June, 2000

Conference Comments
From Previous Conferences

"We saw God’s restoration power in action as the two couples renewed their vows. We KNOW God will do this for us too. I can hardly wait until next year. My husband is in a non-covenant marriage, but I KNOW God is working. He has witnessed to me in so many ways that victory is near. Oh, how we need to KEEP THE VISION and be faithful to covenant, like Jesus is with us.”

“Praise God for the wonderful time of discipleship and fellowship at the conference. It is my first time and I will definitely be back next year. I received such encouragement, revelation, and confirmation during the sessions and meeting Covenant Keepers from all over the world was a rich blessing.”

“The conference was wonderful, we all came back refreshed, encouraged and ready for the battle ahead. It was the best ever!”

“I just wanted to write a note to tell you I think this year’s convention was the best ever! Truly the theme “Catch the Vision” was what it was all about. I guess some must have seen my head bobbing up and down in agreement with everything as my heart confirmed the direction of where we (all covenant keepers) are headed. Everything was so well done, and everything had so much meaning to us. Truly I sense a beginning of something so wonderful, and I am so excited to be a part of it."

“I just wanted to say thank you, thank you, thank you. The conference this year was wonderful. I repented because we were not expecting much this year. Complacency had entered our hearts.”

“God did exceedingly and abundantly above all that we hoped or thought. It was wonderful.”

“Conference this year was glorious-so peaceful. I have shared with many already the precious jewels I received from it.”

CK received tremendous healing from bondage of lust and rebellion at conference.

Texas: “Thank you for such a blessed weekend. I can’t tell you how the Lord worked in my heart, especially through Rep Perkins. As a school teacher, I have been very discouraged through the years because I have felt I, too, was ‘rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic’ in the lives of so many students from broken families. But Rep Perkins gave me such hope and I will continue to pray for him.”

Florida: “Thank you to everyone who went out of their way to make the weekend in Tulsa, Oklahoma at Covenant Keepers Conference a special time. We very much appreciated every kindness shown us. It was a blessing to be able to finally put faces with so many names for the first time. We send a bouquet of appreciation to Marilyn Conrad, her staff, and the leadership of Covenant Keepers, Inc for a job well done.”

Canada: “I just finished listening to the the conference tapes. What a blessing! Ken Savage’s messages along with Phil Stern’s and Craig Hill’s really ministered to me. Thank you for taping these messages, they were a real blessing to me.”

Speaking of the Saturday buffet, a covenant keeper commented that she couldn’t afford to eat meat often at home, adding that Covenant Keepers had treated, “everyone like royalty.”

California: “Thank all of you for a wonderful conference and for all the work you put into it. So many details that I will probably never know including all the beautiful red, white and blue decorations!”

Colorado: “It was a wonderful convention - thank you all for doing a wonderful job getting everything together. All of the speakers were dynamic and I believe everyone received something. I have always admired Marilyn for her faithfulness to the ministry God has given her to do. I admire her for being a good example to every stander; she is someone to look up to because she is consistent in her stand and her faith.”

Florida: “The conference was just super. It seems like the depth of what we are standing for came out so strongly in all the speakers and the attitude of the whole conference. It was so encouraging hearing Wes and Becky’s testimony. How wonderful the miracles God does in our lives. God keeps laying on my heart that we do need to get Covenant curriculum in the churches. There is such a drought of teaching in our average churches. Even if the pastors believe in covenant it isn’t taught that much or ever. I bought six of Covenant Keepers new curriculum and they are so well done.”

Georgia:  “I came this weekend with a ‘victim’ mentality and came home realizing that standing for my marriage is a privilege. It is worth it. He is worth it! What a small price to pay to know the Savior better.

Testimonies of Restored Marriages

Howard & Lorraine Woodhouse: “I just can’t say enough about being obedient to God’s Word and letting Him be in charge and doing what He tells you to do.”

Dolores Porter: “We have built a friendship that wasn’t there before. My husband tells others not to make the mistakes we made, that there was never any reason we should have broken up.  He has really grown in God and is so thankful that I waited. People say he looks so different, like a weight has been lifted off him. It’s all God’s doing. My prayer is that we walk in all God has called us to do.”

WHERE HAVE ALL THE FATHERS GONE?
BY MIKE AND MARILYN PHILLIPS

On a summer evening we found ourselves in a small waiting room outside a busy hospital emergency room. In contrast to the bustle and activity behind the swinging double doors, the room in which we waited was dimly lit and quiet.

Three children sat nervously on the edge of their chairs. Moments before, the chaplain had taken their mother away to talk to the doctor. Anxious relatives and friends murmured softly to them and to each other. The subdued lighting of the room was in sharp distinction with the tension that gripped everyone. We all waited to hear the news.

Soon the mother returned. One look at her ashen face told us what we did not want to hear. The chaplain took one arm, the doctor the other, and they slowly lowered her into a chair. She gathered her three children in her arms, and then in a voice that seemed to take every ounce of courage she could muster, she brokenly said, “Kids, your Daddy didn’t make it.”

All three children drew a sharp breath and crying, “No!” fell sobbing onto her chest. For several moments they clung together sobbing, the rest of us shut out from the depth of their grief.

