible. I wrote about it and I described it as “dripping off the trees”. It was everywhere. God said to me to “leave” and I had a job offer in Brissy. I could have left. Felicity was there with me as GOd was speaking to me. I could have left.

But I remembered what I had previously thought about Abraham’s conversation with God… previously I had wondered why Abraham even tried to look for 10 people. It was and is hopeless. Our best efforts are filthy rags. No one is righteous, no not even one!

So I proposed to God that no one was righteous anywhere and if we just kept destroying city and after city, all that would happen is that hearts would harden further and more marriages would break up, more abortion, more prostitution.

God’s righteousness is just and it’s right. But it’s not a solution, and that is what I proposed (bravely) to Him.

It was after this time that God began to show me His solution was in the mercy, the grace, the “jubilee” that Jesus Christ has provided for us. You can read about it in Is 61:1-2 which corresponds to the statement that Jesus made about Himself in Matthew 11:2-6; Luke 4:18; Luke 4:19; Luke 7:22.

Meanwhile… Balaam kept hitting the donkey. And the donkey slowly got tired of it.

I understand that prophets can see the danger that is present, but are any of them interceding and acting in a more pastoral way as Moses did before the Lord in Exodus 32:9-14. God wanted to wipe out the Israelites, but Moses talked Him out of it. That is being a prophet before the Lord, interceding on behalf of the nation, helping them, gaining mercy for them. Moses didn’t just blog what God was about to do and bravely lament while shrugging his shoulders.

To the prophets… If you are prophetic and God has shown you something, don’t just meekly accept the destruction of people and their lives. Love the people! Are you not also a sinner? Is your sin better than theirs? Are you not also deserving of the judgement that you meekly accept is coming?

To Balaam… how close to being struck down must you get before you change your ways? You had a close shave already. Did you learn anything? Should the donkey stop protecting you and let you be struck completely? Or should the donkey allow you to have a bit more or a skirmish with the angel of the Lord, and THEN will you stop and realise that you need to change!? That IS an option.

To the church… stop playing along and “going along to get along”. All the positive thinking and prosperity nonsense of the last decade didn’t stop the world from losing it’s shirt in this financial crisis. Take a stand for what is right and what is good. Where you see evil, oppose it! You are not called to fit in meekly and gain acceptance, you are called to stand out and make an impact. You are leaven in the dough – called to change everything around you!

An end to conflicts and revival

Some time back in the last year or more I felt God was saying this point had been reached:

“Now will I arise,” says the LORD. “Now will I be exalted; now will I be lifted up. – Is 33:10

Accordingly, He began to say He will do things and then He went ahead and did them. In fact this trend began when I was a teen. Back then I had many visions and ideas and thoughts about the future and I was absolutely astonished in these last 2-3 years to see all but one of them come true!

As I wrote those posts I thought I was doing something so crazy and outrageous. God got me to write about the rain, then the hurricanes, to tell His words about the lakes and rivers and so on. Each time I think something like: “this is it, I’m right out on the edge now, a certified nutter!” And people obliged by trying to prove I was a nutter and lock me up! But then the impossible actually did happen! And I imagine that upset more than a few nay-sayers. Go God!

Then one day, with all those things successfully predicted and He delivered – with no help from anyone at all! – then one day I felt this…

You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not admit them? ”From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you. – Is 48:6

So here I am again. In this post Jesus Christ - through a broken earthen vessel, me! - is making two claims.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. – 2 Cor 4:7

Claim 1: Revival everywhere

The first is that on 13th May 2009 revival began. This is a big, long term revival and so you have to look for the early signs. But they are there!

I was lying in bed going to sleep and suddenly I hear audibly “It is starting now”. The words swirled around in my head, the Voice was like nothing I have ever heard before. Here are some scriptures describing His voice…

• Like the sound of many waters (Ezekiel 43:2; Revelation 1:15; 14:2; 19:6).
• Like the sound of very loud thunder (Job 40:9; Psalm 29:3; 77:18; 104:7, Revelation 14:2).
• Like the sound of harps (Isaiah 30:31-32; Revelation 14:2).
• Like the sound of trumpets (Exodus 19:16, 19; Hebrews 12:19; Revelation 1:10; 4:1).

I jumped out of bed and ran to the other side of the room exclaiming “what is starting?” but my words were almost involuntary, a reaction. As I stood on the other side of the room looking back at my bed, I knew it was God who had surprised me. So I sheepishly went back to bed knowing I was surprised but safe.

Since then I have been called to change my life to put aside a wonderful distraction. To be focussed entirely on Him. As a result I’m depending on Him for everything I need.

I went to church this weekend and I saw visions of His throne right here on the earth – as described in Revelations and in Isaiah. From the 13th onwards things have been changing in the earth, that is for sure. Even the number of earthquakes seems to have increased. Remember that there was an earthquake in LA just before the 1904 revival. Don’t think of earthquakes as bad, they are a sign that the earth itself is adjusting to an increase in God’s Presence (I think).

Let fall in showers, you heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness [the pure, spiritual, heaven-born possibilities that have their foundation in the holy being of God];

let the earth open, and let them [skies and earth] sprout forth salvation, and let righteousness germinate and spring up [as plants do] together; I the Lord have created it. – Isa 45:8

For as [surely as] the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring forth, so [surely] the Lord God will cause rightness and justice and praise to spring forth before all the nations [through the self-fulfilling power of His word]. - Isaiah 61:11

I have had several dreams since the 13th – and I almost never dream – but last night 18th May 2009 is the one I must share with you. I was dreaming that I entered a new land. It seemed like a farm area. I was walking along a wide open gravel/dirt road entrance. I knew I was coming into a new place.

Then I turned around and I saw uncountable numbers of people coming through this same entrance – known in Isaiah as the highway of holiness – and the numbers were so huge that I couldn’t see faces, just lots and lots of people. They had just arrived and they had basic needs which must be met. As I stood there I thought about the millions of Nigerian people who have moved to South Africa, so many people that the government has no idea how many or where they are. I kept thinking about their needs and I heard God say “give them something” and He gave me a parcel. The parcel could have contained clothes or food, I don’t know. I was struck by their needs, they seemed to have arrived with nothing and they will very soon be in need.

When I woke up I knew the meaning of the dream. Many millions of people will stream into the church because the new heaven and new earth – the Kingdom of God - is arriving on the earth. I had handed the parcel to them and now that I was awake, I realised that there are far too many people about to stream into churches around the world for me alone to physically meet their needs.

Jesus’ death provided a parcel for every person, but there are too many for even a big group of people. I once heard Pastor Brian Houston exclaim “there are too many people being saved” as he stared at the numbers who had streamed forward one day about 3 years ago. This is the problem we will face in the church: too many people being saved. Everyone in the church will need to take action to spiritually feed and clothe these new people who will come seeking.

There will be no time for lethargy. It’s not business as usual. You don’t have time to build another building.

Claim 2: The end of conflicts in the world

I believe that Jesus Christ is busy proving to the governments of the world that He is God and there is no other God other than Him. He has done several things, but in the end the news media found ways to normalise what has happened. So far nothing has convinced people that God is God and His Name is Jesus Christ.

The truly wonderful thing about God is His nature. He permits free will and He seeks to heal and give abundant life. He explains that our free will must be approached with caution, because we live under a system of laws, if we do good then good things happen and if we do bad, then bad things happen. That is God’s law. Christians call it “blessings and curses” and it is found throught God’s written laws. The key words you will find frequently in His law is: “it will be good for you if…” and then He states a law. The new age movement have recognised that our actions have consequences and they have cut the “God” focus out of the equation and called this truth “karma” or yin and yang – meaning balance, or consequences to actions.

But God is proving that He exists and He will show it by Sovereignly resolving the conflicts in the earth. He said He would make ancient rivers run again – and He did – and He said He would create lakes in the desert – and He did. So now I have no doubt that He will do this thing that He is saying He can do. Plus we are facing revival right across then earth, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. I frequently read in economics, politics and in the general news about a change of mood in cities, countries and across the world.

God is moving and it’s not a moment too soon. The evil we had built up in this world had reached Heaven and calamities had begun to come upon us.  It was as Isaiah said, darkenss had covered the people and thick darkness had covered the earth.

See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. – Isa 60:2

Our sins had empowered death and we are reaping that mess right now. But instead of abandoning us, God has decided to show His mercy.

Those calamities, such as devastating cyclone Nargis in Myanmar and the Sichuan tragedy in China, they were not acts of a violent God, but instead they were our own consequences to very very bad choices across the earth which piled up darkness and empowered the forces of evil in this world. Our best efforts, coming out of our best intentions, still resulted in more and more devastation to this world…

We were with child, we writhed in pain, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth; we have not given birth to people of the world. – Is 26:18

I hope that we can see that this is true.

But now Jesus Christ is rising up. And we know He comes to bring life and life abundantly. And in fact the trend to increasing peace can already be seen…

January 1, 2009: Violence continues to decline worldwide… Worldwide, violence continues to decline, as it has for the last few years. Violence has also greatly diminished,  or disappeared completely – Source

And when He does do this – the conflicts cease – then everyone has a chance to reasses their view on the world and what their view is about what is true and what is not. Jesus Christ is not trying to “destabilize” a world that is in tatters. Is it in tatters? You decide…

• 1 in 5 global pregnancies; and 1 in 3 in europe; pregnancies end in abortion
• Global increase in slums
• 12 out of 16 global ecosystems are in decline

Don’t blame God for the results of our foolish decisions. Don’t blame God for the exceedingly awful Sichuan earthquake. The sight of so many bodies affected me so deeply that I switched off my tv and have hardly watched any since then – instead I devoted myself even more to praying for the world.

Don’t blame God for the devastation of cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. Although God is always in control, when we experience calamity, it is the consequence of our poor decisions.

Don’t blame God, instead lay the blame at the feet of those who do the evil in this world and also at the feet of those who pass laws permitting that evil. If you live in a democracy, pray for your leaders… and next chance you get, vote for believers to be in charge! If you live in an autocracy then go to church and pray for your leaders.

Whether you believe that God has laws and there are consequences for breaking those laws, or if you just believe in karma and it’s teaching that there are consequences for poor choices - either way you know that our actions have consequences. Don’t blame God for those consequences!

Yes there is God’s law and we are all born under the truth of that law. But. BUT! Grace and mercy that came in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that is a superior power, and it is available.

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. – John 1:17

Think of Him as a get out of jail free card for believers and for the world at large. It’s a very cool card, because we can play it again and again! And the intention of God’s mercy in healing our land for us, His intention in stopping our conflicts – His intention is that we see Him, adjust to Him, acknowledge Him, see our limitations and respond to His kindness in healing us! What could be simpler?

I understand the problem. We don’t believe because we can’t see.

“Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” – John 4:48

We don’t see God, tangible logical proof, so we continue as normal, adhering to our own thoughts and hopes, all the whle watching our earth degrade further and further. How bad does it have to get before we admit we need to find a new Source of help?! How desperate must we become before we are willing to say that our deity is not able to help us?!

When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness. – Is 26:9

But now shortly we will see and then I am sure that we will gladly change our minds. I feel confident that we will use our free will to acknowledge that He is a Good God and be humble enough to admit that our best efforts only resulted in a world that continues to be raped for it’s resources.

Go Jesus! It’s a great time to be alive!

Fantastic posts about prophecy

I can’t recommend this article enough as a cold shower for some who don’t think they are called – yes you are! – and for others who think they are, but may not be. I literally had tears as I read it. Enjoy: Signs of a Prophets calling

The full article contains many thoughful insights. Here are just a few clipped for you.

