Preaching the good news and healing the sick
in New Zealand, Nepal and the world
September 2009 - This is that!
While we have been head-down, ploughing on with the ministry in hand, reports and news are filtering through our ‘can’t-stop’ ears of miracles, healings, salvations, deliverances and renewed zeal for our Lord, both here and around the world.
At a recent meeting in Auckland, literally hundreds were healed in a single meeting, mostly by people praying for each other in the pews (touched by the Master, not by the minister!)
In our own School of Healing in August at LIFE, our home church, almost a third of the 200 delegates declared that they had been healed that day.
Two weeks ago, ‘We prayed for our neighbour, who was sick, and she was totally healed,’ declared some friends. ‘She was so amazed that we led her to Christ. Now she is coming to church.’ And one of our students wrote, ‘Last year when you sent us out on a treasure hunt, we had some words of knowledge for a lady in a graveyard mourning her dead child. She gave her life to Jesus and is now attending our church.’
Testimonies of healings and miracles are becoming such a daily occurrence that we no longer remember the details. Surely we are in a new age! If the 20th century was the century of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, then the 21st is proving to be that of miracles, signs and wonders.
This is that
And suddenly I saw something in a new light. In Acts 2, Peter is explaining the phenomenon of new tongues at Pentecost. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he quotes from the prophet Joel:
17'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons
and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream
dreams.
18Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those
days, and they will prophesy.
19I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs
on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20The sun will be turned
to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day
of the Lord.
21And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' Acts
2:17-21
Peter recognised that the prophecy was already being fulfilled, so therefore ‘In the last days’ shows that the last days began at that Pentecost. But I then realised that Joel’s prophecy was a progressive one – it was not all to take place at once but its elements would be added, layer upon layer, until the end of all things which will be ‘the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.’
The first ‘sign’ of the last days was, and is, the outpouring of the Spirit, which began 2000 years ago. The next dispensation was of prophecy, visions and dreams which has lasted 20 centuries. Then in verse 18, the outpouring of the Spirit is renewed, so surely must refer to recent history, for now in an unprecedented way the baptism of the Spirit is being manifested across the world. Today almost 500 million people are Spirit-filled Christians! Next in verse 19, are added wonders and signs, which we are beginning to experience today as never before. I believe these will increase in number and power so that the whole world will ‘wonder’. But not all will believe.
Soon, however, we will see ‘blood and fire and billows of smoke’, whatever that will look like, though it seems to herald the beginning of the tribulation. Finally ‘The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood’ before the end.
If these words don’t stir in us a sense of urgency to see the final harvest brought in, then what will? We are surely living the last pages of the last chapter.
And soon we will see another phenomenon. I have been studying Scripture and have not found anywhere where the devil heals anyone. In fact I believe he cannot, because ‘The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy’ (John 10:10 NKJ). Since healing is in none of these categories, it is beyond his ability. He can only counterfeit healing. When Pharaoh’s magicians copied Moses’ miracles, they could only copy some of the plagues. It was Moses’ prayers that brought the removal of them. If people are ‘healed’ through the occult, it is false, intended to ensnare the soul and destroy the spirit. Only God can heal, because he IS the Healer.
But what about Revelation 13, where we read that the beast from the sea ‘seemed to
have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed’ (v3) and the beast from
the earth is ‘given power’ to do ‘great and miraculous signs’ (v13)? These signs
are unprecedented, but they are reserved for the very last days. These beasts are
‘given power’, including ‘to give breath to the image of the first beast’ (v15).
This is a special dispensation for that moment in history, and will be a clear sign
to believers. Furthermore, 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 tells us that even these will be
counterfeit: The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of
Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders,
and in every
sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused
to love the truth and so be saved. When we see unprecedented (and evil) signs and
wonders, we know who we are dealing with! How do we know? Because they workers will
force everyone to worship the false image.
If we are still around when these things take place, and I believe many of us will be, the Lord of grace will enable us to stand. Meanwhile, 70 souls die without Christ every minute. Let us join the race against time rescue whom we can.
Other News
Momentum continues to build for our ministry in Nepal. A team of 10 have signed up for November, and preparations in Nepalgunj for our Pastors’ Conference and School of Healing are well under way. Please pray for the organising committee and ‘our man in Nepal’, Puran, who is doing a great job.
We intend to return at Easter with a larger team to hold an outdoor Festival, and are praying to see several thousand come to Christ! If you’d like to be part of that (people are signing up already, and there will be a delegation from UK too), please contact us.
Meanwhile John has been teaching at LIFE Leadership College, inspiring students to prophesy and heal the sick. At our School of Healing, one pair of delegates chased after a limping man on the street, asked if they could pray for him, and he was instantly healed of a long-term disability! In the School itself, the miracles of healing were too many to record, but included eyesight restored, impaired hearing healed, ‘flus and colds gone, asthma gone, and many aches and pains disappeared. And the Hawera church ‘has entered a new season.’ All glory to God!
JF Ministries NZ has now been granted ‘donee status’ (the equivalent of UK Gift Aid), which means that donors can claim the tax rebate. Since the law changes in NZ, this is much more significant, and can be worth thousands.
And on the home front it has been a busy, if very cold winter. We have planted over 200 trees, including a shelter belt, a boundary hedge, a driveway of rhododendrons and an orchard, though some of the more exotic plants have not survived the unprecedented frosts. We have learned that global warming is a conspiracy, and that in fact the earth has been cooling since 1998 (which explains why we’ve all had cold seasons!) We’ve rebuilt our front porch area, making our home a much more welcoming.
And John is now a marriage celebrant in NZ too, preparing for his first wedding to be held in our own gardens in February! Thank you for your prayers. You are precious to us. See you in Nepal?
John & Bron Fergusson