[Note: Places and names of non-CCCInc. participants mentioned in these Ministry Reports have been changed for the sake of privacy.]
 
MEET DON GRETZ IN MICHIGAN
 
    During the last week of May I had gone to Barnes & Noble early in the morning on the sabbath to pray and study the Bible. While there I was blessed to be in the presence of the Lord, and was exhibiting this joy in my countenance. Unbeknownst to me, the Lord was pointing me out to a gentleman seated nearby by the name of Don Gretz, who had also come to wait on Him and pray. [See GOD's true sabbath]
 
    Don had seen my Bible, noticed my blessed demeanor, and was prompted to leave his seat to introduce himself. We exchanged small talk at first, but within a short time found ourselves engrossed in conversation about the things of the Lord.
 
    The Lord impressed upon Don the need to give me one of the worship CDs he had with him. It was entitled "Renew Me," performed and produced by a worship group from East Christian University--a Pentecostal, Assembly of GOD university in Akron, Ohio. The Lord also moved Don to give me two gold coins, symbolizing GOD's provision for me. Neither one was to be spent, he said, but I was to give one away to whomsoever the Lord directed. The meeting ended up lasting an entire five hours, and Don mentioned afterwards that he had never been so edified through conversation, proving the Spirit appointment, encounter, etc. (see AG letters, Assoc. of Christian Schools Int.)
 
    After Don and I finished sharing, I drove to my parents' home where Cory and I had come to visit for the Memorial Day weekend. I related to Cory the details about the meeting when I arrived. He was delighted to hear everything, and commented that the Lord would bring Don and I together again in the future. He asked how we might contact him if the Lord should so direct, and I told him Don had given me his e-mail address and phone number.
 
    On Sunday we packed our things and left for home in Illinois. The Lord began to give us indications, however, that we were not acting in accordance with His will. After going about ten miles, we stopped to seek understanding of what He was trying to tell us. Through prayer, the Lord showed us that He wanted Cory to meet Don before returning to Illinois. We headed back to our parents' home, contacted Don, and set up a time to meet the next morning at Barnes & Noble.
 
    On our way to meet Don the next morning Cory felt impressed to listen to a worship CD. He selected a favorite and put it in the player. After a minute or two he stopped it and took it out. He commented how normally he is blessed by that particular CD, but at present, it didn't seem to be fostering a spirit of worship. Puzzled by this, he began to search for a different selection and noticed the CD Don had given me on Saturday sitting in the back seat. He picked it up and after putting it in the player began to browse through the CD's insert. The music had a strong anointing on it and brought us immediately into a spirit of worship.
 

    The Lord then began to impress upon Cory the need to meet one of the singers pictured in the insert. This seemed somewhat strange at first, but Cory was reminded that his having fasted over the past few days had made him more sensitive to the Spirit, and so did not rule it out as a possibility. The more we worshipped with the music while we drove, the more distinct the impression became until Cory could not pass it off as anything but the Lord.
 
CORY MEETS DON
 
    We arrived a little early at Barnes & Noble and began the wait for Don with prayer. Eventually, his car came around the corner and the Lord pointed it out to Cory. Cory waved to the driver, not knowing at all who he was, and the driver waved back. I then acknowledged that the driver was Don! We got out of the car and walked over to greet him with hugs. Then we all prayed, had a short sharing time, and went inside to find a table in the café.
 
    I purchased a coffee for Don, and we all sat down to pray, then began to share. Don kept looking at Cory, smiling ecstatically, shaking his head, and saying, "This guy (referring to me) is pretty special, but you… are really something else!" It seemed apparent that the Lord was trying to impress Don with the fact that our meeting had been entirely coordinated by His Spirit-leading. Throughout the rest of the meeting, Don kept encouraging and reassuring us by the Spirit, saying things like, "I'm so glad He had you turn around yesterday...!"
 
    Cory then began to relate to Don about the burden the Lord had placed upon him while perusing the "Renew Me" CD's insert. Don commented on the unique nature of the story and how he was actually well acquainted with the fellow in the picture for whom Cory felt burdened to meet.
 
    He told us that the young man's name was Martin Owens and that he was actually good friends with his son Brian. Brian, he said, had participated in the recording of the "Renew Me" CD as well and was a music- and worship-focused student at ECU. Martin was a junior at ECU and was also very involved in music and worship ministry there.
 
    Don continued by saying that Cory and Martin were perceptibly alike in a number of ways. He thought it would be good to give us Martin's e-mail address and phone number should the Lord desire for us to contact him.
 
    We spent the rest of the meeting sharing as the Lord directed; all of us were blessed just to be in His presence. Afterwards, Cory and I went to a Memorial Day family picnic, then continued on to our residence in Illinois.
 
THE LORD POINTS TO OHIO
 
    For the next few days the Lord would not allow Cory to escape the notion that meeting with Martin was not only something He desired, but something He desired for us to pursue immediately. Cory had been assured through much prayer over the matter that this was the Lord's direction, so he sent an e-mail to Martin with some basic details. In the e-mail, he inquired of Martin about meeting--even the upcoming weekend if possible--which the Lord had indicated He was wanting.
 
    Martin responded quickly and said that meeting so soon didn't seem possible, considering the live video/CD performance he would be participating in with his church choir on Friday night.
 

Also, he said, his parents were flying in from Illinois and visiting for the entire weekend. It began to appear as though maybe this had not been the Lord's direction for us after all.
 
    Cory pondered the information and prayed over it at length, trying to understand why the Lord seemed to be directing us to meet Martin so soon if Martin was not even free to meet. After more prayer, the Lord showed us that He still wanted us to go--regardless of Martin's personal schedule--and to trust Him to work out the details, through heeding His voice.
 
PURPOSED TO LEAVE
 
    Cory phoned Martin on Thursday night to let him know he still felt pressed in spirit to travel to Ohio. On top of that, he shared that the Lord wanted us to attend the choir performance and asked if tickets were still available. Martin affirmed, then Cory gave him his cell phone number and they agreed to be in contact the next night after the concert.
 
    After hanging up, Cory pulled some travel information off of the internet for the trip the following day. While he was doing this, the Lord prompted him to send an e-mail to Martin with two instructions from Him. Cory did so, notifying Martin that the Lord wanted: 1) for us to meet Saturday morning, and 2) Martin to fast some time Friday night until after the meeting Saturday in honor of His holy sabbath. The final thing Cory shared was that if Martin prayed over this he would see it was from the Lord.
 
    On Friday, June 1st, we left Bradley, Illinois for Cleveland, Ohio at 11:15am. Throughout the length of the trip we were blessed with great clarity of mind and the Holy Spirit's peace, direction and encouragement.
 
    Martin had told us the night before that the trip would take about eight hours driving 65-70mph all the way. However, during the entire first hour of the trip, the Lord would only allow Cory to drive 55mph. In light of what Martin had told us, and the fact that we had left with only seven hours and forty-five minutes remaining if we were to arrive on time, it seemed like we were going to be late to the show no matter what. The Lord settled our hearts, however, and helped us to relax and to trust His perfect timing. Later, He did allow us to increase speed to that of the surrounding traffic, and amazingly enough, despite our slow start as well as a full hour of gridlock, got us to the unfamiliar Cleveland area just in time for the show! In hindsight, we learned that the Lord had been teaching us an important lesson: If we would just listen and obey Him, and disregard any perceived time schedule, He would make sure we arrived at His intended timing.
 
AT THE ACC CONCERT
 
    We parked the car and made our way to the auditorium entrance, where I kindly held the door for a fellow concert-goer. We approached the ticket counter and inquired of the attendant exactly what it was we were there to see. We then asked about prices and availability of seats. There did happen to be two seats, we were informed, located front and center on the first level. These had originally been sold to a couple who had been unable to attend at the last minute. We agreed to purchase the tickets for thirty dollars apiece.
 
    Still trusting the Lord's timing, we went briefly to the second floor washroom to freshen up. We then made our way back to the main level to find our seats. Just as we parted the double doors at the back of the auditorium, pastor Foster spoke the first words of the show. Miraculously, it was only 7:07pm, and unmistakably GOD's perfect timing!
 

    At the concert, there was an emotional charge in the air, but it was quite devoid of the Spirit's manifest presence. The choir had a wealth of talent, as did our new friend Martin obviously, whom we recognized up in the back from the picture in the CD insert. He was engrossed in rhythmical worship on the bongos.
 
    The show began with a couple high-energy pieces. Then began a calm, prayerful chorus crying out for the presence of Jesus. As it progressed, the Lord spoke to Cory and said, "Watch this." A few seconds later the Holy Spirit of GOD began to move over the entire place, filling it with His warmth and joy. When the song began to die out, the Lord spoke to Cory again. This time He said, "That's enough." His peace and presence then disseminated from the auditorium.
 
    When Cory shared with me what he had just experienced, I nodded in affirmation, and we both stood in awe of the presence of GOD. My heart was flooded with peace and joy as I glanced up to see Martin still lost in worship on the bongos. We were even more blessed when we considered that the Lord had used only a CD insert to bring us here in the first place!
 
    Cory afterwards told me about how during the same song, the LORD had spoken to him and said, "Pick out five people [in the choir] whom you want Me to free from sin. Cory balked at this thought, responding to the Lord by saying, "Who am I Lord? I am not worthy to participate in such decisions!" GOD then said to him, "Don't worry. It won't be you, but it will be My Spirit in you." Cory then randomly selected five people from the choir.
 
    At some point during the concert, a young lady by the name of Heidi Patterson gave a moving testimony about how years before her family had gone through a very difficult time, from which they were finally beginning to experience healing. She told of how her father, a Christian minister, had been innocently jailed, and how this had affected her and her family adversely in many ways.
 
    A little bit later, Cory turned to me and stated that the Lord had expressed to him His greater purpose for bringing us to the concert. His plan, Cory said, was to connect us with several Spirit-filled contacts besides Martin. This bit of knowledge seemed to fit very well into the patchwork of our limited understanding of the Lord's overall plan for bringing us. Thus, at intermission time, Cory and I began to pray about whom the Lord had brought us to meet.
 
    Almost immediately, I noticed a red-haired woman with a baby in her arms making her way towards us through the seats. Oddly enough, I recognized her as the same woman whom I had held the door for upon our arrival. I felt as though she might be GOD's answer to our prayers, but almost dismissed the thought without much contemplation.
 
MEET ELANA AND TERESA
 
    The lady approached us and introduced herself as Elana Varela. She then began a friendly interrogation of us, "the two out-of-towners." It dawned on me that the concert's few hundred attendants were probably comprised largely of ACC church members, as well as close friends and relatives. I realized Cory and I had probably stuck out as two unfamiliar faces.
 
    Elana told us that the Lord had impressed upon her that Cory and I had arrived at the show by unusual circumstances.
 

One of the things He had used to alert her to this, she said, was the fact that after I had held the door for her, we had then approached the ticket counter and asked the attendant what exactly it was we had come to see!
 
    I began to expound some of the details of our trip to her, testing the possibility of the Lord's orchestration of the situation at hand, and asking my own questions in return. Elana was a mother of four and had originally not intended on coming to the concert until only a couple hours prior. She also said there just seemed to be "something" about Cory and I.
 
    As we continued to talk, Elana began to increasingly see in me a person whom she wanted her daughter Teresa (age twenty-four) to meet. She then dutifully commanded me to stay put while she went to find Teresa. I was a bit unaccustomed to this method of meeting young ladies, but the Holy Spirit quietly settled me, and I couldn't help but oblige her, even in spite of my reluctance for parent-sponsored matchmaking.
 
    It wasn't long before Teresa approached me and introduced herself. She was an attractive young lady with dark, brownish-red hair, mocha-colored skin, and was presumably of Mexican descent. She looked quite unlike her white-skinned, red-haired mother, whom I guessed was probably of Irish descent.
 
    Trying to make the best of an awkward situation, I said, "Hello Teresa, I guess I'm supposed to meet you." She responded in kind by apologizing for her mother's friend-finding zeal, then took the liberty to introduce me to some of her own friends and acquaintances.
 
    In the course of talking to Teresa, I mentioned that we had driven from south Chicago, that our trip had actually been Spirit-initiated and led, and that our original intent had been to meet with Martin Owens. I also mentioned that we had not arranged for a place to stay, having been given faith to believe that GOD already had a place picked out for us. Almost immediately, Teresa responded that her mother Elana was very hospitable and probably had room for us at her home!
 
    I tried to back away from having mentioned it, but before I knew it, Elana had offered her house to us as lodging for the night. We told her we would pray over it and let her know after the concert. This was not because we did not want to accept her offer, but first wanted to make sure it was the Lord's purposeful provision. We also figured that if it were, He would not allow us to leave without seeing Elana and Teresa again. We consecrated the decision to Him and enjoyed the rest of the show.
 
AFTER THE CONCERT
 
    The Lord directed us to the lobby of the auditorium after the show, and told us just to stand against one of the walls and wait. About five minutes later He said to Cory, "Okay, you can go now." We made our way through the sea of faces to the nearest exit doors, only to look up and find ourselves right in front of Elana, who pleasantly persisted in knowing where we would be staying for the night. This type of encounter was the kind of confirmation from GOD we had been waiting for, so we consented to stay with her and her family for the night. Teresa later told us that for her to offer her mother's house as hospitality to complete strangers was very unusual!
 
    While Elana and Teresa took a few minutes to visit some friends before leaving, Cory and I decided to meet some of the other people who had attended the show.

The Lord prompted Cory to go back inside and find Martin, then led him straight to Martin at the front of the auditorium. Although Martin only had time enough for a brief chat, the Lord made it clear that he had a strong anointing, and was actively pursuing a deeper relationship with Him.
 
    Meanwhile, I remained outside the auditorium. I introduced myself to a young lady who had performed in the choir's front row. I discovered her name was Katie, that she was eighteen years old, and was waiting outside for her boyfriend. We talked while she waited, and she began to ask me questions. I had a nice chat with her, and was glad to have made a friend, although in retrospect I realize there had been brief moments when she was somewhat forward towards me in her demeanor, but I had thought nothing of it.
 
    Before we finished talking, I looked up to see Teresa approaching. She was coming to ask me if Cory and I would like to accompany her and some friends to Damon's restaurant before going home for the night. I answered her heartily in the affirmative, though I was half awestruck.
 
    While en route to Cleveland earlier, I had seen a billboard advertising Damon's restaurant. The Lord had spoken to me just then and said, "You'll be going there tonight." I had dismissed the thought, first of all because we had committed to not eating, and second of all because I hadn't often heard the Lord's voice with such clarity. Consequently, when Teresa asked me if we would like to go to Damon's, I laughed out loud. I finished my conversation with Katie, and Teresa said goodbye to some of her friends. Cory had already come back outside, and we all headed to the parking lot to leave.
 
    The majority of the people had cleared out of the concert hall by this time, so Cory and I were somewhat alone when a young, homeless man stopped us, asking for spare change. He introduced himself as Karl and began to explain his situation to us. His demeanor was humble and broken the whole time as he confessed to us his lack, not offering any excuses for his present situation.
 
    I heard Karl's petition not as if it were for money, but as though he were crying out for the love of GOD. Just then, the Holy Spirit filled me with words to speak to him. I do not remember everything I said, but I do remember the power of GOD that filled me to exhort him to begin his faith in GOD at that very moment by first trusting Him for his next meal. He received the exhortation as a hungry person receives a hot meal. When I was done, Karl had been visibly touched by the exchange, GOD's counsel having been made manifest to him.
 
