Leonard Ravenhill may be my hero

Check out these quotes I found by Leonard.

Can you imagine the Apostle Paul daring to step into Rome, this city of hatred and violence with any less comprehension of the power of the Cross than he had? Our gimmick-geared gospel would have fallen as flat in that day as in our day. Can you imagine Paul and his party confronting this pagan, wicked hoard with hip-swinging girls and hand-clapping boys singing, “Something Good is Going to Happen to you,” or offering them a Prosperity Pack for a donation?

“Americas living on borrowed time. We’ve passed the safety line years ago. We’re heading for hell as quick as any nation on earth. But if we saw the glory of God on Sunday in every church in America, we’d shake the country for God the next week.” Revival is when God gets so sick and tired of being misrepresented that He shows Himself.

"We’re preaching an acceptable Gospel today, making it as painless as we can. And all we do is give people a shot to put them to sleep so they get to hell quicker. We need some hellfire preaching on repentance" God himself says in the Bible: "If a liar and deceiver comes and says, 'I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,' he would be just the prophet for this people!" (Micah 2:11)

You see, what people are seeking today is a painless Pentecost. There isn’t such a thing. What happened immediately after Pentecost? They prospered? Yes? No! They went to jail! It wasn’t prosperity; it was prison, pain, privation, and persecution. As I’ve said before, if you say "where two or three are gathered in His name…," if the living Christ is in your meeting, how in God’s name can you have a dead service?! It’s totally impossible!

"The Church used to be a lifeboat rescuing the perishing. Now she is a cruise ship recruiting the promising."

"My main ambition in life is to be on the devil's most wanted list."

"If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified."

Leonard Ravenhill (1907-1994)

Can anyone say........10/40?

According to Open Doors International, here is their 2008 Top 50 Persecution List. Meaning, these countries persecute Christians the most. The Top 10 are listed below. Click on each country for more info.

1. North Korea
2. Saudi Arabia
3. Iran
4. Maldives
5. Bhutan
6. Yemen
7. Afghanistan
8. Laos
9. Uzbekistan
10. China

So, everyone go to one of these countries. Or, support someone who is going or is already there. Let's give a damn about the front-liners! The picture below shows areas in the world that does not tolerate Christianity; the main colored area is that infamous 10/40 Window.

post-surg

Friday, Jenny's dad (John) and I took Jenny to Niagara Falls to have the cyst (demon) on her tailbone removed. John and I ate at Perkins, cruised the Falls, and sat at Tim Horton's while we killed off the time that Jenny was in surgery. We picked her up about 7pm and headed home for St Catharines. Jenny was in considerable pain, but relieved that her body was now in recovery mode instead of coping mode.

Yesterday was to be the Celebration Bible College (CBC) graduation feast at Niagara Celebration Church (NCC). We had out hearts set on going since early January, and Jenny's stubbornness in the end won out (and also the fact that we paid $50 for our tickets)! We went and partook of the buffet and Christianese conversation that ever-so-often dominates these kinds of events. But we made the best of it (seeing that Jenny was in obvious discomfort), raving it up with the Karanfilis' and Nita and others. The pleasantness(?) of the evening hardly made up for the night of pain Jenny endured as a result of going. I don't like to do it, but Jenny has now been officially grounded until her body heals. PEI and Double H Ranch are much too important to be rescheduled due to a relapse.

So, today we camped out at the Vine, watching Gremlins 2, missing church at Scott St Manor, and the actual CBC graduation service at NCC. Jenny really wanted to go seeing as her twin (class president Jessica) was to speak a presidential address. Thankfully, NCC streams its services so we were able to watch the proceedings live. It was doubly sweet seeing that Jenny had arranged the NCC bus to pick up residents of Scott St Manor and drive them to the service to watch Jessica and Colin graduate!

We are praying that Jenny would have a speedy and complete recovery. Tomorrow I take her back to Niagara Falls for a follow up to see how she's healing. Thanks for the car Heymans!!

any OTHER excuses?

