Marc's Messages

Beatrix 25 years

Today is Queen's Day, and a special one because Beatrix celebrates her 25th year as queen of the Netherlands. Apart from the usual discussions around this time whether a democracy needs a king or queen, there was a big party in The Hague, where a special selection of artists presented themselves in what was quoted 'the biggest entertainment show of it's kind ever'.

Connect Europe weblog

I set up a simple weblog for Connect Europe. Most of the postings are a cc from Marc's Messages, but they give a good overview of the development of the network since our gathering in Geneva in August 2004.

Blogging for reformation

Blogging is a great tool to bounce your thoughts with others, and process reformation issues. I came across af few bloggers who do just that. Brad Hightower launched a 'New 95 Theses Project', and Loren Bishop digs into the End-Time Church. Brad also posted a helpful criticism on the prophetic movement.

Emerging covens

At this moment wicca (neo-paganism, witchcraft) is the fastest growing religion among teenagers. A recent research among wiccans in the Netherlands shows that one third of them joined this movement over the past two years. Of the new adherents 62 percent has a Christian/churched background, and most of these are young women under 20 years old. A serious migration is going on; the people with the highest potential to reach spiritual seekers are leaving our churches, because they don't find the real deal.

Sometime ago I engaged in an e-mail correspondence with a young wiccan who used to go to church with her parents. I asked her what she found in wicca that she hadn't found in the church or Christianity. Her answer was two-fold: "In wicca I'm being confirmed in my identity as a woman, and I've found a community where I can exercise my spiritual gifts." No need to comment.

Andrew Jones posted on emerging covens, and Philip Johnson wrote an in-depth article on the challenges wicca presents to the church. In the meantime witchschool.com has enrolled 140,000 people in a basic e-learning program on how to become a witch.

Adrenaline Rush

Following Christ involves taking risks. To get the idea we went to the Omniversum IMAX theatre to see the late-night movie 'Adrenaline Rush'. It was awesome. Skydiving, parachuting and base-jumping from the steep fjords in Norway. Nearly as cool as fast-track sled riding in Switzerland. Reminded me of Church Extreme, who celebrate communion while skydiving - a pity that this was an April 1 story.

New core team

We decided on a more flexible and organic leadership structure. A new core team of three people (Heidi, Maaike and myself) will focus on the European development of the vision and the network, and several other teams will be formed as God leads for specific areas, assignments and geographic regions. I'm happy with this step, as the current European team was simply too large and diverse in terms of commitment to be workable.

What is reformation all about?

There's much to say about reformation. Here are just some key thoughts that came out of our team meeting:

1. Reformation is a return to Christ as the centre, acknowledging his kingship over our lives, the church and society. The Kingdom of God comes when we submit to Him, and a revelation of his kingship is the key to reformation. It all bottles down to "who do you say that I am?" Or in the words of our friend Winkie Pratney: "God is god. You are not." Then the second step is radical obedience, out of the ordinary. Do the will of the Father, whatever the cost. Often this involves 'casting away our nets' (whatever we feel bound to) to follow Him.

2. Three key questions: how do you start a reformation, how will you spread it, how is it going to look like? A reformation starts with people who are sold out to Jesus and committed to the cause. We have to address the foundational issues that shape the church to come, intentionally creating a leverage in the church as a whole. So where does the church today need to change fundamentally to return to Christ and the message of the Kingdom? We talk about major issues here like empire, status, power, money, idolatry, false mediation structures, injustice, individualism, lack of apostolic understanding, deception, compromise and a small-minded mentality. The seed of the Kingdom is a piece of dynamite. It is caught by incarnation and spread by intentional multiplication.

3. Many leaders are focused on the church and church growth rather than on Christ. There's not much difference in this respect between catholics, protestants and charismatics - they focus on the queen (Mary/church) instead of the King. Some prophets have addressed this root of homosexuality/lesbianism in the church: a bride who is pursuing a mirror image (or humanly improved purpose-driven version) of herself, instead of pursuing the bridegroom. This focus breeds idolatry. While the Eph. 4 ministries are there to equip the saints to hear from and obey Christ themselves, the church (and even the prophetic movement) created and maintains mediation structures that simply block the revelation of Christ and fundamentally deny his headship. As a result, like Judas, the church gets bound to finance, injustice, compromise and manipulation, forcing things to happen in a way Jesus hadn't planned after all. The end of that is death. Jesus says: "I will not marry a demonic structure, but prepare myself a pure bride."

