From the Mystery of Sin to the Mystery of Syn VI - Network Hubs

I have a sort of plan with this subject....then life happens!!
It seems this is a bit of a motherlode.
Prophetically.
Also because I am a tuner in my daily life.
But now....also currently.

I thought the street-dance group Diversity were a great visual for this series. On Tuesday night I was gripped by a science/computer type programme in the mid-evening on the subject of networking. This was the final sentence.

Far from being a computer field only, network theory has now become one of the central subjects of research in science in our century.

In a nutshell, what began in the realm of computer linkage, has now spread to include all major science studies...with for example applications in cancer research.

It is this. Originally , it was supposed that the web was going to be an egalitarian connection process between all points on the Earth, connecting pretty randomly to all points on the earth.
What in fact transpired is that pretty soon some superhubs emerged, which have become the well-known names on the web. Google.Amazon.Ebay. And many others.
This led to a study of network theory.
Theories like
Everyone is connected to everyone by about 6 stages of separation or less.
The appearance of hubs is not random but follows a predictive path also observable in cells in our body, in organ behaviour in our bodies, in atomic and molecular particles, in non-web organizations of people- like the star circuit in Hollywood.

These observations have everything to do with how the true Church operates. Based on living linkages of "what each joint supplies". As soon as you stop supplying...and move back into "the myth of the independant self", locked back into the cynicism of you as a finite being just "getting along" in the best fashion that you as a self-determining god in your own right can handle....

The Body fractures.
The anointing leaves.
Reproduction cannot occur.
Ichabod.

From the Mystery of Sin to the Mystery of Syn V - Seeds of Peace

Martha Keys , The Fisherfolk who came to our school for a week.

I have just returned from the most beautiful place- The Inside Park -near Blandford Forum.More perhaps in another post.I was very struck on my return to blogland to read more posts on the Song of Solomon by Dan Bowen like this one.


This was striking because while I was away I have been reading more of "From Eternity To Here"by Frank Viola.




Probably the best way to understand this book is to imagine a time of praise which leads into a time of intimate worship.....like a Key of David meeting...or whatever your equivalent is...


then while some instrumentalists are playing gently....someone may be reading beautiful words to meditate on over a microphone. Those words could be any section from Frank's new book.


Let me put it this way. All of us now have the mechanics of lovemaking described and taught in biology or other purpose-built formats in school lessons. But how many take that biology book into the marriage bed with them? Nobody I think. If you take anything at all it is more likely to be poetry.


In the same way...we've heard a lot "about" the Church and Jesus. Many manuals have been written. But what I am saying is when the Presence of the Lord comes, how many of those manuals would you read from at those precious moments!!!!


No, at those moments...if you read from anything at all...it will be from the Bible itself...passages like The Song of Solomon...or Psalms.

Or from a rising tide of books that now includes "From Eternity To here."




they are books to be read...in relationship....in worship

and when God's presence comes. Individually. Corporately.


They began here and there...with Madame Guyon for example.


Then her influence touched countless but one was Jessie Penn Lewis, who in turn influenced Watchman Nee, which I guess Dan has finally got his fingers into.


This in turn led to The Divine Romance by Gene Edwards, which like From Eternity To Here, broadens the scope to capture the grandeur of the purpose of God towards His Bride from Eternity past, through and into creation, to be consummated in the heavenlies; in other words taking in the whole sweep of scripture.




And as Dan has discovered ,this includes unearthing the picture of a Jewish betrothal. Frank Viola describes the process in Chapter 10. In other words Song of Solomon describes this whole betrothal process, where there is quite a time lag between betrothal and actual consummation.




Here again is another example of where the devil-inspired world system scoffs at the very beauty of God's way of doing things. The devil doesn't understand anything other than impulse driven sex. Or worse rape even or violation. This idea that a couple would prepare for each other just is not even in the same horizon, no solar system. He only understands "try before you buy".Partnering without commitment; love without covenant.

Push and shove.

Marriage, he just can't conceive.

So little wonder that the world scoff at a Bridegroom who goes off and leaves His Bride for 2000 years and counting, while his "manservant" (to use the Isaac example) the Holy Spirit prepares a beautiful bride.



My little testimony in all this is that while waiting for the right time to bring out "Early Harvest", about 5 years ago I began to be quickened again to put a track on there about the Bride and Covenant Love. So this took me back to my roots of actually seeking out the double tape message of Ern Baxter at Capel Bible Week 1976 entitled Covenant Love: a Study of David and Jonathan. Well I googled for this and found Dan's blog in the summer of 2007. I had no idea that it would lead on to all this that has taken place. Meanwhile the 2nd cassette has been found in our attic!!!Which means that the 1st one may be in there. Last time we looked I bust the heating system!!!So we'd prefer it if someone else had a copy.




Now Frank's book has come my way....which in many ways is the verbalization of what was going on in my spirit. My task is to get some of this down musically. Over 37 years I have received 2 or 3 songs which are appropriate as well as having it in mind to link them musically.


The other link in my spirit comes from Kenneth Copeland's Blood Covenant series. If you can get these...hear them. Kenneth is part Cherokee , so the concept of Covenant agreement is in his lineage.In fact it was very much a part of why Cherokees did not get/understand Americans who in practice were such Covenant Breakers.

All these aspects of God's love for us come alive as we move out of sin...into Syn.


As we fuse with our Lord and with one another we begin moving in another dynamic.

It is revelation.

It is a way of living.

It is the true Jesus.

It is the real deal.


People who go on and on about morals. And trying to live a better and better life just haven't a clue.

We move out of sin, not to remain in some pure whitescape expanse like Greenland...marooned and guarding our "concept of purity". No I began this series by quoting the whole of Romans 12.


We are saved out of something to become part of something else. If we are not part of something else, we are deceived. If you are not connected to me and I am not connected to you...and so on and so on...the world over....we are all deceived. Jesus is real and he is One. He is not divided.




We can waffle on in churches or on blogs. But I just ask. Are we connected? If not we have a ways to go.


