One Voice Makes A Difference with Janet Swanson

The Ex-Astrologer has given her heart to the Lord and had a powerful experience with the Holy Spirit and the Love of God. She now is searching for a place to call her church. In her search she saw that many churches were practicing New Age, Yoga, and the Emmeagram Movement they had no idea these are practices of other religions and fallen angels, not God

Now what? Marcia began to read the Bible. She started in Matthew, the first book of the New Testament. Reading the Bible put her in touch with something pure that she had not experienced until then. Although she had read the Bible before while growing up and had quoted from it for astrological articles, this time it was different. She felt as though she was encountering something clean.

This person Jesus fascinated her. Marcia says, "It was as though I was learning about Him for the first time. One winter evening on Dec. 21st, while reading part of the 8th chapter of Matthew, the real Jesus was revealed to me. I was reading the account of Jesus on the boat with His disciples when a terrible storm arose. The disciples were afraid they would drown, and so they woke Jesus up, telling Him that they were going to perish. Jesus stopped the storm in its tracks! How? He did not visualize calm waters, He did not perform a ritual. He rebuked the winds and the sea, and they obeyed him. He was displaying his authority over nature. While reading this account over and over, I realized that I was separated from God by everything I had done in my past -- I had lived my whole life based on my will, a will that had rejected and dismissed God and His word. I realized that the only way to be forgiven of being against God, the only way to be reconciled with this true God, was through Jesus, who suffered and died for me out of a great unconditional love. I realized that Jesus really is the Savior. I realized that he had died because everyone had gone their own way and gone against God, like myself, but would be forgiven when trusting in Jesus."

In those several minutes sitting on her bed with the Bible, she knew that the truth and the answer to all her questions were one and the same: Jesus Christ! So, that day, she gave her heart to Christ and knew she belonged to Him from that moment on. At that moment, she realized she was a new person inside. This was the Holy Spirit indwelling and regenerating her! She was born again! Several months later, she found out that a young Christian man at the part-time job where she worked (as a secret astrologer giving astrological advice to the boss about employees) had been praying for her with a fellowship group at his church during 1990.

You are going to hear Marcia talk a little about yoga, enneagram, and new age and how it has creeped in the church.

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me," - John 14:6.

"But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." - John 4:14

"I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst." - John 6:35

"And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.'" - Matthew 28:18

(You will find Marcia's story with more detail in Chapter 10 of The Unexpected Journey (Zondervan) by Thom S. Rainer. This book contains the firsthand accounts of 12 people who came to faith in Christ from other spiritual beliefs and told their stories to Dr. Rainer. Marcia's testimony has been published in many other publications, including the end of the chapter on Astrology in The Kingdom of the Occult, by Walter Martin, Jill Martin Rische, and Kurt Van Gorden. These books are sold on Amazon and also on the Christian Book site at www.christianbook.com, and can also be found in or ordered by bookstores).

If you'd like to get in touch with Marcia or know more about her story, you can go to her website: http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/AboutCANA_SpiritualJourney.html

Or reach out to her on FB: https://www.facebook.com/FormerNewAger

Or email her at: [email protected]

Marcia Montenegro, a former professional astrologer for 8 years and teacher of astrology; a former practitioner for many years of Eastern-type meditation and beliefs, and who engaged in various occult practices such as having a spirit guide and doing astral travel tells about how she came to know the ONE TRUE living God, JESUS!

Spirit guides, meditation, astrology, the "higher Self," raising the kundalini, developing psychic abilities, praying to gurus, astral travel, numerology, Tarot cards, contacting the dead, hanging out with witches, Sufis, followers of Muktananda, Rajneesh, Sai Baba, Maharaji, -- all these and more were part of Marcia's journey. How did she get on this path?

You will hear about all that and so much more on today's podcast. You guys, I am so inspired by this lady. She is reaching so many people in a world where new age, spirit guides, and mediation is popular.

It all started when she grew up with an agnostic father and a nominally Christian mother. She and her sister had to attend church because their mother thought that children should go to church, although she did not always go. She started a serious spiritual search and journey at the end of high school.

That journey continued through college where she had paranormal experiences, made friends with someone who said she saw auras, and attended spiritualist meetings where the ministers claimed to receive messages from the dead.

One bright sunny Florida afternoon, as she rested on my bed fully awake with eyes partly closed, she felt herself floating. She opened her eyes and was stunned to see her body on the bed below her as she hovered near the ceiling. She thought she had died. The shock slammed her back into her body in an almost painful way. This was her first out-of-body experience and she had no idea what it was or that it even had a name. She told no one about it.

