Obedience to the Promptings of the Spirit (1904 Welsh Revival)

Dreams from the LORD 2003-2006
4 March 2005

Christian History & Biography
Summer 2004

Page 11: “The Spark that lit the Welsh Revival”
By Jennifer Trafton

“Thursday, September 29, 1904. The stirrings of a spiritual awakening had already begun among the youth in several towns of South Wales when Evan Roberts, a 26-year-old ex-coalminer training for the Calvinistic Methodist ministry, attended a mission conference led by the evangelist Seth Joshua. For years, Roberts had been longing for the Holy Spirit to set his heart on fire. Joshua, meanwhile, had been praying that God would raise up a man from the coal mines or fields to bring revival to the churches. Both men found answers to their prayers that morning in Blaenannerch.

“In the months that followed this dramatic 'baptism of the Holy Spirit,' Evan Roberts carried his message throughout Wales with a youthful, unconventional zeal that vaulted him to celebrity status. He soon became the controversial hero of a rapidly spreading revival characterized by spontaneity rather than liturgical order, open prayer and confession rather than formal preaching, and obedience to the promptings of the Spirit rather than human direction. The revival brought an estimated 100,000 new converts into the churches and sent shock waves throughout Britain and beyond—even as far as Los Angeles, where reports of the Welsh awakening contributed to the birth of Pentecostalism in 1906. Evan Roberts’ simple prayer, ‘Oh, Lord, bend me,’ blossomed into the theme of the revival: ‘Bend the Church and save the world.’”

Cut the Anchor, Oh Lord

Cut the Anchor, Oh Lord
By Theresa Shreffler

cut the anchor, oh Lord, I feel the swell
compel me forward, a great wave
of humble beginnings. I know
I shall not walk this shore again,
not in the daylight clasping slender hands
nor at evening, when we gazed high and low
to the gentle stars setting, rising, spinning--
swept of their own volition, here I have laid
moored for seasons to a firm dock
and stone paths where feet have come and gone.
I once sat upon the shoreline and watched
ships of all sizes, full of children
drift back and forth to the horizon, and wondered
how far and long, and how cold that sea
and where the lands that only others see,
our sails are waiting for an errant breeze
and here it is, at dawn, mercilessly
playing with the flap and fold. cast the rope
my pilot, compass, ocean's guide and captain's cloak;
I know the shore, and I greet the endless waves.

Wearing a Rough Garment

John the Baptist

Dreams from the LORD 2007-2010
20 November 2010

Last night I had a disturbing dream. I was wearing a rough garment—it was brown; it looked like it was a robe made out of burlap. I wore a belt around my waist. I looked like John the Baptist or else I felt like John the Baptist. Everywhere I went people became very angry at me. I would say something and then people would violently reject me. Sometimes I would walk to where people were gathering and I wouldn’t say anything—just my walking into their air space angered them.

Then there was this one guy: he was short and mean-looking. He had a whip. The whip had a wooden handle and several strips of cord attached to the top of it; on the end of each strip of cord was a nail: it looked like the cat-of-nine-tails. This guy hated my guts. Two or three times during the dream he would come after me and whip me. The dream was long; most of the details are gone from me now.

The odd thing about this dream was that when it was over, it was played over again—like a movie reel. The exact same dream was repeated twice. This reminds me of that Scripture: “In the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established.” So whatever this dream means, it is established. Or maybe it means that it will happen soon.

Genesis 41: 32: “And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.”

In my life, because of my Christian faith, I have been rejected by family, friends and church people, so this dream makes sense.

[The short, mean-looking guy in the dream looked EXACTLY like a so-called Christian that I met in Absarokee, Montana:  Jack Burwell.  He thinks he is saved because he studies the Bible.  Jack Burwell rejects the Holy Ghost.]

A Prophet's Eyes
Obedience: The Bondage Breaker
Locusts and Wild Honey
What should we learn from the life of John the Baptist?

Charles Finney - Presence of God Convicts People of Sin While He Sits in a Train Car (55:20 - 56:25)

“If ye were not strangers here, the dogs of the world would not bark at you”

--Samuel Rutherford

_____

Shiloh
By Tim Shey

Brutal deathdance;
My eyes weep blood.
Pharisees smile like vipers,
They laugh and mock their venom:
Blind snakes leading
The deaf and dumb multitude.

Where are my friends?
The landscape is dry and desolate.
They have stretched my shredded body
On this humiliating tree.

The hands that healed
And the feet that brought good news
They have pierced
With their fierce hatred.

The man-made whip
That opened up my back
Preaches from a proper pulpit.
They sit in comfort:
That vacant-eyed congregation.
The respected, demon-possessed reverend
Forks his tongue
Scratching itchy ears
While Cain bludgeons
Abel into silence.

My flesh in tattered pieces
Clots red and cold and sticks
To the rough-hewn timber
That props up my limp, vertical carcase
Between heaven and earth.
My life drips and puddles
Below my feet,
As I gaze down dizzily
On merciless eyes and dagger teeth.

The chapter-and-versed wolves
Jeer and taunt me.
Their sheepwool clothing
Is stained black with the furious violence
Of their heart of stone.
They worship me in lip service,
But I confess,
I never knew them
(Though they are my creation).