Rob and Ryan Rufus state we just pass through Romans 3 to 5 grace, then a repetition process of grace Romans 6-7 ,then we arrive at Romans 8.


Well two things prove whether they are correct. In Romans 8 living our environment which was formerly barren, starts to crack open. It starts to look more redeemed. We begin to set our immediate surroundings a bit freer. And in Romans 12, having had chapters 1 through 8, we can truly start to operate in this syn life....naturally...and ofcourse supernaturally...what I mean is it is not forced. We find it is normal for us. So these are the two proofs. Romans 8 and Romans 12.

In between by the way...the Jews start getting jealous!!! (More on another occasion!)



What my blog is about is that Romans 6 and 7 are real experiences also. There's a "reckoning/believing/confessing" of our spiritual realities...which often leads to a manifestation of the very opposite....until eventually the reality of the heavenlies crashes through the skies to bring a Romans 8 breakthrough for us. And in the reality of this, we can then sow into other's lives to see the same happen in them. This is the Kingdom chain reaction. This is true multi-level marketing! 2 tell 2 tell 2 tell 2etc etc. This is the picture of leaven, not as sin as in the Pharisees, but as Syn, the Kingdom leaven!




So in the spirit of this I was knocked for six by the manifestation of the love and anointing on the Fisherfolk when they visited our area and school. (1973)If ee cummings had written poetry about the reality of the Body of Christ: it would have looked like this Martha Keys poem.
-Probably my favorite poem to date on the subject of the Body of Christ .

I have uploaded the instrumental "Algeria" from Early Harvest CD1, here compressed for the internet(copyright AC Welch 1990).This contains fragments from Martha's poem, but really it is to listen to while reading the whole poem below.If you are interested in more details about Algeria, to save information overload it is put at the bottom of this post.Enjoy!



seeds of war and seeds of peace by martha keys
peace, peace, there is no peace
we've cried, we've tried
we cannot find it
not just the peace that glows inside: for that we have the power
in a flower or a little weed
i can find the peace i need inside

where is the peace
that can free me not to hide from you fearing to be found?
i see you coming down the street


paralyzed by fear of meeting another barricaded face
i pass by
on the other side
i return to the fear
i've learned
to live and sleep and breathe

peace, peace, there is no peace we've cried, we've tried
we cannot find it
we are whirling silences

touching circumferences

retreating
into our own orbits
we return
to the fear we've learned
to live and sleep and breathe

we need a strong peace
not a treaty
to keep us each
on our side of the line
we need a peace that flows between us
giving me to you and you to me
we need a very gentle peace
that reaches back
to when we were children:
peace that touches us
when we were hurt and couldn't cry

and when we cried and no one came

peace that holds us till we are loved free
of all the aching memories
that make me afraid of you
and you of me
we need a strong peace
breaking down the wall that stands between us

stone and cold and overgrown
with ancient vines
choking hope
we need the bond of peace:
unbreakable unshakable fact:

me given to you

you given to me

we are one
the old walls fall the old hurts heal

war-weary world
come
and see
maybe our lives can be a sacrament


love's presence in a world that's bent


the first foothold on the way to hope
we have learned to repent
not just relent
from doing what we want to do:
you hurting me

me hurting you

we've turned touched each other and we see
we are one
i am part of you

you're part of me

war-weary world if only you can see we live at peace
maybe the hope you've held inside
afraid to breathe
afraid to quench the fragile candle flame that flickered


in the fury of the war storm
maybe you could begin to breathe

maybe you could begin to believe peace can be as strong
as the killing and the wrong
we all have lived and died through

maybe you could see enough
to seek peace with us and trust that we are given to you

you're given to us
maybe we can be the life bread to fill the hole
that hope left when it died stabbed by jagged edges
of promises that broke
maybe we can be the phoenix risen from the war ashes
to pursue peace
with the passion
of the fury war unleashed
maybe our life can be a sacrament

love's presence in a world that's bent
the first foothold
on the way to hope
january 20 1973


just before Martha and the rest of the Fisherfolk came to my school Dr Challoner's Grammar School Amersham Bucks England with Graham Pulkingham . You can find it and a whole load of community testimonies in "They left Their Nets" by Graham Pulkingham 1973.

ALGERIA - instrumental Music : © A. Christopher Welch 1990. A TV documentary on RAI music in Algeria,(a sort of underground movement extolling wine, women etc., in a strict Muslim culture), still had an underlying futility and hopelessness, prompting this melody.Keyboard Cello and Piano: Michael Thom.Flute: AChristopher Welch Administered by No Name Ltd. 1991. Unlike Brother Andrew, I had no idea that the Muslim restlessness conveyed here would grow to threaten world stability,first in 1991, then in many of the incidents in the following years. Perhaps I was picking up the burden later expressed in Prayer for the 10/40 window.

Nicked from Sheila- Kelanie Gloeckler-You are For Me

From the Mystery of Sin to the Mystery of Syn IV - Spain

Whether we talk about John Noble ministering into Spain, or Salt and Light groups ministering into the Continent, or Rob Rufus ministering with teams into mainland China, or as here Peter and Mariette Stott over in Spain... there has been a change of style in ministering to other countries. And pretty much needed too!
Now it is going to a place and being open to what the Holy Spirit is doing -incubating-building in that place...and unique to that place. You are midwives.

In the 80s God spoke to me regarding future ministry using the example of Joseph,Mary's husband.. I shared it with a pastor of a young church in High Wycombe. Jesus said there are some who are born eunuchs, some who become eunuchs and some who make themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of God.

One of the things this means is that you become those who care for the building of God's family...but there's nothing in it for you. No lineage. No personal seed. Like Joseph , you have all the negatives of taking "the shame " of the Kingdom (at least in the world's view) as your own. Joseph took the shame of wedding an unmarried mother. But although later on, he had children by Mary....he had no part in engendering the conception of Jesus. He just had to look on, cover, and support Mary.To his own hurt.

