Grace and Truth

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Tag Archives: lockdown


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No Church Allowed in Victoria

All churches have been closed since March here in Victoria, Australia. Seven months now and not a whimper from one church leader. Pathetic.

Yesterday we went to a park and sat outside and had church. There were 20 of us. We spaced out in household groups. I’ll admit not many of us were wearing masks.

We worshipped amongst the trees , my husband and I dedicated a baby and we read the Word.

And then someone called the police.

“Who’s the leader here?” they said as they walked over, fully armed. My husband said we were. I showed them my Bible and said that we are having church.

“It’s illegal” she said “you’re having a mass gathering”.

I asked if I could speak to her aside. She reluctantly agreed and I explained to them both that amongst our group there has been two attempted suicides in the last fortnight.

“It’s no excuse for breaking the law” she said.

“I will have to fine each of you $5000 . I have to, we no longer have discretion”.

Before you judge me as being irresponsible and for not obeying the government, just try to imagine yourself in Melbourne . Please try to imagine being in lockdown since March. Stage 4 lockdown since July. Not allowed to leave our homes 22 hours a day, not allowed to see anyone except one person outside and, up till recently, only if you’re walking. Not allowed to leave a 5km radius of our home.  Now we are allowed to actually sit in a park with no more than 5 people total and from a maximum of two households. Masks are mandatory at all times. Most workplaces are closed still. Kids have been out of school for months. Suicides are at an all time high for boys under 18.

And churches are shut.

Peope in other states of Australia cannot even grasp what we have been going through down here and I don’t blame them for that. Nobody should have to live like this. There have been moments where I felt I would lose my mind…But for the grace of God…

Many people have though. A couple who owned a beauty business which has been shut for many months, dropped their two kids off at their grandparents and then went and took their own lives.

And yet we count daily covid cases like they’re the only thing that matters now. For the last three weeks our daily covid cases have been 10-15.

So judge me if you like, tell me I’m being irresponsible but I honestly couldn’t care less. We have been smuggling people in to our home for months. We have been running an underground church. We have cast out demons, we have lead people to Christ and we have baptized people. This week we will be baptizing another in our bathtub.

Tell me, can this Anti- Christ government stop Gods work and Gods kingdom? No.

For those who have told me I should submit to government, I want to ask you, what side would you have been on when the Nazis were in power?

The police didn’t end up fining us $5000 each, thank You Lord, they let us off with a warning after all. Even ended up thanking us for the work we are doing. “Just find a way to do it legally,” they said. That is something I cannot figure out.

Our churches will not be open for months and months here.

But by the grace of God we will continue on.

 

 

 

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Pregnant Woman Arrested for Facebook Post in Melbourne

Yes that’s right. A young pregnant mum in her pajamas was arrested in front of her young children for posting on Facebook to attend a lockdown protest.

See it here: https://youtu.be/hn0wWVNXmks

We still have an 8pm curfew. We have not been allowed out for more than one hour of exercise a day for 5 weeks. We have not been allowed to see our elderly parents for 8 weeks. Today we had 113 new cases. 113.

Think about it.

 


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Madness in Melbourne | AIER

I was going to write my own blog about what’s going on here in Melbourne but this one says it all. We are now under an oppressive police state. We are to carry permits in our car to go to work, that’s if you still can work. Many workplaces are now shutdown by the government. We have not been legally allowed to see our friends and family AT ALL for months. Mother’s Day was banned. Church is non existent since March. Food shortages are expected to begin next week as a Abbatoirs and food distribution centers are shutdown. Please pray for us, it is very hard.

Madness in Melbourne | AIER
— Read on www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.aier.org/article/madness-in-melbourne/amp/


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Will the Western Church Please Stand Up

The Western Church is so used to being hunkered down inside it’s four walls that this lockdown is not so different than what it’s become accustomed to.

(Apart from the tithes of course.)

In fact, it comes as a mild relief to have the excuse not to evangelize or minister at all. “Well what can we do, we are in lockdown??”

Cosy and comfy in our Christian bubbles we console ourselves that we can’t do anything anyway so why not turn on Netflix?

I had a fellow minister say to me today “Belinda, why are we the only ones who will still minister to people?”

