(Written and Published for the New Year, 2010)
From A Place Of Rejection, To A Place Of Repentance, Restoration, and Revival
Part One
Places Of Rejection

Rob Johnson was born in the year 1952. Between 1952 and 1962 he felt forsaken by his father, first through life circumstances because his dad traveled in his work disappearing from Rob’s life for months at a time. His father died suddenly of a heart attack when Rob was at the tender age of ten. In his young mind he felt that this was his dad’s final rejection of him.

Rob is fifty-seven years old now. While at a low point in his life some thirty-seven years ago when he was around the age of nineteen, he was led by his sister in a sinner’s prayer and received Jesus Christ as His personal Savior. Up to that point he had been a drugged out hippy from the age of thirteen.

A couple of years after being justified by grace through faith and receiving the gift of righteousness in Christ Jesus, he became discouraged with his apparent inability to live the life of holiness that he believed Christ was requiring of Him. In his discouragement he turned from Christ and became a practicing Buddhist. If the truth were told, he was just seeking some peace of mind from the guilt of not being able to live up to Christ’s standards, as he understood them. His justification in Christ had been an easy choice, but he was coming to believe that his sanctification in Christ was a different matter all together, requiring a diligent and disciplined walk with Christ in obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit. That meant denying self, taking up his own cross daily and following Jesus. This, of course, is nothing that the flesh is anxious to do, and why so many professing Christians fail to do it through a lifestyle of chosen consecration unto God.

During the next couple of years he became more involved with Buddhist meditation and soon fell into lust with a young woman who was a practicing witch. At the end of that two-year period the natural disaster of his sins that accompanied his backsliding struck him hard, and he found himself in greater spiritual and emotional torment and pain than ever before. He also discovered that his girlfriend, the practicing witch, had been practicing her witchcraft on him! Needless to say, this made matters much worse. At a point in the relationship when she really had her talons sunk deeply into his heart, she decided to withdraw her affection from him. The sense of rejection put him in bed for a week.

Rob was suffering terribly, and being a practicing Buddhist, mentioned to his recently saved friend, Gary Halbedel, that Buddha taught, “Desire is the cause of all suffering.” His friend shot right back, “Rob, sin is the cause of all suffering.” This hit him like a brick right between the eyes. It was a real wake up call!

In his painful state he once again cried out to the Lord for forgiveness of his sins and deliverance from his suffering. The Lord miraculously saved him from a deep and dark spiritual quagmire and freed him from the torment that was a result of his backsliding. God gave Rob an open vision revealing his spiritual condition, and then, through the name of Jesus, saved him from it. As soon as he called on then name of Jesus, he was miraculously translated, or, if you will, transported from a dark and dank swamp where he was being hit at by poisonous vipers, to a high mountain where the fresh cool wind of God’s Holy Spirit was blowing in his face. After Rob came out of the vision, he knew that he had been delivered. He asked Jesus, “what should I do now Lord?” The Lord told him, “Go up in the attic and get your Bible.” God then showed Rob supernaturally through certain scriptures where he had been, and what he needed to do next. One of the scriptures the Lord impressed upon him was the story of the prodigal son. Rob was very thankful to the Lord for a new start and truly knew that he had been born again. His devotion was to Christ alone, and so he obeyed His instructions to the letter. Among other things, Rob’s relationship with the witch had to be terminated. This made her very angry, but Rob was glad to be free from the bondage of demonic oppression.

Not long after that, the Lord supernaturally delivered him from alcohol and nicotine addiction, and baptized him in the Holy Spirit. Then, he was called by the Lord to preach the gospel, accompanied by a confirmation of the Holy Spirit. He was later baptized in water in the name of Jesus. He attended a Bible school and graduated president of his class with honors, and for several years became actively involved with a number of Christian evangelistic, deliverance, and helps ministries.

Regrettably, however, through a misunderstanding, and having been judged un-righteously, he was deeply hurt by the junior pastor in the church he was attending at the time and was again overwhelmed with a sense of rejection. He was then asked to go on the road with an internationally known deliverance minister and Bible teacher. After a short time his ministry with this organization came to an end, leaving more wounds of rejection on his heart. Not long after that Rob was asked to be an associate pastor in another local church, but was soon rejected by the pastor and let go. Without going into all the circumstances and situations, or the details of the contentions, misunderstandings, and conflicts between all the parties involved, it is sufficient to say that the third failed relationship capped off Rob’s sense of rejection and sent him into a deep depression. Three strikes you’re out! He turned once again to alcohol and nicotine for relief from the pain. These experiences, and his response to them, started him on another course of backsliding that lasted for a couple of years.

A friend, who is a prophet, came to town to preach in a local church. Rob attended the service and was called out for prayer before the start of the meeting. He was delivered from a spirit of darkness and witchcraft that had bound him and his ministry for more than fifteen years. Rob didn’t know it at the time, but his soon to be fiancé, Stephanie, was in the congregation. Soon after that, the Lord brought him and his wife together, and they were married. They had two little girls, Chelsea and Brittany, born eighteen months apart.

