Fire in Baja

Dear UR and Family,

I pray this finds you all quite well. Time is limited for emailing today so I will try to relay as much as I can re: our current situation. God is great! This week it has been a constant struggle not to enter into a state of total despair due to the circumstances we are coping with caused by the Santa Ana winds and the horrible wildfires they have caused.

The last time I spoke with you, I think we had just returned to the mission home after our first displacement and at that time I thought it was over! Boy, was I wrong!!

I will tell the story from the beginning. You called to check on us Monday night and I relayed that all was well and it was, until around 9pm. I had just finished Bible Study with the guys and was about to curl up on the couch to read, In fact5, I was curled up in the living room reading and talking to the kids when I noticed an orange reflection in the window. 250,000 had been evacuated from their homes in San Diego County and bush fires had been burning on the mountains behind us all day as happens almost yearly. I just never thought it would get THAT close to us, really. So, seeing an orange tint to the sky in front I told Ramon to look out the back door, the next thing I heard was “FIRE!” I still did not get it though and I walked to the back door myself. When I opened the door I could not believe what I saw. The first thing that hit me was the heat and the smell. As I breathed in, in surprise, acrid smoke choked me and I was literally immobilized as I saw a wall of fire about 100 meters high was licking at the dirt road directly behind the stairs. Although I was looking at a wall of fire I was amazed at how HOT is was, heat just radiating from the fire. It was still across the road but that is only about 30 feet from my back porch. The next thing I recall was the kids crying and Pastor Francisco telling us to grab the animals and get to the car. We had moved the vehicles onto the property early to avoid making car bombs so we grabbed the dog, the cat, and whatever else we could. I got my passport and the kids birth certificates and that was all I had time for. Francisco was dragging me out the door. We turned the frantic horse loose and she took off at a gallop. In the van, I looked back up to the mission with fire all around behind it, and thought, “We are homeless.” It was so shocking and scary and there was no one to call but Yahweh. Down here in this part of Mexico we don’t really have any firefighters .They have city fire trucks from the 1970’s, but no forestry fire fighters. There was no one to call. I knew Francisco and Marcial and the 2 guys we have rehabbing would have to stay to fight the fire if the mission was to be saved. I dreaded him telling me he was staying but did not see any option. The smoke was so thick almost like a heavy fog only unbreathable and fire was on 3 sides of us. Sure enough Francisco made me leave. He told me to take the kids and open the church for whoever would come. Slowly with both kids crying I drove through the brush and smoke over to the building. Dear God, I could not even get close to it, the visibility was nil-I saw a family of Indians with piilowcases full of stuff coming out of the dwelling next door, flames were shooting up not 200 meters from the back of the new buildng and the smoke was unbearable- there was no way we could take shelter there either, so I headed back to the mission, pretty much just feeling my way through the smoke and an occasional patch of fire. It was like in that movie,”Volcano”, I am not kidding. I kept waiting for my tires to melt! The mountains all around were on fire, the coals appearing like lava almost. Back in front of the mission Francisco told me to try to drive as far away as possible and to wait for his call. That was hard, just leaving everything! As we crept down the road the kids crying, the dogs barking, I was on the verge of losing it. Honestly, though, words from that book I just proofread kept me calm. I stopped and turned to my frightened children. “Fear is not faith, “ I hollered, immediately regretting my harsh tone. I need ya’ll to hold it together I told my kids. As I said that, it was as if all fear left me for real and I was filled with a peace I cannot describe. Boyo, our old dog jumped out the window and ran back towards home sending the kids back into hysterics. There was nothing I could do but drive down to the highway and watch and pray that the Lord would spare my husband and the house. We spent the night in the van down on the highway, watching helplessly as the fire ate away at hills on the road to the Bufadora. It was 3am when I saw the fire shooting out of our upstairs windows. Our home was engulfed in black smoke and a wall of fire that we saw from 1 mile away. I cried and cried and wondered where we would go what we would do, and what about frank? It was a nightmare. At around 4am the police made me move the kids back to their staging area a few miles away. Reluctantly, we went, watching troop carriers passing by on the way to Cantu. They brought in empty buses to evacuate the little pueblo. I heard then that over 200 were homeless and I knew I should accept that I was one of them. I had no minutes on the phone so I couldn’t call anybody. (Looking back , this was a good thing as I had no chance to confess any negative crap to anyone!) It was gut wrenching watching the kids weep and weep for their Daddy. I was in shock. Around 5am my cell rang. It was Frank asking where we were! He showed up 10 minutes later! He relayed that God had done a true miracle and that the house was okay! He described how he had sent the guys to fight fire at the church and he and Marcial had stayed behind. I told him it was impossible that I had seen the house burning with my own eyes. He just wept and wept and explained how he had sent the guys to the church, how he and Marcial had fought the fire by pouring 5 gallon buckets of water dipped from the pila onto the roof to keep the burning ashes from lighting the roof. He and Marcial had burns on their entire faces and necks like severe sunburns. Marcial burned himself on the ladder, that is how hot it got! We went to the church first where miraculously the building was untouched, the floor was covered with ashes that had blown under the doors. The landscape was hellish. Ashes falling like snow onto blackened earth. We snuck past the Marines who are now(and still) keeping people out due to the danger of smoke inhalation. I wept when I saw the mission home in one piece! I just could not really believe it. The roses were burned off of my rose bush, the leaves gone from the acacia tree by the pila and the ice plant is all black but the house is all right! Praise God! Brother Jose Luis called to tell us he had seen our house burning! Inn fact, since then many people have contacted us to find out what we are going to do with no home. I mean, Francisco said it was literally like the fiery furnace. He and Marcial both say that God’s Presence was SO evident during the whole event that is was amazing. Neither one can speak of that first night without weeping and giving glory to Yahweh. We returned home the first day at around noon. We all had severe headaches and sore throats from the evil smoke but were glad to have a home. A blanket of ashes covered everything , and we do have smoke damage upstairs but other than that we are BLESSED! That night we took watches monitoring the hot spots of coals still alight that the wind could start back up. I had the 2nd watch, it was 1am when the now familiar orange glow returned. This time the fire was coming from the east, (that is the horror of the Santa Ana effect, it changes drastically with no warning) it looked a mile off but by now I am aware of how rapidly a fire moves and I woke everyone up. Once again we got into the van, not knowing if we would return to a home or not, but this time around we had packed small bags for each of us and we had rounded up our important documents and pictures. The kids and I camped on the roadside, on the highway below, for the 2^nd night. The smoke and ash has been too bad to stay at the church. This time it was not as harrowing as pretty much all of the fuel for the fire was burned up, which is good. Once again it came very very very close, but the Lord spared not only our home but the church as well. This time though the officials were more efficient at guarding the area and we have been unable to get back in until yesterday.(Friday) On top of the pila Frank discovered a bunch of dead rodents, they evidently perished from smoke exposure because they were not burned.

