Home » Articles posted by Micael Grenholm (Page 42)
Author Archives: Micael Grenholm
The author
Micael Grenholm, a Swedish charismactivist, apologist and author.
Healing the World: Combining the Gift of Healing with Poverty Reduction
Surprise Sithole
In his great autobiography Voice in the Night, South African pastor Surprise Sithole shares an amazing event that happened shortly after he had met his present co-worker Heidi Baker, director for Iris Ministries, for the first time. Cholera had struck a community, and being a highly contagious disease that could lead to death, most people would run the other way. However, Surprise and Heidi went straight into the fire.
They had to argue with the health workers for a long time before they could enter the hospital tent. Inside, the stench was horrible and the suffering of the people even greater. Surprise writes:
“Heidi walked straight into this disgusting, foul-smelling, life-threatening mess. She knelt down beside people to pray for them. She lovingly wiped the perspiration from their foreheads. She took the children in her arms and hugged and kissed them – pouring out her life again and again. Her courage and grace amazed me, and I tried my best to follow her example.”
As they prayed, more and more got healed, rising from their beds with their symptoms gone. For those who weren’t healed, they loved and hugged them and brought them clean water. Amazingly, neither Heidi nor Surprise came down with Cholera after this event.
The Rise of Neo-Nazism in Greece
The far right is on the rise in Europe. Xenophobic, islamophibic and racist parties and movements have gain ground dramatically the past decade, probably fueled by the economic crisis.
In Switzerland, the Schweizerische Volkspartei, the country’s biggest party, depict immigrants as black sheep that needs to be kicked out, and they have succeeded with banning minarets. In Hungary, the third-biggest party Jobbik has formed a paramilitary Hungarian Guard that marches in romani areas, and a Jobbik member of parliament recently said that it was time to “assess how many MPs and government members are of Jewish origin and who presents a national security risk to Hungary”. But the most worrying far-right movement in Europe is, I would say, the Greek party Golden Dawn.
Golden Dawn Symbol
Golden Dawn is the first Nazi party to occupy seats in a European parliament since the second world war. The party themselves denies being neo-Nazi, however, the evidence that Nazi ideology is an inspiration to them is enormous. Their party symbol, an ancient Greek meander, is often depicted black on a burgundy coloured background, which makes it strikingly similar to the Nazi swastika. On numerous occasions members of the party have given the Roman sallute, widely used by the Nazis, and one Golden Dawn MP has “Sieg Heil” tattooed on his arm.
Aaron D. Taylor: Merging Charismatic and Mennonite Traditions
This text was written four years ago by Aaron Taylor. He basically says what I say but said it before I said it. Check out his awesome blog.
Aaron D. Taylor
Why I Wish I Were a Mennonite
My name is Aaron D. Taylor and I’m a charismatic Christian. If you ever see me driving with my glasses on, I may look dignified, but don’t let my appearance fool you. Throughout my life I’ve been slain in the Spirit and drunk in the Holy Ghost on numerous occasions. I’ve felt the anointing, laid hands on the sick, cast out devils, and been prophesied over countless times. It’s taken me a long time to feel comfortable in my Pentecostal/charismatic skin, but I can honestly say today that I wouldn’t trade my Pentecostal/charismatic heritage for anything. I’ll admit it’s been a very long time since I’ve “shaken under the power” or “danced in the Spirit”, but to this day I pray in tongues, lay hands on the sick, and if I ever need to get the devil off my back, I’ll gladly pull out the “Sword of the Spirit” and start quoting Scripture. We Pentecostals and charismatics have a lot to be proud of. We were a miniscule, lower class fringe movement 100 years ago and now there are over 600 million of us around the world!
So why do I wish I were a Mennonite? Yesterday was my 30th birthday and when I think about the past 30 years of history, on nearly every moral issue that speaks to how Christians are supposed to live as a peculiar people surrounded by a godless culture, the Mennonites have been right and we’ve been wrong. While charismatic leaders were “naming and claiming” plush clothing, fancy cars, and million dollar mansions, Mennonites were teaching their children to live simply so that others could simply live. While charismatic leaders were petitioning the government to keep under God in the pledge of allegiance, Mennonites were warning their children about the dangers of nationalism. While charismatic leaders were building “apostolic networks” to win the world for laissez-faire capitalism, Mennonites were sharing possessions, building communities, and identifying with the poor. While charismatic leaders were putting bowling alleys and coffee shops in their multi-million dollar church buildings”, Mennonites were providing a decent living for third world farmers by setting up international co-ops and selling fair trade coffee.
The Problems with a European Pope
Peter Turkson, possibly the next pope
Yesterday, world news was dominated by the announced retirement of Pope Benedict XVI. After having been amazed by the fact that he is the first pope to resign in almost 600 years, the global media started to speculate about who would become the next bishop of Rome. Many think or hope that he will come from Latin America or Africa.
