Why I Do What I Do

May I share a story I rarely tell?  When I was a child, my parents and I lived in rural Mississippi. Our nearest town was Ovett, which was about ten miles from our home. We had no motorized transportation. I remember riding to Ovett with my father when I was about eight years old in a horse drawn wagon. This particular time we took some shelled yellow corn to be milled into corn meal for my Mama’s cornbread and other uses.

Until that day I had never seen or shopped in a general store. My eyes were wide and searching all the new things I was seeing. I noticed a hatchet on a shelf. I picked it up and admired it while Papa was in another part of the store. I chose to put the hatchet in my overalls pocket and took it outside and hid it in our wagon.

As we left Ovett in our wagon, Papa saw the hatchet and stopped the wagon. He asked me how and where I had gotten it. Then he told me I had to return it and apologize to Mr. Dennis, the store owner, a wonderful man of Lebanese descent. I panicked at the thought of having to confess my sin, repent to Mr. Dennis and return the hatchet. I was broken and humiliated. Papa never mentioned it again. He didn’t need to.

Upon graduation from high school, I desired to attend college and get equipped to achieve good things in life. There were 12 in my graduating class. The academic quality was not good. I went to Mississippi State, but upon arrival I was assigned to remedial courses. I chose instead to join the United States Air Force. I could attend college classes while serving in the USAF and have academic funding after serving for four years. The USAF was my only “sponsor” through my B.S. and M.B.A. degrees from Louisiana State University.

In 1955, I went to the Philippines for 18 months in military service. In 2001 I found myself again in the Philippines, this time as a minister of the Gospel. I ministered in a church near a huge city dumpsite in Lapu-Lapu City on the island of Cebu. At that garbage dump I saw little girls and boys scavenging through the trash of a city with a population of about 225,000 at the time. It broke my heart to see them all smudged with dirt and soot, wearing tattered and dirty clothing. But all had bright smiles on their faces.

GOD SPOKE to and through my heart and said, “Ras, you will spend the rest of your life seeing to it that these children reverse the cycle of poverty from their heritage.” I felt He also said you will send them to school because education is important for their future. Just as I needed a sponsor to get an education, so do they.

That was in 2001. Today, our sponsors help us send almost 900 children to school, feed them and provide Christian pastoral spiritual care through 24 carefully chosen and proven pastors and churches. To God be the glory.

This is part of the story of “Why I do What I Do” and without you Partners, Sponsors and Friends, we would not be able to do this. Thanks and God bless you.

I humbly ask for your prayers as we are no longer satisfied with 900 children and 24 pastors/churches. God has spoken and His vision for us now is to increase to 10,000 children and 240 pastors/churches. Please add this new vision to your prayer list. Put a note on your fridge and dashboards: 10,000 children. 240 Filipino pastors. 10 facilities to care for widows and orphans. Transformation of a nation. Pray. Fear not. Only believe.

Thank you, thank you,
Ras Robinson

If you feel led to respond, contact us at fcm@fullnessonline.org . Are you led to give to this? Go to http://fullnessonline.org/donate

Update — Homes for Widows and Orphans

GOD’S WORD ON HIS GREAT VISION:  “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” James 1:27 (NLT)

AND THEN GOD SPOKE TO ME: “I have called you to build and operate ten homes for widows and orphans in the Philippine Islands. Build them among the 24 pastors and churches on four islands who care for the nearly 900 sponsored children and in new places on other islands where I will show you.”

PROGRESS REPORT… Our Partners, Sponsors and Friends have made possible this ministry to poor children since we began in the Philippines in April 2001. They are now making possible this Great Vision from God (it did not come from Ras).  It is a wonder and sign of your tender and caring heart. We (Bev, Kathy Bohlin and Ras) pray for our Partners, Sponsors and friends almost daily. As we pray, we have come to love you and so appreciate your part in God’s work through FCM.

Donations so far to this Great Vision have ranged from $5 to $5000. One businessman has invited many of his partners and business friends to donate to this Great Vision, offering to match their gift up to a certain amount. It is our belief that God Himself will put in your heart just how much you are to donate.

When we were ministering to children and doing evangelistic events in Peru, God spoke to some to give $5000 and to one man to give over $30,000. We sent more than 100 poor children to school and worked with pastors who cared for them. During our ministry in Peru, we saw over 3,000 souls saved and complete six weeks of discipleship classes.

