Miracles Still Happen

MIRACLES

STILL HAPPEN

Marlies

Zechner

Copyright

1998

Contents

1/

Fiji 2

2/

Egypt 6

3/

Israel 8

4/

Papua New Guinea 10

5/

Forgive or I cannot forgive you 23

6/

Jesus still heals today 28

7/

Suicide 37

8/

Long Bay Gaol 40

9/

Attempted murder 43

10/

Bathurst Gaol 46

11/

Angels 50

12/

How to pray 53

13/

Cords 60

14/

Counting the cost 65

15/

The heart condition 66

16/

Lorraine 68

17/

Dracula – fact or fiction 69

18/

If you love me 75

19/

Being gay 81

20/

Faith 89

21/

Roots 92

22/

Malaysia 94

23/

Fiji revisited – 1997 95

24/

What Jesus means to me 97

25/

My diary entries 102

Introduction

There

are two distinct worlds; the physical and the spiritual. We cannot

see God and His angels, or the devil and his demons, unless God

allows us to do so. However, that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. We

cannot see the wind, but we can see its effects. A gentle breeze can

sway a tree; a hurricane can uproot it. So no matter how much people

deny God’s existence they cannot deny those things that they see on a

daily basis, the sky, the grass, the flowers, food and water etc.

Romans

1:19 – 20

19/

…what can be known about God is plain to them for, God himself made

it plain.

20/

Ever since God created the world, his invisible qualities, both his

eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly seen; they are

perceived in the things that God has made. So those people have no

excuse at all!

The

purpose of this book has been to share the reality of God with those

who read its pages. The stories are factual and show that miracles

did not die with the disciples and apostles. God, through the Holy

Spirit and the Lord Jesus Christ, is as active today, as He was then,

in the lives of the people who want to get to know Him.

Hebrew

13:8

Jesus

Christ is the same yesterday, today, and for ever.

If

only people would seek a personal

relationship

with God through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit,

their lives would be dramatically changed and they would experience

miracles in their life and the lives of the people around them.

Chapter

1

Fiji

Kara

In

1984 my daughter Rachael and I went to Fiji for a holiday. The first

seven days were spent at Dick’s Place on Malolo Lai Lai Island. We

were delighted with the Fijian style accommodation. While unpacking,

a slim, tall Fijian woman, in her late twenties entered and asked if

we needed anything. During our stay she would be looking after us and

the bure (the hut we lived in). The red hibiscus was firmly anchored

behind her ear and contrasted beautifully with the white teeth and

dark skin.

I

don’t even remember how the subject of Jesus came up, but when it

did, she started to cry. As we talked, it turned out that she had

grown cold and wanted to know Jesus again. As we read the Bible, the

Holy Spirit touched her and she gave her heart back to Jesus.

The

next day she brought three other women with her to hear the Word of

God. Again the Holy Spirit touched their hearts and all three

rededicated their lives to Jesus Christ. For the rest of our stay, we

then had Bible study every evening.

On

the last night I decided to simply read as much of the Gospel of John

as possible. We didn’t get any further than chapter one, where John

talks about water baptism. I asked Kara if she had been baptised as

an adult. The answer was, “no”. I suggested that she should

go to the mainland and attend to the matter.

“But,

what if I can’t find a minister?” was the reply.

During

our conversation God spoke to me. “You baptise her.”

My

reaction was, “What me? I am not a minister; besides I’m a

woman!”

“You

are my disciple, aren’t you?”

God

doesn’t look at our gender, only our heart condition. Without further

argument (arguments with God are pointless, He always wins), I

hesitantly asked Kara if she would like me to baptise her. She was

delighted with the suggestion. Only later did she tell me that God

had told her that morning at 8 o’clock, to ask me to baptise her.

As

the ocean was just outside the front door, I figured that there would

be plenty of water for my first baptism. Wrong; the tide was out!

Much can be said for Kara’s love for Jesus, because water, or no

water, darkness or daylight, (it was 10 o’clock at night) she was

determined to be baptised. So we walked, for what seemed kilometres,

out onto the reef, in knee deep water.

The

shore lights gradually faded in the distance and the dark waters of

the ocean appeared in front of us. I decided that knee deep was

better, than no water at all. Never having baptised anybody, I didn’t

have the faintest idea of what to say, so I simply said, “Kara,

do you want to follow the Lord Jesus Christ through the waters of

baptism?” Her reply came quickly and clearly. “Yes”. I

then said to her, “I baptise you in the name of the Father, the

Son and the Holy Spirit; according to the commands of the Lord Jesus

Christ.” Then I asked her to lie down making sure that the water

covered her.

As

we waded back to shore I heard splashes in the water. Being in the

tropics my first thought was — sea snakes! I turned to Kara and

asked her if that was the case. “Oh yes, lots and lots, that’s

why I was a bit frightened to go into the water.”

Just

as well Kara told me after the baptism, because I certainly wouldn’t

have gone into the water if I had known about the sea snakes – which

by the way are much deadlier than land snakes. Neither the snakes,

nor the sharp coral could keep Kara from following Jesus’ commands

once she had made her decision.

Leprosy

The

last seven days of our holiday in Fiji were to be spent on the

mainland at Crows Nest. Here we met Selai, who introduced us to Mary.

It didn’t take long for the women and myself to sit down and read the

Bible. The day before our departure Mary invited Rachael and myself

to visit her family in the village.

Shattered

were my images of post card Fijian villages, where huts are made of

dried grasses and artistically plaited palm leaves. Here the walls

and roof were made of corrugated iron. The average size Australian

loungeroom, plus one bedroom was the size of this dwelling. A piece

of material, down the middle of the sleeping section divided the

double bunks and single bed from the parent’s double bed. The living

quarters contained a kerosene fridge, food cupboard and a lounge. A

small outhouse provided shower and toilet facilities. What the house

lacked in material possessions was compensated for in cosiness.

The

village we had been invited to, was not what we had expected, but

Rachael and I were very glad to have been given the opportunity to

meet a Fijian family in their home. As Billy said, “Unless you

come into our villages and enter our homes, you will never come to

know the Fijians and Fiji.”

Joining

the family on the uneven clay floor, we enjoyed the delicious food of

corned beef and beans. They in turn enjoyed the apples I had brought

them. From talking about every day issues the conversation turned to

Mary’s husband Billy, and his hand that was being eaten up by

leprosy. I shared with him how I used to be a cripple and how Jesus

had brought my dead leg back to life again. I assured him that even

though the leg, over a period of time, had shrunk almost to skin and

bone, God had totally restored it and He could do the same for

Billy’s hand.

As

we talked about the love of God and His mighty ways, Billy broke down

and cried. When the sobbing eased, relief rather than embarrassment

showed on his face. Men have been conditioned not to cry, it is only

the Holy Spirit who can touch a man’s heart to the point where he can

see himself for what he really is. Sharing the simple gospel of Jesus

Christ with Billy, had given God the opportunity to touch his heart.

Billy

had once been a Christian, but worldly interests had cooled his

relationship with God. Before becoming a Christian he had leprosy in

his right hand, but praise God, he was healed of that condition when

he turned to Jesus. Unfortunately the leprosy returned when he became

unfaithful to God and his wife.

I

asked if

Billy

wanted to give his life back to Jesus. The answer was, “yes”.

God then told me to put my hand on his diseased hand and pray for

healing. Unlike the disobedience I had shown, in the market place,

when God had told me to pray for a woman with a goiter, I did as I

was told immediately. In the market place I had been too shy

(ashamed, fearful??) to obey God’s voice three times, there was no

excuse to be disobedient again.

Mary

wrote a few weeks later and told me that her husband’s hand had been

completely restored, as had their marriage and his walk with God.

Both are now happily serving Jesus Christ.

Many

years later I still thank God for that healing in Billy’s hand, but I

am also still saddened by my disobedience in not praying for the

woman with the goiter. God wanted to heal her, but I wouldn’t allow

Him to use me as a vessel. I can only hope somebody more obedient

came along soon afterwards.

Back

in Australia – the flea plague

Rachael

and I had barely passed through customs when we were joyfully

embraced by my other two daughters, Connie and Sonja, and Paul, my

son-in-law. Echoes of,

“we’ve

missed you” were mingled with; “oh mum, the smash repair

place resprayed the car bonnet a slightly different colour”.

“Sorry, but half of

the plants died, we forgot to water them.”

“By the way there is

also a flea plague in the flat.”

My

head was spinning at what I heard. I felt like getting on the next

plane back to Fiji.

Unpacking

the suitcases was exciting, both for my family and myself. Being back

home, in familiar surroundings felt great. The fleas must have

realised that the mistress of the house had returned for they were in

hiding. I even told the children that they must have imagined a ‘flea

plague’. Fleas or no fleas, I fell into bed that night, leaving half

empty suitcases and dirty clothes scattered around the loungeroom.

Shock,

horror, the gumboots weren’t made out of black rubber, but black

writhing bodies. This realisation hit me as I began to draw back the

curtains next morning. So there was a flea plague after all! Just as

well the pests were only sucking my blood from the knees down.

Being

a perfectionist where cleanliness is concerned, I wasn’t going to

share our home with millions of unwelcome, disease carrying insects.

A very quick trip to the supermarket and five cans of surface spray,

seemed to be the answer. First, all plants had to be carried out onto

the front and back balcony, so that the fumes wouldn’t kill them.

Next, with a lot of muscle power, the furniture was shifted to one

corner. The large lounge and diningroom, hallway and three bedrooms

were all thoroughly sprayed. The effort nearly killed me; whether the

fleas had been affected was another matter.

The

next day there was a drop in numbers, but they had not been totally

destroyed. I decided it was time to ring up the local pest control

company. They promised to come the next day. That night, as I said my

prayers, not even thinking of the fleas, God said:

“When

my people were in Egypt, no plagues came near them, only the

Egyptians were bothered by plagues. I created the fleas, I can just

as easily exterminate them.”

I

was absolutely thrilled by what God had said. Naturally I prayed

immediately asking God to kill off every flea. However, not until I

picked up the phone the next morning and cancelled the pest control

appointment, did all the fleas drop dead. Not one could be found and

even many years later no flea ever bothered us again. Praise God for

a mighty miracle.

Several

days later God revealed to me why he had allowed me to go through all

that trauma. In my own strength I had not been able to get rid of the

fleas. I was to stop over-working myself, and instead I was to rely

on the guidance of the Holy Spirit to help me in all situations. With

God on your side, life is so much easier and cheaper.

Chapter

2

Egypt

People

all over the world have a favourite place they would like to visit.

Egypt and Israel have always held a fascination for me, so on the

spur of the moment I decided to visit these two countries, leaving on

the 14th December 1990 and returning on the 1st January 1991.

No

book, video, or pamphlet can prepare the visitor for the sounds,

sights and smells of Egypt. People had warned me that I would find

the place dirty, men would molest me and I would have a terrible

time. None of the above was true and I had a wonderful time.

Egypt

is very much part of Jewish history. Joseph was sold into slavery and

ended up becoming second-in-charge to Pharaoh. Can you imagine my

excitement, when on the island of Philae the guide pointed to a large

stone saying that it contained the story of the seven years of famine

and plenty, as well as the story of a young Semite who ruled

second-in-charge to Pharaoh? The guide was quick to point out that

the young man could not have been the Joseph of the Old Testament,

because the name on the stone was an Egyptian one. What joy when

later in the day God reminded me that Joseph had been given an

Egyptian name, Zaphenath Paneah. (Genesis 41:45-46)

I

marvelled at the massive statue of Rameses, at the Karnak temple

complex, at Luxor. Whether this was the same Rameses who had enslaved

the children of Israel, I don’t know. What I do know is that, “The

Israelites built the cities of Pithom and Rameses to serve as supply

centres for the king.” Exodus 1:11

Moses,

a great man of God was born in Egypt. He led the Israelites out of

captivity. God performed many mighty miracles among His people on

their way to the promised land. Even so they continuously complained

and grieved God by their unbelief. Things haven’t changed that much

these days. God’s patience with His rebellious people absolutely

amazes me.

Haggai

2:4

But now don’t be discouraged, any of you. Do the work, for I am with

you.

5/

When you came out of Egypt, I promised that I would always be with

you. I am still with you, so do not be afraid.

The

Bible speaks of worldly living as representing Egypt. I can say a

hundred percent that God has never forsaken me since I turned my back

on the world. “You are not of this world.” God spoke these

words to me during the night, as well as the following day. Not until

I read John 17:16 did I realise how blessed I was. “They are not

of the world, even as I am not of the world.”

The

Egyptian guide Mohammed, tried to live in two worlds. God showed me

this clearly as we toured a tomb in the Valley of the Queens. As the

tour group followed Mohammed through the passageway into the tomb,

God showed me that this man, although calling himself a Muslim,

believed in the gods of Ancient Egypt. Constant visits to the tombs

had allowed the spirits (demons) of these ‘gods’ to attach themselves

to his mind. He was shocked when I told him what God had shown me.

After all, devout Muslims only believe in Allah. To then be caught

out believing in the gods of Ancient Egypt was a shock to the system.

As

we walked through the amazing temple complex of Karnak, God spoke to

me again about Mohammed. I was to pray the following for him. His

eyes were to be opened to what was around him; broken down monuments,

left by dead people. He was to turn from the dead monuments to the

living God – Jesus Christ.

I

was able to share with Mohammed what God had shown me, both before

and during the flight from Luxor to Cairo. The man listened eagerly

to my testimonies about Jesus. He, like everybody else I talked to

about Jesus, was fascinated by the amazing miracles that God

performs. People want to hear about the reality

of God, not listen to boring religious arguments.

While

in Cairo I decided to visit the Anglican church, just around the

corner from the Hotel Marriott, where I was staying. The church

service had just finished and I introduced myself to the first couple

I spotted. All the people were Sudanese and that was how I met Lorna

and Emmanuel. This kind couple invited me to their home for dinner

the following evening. After a wonderful day of visiting the

pyramids, the sphinx and the Cairo museum, I was picked up by

Emmanuel.

The

couple was so thrilled to hear about the mighty works of God, that

they invited the neighbours as well. As the couple had not been

baptised by full immersion as adults, it was my turn to invite them

back to the Marriott. God must have had a reason for putting me in a

hotel with a luxurious bathroom, and a deep bath. Emmanuel and Lorna,

like most Sudanese, are very tall.

Pick-up

time for the bus was 5 a.m. A chilly wind hit me straight between the

eyes as I left the cosy hotel and boarded the bus. The sun had not

yet risen, so we travelled in darkness. The poor of Cairo were

already up and about carrying massive trays of freshly baked bread on

their heads. The thin rags would not have kept out the winter wind.

Two worlds were gliding past each other; the world of the tourist

sitting in a comfortable coach and the world of the Egyptian poor.

The

bus left the narrow streets of Cairo and clawed its way up a steep

hill to the last pick-up point for passengers. While the luggage was

being loaded onto the bus, God directed my attention to a very large

tree growing beside the hotel. The tree was ugly. The branches

contained no leaves. The only beautiful thing about the tree was the

nineteen large white flowers. How do I know that there were nineteen

flowers? I had plenty of time to count them, considering how long it

took to load the bus and seat the new passengers.

The

white flowers stood out against the dark morning sky. God told me

that they represented His children and the ugly tree represented the

world. How true is the Word of God that tells us to be the spotless

bride, ready for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Chapter

3

Israel

I

guess the natural sequence of events is to follow the dark road

heading towards Israel. To the Australian citizen an armed escort is

what they see on television, or in an adventure film. Being part of

that convoy felt exciting. I wouldn’t have been so thrilled if

bullets had ripped the bus and passengers to threads. The Egyptian

government had decided these precautions were necessary after

Palestinians stopped a bus the previous year, shooting all the

Israeli tourists.

The

trip from Egypt to Israel, although ten hours, was very pleasant. Not

all the time was spent travelling, there were delays when changing

the escort, or waiting patiently at the border.

I

sat at the front of the bus next to Karim, the owner of the company.

Before long I was sharing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with

this Muslim. He in return, by the time we were ready to cross the

Suez Canal, was calling me mother and feeding me from the lunch his

wife had packed him. The hours flew quickly as we chatted. Even at a

tiny town, when we stopped for a meal, I felt safe under the

protection of this man.

As

our journey continued I was contented to just sit and absorb scenes

from an ancient land, where time had stood still. The sights along

the way were fascinating. Bedouin encampments in the distance

consisting of tents or rough wrought iron makeshift houses, camel

herds strolling leisurely in the distance, or shepherds herding

sheep, or goats. There was also the occasional oasis, a green patch

that stood out for its tall palm trees, in the middle of rocky

ground. I had expected to see only rolling hills of sand, this wasn’t

the case.

The

ancient sights in Egypt thrilled me. The religiousness in Israel,

especially Jerusalem, disgusted me. God must be so sad when He looks

down at His beloved city. Jesus is big business in Jerusalem. Stalls

and stores will sell anything from pebbles ‘Jesus stepped on’ to the

most useless rubbish you can imagine. When the guide said we would go

to the birth place of Jesus, I became excited! Instead, we entered a

church. I asked if this was the actual birth place of Christ. His

reply was, “Oh no!” If that wasn’t enough, the church was

divided into two sections, one for the Catholics and one for the

Greek Orthodox.

The

section we happened to be in was Catholic. Long lines of nuns

patiently waited to kiss the marble slab at the centre of which was a

silver star and a ruby goblet. The church of the Holy Sepulchre

wasn’t much better. Jesus hadn’t been buried here either. From the

church of the Ascension, to the church of Saint Peter, to the church

near the tomb of Lazarus, to the church of ????. Some people in

Australia go for a pub crawl, the tour I was on went for a church

crawl. After a while I became thoroughly sick of the gold and silver,

jewel covered religious ornaments and statues of the saints, Mary and

Joseph. Between the Catholic church and the Orthodox churches (Greek,

Russian etc.), the market was well and truly covered. Sadly I didn’t

come across one person who had a personal relationship with Jesus

Christ.

The

visit to “Jesus’ Town” Capernaum, really did it. All that

marked the place where Jesus had once walked — you guessed it —

were Catholic buildings. Don’t ask me what they were because I don’t

remember. There was the ruin of a synagogue I would have liked to

have had a closer look at. Beside those ruins also were the

foundations of Peter’s mother-in-law’s house. Have a guess what

prevented me? You’ve guessed it, a fence, but more annoyingly the

building of a Catholic church, which had been built on a platform, on

a pylon, rising straight out of the middle of ruins. The only way to

get into the complex was to be booked in for mass first. At that news

I really became annoyed! What gave the Catholic Church the right to

monopolise ancient biblical sights! The next day I decided not to go

on another church crawl, but made my own way around Tiberius.

Once

I had left the religiousness behind I felt terrific. My first project

was to climb the hill behind Tiberius. From the top I had a great

view of the Sea of Galilee and the Jordanian mountains. I hadn’t felt

God’s presence in any of the churches the tour group had visited, but

here on the hill I felt a tremendous peace as I reached out to God in

prayer. At least it was possible that Jesus could have climbed this

hill with His disciples. Only when it started to rain did I tear

myself away from what I felt to be God’s presence.

As

the rain didn’t last too long I decided to walk through the shopping

centre. Two hours later I returned to the hotel laden with goodies –

leather shoes and magnificently hand-crafted glass vases.

Later

on that afternoon I enjoyed a swim in the heated swimming pool. The

swim became even more enjoyable as I listened to the winter storms

raging outside, how relaxing. As relaxing as bobbing up and down in

the Dead Sea! The tour had stopped at the Dead Sea after viewing the

fortress of Masada. King Herod, had been the first to see the

possibilities of the plateau. The king wanted a summer retreat, so he

built a palace on three levels on the northern aspect of the plateau.

Sixty years after Herod’s death, the fortress became the final

resting place of 960 Zealots. This group of Jews preferred suicide,

rather than falling into the hands of the Roman army, which had laid

siege to the fortress. What made the visit to Masada even more

enjoyable, was the fact that there were no modern churches amongst

these ancient ruins. The builders in the time of Herod had shown

genius, as could be seen in the remains of the bath-house. I was

particularly interested in seeing distinct patterns in floor designs,

or fragments of colour in remaining pieces of plaster.

Once

the tour had finished I was able to enjoy two days of wandering, by

myself, through the bazaar, in the old city of Jerusalem. The store

holders were friendly and I enjoyed sitting and chatting with them.

One store holder invited me to join him for a cup of coffee.

Considering I was a total stranger, he trusted me with his belongings

while he went to the nearest store to buy the coffee. I felt as if

the clock had been turned back thousands of years as I sat on a low

stool, amongst goods only found in the Middle East. My host asked me

about Australia, while I asked him about his Palestinian background

and life in Jerusalem. At no stage was I molested by either

Palestinian or Jew.

On

my second last day in Jerusalem I thoroughly enjoyed wandering

through the “Tower of David” museum. There were models and

artifacts representing 3,000 years of Jewish history. The model

representing the siege of Jerusalem, by the Romans 70 AD, gave the

viewer a better understanding of life at that time. Seeing the Roman

influence in miniature, reminded me of the Roman monuments at

Caesarea, the aqueducts and the amphitheatre.

I

didn’t find Jesus in Israel although there were plenty of churches

commemorating biblical events. I had found Jesus twenty years ago,

when I had cried out to God saying, “God I’ve made a mess of my

life, help me to clean it up.” I’m glad that God doesn’t have a

complex about being used; waiting and hoping, that maybe, one day

somebody will actually talk to Him.

Jesus

wasn’t in the ruins of archaeological sights, or old churches, He had

actually travelled with me in my heart. That is the miracle of my

trip to Egypt and Israel. God showed me a land that has featured so

much in biblical history, “I called my Son out of Egypt”

and the land Israel, which God sent His Son to, so that through His

birth and resurrection we might have eternal life.

Religion

causes division. Those who truly seek God will find Him, but only

through the Lord Jesus Christ. Often people will say to me, “Oh

you’re very religious. What church do you belong to?”

“None,”

is the immediate reply.

“But

you have to have fellowship somewhere. I’m a Baptist.” (Or whatever

other denomination they might mention.)

My

answer always is, “True, but I always associate myself with

Jesus first, for let’s face it, no denomination ever died on the

cross.”

Chapter

4

Papua

New Guinea

On

17th January, 1996, I boarded a plane bound for Papua New Guinea. I

was to start teaching at the Lae Technical College the following

Monday, the 22nd. After a two day stopover in Port Moresby, the trip

continued on to Lae. Common sense should have told me that a third

world country isn’t rich and that I need not have bought new

suitcases; they only stood out amongst the tattered ones of the

nationals who also left the plane at Nadzab Airport. Mareg, the

driver and also a lecturer from the college, was already waiting.

The

scenery flashed passed the speeding bus. The whole trip resembled an

obstacle course, as Mareg tried to avoid the huge potholes. What,

with the swerving and the speed, it was not possible to take photos,

so I just sat back and relaxed.

There

were small clusters of grass huts sheltering under tall palm trees.

At intervals locals sat by the roadside selling their wares; kaukau,

sweet potatoes, bananas, coconuts and yellowish green fruits, the

size of a plum. Occasionally a pig could be seen looking for food in

the rubbish that was lying around. The dogs looked mangy and very

underfed.

Closer

to the suburbs the grass huts were replaced by solid cement block

dwellings. As in Port Moresby, the doors and windows were covered

with heavy iron bars. All the signs pointed to heavy criminal

activity, but from the safety of the bus I didn’t worry about that.

Once in town the place looked like a war zone, very high wire fences

topped with razor wire, electric gates, blood hounds and security

guards – all for the purpose of keeping out the “rascals” –

criminals in Pidgin.

My

new home was to be a two storey townhouse, in a complex of four. My

neighbours on one side were a national doctor and his wife and their

children. On the other side lived an African and his P.N.G wife. The

last unit was empty. As it turned out Simon the African, was my boss

and would give me a lift to and from work.

From

day one, Anastasia, the doctor’s wife, and I hit it off. As all

nationals, that I worked with, or befriended, she was lovely and

couldn’t do enough for me. On my first visit to her home I was

dismayed to see how sick their child was. On the floor lay a very

thin child, who appeared to be about 11 to 12 months old; in fact it

was 17 months. The, eyes appeared over-large because of the bony

face. My heart grieved because it was only too obvious that the child

would not live past its 17 months. Although the father was a

prominent doctor and the mother a nurse there was nothing they had

been able to do. Even visits to Australian doctors in Port Moresby

had been of no use. There was nothing that could be done

about

the hole in the heart, or the complications in the respiratory

system. The following week I asked the parents to bring the child to

my home, so that we could pray for him. Little Marcus had been

baptised into the Catholic Church. I now asked the parents to

dedicate the child to Almighty God the Lord Jesus Christ, then I

claimed the child’s healing and prayed according to Isaiah 53:5.

But

because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we

did. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the

blows he received.

Nothing

happened! There was no improvement at all in his condition. A week

later as I was nursing the child, God spoke to me and told me to

rebuke the spirit of infirmity. As I prayed earnestly for a few

minutes, Marcus started to cough up mucus. Then he smiled and

relaxed. After that prayer, the heartbeat and breathing became

normal. The intake of food increased to the point where little rolls

of fat appeared covering the ribs. Six weeks later for the first

time, he started to crawl and two months later he was pulling himself

up and walking by holding onto the furniture. Everybody that knew the

family was amazed at the mighty miracle God had performed in Marcus.

People

will ask how can a tiny baby have a demon in it that nearly caused it

to die? The answer is simple. What the parents are involved in! After

seeing the miracle in her child and hearing the message about Jesus

Christ, Anastasia turned away from the church and instead asked God

to forgive her for her sins and made Jesus Christ the Lord of her

life. Shortly afterwards she followed Jesus through the waters of

baptism. As she started to read the Bible she realised that much of

what the Catholic Church teaches is not true.

The

devil doesn’t like it when you make a stand for Jesus, so one day at

7.30 in the morning, while on the way to work, Simon and I were held

up at gun point. Even now I can see the man standing in the middle of

the road, the sawn off shot-gun resting on his hip. The instant the

car stopped a man with a bush knife pulled open the door, commanding

me to get out. The same happened to Simon. The four men, two with

guns and two with bush knives, then jumped into the car and sped off.

The two of us were left standing on the road with nothing but our

clothes. As the policeman later commented, we had been ‘lucky’

because I hadn’t been dragged into the bushes and raped.

Just

when I was getting over the armed hold up, the townhouse was broken

into one night. My terrified screams brought the neighbours running.

The criminals fled before they could be caught. As I couldn’t bear to

stay in the townhouse once it had been broken into, the college moved

me to its motel units. At least I could breathe easily again.

One

night my colleague and friend, Mary, together with her fiancé John,

came to visit me. During the course of the evening John told me how

he had been sick for many years, suffering from chest pains,

headaches, constipation and other intestinal problems. The doctors

couldn’t help and finally he had to give up his well paid job as an

accountant. Before the pair left, John asked me to pray for him. I

said a simple prayer asking God to let his intestines function

properly and rebuked the parasites feeding on him. The chest pains

and headaches were a result of the abdominal problems, so God caused

me to pray for a mighty anointing of peace from the Holy Spirit.

The

distance from the motel unit to their house was only a ten minute

walk, but by the time they had arrived, John needed to go to the

toilet. He hadn’t done that for a long time without the aid of

medication. The chest pains and headaches also disappeared. Praise

God for the mighty work done in John’s body.

After

being healed and hearing the message about God’s salvation through

the Lord Jesus Christ, Mary left the Catholic Church and John left

the Lutheran Church. Reading the Bible on a daily basis, both could

see that what the two churches were teaching didn’t add up. Neither

had found peace of mind, joy or healing, in the church they had

attended, but they found it, and more, through a personal

relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

A

few weeks later I made the following diary entry:

Wow,

today I had the privilege of baptising Mary and John. What a mighty

change God has performed in their lives. They are both beaming.

When

the criminals attempted to break into the motel unit on two

occasions, I decided to move in with Mary. At last I felt safe.

Before

the couple had become Christians, they had ignored the poor and the

crippled on the street. Now, they decided to go to the hospital and

bring food to the sick children. One day I offered to take John’s

place. From then on Mary and I made regular visits every Friday

afternoon straight after work. First however, we had to rush to the

local market, before it closed, to buy the food. Finally, laden with

bananas, raw peanuts, sugar fruit, hard boiled eggs and whatever else

we could find that was easy to eat, we entered the children’s ward.

John

8:31

So Jesus said to those who believed in him, “If you obey my

teaching, you are really my

disciples;

Mark

16:17 Believers will be given the power to perform miracles: they

will drive out demons in my name: they will speak in strange tongues:

18)

if they pick up snakes or drink any poison, they will not be harmed;

they

will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

Being

a disciple of Jesus Christ, I put Mark 16:17&18 into practice and

saw many mighty miracles as I prayed for the children. There were

many cases of malaria, both in tiny babies and older children. In one

instance we had just entered the ward when we heard a seven or eight

year old child sobbing loudly. He was terribly distressed. After Mary

had asked permission to pray, I sank to my knees beside his low bed.

I placed my hand on his little forehead, which was burning up. As I

prayed the crying stopped and the child fell asleep. Miraculously

within minutes the temperature also returned to normal.

There

were also many cases of tuberculosis. After weeks of prayer, the

children’s health improved dramatically and they were able to leave

the hospital. Mary and I were overjoyed to see empty beds the next

week, or hear parents tell us how God had performed a miracle in

their child. Such was the case of a nine month old baby I had prayed

for. The child’s head had almost been twice its size, yet the

swelling went down completely just after we left. In two other cases

children had been in a coma for ten and fourteen days. After prayer

both children regained consciousness – praise God.

One

day we came to a couple who were holding twins. One was healthy and

the other one was sick. The babies were only three weeks old. I said

a simple prayer for the sick child and left it at that. The next week

the couple were still there. I asked them how the child was and found

out that there had been no change. Only when the father accidentally

moved the blanket did I get a good look at the baby. The eyes were

staring wildly and the little face was twisted into ugly grimaces.

Instantly I knew that I was dealing with a spirit of infirmity. The

devil is ugly and tries to make God’s perfect creation ugly. I prayed

very firmly under my breath, commanding the demon to leave the child.

Without touching the child in any way it responded by crying. When I

had finished I asked Mary to ask the parents if they had any dealings

with evil. The answer was, “yes”, a witch doctor. So here

was the answer why one child was healthy and beautiful and the other

one sick and ugly. Praise God, although the demon went, it took a few

weeks for the physical damage to be repaired.

God

also performed a mighty miracle in a child whose body was

unbelievably swollen. The head looked like a balloon, on top of

another balloon, the neck. The stomach of the child was incredibly

swollen. The mother next week was very happy to see us, and couldn’t

stop praising God enough for having healed her daughter.

I

get so angry when I hear religious

people tell me that it is God’s will for them to be sick. The God I

serve does not take delight in seeing people suffer, only satan does.

Somebody once mentioned to me that Joni, who is a paraplegic, was a

blessing to people who had read her book. I must admit I was stumped

for a moment and asked the Holy Spirit to give me wisdom. I asked the

person, what would they rather be: me, healed from paralysis, or Joni

still flat on her back? I also asked what was more glorifying for

God, a healthy or a sick person? He couldn’t answer me on both

accounts.

Through

our months of going to the hospital I was very proud of Mary. First

she just translated the message of Jesus into Pidgin and watched as I

prayed, but gradually I encouraged her, a baby Christian, to also

pray. As she prayed, believing, she saw miracles and grew at a rapid

rate. If

we are to be true disciples of Jesus we can’t just soak up a lot of

information and never put it into practice.

James

2:14,17,24

14)

My friends, what good is it for one of you to say that you have faith

if your actions do not prove it? Can that faith save him?

17)

So it is with faith:

if it is alone and includes no actions, then it is dead.

24)

You see, then, that it

is by our actions that we are put right with God, and not by our

faith alone.

God

taught me that lesson, many years earlier, in Australia. It looked as

if I had broken my arm, judging by the swelling and pain. I prayed

for healing, but the pain still persisted. Two days later it had

gotten to the stage where I couldn’t even hold a knife and fork. God

spoke to me and said, “Do you believe that you are healed?”

“Yes

LORD.”

“Then

act like it.”

I

picked up the knife and fork and persisted in eating my meal. The

longer I used the cutlery, the less the pain!

Let’s

go back to Papua New Guinea. God is not limited to healing the body,

but also restoring the mind. I made the following entry in my diary:

I

went to the Hospitality & Tourism Department this morning. One of

the teachers commented that George had cheated in the exam, his mark

being 100%. My response was, “No, God has performed a miracle”.

For

four months George had failed every test and assignment I had given

him. The marks being in the range of 8, 7, 12 out of a 100. It

amazed me how he had ever gotten into the course. A few weeks ago I

had said to him that he needed to cry out to God to help him. For not

only were his marks poor in my subject, but all the others as well.

He did as I suggested.

From

then on his marks jumped to the 50s and 60s in my subject and now to

top it off he had managed to get 100% in another subject. God had

indeed performed a mighty miracle.

Many

years before a similar thing had happened in Australia. A lady rang

me and asked would I tutor her son. When he had improved

dramatically, I was asked to tutor the daughter as well. Melanie was

in Year 9 and couldn’t cope with English. The homework tasks I set

were sometimes done very well, at other times the quality was very

poor.

Considering

how much the parents were paying me I became annoyed and told my

student that she needed to work harder, or I wouldn’t be teaching her

anymore. At that comment the child became very distressed and cried

saying that she did try very hard. I felt terrible. As I sat there

God put it on my heart to ask Him to help Melanie. Amazingly for the

next four weeks the child’s performance was brilliant. The mother

thought that I was a great teacher, but I had to set her straight on

the fact that God had unravelled her daughter’s mind and my teaching

had nothing to do with her performance.

Alas,

five weeks later Melanie’s performance was worse than ever before. I

was shocked, what now?? I asked God what had gone wrong. The answer

was simple. I had asked on Melanie’s behalf – fine, but now Melanie

was to ask God herself. At the age of fifteen she was old enough to

make a decision. I told her what God had said. She asked Jesus into

her heart and for His help in her school work. She did well in her

School Certificate, and the subsequent T.A.F.E course. Finally she

ended up working for a solicitor. God’s miracles are not confined to

any particular place on earth, be it Australia or Papua New Guinea,

on the coast at Lae, or the Highlands.

During

the Easter break I was delighted to receive an invitation from a

fellow colleague and friend to go with her to Chimbu for the

bride-price ceremony of her sister. Kama and all the other relatives

who were going had hired a 25 seater bus for the trip. The journey

started at 6.30 a.m and by 7 a.m the bus was already on the outskirts

of Lae.

The

first stop was at 40 Mile, one and a half hours later. If the bus

seemed overloaded with the thirty-five people who had piled into it

earlier; now, with the added bags of betel nut and coconuts, plus

other produce purchased from the roadside market; the little vehicle

was bursting at the seams. Just as well Kama had asked the driver to

let me have the front seat. The view was better and I could rest my

legs on the dashboard, there was nowhere else to put them.

Forty

minutes outside Goroka we stopped for a meal. Half an hour later the

bus stopped again, this time in the middle of nowhere, between the

slopes of an embankment. Half the bus immediately scrambled out.

Puzzled I looked at Kama. She in return whispered, “The toilet

stop.” I had also gotten out of the bus and before I knew it

Agnus, Kama’s sister and her cousin Mai, grabbed me by the hand and

pulled me up the slippery clay slope. Once on top, half a dozen men

could be seen standing in a row with their backs to the people

watering the countryside. With the help of my friends I avoided

excrement already there and looked for a place where I could squat in

the high grass.

This

was a toilet with a view. As you looked at the surrounding mountains

and saw the hawks circling overhead, it was easy to take your mind

off the business at hand. Just as well I always carry tissues with

me, but even if I hadn’t, a roll of toilet paper was being handed

around.

The

next stop was high in the mountains – a police car blocked the road.

