WHOSE CHURCH IS IT ANYWAY?

THE POST APOSTOLIC CHURCH
Again I acknowledge that much of the material that follows is drawn from the excellent publication by Eddie L. Hyatt, 2000 Years of Charismatic Christianity. For specific references to the writings quoted, please refer to that publication.

We continue, by looking at prominent spirit filled men, women and children who lived during the 16th and 17th centuries AD.

1517-1700

THE FRENCH PROPHETS

After 1520, Reformation ideas began to infiltrate Catholic France, finding fertile soil there, in spite of intense persecution. Protestantism then became a force to be reckoned with. After 1560, French protestants became known as the Huguenots. In 1598 they were granted religious freedom by the Edict of Nantes.

However, when Louis XIV revoked the charter in 1685, severe persecution resumed.

Up to 400,000 Huguenots fled to England, Prussia, Holland, South Africa and the Carolinas in North America. Many though, chose to remain, primarily being concentrated in the Cevennes Mountains of southern France. Because of the dynamic power of the Spirit operating in their midst, they became known as the French Prophets.

Their firm belief in the supernatural power of God arose from their prayer and diligent searching of the New Testament. They insisted.....

"God has no where in the Scriptures concluded Himself from dispensing again the extraordinary gifts of His Spirit unto men."

Tongues, visions, prophetic utterances and other supernatural phenomena were common amongst them.

A PROPHETIC ANOINTING

Both children and adults received this anointing. Children as young as 3 prophesied in perfect French, although this was not their native language. Adults too, experienced the same spiritual phenomena.

It is reported that one simple minded woman, under the power of the Holy Spirit gave discourses of such elevated character in such good French that her hearers exclaimed.....

"This ass of Balaam has a mouth of gold."

A writer of the day wrote of many who.....

"fell on their backs, they shut their eyes, they heaved with the breast, they remained a while in trances, and coming out of them with twitching, they uttered all that came into their mouths."

SPEAKING IN TONGUES

Tongues speaking was apparently common amongst the French Prophets. John Venett, who escaped to England, recalled hearing his mother speak French under the power of the Holy Spirit. He was amazed.....

"because she never before attempted to speak a word in that language, nor has since to my knowledge, and I am certain she could not do it."

Sir Richard Bulkey, a wealthy English nobleman, was converted through contact with French Prophets who were refugees in England. He tells of hearing one of their leaders, John Lacy.....

"repeat long sentences in Latin, and another refugee speak in Hebrew, neither one of whom could speak a single word in these languages when not in spiritual ecstasy."

CAMISARDS

When hunted down by the dragoons of the French Government, the believers mounted an armed resistance becoming known as Camisards, that is, 'night stalkers.' By 1711 their resistance was crushed, and the movement dispersed. Their memory could not be extinguished with their spiritual experiences and faith exploits became legendary throughout Europe.

John Wesley, cautiously welcomed those who fled to England, declaring when a Dr Middleton denied the post apostolic gift of tongues.....

"Sir, your memory fails you again...It has been heard of more than once, no further off than the days of Dauphin,".....

in a reference to the French prophets.

So we can continue to say.....

THE TRUE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS ARE ONES WHO ARE OBEDIENT TO THE LEADING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THEIR LIVES.

(Continued next week)

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FROM THE WORD

THE WORDS OF JESUS continued

The Lord has asked me to compile a publication of the words Jesus spoke, as recorded in the New Testament in chronological order. I have got about halfway, and have found it very enlightening and encouraging in my relationship with Him. The final version will have changes of layout and version used, but this is a foretaste of things to come. Of course, it is not a Bible substitute! I Hope you find it helpful too, in your walk with Jesus.

Peter Confesses Jesus as Christ (Matthew 16:13-20, Mark 8:27-30)
When the disciples were asked by Jesus about His divinity.

“Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Jesus Rebukes Peter (Matthew 16:21-8, Mark 8:31-9:1, Luke 9:18-27)
Again the question was asked. Peter gave the same reply and was told it was not easy path, for all involved.

“Who do the crowds say I am?”
20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? 26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

The Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9:2-13, Luke 9:28-36)
On a high mountain, in front of Peter, James and John.

“Get up,” “Don’t be afraid
“Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

The disciples told that the Elijah to return prior to the Saviour coming was indeed John the Baptist.

“To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. 12 But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.”

(Continued next week)

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DAVID'S DOODLINGS

FAITH

424. Faith is god's gift to the poor, for it is often all they have.

425. Desperation breeds faith or despair. We make the choice.

426. Comfort kills faith.

483. True faith is the ability to accept the truth, particularly when it conflicts with the understanding of our circumstances.

