THE HOLY WAY - July/August 2001 Newsletter

GOOD NEWS: JESUS REDUCES ALL THINGS DOWN TO
TWO COMMANDMENTS

That’s a bit long for a Jerusalem newspaper headline, but I’m sure Jesus’ words caused some flap all those years ago in the dusty streets of the city. Matthew and Mark record this scene as a Pharisee asking Jesus what is the greatest commandment and Luke has it as a dialog with a young lawyer about how to attain eternal life. Either way it is clear. There are only two lessons we need to learn in life: Love God and Love our neighbor.

I’m going to examine these two thoughts from our Founder. Over the past years, I’ve come to realize a few things. Now, that is a pretty sad commentary. Three years ago in March, I finally came to the end of myself. I didn’t have the strength or the faith to go on and I finally gave up. Looking back, I remember something I heard Om Stube say when I was 16 or so: "If you find yourself at the end of your rope, let go and you’ll find yourself falling into Jesus arms." I did. Jesus began putting my life back together, reestablishing relationships with my wife and children; more importantly, renewing my hunger to know Him. We started hanging around with Don and Micki Milam, friends for quite a few years from whom we had become estranged in the midst of life’s struggles. They were an integral part of our return to Jesus. The four of us have been comparing notes as we journeyed together in our search to know Him. Don made a recommendation to me, revolutionizing my life. He suggested we read the Gospels over and over. It sounded simple enough and somehow made sense, so that’s what I did for a whole year: read and reread the Gospels. I started with John. I must have read it through carefully five times before I started on the other three. In that one year I probably read John twenty times and the other three at least ten. We both asked the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus to us and slowly we began to see Him, as the fog was cleared away.

Now, what does this have to do with Jesus two commandments? It turns out that most of my concepts of God were deeply flawed, as was my whole approach to Him. I’m beginning to see that the only way we can know anything about God is to see Him as revealed in Jesus. We know we are supposed to love God with all our heart, soul and mind. OK, why don’t we? My guess is because we are trying to do it our way. I was taught that Jesus saves us and after that, it’s pretty much up to us. Sanctification was supposed to be accomplished by reading the Bible and praying. I’m sure it wasn’t said quite this bluntly, but this is what came through. Maybe that works for some people but it sure didn’t for me. So, how are we sanctified? I think that’s the lesson from John 8; you know, the story of the woman caught in adultery and brought to Jesus. Jesus scribbles in the dirt but this doesn’t stop the righteous crowd. So Jesus says: "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." (NAS) Then he scribbles some more. All the Pharisees leave and Jesus is left alone with the woman.

He asks her where her accusers are. She looks around and sees no one but Jesus. Jesus tells her He doesn’t accuse her either, then tells her to go and sin no more. Now, we don’t really know what happened to her, but I think I know, based on what I have experienced. When I came face to face with the grace of God in Christ Jesus and truly realized he didn’t condemn me, it set me free. All those years of struggle were over in one weekend, three years ago, when Jesus showed up and told me He loved me and didn’t condemn me. I had been trying to "go and sin no more" for decades. I missed the concept that we respond to Gods love in Jesus and that’s what sets us free. It is so simple and it’s all in the Book. We love him because he first loved us. The goodness of God leads us to repentance. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. We are incapable of loving God unless we feel His great love and mercy for us. It’s a good thing He isn’t like we think He is.

Remember, Jesus completely represents God the Father. And in Jesus, we see such grace and mercy. He never condemns the sinner. The only people He gets upset with are the people who think they have it all together. Yet, even with the Pharisees, you can see his love toward them, his efforts to bring redemption to their lives. Just look at his conversation with Nicodemus in John 3 or the one with the rich young ruler. Jesus was always trying to redeem those who were lost. The problem with most of the Pharisees was they didn’t realize they were lost and needed to be found. Hence Jesus tough words to them. He was trying to get their attention. You might ask me, how do you know so much about "those Pharisees"? Well, I was a not? so? nice combination of sinner and Pharisee. I knew I was lost but still managed to find enough self-righteousness to condemn others. I somehow found a way to cloak myself in pride while walking right into the pit of hell. I am still amazed Jesus was able to get through to me. I am now counted among a growing group of Recovered Pharisees. Jesus’ grace extends even to the likes of us.

