Wednesday 12 May 2010

The Source


When I was in my late teens my uncle bombarded me with self-help books: how to win through intimidation, Al Koran's philosophy on psychic techniques to make money; metaphysical affirmations that spiritualists use, Christian Science and Positive Thinking of Norman Vincent Peale, and success recipes galore, Napoleon Hill's exhaustive hard cover volume of Laws of Success from which the popular paper back was taken, How to think and grow rich; naturalist health text books, and many other types of self advancement books which he gave me to read, sometimes ten at a time, because I am a fast reader, to change my way of thinking.
I did read all of them and then one day, I took them all back to him and said, 'I prefer to stick to what I read in the Bible for a foundation for the rest of my life.'
'Suit yourself,' he said and packed the books away, one by one, in his bookshelf.
He ended up being divorced several times and left the ministry for a while and got involved in all sorts of businesses. He sold all the churches which his father, my grandfather, had built up to start his own denomination and moved to America with his one son.
Then in Australia, when Nola and I worked as worship leaders in the largest Charismatic Church in Australia at that time, the pastor forced me to attend a self-motivational course which all his staff members had to go through. He listened to the motivational tapes all day long in his car. And he built a lot of that stuff into his sermons on Sundays.'I can run this church without the Holy Spirit and no one will ever notice it!' he boasted.
The CEO of the motivational company asked me a bit about myself and then when I saw his stiff leg protruding from behind his desk I inquired about it.
'This is what your God did to me. I was a Methodist minister and I struggled to make a living just like all of you do. And then I was in a car accident and they put a steel rod into my leg. Now I can't walk properly. I left the ministry and started this business. I can make you famous and rich. I have made your pastor famous and rich. I can make anyone famous and rich!' he boasted and mentioned the name of a famous hair dresser in Brisbane and a famous tennis player in Australia that epitomized his success theories.
Suddenly I got up and said, 'I do not need your course, thank you, I prefer not to get anything from you.' I walked out. He screamed after me and told me I would never make it without him. He called me some names which I prefer not to repeat. He was a bitter and a twisted man and I didn't want his influence in my life at all.
Outside, when I got to my car, I raised both my hands skywards and made a vow: 'If the Holy Spirit cannot make me successful in what I have to do, I want no other help!'
I stuck to my vow through the years. I have now preached and ministered in 61 nations in 27 years and we have helped to plant and establish scores of churches. We have produced many LP's, tapes, CD's, Video films and DVD's, books, manuals, bible school material, life skills courses and life coaching manuals which have been distributed through many countries. We have produced musicals, held great concerts and trained more than a thousand people in our bible school.
Perhaps it is not 'rich and famous' but it is a life well spent so far and I hope to continue doing so as long as I have breath. I made a vow when I was 19 years old, on a snow covered hillside outside Leimbach, near Zurich in Switzerland, that I would serve God and humanity as long as I was spared and kept healthy.
The Bible has been my main source of inspiration all these years and I have trained many, many people how to hear from God from an Open Bible.