• You have to be a failure before you can be of use. You have to have learned that you cannot trust in yourself. 
• A desire has been burning in you for a long time to minister to the Body of Christ.
• The call of God comes from God and not you. All you can produce in yourself is sin.
• Your ministry is unique, so do not expect others to share your burden. So do not expect others to quickly recognize your call, unless you have ministered to them personally.
• Your desire is other-oriented.
• Ministry is servant hood and is likely to cost you a lot.
• Over a period of time you have found yourself ministering to a particular area of need more than others. It seems that you always end up ministering to believers who need encouragement and direction in their lives. And when you do something happens inside you and you sense a surge taking place. You may find yourself telling people which way they should go and what God’s purpose is for them. You only know that you feel content ministering to believers and helping them, to set their lives and ministries in order.
• If you have a prophetic calling you will not be able to hide it indefinitely.
• When appeals are made for help you wait for everyone else to step forward first before you offer your services.
• Since the call comes gently, you may even wonder at times if you heard right.
• If you have been led to pray things into existence or birth them in the Spirit through intercessory prayer, then your prophetic ministry is already starting to manifest.
• If you have been effectively involved in leading the congregation in praise and worship and can cause the anointing of the Spirit to come upon a group when you lead, this can certainly be very clear evidence of a prophetic ministry in operation.
• If you are called to be a prophet, then your preparation will span many years and will be one of the most difficult and troublesome processes. The prophet will be battered and broken and brought to nothing in himself before he can be of any use to the Kingdom of God. He will have to learn not to trust in himself or in his own abilities. His knowledge and natural strengths will be tried in the fire and brought to naught before God can use him.

This teacher has additional posts on prophecy:

• Biblical Foundations of The Prophets Office
• Seer Prophets

 

Wondering what to pray for? A list of conflict countries

Updated slightly: May 9, 2009

Perhaps you’ve been reading and you’re ready to begin uttering your amen to all the yes and amen promises that Jesus Christ has for you and for the word… but you’re not sure what to pray for?

Well… here is a graphic containing all the countries in the world which are involved in conflict. Pick a few and begin to see by faith – not by sight – the truth that you see for them in God’s scripture: that He loves everyone, that Christ is all and He is in all, that He took the sins of the world upon Himself, that His life has spread to everyone, that sin is set aside and death is annulled.

Go ahead, be salt and light to the world. This map is taken from the Reuters AlertNet interactive map website

Reuters AlertNet interactive map

Reuters AlertNet is a humanitarian news network that aims to keep relief professionals and the wider public up-to-date on humanitarian crises around the globe. It’s an almost daily visit for me to catch up on global crises, and according to its site, attracts over 3 million users a year.

Complementing initiatives such as Crisis in Darfur, though expanding it to a global scale, AlertNet has launched an interactive global map with information on conflict, food security, sudden disasters and health crises.

Though yet in beta, this is yet another example of technology helping non-experts visualise multiple & complex datasets on the state of the world today.

Based on Microsoft’s Virtual Earth, zooming in on a region or country brings up alongside the map related information in the form of news stories and analysis from Reuters and other sources such as Human Rights Watch.

And this just in… Im not sure about the left/right leaning, but the overall focus on the progress in each conflict seems to be accurate: War Update, List of wars and progress.

It is written – stand firm and overcome the evil in this world!

When Jesus did battle with satan, He famously used these words “it is written”. Here is the story. NOTE that I have inserted the scripture

THEN JESUS was led (guided) by the [Holy] Spirit into the wilderness (desert) to be tempted (tested and tried) by the devil. And He went without food for forty days and forty nights, and later He was hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, If You are God’s Son, command these stones to be made [loaves of] bread.

The tempter came when Jesus had a time of need. The tempter came with a temptation that would solve that time of need.

How would Jesus respond?

But He replied, It has been written, Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. Deut 8:3

Jesus quoted the foundation of His faith – that He depends on God and God’s words would be sufficient for His need.

Then the devil took Him into the holy city and placed Him on a turret (pinnacle, gable) of the temple sanctuary. And he said to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, He will give His angels charge over you, and they will bear you up on their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone. Ps 91:11, 12

Now the tempter has created a situation – by taking Jesus to a precarious place where Jesus seems to be in danger. And it’s not just any old place… Jesus was brought up a Jew… He has been taken to the temple! The temple!

Firstly, the tempter has displayed the power to move someone physically. Secondly, the tempter is displaying that he can go wherever he wants to, even to the temple, which was considered holy and also considered to be the center of the world.

Did you notice that the tempter quoted scripture as well? The challenge is four-fold:

1. Scripture
2. Being placed in danger
3. A display of power over the laws of nature
4. A display of power over the temple

What will Jesus do? Will He let His circumstances dictate His thoughts and actions?

Jesus said to him, Deut 6:16 On the other hand, it is written also, You shall not tempt, Deut 6:13 test thoroughly, or Isa 9:1-2 try exceedingly the Lord your God. Deut 6:16

Once again Jesus depends on His own correct understanding of the words of God as revealed by scripture.

What is Jesus doing in these three temptations? Jesus chooses to walk by faith and NOT by the facts that He can see with His eyes. He walks by faith, not depending on His situation. We walk by faith and not by sight!

Again, the devil took Him up on a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory (the splendor, magnificence, preeminence, and excellence) of them. And he said to Him, These things, all taken together, I will give You, if You will prostrate Yourself before me and do homage and worship me.

The tempter could not use Jesus’ own needs to his advantage, he could not use fear. What does he try now?

He takes Jesus Christ and places Him on a high place, on a ledge, on an edge of a building high up – creating insecurity and perhaps vertigo, so that Jesus will be at a disadvantage when answering the next question.

What happened? Jesus still stood firm on God’s promises. He walked by faith. His location on a ledge on the outside of the temple high up… His location and situation didn’t change His interpretation of God’s words as revealed by scripture.

If he can’t use Jesus’ needs, and if he can’t scare Jesus, perhaps he can bribe Jesus?! This challenge appeals to the vanity and desire of people to have power and be exalted. How many of us would refuse wealth, power and status if offered to us?

So now, does Jesus let the situation affect His thoughts? Or does He continue to walk by God’s words as revealed by scripture… lets see…

Then Jesus said to him, Begone, Satan! For it has been written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve. Deut 6:13

Then the devil departed from Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

It is interesting to note that the devil left, because he was told to leave.

I hope you can see the challenge that was placed before Jesus Christ. Would Jesus Christ depend on the promises of God, or would Jesus listen to His rumbling stomach, or His precarious situation, or His own built in desire to be a success and be seen to be a success and have authority and power -  which all humans may feel at one time or another?

Or would He walk by faith, depending His lifestyle and choices on the promises that God has made in scripture – in the bible.

And this brings us to our own life. We may be hungry, we may feel unsafe, we may desire to be a person of stature and have authority… but will we stand firm on what we can see with our eyes of faith?

You see, we have something incredible on offer to us. Every promise in the bible is yes and amen to us and all we have to do is offer our amen to it!

For as many as are the promises of God, they all find their Yes [answer] in Him [Christ].

For this reason we also utter the Amen (so be it) to God through Him [in His Person and by His agency] to the glory of God. – 2 Cor 1:20

It’s really that simple. All you now need to know is… what are the promises that – like Jesus Christ – you can stand firm on and utter your own amen to God regarding those promises.

I’m speaking specifically about promises in scripture here.  So I have compiled some scriptures for you to take a firm stand on. Utter your amen to these scriptures

it’s our faith IN HIS WORK that overcomes this world (1 John 5:4),

because our faith in Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world (John 1:29),

He abolished and set aside sin (Heb 9:26).

He annulled death (2 Tim 1:10) and

He made the devil powerless and of no effect (Heb 2:14),

He disarmed the powers and principalities (Col 2:15).

He was a sacrifice and He atoned for the WHOLE world and not only for believers (1 John 2:2).

The work Jesus Christ did is complete. He said it Himself: it is finished (John 19:30).

All that remains is for you to receive it through your faith (Rom 4:16).

NOTE: You can read these promises and many more on this page I wrote

Utter your amen to those scriptures and stand on them. Regardless of the situation of danger, regardless of your hunger, regardless of the offer of authority or power which will distract you… stand firm on His finished work

Do not underestimate your role in this. It is YOU whose prayers and supplications and your faith in God’s promises in scriptures which overcome the evil in this world.

For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. – 1 John 5:4

So when you have a chance, don’t wait for a trial or a temptation, just choose to speak out these words “It is written” and add onto that some of His many promises.

You see, even in the Old Testament (the old covenant) the whole land was healed when believers prayed

If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. – 2 Chron 7:14

You see, the whole world can be released from chains, because of believers. That is why Jesus Christ referred to us as light, salt, fruit – to benefit the world. I like to say that Christianity is one of the few organisations which exists for it’s non-members.

We may all be born under law, sin and death (the old covenant) but it doesn’t have to stay that way. We can accept and live in the new covenant!

And in the new covenant it is faith which is the key, not works. It is our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ which overcomes the evil in this world. Your faith – just yours – has an impact on this whole world, creating a better and more free world, a world in which it is a joy to live in.

For thus says the Lord–Who created the heavens, God Himself, Who formed the earth and made it, Who established it and did not create it to be a worthless waste; He formed it to be inhabited–I am the Lord, and there is no one else. – Is 45:18

You have a role to take and a job to do. I pray you will do it.

A season of suddenlies – Sept 2008

Did you notice how Sept-Oct 2008 was the key months in my post: 2008 Kanji of the Year: Change / Strange and then the miracles just continued on from there.

Today I have found that many people had written about those months as being key.

A Season Of Suddenlies – Dutch Sheets

Get ready for September! It is so huge on God’s timetable that it will mark one of the greatest shifts in the spiritual realm that our generation has ever seen:

• A season of suddenlies will begin.
• The confusion and deception ruling America (including within the Church) will begin to lift.
• The November elections will shift toward God’s will.
• The coming “great awakening” to America will go to a new level.
• The “presence movement” will begin.

- Source (NOTE: Scroll down the page to find this text and read on!)

And if that wasn’t exciting enough…

Word of the Lord 2009 – Cindy Jacobs

• 2009 The Year of the Vine
• 2009 A Year of Great Turbulence
• 2009 Kingdom Against Kingdoms
• 2009 The Beginning of a Third Great Awakening
• 2009 Arise and Shine in the Midst of Adversity
• 2009 Stand Your Ground Through Worship

- Source (NOTE: Scroll down the page to find this text and read on!)

And lastly, if you really want to read some exciting stuff, try this list of prophetic words. I am just as excited by the things to come as these people are.

2008 Kanji of the Year: Change / Strange

2009 and 2009 have been the year of change for me, and also for the world it seems:

The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation has announced that the kanji hen[変], meaning change/strange, has prevailed in its survey on what Chinese character best represents the events and society of 2008. – Source

This post is perhaps a precursor to a book that I may write about the events the Jesus Christ led me through in 2008/2009. I counted 10 miracles that I’d consider writing about.

In this post I outline just four prophecies that are documented on this blog website…

The Aussie rain miracle

At first Jesus brought rain to this parched land, the Aussie 3 month rain miracle: July-Sept 2008…

• The Aussie rain miracles – the proof, part 2
• The Aussie rain miracles – faith, part 1

This prophecy was literally fulfilled and documented.

Hurricanes

Then Jesus dealing with the hurricanes Sept 2008…

• The HURRICANE miracle continues… Jesus CAN do it for this financial storm
• 1 week on the HURRICANE miracle continues – have faith!
• Prophecy – Catastrophe ahead (HURRICANE Ike and financial storms)

This prophecy was literally fulfilled and documented.

Rivers and lakes in the desert will run

Then Jesus Christ promised that Hewill fulfill this ancient prophecy

I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. – Is 41:18

And indeed He did cause the lakes and rivers to run in the desert in the 1st half of 2009…

• Weds 29th October 2008, I received the word while watering my lawn that ancient rivers would run and lakes would fill up
• Friday 31 Oct, 2008 I wrote Lakes and rivers to run again in Australia. The rain began overnight in Canberra and it was raining in the wheatbelt too!
• Nov 9, 2008 – I began writing this post to collect the action as it happened. I published it on January 28, 2009.
• Jan 29, 2009I wrote “Blocked, redirected and promise achieved! – part 4” because something unknown called “Channel Country” was in flood and no one I knew had any idea where or what it was!
• February, 23 2009 – Lake Eyre began to fill up for only the third time in 100 years! It will reach it’s peak depth in June/July 2009.

The sense of rivers existing in the desert is best captured by this: As far as anyone knows, Hammond, John Dunn, Bill Starr, Majid Andary and Chris Harris are the first and only people to have travelled the length of the Kallakoopah by canoe or kayak. Speaking a fortnight after their return, Hammond recalls being disarmed by the sense of isolation – a feeling that they had somehow journeyed back to a pre-historic, pre-human age. That, and the sheer volume of water that roared through the Simpson Desert. This is a river that most of the time doesn’t exist and we were paddling through these lakes that were 5km wide and 20km long – flood plains as far as the eye could see. ” – Source

This prophecy was literally fulfilled and documented.