There's not much room around this verse in 1Corinthians9:16-17:

I cannot be proud because I preach the Gospel. I have been told to do it. It would be bad for me if I do not preach the Gospel. If I do this because I want to, I will recieve my reward. If I do not want to do it, I am still expected to do it.

I have met too many Christians who are lackadaisical in their efforts to witness to others who have been burned by self-professing believers. Being someone who was a student body evangelism leader of a Bible College, I know better than most how hard it is to get Christians to talk to random people about Jesus. They just don't want to do it. Imagine the scenario: Bible College students NOT wanting to tell people about Jesus. Unless, of course, you give them (most of them, anyway) a microphone in a room full of other Christians. Then you can't shut them up!

I don't know if the Apostle Paul ever didn't want to do it, but I know what he said in the above verse. If he didn't want to do it, he was still expected to and had a responsibility to do it; more importantly, he did it! There needs to be a reformation in personal witnessing within the Church. I don't want to go on and on about this, but I just wanted to bring attention to this verse which had lain silent in my own Bible until 2 days ago.

Get over yourselves, Christians, and take up your crosses. See the bigger picture. Grab hold of the cause.

Put yourselves through a test. See if you belong to Christ. Then you will know you belong to Christ, unless you do not pass the test. (2Cor13:5 nlv)

its been hot

I love this picture! It make me have funny, like if Winnie Banov hits me with a 'JoyBomb!' or something.
My Flyers are through to the next round! Next up: the Montreal Canadiens.
I put a new poll up on my sidebar asking the question where you think I'll be at the end of August this year? Two years ago it was New Mexico, last year Russia. Where, this year? Jenny and I have a couple of options but have yet to make a decision in any sense of the word.
And a few days ago, Julia (the chef at NCC) asked me to take some Duffins in to sell to the students and staff. I did and sold six Duffins at long break!!! My Duffins are growing in influence!

Jenny has her surgery tomorrow to remove that demonic cyst from off of her tailbone. It all started back on Jan 2 when I drove her to the clinic straight from work. Since then I have literally been taking care of her; helping her walk a lot of the time, cooking for her, running errands, etc. I don't have confidence in her being left alone so I have kept pretty close. The times are few, but, she has been forced to move along in a wheelchair at times. So, the surgeon will cut her up tomorrow, and says recovery should take a week or so. SWEET!! This has gone on long enough. And we so wanna attend the CBC Grad Banquet the day after she has her surgery :). We'll see how that goes. I gotta go, this new Facebook instant messaging thing is totally demonizing my Blogger experience! I can't concentrate. Thanks Kylene!!

Know what I think?

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

(Matthew 5:10 nasb)

click -->HERE<--

I think the Canadian government should start a massive campaign aginst Christianity under the guise of the Bible being hate literature and the obvious hypocritical nature of we who profess to be self-sacrificing lovers of God Himself. Any elementary study of Church history seems to suggest this simple equation: Christians + persecution = extreme growth and fruit. This is unarguable; it's a simple and unfortunate fact.

Here in Canada, the govt could start with a simple thing like banning the Bible. The persecuted Church in the Soviet Union under Stalin and the churches in places today like China (and N Korea, no doubt) seem to have survived and even thrived in situations where they didn't have their "favorite" translation always in hand,and about a dozen or so alternate versions at home for purposes of study. The early Church didn't read the New Testament in the hopes that it would produce a holy life, their holy life produced the writings of the New Testament we enjoy and take for granted today. St Francis (my favorite figure in Church history) said to one of his young Brothers when the young one pressed him for permission to own a book: "The heroes Charlemagne and Roland and Oliver fought for the faith, and so gained renown. Now people try to gain it by reading of great deeds, and bring themselves almost to believe that they have done these by reading about them. So also with the lives of saints; men read them more than they imitate them." Not much has changed in the 800 yrs since then.

