I was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1942. My parents were Godly people. My father was a prominent figure in the Anglican (Church of England or Episcopal) community, taking up the multiple roles as the warden of three parishes and assistant to the priest. He was also a member of the Diocesan Synod. From childhood, I knew and experienced nothing else, spiritually speaking, other than what the Church taught, but it never satisfied an inner craving for something I never understood. There were too many unanswered questions.
I remember looking at the Stations of the Cross and weeping. I would see this figure hanging on a cross and wondered at it all, wishing fervently that the things I was told about Him and the men with Him were still here. I often cried, asking, “Where are those prophets and those Apostles (not even knowing who or what Apostles really were) today. If, as my priest tells me, Jesus does not change and His word does not change, why is there such a vast difference between the church now and the church then”?
Whenever I watched the Hollywood epics such as Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments, I would break down and cry in the theatre (I still weep with certain scenes). The Spirit of God was touching me even from a tender age… but I never knew Jesus personally. I never had an intimate personal relationship with God and the Holy Spirit was a totally unknown factor in my life. According to my understanding, He was merely a red light in the sanctuary of the church and fire that sat on the heads of the disciples on the Day of Pentecost.
A Divine encounter:
In 1968, my son Gary, who is now with the Lord (see the page From the Gates of Hell to the Door of Splendour), was in his first year of school. One afternoon, he did not come home from school and his mother and I found him sitting on a seat crying. We asked him the problem and he pointed to his ankle saying that it hurt and that a boy pushed him. I incorrectly assumed that he merely sprained his ankle. Several days later, he was in agony and we took him to our doctor who checked him and admitted him to hospital. Gary was suffering from an ailment that mystified the medical people. The doctors spoke to us and showed us some X-rays of his left hip. Gary’s hip joint was decaying! They had no answers! I can still see him now, with a plaster cast from his waist to his left calf (to immobilize the hip).
At this time, we had recently purchased our first home and newfound friends invited us to a crusade. I declined, but they kept asking us to attend. One day, they asked for permission to pray for Gary, stating that they believed in Divine Healing and I readily agreed. Within days, Gary was discharged from hospital, completely healed of that disease.
I finally agreed to attend a meeting, so on September 1st 1968 I attended the final meeting in that crusade. This was the last meeting of the last crusade held by an itinerant evangelist. He resigned afterwards to take up a position as pastor of a small church one thousand miles south from where I lived.
During the opening hymn, a brilliant blaze of light appeared from the pulpit area, seeming to burn through my very being.
That evening I had my first Divine encounter and met Jesus as Lord and Savior. God stepped into my life in a remarkable way then and He has continued to do so ever since.
He has preserved me from certain accidental death by electrocution and often healed my body miraculously. He healed my children on many occasions from ailments that would have led to certain death or to permanent disabilities without Divine intervention. On many of these occasions, no known medical solutions were possible.
These experiences are part of the reason for my commitment to Jesus and to preaching His Gospel, with the unmistakable evidence of a signs following and healing ministry.
Pentecost:
The Pentecostal experience was almost unknown in those days. The Pentecostals hid their light under a bushel then, but on my very first Sunday morning in Church after being born again, the Holy Spirit visited the church. I mean, you could cut the air with a knife with the presence of God there. A man to my right spoke in a foreign language with great force and authority and immediately a man to my left spoke with similar forcefulness in English. There was an awesome silence and I knew that this thing, whatever it was God and I wanted it. I later understood that this was an operation of the Gifts of Tongues and the Interpretation of tongues, both of which are valid biblical based experiences still available for us to this day. The Gifts God are many and varied. These particular ones are found in 1 Corinthians chapters 12 to 14.
That week the Holy Spirit fell suddenly on me in my home after a bible study had finished. I was immersed... bathed… saturated in His presence, kneeling on my knees for several hours on my kitchen floor, worshipping in unknown tongues, flowing from one language to another seamlessly changing. I knew so little, I did not understand that I was the one in full control over my mouth and asked rather feebly, “Lord, I’m tired- can I go to sleep now”? My mentor heard me talking to God in a Chinese dialect. Greek friends heard me worship God in fluent classical Greek. Another person heard me speak of the goodness of God in Russian all parts of the signs following administrations of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life, even in the 21st century.
Early Ministry:
Almost immediately, I knew that God had called me into the ministry, but what? What sort of ministry was it to be? In those days, one went to Bible College and became a pastor of a local church somewhere, or became an evangelist (which was my ambition). I became involved in just about anything and everything I could, from all levels upwards. I became a Deacon in the local church, pioneered several ministry ventures, assisted and conducted crusades, started a book ministry, became a musician (playing Pedal Steel Guitar and Banjo), A Field Representative of an international Christian organisation, home group leader, pioneer of a street and coffee shop outreach, church planter, conference and convention organizer and speaker.
