i actually held him as his parents were giving me the testimony and this boy was 27 hours in labor and was stillborn, an ñyou know, there's a lot of things that could be said here but in this video you will see that the parents didn't have very much money. they had to go to a government run hospital and deal with the... you know, the health care system that they had... the government run health care system. there were five children that died that day in this place where benjamin was born and benjamin died, being the sixth one, but his parents were able to stand and believe god and see benjamin raised from the dead. it's just a great testimony. so i want you to watch this video about benjamin esau, his being raised from the dead, and how that the word of god is what enabled the parents to stand and believe for this miracle.

so watch this and i'll come back at the end of today's program. >> i was expecting a cry, but the room was quiet and you could basically hear >> a pin drop in that room. > there was no life in him. he wasn't breathing > or anything. >> junaid looked at the baby and he told me, >> there's something wrong. > i was born muslim because my mother married a muslim man. his name was mohammed esau. they separated when i was two years old and at that point my mother, i think, she went back > to being christian. >> i come from a christian background and basically grew up in a methodist church, attending sunday school there and all the sunday school outings, but not really very personal.

i knew there was a god. i knew about jesus, but i never fully understood his love for me. i thought he only loves me >> on special occasions. > at eight years old, my grandma put a bible in my hand, and she said, junaid, i want you to read this, basically, and i read religiously. for years and years it was just me, > my bible and god. >> after a chance encounter with an evangelical preacher on a train, his message, if you believe, you'll receive, led junaid to sower of the word church where he met kelly-anne. a year later, they began their relationship, but god began calling junaid to england. while there, he met ian and maria mcdonald, two partners of andrew wommack ministries. they in turn introduced junaid to the almost too-good-to-be-true news >> of the gospel. i think that this is a starting place. instead of thinking that

god can do all of these things, but then you just, you know, struggle and you strive and you wonder, is god going to do this? it changes everything when you begin to understand that god has already provided everything for you by grace. and all faith is... it doesn't make god do something. it just reaches out and appropriates what he has already provided. > you know, i loved what he said. at the time i was just hungry for the word. i just wanted to be fed. i wanted to know my god. i wanted to know what he's all about and the truths that andrew spoke in me, just spoke volumes to me. at the time i heard a lot of people say there's not a lot of people that would receive this message, and i thought, why not? > it's the gospel. >> and the gospel changed junaid's life. after two years of renewing his mind to the truth, junaid decided it was time to return to south africa and the love of his life, >> kelly-anne. >> when we got married,

junaid introduced me to... to andrew wommack's teachings and it revolutionized my life completely. i just felt kind of tired of playing church, if i can put it that way. i was just looking for something deeper... something real. i started questioning... searching the scriptures for myself... discovering >> staggering things. > and the two of us were listening to him. i put it on...on...on my phone and she would listen and i would listen. i put it...i put it on t t tv and we would listen to > what he was saying. >> because i've always been praying, lord, please bless me... please give me this, not realizing that he's... he's already given it to me, you know. what more can...can i ask for? and that opened my eyes. we actually hadn't planned to have a baby so soon.ned we want...always wanted to have kids,

but i was young. i had just turned 21 and found out >> i was pregnant with ben. > if i look back now, it's almost like god set us up because we were at such a peace at that time. we were so confident in our relationship with god and we were confident in our doctrine > and in who we are in christ. >> the pregnancy was going very well. i was healthy. i was really energetic, surprisingly being energetic, doing what i usually do, but there came a point where i did start to worry because we didn't have any medical insurance or medical aide as we call it here. that me...that limited me, it restricted me from getting into, you know, certain hospitals, and i remember i was in the bathroom and i cried and i...and i thought to myself, we don't have any money. what are we going to do? i don't want to end up in a government hospital because i know how people get treated there, like thehere cattle,

