Featuring

God still speaks


Activated USA
P.O. Box 4307
Orange, CA 92863-4307
USA
E-mail:
activatedUSA@activated.org
Tel: (1-877) 862-3228 (toll-free)
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E-mail:
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Tel: (07801) 442-317
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G.P.O.
Bangalore - 1
INDIA
E-mail:
activatedIndia@activated.org
Visit our Web site at:
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Editor: Keith Phillips
Graphic Design: Giselle LeFavre
Illustrations: Hugo Westphal,
Max Belmont, Ana Fields
Production: Francisco Lopez
© 1999 Aurora Production, Ltd.
All Rights Reserved
Unless indicated otherwise, all
r u t p i r cS
from the New King James Version
of the Bible, © 1982 Thomas
Nelson, Inc.
2 Activated!
Personally
Speaking
Can you imagine really caring about someone—your spouse, your best friend,
your child—and never talking with him or her? Of course not. Love is built on
communication, and so are all of the most important relationships we are blessed
with.
So if Jesus wants to be both Husband and best Friend to us, as the Bible says
(Isaiah 54:5 and Romans 7:4), and if God is our heavenly Father, then isn't it only
logical that They would want to talk to us?
If Christianity were merely a philosophy or code of ethics or even a religion, those
might simply be clever analogies—husband, friend, father—to try to explain our
relationship to God and Jesus in a philosophical sort of way. But true Christianity is
far more than any of those, thank God! It's more than rationale and rules, rhetoric
and ritual, morals and ethics; it's a living, loving personal relationship—a
relationship that grows richer and deeper and stronger through honest, open communi-
cation with our Creator.
The means of communication that God has provided is prayer, which means not
only talking to God, but listening to Him too. He wants us to tell Him our needs and
desires, our problems and fears, our innermost thoughts and our secret dreams. And it
works both ways. He also wants to answer our questions, help solve our problems,
encourage us when we feel down, and share our victories and joys. Most of all, He
wants to help us understand and experience His love in a very real and personal way.
If you haven't yet discovered how to hear directly from God, to receive His
personalized messages of love, encouragement, instruction, guidance and more, this
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 G od isn't dead! He's alive
and well, and still ready,
willing and able to speak to His
children—and He wants to speak to
you!
“How can that be?” you may ask.
In order to comprehend the answer
to that—how the great God and
Creator of the universe could com-
municate directly with you, or why
He would even want to—you must
first understand how much God
loves you. He loves you so much that
He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for
your sins so that you could be
forgiven and receive God's gift of
eternal life in Heaven, simply by
believing in Jesus and receiving Him
Why is it when as your Savior. Jesus died for the sins
we talk to God of the whole world, but He would
have died for you alone. He and His
we are said to
Father love you that much!
be praying, and
In His love, God also gave you
when God talks
the Bible, through which He tells you
to us we’re said how to live in love and harmony with
to be schizo- Him and others. God's Words in the
phrenic? Bible are an inexhaustible source of
—actress Lily Tomlin faith, comfort, encouragement,
instruction, wisdom and strength of
spirit.
A c sIu1e t i v a t e d ! 3
But God didn't stop there. He
loves you so much that He not only
wants to communicate with you
through His written Word, but
directly! He takes a loving personal
interest in you, and wants to be
involved in your life. He knows that
you have questions and problems,
and He wants to give you the answers
and solutions. He also wants to speak
personal words of love and encour-
agement to you, to boost your faith
and reassure you during those rough
times. Most of all, He wants you to
know how much He loves you
personally. So He created a means of
two—way communication, a channel
between Him and you, so that you
can talk to Him in prayer and in reply
hear words He gives specially for you.
But what if you don't consider
yourself very “spiritual” or close to
God? Well, you'll be happy to know
that God will speak to anyone who has
a little childlike faith—and He wants
to speak to you, to give you a chance to
experience His infinite wisdom and
boundless love. He wants to lead you
step by step into a closer relationship
with Him and a greater understanding
of His will and ways.
 God may speak to you in a
number of ways: As you read the
Bible, He may cause a particular
passage to stand out to you and
show you how it applies to your
situation or how it answers a ques-
tion you may have. He may not even
use words—He may just give you an
impression or inner conviction, a
sort of intuitive knowledge about a
particular situation. He may speak to
you through vivid dreams or visions.
