Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

Francis of Assisi (1182-1286)

"Answering a student's question, 'Will the heathen who have not heard the Gospel be saved?' thus, 'It is more a question with me whether we, who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not, can be saved."

Charles Spurgeon(1834-1892)

'2hr 8min'

Peter & Julie, Kyle, Josh, and I gather after Pen Center evangelism friday night and we have a Holy Ghost prophecy party. It was pretty sweet. I mean, if the Apostle Paul says that we should earnestly desire to prophesy (1Corinthians 14:1), how else we gonna do it unless we step out and try? It's a good question. So Peter gets a 'word' for me (see video above) and this afternoon I decide to put it into practice. See, when we get a word of prophecy we can do one of two things: we can sit back and wait for God to bring it to pass (which He likely won't), or, we can take hold of that word and go get what God has promised us. I prefer the second option. So, like I was saying, this afternoon I got on my face and for a bit over 2hrs I sought the Lord for a new revelation of Himself. It was an interesting experience. In the 'natural', Jesus did not appear and knight me with a sword. But after the experience I got and called Him on it. I said, "Well Lord, I did my part." Dumb thing to say. I felt Him reply, "Are you so presumptuous to assume you did what you were supposed to do without Me doing what I was supposed to do?" C'mon Lord! A little grace please. Anyways, here's something that absolutely did happen:

About half an hour in, as I was lying on my back on the floor, I seen (in the spirit) a bouquet of dark flowers lying on the floor. An unseen hand picks them up and extends them towards me. "They're for you", a voice said. I took them and laid them on my chest; like what happens to a body in a casket. The voice said, "This is in commemoration of the death of your 'self'".

I'm ok with that. It's sweet because just yesterday I told Peter & Julie that I want to be accountable to them in the area of 'materialism'. Any purchases that I make have to be approved by them. I want all semblance of materialism driven out of me; the sooner the better. MATERIALISM- preoccupation with or emphasis on material objects, comforts, and considerations, with a disinterest in or rejection of spiritual, intellectual, or cultural values

an Ezekiel anointing?

Ezekiel 4?.................Nah. We did get to tell the Gospel to three youngsters who ended up with 3 New Testaments, and Kyle and I got to pray with the Catholic gentleman. Pretty good cosidering Josh and I got kicked out of this same place last monday for doing the same thing! And I also got some habenero hot sauce. Sweet!!

Intimacy with God: as seen through the life of Ezekiel

Last evening I taught at Kyle Laviolette and Jenny Brown's home group. I spoke on "Intimacy with God: as seen through the life of Ezekiel" (hence, the name of this post). It was a journey through the prophet's book, with examples that proved he led such a life of intimacy with God, that we, as New Covenant believers, should be envious! Ezekiel lived 600 yrs before Christ, before the fulfillment of the indwelling of Holy Spirit, yet he lived a life that is charactized by closeness with God that christians today seldom attain. There is something wrong with this picture. Anyways, here are my points I taught on (click on the scripture references to read):

1. Intimacy with God reveals the heavenly realm
1:1-28, 10; 37:1-14; 40-48; 43:1-5; 8:1-3

2. Intimacy recieves Divine revelation
16:49-50; 18:23, 32; 28:11-19; 44:19

3. Intimacy is a forerunner to radical obedience
3:17-21, 33:1-20; 12:1-11; 24:15-27; 36:6, 35:1-9; 4; 5:1; 20:45-49; 21:1-5

4. Intimacy hears God's heart (prophecy)
11:19-20, 36:25-27; 37:15-23; 33:33

As you can sort of tell, intimacy is a necessary part of our walk with God. In fact, you can argue that unless one walks in intimacy with God he does not even know Him. Hence, he has no assurance of even his own salvation. It's a hard saying. Intimacy can be defined as follows: feeling or atmosphere of closeness and openness towards someone else. Ezekiel portrays this as well as any other Old Testament figure.

kicked out of the Pen Center

So Josh Heymans and I get about 20 New Testaments today and we take a fellow Celebration Bible College student (Timothy from Nigeria) to the Pen Center to evangelize and give out some free bibles. Good idea, right? Apparently the people at the Pen Center didn't think so. About 30 minutes or so into our outreach, a security guard comes up to me and tells me that she was getting complaints about us and that we have to leave. Wow, it's a pretty sad state when you are handing out a book that leads to eternal bliss (as well as present day victorious living), and you get told that you're not wanted! Whatever! I think we're going back on friday, if not before. It was a rather slack time of evangelizing anyhow; people were just not into talking about Jesus today. What's up with that?! Could you think of a more interesting topic to talk about? Good luck.

A former Vision of 2005

When I was in Pemba, Mozambique in 2005 I was having a time of morning prayer and bible study when I remembered a vision the Lord had given me a couple of weeks prior. This was not a deja-vu type experience, but more like a revelation of something I needed to remember. It was powerful nonetheless.