On this, the second police search, the aim was not to look for

criminals, drugs or inspect the road worthiness of the vehicle, but

see if alcohol was being smuggled into the Highlands. While the

police checked our bags, we had a chance to stretch our legs and

admire the view. The scenery was magnificent and could best be

compared to the Swiss Alps in summer. Unlike Switzerland though,

where solid stone houses form little villages, here small thatched

huts and the surrounding vegetable gardens, clung like leeches to the

mountainside.

As

everybody climbed back into the bus, Kama said, “Two more

kilometres and we’ll be home.”

When

the bus finally stopped we had travelled for six and a half hours.

There were only two or three thatched huts beside the road and I

questioned Kama whether this was the whole village. She only laughed

and waved her hand over the whole hillside. Nestled amongst the

avocado trees, sugar cane stalks, tall pine trees and hibiscus

bushes, were another 40 to 50 huts. In the distance, a massive

mountain served as a backdrop.

Kama

explained that there was a track winding over the mountain, into the

next valley. The women preferred to grow their yams, taro and kaukau

in that valley because they felt that the vegetables tasted sweeter.

I couldn’t believe Kama. How could anybody climb up and over that

mountain and then dig a garden? Kama also pointed out that the women

usually carry a small child on their shoulders and hang a bilum on

their head, to carry the vegetables as well. I couldn’t help but feel

we were talking about pack-horses, not women!

People

took it in turn to push and pull me up the muddy hillside. Finally

halfway up the hill we entered a clearing and were welcomed by

piercing war cries. About 25 to 35 natives sat on plastic mats and a

railing around the clearing. Without hesitation I walked up to the

nearest person shook their hand and greeted them in Pidgin.

Immediately three plastic chairs were brought out; one for the oldest

woman in the village, one for Kama and one for myself. I felt like

royalty sitting on that chair. The old lady, 80 years plus – just sat

and held my hand. I was the first white woman to have ever visited

the village.

Kama’s

family owned the buildings around the clearing. There was the large

hut, called the men’s or boy’s hut. The round house accommodated the

women and the children. The other two huts were the kitchen and

slightly behind it, the toilet. The boy’s hut was divided into one

large room and two smaller rooms. The large room contained a platform

on which all the men slept. The idea being, that if there was a raid

on the village, all the men would be in one place to fight off the

attack.

The

two rooms contained a single bed each. One room had been set aside

for the bridegroom, the other room for me. While resting that

afternoon, on a very comfortable bed, I couldn’t help but wonder at

the coming together of two cultures; a modern bed in a hut where the

walls, ceiling and floor were made of artistically woven grass. The

curtain, a piece of cotton, with a large green, white and purple

floral design, not only kept the cold out – to a degree – but also

provided privacy.

After

an hour’s rest I once again mingled with the villagers. I couldn’t

get over how friendly everybody was. The women and children couldn’t

stop hugging me and stroking my blonde hair. I returned their

affection, much to their delight. As Kama was busy with the

preparation of her sister’s bride-price ceremony, her relatives took

me on a guided tour through the village.

The

first point of interest were two pigs, which had been slaughtered to

provide a meal for everybody. The carcasses were thrown onto a

roaring fire. After a little while they were pulled off again and

opened up to make sure that they were not sick, or full of parasites.

From there on my new found friends showed me the rest of the village,

which meant climbing a fair way up the hillside. Where ever we went

people would come out of their huts to see the ‘white meri’, white

woman.

During

my socialising I met Pastor Lucas from the Four Square Church. In the

course of conversation I shared with him the many miracles God had

allowed me to see, over a period of time. When the man left later

that night he asked me to speak at their church service the following

Sunday morning.

When

Pastor Lucas picked me up on Sunday morning I was ready and waiting,

dressed in the traditional clothes Kama’s mother had given me, a meri

blouse and long wrap around skirt. As we neared his village and the

area where the church service was to be held, Pastor Lucas apologised

for the fact that the congregation would be sitting on logs, in the

open air. Apparently the church had been too poor to afford a

building.

Before

I knew what had happened, I was telling the man that he didn’t have

to worry about money, for all that he needed to build a building was

right in front of him and free of charge. Pastor Lucas looked

surprised.

“Why

do you want to build a western style church, where you will need a

lot of building materials, which are expensive, when you can build a

traditional P.N.G. building with the wood and grass right before your

very eyes?” I asked.

“You’re right,” he agreed. “Besides the

corrugated iron is not only very expensive, but hot.”

Poor

Pastor Lucas, the religious pictures were the next topic of

discussion. On a raised platform, which acted as the pulpit, there

was a large picture of a man supposedly representing Jesus. Gently

and politely I asked how the people could be sure that Jesus looked

like that. Then I pointed out that every supposed picture I had ever

seen of Jesus, had been different and looked like some pretty pin-up

boy. Pastor Lucas could see my point and admitted to having been

prompted by the Holy Spirit to get rid of the pictures. He assured me

that he would get rid of them soon. I asked him what was wrong with

now!

For a moment he hesitated, but then went and tore down all the

religious pictures and threw them into the fire.

The

singing of the natives was so enjoyable that I cannot find words to

express myself. To my way of thinking dark skinned people seem to

have much richer voices. Pastor Lucas’ friend, Jerry, the secretary

to the Chimbu governor, interpreted for me. After the service Pastor

Lucas asked people if there was anybody who wanted prayer. As the

pastor and I prayed for people, God touched their hearts, spirits and

bodies. In one case a woman who couldn’t walk, left her crutch lying

on the ground. Another woman who was partially blind in both eyes,

immediately received perfect sight. God is indeed a miracle worker.

After

lunch which consisted of traditional food, such as kaukau, kumu

(local spinach), sweet potato, rice, stewed chicken and fresh fruit,

I was taken to a hut to pray for a woman who couldn’t have children.

As the couple sat opposite me, I shocked myself by saying, “There’s

nothing wrong with her, he’s got the problem.” The Holy Spirit

had revealed to me that there was nothing wrong with the woman, but

that the husband was infertile due to the illness he had suffered as

a child. Jerry interpreted what I had said and the man agreed that I

had spoken the truth. I went on to say that if God could make

Abraham’s sperm fertile in his old age, He could also bring to life

this man’s sperm.

Next

I was taken to another village to pray for two women who had been

sent home from hospital to die. One had throat cancer and the other

breast cancer. Jerry and Pastor Lucas, plus other people from their

village had accompanied us. Both women were housed in the same hut.

After I had greeted the women and their relatives, I requested that

everybody who was not a firm believer, should leave the hut. In the

end only Jerry, Pastor Lucas, the two patients and I were left. I

asked the Holy Spirit to tell me how to pray and to anoint my hands

with Jesus’ healing power. The mighty presence of God was felt in

that hut as I prayed. In each case I was given a different prayer,

based upon the Bible.

God

performed a mighty miracle of healing in both women, but now certain

principles needed to be followed in the natural. The Bible tells us

that, “To

have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of

the things we cannot see.”

So in my heart I believed that the women were healed, but their

wasted bodies indicated otherwise. So God instructed me to say the

following to the relatives and friends of the patients, who had once

again entered the hut.

Time

was needed for the wasted bodies to repair. First of all the smoking

fire was to be put out and the cooking was to be done outside the

hut. Every morning, or afternoon the women were to be carried out

into the sun and fresh air. Although I only have a limited knowledge

of nutrition, God gave me some amazing ideas on healthy light meals.

The food items were all easily available in, or around the village.

After all, when Jesus raised the little girl from the dead, the first

thing he did was to tell the parents to feed her.

Pastor

Lucas interpreted in Pidgin what I had said. The husband from the

woman who had suffered from throat cancer then started a lively

discussion. Although I could only speak a few words of Pidgin, God

interpreted the conversation for me and I found myself saying, “Stop.

How dare you say that your wife cannot eat because her throat has

been eaten up by the cancer. God is a mighty God, who can and already

has repaired the damage done to your wife’s throat.” Everybody

stared at me in horror because they knew that I did not understand

the language and only God could have told me what was going on. My

words did much to destroy the man’s unbelief.

After

my stay in the Highlands I was invited to go for four days to Madang.

Agnus had invited me to visit her mother and stepfather in the

settlement. Here again God combined the supernatural with the

physical in a mighty way.

Life

in the settlement is different to that in the Highlands. Houses are

more solid. Michael, Agnus’ stepfather, had built himself a house

made of wooden planks, set on steel pipes and wooden beams. Steps led

up to the verandah and front door. The roof was made of corrugated

iron. The outdoor shower was a novelty: the type you see in an army

film, four posts and a bit of material for privacy.

Just

as in the Highlands, people were very kind to me. My first

opportunity to talk about Jesus came when Agnus told me about the

sore her stepfather had on his leg (on and off) for the last twenty

years. When Michael rolled up his trouser leg I was horrified, the

wound, the size of a man’s hand had eaten deep into the flesh. After

sharing the message of Jesus with Michael and his wife Marie, I

offered to pray for him. In my heart I knew that Michael didn’t

believe God could heal him.

The

second day in Madang was very pleasant with sightseeing trips in and

around the town. The resort areas, situated on the waterfront were

especially attractive. Later that evening I found myself playing

nurse to Agnus’ ten year old stepbrother, Roy. The boy had a deep cut

in his foot. First I cleansed the wound with salty water, then I

wrapped a bandage around it. Finally I used the clean serviette I had

brought home that day from one of the resorts, to cushion the child’s

walk. Just as I had finished a visitor appeared at the open front

door. As I was kneeling my eyes were exactly level with the huge

tropical sores that had almost eaten away the woman’s leg, especially

the shin area. I called out to my hosts that there was somebody at

the door.

The

woman, a neighbour, had never set foot in the front door in twelve

years, yet here she was 7.30 at night. Nobody could work out why she

had come, but from the minute she sat down her leg became the focus

of our attention. A year ago she had fallen and the flesh had not

healed, instead the infection had spread. The day before she had come

home from a two day hospital stay, but they hadn’t even cleaned the

wound. I was disgusted at what I saw. To simply pray for healing and

leave the leg in that filthy, pussy state would have been pointless.

I asked Marie for boiled water which I poured into a baby bath. Next

I poured salt into the water. I then asked her to put her leg over

the baby bath, with the foot resting on the edge.

The

first time I poured the salty water into the wound, she screamed from

pain. Nonetheless, I sat there and thoroughly cleaned the wound from

all dirt, dead skin, pus and even small pieces of gravel. When I had

finished, my dilemma was, how to keep the wound clean, considering I

had just used the last bit of bandage on Roy’s foot. “What now

God?” Instantly the thoughts came to me to ask Marie to get me

a new shoot from the banana tree. The shoot was still tightly rolled

up, therefore sterile. I poured oil over the wound, then used half of

the banana leaf as a shield, which I tied on at the knee and ankle.

The banana leaf would not stick to the wound, yet it would keep it

clean during the night. I suggested that the wound be exposed to the

sun during the day, to dry it out.

After

all that I prayed for healing. The next morning the neighbour came

with her husband to tell me that for the first time in a year she had

been able to sleep without pain and that she could walk much better.

She not only had told her husband about how I cleaned and prayed for

her leg, but the message about Jesus. When I told my two doctor

friends, back in Lae, about how I had treated the leg, under God’s

direction, they were amazed. Neither one would have thought of using

a banana leaf to keep the wound clean. God is indeed a miracle

working God, who delights in helping His children, if only they would

come to Him.

Even

as I was standing in line, waiting at the airport, God spoke to me

about Michael. God had sent the neighbour to his house as proof that

he is a miracle working God and just as He had healed the woman’s

leg, He could do the same for Michael. When I relayed the message he

smiled sheepishly, because his unbelief had been exposed.

On

my return to Lae I shared the events of the Highlands and Madang with

Mary, John and the T.S.C.F (Tertiary Students Christians Fellowship)

group. (Two months after my arrival I was asked to be the spiritual

mother of the college.) Everybody was excited to hear about the

mighty move of God, for many people accepted Jesus Christ as their

Saviour and were baptised. I also told the people how I pointed the

new Christians in the direction of a church, which I knew was

teaching correct doctrine. In the case of the Highlands, I most

certainly felt the presence of God’s Holy Spirit in Pastor Lucas and

that church. I get annoyed when I hear people talk about “revival”,

which is to come. I’ve seen the mighty hand of God working in

people’s lives now, for the last twenty years. Revival

has always been with us.

It’s just a matter whether God the Holy Spirit is moving in the life

of the person who is preaching the Word.

Besides

teaching Technical Communications during the day, I taught the

T.S.C.F group (and a constant stream of visitors), about prayer every

Wednesday night. On Sunday night, Jesus would help me give a Bible

message relevant to their life, e.g relationships, cutting the cords

with the past, Heavy Metal music and its influence etc. Because many

turned to Jesus, Thursday night became the night to teach baby

Christians the basics. Tuesday nights I led the prayer group. During

one of these meetings, God showed me a vision.

Diary

entry 25th April, 1996:

The

seven of us had an absolutely wonderful prayer meeting. God put it on

my heart to pray for the college first. Then Victor (President of the

T.S.C.F group) prayed for the student’s forum. Instead of me

continuing to pray for other matters, God caused me to pray for the

six people at the prayer meeting. As I started to pray, this is what

I saw:

A

vessel, or container, that had a rather fat belly, but narrowed to a

neck. The top of the neck curved slightly outwards. The handle,

curved up and over the curved part of the neck, being attached to

both sides. As I saw the vessel the words from Jeremiah 15:20 came to

me.

“I

will make you like a solid bronze wall as far as they are concerned.

They will fight against you, but they will not defeat you. I will be

with you to protect you and keep you safe.”

Obviously

the vessel was made out of bronze. A hand was polishing a part of the

belly section and it was shining. The rest of the vessel was dull and

oxidised.

Then

I saw glowing coals being put into the vessel. The meaning being that

God would purify us like pure gold from the inside. Then the verse

from Revelation 5:8 came to me:

“…Each

had a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers

of God’s people.”

As

we were in the middle of a prayer meeting that Bible verse indicated

to me that our prayers were being heard. What’s more, they were like

sweet incense to God. Ephesians 5:10 says:

Try

to learn what pleases the Lord.”

God

had spoken through my daughter Sonja, in 1985 (when she was 18)

through a Word of Knowledge, that it pleased Him when we pray for

others.

Do

unto others as you would have them do unto you. Mark my words a time

shall come to pass like no other time has been before. People will

search for Me, but will not find Me, as I have waited for them so

long to turn to Me, but they were too busy living their own selfish

lives. I love my people who serve and obey Me. Peace be with my

people. Remember to read my Word daily and pray to Me for I shall

answer you, as a father would answer his son. I want to be your

friend, not your enemy.

Those

who sincerely seek Me will find Me. The Holy Spirit is only too

willing to help his people in need, or just to comfort them. I know

the desires of your hearts, the good ones and the bad.

It

pleases Me when you pray and cry out for each other. Seek Me, I want

to save everyone, not just some of the people I have created. Look to

Me when you have a

problem,

not to others or horoscopes. They tell lies. I am one of truth.

Follow Me and I will give you rest.

So

many search, but never find Me because there is no-one praying for

them to be saved.

It is only through Me life is gained and truth is found. Remember

this my people, pray for others.

Although

the above had happened in 1985, now twelve years later in P.N.G, God

was once again letting me, and the others know how much it pleased

Him when we pray for others. In fact our prayers were incense to Him;

a sweet smelling aroma.

I

believe it was the continued prayer efforts that brought about a

breakthrough in the spiritual. New people came on a regular basis on

the Wednesday and Sunday night meetings. The Holy Spirit touched

hearts as they sat in their seats. I suppose I can relate this

experience to something God showed me while I was walking through the

village at Chimbu. Each hut had a beautiful garden around it and the

children and adults who were accompanying me had picked a bunch of

flowers. There was a dahlia which had been beautiful, but a worm had

half eaten it, thus making it ugly. So it was with the people who

came to the meetings, God had created them beautiful, but the devil

and every-day living had nibbled at God’s perfect creation. To me all

dark skinned people are beautiful, but after the Holy Spirit had

touched their hearts, they seemed even more beautiful.

I

thank God for helping me with the sermons on Sunday night. There was

a particular move of the Holy Spirit after the topic of Heavy Metal

music.

Diary

entry 30th April:

Praise

God for His mighty working power. Today, after class, six students

came after 3 o’clock and wanted to know why they shouldn’t be

involved in Heavy Metal music. As Heavy Metal music is of the devil

(and I explained to them why) they needed to make a choice between

Jesus Christ and the devil. At 4.30 p.m. a student asked to speak to

me privately. She wanted to ask Jesus into her heart.

At

5.45 p.m Donna and Michelle came back and I had the privilege to lead

them to Jesus Christ. Even as I was leading those two through prayer

George arrived and also wanted to ask Jesus into his heart. Praise

you precious Father, praise you Lord Jesus, praise you Holy Spirit.

Diary

entry 2nd May:

People

started to arrive for the baby Christian class just after 3 o’clock

when the Technical Communications classes finished. I finally

finished at 5 p.m. Eight students in all had attended. The discussion

had been on, Cutting

the Cords.

Two people needed the cords of martial arts cut. The rest are coming

at appointed times to be prayed for.

I

thank my God that I have the privilege of working for Him.

The

baby Christians were growing at such a rapid rate that by the 1st of

June during a baptism in the river, I felt God telling me to give

Hacca the opportunity to baptise. The idea being to have her become a

disciple of Jesus Christ. For we only become disciples if we follow

Jesus’ commandments and actually put our faith into action.

Diary

entry 18th June:

The

entry for June 18th is bitter sweet. It indicates the closing chapter

of my stay in P.N.G as well as showing evidence of God’s mighty

works.

Today

I had a farewell afternoon tea for some of my friends. Anastasia came

with the children and it was a real blessing to see Marcus walking,

by holding on to the furniture.

About

four or five weeks ago I had prayed for Grace. She was suffering

greatly from arthritis all down the left side of her body. At times

the pain was so great that she couldn’t even hold a pen. Praise God

for healing her, for she has had no more pain.

The

above entry reminds me of an incident at the Principal’s house. My

Muslim friends had been nursing me at their home, when I was sick

with malaria. After criminals broke in I couldn’t bear to stay there

any longer and accepted the Principal’s offer to stay at his home,

till I was better. On the second night, I asked him how work had

been. He complained about the pain in his hands, due to arthritis.

Later

that night, as I was too sick to sleep, God put it on my heart to

pray for the Principal. I was to ask God to fill the man’s hands with

His healing power and rebuke the arthritis, commanding it to leave.

The next evening I again asked the Principal how his day had been,

especially where his hands were concerned. The answer was, “good”

to both issues. I told him that I had prayed about his hands and God

had healed them. To that statement he just laughed, being a total

unbeliever. The response made me angry and although I was a guest in

his house I shocked myself and him, with my prayer before eating. (Of

course I had asked if I could say a prayer for my food.) As he

patiently waited to start eating I prayed the following:

“Oh

Lord my God I thank you from the bottom of my heart for healing

Richard’s hands, even if he doesn’t appreciate it, or believes in

you.”

Maybe

my illness had made me unusually bold, I don’t know, but I just had

the urge to thank God. As the man sat stunned (with the food he had

cooked, almost becoming cold), I told him about some of the mighty

miracles God had performed. Four weeks later I asked him how his

hands were. He replied, “Your magic is still working.”

To

that I replied, “God is a miracle working God isn’t He?” He

just smiled.

At

the end of May I gave four weeks notice to my employers. The constant

attacks on my life, plus the near fatal bout of malaria was just too

much. I know God sent me to that country and I loved being there. The

students, all adults, some even in their late forties and fifties

were a pleasure to teach. I made a lot of friends, both amongst the

nationals and the expatriates. Some found the weather too hot, but

working in an air-conditioned environment was pleasant and the swims

after work were very enjoyable. I would have loved to have stayed ten

years; most certainly I would have fulfilled my three year contract,

as it was I stayed only five and a half months. In that time I saw

more miracles than some people see in five and a half years or maybe

all their life!

Chapter

5

FORGIVE

OR I CANNOT FORGIVE YOU

The

lesson of forgiveness is the greatest one God has ever taught me. In

my heart I said, “I can never forgive her.” Upon which God

said, “If you cannot forgive her, I cannot forgive you.”

Matthew

6:14&15

14)

“If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your

Father in heaven will also forgive you.

15)

But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive

the wrongs you have done.

This

incident came about after my best friend had just abducted my oldest

daughter, with the help of her doctor friend in 1978. The doctor had

made advances towards me, which I rejected. My friend on the other

hand had been infatuated with him. Unfortunately for her, he wasn’t

interested. So, in order for him to get back at me for rejecting him,

he decided to tickle her ego and make her feel wanted by abducting my

daughter.

What

a shock to pick up the phone and hear a man’s voice at the other end

saying, “You’ll never see your daughter again.” Next your

best friend gets on the phone saying the same thing. (Although the

police were called in, it was nearly three weeks before I saw my

daughter again.)

The

next day a friend visited and I told her about the situation.

Her

response was, “You must forgive her.”

Why

do people always tell you what you don’t want to hear? Absolutely

furious, I told my friend that I could never forgive the person who

had abducted my daughter. God immediately spoke to me and said:

“If

you cannot forgive her, I cannot forgive you.”

Against

my better judgment I rang her and said, “I forgive you”

then I slammed the phone down.

The

next few weeks were very stressful. If I saw my ex-best friend in the

distance, I would run into the opposite direction. If I saw her on

the street, I ignored her. Inwardly I felt like strangling her.

Finally

she rang and asked if she could visit me and bring her minister. I

decided to invite my minister as well. The minute I had opened the

door she wanted to hug me. I took three very quick steps backwards

and thought to myself, “So that’s what Judas looked like!”

The

minute they had seated themselves, I tore strips off her. After

letting all the hurt, anger and bitterness out, I looked at the

quivering, snivelling heap and I felt sorry for her, and apologised.

As I did so, all the hatred, anger, bitterness and animosity

disappeared.

My

minister commented on the fact that he now realised people need to

speak out their hurts. My friend and I became best friends again and

it was as if the incident had never happened. Only God can bring

about true forgiveness.

Often

when I pray with people, God will cause me to bring up the subject of

unforgiveness in their life. Unforgiveness is a blockage to

deliverance and healing. A perfect example was my friend Joy. The joy

had gone out of her life and when she walked into my place one day,

(I hadn’t seen her for about ten years), she looked more like a

corpse than a human being. Her body was riddled with bacteria. Her

intestines contained fungi which caused her stomach to swell. Besides

that she had problems going to the toilet. In one week she would

spend between $30 and $50 on medication, or health products – all to

no avail. God showed me what was wrong with her.

“She

holds a grudge against God. She also feels the world owes her

something. The

worms of bitterness, jealousy and unforgiveness are eating her up.”

After

inviting Jesus into her heart and prayer, her health improved

tremendously. The change was visible almost immediately. Praise God

she was able to throw away her medication and health products. The

Word of God is so true:

Isaiah

55:1

The

LORD says, “Come, everyone who is thirsty – here is water! Come,

you that have no money – buy grain and eat! Come! Buy wine and milk –

it will cost

you nothing!

Prayer

is free and so is the love of God and His blessings of healing, peace

and joy.

If

you hold unforgiveness in your heart, you really need to ask yourself

if it’s worth the hassle. After all, the person who you are bitter

against doesn’t even know about it. Yet like cancer, unforgiveness

will eat you up. There are times when it is not humanly possible to

forgive somebody. In that case I suggest that the person having the

unforgiveness problem asks Jesus to help them forgive. At the same

time asking Jesus to wash away, with His precious blood all hurt,

bitterness

and unforgiveness.

Joanne,

a friend of mine, came close to dying because of unforgiveness. Being

ethnic, Joanne and her husband lived with his parents. The family and

cultural ties were so strong that Sam just wouldn’t leave his

parent’s house, even though his wife had begged him for nine years.

The cramped living conditions made life very difficult, but her pleas

to move out fell on deaf ears. Three years earlier Joanne, Sam and

his mother Margaret had become Christians. Life changed a little, for

the better, but not much.

In

September 1996, I went to visit my friends. To my surprise Joanne

acted strangely, almost as if she was drugged. The minute I sat on

the lounge, she positioned herself next to me, grabbed my hand and

begged me to pray for her. Briefly her family explained her strange

behaviour.

Two

weeks before, Joanne had gone forward for prayer in her church. The

minister asked if she wanted the gift of tongues. She said yes. He

then told her that he had been given a tongue for her by God and she

was to repeat the words after him. (I

strongly disagree with the practice of a person repeating some body

else’s tongue, for God the Holy Spirit is the giver of the gift not

some human being.)

Joanne repeated what the man had told her to say. Immediately she

felt an icy coldness through her body and severe pain shot down her

backbone. From that moment, she began to act strangely; obsessively

reading the Bible all during the day and at odd times during the

night; cursing her family and screaming uncontrollably.

I

started to pray for her, but immediately she started to pray in

tongues. When I told her to stop, she looked at me with glazed eyes

and said, “Who are you?” (We had been good friends for four

years.)

I

decided to take her to my daughter’s place for prayer back-up. Once

we got there the situation worsened. Even though she had been filled

with God’s Holy Spirit for three years, she was insulting God,

screaming uncontrollably; said I had been created to serve her and

that the devil had written the Bible for her benefit. The screaming

reminded me of the incident of the demon possessed man from Gerasa

(Mark 5:5).

My

daughter and I agreed that prayer back up was necessary, so she rang

an elder from the C.O.C. church she was attending. He declined to

come. Then she rang the assistant pastor, who also declined, but

suggested that Joanne should make an appointment at some time in the

future. Above

all else though she wanted to know if my friend was a Christian and a

member of a denomination.

Finally

by 8 o’clock between Sonja and myself, we had managed to get a few

people together. The behaviour of two of the people was so

disrespectful to God, that I asked them to leave. By 11 p.m that

night the rest of us decided that we couldn’t go any further, so a

decision was made to meet at Joanne and Sam’s place the following

night at 7 p.m. and spend the day praying and fasting. I went home

with my friends that night, in case problems arose. They did!! By 4

a.m Joanne lapsed into unconsciousness.

Sadly

the next night none of the people who had come the previous night

turned up. The two

women from the C.O.C.

church had phoned earlier that day, stating that they could not go

against the headship

of their pastor and needed

his permission to come.

In the end it was left to my daughter and myself to pray. By this

stage Joanne had been lying unconscious on the floor for fifteen

hours. My faith was sorely tested as I felt her pulse, which was very

faint. The choice was to call an ambulance and have her taken to

hospital, where she would have been locked up in a psychiatric ward

for the rest of her life, or cast the demons out!

When

I commanded the demons to name themselves in Jesus’ name, they did

not respond. We prayed with all our might for three hours, but

nothing happened. As we sat back exhausted on the lounge, Margaret

suggested that we should put on a Christian praise tape. When a song

came on that said, “hand it over”, we knew that God wanted

us to hand Joanne, and the battle, over to Him. So we sat back and

relaxed. After a few minutes I jumped up, and pointing my finger at

Joanne I said, “You haven’t forgiven Margaret.” Instantly

there was a reaction in her rigid body and she opened her eyes. There

was even more reaction when I said, “You

hate your husband, sister-in-law and father-in-law.

You

hate all of them and won’t forgive them.

I then pointed my finger at her again and said, “You must

forgive

them.

Instantly the answer came, “No I won’t”.

At

one stage she asked for a drink. We complied with her request and

gave her a glass with water. The minute she had the glass in her

mouth God warned me that the devil was going to kill Joanne by

getting her to bite off a piece of glass and swallow it. Praise God

the glass didn’t break, but it took three of us to get it out of her

mouth.

I

decided to call Sam into the room. He had preferred to stay outside,

because of his lack of faith. I wanted Joanne to be confronted with

another object of her hatred. Finally one and half hours later I told

Joanne point blank that I was exhausted and if she didn’t make an

effort, telling those demons of hatred, bitterness, anger and

unforgiveness to go, I would just call an ambulance and have her

taken away. Sam also told her to do her bit. Yes,

there are demonic forces, but there is also the flesh and a free

will.

At

last she repeated the words after Sam, telling the demons to go. As

she had lain in her urine for twenty hours she needed a wash. It took

three of us to get her into the bath. Margaret in the meantime

prepared food for her. Finally my daughter and I left for home, by

11.30 p.m. that night. The patient was much better than she had been

when we had arrived, but I knew that the job had not been completed

and I needed to come back the next day.

The

next morning, while I was having a shower, God told me that the whole

family was to gather around Joanne and ask forgiveness for the way

they had treated her. For it was they who had brought on the hatred

and unforgiveness – which had turned from the fleshly, to the

demonic, by nine years of mistreatment.

I

told the family what God had shown me and as Joanne and I sat on the

lounge, each family member, starting with the husband, came forward,

fell on their knees and asked for forgiveness. As the family

sincerely

asked for forgiveness, Joanne sincerely forgave them. At last the

power of the devil had been completely broken. Then the issue of what

had happened at the church and the satanic tongues had to be dealt

with.

I

took Joanne through a prayer where she asked God to forgive her for

the blasphemy that had come out of her mouth – even though she had

been under demonic influence. The power of what had happened at

church was broken, especially the satanic tongue issue. The family

has since found another Holy Spirit filled church where they are

happy.

Praise

God for the mighty work He did in Joanne, for she was totally

delivered. Now eight months later she is still very happy and

healthy. The whole family has been reunited and Sam’s marriage is the

best it has ever been.

Unforgiveness

lets the devil into your life, forgiveness drives him out.

Ephesians

4:25,26.

26)

If you become angry, do not let your anger lead you into sin, and do

not stay angry all day.

27)

Don’t

give the Devil a chance.

God

had to teach me to let go of unforgiveness, for my own sake. I can

only encourage anybody in the same situation to do the same.

When

all else fails, bear in mind that Jesus said, as He hung on the

cross, for six hours, “Father forgive them for they know not

what they do.” If a pin prick hurts, think how much pain Jesus

had to endure being nailed to the cross. The shame of hanging there

naked would have been unimaginable for Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

FORGIVE!!

Chapter

6

Jesus

still heals today

When

Jesus walked the earth He healed the cripple, the blind, the

epileptic, the deaf and the dumb. No disease or sickness was too big

or small for Jesus. The apostles followed in their Master’s

footsteps, and by the power of the Holy Spirit and the name of the

Lord Jesus Christ, many were healed and delivered from sickness and

disease. Over many years, due to unbelief by God’s people, miraculous

healings dwindled to the point, where they were no longer seen as

being applicable for today. Yet Hebrew 13:8 states:

“Jesus

Christ is the same yesterday, today, and for ever.”

People

who are only religious and do not know Jesus personally feel that it

is God’s will for them to be sick. Yes, in some cases God allows

sickness in a person in order to draw them to Himself. Many people

only ever turn to Him when in need. Sadly to say that was the case

with me. The Bible also shows that God punished people through

sickness.

2

Chronicles 26:16

“But

when King Uzziah became strong, he grew arrogant, and that led to his

downfall. He defied the Lord his God by going into the Temple to burn

incense on the altar of incense.”

2

Kings l5:5

The

LORD struck Uzziah with a dreaded skin disease that stayed with him

the rest of his life.

The

best thing to do is to ask God if you have done anything wrong,

especially where unforgiveness is concerned and ask Him to forgive

you.

Many

people never get healed because they haven’t bothered to ask God why

they are sick.

Are you sick because there is a normal

breakdown in the body function;

is God

dealing with you;

or is the illness due to demonic

spirits?

Luke

8:1 Some time later Jesus travelled through towns and villages,

preaching the Good News about the Kingdom of God. The twelve

disciples went with him, 2) and so did some women who had been healed

of evil spirits

and diseases: …

Luke

13:10 One Sabbath Jesus was teaching in a synagogue.

11)

A woman there had

an evil spirit that had made her sick for eighteen years;

she was bent over and could not straighten up at all.

12)

When Jesus saw her, he called out to her, “Woman, you are free

from your sickness!”

13)

He

placed his hands on her

and at once she straightened herself up and praised God.

The

religious leaders objected to Jesus setting this woman free on the

Sabbath, but the Lord Jesus Christ replied:

16)

Now here is this descendant of Abraham whom

Satan has kept bound up for eighteen years;

should she not be released on the Sabbath?”

There

are also incidents in the Bible that show children being ill due to

demonic forces.

Matthew

15:22 A Canaanite woman who lived in that region came to him. “Son

of David!” she cried out. “Have mercy on me, sir! My

daughter has a demon and is in a terrible condition.”

28)

So Jesus answered her, “You are a woman of great faith! What you

want will be done for you.” And at that very

moment her daughter was healed.

Mark

9:20 They brought him to Jesus. As soon as the spirit saw Jesus, it

threw the boy

into a fit, so that he fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming

at the mouth.

21)

“How long has he been like this?” Jesus asked the father.

“Ever since he

was a child,

he replied.

Jesus

healed the boy and told the father, “Everything is possible for

the person who has faith.” If

we expect God to do something for us, we really need to believe that

He is capable of doing what He promises.

Over

many years I have been healed and have seen many others healed. If I

am sick I claim Isaiah 53:5 praying, Oh LORD my God, Isaiah 53:5 says

‘We are

healed by the punishment Jesus

suffered, made whole by the blows he received.’ I ask you now for the

healing or wholeness of …….. (whatever). I also command the

pain to go in Jesus’ name. I also command any symptoms

of the illness to go. Then I thank God for healing me according to

His Word.

Healed

from sclerosis of the liver

Lorraine

had been given a death sentence by the doctors. So serious was her

condition that she was medically retired by the Education Department.

The situation looked grim, especially as she was the mother of a

young child. Nothing to say of the agony her husband would suffer at

the loss of his wife. After prayer God miraculously healed her. All

praise and honour belong to Jesus Christ for His mighty miracle

working power.

June

and bowel cancer

The

knock on the back door wasn’t exactly welcome, for I was in the

middle of getting ready for work, and running late at that.

Nonetheless, I answered the door to find my landlord standing there,

with tears in his eyes.

“June

is in hospital. She is dying.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

“She

hasn’t been able to go to the toilet for twenty days. The doctors say

she has bowel cancer.”

I

told the man that I would visit his wife that evening and closed the

door. As I walked towards the loungeroom, God said, “Rebuke the

spirit of death over her.”

“Wow”.

I thought. So June is dying. I prayed as God had instructed and

hurriedly left for work.

That

night I waved a bunch of flowers at June. Always as subtle as a

sledgehammer, June told me she didn’t want the flowers, but my

prayers. I promised to pray for her on the night before the

operation. In the meantime I sought God’s help on how to pray. The

following was the result:

Rebuke

the spirits of the whip satan is sending out to break the bond that

Jesus has on her. Ask that God pour a burning mixture on that whip

and burn it, so that Jesus has total free reign in her. Ask that God

put His pace maker into her to control her heart, all her organs and

that all her bodily functions be co-ordinated fully. Pray that God

would give her the strength and will to fight through this. Ask God

to make her body – that part of the infection and decay – strong and

untouchable by further hurt from satan. Ask that God cover her with

His shield, His feathers, like a mother hen and that Jesus allow His

blood to flow from Him to her, so that satan cannot have her.

Before

the operation I once again visited June. I impressed upon her that I

could do nothing for her, nor were my prayers of any use if she

didn’t call upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Great Physician. I

took her through a simple prayer and she asked Jesus into her heart.

She also asked for forgiveness for her sins and the healing of her

body.

The

following morning when the doctors operated, they found only one

large tumour, instead of the cancer, as shown by the X-rays. The

doctors could offer no explanation for what had happened. The next

step was to clean out the intestines. Once again I promised to pray

for June before the operation.

If

Jesus’ followers, 2000 years ago were commanded to ask for the

baptism of the Holy Spirit, how much more should that command apply

to us now. For that reason I took June through a prayer asking to be

filled with God’s Holy Spirit. The next day the operation ran

smoothly and a bag was placed on the outside of her abdomen to drain

the intestines. Miraculously within two weeks the bag was removed and

June, strong as an ox, was back digging in the garden.

After

several weeks I was surprised to find the whole family lined up on

the driveway, waiting for me to come home. “Mrs. Mrs.”, the

landlord cried, “June is in hospital again.” Apparently she

had collapsed, because her bowels hadn’t been functioning properly. I

was unable to go to the hospital that afternoon, but promised to pray

anyway. Two days later I finally had a chance to visit her.

