{"id":43,"date":"2024-10-13T09:00:46","date_gmt":"2024-10-13T09:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prayermountainbohol.com\/8plussplash\/?p=43"},"modified":"2024-11-08T10:33:09","modified_gmt":"2024-11-08T02:33:09","slug":"chapter-14-fitting-right-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prayermountainbohol.com\/8plussplash\/chapter-14-fitting-right-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 14: Fitting Right In!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The next week I went to meet with the pastor God pointed out to me, pastor Mike. He was a high level materials engineer with a very well-known international architectural firm, Ove Arup, in fact the firm that built the mega mall in Kowloon Tong attached to the university I briefly worked at which I mentioned before, and that was where his office was. <\/p>\n<p>The Tree of Life Church was a large international church of hundreds of locals and expats: so there were local and \u2018overseas\u2019 Chinese as well as British, Americans, Australians, a few South Africans, professionals, young adults, and dozens of Cathay Pacific staff, a few Indians as well and many Filipinos and an increasing number of refugees from Africa, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Attending the Tree of Life was where you would expect people like us to go and yes, we did soon fit right in. They also had several people prophetically gifted or what they said were \u2018prophetic voices\u2019 or people \u2018gifted to prophesy\u2019\u2014they didn\u2019t say they were actually \u2018prophets\u2019 but several of these people were from the US, and as God said to me a few days later, <b>we were home! <\/b><\/p>\n<p>The first sermon I recall was on David and Saul, a topic God had been talking to me on for many years. Saul being the flesh and religious spirit group, and David being the spirit-led and Kingdom group. The sermon was, \u2018How long will you mourn Saul? There is a David in front of you; let go of Saul!\u2019 This was truly where I belonged!<\/p>\n<p>But my old church was none too happy with us leaving and made their displeasure abundantly clear. But God had spoken and I obeyed but I soon was lured to a meeting far out in the New Territories to discuss supporting my ministry, and pastor Mike was asked to come as well &#8230; but actually it was a secret council called together to rebuke me for rebellion. It was very bitter and it became clear the real reason was more likely simply to ruin any chance we had of making the magazines work and to sabotage my standing in the new community at the Tree of Life\u2014especially my relationship with the new leaders, which is why they requested for Pastor Mike to come\u2014but they didn\u2019t need to work so hard to stress our relationship\u2014prophecy would do it for them soon enough. But they tried their best anyway. God bless them! <\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">Serving the Filipino Ladies<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Within a week or two of joining the Tree of Life we were invited to oversee the Tree of Life\u2019s Filipino ministry because the previous Filipino pastor had just left and took all the people with him to make his own Filipino church \u2026 and so we inherited a ministry of the five or seven middle-aged Filipino ladies (Filipinas) who stayed with the Tree of Life but who now all wanted to be in charge. So to model servant leadership we refused to be called \u2018pastors\u2019 but just taught them, loved them, served them, and soon led them all to hear God\u2019s voice the way we were learning to. God told me each week we needed to have five things: <b>Food, Music, Testimony, Teaching and Prayer<\/b>, and we ran it for about four years. It was a good time and very fruitful and they became like family to us. <\/p>\n<p>I also joined the early Sunday morning gathering of intercessors to share prophecy and pray for the church during the morning service. Faithfully in attendance every week was Eunice (not her real name), me, my wife, another Indian lady, and a few other people who came occasionally. <\/p>\n<p>And we also attended EVERY church function they hosted, every leadership meeting, every outreach, and since the church was so big and well-known they were host or co-organizer of every international event and visiting minister coming to Hong Kong. Whatever they were doing we were there to help!<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">Home<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Home. Prophecy. &#8230; You can be a prophet if you want to! Now you are Home! What does the Bible say about \u2018home\u2019 and \u2018prophets\u2019? <\/p>\n<p>In fact if you have one of those Bible search programs, look up two words: Home + Prophet, and tell me what you find. That\u2019s right, I was home, but God was training me as his prophet, and then would soon release me and use me as a prophet in their midst. How wonderful! Only a prophet has no honor in his own home among his own people. The honeymoon was short.<\/p>\n<p>This was a self-proclaimed prophetic church and they taught almost the exact same things I learned back in New Hampshire about prophecy: we had nearly identical doctrines, we quoted the same verses as you do: Numbers 11, Amos 3, 1 Corinthians 13, 2 Chronicles 20:20, etc. There was no sharing of prophecy during worship however, as God often leads and many churches allow. They had a very highly developed music team and they had recorded several quite good worship albums. Maybe they didn\u2019t allow people to give prophecy during the worship in church services because the music was so highly produced? I don\u2019t know. But many people were gifted and it was a good community. <\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">Gates of Provision Shut<\/b><\/p>\n<p>God soon confirmed the word from Prophet Jim that things would be delayed but breakthrough would follow. It was a month or so later in February 2006 and <b>I saw a line of gates, like water sluice gates, and they were all closed to me. One was open but it was only allowing a small trickle of water to come out. <\/b>I then knew the water was money, or cash flow, and what was coming through was barely enough for a person to live on. Why were all the gates that were supposed to allow provision to flow to me closed like this? It was very worrying and I just stared at the vision for a time &#8230; <b>until something like a HUGE TIDAL WAVE of water towering overhead burst over the scene! <\/b>If the gates were three feet high and the trickle was barely enough money for a person to live on, then the wave of provision that finally came was hundreds of feet tall, and surely in the multiple millions of dollars. <\/p>\n<p>But for the time being the gates were shut. I didn\u2019t get any explanation as to why. Was it stubborn people, or stubborn me? Or was it because I would not seek God deeper if I had money security, or was Satan just blocking it all? Maybe all of the above? But I didn\u2019t get any explanation but the vision was clear: after a time of barely getting enough to get by, A FLOOD of money would come. I just needed to be faithful and keep serving God until the times of refreshing came. <\/p>\n<p>I was still wrestling with unspoken but deep doubts and disappointments, confusion and big questions regarding what happened back in New Hampshire and his words that seemed like they failed, but then the Holy Spirit even told me at that time, quite sternly that, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cI will fulfill every promise that I have made.\u201d<\/b><\/span> He sounded disappointed with me for my lack of trust and my doubt and yes, sounded a little upset. <\/p>\n<p>But I just couldn\u2019t face all the issues or understand my past. Why did he let them hurt me so badly? He warned me not to take offense but I could not help myself. But I was the one who finally just got up and left. Yes, but his plan just seemed impossible! They hated me! It wasn\u2019t my fault. Or well, maybe it was? OK, just forget everything\u2014I don\u2019t want to talk about it! I was going through so much healing and maturing and was calming down in my anxiety over not understanding everything. We know in part and I was going to try to trust God with the part I didn\u2019t know and so I just kept going forward day by day, keeping my head down: learning, growing, healing, just hoping it would come right later.<\/p>\n<p>But then I also heard God say, actually it was Jesus, and yet he spoke with a real tone of disappointment in his voice, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\">\u201cYou don\u2019t let people believe I provide well.\u201d <\/span>I still read that and just shake my head &#8230; I\u2019m sorry, I really am. I\u2019m trying! But so much just didn\u2019t make sense to me. The gates were shut, we had no income, it was so hard to know what to do. Is faith really that hard? Sometimes maybe. To me it was.<\/p>\n<p>People really don\u2019t like it when I share things like that and they say it\u2019s not God because it\u2019s not the way he talks: he\u2019s always encouraging, happy and positive they say. This voice they say was condemning, harsh and mean. But first, it wasn\u2019t any of those things at all. He was sharing his emotions to me in the way I probably needed to be encouraged to step up and stop doubting. You don\u2019t understand it maybe, but it\u2019s what tugged at my heartstrings the most. <\/p>\n<p>In the Bible Jesus vented his frustration and even mocked people a few times; why? It was the only way to get through to them. He loved the people, even the Pharisees, only they rejected his love and plan of salvation and the Kingdom it was meant to lead them into\u2014so he had to treat them in the way they needed to be treated\u2014maybe it was the only way to help them break free? <\/p>\n<p>Second, people who\u2019ve never heard God speak and never had a long, emotional talk with him, never heard him cry, speak in pain, speak in frustration and are now telling me how they know God does and does not speak, always and never\u2014and it\u2019s all based on their doctrines with ZERO experience\u2014and <i>every time <\/i>I can find specific examples in the Bible where God does the exact opposite of what they insist he will never or always do. All I can say is well, maybe just don\u2019t cast your pearls before swine? Maybe God only reveals his heart to people who are close enough to him to be willing to understand Him? He once told me if people won\u2019t \u2018wrestle\u2019 with him he can never really free them or mature them or use them mightily. I don\u2019t know how else to understand why he spoke this way to me, but I do know this for certain, our God is an emotional God.<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">HKI\u2014Journal of Prophecy and Intercession<\/b><\/p>\n<p>So I had just printed three entire magazines and almost finished a fourth and I felt like God was talking to a lot of people, sometimes about important prayer direction we ought to share and I remember thinking what we really needed was a prophecy magazine. So I asked God what he thought about doing something like that. My habit was to ask God before I did anything! And He said <span style=\"color: #0000ff\">Yes, to do it. To \u2018lay the foundation\u2019 by March, make it a monthly publication, and make it available for free. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>But I had no funding and we were still struggling for food and rent and so I figured I needed to show people more clearly what I was talking about so I first made a mock-up and overview, we call it a dummy sometimes in publishing\u2014it\u2019s like a concept brochure representing what the final publication would look like. I laid it out, showed a few people who were prophesying or in intercession what they thought about a monthly prophecy journal and the response was unanimous\u2014it won\u2019t work. <\/p>\n<p>Mostly they all said it could not be done simply because there was not enough prophecy to publish in a monthly newsletter. <\/p>\n<p>But I got Rick Joyner\u2019s publication back in the early 90\u2019s a few times and I knew by now so many years later that there must be even more prophecy being shared by God, surely enough to make a monthly publication of\u2014not only that but God had begun to openly talk to us about prophecy from his point of view, teaching us Himself and these were things people would benefit from learning\u2014not only that\u2014Jesus asked us to do it! What really perplexed me was that no one seemed to understand the value of such a thing, even people who were prophesying on a regular basis! <\/p>\n<p>I kept showing people the idea but there was just no interest. Before I knew it a year had gone by with no progress! But I\u2019ll get there in a minute. <\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">More Than You Can Write Down <\/b><\/p>\n<p>So I was hearing God so often, and mostly he was teaching me who He was to me, who I was to him and things about my walk. I still kept a very accurate record of his word to me but at one point he even said <span style=\"color: #0000ff\">He would soon give me so much prophecy I would not even be able to write it all down<\/span>. That soon began to happen. Hearing God speak was daily and sometimes I heard multiple short words a day. I was filling up a 200 page journal in a few months and trying to reflect, record and share it when it was important was very time consuming. <\/p>\n<p>Some of the things I heard him say in this early time at the Tree of Life included: <\/p>\n<p>In January I had dreams where God was teaching me about hearing him, how prophecy works, how hearing him in \u2018communion\u2019 worked. I can\u2019t share it all now, but being taught by God about prophecy is the best teaching you can have. <\/p>\n<p>God said <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>the blessings that he has given me have been held back by the enemy and they will all be released in a flood. <\/b><\/span>It was almost the same word as the Gates of Provision Being Shut, and what Prophet Jim said, which I now heard three or four separate times already. