Winkie's Stroke and Ongoing Recovery -- October 2016 


We want to thank all of you that have been praying diligently for Winkie. If you haven't heard, he had a stroke (accompanied by several siezures) in the early morning hours of October 10th. 

Here is a brief recap about the current Adventure With Winkie's health. He and Fae and William have all been here in the US to minister since late August. In early October, while finishing up a few days of ministry in San Antonio TX, he started feeling unwell...headachy and very tired. He rested a few days and felt good enough to speak on October 9th, Sunday afternoon in Humble TX but started having seizures very early last Monday morning. He was taken to Ben Taub hospital in Houston where it was discovered that he has clots in both legs and another large one in a vein in his brain that caused a stroke. He escaped speech and cognitive impairment but his right arm and hand were effected. William was with Winkie in Houston and Fae made her way down from Lindale quickly. The Docs began trying to rid him of the clots. Until these blood clots dissolve or are removed the danger of another stroke is high. The remainder of his ministry dates in the US are being cancelled or postponed and it is unknown just how long his full recovery will take. Winkie's family and ministry partners are seeking God for wisdom and, with him, trying to make the best decisions we can as to his care. 

Since the very beginning of all this there has been a huge outpouring of love and prayer and, of course, many thousands have been praying for a miracle. There have been awesome words of encouragement and some have been continuing in intercession. We cannot thank everyone enough for every prayer, message, comment and share even though we haven't done so well at keeping up with messages I'm afraid. 

As I write this (This is Dee by the way) it is October 30th and Winkie is doing remarkably well in his recovery. There are regular updates on Facebook. www.facebook.com/therealwinkie if you are just hearing and want to follow the story through those updates. It is OBVIOUS that the Lord is answering all the thousands of prayers that have been going up for his healing. Docs are still saying that the blood thinners that have been prescribed will work to dissolve all the blood clots in time. So regular checkups and imaging will be required. The Pratneys may need to extend their US stay a bit to bring Winkie to the place where it is safe to fly back to New Zealand to continue recovery there. 

Many have been asking what is needed at this time and/or how they can give. We have thought about setting up a GoFundMe campaign, but will probably wait until we have a better idea of the total need so that realistic goals can be set. In the meantime there is a donate button on www.moh.org that we are directing folks to. Other options exist but please send an email to deepatton@moh.org for more info about those. With all his US dates cancelled regular needs will mount. Add to that the cost of the prescribed medicines and things would grow yet more alarming if it were not for our history in seeing God meet needs in so many miraculous ways. We are confident that the Lord will us people and situations to both meet needs and bring glory to Himself. 

If you decide to give through MOH it will be assumed that your gift is for Winkie's current needs unless you are a known regular donor or specify otherwise. 

Thank you all again...so very much. We too are believing for that miracle that is being called forth from heaven and know that our God is more than able.

Robin's Revelation 


“And without faith it is impossible to please Him. For he that comes to God must believe that He is, and He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

Russel Crow as Robin Hood, bowed before his king Richard the Lionheart is asked his opinion of the Crusades launched against the Muslim world which he and his friends have joined in fighting. He remains silent though commended for his bravery in battle. Remembering the day he saw the look on a captive woman’s face awaiting execution, he says what stripped him of unholy conviction: “It was not anger or fear. It was pity.”

Samuel Rutherford, saintly author of Lex Rex did not live to see the result of his Biblical insistence that it is not kings who ultimately rule the world, but God’s law. His world called all to a Rex Lex; the King is law. Defiance was death. But even David fell when he took another man’s wife arranging her husband’s death in the war against a city. David was indeed the King. But the thing that David did displeased the Lord. (2 Samuel 11-12)

One core thing I have learned about the Lord is how little He is like some who want to represent Him. He is indeed Ruler of all. He has power beyond imagination to carry out what He tells us is good and great. His laws are descriptions of reality from an infinite perspective. He is truly Judge all things. But we are not called to copy this to reach His world. Yet such a driven vision is close to the heart of all systems and structures in which control and power are the dominant focus. It is why so many sin in God’s name. It was not just true for England’s Lionheart king. It marks the East’s eschatology where karma is the law of the Universe. It is Islam’s central theme with its kismet under the all-seeing eye of Allah. It is also the underlying assumption of every secular or spiritual, political or geopolitical movement that seeks to impress its own controlling tenants on the planet.

