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Sat, 27 Mar 2010 22:01:00 GMT

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Sat, 27 Mar 2010 07:15:00 GMT

TROUBLED MIND RESTORED

Mrs.

C, Melbourne.

I would like to share this testimony with you and tell of the wonderful love and grace of The Lord Jesus.

A number of years ago, I was very much disturbed in my mind, my marriage was in difficulties after nearly 30 years and I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I was taking very heavy doses of medication to keep me calm, but with little result. I had always been a 'Church person' and one day I said to my husband, ‘I want to be healed!’

In our Church we never had any teaching on Healing. So we decided to go along to Pastor Norman Campbell's Church where he was teaching on Faith and Healing. Pastor Norman prayed with me at the end of the service and gave me a Scripture; Luke 10:19, Behold I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you!

Pastor Norm wrote out the Scripture on a sheet of paper and told me to put in on my fridge door where I could see it. I began to meditate on this verse regularly every day, and I began to believe it was the truth for me I then began to live it and to allow it to come alive in me.

I really believed I had authority over all the power of the enemy and he could do nothing against me. God began to restore my marriage, and my children who seldom visited when I was distressed, began to visit again. We began to go along to Pastor Campbell’s Church regularly because we realised we needed the Word teaching to live life to the full as God intended us to do. I give God the praise for all He has done for me.

KINGLAKE FIRE SURVIVOR’S TESTIMONY

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 21:54:00 GMT

HOW WE SURVIVED THE KINGLAKE BUSHFIRES 07/02/2009

OUR TESTIMONY

Anthony & Jennifer Redman

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Saturday the 7^th of February 2009 has come to be known as “Black Saturday” in Australia. Ash Wednesday was Written into Australian history but this was a far worse event, with over 200 deaths and the loss of 2000 + homes just in one area of Victoria – our area. It all happened so suddenly and so quickly. The bush fire behaved as no other had ever done and travelled faster than a bushfire is ever supposed to do.

This is our story of how we survived the worst bushfires in the world, resulting in our little country town being put on the world map. We Victorians had endured amazing heat over days and days it seemed. Saturday 7^th was shaping up to be a deadly day with the temperature showing on our car temperature gauge (verified by others in our area) as being 50 degrees C at 3pm in nearby St. Andrews. The winds were gathering with velocity and outside it was like stepping right into a fan forced oven on high. Our beautiful garden and plants were just crisping up before our eyes.

I went to work at 4.30pm at the local restaurant (that not much later burned to the ground). Soon reports that there were bushfires on two sides of Kinglake were circulating, each about 40 minutes drive away. Indeed, not too much later, fire surrounded Kinglake on three sides. No-one was extremely concerned yet, as fire was expected on such a day of severe weather. The CFA (Country Fire Authority) would cope.

However, very soon after that, the power went out, and several people came running into the restaurant telling of their houses burning down. Smoke was filling the air and an exodus of people in cars was beginning to happen down a road to Yarra Glen that they couldn’t get through on, as it turned out. Yet no-one had any news of what was exactly happening.

Everyone soon left the restaurant and an air of panic had begun to pervade the township as did the smoke, as well as confusion about what was really happening. The police had a road block at the nearest road to the restaurant that led to St. Andrews township, but even they didn’t know where the fire was. The Kinglake CFA trucks had been called out to the fires first reported in neighbouring areas, leaving two CFA women to ‘man’ our town’s CFA building.

Upon arriving home, I found my husband Tony and the neighbours trying to work out what to do – evacuate or stay and fight. There was still confusion as to what was happening and where the fires were exactly. Then we noticed that the paddock behind the house opposite was on fire. Our new generator was ready and we had the hose connected to the bore water pump. My husband told me to get clothes on that wouldn’t melt on my body should fire come near me. He had our little van turned around, running with the air-conditioning on, and the 2 dogs inside it, ready to go.

