Roger Aubrey

Philippines update

I know that many of you appreciate the updates that Noralv Askeland sends through from the Philippines. This one arrived yesterday; they have now been able to help over 20,000 people affected by the recent typhoon in Manila.

Download News

Manila update

This morning I received an update from Noralv Askeland in Manila, Philippines. This disaster is still unfolding in magnitude, even though the focus of the world's news has now passed on to the havoc caused by the earthquakes and tsunami around Samoa.

I have put Noralv's report into a PDF file; it has news and photos of what's happening in Manila right now.

Perhaps you can circulate it to your friends or use it this Sunday in your meetings to keep the churches informed of what is happening to their brothers and sisters, and to the people of the Philippines. Thanks.

Download Update from Manila

Watching

From last Thursday through Saturday, WorldWatch 09 was held at All Nations Centre in Cardiff. The conference was held under the auspices of Ministries Without Borders. Delegates came from many parts of the world: Norway; Canada; USA; El Salvador; India; Nepal; Bhutan; the Philippines; Belarus; Belgium. They gave reports of what the Lord is doing in these nations and others that they work into, such as China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Vietnam, Guatemala, Colombia, and Brazil. We heard stories of miracles, religious persecution, humanitarian aid programmes, transformation of communities through the message of Jesus Christ, opposition, government sponsored persecution, government support, healings, salvation in staggeringly large numbers, and the generosity of our people.

It was humbling to be in the presence of ordinary men and women of God who are doing extraordinary things for God in the power of the Spirit. To hear these people talk about resisting pressure at gunpoint, travelling for days to reach remote communities, rescuing children from death and abuse or seeing thousands of souls saved in a moment, was truly awesome.

I have always believed that the earth is the Lord's and everything in it, and I didn't need convincing of the fact. What affected me in hearing these reports and meeting these people was that right now, in increasing measure and with increasing speed, we are witnessing the time when, as the prophet Habakkuk prophesied, the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of YHWH as the waters cover the sea!

New month, new season

What happened to summer? It seems to have gone without arriving; and now September is here. And it's time to get back to this. I hope you've all had a really good August; and if the sun shone on you that you enjoyed it. It's been a good month: even though I've not yet been away on vacation (that's next week), I've had a chance to slow down a bit and smell the coffee. Church has been business as usual; several years ago August was a 'dead' month, in which most people went away. Nowadays we have lots of visitors who pay us visits; so our Sunday meetings are as active as ever. Just last Sunday we had three saved and three baptised; and dozens healed. Praise the Lord!

August was the month I really got more into Twitter: yes I have become a real full on tweeter! The ease and speed of communication is a real benefit; and being able find out what is happening with people is educational. I have put a link in the right hand column so you can get my Twitter updates; or you can join Twitter.

I've also taken the opportunity to make some changes on the rest of this site. I've cleaned it up a bit and want to make it more of a resource for people to get easy access to articles I have written and audio files of my teaching. You will see some already available: I will add more as they become available and I can get them up.

Anyway, this is just a hello post to tell you I'm back, fit and well, and rejoicing in the Lord. Blessings,

What a Time!

'Now is the time: what a time!' This is how Bryan Shutt closed the final meeting of our Without Borders 09 Bible Week on Thursday evening. It was a great time: great to see friends; great to hear some powerful teaching (especially from David Emmett); great to be in a youth meeting where there was such faith and passion for Jesus; great to hear testimonies about miracles and salvation; great to be in the presence of Jesus.

There were about 1,800 people at the Week, from our churches here in the UK. Each of the churches was well represented, and all of them are in health. It's wonderful to see people from the larger and the smaller churches come together as one family, worshipping together and supporting each other. There is no competition as to who is the biggest or the best (until it comes to football and basketball!). There was a fabulous sense of family and unity; it always takes an age to get anywhere because you stop and talk with friends, then twenty yards later you see more friends! Just great.

This may sound obvious but there was a real sense in our worship of a love and passion for Jesus. Constantly, the Holy Spirit brought us to a place where we adored the Lord and felt his presence tangibly in the place. This resulted in spontaneous miracles and healings, where people testified to being touched by Jesus without anybody laying hands on them or praying for them. This was a feature in the youth meetings too: on the night I was there a young man received a healing in his knee. He actually told me he felt he had a new one inside him. Some of these testimonies will appear in future editions of our magazine: Times of Restoration.

The ministry was based on the phrase 'now is the time' (2Corinthians 6). The DVDs and CDs will be available early September. I recommend you get them, especially David Emmett's ministry on Being an Overcomer. Life changing stuff from David.

And now we continue on back home at All Nations. It's good that we don't leave the highs of a Bible Week and slide back into mediocrity at home, then get all hyped up again next year. No way: we are in the flow of the life of the Holy Spirit each day and week here. We just want more of Jesus!

Now is the time

Tomorrow sees the start of our annual Bible Week, this year entitled 'Now is the Time'. Over 1,700 people from our churches here in the UK will come together at the Staffordshire Showground in the heart of England for five days of envisioning, worship, fellowship and a lot of fun. It's a great opportunity to catch up with friends that one doesn't get to see very much. It's also the time when we hear and see what we as a group of churches have been able to do as Ministries Without Borders throughout the world. Looking forward to it very much.

Have a wonderful week; I'll be back here around the 27th. Blessings.

I will continue to Tweet while I'm away; you can read them on the Twitter updates column on the blog. Or you can join Twitter.

Oldest Bible now online

Codex Sinaiticus is one of the two most ancient copies of the Bible in Greek.  It was produced in the middle of the fourth century, and still ranks as one of the most beautiful books in existence.  Until the nineteenth century, the whole manuscript was  in the Monastery of St Catherine, Sinai.  After the investigations of the great textual explorer Constantin von Tischendorf, the majority of it ended up in St Petersburg, with 40 leaves going to Leipzig.  After the Russian Revolution, the St Petersburg part was sold to the British Museum in 1934, the first cultural artefact to be acquired for the nation by public subscription.  In a dramatic new find in the 1970s, more pages were found in a blocked up room in St Catherine's.

See it here.

Most Britons would like to meet Jesus

A poll for the DVD launch of the Primeval Series 3 has revealed that most Britons would like to meet Jesus. The study has found that one third of the 3,000 people polled put him at the top of their choice as the dead person they would most like to meet. Princess Diana came second. Included in the top ten were Elvis Presley, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe and Martin Luther King.

The good news about this poll is that people want to meet Jesus. And he should never be included in a list of dead people - he is very much alive! And what's more: anybody can meet him!

Here's the full article.

I will be away the rest of the week: Dianne and I are taking a few days off.

See you next week.

Beauty pageant turns ugly

Here's an interesting piece from an unlikely source. A contestant at the Miss USA beauty pageant - Carrie Prejean - caused uproar when answering a question about her views on homosexual 'marriage'. Ms Prejean, who is Miss California, replied that she is against it.

The judge who asked the question, Perez Hilton, is an outspoken homosexual. His response to her answer was rather unpleasant.

Read the story here.

Born to believe

Here's an interesting piece from the BBC's Today programme about whether or not we are born with an inbuilt design to believe in God. Dr Justin Barrett suggests that it's the natural default of children to believe in God. I know that children are very susceptible to the supernatural: people like Kathryn Kuhlman used to say that children often saw angels and even Jesus himself in her meetings, without any public reference to the fact from her.

Thanks to Stephen Davies for this.

Listen here.