Mar 5, 2010
Heart Attack Healed
Mar 4, 2010
Honor and Heresy
This post has the potential to hurt a few people, but faithful are the wounds of a friend. I've written this because I love my friends.
I have some acquaintances that I correspond with on occasion. They present a challenge to me. They often post passages of scripture after making a comment on something I’ve said. It’s rare for these brothers and sisters to make any comment without some kind of reference to the bible. They frequently request others to provide ‘chapter and verse’ when they make statements having to do with spiritual life.
I’ve become increasingly concerned with this behavior and I have a confession to make. I was one such person, not long ago. I’ll describe this from my own experience.
After coming to the Lord in 2000, I began a 7-year journey; relentlessly devouring everything I could find to help me understand the bible. I became an expert of sorts. People used me as a resource for theological questions. I was always quoting chapter and verse. I questioned (and sometimes criticized) ideas, statements and positions that didn’t square with scripture…or rather, my understanding of it. If there were a banner over my life it would have said, “Prove all things, hold fast to that which is good.” It was the word, not the spirit that was leading me. The letter kills, but the spirit gives life.
It was during this time that God showed me how dead I was. I had been born again, but not baptized in the Holy Spirit. I had a dream in which Luis Palau was present at a meeting. A woman at the meeting informed me I was spiritually dead and told me I became spiritually alive when I registered for a Kim Clement concert. That gave me reason to re-evaluate a lot of things. One of them was my obsession with biblical accuracy. I heard pastors say you could be so right that you were 'dead right'. Who knew they were talking about me?
I began having experiences that were hard for me to understand in the context of biblical Christianity. Although the bible has much to say about dreams and their interpretation, I’d never had a dream I remembered as an adult and never hear a sermon on dream interpretation. Suddenly I was having many dreams. God showed up in a few and He had a lot to tell me. Some of the experiences I've had while sleeping defy explanation. I have no memory of seeing, hearing or feeling anything. When I wake, I have an awareness that something 'spiritual' happened. But I can't find words to describe it. I know my spirit man was up to something, by my natural mind had no clue what was going on. I retained no memory of it. I have no chapter and verse for something like this.
It was also at this time that God began speaking new words to me, like 'prophet' and 'healer'. I had no grid for these things. But this was my new identity, like it or not. I reluctantly began the process of transformation, and in this new life I moved from servanthood, to sonship. Having my identity confirmed from the Lord freed me from the insecurity that compelled me to prove to men who I was.
I began having visions, visitations, angelic encounters and seeing miracles. Some of the images I see in visions aren’t found in the bible. Am I supposed to ignore them? How can I interpret them? This is where we have to lay the bible aside to come before God and ask what He’s saying, what it means, and how to apply it. As I hear the voice of God and declare His rhema word for a person, group or season, much of what comes from my mouth doesn’t have chapter and verse attached. Biblical principles should be found in it and the heart of God should be revealed through it. Prophecies must be judged. The question then comes – how do you know you’re hearing from God?
This is a case where relationship must have priority over the written word. I'm not suggesting experience trumps the logos. But God isn't a book. As His children, we must believe that we’re hearing the Spirit of God and trust that He is revealing the truth to us. Unfortunately, there have been errors in the past and there’ll be more in the future. I’ve missed my share of interpretations, and learned from the mistakes. I’m new, and making mistakes is part of the process of maturing.
I see problems in always demanding ‘chapter and verse’ to support statements. The first is, not all ideas and experiences have biblical references. The second is the fact that we don’t all have the same familiarity with the word of God. Most of the people who do this are very skilled in handling the word and know how to use electronic bibles to gather a mountain of verses to support their idea. They scan people’s blog or Facebook posts, looking for ideas that seem out of harmony with their understanding of the bible. When something hits their radar – they make a corrective observation, insert an adequate supply of bible verses and wait for a response. They are not intimidated, but seem eager to engage in a battle of words. They seldom back down. And that bothers me. Remember, I once did this myself.
I know there is much exhortation in the word to avoid false doctrine. But this behavior resembles what a bully does on a playground. Bullies look for those who are weaker and beat them up. It’s usually done out of a weakness or insecurity that torments them. When bullies grow up they become thugs who terrorize everyone around them. The people I’m referring to in this post could be called intellectual bullies. They go around looking for people who are intellectually weaker and beat up their ideas with a superior set of ideas. The references to scripture are nothing more than an iron bar or a baseball bat that says, “Don’t mess with me.” Is this the kind of life Jesus would have us live?
