Miracle in Indonesia

By Paul Metcalf


Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." Genesis 28:16


My wife, Rachel, and I were half way around the world in the city of Surabaya, Indonesia when a routine miracle became the catalyst that would forever change my life. This was my fourth trip to Indonesia and had previously made two trips to India. Throughout each trip, I saw first hand the power of God released resulting in thousands of people becoming born again, the demon possessed delivered, many healings including blindness, deafness, and muteness. Even on the trip to Surabaya in 2008, I prayed for a pregnant woman whose baby had been declared dead in the womb. After praying, the baby began to move around. Yet with what happened on this particular day, life as I had known it, would never be the same. As Rachel and I were praying for those who were sick, an elderly man came forward for prayer. When he approached us, it was obvious that this man was blind in one of his eyes and there was a milky looking substance that covered it. We were no strangers to praying for these types of sickness. So we prayed the first time and nothing happened. We decided to pray again and his condition was no better. I, however, felt an urgency to pray one last time and, when I moved my hand, his eye that was milky was now perfectly clear. I told the interpreter to have him cover the eye that was good and follow me. Without any hesitation he started following me with no problem whatsoever. He went on his way home and I knew his life was never going to be the same again.

We finally arrived home early on a Friday morning and my Dad had come to the airport to pick us up. I remember as we were getting close to our home, the Holy Spirit began speaking to me about the man who had been healed. He told me that his life became a living testimony of the power of God. In other words, his life became evidence that pointed to a greater reality. For the next few days, I constantly thought over that event. I didn’t realize it at the time but that one healing became an invitation to enter into a place I knew very little about: that place is the Kingdom of God.

I was reading the book of Genesis Chapter 28 about Jacob becoming sleepy and laying his head upon a rock and falling asleep. As Jacob slept he had a dream of a ladder going into the heavens and the angels of God begin to ascend and descend upon it. Jacob is awakened from his dream and says, “Surely the Lord is in this place and I didn’t know it”. Immediately when I read those words the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said “Paul you are disconnected from My Kingdom.” I had no clue what that meant, but I was determined to find out. Since that time, which began in April of 2009, I have been on an amazing journey of discovering the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God in its simplest term means the King’s domain. It is the rule and reign of God. When Jesus was asked by His disciples how to pray He taught them to pray “Our Father who is in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt. 6:9-10)

There are two things I want to point out. The first is our Father. The Kingdom of God is all about relationship and, more importantly, relating to God not as the distant other or the unseen presence but as He truly is: our Father. Secondly, He said on earth as in Heaven. The desire of God is that Heaven would invade earth.

When Jacob awoke from his dream, He said, “this in none other than the house of God and this is the gate of Heaven and he named the place Bethel.” Bethel means “house of God”.

Today you and I are the house of God according to 1 Corinthians 3:16. Notice though that not only was Bethel the house of God it, is also the gate of Heaven. So as believers we are not only the temple of the Holy Spirit, our life is also the gateway that releases Heaven upon the earth, which is exactly what Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “On earth as in Heaven.” You carry the kingdom wherever you go and because you carry the kingdom wherever you go, people can have a life- changing encounter with the power of God. Since the time this all started, we have seen several people healed of broken bones and other sickness in places such as Walmart, Outback Steak House, Best Buy and many other locations. About a month into discovering the Kingdom, the Holy Spirit spoke something to me that I want to leave with you. He said to me “You are not waiting on the kingdom; the kingdom is waiting on you.”