So then, how do we love God? We respond to His love toward us as the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to us. We stop trying to please him with our "filthy rags" works and let His grace do its work in us. The sooner we realize that our acts have nothing to do with Gods love toward us, the sooner our behavior will change. We know Jesus forgave the sin of the whole world on that cross, 2000 years ago, but we live like our sins are going to keep us from Him. Let me tell you, Jesus loves sinners. While we were yet in our sins, Christ died for us. Jesus and the Father saw our worth when the whole human race was lost in sin. He isn’t surprised by our failures. He already took care of them. This is the Gospel, the Good News in Jesus: Your sins are forgiven.

Let me ask you what you are thinking at the moment? Are a bunch of "buts" going through your mind? If so, I’m glad. This is how radical the Gospel is. Jesus took away the sin of the whole world. We know that’s in the Bible but we don’t dare believe it. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Think about that. "Nothing" is pretty all inclusive. That kind of love draws me. I want to get to know this Jesus more and more. I want to hang around this guy whose love and acceptance of me has no limits. I realize this makes no logical sense but the more I come to realize my actions have no bearing on Jesus’ love for me, the more free I am. I know our "fruits" are important, but let me tell you, the only way to get good fruit growing in our lives is to respond to Jesus’ love for us. Jesus said it best, "If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed."

Next month, I’ll have the second of Jesus commandments: Love your neighbor. This is attainable but only through walking in the Spirit, a favorite subject of Om Stube. If you have any questions or comments about what I’ve written, my Email address is Phoenixkh@aol.com.

Kim Hayfield

N.B. Kim is the husband of Rebekah Stube and spent two years in discipleship training at Lawang Bible Training Center, back in the 70's. He also ministered in the villages.

A Salutation

Just as Mary hurried to greet Elizabeth with the good news that she was pregnant with Jesus, we all exult like Elizabeth and her babe in the womb, that this message carried joy beyond words , for all time, history and eternity. With this thought in mind, the Staff of The Holy Way sends salutations and greetings of gratitude, expectancy and great joy to each of you both far and near. You are beloved and faithful members, standing firm in prayer and generosity. Surely it is a paradox, that even though all of us lament the loss of Fr. Ed to this life, we are enabled by The Holy Spirit, to see beyond our grief and focus on Jesus and His vision for the ministry set before us. This is our joy! It is happening! It is unfolding folks! A “new work” is about to be born, to the Glory of God the Father. Hallelujah!

Lolli Hart

AN OLD CONNECTION REMINISCES ABOUT OM STUBE

Dear Herry, Dolly and Friends from The Holy Way,

I deeply appreciate your remembering to contact us when Ed died. You have been in our prayers. The vision of Ed with the Lord is almost too much to bear ... probably out of the sheer joy of knowing what it must be like to be there too. Dancing? Well maybe, but more likely, playing the organ “full stop” while fully enjoying the worship of the ten thousand times ten thousand!

The other vision which comes to mind comes from Ed’s book The Purposes of God.. . . I saw Jesus gathering his people around him . . .in that field I told you about. Jesus was sitting right in the middle of that clearing with all of us seated about him in a circle. Even though we were all around him, it seemed that each of us was in front of him . . .[gathered] in close fellowship with him, sitting at his feet, learning his ways, loving him and receiving his love. (pp.8-9)

Your Dad was . . .is my friend. As you know, we go back a long time. I first met him at a conference in Chicago, the first ( and only, I believe) National Evangelism Conference that the Episcopal Church ever sponsored. He was a speaker and Judy and I were attending, along with several others from St. Luke's Church in Akron, Ohio. His message was basically the same as always . . .but it was the first time I had heard it, and it touched me very deeply with its power and simplicity. What he had to say was so very obvious. Why couldn’t everyone hear it? At the very end, in our closing ceremonies, Ed did something which for me then, and for everyone else, was highly unusual. He gave a prophetic message, one of great power. God spoke very clearly. I was and many others were awestruck . . . and probably for entirely different reasons.

