His Name is as Ointment

I came across a webpage this morning that mentioned Shekinah Fellowship. Apparently he was involved in the ministry of Shekinah. I was impressed with this fellow's writing skills. I was also deeply touched by some of what he wrote.

http://www.trinitymcc.com/prayer/Meditations/meditation_6.htm

I am not a theologist or a scholar when it comes to deep biblical things. Although I have learned from my many years of listening to Pastor Chuck Smith expounding upon the biblical text, that no scripture will ever conflict with another text. All texts go hand in hand. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. The same spirit inspiring the authors of the Gospels also inspired the men who wrote the rest of the Bible.

This fellow said:

" I've found that in most cases by substituting the ancient word "eunuch" with today's word "gay", it all begins to make sense...Jesus did in fact address the issue head on in Matthew 19:12 by stating that "There are some eunuchs who are born that way from their mothers' wombs."

My red flag went up on that one. There are some text that confront this fellow's interpretation.

Just weeks before Lonnie Frisbee passed away he told me:

"Because God used me and moved through me powerfully, I thought that in one sense it was His acceptance of my life style. I thought that God was kind of turning His head the other way and making an exception in my case. I was wrong!"

Brant Baker once said, "I have learned to sin in the presence of the Lord."

Since I was only an attendee when this fellow ministered at Shekinah Fellowship. I think it only right that I let another man who served along side of this fellow at Shekinah address his position.

Here is a webpage with an article by this man entitled:

"Responding to Pro-Gay Theology"

It was written by a man who was deeply involved in the ministry of Shekinah Fellowship with Brant Baker. His name is Joe Dallas. Joe has walked on both sides of the fence and knows from first hand experience what he speaks about. He rightly divides the Word of truth in such a way that there can be no misunderstanding the biblical position.

Here is the article

http://www.leaderu.com/jhs/dallas.html

Here is Joe's story

http://www.stonewallrevisited.com/pages/joe_d.html

Who is the pastor of Shekinah Fellowship today?

Some of you have been courious as to who the pastor of Shekinah Fellowship is today. So I have uploaded a video of pastor Tilson Schumate and his wife.http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5273151088851586980&q=tilson&hl=en

This video is from 1984 when they first appeared on the TBN "Praise the Lord!" program. Tilson was the world's champion of "wheelie's" in the Guinness book of world records at one time. He used this talent to spread the gospel.

Pastor Tilson comes from a long line of men of God as does his wife Melody. They have been happily married since 1973. Their passion is getting the gospel message out anyway that they can. Like Paul the tent maker they have supported every ministry that God has called them to. Even to the point of selling their home to plant a ministry at Lake Havasu for a few years. That is why we always provide Brant Baker's sermons freely on line. We do not believe in using the things of God for personal financial gain.

This ministry team of Tilson and Melodi has ministered from the desert places to the Ritz Carlton hotel in Dana Point California. They go where the Spirit of the Lord leads them. Tilson is a building contractor and Melodi is a real estate agent.

They are available as guest speakers to any group that request them. Their ministry is a breath of fresh air in the routines of daily ministry. And yes, people have been healed during their services. People have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit when they speak. They have a passion for young people to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Pastor Tilson was a personal friend of Lonnie Frisbee and Brant Baker. Their Christmas service of 1992 had invited Lonnie to be the guest speaker. You can hear a little of that incredible meeting here http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6222277981300711349&q=Lonnie+Frisbee&hl=en

Before I run off to work today, I wanted to get something to you that has been a thorn in my side for awhile...in the hopes that someone out there who is a better writer than I will be able to do what I could not do.

After submitting the "Brant Baker Shekinah Fellowship" to Wikipedia on 1/8/06 I received a rejection notice from user Zoe who now has blocked "Brant Baker Shekinah Fellowship" from Wikipedia. Do you think "Zoe" is correct in his assertion? I tried about five times to get him to accept my article on Shekinah Fellowship and Brant. Finally in frustration I gave up.


Perhaps one of you who are reading this might be able to get an article on Wikipedia about Shekinah. Now that I have a few Brant videos on Google video http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Brant+Baker&hl=en and the Shekinah pictures on my website http://groups.msn.com/DesertMinistry/revbrantbaker.msnw, Zoe will be able to realize that Brant Baker had a very large impact in his "field."

Brant was very young when he started Shekinah, which quickly grew into a very large traveling ministry team of over two hundred people. I think that alone puts him beyond your ordinary minister. And how many ministers have had thousands of people healed during their services? And how many ministers can say that they were the first to be featured on Trinity Broadcasting Network? And how many ministers have gotten to hold healing services in Amiee Semple Mcpherson's pulpit in Angelus Temple, Angelus Temple, a 5,300 seat auditorium, and had people receive healing?