    Before saying goodbye to catch up with Teresa, who was waiting for us with her friend Heidi Patterson, I felt moved to give Karl my e-mail address and phone number. I emphasized to him that the Lord would one day bring him to a place where he could use it. I then remembered the two dollars I had in my front pocket, which I knew the Lord must have had me put there just for Karl. I reasoned this way because I rarely carry money in my pocket, but almost always in my wallet. I gave it to Karl, and before leaving, mentioned to him our own situation. He was comforted to learn that Cory and I had accrued much more debt than our suit-and-tie outfits may have suggested.
 
    As we walked to meet back up with Teresa, Cory suggested that I pray about Karl becoming my first employee. He pointed out that Karl said he had tried desperately to get a job but had not been granted anything.
 

OFF TO DAMON'S
 
    We followed Teresa and Heidi to Damon's restaurant, and got out of the car to head inside. As we walked through the parking lot, Cory noticed a quarter on the pavement, pointed it out to me, then picked it up. Believing this to be more than just coincidence, we noted to ourselves, "That's a lot of grace" (5 x 5), and wondered what the Lord might be trying to share with us. We entered Damon's, and were seated at a large table already partially occupied by Heidi's brother Aaron, his girlfriend Jennifer Foster, and another mutual friend of theirs.
 
    As Cory pulled his chair up to the table, he spotted yet another unclaimed quarter. Now certain that the Lord was trying to convey a message to us, we logged the information in our memories for the future, should the Lord choose to make use of it.
 
    We sat down across the table from Teresa, who was obviously distracted and weighed down considerably in her spirit. In fact, it was almost a struggle just trying to have a conversation with her. She appeared to be fine on the outside, but the Lord clearly pointed out some type of agitation afflicting her in spirit, Jn16:7-11 Rom2:4,9,13; 6:16; 7:22.
 
    Not wanting to be anti-social, I got up to introduce myself to Heidi's brother Aaron and his girlfriend. I greeted them warmly but was practically floored by Aaron's abrasive response. I smiled and attempted a tactful shuffle back to my seat, almost apologetically.
 
    I was very troubled in my spirit by Aaron's unexpected response to my greeting and began to pray. The Lord then began to show me that Aaron had some kind of strong, evil presence over him, manifested mostly as anger and mistrust. As I prayed, I began to see sixes and eighteens (6+6+6) everywhere, which I recognized as the Lord's indication for continued, urgent prayer for Aaron. Beyond that, the Lord began to show me a great weight of sin upon Aaron, the more I continued to pray.
 
    Cory and I did our best to make small talk with Teresa, and to avoid breaking our fast. We had purchased only soft drinks, and at the end of our stay we placed three dollars on the table with the tip. Everyone else had already paid for the check in full. When Teresa saw us put the money down, she looked at us and said, "This is too much money for the tip." She handed Cory and I several dollars and then asserted, "I know how much trips cost!" We told her we couldn't accept the money because the money she was trying to give back to us was actually twice as much as we had put down in the first place! After some persistence on her part though, we took the money, accepting it as GOD's provision granted to us through obedience in fasting.
 
AT THE VARELA RESIDENCE
 
    We followed Teresa home to her parents' house where she and her brother Ted (age twenty-nine) were still living. It was about 12:15am. Elana was still up waiting for us and had already prepared our sleeping arrangements. She ushered us in, and at her inquiry we started to tell her more about how the Lord had led us to Ohio.
 
    Elana was determined to hear every detail of our trip, and was very interested beyond normal measure. We sat down at the kitchen table, where first we held hands and prayed.

Cory and I then began to share about our joyous drive from Illinois, in which eight hours had seemed to pass incredibly fast. As we told about the Lord's daily direction in our lives, Elana grew increasingly interested. By this time, the Lord had brought Teresa into the room to sit down and listen as well.
 
    Cory then came to a pause in his storytelling and turned to look at Teresa. A few seconds later he told her, "I wasn't going to say anything, but you are very pretty without your glasses on." The subtle looks exchanged between mother and daughter told the story well before Elana could remark that Teresa had needed to hear that very much. It quickly became clear Cory's words had been prompted by the Holy Spirit, but Cory had felt awkward giving out the compliment, so had hesitated.
 
    Elana told us Teresa had been struggling with low self-esteem for some time. She was still involved in a relationship where her boyfriend had failed to reciprocate with anything positive, and Teresa had grown increasingly negative in her outlook of herself, even though she was a very pretty girl.
 
    I began to share my thoughts with her too about how attractive she was. In fact, I was beginning to notice a very strange thing: Teresa's whole countenance had miraculously changed since we had arrived and had begun talking about the things of the Lord. The Spirit was clearly moving now, and had begun to open up Teresa's heart. A few moments later He quietly told Cory, "The healing is completed."
 
    Elana then began to tell us about the miracle GOD had done in Teresa's life only the day before. Elana said she had been overcome by the unction of the Holy Ghost, and was moved to pray for Teresa for reasons she had then been unaware. [The Lord later showed us this sudden unction to pray for something specific is one aspect of His gift of 'helps' or 'assistance,' 1Cor12:28.]
 
    Not coincidentally, Elana found out from Teresa later in the day that at the very same time, two men had let themselves into Teresa's place of employment. This had been done during the two hours in the morning when she is in the office alone. When she had discovered them, they were obviously up to no good, and she had asked them what they were looking for. She told her mother they both then became dreadfully confused. Teresa knew they had entered the room without proper authorization to look through confidential office records, and so had directed them to exit the building. Thankfully, only GOD knows what might otherwise have transpired had He not moved Elana to fervent prayer!
 
    As Elana finished telling her story, the Lord helped Cory and I to see that He had allowed this incident to occur to begin to pry open Teresa's heart. He had been working on her for some time through her mother's prayers, and still more with Cory's comment.
 
    Sensing that the conversation was possibly coming to a close, Cory excused himself to go brush his teeth. Elana pointed him to the washroom adjacent to the kitchen where we were sharing.
 
    By now Teresa was standing next to me, and the Lord began to give me words to speak to her. I felt her burdens and how badly the Lord was trying to embrace her, but also how she was refusing. I said, "Teresa, you must open yourself up to be loved. You won't be healed until you allow yourself to be loved."

Immediately she stooped over crying, broken. I embraced her sobbing frame and asked that she would feel the strength of the purity in that embrace. A few minutes later she looked up and said through her tears, "I feel so good. I feel like a ten pound weight was just lifted off my chest." She then began to tell us how she had been raised a Christian, but had been living in sin and heaviness, especially the few years prior.
 
    Just then, Cory began sharing with us on his way out of the washroom. Clearly, he was oblivious to what had just gone on in the kitchen. He began to tell of how he had been bearing a noticeable burden which had finally just been lifted. When he came out into the kitchen and saw Teresa crying, he began to make the connection. He then told us of the Lord's earlier statement to him, "The healing is completed," which now made sense to us all.
 
    As Teresa and Elana both began to cry, Cory encouraged Teresa to go over and embrace her mother. Elana had been trying to hold her nine-month-old granddaughter Carrie Marie, so Cory reached out to take her. Elana said, "She'll cry!" but Cory said, "No she won't," and picked her up and held her. The Holy Spirit kept her quiet the whole time while He brought comfort and healing to Elana and Teresa.
 
    After a while, Teresa began to explain to us how she had been rebellious to her parents in the past few years, and that her relationship with her mother had only recently started to recover. The atmosphere was so peaceful and full of joy. We all grabbed hands and prayed. When Teresa began to pray, we realized that she had not only been cleansed of a burden of sin, but had received the filling of the Holy Spirit (see Acts9:17,18)!! One way we knew this for certain was through the increase in the beauty of her countenance, which was so evident. In fact, it was astonishing.
 
    After some time in personal prayer, Cory and I went to bed between 3:00 and 4:00am. The following day, the sabbath, we intended to leave the house early after our morning prayer time to meet Martin Owens in Akron.
 
OFF TO MEET MARTIN
 
    We left Cleveland for Martin's place about 8:00am, trusting the Lord to direct our way by His voice. After a few wrong turns prompted by satan, we eventually did arrive in Akron, though initially we had no idea which direction to take. When we did arrive at ECU, we considered it nothing short of a miracle. In spite of satan's many wrong directions, the Lord still proved to be the predominant guide for most of the turns we had made--except the very last few, for which we had used Martin's e-mail directions.
 
    The trip did take longer than it would have had we simply used a map, but as we found out later, the Lord had brought us to Martin's apartment at exactly the right time. He had used the rest of the time for fruitful prayer and sharing. We were reminded of the lessons He had taught us only the day before--how He would manage our schedules if we would for our part listen, obey, and trust Him!
 
    We arrived in front of Martin's apartment and briefly prayed. The Lord then repeatedly told Cory to go up and knock on the door. Cory was hesitant to show up unannounced, especially since he and Martin had agreed that Martin would contact him on his cell phone if he had time to spare before meeting with his parents. After a minute, Cory got out of the car in faith, found the door to the apartment complex, and dialed Martin's room number on the electronic keypad. Martin cheerfully let him in, and they exchanged greetings.
 

    The first thing Cory noticed was that Martin had just finished preparing a plate of pancakes, despite the Lord's e-mail instructions to fast until the meeting was over. Cory said nothing, and just trusted the Lord to work everything out. It was apparent the timing of our trip had been directed by the Spirit, seeing as how Martin was dressed and ready for the day, but his parents had yet to contact him. The Lord then provided a whole hour to meet with Martin, all before he could enjoy even a bite of his pancakes!
 
    Digressing back for a moment to the car ride before meeting with Martin: For half of the ninety-minute ride I had again been burdened to pray for Aaron. It was apparent the Lord was now wanting to accomplish a major work in his heart through my prayers, and that a serious battle was going to have to take place to fulfill it. After we had arrived at Martin's apartment, Cory went inside to meet Martin while I continued to pray.
 
    The longer I prayed, the more intense and personal the prayer became, and I found myself repeatedly speaking and reaching out with my hands, crying, and saying, "I love you Aaron. I didn't hurt you. I want to heal you..." After thirty minutes of this, I felt the peace of GOD come over the car in answer to my prayers.
 
    It was then I realized that Aaron, being Heidi's brother, had also undergone the trauma of having to deal with their father being innocently jailed and taken from their family. The Lord then began to show me that much of the anger and mistrust that had been manifested about Aaron the night before had begun to take root during this time of trial, and that Aaron had come to blame GOD in his heart for the pain the trials had brought. This realization also helped me begin to understand why I had been moved by the Spirit in my prayers to make such statements as "I didn't hurt you… I want to heal you."
 
    As I sat and pondered these things, the Lord prompted me to go to Martin's apartment as He had prompted Cory. I got out of the car, located the building's entry keypad, and dialed the room number listed for Martin. Within a few seconds Martin buzzed me in. My timing had also been perfect, Cory later informed me, since their conversation had come to a key point of transition.
 
    Our visit with Martin turned out to be a huge blessing. Though only twenty-one years of age, Martin had an obvious anointing and was pleasant, hospitable and mature. Through Martin's sharing, we were able to see that the Lord had just completed a "tilling" period in his life for the three and a half months prior. The Lord also showed us later that He intends to use Don Gretz to help disciple him and teach him His full gospel truth.
 
    Our meeting with Martin also re-established the fact that Martin's musical talents were very anointed. At the concert he had sung a moving solo. At his apartment, he picked up his guitar and played the most wonderful worship song the Lord had recently given him. The notes seemed to resonate so peacefully and deep that I didn't really hear the words, but just felt the peace of the Lord's presence.
 
   After a short time of worship the Lord indicated it was time to bring the meeting to a close. First though, He prompted us though to inquire of Martin as to the possibility of a nearby café, similar to a Barnes & Noble store, where we could wait on Him. Martin initially gave us directions to the local Barnes & Noble, but the Lord then indicated He wanted us to go somewhere different. We asked Martin about the possibility of another coffee shop nearby, and he told us there was a nice place named "Dante's" only two blocks away.
 

   We all joined hands and shared in a parting prayer. Cory and I were blessed to experience the Spirit moving through Martin's prayer as He had just done through his worship ballad. When Martin finished praying we all said our good-byes, and Cory and I put on our coats to head for the door. Just as we did, the phone rang. Not surprisingly, it was Martin's parents!! We took off down the road to the Dante's café, praying the Lord would have us meet whom He so desired.
 
AT THE COFFEE SHOP
 
    At the shop we purchased a couple drinks, as the Lord requires of us when we spend any time in a place of commerce. The shop's attendant, who was working on filling our order, noticed Cory's Bible and asked "Do you like the NKJV better than the KJV?"
 
    We began talking, and I soon found out her name was Katherine, and that she also was a Spirit-filled Christian. I took a few minutes to get to know her a little better, sharing briefly how the Lord had brought us to the university and how blessed we were to be there. She mentioned she also was interested in Christian ministry, and was presently working on going to India. I recalled some married friends I knew who were doing Christian missionary work in India and took her e-mail address to try to set up a connection.
 
    I finished my short conversation with Katherine, and Cory and I took a seat in the small café near one of the windows. Cory noticed one of the four businessmen who had been taking part in a small business meeting, but who by now had stepped outside to take a cigarette break. Cory observed that the gentleman had two strings hanging from the back of his sport coat, and how unseemly it looked. The Lord then impressed him to approach the gentleman and make him aware of the loose strings. Cory hesitated for some time however, pondering how ridiculous he would feel. But the Lord continued prompting.
 
    Cory finally got up and asked Katherine for a pair of scissors. As surreptitiously as possible he solicited the gentleman's attention, who by this time was seated again at the table with his business partners. Cory quietly told him of the situation and his intentions to quickly remove the offending strings. The gentlemen unexpectedly lit up with delight and said, "GOD bless you!" rose from his chair, and allowed Cory to remove the strings. He then remarked cheerfully in his heavy Somali accent, "That is how I grew up!" He was referring, he said, to his mother always wanting him to look tidy in appearance.
 
    Conversation then ensued. We found out his name was Abdul, a Muslim businessman originally from Somalia. He had come to the United States with $100 and the shirt on his back, and had built a distribution franchise into a powerful network now running out of South Africa, Denmark, London, Paris, and Ireland. He said he had a product line of 500,000 items, most of which were consumables.[see letter to Creflo Dollar re prospering]
 
    When Abdul began talking about distribution I somewhat pulled him to the side. I told him how the Lord had brought me into the Illinois distributorship for the MAXILUBE® line of products, and that I had been looking for advice on distribution. He bypassed my question completely and began what I would call exhorting me as from the Lord about casting off negativity to become successful. He told me I would be successful in whatever I would lay my hand to, and become what he called "the next Bill Gates." He kept sharing very positive, Kiyosaki-type advice about how to use the mind to train the body into success, "As a man thinks, so is he" Prov23:7.
 

    I couldn't believe how positive this man was. I knew that if he were to receive the gospel he would grow intensely fast because of his attitude, and I enjoyed talking to him. Although he was a Muslim, his countenance was a flesh copy of a Holy Spirit-filled love. [see how satan deceived Rev Schuller and Rev Hybels]
 
    Not much later the Holy Spirit moved Cory and I to head back to the Varela residence. We jumped in the car and enjoyed another Spirit-filled ride back. We tried to follow the Lord's leading to bring us the whole way back, but were misdirected by "unwanted help" several times before finally asking directions at a gas station to navigate the few final turns.
 
THE NEED FOR MINISTRY
 
    Shortly after we arrived, Elana showed up. When she noticed us sitting in the car reading our Bibles and waiting on the Lord, she approached to tell us she had been wanting us to know we could take showers at her son Andrew's house across the street whenever we needed to. We got out of the car and continued talking with Elana. She began to tell us that Andrew was her oldest son, and that he had been living with his lover Vernon for several years. She also told us more about her family's grief-laden past, and how some of these past events caused Andrew to turn to the homosexual lifestyle.
 
