A Treasure Hunt team went out from the Hillfox flea-market outreach to a shopping centre about 1 km away. After multiple successful encounters with folk on the sidewalk & praying for healing, they stopped for a coffee. Then agreeing to do one last hunt, 2 girls went inside a stationery shop (CNA) and the 2 men waited outside. The girls decided they needed a different approach to talk to the people in the store as there were 3 men crowding around the front counter, almost blocking any approach to the cashier. So the one hunter decided she would buy a file to begin a conversation. As she was trying to pay for the file she realised things were a little odd as the cashier did not respond to her usual conversation openers…  That’s when they realised they were right in the middle of an armed robbery that was discretely underway. So the one lady told her Treasure Hunt partner to go outside & get the others to pray urgently, then she turns & introduces herself and asked one of the suspects what his name was. He said “Trust”, so she begins to prophecy over him that God has a call on his life, that he is going to live up to his name and that he is going to be used to change nations etc.  And then she prays for him – with his agreeing to the prayers.

Then after paying for the file, she steps into the middle of the shop, drops her bag on the floor, raises her hands and prays out loud for the Kingdom of Heaven to come down, that there is no violence or crime in heaven, and thanks Father for His authority to bring change into situations. The robbers agree verbally with her prayer! She picks up her bag, and calmly walks outside & reunites with the rest of her team, telling them to phone the police. Soon after, 4 men coming running out and disappear down the street.

So the Treasure Hunt team sees the staff about to lock the doors so they go back inside the store, to discover the cashier dissolved in tears of relief (she had prayed earlier that morning for God’s protection). Turns out that after the prayers, the guy phones his accomplice who is in the back of the store, with the safe already open plus a bag with all the cell-phones & wallets of the staff, and tells him they are leaving everything behind and getting out of the store immediately!!!

Now the team gets to pray over the staff. Then the cops arrive (a team of detectives, a team of finger print experts and a response team) and they get to minister to all of them. The Brigadier of police arrives and tells them he has just come from a prayer meeting where they had specifically asked God to stop crime through Divine means! The store is still closed.

That’s when a second Treasure Hunt team, totally oblivious to what’s just happened and have no clue that another team is inside, but based on their treasure maps find themselves standing outside the CNA, so they start ministering to bystanders. Only after their return to the flea-market are they told that they were at the same place!!! And the timing of taking the coffee break was also amazing. And that both teams went off-site for the first time, and that both teams ended up at the same spot… God is GREAT!!!

I want to encourage you to get equipped, empowered, and activated to change the environment around you.  Remember, we are not thermometers — we are thermostats that can change the climate wherever we go, to whoever we meet!

Keep taking risk to release His presence.

1957: The respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a huge spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied, “place a strand of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.”

1996: The Taco Bell Corporation announced it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged citizens called the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the bell was housed to express their anger. Their nerves were only calmed when Taco Bell revealed, a few hours later, that it was all a practical joke. The best line of the day came when White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale. Thinking on his feet, he responded that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold. It would now be known, he said, as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.

1998: Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a “Left-Handed Whopper” specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty, etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers. The following day Burger King issued a follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the new sandwich. Simultaneously, according to the press release, “many others requested their own ‘right handed’ version.”

1976: The British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on BBC Radio 2 that at 9:47 AM a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event was going to occur that listeners could experience in their very own homes. The planet Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, temporarily causing a gravitational alignment that would counteract and lessen the Earth’s own gravity. Moore told his listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment that this planetary alignment occurred, they would experience a strange floating sensation. When 9:47 AM arrived, BBC2 began to receive hundreds of phone calls from listeners claiming to have felt the sensation. One woman even reported that she and her eleven friends had risen from their chairs and floated around the room.

2008: The BBC announced that camera crews filming near the Antarctic for its natural history series Miracles of Evolution had captured footage of Adélie penguins taking to the air. It even offered a video clip of these flying penguins, which became one of the most viewed videos on the internet. Presenter Terry Jones explained that, instead of huddling together to endure the Antarctic winter, these penguins took to the air and flew thousands of miles to the rainforests of South America where they “spend the winter basking in the tropical sun.” A follow-up video explained how the BBC created the special effects of the flying penguins.

