Na próxima semana cerca de um milhão de pessoas estarão fazendo a sua peregrinação anual ao Santuário de Fátima[1]. A ideia de uma visita divina consegue ser fascinante e irritante ao mesmo tempo. Sendo verdade, tal visita é um forte indicador da existência de Deus. Mas o mais excitante no o facto é, se de Deus conseguiu  comunicar através de três jovens pastores, provavelmente ele consegue comunicar com qualquer um de nós.

As implicações para os profissionais de saúde são enormes! Afinal, estamos sempre à procura de ferramentas que, nos possam ajudar a motivar os poderes de auto-cura do corpo e da mente. E nós sabemos, só através do conhecido efeito placebo, que a esperança e a fé são forças muito poderosas. Se a evidência nos revela pistas importantes, porque são os meios académicos tão hóstis à fé em Deus? Eu não consigo pensar em nenhuma idéia mais inspiradora do que a idéia de que Deus quer a cura e perdão, para todos. Este é, realmente, o cerne da mensagem da Bíblia e milhões de pessoas em todo o mundo possuem esta crença.

Apenas como exercício de curiosidade, procure por “Jesus cura”, no motor de busca Google (na secção videos) e você obterá 248’000 links. Agora, lembre-se que um ensaio clínico típico (académico) raramente tem mais de 200 indivíduos/sujeitos. Mas aqui temos um quarto de milhão de vídeos que afirmam que Jesus curou sobrenaturalmente. Talvez seja hora de olhar para além de uma visão de mundo definida pelo método da hipótese de nulidade[2]. Em vez de assumir que é verdade ‘null’[3] nestes relatórios a respeito de Deus, vamos abrir nossas mentes para a possibilidade de uma outra dimensão e começar a pensar o que isso poderia significar para as nossas vidas e no exercício das nossas profissões.

Se Deus pode se comunicar com qualquer um, logo, ele pode comunicar connosco e com os nossos pacientes. E, se ele quer curar, então, também nós podemos reclamar essa cura, para nós mesmos. Tomemos o exemplo do médico alemão Arne Elsen que começou a rezar para a cura dos seus doentes em fase terminal. Tomando como permissa um: “não há nada a perder”; o médico e seus pacientes têm experimentado muitos milagres. Ele não publicou um trabalho científico, mas você pode sempre deslocar-se a Hamburgo – cidade onde o Dr. Arne Elsen exerce a sua actividade médica – e ouvir as histórias em primeira mão. Ou, basta pesquisar na net e encontrará muitos mais exemplos. Há simplesmente demasiados dados para ignorar. Mas ao mesmo tempo, tudo isto se torna incompatível na nossa estrutura científica actual.

Talvez seja por estarmos a actuar num campo completamente diferente  regido por regras diferentes!

Isto deve ser por estarmos a lidar numa dimensão diferente, regida por regras completamente diferentes.

Então, por que não deixar de lado os seus preconceitos e imaginar, por um momento, o que Deus lhe diria, se ele decidisse falar consigo hoje!

[2] Ver Karl Popper.

[3] idem.

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Sonntag 13.5. um 10.00 Uhr
Vineyard Hombrechtikon. http://www.vineyard-hombrechtikon.ch

Montag 14.5.2012 um 11:30 Kings Kurry, Charity Luncheon
Charity Luncheon

“Stories of Grace and Favor in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan”
with Pastor Ghaffar Bhatti, Lahore

Programme
11:30          Talk 1         “Persecution of Christians in Pakistan”        30 mins
12:00                            Kings Kurry buffet lunch – All you can eat (CHF 30 incl. drink)
12:30          Talk 2         “How the love of Christ is making an impact”       30 mins

Host                Kings Kurry, Freyastr.3, (near Bahnhof Wiedikon), 8004 – Zürich

http://www.kingskurry.ch

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Facing overwhelming evidence

Next weekend about 1 million people will be making the annual pilgrimage to the Shrine of Fatima. The idea of a divine visitation is fascinating and irritating at once. Obviously if true, such a visitation is a strong indication of the existence of God. But what is more exciting is the fact, that if God could communicate with three shepherd children, he can probably communicate with anybody.