The financial crisis

Then Jesus Christ pointed to this ancient prophecy to be fulfilled

In little more than a year you will be shaken with anxiety, you careless and complacent women; for the vintage will fail, and the ingathering will not come. – Is 32:10

And when the crisis was under way, He pointed to resolving the financial crisis …

• June 25, 2007 I received the word and spoke to Angela and Trish about it. I blogged it as a draft, which Angela saw. A financial catastrophe was on the way.
• Sept 23, 2008 I blogged about the financial catastrophe ahead.
• December 5, 2008 I blogged these words New dream – the end of the troubles, the start of new life “I also believe that the financial crisis will simply begin to evaporate. Just as it arrived out of nowhere and people have been trying to figure out what is causing these ripples, I believe it will pass away, astounding the financial brains even more.”
• Feb 22, 2009 Jesus had me begin praying about the financial catastrophe My focus moves from water to the financial crisis
• March 24, 2009 45% of world’s wealth destroyed, and World Bank says collapse has arrived, and Tom Friedman said it was Peral Harbor, and Soros Says Financial Crisis Marks End of a Free-Market Model, and Warren Buffet says U.S. has “fallen off a cliff”, but Jesus Christ said “The financial miracle begins” – and He was right!
• May 3, 2009 I wrote Is anything too hard for Jesus – the financial crisis in which I document all the posts, but then highlight the most recent news, namely: U.S. stocks gained nearly $1 trillion in value in April alone… The manufacturing cycle is turning, the Chicago Purchasing Managers’ index jumped to 40.1 in April from 31.4 in March.

This prophecy was literally fulfilled and documented.

So what do we understand from all of this?

Firstly, that Jesus Christ was and is God, secondly that He rose from the dead and through that proved that He conquered death. Thirdly, that we are in momentous times in which He is changing the way things work, He is showing Himself to be God.

It is vital for all readers to understand that the work of Jesus Christ is finished on the cross. When He returns it is not to deal with any burden of sin – that has been done. His work is so complete that it is referred to in Isaiah as a new Heaven and a new Earth.

The truly profound thing is that it is already done and it’s a free gift simply waiting to be received by you, and through your faith!

Now we have not received the spirit [that belongs to] the world, but the [Holy] Spirit Who is from God, [given to us] that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the gifts [of divine favor and blessing so freely and lavishly] bestowed on us by God. – 1 Cor 2:12

So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s – Rom 4:16

How is all of this possible?

Great question!

You see… it’s our faith IN HIS WORK that overcomes this world (1 John 5:4), because our faith in Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world (John 1:29), He abolished and set aside sin (Heb 9:26). He annulled death (2 Tim 1:10) and He made the devil powerless and of no effect (Heb 2:14), He disarmed the powers and principalities (Col 2:15). He was a sacrifice and He atoned for the WHOLE world and not only for believers (1 John 2:2).

The work Jesus Christ did is complete. He said it Himself: it is finished (John 19:30). All that remains is for you to receive it through your faith (Rom 4:16).

NOTE: You can read these promises and many more on this page I wrote

You are My witnesses, says the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know Me, believe Me and remain steadfast to Me, and understand that I am He.

Before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no Savior.

I have declared [the future] and have saved [the nation in times of danger], and I have shown [that I am God]–when there was no strange and alien god among you; therefore you are My witnesses, says the Lord, that I am God.

Yes, from the time of the first existence of day and from this day forth I am He; and there is no one who can deliver out of My hand. I will work, and who can hinder or reverse it? – Is 43:10-13

Is anything too hard for Jesus – the financial crisis

NOTE: This post is mainly an index or summary of posts, so I can point to this post in other posts. IYKWIM.

Is anything too hard for the LORD ? – Gen 18:14

“I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me? – Jer 32:27

These are good questions, don’t you think? IS anything too hard for Jesus Christ? I believe not. Here is the BBC News timeline for the crisis. Here is a timeline to my posts regarding the financial crisis…

• Prophecy – Catastrophe ahead (Ike and financial storms) 2008/09/23
• Opinion – The role of governments in this financial mess 2008/10/23
• Tent cities – the need for YOUR active love 2008/10/24
• The miracle continues… Jesus CAN do it for this financial storm 2008/10/25
• Glean times call for desperate measures 2008/11/26
• New dream – the end of the troubles, the start of new life 2008/12/05
• Merry Christmas to YOU 2008/12/25
• Flight 1549 – Miracle on the Hudson 2009/01/22

By now in the timeline, the brightest of minds proclaimed the end of capitalism: 45% of world’s wealth destroyed, and World Bank says collapse has arrived, and Tom Friedman said it was Peral Harbor, and Soros Says Financial Crisis Marks End of a Free-Market Model, and Warren Buffet says U.S. has “fallen off a cliff” !!

But Jesus Christ said “The financial miracle begins” – and He was right! The timeline continues…

• My focus moves from water to the financial crisis 2009/02/22
• 1 month to go, blessings and sadness 2009/03/10
• The financial miracle begins 2009/03/24
• All that is required for evil to prosper is for good people to do nothing 2009/03/31

But now, just as Jesus Christ predicted, as we all know, the situation is now resolving…

Since it started in December 2007, over 5 million U.S. jobs have vanished…. The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week - Source

In today’s economic news, jobless claims unexpectedly fell by 14,000 last week to 631,000, though continuing claims hit another record, 6.271 million. Jobless claims typically peak about a month before a recession is over. – Source

the economic recovery could happen much sooner—and be much stronger—than anyone thought possible… “Too many people’s idea of recession have been formed by the last two recessions,” says Robert Brusca of Fact & Opinion Economics, referring to the 1991 and 2001 periods, which were both short and shallow. “I think that’s mistaken.” “People have been talking about an L-shaped recession,” adds Michael Mussa, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “The record shows you come back sharply from deep recessions” like the current one. These economists and others see a V-shaped pattern, similar to that of the recession-recovery periods of the 1970s and 1980s. – Source

NEW YORK – April was Wall Street’s best month in nine years – offering some of the most powerful evidence yet that maybe, just maybe, the economy is about to turn around. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index, considered the most reliable measure of the broader market, climbed 9.4 percent in April, its best performance since March 2000, the peak of the dot-com bubble. The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 7.4 percent in April, on top of a 7.7 percent gain in March. On paper at least, U.S. stocks gained nearly $1 trillion in value in April alone. The Chicago Purchasing Managers’ index jumped to 40.1 in April from 31.4 in March. The index is considered a precursor to the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index, which is due today. The government said initial claims for jobless benefits fell last week by 14,000, to 631,000 – Source

The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index rose to 40.1 last month, higher than forecast, from 36.3 in March… “The manufacturing cycle is turning,” said Dean Maki, co- head of US economic research at Barclays Capital Inc in New York, who forecast the index would rise to 40. “We expect it to result in positive economic growth as we move through mid year.” – Source

What happened to the collapse? Was it the end of capitalism? Did we go off a cliff? OR. Did the vision of the future as defined by Jesus Christ – GOD – in fact come true.

You see, the image Jesus gave me was that the $50 bills had declined, but the $1 and $2 would be greater in value by the end. You can read the full post here…

So dont mourn the loss of the glamor of the $50s and $20s, instead lift up your eyes and see the overall effect is abundance, because there are far more $1 and $2 all over – and they will increase!… So now, we have less $50s and $20s, but more $1 and $2s. Less haves, but less have-nots too! Yay!! And the vast numbers of 1s and 2s will grow into $5s and onward. Good times! – Source

It is undeniable that what Jesus Christ said would happen, has in fact happened. There IS a God and His Name is Jesus Christ! Let’s take a moment to get our heads around this momentous information.

You have heard [these things foretold], now you see this fulfillment. And will you not bear witness to it? I show you specified new things from this time forth, even hidden things [kept in reserve] which you have not known. They are created now [called into being by the prophetic word], and not long ago; and before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, Behold, I knew them! Yes, you have never heard, yes, you have never known; yes, from of old your ear has not been opened. – Is 48:6-8

Amen!

Manufacturing for South Africa

Within a few h0urs of landing at the massively impressive Oliver Tambo Airport (AKA Johannesburg International Airport), I had this word or impression placed within me: low cost manufacturing boom like in China. As I’ve spent more and more time in this wonderful, delightful, optimistic country, I’ve become more and more sure that that in fact is the way for South Africa to go.

When a low cost boom in manufacturing happens, employment will shoot up, more families will become stable, more people will be off the streets and in jobs, less crime will occur. And on that point I have to say that crime is nowhere near what I had been led to believe. It’s an amazing thing to see how well South Africa is going.

Can and will God bless South Africa with a manufacturing boom? I say yes He can and yes He will. And I can prove it. Just look at what He did for Australia.

Australia Trade Balance - Records!

For as long as the graph above goes on, Australia has been in a trade deficit. Now they have had 7 months of positive balances and not just positive, but two record months! And if you really consider the world conditions at the moment, you will know this is a miracle.

On the other hand, exports in February plunged across the region. Japan recorded a 49 per cent slump in exports followed by China 24 per cent, Singapore 22 per cent and Korea 18 per cent. ”It appears Australia is the only country in the region – and the world, for that matter – that was exporting in February,” he added. – Source

Showing signs of coming out of the uncertainties caused by the global economic crisis, Australia on Thursday announced an impressive $1.5-billion (A$2.1 billion) trade surplus in February 2009. The latest data released by Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that the seasonally-adjusted trade surplus for goods and services was more than double the surplus of A$926 million attained in January and by far exceeded economists’ forecast of A$700 million for February. The peak surplus ever achieved was A$2.55 billion in last October. ”The February trade surplus is the second highest on record.

It is also the seventh consecutive trade surplus,” the acting trade minister Tony Burke said. – Source

The Australian balance of goods and services was a surplus of $2.952 billion, seasonally adjusted, in October. It broke the previous monthly trade surplus record of $1.54 billion set in June 1997, Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows. The result was also much stronger than market forecasts of a $1.6 billion trade surplus for October, in itself a record. – Source

I previously wrote several times that Jesus Christ is blessing Australia. I wrote that even if Australia doesn’t choose to believe in Jesus, Jesus believes in Australia.

Now that I have heard that the word is “manufacturing” for South Africa, I am absolutely sure that we will see the same turnaround here. Over time we will see less people on the streets and more and more buildings going up, staffed with low cost workers, managed by the many university graduates which are turned out by the many universities – all of this pumping out low cost goods for world consumers.

I am delighted to be here and I am excited for the future, not only of South Africa and not only for Africa, but for the world in general.

Yes I know that we are reaping out own bitter harvest from our extremely poor decisions, but this will only last for a while and it will pass – and Jesus’ blessings will outlast what we face at the moment.

Your personal bill of rights

So this is my final post for a while. In the next few days I am moving country. I have tremendous hope and a wonderful vision for my near future and I’m trusting that He will complete the good work He has begun in me.

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. – Phil 1:6

I have wondered what would be the most useful post (for you the reader) and to make that my final post. I honestly think that the biggest problem in the church is low self esteem and passivity. That is a mental issue, it’s not about faith as much as it’s about how you think – it’s about the lack of hope. Remember this verse?

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he – Prov 23:7

You see, faith hope and love are all very important.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. – 1 Cor 13:13

Faith, hope, love are interconnected

Faith is vital and is frequently taught in the church. We know that Paul taught that love is the most important – but it’s not frequently taught. But also hope is important and that verse from Proverbs explains why.

“Stinking thinking” about yourself, having low self esteem about yourself – this negates the many opportunities in your life.

As you can imagine, if you have no love for yourself, how can you love others? The bible says you won’t be able to. Take a look!

For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is complied with in the one precept, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself. – Gal 5:14

Yes you shall love others with the same love you have for yourself. You cannot pour out for others if you have nothing within yourself to give. So that is why my last post is this one: your personal bill of rights.

