“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,” – Psalm 46:1-2.

The big question that we have heard repeated since the earthquake hit Haiti is, “Where was God?”

There is no promise in scripture that we will not have trouble. In fact, quite the opposite is true; scripture is very clear that in this world we will have trouble, disease, affliction and persecution. It’s part of living in a world bent on promoting its own desires over God’s desires.

This week, in a Goodwill store, I witnessed a young man of about 16 years of age talking to an older gentleman in the religious book section. At one point in their discussion, the older man said, “You can’t believe the Bible is true.” This young man, clearly, confidently and succinctly said, “I do believe the whole Bible is true.” The older man was flabbergasted. He tried to shake this young man’s faith and the young man held fast. In the end, the older gentleman said, “So, Almighty God says that if you don’t believe in me, then you are going to hell!” His decibel levels got louder and he repeated the sentence again, and then a third time, even louder.

My response to a statement like that is that if you know that that is the standard, what stops you from believing?

Either God is who he says he is or he isn’t. If he is, then wisdom dictates that you honor and praise him in your character and behavior. If he isn’t, then you live according to a set of man-made principles. For those who believe that God is who he says he is, his word says that he will be an ever-present help in times of trouble for those that are his.
Scripture does say that there are times that natural disasters are caused by God (Numbers 16, James 5, Rev. 6, 8, 16.) Is every natural disaster a punishment? Absolutely not. Natural disasters sometimes occur due to shifting tectonic plates, divergent weather patterns, etc. We can understand why natural disasters occur. What we do not understand is why God allows them to occur.

We’ve observed in our lifetime that when such occasions arise it causes many to sit back and think about eternity. Our churches are usually overflowing after such an occurrence. People want reassurance and something or someone to hold onto, to rely on when they realize that life is tenuous, at best.

Ultimately, what we have to remember is that truth is no less truth because one chooses not to believe it, like the older gentleman in Goodwill. The truth of scripture tells us that God is good. Many amazing miracles occur during natural disasters. A young woman from the Northwest that was in Haiti had to be dug out of the rubble by her husband and is quoted as saying, “It was a miracle, Mom!” No less of a miracle is the way that Christian ministries are welcomed with the provision of aid, counsel, and prayer during these times.
Not just for the people who are directly affected, but for the world as a whole, natural calamities make us all sit back and reevaluate the priorities in our lives. Calamity should not cause us to doubt God’s goodness but rather turn us toward him in trust.

“Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression,… your eyes will behold your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’” – Isaiah 30:20-21.

Martin Gray was one of the few Warsaw Jews to escape the death camp at Treblinka. Captured in Warsaw in 1943, on arrival at the camp he was chosen for work details instead of being marched to the gas chambers. Only a teenager, Martin labored on several work crews before being assigned to the “excavator pit”—the mass graves where thousands of bodies of men women and children were buried daily.

Martin soon learned that those who worked in the mass graves were themselves killed after a few weeks, due to the fact that no one was to be left alive to tell what went on at the camps. Martin escaped by tying himself with belts to the underside of a truck, then hiding in a load of clothing on a train.  As soon as he jumped off the train he was on a mission; to go back to the villages and warn them of what the Nazis had planned to do to them.

Martin told everyone he met what the camps were like, that they needed to flee or fight and escape the death camps. The people did not even look up from their work.”.they carried on as if I was not even there, as if Treblinka were some lunatics nightmare” Martin watched from a distance as the Nazi troops rounded up all the people in those villages, loaded them into trucks, and sent them to the death camps. “why didn’t they listen to me?”Martin shouted to himself…..

Would people today listen to similar warnings? Are warnings being given now that people are intentionally choosing not to listen to? Bank closures, U.S. debt reaching $63 Trillion, North Korea missile testing, Israel being threatened by Iran, with the U.S. sitting by and doing nothing, the collapse of the retail sector, to be joined by the commercial real estate sector, unemployment rates at a reported 10%…THE REAL RATE IS DOUBLE THAT!

Folks, this is not to scare you…if God knew this stuff was going to happen, don’t you think he would provide, and protect His elect through it all?  It’s just that we in America have this sense of entitlement that God would not let this happen to us, like we are some elite army that is all prepared, only to never have to war in the heavenlies against the enemy of our souls. Let’s all face it, the devil is having his way in this country because the Christians are AWOL (absent with out the Lord) The party’s over with materialism, sin in the camp,petty bickering,slander and backstabbing…remember?..IF my people would confess their sins, and turn from their wickedness, I will heal their land! There needs to be a season of repentance upon the church for any true revival to happen in our time.