    Continuing on the subject of some of the family's griefs, Elana related how Teresa's twin, Tracy, eventually came to marry under difficult circumstances. Her marriage had since caused a good deal of otherwise avoidable turmoil between her mother, sister, and herself.
 
    When Cory and I had been praying for Tracy just a few minutes before in the car, the Lord had shown us both separately the verse Mk9:29. One confirmation that this was from the Lord came later when I happened to notice the family's mail for the day, and on the bottom of the pile was an anointed kerchief from Breakthrough ministries (a well known spiritual deliverance ministry). When we told Elana this, she said she knew at that point the Lord had brought us there to heal Tracy, which was actually what the Lord had told Cory the night before when Elana had been sharing about her.
 
    As we discussed more of what the Lord had shown us about Tracy, Elana didn't seem very surprised. She informed us of how she had recently been over to Tracy's house and had come across some things purely by accident, which confirmed some previous questions she had had. We came to understand that Tracy had likely arrived at her current spiritual state of need primarily through having to live in a household affected by these things.
 
    As we continued to discuss, Cory kept having to clear his throat. He commented on this minor annoyance, then asked Elana for a glass of water. Elana said she too had been noticing that her own throat was unusually scratchy, itchy, and dry. This, coupled with the fact that Cory had been simultaneously experiencing gastrointestinal pain, led us to conclude that we were experiencing a minor demonic attack. Upon realizing this, we were able to see that the attack had been brought on by our discussion of Tracy's needs.
 

Because of the demonic interference, from that point forward we were encouraged to take the matter to the Lord for even further understanding. Thus, what had been meant to annoy us and keep us from talking only provided confirmation that our topic of discussion was leading us in the right direction!
 
    Cory then explained to Elana that his gastrointestinal reactions reminded him of an unpleasant time he had spent in the bathroom that morning, during which he had spent a long time being freed from a significant amount of waste he had been carrying around. He told Elana how the Lord had shown him this was symbolic of the burden of sin he had been bearing for Teresa the night before, but that now, through the catharsis of her receiving GOD's forgiveness, he was now largely free from it (see Gal6:2).
 
    Elana then started to tell us about Teresa's boyfriend Mitch, and his current, active involvement with heroin. She told us of the seizures he would experience from coming off of it, and some of the negative effects his drug use was having on Teresa. Thus, when the Lord later showed us His desires to deliver Mitch from demonic oppression, we had little trouble believing it.
 
    Cory then discussed something that had happened to him while praying in the Varela's kitchen. He told us how suddenly he had grown very faint, and his knees had almost buckled for no apparent reason. He had ascertained at the time that this was yet another form of demonic attack, but was unaware as to what had brought it on. Just as he had begun to wonder about this, he happened to look out the kitchen window where he noticed Elana handing her granddaughter to an older couple who had just arrived. Cory recognized that his sudden weakness had coincided directly with the couple's arrival, and questioned Ted about them since Ted happened to be walking through the kitchen just then.
 
    Ted explained that the couple was Carrie Marie's other set of grandparents, and they had come to pick up Carrie Marie while Tracy, her husband Jake and Teresa were spending the day with some friends. Cory asked whether or not, according to Ted's knowledge, it would be wrong to assume that their arrival might also have brought with it a demonic presence. Ted responded that it would not be an unfounded assumption at all, and inferred that it was actually quite likely.
 
    The Lord then used the revelation about Tracy to enlighten our minds more to the immensity of the need for ministry, and had Cory kneel in the open area near the Varela's kitchen and pray. Cory began praying out loud, though quietly, then suddenly started weeping momentarily. As He later told us, the Lord had just then burdened him for Elana's husband Philip, whom we had yet to meet.
 
MEET PHILIP
 
    While praying, the Lord had given him a vision of Philip. In the vision, He saw a hand reach out and snatch all of Philip's clothes off. Philip had immediately covered himself as best he could with his arms and hands. Then, Cory saw the hand reach out again and heard the Lord say to Philip, "I will cover your nakedness." Philip took hold of the hand and the vision ended. Cory said the burden he had felt then left him as quickly as it had come. He continued in prayer a minute longer until he heard the Lord say, "It is finished." Cory stood up, somehow knowing that Philip had come home from work for the day. About thirty seconds later, Philip walked by the outside window and Cory said he looked just like the man in the vision!
 

    When he came inside, Elana insisted that we share with him all that the Lord had been doing, beginning with how He had originally led us to Ohio, and everything in between! We shared very briefly some of what the Lord had done, but were readily aware that there was little Philip would receive at that moment. He just seemed to be indifferent, though it was not clear why.
 
    When we asked Elana about this later she told us how she and Philip had experienced significant marital problems since they had first married thirty-three years before. She and Philip had basically gotten married to escape an otherwise boring existence and had not married for love. She had been beaten by her father as a child, and because of this still remained distrustful and aloof from men in general. It was clear from what she shared that she had yet to forgive a lot of the hurt that had taken place in her past. The Lord showed us the next day that helping Elana to forgive the matters of the past is how He intends to begin to heal her entire family!
 
    Cory and I then went with Elana across the street to her son Andrew's house to use the shower. When we arrived, Elana couldn't get her keys to work in the door. She let both Cory and I try, but none of us had success for twenty minutes.
 
AT ANDREW'S HOUSE
 
    While we sought the Lord for understanding about why He was hindering access to Andrew's house Cory received a phone call from Alex Poole. Alex had been the second person to become involved in CCCInc, and had been anointed through Robert Bristow's ministry back in October 1996. Robert was a director of CCCInc., and has since ministered to and encouraged Alex, who has experienced the Lord's loving hand growing him into His calling ever since.
 
    Alex and Robert were having a meeting, and Alex was calling to see how things were going. Cory related some of the experiences we had had to him, and Alex asked if we had any printed CCCInc. material to share with the Varelas. Cory responded that the Lord had not prompted us to bring any, but soon realized that such a basic step should not require prompting. Cory ended the phone call with Alex and began to pray about accessing an internet-enabled computer, and that the Lord would show us the proper timing to pass on any CCCInc. material to the Varelas. We also continued to pray about why the Lord was so obviously hindering us from unlocking the door to Andrew's house.
 
    The Spirit soon showed us that the locked house was actually symbolic: He had been trying to communicate to us that only Philip would be able to open the door of Andrew's "house." When Philip arrived back home later, he went over and opened the door with no problem. We then came to understand the deeper message that Philip's own healing would be the key to his son Andrew's as well!
 
    The Lord then began to point out that each member of the family will experience the blessing of the others receiving GOD's love, as the dominoes of healing begin to fall: first Teresa, then Tracy, Elana, Philip, Ted... and finally, Andrew! We also began to realize why the Lord had put two quarters in our pathway the night before: one signifying His abundant grace to Teresa; the other, to Tracy!
 
    As we contemplated these things we were reminded of how blessed we had been by Teresa's anointing the night before.

We began to realize that the greatest blessing anyone could give us was not hospitality, food, money or other similar blessings, but simply receiving GOD's love through us. We also came to see that the Lord Himself desires the same thing of us, in that the greatest joy of His heart and expression of His love towards us is best realized when we just allow Him the opportunity to give Himself as wholly as possible to us. This kind of uninterrupted yielding to Him is truly the greatest sacrifice of obedience we can offer in love to GOD! (See Eph5:22-32, 1Jn4, Rev3:20; see His Yoke)
 
    As if this wasn't enough revelation and blessing for one day, the Lord continued by inspiring Elana to keep sharing with us. She transitioned in topic from her family history to her own personal history, and the Lord began to use this information to point out to us one final detail about His desires to heal her family.
 
    Elana began to tell us about the fibro myalgia that had plagued her body for many years. The Spirit prompted me to ask if she believed her ailments were a thorn in her side (i.e., as a faith test) or a consequence of sin. She responded, "I'm glad you asked that," and proceeded to share how when she had first begun to experience the pain, she had questioned the Lord about what it was for. The Lord had then taken her directly to II Cor12:7-9 concerning Paul, the messenger from satan, and the thorn in Paul's side. Through Elana's sharing, He then began to illuminate to us that the "thorn" of Elana's physical ailments was actually representative of the burden she must bear for the healing of her family. Elana was greatly relieved when we shared with her that GOD would heal her physical ailments with the full restoration of her family.
 
    As our conversation came to a close we decided to consecrate Andrew's house to the Lord before leaving, then spent no less than twenty minutes praying over the bed alone. During this time the Lord instructed Cory to pull back the covers to show that there would be no more covering for the sin, and had him pray for conviction every time Andrew slept in the bed.
 
TERESA'S WONDERFUL DAY
 
    We all went back across the street to Elana's house and spent the remainder of the evening talking. Elana, Cory and I were studying John chapter fourteen when Teresa came home from paint-balling. She told us how she and her sister had enjoyed the most wonderful time, and had laughed until their sides had ached. It had been so long since she had had such a good time, and it had been even better that she had been able to spend it with her sister!
 
    After a short time Cory began to notice a continued disruption in the unity we had had while studying before Teresa had come in. It was mostly the baby's sudden, abnormal restlessness that had brought it to his attention. It seemed that an evil spirit had entered the house with Teresa, and Cory suggested we all hold hands and pray. Immediately after prayer the baby was no longer restless, and the peace and unity of the Lord came over the room again. Teresa began to grow increasingly focused on the Lord, rather than distracted and anxious, as she had also been the night before.
 
    Elana then began to share with us again. This time she told us about the phone call she had received earlier that day from her sister. It was apparent from what she shared that her sister was also anointed.

Elana said that when she had explained some of the things that had happened since our arrival to her sister, her sister emphasized in response the need for Elana to make sure that all of our needs were taken care of.
 
    I was touched by this thoughtful charge, and was also aware that this is the Lord's requirement for persons who provide hospitality (see Mat10:9-13). Cory and I were sensitive not to hinder the Varela's blessing through blessing us, but we were also mindful not to hinder the work of the gospel, so purposed together to accept as little from them as possible. (See 1Cor9, specifically verse 18.)
 
    Because of this, we later discussed possible future courses of action when confronted with similar situations. In the present case with the Varelas however, since we knew that they used a lot of flavored coffee creamer, we determined to purchase a few different flavors as a token of our appreciation for their thoughtfulness and hospitality. It was the perfect gift: small and inexpensive, but very thoughtful.
 
    When Elana finished detailing the phone call to her sister, Teresa began to tell us how, much to her surprise, she had had a very vivid and positive dream the night before. She also remarked how she had never smiled so much in one weekend! She then mentioned her unique car ride that day, where the sun had been pinched between some cloud cover, but had continued to shine directly onto her moving car. When she had looked at the cars around her however, she noticed that the sun was shining on her car only! Even as she shared these things, another miracle was taking place: Teresa's countenance was again radiating with a peaceful, supernatural beauty. It began to make sense why the Lord had given us Isaiah58:8,9a that morning as a life verse for her walk with Him. Teresa left us about 10:00pm to visit her friends at Mitch's house, and to try to share some of her testimony with them. We prayed with her before she left, then Cory and I continued talking with Elana.
 
A LESSON IN FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP
 
    Elana then told us how she had been troubled the night before when she had asked us where we were going to stay for the evening, and Cory had responded that he wasn't sure, but that even in a worst-case scenario we still had credit cards that we could use to get a hotel room. Elana explained how this had immediately troubled her, because she knew we were not allowing GOD to provide for us by having such a mindset.
 
    Cory acknowledged the faithlessness of the statement, then explained briefly some of his recent, personal background. He shared how back in February the Lord had turned he and a friend of his, Alex Poole, over to satan for a period of forty days as chastening for a year of negligent disobedience, despite repeated warnings. [See Do or Die.]
 
    Cory continued explaining how prior to February he had never incurred a dime of personal fees or interest to a credit card company, though he had long used credit cards for the sake of convenience. During the forty-day delusion however, during which the Lord allowed satan to step in and play GOD (see II Thess2), satan led Cory and Alex into complete financial ruin. Cory and Alex had daily experienced numerous miracles and signs which they had believed to be from the Lord. However, since they had slowly cast aside GOD's Spirit law of standard operating procedures (Ps119) through satan's subtle deceptions, they had come to believe that the money they were directed to spend by "GOD" was entirely for His purposes, and would be miraculously repaid by Him at some point in the not-too-distant future.
 

    Cory also told of how he and Alex had believed throughout the entire forty days--despite many strong admonishments in letters from Robert--that they had been moving in obedient faith. Even still, Cory explained, after two whole months since coming out of the delusion, the effects had yet to entirely sink in, and his mind was still somewhat conditioned to trust in his own means rather than the Lord's. The remnants of the habits formed during that period were still present in his life, he said, and he thanked Elana for the reprimand.
 
    I too shared how I had been through something similar financially, although not as extreme, and had also come to find myself in ruin through credit card debt due also to disobedience and satan's delusionary deceptions. Thus, the reproof was applicable to me as well. We thanked Elana again for the admonishment and apologized for being foolish enough not to trust in the Lord's provision. I fell asleep soon after this.
 
TIME FOR CHURCH
 
    The next day, Cory and I awoke to the family preparing for church. While everyone was getting ready, it wasn't long before we started to realize that Teresa had come home from Mitch's the night before under the influence of the same old distracted spirit. We were not fully aware of this though until Cory grew heavy during his morning prayer time. The Lord then made it apparent that the heaviness was another burden for Teresa, and that the way to get rid of it was to make some time to pray with her. Not finding opportunity to do so however before leaving for church, we prayed for guidance and trusted the Lord to take care of everything. We then followed the Varelas to church for morning service.
 
    After we all arrived at the church, Cory did manage to find a moment to pray with Teresa, but was unable to bring the matter under the full control of the peace of GOD. Teresa apparently did not fully recognize her need, and therefore was unable to devote her heart to seeking a solution.
 
    The church service began and we saw it as yet another opportunity to pray. Cory and I sat together, and by this time, we were expecting the church to have a revival service. Although there was no revival, I counted the service a blessing, having been burdened yet again to pray for Aaron.
 
    The Spirit had confirmed to me that Aaron would come to the service, though he usually attended only sporadically. I spent an entire half-hour praying for him, and was again brought to tears. As before, I came to the place of yielding up the peace of GOD in my own heart, asking Him to let Aaron experience it instead.
 
    The understanding the Lord gave me with regards to this sort of "transfer of blessing" was that since He gave up His power and awesomeness for my sake--to endure what I have to endure in flesh--consequently, when I'm feeling like a god, I should also be willing to freely forfeit that blessing for the sake of someone else, thus copying Jesus' example in Phil2:5-8.
 
    When the burden to pray for Aaron finally lifted, I was able to focus on the remainder of the service, which consisted primarily of the assistant pastor's sermon. When he finished giving the message, he asked the congregation if anyone felt as if the Holy Spirit was speaking directly to them, and praise the Lord, Aaron raised his hand! Although I myself didn't see it, Cory did. When he shared this with me, I was greatly blessed!
 

MEET THE CHURCH MEMBERS
 
    After the service ended, I spent some time meeting a few of the church members. Cory saw the assistant pastor come into the foyer area where we were talking, and went and spoke some encouraging words to him. He thanked him for listening to the Lord, and for delivering the message he had shared, mentioning also how he had been very blessed by it.
 
    In the mean time, I was conversing with a small gathering of three to five people. During our brief time together, the girl I had befriended after the concert on Friday, Katie, came up and threw her arms around me in a hug as if we had been friends for quite some time. I didn't consider this to be too terribly strange since I myself am a very touch-oriented person. Even so, it did strike me as being somewhat out of the ordinary, if not altogether inappropriate. I counted it a small matter, however, due to her age.
 