I stood with Jesus in the African dirt and He talked with me, revealing things He had (wanted) for me and expressing His continual, unconditional love for who I was. A time later He bent down and drew a line in the dirt and stood back up and looked at me with an expression of seriousness that I shall never forget. He said, "I won't make you cross this line." I said back, "I want to though." He said, "This is completely your choice. I won't make you do this. If you choose to cross this line there will be no going back." So I stepped across the line. Jesus bent down again and this time He took His hand and erased the line. He stood back up and stared at me and said, "There is really no going back now. Even if you turn from Me and run, you can't cross back over this line. It is gone now. There is no returning."

That was perhaps the most sobering and serious experience I have had. I had forgotten about it until yesterday, and I am so glad that God brought it to my remembrance.

Oh, and here's a word that has some dire ramifications; I've been dwelling on this one for a few weeks now:
complacency: a feeling of contented self-satisfaction, especially when unaware of impending trouble

walk from Hades / new Poll

Peter & Julie took me for a "walk" today. I call it a 3hr test of endurance, but they seemed happy enough to use the term "walk". It was alright though. Today was pretty chill; I slept in, skipped church, relaxed, etc etc.

Here are the results from the last Poll:

Where is Finland?

43% Europe

43% Scandinavia

14% Mexico

Actually, Finland is part of Europe. It is not officially Scandinavian. It is part of the Nordic countries, but not the Scandinavian. Interesting, but not really.

So here's the New Poll:

Think Jesus is coming back in your lifetime?

hanging out with Holy Spirit

That's right. Last night, Josh Heymans, Kyle Laviolette, and I cruised to the Pen Center to do some 'basic' (if there is such a thing) evangelism. Sometimes it's hard to get going, so we sat on a bench and just asked Holy Spirit to manifest and bring some Kindom action on the scene. First, Josh and I got to pray for some guy that had had a stroke; he said he felt better following. Then I talked to a couple people very breifly after getting (what I thought was) a word of wisdom; it turned out to be fairly innacurate though; whatever! Then Kyle and I totally Gospelized this guy who was quite bitter against God and the church, and who had a really tough time seeing anything good about God or Jesus, etc. And not that I blame him. The church has done a terrible job of accurately portraying the love of Jesus. (Dont get me started.) As we were witnessing to this guy, Josh was speaking a word over this girl who approached him asking if she knew him? How cool is that?! Then he starts talking to some other Christians who were seated right next to him and gets to pray for one of their wrists, and she immediately says it feels better! Nice. Then we head to the movie theatre and right outside the door we get passed by this guy on crutches and 2 of his friends. We ask him if we can lay our hands on him and pray for God to heal his foot. He says "sure", and his friend says, "Can you pray for me too?" Sure, man. So, the guy with the sore foot didn't get healed but we were able to minister to them for a few minutes, praise God!!
For "The Gospel According To Josh Heymans" about Feb16/07, click --> here

After our evangelism stint, we headed back to 35 Elma St and watched Super Size Me with Peter & Julie. Great night.

15 minute preach

All us 2nd yrs at CBC had to do 15 minute preaches as part of our ciriculum. Here's mine. I spoke on the subject of "the poor", an often unspoken message here in the West. It went well though. Most of the students really seemed to recieve the 'encouraging' words I spoke. It's in 2 parts cause the file size was too big for YouTube.

Part 1


Part 2

pursuin experience

Today I have a sore throat and a headache. I called in sick. I didn't really want to cause I also miss out on about 4hr work or so, but I dont feel like sittin through class when I really don't feel good. It also means that my perfect attendance record is gone, but oh well.

I've been saying a lot lately that, "I'm tired of knowing 'about' God, and now I just want to know Him." We can sit through classes, and listen to teaching tapes, and go to conferences, but still be no closer to God. It's all about experience. Bill Johnson has said (along this lines) "Those who seek experience without the Word of God are in danger of falling into deception, but those who seek the Word of God without experience are decieved already." It's so true.

I've taken some slack from the CBC students about my pursuance of 'heavenly experience', but I see that criticism as a major blessing. See, what kind of relationship can you have with someone without experience? The answer: none. For example, you can read all the books about Wayne Gretzky that you can find. How he plays hockey, his family life, his childhood, etc etc etc; but you get out on the ice with him and you'll quickly realize that all that knowledge means absolutely nothing. But, spending time with him and letting him teach you develops a relationship and a growth that cannot be obtained without the experience. Interesting, eh? In saying that, I certainly am expecting to partake of my inheritance in this life. Why wouldn't I? In Ephesians 2:5-6 it says: even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus; and then in Colossians 3:1 it says: Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Amen. All this stems from God's love. He loves us more than we can understand or comprehend, and He wants us to experience Him more than we do. All the basis of pursuing experience comes out His unmeasurable love for us; period.

And in other news, I've been digging in to David Hogan's ministry to the Indians in Mexico. It's some good stuff. Click -->here to view David speaking in different conferences and such.

