Tribe Of The Lion of Judah – Part 1

In Defence of the Prophets.

“But one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.’” (Revelation 5:5)

The title of this post is a deliberate misquote. We all acknowledge that one of the Lord’s titles is ‘The Lion of the Tribe of Judah‘. What I am talking about here is the new tribe that belongs to the Lion of Judah – a tribe of present-day apostles, prophets, priests, teachers, warriors and followers that are being raised up in these times to put on the Full Armor of God and follow the Lion of Judah wherever He may lead them. Note: this word ‘tribe’ is not synonymous with ‘church’ or ‘churches’ – far from it.

Many will argue that this concept is ‘unscriptural’, that apostles and prophets no longer exist. I say to you that ‘scriptural’ is a sliding scale in many people’s hands: but most certainly it is wrong to deny the latest moves of God on this ground. He is the author of scripture. In this age, He is talking directly to His flock, and in some cases using scripture to illustrate and explain what His next moves will be.

Amos 3:7 says, “Surely the Lord God does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.”

When Jesus walked this earth, His message was very simple, and He had no time for the leaders of the church of the day. His message was so discomfiting for them, so alien to their beliefs and their entrenched status, that they killed Him.

The story has not changed. Those who are entrenched in religiosity and doctrinal beliefs are still with us. They are still the biggest detractors from what The Father is doing in the present time, and unfortunately since they are largely represented in the established church, their views tend to ‘carry weight’. They are not killing Jesus, but they most definitely ARE killing His message. We have gone from ‘The Law’ of Jesus’ day to a new kind of ‘legalistic’ bondage.

We hear fairy tales like, “There are no miracles today” … “God no longer speaks through Prophets” … “While miracles may have had their value for the early Christians, they have no value for us, for our experience is different from theirs”   et cetera  ….  et cetera.

So… does God no longer speak? Has He gone silent? What are we to make of the testimonies of people who are hearing from Him today? What are we to make of the plain words Jesus spoke when He walked the earth?

Quite clearly, there are people who are happy to count themselves saved by the Lord, but all they want to do is sit in their ‘saved’ bubble, carry on with life as usual, believe what their pastor tells them to believe and wait for the Lord to call them home. “Don’t talk to me, Jesus – I don’t want to hear.”

That is not what it’s about, people – the Lord is still speaking, and He expects us to listen up, take responsibility and act accordingly. How else are we to be transformed “from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18)?

You will say, “by applying scripture to our lives”. OK – HOLD IT THERE.

If this is true, then what are we to make of the passages in scripture that clearly point beyond the immediate times of Jesus’ life? What are we to make of even the following two examples from the Word:

“Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:18-20)

“For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” (Mark 11:23-24)

So – you say, “This was Jesus talking to His disciples and does not apply in the present day.”   Has it not occurred to you that most people subscribe to the application of scripture to our lives so completely that sermons in the present-day church are invariably built around the application of passages of scripture to the lives of the flock? What then are you going to make of the word ‘whoever’ in the above passage – and what are you going to make of this:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:12-14)

And this:

“Behold I am with you always, even to the end of the Age.” Matthew 28:20.

Both of these passages foretell Jesus’ continued connection with His followers, even after His passing from this earth.

Like it or not, God is still speaking. Like it or not, He is in this day raising up apostles and prophets to alert His people to the upcoming moves He is going to make.

Many people waste time taking it upon themselves to second guess Him. How much speculation have you read about when, if and how the rapture will take place (for example)?   How many reams of paper, how many cyber-pages, how many ‘comments’ and forum posts have been taken up with this one issue, when Jesus has already told us that even He does not know the answer to this? (Matthew 24:36) What an exercise in futility! What a waste of time!

It is all further confusion instigated by the enemy to take people’s attention away from the REAL ISSUES of the day.

We need to be preparing to march forth in the Lord’s name and start taking ground for Him and His Kingdom (in our own lives to start with), not wasting time haggling over doctrine.