And I’m sure we aren’t actually the only ones, but it kinda feels like it sometimes. I guess this is what we already knew – the church isn’t the buildings, it’s the living, mystical Body of Christ.

He had actually asked someone else first to minister to the guy last week who’d been heavily involved in the occult but he’d said no. He is not ministering to anyone during the pandemic….

…And we led this guy to Christ…

He’s also asked people to help him feed the baby Christians that had recently come to Christ in his ministry, but they’d also said no. No to bible study…because of the pandemic.

Listen, I’m not advocating for unwisely putting people in harm’s way at this time. I also understand that some people are genuinely fearful of the virus and of copping a fine for being out, and the fines are huge. But also- what the heck?? I can’t help comparing us with the apostles in Acts…what would those who “turned the world upside down” do right now?

 

“So one came and told them, [f]saying, “Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!”
Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, 28 saying, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!”
But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.” ….
And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for [j]His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.” Acts 5

 

 

 


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Leading an Occultist to Christ in Lockdown

Tonight we sneaked out of lockdown to lead a man to Christ. Ssshhh don’t tell anyone…

This poor guy had been heavily involved in the occult and New Age practices. And as is the always the case with the occult, he was suffering greatly because of it.

If you fool around with the devil he will surely make you pay.  Oppression, depression, anxiety, demonic presences and attacks. This guy had literally almost died from an attack.

People coming out of the occult recognize they’ve been deceived and because of the heavy deception they find it difficult to trust what you tell them is not just another deception.

You have to show them who the real Jesus Christ is- born of a Virgin, God in human flesh, lived a sinless life, died on the cross , was buried, rose again 3 days later BODILY.  This is important because there are many many false Christ’s and false Jesus’ out there, especially in the New Age, and they always spiritualize Jesus and His resurrection.

There is often fear even to pray  in Jesus’ Name because they don’t know which Jesus they are “invoking”. It’s a good idea to tell them at the beginning to pray in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. If they’re still unsure, like  someone else I led to Christ had to do for a while, they can pray in the “Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth who died on the cross and rose again 3 days later.”

This is important to them because there is a lot of fear attached to pray to the wrong spirit.

You also need to show them the Ten Commandments, the first two especially, but all of them, and Deuteronomy 18 to expose the awfulness of sin and especially the sins of the occult, sorcery, witchcraft, necromancy, divination, idolatry etc.

I also show them the serpent’s lie in Genesis 3 that man can be as God. This lie is still relevant as most of the new age is seeking to attain to some sort of divinity/enlightenment/godhood.

Tonight this man knew he was a Sinner. He knew he had accessed the spiritual realm illegitimately. He knows he has demons. The demons are messing with him constantly.

But Praise be to God who always leads us in victory in Christ Jesus, once he saw who Jesus was he was willing to repent of his sins.! He came to the only true altar – the cross- and found salvation.

And I tell you as we knelt on the floor with him social-distancing was the last thing on anyone’s minds.

Then he was willing to renounce his occult activities, praise God. And the list was extensive. I know a little of occult activities but I’m always amazed at the stuff that people get involved in, stuff I’ve never heard of. The amount of occult stuff out there is unbelievable.

And Yoga and/or meditation is always involved , usually at the beginning of their dabbling because it’s considered neutral.  But Yoga and meditation are not neutral. They are dangerous practices and are often gateways into serious occult practices. For example, every Yoga pose is a specific act of worship to a different “god“.

But how good is God my friends! He is mighty to save! His mercy is so great that He can reach down to save someone’s life , even someone who’d given himself to Satan , and bring him back from the point of almost death to save his soul.

God is truly loving , gracious and GREAT beyond words. And He is still moving right now even in lockdown.

Blessings,

Belinda

 


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Paul Brought the Gospel to Rome from Home Lockdown

Paul was under house-arrest in Rome for two years.  Chained to a prison guard, he couldn’t leave his own home.

“The Rise of A.I.” acrylic and gouache

Sound familiar…?