Since I’m not a Catholic, and especially not a cardinal, it could be argued that I shouldn’t express views on pope elections. But as a Christian with love for all of Christ’s church, across denominations as well as nations, I still want to question the European dominion over the Holy See.
I respect Catholic’s conviction that all popes are elected through the prophetic guidance of the Holy Spirit; still all prophecy should be tested (1 Th 5:19-20). Was it really the will of God that during the last 500 years when Catholicism has expanded across the globe, especially in Latin America, all popes have been European? In fact, before John Paul II, every single one was Italian. Apart from a few North Africans and Syrians, and S:t Peter himself of course, all popes have been white Europeans during all of church history.
Desperate Needs, Ultimate Joy: A Letter from Rolland Baker
Photo: Iris Ministries
This newsletter just came from Rolland Baker, founder of Iris Ministries.
Dear friends of Iris around the world,
We in Iris continue to face more need, challenge, opposition, helplessness and perplexity than we can bear, yet daily God shows up and we soldier on. We are jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us (2 Cor. 4:7). We often feel under great pressure, condemned to failure. But we have learned that this happens that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God, who raises the dead (2 Cor. 1:9).
We cannot overstate how much more help we need in every way. We need administrators, organizers, technicians, engineers, mechanics, builders, doctors, nurses, teachers, farmers, computer and Internet geeks, donors, etc., ad infinitum, along with every kind of spiritual gifting. The reason is that Iris is not simply a church, or a children’s center, or a relief effort, or a Bible school, or a mission training base, but all these and more as one example of an entire Kingdom environment. We exist to demonstrate an all-encompassing love that flows from God’s heart, a love that the unsaved have never seen before. We are here to seek and save the lost, and in the process give them a foretaste of heaven and our unshakeable inheritance that is to come.
We came to Mozambique, one of the world’s poorest countries, to prove the Gospel, both in our own hearts and lives and among the neediest people we could find. And the Gospel has taken root all around us. Churches are being added to our number weekly, mounting into the thousands. After so many years of cruel colonialism, communism and civil war, the overall climate of Mozambique has changed, deeply affected, we believe, by the Gospel. It has recently been voted one the most peaceful countries in Africa. Its economic growth rate is amazing. Major energy resources are being discovered.
God vs Wealth, part 5: Three Heresies
To read other parts of the series, go here.
In the first four parts of my God vs Wealth series, I’ve presented why I am convinced that Christians shouldn’t be rich. Now, I will discuss some counter arguments against that thesis.
1. There’s nothing wrong with being rich as long as you value God more than your money
This theory, which I’ve mentioned in some of the previous posts in this blog series, is basically saying that as long as your money doesn’t affect your relationship with God negatively, you can be as rich as you want. The problem is not owning money, the problem is if the money owns you. However, Jesus does not agree with this:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Mt 6:19-21).
In other words, it’s wrong to argue that you can be rich as long as your money doesn’t hinder your relationship with God, because where your treasure is your heart will be also – you cannot have treasures on earth and your heart in Heaven! The word “treasure” is used in James 5 as well where wealth also is criticised. We have to get rid of it to attain full devotion to the Lord.
Humanitarian Passion
Image from Wikimedia Commons
As you may have noticed, I’ve written a lot about humanitarian aid the last couple of days. I feel a growing passion for this issue, and I really want to spread it on to others. However, I have noticed that it is not so easy to do.
To my experience, most people are quite uninterested in humanitarian aid; they aren’t reading much about it nor giving that much money to it. When I look at the statistics of my Swedish blog, the posts last year that got the least views are those who concerned humanitarian crises (with the single exception of Gaza). And when I get reports from humanitarian organizations, they constantly talk about that their projects are underfunded.
Why is it like this? Why are rich people spending billions on sports, entertainment and luxuries while people suffer and die in Syria because of lack of humanitarian aid? Some would say that this is caused by human nature, we cannot help that we aren’t so interested in saving the lives of people far away. However, this cannot explain how humanitarian aid workers lay down their lives to help people they’ve never met. Humanitarian passion is rare but does exist.
Blind Woman Healed in Front of 200,000 People!
Evangelist Daniel Kolenda reports on the Christ for All Nations website:
The Multitudes. Photo: CfaN
Dear Mission Partners,
Have you ever witnessed a miracle? Watch the video above!
As many of you will be aware, Ivory Coast has been plagued by many years of civil war. Terrible atrocities have been committed and much blood has been shed in this place. In fact, our crusade field bears a grim reminder of the desperately wicked condition of fallen humanity. At the back of the crusade field there is a distinct area where curious mounds of dirt are grown over with thick weeds. As our bulldozers were clearing the field in preparation for the campaign, we were asked by officials not to clear that particular area because it is a mass grave where countless unidentified corpses are buried. Yet, this week, this very field, once the scene of death and destruction on a massive scale, has been transformed into ground zero for a historic harvest and a mass Holy Spirit outpouring. It is a striking metaphor of God’s redemptive work through the cross.
