Pastor Tilson had been sent by the Holy Spirit to the Island of San Martin.
As usual with him nothing was preplanned in advance. In fact it seemed strange to myself and Jim Ewing at first.
Tilson and his wife just went out in faith, not knowing what was about to happen, only that by believing perhaps something would happen.
Well...I got this email from Tilson:
David,
The goodness of God seems to happen when I travel. Things go in our favor when we favor His will.
This Island is full of churches.
Melodi and I have been leading people to the Lord and I am ministering in some of the churches.
A Nazarene church pastor has invited me to pray for the sick this Tuesday night.
A girl down the street from that church was blessed, or healed, or some major thing when I prayed for her.
I got the Holy Ghost witness in my spirit as I prayed and then I saw that visible Shekinah glory on her face.
Tuesday night could be the big night and start of the miracle services that God keeps telling me about.
He said "Take my healing virtue to the outskirts of the body of Christ" the hem of His garment.
Every where I go there is revival.
Tilson
And then I received this one:
David,
You must have got my email and were praying for the Tuesday night service because it was out of this world.
A true miracle service in the purest form of the word 'Miracle Service'.
I'll tell you all about it later.
Melodi and I watched the Lord prepare the service for us to minister.
Even the speaker who was scheduled to preach came up and said that he would like to skip his sermon so we could go straight to the healing service.
Monday Melodi is speaking to the dept of education about using her bilingual Bible based educational grammar book in the school system here.
It can be translated in any language to learn how to read and write in English and it gives the complete gospel message.
I get to go snorkeling almost every day.
We spend most of our days on the French side of the Island.
Amazing to me how the Lord has placed me in my element. One of the most beautiful beaches on earth.
Tilson
And once again the man of God finds that God is faithful when he steps out in faith.
I have known Tilson since 1973 and can safely say that everywhere he goes God does stuff.
It is like this for most of those who call Lonnie Frisbee their spiritual father in the Lord, especially those who were fortunate to be personally discipled in the Lord by Lonnie.
There are so many Christians who can trace their spiritual lineage to Lonnie Frisbee who could be having these kind of experiences also.
Lonnie liked to call them "Divine appointments."
No plans, no routines, only flexibility and a willingness to accept what God brings into your life.
Tilson and his wife lost everything in this current economy and had to move into their family cabin in the wilderness in order to survive.
But some how God has made a way where there is no way and provided for them to go out on this missionary journey inspite of having nothing left after the financial fire they went through.
Just as Pastor Chuck Smith has always told us when we were kids, "When God guides, God provides. The calling of God is the enabling of God."
Tilson and his wife have been through a financial firestorm, and yet through a series of miracles and their willingness to step out in faith, God has them geographically right where He needed them to be and is using them for His purposes.
It truly is mind blowing to see Tilson go places, recently he went to Africa and now he is on San Martin and he has not much income.
That is entirely all God.
What an indictment against those who use ministry as a way for personal financial gain.
Is it any wonder that those who use the ministry for financial gain really have no anointing or power in their ministries.
I tell you of a certainty, everywhere that Pastor Tilson goes stuff happens in the Lord!
I look forward to hearing the full story of this his latest journey with the Lord.
When I do I will post it here for you to enjoy.
***
Update:
Pastor Shumate's wife had posted an ad on Craig's list, "Will trade painting."
She had a destination in mind in the ad.
Someone responded and said they did not have a place in her requested destination but they did have one on the Island of San Martin and would Tilson still be interested?
To make a long story short apparently they got complimented air fare and a place to stay in exchange for Tilson painting the place.
God opened the doors to ministry because Tilson's bride had stepped out in faith with her ad.
Pastor Tilson Edward Shumate, The Mexico City Earthquake, And An Angel
On September 14, 1985, at 7:17 A.M., a Richter magnitude 8.1 earthquake occurred on the Pacific coast of Mexico.
I may never know why, but instantly I knew I must return to Mexico.
I packed up the car thinking I'd drive all the way, until I saw a sign that read Aero Puerto, and decided to fly.
I took along an evangelist friend who I thought would help me dig through the rubble to rescue survivors.
When we arrived, he was useless to help, but supportive in spirit.
I tunneled through the debris looking for survivors.
