Report on Neighbors

Some of you have joined us in prayer for the salvation of Tom and Cindy, a couple who are neighbors with our church family, the McIntoshes.  Tom was put in hospice last week and may not make it for any more than a few more days.
Don stopped by on Tuesday night.  Tom can't talk much but Don reviewed the gospel with him and asked him if he would nod his head if he wanted to put his trust in Jesus.  Don thought he saw a slight nod.  So Don took his hand and said that Tom should squeeze his hand if he wanted to pray to turn his life over to the Lord - Don felt a slight squeeze.  Don told Tom to pray along with him as he prayed the prayer of commitment.  He then asked Tom if he had prayed the prayer with him.  At that point, Don felt a good squeeze!  Don has felt the Lord witnessing in his heart that the Lord did a work in Tom at that time.  We praise the Lord greatly for this!!  It has been such a burden on our hearts.
Cindy wanted Tom baptized so Don took a little water and did that as well.
Don then mentioned to Cindy that this would be a good time for her to put her trust in the Lord as well.  She responded in such a way that she didn't feel the need for any more commitment than she already had so we will continue to pray for her.  

well two weeks down at Columbus Culinary Institute and I am loving it!!!!!!!!!!!!!yesterday i recieved word when i called about a job at fedex night job in the warehouse that i was hired start the 2nd of april,a big BIG BIG answer to prayer and i have found a place to live instead of a hotel which i have been staying at while trying to find a job 3 weeks is enough for living in a hotel keep me in prayers as the job is 2am---6am or 8am deepends how busy they are so sleep may be a factor i have classes from 1130 am until 6pm monday thru wednesday and 1130am until 430 thrusday and friday the job is monday am thru thrus am so i can come home on weekends and spend time with the family and Jasmine another answer to prayer  

A Cult Challenged

WHAT A DAY! There are two young families who have left  a “Mennonite” cult in the last two months. This group is called the “Holdemans.”

The Lord has truly set them free from bondage and has given them joy and boldness in the Lord!

This Holdemans they left have two major heretical doctrines: 1. They believe that they are the One True Church and 2. They don’t believe that Jesus had the same flesh as us.

Any believers outside of their “church” are only in the kingdom and won’t be a part of the Bride of Christ till Jesus returns.

Because these men (Tim and Isaac) and their families have renounced those false teachings, they have been in serious trouble with that “church.”

I hope I can get all the facts straight here…

Yesterday we had a suspicion that the ministers were coming to visit them and then the church would pass judgment on them this weekend. If a member of the One True Church leaves that church, they will be considered hell bound people. If you leave the church you have left Jesus.

So, Naomi and I and the kids went over to one of the men’s houses to split wood and wait for the expected visit. Three of the ministers showed up that afternoon, and I won’t get into details.
It’s enough to say that they were being unbiblical in the way that they carried out discipline and were wiggling out of responsibility. It was somewhat of a circus.

They ended up saying that the two families were lifted up with pride to the point of being deceived and they also accused them Tim and Isaac and their wives of holding their “light” (truth) above the light of the brotherhood.

Last night they had a council meeting to vote about what to do with them. Tim and Isaac were invited to go, and we decided that they should go and seek for an opportunity to speak the truth.

A while before we left, Tim, Isaac and I went to a side room in Tim’s house and knelt together to pray for strength. How can one describe the presence of the Lord coming down and filling a room!?! Right away when we began to pray I sensed that the Lord was with us. And then one of the men began praying that all remaining ties to evil spirits from the church would be broken. When he prayed that, I sensed the presence of the Lord descend on us in a strong way. I lifted my hands and began praising the Lord. Later Isaac said that he didn’t hear the “rushing mighty wind” but he felt it’s effects. He also said later that he didn’t know exactly what he saw in the prayer time, but he saw something in the Spirit, something that was so wonderful he wanted to keep gazing at it! The Lord was there!

It reminded me of the apostles in Acts 4 coming back to the assembly and praying together that “with all boldness” they might speak the word and that signs and wonders might be done in Jesus Name and the place was shaken where they were assembled.

The council was a members only meeting so I sat in the car and walked around on the property and prayed for them. The Holy Spirit helped me to pray in such a way that I felt that a gush of words and examples from Scripture were coming out of me. Hallelujah! I told the Lord that this was mount Carmel and may that God who is God answer by fire.
I boldly told the Lord that this was His opportunity to show Himself strong on the behalf of two men whose hearts were perfect toward Him.