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>He said, it was <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u2018Blindness in the body\u2019 that was making believers unable to see their need for good Christian media. <\/b><\/span>He illustrated this concept to me in great detail.<\/p>\n<p>He said, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>the main opposition to our ministry is coming from the Demonic Spirit of Traditional Religion <\/b><\/span>(what we call the religious spirit), which prevents all new ministries from coming forth. This was also against God TV (a new ministry at the time) and other media ministries. <\/p>\n<p>He said <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>He will release supernatural covenant provision to our ministry in a mighty way that everyone will know it was God.<\/b><\/span> Amen!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>He said, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cI am making Faith for the End Times in you. &#8230; My grace for the end times includes your wife.\u201d <\/b><\/span>Later he explained, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cFaith is the fight against fear.\u201d <\/b><\/span>Much later he explained what Grace actually is, it\u2019s Paul\u2019s word for the anointing basically, which I\u2019ll share shortly. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Then I saw a vision that up to the borders of my life were in full growth. This is Psalm 16, saying something like, \u2018The boundary lines of my inheritance fall in good places.\u201d That\u2019s what I saw! <\/p>\n<p>He said <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>success will only come when we work with many other ministries. <\/b><\/span>So I kept trying to find people to work with but we were unfortunately unable to really find <\/span><i>anyone <\/i><\/span>for many years who valued what we were doing and hearing from God to do next. It was quite frustrating!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Then he said, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cFrom now on you will have rent money.\u201d <\/b><\/span>But for a very long time I didn\u2019t. But he said I would! It was confusing. I still didn\u2018t understand how to stand on a word in faith and claim his promises. I know you will remind me God TOLD US THIS a few months ago and yes, He did but I still didn\u2019t understand it! <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Then we were trying to deal with a large Christian bookstore to revive the distribution of our magazines and <\/span><b>I had a very detailed dream of them being an Aircraft Carrier, but with so many internal problems they could not function. <\/b><\/span>I heard they could be repaired \u2018in three days\u2019 and sent back out. I shared this with some people casually and one was a young lady, whose parents I didn\u2019t realize owned that bookstore and she said it was uncanny! How I did know all the things that were going on with their company! I didn\u2019t take credit\u2014I was asleep! God knew. Later we were asked to pray for people during the service but it was very rushed and they asked people to just stay in their seats so we walked aisle by aisle and just prayed for everyone very quickly where they were. I prayed for her and felt there was something to do with a pregnancy, and that\u2019s all I said, \u201cGod said something about a pregnancy.\u201d It was personal and not very clear and I was rushing but she looked at her husband in total shock! How did I know she had just gotten pregnant!? She only found out herself just a few days ago and didn\u2019t tell anyone yet! <\/span><\/p>\n<p>It was around this time that I had at least TWO dreams of NOT BEING A LAWYER to help settle some questions I still had in my heart about my career choice serving the Lord as being the best one for me, which despite the learning curve and money stress definitely was and is still! <\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">Not Ready for Mature Intimacy<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Then I had this adult-themed dream and I\u2019ll share it but it was not like a normal sensual dream. It was a prophetic picture of my (im)maturity. <\/p>\n<p>In the dream I was a young girl being undressed by her lover for the first time. In fact it was Jesus and as he began to undress me I felt exposed and it was like I wasn\u2019t ready for this. It seemed that I was attractive to him, but I was thinking, Is my body really attractive? Am I ready for this intimacy yet? And I was not! Then he put his hand on my inner leg, and ran it right up my inner thigh, the whole way up, up, up until &#8230; I SLAPPED HIM really, really hard! And yelled, <i>\u201cNo!\u201d <\/i>And then he said, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cYou are not ready for mature intimacy yet.\u201d <\/span><\/b>In the dream I felt, \u2018Well, maybe we\u2019ll try again tomorrow!\u2019 <\/p>\n<p>When I woke up I felt so bad. Am I STILL not ready to be close to the Lord in my heart? That\u2019s pathetic! But God had a remedy!<\/p>\n<p>Later I heard him say to me, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\">\u201cI accept you.\u201d <\/span>Still later he said, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\">\u201cI will give you your own Empire.\u201d <\/span>He confirmed that a few more times before making it clear he was speaking literally\u2014it is literally true! That has to do with the forty or so development and ministry projects in the Philippines he would later ask me to do! More on this maybe later. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>He said I <b><span style=\"color: #0000ff\">\u201cwill help people sit on their thrones.\u201d <\/span><\/b>Then he said, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cI will do to you what I am going to pour out all over the earth.<\/b><\/span>\u201d Later when we were fluently leading people in hearing God\u2019s voice in \u2018communion\u2019 as we called it, which he calls just having fellowship with him and he said <\/span><b>this was going to become widespread all over the Earth and what makes us special now will no longer be so special. <\/b><\/span>I\u2019m glad for the warning, and also glad for the global spread of that prayer discipline; we discovered it on our own and have our own take on it but many are discovering the same thing and it is for EVERYONE to hear God\u2019s voice! This happening all over the Earth is going to be awesome!!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>And He did say I would get more visions than I could write down, and I am just trying to skim over a few of the important ones in these few months. Oh, this stands out in my mind: I remember money was still so tight and I made breakfast and had a little cheese and some Indian herbs and was very careful to make an omelette just the way I like it which was hard to do. And as soon as I was done he said,<span style=\"color: #0000ff\"> \u201cNow are you going to throw that away?\u201d<\/span> Oh, no! My mouth was already watering\u2014it\u2019s watering again just sharing this\u2014and I was hungry and this was a special meal to me. But if he wants me to, I\u2019ll throw it in the trash right now. But then he gave me the verse from Isaiah 66:9 <\/p>\n<p class=\"plus8verse\">\u201c\u2018Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?\u2019 says the LORD; \u2018shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?\u2019 says your God.\u201d (ESV)<\/p>\n<p>I understood what he was saying; <\/span><b>he was preparing me, he was going to use me! <\/b><\/span>Amen! I ate the omelette!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">You Should be Ministering<\/b><\/p>\n<p>And there were visiting evangelists at the big Hi-Tech convention center in June and it was bi-lingual (English and Cantonese) and drew a huge crowd of youth in the many thousands and when I was there the Lord said, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\">\u201cLook around. What do you see?\u201d<\/span> I opened my eyes and saw thousands of youth worshiping God and he answered his own question, saying, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cIt\u2019s the Body of Christ.\u201d <\/span><\/b>Then he added, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\">\u201cYou should be ministering, not being ministered to.\u201d<\/span> Then thinking of trying to find a way to let these established people give me an opportunity to share it was disheartening. They are always so protective and never like what I share. But then he said something like, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cI allow a measure of disunity within my Body. It keeps the sheep safe from leaders who will try to dominate and take control.\u201d<\/span> <\/b>Even when I try to share THAT people get upset, but it makes sense, but anyway that\u2019s what He said. <\/p>\n<p>So there was just so very much going on, with new friends, new activities, great music, the Filipino group, which was hard to manage at first but things soon settled down and we became close friends to so many ladies from the Philippines. That was also a kind of test-bed ministry for us to experiment with hearing God\u2019s voice, training people to hear him themselves, doing inner healing, deliverance, and we learned so much together. <\/p>\n<p>For example, this was when God explained his meaning of Grace to me, which I had never heard another human teach before. I now meet people who do understand it this way, maybe you do, but it was God himself who first taught this to me. <\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">Grace: Strength to Overcome, Not Permission to Sin<\/b><\/p>\n<p>What happened was we had a very bossy lady in our Filipina ministry group who lived near me and Adrian. She had been married to a Westerner who ran a very popular bar in Wan Chai; she was now widowed, was older than me and she wanted to run everything on her own. One day she decided she would undermine us and destroy the group to take everyone away to follow her instead of me and my wife, and so she began to sabotage the meetings and spread gossip and slander about us. Very hurtful lies and wild rumors began spreading about me in the small community; many of these things were not half truths, they were outright lies. <\/p>\n<p>And because I had helped her out so much for so long that this was a personal insult to me. I felt her loneliness, broken-hearted jealously and other unhealed heartache was behind it but it was causing real damage to our small group and threatened the flow of the Spirit bringing freedom to these broken lives. <\/p>\n<p>So I prayed and prayed and God said something like, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cIf you play things right you will come out of this smelling like roses!\u201d<\/span><\/b> Several times when I was just too angry and could not understand what to do about her I just went up to pray in the forest under a footbridge over a mountain stream where it was cool and quiet and I just prayed until I calmed down enough to be able to handle myself properly. <\/p>\n<p>Once doing this I saw a vision of the Throne of Grace which I write about often. It was yellow and there were a lot of people there and he said, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cYou have now come to the Throne of Grace &#8230; Bring people here!