Lynn Green

Tag: England

  • Jean Darnall’s prophecy in 1967

    Jean Darnall’s prophecy in 1967

    I first visited Great Britain In the summer of 1970. I was meeting up with a couple of other team members on my way to Afghanistan, where we were due to help the few expatriate Christians who were wanting to extend help to the hippy generation that was often in great need as they travelled the trail to India and Nepal.  Loren Cunningham had contact details for a Pentecostal lady preacher who lived on the south coast of England at Lytchett Minster, Poole, Dorset.  Jean and Elmer Darnall welcomed us into their home for those few days before we set out on the long journey east. 

    A couple of years later, Marti and I were in England again, this time to stay.  Jean Darnall began to play an important role in our lives, teaching in our training schools and advising us with much needed wisdom.  We came to realise that Jean was being used of God to light the fires of the Holy Spirit in churches, especially Anglican churches throughout England.  She was energised by a God-given vision that became widely known and has resurfaced again and again over the decades.  Just recently, a new generation of Christian leaders have been inspired by her prophecy from 1967.  Here it is:

    What I saw was the British Isles, as in a bird’s eye view. A kind of haze was over the whole, like a green fog. And then little pinpricks of light began to appear from the top of Scotland to Land’s End. Then the Lord seemed to draw me closer to these lights, and I saw that they were fires that were burning. They were multiplying from the top of Scotland to Land’s End. Then I saw lightening come and strike those fires, the brightest spots particularly, and there was a kind of explosion, and rivers of fire flowed down. Again, the sense of direction was from the top of Scotland to Land’s End. But some of those rivers of fire didn’t stop there. They went right across the Channel and didn’t stop there. They went right across the Channel and spread out into the Continent.

    The third time this vision appeared I figured the Lord was showing me or trying to tell me something. I was in Dorset by this time, at St Mary’s (Church of England) with Rev Ken Prior, and I asked him if I could stay an extra day. You know, there’s nothing quite so awkward as an evangelist the day after the meetings are over. But I said, ‘Could I stay an extra day in the vicarage and pray? I need to find out what the Lord is trying to say to me.’ Because up to that point I was really still on my way to Hong Kong. And the Lord spoke to me very clearly. It was a wonderful day. It certainly changed the path of my life. When I say the Lord spoke to me, I don’t mean that it was an audible voice. But it was a knowing. That strong knowing, like reading at the end of a book and knowing exactly what was going to happen. And you can’t change it: it is written. And so it was written upon my heart, the meaning of this vision.

    Phase One: The Glowing Fires

    The Lord impressed it on my Heart that those fires I saw were groups of people whom He would make intensely hungry for New Testament Christianity. They would start reading their Bibles and saying, for instance, as they read the book of Acts, ‘Well, where is this happy church? Where are these people so full of the power of the Holy Spirit? Where are these miracles? Where is this growth, this vitality, this courage, this boldness that these people had? Is that for today – can we have it today? Should the church be this way?’

    And as these questions were being planted in their hearts, the Lord Jesus said He would make them very hungry for the Holy Spirit; He would fill them with the Holy Spirit, and out of those gifts would flow ministries that would enrich the Body of Christ. The whole concept of the Body of Christ would come alive, and barriers between denominations and different types of Christians would break down as people met each other. The Lord said He would move these people all over the country. After he had taught them gifts, he would move them to another place where they would carry that fire, and where they would meet others also who were being renewed by the Holy Spirit. He would put them in different situations from what they were used to, so that they would get to know people of other denominations, other cultures and other classes, and be able to communicate to them the blessings that the Lord had given them. And then He told me that during that time He would also test them. There would be great testing of faith, great waiting times. He would teach them spiritual warfare. He would show them the meaning of the power of the blood of Jesus, the name of Jesus, the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.

