Phil, that was excellent. I guess I need to practice speaking in 
tongues, but I'm certainly not good at it, and I feel very 
self-concious about it.

In fact, I've only done it a few times.

Pat Ferguson

At 10:16 PM 2/4/2007, you wrote:
>      For many months, if not years overall, I have been tuning
>into radio Bible teaching in hopes I would discover something new
>about financial blessings in the life of a Christian.  I even
>purchased some tapes I thought were good from one of my favorite
>Bible teachers on the radio.
>
>      If you listen to Pentecostals, Charismatics, Baptists, and
>other fundamentalist type preaching and teaching, they all begin
>at the same place and that is tithing.  I've known this since the
>womb, practically, because it is all I have heard all my life.
>Until, that is, I began questioning the Lord myself, on my knees,
>with an open Braille Bible 25 years ago.  The thing that freaked
>me out the most, at that time, was that the Holy Spirit, I was, by
>now, used to hearing and recognizing His voice, kept telling me
>that He did not need my money.  This puzzled me.  I know He, God,
>didn't need it but if I didn't give 10 percent of my income, I was
>taught that He, God, can't bless me.  So now what do I do?  Still,
>He kept saying, "I don't need your money."  Every time I tried to
>tithe, my income diminished.  When I quit tithing, my income
>increased.  Finally, out of desperation, I gave up and stopped
>giving anything.  Not one dime.  My bills started getting paid,
>the income perpetually increased, my business continually
>improved, and four years later, although I had been renting, the
>Lord made it possible, without any down payment on my behalf, to
>purchase a home and with monthly payments the same as my rent had
>been.  That was almost 24 years ago.  I still live in the same
>home.  So go figure.  I was more confused than before, but I
>eventually studied until I found my answer in the Scriptures.
>This, however, has almost nothing to do with what I want to tell
>you now.
>
>      Four years ago, or perhaps more, Jesus told me, not called
>me, not anointed me, but literally told me, what I would be
>doing.  this I didn't like.  Not because I wanted to disobey the
>Lord but I simply was not interested, nor did I have any training,
>in what the Lord was telling me I would be doing.  What was that?
>He said, "You will be working with sexually abused women and those
>suffering from multiple personality disorders, which is now
>called, Dissociative Identity Disorder.  First, this did not mean
>that's all I would be doing but it would be something He was
>instructing me, or appointing me, to do in His name.  At present,
>I work with several sexually abused women and I have worked with
>many of those, men and women, who are multiple personality.
>Before this ministry began, the Holy Spirit also told me that I
>would be a father to the fatherless.  I won't go into detail about
>this now but needless to say, this is something that is now being
>fulfilled daily.  This is something I never dreamed in a million
>years I would be doing but doing it I am.  Now back to my main
>topic.  I have said all of this thus far to lay background for
>what I am going to tell you next.
>
>      As most of you know on this list, financially, things haven't
>been going all that well of late.  this is largely due to being a
>poor steward, or said another way, not being a very good business
>man.  Simply stated, over the last two or three years, I've made
>some poor mistakes.  One, for example, is that I took out loans
>and mortgages because, I thought, Jesus would bless the ministry
>to which He had called me, or better stated, the ministry to which
>He had assigned me or appointed me.  This isn't faith; it's
>confidence.  Confidence is a poor substitute for faith no matter
>how you cut it.  This is not to say that Jesus won't finance His
>ministries but I am just trying to point out the difference
>between confidence in the Lord and faith in God.  If you can't see
>the difference, you easily make the wrong mistakes.
>
>      As I began to say, out of desperation, a terrible state in
>which to find yourself as a Christian, I was hunting and hunting
>for an answer.  I wanted to know how to get money out of God or in
>a more spiritual way of putting it, I wanted to find out how to be
>financially blessed of God.  Well, that's what it truly boiled
>down to as sorry as that sounds for such a Godly man as I.  I'm
>joking, of course, because Godliness isn't what we think it is but
>that's for another time.  Anyhow, I often punched on my radio just
>in case somebody was teaching on finances and I might hear the
>secret to getting God to cough up some money.  Besides, He owed
>me.  right?  I mean, He put me into this ministry.  right?  So
>shouldn't He be paying for it, too, regardless of all the
>financial boo boos I made in the past?  I mean, what kind of a God
>is He if He doesn't finance, or bank roll, what He has created?
