Persecuted for the Gospel

As I read over this article, the parallels between this young man and myself caused by heart to both ache and swell as I contemplated his situation. 

     Neshan Saeedi, a 27-year-old Christian, has not been seen since his arrest by government authorities in July, according to the Farsi Christian News Network. 
     On July 24, Saeedi was at home with his wife and young daughter in the city of Ahvaz, Iran, when plainclothes security officers entered his house and arrested the family. Security officers searched the home and seized personal belongings, including a computer, CDs containing films of Christian seminars and teachings, Christian books, Bibles and family photo albums.     
     The family was taken to the Chaharshir detention center in Ahvaz, where they were interrogated for several hours before Saeedi’s wife and daughter were released. Officers threatened Saeedi’s wife, saying if the family continued its Christian activities their daughter might be taken away. The family was accused of threatening Iran’s national security by participating in anti-government activities. They were further accused of being spies of foreign powers and of leading people to a pro-Israel ideology.

The article continues to explain that the church he attended has disbanded out of fear, you can read the entire thing here.

In Iran, this young man is being interrogated, arrested, persecuted, and potentially tortured as the result of his dedication to Christ.  The leaders of the Church are being sought out.  Our own nation has been heading in the direction of Christian persecution.  A recent example is Pastor Terry Jones threat to burn a Quran.  The president of our nation pleads with the man not to burn the Quran and sends FBI agents to convince him otherwise.  Our nation, which was founded on Christian principles, is now defending a book over the Word of Truth.  Misguided teenagers burn Bibles every day and it would be rare to find a PTA meeting that addressed the subject.  However, one pastor with almost no influence is able to stir fear in the hearts of our nation's leadership as they reeled at the idea of such an unholy act.  Your treasure is where your heart is.

Yet it is in these times that the Gospel thrives.  It is when met with opposition that the glory of God's love is best demonstrated by His followers.  I genuinely hope to bring the love and power of God to those nations that persecute Christians as so many others so admirably do.  If our country continues in the path it has been on, I might not have to go anywhere to do it.

Mall Miracles

Saturday I took out our Power Evangelism team to the mall. Prior to our departure we waited on the Lord for revelation on where to go and who to minister to. Some of the words were: mall, right hand in a cast, a group of hispanic youth, someone smoking that would be delivered as we prayed for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, a woman that looked like Sarah Palin, and a few others. So we went to the mall and the fun began!

Before I continue recounting the supernatural things the Lord did in just an everyday mall, I want to emphasize what made this outing different than my usual outings. Most of the time, when I am ministering publicly in the power of the Spirit, I have a tendency to practice the gift I am most comfortable with (healing). That usually entails finding visible injuries/illnesses and asking to pray for only those individuals (wheelchairs, splints, canes, etc.). Even on the occasions when I was practicing the prophetic, I would generally be asking the Lord for words of knowledge to identify people with physical conditions that may not be visible. On this excursion, I made no delineation between what way Holy Spirit chose to manifest and who He chose to minster to. The objective was simply love.

When we minister from a place of love, we will never fail (1 Cor 13:8). There were an unusual amount of refusals to receive prayer for physical healing at first, so we started asking the Lord for prophetic words for the people working in the kiosks. The first one was for a woman at a jewelry kiosk, my two cohorts approached her with the word that she was like a spiritual mother and although she was not a mother in the natural, she was talking care of her two nephews. So quick confirmation number 1. While they delivered that word I was inquiring about Rosetta Stone and asked the Lord for a word for the guy working at that kiosk. I felt like the Lord said that he was a goal oriented person and that he was a writer. When I asked him if he was a writer, his reply was "Yes. How did you know that? Do I just look like a writer?" The smart-alic in me wanted to ask what a writer looks like. Anyway, I shared that the Lord had revealed it to me and he continued to confirm the word by telling me how he and his wife prayed for God to reveal His will for them every night before they went to sleep! I felt like the Lord was encouraging him that the desire to write was from Him. So we prayed for revelation and inspiration on what to write about.

Next up was the "smoker in the mall", it was the guy working at the electric cigarette kiosk! He was a believer and had been suffering with PTSD since being in Iraq. Nightmares were common for this young man. He had already received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but when we prayed for him, he got a second dose! His eyes watered and he received noticeable emotional healing. The Lord obviously wanted to get a hold of this guy, and you could see that he had an aptitude for communicating with strangers and the light of Christ was all over him. The Lord started to set him free from the bondage of his past!

