Tuesday, June 8, 2010

My Adventures with the Almighty

"How a Sheltered Little Church Boy Got Street Smarts"


"IT IS GOOD FOR ME THAT I HAVE BEEN AFFLICTED (
put down; humbled; humiliated); that I might learn thy (God's) statutes (prescribed limits and boundaries)". Psalm 119:71 KJV (Capitals are mine for emphasis)

IT WAS A GOOD LIFE, BUT A SHELTERED ONE

As a boy of 10, I was protected from the evils of the world, being brought up in a home where my father was the pastor of our church, and my mother was an evangelist. We always lived in little farming communities, and I was never exposed to what goes on in the big cities. It was a good life, but a sheltered one. Extremely shy, I was afraid of my own shadow. When I saw someone I knew walking on my side of the street, I would go to the other side, as I did not know how to engage in conversation. It was embarrassing.

THERE IS ANOTHER INGREDIENT TO BE ADDED TO THIS EQUATION


Now let's fast-forward 60 years. Criminals and thugs in the dangerous streets of non-tourist areas in the big cities of Africa fear me. They don't dare look at me wrong or touch me, as they know I am the servant of the most high God. Yes, of course, this happens because I move in the power of the Holy Ghost. Also, I know that I am covered with the blood of Jesus, and am protected from harm and danger. But, there is another ingredient to be added to this equation.

IT WAS "THE AFFLICTION" IN THE FORM OF OPPOSITION AND PERSECUTION WHICH "TOUGHENED ME UP"

It was "the affliction" in the form of opposition and persecution which "toughened me up". The Mexican Mafia threatened to kill me as they wanted to take over our church property. A satanist high priestess was commissioned to shoot my brains out, but instead was converted to Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, healed of incurable cancer, and today is in the full-time ministry. Ugandan cannibals sent out a demonic curse to end my life so they could eat my heart and liver, but instead received Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord.

HE TRIED TO SHOOT ME WITH HIS PISTOL, BUT AS HE TARGETED ME, HIS TRIGGER FINGER FROZE AND WAS PARALYZED, AND HE COULD DO NOTHING

A religious organization paid patients from mental wards in hospitals to lie about me. Instead, the leader of the organization was thrown out of office once it was discovered that he was involved in two adulterous affairs at once. A jealous preacher hatched up a plot to get rid of me, but instead her tongue was eaten out with cancer. An unsaved husband became upset because his wife and family came to the Lord in a revival I preached. He tried to shoot me with his pistol, but as he targeted me, his trigger finger froze and was paralyzed, and he could do nothing. He knew it was "a sign from God" that he had better leave me alone. The next Sunday he confessed to the congregation what he had tried to do, publicly asked for forgiveness, was born again and filled with the Holy Spirit.

WE ARE STILL ALIVE AND DECLARING THE UNCOMPROMISING WORD OF GOD, WHILE THE OLD ANTI-GOD REGIME IS DEAD AND GONE

I, along with Sister Joyce and her mother Oma, were thrown in jail for our activities of spreading the gospel under the Communist regime in old Yugoslavia. That nation is no more, but Joyce is still ministering, now in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and just recently in Japan. We are still alive and declaring the uncompromising Word of God, while the old anti-God regime is dead and gone.

IT IS "NO LONGER I WHO LIVES, BUT IT IS CHRIST WHO LIVES IN ME"


All this "affliction" has caused my flesh to die, and for Jesus to arise in His resurrection power. It is "no longer I who lives, but it is Christ who lives in me". Instead of destroying me, it has equipped me to be "strong in the Lord and in the power of His might". No, these trials did not do it, but it was the power of the Holy Spirit within who helped me have the right reaction, and keep praising and worshiping the One I love and serve, my Employer, the Lord God Himself. All these experiences, and scores more, God has taken what the devil intended for harm, turned them on their heads, and used them to teach me His ways. And just for the enemy's information, I am still here, and stronger than ever, ready for the next adventu

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