Mali: Hunger, Terrorism and Miracles
While Mozambique, DR Congo and South Sudan also are facing enormous humanitarian crises, Mali is perhaps the African country which has most problems right now. Islamists supported by al Qaida have taken control of the northern parts of the country to practice extreme sharia laws, and to stop northern Mali from becoming a terrorist state, France is cooperating with the Mali government in a military offensive. In the midst of violent conflict are millions of civilians that already were poor, hungry and sick before. The result is disastrous. UNHCR reports:
Since the start of the conflict in northern Mali a year ago, more than 150,000 refugees have fled to neighbouring Mauritania, Niger and Burkina Faso, while nearly 230,000 have sought safety in other areas inside Mali. […] Most are living in poor neighbourhoods with little or no access to housing or vital services such as clean water, education and health.
People fleeing the current fighting between French-backed government forces and rebels in the north of Mali tell alarming accounts of atrocities. A former resident of Gao, who left the northern town after recent air strikes, told UNHCR that food and fuel were in short supply.
“The situation in Gao is difficult. The rebels took all the medicines from Gao hospital. I saw dead bodies everywhere, in the yard of the hospital,” said Agesha, who fled the town last Sunday.
I strongly urge you to support Christian Aid’s West Africa Food Crisis Appeal, which will bring food and humanitarian relief to the people in Mali and surrounding areas. And I also urge you to pray for this country. There are few Christians in this country, and because of the rise of extreme Islamism, they are severely persecuted. Yet, the main thing Mali needs to get rid of war, poverty, terrorism and hunger, is a mighty Holy Spirit revival. They need a miracle, and they need it now.
Conscious about this urgent need, I was so encouraged when I found this testimony concerning a miraculous healing which occured on a Christian clinic in Mali three years ago:
(more…)
Emergency: 140 000 Homeless in Mozambique Due to Floods
“The flood was causing vastly more than homelessness. Corpses were floating in the floodwaters. Helicopters rescued ten thousand people from treetops and roofs along the Limpopo River, but ninety thousand more were stranded and in immediate danger of being swept away and drowned. Most could not swim, but the current was so powerful and deep that even strong swimmers could not last long. Each day those trapped in tiny areas grew weaker from hunger and exposure. Small children were affected quickly by malnutrition, so they were rescued first, leaving their parents behind.
Those rescued were deposited in isolated areas, still wet and miserable and without food or services of any kind. Children were hungry, sick and crying, with high fevers, and left without mothers and fathers. International aid was on the way but greatly delayed by red tape, and it was far less than what was required. In this huge country with so many orphans and children in distress, there were pitifully limited facilities for taking care of them. In the Lord we tried to fill a vacuum among the neediest of them all.”
This is what missionary Rolland Baker writes in his book Always Enough (Chosen Books, 2003) about the devastating floods that hit Mozambique 13 years ago. His organization, Iris Ministries, did their best to alleviate suffering and save lives in the midst of disaster. In the book, he expresses the joy of seeing happiness returning to those who recieve the aid, but also the pain of knowing that there were many they didn’t were able to help. Today, he and the other Iris missionaries will have to experience this all over again.
Because of extremely heavy rain the last week, southern Mozambique has been struck with the largest flood disaster since 2000. UN OCHA reports that 250 000 are affected, of which 146,000 have to be housed in temporary shelters. These people are in desperate need. Katherine Mueller from the Red Cross says: The main needs are tents and clean water, but they basically need everything.”
Iris Relief has sent a team to the areas affected by the floods to bring humanitarian aid and the power and love of the Holy Spirit. Please support this, go here and scroll down to “Iris Relief: Responds to Mozambique Floodings”. Or you can give to World Food Programme, Unicef or some other organization that are active in the area. Thank you, and God bless you!
Humanitarian Disasters: The Facts
Text by Christian Aid:
Almost half the world’s population has lived through a disaster at some point in the past decade. It’s enough to make you fear the future.
Storms, floods, famine, cyclones, drought, typhoons, earthquakes, mudslides, avalanches. Each year for the past decade, an average of 258 million people have lived through some kind of disaster – in total, this is the equivalent of almost half of the world’s population.
According to the Red Cross, an average of 354 natural disasters occurred throughout the world each year from 1991 to 1999. Between 2000 and 2004, this figure more than doubled to an average of 728 natural disasters per year.
And each year, the death toll from disasters is growing greater – from 84,570 in 1995 to 249,896 ten years later, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
(more…)
Should Every Christian Be an Activist?
