Loving greetings from Engeltal, the Valley of Angels, with Galatians 5:1 from the Amplified Classic Version: “In [this] freedom Christ has made us free [and completely liberated us]; stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery [which you have once put off].”
In this election season, with all of the flapping uproar that would try to distract us from the peace of the Kingdom of Heaven, we as the believing church, the Ekklesia, must stand fast in the liberty that has been provided to us and to this nation by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must not be moved by controversy, by rioting, by spirits of infirmity and fear, or the loss of loved ones. We must recognize that our adversary, the forever loser, knows his time is short, and he is lashing out like the tail of a snake that has been caught by the neck. He is a murderer from the beginning, and the father of lies, as Jesus said in John 8:44. He is actively engaged in distracting the Saints from fulfilling their assignments in the purpose of the Lord Jesus: “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8b). The forever loser thinks that if he can hamper the Saints, they won’t hamper him!
Freedom! This week we have had Sigi and David Oblander with us for Friday Night Live Worship and two podcast episodes that we will launch on the next two Tuesdays. Sigi grew up in East Berlin under the Communist rule of the Russians. From the time she was a small child, her heart longed for freedom! She was taught in school that the Communists would overtake the USA. They said that America was too powerful to be brought down militarily, so they would bring it down from within, no matter how long it took!
Sigi and her family suffered persecution as “enemies of the State” because her parents were Christian. She was told that she could not attend high school because of this. At the age of eight, she and her younger sister would cross over into West Berlin (a free city being helped by the Allies that was like an island surrounded by Communist East Germany) in order to smuggle food for her family to eat. They would often get caught and their food taken away by the Russian soldiers. Then one day Sigi told her sister, “They can’t take it away from us if we eat it!” So, they began to eat the cheese and milk powder, and the plan worked! How true it is also that what you receive into your inner man cannot be taken away from you!
She and David returned from South Africa in April after having been stranded there when their flight was cancelled due to the lockdown. Imagine her shock when the riots began and statues were being toppled across America! She thought, “I’ve already been through revolution—not again!”
Her powerfully anointed ministry will bring freedom to your soul! Freedom in a nation can really only come by its inhabitants having the freedom that comes from the Holy Spirit. “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17).
Return to Our Roots of Freedom! Awakening, revival, and reformation are the only hope for this nation. We are at a crossroads. If we don’t achieve a vast understanding and acceptance of the liberty of soul that Jesus paid for, we will not be able to maintain the liberty that our nation has walked in for more than two centuries. This nation was called by God to carry the Gospel and be “a city that is set on a hill [that] cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14). It is time to return to the liberty that Jesus purchased for us, to mature as His Body, and represent Him as He is. Let’s look at the original foundation of liberty that God placed in this nation—His dream and destiny for us.
Christopher Columbus in 1492 arrived first in the “New World” on the island he named San Salvador (Holy Savior) in honor of Jesus Christ. He and his men knelt and gave thanks to God. “O Lord, Almighty and everlasting God, by Thy Holy Word Thou hast created the heaven, and the earth, and the sea; blessed and glorified be Thy Name, and praised be Thy Majesty, which hath deigned to use us, Thy humble servants, that Thy holy Name may be proclaimed in this second part of the earth.” He also declared that the Holy Spirit had led him in his journey, which included the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola (currently divided between the nations of Haiti and Dominican Republic). He found the natives who welcomed them to be ready to be evangelized, and intended to bring six of them back with him to Spain to learn the language and be prepared to return and bring their people to Christ. Sadly, Columbus’ crew had their own intentions and Jesus was grossly misrepresented.
The First Landing of Protestants 1562: When the French Protestant Huguenots, led by Jean Ribault, landed in what is present day Jacksonville, Florida, they were also warmly welcomed by the natives. After exchanging gifts, Ribault and his men knelt in the sand “to give thanks to God, and beseech him to continue still in his goodness towards us, and bring to the knowledge of our Saviour Christ this poor people.” Ribault and his colony who had fled France due to religious persecution, were subsequently massacred by the Spanish in 1565.
Rev. Robert Hunt at Cape Henry in 1607: The first ship sent from England with the intent of colonizing had Rev. Robert Hunt as it’s chaplain. When they arrived in Cape Henry, now Virginia Beach, they erected a cross that had been brought from England, and he declared: “‘We do hereby dedicate this Land, and ourselves, to reach the People within these shores with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to raise up Godly generations after us, and with these generations take the Kingdom of God to all the earth. May this Covenant of Dedication remain to all generations, as long as this earth remains, and may this Land, along with England, be Evangelist to the World. May all who see this Cross, remember what we have done here, and may those who come here to inhabit join us in this Covenant and in this most noble work that the Holy Scriptures may be fulfilled.’
“He then read from Psalm 22, ‘All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to The Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the Kingdom is The Lord’s and He is the Governor among the nations.’
“He concluded, praying, ‘Almighty and Merciful God, let us never stray from the Commission to which Thou has Called us—to bring the inhabitants of this Land to the knowledge of Thy Kingdom. Help us to be bearers of Thy Truth to those who so sorely need to receive it. Hasten the day, Oh God, when the knowledge of Thy Son shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. And even if we should fall short in Thy Calling, Thou shalt stir up our children after us and bestow upon them this blessed Land. Let us add our mite to the Treasury of Heaven. Use us, Oh God, weak instruments as we are, for the building up of Thy Kingdom which shall be gathered from all corners of the earth. Let it be said that God has made His ways known upon earth and His saving help among all nations. In the Name of our Holy Savior, Amen.’”
Pilgrims on the Mayflower in Plymouth, Massachusetts 1620: The Pilgrims who came to settle in what became Plymouth, Massachusetts, also came for religious freedom and to share the Gospel. The Mayflower compact was the first document establishing a civil government in the land was drawn up and signed. “Though half died that first bitter winter, Governor William Bradford wrote: ‘Last and not least, they cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations … for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world.’”
On the monument for the Founding Fathers in Plymouth, the words of William Bradford are etched in the mammoth statue: “Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are; and, as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea in some sort to our whole nation. Let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise!”
The vision for missions, taking the Gospel to the peoples of the world, is in each of the foundation stones of this nation. Let’s get back to those foundations and contend in prayer, equip, and participate in God’s global outpouring!
Reset 2020: If you didn’t follow the Holy Convocation that Dutch Sheets led a week ago in Middletown, Ohio, I would highly encourage you to watch it and agree in prayer and decree with all that was released by the leading of the Holy Spirit to reset our nation to its ancient landmarks. It was powerful and needs our agreement in the Spirit. Here is a link to all five sessions on YouTube: Reset 2020
Thank you! We are so grateful to each one of you who join your hearts with ours in the pursuit of the heart of our loving Heavenly Father. Thank you for obeying the promptings of His Holy Spirit!
Your handmaiden and servant,
Sharon and Philip