Hi all,
On a personal note, we are thankful Chris is back at his group home. But after a few days he was asking to go back home. Brain injured people, whether by war, accident, or birth as in Chris’ case (cord wrapped around his neck cutting off oxygen), don’t deal well with changes.
Chris tends to have outbursts of anger, throwing his (metal) toy cars, and hitting himself or anyone in arms reach. He flares up, then calms down. Immediately he apologizes, tells the aides he loves them, and life returns to normal. You don’t know how much we appreciate your prayers for us and him.
He loves the Lord, is so sensitive. Friday we were driving and listening to ‘The Donut Man’ talking about Jesus living in your heart. Chris burst into tears saying ‘That’s right Donut Man, Jesus lives in my heart’. It caused me to well up in tears at his sensitivity to the Lord. Thank you.
Ministry news
This last month has been exciting and busy with several Zoom meetings – 2 that were for all who subscribe to my Weekly Thoughts and these newsletters. Those had participants from 10 or so nations. We also had 1 Zoom meeting with US affiliate leaders.
I also did a 2 hour live Q&A with Jennifer Bagnaschi of Deep Believer about nephilim that I didn’t realize she would post on her site – which makes 5 interviews I’ve done with her. Barb and I will be at her event in Colorado Springs April 1-2, where I’ll be teaching some workshops.
We are very excited for our Tulsa gathering June 28-30! Very informal, relaxed, and a good place for us to meet you and you meet us, and many others in the CWOWI network. Registration link is on our Weekly Thoughts, this monthly e-newsletter (above) or email us at cwowi@aol.com for details.
KWOWI – Keep an eye on your inbox for an updated photo and information about your KWOWI-sponsored child. Some of you have already received some. As Valerie receives updates on each child from our field leaders, she will pass them along to you. The process will take a few months to send updates on all the children, so your patience is appreciated. Thank you for your support!
Netherlands retreat, May 2-5. Wil and Ank were able to secure additional rooms but even with those, we are down to 3 rooms or fewer left.
NDEs and Visions, strange visions of hell and heaven
Near Death Experiences are often spoken almost interchangeably with visions and visitations of the Lord, but they are not the same.
A Near Death Experience (NDE) is when a person comes to the brink of death, but recovers. NDEs are influenced by a person’s age, maturity, culture, religious beliefs, and more.
A vision and/or visitation with the Lord is always initiated by heaven, never man. It will agree with scripture, brings peace, and is for the purpose of communicating information. This information may be given by an angel or angels, or the Lord.
Additionally; ‘in the Spirit’
The Revelation 1:10 and 4:2 describe being ‘in the Spirit’, which is when one is taken to heaven or is in the heavenly realm. The apostle John said in 1:10 he saw the Lord in glory while he was ‘in the Spirit’. In 4:2 he was taken to heaven and saw the Father on His throne, and the Lord came to the Father to receive the scroll. The events after Jesus opened the seals of the scroll, is the rest of The Revelation.
Paul described being in the Spirit in II Corinthians 12: 1-4. He said “I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord” and that “whether in the body or not, I do not know, God knows, such a one was caught up into Paradise…”
Anything from the Lord is initiated by Him.
Visions, revelations, being ‘in the Spirit’, are all initiated by heaven. There is not a single God-given vision, visitation, or a person going to heaven in the Bible except by heaven initiating it.
There are ‘Christian prophets and teachers’ who talk of going to heaven at will, tell you of just plain strange things supposedly in heaven, even how we will learn to fly in heaven, and other nonsense. Run from those, they have a wrong spirit (demonic) attached to them and/or are speaking of their own imagination.
God’s wisdom
James 3: 15-17 says wisdom from the devil brings confusion and fear, wisdom from God brings peace, pureness, and is gentle. Stop listening to those who have wrong spirits attached.
I can say from experience having been ‘in the Spirit’ many times, the transition is so normal and natural you often don’t know if your spirit and soul are taken into the Spirit leaving your body. This is why Paul didn’t know if he was in his body or not in his body.
