Tag Archives: #Testimonies

‘God-incidence’ of 11 and 21st (3×7) anniversary of solar eclipse – “Look up for your redemption draws nigh!”

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Not bothering to note today’s date, my intended online priority after the days morning tasks was to respond to a reference to number 11’s meaning by Jonathan Hill in his weekend email. BUT after opening my in-tray, what then dropped in from Ben Kay in Plymouth ‘God-incidentally’ highlights ’11’!! “ACE, absolutely brill Ben”, I immediately respond in my seeking his permission to copy; and so he puts it into perspective: 

“Glad that this email has hit the mark. It was interesting how it came about as I had no intention to write all these things until late last night when I sensed the Lord reminding me about the eclipse and prompting me to write an encouragement. It took a few hours but managed to get it sent out this morning thankfully. I meant to be writing… but sensed this interruption to my plans last night were from the Lord so decided to go with the flow…!”

Let’s ‘get in the flow’ of what the Lord’s indicating through Ben, as told under this title from Luke 21:28 (NB 7×3:7×4):

“LOOK UP…FOR YOUR REDEMPTION DRAWS NIGH!”

Good Morning,

Normally I simply send out dates and information about prayer meetings (such as the next PRAY UK meeting on 22nd August!)

However, this is a simple encouragement to keep pressing on when you may be feeling the pressure of life… to keep on looking up when you might be feeling down…and a reminder that we are held in the palm of the One who holds the whole world in His hands.

‘…I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me…Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.’ (Philippians 3 vs 12-14)

Last night, I remembered that today is a special anniversary for those in Devon and Cornwall who, 21 years ago today, witnessed the magnificent spectacle of the 1999 solar eclipse.

Indeed, you may have seen the special marker that was placed near Plymouth Hoe (by the cannons on Madeira Road) to remind us of this special moment. It is in the shape of a cross on the pavement.

‘X’ marks the spot where at the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of August 1999, the sun was turned to darkness and the moon turned a blood red colour above Plymouth and the surrounding region, and there followed 2 minutes of eerie darkness in the middle of the day, before the light of the sun broke through once again.

As I look back on this day with a sense of awe, I’m reminded of who it is that not only created the earth, the moon and the sun but actually brought them into alignment and scheduled this special moment at the beginning of time. For no solar eclipse randomly happens but each one was timetabled from the moment of creation.

‘And God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years…”‘ (Genesis 1:14 KJV emphasis mine)

By all accounts (eg. Wikipedia’s Solar Eclipse of 11th August, 1999), this was a special eclipse. This was ‘one of the most-viewed solar eclipses in the whole of human history’ and the first that could be viewed from the UK since 1927.

As illustrated therein, the total eclipse started in the Atlantic (not far from where the Mayflower’s Pilgrims first settled), speeding across the ocean at around 2000km/h before making landfall, crossing both Devon and Cornwall. Interestingly, the eclipse then went from here to have an impact on the rest of Europe as well as parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia…2 billion people in all!

There are many prophetic words that have been spoken about the region over the years indicating that God is about to do something special. Given that an eclipse can also be defined as an ‘over-shadowing’, perhaps God’s Spirit is brooding and getting ready to bring forth ‘fullness of life’ in this region as expressed in John 10:10’s  “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly”.

Furthermore, perhaps the precise time and direction of the eclipse over Plymouth and the region indicates that an end-time revival of great magnitude is coming that will have an impact on multitudes throughout the nations.

But if life is tough right now, perhaps we just need to hang in there. In the natural, there is much pressure on a baby in the birthing canal just before it is born.

‘We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going.’ (2 Corinthians 4 vs 8-9 TLB)

God is in control, even though we may feel everything is out of control.

‘and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose’. (Romans 8 v 28)

Not all things are good…but in all things, we trust God is working things out for our good and birthing His purposes and plans in our lives.

When we’re in the thick of it, sometimes it is hard to see the bigger picture.

Perhaps this recent prophetic word from Veronika West entitled, ‘It’s Time, Destiny’s Clock is Ticking‘, will serve as an encouragement to ‘look up’ at this time and keep ‘watching and praying’…

Here’s an excerpt from this relatively short word:

‘So stay watching and praying in these days, as the Winnowing Winds of My Spirit now blow upon the threshing floor of the Nations. Listen and pay close attention! Tick, tock, tick, tock…the sound of destiny’s clock can be heard in the realm of the Spirit. Do you hear it? Are you ready? Are you aligned and rightly positioned? Are you walking in time with My Spirit?

Beloved…See! For this is a kairos time…an appointed time in the earth…a time of divine Shifting, Sifting, Scattering and Separation has surely begun…for the Nations at a divine tipping point are now being Shifted…the wheat and the tares are now being Sifted…Yes!…and the demons of hell are now being Scattered and the goats and sheep Nations are now being Separated…Watch! As the Winnowing Winds of My Spirit now blow forth upon the Harvest fields of the Nations…Beloved, Get ready!!

This follows on from a recent dream Veronika West had in June 2020 (Hourglass of End-time Harvest).

Veronika explains, “This dream came with such an urgency of the times and the need to begin to cry out for the nations of the earth who are in the valley of decision. I believe this dream speaks to the 11th hour. A kairos time in the earth. An appointed time of the End-time Harvest!”

The details of the dream and Veronika’s interpretation take a little longer to read than the above prophetic word…but it is well worth reading and reflecting upon.

The dream concludes with the following words:

“Watch and Pray! For but a little while longer the Golden Revolving Door of The Ages and of Eternal Destiny stands open before the nations. As the days of My Grace and Mercy are poured out upon the nations, watch! For the time is here, for the 11th Hour Harvesters will herald the birthing of a new great awakening on the earth!”

Veronika’s dream reminds me of an encounter I had with God after attending a prayer meeting at Plymouth Christian Centre back in 2012. I was left with a clear sense that we’re living in the closing age of time before Jesus returns for His bride.

Read more about this ’11th hour’ encounter HERE in Why ’12am CRY’? and listen-read-watch RT Kendall explain more about ‘What is the Midnight Cry?’.

Anyhow, this has now turned out to be a much longer email than originally envisaged, so I’ll finish here with a couple of verses encouraging us to rouse to the reality of the time we are living in…

‘Besides this you know what [a critical] hour this is, how it is high time now for you to wake up out of your sleep (rouse to reality). For salvation (final deliverance) is nearer to us now than when we first believed (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on Christ, the Messiah). The night is far gone and the day is almost here. Let us then drop (fling away) the works and deeds of darkness and put on the [full] armour of light. (Romans 13 vs 11-12 AMPC)

Every blessing,

Ben Kay

RB Footnotes:
  1. I wrote Ben, “Not only does your Luke 21:28 header tie in with scripture relating to the night Jesus visited me (and thus the First Sunday of Advent, celebrating His Return – as illus. below), but also and in depth, today’s date of 11th ties in with the details of an email I want to reply to later after returning home.”
  2. Jonathan Hill, author of Unlocking the Biblical Watch of Messiah’s Return, remarks in his recent email upon the Biblical meanings numbers ‘11’ and ‘12’: ‘The number ‘12’ represents the governmental perfection of Israel in the Millennium (12 tribes of Israel etc.). Number ‘11’ precedes ‘12’ and speaks of ‘anticipation’ of Millennium. As part of the Biblical Watch, ‘11’s appearing in global events/signs before the upcoming Millennium may, therefore, be part of this anticipation and signify events which closely precede the Millennium. The 11th hour warning of Armistice Day 1918 (11th hour of 11th day of 11th month) is one such sign’.’
  3. In referring to ’11’ and ’12’ Jonathan has ‘God-incidentally’ connected into Ben’s message on today’s date of 11th as 21st anniversary of the solar equinox at Plymouth – as well as into his calling at 11th hour on 7.9.2012 (see 12am Cry). (Also, 21 = 7 x 3.)
  4. And just as intriguing: I find yesterday’s total number of views on this website is two twelves, ie 1,212. MOREOVER, ‘two twelve’ was the number of my childhood home where that Visitation in 1989 was located!