SO IT IS when we are pastors. The relationship God has with each believer is personal and private. Many denominations have practised the very opposite of this pattern...stating you have to go through a priest or minister before you can get anywhere near God. When God's true servants are to be like Joseph, taking the shame,bearing the burdens, seeing the Kingdom built, without a single plus point for themselves...other than knowing they have been honorable to do what God has given them to do.

SO IT IS when we go to other lands in these days to be a part of what God is raising up there. We can teach principles. We can help lead people into the Presence of God...

But all this Network stuff with brand Names and quirky ways of doing things which may be natural in one country...but totally unsuitable in another nation....all this isn't on anymore.Sorry to upset all the youngsters presently in ministry training who can't wait to get out there and build there own little empires!!The Kingdom of God actually only has One Name. And He is a Person. Rather tentatively then I just share this email from last week. The writers probably would not like this. But it illustrates this new "syn" way of doing things. Where the Body builds of itself...and we are there to encourage, input, or simply look on and watch.

Thank you again for praying ....... on a general note first........

It is becoming more and more clear that the "season" is changing in Spain. Since our early excursions into Burgos in the mid 80's, things have distinctly changed, and the freedom of the Spirit and maturity of the churches is more and more evident. Maybe 25, or so, years is a reasonable span of time over which to assess real transition. Our last two trips out - to Seville and Navalcarnero (Madrid) have been really encouraging and in evidence of this.

In the Seville report, sent last week, we testified to the Lord moving in healing and in Madrid it was in salvation and healing. On the Saturday night, the Holy Spirit was moving powerfully over the church and there was a release a of refreshing and of joy - in the midst of His moving two people came to salvation. On the Sunday morning the joy increased and a number of folk responded to words of knowledge for healing - one lady testifying to being healed straight away.

The public teaching and ministry focused on receiving forgiveness (and a release of shame) and an emphasis on forgiving ourselves for past sins etc. It was wonderful to see a lot of people setting themselves free in this way, with many tears and much joy. (This aspect of people using their Spiritual authority to release themselves is a powerful revelation - both amongst our home church and as we travel - it is a key.)


Over many years, it has been a "dream" to see the Lord healing / delivering / saving just by exposure to His wonderful love and presence. It is now, twenty years on, that we see this is beginning. Over the past twelve months, now, in numerous situations He has moved in this way. It is with the minimum of human intervention - our part is to make time / space / and opportunity for His Spirit - for us, worship has always been a key to this .... it is sovereignly the Lord and no one can "own" it!

Thank you for praying - the leaders team meeting of one of the other Madrid churches on Friday afternoon was calm and we were able to face some difficult issues together. It is ongoing business, so there is need for prayer to continue. On the wider level in the Buenas Noticias network there is a noticeable release in the ministry of women - in fact, at the national conference next weekend there is a female speaker from their own ranks for the first time.

We are hugely grateful to Jose, whose participation in the flow of the Spirit and times of tireless translation were really amazing.

Somewhere in all of this, we are learning more and more about time and process in the unfolding of a vision...... we still await the fullness of the promise ....... but are pressing in for it ......

This is our last trip outside UK until after the "Crowned with Glory" Conference (it will be to Santander at the end of May)

From the Mystery of Sin to the Mystery of Syn III - Synergy

All pictures are google results for the word "synergy"

Clive Jackson (Shaftsbury Church)-Who is the King of Glory Conference- Havant May 2008. (next one May 2009 - see below)18 minutes contribution on the subject of synergy

In the Bible is a word that I didn't realise was in there, BUT IT IS THERE in the original Greek: "synergy"which is ofcourse management speak today and was summed up very well in the Paris Motor Show many years ago.

BMW fixed onto the roof of a building this giant set of scales, and they put a BMW at one end of the scales and they put all the parts of the BMW at the other end of the scales.And the car outweighed the parts. So it was a picture that the sum total of the parts collectively is so much greater than the parts individually.

And in simple terms it is simply "working together".When people work together they are so much more effective - be it ten times or a thousand times more effective than if they were just individually working on their own.

And you find this term in the scriptures because sometimes in Days of Revival this whole question emerges: How much is the sovereignty of God and how much the responsibility of man?

Because we know there has to be a sovereign move of God from heaven, because we can do nothing without Him making the move...yet we have a responsibility.And there's a kind of tension between what's our responsibility and what is His. And someone has said that when it comes to days of visitation and revival you can't see the line between His sovereignty and our responsibility. Because He sovereignly moves, we respond and it goes on like that and it kind of happens this working together....

So I just want to show you a couple of places in scripture where this word is used and try to make a bit of sense of it.

Right at the end of Mark chapter 16 it says ..." and the disciples went out and they preached everywhere and the Lord worked with them....the word was synergised...so you have this dynamic where the disciples went out and preached and the Lord worked with them.You don't have them on their own, or the Lord on His own, you have this synergy between the two.

If you turn to 2 Corinthians you will see another place where it is used...there are several places, actually,and I don't intend to go through all of them. In 2 Corinthians 6: As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. The word for fellow workers is synergise. It's the picture of one planting the other watering and God giving the growth. Or as one person described it...he said a man was commenting to another man about his garden and how beautiful it was,saying it showed the beauty of the creation of God, to which his friend replied, "you should have seen the garden when God had it on His own".

So there is a sense in which God has ordained it in such a way...in fact He has bound Himself to working with us . He could work outside us.But he has, just by the nature of things, He has called us to co-operate with Him and to work with Him.

...and when we work together ....something happens
God can do His part...you know we can't make the plant grow...but we can plant it, we can water it and we can put it in a row...dig out the weeds...but God alone can make this beautiful plant come out of a seed, something we cannot do...so it's that co-operation between the two. Then one day I was reading through Acts Chapter 4 because we were fasting and praying earlier in the year.