Johanna Poll

So anyways, Johanna, my Finnish roomate (pictured here holding a Swedish flag, go figure) was highly insulted at the fact that us ignorant Canadians don't know where the Finland is actually located. So she made me do a poll which asks everyone where it actually IS located. And it's like midnight, and I have to get up for school in the morning, but she don't care because her culture has been insulted and her pride has been marred!!!! Anyways, whatcha think, where is that country? To be honest, I don't think she knows herself. Yeah, I'm tired, I hope she's happy!
Yeah right Josh Duffy!!

Se todellakin luulee olevansa jotain!!! Eika silla oo harmainta aavistustakaan mita maa tahan kirjotan...ilman a:ta pisteilla. HAHHAHHAAAAA!!!!!! :D

-Johanna

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post psychic fair '07

What a (somewhat) crazy weekend. Friday, after classes, Josh Heymans and I went to the Psychic Fair here in town this weekend to see what Holy Spirit would lead us into. The atmosphere was HEAVY with warfare; ours conflicting with theirs. I had a few discussions but was unable to really get a foothold or advantage in any of them. I didnt go there to preach or 'convert' (or did I?), unless led by the Spirit to, but I wanted to go and sow some seed out there and to see just how much spiritual friction there would be. And let me tell you, you could literally feel it as you walked through the doors. I did start a conversation with one of the psychic's assistants, but when I asked her "What's the difference between a psychic and a prophet?", I drew a line in the sand. She couldn't answer me so she asked Rev. Corbie Mitleid (the psychic whom she represented), and Corbie pretty much tore a strip off me and made it abundantely clear that I was "unwanted" at this kind of venue. T'was a wee bit crazy.

Corbie was to do a seminar on saturday, Feb 3rd @ 2pm, so Josh, Julie and I went to check it out. We were 10 minutes late for it and seen no open seats as we walked in. The Josh spotted 3 open seats in the front row!!! How funny was that?! So we saunter up and take our seats and listen to her propaganda. She moved her table back a bit to put some distance between us and her, and consciously avoided us the whole time; muito funny. Then we went around to all the tables and I talked with assistants. I likened a lot of their beliefs to Hinduism and similiar far eastern religious mindsets. I was able to back a couple of them into a corner they could not explain their way out of, in a non-confrontational way, of course. Holy Spirit really gave me some clever analogies.

On sunday, Josh and I went to TACF to see Ola, and partake in an a.m. service. Some lady we didn't know blessed us with $40 to take Ola out to lunch with, seeing as it was her 20th birthday. We also took a couple of the SoM graduates out with us; one of whom Ola wants me to marry. Anyways, we went back to the SoM building afterwards to eat and play pool and rave, and stuff. It was definitely "one sweet weekend".

fundraising propaganda starts

Yes, you heard it right; the fundraising propaganda has started. I was talkin to my good friend Paul Adams last week or so and he related to me his vision to get to Sudan to preach the Gospel and do all sorts of crazy missions work in refugee camps, slums, etc etc etc. Lets just say that Paul and I had planned to meet up again some day to do Kingdom work, and it appears that Sudan could be that plan fulfilled. Iris Ministries is breaking new ground in Sudan and needs some pioneers to go in and take Jesus to the lost, broken, dying, poor, of that country.

Needless to say, a lot has to be accomplished for me to reach my goal of being in Africa by august at the absolute latest!!! Plane tickets, visas, vaccinations, savings, monthly support, and on and on and on need to be provided before that goal happens. So, I got on PayPal and ended up with a 'Donate' button on my webpage. Pretty sweet. Anyone willing to contribute to this 'Africa fund' is now able to! All proceeds will go towards expenses needed to make this trip happen.

Supporting a missionary is perhaps the wisest and most worthwhile investment one can make. Meeting the poor's financial needs is impossible, but meeting their spiritual needs is not only possible, it's inevitable..................if people are willing to send those whom are willing to go. Know what I mean. So click on the 'Make a donation' button to support the Gospel in Mozambique/Sudan. I will let you all know how the funds and plans progress. Africa calls, and I'm gonna answer.

Mission Statistics

Facts about evangelical status worldwide:

• approx. 2 billion people are considered an unreached people group
  
• only 2-3% of protestant missionaries are reaching this group
  
• 95% of all unreached people live in the 10/40 window
  
• 66,000 people die every day from this group
  
• out of every gospel dollar only 4 cents goes to missions
  
• of the 4% that goes to the mission field, 80% of it goes to already established works
  
• 27% of the planet has 2-3% of the missionary work force helping them get saved
  
• 97% of missionaries work in already evangelized fields
  
• last year more money went towards ecclesiastical crime than went to missions
  
• America spends more money on dogfood than on missions
  
• 10,000 chinese come to the Lord every day
  
• every 7 weeks 1 million Latin Americans come to Christ
  
• most expensive country to send a missionary to-Japan
  
• least expensive-Mozambique