\u201d He said if you\u2019ve ever asked for strength this is where you\u2019ve been, <\/span><\/b>but also that you don\u2019t usually see it, but this is where you\u2019ve been and from where he empowers his people to have strength to do any good work, to have or use any gift, to do any ministry, to mature, to overcome sin or hardships or whatever\u2014<span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>there is NO Strength without Grace<\/b><\/span>, he added later. I had other visions on \u2018grace\u2019 but didn\u2019t really understand it yet, and I had to look it up and realized this word, <i>charis<\/i>, does not mean forgiveness, favor or kindness as many people often teach, in the Bible Paul used it to mean the empowering flow of God\u2019s Spirit\u2014it\u2019s basically what we call the anointing. <\/p>\n<p>I write on this a lot and you can look up my articles on-line for a more detailed explanation of this very often misunderstood revelation. I began to teach this and employ this revelation and it is so important God included it as one of the main chapters in the teaching <i>The Foundations of the Kingdom<\/i> which he asked me to write and share. <\/p>\n<p>Simply put, people who are misbehaving lack the grace\/strength to act right. They often KNOW what they ought to do but don\u2019t have the STRENGTH of character from God to act it out. Grace is not permission to sin, but the power given by God to overcome it and stop sinning. Healing, deliverance, prophecy, wisdom, maturity all come from receiving from the flow of his nourishing Spirit of grace. Like I said it is the word Paul used for the Anointing. This is an incredibly important revelation but still, the real thing I want to share about over this time was receiving inner healing and how it so greatly affect my prophesying. <\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">Cleansing Stream to Hearing God in \u2018Communion\u2019 <\/b><\/p>\n<p>One of the elders, Eunice, was from Guam but whose ancestors were from Xiamen in China, on Gulan Yu where I used to work actually! What a small world. But she was gifted in several ways and brought in an international ministry based in California called Cleansing Stream. They still function I think and are a deliverance ministry disguised as a personal inner healing and cleansing course and retreat. They lead entire communities into a preparation period of several weeks where they attend small groups, watch videos and pray together before a retreat where every one of the several hundred attendees will get personal prayer for inner healing and deliverance for seven or ten different but specific issues. <\/p>\n<p>The Tree of Life Church asked all ministry leaders to go through the seminar and I gladly did, and the second time I led my entire Filipino group through, which needed special arrangements since they were all domestic helpers and only had Sunday off and could never attend a weeknight preparation session. And then the third time I co-led a normal small group with Pastor Mike, as he observed me, and then I think I even led a group myself another time, but I forget, maybe it was just three times. But I also did things like run the sound board, cue videos and whatever they needed help with really. <\/p>\n<p>And for me the effect was profound. By that time I had my prophecy gift reactivated and I was having dreams and words during worship the same as I used to back in New Hampshire but more frequently; I was praying more and getting more words in prayer and just during the day in general, and I had a certain spiritual sense of what was going on around me, a sharp kind of discernment as I still called it. <\/p>\n<p>Only when I went through the seminar the first time the way my \u2018gifts\u2019 operated changed. I could still sense what was going on around me, but it was fainter. I needed to be more quiet and focused to hear the same way I used to, but if I would sit in God\u2019s presence, which I could also do for longer periods of time now, I was also more able to hear him talk the way my wife discovered previously. <\/p>\n<p>The second time going through the seminar it was the same effect. My \u2018gift\u2019 got dialed down again and I needed to draw nearer to God, to be a more active listener to hear God the way I used to. <b>But when I did draw near it was much more interactive than ever\u2014better than only hearing him with the gift.<\/b> I was becoming friends with a God whom before I only heard from, or knew about but never actually knew <i>personally<\/i>. The Inner Healing affected my heart attitude towards God the most. I distrusted him less, wasn\u2019t so scared of him knowing my inner heart and secrets, and I just felt like he understood me more and more. <\/p>\n<p>Then the third time around doing the seminar and it was like my gift was switched off. I even started saying that in surprise! That shift took about probably 12 months in total and it happened in clear stages as I went through that inner healing seminar. So my \u2018gift\u2019 seemed to be off, but what I found instead <b>was what we called \u2018communion\u2019\u2014live fellowship with the Holy Spirit\u2014interactive two-way conversational fellowship with God via the indwelling Holy Spirit<\/b>\u2014or maybe you can think of a better way to describe it? But it was not talking to God with a gift, which Jesus said is nevertheless important. What I understood is that I was simply communicating with the indwelling \u2018abiding\u2019 anointing of the Holy Spirit who was always with me. This is 1 John 2! <\/p>\n<p class=\"plus8verse\"><sup>20<\/sup> But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. <\/p>\n<p align=\"CENTER\">\u2014and\u2014<\/p>\n<p class=\"plus8verse\"><sup>27<\/sup> But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie [some versions say is not a counterfeit]\u2014just as it has taught you, abide in him. (ESV)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>This verse describes a reality I was now becoming very well versed in. \u2018Communion\u2019 is what happens when the Veil that separates Man from God is truly removed. For many people that barrier remains in their minds, they maintain their ignorance, the separation in their hearts. This is what 2 Corinthians 3 says also: a veil covers the hearts and minds of many people reading the Bible, not just Jews reading Moses, it happens to Christians reading the New Testament as well. Their hearts are hard and dull. But when they turn to face the \u2018Lord,\u2019 by which he means the \u2018Spirit,\u2019 that \u2018veil\u2019 of separation and ignorance is removed. The text actually says that the word \u2018Lord\u2019 here means the \u2018Spirit.\u2019 So it is when people turn to face the Lord in Spirit, or to face the Lord AS the Spirit that the veil is removed! Wow! And it continues, where the Spirit of the Lord is there is FREEDOM. In this case, specifically, it is freedom from ignorance, blindness and darkened sight of being unable to see the Lord who is right there with them all the time. Finally in verse 18: (ESV)<\/p>\n<p class=\"plus8verse\">And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.<\/p>\n<p>Being able to \u2018face the Lord\u2019 in Spirit and open one\u2019s spiritual eyes to BEHOLD him is what causes us to be TRANSFORMED into his image, from Glory to glory. It\u2019s just so obvious! This is the effect of enjoying mature intimacy which I could do only after my broken heart was healed. <\/p>\n<p>And no, it does not matter what you call it\u2014we called it \u2018communion\u2019\u2014Jesus calls it simply having fellowship, people say its Soaking, some call it Journaling, but whatever you call it, it allowed us to experience a direct fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit that was simply beyond anything I had ever imagined was possible! <\/p>\n<p>Oh, wait! This is what the Irish were doing all those years ago when they visited us in New Hampshire! This is why Paul Kelley was in constant two-way conversation with the Holy Spirit! Wow, we actually found it!! My wife did first and I never even told her about the Irish!<\/p>\n<p>And yes, I wanted to have a clear scriptural explanation of what God was doing so I used the Greek word <i>koinonia <\/i>that in English is \u2018communion\u2019 to describe what we had discovered. But like I said Jesus said, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cYou call that communion, but I just call it having fellowship.\u201d <\/span><\/b>Whatever you call it, it is a true Gem of the Kingdom!<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">40 Days in Heaven <\/b><\/p>\n<p>I then found a great testimony on a website of supernatural experiences. He had Sahdu Sundar Singh\u2019s materials, Watchman Nee and Ian McCormack and this testimony in particular with a long, awkward title. I loved it! I printed it myself on regular paper, and then later made a homemade bound book for myself so it was easier to read. One day I was just reading it and the Lord spoke saying, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cYou don\u2019t need those chapter divisions.\u201d <\/b><\/span>The chapters were divided by the interview with the man not by topic or plot. I looked up to where the Lord spoke from and said, \u201cWhy? I already have a copy. Oh! What do you want me to do?\u201d He said, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cI want you to republish that book and make it a first-fruits offering of your book publishing ministry.\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>It was very hard to do for some unknown reason, and at one point when I was almost done both my hard drives failed within four hours of each other! Then I had no money to print it but God provided that much at the last minute, just in time to have it ready as a gift for the church members at Christmas. I asked to give everyone a copy who wanted it, for free, and the church obliged\u2014but failed to mention it was a book I made and paid for, leading people to think the church had done it and funded it themselves. We had no offering or collection to help us with food costs or publishing costs. But good! That made it all the more pure an offering from me! People not only didn\u2019t know it was from us, but the church didn\u2019t even allow it to be for sale on their lobby book shelf next to the book the pastor\u2019s daughter-in-law made on \u2018worship through arts and crafts,\u2019 etc. <\/p>\n<p>Later one man sought me out and asked for a box of books for his colleagues and ministry workers in China or North Korea and he gave me an offering that recouped pretty much the bulk of the cost of printing all at once! That\u2019s how God so often moves in my experience! <\/p>\n<p>So I had renamed the book <i>40 Days in Heaven <\/i>and I published the full book text on-line for free to read: no gimmicks, no tricks to boost sales. I in fact LOSE sales that way because people can not only read it for free, they can get the pdf and make their own copies &#8230; and people have! I ask people to please share some royalties with us, we are missionaries, especially if they sell copies and earn money from it, but so far I know of many sales this way and yet I never got any money from anyone. It\u2019s OK, I tell the Lord, if I am owed money, please just make it up to me directly and forget those debts! <b>The gospel, and such testimonies going out is more important than getting an income.<\/b> He told me that and I agree!<\/p>\n<p>So people can buy it on Amazon too if they want a printed copy. God said, yes, we can sell it and earn some money from it, and even promote it a little, \u201cJust don\u2019t PUSH it!\u201d he said. I am not very active promoting it because even how much we\u2019ve struggled as missionaries, it\u2019s a holy thing to me and I need to err on the side of caution on this one. But it\u2019s really such a wonderful story!<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">Class is OVER! <\/b><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m still listing the dreams and visions from that Summer of 2006, and that\u2019s when I dreamed I was in class, so bored with the classwork that I began hacking through the forms, getting past them, looking at how the whole thing works underneath the surface and people said, Don\u2019t do that! But I was doing it!\u2014then people began to get up and leave and there was a loud announcement:<b> \u201cCLASS IS OVER!\u201d\u2014as a huge rushing wind filled me and I sang to God, \u201cMy identify is you.\u201d [End]<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p>Oh, too many dreams I have to skip over. <\/span><b>I saw a bus terminus and my daughter and wife and I were there, but we went different ways.