“How

are you June?”

“Great, great!” came the reply.

“Can you go to the

toilet yet?”

“Oh

yes!”

“When did you start?”

“Two

days ago, about 4 o’clock in the afternoon.”

This

had been the exact time I had prayed for her. My simple prayer being,

“Oh Lord my God please let June’s bowels function as perfectly

as on the day when you created her.” Praise God, June was

totally healed and never suffered from bowel problems again.

Healed

from a terrible skin condition

Have

you ever seen someone whipped? The skin rash I was suffering from

looked like I had been whipped. The swellings were extremely itchy

and burnt as if a blow-torch was being held at my skin. Needless to

say I sought the Lord Jesus on the matter.

Prayer

1/

Bind the spirits causing the swelling and inflammation in Jesus’

name. Cover the rash with the blood of Jesus and say to satan that

the rash is cleansed and healed by the blood of Jesus. Ask God to

pour out Jesus’ precious blood over you. In Jesus’ name and the

authority of His holy and precious blood the rash shall then be

healed.

The

rash still persisted.

Prayer

2/

Keep on praying as I told you to and rebuke those spirits. Stand

before God and ask Him to pour His blood and healing power over you.

Ask God to cover every blemish, every bit of the rash and throw them

into the deepest part of the ocean and you shall be healed. I

will give you passages from the Bible you are to sit down and read

them to the rash – satan.

After you finish reading each passage claim your healing by the power

and authority He has invested in us, in order to cast

out demons.

There

was a tremendous improvement, but not all of the rash went.

Prayer

3/

Your rash is gone! Ask Me to open your eyes to this. The

longer you think you’ve got a rash the longer it will stay.

You must wipe the memory of that rash from your mind. Ask Me to

forget you ever had it, because

the longer you let it annoy you, the longer it will stay.

After

this prayer the rash disappeared very quickly, until it was totally

gone. I learnt a few lessons from this experience.

(1)

Be persistent, don’t ever give up!!

(2)

The importance of trusting God’s Word. His Word says that we have the

victory in Jesus’ name so just accept it!

(3)

The constant emphasis on the mighty power of the blood of the Lord

Jesus Christ.

(4)

Knowing

the Word of God and applying it to the situation.

Hebrews

9:14

… how much more is accomplished by the blood of Christ! Through the

eternal Spirit he offered himself as a perfect sacrifice to God. His

blood will purify our consciences from useless rituals, so that we

may serve the living God.

Revelation

7:14

… “These are the people who have come safely through the terrible

persecution. The have washed their robes and made them white with the

blood of he Lamb.

Revelation

12:11

They won the victory over him (satan),

by the blood of the Lamb and by the truth which they proclaimed; …

By

the precious blood of Jesus the rash was defeated. Also since the

blood of Jesus washes our conscience and robes white; how much more

can it wash us clean from sickness and disease. Jesus most certainly

washed my body clean from that terrible rash.

The

above Bible verses, plus Colossians 1:20 & 2:15 and Hebrews 2:14

were Bible verses God gave me in relation to Prayer 2.

Healed

from haemophilia

As

the grandfather and mother of my student sat opposite me during the

parent interview, I informed them that the child’s progress was not

satisfactory. Their response shocked me. “Don’t you know he

suffers from haemophilia? That is why he is absent from school so

much.”

I

could have slid under the table with embarrassment.

On

one of the rare occasions, when he was in class, I decided to pray

for him. As I stood near him I prayed this simple prayer, in my mind.

Oh

LORD, my God, please drain all the imperfect blood out of him, and

fill him with new blood containing blood clotting cells. Lord Jesus

let your blood flow through that boy’s body. Then I claimed the boy’s

total healing and wholeness, according to Isaiah 53:5.

I

finally realised that the child hadn’t missed classes for some time.

I asked him how he felt. The boy told me that neither he, nor his

family could understand why he hadn’t needed a blood transfusion for

four weeks. Usually, at least one transfusion a week would have been

necessary. Also due to constant injections in the left arm, the

muscles had wasted away. He was totally amazed that I had prayed for

his healing and that God in fact had worked a miracle. Praise God,

when Jesus healed the blood condition, he also restored the muscles

in the left arm.

Guy’s

skin rash

Guy

had been suffering for some time from a skin rash. No amount of

medication had helped the situation, until God told me how to pray

for him.

Ask

that Jesus remove the dead layer of skin and take with it the

infection. Ask that Jesus would give him a new, more resistant layer

of skin. Pray that Guy may reach out and touch Jesus’ cloak and be

healed. Pray that the blood of Jesus cover every sore of that man.

Tell satan that Lazarus had many sores and persecutions, but he still

went to heaven, as will Guy.

Praise

God, Guy’s skin rash disappeared.

Francisco’s

skin rash

God

is truly wonderful, for the work done on this young man’s face.

Francisco, a year 11 student, came to Bible study one lunchtime. His

face horrified and disgusted me. Except for his eyes, his neck and

face were covered with big pussy pimples. He looked truly revolting.

During Bible study I couldn’t help but ask if he wanted prayer.

Without hesitation he answered, “Yes”.

Besides

praying for the boy then and there, I asked God for a word of

knowledge. (1Corinthians 12:8 For to one is given by the Spirit the

word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit).

Rebuke

the pins that satan has embedded in Francisco’s face, through which

all the poison is entering. Command that the pins be removed and that

the antiseptic of the Lord Jesus Christ fill the gaps. Ask that God

siphon all the blood vessels under the skin which have been poisoned.

Ask that God remove the impure blood from the cells and replace it

with the perfect blood of Jesus Christ. Ask that God wrap Himself

around the skin and protect it from all the environment and satanic

elements.

The

surest way to know that you have prayed correctly is by

the results.

Within days there was a tremendous improvement in the boy’s skin.

Three weeks later there wasn’t a pimple left on his face, nor

were there acne scars.

Praise

God!

My

foot

If

I sat, or stood in one position for a while, it became very painful

to move my foot again. (Ezekiel 6:3) Ezekiel spoke to the mountains,

the hills, the gorges, and the valleys. He also spoke to the “very

dry bones” in the “valley of the bones” (Ezekiel

37:1-14). He commanded the bones to be covered with sinews, muscles

and skin, finally commanding the wind to breathe life into them. God

gave me a similar prayer for my foot.

Take

hold of your left foot and say in Jesus’ name, I take all the blood

vessels, tissues, ligaments, bones; everything that makes up that

foot and tell them to release that pain in Jesus’ name. Tell them

that you pour out the blood of Christ on that foot and that pain and

they can’t disobey, because they are dwelling within the temple of

God.

How

wonderful to read in God’s Word, 2 Corinthians 6:16

For

we are the temple of the living God!

Likewise

God showed me a powerful truth in this Bible verse, Psalms 148:5&6

(Good News version):

5)

… He commanded, and they were created;

6)

by his command they were fixed in their places forever, and they

cannot

disobey.

My

blood,

bones, tissues etc., are created, therefore they cannot disobey a

command in Jesus’ name. As expected, my foot responded to the Word of

God and has never given me any trouble again. Also bear in mind that

the devil

and his demons are created beings

and likewise cannot

disobey a command given in Jesus’ name.

Erika’s

Headaches

Erika

used to suffer terribly from headaches – not anymore, praise God. The

following word of knowledge helped me pray correctly for her.

Rebuke

the clamp on her head and ask God to unscrew that tension. Also ask

God that He would put a protective cap on her head to stop her from

getting further tension headaches. Also that Jesus would fill her

with His peace.

Marisha

– Mental disorder for 12 years

For

twelve years Marisha had been in and out of mental institutions. The

situation put tremendous strain on her husband and children. God gave

me the following prayer for her.

Rebuke

the spirits of depression, suicide and unwillingness to go on in

life. Ask God to fill her with the need to live. Ask God to allow her

to see the little she has done in her life and therefore make her

realise she’s lived too little of life. She’s only got one short life

and she shouldn’t lose it. Rebuke that which has a hold on her mind

showing her the uselessness of life. Name the number of the demons.

Within

three weeks Marisha was out of hospital and totally restored.

Stating

the number of demons

God

showed me the following. Sometimes you have to state the number of

demons, in case you are not forceful enough during prayer. Saying the

number gives you more authority when you command the demons to go,

because it’s like you’re staring them in the face, commanding them

to go. An example is where a person is being prayed for in regards to

martial arts. Demons are always in a group which means the lead demon

is martial arts followed by anger, hatred, violence and murder.

Therefore the number of demons is 5.

Anthony

– Diseased Glands

Anthony,

a friend of my daughter’s, came to our home when he was 17. After a

while he accepted Jesus into his heart and was baptised.

One

day he came to me and asked if I could pray for his throat. Since he

was a little child he had suffered from swollen glands. At times they

would swell so much that he would have to be hospitalised and put on

a drip. At times his condition became so bad that he couldn’t swallow

his saliva. There was the constant fear that he would one day choke

to death. As I was about to pray, God said to me:

“Why

don’t you just ask me to cut out the old diseased glands and give him

a set of new ones?”

Praise

God! How easy!! Anthony, for many years now has been totally healed

and delivered from that condition.

My

crippled right leg

The

abdominal operation had been simple enough. Complications set in when

the doctor accidentally cut the nerve to my right leg. I woke up from

the operation and had no feeling in my leg, from the knee down.

For

more than a year I had to wear special shoes with a brace attached to

help me walk. Gradually the muscles wasted away and died. The leg

shrunk to 25 cm in circumference. On a daily basis I prayed to God to

heal my leg, finally after one year feeling returned and the muscles

started to develop again. Today my right leg is as normal as my left

leg. Only near the ankle is a small patch that has a feeling of pins

and needles. God told me this would be a reminder to me, of how he

had brought my leg back to life,

Jesus

healed the cripple two thousand years ago; things haven’t changed

only people’s faith!

Warts

His

hands were always hidden in his pockets. As he held the pen I

realised why; they were covered in warts. Warts grew upon warts, they

looked like little mountains.

“Brad,

come and see me at lunchtime and I’ll tell you how to get rid of

those warts.” When he came, I offered to pray for him. His face

said it all; utter disbelief! I can’t remember what little prayer I

had said, but God had heard it, because three weeks later he came and

showed me his hands – not one wart was left. At first I thought he

was joking and maybe he had undergone a skin graft. However, he

assured me that a few days after I prayed for him the warts turned

black and fell off.

The

same situation arose while teaching at another school. This time the

student even had a large wart growing on his eyelid; there were

others on his arms and legs as well. He was in a worse condition than

the child at the previous school. Once again I told the child that

Jesus could heal him from the warts. I prayed a simple prayer,

commanding the warts to die from the roots up. When Jesus commanded

the fig tree to die “all the way down to its roots”. I used

the same principle on the warts.

Sonja’s

broken arm

Praise

God He is faithful and continues to work miracles in people. We had

gone to a barbecue organised by my grandson’s football team. Together

with other parents my daughter and I took it in turn to supervise the

children. Sonja went downstream and I went upstream. Twenty minutes

later there were cries for help, not from the children, but Sonja.

By

the time I arrived people could be heard saying, “Oh no, she’s

broken her arm.” Somebody made a sling for the arm, for it and

the fingers had become badly swollen.

As

I left the bottom of Macquarie Pass, Sonja tried not to cry and

begged me to pray against the excruciating pain, as well as praying

for God to heal the broken bones. Although the bones did not actually

come through the flesh, they were sticking out, as she had fallen

with all her weight on the point of the elbow.

I

prayed as asked. After ten minutes of driving my daughter told me

that her shoulder, arm and hand had gone numb and that she felt no

more pain.

When

we arrived at the hospital they laid her on a trolley. The doctor

examined the arm and Sonja heard him whisper to the nurse that he

might have to operate.

Needless

to say while we had been waiting for the doctor to come and then for

the X-ray to be taken, I prayed earnestly.

The X-ray showed no fracture, chipped or broken bones. Also

miraculously the bones had gone back into place and the swelling went

down. The doctor upon examining the X-ray, having seen the arm,

could not believe his eyes. He prescribed a strong pain killer, but

as God had already given Sonja a sedative she didn’t need to take

even one tablet. Although there was no pain while the arm was held

still, the amount of pain or discomfort, when the arm was moved did

not warrant pain killers. Massive bruising came out on both the elbow

and hand later on.

Later

that evening some of the parents rang to see how things were. They

could not believe that there were no broken bones, but as I pointed

out there had been broken bones – only God had mended them.

Kim’s

paralyzed arm

In

late September 1996, while visiting my daughter I met her friend Kim.

Due to an accident her arm had become paralysed. After four weeks of

everybody praying for her nothing had changed. Once back in Sydney,

while pottering around the flat, God spoke to me and told me to pray

for Kim’s arm. This was about 11 on a Thursday morning.

The

next week while visiting my daughter’s place I happened to answer the

phone; it was Kim. To my surprise when I asked how her arm was, she

said it was perfectly normal again. Apparently the previous Thursday

she had been to the doctor in order to start electric shock

treatment. Just as a matter of course the doctor had asked if she

could move her arm even slightly. Incredibly, much to the doctor’s

and Kim’s amazement, she lifted the arm above her head. This had

happened at the same time I had prayed.

My

prayer had been that the dead arm would come to life again. I also

prayed according to Ezekiel 37:4-8, where Ezekiel speaks to the

bones, sinews and muscles.

Kristy’s

eyes

My

granddaughter Kristy had been born with an inturned eye. At the age

of four she was operated on and the muscle was tightened. Her

eyesight was so poor that the glasses she had to wear were the

thickness of a Coca Cola bottle. Over the years my daughter and I had

prayed to God to heal the eye that wasn’t functioning properly, as

well as giving Kristy better vision.

A

few months before her tenth birthday she complained that the glasses

she was wearing were causing her vision to become blurry. Besides

that she was complaining about headaches. We all thought this was an

excuse not to wear glasses any more, as other children were teasing

her. To top it all off, the bad eye started to turn in, even if only

for a moment. So my daughter decided to book Kristy in to the

therapist.

Careful

examination by the therapist showed that there was nothing wrong with

the eye. Even more amazing, when the eye sight was tested, it was

found that the vision had improved to such an extent that Kristy no

longer needed to wear glasses. The therapist’s verdict was backed up

by the eye specialist.

God

had allowed the eye to turn inward, to force my daughter to take

Kristy to have her eyes checked, for the glasses she had been wearing

were not suitable anymore and were doing more harm than good.

Persistence

had paid off, even if it had taken almost ten years. Praise God

Kristy can see perfectly and does not need to wear glasses anymore.

Healed

from AIDS

A

homosexual man, classified as AIDS positive, was introduced to me. I

knew that the man was homosexual, but I didn’t know that he had a

death sentence hanging over him. As a matter of course I shared the

mighty miracles of Jesus with him. Later that night I prayed that God

would give him a second chance at life.

The

following week when I spoke to him, he told me an amazing story. The

same night that I had prayed, he had also prayed for the first time,

since childhood. He had asked God to give him a second chance at

life. As he did so God spoke to him and said, “Marlies has

already prayed for you.” A few days later he decided to have

more tests done; they proved to be negative. I mentioned the fact

that God had been wonderful to give him a second chance at life. He

looked amazed and asked how I had known that he had asked God for a

second chance at life. I hadn’t!

About

two weeks later, God spoke to me about this man. I was to ask him to

give God the first chance to come into his life, considering he had

been given two chances. The news was listened to, but not acted upon.

Apparently the fear of man, and what other people would think of him,

if he became a Christian, was stronger than the gratitude for having

received a second chance at life.

AND

YET THEY DIE

From

the few examples it is easy to see that no sickness is too big or too

small for Jesus and yet people die. The following two cases give an

indication why

some people are not healed.

Cancer

My

girlfriend’s husband was dying from cancer. God gave me the following

prayer for him.

Ask

that the molten blob be removed from his blood stream and that God

strain Evan’s blood through His sieve. Ask that he’d be filled with

the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and that Jesus would give him the

will to fight through this sickness. Ask that Jesus would give him

the sense to get up and ask God – for he asks, fine, but lacks

faith.

He doesn’t fully believe that God will heal him. Rebuke the feeling

that this problem is too big for God and the thought that it’s a

problem that needs to be healed with time,

food and medicines,

but God is the only one who can heal him.

Evan

died; he put more faith in the doctors than God. Also if we are sick

we

need to get up and fight.

This man gave in and died.

Loren

The

following is a diary entry made in November 1996.

Loren

rang to wish me a happy birthday; I wish she hadn’t. For almost 2

hours she argued why she should still listen to her meditation tape,

“Self Healing”, read “Positive Thinking” books

and generally put her faith in New Age ideas, instead of trusting

Jesus Christ for her healing.

After

lunch while standing near the sink God said to me, “You see now

why I gave you the song, “I Surrender All” for her. I

hadn’t sung, or even heard the song for a while.

All

to Jesus I surrender

All

to Him I freely give,

I

will always love and trust Him

In

His presence daily live.

I

surrender all

I

surrender all

All

to thee my blessed Saviour

I

surrender all.

Loren

hadn’t surrendered her New Age activities to Jesus Christ, yet she

expected Him to heal her. She died a few months later. Jesus

healed when He walked the earth; He still does today.

Dare you trust Him? I do!!

Chapter

7

Suicide

People

have a fascination with the unknown, visiting fortune tellers, or

reading the horoscope. Others are fascinated with horror books or

movies, yet others become involved in séances and using the ouija

boards. Very few people accept that there are actually evil spirits,

much less that people are being controlled by them. Yet countless

times I have prayed for people and cast demons out in Jesus’ mighty

name. Evil forces on the T.V. screen are much easier to cope with

than evil forces in a person close to you, or the person down the

road. Non-Christians and some Christians have the mistaken belief

that if you don’t believe in something, it doesn’t exist. Wrong!

A

young woman in one of my classes, as a teenager had taken part in a

séance. Seven or eight years later that act nearly took her life.

Sandra

and I became friends after I helped her with some assignments, when

she was sick. On one of the occasions when she came to my home she

told me about some of the problems she was having, my answer was to

hand them over to God. She replied, “He is your God, he won’t

listen to me.”

A

few nights later she was woken up to the sound of bongo drums and a

voice saying, “You’ll never find your God, you belong to me.”

Satan had obviously been eavesdropping on our conversation in my

kitchen.

Eventually

she did ask Jesus into her heart. The evil spirit living inside her

did not appreciate the presence of the Holy Spirit, for soon

afterwards she would visit me with her left arm bandaged from the

wrist to the elbow. When I asked the reason for the bandages, she

simply replied, “Oh, I cut myself.” I understood this to

mean that she had hurt herself through a fall or some other accident.

While reading Mark 5:1-5, God revealed to me why Sandra’s arm was

bandaged.

Mark

5:1

Jesus and his disciples arrived on the other side of Lake Galilee,

in the territory of Gerasa.

2)

As soon as Jesus got out of the boat, he was met by a man who came

out of the burial caves there. This man had an evil spirit in him

3)

and lived among the tombs. Nobody could keep him tied with chains any

more;

4)

many times his feet and his hands had been tied, but every time he

broke the chains and smashed the irons on his feet. He was too strong

for anyone to control him.

5)

Day and night he wandered among the tombs and through the hills,

screaming and cutting

himself

with stones.

As

I came to the words, “cutting himself with stones” God said

to me, “Sandra”. My immediate reaction was, “Oh no

she’s possessed.”

“Tell

her,” was the next instruction.

After

a few attempts, I finally had the courage to confront her. The reply

shocked me.

“Yes

it’s true.”

Immediately

I decided to ring my minister, so that he could come over and pray

for her.

As

we waited for his arrival, I asked Sandra to explain why she thought

she was possessed. Apparently at the age of fifteen she had

participated in a séance. Not believing that such things as evil

spirits exist, she had demanded for one to come into her life and to

reveal itself. Only then would she believe. Sadly the doubters always

want proof. Proof came in the form of a photo. While lying drunk on

the floor, somebody had taken a photo of her. Nestled in her blonde

hair, on her shoulder, was the face of a grotesque creature. Every

time Sandra was drunk the evil spirit would try to kill her – namely

by cutting herself.

While

the minister and an elder prayed for her, the spirit actually spoke

to Sandra; but refused to leave. Over the next weeks the whole church

prayed for her, but still the spirit kept trying to kill her. Finally

one day, her urgent voice pleaded with me over the phone, to come

quickly, as she was dying.

As

my car was being repaired I asked my brother Klaus to drive me to her

place. Just as I was about to get into the car God told me to get the

Bible.

“LORD,

what is the point of reading the Bible to a corpse?” I asked.

Nonetheless, I ran upstairs and did as I was told.

Neither

my brother, nor I, were prepared for the sight that met our eyes. My

friend stood in the kitchen, casually supporting herself on the

breakfast bar – normally white, now red with her blood. Her face,

neck and clothing were also covered in blood; there was even some on

the phone, curtains, wall and ceiling. For all that, her greeting was

unnaturally cheerful. The can of beer and broken bottle neck, said it

all.

Without

answering I placed my Bible on the freezer and told my brother we

needed to clean her up before we took her to the hospital. Because of

the tremendous blood loss, I decided to support her when we were

ready to leave. As my left hand held her right arm, I remembered to

take my Bible. At my request; my brother passed it to me. What

followed comes straight out of a horror movie. Her body became

twisted as if she was a rubber doll and a man’s voice spoke out of

her mouth saying: “Get away from me with that Bible; get away

from me with that Bible.” Sandra then proceeded to run through

the house dragging me behind her. A bull-terrier couldn’t have held

on tighter and all I could say was, “I rebuke you satan”,

over and over again. I didn’t even have the clearness of mind to add,

“in Jesus’ name”. In hindsight the scene must have looked

rather comical, only my brother and I weren’t laughing.

Finally

she came to her senses and we were able to leave for the hospital. As

we travelled along, a voice piped up from the back seat.

“Look

I burned my finger.”

“How

did you manage to do that?” I asked.

“When

I dialled your number.”

Obviously,

satan didn’t want me to turn up, for, had she succeeded in committing

suicide, she would have sent herself to hell. God sets the time for

us to die, unless someone murders us and that also isn’t according to

His will. When it comes to dying a natural death, “He sets the

time for birth and the time for death …” (Ecclesiastes 3:2).

During

the drive to the hospital, Sandra’s constant worry was that I

shouldn’t pray for her while we were at the hospital. At that stage I

was happy to agree to anything. As we sat in the Casualty Department

of the district hospital, I couldn’t help but think of the whole

affair. In my mind I brought the matter before God, not even

realising that I was praying. “What is the blockage God? Why

hasn’t this spirit left her? The church has prayed, I have prayed,

what’s wrong?” At that moment, to the shock of my brother and

myself, a man’s voice spoke out of her mouth, hissing at me, “Stop

praying, stop praying, you’re burning me.” In shock, I stopped.

At the same time the nurse called Sandra.

While

she was being attended to, I impressed upon my brother the need to

take the children out, once we got back home. I didn’t want them to

see what we had seen.

As

soon as Sandra entered my home, she ran out onto the balcony

screaming at the top of her voice, “I’m free, I’m free”. I

didn’t want the neighbours rushing out to see what was going on, so I

gently prised her fingers loose from the railing and led her into the

loungeroom. Again she cried out joyfully, “I’m free, I’m free”.

I

couldn’t help but ask, “How do you know you’re free?” “As

my arm was being stitched, I felt my chest tightening, restricting my

breathing. The top half of my body seemed to shrink and I found

myself gasping for air. Before the nurse could give me oxygen I

vomited green stuff all over the place. At that moment I knew the

spirit had left me. By the way, when you picked up the Bible at my

place it turned into a ball of fire.”

How

amazing that the spirit in Sandra should see the Bible in my hand

turn into a ball of fire and that is why it twisted her body and

spoke out of her mouth. To many people the Bible is just a book,

which is carelessly thrown onto the floor, or even used as a

footstool for filthy shoes at church. I know this is hard to

believe, but I have actually seen people do it.

Respecting

God’s Holy Word the Bible.

God

taught me an interesting lesson about respecting His Holy Word. My

habit was to read the Bible over breakfast. I was careful not to

spill coffee onto the pages, but other than that I saw no problems

reading the Bible during my meals. That is, until God convicted me

otherwise, one morning.

“Would

you speak to somebody with your mouth full and food dribbling down

your chin?”

“Yuk,

no LORD!”

“Well

then, don’t do it to me.”

Needless

to say, I never again read the Bible during a meal.

Some

months later, I visited a Christian Fellowship. One of the girls was

eating out of a tub of yoghurt, sitting on one half of the Bible,

while she was reading the other half. I shared with the group what

God had shown me. Immediately, I was classified a religious fanatic.

The next day however, one of the girls came and shared the following

with me.

“Last

night I was reading the Bible and God said to me:”

“Do

you believe that this is my Word?”

“Yes.”

“Well

what are you doing eating over my face?”

Since

God revealed to me how His Holy Word, the Bible should be treated,

the words in John 1:1&14 mean so much more.

1)

In the beginning the Word already existed; the Word was with God, and

the Word was God.

14)

The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived

among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the

Father’s only Son.

The

Word of God is alive

and active, sharper than any two edged sword. (Hebrews 4:12)

The

robe he wore was covered with blood. His name is ‘The Word of God’.

(Revelation 19:13)

The

situation surrounding Sandra taught me three important things.

1)

The Word of God is mighty and to be highly respected.

2)

Prayer is powerful, to the point of burning the demons.

3)

Through Jesus Christ we are victorious.

Chapter

8

Long

Bay Gaol

Our

gaols are bursting at the seams, with people who have committed a

crime. Sadly there are many more people walking the streets

imprisoned by circumstances beyond their control, or of their making.

Jesus set Sandra free from suicide; He can also set people free from

alcoholism, rejection, homosexuality, lust, hatred, insanity, fear,

compulsive habits etc.

Paul

had been out on probation from Boga Road Gaol, when the police

arrested him for robbing a chemist. God, in His mysterious ways

allowed me to meet Paul and his girlfriend Julie, through an

acquaintance. The two offered to help me with the church youth group

I was running. Three months later, Paul told me why they had been so

obliging. He needed a character reference from a person with a good

job and good standing in society. According to him I seemed to fit

the bill. The longer however, that he had associated with me, the

more he began to realise that there was something different – the

difference being Jesus.

His

words to me had been, “I want what you’ve got.” Joyfully I

told Paul and Julie that it was easy to get what I had; all you had

to do was ask Jesus into your life. The world we live in today is

very technical, complicated and confusing. There is nothing difficult

about admitting that we in ourselves are inadequate, have problems

and basically make a mess of our life. Only Jesus, if we allow Him,

can make right the wrongs we have done.

After

prayer God literally changed Paul’s physical appearance. Before Paul

had asked Jesus into his heart his facial expression had been hard

and mean. He couldn’t bear for anybody to comment on his balding

head, or red hair. The red freckles didn’t vanish, but they now added

a soft touch to his face. The ugly tattoo of a Buddha, on his

stomach, unfortunately didn’t disappear, but the anger, violence and

hatred melted as quickly as snow in a furnace. In Paul’s case, the

cleansing furnace was God’s love. Before asking Jesus into his heart

Paul had often bragged how he had taken great delight in running over

cats, or dogs on the road, if they hadn’t been quick enough to get

out of the way. What a change to see him rolling around the floor,

playing with the children. He didn’t even mind having the few tufts

of hair pulled. The love Jesus had poured into his heart also helped

him cope with life inside, once he was sentenced again.

(As

both Paul and Julie made a commitment to Jesus, they also decided to

make a more lasting commitment to each other. Within a few weeks they

were married and baptised.)

Twelve

months after Paul’s confession the matter finally came before the

court. I offered to go, as did the minister and half the church. Paul

was still sentenced, because God is just and we need to pay for our

crimes. Nonetheless, the sentence was only three years, compared to

the five he should have received.

Just

as Jesus had changed Paul’s appearance, so He also changed his

attitude. He became compassionate towards other inmates and shared

with them how his life had changed. Programmes cannot change the

heart and character of a person, only Jesus can wash us clean from

our filthy life-styles and give us a new outlook on God and humanity.

The

extracts from letters, I received from Paul, while in gaol, show just

how much God had changed him.

Extract

1

Long

Bay Gaol

To

my dear friends and sister in the Lord. The Lord truly blessed me

when we became friends. My heart goes out to you and all Christian

friends. I look around me in these walls and I can see the hurt, the

anger, the waste of life. I can see the emptiness of these poor

souls. They hunger, but they do not know what they hunger for. Yet,

if I were to try and show them I would be despised. I pray that God

will give me a way. By His, and most of all Jesus’ strength, I can do

all things. The Holy Spirit comes, although it never leaves,

sometimes I feel so high, higher than any drug I’ve ever been on in

the past.

I

feel a love for these people when I listen to their laughter. Yet, I

know there is a great difference between us. Not that I am any better

– just that my sins are forgiven. The devil is all around me here and

he has been testing me in many ways.

I

remember that the Word of God is sharper than any two edged sword. I

have not got enough of the Word in me yet. But with the Holy Spirit

and Jesus I shall. I look at it this way: that a two-edged sword can

be broken if not handled right. I listen to the Lord at night, after

reading his Word. I pray for everyone and close my eyes. Then the

Lord takes me away in his hands broken and bruised, yet so soft and

warm and full of love.

He

is truly a wonderful God, our God, whose depths are beyond us all. I

saw the love of God in the court, in all my Christian friends. I will

never forget the love and fellowship we had in Christ Jesus.

I

stopped writing this letter for two hours while Joe read to me about

Job. I found the Word and insight beyond me. Yet it was in a way as

if a child could have understood it. I pray to fear him, to trust

him, no matter what the outcome. I want to be as gentle as a dove and

as brave as a lion. If I keep my eyes on Jesus, all things will come

to me. Praise God for the cell I’m in, with a window I cannot see out

of.

Extract

2

Long

Bay Gaol

I

would like to give my love to your Bible study. I suppose I do not

know a lot of them, but they are still my brothers and sisters in

Christ. So I pray they will grow and grow through Jesus and the Holy

Spirit. Tell the group that Jesus has made me feel so high sometimes,

that it makes LSD and all other drugs feel like Disprins. But at

other times I have fallen to the deck. It can only be me who leaves

this high. For Jesus will not leave me. I pray that the person who

this message is for will understand and trust in Jesus’ love. It is

hard sometimes as I have cried and broken down, something I would not

have done in my past, because of my hard heart back then. I have

found in here my heart was hard, but some of the hearts in here are

like steel. Yet the ones that are like this make the time in here

worth it.

Extract

3

Long

Bay Gaol

I

hope you will bear with me a bit. Last night or early morning, 3

o’clock, I felt that I should pray for someone, as well as others I

hold dear to my heart.

Last

night, in my cell, Graham accepted Jesus as his Lord and Saviour. I

have been witnessing in here and with the Spirit of Christ, I

received a great blessing as Graham told me today. I was witnessing

to another man called Fred and I feel in my spirit that he too will

accept the gift of life. Praise be to Jesus for letting me be a tool

in my Master’s hands.

I

long for Julie each day, but I know you give her my love. To all I

hold dear give my love as a brother, sometimes not a very good one.

Jesus will teach me many new and wonderful things. He has given me

peace and love and above all he has given me salvation.

Chapter

9

Attempted

Murder

The

association with Paul and Julie were to lead to 3 years of

visitations to five gaols: Long Bay, Goulburn, Silver Water, Bathurst

and Park Lea Maximum Security. Through Paul’s eyes the term gaol and

criminals took on a different meaning. I am not condoning the actions

of criminals, nor am I saying they should not pay for their crimes;

it’s just that now I no longer see them as statistics, but

individuals.

We

learnt that inmates committed suicide due to despair and loneliness.

Paul pleaded with me to write to some of these inmates. In this way

we met J.R. When J.R. was transferred from Long Bay to Bathurst Gaol,

we promised to visit him during my holidays. Arrangements for

accommodation were made through Rod, a Christian warder.

Rod

provided us first with two nights free motel accommodation, then two

nights accommodation at the boys’ college where he was house-master.

The generosity with which he greeted us was overwhelming. Jesus said,

“I

assure you that anyone who gives you a drink of water because you

belong to me will certainly receive a reward.” (Mark 9:41).

This

man gave to us, total strangers, a banquet. The table was laden with

many varieties of cheeses, vegetables, nuts and fresh bread. Just to

make sure that we wouldn’t go hungry Rod had ordered pizza and cheese

cake to be delivered as well. The children and I have never forgotten

this man’s generosity. Unfortunately, we haven’t forgotten the horror

that followed either.

The

old house we were to stay in was occupied by Rod, the Principal and

his family, as well as boys occupying a dormitory – the latter two,

now on holidays. The architecture indicated that the house would have

been built in the late 1800s. There was an old world charm, but also

a foreboding uneasiness about the place.

Rod’s

guided tour of the house revealed some interesting facts, for there

was a well under one of the rooms where a dead body had been found.

It had never been established whether the death had been accidental,

suicide or murder. Rod’s reason for changing rooms in the house was

also interesting. While sick in bed one day, he had felt as if the

walls were closing in on him. Also the cupboard seemed to be coming

closer and closer, ready to squash him. There was obviously more to

this old house than met the eye.

Between

visits to the gaol and the surrounding scenic spots, the days passed

pleasantly. J.R. was very happy to have us visit him. Soon three

other inmates were invited to the visitors’ area. To these four

inmates my children and I were the closest they came to having a

mother and sisters, especially in J.R’s case, since he had been

thrown out of home at the age of fourteen.

I

never asked the prisoners what their crimes were. Through the love of

Jesus I hoped that the vicious cycle of hatred, rejection and fear

would be broken. Jesus had turned my life around. I knew He could

also give these men a new start in life.

Our

second night at the college proved eventful. A friend of Rod’s had

arrived from Sydney to stay for a few days. In the course of

conversation, I shared with them the story about Sandra. The visitor

was very sceptical about demonic forces inside a person.

“I’ll

believe it, when I see it.” Little did he realise he would see

“it” very shortly – that night.

Around

10 o’clock Rod invited me to see his room. Considering I had already

had a guided tour of the house the previous evening, including Rod’s

room, I decided there must be more to it than a simple invitation. I

agreed to go, but insisted on getting my Bible first.

After

Rod had closed the door, he slowly turned around and said, “I’m

sure you realise I didn’t ask you in here to see my room.”

I

could only manage a numb, “Yes.”

“As

I listened to you sharing the story of Sandra, I realised I have a

similar problem. I would like you to pray for me.” This

revelation did surprise me a little, but I took it all in my stride –

just as well we don’t know the future. With the words, “Rod I’ll

just get my daughter to help me pray,” I left the room.

To

Malcolm’s surprise I asked him to take care of Rachael, while Sonja

and I prayed for Rod. As the house was built around a courtyard, it

was easy to cross from one room to another, as well as hear what was

going on. Little did Malcolm realise that his unbelief would be

challenged very shortly.

Rod

sat in the chair by the desk, while Sonja and I decided to kneel in

prayer. To help my concentration, I closed my eyes; I try not to do

that anymore when I pray for somebody. For upon opening my eyes I saw

such horror as only seen in bizarre horror movies – only this was for

real. Yes, the body of Rod sat before us, but it wasn’t him. The eyes

were large round stones that glared at us. The face was white and

unbelievably evil, resembling granite. The evil which came from Rod

was electric. Immediately I started to pray, at this the body

before

us became even more frightening. I didn’t know how to pray; so I just

called on Jesus and rebuked satan. As I commanded the spirit of

self-pity to leave him one single tear rolled down his cheek. Why

those words came out of my mouth, I don’t know, but at least there

was a response.

When

I stopped praying from time to time, Rod reacted normally. At one

stage he told us that the evil spirit had told him to strangle both

of us, or throw things at us. There was something, however, which

prevented him from touching us. That “something” was the

mighty power of God.

l

John 4:4 But you belong to God, my children, and have defeated the

false prophets, because

the Spirit who is in you is more powerful than the spirit in those

who belong to the world.