He may speak through others—
godly counselors, whose wisdom
and experience you can benefit
from. But of all the ways God is able
to speak to you, perhaps none is
more wonderful or of greater practi-
How Prophecy Works
Once you’re open to the idea that God can speak to you,
what next? Here are the basic ground rules:
1 Have a personal relationship
with Jesus Christ.
If you've received Jesus as your
Savior, you've already met the first
and most important requirement.
When you opened your heart to
Jesus, you began an intimate rela-
tionship with Him not only as your
Savior, but also as your friend,
teacher and counselor.
2 Be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus told His disciples shortly
before He was crucified that after He
was gone, He would send the Holy
Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, to teach
them all things and guide them into
all truth (John 16:7,13–14). He has
promised to give the Holy Spirit to
you too, if you ask for it (Luke 11:9–
13).
4 !
cal value than the gift of prophecy.
Did you know that the principle
dictionary definition of the word
“prophecy” is not “a prediction,” but
rather “a divinely inspired utter-
ance”? In other words, prophecy is
receiving a message directly from
God. Whenever you hear words in
your mind that you believe are from
God and you say them or write them
down, you are prophesying.
You can hear from Heaven! Put
God to the test! See if He will not
open to you the windows of Heaven
and pour out such blessings on
you—the treasures of His Words for
you personally—that you will not be
able to contain them all!
3 Pray for the gift.
The ability to receive messages
directly from God—commonly
referred to as the gift of prophecy—is
one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that
are explained in 1 Corinthians
chapter 12. God is more than willing
to give you this or whatever other
gifts of the Spirit you ask for (Mat-
thew 7:7–8). (See God's Gifts, from
the Get Activated! series, for more
information on the Holy Spirit and
the gifts of the spirit.)
4 Talk to Jesus.
Prayer is not meant to be a
religious ritual, but a living relation-
ship. Jesus wants to speak to you as
openly and freely as your best friend
or spouse would, but it's a two-way
street. It may be awkward at first if
d e t a v i Issue11 t
 you aren't used to speaking to Him
personally, but it gets easier once
you begin to do it regularly. He
understands and loves you as no
other can. He wants you to tell Him
your deepest thoughts, your inner-
most feelings, your secret dreams
and longings.
5 Read God’s Word.
In order to correctly apply the
words that Jesus speaks to you
personally in prophecy, you need a
certain understanding of God's
already recorded Word. Knowing the
Word also helps you to have faith
that the message you are hearing is
from the Lord. The Bible is your
foundation. Read it, study it, memo-
rize it; let it become a part of you.
6 Have faith.
The Bible tells us that having faith
is being certain that what we hope for
is waiting for us, even though we
cannot see it right now. How do you
get faith? Simple! Faith comes from
reading the Word of God (Romans
10:17). As you read the Word and
commit significant passages to
memory, your faith will grow.
7 Ask!
This may seem pretty obvious,
but in order to receive something in
prophecy, you first have to ask the
Lord to speak to you. “Call on Me,
and I will show you great and mighty
things which you do not know”
(For more explanation (Jeremiah 33:3). Place your tele-
of the gift of prophecy phone call, and get His reply!
and how to use it and
benefit from it, read
Hearing from Heaven,
a booklet in Aurora
Production's Get
8 Be humble.
Your mindset, your attitude of
heart, your motives—all this helps
Activated! series.)
determine how clearly you will be
c Activated! IssussIeu1
e1
able to hear from Heaven. You need
to realize that you are weak in
yourself, that you don't have the
answers and therefore need God's
answers. “We have this treasure in
earthen vessels”—lowly clay pots—
“that the excellence of the power
may be of God and not of us” (2
Corinthians 4:7).
9 Ask God to override your own
thoughts while hearing from
Him, and to help you submit your
will to His.
To receive God's messages, you
need to have an open mind and
heart. You need to be ready to accept
whatever He gives, even if it's not
what you were expecting, not
completely to your liking, or you
don't understand it fully. Your own
ideas and desires may be good, but
His will prove better.
10 Now you’re ready to begin.
Start by finding a quiet place
and taking a few minutes to talk to
the Lord. Tell Him what's on your
heart. Thank Him for His blessings
in your life.
