Response to “An Open Letter to My Enemies”

We’re gearing up here for our first “Boot Camp” style conference later this week, where half of the scheduled meetings will in fact be outreaches into the community. We have a very interesting and eclectic group pre-registered, ranging from people who attend our church to a guy from England and some folks literally from all over the nation. I think that the people who will be coming are hungry for MORE in their Christian walk. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they won’t be disappointed. It seems that every time we even think of reaching out to the lost and dying, the Lord comes rushing in with awesome displays of His power and glory. Bottom line, I’m excited that more will be equipped, trained and released into the harvest fields.

Look out devil, here we come.


A FOLLOW UP
I did want to make a follow up response to the “Open Letter to My Enemies” post I made a couple of weeks ago. Immediately after sending that letter out I received a flood of emails from people who were surprised, shocked, flabbergasted, but generally supportive. The responses ranged from, “Really! People have said those things to you?” to, “What can I do? I feel so sorry for you!” I really appreciate the responses as they were very encouraging and only a few people took themselves off the list after I sent that. But the letter was so, how shall I say it, “aggressive” that I feel a response is warranted.

Many folks questioned if I have really heard those things spoken to me about myself and my family and the answer is: Absolutely. I have heard every one of those things said to my face and all by professing “Christians”. This blog is not a work of fiction, but real life stories of what we are seeing and experiencing on a daily basis as we attempt to get out there and advance the Kingdom of God. I purposefully attempt to understate and conservatively estimate all figures, reactions and responses for the sake of integrity.

Also, many asked me what event provoked me to write such a letter and the answer is simple. There really was no single event that “pushed me over the edge” but rather the daily pursuit of the Kingdom and the almost daily reports of gossip, slander and backbiting that result. In fact, I had for weeks been sitting on the contents of that letter and a good fight over my daughter’s health brought it out of the closet. But honestly, I am immune to “white witchcraft” and “Christian curses” at this point. It’s with pity that I look on people whose only joy in life is to tear others down, not with fear.


HOW YOU CAN RESPOND
There were quite a few folks that were really stirred by what I said and when emailing me simply said, “What can I do?” Here is what I would say to that question:

Get in the game and get in the fight. Pick up your sword and start hacking away at the kingdom of darkness. Don’t make excuses for a lack of power and glory, just press in to God. Don’t argue or perfect your theology, prove and demonstrate your theology. Stop complaining about the church and be the church. Simplify your life. Cut out the excess and the things that have no eternal value. Get about God’s business and lay down your agendas. Get off your seats and get into the streets. It’s not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. There are multitudes of lost and dying ones who need what you have! Lay your hands on the sick and believe for their healing. Kill cancer and wipe out Aids. Stop tolerating devils and cast them out! Take responsibility for your neighborhood, friends and family. Stop waiting on a Sovereign move of God and go start one! Lead people to Jesus and get over your fear. Talk to strangers; tell them your testimony and what God has done for you. Bring light to where it’s needed and don’t keep it under a cover. Be the salt and be the light. Get out there and “do the stuff!”

Blessings,
Ryan

Murder, Interrupted

This week, we enjoyed watching God orchestrate a miraculous intervention that totally transformed the lives of two people. Two people, rushing headlong into hell were sideswiped by the Holy Spirit and we got to be a part of it. It was absolutely mind-blowing to watch the Lord flex His “Sovereign” muscle. And again, to drive home a point that I make here quite regularly, it wasn’t an accident and it didn’t happen by chance. We were in the right place at the right time and we were there on purpose. It’s like God is waiting on us to position ourselves to be used by Him. So many Christians have this idea that we’re waiting on God, but I’m telling you, He’s the one twiddling His thumbs waiting for us to get into position. Once we are in that right place at that Kairos moment, God intervenes and gives us a show that they couldn’t even dream up in the movies.

It started with a team going to a place near downtown Atlanta that is famous for being a crack and prostitution capital. Every other person on the street is either a crackhead, crackhoe or crack dealer. It’s fast becoming one of my favorite places in the world to be. Anyway, a couple in our church works down that way and they have been going down once a month to grill some food and bless the homeless and poor. The food is like a mousetrap that draws them in and once they’re in, we get to give them the Gospel, both barrels. Last time we were there a BUNCH of healings and salvations took place, so we were very excited to get out there again.

Almost as soon as we got out there it was obvious that this time would not be like other times. For one thing, the crowds were much smaller with only a straggler here and there instead of being bum rushed by a mob. Also, the other times, the main focus is the food with the Gospel being secondary. Not so this time. Some people walked up, received prayer, gave their life to the Lord and walked away without food! How weird. There was a peculiar anointing to lead people to Jesus and an unusual spirit of conviction too. Several times that day, in the first two minutes of conversation I had people confessing their sins to me, only to give their lives to Jesus and be filled with the Holy Spirit immediately after. They weren’t just ripe; they were falling off the tree, right into our lap!

ENTER PLAYER #1
As we’re sitting there, waiting for folks to show, a middle aged guy in work clothes walks up asking for food. We get talking with him and I simply tell him that Jesus is King and His Kingdom is on the earth. I then ask him if Jesus is the King and Lord of his life. He tells me honestly that the answer is no. He relates to us how he just got out of jail about 2 months ago and has been in there since he was sixteen! Just released from prison after being in there over 24 years! Anyway, his mother died and that’s why he was in Atlanta. After his mother died, he has been contemplating eternity and spoke with a pastor at a Christian bookstore about his eternal destiny. To the pastor’s credit, he had answered many of this guy’s questions, but had failed to get the guy to bow the knee and “give it up” to Jesus.

