Apostle David Johndrow - Fire And Grace

On Monday, April 4th I was admitted to the Heart Trauma Center with congestive heart failure. You can read that story HERE . On Tuesday my pastor drove down to visit me. I was on 12 liters of oxygen per hour. Daryl and I had a nice chat, and he prayed for me just before he left. As he prayed I could feel the anointing of God and I had a picture (internal vision) in my spirit. It was my heart and swirling around it were my heart enzymes. In that still small voice I heard the Lord say, "You will completely recover." I shared it with Daryl and he agreed, "I am not worried" he said. I made tremendous progress that day. My ejection fraction went from the 20s to the high 30s! Five days later I was home, although I went back the following day due to chest pain. Nearly a month passed and I was recovering at home; resting, exercising, and eating right. One Sunday morning I took a shower and was heading for the YMCA to do my tri-weekly mile on the treadmill. It was 5 mi...

I have written many times about issues in the church, but today I want to offer some solutions for free! You may download a copy of my book. How good/pertinent is my book? Well, I'd love for you to have a copy and give me some feed back. But before you do, here is what my friend Mark had to say. David is part of a emerging generation of Equippers. Apostolic Reform takes a look at the 5-fold ministry with fresh eyes. The book opens the conversation about the importance for New Testament churches and leadership models. This book is a good introduction to the reformation happening in the Ecclesia at this hour. The focus of the book is the Body being equipped and coming forth to fulfill her destiny. I recommend that all believers read this book at allow it to challenge you toward a fuller understanding of Apostolic Reformation and Kingdom living. - Sr. Leader Village Church, NH They say a picture paints a thousand words; likewise, without using many wo...

I had a friend that wept when Ansal Adams, the famous landscape photographer, passed away. Some famous people that I have identified with in life have passed on during my life time: Keith Moon of the Who, Stevie Ray Vaughn of Double Trouble, Tommy Bolin of the James Gang and now Steve Jobs.of Apple. I never met Keith, or Tommy Bolin, but I did meet SRV in New York in the 80s. I also met Steve Jobs in Boston in the early 90s. He was talking about the Internet, and his user-friendly Linux operating system NEXTStep . He had been banished from Apple and was not far from his alliance with Pixar (Toy Story etc.) NEXT was perfect, yet like so manything Steve Jobs, too far advanced for the average person. Steve was just plain intense. Check out the movie Pirates of Silicon Valley . Why am I emotional about the death of Steve Jobs? Well, 4 reasons. -1 I think he was a genius because of his innovation. One does not need an IQ of a...

I just finished teaching a Prophetic School at my church in which there were 60-75 students. It was exciting to see people that have never met one another, deliver a message with amazing accuracy; some of them for the first time in their lives. I want to share a couple of other things which were pretty cool. My friend, Mark Sanchez came down to the school along with my brother Lee and they were wonderful - edifying, and a real blessing.  They are a great prophetic team. I am looking forward to ministering with them again in the future. Another of my life events started when I felt I was supposed to go to a conference with my pastor. A year later I received a phone call from a guy that I have never met face-to-face, but we have talked to on the phone. His name is Bill Miracle. He called me about a month or so ago, and said: "One of us is going to California." We talked for a little bit and I received the word. A few weeks later, I was asked by my pastor t...

If you look back over the years of posts here at Fire & Grace, you'll see that God is at work in my life. I am going somewhere, and the next step is pretty well established. I am teaching at the Apostolic School. It is really what I love to do. In addition, it looks like there are some other opportunities as well. I could not be more excited! So what is the new direction? David is taking a new direction in his walk with Christ - no I am not going to become a Buddhist or a recluse, praying night and day - I am being promoted - the Lord has called me to some other areas of the Kingdom which have been on my heart for years! Like any good web site, no one wants to read all the fine print, so here are some FAQs: Q. Are you quitting blogging? A.  Mostly, yes. I have been writing blogs since 2005, and there are now over 1000 of them on the Internet somewhere. I am sure you haven't read them all. In addition my weekly contribution on Kingdom Bloggers, the...

