Prophets – who needs them?

Prophets – who need them?

I don’t know how many of you reading this will know or understand very much about the prophetic. I daresay that those who watch God TV will know of Kim Clement, or Bob Jones, or Bobby Connors – all men with a profound prophetic ministry. I am told that even I have some prophetic gifting. So what about the prophetic ministry? Does the church need it? Do you need it?

To answer those questions, I refer you to the Christian’s workshop manual – the Bible a.k.a. the Word of God. Who were those weird guys Elijah and Elisha – Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, Amos, Joel and the rest of them?? And even more to the point, why was so much space given to them in Jewish and Christian Holy Writ??? I mean, somebody sometime must have thought their stories and writings worth preserving. I don’t want to put too much emphasis on this but between them they went around naked, one lay on his side for years, one was almost demented with depression, and the writer of Lamentations must have been the archetypal “misery guts”.

We have to remember that the prophetic utterances of these guys have proven accurate hundreds or even thousands of times. They really did appear to hear from God and when they spoke the whole world in which they lived listened. In fact they were so accurate that to dismiss their writings and gifting flies in the face of all known logic and statistical probability. Lets have a look at just two of their stories.

1 Kings 17:1 “Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” Elijah was talking to the King of Israel and if we follow the story through we find that indeed there was no rain for three and a half years! The point is that the prophet spoke out the prophecy and it happened exactly as he said it would.

Now turn with me to Isaiah 53:2-6 “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. “ Isaiah was talking about the crucifixion of Jesus in a passage read in virtually every church in the land at Easter as the story is told and retold.

So what is about a prophet that makes most churches recoil at the thought of ‘letting one loose’ in their church. Amos 3:7 says “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing
without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.” So if we believe the Bible, as so many claim, ‘from cover to cover’, why are the churches so wary of prophets. Many operate in ALL the gifts of the Spirit except prophecy. Yet they react angrily at the prospect of a prophet in their midst. Certainly, there are bad prophets, even false ones, but Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 14:5 that “I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy.” Again in verses 29-32 of the same chapter, Paul says “Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.” So what is our problem with prophets then ??? We are to listen to them and use our own discernment to weigh up what the prophet says and to decide whether to receive or reject their words and their words are for the edification, instruction, and encouragement of all present.

As I said before, Amos 3:7 says “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing
without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.” The prophets are with us to help us and to guide us and God has given us the gift of discernment by which to weigh their words. In these times – the end times I believe – the church needs prophets more than ever before.

Recent episodes have highlighted the necessity for the church to discern and publicly accept or reject the prophecy. Sadly the church remained very quiet and great damage was done to the validity of Gods church. Why? Because we are afraid or even ashamed to speak out on such matters for fear of appearing as foolish as the originator. Most churches and prophetic ministries remained conspicuously silent while allowing their flocks to suffer the mockery of those who would destroy or ridicule the church.

God has given us the prophets for our encouragement and to serve as warning givers too. Amos 3:7 says “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing
without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.”

Don’t mock nor ignore nor try to silence the prophet. Weigh his words and act accordingly.

Church as it Should Be - but mostly isn't

Church as it Should Be

Today was interesting to say the very least. We are moving home next Wednesday so the apartment is overflowing with boxes. Large boxes, small boxes, medium sized boxes, long boxes, square boxes, boxes of all kinds. Most are full of 67 years worth of memories – most recent memories of course. So what did we do today? We went to give thanks to God of course !!

Our church did us proud. They prayed over us and a couple of people prophesied over us. We sang together and we worshipped God together. I got all un-necessary and emotional – my wife stayed calm and smiled through it all. The Lord even gave me a word for the church we are leaving. It was all a wonderful loving send off – capped by a sumptuous lunch – prepared with great love and affection by our small church family of around 35 wonderful souls.

Sad farewells and “see you again soon”s – very true as we have a new grandchild due in about 2 weeks or so we will be back sooner than most people think. We returned home overflowing with love, food, and blessings and we began to assess our church.

We have been most fortunate to have been a part of a loving, growing church. When I arrived in January 2008 there were just 6 people present. Today we had about 38 – kids were everywhere and I lost all real count. We now have a small outreach team in the town centre every Friday and Saturday night from around 9pm sometimes to about 3am. The young people are actually coming and asking them about Christianity. Some of the enquirers are perhaps the worse for a drink or three, but nevertheless most are quite serious. They had one young man last Friday enquiring because “life has to be more and better than this !!” We have other growing ministries which perhaps I’ll tell you about another time. All this from a small “alive” church of just 30-40 people.

As we analysed all this, we came to a fairly stunning conclusion of something we have actually suspected for a long time. We have grown into an outgoing, out reaching, loving church because of two reasons and one of them is Jesus. The other reason is the faith and loving obedience of our wonderful pastors. We have never experienced love like theirs in a church before. It is totally undeserved, unconditional, Christ-like love. Add to that their servant hearts and you have the earthly reason for our church being there.

