1000th Post - A Milestone Reflection

This the 1000th post and together with listing the all-time favorite posts as of this week, I will also describe some of my impressions of Oxford.....Thankyou very much to the readers of this blog which was conceived on the 8th August 2008 and launched with its first post in the following week.

In four and a half short years we've gone from a time where nearly nobody knew there was another distinct level to Christianity, the Father level, and back in 2007, people only shrugged their shoulders if you dared refer them to the stages St John maps out in 1 John 2.

Both in blogs and now on the social networks ,Christians have been voicing their extreme disgust at the shortfalls in evangelicalism and the charismatic realm. Some identify with this blog, others at least now fully recognise the power of grace to carry them through. The Church worldwide, contrary to the almost complete disinformation progamme of  the media and secular world, is alive and growing probably at a pace and depth unknown in all its corporate history.


These are the all time favorite posts and the number of times they have been opened. The absolute clear winner is not one of my posts at all, but one of my dear friends Ole Henrik Skjelstad (Norway)as posted by Andrea Garzon  (Equador). A great Post.

Top Post-The Real Thing - 12569 HITS incredible !

This week we have been caravanning in Oxford and these are the pictures I took with my trusty Sony Cybershot P200. Although I lived in Amersham only 35 miles away,I have only actually been to Oxford on very few occasions, since the gravitational pull of a city like London, about the same distance in the opposite direction, is infinitely greater to youngsters.
So this halfterm week we thought we'd "do" Oxford.




No.2 -A Post about the Ancient Door Of Control - 5536 HITS - My highest read post.




Top 10 things to do in Oxford. Click pics to enlarge.
It was exceedingly bitter this week, so we dived in restaurants and eating houses as well as visiting the Ashmolean Museum. I visited again on the Friday night because there were a number of free musical events and lectures taking place. These occur on the last Friday each month.
I was treated to a John Cage recital/reading, an incredible series of wellknown pieces played on violin and theremin, some adlibbed music in the stairwell on different floors, DJ's using old and new material, various hands on noise producing gadgets, and a demonstration of a 1933 top of the range gramophone playing contemporary works on 78s such as the then 16 year old Menuhin conducted by an 83 year old Elgar.

No.3 -Too Much Process As Illustrated in the lives of Jane Fonda and Derek Prince

- 2913 HITS - Do we really need to jump through so many hoops?

No. 4 - The First of Gary Sigler's series Coming Out of Darkness
- 2774 HITS - Part of a series

On the offchance I contacted Norita Roberts on Facebook, and before flying to Spain for a leader's conference Marcus and Norita kindly came to visit us in our caravan. Christine has never met them and so it was her and my chance to catch up a bit on the quarter of a century that has passed since our paths divided in 1988, when I left Emsworth Church.The next day I went to visit Roberts Pianos Workshop 


No.5 - Rich Novek's brilliant letter to a modern day Christian Pharisee
- 2612 HITS -  Check out his new book on Amazon

Ofcourse over the two days I was able to learn some of the details I knew absolutely nothing about and for me it was more than interesting, but for the reader here that knows nothing about Marcus or I I'll try to paint a quick picture.
Marcus is six years older than me, which is somehow in God's plan. Marcus's agegroup very much got swept up into the tail end of leadership in the charismatic/Jesus move that we all came in on in the early 70s. It is quite handy that , being just a tad younger, I somehow missed this, but have been able to do detective work from underneath, the results of which form the subject of this blog.
Marcus and I both never set out in life to have careers in pianos. We both fully expected to be involved in the Lord's work and as such we both found ourselves in Emsworth Bible House with Norita and some 20-25 others.


No.6 - The Nature of the One Cult that we are Leaving
- 1626 Hits

In the interim,Marcus started a student church first in Portsmouth, then he and Norita began one in Oxford when he moved his business up there. So by now Marcus and Norita are quite seasoned pastors, and their three lads are now established in their own lives being between ages 20-30.
The original Rios De Vida Argentinian church stream based in Quilmes, Buenos Aires, under Jorge Pradas and until this year Norita's brother and wife Daniel and Nellie Garcia, has since spread through all the Argentinian States and has churches in Europe and in the UK, notably this one in Oxford and one under Colin and Christine King in Bangor.
Now Oxford and Cambridge are much appreciated cities by church planters. Because , like Harvard, they are all cities which influence the future. Marcus and Norita know and meet with other pastors in the city and are aware of the Salt and Light churches which originated through Barney Coombs, and have proliferated throughout Oxfordshire. This is particularly relevant for Christine who was one of the first nine of what has become the thousands strong Derby church, also in the Salt and Light network.


No.7 - Why Havant Church is in such a significant position....PIVOTAL even
- 1187 HITS

Tomb wall - Ashmolean Museum

Second to pursuing unity among Christians in the town, it was immediately obvious to me that their business Roberts Pianos  is quite a tree of life for the birds nesting thereupon! It supports ten or more fulltime and part time staff, which in the rather niche world of piano restoration is no small deal.
As a business owner, obviously you are paying salary rates, but you have to support those staffmembers through thick and thin. And therein lies the skill. Can you get those employees to earn you more than what they are paid?  If you do, you are running a profitable business. If then you plough back those profits into fresh expansion, or Christian projects, you may or may not ever become wealthy yourself, but you will be able to cast your eyes back down some long furrows.
 These then are all the different aspects to running churches and businesses over decades.