Jesus

Christ by His Holy Spirit

is greater

and more powerful

than satan, or any demonic spirit.

The

hours wore on and both Rod and I became very weary. At one stage I

suggested that he should lie on the bed to get some rest. Although

the battle was spiritual it was affecting him physically. Every time

I tried to cast out the demon which was ruling him, his body would

change. At one stage his whole body became terribly twisted. As I

looked at the grotesque body before me, God said, “Lilly”.

“Lilly!”

I thought in horror. My thoughts momentarily raced to a young woman

sitting in a wheelchair. Her brother had already died from some

disease, which had left his body twisted and his tongue speechless.

Now Lilly was fast going the way of her brother. “Lord Jesus are

you trying to tell me that Lilly is not sick due to a physical

condition, but dying due to a spiritual condition?” God told me

to tell the minister of her mother’s church to pray for the daughter,

for once the spirit of infirmity had been cast out; she would be

healed.

Upon

returning to Wollongong I spoke to the minister about what God had

shown me. Sadly he never prayed for Lilly and shortly afterwards she

died. Lilly’s younger brother, until after her death had been a

healthy young man. Yet a few months after his sister’s death he also

developed the same symptoms and eventually died the same horrible

death as his brother and sister a few years later. Apparently the

spirit of infirmity transferred from one person to the next at their

death. If only these people had been prayed for, Jesus would have

gladly set them free. Many times we suffer needlessly, if only we

knew God’s Word and how to apply it to our life.

My,

I do digress! Back to Rod. By 12:45 that night, my strength was

failing and I could no longer pray. I guess Jesus was right when he

said, “this kind needs much prayer and fasting.”

As

I prepared to leave his room he said in the sweetest, gentlest tone,

“Marlies, would you like me to show you the room where the well

is?” Immediately the Holy Spirit warned me with a very definite,

NO! Although Rod gave the invitation three times, the Holy Spirit

just as strongly told me to say no three times. God did not want me,

or my daughters murdered. The foul spirit that would not leave Rod

was a spirit of murder; it wanted to use Rod to kill us. Bearing that

fact in mind, Sonja and I decided not to go to sleep that night –

which was just as well.

We

decided to move to the loungeroom. Malcolm and Rachael had

disappeared, they had obviously heard what was going on.

The

horror of the past hours was still with us, so prayer and praise

seemed like a good idea to help us stay awake. We froze in terror as

the door creaked and slowly opened and then closed again. All night

we heard footsteps, anticipating any moment that Rod would stand in

the doorway with a knife or gun. The hours passed slowly, kitchen

doors opened and closed, floor boards creaked, but no human form

appeared in the doorway of the loungeroom.

As

the darkness disappeared and the dawn broke, we looked at the mist,

dancing like ghosts, outside the window. At least these figures we

could see. The ghosts who had partied all night in the house, we had

only heard.

It

was hard to know how much Rod remembered about the previous night,

but he wasn’t as friendly as he had been when we first arrived. I

asked him why he had paced the floor boards so restlessly all night.

To that he replied that he hadn’t left his bed.

Malcolm

had taken Rachael and himself to the dormitory, where he had slept

with a baseball bat by his side. He was no longer in doubt that

people can be possessed by an evil spirit.

Rod

had gotten into this sad state because he had played around in a

séance at the age of thirteen. As usual the children like so many

other people, believed that there were no evil spirits and that

séances don’t really work anyway. Well, the séance had worked and

the results were still with him ten years later when we met him. The

morning after the séance, Rod found himself lying on his back,

covered in rosary beads, crosses and Bibles. His friends were too

horrified to speak to him. Strangely enough they were covered in

bruises. Only months later was Rod able to piece some of the events

together. A spirit had taken control of him and he tried to kill his

friends. Séances are not to be meddled with, for they leave

long-term unpleasant consequences.

I

will never forget Rod’s kindness; he wasn’t evil, rather that which

ruled him. I have prayed for Rod over many years. I know God will set

him free, if He hasn’t done so already.

Chapter

10

Bathurst

Gaol

I

didn’t tell J.R. or the other inmates what happened at the college –

there was no point. This was our last day and I mentioned as much to

the officer at the reception centre. As we chatted the man asked if

we wanted a closer view of the inside of the prison. From the

visiting centre we passed through massive gates into the ‘neutral’

zone. I couldn’t help but compare the situation to the trenches and

“no-man’s land” in World War 1. Having crossed the neutral

zone we entered another set of massive gates. Judging by the layout,

Bathurst wouldn’t have too many escapes.

The

reception committee was waiting for us. The inmates were openly

making crude remarks about my older daughter, who at that stage was

nearly eighteen. My maternal instinct boiled over, and softly I

whispered to the warden, “They are nothing but animals”.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t whispered softly enough for a prisoner heard

and shouted at the top of his voice, “Hey, she said we’re

nothing but a pack of animals.” Within seconds we were

surrounded. Bullies always feel the strongest in a group; even more

so when confronting a lone warder, a woman and two children. The

situation looked and felt extremely ugly. The thought crossed my mind

that we could become the hostages of these men.

I

decided to confront the leader before he had a chance to rally his

group. I looked him straight in the eyes and said, “I felt sorry

the minute I made that comment, but I don’t appreciate my daughter

being insulted. The children and I go to gaols not judging who we

meet, we simply tell them about Jesus and treat them like human

beings; is it too much to ask for a little respect?”

My

boldness and speech surprised the man. He even looked a little

shaken. “Sorry lady, you don’t know what it’s like in here. We

climb the walls sometimes in frustration and helplessness. We didn’t

mean you and the children any harm.” The bomb had been defused –

what a relief!

I

don’t know who was more relieved: the children and I, or the warder.

Repairs from a previous riot had just been completed. With smiles all

round, we continued our tour of the gaol.

The

convicts on hulks, moored on the Thames in the 1700s and 1800s would

have considered the cell we saw as absolutely luxurious. One inmate

had agreed to show us his cell. We climbed to the second storey and

were amazed to see the comforts of life, a television, stereo, books,

tablecloth and ornaments. On hindsight, I suppose he would have

traded all his possessions for his freedom.

The

doors of Bathurst Gaol closed behind us that Friday afternoon; but

not our continued association with prisoners. For many years Sonja

and I continued to write to prisoners around the state or interstate.

The following extracts from letters sent to me are an indication of

how necessary Jesus is in the life of a person, whether in or out of

gaol.

J.R.

Matraville

God

bless you and keep you well. Thank you for your lovely letter last

week. You know it’s funny, but when you said it was sad that a person

as young as me is in prison instead of enjoying my freedom, I feel

that I am free for the first time in my life. Maybe not in a physical

sense, but in the spiritual. I believe that there is no benefit in

physical freedom without spiritual freedom and I have only found my

spiritual freedom since I lost my physical freedom.

Yes,

I do thank the Lord for my circumstances, (I just hope they don’t

last too long). Seriously speaking though, I was going from bad to

worse. I started by stealing, then I graduated to selling marijuana,

then moving on to having my own organisation of people selling drugs

for me. Finally I did the worst thing that any man can do to his

fellow man, I started to sell heroin. Thank God I was caught. I was

sentenced to three years prison and after serving eight months I

escaped with the intention of going to see my sister in Cairns and

then leave Australia, to go to Lebanon. Well, the escape was

successful and I was at large in Sydney for three months, trying to

raise some money for the journey.

Most

of the way heading for Queensland I was travelling well in excess of

the speed limit, without being stopped by the police. When I got to

Townsville I increased speed slightly. You wouldn’t read of it, there

was a policeman stationed just out of Townsville, who should have

knocked off work ten minutes earlier, but he wanted to get one more

ticket before he went home. So guess who trundles past him doing a

lousy six kilometres over the speed limit! I saw him wave at me and

silly me not realising that he wanted me to pull over waved back at

him. So consequently he chased me. I panicked and took off and ended

up in hospital after an accident. Then it was off to gaol, where I

became a Christian. I believe God had a hand in my escape and

although I lost my physical freedom, as I said, I gained a greater

freedom.

J.R.

Bathurst

It’s

funny, but when you all came to see me, I realised that there was a

large part of my life that I had missed out on. I had sacrificed

love, compassion, friends, truth and God for lust, pain, hardship,

lies and a false god – money. Since becoming a Christian, I have come

to understand the value and virtues of Christian living.

Joseph

– Matraville

I

was very, very happy to receive your letter, it was a great boost to

my morale. Letters in here are the closest thing to a person. I have

read your letter at least five times and as you already know, it is

easy to get to know people and understand them through the feelings

they bring out in their writings, especially with as much time to

ponder them as we have. Yes, the Lord Jesus has truly blessed me with

friends for my wife and myself. I am getting there, as they say,

‘slow and steady wins the race’. They must have been God’s words,

because they are words of patience, something I normally have been

very short of, but now seem to be able to find plenty with the help

of Jesus.

Testimony

by George – Park Lea

In

November 1984 after being released from gaol for the second time I

went to church with my brother-in-law who was a Christian. I went

there expecting that nobody would have anything to do with me. At

first I wanted to leave, but something told me to stay. After going

there for some weeks I asked the Lord Jesus into my heart and a week

later I was baptised, it was so beautiful. I don’t know how to put it

into words. The Lord gave me many Christian friends to talk to and

ask for help in my daily walk with Him. We would go away on Christian

camps; that I loved. I started to love the things I was doing for the

Lord. I was about 28 at the time.

At

the fellowship I met a girl called Helen who I liked very much. She

had a young son, who I grew to love. Because I didn’t want to lose

Helen, in case she didn’t feel the same way, I didn’t tell her how I

felt. I also knew an older woman called Cathy. She was very

beautiful. She wasn’t a Christian. I had met her at a club. I was

trying to walk in my faith with Jesus, hoping to interest Cathy, but

she didn’t want to know. I knew I really loved Helen but I felt I

couldn’t risk involving her in my life. I tried to walk away from

Cathy, but she would contact me and I would go back. I was so mixed

up; I just needed someone to love me.

Even

as a Christian I was haunted by memories of my past life and that

caused me much distress. During my first spell inside for armed

robbery I was brutally raped at knife point by an older man. It

happened over a three day period. Afterwards the nightmares, the

shame and the guilt drove me to repeated suicide attempts. I have

tried to have normal relationships with girls, but the rape

nightmares keep coming back. I started drinking heavily to try to

forget.

In

April 1985 when I had only been a Christian for six months, my

brother-in-law died. I had again lost someone very close to me. He

had been the only one from my family present at my baptism. I went

downhill after his death, but the Lord Jesus took care of me. Despite

this I got back with Cathy, but I knew she wanted a normal

relationship with a guy, so I went back to the drinking and drugs. I

was a two

way Christian;

I knew I loved Jesus, but I was still really mixed up inside. In

January 1986 I took an overdose but the Lord Jesus wanted me to live

a bit longer. Someone found me and took me to hospital. I changed

churches and this helped for a while until I got back with Cathy.

On

the 7th August, 1986 I was very drunk and went to Cathy’s place. We

had a bad fight. I left but when I returned later she was dead. I

don’t remember anything about the fight. I went to the police with my

Christian friends and handed myself in. Back in gaol suicide was on

my mind for the first 3-4 months, then after about 6 months I asked

the Lord for forgiveness and I know he has forgiven me.

Since

then I have spoken to many friends inside about Jesus and the Lord

helps me to know what to say to them. Neil and I started a fellowship

in the gaol chapel. Some of the guys I have spoken to have asked

Jesus into their life, praise the Lord. Some of them are now on the

outside and still with the Lord. They still write to me. Plus there

are guys who have gone to other prisons and they tell me they are

witnessing to others.

Here

in my wing there are four Christians and I have a special friend

Michael. He lives right across from me and he comes and we talk about

Jesus. Michael has helped me to grow stronger in my faith and my

daily walk with Jesus. I praise the Lord for giving me a chance in my

life and I thank him for always being there when I need him. He has

given me all my family back and my Christian friends I knew outside.

Jesus

is my Saviour and I am his servant, and I love Him with all my heart.

Praise you Jesus. Love Jesus and you will experience that love for

Jesus is the strongest power of all; it will enable you to overcome

all hardships.

Todd

– Townsville

Extract

1

I’ve

been getting a bit of a buffeting of late, but that’s to be expected,

as it is my fault. The more I read the Bible and pray the stronger I

feel and it seems as if there are scales falling from my eyes.

One

thing that sticks in my mind is that there cannot be any doubt

if we want our prayers to be answered. Matthew 21:22 The key word

being “believing”. It is only in the last week as I read

more and more of

the Bible that I have been more positive in my prayers and now I can

say in all honesty that I have claimed and thanked my Father for what

I have asked for.

And here is the positive answer to my main prayer. I had run out of

money and therefore couldn’t afford any letters, so I prayed about it

and fully

believing

that some money would come before the deadline. Praise God, on Monday

I got a brief note and a card from Pat and Peter and for the first

time, other than birthdays, when they usually send me $10, out of the

blue they sent me $20. But that’s not the end of it. The next night I

got another letter from my mother and she had sent me $50.

Hallelujah, praise the Lord; he sees all our needs and supplies them.

Extract

2

So

the Lord touched your life twenty two years ago, huh Sis, but

regardless of the 15 years of disobedience, you came to him, as He

knew you would, never to wander. It took the Lord thirty five and a

half years to get through this lump on my shoulders. Praise the Lord.

He got through back in June 1981 and my head isn’t full of satanic

filth and rubbish anymore, bless Him for His gracious mercy. What a

great God we have.

Extract

3

I

am assuming that Sonja has shared my testimony with you, Sis. I won’t

rave on, but I blew a two year sentence up to thirteen years, three

weeks, only because of the satanic influence I allowed to lead me. To

date I’ve got over nine years one month done and look a good thing

for getting parole about October – November, when I get my answer on

a parole review in September. My physical freedom is one big deal to

me now that I have that Glorious Light of Jesus Christ showing me the

Way, the Truth, the Life, making me want to shout, hallelujah, praise

you Jesus.

Ever

since John 8:36 became a living reality in my spirit, it sure has

changed my outlook (admittedly not enough) towards my fellow man. I

hated the world before I heard that beautiful knocking on the door of

my heart and allowed Jesus in to sup and have fellowship with me.

Revelation 3:20.

These

extracts, from hundreds of letters, I have received over the years

are an indication of how wonderful Jesus is when it comes to changing

people’s lives.

Chapter

11

Angels

As

I sorted through the many letters received from prisoners it struck

me how grateful these people were for God’s provision and blessing in

their life. There are many “so-called” Christians out of

gaol, who show very little gratitude towards Jesus for what He has

done in their life.

Psalm

106

1/

Praise the LORD! Give thanks to the LORD, because he is good; his

love is eternal. 2/ Who can

tell all the great things he has done? Who can praise him enough?

13/ But they quickly forgot

what he had done and acted without waiting for his advice.

21/ They forgot

the God who had saved them …

Sadly

people very quickly forget what God has done for them.

Thanking

God for His many provisions also became the topic of discussion

between Sonja, her friend Sally and myself. We could all remember how

God in one way or another had provided for us, in either a natural or

supernatural way. A friend of Sonja’s had found her two year old

daughter floating face down in the pool. As the mother pulled the

child from the water she feared the worst. Praise God Janice was

alive and told her mother that she had, “held onto the big

birdie’s wings”. God had sent His angels to save the child.

That

story made me think of my own granddaughter, who had been

miraculously saved from serious injury or even death. Unknown to

Connie and I the child had wandered from the loungeroom, down the

hallway and out the front door, which had not been closed properly.

The heavy thud and scream alerted us and we saw Sarah lying at the

foot of the stairs. To our amazement there were no broken bones, not

even a scratch. The only sign of her having fallen, was a slightly

red ear. I guess the angel just managed to grab Sarah’s ear as she

fell. God is truly marvellous.

Sally

sipped her tea slowly and said, “I could tell you a few stories

about angels.” Immediately I became interested for doesn’t the

Bible say:

Hebrews

1:14 What are the angels, then? They are spirits who serve God and

are sent by him to help those who are to receive salvation.

You

could tell by Sally’s hesitant expression that she didn’t

particularly want to remember the incident; but by the same token,

she wanted to give glory to God for having miraculously saved her.

“You never call a drug addict a junkie. Because of that remark

Danny, my boyfriend, ran around the place chopping up everything in a

blind rage. He chopped off every door knob in the place, the idea

being to ultimately corner and kill me. The last place of escape was

the bathroom. I locked the door and cowered in a corner, six months

pregnant. He finally succeeded in chopping down the bathroom door. No

words can describe how I felt. All I could do was silently cry out to

God. I didn’t even have the strength to voice my thoughts. I saw the

axe falling; yet incredibly it stopped in mid air. Had God commanded

one of His angels to save me?

You

know living with Danny was fulfilling, to a point. I guess my love

for him made me blind to his many short comings. But then he is

extremely handsome and has winning ways. It’s true when people say

that love is blind. Anyway, one day I came to the point where I

couldn’t cope anymore and I decided to commit suicide. I cried out to

God and said that I knew He existed, I just didn’t know who He was;

but I asked if He would come into my life anyway.

After

having said that, I felt myself lifted up, physically and

spiritually. The joy in my heart was indescribable. After that

experience I still didn’t know much about God, but I started to read

the Bible. Gently God convicted me about the de-facto relationship.

Little did I realise that our marriage would end in divorce and I

would experience terror upon terror.

After

one of the many fights I had with Danny I sat in a lounge chair

totally depressed. Gradually I began to sing to God. As I praised

Him, I felt the lounge chair being rocked back and forth and I heard

the actual flutter of heavenly beings around me. This continued until

I fell asleep. God had most definitely sent His ministering angels to

me.”

Sally’s

sister, a dedicated Christian had also experienced the presence of

angels. During a nightmare, she saw herself surrounded by witches,

ready to kill her. Desperately she called out to Jesus. As she spoke

His name, the nightmare fled. On awakening she felt angels floating

around her, singing heavenly songs.

Even

I could think of two instances where God revealed to me something

about His ministering servants. Coming home late one night from doing

God’s work, I just collapsed into bed. As my head hit the pillow I

saw myself surrounded by a host of angels, they seemed to be 10 feet

tall. The formation of the angels was exactly like that of a Roman

army going into battle. As I walked along, these gigantic beings

spoke to each other over my head. “Look at her go, isn’t she

great. She is getting on with the job.” The angels were ecstatic

over me. Why, I couldn’t quite work out, yet for a brief moment God

allowed me a glimpse into the spirit world. As the army of angels and

I marched on, we finally came to the top of a hill. I sat down and

the angels sat down around me. Then I fell asleep.

After

Bible study one lunchtime at school, a student came to me, all

excited.

“Ms.

Ms., I saw an angel in Bible study.”

“Tell

me about it.”

“I

saw this massive angel stand slightly to the side of you. He was

really tall and beautiful. His arms were slightly away from his body,

with palms facing upwards. He stood as if he was worshipping God. I

gave him a wave and he winked back.”

Karin’s

revelation really excited me. I now see the Biblical stories about

angels in a different way.

Genesis

19:1, 13, 16 & 17

When the two

angels came to Sodom that evening,

Lot was sitting at the city gate. As soon

as

he saw them, he got up and went to meet them. He bowed down before

them. (The angels said) … we are going to destroy this place. The

LORD has heard the terrible accusations against these people and has

sent us to destroy Sodom. Lot hesitated. The LORD however, had pity

on him; so the men took, his wife, and his two daughters by the hand

and led them out of the city. Then one of the angels said, “Run

for your lives! Don’t look back and don’t stop in the valley. Run

to the hills, so that you won’t be killed.”

Exodus

23:20

“I will send an

angel ahead of you

to protect you as you travel and to bring you to the place which I

have prepared.”

Daniel

10:11-13, 16&19

The angel said to me, “Daniel, God loves you. Stand up and

listen carefully to what I am going to say. I have been sent to you.”

12/

Then he said, “Daniel, don’t be afraid. God has heard your

prayers ever since the first day you decided to humble yourself in

order to gain understanding. I have come in answer to your prayer.

13/

The angel prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one

days. Then Michael, one of the chief angels, came to help me, because

I had been left there alone in Persia.”

16/

Then the angel, who looked like a human being, reached out and

touched my lips.

19/

He said, “God loves you, so don’t let anything worry you or

frighten you.”

Matthew

28:2&3

Suddenly there was a violent earthquake; an angel of the Lord came

down from heaven, rolled the stone away, and sat on it.

3/

His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as

snow.

Acts

12:7&8

Suddenly an angel of the Lord stood there, and a light shone in the

cell. The angel shook Peter by the shoulder, woke him up, and said,

“Hurry! Get up!” At once the chains fell off Peter’s hands.

8/

Then the angel said, “Do up your belt and put on your sandals.”

Peter did so, and the angel said, “Put your cloak around you and

come with me.”

It

was great to have Sonja, Sally and myself share this little

discussion on angels. At random, I have selected a few references

from the Old and New Testament, there are many more, which make

interesting reading. The references in the Bible to angels clearly

show that God looks after His children in wondrous ways.

Psalm

91:9-12 You have made the LORD your defender, the Most High your

protector, and so no disaster will strike you, no violence will come

near your home. God will put his angels in charge of you to protect

you wherever you go. They will hold you up with their hands to keep

you from hurting your feet on the stones.

Chapter

12

How

to pray

God,

through a dream taught me how to pray. In my dream I was in the

diningroom of my minister and his wife. I asked them why satan

attacks us. First one, than the other spoke. “If you are in the

forefront fighting for Jesus, you will collect the most bullets.”

“If

you hang around people involved in the occult, the evil will rub off

on you.”

Having

received those two answers, I stood up and left. I entered the

adjoining room, which normally contained furniture, but was now

empty. As I walked in one door, a well dressed and groomed

middle-aged man walked in the other door. Although he looked very

respectable, I knew instantly that he was a demon in man’s form come

to kill me. Frantically I called out to Jesus, but nothing happened.

Jesus did not come to my aid.

My

opponent and I were equally matched. He would have to retreat, or I

would be forced to retreat. We battled on for some time and I was

getting very tired, to the point where I knew I wouldn’t be able to

fight much longer and would be killed. As I looked down at the man’s

hand I noticed that the back of it had been cut and blood was oozing

out.

At

this stage God spoke to me. “The word of God is alive and

active, sharper than any two-edged sword.” (Hebrew 4:12). I

don’t know what I had been fighting with, whether knife or sword. All

I could see was his cut hand.

I

stood still, looked the man in the eyes and said, “The Word of

God says that demons must bow the knee before Jesus.”

(Philippians 2:10-11) I did not speak with my mouth, only with my

thoughts. He in turn answered with his mind.

“Jesus

isn’t here.”

Again

I answered with my thoughts.

“Jesus may not be here, but the Word

of God says,

demons must bow the knee before Jesus.” At that point he dropped

to his knees. Then I said with my mind, “The Word of God says

demons must flee before the name of Jesus.” (James 4:7) At that

stage he got up and ran away.

I

woke up feeling that this had been more than a dream. I felt as if I

had lived through every horrifying minute of the experience.

The

dream taught me a few things. We did not speak actual words, but

communicated by reading each other’s minds. So much for people who

say that satan can’t read your mind! Over the years I have learnt

that praying in your mind is very powerful. Yes, the Word of God

should be spoken out when and where ever possible, but it is not

always possible to do so. The likelihood of being dragged to a mental

institution could be the result. A perfect example would be an

incident my daughter and I witnessed while visiting Rome in Italy. We

were just leaving the Rome railway station when we came across a

group of people. A young man only dressed in shorts had produced a

baton which he was using to beat up the people around him. As my

daughter ran away into the opposite direction I stood my ground and

said in my mind. “I bind you foul spirit of violence.”

Instantly the man stopped, dropped the weapon and ran away.

The

power of the Word of God is also evident when I pray for people in

wheel chairs. Usually I move some distance from the person, then I

pray in my mind. The result is instant and amazing. The demons which

in some cases have caused the infirmity cause the person to react in

a strange way. The person starts to make strange noises, or turns

around. There is no way the person would react, unless the demons

were reacting to the words being prayed. My I do digress, back to the

dream!

I

also learned that I had defeated the enemy using the Word of God.

Luke 10:19 helped me understand why Jesus hadn’t come when I called

out to Him.

“Listen!

I

have given you authority,

so that you can walk on snakes and scorpions and overcome

all the power of the Enemy,

and nothing will hurt you.”

Jesus

wanted to teach me that there are times when I must act and if I

don’t, nothing will be done. God showed K. Hagin the same principle

in the book, “I Believe in Visions”. Yet it is not as if

Jesus would leave me helpless; in that dream God clearly showed me

that I must use the Word of God to pray. Revelation 19:13 tells us

that the Rider of the white horse has a name and that name is “The

Word of God”. This mighty revelation has totally changed my

prayer life. If anybody hears me pray, they will hear the constant

repetition of the words, “The Word of God says …”.

Speaking the Word of God is powerful, for God’s word, is “alive

and active,

sharper than any two-edged sword.” (Hebrew 4:12).

By

the power of God’s Holy Spirit, Ezekiel could command a whole valley

of dry bones to come together and stand up and live, then how much

more should we be able to achieve through the Word – Jesus Christ and

God the Holy Spirit.

In

order to pray according to the Word of God, you first have to become

familiar with it.

Also when

will God answer prayer and when won’t He?

He

hears us

if we pray

according

to His

will.

1John

5:14&15 says, “We have courage in God’s presence, because we

are sure that he hears us if

we ask

him for anything that is according

to his will.”

At

this stage it is crucial to find out what God’s will is. The

only way to do that is to spend time with God and read the Bible.

Lambs

without Tails

While

speaking to a nurse working with mentally handicapped patients, I

asked whether she ever prayed for them. She admitted to being a

Christian, but said she was too shy to pray openly.

God,

at this point reminded me that lambs are born with a tail, but for

reasons, known only to the farmer, it is removed. Usually a rubber

band is tightly wound around the tail; eventually due to lack of

circulation, it drops off.

God

caused me to explain to the nurse that if she prayed over the

patients regularly, binding

the cause, e.g dementia or schizophrenia, the demons would eventually

drop off and the sick person would then be able to cry out to the

Lord Jesus and become better.

Matthew

18:18 Verily

I say unto you, Whatsoever

ye shall bind

on earth shall be bound

in heaven:

and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

The

Well of Bitterness

I

was praying for a woman who was eaten up by bitterness. I asked God

how I should pray. To my amazement the following words came out of my

mouth.

After

my children left Egypt they came to the bitter springs of Marah. I

commanded my servant Moses to throw a branch into the water to

sweeten it. Ask that the BRANCH would sweeten the well of bitterness

in her life. (Exodus 15:23, Zechariah 3:8, 6:12, John 15:1-5)

I

used the above prayer substituting the woman’s name and a wonderful

transformation took place. When I visited her a few days later she

told me that an amazing thing had happened. One minute, while

standing at the kitchen sink, she had felt unbelievable bitterness

towards her husband; the next minute she felt tremendous compassion

for him. She couldn’t work out what had happened. Prayer knows no

distance and based on the Bible, is powerful. Jesus is the BRANCH

(Zechariah 3:8) and I thank Him so much that He sweetened the well of

bitterness in this women’s life.

The

Wall of Fire

Zechariah

2:5 The

LORD has promised that he himself

will be

a wall of fire

around the city to protect it and that he will live there in all his

glory.

Friends

of mine, James and Ilse had told me on numerous occasions about

demonic activity in their house during the night. Some of the events

had been quite horrifying. Several times I had cast out the demonic

forces. There would be peace for a few days, then the situation would

be worse than ever. During prayer, just prior to Bible study at their

place, God gave me a vision on how to deal with the situation. God

told me to throw satan out of the house again, but then to pray that

a deep trench would be dug around the house (in the spirit), and that

a mighty wall of fire would surround it. I was to tell satan that if

he, or his demonic forces would try to pass through this fire, they

would be burned up. Praise God, from that prayer onwards, there were

no more disturbances in the house.

Why

Jimmy Swaggart Fell

Matthew

13:25-26. One night, when everyone was asleep, an enemy came and

sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.

26/

When the plants grew and the heads of grain began to form, then the

weeds showed up.

When

the news circulated the world that the evangelist Jimmy Swaggart had

fallen, I was shocked. “Why?” I asked God. I didn’t really

expect an answer, certainly not immediately; however I saw a vision

of a tangled mass of roots in the shape of a heart. (The principle

being similar to a root-bound plant in a pot.) I saw the roots in the

shape of a heart, implying that the roots from the seed, the Word of

God must be so totally root bound in our heart that there will be no

more soil into which satan can sow the seeds of sin.

The

roots of God’s word in our heart must strangle the weeds that satan

tries to sow, instead of the other way around. There had been enough

soil -the flesh- in J. Swaggart’s life to sow the seeds of pride and

lust. Instead of the roots of the Word of God strangling the weeds,

the weeds grew to the point where they strangled the roots of the

Word of God.

Thus

in order to stop either a baby, or mature Christian from falling

away, we need to pray that the weeds of sin be uprooted in that life.

The

blood of the Lord Jesus Christ – a Spiritual filter.

There

are many different religions in the world. Some denominations follow

the teachings of God, many do not. Some churches are filled with the

Holy Spirit, many are not. It is easy to become contaminated by false

doctrine, or become ruled by a spirit of error and deception.

1

John 4:l My dear friends, do not believe all who claim to have the

Spirit, but test them to find out if the spirit they have comes from

God. For many false prophets have gone out everywhere …

6/

But we belong to God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever does

not belong to God does not listen to us. This, then, is how we can

tell the difference between the Spirit of truth and the spirit

of error.

One

night as I closed in prayer after Bible study, these words came out

of my mouth.

Ask

God to install into you a filter, the filter being the precious blood

of the Lord Jesus Christ, to filter out spiritual impurities.

People

drift away from God without there being a reason. In fact, unknown to

them, they could have become spiritually polluted.

2

Corinthians 7:1 (New International Version) Since we have these

promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that

contaminates

body

and spirit,

perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

Hosea

4:12 (King James) My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their

staff declareth unto them; for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused

them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.

The

Black Cloud Shaped like a Bird

As

usual, I had gotten up early in the morning to seek God. I drew back

the curtains facing the east. As I sat down again I saw, just outside

the window, a large black cloud in the shape of a bird. The cloud

gave me an uneasy feeling of an evil presence, so I closed the

curtains. (Women are very practical.) The next morning I left the

curtains closed and opened the blinds facing north. I saw exactly the

same cloud again. Sitting there totally amazed the words of a song,

taken from Isaiah 61:3 came to my mind.

Put

on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, lift up your

voice to God, praise in the Spirit and with understanding, oh magnify

the LORD.

For

several weeks I had felt weary and downtrodden. All of a sudden, I

realised that it was satan who had worn me out, so I rebuked him and

told him to get lost in Jesus’ name. Even as I was praying I saw the

cloud break up, until within seconds it had totally disappeared. I

felt a tremendous joy and strength return. I was able to do more

housework that morning, before I left for work, than I had done in a

whole week.

Rebuke

the Symptoms

Many

times we put up with prolonged illness simply because we don’t pray

in the early stages of the complaint. God showed me a vision of a

mighty bird descending upon me. The vulture’s claws were just able to

touch me, but I immediately chased it away. Had I allowed the bird to

embed its claws into my flesh, I would have had more difficulty

getting rid of it.

Abraham

had the same experience. Genesis 15:11 “Vultures came down on

the bodies; but Abram drove them off.” From experience I have

learnt that if I rebuke, in the name of Jesus, the slightest bit of

pain, whether it is a headache or pulled muscle, very shortly the

pain and symptoms of sickness will disappear. If I think it’s natural

for me to have the flu, sore throat or whatever, then I’m stuck with

it for many days. Jesus rebuked the fever and immediately it left

Peter’s mother-in-law. We need to do the same. Do not allow the

vulture of illness to settle on you and take a hold.

A

dream about two worlds

I

don’t have many dreams where I know God is talking to me. The dream

where God taught me how to pray and this one, which is about praying

for non-Christians, are the only two which stick in my mind.

I

was in what looked like a mangrove swamp. The thick putrid mud

reached up to the knees of the people who were wallowing in it.

Everything in the picture was grey. There were people in the centre

of the picture, wading through the mud and climbing over and around

the thick roots. People were also feeling their way along a wall. I

must have been one of those groping along the wall for I found a

door. Upon turning the handle and opening the door I saw beautiful

green rolling hills; everything was bright and colourful. Jesus was

there. I ran up to Him and He took me by the hand. As we joyfully

walked up the hill I said to Jesus, “What about them back there?

What are we going to do with them? I also said to Jesus, “You

know some of them look like they don’t want to leave that place. What

are we going to do?”

Jesus

answered: “First bind the strongman. (Matthew 12:29) Ask God to put

a desire into their hearts to want to get out of that kind of life.”

Binding

the strongman

The strongman is he who is strong enough to rule a person’s life.

The devil is the strongman in people’s lives, ruling them through

alcohol, lust, gambling, greed, lies, unbelief and so on. So whatever

stands in the way of worshipping God, needs to be bound in Jesus’

name.

Matthew

12:29 “No one can break into a strong man’s house and take away

his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man; then he can

plunder his house.

Then

I asked Jesus why some Christians go back to the sordid lifestyle

they escaped from? Jesus answered: “They stand too close to the

door and get sucked back in again. Pray that the seed of God will

grow in their life so that they will go away from that door and start

to walk away with me.”

Like

a Delicate Flower

My

daughter brought one of her friends to me for prayer. God showed me

that this person was like a delicate flower and I was to make the

counselling and prayer as lighthearted as possible so as not to

bruise her. God also showed me that no matter how hard a motor

mechanic tries he still gets covered in grease. The in-ground dirt

needs to be removed by several washes. If the person tried to remove

the dirt in one go, they would scrape the skin off.

As

I started to pray over her, God showed me that the spirit of

imagination was causing the most problems. This spirit was whipping

up the imagination to such an extent; it was causing her to be

physically ill.

2Corinthians

10:5 “Casting down imaginations …”.

God

also showed me that lies and deception had a hold on her. Praise God

once she had asked God to forgive her for these sins she was able to

hand them over to God and be delivered from them.

E.S.P

– Clairvoyance

Peter

came to my home seeking help because of all the strange happenings

due to his involvement in séances. It came to the point where only

he could start a séance, when in a group of interested individuals.

This was an indication as to how deeply he had become involved in the

occult.

Besides

cutting off the channel, which had been created through the séances,

God told me to cast away from him the spirit of clairvoyance. The

word vixen also came to me constantly. A vixen is a female fox, noted

for its cunning. Cunning and lies were bound and cast away from him,

as well as the hatred for his father. After Peter had been prayed

for, the transformation was wonderful.

Since

prayer, Peter has been able to hug his father and speak respectfully

to him. Likewise his treatment of his mother improved tremendously.

He no longer swears at her and is more loving. Several weeks later

Peter admitted to no longer being cunning or deceptive.

Distorted

Vision

When

I moved into my new flat, I was really happy except for the bubbly

film on the kitchen window. In some places it was distorting the

vision. After two months of putting up with the distorted vision I

finally asked the landlord to remove the film from the window.

Once

clear vision had been restored, God spoke to me and told me that

satan had also put a film on my eyes, which was distorting my vision.

Naturally I straight away rebuked the film, but nothing happened.

Gradually I realised that I couldn’t see things clearly from a

distance, they were blurry. After a few months of battling against

this attack of satan, I finally won the victory and my eyesight once

again became perfect.

Everything

we want in life has to be fought for. We need to ask God to give us

the strength to face each day.

Psalms

29:11 The LORD gives strength

to his people and blesses them with peace.

Psalms

84:5 How happy are those whose strength

comes from you …

Isaiah

40:29 He strengthens those who are weak and tired.

31)

But those who trust in the LORD for help will find their strength

renewed.

The

secret of our prayer life is not to sit back and expect the cherries

to fall into our mouth, but to get up and work with God. Establish

a relationship with God

by reading the Bible and seeking His presence. Don’t just ask for

things, also remember to thank God for what he has done in your life.