CONCLUSION: THE LORD IS GETTING OUR ATTENTION – HAS HE GOT YOURS?

PS: Two ‘GPS’ confirmations were immediately received, as recounted here.

Triple-blast of ‘The Blessing’ video brings medically attested healing!!!

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After being blasted by the Holy Spirit last Friday evening Nina felt able to take the wrap-around thigh-to-calf velco brace off and try walking normally and then sleep without it – NO PAIN AT ALL! Thank you Lord.
And so much easier to walk, albeit carefully, without being weighed down by brace and needing any support of a wheeled frame or crutches!! Moreover, no need trying to sleep with a straightened leg. Thank the Lord her leg wasn’t in a plaster-cast!

Yesterday, the orthopaedic consultant and the casualty doctor whom Nina first saw 25 days ago were amazed at her rapid progress because the latter had said it would take 6-8 weeks for the fractured knee-cap to knit and be strong enough to resume normal activity!!!  The consultant’s nurse just gaped; mouth open!

Afterwards, Nina saw the casualty doctor, who had to check Nina was the same person whom she’d seen and given that long prognosis. So Nina showed her 3 times how well the knee bends. “It shouldn’t be able to do that!” the doctor exclaimed and agreed the unexpected progress was “indeed” the result of prayer-support – AND we know it was Holy Spirit’s tangible fiery touch too! WE PRAISE YOU LORD! (The consultant advises it’s helpful to take walks using two-poles to avoid any fall, and take care on stairs.)

Reclining armchair enables sitting whilst wearing leg-brace

When I blogged here about what happened we hadn’t realised the healing the Lord was bringing but, as pointed out last night by the pastor of Catch The Fire Farnborough and who’s seen miracles overseas, worshiping Jesus is the best place to receive healing. (We well know this from 14 years ago when Nina was able to dance in worship whilst officially registered as permanently disabled – see From ‘Disabled’ to Enabled.)

You may have read about the Holy Spirit’s powerful double-visit in The Blessing Videos Fulfill…Prophecies but for the record here’s the fuller account with third visit:

1st ‘Sizzle’:

‘..(Friday evening) Nina was hit by a double ‘strike’ of the Holy Spirit whilst hearing this song twice! We’d been invited to watch The Surge, an online broadcast of leaders of the charismatic movement arising from the Toronto Outpouring…After John and Carol Arnott’s ‘welcome’ this historic event began with its own rendition of The Blessing, opened by a pianist at CTF Bournemouth followed by singers across the global family of CTF-PIH churches.

‘Upon my turning towards Nina whilst they sang, I saw her sizzling in her recliner-chair as she felt Holy Spirit surging up and down her.’

2nd ‘Sizzle’:

‘After the 2-hour session we watched The UK Blessing and at the end Nina stood up to move as best she could with a leg in brace to go upstairs. However, YouTube autoplay went on to the song’s version done in South Africa and, with her feet firmly placed at the foot of the stairs, she found herself gently falling face-first into the carpeted stairwell as a black African sang “…And make His face to shine upon you”!! WOWEEE!!!!

‘Then, I was struck that this song of the Old Testament’s Aaronic blessing could fulfill a number of prophecies of recent years. The latest of these was issued just 3 weeks ago by Christie Johnson of Australia’s Gold Coast, as republished on this blog in Watch the Horizon, Here Come the Waves of Awakening, one element of which reads:

‘3. The Sound and the Wind – A New Sound of Worship: “I first heard an unusual sound that I wasn’t familiar with. I believe this is speaking of a new sound of worship that is going to precede the mighty outpouring. This worship is beginning to break forth, even now, all across the earth…”

‘Moreover, the song’s verse that felled my wife speaks directly into the application of that prophetic vision and word: ‘Divine strategy for this new sound:…this is a moment of setting yourself in a position to gaze upon the face of the Beloved….!!’

3rd ‘Sizzle’:

Over the weekend, Nina mentioned friends had asked if she’d seen another version and so we sat to watch ‘The Blessing (Kids)’, but this time it brought far more than a ‘sizzle’!

Nina was transfixed in her recliner with her body shaking and eyes almost popping out on stalks…!

Prophecy of great humbling, then spiritual revival in Great Britain (GPS #47.3 cont’d – F/P #165.1)

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A great thank you to Carolyn Stewart for transcribing this vital message (previous post refers). Note it was received last November at a time of unprecedented political upheaval in Parliament and speaks directly into this year’s unprecedented economic situation arising from global covid-19 pandemic. And yesterday came news of Britain’s humiliation internationally, as well as scientifically. Hence inclusion of this prophecy in the catalogue of fulfilled prophecies or those coming to pass (Footnotes refer).

Click on this image to listen:

“I just want to share this prophetic word. I was looking through my phone and I found this. (The current date is..we are in April 2020). And as I was looking through my phone of prophecies I found this one called ‘The Humbling of Great Britain’, which I’d never put out before. I completely forgot about it. So I think in the light of what’s going on at the moment, it is very relevant. It is a warning, but it is also an encouragement of what God is doing in our land. I thought I should release this now.

“As I said, this was given in November 2019. This was just before I died as well, so it is quite a significant prophecy. And as I said, I’d forgotten all about it. I just found it on my phone, but I feel it’s important to release it, so I’ll leave it with you. Please listen, please enjoy, please be blessed, and please spread it around as well.

THE HUMBLING OF GREAT BRITAIN (November 2019)

“I will have the people in this land in derision”, says the Lord. “I will pour out my Spirit on this land, and those people that have called to come together to conspire, to tear down My ways and My precepts and My ordinances from this land – this green and pleasant land. Mark My words: I will have them in derision. I am in the heavens and I laugh at their futility, at the things that they’re attempting to do, to close Me off and shut Me off from My own creation and so close down and shut down My people. For that is their ultimate aim. They want Me and every trace of Me eradicated from the land and from education and from every part of this society.

“But mark My words; I have plans to prosper this country, and I will bring to shame the wise. I will shame those who have so loftily held their head up – their stiff-necked heads that have said, ‘We will bring our ways! We will bring in our precepts and ordinances in this land, and we will eradicate God, and we will take Him off his throne. And we shall destroy His church.‘  But not so!

“Sadly, My own Church has failed to see how impoverished and how weakened she has become. She is literally now a remnant in this country. Yet I will do great things with a remnant. Yet when it was I can take three hundred foot-soldiers with Gideon and I can do a great deliverance, and I will do the same also in this land. I will take this small remnant of a Church that is left – those Christians that genuinely acknowledge Me as their Lord and Saviour – and will not bow the knee to Baal and to all his false practices and customs in respect to the laws that are now passing in this land.

“Mark My words, punishment will come for the sins that have covered this land. But the punishment, as I always punished Israel in times past, was so that it may bring them to repentance and may bring healing to their land; that when the people are humbled they would pray to me and I would turn in My mercy, I would forgive them their sins and I would then heal their land. I am going to bring punishment to this nation – a time of humbling – but this punishment is not to destroy this nation. This punishment is to humble her and to chastise her, that she may repent of her wicked ways and turn back to Me.