No.8 - Mark Stibbe always gave a prophetic Word at the start of the year. This was 2011
- 1090 HITS

I asked David, the son of the pastor who excluded me from Emsworth Church, what was it he felt was the role of Los Rios De Vida now that a lot of other churches have  caught up with the vision of praise and worship and finding the Presence of God together? In the seventies and early eighties there was nothing else quite like Emsworth Church in the UK. Some ten to fifteen years later fellow Argentinians Ed Silvoso and Claudio Freidzon were used to implant much of this vision across the Church in the UK. David replied that the Los Rios churches were still pursuing this vision but solely because it was their vision and not to seek to exclude the callings of other churches.

HMV Oxford? One of the last CD stores?

No.9 - Who is Francois DuToit, the translator behind the Mirror Version of the Bible?
- 912 HITS

So,what are my conclusions after 1000 posts? Can I point to any church or similar sized business that I have developed? Nope. And for most of those who have trekked along the same furrows as myself, we all have strikingly similar stories, yet strangely far from being despondent, we are all more confident than at any time in the past 30 years. In fact, next month, beginning in the USA, God seems to be giving us liberty to roll away the chockblocks and begin to share what we've been shut away for decades learning. In March Daniel Yordy and Rich Novek take the opportunity afforded by their recently published books to begin sharing from the same platform together into homes, small and large churches.

I find the model in Oxford interesting, because it very much traces Jorge's apostleship. Namely that people find God and are transformed by Him in meetings, then share life as a church "in the practical outworked love of the brethren".
For me,while in Emsworth that never worked. It never provided the "inner answer of Biblical revelation" I was searching for.Now, I can never speak for anyone else's path, and indeed I never followed the Los Rios path for more than 10 years, so perhaps if you do, certain other factors kick in to make it work. But for me,Rich , Daniel,Fred Pruitt,Annalize Mouton, Nancy Gilmore,Ole Henryk Skjelstad,Andrea Garzon,Chris Kimmel, Nick Cabbiness, Cathy Rheeder,Joan Reilly and so many many more who have supplied posts, we trod an individual path to come to the conclusion St Paul did at the end of Romans 7. That "independent living" is not really independent living, it is powered by the sin spirit, it is "sin in the flesh", masquerading as flesh. And that this is what makes Romans 8 work by setting our mind on the Spirit and telling ourselves repeatedly until it becomes consciousness....it is nolonger I that live. We have had an exchange. This lying "soul/I" that never was, has been replaced at our true spiritcentre by Christ/I. And that is the key that opens this "heaven on earth" lock.

No.10 - James A Fowler's article and diagrams on what Jesus has done
- 887 HITS

And finally, when I asked which post Joan Reilly had most enjoyed, she replied this spoof post.

Make Loadsa Cash Now From the Different Gospel

Desire and Faith, Ole and Nancy's book

What began as a conversation is still going on, and it is now available in book form for all to read.

The Meaning of Union VII - X by David Heisler

Facebook Note on Saturday, 09 April 2011 at 15:23
The Meaning of Union VII

The Child sees his “Christian” life as how it benefits him – “my sins are forgiven”, “I’m going to Heaven”.

The Young Man sees his “Christian” life, also, as how it benefits him – “I am strong” – “I know the bible” – “I can whip the devil”. Or worse – the Young Man can get into doing this or that to obtain “blessings” or “wealth” or “health” or whatever. The Young Man can be very self-centered.

The Father is different. He knows the difference between the improved life and the replaced life. His life is not about him or for him. The Father knows he lives his life for others. He is Christ in his world.

“I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning.”
I John 2.13

Let’s not forget one thing – you already have Union – His Spirit joined eternally and unchangeably to your spirit. What does that mean? It means you are already a Father.

The question arises – why should I know my union? The answer is simple – “Christ must be formed in you” – and He already is – but the “forming” is the “knowing” – intuitively, permanently, unquestionably.

Why is that so important? Why must I know this? In the Old Testament He tells us His name - “I am”. Jesus also said “I am”. But that sort of begs the question – “I am who – I am what?”.

Well He answers that question also – “God is love”. So, one thing we know is that love is not an emotion – although love can be felt. It is not a thing to be obtained. More properly Love is a Person - the Person. You will not get more love as if it were a thing to be obtained – but you will be an expression of the Person who is Love.

Why is this important? Because - Love exists for others. Love has no other purpose. If God made a choice – and that is hard to imagine because “choice” is really a temporal word – a word for time and space – but let’s say He sat down one day and made a choice. Well His choices are obvious. He could be alone – or - He could have created all that exists to serve Him – or - and the choice He obviously made, was that He could serve and, in fact, die for His creation. Well, if that’s not the best definition of love – I don’t know how to define love.

So – we are now the expression of Him who is Love. And, we are in fact Love ourselves.