<\/b><\/span> My daughter and I got on the train and the Russian Mafia were trying to kill us! We evaded them and I climbed the mountain above the terminus to see where my wife went. Oh, there she was, <\/span><i>waaaay<\/i><\/span> out in the ocean! She left us and went so far, far away, but well, it seemed she could still make it back if she wanted to. And I could hear her saying things about me, some of them good, like she was telling people I was indeed a prophet of the Lord, <\/span><b>but nevertheless she was no longer with us. <\/b><\/span>I stomped on the soil I was standing on and it squished and oozed water like the mountain was made from a huge sponge. The water was the Holy Spirit. [End]<\/span><\/p>\n<p>And I dreamed I learned to use a motorcycle and it was faith\u2014<b>all you do is turn the throttle and the machine moves for you without any effort on your behalf<\/b>; I had several passengers. Faith doesn\u2019t require my actual effort to move things. Yes, the faith requires some effort itself, but it is only the effort of turning the throttle. The effect it produces however is like using an engine to drive. And I then saw a cement truck skip the curb. I saw and heard it before it happened. It was supernatural discernment. [End]<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Then another bus dream, entering the Bus of God\u2019s rest which I published in the HKI journal. I won\u2019t share it now but the <b>Kingdom is made for children<\/b> and some people just can\u2019t enjoy it. [End]<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Then another dream of being in exams and being SOOO BORED but also so impatient to just leave! <b>School was already over and I just wanted to get my exam results and Go! You know that feeling of the last day of school of senior year? <\/b>I was in line for my exam results and my wife was there but would not stand near me and was no longer even talking with me, but she still respected me as a prophet and would not speak badly about me in public. I didn\u2019t understand it at that time. But suddenly my name was called out! I grabbed my results\u2014I didn\u2019t even care what my grades were. I passed! Let me out of here!! <\/p>\n<p>I pushed open the double doors and there in the parking lot was a huge bus, like a bus converted to be a tour vehicle for a band or something. The engine was on, the door was open, they were waiting for me and I JUMPED in\u2014they slammed the doors shut and we were off!! <\/p>\n<p>The driver was Jack, the son of pastor Henry Greenhurst, and he was weaving a little in traffic, a little inexperienced, but it was OK, we were safe. Then the driver changed to a young Chinese boy I did not know. Then a storm hit so I opened the sliding door on the side of the vehicle to look out while we were still moving. The rain water was high in the street, maybe already six inches high, but the bus was so big and powerful it just didn\u2019t matter! We kept right on going right through the storm! [End]<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I saw a vision of a pile of Books. <b>These were the IDOLS of Man\u2019s doctrines and beliefs <\/b>of the Bible based on Man\u2019s ways that were not only wrong but were also Idols of people in the Church. God spoke solemnly saying, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cThese books never should have been written.\u201d<\/b> <\/span>[End]<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I had a dream of being denied a \u2018church covering\u2019 because I had no money. If I had money or was famous they would \u2018cover\u2019 me\u2014the covering was just fabric and nothing important, supernatural or special in any way. There was more but that was the main thing. [End]<\/p>\n<p>Then five dreams in one night: 1. a thick leg bone, balancing up on another, it was my grandmother\u2019s \u2018bones\u2019 and it was the passing of a generational blessing to me. Promises given to her that she could not lay hold of somehow would now pass to me; 2. the Current of Holy Spirit flowing through me like a river; 3. me and my daughter were sailing, but my wife would not join us and in fact she was holding the boat\u2019s rope to shore to prevent us from sailing. It was a little dangerous and I could feel the tension because the Wind was blowing quite strongly and was pushing the boat out\u2014but she was holding it back and everything was shaking under the strain. I think she finally let go and the boat took off into the wind without her. Two other dreams I\u2019ll skip. [End]<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">You are Released!<\/b><\/p>\n<p>And so finally I\u2019ll add this, really skipping over so many words and anything not useful to show how I understood Prophecy as a gift and ministry. But our church was very musical. They were founded by a few friends who were all musicians and had cut many CD\u2019s of their own worship music over the years. So there was a dance video performance the week we joined and now about 10 months or a year later there was going to be a huge live CD recording with video and everything, (so I guess a VCD). We rented the ICA church since it was larger and was an actual refurbished movie theater. This was the same ICA where my wife got Spirit-filled. It\u2019s a small town!<\/p>\n<p>So I asked who was on the prayer team, who was going to pray for the event and no one really was. I was alarmed so I volunteered and that drew some interest from a few other people to cover the venue with prayer for the event where thousands would come from all over the city. <\/p>\n<p>So it began and I was singing and running around praying, praying in tongues, proclaiming, binding, loosing\u2014you name it! I was going up to the main balcony, down to the main stage, anywhere I felt the Lord ask me to go to pray, and then suddenly when I was on the way back up to the balcony again I heard the Lord speak.<b><span style=\"color: #0000ff\"> \u201cYou are released.\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">Did I Just Get Fired?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>I was confused and nervous. Did God just fire me? Maybe the recording was half over and it was enough prayer and I was taking it all way too seriously? Maybe I wasn\u2019t really praying very effectively? Was I discerning things right? Why am I being let go? Why am I being \u2018released\u2019? <\/p>\n<p>Then it began to click. Released!? I was being Released! Not fired, but \u2018released into my role as a prophet.\u2019 I gasped! It was so ingrained in me not to \u2018blow my own trumpet\u2019 or \u2018put myself forward\u2019 that even when God said this I was slow to catch on. I wasn\u2019t doing a bad job, I got promoted! <\/p>\n<p>I then reflected on the recent word that I should be ministering not being ministered to, and that Class was Over! Was it true? Am I now the Lord\u2019s Prophet? So no certificate, no ordination ceremony, no lapel pin or name tag given to me to wear at church breakfasts. No human even knew about it\u2014and actually that was just perfect with me! <\/p>\n<p>This was so cool! And scary! But I bet it\u2019s going to be a lot of fun though, right? Right? I forgot he said the price\/burden would be high, not that it would have mattered to me anyway! <\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile we kept leading the One Body Filipino ministry and so were a part of all leaders\u2019 meetings and were so eager to serve we attended every event we could just to help out. It didn\u2019t matter if we were needed to serve food, handle the sound board, tidy up after people but always we were there to intercede and pray for the Lord\u2019s will to be done. <\/p>\n<p>Soon I went on my first mission trip to the Philippines! I want to share on that now but it\u2019s not about prophecy. There was a lot of prophecy to guide us but also warfare and if people are not ready for stepping into spiritual combat they tend to act quite badly sometimes! Even leaders!\u2014but that\u2019s not about prophecy so I\u2019ll have to skip all that right now! <\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">You Said You Wanted to be a Prophet, Right? <\/b><\/p>\n<p>So I was adapting to my new spiritual environment where the inner healing I went through allowed me to communicate with the Lord quite freely. It took all-in-all over a year and maybe nearly two to complete the transition fully but meanwhile many sometimes turbulent things were still going on around me. <\/p>\n<p>I said I wanted to be a prophet right? Is it too late to change my answer? <\/p>\n<p>In fact yes, many are called, gifted, invited, empowered, but it is a choice\u2014a daily choice\u2014to continue serving the Lord in that often stressful way. God won\u2019t force us to do anything: he won\u2019t force us to stop sinning, to repent, to seek the hidden manna, to persevere in trials, to serve him\u2014especially to serve in such a difficult role as this. I chose to stick with it even when the going became so difficult; I just set my face like flint, determined to not give up. The price was actually quite high. <\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">\u201c2008 by 2008\u201d Church Vision Was Not From God<\/b><\/p>\n<p>So at the turn of the year 2007 the church had a vision-sharing theme of sermons, which was usually done in January to give people a focus for the New Year. This year it was \u20182008 by 2008,\u2019 which meant their goal was to increase church membership to 2008 people by the year 2008. They were outlining some steps they wanted to take, such as starting a Bible school, and other things. <\/p>\n<p>I was very excited when I heard talk about a Bible school and hoped to be involved in that since it was exactly what my skills and desires were. <\/p>\n<p>A few weeks went by and no one mentioned anything to me, then there was another vision sharing meeting and they presented the person chosen to lead the Bible school initiative and it was not who you would think of as a good choice. But I recognized him! He was the guy who ran the coffee shop by my old office in Fortress Hill. This was the man personally responsible for addicting me to coffee!! <\/p>\n<p>He introduced himself and openly said he had no experience or background in education or ministry and didn\u2019t have a higher degree or anything like that but was willing to try. What he was an expert in &#8230; yes, was coffee. And surely a nice guy, but \u2026 well, I was crestfallen. Even with several YEARS teaching experience, they didn\u2019t want me involved at all! Then they floated the idea of making a kindergarten too. Eyebrows raised with hmm\u2019s and ohhh\u2019s across the room. A kindergarten in Hong Kong is a serious cash cow. The general consensus was that it was a very smart direction \u2026 a financial boon mostly &#8230; but then God spoke. <\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cDo you know why you can\u2019t see yourself in their vision?\u201d he didn\u2019t wait for me to answer and continued, \u201cIt\u2019s because it\u2019s not my vision. It\u2019s man\u2019s view of their own progress.\u201d <\/span><\/b>Then the Lord showed me somehow without speaking that there was a path set before the church and they had a choice to make, to either go their way and follow their plans\u2014or go the other way and follow God\u2019s plans. This was primarily regarding education-type activities, but these were somehow mutually exclusive directions\u2014I mean if they did one they could not do the other. If they chose to do their Bible school (and kindergarten), that it would mean they would not be able to follow God\u2019s plan for them which seemed to also be something similar and about training or education. God didn\u2019t tell me what His plan was, but it seemed like it would take the exact same resources or time or people to do. <b>But what was clear was that God was saying it was one way or the other! <\/b><\/p>\n<p>It was around that time, maybe at the same meeting that I heard God say, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cMany opportunities have passed them right by,\u201d<\/b><\/span> since they would not listen to the Lord\u2019s direction and so would not position themselves to be able to act on God\u2019s will when the time came to move. Lord, how to MAKE people listen? <\/p>\n<p>And God didn\u2019t tell me I had to share this word so I kept it for a long time to myself and that let me also think over my own feelings of being passed over\u2014what were my true motives in sharing this?\u2014but then I felt, well, it\u2019s better to simply share it. Ezekiel 33 and all that. OK, some people may not be familiar with the verse. In KJV it\u2019s this: <\/p>\n<p class=\"plus8verse\"><sup>2<\/sup> Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, <b>and set him for their watchman:<\/b>\u00a0<sup>3<\/sup>\u00a0If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, <b>he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;\u00a0<\/b><sup>4<\/sup>\u00a0Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.\u00a0<br \/><\/br><sup><b>5<\/sup>\u00a0He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.\u00a0<\/b><br \/><\/br><sup><b>6<\/sup>\u00a0But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, <\/b>and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman\u2019s hand.\u00a0<br \/><\/br><sup><b>7<\/sup> So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.\u00a0<\/b><br \/><\/br><sup>8<\/sup>\u00a0When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; <i><b>if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way,<\/b><\/i> that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; <i><b>but his blood will I require at thine hand.<\/b><\/i>\u00a0<sup>9<\/sup> Nevertheless, <b>if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.