Two attorneys (one in the Philippines and one here in America) and a social worker in the Philippines have volunteered to advise and help FCM in this big undertaking. Please pray for them and their practices to be blessed. They are godly believers.

Blessings and love,

Ras and Bev Robinson with Kathy Bohlin

Caring for Orphans and Widows

“I have called you to build and operate ten homes for widows and orphans in the Philippine Islands”

GOD’S WORD ON THIS VISION:  Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. James 1:27 (NLT) 

During the first week of October 2013 I was in the mountains of Colorado recovering from a heart procedure. I ask the Lord, “Is there anything you want me to do in the Philippines that I have not yet done?” He immediately replied, “I want you to build 10 homes in the Philippine Islands for the purpose of  “Caring for Orphans and Widows.” Some of the orphans will be chosen from among the 900 children you already care for and others will be among the 10,000 children I am giving you. The children now live on city dumpsites, under bridges and some sleep on pieces of cardboard on sidewalks beside city streets.

The Philippine widows will be chosen based on their love for children, their character qualities and abilities. They will care for the children and operate the homes in exchange for their room and board with a small stipend of  blessing for them.

The oversight will be with the Board of Directors of Fullness in Christ Ministries and with an Advisory Board of Filipino Pastors and Business and Governmental Persons.

If you are stirred in your heart or feel called to this great vision to help with building and operating 10 Homes in the Philippines go to this link and give from your heart Caring for Orphans and Widows.

For additional information, address your inquiries to Kathy Bohlin (kathyb@fullnessnetwork.net)

Partners for Transformation

Romans 12:2 instructs us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. The Amplified Bible says, “be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude]….”

From the beginning, the vision God gave us was the transformation of the nation of the Philippines – one child at a time. Through that vision, God has touched the lives of hundreds of children, youth and their families in the past 13 years. Many of you have been part of that through your prayers, your financial support and as sponsors for children. The ministry to the sponsored children and their families will continue. In fact we are expecting a great increase as God will give us thousands more children in many more locations across the Philippines.

Now, beyond that ministry of sponsoring children, God has spoken concerning a “New and Bigger Vision” to transform the nation. We invite you to join us and “Think Big, Believe Big and Act Big.”

God has said this is the time for raising up “Partners for Transformation.” Many of today’s prophets are saying a great revival is coming to Asia. The Philippines will be part of a great transformation in Asia. It is time to prepare a new generation.

We are asking you to consider being a “Partner for Transformation.” The vision is a three-part vision. It includes what we do now with the education and disciple-making of poor children. But these words from the apostle Paul speak to us today: “… he (Paul) withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.” (Acts 19:9-10 NASB). God wants to do this again in Asia, including the Philippines.

The elements of this “New and Bigger Vision to Transform a Whole Nation” are 3-fold: 1) Homes for orphans and widows, 2) centers for training in computers and technology and 3) centers for improved and comprehensive food distribution with instruction in healthy nutrition. Much more can be said about each of these elements and will be expounded upon in the weeks ahead.

In Luke 5, Jesus instructed Simon (Peter) to cast his net. When he did, the catch was too much for him to handle. It was sinking his boat. Scripture tells us he called his “partners” to come and help bring in the “big catch.” He then told them that from then on they would be fishing for men. We are calling to you. We need your partnership because of the massive catch and we have just begun to fish these plentiful waters of the Philippines.

We anticipate a need for $100,000 for start-up of the first 3 elements: 1) the first home for widows and orphans ($50,000), 2) the first center for training in computers and technology ($25,000) and 3) the first center for food distribution and training in healthy nutrition ($25,000).

We are asking you to seek the Lord about this new and bigger vision. Ask if He would have you be part of it and respond as He leads you. “Think Big, Believe Big and Act Big.”

Click on the link below to give.

Partner for Transformation Fund — For transforming the nation of the Philippines

Thank you for considering and praying: Think Big, Believe Big and Act Big.

A New and Bigger Vision

Because of you, our Sponsors, Partners and Friends, together we have over 880 sponsored Filipino children on four different islands. These children are actively pursuing education and practical Christianity. All of this started when God spoke supernaturally and personally to me in April 2001 and is made possible by you Sponsors, Partners and Friends. God told me I would spend the rest of my life seeing to it that the children I saw one day on a monstrously large city dumpsite in Lapu-Lapu, Philippines, and others like them, would not repeat the endemic cycle of poverty their parents and grandparents embraced. Education is vital to this vision and is not free in the Philippines. If you are poor, you do not get to go to school. I was 65 years old at that time.

