“Everything in the kingdom of God is governed by and through relationships” (Apostle Richard Wright, “Not Many Fathers;” Copyright, 1993).
While I was in prayer early one morning in November of 2010, the Spirit of the Lord spoke to my heart and said, “I will assimilate you with great men and people of like faith.”
I received the word of the Lord with joyous expectation but at the same time I began to process this locution to my heart.
My wife, Caroline, and I have a rich heritage. We have been blessed to know and rub shoulders with some of the greatest men of God of the twentieth century. Caroline grew up under the ministry of Jack Coe. She attended his church and his school in Dallas, Texas. She saw first-hand, the miracles wrought under the hands of this mighty man of God. Not only that, but she witnessed the ministries of men such as William Branham and others whom God superlatively used in the post-war Healing Revival of the late forties and early fifties.
Caroline and I attended many meetings of God’s miracle man, A. A. Allen. What a powerful man of God he was! We both loved him so much. I recall the last meeting we ever saw him at before his untimely death in 1970. He was preaching at Will Rogers Memorial Auditorium in Ft. Worth, Texas. Caroline and I got there early so we could get a front-row seat. When he came out on the platform before the service, he saw me and walked to the edge of the platform (where I met him) and we spoke together. I introduced my soon-to-be wife to him and asked for his blessing. He came off the platform, laid his hands on us and prayed as only Bro. Allen could pray. It was a great service that night, and on the way home, Caroline said to me, “Brian, we will never see Bro. Allen on this earth again.” I was shocked! “No!” I replied, “You are mistaken.”
A few months later, it happened just as my precious wife had discerned. I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news of his sudden passing. I couldn’t believe it! I immediately called Miracle Valley and the office staff there confirmed it. I felt like my world was going to fall apart. I wept long and bitterly. Although I had never got to spend as much time with him as some others had, I knew him enough to know his heart and still remember the kind words he always spoke to me, whether it was in his home or sitting on his platform.
Our trek in ministry has often been like a roller coaster ride. For the past many years, I often felt like I was floundering, looking for that connection that would give asseveration to the call of God upon my life. During those seasons of ministry, at intervals I hooked up with various denominations and aligned myself with them so as to have a sense of correlation to or being a part of something other than my own. In most instances, much to my chagrin, I had to compromise my doctrinal stance which distressed my situation even more so. Like a corporate graphic depicting its progress, there were highs and there were lows.
Caroline and I have been in full-time ministry together (as husband and wife) for over forty-one years! Each of us respectively were involved in ministry before we were married. Together we have traveled the length and breadth of this great nation as well as Canada, preaching revivals and building churches. We have seen phenomenal moves of God, some that touched entire communities for the kingdom of God!
However, during all of the years of traveling, singing and preaching, we always felt somehow “disconnected.” Although, during those years, I was at times ordained with various major denominations, there was no relationship; only the sense of belonging to a religious system that lent some credence to what and who we were.
A few years ago, in desperation, I re-joined a major Pentecostal denomination. As I filled out the application forms for reinstatement, completed the examinations and was interviewed by those in authority, everything inside of me was screaming, “Don’t do it!” but I followed suit in spite of what my heart was telling me. This last-ditch attempt failed miserably and after only a year with the denomination, I finally said, “I’ve had enough,” and defected.
Alone again as a freelancer, I sought the face of God for direction. How the Holy Ghost orchestrated everything was strange and certainly inexplicable at first. In our “wilderness” wandering, Caroline and I felt ourselves drawn to apostolic settings. You see, I was raised in that environment, but in my ministerial journey I had surrendered some of my foundational credo to the theorems of the denominations that I served. Furthermore, although I had some powerful ministry fathers as a boy, my early experiences in apostolicism were not all “joy unspeakable and full of glory.”
I remember telling some dear friends of mine at a Bible study that I was conducting, “I’m not sure what’s going on in our lives. All I can tell you is that we are on a journey.” I am pretty sure most of them did not understand what I was talking about, not because they lacked intelligence, but because it was mysterious to us as well. The Holy Ghost was up to something, but we just had not figured it out yet.