874. Genuine faith is reflected in heartfelt action.

875. Faith is not merely of the mind, but permeates our life.

876. What 'I believe' is confirmed by what 'I do'.

877. 'To believe' and 'to do' are twin branches of the same tree, nourished by the one root.

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CARTOONS FROM TOON FEVER

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TUESDAY TEACHINGS

THIS WEEK: THE 3 GARDENS OF GOD PLUS ANOTHER YET TO COME

THE GARDEN OF EDEN (Part 2)

We will have a look at the implications of the Garden of Eden for us today.

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LAUGHING AT OURSELVES

***Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused***

*** Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others. ***

836. THE LIBRARY
During the school year, the public library where I work is open on Sunday afternoons. Signs posted around the library read, Sunday service available 1:30-5:00, September-June. One day a woman was returning some books when she noticed one of these signs, "Oh, you have Sunday service now?" she asked me.

"Yes, from 1:30 to 5:00, September through June," I explained. "I see," she said. "And what denomination is it?"

Via Da Mouse Tracks. To subscribe go to To Subscribe: DaMouseTracks-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

835. ALARMING!
Like every Sunday morning my son, David (5 years old), attended church with us. It was common for the preacher to invite the children to the front of the church and have a small lesson before beginning the sermon.

He would bring in an item they could find around the house and relate it to a teaching from the Bible.

This particular morning, the visual aid for his lesson was a smoke detector. He asked the children if anyone knew what it meant when an alarm sounded from the smoke detector.

My child immediately raised his hand and said, "It means Daddy's cooking dinner."

…..Mikey's Funnies (funnies-owner@lists.MikeysFunnies.com) by way of "Christian Voices” (www.ChristianVoicesWorldwide.net)

834. EASTER SUBSTITUTE
Every Easter our church stages an elaborate pageant. Last year the man who played Pontius Pilate had to work on the night of the dress rehearsal, and a chorus member substituted for him.

As we began rehearsing Pilate's solo, the conductor stopped the orchestra. "Pilate, I don't hear you," he called out. "You're not loud enough."

"Pilate is at work," a voice shouted back from the stage. "We've got our co-Pilate tonight."

(Bill Dyson) via Daily Humor To Join: Daily-Humor-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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FACTS FOR FUN

LAST WEEKS QUESTION: Where did the expression ‘red herring’ originate?

ANSWER: A ‘red herring’ is a diversionary tactic - something that draws attention away from the central issue. The term originated from the use of smoked herring (which is reddish brown and extremely strong-smelling) to distract hunting dogs from following a trail. In the seventeenth century, smoked herring was also used as a lure to train dogs to follow a scent. And, of course, it was also used by criminals to divert bloodhounds from the trail. (Still is!)

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: What creature has infrared receptors to help it catch prey in total darkness?

Answer Next Week.

SOME FUN FACTS

754. WHICH IS WORSE?
Pop singer Engelbert Humperdinck's real name is Arnold Dorsey. (From worse to ‘worster’).

755. ADDING FLAVOUR
Official FDA guidelines allow whole pepper to be sold with up to 1 percent of the volume made up of rodent droppings. (Or you could try eating ‘seasoned mice’ for a change!)

756. ALL RICE!
There are more than 15,000 different varieties of rice in the world today. (Can anyone identify them all?)

A WORD PUZZLE FOR YOU

Make another word from this word using all the letters.

ANIMAL

Answer at the end of A David Musing

FREE DOWNLOAD: You can download the full version of our Trivia Book at TRULY TRIFFLING TRIVIA Or view all 1232 online at...

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SERMON ON THE MOUNT

18. What happened to the man who built his house upon the sand?

a. The house stood still
b. The house half fell down
c. The house fell flat
d. The roof blew away

Source: http://biblequizzes.org.uk

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IF ONLY I'D THOUGHT OF IT!

"""OTHER'S SAYINGS TO ENLIGHTEN, AMUSE, OR BEMUSE"""

!!!!!!! A pat on the back is only a few inches from a kick in the rear.

!!!!!! Always be yourself because the people that matter don't mind, and the ones who mind, don't matter.

!!!!! "Be my Valentine...forever." - God

!!!! By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong.

!!! Do not believe in miracles...rely on them.

!! Do you brighten a room just by entering or just by leaving?

! God only gives us what we can handle, but sometimes I wish he didn't trust me so much!

100'S MORE TO BE FOUND AT...

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LIFE'S A LAUGH

4. GUMMED UP
Aboard a flight from L.A. to New York, Grandma Esther was taking her very first flight.

They had only been aloft a few minutes when the elderly lady complained to the stewardess that her ears were popping.