I many people of all ages, but they were all dead.
One baby looked so alive that I actually tried to wake it up.
I jack-hammered holes in some of the buildings and crawled through cave-like openings in others.
In most of the rooms, the ceilings were now only as high as the bed frames that were holding them up.
All you could see from under the beds were the blood stained mattress of someone's body trapped inside.
The hospital and most of the city was built of concrete, and that makes for a very heavy, non-flexible structure.
The high-rise buildings crumbled, and the heavy guage rebar looked like twisted steel wool.
Mexico city is built like jello, causing the tall buildings to sway to the point of no return.
Jesus said that in the last days we would hear of wars and rumors of wars, and there would be earthquakes in different places.
The sea and the waves will roar and men's hearts will fail them for fear of those things that are coming upon the earth.
"All these things are the beginning of sorrows" Matthew 24:8.
John said in Revelation 6:12, "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood."
It is the wine of the wrath of God, the cup of His indignation for those who worship other gods.
"The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb" Revelation 14:10.
Mistaken Identity
When we arrived at the airport in Mexico City, we were taken by police escort to meet government officials that thought we were someone important; and we were, so we just went with it.
They were convinced that we were sent on a mission to help them, which was true-God sent us.
We are his representatives wherever we go.
Thet took us to their endangered subway.
We were put in charge of a hundred men, and all the heavy equipment that we needed to save the subway. (note: Pastor Tilson is a building contractor by trade.)
I am pretty good when it comes to operating heavy equipment, so at first I decided to tackle the task; but my heart was with the children.
After several meetings, I convinced them that the children's hospital was my target.
They took me to see the structural specifications and floor plans, so we could locate the rooms that were most likely to have children trapped inside.
By now my friend had gone home and I was alone.
They assigned me a soldier with a machine gun to stand guard over me all night while I slept.
Our mistaken identity in this case was the reverse of gossip and slander.
We were greeted with respect, as honorable men, sent to help them.
What they heard about us was good, and we were treated accordingly, even though what they heard may or may not be true.
Since we live in such an age of deception, it is wise to guard your heart against making assumptions based upon the opinions and preconcieved ideas of others.
A Guardian Angel
I saw too much death, and on the night before I left for home, I began to tremble and shake.
I didn't know what was happening to me.
At first I seemed almost unaffected by so much death, and now I was a basket-case.
I was shaking, thinking of how I missed my wife and son.
Would I ever see them again?
Was this the end of the world?
I was in a hotel room with the door shut and locked.
I didn't hear anyone come in or go out of my room; however, at my lowest point of distress, a lady in white put her arms around me and held me.
I think she was an angel, or a nun.
Her hug stayed with me for days-it strengthened me.
All through the Bible you read of angels touching humans, Old and New Testament.
They see us and watch over us, and at times we see them.
Their ministry is usually hidden behind the scenes but always constant on behalf of God's people.
Angels are eye-witness to the unlimited resources of heaven, and are ministering spirits.
'Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Hebrews 1:14.
The Bible says, "For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways" Psalm 91:11.
Pastor Tilson Edward Shumate And The Healing Waters
The Healing Waters Tiacote, Mexico
Waiting for their chance for a miracle, a line of people often stretches for over a mile on a dusty road in the little town of Tlacote, Mexico.
More than 10,000 a day sometimes come to visit Jesus Chahin's well and to take away a can or two of the now-famous miracle water which is said to have cured everything from AIDS and cancer to obesity and high cholesterol.
Although the state health director has tested the water and says that it is normal for this region and safe to drink, Jesus Chahin says that it weighs less than normal water.
Chahin, a wealthy man, has been giving the water away since last May when he accidentally discovered its healing properties by observing its swift healing effect on a farm dog who lapped up some of it.
He thinks its healing properties may be connected to the fact that it weighs less than normal water.
Those who hope for healing continue to arrive and wait, unconcerned about any scientific explanations.
Dominican nun Maria Guadalupe Aguilar drove 175 miles with Rev. Juan Crespo who suffers from prostate cancer, to see if the water can heal him. "For me", she says, "all of these things are God's miracles." (Source: Washington Post)
The word has spread, and since May 1991 millions of people have been to Tlacote and millions more have drunk the water, seeking help for diabetes, heart disease, cancer, AIDS, etc.