More to come,

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Healing Begins

I decided to sell my beloved 10 acre block in September 2014, I think because everything became too much for me. I’ve loved the place for over 40 years but I’d lost my enthusiasm and interest. I wasn’t even interested in my plants and garden, let alone 10 acres overgrown with gorse. Much had been neglected in the years I looked after my mom with alzheimers, sole charge – there was such a lot to be done and so little funds to do it all with.

So spake the enemy.

Fortunately, I’d been born again in October 2006, at a small fellowship in a coastal town half an hour’s drive from where I live. I hadn’t been a churchgoer since I was a child, but out of the blue some friends invited me to their fellowship that day and I decided to go.  It would be a change, I thought, especially since my mother was in respite care for a week. No-one at this little fellowship knew me.

Well, the worship and the service had such a strong impact that I was in tears for most of it, and decided then and there to be baptized with three others in a ceremony they were going to hold in the ocean near the church.  So in this way the Lord reached out and pulled me into His boat.

Then we went back for lunch, and several people brought scriptures that had come into their minds for me. Out of probably 5 scriptures, 3 were identical:

“So I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten…” (Joel 2:25)

I was astounded. These people did not know my life’s health history, nor did they know that I had looked after my mother with alzheimers for 9 years…

That prophetic scripture encouraged me so much, because I felt it had indeed come direct from God, and thanks to the experience I’d had with the Holy Spirit on that day I really had become a ‘believer’. As very often happens, though, the outcome of the prophetic was not immediate nor has it been instant. Far from it. There is a lesson to be learned for us all in this.

When Jesus walked this earth, He worked many instant miracles – in fact the hallmark of His miracles was the instantaneous. Sometimes though, He required evidence of faith from the people He healed – as when He asked people what they wanted from Him. He knew the answer to that question perfectly well, but He wanted to draw out from them a statement of faith.

Sometimes, He required people to take action in faith – “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” (John 5:8), “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” (John 9:7). For a man afflicted with illness for 38 years who couldn’t get himself into a pool, and for a man blind from birth, these were not trifling commands – they required faith and effort. Sometimes it is so with us, and I believe we are the better for it.

Today, instantaneous miracles are still happening:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:12-13)

This last quotation highlights another aspect. Many miracles were – and are – worked in such a way that there can be no doubt they are sent by God. Two historic examples are the raising of Lazarus (John 11), and the healing of the man blind from birth (John 9:1-7), as Jesus stated there in answer to the disciples’ question.

I believe there are times when the Lord does not just hand out an instantaneous healing because He wants us to trust the process, and learn something. And so it has been with me.

My mom passed away early in 2007.    I always baked bread from wholewheat and ground sunflower seeds for her because she loved it – the bread was raised with baking powder, so as to avoid yeast.

Now was my opportunity: I was led to stop baking (and eating) bread, and test out a feeling I had about gluten. So I cut out all wheat products. That helped, but was still not the full answer. Then I was reminded other grains also contain gluten, so I swore off all grains except rice and a little corn – some more improvement, but still not the full answer.

I was noticing a strange cramping in my bowel at times, and the words ‘Leaky Gut Syndrome‘ kept coming to mind. So I researched an explanation:
“The small intestine, where nutrients are absorbed, is supposed to have tight cell junctions to separate the chyme (food turns into chyme in the stomach) from the bloodstream. But a chain of factors causes these tight junctions to degrade. Once the connections between intestinal cells are weakened, undigested proteins and bacterial toxins escape into the bloodstream. This leads to a heightened state of inflammation.”  (Empowered Sustenance)
Could this be what was causing my skin problems and ‘under the weather’ symptoms? A condition brought about by years of candida and stress?

The way to treat Leaky Gut Syndrome holistically prescribes avoidance of all sugars and all starches (including grains and starchy vegetables). So the packets of rice biscuits (my bread substitute) went out the window, as did corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes (our NZ kumara) and yams. I put myself on the GAPS diet.