and i cried. and he...and junaid came to me. tell me, why are you crying? god is our source. god will provide for us. >> he will help us. > we went to the government hospital, somerset. kelly went for all appointments and then one night... after nine months... one night... benjamin was a bit late... a few days, > kelly-anne said... >> i think my water's broken. i'm a first time mom. i don't know what to expect, what it's supposed to look like... how i'm supposed to feel, but somehow i just knew that, >> okay... > we got immediately into the car and off we went to... > to somerset hospital. >> junaid's speeding down the m5 and i'm moving up and down >> across the seat. > when we got there i said to the nurse, my...my wife's water broke. she's in labor > and then they...okay. >> they basically put me in and i had to lie in bed, and they examined me and not much muni... communication, which i found surprising, but i didn't know what to expect,

so i thought, okay, this is the norm at the hospital, and i just lay there and i cried and i...i called junaid and i asked him, what am i doing here? i don't want to be here. no one's taking care of me. the nurse had injected me with...with morphine for the pain. i asked for something for the pain and they injected me twice. that actually caused pain to sort of fall asleep and i was doing all the work by myself. that's why the labor >> was so long. > but after 27 hours she still wasn't > fully dilated. >> and then finally, when i screamed, i need to push, a nurse came in to come >> and assist me. > and they said, okay, mommy, let's...let's do this. > let's get baby out now. >> so i'm lying on the bed and i don't know what to do. i don't know what >> i'm supposed to do. > so kelly-anne pushed and benjamin came out a little bit > and then came back in again. >> and i remember him saying just push. just focus on what you're doing. don't worry about the pain.

don't worry about what's happening around you. >> just push. > she found the strength and she...she pushed baby out. > when he came out he was blue. >> you could basically hear a pin drop in that room and i...i knew something >> is wrong, yeah. > there was no life in him. he wasn't breathing or anything. the limbs just were limp and they rushed him to a table where they did cpr and then put a mask on him and they were trying to... > to get him to breathe again. >> i just...it just didi't look good at all. the nurses were not communicating. they were stressed out... >> panicking. > so i looked at the boy and... something is not right here. there was more conflict inside of me than anything and i knew it needed to be dealt with, so i chose the side of god and we took our stand and we shut out everything else and we knew this is our boy. i don't care what's happening at the moment but we are going to have > a perfectly normal boy. >> and i just felt this peace. i just...i can't explain it. i should have probably been a nervous wreck, but i felt this peace, and as i was looking

at his body, >> he wasn't moving... > and immediately kelly-anne looked and she started declaring the promises of god over benjamin. > she was saying... >> you will live and you'll not die, and i just prophesied what he was going to accomplish one day. he was going to spread the word of...of...of god to...to the nations. he was going to be a strong man of god. he was going to love the lord >> with all his heart. > but they were struggling with him. i could see the... the nurses were getting frantic. they were calling for the doctor now. they were calling for help. the doctor didn't come, so i...so i knew something was not right here and then i started looking > to outside circumstances. >> then he called our pastor... >> pastor lamb. >> fortunately i was up at the time and... i heard this... you know, desperate call on the phone. >> pastor, we need to pray. > and he said, junaid, is the child breathing? i said, pastor, no. > he is not alive. >> and we started calling on the name of the lord. then we started to pray

because i believe that if two be agreed upon this earth as touching anything that they shall ask of the heavenly father, >> it shall be done. >> when they said amen, i looked at ben and his chest literally >> lifted up. > and he took his first breath. [benjamin crying] they took him and as the nurse moved him, she...they were shaking. the nurses were so nervous and they were shaking because they don't realize what just happened there. i walked over to him on the table where he was and i started praying for him and the nurses let me do that before they moved him to the incubator. i did that. i prayed over him and i said, this boy's going to be 100%. he's going to be alive. and then from there > they had to move him to icu. >> another nurse came in and she tolde i needed to get up from my bed and i needed to walk to the next ward, and i thought to myself >> but i had just given birth. > when she tried to get up out of the labor ward bed

