Written by: Henry James
Article source: JOY! Magazine

Many years ago, God told me that He did not want me bearing office in any denomination as He was going to use me interdenominationally. During the 1980s there was a large amount of underground political activity as the ANC strove to take over churches and get them to preach a gospel of political salvation. There were, however, a number of ministers in the town where I was stationed who would only preach salvation through Jesus Christ.

A strange thing about ministers is that they are always afraid that another minister will steal their sheep. I was not another minister, but a medical doctor in their town. This enabled me to minister to the ministers, encouraging them and arranging for visiting preachers to speak to them. One such visitor was Floyd McClung senior, the father of his better-known son of the same name who more recently moved to Cape Town. I saw no good reason why only the ministers in the richer white cities should hear God’s gifted servants from other places. In this fashion, the ministers became my part time small ‘congregation.’ We had monthly fellowship at my home and had absolutely precious times of seeing the unity in Christ – which has no racial prejudice.

The reason for my not holding office in a denomination became clear when God trained me as a spiritual mapper, starting about 25 years ago. I could do research without having to follow certain doctrines. One thing that I have learnt is that Jesus spoke to ordinary people in ordinary terms that they could understand. When University seminaries have to redefine the meaning of Jesus’ words, they are wrong. Jesus is never wrong. As we gallop towards the end of our age and the planned culling of the human race by the ‘elite’, we need to remember that Jesus listed a specific sequence of events to come in Matthew 24.

Anastasis Mercy Ship. Guinea West Africa. A doctor examining a patient to see if surgery could help her.

What is coming at us?
During the tribulation that is coming very soon with the ‘Great reset’ that politicians talk about now, denominations will vanish and Bibles will become illegal, so memorise God’s Word now!

What should believers be doing now?
• Telling folk that Jesus can forgive their sins
• Taking the Gospel to them
• Warning people about the dangers of the coming vaccine
• Ask God how they must prepare for what is coming

It is time for unity in the Body of Christ
Preaching messages that knock other theologies shows a lack of understanding the times. God’s people, whatever their denomination, may flee together or be arrested and killed together. When satan tells you to argue with your fellow believers on details, rebuke him, then ignore him.

Memories of Henry James:

South America: YWAM Missionary Tales
We were travelling down one of the tributaries of the Amazon River by boat as dusk approached. A sudden gust of wind blew the boat over. The first indication that anything was wrong was when all the pots slid off the stove in the galley. We scrambled out and sat on the side of the slowly sinking vessel. Then someone spotted a light in a house near the river. An American lad stripped to his underpants, swam to the edge, and ran into an Assemblies of God prayer meeting. A man in underpants in a society where women went swimming in full length dresses – God has a sense of humour! In spite of language problems, the locals soon rushed down and canoes were rescuing us. The next morning the entire boat was under water. Young men dived in and fished out bags.

The Abi, the ship that belonged to a YWAM Missionary. Photo taken a week before the ship sank while I was on it. All photos about 1994

One came up through a broken window and cut his shoulder open on the glass. “We had better take him to Hospital,” said one man. “No,” I said. “The hospital is two to three hours away by boat. Let someone dive again and look for my red backpack.” I had walked jungle trails with that medical backpack. Soon the red backpack came to the surface, wet but intact. Ten minutes later the young man’s shoulder had been stitched together.
I spent a week each month in that town, flying in the empty fish plane that had only a seat for the pilot, and sitting on a sack of frozen fish on the return a week later. That town also caused some amusement for me. One night, a YWAM (Youth With A Mission) team was to address the entire town. The church was packed. An American was the first to speak and I translated. Next up was a boere seun. With me there to translate, he preached in Afrikaans. Upon leaving the building, I overheard one local woman speaking in her native language. “That second guy spoke such deep American that I could not understand a word he said!”

Healed and praising Jesus!
Some years ago, I was asked to teach the Spiritual Warfare module on a YWAM Discipleship Training School in a neighbouring country. At the end of the week of lectures I said to my students, “It doesn’t help that you just have knowledge, you need to be able to distinguish the spirits in the spiritual realm. I am going to pray for you to receive the gift of discerning of spirits.”

I then prayed for them. Some students from an Australian health care school were on the same YWAM base for a short time and they sat in on my other lectures. After I prayed for the other students, this team asked me to pray for them to receive the gift of healing. So, I prayed this for them. The next day they went to the local hospital and met an older woman who was bent over with arthritis and very short of breath. The Aussie team prayed for her healing. The next day they went back to the hospital and there she was, healed! Walking straight up, breathing normally, and praising God.

After preaching in straw roofed church in neigbouring country, I prayed for the children.

‘When Jesus was quoted, the demons fled’
On another occasion, we drove into a village in Mozambique in the Renamo area just after the cease fire. A pastor went with us and he preached a short sermon to the people. One woman immediately manifested demonic spirits. With all the demons in her, this tiny woman just pushed the men away. Some folk prayed that the demons be cast out of her, without success. Then one young man read the story of Jesus casting out the demons from Luke 8:28. Immediately, as he finished reading the passage, the woman was in her right mind again. I spoke to her a few minutes later and she was quite normal. It was amazing to see that when Jesus was quoted directly, the demons left at once.

Truck stuck in the mud on main road connecting north and south Mozambique, about 20 years ago. This road has now been tarred.

‘The witchdoctors had perished in the flood’
When Cyclone Elena hit Mozambique, my wife and I joined an urgent relief team put together by friends in Youth for Christ. We drove from Cape Town to Maputo and were then flown to an airstrip in a devastated area. We took food into refugee camps. In one camp my wife asked the camp leader if she could speak to the witch doctors. The reply was that there were none in the camp. In a country held captive by witchcraft, all the witchdoctors in that area had perished in the flood. After distributing food, I stood under a tree in a few camps and preached. I nearly caused a riot as I did not have enough tracts. Everyone wanted a tract. I have never seen such openness to the Gospel than amongst these people who had just lost their worldly possessions and homes.

MAF Mission Aviation Fellowship plane on strip cut out of Jungle

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Date published: 11/02/2021
Feature image: Image for illustrative purposes only.

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