“There will not be many nations in the days ahead that will be permitted to have what this nation will be permitted. You will have a grace and a favour upon you which many other nations will not be given because I have plans and purposes for this country. And even though My own people have been faithless harlots towards Me, know this; that your faithlessness will only go to prove My faithfulness. I will be faithful to My Covenant and to My Word, and I will bring about My ways and My means for this country, and I will pour out My Spirit. And I will bring Revival, but it will not be like any revival that has been before. It will be uncontainable; it will be uncontrollable; and the world will HATE it because it will be so strong and it will be so powerful that they cannot ignore it.

“In times past they’ve been able to turn a blind eye to the things of My Spirit, but in these days everyone will know about it, everybody will know about it. And the same sun that melts the ice also hardens the clay, and men will just drop into two distinct camps: those that love Me and those that absolutely hate Me. This is why in many respects these days are dangerous days, because it will polarize people, in ways stronger than they are now; but you will know the righteous and you will know the evil.

“But mark My words, I will do something wonderful with this country; I will restore law and order to this country. This country has become lawless and it has no more order to it. And your Houses of Parliament are an example of the state of your nation, of the division of your nation, of the complexities of your nation. The wickedness and the hardness of heart and the blindness and arrogance of your nation are all set to display, for all the world to see in your own Houses of Parliament. But I am going to do a new thing. And many men will lay down their crowns and place down their swords before Me and repent and give their lives to me. And many powerful men and women who vehemently hate My name, will come to know Me and love My name.

“And some Christians might go, ‘Why, why Lord did you save them? They’re the ones who brought such depravity to our nation. Why did you allow it?’  Because that’s My grace, that’s My mercy, and the very ones that brought in those laws, I will turn into trophies of grace to make the enemy despised in his own camp, for I will make those who passed those wicked laws be the ones that undo them, for they will reveal the secrets and the dark intent and heart of sinful wicked flesh. And the world or this country at least, will look on in horror at the things that they’ve released and allowed in this country, and they will be rescinded and retracted.

“My people, you need to do this: you need to be spending these hours – because it is only hours – you need to be spending these hours in prayer; you need to be spending these hours on your knees; you need to be spending this time in the Word, learning from Me, learning from My Spirit and I will teach you many wonderful things. But this is the time, because there are many bridesmaids out there that do not have enough oil in their lamp and you need to get it in your lamp. No-one can part-exchange their life of intimacy with Me to those that have no intimacy with Me. This is your chance; now is the time to do it, for in the humbling that’s coming – this wind of change that’s going to blow through this land – it’s going to be a difficult time for this nation. It will not be a long time, but the depth of the punishment that will come will be severe, even though it will only be for a short time. It was like when I said to King David, “You can have three years of this, three months of that, or three days of the other”.

“This will be a short punishment but it will be a deep punishment; a deep chastisement to this nation. And I will humble this nation and I will turn her around. And many who are your enemies in these days will become your friends and neighbours in the days to come.

“So be prepared, be encouraged but be warned; this is not going to be an easy day that is coming, it is going to be a difficult day, a difficult time for this nation. Many Christians will cry out, ‘Why did I allow such things to come to this nation?’ But in part, everyone in this nation is responsible for the punishments that are coming.

“There is much worldliness in My Body, much worldliness in My Church, much worldliness in the mindset of Christians, much worldliness in the teachings of the Church! And the teachings of the Church have lost their anchor. They have apostasised; they have become an apostate church, in that they’ve drifted away from the truth of scripture and have chosen to allow the doctrines of men to infiltrate the teachings of the Church. The sacred scriptures should never be changed, never diluted, never touched, never altered, for they sacred and they are from the throne room of heaven itself. How dare man place his DNA and his ideas over that which is heavenly and beyond?

“So take heart to these words and this warning. Be blessed, be encouraged and get ready, for the time is now when the humbling must begin. And it will be short but long. It will be a short period of time but it will feel like the longest period of time, for it will be very intense. And for a period of three years a time of great humbling will come upon this nation, and it will be a heavy three years, a very difficult three years.

“But then things will change, things will turn, and you will go from Winter to Spring, Spring to Summer, Summer into Harvest time.”

Footnotes:
  • Epidemiologist behind highly-cited coronavirus model drastically downgrades projection (26 March 2020)
  • Govt’ scientist resigns after breaking lockdown rules to meet married lover (5 May)
  • Britain criticised around the world for ‘complacent’ and ‘calamitous’ coronavirus response (6 May)
  • Despite Ferguson fiasco No 10 about to make its second major blunder (7 May) viz:

    ‘The biggest political con in modern history has descended into farce. Professor McLockdown, has choked on his own junk science, resigning from Sage after the Telegraph exposed that he flouted the very mass house arrest he advocated for everyone else. But his defence – that he broke the rules because he had already caught the virus and recovered from it – is even more revelatory; turns out Britain’s most influential epidemiologist believes that not only can you gain immunity from Covid-19, but that this should release you from lockdown.

    ‘If No 10’s response to coronavirus was really based on “following the science”, of course, these new details about Prof Ferguson’s view might be a game-changer, prompting, at the very least, Downing Street discussions of how to rapidly loosen the rules for those who have had the virus. Like with all good farces, though, the most absurd is yet to come. Incredibly, Downing Street shows little sign of learning from the Ferguson Chapter. And, astonishingly, once again, “the science” is being compromised by political hysteria – a scandal that continues to be barely scrutinised.

    ‘But before we get to the meat, let us briefly chew over the cautionary tale that can be cleaved from the career of Prof Ferguson. He has a track record of making wildly inaccurate projections, for example that BSE would kill 150,000 people (the real figure was fewer than 200)…’

Was pastor’s fatal heart attack to prevent God’s warning to Britain and apostate church? (GPS #47.3)

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Click image for link to Series 8, episode 3 (available until 22nd May)

At last, a fortnight later than intended this double-post gets off-the-press – but as we all know; timing is everything for it is the Lord’s.

As announced here, the programme screened 22nd April shows pastor Christopher Wickland’s two heart attacks at a trampoline park last November. Its CCTV captured the terrifying ordeal of that day out with his daughter and two younger boys. Nick Knowles’ narration is split into an introductory account from 0:45 to 12:00 minutes. He summarises the situation at 21:00m, then proceeds with details of Chris’ recovery and wife Tracey’s prayer-network action.

The footage may distress some but it demonstrates the prompt, proficient skills of the park’s manager and assistant in giving CPR and FIVE shocks by defribrillator. The manager says the pastor was “effectively dead”!  Although he started breathing after the fifth shock he was taken to Southampton’s cardiac intensive care unit, his brain started to deteriorate as soon as his heart stopped and remained inactive. Victims are not expected to survive with fully functioning brain after prolonged oxygen deprivation. So Chris was put into an induced coma.

The account was previously told in Premier Christian News and BBC South Today, as herein, of when his 12 years-old daughter phoned her mother, who immediately alerted their church and many others to pray for her husband’s resurrection from effective death without any brain and heart damage whatsoever. Praise the Lord that He did.

AND our heavenly Father must have done that so that a prophetic word He’d given this pastor would get delivered – otherwise why bless him and then only hours later take him home to heaven?? I suspect something else wanted to suppress it!

NOTE very carefully what Christopher had written on his Facebook 11 days before the latest BBC programme:

CLICK IMAGE TO LISTEN (not shown in new screen)

[OR, wait a short while for the next post’s transcript of this prophecy.]

In that FB thread Christopher kindly agrees to my asking a professional stenographer to produce a transcript. A week later I commented upon our battle-situation:

“Just to update you Christopher: transcript recvd Thurs a’noon b4 long weekend offline but began working on draft lead-in upon bbc’s CConCamera – correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems the adversary didn’t want that word made public, so took you out of the picture, BUT the Lord came up trumps!