1. I have the right to ask for what I want.
2. I have the right to say no to requests or demands I can’t meet.
3. I have the right to express all of my feelings, positive or negative.
4. I have the right to change my mind.
5. I have the right to make mistakes and not have to be perfect.
6. I have the right to follow my own standards and standards.
7. I have the right to say no to anything when I feel I am not ready, it is unsafe, or it violates my values.
8. I have the right to determine my own priorities.
9. I have the right not to be responsible for others’ behavior, actions, feelings, or problems.
10. I have the right to expect honesty from others.
11. I have the right to be angry at someone I love.
12. I have the right to be uniquely myself.
13. I have the right to feel scared and say “I’m scared.”
14. I have the right to say “I don’t know.”
15. I have the right not to give excuses or reasons for my behavior.
16. I have the right to make decisions based on my feelings.
17. I have the right to my own needs for personal space and time.
18. I have the right to be playful and frivolous.
19. I have the right to be healthier than those around me.
20. I have the right to be in a non abusive environment.
21. I have the right to make friends and be comfortable around people.
22. I have the right to change and grow.
23. I have the right to have my needs and wants respected by others.
24. I have the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
25. I have the right to be happy.

If you can get these rights down deep within yourself, you will stop being walked over, you will feel free to change things so they suit you, you will do what you want instead of only what others around you want. You will develop care for yourself, you will stand up for yourself, you will say yes when you mean yes, and no when you mean no. You will also find yourself prospering and excelling in the gifts He has given you.

Pouring love out from within you

And what’s more, you will fill up on the inside as you begin to stand up straighter, saying yes and no and caring for yourself. As you fill up on the inside, you will have more to share with others. You will be loving yourself more, and in turn you will be able to love others more too. You cup will overflow with self esteem and your family will benefit, your friends will benefit, your church will benefit, society will benefit.

Don’t expect everyone else to simply adjust to the new you. Other people may have been overriding your will and proclaiming their things to you for a while now, so re-educating them into what is fair and what is actually healthy… that may take a while. In my experience people who have power may have gotten it in the wrong way and now have no difficultly in maintaining that power in even more wrong ways.

So your choices to stand up for good behaviour may in fact cause some disturbance as you publicly point out the wrongful behaviours you are no longer going to tolerate. God has made you in His image. He loves you. You matter to Him. You matter to me. No matter who you are, or what has happened, you matter to Him and to me. So you must stand up for yourself and put into action the personal bill of rights.

And remember that everyone else also has the same bill of rights. And if the people in the church matured individually, then imagine what will happen to the church body. In fact the bible makes it clear…

And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers.

His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church), [That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him. – Eph 4:11-14

So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead. – Eph 4:11-14

Those verses talk about fullness and maturity and stature – powerful and strong words. It is His intention that YOU come to fullness and maturity, SO THAT the greater church comes to fullness and maturity. The church is the sum of it’s members plus the Holy Spirit. That is why I say that the greatest danger is the crippling of the members – either through low self esteem, or through the passing of laws which cripple our right to express our faith. Both are very great dangers.

We must matures and achieve wholeness, in order for the church to grow… because as we grow, the darkness of the world moves back and people, countries, economies, jobs, marriages – all are released from darkness. It’s a group effort. Each generation stands on the shoulders of those that went before them, just as David stood on the work of Samuel and Saul, who stood on the work of Abraham, who… you get the idea.

So go and grow and mature as an individual. Take your place. Be a good steward of what He has given you. Let your yes be yes and your no be no.

Let your Yes be simply Yes, and your No be simply No – Matt 5:37

but let your yes be [a simple] yes, and your no be [a simple] no – Jam 5:12

And – one more time – WHY should you grow as an individual? Because in, as Eph 4:11-14 says, the church grows when it’s individual parts grow in maturity. If you want the church to grow, if you want society to heal… then get on with reading and living your personal bill of rights, get on with fixing how you think in your heart

For AS he thinks in his heart, so IS he – Prov 23:7

God bless. I doubt I will be posting for a while. I hope to be busy busy busy loving people. My strategy is pretty simple: “Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary use words” – St. Francis of Assisi. If it’s good enough for him, then it’s good enough for me.

The highway of holiness for His people to return

Some time back, early in 2008, God had me devour Isaiah. That kept going for about a year or so. During that time I made some videos and I stumbled onto something big: Jesus Christ is the Christ. To be the Christ is to fulfill all the promises that the Christ was meant to fulfill. I had always had hope and faith in Jesus Christ, but now I believed He was/is THE CHRIST and all that this meant. In other words, I began to believe that ALL promises (think about the grand ones in Isaiah and Ezekiel) that they were all yes and amen IN HIM.

For as many as are the promises of God, they all find their Yes [answer] in Him [Christ]. For this reason we also utter the Amen (so be it) to God through Him [in His Person and by His agency] to the glory of God. – 2 Cor 1:20

This was the biggest revelation of my whole life and it enabled me to escape serious emotional and spiritual bondage – simply because I believe He had done what it was promised that He would do! That journey of recovery from despair to hope is described in this blog, as regular readers will know.

But God had already laid the foundation, I just didn’t see it. I had already been led in this direction in the years before, because I had read this awesome book (you can see that I refer to these books already by July 2008) and now I have found this one by googling – but I haven’t read it, so I can’t recommend it.

But God went further with me. Once I had accepted that Jesus IS the Christ and He HAS fulfilled everything promised of Him by Isaiah… He pointed to the actual promises that Isaiah (and Ezekiel) had made. I made another massive discovery which appeared to line up with what Jesus Christ has said. You see, I had  been devouring the gospels and I had found Jesus saying the things I needed – because I was in such severe bondage. He said He had made the world safe for me. He said that those who come to Him would find safety and comfort, because He is the Good Shepherd. I have been a Christian all of my life… but I was in tremendous bondage. Was He a liar? How could I reconcile His words to the reality of my life?

God wasn’t asking me to believe I was free, but instead to believe EVERYONE is free, because that is the promise made by Isaiah and Ezekiel, that a Messiah would come and defeat sin and death. And Jesus Christ said He has done it. Paul said He had done it. But in my life it didn’t seem to be done. What the?!

As I discovered faith, not just general believing but believing that He is the Christ and He has done what was promised of Him, done what He said He has done – etc. So I was challenged to believe not only for myself, but to lay it all down and believe what the bible says. Simply what it says. Word for word. To not change the words and personalise it, but to believe it as it is written. To literally believe “it is finished”, regardless of whether I can see it is finished or not.

This was a tough call. The church doesn’t preach that sin is dealt with. So now I’d be in precarious territory. Out there, alone, me and God. I wrote up my ideas a few years ago and showed it to a few Christians. The first person called it heresy. Daryl didn’t like it. Roma called it “wonderful new covenant theology” and I asked what “new covenant theology” was?! So I was off learning again. This theology has been around since the beginning. Since Jeremiah in fact. Wow! Isaiah promised it too. Ezekiel too. These things would come in with the Messiah, the Christ… and we know that to be Jesus Christ.

But still I struggled… how come I didn’t see it?! If He did it, why don’t I see it? My cousin said “it’s done but it’s not done”. Uh. What? That didn’t help. God was asking me to look beyond my own life, my own bondage – and to look to the bondage of the world, of His people and to see the fullness of ALL of the yes and amen promises. Not just cherry pick some of them for myself.

To simply believe that He has done it all… I needed to really SEE this in the bible. I needed to see it in the Old Testament (tick!) and to see it in Paul’s writings (tick!) and in Peter’s (tick!) and in John’s Revelation (tick!) and I needed to see it in His own words, in the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself. And indeed this is the story of how God showed me what I needed to see. it was the kicker, the thing that convinced me that we are living in awesome and wonderful times.

You see, I was challenged to believe that ALL the promises are yes and amen, including that Jesus Christ has ALREADY done a complete work and has ALREADY created a new heaven and a new earth – which is simply “descending” as Isaiah and Revelations (and a new other books) puts it.

And I have put My words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, that I may fix the [new] heavens as a tabernacle and lay the foundations of a [new] earth and say to Zion, You are My people. – Is 51:16

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. And the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. – Is 65:17

Did you see that word CREATE in Is 65:17? John Wesley commented the following on that word: “I create – I am about wholly to change the state not only of my people, but to bring a new face upon the world, which shall abide until a new heavens and earth appear, in which shall dwell nothing but righteousness. Not be remembered – That state of things shall be so glorious, that the former state of my people shall not be remembered.”

God was saying to me that there IS already a highway of holiness which has been created by Jesus Christ on His cross and in His resurrection. We – the church – are to lift up the banner over it, to encourage everyone to walk on it. Wow. This “highway” is referred to several times in Isaiah and in Ezekiel.

And a highway shall be there, and a way; and it shall be called the Holy Way. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for the redeemed; the wayfaring men, yes, the simple ones and fools, shall not err in it and lose their way. – Is 35:8

And I will make all My mountains a way, and My highways will be raised up. – Is 49:11

God was showing me that this “way” was already in existence. But I needed more than this, I needed to be utterly convinced of it. I knew I could not see it in the natural, but I had to be able to see it by faith. I needed convincing.

John Gill had this to say “Ver. 11. And I will make all my mountains a way,…. Or “for”, or “into a way” {e}; signifying that they should be dug through or levelled, and a way made through them, over them, or upon them, for his people to pass: very probably the allusion is to the mountains that lay between Babylon and Judea; and which the Lord calls his, because of his making and settling, and was therefore able to make them a way, or passable: though the words are not to be literally understood, but denote the removing of all impediments, obstructions, and difficulties, in the people’s return from captivity”

In that I saw three key things:

1. The mountains need to be leveled somehow
2. The mountains refer to the ones that were blocking the returning exiles from Babylon
3. The mountains also refer to whatever now blocks the return of people onto God’s Highway

Then I began to pray for clarity and for Him to convince me of all of this. I could see it abundantly in Isaiah, but I needed to see the connection to Jesus Christ and to see what “our” role (the church and the individual) was in this. I was immediately rewarded with answers to those questions.

A voice of one who cries: Prepare in the wilderness the way of the Lord [clear away the obstacles]; make straight and smooth in the desert a highway for our God! Every valley shall be lifted and filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked and uneven shall be made straight and level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory (majesty and splendor) of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. – Is 40:3-5

This is what Isaiah said would be said of the Christ – and of course it says what the Christ would do… create a highway. And John the Baptist was that person which was prophesied about…

A voice of one crying in the wilderness [shouting in the desert], Prepare the way of the Lord, make His beaten tracks straight (level and passable)! – Mark 1:3

Every valley and ravine shall be filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be leveled; and the crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough roads shall be made smooth; And all mankind shall see (behold and understand and at last acknowledge) the salvation of God (the deliverance from eternal death decreed by God). – Luke 3:5-6

These two verses clearly linked the Highway of God to Jesus Christ. Wow. But I needed to see one more thing. I was lying in bed, really struggling to accept the revelation that the fullness and the completeness of the promises of Isaiah were all done and dusted in Christ Jesus and all we needed to do was receive it by faith. Could it be that simple? Could it really be that profound? Is the absolute completion already available? Is it merely “descending”?

THEN I saw a new sky (heaven) and a new earth, for the former sky and the former earth had passed away (vanished), and there no longer existed any sea. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, all arrayed like a bride beautified and adorned for her husband;

Then I heard a mighty voice from the throne and I perceived its distinct words, saying, See! The abode of God is with men, and He will live (encamp, tent) among them; and they shall be His people, and God shall personally be with them and be their God. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither shall there be anguish (sorrow and mourning) nor grief nor pain any more, for the old conditions and the former order of things have passed away. And He Who is seated on the throne said, See! I make all things new.

Also He said, Record this, for these sayings are faithful (accurate, incorruptible, and trustworthy) and true (genuine). And He [further] said to me, It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I [Myself] will give water without price from the fountain (springs) of the water of Life. – Rev 21:1-6

WOW. This is nothing short of amazing. Jesus said to the woman at the well, that HE is the one who gives water.

Was God saying that NOW is the time, NOW is the moment? Was He saying that this heavenly city is descending. But how Lord? I needed to see this in the words of Jesus Christ. I needed to SEE Him say that He had done it and we could somehow receive it. I needed to be sure. Surely He had to have said it?! If He embodied all of this, then He WOULD have said it – for sure!!

Laying in my bed I suddenly remembered the verse. I ran as fast as I could to my pc. I think I was yelling as I ran, because if this was right, if the revelation I had just been given was right… then we truly are living in momentous times. Listen again to the verse above…

The abode of God is with men, and He will live (encamp, tent) among them; and they shall be His people, and God shall personally be with them and be their God. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither shall there be anguish (sorrow and mourning) nor grief nor pain any more, for the old conditions and the former order of things have passed away. – Rev 21:3-4

The fullness of these promises should rock you. You should be joining me in this story, this whodunnit, this adventure. If He proves beyond all doubt, then we are in momentous times.

