Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
The Community
of Gods Love
Covenant Servants
Weekend & Prophecies
The Covenant Servants sprang out of the Thursday night Prayer Meetings in
Christ the King Chapel on the campus of the College of Steubenville,
Steubenville, OH in 1977. A group of 40, most worked for, attended or were
somehow associated with the College. All had been, baptized in the Holy
Spirit and were part of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal which had been
introduced 10 years earlier at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA.
This document desribes a community conference that occurred during the
time period of 1977-80. The community has just made overtures to the Word
of God Covenant Community to receive formation and training. Fr Michael
Scanlan, TOR the President of the College and the Senior leader of the
community has delivered a prophecy urging them to do so.
The documents describe a second set of uninitiated members going through a
set of teachings known as Foundations I. The last page of the document talks
about offering them, some sort of pastoring or care. What will soon follow is
the adoption of shepherding and discipleship, a system within the
community where people come under other members to discern how to
grow into mature Christians. Over the next 12 years the system of pastoral
care will grow in depth, intensity and control over members lives. It will do
both good and harm to its Catholic members. It will become, the primary
way God works in the life of the member. This writer will years later term it
the 8th Sacrament.
In the last segment I have attached a group of prophecies that were given by
Covenant Servant members over the years 1977-79. It is not exhaustive or
complete. However what it presents mirrors two streams of thought. The
first is what the prophets of the Word of God had been saying since the 1975
Rome prophecy by Ralph Martin. That prophecy and others are here. The
second stream is simply about how much God loves these people. It is - in
retrospect- the more accurate of the two streams in the authors opinion.
These documents describe a group on the verge of a major step in their life as
a Christian, charismatic community. They have not yet yielded their identity
over to the Word of God (which in 1982 becomes the Sword of the Spirit), but
soon they will do so. They are a group of people standing at a fork in the road,
about to make a decision that will take them in a direction away from their
true nature.
That decision will substitute their unique identity as a body for a group
identity shared across continents. They will become in a few years just
another null set in the dictatorship of Steven B Clark. They will change their
names from Covenant Servants of the Community of Gods Love to Servants of
Gods Love to Servants of Christ the King, a Branch of the Sword of the Spirit.
And in the end after the loss of many members, much pain and turmoil, they
will return to their true identity as the Community of Gods Love.
But before that happens, good people who have been members of the
Covenant Servants (one mentioned in the document herself) will be told they
do not fit into the new community formed under the Word of God/Sword of
the Spirit and forced to leave. The Thursday night prayer meeting that
nurtured and gave birth to the community will be deprived of its mission and
relegated to just a time of praise by its old leaders. The Covenant Servants
under the Word of God will walk away and the prayer meeting will fade and
die. The communitys vision of being a Catholic Parish will come to pass. It
will in fact be given parochial stature as a Fellowship Parish in the Diocese of
Steubenville, but its hidden, dual submission to the Word of God and the local
Bishop dooms it in the end.
On this date in the last 1970s, this little community is standing on the verge of
going it alone and maintaining their identity or submitting itself to the Word
of God. It still has a chance for a different life. Looking back 38 years later the
author is left with a poignant sense of grief and loss, knowing what is to come.
C. John Flaherty, 2016 Grand Island, Nebraska.
COVENANT
Prophecies,
SERVANTS
WEEKEND
Scriptures,
Teachings
Satu.~da~ .m~r:..ing
my children, with all of my strength and with all of my
power, I have brought you to myself, and it is not in vain,
but it is to accomplish my will, to build my Kingdom fullX on
earth.
I have not labored over you in vain, but with all my
love and all of my power, not only have 1 brought you to myself,
but with that same power and same love, I have equipped you.
Now seek my face and receive my vision.
~ithout my vision, you
will surely stray.
Without my vision, you will surely perish.
But you have access to my heart.
Come, see my face.
Come,
share my heart.
Psalm 27
Jeremiah 33:14-22
my people, 1 have laid the foundatioh in your hearts - the
foundation of my love.
I desire to use you, my people.
1 desire
to use you, to pour forth my healing and my saving power through
you, my people.
I desire to use you to pour forth my love to
many, my people.
my people, I will draw many to you.
Just seek
my face, my people.
Seek my face.
my people, I would speak a word to you this day that is new.
I would speak a word to you today that is fresh.
I would speak a
word to you, my people, that you have not heard before.
my people,
you must have ears that are opened to hear the word that 1 would
speak, for it is a word that you are not expecting.
my people, it
is a word that will bring peace.
