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Shillong Revival |
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Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place |
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Eyewitness: Sheila Cherian - Part 5 |
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Leadership Challenge : Calling on all mature Christian leaders willing to help in this season of revival harvest:
But before I proceed to what I believe is the imminent future calling on all mature Christians willing to help in this season; let me report on the high quality work I saw the mature Christian leadership already (whenever I refer to mature Christian leadership, please read as “adults” – being anyone with a heart for God & over the age of 21 years.) doing over & over & over again in Shillong. I saw it at all the churches I had the privilege to visit. I saw it at the Mawkhar church; the Laban church; the Malki church; the Poksheh church. Let me also use a powerful illustration that my son Akshay shared with our home group last evening. He in turn had picked it up while attending Andy Stanley’s “7.22” Christian youth movement ( is what I have understood) while in Atlanta, US. It applies in the context of leadership, mentoring etc. Now picture 2 individuals, each with a glass in his/her hand with some liquid in it. All we are called to do is to be is to be willing to pour out what we have in our individual glasses into the others. That is all. If we are indeed willing to share of the 5 loaves & 2 fish that we have with us, we can trust God to most surely multiply our meager offerings to scales of blessing unimaginable in the lives of others that He has chosen not to touch without our partnership. How sobering is that??? And can it be that we will not be blest in turn when we see God using our meager offerings to reach out to others? So the giver & receiver will both be blest, above & beyond anything we think of or ask! That is the pattern for this season. Back to the adult Christian volunteer squads I saw at Shillong! I heard about them regularly serving at Nogsawlia when I visited Cherrapunji during the morning time weekday hours (which was the only time at one period when there were no ongoing worship services, as people had also to go to work, or college, or school etc – remember?) I saw this also at the Ummulong rural parish I had the privilege of visiting. And what was this wonderful contribution of the mature Christian leaders that I saw with my own 2 black beady eyes & felt so overwhelmed by their humility to serve wherever the need was, without an agenda of their own? In church after church, after a whole long day’s regular work at wherever they worked for a living; dozens & dozens of wonderful mature Christian leadership were alert & at church at 5.45 p.m, in readiness to volunteer their services wherever called during & after the everyday worship services scheduled to begin at either 6.00 p.m or 6.30 p.m in some cases. Think of that daily calling alone! Are those of us outside of Shillong even vaguely ready to contribute in that quantum of time, resources, effort & energy? It is exhausting. In the few days I was there I felt myself drained out with the action resembling an emergency war zone. And can we imagine what it means to be on 24/7 emergency call months on end without a break??? Alan Majaw, one gracious elder of the Laban church said that at any time there could be calls for home visits or church visits in addition to the regular every day evening worship services – which almost always have a deliverance component & pitched battles in the heavenly realms. These wonderful men & women of God have been on call 24/7 for the past several months, ready to minister as volunteers during & way after the everyday week day services. That willing sacrifice of service at the end of a long day – and several months at a trot of this happening, with no let up in sight – Praise God!!! These large numbers of mature Christians would wait ready in the wings: to carry out those falling in a faint; to pray for hours with those wailing in grief deeper than we normally imagine; to support in prayer & intercession those youngsters battling in some mysterious heavenly battle; or lying in a kind of mysterious stupor or deep sleep; to run & follow protectively behind as youngsters saw things in other dimensions & realms & physically ran to locations where they perceived them; and so on & so forth… Mature Christian leadership is already doing their job wonderfully. But more would be demanded of us shortly. Are we ready is the question to ask. We would soon & very soon be urgently required for yet more contribution to the revival. What is the challenge at hand? In my understanding it is: 1) To minimize the battle causalities that inevitably follow every battle & these spiritual battles currently going on in the Khasi & Jaintia Hills are pitched battles. 2) To maximize the conservation of the precious, rich fruit of this revival, so it does not get squandered & lost. But our limitation as mature Christian leaders would be that we will only be able to offer leadership until the place where we ourselves have been before! So this is the very last & very limited time slot available for preparation that we have as leaders to get our act together! The Glowing Cross at Malki & its powerful impact on people’s lives: This has been widely reported & the “clippings” section of www.shillongrevival.com has numerous links to articles written about this. So I will not say much here. We also will be uploading video interviews with some of those who had a personal first hand experience there or personally knew friends who had had amazing encounters there during this time of special visitation. Bert would also be uploading pictures of the cross. And you could find this on the BBC & other websites as well. During this time of the manifested presence of Jesus, angels were also seen by many, many people. Some have clicked pictures of these heavenly beings on camera & we will