It's a sad fact that most of the world calls the Western Church the "sleeping church'. They recognize the vital part we have yet to play in the fulfillment of worldwide evangelization. WHEN we wake up, the cause of Christ will as well. We are a vital part in the fulfillment of scripture, but here we sleep, slugging it up while many, many, many of our brothers around the world count the cost of following their Savior, something of which we have absolutely NO idea. The fruit of their lives versus ours tells the story far better than I ever could.

Does it have to come to a national persecution campaign to wake us up? I really hope that it wouldn't. But when I look around and see the plushy chairs, and the watered-down Gospel, and the complacency, and the disunity, and the squandering of funds, and the topic of conversations, and the genuineness of "believers", and the on and on and on, I can't help but think that the best thing for us all would be if we were to be driven underground; a church that was banned from public meetings of any kind, etc. Check out ->this article<- Cuthill sent me.

While we sit in our comfy lives far from the threat of inconvenience; two-thirds of the world's population wait (in a little area known as the 10/40 Window) for a consistent witness of an unconditionally loving Savior. The affluence we enjoy here in the 1st World which we may have falsely attributed to come from God has babied us into an attitude of indifference and selfishness.

Maybe............the materialism we hoard IS our persecution, and we have failed to persevere through it. Maybe it has killed us and rendered us oblique? We shall find out one day, likely, much to our regret.

( I in no way exclude myself from the above post, in fact, I base it on my own inadequacy and frustrations to overcome our selfish lifestyle while millions are dying.)

Sunday at the Manor

Today, Colin, Jessica, Jenny and I did our weekly duty at Scott Manor. It was a beautiful day and our numbers were down but Holy Ghost is more concerned with quality rather than quantity. We sang songs, shared about our week, taught some things from the Bible, and prayed with them.

The seeds for what we seen today were sown over a year and a half ago, when Josh Heymans and Melody Wallace started doing visitations. Our ministry there progressed with Josh and myself visiting the Manor twice (or so) weekly. Over the summer, we did our separate things and in the Fall, Heymans, Colin, Jessica and Jenny resumed visitations which evolved into Sunday church services.

We have seen residents who were incredibly anti-social come out of their shell and enjoy the social aspect of Sunday afternoon. We have seen Holy Spirit change hearts as only He can do. It has been such an honor to have a part in the pastoral care of Scott St Manor seeing as it has all but been forgotten by the "more important" things which consume the daily plans of the people (and us "Christians") in the world.

Jesus saw people who appeared to be forgotten and had compassion for them. He was driven by His intimacy with the Father. The intimacy that Jesus enjoyed left Him unable to pass by the forsaken without embracing them. His character was free from complacency. What if we Christians had this kind of intimacy that influenced our actions. It is obvious we do not..........blatantly obvious.

Scott St Manor has been a lesson in pioneering. To say it is an easy place to influence may be the farthest thing from the truth I have ever heard. There is plenty of (non)fruit, but there is plenty of fruit as well.

Pray that someone will step up to the plate and take over the Pastoral Care roll that will need to be filled as our plans post-St Catharines develop. (Colin and Jessica/South Korea, Heymans/Redding CA, myself and Jenny/NY and hopefully Amsterdam and beyond). These people are too precious to lose. But, in saying that, to say that the Spiritual life of these saints is dependant upon our leadership is absolute blasphemy. They are God's; the church planted in that Manor is God's, and their future is in God's hands, not our's, as it should be.

God is good...................we are not. We are servants, all of us, wholly dependant on Him alone.

How are we gonna get a job now?!!!

Today, Jenny and I braved the 25 degree heat and ventured to Hartzel Rd to visit Sonic Tattoo. From my last post, most of you were expecting something BIG regarding 'Charity' and the "3 days" title proved to be longer than either of us were willing to wait. After reassuring Pete (who did Jenny's tattoo) that we weren't some little pansies, he booked us for some ink. Tony was my artist.

It was pretty cool. He was preparing my stencil and asked me, "So, is this your daughter's name?" (Referring to the word 'Charity').

I said, "No, we are missionaries."