The ranch owner, Mr. Chahin, keeps the registration files of every visitor, some of whom have traveled from as far as Europe and Russia. The daily line-up varies in size from 5,000 to 10,000 people.
It all started with a sick dog who recovered soon after drinking from a muddy puddle.
A few people then cautiously tried the water, and they too were healed.
And then more came and were healed in the farm village of Tlacote near Mexico City.
The local priest applied to the Mexican government to have the water pumped and filtered, but it refused to provide any funding...until he sent water to a nearby army hospital, where six hundred soldiers were cured.
Healing Waters
Somehow it was all over the news-The Healing Waters of Mexico!
They were saying that an angel came down and touched the water and all who drank of it were healed.
Several news stations repoeted a healing line that was over a mile long.
People were standing in line with buckets to get some of the blessed water.
At the time, I was hoping to go and pray for the sick at any church that would have me.
My quest began with the sophisticated "Know-it-alls" in churches that won't even begin to let a miracle happen. (Note from David: Hint, it was in Costa Mesa CA.)
I ran into more Pharisees than you can imagine.
If I passed their interrogation, I was allowed to sit in the back of the room and pray.
I was presented with a set of hoops , so I surprised them and jumped through them all with graceful precision.
They didn't know what to do with me, so they said," Just pray in the back, in silence, every Saturday night for six months and then you can pray up front with the elders."
At the end of six months they tried to wiggle out of their agreement and presented me with another set of hoops.
They were kind and I have great respect for them, but what a quench.
The sick and needy of this world don't ask questions, they just ask that you pray.
You don't have to prove yourself for eight million years and pay the so called "dues."
The proud and the Pharisees always try pulling rank.
"Saying, these last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day" Matthew 20:12.
John 2:24-25 says," But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men. And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man" (flattering titles and carnal credentials).
Gold Nor Silver
I traveled deep into Mexico to arrive at a prayer line.
The people were happy to see me and welcomed the ministry of the laying on of hands and prayer.
I made a cross of sticks to hold up as I prayed for thousands.
I don't speak much Spanish, so I did a lot of praying in the Spirit.
Paul the apostle said that we should pray for the interpretation.
Maybe some of what I prayed was in Spanish, who knows?
I left home without extra money in my pockets and only the clothes I was wearing.
Jesus sent out His disciples in Matthew 10:8-9 and said," Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. Provide neither gold nor silver, nor brass in your purses."
Jesus also said not to take two coats, for the workmen is worthy of his hire.
I nearly froze to death.
When I first arrived, it was in the light of a beautiful full moon rising over the hillside.
What a sight!
Buses and cars were parked everywhere.
There were hundreds of campfires with people singing around them, and many others sleeping all over the hillssides.
From the well of blessed water there was a rope stretching for over a mile, strung through each person's bucket.
That's how they kept their place in line.
Many were cutting the rope late at night and taking cuts.
I guess the water worked anyway.
God's grace is sufficient.
The wind came up and I had no place to go but next to an open fire.
I wound up sleeping on the ground, next to a wall, out of the wind, wrapped up in some roofing paper that I had found.
I was dusty, dirty and all alone, but as the Lord said," A workmen is worthy of his hire."
The presence of God was worth more than all the silver and gold in the world.
We usually can't say with Saint Peter, "Silver and gold have I none," but neither can we say "Rise up and walk."
On that trip, I could say both!
***
In the News Paper:
"Thin and frail, Ezequiel Lopez inched along in a wheelchair, a plastic jug in his lap and hope in his heart.
''I'm here for the water,'' said Lopez, a door maker from Orange, Calif. ''I hear it cures everything, all kinds of diseases.''
A mutt named Lucas, injured in a dog fight, fell into a tub of it and his scars disappeared
The water, which bubbles up from a 792-foot well, dissolves tumors, kills viruses and mends broken bones, believers say.
Word of the precious liquid has swept through the barrios, not only in Mexico but in the California cities of Santa Ana and Anaheim, in Long Beach and Los Angeles. Everyone's talking about it. Everyone's got to have some.
But getting it isn't easy. Seekers wait as many as four days in a winding line that stretches more than a mile."