It is a word that will bring
division to the hearts of some, but, my people, stand firm.
my
people, rest securely in my word, for it is a word of leve, it is
a word of peace, it is a word that will bring power in your midst.
my people, if you are faithful to me and hear my word, as a
farmer binds wheat into sheaves, so 1 will bind you, my people,
into one sheaf that will be used to nourish, that will be used to
fill my people with love.
my people, I desire to bind you together, to unite you, to draw you closely, to wrap you with the
bonds of my love and my strength.
my people, do not rely upon
yourselves, because I will give you strength.
my people, I am calling you to hear a new word this day.
Open your hearts, my people, for I desire to speak that word.
Put
aside your plans, my people.
Put aside your ideas of what you
have for me to do for you and let me do what I want to do in your
midst today.
my people, I call you to newness.
Open your ears,
my people.
Isaiah 48:7-8
***
***
<, . .......
***
A spirit of expectancy
teaching.
during
Father
Michael's
WHAT IS BEFORE US ?
Cr~t~caI time; we are being called to move in a direction,
to take another step.
Interim - suffering due to tension between expectations
and reality.
**Two choices: 1) reduce expectations,
or
2) fill out the structure with the viability
of our lives
Four levels of living within the community now:
1) Basic evangelism program: individual contacts, Introduction Seminar, Life in the Spirit, Foundations
I
2) Prayer Meeting Celebrations
3) Limited Shared Life / Covenant meetings
4) Teachings of Growth
Foundations
II
Teaching Board
HOW DO WE RESPOND ?
Eph. 4 - Body wIth all its gifts, builds itself up in love.
Authority - two attitudes
1) everyone has authority and should be respected in that;
each called to exercise that authority as servant,
freely
2) all have to come under authority more than now - desire
to stand under authority freely
Covenant Servant Group must be a primary group, the primary
organizing principle of our lives.
Family is included in
this, and for religious, it is not a violation of prior committment.
Resources - financial
VISIm,'
Test: The Lord is calling us to be a parish, a faith
community which pastors in a parish, with the covenant
servants taking responsibility
for giving direction
to the life of that parish.
?aturday
Afternoon
Isaiah 42:6-9
my
of
Scriptures
were: 2 Chronicles
by the community
...---.....-
. --
=:;
--~r-f~-~i~~;h-'-'--
3 in deliverance
Scriptures regarding the call to guard from evil:
Eph . 4: 14-32
1 Tim. 6: 11 and following
1 Tim. 3; 4: 1-5
- primary call to take authority over evil and to know
what the truth is, where the right teachers are, the
right books and tapes; sort out error.
- live in the Light
- stand in truth, stand in love
- responsibility
for doing this in community
- know the truth and find freedom.
Call to Nurture Life
---bal-:"~5:--r9-------'-.
.'
Deuteronomy 30: 11-14 was also the word that was continually
brought forth during the Conference in Los Angeles.
_Sunday !Yl0r~.!.!l...9.
As we came together to pray, the Lord spoke to
lowing Scriptures~
John 14: 10-26
Eph. 1: 3-6
Rom 8:28-30
The Lord's ~ord to us in prophecy was:
Once again, I call you to a deeper faith,
me as Lord and as Saviour, a faith that is not
emotion or on reason, but a faith that is based
and the Truth, and the Life.
Psalm 46 and Col. 3:12-17
usthrough
the fol-
a deeper faith in
based on feeling or
on me as the ~ay,
******
shared.
a practical agreement with
toward building the unity of
agreement:
-I
r-
REFLECTIO~S
OF OUR
PARISH:
1~Cr-eating a faith community so that you can belong to it
and not another parish.
2) Pastor/pastoral authority would be directly responsible
to Bishop; we would be creating a direct relationship
with the bishop.
3) We would have to assume parish responsibilities
for the
people who belong to the parish= education, whole sacramental system.
4) ~ot strictl~ a territorial parish;
non-territorial
parish: parish in which membership is
made up of a defined group of people that can be predicted according to some association other than where
they live.
5) Realistic possibility for us: establishing Christ the King
Parish
- parish, college related
- specifically for the Community of God's Love and people
of the College of Steubenville
- Community of God's Love could be sponsoring pastoring
body of that parish; necessarily be fully opened to
services of everyone related to the College.
- Lay/clerical pastoring; Bishop would want one person
accountable.
- ~e could develop our structure for pastoring the parish.
~e need to pray and test this vision; get our minds clear
so that when the new bishop comes, if this is the direction we
are moving, then we bring him a specific proposal.
6) Financial
responsibilities
'"
.-
FLA~OR
AND-...--...----~.-----.~-.---.