1975: Australia’s This Day Tonight news program revealed that the country would soon be converting to “metric time.” Under the new system there would be 100 seconds to the minute, 100 minutes to the hour, and 20-hour days. Furthermore, seconds would become millidays, minutes become centidays, and hours become decidays. The report included an interview with Deputy Premier Des Corcoran who praised the new time system. The Adelaide townhall was even shown sporting a new 10-hour metric clock face. The thumbnail (found at TelevisionAU.com) shows TDT Adelaide reporter Nigel Starck posing with a smaller metric clock. TDT received numerous calls from viewers who fell for the hoax. One frustrated viewer wanted to know how he could convert his newly purchased digital clock to metric time.

No one knows the exact origin of April Fools’ Day – lots of theories

• Controversy over the calendar year beginning on April 1 instead of January 1
• Julius Caesar, in 45 B.C., instituted Jan. 1 as the beginning of the new-year – when the new senate took office.
• The Gregorian/Roman Calendar became the Western/Christian calendar – started Jan. 1, which was a combination of lunar cycle and Julian calendar
• From Ancient Babylonian/Mesopotamian Cultures in B.C. times to Mid Evil times, many cultures celebrated the beginning of the New Year at the end of March (several of the celebrations would end on 4/1) or like the Assyrians – on 4/1 (Feasts of Fertility – New Birth)
• The Christians would call these people “fools” for believing the year started in Spring
• At some point those who had adopted the Roman/Christian calendar would play practical jokes on the “ignorant” people who still held to “heathen” calendars.

The Enemy is constantly trying to pull April Fools pranks on us:

Jn. 8:44 – Jesus pointed out that satan is the father (originator) of all lies
Gen. 3:1-5 – we find satan tempting Adam and Eve:  “Did God say…”
Matt. 4:1-11 –satan tried to fool Jesus in the wilderness – – “If you are the Son of God” (2x) – challenging His identity

If the enemy can “fool” us into thinking that God did not really mean what he said, then he can derail us from our destiny.

How we deal with the lies will determine how we live out our destiny

2 Corinthians 2:10,11
“I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes…”

Matt. 4:4,7,10
Jesus used the Scriptures to counter the lies being told him – 3x He said, “It is written”

Jn. 8:32 – Jesus said,
“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”

Ephesians 6:14
“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist”

Philippians 4:8
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.”

Following are what I think are the top ten lies that the enemy has used to try and fool Christians:

1. God made you sick, injured, impoverished – causing you suffering – April Fools!

The truth: That would be the devil causing these things

John 10:10 “The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy – I have come that they may have life!”
1 John 3:8 “For this reason Jesus came – to destroy the works of the devil”
Isaiah 61:3 – Jesus came “to proclaim the Day of Vengeance of our God”

2. God is sending an earthquake, floods, tornados, or hurricanes to judge people – April Fools!

The truth: God stops storms that the devil creates

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world…” – He still loves the world

3. God is in a bad mood – April Fools!

The truth: God is in a good mood

Ps. 119:68, “God is good and all that He does is good”

4. Your prayers are not working – April Fools!

The truth: Your prayers are powerful and effective

James 5:16 “The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective”

You are righteous because Jesus has become your righteousness

5. I can’t overcome this character flaw, habit, addiction, sin – April Fools!

The truth: You are powerful in Christ

1 Peter 1:3 “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”

1 John 4:4 “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

We are more than conquerors

Romans 8:37 “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

6. You mess up, and the enemy says that, “you are disqualified” – April Fools!

The truth: God takes junk and turns it into gold

 Rom. 8:1, “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ”

1 Jn. 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse of all   unrighteousness”

7. You are not making a difference in your environment – April Fools!

The truth: You are a world changer

Matt. 5:13,14, “Your are the salt of the earth… the light of the world”

8. You’re not gifted – April Fools!

The truth: You are anointed by the Holy Spirit, and with that anointing comes giftings

1 Cor. 12:7 “To each one is given a manifestation of the Spirit”

1 Cor. 14:1 “Desire the gifts, especially prophecy” – we can have them all

9. God is going to be mad at you if you take risk, and it doesn’t work out well – April Fools!

The truth: God rewards risk not performance

Heb. 11:6, “Without faith it is impossible to please God…”

10. God does not like it when we laugh in church – April Fools!

The truth: Laughter is part of our inheritance

Ps. 2:4, “He who is enthroned in the heavens laughs”

Lk. 6:21,“Hugely happy are those who weep now, because they will laugh”

So then, don’t be fooled on April Fool’s.  Know who you are, know what God thinks and says about you. Counter the lies with the truth, and like Jesus, we will fulfill our destiny as world changers and history makers. 

