Monthly Archives: June 2012

Paws-4-thought: a special town in the Thames Valley?

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Yet again – right place, right time.  Some may think it ‘spooky’ – but please, it’s definitely not some sort of boast.  Maybe, it’s just that I’m alert to these kind of things, or perhaps it’s a  gift of discernment.  Whatever it is, it’s far too frequent to be my imagination, especially as actual physical events are involved.  My last few postings considered a strange series of serendipity which ended up being validated by yet another ‘coincidence’!  So, would you bear with me once again?

Last Saturday I attended a day’s teaching led by Christen Forster, senior leader of River Church in Maidenhead, at The Emmanuel Centre, Marsham  Street, Westminster.  He spoke about authority, power and control in the Church and in the world.

I was particularly interested to learn the outcome of a recent gathering of about 90 senior leaders from church, commerce, culture and politics who met in St Mary’s Undercroft directly beneath the House of Commons. They’d listened to Jesus in silence for an hour and then fedback what they felt He was saying to the nation.

As Christen reports in his blog:

This was a historic event and at the same time a single step in a flow of developments putting the Word and Presence of God back into the Foundation of the United Kingdom. On the floor in the middle of the corridor that divides the House of Commons from the House of Lords there is a Latin inscription. In translation it read…

“Lest the Lord builds the house, those who labour do so in vain…”

Words that remind us that despite the Godless direction of so much policy conceived and enacted at Westminster today, the roots of authority in the UK are in the word and presence of God.

(click on Listening to Jesus in the Palace of Westminster.)

He said that the listening-prayer time under Parliament was unique and it had started and closed with the ringing of a bell – where’ve we heard about that before? (here and here).  Yet even more remarkable was the consistency of the spirit and themes. There was weight and authority in what God is saying yet, being nationally-relevant, it is quite broad. Even so, some points could be applied to us as individuals.

Of the many points I was impressed with the recognition that the nation is reaping the consequences of our moral collapse.  Also, divisions and death in the nation have reflected those between/within the body of Christ. The church must, therefore, be changed, improved and rebuilt and not hold back in proclaiming the Gospel. As a nation we should recall and build upon the former solid foundations of Christianity.  The whole report will verified, signed and published in due course. (Initial overview now available here.)

Next week, there will be a follow-up evening of prophetic prayer for Parliament and government at The Emmanuel Centre (see Kingdom Come).

NOW, I was surprised that Christen briefly referred to two other matters for they are relevant to this blog’s recent posts.:

  1. Healing On The Streets is taking off faster than did the Alpha course!
  2. “Windsor and Westminster” are important in what the Lord is doing!
  3. Jesus is moving evangelists into focussing upon proclaiming the Cross.

[This last from my notes was reserved but is added for cross-referencing here! – 25/7.]

Where did we last encounter a Godly reference to Windsor? – the previous post.  And the next day at a church we’d been invited to, this royal town on the river Thames  cropped up in the pastor’s conversation about the vision for starting that church! So, serendipity strikes yet again!!  Therefore, it really must be of God.

But there’s much more. Here’s what I talked about with Dr Sharon Stone during a conference in February:

After talking about her class in Windsor an image of its Castle’s famous round tower came to mind. This was followed by the notion that its crenellated battlements looked like the teeth of a giant cogwheel which could fit into some sort of invisible socket where earth could get plugged into heaven. 

It’s a little hard to explain but then the thought dropped into mind that such engagement would enable the heavenly kingdom to ‘wind up’ our earthly kingdom – or ‘queen-dom’ – for the Lord’s purposes (eg. revival) – rather like putting a key into and winding up a clockwork toy.

Windsor Castle, courtesy CopyrightFreePhotos

Combine all that with this unique photo Alan May took (original link removed as demand crashed website but see copy here) during Garter Day on Monday 13 June 2011 at the Castle..:

WOW, WOW, WOW !!

In the right place at the right time!

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Let’s continue considering coincidences in more depth. My last two postings (here and here) reported upon connected instances of serendipity; the fortuitous occurrence of meaningful random events or coincidences. However, when these seem to relate to our relationship with God and we can discern His hand or instruction in events, then many refer to them as ‘God-incidents’, as you may have gathered from the last posts.

