In Order: the e-zine
Transcription
In Order: the e-zine
Lighten Up Caption Comp et ition! In Order: the ee--zine from the Order of Jacob’s Well AUTUMN 2012 IN THIS ISSUE: Page 1 - Kingdom Healing with Mike Endicott Page 2 - Kingdom Healing with Mike Endicott (continued) Page 3 - Letter from the Editor We love this p icture of Ginnie and Mike! Here they are ready to board the Maid of the Mist at Nia gara Falls duri ng their recent tour of Canada. Send in your c aptions (no m ore than 20 words) to reso urces@jacobsw ell.org.uk The winner ca n pick someth in g from the Simply Healing shop up to a v alue of £5. Click here to v isit the shop. The winner w ill be announc ed in the next e-zine. Notew orthy entries w ill also be published. Cwmbran Mission of Christian Healing The Well Centre 40 Station Rd Pontnewydd Cwmbran NP44 1NZ South Wales United Kingdom +44(0)1633483660 office@jacobswell.org.uk The Order of Jacob’s Well was founded by a group of lay and ordained Christians involved in the Christian healing ministry in South Wales. These days it can be found throughout England, Scotland and Wales, and is expanding worldwide. The Order of Jacob’s Well is fully ecumenical in terms of both its membership and its outreach. The Order is funded by a registered charity and authorized through its Leader to its Leadership Board and a Bishop Visitor, the Rt Revd Dominic Walker of Monmouth. It is under the gracious Patronage of Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury. Page 4 - Letter from the Editor (continued) Page 5 - Letter from the Editor (continued) - The Light of Christ Page 6 - Festival of Kingdom Healing: In Your words Page 7 - Festival of Kingdom Healing: In Your words (continued) Page 8 - Lighten Up Kingdom Healing with Mike Endicott June 3, 2012 On May 4 and 5, OSL Region 8 (Ontario) held a healing conference with the Rev Mike Endicott, as our featured speaker. Mike opened by presenting his credentials. They were impressive! He had been instrumental in physical healings of every kind - cancerous tumours, gangrenous legs, ovarian cysts - there seemed to be nothing beyond the reach of his experience of God’s healing power. Mike continued by explaining the theological basis for his ministry. He did this by acting in a skit with his wife, Ginny, in which they pretended to be Adam and Eve, though not in the costume of the period! Employing a degree of audience participation, which would be the envy of every classroom teacher, he asked us to imagine life as God had originally intended it. After declining to become involved in in the issue of creationism, he pointed out that the Biblical authors thought in pictures. They used the image of a Garden in which to situate life as God had originally conceived it. The audience cooperated and provided him with a list that included such characteristics as joy, harmony and health. Mike then asked for the opposite characteristics. Again, we obliged with sorrow, discord and sickness. The first list - the good one- was given to a volunteer, who sat in a chair, representing Christ. Mike and Ginnie took the bad list, left the Garden and began walking towards Christ. When they reached him, they exchanged lists. Adam and Eve represent us. Through his Continued overleaf... We’re on the Web! www.jacobswell.org.uk www.simplyhealing.org Page 2 IN ORDER: THE E-ZINE FROM THE ORDER OF JACOB’S WELL ministry and Cross, Christ takes our bad list and gives us his good one, in what Mike called The Great Exchange. Armed with the good list, we walk back towards Eden, able to live the kind of life that God intended us to have all along. Our walk towards the Cross and then away from it into the Kingdom of God is central to Mike’s theology of healing. It contains some radical consequences that will change the way that some of us do healing. First, it has revolutionary implications for prayers of petition. These are prayers in which many commonly ask God to change his mind and do something that they desire, which he would not otherwise do. In recent years this idea has been used to justify the concept of “open theism.” As Mike points out, God’s list has already been drawn up and is offered to us, ready made. If petitionary prayer is to retain any meaning, it is our giving God permission to perform The Great Exchange within us. Our problem is not to persuade God to heal but to persuade ourselves that he indeed wishes to do so. When believers have the Kingdom of God rooted in their hearts and minds, they will be able to pronounce God’s healing and signs and wonders will follow. As I reflected upon the teaching that I had absorbed, my thoughts kept returning to one