<\/b>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I prepared myself to be calm and not emotionally invested. I then told the two leading co-pastors that I had a word I wanted to share because it seemed they ought to know what God was saying to help them make the right decisions. They scheduled a private meeting and it was not warm and friendly. Mike was a reserved and thoughtful engineer from England and his foil, Henry, was an extroverted insurance executive from Australia. Henry had 2,000 friends on facebook by 2007, and seemed to know everyone, EVERYONE in town. Not that he seemed to, he did. Mike was quiet and more introverted. <\/p>\n<p>We sat down and before I even shared the word they began to tell me that I was just saying these things to try to take over the church! They said I was really just ambitious and simply not fitting into their \u2018DNA\u2019 but instead just following \u2026 \u2018Jesus\u2019\u2014saying it like it was an insult and I was a fool. <\/p>\n<p>I then took pains to explain that I was a lawyer and gave it up to follow the Lord\u2019s calling, not always willingly but God helped direct me and closed many doors, but I still have choices. This obedience has caused me so much stress and lack and disrespect and did they think I liked living in a shack in the forest when I could live like any of them in a luxury high-rise in town? <\/p>\n<p>If I was really so ambitious why would I sit there in a small room in private with a hand-full of domestic helpers from the Philippines dealing with their myriad personal problems week in and week out\u2014was there anything any of those ladies could ever give me? Money, a job, respect, success? Why would I not instead just join the \u2018real\u2019 leaders\u2014the businessmen\u2019s group; why be a missionary at all? Why not just go back and get a corporate job like I did before? Did they think I have no job because I\u2019m too stupid to know I need money or I\u2019m too incompetent to find work? I\u2019m suffering to do God\u2019s will and I don\u2019t care if you make a Bible school or not! I actually want you to make a Bible school, all I really want is to be a part it, but God said if we do that we can\u2019t at the same time follow his will. It\u2019s the only thing I want to do, to be a part of a Bible school program and it\u2019s the very thing God said we should not do. I\u2019m on your side actually\u2014but I\u2019m just sharing what I heard God say.<\/p>\n<p>Henry retorted, \u201cBut we don\u2019t even have a Bible school! We didn\u2019t start it yet. It\u2019s only talk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know, and like I said, I actually want to be a part of it, but it\u2019s what God said we should not do if we want to follow his plan. We can\u2019t do both.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is his plan?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have no idea. He didn\u2019t tell me what TO DO, only what we SHOULD NOT DO if we want to find his will. It seemed like his plan was very close to our plan in a way and it would take the same resources or something so we could not do both.\u201d I said what I knew. It seems God did this so it would now be up to them to seek God himself what he wanted them to do! That should be easy enough!<\/p>\n<p>I finally convinced them that I was not there to try to and \u2018take over their church\u2019 \u2026 but then the discussion became why if God is speaking to me do I seem to always hear things that no one else hears? <b>And why is it that I hear always \u2018negative\u2019 words.<\/b> That was a real damning label in their teaching, to give a \u2018negative\u2019 prophetic word to someone, because they felt God only spoke \u2018positive\u2019 words. They openly taught this. <\/p>\n<p>I said, No, that\u2019s not true and listed several instances of people in their close circle who were hearing the exact same things I was sharing but those people wouldn\u2019t tell them!! <b>There were six or seven specific cases I mentioned. <\/b>And I said, \u201cYou can ask them why they hear all these same things, sometimes the exact same phrases, but keep silent.\u201d And I also didn\u2019t want to share this word but it may help them make the right choices in their leadership decisions. <\/p>\n<p>Also I said, <b>\u201cAnd it\u2019s not a \u2018negative\u2019 word to tell someone they are driving too fast with their eyes closed and will crash if they don\u2019t slow down and open their eyes. A warning word is not a \u2018negative\u2019 word; it\u2019s life if you obey it.\u201d <\/b>I just thought of that for the first time just at that very moment! Thank you Holy Spirit! <\/p>\n<p>OK they said, What was the word? <\/p>\n<p>It said it again, it was very was simple, we had the vision sharing and I was so excited to be a part of the Bible school but was not chosen to be involved even though I am so skilled. They didn\u2019t know my CV very well and I explained I was three years in seminary in New Hampshire, then my English B.A., then my Juris Doctorate&#8230; <\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have a Ph.D?\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, a doctor of jurisprudence; we call it a JD in the States, but yes, it\u2019s a doctorate degree. And I\u2019ve been a teacher in University for several terms, as well as secondary school and even did a year as a Government English teacher in primary school, plus I did private tutorial classes for corporate clients for many years, so yes, I have many years teaching experience as well, making my own university curriculum, and materials and everything. I also have studied the Bible in about seven versions and am very well versed in history, geography and theology.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you tell us? Were you just waiting for God to say something to us?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They shook their heads. <\/p>\n<p>But I wasn\u2019t on a job interview so I repeated, \u201cThe word God told me was simply this. <b><span style=\"color: #0000ff\">\u2018Do you know why you can\u2019t see yourself in their vision? It\u2019s because it\u2019s not my vision. It\u2019s man\u2019s view of their own progress.\u2019<\/b><\/span> And then He showed me that if we do the Bible school and go in that direction we won\u2019t be able to follow his will, which like I said, I don\u2019t know what he has in mind yet, so we need to seek it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Things calmed down and we prayed and I left feeling like I had actually given a prophetic word and stuck with it until they actually took it to heart. But no, a few months later they announced yes, they were going to do a Bible school, they called it the Manna Program, completely ignoring my prophetic word, and they were already working on getting it started under their coffee expert, the guy who ran the little coffee shop, Just Java, outside my old office in Fortress Hill. <\/p>\n<p>And as a footnote, no we did not get 2008 people by the start of 2008, nor by the end of it either. It simply wasn\u2019t God\u2019s plan. <\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">\u201cMy People Do Not Know How To Repent.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Later I came across some random verses one Sunday morning but it felt like the Lord was highlighting them to me maybe. It was Jeremiah 6:12-15, and then 8:4-13 and the key phrase, repeated twice is, <\/p>\n<p class=\"plus8verse\">\u201cThey have healed the wound [or brokenness] of my people lightly [or superficially], saying, \u2018Peace, peace,\u2019 when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>It was just a curious passage to me really until later that day during Sunday worship when the Lord showed me his grief. <\/p>\n<p>We were holding a joint service at the fancy Shangri La hotel, this was in 2008 I believe, and the venue was supposed to be large enough that everyone who attended any of the various services could all come to one place at one time. I was on the prayer team interceding for the service <b>and we were loudly singing our happiest praise songs\u2014but it felt like the Lord was unhappy. <\/b>So I tried to rebuke that feeling and maybe it was pollution from the hotel venue, so I kept pushing to cast out that heaviness but finally, finally, I realized it was actually coming from the Holy Spirit himself and I lowered my hands and just said, \u201cOK, Lord, what\u2019s the matter? Why are you so unhappy?\u201d And he immediately spoke, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cMy people do not know how to repent.\u201d <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>No explanation; that was all. <\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">HKI Launch 2007<\/b><\/p>\n<p>So after winter I looked around and realized it had been an ENTIRE YEAR since God asked me to make a journal for prophecy and I realized I had to just start it somehow on my own. He said it needed to be monthly and for free, and without any money to print it, I realized it would have to be a digital publication, at least to start with. <\/p>\n<p>So in March a year after his first instructions I made the first issue and published it at the start of April 2007. I worked with what I had, which was a lot of words from ourselves, but I soon found a site where a man was collecting prophecy from every website and chat-room he could find and just posting it in text format on his own site. <b>The main concern people had was that there was not enough prophecy to print in a monthly journal. I was now myself in 2007 reading through over 500 pages a month of new content, just in English, <\/b>to narrow down the key words to publish in a short journal of 24 pages or so. Yes, it was often the same authors who made the cut but about half of the words I published were from people who posted once, and never again. So I felt I still had to read everything to make sure I wasn\u2019t missing anything!<\/p>\n<p>It was very hard and drew a lot of warfare I had no real back up to deal with. But it was very well worth it. I did it for several years until I just no longer had the strength, my assignment changed and I was deployed to the mission field. It was such an important service <b>the Father Himself told me how important it was to HIM to do this!<\/b><\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">More Than I Can Write Down <\/b><\/p>\n<p>He had said before that he was going to start talking to me so much that I would no longer be able to write it all down. This now began to happen very obviously. The volume of revelations, words, visions and dreams increased to a point that I could only keep up with the things that I felt were the most important. So many things that I have to skip telling you here as well, but they are either lessons on other topics or words about people or ministry in general. There is just too much to share. <\/p>\n<p>God was showing me his secrets all the time, some of them not very flattering, but these were necessary to refine me and bring other people back to the right path. It was God\u2019s love and mercy to show them their, or even to show me my errors, so we could be corrected, freed from deception and find the way he will prosper. I was not yet grasping the deep issues or seeing the Kingdom, but he was preparing me by showing me many building blocks of spiritual truth step by step.<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">Jesus, The Word, Speaks NON-STOP<\/b><\/p>\n<p>People say they don\u2019t always hear God speak so much and often ask, Does God really have so much to say? <\/p>\n<p>Well, one Sunday I was walking to church from the ferry and was on the very busy elevated walkway which we call a flyover, and I was about to enter the mall. It\u2019s a main walkway in the city and very crowded with people when I just suddenly \u2018tuned-in\u2019 to the voice of Jesus like turning a radio dial and finding a radio station and\u00a0<b>Jesus was just talking about EVERYONE and EVERYTHING all around me NON-STOP.\u00a0<\/b>People walking by going the other direction, total strangers to me, and he was talking about their lives, their feelings, their struggles; the lady in front of me, people behind me, people I would see soon at church, and others I had never seen before and would never see again, and he knew EVERYONE and every detail of their lives and was just talking non-stop about what they were going through and what he wanted to do for them\u2014so much to say! <\/p>\n<p>Then as suddenly as it started I \u2018tuned-out\u2019 and could no longer hear his voice. It was overwhelming but now I knew him in a different sense.\u00a0He knows EVERYONE and EVERYTHING about them, and really has so much he wants to say! <b>He really is the Word of God!<\/b><\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">Vegetable Words and Fruit Words<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Or can one person hear all God wants or has to say? Well one evening <b>He said <span style=\"color: #0000ff\">He was going to show me things beyond my wildest dreams: things I never thought of, and beauty I never dreamed about, only because he knows I appreciate it, but which is also how he made me.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The next day, I think it was just as I was waking up, I had two sudden revelations in the blink of an eye! One: <b>\u201cto the pure all things are pure\u201d<\/b> and Two: <b>\u201cthe spirit of a prophet is subject to the prophet.