Meantime I’d had polymyalgia, which of course is an inflammatory disease, affecting mainly the legs in my case and almost destroying my mobility. It began late 2014 and thanks to careful management by my doctor, we had a recovery by April 2016.  A wise friend suggested that maybe the reason the prednisone worked so well on me was that I have never taken pharmaceutical medications.

Meantime I had started a course of chiropractic to fix some spinal problems, exacerbated by a couple of falls.

After many months of daily pain and limping, I at last began to feel I was starting to come right

Hallelujah! This came like a heavenly benediction on a decision I was in the process of making – the decision NOT to sell my beloved 10 acre block and NOT to move away.

Well, our Father is a God of Breakthrough. He is also a God of knowledge and understanding:

“Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” (Jeremiah 3:33)

For over 2 years I’d pursued the idea of selling up and moving – hampered continually by one major thing after another – my health issues, a tree falling on my roof, having another tree taken down with massive fallout scattered everywhere, repair work needing to be done on 3 outbuildings, a huge overgrowth of wandering jew weed – you name it, I had it.

I don’t think I was meant to move away from here, and things were allowed to happen that made it virtually impossible for me to move quickly.

But what does it take to deal with all these problems?

I’ll tell you what it takes – faith, that’s what – and being prepared to trust the process. Being prepared to take action when a fast outcome is unlikely. Being prepared to listen to the still small voice, and obey. Being prepared to step out in faith without having a clue how it will work out.

Plus a healing miracle.

More to come.

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Life and Strength

Without wanting to sound dramatic, I think it’s fair to say that I’ve never enjoyed good health in my life, since I was a teenager.

At the age of 16, on board ship in the tropics, I was given a massive dose of every antibiotic the ship’s doctor had in his pharmacy. That got me on my feet in time to disembark, but only days later effects began to manifest. Before long, my parents sought medical help, but it was not forthcoming. “Spots on the face? That’s just teen-related,” was the verdict.

Well, of course, for a teenager, spots on the face is a serious business, whatever the cause. But they didn’t diminish with time, and soon other symptoms followed – tiredness, digestive problems, pain in the stomach, and more skin issues. The tiredness got to the point where I was tested for bilharzia (schistosomiasis) – negative.    Pains in the stomach had me tested for gall-bladder issues, and with a barium meal test – both negative. I had treatment for thyroid, and though that was helpful, it didn’t fix the problem. There was (almost) an endoscopy for stomach ulcer: aborted at the last minute.

I gave up on orthodox medicine, and tried to follow a diet that gave me the least digestive issues, while researching alternative health. I had no idea what was wrong with me, but I knew for sure it was not ‘all in the head‘, as some doctors alleged.

Through all this, I got 2 university degrees – the second in Law, while working  in a legal position in government. So one might say, “Well, you can’t have been that sick.”

True, I wasn’t confined to bed, or hospitalized, but I continually felt ‘under the weather’ and most of the time life was a struggle. In my first year of study after I got the government job, I only achieved 1 law unit – though I enrolled for the normal 4. That was because of exhaustion. The only way to combat that was to move my lodgings as close to the university as possible, to make evening study less of a hassle.

Time marched on – without letup in the problems. Finally one day, as Regional Solicitor for the ACC in the Waikato, I conducted a hearing into a complaint by a lady denied cover for an illness contracted while picking a bed of sprayed asparagus. I was impressed by the knowledge and open-minded approach of the doctor who gave evidence for her. I decided to consult him.

When I told him my story, he didn’t have to think twice. His immediate diagnosis was Candidiasis – ie an overgrowth of candida organisms in the gut: something I had never heard of before. He said the huge dose of antibiotics did indeed kill off all organisms in my gut – the friendly ones as well as the unfriendly ones. This gave the Candida carte blanche to take over the territory. “I can’t prove it”, he told me, “but I will put you on treatment and if I am right, you will be very sick for a while.”

Sick I was.

I was lecturing in business law at the Hamilton Polytechnic and some of my male students told me I didn’t look well (!). One day – fortunately while my parents were visiting – I woke up from a mid-morning sleep feeling so bad my father drove me to my afternoon lecture because I felt as if my head wasn’t attached to my body.   Definitely not safe to drive.