Therein, you’ll have glimpsed a train of serendipity.  In fact, each event along with its associated insights could only have been recognised because of a related previous event. For example, had I not been there then this would not have happened; had I not done this then that would not have been understood.

Furthermore, I’m reminded of scientific, physical laws of cause and effect as well as of simple arithmetic and maths. And recent coincidences are no simple linked chain but more like a tree, its trunk representing the observed sequence of events. Then three branches, and their own offspring, shoot out from the time of my ‘mistaken’ search on the web.  So now’s the time to divulge the amazing, crowning event!

Therefore, we may come to understand how this concatenation, or series of over a dozen related events, can be regarded as a distinct entity. It may be hard for non-believer and believer alike to even consider that the whole is pointing to the Living God – if not coming direct from Him.

But an astounding ‘God-incidence’ actually confirms that He is in these insights. It’s a though, using the last post’s metaphor of an orchestra, the conductor himself turns around and addresses the audience – like in the last night of the BBC Proms when the conductor humourously speaks to the celebrating promenaders before leading into the traditional, rousing grand finale.  Funnily enough, after that post’s musing about music I came across this from Professor Maucus du Sautoy:

With music you pick out the connections between one theme and another, and it is the same in maths……musicians are mathematicians at heart even though they may not know it. (Telegraph Weekend Review 2.6.2012)

GLORIOUS GOD-INCIDENCE VALIDATES GOD-INCIDENTS

Within two days of being amazed by unexpected events I received validation to everything from a recognised prophet.  In her mentoring class held opposite Windsor Castle, Dr Sharon Stone gave a brief resume of strategies and said Jesus has already brought breakthrough (word used by Beni Johnson) and opened doors.

We need to cross the threshold and walk through, as well as to guard our tongues against negative speech. With kind permission to quote, here’s my brief note of what Sharon taught:

Four Biblical Laws for Advancement of The Kingdom

Posture – How we do this is key – act on what God says, recalling that Jesus’ instruction at John 21 to the disciples to move only a few feet brought different and positive result.

Obedience – This is the watermark for next glory move of God that’s being released. Matt 17:24-27 shows how Peter’s obedience to God’s inspiration found and brought forth glory. His calling’s extreme purposes required extreme obedience.

Serendipity – “Amazing, accidental discovery! Wow! No matter what we do and what God does He surprises us with lots more – eg. Pentecost”. See Ephesians 3:14-21 – verse 20 in Amplified Bible reads:

20 Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do super-abundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams] – 21 to Him be glory…. (my emphasis)

Adaptability – We can get stuck in old familiar ways and find we don’t know how to handle the new. We set our size according to our ‘container’ but God wants us to move into the FAR bigger – but we don’t have a long time to adapt! Ask God to help us do it.

Sharon then said Revelation 10:5-6 applies: no more delay (as well as Matt 21:1-3).

There it is, dear reader – I was left ‘God-smacked’!  This prophet had given scriptural support, if not reasons, for the concatenation of God-incidents, thereby validating the ideas and insights into the deeper significance to Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee Bells:

ALL to and for His glory in the church and in Jesus Christ throughout all generations forever and ever.

[Hah – whilst separating sentence from preceding into closing paragraph, my pc begins playing a Vineyard classic, All Glory To Him!]

The spiritual significance of the Queen’s Jubilee Bells: part 2

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Do you recall, dear reader, the last time you were struck by an unusual and personal coincidence?  My previous post about the Jubilee bells referred to the fortuitous, happy occurrence of such events – serendipity. But on this occasion it all came in like a flood tide of information and understanding from several sources!

It would be interesting to know the mathematical probabilities of these personal events – it was as though it had all been orchestrated. Perhaps the Lord Himself is composer, arranger and conductor of an orchestra – players stand and play their ‘instruments’ at specific moments and a melodious tune can be heard.  Also, singers give thanks and praise to their maker/composer – even angelic choirs may join in and the whole gives glory to God.

