Dear Robear, I hope right now you are in a church where the brethren are great and it's definitely worth the effort to get there.
I haven't found that here yet, and couldn't be more serious when I say I 'm not going to that effort to be entertained by basically pleasant sounding contemporary music blasted over rock concert amplifiers. Have just walked out of enough places after 20 minutes that the Lord and I have reached an agreement that it is indeed better for me to stay away and spend the time wisely.
I try to catch a Jesus Freak like meeting of basically converted punk rockers that meets close to where I work twice a week and then they all go to regular churches where they can be entertained by basically pleasant sounding contemporary music blasted even louder than they sometimes blast their stuff down there. But when
it's good, it's really starting to feel like I can feel Him walking around among us, and others too feel that I can tell.
Bullinger I haven't seen yet. Wonder why. The guiding lights of the Move of God I was quite blessed to experience was largely from the past. All of the brothers stayed buried for hours in Paul, of course, but also the great preachers of the last century. All men who spoke mainly of the Holy Spirit, and little else. Being the manifestation of Jesus, of course, in our lives, and therefore about the most important thing on the earth when you think about it.
Not caring to be a great revival preacher, I never read them, but the brothers who did apparently received the same spirit. What a time, to have such a presence of God everywhere that huge rooms of people night after night never once thought about the money and no collections were taken. It was just another world. Period.
Whatever is going on now the Lord has put me on Leave of Absence for both the good of those participating, and my own. I have faith it will all come together soon somewhere anyway.
:)
But for more Bunyan, who lived only 300 years ago, actually, in the mid l600's, and apparently it was all the same walk, with the same thoughts, except that he was about as far down the road as you get, and I do put him there with Francis.
Francis and John B. both did a couple of years in the military and in serious wars, and that's interesting too. And of course the Poor Knights of the Temple were the elite rangers of their day, and being an ultra-Army brat, the thought of it does lift my soul a great deal.
To disgress, we should bring up Oswald Chambers. He was a biggie during the 70's movement, and was the one everyone eventually wandered upon and brought up. I saw a documentary of his life and was left, once again, stunned at how God works when we don't have a clue he even remembers our name, let alone has any kind of plan for us whatsoever.
Chambers was quite the fascinating man to begin with, had a very Christian wife and one daughter. In his late 20's I guess and right before the WWI broke out, AS I REMEMBER NOW, suddenly he has a call to god-forsaken, GET REAL Egypt. Talk about a weird calling, right? They had a comfortable home in England, they tear up roots and take off to the calling in Egypt. I saw a documentary of the home God gave them. A missionary society provided an old home, which when cleaned up, happened to be an old palace of incredible beauty. So there they were in Egypt, in a palace of great beauty, probably thinking, well, ......gosh,.....so far this isn't so bad....what now? And along comes WWI.
I saw an old photograph of just ONE of the meetings that the English soldiers attended there in that old palance God gave Chambers for a reason, and I should say boys, as they were a room of boys in uniforms, a large packed room, and all of their eyes were like light bulbs. Even in that old photograph you could see the incandescence behind their eyes, and the photograph says it all.
That was what the call to Egypt was all about. So all those English Christian boys would not go out without Light. Strangely enough, as you might recall from history, that War, like the second, was fought in that god-forsaken strange part of the world, and probably was the worst of it all.
So, I guess they found it was worth the move. He died soon after the War of disease.
Do you remember the movie Chariots of Fire? See it again. Eric, who did win the olympics, and felt that God loved his running, which I'm sure God did, as the Lord probably loves to run, left soon after that for a missionary position in China. Soon after he got there, the red chinese took over China. Eric died in a concentration camp, but not before a lot of Chinese saw the Light. Perhaps that might be why even today the Red Chinese monsters from Aethiest Hell cannot put out the Light, and it just continues to get brighter. Who knows.
It's all very interesting.
But here is some good Bunyan, I guess before he went into the dungeons for 14 years for preaching Jesus Christ under the insane Romish Church, or maybe even the Episcopalean, who knows, but I'm sure it was probably the Romish King.
He was a soldier from l644 to 1646, and died in 1678. So, this was after 1646 for sure, and under Cromwell, probably he was able to preach, and after Cromwells death the preachers were rounded up. Interesting history, I'll have to study it.
...."And now I am speaking of my experience, I will in this place thrust in a word or two concerning my preaching the Word, and of God's dealing with me in that particular also. After I had been about 5 or 6 years awakened, and been helped myself to see both the want and worth of JesusChrist our Lord, and also enabled to venture my soul upon him; some of the most able among the saints with us, I say, the most aable for judgment and holiness of life, as they conceived, did perceive that God had counted me worthy to understand something of his will in his holy and blessed word, and had given me utterance, to somes extent, to express what I saw to others, for edification; therefore they desired me --and that with much earnestness--that I would be willing at some times to take in hand, in one of the meetings.." .(and start preaching).
(which he did, and to the extent that others who heard him set out on their own in the countryside, and asked him to come with them and help them out, which he did and then he states)
...."But yet I could not be content unless I was found in the exercist of my gift, unto which also I wa greatly anaimated, not only by the continual desire of the godly, but by the saying of Paul to the Corinthians: "I beseech you, brethren, .....that ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth us, and laboreth." By this text I was made to see that the Holy Ghost never intended that men who have gifts should bury them in the earth; butr rather did command and stir up such to the exercise of their gift, and also did commend those that are apt and ready so to do."
He quotes other scriptures about this: Acts 8:4, l8:24,25; 1 Pet. 4:10; Rom 12:6, and speaks of Fox's book of Martrys.
Concluding in though:
..."Wherefore, though of myself of all the saints the most unworthy, yet I, but with great fear and trembling at the sight of my own weakness, did set upon the work, and did, according to my gifts and the proportion of my faith, preach the blessed Gospel that God had shown me in the Holy Word of truth; which when the country understood, THEY CAME IN TO HEAR THE WORD BY HUNDREDS AND THAT FROM ALL PARTS..."
So, that's I guess how John started street preaching that led to the 14 years in the dungeon, and when he got out, starting preaching again. |
