Year: 2026

A newsletter to charismatics!

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

Some of you might have already received this by email. If so ignore. For some of you this might be of no interest… ignore! For others maybe adds to your own thoughts?

I have a few posts to complete and also to give a response to our time in Sicily. I will (maybe spelt ‘hope’?) to complete what I started on Jew, Israel, Gentile (with a slant on eschatology) and my thoughts on the Pauline gospel, but given the heat that is on some recent exposures on prophecy within charismatic circles I thought I should in this interlude comment on that first.

Well this is not really to charismatics, but a few responses to some of what is unfolding.

While away in Sicily I have sought to follow the scandals / exposures in the past weeks that Mike Winger has documented. I have not watched all the hours (and hours and hours) of videos but I have seen enough and experienced enough disappointment. Of course I have my take on it as many of you do, and wanted to give my response here – particularly to those of you who want to align yourself with the ‘charismatic’.

For those not in the know, in short, the scandals are focused on a number of individuals who have data-mined social media so that they can then present details (names, addresses, specific contexts) as words of knowledge… a kind of ‘Is there a Martin Scott present who lives in Oliva, does Isla de Sicilia mean anything to you?’ blah, blah. Impressive and spectacular. (Interestingly the prophetic that follows is often at a much lower ‘level’ of revelation or simply continues with an affirmation of what was presented on Facebook etc.!) 

A little personal history

There are three personal experiences that will also shape where I am coming from / where I am headed.

1) Not knowing anything about what was to come I wrote to someone (first in 2021) whose feet have been held to the fire in these past days that a major test was coming and that he would need the spirit of wisdom when it hit. I had a further 3 pieces of communication with him over the following years.

Then around 2 years ago I had two dreams that seem very relevant:

2) The first dream I was present in a discussion among European believers who were discussing as to what protocols should be foundational for a healthy prophetic to rise in the coming context and season. Into that dream a USA prophetic person (who passed away some years back but was one of the best known names from his era) materialised as a 40 year old. He was intently focused on discovering what we would come up with and his face showed clearly that he knew now that what they had put in place in their era was now proving to be sadly defective.

3) The second dream was of one of the best known and ‘stable’ prophets of today holding the platform in a large auditorium. He acknowledged my presence and said ‘we need to hear from Martin later’… however he filled the whole time and when he ran out of any meaningful content he jumped off the stage and simply began to dance around and shadow box! I said to Gayle ‘there is nothing for us here, let’s leave’. As we left by a side door I realised there was another back room and so I said ‘let’s go in here and see what is taking place.’ We did this and inside was someone dedicated to raising the next generation of prophetic voices. He had clearly been (apologies and I do not want to be crude) stimulating himself and now (fully clothed) he was demonstrating how significant his male package was – this being a point of pride. I said to Gayle – we are out of here and so we left that whole scene: the best of the current was shadow boxing and the next generation was being developed in the setting of male pride and performance.

After those dreams speak into the public space with the exposures of the abuse of the prophetic, and sadly with a comment – ‘we all do this’. I am grateful that that is not totally true (‘all’) but the data-mining and other abuses seems more widespread than just with a few.

The discrediting of the prophetic is clear as a result.

Some 6 months back I said to Gayle the prophetic is about to be shaken but once that is through the same will happen to the current healing move. That is just ahead of us.
 


So what now charismatics? (And I write as one.)

1) The spectacular – who to impress?

I had a call with David Shadbolt a few weeks back who brought up Philip’s visit to Samaria and in that village was Simon who with his ‘magic’ had deeply impressed / mesmerised the people.

The platform (problematic in itself) has facilitated the impressive. Truth is I do not need someone to give me my name nor my address but do need help to better align my character to fulfil a purpose for others while I am on this planet.

The spectacular lifts the so-called ‘messenger’ up. That is always the vision of all imperially-driven constructs and the total opposite of any Pauline vision for gifts and calling. We have to see the current exposure as a wake up call to being sadly unaligned in direction.

There are remarkable words of knowledge (‘you have had 5 husbands and the one you are with you are not married to’). A friend of mine who passed away in 2001 I often witnessed him bring revelation that even that person’s closest friend did not know – his gift and character impacted me deeply. He once turned up late… reason? ‘Sorry mate, I had to pull over, I was having such an acute panic attack’. He brought freedom to many and yet…. Maybe he should have been through the personal trauma by that stage… maybe… but his weakness was his strength. He was human with flaws. Humanity with flaws is closer to God’s image than the spectacular on a platform.

