Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Anita Mathias's Blog on Faith and Art

In which Angels Sing, and Diamonds Materialize: A Report from the Revival Alliance Charismatic Conference in Birmingham

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“Alice laughed: “There’s no use trying,” she said; “one can’t believe impossible things.”

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
Alice in Wonderland.

The Revival Alliance Conference I attended had a special “impartation” meeting in Birmingham on Saturday for those aged 15-30 to receive an “impartation” (with laying on of hands) from the world’s leading charismatic leaders.

There was Randy Clark, whose preaching birthed the Toronto Revival.  John Arnott, the pastor who shepherded the Toronto Revival to a movement which has gone on for 18 years, and is still going strong. The amazing Heidi and  Rolland Baker. Bill Johnson, “the thinking man’s charismatic,” as steeped in the Bible, as in a magical, miraculous world much like the Bible’s. Che Ahn. Georgian Bainov.

So both our daughters go to this meeting, and come back bubbling and bouncing with excitement.  Those watching outside caught some of it on TV screens. As Rolland Baker placed his hands in blessings on the young people’s palms, diamonds appeared. The floor was covered with these diamonds, which rained down from heaven. The more aggressive crawled on hands and knees picking them up. My children got 3 between them, while others got several. The Kingdom sometimes goes to the aggressive. In fact, when the adults returned, there were some of these in the loos, and parking lots.

HERE are eye-witness accounts from the Revival Alliance’s Facebook page. (Screen shots, so a little fuzzy)

 

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Our friend, James, an Oxford educated physicist, was particularly fascinated. He picked up two, and compared them with Zoe’s. His had a gold backing!!

Apparently, according to Bill Johnson, this not a rare manifestion. Gold-dust, diamonds, a glory cloud and angelic feathers appear all the time in his church, Bethel in California, and even in houses, restaurants and airplanes where those like Bill who particularly experience “the presence” travel.

Irene, my 13 year old says, “Wow, Mum if Rolland can make diamonds appear, maybe it’s all true.” Oh, I am so old.  My reaction. “Cool.” Did I believe it? Yeah, sure. Why not?

I have heard Heidi Baker tell this story of miraculous multiplication in person, which she also shared with the CBN’s 700 Club.

“It was a 110-degree Christmas Day. There were hundreds of children that were awaiting a Christmas party at their center. These children included girls who had sold their bodies, bandits, rascals, and children from the village. All had all been invited. The challenge was that there were so many children, but only a limited amount of toy bags available. So, Heidi began to give the presents out first to those children who had never received a present before. Finally, it came down to the older girls, but all that was left were bags with stuffed animals in them.

Heidi asked the girls, “What would you like, sweetheart?”

And the girl replied, “Beads.” 

Heidi’s friend and co-worker, a psychiatrist, said “There is nothing in the bags but old stuffed dogs.”

Heidi asked her friend to check the bags again. When the lady reached her hand into the bag of stuffed animals she started screaming, “Beads! There are beads in the bag!”

All of the girls got beautiful, bright beads for Christmas.

“God really is God, and He is much better than Santa Claus,” says Heidi.

In the same interview, she tells this story, “After the government evicted the Bakers from the orphanage, “a friend from the American Embassy came with chili and rice for the Bakers and their 2 children. They prayed over the pots of food and told the 80+ children to sit down.  Everyone ate and was full!”

Do I believe these stories? Do I believe that Jesus changed water into wine, and fed 5000 from 5 loaves? Do I believe that He said that those who believe in him will do greater things than these? Yes, yes, and yes!

* * *

In the evening, there was an impartation for everyone, and as Arnott etc went around and laid their hands on people and prayed, most of the thousands in Bingley Hall fell backwards instantly, “slain in the Spirit.”  Amazingly, my husband buckled as he was prayed for, as did Zoe and Irene. Moi—no! Too self-conscious, too scared of falling backwards, too scared of losing control, too analytical, too much of a blogger observing the proceedings. And perhaps that was what God intended. When I blog, I feel his pleasure.

It was a rather fascinating sight though, to see Arnott and Rolland Baker and Bill Johnson go through the rows, say a brief pray for people, who then fell backwards as if poleaxed.

And there was the sweetest, most angelic singing rising.

I heard it myself, high sweet singing, though the worship band said there were no instruments, and no one was singing.

Here are some accounts from the Revival Alliance 2012 Facebook:

Revival Alliance 2012
Martin Smith leading all the saints joining in one song! Who else heard #angels singing during worship at venue 1??? #revival2012
Photo: Martin Smith leading all the saints joining in one song! Who else heard #angels singing during worship at venue 1??? #revival2012
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Comments

  1. Yes. I was on the venue one cafe team at the time and I remember just standing in total awe watching Heidi sing. No-one got any coffee while that was happening!

  3. That's wonderful. I've heard Bill Johnston and Heidi Baker at New Wine a few years ago. Heidi singing to God before she spoke is something that will stay with me forever as her relationship with Him was obvious and wonderful. How much more must Jesus' have been?

    I'd love to get hold of one of those gems and see what its made of. Very easy to identify gemstones on an instrument I've got in the room next door.!

  4. Thanks, LA. Trying to figure out why I do go.

    Here are some reasons
    1) People like Heidi Baker, John Arnott and Bill Johnson have a deeper faith and knowledge of God than I do. They write and speak well. So in going, I see a high water mark of the joy, faith and miracles which are part of the life of faith. I realize there's so much more. I want to strive for it.

    2) My work–writing!!–is very intense, and so am I. I cannot go on writing for long weeks without a break. I could go to Europe, and do so, several times a year. Last month, I went to Copenhagen, and two Christian conferences. I found both stimulating and very interesting, but the latter will have a far greater influence on the course of my life than the former.