ATTITUDE OF COVENANT ---IF ~E CONTINUE
TO AFFIRm
WORD:
PROPHECY
RECEIVED
of divergent
each element
purpose.
cares.
and
and
of life.
stepped
their.cares
to live as a reunited
and projects
the reality
oppression,
group,
turning
the reality
to the
of brother
I will with-
to be a terrible
first in
and denominations,
attacks,
I have
is
reality
against
rivaling,
it is confused
rogance,
12/28/77
is broken, scattered,
each faction
HERmITAGE
against
This is going
of persecution
and
the name of the Lord to seek His mind and do His will, will be
strengthened
My Son.
PROPHEC
I.C';S
December !t
..
"*
: -'
. '-'..
KnOw bhat ' I am your God', that I am your King, that I am calling
. you forth to proclaim JYIy word" that I am callimg you forth to be
JYIy people, the people I have chosen, the people whomI have collected,
the people whomI am preparing.
KnooMypeople that I am your
.. ' s'av.i.or, And lmowMy"people that -I am your God. Andlmow Ny people
that I am your' strength and that 1 give you power. AclmowledgeMe,
']\.1Y -people. AckncwLedgeMebefore -your brothers and sisters.
Call
upon Me, rely upon Me and lmowthat I am your Lord and I am your God.
You are fruitful,
you are blooming because right, now I am
-showering you with lciylove;
I amehcwerdng you with Mymercy; I
am showering youwat.h Ny healing;
I am showering you with 1'Jypower;
I am showering you with My favor;
I am,showering you with righteousness so that you will bLoasom,"so that. you will be fruitful.
When
you come to give thanks for MySon, your l'Iessiah amongyou, you
shall do it as a fruitful
people, as a .holy people, asa redeemed
people. You, I am prospering.
You, I am b.Lessang ; You I am
causing to bloom into fruit now, children.
Rejoice-,I say, for I am come. I 'am come to the past, I am
come to the present and lam come to the future.
Rejoice, Mypeople,
for I am comebefore you and lam
comewithin you. Openyour hearts,
Hy people.
Let fileestablish l-fykingship within you. Let Mebe
Lord of the past and the hurts and the sin and the problems of the
past.
Let Mebe the Lord of the present.
Let file be the Lord of
your every action, and then, l.f;y people, I will establish Mykingship
in your fut.ur-e, -Rejoice, l-1ypeople, for I amc ome, T am comebefore
you and I am comewithin yeu.
James 5 - patience
Psalm 65 '
of farmer planting
seeds
December 11
Zephaniah 3
The Lord said to me that He was trying to prepare us so that
we could see the misery and effects of sin and the oppression and
the darlmess in the world and deal with that and be in the midst
0-: that - all the while being firmly in the grasp of His victory.
He showed me a valley where there was two sides of the valley
and the whole and both sides of the valley were covered with
darkness.
And He asked me to listen to the cries of despair and
distress and misery that wer-e going on in that valley.
And then He said to me, "v.]hatdo you see? Andwhat do you
hear?" And He said, "I want you to be able to hear the shouts of
'Hosanna. ' I want you to be able to knowthe power of zy- victory
amidst all of that turmoil."
And then He asked me to look again
and I saw tiny lights that were beginning to emerge on both sides
. ,
~'.
'
-!,
of the bill
of the valley.
And He told me these lights were
lights
of His people that He was calling forth .just as we had been
called forth from the dar kneas , And that He wanted to make these
lights into SUG:ha pure 'and such a totally
dependant on Him "fitness
.t.hat they would eventually merge together .i.nt.o a light .t.hat was
bright as the sun.
And then He asked me to listen.
And as I listened' it seemed
as .though '.I, heard. the s ould of footsteps.
He t o.ld me those foot, steps .rer-e the sounds of people who were committing their .Li.ves
to Him and f.ormingan army. And at one end of the valley it was
as' though there .rer-e people coming over .mt o the valley that were
just as bright as gold.
And He said,
"These are people that have
been purified.
These are people who .can ~alk into the fire and sing
praises;
who can sleep' at peace v,ith Him in the middle' of the storm."
And the Lord said to me that. He wants to do in my life and the life
of this cOnl.'1lunity:andmany.others like it that kind of a purification
work, that kind of.a building,
that kind of a,redeeming work.
.. And He said- He .rants us to be so pure, so transparent
that the
love that is in us that He plants there in, fact brings about the
imagery'of the city of God in revelation.
You have given yourselves over to the fire of My Spirit I
keep it and I protect.it
. Give yourselves ,more deeply to the fire
of My Spirit~
Do not hold yourselves back Be spent~in the work
that I do .now in your .midst.
Lend yourselves over to He and I will
give.you peace and the' deepest joy and the Father's
love .
