Final Word

As we are closing the books on PCNAK 2013 and moving on, let me take this opportunity to thank everyone who made it a success once again.

It was not the largest conference. But it was once of the best, based on the response we have received from hundreds of attendees through texts, emails and phone calls.  I am amazed that we did not hear one complaint about the conference from the attendees. (We only have to pay attention to the attendees. We have no obligation to anyone else).

On behalf of the Executive Committee, National Committee and the Local Committee, let me express our gratitude to everyone who joined the prayer line on Sunday evenings, all the churches who stood with us by sending in an offering, all the sponsors, all the attendees and to the people who gave an extra donation to meet the expenses of the conference in the end. Because of our combined efforts, we can close the books on this conference without any extra burdens to anyone.

I have burdened you with a lot of emails during the last 12 months. Please realize that it is because I was committed to finishing this task successfully at any cost. This will be my last email on behalf of PCNAK.

I had started writing a blog as a part of this. It was read about 16000 times. So I plan to continue the blog. It will feature Biblical truths henceforth. Immediately I will continue the last blog on Spiritual Warfare. I have much to say on it after enduring it for two years. Let me share the insights God has given me. You can invite your friends to read them and learn from them by forwarding the emails to whomever you want.

All future emails will be sent on behalf of GONCIL. I haven't paid much attention to GONCIL for a while since the task at hand was too big. Now that it is behind me, I can focus on GONCIL more. (Visit https://www.facebook.com/goncilusa for updates).

Fasting-IV: The Spirit of Jezebel

When Jesus required his followers to fast, it was as a means to have victory in their spiritual warfare. He told them that 'this kind will not go away, except by fasting and praying.'

In the next few blogs, I will write about spiritual warfare and how fasting can be used as a tool for victory in this battle. I have much to share from my experience in this area.

The worst of the spiritual battles we see in The Bible is the Spirit of Jezebel. Let me start there.

Jezebel of history was the wife of King Ahab in ancient Israel. She was the daughter of Ethbaal. Ethbaal means 'being with Baal.' So it is possible that her father was a Sidonian priest king, which was common then. The word Jezebel means 'without dwelling or habitation.' Was she a habitation for a wandering spirit? We do not know. But when one study the depth of evil that possessed her, there is room to think so.

King Ahab had already decided to follow the path of his forefather Jeroboam. He was already exposed to pagan worship. But when he decided to marry Jezebel, that ushered the northern kingdom of Israel into a tail spin.

What Ahab brought to the camp of Israel was not just a person, but a spiritual influence. She is the one who established Baal worship in Israel. What she did was to erect a counter altar to the altar of God almighty. Even the ministry of spiritual giants like Elijah and Elisha could not wipe out that evil influence from the land. It ultimately decimated the northern kingdom. To this day the ten tribes that comprised the northern kingdom of Israel are scattered around the world.

So let me start with a word of caution. If you enter into a treaty with a person who possess a deep seated evil spirit in him or her for temporary gains, you are inviting an influence that will eventually decimate your camp. Watch out with whom you form alliances!

This is what Bible teaches about how the Spirit of Jezebel functions:

1. It will gain upper hand seizing a weakness in a community.
Ahab was a weak king. As soon as Jezebel married him, she realized that and decided to take advantage of it.What she brought to Israel as dowry was 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah. the King made an altar for Baal in Samaria and entrenched this evil spirit in the community.

The parallel to this historic lesson is given to us in Revelation 2:18-29. There we can learn how the Spirit of Jezebel functions in a church or a spiritual community like a denomination.

The church of Thyatira was one of the seven prominent churches in Asia Minor. When Holy Spirit said, 'your works, the last are more than the first,' it means it was a growing church. It was known for their 'works, love, service, faith and patience.' the negative remark about this church was that it allowed  'the Spirit of Jezebel to function' in the church. It talks about a person moving in the prophetic had gained upper hand in the church prior to leading the church into apostasy.