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u2018To the pure all things are pure\u2019 surley means many things. One of them had to do with learning, revelation and understanding. Regular people learn about the Lord in a very human way of reading books written by people, listening to sermons and teachings given by preachers and teachers, etc. These teachers were also taught by other people, by reading books written by other humans, and so on. Eventually it goes back to the Scriptures themselves. Specific words were heard by a prophet such as Moses for example, and written down but then were translated into some other human language. But what did he mean in ancient Hebrew? Could he even express what he heard God say accurately back then? And so what are the best words to describe this now in a modern and often vastly different but still human language? Then again it all goes through books and teachings and sermons, on and on and on. What they learn goes through many filters, layers and opinions and may not be exactly what God said or what Moses heard or what he wanted to convey. <\/p>\n<p>However, there are people whose hearts are pure and they can learn from God directly and will know with certainty what God meant and what Moses tried to say, even to being able to explain nuances between different word choices and concepts. We actually need the Spirit to teach us accurately, but not everyone has a pure heart to allow Him to do this. It was more specific than that and I can explain it in more detail maybe, but the Lord says to skip it.<\/p>\n<p>The second idea was that as God speaks his prophetic word over the Entire Body each one only \u2018hears\u2019 one part of the overall message because each has their own \u2018zone\u2019 or \u2018department.\u2019 The same way that in a large grocery store he showed me one section has vegetables, but another has fruit &#8230; they are very similar but are not the same. And so when the delivery comes some things go to the vegetable section but others go to the fruit section.<\/p>\n<p><b>This is like prophets he showed me. <\/b><\/p>\n<p>God speaks his Huge Word and it spreads out over the whole community of the Body but some of it goes to the \u2018vegetable\u2019 prophets, some of it goes to the \u2018fruit\u2019 prophets\u2014meaning plainly that not all prophets are \u2018fruity\u2019\u2014some are more like \u2018vegetables\u2019\u2014I couldn\u2019t help myself with that one, but yes, that is what he showed me. <\/p>\n<p>So the delivery of the Whole Prophetic Word is much bigger than people in either of those specific areas can hear, receive, handle or steward. God made the Body with various parts that are all a little bit different so collectively we can handle his larger message\u2014we prophesy in part. So people in those areas are responsible or able to receive only their part of the Body-Wide Word, but we need to work together to get the whole, complete message that He is actually speaking to the Body at large. Cooperation in the Spirit brings a special kind of blessing.<\/p>\n<p>So in a large meeting you may get a word that is connected and a part of what other people are hearing, and what they hear may be the exact same thing, the same thing in a different explanation, a connected idea a step or two removed\u2014or something completely different still. <\/p>\n<p>But this is all a part of what the Spirit is saying to the Church and Body at large. And we should let everyone share what they hear so we can receive all of God\u2019s intended blessings. <\/p>\n<p>So I saw those two ideas in a <i>flash\u2014<\/i>like in the blink of any eye!<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">Authority to Forgive Sins<\/b><\/p>\n<p>And how does God teach us? Must we always do things the old fashioned way? Or can he somehow teach us directly? Well, one day I heard God say, in modern speech, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cI will show you things that will BLOW YOUR MIND!\u201d <\/span><\/b>He was quoting Jeremiah 33:3 but in the vernacular. I understood. Later I was ready for sleep and flipping through the Bible I read the story in Mark 2 about the people who lowered their paralyzed friend through a hole they made in the roof.<\/p>\n<p>Jesus said, Son, your sins are forgiven. Some people didn\u2019t like that and Jesus knew the reasoning in their hearts and said like, <i>Whaaat?! <\/i>Is it easier to say \u2018Your sins are forgiven\u2019 or to say, \u2018Arise, take up your bed and walk,\u2019 BUT THAT YOU MAY KNOW the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. <\/p>\n<p>I didn\u2019t know it meant anything special. Jesus said you are forgiven and it healed the man and I don\u2019t know, maybe it didn\u2019t mean anything? I just closed my eyes to go to sleep but within a few seconds\u2014<i>BANG<\/i>\u2014I sat straight up in bed! I KNEW WHAT IT MEANT!<\/p>\n<p>BUT MORE THAN THAT when I sat up and opened my eyes I saw clouds in my room\u2014not like that, I saw that I was looking into a cloudy sky but from the point of view of being up in the clouds myself! It was more real than normal reality. There were several billows and their edges were very distinct and they stretched for what seemed like miles but the best thing was the STAR. It was a point of light, like a star, moving away from me and through the clouds. <b>I was seeing a vision with spiritual eyes into the spiritual realm! Later God told me that the \u2018star\u2019 I saw was my angel that had just delivered the revelation to me! <\/b>God taught me by depositing a revelation into my spirit by angelic delivery. Incredible!<\/p>\n<p>But what was making my head spin, wasn\u2019t the vision of the angel, but the understanding of this verse. WE ACTUALLY HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO FORGIVE SINS! It\u2019s like a grace you can release, an anointing that will wash away any lasting effects of sin or any of Satan\u2019s works in a person\u2019s life: it can dissolve the anchor of a curse, it can heal a wound, break bondages and any stubborn residual effects of sin. And you can minister it by laying on hands! When my angel delivered this revelation to me, it literally BLEW MY MIND, just like God said it would! <\/p>\n<p>Then I got nervous thinking of having this kind of power! What if I forgive someone\u2019s sins and they don\u2019t deserve it? I can\u2019t simply dish out the judgment of God! But Jesus calmed me down, saying, <b><span style=\"color: #0000ff\">\u201cThat\u2019s not your responsibility. You pray to release forgiveness when I prompt you to, and I\u2019ll take care of what happens next.\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Now it\u2019s funny to me to think I was concerned about praying for forgiveness of sin for people who ask for it: that\u2019s the very basis of the Sinner\u2019s Prayer in fact, asking Jesus to forgive you of your sins, for whosoever and just because they ask! But I just didn\u2019t see it from that point of view yet and just never heard about laying on hands and ministering to release the grace of forgiveness until Jesus showed it to me by personal divine revelation via angelic delivery service that night!<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">Small Beginnings and God speaking through T-shirts<\/b><\/p>\n<p>And I simply can\u2019t count the number of different ways God speaks to us. I like the deeply intimate \u2018communion\u2019 the most but sometimes it\u2019s hard to be that open and vulnerable in heart. I also remember several times when God spoke to me from t-shirt slogans. <\/p>\n<p>I was getting McDonald\u2019s one Sunday after church service and my thoughts were wandering about my personal situation. God kept saying he would use me, and I was getting profound insight but I was being increasingly ostracized from the very people I felt like I was called to teach. I was getting older and older and it seemed increasingly futile. I was in line thinking about these things and the Lord said, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cLook Up. Look up!\u201d<\/span><\/b> I looked up and the man in front of me was wearing a t-shirt and printed on the back up by collar was a phrase in small letters. It wasn\u2019t printed on the front or middle of the back, but in small text, less than an inch tall up by the back collar by his shoulders and it said,<b> \u201cDo not Despise the Day of Small Things.\u201d<\/b> <\/p>\n<p>I knew the verse, kind of, \u2018Who would despise the day of small beginnings?\u201d But it was also exactly what I was worrying about at that very moment! <\/p>\n<p>Around the same time I was also worried about becoming 40 years old. Leaving my career path and all family and friends, I felt like I was still immature, like I was barely 30 years old yet, like I was missing in action for a decade, but in fact, I was now over 40. Have I really just wasted ten years of my life? And the Lord said, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cLook over there!\u201d <\/b><\/span>I looked and a person had a t-shirt on that read, <b>\u201cLife BEGINS at 40!\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Then a young lady from Mainland China asked for prayer at my house and it took hours. She had many strong delusions and irrational fears, mostly about romance and identity and things. I led her to see Jesus in visions and he ministered to her directly but it took many hours! The thing is the day after she left <b>the demon that was harassing her came to my house<\/b>\u2014it was probably over 12 feet tall, and was shaped like a giant gorilla. It was the same size as the principality of lust I broke down over the village of Mui Wo which I\u2019ll share later. This was the demon making the girl crazy over boyfriends and her identity and life decisions to the point of being suicidal, which is a common affliction of young people in Mainland China if you didn\u2019t know. I rebuked that thing and asked Jesus to fight for me and asked the angels to do the same. <\/p>\n<p>But so now it was a year or so later and I met her downtown and she asked to pray for me! She had a strong feeling from the Holy Spirit that I needed prayer and she had a word for me. So we sat by the waterfront in a quiet place and she saw a vision of a big ship that was getting maintenance. It was in dry-dock and being cleaned, refitted, getting repairs, being fixed up and soon would be ready to go back out to duty at sea, \u201cBut God,\u201d she kept asking, \u201cWhat is this ship?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My eyes were closed praying and at that point God told me, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cOpen your eyes.\u201d<\/b><\/span> I did and just at that moment there was a young lady walking by\u2014I did a double take when I realized she was wearing a t-shirt with an English phrase in large letters which read,<b> \u201cYou are my Ship.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">It\u2019s not Arguments but Love that Opens the Heart<\/b><\/p>\n<p>And I\u2019ll just share a nice conversation I had with the Lord about my attitudes, fears, worries. I\u2019m being a little vulnerable, and it\u2019s personal, but I hope it blesses you. I was just asking him to talk to me and help me with different things and this is what he said: <\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">The Lord: \u201cI will help you get out of the mire. Place your trust in me \u2026 Let go of your fear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">Me: \u201cWhat fear?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">The Lord: \u201cYour fear of abandonment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">Me: ??!!<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">The Lord: \u201cYou are still fighting my acceptance of you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">Me: \u201cJesus, I don\u2019t want to be having this problem anymore. I don\u2019t know what I have to learn but I want it to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">The Lord: \u201cThen let go of your pride, ego. Just let it go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">Me: \u201cWhat are you talking about? How?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">The Lord: \u201cEmbrace humility. Let\u2019s face it, you\u2019ve backed yourself into a corner trying to protect yourself\u2014from Me\u2014Yes, you think I am a harsh authoritarian. I assure you I am not. Taste and see that I am sweet as honey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p align=\"CENTER\">* * *<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">Me: \u201cOK, let\u2019s deal with this \u2026 Dad: (and now I understand the jealousy people have about getting spiritual gifts like prophecy from you. Without the gift of prophecy I would not have known all these things\u2026)\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">The Lord: \u201cNo, you don\u2019t understand this. They think a gift is God\u2019s way of saying \u2018I love you,\u2019 but it is not true. I love all Mankind and I am not a respecter of persons. People think I play favorites because they do and their parents do\u2014even you think that\u2014but I don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">Me: \u201cJesus, how can I be healed and set free? I WANT TO GET THE BILLS PAID!! I\u2019m really sick of this!