I wanted to look at the sort of prayers the people in the early church prayed...I don't know if you've ever looked at that prayer there when they're gathered together. Remember they'd just been thrown in prison because they were preaching in Jesus Name. And they were released and warned not to preach in Jesus name again.And then the saints were gathered together and they began to pray. And it's a very interesting prayer because two thirds of it is telling God stuff that he already knows. "Your servant Jesus did this, then Pilate did this,..."

and you think,"Well God already knows this stuff, why are you going through it? Maybe to remind yourself.But then they prayed the heart of the prayer in couple of lines.And what they pray is:

Lord, Give us boldness to preach in Your name and follow Your Word with signs following.

So what you have is this strange thing going on. The disciples are a little bit scared. You know it isn't long after when James has his head off for being a believer.It was a dangerous occupation to proclaim the Word of God. They'd been chucked in jail, and at the time they did not know they were going to be let out...then they were released and they were kind of scared about csarrying on in obedience to Jesus command. But then they went on to pray something which shows me they understood something.

They say Lord Give us Boldness to do what We've got to Do. And You do what You have to do.

They don't pray Lord you do what we're supposed to do. Because they knew they had been commissioned to actually proclaim the Word.They'd been commissioned to lay hands on the sick. That was their commission.But they were scared and they needed boldness to do it.So what they ask for is boldness to help them do their part. And then they say ofcourse,accompany it with signs following.

And so you have this picture of the early Church who understood it was a synergy, a working together between man and God that brought the work on the Earth.And it has never changed. It really has never changed.

And the whole revival where God fills the whole Earth with His glory comes about where somehow we work in harness and in synergy with heaven and with the Father and we do our part and He does His part and we do our part and he does His part...and it gets kind of exciting that way because we think..."Wow...it works this stuff!!!"

One of the things that happens with the Holy Spirit it says "You will become My witnesses!" Which was their part.It was no good for them to get into a little holy huddle and pray and say Oh God You do it...go out and get them Lord, speak to them...

No that is not God's part. His part is to run before and open people's hearts. But it was the responsibility of the Church to declare. And ofcourse we've been a little bit kind of miffed because sometimes when we've declared it hasn't happened. Sometimes when we've got a little bold, we've ended up feeling as though we've been let down. And you know one of my own convictions is that in this current overflow from heaven....is that we've seen outpourings before...but this outpouring is an outpouring of fire(Florida still ongoing at this point)which is kind of the mark of it.And fire is never to destroy us , fire is to burn up the rubbish in us, to purify us... because Jesus said "You'll receive a baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire.." So there is that process which we have to go through of burning up the rubbish in us. But secondly there will come upon us...you know if you watch Todd Bentley(whatever you want to do with him)he is bold.He is in your face and bold and challenging the Media, the Press, everybody."come and see this is authentic..Miracles are happening. The blind can now see. The deaf can now hear....And you know, you of yourself cannot be like that.

It's not a personality thing.It is some work of the Holy Spirit in us that kind of overtakes us and we start to be full of the Holy Spirit in situations where we take on this boldness and we make the declaration about what Jesus has done for us ...about His love for us and all those things, and we lay hands on the sick....and somehow we are taken over for a while and we are not too conscious with how we are going to look, what happens if it doesn't work.It doesn't seem to bother us, we become something like people that have an adrelain rush in the Spirit and we are like a rugby player who damages himself...but doesn't realise until after the game and he's in the the shower, that in fact he has cut himself.because while he is on the pitch he has still got the adrenalin running.

And it's a little bit like that in the Spirit for us and it seems to me that what God is going to visit the church with is a kind of Holy Boldness.To actually declare that which needs to be declared.Because the people that don't hear it will not actually have a chance to believe.

God's part was to prepare the heart of Lydia to receive what Paul brought. Paul's part was to preach to her.It says in Colossians...Pray that we may have open doors to preach the gospel...and ofcourse it is not open doors, physical doors, it is men's hearts, which need to be open.

So the Church in Acts are praying for the ability to declare clearly with boldness about all that had taken place."Let us know when to do it.Let us get on and do our part and You open the doors, You perform the miracles,You build Your kingdom...but we're going to work in synergy together.

Just like Jesus and the Father...they were in perfect synergy.And the Father would say something and Jesus was representing Him on earth and He would say something, or he'd see the Father doing something and he would do it on Earth. It was almost that through what Jesus said that the Father was able to do what he did.And through what jesus did, the father was then able to do what He did.

And so....not many of us will be called to preach in great big football stadiums. i'm sure that will take place, and there will be these wonderful miracle meetings...all over the world and all over britain as God takes on the powers of darkness.But there will not actually be many of us who will be doing that. Some may. But it won't be very many.

But what will happen that in your life...in your region of operation...in those who God has given you to affect...you will become bold. And you will operate in your arena. it may be 5 people in your supermarket.... or 10 people at your place of work.And you're going to start to do what you are meant to do.Partly because you are going to start to get bold and get working with Him. And when you start to do what you're meant to do.Then God will start to do what He's meant to do. And before you know it, your communities will catch on fire and you will have your moment in those shopping malls and in those places where you go to.

I was down at the local builders yard the other week hetting some timbers . this young girl who serves at the counter with all the guys. I knew she hadn't been well. I knew she had been in hospital. i just said, "How are you". She said,"Well actually it's not too good."She said they've operated on one cyst and had to remove the ovary."She said"They think it may have spread to the other ovary. I'm just about to get married and I really don't want it."

Then this kind of boldness came upon me and I said "Listen love, you need to let me..pray for you in Jesus name." And she said"Yes...please!" you can imagine we are in a builder's yard and there are a number of colleagues there who know me fairly well!! But at this moment everyone's attention is on this conversation in the office. Also there are customers who are thinking, "What on earth is going on here?"

And i said"I don't want to embarrass you...so I'll go and tie my load of wood on...then come back in and maybe by then there will be less people around." Well it's a Saturday morning and the place is fuller than ever when we get back in there.But this girl is all bright -eyed behind the counter...thinking " well when's it gonna happen then?" Then this other fellow who I have witnessed to...sees the crowd and says..."I'll take care of the cutomers, you go round the back and pray for her."