Most of my time in Florida was setting up meetings of seniors to get prepared for what’s coming down the pike…life in the US is about to change in a major way. We are in the eye of the storm. The first part hit last fall, the backside will come around, and like a hurricane, is more powerful than the initial winds. Please, heed the warnings that are coming from all of those who are truly seeking the Lord…He has always used the prophets of old to reveal His secrets to His servants Amos 3;7.

Finally, we are truly seeing prayers answered on our prayer rush e-mail…if you have a request you wish us to pray for, e-mail Rose at prayerrush@gmail.com and we will cover it in prayer.
We are also praying and seeking the Lord as to what He wants us to do around meeting times/day for Rushing Wind Fellowship. We will share more as He reveals more.

We Love you all, and pray for God’s richest blessings on you!

P&T et al

–
Reclaiming Victory Ministries
www.reclaimingvictory.org

This is a postscript to our gathering last night at Rushing Wind. It appeared to be a mix between a Chinese fire drill,and the movie Groundhog day. First, during worship, we lost power three times…in the dark, trying to sing praises,songs cut off….we finally prayed, and it never happened again. But the consequences continued…the fire alarm needed to be reset, and we had no key to get into the power room. So my dear wife had to keep doing “well baby checks” and resetting the alarm…all night…and because of the power outage, the recording equipment did not reset, therefore, no sermon recording.

Now , I know this is minor compared to what is going on in the world, so we still had a great time of fellowship and maintaining our salvation under stress :{) So, we are going to repeat our wonderful worship songs, sermon, and fellowship next week(for all you who missed out) We will be done with the Book of Acts at the end of April, and start the Book of Joshua the first weekend in May!

Our Easter gathering on April 11 will begin at 5p.m. instead of 6p.m. Sonja shared with us last night what her dance group plans to do, and the outline for our Seder meal…it is going to be fantastic. So please invite some friends, bring a potluck dish, Kosher is preferred (no pork,shellfish, please) and your dancing shoes and comfortable clothes.

Toni and I will be at a church in s.e. Portland this Thursday and Friday evenings, and Saturday morning training 30 people in our RVC discipleship materials. Please pray for us and for the people to grasp the concepts, and run with it to help others find their freedom from bondages.

One last item, Toni and I went through our pantry, and threw out half our food!….expiration dates going back to 2001! So we are in the midst of restocking our food pantry. I can’t say too much here, but please stock your emergency food storage for at least 3 months, if not 6 months for your household. I have reliable sources that tell us that the shipments of food, the stocking of staple foods, and the availability to purchase food is going to be constrained starting this summer. Proverbs 22:3 says a prudent man sees danger and prepares…so be like the ant, and prepare for your household now..the church in the book of Acts prepared for famine that was prophesied (Acts 11:27-29), Joseph stored up for famine (Gen 41:47-49)…only the sluggard doesn’t physically prepare (Prov. 6:6-15)….don’t be an Oregon slug!

Blessings on you all.
P&T et al

We continue to see the Lord dealing with His bride to get her cleaned
up for His return. Sometimes it is rather ugly as the Lord, turns to
the Father in heaven, and says “Father,  I’m not marrying
that!…clean Her up”…remember, the quicker you yield your soul, the
less damage you will do to your spirit.

The Holy Spirit is represented like a dove in scripture..the dove is
one of the most sensitive birds, gets spooked really easily. So how
gentle was Jesus for the Holy Spirit to alight upon him at his
baptism? How are we to allow the Holy Spirit to alight upon us when we
are driving;talking to people; around our home;dealing with
customers;with those who are waiting on our table at the corner
bistro? Are we the type of people whom the Spirit of God can rest on,
entrust us with, and empower us for the work of ministry?

Someone has said that dealing with money are the baby steps in walking
in the Spirit. Well, even though we have been living by faith for 19
years, I still feel like I am in diapers! The one solid,no compromise
in our budget is the tithe…even when we were on food stamps,
unemployment,WIC, we still tithed $25/week from our $247/week on
unemployment back in 1990(for a family of 6)
Yet the Lord provided for us, we never not paid a bill, and we had
saved $500 over the first 6 months we were on it!

I know the economy is tight…we all fell it…but please honor the
Lord as Abraham did, and give to the ministry/church were you get fed.
If you are not getting fed, and have talked to your leadership about
that, or are in a church that is all form, and is not preaching a
God-centered gospel….find another place to go fellowship….the time
is too short to try and change the church system of man. But please ,
for the love of God, be in fellowship/community…this is no time to
be a lone “arranger”…trying to be the Holy Spirit and fix the
church…He is very capable to do that, and you are not..