“Little green men….” the doctor had said.   Such is the effect of ‘die-off’, when the Candida organisms are killed off and their toxins flood the system. How I got through that lecture, I don’t know. For some weeks I was tired, slept a lot of the time,  generally felt horrible, and was difficult to live with.

But at least I had a diagnosis – after 27 years of trying.

It needs to be said that in those days, the general medical profession was in total denial about the implication of antibiotics in the spread of Candida.  Even today, very few accept it – especially health professionals.  This is largely the work of the pharmaceutical companies, who encourage doctors and veterinarians to administer antibiotics regularly as a backstop, whatever the problem may be – ‘just in case’.  Aaah alas, the mighty dollar…

It may be years before the issue is brought into the open.

I moved away from the Waikato to the family 10 acre property. As we all tend to do, I hoped as time went on that I had got over it. I swore off bread, mushrooms, and other yeast products (so that’s why beer never agreed with me).  I kept away from too much sugar, and boxed on. But still things were not right.

Then while working in a local health store the chance came to consult a visiting iridologist who was with one of the major health companies. She told me she could see signs of Candida throughout my body. That was a shock. My spleen, she said, was enlarged.

I didn’t even know where my spleen was.   So I went home, consulted the books, and found the acupressure point for the spleen is under the bottom rib on the left. All of a sudden I realized here was the reason for the unexplained tenderness I had felt there for years, and which I had always put down to my bra “biting” me. It looked as if my immune system was shot.

By way of explanation: if you think you know all about ‘thrush’, you don’t know enough.   Candida being a yeast or fungus has roots similar to the white, silky roots of mushrooms and toadstools – roots that invade the bodily tissues: it is indeed a serious business if it gets the upper hand in your system.  It had had the upper hand in my system for 27 years.

It was frightening.

I had access to all the latest alternative products on the market, and tried many of the promising ones. Some helped, but still there was no final resolution. It was going to take more than that.

One Power was keeping His hand on me through all this, though I was only nominally a Christian and He had not yet openly come to my aid. That was soon to happen:

“…the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

There was a warfare going on in my life, that I hadn’t identified as such – a spiritual battle that started in my teens and had intensified as the years passed by.  I am truly grateful that throughout all the years of this drama, with the exception of one period of treatment with Nilstat, I was kept away from taking Big Pharma’s drugs: grateful, too, that in spite of the struggles and weariness, I managed to make a success out of the ‘corporate’ talents the Father gave me.

The Enemy was on my case:  I was truly under attack – mainly in the area of health, but there were other things happening also, of which I was totally unaware.  Indeed, if you had said the words ‘spiritual warfare‘ to me, I wouldn’t have had a clue what you were talking about.

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”  (Hosea 4:6)

More to follow

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Awesome Testimony

This testimony by Paul Gauvin will warm your heart.  What a story – honest, genuine and moving.

Here is a guy who by his own admission has never made a video before, and he is uncomfortable in front of the camera.  That makes his testimony all the more credible.

Paul is a young musician who about eighteen months ago had a life-changing encounter with Jesus that was completely unexpected and totally overwhelming.

Take the time to watch this through.  If you have not yet asked the Lord into your life, it will give you something to think and act on.   If you already have the Lord, you will rejoice in this testimony of His wonderful power and presence.

  Thank you, Paul, for making this – and thank you for just being yourself.

Blessings.

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Nation Will Rise Against Nation

“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains….

“At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”    Matthew 24: 7-8, 10-14.

The words used for nations and kingdoms in the Greek NT were ‘ethnos’ and ‘basilea’.  We need to be aware that Jesus was not repeating himself here.  ‘Basilea’ has the meaning of a heriditary kingdom, or in modern parlance a nation.   But ‘ethnos’ means more a body of people, a caste or a tribe.

Looking at what is happening in the world today, where tribes and religious groups are fighting within countries, aided and abetted by independent nations,  Jesus knew exactly what He was talking about.

Vector design.

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