In a continual search for error they have become known as ‘heresy hunters.’ Bill Johnson made a profound statement that forever impacted how I see heresy. (I’ll paraphrase) He said that if you react to error, you won’t arrive at truth – but another error of a different kind. As long as error is your starting point – you can’t arrive at truth. The truth stands on it’s own ground, independent of and in no relation to error. Man wasn’t designed to react to error, but to respond to truth.
God wants us to be a culture that honors its members. Intellectual bullying dishonors everyone involved. This behavior needs to end. In some, a lack of identity may be the cause. Allowing God to tell us who we are can begin the healing process.
Mar 3, 2010
The Orphaned Spirit
If you're not familiar with the orphaned spirit, but want to find out more, Bill Johnson does a nice job of explaining it here. If you're a heresy hunter - I'm pretty sure it isn't in the bible, so it'll keep you busy for a while. The problem is one of identity. The orphaned spirit is a mind-set in which we believe no one is able to protect or provide for us, leaving us orphans to fend for ourselves. It isn't just a problem outside the church; many believers are not yet fully convinced of who they are and who their Father really is. The problem of identity is critical to our mental, spiritual and physical health. The two videos below don't mention the orphaned spirit, but I believe they show the effect of it. In the first interview, heavy-metal rocker Kirk Martin shares about his deliverance from darkness and the belief that he needed to be in control of his own destiny. In the second, former Korn front-man Brian "Head" Welch tells how Jesus redeemed him from a life of self - destruction.
Mar 2, 2010
The Gospel Brings Healing in Pakistan
Mar 1, 2010
Healing at the Home Show
As we waited to buy tickets, my wife thanked me for going to the home show. Some of our friends were doing something like this tonight, and she knew I wanted to be there. But I love my wife and enjoy being with her regardless of where we are. Besides, I had the notion of smuggling Jesus in with me. Shortly after we arrived, we met a woman named Joan. As we talked, she handed me a mint patty. My wife declined and mentioned her gluten - intolerance. Joan had it. too. I shared a story from this blog about the woman from Redding who was healed of it. As we talked the Holy Spirit descended and I began to sway gently back and forth. Joan was a believer so we prayed, believing for a miracle. She gave us her card and thanked us. We hugged and departed. (Joan, you owe us a testimony if you were healed. :)
One way I know God wants to heal people is when I feel His presence increase. It's a green light that says 'go for it'. Later we met a man named Bill, a vendor for Conner remodeling. He teaches pottery and loves art. We talked about the product he was selling and about art. As we were ready to leave, he asked if we had our art on a website. I told him about this blog and about some of the testimonies I've posted. That made him curious. He told us about his knee replacement, carpal tunnel, torn rotator cuff and a few other problems he could live without. I told him we could pray for healing right now. He was a little uncomfortable having us pray for him in public, so I assured him I could do it quickly and discretely. I asked him to continue talking to my wife while I put a hand on his shoulder and prayed. He thanked us and gave us his card. We went by his booth later and he said he was beginning to feel better. (Bill, if you read this - let us know what happened )
One key to ministering to people in public is respecting their concerns. Some people are very modest and healing can become something like a circus. Keeping things low-key can help. There's a benefit you receive when praying for people. If God's presence is there, you're continually being filled with the Holy Spirit. I wouldn't normally be filled with joy, peace and love at a home show. But that night, I was.
Not far from Bill's booth we met Heather. She asked if we needed a security system for our house. We told her we already have one. I asked if she had any pain or sickness. She had neck and back pain from a car-accident. I told her what we were doing and she was happy to let us pray for her. (Heather - if you read this, would you report back on what happened?)
On my last shift on the ambulance I prayed for 3 patients. Two had terminal cancer, one had a spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage. I have no idea if any of them were healed and probably never will, and I'm fine with that. God touched all three with his love and that's what matters.
I've been convicted of not having the passion I should have for those who need to know about God. We're in a critical time right now. We can't afford to be lukewarm about the things of the kingdom. Some of my dreams have been telling me it's time to be on fire. So I've been stepping out of the boat more. My faith and boldness is growing, I hope yours is, too. The more I see people healed, the more I want to move in the miraculous.
I wanted to share one final revelation. My wife had a dream from God a few weeks ago. The interpretation was easy - the age of big-name healing ministries is coming to a close. This was confirmed by a word from a local prophet. We believe this word is seeing it's fulfillment now. We aren't saying that God is done using well-recognized people. But the anointing for healing is increasing on divine nobodies like me, who are on the streets and in stores healing the sick. God is willing to do miracles through anyone. Anywhere. No experience required.