    Before I excused myself from the group, we were approached by one last person, a younger gentleman who introduced himself as Ned Scott. Cory was with me by this time, and we both recognized Ned from the concert on Friday, recalling that he had played a very moving solo on the keyboards. He had also led the choir in music that morning, and was a very gifted individual. He appeared to be about twenty-eight to thirty years old, and had a discernibly strong anointing, even though he was very laid back in his demeanor.
 
    We visited with Ned shortly, discussing our mutual acquaintance Martin Owens and his obvious musical giftings. As we talked, I saw Elana approaching us from across the foyer, and expressed to Ned that we would probably need to be leaving soon. Ned then asked us when we would be returning. Cory answered Ned by saying that we really weren't sure, then later told me that in answer to this question the Lord had told him, "Next week." At the time, I noticed that he had chuckled to himself, which he said he had done because what the Lord said had been so surprising to him, and he had found it hard to believe.
 
    We expressed to Ned and the others that it was good to meet them, and then stepped aside to speak with Elana. As we talked, Elana told us that Ned is actually the one who started the ACC choir, and that the church was quite blessed to have such a sensitive individual to help lead the worship each week.
 
NOT QUITE TIME YET
 
    Cory then asked Elana if the church had an available computer with internet access, and whether he might be allowed to print a short handout from the CCCInc. site. She responded in the affirmative, and assured us she would try to find someone with the proper knowledge of how to help accomplish the desired task. She was unable to locate anyone with any such knowledge however, but she did point us to an empty office adjacent to the foyer with its door open and an active computer inside. She asked if such a setup would suffice, and Cory told her "most likely," and that he expected it to be a very simple task.
 
    Cory sat down at the desk, intending to connect to the internet and print off the article entitled "The Church's Greatest Need." He located the computer's application that would connect him to the internet, and it didn't work.
 

Immediately after this the mouse pointer locked up, and Cory took the hint that the Lord was telling him it just wasn't His timing. Nonetheless, he had at least made the effort in faith by seeking to leave the Varelas with the necessary knowledge of how to access GOD's CCCInc. material on the internet.
 
    Cory told Elana what had happened with the computer, and thanked her for her kindness and help. I then asked what her plans were for our after-church activities. Elana motioned for us to follow her to the parking lot to leave, where she said Philip was already in the car waiting to lead us to Chili's restaurant. We got in our vehicle and followed the Varelas to Chili's. When we arrived, we parked the car, and all went inside to be seated.
 
LUNCH AT CHILI'S
 
    Almost the entire time we were there, Teresa was afflicted with the same distracted spirit again. It wasn't until the Lord had me begin sharing about His removing me from the army that her mind began to be drawn again to the things of the Lord.
 
    As I wrapped up the short summary of my time in the military, the whole atmosphere around the table changed. The Holy Spirit then prompted me to give one of my provision coins to Teresa. I moved to the other side of the table and sat next to her, and explained to her the significance of the coin. I was certain she was the one whom the Lord had intended for me to give it to, and that she herself would in time know who to pass it on to. At the moment she received the coin, her countenance miraculously changed, again, from distracted and anxious into sweet and beautiful, born again qualities through 1Peter1:22.
 
    I immediately realized that the word the Lord had spoken to her through me Friday was being fulfilled: Each time she would allow herself to receive His love she would be healed. Consequently, when she received the coin from me she was healed. The proof of this was that Teresa then proceeded to encourage us with her words, and a new presence emanating the peace and love of the Lord, Jn14:15-27 level peace and love, as in 1Jn2:24,27.
 
    After lunch we went outside to the parking lot where we gathered together in a circle to pray. Philip volunteered to pray, as he had done over the meal. As he prayed, it became apparent that the Lord had really touched him that weekend in a special way. The Lord had begun to show us this just the night before when Philip had walked into the living room where we had all been sharing, then kissed Elana goodnight. Elana had told us afterwards that he never does that, and if he ever were to do it, she certainly would have expected him to do it in private! Praise the Lord!
 
    Philip finished praying, we all said our good-byes, and Elana sent us off with flowers. She told us they were for Cory's wife, and for our own mother as well--for giving birth to us, as she stated it. It seems to us that the Lord may use the Varelas to heal our own families' broken relationships… so always reciprocating the blessings of His love, as in Eph4:16.
 

Type: sub, corp, cell gr, stu gr, pastor; Level: confess, Jn14 Disc: Brief details of meeting; scriptures, if believed, Spirit cfm, proof of growth, recent victories, proof of Rom6.

    While eating lunch with the Varelas at Chili's restaurant the previous weekend, Elana had asked when we would be returning to Ohio. This had been the second time I had been asked that question in less than an hour, and both times the Lord had told me, "Next week." I had responded both times in as vague a manner as possible, saying, "Probably in a short while," so I could first test what I was hearing before giving a more definitive answer. As I had suspected, the Lord eventually confirmed that a second visit was indeed His desire. He also showed us, however, that He wanted us to return for a third consecutive visit as well!
 
    During the weekdays before our second visit, the Lord reminded me of a vision He had recently given me, in which I had seen a man on the back of a flying, white horse shooting a crossbow. The man had fired three arrows in a short time, all of which stuck in some type of wall directly to the right of my head, impacting it with a thud, then vibrating to stillness. I had taken special note of the clarity with which I could view the heads of the arrows so close to my head. I also knew the arrows had not been directed at me, but did not understand until later that they were representative of three people. Prior to giving me this understanding though, the Lord had used the arrows to confirm to me His desire for three visits to Ohio.
 
AT THE CAMPFIRE
 
    When we arrived at the Varela residence around 10:00pm on Friday, June 8th, we saw Elana coming outside just when we pulled up to the house. This comforted us that everything was going according to GOD's perfect timing, since it seemed as if Elana had known we had just arrived, and had come outside to welcome us! When we greeted her, we found out she had really been coming outside to finish preparations for a campfire.
 
    A few minutes later we were seated around a crackling fire with Elana and both of her twin daughters, Teresa and Tracy. We were excited to see our friends again, and also to meet Tracy, who had a very pleasant spirit about her. Evidently, Tracy was just as glad to be able to meet us. The Lord didn't give Keith or I much to say at first, but instead just had us listen as Tracy volunteered to share a little bit about her week.
 
    Teresa had met up with her the past Sunday after having lunch with us, and had given her the provision coin she had received from Keith. Tracy shared how she had noticed a few things about the coin right away: First she had noticed the image of the mother holding a baby. Other similar coins she had seen, she said, only pictured the woman, but no child. This was significant because she had a nine-month-old daughter. A few other things she said that had stood out to her were the words "IN GOD WE TRUST," and the year the coin was minted: 2000, which was the year of her daughter's birthday. On the flipside she had taken special note of the eagle, which, as she said, is often used to represent freedom.
 

    Teresa then began to share with us some of the details of her week, and how the Lord had done something special with her each day throughout the entire week. Keith and I were increasingly blessed as we listened, recognizing GOD's healing hand and compassionate love more and more with each word she spoke.
 
    When Teresa finished sharing, the Lord prompted me to relate to Tracy some of the recent events in my own life, including His working towards healing my marriage. The Lord gave me a genuine sincerity and openness about my need for His healing in my marriage--a testimony which Tracy and Elana expressed that they greatly appreciated, because both were experiencing significant marital strife.
 
    Elana then asked us what we had from the Lord for her. I hesitated at first, knowing the sensitivity of what I knew I had to share, but finally told of how the Lord had begun to show us the past Sunday the way He wanted to begin to heal the Varela family. I informed her that this healing would come through GOD's enabling Elana to forgive those who had hurt her in the past. [See Forgiveness on Family#5 and hard forgiving]
 
    As I had suspected, the subject immediately brought up a defensive spirit. Elana did receive what I said as being from the Lord, but she still wrestled with the pain of trying to find the love in her heart to extend the needed forgiveness. As she stated it, she had always had trouble forgiving when she was unable to understand. To ease some of her tension, the Lord gave Tracy and I words of consolation, which helped to divert her attention away from the frustration for the time being.
 
    Shortly after this emotional interlude, Tracy indicated she would soon be leaving to return home. Keith and I had been blessed by her company, even though only for a short time. What seemed strange to us after meeting her however, and as we discussed later, is that we both had been expecting to meet a very troubled young lady. Based on what we knew about her need for deliverance from demonic oppression, we had mistakenly concluded that she would more closely resemble a mentally unstable wild person rather than the joyful and pleasant presence she exhibited. In truth, she was in need of deliverance and healing, as we later came to find out. But she was by no means representative of the typical Biblical example of a demon possessed person, such as is recorded in Mark chapters five and nine.
 
    Tracy said goodbye and left, and our sharing time began to draw to a close. We all then began to feel a sporadic, light rain that had begun to fall. It really wasn't enough to get us wet, but was enough to make us aware it was there. Keith shared how it reminded him of the prayer request he had made of the Lord earlier that night to send rain as a symbol of His blessing upon us all, even though the weather report had predicted a calm, rainless night! And before calling it a night, someone even suggested that the rain would probably begin to pour down as soon as we all went inside, which is exactly what happened!
 

SATURDAY: TIME WITH TERESA
 
    Keith and I spent time in personal prayer before turning in for the night, then prayed again when we started the following day, according to our normal, daily practice. Afterwards, we met up with Teresa, then rode with her to a local coffee shop to wait on the Lord and seek His edification. Before we were able to spend much time together though, a phone call to the coffee shop interrupted our conversation. The call was from Andrew, notifying us that I had parked my car in front of his the night before and that he now needed me to move it. At first I was troubled by this, thinking that somehow satan had found an opportunity to hinder the Lord's work in Teresa. After time though, I began to realize it was merely the Lord's provision for privacy. He had wanted to return us to the solitude of the Varela home where He could further touch Teresa's heart without any surrounding distractions.
 
    We drove back to the Varela home, and I moved my car. We then went inside the empty house where the Lord again touched Teresa's heart through words He gave to Keith. At first, Teresa tried to hold back her tears, having promised herself earlier that she wouldn't cry again. Thankfully though, she was unable to keep her promise! She had such a soft heart, and the Lord's words through Keith gently took root in its soil. Even while sobbing, the supernatural beauty of Christ came over her again, giving her a soft radiance.
 
    It was about this same time Keith felt impressed to pray for a verse from the Lord using the "point and stab" method. He went to the washroom to pray for a minute, then returned, and asked Teresa to open her Bible and point to a verse. When she did, her finger landed on Hos6:1-3, which in time proved to be relevant not only to her, but especially to her church. In hindsight, the three days mentioned in verse 6:2 proved to be an accurate pattern directly paralleling our three weekend visits to Ohio; presently, we were in the second.
 
    [As a side note: The following day during prayer time, I felt moved to try the "point and stab" verse-selection method as well, and opened to Jer31:3-6, which I knew immediately to be from the good Lord. As had happened with Teresa, the verses not only encouraged me as an individual, but the Lord obviously intended to use them for the edification of others as well. When I shared them with Keith, we could scarcely withhold our joy from receiving such pertinent revelation from such a seemingly unorthodox method of asking!]
 
    After some time, Elana came home, and we all went in and out of the house intermittently, talking amongst ourselves. I continued to seek the Lord's direction for His next move, and eventually He directed me inside the house where I began talking with Elana in the kitchen. Shortly after we started talking, the phone rang. I soon found myself hunched over on the floor, praying earnestly with an unidentifiable burden. Just prior to Elana hanging up the phone, I felt the burden leave and looked up to see the number '66.' At the same time I heard the Lord say, "The judgment is complete." I shared this with Elana, and asked her who had been on the phone. She first expressed concern, then told me it had been her daughter Tracy.
 
    Some time later the Lord showed me that the demonic influence upon Tracy had been a judgment from Him for past sin, and had begun when her daughter was first conceived. This judgment had now apparently been completed, a full eighteen months later. Thus, Tracy's complete deliverance from the evil spirit's oppression was not likely to be long in coming.
 

    When Elana and I finished talking, she encouraged us to attend a high-school graduation party for a pair of twins from the church, Ginni and Anthony. Keith and I prayed about this, and since we could see no immediate reason not to, we agreed to go. We rode off with Teresa to the party, which was being held in the church basement. When we arrived, I found a seat next to Elana, where I hoped to have some more Spirit-led sharing time.
 
MEET JOHN CLEMENTS
 
    Soon after I sat down, Elana introduced me to a gentleman by the name of John Clements, whom the Lord had miraculously healed from twenty-six years of alcoholism in March '98. John shared with me a moving testimony about how he had turned his back on GOD at age twenty-two, and practically in no time had become an alcoholic. Twenty-six years and a lot of loving prayers later, John was miraculously delivered from alcoholism at an ACC church service, and filled with the Holy Spirit!
 
    John also witnessed to me about how in the last seven months the Lord had graciously healed his washing machine, car, and another appliance. What struck me as significant though is when he mentioned that he had laid his hands on these things and then prayed over them out loud in the name of Jesus. As I pondered this, I realized the Lord was trying to point out to me that He had bestowed upon John His gift of healing, most likely at the same time He had healed him from the destructive effects of alcoholism.
 
    It was apparent John was not yet aware that GOD had given him His gift of healing, and I realized the present opportunity to share this with him. As I did, I wanted to also share with him how to allow the Lord to hone the gift through working his faith (see Rom12, Jam2; "Gifts"). Unfortunately though, John never really seemed to latch on to the fact of his gifting, and I knew therefore that it would be vain to try to emphasize ways of letting the Lord hone the gift. Nonetheless, I know the information I was able to share with him will be helpful for him to know, knowing that the Lord will use it to train him in His own good timing. It was a very edifying experience for me to partake in as well.
 
    As John began to share more of his testimony with me, the Lord prompted me to ask him if he would pray for my car after church service the following day. He agreed, and when the time came, he and Keith and I went out to the car and laid hands on it. A comment John made on the walk to the car made it apparent he was having trouble with the awkward nature of laying hands on a car and praying over it in the name of Jesus as an effective method of mechanics. He clearly believed the Lord could do it, but just needed a little boost in faith. When we laid hands on the car and all began to pray, I felt a sickness of sorts leaving the car at the very moment John pronounced the words, "in Jesus' name." I knew my car had been healed!
 
    I found out later that week, unfortunately, that although one of the car's problems had been healed, other problems still remained. I contemplated this for some time, and initially could not understand why the Lord had not fully healed the car. After some prayer, He later showed me He had indeed wanted to do so, but only would after I had tied up some loose ends He had given me, over the completion of which I had been negligent.
 

    Thus, I began to learn it was out of love that the Lord had waited to fully heal my car: to teach me to diligently obey all of His commandments so as to make sure to secure all of His blessings, always, and not to lose any (see II Cor1:20-22 II Pet1:10,11 lest II Thes2:7-12 for many believers, as warned by Paul in I Cor9:16,27 Heb3:6,14, also in Rev3:5).
 
MEET NATHAN MARTINSEN
 
    Very shortly after John finished sharing his testimony with us, we were introduced to a young man by the name of Nathan Martinsen (age twenty). I was very interested to meet Nathan, seeing as how during church service the week before the Lord had kept pointing him out to me, though I had not known why. I understood at the time that the Lord was saying he was anointed with the Holy Spirit, but knew nothing really beyond that. I had left my questions with the Lord, knowing He would have us meet in His timing if He should so will. We did not meet Nathan after service that first week, so I had been left with the question as to why the Lord kept pointing him out to me, unaware that I would be attending the ACC church again the very next weekend.
 
