THE FISHERMEN'S NET NEWSLETTER
 August 2001 |
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Published by New Covenant Ministries
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August 2001 |
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Come and hear, all you who fear God, And I will declare what He has done for my soul. Psalm 66:16  He
has turned for me my mourning into laughter, and my desolation into joy,
and made my heart rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. He drew me when I struggled to escape from his grace; and when at last I came all trembling like a condemned culprit to his mercyseat he said, ‘Thy sins which are many are all forgiven thee: be of good cheer.’ I bear witness that never servant had such a master as I have; never brother such a kinsman as he has been to me; never spouse such a husband as Christ has been to my soul; never sinner a better Saviour; never mourner a better comforter than Christ has been to my spirit. I want none beside him. In life he is my life, and in death he shall be the death of death; in poverty Christ is my riches; in sickness he makes my bed; in darkness he is my star, and in brightness he is my sun. Jesus is to me all grace and no wrath, all truth and no falsehood: and of truth and grace he is full, infinitely full.
Read his testimony or view realvideo. Let me share with you the awesome testimony of Travis Allen. It happened last year near Seattle. Travis was diagnosed with leukemia ten months before Thanksgiving. They did the usual, but there was little hope. His classmates at Auburn Adventist Academy began praying for healing. Area churches prayed. Travis was anointed. But nothing changed. Travis became concerned about his eternal destiny. Our son, Lee, who is the pastor at the Academy church shared, with Travis the good news that our eternal destiny is based not on our behavior but on what Jesus has done and our continuing acceptance of him. Travis thrilled to this good news and stopped looking at himself. He looked to Jesus instead and rejoiced. But his health continued to decline. Our grandson, Chris, was best friends with Travis. On one of his visits, Travis said to him, "Chris, we've been best friends ever since fifth grade. I want you to promise me something. Promise that you'll meet me in heaven, because I want to hang out with you up there." A stronger "call" than Chris's grandpa ever gave! Chris promised. Several weeks later while visiting Travis, Lee asked him, "Have your thoughts changed much since you've been sick?" "Yes." Travis answered. "I used to think it was most important to have fun, to get things and to be cool. Now I'm convinced there is only one thing that is important--to know Jesus." However, in spite of having peace about his eternal destiny, he would still sometimes awaken his mother at night, overcome with fear. "Mom, I am scared, I don't want to die at 18." More than once she said to him, "Son, if you go to sleep, you will wake up right away and look into Jesus' face. Can you visualize that? Just think about that moment, when you look into His face and He looks into your face." "OK Mom, I feel better." Another thing happened as time passed. Travis would wake up at night wondering "Why me?" It was like a voice pushing him toward discouragement and darkness. One night the Holy Spirit got through to Him with another perspective. Travis found himself thinking, "If God needs someone to go through an experience like this and still trust Him, why not me?" From then on, whenever the big "Why me?" question would come up in his mind, he would counter with "Why not me?" One day, very late in the illness, Travis said to Lee, "Pastor, I'd like to be anointed again." Lee froze. They'd done this already and nothing had changed. What was the use of doing it again? But Travis continued, "No, no, I don't want another anointing to be healed. I'd like another anointing service to celebrate the peace that God has given me." Scheduling the service was tricky because by now Travis was having times of great pain and unconsciousness. On the appointed day, two hundred friends were at the church praying while Travis's parents, Lee and the academy Bible teacher went to the hospital for the anointing. Travis was in a coma, but when they began to pray, he sat up, his mind perfectly clear. As they prayed he put his hand on his father's neck and Lee's neck and rejoiced over the peace and even joy that God had given him. Five doctors came by to share with him what the remaining options were. None were any good. He said, "Don't do anything special. I am going to go to sleep, but I'm going to wake up right away, and I'm going to see Jesus." One of the doctors said, "I'm glad that concept brings you comfort." Travis answered, "Doctor, it's not just a concept, it's in your Bible." An oncology social worker came by to help the family face the inevitable. The doctor told her, "You're not needed here." I kind of like that part. There were bigger forces at work. Some began praying that as Travis approached the end, God would do something special, would give him a moment of comfort. Sort of like Stephen looking up and seeing Jesus standing up on His behalf (Acts 7:56). Not long before Thanksgiving, Travis was able to leave the hospital for a couple of days. On Sunday Chris, with Travis in a wheelchair, did the mall! Monday morning Travis