At this point, we need to deal with the smoke damage(it reeks of ashes and water), by painting. The church has smoke damage as well, but the structure is untouched, a miracle. That smoke makes you really ill, it is hard to describe how nasty it is. We are waiting for the hot spots to die before we bring the horse back and we are not unpacking anything

yet! But again we are so blessed. I really appreciate our home now !!

Today, the Santa Ana winds are gone and the smoke can only be seen at a good distance. We heard that some 8,000 hectarias have burned in Baja, I guess in California it is a lot more. Over 300 have lost their homes in our area alone. There is nowhere for them to go and it is so heartbreaking and but for the grace of God go I.

I believe we are home for good now and we will assess what needs to be done and how we can reach out to those who have lost it all. Civil Protection says the children can not be here until the air quality improves but I have no where else to send them. We just have to stay indoors as the ashes are still falling(coming from new fire in Zorillo south of Maneadero) and the air is really disgusting. It only takes a few minutes to get sick from it. Water has become an issue for evreyone. We need to drain our pila, which we had just had filled Monday, it is nasty with rodents floating in it, and then refill it , but due to contamination of the city well we have to get it from Ensenada and they are gouging people, $600pesos for a load as opposed to $280 usually. Public school has been out all week and not many people from around here can work due to the air.

Our greatest loss is that of the small generator which partially melted but thankfully did not explode. We are taking it to the generator place to see if it can be repaired, meanwhile , we have only the diesel now which is hit and miss.