So for not-yet-believers and nominal Christians, what follows may seem weird, perhaps ‘inaudible!’ but let it sink in and sink into it. In Part 1 I told about my ‘stumbling’ upon this revelatory information and provided links for readers to check for themselves.  Here’s why it’s exciting.:

As previously recounted, a blog from Kingdom Vision in SW England popped onto my pc screen by ‘mistake’ and which begins:

For 48 hours now I have seen myriads of angels in the heavenlies standing in rows. “Myriads” is not a word I would use, it dropped into my spirit when I saw them. Myriads means “uncountable.” Then I heard the sound of bells pealing, over and over. Sometimes they got REALLY LOUD. (my emboldening)

This was at the close of May and American Kathie Walters goes on to tell about lots of cheering accompanying the bells, like at a wedding, and she realises it’s to do with the UK.  Then she gets an email with news of the imminent Diamond Jubilee celebrations and hears that:

My friend Beni Johnson says God has been telling her things for a year about the bells. God told her, “The bells are going to ring again in England. Bells that have not been rung in years.” Beni said, “The bells are going to ring again and call people to prayer and worship as they did before. The bells will cause a sound in the atmosphere and it will be a sign to the UK. A sign of change (look back at the meaning of “peals”) and bring a shift.”

Following that English site’s link I read Joy Hall’s explanation of the number of Jubilee Bells and its Hebraic meaning, which is exceedingly encouraging for the UK.

But what particularly impacted in my spirit is the recollection of the effect of pealing bells when Nina and I visited Beverley, East Yorkshire, as recounted in Back down to earth.  Strolling around the market we decided to visit the close-by Minster. As we went down the street the heavy Minster bells started to be rung, not as a plain toll but in a most melodious tune.  Nina and her companion were both immediately ‘blasted’ in their spirits and had such difficulty in remaining upright they had to get into the nearest doorway to lean against it.  Any passer by could have thought they were drunks – but at that time of day?  At just gone 11.30 am?

As for me, I was busy taking photos but noted how unusual the bells sounded and surmised angels would enjoy it.  But Nina heard it as a continuous announcement and declaration into the earthly and heavenly realms within the region!!  So, there was a real spiritual dimension to these bells being rung, even though in a humanly organised schedule.

The last link connected into a prophetic well in SE London, which plugs straight into an article I’d commented upon just before going on our holidays, from which we’d recently returned. This new post begins:

There has been a massive amount of prophetic chatter about the sound of bells ringing in the heavenlies – some linked to resistance and spiritual warfare with others linking to the message of hope, a call to worship and a call to the “UK” believers in Jesus to awaken from slumber and take hold of God’s intended purposes for this nation.  (my emphasis)

Now, in the very busy week prior to going away I’d made time to comment upon Gillan Scott’s blog Has the Church fallen asleep on its feet?  You may like to read this short debate wherin my hastily penned contribution summarises where I believe the Church should be heading.  But reading further into the on-screen item I was hit by:

Within our fellowship we have had many words from the Lord about new beginnings, the start of the new things of God, breaking through of glass ceilings, wells of salvation, healing and heritage being opened up again – this past Sunday evening was all about the fire of God – key is that we have to ensure our lamps are full of oil and that we are to be totally focused on watching and waiting for the groom as we have to have the oil of His Holy Spirit within us to catch the fire! (author’s emphasis)

To understand this impact please note that, whilst I was away, Tony in Arizona had left me his following comment on exactly the same scriptural theme of the wise and foolish virgins (Matthew 25)!

The Hour is Late and the Time is Short

I had a dream early the morning of 04/29/2012. In the dream my wife and I were in bed sleeping and it was very late. Our door bell rang and I remember saying to my wife, “who would be ringing our doorbell at this late hour”. We both got up to see who it was. What was odd was that each of us had an old fashioned hurricane lamp, the kind you fill with oil, as our light . When we opened the front door, we saw an angel standing there with a jug of oil in his hands. He filled our lamps and told us that the time is short.

His comment was to my posting Get Ready.   Later, when I discussed all this with Nina and told her about Tony’s dream she was stunned,  “That’s the topic of my talk at a ladies’ breakfast in mid-June!”   She had written it two months before what I reported upon in my post.  I recall her having said it would be a follow-up to previous addresses; but this time, she said, she’s going to have to sock it to them, no holds barred, because the time to Jesus’ return is getting very short!