“There’s strong opposition to this as I’d awoken that full blogging day (Thurs) with badly bloodshot eye PLUS early Sat morning (25 April) my wife Nina took bad fall and broke her right kneecap – so we’re in recovery mode and my hands are even fuller. Y’day, our cat got attacked by a vicious tomcat that disturbed her in our greenhouse, chasing her to the house!!”

He responds  “Gosh. You have gone through the wars. Yes agreed. When I received the word I sensed the enemy was really angry with me for knowing his plans. But God got the victory and the glory and the word still got released. He is so good. Will be praying for your protection.”  (Emphases added)

Back-from-dead pastor in ‘Close Calls Caught on Camera’ – BBC1, Wednesday 22 April at 11:45am TODAY!

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Do you recall news of pastor Christopher Wickland’s revival from death at a trampoline park in Southampton three months ago? It was publicised in the local press and BBC South Today.

The account has now got a longer slot in tomorrow morning’s Close Calls Caught On Camera on BBC1 at 11:45am Wednesday 22nd April – and yet again No. 22!!!!

NOT TO BE MISSED!

[Published at 11:22 on 21.4.2020 – not planned or scheduled, but just so happened!!]

Physics and Faith: a personal journey

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Paul’s account reminds me of my days as a physics student after which I became anti-Christian but later after the Lord rescued me, like Paul, I later realised He really does have a sense of humour. I’d vowed never to touch Baptists with a barge-pole because they’re biblical bigots – but a years later I realised He’d put me in a Baptist church to get grounded in scripture!

scienceandbeliefguestauthor's avatarScience and Belief

magnetic meander domain wikimedia Matesy GmbH CCA_SA_3_U copy Magnetic domains viewed by the Faraday Effect © Matesy GmbH, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

When I was a Physics student, I used to tear down the posters of the University Christian Union (CU).  It was an unexpected moment for me therefore when I found faith and became a Christian, while I was working on a PhD in magnetic domain theory.  In the early hours of the morning of the seventh of May 1971, alone in my room, God showed me how much I needed him.

I sometimes feel my experience has parallels to that of Saul meeting Jesus in Acts 9.  There were no lights or voices, just a sudden feeling of an urgent need for meaning to my life

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45-year condition cured after prayer at 3 Counties Church, Haslemere

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On Tuesday morning I was chatting to Rob at the Refresh morning whilst waiting to hear the speaker’s personal accounts of miracles in India, but I pointed out that Rob has his very own testimony which I’d recently read on this site. I’d found it after Rupert Walsh published my wife Nina’s accounts of healing (here and here) from this blog. So I’d encourage my readers to dig into the dozens of testimonials Rupert’s published and to keep tabs on them by following his blog (see About).

The Miracles Blog's avatarMiracles In The UK

A powerful healing was shared in early 2018 at Three Counties Church in Haslemere. Rob, a member of the church, had been suffering from TMJ (a painful jaw condition), but after two rounds of prayer in the name of Jesus, has been healed. Read his story here, or watch him sharing below.

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TONIGHT – prophetic pastor who died speaks on BBC South Today

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Some may recall Revd Christopher Wickland’s prophetic messages posted on this blog, but hundreds have been praying for his recovery after an unexpected heart attack some weeks ago. His totally unexpected recovery has featured in national, local and overseas press as well as on radio; and his TV interview features on tonight’s BBC South Today!

Click to read full article (not in new window)

Premier Christian News reports, ‘Rev Chris Wickland stopped breathing after he collapsed at a trampoline park he was attending in Southampton with his children. Staff members at the Flip Out centre performed CPR on the pastor and administered four electric shocks with a defibrillator after his heart stopped beating, at which point Wickland began breathing again and an ambulance arrived.

‘Wickland, who is the senior pastor of Living Word Pentecostal Church in Fareham told Premier that paramedics who arrived on the scene were amazed by his recovery: “In 24 years of work, they said they’ve never seen anyone come back after a fourth shock.”

‘He claims he was resurrected by the power of prayer. After his collapse his daughter contacted his wife Tracey who told the children “to pray for him immediately”.

“Then immediately my wife put it out onto the prayer network and our churches and it hit social media and just went out everywhere. So lots of other churches picked it up and started praying. For the next several days we had like literally hundreds of Christians all over the world and churches praying for us,” he added.

‘Wickland was rushed to hospital after the incident and put into an induced coma. He remained on life support for a number of days (being) unable to breathe independently. Doctors had warned Mrs Wickland his chances of survival were unlikely once he was taken off the ventilator and said if he was he’d likely suffer severe mental damage due to the lack of oxygen…’ (emphases added)

Click image for Christopher’s facebook

So we praise and thank you Lord of Lords and King of Kings for your answering prayers and blessing this dear family.

The primacy of Evangelism, the shiftiness of Jung and disappearance of freedom of speech — Gavin Ashenden

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Am very pleased to learn of Revd Gavin’s early liking of Carl Jung and stark warning about consequential darkness for those who follow his path, for that too is my story but which began a decade earlier than his journey.  I was intrigued that his auto-biography told of a ‘revelatory’ dream that started Jung’s delving into psychic realms because it falsely pointed to God loathing the traditional Church. What’s more, it’s thus not surprising Jung soon acquired a spiritual guide, or ‘mentor’!  [My personal account at I’m Free! tells of these dangers and how only the Lord Jesus could rescue me and transfer me from the devil’s domain into His Kingdom – Colossians 1:13.]

Only 5 per cent of UK population love the Bible. We need to get serious about evangelism. 11th November 2019 Following the news that just 5 per cent of the population are ‘Bible-loving’, Bible Society has created seven other spiritual types (such as ‘Bible Nostalgic’ and ‘Bible Indifferent’) to indicate various attitudes to scripture that…

via The primacy of Evangelism, the shiftiness of Jung and the disappearance of freedom of speech…. — Gavin Ashenden

Triple validation of Jesus’ night-time visitation

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A little time was needed to gain a fuller understanding of that awesome visitation – the absolute holiness of the Lord Jesus Christ in contrast to my personal sinful nature. No wonder I expected to die and was convicted of my sin!

That encounter used two very personal aspects of my life to grab my attention, thereby validating the experience as real, not an imaginary one. Even more amazingly, both validations are directly related to the 1st and 2nd Advents!  Thus, they couldn’t fail to enhance my interest in End-Times and which had been launched a few years earlier by The Invisible Hand (described here). Continue reading →

30 years ago last night Jesus stopped me dropping into Hell

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Upon awaking 30 years ago today (14th September 1989) I knew events in the early hours had been a landmark in my destiny.

The previous evening in Pangbourne,  Berks, I’d firmly shut the door to hearing any more about God’s Good News! But the night had been spent at my childhood home at 212 E___ Rd, Stockport, to undergo a life-changing event. Continue reading →

30 years ago tonight I shut the door on God’s Good News…

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‘Twas a fateful day written in my destiny – perhaps in heaven too?

The evening of 13th September 1989 I entertained a young man, barely an adult, only to end up discretely disagreeing!

I didn’t know a false gospel had lured me to the Devil’s Door. It wasn’t a normal door but a trapdoor and about to be sprung with me standing on it! In abject terror I groaned “My number’s up!” because I’d unexpectedly and suddenly come to the end of my life!

What’s more, I was absolutely terrified to realise hell’s now below me and I’d be heading down there – even though I didn’t believe in it! I was wrong – so badly wrong!!

Being anti-Christian had been a serious mistake – but it was now far too late! Yet I’m now able to tell this true story purely for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How did I get there you may ask. And, how on earth did I get out of it? Continue reading →

God’s humour in mechanic’s miracle and at atheist’s expense!

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The Sunday evening before last we heard how God miraculously provided about 1,300 large bread cakes from only 200 that pastor Christopher Bird had taken to a Ugandan orphanage, but to which 500 children had walked for hours for food to feed them over the week!  Next he took the left-overs to other places and watched everyone getting fed from what he’d originally brought. Only 7 loaves were left, which were for the 7 servers.

