The Beginning of The End

As the semester draws to an end we are reminded of the amazing weekend we recently had with John Paul. He came on Wednesday, March 13th to visit Streams Canada. On Thursday morning he met with the leaders at the Coopers’ house and that night he spoke to all the interns. Over the next couple days he taught us about soul rule vs. spirit rule and the power of agreement.
Saturday night Streams Canada hosted ‘An Evening With John Paul Jackson’ at a local Mennonite church. Around three hundred people attended this event. Worship was led by Kelly Steeper, one of our leaders. John Paul spoke about the difference between the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The next morning John Paul talked at The Way, the church we’ve been attending. Afterwards we all left for the protocol ceremony (discussed in the previous blog).
It was an important weekend that began the end of this trimester.


~Hannah Stinton

"I Will Hear From Heaven...."

This last month we’ve been taught a lot about protocol and healing the land. Last weekend Streams Canada got to experience the power of protocol.
The Bible states four things that defile the land:
1. Idolatry-Jeremiah 16:18
2. Immorality-Leviticus 18:22-26
3. Broken Covenant-Isaiah 24
4. Innocent Bloodshed-Numbers 35:33
When the land is defiled it defiles the people.

God gave the stewardship of North America to the First Nations people. When the settlers came over from Europe, instead of asking for permission to come on the land, they stole it. All over North America the land is scarred by broken treaties that our governments made with the First Nations people and with their innocent blood. The land is defiled.
In 2nd Chronicles 7:14 the Bible says ‘If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my name and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.’
When we go to protocol the land we do the exact opposite that was done by the settlers. We ask permission to be on the land instead of taking it. We love instead of hate and mistrust. The whole process of protocol is all about honor and respect.
Tom and Nadine Zawacki’s church in Washington did protocol with the First Nation there. They asked permission to be on the land and repented to them for all the things that the settlers had done to that tribe. They did what 2nd Chronicles said to do and within six months after the ceremony 26 churches joined in a 40 day period of praying, fasting, and repentance.
Streams Canada felt like it was necessary to ask permission from the Tsawwassen First Nation to be on the land since God had entrusted them with it to begin with. John Paul got in contact with Linda Prince, the former Grand Chief of Canada, about the idea. Through prayer and God’s grace, things fell into place perfectly and within two weeks Linda and John Paul were sitting in our living room explaining the importance of protocol.
At first the ceremony was to take place in the home of one of the chiefs and only John Paul, Eric, and Joni were invited. By the weekend that had changed and it was being held in the Long House and all the interns were invited.
The ceremony took place Sunday afternoon. Tom and Nadine Zawacki joined us from Kennewick for this occasion. We stood in the Long House entry way while we waited for the ceremony to begin. We entered, following the drummers, with John Paul, Eric, Joni, Tom, and Nadine in the lead. They sang the ‘Welcoming Song’ while we walked in a long procession around the Long House fires twice before taking our seats. The ceremony began with explanation about the Long House and the Tsawwassen First Nations culture. Then John Paul, the Coopers, and the Zawacki’s presented the elders with gifts of blankets and oil and some of the interns presented gifts they had brought. After that John Paul asked permission to be on the land and repented for our ancestors sins against them. The request was granted and the elders presented our five leaders with gifts.
So this last weekend all of us at Streams Canada got to witness first hand an act of healing the land. We can’t wait to see what will happen next!

~Hannah Stinton

In Your Dreams!!!

Tom Zawacki and Dawn Coffin were here again this last weekend to teach the 202: Advanced Workshop In Dream Interpretation. They flew in from the Tri-Cities on Wednesday afternoon and Tom gave impartation that night. He talked about Hebrews 10:9 which says “ He sets aside the first to establish the second.” A lot of the time God will strip away the old things in our lives to bring us the new things He has for us. When God created the world the first thing He did was separate light from darkness. This is a process that He also does in our lives.“ The closer I get to the Light the more of my shadows I see,” says Tom.

The next morning Tom went to the Coopers and spoke to the leaders and Dawn came to the intern house and talked to the interns. Dawn talked about how we grow spiritual fruit in our hearts. We really need to make sure its good fruit not just for our sakes but for the people around us who will be receiving it from us. We also need to make sure the fruit we eat from other people is good because it will effect us regardless of whether it’s good or bad.

The 202 started Thursday night and ended Saturday night. We interpreted each others dreams as a whole on a white-board and in small groups. We also studied dreams in the Bible and ‘street dreams‘ which are basic dreams that are common to hear when interpreting dreams on outreaches. It was a good ‘hands-on” learning experience. All of us have a new grasp and understanding on dreams after this weekend.

" Excuse Me, Do You Have A Dream......?"

All trimester we have been looking forward to having a man named Recie Saunders come and teach. This last week he was finally here. Recie is part of an Itinerate Ministry Team and teaches all around the world. He arrived in Vancouver on the 28th of February and left on the 2nd of March While he was here, he talked a lot about prophet evangelism and what that looks like.
He told us not to go into evangelism with an agenda but with love. “Ask God to break your heart for the things that break His heart,” says Recie. “Also remember that Jesus is the Lord of the Harvest and it’s not our job to get people to change their minds or get them to the point of saying the sinner’s prayer.”
In the past the church has gotten a bad reputation for being judgmental and abrasive when it comes to evangelism. Many well meaning Christians have given Christianity a bad name by condemning people in the name of God. Since many people of the world have experienced a harsh form of evangelism, if we tell them that we are Christians or say words like ‘God’ or ‘Bible’ they put up walls and won’t listen to what we have to say.
Recie taught us to use regular language rather than Christian lingo while giving prophetic words on the street so people will stay open to us. For example saying “good things are coming your way” rather than “you are blessed”, or using ‘the Great Spirit’ rather than ‘God’ or the ‘Holy Spirit’.
Friday afternoon all the interns hit the streets of Granville Island to practice dream interpretation and giving ‘spiritual readings’ on people. It was raining a little but that stopped no one. We split into groups of three and walked up to people and asked them if we could interpret their dream or give them an ‘encouraging word’ or a ‘spiritual reading’. The people we talked to were very open to what we had to say and felt encouraged by what was said to them.

Recie also spoke to us about healing the land. This is very important because when the land is defiled it also defiles the people who come on it.
The Bible states four things that defile the land:
1. Idolatry-Jeremiah 16:18
2. Immorality-Leviticus 18:22-26
3. Broken Covenant-Isaiah 24
4. Innocent Bloodshed-Numbers 35:33

All over North America the land is scarred by broken treaties that our governments made with the First Nations people and with their innocent blood. The only thing that will make the land clean again is our repentance to the First Nations (2nd Chronicles 7:14).

Friday morning Recie talked about lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is when you know you are dreaming and can change the dream. This type of dreaming is very powerful because when you are sleeping you are in the spiritual realm and your spirit can do anything. Changing the direction of your dream can change the direction of your life.
It was really good to learn and experience what evangelism is really all about. All of us benefited from learning about lucid dreaming and healing the land. Recie challenged us to take risks and to love like Jesus did.

~Hannah Stinton