Search in ARCHIVES

What The Pastor Saw

Deliverance

4 Comments / Blog, Home Bulletin, My Blog, What The Pastor Saw /

There is a school just to the North of where I live that started out as a simple farm school but is now large and thriving. In its very early years we, the Village Church, were asked to come and lead Tuesday afternoon Bible studies for the learners. Opposition immediately sprung up among both the teaching staff and some parents. In response we decided to take a team out there on a Sunday afternoon to pray.

.
I was the only guitarist in our little church at that time so I took my twelve-string and we marched around the area singing and praying. Some very impoverished families lived on the farm that housed the school and alcohol was a major problem for them. Yet, despite their partying and brawling the music attracted many and soon there was quite a crowd gathered around us.

.
This seemed like a great opportunity to preach the Gospel so I laid the guitar down and took up my Bible. As I started to preach a large woman in the crowd fell face down in the dust and started undulating across the ground like a snake, hissing loudly. Some of our tender hearted ladies thought she was ill and rushed to help her, but I instructed them to back off. I walked over to the woman and simply declared; “Demon, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I command you to leave this woman!” She writhed, hissed, coughed, blinked, and sat up looking both surprised and relieved.

.
Suddenly, every eye was fixed on me as I stepped back and continued preaching. I gave an invitation to repent and believe and dozens stepped forward for prayer. Hallelujah!

.
Now what were we going to do with these people who had responded? Right there and then we decided to establish a Sunday afternoon congregation at the school. We announced it right away and the next Sunday many of the local folk attended… and the woman who had been delivered of a demon was the first one there!

.
The opposition to our Tuesday Bible studies ceased from that day onwards and later the church management erected a sign at the gate to the school which read ‘To God be the glory’. The congregation lasted for several years but then the local authorities relocated the families in the area to a township where a number of churches already existed. We still work with the school and the sign still stands at the gate – to God be the glory.

Deliverance Read More »

Hellfire or humour? Watch for the glint in the pastor’s eye!

1 Comment / What The Pastor Saw /

Helena (that’s what I will call her here) was a mature lady with a strong Pentecostal background. She had been with our church for several years when she enrolled for a series of teachings on deliverance run by another church.

I had been close friends with the pastor of that particular church for a long time and met with him regularly for lunch. On one of those occasions he said to me; “Chris, you need to know that one of your church members is telling people that you are demon possessed.” I didn’t know if he was serious or just teasing me as he liked to do, but he went on; “She says she knows you are because of the evil glint in your eye.”

I couldn’t think of who it could possibly be but I did know that Helena was attending the teachings and I thought that she might know. So I phoned her. “Helena, please help me with something. Who else from our church is attending the teaching series at XYZ ? You see…”, and I told her what my pastor friend had reported to me. There was a long silence on the line and then in a little voice Helena said…” it was me pastor Chris.”

What had happened was that the course lecturer had listed symptoms that purportedly indicated that a person was demonised. One of them was ‘a glint in the eye’. I have a good sense of humour and I am told that my eyes often twinkle when I hear something amusing or am telling a funny story.

Helena had latched onto this and blurted out to the group that her pastor had a ‘glinty’ eye and so must be demonised. I am glad to say that my sense of humour did not desert me on that occasion and my eyes undoubtedly twinkled as I explained to the dear lady the difference between humour and hellfire. We remained on good terms and enjoyed fellowship for many years after that.

You would think that the main lesson to be learned from this incident was, ‘don’t go bad-mouthing someone else and certainly don’t accuse your pastor of being possessed.’ Perhaps it is, but my take away was different – don’t pay too much attention to lists that are derived from experience rather than from scripture.

Far too many ‘teachers’ develop doctrine and practice from their own experiences and the accounts of others. This is an unreliable source; it is far better to take what we teach directly from the Bible and what Jesus modelled through his teachings, actions and character.

Hellfire or humour? Watch for the glint in the pastor’s eye! Read More »

To carol sing or to save a life? No question.

Leave a Comment / What The Pastor Saw /

In the early days of our church in Lonehill we used to go carol singing through the suburb. One year someone lent us a huge open truck and that Christmas Eve we all jumped on and drove around in style. Members of the congregation who lived in town house complexes signed us in and we were able to go where we would not have been able to go on foot. The plan was to end our tour at the local shopping complex, where we would jump off and walk through the mall singing and witnessing.
As we pulled into the parking area a terrible sight confronted us. Two very drunk men were fighting to the death. One had the other pinned down and was repeatedly stabbing him in the face with the jagged end of a broken beer bottle. A woman, equally drunk, stood by egging them on and two security guards just watched from a distance. Without thinking properly about the dangers of the situation I, and two other men, leaped off the truck and rushed over to the bloody scene. The other two grabbed the man with the bottle and pulled him off while I quickly took off my jacket and used it to stem the flow of blood from the victims face and neck. Others from the truck joined us and persuaded the security guards to call an ambulance and the police.
By the time it was all over we had little appetite for more carol singing and so we drove back to the church building. Only then did I start to think about what I had done. My hands were covered in blood and there was a high probability that a man like that had AIDS. Also, what if the aggressive bloke with the broken bottle had attacked us?! So we prayed for our wellbeing, and for the injured man, and for his assailant. Then we all went home.
Looking back on that incident, I wonder what the better witness was – singing carols or saving a life? I suspect that Jesus would have sacrificed the singing but not the man – the Gospels are full of accounts of how He healed but none of Him singing carols.

To carol sing or to save a life? No question. Read More »

Hellfire or humour? Watch for the glint in the pastor’s eye!

Leave a Comment / My Blog /

Helena (that’s what I will call her here) was a mature lady with a strong Pentecostal background. She had been with our church for several years when she enrolled for a series of teachings on deliverance run by another church.

