by Vicki Campbell

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (John 8:36)

They say that when an elephant is captured in the wild, they tie its leg to a huge banyon tree in order to train it. Of course, the elephant will do everything within its power to free itself. However, in time, and after much effort, he finally realizes that when he pulls on that leg, he isn’t going anywhere. Once he has tamed down and become accustomed to his “prison,” the owner can then untie his leg and take him where he wants to go. Then, when he needs to confine him, all he has to do is tie his leg to a stake, and the elephant will stay put. 

The elephant has the strength and ability to easily pull up that stake and go wherever he wanted, but because of his conditioning, he believes that when he feels the tug of the rope around that leg, he is helpless to move and doesn’t even try to get free.

Then, I’m sure you’ve heard the story about the trained fleas. The fleas are captured and put into a jar with the lid tightened. Like the elephants, the fleas keep trying to jump out. Before long they figure out when they jump to the top, they will end up with a headache from banging their heads on the lid. The fleas soon learn their limitations and know just how high they can jump in their new home.

Once they’ve become accustomed to this, you can take the lid off of the jar. The fleas are now free to leave and go visit the nearest cat or dog, but they won’t. Even though they’ve gained their freedom, they still jump around in the jar just like the lid was still in place.

One of my favorite stories, though, comes from an old western comedy, Support Your Local Sheriff.  James Garner has been made sheriff in this rinky-dink town. When he goes into his office and jailhouse, he discovers that there are no bars on any of the cells. When he turns around with a perplexed expression, they quickly explain that they just haven’t come in yet. Without a word, the sheriff gets a bucket of red paint, and dipping his brush into it, proceeds to splatter red paint in a line where the bars should go.

It isn’t long before he must arrest and lock up a bandit, who thinks a breakout will be a cinch in his new home. However, the sheriff, nonchalantly, props his legs up on the desk and asks this prisoner if he sees the red line. He tells him it’s the result of what happened to the last guy who tried to break out . . . poor fellow! Of course, the prisoner believes this story to the point that when his buddies try to come to his rescue, he won’t leave.

It’s easy when you’re on the outside looking in at each of these—the elephant, the fleas, and the bandit—to see how ridiculous it seems for any of them to be confined to their make-believe prisons. It seems so obvious to us that they are free to go and do what they want. However, with the truth being distorted, they are deceived into believing that they must live in these self-made prisons.

Years ago, God gave Bill a dream where he saw row after row of jail cells. The prisoners in these cells weren’t criminals. No! They were Christians. Some needed to be freed from sickness and disease. Some needed to be freed from a spirit of poverty. Still, others needed to be freed from Satan’s bondages and traps that they had fallen into. God told Bill that through the power of His Spirit, he was to unlock these prison doors so that His children could be set free.

It is most exciting when we see sinners freed from their sins and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. It is also exciting when we see Christians healed, set free, and delivered. Jesus desires for us to be free in Him.

Unfortunately, in our quest to unlock the prison doors and set them free, we see many Christians who continue to sit in their prison cells with the door wide open. They have the ability to walk out, but they don’t. For various reasons, Satan has deceived them into believing that they are still prisoners.

One example that comes to mind is the woman who came into a service on crutches. She was on disability and said she wanted healed. Bro. Bill prayed for her, and she was healed. She threw her crutches down and ran all over the church. Some time later, we asked someone about her, and I couldn’t believe what I was told.

The woman, fully healed, knew that she was no longer eligible for disability and became concerned how she would live, until she talked herself right back into her sickness. She believed the lies of the devil. Didn’t she realize that if Jesus set her free from her sickness, he would also make a way for her to earn a living? She chose to live in her self-made prison rather than accept the freedom Jesus had given her. Don’t be like her! Choose to live free in Jesus!

