Be Bold. Believe.: The Miracle of CommunionFire

By Bob Bonnell

What is CommunionFire? For those who believe communion is who Jesus says it is, it becomes a personal, intimate, one-on-one communication with him in his glory. We encounter his life and love where we are, as we are, for who we are at that moment and 'as often as you do this' "Be Bold. Believe. Otherwise, communion is reduced to nothing more than a static religious memorial or a leftover piece of bread and a sip of juice; and yet, he loves, never leaves or gives up to personally share the eternal warmth of his grace.

- Why is Communion becoming the most determining factor of Christian faith in these last days?

- Why did the Good Shepherd invite us to His Table to "Do this"?

- Why does Jesus say to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread?" and, "I am the bread of life."

- Why did the Apostle Paul write, "I share with you what the Lord shared with me, 'Do this to remember me.'?

- Why did the Angel in Revelation tell John about "hidden manna" reserved for overcomers?

- Why has the eastern and western Catholic Church preserved and protected the celebration of the Eucharist as the source and summit of Christian faith since the days of the early church?

- Why did deacon Ephraim, who attended the Council of Nicaea, say, "The Holy Qurbana is the bread of medicine and the wine of fire!' as part of the Syrian Orthodox Church near Mosul around 350 A.D.?

- Why did John Wesley, co-founder of Methodism preach the "Lord's command to constant communion" in his famous, Sermon 101?

- Why did Smith Wigglesworth have communion at 4am every morning at the turn of the 20th century and then go about his plumbing appointments, healing the sick and raising the dead?

- Why does international television pastor Joseph Prince, apostle of the Grace Revolution, preach and write so much about the need for regular, personal Holy Communion?

- Why did Buzz Aldrin have communion as the 1st thing he did when he and Neil Armstrong landed on the moon for the 1st time in human history?

- Why do two believers in a sleepy beach town in South Carolina encounter miraculous insight and intimacy each morning during daily Holy Communion with Jesus, in their living room?

Why? Jesus says, "If you do this believing: you are partakers of my life, you have my promise of eternal life, you will be raised up on the last day to be with me forever and your life will be hidden with me in God as I can be in you, as your constant hope for eternal glory?" If you don't, Jesus says, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless you do this, you have no life within you."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781641404228

Book preview

Chapter 1

He Came In and Dined with Me

Revelation 3:20 describes where it all began for me.

"Behold I stand at the door and knock and if anyone hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in and sup with you and (then for me, forty years later) you with Me."

It was January 16, 1971, a Saturday night that became a marathon Q-and-A session with four Campus Crusaders in the living room of Pastor Beau Matthews. They shared from a little booklet called The Four Spiritual Laws.

I was a long-haired, insecure, self-assured college guy, a freshman, theater major. I was asked by my friend Holly to drive through an ice storm from Baltimore for about eight hours to see her family in Manlius, New York. Her brother-in-law Pastor Beau is married to Holly’s sister, Cricket.

We arrived safely after a wonderful long conversation and very few stops. The Matthews were warm and wonderful, making us feel immediately right at home.

After dinner, some friends of the Matthews with Campus Crusade arrived. As they shared with us, I began to hear the Savior gently knocking on the door of my heart. I had been searching for him but never knew it until they began to explain the good news through a little booklet called The 4 Spiritual Laws.

They shared with Holly and me:

God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

You can’t know his love or plan because you are separated from him by your sin.

God loves you so much he sent his Son, Jesus, to pay your sin debt in full by dying on the cross.

If you believe this and open the door of your life to him, you will know how much God loves you and his plan and purpose for your life, and you will receive his gift of eternal life. He will give you assurance that you will go to heaven on the merit of his grace.

They were kind and patient, and I took to heart the things they shared with me. The question was whether I wanted Jesus on the throne in my life, or if I wanted to continue to run my life. How happy was I with how I handled things?

I said I would think about it. They were patient and did not try to close the deal right then and there, or if they did, I was unaware of it. I was lost in the blindness and darkness of my own thinking, but something began to happen.

Everyone went home, and we all went to bed. My bed was the sofa in the living room.

I prepared to sleep by doing what I always did, pray the Lord’s Prayer. It was my habit since I was a child. My dad taught it to me and my sisters.