I suddenly knew just where to find it in His words

For truly I say to you, if you have faith [that is living] like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to yonder place, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. – Matt 17:20

What we need to know is where was He when He said these words?

Now when Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi - Matt 16:13

AND SIX days after this, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves – Matt 17:1

When they were going about here and there in Galilee - Matt 17:22

So Jesus had walked 6 days past Caesarea Philippi into the region of Galilee and He had just come down from a mountain – the transfiguration – and now He was pointing to a mountain and saying this mountain can be moved by faith in Himself as the Son of God and the Christ. That much is clear (tick!)

So what is the significance of this mountain that He refers to? At first glance, you may think it’s just a coincidence that Jesus used the words “mountain”. Judea has mountains. What about it?! But the revelation that I had in my bed was this: I could see Jesus at the foot of the same mountains mentioned in Isaiah, pointing to . What if this mountain that He was pointing to… what if that mountain was the same one that Isaiah was prophesying about?

As I ran to my PC, I knew I needed to read the verses before that statement to find out exactly WHERE Jesus was when He said those words. And yes… He was standing at the base on Mount Hermon, to the left of Damascus, north of the Seas of Galilee! I remember yelling and screaming at the top of my lungs when I confirmed this.

Ok… now I was excited, because I already knew my second and third questions. And if all three worked out to be yes, then we are living in MOMENTOUS times. My second question was this, when the exiles returned from Babylon, did this mountains block their way? And praise God the very next day I found a big expensive book on sale. How I found it, only God knows.

And that it had this image in it… praise God. I opened the Biblica Bible Atlas book and it almost fell open to page 350.

Jesus was pointing to the mountains that blocked the exiles return

I was on the phone to my friend as I paged through the book that I had just found. When my eyes fell on the route the exiles had taken… I got so excited that I couldn’t contain myself. Jesus said that THIS mountain – the very one that had blocked the exiles from returning – could be removed by faith in His finished work on the cross.

Jesus was standing at the foot of Mt Hermon pointing to it

You can see this in the Biblica Bible Atlas on pg 53 for yourself. You really really should be getting and enlarged vision and be feeling excited now

I had two of my three questions confirmed. Only one to go. As I had run from my bed to my PC I had a question that needed to be answered. I needed to know if Paul taught the same as what Isaiah and Jesus had said. The key would be to see whether Paul had been using nouns when he spoke of the end of sin and death, or had Paul taught that Jesus Christ had only dealt with the verbs – not the nouns. We know Paul learned His revelation of the cross from God directly, so did God teach Paul that Jesus dealt with the THING (the noun) or just with our actions (the verb).

I raced to my pc, hoping to find just one or maybe three references to the noun. That would have been enough for me. Again I yelled and was utterly excited to discover that almost exclusively Paul taught about Jesus Christ having overcome the NOUN sin, NOT the verb. And so now suddenly I could understand why all the way back in Genesis we were told to “master sin” and in Romans it says we do master THE NOUN through Christ Jesus

But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” – Gen 4:7

For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. – Rom 6:14

All three of my questions came back as confirming that Isaiah promised a completed work by the Christ, the Messiah, and that Jesus confirmed that even a teeny tiny amount of faith in Him can utterly remove the mountains blocking our return, even a tiny amount of faith unblocks the Highway of Holiness, unblocks the road back to Him for all people, unblocks the nouns of sin and death, release very great promises… have a look again!

The abode of God is with men, and He will live (encamp, tent) among them; and they shall be His people, and God shall personally be with them and be their God. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither shall there be anguish (sorrow and mourning) nor grief nor pain any more, for the old conditions and the former order of things have passed away. – Rev 21:3-4

Just a little faith – the size of a mustard seed – releases the finished work that Jesus Christ did on the cross. An absolute and complete release for the whole world. A new Heaven and Earth, the old things are ended.

That is why when God had me pray for the financial situation, He simply had me believe the following: the captivity is ended, the prosperity has been restored.

Yet will I reverse the captivity and restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, says the Lord. Thus far is the judgment on Moab. – Jer 48:47

That is ALL He had me pray, as I described here. And what happened? My little bit of faith the size of a mustard seed – combined with the faith of other praying people – combined we managed to move the mountain that blocked things!

So there it is… the pivotal few days, after years of exploring the bible… the pivotal few days that led to seeing things in a new way. You have it there. All the promises are yes and amen in Christ Jesus. The mountain that stops the full and complete return of God, sweeping away entirely the old order of violence and tears… that mountain can be remove by your faith in Christ Jesus.

Go through, go through the gates! Prepare the way for the people. Cast up, cast up the highway! Gather out the stones. Lift up a standard or ensign over and for the peoples. – Is 62:10

An ensign is a banner, a thing that shows the people where the entrance is, which way to walk, where to come to. May God bless you as you decide what to do with this revelation, now, in your own life.

Rest assured, we are about to see momentous things in this world. The manifest presence of God in Jerusalem. When God used Cyrus to give orders to rebuild the temple, the temple foundation was laid twice and the exiles returned in waves, not in one group.

I believe that Paul and the disciples laid the foundation once long ago, but His people let their faith drop and the bible was removed from the world in about AD500. The bible was returned to the world in about AD1400 and from then onwards we have again had times of refreshing and revival. Now again the temple foundation is being laid, for a second time – just as .

God is fulfilling His prophecies in Isaiah and the blessing is for the entire world as He fulfills His words

The abode of God is with men, and He will live (encamp, tent) among them; and they shall be His people, and God shall personally be with them and be their God. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither shall there be anguish (sorrow and mourning) nor grief nor pain any more, for the old conditions and the former order of things have passed away. – Rev 21:3-4

We currently live in a world of sorrow and pain. What is the role for you in this world? How can you help this exiled world return to God?

For truly I say to you, if you have faith [that is living] like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to yonder place, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. – Matt 17:20

Who is it who say to the mountain to move? Look again at His words.

The answer is the same as the answer to these questions. Who did He say is the light of the world now? Who is the salt in the earth? Who is fruit for those around them?

The answer to all these questions is: YOU. You and your faith in Christ Jesus on His cross, your faith in His complete overcoming and renewal of everything, that He paid for all sins, that He died in the place of everyone, that He is all and in all, that He has set aside and abolished sin, that He has annulled death, that He has made a new heavens and a new earth – every promise is yes and amen in Him.A completed work. As He said, it is finished!

Never forget… do not let low self esteem rob you of your God-given role in this world! It is your faith in Christ Jesus which overcomes the evil in this world!

For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. – 1 John 5:4

May God bless you as you journey onwards.

The Ministry Cup: Part 1 of 3: The Death of Ambition

The Cup
Part One: The Death of Ambition
by Francis Frangipane

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When I first came to Christ, the Lord gave me a dream about my future. I thought that everything the Lord said was supposed to occur immediately; I didn’t know of the work of preparation and dying to self, of learning patience and maintaining vision through testing, that would occur before God’s promise would find fulfillment. Consequently, I was filled with ambition. Ambition is the first motive that arises in the spiritually immature.

I was like the disciples who, a few days after Jesus’ resurrection, were already asking, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom?” (Acts 1:6).

Ambition is very deceptive. It can seem just like obedience, yet because we don’t truly know the Lord, the voice we find ourselves obeying is not God’s, but our own. Our vision can actually be from God, but our motive be self. Consequently, where there is ambition, James tells us there will soon emerge “disorder and every evil thing” (James 3:16). Why? Because we begin thinking we can accomplish the will of God through the strength of man. We are seeking a breakthrough; God wants to give us brokenness.

The spiritually immature do not recognize their immaturity because they are immature. Thus, they become impatient, fearful and demanding. Because pride blinds the ambitious, we presume we are ready for greater assignments in God. In fact, we become a harder assignment for those who work with us, for our actions continually generate strife.

Ambition seeks to put to death what stands between it and spiritual fulfillment. Yet, it is ambition itself that must die to reach fulfillment. Webster’s tells us that ambition is “an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as wealth or fame, and the willingness to strive for it.” The word translated “ambition” in the NAS is rendered “strife” in the King James. Truly, ambition is a major cause for strife, church splits and conflicts within the church.

I thought having a promise from God was the same thing as receiving a commandment from God. I did not understand what I personally lacked in character or what I needed to attain concerning faithfulness, becoming a bond-servant, and possessing a grateful heart. These things needed to be worked in me before God would truly begin to fulfill His larger promises and opportunities. What I became for God was more important than what I did for Him.

Today, I am living in the spiritual substance of what was just a dream thirty-eight years ago. My ambitions have suffered greatly, yet my dreams are being fulfilled. While I have not yet arrived at the greatest aspects of my calling, I understand the difference between ambition and true leadership and it is this: Ministry is not a call to lead, but to die.

Every advance that I have made spiritually was preceded by an opportunity to die to self. The power in my life comes from where I have died to self and now live unto Christ.

Do you want to advance spiritually? The gateway to resurrection power is crucifixion. God will arrange opportunities for you to die to self. You must discern them. Dying to self and its ambition is the means of reaching true spiritual fulfillment. If you react to the opportunity to die with fleshly anger or resentment, you will fail to reach fulfillment. However, if you can maintain your vision even while your ambition dies, you will succeed.

by Francis Frangipane

Part Two: Christ Living in Us

Part Three: Leadership is a Call to Die

What impact can the faith of 200,000 men have?

Late last year I blogged that God had said my life would change in 4 months as the lakes filled and the rivers ran. That happened and is still happening. Even more water is pouring into Australia and filling even more dams than was the case earlier this year.  This miracle is still ongoing.

So when the 4 months came close, earlier this year, I felt led to go over to (absolutely wonderful) Perth to attend the Mighty Mens Conference 2009 in Perth and it was nothing less than awe-sum! Here is a promotional video for MMC in Australia.

“Boys there are enough men in this tent to change this nation!” Doesn’t that just get you going? Yes these men can do it, yes the land can be healed by Jesus Christ. And now I am heading to wonderful South Africa. I have been sharing with my friend about my memories as I grew up there, about the many and varied wonderful things that people can do there. I just get more and more excited.

And plus, there is the Mighty Mens Conference 2009 in South Africa… take a look:

So… yes, let’s think about it… what WOULD happen if 200,000 men had faith in Jesus Christ as the Christ who defeated sin and death on His cross?! It would be a huge outpouring of faith… in one place, at one time. Let’s see what the bible says about our faith in Jesus Christ…

For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. – 1 John 5:4

I have been seeing visions of what will happen because of 200,000 men coming together with hands raised. Believe me, we are going to see and feel something that may overwhelm even the most seasoned Christian who has seen and done it all. I see something falling down in such power, and I see it remaining, not leaving afterwards when the worship stops.

Beyond South Africa…

What would it look like if 200,000 men gathered in Australia under the banner of Jesus Christ and interceded for their country to be blessed even more abundantly?

And what about in New York? What about right across the nation of the USA with Joel and Victoria Osteen? It is my deepest hope that the leaders focus on repentance and humility before God, rather than just emotional comfort, instead focus on repentance…

If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. – 2 Chron 7:14

They are hosting the first non-baseball event in the New York Yankees’ new stadium, just nine days after it opens, so God is opening doors for this.

• New York, NY – Saturday, April 25 Yankee Stadium
• Columbus, OH – Friday, May 1 Value City Arena
• Minneapolis, MN – Friday, May 29 Target Center
• Rio Grande Valley, TX – Sunday, August 9
• Atlanta, GA – Friday, August 21
• Portland, OR – Sunday, August 30 Rose Garden
• Charlotte, NC – Friday, September 11
• Phoenix, AZ – Friday, December 4

Be there and change your country and our world… listen to Joel and Victoria

One week to go – lamentations and excitement

Slightly updated: 8 April 2009

In less than 7 days my time in Australia will be over – at least for now. It’s really hitting me more and more what a loss I am feeling. Fantastic people live here. The physical land is wonderful. Other things that I think were visionary include superannuation and the social support services. I wish the whole world had! The current leadership has vision and wisdom to lay the foundation for future prosperity, because high speed internet access is to the future what iron was to the iron age.