Anyway, I ended up just praising the Lord toward the end.

After a while I saw my two brothers coming out of the church alone. With raised hands they sang part of “I’ve found a friend in Jesus, he’s everything to me, he’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.”

They were pretty shook up but they were encouraged as well. Almost all of them were put “on repentance” which one could call purgatory because you are not quite relegated to Hell fire, you just go through the ringer-washer till you are excommunicated or till you repent. It would actually be easier to just be excommunicated rather than to be on repentance.

One of the ministers named the sins before the congregation and they voted on each of them. Sarah was the only one who was not put “on repentance.” They lied about her saying that they didn’t believe that she really stood 100% with her husband Tim, EVEN THOUGH she clearly said that she did.

Then they gave Isaac and Tim the opportunity to speak. Isaac got up and spoke for a few minutes about how weak he was and then talked about false doctrine and the fear of man in the church.

Tim talked for maybe 10-15 min and boldly layed out the heresy and idolatry of the church. The church people basically put the church at the same level as Jesus and the church was started by a man who didn’t believe that Jesus came in the flesh, which means that the foundation of the church is antichrist not Jesus Christ! Tim said afterward that he didn’t remember really what all he said, but I believe that because he didn’t premeditate what he was going to say, God was faithful to His promise to give him a “mouth and wisdom.”

While Tim spoke, Isaac observed men bowed over in their seats and heard women saying things like “there are evil spirits in here, there’s an evil spirit here.”  After Tim sat down one of the ministers stood up and said “This is the kind spirit we are dealing with here” and some of the men in the congregation spoke up together saying things like “We’re with you minister” or “that’s true.” I don’t know if the Holdemans have ever given such a reaction before. They are so quiet and peaceful, too peaceful. There is a certain slumbering peace that has gripped many modern-day Anabaptists, it isn’t of the Lord!

I think that by the Spirit of Truth, the foundation of that church was shaken which is why there were such strong responses.
Tim shared with beaming face afterward and said “I feel so free!”

We rejoiced together!

Both men need prayer for protection and strength during this time. Thank you to those in Kokomo who prayed last night!

Psalm 85:6-13 says:

⁶ Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? ⁷ Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation.

⁸I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. ⁹ Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. ¹⁰ Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. ¹¹ Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. ¹² Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. ¹³ Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.

Hallelujah! There is so much more that has happened up till yesterday that I don’t have time to share, these men are ON FIRE for Jesus! The Lamb is receiving the reward of His suffering in the lives of these families!

Jake

Add-ons

Some musings related to a couple recent posts....when we let a realtor list our house, we had no idea the interest that would be there, and I don't think he did either.  In less than two weeks, we had to show the house 17 times!!  Of course, the fact that we just bought a house in Defiance was motivating us to sell, but trying to get the showings to stop was also motivation to accept offers!!  It seemed like all I could do was clean house and then try to find somewhere to go for an hour or two or three every day!!  Praise the Lord for the response, right?  :-)

It was also interesting that the former owners of our house in Defiance had put some new laminate flooring down in the living room and one bedroom, and when they moved out decided to take it all with them!!  Plus carpet in one bedroom and a long row of cabinets in the garage!!  That threw us and our budget for a little loop, but God helped us through it and we're working on finding good replacements.  Who knows....maybe the Lord is helping us get rid of more things that could be ridden with cat hair anyway!

Lastly, we are rejoicing with Jake and Naomi in the new couples He has brought into their fellowship.  When Jake was praying about where to move, I couldn't pray about it because I just wanted him in New Haven with us (of course!).  Don and Jake were getting Holy Spirit nudges toward Maine...a place of spiritual desolation....and a long, long way away.  Now, Naomi's mother and friend are good spiritual people, but there wasn't much else.  I was thankful they got to enjoy each other, but I knew especially Jake was hungry for more fellowship and was hitting a wall when reaching out to Christians in churches in the area.  Now this wonderful event where there are two on fire couples who need Jake and Naomi's fellowship as much or more than the Litchfields need theirs!  So TJIS is what God had in mind!  When Naomi wrote about it in this blog, and when I heard her share on the phone with us about it, I was stirred at what was coming out of her! I felt like it  resembled the song of praise that Miriam sang when God moved on behalf of the Israelites!  God's leading is always good and will prove itself, bearing the fruit God intends for it to bear!