Most likely, we will open up as a semi-longterm shelter to those who lost everything by Monday. I can not see anyone coming up here for a while still. Heat still emanates from e

It has been a terrifying and humbling experience that I would not wish upon my worst enemy. And we are the blessed ones who still have a home. Imagine how horrible it is for those who lost everything in one instant.

So once again Yahweh has shown His Faithfulness to us and I am so grateful. Immensely grateful, as are the children as we survey the landscape and realize how close we came to total disaster……………..still, the first thing you see when you open the back door is the huge drift of ash that used to be bushes and grass, dotted with wisps of noxious black smoke, really surreal.

Thanks to everyone for their prayers, we will keep you posted. We ask that the families left homeless by the fires in Cantu, be kept in your prayers. We are praying for Herlinda’s family during this time as well. May the Lord comfort them and show them that Bonnie is in heaven now.

I was able to meet with the leader of the Ixpa last Sunday and I was able to share, through a translator, the Good News of the Gospel with him. I am elated to report that he is very interested in Jesus and learning more about Him. We were supposed to meet again today but everything has changed, with the Ixpa having been displaced along with the rest of us, so I will let you all know what comes of our next meeting when we get things settled a bit.

For now I will sign off,

Love,

Sister deedee and family in Baja

coming move and shaking

"THERE IS A SHAKING HAPPENING"

by Matt Sorger www.mattsorger.com

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"THERE IS A SHAKING HAPPENING ACROSS THE CORPORATE BODY OF CHRIST"

There is a shaking happening across the corporate Body of Christ. God is getting us ready for an outpouring of greater glory and in the process, He is transitioning the Church into the fullness of her inheritance.

A Shaking Dream and a Broad Vision

Recently, I had a dream in which I was preaching. Whenever I have a preaching dream, I know God is trying to tell me something. In this dream, I'm shouting at the top of my lungs, "Everything that can be shaken will be shaken!" And I'm saying it over and over again. "Everything that can be shaken will be shaken! Everything that can be shaken will be shaken!" I'm booming this out in my sleep and I wake up hearing myself say, "Everything that can be shaken will be shaken!"

In June of this year, I was with my team in New York and we had gone out to lunch to celebrate one of our team member's birthdays. While in the parking lot of a local restaurant, the presence of God came over our group and I was caught into a vision. It was a very simple vision but it spoke clearly and powerfully to me of the time we're in right now.

In my vision, I saw a wall with a narrow archway in it. The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, "Matt, I have a broad place that I'm bringing My people into. But in order to get into the broad place I have for them, they have to first pass through a narrow place." And then the Lord said, "I'm stripping away everything that needs to be stripped away so that this transition can be made successfully."

How to Transition Successfully

The Body of Christ is in a very important transition right now. We are transitioning into the broad place of the fulfillment and completion of our inheritance. This fruitful and blessed place includes every good promise that God has ever spoken to you.

Actually, what we are seeing take place right now is the laying of the foundations for increase and multiplication. During the first six days of Creation, God finished the work and rested on the seventh day. The completion of Creation on the seventh day was actually the completion of the "foundation" of Creation. From there, the earth continued to multiply in fruitfulness and growth.

This year, God is laying the foundation in the lives of many people and ministries that will bring great increase and multiplication in the season ahead. But in order to transition into this broad place of increase and destiny, we have to first pass through a "narrow place." This is where everything that can hinder us from transitioning successfully is--stripped off.

There are some things that cannot go with you into the next season. When God is bringing you through a transition, sometimes even good things must be let go of. People hold onto a good thing only because they don't realize it is keeping them from God's best for their lives. When the Lord tries to strip something, some people want to hold onto it. They don't want to let go. Their old thoughts and attitudes have become a security blanket. They hold onto offenses for years justifying the thought that the person who hurt them doesn't deserve to be forgiven. They justify their ungodly belief systems. They hold on to their "stuff" while trying desperately to transition into the place of blessing which God has for them. As they are tightly gripping their baggage, they end up wedging themselves right into the place of transition and they get stuck.

It's time we understand that God is stripping these things away from us, so we will be free to transition into the broad place He has destined for us. God is stripping everything that can be stripped-- every mindset, every thought, every ungodly belief system, every attitude, and every ungodly action. Everything that's hidden and everything that's covered over--God is stripping it all.