Everyone else in that room longed to make it not so. We all knew the triumph the couple had tasted in the past few months. After so many years of turmoil and pain, they had finally come to know victory over the enemy through the power of Jesus. The hell they had called marriage had been exchanged for the glory of marriage God’s way. Now, after such a brief season of hope, it seemed impossible that it was over.

HEAR THEIR CRIES AND KNOW THEIR GRIEF

Suddenly, as we watched, the Lord began to speak. At the time the two of us were on opposite sides of the room, and it was not until later that we discovered that God spoke the same word to us simultaneously. His message was, “Listen to the cries of the children whose father has been taken from them. Hear their cries and know their grief. This you understand because their father was taken from them in death. Do you hear their cries? Never forget them. They are multiplied the world over by children that no one hears.”

Then, in our spirits, we could hear the cries multiplied over and over. “No!” “No!” “No!” The outcries of millions of children echoed in our hearts. Something happened within us that night. A new determination was born to not let the devil have one more marriage!

We watched people put their arms around those three little children that night, comforting and loving them. Not one person told them that it was better that their dad was dead and not alive. How cruel that would have been!

WE MUST STOP LYING THAT ONE PARENT IS BETTER THAN TWO

Yet everyday children of divorce are told that it [divorce] is better for them. They are assured that one parent is better than two. They hear that life will be better for them following the divorce. They are lovingly convinced that divorce is the answer. Even though circumstances may appear to be better, each child knows that losing a parent is a terrible solution. In fact, for the child, it is no solution at all.

That night at the hospital the Lord showed us something else—something we had never seen before. In Matthew 19, right after Jesus spoke concerning divorce and remarriage, the scriptures say, “People were bringing little children to Jesus to have Him touch them….” The disciples rebuked them and tried to send them away, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them.” Jesus longs to minister to the children.

Children are the physical representation of the one-flesh union. Both parents have been poured into them and they cannot be separated out again. Each child feels the tearing within as parents try to neatly divide themselves from each other. It cannot be done. The child cannot be divided.

Solomon once faced two parents, both claiming to be the mother of the same baby. To determine which was the real parent, Solomon suggested that the child be cut in half. One woman thought this was a good plan, but the baby’s real mother begged for her child’s life. She did not want to see her baby divided.

We must stop dividing up our babies and calling it a solution. We must stop lying to ourselves that one parent is better than two. We must cease giving our children the falsehood that divorce solves anything. They know better. Their hearts cry out for their daddies and mommies. Whether they are two or twenty-two when their parents separate, they experience the very real pain of division.

WAKE UP, CHURCH

Church, it’s time to wake up! The devil has spent the last two generations destroying the home and crushing the children. Today, the Church is filled with wounded, scarred people who received their afflictions within the walls of their own homes.

The strength of the Body of Christ from the smallest cell group to the entire body of Christians worldwide depends on the strength of the home. Both father and mother are part of that strength. God’s plan for marriage and home still stands, no matter what the humanists say today.

If the return of the father to the home is not possible, then the church must begin to father those who are left orphans through death or divorce. Jesus longs to heal the children, but that healing must come through flesh and blood people who are willing to extend their love to the little ones.

Spiritual fathers can fill the void left when biological fathers are gone and bring healing and wholeness to broken children. Steadfast, unconditional love will enable the heart of our heavenly Father to become a reality in the lives of those who have only known fragmented, conditional acceptance. We must all be part of the solution.

WITH GOD'S SOLUTION, EVERYBODY WINS

If, somehow, you are still considering divorce as an option, please realize that God wants you to use the circumstances of your marriage to bring healing to you, to your spouse, and to your children. With God’s solution, everybody wins. With the devil’s solution, everybody loses. Don’t believe the lie that divorce is the only solution. When you divorce you only change your circumstances. You still take 50% of the problem with you, and someday, somehow, you, your spouse, and your children are still going to need to be healed.

Why not let Jesus begin that healing today! Let this be the hour in which He turns the hearts of the fathers to their children and the children’s hearts to their fathers! When human love has failed, God can change hearts.

Used by permission of Mike and Marilyn Phillipps and Marriage Ministries International.

Daniel’s Tomcat Trouble
Check-List

By Gerry Hiebert
Canadian National Director

Kings 0, God 2. 
King Darius saw wild animals tamed while Nebuchadnezzar became wild like an animal. In the end, they both acknowledged the true King.

Popularity contests. 
A righteous lifestyle won’t guarantee approval from the locals; the opposite is often true.

Appearances can be deceiving. 
It may seem like your enemies have turned you into cat-food, but appearances don’t deceive God. He sees the end from the beginning!

Their bark is worse than their bite. 
The lions in your life are pussy-cats when God is control and God is ALWAYS in control when you let Him.

Don’t forget what isn’t seen. 
You can always see the hungry lions licking their chops, but only eyes of faith see angels scratching the lions’ ears.

Look for the silver (or furry) lining. 
Think of all those warm, fuzzy, self-heating blankets Daniel had to snuggle into when the night got cold.

Never say never. 
It took 21 days for Gabriel to bring the answer to Daniel’s prayer. Today could be your day 20!

My Dad’s tougher than your dad! 
The greatest kings on earth were no match for Daniel’s Heavenly Father. Neither is your mate!

A simple, one step wisdom plan. 
The most powerful people on earth regularly sought Daniel’s advice. What was the secret to his wisdom and success? He prayed and prayed and prayed and...