“Count your blessings name them one by one.” As your walk

with Jesus grows, you will realise the need to seek the guidance of

the Holy Spirit more and more on a daily basis. There are those times

when we need to wait upon God to act, but there are those instances

when we must put the command of the Lord Jesus into practice:

Luke

10:19 Listen! I have given you authority, so that you can walk on

snakes and scorpions and overcome all the power of the Enemy, and

nothing will hurt you.

So

if we won’t get on with the job it won’t get done!

Chapter

13

Cut

the cords

The

salty air tickles your nose; your ears feel offended by the screeches

of the sea-gulls and your eyes have difficulty following the bee-hive

activity of the wharf. As stately as any queen-bee, the ships are

waiting to be served by an army of workers. It is preferable to let

your eyes travel across the blue-green water, rather than focus on

the filth that laps the bow of the massive cargo ships, which are

held by huge ropes that are not easily cut. God used a friend of mine

to show an interesting parallel between these ropes and our spiritual

condition.

My

visitor sat opposite me relating how many years previously he had

nearly suffered a mental breakdown due to the pressure of

circumstances around him. During this hard time, God had given him a

vision about a massive ship being tied up at the wharf. The engines

were working to full capacity, trying to move the ship; but as the

ropes had not been untied it was unable to pull away. Eventually the

engines died.

Likewise,

there had been circumstances in this man’s life which had held back

his walk with God. No matter how hard he had tried to achieve a

better relationship with God, something was holding him back. So,

like the mighty engines of an ocean liner, he eventually burned out.

One of the major cords or ropes, which had held him were the cords of

rejection.

His mother had tried to terminate the pregnancy, so rejection had

come into his life from the womb onwards. Many will say, “Rubbish,

how can anything affect an unborn child!” Luke 1:44, indicates

differently:

“For

as soon as I heard your greeting, the baby within

me

jumped with gladness.”

The

rejection felt by this man had affected his attitude to those around

him, until God showed him what to do about it.

God

explained that the ropes holding the ship cannot be broken. Likewise

the cords or ropes holding a person back in their life cannot be

broken. What can be done then in a seemingly hopeless situation? Go

back to the point of contact! The cord that first attached itself to

a person would have been the thickness of a spider web, or hair, but

over time it grew to the thickness of rope. God said that it was easy

to break a fragile web so what needed to be done was cut the matter

off at the point of contact saying:

“I take the sword of the Holy Spirit and cut the cord at the

point of contact. I take the ends and tie them off separately and

place them under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, never to be

joined again.”

Why

are cords formed?

1/

Sin (wrong doing)

a)

Psalms

129:4

The LORD is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.

b)

Proverbs

5:22

His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be

holden

with the cords

of his sins.

c)

Isaiah

5:18

Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords

of vanity,

and sin as it were with a cart

rope:

2/

Unforgiveness

When

you don’t forgive people, cords of hatred, bitterness and violence

are formed. The person who suffered the hurt will want revenge and

very soon another criminal statistic is recorded.

I

felt in my heart to ask God if there were cords holding me back in my

walk with Him. No sooner had I started to pray, when scenes flashed

before my eyes. I saw myself, as a little child watching my parents

hit each other. Then I saw myself lying on the floor with a bleeding

nose, after my father had beaten me. Next I saw myself being beaten

up by my then husband. Violence had been very much a part of my

life.

The

mere raising of the hand would cause me to instinctively cringe.

Although I had never committed a violent act, violent thoughts would

constantly plague my mind. If I walked through a shop the thoughts

would be, “Go on, smash it”. Walking down the street I

would want to lash out at somebody. One day visiting a friend I felt

disturbed at the thoughts which bombarded my mind, directed at the

person sitting on the floor. “Go on, step on her fingers, and

squash them.”

I

never shared with anybody the violent thoughts which constantly

plagued me, it is only by the grace of God that I didn’t give in to

these suggestions. I can’t thank God enough that He freed me from

this torment, for after praying and cutting the cords of violence,

which had attached themselves to me when I was a child, I have never

had violent thoughts again, even though l7 years have passed.

The

cords are usually well and truly formed before

people become Christians. By living a life without Jesus Christ and

the Holy Spirit we don’t know the difference between what is of God

and what isn’t. Yes, we have a conscience, but a non-Christian can so

easily rationalise that their actions “aren’t really as bad as

they seem.” Little realising that the hair like cords of

iniquity -sin- turn into ropes of iniquity, which, even when they

become Christians are very much binding and need to be cut.

I

can see people jumping up immediately saying, “Hey, wait a

minute! When I asked Jesus into my heart He gave me new life.”

True! But you

still

have

to do a little housework.

As God won’t impose His will upon ours, He gives us the choice

whether or not we want to get rid of those things from the past

which will hinder our walk with Him.

Yes, salvation

is free,

but 2 Corinthians 7:1, Ephesians 4:23&24 and Colossians 3:9&10

indicate that we

need to put a little effort into the relationship as well.

Many

years ago a young woman came to me for prayer, because her walk with

Jesus was always up and down. As I prayed, God showed her a vision.

She saw Jesus standing in front of her and the devil behind her. She

ran towards Jesus, but could only go so far because there was an

elastic cord attached to her back. When the devil tugged at it, she

went flying backwards. So instead of being closer to Jesus now that

she was His child, God showed her that because the devil was still

pulling the cord, there could be no going forward in the

relationship.

In

this case, as in many others, she had been involved in occultic

practices. As has already been mentioned, it is dangerous to play

around with séances, tarot readings, the horoscope, levitation etc.

What people don’t realise is that these activities are of the devil

and by doing them you are actually serving satan. So even when you

have become a Christian you must cut

off

past associations – or cords – with the devil. You allowed satan to

come into your life, you must now throw him out. Yes, Jesus will

accept you gladly as His child, but He will not share you with the

devil. Therefore cut off all past dealings, especially in the above

areas, otherwise, satan, like a puppet master will pull the strings

and your walk with Jesus will be unbelievably difficult, if not

impossible. This is one of the reasons why baby

Christians fall by the wayside

and others see their Christian

walk as drudgery.

A

prayer I usually ask people to pray; even if I know they are

Christians is as follows:

Oh

LORD my God I come to you and I seek your presence. Lord Jesus I

acknowledge you as my Lord, my Master and my Saviour. I ask you, Oh

LORD my God to forgive me for my sins in being involved in séances,

levitation, etc. (name whatever is the issue) and wash me clean with

your precious blood, Lord Jesus, from these sins. Then speak firmly

to satan and say: “The Lord Jesus Christ is my Lord and my

Master. He has forgiven me for my association with you satan in the

area (name the area) so I tell you now to get out of my life and stay

out. I cut off all past and present association with you, never to be

joined again.

A

Christian who participates, or has participated in martial arts,

needs to realise the activity is not of God and must be stopped. All

forms of martial arts come out of Eastern religion, which is based on

the worship of many gods – gods which in fact are demonic forces.

Before participating in martial arts the person must bow down to the

“master”. Jesus Christ is my

Master!

The cords tying the person to this activity must be cut.

I

had been invited to the home of a Lebanese family to teach them the

Bible. Many people had arrived and the two-storey house was bursting

at the seams. After we had finished people requested prayer. The men

were the first to come forward. I was about to pray for the first

person, when God caused me to ask if anybody had been involved in

martial arts. Unbelievably every male, young and old, had at some

stage in their life participated in Kung Fu. Some had even risen to

black belt.

Instead

of taking individuals through a prayer, renouncing Kung Fu, God

instructed me to pray for them as a group. We all joined hands and

the men repeated the prayer after me. They asked Jesus’ forgiveness

for having served satan in the form of Kung Fu. Then they told satan

to get out of their life, cutting the cords that had bound them

through martial arts.

Rarely

have I felt such a mighty presence of God’s Holy Spirit. When I

finally did pray for individuals they fell backwards, without me

having touched a hair of their head. Grown men were weeping,

confessing their sin to God. Only God’s Holy Spirit can touch a

person’s heart to such a degree. A man later shared with everybody,

how God had shown him in a vision what had taken place when I prayed.

He saw himself running towards Jesus, but could only get so far,

because satan had attached a cord to his back. When I cut the cords

of martial arts, he was able to run to Jesus without hindrance. He

felt a tremendous joy at having been set free.

People

see martial arts as a form of self-defense and exercise, they never

question what the movements stand for, or what the words mean that

they are required to utter in Japanese, or any other Eastern

language. There are many forms of exercise, without getting involved

in Eastern religion.

It

is relevant at this point to mention two other instances where I have

had to deal with martial arts. During an outing with a friend one

afternoon, God, out of the blue gave me a vision about my friends’

husband. I saw him as a little blond haired boy in the school

playground being teased by a group of bullies. Later at their home I

was able to share that revelation with the husband.

He

agreed with what I had told him and added that it was for this very

reason that he had taken up martial arts, being a shy and timid

child. When I prayed for him later on the spirits of timidity and

shyness went immediately. However when I tried to pray about the

spirits of martial arts I felt as if a wall had come between us. Upon

opening my eyes I saw large saucer like eyes staring at me. The look

in them sent a cold shiver down my spine.

Naturally

I straightaway asked God what had gone wrong. The answer was simple,

the spirits of timidity and shyness had come into his life uninvited,

therefore I had the authority to drive them out. In the case of

martial arts he had asked these spirits into his life, by the

activities he had been involved in and therefore he needed to tell

them to go. I could pray for the next twenty years and nothing would

happen, because these spirits had a legal ground to be in his life.

Once he told them to go they did so very quickly.

In

the other case I had been visiting a friend in Queensland. She had

invited Jesus into her life, but the husband hadn’t. On my first

night at their place he excused himself stating that he had to attend

martial arts classes where he was the assistant to the instructor.

Just after he left I said to my friend, “I’m going to prove to

you that people involved in martial arts get their power from demonic

sources.” Then I prayed and bound the demon that gave Ian his

skills.

When

he came home later that night I asked him how his evening had been.

He was very perplexed as to why he had not been able to function

normally. As a matter of fact the instructor had said to him, “What’s

wrong, have you got two left feet tonight?”

Later

on that week I witnessed to him about Jesus. He could not ask Jesus

into his heart. Instead his appearance changed and he became violent

wanting to throw the huge diningroom table at me. Also out of his

mouth came the words that he belonged to the devil, who had his name

written in his book.

After

much prayer Ian finally asked Jesus into his life. At the end of it

all he shared how there had been a mighty battle going on. He had

seen two Samurai fighting, one dressed in white and one dressed in

black. At first the black Samurai was winning, but as I prayed the

white Samurai gained the upper hand. In the end the black Samurai lay

defeated on the ground and it was then that he had been able to

accept Jesus into his life. Martial art quite obviously has a strong

hold on a person’s life and the cords need to be cut.

An

unpleasant experience dealing with the cutting of cords involved a

young woman, who had been brought to my home. As soon as I started

talking to her, the word Jezebel came to my mind. Queen Jezebel is

recorded in the Old Testament as being the most evil woman of her

time and lacking in morality.

After

about an hour of working through her problems and jotting down

possible areas needing prayer, the name Jezebel still came to my

mind. Finally I plugged up enough courage and told her what was on my

mind. To my amazement she agreed. Apparently the problem had come

down from her mother and the cords had to be cut between the two.

I

try not to be so smart anymore. Everything went fine until I said, “I

take the sword of the Holy Spirit and cut the cords of Jezebel

between mother and daughter; tie them off separately and put them

under the blood of the Lord Jesus, never to be joined.” The ear

piercing scream that came out of her mouth was bad enough; the

somersault, backwards into my prize fern, unexpected! Then she came

at me on all fours. A lion would have seemed tame in comparison, as

she sprang at me. I must confess this was one occasion when my knees

weakened. Nonetheless, I just stood there holding the Bible, quoting

the Word of God.

The

‘simple’ prayer session turned into an almost all night session.

My visitors had come at 7 in the evening. By 10 o’clock that night

I decided that prayer back up was necessary. So I bundled everybody

into the car and headed for my Lebanese friends home, the Harbs. Just

as well they only lived a few streets away and didn’t mind getting

visitors that late in the night. I thank God for their faithfulness

to His cause, for with combined prayer; she was finally set free at 1

a.m. that morning.

The

more I have learnt about this topic, the more I am convinced that

satan is the puppet master and God’s creation the puppets. Whenever I

see a rap dancer I can’t help but feel that I am looking at a robot

or puppet. The movements are jerky and emotionless. A puppet bears

great similarity, having no life, emotions or a mind to control the

actions. In my heart I always felt that rap dancing was not of God. I

had no proof to back up my suspicions until I watched a program on

Hindu rituals. The dancer, performing the religious rituals in the

temple used exactly the same movements as a rap dancer. Here was the

proof and my instinct had been correct. I thank the Holy Spirit for

guiding me in the right direction.

If

you mean business with God ask Him if there are cords in your life

that need to be cut. WHO PULLS THE STRINGS

IN YOUR LIFE??

Chapter

14

Counting

the Cost

My

Jewish friends had decided to sell up and return to Israel. They

offered me their new 25 inch coloured television, for half of what

they had paid – $500. The offer was very tempting, exchanging a 12

inch black and white T.V for such luxury.

As

I sat on the side of my bed I took out my bank book and thought about

my financial situation. At that time I was only employed on a

part-time basis, at the local T.A.F.E college. That income, plus the

part-pension, didn’t make for a healthy bank account. As it turned

out I only had about $800 in the bank. While looking at the grand

figure of $800, God spoke to me and said, “Would you give $500

to the church building fund?”

In

1983, $500 was an awful lot of money, especially for me. My immediate

thoughts were one of horror.

“What,

$500 to the church building fund?”

Immediately

God responded, “What have I given you? Did I count the cost?”

“Yes,

that’s right God, you have given me a job, a comfortable home, three

lively children.”

God

broke into my thoughts. “I gave you my life.”

That

last point finished the discussion. What else could I say!

The

following week, God spoke to me again on the matter. An unexpected

guest came. I mentioned the issue to her and straightaway the reply

was, “My dear, everything you have comes from God, what you do

with His money is your affair.” Her answer convinced me not to

buy the T.V. By the same token it hadn’t convinced me to give $500 to

the church building fund. I thought the matter had ended there, not

so with God.

Two

days later friends came for a visit. In passing, it was mentioned

that they were going to have the telephone connected.

My

response to that was, “Isn’t that going to be expensive?”

Her

reply came hesitantly, “Well, I suppose we don’t really need

it.”

I

realised then that too often I had spent God’s money carelessly,

without taking into consideration that it costs money to run a

church, or send out missionaries.

Finally

God had gotten through to me. Where money is concerned, I’m a slow

learner. Having struggled on the pension as a sole parent with three

children had taught me to manage my money. I guess the line has to be

drawn between being careful with your money, or greedy.

As

it hurt me too much to get the money out of my account in one go, I

decided to ease the pain and take the money out in two lots. Two

hundred dollars were grudgingly dropped into the collection bag.

Finally the next Sunday I made the next big sacrifice and dropped in

the next amount. Just for good measure I decided to be generous and

drop in an extra $20. God must have had a good laugh at my expense. I

have to smile at myself, when I look back on the situation.

God

knew how I would react to the whole situation before He even allowed

it to happen. I, however, had to find out what I valued more in

life; a colour television, or $500 in the bank, or listening to God’s

voice.

Through

the situation God blessed me tremendously. He didn’t need my money;

all He wanted was my obedience and love. Within days I was offered

extra hours of work, taking the place of a teacher who was going on

leave for three weeks. The extra hours netted $900. Repairs needed to

be done on the car. The company under-quoted the repairs saving me

nearly $200. Through a friend, I had all the brakes on the car fixed

free of charge, saving me another considerable amount of money.

All

in all God gave me back three or four times what I had given Him. It

is good to count the cost, because only then do we realise how much

God has given us and how little we give Him.

Chapter

15

The

Heart Condition

The

old Roman road from Jerusalem to Jericho divides the rolling hills,

home of the Bedouins, then climbs higher and higher, till the

traveller sees a vast expanse of mountain ranges on the horizon. As

you glance down into the gorge the layers of cream and brown rock

give an indication as to how ancient the area is.

The

only sign that there is life in these gorges is a monastery clinging

to the mountain side. The blue roof and white walls contrast sharply

with the beige rock surrounding it. As Jesus travelled along the only

road connecting Jerusalem and Jericho, there must have been a hive of

activity. That life, except for the tourist buses, which stop

briefly, has drained away.

The

human heart has much in common with these stony regions, for in many

a Christian heart, the life blood has run out – if ever so gradually,

only to leave rocky, barren unproductive lives. How true are the

words of the prophet Jeremiah 4:18.

Judah,

you have brought this on yourself by the way you have lived and by

the

things you have done. Your

sin

has caused this suffering; it has

stabbed

you through

the heart.

Sadly

the life blood drained out of two close friends of mine. Pride took

over and they began to think they knew it all, especially when it

came to the doctrine of Melchizedek. There are those who believe that

Jesus was Melchizedek. This belief is utter blasphemy and an insult

to Jesus. People base their views on Hebrew 7:2&3. What they fail

to see is that there is a record of Jesus’ parents – God the Father

and Mary the mother. There is also a definite record of Jesus’ birth

and death. Melchizedek is referred to as being, “like the Son of

God”. Jesus Christ is the Son of God!

To

say Jesus lived as Melchizedek would involve reincarnation –

Hinduism, and instead of coming the second time, He would be coming

the third time. First in the body of Melchizedek; then as the baby

Jesus, then as the victorious Lord coming to claim His own. Hebrews

7:26-27 clearly reveals who Jesus is:

26/

Jesus, then, is the High Priest that meets our needs. He

is holy;

he has no

fault or sin

in him; he has been set apart from sinners and raised above the

heavens.

27/

He is not like other high priests; he does not

need to offer sacrifices every day for his own sins first

and then for the sins of the people. He offered one sacrifice, once

and for all, when he offered himself.

To

say that Jesus was Melchizedek insults Him, because Melchizedek would

have had to offer sacrifices for his sins. Jesus

is and always has been sinless.

I

tried to tell my friends that their belief was wrong. Arrogantly they

told me that they had heard some evangelist preach it on television

and as he would know more than I did, he was right and I was wrong.

(Be careful what you listen to on television, there are many cults

who broadcast so-called Christian programs). God gave me the

following prayer for them.

Ask

God to open their eyes to the truth about Melchizedek and that God

give them insight and knowledge to the wrong they are doing. Rebuke

the blindfold satan has put on their eyes and the puncture

in the heart allowing the blood and love of the Lord Jesus to flow

out.

Ask God to heal the puncture and allow them once more to become whole

Christians like the Lord Jesus Christ.

Gradually

I could see religion

replacing their simple faith in Jesus.

I have not seen them for many years, but I hope they realised their

mistake and renewed their friendship with Jesus.

At

Calvary the blood drained out of Jesus’ body and He died giving His

life for us. Some people only remember that fact at Easter. The rest

of the year Jesus is forgotten. A good friend of mine actually placed

a price on the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

While

visiting Val one day, I found her to be very angry. When asked the

reason for her anger she replied. “Roland has been to the

Stanwell Tops nudist beach again.” The words she spoke were full

of jealousy.

I

pointed out to my friend that she was jealous. She thought about what

I had said and then tried to defend his actions. “Oh well, he

doesn’t do anything, he just goes up there for a look. Nonetheless, I

don’t like it.”

Later

on in the visit I commented on the repulsive Buddha she had sitting

on the lounge-room table. Annoyed, Val replied that she had no

intention of throwing the Buddha out; as it had been a birthday

present from Roland, costing $65. “Besides”, she added, “I

don’t pray to it, I just look at it.”

At

that point God spoke to me. “I am a jealous God and I don’t

tolerate any rivals.” (Exodus 20:5). Is the blood of the Lord Jesus

Christ only worth $65?

Even

though Val only looked at the Buddha, God didn’t like it, as He is a

jealous God. Val was also jealous simply because her husband looked

at naked women at the nudist beach. Previously Val had claimed to be

a Christian; in fact she was only religious putting a price on the

precious blood of Jesus.

In

order for jealousy to occur, there has to be love first. As we cannot

even imagine the love God has for us, since He sent His Son to die

for us, how can we understand the jealousy God feels towards His

creation, when they so openly reject Him?

God

allowed me to feel, how at times we grieve Him.

My oldest daughter during her teenage years had often grieved me. One

night as I was sitting in bed crying over her hurtful behaviour, God

spoke to me.

“But

you still love her, don’t you? It’s like that with me too, many times

my children hurt me, but I still love them.”

How

should we love God?

Tell

the people to ask Me to pour My love into their hearts, so that they

can love Me the way I want them to love Me. Without My love in their

hearts, to help them love Me, they will not be able to love Me as I

want them to.

God

revealed the above to me, while having Bible study one night.

Chapter

16

Lorraine

The

God that I have come to know; through the Lord Jesus Christ and the

Holy Spirit, is interested in every

person. Sadly, many are not interested in getting to know Almighty

God. He might cramp their style – or even prick their conscience. So

for many people it is better to ignore God altogether, or follow a

religious ritual on Sunday morning, seen as a ‘ticket to heaven.

My

friend Lorraine only knew Catholicism. Fulfilling the required

rituals wasn’t too much of a burden; unfortunately those rituals had

never introduced her to Jesus. I wondered why Lorraine hadn’t

responded to my sharing the Word of God with her. One day God showed

me. He said: “There is a thick curtain between Lorraine and

myself -that curtain being Catholicism.” When I told my friend

the spirit of religion spoke through her mouth. “I was born a

Catholic and I’ll always be a Catholic.” Did the Catholic church

or any denomination die on the cross? Jesus

died on the cross for our sins, not a church!

For

all her stubbornness, lasting ten years, Jesus finally set her free.

Two years after the statement of being a devoted Catholic, Lorraine

realised, through reading the Bible, that the belief she had been

brought up on contained many errors. I suggested that she should seek

God in prayer, handing over to Him all wrong doctrine. She did as I

suggested, but there was no change.

Some

weeks later Lorraine, her husband and I sat down and decided to ask

God what the problem was. After we had finished praying Lorraine

shared the following:

As

soon as you finished praying, a voice inside me said, ‘You don’t

really believe everything she tells you’.” UNBELIEF! Lorraine

also confessed to fighting the urge to pray to Mary. The act of

praying to Mary, or the saints is displeasing to God and sorely

grieves Him. God wants us to seek His presence through the Lord Jesus

Christ, for He is the only access we have to God.

1

Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one who brings God and

human beings together, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself to

redeem the whole human race.

Mary

is to be respected,

Jesus is to be worshipped!

Jesus clearly indicates his feelings on the matter when a woman in

the crowd tries to glorify Mary.

Luke

11:27 … “How happy is the woman who bore you and nursed you!”

28)

But Jesus answered, “Rather, how happy are those who hear

the word of God

and obey

it!”

Matthew

12:48 Jesus answered, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?”

49)

Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Look! Here are my

mother and my brothers! 50) Whoever does what my Father in heaven

wants is my brother, my sister and my mother.”

Wow,

I do digress, back to Lorraine! Besides praying to Mary, she found

herself reciting set religious prayers, such as the rosary. After a

prayer, which centred around renouncing all association with the

Catholic church, as well as cutting the ties that bound her to Mary

and the compulsion to say set prayers, Lorrraine felt totally free.

During

prayer Lorraine had seen a bright light; although her eyes had been

closed. Also she felt iron shackles fall from her wrists. Most

amazingly the spirit of Mary worship fell from her waist.

Lorraine

and I have been good friends for over fourteen years. The fact that

she called herself Catholic never worried me. Believing in wrong

doctrine and therefore never knowing the saving grace of the Lord

Jesus Christ did worry me. I know there will be those who, having

read Lorraine’s story will scream, “Catholic basher”. No!

If I take guests down the back stairs, but don’t tell them one of the

steps is broken, I could be the cause of their death. Through reading

the Bible I have learnt the truth. I encourage all Catholics who want

a closer relationship with God to do likewise. Especially in the case

of my mother who joined the Catholic Church, I know full well that if

she doesn’t make Jesus Christ the Lord and Master of her life,

instead of the church, she will not go to heaven.

Chapter

17

Dracula

– Fact or Fiction?

The

conversation between Theresa and myself went as follows:

“But

I’m a Drago.” Theresa exclaimed!

“So

what?” I couldn’t see what she was talking about.

“Don’t

you understand what Dragonism is?”

“No!”

There

was a look of amazement on her face. “Surely you’ve heard about

Dracula?”

“Yes,

but that’s fiction.”

“No

not entirely, eighty percent is based on historical evidence; you can

read about it in any encyclopedia. Bram Stoker used a historical

figure, Vlad the Impaler, a ruler of Wallachia, as a basis for his

story, Dracula.”

I

learnt that Vlad was born around 1430, in Transylvania, second son of

Vlad Dracul. Sigismund, the Holy Roman Emperor, had bestowed the

“Order of the Dragon”, upon Vlad’s father, little realising

that 550 years later people would form a social group called the

“Dracula Society”. The Romanian word for “Dragon”

is “Dracul”. Vlad ruled his subjects sadistically, often

impaling those who displeased him. Thousands died by this method

earning him the name Vlad Tepes – Vlad the Impaler.

The

story became even more bizarre as she continued. “We are direct

descendants of Vlad the Impaler and have always worshipped satan. The

first born is always named Vlad.”

This

information came as a shock. In my sheltered little world I had never

come across somebody from a long line of devil worshippers. I had met

James and Theresa for the first time, earlier that evening. They were

visitors of Darcell’s, a lady to whom I was teaching the Bible. As

the couple knew the plans for the evening they had intended to leave

as soon as I arrived. Just as well for them they decided to have

another cup of tea before departing. While sipping their tea, one

question led to another. God by His Holy Spirit enabled me to give an

answer, from the Bible, to every one of their questions.

At

one stage in the conversation God revealed to me what satan was

saying to Theresa. When I voiced her thoughts she turned pale and

could only stutter, “How did you know?” I pointed out to

her that I

know nothing and can do nothing,

without

the help of the Holy Spirit.

I spoke out the following:

“Satan

just said to you that you had done too many bad things in your life

and that God therefore wouldn’t accept you.” Satan is a liar.

The Bible says:

1

John 1:9 “But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his

promise and do what is right, he will forgive us our sins and purify

us from all

our wrongdoing.”

The

time flew quickly and before we all knew it 7:30 p.m. had turned into

10:30 p.m. At this point James asked if God could restore Theresa’s

sight. She had been beaten savagely around the head by a former

boyfriend, the result being that she had lost the sight of her left

eye. The incident had happened about six months earlier.

I

explained to all present that; yes, Jesus could heal her, for He is

the great physician, but He needed the opportunity to do so. If you

are sick in bed and ring the doctor you need to open the door, in

order to be treated. You can hardly expect the doctor to diagnose the

problem through a closed door. The same principle applies to Jesus. I

suggested to Theresa that if she wanted Jesus to restore her sight,

she really needed to follow the recommendations of Revelation 3:20.

“Listen!

I stand at the door and knock; if any hear my voice and open the

door, I will come into their house and eat with them. …”

As

Theresa and I knelt on the floor, I led her through a simple prayer

whereby she asked Jesus Christ into her heart. Halfway through the

prayer I felt as if a wall had slid between us.

“What

happened when you asked Jesus into your heart?”

“I

saw my father’s angry face.”

Thus

the question “Why should your father be angry?” and the

response, “But I’m a Drago”.

After

that little discussion, Theresa rose from the floor and sat on the

lounge next to James. Throughout the evening, James had expressed

anti-God sentiments. It is sad that people confuse religious

denominations with the person of God. James firmly expressed his view

that, “Unless I see it I don’t believe it!”

Theresa

complained of feeling sick, so Darcell made a cup of tea for all of

us. Once Theresa had finished drinking her tea I offered to pray for

her. Not having met the woman before I was amazed what came out of my

mouth. “No longer will satan kick you around like a ball. No

longer will you try to commit suicide.” Up shot her arm showing

the scars where she had cut herself. The words that next came out of

my mouth even surprised me. “I rebuke you foul spirit of

rebellion.” Her immediate reaction shocked the others more than

it did me, for her hands closed firmly around my throat.

Instinctively I prayed in the heavenly language God has given me and

removed her hands. God next instructed me to cast the spirit of

stubbornness from her. As I finished praying, she fainted onto James’

lap.

James

looked very shaken by what he had seen. Why is it that people only

believe in God when they see something out of the ordinary? God’s

glory can be seen daily; just walking past a rose bush, or seeing a

pelican in flight. You only have to watch the news on T.V. or read

the daily newspaper, to see satan at work: murder, rape, robbery etc.

Seeing his girlfriend act this way was a shock to James.

Darcell

suggested that under the circumstances Theresa should be baptised

immediately. Within minutes the bath tub was filled. I was just about

to baptise Theresa when God spoke to me. “Why don’t you pray for

her healing?” I said the simplest prayer asking God to heal

every part of her body which wasn’t functioning properly. Then I

baptised her in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Having handed her a towel, we all left the bathroom.

Moments

later we heard a scream and the words, “Quickly, come quickly!”

“Oh

no, what now?” I thought.

As

we entered the bedroom we were confronted by Theresa with one hand

over her good eye and counting her fingers with the eye that had been

blind. The joy that filled our hearts was overwhelming. God had

restored Theresa’s sight and hearing. Praise your holy name Lord

Jesus.

James

had really seen God’s mighty power at work that evening; more was to

come. James’ foot was bandaged due to a motor bike accident. He had

run into a brick wall, breaking the bridge of his foot. God, this

time showed me James’ thoughts. “I can’t use God, going to him

just to heal my foot.”

When

I spoke out those words James became embarrassed. Without hesitation

I placed my hands on his foot and prayed for healing. Immediately he

unwrapped the bandages and walked around the room with only the

slightest touch of pain. By this time James was well and truly ready

to acknowledge the mighty power of God. He also accepted Jesus and

was soon afterwards baptised.

You

might ask, “Why did you pray for the healing of James’ foot

without getting him to accept Jesus first, the way you did with

Theresa?” The only answer I have is that I don’t know. Every

person God deals with is an individual, therefore they need

individual treatment. So every person God sends me is dealt with

according to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

By

2:30 a.m. that morning I was ready to leave. As I was about to walk

out the door I casually asked who the walking stick belonged to.

Theresa answered. “Oh that’s mine, I had back problems, but I

don’t have any more pain since I’ve been baptised.

Dedicated

to satan as a Baby

Sunday

was a great day to rest, but also to reflect on the mighty work God

had done in Theresa’s life. Monday morning wasn’t so crash hot,

considering I was terribly dizzy and could hardly get out of bed. All

day I had to lie down, feeling as if I was on a merry-go-round that

was going too fast.

That

night my blissful sleep was rudely interrupted by the ringing of the

phone. I made no attempt to get out of bed, so it was left for my

daughter to do so.

“Mum,

mum, James is on the phone. Theresa is in a bad way.” Those

words were enough to get me out of bed immediately. The plea on the

other end of the phone was, “Can you come quickly? Theresa’s

father was just here and she is in a bad way.”

When

I walked into the bedroom I found Theresa sitting in bed. Her body

was there, but she seemed to be in a daze, as if her spirit had left

her. After prayer she came back to her senses.

“What’s

wrong?”

“My

father was just here, standing at the foot of the bed. He was very

angry with me and said that with satan I could have all the pleasures

in life that I wanted. I could drink and sleep around as much as I

liked. I was to turn away from Jesus, so that with satan I could

enjoy all the pleasures of the world. All of a sudden, God by His

Holy Spirit spoke through my mouth and said, ‘Yes, but Jesus loves

me’. At that point my father disappeared.”

My

next question asked the obvious, “How could your father be at

the foot of your bed, when he is supposed to be in Romania?”

Astral travel! Whether it had been a demon impersonating her

father,

or

whether

it

was

the

spirit form of her father, I don’t know. What I did know was that

satan could pop in and out of Theresa’s life as it suited him. He

certainly had the power. Saturday night Theresa had accepted Jesus

into her heart, on Sunday morning her father had rung her brother,

trying to find out what had happened to his daughter. How could a man

in Europe, know what was happening halfway around the world, in

Australia?

I

suggested that the three of us should pray, asking God’s guidance as

to why satan could pop in and out of Theresa’s life. After a few

moments of prayer we compared notes. I asked Theresa first. Her

response was negative. While she was talking, she was busily

scratching her chest.

“What’s

wrong? Why are you scratching yourself?”

“The

scar under my breast is itchy.”

“Well

that’s interesting. What about you James?”

“I

saw this grotesque monster come out of the pit of hell; it had four

legs. The fourth leg wasn’t quite out. This creature looked

absolutely horrible.”

My

turn came next. “In my mind I saw a small room. The walls were

made out of sandstone blocks, the way you see them in a castle. The

one thick stone leg, was about waist high. There was a narrow slab of

sandstone that acted as a table top.”

Theresa

became excited at this revelation. She told us how she had grown up

in a castle and remembered many instances where buses from the

Dracula Society would arrive at the front door. Cameras had clicked

wildly, much to the annoyance of her father. According to Theresa,

she and her seven brothers and sisters were never smacked, except for

one occasion, when their father discovered them outside the very room

God had shown me.

A

terrible thought struck me. “You don’t suppose your father

dedicated his children to the devil in that room, do you?”

“I don’t know. But

what I do know is that all my brothers and sisters have a scar on

their chest, near the heart line. As a matter of fact, I remember

when my mother, who is dead now, was pregnant with the eighth child

she argued bitterly with my father saying, ‘I won’t let you do it to

this baby’.”

Whatever,

“doing it” meant, happened when the baby was two weeks old.

The gruesome jigsaw puzzle began to form. Christians dedicate their

children to God, asking Him to look after the child. The Bible speaks

of guardian angels.

Matthew

18:10 “See that you don’t despise any of these little ones. Their

angels in heaven, I tell you, are always in the presence of my Father

in heaven.”

In

Theresa’s case, a demonic force had been put inside her: the

grotesque monster James had seen in his mind. I was speechless!

This

whole situation seemed too big for me. After discussing the ins and

outs of Dragonism with Theresa, I decided to make some further

research at the library, before I would pray. Before leaving I

decided to use their facilities. As I entered the bathroom God spoke

to me.

“You,

with your authority have the power to command that demon, in Jesus’

name, to name itself, so that you can cast it out.” Just as well

God always comes up with good ideas!

As

I started to pray for Theresa, commanding the demon to name itself,

there was an immediate reaction. For about twenty minutes I spoke the

Word of God at her writhing body, until the name Malachi came out of

her mouth. After that she sank onto the pillows almost unconscious.

When she came to, we all rejoiced, praising God for her deliverance.

“Can

I have a drink please?” Theresa requested.

“Make

that an extra one for me.” I called after James as he left the

room. While James was in the kitchen God spoke to me again. “You

have been deceived; satan gave you a false name. Theresa has not been

delivered.”

Calmly

I sipped the cordial, then I revealed to them what God had shown me.

Boy was I getting mad. How dare satan try to trick me! I am a child

of God; a servant of the most High God and here I was being deprived

of my beauty sleep! Where does satan think he gets off! To say I was

angry was putting it mildly.

I

whirled around and in no uncertain terms rebuked the lying spirit in

her. Next I commanded the guardian spirit in her to name itself.

Well, the party really livened up after that! Theresa became like a

wild animal; clawing the wall and throwing herself around. James who

is twice her size, couldn’t restrain her. A simple command in Jesus’

name had the spirit of violence under control.

Then

it was tooth and nail so to speak. Between speaking the Word of God,

I was also pleading with Theresa to cry out to Jesus. At this stage a

man’s voice spoke out of her mouth.

“I

have dedicated all my children to Lucifer.”

So

I had been guided in the right direction after all, not that I

doubted God.

As

Theresa called upon Jesus, I spoke the Word of God, and the demon

finally named itself – a Slavic sounding name. I asked God to wipe

that name from my mind and I can’t remember it. Again Theresa

collapsed and God told me to quickly cast the spirit of E.S.P (extra

sensory perception) out of her. Now I understood why her father had

been able to contact her whenever it suited him. E.S.P is most

definitely not of God; it is evil, as the Bible clearly shows.