He "Jill continue to show us the big picture and He's going to
continue to. show us what t s ahead; .Het s going to continue to show
us the reality
of the situation
in the world and in the Church. He
is going to continue to prod us on. But that most of all, what He
want-ed me to say is how pleased He is.
Host of all, what He wanted
me to say is to encourage you and that its a joy in His' heart - the
breaking that is coming to new life,
the dying that is coming to new
life,
the increased generosity
of life,
the sharing, the caring for
brothers and sis.ters,
the increased desire to know His word and be
formed by it, the increased enthusiasm in giving to His praise and
His worsh.ip , And this really delights Him and that I heard Him
telling
me very directly
that He wanted me primarily to tell you
'His love for you and hOVI He cherishes you. That's the primary "'Jay
Hets looking upon us this day.
But Hets not going to stop showing
'15 all
the other things moving us into the great work Her s doing
in the world.
M1EN
e-
"The Lord i5 saying that He really wants us to know that He loves us.
He knows that we know He loves us but He knows we don*t have it to the
fullest in our hearts. And He knows that we don*t have it so strong
and so powerfully before us that in the face of anything we would'run
to Him than some other choice such as anxiety or fear. And He wants
us to know He loves us down deep inside of'our.hearts. He wants us to
be able to receive the fullness and the Presence of Him in a way that
we just don*t know or imagine. He wants us to just be open to that
because He wants us to grow and have that consuming fire Of His Love
inside of our hearts".
James 3 it3.
January 22, 1978
Scripture ?
.
r~ trust in the Lord and do good that you may dwell
in the
land enjoying security. Take delight in the Lord and He will grant you
His hearts request. Commit to the Lord your ways. Trust in Him and
He will act. He will make ju:ticedawn for you like the light bright as
noonday will be your vindication. Leave it to the Lord and wait for
Him
-.
-oj
I.
,
i
I~'.
I'.,
'
-2-
PROPHECIES
-'SCRIPTURE
- THEMES
February 5, 1978
"My people you have heard it said that there will be times
of trials ahead.
You have heard it said 'that there will be
buildings shaken and struciures that will fall. My people you
must see that these things will be shaken and they will fall.
All things will be shakened and will fall that are opposed to
My Word, that stand in stubborness against My Love, that stand
and shake thei~ fist in rebellion against My peace.
My people
you are r60ted in My Love, You are rooted in My peace.
You are
rooted in the joy of your relationships with one another that are
founded in Me., When the time of shaking comes, when the time of
falling comes, you My people will ride the wind of My Love. You
My people will float over trials and obstacles because you will
move with Me. You will not be in rebellion against Me. You will
not shake your fist in anger and doubt and despair.
Instead yuu
will be caught up in the cloak of My Love and you will fbat with
Me into the gbry of My Father."
v.
February
12, 1978
Acts 10: 17
Peter's visitation------------visit
2 Cor.
6:14-18.
2 Cor.
7: 1.
- OVHt-
Prophecies
March
Scripture
Themes
5, 1978
Numbers 32
As the Israelites were to ctoss the Jordan and wanted to stay on
the east requesting of Moses not to cross -the Jordan ... Moses
encouraged them to come to the inheritance.
The Lord wanis each of us
to cross the Jordan and to inherit the land. ~ach of us is called for
a special destiny, the Kingdom
God's faithfulness
Psalm Ill.
Psalm 115.
for us is unchangeable,
building
a newness
in us.
2. '
March
12, 1978
Zac h ,
8.
cci .
3.
Isa. 54
Another
similar
text confirm~d
Nahum 2
**
5/20/79
I am really pleased with so many of the things that have happened in
your lives; Being more rooted in me being free of selfishness greater
order in your relationships and loving one another better and that you've
made deeper commitments to be formed by my word and have that as the standard
for your life rather than your individual feelings and preferences. You're in
a position where I can bless you so much more - and I want to bless you. I
want you to stir up a sense of expectancy so that you will receive those
blessings.
.
There are two things that I want you to be particularly expectant of;
I want you to expect that when you intercede with your brothers and sisters
it will happen Expect obstacles to be removed and situations to be changed
simply because you've joined together and prayed that way
But also be expectant to receive my word Expect more to hear my
word not only in your gatherings, but in your lives and in your small groups.
I want you to spend more time searching out my word, asking me for it, waiting
upon it, and expecting to receive it.
But I also expect that when things don't happen exactly as you pray
for them, you will trust me and know there's something better that I have
for you - a greater plan and factors you don't see. I want you to trust
me and praise me all the more 3ven when it doesn't come about. You will
be blessed abundantly and I'm initiating this time of blessing because I'm
pleased in how far you've come.