I have some good news today! Here is where I am heading! The good news is after prayer at church my viral panel came back negative, completely healed! As I wrote about a few months back, after being called out with a word of knowledge at church: "someone with a weak heart", 3 days later I had a confirmed echo-cardiogram showing my heart was back to normal. Two healings, two major ones! Wow! I have found that I have two more health hurdles, and I expect the same from God. One of them is potentially serious, while the other is just a knee injury for which I am getting and MRI for later today. You can pray for both issues if you like. The other good news is that I am down 60 pounds from working out, and eating a bit differently. I have 25 to go. Here are 5 1/2  things I am looking forward too: 1 Buying new shoes that tie, now that i can see my feet. 2 Putting on my old 32x34 black jeans. 3 Not wearing 40x32 pants...

I started this post years ago, and it caught my eye again. I am need of a post, and this one was almost done.  To listen to a traditional evangelical preach the Gospel, we are quickly aware of the following points. - We are all sinners (Romans 3:23) - We all need a personal Savior: Jesus to be exact. (John 14:6) - The Bible is law and our guide to God's will. (2 Timothy 3:16) Those particular points ask the following questions: - What is sin, and who says so? - What happens when we sin after we are "saved" and have a personal relationship with Jesus? - Why does it seem OK for some to sin? What Is Sin? 1 John 3:4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. Sin is breaking the Law, missing the mark set by God. The word "sin" is a translation of the Greek word "hamartia" which means to miss the mark. Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Religious tradition labels many things as sin which the Bibl...

Don't you find it interesting that a lot of Christians see ministry as a vocation? I belong to a Christian discussion group on Linked In and there was a big to-do about all this. It did make me think, why do people get in the God business any way? Are there folks in ministry that God did not call? Are their folks in ministry that he did call, and they are dormant because they don't fit the religious molds of the church? Here is what David thinks about all this: The indicators of calling are spiritually discerned. If someone is called they would know it in their spirit. For others to recognize the call - in particular a very young person (IE: King David) - it would have to be revealed by the Spirit. I teach about being called in our 5-Fold School of Ministry. Here are some of the points I believe are the building blocks of "calling.". - Ministry is not a vocation. - Ministry is not a position. - Ministry is not a title. (I think that some folks have concentra...

I am back from blog vacation! I confess, after many years of blogging weekly, I didn't miss it. It gave me time to think more deeply about new topics, and rethink some old ones... my newest topic has been grace and I am actually teaching and online Bible study on Facebook entitled "The School of Grace", feel free to join me for 8 weeks. I really hate legalism, wooden literal-ism, liberalism and super-intellectuals when it comes to Bible. I am serious, I have listened to so much "educated" mumbo-jumbo in 35 years I don't know where to start! To top it off I have heard 102,834,727,237,283 people say "I think", followed by a comment that you could't come close to making up with even the most liberal interpretation of the scriptures Therefore; today, I am going to take a look at how Jesus, Peter and Paul interpreted the Torah. It is quite enlightening when you really look into it. Here is an example of Jesus interpreting the Scriptures : Ma...

Even though I’m completely responsible for this weeks Kingdom Blogger theme, this was one of my most difficult weeks. Not because I didn’t have anything to say…the problem was picking just a single movie/television show to focus on and dissect. Those who know me (or regularly read Tony C Today) are already rolling their eyes and waiting for the Lonesome Dove or The Godfather breakdown. Sorry, Not today. While I often spew quotes from either movie like idioms on commitment to family and friends, I want to go with another one of my favorite classics… The Shawshank Redemption Has it been done before? Probably. Is it a tad overt? Maybe. But, the scene in the picture here alone warrants a closer look at how a prison movie can depict Christian values/themes. The main character, Andy Dufresne, is as Job-like of a character as you will find in modern-day cinema. Convicted for a crime he didn’t commit, Andy is sent to his own person hell at Shawshank prison....

I am eventually going to be teaching at the The School of Grace . It is an awesome opportunity, and a good chance for me to dig into my own understanding of grace. This is one area where I have relied on the teaching of others, and now it is time to go deeper. Even if I don't actually teach on this, grace is part of the freedom I possess by faith. I don't like to get too Bible about all this, but this is the central truth of the message of grace, and about who we are in Christ. 1 Corinthians 16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not countin...

