Shame, Fear and Control stronghold

I copied the following from notes on the subject that Stephen Heiks gave me, and I post them here with his total permission. After a recent visit to Leeuwarden where I watched him teach on this, and just simply knowing people as I minister in the Netherlands who have this shame-fear-control stronghold in their lives, I thought I’d detour from the usual themes of this blog, and post this on my blog.

I hope it helps tremendously and begins to challenge you in these areas as you may need help dealing with them.
Blessings!

Steve

One of the important things God is saying to His Church, His children is the message of His Father’s love for us. It is a renewed call from God to come to Him in a new personal and intimate relationship.

But we have repeatedly seen that a majority of Christians have a real problem with truly accepting that they can have an intimate relationship with Him.

We do not believe we really are “worthy” of this sort of love that Jesus has for us. Our identity, who we really are, is flawed. We really do not believe – I mean believe deep within us, at our core – that God really loves us.

We might believe at some level because we know it is Bible but that belief is not really at the core of who we are.

So, in this entry we are going to deal with one of the common issues that disguises and thwarts our ability to really believe who we truly are in Jesus. We are going to deal with the Shame – Fear – Control Stronghold.

God says we are not to be ignorant of the schemes of the devil. So we are going to expose one of his most ancient and effective strategies. You will not be the same. Not because we are such great ministers or have such great ministry skills but because Jesus wants you and us to be FREE!

We have been trained in a ministry method called Restoring the Foundations which is an integrated method of providing inner healing and deliverance. We will be using the four main ministry issues to deal with this S-F-C Stronghold.

Shame Fear Control..
Comes out of the second commandment;

Exo 20:4-6 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Definition of a curse:
A Biblical curse is a penalty assigned by God for violating His commandments, statues, etc. A Curse is being “empowered to fail”, a Blessings is being “empowered to succeed.” (Ken Copeland)
Curses are words spoken, with some form of spiritual authority (either good or evil), that set in motion something that will go on generation after generation. Behind the words is a spiritual power (God or satan). (Derek Prince)
Where do curses come from? – God, Others and Self

God
Deut. 11:26-28 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.

Others
Matt. 27:25
And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”

Self
Example: “I cannot start the day without my first cup of coffee.”
Phil. 4:13; Paul believes in “self-blessing,” not in “self-cursing.” “I can do all things…”

Good News
God has provided the way of freedom from all the effects of SOFC’s and our own sin. It is appropriated by faith. We break generational sins by faith that God’s promises are true, that Jesus has canceled our debt.

God’s Solution
Lev. 26:40 God requires that we confess (acknowledge) our sin and the sins of our fathers, humble ourselves, and receive His remedy, i.e., His sacrifice.
1 Jn. 1:9 If we confess our sins and turn from it (repent) and God will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Gal. 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us.

Ungodly Beliefs
Beliefs, decisions, attitudes, agreements, judgments, expectations, vows, and oaths that do not agree with God’s Word, His nature or His Character.
Lies that have been formed in us since childhood about ourselves, others and God.
Beliefs formed from hurts, traumas, negative experiences, and words people say to us.
Beliefs formed from the facts (pain) or our experiences that are real.

Rom. 12:1-2
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Facts vs. Truth

Soul Spirit Hurts
Definition
• Hurts of the soul and / or spirit of man that are carried and experienced within a person.
• SSH are invisible wounds.
• They simmer, stifle, and sometimes shut a person down completely – unless dealt with.
• They have a similar action in our soul / and or spirit as disease has to our body.

Some Facts
• Begin in the family
• Affect the entire person
• Cause restricted emotional growth
• Cause ongoing vulnerability
• Cause anger/resentment toward God
• Affect the entire family
• Distort identity and purpose
• Cause Shame
• Cause hurts in other people

Biblical References
Lk. 4:18 Jesus: “…He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,”
Ps. 147:3 “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Information
• They enter through “open doors.” I.e., they have legal ground (Eph. 4:27; and give no opportunity to the devil.”)
• They come down family lines.
• They are invisible spiritual entities with minds, emotions and wills of their own, in league with, and under the control of satan. They are out to do his bidding and to torment the people of God (Derek Prince)
• Their purpose is to prevent or hinder salvation for the unsaved, and maturity for the Christian.
• They interject their thoughts into our thought stream, so that we will accept them as our own.
• The lie to us and help us lie to ourselves and to others.
• They do not play fair, they have no mercy.
• They manifest by causing our behavior to be what their function is, i.e., anger, bitterness, etc.