    Now that I was finally able to meet Nathan, I was curious. I listened closely as Nathan began to share his testimony, part of which detailed how the Lord had delivered him from six years of met amphetamine use seven months prior, during only his second church visit in his life. As he witnessed to us of GOD's grace upon him, the Lord began to show that He had placed an evangelistic calling upon Nathan, and had given him the gift of exhortation to begin to help him fulfill this calling. Nathan confirmed this, and shared how he had already made plans for the upcoming summer to go to a summit in Colorado Springs to learn more in the area of evangelism.
 
    For some minutes, I prayed while he talked, hoping to receive something edifying for Him from the Lord. The Lord eventually did give me 1Tim1:5, which I read to Nathan from my pocket Bible, then explained its relevance to him. As I spoke, the Lord gave power and conviction to my words, almost to the point of tears on my part; the words also holding weight and staying with Nathan. The Lord then impressed upon me that Nathan would be a key person in bringing His full truth to the ACC church; the present circumstances being similar to the account recorded in Acts19:24-28.
 
    At this point, Keith was moved to share with Nathan to trust the Lord to lead him according to 1Jn2:27: to still receive instruction from man, but to test everything with Scripture by the Spirit, as in 1Jn4:1-3. Understanding that even satan gives convincing interpretations of Scripture, Nathan would learn to test and prove Scriptural interpretations, mindful that truth from GOD builds the house of truth, and does not tear it down.
 
    I added to what Keith had touched on by sharing that when satan gives Scriptural interpretations, which are sure to come, in time they never fit with the rest of Scripture, and always bring up more questions than answers. Just as wine increases in value with age, so the knowledge of GOD's pure truth will in time reveal deeper secrets of wisdom, (Prov8:11). The simplicity of this seemed to hold significance for Nathan, giving him a method by which to learn to seek GOD's absolute truth through obedience to the Spirit, (Prov9:10 Jn14:15,17 1Jn2:3).
 
CCCInc. director's note: GOD's true teachers share the full gospel;
a) obey His voice, b) seek His face, c) endure all things till sinning no more; to abide, to be sanctified, to be soul saved, to attain His glory Rev20:6, see False Christians.
 

    One final thing the Lord gave me to share with Nathan was to always seek humility so that the Lord can continue to increase knowledge, especially for the purpose of edifying of others, as per 1Cor8:1b and Prov2. We ended our sharing session with a blessed prayer time, which rounded out an overall edifying visit to the graduation party.
 
AFTER THE PARTY
 
    While helping clean up after the party, Keith had a brief encounter with Katie again, the same girl he had made friends with the week before after the concert. At the same time, I was introduced to a lady named Mary, anointed twenty-six years prior, and still fiery for the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
    When everything was almost cleaned up and everyone was preparing to leave, Mary stated by the Spirit to everyone standing in the parking lot, (though not too many people heard her), that there would be a miracle at church the following day and that GOD was going to move. This weighed true with me and I questioned her about it before she could leave. The Lord then placed the same notion upon me for the rest of the night and I became convinced that it was true.
 
    When everything was cleaned up, Teresa, Keith and I jumped into the car and headed back to the Varela residence. Teresa made a pit-stop at Walgreen's, and Keith and I waited for her in the car. Keith then began to share how he was suddenly feeling some type of a spiritual "block," which, after prayer, I was able to discern in size, weight, and even shape as well.
 
    The Lord indicated this "block" was a burden for Aaron Peterson, whom Keith had often been pressed to pray for since meeting him at Damon's the week before. The "block" propelled Keith into fervent and loving prayer in the name of Jesus for Aaron, requesting that his bondages be broken. Keith pleaded with the Lord also, as in all his prayers for Aaron, that Aaron would experience the love, peace, joy and freedom of the infilling Holy Spirit of GOD.
 
    As Keith prayed, I discerned the gradual lifting of the burden and the defeat of the spirit he was fighting. Keith looked up and said, "Whatever it was, it's gone," and expressed what a joy it is to fight on someone else's behalf in the name of Jesus!
 
    That night, we enjoyed a good time of fellowship and sharing, and went to bed later in the evening. We woke up the next day and prepared to go to church with the Varelas.
 
SUNDAY AT THE ACC CHURCH
 
    Just as we had the Sunday before, Keith and I followed the Varelas to the ACC church, where we attended second service. There were a couple things particularly noteworthy about this service. The first was a testimony given by a visiting Indian Christian named Kaji. And although his Indian accent made it difficult to understand, we were able to sift out the main message, which was very awe-inspiring.
 
    Kaji shared with us the story of GOD's recent work in India, but mostly gave his testimony about the massive earthquake which had struck there just the month before. He told us how a local church had been persecuted by its Hindu countrymen, and how they had confiscated and burned two thousand Holy Bibles.
 

The pastor of this church had been very moved by the occasion, and had spent much time in prayer over it. Kaji spoke of how during one of this pastor's prayer sessions, Jesus had appeared to him in a vision and told him to get all the Christians out of the city as quickly as possible. In three days' time, Jesus said, He was going to bring judgment against the city.
 
    The pastor put much energy into passing on the message to all the Christians in the city. Most of them heeded the warning, but a foolish few did not. Three days after Jesus' warning, an earthquake of 7.8 magnitude struck the city and the surrounding region. In the earthquake, two thousand Hindu temples were completely swallowed up by the earth--one for each Bible that had been burned!!! Even many of the Hindus recognized this as GOD's judgment upon them, and came to repentance before the one true GOD, Jesus Christ.
 
    The second noteworthy thing about the service this week happened immediately after the choir finished performing at the beginning of the service. When the choir members finished their last song, they all filtered into different parts of the sanctuary and seated themselves. At this point, Keith's friend Katie came and sat down right between us. This unsettled me, though not so much the fact that she didn't ask if it would be alright, nor the fact that neither of us really knew her that well, but because it seemed to be an indication from the Lord that Keith and I were not in unity. Beyond that, the Lord seemed to be communicating a deeper message as well, which He later did show us, though not until the following weekend.
 
    Before the sermon began, the pastor took the pulpit and made an announcement that captured my interest. He announced that the church was going to be selecting a committee to rewrite its articles and by-laws. He then followed this announcement with the message he had prepared, which was very good and edifying. This was the first time we were able to hear him preach, and he began his message with a very powerful and encouraging theme of "getting back up." During some of our more difficult struggles, Keith and I still gain encouragement from his oft-repeated phrase, "Don't you laugh at me devil, 'cause I'm getting up!"
 
    In the exhortation I sensed the power of the Holy Spirit of GOD ready to break through, ready to move mightily. It was so clear I even remember slightly bracing myself against the pew. However, the service ended without any such extraordinary move of GOD. I couldn't help but wonder why the Lord hadn't broken through, especially with such a powerful message given, and also why He had not moved so powerfully this entire weekend as He had throughout the previous one.
 
    As I prayed on this I was convicted that the difference between this weekend and the previous was that this weekend, unlike the last, Keith and I had eaten as recently as Friday evening, right before the sabbath. Thus we were not as unified or focused through self-sacrifice as we had been the week before. I asked the Lord's forgiveness for my lack of willingness to deny myself food for the sake of others (see Is58), and committed to fasting throughout the entire next week as a sign of repentance, and in hopes of making up what had been lost through our indulgence.
 

Type: sub, corp, cell gr, stu gr, pastor; Level: confess, Jn14 Disc: Brief details of meeting; scriptures, if believed, Spirit cfm, proof of growth, recent victories, proof of Rom6.

    Keith and I left for Ohio at 1:00pm on Friday, June 15th. Ten minutes into our trip the Lord had us turn around and go back to call Elana to let her know we were leaving. I had assumed we would just do this on the cell phone during the ride, but the Lord showed me I would have been too concerned about using excessive cell-phone minutes, and would not have been able to discuss everything that needed to be shared. I talked on the phone with Elana for about ten minutes. I found out it had been a very hard week for more than just Keith and myself.
 
    Elana began to highlight briefly some of the week's difficulties from their end: One of Teresa's close friends, newly married only seven months prior, was already seriously discussing divorce. Tracy had been experiencing pain from one of her ovaries and had had to schedule a medical appointment. Elana herself had been having a hard week as well, mostly in her relationship with Philip. Through all of this sharing, the Lord started to illuminate to us more about why Keith and I had experienced such a difficult week as well. He was getting ready to take out some of the forces of evil that we had been battling through prayer and fasting.
 
    We departed for Ohio a second time, and at the outset began by praying for the Varelas and the ACC church. Not too much later, the Lord showed me in spirit a large, strong, black net holding in all the people of the ACC church. I watched with interest as the net would weaken with each successive prayer I prayed.
 
    Some time later in the trip I began to feel progressively more and more off track with the Lord. After hours of traveling and much prayer, I finally said, "Lord, even though I've done everything You've wanted me to this week, almost to the letter, I guess You being GOD means that You still don't owe me anything," (e.g. direction, leading, grace.) I then asked the Lord's forgiveness for having had such a mindset, and His peace and joy immediately returned to me, refreshing me. The Lord then took us to Romans chapter four, and taught us especially from verses four and five.*
 
    Keith then began to share with me how some time earlier in the trip he had had a vision of Jesus commissioning John the Baptist. At first, the meaning of the vision eluded us, but later in the weekend the Lord gave understanding after meeting with ACC Pastor Matthew Foster: Matthew shared with us wisdom based on Mat9:14,15, and how there are often seasons for fasting, and to be diligent to do so during such seasons. The Lord also showed us the vision was His initial prompting commissioning us to one such season of fasting--the sacrifice by which He would bring blessing to others, and consequently to us as well.
 
*CCCInc. director's note: This mindset or mistake is usually based on a person's self-righteous attitude. Millions of confessing believers "think" they are righteous or justified by merely confessing or doing good works. GOD's justification-righteousness is thru proven obedient faith, Acts10:35,43 Rom2:13; 4; 6:16 1Jn3:6,24. Most believers fail to qualify into Christ, so eternally in Adam 1Cor15:22a 1Jn3:8,10.
 

FRIDAY NIGHT IN OHIO
 
    We arrived at the Varela household in Cleveland around 11:15pm. Elana was still up waiting for us and we had an edifying sharing time until about 2:00am. During this time, the Lord began to bring forth a lot of understanding to Keith and I. For instance, Elana's son Ted came home as we were sharing and asked his mother not to sell his arrows in her garage sale the next day. Immediately, my ears perked up, as I recalled the vision of the three arrows I had seen two weeks prior. I reasoned however that Ted's mention of the arrows may only be coincidence, and that the Lord could still easily point out the arrows to me if He truly desired to, without me seeking them out on my own.
 
    Elana also shared with us about her daughter Tracy, and how from June 1st she had begun to experience significant pain in her ovaries. We found it interesting that the onset of the pain had coincided directly with the first day we had arrived in Cleveland. This helped to further assure me that the word of the Lord to me two weeks earlier, about coming to heal Tracy, was still a main part of His plan.
 
    During this same time, the Lord also began to give us deeper insight into the vision He had given me two weeks earlier involving Elana's husband Philip. Due to the sensitive nature of the revelation however, Keith and I determined to pray on it more for further confirmation before sharing anything. The next day after prayer, the Lord did have me share this information with Elana, which she confirmed was from the Lord.
 
    Keith and I were amazed that the Lord was giving such detail and clarity for the sake of healing this family. What's even more amazing though is that at the same time, through all of this, I myself was being healed from much past hurt and pain, and the years of dryness and trials I had experienced by the Lord's good grace. Keith and I went to bed some time later, and got up early the next morning for prayer.
 
ELANA'S GARAGE SALE
 
    The next morning the Lord took us to a nearby park to pray, during which time Keith found eight pennies and I found seven, for a total of fifteen. We then headed back to the Varela residence. When Elana saw us coming, she remarked, "What perfect timing." This comforted me to know that we were on track with the Lord. I had needed this assurance because even though the Lord had been speaking to me, His voice, for reasons I would not understand until later, had been coming through unusually muffled, and had been especially hard to discern and believe it was truly His.
 
    We then began to help Elana with her garage sale. The Lord was not allowing Elana to share with anyone at the time however her reasons for having it. After a little while two ladies showed up to browse the contents, and I felt a distinct prompt to leave. Elana afterwards explained that I had left at the perfect time, and that GOD had then opened the door for her to share with the visitors about the purpose of the garage sale. The two visitors happened to be Catholic, and were touched by Elana's Christian motives behind the sale. In fact, they had even committed to coming back the following week to help her with it! Elana explained that all of this could not have happened had I been present.
 

    When I returned to the garage sale a little later I found that Elana had employed a ten-year-old youth to wipe down a piece of furniture in exchange for a soda. I began to make small talk with him, and he made the comment to me, "Did you see those arrows in the garage?" I immediately became interested and looked inside the garage to view the arrows. Sure enough, there were three arrows in a quiver lined up in a straight line: one directly above another, just as I had seen in the vision. I wondered at the revelation of GOD and the possible significance of the arrows.
 
    Keith and I then began to help set up the rest of the garage sale on the front lawn. We were having such a good time we began to get a little silly. We also included Teresa in our merriment, which later caused me to realize that the Lord was using this to bring something to our attention.
 
    Teresa had been a whole different person the entire weekend, and the Spirit of GOD was developing a true self-worth within her. In fact, not once do I remember her looking distracted or anxious. There had been no evidence of insecurity in her the entire weekend, but mostly a joyful, peaceful, contented spirit. That very night, she even had her friend Heidi recolor her hair back to its original color, indicative of her growing self-worth.
 
    When Elana's garage sale was up and ready, I was moved to ask her about the general mindset of the surrounding community towards sexuality. I asked her this because I had come under yet another demonic attack, during which I had experienced extremely numerous and stupid, sexually perverse thoughts. These thoughts were so abnormal and abundant that I began wondering where they were all coming from. The Lord then used Elana's answer to help me realize the desperate need for Jesus in the surrounding community, and the city in general.
 
    Elana explained to me that the cities of Cleveland and Akron were home to a large population of homosexuals, drug users, sexually perverse people, and a significant amount of satanists. She noted also that many of these same people had either been sexually abused, or were abusers themselves. I was mostly alarmed however by the fact that during the five minutes she was telling me this, she identified five to seven people walking by as homosexual men, to prove that what she was telling me was true.
 
    The Lord then took me on a prayer walk through the run-down area of town in which the Varela residence was located. He stopped me in front of numerous houses to pray over each one for minutes at a time--one of which just reeked of marijuana usage, even from thirty feet away! During the walk, I picked up many stray pennies. After I had accumulated fourteen and assumed that this was a possible indication that my walk was nearly finished, the Lord said to me, "…one more." He then told me to cross the street and turn the corner, and stopped me right in front of a final, fifteenth penny. This was His way of reassuring me that the prayers offered up during what probably appeared to others to be an aimless meandering in front of the locals' houses, was by no means in vain.
 
    After my walk, I went with Keith to the store to buy some small gifts for Elana. When we returned to give them to her, I again felt the need to pray. I went to the living room where I knew I could be alone, and knelt down with my head to the floor. As I prayed, I had some unusual experiences, which I afterwards shared with Keith, who had also come in to pray.
 

BREAKTHROUGH!
 
    I explained to Keith that as I had been praying, I saw myself moving in spirit as the Lord directed me. It was only the second time I had been in this place in my life. I had seen myself swinging a light saber, but had noticed that Keith was not with me--even though he had been praying in the same room. I then asked the Lord, "Where is Keith?" When I received no response, I decided to try to pray him into the picture. Eventually, he did appear, but when he arrived, he couldn't get his light saber to function. I asked the Lord "Why?" to which He replied, "It's because he hasn't been fasting." [See Fasting]
 
    I then recalled the word of the Lord to me almost two years earlier, and began to realize the reason I had seen myself using a light saber instead of just a simple sword. I had been at Borders café in Chicago in a meeting with Robert, and had gotten up to visit the bathroom. On my way to the bathroom the Lord had stopped me in front of a Star Wars book and said, "I'm going to make you into a Jedi."
 