Then events changed for the worst so suddenly that it was ‘every man for himself’ in the township. We heard the most terrible roar mixed with the sounds of exploding houses and gas bottles. The sky turned blacker than night because the air was solid

with choking smoke and ash. We had made the decision to stay and fight to save our house that we had just re-roofed and put a new kitchen into. We had had an unction earlier in the day to put our most precious things by the front door, but had ignored it, as there couldn’t possibly be a fire in the Kinglake suburbs.

Armed with huge woollen blankets around us, tea towels over our faces and garden lights in our hands (so that we could locate each other in the yard as it was blacker than night), we began to hose off the house, each other and spot fires. We tripped over the heavy wet blankets, the hose and electrical lead, and things on the ground, as we couldn’t see anything. Still there was peace inside us both. The whole thing was quite bizarre.

The neighbours shed behind us, full of fuel, motor bikes and a car exploded, and his washing on the line was on fire. We heard more houses exploding around and about us, and the sky was raining fire. Burning embers flew at a ferocious velocity horizontally through the air and over our house roof into the front yard. It was still pitch black except for red from the fires. Then the neighbours house behind caught on fire, followed by the trees next to our house workshop which contained fuel for the mower, chainsaw and generator. I remember seeing the little agapanthus plants that I’d lovingly planted along the side of the driveway on fire like candles. The tall gum trees next to the workshop were on fire from bottom to top. The house across the road opposite us, had fire up to the back of it, and down our street both ways, was on fire.

It was then time to leave. My husband asked Father God to lead us out of this inferno safely and we had an unction to go down a road that went through the national park forest – a route one would normally not choose in a ferocious bushfire.

Through all this, we had a peace – that Peace that surpasses all understanding. There was no fear and we never had a thought that we would die. All was quite surreal as we set off in the two cars with the dogs, my handbag, our laptops, and only the clothes that we were wearing. Tony and I later estimated that there was only one or two minutes left that stood between our safe escape and death. We drove through the burning embers, exploding bits of falling tree branches, and pitch black choking smoke, dodging burning things on the road, until we came to Glenburn road, that led through the national park forest. Everything was still surreal but that Peace of God was there, stronger than what was happening around us.

Later on after the horrible event, we found out that if we had driven the usual way up to the township, we would almost certainly have died in the fire – as some people tragically did. We were led by the Peace of God inside to an escape route that was the only way out (we later found out). People standing on the side of the road leading down through the forest advised us not to go there; but the Peace of God led us on. (We don’t know what became of those people).

About half way down we stopped to consider whether to proceed or turn back as the sky was threateningly red, indicating that a fire storm was ‘just there’. Again the Peace of God led us on. We turned left at the end of the forest road onto a main road and went on to a town called Yea, which later became a refuge centre for so many escaping people. There were all sorts of people there, shell shocked to varying degrees, many having the look on their faces, with ember burnt eyes and bedraggled wet clothing that said, “my house is gone”. There were dogs, cats, horses, cars, trailers, police and fire engines everywhere. Smoke and falling ash filled the air, our lungs, the cars and pervaded our clothes – but it was not black any more. It was about 9.30pm. I felt like we had just had a taste of hell.

This was not the place we wanted to spend the night in, and having consulted with police, found that the road to Seymour was still open. The CFA advised us not to proceed but the Peace of God led us on again. Fire was about to close the road but we got through before we could be trapped for days on the Yea oval, like so many other people. At about 1am, having driven a in a huge sweep around the outer area of Melbourne, we arrived back in Melbourne at Tony’s parents house.

It wasn’t until a week later that we found out that Father God had led us out of the ‘holocaust’ (as many who had lived through it described it); on the forest road that was the ONLY way of escape. We later learned that every road that God had led us out on had closed after we had passed through, as fire engulfed each road. Fire came upon our little township of Kinglake from 3 sides, with such speed and ferocity that not even the CFA had time to send out a warning. In fact, only the two CFA women without a fire truck were there to defend the township, as our CFA had gone to help elsewhere. We were caught by surprise. Many ordinary folk became heroes that day. The fire went on to burn out other neighbouring townships, the township of Marysville being all but totally destroyed except for a handful of buildings – one in 5 people dying.

