2. Return of Give God A Chance.
A Hippie’s testimony to the Grace of God.
Our Covenant with God.
By Brian O’donnell
” Covenant ” is something I never really got to grips with though I heard many very good teachings on it — what’s His is ours and ours is His always made me laugh, then just the other day the thought came to me that our ” Great God ” maybe needed something from us!
Thinking on this it came to me that our Maker & Father saw as most important the need to get the very ” Rights “ he gave to us, back ! — but only on the terms that we become willing partners and in so doing fullfill His amazing plan to, through man, win back and bring back God’s purposes into the earth !!!
This at first glance may seem elementary but while meditating on this I began to see more, and consequently to understand more, of the ” awsome responsibility ” that our wonderfull heavenly Father has invested in us to be conformed unto the image of His Son, to give up our rights and by so doing ” allow ” The Blessed Holy Spirit entrance, firstly into us then into the earth through lives yielded totality to His purposes (True Disciples !); to bring Healing, Deliverance and Salvation to people made in His image who have been taken into slavery ! This helps us to understand Jesus message to John – YES HE WAS THE ONE !!! — to bring release of the captives and to open prison doors; to let the blind to see!!; the lame to walk ! ; the kingdom of God to be preached.
So we give up OUR rights to gain His amazing LIFE, and all the RESOURSES ! More than enough !!
He promises His face will continualy be towards us, His strength, power and favour - what More could any man/woman ever wish for? ”Love so amazing so divine ’demands’ my soul my life my all !!” I have no other option — nor do i want another for the other option leads to death, not only to our death but ‘death’ such as the disastrous effects on the lives of people we see in the world all around us. Taking His option, then it can be as 2 Chronicles 30:9 says:
“For if ye turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him”.
Satan has taken so many of our children, brothers and sisters captive through the worldly systems, media, music, fame, fortune, business and even learning, yet God has given us the antidote of His blessed Holy Spirit in us to ”dynamically, powerfully & miraculously touch the world “. No more to live ”powerless lives”. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, all the disciples and millions of believers have also found that to ‘Lose your life is in fact to “gain! gain! gain! ” one’s life and in so doing to bring life to all the earth”. (How the enemy has used confusion to side-track us into thinking that this is too difficult a deal for us!).
What am i saying ? As we yield to the Lord Fountains of Living Water spring up all over the earth, once again able to quench a dry and thirsty land. We can do no better!! Many other options but no better option!! – “I have decided to follow Jesus!” as the chorus goes; so won’t you join me and follow Jesus? The disciples by this power “turned the world upside down”!! In South Africa there is a desperate need for the rising up of the “sons of God”, anointed and full of the Holy Spirit to deliver healing to the nations and there peoples! Let’s not resist, not rest, till we recieve ALL of HIM !!! Up from the grave He arose with a Mighty triumph over His foes !!!
I remember clearly in the seventies the “anointed power” given by God to a handfull of hippies who literally turned the city of Cape Town to Jesus! I was a leader of the hippie movement, and also the mouth piece of the movement when In 1970 I became a Christian. You can imagine the upheaval caused when the leader suddenly turns round and says “Jesus is the way!” The whole movement is suddenly plunged into disarray! This of coarse got me invites to UCT, Stellenbosch, and all other universities, and also to almost all schools in the Western Cape, speaking to hudreds of thousands of students. Some of this you may know, but much of the story I’m telling , most of you dont know! After being invited, two of us went to a Dutch Reformed meeting in Paarl and, after preaching to what seemed like +- 600 students, we were astonished to see over 500 students come forward for salvation and had the wonderfull joy of leading them to repentance and to Jesus ! On another occasion, being invited to Stellenbosch University this time to the Dutch Reformed Kweek Skool to speak to ministers-in-training, more than 10 of the young ministers, as I found out later, became Pentecostal dramatically changing the direction of there lives. 3 of the 10 became Assemblies Of God ministers. One can only imagine the disruption this must have caused, and the consternation to the parents and fellow students on the campus, many of whom where seriouly challenged!!
I was also invited to speak to most of the koshuise on campus. Amazing happenings, probably speaking to thousands of Stellenbosch students. Many came to salvation, a work was started in the student town. Also at Rhenish Girls High School after adressing the Assembly, something which had a remarkable affect on these high school girls, so much so that after that meeting the Hippie Market, that i had opened years earlier, be came a meeting place for many of the girls who were touched.
God added daily to the growing band of converts. One story is of a young woman Student Leader who became fascinated by the story she heard of a hippie who had become a Christian, and made up her mind to get hold of me and invite me purely out of fascination. After speaking at her koshuis to a large group of students, I went home thinking nothing more about it. About 20 years later, my niece Shanett Valentine, who now heads up a work in Worcester — ”a Christian kibbutz” — while in a meeting noticed a photo of me in the leader’s bible and naturaly said “Hey, that’s my uncle”, and the wonderfull story came of how this former student had, through the fascinating hippie Jesus person, come to know Jesus as Lord and then many years later started a Christian kibbutz, instramental in doing much good work among the less-privileged. What an awesome God we have, but that’s not the end. Some years later Shanett phoned me to say that, in a general meeting with a group of Christian’s active in Worcester, including the student who started the work, on talking about the need for revival, one of the leading ministers in the meeting mentioned, to the absolute amazement of the others, that he was led to the Lord, at the time of the hippie revival, by Brian Odonnell! What an amazing series of events. Now almost 40 years later this group is believing God for a revival based on “Andrew Murry and the ensuing outporing in Worcester, and the vision of The Map”. Their interpretation of the vision is “from Worcester, up through Africa and to the world”
What a mighty God we serve! This amazing thread is not coincidental!! My story and involvement all started through a book, and a vision in a book, by J R Gschwend, discribed by Faans Klopper as “this giant of God”. These are just some of the mighty works of a very loving and caring God! We can exspect to see a massive outpouring of the Holy Spirit as we yield lives dedicated to His purposes. May God give us all the passion for this Great Work lying ahead for us, a work prepared many light years ago!!
THE TIME IS NOW!!
We trust this blesses you as it has blessed me.
Much love in Christ !
Brian O’donnell
———- this has been sent with the sole purpose – to give glory to God !! ———-
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Dear Enquirer
Please dont hesitate to contact us regarding any queries!
Best Regards
Brian
C 082 460 8688
T 021 790 5362
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Jessop said,
January 30, 2010 at 10:22 am
This is a trial of our communication on the subject of Revival on Pages. We may revert to a separate blog. I will see how it goes.
jessop said,
January 30, 2010 at 10:31 am
Okay, I see how it works thus far. I will need to know if my readers can reply in the same way, bu email.