Bulgaria builds permanent NATO base near Yambol

By 2025 the Ministry of Defense will build an entire small town, in which the soldiers of the NATO allies from the multinational battle group on the territory of Bulgaria will live.

The estimated cost is at least 50 million euros but the final sum will become clear after the design is completed, Minister of Defense Todor Tagarev has told the MPs from the Defense Committee in Parliament. Military personnel of about 1,500 will reside in the town permanently, but it should be able to shelter up to 5,000 people.

It has not yet been decided where the base would be located, but the military has hinted that the region of Yambol is the most suitable area with the nearby air base of Bezmer. According to the minister, the construction of the military town will be economically beneficial for Yambol and the region.

Bulgaria’s President set a Date for this year’s Elections

Bulgaria’s President Rumen Radev signed a decree today scheduling the elections for mayors and municipal councilors for October 29.

The head of state has determined the date after a working meeting with representatives of the leadership of the Central Election Commission (CEc).

The conversation discussed the specifics of the local vote and the upcoming work on the organization of the election process. The CEC has informed the president of the technical and logistical features that the commission must comply with for the local elections and its readiness for their holding.

Here you can read about the results of a study that determined for who will one-third of Sofia residents will vote as their future mayor.

 

3 Decades Later: Evangelical Education in Bulgaria at Halt

With the new Bill on Religion in Bulgaria, the Muslim community has been given amnesty on some $4,500,000 of public debt, while granted another $3 million in annual government subsidies. As a result, the monthly salary of Muslim clergy (imams) has already increased with 20% and a new Islamic school is being opened in one of the historically oldest Christian places in Bulgaria, the city of Sliven. All while, the evangelical protestant communities are not receiving financial support under the new law and their schools remain without proper government legalization via the Bulgarian Ministry of Education. 

Though this legal precedent follows the Russian Law on Religion that has already effectively closed the evangelical seminaries in Moscow, it is manifesting a political agenda undergoing in Bulgaria for over a decade. What remains unsaid with the recent changes in the Law of Religion in Bulgaria is the ultimate halt of evangelical education in the country. The Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute has been functioning at its operational minimum for years now. Students are trained mainly online or via small local groups spread in various cities. They are called to the school departments only for graduation or occasionally lectures by visiting scholars. Even after years of waiting, the Institute was never granted official accreditation through Bulgaria’s Ministry of Education and most of the students preferred getting their degrees from other accredited and licensed institutions. Less than 1% of the students who were not in ministry at the time of their enrollment entered the ministry post graduation. And even fewer of them remain in ministry today; which ultimately ensures the lack of adequately trained ministers for placement in the evangelical churches of Bulgaria.

The last Bulgarian to graduate from the Church of God Theological Seminary did so over a decade ago, and 2009 was the last class of the Bulgarian Theological College (seminary). One of the greatest mistakes made was closing the college in 2009, thus leaving the movement with virtually no higher ministry training for the last decade.

We were present at the national meeting of elders on September 10, 2009 in Sofia when the final decision to close the Church of God Theological College was voted. Only a few others along with us disagreed with the vote and pleaded with the assembly to make everything possible and keep the school open. At the final vote, it came down to a few thousand dollars due in annual membership fees and the school was closed.

Five years prior to these events in 2004, we published an article on evangelical education in Bulgaria with some warnings. The article proposed a change of the evangelical educational paradigm in anticipation of new legal changes and the prolonged waiting for a governmental accreditation. In fact, the same issues addressed in our proposal repeated themselves in 2016 upon Russia changing its own legislation on religion and religious education thus effectively illegalizing evangelical seminaries and overall missionary work. Today, similar legal measures are put in place by the Bulgarian government as well.

The final of our 10-point proposed plan in 2004 included the following observation:

10. Naturally, the well-educated graduates have chosen not to occupy themselves with denominational politics both to avoid confrontation and to express their disagreement. This dynamic has been partially ignored by leadership remaining from the period of the underground church when religious education was virtually nonexistent and lacking a complete realization of the power of education. This unnoticed trend, however, endangers Bulgarian Evangelism creating a lack of continuity within the leadership and preparing the context for the emerging leadership crises.                                                                                                                              

With the new Bill on Religion in Bulgaria closely following the effective closure of evangelical seminaries in Moscow, the opportunity for a government recognized ministerial training in Bulgaria may be legally impossible to regain. In the light of those resent changes, our 2004 proposal for a legal ministry training alternative was successfully implemented and used for our Master of Chaplaincy Ministry graduates since 2009 providing a single valid alternative for evangelical education in Bulgaria.