In 1976, I was fortunate to meet Kenneth Hagin (now with the Lord) and arranged meetings with him. Those few days radically changed my destiny. The Lord gave me two visions, both with a mountain theme. They were so vivid and realistic, that to this day, I still cannot determine if they were visions or literal experiences in which I was bodily transported into the scenes. The Lord spoke about them, saying what He showed me was for a future time and that I was to wait, prepare myself for them and to continue doing what I was. He said that these things were coming to the world, to the Church and to my ministry and they are happening in increasing momentum.
Taken to Heaven:
The Lord has taken me to Heaven on several occasions. Heaven is an amazing place of absolute beauty, with mansions, beautiful gardens, streets of liquid gold and an ocean that gave the appearance of molten glass. Some of these experiences are shared on the page Heaven. Click here to visit.
One evening as I was sitting on the floor of my bedroom, looking out through the window, when an opening appeared in the sky and I physically moved upwards, out through my bedroom window towards what must have been the Great White Throne. It was an awesome experience, when, for a fleeting moment, I had glimpse of a massive glistening dazzlingly bright white throne and… the appearance of someone sitting on the throne.
The Lord has also taken me to Hell for a quick glimpse of the other side of eternity. It was not a pleasant experience and something I do not want to "enjoy" again. Click here to see the account. In the early 1990's, I was going through a tough time, when everything seemed to go wrong. God was refining me. He was starting to move in accordance with His promises and started to refresh those early visions, giving new ones and redirection in my life and preparing me for what is now here.
Jesus visited!
One evening, I was alone in my home with the doors and windows closed. The main entry had a thick rubber backed drape, which was drawn. Suddenly, the curtain opened and closed again and the Lord stood there! That was the first of a series of such visits and it radically changed my life. He spoke about this ministry, reminding me of those early visions, saying that it was now time for their fulfillment.
After these first visits, I stopped everything else I had been doing and redirected my steps, creating what I have called Bashan Ministries. The name Bashan was not my choice, but His. The name is significant and is described elsewhere.
During this time, the Lord spoke often about John the Baptist, with instructions to study the life and ministry of John. He shared His heart about John, describing his love and fondness for the man and saying that his ministry was unique. He said that there would never be another ministry like John’s but continued with the comments that He was choosing and equipping men all over the world who would function in similar fashion today. He spoke about the Elijah and Elisha type ministries, saying that He was also raising up similar ministries. After a pause, He pointed at me, with the concluding words, “…and you are one of them. Warn My people... tell them from me that I am coming soon… very soon and a lot sooner than you think”. This is the reason we describe ourselves as modern day “John the Baptists”, adopting the motto of “Preparing the way”.
The ministry has a global outreach with two main centres, one in the Adelaide Hills in south Australia and the other in Bellingham, Washington State, the United States.
The manifest presence of God is evident in our services. We do not conduct evening services on the Lord's instruction and often find people walking into the meetings and immediately receiving their healing or touched by God in some tangible way. Meetings are on Sundays from 9:30AM until we close the gates to the properties at 3PM. On occasions we provide good quality catered lunches to provide fellowship and to meet the needs of people.
Ministries of Helps:
I like the ministry to function with a spirit of excellence, without being heavy. As ambassadors of the Kingdom of God, I class this is a vital and necessary ministry and conduct specific training for these ministries to appropriately qualified people called by God to them. Distinctive uniforms are provided and the highest of standards are maintained in dress codes, manners and conduct. We discuss this in depth elsewhere on our web site.
Prayer:
A strong foundation for our ministry is prayer. To this end, we have established a prayer regime in which we conduct Fourth Watch (4am) Prayer, which often lasts several hours per day. Our ministry centres provide prayer and conference facilities. We open our doors from 7AM to 9AM on Saturdays. People may come and go as they please.
Affiliations:
It is important for any believer to be linked with someone and accountable. We relate to world standard ministries as our mentors and have active membership in several organizations, such as Kenneth Copeland Ministries, Jesse Duplantis Ministries, Bill Winston Ministries, Billye Brim Ministries and more. This provides for accountability and relationship with proven ministries of log term standing. Such things are essential for effective ministry and spiritual growth..
We are members of the International Convention of Faith Ministries Inc. and the Faith Ministries Alliance. |