If you have a specific question
you'd like to ask Jesus, go ahead.
Then be still and focus your mind on
the Lord. Closing your eyes will help
you shut out distractions around
you.
Do your best to concentrate and
patiently listen with your spirit. Then
take in whatever comes to your heart,
mind, ears, or eyes, and accept that
as the Lord's message for you. As you
speak or write down the first bit you
get, the Lord will give you more!
When you've sincerely asked the
Lord to speak, and your heart and
mind are open to Him, He will!„
5
 Answers
to your
Q I love my children and want to be a good parent, but I feel very incapable. Is there a secret to
raising happy, well-adjusted children?
IT'S NO SECRET BUT,
YES, there is a key: love—your
love and God's love! It would
be impossible to cover the
topic of parental love thor-
oughly in this short column,
but here is a brief list of some
of the most important ways
that parents can show their
children love—and they're all
within your easy reach, with
the Lord's help.
1. Give them Jesus. Jesus
wants to guide your children
through life. Receiving Him is
so simple that even a two-
year-old can do it. As soon as
you have taught your children
who Jesus is, you can explain:
“Jesus wants to come and live
in your heart. He loves you,
and He wants to be your best
Friend.”
2. Give them God's Word.
Teach your children to love
God's Word and how to apply
it personally, and they'll know
where to find the answers,
faith and conviction they'll
6 A c t i vIssaue11t e d
? uestions...
need to not only make it
through childhood, but also to
become happy, productive
adults.
3. Give them your time. As
much as your children may
need and appreciate the
material things you provide,
they'd rather have you!
4. Teach them by your own
example. Don't try to be
perfect, but be someone your
children can look up to and
trust. Try to be what you want
your children to be.
5. Give them discipline and
training—a clear standard of
right and wrong. Children are
happiest and feel most secure
and confident when they
know what's expected of
them. Set clear boundaries
and rules as to what your
children are allowed to do,
and set reasonable punish-
ments for crossing the bounds
or breaking the rules.
6. Promote honest, open
communication. Give them
your undivided attention
when they're trying to com-
municate. Be a good listener.
Show sincere interest. Try to
see things from their point of
view.
7. Give them praise and
encouragement. All children
thrive on praise. It's more
important to praise children
for good behavior than it is to
scold them for bad behavior.
Always try to accentuate the
positive.
8. Have faith in them for
what they can become. Ask the
Lord to help you see their
potential as He does.
9. Express your love.
Children need reassurances.
Put your love into words and
actions.
(For more tips on parenting, see the
Keys to Parenting series of booklets
from Aurora Production.)„
 Charles Spurgeon, the
famous evangelist, and George
Mueller, the thief-turned-Christian
who founded and directed five
orphanages, both lived in 19th-
century England. Once Spurgeon
worked hard to collect 300 pounds
in donations—a lot of money in
those days—that was urgently
needed by the orphanage he
supported. When he had gotten
the last of the money, he went to
bed that night a contented man.
But before he could go to
sleep, the Lord said to him, “Give
those 300 pounds to George
Mueller, for his orphanages in
Bristol.”
“But Lord,” Spurgeon pro-
tested, “I need that money for my
dear orphans in London.”
Again he heard, “Give those
300 pounds to George Mueller!”
Spurgeon finally agreed, and
went to sleep.
The next morning he made his
way to George Mueller’s home,
and found him praying. “George,
God told me to give you these 300
pounds,” he said.
“I have just been asking the
Lord for that exact amount!”
Mueller exclaimed.
When Spurgeon returned to
London, he found a letter on his
desk. It contained 300 guineas
(each worth one pound and one
shilling). “The Lord has returned
my 300 pounds,” he shouted out
for joy, “and with 300 shillings
interest!”
idetavc
itcA sIsue11
Virginia Brandt Berg once told how the Lord used the
verse Psalm 46:10—“Be still and know that I am God”—to save
the day and demonstrate His ability to give her specific, immedi-
ate guidance as she listened to Him in prayer. There was an
emergency, and she needed to find someone who had recently
moved, whose new address she didn't have.