Click Here to read a full report!

Following is of the testimonies I received after a Firestorm Conference I recently conducted in Yakima, Washington. This is a typical example of how people get activated into a supernatural lifestyle.

Friday and Saturday of Firestorm weekend, I watched with wonder as people reported encounters from God and physical healings. I say “with wonder” because I was having a hard time digesting it all. I’ve witnessed a few healings in my life, but each healing left me with an element of doubt. Was the person faking the encounter? Did they fall down to the ground because they’ve seen other people do it? Was the heat sensation there because they were conjuring it up in their mind? Did they say they were healed because everyone was looking at them with high expectations? The same questions milled around in my mind on Friday and Saturday.

Kevin Dedmon and the Bethel students are all so natural and real. I came expecting more. “What kind of more?”, you day. Well, I didn’t expect a LITERAL lightning bolt or pixie dust, but to be honest, I did expect that the spectators would see/hear/smell/feel some sort of sensation to validate each healing and each encounter throughout the night. After more thought, I am beginning to comprehend that each healing and encounter is personal. God doesn’t seem interested in proving His works. He does good things because He is a good guy, in a good mood. If spectators have a problem with that theology, I guess we’d better just get over it.

On Sunday morning at Church, I was sitting in our coffee shop between services, and noticed, Melissa, one of the coffee volunteers was walking with a pronounced limp. She sat down next to me and told me her story.

She works with developmentally delayed adults. Last week she was accosted by one of her patients – a 30 year old male, weighing about 300 pounds. She managed to dodge a blow which was aimed at her head. Unfortunately, he whacked her knee instead. Major purpleness! She has been experiencing clicking in the joint and a lot of pain and swelling since the accident. She described the pain as a 5 out of 10.

After all I had seen on Friday and Saturday, I knew that I needed to act. I closed my eyes, gritted my teeth and jumped over the chicken line. I told her I had just been to an amazing conference on healing and asked her if I could pray over her and use her as my guinea pig. She’s a risk taker. She said yes. I made her promise that she wouldn’t fake any reactions or tell me she felt better just to make me feel good. I followed the steps I learned and explained what I was doing the whole time.

1st prayer: Her leg jolted

2nd prayer: Leg jolted again. She tried walking. Same amount of pain.

3rd prayer: She shouted out loud, “What are you doing to my leg?” When I asked her to describe what she was feeling, she aid she felt burning in the precise location that my fingers were touching. She said, “It’s so hot that it hurts.” I told her that I had learned that this heat is an indicator that God is at work, healing her knee. She tried walking again. No change in pain, but we were both very excited.

4th prayer: More heat. She was wiggling and writhing in her seat from the heat sensation. Then she began laughing. I explained that laughter is a common experience that people have when thy have a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit. We laughed together. What fun to be laughing out loud in church! God was expressing His good mood and passing it on to her. I kept my hands on the back of her knee while we talked about this. Next, I moved my hand to the front of her knee and asked if she had any other sore/injured places in the front. She told me about the clicking in the joint at this point.

5th prayer: Prayed for perfect alignment. She tried it out by bending her knee back and forth. “It’s gone,” she said, “The clicking is completely gone!”

As I left to lead worship in the next service, I told her that I thought this healing was probably “In the bag,” since God had already encountered her with a twitch, heat, laughter, and healing the click. I asked her to continue to check on the pain level throughout the day…

My good friend, Jeri, followed up with Melissa after church. She prayed over Melissa’s knee again and invited her to Firestorm on Sunday night. When Melissa arrived, Jeri didn’t recognize her because she was looking for someone with a pronounced limp. Melissa’s pain level was significantly reduced. Halfway thorough the evening, she bent her knee at a 90 degree angle and gave me a huge smile. She’s hooked. I’m hooked. My friend Jeri is hooked. Praise God for allowing us to participate with Him in healing others!

This letter was such an encouragement to me that people are only one encounter away from being activated in a supernatural lifestyle. Let’s remember that like Thomas in the Bible, Jesus loves to reveal Himself to skeptics! Our job is to demonstrate the Kingdom of God, His job is to show up. And He does!

Blessings, Kevin Dedmon

Blessings, Kevin