We did see three people with casts or splints on their right wrists. Two of them allowed us to pray. The most encouraging was a middle aged hispanic gentleman and his wife, his right wrist was wrapped in bandages and he had an arm sling. When we prayed all four of us (the three of us ministering and the man receiving prayer) felt heat. He said he felt heat and energy shooting into his hand! He was able to turn his wrist and said it felt a whole lot better. He also said he was going to check with the doctor to confirm the healing. When we prayed for him, the man started swaying under the power of the Spirit (I thought we might need a catcher) and after we stopped his eyes were filled with tears as God touched him!

There were many more interactions like this in just a couple hours (several other accurate prophetic words, witnessing about what Jesus did, and more). This is the Christian life. This is how Jesus and the disciples ministered, through public displays of His affection through the power of the Spirit. It is His kindness that leads us to repentance and His miracles are a wonderful kindness. Jesus didn't evangelize like we do: creating friendships with ulterior motives of sharing the Gospel, He loved people where they were at. His love is all it takes to lead someone to salvation. He never said to someone "believe in Me or you won't be healed" nor did He say "if you don't believe in Me you will go to hell" (regardless of whether it's true). He just healed them and loved people. By receiving His love, we receive Him. You don't have to know certain facts to get into heaven (i.e. - the Four spiritual laws), just know Christ and believe in Him. I'm not suggesting that knowing those things aren't good and as we grow in the Lord our knowledge of Him should absolutely include those things. But Jesus didn't make them requirements to enter Heaven... who are we to make it more difficult for others to enter in? It is through simply turning from our lives of sin to Him and trusting Him to do what He said that we enter in. It's all about posture of the heart and His love changes our posture.

Enter In

In my hometown portion of the "Bible belt" Christian terminology is fairly common among believers and unbelievers alike. I was witnessing to a woman the other day that had obviously been raised in a religious household without actually knowing Christ personally and when I was talking to the Lord afterward, He spoke to me about what had been bothering me.

Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." The revelation of Christ as Lord is insufficient for eternal salvation. In our Americanized Christianity we have tried to dilute the Gospel to being as palatable to a potential believer as possible; this happens by reducing the entrance into heaven down to an utterance of a few simple phrases as we site Romans 10:9 as evidence of a eternal assurance. Romans 10:9 "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;" Paul goes on to explain in verse 10, "for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." Without righteousness there is no salvation. Accepting Christ is more than just saying the words, it is a posture of the heart... this is why repentance is a requisite to salvation. Repenting is turning away from sin and towards God (which is the meaning of believing "in your heart"). Regret is not repentance. Inmates on death row have felt remorse for their sinfulness, that does not mean they are forgiven. To repent is to no longer pursue the sinfulness, and pursue the One who freely forgives for it. That's the message that Christ preached Himself (Mt 4:17).

Belief in Christ is not a passive mental acknowledgment of His existence, but the kind that changes your life. James 2:19 "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. " Just because you know the terminology, can recite the Lord's prayer, and know in your head that Jesus is Lord doesn't mean that you are saved. He must be YOUR Lord for salvation. It isn't until an individual submits to His will that he/she is saved, because that is the precise moment when THE Lord becomes Their Lord.

Park Prophetic

The Lord afforded me a divine appointment today. I was at the park with my son and sat next to "Eve" on a bench. She noticed I had my Bible in hand and asked where I went to church and why I went to there. I explained that I went to our church because I could practice the spiritual gifts there (mainly the prophetic and healing). She said “okay I’ll take one” and wanted a word (it's amazing how hungry people are for His voice).

The word I got was an onion that was growing underground. I told her I felt like she had been pressing toward something and had an expectation that she just hadn’t seen the fruit of yet. I felt the Lord was saying that He is growing the plant under the surface and the “fruit” will be made known when it is time for the harvest. I felt like He was saying that all at once, it will make sense and she will see the “fruit” of the circumstances. She started crying and affirmed the accuracy of the word and that she had become disheartened and even offended at God and had been rebelling as a result of having not seen the expected/desired outcome in a circumstance.

She felt like her life had multiple promises in it that she had not seen realized yet and had been asking Him “well what are you doing?” Then "Eve" began to confess sin of infidelity amidst tears of repentance. I had a chance to minister to her a little bit and the end result was that she asked about how to get to our church, service times, women’s groups, etc. This is the objective of the supernatural ministry, to touch the lives of others for the Kingdom, to draw in the backsliders, call the lost into the Kingdom and encourage His Body all-the-more!