The Blessing...to bless
released from the curse
A publication of the Church of God of Eastern Canada | Winter 2015
www.the-messenger.org
The Messenger exists to inform, promote, encourage
and strengthen the cooperative ministries of the
Church of God in Eastern Canada, to share the light
of Christ with the world, build the Kingdom of God,
and stay linked with the ministries of the Church of
God around the world.
The Messenger celebrates the message and
ministry of the Church of God - in Eastern
Canada, in North America and around the world.
We identify with the authority of the Bible as the Word of
God. On this basis The Messenger desires to proclaim the
message of salvation through Jesus Christ, spread biblical
teaching and provide resources for the Christian life. A
special passion is to stand up for the New Testament understanding of the church.
(adapted from One V oice & German CHoG Perspektiven)
Communications & Compiling
Pastor Sieg Pudel
Editing
Danibelle Philip
Design & Publication
Elissa Den Hoed
Logo Design
Jake Bian
Cover Design
Elissa Den Hoed
The Messenger is a publication of
the Church of God in Eastern Canada,
affiliated with the Church of God movement
(Anderson, Indiana)
www.chog.org
www.chog.ca (Western Canada)
www.chogec.ca (Eastern Canada)
No portion of this publication may be reproduced
without written consent from the Editorial Committee.
Distribution:
March/June/September/December
Next Topic:
Affirming, developing and
applying spiritual gifts
Special thanks to the following :
Contributing Writers
Bob Hazen
Julie Wiebe
Cindy Steinke
Lynn Reddick
George Hartwell
Karen Goodyear
Roger Bitner
Cecile Barnhart
Ken Wiebe & CHoG in E.C. BOD
Jim Lyon
Don Jones
Sieg Pudel
Jessica Zerkle
Jeffrey Hency
Kevin Stiffler
Gary Smalley
John Trent
Ann Spangler
Elissa Den Hoed
Word on the Street
Interviews
Sieg Pudel
Elissa Den Hoed
Article deadline:
April 15, 2015
Write:
The Messenger
℅ 39 Tanager Square
Brampton, ON
L6Z 1X1
Email: [email protected]
Articles used may be edited.
Signed articles represent the view of the writers and not
necessarily those of the publishers.
Pictures Provided By
Internet
Sieg Pudel
Elissa Den Hoed
Credits
Cartoon - Elissa Den Hoed
interviewees
CHoG Ministries/
www.jesusisthesubject.com
Children of Hope - Mission Haiti
Canadian CHoG Ministries
www.iblp.org
Freedom in Christ Ministries
Freedom Session
Thomas Nelson Publishers
www.healmylife.com
Toronto Star letters
Hungercount Report
Zondervan
www.thebulletin.org
wikipedia
www.bbc.co.uk
www.rcinet.ca
www.hospitalnews.com
www.opencanada.org
www.un.org
www.cbc.ca/news
www.cbc.ca/radio
The Messenger celebrates the message and ministry of the
Church of God - in Eastern Canada, in North America and around
the world. We identify with the authority of the Bible as the Word
of God. On this basis The Messenger desires to proclaim the message of salvation through Jesus Christ, spread biblical teaching and
provide resources for the Christian life. A special passion is to
stand up for the New Testament understanding of the church.
(adapted from One V oice & German CHoG Perspektiven)
Published in Canada
The Messenger—winter 2015
2
What’s inside...
Editorial…………………………….…………………………...……………….4
The Bible Speaks………...………………………………………...…………….5
Word on the Street……………………………………………………..………..6
A Senior’s Searching: See What God Hath Done!...............................................7
The Power of Blessing……………………………………………………..……8
Focus and introduction of The Blessing…………………………………...…….9
Curses: What is a curse? | Biblical principles involved in cursing | The power
behind the curse | What motivates cursing? | Why your curse hurts……...……10
My words and their effect……………………………………………..……….11
Renounce sins of ancestors and curses………………………………………...12
Being set free from any curse………………………………………………….13
Spiritual freedom……………………………………………………………….14
Breaking curses………………………………………………………………...14
The Doomsday Clock…………………………………………………………..15
News & Perspectives…………………………………………………………...16
Pioneer Park Church of God’s Food Cupboard program………………………19
Peace Issues…………………………………………………………………….20
Mission News: Regional……………………………………………………….21
Church News: Regional...……………………………………………………...22
Church News: National & International……………………………………….23
Children of Hope Haiti final report 2014………………………………………25
Furaha Child Sponsorship Program (FCSP) Final Report 2014……………….26
Ministry Happenings…………………………………………………………...27
Use of different Bible translations and paraphrases
Why use different Bible translations
and paraphrases?
For two important reasons. First, the
Bible was originally written using
11,280 Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek
words, but the typical English translation uses only around 6,000 words.
Obviously, nuances and shades of
meaning can be missed, so it is always
helpful to compare translations.
Second, we often miss the full impact
of familiar Bible verses, not because of
poor translating, but simply because
they have become so familiar! We
think we know what a verse says because we have read it or heard it so
many times (active Bible readers, that
is).
Then when we find it quoted in a book,
we skim over it and miss the full
meaning.
Therefore we have deliberately used
different translations in order to help
you see God’s truth in new, fresh
ways.
(adapted from The W ord for Y ou Today - daily devotional).
Index of abbreviations
CEV - Contemporary English Version
GNT- Good News Translation
NIV - New International Version
NKJV - New King James Version
NLT - New Living Translation
NRSV - New Revised Standard Version
TM - The Message
The Messenger—winter 2015
3
Do you appreciate or like hearing people around you cursing
day in and day out—all the time? What does it do to you and
the environment you are in, to be cursed at?
people curse God, daily life and others, they are really damning
and destroying themselves, and live in bondage.
God is a God of blessing and joy. God is light; there is no darkness in the Lord!
We are sooo blessed, as His people and as His spiritual family
on earth—as we live in Christ’s freedom, and in His peace!
Have you either grown up with blessing or have you been well
trained to understand the deep dynamics of blessing, and how it
affects our human spirit and spiritual well-being, our families,
and all those in the network of our relationships? Until we experience the life-giving rescue of Jesus Christ, a “spiritual heart
operation”, and the transforming of our mind, we are all under
a curse— the curse of sin, darkness and our corrupt human nature. How amazing and wonderful, when through God’s mercy,
love and resurrection power, we follow the call to come into
the light of life—that we are released from the curse! What joy
it is to live in peace and in spiritual freedom!
As we can see and hear, the curse and the spirit of curse is evident in the world all around us. Out of the heart of humankind
and our mouth comes much cursing. People curse life, situations and circumstances, other people and even God! Wow!
Using God’s Name in vain and even as a curse word is dark
and actually evil. It corrupts men and women and youth—it
poisons life and community! It takes away dignity and destroys
relationships and the many beautiful possibilities God provides
for us each moment and each day. People do not know what
they are doing when they live in this spirit of the curse—when
cursing spills out of them, over and over, all the time! When
Many people seek all kinds of help, treatments, cures, and protection from the curse. Do you see the many promotions and
ads of psychics, spiritual healers and therapists, pundits, masters, “mothers”, astrological centres who “specialize” among
various other things in removing black magic, voodoo, bad
curse, jadoo, evil spirits, evil eyes, etc. and offer to provide
protection from evil spirits, against enemies, and more?
We invite you into the conversations in this issue—how many
believers and friends are experiencing blessing(s)…and how
others have been deprived from blessing. We will recognize or
learn how a person or family can receive the blessing or be
restored to the blessing…and how a person or family can be
released from the curse.
Here in our part of the world—our Western culture and Canadian context—we generally do not have many reality checks or
proper and helpful teaching about this topic, nor do we provide
much help for those struggling with the curse.
As the songwriter says, and Bob Hazen also encourages us
with: count your many blessings! Discover and live in the power of blessing—become a blessing-giver!
We also invite you to respond to this and any recent Messenger
issues with any letters to the editor.
- Sieg Pudel
Become Familiar with Many Scriptural Blessings
The following New Testament passages are particularly suitable for
use in spoken blessings:
Romans 15:5-6, 13
I Corinthians 1:4-9, 16:23
II Corinthians 1:3-7, 2:14,
13:7-9
Ephesians 1:3-23, 3:14-21,
6:18-20, 23-24
Philippians 1:3-6, 9-11; 4:6
-8, 23
Colossians 1:3-6, 9-14; 4:26
Spring greetings from the editorial team!
From left: Sieg Pudel, Danibelle Philip & Elissa Den Hoed
(From the Institute in Basic Life Principles - www.iblp.org/
questions/what-power-spoken-blessings)
The Messenger—winter 2015
4
I Thessalonians 1:2-3,
3:12-13, 5:23-24, 28
II Thessalonians 1:11-12,
2:16-17, 3:5, 16
II Timothy 4:22
Philemon 1:4-7
Hebrews 13:20-21
I Peter 1:3-9, 5:10-11
II Peter 1:2-4, 3:18
II John 1:3
III John 1:2-3
The Bible Speaks
Bible translation is the NIV
(New International Version)
unless otherwise noted
The Blessing…to Bless - Released From the Curse
Compiled by Sieg Pudel
_________________________________
Many people don’t realize that blessings
and curses are powerful and effective.
According to the Scriptures we can bring
a blessing or a curse upon ourselves by
our words and/or our actions, we can
bless or curse other people and we can
also be blessed or cursed by others.
Words of a life-giving present and
future
The Lord bless you and keep you; the
Lord make his face shine on you and be
gracious to you; the Lord turn his face
toward you and give you peace.
Numbers 6: 24-26
Contrast of blessings promised and
curses pronounced
God promises blessing through his servant Moses upon all those who listen, honour and obey and follow the spiritual and
social guidelines given by the
Lord: Deut. 28: 1-14
IN CONTRAST
Moses, with the spiritual leadership
(priests/Levites) instructs the people of
God to pronounce curses upon those who
dishonour God’s Name, will and ways,
upon those who dishonour their neighbours: Deut. 27: 9-26 (The community of
faith is then to affirm each with an
Amen); 28: 15 - 68
What kind of advice from a spouse—in
times of crisis and deep need?!?
His [Job’s] wife said to him, “Are you
still trying to maintain your integrity?
Curse God and die!”
Job 2:9 NLT
[This after all the tragedies and suffering
that happened to Job and his family: lost
all their livestock and work animals, their
servants, lost all their children, Job was
afflicted with painful sores on his whole
body—from the soles of his feet to the
top of his head, sitting among the ashes.
In all of this, Job did NOT sin by charging God with wrongdoing, nor in what he
said (Job 1 and 2).]
Those who seek refuge in Father
God—blessings promised
Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in
Him...O the joys of those who trust Him.
Psalm 34:8 (NLT)
Despite other people’s evil—God’s people are marked by His favour and joy
Then let them curse me if they like, but
you will bless me!
Psalm 109:28 (NLT)
Not good to dishonour our parents!
If you curse your father or mother, the
lamp of your life will be snuffed out.
Proverbs 20:20 (NLT)
Living and responding in the mind,
spirit and character of Jesus
But if you are willing to listen, I say, love
your enemies. Do good to those who hate
you. Pray for the happiness of those who
curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.
Luke 6:27-28 (NLT)
We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us.
1 Corinthians 4:12
Released and healed from the curse
through Jesus Christ!
But Christ has rescued us from the curse
pronounced by the law. When he was
hung on the cross, he took upon himself
the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is
written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” Through
Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised
to Abraham, so that we who are believers
might receive the promised Holy Spirit
through faith.
Galatians 3:13-14 (NLT)
Marked by God’s favour—in every
way—through Christ Jesus
How we praise God, the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ.
Ephesians 1: 3 (NLT)
And you also were included in Christ
when you heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a
seal, the promised Holy Spirit.
Eph. 1: 13
Cursing and blessing through our
mouth? – NO!
In the same way, the tongue is a small
thing that makes grand speeches. But a
tiny spark can set a great forest on fire.
And among all the parts of the body, the
tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole
world of wickedness, corrupting your
entire body. It can set your whole life on
fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. People can tame all kinds of animals, birds,
reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the
tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord
and Father, and sometimes it curses those
who have been made in the image of
God. And so blessing and cursing come
pouring out of the same mouth. Surely,
my brothers and sisters, this is not right!
Does a spring of water bubble out with
both fresh water and bitter water? Does a
fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine
produce figs? No, and you can’t draw
fresh water from a salty spring.