The girl smiled and gave the older woman some chewing gum, assuring her that many people experienced the same discomfort.

When they landed in New York, Grandma thanked the stewardess.

"The chewing gum worked fine," she said, "but tell me, how do I get it out of my ears?"

5. A NATURAL POSE
It was graduation day and Mom was trying to take a picture of their son in a cap and gown, posed with his father.

"Let's try to make this look natural," she said. "Junior, put your arm around your dad's shoulder."

The father answered, "If you want it to look natural, why not have him put his hand on my wallet?"

6.0000 FOOT COVER RULES
Visiting our son during his freshman year, we were shocked by the mess in his room: clothes, books, and rubbish lay everywhere.

Later, over dinner, we tried to touch on the informal versus formal dress codes that life after college might require. Our son, however, shared his own firmly held dress code guidelines:

1. Informal: socks not required
2. Semiformal: two socks required
3. Formal: both socks must match

7. EVER HELPFUL
One day my brother-in-law noticed an elderly lady slowly pushing a cart through the supermarket parking lot.

Ever courteous, he insisted on taking it over for her.

The woman struggled alongside, doing her best to keep up.

At the entrance, he said, "Here you go, Ma'am," and gave her the cart.

Catching her breath, she said, "Thank you, but I was using it to lean on."

8. SHOOT ONE - SHOOT 'EM ALL!
Being a newspaper photographer, my husband would often get home late with the excuse "I had to shoot a car wreck," or "I had to shoot a football game."

Once, some unexpected company dropped by and asked how late my husband would be. "I don't know," I replied, not intending to shock them. "He has to shoot the governor."

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The 7 Great Lies in the Church Today

By Steve Hill

Editor’s Note: Most Charisma readers remember Steve Hill as the fiery evangelist from the Brownsville Revival who has since continued to win countless souls for Jesus around the world. But what many readers don’t realize is that Hill only recently came out of a three-year battle with melanoma. During that time, he received a prophetic vision warning the church of an impending “spiritual avalanche” that could kill millions. The following article on deception in the church is part of this timely message, now delivered in his latest book, Spiritual Avalanche.

1) Overemphasis of Prosperity: Last week.

2) Exaggerated View of Grace

This hyper-grace teaching has become an epidemic (see “What’s Wrong With Grace?” on p. 28). It has slipped in almost unnoticed and taken root like an unwanted weed—easy to get in but hard to get out of the Christian. I have personally dealt with many young people who were once on fire but fell under this “kicked-back” view of God. Now, instead of pursuing Him, they are partying. This “unmerited freedom,” if not tackled and taken out, will spread to future generations, leaving us with millions of lukewarm Christians who have traded their passion for poison.

Sadly, some hyper-grace preachers live in sin and ease their consciences by preaching about a God who is all love and who never condemns, a God who doesn’t judge us by our conduct. Like the false teachers Jude confronted, they “turn the grace of our God into lewdness” (Jude 4). The New International Version describes such lewdness as “a license for immorality.”

But not every hyper-grace preacher is looking for a way to justify sin. Some truly love Jesus but are simply preaching truth mixed with error. They’ve taken an undeniable, glorious truth about God and presented it in such an exaggerated form that they nullify all divine warnings and even claim that the words of Jesus don’t apply to New Covenant believers. If this seems judgmental, then it’s time to honestly line everyone’s teachings—including mine—alongside the Word. Don’t just go through the Word; let the Word go through you. Why are we so afraid in this godless generation to confront fallacies?

These hyper-grace teachers rightly emphasize that we are saved by grace and not by works (Eph. 2:8-9), that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Rom. 5:6-8), that we are no longer sinners but saints in God’s sight (1 Cor. 1:2), that God’s love for us is not based on our performance (Rom. 5:9-10), that having begun in the Spirit we can’t become perfect by human effort (Gal. 3:3), that we are now sons and daughters of God, joint heirs with Jesus (Rom. 8:15-17), and more!

But they ignore mountains of other scriptural truths and draw wrong theological conclusions. For example, they rightly teach that Jesus died for all our sins—past, present and future—but wrongly conclude that as believers we no longer have to deal with sin (meaning we never have to confess sin or repent of sin, and the Holy Spirit no longer convicts us of sin). Aren’t you tired of hearing of another backslidden brother? Trace his steps and you’ll often find he was given permission to slip away from the wonderful freedom of holiness into the bondage of humanism.

3) Antinomianism

Antinomianism—long word, simple meaning. The word literally means “against law.” It’s a short jump from an overemphasis on the grace message to complete antinomianism. In practice, it means that “anything goes,” since Jesus has set us free. The problem is, Jesus didn’t set us free to sin; He set us free from sin.