On the way home from that conference, we decided that we had to have Ed come out to St. Luke's to do a conference. When we got back, Chuck (Irish) agreed, and gave us the job of organizing it. Ed agreed to come, and sent us a large stack of Bible Study materials he wanted us to all study as preparation for the conference. We turned it over to the House Churches. What a wealth of material, and what rich studies we all had!

When the conference time finally came, Ed arrived with a team from The Holy Way (though I don’t remember it being called that at the time.) I remember that Lolli was present but I don’t remember who else came with him. Things that stand out? Ed playing piano in the Spirit. Also postponing Sunday worship until the evening, and the whole congregation going out into the streets in the morning, to “go wherever the Lord told us to go and to do whatever the Lord told us to do.” That night the sharing seemed to be straight out of Luke 10: The seventy- two returned with joy and said, ”Lord, even the demons submit to us in your Name.” It was Ed that shaped my understanding of evangelism for all time.

It seems we spent a lot of “quality time” together: the trip to Turkey, and his ministry time--a whole year--at St. Mary’s. I especially value deeply the time which we had together as prayer partners in Baltimore. He was a steady guide during some really troubled times, giving wisdom when the Lord led him, and always solid prayer covering. And he never hesitated to open himself up to me when he was in need of prayer. How much I learned from his willingness to be vulnerable.

Your Dad is an amazing man, faithful, gifted in writing and teaching, and in music, which I always greatly appreciated. Yet his humility was plain; saying this to his face would have only brought a shy, quiet smile . . .of embarrassment? He will be missed. Yet, oh the reunion which is coming!

Love in Jesus to all of you, Bill and Judy
(Fr. Bill pastors an Episcopal church in Lisbon Falls, Maine)

Letters from Indonesia

Dear Herry and Elders of The Holy Way: Greetings in the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Praise the Father of our Lord Jesus forever and ever.

We just came back from Sorong, Irian Jaya last week after the Memorial Service for Father Stube, who was called to heaven in February. The elders of all The Holy Way centers in Indonesia attended the service. Even the Mayor of the city came. About two thousand people from the fellowship of The Holy Way in Sorong attended. The entire worship service was broadcast by the government radio and was heard by nearly 300,000 people in the area. When I received your letter, we were astounded, because you had a memorial service on the same day with us, April 21, 2001. Thousands of people were in tears and wept when we told the story of the apostolic ministry of Fr. Stube. He came to this island with two of his friends, Chris Salossa and Muliawan, in the early seventies. They went to many places, cities and villages to preach the Good News of Jesus. At the end of the service many prayers ascended to Gods throne for The Holy Way in America. We pray that the work becomes great and that it will be able to reach out to all nations.

I remember in 1992 when Fr. Stube came here and said to me " Philipus, God has chosen this place as a place of refuge, where many refugees will come and receive help and salvation." This prophesy unfolds this very day. Right now, the city of Manado has 40,000 refugees that live in many camps scattered around the city. The population of the city of Manado itself is not more than 400,000. Since the violence broke out in Ambon, Maluku, the refugees keep coming in to north Sulawesi. The population has swelled up to 700,000 people now. Every week we minister to 177 families, totaling 667 people. One of the camps with 175 people is settled not far from our Bible Training Center.

We are very thankful for your prayers and concern for these refugees, and your contributions will be used for helping them. Thank you and give our greetings to our friends in The Holy Way

Philipus Sukamto and Horman Pontoh

Dear Herry, Shalom!