Don't Be Shaken by the Shaking: Restrengthen the Foundations

The Lord recently reminded me of a word He gave me at the beginning of this year. It was about "The 12 Prophetic Sign Posts for 2007" (to view this previous word published on the ElijahList click here.)

The second word God spoke to me at the beginning of this year was that there is "A Greater Sifting" still to come in the Body of Christ. This came to me in a vision in one of our meetings. A woman was standing in the back of the sanctuary and I suddenly saw her in a vision dressed as a bride. I saw a dove coming and landing upon her. Then I saw the dove driving the bride into the wilderness.

The Lord spoke to me and said, "Matt, tell My people not to be shaken by the shaking that's coming." If there is a faulty foundation, it will be shaken, corporately and individually. If there is something not built by the Spirit of God, it will be shaken down to its foundations. Another time, the Lord spoke to me during a meeting in Texas and said, "It's time to restrengthen the foundations."

A sifting has happened in the Catholic segment of the Body of Christ. The Lord has allowed things to be exposed and stripped away. The same is happening in the "evangelical" segment of the Body. The Lord is going to allow everything that needs to be uncovered and stripped away to be stripped. God is shaking local houses. God is shaking the Corporate Church. God is shaking individual lives. He's shaking everything that has not been built by Him. We can rejoice in this because the shaking produces a deeper level of purity. When that deeper level of purity is produced, like the olives being squeezed and pressed, it produces a pure oil. And as this purity is released, we become ready for the greater glory.

Flesh Will Not Touch the Greater Glory

Flesh will not touch this greater glory. Flesh "can" exist in the outer court, but if you want to move beyond the outer court into the flow of the anointing and into the Holy Place of God, flesh "cannot" live there. Flesh cannot go into the Holy Place and it cannot go into the Holy of Holies. The flesh has to die. This is all preparation for the greater glory.

There's a move that's coming that will hit the Catholic Church. I've been prophesying this for several years now. God's not in a rush. God doesn't always want to do something quick, He wants to do something that will last. As I said above, there was a wave of sifting in the "Catholic" Church, and now there's a wave coming to the "evangelical" segment of the Body and there will be a wave of glory that is poured out on pure vessels--pure vessels that are fully yielded over to God. It will be a pure glory, a pure anointing, and a pure flow of the Spirit.

The Lord called a man in the Bible by the name of Josiah at a very young age. When the Book of the Law was found in the Temple, the condition of the nation was revealed and Josiah realized how far the people had strayed from God. So he set on a journey to restore true worship into the House of God. As he was dealing with these things, there were five idols that were found in the House of God. In 2 Kings 23 with the restoration of true worship, you find five idols that needed to be dealt with. These five idols represented three different aspects of idolatry that had crept in. God is dealing with these same idolatries today. He showed me He is shaking these idolatries down to the ground, which are found in 2 Kings 23.

First, there was Baal. Baal was the chief male deity. Then, there was Asherah, the wife of Baal. Also mentioned is the host of heaven, speaking of astrology. Then there was the god, Molech, which is where they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire as a sacrifice. Chemosh, another idol, was over witchcraft and idolatry. Baal was the main deity over all of them. Under him was Asherah who oversaw all of the sexual immorality that was taking place in the day. Molech was responsible for child sacrifice, and Chemosh, witchcraft, astrology and all of those things involving the occult.

These are the three main things that the Lord is shaking down in our day as He prepares His House for great glory: Asherah, Molech and Chemosh.

Asherah: Sexual Immorality

God is exposing and shaking down everything associated with Asherah, everything of sexual uncleanness. If there is any area that is hidden with sexual uncleanness, it is much better to let God deal with it in secret than to be exposed publicly. This is the longsuffering of God. He will be longsuffering and will deal with something in secret so that it doesn't have to be dealt with before people.

God desires people to be completely whole and thank God for ministries He is raising up to minister to the sexually broken. But if people harden their hearts, refusing to let God convict, heal and deliver them, especially if they are in positions of leadership, God's hand is forced to deal with them in a public way. But remember, long before God deals with something "in public," He has long tried to bring that person to repentance and freedom "in secret." This is His amazing grace and mercy. We must maintain God's standard--while staying humble, loving, and free from judgment and condemnation.

