3 Brian O’donnell’s story

The Burning Flame

Our Covenant with God.

By Brian O’Donnell

” Covenant ” is something I never really got to grips with though I heard many very good teachings on it — what’s His is ours and ours is His always made me laugh, then just the other day the thought came to me that our ” Great God ” maybe needed something from us!

Thinking on this it came to me that our Maker & Father saw as most important the need to get the very ” Rights ” he gave to us, back ! — but only on the terms that we become willing partners and in so doing fulfill His amazing plan to, through man, win back and bring back God’s purposes into the earth !!!

This at first glance may seem elementary but while meditating on this I began to see more, and consequently to understand more, of the ” awesome responsibility ” that our wonderful heavenly Father has invested in us to be conformed unto the image of His Son, to give up our rights and by so doing ” allow “ The Blessed Holy Spirit entrance, firstly into us then into the earth through lives yielded totality to His purposes (True Disciples !); to bring Healing, Deliverance and Salvation to people made in His image. (but taken into slavery) ! This helps us to understand the Jesus message to a “wavering” John – YES HE WAS THE ONE !!! — to bring release of the captives and to open prison doors; to let the blind to see!!; the lame to walk !; and the kingdom of God to be preached. To again demonstrate in the earth, show forth the man God purposed US to be !!.

So we give up OUR rights to gain His amazing LIFE, and all the RESOURCES ! More than enough !!

He promises His face will continually be towards us, His strength, power and favour – what More could any man/woman ever wish for? “Love so amazing so divine ‘demands’ my soul my life my all !!” I have no other option — nor do i want another for the other option leads to death, not only to our death but ‘death’ such as the disastrous effects on the lives of people we see in the world all around us. Taking His option, then it can be as 2 Chronicles 30:9 says:

/”For if ye turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him”./

Satan has taken so many of our children, brothers and sisters captive through the worldly systems, media, music, fame, fortune, business and even learning, yet God has given us the antidote when fully yielded (All of HIM ALL of US) to His blessed Holy Spirit in us to “dynamically, powerfully & miraculously touch the world “. No more to live “powerless lives”. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, all the disciples and millions of believers have also found that to ‘Lose your life is in fact to “gain! gain! gain! ” one’s life and in so doing to bring life to all the earth”. (How the enemy has used confusion to side-track us into thinking that this is too difficult a deal for us!).

What am i saying ? As we yield to the Lord, Fountains of Living Water spring up all over the earth, once again able to quench a dry and thirsty land. We can do no better!! Many other options but no better option!! — “I have decided to follow Jesus!” as the chorus goes; so won’t you join me and follow Jesus? The disciples by this power “turned the world upside down”!! In South Africa there is a desperate need for the rising up of the “sons of God”, anointed and full of the Holy Spirit to deliver healing to the nations and there peoples! Let’s not resist, not rest, till we receive ALL of HIM !!! Up from the grave He arose with a Mighty triumph over His foes !!!

I remember clearly in the seventies the “anointed power” given by God to a handful of hippies who literally turned the city of Cape Town to Jesus! I was a leader of the hippie movement, and also the mouth piece of the movement when In 1970 I became a Christian. You can imagine the upheaval caused when the leader suddenly turns round and says “Jesus is the way!” The whole movement is suddenly plunged into disarray! This of in turn got me invites to UCT, Stellenbosch, and all other universities, and also to almost all the high schools in the Western Cape, speaking up to one hundred thousands and possibly more students. Some of this you may know, but much of the story I’m telling , most of you don’t know! After being invited, two of us went to a Dutch Reformed meeting in Paarl and, after preaching to what seemed like +- 600 students, we were astonished to see over 500 students come forward for salvation and had the wonderful joy of leading them to repentance and to Jesus ! On another occasion, being invited to Stellenbosch University this time to the Dutch Reformed Kweek Skool to speak to ministers-in-training, more than 10 of the young ministers, as I found out later through that talk,became Pentecostal dramatically changing the direction of there lives. 3 of the 10 became Assemblies Of God ministers. One can only imagine the disruption this must have caused, and the consternation to the parents and fellow students on the campus, many of whom where seriously challenged!! what a mighty God !!

I was also invited to speak to most of the koshuise on campus. Amazing happenings, probably speaking to thousands of Stellenbosch students. Many came to salvation, a work was started in the student town. Also at Rhenish Girls High School after addressing the Assembly, something which had a remarkable affect on these high school girls, so much so that after that talk, the Hippie Market, that i had opened years earlier, be came a meeting place and many of the girls who were touched receive instruction and grew in God. this was also true for the other students (disciples) the market became a rallying place. praise Jesus!!