Feb 28, 2010
John Mellor Healing Ministry
John's website can be found here.
Feb 26, 2010
Get Reposessed in Lacey
Traveling in The Spirit
Here are 2 videos in which people discuss their experiences of traveling in the spirit. The first video is an interview with Ian Clayton who talks about his experiences and the biblical basis for them. The second features Jeff Jansen.
Feb 25, 2010
Feb 22, 2010
Joan Hunter Teaching on Healing The Sick
Below are two videos in which she demonstrates and teaches on healing. The first video is from a service in Magnolia, Texas in October of 2007. People are healed of numerous traumatic injuries. If you want to heal the sick, but have little experience - Joan is an excellent role model to follow.
The second video is from a healing service in Morrilton, Arkansas also from October, 2007. I apologize for the poor quality of this video. In this service, people young and old are healed of many different conditions.
Feb 19, 2010
Sciatic Nerve Pain and Teen Healers
After the meet, I met with him and his twin sister. I told them to stay in prayer through the end of the meet, tomorrow. I felt like the enemy would try to do something to sabotage his effort. The kids got on the bus and I drove home. The next day while I worked, I felt a burden to pray for my son. I prayed short prayers to strengthen him and made declarations of victory over the schemes of the enemy. I sent a couple text messages to my daughter and reminded her to pray for him as the time drew near for his competition.
After the meet, my daughter filled me in on what happened. Danny began to feel weak and nervous as the morning went on. Ten minutes before his event, he was lying on the bench feeling powerless and scared. My daughter saw what was going on and realized it was a spiritual attack. She found another Christian who was a teammate and told him they needed to pray for him. After a few minutes of prayer, he got up with renewed strength. All his fear was gone. He swam the best race in his life and dropped almost 3 seconds off his previous best time. He finished less than 1 second behind the leader.
The kids are learning about the realities of spiritual warfare and the effectiveness of intercession. I’m glad they're taking it seriously at such a young age. I'm learning a little more, too.
I developed pain in my lower back that radiated down the back of my left leg. I’ve never had sciatic nerve pain before, but having seen many patients with this problem, I knew what it was. It came on while I was resting. I began to worry about a herniated disc in my lower back and all the things that might follow. But I decided to take action instead of allowing fear to overcome me. I asked my wife to lay hands on me and pray for healing. I also began praying, which was more commanding the pain and swelling to leave. I felt the pain begin to subside within a few minutes and told her to continue praying. After a few more minutes, I felt as though we’d gotten a breakthrough, even though there was still some pain remaining in my leg.
The pain left for about 30 minutes then returned. We went into prayer again, commanding it to leave and it did. As I went to bed, the pain increased to about the same level as before we prayed. I commanded the pain to leave again and it did. It returned again and being very tired and needing to sleep I commanded it to leave one more time. I said, "I am healed and I refuse to accept this pain". When I went to sleep, I still had some pain, but I ignored it. When I woke in the morning, all the pain was gone.
I’m a little surprised at some of the ways the enemy tries to sabotage my life and the lives of the people I love. I guess it’s time to stop being surprised and start being victorious. We shouldn’t let fear rule over us. Pain and suffering can be commanded to leave, and should be. I hope this testimony encourages you.
Feb 16, 2010
Ian McCormack’s Testimony of Resurrection
One night while diving for lobster on the small Island of Mauritius I was stung on my forearm by 5 Box-Jellyfish, which the local Creole fishermen called "invisables" A sting from a Box-Jellyfish often proves to be fatal - as exemplified in Australia where 70 people are known to have died from their stings. Many books quote this particular type of Jellyfish to be among the most venomous creatures in the world.
By the time an ambulance arrived my body was totally paralyzed and necrosis had begun to set into my bone marrow. On route to the hospital I began to see my life flash before me. At this point of my life I was an atheist - but I knew I was nearly dead and I didn't know if there was life after death or whether there was just nothing. As I lay there dying, I saw my mother in a vision praying for me, encouraging me to cry out to God from my heart and He would hear me and forgive me (my mother was the only Christian in our family.) I didn't know what to pray and cried out that if God was real, could He help me to pray. Immediately God showed me the Lord’s Prayer, and for the first time in my life I prayed from my heart and gave my life to the Lord.