and they were going to move her to her room, > she fell flat on the floor. >> and i didn't realize that i...i fainted for... i don't know, a minute or so, and she...she...she picked me up and she told me, you just...you just fainted now, but don't worry, >> you're going to be okay. > so, they took her to her room and they had to look after her and i went down to benjamin. she said okay, go down to ben now. you know, you can look after him. i wasn't going to allow anything negative to...to impact what god had promised us as far as benjamin is concerned. we were focused on what god wanted to say. so i went down there with that attitude, at peace, and the doctor's report was not good at all because what happened with benjamin is he had a lack of oxygen to his brain because of > the extensive labor. >> there were about five babies in...in my ward >> who...who died. > and the doctor just... he said, you know, it doesn't look... doesn't look like things are very good with yr son. you can look at his movement.

his movement is erratic, and i said you know, doctor, it's your responsibility to tell me what's wrong with the child and it's my responsibility as a parent to believe for the best, and he said no, you're right. and then i could speak to him and he could give me the prognosis. > he said... >> seizures is a...is a... is just one of the markers for hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, which is called hie... and seizures is at the... you know, the...the farther end of the spectrum. so i had have seizures with patients with hie and this patient >> does have severe hie. > so he said, when ben was born he was in a 13 or 12. he was up there and that's dangerous. that is near vegetable status. so i said, thank you, doctor. so this causes the... the damaged brain cells, and he a...he affirmed. he said, yes. so i walked over to benjamin in front of him and i spoke to those brain cells just like andrew taught. he said you must speak

to that mountain. so i spoke to those brain cells and i spoke to the movement and i commanded everything to be normal and commanded the brain cells to be whole and to be healed in jesus name. from there i said you know, my son is on medical aide now. i spoke to another doctor. so is...would it be better to take him then to a private hospital, to move him from this hospital to a private? and she said oh, yes. so we took him to a hospital called, vincent pallotti. when they got him at the hospital, which was the next day, he was at a seven and then four days later, he was in a one, and the day that he was going to be released, he was absolutely zero. he said basically, he will just only be a little bit more intelligent > than einstein. >> he's the complete opposite of... >> of the doctor's prognosis. > and that boy is so far from what the doctor told me that i'll never forget him looking me in the face and saying, this boy's going > to be retarded. >> it was very negative and god just turned it >> around. > the patient that comes out with completely

normal symptoms... normal ability over... probably higher than normal iq. it's a miracle. i mean, it's...you know, you...you...you're saying... what you're saying exactly is that the...there was no residual damage to the neurons when...when that event > happened. >> after the birth of baby benjamin, junaid felt the need to further build on the foundation of truth that he had learned while in england. that led him to charis bible college in heidelburg, south africa, where he was discipled in the almost-too-good-to-be true gospel of god's love and grace, and as a cbc graduate, junaid is helping to develop a youth oriented bible school. he's changing the world with god's truth. junaid and kelly-anne now have three beautiful children, including benjamin, all happy and healthy and growing >> in the knowledge of god.

> on benjamin's birthday, we actually use his birthday as a mile stone. i instituted this in our family as a godly tradition where we celebrate thanksgiving to god. we use that time of benjamin's birth yearly just to remember the goodness of god towards us. so i spoke to those brain cells and i spoke to the movement, just like andrew taught. he said you must speak to that mountain, and god's word says, he will live and he will not die, > and he's healed! isn't that a powerful testimony? just think that if this couple hadn't of gotten hold of the word of god that they would be mourning the loss of a son. you know, there's no telling how many times that's happened around the world. i mean i suspect that there are probably hundreds of thousands or millions of parents who have been through a very similar thing

and because they didn't have the word of god, they didn't see this results. now i know that there's many people watching this program who are going to sit there and say so you're saying that if everybody would just believe in god, that there wouldn't be any stillborns and everything would be perfect. i'm saying that it's god's will for us to be well and we have a part to play in it and you know, at my very best i'm not sure i understand everything and if i was to fail and not see my healing or something happen, i wouldn't be mad at god. i'm not going to be upset at god but i'm not going to blame god and say that it's god's will that millions of children are stillborn and things like this. it's not god's will. it's god's will for us to be well and when people know the truth we have a part to play and i believe that the more we believe it and the more we believe that god wants us to prosper and god is not the one who's causing the... you know, the mental problems that children are born with...