Biblical Reference
Ex. 23:29-31; “But I will not drive them out in a single year, …little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land. (God’s strategy for deliverance)
1 Jn. 3:8; The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
Mk. 16:17; And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; …

This ministry is a first step toward a life-long process of becoming like Jesus.

Shame – Fear – Control

What are we talking about here? In the introduction I said that it is an ancient strategy of the enemy. Adam and Eve. Remember that after the snake got them to partake of the forbidden fruit God came into the garden for His evening walk with them.

Adams response to God’s inquiry as to why he was hiding. “I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” (Gen. 3:10). Earlier in Gen. 2 it said of Adam and Eve that they were naked but not ashamed. So here we see they are naked but now have shame and that led to fear and the fear led to a controlling action, “I hid myself”. I do not want to allow my flaw (the sin nature) to be exposed. We see in this very early encounter, Shame – Fear – Control working to separate man from God.

This is a grouping of several demonic strongholds that operate in a large percentage of believers that we and those who have taught us the RTF process have seen.

What is Shame? It is the awful sense of “being uniquely and hopelessly flawed.” It leaves a person feeling different and less valuable than other human beings.

Shame is self-oriented. It says, “there is something wrong with me.”

Definition: Webster 1828 Ed.

SHAME, n.

1. A painful sensation excited by a consciousness of guilt, or of having done something which injures reputation; or by of that which nature or modesty prompts us to conceal. Shame is particularly excited by the disclosure of actions which, in the view of men, are mean and degrading. Hence it is often or always manifested by a downcast look or by blushes, called confusion of face.

2. The cause or reason of shame; that which brings reproach, and degrades a person in the estimation of others. Thus an idol is called a shame.

3. Reproach; ignominy; derision; contempt.

Ye have born the shame of the heathen. Ezek 36.

4. The parts which modesty requires to be covered.

5. Dishonor; disgrace.

It is not guilt. Guilt is knowing we have done something wrong. It tells us we have made a mistake.

Guilt is action-oriented. It says, “I did something.”

Shame is a common problem for many of us, and I include myself, where we have accepted the lie that “this is who I am.” It strikes at our core identity. It is the worst kind of False Identity.

Why is it so bad? It is because we have entered into an agreement with the enemy as to who we are – we have agreed with the lie. Why is this bad? Matthew 18:19

Agreement
Mat 18:19 Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father who is in heaven.

God has created us as independent willed beings. He so much honors our will – our decisions – our agreements that He will honor them – even when they are with the enemy!

Is that scriptural? I can say with out a doubt – yes.

Joshua 9 gives us a story about the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites were part of the Ammorite peoples – one of the Cannanite tribes that God said to utterly destroy.

You probably know the story. The Gibeonites were crafty and posed as coming from a great distance. The Israelites checked them out in a natural way. Looked at their worn cloths and stale bread but they did not inquire of the Lord.

Then when the lie was exposed and many wanted to kill them they could not do it because of their oath toward the Gibeonite people. Even though they were the “enemy” they were allowed to live.

What was the result? 2 Sam. 21: About 400 years later. David inquires of the Lord as to why there is a famine in the land. God answers that it is because Saul had killed the Gibeonites in his zeal to cleanse Israel. Saul violated the covenant with the Gibeonites and Israel paid the price after Saul was dead and gone! God takes agreements seriously.

And through the cross, by the shed blood of Jesus, we can break our covenants with the enemy.

So, every UGB we have is a covenant with the enemy but God had provided a way to break these unrighteous, lie-sourced covenants.

Shame is a deeper level lie. The lie “I am a shameful person” has strength to it. This sort of thing can resist the prayer of others – especially if that prayer is not focused to the identity issue.

This progression of interlocking oppression forms a stronghold.

Stonghold

A fortified place dominated by a particular group – fortress is a center for military might.

Pro 21:22 A wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the stronghold in which they trust.

For our purposes a stronghold is an intertwining of demonic forces, self-sins, UGB’s, and SSH’s that work toward keeping a person separated from God and from their God-given purpose.

A three fold cord is not easily broken.

This stronghold wraps itself around our true identity often in such a way as we really do not know our true selves. And it is common to see a reaction to the exposure of these things to have a real fear. “I do not know who I am without this.”

But the real you has always been there and will emerge and grow as it is given room to do so.

As we deal with this in our lives the masking shrinks and our true identity emerges.