Houses and Lands

God continues to bring things together for our move to Defiance.  Last week we closed on our new home in Defiance.   It's a ranch on a basement on an acre and a half, and also has a nice pond with it.  We can't say it was our favorite house, but our favorites the Lord would check Don or it would get sold out from under us.  But, this one is a little unexciting and is a foreclosure, and the Lord is saying yes.  We have already started cleaning and painting.  The former owners were cat lovers...but not very good cat caretakers.  Need I say more??  We have torn out all the carpet in the house and had windows open today to air it out.  Already, after working there twice, we are starting to fall in love with it.  Now, that is amazing considering our attitude before!  The Lord knows.
On the same day that we closed on the new house, we had an accepted counteroffer on our home in New Haven!  So, assuming the inspection goes well next week, this house is sold too!  Thank-you to all who prayed for our housing situation!
Those are our 'houses' and their stories.
As for 'lands',  Don and I are excited and blessed to be able to go to Ireland this Tuesday to visit Jordan's sweet family for a week!  Naomi's new baby won't be born for a couple months, but we have a looooooot of catching up to do with Nathanael as I haven't seen him in person since he was a month old, and Don hasn't seen him in person at all!  He is almost a year and a half.
So, yes, God is providing houses and lands for us.  It is an adventure - that's for sure.  I keep pinching myself to see if we really are moving by faith to Defiance, OH....and if we really do have family in Ireland that we just HAVE to see every once in awhile.  Amazing.  And the story isn't over yet.

well about three weeks ago i was deciding what to do with my buick lesabre it needs some serious help and has a salvage title also. well my boss had passed away from cancer right after christmas and Rocky who i work with had talked with Robin my bosses wife in buying their 1999 chevy astro van from her. well i prayed that night on a sunday night for help with the car situation because i need a better car with school and did not feel the investment in the buick would be benificial. monday i walk in work have not even clocked in and Rocky says are you intrested in purchasing the astro van because he just bought a mobile home and can not aford the van also i was thrilled i asked how much he said 1000.00 but go talk with Robin so on break i asked her if i could buy the van and i could test drive it she said sure and on thusday brought the keys in so i could drive it it is a conveersion astro van well maintained  a little millage but way better then i was driving i drove it home and had Don drive it. took her the keys back. well monday i came back into work and Rocky told me that the price may go up because of Robin son in law said she should get more for it, so after work i went to the front office and asked her what price she wanted  she told me that she had forgot the paper with the number her son in  law said well phone range she answered it when she got of the phone she leaned over to were i was waiting and said 1100.00 i told her yes, then the next week  i was driving to get a rental car  so i could finish paperwork at school in columbus and hit black ice and hit the wall on 469 i was not hurt just shooken up. well when i found that i was going to buy the van i told Cliff who works second shift he told me he wanted to buy my car i said 750.00 , well then ice road and banged up the front end of my buick i talked with Cliff who as of this friday will still buy it for 500.00 thank you Jesus and today the 19th i got the van  God answered prayer two fold soldf my car and got a beter one .

Wonderful Details from Naomi on the Work in Maine

I had it on my mind this afternoon to write a report to send out to
different people who would be interested in what the Lord is doing in
our little fellowship. My heart is full! The Lord’s work is AMAZING!!

As all of you are probably aware of, we have been fellowshipping with
my mother and another single older lady since we’ve moved to Maine.
The Lord has definitely been blessing us and growing us in Him and has
given us sweet fellowship even in our tiny group.  God has been so
faithful to us! Of course we wished for more believers to join us and
our desire and hope and prayer would be that revival would take place
in this area and a holy, Spirit filled church would be established.
How this area desperately needs such a church – to be a light and also
to be a harbor that believers around us, who are in the clutches of
dead religion, can turn too. With that said, let me share how the Lord
brought two more families into our fellowship! 