Please realize that prophetic office is not the issue. Jesus is building his church on the foundation of Apostles and Prophets (Eph. 4:11). What kind of spirit moves in the prophet is the issue. 1 Kings 18: 19 talks about the 'prophets of Baal' and 'prophets of Asherah.' Thyatira had a 'prophetess'  who was moving in the Spirit of Jezebel.

What the Bible teaches us is that you will see the true color of a person moving in the Spirit of Jezebel after he or she gains the upper hand. And to gain the upper hand, it will latch on to people already in authority.

2. The servants of God becomes the target.
Once the altar of Baal was established, she started targeting the servants of God. 'Jezebel massacred the prophets of the Lord.' (1 Kings 18:4).

When a person moving in the same spirit is allowed prominence in a church or a in a community, servants of God watch out! You will be hunted. You will be viciously attacked. You will be mercilessly butchered. Nothing brings out the depravity and darkness of the evil side as when it attacks servants of God or entities established to show the goodness of God to others.

It will fight people of God mercilessly.

3. It will not respect limits and will work to gain control at any costs.
Once she gained upper hand, she began to exercise dominion. People had only two choices: obey her edicts or hide! When she screamed threats, even Elijah looked for a hiding place!

The climax came when she killed Naboth when he dared to stand up against the king and her (1 Kings 21).

Even today we see people with the same spirit doing the same things.  They will encroach into your personal affairs. They butt their heads into things that do not concern them. They want to snatch your privacy, your honor, your blessings, your everything- just to show the extend of their influence.

Never forget that Ahab went to Jezebel, not the other way around. She was an invited presence! And she capitalized on it. Pretty soon all the prophets of God who used to boast about their anointing were hiding in caves.

4. It will not back off easily.
This principle becomes clear when you look at what happened on Mount Carmel. The fact that the prophets of Baal and prophets of Asherah were killed by Elijah did not stop her. You would expect her to run back to Sidon. But she did not have to. The person who invited her into Israel was still standing with her. So she dared to declare another threat against Elijah: '"So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time."(1 Kings 19:2).

5. The Spirit of Jezebel operating in a christian community.

There are four specific things mentioned about this in revelation 2.

A. 'A prophetess': Became part of the church through a ministry position.
B. It became a contaminating spirit: The imagery presented in revelation 2 is that 'she seduced My servants to commit sexual immorality.' (As far as we know it is figurative speech, speaking about spiritual adultery.')
C. It will violate the directions of God. The issue in Thyatira was encouraging people 'to eat things sacrificed to idols' which was contrary to the teachings in 1 Corinthians.
D. It will refuse to repent. God says, "I gave her time to repent and she did not." People with Jezebel Spirit think they are the ultimate purveyors of truth. Therefore, they will not repent or change their ways. In the end, God will deal with them violently when he unleashes his fury.

6. They will be successful for a season.
1 Kings 19 shows that they can affect even the very elect for a while. The same Elijah who had a major victory on Mount Carmel found himself running the next day. Robert Morris, the Pastor of Gateway Church in Dallas has pointed out four ways in which the Spirit of Jezebel can affect an anointed servant of God.
A. Fear: he arose and ran for his life.
B. Isolation: he himself went a day's journey.
C. Exhaustion: he prayed that he might die.
D. Depression: he ate and drank, and lay down again.

He talks about a season when such a spirit was functioning in his church. He was often overcome by thoughts of quitting, thoughts of depression and desire to die. As a child of God he overcame that season and now Gateway is one of the largest churches in the USA.

THE ANSWER

God shows both in 1 Kings and in Revelation 2 that fate of people moving in the Spirit of Jezebel is sealed. God will judge them just as mercilessly as they have dealt with the people of God. They are guaranteed a violent end. So people of God will have victory in the end.

But God does not leave the Spirit of Jezebel unopposed until then. An Elijah came on the scene to oppose Jezebel. He was least qualified for the job. He was from Tishba (from the bushes). But he knew the word. And he had a personal relationship with God which strengthened him. When Jezebel had him on the run, he still heard God's voice. God gave him counsel to set things in motion which eventually guaranteed the violent end of Jezebel. When Jezebel had him discouraged, God came with bread and water to strengthen him.