Molech: Child Sacrifice

God is shaking everything that has to do with child sacrifice, everything that is coming against the children of our nation including abortion, pornography, child abuse and everything that would try to take the life out of our children. On a national level, there is coming an exposing of child pornography and abuse. God's hand of justice will be seen in the sex-trade industry. God is taking it down to the ground.

In the area of abortion, God has tremendous mercy, love and restoration for women and men who have suffered this trauma and who turn to the Lord for healing and forgiveness. God is a God of mercy, love and restoration, and at the same time, He is shaking the spirit of Molech down--that spirit that tries to attack and kill the lives of our children. The Spirit of God is targeting that which has targeted our children.

Chemosh: Witchcraft

God is also shaking everything associated with Chemosh, the god that oversees astrology, occultism, and witchcraft. God is not just dealing with the obvious witchcraft and occultism that we know about. He's also dealing with it in the pulpit. "Witchcraft in the pulpit?", you may ask. Yes, it can even operate in a subtle way in the Church.

The root of the spirit of witchcraft is rebellion. The spirit of witchcraft is all about power, manipulation and control. The operation of the spirit of witchcraft is trying to manipulate through control and rebellion. And the day of spiritual witchcraft in our churches is--over. God is shaking that thing down to the ground. The Lord is uncovering and exposing emotional and spiritual abuse that is happening inside the Church. There are some in leadership positions, who rather than operate by the Spirit of God, are actually operating with a spirit of witchcraft and control.

Under the guise of "submission" people have subjected themselves to unhealthy control and abuse. For example, you may have heard, "If you leave this church, you'll never go anywhere. If you leave this church, you're out from under my covering and the devil's going to get you." This spirit uses manipulation and fear to control people. That is not the Spirit of God.

The Lord is bringing a purification to all the tactics of the flesh. Out of the fear of losing people, we begin to manipulate them with fear and anger and say, "If you leave, you'll be under a curse." I've heard these things come out of leader's mouths and I've seen sheep sitting under fear and control and they think that it's the will of God. God is shaking us free from unbiblical submission and is teaching leaders how to lead in a Godly way, as well as teaching the Body to submit in "true honor and respect" through healthy, whole leaders.

God wants a pure, clean Body from the head all the way down to the feet. And it's not just in the pulpit. Witchcraft in the form of manipulation and control can also come from the pews. God doesn't want any of it. You know, sheep are beautiful, they look all nice and cute and fluffy, but some of them have sharp teeth, and if you do something they don't like, they bite you with those teeth. God is shaking all of it down.

Let Him Shake it All Down As the Lord sweeps through His House, all of these things will be dealt with so that the greater weight of His glory can be trusted to us. Let the Lord shake whatever needs to be shaken in your lives. Let Him shake every attitude, every imagination and every motive. Let Him shake everything in your life that can be shaken. Because if you allow Him to shake it, what will be left afterwards will be the pure image of God.

You will be a vessel that His glory can flow through in an unlimited way. You will also be free to transition into the fullness of your spiritual inheritance and destiny. May God's grace abound towards you as you position yourself before Him in prayer to allow Him to do the deeper work for His greater glory.

Prayer: "Heavenly Father, shake everything in my life that is not of Your Holy Spirit. Strip me of anything unclean or demonic and expose and uncover any darkness hidden within me. I humbly come before Your Throne of Grace and ask for Your work to be done in my life. Keep my foundations strong and solid and may the enemy have no open doors in me. Prepare me to carry Your greater glory. In Jesus name, Amen."

News From Baja Harvest of Faith

Hello to everyone!
We pray this finds you all basking in the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ. We have had a crazy week here in our corner of the world.
It seems like all kinds of hell broke loose in the last five days, but I am
praising the Lord anyway. The "mayor" of thepueblo where the church is
located was arrested last night. He is 70 years old and has a tiny little
store, that sells soda and tortillas in front of the church where he lives
with his wife. Some teens were banging on his door late last night and
rattling the one glass window that they have and they scared the old fellow
and the wife. They were so scared that the mayor got his shotgun and shot
one into the sky. Big Mistake. The swat team came and extracted the guy from
his shack and he is incarcerated! We don't know exactly what the next step
is for him, but Frank is trying to get him out.