    Phase Two: The Coming of the Lightning

    Then I asked the Lord, ‘What does the lightning stand for?’ And he said, ‘Unlike the first part, in which I will be speaking to Christians and preparing My church and renewing it and reviving the saints, the lightning represents a second part of the vision, in which I will bring a spiritual awakening to the nation that will be a witness to the unsaved, to the un-churched, to the non-Christian.

    Through these believers I will bring a witness to this land. They will be an army of witnesses. And I will begin to release their ministries so that when they give their testimonies there will be apostolic signs following and accompanying their testimonies. Where ears have been deaf and hearts have been hard and eyes have been blind, I will touch the people of this land and they will begin to hear the testimony of My people, they will begin to see the manifestations of My power, and their hearts will begin to believe. Thousands and thousands of people are going to come into my kingdom through this army of witnesses, through this people movement – not characterized by any particular evangelist or great organisation at the front, but just My people rising up, led by My spirit and beginning to move forward with a new faith for evangelism, a new zeal to share Jesus with others. And as they give their testimonies, I will release their ministries of healing and miracles, and there will be signs and wonders accompanying their ministries. So many people will be saved, in the villages as well as in the cities, in the schools, in the government, in media, in industry. It will affect the destiny of this nation; it will determine the course of the times.

    Phase Three: Streams across the Channel

    Then I said, ‘Lord, what about these streams that go on across the Channel into Europe?’ And He said, ‘That represents people who will rise up in the midst of this people movement, this army of witnesses in Britain, whom I will make My communicators.’ (Note 1.) Now I hadn’t used that word very much before in ministry I said, ‘Lord, what do you mean by communicators?’ And he said, ‘They will not only be people endowed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, with strong faith, but they will also be people talented in the arts. They will be writers, musicians, singers and actors, and also technicians in television, radio and the mass media. I will call and send them and put them in strategic places. I will bless their natural talents with my Spirit, and they will be good: they will excel. They will be leaders in their fields. I will send them into Europe, where they will meet other people in the media, and through them I will release the word of God very fast in Europe.

    The result will be another wave of a spiritual awakening, with thousands coming to Christ throughout Europe.’ Well, I got kind of excited after I’d heard all that from the Lord, and I said, ‘Lord, why are you telling me this? I’m on my way to Hong Kong.’ And He said, ‘Oh, no you’re not: you’re going to stay right here, and I’m going to bring Elmer here.’ And I said, ‘ What do you want us to do, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I want you to nourish the fires that I light.’ So, I’m not the firelighter. The Lord is the Firelighter.

  • Boris and Brexit—An Opinion

    Boris and Brexit—An Opinion

    Photo by Slyzyy from Pexels

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

     

    Boris and Brexit—An Opinion

    Thirty-six years ago, the United Kingdom joined a free trade zone, the European Economic Community. Prominent Christians were among the founding fathers of that community and it seemed like an obvious good move—and so it proved to be for many years.  The entire area prospered and economic activity between the member nations increased the wealth of their citizens.

    From Free Trade towards a Federal Government

    There is, however, a tendency for people with power to do their best to gain more power. The free trade zone evolved into a supra-national state taking more and more authority over the member nations, creating courts that sat in judgment over the national courts, establishing a parliament that passed volumes of legislation that bound all members states, controlling immigration, admitting nation states that did not meet the membership criteria with subsequent economic chaos and mass people movements within the area, and then creating one super-currency with a European Central Bank. That step was a step too far for the UK.  We kept our currency.  The next planned step is one military for all of Europe.  The EEC had become the EU in its journey from a free trade area to the United States of Europe.

    Unwilling to Acknowledge the role of Christian Faith

    To my mind, the most important issue was the steady momentum away from its Christian foundations towards a self-proclaimed humanism.  Angel Merkel, German Chancellor, publicly stated that she wanted a direct reference to Christianity in the Lisbon Treaty, but her efforts were unsuccessful.  There is no reference whatsoever to God or Christian values in the current documents of the EU.