Roots of Shame

Some experiences that cause shame:

• Ongoing Rejection – especially from early life
• Scape-Goat – Example M & GM always blaming them
• Physical Abuse – especially
• Neglect
• Violence
• Shame by association
• Sexual Abuse
• Failed dreams and vision
• Physical deformity

Four lifestyle behaviors that are coping mechanisms

1) Angry (Argumentative)
2) Condemnation & depression – cycle through low grade depression
3) Apologetic
4) Passivity

Characteristics

Striving and Driving (Perfectionism)

Religiosity – trying to convince the world you are Ok

Have you ever caught yourself thinking, “why am I doing this?”

A Shamed person tries to keep the truth from themselves

Shame based – you feel bad and that you are beyond God’s help.

Attitude – I am not going protect my shame & to be defensive – do not worry about it
We all have some Shame based behaviors. Ask the Lord to show you.
• Then ask God to help with what is identified
• God gives the power to break these things off your life
• Get rid of the demons – then recognize the lies as they come

Islam in Europe

This entry is not going to be sensational or alarmist or anything. I’m just going to reflect on the last year of my life living in a metropolitan city in Europe, and being one of the only white guys living on a pretty Arabic street and ministering in a cafe that is located in a Muslim neighborhood with a large mosque around the corner from us.

If it weren’t for the Dutch writing on the signs and windows, one might not realize they are actually treading in Holland if they walked through certain areas of Rotterdam. Sad to say, I cannot say that I’ve developed a ministry to Muslims given how Arabic my culture is, but I’m seeing the increasing importance of that aspect of apologetics if we’re going to make an impact in this nation, and I think I’m going to start (so Bolton, I’ll be getting back my copy of the Qu’ran from you when I’m back in Canada in a few weeks–I hope you have gotten good use out of it, but time to get your own )

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I had two interesting occurrences happen today at the Hogeschool Rotterdam that make light of something interesting. Both tying to Islam, or “other religions” if you will.

The Gebedsgroep (prayer group) that meets on Monday mornings and does evangelism in the canteen, has been using a small prayer room for a few years, not sure how long, but before I ever started joining them. I’m not sure which came first, the chicken or the egg, but it has muslim paraphernalia in the room, and has red carpet, cloths and up until sometime this summer, a picture of mecca on the predominant wall of the room. In order to book it, a student has to trade their student card with the administration in exchange for the key to the room they wish to use. So, every Monday the prayer group meets here. I’m not sure who else uses it or how often, but it obviously would be conceivable muslim students have access to it whenever they want. In Leeuwarden, when the FIRE team and students prayed at the C.H.N., we used the “contemplation room”, which was dedicated to anyone of any religious persuasion who wanted to use it, but it was obvious from the decor that mostly muslims would use it, so I imagine it’s a similar case with this school.

Anyway, today, about 8 of us were praying and worshiping together in song as usual, and around 9:45 someone knocked on the door to the room and in Dutch explained that she needed the room to pray, because she needs to observe Ramadan. I did not understand all the detail of the conversation, but basically, this one young muslim lady was kicking us out for 5 minutes so she could pray to Mecca, even though we were there first and had booked it (and frankly, outnumbered her).

But we didn’t behave like that about it. We all picked up our stuff and went outside and waited. While waiting we watched another Muslim girl come in and join her. But I found it peculiar. Oh, and it was explained to me (since I don’t understand all dialog I hear in Dutch) that she was offended that we were wearing shoes while sitting in that room since I guess in Islam that’s a big no-no for prayer. None of us were obnoxious about it, but it did break my heart a little and enlighten me at the same time to see how a spirit of religion can so dupe so many people into form and ritual, reaching out and grasping AT a god they don’t even know if they have his approval or not.

After five minutes, they both left, and smiled at us in appreciation I presume, and we went back in and I found that we had a different atmosphere. No, it wasn’t heavy or oppressive and we didn’t do warfare and rebuke any demonic spirits or some hokus pokus like that. But we blessed the two girls, asked God to reveal His TRUE self to them, and then we lifted our voices louder in worship than we had been prior to their 5 minute prayer stop. I’m glad the experience happened, but has provoked me to thought about Islam in this nation all day since it happened.

Later after prayer, around lunch time, I partnered up with a guy I met for the first time today named Egbert who also is a full timer with Agape (the Dutch Campus Crusade For Christ) and we went around with the surveys we use as an icebreaker to start chats, and I met a young man studying to be an English teacher and who had also studied in Canada for a year. A lot of what he was telling us was that all religions are essentially the same thing, and all have the Holy Spirit in some way and they just don’t all call it the same thing.

