Friday, August 15, 2014

August Update 2014

Greetings from North Carolina!  We're pleased to share with you what the Lord has been doing in our lives and ministry.

The Family at the Zoo
Family: At the end of July, we moved to another rented home in North Carolina.  Although we have faced some challenges with this endeavor, making it more difficult, God is in control and He is seeing us through. At one point during the move, in which we traveled nearly 70 miles, the odometer on the moving truck we used showed mileage of 77707.77 miles.  We praised God, because we believe that even in this small thing, the Lord was saying He was with us.

We were grateful for the help we had loading the moving van at our point of departure and for the help we received setting up beds upon our arrival at the guest house where we are staying.  It belongs to a church, where we have been given permission to stay for at least seven months.  Thank the Lord for providing this dwelling, which gives us a little more time for us to find out what the Lord's next step is for us.

In the midst of preparing to move, we managed to go to the North Carolina Zoo, since we knew we would be moving much farther away from it, and had not yet seen it. We had a wonderful time there exploring animals from Africa and America.

We also celebrated Faith's twelfth birthday in August with homemade cake and cards, but are still waiting for her gifts to arrive by mail order, since the move delayed our order.  We had a party just the same.  Faith is a precious young lady, who loves the Lord with all her heart, and is on fire for Jesus.  She shines with the light of heaven, and has the joy of the Lord.  Praise the Lord for her life.

Charity continues to learn calligraphy and has already produced some very pretty lettering even while she is practicing her techniques.

More photos.     

Ministry:   As you know, our goal in being back here on furlough is to develop new sponsorship to continue with our mission in Eastern Europe to help complete the Great Commission.  However, we have not had any open doors, which resulted in speaking about our ministry at churches, since we moved to North Carolina last July.  Therefore, we are not any closer to being able to return to the mission field now than we were when we first began our furlough in June 2013.  Our desire would be to come to your church or Bible Study group to preach and minister to you, while we are in the States.  If you would like us to do so, we can also make a presentation of our work in Eastern Europe.  Please pray about this.  It's a chance for us to encourage people to greater evangelism and commitment to completing the Great Commission globally, and we would be honored to come speak.  So give us a call if you would like us to come to speak to your group.

One of Len's disciples in Hungary, named David, is in Romania on a missions trip as we write this letter.  We are praying that the Lord will use him to bring many souls into the kingdom, set the captives free, heal the sick, and endue them with power from the Holy Spirit to be His witnesses.

Last month we reported on the salvation of a young man in Zimbabwe, Africa, named Rufaro K., who came to Christ while reading the testimonies on Len's blogs, and the article, Do You Want to Know Jesus?  Len has been in touch with him, and here is Rufaro's own testimony: "I was always backsliding when I tried to make a turn, I came across the Divine Revelations site where I [found] testimonies of Bill Wiese, Angelica Zambrano, etc. that gave me a sense of purpose here on earth.  I realised time is running out. I then [found] this article [about] holiness that you posted, and it gave me a mighty push."  When Len asked which article on holiness, he indicated it was Godly Attire & Adornment -- Seven Divine Revelations, especially Linda Ngaujah's testimony. He said one thing that really influenced him was "Ngaujah's testimony on winning souls for Christ as our goal, so that our crown attains more pearls."  Praise the Lord!  He has recently returned to the university, where he is studying software engineering.  Please pray that Rufaro will stand firm in all the will of God, mature, and fully assured.

It's not surprising that it was the testimonies that the Lord used, because we have found through data analysis that statistically a large part (perhaps the majority) of the internet traffic to Len's article Do You Want to Know Jesus? is coming from the testimonies on his Eternal Destinations blog. The Lord seems to be using those to rescue souls more than any of Len's other blogs.

In August, Len received a message from someone, named Deon L, who had read another one of his blogs, called Revelation of Hell to Seven Colombian Youths, which is about seven young Christian people from Colombia who encountered heaven and hell.  He wrote: "God Bless you, brother Len. My name is Deon L., and I am a born again Christian who went back to the ways of the world. I am trying to find my way to the Lord again, wrestling with my spirit and flesh, but the flesh is just too rebellious. Can [you] please advise? God bless you."*

Praise the Lord for what He is doing drawing people to Himself.  Let's pray that Deon makes his way back to the Lord successfully. 