This week, we are in Acts 27…Paul’s shipwreck..Anchor’s away m’
boys…fascinating analogy of the anchors which held Paul’s ship
during the storm, and Jesus, the anchor of our soul in times of our
storms in life.
Remember, April 11 is our Seder/Israeli folk dance service for
Easter…Please come with a potluck dish, your dancing shoes on and
ready for an anointed evening!

Blessing on you all,
P&T et al

Well, this week’s urgent message caused quite a stir in the
Evangelical world. David Wilkerson’s revelation of a major
catastrophic event being immanent, is drawing lines. Some have
followed David’s prophetic ministry for years and have bore witness
that this country is under God’s wrath, and that judgement is upon
us….like we had shared, when God shakes a nation he does it through
the Economy, Ecology, and via that country’s enemies. Then there are
those who think the “doom and gloom” society is a bunch of hooey. They
maintain that this is just an adjustment, that we can make heaven on
earth, that the church in America has replaced Israel in God’s
timetable. My Bible says that the Antichrist is going to tread down
the saints, until the Ancient of days is ready for His son to return
and harvest His saints from this earth, and then judge the wicked from
off His earth.
There is going to come a time, sooner than later, where we will have
to choose this day, whom we are going to serve…just like the rest of
our brethren around the world. No more evanjellyfishes…drifting with
the tide, no backbone,and stings anyone who gets near it!….we need
to be in community, stand up in the armor of God, and resist the evil
that is quickly shrouding our nation.

We at Rushing Wind and Reclaiming Victory are preparing the saints
physically,emotionally, and spiritually for the days ahead. We promise
to keep our sights on Jesus, our head in His word, and our hearts
right with the Holy Spirit.

This week, we are going to look at the three great epochs in a
man/woman of God lives…The calling, the crushing, and the
commission. Hope to see you this weekend….Remember, April 11 we are
having Israeli folk dancing and a Jewish Seder to celebrate
Easter….pot luck meal, no bacon, please!

Blessings to you all,
P&T et al

We are looking at Mob Mentality this week at Rushing Wind
Fellowship…when a mob almost ripped apart Paul on presumption that
he was violating the Jewish law. I read a recent study that says
“activities performed in unison increase loyalty to a group….that
the brain releases more of the reward chemical dopamine, when we fall
in line with a group consensus, and that our brain scan shows “error
signal” when it realizes that we have a differing opinion than a group
scoring on a similar issue.
Now I understand why people are like lemmings in following a cause,
catching political phrase, or a movement that promised change, yet is
compromising basic freedoms to accomplish that change.
Our founding fathers pledged their lives to secure the blessings of
liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…they lived their lives for
the benefit of the next generation….I just don’t see that in our
generation…I see a mob mentality that loads on the backs of their
posterity massive debt, moral decadence,and a rush towards judgement
with a Holy God……have mercy upon us!

It is sobering to be a Christian in these days…recognizing that if
we do not stand up for Biblical World View…we will lose our
freedoms. I wish more of my colleague’s would share such with their
sheep…but when the world has strangled your witness, instead of us
being called out of this world system….who listens to your voice?

I have to believe there is a tsunami of resistance, a remnant of God’s
people, who are realizing that we have to stand up and be the
hands/feet of our savior in these days….I want to be counted on that
list, how about you?

Come join us tonight as we pray for healing, be equipped for the
Lord’s service, and form community around a common meal…

Blessings,
P&T et al

This has been a tiring week as I was at the Police chaplain’s
conference, and Toni had the lion’s share of the counseling. So,
please pray for our rest, and renewal over the weekend.
I was able to connect with many Chaplains in the N.W. and was asked to
help put together a critical incident team for the region, which fits
into what the city of Tigard police want me to do as well.

I have heard many people apprehensive about the upcoming presidential
change….they don’t know what to expect….so I told some to read
Daniel chapter two, where in Daniel’s prayer he says of God…He
raises up kings, and puts others down….His purposes will be
fulfilled in this new president…..we need to pray for peace and for
wisdom of those who are in leadership…1Tim:2:1…and when man’s ways
directly go against God’s ways….we appeal to God to change
things…..so we get to be on our knees before God, that we might be
able to stand before men for the hope that is in us.

This week, we are looking at the Ephesian elders responsibilities are
to the flock they were called to oversee….and we will meet at our
house next week to have a prophecy update for 2009

May you all have a blessed week as you worship and be equipped in the Lord.

Blessings,
P&T et al