Acts

16:16-18 One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we were

met by a young servant woman who had an evil

spirit that enabled her to predict the future.

She earned a lot of money for her owners by telling fortunes.

17/

She followed Paul and us shouting, “These men are servants of

the Most High God! They announce to you how you can be saved!”

18/

She did this for many days, until Paul became so upset that he turned

round and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I

order you to come out of her!” The spirit went out of her that

very moment.

This

time Theresa had been delivered, praise God. She sat up in bed and

said, “Have you ever had any part or your body in plaster? I

feel as if my whole body was in a plaster cast; but now I am free –

what a wonderful feeling!”

I

questioned God why I always had to go on my own. The reply came

immediately. “God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy

Spirit go with you. Besides you have your own army of angels – what

are you complaining about?”

“You’ve got a point there God, sorry for

complaining.”

Well this certainly had been an

interesting night. As usual God by his Holy Spirit had guided and

protected me every step of the way. By 4 a.m. I was finally on my way

home. Over the years I have lost touch with the couple, but I pray

even now that God would keep His hand on them.

Chapter

18

“If

you love me …”

Jesus

said, “If you love me, you will obey my commandments.”

John

14:15

My

heart grieves when I hear people, including ministers of all

denominations, calling themselves Christians, but point blank refuse

to obey the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus said to those who believed in him, “If you obey

my teaching, you are really my disciples;

you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John

8:31-32.

Sadly

people, love the approval of men, rather than the approval of God,

and follow the traditions of men, instead of the commandments of God.

Matthew 15:8-9

Infant

baptism

Jesus

blessed

the little children, He didn’t baptise them. (Matthew 19:13) As for

the teaching of the Presbyterian church, on infant covenant baptism,

that doctrine is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible. No doubt a

Presbyterian reading this comment will become indignant and reach for

the nearest Bible commentary, when they should humble themselves and

seek God on the matter. Having said that, I am ashamed to have to

admit that all my three children were baptised as infants. This was

in the days when I didn’t read the Bible and had no knowledge of what

God required. What I should have done was dedicate

the children to God by simply having a minister pray for them.

From

the doctrine of infant baptism arises the erroneous belief that

because a person was baptised as an infant they are saved. Jesus at

the age of 30 demonstrated how we are to be baptised.

Mark

l: 9) Not long afterwards Jesus came from Nazareth in the province

of Galilee, and was baptised by John in the Jordan.

10)

As soon as Jesus came up

out of

the water, he saw heaven opening and the Spirit coming down on him

like a dove.

11)

And a voice came from heaven, “You are my own dear Son. I am

pleased with you.”

God

is pleased with us when we follow His commandments. Romans 6:4

clearly explains why we need to be totally immersed. By our baptism,

then, we were buried

with Him and shared His death, in order that, just as Christ was

raised from death by the glorious power of the Father, so also

we might live a new life.

A

baby doesn’t have a sinful life. Nor can a baby speak for itself,

making a conscious decision to follow Jesus through the waters of

baptism. The godparents have to speak for the child and very often

the promise they make of bringing up the child in a godly way is

never kept. When a marriage takes place, and the preacher asks the

bride and groom if they will accept the other as their wedded spouse,

nobody else can answer for them. Likewise only the person being

baptised can say whether or not they want to follow Jesus through the

waters of baptism.

There

is more to baptism than just rising to a new life. Often after

reading Mark 5:1-22, I would wonder why Jesus allowed the evil

spirits to go into the pigs, which rushed down the hill into the lake

and were killed. What a waste of pigs, because as far as I know you

can kill flesh and blood, but you can’t kill a spirit. God explained

the matter to me.

By

being, “buried in baptism with Jesus”, the old life is

symbolically

buried and locked under the water. In the same way the lake became a

prison for the spirits in the pigs. They were symbolically trapped,

even if the lake dried up. That revelation was absolutely fantastic

because I couldn’t imagine God wasting 2,000 pigs, for no good

reason.

I

decided to put that revelation into practice. While baptising a woman

and her older daughter the nine year old son also wanted to be

baptised. I don’t like baptising children, unless the child has an

understanding of what is going on, besides a sincere wish to follow

Jesus through the waters of baptism. The boy fitted both criteria. As

the child was suffering from asthma, I commanded the asthma to stay

under the water. I also explained to the boy that, should the

symptoms come back at a later date he was to say, “Asthma you

have been locked under the water and can’t affect me anymore.”

Four weeks later his faith was tested as he felt an attack coming on.

Immediately he repeated the words I had told him and felt better

instantly. Praise God!

Disease,

sin and sickness, evil spirits and in the case of Theresa, blindness

and partial deafness have been left under the water. Take the case of

Rhea. Minor spirits had left without any trouble, the ruling demon

however, refused to leave. God instructed me to baptise the person.

Before she went under the water I was to pray and command the demon

to be locked under the water. As the water would ultimately end up in

the sewers I commanded the demon to be trapped in the sewers until

its time came up to be cast into hell. As Rhea came up out of the

water she felt as if something peeled off her. At the same time she

heard the demon screaming, “not the sewers, not the sewers”.

We

limit God and make our life miserable by not obeying

the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Stubbornness, pride

and rebellion

are powerful forces which keep us from God’s saving grace.

Why

is it so hard to obey the commands of Jesus Christ if we say that we

love Him? Jesus said to His disciples:

Matthew

28:18-20: Jesus drew near and said to them, “I have been given

all authority in heaven and on earth. Go, then, to all peoples

everywhere and make them my

disciples:

baptise them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,

and teach

them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.

If

you are doing you own thing not baptising an adult, or baptising them

only in the name of Jesus, you are not obeying Jesus’ commands

and therefore are not of Him. I don’t care that Peter baptised people

in the name of Jesus (Acts 2:38). I follow the instructions of Jesus

not Peter. Peter denied Jesus three times, maybe it was out of a

sense of guilt that Peter baptised in the name of Jesus. However,

Peter is clearly disobeying Jesus Christ when he baptises only in the

name of Jesus, because according to Matthew 28:19 the disciples had

been instructed by the Lord Jesus to baptise in the name of the

Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The name of the Father is

Jehovah

and the

name of the Son is Jesus Christ.

The reason Jesus

Christ gave those instructions was because He would never lift

Himself above the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Baptism

of the Holy Spirit

Jesus

gave the following order:

Acts

1:4 And when they came together, he gave them this order:

“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift

I told you about, the gift my Father promised.

5)

John baptised

with water,

but in a few days you will be baptised

with the Holy Spirit.”

Yes,

there is one

water

baptism – as an adult, but Jesus also speaks of baptism by the Holy

Spirit. Why?

Acts

1:8 “But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled

with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all of

Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

If

we are to live the kind of life God wants us to live we need the

power

of the Holy Spirit.

Zechariah

4:6: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the LORD of

hosts.

Where

is the power of Jesus Christ, through His Holy Spirit, in the

majority of the churches today? Instead of healing, deliverance and

miracles, dead works seem to be the order of the day. There are those

churches which teach that you don’t need to ask for the infilling or

baptism of the Holy Spirit. The belief is that when you ask Jesus

Christ into your life, the Holy Spirit, being part of the Trinity,

will automatically come into your life too. Wrong!

Acts

19:1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the

interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples

2)

and asked them, “Did

you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

They

answered, “No,

we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

6)

When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and

they spoke in tongues and prophesied. (New International Version)

So

much for the doctrine that the Holy Spirit automatically comes into

the life of a believer! These people were referred to as disciples,

so they must have been actively working for Jesus Christ, yet they

didn’t have the Holy Spirit. The same thing happened in Samaria with

the believers.

Acts

8:14) When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted

the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15) When they

arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy

Spirit, 16) because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of

them; …. (NIV)

The

Holy Spirit is a gentleman and will not go anywhere unless invited.

Satan might gate-crash your life, but not God. If you carry food in a

lunch box, it won’t give you strength until you actually eat it. Once

the food is inside your stomach you will feel refreshed. Horror

movies portray people as possessed with evil spirits, how much more

should we ask to be filled with the precious Holy Spirit!

Luke

11:13 As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your

children. How much more, then, will the Father

in heaven give

the Holy

Spirit to those

who ask

him!

So

if you do not ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit, your life will

lead nowhere, except a religious merry-go-round.

I

am speaking from experience having grown up in traditional churches.

I was always taught that the Pentecostals and Charismatics are a

bunch of loonies. Yes, I do believe there are those who go overboard.

I do not believe it is of God for people to be rolling around the

floor, laughing uncontrollably. Nor do I believe you have to go to

Toronto to receive God’s Holy Spirit. God can be found in the

stillness of your bedroom, or while driving the car to work. I do

know however that my life changed dramatically once I submitted to

God’s will. If you have never been baptised by full immersion, as an

adult,

or have prayed according

to Luke 11:13, then you need to analyse your walk with God.

You cannot be a disciple of Jesus Christ if you cannot

obey His simple commandments.

Speaking

in Other Tongues

Five

years of faithful attendance, first in the Baptist Church, then the

Church of Christ, caused me to be indoctrinated with wrong doctrine,

namely that speaking in tongues was considered to be of the devil. A

person sleeping does not know how long they have slept until they

wake up. Likewise, a corpse no longer has life and therefore can no

longer participate in life. I was spiritually

dead,

until I came to a rude awakening when a friend asked me to go to an

Apostolic Church service. After two months of finding excuses why I

shouldn’t go I finally gave in – it pays to be persistent!

Shock,

horror, people welcomed me with open arms. Worse was to come. The

music was louder than at a Rock concert. The people were almost

dancing in the aisles – incredibly they seemed to be having a good

time. When somebody prayed in a language I didn’t understand I felt

really spooked, only my upbringing prevented me from running out of

there. What weird cult had I been dragged into? All this was against

my prim and proper, conservative, traditional church upbringing. The

good old Methodists had never behaved like this. Come to think of it,

neither had the Baptists! I was most indignant!

As

we left I vowed never to set foot in the place again. The sincerity

of the people however, did touch my heart, so I decided one more

visit wouldn’t hurt, four years later I was still attending. One

annoying thing was the fact the people were always asking me if I was

‘born again’. My reply was always, “of course I’m born again”,

yet I didn’t have the faintest idea what they were talking about. The

next question was, “Do you speak in tongues then?”

“Certainly

not, I don’t need to. Thank you very much.” With sadness I now

look back at my arrogance, ignorance and refusal to learn. Sometimes

God has to take us by the scruff of the neck, in order to pull us

into line.

I

woke up one morning with excruciating pain at the base of the neck.

Of course I immediately asked God to heal me; nothing happened.

Right, I thought the devil must be attacking me so I prayed

accordingly: nothing happened. The third option was to go to my

minister for prayer. My minister and his wife prayed for me, but

again the pain didn’t go away. The next day the whole church prayed

for me, but again the pain didn’t leave.

While

driving home from church my stiff neck became unbearable. As I waited

to turn into my street the following thoughts came to me.

“My

people were a stiff necked people.” (Exodus 32:9)

“Oh

no LORD, are you trying to tell me that my physical condition is

representative of my spiritual condition?”

To

be stiff necked is to be stubborn. Was I being stubborn in my walk

with God?

The

minute I walked into the flat the phone rang. Elizabeth, a good

friend from the Apostolic Church was on the other end.

“Hi,

how are you?” Elizabeth wanted to know.

“I’m

in great pain.”

“Do

you speak in tongues yet?”

I

couldn’t believe my ears, no words of sympathy.

“No!”

I responded rather annoyed.

After

twenty minutes of her trying to teach

me to speak in tongues, I said goodbye. I have since learnt that

speaking in tongues is a gift

and cannot

be learnt.

Nor can speaking in tongues save

you, only the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ can do that.

By

this time, frustration was really getting the better of me. So I went

into the bedroom, sank onto my knees and said to God: “Lord

Jesus if you want me to speak in tongues, I ask for that gift under

the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in the name of the Lord Jesus

Christ.”

Nothing

happened, so I started to sing a few songs to God. All of a sudden a

strange language came out of my mouth. Overawed, I thought to myself

I better not stop in case the language goes away and doesn’t come

back again. Half an hour later I was still at it.

When

my daughter Sonja walked in the door, the anointing of the Holy

Spirit was so strong that she also started to speak in tongues. The

same thing happened when a friend arrived a few moments later. How

amazing to have three people speaking in another language.

Remembering

only too well how people pushed the issue of tongues with me, I am

careful not to do it to anybody else. Tongues is a gift

and to be treated as such, not to be demanded and pushed onto

somebody.

I

go so far as to say those cults who deny the Trinity, but push

tongues are in fact speaking in satanic tongues.

Therefore I prefer people to seek God personally for the gift, rather

than being prayed over by somebody

they don’t know.

There are too many cults around who speak in “tongues”, but

these tongues are not the gift of the Holy Spirit, but an imitator

of the Holy Spirit.

1

John 4:1 My dear friends, do not believe all who claim to have the

Spirit, but test

them to find out if the spirit they have comes from God. For many

false prophets have gone out everywhere.

There

are also those people who say that you are not baptised, or filled

with God’s Holy Spirit unless you speak in tongues. That issue has

bothered me because I know sincere people who are truly walking with

God, but don’t speak in tongues. I really cried out to God to explain

the matter to me, especially since people are always quoting:

Acts

2:4.They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in

other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

As

I studied the Word of God I began to realise that the pouring out of

God’s Holy Spirit was associated more with an emphasis on proclaiming

the message of Jesus Christ and the salvation He gives.

Joel

2:28 “Afterwards

I will pour out my Spirit on everyone: your sons and daughters will

proclaim my message; your old people will have dreams, and your young

people will see visions.

29)

At that time I will pour out my Spirit even on servants, both men

and women.

See

also Acts 1:8, Acts 10:10, Acts 11:24

As

a matter of fact 1Corinthians 12:29-30 says:

They

are not all apostles or prophets or teachers. Not everyone has the

power to work miracles or to heal diseases or to speak in strange

tongues or to explain what is said.

I

agree with the apostle Paul when he says:

I

would like all of you to speak in strange tongues; but I would rather

that you had the gift of proclaiming God’s message. 1Corinthians

14:5

Yes,

I strongly agree that when God has given the gift of speaking in

tongues to a person there is added power in their life. However, it

is wrong to put condemnation on a person who doesn’t speak in tongues

and tell them that there must be something wrong with them because

they don’t speak in tongues. I know that when I went forward in the

Apostolic Church to be prayed for to receive the Holy Spirit I

received instantly, but I did not speak in tongues until much later.

Many times before I spoke in tongues, God’s presence was evident in

my life in a mighty way. That could have only been through the power

of the Holy Spirit. My recommendation is that people ask to receive

the gift of tongues, but if it doesn’t happen immediately then don’t

get stressed about it. God has created us as individuals and He

treats us differently, so what might be fine for one person is not

necessarily the case for somebody else. There must be a balance in

our walk with God.

I

appreciate the gift God has given me, for it has helped me in my

prayer life. Now when I am praising God, and run out of things to

say, I just change to tongues and keep on praising Jesus. There is

definitely a closer relationship between God and I, now that I’m no

longer stiff necked. However, I will never say that a person is not

filled with God’s Holy Spirit if they don’t speak in that heavenly

language.

Do

you love Jesus enough to obey His commandments?

Chapter

19

Being

Gay

These

diary entries tell of a man who travelled from one continent to the

other, searching for fulfillment. From Brighton in England to Bondi

Beach and many other places in Australia, he searched for the good

life. Finally he found what he was looking for, love, peace, joy and

a purpose in life. The following diary entries and letters speak for

themselves.

John’s

Diary Entries

3rd

October 1996

This

won’t have a beginning as I’m sure it cannot have an end. I guess I

could start with trivialities; it’s the 3rd October 1996, 8 p.m. in

Byron Bay, Australia and I suppose I’m feeling extremely fortunate to

have found the answer to life. It seems as though I’ve been searching

forever. As far back as I can remember, over my 25 years of

existence, I know that whatever I was doing, there remained a

desolate yearning inside me. Never did I settle or feel “at one”

with the world and all its distractions. Maybe I’ve always been too

much of a thinker, a worrier – perhaps even a bit of a philosopher.

Whatever I try to analyse myself as, let me just say that I’m so

relieved that I pushed my probing mind to its limits – in all

situations continuously asking “why” and desiring more. I

think we all ask and wonder.

Surely

there is more to life than what the world offers: school, recreation,

work (or not work), eat, maybe friends, (maybe not), then all the

other things in between before death. Then what? Some people say they

believe in life, death and then nothing. That’s your lot! Well, I’m

sorry, but those of us who resign themselves to that way of thought

have allowed themselves to become comfortable in a very uncomfortable

place. What if there is something else – something that all those

people are preventing themselves from finding. Or maybe they are

being prevented?

O.K

– enough is enough, I’m not going to spin on in riddles and try hard

philosophical waffle. It’s been a strange life up till now. But I can

honestly say that as I glance around this “Bunkhouse

Backpackers” in the heart of hippy-ville, amongst all the New

Age neurosis and surface beliefs about peace and the inner-self – yes

here amongst the searching

souls, stoned or drunk,

here as everyone either tries to forget about themselves or

desperately find themselves, I sit calm in the knowledge that “the

self” is not the answer. I’m probably sounding smug and

condescending, but for someone who was more lost than the best of

them, who not more than 6 months ago was standing, in a state of drug

induced madness on Bondi Beach rocks, ready to throw himself off, I

feel a certain amount of liberty to be rejoicing. The “answer”

is a free gift for each one of us. It took me almost 25 years to

accept that gift.

4th

October 1996

There

are of course days when I feel low. Today is one of those days. The

whole of humankind is on an emotional roller coaster I’m sure; some

maybe never reach the purest highs of life, if they themselves are

too weighed down by a baggage of bad feelings they simply cannot

shake off. I have always been a very up and down guy. I always used

to think I was highly strung or over-sensitive. Perhaps it was that

missing link in my life that I was always seeking. The link of

course, being Jesus – providing communion once again with God. Well,

now when the lows start to take control, I like to think I’m in a

better position to handle them. After all, God is always God – He’s

not going to change. But I (we) are always changing all the time.

These days I usually try to analyse why those good ol’ blues or bouts

of depression hit me, before they start to eat away. The Bible says

‘be joyful always’. It’s hard to do when you look around at the

state of the world. When you ask Christ into your life, sometimes I

think you’re expecting an answer to all of life’s problems.

What

we’re supposed to remember is that now we are “God’s children”.

Jesus has shown that He will never leave or forsake me. It’s easy to

forget this, when you arrive in a place as distressing as “Surfer’s

Paradise”! I never was one for tacky bars, neon lights and

drink-as-much-as-you-can parties, even when I was into the drugs and

drink world. But now, seeing the scale of things, as God sees it, my

spirit sinks. When I see the dirty, pot-bellied, beer-guzzling men

and hear their foul cursing and jibes at the heavily made-up,

bleach-haired bar girls, I feel burdened. It may only be 4 in the

afternoon and already the majority cannot speak properly due to the

amount of alcohol they have consumed. Why is everyone so lost? Yes,

I’m disgusted by what I see, but for the people I just feel a surge

of desperation and sadness. How did they get like this?

Why

was I once like that? We think it’s fun to get drunk, to smoke, to

party all the time, to sleep with whoever we want to. But why do we

think it’s fun? It’s awful! Everywhere you look, people tell you it’s

okay. Every magazine, T.V advertisement, every billboard; we’re bred

on it – lies! Sometimes I think I must be insane to believe in

something so pure and seemingly simple. But I know I’m not insane.

I’m clinging to the only promise that gives me any hope at all; the

promise of God. It’s true the world can only offer death – physical,

but certainly spiritual also. So I can be joyful always – joyful in

the knowledge that I belong to God and not this strange and sordid

place I’m “visiting”. But I can also feel a sense of

remorse for those who have not yet understood the spiritual world.

LORD I pray for those souls. I pray they will be drawn to your light.

And let’s face it, for every sprawling man-made jungle such as

“Surfers”, somewhere along the track will be an incredibly

beautiful place of God’s creation.

7th

October 1996

I’m

sitting on the wooden verandah of the “Halse Lodge” in

Noosa Heads, staring out into the rain, listening to the live version

of Eric Clapton’s “Tears

In Heaven”.

The song reminds me of a testimony of one of my friends about the

death of their baby. He told me he needed to push on and not live in

the past and thus in sorrow.

I

think we all hang onto the past and it is easy to forget that Jesus

forgives, in our eyes, the most dire of human acts. In God’s eyes

however, there is not gradient of sin – and once washed, always

washed. So, when the memories of past sins come back to haunt and

torment you, just stay focused on God’s promises to us. The only

thing the devil

holds against us are our memories.

Rebuke those thoughts and remind yourself, that in Christ we are new

creations, born again in God’s vision.

It’s

been a fairly eye-opening trip so far. Byron Bay was a haven for the

soul searches. Nimbin was quite simply a 70s time-trap enveloped in a

fog of marijuana. Coloundra and Noosa Heads were picturesque and yet

almost clinical. Finally Brisbane and Surfer’s Paradise were nothing

but concrete tourist traps. How can I be so blunt and blase about

places I’m sure the residents would be up in arms to defend, well

here’s my view point. Scenery, coastlines, trees, sky-scrapers,

they’re all beautiful in whatever part of the country or the world

you choose to examine. But

– the place is often full of people trying to offer you things or

take from you, and that’s world wide! We all try to buy and sell

happiness, depending upon the amount of marketing and grab-tactics.

Some places seem really soulless. I guess I’m much more aware of

people as I’m travelling this time. Sometimes the world really looks

like cardboard, it’s so temporary and here we are on this planet – a

mere stepping stone into the eternal existence that follows. I try to

pose this question to as many people as I can:

“What

if there really is a God, who created us? We choose to follow our own

desires instead of His perfect plan for each of us, but we’re

destroying the earth and ourselves. Supposing the only point to us

residing here on this world is to rediscover our Creator and get to

know Him and His truth. In which case, all the worldly pursuits we

chose after all mean very little, or nothing, because when they’re

all gone, if we didn’t discover God, then what will our eternity

consist of?”

I’ve

been praying for my travel companions. Of course I trust that

Catherine truly has accepted Jesus as her Saviour. But the others –

well you can’t be sure. You can never judge the depths of someone’s

heart, so it’s best just to pray and hope that in some way your own

lifestyle is a testimony. Seb is Catholic and says he prays to God

and believes God has had a hand in his life and big Chris, has yet to

make a comment. Chris (the other one) is a real challenge to me. He

reminds me a lot of myself before I became a Christian – he’s very

argumentative and cynical -especially about the church and the Bible.

I totally understand why he’s like this, as people have done a lot to

destroy the Bible’s message and have turned its message into a set of

rules and rituals. RELIGION – what a dangerous thing! Anyway today he

actually admitted that Jesus came to be our Saviour. It’s hard to

know what lies in his heart, but I know he’s totally suspicious of

the money grabbing antics of certain churches and he feels that the

Bible is simply a series of teachings on “how to live your

life.” I feel he’s apprehensive in moving forward to allow Jesus

into his heart, because he knows that he will be convicted of his

lifestyle. Still I believe that God is already drawing him and that

by the power of the Holy Spirit, he won’t go too much further in his

present way of thinking.

17th

October 1996

Homosexuality:

natural or not?

One

of the big questions in the Bible’s message of truth – especially

from sceptics in today’s open-minded society – is, “If God is

such a loving God, then won’t he love me for whatever I am?”

Even after I had given my life to Christ, there was a big battle

going on inside my mind. Since I was about 21, I had fairly

comfortably adopted the label of being ‘gay’ or ‘homosexual’. Since

my mid-teens I had been confused sexually and as

I’m sure all gay men will clarify

they

were aware of the strange urges for male contact,

but

because of the unacceptable aspect of it in our society,

fought

those feelings for a good many years.

I think it’s important when examining this issue to look not at what

society says, but rather God! Society from a completely ignorant

point of view may condemn homosexuality as disgusting and immoral,

using such ‘nice’ terms “poof” “queer”,

“bender”, “faggot”, “dyke” to make

known their opinions. In God’s eyes however, there are no levels of

sin, no gradient or hierarchy of the more repulsive acts. So God,

although Himself detesting homosexuality does not view it any

different from other forms of sexual immorality, or lying, cheating,

stealing, slandering or criticism. Sin is sin and God is totally pure

and holy. So the people who judge homosexuality as repulsive should

take a good look at the rot in their own lives first. And

gay people who stand up against the Bible and God saying that he

should love us for whatever we may do, are just as misguided.

God

does

love each and every one of us and it is His will for all of us to

return to Him and be saved. However, because we are stained with sin,

the only way to become clean and acceptable in the Creator’s eyes is

to accept what Jesus did for us, thus becoming clothed and washed in

the blood of his sacrificial life.

When

I had reached the stage in my life, where I was completely at my wits

end and on the verge of suicide, I accepted Jesus Christ as my

Saviour. I did this because I had been lost for many years. I was

always searching for a meaning to life. I was very much into the club

and drug scene, particularly in London and in Sydney. Over the past

few years, I had gone through many sexual partners – mainly male, but

some female. Even though I liked being with men in this way, I never

found a ‘soul-mate’ and in the back of my mind I could see how

shallow and transient the gay community was.

The point is, when I prayed for Jesus to save me one evening, it did

not enter my head to ask forgiveness for my sins. In fact, most of

what I accepted as normal behaviour I did not even realise was wrong,

this includes homosexuality. I merely thought that I must have always

been this way, so I came to Jesus, assuming that somehow the

homosexuality would be ‘overlooked’!

God

in his immense grace and love for me, knew that I was unaware of my

sins, but rescued me anyway. Of course He rescued me – He had been

calling me all my life, but because I’m the sort of person who

doesn’t do things by halves – I had to reach the absolute end of

everything before I would finally recognise that someone wanted me

desperately. This someone wasn’t another man, it wasn’t cocaine or

ecstasy, it wasn’t a nice cushy job in television, or the latest

designer clothes. This someone was and is and always will be God.

It’s an unbelievable feeling to look back at the plan He had to draw

me towards Him, and I’m sure every born-again Christian can identify

with this.

But

– what about my sins? I was still homosexual, and God quite clearly

says that two men were not made to fit together. “But why?”

I thought. I’ve always been like this. It was a good month or so

after becoming a Christian that the Holy Spirit, living inside me

finally convicted me that homosexuality was wrong. I had been

fighting and fighting this notion, but the Spirit of God kept telling

me to repent. I kept saying “no”, until I couldn’t stand it

any longer. I asked God’s forgiveness and admitted that homosexuality

did not make me feel good. I also asked to be released from those

desires. It is important to note that God forgives us for everything,

no matter how bad it seems; however, we shouldn’t just accept our

sins, but renounce them, otherwise healing cannot take place in that

area.

As

I mentioned, I had grown used to the idea of being homosexual and so

assumed that God would by-pass that aspect of my life – not so!

Incredibly, once I decided, through the power of the Holy Spirit,

that I had never really been happy as a ‘gay’ man and that it was

wrong for two men to indulge in this way, huge revelations came into

my mind.

When

I was a child, my father was often away on business and would

invariably return home late in the evenings. My dad is a great man,

very generous and kind hearted and I love him a lot, but the fact

remains, I was definitely more mothered then fathered when growing

up. I spent a great deal of time in female company and being a

naturally sensitive child also, became very timid in male company. I

basically had good, strong moral guidance from both parents, but in

an imperfect society every child will lose out somewhere.

I

had a tough time at school, failing at most sporting activities and

becoming more and more alienated from male peers. This nightmare

reached its peak in high school, when almost all my time was spent

with girls, and listening to the daily abuse from the guys. I was

different and when one doesn’t conform the trouble starts. Looking

back, my sensitivity, gentle nature and ‘feminine’ qualities were

being categorised as homosexual characteristics and this is the

lie that society fuels.

As a Christian, I now appreciate these qualities as true gifts, but

as a young boy trying to survive in school, it is very

easy to hate yourself and your characteristics.

I

am positive that homosexuality is a product of society and not a

hereditary gene or mutation in the brain.

I feel my circumstances could have been different had I not been

labelled something that I wasn’t.

Over

the last 3 or 4 years, I have made some very strong male friendships,

which helped me to regain the lost male bond of my childhood.

Consequently, I hadn’t been too bothered about having a homosexual

relationship for a while anyway. I would make a guess that

the majority of men who feel they’re gay are searching for security

and male acceptance.

Those who can accept this as true, need to examine their lives as to

why this came about.

Homosexuality

is initially about lust, as very rarely do two men get to know each

other before sex takes place.

Also, the reason I feel that the ‘gay scene’ is so promiscuous is

because guys are continually jumping from one partner to another and

not finding what they are looking for. Why? Because

all gay men are as lost as each other and cannot fill the emptiness

that has been there since the first years of childhood.

Also

the fear of ageing bodies is prevalent in the gay community, because

hard bodies and good looks are the basic requirements for a happy gay

life.

But what happens when these are gone or never existed in the first

place? In my gay state I used to dread the thought of living with a

balding, ageing, pot bellied partner. I intended to commit suicide

before that would happen. The

lies that these boys and men have been listening to for the most part

of their lives are incredible.

As

far as I’m concerned, there is

only one way out – Jesus. Nothing is lastingly possible without the

power of God and only He can set us free from the bondage of our

past. Most men who believe they are gay will be up in arms at people

like myself; they

will find every excuse in the book to justify their way of being.

However, the ones who are truly unhappy and are willing to admit that

their homosexuality has been nothing but pain and suffering, are the

ones who God is calling. Jesus died to save those of us who hate our

lives and to bring us a new promise of Salvation and hope for an

eternal life of glory.

Now

for the bad news! Some healing takes a long time. I feel released

from the bondage of homosexuality and the other areas of my life that

were causing my pain, but a battle still goes on. Old habits are

still fresh to the memory and sometimes I will catch myself thinking

about sex with a male. However, now I know that this is the lustful

part of my flesh wanting satisfaction. I definitely do not want a

relationship with a man, because the emptiness that was once in my

heart has been filled with love from Jesus. The devil has often

brought up past memories to haunt me or discourage me, but in just 5

months of being a Christian I can’t believe how much I have been

strengthened. I can control my urges in a way that would never have

been possible before, and in truth, I really do not want to sleep

with a man again. It’s hard to say if I’ll settle down with a woman

at this stage, because there are so many other priorities in my new

life with God, but let’s just say, I have a great sense of peace that

God is in control and it’s something I don’t have to worry about.

A

few weeks after I had given my homosexual habit over to God, it was

shown to me that there was another step that had to be taken. While

visiting my former partner I felt at ease until we hugged to say

goodbye. All of a sudden I felt uncomfortable and confused. On

examining the situation I realised that although the physical contact

had stopped, the spiritual ties had not been cut. After cutting the

ties between my former partner and myself I felt truly released. At

long last I’ve been freed from the lie of the devil that I’m

homosexual.

——————————

John

is very dear to me, I see him as a son. He in return refers to me as

his adopted mum. I thank God that I was able to be of assistance in

helping him in his walk with God. My heart goes out to all those

people trapped in a homosexual relationship. The prison that the

devil has locked them up in is no different from that of drugs,

alcohol, adultery etc. etc. Seven months have now passed since that

diary entry. The following are extracts from a letter I received from

John since his return to England.

3rd

May 1997

I

don’t know where to begin, but I’ll start by saying I miss you and

always wonder what you’re up to. When I rang Sonja’s house, your

prayers were well needed. I felt as though so many demons were

attacking me, and that God had abandoned me. I didn’t have the faith

or strength to pray against them, as I knew I had strayed from God,

but I felt I wasn’t able to repent. It was a horrendous experience! I

thought I was dying and my mind was being taken over by darkness. I

called a lady I know, before I called you, and asked her to pray for

me. She prayed over the phone that the demons would go, but it was as

if they were telling me that she didn’t really believe they were

there. So of course nothing happened. All I could think of was to

speak to you, because you understand.

Anyway,

just after I spoke to you, I was filled with a surge of strength and

faith and prayed the demons out of my life. I can’t say things have

been easy back here in England. One thing that keeps me sane is the

beautiful seaside. The weather has been great, and I thank God for

all the sunshine, as I don’t think I could cope with gloomy weather

on top of everything else.

Brighton

is a very cosmopolitan city and there are a lot of gay men living

here. Consequently, lots of them try to flirt with me in the

restaurant I work in. I must admit, a couple of times I’ve felt

tempted – especially when I’m feeling low or lonely, and on one

occasion I almost ended up with someone, but I guess, in my head I

was praying for a way out, and it all blew over. Still – I know that

I need a lot more healing and prayer, because there are things from

my childhood that are unresolved. Anyway, now I can see the

emptiness in every gay man I meet, so I’m not tempted any more.

I

think I told you on the phone, I’ve had a bit of a problem with

alcohol lately. I really want to stop drinking, but so far, I

haven’t.

Anyway

on to some positive things. I’ve started doing volunteer work for a

homeless organisation. I do one day a week and help out serving food

in a drop in centre. A lot of the people who come in are so high on

drugs or else totally drunk. It’s very full on and a bit draining and

although I’ve only done it twice so far, I had to pray hard during

the day for strength and encouragement.

What

else? I’m getting quite frustrated being in the restaurant. I wish I

could do something more fulfilling, but I’m trying not to complain. I

know that God has blessed my life so much already.

-love

you and thinking of you loads,

your

adopted son

John

A

few weeks after receiving the above letter, I received a phone call

and we spoke for about 20 minutes. One of the things we discussed was

his work place. John felt that the whole atmosphere of the restaurant

was too tempting and pulling him back. He therefore made the decision

to give up his job and look for another one somewhere else. God

honours those who honour Him, with the result that John’s life took a

definite swing upwards as the extracts from the next letter indicate.

27th

June, 1997

God

has been moving powerfully and amazingly in my life over the past

weeks. Since I last talked to you, I feel like I’ve taken on a

new lease of life

and for the past few days alone have been on an almost continual

high coming mainly from praising Jesus, from the bottom of my heart.

God

is so

good and I pray to be strengthened daily as this Christian walk is

becoming very exciting!! I thank God again, for you teaching me about

prayer and fighting the devil. It’s only recently that I realise how

satan was trying to drag me away, but thank God Almighty, for the

continual prayers from yourself and others who were concerned enough

to bother. And this is perhaps the biggest revelation of my life so

far – nothing

will happen without prayer.

It’s such a simple statement and yet I’m sure that so many Christians

haven’t even realised this.

I’ve

been praying for my sister and she is now a Christian. I went home

last month and in less than 3 months she has changed so much. From a

fairly depressed girl -overweight and unhappy with herself, she has

blossomed into a lady. She loves her job, has lost a lot of weight,

changed the way she dresses and has even started wearing light makeup

(which was unheard of!). Her eyes are shining and she’s made lots of

new friends. Praise God.

My

dad asked for a Bible for his birthday and is already reading Mark.

My mother has finally admitted that Christian Science is wrong.

Although she has not given her heart to Jesus, she tells me she has

started to pray.

I

left the restaurant I was working in because I felt God did not want

me in such a heavy atmosphere of drink, gossip and sexual innuendo. I

did my best to witness to all the people there and I still hold them

up before God, but in the end my personal growth was more important.

I feel God has given me a new job. On the 1st July I have an

interview. Apart from that, I’m still doing work at the homeless

centre. So many people are aggressive and high on drugs or drunk (or

both) that I cannot even enter the building unless I know I’m wearing

the full armour. I’ve managed to witness a little, but people are

very untrusting, so for the time being I’m just letting God’s warmth

shine through me.

A

friend of mine, Peter, was struck down by a feeling of nausea and

dizziness. He had been vomiting for most of the day. When I phoned

him in the afternoon (about 4) he was in a pretty bad state. He had a

friend with him, a Christian and I asked if that person had prayed

for him. He hadn’t – typical!! So I offered to pray. Well, when I

came on the phone I rebuked the sickness, commanding it to leave his

body and not return. I also prayed for God’s healing power to fall

upon him.