We were STRONGLY encouraging him to give his life to Jesus and he told us that he would get saved “tomorrow”. I asked him, “Why tomorrow?” and he told us that he had something to “Take care of” before he gave his life to the Lord. After digging a little more, he broke it down for us. He and another guy were on a job together and the other guy had stolen a bunch of paint from the boss, only to point the finger at our guy. Needless to say, our guy was ticked and that thing he had to “take care of” was the guy who lied to his boss about him. To “take care of” meant a little more than a simple conversation too. I mean, someone who has been in jail 24 years since they were sixteen is not messing around.

ENTER PLAYER #2
Some others on the team took our guy aside and were encouraging him to give his life to Jesus. As they were talking to him, I saw another guy come walking up to the food line. As he walked up, I saw a vision for him, so I walked right up to him and shared the vision I had for him. He instantly broke down and started confessing that he was addicted to crack and asked for prayer. I gave him the gospel and he quickly accepted the message, repenting of his sin and asking forgiveness from Jesus. It was quick, but it was a meaningful and powerful salvation experience. The presence of God overshadowed the guy and he was feeling the power of God rip through his body. Way cool.

What I didn’t know is that as I was talking with the now ex-crack head guy, our buddy who wanted to get saved “tomorrow” started to tremble with rage. When the guys ministering to him asked him what was going on, he told them, “remember the guy that I was going to “take care of” today?... That’s him!” pointing at the crackhead guy. As it turns out, the crackhead was the person that the “tomorrow” guy had been looking all over for so he could mess him up. Our guys pretty much had to restrain him from doing anything and just kept talking to him about the mercy of God.

The now ex-crackhead got a plate of chicken and sat down just a few feet away from the guy who wanted to get saved “tomorrow”. Tomorrow man waked over to me and was telling me the whole story of how it’s a miracle that he hadn’t done anything to the other guy already. I told him the story that Jesus told about the man who owed the King $100,000 and was forgiven the debt. Then, the man whose $100,000 debt was forgiven went out and strangled a man who owed him $10, throwing him in jail until he paid every penny. When the King heard about this, he had the man whom he had shown mercy brought before him and questioned him as to why he hadn’t shown mercy to his fellow man. As I told “tomorrow” man this, he got the story right away. Who was he to not forgive his fellow man of a minor offense when the Lord was willing to forgive him of his major offenses? He broke and decided to give his life to Jesus right then and there.

After a few minutes, he finished his plate of food, had a drink and said that he was ready. We led him to the Lord and he repented of his sins. He asked God to forgive Him and received the blood of Jesus. We prayed for the Holy Ghost to fill him and he got seriously touched by God. But that’s not even the best part. As we’re getting ready to leave, he pulled me aside and told me, “You know, when I said that I was going to mess the crackhead guy up, I meant a little more than just beat him up”. “What do you mean?” I asked. He then told me with an icy look, “I was going to kill him. Today. That man was going to die today and it was a miracle that you guys were here. If you guys weren’t here, he would have died and I would be going to jail for the rest of my life.”

WOW.

An Open Letter to My Enemies

First of all, a disclaimer:

“Enemies?!” you say? Oh yes, enemies. Believe it or not, there are quite a few people out there who really don’t like me and to the point where they would align themselves in direct opposition to me, my ministry and even my family. But are these folks just sinful, wayward unbelievers without a clue? Nope. They are self professing, Holy Ghost filled believers in the Lord Jesus. They go to church and they pay their taxes. By all accounts they are good people. But they have a dark side. When they don’t like what you do, what you stand for or what you believe they actually “pray”, to God, for your destruction. They secretly hope for the downfall of your life, marriage, ministry and family. They “believe” for you to commit a grievous sin against God. Why? They want what you live and stand for to be discredited. They want to be right more than anything, even at the expense of your wife, your kids and innocent unbelievers that your ministry may affect.

I know these things because, when pressed, they will let you know what they really think of you. You see, I’m very confrontational. If there is something under the surface, I go after it. And when I go after it, I find all kinds of disgusting stuff. If you can get them past the point of being polite and really invade their private world, they will let you know what’s really on their mind. They have actually said things to me like, “I pray to God that you commit adultery!” or, “I pray that you get sick and die of cancer!” I even had one very sick individual gloat when my one week old daughter was hospitalized for a kidney problem. Why? Because it showed this person that we weren’t perfect concerning healings and miracles. They were actually happy that our daughter was sick because it “proved” their point that we were wrong concerning healing. Once again, these were all professing Christians who go to church and “serve God”.

So what have I done to rally a mob of angry “Christians” against me?

I’ve taken a stand against impotent, powerless Christianity. I’ve dispensed with the pleasantries of “Churchianity” to pursue Kingdom Christianity. I’ve let go of all the excuses for why they don’t get healed, repented before God and asked for grace and mercy so they can get healed. I’ve stopped “trying” to serve God with an outward show and now serve God out of my heart with the grace given to me. I’ve stopped pretending to be nice and started getting real. I won’t pretend to be your friend when we’re not. I’ve cut all of the unproductive relationships out of my life. If you aren’t pursuing God, I’ll drop you like a hot potato.

So what’s the fruit of my lifestyle? Almost daily I get the privilege of seeing the power of God in action, Sinners are saved, the sick are healed and the Kingdom of God is advancing with POWER! Miracles are the norm. Churches are being planted, new believers are being discipled and demons are being cast out. It’s exciting! But that’s not what this is about…

Here’s the letter:

*****************************

To My Enemies,

I love you.

No really, I mean that. I’m not just saying that because Jesus told me to. It’s authentic. I really do love you; and for a variety of reasons. Yes, your scowls are unsavory. Your gossip and slander sometimes really hurt. Your "white witchcraft" and “prayer” curses, while not very powerful, sometimes get through and sting a bit. They are especially unwelcome when directed at my family. But I forgive you. You don’t know what you’re doing. For I’m sure that if you did, you wouldn’t keep on with what you do. Yet, in spite of all of what you do to me, my family and my ministry, I love you.

