Florida

Perhaps the most intense time was spent in the USA's southeastern State of Florida. Millions of people have shifted to Florida in recent years and Spanish is very common - almost exclusive in parts around Miami. We believed to stay in an area to the west of the City of Orlando, Kissimme. Near to many of the major theme parks.

God put us there with some of the cheapest accommodation and food that we saw in our whole time in the USA. Even so it was testing. At one point our funds became so low we seriously prayed about rerouting our ticket to get us back to NZ as soon as possible. Before leaving New Zealand the Holy Spirit had led me to two points of interest on the internet. One was a disturbing web site describing a cult group in Tennessee USA, and another about a Christianised theme park styling itself on the "Holy Land" in Orlando Florida.

The strange cult group on the web had nothing explicitly shown that made you feel bad, but bad your did feel. We prayed asking God to cleanse us after we had been onto the web site, and asked other friends to pray as well. We really sought God deeply for the member's to be freed.

While in Florida we followed up the other internet point off interest we had also been led to before we left New Zealand - 'The Holy Land Experience". We emailed and asked if we would be able to take video and pictures for later Christian use. Kindly they replied that we could, and that we would have free tickets waiting for us at reception! We were very grateful to God. However the night before we were to go, we still did not even have the bus fare to get there on local buses! We spent hours in prayer, and God graciously had funds deposited into our bank account in NZ.

The next day we left early to make all the local connecting buses. Arriving not long after the place opened, we believed strongly to have a bite to eat in the place's coffee bar. There we met a young man we'll call, Xxxx, who was very open to the things of the Lord Jesus. He said in a guarded way that his family were Christian .. but met in a house meeting.

We told him that this was now very common in New Zealand and many other parts of the world. Xxxx contacted us later and asked us to come to a meeting at his parents' place. We were to go there a couple of times. The first time his father announced that the Lord had said that we were ok! This sort of announcement seemed strange - but not entirely so for me (as I believed the Holy Spirit had shown me a cult type spirit hovering in the place.) Speaking freely I warned them that they had to be careful to not be a cult group either in Florida or as Xxxx's father wanted them all to move - to Tennessee.

The main time that we were at Xxxx's parents' place the Holy Spirit really moved to do some deliverance and healing, which I hoped others would reflect on later when things went down. One by one the different members of the group nearly all found their way to the place we were staying at in in Kissemme (about 40 minutes away by car), and slowly it became confirmed that there was rank immorality at work amongst the younger members. It was to turn out that one of their leading members, during his tenure, had been massively into pornography as well.

We encouraged all the men to exercise self-control over their sexual appetites. How-ever the degree of control within the group became obvious and disturbing. The main leader was even able to convince others that I had never openly warned them to even be careful of being a cult in Florida, let alone when they might all move to Tennessee! Even though prior to his efforts, people knew I had said this, and some to this day still recall me saying it.

Praise God a key family got delivered from the group. And we arranged to catch up with them before we were to have left the Orlando area. We strongly believed that we needed to pray with them. The mooring we contacted them the husband happened to have work down out way that morning, and picked us up directly from our accommodation.

The Lord had had me up early that morning#151;looking for the reference to the strange Tennessee group we had read and innterceeded about on the web, before leaving New Zealand for the USA. I just kept believing that there was something important in the information. My original web link to it was re-directed to a revamped website, which now included pictures as well. The main man still required people to call him "Abba", but they no longer appeared to be required to dress as fairies and elves or anything. And there was a photo of him - he looked exactly like an older version of Xxxx's father (the local main group leader)!

And his real name was there now - the same surname as Xxxxx! When our friend arrived I showed him the picture on my palm top - and he was able to confirm it was the same family! Xxxx's grandfather had started his own group involving sleeping with the young woman. Now the oldest son had started his own 'thing', and his brother, Xxxx's dad, wanted to start his own commune in Tennessee as well, and have everyone from Florida and others who used to be with them, go to live on the new commune in Tennessee. We shared with our new friends who had left the local Florida group, how they must keep themselves and anyone else they could from all of this.

But their children were not living moral lives, and the father was compromised knowing of this, even seeing a young man in his daughter's bedroom, and not reacting righteously! (When that all went down upon our return from Central America later on, we had to even leave and break from contact with them.)

Our time in Kissemme was really greatly blessed with a great many witnessing openings - every day had high points where we could see that the Holy Spirit had set things up. We went on to receive a lot of persecution and even some hate emails from the 'lovely' proto-cult members! Somewhat stressed out by it all we eventually made our way by Greyhounnd to Miami to join our flight to Mexico City, and what God had planned to do with us there!

We stayed overnight near the Florida airport and in the hotel got to share with an old Jewish man who now lived in Trinidad and Tobago. He was up on business and we were able to leave a Paradise Booklet with him the next morning. Later that morning we believed that we were to go earlier than required to the Florida Airport and God set it up for us to meet this dear Brazilian sister Edina, and she shared her amazing testimony with us. Sadly Edina has past on now, but please read 2008 July Fiji Update this account of the things that she saw the Lord Jesus do.

When we looked back on it all we were amazed at how God had already had us to intercede in New Zealand for the cult linkages, and then how He led us into the circle of people in Florida. We heard from ex-members that many other Christians in Florida were also warning the group member's that they appeared to be in a cult. We hope that although key members of the 'group' oppose the genuine moving of the Holy Spirit, that nonetheless, the private miracles and healings and deliverance that has taken place for individuals will be remembered (even privately) by them, and used by the Lord Jesus to free them to a genuine experience of God's great love and true Christian fellowship and service for Him!