Here is what Zoe said to me:

"Please see WP:BIO. Despite the length of your article, it fails to mention anything that puts this person beyond your ordinary minister. User:Zoe(talk) 04:20, 9 January 2006 (UTC)"



Thanks
Surfer51

What is going on here?

Who is bringing Shekinah Fellowship into the spotlight?

I attended Shekinah Fellowship only. I used to fill my hippie van with anyone that would come with me to the services.I first met Brant Baker when my spiritual father and personal friend, Lonnie Frisbee, introduced us at Brant's clothing store in Costa Mesa CA. I thought Brant was a bit odd at that time. Lonnie didn't seem to care.It wasn't until six years later that I encountered Brant once again. This time he was in a strip mall on 7th street in Long Beach CA.

He was on a makeshift stage with the lights dimmed except for a few lights that were trained on him. He was speaking on the topic of, "Sir, we would see Jesus." A sentence from the gospel of John.

John 12:21The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

Now this is a simple enough topic you would think. Somehow there was a different dimension that everyone crammed into that little space was experiencing. While Brant was not saying anything worthy of the deeper life club the words that he was saying were powerfully anointed and had great impact.

The crowd was mesmerized and hung on every word. I knew that this was the evidence of a man of God who was anointed to preach.The difference between the Brant I met in a clothing store and the Brant in this strip mall store front was incredible. This guy was on fire! His words were alive! We were being stirred up inside by the Holy Spirit.

I left that place glowing in the Holy Spirit. The next day I woke up still in the Holy Spirit. I thought to my self that this has got to be God at work. So I determined to go back the next Saturday night.You guessed it, the same thing happened. I began to notice an increase of divine encounters with others who were getting saved through me telling them about Christ. I felt like my "spiritual batteries" were getting charged up at Shekinah Fellowship on Saturday nights. And would deplete slowly through out the week. There began a pattern of charging up on Saturdays and lots of wonderful street ministry throughout the week.That was the extent of my Shekinah experience.

Brant told me in 1973 that I belonged in the ministry of Shekinah. At that time I got a check in my spirit that I was to remain in Laguna Beach where I lived at the time. Then in 1992 I got a phone call at 3:30 AM. It was Tilson Schumate the pastor of Shekinah Fellowship. He told me that God had told him to ordain me. Apparently Tilson, after visiting me ministering in a park on a Friday night, could not get to sleep. God was telling him to ordain me.

He struggled with it for quite some time before his wife told him to call me.I felt the Lord wanted me to go along with it. Even though I wasn't seeking it nor did I need it for what I was doing. But I had learned to listen to the Spirit of God.

Ok, so there I was ordained, and no marching orders from on high to speak of. Nothing. And to make matters worse a close friend got very jealous that I had gotten ordained. Great. Sigh...

I never did anything with that ordination, never needed it. My ministry always took place to the body at large, outside the organized church.

Fast forward to 2006. I had saved a few of Brant Baker's sermons on cassette tapes. I was feeling like I was to share them with others. I kept putting it off. Then you know how the Lord will persist in leaning on you until you respond. After a few people telling me that I should share my Brant sermons, I start to get the picture.

I decided that the best way to go about this is to make a sort of video that I could upload to Google videos. That way an unlimited amount of people could have access to them.

Now I know there are some who would read this and think...gee...you could have made them into MP3's and sold them or transcribed them and sold them as books. That is what I find wrong with the "Christian" world of today. Everyone wants to make a buck it seems. When I got saved in 1967 you had to go to a Catholic Bookstore if you wanted to read Christian books. There just was not any other Christian bookstores around. I was a frequent visitor to Sacred Heart Treasure House in Costa Mesa...LOL

So I finally figure out how to get audio from a cassette tape and into my computer and clean it up enough that you could understand it. Then I have to hook it up to a video so I can be accepted as a video by Google. It took me days to do this. The big moment comes to upload the results to Google video. As the slow process of uploading is taking place, unexpectedly the Holy Spirit falls upon me in my chair. I start to cry as He reminds me of Brant Baker telling me, so many years ago, "David, you belong in this ministry." I cried as I became aware that what I was doing at that moment was directly related to Brant's statement to me.

Now the fruit. I get an email from a friend who tells me he had just spoken with Paul Cain. Paul tells him that someone had forwarded that Brant video to him and he watched it. Paul remembered having once seen Brant at a North Hollywood church and felt that Brant was anointed. Paul was stunned when a few days later he attended a pastors conference and the head speaker starts talking about that first Brant Baker video that I uploaded!

You know, as of this very moment that particular video has been viewed 608 times.