When

I visited Peter the next day I heard an interesting story. Ten

minutes after I had gotten off the phone he felt much better and when

another friend arrived with his medicine shortly afterwards he had

said the following. “I don’t need to take this. I’m better!”

He returned the prescription the next day. Amazing! And yet, this is

what we, as Christians should expect. Of course God wants to move in

power, but we have to desire him and believe it.

Aside

from all that’s going on I’ve had a strange battle with demons

lately. One thing I didn’t tell you in Sydney was that for many years

I was caught up in pornography. Well, the images from these magazines

and movies have been haunting me terribly. Although I’ve rebuked and

renounced it all, sexual thoughts were almost continuously invading

my mind. Besides that I’ve been having horrible sexual dreams – even

homosexual ones. Finally I felt the Holy Spirit leading me into

nightly prayer before I went to sleep. I asked God to censor my

dreams and I actively command satan and his demons to stay away. I

also pray that God will pour light onto my dreams, as many are in

darkness. Now the strangest things started to happen.

My

dreams are still not completely clean, but I now see them all in the

light. I have had two sexual dreams where I have literally turned to

the other people in the dream and said, “this is wrong”.

God is now granting me control in my sleep. Of course the demons are

not happy with this and I have been forcefully held down twice in

bed, as though there was a clamp around my mind. But in the name of

Jesus, I’ve managed to break out of it and pray away the sheer terror

I felt. Now I’m asking God to remove all fear of satan from me, so I

can stand against these evil powers, even as I sleep.

The

spiritual realm is so misunderstood, but through prayer, I can now

see that God can open my mind to what he wants me to see.

Incidentally, when I awoke from the demonic oppression the other

night, I cried out, “In the name of Jesus, be gone”, and I

saw a demon flying from my body and through the wall. It was black,

with what looked like a strange tail. Of course, many people (even

Christians) will probably think I’ve gone mad, or say I’m simply

having a nightmare. But I now know that there is no such thing as

‘simply having a nightmare’! A nightmare is not of God and it is not

in God’s will for me to continue having them.

I

feel like I’ve babbled on a lot in this letter and I really must

finish now, so I can catch the post. Basically I just wanted to share

with you some of the things that God has been doing. I could go on

and on, but these events stand out.

love

to you and Rach, please write soon,

John

———————————-

John’s

story shows that a person can be totally set free from homosexuality.

More than that there is a definite growth in his relationship with

Jesus. There are also two instances where I prayed for females. These

two women turned from their lesbian relationships to preferring male

company. One of them explained to me that in the case of a lesbian

the relationship is not primarily based on sex, but rather on

companionship.

I

encourage anybody who is homosexual to seek Jesus Christ, so that he

can release you from a tormenting and frustrating situation.

Homosexual men and women, let God give you the right kind of person,

one of his choosing, who will make you happy!

Genesis

2:18,22&23

18/

Then the LORD God said, “It

is not good for the man to live alone. I will make a suitable

companion to help him.

22/

He formed a woman out of the rib and brought her to him.

23/

Then the man said, “At last, here is one of my own kind — Bone

taken from my bone, and flesh from my flesh. ‘Woman’ is her name

because she was taken out of man.”

24/

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united with his

wife, and they become one.

Chapter

20

Faith

TRY

TO LEARN WHAT PLEASES THE LORD.

Ephesians

5:10

God

is pleased when we have enough

faith

to trust

Him.

What

is faith?

Hebrews

11

1)

To have faith

is to be sure

of the things

we hope

for, to be certain of the things we cannot

see.

2/

It was by their faith

that people

of ancient times won God’s

approval.

6/

No

one can please God without faith,

for whoever comes to God must have faith that God exists and

rewards those who seek him.

WE

HURT GOD BY OUR UNBELIEF AND DOUBT

Through

a word of knowledge God showed me how we make Him sad by our

unbelief.

June

1984

(1)

Every time you fear or are worried about something, you hurt

Me.

It means that you

don’t have the faith

to put your

trust in Me

and believe that I will take care of what you think are serious

problems. Beware of satan. Mark my words he is there and waiting to

trap you in any way possible. Believe me he has the power to

counterfeit Me and will lead you to believing you are doing God’s

things, when in fact you are doing things which are of satan. He is

there waiting to strike, but I am ready with my shield to protect, at

the very second satan strikes, but I

shall only do that if you ask Me.

July

1984

(2)

And when you are worried do not be afraid (John 14:1,27), because I

am there to comfort you, and to pick you up in my arms (Hosea 11:3)

and rock you back and forth until all your troubles are gone. Do not

be afraid to ask for anything you desire, within reason, because I

will give it to you. I love each and everyone of you – then isn’t it

right that you should love each and every person I have put on the

earth? Spread my Word. (Matthew 28:18-20).

You

should be glad as the Holy Spirit has revealed himself to you. But do

not speak of me and then deny me as Peter did, you will lead a

miserable life; discontented and disappointed. I am your God and you

are my child. As your father kneels to kiss your forehead (Hosea

11:4) I wanted to do the same, if you accept me into your life.

Remember I am with you and acknowledge to others that I am your

Saviour, your Father and the one who loves you and brings peace of

mind to you (John 14:27), your home and your family. Remember my

wings are spread over you to protect you from the dangers of the

world (Matthew 23:37).

Your

faith

has brought you to me and your faith will keep you with me. And do

not question where you shall go once you are dead, but spread my

message and let others come to know me, as I come to know you. If I

made you surely I should know you, your character, your feelings and

your problems.

I

am your God do not forget this. I am here when you need me. Do not be

afraid, for my love will be with you eternally.

Salvation

We

receive salvation simply by believing in Jesus Christ.

John

3:16 For

God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that

everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.

Acts

16:31

They answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved

— you and your family.”

See

also:

John 5:24; 20:39-40

Romans

3:22-23; 5:1; 10:9-10

Acts

13:39

ASK

GOD TO GIVE YOU AN ABUNDANCE OF FAITH

1

Corinthians 12:9, Luke 17:5, John 15:7, 16

The

lyrics of the song, ‘Trust and Obey’ are very appropriate, as

well as being a commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ:

Trust

and obey

for there’s

no other way to be happy in Jesus,

but to trust

and obey.”

Examples

of great faith in the Bible

The

leper, Matthew 8:2&3

The

centurion Matthew 8:5-13

The

bleeder Matthew 9:20-22

The

blind men Matthew 9:28-30

The

Syrophenician woman Matthew 15:21-28

Jesus

and the fig tree

Matthew 21:21&22

21/

Jesus answered, “I assure you that if you believe

and do

not doubt,

you will be able to do what I have done to this fig tree. And not

only this, but you will even be able to say to this hill, ‘Get up and

throw yourself in the sea,’ and it will.

22/

If

you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Faith

works very much on the same principle as planting bulbs. The bulbs

are growing,

developing

under

the ground, without any visible

results from above

the ground. Yet by adding water and fertiliser, the green shoots will

eventually grow above the ground. Eventually the green stalks, leaves

and then flowers will appear one day.

So

it is with prayer and trusting in God’s word, something happens in

the world unseen by us. Faith in God is like the water and fertiliser

which helps the bulbs to grow. I

have seen immediate answers to prayer, but there have also been times

where I have had to wait.

The issue is that God has heard the prayer from the instance it was

spoken, but in the case of my leg it took some time for my leg to

look normal again, likewise with the baby I prayed for in PNG.

IT

HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE!

God

gave me a prayer for healing some time ago. The concluding sentences

are note worthy.

Make

sure that both of you believe totally . Don’t even say “if”,

because it

has already been done.

Therefore have

faith

and be

strong,

for I am constantly with you, especially

when you’re at your weakest.

Special

promises to those who trust God

2

Chronicles 20:20

Put

your trust in the LORD your God and you will stand your ground.

Psalm

31:19 Psalm 32:10

Psalm

34:22 Psalm 125:1

Proverbs

29:25 Isaiah 26:3

Faith:

a)

assures

success

– 2Kings 6:15-23

b)

a

duty

– John 6:28, 29

c)

essential

in prayer

– James l:5, 6

d)

a

defensive weapon

– Ephesians 6:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:8; 1 Timothy 1:19; Hebrews

10:22-23.

Other

verses dealing with trusting God.

Psalms

37:3-5 & 118:8

Isaiah

26:4, 50:10

Chapter

21

Roots

The

purpose of the roots of a plant or tree is to hold

it in place,

while at the same time providing

water

and food.

Colossians

2:6, 7

6/

Since you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in union with him.

7/

Keep your

roots deep in him,

build your lives on him, and become stronger

in your faith,

as you were taught. And be filled

with thanksgiving.

Baby

Christians

If

you’re a baby Christian use the above Bible verses as a prayer for

your own life. If you know of a baby Christian, pray the above Bible

verses to stop them from slipping away – otherwise the following will

happen.

Matthew

13:6 But when the sun came up, it burnt the young plants; and

because the

roots had not grown deep enough, the plants soon dried up.

When

a person becomes a Christian let the Holy Spirit convict them what

they should get rid of in their life. Don’t you try to pull

out all the weeds at once

in a baby

Christian’s life,

or else they could become discouraged and lose faith.

Matthew

13:28-29 ‘It was some enemy who did this’, he answered. ‘Do you

want us to go and pull up the weeds?’ they asked him.

29/

‘No,’ he answered, ‘because as you gather the weeds you might

pull up some of the wheat along with them.

Mature

Christians

Once

you are a mature Christian make sure that the roots

of the weeds

in your life do

not strangle

the root of God. (Remember the Jimmy Swaggart story).

How

to nourish the root system and thus the plant.

*

Feed on the Word of God.

*

Seek God continually.

Be

productive – produce fruit

1/

Be like Isaiah 37:31 and John 15:4,5&8

2/

Do

not

be like Hosea 9:16

ARE

YOU A TUMBLEWEED?

A

tumbleweed is a bush that rolls around the desert because it dried up

and then broke off at ground level. The bush is then blown around the

desert by the wind. Is your life aimless,

or do you have a definite purpose in life? Is

Jesus the main focus of that purpose?

My

tooth

– killing off the root

In

Jonah chapter 4, God commanded a worm to attack the root of the plant

and it died. While teaching the story of Jonah during scripture, I

had a toothache. I placed my hand on that part of the face where the

pain was and commanded the root of the aching tooth to die. My

prayers worked, for the tooth stopped aching and has never ached

again, nor did it turn black.

The

Wart on my Finger

On

several occasions I had prayed for people covered in warts and they

had simply fallen off a few days later. Yet here I had a wart on my

finger that I had prayed about for months on end and it hadn’t fallen

off. Finally God gave me the following prayer. Tie off the root

system of that wart, so that it can no longer feed on your flesh.

Within days the wart dropped off.

MAKE

EPHESIANS 3:17 THE PRAYER FOR YOUR LIFE

and

I pray that Christ will make his home in your

hearts through faith. I pray that you may have your roots and

foundation in love.

Chapter

22

Malaysia

– 1997

Glenda

a friend of mine and I decided to go for a holiday to Malaysia. God

obviously wanted us to go for she was able to get a passport very

quickly, as well as get time off work.

On

the plane we sat in front of a Chinese couple, Tung and Choong. The

couple befriended us and promised to take us sightseeing in Kuala

Lumpur. As Choong had to work on the Saturday, only Tung was able to

come. He drove us to the Malacca Straits. We had an absolutely

wonderful time seeing the sights. The trip was especially interesting

for me because I had studied Malaysian History and the Malacca

Straits during my third year at university.

Sunday,

faithfully as promised, Tung and Choong picked us up at 9 a.m. We

started our sightseeing at the Selangor Pewter factory, this turned

out to be an interesting experience.

Our

next stop was to be the Batu caves. We came across a Hindu procession

which was making it’s way to the area. In order for us to reach the

temple complex we had to climb steps that seemed never ending, half

way up the mountain.

The

large temple area contained various sections where a variety of

deities were being worshipped, ranging from the elephant to the

peacock, or figures of human beings. I was reminded that the Bible

says, behind every idol is a demon.

No!

What I am saying is that what is sacrificed on pagan altars is

offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be partners

with demons. 1Corinthians 10:20

Needless

to say I prayed over the place and for the people going there. The

Old Testament speaks of the foolishness of people who made idols out

of wood or stone and then bowed down to them.

Exodus

32:2 Aaron said to them, “Take off your gold earrings which your

wives, your sons, and daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.”

4/

He took the earrings, melted them, poured the gold into a mould, and

made a gold bull-calf. The people said, “Israel, this is our

god, who led us out of Egypt!”

Nothing

has changed in thousands of years people are still making idols and

bowing down to the devil, instead of worshipping the only true God,

Creator of heaven and earth – the Lord Jesus Christ.

We

were just making our way down the enormous stairs when the Hindu

procession arrived. God always has perfect timing. What we saw was

amazing, but also very evil. Some men had metal rods through their

cheeks. Other men had up to twelve hooks in their backs and like

animals, were pulling heavy carts containing statues of their

deities. The priestesses wore bright yellow clothes. All the

participants looked possessed, or else they were on drugs. Eyes

stared vacantly into the distance, as they danced in a frenzy. With

others the tongue protruded from the mouth rolling around crazily.

God

had planned it so that Glenda and I could pray for the procession,

and other people who had come to watch. I was very proud of Glenda,

considering she was only a baby Christian of 5 months. She was very

supportive and did a great job.

Later

that day Tung took us to a shopping centre that had a canal flowing

through it. We also visited the Prime Minister’s Memorial – or old

residence. On our way to the last sight seeing place the rain started

to pour.

On

our arrival in Malaysia, Glenda and I had prayed for rain, so that

the massive choking smoke from the Indonesian forest fires could be

washed away. The situation was very bad and not only was visibility

very poor, but people just couldn’t breathe properly. Naturally we

thanked God for answering our prayers.

After

an hour the pouring rain had most certainly made a difference to the

air quality, but also caused flooding. We found that out the hard way

as Tung drove over a hill and sailed into a lake of water that

covered the road. The car stopped instantly.

In

the 45 minutes that Tung tried to start the car the water rose higher

and higher. I pictured us floating away. I could hardly ask God to

stop the rain when it was needed to clear the air. Yet as long as it

rained so heavily there would be no likelihood of anybody stopping to

help us. That was obvious by the many trucks driving past. In the now

dark night, the situation looked even darker, considering that we

could be stranded in this out of the way place.

At

last a truck stopped and a small man, who looked more like a child,

than an adult, stepped out. He went to Choong’s window and asked if

the engine had died. Upon being told that that was the case he walked

to the back of the car and started to push. Considering the car was

medium sized and contained four adults, the job seemed impossible,

especially since it sat in water up to the doors.

As

the man started to push I found myself saying, “Tung start the

engine, start the engine”. I completely forgot that the man had

tried for 45 minutes and nothing had happened. With one flick of the

wrist and a turn of the key the engine sprang to life, purring like a

kitten. On a human level this is just not possible, because water

would have gotten into the exhaust and most certainly the engine.

Tung

drove to the side of the road and with the engine still running he

threw his hands into the air and shouted,

“Thank

you Jesus, thank you Jesus. Now I believe, now I believe”.

Choong likewise raised her hands and loudly praised Jesus. God’s

presence in the car was awesome.

During

Saturday and Sunday, Glenda and I had been gently witnessing to the

pair, now through a mighty miracle they both believed. As we drove on

Tung said, “When I get home I’m going to tell my mother that I

am no longer a Buddhist, but a Christian.”

Back

at the hotel I took both of them through a prayer whereby they asked

Jesus into their hearts and asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

What a miracle working God we serve.

Chapter

23

Fiji

revisited – 1997

Quite

by chance my daughter and I stumbled onto a Fijian church, not far

from where we lived; it was here that I met Melanie. One night, while

in the 3rd row from the front, I saw 4 women rolling around on the

floor. They had come out for prayer. In my spirit I felt that there

was something drastically wrong with these women. They had come out

for prayer week after week, but there had been no change in their

condition. Although the church claimed to be a Holy Spirit filled

church (Assembly of God) the leaders weren’t operating in the gifts

of the Holy Spirit. Concerned about the welfare of the women I asked

God for a Word of Knowledge.

For

the woman I now know as Melanie the answer immediately came by the

word, ‘death’. Shocked I asked again in case I hadn’t heard

right, but the same answer came – death! After the service I told

her that she had death over her life because of her hatred, anger and

violence. She admitted that what I had said was the truth.

1John

3:14 … Those who do not love are still under the power of death.

I

approached one of the church leaders and offered to pray for Melanie.

He was happy to back me up. The change was immediate and not only was

there a physical change, in that she looked happier and brighter, but

the hatred for her husband disappeared. In the following weeks their

marriage, for the first time in a long time, was happy.

Over

the months we became good friends and I ended up joining her in her

Fijian village when she went there for a month. All of her family

received me warmly, and went out of their way to be kind to me.

On

the morning of the 3rd day I couldn’t help but say to her, in front

of her father and a relative, that her behaviour towards me and

others of her family had been very rude. Apparently in Fiji Melanie

behaved differently than she did in Australia. Here she could boss

her relatives around, because they were dependent on her secondhand

clothes and money.

My

few words were responded to with such foul abuse that I hadn’t heard

in a long time. When I ignored her she became violent. The Word of

God says that:

43/

“When an evil spirit goes out of a person, it travels over dry

country looking for a place to rest. If it can’t find one,

44/

it says to itself, ‘I will go back to my house’. So it goes back and

finds the house empty, clean, and all tidied up.

45/

Then it goes out and brings along seven other spirits even worse than

itself, and they come and live there. So when it is all over, that

person is in worse shape than at the beginning. Matthew 12:43-45

Sadly,

Melanie had a choice whether to give in to pride, anger, violence and

all the other things that had been cast out of her life, or to let

them back in. She let them back in. We do have a free will.

Besides

the foul language I was told to get out immediately. Considering I

was in a strange country, where not everybody speaks English and

living on a limited budget, put a damper on my holiday. It didn’t

take me long to work out that the devil didn’t want me in the

village, considering the amount of miracles God had performed. A lot

of people had been healed and others had received the Baptism of the

Holy Spirit.

At

first Melanie’s brother and his wife had offered to take me in, but

he buckled under his sister’s pressure to get rid of me. Arrangements

were then made to dump me across the river. On the morning of the 4th

day I found myself in a boat heading away from the village.

Incredibly

2 days before another brother and his wife had taken me sightseeing

up and around the river. In one of the villages I had met a wonderful

couple Bai and Rena. They invited me to come back again. God put it

on my heart to say goodbye to the people. As it turned out when I

shared my predicament with them they agreed to let me stay. God works

in strange ways!

Those

who had brought me in the boat were not happy that I was going to

stay in Rewa village; they were frightened at what Melanie might say.

How weak people are! At one stage as we were sitting in the kitchen,

a traditional bure, the Holy Spirit told me that Esther, one of the

relatives from Melanie’s family was trying to poison Rena and her

sister-in-law Mereoni against me. I looked Esther straight in the

face and said to her, “In P.N.G when a man spoke against me in

Pidgin, God by His Holy Spirit told me what he had said. Now God told

me what you said to these two women.” She immediately became

embarrassed. Rena later told me that Esther had been talking badly

about me, but had changed the subject the minute I had pulled her up.

God is good!

While

in Rewa village God did a mighty work. I prayed for a child with

conjunctivitis. The pus disappeared from her eyes the very next day.

Also her skin showed a vast improvement. I prayed for a 11 year old

girl who had suffered badly from a terrible skin disease for 9 years.

God healed her miraculously and within 4 days the perfect new skin

came through.

During

Bible study a woman complained about a very sore shoulder. I prayed

for her and within a few minutes the pain was completely gone. On the

second day, while I was teaching, the women and I noticed a little

girl whose ear was completely filled with green pus. She also had a

very high temperature. I stopped teaching and prayed for the child.

An hour later when we had a break I suggested to the mother that she

might like to clean out the child’s ear. Not only I, but all the

other women were totally amazed to see that the canal was now

completely clean and you could look right into the ear. Also the

temperature had disappeared. Praise God!

Upon

leaving Fiji I had the opportunity to witness to a Hindu taxi driver

and a Hindu travel agent. All in all God kept me very busy in my ten

days in that country and I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for the many

miracles that were performed. I also thank God for touching the

hearts of the many ‘Christians’ I was able to challenge, for in truth

these people were only religious and there was no fruit in their

life.

Chapter

24

What

Jesus Means to Me

He

is my friend

He

never gets tired of my complaints. What friend would listen to the

same sob story over and over again? Jesus does! The words spoken by

Jesus in John 15:13-15, mean a lot to me.

13)

The greatest love you can have for your friends is to give your life

for them.

14)

And you are my friends if you do what I command you.

15)

I do not call you servants any longer, because servants do not know

what their master is doing. Instead, I

call you friends,

because I have told you everything I heard from my Father.

The

above words and an incident relating to my mother have given the word

‘friendship’ a deeper meaning. Late one Sunday evening my mother

rang.

“Where

have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you all evening.”

“At church

mum, as you might have guessed. Why don’t you try it some time,”

came my annoyed reply.

“If

I want to talk to God, I can go to my room any time I feel like it. I

don’t have to go to church!”

The

‘I’s said it all; here was a typical one-sided relationship,

where my mother only talked to God if and when

it suited

her. Needless to say, when she was in need, it suited her!

Interestingly

enough, only that same week I had mentally made a list of people who

always seemed happy enough for me to visit or phone them, but never

reciprocated. I decided to see what would happen if I didn’t contact

them for a few weeks. Seventeen years later they still haven’t

contacted me, so I guess they weren’t interested in me as a friend.

Just as well it didn’t take me seventeen years to work that one out,

but I did realise that friendship is based on a two-way relationship.

I

treasure my friendship with Jesus, so I try to spend as much time

with Him as possible. Close friends want to talk to each other as

much as possible. The constant contact helps to cement the

friendship. The same principle applies to a relationship with Jesus

Christ. During the week, before I go to work, I get up at least an

hour earlier, in order to spend time reading the Bible, praying and

praising God. At 7 o’clock I have breakfast and then get ready for

work. I do this not out of habit, or obligation, but simply because I

want to spend time with God. You get out of a relationship what you

put into it. I guess the same principle applies to a bank account;

you can only withdraw the money you have in the account. You can’t

withdraw money you don’t have.

People

constantly say to me, “Oh

pray for me. God hears you, He won’t listen to me.”

Not

true!

God loves to hear other voices besides mine. Good communication is

essential in any relationship that involves talking and listening. So

often I hear people say, “Yes, I say my prayers every night.”

Just to rattle off a few words before you go to sleep is not having a

relationship with God. We do the talking, but we also need to listen

to what God has to say to us through reading the Bible.

Love

Letters

While

visiting my mother, God showed me the Bible in a way I had never seen

it before. Curiosity runs in the family, so it came as no surprise

when my mother felt the need to steam open her friend’s mail. For

months on end the person had received mail from overseas, but had

never opened it. Eventually the letters had grown into a neat pile.

While her friend was out, my mother decided to play detective.

Much

to her disappointment the letter she had steamed open contained no

earth shattering secret, or hint of a crime. As we went back into the

kitchen the inevitable question came up. “Why do you think those

letters are left unopened?” my mother asked.

“Maybe

they’re not interested in the information, or just don’t want to hear

the truth,” was my suggestion.

At

this stage God broke into the conversation and said:

I

also send my children love letters, but they never open them either

and read them.”

Shocked

I realised that most of the New

Testament

is written in letter

form.

I

can honestly say that now, I love Jesus, but that is only because I

have gotten to know

Him. I encourage everybody to seek Jesus’ friendship through talking

to Him,

listening

to Him,

reading

His Word

and obeying

His commandments.

Hosea

6:3 Let us try to know

the Lord.

6/

I want your constant love, not your animal sacrifice. I would rather

have my people know

me

than burn offerings to me.

The

following was a message from God for one of the students at Bible

study.

Dearest

Roseanne, it’s been a tough year, hasn’t it; trying to make friends

and trying to get good grades. Well don’t worry, because I’ll be your

friend eternally and if you’ll try to be my friend and ask Me to

allow you to fit in, it will be done the very second you ask. Don’t

be afraid of the world Roseanne. Learn to stand on your own feet now,

and you’ll find it even easier as you go on with Me by your side,

holding your hand.

Jesus

is my friend and I can honestly say that He has never let me down in

all the years I have served Him.

He

is my strength

Many

years ago I opened the Bible to find the following words staring at

me:

My

grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in

weakness.

2Corinthians

12:9

People

comment that I have a strong character. At all times I remind them

that my strength comes from Jesus.

As

I look back over my life I thank God for giving me the strength to

study for my Higher School Certificate, then an Arts Degree and a

Diploma of Education, as a mature student, while I was raising three

little children. I also thank God that He gave me the strength and

persistence to stand against corruption while at university. One of

the History lecturers had not bothered to keep records for the whole

student body. At the end of the year he simply took a stab in the

dark as to who he should pass or fail.

The

amount of corruption in this world is unbelievable. What is even more

unbelievable is the fact that very few people speak up for what is

right and against that which is wrong.

In my twelve years of teaching for the N.S.W. Department of Education

I spoke up against child sexual abuse, the teaching of satanic

activities in drama, a satanic book and yoga being incorporated in

sport. Other supposed Christians knew that such activities were going

on, but never spoke up. Apparently there are those people who fear

man more than they fear God. Eventually I lost my job, not just

because I spoke out but because I also dared to have Bible studies at

lunchtime. Almost two years later and $41,000 in legal expenses, I

won my case against the Education Department in the Australian

Arbitration Court.

The

moments of victory were short lived however, as the Department

appealed against the decision and took the matter to a higher court.

The judge was very selective in the evidence he listened to. My

barrister was constantly cut off, whereas the barrister from the

Department was allowed to trot out as many lies as he chose. We lost

the case. At the insistence of my solicitor and barrister I prepared

and presented my case before the Full Bench of the Australian Federal

Arbitration Court. Only God’s strength saw me through this time of

hardship and stress.

Turning

the other Cheek

Turning

the other cheek takes strength. I was worried about the fact that I

might not be strong enough to turn the “other cheek”, so I

had a chat to God about it. To my amazement the following was the

answer:

“You’ve

been doing it for years. When you forgive those who have persecuted

you and you treat them as if nothing has happened, you are turning

the other cheek.”

I

hadn’t expected an immediate answer from God, but I’m grateful that

He gave it to me anyway.

Over

twelve years of teaching in public schools I’ve had plenty of

opportunity to ‘turn the other cheek’. If I wasn’t the butt of

people’s jokes, I became their whipping post, when things went wrong.

For people to abuse me for no particular reason was not a rare

occurrence. You might say, “Hey, let’s hear the other side.”

A fair comment; but unless a person has been persecuted because they

follow Jesus, they will not understand.

Five

classes had assembled in the library, to listen to a visiting

Aboriginal speaker. As participation was required I put up my hand.

The man asked me what my first name was. I responded by giving him my

married name. I hesitated when he insisted on knowing my first name.

As I did so a student yelled out, “It’s Jesus, it’s Jesus.”

The cry was immediately taken up by 150 chanting mocking voices. Even

other teachers laughed and found the scene highly amusing.

God

gave me the strength to stand there, propped up against a filing

cabinet, smiling. When the laughter had finished I had the added

strength to give my mockers a little bow. If they had expected to see

me run out in tears it didn’t happen; instead my response brought

dead silence. How true the Word of God is: “I can do all things

through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.” To simply rattle off

Bible verses is being religious. Putting the Word of God into

practice is a different matter altogether.

I

put the Word of God into practice when I went into the morgue to pray

over a corpse. By rights the person should have been buried, or at

least been in the funeral parlour, considering he had been dead for

three days. As it turned out the coroner was examining the corpse, so

my daughter and I were asked to wait till he had finished. Instead of

hanging around waiting for the coroner to finish, God put it on our

hearts to pray in the car. Prayer knows no distance.

As

we sat in the car God told us how to pray. Firstly, we were to

command the spirit of death to leave his body. God also caused my

daughter to pray that Peter would have the desire to want to live. We

both prayed in tongues and English for some time, battling against

doubt and unbelief.

God

assured Rachael that Peter would receive life, but that she would not

see him, “just yet”. We prayed for about three quarters of

an hour. Our prayer session finished with John 15:7 and John 14:14.

Then I found myself saying, “Oh

LORD my God, please honour your word.

God caused me to pray in this way, for never would I have dared to do

so otherwise. By 4 p.m. that afternoon I had total faith that Peter

was alive. So you can imagine my sadness when I found out that the

man had been buried two days later. Nonetheless, I didn’t question

God.

About

Monday or Tuesday the following week, God explained to us what had

happened in the morgue the previous Friday. For a start God had made

sure that Peter had been kept in the morgue till my return from

overseas. As we prayed God did give Peter momentary life in order to

ask Jesus into his heart. God

then let Peter die physically,

but had made

him alive spiritually.

That is why God

had said to Rachael at the time of our prayer in the car that Peter

would receive life, but she would not see him just yet.

There

will be those people who won’t accept this incident, but if Jesus can

call Lazarus out of the world of the dead after four days, why not

Peter? God is greater than any religion, for if He had not intervened

this young man would have gone to hell for committing suicide. What a

waste of life to die in your early twenties.

Jesus

is my protector

There

have been many instances when the children and I were in great

danger, yet Jesus protected us. On one occasion the children and I

had gone for a drive with a friend. The car skidded on the gravel,

hit the bridge and then the railing. Although several windows were

broken and we were covered in glass not one of us had even received a

scratch.

Another

instance where God protected my daughter and myself was when the

brakes and steering locked. The car, on two wheels, skidded across

the road, ready to mount the gutter and hit the wall in front of us.

All I could say in my mind was, “Jesus!” Instantly the car

was in control again. As I reversed from the curb and pulled back

into the right lane, three cars came towards me. If they had come one

minute earlier while my car had been out of control, there would have

been a four car pile-up.

Jesus

is my Lord and Saviour

God

used my granddaughter, Sarah, to explain to me why we need Jesus as

our Saviour. While cleaning my flat, I saw a vision of my

granddaughter in her high chair, at the age of twelve months. In

reality Sarah was about two and a half years old. The child was in

the process of feeding herself and food was everywhere, her hair,

face and body. She looked a mess. God asked me, “Do you love

Sarah?”

My

answer was immediate. “Oh yes LORD.”

“Kiss

her.”

Horrified

I answered, “Oh no she’s dirty LORD.”

“But

you do love her, don’t you?”

“Yes

LORD.”

In

my vision I picked Sarah up by the scruff of the neck and carried her

to the bathroom. Peeling off her clothes, I bathed her. As I dried

and powdered the baby on the lounge, God said to me:

You

see, it’s like that with me too. I love all whom I have created, but

I am a Holy God and they are stained with sin therefore I cannot hug

and kiss them.”

A

bath will wash the outside of the body, but only the precious blood

of the Lord Jesus Christ will wash the heart clean.

Isaiah

1:18-20

18)

The LORD says, “Now, let’s settle the matter. You are stained

red with sin, but I will wash

you as clean as snow. Although your stains are deep red, you will be

as white as wool.

19)

If you will only obey me, you will eat the good things the land

produces.

20)

But if you defy me, you are doomed to die. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

In

the Old Testament of the Bible we are told God required the

sacrifices of an animal to take away the sins of the people.

Leviticus

9:7: Then he said to Aaron, “Go to the altar and offer the sin

offering and the burnt offering to take away your sins and the sins

of the people. Present this offering to take away the sins of the

people, just as the LORD commanded.”

Mankind

no longer needs to bring a sacrifice to God for our sins. God,

Himself has provided a perfect sacrifice.

Hebrews

9

25/

The Jewish high priest goes into the Most Holy Place every year with

the blood of an animal. But Christ did not go in to offer himself

many times,

26/

for then he would have had to suffer many times ever since the

creation of the world. Instead, now when all ages of time are nearing

the end, he has appeared once and for all, to remove

sin through the sacrifice of himself.

28/

In the same manner Christ also was offered in

sacrifice

once

to

take away the sins of many.

He will appear

a second time,

not to deal with sin, but to save those who are waiting for him.

Chapter

25

Diary

entries I made over the years.

The

Lost Watch – 1978

Last

weekend the children and I went for a picnic with my Vietnamese

friends. We had only been in the picnic grounds for a short time when

Kwai became very upset. He had left his watch in the men’s room and

on his return it had gone. The watch was made out of solid white gold

and had been a present from his wife, Liem. Under the circumstances

it was easy to see why he was so upset.

I

suggested that we should all pray asking God to convict the person

who had stolen the watch to return it. Our prayers seemed pretty

impossible for nobody would hand in such a valuable item. After an

hour Kwai became so depressed we left for home.

Kwai

just rang me to say that last night he had received a phone call to

say that the watch had been found in the grass. Apparently, whoever

had the watch either lost it, or threw it away – either being a

pretty amazing thing! Praise God for His miracle working powers!

Matthew

19:26. Jesus looked straight at them and answered, “This is

impossible for human beings, but for

God everything is possible.”

Living

Halfway between Heaven and Hell -1979

My

mother was living in the Church of England rectory, besides that she

was surrounded by churches and a graveyard. To her right was the

Church of England, to the left the Catholic convent, in front, across

the road, the Methodist church and the cemetery became the boundary

to the backyard.

One

day, while in my loungeroom, I saw a vision of my mother’s place. By

walking halfway down the backyard you could see my mother’s house,

the church and the cemetery. God told me to tell my mother that she

was living halfway between heaven and hell. She had the choice to go

to His house and eternal life – through the Lord Jesus Christ, or go

to the cemetery and eternal hell.

The

next time we went to visit my mother I took her to the exact spot I

had seen in the vision and gave her God’s message. Her angry response

was that she didn’t have time to go to church because of her cake

business. Besides she could talk to God in her bedroom any time she

wanted to.

“I

will show my concern for you.” – 1980

On

a day when I was feeling a bit down I threw myself on the bed and

asked God to speak to me. I opened the Bible at Jeremiah 29:10-14

(Good News version). I knew Jeremiah spoke about God’s punishment for

the people of Israel, so I decided to close the Bible again. As I was

about to do so God said, “First you ask me to talk to you, then

you don’t want to hear what I have to say.” As I looked at the

page I had opened these words imprinted themselves upon my heart.

I

will show my concern for you and keep my promise to bring you back

home. I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you

prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope

for. Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I

will answer you. You will seek me, and you will find me because you

will seek me with all your heart. Yes I say you will find me, … I,

the LORD, have spoken.

Haven’t

I always Promised to Provide for You? – 1980

My

friends Liem and Kwai asked me to pray to God so that Liem would pass

her examinations in order to get a permanent position. (She already

had a part-time job.) I prayed and the immediate answer was:

Haven’t

I always promised to provide for you, I will do no more and no less.

Liem

failed the examination and didn’t get the full-time position. God not

only answered Liem’s question, but also reassured me that I was not

to worry about the necessities of life, because God would provide.

God’s

Jewel – 1980

After

teaching I would normally go to Bible study. This time however, I was

too tired and I drove home instead. I don’t know why, but halfway

there I found myself turning around and ended up at the Bible study.

After a while the leader remarked that God has two books, one where

our names are written before time and a Book of Remembrance. The

following Bible verses touched my heart. Malachi 3:16-17

16/

Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the

LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written

before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his

name.

17/

And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of Hosts, in that day when I

make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own

son that serveth him. (King James version)

Divorce

– 1982

Rosemary

a good friend, is separated from her husband. As I like both of them,

my dearest wish was for them to stay together. I was thinking to

myself, “I wish Rosemary would stay married. I wish Rosemary

would stay married.”

God

interrupted my thoughts and said, “Why didn’t you stay married?”

“Because

I couldn’t bear it LORD!”

“Then

don’t expect her to bear it!”

I

never saw any physical abuse, but that doesn’t mean to say that there

wasn’t any mental abuse.

Fear

Not – 1982

A

few days before we went camping, I felt rather discouraged at having

to cope by myself. As I was arranging some papers a sheet fell out on

which I had written a scripture lesson from the previous year. In big

bold letters the memory verse read:

Isaiah

41:13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto

thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

Car

accident – 1983

I

don’t insure my car because I trust God to protect me. In all the

years that I have owned a car (11 years) I had never had an accident.

