The Lord continues to bless us with his presence out in the forest.  As I shared before, our campsite is called Yeshua Lodge and is located off the main trail on a little side path along the lake.  I believe the Lord located us there because it is a very beautiful and restful place.  The Hippies are telling us all the time what a beautiful campsite it is, especially after dark when we have the oil lamps lit and the candles shining under the prayer tent.  You walk past the site and it looks very warm and inviting, and of course when you enter, the Holy Spirit is present.

The day before yesterday, Damon came in again.  He had been stopping by and chatting on occasion.  In response to our talking about the Lord, he has been telling us that he has come to believe in a creator just from walking in our National Forests and looking at the beauty.  I shared Romans chapter One with him where it talks about this very thing, that man is without excuse because even creation itself reveals to us that God exists.  He thought that was cool.  Anyway, yesterday we got down to the nitty gritty about our sinful nature and our need for Jesus.  He lit up and told me that for the first time, it made sense!  I asked him if he wanted to ask Christ to come in and be his Savior.  He responded with a loud "YES!"  We prayed and he cried as the Lord forgave him of his sins and entered his heart. 

Yesterday he was with us a lot during the day, reading the Bible we gave him and learning about his new walk in Christ!  Others are telling us about the wonderful change they are seeing in Damon.  Damon is from upstate New York and his family are not Christian.  His mom and family of origin I mean.  He is not married.  I need you to pray for Damon as he returns to his home and family, that the Lord will direct him to  a good church and help him find an honest job.   He is a clean cut hippy, in his 30's, and very intelligent.  He should have no trouble finding a way to earn a living.  He has in the past had a little beef jerky company.  Pray especially though that he can find a body of believers to help him grow.  I will be trying to keep in touch with him.

Well, Damon's salvation, and the rest of the ministry have made the devil mad, let me tell you.  That afternoon, a couple moved into a campsite about 50 yards down the path from us.  When I first met them, Max our german shepherd went beserk at the woman... hiding behind me and the trees, etc.  I sometimes have the gift of discerment, so I understood immediately that this woman was demon possessed.  Well, late that night, Max started going bonkers.  This couple came into the campsite for a cup of coffee.  I could tell right away that this woman was being controlled by the demons inside of her.  She would stare at me with fear and occasional anger.  I was a little nervous, but not afraid.  I also expected that there was going to be a demonic confrontation.  She would try to come right next to where I was sitting, but something kept her at bay.  As it became more apparant that the demons inside of her were there to confront me, every time she tried to get close enough to touch me I would look into her eyes and pray in the Spirit.  She would back away in fear.  Her boyfrend would apologize and try to get her to sit down, telling me that she had some problems but that he loved her anyway.  He would try to get her to sit down and drink her coffee too.

After about 10 minutes, it was apparant that I had to confront the demons head on.  She was becoming more restless and kept trying to come and stand right next to where I was sitting, and was saying very weird things.  I stood up to confront them and to tell them to shut up in the name of Jesus.  The second that I stood up, (and it was all very slow and peaceful on my part.  I didn't want to do anything to set her off.)  the second I stood up, she started to rip her clothes off and scream, moving her arms around in the air violently and shaking her head back and forth in a NO NO motion.  She came at me, I walked quickly toward her to keep her away from the fire.  At this point her boyfriend was trying to hold her back and talk to her, not to the demons and tell her that it was okay, that I was only trying to help her, to not be afraid.  I walked right up to her and looked into her eyes and spoke to the demons.  I commanded them to be quiet in the name ofJesus, that they had no authority over me, my son or our campsite and that soon they were going to be cast out, leaving this poor woman alone.  At that point, she broke free of her boyfriend and attacked me, scratching  my throat with her long fingernails.  I then aimed my hand toward her and told them to stop in the name of Jesus.  She flew backward onto the ground, got up screaming, ripped all of her upper clothing off and started jumping and around and out of the campsite, running from me.  Her boyfriend made sure she would not re-enter the campsite by standing on the path leading into the site and apologized.  I asked him if he knew what was really wrong with her.  He said that yes he did, and apologized again.


The next morning, they returned to the campsite to apologize.  She felt horrible.  I told her that I loved her and that I knew it wasn't her that had acted that way.  She agreed.  Her boyfriend then told me that he knew completely that she was demon possessed and was taking her to his uncle's pentecostal church for deliverance as soon as the gathering was over.  I then told the girl - her name is Tasha by the way - that Jesus loved her and that he died for her and wanted to set her free.  As soon as she heard the name Jesus, she flew her head back and started screaming NO NO NO NO NO!