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">The Lord: \u201cOpen your heart to my love &#8230; It\u2019s been a process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">Me: \u201cHelp me get out of this prison of distrust. Perry Stone said be humble, do an act of trust, pray fervently. I understand there is a root \u2026 which means it\u2019s hidden, deep, but something shows on the surface to reveal that it is there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">[Then I prayed to know His promises are really for me, and I realized I was distrusting Him. I then saw the presence of something dark in me.]<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">\u201cI see a bad attitude (deep inside my heart).\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">[Then I saw God moving within me to begin healing me of it.]<\/p>\n<p align=\"CENTER\">* * *<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">The Lord: \u201cDo you want the [provision] delivery truck now!?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">Me: \u201cSo much inner healing is needed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">The Lord: <b>\u201cOnce you are born again many blocks need to be dealt with. The Promised Land has walled cities in the best locations.<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">\u201cIt\u2019s not a question of BLAME!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">Me: \u201cI\u2019m so sorry God, what has been wrong with me?!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">The Lord: \u201c<b>You had the wrong image of God in your heart. Your pain blinded you to my Love. That\u2019s why arguing won\u2019t help\u2014it never does\u2014because it does not deal with the reason why there is a block to seeing a particular truth.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">Me: \u201cCan you give me an analogy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">The Lord: \u201cA light switch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">Me: \u201cA light switch???! Can you explain that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">The Lord: \u201cIt turns on and off the light but it\u2019s just a mechanical switch. It has nothing really to do with the electricity. <b>If the light won\u2019t work, if there\u2019s a short circuit, a blown fuse, a burned out light bulb, or a broken wire, flicking the switch won\u2019t help. <\/b>Yes, if there is a problem with the switch being in the right position then flicking it back and forth can help, but trying to fix the fuse, circuit, bulb or wire by flicking the switch is pointless, meaningless, useless. <b>Arguments align the mechanical switches in people\u2019s minds, but if there is a block in the heart, arguments do no good. People argue when they are only focused on what they can see and do themselves. It\u2019s not argument that opens the blockages, but prayer, love and compassion.\u201d<\/b> [End]<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">Bring All Ideas Before The Elders<\/b><\/p>\n<p>And God spoke this to me on February 21, 2007 I believe. I was struggling to separate His voice from Mine, and wavered back and forth between these two. You can see what I mean. I finally felt comfortable to just let him speak freely and it begins to flow better towards the end.<\/p>\n<p>But what he said was, <\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">\u201cto bring all ideas \/ direction before the elders \/ directors. Let them mull it over. Tell them my ideas, but be quiet and let them give their input because they will defer to you, thinking you are a prophet and know it all. Do not debase yourself, but be humble. Let them steer the direction of the ministry under you and your wife. I have chosen you to handle this part of the work, not all of it, but his task has fallen to you. A seat of Honor, and of Temptation\u2014temptation to be proud, arrogant, know it all, show off, all the sins of the flesh will want to manifest through you here\u2014do not let them destroy MY work, Edward, or [your wife]. <\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">\u201cAlways be humble of mind, of spirit, of tongue, of attitude, of temperament, of style, of life, of mind, of will, of heart, of advocacy, of ***lies*** [even errors\/jokes must be humble]\u2014even your flesh must be humble to carry this torch and ride this horse, to carry the flame of this burden \/ torch to nations. <\/p>\n<p class=\"journal8\">\u201cThe enemy is against all works of the flesh, to destroy them, corrupt them. That was not how it was supposed to be, but since he has access to the flesh through sin he has dominion over all works of the flesh. <b>You have something more noble, works of the Spirit. Done through you these are incorruptible, pure, like silver refined in fire of trial and affliction; what you hold onto will be left pure, handling the world of life. Like a doctor cleaning before surgery, it is not a burden when you consider the work that has to be done after you wash; so do it; do not be afraid of the fire that will purge your works of the flesh because all must go through the refining fire to be used mightily of the Lord God. <\/b>Rush into the breach and I will save you, every time; it is my covenant between you and me, my son. Empty yourself into the breach, heal the narrow wall, strengthen it, support the weaklings, for they are my sons born of my Spirit.\u201d [End]<\/p>\n<p>And before I share the words God gave me for that church as his Prophet in the next few chapters, I\u2019ll just add three more points: <\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">Starting \u2018Prayer Mountain\u2019 Ministry<br \/>\nand the Discovery of The Mind of Christ<\/b><\/p>\n<p>God asked me to start a training and equipping ministry and he asked me to called it Prayer Mountain. It\u2019s funny because when he first told this to me I was standing at my house up in Kau Tsuen, Mui Wo, at the foot of a very large mountain, one that was nearly impossible to climb from my direction and I asked him, \u2018What? Do I have to climb the mountain to pray!\u2019 No, thankfully the mountain was in the Spirit. But climbing the physical mountain might actually be easier to do!<\/p>\n<p>So while seeking the Lord one time for the program of an upcoming training and equipping ministry night, I heard Him say it was going to be an impartation meeting. After more prayer and searching I finally heard the Lord say <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>He wanted to impart the Mind of Christ<\/b><\/span>. I was unsure what this meant, but to answer my hesitancy He then said, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cYou have it.<\/b><\/span>\u201d And later, not as a question, He said, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cYou will impart it.\u201d <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>So now I heard Him give me my directions, but I still didn\u2019t understand what the directions meant. So I spent even more time in prayer to get a grasp of what this thing was he was calling the Mind of Christ &#8230; and how to impart it! The Lord is ever faithful, and He showed me by prophecy, illustration and by explaining some personal experiences I had, what the Mind of Christ really is. And it is positively amazing!<\/p>\n<p>The Mind of Christ is a mystery. It\u2019s actually like a supernatural organ\u2014a spiritual Mind, and it\u2019s linked to a spiritual Heart\u2014the Heart of Christ\u2014so it does not function in us like a gift of prophecy does, it\u2019s more like sharing Jesus\u2019 \u2018limited omniscience\u2019 within us\u2014our thoughts and Christ\u2019s thoughts are ONE and we literally THINK his thoughts in our own minds. He does not \u2018tell\u2019 us anything (prophecy), we already \u2018know\u2019 it (omniscience). And the Heart of Christ is the same thing but for supernatural emotions. <\/p>\n<p>People do have an internal dialog, but looking around the room you don\u2019t tell yourself what you see\u2014oh, the cat is orange and asleep on the rug, the window light is dim but it\u2019s 2 pm so it\u2019s going to rain, my arm itches\u2014you don\u2019t need to SAY these things to yourself, you just KNOW them and THINK them without the internal dialog. Well, the Mind of Christ is that intimate and God is <i>not telling you things<\/i>, <b>you just know his divine thoughts about the things that concern you, what\u2019s going on around you and in your area of service to him. <\/b><\/p>\n<p>By this we can know solutions to problems without having to analyze them\u2014but again, it\u2019s not like a word of knowledge, it\u2019s more intuitive.<\/p>\n<p>Then what I experienced was having a kind of x-ray vision where I could SEE what the Father was DOING in a kind of blue highlight, like augmented reality, but it was a supernatural sense of vision\u2014I could literally SEE what the Father was doing. <\/p>\n<p>And notice how this verse of John 15:9 is so often quoted right but actually so often understood and explained wrong where Jesus said he only did what he SAW HIS FATHER DOING. Then when people explain it they usually say he only did what the Father TOLD HIM TO DO, which is not what he said, and not what he meant, but it\u2019s because they only understand prophecy. But the Mind of Christ is a higher union than this. <b>You see what he sees, you know what he knows, you think what he thinks and can see what he is doing around you before he even does it. <\/b><\/p>\n<p>If there were a separation of speaker and hearer there would have to be a message transmitted between them: a word, a prophecy, a vision, a conversation\u2014but when the separation becomes UNITY there is no more need to speak a message, <b>one already knows the message, since speaker and hearer are united as one in mind and in thought. <\/b><\/p>\n<p>He then told me the Christ, the Son, is in a certain relationship between the Father and Holy Spirit\u2014he said <b>the Son is always focused on doing the Will of the Father THROUGH THE POWER of the Holy Spirit. <\/b>The Mind of Christ therefore is the \u2018supernatural organ\u2019 as he called it that enables us to connect to the Father and know his will and then to operate in the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish it. I think people can operate in this without knowing what it is. I certainly did at first and when I prayed for a famous prophet to impart it to him he even said, \u201cOh is that what that is!\u201d He experienced it often but didn\u2019t know what it was called. <\/p>\n<p>When Jesus \u2018knew their thoughts\u2019 it is not prophecy but this \u2018limited omniscience\u2019 at work. And yes, people do often experience this. My wife Ann often hears the prayers of people, and yes, often even knows their embarrassingly intimate thoughts. God is not always speaking to her telling her these things, often he is letting her know his omniscient knowledge of what concerns her going on around her. (This is Ann I\u2019m talking about, the <i>Special Woman <\/i>he promised me 30 years ago\u2014but I\u2019ll get to all that in just a second.)<\/p>\n<p>So the Father has unlimited omniscience for every atom in the universe, but the Son does not need to bother with such details right now; he is on assignment in a specific location, for certain individuals or purposes and so his range of omniscience is \u2018limited\u2019 to the tasks at hand. <\/p>\n<p>For more, look for my article on-line or in the book <i>Foundations of the Kingdom <\/i>where the Lord asked me to include that as one of the chapters. <\/p>\n<p>Learn about it, ask for it, receive it, and start to walk in it! Amen! <\/p>\n<p>And at another one of our meetings at Prayer Mountain we discovered one of the underlying bases for \u2018communion\u2019 because every person visiting was prophesying and I did not understand how everyone could have the gift of prophecy, but Jesus then explained it was not because everyone did, <b><span style=\"color: #0000ff\">it was because there is a realm beyond the gifts. <\/span><\/b>Hearing God is not only about gifts, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>which are still important he said, <\/b>but we can interact with the Lord directly because his Spirit dwells within our spirit and he said actually <i>everyone <\/i>can hear God speak to them if they would just quiet themselves down and listen.<\/span> My sheep \u2018know\u2019 my voice. Ye all may prophesy!\u2014But <i>all creation <\/i>can hear when he speaks!