Oct 3, '09 9:39 AM

By Regner Capener

Greetings and Salutations!

I'd intended to get this Coffee Break out earlier, but here it is the 25th and the date of the expected massive Islamic prayer vigil.

Your prayers have paid dividends. The news media reported that somewhere between a thousand and 3,000 people gathered on the lawn in front of the Capital. That's a tiny fraction of the organizers' expected assemblage of 50,000-plus. The Washington Post editorialized that most of the anticipated "pray-ers" stayed away because they feared a Christian backlash, or that they were simply afraid of a confrontation with Christians. Interesting, huh? "Afraid of a confrontation with Christians?" What does that tell you about their confidence in their god, Allah? Hmmmm.... Come to think of it the prophets of Baal had to acknowledge that "The Lord, He is God!" when Elijah confronted them and fire fell from Heaven. Since Allah is a modern incarnation of Baal, that spirit has good reason to be afraid of confrontation.

We've been participating here at River Worship Center in a conference in Spokane (by streaming video) hosted by Cal Pierce and the Healing Rooms. Bill Johnson was sharing last night and made the statement that we all needed to be praying for a real visitation of the Lord in the midst of this Muslim gathering. We did just that! More than that, we prayed that the wind of the Spirit would blow through their midst with a revelation of the Lord Jesus. I'm sure that we'll receive many reports like this, but Beni Johnson (Bill's wife) shared a live report this morning from some people she knew who were just leading some of the Muslims who did attend this event to the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise God! Our united prayers are paying dividends!

(September 29) I've mostly been offline for the past few weeks because of an incredibly busy schedule. Della has been canning fruits and vegetables, doing dried apple chips and all that, and we've been picking several hundreds of pounds of apples. There's more ahead during the next week or so, but things should begin to slow down. We'll harvest some Concord grapes later this week and I'll help Della do her annual juicing. From just one vine, we get enough real grape juice to last through most of the year. I can promise you that this kind of grape juice is not the watered-down variety you buy in the stores. This stuff is powerful. We frequently use this for Communion.

Anyway, on with the day. Coffee's on. Both the French Press and the Expresso machine are full. If you're in the area, stop by and have a cup! Kathryn King Marquis was talking a couple days ago about a coffee she's been buying called "Freakin' Good Coffee." Comes from a Canadian company (http://www.equator.ca/). Haven't had a chance to try this coffee out yet, but I will. I'll give you my "educated taste-bud" (grin) opinion when I do.

(By the way, while I'm talking about Kathryn, visit her website. You can find her at: http://users.bandzoogle.com/kathrynmarquis/fr_index.cfm. This lady knows how to worship!)

Once again, here's the apostle Paul's statement (and a most-misunderstood and applied statement) in Hebrews 9:27.

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:"

In our previous Coffee Break, I shared with you something that Jesus said (See John 6:50-51, 53) that really shook up the religious world.

"This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world ......... Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you."

The life Jesus speaks of, of course, is eternal life. But there's more. There is a revelation here that people need to see. We live at a unique time in all of history -- a time when most of those now alive will see the end of this age and the beginning of the thousand-year reign of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth -- that period often referred to as "the Millennium." Throughout the years, I've shared a very personal word from the Lord Jesus with a very few individuals, but for the first time in sixty years, I have the liberty to share it openly.

I've shared in past Coffee Breaks my early experiences of growing up with angels and seeing them on a continual -- almost daily -- basis for some three years. When I was seven years old, I awoke one morning very early to see Jesus standing at the foot of my bed. He unfolded many things before me that day -- one of which was a picture of the restoration of the nation of Israel and the ingathering of Jews from all over the world, along with the recognition among the Jews of Jesus as their Messiah.

Perhaps the most singular thing He spoke to me that day -- and one that has rung in my ears continually since (especially during times when the Enemy has tried to take me out) -- was this: "You'll never die or know death as men know death. You will be here to see my return in Glory."

When I shared it over the breakfast table with my parents later that same morning, their first reaction was, "Hmmmmm......" From that point, though, the discussion centered around the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, and a recognition that His return could well be within their lifetimes as well. (The Lord did come to receive them, but not after the beginning of the millennial period as they had hoped.)