I couldn’t help but ask him a simple question and ask him if he believed that this “holy spirit” would teach one religion that feeding the hungry and clothing the naked was good and noble, and then this same spirit go motivate individuals in another religion to crash airplanes into buildings killing people and blowing themselves up in cars to murder all whom they view as infidels. This young man agreed with me without hesitation that murder is murder, no matter what a religion says to the contrary. He was willing to admit that it’s true not all religions believe the same thing. So how can we ignore or pretend that “all religions lead to the same god” if not only is that not true, but one world view and mindset has world domination and submission as its ultimate goal?

I know sharing my thoughts in such candor is not politically correct these days, but anyone wanting to close their eyes to the threat of militant Islam might as well bury their head in the sand. I have not researched it for myself in preparation for this entry, since I’m being more reflective than academic, but someone told me that there are more mosques in the Netherlands than there are in the United States.

Think about this for a moment.

With a population of 300 million in the USA, and only around 17 million people living in the Netherlands, that figure is pretty staggering. And when you live in Rotterdam, the proportion of Muslims to the rest of the population seems to be all the more obvious. I believe the figure is one out of six children in this country’s public education system are Arabic and middle eastern. With the average size of Muslim families, and the number of broken Dutch families (and this is so in the West in general), it is totally conceivable for the population of Muslims in the Netherlands to outnumber caucasian Dutch people in maybe as fast as one generation.

Are you seeing yet another example of how this generation needs a Jesus Revolution to take place now or never? That if we don’t seize the opportunity, it might be generations before we are ever given another opportunity?

Our revolution doesn’t involve violence. It doesn’t involve suicide bombings. The Jesus Revolution doesn’t involve beheading people who don’t convert to Christ. But they will know we are Christians by our love. Even if it’s as simple as just getting up and leaving the room you’re praying in because a muslim girl wants to pray to Mecca right then and there.

A prayer, fasting and intercession based Jesus movement can and will change this nation if we go for it! Can you imagine the change we could see on this planet before Jesus returns, if JUST the Muslim community saw an authentic Gospel of miracles, signs, wonders and a prophetic witness they could not resist? How else do you explain such a large harvest in the book of Revelation? It’s not far off to believe something wide scale will happen like the backbone of a whole religion being broken and the witness of Christ filling that vacuum in its stead.

Can you believe for it? Can you pray for it? Can you do something about it? Or do you want to just twiddle your thumbs, and wait for the rapture to happen with or without you making good use of your time here on this earth to see a generation set on fire for Christ?

The Jesus people are coming….

Link of interest: Submission – familiarize yourself with it instead of naively believing all religions are the same.

The Tongue Can Be Your Worst Enemy

I saw this posted as a note on Facebook and thought it is so true, and I’d like to share it with the rest of you…

Your words, your dreams, and your thoughts have power to create conditions in your life.

What you speak about, you can bring about.

If you keep saying you can’t stand your job, you might lose your job.

If you keep saying you can’t stand your body, your body can become sick.

If you keep saying you can’t stand your car, your car could be stolen or just stop operating.

If you keep saying you’re broke, guess what? You’ll always be broke.

If you keep saying you can’t trust a man or trust a woman, you will always find someone in your life to hurt and betray you.

If you keep saying you can’t find a job, you will remain unemployed.

If you keep saying you can’t find someone to love you or believe in you, your very thought will attract more experiences to confirm your beliefs.

If you keep talking about a divorce or break up in a relationship, then you might end up with it.

Turn your thoughts and conversations around to be more positive and power packed with faith, hope, love and action.

Don’t be afraid to believe that you can have what you want and deserve.

Watch your Thoughts, they become words.
Watch your words, they become actions
Watch your actions, they become habits.
Watch your Habits, they become character.
Watch your Character, for it becomes your Destiny

The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settle for.

Thought I would share this with you. “In the search for me, I discovered truth. In the search for truth, I discovered love. In the search for love, I discovered God. And in God, I have found everything.

What you confess with your tongue, so shall you reap…

Whatever Happened to Personal Evangelism?

We are not anointed by the Holy Spirit simply to have visions or feel spiritual goose bumps. It’s time for us to re-embrace soul-winning.

My heart sank two weeks ago when I heard that Dr. D. James Kennedy had died at age 76 of complications from an earlier heart attack. Knowing that Jerry Falwell died in May, and considering that Billy Graham is not in good health, I wondered who could possibly replace these stalwart Christian statesmen.