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.  (John 8:32)

Vicki

This story begins in the foothills of a little mountain town called Ravenna Kentucky about 35 miles east of Richmond.  The church, New Vision Full Gospel, is located in the middle of a residential area.  Pastor Buford Powell, with just a small 10 or15 person congregation, told the Lord he would take all the people that other churches did not want.  A mighty revival under the leadership of Pastor Shaun Campbell came to this little church in October of 2007 and the church grew to over 150 with 79 people giving their lives to the Lord!.  Drug dealers and whiskey moonshiners were saved and gave their lives to Jesus.

Pastor Shaun asked me to come during that great outpouring to help him with the masses of people who needed not only to be saved, but healed of all sorts of sicknesses and diseases.  Many were healed during that wonderful time in which the Lord poured out his goodness upon his people.

Since that time in 2007, I have been invited back on a regular basis, to preach the gospel and lay hands on the sick!  Pastor Buford Powell along with his wife Lisa are ministers of great faith!  It is a pleasure each time I come to see the miracles that God will do.

a blinded eye open

several deaf ears open

a diseased throat healed

carpal tunnel in both wrist healed

numbers of necks and backs healed

severe allergic reactions healed in a small boy

The list would go on and on!!!

In November, our ministry team fasted and prayed for the meeting coming up.  We were prepared to preach the morning service at 11:00 am, and the evening service at 6:00 pm.  The Lord spoke so plain proclaiming a shaking of the entire city!   

After the message, we moved into the altar service and the people began to come forward, I saw a woman with an oxygen bottle who was coming up the isle to be prayed for.  I began to question her about her condition, as far as I know, I had never seen this woman before in my life.  She was an above middle age woman.  Her appearance was sickly with about all the color gone out of her face.

I learned later that she has had severe breathing problems for over 50 years.  As a matter of fact, she began having these problems at the age of nine years old when the doctor said she would not live to be ten.

Over 50 years of medication, inhalers, and other paraphernalia had kept her alive until, at this point, she was 62 years old, and suffering severely with lung disability.  The doctors said that her lung capacity was about 20 percent.  The doctors continued that the inside of her lung was like leather, not being able to expand or extract.  The only thing that will keep you alive is a lung transplant!  “Even then,” the doctor went on, “you will have to live in a bubble with perfect atmosphere.  Pastor Powell revealed to me, without her oxygen bottle, she could not walk to the altar from her seat (about 20 feet) without passing out.
The Miracle

It was November 22nd, 2009, about 1:00 pm when all that changed.  She came walking forward at our great altar call carrying her oxygen with her as usual.  She had no idea, this would be the last she would ever need it.  As she arrived, I told her to remove the oxygen from her face, telling her it would never be required again.  She quickly was obedient to the Lord, removing the hoses and setting the tank on the floor beside her. 

Prophetic message began to come forward saying, “The inside of your lungs are like leather, having no ability to expand or extract, but from this moment forward, I am giving you a new lining for your lungs.”   I laid my hands on her face.  Immediately she fell to the floor completely restored by the power of almighty God! 

The evening service was exciting as we all praised the Lord with the church’s wonderful praise and worship.  All of a sudden, the back door opened and in walked the woman who was healed with no oxygen attached to her.  A roar of applause and clapping of hands filled the sanctuary as she came and took her seat toward the back!  She had gone several hours now with no help from neither medication or oxygen from a tank!  What a service we had as people were healed from the back to the front.  The altar was filled with every person in the building wanting prayer for whatever they needed from God.  We saw numbers and numbers of healings and rededications to the Lord Jesus! 

Pastor Buford called me about four weeks later to testify about the wonderful move of God they had all experienced.  Then he told me about several miracles including the woman who was miraculously healed of severe lung disease.  She had not had any oxygen from the tank for a month.  The doctor’s are now saying that she has truly received a miracle.  Checking her oxygen level, they discovered she has 91.5% oxygen in her blood without any outside help of medications or oxygen from a bottle.  Normal level is anywhere from 90 to 100%.  God has performed a supernatural healing this woman will never forget.  She has a new life and will live many more years, thanks to God himself who loves people, and will make them whole if they will believe!

 Pastor Buford called me again December 15th, 2009, six weeks after the miracle.  He told me that the woman was making a trip to one of the western states to show her sister what God has done in her life. 