Re-defining Connect Europe

It's beautiful Spring weather, so we went on a cycling trip in the dunes between The Hague and Katwijk. In the morning we re-defined the focus of Connect Europe, and in the evening we processed the upcoming Europe-wide gathering in Prague.

Connect started as a gathering of young prayer leaders, evolved into a network of 'emerging leaders around God's purposes for Europe', and is now getting more focused on Jesus-centered reformation of the church and society. It's one of God's 'trojan horses' - He caught us with prayer, then got us hooked to a bigger vision.

So basically we see Connect as a committed group of friends who will intentionally pursue this reformational calling together, and want to shape the future of Europe. Prayer, missions, justice and community continue to be key values or core elements in this 'reformation agenda'. Our upcoming meeting in Prague will be shaped around this agenda, and focused on forming self-multiplying core teams in cities and nations.

Planning for Connect

Prepared the agenda and practicalities for the upcoming Connect Europe team weekend in The Hague, where we will deepen our friendship, and pray into and discuss developments in Europe related to the emerging generation and reformation.

If the Vatican went emergent

TSK is always in for something new. On his blog he ponders: "Do the Catholics really need to have a new Pope? What would happen if they switched to a more emergent leadership structure?"

"I know... too late, the wheels of church tradition are in motion and no one will stop that train... but when Jesus handed out the bread during the last supper, no one got a larger piece, not even Peter, and the idea seemed to be that Jesus was the head of his Body, His church, and leadership was dispersed in a way that allowed leadership to be exercised when it was called for and by the right people."

"If the Vatican went emergent, the Cardinals would be ordering the big white hats to match their new empowerment and the PopeMobile would become a fleet of PopeSmartCars. It would kill the Vatican postcard industry, but the flow of power out to the Cardinals, Priests, Nuns, Monks and other leaders might be a solution to deal with our complex world. Sacreligious, perhaps. But worth a thought."

Talking about emerging... Roderick Vonhogen, priest of the Archdiocese of Utrecht (just around the corner from here) is podcasting daily from the heart of the Catholic Church.

Prophetic Tuesday

What's going on today? I got an overwhelming amount of very long prophetic e-mails from people in my network. No, this didn't include the Elijah List, the commercial prophetic killer e-mail from the States, from which I unsubscribed years ago. Feels like I've been pondering on and answering e-mails since 10 o'clock this morning. How about an e-mail filter for prophetic stuff, or would I then be quenching the Spirit?

In Rome the cardinals apparently also received 'prophetic' inspiration. The lucky guy is 78-year old hardliner Joseph Ratzinger, who will likely turn the Vatican into an even more ultra-conservative fortress, reconfirming that the RC Church is the only true way to salvation. Looks like we're going back to the Reformation times... when will the Inquisition start?

Thorn in my flesh

It is said of the apostle Paul that he had a 'thorn in his flesh' to keep him humble. I think my 'thorn' is the up to now unfruitful attempt to get my driver's license. I started taking lessons two years ago, and still have difficulty integrating the different 'tasks': anticipating traffic, keeping an eye on the road signs, and smoothly driving the car. God, help me, deliver me from this thorn.

The execution of John Huss

Online bookshop Bol.com delivered me a harcover copy of Foxe's Book of Martyrs, a 'history of the lives, sufferings, and triumphant deaths of the early Christian and Protestant martyrs'. Amazing book, with sobering stories. I'm currently reading the 'accounts of the persecutions in Bohemia under the Papacy':

When the fagots were piled up to his very neck, the duke of Bavaria was so officious as to desire John Huss to abjure. "No" said Huss, "I never preached any doctrine of an evil tendency; and what I taught with my lips I now seal with my blood." He then said to the executioner, "You are now going to burn a goose" ('Huss' signifying 'goose' in the Bohemian language) "but in a century you will have a swan which you can neither roast nor boil." If he were prophetic, he must have meant Martin Luther, who shone about a hundred years after, and who had a swan for his arms.

The flames were now applied to the fagots, when our martyr sung a hymn with so loud and cheerful a voice that he was heard through all the cracklings of the combustibles, and the noise of the multitude. At length his voice was interrupted by the severity of the flames, which soon closed his existence.

Springtime in Twente

We spent the weekend at my parents' place in Twente. Wonderful Spring weather, flowers, birds. A pity I forgot to bring my camera. The picture on the left I took two weeks ago.

Blogs, CoPs and Bucks

Found an interesting entry on Knowledge Board about the strengths and weaknesses of weblogs and communities of practice, and a possible synergy between the two of them. Weblogs are more respectful of their authors and of their audience, and better connecting tools. Communities of practice (CoPs) are better social structures for problem-solving, knowledge stewarding, innovation and learning.