The implications for health care professionals are enormous. After all, we are always looking for tools that will help motivate the self-healing powers of the body and mind. And we know, if only from the placebo effect, that hope and faith are very powerful forces. So why is the academic world so hostile to faith in God? I cannot think of a more inspiring idea than the idea that God wants to heal and forgive you. This is indeed the core of the Bible message and millions of people around the world hold this same belief.

Search for “Jesus Heals” in the video section of Google and you get 248’000 hits. Now remember that a typical clinical experiment rarely has more than 200 subjects. But here we have one quarter of a million videos claiming that Jesus has supernaturally healed them. Maybe it is time to look beyond a world-view defined by the null-hypothesis method. Instead of assuming there is ‘null’ truth in these reports about God, let us open our minds to the possibility of another dimension and start to think what this could mean for our lives and professions.

If God can communicate with anybody, he can communicate with us and our patients. And if he wants to heal, then we could ask him to. One example, is the Hamburg-based German Doctor Arne Elsen who began to pray for the terminally ill. Taking a “there’s nothing to loose” approach, the Doctor and his patients have experienced many miracles. He hasn’t published a research paper, but you could fly to Hamburg and hear the stories first-hand. Or you could surf the net and find many more. There is simply too much data to ignore. But at the same time, it will not fit into our scientific framework. That must be because we are dealing with a entirely different dimension governed by different rules.

So why not lay aside your preconceptions and imagine for a moment what God would say to you if he decided to talk to you today.

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This is an intensive 1 month training for leaders from various S.E. Asian countries. David will be teaching/ministering Inner Healing and Deliverance.

Other topics covered during this training will be Discipleship, Hearing the voice of God, Church planting, Intercession etc.

We are very much looking forwrd to it, but value your prayers more than ever.

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Here is a link to his Blog where he features anothr author he deems valuable.

http://frankviola.org/2012/02/08/scotmcknight

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In my first post I introduced the topic and made the following points.

1. The kingdom is not about revolution – it is about growth
2. It is not about structure
3. Jesus had a pyramid system
4. God can work through one man leadership
5. It is all about our spiritual walk

Having established that the system is not our enemy, we may still ask if there isn’t a better way than what we know. After all people are disappointed and hurt, oppressed and deceived inside the church as often as outside. There must be something we can do to improve the organisation to give the Holy Spirit more space to work in our lives and give the Lord a little help as he tries to sanctify us.

One proposed answer is the five-fold ministry. This is a concept based on Paul’s discussions of the various gifts that are available within the church. The fact that he numbers them off, is taken as an indication of priority. First Apostles, Second Prophets, Third Teachers, then workers of miracles, healers, helpers, managers and people who speak different languages.

I believe totally in the five-fold ministry. I believe in the concept of church elders but I here I want to get to the heart of the question of whether structure matters for the life of a church. Exploring the five-fold ministry concept is often done based on the assumption that it is the only way forward. Proponents of these ideas almost take a revolutionary stance and so much damage is done to the body as a whole. This is not the Spirit of Jesus whose mission was not to “break a bruised reed”. He did not come to condemn but to seek and save the lost. All of our enquiry must be marked by this spirit.

No matter whether you have a one man founder and chairman ministry of a five-fold leadership or a council of elders there are a number of other issues that are more decisive for spiritual health in a church.

1. Be an evangelistic and not a migration-based church

In some churches the main growth comes from evangelism. In others the main growth comes from attracting believers away from other churches by the promise of greater spirituality or a more entertaining program. Evangelism-based churches are doctrinally and emotionally much healthier places. Evangelism-based churches have a cohesion that stems from respect for the evangelist and teacher, humility and first love.

As society and our work lives demand that we move around the world, many churches in international or university cities see people come and go on a regular basis and face the challenge of building cohesion and community amongst people who are not expecting deep or long-term relationships.

Churches that grow based on the migrations of the dissatisfied or wounded members of other churches start with a mess of poisoned wounds. When people’s motivation for a move is couched in spiritual ambition, then beware also of spiritual pride.

2. Understand the danger of elections

The church council is a common form of balance that many denominations have. In Switzerland, the State Church has an extreme situation where any tax paying voter in a community can be elected to the church council and influence the spiritual matters of the church. Purely democratic criteria are sufficient to gain acceptance and influence in this situation.

In other churches there might be a council that is voted in by the church members. Here again the democratic process of gaining influence with man is decisive in leading to an election. But this is so contrary to the Biblical pattern. None of the great Biblical leaders were chosen based on their popularity or suitability in the eyes of the community. God chooses and calls people for other reasons.