A trance is when the person’s body functions are suspended. They are either seeing a vision, being visited by the Lord, or taken spirit and soul in the Spirit. In Acts 10:10 Peter fell into a trance and saw a vision. In 22:17 Paul saw the Lord while he was in a trance.
I’ve seen people ‘frozen’, standing in place, not a muscle moving, for 2 hours as the Lord showed them things, were taken somewhere with the Lord in the Spirit, or ministered to very deeply. One lady described being taken with the Lord to a waterfall where He spoke to her of upcoming events in her life, and past things. When she came out of it she said she didn’t know if she was taken in her body or out – we assured her she never left the room, lol. But she didn’t know.
Because many social media hosts and hostesses talk about or interview people who have had an NDE, as well as people who have had visions and revelations of the Lord, some think an NDE and a vision or being in the Spirit are all the same thing. They are not!
Supposed visits to hell…
Related to visions are those who claim they were given a tour of hell. One woman in Ghana said she saw Christian women who braided their hair in hell for doing so. A man in Nigeria claimed to have been shown hell and saw Christian men and women there who didn’t tithe.
A boy then age 4 went to heaven during a medical emergency and said all the people in heaven have wings and the Father seemed to be about 30 feet tall (9m).
When I questioned 2 in Ghana about the woman’s experience of seeing Christian women in hell who braided their hair, I found that woman’s pastor regularly preached about women not braiding their hair under penalty of God. The woman’s ‘tour of hell’ is suspect. If real, the woman interpreted her experiences through the lens of her church’s teachings.
When I questioned a person from the church where the man allegedly saw non-tithers in hell, I found out the man’s pastor preached tithing under threat of going to hell if you didn’t. His experience is suspect, but if real, interpreted through the lens of his church’s teachings.
The little boy was 4 years old…
…when his experience happened, showing he carried his 4 year old maturity level into what he saw in heaven. When we read The Revelation where John sees millions of people who have died and gone to heaven, not a single one has wings. And to a 4 year old, the Father seemed to him to be 30’s tall – not sure how many 4 year olds can accurate assess 30′ tall. We take age as a factor.
When a girl who said she saw Jesus when she was 8, later painted a picture of Jesus, the picture was that of a handsome white man. She was influenced by her age and immaturity, and her honesty is not questioned. She was only 8. Jesus is not handsome, is olive skinned, has a long face, weathered, rather flat nose (probably from having been broken), and the closest I’ve seen is from a rough rendering reverse image of the Shroud of Turin.
A near death experience is just near death it is NOT death
If Satan already has an opening in that person’s life – like if they were atheist or into New Age – that person will be given an experience to match their spiritual error. One noted neurologist who had an NDE has family into New Age, so what he experienced was a weird ‘heaven’ experience.
What is sad is that people, even Christians, have elevated some of these NDEs to be equal with the genuine, thinking all NDEs are the truth. That is not the case. There are many Christians who have had NDEs, and some of those will resonate with one’s spirit as being true, or having a nugget of truth, even if influenced by age or religious beliefs. But they are not equal to scripture.
One of the things the Lord talked to me about this year
Was a maturing in the body of Christ, a rising of those who are discerning, mature in perception, seeing the Father who is truth in all things, thus able to perceive that which is not of the Father.
For many who will step into greater maturity, it will mean they will stop listening to people who are in error though they tickle their ears. To step away to hear only the Shepherd’s voice, is a step of maturity. Discernment and ability to perceive the Holy Spirit from seducing spirits and teachings of demons, is needed in these days.
Know the genuine well and you won’t have any trouble spotting the counterfeit.
I say it often, but it is truly heart felt: Thank you for being part of our lives! Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your giving – your financial support is so very much appreciated. We’re just normal people sharing what we know of the Father and Lord. We love and pray for you.
Blessings,
John & Barb, Brian & Amy