In February, the Lord had given her the whole message and title, which is – reader, are you ready for this?…‘Are You Ready?’ !!   Just upon the thought and mentioning the title whilst we spoke, she was hit by the physical reaction of being fired up by Holy Spirit.  (It happened again last night when telling visiting friends about it!)

Two days after all this I attended Sharon Stone’s mentoring class in Windsor on the eve of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.  Upon the suggestion of another prophet, we went discretely to cleanse and bless the River Thames prior to the next day’s Jubilee flotilla.

Beni Johnson’s Prophecy on Breakthrough for the UK:

Intercessor Beni is in charge of Bethel Prayer House, Bethel Church in Redding, Calif. Her words about the bells have been quoted far and wide in part but what validates all the above impressions is this brief reference:

…We ended up in London where Big Ben is, on a river tour when it rang at high noon –  which, for an intercessor, is the time to pray – high noon represents everything exposed, like nothing hiding,..Then we took a train to Paris… and got a taxi to Notre Dame.  The minute we got out at Notre dame it was ringing high noon..then we got it (understood what the Lord is stressing about bells).

Now look at photo displaying the time when Nina was ‘struck’ – 11.35am. The bells were ringing and declaring in preparation for high noon!  If you’re a believer, then listen to the whole 7 minutes of Beni’s greatly encouraging message above.

There’s lots more to all this, perhaps even a mathematical proof of God’s existence?

Further update re. free speech

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ASA Adjudication in complaint about the Coalition For Marriage

This morning blogger Archbishop Cranmer announced that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled on four counts against complaints that the Coalition’s press advert featuring married couples is offensive.  He provides the judgement report in its entirety but questions its closing ‘No further action required’ comment.

The complaint cited his blog amongst four displays of the supposedly offensive advert, which now heads his post. As I wrote here yesterday, His Grace has been tenaciously investigating the issue from another aspect.  He has now received a reply to his enquiry of the ASA and which,

His Grace finds this disingenuous, if not deceitful. Is the ASA really saying, in the 21st century, that they have no means of knowing what a document contained prior to an update? If amendments are made by means of paper forms, there will be an audit trail. If they are carried out online, there will be electronic footprints. If changes are made by email correspondence, these are easily traceable. It is, frankly, inconceivable that the ASA do not know what Lord Smith’s declarations were prior to May 2012, not least because he himself must know what changes he made. Unless, of course, they have something to hide…

The problems starting to beset ASA are hardly suprising for let’s not forget the shaking that was prophesied for this year in accordance with the following scripture.:

“Yet once more I shake not only the earth but also the heaven.” (Heb 13:26 NKJV)

To understand what the Lord means and the reason behind it see Hebrews 13:25-29 .  For the prophecies see A Promise of Revival by Dr Clifford Hill and Dr Sharon Stone    A Ripening Season.  It is also implicit in what Nathan Morris received after New Year – see An important word for 2012 .

May the Lord reveal more to you.

Update to ‘Welcome victory for freedom of speech…’

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Further to my post about the ASA adjudication against Healing On The Streets in Bath there is some unrelated news about another injudicious ASA action.

Regular readers will be aware of my opinion on political attempts to suppress Christian beliefs (eg. as here, here, here, here). So, it was extremely interesting to learn about the widely read political blogger Archbishop Cranmer’s confrontation with Lord Smith,  Chairman of the ASA, over his unwarranted interference with his blog:

…the ASA seeks to harass and bully those who carry perfectly innocuous advertisements promoting the traditional view of marriage, and enter-tain that such advertisements might be ‘offensive and homophobic’.

This other ‘saga’ with the ASA reveals a distinct lack of integrity and impartiality within its top echelons!  It also provides yet more evidence of its ulterior political motives, and is well worth reading and following the links provided by His Grace to grasp the whole story.

With regard to HOTS, Christians Together in the Highlands provides a summary of  the nature and significance of this issue for churches within the United Kingdom.

A welcome victory for freedom of speech – and commonsense!