The congenial Kennedy, who usually wore an austere clerical robe when he preached on his popular television broadcast, founded Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale 48 years ago. Yet his formal appearance was misleading—since his life’s mission was to train the average layperson to share the gospel.

Indeed, Kennedy’s most enduring legacy was Evangelism Explosion, a training course he started in 1970. Used in thousands of churches, it has helped Christians develop a confident approach to personal witnessing. Countless people have been trained to ask a simple question—“If God were to ask why He should allow you into heaven, what would you say?”— to jumpstart conversations with unbelievers.

It was that trick question, overheard on a radio broadcast, that led Kennedy to Christ in 1953. He gave the rest of his life to help people find the right answer. Now that he is dead, I pray his passion can be ignited in our hearts.

It seems as if personal evangelism is a dying art. Fewer of us are taking our faith beyond familiar circles of friends and family. Witnessing has become intrusive in a culture that demands tolerance and diversity. Knocking on doors is illegal in most neighborhoods. “Soul-winning” is an outdated term. Polls show that few Christians today have ever led a person to faith in Christ.

As our society has become more secular, our faith has become more timid. It is no longer cool to declare Jesus is the only way. So we don’t say it—we just hope people will figure out our message by listening to our music or by wandering into our churches at an odd hour on Sunday mornings.

I am especially disturbed that personal evangelism has lost its importance among those of us who call ourselves Pentecostal or charismatic. Many of our best evangelists have also passed into glory or are getting feeble. Yet when I look at the younger generation, it seems many leaders are focused on the inside of the church rather than the harvest fields.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I know we need prophecies, visions, dreams and spiritual experiences. We also need solid Bible teaching, powerful exhortation and the inspiration that comes from praise and worship. But it seems today our focus has turned totally inward. The church is ministering to the church. The pastor is preaching to the choir. And our message isn’t reaching beyond the vestibule.

When Jesus began His earthly ministry, He read from the book of Isaiah about the promise of the Holy Spirit. The passage in Isaiah 61:1 says: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted …” (NASB emphasis added).

This verse, which so dramatically captures the essence of Jesus’ ministry and ours, clearly lists evangelism as His priority. The Holy Spirit’s anointing does a lot of things—but we are told here that He clothes us with divine power so we can announce good news. In other words, we are not anointed simply to prophesy, receive revelations, experience spiritual goose bumps, shake, quake, rattle, roll, shout, raise hands, take offerings, receive offerings or obtain blessings and breakthroughs. All those things are great, but if we have them without evangelism then our faith becomes inverted and self-absorbed.

I’ve been in some great charismatic meetings where everyone falls on the floor at the altar. Some get up and go back for more anointing. In fact, we are known to pray: “More! Lord, give them more fire!” Then the people swoon again, roll around and act drunk. And they come back three more nights to have hands laid on them again.

We’ve become like actors in a perpetual dress rehearsal in which we repeat our lines over and over but never actually perform for an audience.

What good is the anointing if we just wallow and splash in it like hungry hogs at a slop trough? I love the anointing as much as the next person. But when will we actually open our mouths and use it to preach to unbelievers? I want to stand up and scream, “Get off the floor and do something with this power!”

D. James Kennedy was an evangelical brother who did not preach about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, yet he taught people to pray for boldness and to look for every opportunity to share their faith. What would happen if churches that fully embrace the
Spirit’s anointing broke out of their self-imposed isolation and started preaching to everything that moves?

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. You can find out more about Evangelism Explosion at www.eeinternational.org. He also encourages you to pray for Muslims during the Islamic Ramadan season. For a prayer guide click here.

100 Years of Pentecost in the Netherlands….

… and all we do for it is fill up a stadium for a worship concert and wave a bunch of glow sticks and lit cell phones around?

I’m going to write this while the experience is fresh, and strike while the iron is hot. I know I will disappoint many people by writing this, but please hear my heart and read my words as carefully as I tried to pen them. I’m not an arm chair critic and only vent to provoke to action–this is preaching to myself also, not just those reading in whatever nation you may be reading this from.

Last night I had the chance to attend a free concert put on in the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. My friend Roel who’s been becoming increasingly involved in the Firehouse, arranged a free car ride for me with his church’s youth group, and I got to meet several new people and enjoy myself.

I love Hillsong United, and though unfortunately I don’t own any of their CDs I would not hesitate to go to any free concert put on by them! In fact, it was an AWESOME night of worship and watching some 30, 000 people worship and lift their voices to God in a European nation’s main tourist destination such as this–otherwise known as the sin capital of Europe. I’m not downplaying this aspect of the vision in one single way.