You, our Sponsors, Partners and Friends, are feeding and educating a new generation of world-changers within the Philippines. Our budget now is over $40,000 per month for reaching 880 children on four separate islands. Shout “Glory to God” with us! You are being used by God to make these things happen. We have no words to adequately say “thank you,” but we do love and appreciate you. The sponsored children and the pastors who care for them, together with us thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

NOW GOD HAS SPOKEN TO ME AGAIN! He recently said to me, “Ras, I want you to increase your faith this way: See to it that 10,000 children on all the islands I choose will not repeat the endemic cycle of poverty they inherited. Instead of $40,000 per month, you are to believe Me for $400,000 per month in order to get this done. I will raise up Sponsors, Partners and Friends sufficient to get this done”

He further said, “You will do three additional things beyond sponsoring the children. You will start homes for widows and orphans. The widows will be cared for and will in turn care for the orphans. You will open food and nutrition distribution centers to serve the poor on all the islands where I will send you. You will start a computer and technology center to train the children and youth in the use of the latest technology that I will use to reach the world. I will raise up Sponsors, Partners and Friends sufficient to get this done.”

If you would like to be a Sponsor, Partner or Friend in this new vision, write to me and tell me you are standing with me shoulder to shoulder. If you are already a Sponsor, Partner or Friend, write and tell me first how much per month you will commit and send your first donation by going to the following link.

If you wish to make a one time donation, indicate your intentions and send the donation.

The link is: Donate Now to This Bigger Vision

Hell and Heaven in One Night by Ras Robinson

We need your prayers of intercession right now, please! Last night, March 4, 2011, what our missions team saw was a contrast of Hell and Heaven.  Some of FCM’s sponsored children are living in unbelievable conditions at a garbage dumpsite in the Philippines. First, the Hell part:  Bev arrived at the dumpsite before me.  I arrived about two hours later to find my wife with panic in her eyes and face.  She said, “We have been in Hell!”  Upon my inquiry, she explained that what she and the rest of our team saw on this massive dumpsite was beyond disgusting.  Bev was weeping almost uncontrollably.  She does not normally weep about much of anything, ever. Local and very effective Pastor Rudy manages the education and Christian training of 93 of FCM’s sponsored students.  I asked him to take me on the same tour Bev had made of the dumpsite.  I was made sick at my stomach at the smells and sights.  Huge pigs were routing in the garbage right along beside our children and some adults.  One mother pig was said to weigh nearly 400 pounds.  It is forbidden to sell pigs from the dumpsite in Iligan City because of the extreme filth they ingest.  We want to tell you more about this at a later time. Second, the Heaven part.  That same night, those sponsored kids led a night of worship at the pole barn structure they call their church and community center.  These same kids were now cleaned up, had on fresh clothes and were ready to worship. All those who lead the service were children on the dumpsite trained by Pastor Rudy and his local church team. There was a praise leader, praise team, dance troupe, many testimonies from the children about how they, scripture quotation (one girl quoted all of Psalm 91.  Another girl quoted some other long scripture passage. One little girl quoted all the books of the Bible in rapid fire.  And they had a designated preacher who was about 11 years old. We shouted, praised and shed many, many tears, kids and adults alike.  It was like a heavenly experience. Can you help us?  Consider becoming a part of the FCM team for the poorest of the poor children.  They are being given both a secular and biblical education. A great need right now is for food.  Can you help us feed these children so that they can learn in school? Click on “FEED HUNGRY CHILDREN” or “MINISTRY PARTNER.“ —–For even more information about the children, go to: Kathy’s Blog — “All God’s Children”  —  http://kathybohlin.wordpress.com/ —– Ras Robinson’s BLOG:  A Call to Prayer for All Nations. Go to: https://ras65a.wordpress.com.  Subscribe to our blog FREE. —– To change your e-mail address:  Go to the bottom of this email and click on “Update profile/Email Address” to change your subscription email.  Don’t miss receiving the daily word. —– Ras and Bev Robinson, President and Vice President Fullness in Christ Ministries, Inc. P. O. Box 136117 Fort Worth, TX 76179 Website:  www.fullnessonline.org Email:  info@fullnessnetwork.net Facebook & Twitter:  ras65a Ras:  A Call to Prayer for the Nations:  https://ras65a.wordpress.com. Kathy:  All God’s Children:  http://kathybohlin.wordpress.com/