    I continued to tell Keith more about what I had just experienced. Keith's light saber had finally begun to function, and I had seen us standing back to back. He stood facing to the left, holding his light saber, on the defensive. I faced the opposite direction, swinging my light saber furiously and destroying enemy strongholds. At one point, I clearly saw Aaron Peterson with shackles binding his hands and feet, which suddenly then just fell off. This is when the Lord gave me a significant vision.
 
    I saw the pastor of the ACC church, Matthew Foster, preaching in front of his congregation. Matthew had numerous cords binding him from all sides, which all at once disintegrated into nothing. Jesus then appeared behind him in the air with His arms open wide, and light began to shine out from Him until Matthew was no longer visible. He reached down to a colorless hunchback in the congregation and said, "Come up here with Me and I will heal you." He repeated this to four or five other hunchbacks in the congregation, then held out His arms again and began to spin. Bursts of light like hundreds of knives started shooting out from Him into the entire congregation, touching everyone present. Then, the vision ended.
 
    After stopping to tell these experiences to Keith, I was still able to freely return in concentrated prayer to make advances against the enemy. When I did, I discerned the ACC church as a glowing rock. I then tried to spread out the people and the power that made up the glowing rock in order to establish strongholds against the enemy, as in the game of Risk. Eventually the Lord stopped me, and told me plainly, "You don't know how to make war!" He then showed me the glowing rock again. It was to remain unified and strong, and had not been meant to be spread out. Before I left, I took one last opportunity to check the large, black net I had discerned in prayer on the drive to Cleveland the day before. Praise the Lord, it had burst wide open, and people were flowing out of it left and right!
 
    In my spirit and soul I felt a great joy and refreshing, and lay on the floor and laughed. I looked outside the window, and the clear-skied, sunny day had instantaneously turned into a torrential downpour! I knew the Lord was using this to say that He would no longer hold back His blessings. I later learned that I had arrived at a new place in my walk with Him, mostly through prayer and fasting.
 

    I was so blessed and encouraged by this experience, especially when I considered how Keith and I had held up the Lord's work just the week before. This week, however, the brunt of any satanic resistance had already been defeated! GOD's power in church service the following day was more than sufficient evidence of this.
 
    When I finished praying and talking with Keith, the Lord prompted us to ride with Elana and Teresa to the store, where I began to relate the same experiences to them that I had just shared with Keith. Elana listened intently, then by the Spirit declared, "Sons of Thunder!" Keith and I looked at one another in amazement. GOD had used this Scriptural parallel with us quite a bit in the past to show us numerous details about our individual callings--though we were still barely being awakened to them, much less maturing into them.
 
    After returning from the store, Keith ate supper with the family, and I went to the living room to pray again. While in prayer, the Lord showed me His desire for Elana's son Ted to be pure, holy, and above reproach in his own conscience, mostly in reference to a specific situation taking place in Ted's life at the time. The Lord also showed more details about His desires for Philip to be healed: He was wanting to remove certain specific things from Philip's life to begin healing his soul as well. As for the bit the Lord revealed about Ted, I passed it on to Elana as soon as I could--seeing as how the Lord would not allow me to continue in prayer without first doing so. Elana said she had been concerned for Ted and in prayer about that very thing over the previous three weeks, and that it was a confirmation to her from the Lord.
 
    After this, I became very heavy in spirit, and went on a prayer walk to understand what had suddenly come upon me. Eventually, the Lord showed me I was bearing the weight of Keith's eating, which was hindering the clarity of his spirit, and thus our unity and GOD's power. This had been a recurring problem in the past, and I became especially agitated and said out loud in frustration, "So I've been bearing your sin!" My self-righteous condemnation quickly abated after speaking this, however, when I heard Jesus use my own words to say the very same thing, but directly to me! I was immediately humbled and broken, and sought the Lord's healing and forgiveness so that Keith and I could be unified as much as possible.
 
    The Lord then kept telling me to go talk to Elana, who was sitting on her porch near the sidewalk, and conversing with a local resident. When they finished talking, Elana told me a story about the lady she had just been speaking with. As the Lord had already known, Elana's story directly applied to my present situation about dealing with self-righteous anger, and granting forgiveness as Jesus (Mat6:14,15). The Lord used Elana's words to console me, and to correct my attitude towards Keith.
 
    One last thing the Lord illuminated to me was that the intensity of the battle inside of me was the cause of the "muffling" of His voice I had begun to experience over the previous seven to ten days. The personal breakthrough I had experienced had actually been the casting out of some evil spirit that had been fighting to stay, but which had been evicted through fasting and prayer! [See the e-mail from Jorge included at the end of this report for a more detailed, similar testimony.]
 

GOD'S TOUCH ON PHILIP
 
    Elana and I went inside where we had an after-dinner conversation, which included Keith and Teresa. Shortly thereafter, Philip came up, abruptly pulled up a chair, and interrupted our discussion by saying, "Okay, what are you gentlemen here for?" Keith and I had been aware of the agitation that had been building in Philip over the past weekend, and we had tried to be sensitive to the fact that our presence at his home was somewhat of a strange situation, especially for a quiet person like him.
 
    [As an aside, the Lord had made it known to us earlier that Philip was still affected by the pain which stemmed from when the ACC church had broken off from its parent, the APC Pentecostal church, and the Lord was desirous of healing his hurt completely.]
 
    Keith and I answered Philip's question in abnormal, graceful humility. This question was followed with more, but with almost each answer we gave, Philip would interrupt with yet another question. This pattern continued for some time, and the Lord eventually soothed his heart. He finally became assured that we were not there with any agenda of our own, but were simply trying to listen to the Lord's voice moment by moment, attempting to discern what He desired to do at any one time. In the end, Philip was unable to find fault with our presence, and even found himself welcoming us back in the future! Clearly his intent at the outset of his inquiry had been to expose us as having selfish motives for being there, if not to just ask us to leave altogether!
 
    After Philip was settled, the whole family went outside, while Keith and I remained inside. The Lord granted Teresa and her father an unusual healing time there, in which Philip was able to express his love and affection for her--something she had needed for a long time. GOD's healing of this family was becoming more and more manifest with every moment, and all of it to His great glory! The Spirit of peace descended upon the household very perceptibly, and Keith got out his guitar and sang songs of worship and praise on the porch. It was truly a beautiful night.
 
EVENING WORSHIP AND PRAYER
 
    Later, we all moved inside, and Teresa reclined on the living room floor where she almost fell asleep to Keith playing the guitar. When I came in, she was so noticeably different from the two weeks before that I didn't want her to leave. I was so blessed by the evident work of GOD in her life. I encouraged her to stay a little while longer while Keith played some more worship songs, and we all enjoyed the Spirit of peace.
 
    At one point during our worship though, I felt impressed to pray again, whereupon I went to the kitchen and crumpled onto the tile floor from the onset of yet another heavy burden. I knew the burden was for the ACC church, and I began whimpering and crying out to GOD for His grace and mercy upon the members of the church. As in the past, the burden eventually left just as quickly as it had come.
 
    Arising from the floor, I moved back to the living room where Keith was still playing the guitar. After singing a little while longer, Teresa, Keith and I joined hands in prayer to the Lord in a spirit of peace and unity, after which we all turned in for the night some time around midnight.
 

SUNDAY BEFORE CHURCH
 
    The next morning, the Lord woke me up around 4:30am. I woke Keith, and we both went outside to pray for an hour. We then came back inside to study the Scriptures, but began to doze off. Recognizing this as a last demonic assault before their certain defeat at the upcoming church service, Keith and I went back outside to make sure we would not fall asleep and lose what had been gained the day before. We had another very good prayer time, and at 7:15am the Lord had me go inside and wake Teresa. No one else in the house was awake yet, and we had to leave for church in less than an hour.
 
    After waking Teresa, I walked back outside where I noticed a piece of metal in the rear tire of Elana's car. I imagined it was probably a "gift" from satan, but didn't really think too much more about it.
 
    When everyone was ready to leave, we drove off to church. Keith mentioned to me that just prior to leaving he had prayed, then asked Teresa to do another "point and stab" in the Bible. He said she had selected II Chron32:6. We reviewed the passage prayerfully, and the Lord pointed out He wanted to make us aware of verses six through eight. Not coincidentally, just the Thursday prior He had impressed upon me to read Hezekiah's revival in the same section of II Chronicles. This is one way I knew these three verses were clearly from Him--quite apart from their obvious relevance to the soon-expected revival service. The Lord then showed us that the message of the verses, as before, was two-fold: The beginnings of revival would take place that day, and GOD wanted to establish leaders to maintain it afterwards. Keith and I joked that Teresa had the gift of "point and stab."
 
    The Lord, this week, was having us go to first service, rather than second as we had done the two Sundays before. We arrived at the church, and the Lord told me to park on the street. When I got out of the car, I clearly saw in my spirit numerous angels flying all around the church, some stationed at key points. In fact, I thought I was seeing things! We proceeded inside where worship had already begun. The presence of GOD was already manifest in power and peace, recognizably more than the two Sundays before.
 
FIRST SERVICE AT ACC
 
    Keith and I were blessed to be able to share in the refreshing worship. Pastor Matthew, in the front row, was noticeably excited about the Lord, already praising with all of his being. The service was a blessing, and Matthew's exhortation was based on "The Faith of Our Fathers" from Romans chapter four--the same passage Keith and I had read on the drive from Illinois. Matthew, who also happened to be Elana's nephew, had been pastoring the ACC church for three and a half years. Before he began to speak this day though, there was a short time of sharing from the pastor emeritus of twenty-seven years, Pastor Scott.
 
    Shortly after Pastor Scott finished, Matthew began his exhortation. Later though, when his exhortation began to come to a close, I started to wonder when the power of GOD was going to fall, and thought maybe I had misunderstood something. Suddenly, in mid-sentence, he grew very excited and said, "I just got a word from the Lord...! The Holy Ghost says to someone out there today, 'Hold on mom! Hold on dad...!' The Holy Ghost just interrupted me!"
 

He then took off in an excited, Spirit-led exhortation about faith. Keith and I began clapping and praising GOD while he continued. It was an obvious and exciting interruption from the Lord! But soon after Matthew finished, I was left wondering why there had been no revival yet. I waited patiently, trusting the Lord to move… which is exactly what He did next!
 
MEET MATTHEW
 
    While everyone was mingling and leaving after service, Elana came to the front, pulled Matthew aside and told him he needed to meet us. When she told him we had come all the way from Chicago, Matthew commented that the Lord had probably wanted us to hear the message that he had just given. Elana looked at him and said, "Matthew, you don't understand. They've been fasting and praying all week for you." Matthew's countenance then changed to one of serious inquiry, and he excitedly asked us to come to his office where he asked us what was going on. First, we all held hands and prayed, then I began to share some of the details of our journey.
 
    I told him how the Lord had originally brought us to the ACC church, and a bit about how He had worked in my own life. I shared with him about GOD's obvious work in having the ACC church form a committee to rewrite the church's articles and by-laws, and that through the Lord's already-present global structure, CCCInc., and the man whom He has used for the past sixteen years to set it up, Robert Bristow, the ACC church's new articles and by-laws were already taken care of!
 
    I then explained to him that GOD has had Robert homeless and penniless in Chicago for the past sixteen years, and that very few people have come to believe what he has said concerning the Lord's gospel truth and plan. I continued to explain how just in the last three to four years GOD has increased the CCCInc. church to a mere five to seven active participants, but through it is preparing to rock the world with His power in a repeat of Acts 2-7.
 
    I also shared how the previous week, the Lord had been having me read Acts chapter two every day, each time stressing the phrase in verse one, "…in one accord, in one place." He had used this to point out the seriousness of the need for unity between Keith and I before He would move in power in Ohio. As I shared these things with Matthew, the Spirit gave power and conviction to my words, and they weighed heavily with him. I then shared with him the vision the Lord had given me the day before, and he readily recognized the cords as symbols of the bonds of ritual, Spiritless, dead-doctrine religion.
 
    Matthew responded excitedly that this was like a fresh word from the Lord; that Keith and I had to be careful with such intensity for the Lord, and that the people, though having ears cannot hear, and having eyes cannot see; that we need to be compassionate and understanding with them while trying to draw them closer to the Lord. This was clearly the Lord speaking to Keith and I, and we took earnest heed, the Lord Himself having iterated the same points to me just days before.
 

    As Matthew spoke, the Lord used the fact that he mentioned two or three times the phrase, "…that's the special pastoral grace the Lord has given me" to catch my attention. Matthew had been referring to the supernatural patience GOD had graced him with to be able to look past the faults, shortcomings, and even blatant sins of the members of his congregation for the sake of still being able to edify them; not excusing the sin obviously, but being graced enough to look past it for the sake of nurturing and edification, rather than bringing condemnation based in self-righteous indignation. The Lord later pointed out that this "special grace" was His gift of ministry to Matthew, as mentioned by Paul in Rom12:7.
 
    Matthew then shared how the Lord had brought him to the ACC church over three years earlier to be a breaker, according to Mic2:13, he said--to break the church free from the bondage of dead, ritual religion. He continued to excitedly share how most people couldn't seem to understand that he could live at such a level of intensity for the Lord all day every day, even while doing such activities as fishing. He hardly had two people in the world, he said, including pastor friends, that could understand him. A block on his desk with the word 'attitude' in large letters, and a little saying under it about being positive caught my eye as significant. He was truly a man on fire for the Lord.
 
    The Lord then had me give him II Chron32:6-8, and explain that GOD was going to break forth in second service. He also had me share that He had literally pointed out Jer31:3-6 and Hosea6:1-3 for the congregation, and that Matthew should read the selections to the congregation during the revival.
 
    During the time that I reached across his desk to give him these verses, my arm caught a little eagle figurine and knocked it face down on his desk. Initially, this troubled me, and caused me to think that somehow the Lord was trying get my attention to let me know I had erred in word or deed somewhere. I prayed about it momentarily, and although I was assured that I hadn't mis-stepped, I was still sort of troubled by the occasion. When Keith and I met with Matthew again in his office after the service, the same thing happened two more times. On the way home it became clear that this had been the Lord's doing, when I mentioned to Keith that Matthew obviously has a very high calling and is very spiritually gifted. Right when I spoke this, I looked up and saw the words, "white eagle." I then knew that the Lord had been trying to point out to me that He has called Matthew to the highest Christian walk possible--to the walk of a father in Christ (1Cor4:15), for His name's sake.
 
    Matthew, Keith and I all joined hands and prayed, and Keith and I went back to the sanctuary where worship had already begun. We were so excited we began praising the Lord with hands joined together in rhythmic worship in the air as we walked to our seats. The people around us seemed to notice that we were unusually excited for having just walked in.
 
GOD MOVES!
 
    It wasn't long before Matthew came out and started speaking right in the middle of one of the choir's songs. The music pretty much slowed almost to a halt, and instead became the background for a very powerful congregational exhortation, which included phrases like "I'm not coming down, you're gonna have to come up!"
 

    From here, it was like an ease into a powerful move of the Spirit, but the level of intensity just began to increase more and more. It was clear that the order of service we had followed during the first service had been seriously altered. Matthew then began to share that if anyone wanted to see a vision from the Lord, to believe that they would and to raise their hands, praise the Lord, and sing hallelujah. After singing, he asked if anyone had seen a vision. Some people raised their hands. Matthew then shared how he himself had seen a vision in which the walls of the church had just fallen down! The atmosphere was very charged with the power of GOD.
 