“Every part of my being seemed to throb with anxiety
because that person had to be reached, and reached at once!”
she later recalled. “Suddenly a paraphrase of Scripture came to
me. 'Just be still, get quiet, and know that I am God.' So I sat
down and quietly asked to the Lord to do something to avert
disaster, and the Lord spoke to my heart. 'Just write a note and
take it to the apartment where they lived before. Maybe they
will have some reason to go back there.'
”So I wrote the note and went over to the apartment to
deliver it. Just as I arrived, note in hand, up drove the very person
I had wanted to reach but couldn't!”
Olga Kristensen spent forty years in China as a missionary.
One night toward the end of her stay, she and her co-workers
received news that a gang of bandits was heading toward their
mission station, burning, killing and pillaging. Before long, they
heard shots being fired at the end of their street. Ms. Kristensen
later recounted that night:
“I went into my room and asked God for a word to calm me
and the others, and a passage I had often read before came to
me: ‘When you lie down, you will not be afraid; yes, you will lie
down and your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden
terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; for the
Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being
caught’ (Proverbs 3:24–26).
“I shared that message with the others there and told them
to go get some rest. Then I went off to bed myself and slept
soundly.
“The next morning, bodies lay in the street outside our
premises. There had been fighting and murder, but no one had
so much as knocked on our door.”„
7
 A
dare
world-famous
nonconformist named Jesus, while
exhorting His disciples to leave their
old lives in order to follow Him,
warned them that they would be “as
sheep in the midst of wolves”
(Matthew 10:16). “If you were of the
system,” He said, “the system would
love its own. But you are not of the
system, therefore the system hates
you” (John 15:19 paraphrased).
Dare to be different, He was
saying. Venture to vary from the
norm which the systematic system
addicts have established to conform
to their own Establishment behav-
ior, and they will hate you for daring
to challenge their authority to tell
you what they have decided is right
and wrong.
Just you dare to be so bold as to
think, act, live or teach differently
from the vast robotic, narcotic,
conventional, pretentional, con-
formist, performist, zombie bombie,
so-called silent majority of the
supposedly average worldlings, and
you will soon discover that they are
not so silent, and you will hear them
too, for it is the hit dogs that howl!
And if you learn to run with these
different
8 ! d e t a v i t c A
to be
wolves, you will learn to howl
too, especially when someone
dares to say and prove that the
“normal” way of life is not the
only way!
Hero or Heretic?
History has proven time and
again in every age that the majority
is usually wrong. As Jesus said, “Wide
is the gate and broad is the way that
leads to destruction, and there are
many who go in by it: because
narrow is the gate and difficult is
the way which leads to life, and
there are few who find it”
(Matthew 7:13,14).
When any courageous icono-
clast becomes so presumptuous as
to dare to smash the idols of the
generally accepted behavior of the
vast and wrongful majority, or if
some brave pioneer of spiritual
matters or of science is so fool-
hardy as to even suggest that
society could possibly be wrong
on some things, he is often
hooted down as a maniac,
denounced as demented, persecuted
as a departurist, and sometimes even
BY DAVID BRANDT BERG
Issue11
 condemned as a criminal, hanged as
a heretic, or crucified as a menace to
society!
Why? Because the darkness
cannot stand the light, and the
wrong cannot bear the right, and the
big lie cannot tolerate the truth, and
those who are bound bitterly resent
the freedom of the free, because by
all of these the wrongful majority
are exposed for their sins of
darkness, deception, greed and
the enslavement of the ex-
ploited. They must therefore
furiously endeavor to smother
the light, say that wrong is right,
attempt to shout down and drown
out the voice of truth, frustrate and
bind the free, and exterminate
those who would expose and
terminate society's hypocrisy.
The Last Laugh
When Noah built his big boat
on dry land and said there was
going to be a worldwide flood
(when it had never even rained
before), he was laughed at by the
vast, vocal majority of his day who
were later to drown in that very
same flood, while Noah and his
family had the last laugh!
(Genesis chapters 6–8; Hebrews
11:7).
When Abraham, at the age
of 100, claimed that he was
going to become the father of
many nations and that his
descendants would be as
numerous as the sands of the
sea, his own barren wife, Sarah,
laughed him to scorn. But Abraham
was soon to laugh last, because
Sarah, herself in her nineties, bore
him Isaac, the forefather of the Jews.
