Hope, Healing & Freedom Podcast: Episode 167
TRANSCRIPT
Would you fight two warriors at the same time? Would you go into a pit during a snowstorm and fight a lion? Would you take a huge warrior’s spear and fight him with his own spear? I would have to answer NO to all of those questions. Yet one of my favorite people in the bible did just that. In this podcast we are going to look at the bravery of Benaiah and hopefully inspire each of us with his story.
I’m Lee Whitman with Restoring the Foundations and I welcome you into this Hope Healing and Freedom Podcast. I am writing this podcast in the wake of the death of Charlie Kirk. I am struck by his faith and courage to take the message of the Gospel into the teeth of opposition. At this time in history, it is more important than ever for believers to live out of our faith and courage. As we approach RTF’s 35thanniversary, I am motivated to highlight the faith and courage of the founders of Restoring the Foundations, Chester and Betsy Kylstra.
i hope you are already aware that in October we are celebrating the 35thAnniversary of Restoring the Foundations here in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. The story of Benaiah is a story of courage and bravery. The story of Chester and Betsy Kylstra founding Restoring the Foundations is also a story of faith and courage. First let’s look at Benaiah’s story. It is found in 1 Chronicles 11:22-25: “Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man from Kabzeel, who had done many deeds. He had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. 23 And he killed an Egyptian, a man of great height, five cubits tall. In the Egyptian’s hand there was a spear like a weaver’s beam; and he went down to him with a staff, wrested the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with his own spear. 24 These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did and won a name among three mighty men. And David appointed him over his guard.” Benaiah was what we would call a man’s man. He single-handedly fought and killed two lion-like warriors from Moab. Then he chased a lion down into a pit on a snowy day and killed it. Then he approached an Egyptian of some size and stature with only a club and took the Egyptians spear and killed him with it. Due to his courage, Benaiah was appointed to be the head of Davids guards.
Benaiah was a man of faith and courage. This past week Charlie Kirk was tragically killed. Charlie made a difference in this world because he lived his life with faith and courage. I am concerned that many of us in the body of Christ have lost our courage and bravery. As I mentioned in a previous podcast, the Covid Pandemic sent the Church of Jesus into retreat. I am not blaming anyone when I say this because it was the first time in my lifetime that anything like that has happened. And I must be honest, that in many ways I went along with the mandates of the government much like most everyone else. I personally did not live my life with faith and courage in the face of government mandates and lockdowns. I will say that if something like that happens again, I will not give up my freedoms as easily as I did the first time.
I give Chester and Betsy great respect and honor for all that they went through in founding Restoring the Foundations. At the time when they founded RTF, ministries that did inner healing and deliverance did not exist. Much of the church did not believe it was necessary. They were some of the first people to introduce the need for Christians to get healed and set free. Consequently, they faced considerable resistance. I am sure they were rejected by much of the church, some of which still does not accept the ministry of RTF today. They left their very good jobs and their home in North Carolina to attend Bible College at a time in life when most people were looking at slowing down and eventually retiring. Not Chester and Betsy. They left all the comforts of their well-established life to pioneer this new ministry. I want Betsy to tell you part of their own story. I am going to quote from Betsy’s book Twice Chosen: One Woman’s Story of Healing. This wonderful book is available from Proclaiming His Word. Here are Betsy’s words.
“As I described earlier, Chester had worked several years at Cape Kennedy as part of the US Air Force rocket launch team. It is interesting that many times when the Lord has spoken to us through prophetic people, rocket imagery has been used. “I see you on a launch pad, but the rocket is not ready to be fired,” one said, back in our Bible College days.
A few years later a different prophet in another setting said, “God says, don’t try to launch too soon. Wait for Him to light the fuse.” The next year another prophet said, “God says, ‘Get ready, I’m lighting the fuse. This is the time of launching.”
Not a lot happened for a while after that, so we decided our rocket must either have a very long fuse, or a slow-burning fuse. Then Pastor Buddy and Mary again used that rocket imagery, “The time of launching is at hand.”
nce we arrived at Christian International (CI) in the spring of 1993, things started happening so fast and furiously that I turned to Chester one day, overwhelmed, and said, “I think our rocket has been launched! It is zooming through space at a horrendous speed, and I feel as if I am being dragged along behind the rocket, holding on for dear life. I don’t think that we are running this thing.”