People had burned up in cars that had crashed in the pitch dark and were engulfed in the bushfire. People died in houses, having no warning. People died running, climbing fences, huddling on the ground. Men, women and children died that our community will miss terribly. Half the centre of the town burned down, those being there, watching. Our house burned down- there was only one house left standing in our street. Middle Kinglake Primary School burned down. The worst was not knowing for days who had lived and who had died. And there was the ecstatic relief, as days passed, when, one by one, we all found our living neighbours and friends. We, like everyone who had left the mountain, were unable to return for 4 days, as there were so much destruction and so many deaths. But Father God spared us the trauma of suffering that many people in our community, who saw unspeakable things that will take a long time to heal.

However, the Australian spirit of courage and victory has risen to do the hard things help, comfort, given in every way possible to those who have suffered so much. We are proud to be Australians. But GOD is in the midst, showing Himself strong and being there for whoever responds. There are so many stories of miraculous escapes and one cannot deny that God was there warning and helping people flee from the terror. We have seen His loving and giving character in so many people, being believers or not, as He made us all in His image.

As for us, the Redmans – God could have told us not to come and live in Kinglake – but He placed us here. He could have told us to save the house just as easily as He showed us to leave through the national park forest road – but our house burned down like so many thousands of other houses. However, we are in Kinglake, now on the world map, for just a time as this. We came out with virtually nothing, and others didn’t even have any identification on them, and yet others have lost family and friends. We have all lost something and suffered trauma – even those whose houses stand, some feeling guilty that their house survived.

Back on the mountain now in Kinglake, first in a caravan, and now in a bungalow (a better situation than many others are in) and provided by Father, we have met so many wonderful people, experienced both humility and the generosity of so many giving people, and being displaced like so many others whose houses burnt down . It will take 12 months or more to rebuild the township and much longer to rebuild people’s lives. I have been able to help in the relief centre; and at the Global Care tent we helped a lady put up an annex on a caravan on her burnt out block. We help our neighbour and he helps us. We help each other here.

Yesterday, we sat in someone’s shed with a small gathering of Christians from all over Australia and the world here to help, on camp chairs and esky’s, sharing Communion and being touched by The Holy Spirit. I was able to pray with the lady whose shed it was and it won’t be long before she accepts Jesus as her Lord and Saviour – she is searching for answers. There are so many doors of opportunity beginning to open. We have been loosed from so much ‘stuff’ and debt that bound up our lives, and are free for the first time to do what God wants us to do – could be scary to the soul but exciting in God’s scheme.

Our souls travail at times, and so many in our community are still in shock. Some will never return. The Coroner has just lifted an order over Kinglake to be released from lockdown from the rest of the world 5 and a half weeks on, as the event was so shocking here. It was like a MASH unit here for weeks, and one soldier who had seen service overseas said it was worse than a war zone. We are all still waiting for our rubble to be cleared away and it could take 6 months.

But soon most of us will be looking forward to rebuilding our lives and our houses. Thank God He is among us! Everything still smells of fire, but signs of life are appearing in fern fronds unwrapping, green grass sprouting and little leaves appearing on burnt gum tree trunks. The birds are back and there has been life-giving rain.

The story for the world is over but for us all in Kinglake and surrounds, it hasn’t yet begun. For the Redmans, God has shown us that we may have lost so much in the natural, but that if we lose our lives for Christ’s sake, we will gain EVERYTHING that is worth living for. “As for us and our household, we will serve the Lord.”

Jennifer Redman

New Updates

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 07:13:00 GMT

What does the Word of God say about the bushfires

I just feel today I need to say a couple of things with regarding the bushfires.

Have you noticed that any time there is a tragedy or disaster in our community or in world problems some self-appointed prophets start to speak out and talk about the judgment of God?

I’m sure you have all read or hear comments by someone like that this week it was reported on the radio and television several times. They put 2 and 2 together and come up with 5. They start to cast stones and place all sorts of guilt on people.