Then I start getting emails from people who were in the choir or the ministry of Shekinah. Some sent pictures and some sent tapes of Brant's preaching. I have posted the pictures on my website and am currently making more videos as time permits. So check in with Google video search engine from time to time.

A few people were holding me at arms length...as if I was trying to start something or profit from Shekinah's name.

No! Never! I loved Shekinah Fellowship. Those people were all unique and played a part in making Shekinah what it was. God's Spirit moved in answer to the people who dedicated their efforts to Shekinah.

I got an idea to have a blog where people could interrelate about Shekinah. This is it. You can leave comments and you should. The Spirit can work miracles among us. Pray it in and be a part of it...

Surfer51

Susan sent me this current update to the story:

"UPDATE: After 30 years, I am still healed of Thrombophlebitis! Praise
the Lord! Through God's mercy and Grace, there has never been another
episode of the condition. My Grandmother died of the exact same thing
when she was 40 so when I came down with the same condition, I was
petrified! I had so much to do with my life! God brought me to
Shekinah Fellowship through their TV show and from that point on, God
changed my life dramatically. I will forever be grateful to the Lord
for showing me His wonderful Healing power and Love. Susan Dixon,
October 10, 2006"

God does heal us...

This originally appeared in The Shekinah Fellowship Magazine Vol. 2. No. 4 FALL 1976 on page 21



Susan Dixon

After two years of continual throbbing pain in her right leg, Susan Dixon can now testify of God's faithfulness to heal His people.

In October of 1974, Susan was hospitalized for eight days after doctor's found two blood clots in the deep veins of her right leg. The condition is called thrombophlebitis. The clots, discovered through a venogram test, caused a consistent throbbing and swelling. In the hospital, Susan was given massive doses of heparin, an anti coagulant, to thin her blood. For three months after her release from the hospital, doctors prescribed a daily supplement of commadine.

As a result of the painful swelling, Susan became very restricted in her daily movements. She could no longer engage in housework or strenuous sport activities. She constantly had to elevate her leg during working hours.

In February of 1976, Susan returned to the doctors, seeking further relief from the painful thrombophlebitis. She was told that nothing further could be done to alleviate the painful throbbing and swelling.

A few months prior to coming to a Shekinah service in July, God mercifully began to heal Susan of the painful clots. Though the pain gradually lessened and eventually ceased, she was still plagued by the throbbing and swelling.

During the healing service on July 24, Brant, in the word of knowledge, called out a serious phlebitis condition. A worker approached Susan and prayed with her, asking God to complete the healing of the thrombophlebitis condition. He then told her to stand and "stomp" on her right leg. As she did, God instantly touched and healed the painful condition. One week later Susan returned to testify of God's grace in completing her healing. There has been no further swelling or discomfort due to the condition.

Susan no longer needs to wear support hose or keep her leg elevated. She is able to engage in all types of strenuous activities including house-cleaning. In August, Susan and her husband joined the Shekinah Choir and are rejoicing in God's goodness and grace.

What happened to Shekinah Fellowship?

It is hard for most people to believe in angels and demons.

If it can't be weighed measured and touched, it is not real. Our world has become extremly materialistic, we are skeptical of any experience that cannot be measured, weighed and verified by everyone else (consensis orthodoxy).

Therefore there is an ignorance about the spiritual world and the reality of demonic forces. We often assume that only the rational exists. We feel that things need to be understood inorder to be real. Our assumptions and preconceived notions about miracles need to be set aside. There is a kind of reationalism which kills miracles before they can begin. When miracles are dead, miraclous things cease to happen. We would receive more miracles, if we stopped insisting that miracles do not happen, and began EXPECTING them to happen.

Demons hate miracles. As we read through the Gospels we cannot help but be struck by the extraordinary numbers of refrences to Jesus confronting Satan and the realm of demons. A major theme in the New Testament is the clash between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.

God's Word tells us:

Ephesians 6:12

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Spirit beings, thousands of years old with a highly organized military hierachy authority are constantly waging war against all of us. Even if we chose to ignore this fact it is still the truth.

The truth of God's Word.

Our rationalism tells us there is no presence of the activity of evil spirit beings. Most of us like to live a flat 2 dimensional reality. We want to believe there is no reality beyond the natural, material universe, thusly ruling out the world of angels and demons.

When we read the Good news of Jesus Christ in the gospels we see Jesus interacting with these spirit beings, casting out evil spirits in full dimensional reality.

Jesus first act of ministry in Mark was casting out an unclean spirit from a man he met in the synagogue. This spirit "shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek." The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching- and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey Him."