Dr. Bill Hamon, the founder of Christian International Ministries, had asked us to come and counsel himself and his wife, his leadership, and the Board of Governors. With the wisdom and humility that has characterized his life, he said, “I believe that God is saying that as a ministry we have reached a plateau; we have gone as far as we can go. I also believe that with personal ministry, it will be possible for us to corporately break through to a higher level.” We agreed to come.
Bishop Hamon had checked us out, first through Pastors Buddy and Mary Crum, and then by having us counsel one of his key leadership couples, Scott and Kathy Webster. He chose the right couple. They were open and ready to receive all that the Lord had for them through the counseling. Not only did their lives begin to change and their children’s lives change, but they also became advocates for the prophetic counseling ministry. In their own unpretentious way, they paved the way for our coming to Christian International. After arriving at CI, we began counseling, full steam ahead. At the time, under the leadership of Pastors Tom and Jane Hamon, we were raising up three lay counseling teams to minister within the CI Church. Our plates were quite full. Then we were approached again. “We think you should do a little workshop during the conference and present an overview of your counseling approach.” And then later, “It would be good for you to do an afternoon session during the September Prophetic Intensive Training.” Then in the fall Bishop Hamon said, “I think you two need to do a Prophetic Counseling Conference for us in the spring. It is time to share what God has shown you with others on a broader scale. I think that we will have a number of people that will want to hear what you have to share. He talked as if it were settled.
We discussed how we had been wanting to write a training manual covering the Christian Prophetic Prayer Counseling topics and that maybe this was the time. He agreed that it would be helpful to give it out to the people attending so they would have something to take home with them. We decided to go ahead with the writing project, along with planning the seminar. We knew that we faced another time of stretching. In March of 1994, we had our first conference. It was more like a family production. Gary and Sharon Potter helped us coordinate arts and presentations without teaching, for a powerful synergistic effect. Scott and Kathy Webber gave their testimony about going through counseling. Many of the staff couples that we had counseled along with teams we had trained at other churches came and helped minister to the audience. Looking out and seeing faces of so many friends, I felt like all of CI was behind us. “Is there anything you need Mrs. Betsy”, Jimmy Kellet asked affectionately. No, there wasn’t, because everybody was already doing it. Bishop Bill and Mom Hamon were sitting on the front row beaming. It was a very precious gift to have an entire ministry behind us.”
I read you that story out of Betsy’s book Twice Chosen to highlight the courage it took for Chester and Betsy to leave their home and attend Bible School. It took courage for them to pioneer this new ministry. It took courage for them to write a training program so that others could benefit from what God had given them. It took courage for them to travel literally around the world and tell people about RTF. It took courage to purchase a bed and breakfast in Laurel Park, North Carolina to use as their training center. And it took courage for them to pass on the leadership of RTF to the next generation. They put Cindi and me in charge of this amazing ministry. We cannot take RTF to where it needs to go by ourselves. We need the help of each and every one of you listening to this podcast. “But I am not an RTF minister” you say. That is OK. You are a valuable part of the team that is taking RTF to our world. With the obvious rise of evil in our world evidenced by the murder of Charlie Kirk and the recent shooting in a catholic school in Minnesota, every one of us needs to have the faith and courage to go into that pit and kill a lion on a snowy day. We might want someone else to do it for us, but I believe God is asking each of us to take the gospel to the world we live in. And part of taking the gospel to the world is introducing them to RTF. Some of you will never become an RTF minister, but you can be an RTF champion. You do that simply by telling those in your sphere of influence about RTF. Send them to our website for more information. Have the courage to ask people you know if they would be willing to support RTF financially. It is going to take all of us who love the ministry of RTF for it to continue into the future. Hopefully even another 35 years.
Courage begets courage. As we walk in the faith and courage that God has given us, people around us are going to notice. And our courage might give strength to those watching us to build their faith as well.
Prayer
Father God, I thank you for the faith and courage of people like Charlie Kirk who has inspired millions of people to stand up for the Gospel. I thank you for the faith and courage of Chester and Betsy Kylstra, who stepped out in faith 35 years ago to bring the ministry of Restoring the Foundations to the world. And I thank you that we, this current generation, have the opportunity to take the ministry of RTF even farther and to more people. Would you embolden each of us to walk in the faith and courage necessary for this day. Help us not to shrink back, but to boldly take the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those in our world.