Across the room, I could see the front porch light spill onto the steps leading upstairs through the long thin widows on each side of the front door.

Just before praying, I became aware of something on the steps. I saw a cloud buzzing with firefly-like lights swirling inside the grayish four-foot 3-D threatening cloud mass. It kept me mesmerized as I observed it weaving inside and outside of itself. Somehow, I knew it was evil. It was alarming to me. I saw this physically, but it clearly was a spiritual power I was being allowed to see.

It shook me up.

I turned over to face the other direction toward the wall and back of the sofa—away from the cloud. As I did, I prayed the Lord’s Prayer like I had never prayed it before. Then I said, Lord, please make this go away. If you do this, I will know that tonight is meant for me.

I turned over, and it was gone. I shivered with joy a little bit and smiled. (I thought, Wow, Lord, that was amazing!) I had never had an experience like that in my life.

When I was younger, I once had a dream about walking on the field of Connie Mack Baseball Stadium and could even smell the grass, but that’s about as far as any revelations went.

I have never shared this publicly before, but now I know it is time to share about God’s supernatural grace and power. I put it in his hands, and he took care of it. So I knew something bigger than me was going on.

The next morning, I was the first one awake. I went to the front window and opened up the curtain.

When I looked out, I saw a fresh white snow had blanketed all of creation while I slept. It shimmered as the sun danced on every snowflake. I was not a Bible student, so I don’t know where it came from at the time. But I heard the words, Though your sins be scarlet, they will be white as snow!

When I heard these words, they actually made sense to me, based on the dialogue with the Crusaders the night before.

I was revisited by the thought, Something really is going on here.

That morning, we went to church, and it was Super Bowl Sunday, January 17, 1971. These seemed to be the nicest people I had ever met. They were humble and kind and well-mannered. After church, we were all invited to watch the game at someone’s house.

It was a great game, Baltimore versus Dallas. I was from Baltimore, and Pastor Beau was from Dallas Theological Seminary, so we had some competitive fun. Then during half-time, I was offered my first snowmobile ride. There was plenty of cake, cookies, and milk, not beer, pretzels, and pizza.

Again, everyone was very kind and personable. It was a most unusual Super Bowl Party completed with the warmth from a good fire in the fireplace!

That evening, we all headed to the Manlius Bible Church for the Song and Testimony Service. Someone would stand up and share what the Lord had done for them, and then we would sing a song or hymn. It was fun and inspiring.

During the course of the evening, a little girl stood up. My daddy said, ‘If we share our roast beef with our neighbors, our will taste real good!’ And you know what? It did! (Many were snowbound, so it was the neighborly Christian thing to do.) There was no end to these people’s love, joy, and kindness!

Not to be shown up by a little girl, I had been thinking about thanking everyone for being so nice to Holly and me during our visit, and that little girl gave me the courage to stand up. I did. What happened next totally surprised me.

I said, I want to thank everyone for being so nice to me and making me feel so at home.

Then I heard someone saying, And I want to thank Jesus Christ for coming into my heart to forgive all my sins to be my personal Lord and Savior!

Oh my! That was me! Did I just say that? Something happened!

It was like at that moment with that statement, I opened the door, and, boy, did he come in! My whole body began to shake. I began to perspire. It was like I put my finger in an electric socket. Later, I found out that not everyone has an experience like that, but when you believe, something is designed by the Lord just for you!

Holly grinned and held my hand, and I pulled away, saying, What’s happening to me? I never expected to encounter Jesus physically. Looking back, I think there was a little bit of deliverance going on. Whatever it was, it was personal and powerful.

It was like when I opened the door to Jesus the enemies in my life left! Jesus came in, and the enemy had to take his hand off me. He was evicted from my house because Jesus came in.

My life had changed in a moment of time, and the Lord worked quickly. Holly and I had a great conversation driving back to Baltimore. It was eight hours of sorting out our lives, and Jesus was involved in the dialogue.

Baptized by Jesus in the Men’s Dorm Laundry Room

Within two weeks, after returning to Baltimore, Holly and I organized an all-night prayer meeting by the Bell Tower on campus. We saw twelve students give their hearts to Jesus as we used the four spiritual laws to share the gospel.

After everyone dispersed, one of the sisters, named Heidi, shared with me about something called the "baptism of the Holy