As the past few years ensued, the Holy Ghost drove me back into the Word of God with intense study and prayer. The Lord instructed me to read His Word like I was reading it for the very first time and put aside some crendenda that I had been programmed to accept as truth. What it did to me belief system was of such enormity that for all these years I have kept silent about it. I knew that revealing what I had discovered, could potentially alienate friendships and ministerial relationships.
Even though I have read and studied the Bible since I was a child, with amazing clarity, the Spirit of God began to once again reveal the Book that He had authored and the impartance of it totally transformed my spiritual posture! The illumination of truth brought me back to the verity that God is one and not a trinity of persons (Duet. 6:4; Eph. 4:5; I Tim. 3:16). My eschatology changed from one that ends in defeat to one of glorious and ultimate victory! The book of Revelation became a new book to me. No longer was it a presentation of mystical and futuristric cataclysmic events such as an antichrist who is supposed to rule the world, together with a great tribulation that will plunge this planet into utter chaos and a secret rapture to pluck us out of here before all hell breaks loose. Alternately, it became the glorious revelation of JESUS CHRIST and His victory over evil. I also discovered that, contrary to what many in old traditional Pentecostal settings have taught, you cannot dress up the flesh and make it holy. Holiness is the nature of God within in your spirit; not legislated legalisms for dress or adornment.
The word of the Lord to me back in November began coming to pass! One of the first persons to call me was a profoundly anointed man of God who has played the Hammond organ for some of the greatest preachers who have ever graced this planet! He has ministered in 58 countries of the world and is considered a friend to hundreds (perhaps, thousands) of preachers. I was thrilled to hear his voice on the phone, and as we conversed, we immediately became friends. Since that day, he has encouraged and edified me over and over again and he has yet to hear me preach (2 Cor. 5:16)! Other renowned men of God began calling me and speaking affirmation into my life. Since then, the Lord has not only been assimilating us with seasoned generals of God, but also associating us with those of like precious faith.
Most people in this postmodern era of Christendom do not understand the importance or the necessity of relationships in the Kingdom. Everyone just sort of “does their own thing” and sees no need for that divine connection or accountability to apostolic headship. “For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:21).
Apostle Richard Wright from Milwaukee, Oregon called me a few days ago. His pleasant spirit and averment was so uplifting. In his book, “Not Many Sons,” he writes, “Before we ever become a man or woman of God, we must first become sons and daughters!” (page 21). He further talks about “Redefining Family” and says “that even though Timothy was an apostle, he still needed a father” (page 27). Paul was willing to be a father to Timothy, and he a son to Paul. “Timothy’s circumcision changed his identity from his natural father to his spiritual father” (page 26).
Jesus redefined “family” when His disciples said, “Behold Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak to You” (Matt. 12:47, NASB). Jesus “answered the one who was telling Him and said, Who is My mother and who are My brothers? And stretching out His hand towards His disciples, He said, Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother” (Matt. 12: 48-50, NASB).
In Philippians 2, the apostle Paul wrote that Timothy had a “kindred spirit” and “you know of his proven worth haw he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father” (Phil. 2:22). The word “proven” is the Greek word “dokime,” which means “the process or result of trial; proving.” It means “a specimen of tried worth.” Their relationship had gone through trials and tests, but unlike Demas, who forsook Paul (2 Tim. 4:10), Timothy had proven himself faithful.
“Sons do the work of their fathers. They have the minds of their fathers and the same burdens. It is the goal of fathers to raise up their sons to carry on with the vision…to carry on their message when they themselves cannot be present. There was an impartation, not only through the laying on of Paul’s hands (2 Tim. 1:6), but there was an impartation through demonstration as Timothy watched Paul’s life and ministry…as Timothy observed Paul during times of trials, beatings, shipwreck and imprisonment, as well as times of ministry” (Apostle Richard Wright, “Not Many Sons;” page 30; Copyright, 2000).
The older I get, the more I realize just how vital kingdom relationships are. No man is an island. We all need each other. God has given each one of us a ministry that is necessary to the spreading of the kingdom of God in the earth. However, of necessity, we must repair the breaches in relationships (Malachi 4:6), so the will of God is done “in earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).
When Deborah, that great judge of Israel, sent for Barak to help her defeat the Canaanitish king, Jabin, who had launched a harsh oppression on the people of God, he replied, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go" (Judges 4:8). Deborah said, “I will surely go with you…”