So she didn't need a second asking and we went into this little office with aa kind of open door there, laid my hands on her...just...took authority over the sickness or something. Didn't take long. isaid"Well god bless you love." And she returned to her work. This has only just happened a week ago,so I haven't heard of the result yet. But listen, that was my arena.That was the place where I had to do what I had to do.

Now for all of you, this anointing that's coming will bring a boldness on you.That will cause you to do that sort of thing. it's the Holy Spirit that does it...but we have to do our part.If I can just emphasize that. It's not as though God's going to do it all. The last words of Jesus were that we go out and preach and teach concerning forgiveness and the Kingdom of God, to make disciples of the nations...healing the sick etc that's our part and God Himself will accompany us as we do. And we do actually need that visitation from heaven to be able to make that declaration.

KEY OF DAVID CONFERENCE 2009
'CROWNED WITH GLORY Thursday May 14th - Saturday May 16th.Our 2009 conference will be held from 7pm Thursday evening May 14th to late Saturday afternoon May 16th. Booking leaflets are available now from the church office - contact details at bottom of this linkpage. Speakers this year will be Peter Jackson from Toronto and Peter Stott.

Grace Roots: Synchroblog Idea - Your Performance-Based Acceptance Story#c5836724451564547770#c5836724451564547770#c5836724451564547770#c5836724451564547770

Grace Roots: Synchroblog Idea - Your Performance-Based Acceptance Story#c5836724451564547770#c5836724451564547770#c5836724451564547770#c5836724451564547770

From The Mystery of Sin to the Mystery of Syn II - Diversity

(Click Diversity Pic to View Britain's Got talent exerpt)Because of the way things work we must expect lots of new things which mirror what is going on in the spirit. Some say"First in the Natural, so in the Spirit realm." Others like Morris Cerullo say "All truth is parallel". By that he means that the advancements in the natural realm are mirrored if not more gloriously in the Spirit. It really is no accident that this very year they hope to get the repaired Hadron Collider in Geneva to break down atoms into some of their constituent parts...if only for fractional amounts of time, to help explain the fabric of our universe, and thus how things work on the absolutely huge frame of the known Universe.



And if this be so, it really is no accident that the findings of Norman Grubb and Page Prewitt as to how we work as humans- tripartite beings- body soul spirit- and the consequences of the Fall in genesis 3...it really is no accident that these things are now coming out of the closet, to be discovered by Christians in all the world...affecting how we do life, how we do relationships, how we do church, how we move deep in the Power of the Spirit...and how we kick the devil off the face of God's Earth.


So right in the middle of this series of posts, I am watching TV with Ben. "Britain's Got Talent" which he loves and I secretly like quite a lot...but Christine hates. On come this odd street dance troupe. 3 groups of brothers and various friends. They are called Diversity. All ages. All types of lifestyle...school, college ,work. One in I.T. The main choreography by someone studying Physics at Uni. Apart from their love of dance, they all have nothing in common. Some are tiny. Some really tall.


And I'm thinking Body of Christ. In all the Earth. Absolutely nothing in common apart from a mad love for our Saviour. All being galvanised into an amazing creative troupe to baffle , dazzle,surprise,shock and stun the world.


Three years ago I got this at one of our Conferences in Havant. And it fits in with the synergy message of this series as well as the acceleration theme of the Air Flight Picture of 1978 as well as the 2 winds prophecy which Peter read again in the Lift Up Your Heads O ye Gates message.


The Harlem Globetrotters 19th March 2006-03-19
From now on the Kingdom will be built more in the style of the Harlem Globetrotters.

This simple concept has the most extreme ramifications. Here’s how it works.

The Harlem Globetrotters would break into amazing routines (basketball) several times during a normal match. They would baffle the other team ,baffle the audience and to an extent even themselves , passing the ball at stunning speed, trickshots …even giving the ball to the other side which was so shocking and disturbing that the other team would lose the plot, lose the ball again while the Globetrotters snatch another basket.

God trusts His Son in us by the Holy Spirit, but outside of that He trusts us not one iota. He knows the devil too. He is not building the Church by an overall schedule.
He is building the Church simultaneously, in all continents at once, by that which each one in the Holy Spirit supplies. You may only know one tiny bit, but put your Holy Spirit led quirky, oddball act of obedience alongside millions of others, and you can see the speed and awesome baffling character of the Church.
The Devil has no idea what to do about it. Secular man hardly realises it is happening.
Leadership can facilitate this…but that’s about all. I don’t know what God’s going to do next, neither do you …whether leader, helper, teacher, carer, young or old spiritually, young or old naturally. The spotlight (or the ball) will suddenly be on you.
You will do something amazing. You of yourself can’t do it. But you hear it in your Spirit, act, and then stop and the ball is somewhere else, it’s someone else’s turn.
This morning we heard about the grace or redemptive gifts of Romans 12. And yes we
may predominate to one or other type….but as a slight corrective to that, I felt God say, even that may not mean so much any more. Any one of us may be called momentarily to practically anything. So the most baffled may be ourselves.
For example Moses had many sheep skills, but not too many piling up water in a heap skills….but what he had was meekness…ie God says I think I’ll have this and we’re just dumb enough to say “ OK “ and speak out “ We’re going to have this!!!” and suddenly we find we have water piling skills.
Related to this is the Acceleration Vision of 1978

Acceleration Vision August 1978
The background to this is probably too long…but concerns a testimony of a first ministry trip in France. It didn’t begin that way but the moment I arrived it turned into one. On the first morning my host’s wife was healed of epilepsy and it sort of went on from there.
Because of all we’d been involved with I was too late to go by train to the Dales Bible week, so we had to believe for a flight from Normandy. At the last moment someone cancelled and managed to get a flight. The vision/ experience/ inundation was in this context.

