Jerome – Malnourished
This is Jerome, he is 6 and 3rd degree malnourished. His lips are dry and cracked, his body is very weak, his appetite is all but gone and he will be full of worms. There are 5 other children, who are ok. The father is a scavenger, the income is not enough. This family will be starting in our family sponsorship program this week.
The message of Jesus Christ is good news for this family, because with the message comes the hands and feet of His ministers. First thing we do with Jerome, is de-worming, as it is almost a guarantee that he is full of worms, usually both round worms and thread worms. The worming stuff we use is in the form of chocolate squares, and Jerome is like every other child, he loves chocolate, so it is never hard to get the kids to take the worming medicine. Literally the next day he will be worm free. Next we weight him. Then he begins on specialised milk formula, again chocolate. We gave him some while we were there and he loved it, and the good thing for him is he will be able to drink as much as he wants, the more the better. The milk is 380p (AUD 12) per 400gram tin, he will prob’ need a tin every 2 days, 3 tins per week, an absolute impossibility for his parents. He will also start on liquid vitamins daily. We can save his life.
We had a chat to mum, she seems to be a good mum in a difficult spot (not all parents are good people), we explain he needs to eat fruit and veg’, or what ever they are eating as well as the milk. He has a week or so to show some signs of improvement or else he will need to go to a specialised malnourishment hospital for treatment. The best news is Jeromes mum got saved today. She was one of 5 ladies who accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour.
Hands and Feet of Jesus – walking to where people are and then holding them up until they pull through whatever their need might be.
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the things that I have done you will do, and even greater things you will do…”
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“Most assuredly” – this verse is like the rest of the bible, it’s a certain promise, sealed by Jesus Himself, backed by all of heaven, it can never fail, this will work…
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who said this – Jesus, therefore it’s true…
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who did He say it to – Me and You…
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what are the qualifications needed – “he who believes” – nothing else added, just to make it easy for everyone to do…
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This faith of yours will lead to fruit, real, tangible, lasting fruit, seen by all…“you will DO”
Every born again, bible believing, Spirit filled christian is “so able, so full of ability, so incredibly qualified”…let today be a day where you “arise and shine” in Jesus name. Let the message of Jesus Christ be good new through you today, change some ones life.
God Bless – Mark
Slum Missionaries – “He said GO…”
History in the making…we are sending a “SELF FUNDED” team to Cebu for four days to work with another Aussie Missionary, Lucy Longdon.
They will fly there and back using their own money. Now, for some of you reading this you will think “big deal, so what”…BUT remember where these people come from, how much they earn, how huge this step is for them. They believe God is sending them, they are going as Missionaries themselves, they are going to give, to serve, they are not going to receive, they are not being paid…their own “Faith” is making this possible, not their financial situation.
Sometimes we have all the money in the world and we still find it hard to do what Jesus wants us to do. The Lord God Almighty in His infinite wisdom, spoke to people who live in a third world slum and told them “to GO into all the world and preach the gospel”, and as amazing as it might seem, they are “going”, just because He said. How incredible is that, sounds so biblical, sounds so easy.
And another amazing thing is they actually believe that they have something to contibute, I am not sure how they saw themselves before, but now they see themselves as preachers, ministers, and missionaries. They see themselves as “able to have an impact”.
It might seem like a small thing, but it’s very exciting.
Can we learn any lesson from this simple display of FAITH…?
Bless you Mark
“Pigsa” – Boils
We found this little boy a few days ago. He had had a large “pigsa” (boil) right in the middle of his back for the last two weeks. For some reason it had not burst (which is bad) and the parents had tried to keep it clean, but had not sought medical attention. They are very poor, often the poor won’t go to hospital because they can’t afford the medicine anyway, so what’s the point.
The problem in this case is the location of the pigsa and the swelling it is causing is making it hard for this little fellow to walk. But a little bit of care and kindness, a little bit of antiseptic powder and betadine, a clean bange daily and for some reason this thing burst after 2 days (I say God did it). This was a deep pigsa, look at the hole it left in his back. The hole looks bad, but it’s great, no puss, no infection and the wound will heal now. So we literally pack the hole with antiseptic powder and betadine, a clean bandage and in a few days this thing will be all fixed. Not that hard to do, but makes a huge difference to this little boy.
Looks a bit messy, but we are all that concerned with neat and tidy, we want him fixed.
Most of our leaders can now confidently treat minor stuff like this, but it is so often these little things that get infected and become serious problems, so if we take care of the minor stuff, it does not become major.
Same in our walk with Jesus amen, it’s the little foxes that spoil the vine, deal with the small stuff as soon as it happens and it never becomes a serious problem.