Martial law has been reinstated with a vengeance. Due to recent violent
attacks (murder of 9 officers total in one week) the governor asked the
President for troops and we received over 300 of the new Federales, they
wear black uniforms with jack boots &carry big guns. Their objective:seek
out the people who are killing the cops. That means that everyone is subject
to search upon request whether you are driving a vehicle or not they can and
do stop and search you. Francisco does not want me or the kids to deal with
this at all. So we are going to be staying close to home until it blows
over, these guys are not polite at all! This makes emailing difficult as it
restricts my movements so please bear with us.Evn out at the mission we are
seeing soldiers. This morning two troop carriers, long trucks that carry
about 80 men, passed by the mission heading up into the mountain behind the
shire. Evidently they have a tip on a landing strip or plantation of drugs
in the mountains behind us. I have noticed small airplanes buzzing us at
night so it may be a founded suspicion.

My car has been impounded due to a stupid sticket on the door that conflicts
with my registration. It happened yesterday, Frank was driving and they took
it at a routine roadblock. I have no idea how I can straighten it out and am
asking for Yahweh';s wisdom.
Then, last night, the wind was blowingh like crazy and a chunk of the roof
paper came off. Frank was going up on the roof when I left to sneak through
the parcelas on the dirt roads to send this. Spyvs Spy! Hopefully it is not
too bad up there. It looks like rain for sure too, so he needs to fix it
asap. Then tomorrow is the day he goes to The Valle de Guadalupe to pick up
staples which we sorely need.
We have begun feeding the group of Ixpa here. Breakfast and it is going
well. Truly a step of faith with all that is going on. The staples we
receive will help a lot in the feeding program but we still need to find a
source for potatos and beans as the MCCA is not permitted to import those
items.
My meeting with the spiritual leader of the local Ixpa has been postphoned
temporarily. One of the men who governs the tribe passed away on Saturday.He
left behind two wives and 18 children. (!!)
I do not unsderand their rituals or even their customs so in order not to
cause any offense we think it best that I stay away from their camp , just
give them space til it is over. I have not seen the wives or those children
since he passed away. They have been separated somewhat from the others, I
suppose it is temporary. The young lady who was slain in the spirit at the
mission turns out to be this fellows oldest female child. I cannot help but
wonder if the Lord was infusing her with special strength to confront the
death of her father. Until I can speak clearly I will not know I guess, but
it is interesting. I am somewhat frustrated by my inability to communicate.
I feel that It is taking such a long time to be able to tell them about the
Gospel in detail. then with this man dying I feel even more urgently that I
need to be able to explain things and I can not, Lord help me.
The women who care for the children and the children spend half the day here
at our house. They love the swings and the slide, but it is our trash hole
that has them really interested. three times yesterday I had to pull
toddlers from the hole where we burn our trash. They see stuff in there that
interests them I suppose,you know one man's trash is anothet man's treasure.
They have all learned to say "Pastor" which they cry out WHENEVER there is a
disagreement (100 times a day)forthat matter and most importantly of all
they have learned that Yahweh is God to us. Other than that I guess I just
have to be patient and undrestand that this will not be as easy as just
telling them stuff but they will learn the most from out behaviour, which
is, much more difficult, isn't it?


The other day when you called I had just intervened in a toddler war and discovered a huge tarantula in my clean
dishes(argh) and was somewhat befuddled to say the least.
Good news is that lots of people have been stopping to talk to Frank at the
building, people who are moving into the area. They are interested in
attending church with us! A lot of newfolksare moving into the area and we
are excited to have another group to share with. He said around 10 people
have talked to him this week alone, so praise God.


Blessings to everyone-
Love,deedee
I dreamed of being in a jungle and praising the Lord last night. it was one
of those powerful dreams that stay with you. I haven't had one like that in
a year. Do you know anyone in Brazil?

PSS: Marcial is recovering nicely from surgery and enjoying a little time
off. He says hello and be blessed! Also , Marcos, a guy we had like 4 years
ago brought a freind up here to detox yesterday. Marcos has 4 years clean
attending church in Tijuana where he now resides. Another victory for the
Lord!! Very encouraging.