We were on the runway in this small 20 seater plane. And it was like this. The plane was sat there. Nothing appeared to be going on . Then the pilot checked all the dials, all the systems. It was an age. Then the engine props roared. Still nothing. We just sat there. Then……………the pilot releases the brakes……..and well you know the rest
we flew. Many know all about this. Except the Holy Spirit then spoke. With full force. The Church is about to go into a new level. Well since then I’ve learned about the third Level but more of that another time.

The Church would spend a long time appearing to do nothing. But every system would be checked. (Obviously this has to be understood spiritually. It does not mean manmade stuff). We are about to move at great speed. It is vital that things are in order, tight and shipshape. Then there would be a lot of energy, spiritual noise, then suddenly the brakes would be released .

This is ofcourse very similar to the 2 wind prophecy given through Derek Prince in the late eighties.

From the Mystery of Sin to the Mystery of Syn

Romans 12
Living Sacrifices
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his[b]faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
Love
9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[c] Do not be conceited.
17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"[d]says the Lord. 20On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."[e] 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.


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Psalm of Ascents - Ps122 verse3: Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together . KJV.


Fifteen Steps Out by Bob Mumford -1969


The new Jerusalem is being built now.And of what is it being built? Living Stones. You and me. A pile of stones does not make a building.A minister asked me to come and see his church.He had 1200 members,he said. So I went.But I didn't see a church.I saw 1200 stones. I said,"Beautiful stones, when are you going to start building?"


He said,"What do you mean?" I said,"The stones have to be chipped,fitted and builded."


He said," You should meet Sister Smith, she is very spiritual." I said, "She is? Who is she spiritual with?"


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Paul Noble referred recently in Prophetic Voice to God telling him that this was a year when there would be a synergy in teachings and revelation across the Body of Christ.


I referred last year to how the Body of Christ is built by each person supplying. That the whole Holy Spirit realm once we enter the Holy place is built by the Holy Spirit working through each believer's gift. Ern Baxter describes the 1 Corinthians pattern as "everyone hatha"...so everyone hath a gift for the upbuilding one of another. And by some miraculous means God weaves these contributions together week by week in a meeting into a glorious whole. So each week we practice ....totteringly...to walk the 3rd level walk...of Christ as Me...initially in meetings...then as we grow stronger and more confident...we export this walk to the highways and byways of daily living.

So far so good.

The Fall left us corporately in tatters. We took on the nature of our father the devil...who is pretty disjointed and dysfunctional himself. We only related to others in as far as they could scratch our back. The nature of the devil's family is disjointed, split into schisms...Paul calls it "party spirit"....and in our early Christian life we import that into the church. So we say "I am of Apollos, I am of Paul. I am of Rob Rufus. I am of Benny Hinn." Paul says when we are mature we know all the people are there for all of us!!!! But by then our spirit has expanded to be able to take "some" of Mark Driscoll, with loads of Rob Rufus. With a topping of gazillions of historic saints too.

The Devil, like the Family that bears his resemblance, the Mafia, rules by fear. And rules from the top of a pyramid. Which ofcourse is where he likes to refer to himself as No.1.

While young in the Lord, and without the severe breakings which smash this out of our system, we import the same pyramids into the churches we are in. Who me? But I am so nice. Yes Me.

The third level is all about the Mystery of Syn. God's life miraculously synchronises all of us into a seamless whole. Somehow he takes all our backgrounds , cultures and nationalities and ages, and works us into a Body, a Temple prepared out in the quarries...then without a sound, fitted together first in meetings, then in our localities....then as the pattern catches on...the glory will link up like loads of rain puddles finding each other and joining into one mass of water. But that's for another post on the subject of piano tuning and harmonisation. (A Little clue there!)

After the last post, you would have thought I'd got all the stuff out of my system! But no, as I was tuning, I really sensed I should press home on this.

I was saying that many super anointed ministries, who have served God faithfully for years...are kind of operating in a 2nd level pattern. A talking heads operation!. God Channel is filled with it.
Morris Cerullo tries to bring in diversity by getting 10-20 of the most anointed current speakers to help bring teaching in a short sharp intense training session called "School of Ministry".

The issue is this! It's artificial! It's not organic. And the world can smell a rat!

Local churches are organic. They are real! Real life lived out for the better or worse!!
Trouble is...they haven't a clue about the 3rd level. So doing stuff as churches usually resorts to puppet shows. Singing choruses in the streets. Whipping together a few girls who like contemporary dance....oh we know all the tricks don't we!!!

So that doesn't work either...well not in a proper New testament sense.

Ministries of God at the moment, apart from Jerry Savelle, Kenneth Copeland, Jesse Duplantis, hardly ever relate together. They can be super anointed on a platform together. But they don't actually like each other. Not for every day purposes.

Believe me I am talking out of reality. Few of you have lived 24/7 for 6 years in a Christian Community....and 10 or more years in a less committed structural lifestyle. So right now, you can just shutup and say ...on this matter at least...yes Chris!

So franchising out 2nd level ministries that haven't the first clue about
living together extensively
of praying each other free
of bearing with one another as the yuk surfaces, the hurts hurt,
and seeing each other through

hmmm... do you see why I take a lot of what is out there with a big pinch of salt!
Especially "warehouse churches".
Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, I just pray that that precious church in Hong Kong does not become just another "warehouse church". Lord she is so precious in your eyes. if there is anything in Rob of the Pyramid builder still left in him...deal with that man...so the precious, precious truths on grace lead to more Holy Spirit power in the whole church...and to a life lived that means Hong Kong never have to smell a rat! But are saved in glorious "knit together quantities!" Amen.

A Third-Level Approach to Ministry IV - Frank Viola's Blog - and my take on "America The Beautiful Franchise Corp."

Frank Viola not only writes good books, but here is his blog and in the present post he talks about The Divine Commodity.