God added daily to the growing band of converts. One story is of a young woman Student Leader who became fascinated by the story she heard of a hippie who had become a Christian, and made up her mind to get hold of me and invite me purely out of fascination. After speaking at her koshuis to a large group of students, I went home thinking nothing more about it. About 20 years later, my niece Shanett Martin, who now heads up a work in Worcester – “a Christian kibbutz” — while in a meeting noticed a photo of me in the leader’s bible and naturally said “Hey, that’s my uncle”, and the wonderful story came out of how this former student years earlier had, through her fascination at a hippie “Jesus person”, come to know Jesus as Lord and then many years later started a Christian kibbutz, instrumental in doing much good work among the less-privileged. What an awesome God we have, but that’s not the end. Some years later Shanett phoned me to say that, in a general meeting with a group of Christian’s active in Worcester, including the student who started the work, on discussing the need for revival, one of the active ministers in the meeting mentioned that he had come to know the lord through Brian at the Hippie Market, to the absolute amazement of the others!, (to sum up, that meant that Shanett the student leader and one of the ministers involved, had roots in the hippie revival). What an amazing series of events. Now almost 40 years later this group is believing God for a revival based on “Andrew Murray and the ensuing outpouring in Worcester, and the vision of The burning candle “. Their interpretation of the vision is “from Worcester, up through Africa and to the world”

What a mighty God we serve! This amazing thread is not coincidental!! My story and involvement all started through a book — and a vision in the book – by J R Gschwend, described by Faans Klopper as “this giant of God”. These are just some of the mighty works of a very loving and caring God! We can expect to see a massive outpouring of the Holy Spirit as we yield our lives dedicated to His purposes. May God give us all the passion for this Great Work lying ahead for us, a work prepared many light years ago!!

THE TIME IS NOW!! Why do i say this? — well, almost 40 years earlier myself and Sandra along with Chrisman & Drickie Stander were invited to a meeting held annually in Wolverkop on a farm in a large store house in the small Karoo, maybe 180 people in all, pentecostal and very Holiness orientated, three days of meetings all in mainly Afrikaans and towards the end of some very good meetings, I was invited to speak giving my testimony and afterwards I had the privilege to be invited to meet JR Gschwend privately. This amazing man of God now in his later years. still filled with God’s fire!, talked to me about the vision He received in a dream, “the burning candle”, a candle on a mantelpiece near an open window when suddenly a breeze blew this “flickering flame” over to a map of the world attached to the wall and this flame began to ignite the map right at the most southern point of S/Africa and the flames went right up through Africa and on to Europe, India and the rest of the world. On awaking, deeply impressed that this was of God and was a revival fire, the same Flame that came down on the 120 in the upper room. On meeting me, a “hippie become christian”, and seeing me as the first-fruits of a new wave of God, he handed over to me a copy of The Vision as one hands over a baton to be passed on, and that’s how I picked up the baton/Vision on behalf of all the Jesus People to spread the news of the Vision !!; and about 15 years later after eventually myself loosing the Vision and the book, to my shame, but fortunately many others had picked up the Vision and continued to pass it on!! praise Jesus !!; then over the past year, and especially over the past 8 months, after coming to a new critical point in my life, brought on by the blessed Holy Spirit, a reawakened and kindled a flame in my spirit and out of that a massive desire to get a copy of “the burning candle ” but with out much success.Then after taking up an invitation to coffee with Jessop Sutton and Faans Klopper two wonderful brothers in Christ for whom I have great respect having known them together for almost 40 years, I on Tuesday, 26th January, went to the appointed place and meeting Jessop, sat down to await Faans who was a little late; 5 minutes later in walks Faans, sits down and straight away begins to open a parcel as he mumbles something about a marvelous book and, of course this was the The VIsion! — the odds of this being coincidental, well, you work that out; (a book almost out of print).

I trust this blesses you as it has blessed me; “not by might or strength but by My Spirit” !!!; “one as a thousand two as ten thousand”; no work of man but of a MIGHTY GOD THROUGH YIELDED MAN !!

Much love in Christ !

Brian O’donnell

———- this has been sent with the sole purpose – to give glory to God !! ———-

Brian

C 082 460 8688

T 021 790 5362

E-mail: odo@telkomsa.net