I got emails from people ahead of time predicting this event to be “history making.” Come on–something commemorating 100 years of Pentecost–I felt like I’d be a fool to miss out on it. I know from watching how everyone else present benefited from it greatly that it was a powerful night for many…

…so then why did I leave feeling like the whole thing was a bit anti-climactic?

Again I’m not slamming the organizers, it’s difficult to put on a FREE event for such a large crowd of people, and with the 08.08.08 prayer day on the Malieveld, in the Hague coming up where we’re believing for 100,000 people to plan to attend it around their vacation, I could learn from this experience and these organizers about how to organize a large event…

But where was the fire we were commemorating?

All I saw was a bunch of glow sticks wrapped around thousands of wrists as many hands were lifted up in adoration of one true object of affection–Jesus Christ. I heard amazingly anointed worship and stylings I personally enjoy blaring through lots of loud speakers. Surely, I am grateful to have gone.

But where’s the fire…?

Are we just going to go back to the way we’re living our lives the way we were before we went, and then just be able to say we were there that night when we look back on it? Or is something ignited in our midst that we all are going to take back to our corners of this nation and spread it?

One hundred years ago, in Azusa street, in Whales, and the various places of the world where the spark of the new restoration of the power of the Holy Spirit was renewed, it spread around the world so that history was made and the face of the Church changed ever since. Peoples’ lives were changed, missing limbs grew back, some ministers mounted wheelchairs on the walls of their church to commemorate God healing peoples’ bodies so they didn’t need them anymore. If this move carried on for the last 100 years, then where’s the evidence of it? Shouldn’t we have at least what they had then, and have carried it forth further since? Is all we got to show for it a bunch of glow sticks–fake fire light?

Now don’t you cessationist evangelicals come along writing me that I’m vindicating your opinions and theology about how the Holy Spirit does or doesn’t work today. I’m not giving you fodder for your theology. I’m indicting all of us as a collective Body of Christ for our lack of power to our words–the lack of bite to go with our bark in our Gospel message, no matter your denominational persuasion or what Dr. so and so taught you in Bible college.

I saw a bunch of young people in this one group on the ground last night, and every time I looked at them, I watched them lay hands on one another and the one whose turn it was to be prayed over was just flopping around on the floor and shaking and then they’d take turns and pray for one another. I don’t know their stories before coming to that event–and I’m all for striking when the iron is hot. When the anointing is present, go ahead and operate in it while the grace is there to do so. But I couldn’t help but think 100 years of Pentecost and all we do is lay hands on ourselves. Watching this is watching the undirected power of a garden hose just flop around on the grass while it sprays in every direction until it’s picked up and directed at a flower garden or plant that needs watering. The point is not that water flows through the vessel-the hose, but that you direct it at something and bring life to it.

When I think of Christians just laying hands on each other constantly and imparting the life giving power of the Holy Spirit on one another, I think of children spraying each other with a garden hose in their parents’ backyard, while all the plants in the garden die from lack of nourishment. We have a dying generation all around us, and all we do is hose each other down with the life of the Holy Spirit and have fun. The fire of God and the power of the Holy Spirit isn’t meant for us to hose each other down–it’s meant to bring life and power to a sick and dying world all around us. You’ve got the power of God flowing through your veins? Good! But go hose some sick person down in the hospital and raise them up out of their sickbed, don’t just spray it at your friends for some good feelings.

Much of the charismatic hokus pokus that goes on in the Body of Christ is just selfish and directed inward instead of outward. The only way last night’s event will truly be an historical event is if we spread the fire from it, not just gather around it.

Let’s SPREAD the fire of God in our land!

FIRE Holland is Dead!

An old season has ended, and a new one has begun…

I’ve been visiting the Heiks and Dan up Leeuwarden, as they are moving out of the legendary apartment above De Fakkel, a Christian bookstore whose name is almost prophetic, since in Dutch it means “The Torch” and for the last three years various incarnations of the FIRE team have lived above it.

I first came here 2 1/2 years ago to do my “internship” with the team here, and in five months after I arrived, for various reasons most of that team went their own way, back to America and one of the missionaries relocated to the Philippines to join the FIRE team there. Ever since that era, FIRE Holland has just not died, but not existed in the way it did when a bunch of grads from the revival school in America came over here to start a base after seeing tremendous fruit. It’s not my time or place to talk about the powerful fruitful ministry those guys did and the doors it paved for us to enter into, but in 2004 or so the version of the team at that time relocated from Ede to Leeuwarden and fixed up an apartment and made it livable, and now finally, that apartment is being moved out of.