Also read this interview with Darren Rowse of LivingRoom, who is a full-time professional blogger from Down Under. He says he's making 100,000 bucks a year with his weblogs.

Wittenberg revisited

Trevor Macpherson of The Underground Railroad in Vancouver, Canada, mailed me about two prophetic actions God asked him to do in Germany, related to a new reformation.

I drove to the Gutenberg Museum in the city of Mainz, which celebrates the beginning of the printing press, that made it possible to get the Bible into the hands of the common man and to spread the teachings of the reformation very quickly. The action that God told me to do there, was to pray for a release of the Bible in a fresh new way to the common man, so I went to the locked door of the museum (it's closed on Mondays) and prayed that prayer.

Then I went to the town of Wittenberg and the prophetic action that the Lord asked me to do was to nail the '12 Coals of Fire' against the Wittenberg Door. (The 12 Coals is a book that is the result of our 18 years of experience of, 'Can a church actually be led by the Spirit and not man?') I however, found out that the door is now bronze, with iron gates to prevent entry, so when I got there I ended up throwing the 12 Coals at the door. When I got home and we prayed about it, each person in our group saw exactly the same thing: in the spiritual realm we saw a large fireball come hurtling towards the door and when it hit, there was an explosion and the door was smashed to pieces.

Then on March 10, 2005, Shawn Bolz (a prophet who works with Bob Jones and Paul Keith Davies) received this vision:

Martin Luther and the Wittenberg Door

I had a vision of a hand with a hammer in it. With violence in its strokes, the hand was nailing a paper to a large door. I looked at the paper and heard a loud noise that sounded like an explosion that shook the entire heavens.

As I was observing this scene, I remembered Martin Luther nailing his thesis to the Church door in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31st in the early 1500's. These 95 theses carried the theme that we are not justified by the Church but by faith, and that we all had the God-given authority to have our own relationship with God. The main fruit of this was that Martin Luther was able to print the Bible for every one to have the opportunity of reading it; the common people were empowered to read the logos Word for themselves.

Since the early church, never had the entire world changed so much. It was not revival of God's people or a few saved in one church; all of society began to change as people were able to understand who they are to God. It was a reformation of identity and the protestant Church came out of this incredible dynamic. It affected art, music, science, business, politics, and, of course, the Church. Nothing went unaffected by the great revelation of God being poured out.

A Thesis is Again Being Nailed to the Door of Every Church

I saw a paper being nailed to a door in my vision, just like the one Martin Luther nailed to the door in Wittenberg, but this one, although similar, was different. If Martin Luther's read in theme like this: "All people shall have access to the Bible; to have their own identity in God through reading His Word and no one, not even a priest, can get in the way of this..." Then this new thesis was themed with a similar message but about the Spirit: "All people shall have access to the Spirit of God; to have their own identity in relationship to Heaven by hearing the voice of God, and no one can interfere with this spiritual heritage..."

This paper I saw, was the release of the Spirit of Revelation to the common person on the earth. It was like Joel saw in Joel 2:28, with the Spirit of God released on all flesh. This is available to our generation; a relationship to heaven and Jesus. As God empowers His people with a Spirit of Revelation to have the Logos and the Rhema, there is again going to be a change in all society that transpires.

Macpherson comments that many churches today are Spirit-filled and Man-led, however, a church that is a true body of Christ should do ministry as Jesus did: Spirit-filled and Spirit-led.

The battle for Holland

I just wrote an in-depth article about 'high places' and altars, and the reality of spiritual battle around the Netherlands. For people with a background in the occult world, or those who have been involved in strategic intercession, this is common sense. But I found that many Christians are not aware, even naive about the reality of spiritual forces at work in our nation.

In my article I explain why a worldwide leader in transcendental meditation bought the highest hill in the Netherlands to start a 24-7 meditation centre, and why buddhist monks are building a mandala right in the geographical centre of our country. What is the meaning of these rituals, what do they 'accomplish', and how can Christians effectively deal with these territorial claims?

Heaven less opulent than Vatican

The pope had a good sense of humor, so probably he would have appreciated this news report from satirical newspaper The Onion about his arrival in Heaven:

HEAVEN - The soul of Pope John Paul, which entered heaven last week following a long illness, expressed confusion and disappointment Saturday, upon learning that the Celestial Kingdom of God to which the departed faithful ascend in the afterlife is significantly less luxurious than the Vatican's Papal Palace, in which the pope spent the past 26 years of his earthly life.