First Day of School in Bulgaria

Deadly floods hit Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria

A catastrophic flooding event is unfolding in Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria amid an extreme weather pattern in Europe that is bringing exceptional heat over a swath of the continent after just spurring a deadly deluge in Spain.

• 7 deaths were reported in Turkey; five people died in a flash flood at campsite in northwestern Turkey and two died in Istanbul amid raging floodwaters.
• 3 deaths were reported in Greece in the port city of Volos and in Karditsa, to the west, and three people were reported missing.
• 4 deaths were report in Bulgaria.

Heat dome parked over western Europe
At the center of what is known as a “blocking pattern” is a heat dome over western Europe that is spreading record warmth across much of the continent. Heat domes are sprawling areas of high pressure that can trap heat beneath them for days, weeks or — in the case of the southern tier of the United States this summer — even months.

A Potter’s Fire brings The Potter’s Fire

By Kathryn Donev

If I were to ask you if it would be okay for your child to hang out with a friend that actively practices witchcraft, I’m certain you would be appalled by the question and your very quick response would be a sharp, “No”. But when encompassed in a kid friendly fantasy world, a young boy named Harry who studies at a school of wizardry and possesses a simple stick that shoots cool fireballs seems harmless.
I’m reminded of a story in Leviticus in which two boys thought it would be okay to play with strange fire.

It’s a very simple story. Arron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, who were priests of the wilderness tabernacle took their censers and put unauthorized fire in them. They then were instantly consumed by the Fire that came from the presence of the Lord and died. The Potter’s fire, the true fire, the authorized, familiar fire consumed everything. This is a lesson that teaches that we are not to let our children play with strange fire. A potter’s fire that seems so innocent, could cost your children their life.

It is our responsibility as parents to teach our children that we are not to play with cool looking fire even though it’s only “make-believe”. Witchcraft is real. It is dangerous. It is confusing and The Potter is not a God of confusion. We must protect our children from being consumed.

Polk Revival to Commence after Months of Prayer

Initially 7, now 8 churches and multiple ministries across the biggest Tennessee county, have set their hearts to seek after the will of God for revival in their area after the pandemic. The meetings are set to move from one church location to another each week of the original seven consecutive week schedule. While Fridays are set as days for prayer and reflection, many already anticipate service will continue through the weekend into the next week’s revival location. As participants have been praying for God’s fresh fire in East Tennessee, many have recalled previous revivals and prophetic words from some hundred years ago to the spontaneous student revival at Lee University this past spring. As new revival outpouring has been long prophesied for the area, the churches have agreed to wait upon the Lord until he moves in their midst again. Prayer is requested from all who love the Lord and have awaited His renewal of the land and His people.

Perry Stone Ministries 2016 THE PROPHECY: In August, over a year ago the Holy Spirit spoke of a “Rural Awakening.” I am certain the primary meaning is that God will spiritually awaken the people in rural areas. However, it was just reported that the RURAL VOTE from the small towns of America, is what won the election for Donald Trump. In the same word, The Holy Spirit has also said the cities will become dangerous with mobs and people would begin leaving the cities to return to the more rural areas in AMerica. George Soros is planning major city disruptions for months or perhaps years to come, and now sadly, there are numerous gangs of black youths in the inner cities that are physically attacking, for no reason, older white men and women; a few even calling for the death of all whites. I regret to say, violence will become more common (days of Noah) and people will slowly begin to leave major cities (violent zones) to move away from the hate and crime in those areas. Those of us in the Body of Christ, White, Black and HIspanic, must not fall into this demonic hatred and deception, but must stand in the unity of our faith in Christ, as one body and one family. Many people who truly love the Lord live in these cities and these gangs and thugs do not represent them or their ethnic group. JESUS IS KING.

SIGNS of the LAST DAYS: People will not believe the signs

RESTORING GOD’s church…

The Story of the 1896 Shearer Schoolhouse Revival at Barney Creek

Schearer Schoolhouse revival

In 1896, a revival was begun in a little schoolhouse near Murphy, North Carolina.  Strong opposition to it arose almost immediately. When opponents of the revival tried to stop it violently, the people who lived in the humble home shown below, gave it protection.  They  had no way of knowing  that the  revival  they protected,  would  bear the fruit of 15,000 churches being started around the world in the 100 years that followed.