At our last Christmas lunch, one lady – quite new to us then – remarked that she had never experienced such unconditional loving acceptance from every member in the church. Its true – we have never heard grumbling, or gossip, or disagreeable talk of any kind in that place. It has been the one place we could go and expect to be loved just for who we are and not because we do or bring something special to their party.

So, Pastors Richard and Joyce, we salute you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You are building a church of true disciples there at Calvary AoG in Woking and it is such a good place to be. We are just so sad to be leaving but, as you know, we feel God is moving us on again. God Bless you ALL – and we mean ALL of you.

RoFMI Trip to Sweden May 2011

Another very early start – 03:30a.m. – saw us arrive in Goteborg/Gothenburg around 10:10a.m. Follow this with a 3 hour – one stop - drive to Helsingborg and you get the idea of a long distance start to our latest trip. Peter, John, and I were in Sweden as the guests of Tommy & Andrea Josefsson and their 4 boys. We had four official meetings but our plans aren’t always the same as Gods plans – as you will see.

We settled in and then got to Sion Church around an hour before the first meeting. Plenty to do and quite a few people to meet, greet, and talk to. Some new acquaintances and some renewed ones. Now let me start with an advert here – DVD’s of ALL sessions will be available quite soon. Details of how to get them at the end of the report. This trip was marked by the Holy presence of God in all the meetings and some very remarkable things happened.

On Friday evening, Peter spoke for an extraordinary 3+ hours !! Those of you who know him, also know that he has a very large umbilical hernia and is awaiting a vitally urgent operation to fix it. You will also know that, normally, Peter is in an ever increasing weak state and has great difficulty moving around. However, whenever he rises to speak and minister, the Lord gives him almost limitless supernatural energy that leaves the rest of us struggling to keep up with him. This was apparent throughout this weekend.

His text for the evening was Luke 24:13 ff – the Road to Emmaus. The men were ‘downcast’ – much like the church today. Much of the time was taken up with testimonies like the woman raised from the dead after 9 hours and having been certified dead by two doctors. She was in the hospital mortuary. Suddenly, a man from Sion Church came forward. He is Rumanian and is related to the woman who was raised – so he confirmed the story. Isn’t that amazing?? A story from Rumania, told to us while we were in Norway several months ago, and confirmed by a relative from Rumania in a church in Sweden in May this year – extraordinary !!!! The church and guests were very excited by this and other testimonies and by the words of encouragement that Peter gave. After prophecies and ministry, we all got to bed around 2.00a.m. – another ‘average’ RoFMI ministry day !!

Saturday started with an early afternoon meeting for pastors and leaders. Peter started by saying that the most dangerous place for a Christian to be is “in your own comfort zone”. We need to trust God enough to allow Him to lead us out of it ! He related stories of how the Lord had taken him out of his comfort zone many times but had never let him down. Then we had another extraordinary confirmation. I was present when this happened in Spain. Peter had a word for a young married couple. The girl was in the meeting but her husband was in his broken down car over 70km away. Peter went right out on a limb to call him in and he was transported into the meeting. This was confirmed by a pastor from Uppsala who’s own daughter lives in Spain and is best friends with the couple. The man transported into the meeting gave testimony to all of this at the blessing of his new baby – the subject of the prophecy in the first place. There were many more faith-building stories, prophecies, and testimonies given during the afternoon.

Peter said that, when God says something – He does not joke – He means it. He is currently shaking the church and many large ministries are coming under very close media attention – mostly for all the wrong reasons. Peter mentioned several of them by name – all information in common knowledge via the press and internet. He said that, “Hypocrites cannot be allowed to rob the Lord.” He cited Luke 9:18-20 where Jesus asked Peter, “Who do people say that I am?”. The Peter asked those in the meeting – “Who do YOU say He is?” The problem is that we, the church, have lost our inheritance and we seem to submit more and more to the ‘big tithers’ – we are afraid to lose them. We are also afraid to speak lest we upset people. Yet God has given us an inheritance that is still ours to receive. But WE have to change – not God because He never changes.

Peter then went on to give an update on the RoFMI ministry. God is moving people around, putting them into place ready for revival in Scandinavia and throughout Europe. We had a communal meal and fellowship together followed by much prophecy and ministry.

Saturday evening was for everyone and Peter began with words of prophecy for the group from Uppsala. He spoke on 2 Kings 6:8-23 – how “Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.” Peter gave a lengthy prophecy to a pastor and his family all the way from Stockholm – each family member received a word from the Lord. Then there were then many more words of prophecy and encouragement for everyone present who wanted to hear a word from the Lord.

What happened on Sunday was of greater significance than everything that had happened up to this point. Tommy and Andrea were having their youngest son, James, dedicated in the morning service. Around 14 people assembled for a celebratory family breakfast before service. Tommy opened by welcoming folk from all round Sweden – as far as 600 km away – thats a 10 hour drive !! In the service, Peter firstly prayed for and blessed every child present after dedicating little James – aged just 8 weeks. He pronounced the Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:23-26) over James who displayed remarkable aplomb in handling the whole event very calmly. Peter said that just as Simeon had seen the child of promise – the Messiah – so James was a child of promise and symbolic of the coming revival in Sweden. At this point the presence of God was so tangible you could have cut it !! Tommy, who was translating for Peter, simply had to stop and beckon another to continue with the interpreting.