Because of my parents' initial reaction to my sharing what Jesus said in spite of the fact that they overcame their natural instinct, it was obvious to me that this was not something I could freely share. Throughout the past sixty years, I've perhaps shared this with a few dozen folks at most.

Because of the somewhat confrontational nature of the realm of ministry God called me to, it seems that I've often been the focus of controversy and -- at times -- real persecution where people have tried to take me out. Then there have been the deliberate attempts of evil spirits to kill me in "accidents": car accidents, airplane crashes, fires, so-called "close calls," etc.

Della and I were just talking this morning about some angelic deliverances we've both known.

I remember a time when I was flying from Fairbanks (Alaska) to Kotzebue on a Wien Airlines Fairchild F-27. We were seriously overloaded with freight (all but a little over a dozen seats had been removed to accommodate all the freight) and the seats were full. Just past the halfway mark, we lost an engine. The pilot was unable to restart the engine and began to slowly lose altitude. Although I didn't actually see the angel(s) holding up the aircraft, I was very much aware of the fact that we were experiencing supernatural deliverance, and an angel of the Lord was holding the plane aloft. By the time we made Kotzebue, the aircraft was barely 500 feet above the ground. We all arrived safe and sound.

Then there was that time when I was driving in the Santa Cruz mountains on my way to a Teen Challenge meeting with David Wilkerson. We hit a loose patch of gravel in a turn and I lost control of the car. Screaming "JESUS! at the top of my voice as the car headed over a cliff, I heard the audible voice of the angel of the Lord as he spoke peace into my being with the words, "Nothing is going to happen to you." Sure enough, although the car was totally demolished, I walked away without so much as a scratch -- maybe a little loose glass in my hair from the broken windows.

At age 41, I dropped dead in the shower from a massive heart attack. Della was well aware of God's promise to me, and she wasn't about to put up with this. She knew it was nothing more than an attack of Satan to take me out. She dragged my body from the shower into our bedroom, heaved me up onto the bed and began to speak life back into me in the name of Jesus. About 15 minutes went by before I returned, but when I came back, the Lord had healed previous defects in my physical being and a medical doctor who gave me a thorough going-over a few days later told me I had the health of a 20-year-old.

These are but a few incidents (there are literally dozens -- a quick count tells me of some 36 separate occasions) of events like this in my life) where Satan has tried to kill me and prevent the plan of the Lord from coming to fruition. But you see, I have the specific promise of the Lord! It was and is to this day a rhema in my being that no one can take away, or talk me out of.

The Table of the Lord has become a reality to me in the sense that Jesus kept my appointment with death. I have no more appointments with death. If the Enemy tries to take me out, Jesus simply cancels out anything that he does.

One of the statements that Jesus made that same day when He was talking to His disciples about eating and drinking of Him was this: "And this is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:40)

Now I know this verse has more applications than this one, but are you seeing how it was applied in my life when the Enemy sought to take me out? Jesus has the last Word! He has the final say. Satan thought he snuffed out my life and successfully thwarted God's promise to me. But it didn't work. Yes, Della spoke the Word that brought me back from the dead, but it was the Word -- the Lord Jesus Christ -- who had the final say. He raised me up "at the last day." I know that's not how we normally view Jesus' statement, but the essence of what He is saying is that He has the final Word; He has the final say in the matter. The curse of death has been broken. We just have to believe it!

There's another application I'd like for you to consider.

Every sickness, every disease, every infirmity and every pain is rooted and founded in the death process. Although our bodies were designed to replenish every cell every seven years, the curse of death means that not all cells are replenished or replaced. There is a dying process taking place. Every sickness derives its existence from the imbalance that occurs when certain cells in our body fail to rejuvenate or replace. Every infirmity gains its existence when muscle cells, tendon cells, joint-lubrication cells (or some other set of cells) become damaged or fail to rejuvenate.

All of them are based in death and in the curse of death. Yet there is a revelation that takes place at the Table of the Lord that God's people need to receive. Jesus made clear the fact that when we eat of His flesh and drink of His blood, we eat and drink of eternal life. Jesus IS the Bread of Life. But He is more than that!

Think about what Jesus said (See Luke 24:38-39) when He appeared to the disciples following His resurrection. "And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."

