“Angels & Demons” by Dan Brown Jesus of Nazareth

It has been quite a struggle, this week, to decide how to share the teaching we have heard. In some ways we feel like we sat through a few horror movies, and yet, we both feel a great peace, a new freedom and sure knowledge that we are entering into a much more exciting future, as better ambassadors and more proficient soldiers for Christ.

This week, Dave Bryan, of Church of Glad Tidings, Yuba City, CA, presented a convincing picture of the battle between good and evil that is going on around us. It is a battle that most of us in the western world are desensitized to,  unaware of, entertained by or in denial of its reality. For many in the rest of the world, dealing with shamans, witches, warlocks, vampires, werewolves, etc. the spirit world is not a thing of the movies but a very real part of daily life. Even within our enlightened western world evil is real and people do inexplicable things, school shootings, for example. Recently, CNN reported a story of satanic activity in Oklahoma, which suggested that the Roman Catholic church is hurriedly training exorcists to deal with a rapidly increasing need. One of Dave’s first introductions to spiritual warfare was ministering to a young lady who had been groomed to carry the anti-christ, by Anton LaVey (founder of the Church of Satan and author of the Satanic Bible.)

Dave’s teaching was full of examples illustrating scripture, I think I will leave further details and just offer a few takeaways… (Comments section is open :-))

*The Bible is our training manual and Jesus is our example, if we aren’t doing what Jesus did, maybe, we aren’t doing it right.
*If you were living to the full potential of your life everyone would know about it and they would think they had met Jesus Christ.
*Even kids cartoons are more open about supernatural phenomena and spiritual realities than most churches.
*Anything that is boring is not God: the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the last book in the Bible, talks about lightning coming out of His Chair!!
*Ready – fire – aim!
*”The great enlightenment might be better called the great endarkenment”

One of the biggest thoughts from the last couple of weeks is that we are not living at our full potential. In some ways we knew that years ago and it is, in part, why we are here at YWAM taking the Crossroads DTS, but the reality of what it really means to live with the power of Christ in us is changing.

As for the rest of the week, the University held a Campus Fair which high-lighted some of the second-level courses and ministry opportunities available after DTS. After we visited the School of Photography, School of Illustration, Voice for the Voiceless, Word By Heart, Steps of Justice and the Discipleship Bible School together, Glenda had to go to library duty, so I went off to Appropriate Technology Village, part of the Science & Technology Department where there are several interesting projects in place to aid developing countries.

Work duty for me involved filling holes with rocks, but we had a lot of extra hands this week, a family from the Marshall Islands who live in one of the units came out in force and helped a lot. Glenda continued to work in the library cleaning and organizing the books and helping students find what they need.

Around and about

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wildlife this week

 

 

 

 

 

Our Outreach preparation continues, the time in Vietnam may not include much outside communication.

Until next week – Be blessed and be a blessing, A&G