<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">The Perfect Storm<\/b><\/p>\n<p>So the Tree of Life Church was actually very suspicious of this ministry work because they assumed I was spreading criticism about them behind their backs but I never did that. I didn\u2019t share publicly the things God was telling me for them. I was careful how I shared. <\/p>\n<p>But God was in a season of exposing the hearts of everyone in his Body, purifying them, and if people were under a religious spirit or had adopted a Pharisee attitude or had embraced the flesh they were always drawn to chafe against me. <\/p>\n<p>And after a few years the church reached a point of no-return and I felt I would stop going to the intercessors\u2019 meeting Sunday morning. It was increasingly futile and one of the ladies was always striving against me. I even heard Jesus say that <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>the intercessors were defending the very thing He was trying to remove<\/b>. <\/span>I\u2019ll share later the dream of the lead intercessor NOT killing the Bears (attacking the large demons) that were embracing the pastor, perverting the church, and only she had the weapon to do it. I gave the warnings God gave me to share but NO ONE stood by me to confirm or collaborate what I said God was saying. And when I did give words others also had, there was still a spirit of deafness to them. <\/p>\n<p>Soon afterwards the church lost two elders, people who were more sincerely trying to follow God than some others, and they \u2018appointed\u2019 two young investment bankers to be \u2018voted in\u2019 to replace them. They then held an elder\u2019s meeting to vote on whether to move the church to an old theater used for pornographic films in Wan Chai, the Imperial Theatre, near the prostitution district, and the meeting was marked by a kind of unity they said they never had before\u2014the elders were 100% unanimous that this was the right direction to take the church in. Never mind that it was only a 15-year lease and the evil unsaved owner retained control over the property and oh, the renovations would cost HK$50 million, 50 times what the church was taking in from total tithes and offerings in a month. <\/p>\n<p>It was a few months after I stopped attending the intercessors\u2019 meetings and I remember hearing that the lady who always fought against me in the intercessors group confessed that when I gave the word about the church going into the wilderness, the one that caused so much backlash, well, <i>she had the exact same prophetic word and at the same time <\/i>but would not tell anyone and also would not back me up. She even said this, \u201cWhen the leaders were all against Ed, I didn\u2019t support him but God told me the same word! Now it\u2019s too late, they\u2019ve already signed the lease.\u201d <\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">The Great Falling Away\u2014The Apostasy<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Tragically my then-wife was also hearing many personal warning words about her own falling away. In one there was a tree in a plant pot by a sand dune, which prevented it from ever growing to its full potential. She knew it was the \u2018religious spirit\u2019 that had bound her but we ministered against this counterfeit Holy Spirit so often! How did this happen to her? <\/p>\n<p>She then had a vision of the ground splitting, dividing the remnant sheep from the goats in the church. She was standing with the sheep\u2014but her heart was anchored with the goats. God told her this himself. <\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll share some of these words in a few chapters in more detail but not to embarrass her\u2014<b>I never mention her name here to protect her identity<\/b>\u2014but this is a very real danger we are all facing right now and I want to warn you. <\/p>\n<p>God often spoke of this season as the Great Falling Away and gave many detailed words about it in general and for her personally, but even with almost 40 warning words, her falling away from the Lord was so unexpected to me, so complete and so painful for us\u2014I was still caught off guard. I think I was just in denial, or just trying hard to not entertain the voice of the enemy that was trying to pull me down as well. <\/p>\n<p>I just wish these ample warnings had been able to affect the outcome of her decisions. But like Jesus said, <span style=\"color: #0000ff\">it\u2019s the Great Falling Away and these people are becoming <b>apostates, no longer trying to solve problems or understand what is wrong, but now only looking for someone to blame. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p>I later dreamed I was crying in anguish over the people in the community who were not going to make it to heaven. My crying disturbed a lady who only wanted surface talk \u2026 I told her, \u201cHALF the people here will die!\u201d She didn\u2019t want to hear it. In the dream I shared this with the pastor\u2019s son, Kurt, who was a worship leader but he strongly explained away every part of it, and would not hear any warning or anguished concern. I had a similar revelation a year later, that Kurt will not hear the Lord\u2019s word and so I was not to share anything else with him. [End]<\/p>\n<p>Around that time there was a very good and powerful youth retreat where a city youth leader, Jack Y., got a very serous warning. He\u2019s the son of one of the major ministry owners in Hong Kong and he\u2019s a nice guy but comes off as being very shallow and fake. He himself shared at that meeting that God told him personally that the DEATH of many people in the community was going to be on his hands. What a tragic landscape. <\/p>\n<p>And no, I never shared most of these smaller visions or dreams with anyone. It may have just been for me to know to help me to pray and know what to do with the words he did ask me to share. I\u2019m just sharing many of these things now publicly for the first time but only so you can get a better context for that I am about to share next: three chapters of the actual prophetic words for the Tree of Life Church. <\/p>\n<p>But I first need to begin to mention Bohol. <\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">I\u2019m Inviting You to Bohol\u2014You Will Conquer Bohol!<\/b><\/p>\n<p>We gave a prophecy to an investment banker about a coming economic downturn in 2007 or early 2008. He got a confirming dream and planned his investments for a bear market as they call it. His friends mocked him, then the market crashed and he made a TON of money. He then gave me HK$100,000 as a gift to say, \u2018Thank you.\u2019 But I told God, I don\u2019t prophesy for money! God said <span style=\"color: #0000ff\">it\u2019s OK. It\u2019s a gift. Keep it<\/span>\u2014we really needed it too! <\/p>\n<p>It was WONDERFUL! We asked the Lord if we could go on a family mission trip with Adrian and a few others over Christmas 2008 to the Philippines and God said <span style=\"color: #0000ff\">OK, but afterwards our family needed a rest God said.<\/span> Adrian suggested we go to the Island of Bohol, near Cebu. It\u2019s where he goes to rest, and it\u2018s one of the most beautiful places in the Philippines, and that says a lot! <\/p>\n<p>After training many \u2018traditional\u2019 pastors to hear God\u2019s voice in Negros Island we then arrived in Bohol on January 1, 2009, and went SCUBA diving and had a great time. But God then began speaking about his plans for us there! <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>He said he was inviting us to Bohol, something he did not do often.<\/b> He said I had to come back as soon as I could to learn the need of the people on my own. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>So I came back by myself in late March for a week and in that week God gave us over 100 prophecies, visions, words and insights. Some of these prophecies and prophetic words came through my wife of course!<\/p>\n<p>I cannot share it all now but you can look for it on-line if you want the full story of the Bohol Vision with the revival, theme park, new town, etc. <\/p>\n<p>Well, during that week I felt the Lord leading me to go to the middle of the island to the Chocolate Hills in Carmen to pray and got a few pastors to go with me the next day. God moved supernaturally to arrange this. <\/p>\n<p>The Chocolate Hills are unique geographic features that Carmen, Bohol is so famous for. They are conical limestone hills which are 30-meters tall or so and are all quite steep. The surface is loose weathered limestone rocks and gravel topped with very sharp cogon grass, (also called sword grass, for good reason) which turns chocolaty-brown in the dry season. There are over 1,000 of these hills and they spread into nearby towns like Sagbayan also. And well, God said that day to wear my sport sneakers but I didn\u2019t think it was him\u2014it\u2019s too hot! Well, we got there and to climb the hill we wanted to pray atop we had to borrow a machete, a bolo, and hack through the tall, razor-like grass on a nearly 45 degree slope that had no pathway! And I was wearing beach slippers! I know, next time, Listen!  <\/p>\n<p>I later realized I had seen these hills in the vision from Jim Smith!<\/p>\n<p>When we got to the top and I saw THREE EAGLES, very rare actually, hovering stationary in the strong wind so close it was like I could reach out and touch them\u2014three eagles and we were three pastors! And God spoke. <span style=\"color: #0000ff\"><b>\u201cYou will CONQUER BOHOL. Do you want the rest of the vision now or when you get home?\u201d <\/span><\/b>I already had dozens of words and was so tired I asked could he please tell me when I got home? But when I returned to Hong Kong we suffered a complete blockade on our finances and it was brutal! But also, God told me almost nothing about the plans for several more years! It seemed like maybe he was waiting for something to happen to tell me more? But anyway I was busy with so many things the Bohol plan was just put on the back shelf for a long time! <\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">Hope Restored <\/b><\/p>\n<p>It was not all warning words in this season by far. I once dreamed I was talking to a lady who used to give me a lot of corporate work, and whose family name is Keys. She had been married to my friend Michael who died of cancer around that time and in the vision she was trying to court me! I also saw my wife who was no longer with me and who jumped off the pier to harm herself just to get attention, which was completely unnecessary and also inappropriate. But I didn\u2019t want to be involved in any of these dramas, so I turned around to follow the Lord. <\/p>\n<p>A friend wanted me to follow him, he knew the way! But he took a very treacherous path\u2014didn\u2019t he see I had kids with me!? That\u2019s incredibly dangerous! So I just went straight forward on my own and had to climb over many obstacles but once over them I saw an angel holding a large set of keys. He handed them to me saying, \u201cNothing has been lost; everything has been preserved.\u201d These were keys I lost or gave up to follow the Lord! I looked and there was a luxurious black BMW executive\u2019s car, almost like a limousine. I took the keys, got into the car\u2014<i>My car<\/i>\u2014and drove around to test it out! Everything was perfect and so I took off! God has a plan, a beautiful way out, a future and a hope! Amen! [End]<\/p>\n<p>But still, I need to get back to the main focus at this time which was the prophecies for the Tree of Life Church. <\/p>\n<p>So these next three chapters have some of the words the Lord spoke to me over that season to help steer that church back onto His path. <b>These are serious words, serious topics, and there are high stakes. <\/b>Please be mindful that I am not sharing this lightly.<\/p>\n<p>This helped me see <b>the main difference between a Prophet and \u2018those who prophesy\u2019 which may have nothing to do with gifting after all. <\/b>It may simply have to do with obedience, being willing to stand in the gap and pay the price, being willing to give the word no one else dares to share. <\/p>\n<p>Anyway and however you see it, these next three chapters is much of what the Lord walked me through to serve him in this way. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The next week I went to meet with the pastor God pointed out to me,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chapters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prayermountainbohol.com\/8plussplash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prayermountainbohol.com\/8plussplash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prayermountainbohol.com\/8plussplash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prayermountainbohol.com\/8plussplash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prayermountainbohol.com\/8plussplash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/prayermountainbohol.com\/8plussplash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":385,"href":"https:\/\/prayermountainbohol.com\/8plussplash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions\/385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prayermountainbohol.com\/8plussplash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prayermountainbohol.com\/8plussplash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prayermountainbohol.com\/8plussplash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prayermountainbohol.com\/8plussplash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}