ELECTRO-MECHANICAL MIRACLE

Next, a group told him on a Sunday morning they’d take him Monday to a neighbouring nation – but he needed to apply for an entry visa. So he had to get two visa-size photos on a Sunday afternoon in Kampala – but there was a city-wide power blackout!

He saw a 50-years old photo-booth on a pavement and spoke to its attendant who said it was unplugged because of the outage. Chris told him the God who created electricity and gave mankind the ability to harness it and power machines would make it function properly. He thus prayed loudly to the Lord and a crowd began to gather.

Upon sitting in the booth and drawing the curtain, four flash lights went off and colour photos appeared right away!

PROBLEM: it was a black-and-white only camera and took minutes to print photos:

RESULT: colour photos and so attendant mechanic shouts, “I now follow Jesus!”

ARROGANT ATHEIST ANSWERED

Two weeks ago today came news of Felix Ngole’s landmark legal victory for freedom of speech and my posting was reblogged on All Along The Watchtower, where it attracted a lengthy debate – but not upon the details of the case. A new commentator is pleased this ruling allows for engaging with believers for the purpose of enlightening them on how “ridiculous and erroneous” the Bible is!!  Therefore, he or she demanded evidence for and repudiated Christians’ claims, especially for Jesus and the Resurrection.

It is amusing that their next and many attempts to answer a moderator’s request for background details didn’t get published and caused some consternation. Meanwhile, moderator mused, “Maybe God didn’t like what you wrote?”  Eventually, comments were found in the WordPress software’s trash can!

As the site is a God-fearing one then He probably considers those contributions serve only the hater of humanity. Also, the Lord was yet to have a further, amusing play with this person’s mockery.

That their comments are hidden by anonymity, are arrogant, devoid of manners as well as demonstrating a completely closed mind, renders their arguments invalid. So the bin is where they belong!

In choosing an avatar icon and name that I was familiar with when an unbeliever active in its ungodly realm, I discerned the issue and offered my testimony as a witness to the Lord for their further investigation.

I was met with, “I suggest you keep looking out for those signs of Jesus’ return, And while you are waiting why not read the bible? All of it”  I replied the Lord is our judge and wasted no further time with this lost soul but pray he, too, has a radical encounter with Him.

That was happening whilst I had a hard-copy of Neil’s paper on End-times to peruse, and had just got Nicholas’ sermon notes (previous posts refer). I mentioned them to my wife but she doesn’t closely follow my blogging and was unaware of all the details.

I’ve now realised the Lord gave Nina the audible word about His return, “It’s sooner than you think!!!”, as though answering that mocking atheist in His own way – as the adage goes: ‘He who laughs last, laughs longest!’

Next, we’ll take a fresh look at the events Jesus told us to watch out for…

Triple validation of the reality of my encounter with Jesus

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APPENDIX TO PERSONAL TESTIMONY

A little time was needed to gain a fuller understanding of that awesome visitation – the absolute holiness of the Lord Jesus Christ in contrast to my personal sinful nature. No wonder I expected to die and was simultaneously convicted of my sin!

That encounter used two very personal aspects of my life to grab my attention, thereby validating the experience as real, not an imaginary one. Even more amazingly, both validations are directly related to the 1st and 2nd Advents!  Thus, they couldn’t fail to enhance my interest in End-Times and which had been launched a few years earlier by The Invisible Hand (described here).

The First Advent was the time when Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea about two thousand years ago. Hence, the four weeks leading into Christmas are designated within the church calendar as Advent, and which start the church year.

The Second Advent is coming soon and is expected to begin in the city of Jerusalem.

FIRST VALIDATION

I inwardly ‘knew’ the heavenly visitor was indeed Jesus, and that the impressive action was a foretaste of his promised return, when He will come in all His power and glory.

The event reminded me of my favourite picture in mother’s Missal, or service book of the Roman Mass.  This gave the content of every Sunday service throughout the year with a diagram symbolising the theme for each service.  As a boy keen on astronomy I’d been fascinated by the picture for First Sunday in Advent. This depicted Jesus standing on the clouds over a burning earth in the midst of sun, moon and falling stars, indicative of events before his Second Advent!

The confirmation referred to above came almost as unusually. On a healing retreat years later, a minister told me God would show me something after lunch. Indeed, after lunch a stranger who’d been seated at my table confided that the Lord told her to show me something she greatly treasured.

christinclouds-lrgIt was a photo taken, it was claimed, from an aircraft over a thunderstorm. When developed, the photo bore an image of Jesus Christ, as though standing within clouds. However, the facial features were hazy, not defined. It was exactly like Jesus in my dream because I’d not seen His face.  (I recall dark, hazy clouds at the foot of the image. This one is published by Bible Probe.)

Upon seeing this photo my legs gave way – I couldn’t stand but fell into a nearby chair! My companion said I went so white she thought I was going to faint or fall.

Yet, just how did a stranger know to show me this photo?  I’d not divulged such a personal dream – she simply said, “It’s the Lord’s doing”.

SECOND VALIDATION

I was puzzled over the closing element of the dream-event, that is:  upon my reaching towards Jesus’ feet to grasp his robe, it turned into the branch of a Christmas tree!  So, when I tugged, a Christmas tree toppled over and its fairy fell off and onto the floor.

Weird?  Not really, because that spot by the window was where the family Christmas tree used to be erected. It was a corner closely associated with Christmas.

As a devout Catholic, my mother had told me about Jesus from an early age. When I painted pictures I would put a blue stripe at the top of outdoor scenes to represent heaven, as children did. But I’d also draw a Christmas tree in heaven as being Jesus.

Why? Not only had I associated all the wonder of Christmas with his birthday but I also heard an actor  on TV mention his name whilst looking at a small fir-tree. So in my childish way I took the actor at his word and would draw Jesus as a Christmas tree.  Hence, the dream changed him to match that image.

At its close, therefore, the dream-event signified the time had come to put away not only childish misconceptions but also all false teachings and replace them with absolute truth – the one who is the Truth in person.

Truly, the most fantastic Christmas present ever – one that’s daily an ever-present encouragement and help in every time of need, no matter how dire. Thank you Lord.

These events started in 1989 and culminated in 1995 with its prime confirmation. Yet more was to come!  Sixteen years later upon revisiting this story for the purposes of this blog, I was surprised by a couple more insights that dropped unbidden into mind. One was tantalising: could the street number of my childhood home (212) possibly be significant in pointing toward the coming year? That is, to 2012!  

Could that notion be true?  Such musing would be confirmed in a fascinating numerical manner at 2012’s first Christian conference we were to attend…Upon our arrival at the venue I was curious about distance driven from home. The car’s odometer was ‘212’ miles!

THIRD VALIDATION

Once again, timing proves crucial in presenting another objective confirmation!  Again, had I not been writing about the visitation I would have missed the crucial linkage!

Whilst writing installments of My Journey Into Freedom (Sept-Oct 2013) I inserted a report on something pertinent that happened at that time in the USA, as recounted in the previous post. This came as a ‘new revelatory word’ from the Lord to Revd John Kilpatrick and began at 2:22am. This too, is very interesting on two counts. Numerically, because my birthday falls on a 22nd. Orally, because that word is directly relevant to my dream visitation in referring to the angelic host as well as in closing with Luke 21:28, namely:

“But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand.”

My mother’s Missal for the First Sunday of Advent is shown below and notice how the scripture on page 69 links into my personal visitation and what pastor John brought.

[Click to enlarge]

1stSundayAdvent

It’s amusing that the number of hits on this blog passed the 212,000 mark within days of the 4th anniversary of its launch on 21st November 2015.