"I always enjoy meeting the people who write the books I read. It adds a certain texture to the experience.
Last month, I was in a two-day meeting in Chicago that drew various Christian leaders from around the country. Skye Jethani was present at this meeting, and it was the first time we met in person.
Skye attended with some other folks on the Christianity Today staff, Marshall Shelley and Kevin Miller. I’ve been reading Shelley and Miller for years, as I’ve been a devoted reader of CT since I was in my early 20s (I, of course, am only 29 now, but that’s beside the point).
Meeting these men in person was a neat experience. Shelley and Miller were delightful, and as can be imagined, they were both incredibly sharp and insightful.
I was also impressed by Skye. And I’m not *only* speaking of his fantastic hair cut — which is striking in its own right (may his tribe increase!). But what he brought to the table in our meetings resonated very strongly with my own heart.
On the last day of the event, Skye handed me his new book, The Divine Commodity.


Two things stood out immediately. First, the cover - it’s absolutely gorgeous. Hardback with a killer design imprinted instead of on a paper sleeve (I never liked those sleeves).
Second, the endorsements. When influential authors like Greg Boyd, Alan Hirsch, and Brian McLaren all endorse the same book, you’d be very wise to take notice of it. And you’d be wiser to secure a copy and read it.
I began reading the book on the plane on my way back home.
Before I plunge in here, people who know me can testify to the following. 1) I’m not easily impressed. In fact, I’m the guy who airs on the side of being monumentally UNimpressed by most things in the Christian world today. 2) I’m not inclined to be complimentary unless I feel it’s deserved. You won’t find me pouring butter all over anyone (the exception being Mr. Lobster).
I’ll leave it to the other bloggers to write a blow-by-blow review of the book. Instead, I’d like to make a few observations on how the terrain looks from my hill, a few personal reactions, and then my question to Skye.

OBSERVATIONS
1. The writing style. It’s excellent. Skye’s book scores well above average here. It’s well written, clear, and holds the attention of the reader. That latter part is not easy to do with someone like me. I’ll shamelessly admit that I move into ADHD mode whenever a book is in my hands. It takes A LOT for a book to grab me … and even more for it to keep me.
2. The subject. Hugely important and so little talked about. I’ve been saying it for years: The church of Jesus Christ is dying for a lack of creativity and imagination. We Christians, as a whole, are the most unimaginative people on the planet. The creativity and imagination of Divinity is resident within us, but it’s rarely expressed as a whole. I believe there’s a hidden obvious reason for this (which I’ll discuss in a minute), but in short, it’s a problem of huge proportions. Especially since our God is the most creative Person in the universe.
3. The point. Skye does a great job unfolding the problem and identifying some of the nuances surrounding it. He makes great use of quotations by other authors, and uses van Gogh as a template for each chapter. You will learn a lot of things you didn’t know before reading this book, and it will provoke you to think.
4. The rating. I give it 5 stars, and I hope that both of my blog readers will go out and purchase a copy of the book. You can get it from any Christian bookstore or from Amazon.com. I suspect that Amazon has the best prices (click on the book cover).
PERSONAL REACTIONS
Beyond enjoying the book, I want to state what I believe to be one of the greatest obstacles and hindrances to unleashing the creativity and imagination resident in the Body of Christ today.
It’s the perfunctory way that most of us do church. The 500-year old Sunday morning Protestant order of worship has been set in concrete for the last five decades and most Protestant and evangelical churches simply will not change it.
To my mind, this is one of the most uncreative and unimaginative things that’s been invented by the minds of mortal men. I realize that some pastors may think they’ve broken with it by substituting pews with chairs, having the worship team sing 5 songs instead of 10, trimming down the sermon from 50 minutes to 20 minutes, having coffee before the service starts, not using bulletins, etc. etc.
But let’s be honest. These are minor tweaks. The fact is, this ritual renders most of God’s people passive for the entire event. (And God’s people call it “going to church.”) The ritual is more akin to a spectator sport than anything else. Yes, you can worship God and sing songs in your pew or chair, but beyond that, there’s little to no participation. The creativity of the Body is quite limited as a result.
I live in a world where God’s people gather for church meetings that have endless variety in them. Open participation is present in these gatherings. It’s the norm, not the exception. And the kinds of meetings to express Jesus Christ are endless. There’s no static ritual that the churches are stuck in. The variety is as vast as the unsearchable riches of our Lord Himself. Further, the creativity of God’s people is constantly encouraged and watered. And the results are exciting, dramatic, and often unpredictable.
I’ve discovered that to the average church going Christian, what I’ve just said above has no points of contact with their experience. They can’t even imagine meetings like this. (That’s the confession of many whom I’ve talked with by the way.)
The reason: They’ve been given only one experience of “church,” and it’s the only grid through which to understand the meetings of God’s people. That, or a Bible study or prayer meeting. And those are fairly typical as well.
Of course, there’s a price to pay for having the kind of rich, open-participatory church meetings I’ve described. It requires that every member put their hands to the plow and prepare spiritually for their gatherings and take responsibility to express their portion of Christ in them.
Attending a typical church service with the 500-year old order of worship in place is far easier and much more convenient. Nothing is required except showing up. The show will go on nonetheless.
I realize that many people enjoy the Sunday order of worship. And that’s fine. But we’re talking about *hindrances* to the creativity and imagination of the church of Jesus Christ. And we shouldn’t be afraid to face this one question head on:
“Is it POSSIBLE that the way we typically do church has hindered the creativity of God’s people to think outside the box?” Is that possible?
Last month, I was speaking at George Fox Seminary and I made the following statement: “I think we should take the Sunday morning order of worship out behind the barn and shoot it.”
To my surprise, the audience began to applaud.
Point: There’s restlessness in the Body of Christ today. There’s a certain boredom that a significant number of Christians are experiencing with the typical way church is done today. And lack of imagination and creativity = boredom. And there’s nothing boring about Jesus Christ when He’s being expressed in His fullness by His people. He’s anything but boring.
That said, I believe Skye’s book will help to show us the problems in our lack of creativity, and it will help us to begin to explore new and fresh ways to be church in this generation. And hopefully, to take the risks of thinking outside the box and doing church differently than it’s been done over the last 500 years.
Not to put too fine a point on it: The church of Jesus Christ is the most glorious woman on the planet. Right or wrong, I see her in the main today hiding her glory under a bushel. Her spiritual instincts, which includes her creativity, have been largely deadened. As a result, she has been veiled to most of us.
If we can entertain the possibility that there just may be a better way to unleash the native creativity in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ today, then I believe the Lord will be able to gain more for Himself and His eternal purpose. And He will be able to express His glory through His much loved Bride in multi-splendid ways. Or to quote Paul, “that the multi-splendored wisdom of God (which is Christ Himself) might be made known through the church …”
Note those last three words … “through the church.” "

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Or to quote Paul"that the multi-splendored wisdom of God(which is Christ Himself)might be made known through the Church..."