When I first visited Australia I heard whispered about it that it was “the lucky country” and now that I’ve been here for 9 years, I have learned WHY it became the lucky country. It’s because they took care of things like retirement, they have systems in place to protect marriage and children. Communities exist to tie people together. Private enterprise is encouraged. These are the foundation blocks for a “lucky country”. The national anthem has highly positive words and messages in it, which foster a bright outlook on the world and the future. These are great foundations for a country.

And now I am about to visit another glorious part of the world, South Africa. And I can’t wait. I’m so excited by what I hear coming from that part of the world. Democracy is the strongest in Africa. The rule of law is strong and increasing. Private enterprise is encouraged. I have family and friends there who feel that they are a part of growth and life and they see opportunities opening up. The church is strong and outspoken. All of these are fantastic building blocks for the future.

I really like what I am hearing from leadership…

If we are to achieve a better Africa like the Warrior of light in Paulo Coelho’s book.  We should not be paralyzed by the fact that other countries have more opportunities than we do. “A Warrior tries to make most of his virtues”

“He knows that the gazelle’s power lies in its legs. The power of the Seagull lies in the accuracy with which it can spear a fish. He has learnt that the reason the tiger does not fear the hyena is because he is aware of his own strength. We have to define for ourselves what we can truly rely on”.

We should rely on our human resources. The regions and the countries that show sustainable growth and human development have all paid special attention to education, skills development and health. We must prioritise these in the continent as we do nationally.

We should rely on our fertile African land – develop our agriculture.

We should rely on our abundant natural resources. How we manage these will determine how quickly we reach the African dream. Squander and plunder for the benefit of the few will defer this dream.

We should preserve the environment as part of a global effort so as to bequeath future generations with a liveable planet.

Rich cultural heritage

The private sector on the continent has to be the catalyst

As this generation we like Paulo Coelho should ask ourselves how will our actions ‘affect the fifth generation of my descendants? because everything a person does has enduring consequences and he needs to understand what kind of world he is leaving behind for the fifth generation.’

A better Africa will also have to assume its share of global responsibilities.  In this context South Africa was honoured to serve in the United Nations Security Council in 2007 and 2008. – Source: Address by Minister Dlamini Zuma during the State of the Nation Debate: “A Better Africa and a Better World”, 9 February 2009

There is a lot of African wisdom in those words: “He has learned that the reason the tiger does not fear the hyena is because he is aware of his own strength”. This is how a country – and a continent – becomes a “lucky country/continent”, by being good stewards of what God has blessed them with. It’s the central message of the parable of the talents.

And one other even more important thing, a country becomes lucky if it is blessed by God… and that means acknowledging Him and revering Him, working with Him.

America started in a blaze of blessing and it lived off that for a long long time. From the sixties to the 90’s in particular the blessing was taken for granted, spent frivolously, drained off and wasted away. Thanks God, that blessing is being renewed now. That blessing is coming to Africa. It is coming to Australia, I’ve seen the green shoots of prosperous growth here and I’ve blogged about it – you have read it and you know it’s true.

As I leave, I’m still troubled by that one prophecy God gave me for my life – the only one that hasn’t come true. Maybe I will find I am complete without it. I am certain that He knows what is best for me. My life is in His hands. He is my Shepherd. His staff (for guidance) and His rod (for protection), they comfort me. Take comfort in Him O my soul.

All that is required for evil to prosper is for good people to do nothing

(Slight update: 6 April 2009)

This post is a little bit different. I read a LOT of news on my iPhone apps and recently I’ve been emailing interesting ones to myself, collecting them, so I can post them here for you. Here is a selection of talking points that perhaps Christians may want to be aware of and consider. As you read each one, consider this quote

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing – Edmund Burke (?)

Burke’s alleged quote bears a striking resemblance to the narrated theme of Sergei Bondarchuk’s Soviet film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s book “War and Peace”, in which the narrator declares “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing” – Source: Wikisource

So read these and consider how you can be involved in taking practical action which helps others – thereby fulfilling the command of Jesus Christ to love one another.

Greater social connectedness is needed to recover

• Cities Deal With a Surge in Shantytowns – FRESNO, Calif. — As the operations manager of an outreach center for the homeless here, Paul Stack is used to seeing people down on their luck. What he had never seen before was people living in tents and lean-tos on the railroad lot across from the center. “They just popped up about 18 months ago,” Mr. Stack said. “One day it was empty. The next day, there were people living there.” Like a dozen or so other cities across the nation, Fresno is dealing with an unhappy déjà vu: the arrival of modern-day Hoovervilles, illegal encampments of homeless people that are reminiscent, on a far smaller scale, of Depression-era shantytowns. At his news conference on Tuesday night, President Obama was asked directly about the tent cities and responded by saying that it was “not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours.”

My thoughts: Every healthy person became who they are because of the people around them – so what hurt people, what people in shantytowns need is the same: good people around them! If you are reading this and you are in a pretty good place in your life – relatively speaking – then consider that it may be because of your family or parents or friends somewhere along the way. You had company. You had some support. You had teachers, lecturers perhaps, classmates. Don’t underestimate what they did for you. They were there, they shared notes, they ate food with you. These people in favellas or shantytowns all around the world need people to come around them and assist. People assisted you to become who you are, they need you to assist them.

The groundwork for this problem was laid in WW1 and WW2 in my view. The world’s men left the world’s women and children. Both suffered from the separation. The men returned damaged or didn’t return. Their families received them back. No one healed. The problem deepened as the NY Times wrote:

”It has always been family, community and country,” she said. ”We are struggling now about whether it is going to be family and nation or if it’s going to be family, community and nation. That’s why I think it is in fact a watershed period, because we are making some critical decisions.” – NY Times Source.

That observation was made in 1997. I think we know how it went from there, at least in some parts of the world.

Dealing with the past, for the future

• The tortured memos – We had two powerful reactions this week after the C.I.A. admitted to destroying 92 videotapes of interrogations that may involve torture and the Justice Department released several of the legal manifestos that former President George W. Bush used to justify mangling the Constitution after Sept. 11, 2001.
• Bush to write book on important decisions of presidency – Former US president George Bush plans to write a “what would you have done?” book about the 12 toughest decisions he made in office. “I’m going to put people in my place, so when the history of this administration is written at least there’s an authoritarian voice saying exactly what happened,” he said. “I want people to understand what it was like to sit in the Oval Office and have them come in and say we have captured Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the September 11 attacks, the alleged killer of a guy named Danny Pearl because he was simply Jewish, and we think we have information on further attacks on the US.”

My thoughts: We do not and must not combat evil with evil. And even more importantly, we must ensure that future generations never make the same choice again. Sending leaders to jail (if necessary) for their crimes will ensure that the “good old boys” system is ended and the rule of law and a desire for truth, transparency and justice is upheld. If the error was merely bad judgment, then issue a pardon.

But where the leader defied the law or twisted it and crushed people and tortured and ignored constitutions and destroyed evidence – and remains defiant about it – then we must take a stand in order to build a better tomorrow and ensure politics is not again used in such a way to achieve the goals of a powerful few.

Democratic government is for the people by the people. Not for the richest few by the people. Not for companies by companies.

Let’s not pre-judge the outcome of such an investigation, but rest assured that if we do not investigate and if we do not take a stand, it may be repeated by future generations, because “all that is needed for evil to prosper is for good people to do nothing”.

Public service on the increase!

• Economy inspires public service – Online applications are coming in three times faster than a year ago at AmeriCorps, which was created by former president Bill Clinton in 1993 and strongly supported by former president George W. Bush. Those who are accepted into the program agree to serve for roughly a year, for an allowance of just $11,400, tutoring needy children, building houses in poor communities, helping the elderly sign up for health care, responding to natural disasters and more.
• House passes sweeping national service expansion – The Senate passed identical legislation Thursday by a vote of 78-20. President Obama, who spent several years working as a community organizer, is expected to sign it into law shortly. Among other things, the bill would more than triple the number of positions in the AmeriCorps program, from 75,000 to 250,000, by 2017. The increase could have a huge ripple effect in national volunteerism rates. Last year, 75,000 AmeriCorps members recruited and supervised 2.2 million community volunteers, according to Scott.
• People going to churches for help – Pastors say they’re giving out benevolent funds in record numbers, increasing ministries to the unemployed and the financially fearful, even reaching into their own pockets more to help.
• Hard times – Out in California, nearly 60% of all the adult members of the Whitter Area Community Church signed up last weekend for the church’s biggest ever community “Serve Weekend.”
• Prior to coming to power, Rudd seeks church role in politics: 1st article and 2nd article. The same comments are frequently found in Obama’s speeches, prior to coming to power.

My thoughts: It would be great if we could bring these funds to people throught the local church as well. Any avenue is useful. But the real gem is Americorps because it puts back into the community by building low cost housing and renewing the country after decades of exalting the “self” over others.

Explaining the global financial crisis

• The global financial crisis – From time to time in human history there occur events of a truly seismic significance, events that mark a turning point between one epoch and the next, when one orthodoxy is overthrown and another takes its place. … There is a sense that we are now living through just such a time: barely a decade into the new millennium, barely 20 years since the end of the Cold War and barely 30 years since the triumph of neo-liberalism – that particular brand of free-market fundamentalism, extreme capitalism and excessive greed which became the economic orthodoxy of our time.

My thoughts: If you are wondering what is going on with this crisis and how did it happen, this is the “must read” article for you.

The centrality of Jesus Christ is needed

• God won’t rescue world from ’stupidity,’ says top Anglican (Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams) – … the world faces “a whole range of doomsday prospects,” ranging from global warming to threats from what he called “bio-terror” weapons. In such end-of-the-world scenarios, Williams said, “the ultimate tragedy is that a material world capable of being a manifestation … of divine love is choked, drowned or starved by its own stupidity.” But “to suggest that God might intervene to protect us from the corporate folly of our practices is as un-Christian and un-biblical as to suggest that he protects us from the results of our individual folly or sin.”

My thoughts: I wonder what the archbishop thinks happened on the cross? Jesus Christ protected us from the results of our individual folly or sin… exactly the worlds he apparently used. It amazing to me that the spiritual leader of 77 million anglicans denies God’s nature and His intent when He sent His own Son to die for our sins, unrequested, uninvited, unthanked… and in doing so Jesus said that God showed His nature, a nature of forgiveness and kindness and benevolence. I am astounded that the archibishop doesn’t recognise that the core issue of the cross is that God did for us what we cannot do for ourselves – and now that the world is once again facing doomsday, He would simply delight in showing that once again it is only He who has the power and ability to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He shows this so that we might see it, recognise it and turn to Him.

The archbishop’s commentary reminds me of another leader’s amazing comment which directly contradicts God’s very reason for sending His Son.

• Pope says communion is only for pure of heart -  June 23, 2008 – 6:05AM – Pope Benedict said on Sunday only the pure of heart could receive communion, a day after Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi joked that the Church should extend it to those who have divorced and remarried.

This boggles my mind. The spiritual leader of 1.1 billion Christians/Catholics should be begging people to take communion, because the blood and body of Christ is the ONLY thing that defeats the power of sin and death in our lives. I can’t imagine anyone saying that people are required to defeat sin in their own lives FIRST, without the help of symbolic faith, and only THEN can they participate in the symbolic ritual which enables them to overcome sin in their lives. It’s backward!

It’s like a bank manager saying “first save $50 and then after that I will give you a $10 loan”. If the person is free from sin, then what’s the purpose of His death? And if they aren’t free from sin, then surely they need to participate in the very thing that frees them. I simply cannot understand denying people this act.

It’s like saying “before I give you drugs to heal your sickness, first go get well by yourself”. It’s just not logical and it’s denying people the help they need. Remember that God desires mercy, let’s not be too concerned about law and religious concepts. Let’s get people free from the entanglements that keep them in bondage, by giving them access to an act of faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

A grave threat to Christianity

• Unlikely trio defends freedom of speech – They make for a strange trio of bedfellows, Peter Jensen, the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, David Marr, the journalist, and Janet Albrechtsen, the columnist – public figures whose views on politics, society and religion could not be more different. They may not like what each other has to say, but they will be defending each other’s right to say it… “There are times David Marr has offended me and times, I’m sure, that I’ve offended him. That’s freedom of expression.“

My thoughts: Few things have a greater long term negative consequence than the hoodwink that Tony Blair’s “faith foundation” project is proposing and which has been signed into law in the UK under his leadership and also in Melbourne and was progressing into law in Canada. The idea is that freedom of speech is crippled by “anti-defamation”. Sounds like a good idea, but recently Christians have been arrested in Melbourne for saying Jesus Christ is God and the only way to God. A muslim person was offended and using the anti-defamation laws, he took those Christians to court in Melbourne. Tony Blair thinks this is a great idea. Stop everyone from offending anyone else. That seems like a good idea, until you realize that it shuts down freedom of speech and will NOT AT ALL result in anything useful. On the contrary it will cause legal problems as people have to defend their right to free speech.