Last Friday I wrote about grace and mercy . Today I want to write about grace from a little different perspective. I have a friend that said: :Mercy is not getting what we deserve, and grace is getting what we don't deserve; I'll take both." I like that, but it still makes grace a verb, when the work of Jesus Christ is really a know. How can that be? Well, John said that God is love, and I would submit to you that he is also grace. His person is pure grace, pure love, and pure peace. When we connect with the love of God by faith, we become capable of being his love to others. It is the same with grace and peace. We don't extend anyone unmerited favor, we allow the person of Christ to work through us. As we release the Spirit, the new man becomes Jesus to those in our lives; in fact we are meant to be overflowing with it! Here is how I got there. Jesus was 100% man, while he was 100% God; it is possible for God to be many things at one time...

The first time I heard about grace, it was one of those silly acronyms used in a teaching. It worked, I still remember it after 30+ years. GRACE = G od's R iches A t C hrist's E xpense. It was meant to remind me of the work that was done on the cross for David, and to remind me that salvation is a free gift that I received by faith in that work. At the time it was a sobering message for a selfish sinner. I guess some how I thought that I found Jesus, when the truth was he mugged me at  conference. Like many other things in the church, the message of grace has been abused in the church. It's been that way for a long time. Grace is the love of God poured out on those that do not deserve it: murderers, rapists, child molesters, gays and even Democrats and Wall Street Execs. See, I told you it was a sobering message! Some times it is confused with mercy, which is given to those whose hearts will receive it. In the Old Testament, grace is not mentioned ...

I am sitting here in my office, and not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse, or the noisy chihuahuas; not even the 7-year-old. In my spirit I am as excited as a kid on Christmas eve. I don't even know what God is doing quite yet (I usually get the memo about the time it is happening). So what is going on? Well, the Spirit of God is beginning to move in our region. Some of the things that I have brooded over, prayed about, and had vision for are on the precipice. How do I know? Well, my spirit is raging. Emotionally  life is just the same old, same old.I am working part time, exercising and recovering from a heart trauma. It it has taken a physical and financial toll, but the Kingdom of God is where I live. There is a saying: some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good, others are so earthly minded that they are no heavenly good. it is meant to point out the balance between living here, and living t...

For those that know me, I am pretty politically involved. God gave me a country, a vote, and a spirit that is co-mingled with His to help me be discerning, have love, wisdom and compassion for my fellow man. I ask you from the very beginning of this blog, how will the government ever be more godly unless Christians get involved? I have often thought about running for an office. I even received a donation once, as well as encouragement from others to in fact run. I am still thinking about it. We have so many important issues facing us here in the USA, that I would like to get in there and represent the people of my state in some capacity. Because I care about solutions, I have a hard time with party politics! Today, if I were running for the Congress, here are my top issues with some simple solutions. (Sure they can be complex, but a broad view often helps put an outline to the solution.) -1 Taxes, Social Security and Medicare: I think that every one n...

I have been writing Fire & Grace for many years; in fact this is my 600th post. in that time I have only had one guest blogger. (Well, I had some on my 500th Blog-a-versary). As I am recovering from all this heart stuff - actually I am feeling pretty good - I need some time to spend on other things. Therefore, I am inviting you to do a guest post. Yup, that's right. I'd like to feature them once a week, maybe twice of they are really good. They can be fun, testimonies, teaching in nature, or politics. Just leave a comment with a way to contact you. (Comments are moderated, so I don't have to post them!) The Bible is a good book, don't you think? Or, maybe you don't, and think Ex-Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards is a saint. It doesn't matter. The fact that this very blog might be about the Bible may already have you thinking "I'm bored," or "religion is not for me." If it was my kid listening to this, she might slip in one ea...

The End of the Block I am up at 5:45 every morning. I head on downstairs, switch on the PC in the office, make my way to the kitchen for my daily cup-o-joe, let the dogs out while it brews, and head back to the keyboard to check my email, Facebook, log my blood pressure, and get ready to run a few miles. It is the same all the time; my formula for getting the day started. It's pretty rigid, and very religious. It is sort of like church every day; predictable, ordered and well, routine. Having suffered a major heart trauma in April , I am not only grateful for the simple things, such as not being in the hospital, that I could not go back to work unless I had my life in better order. Although I was  exercising regularly , I wasn't as serious about it as I am now. I like to run outside as often as I can. We did get 88" of snow this past year, so the gym is a good option during the winter months and the treadmills are wide enough for snowshoes. As spring became summ...

