The excitement had been building all week, there was a sense of anticipation in the air as we took our seats to watch this extravaganza. From the start, we were transported to a forest to watch as little boy Emmanuel who comes to accept the Lord as his Saviour. Along the way we were shown how the Lord is so good to us.

The show had a simplicity and a charm to it, even though it was primarily aimed at children. It had a powerful clarity that adults, especially those parents who were members of the audience, could testify to. And to see the children on stage praising the Lord with all their hearts was a sight which warmed even the coldest heart.

All in all a pleasant experience, and I am looking forward to the DVD. I believe that all parents who are concerned that their children are brought up in the Lord will have thoroughly enjoyed both the show and its message.

It was so evident to me that my life was no longer my own, and that it now belonged to the Lord. All I wanted was to serve Him with all my heart. I believed that the Lord had a different plan for my life, which was to go to Bible School and to pursue the direction of serving the Lord in full time ministry. Money, position and titles were no longer an issue to me and it didn’t matter where I lived or how I lived. All I wanted to do was give up everything to follow the Lord.

I made a decision to leave University and planned to start studying the Word of God at Bible School. I knew my mother would support my decision because she was a Christian but my concern was my father who was not a believer and I knew he wanted me to become a professional man, like he was. When I shared my conviction with him I was so grateful for his response. Although disappointed in my decision, he said he wanted me to follow the direction that I felt was right for my life, and he was willing to respect and supported my decision. My dad has since passed away but I have never forgotten how gracious and supportive he was to me.

At the same time that these changes were stirring in my heart, one of the leaders in my church actually discouraged me from quitting my studies. But I thank God that I followed the conviction of my heart and not the voice of man. I wasn’t in rebellion or acting independently; I was merely responding to what the Lord was asking of me. I had such simple faith to lose everything for Him.

This was the road that the Lord had chosen for me, and until today, I’ve have seen the fruits of this obedience to the Lord not only in my own life, but in the lives of others as well. I am currently serving as an elder in the church, preaching and teaching the Word of God and I am so grateful to see the Lord changing lives. Truly the gospel, as Paul says in the book of Corinthians, is the power unto salvation. Had I listened to the voice of man, the voice of reason, and stayed at university, I honestly do not know where I would be today. How can I have any regrets in following the Lord?

The conviction that God was calling me was so strong and so clear to my heart in those early days after my conversion. The problems came later. I began my journey so innocently, with such a desire and purity to serve the Lord with all my heart. But slowly winds of doctrine started to influence and taint my life. From a simple understanding and desire to lose everything for Christ, I began to strive in my own efforts to serve the Lord. Soon, it became more important what car I was driving, what certificates I had on the wall, which people I knew, and what I was attaining materially. It became all about me! When I started, it was all about Jesus, freely abandoning everything to follow His plan for me. But I began living for myself, no longer concerned for others. I became more interested in my ministry, in my position, and in the Bible School that I was building. I had missed the mark completely.

I thank God because it was at this time in the late nineties, long before CTMI even existed, that Miki Hardy brought the simple message of the Cross of Jesus Christ to my life. I had never heard this message preached before. Believe it or not, I had been the Dean of a Bible School and teaching for 3 years; yet I had absolutely no understanding or revelation of what it meant to deny myself and identify my life with the Cross of Christ. The Lord used Miki and other servants of God to put me back on track and bring me back onto the true foundation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

I am so grateful for everything the Lord has done in my life and this opportunity to share my personal testimony with you. In short, Jesus made it very clear in Luke 9:24: “Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it!”

With love in Christ

Neil Martin, Pastor – Durban, South Africa

One day, I will stand before the Lord and give account. I trust that, by God’s Grace, it will not include excuses how and why I allowed my children to fall into the hands of the enemy.

Keith P.

With my own two children, the responsibility for their lives lies in part with me. I am so thankful to the Lord for all the people in CTMI churches that have surrounded my children with a gospel that will change their lives. It is a HUGE relief to know they are hearing and seeing something real and from the Lord. Ultimately they will need to make a decision to serve Jesus, but I know how much the preaching of the Cross has accomplished in my life, and am confident of what it will do in theirs…

Keith P.

We are being deceived to think this is just for pastors and leaders of churches. Paul is speaking to all of us! This applies to our lives as a whole, but most importantly it starts in our own home, even before the church. If we opt to live like the world, our kids will follow that pattern. If we live compromised, unchanged, resentful lives, full of Law… so will our kids. When we question and fight what the Lord is doing in their lives, then we are also laying a pattern…

My children and wife are a gift from the Lord and a large responsibility the Lord has bestowed on me. The road I take will be a pattern and model for their lives. What we often don’t realise is the seriousness of that responsibility. Many Christian parents today have emotional relationships with their children, often choosing to be friends with them first, which results in a ‘leave it up to God’, or ‘let’s not rock the boat’ attitude. It’s as if they have nothing to do with the eternal wellbeing of their children. All of us parents today are in a battle for our children’s lives that is both spiritual and physical. While I must first stand in faith for my children, I also have a part to play as a follower and child of God myself; with grace but without compromise…

Keith P.