Part 2-What Is Hot in Your Heart…? by Peggy Morton

“R-E-V-I-V-A-L … Prepare ye’ for the way of the Lord … I can feel revival coming, I feel it in my spirit, I can feel it in my bones… I hear the voice of one crying… from the widow walking through the rain of tears…I can hear the thunder in the distance, I can hear a storm brewing…..lay your burdens down…Revival’s with your mind!” Lyrics to “Revival” by Northern Irish Celtic Band Leader – Robin Mark, on the “Azusa Street Centennial: Sound of Revival” album.

I find it exhilarating to find our numbers increase as Spiritual Warriors hear the call to arms. I was especially moved by Marilyn’s and Peggy Caden’s remarks in the first post by Ras. First, I want to add to Marilyn’s comments the additional music video above for the song “Revival” by Mark Robin. The video link above provides beautiful, and extremely moving, imagery along with the lyrics. Just follow the YouTube.com link to hear this wonderful praise song.

Regarding Peggy Caden’s comments, I too am hearing from the Lord what she said, “This is an hour and I have a need…My need is for my Bride to heed! Heed what I say and tell her closely in this time.” I have been experiencing a “call” by the Lord in this “hour” to pray for many nations. In reference to Ras comments from the Lord, “This is a serious hour. Your prayers will move My hand and greatly influence my decisions,” I feel I have been taken to task on this issue. I have prayed hard over the last month, at several levels for a number of nations and individuals, and felt at times the inadequacies of my offering, only to be amazed, within the next 24 hours, to discover a positive “breakthrough” in the events or conditions of people I have been praying for. Truly the “hour” is upon us to pray for the nations…I feel very strong affirmations in what I hear from God on this issue.

The Lord has focused my heart at different moments on the United States, The Philippines, Thailand, and Israel, along with Israel’s sister nations of Egypt, and Syria and Iraq (which were both part of the original Assyria.) As a result, I have written a number of posts as I felt called to respond:

United States: THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS UPON US – CLAIM IT! LIVE IT! SPEAK IT!

Philippines: “…Whatever You Did For One of the Least of These Brothers and Sisters of Mine, You Did For Me.” Matthew 25:40

Thailand: Pray for the Nation of Thailand

Israel and Egypt: “IF EGYPT FALLS NOW, DOES JERUSALEM GO WITH IT?” – written by Peggy Morton

Please join in and contribute to this BLOG. It is the goal of this BLOG to generate a life of it’s own as prayer warriors request the intercessors join together in specific pinpoint prayer for a nation or individual. Thanks to the nature of BLOGS, as you comment or provide specific prayers for a target nation, the entry will be cross posted under the specific country to the right.

I look forward to where God will take us in this realm. Remember, every prayer is important, especially in the collective, as we act upon the Lord’s call: “Your prayers will move My hand and greatly influence my decisions.”

God Bless You All for Joining This Prayer Network!

CHANGING A NATION THROUGH PRAYER: Philippines

You are we are joined in mind and heart to be world changers.  We have this in common.  We have found that prayer is the most important strategy in all that we seek.  Prayer must also be the first priority.

Consider a nation where we at FCM have poured out hearts, resources and tears in concert for 10 years.  We began our work there in April, 2001.  It was also the year of a terrorist attack on New York City Trade Towers, killing 3,000 people almost instantly. We have been at war with the terrorist ever since.

Please go within this blog to the excellent piece on Asia, done by Peggy Morton, to read of the political corruption and the class grip on the wealth by perhaps only one percent of the total population.  Here is a nation we know has enormous natural resources.  It is on the trade routes for all of Asia.  The opportunity for an economic and social transformation is apparent.  And yet, year after year, the poor get poorer and the rich get richer.

Let’s do this.  How many of us would pinpoint focus our prayers of this great little nation?  If you would be included, the best thing you can do to say “yes” is to write an intercession or prayer and then post it on this blog under Asia or Philippines.  That is something dynamic about agreement.  Please show your agreement.