James 3: 5-12 (NLT)
It’s over! No more curse—not any! It’s
coming—soon!
No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the
Lamb will be there, and his servants will
worship him.
Revelation 22:3 (NLT)
Check out www.biblegateway.com,
a searchable online Bible in over
100 versions and 50 languages
The Messenger—winter 2015
5
The following questions were asked of people on the street in the Kitchener area by Elissa Den Hoed and in the
Brampton area, and while traveling, by Pastor Sieg Pudel.
Word on the Street
Question: Has your life been
shaped by the power and joy
of blessing and/or the impact
of curses? If so, how?
OR Have you experienced
blessing(s) along your life
journey? Even been released
from any curse(s)?
From the Kitchener area:
People are blessed every day. Spiritually… I’m not a spiritual person. I believe
there is ‘something.’ I don’t think I’m
cursed. I don’t think people are cursed. I
have friends from different religious
backgrounds; we’ve had this discussion
before. I’ve never experienced that. People say, “I’m cursed,” but they’re having
a bad day. They’re not cursed. That’s
paranoia.
male, 49, self-employed restoration specialist and Tim Horton’s patron
From the greater Brampton area:
I have [experienced both]. I was baptized... had to be to join the church. My
insides - the badness was released. It was
uplifting. I have been blessed in a session
on a Friday, in a time I didn't believe
there was a God. I felt three hands come
on me: the Holy Ghost, Son and the bigger hand - the Father. Ever since I have
believed I have been happy. It was the
greatest experience. I never had volunteered for anything, and now - ever since
then - I am volunteering. I can't tell lies.
male, 45, community volunteer at Regeneration
I relate to both. I have had the blessing
along the way of having my daughter
born 3 1/2 months pre-mature - she
weighed one pound. She was on every
machine you can think of. She went
through heart surgery, had a hole in her
heart. After I took her home the trouble
just started. Every week an appointment
at Sick Kids [Hospital]. During all those
times I was a student at Ryerson. We
went to the heart specialist, speech
therapist, ear specialist. From two and
one-half to Kindergarden she was in daycare. I don't think I would have been able
to do all this without God. My mom was
very spiritual, Christian background. I
know I am blessed! I know that I am not
cursed. This whole journey with my
daughter taught me patience and tolerance, and how to really love. I know
many mothers would have walked away.
Her name is – Destiny!
I don't believe in curse, don't
acknowledge it, do not support it. The
only curse I see - is to be black. The entrapment we have is that we allow ourselves to be used and abused by people in
power. What we should do is empower
ourselves - educate self.
female, 50, manager of a bank
My life is pretty serendipitous. I am so
blessed - everything finds me. The other
day I found $50.00. God always provides
for me - food, clothes, money, friends. I
am reflecting on that a lot lately. My love
language is: gifts. That's probably how I
see and experience God. I am always
provided for through my friends or my
mom. That is really weird - I didn't look
for blessing, it made its way to me. I
could be cursed - but am so blessed! I
really don't know curse - didn't really
have to deal with it.
male, 22, university student
I see some blessings in my life. Like I
wake up and it is a nice day - a blessing!
I don't see any curses.
male, 30, court house waiting area
That's pretty hard to answer... There are
both sides of the mirror. We can see
a positive and negative side. I experienced sweet and sour.
male, 45, court house waiting area
I have experienced a lot. I am blessed by
God - through Jesus. I had hard times.
The Messenger—winter 2015
6
Example: my son was born with a hole in
his heart. How God guided us, step by
step. Now he is good, 19 years old!
male, 52, court house waiting area
I have never been cursed, as far as I
know. To live is a blessing - for me. To
wake up every day. I am blessed to be
able to live in a country like this - most of
all that I know God.
female, 52, customer in a mall
I'll say both [blessing & curse]. Blessing
- when something good happens. I wouldn't call it a curse - everyone goes through
rough times.
female, 19, employee in a toy store
A spoken blessing:
Lord...
bless who and what we
touch. Touch who and
what we bless.
— Christian Nwatarali
A Senior’s Searching
Count Your Many Blessings, Name Them One by One...
Count Your Many Blessings,
See What God Hath Done!
By Bob Hazen
Somehow the admonition to count my
blessings seems to imply I am taking my
blessings for granted. However, we will
be kind and interpret the author to be
challenging us to celebrate God’s super
abundance of bestowed blessings. So let’s
do a little calculating:
Premise - God is unquestionably the
greatest blessings giver.
Deduction - As a Christian my greatest
goal in life is to be like Jesus, and to have
Him live within me, giving me guidance
and motivation. Remember, the scriptures
tell us that Jesus was moved with compassion to feed the hungry.
Conclusion - When God, the greatest
blessings giver, enables me to be like
Him, then I am also a blessings giver.
Sooo…now let’s personalize the words of
the song to capture our conclusion. Count
your many blessings, see what YOU have
done.
For years, at the time of retirement, each
night I would ask myself the question “How many people did I bless today?”
Often there was not one occasion I could
recall when I had been a blessing to
someone, which would prompt a genuine,
“I’m so very sorry, Lord.” And I should
have learned it’s not good to try to fall
asleep knowing I had failed to be like my
Lord.
However, you can certainly understand
the warm sense of personal fulfillment
when I was able to give account of a
number of people to whom I had been a
blessing.
Let me share a pastoral experience of
when someone really, really was a blessing to me.
be a “Blessing Giver”?
We had duplicate Sunday morning worship services at that time, so in the first
service I shared sincerely and wholeheartedly what I felt to be God’s message regarding “The Work of the Holy Spirit.”
Let’s go there in our thinking for a moment. When I do what God is doing, that
must be a taste of heavenly living. I like
people who are a blessing to me, so it
naturally follows, if I am a blessing giver,
I will be liked and it’s just great to be
liked.
In meeting the folks at the door after the
service, I was vehemently verbally attacked by an older man in the congregation telling me how wrong and unscriptural I had been in the sermon. The more
he scolded me, the more I shrunk. When
he finally walked away I was shaking.
If the opposite of blessing is cursing and
most cursing is the work of the devil, then
the more blessings we give, the more we
resist the devil. I love how I feel about
myself when I am giving blessings, and
that fits right in with Jesus’ challenging
us to love others as we love ourselves.
Now I retreated to my study to ready myself for the next service. How could I? I
was devastated. Then miraculously,
Brother Hersheiser asked to see me. He
knew nothing of my earlier encounter and
proceeded to thank me for the best sermon he had ever heard on the “Holy Spirit”. Then, with his aged, slender arms, he
hugged me and asked to pray for me.
Let’s bring into this study “The Law of
Universality” which is ‘if everybody does
what I do, what would happen?’ WOW!
If everybody saw themselves as “Blessing
Givers” and practiced it, what a wonderful world we would have.
WOW! That happened over 50 years
ago—one man cursed me, another man
blessed me! That’s a long time for a
blessing to last. I think in a short time I
would have gotten over the belittling. But
a kind, appropriately given blessing keeps
on blessing and blessing.
The challenge is now yours—count your
blessings (the blessings you give) and see
what God will do. Count the blessings
you give and you will receive an amazing
inner warmth of well-being. What do you
think really happens to a person when
they are living out the challenge to daily
To further affirm the challenge from God
to bless others spiritually within the family of God, look up the following scriptures:
Acts 2:42-47
Romans 12:10
Ephesians 4:2, 32
1 Thessalonians 5:11
Hebrews 10:24-25
James 5:16
Robert Hazen is a retired pastor and
president emeritus of Gardner College.
He resides in Camrose, Alberta, and distributes The Messenger among friends in
his network of relationships in the community.
The Messenger—winter 2015
7
The
of Blessing
By Lynn Reddick (in association with Open Church Ministries)
...the blessing, my friend, is what’s going
to turn the church around, turn the world
around, and prepare the nations for the
return of the Lord Jesus Christ!
What do spoken blessings
do?
Jehovah God initiated the act of blessing
back in Genesis 1:22 and 1:28. Both
blessings involved reproduction, first for
“every living creature that moves,” and
then for “male and female.” In Genesis,
blessing [immediately] follows creation;
it is not creation itself, but it adds direction and strength to it.
So it is today. You and I don’t create ex
nihilo, out of nothing, as God does. But
we can massively redirect and revitalize
what exists! In our one-day seminars
across North America, we saw blessings:
 restore forgotten or neglected
dreams
 stir guilt and bring repentance
 revive suppressed love and passion
for a spouse
 unlock silent, dormant feelings
 set people free from demonic
strongholds
 release people to become ministers
and start an open church in their
home.
The bottom line: basically, we bless people by releasing God into their lives. We
bless the Lord God by acknowledging
Him as King of the universe, our Savior
through Jesus Christ, etc. And things are
blessed as we dedicate them to God.
We spend our lives searching for missed blessings
Blessings are not optional. They’re necessary for true life. Built into everyone is a
crying need to be blessed, especially by
our parents.
When we aren’t given a sense of identity
and destiny, several bad behavioural traits
can emerge.
We may become:
 performance-driven (workaholic)
 shallow in relationships
 sexually frigid, or…
 addicted to frequent sex with new partners
 chronically depressed or feeling empty
 ethically short-sighted and morally
adrift
 confused about our purpose in life and
who we are.
How to bless someone
Look in the Bible, and you’ll find that
spoken blessings have six basic parts:
1. Meaningful touch. Notice how Isaac
asked his son to come near and touch him
with a kiss. (Gen. 27:26)
2. Direct eye contact. Peter told a lame
man, “Look at us!” as he prepared to
bless him with the gift of healing. (Acts
3:4) Paul, too, gazed “intently” at a lame
man before healing him. (Acts 14:9)
3. A message about the future. Par t of
Isaac’s spoken blessing was that nations
would bow down and serve Jacob. (Gen.
27:27-29)
4. Attaching high value to the one being
blessed. Isaac pr oclaimed, “Be lor d
over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.” (Gen. 27:29)
5. Picturing a special future for the one
being blessed. J acob called J oseph, “a
fruitful bough by a spring; his branches
run over the wall…” (Gen. 29:22)
6. An active commitment to fulfill the
blessing. In Genesis 12:2, God Himself
promised to follow through in history,
making Abraham’s seed a great nation.
When you want to give a true blessing
that will last through eternity, don’t make
it a casual message of cheer. Remember
the full picture of these six points.
The Messenger—winter 2015
8
Eight times when a blessing
is needed
We develop best in an environment of
constant love and blessings. Anytime is a
good time to bless and be blessed, whether it is at bedtime, around the dinner table, or on the job.
But there are at least eight times when
spoken blessings are important in releasing God’s power and presence in our
lives to shape our identity and destiny:
1. Conception. While the child is still
in the mother’s womb, speak blessings
to the unborn. That child’s spirit will
receive those blessings.
2. Birth. Your blessings on a newborn
welcome him or her into the world as
loved and affirmed.
3. Weaning. Separ ation fr om the
mother is a major step in development.
The child needs a spoken blessing of
worth and value. See Genesis 21:8.
4. Puberty. Except for Chr istianity,
most world religions and cultures have
a rite of passage when a child reaches
adulthood, signalling a distinct change.
5. Public confession of faith and baptism. Blessing at this time [solidifies]
the new believer by welcoming and
affirming him or her to the family of
God.
6. Graduation and beginning a career. Nowher e should a per son’s
identity and destiny be more affirmed
with blessings than at this time.
7. Marriage. It is no small matter to
be joined as one flesh in God’s sight.
Thus marriage is a crucial time for
blessings to be spoken over bride and
groom.
Times of trouble and big decisions.
When a person seeks help or guidance,
they need a giant blessing from you. No
form of help could be better!
Continued on the next page
...Continued from p. 8
You can probably think of other times
when people would need a blessing to
impact who they are (identity) and where
they’re going (destiny). You don’t have
to impart some earth-shaking new revelation; as Larry Crabb reminds us, “A vision we give others of who and what they
could become has power when it echoes
what the Spirit has already spoken into
their souls.”