    Next, Matthew asked anyone who wanted to be healed to come to the front so that hands could be laid on them. Numerous people came up, and others gathered around to pray. It was very reminiscent of a Rod Parsley type of service. In fact, when we had first seen Matthew at the concert two weeks earlier, Keith commented that he looked very much like Rod Parsley. I agreed, and said that I didn't think it was coincidence--the Spirit had likely been making a connection in our minds.
 
    Matthew then began to declare that the Holy Ghost was saying to him, "I am healing backs today." The Spirit then prompted me to go to the front of the sanctuary, unnoticed by most due to all the excitement, and encourage John Clements to use his gift of healing. I encouraged him to go lay hands on Elana Varela, who had come to the front for healing, which he did.
 
    Elana had had back surgery in the past, but as suspected, did not receive healing that day, according to what the Lord had shown us before: that her healing would come with the healing of her family, and that the physical pain was a thorn in her flesh so that GOD could receive as much glory as possible when He did decide to heal her fully. Elana shared with me after the service that she was aware of all of this, and said that she already knew GOD would heal her when He was good and ready, and that His reasons for waiting were all for His glory. She also told us she had a very strong faith in the Lord's healing, having hands laid on her in the past, and having watched as GOD had grown her leg about a whole inch right before her eyes! A complete stranger whom GOD had redirected in his travels had administered this healing. He initially had had no idea why the Lord had redirected his travels until the Spirit eventually pointed out Elana to him, and her need for healing.
 
    While I was at the front of the church, John asked me if the Lord had healed my car. I told him "Yes, but only in part." I then shared that the Lord had shown me His full healing would not come until I had tidied up the loose ends I had been negligent to take care of.
 
    John was obviously looking for some encouragement for his faith to believe more fully in his gifting, and I don't think it made it easier on him that Elana was not healed that day. When I shared this later with Elana, I also told how in the past, the Lord had given spiritual gifts that actually rested on the individual until the time they were able to receive them. Thus, it had indeed been necessary for Elana to go forward to be healed. This explanation was not merely an attempt at a comforting explanation, but a spiritual discernment which I shared with Elana to confirm her need to have gone to the front of the sanctuary. However, it was also an encouragement for John Clements, to reassure him that the lack of her healing should not be equated with a lack of faith on his part. Jn20:22 Acts1:8 into Acts2:4 1Cor12:7. (see growing into greater belief or faith)
 

    The service continued on with exhortation and praise. Matthew was noticeably sensitive to the fact that the congregation had been standing for some time, so asked if anyone had been healed. A lady in the front spoke up and began to share how she had prayed on the ride to church that morning that GOD would heal her back. She then told how in the church service just minutes before the Lord had given her a vision in which she had seen chain links going down the length of her spine, and each link was broken while she looked on. After that, she said, the warm hand of GOD reached out and healed each injured portion of her spine! Praise the Lord!!!
 
    Matthew then shared how he had seen yet another vision. This one had been of the youth pastor growing very large in stature in a very short time. The youth pastor himself then spoke up, and began to tell how at the very same time he had seen a vision in which he was carrying a sword so large he could hardly use it! Putting the two visions together, GOD's message became pretty clear: He was commissioning the youth pastor to carry the sword of His holy truth as taught through CCCInc., and at the same time was showing His intent to grow him to the stature that he would be able to properly wield it.
 
    The Lord then had me stand at the back right side of the sanctuary. There were three doorways to the sanctuary and Keith was standing near the middle. The Lord kept making it a point to me that he wanted Keith, Matthew, and I to be standing in the form of a triangle, symbolizing stability and unity. This seemed odd to me, but I was aware that certain patterns and shapes have effects in the spiritual realm that I am yet unaware of. I shared the Lord's desires with Keith and he moved from the middle to the left side of the sanctuary. Matthew remained in the front center.
 
    On the car ride home that night, Keith told me how the Lord had made him squad leader of a heavy weapons division while he had been in the military. He then elaborated about how his own particular squad had been in charge of three, large M-60 machine guns. He said they had customarily posted them in triangle formation for the purpose of overlapping fire, and for maximum effectiveness. I was intrigued to learn this information, it being confirmation to me that this otherwise strange prompting to stand in a triangle formation had been from the Lord. We stayed our positions for most of the rest of the service while the Lord moved in power, and often found ourselves weeping, kneeling, standing, and frequently, if not constantly praying.
 
    The Lord through Matthew then moved a young lady by the name of Lynn to share what He had given her the week before--when Keith and I should have been in unity of spirit with Matthew to accomplish the Lord's desires then, but were not. Her testimony was the nail in the coffin for me in that she shared how during service the week before the Spirit had come over her. When He did, she had closed her eyes and wrote what He spoke into her mind. She had wanted to share it when she had first received it, but for reasons she explained, had waited until now. The words she now shared were clearly from the Lord, and the congregation stood in silent awe and worship after she read them.
 
    Afterwards, the pastor returned to the originally planned schedule of service, still according to the Spirit. He began to read the passage from Romans chapter four, and then added Jer31:3-6 and Hos6:1-3. It was apparent to everyone that the Scriptures were very relevant and applicable to the ACC church. Beyond that, the Spirit impressed upon me that the verses had heavy prophetic overtones that none could yet fully appreciate.
 

    As the service began to conclude with song and prayer, the Lord directed Keith and I to the hallway where the door to Pastor Matthew's office was located. A few minutes later, Nathan Martinsen came out of the sanctuary. We greeted him warmly, very glad to see him and he us. A minute later, Matthew came out and excitedly asked us to come into his office.
 
AFTER SERVICE
 
    The three of us grabbed hands and began to pray fervently for some minutes. The Lord then had us all share different things--one of which was a passage of Scripture the Lord had given Pastor Matthew for us, from Hebrews 5:1-4. The Lord then had me give Matthew a list of seven things He wanted to leave with him, delineated below:
 
    1) The ACC church is akin to Sarah's womb, Rom4.
    2) GOD wants Matthew to take Nathan Martinsen under his wing and mentor him. He then wants Matthew, Steven, and Nathan--the three arrows in my vision, the heads of which I could see clearly--to grow intimately together in studying His truth on the CCCInc. web-site, and to learn to stand strong together in prayer, fasting, and study. Matthew eagerly confirmed that this instruction was from the Lord, and that the Lord had told him twice in the two weeks prior to take Nathan Martinsen under his wing and to "draw him close."
    3) In order for the glowing rock which represented the ACC church to continue glowing, there must be twenty-four hours of prayer per day going on for revival, involving as many ACC members as possible. GOD later showed me He wants to use Elana to encourage this effort, partially by taking a significant part in the effort herself, using her gift of helps to direct prayers more accurately.
    4) All who are willing should fast from Saturday until Sunday after service. This included with it the instruction that the Lord will set apart those who do fast as having a greater amount of grace. GOD would then use these people to prove His desires to grow and purge His followers more rapidly through the sacrifice of fasting. (see 4 stages of growth).
    5) Re-read Jer31:3-6 and Hosea6:1-3 to the congregation often, since the Scriptures are very prophetic, and so the church can remember its calling and GOD's grace upon it.
    6) UNITY is crucial, especially amongst Nathan, youth pastor Steven, and Matthew.
    7) https://www.cccinc-7candlesticks.org, the address of the CCCInc. web-site, with an abundance of material to study, by which the Lord could grow them up into a knowledge of His absolute, Eph4 truth.
 
    I then explained to Matthew that GOD wants to use the material on the web-site to grow the ACC church through him, Nathan, and Steven, but also that the material is very challenging. I judged that he would not have too much trouble accepting it as GOD's truth, seeing as how his obedience to the Lord is measurably beyond the average anointed person. Matthew was excited to pursue these instructions, which he seemed to indicate he knew were from the Lord.
 
    After the meeting we prayed, and Keith and I set out to leave for the Varela's. Before the Varelas had left the church earlier, Elana had strongly emphasized the need for us to visit their home again before we headed back to Illinois, which we were happy to do.
 

LAST STOP: THE VARELA RESIDENCE
 
    Upon arriving at the Varela household, I received a thirty-minute phone call from Alex, which was very edifying for both of us. Keith went inside while I talked to Alex and watched Philip change one tire apiece on Teresa's and Elana's vehicles.
 
    After the conversation with Alex, I began to wonder about the word of the Lord to me two weeks earlier, at our first real encounter with Elana that night at her kitchen table: "That's why you're here. That's why you have this burden. You're here to heal Tracy." Well, it seemed like this was going to be our last few minutes in Ohio for quite some time, and it didn't look like casting out an evil spirit was going to fit into the schedule anywhere. I wondered how the Lord would work, but did not doubt.
 
    I then called my wife from my cell phone to alert her to the fact that although it was 1:30pm, and we still had a nine hour drive ahead of us, the Lord had not yet released us to go. In fact, after I hung up, the Lord impressed upon me that we would actually be staying until about 4:00pm!
 
    I entered the Varela household, and went to the living room to talk with Elana, where Teresa was seated as well. As we conversed, something I had experienced in the service continued to nag at me to share with her, but I tried to keep it to myself for some time, thinking it would bring negative results. When it just kept coming back to me, I began to share it with Elana, trusting it was the Lord who was pressing me to share it, and that He would bring about the intended results.
 
MEET PASTOR SCOTT
 
    I began to tell Elana how during the first service, when it was announced that Pastor Scott was going to share briefly, I had looked over to see him walking down the side aisle to the pulpit. When I did, I found myself having to do a double-take. In my spirit, I had clearly seen a ten-foot dark figure walking behind him, towering over him. I shook my head in disbelief, and dismissed it as an aberration of my overactive, spiritually-excited mind. I succeeded in dismissing it by bowing my head in prayer, until a half-minute later when Pastor Scott was behind the pulpit and began speaking.
 
    Before I looked up though, I discerned a very strange thing: None of his words were making sense to me, and I was having a very difficult time truly hearing anything he was saying. It was literally like so much noise coming out of his mouth. I looked up and again saw the ten-foot demon standing behind him, with very much strength and authority. I absolutely could not believe what I was seeing! I put my head down and started to pray frantically, now understanding why I had been unable to hear any of his words in my spirit: They were falling to the ground even as he spoke them! And still the demon towered behind him. I also noticed that his words did not flow freely, as is often the case when the Holy Spirit uses a man and quickens his mind to teaching and exhorting. Rather, his sentences were broken and disjointed, with a lot of pauses and quick "...ums."
 
    As I prayed for GOD to have mercy on the congregation, and to get this man out from behind the pulpit, I wondered why He would even allow him up there in the first place.

I knew the fight we had gone through in prayer the day before, and the victory that had been won. I questioned the Lord two or three times as to why He would allow such a thing after so much effort in prayer, and heard Him say only once, * "Just be patient."
 
    I continued to pray fervently, but the demon would not budge. The only thing I saw as I prayed was an angel of similar size and stature next to him. The angel would take his sword and press it up against the demon's sword. The demon would then bend back slightly, but clearly there was no fight. Finally, after about ten minutes of empty words, Pastor Scott left the pulpit, and I breathed heavy sighs of relief. The youth pastor then took over the pulpit, and the Spirit's direction to the service was immediately restored.
 
    The thing that troubled me most about this was that Matthew had been giving periodic "amens" to Pastor Scott's words, as had others. It was apparent they were not seeing what the Lord was showing to me. Either that, or they just couldn't see it because they had grown to trust and respect Pastor Scott as a credible source of truth, which blinded them to the deadness of his words.
 
    When I began to share these things with Elana she became perceptibly disturbed and said, "Now you're scaring me." She then explained that she was not troubled by the unusual nature of what I was sharing, but began to relate the following:
    A few weeks prior, a man by the name of Fred, who had been a member of the ACC church for some time, had approached Elana and told her that he just knew there was something wrong with Pastor Scott. He had then told her that he was going to approach Pastor Matthew about it. When he did so, he told Matthew that if something was not done he and his family would be forced to leave the church. Nothing was done about Pastor Scott, so Fred and his family left. This had happened only weeks before.
 
    Elana then began to share with me more about Pastor Scott, of whom I knew almost nothing. I had only heard a few things about him from her earlier in the weekend. I had learned that during his tenure as pastor he had made a trip to northern India to preach. Also during his tenure, He had taught with strong conviction for a long time that marrying a divorced person was Biblically forbidden (unless due to infidelity of course; see Matt5:32). Some years ago however, she said he had begun a serious relationship with a woman that was contrary to what he had so long taught. I then asked if she knew if he was still anointed or not, to which she simply replied that she did not know.
 
    Elana now began to share more with me, and I became aware that the Lord was bringing all of this out for a reason. As she talked, the Lord began to illuminate to me that Pastor Scott is actually the reason for all of the turmoil the ACC church has had to endure in the past few years (and thus Jer31:3-6 and Hosea6:1-3 began to take on a new significance). When I told Elana the Lord was showing me this about Pastor Scott, she nodded in sad affirmation. She elaborated by saying that Pastor Scott was a man of much, much study, but that he had sometimes taught Biblically questionable lessons. These lessons sometimes had caused disruption and division amongst the church members. (See Prov6:19.)
 
* CCCInc. director's note: GOD in love has allowed man to rule His church Jer23 Acts20:29,30 2Pet2 1Jn2:18,19 for 1900yrs, but He promised to purge many from His new church Acts15:16 Heb8:2 Rev3:7-13, even rebellious women who deny, despise, destroy His teaching, His truth, His Eph4 work, so leading millions of souls to copy Judas into eternal damnation.
 

    On the positive side of things though, Elana did mention that when Fred had approached her about Pastor Scott's false teaching, she had told him that she knows what the Lord has taught her, and did not strengthen in any way his resolve to encourage Pastor Scott's removal from the church. She said that if that were to take place then it would have to be the Lord's doing alone (...as He did with Bernardin and Wimber).
 
    Elana was clearly not bitter in any way towards Pastor Scott, and even shared how he had once humbled himself before her in his office: He had called her in to ask her forgiveness if he had ever treated her in a way that made her feel worth anything less than a woman. He had then preached a message to the congregation about the worth of a woman, and GOD so touched Elana through it that she wept the entire time.
 
    She then told me she was now beginning to understand a vivid dream the Lord had given her fifteen years earlier: Pastor Scott had been rejected by everyone in the church, and only Elana remained to try to help him up out of the rubble that was once his life. She shared how in the dream she had told him, "Come on, it's time to pull yourself up by your own boot straps and get on with life." She said the dream had ended there, and so she never got to see whether or not he actually chose to get back up from it all. Quite clearly the Lord was bringing this all out now for prayer and future direction for the church.
 
GOD DESIRES TO HEAL
 
    On the ride back to Illinois that night, the Lord touched my heart with prayer for Pastor Scott. I prayed for his restoration and GOD's great mercy upon him. As I prayed, the Lord began to illuminate some things to my mind: The demon I had seen had been the demon of religion--the very demon the Lord had brought Matthew to eradicate. However, due to his personal and professional relationship with Pastor Scott, Matthew had not yet been able to see that the demon he was fighting derived its power and authority from the very man he had succeeded in the pastorate, and who was still an active, recognized authority in the church! Undoubtedly, this demon had grown so large because of Pastor Scott's tremendous amount of authority and trust in the church, having been pastor for twenty-seven years.
 
    Upon realizing this, I cried out to GOD, foreseeing the pain of the fight Matthew would have to endure to fulfill GOD's will for the ACC church. I contemplated how fitting it was that numerous times in his exhortations he had made such statements as, "Love is not compromise…. Telling the truth does not mean compromise… The reason I struggle with sharing the truth with you all is because I want you to like me… but I also know that you would rather have, and need, a pastor who will tell you the truth [without watering it down for the sake of acceptance]."
 