We have previously reported that a pastor in a particular restricted access country in Southeast Asia has been in contact with Len since June 2013, who has asked for Len to come and help him.  We previously used his full name, but when Len asked if he would prefer to remain anonymous on this public domain, he indicated that would be best due to the fact that he is in a sensitive / restricted access country.  So we will refer to him simply as Paul.  In July, we also received a letter via email from another pastor in that same country named Nigel, asking for our help.  His email subject was "'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' (Acts 16: 9)! It is from [name of country redacted, South East Asia!"  He, too, like Pastor Paul, is inviting us to extend our work into that country.

His letter was a heartfelt, passionate, four-page plea for help, in which he stated: "The churches we run are non-denominational house churches. And then, we plant non-denominational house churches...We preach and teach the word of God to the believers and share the good news of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the whole world, to the unbelievers in all weathers. Now, I have established a big project on the orphanage ministry from 2013. This year, the orphans reach to 16. I run this orphanage ministry with such a faith in God that He will sit down for the next meal when there is no food in the house because I know that God will surely provide."

He described the hardships and trials they face, saying, "When we share the Word of God to my people, we face many hindrances or blockages because they always try to hinder the Gospel with various ways such as authority, violence, mock, attack, etc., especially in rural villages. Through facing those trails, our thoughts and our feelings of sharing the Gospel will endure until we take our last breath. Although we are treated differently on account of believing in God and sharing the Gospel of Christ, we are ever ready to overcome the time, day and everything that happened through the strength given by the Holy Spirit.

"We know that as long as [our country's] people don't agree on turning to and believing in God, and accepting Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour, there will be few who can really be saved (get into heaven), but most be thrown into the lake of fire. That's why we explain that they will be thrown into the lake of fire, not because they are sinners, but they haven't accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour while living on earth. By this fact, we share the Gospel to them as much as we can because we can't look on their being thrown into the lake of fire, and we attribute that sharing the Gospel is our tremendous responsibility."

He described the many civil wars there and religious persecution, as well as the fact that it has historically been a sensitive/restricted-access country for the gospel up until now. He stated: "Although we face many tremendous hardships or blockages to sharing the Word of God to [our nation's] people, we will never withdraw, but move forward in faith for the Lord until we take our last breath. In our country, assembling and sharing the Gospel in public (especially in rural villages) was never before allowed by the Government. But, I believe that we are about to be allowed to share in public and can make change for Christ in the future."  Then he closed with this warm invitation: "If you want to extend your ministry in [name of country] or have a desire to encourage all of us and to train us to be more effective, you are warmly invited. We are in need of great help indeed such as spiritual encouragements, adequate trainings, etc. I am looking forward to hear from you. God bless you abundantly! In His service, Pastor Nigel"

The fact that we now have invitations from two pastors from the same country, requesting help, seems like it could be from the Lord.  We are praying about Len taking a missions trip there near the end of the year.  One thing we lack is the funding, but if the Lord is in it, then He will provide for all our needs according to His glorious riches. 

We are also prayerfully pondering the following prophetic word Len received from a pastor in NH named Mark Paul Sanchez, while we were visiting his church.  He did not even know Len when he gave this word, and this is just an excerpt:

"...But what I see the Lord doing is the Lord is actually going to bring you into a place where you are more productive for greater regions in the area in which He places you, where you’ll actually be training men and fathering men in the gospel as Paul even said to Timothy, ‘I became a father to you in the gospel. I begot you through the gospel.’ And what the Lord’s saying is that as you father and as you literally bring forth order in their life and bring forth structure in their life, they’re going to go out and their going to bring greater harvest, literally like a tree being grafted in to produce greater fruit.  The Lord is gonna quicken the season of production in your ministry and in your life. And there are gonna be seasons where you feel like literally your just corresponding with people and your just sitting with leaders. And I feel like the Lord is bringing radicals into your life. He’s gonna bring people that don’t fit your paradigm and don’t fit your box, but they’re gonna be drawn to the strength and the depth of your walk with God over long periods of time.  I feel like some of the places that He’s sent you, there’s been like quick springing ups of works but they don’t last and there’s not longevity.  And the Lord says that the longevity…as Paul said in the Scripture, ‘I was obedient unto the heavenly vision.’ As you’re obedient unto the vision of the Lord in your life, He’s gonna draw others to you to be able to be discipled by you and through your life.  And He’s gonna bring not only preachers, but He’s actually gonna bring ‘sent ones’ to youones that have had Macedonian calls, ones that have had encounters with  the Lord, but they are coming with an encounter, but with no grounding to the encounter.  They’re running, but they’re running the race in a way in which they would make the marathon.  And what I feel like the Lord is doing is He’s working – even in seasons in your life of inactivity – He is working a far greater weight of glory upon your life and upon your ministry.  And I declare that even as the Lord called you to Eastern Europe, He’s going to begin to open your heart to other places that you wouldn’t even think of going. I actually heard the word ‘Southeast Asia’ and I feel that the Lord is not gonna bring you there necessarily for the people, but for divine connections with other leaders that the Lord would bring in even to your region.  The Lord says, ‘Awaken to the calling of being a gatekeeper in your region. Awaken to being one who stands at the courts and a city gate and your letting things in and you’re keeping things out.’ And the Lord says, ‘Because you’ve heard My voice, and because you’ve walked in My presence, and because you’ve said, “Yes” to me, I will move and do all these things through you, and through your family, and those that I bring alongside of you.’  For the Lord says that ‘You are not a man that would build to be seen by men, but you’re a man that would labor to not be seen by man and be a foundation,’ says the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Rachel Mushala
In addition to receiving correspondence from people getting saved like Rufaro and Deon, whom we've already mentioned, we occasionally receive positive feedback from Christians around the world who are benefiting from Len's blogs.  One such comment came recently from sister Rachael Mushala, a Christian journalist in Zambia, whom Len has written about in Rachael Mushala Testimony of Hell.  After reading Len's article, The Need for Accountability, she wrote, "Hello brother, This is a very sobering study.  So often we take failure to warn people who perish in sin so lightly. But this article clearly proves from the Bible that its not a light matter to GOD. I've been blessed by it. Thanks!"