And Sarah's handmaiden, Hagar,
Activated! sIsue11
bore him Ishmael, forefather of the
Arabs (Genesis 17:1–21; 18:1–19;
21:1–5).
When a lowly shepherd from
lonely Sinai claimed he was going to
single-handedly deliver six million
Hebrew slaves from the greedy
clutches of their all-powerful Egyp-
tian oppressors, Moses' own people
made fun of him. But it was he who
later had the fun as he led them
miraculously through the Red Sea
on dry ground! (Exodus 3:1–10; 14:8–
30).
The people of Jericho jeered
when Joshua jogged his Jews seven
times around their impregnable
walls, but it was really a blast on
those tiny trumpets when those
walls came tumbling down! (Joshua
6:4–5,15–16,20).
The Midianite army of thou-
sands must have really cracked up
laughing when most of Gideon's
army departed, and he was only left
with three hundred men. But it was
the Midianites' turn to flee when
Gideon's paltry party pelted them
with pottery in the middle of the
night! (Judges 6:11–14; 7:1–23).
The mighty lords of the conquer-
ing Philistines sneered when
Samson, the proverbial Israelite
strongman, stood blind before them
as their captive. But when he pushed
the pillars of their temple apart, it
was his turn to snicker as he slew
more of his enemies with his death
than his life! (Judges 16:23–30).
The giant Goliath ridiculed the
little lad with the slingshot, but
when David cut loose with just one
honest bit of rock, the Philistine
phony fell flat on his face and the
children of God danced for joy!
(1 Samuel 17:1–10,42–51).
9
 The prophets who predicted the with them.
doom of the dominant dominions of Of
their day were derided as daft and course, the
demented, but when each power fell majority
in its time according to their rhyme, usually managed
they were no longer found to be to smother the flame by
fanatically funny! overwhelming it with
When Jesus told His religious the sheer num-
foes, the Pharisees, that their proud ber of their dead
temple would be pulled down, they bodies. But they have never been
denounced Him in derision. But able to put out of the memory of
forty years later when the Romans mankind that here were those who
burned it to the ground and pulled it stood out from the rest, outstanding
stone from stone to get at the melted for their achievements! They dared
gold in the cracks, Jesus' prophecy to be different and did what every-
wasn't so funny any more (Luke one told them not to, or what others
19:37–44). said couldn't be done, because
When the early Christians they thought it should be done
prophesied the fall of the Roman and they could do it, no
Empire, Nero exiled, beheaded and matter what anybody said.—
crucified them, burned them at the And they did it, and the
stake and fed them to the lions. But world heard about them!
Nero died a perverted, raving Beaten paths are for
maniac, and Rome burned and her beaten men! Burning the
empire eventually crumbled—and candle at both ends may
the remains were joyously taken look crazy, but it sure
over by the Christians themselves! gives a better light! You may not last
Fools for Christ long, you may wear out fast, but
you'll generate a lot of heat! And
Nearly all the prophets and
when this life is over and the angels
leaders of God throughout the Bible
beckon you, the world will
and past ages were thought to be
remember you. If
crazy by the rest of the world—
what you did was
dreamers and visionaries who
right, God will
hallucinated, heard “voices,” and
never forget it!
were pretty well “flipped out” over
You'll shine
religion.
as the stars
They lived in fame and died in
forever,
flame, but nothing and no one could
and
stop them, because the others didn't
you'll
know how to handle it; they didn't
hear Him say to you, “Well done,
know where these pioneers were
good and faithful servant ... enter (The above was
going, because nobody had ever excerpted from
into the joy of your Lord”—you and
gone there or done that before. The Dare to Be
all the rest who dared to be “fools for Different, available
rest just weren't prepared for it, so it
Christ's sake!” (Daniel 12:3; Matthew from Aurora
took them quite a while to catch up Production.)
25:21; 1 Corinthians 4:10).„
10 A c t i v a t e sIu1e d
 G od is like a broadcasting station, broadcast-
ing all the time. Just like the radio waves
that are unseen in the air all around you
this very minute, God's Spirit is ever
present, waiting for you to make contact.
And much the same as a simple little
transistor radio, you have been designed by
your Creator to receive those signals. God's
power is always on. The message is always
there. But in order to receive it, you must
turn on and tune in to His frequency!