2) Healing – a new context

I have read through many of the stories of the ‘healing revival’ of 1948-58 where many of those involved came from backgrounds of poverty (and through the difficulties of the 1930s). Seeking God  for power (and significance?) they sought to manifest healing power. Two flaws: power does not heal a heart… love does. I remember meeting one (from a slightly later era) healing evangelist who held crusades with 100s of thousands globally. He came from an orphaned background, but was by the time I met him incredibly well known and it so happened that for around 10 minutes only he and I were in the same room. It was like talking to boy who was 12 years old. Only a conviction of love brings healing, being valued because of reputation does not heal.

Power – we will demonstrate God’s power, thus impressing people about God… (and maybe about us?). Second problem – God is not impressive!!! Insecurity needs to impress… God is not insecure!

We do not have a responsibility to show the world the power of God. There is a shift from power to PRESENCE. Jesus first chose 12 to be WITH him and then he commissioned them. He was known as ‘Emmanuel’, God WITH us. To be with Jesus is not simply to go away on a retreat, it is to be where he is.

There are three helpful prepositions – TO, FOR, and WITH. We can do something TO people – colonialism; we can do something FOR people – better and sometimes a necessary step… but WITH is the God-way.

There is a healing wave to come, but it first requires that we move to be WITH those who are marginalised. It is not about moving into the top 3% and then having power to change what is around… but being with. To be with is to listen. God’s bias is to the margins. I, male, have to LISTEN to those of a different gender / those who express gender / sexual orientation differently to me if I am to disrobe my ungodly status.

There is a total ‘disrobing’ of status. Jesus ‘got up from supper, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself’. This is what lies ahead. Only then will we have presence. Presence is not a style of worship, but a discovery that there is nothing more significant than being simply a ‘person in Christ’ as Paul described himself.

In summary

The heat is rightly on now. Change is being called for. A loss of power is required; power that comes through social status or pulled on through insecurity. Significance is to be found in being insignificant; anointed in being disrobed.

And a final note as a convinced charismatic. I am aware of thousands who in the past decades have received words of prophecy concerning their lives. They received them (as I did) in the context of ‘four walls’ and the platform. Those words are not dead, but the fulfilment is in a different context. The platform as we have had it is problematic; the four walls are deeply restrictive… The fulfilments are waiting to be connected with… the path to the place of fulfilment is the preposition ‘with’.

Here’s to a new phase.

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A centre for Paul

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Theology

Given the title above I have set myself a challenge! What is the centre of Paul’s gospel? Fundamentally it has to be focused on ‘Jesus Christ and him crucified’. He has a conviction that the hoped for Messiah – deliverer of Israel, God’s agent, had come and was to be identified with Jesus of Nazareth, and that he had been crucified; that the death as a criminal (political enemy of Rome?) that he had undergone was the means by which not simply Israel was to be delivered but that the world would be transformed.

His vision was bigger than that of ‘personal sins’ forgiven; it was bigger than a focus on the land known as Palestine; it was bigger than a freedom from an earthly power (Rome); it was bigger than a freedom for an ethnic people who were descended from Abraham. The power of sin (and death) could no longer rule; the power over nations (τὰ στοιχεῖα) could no longer shape (and he seems to suggest that the law functioned in that way for those of Israel – Gal. 4:3, 9); the God of Israel was the God of the cosmos; Israel’s Messiah was the Saviour of the world. Bigger… bigger than a specific people; bigger than a piece of land; bigger than personal. A cosmic vision – a new creation persepctive.

New Creation

Twice Paul uses that phrase – 2 Cor.5:17 and Gal. 6:15.

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! (2 Cor. 5:17).

There is an outside chance at translating it as ‘they are a new creature’ but the abruptness of Paul suggests otherwise… if anyone is in Christ, new creation (καινὴ κτίσις)… old things have passed away, new things are (he uses the neuter adjectives for ‘old’ and ‘new’). The context is of sight / perception (2 Cor. 5:16). The transformation is future but for those in Christ it is present now! Already we have been (Gal. 1:3) delivered from one age to another and the result is that we can no longer use human categories with regard to others. There is a major challenge, but this gospel is not tame and is beyond ‘me and my life’.

In Galatians he uses the term again:

For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything, but a new creation is everything!

