Reaching out to Hurting Men & Women from all Walks of Life…
from the Jailhouse to the Penthouse
"A glowing testimonial!
Highly recommended!"
IN THIS ISSUE:
Ø Blow the Trumpet in Zion
Ø Jackie’s Vision for Whosever Will
Ø Divine Appointments
Ø Ministry Opportunities
Ø It Takes Team Work to Make the Dream Work!
Ø Free Computer Classes
BLOW THE TRUMPET IN ZION by Jackie Holland
The United States is prosperous economically but is spiritually bankrupt. Idols of entertainment-sports-prosperity dominate this land. The psychic hotlines are ringing off the walls. People in the sex industry are making millions of dollars daily. Drug dealing and drug lords fill the cities. Disenchanted teens, shooting wildly out of car windows, are killing and injuring innocent children and people they do not even know all in the name of fun. The prisons and jails are filled to capacity and more are being built daily just to keep up with the crime. Support groups are bursting at the seams with broken people with broken lives reaching out for help. Power hungry businessmen and women steal every cent they can. Gambling is legal and people from every economic level are praying they will be the next winner in the race, jackpot or casino.
Economically bankrupt people, many raised in the welfare system are finding that door is closing, and there is no hope in their hearts to ever have the American dream. Fear is rampant, many people, even the young, are afraid to leave their homes. Hopeless and rejected, most of the children who have grown up in poverty and abuse find outlets to abuse others themselves.
Child abuse and molestation are rampant. It is not safe to let a child walk home from school or even play alone in their own yard. Women with free choice abort babies at staggering rates whether from convenience or sexual promiscuity. Today, it is not only popular but looked at as wise to have premarital sex and live with your partner before marriage.
Speaking of marriages, the divorce rate for Christians is equal to non-Christians—being about 60% for first marriages or 70% for the second. In many states, same-sex marriages are being pushed for legalization. Children do not know who their fathers are and many times are raised in a family with two females or males as parents. Males and females alike are spending more time and money on their looks than on their children's education. The health clubs and fitness centers are all the rage. “Get back your youth, don't look old, love yourself.” The Lord Jesus said people will be lovers of self in the end times. Children will be disobedient to parents and with an alarming increase, children are killing parents either from rage or hate. The nursing homes are filled with aged men and women practically dumped and forgotten by their families. Just waiting to die. Just a number on a list, no honor, no love. Euthanasia is becoming an option that people are looking at.
FREE COMPUTER CLASSES
We must remember that one day everything that has been done in secret will be shouted from the housetop. Nothing is hidden from the Lord; after all, He is all knowing; all-seeing; all sufficient in all things. But you say, “Revival is breaking out everywhere, preachers dressed in flashy clothes telling us we can be rich, what's wrong with that?” Who said a Christian can't have abundance? That is not what God is saying; He is merely wanting us to put Him before anything else. Truly, He says if we will seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and His Righteousness then all those other things will follow. Turn the T.V. off. Shut down the computer. Put away the golf clubs and sports gear. Go back to your first love, it will take an effort to be quiet before the Lord but very rewarding.
Put first things first. Love God, accept Jesus His Son as Lord and Savior and your only hope of a home in Heaven. Reach out to hurting broken people, become a father to the fatherless, a son or daughter to the seniors and be known as a man, woman, boy or girl who passionately loves their God. He says "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, I will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land. If we truly want revival, that will be what it takes to see our nation turned around. Then we can honestly be called a Christian nation, people who love their God and fellow man.
JACKIE'S VISION FOR WHOSOEVER WILL
In 1991, I had a dream about a wonderful place where people could come who were weary and beat down by the struggles of life, needing direction and hope. The Lord said it was a place for way-faring strangers. If not poor, they were poor in spirit and without hope. They were going along in life and were needing to be refreshed. They needed the Gospel and they needed love.
This place in my dream was off a busy highway near the airport. It was as though you could pull off the highway and go inside. There were loving, wonderful people inside to love on them and provide them with something to eat and drink, pray for them and give them hope for their future. All kinds of people were welcomed– I saw a lone individual walking in.
I saw families with children driving in. I saw individuals, men and women, boys and girls, people from all of walks of life being drawn to the place. It was a place of refreshing, a place of refuge where people – Isaiah 61 people, the broken, outcast, wayfaring strangers would stop and be welcomed. They received the Gospel, prayer, hope, direction for their life, forgiveness, an encouraging word, a meal, perhaps lodging for a night or two. When they left were they refreshed and encouraged and revived. No one left empty handed or empty hearted.
I saw a chapel there were people flying into the Dallas Ft. Worth area would come to speak and minister to the guests and it was televised. The speakers were coming into the Dallas area for another reason and they made the time to come and speak in the chapel. They saw it as a precious work and a very caring place.