Compared to the tremendous power and
complex operations of the broadcasting
station, you, the operator of the receiver,
need not have much power and only the
simplest of skills. Prayer is the hand of faith
that flips the switch and turns on what little
power you have. And then the hand of
hope tunes with expectancy, feeling for the
on
& HEARING FROM GOD
The Holy Spirit connection
Mark 13:11
John 16:7,13–14
1 Corinthians 2:9–10,14
The Lord will guide and instruct
Psalm 25:8–9,12
Psalm 32:8
Jeremiah 33:3
Isaiah 30:21
in Isaiah 42:16
Daniel 2:20,22
Get quiet and
take time to listen
Psalm 4:4
Psalm 143:8,10
itcA Issue11
frequency upon which God is broadcasting,
and suddenly His great broadcasting
station booms in with tremendous positive
volume and power, and the messages come
through loud and clear!
If you concentrate and wait with faith
and patience, without distraction, you'll
receive some of the most powerful, thrilling
and amazing messages that will stir you to
action! The messages you receive from Him
minister faith, joy, hope, love and praise. The
vibes you get from the Lord are all good
things. They just totally renew you and give
you new vision, fresh inspiration, new
strength, rest and peace and joy! You'll
dance to His tunes; you'll move according
to His signals, His directions; and you'll
know you're fulfilling His will, the purpose
for which you were created.
—D.B.B.
Biblical examples
Numbers 9:8
1 Samuel 3:9–10
1 Kings 19:11–12
Jeremiah 1:9
Ezekiel 3:27
Luke 2:26
Acts 10:19–20
Acts 13:13
God still speaks
Malachi 3:6
Amos 3:7
Acts 2:17
Hebrews 13:8
11

W hen He came to Earth
nearly 2,000 years ago,
the leaders of His own people
rejected Him and His message of
love and salvation. Yes, they wanted
a savior, a messiah, a great king, but
not one who was born in a barn and
raised by a poor carpenter, and who
chose humble fishermen, tax collec-
tors, drunks and prostitutes as His
friends and followers. Few of the rich
and powerful of His day were inter-
ested in the freedom of spirit He
offered to all who would receive the
truth He spoke. They only wanted
freedom from Rome and Roman
taxes. Nor did they desire the eternal
treasures and rewards He promised
to all who would believe in and
follow Him. They wanted an earthly
messiah, a king who could make
them a wealthy and powerful
material kingdom there and then.
This Man, Jesus Christ, the Son of
the Creator of the universe, said, “All
authority has been given to Me in
Heaven and on Earth” (Matthew
12
King’s
The
Return
28:18). He could have taken over the
world and made Himself its king in
one day! He told the Roman governor
before whom he was tried, “You could
have no power against Me unless it
had been given you from above.
Don't you realize that I could ask My
Father for thousands of angels, and
H e would send them instantly?”
(John 19:11; Matthew 26:53 TLB).
When His naked body hung dying
on the cross where He was crucified,
and the religious leaders taunted,
“You saved others. If You're really the
Son of God, save Yourself” (Mark
15:29–32), He could have done that.
But He chose to die for us!
After He rose from the grave, He
could have shown Himself to the
high priests, the governor or Caesar
himself and proved to them and the
world that He was indeed the Son of
God, the Messiah, and He could have
forced them all to worship Him.
Instead He appeared only to those
who already believed in Him and
loved Him, in order to comfort them
Activated! sIsue
11
 and encourage their faith.
For 2,000 years He and His
kingdom have remained unseen by
this world, manifested only in the
hearts and lives of those who love and
receive Him by faith. This is the
mystery that many of His own people
in His day couldn't understand, and
that many today cannot seem to
grasp: He offers each of us a choice to
receive or reject Him. This is still the
Age of Grace, and it's up to each of us
to make the choice to believe His
Word and receive Him by faith.
But the day is coming very soon
when this present age will be over
and all the world will “see the Son of
Man coming in the clouds with
power and great glory” (Matthew
24:29–31). For He has promised to
come again, and according to
numerous fulfilled prophecies
describing world conditions imme-
diately before Jesus returns, the time
is close at hand. We are now living in
the final Last Days of man's cruel
and destructive rule on Earth!