"Lord Jesus... please reach out to Tasha right now.  Continue to show your love to her in ways that she has never experienced before.  And bring her back to us Lord for deliverance if she is still under the control of those evil spirits."

I thank God for the power of the Holy Spirit within us.  Greater is He that is in us, then he that is in the world!  No weapon formed against us shall prosper!  This may all seem a little scary to some of you and I have not shared much about this kind of thing, but I have been studying a bit about deliverance and have a pastor friend who has a successful ministry in this area.  He has taught me a bit about this.  I am not afraid at all, but I do know that I am not called to tackle this woman's deliverance by myself.  She needs a powerful team of Christians to work with her in a protected environment when she gets delivered from these demons.

There is a battle out here for the souls of these people and we really need your continued prayers - for protection, provision and for wisdom.


Remember David?  The man I wrote about last week who was into the tarot cards?  The one who used my cell phone to tell his parents he was alive?  The one who was raised in a Christian church?  Well, he came last night and sat with us for a couple of hours around the campsite.  We had a really nice time of ministry with him and I believe he is going to come back to Jesus.  Keep praying for him.  Pray that we will be able to lead him back to Christ.  He was so open last night to the love of the Savior when we just accepted and showed him unconditional love.

Journal Entry - DAY I DON'T KNOW!

There is so much to tell you, but I don't have a lot of time again.  I came out of the forest to the bus (still in the forest) to send this out and check emails.

Where do I begin?  We have had 5 people make decisions for Christ so far and a couple of people pray to repent and re-commit their lives to Christ.  Yesterday, we baptized two people in the Lake and this afternoon, we are planning on baptizing another three!  Lifes, really and truley saved by the blood of Christ.

I only wish that there was some kind of discipleship program that I could take these folks to after the gathering.  We did take one young 23 year old man into our camp and set up his tent in the woods behind our camp.  His name is Lee.

I am hoping that we can help him get either back to his family, who told him he was on his own when he called them, or back into some kind of discipleship program.

Currently, Lee is living with us in our bus and in a tent until we can get everything arranged for him to enter a more intense discipleship program.  While he is with us, we have devotions every morning, daily Bible training, everyday examples of living the Christian life and are just working with him to help him learn to apply Biblical principles in his life.


A man named Boston (can you guess where he is from?  HA HA)  came into our site this morning and handed me a Bible bookmark that says..."He is not here, for He is risen."  Boston didn't know what that meant and came to us to ask.  I was able to share the entire plan of salvation with him from the beginning when sin entered into the world through Christ dying as the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  He listened intently and we hope that he will come back and allow us to lead him to Christ.

Theresa is another young rainbow sister who had no idea why Christ died for us.  She listened intently as I shared the story of why that had to happen.  No one had ever taken the time to tell her about Jesus.

We are running into a lot of people in their 20's who have no idea who Jesus is.  One young person had never heard of Billy Graham.  So many of them have no clue and have never heard the Gospel message.  That just blows me away!  Here in America so many young people who have never heard. 


Charles came in and accepted Christ.  I am hoping to baptism him this afternoon.  He came for prayer for deliverance from his drinking problem.  We led him to Christ and he has been happy and has had no drugs or drink in three days now!  Thank You Jesus! 


Keep praying for us.  We have one more week left before the end of the gathering. 

Journal Entry - Day 28

It has been an amazing time.  We only have two more days left and this mission will be pretty much over.  God provided everything we needed and so many people were ministered to in a marvelous way.  The only thing I wish we had was a good first aid kit.  There were several injuries that I could have treated better if we had had a better first-aid kit.  I am going to try and make sure that we get one of them soon, especially for next year.

We are in the clean-up stage of the mission.  We will take the next two days and tear down the site, haul it out by canoe and then bring it back to the bus by pick-up truck.  There are more people coming in hungry right now because many of the kitchens are already shutting down.  We feed them what we have.  I am hoping that we will have more decisions for Christ before we pull out completely, and I am sure that we will be in and out of the area over the next few weeks, doing what we can to reach those who will be lagging behind.

Thanks for you continued prayers.  I will try to post more pictures up on here in a few days.

An after thought....

2007 proved to be an amazing time of ministry out in the forest.  I am extremely pleased by all that the Lord has done!
 