Both Rob and Stephanie had a heart for Christian ministry and missionary work. They began leading worship together at a local alcohol and drug rehabilitation facility, and went on short-term missions to France and England. Within a couple of years they, with their two daughters in tow, set out for The Republic of Ireland by faith, having quit their jobs, sold their house, cars, and most of their possessions. They gave money from the sale of their things to ministries that care for the poor, and with the rest of the funds they purchased what was needed for their trip. Thus, they became full-time faith missionaries to the British Isles. This lasted for two years. After their overseas mission came to an end, being flat broke and in debt, they returned to America. The ministry opportunities that carried any hope of financial remuneration seemed to have dried up, and Stephanie was once again great with child.

Rob was discouraged and depressed and again rejection prevailed in his heart and mind. He felt that his first attempt at full time ministry had miserably failed on a personal level, even though many souls had been saved from their sins, and many believers had been encouraged in the faith during their two-year mission. He started doing secular work and burning the candle at both ends to get back on his feet financially. In truth, he started serving Mammon, thinking, “If the Lord won’t provide for us, I will!” I guess you could say that he had a major faith failure. The Good News is that “if we lose faith, Christ remains faithful, He cannot deny Himself!”

Rob and Stephanie had their third child, a boy they named Ian, who, due to a distressed delivery, developed cerebral palsy and autism. This was devastating to Rob, and it added greatly to his depression. He started working longer and harder hours and drinking more and more. He was hurt and angry at what his life had become, and his ministry became at best, an afterthought.

Part Two
Places Of Repentance, Restoration, And Revival

Over the last eighteen years Rob has received a large measure of repentance from serving Mammon and some genuine deliverance and healing from his sense of loss and rejection. He knows in his heart that his Savior and Lord will always be there for him regardless of what he or others may do because of human frailty and failure. “Though a righteous man stumbles seven times, he will not be utterly cast down.” He is learning to be “quick to forgive, quick to receive forgiveness, and quick to repent.”

Rob has been involved with fruitful hands on Christian ministry over the last several years as the Lord leads, including a missionary trip to Kenya, Africa, hurricane relief ministry in Florida, as well as mercy and visitation ministries in Atlanta, Georgia. He and Stephanie also served as both worship leaders and as elders in a local congregation for several years that included teaching in a Bible College. Rob was recently ordained a Community Service Chaplain through the University of Michigan after an intensive course of study and training. For the last nine years he has also been teaching the revelations that the Lord gives him as “a prophet of God, who will not tickle the itching ears of the people.” You can find his teachings on the “Feed My Sheep” blog page. He considers himself “the voice of one crying in the wilderness of cyber space, prepare ye the way of the Lord!”

About six months ago, through their Internet ministry, Rob was contacted by a pastor in Malawi, Africa named Duncan Nyozani and asked to come and minister there. He has not yet been able to take a mission trip, but he and Stephanie have been helping to support the young pastors ministry and family, his congregation, and thirteen orphans under his care through financial offerings, clothing gifts, and teaching materials. Duncan calls Rob “Papa” and Stephanie “Mum,” and they consider him “a son in the faith.”

On a very personal note, Rob is continuing to “personalize his revelations” or, if you will, “practice what he preaches,” regarding the “love walk” and a lifestyle of consecrated holiness unto God. Like all who are called to pursue this lofty goal, he has been successful in some areas and perhaps not so successful in others. The Lord is still “working in him to will and to do of His own good pleasure,” and Rob is actively “working out his own salvation with fear and trembling.” He continues to seek repentance from all his sins through both confessing them and forsaking them, and to “press for the goal of the heavenward call of God in Christ Jesus.” He is trusting in God’s mercy, which is “new every morning; great is His faithfulness.” By grace through faith, he is still striving against the “sins that so easily entangle him,” and he knows that the answer to all his struggles are to be found in learning to abide in the Vine through trusting and obeying Christ’s words. After all, Jesus has promised to never leave him nor forsake him, and he knows in his heart of hearts that he has “been accepted in the Beloved.” He continues to labor to enter into God’s rest through applying the knowledge of the truth and appropriating God’s grace through faith. Because God gave them to him, Rob’s three favorite Psalms are 23, 103, and 107. Check them out, and you’ll see why!

Rob and Stephanie have recently celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary. Chelsea is nineteen and attending her first year of college, Brittany is eighteen and plans to soon follow in her big sister’s footsteps. She is planning to live with her sister and attend the same college in the spring or summer of 2010. Ian is fourteen and in special needs high school. He’s the apple of his dad’s eye and in his opinion, Ian’s the coolest cat in town!

Rob has set December 31st through January 2nd aside for a time of solitary prayer, fasting, repentance, and one on One communion with the Lord. He is hoping this will serve as a springboard into a greater practice and performance of righteous living as he continues to pursue and perfect holiness daily in reverence of God. Please remember him in your prayers because I’m sure that you are and will be in his prayers throughout this exciting New Year in Christ. Rob’s prayer is that overcoming victory be yours in Jesus!