From all indications, the last
seven years of man's rule will be
upon us soon. This period will begin
The trumpets with the rise of a godless One-World
of God will government that will be led by a
sound, and Devil-possessed dictator, the Anti-
christ. This imitation messiah will at
Jesus’ mighty first bring peace—but peace at a
voice will price: enforced worship of himself
thunder from during the second half of his reign.
the heavens, This final three-and-a-half years is
known as the Great Tribulation
“Come up!” (Daniel 8:23–25; 9:27; 11:21–45;
Matthew 24:15,21; 2 Thessalonians
2:1–12; Revelation chapter 13).
Jesus said, “Immediately after the
tribulation of those days ... the sign
of the Son of Man will appear in [the
sky], and then all the [wicked] will
A c Issue11t i v a t e d ! 13
mourn, and they will see the Son of
Man coming in the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory” (Mat-
thew 24:29–30). This time He's not
going to come as a meek and mild
babe in a manger—God in the hands
of man—but as the almighty King of
kings. Then it will be man in the
hands of God!
The trumpets of God will sound,
and Jesus' mighty voice will thunder
from the heavens, “Come up!” Then
all of His saved children will be
caught up together with Him in the
clouds, rising in immortal victory
over the forces of the satanic Anti-
christ. This is the miracle that takes
place when Jesus returns: the
resurrection of the saved! The bodies
of all those who had received Jesus
as their Savior and had since died
will be instantly resurrected and
come bursting out of their graves in
new heavenly glory, and all of us
believers who are still alive will be
instantly transformed and raised
with them to meet Jesus in the air
(Matthew 24:31; 1 Corinthians
15:51–57; Philippians 3:21; 1
Thessalonians 4:16–17; Revelation
11:12).
Then we will all fly away with the
Lord to the Marriage Feast of the
Lamb in the Heavenly City (Revela-
tion 19:6–9). It will be the greatest
party ever held—a wonderful
reunion with the Lord and all of our
loved ones, our victory celebration.
Meanwhile, the Antichrist and his
followers will be left to suffer the
wrath of God, hell on Earth, until we
return with the Lord to finally take
over the world in the Battle of
Armageddon and set up His king-
dom of love here on Earth—the
happy new beginning!„
 Delivered!
Vijay was 31 years old and had spent over half of his life on
drugs. For the last ten years he had been a heroin addict. He was
in a drug rehabilitation center in Bombay when he met Mary, a
Christian missionary from the Family who did counseling and
other volunteer work at the center. The two became friends, and
after Vijay was released from the rehab center and returned to
his home in northern India, they kept in touch by mail and phone.
About a year later, Mary received a letter from Vijay, in which he
told how Jesus had done what doctors and therapists hadn't been
X able to do—broken his addiction! Vijay wrote:

Dear Mary and all,
Hi! Thanks a lot for your
last letter, which came at a
time when I was thinking
about giving up the fight. It
gave me courage to hold on.
Now I reread that letter
whenever I'm feeling low.
As I wrote some time ago,
after leaving the center I kept
clear of drugs for a while, but
then started taking them
again. I just couldn't find any
motivation to carry on. Life
again felt empty.
About that time, I got a
phone call from James and
Rajesh [two of Mary's co-
workers from The Family].
They explained that they were
coming to visit some schools
here, and I invited them to
stay with my parents and me.
For four days, I drove them
to many schools, where they
met the principals and offered
them the Treasure Attic series
of educational and character-
14
building videos for children
and teenagers. We also visited
some people whom Rajesh
and James knew from previ-
ous visits. My mom and dad
also enjoyed their company. It
was as if two members of our
own family, not strangers, had
come to visit.
Unbeknownst to James
and Rajesh, I was using drugs
at the time. The first couple of
days I just barely managed to
get dressed in the morning,
take them around, and then
come back in the evening and
crash out. About the third day
I started to feel that I wanted
to quit using drugs, but I was
afraid of the painful withdraw-
als.
The fourth day, before
driving them to the station to
catch an evening train home,
we all had tea with my mother.
Rajesh asked if they could
pray for her, then turned to
me and asked if there was
anything I would like them to
pray for. I said I wanted to get
off of drugs again.