woke up and said, "I'm not doing good, Dad. You'd better get me back to the hospital." They put him in the car and started for the hospital. They didn't know that he was bleeding to death internally and this process made him feel like he had to stop at a restroom. They stopped at Denny's, and his parents helped him walk in. The receptionist asked if they wanted a table, then, "Are you OK?" She showed them to the restroom. It had two stalls; both doors were open; nobody was in there. Travis' mother stayed outside the door while his father took Travis into the handicapped stall. While Tom was trying to help his son he noticed under the partition, two shoes and the trousers of a dark blue suit. It sort of irritated him because he'd have preferred to be alone with his sick son. Travis said, "I am not doing good, I can hardly breathe." A that moment a voice came from the other side of the partition, calling him by name. "Travis, it's all right. You're going to be OK." Travis said, "Dad you'd better call 911, I can't breathe." His mother came in, trying to help him. The voice again came from the other stall, "Travis, it's all right. I am here. You're going to be OK." The paramedics arrived within minutes and placed him on a stretcher. At this point the stranger came out of the other stall, went to the head of the stretcher and looked into Travis' face. Travis, who had been looking at his mother, was suddenly riveted on the face of the stranger. The paramedics asked him, "Are you his father?" "No, I am his friend." He continued to lean over Travis, reassuring him as they wheeled him out. When they got to the ambulance, Travis was unconscious, and then the stranger was gone. They compared notes later, none of them--parents nor paramedics--had seen the stranger's face. They went and asked the receptionist if she had seen someone in a dark blue silk suit. The receptionist replied, "People in dark silk suits don't come into Denny's.") Travis died in his mother's arms in the hospital at 10 o'clock thet Monday morning. Travis had asked that they have the service on a Friday and he wanted it to end at sundown. The church was packed. There were classmates from other years, some from Walla Walla College and even from Southern College and some from Pacific Union College. Thirty-four doctors and nurses came from Children's Hospital. Travis classmates, the Auburn Academy seniors, came down the aisle and filled the choir loft, leaving one chair in the center vacant with a rose on it. The pastor, who had taken notes for months, tried to share with the people what Travis had said in answer to his questions, including how his thinking had changed. Through Lee, Travis delivered a message to his friends: "You guys are awesome! I want to see you all in heaven, and if any of you are not there, I am really going to be bummed." They had hoped and prayed for a revival on campus. They did not know it would come that way. There has been a revival on the campus, because someone had enough faith to not be healed.
You can listen to "The Testimony of Travis".
 Dear prayer partners, We want to thank you all again for all your prayers and petitions on our behalf... Some of you know that Tim and I took a Discipleship Training Course for 12 weeks at the beginning of this year... After lots of seeking after God’s will, we know that the next step for us is training. One of the speakers from our DTC is a man who runs a Youth With A Mission Discipleship Training School (which is a five month, full time version of our DTC that we took) that is especially focused on training families to minister together. It is cross culturally oriented and is above and beyond anything that we had ever imagined could exist. We have longed for a training experience that would include the whole family, and God has now opened this door. As we have cautiously pursued this training and sought God’s will, He has just opened this door wider and wider. So, once again, we are in the process of raising support, packing up, and moving ---to Weyerhaeuser, WI this time. We know that we cannot move forward any further without our prayer partners, so that is why we are contacting you! If you wish to remain on our prayer partner list or know of anyone else who might be interested in being a prayer partner with us, please email us c/o lgreene@mayo.edu. We can’t tell you enough how much you mean to us. We really cannot do this without your prayers. We would love to hear from any of you personally. We would love to pray for your needs as well. If you would like us to pray for anything with you, please let us know. If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
With love, peace, hugs, and blessings,
Thank you for some wonderful information. Can anyone let me know
if books by AH Lewis are available. I have a copy of "Sabbath and
Sunday," and would be particularly interested in reading "Paganism Surviving in Christianity." I am gathering material for a Ph.D. dissertation, and would be interested to hear if you know of any other studies regarding the syncretistic practices of the early church and associated anti-Semitism. May the Lord continue to bless your work.
Ian Carter IanCarter@prodigy.net General Conference 2001 will be held at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas. The President will be Clayton Pinder. 
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