It’s not too late for you to
begin blessing
The power of spoken blessings continues
to amaze us. Something of God is released into another person’s life through
each blessing. Recently, we saw a husband take his wife’s hand, look her in the
eyes, and say, “I want to do something
I’ve never done before during the more
than 40 years we’ve been married. I want
to bless you and tell you how much I love
you!” Another elderly man near the Canadian border was so moved with compassion to bless his wife that he just sat in
front of her, tears streaming down his
cheeks. “This is the hardest thing I have
done in my life,” he said. “You know that
I was not raised this way.” Although he
had never been taught to bless his wife,
he pressed past his cultural deprivation
and spoke a great blessing of life over his
wife that brought a bonding they had never experienced.
Apart from leading your friends to Christ,
the best and highest thing you can do for
them is to speak God’s blessing into their
lives, pouring forth His power, love, forgiveness, joy, and peace. As you bless
them, you give direction, and life itself.
It’s the Lord’s own blessing flowing
through your [heart] and hands! Learn
and practice it well, and you will be a
valuable instrument of His grace.
Excerpts from a newsletter, including the
article “The Power of Blessing” by Lynn
Reddick. See www.lynnreddick.com
——————————————————————————————————————
Focus and introduction of
The BLESSING
No matter your age, the approval of your
parents affects how you view yourself
and your ability to pass that approval
along to your children, spouse, and
friends. Many people spend a lifetime
looking for this acceptance the Bible
calls...The Blessing.
through hypnosis or a similar psychological technique seldom, if ever, offers lasting change. On the other hand, God’s
Word and His principles do offer a
changeless blueprint for constructing and
re-constructing relationships.
 a spoken message
 attaching “high value” to the one
being blessed
 picturing a special future for the one
being blessed
an active commitment to fulfill the blessing
The basic elements of The
The importance of The Blessing
Some of the focus and conBlessing today
What are these elements, and how do they tents of the book:
Today, as in centuries past, orthodox Jew- work together…? An elementary underish homes bestow a special family blessing on their children. This blessing is
much like the patriarchal blessing we
were introduced to in the story of Esau.
This blessing has been an important part
of providing a sense of acceptance for
generations of children. But recently, it
has also provided an important source of
protection to those children….
standing of how a flower grows can help
us picture the way the basic components
of the blessing work together…. Like the
basic needs a flower has, the blessing also
has five key elements….
A journey of hope and
healing
A family blessing begins with meaningful
touching. It continues with a spoken message of high value, a message that pictures a special future for the individual
being blessed, and one that is based on an
active commitment to see the blessing
come to pass….
In a world awash with insecurity and in
search of acceptance, we need biblical
anchors to hold on to.
The search for acceptance…that so many
go through often leads people to accept a
cure that is worse than the problem itself. Finding oneself through traumatic re
-creations of the past or losing oneself
A definition of the family
blessing that contains its
five major elements:
The family blessing includes:
 meaningful touch
 “In Search of the Blessing” - the im-
portance of the blessing today
 “The Blessing: Yesterday and Today” - a home with family blessing
 “Homes That Withhold the Blessing”
 “Learning to Live Apart from the
Blessing” - even a curse can be changed
into a blessing
 Giving the Blessing to Others - even
our enemies
 “Giving the Blessing to Your Spouse
and Friends”
 “Giving the Blessing to Your Parents”
 “A Church that Gives the Blessing”
(From The Blessing by Gary Smalley and
John Trent, Thomas Nelson Publishers,
©1986 by Gary Smalley and John Trent;
cover; pp. 17, 19, 23-24)
The Messenger—winter 2015
9
What is a curse? | Biblical principles involved in cursing
The power behind the curse | What motivates cursing? | Why your curse hurts
By George Hartwell, M.Sc.
What is a curse?
I will define cursing using basic principles, try to explain the mindset behind
cursing—what drives us to it, and explain
how you can apply this understanding to
break curses. Understanding [what a
curse is] helps us in breaking the power
of curses.
Many people fail to discern the oppressing impact on others of their curses. Not
only that, Jesus said that there is great
power and authority in all the words we
speak. Therefore words spoken in anger
as well as our mean gossip can act as if
they were curses.
Please realize that counter measures must
be taken to break curses because curses
have real power and do real damage. Christians should thank God for being our Defender and Protector and claim
this protection daily. A more active approach is necessary to break curses if we
discern we are being oppressed by a
curse.
Definition of a Curse
A curse may be defined by the negative
impact it has if it is not recognized and
broken.
A curse may have a negative, destructive
or evil impact on another’s life. However, it also has negative impact on the one
who curses. You need to learn to defend
against the impact of a curses directed
against you. But also, [don’t curse others
yourself]. You may be shooting yourself
in the foot. Yes, curses can boomerang
back—a case of ‘return to sender.’ Apart
from that, the unseen result of cursing
another is that you become oppressed by
your own curse and more vulnerable to
the curses of others. (The principle is that
God is not your defender if you take over
defending yourself by attacking others. Judgement is God’s.)
A curse may take different forms. Many
of these can be unconscious. In any case
all forms of cursing would be considered
sinful. Not all are verbal. I believe deep
negative ‘feelings’ against another can act
as curses. I also believe a medical or
psychiatric diagnosis acts much like a
curse.
A curse may involve witchcraft (a hex) to
tap into demonic power; however, it also
may involve a fixed attitude of hatred
toward a person. The thoughts and intents
of our heart do impact others. Even prayers can act as curses. Controlling or
‘witchcraft’ prayers in which we attempt
to impose our will on God or another can
act like a curse; bring oppression. Prayers
made in unbelief, for example involve
prayers that focus on the illness or problem (praying the problem), can act like
curses. Do not focus your imagination on
the problem; rather speak God’s word
based on listening prayer and godly
promises as led by the Holy Spirit. Strong
words angrily expressed wishing harm
upon a person, with or without an oath,
act as curses. I remember Joan being so
ticked off with Rocky that she sent him
out the door wishing that a train would
run in to him. A train hit his truck that
very day; but he was not harmed. Malicious gossip, discussing negative about
another with evil intent, can act like a
curse bringing heaviness and trouble.
Verbal abuse, which may involve name
calling, with or without swearing, acts
like a curse. Even professional labels,
diagnostic labels, attaching a diagnosis
upon yourself or another person can act
like a curse. For example, a medical doctor says that you have cancer thus predicting that sickness or harm will befall
you. Out of fear and confidence in the
professional’s authority you receive the
message and give in to the predicted and
feared outcome. Faith in God and God’s
healing power must be interjected into the
news of any diagnosis.
The Messenger—winter 2015
10
Biblical Principles involved in
Cursing
We are made in God’s image. Here is
what the creation account says about
curses:
 Made in God’s image suggests
that we have creative power. We
give life to things from our human spirit.
 Spirit—God’s breath giving us
life—is expressed in our breath
and through our words.
 Therefore, there is power and
authority in our words.
 Adam’s first assignment was to
name the animals. We wrongly
use this authority when we assign
negative labels to people. When
we give them bad names.
Jesus speaks about curses (and the misuse
of our words against others). Jesus says:
 That we are accountable for the
words we speak.
 That by our words we are justified or condemned.
 That we are to bless and curse
not.
 That we are to pray for those
who curse us.
 That calling down fire upon a
village is not motivated by God’s
Spirit.
The power behind the curse
One theory: Curses release demons.
One theory is that curses derive their
power from demons. A demon is released by the curse. A demon can be
given authority to act both by the careless
negative words we utter and by hostile
evil words we utter in hate and frustration.
Once released the demonic has permission to do what it was told to do (until it
is completed).
If the person against whom the curse is
uttered is well protected (hidden in
Christ, signed with the cross), then the
demon may fulfill the assignment against
another—even against the one who sent it
out. Thus a curse may boomerang against
the curser. My suggestion is that you daily ask for complete protection, asking to
be hidden in Christ, covered with the
blood of the New Covenant, surrounded
with God’s presence as a shield.
Slander, accusation, name calling, malicious gossip, negative words spoken
against a person may well empower evil
to oppress either the one cursed or the
curser.
The other theory or perspective is that the
human spirit by itself may generate sufficient evil power—by meditating on negative, hateful, hostile thoughts—to create
evil destructive murderous energy. This
perspective takes seriously the image of
God as meaning co-creation and charges
us to be careful with what we are creating
in our heart, mind and imagination and
what is expressed in our words.
Either way the power behind the curse
must be protected against. Sometimes the
curse must be actively broken.
When more than protection is needed—if
there are powerful curses coming at
you—then I would suggest that
you actively cut them off / destroy them
as suggested by Psalm 118:11 and
12. Speak the words out loud. In addition you may ask Jesus to step between
you and the person sending the curse. Let
Jesus be your shield, picture it is so and
thank God that it is so.
Why Curse? What motivates
cursing?
Anger, hostility, animosity, envy, jealousy, fear, need for control, a sense of
inadequacy, helplessness and the need for
power—any of these can build up the
hateful
energy
released
in
a
curse. Imagine packing in gunpowder to
fire a big cannonball. Brooding upon negative, hateful, judgmental thoughts, stoking these negative emotions, builds up an
emotional charge that can be released
with murderous intent and destructive
impact with a curse.
Why Your Curse Hurts: Psychological Pain
Most of us respond from our emotional
brains (Biblical heart), from personality
patterns (Biblical ‘carnal or sinful nature’) established before we could think
objectively, decide for ourselves or resist
the authority of the adults in charge.
When we respond as People Pleasers
(Sandford ‘Performance Orientation,’
psychoanalytic ‘false self’) to life having
been taught to be polite, behave well and
always be nice, we may develop anger
(hostility) in our spirit against the lack of
freedom for self-expression in this psychological straight jacket. We see this
[with] the ‘stiff upper lip’ English use of
black humour, sarcasm and indirect
means to express hostility. Using occult
arts, launching curses—this may all be an
expression of the anger at God underlying
People Pleasing.
Breaking Curses: see pages 11 & 14
Taken from www.healmylife.com/articles/
prayer/breaking-curses - with permission
George is a professional therapist / counsellor with a focus on working with couples and individuals, with 40 years clinical experience and Master of Science
degree in counselling. His focus and ministry is life transformation through inner
and emotional healing.
www.healmylife.com
—————————————————————————————————————————————–——--—————
MY WORDS AND THEIR EFFECT By Don Jones
Humanity is capable of taming every bird
and beast in existence, even reptiles and
sea creatures great and small. But no
man has ever demonstrated the ability to
tame his own tongue! It is a spring of
restless evil, brimming with toxic poisons.
Ironically this same tongue can be both
an instrument of blessing to our Lord and
Father and a weapon that hurls curses
upon others who are created in God’s
own image. One mouth streams forth both
blessings and curses. My brothers and
sisters, this is not how it should be.
— James 3:7-10 (The Voice)
If you are like me, you love to sing a
good praise song to the Lord, or read
praise Scriptures like Psalm 145 with love
and blessing to our loving Father. It is so
good to praise Him. On the other hand,
the Scripture above catches us in our lack
of integrity. In life, our emotions seem to
turn with changing circumstances and
when someone comes against us or causes us pain (or even inconvenience?) we
shout words that are, well, not words of
blessing. ‘Same tongue,’ says James.
‘Same heart?’ asks our Lord. For me, as a
father, the battle of the tongue has been
the most difficult in the face of a rebellious teenager. In my struggle I consider
these words:
Don’t let even one rotten word seep out of
your mouths. Instead, offer only fresh
words that build others up when they
need it most. That way your good words
will communicate grace to those who
hear them.
— Ephesians 4:29 (The Voice)
I often pray “Lord, whatever is in me that
rises up against my child, no matter how
rebellious he or she is, let it be calmed,
and let my words be those of grace that
would build them up.” I prayerfully have
come to realize that a father’s angry
words can both wound a child emotionally and damage a father’s witness for
Christ. I have repented for and asked forgiveness for many ill-spoken words that
have come from me. Since I have been a
father to my own five plus a large number
of foster children over the last 30 years,
God has given me lots of practice and
growing time. He is good and continues
to give me wisdom so that my spoken
words would be a benefit to others.
Don and his wife Yvette have raised their
own four children, plus adopted Kristian,
and have been foster parents for over 30
years. He has been active in local church
leadership, is engaged in prayer ministry
in Brampton, and is the director of Freedom Session at his local congregation Heart Lake Baptist Church. They live in
Brampton.
The Messenger—winter 2015
11
Blessings vs. curses
Renounce sins of ancestors and curses
By Sieg Pudel
Are you and I living in freedom for which
the Lord Jesus Christ has set us
free? (John 8:31-32; Galatians 5:1)
Have you experienced physical, emotional and spiritual healing through Jesus
Christ?