In my enthusiasm for the Holy Spirit - the witness of Jesus on earth - I just couldn't contain myself. I somehow rounded up a bunch of friends from the local evangelical church and invited them to one of the conference meetings. They were nice folks, loving, but always struggling. By there own admission, they were saved, but each one confessed that they didn't seem to be going anywhere with God. Religion for them was boring and bit dry. They had been told that tongues were of the devil, and that any worship of the Holy Spirit and not about Jesus, was a cult. Off we went to the meeting! “Do you believe God?” shouted a loud and fiery preacher from the platform; right in the midst of worship. There was such a sense of the need to repent, that I hit my knees as soon as I found a seat. Closing my eyes, I quietly cried out, “God forgive me, God forgive me! Oh Jesus, please forgive me.” I wasn't looking around me—it was me and the Lord right then. A few minutes later, when I f...

Just about all people follow someone's leadership. They have heroes, bosses, managers, parents, pastors and teachers. And yet most of us also lead. We can lead ourselves, a family, or a country; someone is in always in charge. I believe Church leadership is partly talent, partly learned and always entrusted to us by God. All of our choices have consequences, and therefore are leading somewhere. Every entity has some sort of leadership; the church is not exempt from that. It seems I have come across more then few uniformed church people in the area of leadership. They don't seem to understand the fundamentals of leading, but have no problem taking control . They don't seem to get that leadership is not about them, but about those they lead. Simply stated in the Bible, "But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first." Leadership in the church is about getting at the end of the blessing line and encouraging others to join you. Church l...

I have been writing about religion the last few posts - mostly why I think it is a spirit killer. I often wonder if  vegetarian, eats a juicy steak, are they a hypocrite? If a Satanist DOES not run someone down in the crosswalk, are they a hypocrite? Is it really what we believe that gets us into heaven, or what we do? Is a Christian a hypocrite because they have poor character, fruit-less lives or don't speak in tongues and cast out demons? For sure, I have more questions than answers. Here's a tough one: What is the difference between being religious, and being a Christian? Ha! After all, isn't Christianity a religion? -1 Rote Practice: Why is it that we make formulas for getting God to move? One of the reasons that I hate WWJD?  is that it limits us from God doing something different. We stuff him in the same yesterday, today and tomorrow  box like He won't ever surprise us with a new and creative solution. AND when we get something that does work, ...

I can get angry at the devil for messing with me and my Christian friends. I don't mind conflict, but I sure do prefer it when it's resolved. I recently had another one. It seems that gossip is more important than relationship, and that makes me even angrier. Matthew 5: 23 Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. 25 Make friends quickly with your opponent... (NASB) It has been my experience that many church people hold things against you, and they don't really say what they are - somehow in the name of Christ or something like that. I think they find it easier to abdicate from resolving issues by avoiding them. I am sure that it is not every Christian, but it seems there are enough of them to provide leaven to the religious bread. Matthew 16:12...

This next few posts are going to be about religion. If you have read this blog for any length of time, you know that religious practice that is disconnected from a living God, is a something I often rail against. If you have any doubt, just click on the Religion topical link down to the lower right! Religion is in itself, a bunch of hooey. One person believes their pet philosophy and practices it in a certain way. They are all out there, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Rastafarians and a half a million more. They all claim to follow someone,or something, while they incorporate the teachings, practices, sayings, or theologies into their daily lives; or not. It seems that no one can prove anything, therefore; there is this debate that never ends. No wonder most people find at least one aspect of religion boring. There is a new religion that is is taking hold in Austria. It is the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster whose memb...

I have an online buddy and last year we had a chat about some denominational differences. It wasn't a debate, but a sincere conversation about what the Bible says, and what man has added to it. In the midst there were questions about religious practice. A denomination is simply an emphasis on certain biblical truths; often "colored" by a culture, a religious experience, or a move of God. The truth is there are lots of denominations . We have many expressions of Christianity in the US , and also some cults which seem Christian on the outside but reject the central truth that Jesus taught: Jesus is God. A cult is defined as any so-called Christian organization that denies the divinity of Christ - Jesus is/was/always has been God. I am not going to try to answer the age old question regarding theology: "Who's right?" (I am writing this blog because I think I am!) Please keep an open mind and explore the links. In the end, you will be challenged in your own...