When unknown & unheralded preachers, connected to the Fire-Baptized Holiness Association, William Martin, a Methodist preacher, Joe  M. Tipton and Milton McNabb, members  of the  Baptist  church,  walked  from  their  homes  in   Monroe  County, TN  to begin a revival at the Schearer Schoolhouse in Murphy County, North Carolina, they had no way of knowing that  what  would happen there would still be blessing people a hundred years later.  Possibly as you read this true story, you may labor in a place that seems  isolated  or  far  removed  from  the  light   of recognition  and popularity, but what you do faithfully day by day, is planting seed now that will rise up  as blessings throughout  the years  to come. As the song says, “Little is much when God is in it.” Martin, Tipton and McNabb (to our knowledge there are no photos of  them)  began  the  revival  with  one  motive,   to share Christ with anyone who would listen so  their neighbors to spend eternity in hell.

Though they preached simple   sermons about  Christ and living a holy life, all during the spring of 1896 and on into the summer, amazing and  phenomenal Holy  Spirit  motivated events  took   place at the Schoolhouse revival. If someone had asked them what a “Pentecostal” was or how to be one, probably  nobody there  could have  answered  the question. They were Baptists, Methodists and  prossibly a few  Presbyterians attending  the schoolhouse revival meetings. Once again, the Holy Spirit  demonstrated that He moves where He  wants  upon  the  hearts  that   He  chooses, regardless  the person’s denominational membership or background.

DENOMINATIONAL MEN OPPOSED THEM

This is   not  intended  to be  against  denominations.   Much can be accomplished when  people unite their efforts for spreading  the Gospel.  We should remember that what happened at the Schearer Schoolhouse, put  them in direct  conflict with  their denominations. It was denominational  men who opposed them. The  disciples also had that conflict when they were before their organization’s Council, they said, ‘”We would obey God rather than man.”

Charles W. Conn, Church Historian for the Church of God  and   author  of “Like A Mighty Army,” says that over   100  people received what is now referred to as “The Baptism of the Holy Spirit” at the Schearer Schoolhouse revival. That’s a big crowd when  one considers the population was very  sparse (it’s not too crowded in that area even today). Conn’s  historical   account says, “They  laughed  (interesting), rejoiced, praised, spoke in tongues and danced for joy.”

It is believed  the Schearer Schoolhouse revival was  the first time a group of people had received  such blessings  anywhere on this side of the Atlantic ocean.  There had  been scattered reports of individuals, some in  the NY  meetings held by Phoebe  Palmer, that had experienced what people now call “speaking in tongues.”

C.T. Davidson,  author   of  “Upon This Rock,”  wrote  this description.  “In buggies  and wagons, by  horseback and walking, people  came  from miles around.  The  lives  of   hardhearted men and women were changed and sinners were constrained  to make restitution as they sought forgiveness.”  Davidson continued, “While many were blessed, others rejected the revival   because  it  conflicted with  their  rituals,   creeds  and ecclesiasticism.  Many   faithful  members  were  persecuted   and excommunicated. One church excommunicated 30 of them at one meeting.”

Persecution became so intense  until  the revival  was moved  a  short distance  to a  more  secure  log   building.  Some accounts  say  the  sheriff, local ministers who opposed the revival and a mob  of supporters,  tore the building  down log by log, piled them up and burned them. Without a place to worship, the meetings were finally moved to the tiny  home of  W.F. Bryant, a respected Christian leader in the community. Opponents came to his house and demanded that the meetings stop.   They showered the home with  stones and bullets but  W.F. Bryant wouldn’t back down. Those who had received the blessings at the revival, began to believe  then,  as  most  Pentecostals  do today,  that   what  was happening among  them first occurred  in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost and was a continuation of what happened there (The fifth book of the New Testament; Acts, Chapters 1 & 2).

Described by Charles W. Conn as pivotal to Church of God formation, a 1896 revival in Cherokee County, North Carolina provoked charismatic phenomena now familiar in pentecostal circles. ⁽¹⁾ It is known that the primary evangelists–Martin, Tipton, and McNabb–were connected to the Fire-Baptized Holiness Association. In view of the imposing number of instances of tongues-speech spread throughout nineteenth century North America, ⁽²⁾ the well-traveled reports of such activities in certain circles and especially the presence of Daniel Awrey at Beniah, Tennessee, it seems reasonable to suggest the possibility that William Martin, Joe Tipton, and/or Milton McNabb were exposed to at least stories about tongues-speech before the 1896 revival. ⁽³⁾