Do you understand, as a believer and follower of Jesus, that it is vital for our spiritual walk to renounce the sins of our
ancestors as well as to renounce any curses which may have been placed on us by
deceived and evil people or groups?
Check out the resources of Neil Anderson
and Freedom in Christ Ministries, or
Freedom Session - equipping the Church
for Discipling a Broken Harvest - with
Ken and Bonnie Dyck, among others.
They, and many other local leaders who
are trained to use these resources, are
spiritual leaders dedicated to help believers resolve personal and spiritual conflicts, to break free from bondage(s) and
renew our mind, to experience daily victory as a child of God.
Most believers are either not discipled at
all or not adequately discipled and trained
well for their life in Christ. What has happened in the body life and ministry processes of the Christian church? What happens to and in a person after they hear
God speaking to them…respond to the
Good News of Christ…surrender their
life to God…and experience forgiveness
of their sin?
Are we more interested just to “get people saved”/ “convert” people, and then let
them struggle on their own? Are the
church leadership and community just
interested to help people “get a passport
to heaven” and satisfied to gain more
church members, no matter how they
really will live or develop afterwards? OR…are we sincerely dedicated
to follow the clear instructions of Jesus to
“make disciples”? That is: disciples full
of passion and joy who are able to reproduce their faith. Are we sincerely dedicated to follow the admonitions of Scripture
to help each other as body members to
live and walk in spiritual freedom, with
God’s wisdom and help, empowered
through the Holy Spirit? (Colossians 2:67; Ephesians 3:14-21)
How do we “make” such disciples?
Well…let’s consider and think about how
people become excellent musicians, how
they become amazing athletes, artists,
skilled workers or begin any professional
careers. What does it take…how long
does it take…to become a person of excellence? In a similar way, we truly need
good spiritual mentors, disciplers, coaches among God’s people, in the community of faith—the church. Spiritual leaders,
church leaders/mentors, and spiritual fathers and mothers need to come alongside
new and even weak believers.
Life is rough and tough. There are many
temptations in this world. All of us experience various kinds of wounds, scars,
etc., more or less, in the different seasons
of our life story. Scripture talks about the
need to be transformed, to be reconciled
and to be healed from many toxic things
that have affected and impacted us on our
life journey. The enemy of our souls, the
devil, is the accuser and confuser and
thief, who will try to distract and rob us,
to destroy our faith and our life in Christ.
He and the angels of darkness are working overtime—to take us down (check out
C.S. Lewis writings: Screwtape Letters,
etc.).
This is where blessings vs. curses come
in. To live in God’s blessing and fullness
of joy…and to be released from the
curse. Demonic or familiar spirits can be
passed on from one generation to the next
if you don’t renounce the sins of your
ancestors and claim your new spiritual
heritage in Christ. You are not guilty for
the sin of any ancestor, but because of
their sin, Satan may have gained access to
you and your family. Some problems, of
course, are hereditary or acquired from an
immoral environment. But some problems are the result of generational sins.
All three conditions can contribute toward causing someone to struggle with a
particular sin.
If any Messenger reader would appreciate
any help to experience freedom in Christ,
contact the editor of The Messenger and
we can get you in touch with a local or
regional spiritual leader/mentor/pastor
who would be able to come alongside you
and assist you in the process.
Partly adapted from Steps to Freedom in
Christ, Step 7, by Neil Anderson, Rich
Miller, Dave Park; Freedom in Christ
Ministries; and from Freedom Session - a
Christ-centered 12-step Discipleship program
The sun will rise tomorrow as sure as time itself.
It will be a new day, to begin again.
The Messenger—winter 2015
12
Being set free
from any curse
By Cindy Steinke, BA Sociology/Social Work, Masters of Religious Education
The word “curse” holds different meanings. Using a “curse” word is synonymous with swearing or cussing. Curses
are also associated with spells or incantations, used by persons who wish misfortune or evil upon others. Or, a curse is
referred to as the actual evil that has been
invoked upon one.
I have been asked to write about “curse”
as it applies to the prayer/counselling
ministry of which I am involved. Two
things come to mind: 1) The ways we
curse ourselves and 2) The ways we curse
others.
Words are powerful. Thoughts are powerful. Dr. Daniel Amen, in his book Change
Your Brain, Change Your Life, says, “ Did
you know that every thought you have
sends electrical signals throughout your
brain? Thoughts have actual physical
properties. They are real! They have significant influence on every cell in your
body.” (p. 57)
When we tell ourselves things like “I am
not loveable”, “I am unworthy”, “Nobody
really cares about me”, “I will never be
good enough”, etc., we are cursing ourselves. We are allowing negative thoughts
to literally change who we are. These
negative thoughts are lies or mental
agreements we make with ourselves.
Alfred Davis says it this way in his manual of Christian Counselling and Inner
Freedom, “A curse is like a lie. It is not
true, but if the person believes it, then the
words have power and the spirits of darkness can use the words for destructive
purposes.” (p.112)
When we believe the lies we tell ourselves, we curse ourselves and the negative thoughts change our ability to be who
we were created to be. We do not live out
of our true identity in Christ, but rather
out of our diseased selves.
We not only curse ourselves, but we curse
others as well. I believe that most of us do
this completely unintentionally, but nevertheless we do it. Whenever we speak
negatively about another person with
someone else, that judgment becomes an
agreement between two people. That
agreement becomes a curse and could
impact the person it is directed towards.
As well, agreement opens up access for
the enemy to impact the lives of the persons who are doing the judging, criticizing and cursing.
Mt. 7:1 NIV: “Do not judge, or you too
will be judged. For the same way you
judge others, you will be judged, and with
the measure you use, it will be measured
to you.”
Gal. 6:7 NIV: “Do not be deceived: God
cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he
sows.”
How can we deal with any curses in our
lives, whether we have brought them on
ourselves or others?
First of all, a curse has no power if it is
not accepted. If we know others have
been judgmental, critical, or even speaking lies about us, we need to forgive them
and stay in a place of humility. This is not
easy, especially when one has been falsely accused. But humility is a weapon
against darkness. Alfred Davis says,
“Fear and worry are tools that Satan uses
to keep focus on the curse and away from
the truth.” (p.112)
Second, if we ourselves have spoken in
agreement with others in negative ways
about another person or persons, we first
need to ask God’s forgiveness for our
spoken words and thoughts. Then we can
ask him to “break off” any negative impact upon those we have possibly cursed
and ask him to bless them.
Third, and most commonly, we need to
deal with the ways we have cursed ourselves. In order to do this, we must first
take an inventory of all of the negative
beliefs that we hold about ourselves.
These are beliefs that will not let go, and
continually run through our minds, impacting how we view ourselves, others
and God.
Ask God to reveal all of the thoughts,
lies, or mental agreements that need to be
dealt with, renounce them, breaking all
agreement with them, and ask Him to
remove all impact of these agreements
from your life.
Then ask God to reveal his truth to you as
it applies to each of the beliefs or selfcurses. As you hear the truth, replace the
curse with the new agreement with God.
For example, “I am not good enough”
becomes “I am created and loved by God.
I am wonderfully made. I am good
enough. God loves me and accepts me.”
Negative words, thoughts, mental agreements and curses impact our lives sometimes in ways we are unaware. But Jesus
has told us that abundant life is available
to us now. His truth will truly set us free
from any curse.
Cindy is co-pastor with her husband,
Hardy, at Joshua Creek Church, Mississauga. Her spiritual leadership includes
worship leading and a prayer/counselling
ministry. Cindy is also a custom decorator painter and a glaze realism artist.
The Messenger—winter 2015
13
Spiritual Freedom
“FREEDOM” – What a word! What a
truth! What a possible reality!
The word “freedom” is cast about liberally and by multitudes in all kinds of situations in life. The framework I’d like to
use in my discussion is that of the spiritual freedom I experience from the Word of
God. As a Christ-follower I have freedom—freedom to live the life God intends for me. The scope of this has expanded as I have studied and embraced
scriptural truths of which I was previously unaware and did not understand, nor
did I realize how powerful they are when
they are taken at face value and incorporated into my life. My greatest step into
spiritual freedom has been over the last
20 years since I began a study of these
truths through Freedom in Christ ministry
and materials by author, professor and
pastor Neil Anderson. My freedom has
expanded and I’ve had a way to help others experience greater freedom as well.
Here are just a few things that have been
significant life-changers for me:
- The fact that there is a battle going on
for my mind and there is a plan to deal
By Julie Wiebe
with this battle (2 Cor. 10:5 – “We demolish arguments and every pretension
that sets itself up against the knowledge
of God, and we take captive every
thought to make it obedient to Christ.”)
All of my thoughts must be held up to the
light of God’s truth and if they don’t
agree or fit, then they must be resisted
and dismissed. Even if I’m not sure I can
ask God for clarification and know that
He will show me how to deal with it.
- The fact that when I am tempted or accused I can know this, but when I am
deceived I don’t know that. This, too, can
be dealt with by letting God in on every
aspect of my life so I can discern when
there is deception, even self-deception.
There are two parts to gaining and keeping my freedom secure. (James 4:7 –
“Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil
and he will flee from you.”) I am to submit to God AND resist the devil and he
WILL flee from me. This is so empowering in maintaining my freedom walk in
the Lord. The reality of another Scripture
has also come to the forefront in this:
John 8:36 – “If therefore the Son shall
make you free, you shall be free indeed.”
- The fact that ‘deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons’ are real. (1Timothy 4:1
– “The Spirit explicitly says that in latter
times some will fall away from the faith,
paying attention to deceitful spirits and
doctrines of demons.”) BUT as I daily
embrace Christ and His truth, I will be
able to recognize the deceiver’s lies and
choose the truth. …take every thought
captive and make it obedient to Christ! …
submit to God and resist the devil and he
will flee from me!
God has taken care of everything—
blessings and curses.
Praise His Name!
(Scriptures taken from NASB)
Julie Wiebe is a retired teacher and lives
with her husband Ken in Dundas, Ontario. She is actively engaged as part of the
regional missions team (I-NMT), is coordinator of the Furaha Child Sponsorship
Program, (www.chogec.ca – “Missions”
link) and recently has served for 10 years
in a well-known call-in prayer ministry
service in Ontario and across Canada.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————--
Breaking Curses
need help. I need you to take over and
break this curse. Thank you.”
By George Hartwell, M.Sc.
(Optional step in ministry might be to ask
forgiveness for any way we have believed
this curse and thereby given it power.)
Jesus would ask: “Do you want to be
healed?”
So step #1 is to answer that question.
“Jesus, I do want this curse to be broken.
I do need to be set free from this curse.”
Who does it? You might want to break
this curse yourself. However, in Listening
Prayer Therapy we usually ask Jesus to
take over the action and we would ask
Him to break this curse.
So step #2 is to declare: “Jesus, you are
Lord of this process. You are my Healer,
my Saviour and my Deliverer. I don’t just
Step #3. After the prayer in step two, I
encourage you to keep your eyes closed
and sense or picture Jesus breaking this
curse. I encourage you to find some way
to picture this happening. You are in the
role of movie director. How do you make
this dramatic?
One picture I often suggest involves a
scene with you and the person (or group)
that cursed you. I invite you to have Jesus
in this picture. We ask Jesus to step in
between this person and yourself.
As you picture that, I would pray: “Jesus,
would you step right in between? Break
this curse and become a shield and protector to this person. Break the power of
any curse so that it has no more access to
you [sic]. Surround this person with your
shield of protection.”
I ask you how that was and how you feel.
Step #4. To encourage identity transformation I would ask you to soak in the
good feelings you were feeling. Let that
feeling deepen in one’s heart, mind, body
and spirit. I would ask you after a while
how that felt.
Step #5. I ask you what it would be like
to have this feeling for the rest of your
life. Would that be good?
Continued on p. 15
The Messenger—winter 2015
14
...Continued from p. 14
Step #6. Ask, “How would you describe
the new you, this new identity based on
the positive feelings?” using “I am” statements.” I would prompt you to include all
the positive feelings you had mentioned
so far.
Step #7. Ask, “If you tried to imagine
tomorrow as filled with these feelings and
this new identity, does that picture come
clear? How does it feel?”
Step #8. Ask, “Imagine the next week as
being this new identity with these positive
feelings and find out what that week
would be like. Repeat for a month, for six
months, for a year.”
