Thursday, April 30, 2009

Randy Dean Ministries

April 27, 2009
“The Kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power”. (I Corinthians 4:20). This is the passion of my life; the radiant outworking of the reality of Heaven’s Domain….the Kingdom of God hits earth with the factual, tangible influence of renewal!

The past several months of my life have been packed with this kind of Kingdom pressure. Dreams are coming true which in turn inspire visions yet to be fulfilled. Since last May:
• We started a school of ministry with 7 student interns.
• I finished the rough draft of my first book, “Radiance; the Transcendent Nature of the Kingdom of God”.
• Ginger and I were called by God to move our ordination to the apostolic covering associated with Bethel Church Redding, California and Bill Johnson. Ginger is now officially, “Pastor Mom”- a title she adores.
• Our church, Living Word Chapel, has caught a momentum of the Spirit that is beyond words or easy definitions. Our services are an adventure, but that is only the opening line of the story.
• Ministries under us for covering and care are growing in both depth and width. I am so proud of my spiritual sons and daughters.

Three years ago, when I started Randy Dean Ministries, I knew that God was putting me on track to form a vehicle to carry the work He was ramping up at that time. I am now seeing that picture more fully. The more I minister here at home and the more I travel to other places, I am more and more convinced that a historic renewal has fallen upon the United States and the world.

Contrary to the gloomy prognostications of some folk trapped in end times hysteria, I say we are under the influence of the open windows in heaven. The only “sign” that is worth our attention is The Sign of the Kingdom; “heal the sick and say, ‘the Kingdom of God has come near to you’”. The transcendent supremacy of God’s incredible sphere of influence is healing any and all interested parties.

Now, more than ever in my life, I have a profound sense of my calling and the epic season in which I am alive. Some quiver, some coast, some make silly cynical prophesies about the end and others are just M.I.A. But I have never felt so alive and eager to serve my King. I was born for such a time as this.

I am posting this letter as a means of enlisting your covenant of prayer and support. Everything R.D.M. is doing has been largely self-supporting. No complaints, however, I simply want to expand my reach:
• My book, whether self-published or otherwise, will be a costly enterprise. I believe this book will be a contribution to a tipping point for a much needed reformation of the church in America.
• Our school is currently taught and administrated by 6 volunteers. I am daily stunned as I watch the level of labor and love that is being freely invested in this adventure. This first year of Firebrand School of Ministry has far exceeded my wildest expectations. I can hardly wait to see what the next school year holds! We need more underwriting for books, materials and staff reimbursement.
• The outside ministry I am invited to participate in is, for the most part, self-sufficient but, needs to grow and evolve in a variety of ways. It has been an amazing honor to be invited to minister in diverse venues, both small and great. However, in order to freely accept more invitations I need a stronger financial base for R.D.M.
• My blog continues to be a site visited by friends and foes alike. I want to enhance and expand the blog for an ever growing audience. (If you are reading this on the internet you already know how to find me. If not, go to www.randydeanministries.blogspot.com

Help me get the Word out that God is satisfied (Isaiah 53:11) and feeling good about Himself. Humanity need no longer cower for fear of random acts of violence and pestilence from the Hand of God. When evil strikes, God is at the ready to overcome evil with His massive good. The Kingdom of God is AT YOUR HAND!

Your financial support would be joyfully received and jubilantly put to work! Our mailing address is 2694 200th Ave Emerald, WI 54013. Checks can be made out to Randy Dean Ministries and are tax deductible. In advance of your prayers and support, I thank you all.

Our God Reigns,

Pastor Randy Dean

Monday, April 20, 2009

Here's a News Flash: President Obama is Not the Anti-Christ

One of the few perks of flying these days is the off-hand chance that you can score a seat in the exit row. This means that there is a good chance that you will have feeling in your legs and feet by flight’s end. I scored just such a blessing a couple of weeks ago. An added touch was that my 2 row partners were 16 year old twin sisters whose combined size and weight were smaller than me. Ahhhhh….I immediately planned a nap.

The Holy Spirit had other plans. He downloaded a wide variety of insight to the treasure of the hearts of these two young ladies. I know better than to pretend to be asleep when the Spirit has other plans. But before I could start a conversation, the girls introduced themselves to me and a two hour verbal flurry began.

Everything I had heard the Spirit speak in my heart, these twins told me on their own…thus eliminating any opportunity on my part to catch their attention with any revealed information. So I listened to their stories, which were very interesting. They were traveling to Europe, had deep interests in art, music, photography, poetry and had aspirations to star in Broadway productions. “So, Mr. Dean….what do you do?”

I’ve answered that question thousands of times over the past 35 years. The answer will either propel the conversation forward or kill it dead. For a few years in my 30’s I tried answering that by dodging it all together. Until one day at a high school when a group of students started to think I was a “narc” (an undercover drug cop). Anyway, back to the flight….

I told them that I was a pastor and that I was on my way to Mexico to lead a pastor’s conference. Both of these teens immediately looked puzzled. “What do you teach?” one asked. “Christianity ”, I answered. “Oh…so you believe that Obama is the Anti-Christ?” Note: this was their first and immediate reflection of what it means to be a Christian in 2009.