More on that in Part VIII

The Meaning of Union VIII
by David Heisler on Monday, 11 April 2011 at 19:39


We know we are Fathers. We know that it is important to know this – but why?

Well, what is His purpose in all this? Are we created to be a race of immature Children and Young Men? Is there some eternal purpose in all being self-centered – “getting the blessings” like kids in a candy store? No. Of course not.

The truth is we are mature. We do know who we are. We are safe. We are His expression. He is the lover. We are lovers. He is the creator. We are creators. He gave His life. We shall give our lives. This is truly Christianity. This is who we are.

The process of going from the consciousness of Children to Young Men to Fathers is what Paul described as the “renewing of your mind”. “… be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind …” [Romans 12.2] “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind …” [Ephesians 4.23] Understanding that, as a Father, you exist for others is very different than your original thoughts about Christianity.

The Father’s mind is renewed. He does not see Christianity as a religion to improve his self. His self will never be improved, only replaced by Christ Himself. Fathers do not look to “get something” out of Christianity – rather – he sees himself as one who gives all because he loves and is love himself.

Look again at how John describes the Father: “I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning.” [I John 2.13] There is such clarity in that vantage point – knowing Him – the One from the beginning. All the nonsense of religious Christianity drops away at that point. That statement is beyond human grasp – except by intuition.

More in Part IX

The Meaning of Union IX

So how do you get it? How do you “know” your union? Well, for one it is real whether you know it or not. You are a Father whether you appear to be or not. Your feelings are irrelevant. Appearances are irrelevant. Feelings and appearances are irrelevant as to the eternal truth of who you are.

There is one thing you must know. He always gives confirmation of what is real – eventually. That old missionary always talked about expressing faith like committing yourself to sitting in a chair. Have you ever seen someone sit in a chair and the chair broke. It’s very funny if it’s not you. It does happen. Sometimes chairs break. However, He does not break.

But you must fall backwards into Him like you would fall backwards into a chair. The only difference is that He will never, ever fail you and, most important, is that at some point you will realize that it is not you that hold Him, but He that holds you. You will realize that you do not hold Christianity together by anything you do – praying, reading, singing, fellowshipping, tithing – or any of the other “so-called” Christian activities. All is dependent upon Him, period.

At some point it will simply occur to you that – what you have said a thousand or ten thousand times “He lives His life as me” – is true. It may hit you like a ton of eternal bricks. There will be confirmation.

But, as sure as the sun will rise in the east – the reality [truth] is that you were crucified with Christ – and – now the life you live is Him living as you.

The good thing is that it is not your job to give the confirmation – it is His. So, basically just forget about it – let Him be Himself.

And, so, in the words of Forrest Gump, “that’s all I have to say about that [for now]”.
Response to Union
by David Heisler on Wednesday, 13 April 2011 at 13:51
Here’s a response I got from a good friend:

“Hey David,

What's interesting to me is that everything in the Christian life works this way:

Objective leads to Subjective.

Our problem is that in natural religion, we want to see it, feel it, experience it first before we accept the truth as true.

All the truths of Christianity are only true objectively, completely apart from myself, or my
experience, or my feelings or will. They are true in heaven before we were even born in time
and space. But God's word tells us they are true nonetheless, and true of us, even before we
subjectively experience them. Because we were truly baptized into Christ Jesus death and
resurrection long before we were born, even before time began, because He is the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. And all men were placed into Christ Jesus.

Your testimony below reminded me of this because this is what I've been dealing with. "You're
already dead, how can you die to self when I already killed your old self 2,000 yrs. ago?"

And as we accept the Objective truth, it becomes subjective. Natural religion, even Christian
natural religion, always puts the experience first, whether that be fruit, obedience, works, the
will, the mind or the emotions or our behavior. All of these things come after faith, not before.
We have to die to our own religion, our own self, as we take His objective truth, completely
outside of what we know to be ourselves, as true on our behalf. Then as we go forward with
that truth simply by faith and meditating on His truth, the subjective experience comes along
after to prove that it was already true. It doesn't become true when we "get it" or feel it or
experience it, it's true beforehand.

"Faith is the substance," the substance isn't the substance, faith is. "Faith is the victory," the
victory is not the victory, faith is. This relaxes us because we don't have to "get it" to get it.
We've already got it all, in Him. But as we receive that, then we will experience it, but it's only
a byproduct, it's not the substance

The Anna Approach (union message X? adjunct)
by David Heisler on Thursday, 14 April 2011 at 16:36


More and more, for my own understanding of things, I take the “Anna” approach -- I refer to “Anna” as in “Mister God this is Anna”. See how Ann broke things down to their simplest parts and ideas.



P.19 of “Mister God this is Anna”

The local parson talked with Anna, then age 5 or 6:

The Parson said to Anna, “Do you believe in God?”
“Yes”
“Do you know what God is?”
“He’s God!”
“Do you go to church?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I know it all!”
“What do you know?”
“I know to love Mister God and to love people and cats and dogs and spiders and flowers and trees … with all of me.”

Do we need more theology or doctrine?