Greetings to my brother Mike Vinson,

This is my first contact with you via email.

I am so grateful to God for granting me this moment to communicate my deepest gratitude and appreciation to you and all at IWWB from ‘one of the few’ in Cape Town, South Africa. I’ve been searching for a very long time for an elder in the faith to guide me and help me with the war that is, was and will be raging in my heaven.

For the past few years almost all my attention is to ‘study to show myself approved unto God’. For years I could not understand why I was given the ‘burden’ to see things differently from those around me (since the age of five I was exposed to Pentecostalism – I am now 51 years old). When I was 25 years old I went through the experience of “conversion”, water baptism, and “being filled with the holy spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues”. I went through the ranks of “maturing” to eventually serving on a church council.  All this time I could not find peace with “normal” church life…to cut a long story short, I left denominational life finally in 1995. Since then till the end of 2005 I was like Elijah in the wilderness sleeping under the juniper tree, tired, wasted like the prodigal son…until I “stumbled” onto ___ website.

I read through every word. There was a link to your site. Slowly but surely I was experiencing a freshness about the way you were dealing with things and people. I thank God that I obtained mercy to grow and receive faith. Like you always say that it is on Babylon’s back that we are today where we are. Today I am a little bit stronger, and God has given me the ability to hear the true shepherd’s voice. I thank Father for giving me the privilege to try the spirits. Now I feel strong and bold enough to say: “THANK YOU, MIKE. Thank you for persisting to ‘keep the things written therein’” even at the expense of friendships.

It is very exciting to read the scriptures now; each and every word and event in the bible actually happened somewhere in my life… and it is still happening, and will be happening! It is my book, yet it is His story in my book written before the creation of this world.

My mother tongue is Afrikaans (an Indo- European language, related to Dutch). The Afrikaans word for film (a movie) is “rolprent” (pronounced raulpraent) which is a “turning picture” if you translate directly. This concept I think encapsulates the “iswasandwillbe” principle of “the book” of our lives. It is turning and repeating the same lessons over and over and over…and yet we cannot see it, only afterwards when we look back or are ‘being turned’. It fills me with this deep sense of love and affection that God has for me.

Thank you for your time and efforts (you are His workmanship) and of course all at IWWB. Thank you for being my elder; the voice that speaks from heaven and the angel that shows me the bride and the pure river of water of life.

Your brother in the Christ

L____

Hi L____,

Thank you for your encouraging words! Thank you for realizing that this is the work of a team, or to use the Biblical term, a “body” in which “every joint supplies and nourishes the body.”
You may find this hard to believe, but your story is proof of the truth of these verses of God’s Word.

Ecc 9:2  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

The steps of your journey are the same steps I have taken, and they are typical of all who come to see and appreciate the truths of God’s Word which are worth the sacrifice of friends and family.
I rejoice to see that you understand that there is a war taking place in the heavens of your mind.
Your use of the phrase ‘is, was and will be’ and your translation of the Afrikaans word for the English word ‘movie’ demonstrates that God has given to you to grasp the deep significance of that little understood character of our Lord and His Words.

Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

It is especially gratifying to see that God has given to you the knowledge that you are the angel that is commissioned to “seal not the sayings of this book” but to “show these things” to all He sends to you and places in the position to receive this truth. Others have been used to show me these things. As “your fellowservant,” I have been used to show you these things, and you are now under the same commission to show these things to others. “The testimony of Jesus Christ IS the spirit of prophecy.”

Rev 19:10  And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Rev 22:8  And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9  Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
Rev 22:10  And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.

The fact this is twice recorded in Rev 19 and again in Rev 22, demonstrates that we all tend to give the messenger, the angel, too much credit. But the stories of Moses being withstood, first by Miriam and Aaron, then by Korah and 250 elders of Israel, and the story of “Alexander the coppersmith and Hymenaeus withstanding the words of the apostle Paul and Diotrephese doing the same to the apostle John, demonstrate that we all tend equally to fail to recognize the voice and words of the True Shepherd. I thank God that He has granted to you and to a few others in this age, to “try the spirits to see whether they are of God.”
Signing off as “Your brother in the Christ” reveals that God truly is working in your life. You say ” All this time I could not find peace with “normal” church life…”  I pray that “the peace that passes all understanding” is now yours in truly coming to know our Lord and His Christ.

Php 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

God bless you as you seek to know God and His son. Thank you for taking the time to express the gratitude you have for the blessings you have been given in Christ.

Your brother in the Christ,
Mike