The remainder of that exchange was dominated by my apology to them for the loud failure of high profile teachers in the church who routinely mangle scriptures and the character of God to fit their prejudices and cynicism. I told them that the Jesus I know is in a far better mood than that.

These young ladies confided to me that they were a mixture of Buddhism and atheism. Some might wonder if I took the time to lead them into the “Four Spiritual Laws” or if I asked them to pray the sinner’s prayer or if I warned them about hell. I did none of that. My witness to them was one of repentance on behalf of the Body of Christ for whatever it is we’ve done to give two very intelligent and gifted teenagers the distinct impression that Christians everywhere believe that our president is the Anti-Christ.

What I did “win” in that flight was two new friends. I even had the chance to be a comforting grandfather figure when the air got choppy! I told them, “God isn’t finished with me and that makes this a safe airplane!” When we landed the twin nearest me asked, “Can I give you a hug?”

Please read my previous blog entries about ending the end-times hysteria. Go to www.ibethel.org and order Kris Vallotton’s message, “Apostolic Eschatology”. Read “Paradise Restored” by David Chilton. What ever you do, please keep fresh air flowing through your heart and mind. Let’s RE-present Jesus to world, all over again.

For too long there has been a perverted pleasure for some in the church over the real or perceived bad news of our times. Do you know why? Because it takes no effort and no faith to predict bad things and, you can come off as looking spiritually profound when you point out all the bad things as being a fulfillment of your astonishing insight. Remember Jed Clampett of the Beverly Hillbillies? I loved his summation of ignorant people, “Pity-full….just pity-full…”

The narrative of I John 2:1824 describes the antichrist. Interestingly, part of the greek definition for “anti” is to be a contrast. THE Christ went about “doing good and healing all” (Acts 10:38). You see, “doing good and healing all” is hard work. It requires a massive challenge to your faith value system. It demands action in the face of any and all bad news.

The contrast to “doing good and healing all” is doing nothing. Nothing, that is, except to chalk up the bad news to being a “sign of the times”. I John says that “many antichrists have arisen” and that, “they went out from us”. I hope you are following me at this point.

The contrast to THE Christ who went about, “doing good and healing all” are those who go out “from us” doing nothing and healing none. Hmmm…

Thirty some odd years ago, when it was popular in Christian circles to hate Henry Kissinger, he was the anti-christ. The numerology of his name even confirmed it. Now, in some Christian circles, it is popular to hate President Obama. I’m sure the numerology will be distorted to underline the ignorance. That’s just pity-full.

I did not vote for Barack Obama, but I like him, nevertheless. I despise his pro-choice practices, but I love his pro-active mentality. His philosophy of governing is different than my own but the fact that I can put my disagreement in print makes me proud to be a citizen of the United States. I am honored to be alive with the first African American in the White House and I honor him for the guts and the grit it took to get there.

If honoring him puts me at odds with a noisy segment of the church, I will happily accept their disdain. It’s time for the courageous among us to admit that most end-times teaching has done nothing but embarrass us over the past century. Once again, it has raised its ugly head and the Name of Christ is suffering abuse due to our neglect. Half measures to silence this nonsense will avail us nothing.

Its time to own it and apologize for it, and then, move onward and upward toward, “doing good and healing all”….that’s the fruit of THE Christ.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Emotional Recession

Have you noticed how many economists use emotional words to describe the current state of our economy? Investors are worried, families are fearful, businesses are anxious, banks are uneasy, the stock market is troubled and the nation is distressed. We even call one of the worst periods of our economic history, “The Great Depression”.

It seems to me that FDR’s rally cry in the midst of that period of history still holds true; “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself”. I’ve learned in my 56 years of life that I can get by without an income, but I can’t live without hope and courage.

My mother and father spent most of 1959 in a hospital. As a result, our family lost everything. House, car, furniture, business….everything but the clothes on our backs. We moved from a home we owned into a $90 a month apartment on the north side of Milwaukee. We furnished that tiny place with used chairs and tables. I slept on an army cot. My mother had a nervous breakdown.

But, the one thing I remember hating, more than anything else, was the palpable fear that things were just going to get worse. I didn’t mind the government issued “Surplus Food”…in fact, I loved the peanut butter. I didn’t mind the small apartment. The old building it was in provided me with hours of entertainment, hiding places and a make-shift pretend fortress in the attic. I didn’t even care that I slept on a used army cot! I could go to sleep at night pretending to be the hero of a thousand battles.

What I despised was that dreaded misery of fear that ultimately lead to my mother’s nervous breakdown. As a little boy, I did everything I could to avoid that feeling, because I instinctively knew that “fear itself” was the real enemy stalking my family.

The most often repeated commandment of the Bible is, “Fear not!”. The will of God for every living creature is to live free of fear. The Bible even predicts the day when, “…the wolf will dwell with the lamb…” (Isaiah 11:6) because God’s intention is for His creation to be fear free!

We will prevail through this economic downturn when we embrace 2 simple words from God; FEAR NOT.