>Right?  He owns the cattle on a thousands hills and all the gold
>under those hills.  Right?  So why don't I have any of that?
>confusing to say the least.
>
>      My radio experience, plus 1200 audio cassettes I have in my
>library, wasn't producing a single thing; not one.  this
>frustrated me to no end because these are big names preachers and
>if anybody should know, it should be then.  right?  Well, it
>wasn't working.  I mean, I wasn't finding the answer.  I still am
>not claiming I know the final answer so don't get excited.  I do
>want you to know what Jesus has told me so far.
>
>      One thing I have learned over the last 25 years is that
>whatever I am asking the Lord, the answer is always, every single
>time, incredibly simple.  I have always figured the answers from
>the God of the universe, the Creator of all things, has got to be
>super complex, theologically complicated, and spiritually
>unfathomable.  Shoot, I barely made it out of high school, I only
>have a three year Bible college general theological degree, and I
>know my IQ can't be very high.  Yet, time and time again, God has
>shown me things about my relationship with Him and they are
>always, 100 percent of the time, so simple, a child could
>understand.  this makes me mad and humble at the same time.  Mad,
>because I always hope that I will learn some big godly secret that
>will catapult me into magnificent and glorious Christian stardom.
>Humility speaks for itself.  No, humility doesn't mean you are
>worthless and valueless, in fact, it means just the opposite in
>God's eyes.  Think simple and it will make sense.
>
>      So, the other day, as I have been trying to say all along, I
>was scanning the radio dial, I have 32 memories on my radio so I
>can punch stations up rapidly and one right after another if I am
>bored or displeased with what I am hearing, looking for somebody
>smarter than I am and concerning the subject of finances.
>Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  They all, every single one of them,
>dad gum it, were teaching the exact same thing.  Days, weeks,
>months, and years passed and they all taught the same thing.  why,
>you may ask, didn't I believe them and follow their example?  I
>had tried everything they taught already and it flat out did not
>work.  I even proved it didn't work by eliminating my tithes and
>offerings over a period of four years and God blessed me even more
>than if I had been giving.  Well, that's all water over the dam or
>under the bridge or whatever.  Now you can understand why pastors
>don't ask me to speak for them any longer; they are afraid I might
>teach on the wrong subject.  Let me tell you what Jesus told me
>just recently.
>
>      turning off the radio out of frustration, I sat back in my
>chair totally bummed.  "Come on, Lord," I complained, "I don't get
>it.  I don't even know the question, let alone the answer, so
>what is the freaking answer?"  then I suddenly heard it.  One
>word.  One elementary, rudimental, simple, uncomplicated, plain,
>kindergarten, and simplistic, word.  "Prayer."
>
>      I almost jumped as if I had been touch with a live electrical
>wire.  "Pray!" I shouted into the spirit realm.  I was surprised,
>not because I heard it but because I felt it.  Yes, felt it.  I am
>perfectly familiar with day dreaming, having become a professional
>at it during school days, but this was not a day dream.  You don't
>feel a day dream; you just picture it in your mind.  I was not
>meditating, calculating, figuring, hallucinating, pondering,
>contemplating, or speculating.  I was asking!  What shocked me, as
>it always does, the Lord answered me.  Once again, so help me God,
>my hand on His bible, it was the most simplistic of answers and I
>felt the answer, not heard it, but felt it.
>
>      I realize this may be a new concept for many Christians,
>feeling the answer that is, but that is the way it always works
>for me.  Some people sense emotional, in their thought patterns,
>the Holy Spirit talking or speaking something to them.  For some,
>not me, but for some, it is so real, they describe it as actual
>hearing something.  That happens to some people, too, literally
>hearing the Lord speak, but it isn't common and you should not
>seek for such an auditory response.  Why?  It isn't necessary.
>Plus, demons can speak out loud so there is no sense in making
>things worse.  Others just sense communication is occurring and
>they formulate words.  I have experience both, that is, words
>spoken into my thoughts, or formed in my thoughts, and more often
>than not, I feel what is being spoken.  Don't ask me why because I
>don't know why it is different from person to person.  It is
>likely due to our unique individuality as far as God is concerned.
>You know?  No two alike?  I am usually hit with a feeling which
>contains meaning.  thus, the words are my words of explanation.