Let me give some background…There is a Holdeman Mennonite church here
in our town and also one not too far across the Canadian border from
us. Most people would  see them as just another Mennonite church, but
once you start to dig you find out about the heretical doctrine that
validates them as a cult. They believe they are the one true church
and have a fishy view on the humanity of Jesus. The members are in a
lot of bondage to the fear of man: fitting in with each other and not
offending the church lest they be excommunicated. Over all
spirituality is suppressed, along with originality, individuality, and
thinking and questioning.  My parents had visited this church before I
was in my teens and seeing the dangers they left without joining. PTL!
But two of my brothers joined and have been members for fifteen years
now. Needless to say, many have been the prayers for their
deliverance. Lest I paint too negative a picture of these Holdemans,
let me say that they are a gracious, kind people with definite
positive values which I’m sure draws people in who are looking for
something different than main stream “Christianity”. We have been
praying for a work of God among the Holdemans along with praying for
my brothers. Well, just two weeks ago yesterday we found out that two
families from the Canadian Holdeman church left because they no longer
believe in the one true church doctrine! Glory to God! The Lord has
done an amazing work in their hearts – their testimonies are
tremendous! Their names are Tim and Sara Friesen and Isaac and
Stephanie Villeneuve – Sara and Isaac are brother and sister and they
and their parents and siblings used to home church  with us when I was
about  11 and 12. Unfortunately,  we separated and a host of things
have happened in between, including the Lord working in all of our
lives and also Sara and Isaac joining the Holdeman church and marrying
in there.  Three Saturdays ago Sara and Isaac’s parents , who were
visiting from Ontario, stopped by our house and told us the wonderful
news that their children and their spouses were leaving the Holdeman
church. What an exciting, rejoicing time we had! And we were so
surprised! We had no idea what was going on! Needless to say, we got
in contact with the two families inviting them to fellowship with us
which they were so willing to do. Last Sunday we were not able to get
together because of so much sickness in both families, but PTL this
Sunday worked out and we had a wonderful time of fellowship! I wish I
could somehow convey all the ramifications of this situation to give a
clearer picture of the work of God.  My mother isn’t exactly on the
good list with the Holdemans having come in contact with the “one true
church” and having rejected it all these years.  Jake and I aren’t
much better with our apparent  verbal and non -verbal communication
that we have no desire to be a part of them.  In many ways we would be
a threat. So to see Tim Friesen, who was a “Holdeman of the Holdemans”
(comparable to Paul being a Pharisee of the Pharisees ) sitting in my
mother’s living room testifying of how the Lord has been working in
his heart is just about jaw dropping! Never underestimate the power of
GOD! And what boldness and truth the Lord has already given to this
man. His wife sat by and testified that he was a new man and I believe
it! The change is very obvious!  Isaac and Stephanie’s testimonies
have likewise been so encouraging.  We had visited with them at an
earlier date and had heard their hearts and to see the change in
Stephanie was amazing - a multi-generational Holdeman freely talking
about the Lord and the truth He has imparted to her. Jesus can make
people so beautiful! And that’s what we are seeing! And to be able to
home fellowship with Isaac and Sara again is a blessing dropped from
heaven. How wonderful it is to be reunited with these dear friends.

There is a dark spirit that pervades this Holdeman church and keeps
the people in bondage. It’s very hard to talk to them about spiritual
matters and this one true church doctrine pretty much over shadows
everything.  So to see these two families freely talking about the
Lord was so beautiful. May their stand for the truth shake these two
churches to the core and may many others be delivered including my
brothers. Please keep these two couples in your prayers and us too.
The devil has been dealt a blow and he most certainly will retaliate.
These couples need our prayers that they will keep their hearts and
minds staid on Jesus.  The fears and doubts will come. The spirit of
fear is a trade mark of the Holdemans. After all, if you leave their
church, you’re most likely on your way to hell. Excommunication is
most definitely coming and can be very painful. And for Tim and
Stephanie they are leaving behind everything they are familiar with,
and most likely inviting estranged relationships with family. We need
to hold them up! I already love these brothers and sisters  - how the
Holy Spirit knits the hearts of God’s people together! Please pray for
us too. We have already experienced the attacks of the evil one since
we’ve been living here and it can be intense. We need the Lord’s help
– we are no match for the adversary.  The battle is raging in unseen
places and,  glory to Jesus, HE is the victor already and our Captain!
 The Lord has been teaching Jake and I more about the battle between
light and darkness and how our prayers should be directed. Satan has
people bound by his lies and deception, but Jesus can break those
bonds and turn their hearts from darkness to light. Please pray that
all those in our fellowship will remain blameless before God and man.
The gossip may fly, but may there be no sin accounted to anyone. Also
another prayer matter: there is another family in the Holdeman church
right here in our town that is on the verge of leaving too. They
visited us last Sunday for lunch and shared their hearts…so our
fellowship may be expanding yet some more in hopefully the near
future! Glory to Jesus!

This ALL has been a work of God and a tremendous blessing from His
hand! How blessed we are to have more believers to fellowship with.
May we never forget what He has done, but look back on it to bolster
our faith for mountains in the future. God CAN change he