I have had this on my heart for a few years. I used to view what God is doing within the Charismatic Church movement as part of the Restoration of the Church. I have served God all my life, since I was 10 years old. I discovered at around age 14 I was gay and I pretty much hid in a closet, got married at 25 while serving as Worship Leader/Pianist, and continued until I was 35. Then God made it clear my calling would never come to fulfillment. I was hindering the purposes of God hiding in a closet living a lie.
Then I came out, and had an amazingly amicable divorce. My ex-wife and I are still friends today. In the meantime I relocated to London from South Africa and got involved in MCC in Camden Town where I served as Worship Leader for about 3-4 years. But I felt very restless. I felt in my spirit there had to be more to God and church and what we were getting was the raw end of the stick. I took 7 months to seperate myself unto God in prayer, study and meditation and allowed the Holy spirit to lead me and direct me. My life has never been the same.
What I discovered, not only changed my revelation of who God is, but also my life, my understanding of the Kingdom of God, my understanding of the Church and Christianity and I have never been the same.
I also believe that this journey of transformation ties in with the Prophetic Future of the Bride of Christ, and the way forward for the whole of humanity. And I can begin to see how it was possible for Jesus to perform the miracles that He did and why He said we will do even greater things than He did.
I do not get my spiritual food from churches and institutional religious organisations any more. God has brought me to a place where He is feeding me and I am growing.
My findings and journey is posted as articles on my Website: http://www.godsfriends.co.uk
4 years ago God spoke to me and said we will need to change our wineskins. Old wineskins cannot hold New Wine.
In 1993 Paul Cain preached in Wembly London UK and spoke of a New Movement God will raise up that will take the great harvest we have been praying for and anticipating. Paul Cain likened the Charismatic/Pentecostal Movement to Ishmael, but Ishmael was not the one, Isaac was coming and he would be the One….and I also believe that the Gay Community will have a profound part of this movement.
Paul Cain still preaches today that God is going to do something so profoundly different that the church – the Institutional form of Christianity (sadly this includes the Charismatic movement) – they will stand utterly amazed by this move of God.
I believe this with all my heart. I believe this movement will indeed require New Wineskins, and we will need to get rid of some old ways, mindsets, rules and traditions. I declare that this new move of God will be tied to the Revelation of the Tree of Life. It will be the way forward for us.
I did a 6 part study on the Tree of Life on the God’s Friends website and I would like to encourage you to check it out.
After this revelation I can no longer say I follow the teachings of Traditional Fundamental Christianity. However, I do believe in God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit and I follow Jesus today more fervently than ever. I just came to understand that there is a lot more to Jesus and to God than what we have been told in church.
These are my views, and the result of my journey. I would not force them upon anyone else and I respect other’s views as much as I would expect them to respect mine.
Blessings and love
Len
http://www.godsfriends.co.uk
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