1. Charles W. Conn, Our First 100 Years: 1886-1986 (Cleveland: Pathway Press, 1986) 17, goes on to ascribe importance to the event because it “prepared the way for the universal outpouring that followed ten years later.” This is a welcome appraisal in light of an earlier judgment often bound up in the North American church’s self-perception, namely [Charles W. Conn, Like A Mighty Army (Cleveland: Pathway Press, 1977) 25]: “… this was the first general outpouring that would continue unabated until it encompassed the Christian world.” Cf. Charles W. Conn, Like A Mighty Army: A History of the Church of God: Definitive Edition, 1886-1995 (Cleveland: Pathway Press, 1996) 29-31. The re-evaluation process can be followed in Charles W. Conn, Cradle of Pentecost (Cleveland: Pathway, 1981) 17, “If it was not the beginning of the modern Pentecostal Awakening, it was certainly the greatest prelude to it.” Then “Church of God” by Charles W. Conn in Encyclopedia of Religion in the South, ed. by Samuel S. Hill (Macon: Mercer University Press, 1984) 160, calls this an “extraordinary event” “without precedent in the region.” On the other hand, Conn’s entry in the same volume on “A.J. Tomlinson,” repeats the older view espoused in Army. Conn’s piece on the revival in DPCM, 161, says the group “formulated no doctrine about it. They simply thanked God for the ‘blessing’ …” He opens the article by calling this “one of the earliest known outpourings of the Holy Spirit in America” in contrast to the closing statement that the “universal outpouring would begin ten years later, 1906, in far away California.” cf. E.L. Simmons, History of the Church of God (Cleveland: Church of God Publishing House, 1938) 11f; Crews, The Church of God, 10.

The official Church of God position seems entrenched in the earlier Conn view. During the 1995 Pentecostal World Conference in Jerusalem, Church of God started a celebration of their 100 years of pentecostal revival. This was to have culminated in the 1996 General Assembly of the Church of God. Meanwhile, this viewpoint continued to play a factor in the view expressed in the 1990’s Church of God web page (http://www.mindspring.com/~cog/cog.html) which originally trumpeted “America’s Oldest Pentecostal Church” then replaced with the equally loud “America’s First Pentecostal Church.”

Contrast this to the 2001 celebration in Los Angles of the birth of Pentecostism hosted by the Pentecostal World Conference, noting the planning began while the PWC was led by Dr. Ray H. Hughes of the Church of God. The Pentecostal Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA) signed on as partners and the North American Renewal Service Committee (NARSC) endorsed the event as an effort to celebrate all the offspring of the pentecostal revival.

2. Assemblies of God Heritage has analyzed several such examples like that of W. Jethro Walthall. See Glenn Gohr, “William Jethro Walthall and the Holiness Baptist Churches of Southwestern Arkansas,” Assemblies of God Heritage 12:3 (Fall 1992) 19f. Also: Mary Woodworth Etter, Signs and Wonders God Wrought in the Ministry for Forty Years (Indianapolis, 1916) 117; Wayne E. Warner, The Woman Evangelist (Metuchen: Scarecrow, 1986) 70n33; Brumback, Suddenly, 13; Kendrick, Promise, 35; Frodsham, Signs, 11-17; Cyril Williams, Tongues, 50; Bresson, Ecstasy, 109; Worsfold, Charismatic, 82; Lewi Pethrus, A Spiritual Memoir (Plainfield: Logos, 1973) 20; Aimee Semple McPherson, Lost and Restored as cited by Robert Cornwall, “Primitivism and the Redefinition of Dispensationalism in the Theology of Aimee Semple McPherson,” Pneuma 14:1 (Spring 1992) 37; A.M. Kiergan, Historical Sketches of the Revival of True Holiness and Local Church Polity from 1865-1916 (Fort Scott: Church Advocate and Good Way, 1971) 31; Davidson, Rock 1:298; C.E. Jones, “Tongues-Speaking and The Wesleyan-Holiness Question for Assurance of Sanctification,” Wesleyan Theological Journal 22:2 (Fall 1989) 120.

3. “History of Pentecost,” The Faithful Standard 1:6 (September 1922) 6, noted William Hamby as the fourth evangelist. Also Nettie Bryant, Interview p. 2, and W.F. Bryant, Interview p. 2. R.G. Spurling, Jr., married Barbara Hamby in 1876. So McCauley, “Appalachian Mountain Religion,” 360.

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