I love you because you are an ever present reminder of what I have come out of. Every once in a while, I’ll attend a religious church meeting just to be reminded of the games, the gossip and the religious politics that I have escaped from. You remind me on an almost daily basis what it’s like to hope for and not have. Your lifestyle is a landmark to me of what not to do and where not to go. I remember playing make believe Christianity and it’s because of you that I haven’t forgotten. You keep me sharp and on my toes. Whenever I start to “coast” I get a friendly little reminder from you in the form of gossip that snaps me right back into reality.

I love you because your ministry provides the contrast to make mine look really good. You see, when I meet unbelievers or burnt out Christians, it’s always because of religious people like you that I have something to offer. When they have been fed barrels of religion, just a teaspoon of the life of God brightens their eyes. When they have been given excuses as to why God won’t heal them, all I have to do is give them a demonstration to get their attention. Your social, feel-good Gospel makes mine seem all the more radical, and I appreciate you for that.

I thank God for you. You make me feel alive! You remind me that I am standing for something, in stead of falling for anything as I once did. I am energized by your gossip and slander. I am motivated by your curses and backbiting. I am moved to action by your accusations. The name-calling especially gets me going, my resolve is strengthened and I am determined to serve God with all of my heart and prove you wrong. Every miracle, every healing and every salvation is a testimony against you and your “ministry”. I like you because you make me laugh! In spite of your colossal personal failures, you somehow manage to find something wrong with the “way” I do things. I have to say that I sincerely appreciate your creativity in fault finding, it is truly awe inspiring.

I’m sorry, but in spite of your best efforts, my marriage, my family and my ministry will continue to blossom and produce good fruit. We are immune to your disdain and we are insulated against your witchcraft. We pray heaps of blessings upon you and thank God for you daily.

Because of you, we are truly blessed.
Ryan & Family

As You Go…

We have a few friends in South Atlanta that are hungry for a move of God in their city. No longer simply content to attend meetings, folks in several churches down there have started to hit the streets and “do the stuff”. A few weeks ago they invited us to come down to the Southside and go out on the streets with them. We were more than happy to oblige. It is our desire to equip the saints into powerful Kingdom ministry and we’re convinced that if folks are teachable and willing to take a just a few risks, God will use them dramatically.

And you know what?

We’re right!


4 OF A KIND IS BETTER THAN A FULL HOUSE
Friday night, we ministered at a city gathering and the fire of God was there in full force. There weren’t that many people there, but the folks that were there were HUNGRY. The truth is, I would rather have a dozen hungry folks than 1000 disaffected, burnt-out “professional” Christians. A “professional” Christian is one that has been in the game of “Churchianity” for too long. They are pew warmers whose only skill is criticizing and critiquing anyone actually doing anything. They are unstable, uncommitted, unfruitful and much more interested in hearing a nice message on Sunday morning than they are living for Jesus on Monday morning.

Well, that was free...

Anyway, the folks in Newnan were NOT those people. They were hungry and teachable; a dangerous combination for the kingdom of darkness! So Saturday morning we preached the basics of the Lord’s ministry, Matthew 10:7-8. The Lord simply told His disciples to:

1. GO, not stay…
2. PREACH, not suggest, argue or reason…
3. THE KINGDOM, not a watered down, “Jesus loves you”…
4. HEAL THE SICK, not pray for them or ask God for their healing…
5. CLEANSE THE LEPER, once again, not asking, doing…
6. RAISE THE DEAD, command form, not a suggestion of what’s possible…
7. CAST OUT DEVILS, not counsel them or conversing with them…

SO WE WENT “OUT”
And it was awesome. About 30 people went to three different locations and in each location the Kingdom of God broke out. Many folks were going out for their first time, but everyone returned with great joy as the sick were healed, the lost were saved and demons were cast out. South Atlanta is so ripe for the Gospel that I was struggling with jealousy! The area is full of the poor, the projects, the hungry, the hurting and dying masses of people. In the neighborhoods that we went, we were so well received that I didn’t want to leave! Five seconds out of the car we ran into a couple of guys and preached the Gospel to them, encouraging them to make Jesus their King and Lord. The Lord gave us some prophetic stuff, but it really didn’t go anywhere. So we moved on.

An older gentleman came hobbling up with what was obviously a hurt leg. His eyes were bad and looked like he had cataracts and what might have been a liver problem or something. We spoke to him of the Kingdom of God and he told us that he had cataracts and also ulcers. As we prayed for him he said that he felt heat run all through his body. We responded with, “Heat is good!” When we asked him, he wasn’t convinced at all that he would be making Heaven. We told him that he can be sure, spoke to him out of Romans 10:9-10 and right then and there he made a confession of the Lordship of Jesus, asking the Lord to change his heart and his life. He immediately invited us over to see where his house was so we could come back and visit with him and his entire family next week!


MY FAVORITE MIRACLE
Each time we go out, their is a "banner" expereience. Something so awesome that all you can do is just worship Jesus for it. But this one took the cake for me... My absolutely favorite miracle came to a young lady that obviously had been through the wringer physically. She had experienced meningitis, strokes, kidney failure and blindness. She was looking down most of the time while she was talking so I asked her how her eyesight was. I was standing barely a foot in front of her and told her to look at me. I said, “what do you see when you look at me?” She replied, “I can barely see you, you’re all blurry”. Playing around, I told her, “well, since you can’t see me, I’ve got to tell you that I’m really good looking and handsome!” The guys with me thought this was a riot. We spoke to her of the Kingdom of God and how there is no blindness in Heaven. We then told her of the Lord’s Prayer and how Jesus told us to pray that the Kingdom would come to earth, “as it is in heaven”. She eagerly allowed us to pray.