Christians are suing Christians; children are suing parents. Christian children are increasingly depressed and disillusioned; living for worldly things, without a clue about the life God has for them. Separation amongst Christian families is rife, and there is no true love like Jesus has for us. The Church family unit has lost its foundation and lost its way!

Where did we go wrong, that the Church looks more and more like the world every day? Is this the ‘bride’ that Jesus will return for? The enemy is everywhere and is routing the church through deceptive and cunning ways. What hope can I, as a parent, have for my marriage and my two children?…

Keith P.

Do these people really trust the God they proclaim to know and are attempting to defend? If God has such wolves in sheep’s clothing lording it over ‘thousands of victimised’, brainwashed Christians at CTMI, is He not powerful and righteous enough to tear down all the deception and deliver His Church and His people? Does He really need the contrived artillery and accusations of a group of disgruntled and frustrated people to ‘expose’ things in His church?

Of course, my first reaction is to be hurt and on the defensive; even more so when I know first-hand the hearts and lives of the people that they are trying to discredit. But the Lord asks us to forgive those that persecute us. As I try to do that (I must admit that I’m not there yet), I feel enormous dread for their fate as they continue to oppose the work and the spirit of the God they claim to defend; as they attempt to dredge up one-sided versions of all sorts of old issues in which they had no involvement, to be presented as ‘evidence’, just so that they can justify their own unresolved personal issues.

My prayer is that the Lord may open their eyes and give them the grace to repent, and to allow the Almighty God to be the judge in His own house.

Suzanne Y.

It is incredible how people can clutch at the lightest of straws and create a major doctrinal issue about something so minor. To deal with this dangerous issue, have been brought together the following crew: An ‘expert in cults’, self proclaimed after his bad experience with a real cult, a ‘discerning’ ministry, and a purported “Christian Therapist” – no irony that we don’t hear of too many of those mentioned in the New (or Old) Testament – who has defined the way young people from CTMI talk. All of this from interviewing 2 youngsters against their will – as using an internal, in-house, language, and almost Pauline in tone. Leaving aside the psychobabble, and that there is a Biblical precedent for this sort of issue, I believe that the ‘therapist’ does have a point about one thing.

The issue of language is indeed one that distinguishes the Pentecostal and Charismatic Church from old-line traditional denominations. One only has to watch parodies of televangelists in movies, or on comedy shows, to know that all the humour to the generally unsaved audience relates to the words used by preachers and Christians from these types of churches.

Thus, speaking a type of Christian “language” is hardly an offense for which people are likely to burn in hell. On the contrary, just as surfers have their own language that only they seem to understand, Christians the world over are also known to use expressions like ‘sharing’, ‘my heart’, the Lord ‘told me’, etc. None of these, and similar expressions, is an implication that the speaker presumes that he alone is in direct, exclusive communication with God.

As a young Christian over 20 years ago, I recall a very popular expression at the time, which was all about the difference between ‘head’ knowledge and ‘heart’ knowledge. I am convinced that very few readers will need to have explained the difference between the two. The first one simply meant that we could clearly understand and grasp some point about God, the Bible, ourselves, grace etc. However, this remained in our heads only, and it had no power to transform our lives, or change old habits.

The second was all about something entering our hearts. Suddenly, all the lights flashed on! Everything became crystal clear and we could see where we had gone wrong; and somehow, we acquired a miraculous power to change even the most entrenched habits, be set free of long-term sinful ways; seeing issues, situations, and people in a completely different way. The light could be called ‘revelation’, while the miraculous power could be described as ‘grace’.

I believe that this word “REVELATION”, as it is used across the churches working with CTMI, is merely another way of saying heart knowledge. No more, no less! Jesus rightly told off the Pharisees who were prepared to strain at gnats, while swallowing camels.

For Pastor Miki Hardy, Basil O’Connell-Jones, and all those hundreds of pastors who work with them at CTMI, ‘revelation’ simply means some Biblical truth that reaches the heart of a man or a woman with the power of God to reveal the true state of that person’s heart on that specific issue. There is nothing unique, nothing secret, and nothing exclusive about it. The revelation of the gospel of the cross is available to ALL who seek it with humble, repentant hearts.

I’m grateful to Him for saving my life and that of my husband, as well as saving our marriage – one that had less than an average chance of surviving.

I’m grateful to my heavenly father for my children who even in their teens are balanced, happy, obedient and living a pure life – separated from this world; desiring the things of God, despite their struggles and weaknesses.

None of this would have been possible without the example and ministry of Miki and Audrey Hardy, and the team of Elders from so many nations working together at CTMI. I can testify that their lives are given for the sole purpose that we, the saints, can experience this kind of separation and transformation, promised by our Lord.

Suzanne Y.