Free Subscribers | The End Times Chronicles | Dr. Stephen Phinney #Ministry: The Turning Point.Through my mentorship with Dr. Charles Solomon, God revealed to me my identity in Christ. Dr. Solomon’s focus was on the field of applying the power of the Cross to counseling.
Within a few years of marriage, the Lord led us to pack up our family and move to Denver to study under Dr. Charles Solomon at Grace Fellowship International. This became another turning point in our lives. It was through this mentorship that God revealed to me my identity in Christ. Dr. Solomon’s focus was on the field of applying the power of the Cross to counseling. It was a “game changer.” MINISTRY MENTORSHIPAfter finishing my internship with Grace Fellowship, I was invited to come on staff to counsel and work alongside Dr. Solomon’s son, Ron, in his newly developed program – Caraway Street, a drama and puppet ministry that teaches the identity truths to children. For several years, I traveled to churches all over the United States – training workers on how to use this unique program. The ministry became so popular, Ron and I were invited to move to California to integrate Caraway Street into the Hollywood scene. This was another turning point in our lives. Do I put my focus on the theatrical world or that of Christ as Life discipleship and counseling? Through much prayer and counsel, we choose the route of discipleship. Since we did not choose to go to California, I remained on staff at Grace Fellowship as a family & child counselor. It was during this time that Dr. Solomon encouraged me to attend Rockmont Christian College (Colorado Christian University) to get my undergraduate degree, which I did.
Christ HavenAfter serving on staff at GFI for several years, Jane and I were invited by close friends to move with them to a Christian resort (Christ Haven) in the Colorado Rockies. The goal was to integrate the Christ as Life message and tools into a resort environment – much like the Francis Shaffer L’Abri community in Switzerland. With objectives in place, the lodge was purchased, and our two families moved in. It was during this period of our journey that I met my first editor and friend, Kathy Hill. She started out as a trainee, and through the years, our relationship grew into one of our most faithful friends and co-workers. After a couple of years of failed attempts to gain tax exemption from the government, we were “forced” to find employment in the city – Colorado Springs. It was in this process that we were encouraged by Dr. Solomon to start our own non-profit and establish an Exchanged Life counseling and training center in the Springs; Release Ministries was born. It was through this ministry that the Lord used us to counsel and train many of the leaders of the Navigators and Compassion International. The fruit of this work is still bearing to this day. Release MinistriesOur years in Colorado Springs come with bitter/sweet memories. On one hand, we have endless testimonies of the work of God in the lives of many famous, and not so famous, servants of the Lord. On the other hand, our family suffered extreme persecution from the New Age and Satanic communities. One of the outreach services of our ministry was a radio show (A Counselor’s Point of View) that was focused on interviewing authors and teachers of the Word. It was through our radio broadcast that our ministry began seeing an emergent (new age) infiltration into “Christian” writings, as well as the attacks upon the nation’s children. Once we revealed this publicly, we were requested to do seminars on the topic. It was this outreach that gave us public exposure that aroused the interest of the opposition. To make a long story short (plus it is not worth going into), our family came under such attack that we needed bodyguards for myself and my family for an extended period. We received many referrals through “A Counselor’s Point of View,” but one particular case was the girlfriend of a famous “rock star.” She grew in Christ to such a degree that it put a wedge between her and her boyfriend. This particular rocker, & their band was known for performing satanic rituals on stage. The group hit the peak of its popularity in the ’70s and was about to go on a world tour to revitalize its popularity. On a Friday afternoon, 5:15 pm to be exact, I was counseling a couple and while ministering, I became out of breath. Thinking immediately that this was a spiritual attack, I dismissed myself. As I was walking through our waiting room to see what was going on, I saw a gentleman in the waiting room that looked quite familiar. After getting a drink and walking back through the waiting room, this man spoke to me, but his mouth was not moving. I knew then for sure that we had a situation on our hands that confirmed my suspicions. I entered my office, dismissed the couple, and came out to greet this man, who brazenly made his way into my office. He sat down and asked do you know who I am? I replied, you look familiar, but it doesn’t matter who you are – you have no right busting into our office with such demands. Within the next few minutes, he attempted to put a curse on me by holding up the palm of his hand that had a tattoo of the pentagram. Finding