Through this letter, the family, myself and also the congregations, send condolences. We all felt a great loss when we heard that Om. Stube went home with the Lord. Our prayers will continue with the elders of The Holy Way that you will stay firm facing the loss of this dear one. We just wanted to let you know, it is known that the charismatic movement in Indonesia happened and continues till now because Om. Stube came to Indonesia in 1963 through 1975 to do ministries. There are many who have big churches today like Mr. Octavianus, director of Bible Institute Batu (east Jawa); Rev. Abraham Alex from Bethany Church in Surabaya; Mrs. Hana Sebaja in Semarang and many others that received the baptism of the Holy Spirit because of Om Stube while he was in Indonesia. The churches in Indonesia suffer a great loss of Gods servant who had a humble heart and simple life. He was very open minded and worked hard in Gods field. Let his effort and his faithfulness continue to live in you and the Holy Way staff for the ministry of the Gospel. Our greeting to your family and all staff of the Holy Way

God bless you,
Pastor Stefanus Gunawan

REPORT FROM JERUSALEM

This is the second time The Holy Way has sent a team to Jerusalem for the main purpose of worshiping our heavenly Father on His throne and interceding for the city of Jerusalem. The seven members of the team were Herry Stube, Pat Halliwell, Pat Acker, Iris Majorowicz, Sandy Martin, Agung, and myself, Nazar. This report written by Nazar Tampubolon.

A few weeks before we left, God gave us guidelines and directions concerning what we were to do while in Israel. We learned the following: We were sent to Israel as an arrow to hit the target. Each individual would have many experiences with God in the course of our activities. God said, "You will bring back the nation of Israel to me through your intercession." We went not for touring, but to reconcile Gods people to Him. As the Word clearly says, we need to stay in praise and worship always.

When we got there all that we heard from God happened. We spent much time in praise, worship and intercession. We started every morning at 9 a.m. and continued as long as the Holy Spirit led. We did the same at night, from 7 p.m. as long as God led. In prayer God showed us very clearly that when we called to Him, He would do great things for the nation of Israel. "Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know." Jeremiah 33:3. In the worship God always gave us new experiences. Sometimes we laughed, sometimes our praise was highly accelerated, and sometimes we travailed in prayer, longing to see Gods glory unfold in the city of Jerusalem and among the chosen people of
Israel.

We also did prayer walks around the city of Jerusalem. We laid hands on the gates in the old city of David and prayed that Gods mercy would come down on everyone who entered the gates. Just as the Scripture says in Psalm 24: 7,8, "Lift up your heads, O you gates; and be lifted up, you everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle." While we were in worship, God brought so many different people to join us. We were able to pray for each other and were strengthened as the Body of Christ through the variety of gifts.

During the trip we celebrated Sabbat Shalom twice. The first was unique. After celebrating the Sabbath, we went to a prayer meeting at a place just beginning to become a place of worship, and open to everyone. The leader said people could do anything when the Holy Spirit led. At the beginning we felt a heaviness; people just sang ordinary old songs in traditional ways. Our team started to praise and enter into worship in the Spirit. God led us to dance and shout to the Lord and the wall that was hindering people crumbled and all worshiped freely. Hallelujah! Soon some people prophesied, gave testimonies, sang in different languages: Korean, Kenyan, Indonesian. One lady got up in front and said that God was going to do a new thing that night and she began to speak in a tongue. She said that she had not spoken in tongues for almost twenty years, and that night, God had broken down the wall. Another lady knew from the beginning that one member of our team would pray for her because she really had a deep problem. She said that she had decided to commit suicide that day because her family always tried to send witchcraft against her to destroy her belief in Jesus. God visited her that night and touched her in a special way.

During our two week trip God sharpened our spirits in how to discern Gods will individually and corporately. God is purifying every one of us through each other so that we will become pure vessels and shine in His eyes and in others. Isaiah 43:21 "This people I have formed for Myself; they shall declare My praise." This experience will never be erased from my life.