On another occasion, regarding Len's article, False Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, she wrote "Hi, brother! I feel so happy right now because the article you wrote about false blasphemy has been such a blessing to me today! A sister who is really trying to get right with God and live in holiness wrote to me saying she is having blasphemous thoughts uncontrollably flush in her head and was really worried she had committed the unforgivable sin. Immediately I knew she is experiencing an attack that satan once tried on Zipporah...and me, so I referred her to your article.  It made things really easy!  Praise God. Now I am realising there must be so many Christians experiencing this attack and are despairing.  I've also realised satan targets those really trying to get close to the Lord so they'll give up.  Thank God who used you to write the article!"

Then in August, in response to Old News That's Still Fresh - August 2014, which Len sends each month to pastors, elders and laborers in Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia, she replied, "I've really been blessed by these articles.  I very much needed to hear the message in Give Me Children or I'll Die!  It was such a blessing to me and inspiring. I was also especially blessed by the article about thanksgiving.  It's so very true! May God continue to use you to reach His people."  Praise the Lord for the positive feedback and the things He is doing with these articles!  We encourage you to read the recent articles Len has written about the Mushala sisters, called Rachael Mushala Second Testimony of Hell and Zipporah Mushala’s Third Testimony of Hell.

*Note: Comments from foreign nationals are sometimes edited for clarity. 

Resources:  This month we would also like to suggest Len's blogs called, Rachael Mushala Second Testimony of Hell, Zipporah Mushala’s Third Testimony of Hell and Give Me Children or I'll Die!  All of Len's latest articles are available at Old News That's Still Fresh - August 2014. Len's entire collection of his most popular blogs are at Writing for the Master.

In closing, we have much to praise God for, and many opportunities for you to join us in prayer.

Praise the Lord with us for the many answers to prayer:
  1. For the open door for effectual ministry in a particular restricted access country in Southeast Asia.
  2. For Deon L.'s return to the Lord.
  3. For the benefit that others like Rachael Mushala are receiving in the far corners of the mission field from our teaching and training materials.
  4. For David's missions trip to Romania.
  5. For this twelfth year the Lord has given to Faith. 
  6. For helping us to complete all preparations for the move and helping us successfully make the move.
  7. For the big and small ways the Lord revealed His presence with us on the move, like the 77707.77 mile odometer reading.
Next steps and prayer needs:
  1. That Rufaro K. and Deon L. will stand firm in all the will of God, mature, and fully assured.
  2. For the Lord to help David successfully complete the missions trip that he is on in Romania.
  3. For David to successfully complete his insurance training by the end of August, so that he’ll be certified to sell everything.
  4. For the Lord to give Len guidance regarding invitations to other countries, especially in the Southeast Asian country Len has been invited to.
  5. For the Lord to open new doors of opportunity for ministry for us, and that we would be fruitful.
  6. For the Lord to further expand the awareness of this ministry throughout the US, and raise up many new faith partners, who will sponsor us.
  7. For our financial blessing. 
Thank you so much for your partnership in this ministry.

with love from all of us,

The Lacroixs

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