"Oh", he replied, "so this is what you do."

Thats right. CHARITY is what Jenny and I do.

Anyways, after about 5 minutes we were done and forever scarred. Some people think tattoos are stupid, but, at least I didn't get KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS tattooed on my thigh!!! How stupid would that have been!!! Uhhh..............

...........in 3 days.........

1. generous actions or donations to aid the poor, ill, or helpless: to devote one's life to charity.
2. something given to a person or persons in need; alms: She asked for work, not charity.
3. benevolent feeling, esp. toward those in need or in disfavor: She looked so poor that we fed her out of charity.
4. leniency in judging others; forbearance; disposed to look on the best side, and to avoid harsh judgment: She was inclined to view our selfish behavior with charity.
5. Christian love; agape. The theological virtue defined as love directed first toward God but also toward oneself and one's neighbors as objects of God's love
6. Full of love and good will; benevolent; kind

1 Cor 13:1-8; 13 (KJV)

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Charity never faileth..............
.............And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

The Prayer of St Francis

"O Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace!

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is discord, harmony;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light, and

Where there is sorrow, joy.

Oh Divine Master, grant that I may not

so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life."

We have made it back to St Catharines. Sunday, we were able to join the Heymans family for church at Harmony Community Church. It would've been sweet had I been able to stay awake, alas, I could not :(. Bonnie Wallace led worship though and as the congregation sang I was overwhelmed with a 'spirit of missions'. It's a spirit that comes on me from time to time that consumes me with thoughts of foreign missions. Not that I don't already have constant thoughts of this, but there are times when it gets a bit more.........intense. Such was one of these times. I can't wait for the time when it is once again time to head out under the banner of the Gospel. Anyways, Heymans and I tag-teamed the 524Km drive from Winchester in just over 4hr. We made pretty sweet time indeed. This week is supposed to be absolutely beautiful here in St Kits.

Today Jenny and I were gonna participate in a 'Hymm Sing' at Versa Care but the place is in lock down from an upper respiratory illness. Sorry CBC'ers.........no evangelism credits today!!!

My Flyers have made the playoffs and are the #6 seed in the east. They are against the Washington Capitals in the 1st Rd and the series is 1-1.

I am reading more about St Francis of Assisi. Dangerous stuff. This man might've been more hardcore than Jesus. Maybe a bit (or a lot) off on his theology, but hey, I believe we all are.

Winchester/Ottawa

Late wednesday night Heymans and I drive the 5 or so hours to Winchester, ON to begin a weekend family visit. We slept in a little on thursday then headed to Ottawa and picked up Heymans' friend Allison and spend some time cruisin around downtown. Ottawa is a really beautiful city. Click -->HERE<-- for our photos of the trip. We debated with the idea of getting a tattoo while here, but in the end, decided against it. Soon though. In the evening we went to a Bible Study at Heymans' aunt's place.

Yesterday I went and got some groceries while Jenny rested. I got to meet Heyman's half-siblings. It's pretty cold and miserable here in "Farm Land" though. Things are well with Heymans' family. In the evening we went to Chesterville and dropped in on a "Drop-In Center" that the Wallace's run there. They usually have about 20-25 youth that show up on friday nights to hang out, but last night they had.................3!! It was pretty quiet.

Today we are chillin at Heymans' and then going to his Dad's for supper later.

Spring ish

So, whats up, you ask?

I just put up a new link on my sidebar under the Videos section called Preaching. Check the videos out -->HERE<--. It contains some messages delivered by myself, Jenny Brown, Jessica Brown, and Sheri Smith. I hope many more of my friends will make this prestigious list before too long.

I have been taking care of Jenny for the last while. Her cyst has flared up and she is now in need of surgery to remove it completely. The surgery is scheduled for Apr 25. I have somewhat resorted to my nursing background in this time and my skills are being put to use once again. Everyone pray for her recovery.

We will travel to Ottawa tonight after The Great Debate: Does God exist? between Peter Youngren and Dan Barker. Heymans is going home to visit his family and wants some company.