"Where are all the marble statues, sterling-silver chalices, and gem-encrusted scepters?" the visibly disappointed pope asked. It turned out that heaven is merely a place of unending peace and happiness, wherein all the spirits of the Elect live together forever in perfect harmony and goodness, basking in the rays of God's divine love. "I spent almost 84 years reciting novenas and Hail Marys to get to this restful place. If I'd wanted peace, quiet, and pretty clouds, I could've moved to the Italian Riviera."

"Up here, everyone is equal," John Paul II said. "No one has to go through an elaborate bowing ritual when they greet me. And do you know how many times my ring has been kissed since I arrived? None. Up here, I'm mingling with tax collectors, fishermen, and whores. It's just going to take a little getting used to, that's all."

The terrain has changed

Cheryl McGrath released a prophetic article that resonates with some of my earlier blog postings. It's about a major transition/shift in church as we know it, about the antichrist spirits at work in the (denominational) church system, the battle between flesh and Spirit, the reformation of the ecclesia, a new generation of leaders, a deeper walk with Christ, breaking with false securities, no fear of man, the end of compromise with church politics, the restoration of true worship, and an increasing separation (by God's grace) in the church.

Simon Mason from Connect UK was so good to articulate a few concerns about this article that I fully share. I included his response at the end of the article.

Download McGrathTheTerrainHasChanged.doc (English)
Download McGrathHetTerreinIsVeranderd.doc (Dutch)

Blessing the Jewish community

Met with the Utrecht team to prepare our upcoming leaders day in June. The topic will be the relationship between the Church and the Jewish community in the city. A sensitive subject, as Utrecht has a long history of antisemitism, but key in God's spiritual restoration plan.

Viola on the emerging church

"Will the emerging church fully emerge?" asks house church author Frank Viola in an open letter to the 'emerging church community'. He invites visionaries and practitioners to seriously reflect and openly dialogue about the major strengths and weaknesses of the emerging church phenomenon. Viola challenges us to rethink the modern pastoral role, the way that churches are planted, the centrality of Jesus Christ, the taproot of Christ's earthly conduct, the narrative of the first-century story, and the eternal purpose of God.

All good points. I yellowmarked the three that in my view are most crucial:

1. The pastoral (mediator) role. Nice quote: "Pastors can wax eloquent all day about 'facilitating', 'mentoring', and 'equipping' the saints. But here is the proof of the pudding: Let that pastor leave his congregation on its own without any stated leaders for six months to a year, and he will quickly learn how well he has equipped the church."

2. The importance of the corporate body of believers. Nice quote: "Transformation occurs when a community of believers discover how to behold the Lord together and live their lives in a shared way."

3. The centrality of Jesus Christ instead of 'issues' or 'things'. Nice quote: "Paul had a living encounter with His Lord that shook him to his foundations. A ministry was born out of that encounter. And that ministry was a Person! Paul did not occupy himself with Christian 'things'. His occupation was the Lord Himself. And this glorious Lord embodies all things spiritual."

Download violaemergingchurch.doc

Reformed and reformation

Taught on spiritual battle around cities for a group of Reformed Bible school students. I think for most of them it was their first trip into the 'heavenly realms'. Dirk Jan accompanied me and shared about the 'wells' of Willibrord and Utrecht's identity. Afterwards we evaluated why the dynamic in this group was different from the dynamic last Sunday. It makes a big difference whether you interact with the mind or in the Spirit.

In the afternoon and evening I talked/mailed/called through some developments related to Connect Europe with different team members, and it's interesting to realise that God is narrowing down our focus to change and reformation. We don't want to be another renewal movement in the church, but see a foundational change in the flow and shape of church, a movement of living stones.

A bit more radical, please

This morning and afternoon I facilitated an interactive teaching session for Soul Impact on church and reformation. Soul Impact is Soul Survivor's leadership development track for teenagers. We had a really good time. I started off with Stephen's example of following Christ into death and his provoking statement that God doesn't live in a house made by men. What it really means to be church as Jesus intended it, that it's not something to go to but something you are, not a soft church program, but a radical lifestyle.

In the break Maaike came up to me and asked me to increase the 'radicality factor' even more. So I gave them the full blow, about apostolic conversion, demonic religious systems, leadership and money issues, and the call to reformation. This provoked many good questions.