Finish with a “thank you” prayer. Agree
in prayer for this new identity to come.
Assign homework of starting each day
repeating the “I am” statements and picturing the day from the perspective of the
new identity.
Taken from www.healmylife.com/articles/
prayer/breaking-curses - with permission
George is a professional therapist / counsellor with a focus on working with couples and individuals, with 40 years clinical experience and Master of Science
degree in counselling. His focus and ministry is life transformation through inner
and emotional healing.
Go to www.Listening-Prayer.com for
articles on how to break curses.
The Doomsday Clock
From the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Doomsday Clock is an internationally recognized design that conveys how close we are to destroying our civilization with dangerous
technologies of our own making. First and foremost among these are nuclear weapons, but the dangers include climate-changing
technologies, emerging biotechnologies, and cybertechnology that could inflict irrevocable harm, whether by intention, miscalculation, or by accident, to our way of life and to the planet.
Timeline: It is 3 minutes to midnight
2015: “Unchecked climate change, global
nuclear weapons modernizations, and
outsized nuclear weapons arsenals pose
extraordinary and undeniable threats to
the continued existence of humanity, and
world leaders have failed to act with the
speed or on the scale required to protect
citizens from potential catastrophe. These
failures of political leadership endanger
every person on Earth.” Despite some
modestly positive developments in the
climate change arena, current efforts are
entirely insufficient to prevent a catastrophic warming of Earth. Meanwhile,
the United States and Russia have embarked on massive programs to modernize their nuclear triads—thereby undermining existing nuclear weapons treaties.
“The clock ticks now at just three minutes
to midnight because international leaders
are failing to perform their most important duty—ensuring and preserving
the health and vitality of human civilization.”
From www.thebulletin.org
The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock
face, representing a countdown to possible global catastrophe (e.g. nuclear war or
climate change). It has been maintained
since 1947 by the members of the Science
and Security Board of the Bulletin of the
Atomic Scientists who are in turn advised
by the Governing Board and the Board of
Sponsors, including 18 Nobel Laureates.
The closer they set the Clock to midnight,
the closer the scientists believe the world
is to global disaster.
Originally, the Clock, which hangs on a
wall in the Bulletin’s office in the University of Chicago, represented an analogy
for the threat of global nuclear war; however, since 2007 it has also reflected climate change and new developments in
the life sciences and technology that
could inflict irrevocable harm to humanity. The most recent officially announced
setting—three minutes to midnight
(11:57 pm)—was made on January 22,
2015 due to climate change, the modernization of nuclear weapons in the United
States and Russia, and the problem of
nuclear waste.
History: The origin of the Clock can be
traced to the international group of researchers called the Chicago Atomic Scientists who had participated in the Manhattan Project. After the atomic bombing
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they started
to publish a mimeographed newsletter
and then a bulletin. Since its inception,
the Clock has been depicted on every
cover of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Its first representation was in
1947… [7 minutes to midnight – the initial setting in 1947]
As Eugene Rabinowitch, another cofounder of the Bulletin, explained later,
The Bulletin’s clock is not
a gauge to register the ups
and downs of the international power struggle; it is
intended to reflect basic
changes in the level of continuous danger in which
mankind lives in the nuclear age…
From
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Doomsday_Clock
The Messenger—winter 2015
15
News & Perspectives
Playmobil say Martin Luther is
their fastest-selling toy
BBC Newsbeat
By Amelia Butterly, Newsbeat reporter
2/18/15
A German religious scholar, born more
than 500 years ago, seems an unlikely
candidate for a best-selling toy. But
Playmobil, the German-based company
which makes small figurines, says that
its Martin Luther toy is its fastest-selling
in history. The 34,000 tiny plastic dolls
sold out in about three days and new
orders won’t be sent out until April.
Martin Luther challenged the Catholic
Church and helped start the Protestant
Reformation in 1517.
The toy shows him with a quill and a
Bible, written in German.
The Bavarian city of Nuremberg has
already started its preparations to mark
500 years since the Reformation in 2017
and the Martin Luther doll is being sold
as part of the celebrations.
The Nuremberg tourism website has
thanked customers for their interest in
the “small Luther” and says because of
“overwhelming demand” the toy is out
of stock.
It invites people to pre-order the figure
for when it is delivered in April.
(From
31514940)
www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/
Teens increasingly sleepdeprived
The number of hours teenagers sleep has
decreased over the last 20 years and
many are getting less than the recommended nine hours a night, reports a
large study from Columbia University in
the U.S. Although the subjects were
American, specialists say the results apply to Canadians teens as well.
ing—or breaking—the cost curve, will
remain a perpetual challenge….
“Tiredness and lack of sleep can lead to
obesity and weight gain, can lead to depression and anxiety, and overall teens
just won’t function as well and may not
reach their educational and functional
potential,” says Dr. Atul Khullar, medical director of the Northern Alberta sleep
clinic….
Another challenge is getting federal,
provincial and territorial governments to
agree on the basic values or principles
we want to preserve and enhance as we
reshape policies, structures and the regulatory environments of healthcare in
Canada.
Make sleep a priority
At home, parents should make sleep a
priority for themselves in order to set an
example, says Khullar. They should keep
televisions out of the bedroom and ask
that electronic devices be turned off 15
minutes before bedtime. He adds that
parents should let their teens sleep as late
as possible in the morning, noting that
even small changes can add up over a
week.
This study concludes “Declines in selfreported adolescent sleep across the last
20 years are concerning and suggest that
there is potentially a significant public
health concern that warrants health education and literacy approaches.”
(From Radio Canada International by
Lynn
Desjardins
2/17/15
www.rcinet.ca/en/2015/02/17/teensincreasingly-sleep-deprived-says-study)
Health Care challenges in
Canada
So is it a blip on the healthcare horizon
[expenditure growth on public healthcare
in Canada finally appears to be slowing
down] or the beginning of a trend?
With the continued aging of the Canadian population, the diffusion of new
healthcare technologies, and increased
pressure for other public spending, we
anticipate healthcare costs will continue
absorbing the energies of governments in
Canada for years to come. And bendThe Messenger—winter 2015
16
Both challenges are formidable but surmountable barriers to ensuring the sustainability
of
publicly-financed
healthcare in Canada.
Addressing these challenges will fall
mainly on the shoulders of our provincial
governments, and of course, the electorates they serve. However, the federal
government also has both the potential
and the responsibility to play an important role. One thing is certain: whoever wins the next federal election in
2015 will have to meet these challenges
head-on.
By Greg Marchildon and Livio Di
Matteo
Greg Marchildon is an expert advisor
with EvidenceNetwork.ca, Professor and
Canada Research Chair in Public Policy
and Economic History (Tier 1) at the
Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of
Public Policy at the University of Regina.
Livio Di Matteo is an expert advisor with
EvidenceNetwork.ca and Professor of
Economics at Lakehead University.
(Adapted from Hospital News - Canada’s Health Care Newspaper, Feb. 2015,
Vol. 28 Issue 2, www.hospitalnews.com,
Guest Editorial, “Why implementing
health reform in Canada remains a challenge”, by Greg Marchildon and Livio
Di Matteo)
Continued on the next page...
...Continued from page 16
Our wired world comes with a
great cost
Are consumers of technology armed with
enough knowledge in order to protect
themselves from cyber crime? ... Marc
Goodman, a former visiting fellow at the
University of Toronto’s Canada Centre
for Global Security Studies and consultant with the FBI and Interpol, presented
his new book, Future Crimes, in Canada
on Feb. 23 at the Munk School of Global
Affairs.
Goodman—a self-proclaimed technooptimist—argues our wired world comes
with a great cost. He spoke with
OpenCanada this week about the exponential growth of technology, what devices we can expect to be hackable in the
future, and the need for more cooperation
between Silicon Valley and security
agencies….
If today’s internet is metaphorically the
size of a golf ball, tomorrow’s internet
will be the size of the sun….
I want to be clear—technology is awesome, I am a techno-optimist. Technology in the next decade will bring probably
two billion more people on our planet out
of poverty; it will bring food and clean
water to parts of this world that has never
experienced it previously; we’re going to
see vast expansion in life and decreases in
mortality; big chunks of the world will
become educated, they can use their
phone to take free online classes. But
there is a flip side, an ominous flip side
that we don’t too often consider: All of
the great things our technology brings
will not come for free. Once you wire the
world for good, you’ve also connected it
for those who want to take advantage of
that technology, so this promising technoutopia won’t come to us for free. Anyone
that can follow the news can see there are
bad actors—government actors, terrorist
actors, organized criminal actors, hactivists—that are trying to subvert these technologies for their own good and against
the public’s interest. The public must get
involved and participate in trying to take
back control of their technology and being intentional about using it for the
greater benefit of humanity because if
they just sit back and ignore the obvious
signs of what’s going on around them,
there is the potential that the bad guys
could win…because the bad people can
have increased reach due to the interconnected nature of the world, we’re going to
have to be vigilant….
Google executive Vint Cerf recently
warned of a “digital dark age” and that
there is a risk that we could lose a lot of
historical traces of this century should
technology fail or be lost. Are we too late
to dial down the technology advances or
could taking a step back be part of the
solution as well?
(Adapted from CIC Canadian International Council, Open Canada.org - Canada’s hub for international affairs, “Crime
in a time of connectivity” by Eva Salinas,
Feb. 18, 2015 -www.opencanada.org/
features/crime-in-a-time-of-connectivity/)
Re: “Right to die” issues
History may prove that this debate could
be…one of Canada’s most painful legacies.—Robert Ariano, Scarborough
The liberal vocabulary evolves:
Death penalty for serial killers: injustice;
Death penalty for unborn children:
choice;
Death penalty for the sick: dignity
(From a Toronto Star letter 2/14/15 M.L., Aurora)
Some serious thinking is needed. On the
principle of autonomy, the court ruled we
have a constitutional right to end our lives
with medical assistance. This right gives
the medical profession the right to kill us
and the responsibility to do so if we request assistance in dying.
Our world is addicted to killing: witness
films, games, civil strife, wars, terrorist
attacks. The court extended the right to
kill to cover those with mental illness or
physical disabilities who are suffering
intolerably and irremediably, either physically or psychologically. What about
human fallibility? The difficulties of certainty in medical judgement? The problem of ascertaining if the request is made
without coercion? The lack of mental
health services? Inadequate social assistance?
In such an autonomous world, what becomes of hope, caring and love, of affirmations of life as pain and troubles lived
through, with the help of others, along the
way to death? Dying surrounded by a
caring community creates the dignity that
affirms
us
as
individuals.
(From a Toronto Star letter 2/14/15 P.C., Toronto)
The U.N. vision of 2015 - being
the time for global action
- some news of Post-2015 development
processes.
The opportunities that 2015 presents for
bringing the countries and people of the
world together to decide and embark on
new pathways forward are historic and
unprecedented. These decisions will determine the global course of action to end
poverty, promote prosperity and wellbeing for all, protect the environment and
address climate change. The actions made
in 2015 are expected to result in new sustainable development goals to follow the
eight Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). The UN is working with governments, civil society and other partners
to build on the momentum generated by
the MDGs and carry on with an ambitious
post-2015
development
agenda..
The 65th Annual UN DPI/NGO Conference, entitled, “2015 and Beyond: Our
Action Agenda” opens 27 August to provide an opportunity for civil society, international networks and activists to develop an “Action Agenda” to mobilize
messaging, advocacy strategies, partnerships and accountability frameworks in
the lead up to the launch of intergovernmental negotiations at the beginning of
the 69th session of the General Assembly
for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda, due to culminate at a
summit in September 2015.
A million voices: the world we want
The United Nations Development Group
is launching a second round of global
dialogues devoted to the means of implementation of the post-2015 development
agenda. Close to 50 Member States expressed interest in participating.
Continued on the next page...
The Messenger—winter 2015
17
...Continued from page 17
The dialogues will bolster the UN-led
global conversation in which nearly 2
million people have participated. For
almost one year, over one million people
have engaged in 88 national consultations, 11 thematic dialogues and the MY
World global survey. A new report by the
UN Development Group presents the
findings from the global conversation and
outlines some of the ways the UN is engaging with global citizens.
(From
www.un.org/milleniumgoals/
beyond2015)
Why do we need food banks in a
country as rich as Canada?