My tongue tastes like ashes:
It sticks to the roof of my mouth.
I am so thirsty.
This famine is too much for me.
The bulls of Bashan have bled me white.
Papa, into your hands
I commend my Spirit.

Ethos
February/March 1997
Iowa State University

Genesis 49: 10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”

Two Pleasant Surprises: High Plains Drifter Revisited

Dreams from the LORD 2007-2010
17 November 2010

About five days ago I was hitchhiking south of Columbus, Montana and this guy picked me up. He drove me to Absarokee.

I told him that I had been hitchhiking for a number of years. I also said that my book High Plains Drifter was published two years ago. He said that a friend of his from Forsyth, Montana saw my book at the public library there and had read it. I never told him that my book was at the library in Forsyth. That was a pleasant surprise.

18 November 2010

This morning I hitchhiked from Victor, Idaho to Wilson, Wyoming. I got dropped off at this gas station in Wilson and I bought a candy bar there. As I walked through Wilson heading towards Jackson, I saw this guy walking to his vehicle that was parked on the shoulder. He looked at me and I looked at him; I thought I recognized him.

He pointed at me and I walked up to him and said something like, “I know you. You’re the guy from Scotland.” (Actually, I think his dad was from Scotland.)

We shook hands and hugged each other. His name was Ian. Ian had picked me up about a year ago and he took me to his place in Wilson and we had a cup of tea; we had a great talk. I think Ian has picked me up twice coming out of Jackson.

So Ian and I were talking and he said, “I read your book and loved it!”

“What?!” I exclaimed. “Wow, no one has ever said that to me before. Thanks. I hope you got something out of it.”

Ian told me that a friend of his bought a copy of High Plains Drifter for him.

We talked for a while longer and then he said that he and his friend were going up to Teton Pass to go skiing. We shook hands and parted company.

God’s timing is always perfect. I could have gotten a ride from Victor to Jackson, but no, the Lord had me dropped off in Wilson instead. It was good to see Ian again. I am guessing I will run into him again in the near future.

An American Pilgrim: Some Reflections on High Plains Drifter
Book Review:  High Plains Drifter

War and Peace

Napoleon near Borodino, 1812

Dreams from the LORD 2007-2010
26 October 2010

James 4: 4: “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”

Look at the world system: everything it stands for is anti-God, anti-Bible and anti-Judaeo-Christianity. Whatever is highly valued by the world is worthless in the eyes of God.

The United Nations is highly valued by the world, but the United Nations condemns the nation of Israel as racist—the United Nations says that Zionism is racist. According to the Lord, Israel is the most important nation in the history of this planet. Israel gave us the Law, the Prophets and the New Testament. Israel also gave us the most precious gift to a sin-sick world: the Messiah: the Lord Jesus Christ.

The world system says that if we give a man food, shelter, clothing and an education, that this is all he needs to be an enlightened and civilized human being. Scripture says that if we seek the Kingdom of Heaven first, then all of our physical needs shall be added unto us. We seek the spiritual food first—and not the food that perishes with our bellies. In my hitchhiking around the United States, the Lord always protects me and provides for me because I am seeking Him first: I am doing His will and not my will.

Let us look at the Nobel Peace Prize. At first glance, one may say that working for peace is a good thing. But peace with whom? Do the Nobel Peace Prize recipients make peace with God or with the satanic world system? I don’t know who all of the Nobel Peace Prize winners are, but have any Christians won the Nobel Peace Prize? My guess is that few or no Christians have won the Nobel Peace Prize. Christians make peace with God through the precious Blood of Jesus Christ. How was Christ’s Blood shed? Through violence inspired and instigated by the satanic world system. We ALL killed Christ because of our Adamic sin. I am a Christ-killer that has been redeemed by faith in the Blood of the Lamb of God.

A.W. Tozer never got a Nobel Peace Prize. Oswald Chambers would never have gotten a Nobel Peace Prize (look at all of the countless millions and millions of people Chambers has fed with his classic My Utmost for His Highest). Isaiah, Jeremiah and Elijah would never have gotten a Nobel Peace Prize. If Jesus Christ were walking in the flesh on the face of the earth today, He would never get a Nobel Peace Prize because His life CONVICTS the world of sin. The satanic world system would aggressively go after Jesus and try to kill Him. The worldly man hates to be convicted of sin. The worldly man rejects Christ (is at WAR with Christ and has No Peace with God). The Christian is at war with the world system and has peace with God.

War and Peace. Who are you at war with? Who have you made peace with?

Ezekiel 21: 4-5: “Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north: That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more.”

Ezekiel 21: 9-11: “Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished: It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter; should we then make mirth? it contemneth the rod of my son, as every tree. And he hath given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer.”

Ezekiel 21: 14-15: “Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into their privy chambers. I have set the point of the sword against all their gates [strategies], that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter.”

Ezekiel 21: 28-32: “The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is furbished, to consume because of the glittering: Whiles they see vanity unto thee, whiles they divine a lie unto thee, to bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain, of the wicked, whose day is come, when their iniquity shall have an end. Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity. And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy. Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the Lord have spoken it.”

Bereshith