In fact, even on paper, this week FIRE Holland will no longer exist or have a bank account. The old has passed and the new has come. I’ve been a part of the ministry FIRE Nederland, and although it is separate and a different entity, there is no way it could have existed without the way paved before us by Gregg Montella, David Lyons and the original FIRE team that came over here. It feels like ever since the team shrank, FIRE Nederland and the rest of us who’ve stayed have tried to find our footing and prove ourselves aside from the “FIRE team’ reputation, but only now does it feel in some ways like we really are launching out and beginning something new. Things have been changing and shifting around the time of this year’s summer school, and I don’t just mean Dan and the Heiks finding somewhere else to live, and and me and Joel also in Rotterdam maybe finding somewhere to live if we are not allowed to stay in our temp apartment (please KEEP praying about that one!).

I’ve come up to visit all week since Stephen and Francine Heiks have been living in America all year trying their hardest to get back here, and I timed my visit up here to coincide with helping in whatever way I can since I initially lived here the first 6 months I’ve lived in this country. In many ways it doesn’t feel like I’m visiting friends when I come up here, but like I’m returning home. Things are different and peoples lives are changed for the better and they’ve grown, but otherwise, it hardly ever feels like I’ve been gone whenever I come back.

I walked through centrum today after another ill-fated attempt to open a bank account in this country (how did all the old FIRE Holland people ever open ABN or Postbank accounts?)

I listen to some old mp3s from Encounter weekends in the years past about dreams and vision for the country that many FIRE School grads, interns and F.I. missionaries had for this nation, and feel like I’m stepping out and reaping the harvest that many of them have sown into. I mean, a national day of prayer in the Hague with 100,000 people next summer? What on earth? But the way you shovel your driveway in winter, you don’t do in summer. Different seasons require different things of us, and in many ways I can’t put my finger on just what it is but I know the seasons are changing in some way for me personally also with regard to the Netherlands. I don’t know what it looks like or how it will manifest, but I’m looking forward not backward.

As for you Leeuwarden folk, I’ll see you at the gathering around the Horse in centrum…

FIRE International Conference

Strange Fire?

Lately, I’ve also been plowing through the first 5 books of the Old Testament of the Bible.   I’ve been reading it to read for myself instead of to study for anything. I find I go through seasons where I’m reading my Bible or praying and get total revelation downloaded into me, and then I can’t wait to sit on my computer to write it out and 3/4 of the times, to post the thoughts on my blog. Well I’ve been resisting the urge to do that, and to just soak in the Word of God and His presence lately. So, the following won’t be too detailed, but I’ll try to quote the Scriptural references, since I’ve been gleaning this from reading the intricate detail and instructions the Lord gives His people for how they’re to worship Him.

Actually, my thoughts on this are not actually anything new, but just today even I was reading Deuteronomy 12 and could not help but notice how many times the phrase “as the Lord your God will choose” or something like it shows up in regard to places and methods of worship to the Lord. Today, if you read the websites for many churches attempting to be contemporary, they focus in their self-advertising on how the style of worship is or things like casual dress, or various peripherals — indicating “hey, we’re not THAT religious, you can fit in just fine if you come here.” But are we imitating the world and offering hype, or are we pleasing to the Lord and being anointed with HIS presence first and foremost above the masses?

I’m all for being relevant to the culture around us, but I’m scared and nervous when The Body of Christ chooses to learn from the world how to worship. When we go to the idolatries of this world and then set up our own Asherah poles in the Temple of God to offer something up to Him our way instead of His prescribed way.

I’m not dogging musical styles themselves. What I am NOT saying is this style or that sound is sin. If you listen to a recent podcast message Dan and I did on secular music, you’ll hear me mock how in the late 1800s many churches of the day branded D.L. Moody’s ministry as from the devil because his worship leader and traveling partner Ira Sanky used a grammaphone record player in their evangelism, and they believed that tool was from hell. I am NOT saying guitars or keyboards or something is demonic. I like a little more expression than I do just singing contemplative hymns, but I love all of it–if God is being glorified the way HE wants to be.

I hate listening to people criticize one group for how they sing songs over and over, while others have no music and sit still and use only our voices to worship with words and song. However, I think there’s a danger when anyone says they can’t enter into worship unless ________ takes places, such as a certain style or musical instrument.