She was having severe neck pain at the time due to a recent surgery to put a shunt into her neck. She wouldn’t even let us touch her neck it hurt so badly. So we extended our hands and the brothers and I prayed our guts out for the Kingdom of God to invade her body. After praying we asked her how she felt and she told us that she was light headed. We had her check the neck pain and it was all gone!

But that wasn’t the best part.

I told her to look up at me and tell me what she could see. As soon as she looked up, you could see the difference in her eyes. Before they looked all cloudy, but now they were bright and clear! She looked right at me and exclaimed, “HEY! YOU ARE GOOD LOOKING!” We exploded in laughter and praised God that He had healed her vision right then and there! She was so blown away that she invited us back to her house for a follow up visit to check on her kidneys and to teach her the Word of God. On the way back, the guys with me commented on the miracle and said that indeed God had healed her eyes, but we needed to pray that God would give her better discernment!

Ha-Ha.

All in all 9 people met the Lord and about a dozen miracles took that place that afternoon. I made sure to tell the newly invigorated group that there was a party in Heaven. Why? Because the lost had come to the Lord! And why had they come to the Lord? Because a few people decided to preach the Gospel instead of sleep in! Good choice.

Go God!

The Kingdom Belongs To the Poor

This weekend we got to witness the contrast in how the rich and the poor receive the Gospel of the Kingdom. Mind you, it’s the same Gospel, preached the same way; the only real difference was who we were preaching to and the results we witnessed.

MARCH FORTH
Before this week, we had received a prophetic word from the Lord that this Saturday, March 4th was a prophetic declaration for the church to “march forth” into the Promised Land and destiny that God has promised to us. Our response to the Prophetic word was to make a concentrated effort to go on the offensive and take the Gospel to our community and city. One team would go downtown and preach the Gospel to the homeless, drug addicts and prostitutes and the other team would preach the Gospel to the middle class suburbanites of the city of Woodstock. One team would see an outbreak of the Kingdom and the other would not. Can you guess which team would see what?

A POWERFUL REVELATION
Let me interrupt the telling of this story with a simple revelation that we received a couple of years ago:

The Kingdom BELONGS to the Children…
“Jesus, however, said, let the little children come to me, and stop keeping them away. For the kingdom of heaven belongs to people like these.” Matthew 19:14

The Poor POSSESS the Kingdom…
“And lifting up His eyes to His disciples, He said, blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” Luke 6:20

The Righteous INHERIT the Kingdom…
“Then the King shall say to those on His right hand, Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matthew 25:34

The Rich Man can HARDLY ENTER into the Kingdom.
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, truly I say to you that a rich man will with great difficulty enter into the kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 19:23

THE NITTY GRITTY
Bottom Line, ministry to children and to the poor is where the fruit and Kingdom demonstration will be found. The Lord said that He didn’t come to call the righteous:

“But go and learn what this is, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Matthew 9:13

Since the Kingdom belongs to the children, ministry to them will bring a quick and powerful demonstration of the Kingdom. Since the poor possess the Kingdom and it belongs to them, likewise, there will be a powerful demonstration of Kingdom power and authority. Since the Lord has not come to call the righteous or blameless ones, we should go to the offenders. Prisoners, gangs, people who break the law, use drugs, etc.

Preaching the Gospel to the rich or those with many material possessions will result in little fruit. Why? Because it is with great difficulty that the rich enter the Kingdom. Basically, that means that there will be little fruit. When the Bible defines “rich”, the Greek word literally means “full”. What the Lord is saying here is that those who already have a “full” life will have no room in their lives for the Kingdom.

Therefore, in response to this revelation and if we want to see Kingdom Power break out on the streets, we spend the majority of our evangelistic efforts pursuing the poor and children/youth.

BACK TO THE STORY
The team heading into Woodstock soaked, prayed and believed God for a demonstration of His power. When they arrived to the town square, there were plenty of people about. They reported that the Lord gave them several prophetic words and they prayed for a bunch of sick folks but really didn’t see any instant healings. Also, no one met the Lord and several times the team was turned down for prayer. In one case, they were argued with as a gentleman wanted to debate Biblical knowledge! All in all, the trip was frustrating with little spiritual fruit.

The team heading into downtown Atlanta also soaked, prayed and believed God for a demonstration of His power. Things were a little slow at first as ones or twos came by the trailer where there was barbeque chicken and Cajun rice and beans cooking. But as the ones and two’s came, they got a plate of food, but they also got prophetic words and the message of the Kingdom. One couple came by and was immediately accosted with the Gospel. They responded instantly and gave their lives to the Lord as the Lord spoke to their hearts and revealed His love to them. One of the ladies on the team simply spoke that there was a spirit of suicide trying to kill her. As she said that, the lady she was praying with starting manifesting a demon and weeping openly. They cast out the demon and she was set free on the spot!

Several groups came walking by the trailer, drawn in by the awesome smell of barbeque chicken and got more than they bargained for as their prophetic destinies were revealed to them. One group in particular was captained by a very big, very intimidating young man. As he walked by, the Lord simply spoke to me “Stop him!” I walked right up to him and stood in his way. He looked like he was ready to fight me, but I started talking to him saying that the Kingdom of God is on the earth and Jesus is King. His response was total bewilderment and he just stared. By this time the Lord had given me and another person on the team some prophetic stuff for him. We released some destiny words about leadership being on his life and being covered in prayer by his family, etc. His eyes got real wide, but the two guys with him looked agitated. So we turned on them and the Lord started giving us more prophetic words for the whole team. They were so shocked that we pounced on the opportunity for them to give their lives to Jesus. They explained to us how they believed in God but we told them that this was not good enough! The Bible says that even the demons believe in God and that to enter the Kingdom they must not only believe in Jesus, but they must make Him King and Lord. Right there on the street all three of the young men made Jesus their King and Lord and were born again! They even walked away without food!