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Paul Skelton of Healing On The Streets Bath, has updated me with welcome news of a substantial flaw in the ASA dictat against statements and testimonies of healing on  his website. The ruling has been officially reviewed and over-ruled and thus vindicates HOTS’ stance and their claims about ulterior motives to this issue, which many others could discern too – see previous update, and ASA tags in this blog for more.

The official statement has yet to be appear but it seems to confirm HOTS’ concerns,  which the original complainant described as, ‘bizarre’. This young lady claims to be a ‘paranormal investigator’ and yet admits to not having spoken to anyone or to making enquires other than visiting the website, or having done any open-minded research.  Her reasons arise from personal medical experiences, which is understandable, and so wishes to protect vulnerable people – but they’re mixed motives. Consequently, a very  strong ‘crusading’ bias contributed to a hasty, incomplete assessment and conclusion. When I presented her with undeniable evidence of my wife’s healing the ‘lady’ didn’t want to accept its validity. Her claims to being an objective investigator are thereby shown as being, at best, delusion or, at worst, downright fraudulent.

[I was once on her side of the ‘fence’ – even having contempt for contemporary Christian belief – but how utterly shocked I was to discover I was ‘gravely’ wrong (deliberate pun) and that the Gospel really IS wholly true – see Death of Destiny?.  I was devasted but what could I do but acknowledge the Truth Himself as my personal Lord and Saviour?]

Now, after my aside, here’s Paul’s published announcement.:

Advertising Standards Authority admit there was

 a substantial flaw in their judgement

Early this year the ASA ruled that HOTS Bath was in breach of advertising standards in expressing our belief that God can heal physically as well as spiritually and emotionally.

However, the official review process has now been completed and has identified a substantial flaw in the ASA’s Adjudication.

The ASA has subsequently accepted the official reviewers recommendation that the HOTS Bath website is actually outside of their remit and therefore beyond their jurisdiction.

This is great news and sets a clear precedent for Christian websites to be able to share testimonies of Gods goodness through physical healing with out opposition from official bodies.
Below is our official statement regarding this news :-

We are grateful to the ASA’s Independent Reviewer and the ASA Council for reviewing and amending this decision, and confirming that there was a fundamental flaw in the original assessment of the complaint about our website.

The ASA has now confirmed that our website is not within its remit because the statements made on it reflects our beliefs and relate to a cause or idea – the website explains our belief that God can heal and provides information about prayer offered by our volunteers and therefore the ASA has confirmed that nothing on the website is in breach of the advertising regulations.

The ASA still considered that leaflets handed out could be in breach of the advertising regulations, however we changed the leaflets several months ago to reflect the concerns which the ASA had previously expressed.

The ASA is due to re-publish the adjudication confirming its views on the leaflets, but the revised adjudication does not apply to what is on our website, meaning we can continue to express our beliefs that God can and does heal, as well as providing information and testimonies explaining all about Healing on the Streets.

HOTS Bath will continue to fulfill its commitment to demonstrate the love of God through healing of body, mind and spirit on the streets of Bath and elsewhere.

Visit our website at www.hotsbath.org

See update for recent news about ASA Chairman’s unwarranted political interference.

The especial significance of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee bells: part 1

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SERENDIPITY STRIKES AGAIN !! (Definition: the happy occurrence of chance events.) But when such events are laden with surprising illumination of a spiritual and intellectual nature, they’re regarded as from the Living God; that is, ‘God-incidents’.

This time it’s all about the Queen’s bells!  Or more particularly, the especially significant role and effect they have upon our nation and of which only a few folk have been aware.

Those who attended or watched yesterday’s grand spectacle of Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee pageant on the River Thames saw – and heard – a huge flotilla of 1,000 vessels (click to see selection of photos, courtesy Daily Mail Online).

The Belfry barge carrying eight enormous church bells led the procession in one of the most spectacular nautical events seen in London for over 350 years.   They pealed all along the 7 mile route and were joined by church bells ringing out in reply across the City of London as the pageant regally proceeded to Tower Bridge. (Daily Telegraph’s video-article on the rehearsal for bell-ringing gives a feel for their sound. I had hoped the BBC’s live coverage would have returned to their on-board presenter, showman John Barrowman, but his personal video blog conveys a sense of the very deep impact those bells can make.) Continue reading →