Therefore a church seeking to establish a group leadership needs to be keenly aware that networking skills or business managerial capabilities can be useful for service and deacons work, but they are not the most important values when choosing spiritual leaders. In God’s preparation process, hiddenness is very often a key stage. In a stage of hiddenness and intimacy with God, you will not be socialising and winning friends and influencing people so that you can get elected to a church position.

3. Embrace father-hearted leadership

It is better to have one man with a clear vision at the helm of a church who is intimate with his heavenly Father than a committee of politicians. Fathering-style leadership is what so many of us missed out. That is why we are so desperately searching in the wrong places. All our questions about doctrine, musical style, liturgy versus spontaneity, democracy versus strong visionary leadership will evaporate and pale into insignificance when we experience our Father in Heaven touching the depths of our soul supernaturally or through a kind and loving, gentle natural father figure.

When a church is founded and led by someone with a father-heart the need for elections disappears. A Father will recognise the people who God is preparing and he will call them into position. It is top down – but when the top is in tune with God’s purposes it works very well. But what if the leader at the top is not perfect? Actually Jesus addressed that question indirectly. He said “Your earthly fathers, being evil know how to give good gifts”. So there is hope!

A church with a single strong leader may initially lack diversity – a single leader can never encompass every gift. But remember, every healthy church will be networked with other churches and integrated into the diversity of the body of Christ as a whole. Members will have access to other teachers and ideas through YouTube or visiting speakers, conferences etc. As people develop a leader with a Father-heart will begin to delegate and increase the space given for others to develop their gifts. This church may actually accomplish more than a church led by consensus.

Read Part II

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Two and a half years ago, the Lord initiated an exciting process in our lives where we came into contact with people who are really grappling with the questions of what the church should really look like. All my life I had lived in an awkward tension between my love for Jesus and some negative experiences that I had with religious church leaders.

After too many wasted years I began to seek the Lord again earnestly and he healed and delivered me and restored my first love. Jesus began to lead me into situations and relationships where I got the chance to explore the question of what church leadership form is best.

So I got involved with house church and apostolic-prophetic reformers and deliberately exposed myself to teachers and movements which I knew would stretch me and take me beyond the comfort zone. I heard terms like pyramid structure, studied the five-fold ministry and earnestly sought God to deepen my understanding of his plan for church. Within one year I found myself connected to men of God from around the world who were all moving in slightly different streams but all displaying fruits of the spirit and fruit in ministry. I also began to experience clearer guidance and greater anointing.

Now is the time to reflect and I am going to share some of what I am discovering.

1. The kingdom is not about revolution – it is about growth

Jesus’ parables of the kingdom were all about growth – we have to build on the insights of the past. We need to view church history and past experience as a rich source of lessons and understand that people respond better to loving teaching and demonstration than to dogmatic railing.

The church so far has not failed. Christianity HAS been tried and although not perfect yet, it is going in the right direction. Some see only decline and sickness in the Body of Christ – I see a wonderful outpouring of confidence, faith and love that is changing communities and salting the earth.

2. It is not about structure

In some circles alot of energy has gone into teaching about structure. There are all kinds of theories about natural and spiritual structures. Have you heard the criticism of the top-down pyramid structure? In business it is the simple idea of vertical hierarchies being replaced by networks – the flat organisation. Some people in the church caught up with this idea and made a spiritual version of it: we have to tear down the pyramid structure. The pastor is the evil dictator stopping the work of the Holy Spirit and preventing the people from rising up to maturity. My conclusion having observed some of the fruits of these ideas closely is in a word – Nonsense!

It is better to have a church led by one man with a clear position and vision that people can align with to reach the lost and fulfill the great commission than it is to have a crowd of people rallied around an leadership who, by denying structure, escape accountability and make communication very difficult. Worse still is the pretence that the group is being led by the Holy Spirit, when in fact it is operating according to the natural principles of trust based on familiarity and allegiance.

3. Jesus had a pyramid system

Jesus gave us no clues to the form that church should take. He did not instigate a five-fold ministry. He sent out his disciples in pairs – 12, 70, 120 and then 500 and 3000. There was a clear pyramid structure with the impartation of authority based on heavenly selection.