I had been close friends with the pastor of that particular church for a long time and met with him regularly for lunch. On one of those occasions he said to me; “Chris, you need to know that one of your church members is telling people that you are demon possessed.” I didn’t know if he was serious or just teasing me as he liked to do, but he went on; “She says she knows you are because of the evil glint in your eye.”

I couldn’t think of who it could possibly be but I did know that Helena was attending the teachings and I thought that she might know. So I phoned her. “Helena, please help me with something. Who else from our church is attending the teaching series at XYZ ? You see…”, and I told her what my pastor friend had reported to me. There was a long silence on the line and then in a little voice Helena said…” it was me pastor Chris.”

What had happened was that the course lecturer had listed symptoms that purportedly indicated that a person was demonised. One of them was ‘a glint in the eye’. I have a good sense of humour and I am told that my eyes often twinkle when I hear something amusing or am telling a funny story.

Helena had latched onto this and blurted out to the group that her pastor had a ‘glinty’ eye and so must be demonised. I am glad to say that my sense of humour did not desert me on that occasion and my eyes undoubtedly twinkled as I explained to the dear lady the difference between humour and hellfire. We remained on good terms and enjoyed fellowship for many years after that.

You would think that the main lesson to be learned from this incident was, ‘don’t go bad-mouthing someone else and certainly don’t accuse your pastor of being possessed.’ Perhaps it is, but my take away was different – don’t pay too much attention to lists that are derived from experience rather than from scripture.

Far too many ‘teachers’ develop doctrine and practice from their own experiences and the accounts of others. This is an unreliable source; it is far better to take what we teach directly from the Bible and what Jesus modelled through his teachings, actions and character.truth-is-the-word-main-menu-pic-what-the-pastor-saw-2

Hellfire or humour? Watch for the glint in the pastor’s eye! Read More »

Fighting back fear in the Black Sea

Leave a Comment / Home Bulletin, My Blog, What The Pastor Saw /

 This is the third in this series of posts where I relate some of my experiences as a pastor for close to 30 years, and the ministry lessons I have learnt from each.  Given my many years in ministry,  I have potentially over a 100 of these to share, but before I do, I would like to hear from you whether or not you found them interesting or useful. So if you do, won’t you give them a thumbs up and ‘Like’ each post or feel free to leave a comment or send me an email! I would love to hear from you!

Many years ago a colleague and I spent a week in Odessa, Ukraine, ministering to some missionaries and churches there. On the Saturday morning I was scheduled to speak at what had previously been a Black Sea resort for the communist elite, but was now used for all sorts of social events. I was accompanied by the security agent assigned to me by the authorities. He was a pleasant enough chap who proudly informed me that he had trained the African National Congress leadership in insurgency tactics.

About a hundred people pitched up and, speaking through an interpreter, I presented the message of salvation in Christ Jesus. I offered to pray for anyone who wanted to respond, but nobody moved a muscle or even looked at me, so I blessed them and closed the meeting.

As I stood at the front of the hall several people came up to me one by one to say that they wanted to become Christians but that they were afraid of making a public show of it because the government agent present would investigate them. Through the interpreter I helped each of them to respond to the saving work of the Holy Spirit in Jesus name, and then I invited  them to be baptised.

It was sleeting that day and very cold, but we were on the shore of the Black Sea and I knew I would not get another opportunity. The seven or so new Christians and I made our way down to the shore where there were some small wooden huts where we could change.

The missionaries I was with had brought shorts and T-shirts for us all and so within a few minutes I found myself wading through the swell to where it was deep enough to baptise. At the time I had no idea just how outrageous a call I was making. These poor folk were petrified of the filthy sea water off that coast, and they apparently thought that if they didn’t catch a deadly germ they would surely get sick from the cold.

The first ‘baptee’ waded slowly out towards me. He looked scared and very cold yet determined to be obedient to his new found Lord, Jesus. Then, as he neared me, the look on his face changed to wonderment and he beamed a huge smile at me. The same scene played out as each person came to be baptised; fear turned to amazement as they waded through the icy water and driving sleet.

Back on the shore they were draped in towels and chatting animatedly to each other. The interpreter ran up to me and with joy told me what had happened to each of the men and women baptised. They had been very fearful yet supernaturally determined. They entered the water and were shocked by how cold it was. But then, as they came up to where I was standing in the swell, the water suddenly became warm around them.

They each understood this as a sign of God’s blessing and they were filled with wonder and joy. God is so very good!  Yes, this was a demonstration of His goodness and it etched in my spirit the truth that God cares.

                                                                             

Fighting back fear in the Black Sea Read More »

About Me

My name is Christopher Peppler and I was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1947. While working in the financial sector I achieved a number of business qualifications from the Institute of Bankers, Damelin Management School, and The University of the Witwatersrand Business School. After over 20 years as a banker, I followed God’s calling and joined the ministry full time. After becoming a pastor of what is now a quite considerable church, I  earned an undergraduate theological qualification from the Baptist Theological College of Southern Africa and post-graduate degrees from two United States institutions. I was also awarded the Doctor of Theology in Systematic Theology from the University of Zululand in 2000.

Four years before that I established the South African Theological Seminary (SATS), which today is represented in over 70 countries and has more than 2 500 active students enrolled with it. I presently play an role supervising Masters and Doctoral students.

I am a passionate champion of the Christocentric or Christ-centred Principle, an approach to biblical interpretation and theological construction that emphasises the centrality of Jesus

I have been happily married to Patricia since the age of 20, have two children, Lance and Karen, a daughter-in-law Tracey, and granddaughters Jessica and Kirsten. I have now retired from both church and seminary leadership and devote my time to writing, discipling, and the classical guitar.

If you would like to read my testimony to Jesus then click HERE.