About hunger in Canada
Many people do not realize the extent of
hunger’s reach in this country. Each
month, close to 850,000 Canadians are
assisted by food banks, and 36.4% of
those helped are children and youth.
The problem of hunger is a persistent
one, with food banks providing comparable levels of food and other assistance for
the better part of a decade.
Who is turning to food banks? There is
no single, typical profile. The people
helped include families with children,
employed people whose wages are not
sufficient to cover basic living essentials,
individuals on social assistance, and Canadians living on a fixed income, including people with disabilities and seniors….
This year’s HungerCount survey results
show some disturbing trends, with food
banks use increasing slightly but steadily
across most of Canada.
From HungerCount Executive Summary:
In March 2014, 841,191 people received
food from a food bank in Canada. Food
bank use increased by 1% compared to
the same period in 2013. It is dismaying
that the number of people utilizing this
service remains 25% higher than in 2008.
This means that each and every month,
170,000 more people walk through the
door of a food bank than was the case
fore the economic downturn…
Who is being helped?
Food banks come to the aid of a wide
segment of the population including:
 Children and families
More than 1/3 of those helped by
food banks are children. Nearly 1/2
of households helped are families
with children, and close to 1/2 of
these are two-parent families.
 Single people
43% of households receiving food
are composed of single unattached
individuals—essentially, people
who live alone, without a spouse or
children. This group has grown from
30% of households assisted in 2001
to almost half in 2014, increasing
from 80,000 to 157,000 households
every month.
 Workers
One in every six households helped
by food banks have income from
current or recent employment.
For a more complete picture, turn to
[HungerCount 2014 Food Banks Canada
report] Results, p. 5 or National & Provincial Findings, p. 22.
The majority of those receiving food live
in rental housing:
64% pay market rent
20% live in social or otherwise subsidized rental housing
7% own their own home
4% are virtually homeless, i.e. living
temporarily with family or
friends
One in seven individuals receiving food
self-identify as First Nations, Metis, or
Inuit (up from 11% in 2012 to 14% in
2014)….
Why do we need food banks in a country as rich as Canada?
Without poverty, food banks would not
need to exist. Whether because of a sudden illness, the loss of a job, family break
-up, or other unexpected circumstances,
every year hundreds of thousands of
Canadians face a major loss of income
and are unable to get the help they need
to offset it.
Once one has fallen on hard times, it can
be very difficult to climb back up. This is
true for any person in Canada, and particThe Messenger—winter 2015
18
ularly for people managing long-term
physical or mental health issues, people
with disabilities, indigenous peoples,
immigrants, and refugees. The systems
we have put in place to ensure individuals and families do not fall into destitution often fail to do the job, with people
struggling without the necessities of life
for too long….
(From HungerCount Analysis)
At any point in time, there is a sizeable
population of Canadians with extremely
low levels of income—far too low to
afford even the most elemental needs of
adequate shelter, nutrition, transportation,
and communication. The following examples [in Part 1: Just not enough money
to buy food, p.11] building on information from the HungerCount study,
show just how little some of our neighbours have to work with. Nearly 1/5 of
households helped by food banks are
working or are receiving Employment
Insurance (EI) and have worked recently.
Canada has a booming low-wage economy, thanks in part to a confounding, ongoing loss of well-paying blue collar
jobs….
Meanwhile, lower-wage retail, accommodation, and food service jobs continue to
grow at a rate equal to or greater than the
population, consistently accounting for
one in every five jobs in the country.
The income gap
With hundreds of thousands of wellpaying blue-collar jobs lost over the past
two decades, too many Canadians are
stuck in part-time, temporary, low-paying
jobs. Those who can’t work are forced to
depend on meagre government benefits.
Canadians go to food banks when their
basic expenses outgrow income—when
they run out of breathing room.
Food Banking in Canada
The first food bank in Canada opened its
doors in 1981 in Edmonton, Alberta.
While food banks were originally intended to be a temporary measure, the need
for them continued—and in fact grew.
Today, there are more than 800 food
banks and 3,000 food programs in Canada.
Continued on the next page...
...Continued from page 18
Most people are aware that food banks
offer food assistance. They may not be
familiar with the variety of different types
of programs offered. These include:
 sharing hampers of food and personal
care products,
 preparing and serving meals from soup
kitchens,
 operating snack programs,
 providing post-secondary campus food
programs,
 running community kitchens,
 organizing community gardens.
banks often need other types of assistance. Food banks have responded and
many now provide advocacy and supports such as:
 providing skills training such as food
preparation skills,
 helping people to search for jobs and
transition into employment,
 raising community awareness about
hunger and poverty,
 assisting with the search for safe, affordable housing,
 helping people find good quality, affordable child care,
 providing referrals to other social agencies and support services.
In addition, the people who turn to food
Most food banks and food programs depend heavily on volunteers for much or
all of their operational activities. In fact,
close to 40% of food banks are run solely
by volunteers. Their important work is
made possible through contributions from
corporate sponsors, individual donations,
community support, parent organizations,
and Food Banks Canada.
(From Food Banks Canada [2014]. HungerCount 2014: A comprehensive report
on hunger and food bank use in Canada,
and recommendations for change. Toronto: Food Banks Canada, pp. 2, 5, 7, 11,
14 and www.foodbankscanada.ca - link
Learn About Hunger > About Hunger in
Canada and Food Banking in Canada)
Pioneer Park Church of God’s Food Cupboard program
brings aid to overlooked neighbourhood
By Elissa Den Hoed
Pioneer Park is a bit of an isolated neighbourhood in south Kitchener. When Pastor Craig Arbon moved in to Pioneer Park
Church of God, starting a food bank program, the “Food Cupboard,” as it is
known, was a no-brainer. There was
simply no food assistance available in the
area.
The Food Cupboard has been running out
of the church’s basement since late 2012
and now serves about 550 individuals and
families. “Of course, our main priority is
kids,” said Bob Larocque. He always has
treats such as Twinkies on hand to bring
out a smile.
Larocque and his wife Margaret, Jean
Leis, Janet Van Hoek and Laurie Rae are
just a few of the hard-working Food Cupboard volunteers.
The Food Cupboard opens its doors twice
a week, providing custom-built hampers
for up to 40 people per day. Families may
come as frequently as once per month.
Winter is a tough time to keep the shelved
stocked, but it’s also one of the busiest
times, and when people need help,
Larocque promises, “We won’t turn anyone away.”
In addition to food, the Food Cupboard
provides cat and dog food (“We don’t
forget about the pets,” Larocque says),
winter clothing and every August, new
backpacks are collected and filled with
Bob Larocque, Janet Van Hoek and Laurie Rae
pose inside the “cupboard”
school supplies for children returning to
school.
“It gives you a chance to talk to people, to
spread the Good News,” Larocque said.
“That’s what I like about it.”
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as the curse is found.
(From the song “Joy to the World!” by George F. Handel, adapted by Isaac Watts)
The Messenger—winter 2015
19
Peace Issues
If only!
For most of us, the word peace has a
certain wistfulness to it, an “if only”
quality.“If only I could go on a vacation.” “If only I could get a better job.”
“If only I had married someone who was
easier to get along with.” “If only my
kids would listen. If only I could retire.”
This sense of wistfulness arises because
we can think of countless things that
prevent us from experiencing the peace
we desire. Each of us can come up with
our own list of “if onlys” - of the situations or the people we could like to
change so that our lives wouldn’t feel so
rushed and anxious and stressful. Such
lists, of course, imply that peace is situational…. The problem is not so much
that we are searching for a kind of peace
that does not exist, but that we are looking for peace in the wrong place.
(From Finding the Peace God Promises,
by Ann Spangler, Zondervan, ©2011,
2014 by Ann Spangler)
—————————————
The more peace there is in
us, the more peace there
will be in our troubled
world. —Ann Spangler
————————————————
The curse of war, terror and
violence
Can the suffering a person witnesses
over and over and over become too much
to bear? Pulitzer Prize winner Chris
Hedges spent decades as a war correspondent for the New York Times [1990
-2005]—covering conflicts throughout
much of the world—and other publications* before the suffering he witnessed
became too much to bear. Now he is
minister of social witness and prison
ministry at the Second Presbyterian
Church in Elizabeth, New Jersey, a popular public speaker, and an author and
freelance columnist who does not
shy away from controversy. His bestseller War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning draws on the many conflicts he cov-
Shalom Salaam Paz Frieden Paix
The way of peace they do not know... Isaiah 59:8
ered to explore what war does to societies and individuals. He examines faith
and belief in American society in his
books Losing Moses on the Freeway:
The Ten Commandments in America;
his New York Times bestseller American
Fascists: The Christian Right and the
War on America; and I Don’t Believe in
Atheists—his critique of New Atheists
such as Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins,
and Christopher Hitchens—which was
praised by The Times Literary Supplement as the most astute dismantling to
date of the New Atheist argument.
In the fall of 2014, Christopher Hedges
gave a lecture at Ryerson University in
Toronto, and later joined Paul Kennedy
in conversation.
The
presentation
Chris
Hedges
gave at Ryerson University is titled
“
War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning.” CBC Radio One recorded the event
for the show Ideas with Paul Kennedy.
Here are a few basic thoughts from the
lecture of Chris Hedges at Ryerson University, Oct. 15, 2014 heard on radio
broadcast FM 99.1 on Feb. 20, 2015:
The curse of war, terror and violence…
they are very complex…the poison and
violence of war…intolerable sufferings
continue…violence is now a form of
communication…how wars allow us to
destroy. …the sick pathology of war—
war feels like love. War starts but like
love, but it is death! Humans trade death
for death. …now hatred penetrates every
fibre of our being. It is a curse to humankind. The soul is enslaved to war. Power
is a problem—you believe you have a
right to power. Imperial power is a most
vehement of powers! War is poison.
There is no “just war”.
Chris Hedges currently serves as a columnist for the news and commentary
website Truthdig, a contributing author
for OpEdNews, and as a senior fellow at
The Nation Institute in New York City.
He has taught at Princeton University,
The Messenger—winter 2015
20
Columbia University, New York University, and the University of Toronto.
(Adapted from CBC News by David
Gutnick posted 2/9/15 www.cbc.ca/
news/world/ex-correspondent-chrishedges-on-covering-war-dealing-withptsd; CBC Radio Ideas with Paul Kennedy 2/9/15 www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/
chris-hedges-war-is-a-drug;
and
www.ryerson.ca/history/news-andevents/events/warisaforcethatgivesus
meaning)
*He worked for The Dallas Morning
News, NPR, and The Christian Science
Monitor; served as the Balkan Bureau
chief for The New York Times and the
Middle East Bureau chief for the paper.
He is an Arabic speaker and has spent
seven years in the Middle East and perhaps more time in the Palestinian territories than nearly any other American reporter. While based in Paris, he was a
member of the New York Times team
that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for the paper’s coverage of global terrorism and also received the 2002 Amnesty International
Global Award for Human Rights Journalism.
__________________________
War is destruction of human wisdom,
the little of it we’ve acquired for thousands of years. There is no such thing as
a good war. We spend way more on war
than on the tools to keep peace, such as
social justice and equality.
(Marc Bedard Pelchat in a posted comment Monday Feb. 9, 2015 at CBC Radio: www.cbc.ca/radio; Chris Hedges:
“War is a drug”)
Peace is not found in...
Peace is not found in a place. Peace is
not found in this world. Peace is found in
a person—in Jesus…. The Bible…
locates shalom in only one place—in
God Himself….We find peace by living
in harmony with God….
Continued on the next page...
...Continued from page 20
Jesus refused to make peace with the status quo. He would not paper over the
world’s ills. He intended, instead, to overthrow the reign of sin and death in order
to restore the world to God. His mission
then and now is to bring nothing less than
true shalom to those who belong to Him.
No wonder there is such fierce opposition
to the Gospel!
(From Finding the Peace God Promises,
by Ann Spangler, Zondervan, ©2011,
2014 by Ann Spangler)
Connecting with other [Christ follower]
peacemakers:
Church of God Peace Fellowship
An international network, COMPELLED
by the biblical vision of shalom, peace
with justice for all of God’s creation,
COMMITTED to the clear New Testament peace witness of our pioneers,
COMMISSIONED by Chr ist to eliminate violence, racism, and militarism, and
to be His ministers of reconciliation.
email: [email protected]
Facebook group: Peace Fellowship of the
Church of God
Twitter: @PeaceCHOG
Mission News regional
Important notice to Churches in COGEC
regarding missions project support:
When sending in funds to various missions and
their projects, please be sure to indicate clearly
what the funds are designated for. If giving to
the COGEC mission projects, indicate if the
funds are for the general budget or for the
challenge budget support.