God Bless – Mark
Hair Lip Operations
HAIR LIP OPERATIONS – “SMILE TRAIN
Hi there to all – look at these results, great stuff…3 children have had operations so far…
Our first hairlip child was Muhumad…check out the before and after…PHOTO 1-2.
This next one is Noah, this is a stunning difference, you have took look a few times to see the same kid…he had to have a false upper lip put in so he could drink and put on weight before the operation, what a difference…PHOTO 3-6.
Then there was Jonmar…PHOTO 7-8, all of these children still have cleft pallets to fix in a few months time.
One of the aspects of Jesus, was that He “went around doing good…”, of course He did it in the power of the Holy Spirit and with pure miracles, demonstrations and manifestations of heaven (due to various lacks in our own personal lives we tend to do things with finance or medicines – which can never be the right way to get stuff done…but until our hearts open to God and His Spirit, it’s all we have at the moment)…but none the less great results for these children and their mothers.
I think that we have 7 more children going through the examination progress before they can get their operations, including a 28 year old man, who can hardly talk due to the size of the cleft in his pallet.
For more info’ please do a search for “Smiletrain” on the net and spread the word about how easy these things are to fix.
God Bless – Mark and Chris
Mighty Miracle from a Loving God – GILBERT DELA CRUZ
Last december Gilbert Dela Cruz attended a series of healing crusade meetings that we held here in Baseco. The photos tell the storey – full of T.B, high blood pressure and something similar to a stroke, he was unable to walk and had to be carried to the meetings. He had been bed ridden for months, and even in church he had to sit in a slope backed chair, as he could not sit up straight. He was prayed for where he lay…nothing happened immediately…but now he is walking.
The first time I saw hiim waking in Baseco, both me and my wife had to look twice “That’s Gilbert”. Initially he was being aided by his wife, holding onto her as he walked. He had been walking everyday and said that after prayer he had felt strong. Each day he walked a little further and leaned less on his wife. His walking is still hard work and he is not running yet, but he can and does walk unaided daily.
He has no doubt that it is Jesus Christ who has both saved him and healed him. He was in church today to testify of the mighty miracle that the Lord has done in his body, he exhorted people to believe, told them not to doubt. He was very emotional as he shared, and it took him a few minutes to even begin as he was been overwhelmed by his emotions. His testimony was simple, but nearly everyone in our church knows Gilbert, they know what he could not do and they all know that this is the work of the Lord.
This testimony is 100% verified, God is great, He does miracles.
At the end of church he was praying for those who came to the front of the church for prayer – saved to be an agent of salvation, healed to be an agent of healing.
Missionaries Wanted…must be qualified…aren’t we all…?
Here are some shots of Don Bosco, Temporary Housing – horrible place that is in need of Churches and Church Planters…check out the photo’s…what could you and Jesus do here.
You must be qualified to work in places like this, even though Jesus said “Go into all the world and make Disciples”, many don’t seem to think that this applies to them, it’s only applicable to those around them…
Some qualifications you will need to work in this place…
- An all consuming passion for Jesus and equal passion for people…
- You must not love your life, you must love the lives of others more than your own…
- You must be prepared to loose your life…maybe literally…
- You must not want earthly security, possesions and wealth…
- You must be prepared to “GO” even if someone won’t recognise you or “SEND” you…Jesus has recognised you and He has sent you already…
- You must be prepared to “GO” even without all of the resources and money in the bank…
- You must be prepared to really live by faith – not by your paycheck or offerings…you can learn this on the job, more than likely this will be the best way you can learn this lesson…
- Jesus must be your source for all things…
- You must listen to God first, well before man…(man does not like this, many people think that they are the voice of God for you)…
- You must run everything man tells you to either do or not do, by Jesus first, not the other way around…this might mean you often “dis-obey” man – so you might be seen as rebellious and un-submissive…
- You must either know how to pray, or be prepared to learn on the job…(on the job, is one of the best ways to learn)…
- You will need to fast, even when you don’t feel like it…
- You will need to understand that money is not the solution for everything, and that your level of faith or success is not always measured by your income…
Many of these qualifications don’t fit well with some of the theologies if “wisdaom” and “prosperity”…but they do fit well with the basic teachings of the gospel and with Jesus last words “TO GO”…
If you look at all of these qualifications and think I can’t do all of those things, don’t worry, because in reality there are no qualifications except to “BE BORN AGAIN”. If you are born again, you will follow Jesus and He will lead you to the lost.