Death & Hell
The ambulance stopped and they placed me in a wheel chair and raced me into the hospital. The nurse took my blood pressure twice but could not find a pulse as my veins had collapsed. The doctors tried to save my life by injecting anti-toxins and dextrose into my body, but seemingly to no avail. Within a few minutes I seemed to slip away (apparently life ceased from my body for a period of approx. 15 minutes).
During this time I found myself in a very dark place, not realising where I was. So I tried to find a light switch, thinking I was still in the hospital - but as I reached out into the dark I couldn't touch anything. Reaching to touch my face I found my hand go straight through it. It seemed so bizarre, as I knew I was standing there but couldn't touch any part of my physical body.
As I stood there I began to sense that this wasn't just a physical darkness but that there was something else there. I could feel a cold eerie feeling as though something or someone was looking at me - a spiritual darkness. From the darkness I began to hear men’s voices screaming at me telling me to "shut up" - "that I deserved to be there" - "that I was in Hell". I couldn't believe it, but as I stood there a radiant beam of light shone through the darkness and immediately began to lift me upward. I found myself being translated up into an incredibly brilliant beam of pure white light - it seemed to be emanating from a circular opening far above me (I felt like a speck of dust being drawn up into a beam of sunlight).
The Journey
I entered this opening to find myself inside a long narrow passageway or tunnel - at the far end of the tunnel I could see the source of the light - it was so radiant that it looked to be the centre of the universe. As I continued to look towards this light it seemed to draw me towards it at an incredible speed - I wasn't walking but was being translated along this tunnel towards the source of this light. I watched as a wave of light broke off the source and moved up the tunnel towards me - as it passed through me I could feel a wave of warmth and comfort flood my soul … it was incredible. This light wasn't just physical, but was giving off a living emotion … Halfway down another wave of light - this time it gave off pure peace - followed by another wave - of pure joy. Coming out of the end of this tunnel I found myself standing in the presence of awesome light and power - it seemed as though even the constellations in the universe must find their energy source from this focal point.
As I stood there I wondered to myself if this was just an energy source in the universe or if perhaps there could be someone standing in the midst of this light!!!!! A voice immediately responded to my thought and asked me "Ian, do you wish to return?" Return, I thought!!! Where am I??? As I looked over my shoulder I could see the tunnel going back into darkness.
The Light
I thought - darkness - hospital bed - am I out of my body? - is this real? - am I standing here? - or am I in a coma having some bizarre dream? Am I in my body or out of my body?? (I could cognitively think of the two alternatives.) As I looked back towards the light, it was still there ... I responded "I don't know where I am, but if I am out of my physical body I wish to return." The voice responded "If you wish to return - you must see in a new light." "New light", I thought, "I'm seeing the light." "Are you the true light???" Words appeared in front of me "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5)." I had never read a Bible before in my life so I didn't know this was straight out of the scriptures. God is light, I thought - that is pure light - I see no darkness here, I have just come from darkness - I see no evil, no shadows - this is pure light - am I standing in the presence of God??? He knows my name and I didn't tell Him, only God could do that - He knows what I am thinking before I even speak, only God could do that. Then he must be able to see everything I have done wrong in my life ... no ... I don't want God to see that. I felt totally exposed and wanted to move away from the light and go back into the darkness where I belonged. I thought someone had made a mistake and brought the wrong person up. As I drew back towards the darkness a wave of light swept through me ... I felt pure unadulterated Love flow over me. Love I thought, how could God love me - I've taken his name in vain - I've slept around - I'm not a good man … but no matter what I said, waves of His unconditional Love continued to flow over me. I found myself weeping uncontrollably in His Presence. It was so amazing that He had totally forgiven me and accepted me as I was.
The waves of Love ceased and I wondered if I could possibly step into the light and see what God looked like. I was so close. ... I asked if I could step in. ..???.. I heard no response but thought if God could love me so much, He wouldn't mind …. As I stepped into the light I found myself disappear into it as it was so radiant - it had the intensity of laser light, yet you could look directly at it. The light seemed to absorb me into it - the centre seemed to be very bright so I aimed for it - I could feel a healing presence coming off this light that was healing my broken heart ... it was touching me deep inside my heart of hearts where no one gets to see … so beautiful.