HEALING BREAKS OUT!
A few minutes later, a gentleman on one of those motorized scooters went zipping by. We ran him down and asked him why he was in the scooter. Through some very pained words, he told us that he had just come from the hospital where they had done a spinal tap to check the fluid in his spine for meningitis. He was in severe pain and could hardly talk about it. We gave him the good news of the Kingdom of God and told him that he did not have to be in pain and that in Heaven there is no pain. He agreed for us to pray for him and we asked him to rate his pain on a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being no pain and 10 being horrible pain. He said that he was about an 8 or 9. You could see it on his face; he looked pinched and was breathing erratically. So we rebuked the pain and commanded the life of God to come into his body. Instantly, I felt a jolt of electricity run down my arm into his back.

We asked him how he was and he said that as soon as we prayed, all of the pain left! He checked himself, verified that there was no pain and was so excited! You could see it on his face. His entire countenance changed dramatically and he brightened up considerably! He was flabbergasted and we took the opportunity to lead him to the Lord. He also believed in God, so we explained to Him that he must make Jesus King and Lord and that simply believing in Jesus wasn’t enough. Convinced by the miracle in his body, he gave his life to Jesus that instant and went away a new creation!

The rest of our time there was a blur of prophecies, healings, miracles and salvations. At least ten people met the Lord; there were more than a half dozen instant healings and dozens heard and witnessed the Gospel of the Kingdom in action.

Lesson learned.

Breakthrough!

The month of February has been a good one. Nothing absolutely over the top in terms of confrontations or the miraculous, but we’ve been receiving breakthrough after breakthrough and progressing very steadily from glory to glory. In the last few weeks we have experienced a sudden forward shift in many of the neighborhoods that we have been in for the last year. Households and individuals that had stonewalled us to this point suddenly opened wide. Instead of standing at the door and knocking we got invited in to share Jesus and bring the Kingdom.

What’s funny is that when I normally talk about the stuff going on in neighborhoods, people think we are working some pet program that just applies to our church. What they fail to recognize is that we are simply participating in a worldwide move of God! All over the world, the same general pattern is erupting in cities, neighborhoods and townships with astounding results. The dead are being raised, the sick are being healed, the Gospel is being preached and churches are being planted. This isn’t being done by (to borrow from Larry Randolph) “The Evangelist from Los Angeles” or some “Colossal Apostle” but rather normal, everyday saints that have learned of the power of God they possess.

THE PROGRESSION

1. Firstly, the saints are mobilized by the Holy Spirit to GO and PREACH the Gospel with signs and wonders in their villages, neighborhoods and cities.

2. Secondly, the saints plant house churches of new believers in every village (neighborhood) that they go to. These house churches are strategic outposts for the Kingdom of God where the Gospel overtakes the powers of darkness in a neighborhood/village and new believers are discipled into maturity.

3. Thirdly, as village after village falls to the overwhelming power of the Gospel, communities and cities are impacted as maturing believers spread the message to their family, (Acts 16:31) friends and loved ones, reproducing great commission house fellowships wherever they go.

WHERE WE ARE AT
You’ve already heard me talk of how we go into neighborhoods and go door to door preaching “The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand”. Getting people saved, healed and delivered is the easy part. In all of the neighborhoods we are in, we have one or more families that have received a healing, miracle, salvation or deliverance. The next step is to gather all of the new believers in a neighborhood and start a house fellowship which takes the new believers into maturity. Getting all of the new believers together in one place and getting a house meeting going has proven to be the hardest and most difficult step so far. Once we get the new believers into a meeting and the meetings stabilize in terms of scheduling, the believers seem to mature very quickly. Already we have several individuals and families moving in the power of God themselves, healing the sick and leading their friends and family to the Lord.

PERSEVERANCE
Over the last several months there have been several neighborhoods where we have struggled to get a meeting going. In these neighborhoods, we still visit individual households every week or so, but getting all of the new believers together had been hindered. We had been turned down, left out in the rain, stood up and rejected time and time again. And by people that had received healings, miracles and salvations! So we decided to do what most Western Christians won’t do.

We pressed in.

We stepped up our prayer, asking God to melt hearts and transform lives. We stepped up our fasting, doing without food to seek first the Kingdom. We kept scheduling meetings, only to have them be cancelled again and again. We kept going back to the neighborhoods, even when we didn’t want to. We kept “doing the stuff” even when we didn’t feel like it. And you know what? We got a breakthrough. Doors opened, hearts melted and families gave their lives to Jesus.

NOT SO TIDY
Most Western Christians feel like if it’s not easy, then it’s not God. They feel that if it doesn’t happen instantly, then they should abandon the cause. Most Western Christians are very uncomfortable if everything isn’t sanitized and all neat and tidy. Most Western Christians wilt at the first sign of discomfort. But real life in the Kingdom isn’t that way. Things are messy. Bad things happen and good people often have to press through all hell to get a hold of Heaven. David Hogan says that Americans are looking for a problem-free utopia and calling that the Kingdom of God. But that’s not what the Lord promised us at all. The things that He promised were things like persecutions and tribulations, not a tidy little existence devoid of abject circumstances.

The Kingdom of God is righteousness. But righteousness isn’t a counterculture where unrighteous people aren’t even let through the door. The righteousness of God invades the darkest perversion and triumphs. Translation: when you take the Kingdom, you are assaulted with every kind of wickedness and evil you can imagine. Uncleanness, immorality, promiscuity and addictions of every kind flourish in the ripest harvest fields.