WHAT? What did He just say? "A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." Why didn't He say, "a spirit hath not flesh and blood?" Because the life that was in Him following the resurrection was not blood any longer: it was spirit! That is how the apostle Paul could say the following:

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:2)

Get it? The life that now exhibited in Jesus was the life of the Spirit. And now we have an understanding of why the Table of the Lord and Water Baptism were the only two commandments that Jesus gave. The two ordinances exhibit the same thing!

With the Table of the Lord, we eat of the Word of Life in Christ Jesus and drink of the Spirit. With Water Baptism, we show to demonic principalities and demonic powers that the flesh they once had access to is now dead. That which comes forth out of the water is a resurrected person, raised to new life in Christ Jesus, resurrected from the dead by the Spirit. The life that we now live is by the Spirit -- NOT the flesh and blood.

If Christians could just get this revelation, it would radically transform the way they think and the way they live. Folks, as believers in Christ, we are free from the Law of Sin and Death. Jesus kept our appointment with death.

The problem in today's world is that we are programmed continually with the necessity to protect ourselves from death, from premature death, from "accidents" and a whole host of sicknesses and diseases. It's a funny thing, but I've lived most of my life without life insurance or health insurance. When I worked for the television networks (FOX, NBC, Telemundo, etc.) they provided me with some pretty spendy life insurance and health insurance. Honestly, the only time I've ever really gotten sick to the place where I was out of commission for several days (and once for a couple of weeks) was when I had health insurance.

Maybe you've never thought of it like this, but you gamble every time you purchase life or health insurance. The insurance company makes you pay them to gamble. They gamble that you are not going to get sick, and you gamble that you will. They gamble that you won't die prematurely, and you gamble that you will. Insurance companies make billions of dollars every year from people who gamble that they will lose their home, their automobile, their health, their life, or whatever. The medical industry makes billions of dollars from people who -- because they believe they are subject to disease, sickness and infirmity -- gladly pay out their life's earnings in order to gain or preserve what Jesus freely provides at His Table.

Is there something wrong with this picture? YES!!! God's people are supposed to be the picture of life and health and strength and vitality. It has been provided by and through the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf. Why are Christians today suffering from heart attacks? Why are Christians suffering from tumors, from cancer, from stress, from nervous conditions, from every disease known to man?

The simple answer is that most do not have a revelation of the Table of the Lord. Most "believers" don't realize that the thief (and, brother, is he ever a thief!) is stealing what Jesus freely provides. This is why Della and I have come to the place where there is not a day that goes by without our partaking of the Table of the Lord. We do so with the understanding that each time we eat of the Bread of Life, we eat of the health, the vitality, the wholeness and the provision that Jesus has in His very Being! Each time we drink of the Cup, we drink of the Cup of Life that Jesus offers.

When Paul was writing to the Christians in Corinth, he reminded them of what Jesus said (I Corinthians 11:24-25), "Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me." Jesus also said, "This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me."

Are we doing this in remembrance of Jesus hanging on the Cross? Are we doing this in remembrance of Jesus shedding His blood? Nope! And yet, we do to a certain extent. The remembrance is not the Cross, nor the blood that was shed as much as what Jesus accomplished by His sacrifice. The real picture is that a new covenant was made for us -- a covenant between the Lord and us -- a covenant of total provision, a covenant of death cancellation, a covenant of health and life, a covenant that provides complete healing when Satan seeks to steal from us our health, a covenant that replaces whatever provision Satan has stolen from us in an effort to keep us in poverty and continual need.

But this covenant requires something of us. It requires believing that Jesus is a covenant-keeping God, that He will give us and do for us exactly what He said He would! Satan has sold much of the body of Christ the lie that sickness is the will of God for us. How insane is that? He has also sold many Christians the lie that a life of poverty and need is true humility, and that it is more "spiritual" to have barely enough, or not quite enough, than to have an abundance of resources. Brother! What a lie! What a canard!

But this revelation of the Table of the Lord grows even more once we begin to understand the significance of Isaiah's prophecy (Isaiah 53) as it relates to eating and drinking of the Lord.

That's where we'll go next. There's more to this revelation, lots more!!!

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)

Be blessed!