For your convenience, here is Peggy’s post again:

Alert.net Country Snapshot: The Philippines is a fragile, unstable democracy plagued by high levels of corruption and political violence. Poverty is widespread. An improving economic growth rate in recent years has been insufficient to offset a fast growing population and extreme inequalities of wealth.

Alert.net News: MANILA, Dec 21 (Reuters) – President Benigno Aquino unveiled a plan focusing on measures to cut poverty to defeat Maoist and Muslim rebels. Since the late 1960s, the Philippines has been fighting leftist and Islamist rebellions that have killed more than 160,000 people, displaced 2 million and stunted growth in the poor but resource-rich country. Soldiers from close ally the United States have been operating in the Philippine south since 2002, providing medical care and repairing schools and roads to help defeat a small group of Islamist militants with ties to al Qaeda. “If we can stop poverty, then we can stop the war and the shooting,” Aquino said. (Excerpts from a much longer expose at Alert.net)

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Within the last 10 years, the Philippines population grew by 16M people, compared to 30M in the US. That growth rate represents about a 20% of the population in the Philippines, twice the growth rate of the US. The Philippines has 94M and the US has 320M people, so while the Philippines has only 30% of the population of the US, the Phillipines population is proportionally growing at twice the rate of the US.

In 2010, the Philippines had four times more people per area than the US. The population density comparison between the Philippines and the US is:

Philippines: 122 people/square km (50 people/square mile)

US: 38 people/square km (15 people/square mile)

For more demographics see the Philippines Alert.net country profile link to the right.

To bring these numbers down to terms of everyday life, imagine 3 more houses (or units) put on the property where you live. You would know your neighbors up close and friendly. The Philippines has run out of land and jobs for its people. The end result is that the lower echelon of society finds themselves being scavengers of the left overs. They live on the street, they live in the dumpsites, they live not day to day, but from hour to hour, trying to find enough sustenance to just stay alive, never mind get an education.

In the Philippines, about 100 families control most of the wealth, land, and political power. The country does not have a public school system like the United States. The wealthy send their children to private schools. Assume there are 10 family members for each of the 100 wealthy families, that means that about 1,000 people, out of 94M people in the Philippines, are getting an education equivalent to what we receive in the United States. The remainder of the population relies on humanitarian and missionary efforts to improve literacy and education.

The missionary arena is where Fullness in Christ Ministries is a major contributor. The ministry started over seven years ago, and within that period has educated over 1,000 of the least of the least, the poorest of the poor children in the Philippines. This year about 500 children are clothed, fed, and educated by the Fullness in Christ Ministries led pastors. The ministry goal is to reach 1,000 children in 2011. Imagine the impact of this effort on the Philippines? If the countries’ educated population base doubled through the work of the ministry – 1,000 more children would grow up to be well educated, Christian adults who can then become the future leaders of a country that desperately needs to have new blood in its governmental and judicial system. These same 1,000 children have families, and grow to become 2,000 people, who within a 100 year period would be able to move out of their family legacy of poverty and claim God’s inheritance – an inheritance of new wine, new wineskin, new provision for economic growth both in the family and within the nation, as they build their own businesses and industrial base. Compare this to the current system that is designed to benefit the wealthy, that is untouchable to the common person on the streets of nation, a system of the “Haves” and the “Have-Nots.”

The Christian efforts of ministries, like Fullness in Christ Ministries, largely work behind the scenes with little fanfare. Is it not time to start promoting the positive Christian efforts of people and organizations who give sacrificially to support a nation, as opposed to those who give to support a war? The time has come for a new season of giving, the type of giving that reflects the economies of scale in the global world in which we currently live and work in. The type of giving that is built on love and not war. The type of giving that is reflective of Jesus’ walk in God’s world. Please pray about this issue and if God leads your heart to do so, please help the children rise into their inheritance by sponsoring their education. Take action now by going to Fullness in Christ Ministries’ website and selecting the link to “Sponsor A Child,” the link to “Ministry To Children,” and/or the link to become a “Vision Bearer” for the Filipino children.

Monetary donations can also be mailed to:

Fullness in Christ Ministries

P.O. Box 136117

Ft. Worth, TX 76136-6117

info@fullnessnetwork.net 

www.fullnessonline.org

Matthew 25:31-46 (New International Version, ©2010):

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

Good job Peggy.  Thanks for the information and inspiration this brings our hearts.

⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”