Peter then called out the senior pastor from Uppsala and gave him an amazing prophecy. He almost leapt off the platform to lay hands on the man who promptly went out in the Spirit for around 20 minutes. Even after this, he was very wobbly and continued to receive ministry for a further half hour. Peter made a prophetic proclamation over Sweden adding that “God will bring revival quickly to those whose lives reflect a desire for revival.” The meeting erupted and people were praising God – loud amen’s and hallelujah’s filled the air – and many more received prophecy. It was all but a kind of ‘Holy mayhem’ for the rest of the service – wonderful time !! This continued on through lunch an until around 5.30p.m. – some 7 hours after we started.

What a day !! Thank you Lord \o/

Monday dawned and we set off once again for Goteborg City Airport around 230km away. After a safe flight we all got back to the safety and security of our own homes – but the memories will last a lifetime.

DVD’s of the event can be obtained from Tommy Josefsson – for now via us at RoFMI – rofmimail@googlemail.com However, they will not be available until at least Friday 27^th May.

One last note. Peter and the RoFMI team would like to thank our prayer partners and all those who have sown into the ministry. This has enabled us to take Gods words and message to many people and to start revival in Scandinavia, Holland, and other places. As a result of recent meetings, many doors have been opened to us for future ministry, and as we depend upon financial support for these trips we would very much encourage you to seek the Lord to see if He would have you support us too.

Please pray for Peter as he meets with his consultant surgeon for the results of his CT scan and a date for his much needed operation.

Flawed Vessels

“Mummy, Mummy, I just killed a giant insect !” How many of us have heard or even spoken words like this at some time when it means we just trod on an ant and we’re not quite as brave or good as we are making out?? It’s something that kids just do. They do it to attract attention, to gain prestige, to win an easy “Well done” from someone they think doesn’t love them quite enough.

So then – how many Christians have you heard do exactly the same thing. Different level and context of course, but nevertheless, they do it. Perhaps they want a bit of the reflected glory or they want to appear to have a bigger and better ministry than they really have. We hear TV broadcasts that laud the minister to the hills and back – whilst saying “Glory to God” of course, but meaning “look at me!” How many have we seen like this. How many of them claim astonishing miracles and events through their ministry and under their personal control. Much of it is "I did this", or, "I said that." Some claim the same miracles time after time after time in order to boost their own ratings and make their ministry look “the business”.

Flawed vessels – that’s all they are – flawed vessels. The Word of God says to judge a man by his fruit. Matthew 7:16-20 says “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” Sinful as we all are, we are simply flawed vessels yet by our fruit you will know each and every one of us. We claim so much – we try to share Gods Glory. Yet the Word says that He is a jealous God and will share His Glory with no-one. Deuteronomy 4:24 (NIV) ^“For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. “

Yet our God is also a merciful and forgiving God and we should forgive those who cross the line. We should lovingly point out their error to them – as a mother does to her children. If they refuse to do the right thing then that is between them and God – NOT us. God is their judge not us. We can disregard them or put them away from us but we must always pray for them to return to a godly obedience and restoration.

After all, who are we? 2 Corinthians 4:7 (The Message) “If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us. While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best! “

My wife, Linda Marshall Bennett, has a wonderful "adopted" Sis, Marie Wikle, who has a corporation called Spreading Joy. Marie is a real connector! She loves people and is all about helping and giving to people in need. It's an honor to know and love her...she walks the walk.

On her Spreading Joy website she has a post called Keeping It Real About ME in which she tells a few things about herself. She challenged me to do the same (mainly because it's fun and a great way to get to know people) and to link back to her site so we can meet more people. After all...you can't help people if you don't KNOW any.

So, here goes:
• I’ve been a Christian since December 2nd 1962 – but I ran away from God for over 20 years. I’m ‘back’ now and passionate for Jesus

• I am a war baby – evacuated to Witney in Oxfordshire in 1943 but really a Londoner as that’s where I was really bred and raised.

• I have recently met and married a wonderful ‘Southern Belle’ Linda Marshal Bennett who is my ‘equally yoked’ soul-mate.

• I have two wonderful sons who each has a wife and son of his own plus one ‘work-in-progress’ due in June 2011.

• My dad grew the most wonderful Chrysanthemums and I guess they are my favourites. Gardening is really not at all my skill but I love trying to grow things.

• I have experienced the most wonderful love and mercy of God. I have seen miracles happen before my eyes. He really is faithful ALL the time.

• I am just over 6 feet tall, (that’s 1.84 mtrs to my metric friends), Just a bit over weight, just a bit bald as a coot, and hey – who needs hair anyway. I have a superb solar panel.


Please comment and let me know more about you...I LOVE getting to know people. And, be sure to check out Linda’s blog Wife of a Wandering Christian, and Marie's website Spreading Joy Corporation....she's a blessing to all who know her.

God is good – ALL the time. ALL the time – God is GOOD

Chris