SHAPE Cluster (Kitchener) finishes with three-year commitment
One of the two S.H.A.P.E. (sustaining health and pastoral excellence)
Cluster groups, which met regularly (about 10x/year) in Kitchener, has
fulfilled its three year commitment. Cluster leaders Pastor Cecile Barnhart
and Pastor Sieg Pudel celebrated together with Minister Joyce Lammerant
and Pastor Craig Arbon, on Dec. 7, 2014, reflecting, rejoicing, and giving
thanks for our journey together.
If giving funds for a sponsorship program, write
the cheques to the appropriate account:
We also had Pastor Harry Hoehne as part of the team until he accepted the
pastoral call to the church in Carstairs, Alberta and moved out west to
serve there since November 2013.
Furaha Child Sponsorship Program or FCSP
10 Cloverhill Ave. Dundas, ON L9H 2P2
Or
Children of Hope Haiti Sponsorship
Program (COHH)
3275 Dolson Ct. Mississauga, ON L5L 4K5
Each program has a different bank account so
this is important.
If giving to a Haiti project that is covered by
Karen Goodyear and the Children of Hope
Haiti, be sure to indicate the specific project
and write and send the cheque to Children of
Hope Haiti at Karen’s address.
If giving to a Haiti project covered by Chuck
Kerr through the HELPS International
organization, indicate the project and write
cheques to HELPS International and send it
to Chuck Kerr - 49 Master son Dr .,
St. Catharines, ON L2T 3P2.
Thanks for your cooperation and help, so things
can be used as intended without any guess work
and with no need for additional phone calls or
emails for clarification.
Julie Wiebe (Chair- I-NMT)
- Pastor Cecile Barnhart and Pastor Sieg Pudel
xc-brampton, urban mission team (under the umbrella of Joshua
Creek Church): We ar e amazed and gr ateful how the Lor d, in His
unique and wonderful ways, has expanded the team in November to now
also include Zafar and Samina Iqbal and family. xc-brampton is part of an
inter-national network of incarnational ministries with xz-berlin (Germany
- Kelly and Rhonda Philips and team) and Transformation Communities a movement of churches in the Pacific Northwest (Lloyd Moritz and team)
in Yakima, Washington (near Seattle).
Part of what xc-brampton is locally engaged with, besides regular team
gatherings: the first three discipleship groups, and partnering with the AHWCC (Aboriginal Healing Wellness Centre of Churches), meeting each
Saturday p.m. for a Discipleship healing prayer gathering, and beginning
to sponsor monthly community dinner programs. This mission is focused
to expand God’s Kingdom by bringing healing and restoration to many
community friends—Aboriginal and those with similar needs—on the
margins of daily life and struggling with the dynamics of poverty, making
and strengthening disciples of Jesus. Recently God has brought us together
with our first two Aboriginal/1st Nations believers Tisha and Ray. We are
dreaming and praying together how Christ would lead us to bring about a
movement of reconciliation and healing with 1 st Nations friends in the
GTA (Greater Toronto Area) and prepare for potential ministering in their
(provincial) Aboriginal reserves.
For information contact: [email protected].
- Sieg Pudel
The Messenger—winter 2015
21
Church News
regional
Quick Notes
20-year season of Hope
Fairview Church of God,
Community Church of God, Toronto celebrates 36 years
Brampton now concluded
of ministry
On Nov. 25, 2014, at the request of the
chair of the HCC church council, a special called congregational meeting was
held to officially close the Hope Community Church. It was chaired by regional
representative Ken Wiebe. Present were
HCC members, together with (invited)
former church planter and pastor couple
Sieg and Margit Pudel, and Pastor Roger
Bitner, representative from the CCRC
(Credentials and Church Relations Committee). Plans were reviewed and the legal closing processes implemented.
A closing celebration for Hope Community Church is planned for Saturday June
6, 2015. Former members and friends
from neighbouring churches and the community are invited to celebrate how God
raised up, blessed and used the Hope
Community family and friends as His
servants and ambassadors of reconciliation, peace, and hope for those adventurous 20 years of ministry.
- Sieg Pudel and Pastor Roger Bitner
Thirty-six years ago on February 18,
1979, Pastors Roger Bitner and the late
Paul Kilburn led the first public service of
Fairview Church of God. Twenty-eight
persons were present for that first service.
Many of the persons who came were
from outside the congregation. They had
come to pray for and encourage the new
church plant. Much has taken place since
then. February is a month of celebration
for us. We used the theme “Thus Far Has
the Lord Helped Us” (I Samuel 7:12).
Each Sunday we emphasized a different
aspect of this theme.
CHoG in E.Canada
church news and updates:
the most current church news
can be found online at
www.chogec.ca
Valley Community Church,
Dundas:
With God’s help we have created a community of Christian love...
As a means to collectively unite the
Church of God movement, CHOG TraffickLight and Church of God Ministries
encouraged every Church of God congregation in North America to celebrate
Freedom Sunday, Feb. 22. The Sunday
that worked for Valley Community
Church for this focus was Feb. 8 when
the local Waterdown Stop Human Trafficking committee came and made a
presentation. There is also a conference
being held in April—anyone interested is
invited.
- Julie Wiebe
With God’s help we have created a concern for the needs of the world. We celebrated the various persons and places
across the world that have been touched
through our concern. Prayers and financial support have been given to spread the
Gospel as well as assisting in humanitarian needs. We have had hands-on involvement through missionaries and work
campers who have gone out to various
parts of the world. We were touched by
the testimonies that were shared by persons who had gone overseas to serve.
The Messenger—winter 2015
22
With God’s help we have created a community for worshipping and praising our
awesome God...
With God’s help we have been beneficiaries of His love and grace.
We celebrated the continual proclamation
of God’s Word over the thirty-six years.
We were privileged to have Rev. Junior
Spooner, guest speaker, share the Word
for the service. Rev. Spooner is formerly
from the Church of God in Barbados and
is now studying at McMaster University.
Our sister congregations in the Greater
Toronto Area participated with us in the
concluding celebration on February 22.
You can now see why we can say “Thus
far has the Lord helped us!”
- Pastor Roger Bitner
Townsend Community
Church, Townsend
celebrates the installation
of Pastor George Closs
On January 18th the Townsend Community Church installed Pastor George Closs
as pastor. The Pastoral Search Committee
had worked closely with the Credentials
and Church Relations Committee in making this day possible. Pastor Roger Bitner,
chair of the CCRC, gave the installation
message. Area Minister, Rev. Cecile
Barnhart gave the charge to Pastor Closs
and the congregation. Mr. Jim Wiebe,
chair of the General Assembly, welcomed
Pastor George and Gayle to our Assembly. What an uplifting service it was as
the worship team led the congregation in
an inspirational time of worship and
praise! Pastor Closs has already endeared
himself to the people. We pray for God’s
continued blessing as pastor and people
work together to expand the Kingdom.
- Pastor Roger Bitner
Church News
national & international
National
Effective Nov. 1, 2014 the Church of God
in W. Canada has a new name: Canadian
Church of God Ministries. Their office
has also relocated to Unit #102 4909B 28 Street, Camrose, AB T4V 1L7. Their
phone number (780-672-0772) and fax
number
(780-672-6888),
e-mail
([email protected]) and website address
(www.chog.ca) remain the same.
Why the new name?
Industry Canada Corporation Act allows
a corporation to be active anywhere in
Canada. Since this allowance was granted
in the new Act, the Board of Directors of
CCOGM decided it was prudent and visionary to NOT restrict the activities of
the new organization legally, but [have]
agreements with the General Assembly of
Eastern Canada that would restrict our
activity in Ontario and Quebec. Jim
Wiebe has taken the assignment of developing appropriate covenants between the
two organizations. Hence, the new name
reflects our scope of operation and ability
to partner with Eastern Canada to minister in the Maritime provinces.
International
February 22, 2015 is Freedom Sunday:
Come Together Against Trafficking
by Jessica Zerkle
There are more slaves today than any
point in human history. Experts estimate
that thirty million people are caught up in
the global slave trade,¹ an industry which
generates $150 billion in profits annually
worldwide.² In response to these statistics, which represent people created by
our God, the Church of God launched the
CHOG TraffickLight initiative at the
Church of God Convention in Oklahoma
City this past June. From a biblical perspective grounded in Luke 4:16–19, this
initiative aims to speak for those who
have no voice, to go in the dark places to
which Christ has called us, and to set the
captives free.
Throughout its history, the Church of
God has been on the forefront of justice
initiatives that sought to come alongside
the poor and the oppressed, such as E.
Faith Stewart’s work with The Shelter
(http://vimeo.com/100931521) in India,
dating back one hundred years. Rooted in
the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition, the
Church of God continues to align with the
Wesleyan Holiness Consortium Freedom
Network, affirming our belief that the
church should “faithfully respond to the
impulse of God’s holy love by working
for God’s reign to be ever more visible,”
thus “entering in Christ-like ways into a
movement for the abolition of modern
slavery and trafficking.”³ We are committing to become modern-day abolitionists
for the kingdom of Jesus.
Today, CHOG TraffickLight is forging
the way with the mission to create, promote, and unite groups inside and outside
the Church of God who are furthering the
effort to stop human trafficking. Currently, CHOG TraffickLight partners with
five different ministries directly involved
with anti-human trafficking efforts. Those
organizations are Church on the Street,
One Heart, Pink Door, The Shelter, and
Stripped Love. Descriptions of and links
to these ministries can be found at
www.chogtrafficklight.org/partners/. …
There are thirty million men, women, and
children enslaved in our world today who
have no voice. They are across the globe,
as well as in our own communities. Let us
be a movement that is not only aware of
human trafficking but is following the
Spirit’s leading to be the light and love of
Christ in our world!
(From www.jesusisthesubject.org and
chognews.org/2014/11/14/february-222015-is-freedom-sunday-come-together-
against-trafficking/)
______________________________
A Pastoral Letter from Jim Lyon,
General Director
February 18, 2015
Everyone knows that the world is changing exponentially all around us. Ministry
models once thought as fixed in time are
being adapted, and made more flexible, to
most effectively advance the kingdom.
Local churches, universities and colleges,
church agencies, and the secular businesses that employ so many members of the
Church of God family from coast to
coast, have all been challenged by the
fluid environment in which we serve.
Church of God Ministries (base camp) is
working hard to be the best it can be—the
best steward of kingdom resources it can
be, the best instrument in God’s hands it
can be—and to serve and expand the
kingdom interest in the best ways possible. It is committed to the unchanging
truths of the gospel which gave the
Movement birth, even as it (like the first
generation of the Movement) proves to be
at-once nimble, sure-footed, and flexible
in the pursuit of heaven’s ends.
In the last few months, the Church of God
Ministries executive staff have been hard
at work reviewing our present footprint,
and seeking the Lord’s leading for the
future. In consultation with key voices in
the building, and in the Movement outside of the Anderson base camp, the team
has sought to wrestle with our challenges
and opportunities for best outcomes.
Church of God Ministries faces some tall
financial mountains to climb, including
major maintenance of our base camp
building. Simultaneously, new horizons
of ministry and kingdom expansion wait
clearly within our grasp.
Many of our sister ministries are outsourcing basic services (like information
The Messenger—winter 2015
23
technology and communications) for
which we have supported extensive fulltime staff. Advancing technology and
office practice have enabled us to better
steward our resources. Overhead at the
base camp has consumed resources that
might otherwise be invested in the field.
And so, the difficult decision has been
made to reduce our workforce. This decision is not being taken just for the bottom
line, but in the kingdom interest, maximizing resources to expand the ministry
across the board. At the same time, it
requires the departure of some wonderful
folks who have faithfully invested many
years with us. We cannot continue as we
are, but it is very painful to let go of
friends who have long been a part of our
base camp family.
We respect and value each one. We have
worked (against the counsel of many in
business) to minimize the impact, insofar
as we are able, on those we have asked to
step aside. On Monday and Tuesday, we
informed each one whose role on our
team is being ended. We have offered
each one the chance to work through the
end of February, and then receive two
more months of pay and insurance. They
have been also given other options to
consider in choosing their date of departure. But, in each case, the decision is
theirs to make, as we want to honor their
service with us.