Ethnicity (Jew / Gentile = non-Jew) nor adherence to the Torah has value! That is a bold statement from one who was (and continued to be) a Jew… In Christ that fundamental way of dividing the world was gone.It belonged to a former era. He finishes his ‘neither… nor..’ with (again) an abrupt phrase, ‘but new creation’ (ἀλλὰ καινὴ κτίσις)… the ‘but’ being strong.

The cross is central – the central part for Paul – though we must not dislocate it from the resurrection, but the effect of the cross is a major irruption into this world to such a level that there is new creation.

This brings me to a text that goes to the heart of the outworking. Gal. 3:28.

(But now that faith has come…) There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

Ethnicity / ‘chosen nation’ has gone; economic / class divide is no longer legitimate… and as translated above Paul changes the structure in the third part of the verse from no…nor to no… and… (οὐκ ἔνι  Ἰουδαῖος οὐδὲ  Ἕλλην, οὐκ ἔνι δοῦλος οὐδὲ ἐλεύθερος, οὐκ ἔνι ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ). He does this to quote Genesis, God creating them, ‘male and female‘, but there is something very deep going on here. Creation is ‘good’ but creation had within it dualisms (not ethically) but binaries such as ‘heaven’ and ‘earth’ and the very fundamental human one of ‘male’ and ‘female’. Binaries that defined the spectrum but the ‘spectrum’ in the new creation is one. No longer ‘male and female’. The most fundamental divide in our world has gone. The implications are enormous.

Paul’s gospel pushes into how we inter-relate. It is not primarily about a community who are more holy than others (if we define ‘holiness’ by we don’t do x,y and z) but a community who relate differently to others because their conviction (and experience) is that a new creation exists now. I added the word ‘experience’ in the previous sentence because we are not there yet. Maybe we can accept the word ‘conviction’ but I think Paul pushes for ‘experience’ far more than we are comfortable.

The cross ends the domination by powers hostile to humanity; it ends binaries that categorise so that hierarchies continue.

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Our final move!

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Updates

We make our final move of accommodation today. I think we have had in excess of 20, maybe 30 moves. We had initially thought we would find a long-term rental and make day trips from there but the sheer size of the island prohibited that. We also thought about camp sites but they have not been open in spite of web sites saying ‘open’. Winter but also the excessive storms have made a difference to all that – hence the (probably) 30 different rentals.

The final move is north east. This is to the third (and final) point on the island. It will (or should!!) bring through the past and push into what is to come (and of course we are so smart the ‘should’ and the ‘will’ have to come together!!!). We are not looking to take quick steps but half-steps – this came to us from two different sources a couple of days apart. Christendom is now in sight – the cross over the orb on the map of the queen of Europe is clearly in focus and we will now be in the geography of the Crusades (particularly the sixth crusade). Connected to Christendom and the crusades Istanbul at some level is to follow… probably in April. And in the current global scene we are mindful of Christendom / USA and Israel – Zionism / Zionist lobby as we travel. 

The feminine (and masculine) has been the previous phase. We have had an eye on Etna – a couple of days ago there was a significant earthquake in the morning and we went up Etna to about 3000 feet. An hour after being there she ‘responded’ with an ‘out of the blue’ explosion. Maybe we go back one more time to Etna? It would be 2 hours from where we now are.

The spike in the chart was the ‘response’ – an hour after we were there – best after and not during!

In the north east we will again confront Colonisation – the history of the successive empires in Sicily right through to Garibaldi. He entered in Marsala where we began and left via Messina where we finish. So there is something there that is pointing in that direction.

Loads to process from our journey thus far… do we tackle them one by one – or they are a pack of cards together?

OR…

The various issues are all bonded together in ‘illegitimate power’. When we reflect back to April last year – when we rolled up the map and power outage resulted in Spain / Portugal, the power outage went from the head of the ‘queen’ on the map. Now Spain is leading in Europe without the crown over the current shape vis a vis power – Pedro Sanchez (the PM – a politician, not perfect, but leading without a crown and with some measure of grace) is refusing to roll money into arms (stating that to do so would damage those on the margins even more) and refusing to allow US to use air bases in an ‘illegal war’.

We think that this is all leading to is a phase of ‘power out’?

Finally I was encouraged a few weeks back to enter the strategy room of heaven… when I went there the door of entry was not global (my expectation) but on the door was ‘strategy europa’. Inside there was an angel who a) was not dressed in armour, not large and not pouring over maps and b) invited / waiting for partnership so that together ‘we’ could deposit small pieces of strategy (seemed they would be written) into portals across Europe.