be uploading those pictures as well shortly. I have personally been to Malki church & with my own 2 beady black eyes have seen the glowing image of the crucified Christ on the plain wooden cross. As have hundreds of others. Like the BBC news report rightly says about several Shillong revival happenings, that the claims are largely going unchallenged. How would anyone have the moral authority to challenge it when hundreds from diverse backgrounds & faiths are seeing the glowing cross? The image of Jesus appeared in a glowing form on the Malki cross on the night of 4th Sept 06 & continued to turn brighter & brighter until Sept 15th – which is more than 10 days. Since then I understand it has very slowly begun dimming. But when I saw it on 1st Oct 06, it was still very, very clear. Our friends, Shourie & Rebecca who returned late last night from Shillong, say that when they went to Malki church day before yesterday, the glow though still visible, was faint. The glowing figure on the plain wooden cross & the angels are a wonder enough – but surely God is not pulling out all the stops for our entertainment. Rather it is to provide a compelling catalyst to draw our hardened hearts to personal repentance & salvation in Jesus … in turn leading to personal redemption & transformation. And of this we heard innumerable stories – across faiths, across ages& across strata’s of society! More of this in the video section. On the evening I visited Malki with Bahep & Bethesda, I did see the cross glowing with the figure of Jesus on it. It was plain for all to see from the doorway of the church where I was standing. It was a weekday & the time well past 8.30 p.m, but the worship service was on in full swing. While I recognized the miracle of the glowing cross in front of me, what astounded me even more was watching the group of about 50 youngsters (from as young as probably 4 or 5 years old to about their early twenties) right in front of the cross, but facing the congregation; passionately worshipping the Lord from their very toes it seemed like! Bang in that centre was a little boy in a red T-shirt that I can’t get out my minds eye. He was intensely worshipping, mightier than any adult worship leader elsewhere! Of course as has been the usual, various people were falling down in a faint & alert volunteers immediately carried them out to another room, so as to not disturb the rest of the worship service for the others still worshipping. In the adjacent room were older Christian intercessors who immediately began praying with those in the encounter/faint/revival. Discerning the Spirit: Like in everything else, there has been a learning curve in the area of discerning & deliverance of spirits as well. In Cherrapunji, Rev. Lyndan Siem, one of the dynamic young leaders that God is using currently in Shillong, told me that enroute on the revival journey, they had discovered that it was not just Jesus showing up to bless & comfort children; or even demons showing up to terrorize them ( the latter could be recognized by the terrorizing impact on the individual). But there was a 3rd category of appearances – that of a “Fake Jesus”. That shouldn’t really surprise us – since Scripture talks of Satan showing up as an “angel of light”! But it is nonetheless unexpected. So initially when those in a faint said they were seeing Jesus, the elders who were praying around & with them, left them alone to be ministered to & restored by Jesus. But they slowly found out that the messages some of them were receiving during that encounter, from this person they thought was Jesus were incompatible with what Scripture teaches about the character of Jesus. For instance, while when Jesus shows up, the words & communication is always one of restoration. In contrast, when the “fake Jesus” shows up, the words are of subtle condemnation & subtly threatening. One lovely young 8 year girl told me ( on video) that Jesus (read “fake Jesus” here, though the child hadn’t been able to discern the difference & needed to be guided by an elder in the church post the video) had told her that unless she fasts for 5 days at a stretch, he would take her away! There are other condemning & threatening messages like this that need discernment to arrive at their source. Legalistic messages about rules to be obeyed are another communication from the “fake Jesus”. Like my friend Rebecca was sharing with a bunch of women in my home this morning who wanted to know how they could discern between the real Jesus Christ speaking & fake Jesus’ messages – the tests that can be applied could be 3 simple ones: Does the message/messenger acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior & Son of the Living God? Does the message/messenger urge the individual to confession of sin & repentance before God? Does the message/messenger usher in personal life transformation & restoration in a climate of unity & love?
If the answer to these 3 questions is in the affirmative – then that message & messenger is from Jesus & the throne room of God. But if the answer to any of these 3 questions is in the negative, then it is a “Spurious Spirit” or a “Masquerading Spirit” that needs to be rebuked, bound & cast out. The common end time Prophetic Word during this revival at Shillong: And lastly & MOST IMPORTANTLY, is the prophetic word that has been repeatedly announced by dozens & dozens & yet more dozens of those experiencing this spiritual encounter or revival. The message in essence is this: · The Book of Life is about to be closed · The Gates of Heaven are about to be closed · Repent for the Kingdom of Jesus is at hand Jesus’ second coming will be soon & very soon! If that is the context, then my footnote would add – Is it surprising then that the Lord seems to be pulling out all the stops – “that by all means some might be saved”, as Scripture says.
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· Calling Christian leaders willing to help · Glowing Cross at Malki & Personal transformations · Discerning the Spirit · Common End-time Prophetic Word |