Our
Testimony
Bankrupt:
Spirit, Soul and Body:
The only time we knew we were bankrupt
Spirit, Soul and Body is when we lost everything PHYSICALLY. When our
business became bankrupt financially, our life started on a spiral
down until we noticed that, not only was our physical world bankrupt
but we really had a sinful Soul and our spirit was dead too. WE WERE
NOT CHRIST FOLLOWERS. WE HAD NO IDEA WHAT IT MEANT TO BE born-again
or filled with the Holy Spirit or missionary, doing what Jesus wants
us to do.
We
were very busy. Working full time and farming on the side: spring
until fall. Then we planned to farm full time. We were building our
dream home. One day while Ele was standing on the second floor
overlooking her new garden she heard a voice Give me your house. O.K.
Lord, you can have my house. It was so simple. We decided to sell the
house and, also, we sold the rest of the sub-division to our friend
but who could not come up with the money. When we wanted to sue him,
Jesus spoke to us and said give him your
cloak also ; in
other words don't
fight it. We
had already bought approximately
1600 acres of land, 1,000 colonies of bees, moved to a farm; started
on an adventure. What we did not know was God decided to remove us to
a farm in order to deal with us and call us into salvation. The
Scriptures tell us that our Father chastises His children just like
you would chastise your children when they disobey. See the Book of
James.
So
why were we chastised? Everyone that came to see us said to us Look
at Job! He lost everything but he got double afterwards! We started
to read the Book of Job. The devil came to God and said,
paraphrasing you protect Job from me, but take your
hands off him and see if he will not curse you. God gave Satan
permission to take everything away from Job. Job did not curse God.
Neither did we curse God. But Job did say, paraphrasing, God, if I
were you, I would not have dealt so badly with me.
We
said that also. Thank God we are not God. God had a few things to say
to Job. A little more than a few things: In Job 38:2 Who is
this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? In other
words, You don't know what you're talking about. In Job 38:4
God says: Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
In his trials of losing everything, Job realized he gained
everything. Jesus later said the same thing. He that loses his life
for my sake, gains his life. When one came to Him
and said Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have
eternal life? Peter said something like, who
else can we go to, we know that you have eternal life. And He said
unto him Why call me good? There is none good but one, that is
God: but if you will enter into LIFE, keep the commandments. A
young man said to Jesus Which? Jesus said, You shall not
commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false
witness, honor your father and your mother: and you shall love your
neighbour as yourself . The young man said unto him All these
things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto
him If you will be perfect, go and sell that you have, and give to
the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come and follow
me. You become like the earth: a ball, suspended in nothingness,
held by the faith of God. When you have nothing as security, God IS
your Father!
One
other thing, during the period of time of trials and tribulations you
learn that you have been translated from the Kingdom of this World
into the Kingdom of God. When we would walk into a court or
into a bank, we literally felt, yes, felt that we did not belong to
that world.
There
are two different spiritual leaders: The devil, who
rules the kingdom of this world; but does not own it (and the devil
cannot rule over those that believe in the Saviour and Messiah,
Jesus) who reigns in the Kingdom of Heaven and over the Kingdom
of this World. He is God--created everything; some have God in the
trees, God in the grass, God in the flowers. He is the Creator of
these things.
During
the time that we lost our farm, our houses, cars, trucks, tractors,
etc., we went to see an evangelist, Bill Prankard and his wife, Gwen. There, in front of
a few hundred people our family of four, including our two sons, gave
our lives to Jesus. Job, too, said during his suffering in Job
19:25-27 For I know that my redeemer lives, and that He shall
stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin
worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I
shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not
another;...Job knew that God would raise him up from the dead and he
would have resurrected flesh!
Dare
we compare ourselves with Job? No. We compare our trials and
tribulations with his life's trials and tribulations and even then we
fall short. The Book of Job, God's wisdom, gives us an opportunity to
understand Him and His dealings with His people. As the Book of Job,
all the books of the Bible are love letters to His people. When we
receive Jesus as our Saviour (and even before we do) God, our Father,
starts us on a trip to holiness. Let me tell you that everything
hurts. You have to die to self and be alive to Him. We receive Jesus
by faith but we literally labour in faith when trials and
tribulations come along. How? Accepting the blood for your sins by
faith; accepting your translation by His Word from the Kingdom of
this World into the Kingdom of Heaven by faith believing Jesus
took all our sins upon Himself that so easily beset us and putting
them under the blood. In water baptism we counted ourselves D E A D
to self, and at the same time ALIVE in Christ!