So in some way we must deposit into this ‘portal’ something for the future – the writing in the ‘book’ the angel brought back at the beginning of this journey.

We will be joined for a few days by Steve Lowton and Noe Limiñana. Last phase we had 3 women with us – they were brilliant… so the pressure is on!!!

All the above can sound as if we know what we are doing!!!!! But probably better we don’t know?

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Coming to an end… or a beginning?

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

Our time in Sicily is coming to an end – another 10 days or so to go. When it is over I will try to put something of a summary in here – summarising 5 months, numerous locations, 20+ different beds, response to a few thousand years of history? An inadequate summary, but I will try.

It is hard to say what underlines why we came here but I guess it has something to do with one from the tribe of Benjamin called Saul of Tarsus. I consider him a bit of a friend – pure fantasy on my part and revealing that I think it is easier to relate to someone who won’t kick me up the proverbials than someone alive in my era! But enough of exposing any inadequacies I have, moving on…

Life seems so accidental at one level – who would I have been, what would I have done if I had been born in another era, another culture? And yet if we walk humbly (by that I mean accepting our stupidity) it does seem the Lord guides (when I do summarise Sicily I hope I make that clear as to the journey here). 2001 Hanover and the launch of ‘Target Europe’, which marked some great partnerships and some clear divides, I was asked to address a session. I took as my theme Isaac re-opening the wells of his father Abraham so my theme was to ‘re-dig the wells of revival’. At the end of the session I was met by a handful of Spanish believers who said that there was not the same history in Spain as I had referenced (Wales, Hebrides, Wesleyan etc.) so they asked what were they to do. If not 100% accurate I can substantially remember my response – a response that was not premeditated and one I did not fully understand:

Tell me, what nation on the planet can claim, on the basis of biblical authority, that there are first century unanswered apostolic prayers in the land. You do not need a revival history in Spain, go dig out those prayers.

I left thinking what on earth does that mean but soon concluded that Paul prayed for Spain. He was not looking for a beach holiday, nor a villa with a pool, but for the gospel to finally get to the end of his world – the western edge of the Roman Empire. Prayers for the land were sown deep into the ground. (I don’t think Paul ever got here in spite of the legend that he made it after his imprisonment in Rome, but there are first century apostolic prayers in the land – literally in the land.)

The Pauline Gospel. Bigger, much bigger, than the ‘gospel’ that I grew up on, the one defended as the ‘evangelical gospel’. (I first studied theology at under-graduate level in the 70s – an era when evangelical theology was defensive and still very narrow in scope.)

In the last 40 years or so there have been many shifts in Pauline theology – and I am way from being up to speed. Some still defend the ‘old perspective’, there is the ‘new perspective’ (such as NT Wright, Jimmy Dunn, and pre-them EP Sanders), ‘Paul in Judaism’, ‘Apocalyptic Paul’ and variations of the above and also a host of others. I am deeply impacted by the new perspective and see the NT context as the Imperial world. A well known inscription from 9BC shows the common language from that Imperial world to the world of the New Testament:

It seemed good to the Greeks of Asia, in the opinion of the high priest Apollonius of Menophilus Azanitus: “Since Providence, which has ordered all things and is deeply interested in our life, has set in most perfect order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit humankind, sending him as a savior, both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war and arrange all things, and since he, Caesar, by his appearance (excelled even our anticipations), surpassing all previous benefactors, and not even leaving to posterity any hope of surpassing what he has done, and since the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good tidings [εὐαγγέλιον] for the world that came by reason of him,” which Asia resolved in Smyrna.

Saviour, gospel… ‘secular’ words, and we can extend that with other terms used such as ‘lord’, ‘kings of kings’, ‘prince of peace’… Such a crossover of terms alerts us that the good news of Jesus is not primarily about a private response of faith that was to be demonstrated in religious activity. It was deeply ‘political’ and about an alignment that affected the whole of life. The concept that ‘Jesus is Lord’ and ‘declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection’ had (has) profound implications for our world.

The entrance of Jesus – born of a woman, born under the law – as a human and as a Jew was central to Paul as well as the Gospels, with the Gospels recording the ministry of Jesus within the context of an oppressed land; Paul takes all that was presented there and works it out within the context of that oppressive imperial power. This has led some to say he is the founder of ‘Christianity’ and for some the one who distorted the message. My take is he faithfully applied the message.