In an Inner Light Consciousness class, she was introduced to her "spiritual master" during a guided visualization. This guide, a spirit being, looked kind and wise. She felt his presence with her and sometimes saw him in dreams and meditations. She also had unpleasant, scary and weird experiences and visitations, once seeing a tall hooded figure in dark robes looking at my body in the bed as I hovered out-of-body nearby. Although extremely frightened by this apparition, she rationalized it by telling herself that she was being tested. Later she realized she had been surrounded by fallen angels, what the Bible calls demons!

Later, her studies took her on many paths -- Tibetan, Hindu and Zen meditation and philosophy, spirit contact, a bit of palm reading, numerology, psychic development, and past life regression. Reincarnation seemed to answer questions to where she had thought she had actually experienced of what she thought were memories of past lives.

Then one day, out of the blue, she had an unexplained compulsion to go to a church! Since she hated Christianity, churches and Christians by now, this made her very angry. She first ignored this compulsion, then resisted it, and then, after struggling against it for awhile, she decided to give in, hoping that it would all go away. She through to herself, "It was probably from one of my former lives as a Christian priest or monk", as she reasoned it out.

In the opening minutes of a service in a large church in downtown Atlanta, Marcia states, "I felt a love I had never known wash down over and through me, so powerfully that I started quietly crying. It felt as if a water fall was washing over me! I knew this love was from God, not from the music, the people, or the place".

I'm not gonna lie, this is one of the most powerful podcast I have ever done! You've got to hear all of her story. This is part one and next week you will hear part two of how she soon began to discover that New Age had made it's way into several churches and they didn't even know it! Stay tuned!

If you'd like to get in touch with Marcia or know more about her story, you can go to her website: http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/AboutCANA_SpiritualJourney.html

Or reach out to her on FB: https://www.facebook.com/FormerNewAger

Or email her at: [email protected]

Ephesians 5:15-16: Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

I am so excited to introduce to you all my son Reed Swanson. By the time this podcast comes out, he will actually be moving to Chicago to plant a church, called AGAPE!

God has given him a powerful Word all from the book of Ephesians! He is actually writing a book called, "How To Redeem the Time in Evil Days" First four chapters of his book are on Identity: Learning how to love yourself, how to value your value, being worthy of love, and forgiven!

As I sat down and talked with Reed about this Word, I could feel the presence of God so strong. What a POWERFUL WORD! He's only 26 years old.

In this podcast he talks about his struggle with depression, break-ups, the pandemic and all the losses he faced the past couple of years. It has really been hard! But out of all that, a book is being birthed and a church is being planted! God is showing Reed how to walk out his identity in every aspect of his life!

Reed says the whole book of Ephesians is about REDEMPTION! God REDEEMS the time! It's about having that redemption come TO YOU….and then flow THROUGH YOU!

The Word of God is so powerful! Most people really don't understand what the word REDEMPTION even means. You have got to listen to this podcast to understand what it means to be redeemed by God!

You don't have to do anything to become REDEEMED, but it's God who is always at work. The Holy Spirit is searching for those hearts who have an ear to hear what the Lord has to say!

There is a demand over your soul because you are one of a kind. There is no-one else who has been created like you. You are rare!!! Reed explains how powerful this is. I'm not gonna lie….I am so impressed with this young man!!! The words that God has given him are so powerful!!!

You are not going to regret this. Your whole walk with Jesus is based on identity! Your love for God will increase significantly when you start emphasizing who you are inside of HIM. What ever you submit to you put your identity into it!

Listen, you guys, this word is going to change your life. If you'd like to connect to Reed, please email him at [email protected] or you can contact him on FB at https://www.facebook.com/iamreedswanson. His website is under construction but will be up soon at www.agapeverse.com

I have a word that I want to share with you that will carry you throughout Christmas and New Years! Here's the word! GOD WANTS TO ADD TO YOUR LIFE, NOT TAKE AWAY!

There are some things that God will purge or trim away out of your life, but it will always cause growth! For instance, the grape vine has to be trimmed back in order for it to be healthy and grow!

There are some things that God will purge or trim away out of your life, but it will always cause growth! For instance, the grape vine has to be trimmed back in order for it to be healthy and grow!

In this episode you will hear an encouraging word that God is not wanting to destroy you, nor put sickness on you, steal from you, take away from you or leave you depressed, desolate and alone! No! God is a God of multiplication and He's wanting to add and multiply in your life, not subtract and divide.

As you know some of my own story, I cam from a divorced and divided family. I was abused, abandoned, thrown in foster care, (in the middle of puberty) and it left me lost, bankrupt, empty, exhausted, depleted, destitute, impoverished and broken. This is just part of my story! And we ALL have a story to tell.