My note to all this.

I'd be interested in reading this book. I just get slightly scared of Americans having great big-scale vision , then using Henry Ford production plant techniques to roll it out into the whole world. Give an American a great idea and he will franchise it- even while you are still working on the blueprint. "But we're not finished yet- we're only at the 2nd level" "That don't matter pardner, we'll pick up the pieces later!!When we roll out the next edition." This in a nutshell is my take on Morris Cerullo and Rheinhardt Bonnke, though ofcourse Rheinhardt is German!

What Americans have largely failed to realise....but hey they got 100 billion miles further than anything in England!!!....is that the third level is its own roll out mass production technique...containing its own built-in creativity and integrity....it's called Fatherhood replica reproduction...and one man at this level...St Paul ..... seemed to roll out hundreds of churches or subchurches in less time than it took for Henry Ford to develop his product fully. (I'm not by this, recommending one man ministry again- but rather my focus is that we co-work with God to see teams of 3rd levellers raised up.But this last sentence shows what can happen when just one third leveller like Paul shows up)

Now as the Catholic Church will seek to impress on you, as if they had anything to do with it....(they kind of claim sole legal right to owning anything before they invented their setup).... anyhow they will talk of the Desert Fathers: Third level men of great wisdom, power and spiritual stature in the early church.

Is it not an affront to the name of Christ that we see American ministries striding the Earth solo and under their own banners.

Are we saying by this that a.) we are only into Kenneth Copeland. Morris Cerullo. Benny Hinn. Rheinhardt Bonnke........and dare I say it.....the transitional ministry Rob Rufus......Or are we building the Body of Christ? And I know saints, that all of the above will freely point out that they are all building the Kingdom of God. Morris always but always says

"this is not the work of a man, but the work of the Holy Spirit..."

And I know and believe all these men. But what happens when however much you point to God...your ministry pattern is basically 2nd level. You are a talking head in a symbiotic relationship with an idolising crowd- there to do wonders like a performing poodle. The whole pattern creaks under the strain these days.

Are we also saying by this b). By accepting these ministries as status quo...that Jesus is not powerful enough to build His own Body thankyou very much. We are saying, while John Wimber was good, encouraging the saints to minister namelessly....the real power is in the "power ministry names of the few"!!!

Well I do not believe this. I really believe that once people have walked with the principles in this blog, such that they each become third levellers....we can BEGIN TO see teams...not only of the pattern in the Philippines with Mel Tari....yoked together in the gospel, ministering in power...namelessly....

but, because that was short-lived and a kind of first fruits thing.....now a whole bunch of us who

understand what went wrong in Genesis 3

who minister as teams

who each in our own right is a "Father " ministry as laid out in 1 John 2

who as individuals , but incredibly more so in teams, move in the Power of God.

See, right now.....Rob Rufus could take a whole load of City Church into the mainland of China(visas permitting) and there is enough anointing collectively for them to see great signs and wonders.

But they are not 3rd levellers yet. Rob's on the way...but he hasn't really seen the "independence thing" full on at the core of his being yet. His people are just at the beginning stages of taking the reckoning verses of Romans 6 on board. The full holocaust has not hit them yet....after which the church, if it stands it, will move from being a 2nd level "Rob and his flock" type thing to being a full orbiting 3rd level affair. But maybe that's not his vision. perhaps he just wants to be a Morris Cerullo type of huge mega church where he is doing bigger and bigger miracles in the centre.

Well .That's not my vision. I want St Paul size miracles but in a "Propulsion unit type ringburner setting."

I actually believe Rob wants this too.

Further background reading on:

A cuckoo leaves its eggs...

in other bird's nests and lets them grow.

Which is my way of saying that this is a kind of non-post, and that instead of cutting and pasting as per usual I actually want you to visit the pages that I have been laying eggs in.

Firstly, I wanted to try and encourage Ursula along the line of my recent posts, trying to explain what a hard job "visual" people have in our left-brain culture.
This is a link to her superb walk-in experience in heaven and my comment. It is a key to understanding Ursula, the revelation of grace, and to how tomorrow's church is a bit different to today's.

This is a link to a comment I dared to place on "the Dave and Dale Garratt site"
but I want you to read the entire post because it is so in line with some of the stuff I've been writing and the reference to Madame Guyon lately. This also needs to be read in the context of Ursula's latest blog on her reply to Jesus asking her how much she wanted....

THE BIG CHURCH DAY OUT

WELCOME
There's a reason for the name; TheBigChurchDayOut doesn't just describe the host of passionate worship leaders, excellent bands and the fun all will be having on May 24th this Spring. It also does a pretty good job of describing the make-up of all those people who are going to be turning up too. Young and old, urban and rural,and every other branch of the family besides... we'll all be there; the Church celebrating together the faith that's bigger than any one of us.

So the TheBigChurchDayOut will be something special. Sure it will be a great festival alternative; with one of the last ever UK appearances from Delirious as well as Michael W Smith, Israel Houghton

and New Breed, Graham Kendrick, YFriday, Lou Fellingham,
Cathy Burton, and The Kings Chamber Orchestra. And the location - the beautiful country home of Wiston House in West Sussex - the perfect backdrop for a perfect family day out.

(words taken from Big Church Day out website)