July 2008

CLU Student Newsletter

Greetings of love to everyone! This newsletter contains three testimonials, so I will not take up much room, for I want you to enjoy the articles below.

Just a reminder! Jesus is coming soon. Each day brings us closer to our eternal home, so enjoy each day in fellowship with God! As you can see from these articles, the CLU courses help prepare us to minister so others will be ready to meet God and to keep ourselves walking closely with Him. Read, enjoy, and be blessed!

Dr. Karen Joy King

Healed Through the Lens of Love
by
Esia Anders

“Effervescence.” I don’t often think of this word in connection with God; however, after completing CWG as a student at CLU, I have experienced an overwhelming feeling of effervescence; or the ability to show the “liveliness and exhilaration” of knowing God and hearing God for myself.

Like the substitutionary work of the Law that kept me safe and protected until Jesus Christ was manifested; I’ve learned how God’s grace and mercy has brought me to the point of accepting, knowing, and hearing Him for myself. Although it all occurred according to His divine time schedule, it was my choice to set the clock in motion.

The benefits of willingly accepting the call to participate with God and His plan for my life has allowed me to build up my faith in Him and to know that He is providing protection and guidance in the face of any opposition that I may encounter.

I’ve learned to recognize pharisaic characteristics within myself and what I need to do to bring myself back into balance with God. I’ve learned to recognize the deceptions of the New Age Movement and gained the knowledge to counter viewpoints contrary to God’s Word.

To come to an understanding of how my brain functions and the way I discern and disseminate information has also been an invaluable asset to my learning. I now know that I can change my epistemology and the accumulation of wrong thinking. I have the ability to remove the negative impact of its influence and replace it with healthy, positive, and progressive ways of living life through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.

The most profound and life changing experience came in learning to hear God’s voice for myself. I’ve learned to apply the four principles of “Hearing God’s Voice” that gives me the assurance to address every concern and need in my life through a spiritual encounter with Him.

By hearing and knowing God for myself, I can now live in the “effervescence” of who He is; which allows me to benefit from developing a beautiful and mutually responsive relationship. I now have a relationship that gives me full access to His redemptive plan for my life and the world, as an eternal link to Himself. “It just doesn't get any better than this.”

Below is one of my spiritual encounters with Jesus. I asked Jesus to come into a previous scene in my life and asked Him where He was in the scene. Tuning to spontaneity and vision, I could see Him in the room, could talk to Him about what had happened, and hear His response.

“Esia, I was near and I heard every word. I saw every gesture. I felt your heart sink as it was gripped with fear. I want you to know that above all things I love you and was in the midst of what happened. The tears you shed, I caught. And I will never forget them. You are healed! Esia, there is no need to say again that you want to be healed. Today, you are healed and all the tragic moments have been taken away. Let us seal this by looking into the heart of the one who is also hurting and responds out of pain, your abuser. Next, let’s see ourselves ministering to their pain using the lens of love, forgiveness, and compassion.

“When you move beyond your own flesh, pain, and thoughts to reach out to someone else who is hurting, your own pain dissipates. It loses power, and it loses any importance attached to it. It no longer matters. Satan is defeated and can no longer use this as a weapon against you. Remember, his only job is to kill, steal, and destroy.

“You can now move into a new sphere of ‘self-less-ness.’ You see, as long as you were concentrating on yourself, you saw nothing but you. By moving into the position of looking into the pain of others allows Me to have a say in the situation. I was nowhere to be found in your situation as long as you continued to look at yourself. You saw a mirrored image but forgot it was a two-way mirror. You could not see Me standing near you extending My arms and My love. You were bound by your fears.

“However, today you saw ME in the scene. I was standing across the kitchen near the refrigerator. You can describe My mannerisms, what I was wearing, and the pain on My face. Just like then, I want you to know that I am with you always, and you can count on Me to be there. I love you. Enjoy seeing Me in the midst of everything that concerns you. I am a very present God.

“You’ve moved from not hearing Me to hearing Me well. At first you doubted, but you will see Me more clearly as time goes by. And by the way, I was there for the other person too. I love both the ‘good and the bad,’ ‘the weak and the strong,’ ‘the rich and the poor—equally.’ I am no respecter of persons. Every person holds a special place in My heart. My name is Love.” Jesus...your friend!

I Never Gave Up
by
Chaplain Sally Lukens, ASD Facility Chaplain

Thanks for the chance to share how God opened the door for me to serve in a greater capacity in the Philadelphia Prisons!

I have served faithfully for ten years in the prisons as a volunteer bringing church to the men and women’s prisons. I use a ministry style that reaches out to the addicted mindset person who needs to be set free from the bondage of addictions.

The Philadelphia prison population is over 9,000 inmates. ASD holds about 1,000 inmates in nine different facilities. I spiritually watch over a group of five, called Alternative Special Detention. This includes the Cannery (women), CCC (men), Mod #3 (men), Central (men), and 600 University Avenue (men). ASD is a minimum-security facility. These men and women are serving the last part of 11-23 month sentences. Over 80% of the men and women inside the prisons are in for drug and alcohol abuse. I concentrate on that part of the population specifically.

I have been blessed with 21 years of being clean and sober and 18 years of outreach experience dealing with all different areas of ministry. God blessed me with doing 12-step outreach meetings, street ministry in North Philadelphia, prison church and outreach, neighborhood missions with children and youth, and feeding the disadvantaged, elderly, and single mothers. I train ministers and Promise Keepers to walk in the calling God has for them and was awarded two honors, the 2001 Prison Volunteer of the Year, and 2005 More Beautiful Committees Honor for Neighbor Helping Neighbor Award. These were for continual faithful service to the people I serve.