When I asked the Lord what the name of this place was He said, Whosoever Will may come. I knew this dream was from the Lord – the next morning I called my brother-in-law who is a CPA and asked him how to form a non-profit organization. I even went out and started looking for places on the highway. The only place I knew that was available with a televised chapel was Mike Evans’ ministry building in Euless. Going up the elevator, the thought occurred to me, “This is too nice.” The Lord immediately dropped in my spirit, “Nothing is too good for my people.”
I spoke with the administrator and looked at the blueprints. He said they were asking 2 or 3 millions dollars for the building. I then told him my dream and said, “I didn’t have any money but I know if the Lord wants us to have it He will supply the money.” His eyebrows went up and the countenance on his face fell. I had no money but I had a dream. I was encouraged as I left the building – I knew there was a place somewhere. On my way to the car, I spotted a big button laying on the ground–that said, “Jerusalem This Year.” As I bent over and picked it up, I said to the Lord, “I’d love to go back” and slipped it in my purse. ( And as it turned out I did go to Jerusalem that year!)
My CPA connected me with an attorney who incorporated the ministry for me within weeks. I named the ministry Whosoever Will for the dream and what the Lord spoke to me. I’m not sure what the name of the place in the dream was but I know whosoever comes inside is welcomed.
I know God connected me to The Fellowship and the ministry we are doing now is a wonderful ministry but there is more to do in the future. I believe we have been in preparation these last 14 years for such a time as this. My heart longs for revival to come. I believe the Lord is preparing the church for revival– but instead of us just going to church He wants us to be the church!
At 4:44 am, March 16th, the Lord had me revisit that dream and said to me, “Begin to speak it and believe for it.” Please agree and pray for us that God’s perfect will be done. God gave me the dream but it takes many people working together to turn it into a reality.
DIVINE APPOINTMENTS
I was recently invited to speak at an Assembly of God Church in Paris, Texas. My friend, Laquetta Dinsmore, accompanied me. We arrived early enough to be able to sit in with the adult Sunday School class. The teacher was fabulous. Laquetta and I commented to each other, “She is more than a teacher, she is a minister.”
Later that night, I shared my testimony with the congregation. In my book, Exposed Heart, I recounted my story about Sister Saxton. My family attended a revival she conducted in East Texas. I was only 5, and yet, I remember to this day, hearing her sing and speak about the Lord, and I remember making the commitment in my heart, “I want to be just like her when I grow up.“ As I shared my testimony I felt compelled to stop and ask if anyone knew an evangelist named Sister Saxton. To my surprise, the Sunday School teacher from the morning class raised her hand. “You know Sister Saxton?” I asked. She nodded, “Yes, she was my Mother.” I have thought about Sister Saxton so many times over the years and wanted to thank her for the impact she had on my life. To suddenly meet her daughter-what a wonderful surprise! Everyone was blessed!
As I continued with my testimony and was sharing about my son, Michael, who passed away at 27 I noticed a young man that the Lord was really dealing with. He and his wife came forward and were radically converted during the altar call! His friend, Joel, just wept! He told me afterwards that he had taken Joshua and his wife to see The Passion – which had touched them deeply – but Joel felt like he was supposed to invite them to come to church that night.
As it had turned out Joshua’s mother had passed away only months before. Who knows but that God used a mother’s story about losing her son to save a son who had lost his beloved mother. I was able to speak with Sister Saxton’s daughter after the service. Her mom had passed away a few years ago and she asked me to pray for her brother C.D. who had walked away from the Lord.
Whereas she had made the commitment to give all to the Lord, it seems he had gone the other direction. Several of us gathered together and prayed in agreement for C.D. I signed a copy of my book for C.D. and asked his sister to tell him what an impact his mother had on my life. Wouldn’t it be amazing that God would use this meeting and my testimony after 53 YEARS to reach Sister Saxton’s son!!!! That was truly a divine appointment.
A week or two after I got back from Paris, Texas, my assistant, Susan came into my office and presented me with an old, worn book. Puzzled, I looked up at her as she excitedly opened it to a marked page. Pointing to a photograph she asked me, “Do you know who this is?” Puzzled, I said, “Yes, where did you get this?” She said, “I visited my Mother and Dad in Mt. Pleasant. While we were visiting I noticed an old book sitting on the coffee table. I had seen it in the bookcase for years. My mother thinks she picked it up at a local junk store ten or fifteen years ago. I asked my mother, ‘Why do you have this old book sitting out?’ She replied, ‘I want to send it to someone your Dad knows who was in WWII. I want to give it to someone who will appreciate it.‘ Curious, Susan picked it up and began to leaf through it. ( It looks like a kind of High School Annual with photographs, names and maps - Only it was for a military unit - “Company D” of the 13th Mountain Medical Battalion’s Burma mission in WWII.)