On the natural side:
The difference in this water is its hydrogen(atomic hydrogen) content.
Mg + 2H2O ► Mg(OH)2 + 2H ► Mg(OH)2 + H2
H2 = hydrogen gas which is converted to atomic hydrogen in the body.
***
Shumate's Logical Surmisings
School of the Prophets and Pastors
A man introduced himself as a prophet and the pastor ridiculed him for it.
The prophet had attended a school to become a prophet and the pastor had attended seminary to become a pastor.
Each had to pay a fee for their education.
The pastor went on to say that no school of the prophets should charge people money to become prophets.
The prophet replied that no man or school can decide the ministry office of an individual but it does take money to run a school.
The pastor was certain of his own calling but felt the prophet was being presumptuous of his.
Both the prophet and the pastor felt a strong calling to the ministry.
They both began preparing for it by attending schools that charged a tuition.
Bible college, seminary, and prophetic schools of ministry for advanced Christian education are different names for the same thing.
A pastor that attends Bible college is no different than a prophet that attends a school for prophets.
The school does not make a person a pastor or a prophet, it only helps to equip them for what God has called them to be.
The pastor who ridiculed the prophet said that he could not think of anywhere in the Bible where a prophet called himself a prophet.
The prophet said. “Come to think of it, I can’t think of anywhere in the Bible that a pastor called himself a pastor.”
Pastor, senior pastor, associate pastor, we hear it all the time and we see it everywhere in print; the sign at the church, the church bulletin, business cards and web-sites.
With every church there is a pastor that calls himself a pastor, but where are the prophets?
The office of a pastor is not superior to that of a prophet.
Both are listed in the five anointings of Christ in (Ephesians 4:11).
If there are true pastors, there are true prophets.
If there are false prophets, there are also false pastors.
Self proclaimed prophets are not any more dangerous to the body of Christ than self appointed pastors.
A pastor is in the position of a shepherd and capable of leading his flock astray.
To lead innocent sheep away from the prophetic anointing of Christ is against the Word of God, and sometimes God calls upon the prophets to point that out.
It is vital to every calling of God, that the one called knows the office of his calling.
Paul the apostle was a man that knew what he was called to be and how to stand in the authority of that call.
He said “Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me…” (2 Corinthians 13:3).
He continually reiterated the fact that he was an apostle called by God and not by man.
Paul was constantly dealing with unbelief concerning his anointing in Christ, yet he never allowed it to detour him from what he was called to be.
In the New Testament account, Paul knew who he was, and in the Old Testament, so did Elijah.
Paul called himself an apostle of Christ, and Elijah called himself a prophet of the Lord (1 Kings 18:22).
When Ahab, the king over Israel had forsaken the commandments of the Lord, he said to Elijah, “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?”
Prophets of the Lord have a long history of rejection because they are known to stir up and agitate a situation that God is about to judge.
Pastor Tilson Shumate
Once while in Africa Tilson prayed over a yung boy who was born blind.
ReplyDeleteThe group that he was traveling with had been warned to not get involved with the local inhabitants.
Their bus had stopped for a rest.
Tilson got out and noticed the blind boy.
In his simple learned African dialect Tilson communicated with the boy that he desired to pray for him.
While crouched down with the boy Tilson lays his hand on the boy and prays, "Come Holy Spirit, come, we wait upon you.
Tilson opens his own eyes and sees a slight greyish dot forming in the young boys eyes.
So Tilson once again prays, "Come Holy Spirit come we wait upon You."
Tilson looks at the boys eyes and the grey dot is getting bigger and more defined "like looking at something coming out of the fog towards you" he told me.
Suddenly two brand new eyes are looking at Tilson and the boy can now see.
All of the little children had gathered around because they knew the blind boy and wanted to see what was going on.
You can imagine the elation when everyone realized that not the boy had his eyesight!
The people on the bus rebuked pastor Tilson for getting involved with the locals.
How tragic that they missed what was really happening.
Tilson can heal no one nor can anyone else but Jesus Christ.
Jesus opened up that boys eyes.
In John chapter eleven in the Bible we see Jesus saying...
4Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see:
5The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and good news is preached to the poor.
6Blessed is the one who does not fall away on account of Me.”…