And what’s more, this faith foundation disconnects the word “faith” from Jesus Christ and would enforces the separation through freedom of speech laws. Faith is “a force for good” and it places all religions in one mixing pot, with no one able to separate them and claim one to be true and the others false. All in the name of free speech he would cripple and destroy free speech. What Tony Blair is proposing is evil, whether he knows it or not. I feel very strongly about this and while I still have the right to free speech I need to use it.

I have the right to think you are wrong and to say so. And Tony can say the same of me – without me seeking to have him arrested. But what we must not to is fight over our views. Countries can be neighbours and hold vastly different views – and not fight. But suppressing free speech as Tony Blair would do, is to increase the tension in the world and to limit the mingling and exchange of ideas.

And what’s worse is that faith in Jesus Christ on the cross is what brings freedom to this world, and he would exterminate that by outlawing it.

Light flooding the world

• Holder rescinds Ashcroft-era FOIA guidelines – “A presumption of openness,” is now supposed to guide federal agencies’ responses to Freedom of Information Act requests.
• FOI laws were also changed here in Australia.

My thoughts: This is fantastic! It happened during America’s sunshine week. Jesus said people love the darkness and refuse to come into the light. Here are two bold countries who are increasing the light. I think both are token efforts and much more can be done to insure future generations against the kind of abuse both countries recently went through in which lives were destroyed.

Final thoughts…

I think that what the world desperately needs is greater emotional maturity, not less. Greater ownership of their lives and greater connectedness to each other. Greater tolerance of diverse opinion, not less. More outspokenness, not less. More freedom, not less.  We have come through very dark times, time during which people acted with impunity. Future generations will look at how we reacted to this, and they will note if we did nothing and tolerated it.

The financial miracle begins

“It’s like putting on a different pair of glasses and you think you saw something different today than you saw yesterday,” Dunigan said. – Source

That quote is from an investment banker as he described the difference that a single day can make, when God is blessing the nation in that day. His quote is spot on. The change for humanity is transparent, it cannot be seen or understood – except through the lens of faith. Or as he said, through different glasses… glasses of faith.

So here’s the story so far. There are a bunch of us, maybe 15? We are praying according to the finished work of Jesus Christ. They don’t leave comments on this blog and they don’t email me… and I like it that way, I think it needs to stay that way. Together we are learning and growing in Christ Jesus, in His finished work. We are exploring the reality of this verse:

For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. – 1 John 5:4

The shift to being Christ’s cross-centric is so clear that it shows in research. I find that article extremely helpful to understand the change, it helps me see where God is taking His church.

On the 22nd of Feb I wrote: My focus moves from water to the financial crisis. I based my confidence on the finished work of Jesus Christ. You can read about it in that post.

The markets went up a bit and then fell like a stone. On the 9th of March (Australia time) I posted this: 1 month to go, blessings and sadness and in it I described that I had no explanation for why God had said things would turn around, but then they didn’t. In fact they had declined further. I wrote about the dilemma I was in . I only had one option, to keep believing.

And what’s more, after those two weeks, the situation looked even worse – absolutely awful – at that point. Everyone who was any one came out and said that this was financial Armageddon:  The CEO of Blackstone private equity company says 45% of world’s wealth destroyed (2nd sample, 3rd sample).

• The CEO of Blackstone private equity company says 45% of world’s wealth destroyed.
• World Bank says collapse has arrived – THE World Bank has broken a taboo, becoming the first official organisation to predict the global economy will shrink during 2009, to collapse for the first time in more than 60 years. The new World Bank assessment, prepared for next week’s meeting of finance ministers and treasurers from the world’s 20 largest economies, was not specific about the extent of the collapse other than to say that global economic activity would shrink “for the first time since World War II, with growth at least 5 percentage points below potential”. Global industrial production would be down 15 per cent by the middle of this year, with world trade on track to record its largest decline in 80 years.
• An astonishing 53% of Americans believe the US will enter a depression like the 1930s says new Rasmussen poll.
• As Tom Friedman says today – Friends, this is not a test. Economically, this is the big one. This is August 1914. This is the morning after Pearl Harbor. This is 9/12. Yet, in too many ways, we seem to be playing politics as usual.
• Soros Says Financial Crisis Marks End of a Free-Market Model
• Warren Buffet says U.S. has “fallen off a cliff”

Remember, that was the 9th. And what happened the next day?

It’s clear the markets are in the midst of a huge bounce from their worst levels as the Dow, which is still down 11% year-to-date, has surged 19% from its 12-year low set on March 9. – Source

This Yahoo Finance DJIA 2009 graph says it the best…

Yahoo Finance: 2009 DJIA

Are your eyes deceiving you? No, not at all!

“It’s just hard to argue that there isn’t an improvement in economic activity on the horizon,” said Jim Dunigan, executive vice president at PNC Wealth Management.

The market began turning around two weeks ago on news that Citigroup Inc. was operating at a profit in January and February. A spate of more upbeat economic reports helped the market build on its gains, although the rally stalled last Thursday and Friday.

Analysts said they saw more fundamental strength in Monday’s buying than they saw at the start of the rally. Dave Rovelli, managing director of trading at brokerage Canaccord Adams, said there appeared to be less short covering, which occurs when traders are forced to buy to cover misplaced bets that stocks would fall. Short covering contributed to the market’s surge after the Citigroup news.

“There is definitely new buying,” he said. – Source

Come on now, who can deny this? How many major miracles have been documented so far?

1. God did it for the hurricanes in 2008
2. He did it for the rain in Australia
3. He did it for the lakes and rivers
4. He did it for Flight 1549 as a sign of His ability and intention to give a smooth landing for this financial hurricane
5. He continues to fulfill His words regarding the ongoing earthquake swarms
6. And now the financial hurricane is being dealt with as well!

Even for people who don’t believe there is a God… surely this is far more evidence than anyone could ask for or want?!

Rex Babin - Flight 1549 - Miracle on the Hudson

You are My witnesses, says the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know Me, believe Me and remain steadfast to Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no Savior.

I have declared [the future] and have saved [the nation in times of danger], and I have shown [that I am God]–when there was no strange and alien god among you; therefore you are My witnesses, says the Lord, that I am God. Yes, from the time of the first existence of day and from this day forth I am He; and there is no one who can deliver out of My hand.

I will work, and who can hinder or reverse it? – Is 43:10-13

God reminds me that when the lake fills (as it is now) my life with Him would change dramatically and I’d have to be very brave. He would then begin to do new things. And in fact my life is changing, and it is requiring all my brave-ness.

You are witnesses, what will you do?

Do you remember when I wrote this post: “New dream – the end of the troubles, the start of new life” on 5 December 2008? I included in that post a graphic of how many earthquakes were occuring. Well, I just went and had another look for 2009. Now the thing to note is that we are on up to March 11 in 2009, it’s not a whole year yet.

Magnitude 6+ Eathquakes per year - collected 11 March 2009

And thats for magnitude 6+, so let’s look at magnitude 5+ because by my observation  most of the activity has been in the 5-6 range this year.

Magnitude 5+ Eathquakes per year - collected 11 March 2009

You see, what I am trying to draw your attention to is kinda what I wrote on 17 July 2007 in this post: “Who is God? I AM (Isaiah)” and already back then in 2007 He was talking about this stuff to me – although to be perfectly honest I had no idea what He was on about – He had said to not be afraid of the coming violent upheavals, for one simple reason… He is God.

Who is like Me? Let him [stand and] proclaim it, declare it, and set [his proofs] in order before Me, since I made and established the people of antiquity. [Who has announced from of old] the things that are coming? Then let them declare yet future things.

Fear not, nor be afraid [in the coming violent upheavals]; have I not told it to you from of old and declared it? And you are My witnesses! Is there a God besides Me? There is no [other] Rock; I know not any. – Is 44:7-8

All of you who have been reading this blog over time, you have been presented with evidence of what is coming, and then it comes. You are the witnesses that He was speaking about!

The word about violent upheavals was placed on my heart on 23 November 2008 and I wrote it in this post: “Why so many modern prophecies are innacurate” and you can see it there for yourself.

Well now the violent upheavals in 2009 has almost matched the ones from 2008 and it’s only the 11th of March! You are witnesses, you are not lobotomized, you can think for yourself. There can be no doubt that what God say will happen, does in fact happen.

It really doesn’t matter what your viewpoint or lack of faith is… you have seen it prophesied and you have seen it come to pass… you are witnesses. So now it’s time to face up to that and decide what you will do in your own life. You are a witness to these things. You can resist, or you can co-operate. You are witnesses. You can figure it out for yourself. Now just decide what you plan to do.

It is my intention to pray that the coming trouble does not make landfall. Will you help? Or will you hinder – perhaps through inactivity?

BTW I am daily astonished at what has been said and what is coming to pass. It’s gobsmacking to me. I’m just as astonished as you. And if you’re wondering what comes next, I’m just as flabbergasted as you and even under a truth serum drug, I could not share more than I am now, I simply do not know what comes next. I’m breathless waiting for the next episode installment.

More thoughts on David Wilkersons prophecy

It is really upon me to share something urgently. In his prophecy David Wilkerson singled out America. I say this, why America? What about Europe? Or Africa? And what about me, Mark Wilson. Ive abused, Ive watched pornography, Ive stolen, Ive done many things for which the penalty under the Old Testament is death. I just looked it up, the penalty of death applies to 19 different things from perjury to refusing to obey a court’s command. As Jesus said, if I have looked at a woman with lust, I have committed adultery – death, or anger is murder – death.

There is no escaping it, we are all under the penalty of death. And what’s more, if the judgement is executed, the punishment produces hardship, that makes pain, that makes hearts harden and the message of love and forgiveness cannot penetrate hard hearts.

So I understand that under the law of sin and death, we are all in trouble. But Jesus Christ was the LAST Adam and the whole of creation was made new! After Jesus Christ there were no more “Adams”. The bible says that we no longer live under the law of sin and death, now we live under “the law of life and the Holy Spirit”.

Just think again about the Barabbas story. His sin was transferred to Jesus Christ, he was released and in effect Barabbas received the life of Jesus Christ.

If you desire judgment for anyone or any city or any country, then take a moment to remember the words of Jesus Christ: Judge not lest you be judged. He also said in the Lords prayer: Forgive us AS we forgive those who sin agaiinst us.

But for me, the most vital thing is, when I hear of fire in California or Australia, or when I hear of drought in those two places, here is what I think.

Lord Jesus, these hardships are from the enemy, he has loves to hurt, because it hardens hearts to our gospel of love and grace. Lord Jesus, judgment doesn’t bring repentance – as Jeremiah observed – so please help us to receive Your grace which You made for us. Lord Jesus, every time some sadness occurs, that’s a human life! Every job that is lost is a family suffering.

Lord Jesus, if society views You as supporting hardship, they won’t understand that You died in the place of EVERYONE and You took the sins of the WHOLE world upon Yourself. Please Lord Jesus, the church itself needs it’s spiritual eyes opened to see You took the full weight of punishment under the law, and now we can live in peace with God, You made the full atonement for every human being – and it’s the great privileged for Your followers to believe this, because it is our faith that overcomes the evil in this world.

I want every reader to know I do not expect judgment on any person, or any city, or any nation. I firmly believe that Jesus Christ was the last Adam and we are now at peace with God. I may not see that peace at the moment, but I assure you it is coming. May it come faster and faster Lord Jesus Christ!!

By the way, if you are looking for the scriptures behind that prayer…

It’s our faith IN HIS WORK that overcomes this world (1 John 5:4), because our faith in Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world (John 1:29), He abolished and set aside sin (Heb 9:26). He annulled death (2 Tim 1:10) and He made the devil powerless and of no effect (Heb 2:14), He disarmed the powers and principalities (Col 2:15). He was a sacrifice and He atoned for the WHOLE world and not only for believers (1 John 2:2).