Rajesh prayed for Mom,
and then James prayed for me.
Tears started flowing from my
eyes, and soon I couldn't stop.
James was also in tears. At that
moment, I wished that time
would stop. I was in a different
world. I felt very relieved—and
determined that I would quit
taking drugs.
For the next three days I
stayed in bed. On the first day
I got your letter. It was really
great reading it in the middle
of this experience. I also
started reading the various
publications and listening to
the cassettes you had sent me.
I did not eat anything for three
days, but had no withdrawal
pains and felt great. Jesus was
with me for the duration. I
cried a lot, but they were tears
of relief and gratitude. Every-
thing was coming together! I
! d esIsue11 t a

felt Jesus' presence all around
me and in everything. I won't
forget those days as long as I
live. Only God's love could
have done that!
I wanted to stay there with
that experience forever, but
life goes on. I picked up where
I had left off, but this time
with renewed faith and
strength. I knew that God
loved me and would look after
me and guide me, if only I
would follow His direction. I
finally understood that He had
created me and had a purpose
for my life.
I thank you from the
bottom of my heart for your
help. All this was only possible
because I met you. I now
understand what real love is.
“God works in mysterious
ways, His miracles to per-
form.” He took me to the drug
rehabilitation center to meet
you. All this was a part of His
grand scheme.
With love and prayers,
Vijay
Note from Mary: The above
was written nearly four years
ago, and Vijay has stayed off of
drugs all this time with the
Lord’s help. “If the Son makes
you free, you shall be free
indeed” (John 8:36).„
A Issue 11
“
Thots
It's easy to get messages from the Lord: You just
have to have faith. When you ask the Lord to speak,
expect Him to answer and take the first thing that
comes. If you really believe and ask the Lord, and you
want to hear or see, you won't be disappointed. That
thing you see or hear with the eyes or ears of your
spirit, that's the Lord. Just open up your heart and let
the sunshine in!
—D.B.B.
Most Christians don't pray Samuel's prayer, “Speak,
Lord, for Your servant hears” (1 Samuel 3:2–10). Most
of them pray, “Hear, Lord, for Your servant speaks!”
They expect the Lord to hear them, but they don't
really expect to hear anything from Him. Isn't that
sad? A large part of prayer time is meant to be spent
listening.
—D.B.B.
The Lord wants to be your personal Shepherd (Psalm
23). When you feel alone, when you need a shoulder
to cry on, someone to understand, a word of sympa-
thy and encouragement, He is always available!
”
—Maria David
Prayer for the Day
Dear Jesus,
Thank You for Your gift of hearing directly
from You. It is like a special, magical door into the
realm of endless possibilities, beautiful and fitting
word pictures, words of love from You to me.
Passing through this door brings discoveries of
every kind: from the joys of Heaven to the depths
of Your comfort; from a touch of Your love to
explanations of the mysteries of life; from encour-
agement after disappointments to clear, sure-fire
guidance when I don’t know what to do.
15
 From Jesus with Love
In the Secret Chambers
In the quiet chambers, as you take time with Me,
I will speak to you. At first it won't even be in words.
I'll just give you the peace that you need.
But as you take this time with Me more and
more faithfully—always coming in faith, believing
that I'm there, waiting for you, that I enter with you
into the secret, quiet chambers of your heart—as
you do this more and more, you will begin to hear
Me more clearly. It's something that you need to
make a habit of, something that you have to prac-
tice. You have to attune your spiritual ears so that
you can hear My voice. It's just like learning any-
thing new. At first you have to concentrate, really
make an effort.
It's like someone learning to tune a guitar. At
first it's very difficult. Musicians have to really con-
centrate to be able to tell which notes are off key,
which strings need to be tightened and which
need to be loosened. But after a while, it becomes
second nature to them, and they can do it almost
without thinking.
So it is with learning to listen to Me and hear
from Me. Come regularly, step into the quiet cham-
bers of your heart and tune in to hear My voice.
Little by little you will begin to hear Me clearer and
clearer, until pretty soon it won't be such a big
effort. You'll be able to hear Me loud and clear. You
won't even wonder if it's Me. You won't even have
to strain to hear it, but My still, small voice will just
be there, clearly instructing you in your heart.

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