not causing the deformity. he's not qua...causing the stillbirths. when people know the truth, it sets them free and praise god, i believe it is god's will that we all be well and that children are a blessing from the lord. god did not take their children. you know, as we go through these stories... there's one of these stories in here about a little boy that had stage 4 cancer and the past...the man who... the father was a minister and the group that he was with actually said that it was god's willwas with for his son to die... that god wanted him to die... and one of them even said that god loves you so much, you are so ma...so mature that god knows you can handle this and they presented it as a blessing. i'm not saying that i understand why it doesn't always work, but i am saying this. that it is not god who is killing little children. it is not god who is causing the problem, and if this will work

in this instance... for benjamin esau... well then it will work for anybody. god is not a respecter of persons and i want to encourage you. if you've already lost a child... if tragedy has already struck, i am not condemning anybody but i am saying that it wasn't god's will. this is not god's way of humbling you and that should set you free to know that your god is a good god, but that we have to know the truth. you'll hear people say often that you know, what you don't know isn't hurting you. i disbelieve that! i believe that what you don't know is killing you! and that's the reason we are sharing these testimonies and i'm telling you that god is no respecter of persons. if he will do this for benjamin esau in south africa, he will do it for you in finland... norway... england... america... any place that you're watching this and i want to encourage you with these truths. it is god's will for you to be well and this isn't just an isolated instance. we have five testimonies on this dvd. we have three previous dvds

with five on each one of those so that's 15. this is a total of 20 miraculous... i mean raising-from-the-dead experiences that we have confirmed and verified, on some of these the doctors actually attest to it. i believe it will be a faith builder. so you can either get this one dvd that talks about the story you saw today or you can write in and get a packet where we will give you all of these. if you'll listen to our announcer they will give you all of the information and i encourage you to please call or write today and receive these dvds on healing journeys. >> the story you saw on today's program is included, along with four additional healing testimonies, on the healing journeys volume 4 dvd. this dvd is available for a gift of any amount when you contact us. or you can get this product as part of the healing journeys package which includes 4 dvds - healing journeys volumes 1, 2, 3 and 4.

these 4 dvds contain a total of 19 healing testimonies that will inspire your faith and help you reach out to receive all that god has for you. the entire package has a catalog value of $100. but today you can get the healing journeys package for a gift of just $65 or more. go to awmi.net and click on today's tv offer to see all the ways you can get these products. we would also like to remind you that we are offering andrew's latest book titled how to find, follow, and fulfill god's will for a gift of any amount. contact us today to get your copy. you can use your credit card to order resources through our web site at awmi.net. while you're there, you can discover more product details and download many free resources. or you can order through our helpline monday through friday from 4:30am to 9:30pm mountain time. our helpline number

is 719-635-1111. if the lines are busy, remember - you can order ministry materials 24-hours a day, 7 days a week at awmi.net. to write us, use the address on your screen. we appreciate your generosity and hope to hear from you today. we would like to point out andrew's upcoming speaking schedule. mark your calendars to come meet andrew at one of these events. in the month of september he'll be in colorado springs, colorado. in october he'll be in walsall, england, victor harbor, south australia, melbourne, victoria, australia, and in carrara, gold coast, queensland, australia. and in november he'll be in shreveport, lousiana, dallas, texas, and in fort worth, texas. for more details on andrew's next meeting in your area visit our web site >> at awmi.net.