During his home-imprisonment he asked the Church to pray for him :

“and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak” Ephesians 6:19, 20 (emphasis mine)

Paul couldn’t go to church, he couldn’t street-preach, he couldn’t go to Synagogue.  Paul was physically restricted as soon as he arrived in Rome, and that’s how he stayed for two whole years.  But in it, in this very situation Paul was asking for prayer to be able to speak forth the gospel boldly.

Do we think Paul’s situation caught God by surprise?  Do we think He did not know that Paul’s arrival in Rome would be under hard circumstances? That His man would not be free to move about as previously?  No – it was in to this very situation that God brought Paul, and thus the gospel, to Rome.

At that time Rome was becoming the centre of the world’s wealth.  The art, the artists, the architects were moving there as it became recognised as the world’s most cosmopolitan city.  This place was of diverse culture, containing many different beliefs and ideas.  In some ways it was advanced, as in the case of women’s rights.  It was to this worldly city that God chose to send His man, chained and bound to one small house.

God’s strategy to evangelise a whole city was through a man bound to his own home.

Paul may have been restricted, but never is the Gospel of Jesus Christ restricted!

Never will it be restrained.

God still used Paul, even chained to a prison-guard, unable to leave his own home. One man, in one house, but in that one house God brought revival to Rome.

“So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening.”  Acts 28:23

Do we think this Covid-19 pandemic has caught God by surprise? Do we think He had no idea all the churches would be shutdown and outlawed?  Of course He knew.  And it is into this very situation that He has called us.

The gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be stopped, no matter if our church buildings are shut.  The gospel will go forth.

The gates of hell will never prevail against His Church!  It’s time to recognise that this is how God has chosen to use us for this season.  God’s plans are not being stymied by the enemy, God is still Sovereign and from the Throne He has decreed that right now this is how His church will go forth.

Without high-tech sound systems, church buildings and programs, once again from the simplicity of our homes!  Prayer with our families, Bible studies online, prayer in the closet.  Could this be God’s plan…?

We have the internet, social media, telephones. We can walk around our neighbourhoods, dropping leaflets in letterboxes. We have many ways we can answer God’s call from our homes:

““Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?”

Who will join me in saying “Here I am Lord, send me!”

“Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.” Acts 28:30,31

Blessings,

Belinda 🙂


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The Way to Get Through This

My husband was on a business trip in the
USA when the World Health Organisation declared the coronavirus a Pandemic.

Things had already started to become strange up until that point but on that day everything turned and people went crazy here in Australia.

Just like that, toilet paper, pasta, hand sanitizer was stripped from the shelves and by the time I got there I couldn’t find any.  I remember the anxiety as I walked into the shops to find bare shelves, three children to look after and my husband far away.

The burden of responsibility to look after my family lay heavily on my shoulders. At heart I am a homemaker, and when I couldn’t get the basics for my family it struck me much more forcibly than anything else. I wasn’t afraid of the actual virus, I still am not. But those bare shelves brought some fear up in me I never expected.

The Lord was so very kind to me. He began to wake me up every night in the middle of the night, in fact He is still doing it to this day. I would get up and go into my prayer closet.

just me and Him.

I would cry, sometimes just sob at His feet. It wasn’t just about the toilet paper. I felt something had shifted in the spiritual realm. I felt everything was different now. And boy did I want my husband home.

I’ve always been a pray-er but those times with the Lord at night became my lifeline, literally. Without them I would not have coped. He gave me the strength to meet each day. He taught me to trust Him in a way I never have before and He turned my mourning in to dancing.

I would go in with a heavy and burdened heart. And I would come out of my prayer closet rejoicing.

Truly in the presence of the Lord there is fullness of joy. Really .

The joy that Christ gave me in those times became my strength for the day ahead.

Now we are in lockdown here in Australia, have been for two weeks. All the churches are shut, even the small ones. We are not allowed to meet in groups of more than 2, apart from our own household.

What do we do in such a situation? How do we get through with faith intact, with hope and peace?

It’s only in the Lords presence – and I can testify to it.

Every night He, in His grace, wakes me up still. It’s the only time I am alone now with a husband working from home and 3 kids locked out of school.

”where else would I go but to the Lord”

He is our strength, He is our hope and deliverer. Our shield and the horn of our salvation. Trust in Him, He never fails.

 

Bless you my brothers and sisters in this difficult season.

Belinda