I have been waiting for ten years to be a chaplain. The first step is to have a ministry as a volunteer in the prisons. I knew God was preparing me to be a chaplain.

I earned my BA degree from Christian Leadership University and graduated in 2005. Dr. Virkler has been a blessing to me, as a woman coming up in Christ. I also received my ordination from Christian Restoration Fellowship International in 2006. This and my minister’s license from Evangelistic Messengers Association all contributed to being accepted as a chaplain. I give honor to the Lord Jesus Christ!

Recently, I saw a vision of the Light going into the front of DC through prison pillars. The Spirit rested on the altar of Kings’ chairs, but they were empty which showed me that God was filling this new position. The Lord has shown me that it is the Spirit and the gifting that are most important.

A woman in my church told me that a chaplain was moving to another area of service, so I applied and was appointed Chaplain over ASD in March of 2008. The Lord has blessed this as a spiritual position over churches and discipling others. I mentor them and refer them to outside churches, 12 step meetings, and counseling, if needed.

Pray and follow God’s plan and do not give up. God is a Rewarder to those who diligently seek Him. It wasn’t easy being the wife of an ex-bike gang member, but God prepared me to have a heart of love. I never gave up for God had a plan. He wanted to save more people than me. He wanted to save many people!

My husband went home, ready to meet the Lord, in August of 2006. His brother recently gave his heart to the Lord and has been clean and sober for over six months. I prayed for my husband to get saved, and never gave up. I thank God for the chance to serve Him in a greater capacity in the Philadelphia area.

Both My Parents Hated Me!
by
Mark Huddleston

Before taking this course, there were many happenings in my life that did not make sense. When I think back to my childhood, there were times when everyone around me thought I was crazy. I was not as fortunate as many of you were. I came from a dysfunctional family that only believed in sin. My father was an alcoholic and an adulterer. He only cared about himself and how much money he could steal or cheat someone out of. My mother was a habitual liar with a terrible gambling addiction. She would sell her soul for a dollar. All my brothers and sisters were, and still are, drug addicts, thieves, and murderers. You can see what I was up against from the day I was born.

I just recently found out that both my parents hated me from the day I was born, which explains the beatings I received most of my childhood. As far back as I can think, there was something different about me. I believed in the devil but did not worship the devil. I saw first hand how the devil could manipulate into believing sin was right. God was talking to me then but I did not know what was happening to me.

I remember God would talk to me in my sleep, dreaming of things that were to happen, and receiving complete songs with lyrics. In the beginning, I would get out of bed at 2:00 A. M., write them down, and then memorize what I had written. I noticed once I went back to sleep, I would not remember what I had memorized a few hours earlier. I got tired of forgetting the thoughts, so I would hide a pad and pencil under my covers so I could write them down.

When I told my family about what was happening to me they termed me as mentally retarded and called me stupid. I was taken from regular school and put into a mentally challenged class until I was ten years old. All of the teachers who taught that class slowly, but surely, found out that there was nothing wrong with me at all. But when they asked me why my parents put me in that class, they also termed me insane.

One day I asked God what I had to do to win salvation. God answered, “Salvation is a gift to be received from Me, and there is nothing you can do to earn it. Good works do not lead you to Christ--it is out of your relationship with Me that good works flow.” I then told God I was thinking about giving up and taking my own life. God answered back, “Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.” I never forgot those words because I had written them down.

As a youth, I did not know I was doing journaling. I did not understand all of the things that were happening to me and why. After taking the CWG course, I was set free. Mark and Patti Virkler articulated it in such a way that I was able to grasp the very essence of my condition. I now know there is a purpose in all that happened to me. I now know why we have dreams and visions. I now know that God talks to us all if we allow the communication to take place. Praise the Lord!

God has used CWG to help me understand more about the personal communication He has with me and everyone else who will allow themselves to hear His voice. Below is an example of one of my journal entries. While visualizing myself walking with Jesus on a mountainside road overlooking a valley with a rushing river and fruit orchards, I asked Jesus why I was chosen to spread His word and love. This is what Jesus had to say to me.

“Mark, you are a giving person who is full of joy and happiness. You are a person of non-selfishness and would give all that you have before thinking of yourself. You already know this. It is a part of you and you have been compelled to share this great gift that I have instilled upon you. You will never be happy doing the work of a man who has nothing but worldly views and ideals. You have been given a gift to be used to help others see the things you can see and help them hear the things you can hear. You were given your gift of receiving My word so you may teach others to hear My voice. Mark, I want you to learn to polish the gift I have given you.”

“Oh Jesus, Thank You once again for showing Your love to me. I love all that You have done for me. I praise You! You are the Son of the living God and are truly the Anointed One.”

Through taking the CWG course I now am able to focus more on my communication with Jesus. I have learned to fix my eyes completely on Jesus when communicating with Him and now receive pure messages from Him.

If you are looking to establish a personal relationship with Jesus, take the courses Mark and Patti offer, and you will be taking a step in the right direction to making that personal relationship with Jesus a reality. God has changed me since allowing Him into my life. Before allowing God in my life, I had nothing. Now that God is in my life, I have life, love, and joy. I went from being abandoned and homeless to becoming a Doctor of Psychology and Counseling. God surely works miracles. To God be the Glory. Amen!