One time I invited a friend with me to the Morning Star Fellowship near FIRE in North Carolina, and this person criticized the worship music, which sounded that night like an alternative rock band. I immediately told them “the worship wasn’t for you.” I recall another time, and I have a grin on my face just thinking about it– when living in Peterborough, Canada many of my friends there would try car pooling to Toronto on Monday Nights to go to Tehillah Monday–a very urban young adults worship night made up of many churches and different cultures–it is one of my favorite places to fellowship and worship when I have a chance, bar none. We would always pray for safe travel and things before hitting the road together, and I distinctly remember one night one brother praying that ‘the band would play the songs we like.’ I tried not to laugh, but this was NOT a baby Christian or an otherwise immature believer, but it showed me how messed up our thinking is concerning worship being a form of entertainment for us instead of a sweet smelling fragrance the Lord loves to receive from us.

Many times we make worship about ourselves and only participate in it if it fits a certain pattern or form of OUR liking. That’s rotten apples. How would you like it if someone asked you what you’d like for your birthday, because they intended on honoring you with a gift, and you knew they were serious and would buy you whatever you said you’d want within reason. You tell them “well, there’s this new CD out by a band I really like, and I was going to buy it myself next paycheck, but if you’d like to buy it for me, that’d be great also.” Then they present you some cheap Wal-Mart discount bin CD they randomly grabbed, because they didn’t want to walk to the isle it could be found in, but grabbed something and offered it to you. If you were raised to have good manners, you’ll thank this person for buying a gift at all, but you’ll be puzzled as to why they even asked you if they had no intention of honoring your taste and getting you something that would be meaningful to you.

But this is exactly what we do with much of our worship to God.

Cain decided in Genesis 4 to offer up crops instead of a sacrifice that involved blood atonement like his brother Abel offered Him. Subsequently, we all know that Cain killed his brother when the Lord honored his offering instead of his own.

We read in Leviticus 10 how the Lord killed Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron the priest, for offering “unauthorized fire” before the Lord, differently from how He commanded it, but had just accepted from their father in the previous chapter. What happened to them? A fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them. How would we like it it a fire came out from the pulpit of many churches all over the Western world this Sunday morning, in response to the strange fire that gets offered up week after week?

Steve you’re being a little harsh. What kind of worship DO YOU think the Lord accepts.

Gee, I don’t know, but how about rephrasing the question and not asking me or each other what the Lord accepts but asking Him? He states in Deuteronomy 12:2-6a:

You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place. You shall NOT worship the LORD your God in that way. But you shall seek the place that the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go, and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. (Emphasis mine)

Now I realize that in North America and Europe in the 21st century Church, these specific Old Testament details are not even of any concern for our contemporary settings, but how much of what we do have we gleaned from the societal idol worship of the cultures around us, instead of directly from the throne of God above? How many worship services are reminiscent of night clubs and bars? How many worship services sounds like a rock concert not because the band is talented that way in that direction with their musical talents, but because we’re trying to imitate the world’s stylings? How much of what is done in the name of contemporary Christian worship and spirituality is just based on trends and not the voice of the Spirit of God?

I have no problems with loud amplifiers if the goal is worship and adoration of HIM, and not elevation of man and good bands and showcasing their talent. In fact, I LOVE dancing in Church before God. But I don’t just jump around and move for nothing, I only go nuts in worship for Jesus–you can see examples of this in videos I’ve posted on Facebook. But I’ve been to worship events that raunched of Christian celebrity rock stars, and yes worship songs can be catchy, but so can secular songs. I’ve also been in settings where I’ve seen girls dance like hoochie mamas the same way I imagine they’d gyrate their bodies around at a dance club. Also, have you ever decided to attend something because you liked the band that would be leading the worship? How come we won’t go if Hillsong United is NOT the one leading it (I think they’re great, but I’m just citing an example)? The problem with most of the church is we confuse entertaining with anointed.

When we look through “old” law, we see that God has a pattern, and it may not lie in the details and specifics for us under a new covenant, but we can still seek HIS face, and seek to please HIM in our worship, and do whatever it takes of us to leave a sweet smelling aroma in His nostrils.

Do you see for ways to kiss his lips with your worship, whether it be through music or other ways?

If you’ve never checked out our FIRE Nederland podcast, I strongly recommend doing so–not just because Dan and I have a lot of fun doing those, but we’ve carefully selected some pertinent messages to fuel the Jesus Revolution in our sphere of influence, and there are a couple of messages loosely related to this subject, “Keeping the Pure Fire” that Jerome Ocampo preached, and “The Fire of God” that Dr. Josh Peters preached, before a massive repentance altar call took place one night at the summer school.