FURTHER INSIGHTS FROM ISRAEL

A lot of ministry and deliverance took place among the women on the team. We came under spiritual attack frequently and dealt with it by repenting and praying in twos and threes. We believed there was a direct correlation between this personal warfare and what was happening in Israel. The Lord faithfully confirmed this by signs, dreams, visions and prophecy.

There certainly is an open heaven there for prayer. Too much happened to express briefly and I believe it will be quite awhile before we fully understand what really went on in the Spirit. I believe this was a beginning, not an end to what the Lord is doing in each of our lives. It was certainly a testing time for each of us. He is maturing and preparing His Bride for greater works in the spiritual realm. He looks for total obedience upon hearing and acting on His word. This is a new day and a new walk with the Lord. He is doing a new thing in us. We will see greater things begin to happen because of our obedience to go to Israel. New wine and oil is being poured out on those who follow Him into many places of the world. It is not for us to question why or wonder why, but to be obedient servants to our Lord and Savior, Jesus.

Sandy Martin.

A WORD FOR ALL TO CONTEMPLATE
JERUSALEM, TUESDAY MORNING
May 8, 2001

Matthew 17: 1- 13 . . . I believe the Lord is inviting us up to a different aspect of Himself. As we come into His presence we see Him transfigured and our lives are also changed. The Lord wants us to come up higher to the Mount of Transfiguration where we will be able to commune with Him as He did with Moses and Elijah. There are things that He needs to speak to each of us, things that we need to know for the days ahead. There, up on the Mount, veils will be removed from our eyes, deceptions will drop away and we will come into truth in many areas of our lives, where we thought we were living truth, yet we were walking in the ways of deception. It is not a place to fear. It is not a place where we will feel condemned. It is a place that He is calling each of us to in order to bring us into truth. He has already anointed us as true worshipers which He is seeking, that we may be able to worship the Father in spirit and in truth. If we do not allow Him to reveal us truth, how can we worship that way? So He is saying to us, “Do not be afraid to come up to the Mount of Transfiguration. This is the place I have chosen for you, for this day, for this minute, for this hour. So do not hold back, do not fear. Do you not know that I AM your God, and that I love you with an everlasting love, so come up, come up higher, so I may be able to speak My words to you.”

The Lord said, “Revival in the land is fine, but that is not what I AM calling you to. Revival in the land is back there. I AM calling you to the Mount of Transfiguration and I want you behind the veil in the Presence of the Living God, in the Holy of Holies.”

FATHER ETERNAL, RULER OF CREATION, SPIRIT OF LIFE, WHICH MOVED ERE FORM WAS MADE, THROUGH THE THICK DARKNESS COVERING EVERY NATION, LIGHT TO MAN’S BLINDNESS, O BE THOU OUR AID:
THY KINGDOM COME, O LORD THY WILL BE DONE.

HOLY WAY ANNOUNCEMENTS

Weekends of Corporate prayer and worship are scheduled at Bealeton, Virginia.
July 6-8 Weekend Retreat
August 17-19 Weekend Retreat
August 31-Sept 3 Indonesian Christian Church, Philadelphia
September 14-16 Weekend Retreat

All contributions for The Holy Way are to be sent to the Bealeton, Virginia address. However, kindly designate on the check memo if your gift is intended for Virginia or North Carolina. Other wise all donations go into the general fund.

FORTHCOMING! Before long, a NEW BOOK written by Fr. Stube will be available. He was diligently writing shortly before his death under a powerful anointing. The title is “The Kingdom.” We hope to have an update by the publishing date of the next newsletter.

Virginia:

The Holy Way
Mr. Herry P. Stube
11480 Morgansburg Road
Bealeton, VA 22712
540-439-0945
HPStube@cs.com

North Carolina:

The Rev. Michael Chapman
The Holy Way
1235 Lowe Creek Rd.
Moravian Falls, NC 28654
336-838-2148
THWMAC@aol.com