    3) To tie in with the intensity theme, I do pray most every day, but at home, I am reading, writing and blogging. I am not setting aside long hours to seek God's face, to seek his direction. At retreats and spiritual conferences, I do. So I do get fresh direction, tweaks, insight, encouragement, and occasionally hear “a prophetic word,” a sentence or two or a clear direction from God.

    4 “Better is one day in your house than a 1000 elsewhere.” I guess by choosing to spend days in praise and worship and listening to Bible talks from those far deeper than I, I am testing this out. I believe it.

    5 I am a natural sceptic, though I don't doubt the signs and wonders, the healings and diamonds and angel song. Why would God do that, you ask.
    In John, he speaks of revealing or manifesting his glory. The word phanein is the same used for when a peacock spreads his tail feathers wide.

    If you ask me, it's just God playing, “showing off,” showing his glory, delighting himself and us, revelling in creativity, making things for the heck of it just as he did when he made this wonderfully variegated world on the first day.

    Ah, I should write a post on this subject!! 🙂

  5. For me, and you know from my previous posts that I find these revivals to be “not my bag”, it's not skepticism but more of a feeling of why? Why is this overly showy and fantastical display necessary? How does this further the work He has given us to do? I find people who need these kinds of encounters in order to strengthen their faith to be the seeds (from the parable of the seeds) who grow fast and strong then are choked off by the “weeds” of worldliness.

    It sounds like you uses these encounters to express your joy and excitement in the awesomeness of God and that seems healthy to me. But you know you are not the target audience for these showy displays. The target audience really are the people who walk in with shaky faith and leave all energized in the spirit…those who believe more strongly because of this encounter with the powerfully tangible manifestation of God.

    I am reminded of Jesus' support but not-so-subtle admonishment of Thomas post-resurrection: “Blessed are they who have not seen and yet believed”. Again, it sounds like your take on the encounter is as it should be…your faith is not bolstered or propped up by these demonstrations…rather your joy and excitement are increased. I can get behind that.

  6. Thanks…
    I guess for credibility's sake…in the eyes of those looking to find authenticity…when we say diamonds…we need to mean just that…
    Blessings.

  7. Gordon, I reported these manifestations almost as a reporter might. In fact, I wrote “Do I believe them? Yeah. Sure. Why not?” I guess I do live in the expectation of the miraculous, and as I said, think it was just God having fun, showing (off) his glory.

    Bill Johnson's talk on listening to the dreams God gives us when we are in his presence; Arnott's talk on forgiveness were more valuable than the diamonds. On the other hand, people will never forget the diamonds.

    The girls have the gems, not I. As do dozens of other people, as you can read on my blog comments, the Revival Alliance FB page and the twitter stream. Whether they are sparkly quartz or real diamonds doesn't matter–it's the something from nothing that's amazing. (They seemed to be the same as the high grade diamonds in my engagement ring, BTW, on visual inspection.)

    There is something childlike about the Charismatic Renewal. Just a chance to let our hair down, have fun, experience miracles, sing and be merry. To be balanced, it must have the rigours of prayer, Bible study and service too, IMO.

    Thanks for visiting my blog!!

  8. Gillan, I agree, we absolutely should not pursue these things for their own sakes. As Jesus says in the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders, listening to his words and doing what he says gives us a solid foundation for our lives (not the spiritual chills and thrills and mountain top experiences).

    I think it was just God having fun, and displaying his creativity, turning specks of dirt in people's hands into diamonds, as Red said in the comments.

  10. Hard to know what to say in a few sentences…but it seems that not all are excited by this. On the one hand it is intriguing on the other something that stimulates many questions of qualification…how big are the diamonds…have they been verified by a jeweler..and so on in with similar questions re the other instances.Having been to Toronto in the early 90's…many Wimber conferences etc I have become someone who is still hungry for the things of the Spirit, but also healthily skeptical (please read true definition of this word). Todd Bentley is a case in point…the signs and then the blunders are a cause for wonder…A good friend is now fallen recently from grace as you reported…which I guess why I have become more focused on fruit these days. I should perhaps be more excited about these manifestations…but in truth after years of being in the context of mtgs with gold filled teeth, clouds etc I am not…and am in reflection as to why…

  11. Thanks, Rachel.
    Wow, Red, I am so thrilled to have additional eye witness reports.
    Of course, we have three diamonds in our house, so we don't really doubt it, since our girls saw them appear!!

  12. I am very pleased you did this Anita. If it makes you look foolish then there is nothing better than being a fool for God. However I'm just in awe of what God does for us sometimes. You've had a taste of Heaven. Thank you.

  13. Anita, I am very glad you posted this. Why indeed should we hide these things? If it makes us sound like fools, then there can be no greater honour than being a fool for the Gospel.

    As you say these things are hard to understand as they go even beyond the understanding of most Christians.

    To me it is a taste of Heaven and although I don't think we should pursue these things for their own sake, we should get excited when they do. If God wants to blow our minds that's entirely up to Him and I don't want to put anything in the way of that.

  14. wow sounds amazing, wish we'd gone! some guys from our church went and saw diamonds literally grow from specks in their hands. what an awesome God 🙂
    x

  15. Well, here I am reading this before breakfast. Maybe I can suspend my disbelief. I can probably do it better than I could a week ago, before my brother's heart attack, and I have seen God miraculously restore him- not instantaneously, but he is up and about impossibly fast.

  16. Gillan, I am well aware it sounds utterly ridiculous, which is why I took two weeks to post it, and posted it with trepidation.

    But, as a blogger, why suppress one's best stories for fear of seeming “even more undignified?”

    I put it in the expanding category of “things I don't understand.”