As she leafed through the pages she said to herself, “I am going to find someone in this book I know! “I looked at all the photos and didn’t recognize any one. So I began flipping through the pages and saw In the back a list of every man who had been in Company D. But it wasn’t just their names, it was also their home addresses. So I just started scrutinizing each name and address as I ran my finger down the list. Before you knew it I came to a “Jack Birkhead” It sounded familiar. Jack Birkhead … Hmmm. Avery, Texas???!!! It hit me! Jack Birkhead – your uncle Jack-the very uncle you were named after! ran and exclaimed to my mother, “I know who you are giving this book to!” Jackie, God wants you to have this book!
If I had gone down a few days earlier, the book would not have been sitting out for me to see, a few days later and my mother would have already mailed it and I would have never seen it again!“ Another divine appointment!
These were truly divine appointment. Sometimes, life seems like a puzzle with some of the pieces missing. You never expect to recover them. And yet God… We see the small picture, He sees the big picture – He can either fill them in or bring back the missing pieces.
MINISTRY OPPORTUNITIES
In this computer age, there is a frightening thing happening with the increase of knowledge and travel. People are becoming addicted to pornography through the Internet. “Safe sex” they call it, no fear of diseases or getting caught. Men and women turning on a computer to find fulfillment, Oh dear God, how shameful it has all become. Turn on television talk shows and you find that most of the content is trash talk. Men in women’s clothes is entertainment to a perverted, troubled world. If that does not interest you, call a 900 number and talk dirty, say everything ugly in your heart, hang up and forget those people exist. Real people, real entertainment is where the stars are, how they dress, what they eat, and who they sleep with next. The American dream is no longer to be comfortable, and happy with the wife or husband of your youth but the endless search for significance in your life. Whatever it takes to make you happy, that's what this nation is telling us to do. Jokes about our president, movies about our preachers, where will it all stop, when will it all end?
In the Old Testament in the book of Amos, we are told Amos was a herdsman of sheep and a grower of figs. One day in a vision, God spoke to Amos and told him of things that were going to happen to the nation of Israel. Israel was economically prosperous and at peace. It had become a selfish, materialistic society. Those who were well off ignored the needs of the less fortunate. They were self-centered and indifferent toward God. Although many had rejected real faith in God they pretended to be religious. They had religious performance without integrity and heartfelt worship to God. In the Bible, the Lord is described as a shepherd and his people as sheep. But in this book, we see the Lord roaring as if he were a ferocious lion ready to devour the enemy. The Lord says the people have perverted justice and trampled the poor into the dust. They had hardened their hearts and sinned towards God. The Lord always sends his prophets before judgment. He is roaring now and calling for his people to awaken out of this hard-hearted stupor we are living in. He is saying once again, Prepare to meet your God.
IT TAKES TEAMWORK TO MAKE THE DREAM WORK
He reminds us He alone was the one who formed the mountains and made the winds, and he knows our every thought. He says unless they repented they would be as a man who was chased by a lion and met by a bear; or a man in a dark room who leans against a wall and puts his hand on a snake. He said, “I hate your show of pretense, your hypocrisy of honoring me with religious feasts.” He said, “I will not accept your offerings or your sacrifices.” He said, “Away with your songs, no matter how beautiful, they are mere noise to my ears.”
He said, “Stop having pride in your tiny power.” Amos was shown great punishment that would come on Israel. He cried out to God on their behalf and said, “Please don't do it, for they will have no hope if you turn from them.” God turned from his plan and gave another chance for them to repent. However, he said, “I will not hold back from punishment if they do not return to me with their whole heart.” He said, “Tell them to be honest and just in their decisions.” The people called out to Amos and said, “Prophet, leave us alone.” Amos said, “I am only a herdsman and fruit picker, but the Lord took me from my flocks and said, ‘Go and warn the people.’”
The Lord spoke through Amos and said, There is a time of famine coming, not a famine of food, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will wander everywhere from sea to sea searching everywhere to find truth and spirit of the Word of God.” But if the people would repent, and truly turn to the Lord, they would find mercy, peace, and happiness. God is a loving Father, and He needs to correct His children from time to time. He is warning us today just as in those days to place our hands in His hands and turn from evil and self-centered living. Start loving those who are dying without Christ in their lives. Give to the needy, do not oppress the poor and the fatherless. Be found faithful and become good stewards of the blessings God has given this nation. Remember, to whom much is given, much will be required. Peace of mind is more valuable than gold. Truth and justice, integrity and fair dealings, a good name in your community, and preferring others above oneself is a great way to impact our cities and nation.
Be a part of transforming lives. Generously give today online at www.jackiehollandministries.com. We exist solely on gifts from loving people like you. Help us help others as we reach out to those whom others will not touch. Giving online is secure and easy.