basic issue. Christ never refused to heal anyone, so what is it that is the block in us that prevents healing? IN ORDER: THE E-ZINE FROM THE ORDER OF JACOB’S WELL “The Celtic Healing Service—the wrapping by Giles was so beautiful. I felt that an angel’s wings had brushed over my head and shoulders. I was immediately in the presence of Jesus. It was a powerful, precious time of resting in Christ and being loved and held by Him.” Glynne Hebbern “Excellent conference. Felt it was well balanced, not heavy. Enjoyed the teaching. Liked the free time to be able to get fresh air. I felt the whole conference was relaxed and it just flowed. Coming again.” Judith Millgate “Excellent speaker. Beautiful worship—great to have chorus’ we know. Delicious food, comfortable beds, spotlessly clean room. Wonderful bonding discussions after talks. Safe prayer ministry Great Fellowship.” Valerie Dawson First, Jesus was not able to do any healing in Nazareth due to unbelief. Due to their lack of faith, the disciples were not able to heal the demoniac and Jesus rebuked them for it. Peter only began to sink when he wavered in his faith. So, faith is required in order to heal. As Mike would say, we need to have the Kingdom in our hearts. Second, in order for the paralytic to be healed, his sins had to be forgiven. The rich young ruler could not be “healed” unless he gave away all his riches. So, there is a strong connection between healing and repentance. However, apart from the two exceptions of doubt and disobedience, it is clear that Jesus was able to heal every disease and healed all who sought his healing. It is true that he required that his followers take up their Crosses but these were Crosses that came from renunciation of the world and persecution by the world, not ones that were the consequence of sickness. These two types of Cross are the correct basis for the Church’s concept of redemptive suffering. Many of us, including myself, would bear witness that for us to come to faith, it was necessary for us to suffer. We know that we grew through suffering and, for myself, now that things have turned out well, I personally, would not have had it any other way. In this way, my suffering has been redemptive for me. There is a danger, however. An emphasis on redemptive suffering that is too heavy, can lead people to believe that God does not want to heal them and so they do not seek it. Correctly understood, redemptive suffering should lead to an increase in faith, not a retreat from it. When God does not grant a specific request - which might be a major one in our minds - he will increase our faith by using our service in other ways, Mike being an outstanding witness to this. So, he builds our faith but in a different way to the one that we would expect. Mike challenged us to think in new ways and to grow in our healing ministries. All the people, who completed the questionnaire, said that they would welcome a return engagement! Colin C M Campbell, PhD Page 7 “Yes! The ministry of the Cross. We came one third the way around the world and were blessed by the meditations/ lessons and as importantly by a community of believers.” Ginny & Randy Richardson “This was my first time at an event like this. It was inspirational, a real sense of God being with the community.” Laurence Bozier “Loved the café style arrangement of tables and chairs. Bowled over by Larry’s meditations. Making us think so deeply about aspects of our faith based on the promises we made at our baptisms. He led the group sessions so well, he made sure everyone who wanted had a say and offered up pertinent points for extra discussion as they arose. Well done Larry! Please more of this type of teaching next year!” Jenny Burgess “We felt the conference had a wonderful atmosphere, some very deep sharing times as well as talks, and has begun the new phase of Jacob’s Well with optimism and hope and faith.” Hugh & Hilary Kent Page 6 IN ORDER: THE E-ZINE FROM THE ORDER OF JACOB’S WELL Festival Of Kingdom Living: In Your Words Annual Conference 18—21 Jun 2012 “loved the informality of worship” Pam Gordon “An even better event if that is possible! Liked idea of sitting around tables. Liked having one afternoon with free time to visit garden centre which after five visits to Llangasty was at last possible. Would it be possible to record the afternoon sessions as well as the main talks please? I’ll be back. Thanks for all the hard work and excellent organisation.” Caryl Roscoe “Fantastic , such amazing teaching to learn so much we didn’t realise on Baptism. Very good idea to move around the tables speaking to lots of people. The Ministry prayers (Annette