So a huge thank you goes to every subscriber and regular reader, as well as all visitors.

[Note: originally published 12 December 2011 as ‘3 Validations Point to 2012-13: Part 3 of ‘Death or Destiny?’]

Freed at last from satan – my chains fall off!

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(7 of 7) Months after that night of destiny in 1989 I trashed my occult and New Age books, yet I kept some items that were very significant to membership in those occult brotherhoods. But very soon, troubles brewed up within my relationships. And they got worse, and worse. So I asked for prayer help and gathered all those remaining things, such as ritualistic items and pictures. Right at the peak of my trouble I heard an almost audible voice instruct me,

“Burn what you’ve collected – NOW!”

Never, ever, would I have believed what was to happen next:

Out in the backyard I piled those membership items onto an area of gravel and, putting a match to them, I sincerely repented.

Fanning the flames, I apologised deeply to God for all my past rebellious, sinful activity and specifically renounced satan and all evil connected with those occult associations.

As I asked God to forgive me, heavy invisible shackles suddenly dropped off my wrists!

I felt, and was, free, completely free – exactly as is jubilantly sung in Charles Wesley’s great hymn And Can It Be? 

WOW, from despair to jubilation within a split second!  What utter freedom!  Praise Him!

That hymn’s lyrics present the simple yet sublime salvation found in our Father’s good news about Jesus.

How aptly the third verse describes my personal situation and what had just happened – my wonderful liberation from invisible bondage to satan.:

1. And can it be that I should gain
An int’rest in the Saviour’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?

Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God shouldst die for me?

2. He left His Father’s throne above,
So free, so infinite His grace!
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race!

‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For, O my God, it found out me.

3. Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night.
Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray:
I woke the dungeon flamed with light!

My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

4. No condemnation now I dread:
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,

Bold I approach th’ eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

If you’re unfamiliar with Charles Wesley brother of the renowned evangelical founder of Methodism, John Wesley, read here about his equally famous influence as author of many well-known hymns; eg. Love Divine, all love’s excelling, Hark the herald angels…

Listen to one of the greatest hymns as broadcast some years ago in Songs of Praise,   thanks to Fabio Ramsay.:

I will rejoice in the Lord, I will exult in the victorious God of my salvation! (Hab 3:1)

To read testimony in full click: to read from beginning – to read part 6  – for Appendix.

Bible’s Author brings me ex-New Agers’ testimonies

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The Father has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in Whom we have our redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. [St Paul’s letter to the Colossians 1:13-14, Amplified Bible.]

(6 of 7) In addition to checking out Christians’ claims of hearing God direct and getting astounding personal evidence for that, I wanted to know lots more not only about Him, but also (to follow-up the revelatory scriptures in part 5) about false teachers and their falsehoods.

In my great wariness of religious folk I’d assumed none would be able to comprehend my story because they’d be ignorant about those things. Doubtless, none would have been through my kind of bad, meditative ‘trips’ – or so I thought!

But direct help was again at hand from the Bible’s Author…Yet first, there’s one little-suspected aspect of His character that amazingly revealed a very personal thought and thus confirmed He knows all about me. Here’s what had happened many years earlier.:

‘FIRST CONTACT’

The mundane event of a dinner party in mid-1980s played an unsuspected, pivotal part in my journey into freedom. It was held by young parents, the father being in training as an Anglican curate, and it included his vicar and a couple from Cheam Baptist Church in Surrey. We got around to chatting about our philosophies of life but those folk were like ‘aliens’ as compared with my highly ‘enlightened’ viewpoint!

I was surprised the vicar was open-minded and seemed to agree with New Age claims that all religions lead to God; like spokes of a wheel are connected to a hub.

The Baptist couple, however, would have absolutely none of that and strongly disputed my views. I was quietly outraged – what closed minds, so ignorant!

I recall thinking, “Baptists are such Biblical bigots – I’ll never touch them with a barge pole!”  However, I never expected this was all borrowed!  This vow would come to be used against me…twice!  That is, I was yet to discover the Lord God has a sense of humour!

Soon after the dinner, the curate invited me to a public meeting with a guest speaker, John Richards. It was a memorable occasion for three reasons; first, his name is mine in reverse order – secondly, for his gently confronting me upon noticing a small pin on my jacket’s lapel displaying a cross within a star of David. He asked, “What does your family say about that?” I retorted “Nothing! What’s it got to do with them?” After all, my family was aware of my search for lost wisdom. But John was referring to a church ‘family’ – which didn’t apply because I wasn’t a churchgoer!

Therefore, I had nothing further to discuss with this speaker and listened warily to his accounts of investigating witchcraft and satanism as secretary to the bishop of Exeter’s study of exorcism, later as advisor to the Archbishop of Canterbury.  It was all irrelevant in view of my disliking the ‘black stuff’ (including freemasonry) – but who was I kidding? Only myself!

So for many years I gave no more thought to that meeting…BUT the fact it did play a significant part in my long journey has been confirmed by John Richards’ name popping up 47 months after first publication of this post – and ’47 is my birth year!. In September 2017 at conference on healing in Guildford I attended a session by the bishop’s advisor on deliverance. He started by sharing his personal testimony and how it involved his spiritual director, John Richards!

Now, let’s return to events soon after that dream encounter with Jesus…

THE JOKE’S ON ME

Wondering about the sort of church that organised the trip to see Billy Graham, I met with little help from Peter. Yet I wasn’t really bothered because they should all be part of the Lord’s body without making any distinction, in my opinion. I didn’t appreciate Peter’s was undergoing internal upheaval because the leaders wanted to learn more about the Holy Spirit, whereas many were wary of anything other than the straight scriptures. The church had been planted by Reading Baptist Church and was known as Tilehurst Free Church (Baptist), the leaders of which planted house groups west of Reading.

Some time after I joined TFC, one of them outraged me by saying “God has a sense of humour!” – that was against my straight-laced Catholic upbringing!!  Years later I realised the truth of that quip, and that I’d forgotten my vow against Baptists but the Lord hadn’t! Therefore, He’d put me in a Baptist church to learn the Truth about Him and get a solid grounding in His Word – as the saying goes: ‘He Who laughs last, laughs longest!’

SUBMISSION AND FIRE

Whenever I went into a local Christian bookshop my long-standing sensitivity to serendipity would kick in! That is, a book would jump off the self at me! The Lord was directing me to biographies of Christians who’d previously been tied into New Age activities – just like me. They’d been rescued from terrifying situations by calling upon Jesus’ name. So, their true stories brought home what had really happened in that stunning dream. As mentioned, St Paul’s insight on satan’s ability, and that of its followers, to masquerade as an angel of light and as servants of righteousness (2 Cor 11:14), confirmed the reality of my dread encounter with devouring darkness.  I’m so deeply grateful to the real living God for saving me.

Having been deceived and beguiled, scales were now starting to fall from my eyes – an awesome awakening and a homecoming!

Outline of Tal’s book (click to enlarge)

Riders of the Cosmic Circuit (1986) by Tal Brooke was one of those influential books. The son of American diplomats and a pioneer in meditation with crystals, Tal held a privileged position in the inner circle of the revered Indian guru Sai Baba, of whom he later wrote, “I had discovered an absolutely satanic thing operating behind Baba’s veneer”.

Tal’s own encounter with the darkness behind the ecstatic light and consciousness known as the state of ‘nirvana’, validated my psychic dream experience.

The very first of these autobiographies, however, was by someone who’d also been in the brotherhood I’d been initiated into.

