BY DAVID KNUDTSON, VANCOUVER, WA

Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 From: "David A. Knudtson"

Hey Guys!

Do you remember when the "Prophetic" first showed up in the Vineyard in 88 and 89? I remember that a lot of the words (especially from Bob Jones) seemed to speak of things being "Golden" and "Gold" and things like that?

I have had a personal experience with God doing "Dental" miracles.

In 1985 I was a Kinship Leader at the Vineyard Anaheim. At that time I related to Eddie Espinoza who had oversight of a group of Kinship Leaders including me. We started a food ministry where the Kinships would prepare food and we would distribute food on Sunday afternoons near the Civic Center in Santa Ana, CA.

I remember we prayed for a homeless person one time with really bad tooth decay (hey, I guess I really believed that "Power Healing" stuff back then, huh!) and God "filled" his teeth. It is funny as I think back on this time in my life that there are so many miracles that I have just plain forgot about in my now busy "real" life.

Awesome things like the multiplication of bags of groceries (we gave out more food bags than we packed, NOT JUST A FEW, BUT A LOT MORE!), birth defects that were healed by the Power of God, etc.

This was a time in my life which was full of faith, life and the power of the Holy Spirit. I simply DID NOT believe that God WOULD NOT move!

Things were pretty basic. We invited the Holy Spirit. He showed up. Stuff happened!

Now that I am pushing 40 (hey, the big 40 is coming this August for me) from time to time I reflect back on this time and it seems that God gives me little "tokens" in my Son's life to encourage me. My Son loves "cutting edge" Christian Music (His Dad loves it too).

There is some song he listens too where one of the lyrics says "Doubt your Doubts and Believe your Beliefs".

So for any who are quick to "judge" this Gold stuff (i.e.-"How is this leading anyone to Christ"?) I would caution them to not make the mistake of putting God in a box! God (I mean, He is God, isn't He!) can move however He wants to move! If He wants to put Gold in people's mouth, hey, it sounds good to me. If God wants to multiply bags of groceries----sign me up! Let's be about the work of the Kingdom! Let's let the Living Water "gush" out of us! Hey, I'll take another drink!---SIGN ME UP!

I will Believe my Beliefs and Doubt my Doubts.

How God moved in 1985 (Signs & Wonders & Church Growth) and 1990 (The Prophetic) and 1994 (Toronto) is not exactly the same as how He is moving now! I thank God for it all! I have been a part of it all. There have been times that I was critical of how God was moving as the "next wave" hit. I wanted to keep Him "in a box" and just keep doing the things from 1985 over and over again!

I mean, when "The Prophetic" first showed up, I really thought it was weird! But it was God!

When the "Toronto" stuff started, at first I really thought it was "Wacked" (at least until I got blasted myself) but it was God!

So hopefully I am learning to be less critical of how God moves today!

I mean after all HE is God.

So if God wants to give me manifestations of "Gold"----sign me up! It's all about God and the Blessings He gives us as we do the work of the Kingdom.

David Knudtson Knudtsond@mlssw.com