Mark 1:26-28

This was a teaching, then, and not just an action to free a suffering man. The teaching was that the kingdom of evil, which up to this point had held sway over the human race was being destroyed and that the Kingdom of God was at hand.

Nevertheless, despite the clarity of this passage, many theologians and preachers profess a profound skepticism as to whether we should take accounts of people being tormented by Satan and other evil spirits in a literal way.

There are target assignments against Christian ministries by demonic forces. They do everything in their power to promote division and factions in the ministry.
In waging war the demons bring down the leadership first and the troops will scatter. This is a basic principle in the art of war.

Zechariah 13:7...smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered...
Matthew 26:31... smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

Shekinah Fellowship was very effective at bringing miracles to the people.
Brant Baker the Shepherd was targeted by the demonic hords and brought down through temptation of the flesh. And the sheep scattered. No more Shekinah Fellowship. The enemy goal against Shekinah Fellowship was accomplished.

The name Satan means the adversary, the enemy. He has many fallen angels in his army. This is a mysterious world of rebellious fallen angels and demons. Some feel demons are the offspring of that strange event that took place in Genesis chapter 6.

"When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal ; his days will be a hundred and twenty years."

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. "
Fallen angels and demons war against Christians constantly. Some warfare is based on deception.

Hence the demonic strategy:

"When able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him. If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected. These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand."

The enemy fosters unbelief everywhere they go. Recall one of the saddest text in the bible.

"And He (Jesus) did not many miracles there because of their unbelief.
Matthew 13:58

The root word for unbelief in this verse is "apistia," meaning literally "distrust."

Mark in 6:6 of his gospel acount tells us:

"And He (Jesus) marvelled because of their unbelief, "apistia."
Jesus used this same word when His disciples asked why they could not cast out demons:
"And Jesus said unto them, because of your unbelief..."
Matthew 17:20

Paul the apostle used the same word in Hebrews 3:12.
"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an EVIL heart of unbelief..."
Paul says the Children of Israel could not enter in to God's rest because of their unbelief (apistia).
Hebrews 3:19

So you can see, a lack of faith and having distrust can and will rob us of God moving in our lives with His miracles and s regarded as evil by Him. Remember Hebrews 3:12.
We are not seeing New Testament miracles in this our day and age because of our apistia. We should turn off our cultural limits and biases and be open to the greatness and power of the Supreme in all power and authority.

The bible is telling the truth when we read about all the miracles that Jesus performed in the Gospels and in the book of Acts. You would not know that by looking closely at the church of today. We do not seem to allow Jesus to heal and perform miracles in our midst.
Jesus has not changed any since the writing of the bible. He is the same today, yesterday and forever. Then why is He not doing the same today as He did in the bible days? It has got to be us that are preventing Him!

Why do we not expect miracles? What is preventing us from believing?

Start to trust Jesus and believe Him for miracles in your life today. You can start by saying:

Dear Jesus I give You permission to work miracles in my life today. I believe in miracles and I expect them because everywhere you go and are, you work them. I do trust You.
Amen

The people of the New Testament lived in an age which expected miracles.
I believe in the miracle of the original sheep of Shekinah Fellowship coming back together here and sharing their stories of the miracles they have seen. Helping others to believe in miracles. They scattered because the enemy had taken down their Shepherd Brant Baker. I believe the Lord has brought you to this place to assemble with others and tell the story of Shekinah Fellowship and the miracles to others that they may also believe in miracles.

The enemy strategy was to take down your Shepherd and to cause bitterness and hurt to keep you scattered. Brant Baker was ultimately not the problem. The enemy targeted him with his weakness in the flesh and took him out. You still remain...

Now I ask you:
What are you going to do about it?

Some of us have gotten into textualism in our relationship and lost the zeal for God we once had when we first came to Him. Sometimes we think that we know all about the things of God and think there can be no new thing. But there can and will be!

God is good and kind.
Psalms 121:1-2, 123:1-2

He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost, and with FIRE...
Matthew 3:11

When we gather together we fan to a flame that which is inside of us for Jesus.
When we fail to meet together that flame goes out until only a small pilot light remains. Maybe your spiritual fire has been extinguished from neglect of the things of God. It is a very dangerous place to be. Remember Jesus says:

"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold or hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Revelation 3:15-16

You want to be excited for God but feel cold inside. Be of good cheer. It only takes a spark to get a fire going. Jesus turns up the heat.

When water sits with no outflow it will always get stagnant. Give out what you have, share the love of God. Then you will be restored, it's that simple.

I started this site to help bring the people of Shekinah Fellowship back together with one another. Give them a place to come together and share their stories with others.
God is calling out to you, will you respond to His voice? If not here and now, then when and where?