So if you step out to oppose the Spirit of Jezebel, be ready. Prepare yourself. It will be a long and strenuous struggle. The Spirit of Jezebel is an entrenched spirit that has found habitation in a person or a church. It will not depart easily. But with prayer and fasting, you can gain the strength for the long haul.

God Made It Possible

Overcoming all accidental and intentional obstacles, the 31st PCNAK has come to a glorious conclusion. The conference was a great success. The speakers were great. The facility was superior. The food was more than people could consume. The atmosphere was godly. The weather totally cooperated. People came in droves. In one word, God's favor upon this conference was really visible.

Let me take this opportunity to thank everyone. My heartfelt thanks to the members of the Executive Committee, National Committee and the Local Committee for working with me, encouraging me and sharing the burden with me.

Special thanks to everyone who prayed for a year. Some of you even fasted along with us. It is as a result of continuous prayers that this conference happened so successfully.. Thank you prayer warriors!

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped us financially. Our story is that many on whom we counted disappeared but many moved only by the love of God stepped in to fill that gap. There was a time when people were predicting that this conference will end with a huge deficit. But in the end, we have concluded it without any debts! We owe all of you children of God much for your generosity. We will continue to pray for God's blessings in your lives.

Special mention should be made of the speakers. All of them were fabulous. The messages were great. Justice was done to the theme. Many of the messages were in depth expositions. Thank you all for blessing this conference with your presence and your ministry!

My wife and her team worked very hard to take care of the guests. The sumptuous menu was her personal choice. They toiled in the kitchen for many hours prior to the conference to give home made snacks to everyone at the end of the day. She took the initiative to do the special session honoring the nurses. It was one of the highlights of the conference  and very moving indeed. Thank you Mercy for all your hard work and prayers! Thank you sisters' team for all your hard work.

Above all, all the glory goes to God who had spoken to us through a prophet in July 2011, preparing us spiritually for the dark days that followed and kept us afloat in the midst of the storms.

Once again, our heart felt thanks to everyone who helped us in any way. My thanks to even the people who tried to create stumbling blocks at every turn, because, if you had not opposed me so vehemently, I would not have prayed so fervently. You made me a prayer warrior! Thank you.

In the future, this email list will be used to share inspiring thoughts from the Bible.

Fasting III: Fasting & Fasting

The title of this blog is not a mistake. It is intentional, as I plan to differentiate between prayers that are acceptable to God and the ones that are not. In fact, I fear God a lot and hope I can instill that fear in people so that they do not take things of God lightly.

We have looked at why Jesus wanted his disciples to fast. It was to gain strength to succeed in spiritual warfare. That may cause some people to look at fasting as a short cut to gain power.

In fact, the history of the religions is a history of people misappropriating it for personal gains.

Earlier, in a blog, I mentioned that Jesus called Pharisees white washed sepulchres because they used to put ashes on their faces when they fasted. We also looked at the Old Testament requirements for fasting by members of the Israelite community. Eventually it became a sham and a show. So God spoke against it through his prophets. The entire chapter of Isaiah 58 is about it. Since it worth noting, I quote it below from NIV.

“Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
    Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
    and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
² For day after day they seek me out;
    they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
    and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
    and seem eager for God to come near them.
³ ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
    ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
    and you have not noticed?’

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
    and exploit all your workers.
⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
    and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
    and expect your voice to be heard on high.
⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
    only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
    and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?

⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness^[a] will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.
¹¹ The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.
¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
    Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

¹³ “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
    and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
    and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
    and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the Lord,
    and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
    and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

It shows the blessings of doing the fast right and the kind of fast God hates.

A clear example of the second type is found in Acts 23:12 onward. 

"12The next morning some Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. 13More than forty men were involved in this plot. 14They went to the chief priests and the elders and said, “We have taken a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul. 15Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him before you on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about his case. We are ready to kill him before he gets here.”

