The Latest Happenings

In a recent article in the Globe and Mail, an English woman talks about her experience of being sent from England to Canada as a child because her country "deemed her to be a burden." She and her three siblings were taken away from her single mother and she was sent to Canada at 11 years of age. She grew up thinking that her mother had abandoned her. It was an ugly chapter in Britain's child welfare policy. When she asked her mother later about it, the mother said, "I blacked it all out." When the daughter was asked about how she handled the experience, she said, "I put these things at the back of my mind and got on with life - what else can you do?"

You can see that one strategy people use to deal with painful experiences is to erect walls and to put memories away. Unfortunately, the memories are not gone and they tend to resurface at the most inappropriate times. The rhetorical question "what else can I do?" is interesting because it implies that there is nothing else you can do and that using a wall is the only solution.

The good news is that there really is another option. Instead of avoiding the issue, you can choose with your free will to invite Jesus into the memory/experience. You can ask Him to take the pain away and replace the hopelessness with the Truth that He wants you to receive. His Truth will set you free. Too many people are not aware that Jesus wants to help them deal with painful experiences. Let me encourage you to invite Jesus into your painful memories or situations and ask Him to speak truth and life into your mind. You might be surprised to find how easy it is to have pain free memories. Then you too can take down your walls.

Check out the prayers in the Training Manual on lovehealstv.com.

Hi Alf

I just wanted to let you know that I read your book "Free To Be Me"
It spoke to me so much. I struggled with drugs for 3 to 4 years now
and have tried everything from rehab to giving up all my rights to
make sure I don't go out and get the drugs. I have always loved the
Lord and followed Him but for a season I was so depressed and went to
drugs to comfort my pain. I never got to the root of the cause and
never knew why I did the drugs. I went to anyone that would pray for
me to be delivered from this addiction but it would help for a bit
and then I would go back. Then I read your book and it is like I am
experiencing freedom like I never knew before. it was like the book
was written for me. I didn't realize I had so many things hindering
me. I want to thank you for writing the book because it has changed
me completely. I have now realized what things were hindering my
walk with Christ. Things like feeling unworthy and thinking I had to
pay for my sins which was really pride I needed to deal with and my
addiction and feelings of being stupid and the list goes on. I have
really been transformed. I don't even want the drug anymore. I feel
free for the first time in my life. I now know what the root causes
were for my addiction.

Thanks and God bless you
Jen from Mississauga

You too can download "Free To Be Me" for free on lovehealstv.com and please tell others as well that they can access the book for free.

Today I was praying and I invited Jesus and the Holy Spirit to fill me with love and joy. After stilling myself and listening, I clearly heard, "I am your joy." For the first time, I realized that the joy I was feeling was in fact God in me. As it says in 1 Thessalonians 1:6, "With the joy given by the Holy Spirit." Wow! The joy I was feeling had been given to me by the Holy Spirit. As it says in Galatians 5:22, " the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy ..." I was feeling the fruit of the Holy Spirit. I had asked and God allowed me to know that the joy was actually His presence. Our experience with God can be so subtle and yet so profound. I ran to tell Martha about this discovery. Once again, the Scripture is true. Let me leave you with the prayer of Romans 15:13, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy."

November, 2009 China Report - Agape Healing International - Martha and Alf Davis

There are 3 different types of churches in China:

• the Beijing International Fellowship Church which focuses on foreigners and ex-patriats - it is necessary to show a passport at this church; there is no limit on numbers
• the Three Self Church that is self governed, self supported & self propagating - this is a government approved church.
• the underground/house church which is made up of groups from 10 to 50 people.

The China government seems more open to Christianity:

• groups under 200 people are less scrutinized
• the Three Self Church doesn't need to submit sermons for approval now
• house churches are acceptable as long as they register and inform the gov. rep

Christianity appears to be cooling as persecution drops:

• the rural church (4% of population) is mainly female and aging as males move to the cities
• only 1% (170,000, people) of Beijing is Christian, as the population worship idols & materialism
• the Beijing International Fellowship Church is still vibrant, but it focuses on foreigners and ex-patriats with passports
• the Singapore and Taiwan Chinese seem more active and committed to Christianity than the national Chinese
   

Idol and ancestral worship is still dominant:
 

• in Xiamen, most stores and restaurants still have an idol or idols out front
• many Chinese worship a mixture of Buddism, idols and ancestors
• dead ancestors are worshipped as gods living after life
• the temples are still actively visited as the center of spiritual life
• families purchase and burn paper money, paper houses, paper cars, paper cellphones etc for their ancestors, so that their relatives will have these things in their next life
• the smoke of the burning incense is how their prayers rise up to the ancestors
• they throw two red discs on the floor to receive an indication of God's will - three consecutive answers with one side up and one side down equals a yes

Chinese economic growth is spectacular:
 

• Canada represents 2% of the Chinese population
• where our growth is flat, they are still growing 8 to 9%
• when they do something, they do it quickly - roads, trains to airports, hospitals
• five years ago where there was nothing in Xiamen, there is now a huge Trade Centre, hotels, apartments and restaurants
• in the last two years alone, there are fewer bicycles and more cars
• China is open to windmill power generators and green technology
• China seems to be concerned with good governance, participatory democracy with feedback from the bottom, environmental issues, health concerns and encouraging entrepreneurship - business and making profits is in
• where we put up a one 20 story building, they put up 10 forty story buildings
• there are fewer police and troops visible and construction cranes everywhere
• the government just wants the world to see how hard they are trying to help their population
• the Chinese are hard working, disciplined, energetic people who are making things happen
   

Christ-centered inner healing:
 

• the Chinese people have the same mental and emotional challenges as any other population
• Christ-centered inner healing works as effectively in China as elsewhere
• all of the 11 people I counseled were helped significantly
• the training was particularly well received in Xiamen (50 people)
• our contact in Xiamen, Tan Kah Beng, is a Singaporean missionary who has worked in China for years. He and his wife Annie run Care Corner Counselling Centre, as well as a church, a Christian book store and an outreach to university students. They connect with a big Taiwan population in Xiamen. Tan is well known to other pastors throughout China & wants to bring Christian counseling to all the Chinese provinces.
   

Warm Thanks to Jane and Teo Phoon in Beijing, Annie and Tan Beng in Xiamen and Phillip Wang in Gulangyu for such generosity and warm hospitality.

Alf received a new name in China. They had trouble saying the name Alf, so he became Tafu which means "big blessing" in Chinese.

Thanks for your interest and support,

You have heard the childhood expression, "Sticks and stones will hurt my bones, but words will never hurt me." Well, it is a lie! Words do hurt. In fact, is is precisely the hurtful words that are embedded in our memories that wound us. I was working with a client this week and she explained how her family continuously abused and attacked her verbally and it was those specific words that were at the root of her problem. As Terry Bone points out in his book "The Power of Blessings", it is the job of the parents to bless their children, not to wound them. And it says in James 3:10, "Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing." So, let us find ways to bless people and honestly encourage with words of praise and upbuilding. Love is about life. Speak the loving words that add life to those around you, especially children.