What a wonderful time of ministry we had in the forest with the rainbows this year!  I shared with a few of you how I felt so lost at the beginning.  I even mentioned to some that I understood what the Bible meant when it says God uses the foolish things to confound the wise, because I had no idea what I was doing.    But this I know for certain.  When we are weak, He is made strong… for His strength is made perfect in weakness.  It clears the way to let our Father Do things HIS way.
 

How can I express my feelings and thoughts about all the things that God did while we were living among the Rainbow Family?  The rainbows are a beautiful, but sometimes lost group of people.  All of them are looking for love and acceptance, most of them not having received it from their families growing up.  I met many young people, some hardly into adulthood, who for one reason or another were forced to leave their parents – either because of abuse or neglect, or because their parents kicked them out for bad behavior.  One young man left home at thirteen and has been on the road for over 15 years.  I interviewed him on camera and hope to have it on a DVD about this years outreach.  Anyway, these young people find themselves out on the road, lost and alone, searching desperately to belong somewhere.  Searching for truth.  Searching for love.  Searching to fill that void in all of us that only God can fill.

At some point, maybe while standing on a freeway on-ramp with their thumb out, or while crawling out of a dumpster after diving for that day’s dinner, they meet a group of others like themselves.  Rainbows understand lost and searching hearts and in all honesty, try to accept everyone for who they are, where they are. (Unless they are violent.)  So as they meet each other, the larger group opens their arms to the individual and welcomes him into the “family”.  No longer alone, our young friend has now joined a small group.  He has found a replacement family.  Someone to belong to.  Now, instead of searching for truth, for love, for acceptance, for food alone, this young person has found a group who are being lost together.  Welcome to the Rainbow Family.

These smaller groups, hundreds of them, along with thousands of these lost individuals form the Rainbow Family of Living Light.  Together they travel from place to place, living off the land, shopping out of dumpsters, eating what the rest of us throw away.  Supporting and loving one another as best as they can.  And in all honesty, many if not most of the REAL Rainbow Family have their hearts in the right place.  They seek to love and to forgive and band together to make the world a little better.  But as you and I know, without Jesus they are lost.

 How can I write a fitting conclusion to the month long outreach to these people?  A handful of you came out and joined my family and I.  You understand.  You have come to know that there is a mission field right here in our own country as big or larger than all the other missions we set up in foreign countries.  You looked into the lost and lonely, yet loving eyes of these kids.  But how can I write to the rest of you?  How can I put into words the amazing love poured out this last month?  It was so much bigger than us.

On the last morning, I was sitting around the campfire getting ready to have devotions.  Five young men came in to join us.  They had promised that they would come and I was sort of waiting for them.  One of them is named ‘ Boston ’ and he had been coming around for several days.  You might remember that he was the one who had found the track about Jesus rising from the dead and had come to me to ask what it meant.  He had been telling me for days that Jesus was almost his Lord 100%, but not yet.
 

I didn’t know for sure what to share from the Scriptures, but trusted that the Holy Spirit would direct my heart to the perfect message for these young men.   As I was sitting there singing a song, the Holy Spirit prompted me to ask them a question.

“How many of you have ever longed for a relationship with a dad?”  I asked.

All five of them raised their hands.  We talked about how as kids we watched others who were able to spend time with a loving, caring father.  How we watched friends and their dads play ball and stuff.  Every one of these five young men honestly poured out their hearts in that circle, sitting around our last campfire.
 

Ps 68:5 “A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.”

 I shared how our Heavenly Father longed to have this kind of relationship with them.  Tears began to swell as the Father used my lips to express His father’s love for each of them.  Apparently, no one had ever shared God’s love in this way before.  I simply loved on them.  And I gave them a father’s blessing.

I asked them if I could stand in place of their own dads, just for those few minutes and pray over them.  I really don’t know how to express into words what happened, but the Holy Spirit moved in a very gentle and sweet way.  We all cried.  It was an intimate time as well.

Two of the men had been coming to see me everyday to hear more about Jesus.  Each day I would ask them if they were ready to make Jesus the Lord of their lives and each day they would tell me that he was at this percent or that percent in their hearts.  After we talked and I prayed over them that morning, they told me that they were there – Jesus was 100% real and the Lord of their lives.
 
There are so many things I could write about.  We saw little miracles everyday.  Every morning God would provide everything we needed to minister His love to those He brought our way.  It was like a daily miracle of the loaves and fishes!  LOL 

Maybe Next year will be even better!  God only has good things in store for His children.  I am so blessed to be one of them!  If I might use one of the terms that one of our volunteers used... "Daddy God" is so good to us!