And...........making plans, as always. Looking at ministry opportunities for the Fall, and maybe even some more correspondance? My ministry license has arrived so I am now an officially licesned minister with Open Bible Faith Fellowship.

It's been 14 yrs.....

.......since Kurt Cobain was found dead in his Seattle home in 1994. I still remember the exact place I was when I heard the news. Having been a huge Nirvana fan, I was pretty affected by this event, and I still reminisce a bit on this day ever year. His was a life that will never be lived quite the same again.

ST CHRISTINA THE ASTONISHING: patron saint of insanity; lunatics; mental health caregivers; mental illness; psychiatrists; etc

1150 - 1224 AD

I stumbled across a saint whose life makes St Francis' seem almost tame by comparison, if ever that were possible. Christina was born to a peasant family, orphaned as a child and raised by two sisters. At 21 (or maybe 22) she appeared to have a major siezure and died. At her funeral she sprung out of her coffin and levitated up to the roof of the church (apparently to get away from the stench of human sin). All the mourners fled the church in terror except for Christina’s oldest sister and the priest who continued with the Mass! The priest ordered her down afterwards and she descended upon the altar and stated that she had been to hell, purgatory, and heaven, and had been returned to earth with a ministry to pray for souls in purgatory. In Heaven Christ offered her a choice: to remain with Him then, or to return to earth and by her sufferings and example bring many sinners to repentance. Christina chose to go back to earth and save souls. Then she warned her friends to not be surprised by anything she did from then on because God had directed her to act in ways “never seen before among mortals".

Thereafter her life is reported as one bizarre occurance after another. She climbed up trees to perch on the smallest branches to sit with birds; she prayed balanced on hurdles or curled up like a fetus; she handled fire and endured icy water for long times without ill-effects; she would roll in fire and scream in agony, yet remain unharmed; she climbed into ovens and threw herself under mill-wheels, where she would be carried around in the water without suffering apparent injury. One time a priest, who didn't know her, was so shocked by her appearance that he refused to administer Communion to her; she tore insanely through the streets, threw herself into the Meuse, and swam away. She was thought to have been possessed by devils, and became a constant source of embarrassment to her sisters and her friends. Many tried to capture her, but she always managed to escape. A man once broke her leg in the process of subduing her, and tied her to a pillar for safety, yet she got away and lived in the trees for awhile, nourished by milk dripping from her virginal breasts. She lived as homeless, dressed in rags, and generally terrifying people. She went to graveyards and cried for the dead who had died in sin. One night she woke all the dogs in town and led them in a pack into the woods where she threw herself into a dense growth of thorn bushes.

Christina could smell the sin in people and could not stand the odor. She would climb trees or buildings, hide in cupboards or ovens, or even levitate out of contact to get away from the stench of their sin. She lived exemplifying poverty (something good ole St Francis would have heavily endorsed!); sleeping on rocks, dressing in rags, begging, and eating whatever came her way. If she received food from a 'bad' person, she would bear the burden of that person's sin; the food, once swallowed, would cause her tremendous pain.

Some thought she was schizophrenic, or epileptic, or anorexic, or completely possessed by demons.

When Christina felt she was ready to die she retired to the convent of St. Catherine in Saint-Trond where her friend Beatrice was a nun. Beatrice secured Christina a room and arranged for a priest to bring the Last Rites. When the priest left Beatrice asked Christina to reveal some holy secrets but Christina would say nothing. Beatrice thought to leave her to rest and come back to ask again in a bit. When Beatrice returned to Christina’s room she found her dead. The nun threw herself on the body, calling Christina to return from the dead and tell her the secrets. Suddenly Christina’s eyes opened and she asked why Beatrice had disturbed her death just as she was being led to see Christ face to face. So to satisfy Beatrice she answered all the questions. By this time the entire convent had assembled to Christina’s room. She made the sign of the cross over the nuns, and died—for the third (and final) time.
Christina died in 1224 of natural causes, aged 74.