Anyway I will begin to post inadequately on Paul over the coming days, concerning the few insights I have into the ‘Pauline Gospel’. But back to Hanover and beyond.

The core focus that took Gayle and I to Spain was to dig into the land to play a part in the re-digging of the Pauline gospel. Maybe it has an impact on Spain, but it certainly has brought about shifts in us. Fast forward and in May 2025 we responded to a very generous invitation from two of our heroes and friends (Adrian and Pauline Hawkes) to come to Malta. Aware that Paul was shipwrecked there we thought maybe there will be some stimulus for us regarding Paul. (There is a possibility the shipwreck was not there, though the term used of the people was βάρβαροι – not a term likely to be used of some of the alternative suggested islands… so probably Malta.) We read Acts 28 on numerous occasions and then saw that from Malta he went to Syracuse (Sicily):

We put in at Syracuse and stayed there for three days (Acts 28:12).

We literally live on ‘Island of Sicily street’ in Oliva and have often wondered if there was anything beyond it simply being an address… And, short story long, we left Malta with a conviction that within weeks was firmed up that we should head to Sicily. Two history books later and in November 2025 we left in a van we have always seen as transportation for Europe.

Many aspects have come together for us and we have been convinced that there will be a ‘before’ and an ‘after’ related to our time here.

In short it has brought us to the conviction that the biggest element in our world today is the ending of all abusive uses of power. Could it be possible? Well that takes me back to what I will be posting on – the Pauline gospel.

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A lot of people in Finland?

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Reports

Back in January I put the following as a ‘postscript’ on a post with a focus on India:

Separate to the above and I might post on this separately at some point. Around 3-4 years ago I was praying and had in my vision a map of the world. It looked standard the same as one could buy. There are 3 major land masses on the bottom side of a map – South America, Africa and India. In one instant South America relocated underneath Europe; Africa under China – that surprised me as it happened simultaneously. But India did not move. India is the dark horse of this next era (through to 2040). An old world order is not going back – Mark Carney spoke of a rupture. The importance of the ekklesia is in focus. It is a governmental word but NOT to be understood as governing over (as per seven mountains of influence) but taking responsibility for a shape to be held so that what is healthy can grow up within it. It is not about discerning where the next trade deal can be done… they might give us signs but I am convinced we are to look for a new economy and Scripture is full of it. No need to fear ‘not allowed to buy and sell’ as that is part of an economy that is collapsing… We bumble along in Sicily, the centre of ‘middle earth’ hoping we will cluelessly contribute to the future, and staying here in Avola is underlining for me that we have to step away from being locked in what has been.
(https://3generations.eu/posts/2026/01/time-for-an-update/).

So for those interested in the world order playing out someone sent me the youtube link below of the Finnish PM giving a speech that highlights India. A very balanced and thoughtful speech:

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Armageddon? Not!!

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

Something along the following lines is being quoted by a number of sources:

A combat-unit commander told non-commissioned officers at a briefing Monday that the Iran war is part of God’s plan and that Pres. Donald Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth,” according to a complaint by a non-commissioned officer. From Saturday morning through Monday night, more than 110 similar complaints about commanders in every branch of the military had been logged by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). The complaints came from more than 40 different units spread across at least 30 military installations, the MRFF told me Monday night (https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a70590863/jesus-trump-military-iran-war/).

So here we go… again! The news interpreting the Bible… and in the course of it the Bible takes a hammering. Putting my cards on the table: Armageddon does not exist – there is no such place. There is no such mountain and to make it into the ‘plains of Megiddo’ rather stretches biblical interpretation, and then where does it appear: in the Apocalypse which uses (wait for it) apocalyptic language!

Worse though is ‘anointed by Jesus… to cause Armageddon’. As if. And check out Islamic eschatology – Jesus is coming back, Armageddon-type warfare, but Jesus at the head of the Islamic forces. All of it madness.

Eschatology; Israel and the need for more land to be what was promised. What if (as I believe) there is almost nothing predicted about the future… that the land promises are radically re-shaped in the New Testament… that Revelation is the critique of all time concerning Imperial power that is shown to be in total contrast to the kenotic activity of heaven… what then should we do? What then should we look to consider is anointed of God? What if Scripture encourages any consideration of ‘end-times’ to be responded to with a response of dedication to commitment to first principles of ‘let your kingdom come’?