Let's see what Job
had to go through: Job 1: There was a man in the land of
Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one
that feared God, and eschewed evil. And there were born unto him
seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand
sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and
five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man
was the greatest of all the men of the east.
And
his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and
sent and called for his three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that
Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and
offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job
said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their
hearts. Thus did Job continually. Now there was a day when the sons
of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came
also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Where did you come
from? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in
the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto
Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like
him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God
and eschews evil? Then Satan answered the Lord and said Does Job fear
God for nought? Have you not put an hedge about him, and about his
house, and about all that he has on every side? You have blessed the
work of his hands and his substance is increased in the land. But put
forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you
to your face. And the Lord said to Satan, Behold all that he has is
in your power; only upon himself put not forth your hand. So Satan
went forth from the presence of the Lord. And there was a day when
his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their
eldest brother's house: And there came a messenger to Job, and said,
The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them: and the
Sabeans fell upon them and took them away; yea, they have slain the
servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to
tell you. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and
said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and has burned up the
sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped
alone to tell you. While he was yet speaking, there came also
another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon
the camels and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants
with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell you.
While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, Your
sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest
brother's house: And, behold, there came a great wind from the
wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon
the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell
you. Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and
fell down upon the ground, and worshipped. And said, Naked came I out
of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave,
and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all
this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Again...And the Lord
said unto Satan, Behold he is in your hand; but save his life. So
went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with
sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him
a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.
Are
you surprised that Satan did all that? Jesus said that Satan came to
kill, steal and destroy. Disease is Satan's name. The Garden of Eden
was introduced to this mess when Adam and Eve sinned against God by
believing the devil. Adam's and Eve's first child was a murderer,
the result of sin.
The
destruction was only the beginning of Job's trials and tribulations:
his best friends accused him of horrendous sins; his wife told him to
curse God and die. Do your friends walk across the street when they
see you coming? Yet, Satan did not go after Job's STUFF or Job's
body. Satan went after Job's heart for sacrificing to the Lord! Satan
wanted to destroy Job's relationship with God. Satan could not. It is
for every human being, including Jesus in the wilderness, to be
tested of God.
Praise
God that as we got to know Jesus, by His Word and through dreams and
visions that He gave us, we realized that everyone in this whole
world that loves God has to go through one form or another of Job's
trials and tribulations but never in that intensity. I think, except
for Jesus, Himself, on the cross; having His back striped until every
part of his back was raw with open, bleeding, gaping, wounds (this
for your healing); having his hair pulled out of his beard in chunks;
having the crown of thorns dig deep into his brain; the blood pouring
into the cursed ground to cleanse it -- For
God so loved the world that He gave his only Begotten Son, that
whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting
life; --
having the sword piercing His body until the last of the blood and
water come out (the beautiful Church of the Living God being born).
Jesus dying on The
Place of the Skull
(your brain (mind) resurrected; i.e. Jesus said He gave you a New Mind as
well as a New Heart when you were born-again). Then Jesus, going to
hell to take the keys of death and hell from satan, kicking satan in
the head and bruising him, and conquering both death and hell and
permanently paralyzing satan, Jesus was resurrected; presented His
blood for all mankind to the FATHER IN HEAVEN (Touch
me not Mary, He said For I have not ascended to the Father.)
All for you and me! ...For
this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the
works of the devil.(1
John 3:8).
To
those of you who are losing everything, physically (even health),
there is more to life than the physical realm. Seek me first, saith
the Lord, and all else will be added unto you. It
is not easy to lose farms and livelihood and careers and health;
indeed perhaps this is when people think the world is coming to an
end for them. But be of good cheer, the world is NOT coming to an end
and for at least 1000 years; Jesus is going to rule and reign the
world from Jerusalem. If I never say anything else in this whole
world, I am saying this like Anna the Prophetess spoke: JESUS
IS COMING BACK TO JERUSALEM!
Think
of it, Jesus was the most joyous person in the WHOLE WORLD...so when
you accept Him the JOY comes and lives in you. Praise the Lord! Let
NOTHING stand between you and your Father in Heaven!
Accept the Son, the Messiah! IN JESUS' NAME. At least 35 years ago I received a tiny little note, written by my husband, who could see that a woman's place, even a prophetess, in the church of the living God is not welcome: Ele, let nothing stand between you and God. Serve Jesus with all your heart and mind, and I will help you. It is to fulfill the prophecy of Joel and Peter of Acts: In the last days I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams; and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapours of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the NAME of the Lord, shall be saved. (His Name is Jesus). Today this prophecy is fulfilled.