You may ask me "how" I overcame and I would tell you, little by little, day by day, walking with God, renewing my mind, and filling up on the Holy Spirit.

Here's the key: Sometimes LIFE can leave you lacking, hurting and empty! Just look at this pandemic! It's not what has been done to you by someone, it's LIFE happening right before your eyes and you can't do anything about it. Covid, suicide, death, murder, freak accidents and so much more has touched our lives and now we are a people who are broken.

The definition for broken is: not functioning properly! Imagine that!

Have you ever been so thirsty or hungry, just to go to the snack machine and it says, "out of order"? Well, that is how the pandemic has left a lot of us ALL OVER THE WORLD!

BROKEN, NOT FUNCTIONING PROPERLY, OUT OF ORDER!

John 10:10 says the thief, the devil, comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but Jesus has come to give you life, and life abundantly.

Jesus wants to ADD to your life and MULTIPLY YOU! Satan wants to deplete you, wear you out, leave you empty, subtract and divide!

There are 5 things you can do that will start adding to your life that will create multiplication!

1. Give Your life to Jesus! Your whole heart! This starts the process.
2. Be grateful, heart of gratitude and use your voice for the good, to celebrate people and life!
3. Learn to enjoy PEACE! Strive for it.
4. Read the word of God and adhere to the teachings of Jesus.
5. Tell your story!

God is saying to you today, "I will not fail you! I am with you, and I will never leave you! I will respond to you at the proper time! Trust Me with the journey because every step you take forward is one step closer to the plan I have for you!"

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

You don't choose your assignments but they choose you! All of your disappointments have led you to where you are now. You are called to greatness! God has something GREATER…something BETTER in your life, in your destiny

GOD IS UP TO SOMETHING GREATER THAN YOU COULD EVER IMAGINE!

Ephesians 3:20 New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us……

HOLY SPIRIT MOVE!

1 Corinthians 2:9 New King James Version

But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."

In this episode you will hear part of the Christmas Story in Luke 1:26-38 and you will discover that:

• It takes favor to fulfill the assignment of God.
• Divine acceptance happened because of the price that Jesus made for you!
• Divine endorsement
• Favor is FAIR AND JUST! God is not a fair God, but He is a JUST God!

You may be asking HOW is this going to happen! Guess what? Mary asked the same thing!

Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. (HERE IS THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IN EVERYTHING YOU DO!)

36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.

37 For with God nothing will be impossible."

38 Then Mary said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

GOD WHAT EVER YOU HAVE FOR ME….LET IT BE TO ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD!

Are you willing to believe every WORD that God has spoken over your life?

1 Thessalonians 2:13

For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.

Are you ready?

Are you ready to have a change of plans?

Are you ready to change the way you are thinking?

Are you ready to believe that God would do what He said?

GOD IS GOING TO DO SOMETHING GREATER THAN YOU COULD EVER IMAGINE!

IN JESUS NAME!

When tears become your food and drink, God has a promise attached to it!

Psalm 42:1 As the deer pants for the water brooks,

So pants my soul for You, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

You guys!!! Psalm 42 and Matthew 5 having been staring me in the face for days now! And I believe it is for you too! There has been a sound of weeping that has come forth to the throne room of God! I want you to know that your mourning, your pain, your sadness and disappointment has had a sound to it, and God has heard it. He knows when your tears have become your food! David said it like this:

Psalm 42:3

……..My tears have been my food day and night,

While they continually say to me, "Where is your God?

But something powerful transpired when HE REMEMBERED! I want to encourage you to REMEMBER!

Psalm 42:4…….When I remember these things…….(talking about the house of the Lord and all that The Lord did among His people) ………

When tears have become your food and they wet your pillow each night, remember this:

God sees, He hears and He will respond to your pain! When you feel the deep piercing pain of grief, loss and disappointment, and when you cry out to God, there is a promise attached to it. Go Deep with God because the deep is calling to deep……..

Psalm 42:7……….Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;

All Your waves and billows have gone over me.

The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,

And in the night His song shall be with me—

A prayer to the God of my life………

And the promise of Matthew 5

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

For they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

What does "blessed" even mean?

BLESSED: makários (from mak-, "become long, large") when God extends His benefits (advantages He confers); blessed.

What does it mean to mourn?

penthéō – properly, to grieve over a death; (figuratively) grieving over a personal hope (relationship) that dies, i.e. comes to divine closure ("ends").

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN FOR THEY SHALL BE COMFORTED!

COMFORT: parakaléō "from close-beside" and 2564/kaléō, "to call") – "make a call" when "close-up and personal." ("personally make a call") refers to believers offering up evidence that stands up in God's court.