and Sam) was so freeing and compassionate.” Rose Ilott “Fellowship, friendship, teaching discussion, God’s love come down. What more do you need!” Sue Mansell “This was my first Jacob’s Well Conference—I found it to be an amazing time—spiritually, emotionally, relationally—in all areas I believe I have grown, learnt something new, had my understanding and perspectives challenged and changed. For me, the numbers were about right, the tables was a great idea— got me involved with folk I’d never met before—a great way to show and be loved. I really enjoyed the interactive content as a way of being challenged and growing. Thanks again for all your efforts, it was very much appreciated, lots of love in Christ.” Richard Ilott “I felt it was a very inspiring, uplifting and informative event in a very friendly, loving atmosphere. I enjoyed every segment of the event, like each segment joined and bonded to make a beautiful, sweet fruit for all to share, that we could truly taste and see that the Lord is good! A real taste of His Grace and Eternal goodness and Glory!” Lis Palmer “Intimate, well organised. Roger is a gifted worship leader—may we have him again? Café style—great idea much better than serried ranks of chairs! Julie, thank you for all your background organisation.” Pam Hollinshead “The teaching was excellent and the worship before each session was good. Having time to meet and get to know other delegates was valuable. It would have been good to hear more about the Order of St. Luke.” Geoff Hebbern IN ORDER: THE E-ZINE FROM THE ORDER OF JACOB’S WELL Page 3 Letter from the Editor Hi friends, I woke this morning very early in one of those especially crystal clear moments, sunny glades in the middle of the woodland, so to speak. It was a lovely moment just to lie there and enjoy it for an hour or more before the six a.m. news on the wireless. It was, as is common with so many of my dreams these days, all about the cross. This cross is the power-house at the centre of the kingdom, the engine in the kingdom motorcar! On our recent Canadian tour we were driven by our friend Lorraine, for five hours, straight across the Prairies. They say there that the land is so flat you can watch your dog run away for three days. Apparently, if you then stand on a chair, you can watch it run away for another three days! Suffice it to say, the sky was huge. The land was endless. I confess I slept much of the way in the back of the car while Ginnie sat up front with her eyes out on stalks. This was different, this was not at all UK-like. I didn’t see any of the prairies at all but I did enjoy riding all the way in Lorraine’s husband’s Dodge Challenger, a modern version of the Starsky and Hutch machine. Boys’ toys! Red with black leather inside. Big power. This endless expansion of country was matching the endless potential of the kingdom of God with its cross, its power supply, right at its heart. We thought the land would go on and on forever all around us and there are even greater limits to the kingdom on earth. Its limits on earth are the limits of the earth. How I wish I could find a way to get the church on the move! God has the kingdom and God has the cross and our job is to sit back, relax and enjoy it! Actually there’s a little bit more....if only we could stop whining at God every time anything goes wrong and just start to proclaim the kingdom. Then we let the power loose. The power of god is in the message of the cross. It’s not in us or in the way we put the message over, where we do it or what we wear when we do it or how much ecclesiastical authority and training we’ve been given to do it....it’s actually in the message itself. Can I give you just one first-hand example out of many thousands? It was five years ago when Angela had to spend some unscheduled time with a surgeon, having her womb removed. Soon afterwards, her husband's business potential became recognised in high places and he was promoted president of his company. They bought a bigger house in a better area of the city, and Angela gave up work to be more available for gardening and walking the two black Labradors that had come to join the family. Life became even sweeter. Their new found prosperity brought with it a new yearning to have a family. They longed to fill the home with babies. Of course, because of her earlier operation, Continued overleaf... Continued overleaf... Page 4 IN ORDER: THE E-ZINE FROM THE ORDER OF JACOB’S WELL this would now be impossible. So they set off down the adoption route, a journey they found to be little short of a long, disappointing struggle. And Angela, in church, was doing the In His Footsteps