This blank page somewhat continued even though my very first church was a C of E and I joined up for a time with the local CYFA and also briefly attended a local Crusaders group. Within a year or so of this beginning I joined a fellowship unconnected to any stream or affiliation and turned out (in the end) to isolate from other churches. This group was charismatic and free from reformed thinking to the exception of making the Bible the sole authority. Yet there was a single leadership influence that meant control was paramount, though without comparison this was not felt out of place.
It was not until 9 years later when this leader died that a personal experience and a recognition of a deceiving spirit in my life challenged everything. I share about all this in my book Pink or Blue - an autobiographical look at how deception operates.
I was then set on a course to test everything, to question everything, to establish what is true and what is false. Free from the constraint of the (now) old fellowship as it ceased gathering in Spring 1982, I enrolled in the course of study at Christian Life College which was 3 evenings a week over 2 years. The College was held in the upstairs facilities of St Mark's, Kennington when Rev. Nicholas Rivett Carnac was vicar (he went on to be chaplain at Ashburnham Place). At Christian Life College, the Principal Elmer Darnall had been a missionary and his wife Jeanne was well known as a prophetic lady and regularly invited to YWAM in the Netherlands to pray over graduates. They had also been part of the Post Green community which Dr Dennis Ball was also a part. He prophesied over me in a September 82 Come Bless the Lord event in Southborough, Tunbridge Wells (see below). Ball with Gerald Coates and others were part of the Fountain Trust that helped enable the Charismatic Movement until the Trust was disbanded.
Halfway through my course in 1985 I moved to Elim Bible College, the Elim UK college then at Capel, in Surrey. I worked for them as a maintenance mechanic until they moved to Nantwich in summer 87. Once my evening courses were done, the College employed me full time. I was able to attend and participate in debates, make use of the library facilities - I first read Calvin's Institutes there - and able to study further, though privately: anything I needed to look into. Summer 87 the College moved North to Nantwich and I remained behind for about 5 years back in the Motor Trade until 1993 when I wrote my 1st book.
A Prophetic Word
In September 1982 whilst in a church in Tunbridge Wells named Tunbridge Wells Community Church I attended a monthly event named Come Bless The Lord where many speakers came over the years: Bishop David Pytches, Jean Darnall, Derek Prince, Rev. Dennis Bennett (of the books Nine O' Clock in the morning and The Holy Spirit and You), and many more. On this occasion Doctor Dennis Ball was the speaker. Dennis had been part of the Fountain Trust that helped the Charismatic movement in the UK. He was prophetic and had a picture in one of the Fountain Trust's last meetings that preceded its closure. He spoke that night in 82 and then he asked for a certain type of people to come forward for prayer. I remember 5 of us went up and he laid hands on each of us and prophesied over each of us too. I do not remember it all, but this stuck well "As you search, and as you delve, and as you gain the knowledge of the Word, it shall be the equipment of God being given to you…"
Up till then the passage of Scripture I kept being given by third parties was Psalm 32:8 "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye."
Certainly I have learned much since, some which appears not to be much taught (more in a moment). I began to write in the 90s.
My first book was Will there be Non-Christians in heaven? It outlines with many bible quotes, for the sake of those without bible knowledge, how it is that "the righteous" (as the Bible terms them) among non-Christians are already born again, perhaps best encapsulated by John's words "If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him" (1 John 2:29; see also Acts 10:35). The importance of evangelism is clear and needs to align with the work God has already been doing in the lives of these hearers. The other bible mentioned group of "the wicked" are seen as going to hell.
Then, in praying to know the next book on God's agenda to write, I was surprised to be given the issue of women in leadership to look into again. I thought I had come to a firm understanding that leadership is male and this I advocated. To my further surprise, but obvious astonishment and interest the Lord turned me around on this view. He showed me a way through the passages in a way I had not read of elsewhere.
I remembered how God promised to teach me as per Psalm 32:8 quoted above and this is exactly what the Lord did here. The main missing element which should be centrally addressed on this topic is how women are deceived differently than men. So deception is a big feature of my book. I then also realised the need and sought to learn New Testament Greek to assist in writing this up. After 14 years this became the book Leadership is male?
If you would like to jump in on this topic, I recommend my article
A WOMAN - SILENT, NOT TEACH, NOT RULE OVER A MAN?
Or, watch this video Women in Church Leadership (34:14)
During this time I wrote a number of articles relating to the issue of Calvinism and was thereby able soon after to also produce a comprehensive response in my book So you think you're chosen?
The Lord led me to write on Tithing and Harry Potter and much more, but not in book form. These are shorter articles and accessible online on this site.
Since my 1st book I have also had a number of insights, a dream of an elephant (in a real sense this dream encapsulates what I am about in providing what the saints need to unite) and vision in regards to what I believe is God's heart and plan for revival in the nations. To this end I produced my booklet Revival - The Battleplan. It is now freely readable online.
With many researches and studies over the years into passages and root meaning of words in the bible and only a few of these shared in the above mentioned books, I published in 2011 my 4th book Serious Mistranslations of the Bible.
The formative time and experience of being in the old fellowship for about 9 years from the age or 15 to 24, a gathering that ceased abruptly in the Spring of 82 taught me much about deceiving spirits (1 Timothy 4:1 NKJV) and how these work among Christians.
To this end I have written my autobiographical book Pink or Blue - An autobiographical look at how deception operates which came out in 2017.
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