And he did not set exams or vision and gift tests. No one went to college to get a degree in Pastoral studies or PhD in Homiletics.  People were not elected to positions in Jesus’ ministry. He heard from his Father who he should make his disciples and then he worked with them by a process of teaching and practical demonstration. It was one man leading a group. Yes he was the Son of God, but nonetheless he established what reformers call a pyramid system with top-down leadership and it was very effective.

4. God can work through one man leadership

By the way: The pyramid was most effective when people were at their weakest after the crucifixtion. Jesus had effectively appointed Peter as the Leader. So when they were most afraid and disappointed, they all followed him to go fishing and Jesus met them on the shore of the lake. Imagine if they had all gone off in different directions…

Moses is another example of an imperfect leader in a pyramid system, being more effective for God than a committee leadership. If the leadership depended on the leaders of the children of Israel they would have been back in slavery immediately. And the one time a group decision was made – they ended up with a golden calf.

There are countless more examples in the Bible and throughout history that show that a single person who is walking close to the Lord and full of faith can inspire many and have a greater impact than a network of doubters.

3. It is all about our spiritual walk

The goal of our faith is the salvation of our souls. The God of Peace himself is sanctifying us to make us complete in Spirit, Soul and Body. So what role does the church really play? What context will provide an environment where we can be ONE as Jesus and the Father are one so that the world will see?

Do we need a council or no council, elders in charge or the pastor having the last word? Who needs a pastor anyway? Can’t we just have lay-people sharing what the Lord gives them?

The spiritual walk is something that each of us must walk. Choosing the straight and narrow is a personal decision that no one can make for you. Retreating to be alone with our heavenly Father is not a group activity. You have to do that on your own. So is it enough to have a preacher exhort you to walk the walk and live the life?

And if a church is led by one man, how do we ensure that it is not stunted by his inevitable limitations and blind spots?

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From 29th September to 21st October we were on a mission trip to India.

After 4 days in Delhi teaching and ministering inner-healing in a Bible school and at a conference, we headed down to Trivandrum the capital of Kerala.
There we led a six day conference for leaders and visited house cells all over the city. Our host was the “Torch of Truth” church lead by Suresh and Sani Babu.

The presence of God was very powerfully tangible in many meetings and the preaching and teaching was confirmed with miracles of healing and supernatural signs.

Inner-healing and deliverance conference

This training was targetted at the 70 leaders in the church, but some of the evening and weekend meetings attracted up to 700 people. The greatest joy was to hear the reports from people of the changes that God was bringing in their lives and hearts through the series of teachings. While the core of my teaching has been carefully prepared, I really felt the Holy Spirit inspiring the messages and guiding the sequence of topics and times of ministry. All the glory goes to him!

Wed Evening:

• The bronze snake in the wilderness – discerning the problem, applying faith in the solution, the centrality of the cross

Thursday

• The heart of God revealed in Jesus’ ministry manifesto. Our makeup: spirit, soul and body
• Peter: from calling to falling – healing of the memories in the gospels

Friday

• Introduction to Deliverance – Deliverance in the gospels
• The nature and effects of demons: practical deliverance ministry

Saturday

• Heaven on earth – eternity meets time
• Hearing the voice of God. Keeping your healing and deliverance

Sunday

• Peter – Jesus works with those willing to make mistakes

The testimonies / posts section of this site contains only a few of the many testimonies of life changes that occured during these meetings.

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…. Ich habe wirklich erlebt, dass wir in den vorbereiteten Werken Gottes wandeln durften, wie es mein Lieblingsvers Epheser 2,10 ausdrückt. In den evangelistischen Veranstaltungen nahmen Hunderte die Botschaft des Evangeliums an. Es geschahen viele Heilungswunder und Befreiungen, die auch bestätigt wurden. Auch während der Vorbereitungszeiten kam der Heilige Geist ganz neu auf viele der Christen und sie erlebten Ermutigung oder einen Durchbruch.

Download it here

Good news and hope for relationship, restoration and reformation

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I truly experienced the privilege of walking in works prepared by the Lord, as per my favourite verse in Ephesians 2, 10 and hundreds responded message of salvation in the evangelistic meetings.There were also many verified miracles of healing and deliverance. Finally the Holy Spirit came upon many of the Chris- tians during the camp and the team training times in a new way and many experienced activation or a breakthrough.

The full report is in the PDF available for download: Refresh Newsletter 2

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