“But What About My New Car?” 

Sitting in a coffee bar in Wellington with a Christian friend “Bill”, ‘Steve’ and I were believing the Lord had been telling  us for some months to take the Inter Island ferry down to Picton, and this was the day. We were to continue on to the deep south as the Lord led. 

Bill  felt strongly prompted of the Lord to mention that he knew that there was a sailing at a certain time that afternoon, and to encourage us to be on it. There was a strong sense of unction from the Lord Jesus on what Bill suggested, so after prayer we headed down to the ferry terminal and crossed over to New Zealand’s South Island. 

As Steve and I were about to disembark in Picton, the Lord arranged for us to bump into a law student returning to Dunedin, who spontaneously offered us a lift all the way down there. He was in a hurry and taking a vehicle all the way through that night. We were believing to aim towards Southland, and this offer would take us towards the deep south at a great rate of knots. The man proved to be a brother in the Lord, and we went back to Dunedin a couple of times later to catch up with him. 

The Lord had amazing plans for us in the deep south, and a wonderful outreach for us to walk in. 

The outreach the Lord Jesus had ‘Steven’ and me on ranged over some 200km by 150km, based in a small town at the western end of the area.  The ministry was varied and engaging, in fact quite demanding, and we came under even organised, as well as spontaneous, severe persecution at times. 

As  time went on we were led to meet a number of Christian farmers, through an initial contact that God had forged with a man we’ll call ‘Brian’,  at a national prayer gathering called operation Phineas held in Wellington several years before in January 1982. 

This man through whom I had first come to minister in the district,  and his sister,  unexpectedly started running me down to others, making all sorts of nonsense up, distorting many things that we were actually doing and saying.  I was accused of teaching that baptism itself saves people, and so on,   and so on,    …  …  … 

It was all very sad.  Some who spoke to us said that they believed ‘Brian’ was jealous of the success that the Lord Jesus was displaying through the ministry. That seemed odd as I and everyone else knew that it definitely was Jesus Who was doing everything, and could not see how any one could be jealous of what  Jesus was doing Himself. 

Brian never approached any of us personally (–often noticed that when its  false accusations, mostly they do not), but soon it became obvious that what others were telling us about his activities against us was widespread.   In his campaign he was making use of his position of authority in a large outreach organisation in their region.  I had viewed him as a personal friend – and soon went into some kind of depression and had a difficult struggle with sin. And mistakenly  ‘Brian’ would have been one I would normally have turned to for help in my personal walk. 

Nonetheless the Lord was extremely faithful, and got me, and others, back on our feet and kept the work going over the years that followed.  While based in Southland, the Lord took three of us and another brother from up north, on an outreach into Hawaii the USA mainland for a few months.  One of us went on to outreach in Europe and Israel and other places.  And God graciously blessed me to go onto Fiji where the Lord moved very powerfully by His Holy Spirit for a good part of 1989. 

Over the period of just under two years in Southland/Otago we were greatly blessed to witness the Lord Jesus moving in great healing power, miraculously,  and amazingly in prophecy.  With a number of folk being baptised into Christ. All that is quite another account though. 

What I am going to retell here though is the way in which the Lord launched a special project down there intended by Him to enable a great many people all over the world to be blessed, before what I described above went bad. 

As the work in Southland/Otago grew, God surfaced more people who really wanted to be led by the Holy Spirit in their lives, and together as community.  Some of them wanted to explore how they might find more practical forms of expressing Christian community and mission in a rural setting.  Serious talk and prayer went into looking at how businesses and land might be held in common to achieve greater good than just for individual families. 

Many discussions and prayer times took place.  Then  several families with three farms, a milling business, a food retail store, and other assets and skills between them were prepared, it seemed, to look more deeply into the matter. 

And anyway some had previously had definite visions from the Lord of others living on their land, but had given no thought as to how that might work out properly. There was a real risk of ‘lord of the manner’ and slave–serf  types of relationships developing.  For lack of some prayerful clear thinking, bondage could have resulted if any had followed the vision they had, without earnestly seeking God’s total leading in the matter. 

God wanted to avoid that kind of thing, putting everything on a sound footing, and to protect the individuals and families that He would draw together, providing a spiritually and practically clear framework for it all to happen in. Providing the necessary checks and balances.  Putting  the whole venture with an outward looking aspect – caring for others. 