Karol Wojtyla's last trip

Breaking news tonight - the death of pope John Paul II. Jeff Fountain, YWAM's director for Europe, wrote a tribute to Karol Wojtyla and calls him 'one of history's giants'. Of course there are good things to say about JP2, as compared to other popes he was very dynamic, he catalysed the erosion of communism in Poland, and asked forgiveness for the historic sins of the Catholic church.

But there's also another side: the not really helpful conservatism of the pope in many areas (family planning for instance), his interreligious activities that opened the door to syncretism, and the fact that he was the most visible exponent of a religious, hierarchical, political, obsolete and unbiblical church system that keeps many 'believers' up to this day in bondage.

It's good that Jeff also calls to prayer: "Catholics the world over will be praying for the election of the new pope, aware that the outcome could carry great consequences. Surely, in the light of John Paul II's impact on world affairs, that is a matter of prayer for all believers." Amen to that.

It's time for sweets

Peter (3) is learning to read the clock. Today he came up to Karolien and said, with a charming smile: "Mum, the clock says it's time for sweets now!"

A bit later Peter came up to me and said: "Dad, I want to play." Because I was reading I suggested he would play with his LEGO. "No dad," he said, "I don't want to play with LEGO, I want to play with a human being!" No way I could resist that.

Transformation is exploding

Met up with Mareth Warren of The Sentinel Group and our Dutch Transformations team to discuss the development of an international network for transformation. While the first Transformations video featured only 4 cases of community transformation, there are now 350 cases worldwide. Especially in Oceania (Vanuatu, Fiji), Africa and Latin America God is really moving in an explosion of prayer, unity and societal impact. Many people of influence are coming to Christ at the moment. Even ecosystems are being restored as a sign of God's presence.

The tulips are red

Life is never boring with prophetic people around. Once every few months I meet up with the team and a group of friends of the house of prayer in Utrecht to discern together what God is saying and doing.

Today Margreet shared a prophetic word for the Netherlands that she receveid two years ago on a European gathering of prayer houses. It was a picture of a red tulip in the heart of a Dutchman, and she felt it had to do with surrender to Christ to the point of martyrdom and bold persistance to keep the Word of God.

This picture became more real last week when her sister gave her a copy of Leesha Rose's biography 'The tulips are red', a moving story of how the Dutch resistance saved hundreds of Jews during the Nazi occupation. The code word they used for their undercover operations was 'the tulips are red'. Which raises the question whether we are ready to stand for Christ and the people of God when it really matters. Are more difficult times ahead for the Netherlands and is God challenging us to a more radical lifestyle?

Not much later and unaware of this Bernard of the house of prayer in Venlo came in with flowers. He said: "God told me to bring you tulips from a shop nearby called Tulipa." There you go. Apparently God is connecting some dots here.

After a time of 'listenig prayer', I shared that God has been drawing my attention to the Moravians and the Anabaptists lately, and that their commitment to Christ is a key for the type of 'organic' reformation the church needs. Margreet and Caroline shared that since the meeting in Stadthagen they feel a strong connection with the houses of prayer in the Czech Republic. The word they received was: "Take heed what the Moravians say!"

Then I told about Charis, a young lady I met in Prague, who lives in Tabor and has been praying into 'the well' of John Hus. Margreet said that a few years ago she and Wim have been praying in Tabor for a movement of 'living stones'. Then Bernard showed us a picture of mount Tabor (Transfiguration) that he keeps in his Bible and said that for this Spring he planned a prayer trip to the city of Kontanz, where John Hus was executed. Antoinette said she will be in the Czech Republic in a few weeks.

It all points in the same direction - a return to Christ, no additives, and that Jesus for the sake of reformation of his church in the Netherlands wants us to pursue the Moravian connection. The picture on the left I just found on the internet: Moravian tulip tiles. The tulip was used as symbol of the Trinity and love.

Rapture takes two

Satirical newspaper Lark News reports that the Rapture occurred March 31, 2005, at 9:43 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time and took both people on the planet whose theology was exactly correct. Dan Wilson of Ottawa, Canada, was snatched away while sleeping. "He spent years refining his eschatological scheme," says his wife. "Just last week he told me he had it all right, but I still disagreed with him on a minor point. I regret that now."

Rejna Thanawalla of New Delhi, India, also experienced the Rapture, say friends. "She knew exactly what the books of Revelation and Daniel meant," they say. "Sadly, none of us listened to her." In a surprise, Tim LaHaye says he was "slightly wrong on the subject of the Beast," and was left behind. Other prophecy experts say they, too, botched minor points in their end times charts. "Looks like we'll have to stay and wait this out," said one disappointed pastor.