Whilst reading the concluding chapters of Roy Livesey’s account over the lunchtime of 29 March 1990, I prayed the ‘sinner’s prayer’ and gave my life to Lord Jesus as my personal saviour. Driving home later, however, the spiritual enemy tried to get me into a couple of road accidents. And upon arriving home I found it had attempted to burn down my new, wooden-framed house. Thank you Lord for protection through both events – the fire had been put out by throwing water onto flaming fat in an electric oven!!

Jesus tells all who believe in Him what will happen as a result of following His teaching, as noted here and here by John, one of His first and closest disciples,.:

“If you hold fast to and live by My words you are truly my disciples. And you shall know the Truth and the Truth will set you free (for) I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one can come to the Father except through Me”.

NOT YET FULLY FREE

From those who’d trodden the very same path as me, I learned the great importance of being completely cut off from my ‘old life’. This meant getting rid of books and objects associated with it, but I’d been slow to so do. Although I’d turned away from that past, yet an unseen bond seemed to remain.

The fact of that subtle influence needed dealing with because I wanted what’s promised in the Word inspired by Father God, the Author of the Holy Bible:

So if the Son liberates you, then you are really and unquestionably free.  [John 8:36 Amplified Bible]

Next, learn how I gained my freedom at long last from satan – my chains fell off!!

Other Informative Books – Douglas Groothuis

Continued in part 7 >

[First published as in October 2013 as part 6 (Rescued From Satan By The Lord of Hosts) of my ‘Journey Into Freedom’. Bible quotations courtesy BibleGateway.com]

To read testimony in full click: to read from beginning – to read part 5  – for Appendix.

Bible’s Author opens it to answer my ‘newbie’ questions

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(5 of 7) Awesome as my ‘rescue’ was, the dream-vision recounted in part 4 didn’t make me want to rush off to church. That visitation’s effect and the ramifications upon my way of life needed careful consideration. For example, I needed to check out New Age claims of the Bible having been compiled and modified by Church councils in the 4th Century after Christ, as well as learn about its history from authoritative sources. [Prof F.F. Bruce’s The Books and The Parchments (1991) was very helpful, especially about the late 2nd Century ‘Muratorian Fragment’ drawn up in the church at Rome. It lists practically all the canonical New Testament literature.]

So not only did I need to assess those implications, but also as possibly a new believer in Jesus Christ I wanted to find well-informed believers who took Him seriously. I soon did so but needed to put their claims of hearing direct from God to the test. After all, they believe we have a relationship with Him and so we have but to ask…

CULTURE SHOCK

A few months before the dream-visitation, I’d learned some members of the church that had invited me to hear Billy Graham met in the school next door to my house! Later, I heard they’d given young Peter prayer-backing for his discussions with me (as in part 3). That is, they’d targeted me!  And God answered their prayers by giving me that ‘dream’.

The first service I attended there in that familiar, small school hall was a culture shock!

Standing before a young man devoid of dog-collar but wearing an acoustic guitar led the meeting in song and spoke without any script or ritual whatsoever – even engaging the congregation in discussion!  Some attendees testified to angelic protection in their lives: I’d thought this subject was lost to churchgoers. Starting the ‘sermon’, he said he’s going to look at the shortest gospel, that of Mark, and would continue in the next weeks. In saying, “It’s action packed and full of urgency” he intrigued me, and this fitted in with my intention of checking out the Bible.

Therefore, I thought it might prove useful to come again. At the next session one thing he taught stuck in my mind: “In Mark, who was the first to recognise who Jesus really is?”  Answer: an unclean spirit (see Mark 1:24). I was thus reminded of that dream’s events – and of the exceptionally unsettling, very vivid one years earlier of a devouring monster of darkness (as in ‘Reality Revealed’ in part 2).

[I was reminded of that scripture at a school of healing in 2017, when the teacher asked why would Jesus silence a demonic testimony of His identity? The answer: coming from an unclean tainted source, even truth itself gets contaminated!  Also, I know that’s been satan’s modus operandi since the Garden of Eden – the father of lies and half-truths. Moreover, this fact points out that being’s pretext for rebellion, and raises questions about the religiously sanctioned practice of ‘taqiya’, as in Islam.]

MOVING TOWARDS FREEDOM

During 1990, therefore, I came into a good place to build upon that dream encounter by learning about the Bible and, more importantly, by listening to God through His written word and to come into a close relationship with Him. As stated above, it was opportunity to test claims about discussing the Bible’s content with its Author without any priest as ‘intermediary’.

The first of many times this happened brought incredibly clear – and shocking! – proof that God really does speak from the Bible, as claimed by many believers in Jesus.

My 1st Question of God

It was important to review my uncharitable views about the clergy. You may understand  how difficult it was for me to contemplate attending church, let alone with regularity – not to mention being under the oversight of clergy.  I wrongly suspected they couldn’t comprehend the dark situation I’d come from.

And so I put preachers’ claims about the Word of God to the test and asked if God could  show me from His book His opinion of clergy and about my attending this church…

My Bible fell open at Hebrews 13:17, giving this most apposite answer and instruction:

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Emphases mine.)

That well and truly put me in my place and enabled me to make my mind up. Thank you Lord for answering and correcting me!

My 2nd Question of God

Later that year I reviewed the occult teaching about Jesus in that brotherhood’s books on His ‘mystical life’ and ‘secret doctrines’. They’d attracted me at 20 years of age, and there were various claims in a massive mound of monographs, as well as teachings of its sister brotherhood based on the dogmatic Kabbalah (Jewish esoteric belief system based upon Creation;  eg. the ‘Sepher Yetzirah’).

Initiates of one of that Gnostic initiatory group’s highest degrees were styled as ‘veiled prophets’ on the spurious grounds of using 2 Peter 1:19.  Yet the Bible was very rarely discussed throughout my membership. Moreover, not only did this sole reference not quote the subsequent qualifying verse 20 (about the origin of all prophecy being in God’s Holy Spirit) but their practicum also failed to enable such initiates to prophesy! Hardly surprising…YET…

I asked God for His guidance through scripture on my membership and opened my new, pocket-sized Bible.  I’ve never been able to repeat what happened next – it immediately fell open at the very same second chapter of Apostle Peter’s second letter.  Its first ten verses stood out with startling clarity (the rest were hazily out-of-focus) – they warn about false teachers who:

‘…secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying our sovereign Lord who bought them – bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful way and bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with the stories they have made up. Their condemnation has been long hanging over them and their destruction has not been sleeping. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell…to be held for judgement…then the Lord knows how to…hold the unrighteous for the day of judgement, while continuing their punishment. ‘ (2 Peter 2:1-9 NIV)

The emphases hit ‘bull’s eye’, and the subsequent verses explain that assessment and what happens to such teachers as ‘springs without water and mists driven by storm’. This answer to my question was startlingly exact!  It  was jaw-dropping and eye-popping, as well as being a chilling condemnation of the teachers I’d known – absolutely awesome!

The Holy Author of the Bible had used it to answer my own personal question (Paul’s letter may be read in full here).

Specifically, that occultic group claimed its information had come from the Essenes and early Christians. Members of that Qumran community by the Dead Sea and across Judea were supposed to have assisted at Jesus’ birth and crucifixion, and as a Roman warrant had supposedly been issued to release Jesus before death, those supporters and ‘secret disciples’ helped to resuscitate Jesus.  Also, as God’s Holy Spirit had come upon Jesus during the baptism in the river Jordan and left during the crucifixion this supposedly indicated Jesus was human only, not one with Almighty God.

Furthermore, this group taught the necessity of acquiring initiatory knowledge to enable attainment of illumination and perfection of ourselves through reincarnation, and thus be one of the ‘ascended masters’ or world teachers, as claimed of Jesus the Christ.  That is, it had descended from the Gnostics and continued their doctrines, together with many others within the Western esoteric tradition.