It’s never easy to cross a bridge like this
one. Still, some bridges must be crossed.
Since the fall of 2013, twenty-six members of our ministry team have stepped
away (due to retirement, finding calls to
serve elsewhere, or other reductions in
force); seven new members of the team
have, in that time, been hired. By the end
of April, we will see a 29 percent-smaller
base camp staff, with nineteen fewer inhouse. But, we will also see an expanding
portfolio of services and efficiency.
Again, we are committed to being the
best we can be, the most loving we can
be, and the best stewards we can be.
fect,” we need to apply ourselves every
day to the skills we want to learn.
These reductions in force do not represent
a contraction of Church of God Ministries, but rather the development of a stable and growing platform with which to
change the world and serve the larger
church. Thanks for praying with us.
Thanks for understanding.
That’s true of spiritual skills such as prayer, meditation, and Bible reading. This 6week study challenges us to develop our
spiritual skills by using them alongside
other believers.
In this, as in all things, we strive to make
Jesus the subject. And, we believe he is
walking with those who will now find
new chapters of employment elsewhere,
as well as those who remain.
For the kingdom,
Jim Lyon
Ephesians 2:10
For further information regarding this
recalibration of the Church of God Ministries team, please feel free to contact our
chief advancement officer, Bob Moss, at
[email protected].
_________________________________
Focus 40 2015
Feb.18 – April 5
A devotional journey for Daily Spiritual
Apps - a project by Jeffrey Hency & Kevin Stiffler
Six weeks of Christian practice for Lent
& Easter
www.jesusisthesubject.org/focus40
dailyspiritualapps.org
RSS: Daily Spiritual Apps
RSS subscribe to posts OR follow blog
via e-mail
This intergenerational study involves a
weekly group meeting, daily devotions,
and plenty of opportunities to stretch your
spiritual “muscles” with regular exercise.
A free group leader’s guide (http://
dailyspiritualapps.org/leaders-guide/) and
daily
RSS
feeds
(http://
dailyspiritualapps.org/feed/) give you
plenty of tools to polish your skills.
Daily Spiritual Apps is a ministry of
Warner Press. You can see their main site
at warnerpress.org.
The six weeks before Easter are an ideal
time to renew our Christian discipleship
practices. This devotional journal takes us
through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount
(Matt. 5-7) in the six weeks from Ash
Wednesday to Maundy Thursday. Along
the way, we hear again what Jesus said
about the essential Christian habits of
prayer, Bible study, giving, fasting, and
caring for God’s creation.
About [Daily Spiritual Apps]
The Devotional Journal calls these habits
“daily spiritual apps” because we grow
more mature spiritually as we apply ourselves to these practices each day. Each
day’s journal section allows us to keep
track of our progress. And a leader’s
guide (available as a free Internet download) gives step-by-step instructions for
leading an intergenerational small group
to learn these “apps” together.
“Apply yourself.” How often we have
heard that from a supervisor, teacher, or
friend who urged us to practice a particular skill? Because “practice makes per-
Jeffrey Hency is former coordinator of
adult education at Anderson University.
Kevin Stiffler is the adult curriculum editor for Warner Press.
Ever ancient, ever new
God’s ways ... our biblical faith
The Messenger—winter 2015
24
Children of Hope Haiti
Final Report 2014
Sponsorship
There were 26 children enrolled in the
sponsorship program for 2014. Three
children have been discharged from the
program with 3 more children being
enrolled in the program for 2015. At our
“Gathering” Children’s conference in
Haiti in November, 39 of our 41 sponsored children (monthly and education
only) attended with two children unable
to attend. Dauphine School received an
additional $300 and rice and beans.
ASCHA (special needs home with 24
children and school 60 children) received
$1,200 for their rent for 2015 plus an additional $2,000 to assist with food and
water, clothing and school supplies.
Fundraising
Gala of Hope was held in May 2014. It
was a success, thanks to the support of
the best teams ever. It raised $7,915 for
Children of Hope Haiti with over 90 people attending.
New Projects on the Horizon
Special Needs
 The children at the home in Saintard
received $2,000 to go towards their
school tuition fees for 2014 -15 and toe
-covered Crocs.
 A gift of $1,000 was given to the
school in Saintard to help families who
are unable to pay for their children to
attend school for the school year of
2014-15.
 Funds were carried down November to
cover the first semester of school for
2015 for Erickson (Medical) and Jeff
(Tourism and Management) who are
attending school in the Dominican
Republic.
Haiti Relief
 28 goats were provided to 28 deserving
families in Haiti.
 Prescription medication was given to
the hospital in Saintard.
 Several bags of rice were given to the
villages of Pignon, Guiton and
Saintard. Many helping hands when
packing the rice.
 Teaching sessions were provided on
how to operate laptops with software.
A total of 20 laptops were given out;
seven to the teachers at ASCHA
(special needs school), another two for
the students in the Dominican Republic
and 11 to our sponsored children in
their last two years of high school.
beach time (14 of our sponsored children
had never been to a beach), Bible studies,
the famous and noisy cup song, computer
lessons and games. It was amazing to see
how all the 95 children interacted with
each other throughout the three-day
event. All 95 children also attended
church for 1.5 hours with no disturbances.
November Trip
A team of eight travelled down to Haiti
on Nov 12th for one week. A visit to the
home and school of ASCHA. A lunch
was provide to all the children with some
games, singing and laughing. A three-day
Gathering Children’s Conference was
held at the mission station in Saintard.
Forty children and some chaperones travelled from all over Haiti for this event.
The 55 children from the home in
Saintard also took part in all the activities.
It was a time of sharing, laughing, teaching, eating, singing, cooking, crafts,
 Please note our new logo.
 We hope to have our new website up
and running by the end of January:
www.childrenofhopehaiti.com
 A computer project for the high school
students in various villages.
 To provide French material, books,
flash cards etc. for the Hearing
Impaired School at Leveque.
It is a privilege to walk this path with
each one of you, as we walk deeper into
the needs of the children of Haiti. Thank
you for bringing hope, joy and comfort
and reducing the suffering that children
and families face in Haiti.
Blessings,
Karen Goodyear
COHH Canadian Coordinator
www.childrenofhopehaiti.com
There in the ground His body lay, Light of the world by
darkness slain; Then, bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine,
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.
(From the song “In Christ Alone [My Hope is Found]” - Colossians 1:27.
Words and music by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend © 2002 Thankyou Music)
The Messenger—winter 2015
25
Furaha Child Sponsorship Program (FCSP) Final Report 2014
The Furaha Program has continued to
expand making a difference in many
young lives as they’ve finished or continue on to complete their schooling - some
graduated as teachers, nurses, tailors and
hairdressers. Thank you to each one who
is making this happen.
Tim seek the Lord for present and future
plans.
Coordinator & administrator: Julie & Ken
Wiebe
Assistant: Denuja Navaratnarajah
Program Activities
In February, Colleen Stevenson, the director of this program in Uganda, suddenly returned home to Canada to receive
treatment for cancer. She completed the
treatment ordeal by the end of November
with a victorious testimony along the
way, encouraging so many others through
her example and story of her journey on
her blog. Her staff in Uganda, led by
Edrin Serwano, kept in touch with Colleen and have done a superb job in her
absence. Colleen continues to recuperate
and gain strength but still faces health
challenges, needing prayer, as she and
iPod?
 Support funds were wired three times
to Uganda/one more to be sent in
Jan/2015.
 Child support - $103,329
 Special needs - $2,022
 Gifts: $3,447
 Christmas gifts - bed sheets,
towel, calendar
 A review trip did not occur due to
health/sudden return of Director
Colleen Stevenson
 Exploration has begun with the Canadian Church of God in western Canada to
consider the possibility of the FCSP
operation being run under their supervision in the future – possibly with a
part-time
paid
admin/coordinator
position being developed.
Program Statistics
 297 children supported in 2014; 25
new children added; five young adults
and three sponsors exited - two new
kids in 2015
 More sponsors sent correspondence to
sponsored children/youth
 Improvement
achieved in receiving
yearly
correspondence from the children.
2015 Objectives
 Goal – to support 325 sponsored children; add min. of 10 new sponsors
 Obtain regular correspondence from all
children; require correspondence from
all children before receiving complete
annual support
 Continue to improve communication
with sponsors re: support updates
 Conduct program review trip in 2015 perform financial/records audit
 Continue to explore possibilities of
increased involvement of the Canadian
Church of God in western Canada with
FCSP
 Maintain sponsorship at $30/child/mon.
or $31/child through CanadaHelps
 Keep sponsors up to date with any program changes
 Promote the program in ‘Sponsorship’
month activities in June
 Promote the program through personal
contacts and churches
Submitted by Julie Wiebe
[email protected]
http://chogec.ca/furaha/
FurahaHome.html
iPad? - try iPray…God is listening!
In this age of instant communication and on-line connecting and relationships it is easy
to forget to simply pray. We can become so caught up in connecting with others that we
forget to connect with the Author of all life who sent His Son, the Light and Saviour of
the world, to give Himself as a living sacrifice for us so that we would have a way to
connect, communicate and build relationally. God has never phoned me on my iPhone,
texted me, used instant message, or placed a comment on my Facebook page or Twitter
account. Maybe the Lord is just not into current technology—He still prefers us to speak
with Him face-to-face as a person speaks with his/her friend (see experience of Moses
Exodus 33:11). So, let’s not forget “iTalk”.
The Messenger—winter 2015
26
MINISTRY HAPPENINGS
Church of God in E. Canada
To support local & regional leaders & ministries in prayer: see
E.C. Prayer calendar @ www.chogec.ca
Meetings of regional leadership & ministry teams as each
team arranges their time & place. For information see
www.chogec.ca or contact MEC Rev. Cecile Bar nhar t
([email protected])
S.H.A.P.E. Cluster group (Tor onto ar ea) meeting 10x per
year as arranged
Spring 2015
Focus 40 2015 | Feb. 18 - April 5
A devotional journey for Daily Spiritual Apps: 6 weeks of
Christian practice for Lent & Easter
See www.jesusisthesubject/focus40 and dailyspiritualapps.org
RSS: Daily Spiritual Apps
RSS subscribe to posts OR follow blog via e-mail
Sat. March 28 | G.A. (General Assembly) of CHoG in E.
Canada @ Pioneer Park Church, Kitchener
See www.chogec.ca - link: events
Agenda, reports, business to be discussed, with registered delegates
from congregations. Observers welcome.
Registration: 8:45 - 9:15 a.m.
9:15 morning worship with speaker: Pastor Junior Spooner
10:30 - 1:00 p.m. Business meeting, lunch, followed by opensharing forum 2 - 4 p.m.
Sat. April 25 | Worship Arts Fest (for mer ly Songfest) @ Pioneer Park Church, Kitchener
3:00 refreshment fellowship & Creative Arts displays
3:45 - 5 p.m. Worship Fest
For contributions of sharing music or any creative arts displays,
contact: [email protected]
Summer 2015
June 22 - 25 | CHoG Convention, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
See www.jesusisthesubject.org/church-of-god-convention-2015
Theme: Be Bold. Reclaim
General Assembly - Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday @ 8:30 –
10:30 a.m.
July 7 - 11 | Leadership Summit in Lake Wales, Florida @
Warner University
An incredible training ground for emerging leaders in high school
and college. We encourage youth and state pastors to bring their
student leadership teams.
See www.jesusisthesubject.org - link: events
Sun. Aug. 2 - Sun. Aug. 9 | Annual Camp Meeting 2015 of the
National Association of CHoG
@ Zion’s Hill Campground, West Middlesex, PA
See www.nacog.com
Tues. Aug. 11 - Sun. Aug. 16 | Church of God Camp, Maple
Grove Retreat Centre, Thamesford
→ NOTE TIME CHANGE: Monday - Saturday format
CHANGES back to Tuesday - Sunday format
See website to confirm any updates
Camp program, registration info & contact: www.chogec.ca/
events
Speaker: Rev. Claude Robold, Middletown, Ohio
Youth camp - info & contact: Rev. Carol-Ann Thompson
Fall 2015
Sept. 18 - 20 | Ministry Wives Retreat @ St. Francis Retreat
Centre, DeWitt, Michigan
See www.choginmi.org/events
The Messenger—winter 2015
27