I hope we can move away from the madness.

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Power Out

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by Gayle
Posted in Prophetic Perspectives

Gayle has been writing this morning and I asked if I could post it here.

Invitation?
Requirement?

In the most guttural sense and particularly in the current global state of war war war, run by mad men, we are crying out for POWER OUT and for a power out-age. (A continuation from the time in Spain when all power went out for days after rolling up the Europe map..)

There is an awareness that the earth here (everywhere) is asking us to empty out power (by which I mean power over other) and that we have a window of time for this.

As we have been tracking with the feminine story here (Sicily) we felt the Eden soil – under all the spirits of victim, wrong protector, and rage oppressor/manipulator, (as well as probably other things🤷‍♀️) – wanting to stand open and vulnerable. Historically each time that has manifested she has been raped, martyred, deified etc etc. Yet still it is the heart cry. For a different outcome and to do this really, the true masculine also needs to show up. Vulnerable also. This will change systems.

Power power power is on full display right now.

The emptying out of power (kenosis – see Roger’s work on this) is our only chance. The dream where I plead with Mr Banks to take off the suit and go play with the children. Empty out power. We are in intercession to see this part of the dream come through. This is at a systems level.

Like we all know systems can’t change unless we change at a personal level. But the invitation? requirement? is where there is power and who has it to empty it out.

The thing with power is we don’t always know we have it. We’re often blind.

Jesus came as a man, why? To empty out power. He lifts women up. Created space for them in a society that didn’t. If he had come as a woman he couldn’t have done that.

Comes as a Jew. Why? To empty out Jewishness. To include Gentiles. He had to come as a Jew to do that. A gentile could not have emptied out that power.

Power out.

So I have agency. I do. For what is in my power. My attitude, my stance, my behavior etc etc. But to change the overall in-the-world-power-imbalance , I don’t think I’m wrong in saying that it needs those with power to empty out power. And that includes me, privileged as I am. And that when this is done collaboratively it undoes the wrong.
And that will change systems.

The problem is when we don’t see the power. How can it be emptied out when it is not acknowledged or seen? The rich and the poor. The poor have agency but they can’t change the system without the rich emptying out power.

Black people in the civil rights era had agency but it needed white people to stand with them and empty out power to get the laws changed etc. This injustice is far from over still. Men and women…The US female hockey team have agency, they used it to not go to the White House and to speak out. But how much quicker would change come if the male hockey team had done that as well? Spoken up and emptied out their power to stand with the women? Can it actually change for women without that kind of response from men?

What about the trans community and all those expressing different sexuality or none?

And of course there’s animals and creation. How we use power over them.

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Not perfect… but be as perfect as…

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Prophetic Perspectives

Here is a good word from Jesus, a word to put us in our place:

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matt. 5:48).

Well not much of a hope with that one. Talk about falling short, and (if you don’t mind Jesus) just a tad unrealistic. Reading this the other day a little slower so that I did not just jump over it as if it is one of those Scriptures just simply to ignore I thought about the context, and that gave a different slant to it.

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you… For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the gentiles do the same? 

I suspect that is the perfection that Jesus is referring to. Embracing the ‘other’, loving (orientation and action), praying for… etc.

Attainable? I think we can realistically go a long way toward that, and maybe more challenging than some idea of a set of standards. Pushes us toward Paul’s confession that although he was righteous according to the law, he was the ‘chief of sinners’. All-but-perfect…but not perfect as God, the heavenly Father. Maybe hard to implement on the global political scene but it certainly will never be implemented there if those who claim to follow Jesus do not align with those values.

At a time of scandals being exposed within the body of Christ (keep your seat belts on, us charismatics) and beyond, honesty and humility need be the clothing we pull out of the wardrobe. Back in the day I was asked who is your ‘prophetic’ hero and of course it was either Elijah or John the Baptist. Give everything a healthy old kick and never acknowledge that my toe was bleeding. I probably don’t have time to answer such a question today but have been thinking a bit about Elisha (a few troubling elements in his behaviour such as the call some bears out of the woods ‘trick’!!!). Elisha: crazy levels of revelation, and radical honesty when blind.

Gehazi (his servant) ran after Naaman and deceitfully gained some gifts, but Elisha went with him (in Spirit). Revelation!