Religion loves its rules. It courts total control, for to its eyes this is what it means to save the world. It promotes power, for under its rule only the strongest survive. Too often the Church has confused this for faith, adopting such underlying assumptions and baptizing them as its own. Charity requires us to admit that in any serious look at the greatness of God, His attributes of infinity and eternity might lead us to think that to be like Him, we too should strive for dominance. Tyrants and terrorists alike have claimed to live in such a revelation, tempering their own force-driven ambitions only by acknowledging His sovereignty over all things, and their own Divine destiny to carry out His intention as chosen vessels. Will we not be like Him to live such a life? Can such acts save a world?

Sadly, no. The consequence has almost always been chaos and calamity. Every intention to bring ultimate control to a situation gives us not the serenity of a perfect and unified world of peace, but devastation and destruction. If we seek to live as if everything is and ought to be under absolute dominion, when our picture of both God and man must be fixed forever for our security, we will awake to find such an order a dangerous fantasy.

Scripture, history and just plain personal everyday experience testify otherwise. God did not make a world like that, because He Himself is not like that. This Sovereign God with infinite power, wisdom and love beyond all measure gave us instead a world where for us things can go wrong. Such is the reality of the lot and the record of both seeker and saint.

Why did He make it like that? If, as Scripture states, creation shows His own nature, He gave us a world with not only predictable rules that demonstrate consequence but also inbuilt potentials to mirror His personal investment in us. He Himself is not prisoner of His infinite ability. He has power over His own power. The God of all possible worlds did not visit as an immortal spirit, but as a helpless baby in an enemy-surrounded manger.

All the great joys of life are linked to such elements of chance, of alternatives not finally controlled, of possibility. Without it, safety and security may become boredom and apathy and any adventure is impossible. Our finances, family and future plans all involve an element of risk, of uncertainty, of choices to be made and circumstances to be faced. We are created with personal elements of both decision and determination in a fractal and quantum world that may lead either to greatness and glory or failure and poverty.

Robin had a revelation. We need one today when so many ugly things are done in God’s name and so many suffer from a misplaced and malignant desire to be like Him. He is not fallen like the Devil. We cannot be a holy people by insisting on our own power and control over His sad, hurt and fallen world. In the midst of chaos and uncertainty the One Who loves us beyond measure and died for our deliverance from evil still owns Lex Rex.

*Partial excerpts from Winkie Pratney's The Nature and Character of God II (release date 2012).


 

Introductions 

Hello all!
I bet you’re all wondering, “Who is this girl writing a blog on Winkie Pratney’s website?” Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Cat and my life has been radically changed since watching Winkie’s series called 'Be Ye Holy' (
moh.org/WinkPrat/VirtualClassroom/VW/Be_Ye_Holy/Be%20Ye%20Holy.html.) The message of holy living has been an influence in my life since I was 13 or so, but has never been so clear as it is now.

I grew up with missionary parents; my mom was in Agape Force before she joined YWAM with my dad. I’ve also grown up around great theologians, speakers, teachers and preachers, but none of them have ever made theology as practical and applicable in my life as Winkie.
I’ve spent the last couple of years living with Jim and Dee Patton who head up Ministry of Helps, there I have been immersed in Winkie’s books and videos. Now, God has made it possible for me to join forces with Jim and Dee at MOH in an effort to get the message of revival to every day people. Winkie says that every time in history that there has been a great revival, holiness was being taught. I want to help get that message out there! So, as of a couple of weeks ago I am now full time ministry with MOH, all in! I am SO excited to be sharing the same things that have completely changed the way that I view God with all of you!

Talk with you soon!
-Cat