    Many citizens of the European Union, chafe under the growing bureaucracy, taxation and wealth redistribution from Brussels, but is it possible to leave?  For those who had abandoned their own currency and adopted the Euro, the answer was almost certainly, “No.”  The United Kingdom, though, with the Pound Sterling still in place, might just pull it off.  When the Conservative Government of David Cameron put the question to the general population three years ago, nearly all the media pundits predicted that, despite the ceaseless griping about Brussels, the people would choose to remain in the EU just to avoid the risk of an economic down-turn.  The results shocked both the main-stream media and the political establishment.  The people of the UK voted to leave—though by a small margin.

    A Clear Vote

    The margin, however, wasn’t so small when seen in the context of representative government.

    We have 650 members of the House of Commons.  Each one represents a voting district and they are normally the voice of the majority of their voters.  That was not so when it came to the question of leaving the EU.

    408 Constituencies voted to leave.

    Only 160 MPs have voted to leave.

    There is a clear gulf between the politicians and the people they are meant to represent.  To compound that, our Prime Minister for the past couple of years, Theresa May, wanted us to remain and the government she formed had few members who wanted to leave.  Those facts are at the heart of the last three years of confusion.

    Brexit Without Leaving?

    The PM and her team attempted to negotiate a deal, but their hearts weren’t in it.  Worse than that, though, was the determination of Brussels to make it very hard to leave and to punish the UK if it succeeded in its efforts to leave.  (If they were cooperative, more nations would head for the exit.)  Theresa May returned from her many trips to Brussels with a deal that she presented as leaving the EU, but kept the UK captive to the regulations and judicial system of the EU and prevented the UK from negotiating any trade deals with other countries. The big thing that would have changed under her agreement was that the UK would lose voting rights as one of the 28 member states.

    Finally, after months of no progress in Parliament, Mrs May announced her intention to resign and the conservative party initiated a process of choosing a new leader. The final step, a vote by the 160,000 members of the party, resulted in a two-thirds majority for Boris Johnson. So, who is he?

    A British version of Trump?

    The BBC and more liberal press will continue to caricature him as a “British Donald Trump”.  But he is different in many respects.  That caricature is no doubt because of his firm conservative political beliefs.  He had the privilege of very good schooling followed by university at Oxford where he studied Classics and was President of the Union..  He was a political columnist for the Daily Telegraph, a successful mayor of London and was also the author of a biography of Winston Churchill–and it’s a good read.  There is no doubt that Churchill is his hero and that he would like to be known as a Churchill-like figure.

    What he has in common with Churchill is an optimistic outlook in uncertain times. He has a quick wit, a superb command of language (definitely not Trump-like) and a good sense of humor. He has been characterized as impulsive, and insufficiently detailed, but those who know him well, including one of his professors at Oxford, counter that claim by pointing to his record as a student, as a journalist and as Mayor of London. In that sense, he is more of a Ronald Reagan than a Jimmy Carter. Carter probably had a higher IQ than Reagan, but got lost in the details, while Reagan was a big picture man who surrounded himself with competent people whom he trusted.

    Far from Ideal

    He is not, however, a good role model for aspiring young people.  He left, and is divorcing, his second wife.  He has four children by his two marriages and at least one other child from an affair.  His current girlfriend, 31 years old, will be moving with him into the Prime Minister’s residence, Number 10 Downing Street.  That fact attracts almost as much media attention as his politics.  He is known to be antagonistic to the Church, by that I mean the Church of England. Whether or not he is also an adversary of Christian faith in general is not yet clear.

    Some Signs of Hope

    In these early days of his overall national leadership he has given us some reason to hope.  His cabinet and the wider government he formed have demonstrated that he is serious about delivering Brexit.  He has also put some very strong characters in position to streamline government. Interestingly, their pay will be related to how much wasteful expenditure they eliminate.  His speeches have been very well received by the public.  I have to say that the BBC has been consistently downbeat and negative about him and our national outlook.  I am hoping that he will have the courage to do away with the TV license fee (£150 per household!) and make them stand on their own commercial success.  They have demonstrated a strong left-wing bias for the past couple of decades.