He went in and stood before his master, and Elisha said to him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” He answered, “Your servant has not gone anywhere at all.” But he said to him, “Did I not go with you in spirit when someone left his chariot to meet you? (2 Kings 5:25,26).

The king of Aram was somewhat annoyed, suspecting a traitor but the situation was that Elisha had a major heads up on what was being planned in secret:

The mind of the king of Aram was greatly perturbed because of this; he called his officers and said to them, “Now tell me: Who among us is betraying us to[b] the king of Israel?” 12 Then one of his officers said, “No one, my lord king. It is Elisha, the prophet in Israel, who tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber.” (2 Kings 6:11,12).

Then we have the situation where the ‘Shunammite’ woman came in great distress after her son had died. Anyone who has some measure of prophetic gifting could have made a good stab at it… ‘I pray for this woman who is in great distress, she has encountered great pain’ (and then if ‘cheating’ watch the body language – I do think that is cheating!! – and push on) ‘within her home…’ and maybe even eventually get to ‘her son’! (A little bit of exaggerating description in there but hopefully I get a point across.) Mr. mature prophet Elisha could have done with some mentoring as we go on to read:

When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, there is the Shunammite woman; run at once to meet her and say to her: Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is the child all right?” She answered, “It is all right.” When she came to the man of God at the mountain, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi approached to push her away, but the man of God said, “Let her alone, for she is in bitter distress; the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.” (2 Kings 4:25-27).

Honest and not very impressive… but honest and life-giving for the boy is raised from the dead.

Be perfect… be honest… be humble… be ignorant… embrace others…

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Sicily – a break and an update

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Updates

At last I get round to a bit of an update on our little journey in Sicily. For the past three weeks we have had Elizabeth Coveney (known her for 49 years!! Our ‘kids’ grew up together for years), Annie Macintosh (a director with Andrew Chua and Gayle in their company, Authentic Business Catalyst) and also for a few days at the beginning of that time we also had Jenny Rettig (Switzerland) with us. It is wonderful to have the ‘right’ people who carry something for the relevant phase – not merely right in the sense of what knowledge / insight / wisdom they carry, but the story they hold. Eventually people (land???) does not catch what we proclaim but what we carry – ‘I do not have…, but what I have I give to you’.

We had four main loci – Agrigento, Palermo, Catania and Siracusa, with a central focus. Phase 1 was a discovery of the colonisation that is the common theme in the history of Sicily; this phase was a focus on the healing of the (toxic) feminine and the toxic masculine. Never possible to absolutely state what is ‘masculine’ and what is ‘feminine’ but they are rough terms to help. In this phase Gayle with the others took a lead (hate to admit it, and of course would absolutely deny it if challenged, but way over my head). Along the way we encountered three female ‘saints’ – Agatha (Catania), Lucia (Siracusa) and Rosalia (Palermo). Their dedication to Christ and the Gospel, led for the first two to be martyred (Rosalia was not martyred but walked away to become a hermit)… Later then colonised to become protectors. The end result was not the rescuing of the feminine but the disappearance of the feminine under the guise of being rescued.

Always hard to explain… and the last thing that would be a reality is that we are in some way ‘experts’. Bumblers along. I take great encouragement from the story of the woman who put her two coins in the Temple treasury – there seems an amazing connection to the pulling down of the Temple and its wealth with her little act. I hope a few of our antics might serve something bigger changing.

Today Annie and Elizabeth left. We moved to a new accommodation and tomorrow move again (no idea how many places we have dragged our cases into now!). On Saturday we have family arriving and till Tuesday will enjoy that context, all getting us ready for our final phase (4th – 19th March(approx)). That phase will be very different and has to bring our time here to a conclusion. That north east corner holds the third corner of the island / book; it is where Garibaldi left the island on his further conquest of the ‘two Sicilies’ to mark the end of the significant phase of creating the new united Italy; and was very central for a ‘proto-crusade’ and the sixth crusade. Christendom in full force!

We began (not planned) in the place where Garibaldi entered the island; we then move in this final phase to where he left; thus marking the beginning and end of the recent colonisation. We came here with the ancient map of the Queen of Europe with the orb (Sicily) in her hand with the cross over it – Christendom; symbolising the rule over the world. So, for sure this element of Christendom will be a focus… and while praying in Palermo two things came clear also: we need to visit the financial quarters of Milan (the financial centre of Italy) on the way home. Anyway more on that when we get there! And that before long we need to get to Istanbul (planning for this in April) to pray into the well that (militant) Islam draws from. Now a big subject so here goes.