Jesus died for us and broke sin’s power on our lives so that now, by the Spirit, we can live out the righteous requirements of the law (Rom. 8:1-4). Yet purveyors of this poisonous teaching fail to realize that Jesus calls us beyond the requirements of the law in His teaching, stating, for example, that adultery refers to adultery of the heart and not just the physical act (Matt. 5:27-28).

God’s perfect, holy, glorious law is not the problem. Sinful flesh is the problem. Sin will take you farther than you ever wanted to go. Sin will cost you more than you ever wanted to pay. And sin will keep you longer than you ever intended to stay. Sin will promise you everything but leave you with nothing. Sin will love you for a season and curse you for eternity.

For all the antinomians out there who believe “anything goes,” the question is, where do you end up?

Continued next week.

Source: http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/from-the-frontlines/39026-the-7-great-lies-in-the-church-today

DAVID'S DOWNLOAD

A REVELATION OF…….REVELATION 12:11

How to 'walk with Jesus.' The verse upon which this ministry is based. The first revelation received by David Tait, introducing him to ministry.

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WAXING LYRICAL

When inspiration fails me I write a rubbish rhyme! Enjoy - or cry - or empathasise!

U 2?

Not a thought.
But I ought
To have inspiration,
Not perspiration.
In emptiness am caught!

At least it does still rhyme.
Caught the brain in time.
Rubbish 4 u 2 read,
Must get up to speed.
Many mountains yet to climb.

So now u take a rest,
Your brain do not test,
Next week will be better,
Letter will follow letter,
4 I may b back 2 my best!

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A DAVID MUSING

The past 2-3 weeks since Christmas have been our traditional holiday season here in New Zealand. In China the holiday season of similar length starts in the middle of this week.
While in much of the Northern Hemisphere, holidays are in the second half of the year. Of course, Israel manages to celebrate two New Years, both temporal and spiritual.

For Kathy and myself, this has been a busy, but enjoyable holiday time. We have had family and visitors staying, celebrated our son Brendan's 40th birthday, spent time cleaning and painting our new shop, and Kathy getting ready for her trip to the other side of the world, bonny Scotland, on Wednesday. She really is now in need of a holiday!

It is good to have times of difference in a year. Excluding the crass commercialisation of Christmas today, meeting with family and friends brings a joy to the soul and reminds us of the importance of relationship in our lives.

Of course, to some, where relationships have been strained or broken, the reverse is the case. However it still emphasizes the importance of relationships, even if in a negative way.

When it comes to our spiritual lives, once again relationship is to be the central focus. Christianity is not going to church, nor following religious form, but is simply forming a personal relationship with our Saviour and Lord, Jesus (the) Christ, which is to be reflected in loving others as ourselves. Relationship, relationship, and relationship!

May we not be side tracked this year by the busyness of life, from the primary purpose of our existence, relationship. It is as the Lord has commanded.

So until next week.....

MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOU BLESS GOD

His servant and yours

David Tait

Today's 'Word Puzzle' Answer: MANILA

TODAY'S 'BIBLE QUESTION' c. The house fell flat

REPRODUCTION OF NEWSLETTER CONTENT

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ABOUT US

WALKING WITH JESUS MINISTRIES is a non-profit, non-denominational, Bible based ministry located in Hastings, New Zealand. A ministry dedicated to developing discipleship, fostering unity amongst God’s people to achieve the Great Commission, and in doing so, preparing for Christ’s return. It is securely based upon the foundational principles of the Apostles Creed while recognising the wide and rich diversity of beliefs amongst Christians in other areas. In accordance with the Lord’s direction, materials produced by the ministry are available, free of charge, to genuine enquirers upon request. The ministry is solely funded by donations, as the Lord provides. A list of materials available (plus some fun!) is obtainable and freely downloadable from our website
wwj.org.nz or by contacting us as follows.

Walking With Jesus Ministries
7 Bull Street
Ahuriri
Napier
New Zealand

Phone: (06) 835 0567 International (+64) 6 835 0567

Email: enquiries@wwj.org.nz
Web: wwj.org.nz

Our role is to bless and encourage those in ministry while promoting co-operation and unity of direction amongst the body of Christ, as emphasised 3 times by Jesus in His longest prayer, immediately prior to His arrest and crucifixion. "… so that they may be one as we are one." (John 17:12, 21, 23-4) Our website is currently being developed to encourage your participation one with another, to share resources, and to enable you to promote events and items of interest to the body as a whole – and have a smile while doing it!

For comments upon and contributions to this service, please contact
david@wwj.org.nz