The Kingdom of God is a matter of peace. But peace isn’t the cessation of all conflict. Peace is a supernatural calm in the midst of a storm that is trying to kill you! The peace of God is manifested where there is no peace, not in a tranquil environment with orchestral music playing softly in the background. Many Christians mistake quiet for peace. But you can be in turmoil on the inside, even when you are quiet on the outside. Sitting in a quiet sanctuary, isolated from the din of humanity is one thing, but trying to get a hold of the peace of God while a family literally fights it out in front of you is another. But when you see the peace of God descend in a hellhole of confusion, anger and insanity, then you know the true definition of peace.

The Kingdom of God is a matter of joy. But true, Kingdom joy is not found in perfected circumstances. The joy that comes from the Spirit is an inexplicable happiness that comes from the Spirit, in spite of your circumstances. It’s manifested when bills are past due, when everyone hates you and is saying terrible things about you and when the Doctors say there is nothing more than they can do. When you can laugh in the face of the enemies’ best assault and actually derive strength from the onslaught, you know you have found the joy of the Lord that is your strength.

Indeed, the Kingdom of Darkness is DARK. But the LIGHT of the Gospel far surpasses it. Our Gospel light shines brightest in the darkest places. Most Christians don’t ever venture where there is no light and consequently they do not know of the light they possess. To them I say,

"Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of Jehovah has risen on you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but Jehovah shall rise on you, and His glory shall be seen on you. And the nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawning." Isaiah 60:1-3

The Kindness of God

This week, we got front row seats to the kindness of God in action. God moved Heaven and Earth so send one of our outreach teams to a gentleman in distress at the right place and the right time. It was so awesome to watch. This was in addition to some miracle reports and salvations that are becoming normal around here. The Lord raised a young man literally off his death bed as a direct result of a prayer uttered hundreds of miles away. We just received the report this week, but it happened several months ago.


HEALING FROM A DISTANCE
One of the believers in a neighborhood we are in had a very sick family member; a nephew. He had been in the hospital for several weeks and had numerous complications, each one worse than the other. By the time we were talking with his aunt, he was on his death bed in Ohio. It sounds like he went in for a relatively routine procedure and there were complications. There were infections, followed by further infections and ultimately an infection in his blood. The doctors were losing him and the family was preparing for the worst. The aunt was really pressing into God in faith and asked us to pray with her for her nephew’s life. She honestly believed that if we prayed, God would answer us. The Lord had healed her of several major illnesses through our prayers, so you can understand why. Anyway, we prayed with her that day and after we left she called her family, told them that “those people” had prayed for her nephew and told them to watch God move on his behalf.

One week later this young man was dancing with family members at a wedding!


RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME
It is so cool to watch God set up “Divine Appointments” with unbelievers. It’s something that we as spirit filled believers take for granted, but this weekend we got to watch an unbeliever’s wonder and amazement at the experience.

The Story starts on Friday afternoon where an unbelieving Iranian man was in total distress at his marriage problems. He was so upset that he started calling out to God, even calling on the name of Jesus saying, “If You are real, show yourself to me!” In desperation, he called a local Baptist Pastor and asked for help. They set something up for that evening, but the Pastor called and rescheduled an appointment for Saturday morning around 9am. All that night, even late into the night, the desperate man continued crying out to God for help and for answers.

Several miles away, one of our outreach team members was about to crawl into bed when he had a simple decision to make: get up early and go preach the Gospel on Saturday morning, or sleep in and let others gather the harvest in his stead. He chose wisely, and set his alarm to wake him in the morning, deciding to preach the Gospel instead of sleep in. He got up and went to church to meet the others already gathered for prayer. During prayer, the Lord spoke to me to send a team to a neighborhood that we haven’t been in for a few weeks. After prayer, we went out to the neighborhood, the same neighborhood where our desperate Iranian friend was still crying out to God.

9am came and went and the Baptist Pastor didn’t show or even call to let him know what was going on. Our desperate friend started to despair, figuring that maybe God didn’t care about him or his situation. Barely an hour later, our team showed up at his door, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. He was flabbergasted and repeatedly asked them, “How did you know to come to me?” After a couple words of knowledge, he gladly submitted to this King who knew everything about Him and would send His servants to answer his call of desperation. The Kindness of God won him over. Something so simple and so basic, being at the right place at the right time in response to a desperate man’s plea, convinced him that indeed, Jesus was King and Lord and that moment, he gave his life to Jesus.

The next day, he wandered into our Sunday service and begged for an answer to his question, “How did they know to come to me?” I had the privilege of explaining that God’s sheep know His voice and God had simply sent us to his doorstep. He wept as I explained to Him the goodness of God and how God would hear his simple prayer for help and send strangers to bring him Jesus. He gratefully worshipped God with us; he attentively listened to the message and even came forward at the end of the service, asking for physical healing. He had severe pain in his back for over 15 years and Jesus took it away in a moment. He just sat there, basking in the presence of God, thanking God for His kindness.

After the service, he ran up to me and asked me if I would speak to his wife about his experience over the last 24 hours. He got her on the phone and through broken English started describing to her what had happened, the team coming to his home in response to his prayer, the Kingdom of God and his physical healing that morning. He then handed the phone to me and asked me to, and I quote, “Tell her about this Kingdom of God”. It was my privilege to describe to his wife what Jesus had done for him and preach the Gospel of the Kingdom to her. I could tell she was weeping on the end of the line as she heard what God had done for her husband. I said, “He’s good, isn’t He?” “Oh yes! I just can’t believe that God would do all of these things for my husband!” I told her that the Lord would do all of those things and more for her and her entire household. “Really?!” she asked. “Absolutely” I replied.