    To my mind, his most significant appointment thus far has been to make Jacob Rees-Mogg the leader of the House of Commons. Marti and I admire him and I often listen to his videos just for entertainment.  There are several short YouTube clips that show his ability to speak clearly and avoid the pitfalls. Here is one of them:

    Of all politicians, he has been the most articulate proponent of Brexit.

    Finally, I am glad this has happened during the Trump presidency. President Obama visited here a few years ago and famously stated that if the UK left the EU, they would be at the “back of the line” for any trade negotiations. Trump has said that the UK is at the front of line and, just yesterday, I read that Boris has plans to visit DC three times in the next few months.

    Many pundits say he cannot succeed, and others focus on the innumerable and very difficult obstacles, but a few think he will deliver Brexit. That is my hope.

    Lynn Green.

  • An Egyptian Treasure

    An Egyptian Treasure

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    As you probably know, Egypt is full of hidden treasure and archaeologists continue to make new finds.  Egypt has also held much treasure for me. What an unexpected discovery!  My fellowship with Egyptian Christians has enriched me so much.  One of those treasures was particularly well-disguised.

    It began with unwelcome news.

    I had convened a group of international leaders from Europe, the Middle East and Africa and we had decided to meet in Cairo initially and then make the 90 minute drive to a part of the Western Desert known as Wadi El Natrun.  We were being hosted by an Egyptian, who brought me unwelcome news on the first evening in Cairo.  Without asking me, he had invited a Coptic Orthodox monk (more accurately, a celibate priest), to deliver us a lecture on The History of Monasticism.  We had a full agenda for our few days together and I did not want to lose a couple of hours listening to a boring lecture.  But I couldn’t see a way to get out of it.

    Later that evening I saw a very slight man in a long black cassock entering the house and our host whispered to me; “That’s the man who will be speaking to us tomorrow.  He will need a couple of hours.”  My heart sank, even as I managed a weak smile.

    The next day we made the drive into the desert and found Dr. Atef, the man in the cassock, waiting for us.  The moment he began to speak God spoke to me and said; “This man will be a very important friend to you.”  As he spoke to us, it became like “water in a desert land” to my soul and spirit.

    In the years that followed he completed a Discipleship Training School in YWAM and became a faithful and faith-filled and perceptive intercessor for YWAM, for me and for my family.

    In the years that have followed, I have met him in a number of places around the world.  A couple of weeks ago I went to Phoenix, Arizona where he has lived for a few years and also where a growing number of people have gathered round him in a new monastic order.  I made the trip to Arizona just to spend a couple of hours a day for a few days with Dr. Atef.

    As usual, I came away challenged to grow more in Christ and encouraged by God’s love for me.  He gave me three primary teachings and the first one accompanies this article.  I hope and pray that you will also be challenged and encouraged.  Do take the time to dig for the treasure!

    Click on the link below to read the Dr. Atef notes Prayer Life.

    Prayer Life (Different Features)

  • Happy Birthday To Me!

    Happy Birthday To Me!

    Photo ©Pixabay

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    Join me in celebrating my 43rd birthday!  I woke up this morning feeling so energetic and fit that I decided that is what I am—43 years old.

    Never mind that I have some numbers and words written on a birth certificate that says I am in my 71st year.  Those are just scribbles on paper. I choose to self-identify myself 43 because that is what I feel.  I haven’t had any heart arrhythmia issues for 6 months, my energy levels are up and I feel great.  I am really grateful for that, so I would like everybody to join in with me to celebrate my 43rd birthday.

    You may think that I am just making a feeble joke here and perhaps I am.  On the other hand I was thinking about the 69 year old who has been in the papers recently.  He is taking legal action to get his original birth date changed so that he can legally be 49 on his tinder profile, because he is not attracting young enough women to his site.  He figures if he is 49 then more younger women will read his profile.  Good luck with that, Mister!

    AM I JUST BEING SILLY?