And to Americans who may be bewildered by this prophecy, if I can offer you anything, I want to tell you that I admire your openness, I admire that you give the same freedom of choice to people that God does, I admire immensely the fact that right now that three times more Americans are volunteering than at any time in history. I admire that when special interests were removed from your election process, your heart was show and you chose a leader who has a heart for justice and equality and who is taking action to right many wrongs, even now in Darfur. I admire that you are the biggest donor country in human history.

And most of these things are true for why I like Australia. Both countries strive to be “good citizens” of this world. That is why when I hear of fires, I stand aside for a few hours and pray for that area until the winds change direction or until the rains comes to the dry trees.

I feel sad when I hear of judgment prophecies, because I deserve judgment just as much as anyone else, and often I am a far worse “good citizen” than who is being targeted.

My hope and faith rest securely in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Regardless of if you accept His Lordship over your life – as I do – I will pray ongoing that He has died to set you free, because the bible says He has! It is my great privileged to do so.

Thank You Jesus Christ that judgement is NOT required, but instead You died for all sins and in the place of every human being. You took the full judgement upon Yourself, and under the law of double jeopardy, the same crime/sin will not be tried twice. I redeive by faith what You have done. I believe You that the captivity is ended and the prosperity is restored. I believe You.

Prophecy by David Wilkerson – the need for grace amongst truth

NOTE: You have to apply yourself to this post and dig through it. Make the effort. As you do investigation of your own, you may find out what it means that Jesus Christ came in grace and truth, then you can begin to find your way to a new location in your faith based on the grace He has provided.

Cross and Switchblade - Wilkerson

David Wilkerson is well known for his book “The cross and the switchblade” which I read as a young boy. Last year he came to Canberra and I went to heard him speak. He has written several books.

David has posted a prophecy on “An urgent word” (March 7, 2009) and then posted “A further word” (March 9, 2009) and he references the cherith brook. If you regularly read my blog, you will know that his stuff contains much of what I have written.

I rarely post other people’s stuff, perhaps once a month. I am not subscribed to any prophetic groups whatsoever, I don’t read anything at injesus.com etc. My own spiritual walk is exciting enough (and confusing enough) to not need to delve into other people’s personally tailored walk with their Lord. Mine is enough for me. Of course, I share my journey with friends who share their journey with me – that’s fellowship.

But this word needs to be paid attention to, even if it’s just so that you can disagree with it. So… I’m posting it here. I’m not sharing my judgement of this word, I’m yet ready to explain how this word fits into what I have been writing, seeing and what the world has been experiencing – which I have documented on this blog.

I’m extremely aware of how another prophetic/pastor person was pilloried here in Australia for speaking out. A person I know gloated that the pastor was going to “get” it, and not in a nice way, his life was under threat for telling truth. The pastor/prophet had been insensitive, I admit that, but should his life be threatened?

Since then I received a very strong word that I felt was directly for me, to “stop explaining yourself” and I immediately and ever since have felt freed from having to try and make my visitors understand where I am coming from. I no longer care if you think I am nuts and need to be admitted to a mental institution – as some really and actually do!

In fact, I care deeply for each and every visitor to this blog. I try to maintain a balance between truth and grace. Perhaps that prophet/pastor who got pilloried, perhaps he strayed into truth too deeply and the hearers rightly felt traumatised by the abscence of grace. Truth by itself is too hard, it’s death to the hearers. Where the law gave truth which was death to it’s hearers, Jesus came in grace and truth (John 1:14-16) and more importanly, it is from His grace that we benefit!

That is why, although I see the world suffering so terribly because of it’s terribly poor options, I have great strength and comfort in the grace that Jesus Christ revealed to us. So if you want to know how I see that balance of truth and grace, then re-read my post from back here: A time of light flooding the world (12 December 2008) and perhaps you can see where I am coming from. Yes I do see the clouds gathering, yes I see them over-arching, covering the sky, but every day and every week I see the grace introduced by Jesus Christ into this world, and that grace, the free gift overcomes the judgement. I truly see it almost every day, certainly several times a week.

A while back I had a vision as I stood in Westfields Woden and it was of empty shop after empty shop. I felt so sad inside and I turned to my friend Angela and said loudly “it doesn’t have to be like this!!” and to this day I maintain that that is true and I’m praying every day that it won’t be. It would be perceived as arrogant if I told you each and every story of His grace overcoming the reality of the truth/law of sin and death, so I prefer to just point to Jesus Christ and keep pointing to His finished work. It is there, in that prayer of His finished work, in that alone is my overcoming, in that alone is the overcoming for the world.

I saw those impending clouds yesterday, and I was slightly terrified and my chin shivvered. They reminded me of that earlier post from 12 December 2008 (A time of light flooding the world) and all night I felt repeatedly to pray as I did on the pier that day. The darkness must not make landfall. I will devote myself to this kind of prayer again, I haven’t done that much of it since God told me to lay off in December 2008. But it’s on me now to ensure that the darkness doesn’t make landfall.

My posts are usually perky and positive and I had to think hard about this one before posting it. I don’t want to be a naysayer, but I also need to draw attention to the reality that our real world choices to embrace evil has a spiritual effect and that in turn has a real world consequence. Every culture throughout the ages knows this is true. I feel tasked to explain what is happening and to encourage people to know that God is for them and He has good things for us and that this is not the end, but instead it’s the start of something wholly new and better.

Yes, I am relentlessly positive, because I can see the good ahead – and I am positive even in spite of the fact that I have lost my business and lost my income. But I can see the new day dawning, I’m excited. I don’t care about whas passed away in my life, because I’m delighted about what is to come for all of us.

I’m excited about the leaders that God is raising up, they will be able to lead us out of this. I’m excited at seeing the positive changes in the earth. Rwandan Hutus are returning home and what about this:

“The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has demobilized 880 children associated with armed groups in the volatile eastern province of North Kivu between 30 January and 2 March 2009, it was announced today.” – Source.

That is just the start of it. I’m trying to draw your eyes up to Him and up to the new day dawning, but I entirely understand that you may only be feeling trauma at what is being lost and what you are losing. Change is very hard. I know, I’m not immune, this is affecting me too.

I want somehow to comfort you during this time. I think that the best thing I can do is pray as He has shown me how to pray – to pray that the world is under His “grace” (the new covenant of life and the Holy Spirit), even as it suffers from being under the “truth” (the old covenant of law/sin/death).

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ ” From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. – John 1:14-16

I wonder if we truly understand how profound this word grace is! It’s a radical concept of a superior granting amnesty for absolutely no reason. Nothing you did to deserve it. You did nothing right. Here are some definitions of grace – Source 1, source 2.

• unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification
• a virtue coming from God
• a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine grace”
• a manifestation of favor, esp. by a superior: It was only through the dean’s grace that I wasn’t expelled from school.
• mercy; clemency; pardon: an act of grace.
• favor shown in granting a delay or temporary immunity.
• an allowance of time after a debt or bill has become payable granted to the debtor before suit can be brought against him or her or a penalty applied: The life insurance premium is due today, but we have 31 days’ grace before the policy lapses.

We in the church are still so ridiculously confused about our ability to tithe and opening the windows of blessing, our ability to keep His laws and thereby bringing favor, our ability to be good stewards and being blessed as a result… it’s all such self-delusional nonsense.

Jesus Christ brought UNMERITED favor and UNDESERVED grace and we must run toward that and embed this world into it. That’s how I have been taught to pray for this world and how I intend to pray for it. Join me.

1 month to go, blessings and sadness

I checked my bank account. I’ve got enough (maybe) to stay in Aussie for one more month. To make matters worse, God has found a wonderful place for my cats to live… so I’m not even able to take my cats with me!

And on that sad note, it was slightly encouraged that today I found the rainfall deficiency map for Australia for the last 3 years – these years were drought years during which many farmers took their own lives. (”The last 12 years has seen one Australian farmer commit suicide every four days” – Source, more details)

But in this last year God has abundantly shown His ability and desire to bless. And I don’t think His desire to bless is at all limited to Australia, no not at all. All around the world people are crying out to Him for many different reasons. We have terrorism, local wars, HIV/AIDS, droughts, chronic violence in areas like Mexico, 1 in 50 American children is homeless and a financial crisis which Warren Buffet says has “fallen off a cliff” and here is a list of current world conflicts.

Ongoing conflicts in the world

But now… drum roll please!… in the context of an Australian farmer committing suicide every 4 days, take a look and be amazed at what God hath wrought in Australia.

Aussie 3 year rainfall deficiency

About a year ago that would have been all red everywhere. Now the red is reduced to a few areas.

And to top it all off, I was stunned to find myself at a conference talking to those very people from the wheatbelt and then through circumstance I ended up on a farm with them, attended church and ate food with some of them, heard their stories and looked through the hand written daily/monthly rainfall charts with them and rejoiced in what God has done. Needless to say, I had tears several times, as you can imagine.

But there are still areas of red. Yes. And those areas recently had terrible fires. BUT. Even those areas are now getting rain, check it out!

1. Storms sweep through drought stricken areas – Martin Palmer, Tuesday March 10, 2009 – 19:12 EDT- In the last 24 hours much needed rainfall has fallen on some of the worst drought affected areas of New South Wales and Victoria.
2. Storms may bring decent rain to Vic, SA and NSW drought areas – Brett Dutschke, Monday March 9, 2009 – 20:34 EDT-Showers and thunderstorms this week are a chance to bring significant rain to drought-affected Wimmera, Mallee, Murray and Lower Western districts.
3. Plenty of rain for parts of South Australia – Martin Palmer, Sunday March 8, 2009 – 17:43 EDT – The Western Coast and parts of the Northwest Pastoral in South Australia have received some much needed rain in the last 24 hours.
4. Rain brewing over the south – Jessica Trevena, Friday March 6, 2009 – 17:20 EDT – Cloud is building over southeast WA, and rain is expected to develop over the weekend then spread east into SA.

God has showed Himself, He has showed His ability to bless. Only a wilfully blind person can deny the 3 year deficiency was reversed – just look at the image above.

But then again… I recently had an encounter with a person who was trying to corner me and I had my friend Angela in the room with me who could support the claim I was making. The interviewer refused to engage and talk to Angela. I challenge the person to “turn your head and ask her” and this person said she is “not allowed to”. That person had a wilful blindness and was not permitted to see the truth that was right there in the room. Sadly that person was not a truth seeker, she had an agenda. I came in the room complaining of food poisoning, she wanted to admit me as a mental case. She brought disrepute and distrust upon her industry that day, by refusing to even listen to Angela’s story about what had happened.

So… back to the current focus… God’s blessing on Australia… He has made a change in the landscape, He rescued farmers when no one else could, He has blessed abundantly, He has changed hearts right across the nation. For example, I am amazed at the change in Canberra from when I arrived 9 years ago. I can remember the exact day when I saw someone put a smiley sticker on their car, then those lovely flower stickers and then more and more. People now greet each other and interact for no apparnt reason. There is a sense of optimism and joy around. He has done a wonderful work in the land and it will show in the votes in all future elections ahead. Severe looking doomsayers will lose out, optimism and openness will be rewarded with votes.

Well… He hasn’t achieved some promises He made in my life personally and that is a huge disappoint to me. People keep saying “get ready, preparation”… but I’ve been hearing that for decades. Almost.

You see, it doesn’t really matter if Australia believes in God, because God believes in Australia. But He also has plans and intentions to continue to bless so many other nations. So many faithful people prayed for rain for so long and He heard them. Many people are praying for peace in Mexico and in the middle east and I know that He is hearing them. Others are praying for an end to violence, rape, poverty and HIV/AIDS in African countries – and I know He has heard them.

I still stand on what He said, that the captivity has ended, the prosperity has been restored, Moab has fallen.

Yet will I reverse the captivity and restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, says the Lord. Thus far is the judgment on Moab. – Jer 48:47

Yes I know that stocks have fallen further since I first wrote those words, or since He first said that to me, but why should I doubt Him? Look at what a grandios thing He said He would do… when no one had any hope here… and HE DID IT!

So if He said He would bring rain… and then you look at just how much He did bring, and is still bringing, then surely He can bring this massive change to our societies as well? I for one no longer have any doubt at all in His ability. He did it, you can see that in the image above. Let’s believe that He can do whatever He says He can do.

Fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to keep His word and to do what He had promised. THAT is why his faith was credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God). – Rom 4:21-22

May God bless you if you can believe Hs words with me! With very great hesitancy I wonder what God has in store for me.