At times like this, I think people like that are just an embarrassment to the Christian church, as they do not speak on behalf of the majority of Christians and churches, they certainly do not speak for me and they are definitely not speaking for God.

I think we need to be very cautious in how we approach this. Who are we to say that these bush fires are the judgment of God?

What about that person who died in a car accident last week, or that person who died of sickness yesterday? Are they too under the judgment of God because something bad has happened to them?

Is any negative experience of human suffering an indication of the judgment of God?

I think we are unwise to make such arrogant statements, as if we alone have God’s full perspective on life’s uncertainties

If this is God’s judgment then He would have to have the Holy Spirit to cause the fires and The Holy Spirit’s job is not judgment but to lead us into truth and He is the COMFORTER. Such statements are going against the Holy Spirit.

In Matthew 12 Jesus said vs. 31 And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

I think we all need to reason well before we make any rash statements about God’s judgment.

During Jesus’ life-time on earth, there were a number of tragedies that took place (E.G. Luke 13:1-5). Pilate had killed some Galileans and mixed their blood with sacrifices and then Jesus referred to a tower (the Tower of Siloam) collapsed and killed eighteen people. Jesus addressed these two current issues but he didn’t explain ‘why’ they had happened.

When mention was made to Jesus of the death of the Galileans; [and it is not discussed about in any of the Bible historians that I have read]. In His reply Jesus spoke of it, gave an instance of those people taken by sudden death. Towers that are built for safety often prove to be men's destruction. He cautioned his hearers not to blame great sufferers, as if they were therefore to be accounted great sinners.

On these accounts Jesus founded a call to repentance.

What he did say, however, was helpful. He said in Luke 13.2-4 "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them-do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

Jesus makes it clear that when something bad happens it doesn’t mean that the persons affected by suffering are necessarily sinful or evil.

Good and evil does not fall on people in some sort of vindictive manner. Jesus doesn’t say that these people are under the judgment of God either. If he didn’t, why are some Christians so quick to make that statement?

You should remember that final rewards and punishments are not given out in this life.

The Bible teaches that the righteous sometimes do endure suffering and calamities while sometimes the wicked seemed to be blessed.

God always acts from the standpoint of eternity and we need to live our lives from that perspective as well.

We live in a fallen world and this often results in human suffering for both Christians and non-Christians. People light fires because they are motivated by the devil and that often results in death and destruction. Some people have escaped and others did not.

Every day people somewhere in the world have to deal with the effect of sickness, misfortune, accident and death. This includes natural disasters – whether in the form of an earthquake, a tornado, a landslide, a flood, a bushfire or even a volcano erupting like when Elizabeth and I were in New Guinea 2 years ago. A volcano erupted in New Britain just across the bay from where we were staying.

So with these bushfires is God judging our State of Victoria?

God told Abraham in Genesis 19 that he would even spare Sodom and Gomorrah if there just a few righteous people in the cities. There are more than a few righteous people in our State.

So let’s be careful not to immediately associate every situation of human evil (e.g. arsonists lighting fires) or of natural disasters (e.g. naturally started fires lightening strikes) as the judgments of God.

We need to realise that we are in the time of God’s favour NOT of God’s judgment.

The first sermon Jesus ever preached in Luke 4 was based on Isaiah 61. He finished reading after this sentence ... “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” He then closed the book and sat down saying, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

What is interesting and I pointed this out when we did our series on God’s Favour, that Jesus stopped reading in the middle of a sentence. The rest of the sentence in Isa 61 says “... and the day of vengeance of our God.”

He didn’t read that because that is not this time. Jesus introduced a day of grace and mercy for people, and we are still living in that time.

His second coming will be the time for vengeance and judgment. That doesn’t mean that people today won’t at times suffer the consequences of their own actions but this is not the day of God’s judgment.

Let’s focus our efforts on helping those affected by these terrible bush fires right now, like the Good Samaritan, and avoid throwing judgment and condemnation at people in their time of need.