    The thing is, most people read that in the newspaper or online and they think it’s silly and dismiss it.  But is it that easy?

    Here is the big question: why do we not take that seriously, but we feel we must take it seriously when a person, who is male, self-identifies as female or a female identifying as male.

    What is the reasonable basis for making a distinction? I am not trying to alienate anybody here; I just want to know how we, as a society based upon law, can make a distinction.  Is it because one seems frivolous, superficial and self-interested but the other must be sincere?  How can we know who is sincere and who is not.  More importantly, how can the law decide that.  How can society decide that?  What is the basis?

    I am really serious about this; it is an issue of great importance to those of us who live in Western democracies.  Do we have any grounds for over-ruling feelings that are sincere and deeply held without doubt?  Why do we feel we must take gender dysphoria seriously but not age dysphoria?  On what basis do we think that?

    I’M NOT INTENDING TO OFFEND

    I know that writing about this is going to seem offensive for some people, but the trouble is we have been assuming feelings are more important than more objective reality for a long time.  I can say that my birthday was assigned to me by the medical profession, so it’s only a date when they say I was born.   Or I can say that my biological gender was assigned to me at birth.  But actually both my date of birth and my sex are objective realities.  There were many people who could witness that I was born a male on April 14, 1948.

    Some people claim that the sex of a baby is often not clear, but that is not true.  There may be one child in 5000 where gender is not clear at birth.  Even then, the chromosomes are almost always clear one way or another.  Gender, or more accurately sex, is not assigned at birth, it is observed.

    IF I AM SUFFICIENTLY SINCERE, IS IT TRUE?

    Let me hasten to say that I am not suggesting here that we don’t take it seriously and compassionately when a person feels their body sexual identity does not match their feelings about their gender.  But neither can we simply agree that the greater truth will always be in their self-identity.  This purely subjective approach to truth will not work for us.  We won’t be able to live with it.  If we decide that deeply-held beliefs trump observed reality, we will unleash chaos.  Such an approach would require our courts to decide whether or not someone holds a particular belief about themselves deeply enough to let it take precedence over objective realities.  And that would be entirely unworkable.

    Many humanities courses in our Universities have promoted this subjective approach to truth for several decades and now we are experiencing consequences.  It is based on the philosophical idea that objects cannot generate truth; truth “is in the eye of the beholder”.  In other words, reality is what we perceive it to be.  There is some truth in that, but by carrying that idea to the extreme we end up with an unlivable world.  When each person decides what is true for themselves, nothing is true.

    HOW CAN WE KNOW?

    Is there a way out of this?  Of course!  There was a time when it was assumed that all truth came only by revelation, so art and philosophy centered round revelation from God.  There is some truth in that too, but it is insufficient.

    Then we gradually transitioned into a new epoch in which people decided that all reality has to be determined by the scientific method.  That is, anything that is true must be verifiable by objective means: experiments must be possible and the resulting data will prove or disprove the proposed truth. That method is also insufficient.  It can often tell us “what or how” but it cannot tell us “why”.

    As a Biblical Christian, I believe in revelation and I also believe in the great value of the scientific method.  When we put those two together, we have a means of knowing what is true.  Human beings can still receive revelation from God.  As the philosopher, Dr Francis Schaeffer said in the title of one of his books, “He is There and He is Not Silent”.  We have also expanded our knowledge hugely over the past two centuries by using the scientific method.  We put those two together and we have a basis for truth that we can live with.

    TRUTH IS LIVEABLE

    All philosophies for life, or presuppositions, have to be evaluated by living them. Post-modern, relativistic thinking leads to chaos.  Religious tyranny springs from claims that all truth comes only by divine revelation.  The scientific method alone provides no answers to the really big issues of life.  We must regain confidence in the idea that there are universal truths and then live by them.

    So am I 43? Well, on another day I might feel like I am 78, so I will just go with the numbers on my birth certificate.  I’m nearer 71 than 70 and I’m just very grateful for the health and energy I am experiencing.

    Lynn Green.