I believed to discuss it all with an older Christian accountant.  His response surprised me. He had waited a long time, he said, for God to raise up just this kind of proposal and even held some money available to help.  I kept this to myself initially as I continued to wait upon God over it all.  The accountant knew a number of the people involved personally, and felt that by God’s grace they would have a good shot at making it work. 

Then  I heard of a Christian man who had been a Baptist denomination preacher, we’ll call him Charles. Charles believed that the Lord had led him back into his earlier profession of law, but as an academic at a New Zealand university in the North Island. And he had specialised  in his private time in developing the concepts of Christians doing things together in Trust and charitable type situations. 

I had a great certainty that God was leading me to meet and discuss the whole proposal with him. 

And overall we had strong confirmations starting to come in form the Holy Spirit.  One morning I joined some brothers to discuss aspects that the Lord had laid upon my heart, specific financial figures.  And the details proved to be exactly what the two men had been talking of privately earlier. They each later privately asked me whether the other had revealed anything to me!  These sorts of things were happening, with people getting Scriptures, and other revelations. 

Then also the Devil raised up opposition from other non–involved people particularly through Brian’s sister and husband who had even seen friends  healed  by the Lord Jesus during the ministry! 

Nonetheless I went to the North Island and met Charles. He was a very dear Christian brother indeed with a great deal of wisdom given to him by the Lord on the relevant matters – questions of equity, capital, balanced decision making processes – social development and above all Christian doctrine – all the things that need to be earnestly contemplated before the Lord Jesus in detail, in these kinds of ventures. 

And he had a firm grasp on the necessary legal documentation to set the whole thing up.  He believed to offer to write up all the deeds and constitutions and related documents for free! 

Then he paused, and as he did, in that instant God granted me an open eyed, full on, vision!  In it I saw all the main players together at one of their homes.  And certain people were arguing, and arguing and saying nonsense things. I sat silently contemplating what God was showing. 

While I could still see this vision, Charles began to talk again and said,  

“But I can tell you that it will not be going ahead, because as soon as these people find out that it can and will go ahead, [no matter what the Lord has shown], certain ones will pull out when faced with the reality of it all actually happening, and the whole thing will fail.” 

I prayed much about it all as I left the North Island, and all I was left with was that the Lord had shown me that He had revealed what was to come.  There was no sense that intercession was going to change anything.  He knew the people’s hearts and what had already happened. 

So when I got back down south, I did nothing on the matter at all, trusting that God would be bringing all the people together at the appropriate time, and I was to take no initiatives at all.  And so it was that about a month later each of the main families were all present at one person’s home, some over a hundred kilometres from their own places, and each with a different reason for being over that way. 

One family were very keen to find out what was happening, as they were due to refinance their farm mortgage and needed to clarify things quite soon.  So the husband, John, asked how things had gone with the Law Faculty fellow I had gone up north to see ? 

So I slowly and carefully explained the whole thing to them all, then finished by saying that Charles was offering to freely do all the necessary paperwork to cover the legal aspects.  There was a profound silence then all of a sudden different ones just seemed to erupt in the way that the Lord had shown in the vision He had given to me while sitting in Charle’s office. 

Brian’s wife said that after some years they were due to get  a brand new car (ex–factory), she could see that it wouldn’t happen for some more years now if they went ahead with helping the other families.  Brian’s brother complained that  inheritance would be lost to his children (actually there were at least several potential inheritors for that one farm already,  they and their eventual children would have  very little, and the farm would in the years down the track have to be sold
If the plan did not go ahead—under modern law the inheritance could risk ending up being divided to nothing anyway) … … on it went. 

Those who were of good heart to proceed were stunned and shocked by some of the things that were said that night, as previously thinly veiled greed and selfishness, came forward now as bitter recrimination and avarice.  As I write, even this many years later, I still feel deeply moved with grief and troubled at how much the Lord was failed in that and like situations. With the sense of  many people “missing out” because of it. 

There is a commonly found problem with Christians who own land, run their own businesses or are otherwise self employed.  They often think that they are their own bosses!  Capable of acting independently of God but expecting Him to back them at all times!  Often they completely ignore the Lordship of Jesus and the leading of the Holy Spirit.  And do not yield to God’s ministeries as a practical outworking of the Headship of Christ.   Over recent years many in ministry have reported that such un–submitted  people, women with feminist  attitudes, and weak men generally,  are all equally a great threat to the works, and hindrance to the workers, of God.  As each of them undrmines Christ's Headship.