This week, we’ll go and baptize them and begin a house church in their home.

God’s cool, isn’t He?

God’s Secret Weapon

Did you know that God has a secret weapon? A force so powerful that it routs the Kingdom of Darkness. Its strength is in the element of surprise. The enemy never sees it coming and by the time he understands what’s happening, it’s too late. I’m talking about a NewBreed of Christians that will cut their teeth on destroying the works of the enemy. I’m talking about an army of trained Mighty Warriors that live to heal the sick, cast out devils, raise the dead and preach the Gospel of the Kingdom. The best part is - they’re kids. Little guys anointed with the same Holy Ghost that raised Jesus from the dead. When you unleash them on the powers of darkness, they win. The element of surprise and their simple faith is so potent that the enemy doesn’t stand a chance.

From the beginning, the enemy has feared the young warriors. That’s why he had the children slaughtered in the time of Moses and time of Jesus. That’s why he’s slaughtering them today through abortion. He fears a deliver. More than that, he fears an army of powerfully anointed deliverers. But they have escaped slaughter and the Lord is raising an army of Mighty Young Warriors. We saw a taste of what they can do this Sunday.


OUT OF THE BOX
For years we have had kids serve in every area of church life. They can’t drive a car or even stand tall enough to see over the steering wheel, but they can get you healed and delivered! We have a bunch of testimonies of the result of kids’ prayers in prayer lines and in our children’s ministry classrooms. Most of our outreach crew is young people, but teenagers, not the kids I am talking about here. We’ve even taken our kids out to “safer” places like the malls and grocery stores. They have done miracles and healed the sick. My friend David Walters calls it the “Laying on of Sticky Fingers”.

But this week I decided to up the ante. I wanted to see how some of our kids would function in a hard core ministry situation. How would they do in downtown Atlanta? How would they fare against incurable diseases? They’ve done great with church folks and buttoned up suburban types, but what about drug addicts, prostitutes and the insane? Would they wilt under the heat or shine like the sun?

They did awesome. In my group alone, we saw 7 miracles in under an hour. Everyone we prayed for except one received an instantaneous healing. Pain left, cripples walked and the poor had the good news preached to them. Two of the better miracles we saw were both people crippled by disease.


NO NEED FOR A WALKER
The first lady was probably in her forties. She was totally jacked on some drug and obviously mentally unstable. She had a nice, shiny new walker that she was using and we found out it was due to a blood clot in her leg. Several days before, she noticed swelling in her leg, followed by severe pain and immobility. Since them, she had only been able to walk with great difficulty. I told her about this great Kingdom of God where there are no walkers and severe pain and asked if the kids could pray for her. Her pain was a 10 on a 10 point scale.

The kids prayed, calling down the fire of God to burn out the clot, rebuking pain and commanding life into her legs. She started to crumple under the power of God and when we asked her where the pain was at she said, “I feel MUCH better!” When we had her check the pain, it was at a 4, down 60%! We prayed again and she again wilted under the power of God. When she checked it this time, the pain was at a 2. We prayed one final time and all of the pain left her body. The kids with me asked her to stand and with a little help at first, she got up and walked! Another one of our teams also prayed for her and got her delivered of some demons but before we left, we witnessed her walking perfectly WITHOUT THE WALKER!


CASTING OUT DEVILS
A guy at the bus stop where we were praying for the lady with the walker asked what we were doing. While the kids prayed, I told him about the Kingdom of God and how all pain and disease will go when the kids pray for him. He said he was already born again and quickly asked for prayer. He told us that he had a lump in his chest that was causing severe pain. The doctors had yet to find out what it was, but you could tell that the guy was freaking out, probably thinking it was cancer. The kids laid their hands on him and he started swaying under their touch. He instantly broke out into a sweat. I asked him what was happening and he told me that he was getting very hot. I said, “Heat is good!” and the kids continued to pray. He had to sit down and when he did, he turned green. I asked him what was going on and he told me that he was very nauseous. I recognized this as spirits of death and fear and told the kids to cast it out! They cast out the devil and his color and countenance returned to normal. When we asked about his pain, we found that it was all gone!


NO NEED FOR A CANE
A few minutes later, we saw an elderly woman walking up the sidewalk with the aid of a cane. She was taking forever just to make a few steps and was in obvious pain. We asked her what was going on and she told us it was rheumatoid arthritis in both her legs, but it had nearly crippled her right leg. She was in a lot of pain and rated her pain at 7 out of 10. I told her that we had just seen God heal several people minutes ago and told her about the Kingdom of God. She was a believer and she joined us as we prayed. The kids called down the fire of God, rebuked the arthritis and pain and the lady started praying in tongues! It was great; there we all were on the sidewalk, having a Holy Ghost Hoedown! We had her check the pain and she rated it at a 2! We asked if we could pray again and she agreed. The kids fired it up again and lady almost fell out in the Spirit, I actually had to prop her up as they prayed! We had her check again and all the pain was gone! She still had a very slight limp, but that was due to her crooked legs, not pain. We asked her to walk and she walked away, pain free and zipped right up the sidewalk.


PS – For some reason, neither the lady with the walker nor the lady with the cane would allow us to have their instruments of death. I’m still not sure why. Maybe they plan on getting sick again?

California Trip Report

I know the updates have been sparse since the end of the year, but it’s not because there isn’t anything going on! The miracles, healings, signs, wonders and salvations continue. God is still delivering the oppressed and saving unbelievers. We finished 2005 by getting into 15 neighborhoods and since the end of last year we have been having meetings with new believers, strengthening the work and consolidating our efforts. My family was also able to take a week’s vacation after Christmas and enjoy a much needed break from the action. Ministry and revival is work, make no mistake about it!