God Has a Promised Attached to Your Pain! There is a promise of being blessed and comforted. Friends, today the Lord wants me to encourage you and let you know, when you mourn, grieve, hurt and feel disappointment, and loss, He's with you! He is extending His benefits to you and putting you in a position of advantage that extends His favor and grace. You are blessed! You are favored! You are fortunate! You are full of his benefits! You are FAT with FAVOR!

I have a challenge for you this Christmas season. Let's do something different and take the word "view" or "arrival" and use it in our everyday life and practice "Seeing Jesus Alive" and ACTIVE! Let's prepare and get ready for Jesus to show up in our every day lives!

This week is the beginning of the 28 days of advent! Have you ever wondered what "advent" even means?

ADVENT means: a coming into place, view, or being, arrival:

I have a challenge for you this Christmas season.

Let's do something different and take the word "view" or "arrival" and use it in our everyday life and practice "Seeing Jesus Alive" and ACTIVE! Let's prepare and get ready for Jesus to show up in our every day lives!

Jesus is taking His place in my thoughts, my circumstances, my disappointment, in my losses and in my blessing!

See Jesus ALIVE & ACTIVE in my loss! It is important to recognize the loss as part of your story, your testimony. Over looking the loss will take away from your story because people won't know the power of God how He brought you out of those things. I did this for many years! People did not know my sufferings and my losses because they were too shameful to speak about. Until one day I found my healing and freedom when I began to see Jesus ALIVE & ACTIVE in my life, my whole life, even in my pain, disappointment, and loss! You will see that Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 all about his losses, his troubles and all that he went through! He counted his losses.

Seeing Jesus ALIVE & ACTIVE in my blessing! Paul Counted his losses in the midst of the fellowship of Jesus….. but he don't stop there, He also counted his blessings! When you practice Seeing Jesus ALIVE AND ACTIVE in your life, not only will you count your losses, you will count your blessing! In 2 Corinthians 4, you will see that Paul would list his loss and count his blessings among the trouble. He talked about how he knew Jesus was at work despite all the sufferings. I want to encourage you to count your losses, and count your blessings. But the counting doesn't stop there. You also need to COUNT IT ALL JOY!

Count It All Joy! YES!!! COUNT IT JOY

James 1:2-4 New King James Version

2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,

3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing……

JOY IN GREEK: xará means: extended favor, lean toward, be favorably disposed" – awareness of God's grace, favor; joy "grace recognized".

IN OTHER WORDS: When I fall into various trials, the JOY that is set before me is God's Favor and Grace….and the awareness of JESUS being ALIVE AND ACTIVE IN MY LIFE!

When you can see Jesus alive and active in your life and you can count your losses, count your blessings, and count it all joy, you will find HOPE when you are in your darkest hour!

The first candle to light at advent is the candle of HOPE and that is what I am offering your today. When you can see there is more for you than there is against you, you will see the HOPE of glory!

Finding H.E.R. is a love story of a man and woman finding their way to God and in return she finds H.E.R.self in the process and her husband finds his way back home!

Marie and her husband James Frazier both came from broken backgrounds. James' mom was an active drug user and seller and taught him how to do the business. Drugs, alcohol, abandonment neglect, and abuse was their normal. They met as young teenagers where both had already been on their own and trying to survive. Basically they grew together and by the grace of God survived the sword of drugs, poverty, darkness and much more! They have been together 20 years this year, have 2 amazing boys, a daughter, and a granddaughter.

In this episode you will hear the raw, real life story of what all they went through and how God brought them through it all. They survived!

Marie's life verse during these difficult years was Psalm 73:25-26:

Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.

My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

As I listened to their story, the scripture came to me in Jeremiah 31:1-4

"At the same time," says the Lord, "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people."

Thus says the Lord:

"The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness— Israel, when I went to give him rest." The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel!You shall again be adorned with your tambourines, And shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice.

In order to "thrive" you have to first "survive". The Bible recognizes those who survive then HE sets you up to THRIVE!

God has promised to take what the enemy meant for harm and turn it around for our good!

If you would like to purchase Finding H.E.R. go to:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/166282484X/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_FMFW41642RFGYGVV5CY8

https://kwcnation.com/products/finding-h-e-r-signed-copy

https://www.facebook.com/IAMHERministries/

Jeff Stanford is a pastor who had covid pneumonia and was lying on his death bed. But Joy, his wife, brought healing to him by her faith believing that he would live and not die!

God will take the mess and pain of your life and work it all together for His divine plan. What the world calls coincidence, God calls providence.