DVD Course from the Order of Jacob's Well. Through it she learned the message of the cross, the gifts and benefits of the cross and how to pray with expectation and thanksgiving. She and her husband agreed they simply were not expecting God to get involved in their ordinary lives at such an ordinary level. They had heard the message of the cross and gave thanks for it, involving God in the whole business of adoption selection. Surprisingly, she was soon proving positive in a pregnancy test. Panic! She shouldn't have done. They rushed to see the doctor and surgeon again. What were they to do? There seemed no way to begin, let alone sustain a pregnancy without a womb. After a detailed examination the surgeon reported that he could find no evidence of his original procedure. Do you want to read that sentence again? At the appointed time baby Abigail was born and joined the family who had longed so much for her. So, what’s the message of the cross? What did we say to her? It’s easy, actually, crazy easy! It comes in four parts and something, anything, should be said to the supplicant under each heading. Part 1. Christ lived Part 2. Christ died Part 3. Christ is risen Part 4. Christ is working still You see? This is not theological rocket science! It’s that easy! As the cross is the power engine at the centre of the kingdom this is called proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. So, put the pedal to the metal. Let’s go! Part 1. Explains the nature of the kingdom because it explains the nature of the king. Jesus never said ‘NO’, he never said ‘Wait’, he never said he had other things to do first and he never required anyone to straighten out their spiritual lives in any way first before he could mend them. In other words, the kingdom is, quite simply, a place of ‘YES’. We put this out as a bold statement of fact. We did not debate it or argue it, we simply stated it. Part 2. On the cross Jesus exchanges the presenting problem for heaven’s riches. The Gifts of Calvary that we’ve been able to define show one suitable exchange for every one of life’s problems. These have been listed in our booklet Praying the Cross. Just pick the appropriate one and read out the scripture or give the Biblical reasoning as written in the booklet. Easy! Then we remind the supplicant that the curtain is torn by the work of the cross....we now have access straight into God’s presence in the throne room upstairs. Part 3. We tell the supplicant that Jesus is risen and that particular little episode was organised by the Father using the same fantastic power we are witnessing in our own lives. Nowadays he is Continued overleaf... IN ORDER: THE E-ZINE FROM THE ORDER OF JACOB’S WELL Page 5 sitting at the Father’s right hand whispering in his ear continuously. What about? Us! Part 4. We tell the supplicant he is working still. This is easy, too. We just tell the supplicant of a miracle we know about or read a witness letter from another supplicant or anything like that just to demonstrate that Christ is working still. The prayers that follow the message of the cross are really based around thanksgiving for all that lot above. But please remember, dear ones, the power of god in this context is not in our prayers but in the message of the cross. We don’t worry about getting out the right words in prayer. It doesn’t matter. So long as we cover something about each part of the declaration above we are fully exercising the power of the message of the cross. Lorraine was going quite fast enough across the prairies until she came up behind a truck. Then she tweaked the throttle and my head was thrust unceremoniously backwards into the headrest behind me. I could really feel the invasion of raw power. Proclaim the kingdom, the message of the cross and then pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done!” I don’t know about you, but when I do that I get the same kick sense of the kingdom accelerating into action! Come on church, get your seat belts on and put your foot to the floor! Mike Endicott The Light of Christ Saturday 07/07/12 Hi Julie We are having an exceptionally busy and exciting time! Ted did his torchbearing Tuesday… brilliant! and he has already been into three schools with 'the light of Christ', and a playgroup. He is using the opportunities to witness about Jesus. Today is our church fete, and again he will be there in uniform with torch to have his photo taken! Because one runner did not turn up, he did 2 laps…right through the centre of Wymeswold. The atmosphere was terrific - 450 children, thousands of people and even church bells! He even got to be on the TV! God Bless Carol Collins