    The Lord had quite clearly already made Matthew keenly aware of his pastoral obligations to his flock. He just had yet to make him aware of the battle that he must soon face as a test to his devotion to truth; wherein if he succeeds, the ACC church will be healed of all its pain. (See Jer31:3-6 and Hos6:1-3 again!) (see GOD's chalice)
 

    There are still a couple things to note about this situation. GOD illuminated to me through Elana's sharing that Pastor Scott had begun to slide into sin around the same time he had started the relationship with the woman he is presently with, and has been in gross sin ever since. Elana remained unmoved when I mentioned this to her, but I was aware in spirit that this is what the Lord was pointing out to me as the cause for Pastor Scott's fall. I asked Elana about the woman he was seeing, and she said she didn't really know much about her except that she was Katie's mother. The Lord used this information to later reveal to Keith that this was the cause for his friend Katie's friendliness towards him, in spite of the fact that she had a boyfriend: The spirit of infidelity that was upon her mother was also active in her as well!
 
    I knew the Lord must be giving all of this revelation about Pastor Scott for more than the sake of just knowledge. He was wanting to emphasize His intended restoration of Pastor Scott--through the elimination of the sinful relationship and repentance from false teaching.
 
    The final thing relevant to this whole situation has to do with Pastor Scott's son Ned, founder of the ACC youth choir.
 
NED'S BURDEN
 
    During the revival service that day, the Lord had prompted Ned to approach Keith and say, "There's something I need to do." We still do not know what he had meant to do, but only know what the Lord had shown us through briefly conversing with him after service:
    Ned had approached Keith and I in the hallway after we had finished talking with Matthew after service. When he greeted us, I readily discerned in him a very wounded spirit. Ned shared how he was very glad that we had come, and even thanked us for coming. He then asked us to keep him in our prayers. We readily agreed to, and I even suggested that we all pray right then and there… which we did. I later commented to Keith on the car ride home that Ned has a strong anointing but that it's unfocused due to the deep wound in his spirit.
 
    I also shared this discernment with Elana and she responded affirmatively. She then added that Ned had been hurt by all that has gone on with his father and the woman he is with. The picture began to clear up a little for me, but nothing was real concrete until the Lord showed me more on the ride home through prayer.
 
    The Lord revealed to me that Ned is presently bearing the sins of his father, and even though he does all that he can to fulfill his own calling, he is finding it very difficult because he is bleeding to death in his spirit (see Num14:18). This brought a deep sense of compassion on me for Ned, and I realized that he cannot be healed until the church is healed, and this can only take place when the church sees the need to reject his father from his position of authority and trust.
 
    Feeling strong compassion for all involved, I cried out to the Lord repeatedly. The Lord then said concerning Pastor Scott, "I will heal him." I arbitrarily glanced down at the odometer right when I heard this and saw the number '8888.' Aware that GOD often uses the number eight to symbolize a new beginning, I took the fact that I had noticed this rare sequence of numbers as the Lord's further confirmation to me that what I had just heard had indeed come from Him.
 

    [Even as I type this, the Lord continually shows me eights and fives; so many in fact that it would be hard to pass off as coincidence. (GOD often uses the number five, as mentioned earlier, to symbolize grace and mercy.) I know the Lord wants to emphasize to whomever may read this, (especially to anyone close to the situation), that His desire is not for Pastor Scott's ruin, but for his healing and restoration through total rejection and repentance. (See II Cor2:6-11.) Before getting too far ahead though, I need to get back to the task of completing my story about all that happened before we left the Varela's for Illinois that day.]
 
    After sharing all of this with Elana, my mind was filled with more than sufficient information to pray over and consecrate to the Lord's care. But before I could let it sink in for too long, I looked over at Teresa, thinking I had just heard her say, "Tracy's here." I was somewhat startled when she then looked out the window and said "Tracy's here." I knew then that it had been the Lord I had heard speaking to me. I came to understand later that He had done this for more than one reason: True enough, He was indicating both Tracy's arrival, as well as the importance of it… (all right in line with His exact, perfect timing!) But more importantly, He was confirming that the understanding I had been gaining about Pastor Scott was all from Him. It was now about 3:15pm.
 
TRACY ARRIVES
 
    Tracy's husband came into the house, followed by Tracy carrying their daughter Carrie Marie. She introduced Keith and I to her husband, Jake, who sat down nearby in the chair Teresa had been in. Jake was clearly in need of Jesus' love, though on the outside he seemed like quite a normal, easy-going guy. However, there was something not quite right with his spirit, which the Lord later confirmed to me when his face suddenly flushed red for no apparent reason. Someone then made the comment how he must have gotten a lot of sun that weekend. I knew from the Lord, however, that the redness was not the result of sun but of sin: a physical reaction to a spiritual stimulation; Jake having entered a house full of the peace and presence of the Lord, while not being right with the Lord in his own life.
 
    Not long after Tracy arrived, she mentioned off-handedly that she would like a piece of the cake that Teresa had made the night before for their father Philip. The Lord then impressed upon me the need to go to the kitchen and get a piece for her. After I had gone to the kitchen, I turned around to see Tracy come in just a few moments later, and she began to prepare a new pot of coffee to have with her cake. It seemed to me that this was the Lord making the opportunity to "heal" her, as He had stated two weeks earlier was His purpose for my presence there. What I didn't know, however, was just how He planned on accomplishing this, nor did I know what to expect.
 
    While waiting for the coffee to brew, Tracy began to ask me about the church service, and I joyfully shared with her some of the highlights. She mentioned how she had been very desirous of seeing Keith and I that day before we departed for Illinois, especially seeing as how she had been unable to attend the church service. The Lord had heavily impressed upon her, she said, to make sure she made Keith and I some thank-you notes for the time we had spent with them--a gesture which I was very touched by.
 

    While Tracy continued to share, I prayed over how the Lord intended to work out her healing. Finally, He told me, "If you put your hand on her shoulder, I will give you the gift." I felt awkward thinking about doing this, not really knowing her very well. She was standing to my right, so I reached out my hand in faith, and put it on her shoulder as she continued to talk. I bowed my head, prayed silently, then clearly discerned in my spirit a very wimpy little demon, that had practically been fasted and prayed into non-existence, detach himself from her and float off into the abyss.
 
    I then heard the Lord say, "It's gone." I opened my eyes to see Tracy crying, though very quietly. I began to share with her what had just happened, and how the Lord had told me two weeks before that He had brought me to heal her. I continued to tell her about how Keith and I had prayed for her, and the Lord had then showed us separately the verse Mk9:29.
 
    After we talked a few minutes more, Tracy began to repeat numerous times, "Because you have made such a sacrifice being away from your family these past three weekends to help us, the Lord is really going to bless you and your family." Each time she said it I was very touched, and heard it as coming from the Lord. I began to feel a strong bond with Tracy, and was moved to ask the Lord, "Does she have the anointing?" to which He responded, "Of course she does!" Tracy had been anointed since well before we had met her, but due to the Lord's using Mark9:29 to show us her need, I had not even considered the possibility that she could be anointed.
 
    [Not coincidentally, when we arrived back home a day later, I received an e-mail from a close friend of mine by the name of Jorge, which is included below. Jorge had been anointed for a few years, and in the e-mail testified about a very similar deliverance in his own life (only the day before Tracy's!). In hindsight, I know I should have been aware from Scripture that Jn14 level Christians are subject to many unclean spirits, but I hadn't really contemplated the possibility of it. On our way back to Illinois later, the Lord continued to impress upon me that He has placed a very high calling on Tracy's life.]
 
    Before preparing to leave, I shared with Tracy not to be concerned about the problems she had been having with her ovaries. I explained that the pain she had experienced was just a sign of the demon fighting our fasting and prayer to boot him out, which she acknowledged as true. She then told me she knew that her ovaries had already been healed, and how she had been able to go to the doctor just the day before to have tests done, and had not experienced any problems since. She also had scheduled an appointment earlier in the week, she said, but the receptionist had scheduled it for the wrong building. Tracy therefore had been unable to make it to the appointment on time, and had to reschedule. She knew this "mistake" was actually the Lord's provision, in that He was pointing out to her His desires to heal her ovaries Himself.
 
    The last thing Tracy shared with me was how the Lord had told her some time ago that He was calling her to children's ministry, in which she would help children who have experienced similar violations as those which she herself had experienced as a child. Through prayer on the car ride home, the Lord made it clear to me that this would fit closely alongside the family ministry that He has called me into, thus helping me understand better why I had begun to feel such a bond with her.
 

    Tracy then asked me to come to the front door where she pointed to my car and said, "You'll be safe on your ride home. The Lord just showed me you have five angels on your car... two on the hood, two on the trunk, and one on the roof." I knew that what she spoke was true, especially considering the Lord's frequent use of the number five to signify His grace and mercy. I also took this "re-opening" of her spiritual eyes as the Lord's proof of His delivering Tracy from demonic oppression. On the drive home, the Lord impressed upon me through prayer that our families would work closely together in ministry in the future. He then began to increase His holy love for her in a special place in my heart.
 
PARTING REVELATIONS AND CHARGES
 
    Finally able to "receive" Tracy's anointing, I was able to see that the Lord had been emptying her out for some time, and is now preparing to fill her up to use her powerfully. The Lord even opened my eyes to see a very real parallel between the Mary and Martha of Scripture (in Luke chapter ten), and Teresa and Tracy: Tracy being Mary who sits at the Lord's feet, so content just to be in His presence and learn from Him; Teresa being Martha, initially distracted, (as in Lk10:40), zealous to serve and take care of others, with such a giving servant's heart, but in need of simply sitting at Jesus' feet.
 
    I stressed to Tracy the need for her and Teresa to always encourage one another in the name of the Lord after Keith and I had gone. I also said the Lord had told me that He wanted her to fast on Saturdays, and that if she would do so, He would heal her family more quickly. I knew such fasting would allow Him to open doors to bless her, and to increase her growth into Him more rapidly. When I mentioned this charge to her, I knew it would neither be a burden on her, nor meet with any resistance. She had such an open heart to receive whatever the Lord may require of her, unlike most people I have ever met.
 
    As a last measure of precaution to encourage spiritual growth, I impressed on Tracy the need for her to prod Teresa to spend more time in morning prayer and Bible study. I shared this with her because of what I mentioned earlier about Philip changing the two car tires.
 
    The Lord had shown me that He had allowed satan to puncture Elana's and Teresa's two tires to try to motivate them to increase their time with Him first thing every morning. This especially holds significance considering the symbolic message: that neither of them would be going anywhere, spiritually or physically, if they did not spend that extra time with Him the very first thing in the morning so that He could strengthen them anew for the day ahead. Both Teresa and Elana received this readily, confirming it was from the Lord.
 
    Before leaving, Keith and I went into the living room to say a parting prayer with everyone. We all joined hands, and four or five of us prayed out loud in succession. Before the end of the last prayer, the Lord reminded me of how He had had me pray for the gift of tongues for Teresa earlier that week, so that she might quickly become established in her Christian walk. I remembered too how the Lord had told me in response to my request, "Of course" she could have the gift.
 

    Before the last amen, I felt a warmness in my hands, and a stirring in my spirit. I knew the Lord had given me the gift to pass on to Teresa. I rose from the floor, put my hands on her shoulders, looked at her and said, "This is a gift from the Lord. It will manifest when you are able to receive it--most likely in your morning prayer time. When it does manifest, you will have no question as to what it is." I knew the Lord was saying He would manifest the gift during Teresa's morning prayer time to teach her He indeed wants increased, quality time with Him first thing every morning (to prove we want His grace, love, power into 2Cor1:20-22; 1Jn2:6; 3:6. See gifts)
 
    Keith and I said our good-byes to everyone, then left Cleveland, overflowing with GOD's love, the peace and joy of His presence, and the satisfaction of being able to be even a small part in His glorious plan. We drove home through three to four hours of unbroken, heavy thunderstorms, beginning just barely an hour outside of the Cleveland area.
 
[June 25 note: Keith and I found out the following weekend from someone who had traveled through the same storm that it had actually included a very destructive tornado which had traveled down the same highway we had driven on, and had leveled everything behind us for approximately thirty miles! We know this was the Lord showing us the physical manifestation of the rage of whatever spiritual power or dominion He had defeated through our visit. The Lord also used this information to enlighten us as to why He had shown Tracy the angels on our car, which we now know had been protecting us from the devastating effects of this spirit's rage.]
 

Type: sub, corp, cell gr, stu gr, pastor; Level: confess, Jn14 Disc: Brief details of meeting; scriptures, if believed, Spirit cfm, proof of growth, recent victories, proof of Rom6.

E-MAILS FROM JORGE
 
 
Date sent: Sun, 10 Jun 2001 18:32:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: J V
Subject: Help!
To: Alex Poole, Cory Sellers
 
Cory and Alex,
 
I desperately need your prayers right now. This fast is HARDER than the last. There are times when I really don't know if I'm going to make it. I really don't know.
 
I need strength. I need this purge to be done with. I want this evil spirit gone. GONE!!
 
Thanks,
Jorge
---------------------------------------------------
Date sent: Mon, 18 Jun 2001 18:46:53 -0700 (PDT)
From: J V
Subject: Great. Odd. Odd. Odd.
To: Tony George, Alex Poole, Cory Sellers, Keith Sellers
 
Guys,
 
Here's how things have been shaking down for me thus far.
 
On Saturday, I was at the HWL as usual, but no one showed. I had the feeling that this would be the case b/c of my lack, but there was more going on. I was going to continue reading the word, but I couldn't bring myself to open the Bible, so I began to pray. That's when things started to get really cool.
 
First, I started to get restless. Not like last week, Tony, when that evil spirit manifested itself. This was excitement. I wanted to run on the ceiling if I could. I was practically bouncing out of my skin. I was feeling exuberance. Joy. Jubilation. Giddiness. Then the thought came to me "Anoint thy head with oil." This was followed up with, "Today's the day." This was the fifteenth day of my fast (5 x 3). I started to walk around the circumference of the sixth floor praying and praising GOD. I started to gag and I went to the washroom to vomit, but nothing happened. When I sat back down, my body began to twitch and move under its own volition. Then the really cool thing happened: I began to pray in tongues. Not from my mouth, but in my head. I was praying silently (i.e. in the spirit), but instead of English words reverberating in my head, it was what I have heard to be the gift of tongues. I was really reveling in the moment. Then I opened my eyes and Jonathan was standing at the table.

I said hello and told him what was happening. He said that he didn't want to interrupt, but I didn't want to send him away, so I invited him to sit down. We chatted for a while and he excused himself to get some air. Robert arrived shortly thereafter. I asked Robert if there has to be a physical manifestation of a purging of evil spirits. He said no and I told him about my twitching. He said, "That was the demon getting booted out of there." I ended my fast that night. I felt wonderful.
 
Here's where the odd thing kicks in. Food tastes bland. I've lost some of the . . .satisfaction that comes with eating. I don't abhor it. I don't feel conviction or guilt. I believe that ending the fast on Saturday was a right step, but food just doesn't satisfy me anymore. I still eat and I still enjoy eating, but not as much as I used to. Strange, eh?
 
On Sunday, I went to church and the pastor was out of town. No biggie. Anyway, we had a guest speaker and I usually get into his messages, but service on that day seemed dead. Everything about the service seemed off. The speakers sounded too loud. People were singing off cue and off key. People seemed to have forgotten the songs. When some people danced in jubilation, it didn't seem to ring true. It seemed as if people were just going through the motions.
 
[ ….. ]
 
Well, that's all. I would appreciate any feedback that you can give me.
 
Many blessings,
 
Jorge.