Christian activists
Some time ago I was having lunch with the leader of the Swedish Pentecostal movement. I had contacted him in order to share my vision of combining signs and wonders with peace and justice, and he offered to meet me. When we sat there I explained how important it was to eradicate poverty, fight climate change and work for peace, and then I remarked that I had to leave the lunch a bit early since I was going to participate in an act of civil disobedience in a detention center not far away, where the police would deport people to Iraq the same night. He looked at me and said “I really share your conviction that these issues are very important, but please reflect upon how much the ordinary believer is obliged to do.”
I got his point. Most Christians aren’t willing to lay so much time on activism as I do; in fact, for many of them “activist” is a quite alien term. And I agree with that there are different functions in the body of Christ – some focus on activism, others on preaching, others on evangelism and so on.
Still, just as the presence of preachers doesn’t mean that everyone else shouldn’t know any theology, every believer should care for peace and justice to some extent. The question is: what extent? Well, when we look at the Scriptures, it is striking that many of the commandments to all believers are very radical when it comes to peace and justice:
Why I as an Activist Love the Gifts of the Holy Spirit!
This text is also published at Jesus Radicals today.
Photo: Iris Ministries
The Pentecostal and charismatic movements have a bad reputation among Christian anarchists and activists. There are too many examples of healing evangelists who control the masses through manipulation and hysteria, with promises of supernatural encounters only to gain money and status for themselves. Furthermore, many Pentecostals and charismatics support nationalism, war, discrimination and inequalities. They bless the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, they preach a prosperity gospel where strong faith leads to great wealth, they deny climate change and don’t care about the environment.
Yet, I am totally convinced that every Christian activist should embrace the gifts of the Spirit and pursue signs and wonders. Why? Because the mess I just described is of course not genuine a fruit of the Spirit, it is a result of what I call the Corinth Syndrome, when charismatic Christians portray their own crazy ideas and practices as divinely inspired.
Why Did Jesus Tell the Disciples to Buy Two Swords?
The following text was originally published by someone on a site called Harmless as Doves. I thought it was so good that I copied it and saved it on my computer, but now I’ve seen that the original site has been removed. So here it is, re-entering the Internet:
Luke 22:35-38 is often cited to challenge the Christian pacifist perspective. In this passage, Jesus instructed his disciples to buy swords, amongst other items.
Luke 22:35-38: Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing,” they answered. He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. For it is written: ‘he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.” The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.” “That is enough,” he replied.
First we must ask, why did Jesus want them to buy swords? It seems unlikely that Jesus’ instructions were intended to prepare his disciples for armed conflict and self defense, because two swords does not seem to be “enough,” as Jesus put it, to defend twelve men. In fact, in the passage itself Jesus explained the purpose for the swords. Jesus instructed his disciples to buy the swords, “for it is written: ‘he was numbered with the transgressors.’”
Here, Jesus referenced Isaiah 53:12, which contains one of the many Old Testament prophesies concerning the life of the Messiah. Jesus wanted the swords present when he was arrested, because the presence of the swords would indicate to those arresting him that he was one of the “transgressors,” that he was leading a violent rebellion. Jesus again referenced this while he was being arrested:
Stunning Prophetic Evangelism in Sweden
Evangelism becomes much more easy when we use the gift of prophecy. Firstly, God can lead us when we aren’t sure of what to say in which situation. Secondly, people tend to exclaim “God is truly with you!” when you reveal the secrets of their hearts prophetically (1 Cor 14:25). When Jesus could tell Nathanael what he had been doing before they met, the latter exclaimed that Jesus truly is the Son of God (Jn 1:48-49). John Wimber taught a lot about this and often shared how he had led a couple to the Lord after sharing some detailed words of knowledge over the man:
Simon Adahl
My friends Simon Adahl and Orjan Armgren also have a lot of experience of prophetic evangelism. I wrote just a couple of days ago about how they led three persons to Christ in a hotel bar in Redding, California, using the gift of prophecy. Of course, they also do this when they are at home here in Sweden, and I want to share three of those events that they have told me about.
Once, Simon and Orjan were at Simon’s place and talked with a woman they knew who had some problems in her life. Suddenly Simon said: “We’re going to pray for you know. You have prayed to God that someone would pray for you, haven’t you?” “How do you know this?” she said.
“I go with God”, Simon answered. “And in fact, right now I see a young girl, running around on a grass field with a kite. And when she sees how the wind is katching the kite high up in the air, she’s so happy. This girl is you, and that is how happy the Lord wants you to be again.”
The woman started to weep. Then Orjan said: “I hear a song. ‘This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it…'” – Suddenly the woman went down on her knees shouting “I want to be saved!” (more…)
Charismactivism 