as you can tell, i'm not in our studio today, but instead, we are up in woodland park, colorado at the place that i have named "the sanctuary". and we're in the process of building a charis bible college facility, and i am just convinced that this is what god has led me to do. i spent four hours today ministering in our charis bible college and i tell you, it's... it's exciting. i had a number of people come up to me and just tell about how this had just totally changed their life. and we see this happen every singleay. so i am committed to taking the things that god has shown me and putting it into this bible college, and so this is the first step. and i believe that together we are going to get it done and god is going to be changing people's lives. >> now is the time to call, write, or go to our web site to join our family of ministry supporters. no one else can fill your place. our helpline workers

are waiting for your call. if the line is busy, write the number down and call again later. andrew is appealing to those of you who have been touched by this ministry to help him build this building debt free. he is not asking those of you who haven't benefited from the gospel truth broadcasts to do anything, but if the lord has used andrew to touch your life, he is asking you to respond financially and help him build this building and equip thousands of new ministers with the good news gospel. this is laying the foundation for a gospel revolution which we pray will shake the body of christ. the bottom line is that this goal is within reach for all of us. don't miss your opportunity to become a world changer today. every gift makes you a vital part of everything taking place at the new charis bible college campus. remember, you are the key, >>and there is no plan b.

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>> announcer: the following program is paid for by the friends and partners of joyce meyer ministries. [music]

>> joyce: i'm doing a series on the spirit of offense, and i call it the spirit of offense because i believe that, honestly and truly, that it is an evil spirit. satan is the instigator of offense. when you're offended, it's like having a spiritual hangnail. have you ever had a hangnail and instead of just going and cutting it off and dealing with it, you just keep waiting and waiting and it doesn't bother you for a little bit and then you touch it and it's like, "ow," you know? hangnails hurt, don't they? well, i believe we can get hangnails in our spirit, and the reason why i call it a hangnail is because an offense is different than a full-blown case of bitterness, resentment and unforgiveness. you've gotten into hating anybody. you're just a little bit miffed, just a little bit sour. they just did a little something and maybe you didn't shut them totally out of your life, but you just got this little thing

now that you're just kind of like, hmm. well, and then you get maybe two or three or those, four, five, six, get a whole bunch of them and it actually begins to affect your walk with god. jesus offended people and he said that he was the stone that they stumbled over. the word "offense" can mean a little rock that people stumble over. it can be a big stone that people stumble over, but the point is is when we get offended, it causes us to fall down and stumble and stop making progress. i want you to say with me, "when i am offended." >> audience: when i am offended. >> joyce: "i don't make spiritual progress." >> audience: i don't make spiritual progress. >> joyce: see, we need to take care of those things so we can continue to grow in god. and then it comes from a greek word skandalon. the word "offense" comes from a greek word "skandalon" which means the part of the animal trap that the bait hung on that lured in the victim. so i want you to realize that all these opportunities to be offended are simply the devil

trying to draw us into his trap so we do not ever become the people that god wants us to be. i hate to say this, and i don't mean to sound negative, but i think there's probably more angry christians than there are ones that are totally at peace with everybody. and you know what? truly, being an angry christian is an oxymoron. it just doesn't--what i mean by that is it doesn't compute. christians are supposed to be full of love and forgiveness and mercy and, you know, not easily offended and always believing the best. you know, to be a christian is more than to go to church on sunday and then go home and never change. we need to really believe this stuff and put it to work in our life. and we can be offended about so many different things. you can be offended at god. we're gonna talk about that is little bit tomorrow along with some other things. you can be offended at a store somewhere that didn't treat you right or wouldn't return your money when you bought something from them that didn't work out good. you can be offended at your place of business because you don't think you

get treated right. we know that many husbands and wives have offense between them. they have strife between them. you know, the bible says that when there's a house full of strife, the children end up in rebellion. you know that? isn't that interesting? where there's strife, there's every evil work. it's a progressive evil spirit that just keeps causing more and more and more trouble. i believe that you can give offerings and god wants to bless you and return it back to you, but i think that even having a house full of strife can affect the return on your giving. i believe that we need to realize how important it is that we learn how to take care of these little things and make sure that we dwell in peace. but tonight i want to talk to you about a unique and a particular area of offense, one that you might not think about, but i want you to ask you if you are perhaps offending yourself. you say, "well, what in the world do you mean by that?"