The Gnostics and other heretical false doctrines about Jesus had vied for dominance over the early Church, and later greatly influenced the founder of Islam. This is why Apostle John’s first letter speaks so adamantly under direct inspiration of the ‘Author of the Bible’ about the spirit of anti-Christ and its slithering into churches to contend against the One who’d destroyed satan’s authority over humanity:

Beloved, do not put faith in every spirit, but prove (test) the spirits to discover whether they proceed from God; for many false prophets have gone into the world. By this you may know (perceive and recognise) the Spirit of God; every spirit which acknowledges and confesses [the fact] that Jesus Christ the Messiah) [actually] has become man and has come in the flesh is of God [has God as its source];

And every spirit which does not acknowledge and confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh [but would annul, destroy, severe, disunite Him] is not of God [does not proceed from Him]. This [non-confession] is the spirit of the antichrist, (of) which you heard that it was coming, and now it is already in the world.’ (1 John 4:1-3 Amp Bible)

Therefore, that brotherhood denied the divinity of Jesus Christ and the centrality of His sacrificial death and resurrection – from actual death – for the salvation of human souls, and thereby reconciling us with God and enabling our right of entry – in this life and the next – into His throne-room by the Blood of the Lamb.

Moreover, the Author of the Bible had pointed me to His truth about that group’s motives and its leaders’ dreadful destiny.

Conclusion

Consequently, I wanted to know lots more from the Living Lord God and His Son Jesus Christ.  It was a great blessing, therefore, that He soon directed to testimonials like mine (next).

Only upon revisiting this testimony many years later did I realise those passages in Peter’s letter and that to the ‘Hebrews’ starkly contrast both forms of leadership under which I’d served. The first was highly ungodly, and the latter is blessed by Father’s supreme protective cover for all His children.

Continued in part 6 >

To read testimony in full click: to read from beginning – to read part 4  – for Appendix.

The night Jesus broke through the window!

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(4 of 7) The second visitor over the night of 13-14th September 1989 was far more challenging than that evening’s first one, when I’d shut the door on hearing about Jesus – this time it is life or death!  Mine!!

THE HEAVENLY VISITOR

In a most unusual dream that night I go back in time. A dream so lucid that even thirty years later, it remains vividly etched within me. Therefore, it must be exceptionally significant. Continue reading →

The day I shut the door on Jesus!

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(3rd of 7) NOTE: This two-part testimony was posted as one of my first blogs. Originally written over 25 years ago as ‘More Than A Dream’, it’s expanded to elaborate upon my changed life as a committed Christian in my journey into freedom.

THROUGH THE DEVIL’S DOOR!

A very brief recap:

Since my teens I’d wholeheartedly embraced esoteric spiritual doctrines and practices such as the Eastern and Theosophical belief of reincarnation and ascended masters, as well as those of Western occultism plus concepts generally known as deism.

I thought that as all religions are equal there are many paths to a supreme being –but which is not the same as the anthropomorphic deity of the Abrahamic religions. That is, it’s different to and far superior to human beings – a ‘cosmic mind’ with which we can be attuned and attain ‘cosmic consciousness’, as experienced by many and practised in the associations of which I was an active member.

I appreciated the linkage with mystical Islam of Sufism as well as having read its Book. It was only after becoming a born-again Christian that I studied its early history and came to understand its fundamental, doctrinal differences with Judaism and Christianity.

Thus, two decades of an occultic practicum made me disdainful of churches, clergy and laity. They were all so very behind the times – even archaic!  Intellectual and spiritual pride made me think their preaching could never compare with the profound philosophy found within ‘New Age’ movements. Such arrogance, of which I’m ashamed!

A DIFFERENT DOOR OPENS!

Sometime in July/August 1989, a young man named Peter knocked at the front door with an invitation to hear the world-renowned evangelist Billy Graham at Earls Court in London. We could be taken in a coach trip from outside our house west of Reading. How much? Nada, entirely free!

Naturally, I rejected the offer outright but my almost-teenage son piped up he’d like to go because a classmate had told him about it. So I said I’d take him.

As can be gathered from my journey into spiritual captivity, personal experiences had made me extremely wary of churchgoers. Never did I suspect my own well-being hung in the balance at that moment after the knock on the door!.

Can you imagine my bewilderment, therefore, upon sitting ‘up in the gods’ at Earls Court and finding myself agreeing with what Billy Graham said as he spoke from the rostrum? 

I was flummoxed! Utterly bewildered! Who’s thinking that? Can that be me? Never!… Really?

Afterwards, as a follow-up, those who’d been on the trip were invited to an informal meeting at a local ‘free’ church. The leader explained that similar chats could be held   at our own homes, if we so wished. I agreed to be on-hand for my son but I was NOT personally interested. A youth worker, Peter, was assigned to help him but, in practice, he ended up discussing the material with me.

The evening of Wednesday 13th September 1989, is Peter’s third visit to our house to discuss Billy Graham’s follow-up material entitled Life. I have not yet divulged my firmly held – even entrenched – opinions, but this time he goes too far!

WHAT WENT WRONG?

This session is entitled, ‘Yoga, Eastern Religions and The Occult’ – all of which I’d been involved in since before Peter had been born!

Peter shows a diagram of two cliffs facing one another. One represents heaven and the other earth, with a large deep gap separating them. Over this Peter places a large plus sign over the gap. The ends of the horizontal arms touch each object, thereby bridging heaven and earth. He explains the cross of Christ is the bridge between both realms.

He then says the only way to God is through Jesus Christ. This statement implies my own ideas are wrong!  Without giving the game away I gently question him on this. But he insists not many paths lead to the same, supreme God – there’s only one way to one almighty God and it’s through his Son Jesus Christ.

What’s to be done with a young man half my age who unwittingly points out the error of my ways?

I’m thinking, “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. How can he, who’s not done any of the things I know far more about…just how can he tell me it’s wrong?  He’s wasting my time!”

Peter’s ideas are not only mistaken but also intolerant. Before the end of the evening I’ve had enough!

I SHUT THAT NEW DOOR

So I bring our discussion to an early end, show him to the door and, excusing myself from future meetings, bid him farewell. Peter is most gracious – he smiles politely and goes his way

But little did I know I may not make it through that night! My life was at risk!

Continued in part 4 >

To read testimony in full click: to read from beginning – to read part 2  – for Appendix.

Searching for wrong ‘truth’ traps me in a spiritual prison

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(2nd of 7) We continue our ‘journey’ as I pray it will inform readers who are not-yet Christians about avoiding the pitfalls and dangers of suspect spiritual matters:

Me 1962

1962 in Leicester.

The intellectual freedom of higher education in the ‘swinging 60’s’ enabled me to break loose from the values of my parents and their generation. Even so, I recognised their values had enabled them to come through the destruction and deprivation of the Great Depression, World War and post-war Britain austerity with great fortitude.

As in the previous post about attending the “wrong school”, a formative influence upon this boy of the post-war ‘baby boom’ was the disharmony and hypocrisy between churches. In my mind it tarred all Christians with the same brush and badly reflected upon the God they believed in.

Nevertheless, once whilst in church, I had thought it must have been awesome to have been around Jesus and seen everything He said and did.

Also, two verses noticed in my mother’s Sunday Missal stuck in my mind and, although buried in the unconscious, they never got forgotten. One was Jesus telling his disciples they’d do even greater works than He was doing! The other was by someone who’d seen and been with Jesus, and who wrote: If everything He’d done was written down there wouldn’t be enough room in the world to contain the books! [John 14:12 and closing sentence of that Gospel.]

In view of that eye-witness account and churches’ misrepresentation of their founder, I became convinced a lot of what he’d taught had been lost – or even suppressed – by the early church. Continue reading →