God
Suddenly it opened up in the centre and standing in front of me was the most awesome sight - I could see a man standing in front of me, but he was not like anyone I'd ever seen before in my life. His garments were shimmering white in colour - garments of light - I could see His bare feet and His hands were outstretched towards me as if to welcome me. I knew I was looking upon God … as I looked toward His face the intensity of the light seemed to increase 7-fold - you couldn't make out the form of his face as the light was so bright - such purity, such holiness, such beauty. I asked God if I could step closer. I felt I could, I wanted to see His face. Moving closer waves of more Love began to flow towards me, and I felt very safe. Standing, now feet away, from the Lord I tried to see His face - but I didn't know that no man can see the face of God and live. And so, as I moved my face into the radiance that surrounded His face, He moved - and all His Glory moved with Him. Directly behind Him it opened out into a brand new World - green pastures, a crystal clear stream, rolling green hills to my right, mountains in the distance, blue skies above, to my left fields interspersed with trees and flowers. As I looked at the grass in front of me I could see the same light that was on the presence of God was radiating throughout this entire creation - totally untouched by man - perfect creation. And in my heart I knew I belonged here, that God had created me to live here - I knew I was home.
Return?
I was just about to enter in and explore, when God stepped back in front of me, and asked me this question. "Now that you have seen - do you wish to step in or do you wish to return?" I thought, "I don't want to return. I wish to step in. I have no one to go back for and no one has ever loved me, all they've ever done is manipulate me and try to control me ... I have no one to go back for, I wish to step in." But God didn't move, so I looked back behind me to say "goodbye, cruel world", and standing behind me in a vision in front of the tunnel was my mother. And as soon as I saw her I knew that there was one person in my life that had shown me love, and that was my mother, and that she had prayed for me every day and tried to show me that this was the way. In my mind I thought, "if I am dead and I did choose to step into heaven, what would my mother think? Would she know I made it or would she think I went to Hell - because she knew I had no Faith? … I realised that it could break her heart and that she would have no reason to believe that God had heard my prayer in the ambulance and forgiven my sins. … I thought, "how can I do that to my mum, it would be so selfish" … and decided I wished to return.
God then spoke to me and said, "If I wished to return - I must see things in a new light." I understood that to mean that I must begin to see through his eyes of Love, Peace, Joy, Forgiveness, from His Heavenly perspective, not my temporary earthly perspective. Looking back towards the tunnel again I now could see a vision of all my family, and thousands and thousands of other people. I asked God who all these people were, and He told me that if I didn't return then many of these people would not get a chance to hear about Him….
I told God that I didn't know most of them and I didn't love them, but that I loved my mother and wished to return for her. God spoke to me and told me that He loved those people and wanted them all to come to know Him. I asked God how could I possibly return back down the tunnel and back into my hospital bed. He spoke and said "Son, tilt your head, now feel the liquid drain from your eye. Now open your eye and see." And I was immediately back in my physical body.
Back to Earth
As I opened my eye, I was lying back on a hospital bed with my right leg elevated, cupped in the hands of the young Indian doctor who had been trying to save my life. He had a scalpel or some sharp instrument in his hand and he was prodding the base of my foot like a dead piece of meat. He wasn't aware that I was looking at him. I thought, "what's that man doing with my foot, what is he doing with that knife!!!!!!" At the same time something seemed to spook the doctor and he quickly turned his head to see my right eye open, looking at him… Terror struck his face and I got the distinct impression that he has just seen a dead man looking at him… My eye wasn't moving much and I could see the doctor thinking to himself that perhaps he had hit a nerve in my foot and caused the corpse to twitch, and that he had the evil eye looking at him or something. As for me, I was trying to grapple with what I had just seen. … Did I just see God, has He just given my life back??? As I lay there I heard the voice of God say "Son, I have just given you your life back." I said if that is true God, could you help me to tilt my head to the left and look out of the other eye, as I was getting sick of looking at the doctor’s terrified face. Strength came back into my neck and I opened my left eye to see a whole bunch of nurses and orderlies standing in the doorway looking at me as if the dead had just risen … As my eye locked onto theirs they began to jump backwards out of the doorway. From what I can ascertain I had been dead for a period of some 15 minutes. I prayed to God that night and asked him to heal me and enable me to walk out of the hospital. That night God completely healed me and enabled me to walk out of the hospital the next day.
I asked God what I had become, as I found my entire life was changing for good. God told me I was a Re-Born Christian and that he wanted me to read His Bible. I had never read a Bible and had never heard about being Born-Again. Over the next 6 weeks I read the entire Bible. I have never been the same, and believe that I saw our Lord Jesus Christ in His Glorified form Rev 1:13-18)