>Sometimes, on the other hand, I actually see the words as if they
>are being imprinted on my mind or in my thoughts.  both happened
>this time.  I saw and felt the word "prayer" at the same time the
>full and complete meaning burst in my spirit.
>
>      When the Holy Spirit spoke to me the single word "prayer,"
>an extended meaning and translation of what the Lord meant
>detonated inside of me spiritually.  I knew instantly what Jesus
>was telling me.  No, he wasn't talking about petitionary prayer
>where you make your request known on to God.  I already know how
>to do that.  No, He was not talking about praising His name and
>giving Him glory because I already know how to do that and have
>been doing that most of my life.  furthermore, I know how to pray
>without ceasing and that is a regular part of my daily life.  I
>also know how to pray in my sleep so that's not what the Lord was
>telling me either.  So what was He talking about?  I'm glad you
>asked.
>
>      There is another form of prayer that many, I dare say most,
>do not accept as valid.  They are fearful of it, don't believe it
>is viable in the church today, and they will do anything and
>everything to avoid this form of prayer.  Yet, it is a gift of the
>Holy Spirit.  By now, you likely have guessed it is the gift of
>speaking in tongues.
>
>      I am not going to exegetically, or textually critically
>analyze, Acts chapter one, Chapter two, chapter ten, chapter
>nineteen, or even First Corinthians chapter fourteen, not to
>mention many other related passages because I have done this
>already in many articles, booklets, and at least one book.  So if
>you want to read, and you have doubts, the bible is the first
>place to begin.  That's what I had to do to prove to myself the
>gift of tongues is for today's church.  If you choose not to
>believe, it won't damage our friendship at all.  At least not on
>my part.  You don't have to speak in tongues to go to Heaven but
>you do have to be saved.
>
>      As I started to say, when the single word "prayer" burst in
>upon my thoughts, a feeling crashed in behind it.  If I had been
>standing, it could have possibly knocked me over.  Yes, it was
>that powerful.  I've had this happened before but I am always
>spiritually surprised when it happens.
>
>      The feeling that accompanied the word to pray, filled my
>spirit, that is to say, it impressed itself deeply upon my
>spiritual being.  I couldn't deny the truth of it, in other words,
>even if I had tried.  Yes, it was that real.  This illumination,
>or spiritual insight, simply said, "Every time the feeling of
>financial hopelessness, or financial defeat, or monetary lack, or
>even God's inability to provide comes to mind, pray in tongues."
>How simple.  Sure, I had the gift of tongues but how could this
>help my situation?  I thought you had to be somebody spiritual, or
>a theological giant, or a powerful man of God, or a well educated
>Biblical scholar, or a well known theologian, or the pastor of a
>megachurch, or at least a missionary nobody has ever heard of.
>Me?  That's what I'm supposed to do?
>
>      Because this spiritual enlightenment came to me during the
>mid morning hours of the day, I figured I'd start that very day
>and so I did.  No, it was far from easy.  I walked around the
>house throughout that entire day, praying out loud in tongues.
>Yes, I felt stupid and silly and ridiculous.  Yes, I wondered what
>my wife, or daughter, or grandchildren, or anyone else thought,
>who might have heard me.  Sure, it felt dumb to pray like that as
>I watched TV late that night and the financial feelings of doom
>came upon me.  I did it anyway.  I did it until I went to bed
>fully expecting to repeat the whole weird scenario the next day.
>Something different occurred, however, that next day.  The
>negative and ominous thoughts were fewer in number and intensity.
>It had to be my hyper spiritual Charismatic/Baptist imagination.
>I prayed anyhow clear up until I went to bed.  Yes, every time a
>thought came; I never missed praying.  Why?  Jesus said to so I
>did what He said.  On the third day, the negative thoughts of doom
>and gloom were gone.  No fooling.  Just totally gone.  I prayed
>anyhow but now I prayed because I was free to do so and I have
>been doing exactly that since.  Where did the thoughts go you ask?
>I think you know.
>
>      This, of course, is far from the end of the story.  No, it
>doesn't mean I suddenly became a millionaire.  I haven't won the
>Power Ball, especially since I don't even play that or the
>lottery.  No, nothing has changed.  I take that back; something
>has changed.  Me.  Jesus is still the same as always.  Does this
>mean I now will become rich?  No.  Wealthy?  No.  Well to do?  Not
>necessarily.  It means Jesus is Lord.  Did you expect Him to be
>more?
>
>Phil.