Can you imagine people tying fasting to a plot to kill another person? But that is what they did.

Even now people fast for wrong reasons. But if the ultimate goal is to destroy someone in some way, that fast will be mere religious exercise, not a fast that God is pleased with. We may not murder someone today. But when we scheme to destroy others and use spiritual means for that, it is the same as murdering someone. Because in both cases, you are trying to finish off someone you do not like.

Finally, the picture of prayer in the Bible is erecting an altar. The current series I am doing in Gateway on "The Prayers In The Bible," has made it very clear. Erecting a counter altar to the true altar of God is one of the biggest offenses before God. That is why Bible speak so harshly against idol worship.

Look at what God did when someone dared to erect a counter altar to stop people from going to Jerusalem temple:

1By the word of the Lord a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. 2By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.’ ” 3That same day the man of God gave a sign: “This is the sign the Lord has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out.”

4When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back. 5Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the Lord.

6Then the king said to the man of God, “Intercede with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.” So the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored and became as it was before. (1 Kings 13: 1-6 NIV).

Remember that God had given the kingdom to King Jeroboam.  But God objected strongly to his attempt to erect a counter altar in Samaria. Why? He made a sham of God's business in his intention was to stop people from going to Jerusalem temple!

Yes, all of us have personal freedom. We may use that freedom to erect altars to suit our purposes. But never forget that there is God who judge our motives. He will reward us according to the purity of our hearts, not according to our religious efforts.

Details To Note

Since there is only a month left for the conference, we like to provide the following details. Since our

conference starts on July 4, Thursday, we request you to make an effort to be present from the first session.

TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS:

1. You can fly into Bradley International Airport in Hartford, CT. We will pick you up from the airport. The city bus called Bradley Flyer leaves every 30 minutes and the charge is only $1.30.
2. You can fly into LGA or JFK in New York on Thursday morning and we will pick you up from there. Cut off time is Thursday 2 PM.
3. From nearby cities, you can take the Metro North train or Amtrak to Hartford. We can pick you up from the airport, if you give us the arrival time.

SPORTS DAY:

1. Sports Day is Friday, not Saturday.
2. All  sports teams must register by June 15.
3. Competitions are for Basket Ball and Volley Ball.
4. Groups are divided into under 19 and above 19.

SCIENCE MUSEUM:

Right across from the convention center, there is an excellent science museum. We have arranged for a special group visit to it for our children. There is an entrance fee.

PROGRAM CHANGES:

These are the main changes in the program this year.

1. Thursday night meeting will be a combined meeting where we will honor the nation on its independent day and honor our service men and women.
2. Saturday morning will have two main tracks. One, a seminar on Obama Care and how it will impact the Malayali families. Two will a revival meeting.
3. There will be no after hours revival meeting.
4. Samgamams will be on Friday afternoon.
5. There will be a media forum, instead of writers meeting on Friday afternoon. Rev. Zac Poonnen is a globally recognized Christian author from India and he will minister in that session. in addition to writers, we will incorporate musicians, web masters, bloggers and media producers like video makers into this session. Thus the name change.
6. Each of our invited guests will minister in multiple sessions.

See you soon in Hartford!

Updates on Smartphones

Get up to the minute details on your smartphone. Here is how to do it.

1. Download the Churchlink App to your iphone or android phone. 

2. Go to the 'More' button on the bottom corner.

3. Look for 'Church Search.'

4. Enter pcnak 2013

5. Select it.

6. When asked, do you want to make this your favorite, accept.

From then on, when you open the churchlink app, PCNAK 2103 will show up and follow the tabs to find the info you are looking for.

Under 19 Sports

We have good news for all the young people who wanted to be apart of the sports events at PCNAK 2013. The original venue would not allow us to do any under 19 sports events because of the strict rules on NCAA. But now we have found a new sports complex where we can have the under 19 crowd laso play.

So please sign up your basket ball team or volley ball team today. Please contact David Richard at hsow2009@gmail.com.

See you all in Hartford!