Other cars had run into me and out of that my cars had been fixed up,

then I would sell them at a profit.

This

time however, I ran into a new Corolla. I had not even had time to

brake and hit the other car with full force. Unbelievably there was

not even a scratch or dint in the Corolla’s bumper bar. The damage to

my own car came to $400.

For

a week I had to drive around with a wreck of a car until the required

parts could be obtained. People said, “But of course you are

insured so it won’t cost you as much.”

To

that I would reply, “No I’m not insured, because God looks after

me.”

“Well

where was God when this happened?” was the usual response.

On

the following Saturday morning, while sitting in bed, I sincerely

asked God why He had allowed me to have the accident. God’s answer

came immediately.

“What

hurt more the dint in the car, or the dint in your pride?

I

am afraid the dint in my pride had hurt more, after all the car was

only one and a half years old.

A

Cellar of Wine Turned to Vinegar – 1983

Blessed

be the wonderful name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I had prayed to God

on many occasions about the evil surrounding the house in Warrawong,

where I was holding Bible studies. I had asked God to show me what it

was that allowed the evil to be in the house. Two or three weeks

later while visiting friends I asked them to pray for my sore neck.

Incredibly as my friends were praying God gave me a vision about the

house in Warrawong.

In

my mind I saw the side of the house and an iron gate leading to the

cellar which was full of home made wine. In dismay I realised that I

could not destroy the bottles. Driving home later that night God

answered my problem by saying: “Jesus can turn water into wine.

Jesus can turn wine into vinegar.”

I

prayed the prayer, believing a hundred percent. At the next Bible

study I asked Chris about the welfare of her father, the owner of the

house and maker of wine. “He can’t drink the wine anymore from

under the house, it makes him sick,” came the reply.

The

same reply came for many weeks, until one evening Chris said, “He

drank a mouthful from one of the bottles last night, however, spat it

out immediately saying, ‘I can’t drink this, it’s vinegar’.”

After

the prayer and the wine turning into vinegar Chris told me that every

morning a white dove would come and sit on the roof. How amazing, for

the Bible records that the Holy Spirit, during Jesus’ baptism, came

“down like a dove”.

The

wrong doctrine of the Unification Pentecostal Church – 1983

The

church is also at times referred to as the Jesus only church. My

friend Rose had become pulled in by the false doctrine and was trying

to convert me. As I was listening to her on the phone, God spoke to

me.

“Write

down what has happened and every time you think they’re not wrong,

read it.”

The

following diary entries tell of people who either were already in the

cult, or were being indoctrinated by its members.

1/

Friday

2Peter

3:16 … There are some difficult things in his letters which

ignorant

and unstable people explain falsely,

as they do with other passages of the Scriptures. So they bring

on their own destruction.

As

I read the above passages to Anne, there was a tremendous touch of

the Holy Spirit and God said:

“Because

they deny the Holy Spirit they do not have Him to explain the

Scriptures for them.”

2/

Sunday

Betty

came down for a chat; to run down the Holy Trinity. When I told her

to stop insulting the Holy Spirit, or change the subject, or leave,

she tried to strangle me. Jesus never tried to strangle anybody

because they disagreed with him. Her actions were of the devil.

Praise God for His protection, for as she tried to grab my throat the

third time it felt as if an invisible wall had slid between us.

3/

Wednesday

night

(a few weeks later),

As

Anne was about to leave she told me she was terrified of going home

in her car. We prayed and an evil presence seemed to leave her. Sonja

and I felt that there might be something in the car, not of God. Anne

explained that earlier, when she had tried to get into the car, she

had felt a horrible iciness. As we discussed the matter Anne

remembered that she had two books in the car from Tammy, one being

called, “The Two Babylons”, or something to that affect.

The books spoke against the Trinity. We burnt them. When we came back

upstairs Anne sank to the floor and asked God’s forgiveness for not

having paid attention to Him before.

4/

A few days later, Tammy rang Anne, wanting the books. Tammy put all

the blame of the destruction of the books on me and said such

horrible things about me that Anne felt herself getting sicker and

sicker. Anne told me in her sick state she went to John’s place, on

the way she decided to briefly stop of at her daughter’s place. After

she finished telling Angela the story, she tried to say, “but

Tammy said,” and again “but Tammy said.” At this point

God spoke mightily through her mouth and said, “I am the LORD

your God, listen to me, don’t listen to Tammy.”

5/

29th

November, 1983

I

was surprised that Tammy came to wish me a happy birthday, today. She

even brought me a lovely bunch of flowers. I received her pleasantly,

wondering why she had come. That night I picked up the Bible as

usual. The first page I opened showed Acts 26:18, verse 18 was

heavily underlined.

You

are to open their eyes and turn them from the darkness to the light

and from the power of Satan to God, so that through their faith in me

they will have their sins forgiven and receive their place among

God’s chosen people.’

I

cried out to the Lord Jesus that I couldn’t do anything on my own;

only by the Holy Spirit could their eyes be opened. A few days later

God caused me to study Daniel – chapter 7:9-14. Verse 9 speaks about

God the Father sitting on the throne, verse 13,14 speaks about Jesus

Christ approaching the one who sat on the throne.

I

rang and told Tammy what God had shown me. Her reply was, “It’s

a difficult topic. We will have to discuss it at another time.”

The

whole argument of the Unification Pentecostal Church is that there is

only Jesus and He is God. Yes,

Jesus is God,

but we can’t ignore God

the Father

and God

the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said, “… baptise them in the name of the Father, the

Son, and the Holy Spirit.” At no stage would Jesus Christ lift

Himself up above the Father, or the Holy Spirit. So when Peter

baptised people in the name of Jesus only, that was not what Jesus

had intended. There is only one God, but three persons of that

Godhead.

l

John 5:7 For there are three

that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost:

and these three

are one.

John

1:14 tells us that Jesus Christ is the Word.

The

Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among

us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father’s

only Son.

Lila

Lila

was one of many children who came to Bible study at lunchtime while I

taught for the Education Department. Like many other 14 and 15 year

olds she had a very sincere heart for God. As God does not look at

our sex (Galations 3:28; Joel 2:28), or age (1 Samuel chapter 3 &

1 Samuel chapter 16). He gave Lila spiritual gifts such as the gift

of speaking in tongues and interpretations and the word of knowledge

(1 Corinthians 12:1-11). Lila however was not the only one who God

anointed in a mighty way by His Holy Spirit. The reason for God’s

presence in these children might be that they came to Him in simple

faith and had not been contaminated by religion.

Our

Bible studies did not centre on the doctrines of any church, nor did

we follow a particular Bible study plan. We simply invited God the

Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit to be present and

teach us. One minister expressed his jealousy at God’s outpouring on

these children saying, “In forty years of serving God I’ve not

been given any of the gifts these kids have!”

The

Bible says test the spirits, (1John 4:1-6) so whenever Lila came to

me and said, “God has said this …” I would check it out

with the Bible. The following are some of the words of knowledge

given to her.

Newspaper

headline – Woman claims to be the Virgin Mary – 1984

In

these harsh times, you’ve seen the headlines, “Woman claims to

be the Virgin Mary”, how absurd. Mary was a woman just like you.

Also headlines such as, “Man speaks to Jesus, the Virgin Mary

and the saints, once a month”. Those poor people have to be

prayed for, to have their eyes opened to the evil around them.

Christmas

Please

give generously to all your brothers and sisters, after all you have

got everything because I have willed it to be. Do not, all of a

sudden, now at Christmas time feel close to me. That is not how it

should be; you should feel like you do now always, not once a year

when all this good-will towards men is going around. Good-will

towards men should be constant and not taken out of a box only once a

year on December 25th.

And

in your search for love, don’t look too hard or you’ll make a

mistake.

A

Message for Karolina – 1984

Karolina,

being filled with the Holy Spirit is a tremendous step, but you must

feed on the Holy Spirit with the nourishment it requires. After all

if you don’t give the fire wood, it will die out, it is the same with

the Holy Spirit. You must keep the Holy Spirit alive in you so others

may also see the difference.

A

message for Trenna – 1984

You

have got to learn to stand on your own two feet. What will happen

when you get to Keira? Will you neglect your gift because you don’t

have anyone to sort out your problems? Look Trenna, all you have to

do is ask Me how to go about solving your problems and I’ll give you

your answer. Don’t learn to depend on people too much, you know who

they are. You have got to turn yourself over to Me entirely, not just

half of yourself, not only your ears, or your eyes, these are only

instruments I have given you to use in your jobs as disciples for Me.

After all I created you, and therefore shouldn’t you let me take a

little control of your life?

Showing

respect

To

respect is to honour. To show respect is to have a special

acknowledgement towards someone you hold special in your heart. It

doesn’t mean you only respect some people, such as elders, but

respect all, including Myself. It is not such a big favour to ask.

And why do you not obey when I tell you to pray. But you hurt me most

when you complain saying, “God has given me too much of a

burden”. Well there is no need to feel heavy in your heart, for

I know just how much you can take, and the minute you begin to fall I

shall pick you up. He who is a Christian should dedicate his life to

God, not to himself. Do not think Lila has written this of her own

accord, it is Me – God. Ask yourself, am I doing all that is expected

of me? Or, if I’m a Christian should my life be in God’s hands (or my

own). If the answer is no, then you will end up nowhere – lost, but

if the answer is yes, you shall have the glory of my Kingdom for ever

and ever.

Heavy

Rock Groups

Lila

had been singing Boy George’s song, “It’s a Miracle”, when

God said to her:

The

only miracle they can make are that of satan to draw in the young and

brainwashing them into believing that hell is a free and wonderful

place. But when they do find out it is disgusting and foul, it will

be too late to change their ways, for all their lives they had a

chance to follow me.

The

Power of the Tongue

How

precious are the words you speak. I made your voice, your mouth and

your tongue, which enables you to speak to Me and to others. Even

though I have given you all these things, you abuse them and you use

foul and dirty language, which has all come from the dark side. I do

not want to hear that language which you think is fun to speak. Do

you think you will get on better with your friends if you swear? Well

if that is the case, you should have realised a long time ago that

you are mixing with the wrong kind of people. I’m not saying that you

should cut yourself right off from other kinds of people, all I am

asking is not to get too involved. You should know the right time to

bow out of a group of friends and if you don’t, ask Me and I will

tell you. The mouth is a powerful weapon, do not use it too often,

because it can lead to your downfall. (James 3:1-11).

There

is no coincidence only God!

I

have given you so many miracles to show you just how strong and

powerful I am. But even though I give you all these miracles you

still think it’s a coincidence, or something else. I know what you

want even before you open your mouth to speak to Me. I want to give

you all your desires, but you are impatient and you won’t wait for

further instructions. You let satan in and he shows you an easy way

out, but it’s the wrong way. If you have a little feeling inside of

you, that doesn’t feel so good, then make sure who it is – Me or

satan. You’ll come to the conclusion it’s satan.

Ask

Me for strength to tell others about Me. That particular task could

be impossible for man, but not to God. After all what feels better,

bringing someone before God, or not telling them about Me and opening

a wide path for them to satan?

The

Love of God

I

am one God and there is no other. He who disobeys Me will feel my

anger and yet he who obeys me will feel my love. Compassion

and understanding

must be given to those who do not know me, for they too are helpless,

and weak as you were before you knew Me. Do you realise how much I

love you? Could any earthly person love you more? No!

Water

Baptism

Today

you have pleased me Lila, (Matthew 3:17, Mark 1:11, Luke 3:22) not

only you, but Eileen and Helen also. Going through the waters of

baptism was a beautiful step.

God

Craves for our Love

Maybe

you think I don’t love you, well I do. You just don’t know how much.

You see you put me last; you leave me waiting for you just to make a

move. Look, you sit here and put other things before me, such as the

television.

Love

me and care for me the way I love and care for you. Do you realise

how much I crave for your love? Well I do and I wait there at the

door, waiting for you to open it.

Many

don’t know me. Do you realise how much they are missing out on? You

have someone to turn to. Someone to praise and some one to ask

something from. All these things should make you glad, not depressed.

Depression is only for those who do not know me. If you know me as

well as you think and say you do then you should know I love you, I

protect you and I will never give you away to your enemies.

Tell

Karen not to worry about her figure and you too. If boys will only

look at you because of your figure then they’re not even worth a

second look. Boys should like you for what you are, not for what you

look like. Surely if I think you’re perfect shouldn’t others think

the same? I mean, I’m so much more powerful than those others and yet

I think so highly of you. If you pray and ask me to bring someone

your way to love, the right person, then I will help you. I want you

to find someone to love and care for and start a family with, I wish

it. Don’t forget me, that is all I ask.

Delivered

from arthritis – 1985

Today

I had the privilege of praying for Irena’s father, Michael. Upon our

arrival Michael complained about the incredible pain in his fingers.

Things had gotten so bad that he could hardly hold a knife or fork.

The joints of his fingers were already badly deformed. I asked

Michael to place his hand on the table. As I placed my hands over his

I prayed for healing – nothing happened. Suddenly I felt a tingling

from the top of my head to the tips of me fingers and I commanded the

spirit of arthritis to leave his hands.

After

I had finished praying I told Michael to cry out to Jesus to help

him, this he did. Then I asked him to raise his hands and praise God

for his healing. After Michael had finished praising God he told me

that he had also felt God’s anointing from the top of his head to the

tips of his fingers. Before prayer the fingers had been icy cold and

stiff, but now they were visibly perspiring and Michael could move

them without pain. Praise God for a mighty miracle.

Stung

by a Wasp – 1985

Sonja

was stung 3 times by a wasp. As she screamed in pain I placed my hand

on the affected area and prayed hard claiming the Word of God – Mark

16:17-18. I especially prayed that God would neutralise the poison.

It was easy to see where she had been stung because the area swelled

up as well as becoming very red. I bound the pain in Jesus’ name as

well as the headache which was developing. Within minutes the pain

and the headache lessened. Twenty minutes later all discomfort was

completely gone.

Spirit

of Mongolism – 1985

When

God performed a mighty miracle in Michael’s arthritic hands the man

lost no time in telling his family about it. His sister-in-law rang

me and asked if I could pray for their son who had Down Syndrome. I

agreed to go to their place a few days later. In the meantime I

decided to seek God on the matter. I needed to know whether the

sickness was simply an illness, or whether it was demonic.

I

asked God to give me a sign. The sign came in the form of an Old

English Sheep dog. Some years before I had been praying for Julie

from the Bible study. As I prayed for her I saw a tightly closed rose

bud. God told me that if she was to ask Jesus Christ into her life

the bud would open up into a rose and His fragrance would flow from

her. The colour of the rose could be of her choosing. Another person

I prayed for was Nancy. I saw a gold fish swimming in and out of

crevices. She was searching, but not prepared to make a commitment.

Lastly I prayed for Karin. I saw a beautiful fawn running here and

there in the forest, oblivious to danger. That was how she was in

real life too. After sharing with the children what God had shown me,

Karin asked God later that night, what He saw me as.

Firstly

she saw a magnificent horse leading a herd of horses. Then she saw an

Old English Sheep dog rounding up the sheep, even nipping them on the

back of the legs to get them to go into the fold. God said to Karin,

Mrs. Zechner’s job is to bring the sheep into the fold. Since that

revelation, if ever I ask God for something special, or God is

pleased with me in some way, I see an Old English Sheep dog. So it

was, as I was on my way to pray for little Mark. I saw an Old English

Sheep dog by the side of the road. The dog casually walked to the

middle of the road, oblivious to the traffic, stood there, turned

around and walked back to the side walk. I then knew that Mark’s

condition was demonic. We need to be very careful how we pray,

because not all sickness or disease is demonic.

I

asked Mark’s mother if there had been an unusual event around the

time of her pregnancy or birth of the child. She immediately

responded by saying, “In Hungary, in the old days, we poor

people had to entertain ourselves. We did so through séances,

contacting spirit guides or fortune-telling. I had a spirit guide.

When horrible things started happening around the house I decided to

tell the spirit to go. Sometime after my decision my husband insisted

that I contact the spirit again for the benefit of one of his

friends. Apparently the friend’s car had been stolen and he wanted to

know where it was. The spirit gave me the information even down to

the garage where the car was being kept. All this happened around the

time of my son’s birth. I made a firm decision after that not to

contact the spirit anymore.”

She

went on to say that Mark had been released from hospital totally

normal. As a matter of fact the paediatrician had commented on the

perfect health of the child. Five months later while she was holding

the baby it let out a piercing scream, from then it was classified as

mongoloid. Apparently when the spirit was told to go it wasn’t happy

about it and decided to stay in the baby instead. Parents, by the sin

in their life pass misery and heartache onto their children.

I

prayed for the child and in the mighty name of the Lord Jesus Christ

the spirit had to go, that was evident by the fact that the child’s

face, now 5 years old, no longer looked mongoloid. The parents were

overjoyed at God’s mighty work and became Christians. Some months

later while both our families were camping God pointed something out

to me about the parent’s treatment of Mark. The father was still

feeding him and treating him as if he was handicapped. I was told to

tell them that as long as they treated him as a mongoloid he would

stay one. If they believed that he had been set free then they were

to treat him as such.

Gradually

Mark started to speak and I even started teaching him to read and

write. The child made wonderful progress. Sadly however, the parents

did not stop treating him like a handicapped child and so God was

only allowed to do that in their son’s life what they allowed. Some

years later when I saw the boy again he wasn’t as bad as when I had

first met him, but he certainly hadn’t been totally restored. It

is sad when people stand in God’s way.

The

Burning in my Eyes – 1986

Rebuke

the pepper that satan has put into your eyes and ask that God wash

out the eyes with His cleanser, antiseptic and medication the

precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Tell satan that it says in

the Bible that God cares for every sparrow, then how much more, will

He care for His child who has His precious blood in her.

My

Spine – 1986

The

following prayer enabled me to stand and sit without back pain.

Ask

God to replace the worn disc. Ask God to put His calcium compound

into the bones of the back to make them stronger, Ask God to make a

prop to hold up the spine correctly. Rebuke the slimy fluid that

satan has injected into the spine to make the discs move.

Praise

God my back is totally healed!

A

Prophecy – 1986

Be

kind and gentle for these are the days in which satan will rise and

look as if he is to defeat. But I will not allow him; for such a

mighty stir will arise within my people, that satan will be totally

crushed. These are the days in which my servants

are necessary

and need to be strong,

wise

and bold

to fight the enemy, and save all my dear blind beloved children.

Erika’s

Physical Condition – 1986

I

was given the following prayer for Erika:

Rebuke

the spirit

of violence

that is stopping her from total healing. Rebuke the spirits of delay

and incomplete deliverance – ½ of everything spiritually and

physically.

The

spirit, or demon of violence was stopping the woman from complete

healing, referred to her physical condition. The spirit of violence

was also stopping the woman’s growth in her relationship with the

Lord Jesus Christ, therefore the reference to ½ of everything

spiritually and physically. As I always say to people, ‘how you are

in the physical is how you are in the spiritual’. By that I mean if

a person is lazy when it comes to looking after their belongings, or

cleaning their place, they will also be lazy when it comes to reading

the Bible or praying for God’s Kingdom. Also if a person is too

lazy to work at a relationship in the physical, how much more are

they going to be lazy when it comes to working at their relationship

with Almighty God who they can’t see?

The

Lump in my Throat

A

prayer for the lump in my throat:

Take

hold of the affected area and ask that Jesus give your hands healing

power and rub your hand up, down and around the lump. Ask Jesus to

surround it with His healing balm. Then tell satan he can’t get to it

because it is covered by Jesus’ healing balm and he cannot

disobey

(Psalm 148:6) for satan was defeated long, long ago and in the name

of that defeat and in Jesus’ name – command it to go and it will.

Praise God the lump went.

Unbelief

that Christians can be possessed by an evil spirit

Although

he is a lovely caring man, my minister did not believe that a

Christian could also be possessed by an evil spirit. This really

irritated me for I had seen the contrary many times in Christians.

I

prayed the following prayer God gave me:

Ask

God to open his eyes and let him see himself inside and that he

really understands the true meaning of the verses he reads in regards

to possession. Command

that the unbelief

living within him curl up and die – disintegrate and never come to

life again. Tell that spirit it must go and read the Word

of God to it.

Say to that spirit – in Jesus’ name I take control of you and I take

your concentration and attention and I command you to listen to me.

I

prayed that prayer and left it at that. A little while later, during

Bible study God showed Lila a vision of my minister. She saw a big

black snake curled around his heart and reaching for his throat. The

mouth of the snake was slit on one side. My prayer had only slit the

snake’s mouth; not killed it. Truly the word of God is sharper than

any two-edged sword.

Lila

and I prayed earnestly then and there. I also prayed more that

afternoon when I got home. I kept it up till I felt in my heart that

there had been a breakthrough. I was to learn later that the man had

already had three short heart attacks in the previous months. I know

that the second prayer accomplished what it had been sent out to do

for the man no longer argued about the fact that Christians can have

demons.

Work

Accident – 1987

Michael

rang to ask me to come and pray for a friend of his who was visiting

his home. This man had been involved in an accident at work. He was

suffering severe pain in his back and shoulder. The Lord Jesus healed

this man, for after prayer he was able to move about freely again.

Thank you Lord Jesus for your healing touch!

The

Apple Core in my Throat – 1988

Thursday

proved to be an eventful day. Not only did I realise that Diana and

her mother had most definitely been involved with a cult, but also

the fact that after eating a piece of tea cake I felt as if part of

an apple core was still stuck way down my throat.

The

interesting revelation after my discussion with Diana had been about

the demon, the “imitator of the Holy Spirit”. I was able to

explain to Diana and her mother, after much

prayer,

what they had been involved in. Namely that a church that teaches you

are only saved once you speak in tongues

is not of God. For the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ saves

us not tongues. Also the church baptised in the name of Jesus only,

therefore by leaving out God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, they

didn’t have the Holy Spirit to give them the gift of tongues.

Diana

had come to Bible study saying that she spoke in tongues. Asked when

she had invited Jesus into her heart she said she hadn’t. So where

did the tongues come from? After asking Jesus into her heart Diana

admitted to no longer feeling comfortable speaking in tongues. Praise

God both mother and daughter made Jesus the Lord of their life and

then the Holy Spirit gave each a new tongue.

By

Friday the lump was still in my throat having gotten worse instead of

better. I had claimed my healing, but nothing happened, now I got

really angry

with the devil

and told him to get lost. After that my throat rapidly improved so

much so that I could freely eat again on Saturday. By Sunday I had

forgotten I had ever had a huge obstacle way down my throat.

The

Anointing with Oil – 1988

The

devil doesn’t like it when you lead people to the Lord Jesus Christ

and then cast demons out of them. K.C. had been brought to me by a

friend. K.C. couldn’t even ask the Lord Jesus into her heart because

Satan had taken control of her tongue. The Holy Spirit told me to

anoint her with oil. I had never done that before when casting out

demons. The effect was electric. K.C. reacted in almost a violent

manner. Nonetheless, after the anointing and prayer she was able to

ask Jesus into her heart and ask forgiveness for her sins. I

commanded the evil spirit, which had manifested itself to tell me its

name. It said, “death”.

I

asked God to tell me what gave this demon a hold in her life. God

told me that at some stage in her life she had said that she hated

God and wanted to be a child of satan. I had to take her through a

prayer which asked God’s forgiveness for having said that. Then she

had to say that she wanted to be God’s child, while at the same time

telling the devil to get out of her life. She was also to cut off all

other previous associations with the devil. Still the spirit wouldn’t

leave. I asked K.C. if there was anything else she had to tell me.

She said that she saw the face of her mother, a woman who was

involved in the occult. K.C. then had to be taken through a prayer

cutting the spiritual association with her mother. The devil made it

very difficult but eventually that was also achieved, by the constant

anointing of oil.

Finally

the evil spirit said that satan still had a hold on K.C. through her

boyfriend. Even though satan through this prayer, and the previous

one, made it very hard for K.C. to talk, that tie was also cut.

During the prayer of deliverance K.C. constantly saw visions of her

mother, with grotesque demonic faces. She also saw herself travelling

through a tunnel, going down. The evil spirit said when I was praying

for Kelly and anointing her with oil it was being cut up. The evil

spirit tried to trick me, making me believe it had left, when it

hadn’t. Finally however, K.C. saw it in her mind going down a chute

screaming as it did.

God

reminded me to also cast out the spirit of imagination and lies. As I

cast out the spirit of imagination, she saw what looked like a glass

container filling up with muddy water. After that she no longer saw

any visions. Praise to the Lord Jesus Christ that He has given us the

power over “all the works of the Enemy”.

Consequently

satan tried to attack my skin through burning and itchiness; as well

as cutting off the circulation from my hand and feet. Praise Almighty

God for He also healed and delivered me from those afflictions.

The

Opaque Window – 1989

For

weeks I had been beating my head against a brick wall, so to speak.

The Year 10 girls were coming to Bible study, but I wasn’t getting

through to them. It was as if there was a wall between them and

myself and God. I told the girls as much. To my surprise one spoke

for the three of them and said that they weren’t really interested in

God, but they came anyway. They didn’t know why they came, but they

just felt compelled to do so.

At

this stage God gave me a vision. I saw myself in the bathroom. The

light was on and it was dark outside. It was as if I was looking down

on the situation, for I saw the three girls outside trying to look

in.

God

explained the vision to me as follows. The light in the bathroom

represented Jesus – the light of the world. The girls although they

had previously asked Jesus into their heart were in the world of

darkness, satan’s kingdom. The opaque window represented the barrier

between them and the Lord Jesus Christ. After I explained the vision

to the girls, they became very excited and agreed that was how they

had felt.

Two

girls at the same time also had a vision of being locked in the

shower recess. I asked them whether they wanted to be God’s children,

or satan’s children. They chose God – the Lord Jesus Christ. I then

led them through a prayer and as I finished I saw the glass of the

shower recess first crack, then break altogether. Praise God for His

mighty miracles!

A

prayer for Irene’s Ears and Eyes – 1989

Rebuke

the plug satan has put in her ears and ask that God flush out the

ears with His cleanser – the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ask God to drain the fluid in her eyes and to refill the eyes with

God’s healing fluid. Ask that God replace all the dead instruments in

the ears and eyes, and replace them with living components of God.

A

Prayer for Patricia – Lock out the Past – 1990

Ask

that God will remove the blindfold and handcuffs holding Patricia

back from God. Pray that her past will not cluster and choke her. Ask

that God will hold back her past and prevent it from affecting her.

Pray

that God will fill her with discontentment where her present life is

concerned. Pray that God would fence her in (Hosea 2:6) to His life

and to lock out the filthy past.

Hosea

2:6 So I am going to fence her in with thorn bushes and build a wall

to block her way.

Jesus

the Lighthouse – 1997

When

my face appeared on the front page of the newspaper, after the court

case, people who I didn’t even know, rang to congratulate me. That is

how I came to speak to Debbie. Listening to a complete stranger on

the phone, I found out that this woman had also been battling

corruption. She passionately described her struggles. After half an

hour I said that I needed to get off the phone.

Her reply was, “I suppose you think I’m mad.”

“No”, I said, “I see you more as somebody who has

been put through a washing machine and then the wringer.”

“That’s

true.”

Before

we could continue our conversation she asked me to hold on a minute

as there was somebody on the other line. As I waited I saw a vision

of a woman standing on short cut grass, near a cliff. Behind her was

a lighthouse. She was being buffeted by very strong winds, the aim of

these winds being to throw her off the cliff.

When

our conversation resumed, I didn’t tell her what I had seen, nor did

I tell her that God had told me to tell her to run into the

lighthouse. Jesus being the lighthouse. Not till the next time when I

spoke to her on the phone did the topic come up. The conversation

turned to Jesus and I suggested she should hand her problems over to

Him. However, she had had a bad experience with a particular church

and therefore had lost her faith. I decided that now was a good time

to tell her what God had shown me.

Bearing

in mind that I had never set eyes on her I described what she looked

like in the vision. The woman agreed that my description of her had

been correct. I also pointed out to her that she had a peculiar

trait, that trait being unusually long arms. That revelation

astounded her and she agreed that whenever she bought a long sleeved

blouse, the arms were too short for her. At the close of the

conversation her attitude towards God had changed and she asked me to

let her know if God ever told me something about her again.

I

recommend that everybody should seek their refuge in Jesus Christ,

whether they are buffeted by life’s problems or not.

A

dream about my daughter Sonja – 1998

I

praise God for His goodness and speaking to me in dreams and visions.

I only spoke to Sonja on the phone for a little while on Saturday.

She complained about being in severe pain in the back and neck

region.

Later

that night I said my usual prayers of, “God please protect my

children, grandchildren and myself as we sleep.” As I prayed,

God reminded me of a terrible nightmare I had, had in the early hours

of that morning. My neighbour had rudely awakened me that morning by

starting the car at 4.45. I wasn’t impressed! Finally I fell asleep

again; it was then that I had the nightmare.

I

was in a room with my two children, Connie and Sonja. In the dream

they were about 10 and 12, although they are now 31 and 33. All of a

sudden Connie stuck what looked like a skewer into Sonja’s forehead.

As Sonja reeled back I was too horrified to pull out the metal

skewer. The next thing I saw was Sonja rolling on the floor like a

cat or dog that had been run over and was about to die. At that stage

the dream ended.

As

I said my prayers on Saturday night, God reminded me of the dream and

told me to pull out the skewer in the spiritual and then ask God to

repair whatever damage had been done to the body. For here was the

cause of her back and neck pain.

Today

I rang Sonja and asked her about her back pain. She said that

amazingly there was only a tiny bit of pain. The severe pain that had

plagued her for one and half weeks had gone the night before.

I

told her about the dream and God’s instructions. She was amazed. I

truly thank Almighty God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Cholesterol

and Triglycerides 1998

I

praise God for His miracle working power. About 6 weeks ago I had a

persistent upset stomach, although I had prayed about it. I went to

the doctor and as a routine question she asked me what my cholesterol

was like. I told her that a test, 17 years previously, had showed 4.6

units. She suggested that it was high time I had another one.

I

don’t know who was more shocked, the doctor or me, but the results

showed that the cholesterol level was 8.6 and the triglycerides level

was 2.4. In the case of the triglycerides the maximum allowed level

in the body is 2, mine was obviously well and truly over the limit.

The

doctor pointed out to me that there was enough fatty tissue in my

arteries to cause a stroke, or heart attack. She immediately put me

on medication; one tablet per day for 30 days. I told her that I

wanted to have a blood test after 30 days, to see the change in the

reading. She told me that it would take 4 to 5 months to reduce the

cholesterol and triglycerides.

Besides

taking the tablets I was also to have 2 tablespoons of red wine with

my meal every night. To her instructions I added a prayer every

morning before I put any food or drink into my mouth.

Oh

LORD my God, please clean out all excessive fat in my arteries and

veins. Please reduce the level of cholesterol and triglycerides. I

rebuke the devil’s interference with the production of excessive

cholesterol and triglycerides. I put all food and drink that will

enter my mouth today, into the bondage of the blood of the Lord Jesus

Christ.

Five

weeks later I went to another doctor for a blood test the result was:

cholesterol 6.4 triglycerides 1.6 The doctor asked how I had reduced

the levels so quickly. My answer to that was, prayer. He couldn’t

accept that so he came up with the excuse that maybe I hadn’t fasted

before the last test, or maybe pathology had made a mistake. To his

argument I simply said: “Why don’t you just give God the

credit!” He then answered and said, “Well you better keep

on praying every day and come back in 5 months for another check up.”

Prayer

for the unsaved – 1998

God

gave me the following prayer for an unsaved person.

Just

as Jesus Christ called Lazarus out of the world of the dead, so ask

Jesus Christ to call them out of the kingdom of darkness and by the

power of His Holy Spirit they must come.

Allergy

to cats – 1998

The

church I attended needed a place for their visiting evangelist to

stay. Jenny’s place was suggested, but alas, the woman had a cat and

as Dolcene suffered from an allergy to cats she couldn’t possibly go

there.

From

childhood onwards Dolcene had suffered from an allergy to cats. Her

body would break out in a rash. In severe cases she would almost

suffocate as her lungs closed up. In these instances she would need

medication, or choke to death. It was therefore understandable that

she didn’t want to go somewhere where she had to share a house with a

cat. My place became the only other option.

I

could sympathise with Dolcene’s handicap, but I was a bit puzzled as

to how an evangelist could be on her way to India to help the masses,

when she couldn’t overcome a problem in her own life. After a few

days at my place I challenged her on the problem. I told her we would

pray about the issue then she could play with the neighbour’s cat, in

order to put her faith into practice.

For

three days she always came up with the same excuse, “Oh I don’t

feel up to it today, we’ll do it tomorrow.” Finally I had enough

and told her point blank that if she couldn’t deal with this issue

now, how was she going to deal with the problems that would arise in

India. She got my point loud and clear and consented to prayer. First

we bound the spirit of fear. Then we bound the spirit of allergy and

claimed God’s mighty healing power, in Jesus’ mighty name. Faith

without action is worthless, so it was time to play with the cat.

Dolcene

picked up the cat and played with it for 5 minutes. There was no

reaction whatsoever. Previously for 42 years she couldn’t go near a

cat, but now she was actually holding and playing with one. God is

indeed a miracle working God.

Prepared

to go only halfway.

I

asked the Lord Jesus what the difference was between a friend and

myself. Sheila and her husband had started the local Missionary

Alliance Church. She went to every church meeting and knew the Bible

a lot better than I did. Yet I felt in my heart that there was a

difference between us.

I

hadn’t expected God to answer me, not immediately anyway. As I sat

with my eyes closed, I saw the following vision. Jesus came out the

front door of a magnificent double storey mansion and ran down the

front steps. Next, I saw on the left hand side of the picture Sheila.

She was trudging along a completely barren landscape. There were no

trees, grass or even rocks. Jesus and Sheila met exactly halfway.

Jesus joyfully said to her, “Welcome my child, welcome my child;

come on, come on.” She replied sternly, “No this is far

enough!” At that stage the vision ended.

Sadly

Sheila and her husband are only religious, refusing to believe in the

baptism of the Holy Spirit, and instead have set up their own rules

and regulations, deciding on how far they should go.

Romans

10: 2/ I can assure you that they are deeply devoted to God; but

their devotion is not based on true knowledge.

3/

They have not known the way in which God puts people right with

himself, and instead, they

have tried to set up their own way;

and so they

did not submit

themselves to

God’s way

of putting people right.

Jesus

Christ went all the way to the cross. How far are you prepared to go?

(There

are many more diary entries but the above are the only ones I felt in

my heart to

include.)

Conclusion

Jesus

said: “Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy

loads, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

How

simple the above words are. I have come to experience the rest, peace

and joy that only Almighty God can give in very difficult

circumstances. My prayer is that whoever reads this book will also

reach for the kind of fulfillment that is not found in the world, but

only through the Holy Spirit. Let God’s miracle working power give

you new life through the Lord Jesus Christ.

I invite you to build a faith community together with me. Join my social media channels and let’s connect, especially if you want freedom or fullness in Christ.

My Telegram has a ministry channel. On Tiktok I have many videos and new ones regularly.

Interested In Our Newsletter?
Stay in the know with news and promotions.

Email *

 

 

Full Name *

 

About Us

Michael FackerellHi my name is Michael Fackerell, founder of this site. It is created to help you know Jesus and get a great eternal reward from God Almighty. Learn More

Register for Site Access

This site has become a Member’s Only Site. Some content is restricted. Visit this link to register.

Depressed? Anxious?

Bible Games and Apps

Bible Meditation AppVisit credtec.co for all products and games, like this RPG, Overcome the Darkness.  
Get our Free Bible Meditate app. You can search themes, play verses repetitively, shuffle, build custom playlists. For Android and iOS. Learn more. 

Become a Supporter

Help us reach more people with the true and full gospel. Jesus said, “Give and it shall be given unto you. The measure you use will be measured back to you.” (Luke 6:38)
 

Christian-Faith.com App

Christian-faith appGet our Free Christian-Faith.com app. For Android and iOS. Have easy access on your phone to this content. Learn more.

  • Categories