Go back over the pictures, look at them, see the people (not the place) and ask yourself how can me and Jesus help that person…and then come and “DO IT”…
Bless you – Mark
Poverty, the Worlds Challenge…
SMOKEY MOUNTAIN – OLD AND NEW…
We took a couple of Aussies, Michael and Matthew into both the “new and the old” Smokey Mountain. The “old” is more or less closed down. A literal mountain of rubbish, that now has grass growing on it and is surrounded by 4 and 5 storey buildings, which house the residents that came off of the “old” Smokey Mountain. But as you walk through there you see that really all that has been done is the re-shaping of a slum. Before they lived and worked on the dumpsite, but the high rises are cesspits of activity. Some have power and water, some don’t, so they are simply high rise slums, cramming a lot of people into relatively small areas with not alot of natural ventilation (perfect breeding ground for T.B, scabbies and a whole range of contagious diseases), plus of course all of the increased possibilities for a variety of crime to grow, spread and become organised. There are of course positives about the buildings, they are structurally sound and won’t fall over in a typhoon, they shouldn’t leak a lot, so they do provide improved shelter…pro’s and con’s…
But unless you change the economics of people, relocating them can often make very little difference to their general living. Plus relocation does not address any areas of people hearts. Hearts hold values and beliefs, people do what they do, because they believe it to be right, or perhaps because they think that it is the only option that they have, so unless the heart of man is reached, touched and changed – he will be more or less the same, no matter where he is location wise. We are the sum of what we believe, christian or not.
Then we went for a walk through the “new” Smokey…bit of a head spin for westerners. People living in and on a really feral rubbish dump. Kids walking through it all with no clothes, no shoes, playing in it, toileting in it, bathing there, people washing clothes, cooking food, mothers birthing children in the trash that they call home, people living every aspect of life in conditions that we would find hard to imagine. Children who have lived their whole lives there, where this is their concept of normality…and it will be for their children as well.
Conditions such as this should never be allowed to become anyones “normality”, it can never be justified, should never be allowed. There are more places here in Manila that are like this, many more places in the world that are the same or worse. Countries hide them from the tourists, hide them from the officials that visit, but I want the world to see them, I want as many people as possible to come and see them, walk through them, smell them, get involved, get dirty…these places exist because we either do not know they are here, or we choose to ignore them once we do know they are there. Don’t ignore them, don’t think the issues and problems of places are too huge to fix, nothing is impossible for God, and you don’t need to be the solution for everyone in a place like this, but you can be the solution for ONE FAMILY or ONE CHILD, and you should be the solution for whatever you can manage. Jesus said “the poor you have with you always and whenever you want to you can help them…”, Mark 14:7, notice He said “whenever you want too…”, it might not even require that you pray about it (although I would never say NOT TO PRAY, as man always ought to pray), but just obey Jesus and do it whenever you want to.
The world needs to rise to the challenge of World Poverty, each person needs to do something, the world is made up of individuals, you are one of those individuals, we can fix this together, there is enough of everything for everyone. There are plenty of people who are doing stuff to help others, but there needs to be more, come on, let’s rise to the challenge to change our world.
As you look at some of these photo’s, you will naturally look at the horror of them, but look at the people and don’t ask yourself how can I change this picture, but how can I help that one person…you can help someone, you are able, you just need to be willing.
Bless you – Mark
Christianity – a Manifestation of God
Christianity, a Manifestation of God and Divine Intervention…
The bible is a record of Miracles and Divine Intervention, by the hands of a Living God. It is an inspiring history of the supernatural realm overcoming the natural realm as a result of mans crying out to God, or simply God Himself revealing His love and grace by saving man from some potentially disastrous situation and in doing so, revealing Himself to man.
From the earliest records of the bible, bible characters worked miracles. One aspect of the miraculous, was God separating His people to Himself and drawing them away from the dead, lifeless idols and images of the false gods in the land. The children of Israel constantly strayed back to false religions, and God always used incredible miracles to get their attention get them back on the right track with Him. Miracles are a means of restoring fellowship and relationship with God.
When Jesus began His ministry, it was a ministry of Miracles, as the N/T Church was birthed and began in ministry, it was a ministry of Miracles. Every revival in history has been accompanied by various Miracles.
Rarely has the church been rescued by theology or teachers (unless that teacher received something by revelation, which is in itself a miracle…), it’s had it’s path corrected and adjusted by movings of the Spirit, through usually simple men and women of faith, who believed something into being. The encouraging part of this is that many of us are simple people who are just trying to believe Gods Word and walk with Jesus. I am always amazed at how hard it is to just “simply believe”…but there is no doubt in my heart, that this is all it takes to see incredible moves of God, outbreaks of His presence that change the course of history and re-shape the beliefs of man.