6/17/79
I no longer speak to you in parables, but I speak clearly. Servants
of God's Love I pray for you, that you may be one as I and the father are
one. I pray for your unity. And I tell you this night that the source of all
your needs, the source of your growth, the source of your place in the
church is that you be one.
Bear with one another and love one another. Give yourselves fully
and completely. Lay down your lives for one another. Don't be children
of the twilight, but be brothers and sisters of one another. Be one. Commit
yourselves to being brothers and sister9' Commit yourselves to doing all those
things that will bring you closer together.
Don't judge; don't rival; don't compete. Seek and search as to how
you can give more fully to each other. Seek as to how you can be more Qfie in your
families and pastoral groups, and the community as a whole. for when you
are one, then I will give you greater and greater wisdJm. When you are one,
I will give you individual holiness - the holiness that you desire. The more
that you are one, I will give you outreach and ministry that will really serve
the church and act asa foundation for the church.
I ask you to make this commitment now and to get rid of fear and
anxiety. I ask you to stretch out your hands and stretch out your hearts and
minds further than you have done before, and I will give you the unity you
need. This night I ask you to commit yourself to a deeper unity, to a
deeper oneness - tbe kind of oneness that I and my father have. And I pray
for you, Servants of God's Love,that you will give yourself to this unity.
10/29/78
Ny children, I aIR telling you this now, to put it in your spirit and
to remember it six months from now and a year from now. Remember that I
have told it to you.
When I led Joshua and my people into the promised land, I told them
to remember who gave them that land and I told them to remember the covenant.
It wasn't their own merit and strength that gave it to them. I told them to
remember who was their first love and \IIhohad led them into the desert. And
I tell that to you now. I am your first love and I give you the words
that are Spirit and Truth. And I ask you to accept them and I ask you to
base your lives upon my word because there is no other word that is life.
There is no other word that \IIillprotect you from the world, flesh, and
devil.
And I give you an admonition and a challenge to you prophets to listen
to the word, to purify it and proclaim it to my people. And I tell you
teachers and those \IIhominister to the \IIordto take your vocation seriously.
I tell you pastoral groups- remember that I am in your midst and \IIhenyou
share, you share me. I am your first love. I am your first love. I am
your first love. And I tell you not to abandon me. Take seriously what
I have given you. You are about to enter into a new stage. In a sense, you
are about to enter into the promised land. You are about to reap the
first fruits of the big harvest. You are about to know new growth. You
are about to know new holiness. And you are about to see \IIorkscome forth
and activities come from you.
But for God's sake, realize that it comes from me. Remember that I
am your first love. I am the lord of your hearts. I am the lord of your
teachings.
I am the Lord of your- works. I am your first love.
Embrace me. Repent for not hearing my \IIords. Get dO\llnon your knees
for taking my \IIordlightly. Get dO\llnon your knees for not listening to
my \IIord. Reach out your hearts and accept me because I am the Lord and I
love you and I am your first love. I am_ your first love, and I will
al\llayslove you, and I \IIillal\llays go \IIithyou. But I am your first love
nO\ll,and \IIhenyou are larger and \IIhenyou are more famous- I am your first
love. Fly people, accept me.
5/13/79
I want the people \IIhoare called by my name, the people \IIhoare mine,
to be clear that they follo\llme. They do not follo\lla plan, they do not
follo\lla program, they do notleven follo\lla good idea for community; but
only me.
Take your eyes from yourselves and your self concerns and even from
the gifts I have given you and even from one another, and put them on me,
because I am the Good Shepherd and I go ahead of you. I kno\llevery step of
the way and I \IIantyou to get your eyes on me. The \IIay ahead is going
to jat more narro\lland grow more dark. If you don't have your eyes on me,
\IIhenI turn a corner or take a sudden detour, you \IIillmiss me and the \IIay
I would have you go.
I \IIill only show you the next step. If I sho\llyou my \IIholeplan, your
sin and your \IIeaknessand your desire to control \IIouldenter in, and I do
not \IIantthat to happen. I want you to follo\llme my way. I \IIantyou to see
the glory of your God and the \IIorldto see the glory of your God. Keep
your eyes focused on me and you \IIillsee it.
JULy
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$1189
$1177
$295:!"
$116
$120
$479
$706
$1922
$163
$J.24
$'709
$450
$1510
$131
$98
$130
$25
($936)
$664
$2494
$204
$99
&76
$10
$441
$818
$1648
$4871
$933
$840
$58
$4394
$4715
$16723
$217
$23
$864
-------------------------------.-------.---------------------------------
..--------------