There are three monotheistic faiths that claim to be rooted in Abraham’s journey: Islam, Judaism and Christianity. (Of course none of those faiths are monolithic.) I have long believed that Islam draws from Christendom well. Sharia law and Christendom are not very far apart! There is a connection between the entry of the Mosque (Hagia Sophia) into the Christian Cathedral that accelerated the spread of Islam. Putting their house inside the Christendom home was a key. (Of course I could be well bonkers on all this, but has been a conviction for a decade or more.) It seems to me that it will be the end of the ‘Sicily adventure’.

We came here believing that this small place (in global terms) held some keys for a bigger change and the Istanbul part will be a gate from West to East. And economic issues and Christendom are key issues in our world that are manifesting way above the surface.

On the journey goes! Maybe Etna will respond in this final phase as there still is a rage that needs to manifest and there needs to be an (out)rage against all previous abuse.

We do our small thing… others do theirs and it will enable God to do something none of us can do.

Bit of a ramble, some of which might make sense.

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The power outage

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

This observation is not too profound but it does appear everywhere we look the abuse of power is being hit head on. From the (former) grand old duke of York (the Epstein files will simply not go away) to great swathes of the prophetic movement / streams. More has to come and we still have some serious dictators who have to come in line or be removed.

I have – along with many others – watched the YouTube exposees of some of the prophetic abuses and downright fabrications with horror. Back in 2021 I warned that this was coming and about 18 months ago said to Gayle that once that has been ruthlessly purged that there will come a wave that will confront the healing movement (not saying my terms are correct with the use of ‘movement’).

What is being exposed at the core is that of the abuse of power positions. Years after the ‘interaction’ between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky was she able to say that it was abuse – abuse primarily because of the imbalance of power position. The addiction to power and the belief that things change by the exercise of power has to be broken. The prophetic abuses have to be sorted and I recall a dream I had of a European gathering that was discussing ‘prophetic protocols’ for the next phase, into which a recognised USA prophet materialised (he has passed away a few years back) as a 40 year old; he was present representing a former move but also realising that what was laid down (allowed?) as protocols in that time had led them to where it had become corrupted. I think the bottom line issue is that of power position. Why quickly restore those who have been abusive – their gift is needed seems to be the motivation. We cannot afford to go that way.

The three temptations of Jesus still stand: economy (turn the stones into bread), be hailed and honoured as from God (throw yourself down from the Temple) and use a system to change the entire world (I will give you the kingdoms = Christendom). The show of ‘the prophetic’ with names and addresses shows so clearly that such people are of God, the system as embodied in the ‘Seven mountains of influence’ and with more than sufficient dosh to get it all out is being challenged. It has to be.

Deeper than laying a new foundation (‘prophetic protocols’) is the walking away and renouncing of power and power positions. ‘Being in the form of God (not in spite of being in the form of God) Jesus laid aside his power position…’ And ‘let this mind be in you’ was the exhortation.

A year ago we rolled up the ‘queen of Europe’ from the head to the feet. Within hours came the power outage in Spain, Portugal and spilling over into France and Morroco. Power outages occur. Also signs occur as signs point us to what is taking place and they draw to themselves what they are indicating. Power outage is here.

The ‘power’ issue faces us all. It is irrelevant whether we are at the so-called ‘top’ or not. Power will not change the world – hence the forever debates that eventually are not resolved of ‘a God of love with unlimited power’ and suffering. Start with that understanding and the only way to resolve it is ‘mystery’. For some time I have been saying it is ‘presence’ that we have to manifest. Not power over, but presence with. And you shall call his name ‘Emmanuel’, meaning ‘God with us’ (beginning of Matthew’s Gospel) with the final promise in Matthew’s Gospel that Jesus will be with us to the end of the age.

Presence with.

Buckle yourself in – particularly us charismatics – the ride is getting bumpy. Don’t give up on what you know… don’t get obsessed with what is out there; pay attention to what is within.

Finally on the current abuse of power in the big world… I am praying that the feeding from the next generation will not be possible. That is manifest in such issues as the economic structures of the world and the lack of care for environmental issues with the attitude it will be OK for us in our generation. A long post might be needed but I simply sow it here – the current dictators (as always) are feeding off the next generation – we need to see that supply broken – and this perpetuates their existence. Just a thought… and yes I will get to posting on Sicily ere long!

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