Several months ago we received an invitation from friends of ours in California to come out for a weekend, go out on the streets and do a few meetings with them. These are the same guys we hooked up with last August and we really feel a connection in the Spirit. We just returned from the trip and while exhausted, we are thrilled at what the Lord did on the trip. Lots of healings, salvations and a whole bunch of Christians ignited with the fire, power and glory of God.


SIGNS & WONDERS
Actually, while we were there, in every ministry opportunity, the fire of God was the theme and the manifestation. The ministry times in the meetings were CRAZY as the fire of God fell again and again. Without even praying for people’s healing, they were getting healed. I believe that several deaf ears opened and many injuries were healed instantly. On top of that, a cool thing happened on the morning we left. Wildfires broke out in and around the area(s) we were in while in town, aided by strong desert winds. These winds and fires burnt houses down, ignited brush fires, overturned big rigs on the highway and in one town we did an outreach in, palm branches were ripped from the trees and covered the ground. Sound familiar? (John 12:13) We thought so too. The best part was that there were no injuries reported.

I actually believe that it was a token and a sign that the Lord is really coming in a powerful way to Southern California. The fire of God will break out and burn the brush and refuse. The winds will blow and topple all the “big rigs” on the highways. I believe that this speaks of the highway of holiness in Isaiah 35:8 and the “big rigs” represent the large ministry vehicles that right now, are just cluttering things up. The palm branches went down on the road before Jesus came entered Jerusalem and they went down in Santa Ana last night. Jesus is coming to town and the good news is that He is bringing His Kingdom with Him!


DESTROYING THE WORK OF THE ENEMY
On of the coolest things I personally witnessed on the trip was watching the Lord undo literally generations of the enemies work in a few minutes. One of the nights we were there, we went with the team from the church on one of their regular Friday night outreaches. They go to a local outdoor mall where several thousand people will gather and mill around on a typical weekend night. It’s an awesome opportunity as literally dozens of nations and religions are represented in their demographic. Everyone from psychics, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists are there to greet you and your message of the Kingdom. We’re actually jealous and would love a place like that in the Atlanta area.

While cruising the mall, we ran across a group of Asian kids. A couple people on our team started talking to them and telling them about the Kingdom of God. They were pretty receptive, although a bit freaked out at our boldness. We found out that several of them were Buddhists by upbringing. They were raised in a family where generations have believed, lived and died as Buddhists. They started with this “there are many ways to God” attitude when we first started talking to them, but quickly, the Holy Spirit changed their mind (repentance).

The Lord gave us a few words of knowledge about their personal giftings and callings that got their attention, but what really “sealed the deal” was the manifestation of the power of God. While I was talking to them, I got hit by the power of God and was getting drunk in the Spirit. I couldn’t help it, it just happened! They were noticing my speech start to slur and my body bobbing and rocking “under the influence”, so I simply asked them, “want to feel something cool?” They were like, “Sure”. So I and the lady I was with put our hands on them and released the power of God. One of the guys looked at the hand that was laid on his shoulder with these huge, wide eyes. He said, “It’s REALLY hot!” The guy I was praying for instantly got super light headed and starting bobbing and rocking just like me. I asked him what he was feeling and he slurred (imagine talking to a drunk) “szzzlight … ummm-headed?” I said, “It’s good isn’t it?” He said, “Ohhh yeah!”

I jumped all over the opportunity and asked them if they ever got a demonstration like this from Buddha. I asked them if a Buddhist had ever read their mail prophetically and released a tangible manifestation of power on them. They said emphatically, “No way!” I started telling them that this whole “there are many ways to God thing” is totally wrong. I told them that Jesus was the One who showed us things about them prophetically and that Jesus was the One who was manifesting His power. I also told them that Jesus said Himself that He was the only Way to God. I told them that Jesus claimed, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, NO ONE comes to the Father but by Me.” I then told them that either Jesus was a liar and a nut, or He really was the One and Only way to God! I emphasized that by simply stating, “What you have been told was wrong. You have got to change the way you are thinking.” They nodded in agreement and we were able to lead them to Jesus right them and there.

We didn’t have to bend their arm, we didn’t have to convince or argue, we just simply demonstrated the power of God and they fell to the Gospel like wheat to a sickle. Generations of the devils work were undone in a few minutes.

Ex-Buddhists. I really like the sound of that.

The "INVITATION"

"And Jesus went up into a mountain and called near those whom He would. And they came to Him. And He ordained them, that they should be with Him, and that He might send them out to proclaim, and to have authority to heal sicknesses, and to cast out demons." - Mark 3:13-15

All over the earth, the Saints are being trained and equipped in ministry. Bible Schools and seminaries are full of believers wanting more from their Christian experience. Great books have been written and read. Great sermons have been preached and digested. But where are the Mighty Warriors? Where are the Dead Raisers? Where are the Miracle Men and Women, the Sons and Daughters of God that walk in the power of the age to come? Where are the Dread Champions that will take their knowledge and put it to work?

We believe there is a remnant in the church that is no longer content in only learning, but they are ready to "DO" the Gospel! We believe that the church is over equipped and under challenged. So we are issuing an invitation to you to come and "DO" the Gospel. You don't need to hear another message. You don't need to read another book. You need to pick up your sword and get to work. The Harvest is NOW!

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MIGHTY WARRIOR SPRING BOOT CAMP

April 21st - 23rd, 2006

Go here for the details.


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The MIGHTY WARRIOR POWER SCHOOL is an eight week program where you will preach the Gospel, Heal the sick, Cast out Devils, Plant Churches and Make Disciples 5 days a week. This IS NOT teaching in a classroom environment, this is REAL LIFE "On the Streets" training. There will be some classroom instruction, but it will be much more "Show You" than "Tell You".

Go here for complete course description.