Paul Metcalf
Grace and Mercy Ministries
www.paulmetcalf.net

Review of Alone with a Jihadist

Below is a review of my book Alone with a Jihadist from Regina Manley:

Alone with a Jihadist is a riveting, must read for any Christian who has the courage to reexamine Jesus’ commands and example regarding violence. Raised in a Pentecostal and conservative Christian environment, Taylor’s journey began after 7 hours of dialog with a radical Muslim, Khalid Kelly. The following excerpts should wet your appetite:


“What our nation lacks at this crucial juncture in our history is creative thinking, and the reason why we lack creative thinking is because of our unwavering faith in the myth of redemptive violence, especially in the Church.” P172


The reason why both Jesus and Paul (Romans 12:14-21, I Thessalonians 5:15) forbade Christians to use the sword is because when Christians use the sword, we undermine our unique calling to be a prophetic people that embody the reality of the age to come (Hebrews 6:5). … People won’t be ruling over each other, but serving each other in self-sacrificial love—like Jesus did. When Jesus preached that the Kingdom of God is at hand, He was calling forth a people from the north, the south, the east, and the west to live in the reality of the age to come in the here and now. P189

Thank you Regina!

Thinking about the Kingdom

Not getting much sleep these days. Wondering if I'll ever get to sleep through the night again. I've heard that having small children changes your life. Consider that confirmed. So what's been going on in my sleepless head? Been thinking about the Kingdom. You know, the one that Jesus talked about? The one that's not supposed to be of this world? What exactly is the Kingdom of God?

For many, the Kingdom of God is an inward spiritual condition, the joy and peace that transcends circumstances. There's some Biblical justification for this, as Paul says, "The Kingdom of God isn't eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17) But is an inward spiritual condition all that the kingdom represents? After all, I've met some pretty joyful and peaceful Buddhists over the years. While I'm certainly happy for people that find joy and peace through whatever faith tradition or philosophy that helps them get through life, Jesus seemed to think that He was the only one qualified to reveal the nature of the Kingdom to the world. While it may be fashionable to put Jesus on par with other philosophers and religious leaders, Jesus didn't leave a whole lot of wiggle-room for competitors when He said things like, "All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him" (Matthew 11:27).

For others, the Kingdom of God is a set of moral and ethical principles designed to help people get along and to restore what is broken in our world. In this view, the Kingdom of God is good news for everyone because it transcends religious distinctions. This also carries a grain of truth. If I as a follower of Jesus decide to make the Sermon on the Mount the moral foundation of my life, that's good news for my Muslim neighbor, Buddhist neighbor, Hindu neighbor, and non-religious neighbor as well. So when the Kingdom of God is in operation, it's good news not just for people that call themselves Christians, but for people of all faiths. And, of course, it's also true that when people of other faiths follow the teachings of Jesus, whether consciously or unconsciously, everyone benefits.

Still, Jesus walked around like He owned the Kingdom. He said My Kingdom is not of this world. So while I respect people that decide to live virtuous lives based on their philosophy or faith tradition, it makes sense that only that which is done in Jesus' name can rightly be called the Kingdom, at least in the Biblical sense of the word. So the real question is, when Jesus announced the Kingdom of God, what might that have meant to His Jewish listeners?

Now I think we're getting somewhere. I was reading the Book of Daniel the other day. Daniel prophesied to the King of Nebuchadnezzar that his empire would be the first of four great empires, and that at some point during the fourth empire, a new Kingdom made not with hands would arise that would crush all remaining Kingdoms (Daniel 2:44). The Jews would have certainly known that the Roman Empire was the fourth great empire that Daniel prophesied about, so they must have been looking for someone that fit the following description:

"I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed" (Daniel 7:13-14).

So when Jesus walked around calling Himself the Son of Man and talking about His Kingdom not being of this world, He was essentially telling His Jewish audience, "Remember the prophecies of old? They're talking about me! I'm the one you've read about that's going to take over the planet and crush the world's Kingdoms. Follow me."

Sometimes I think we forget that the Kingdom of God is about a real King with a real domain with real citizens. So my question is, how does understanding the Jewish context of the Kingdom of God help us understand the nature of Jesus and His mission? I'm sure it must have been a shock that the long-awaited King acted more like a slave than a King, which is probably why a lot of people rejected Jesus and His claims, so what do we make of the earth shattering Kingdom prophesied in Daniel? Perhaps more importantly, how should believers in Jesus relate to existing earthly Kingdoms in light of the fact that we serve a King that seems more interested in "crushing" and "consuming" earthly kingdoms (Daniel 2:44)--than fixing them?

Discuss!