Since the doctor said the only hope is a transplant, we know that God indeed did transplant a brand new lung, a heavenly surgery. 

Thank God for his signs, wonders, and miracles that continue even in the year of 2009.  His love and mercy is to all generations!

from: Evangelist Bill Campbell  

While meditating on what I should write about this month, I felt that the topic, “Resurrection Power” would be a good subject for the Easter celebration, so I began jotting down some thought-provoking notes that I could use in this devotional.  Then, the Lord started showing me all of the “threes” associated with Jesus, especially in association with his death and resurrection. The number “3” represents resurrection power. Of course, I was already aware of the most obvious ones, but the more I began digging, the more fascinated I became with my findings. I’m not claiming this to be an exhaustive list — you may know of others. Nevertheless, these facts all point to the truth of the supernatural resurrection power of our Lord Jesus.  

Jesus is 1/3 of the Trinity — the Godhead — three in one: God, the Father; Jesus, the son; and the Holy Spirit, who is with us today.  Jesus was 30 years old when he began his ministry. His ministry began immediately following Satan’s three temptations in the wilderness. His earthly ministry lasted three years. Then, He was crucified when he was 33 years old.  Jesus prophesied of his own death and resurrection in John 2:19 saying, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” speaking of his body. He also spoke of his own death and resurrection in Matthew 12, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”  During the last supper, Jesus prophesied that Peter would deny him three times before the cock crowed.. Scholars say the cock is known to crow during the 3rd watch of the night, which is between 12:00 midnight and 3:00 am. With this in mind, Peter denied knowing Jesus three times during the 3rd watch of the night, and the cock probably crowed about 3:00 am.

After Jesus’ resurrection, Peter would have to re-affirm his devotion for Jesus three times when Jesus asked him three times, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?”

Following the last supper, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane. Three of his disciples, Peter, James, & John went with him into the garden to pray. Jesus prayed in the garden three separate times; the Bible records the first time was for one hour. If the other two times were also one hour, Jesus would have prayed a total of three hours.  Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss for 30 pieces of silver.  When the soldiers led Jesus away, he was tried before three official leaders: Caiaphas, Pilate, and HerodPilate spoke of Jesus’ innocence three times, saying that he found no fault in him.  Pilate appealed to three different groups: the Sanhedrin, the crowd of angry people, and the priests.  The soldiers whipped Jesus 39 times with a cat of nine tails. It was a whip with a piece of metal or bone attached to each of nine separate strands. That means Jesus was beat with 351 strands and pieces of metal or bone (351 divides evenly by 3).   When they laid Jesus on the cross, they pounded three nails or spikes into his flesh. There were three men crucified that day on three crosses.

The sign on the cross, “This is the King of the Jews” was written in 3 languages: Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.  The Bible names three women who were at the cross of Jesus: Mary Magdalene; Mary, the mother of James & Joses; and the mother of Zebedee’s children.

Three drinks were offered to Jesus: on his arrival at Calvary; on the cross before the malefactor cried for mercy; and at the end of His life.  The first three words Jesus spoke on the cross were, “Father, forgive them.” Jesus, also, had to forgive to be the perfect sacrifice for us.  Darkness came upon the earth for three hours before he died at 3:00.  Three supernatural events took place at his death: an earthquake, the temple veil was torn in two, and the dead were raised and seen walking.  Three women came to the tomb early Sunday morning: Mary Magdalene; Mary, the mother of James; and Salome.  The title, Lord Jesus, is first mentioned in Luke 24:3 following his resurrection. It is found 33 times in the New Testament.

The account of Jesus’ death — from the garden where He was arrested to his resurrection — is recorded in three chapters of all four gospels: Matthew 26-28; Mark 14-16; Luke   22-24; and John 18-20.  It’s clear to see that God loved us so much that he created a perfect plan, with every detail pointing toward the resurrected Jesus as our perfect sacrifice, bridging the gap between lost humanity and Himself. I’m so glad he did. Aren’t you?  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Vicki