no success in his attempt to curse me, he began to rebuke me for filling the mind of his girlfriend with this Christian crap. To make a long story short, I began counseling this man weekly, ultimately leading to his salvation. When it came time for his world tour, I counseled him not to go, and if he did, God would block his efforts to blend Satanism with Christ. Well, due to needing the “cash,” he didn’t listen. As Jesus would have it, the first concert, opening night in Denver, he collapsed on stage during his first song. At about 3 am, I got a call from the state mental hospital with this man on the other end of the line. He begged me to release him from this Christian conversion. I told him this was impossible! I encouraged him once again to drop the tour and continue in his discipleship. To my amazement, He did. We had the privilege to watch God transform this man into a man of faith, bearing testimony to his friends within the world of rock ‘n roll. By the way, their world tour was not only canceled, but the group never made it back to the public stage. CHRIST | CULTURE | CREATORSince we had a board member who worked for the Reagan Administration as a “specialist” in global religions, our ministry became known for rightly dividing the Word of Truth regarding Christ, culture, and religious groups – particularly with churches.Soon I was brought on as an “Apprentice Agent” with the FBI. My first case was to investigate a local mega-church pastor who allegedly was using the church for child trafficking and drug sales. We not only exposed this pastor’s depravity, but a nationwide child-trafficking ring was brought before the justice system. This was my first exposure to the world of human trafficking and thus formed my present-day passion to address the issues surrounding this horrid industry. After gaining some investigative experience, I was assigned to multiple cases connected with the now-popular Satanic afterschool programs being conducted in public schools. President Reagan, primarily Nancy, wanted this movement stopped. While our efforts identified five schools within Colorado Springs by making use of teachers that were identified with the cult, the Satanists decided to go nationwide. Sad to say, after Reagan’s administration, the afterschool program flourished throughout most of our states. Another encounter was with an author, Madeleine L'Engle, the author of “A Wrinkle In Time.” This book was being used by Christian Schools and Public Schools alike. The book was filled with the occult; in fact, we uncovered that Madeleine was a certified witch. Our interest was piqued after one of our children, who was attending the Colorado Springs Christian School, came home with a book stating that something is wrong with this book, Mommy. After researching this depraved news, we discovered that this woman was connected to a very evil culture. Our mission to expose the dangers of this book and its author began. The success of the story is the principal of the school openly took our research and immediately had it removed from the school. The not-so-good part of the story is that this public reveal set off a level of persecution from the local New Age community that ultimately battered our family with memories we would prefer to forget. It wasn’t long after this very public reveal the New Age community relabeled their movement – it is now known as the Woke community, proactively serving their new “Millennial Jesus” – you might recognize their propaganda in the daily news. Our ministry in Colorado Springs was successful by all ministry standards. Since the Springs has over 200+ national and international ministries housed in their city, we had the privilege of disciplining many leaders while impacting the community with Christ, Culture, and our Creator. This stint of our ministry activated my life-long passion to address the clever tactics Satan uses to convert all “Christians” into lukewarm believers.Colorado taught us some valuable lessons. When an immovable authentic Christian commits to DO God’s will despite the persecutive results, miracles of protection and advancement occur. Secondly, housed within those evil perpetrators are real people that God loves and needs His everlasting Grace. If a minister of the Gospel is willing to go through the bumpy parts, frequently, a story is born revealing the power of Jesus Christ in a troubling world. We, as a family, have fond memories of Colorado. Outside of the conflict connected with our research department, our family enjoyed endless mountain trips for picnics, hikes, and camping. Today, our middle daughter and her family live in the community that started our adventures in Christ in culture. You’re on the free list for The End Times Chronicles. We are a non-profit outreach. To bless our ministry, become a paying subscriber. or donate. Dr. Stephen R. Phinney is the President & Founder of Lion of Judah Films, Identity Matters Worldview Institute & IOM America. He is an author, teacher, film producer & podcaster.Hey, fellow writers/readers, would you be open to buying me a cup of coffee? Check out this fun way of supporting my writing: https://bmc.link/drphinney
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