The world itself is eagerly waiting for the “manifestations of the Sons of God” – that could be you, or it could come through you. Note that the world is waiting for a “manifestation of God”, not for a new church or a new idea, not a new movement, but for a divine, supernatural manifestation, something that can’t be explained, something that can’t be brought, but something that can change the heart of man, something that can “save him”, from whatever he needs saving from.
The miraculous is so natural for both the saved and the unsaved man, and while the unsaved man can’t understand this, when he sees miracles, they can seem so natural and normal to him…because we are designed for them and there are so many things that can only be fixed by a miracle.
Each of us have areas of our lives, situations around us that we know can only change or be fixed by some form of miracle, and most people are like you, everyone needs a miracle of some kind…just as well God is a Miracle working God. Amen. So pray…seek the God of Miracles.
Bless you – Mark
Christianity – the Miracle
Christianity – the MIRACLE…
God is a Miracle and a Miracle worker, so is Jesus Christ, so are WE…
2 Peter 1:2-4, Col’ 1:27, John 14:12
Therefore, Christianity and Christians must be Living Miracles…
If we remove the Miraculous from Christianity, we are left with nothing but religion. Religion can, and usually does have the form of Christianity, but with no power to save or change anything or anyone…it can only ever be a “shadow”, it has no substance. But in the darkness of a shadow, in a dimly lit light, people will still find a place to hide and an element of comfort, perhaps a sense of peace, all of which is false, as they preform religious rituals that appease the soul and conscience of man, but change nothing.
A false miracle worker, false religion or a church movement that has lost it’s spiritual life and ability, will still draw men because of our desire to know either God or Truth, and because of the universal desire for changes that we don’t seem to be able to accomplish by ourselves.
The only saving grace in religion is this – when a person is “truly seeking the Truth”, no matter where that search begins, the Holy Spirit will guide that person to Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
And once people find Jesus, they find the miracle they have been looking for.
If you have no peace, no certainty, if you are unsure about life or death, if you are not sure what is the Truth of religion, then PRAY. Ask whoever you believe to be god to show you the Truth – God will Himself, draw you to Jesus.
A caution is this – do not think your church or your pastor is “Infallible”, by all means get involved in church life and activities, support your local church, but make Jesus Christ the centre of your being, let the Holy Spirit constantly lead and guide you, as we can seek for the Truth, find the Truth and still slip into error if we ever put our faith and trust in man.
Bless you – Mark
Make Miracles Common PLace…
Determine to Make Miracles “Common Place” in your Life and World…
Jesus…the name that carries within it, “miracle working power”…
Jesus, His birth, life, death and resurrection were all miracles. He walked in the realm of the miraculous, He made miracles common place amongst men…
And perhaps one of the greatest miracles He accomplished was to give man the ability to preform miracles as He did. The day of Penticost was an incredible, unending miracle, that empowered and released men to be, in many ways, like God Himself. After this incredible day a virtual river, and unending stream of miracles flowed from the hands of apostles and disciples of Jesus Christ, as the Christ in them, flowed out through them in the person of the Holy Spirit, using the authority that is in the Name of Jesus.
Man is the offspring of “THE” Miracle Worker. Embedded deep in the very nature of man, fallen or otherwise, there is an unquenchable desire for miracles, new things, that have never been done before…it’s one of the reasons that we are so inventive and creative.
Christianity (even the beginning of humankind) began in miracles, continues in miracles, every salvation is a miracle, every answer to prayer, every victory over temptation…they are all miracles, in reality we are surrounded by miracles, things that man cannot explain.
When reason, human logic, finance, planning and strategies take over normal christian life, christianity will loose more than she realizes. Christianity is not a religion and it is definitely not a business, it is the continual manifestation of the heart, the nature and the love of a Living God…it’s a living miracle to be outworked daily in the world of man.
Man craves miracles, they fascinate him, they draw him, they challenge him. Whenever there rises up a man or women whose prayers are consistently heard and responded to by God, multitudes will flock to them to both see and receive miracles. There is a deep seated desire in man for God, which is reason every religion on the planet exists, there would be no religion at all if this desire was not present in men.
Determine to Make Miracles “Common Place” in your Life and World…
How…faith and prayer are miracle working forces in our lives and then the world…intimacy with Jesus is the only answer, develop it for yourself.
Intimacy with Jesus will fix my sin problem, will change my attitudes, will break patterns and habits in my life and bring freedom in all areas. No one can develop my intimacy for me (read that line again and again…) I must do it myself.
Unfortunately there have been thousands upon thousands of “How To Books” written for christianity (some of them are great, life changing, very inspiring, but many are simply for profit and of no use at all in developing spirituality)…there are no “short cuts”, I must get on my face before the Living God and develop intimacy with Him myself.
Bless you – Mark
