After a turbulent youth as a punk and gang leader,
Patrick Fontaine came to know Jesus Christ in 1983. His dedicated Christian lifestyle opened the way for him, twelve
years later, to become the pastor of a church in France.
He was also a much sought after conference speaker because the Lord had
entrusted him with one of the most powerful healing ministries in France. In 2002 he became ill and died,
but was then resurrected by the
power of God. He afterwards
reported on having an encounter with
Jesus during his physical death
that fundamentally changed his understanding of Christianity. Jesus had told him that he was going to
"change the understanding and
expression of Christianity within
one generation." Since then, he
is serving Jesus Christ by
preparing the Body for a new
reformation. Patrick lives with
his wife and three children in Romans, France.
This is his testimony of that encounter with Jesus Christ:
“It was in the midst of the time in which I
ministering and healing the sick. I felt that as the big “healer” I couldn't
tell the people that I had become ill – therefore, I felt like I was driven
into a corner and trapped. Because I didn't take care of the illness, the
infection got into my heart, poisoned my whole body, and I fell into shock. As I
fell to the floor my whole body shook and jerked with fever shock and I could
feel how death entered into me. I didn't even have time to call my family, my
wife. I only had time to pray for them, and then I died.
This was on the 1. March, 2002. It was the
most critical moment in my life - and then Jesus appeared to me. I saw him as
clearly as I would see someone sitting in front of me. For 19 years I had prayed,
„Lord, let me see your face“, and now suddenly I was before him. But I had really
imagined meeting Him in VERY different circumstances. This was the greatest and
at the same time the worst day of my life. As I stood before him I had complete
security of my salvation since there was such a wonderful overwhelming love
that streamed out of him and enveloped me, greater than I had ever experienced,
even during the most wonderful praise and worship. At the same time however, there
was an overwhelming holiness that flowed out of him and it was so strong, that
it made me feel as if I had, in that very moment, sinned. It had been years
since I had really sinned. But on this day I realized that sin is not just what
we do or say or think but it is part of our very nature.
Simply put, everything concerning our life
as humans is connected to sin. And there is nothing good in us. So I had the
ultimate conviction of sin. Since that time I no longer have illusions about
myself. It is over! As I stood before Jesus he showed me all of the things that
I ever did. Not those things before I was converted, but only those during the
time after I had begun to serve him. He showed me all the things I had done for
him and then showed me what my heart's motivation was behind those things. I
saw all of the things that I did out of pride. And I saw all that I had done
out of a sense of competition. I saw all that I had done in order to prove
myself to others and all that I had done to make a name for myself and build my
own kingdom. In all these things the balance was more than negative.
Jesus also showed me all of the things that
I had NOT done, out of disobedience, out of laziness, out of fear of man. Seeing
this broke me completely. And then he told me that there were idols in my life.
If anyone here on earth had told me that, I would have showed him my fist. But
because HE told it to me, I knew it must be true. Then He said something that
shocked me deeply: “the first idol in your life, is called ‘Jesus’“. At that
moment I felt that I understood nothing, just like everyone who reads this
would! So I asked him how it could be possible that I have an idol that is
called ‘Jesus’? He said; “the relationship that you attempt to have with me is
the same relationship that the idolaters have with their gods. You are always only
trying to get something from me but are not interested in knowing Me”.
I felt that my life was over, it was
broken. And as I recovered, I understood that there will be people at the end
of time who will say to Jesus, “have we not prophesied in your name, have we
not done miracles in your name?” But in the presence of Jesus no lie can stand.
He will answer them in that day, „Go away from me, I never knew you“ (Matthew
7:23). I was a part of this crowd. The Christian life isn't about
performance. It's as if Jesus said, “Ok, you might have done a lot for me, but
we have never got to know each other”. He said, “I tried to get to know you the
whole time, but you didn't cooperate”. And I discovered that this life on earth
is not about being a Christian, it's not about doing things for Christ, but he
defined crystal clear what this life is about. It is simply about your
relationship with Him, the only true God, who sent his Son Jesus. Life on earth
is about learning to know Him. Not learning a mass of facts about him or just doing
a whole lot of activities for Him, but it is about knowing Him personally and intimately.
That has now become my priority and I don't want to know anything else.
When Jesus had finished dealing with my
heart on this matter, He placed me in a vision. I entered into the vision – I
want to make it clear that I didn't see a vision, I stepped into the vision. I
was in a large city. And Jesus asked me, „Do you know what the city is called?“
One thing I have learned is that when Jesus asks you a question, you DON'T know
the answer. This is why I just said, „no“, so that things would go faster. And
he said, „It is called Babylon“. Well, this didn't match my conception of
Babylon. I remembered that in my Punk years someone had said that the Catholic
church is Babylon. Or was that the Pentecostal church? On this day I saw
Babylon, full of people who love God, who do things for God. Each had his Bible
in the hand. I saw mega-churches. And I saw house churches. I saw revival. And
I saw prophetic ministries. I even saw people who had written the books which
were in my own library. And I knew then that I understood nothing.
So the Lord gave me a little bible study
about what Babylon really is. I'll tell you shortly about it. It is exactly how
the tower of Babel was built and that first thing to recognize is that these
people had turned their backs on Jesus, they weren't looking to Him. And they
said, “Let us build!” - but Jesus had said, „I will build!“ There is a huge
difference between the two. They built with brick. Now do you know the characteristics
of bricks? They all look alike. They are all conformed in size to each other.
But Jesus doesn't build with bricks but with living stones. The builders of
Babel also built with bitumen (pitch). Now do you know what the characteristics
of bitumen are? (Noah also had a lot of bitumen on the arch, so that the water
couldn't seep in). Bitumen or tar makes things dry. In Babylon they laid the
stones or bricks one beside the other and that which bound them together
(bitumen) was dried out, the relationships are dried out, because there is no
exchange or sharing.
After that they had said, „Let us build a
city so that we won't be scattered“. So they built a tower which reached up to
the sky (into heaven). In Hebrew the word for peak or top the same as for head.
And suddenly I understood the Babylonian system. It is a human construction.
There is someone at the top who touches the heavens and gets information to
bring back down and share with the others. And the motivation for building this
construction is so that we won't be scattered across the face of the earth. The
motivation of the church of Babylon is to fill the churches because they do not
want to be scattered. So we fill the churches. But God said to Adam, “multiply
and fill the earth”. Just as Jesus said, “go into every nation”. In Babylon we
don't want to be scattered, we want to be gathered in sizable groups. In
Babylon the point is to fill our own constructions. But in the church which
Jesus builds, the point is not to full the church but for the church to fill
the world. Amen? It's all about filling the world, not filling the church! We
are actually called to go out to conquer the world! Amen? Do you understand
what I'm trying to tell you?
After showing me this, He told me that
another characteristic of the church of Babylon is that it is built on the
foundation of Judaism. There is a specially ordained place to worship; there is
a special day for worship, a specific wage for the job, a special staff and a
special tribe which does the work. And all of this was developed by man. „This
is not my church!“, says Jesus!
Understanding this gave me a huge shock,
because I was pastor of such a church and I had not had the impression that I
was in anyway in the wrong. I had a very “successful” ministry for which I had sacrificed
much, my health and my family. In this craziness I had given everything because
I had totally believed in this system. And I was faithful. I was really
faithful in my error! But I was truly in deception.
As I went for a walk in the city of
Babylon, I saw people walking around with Bibles open. I went up to them and
looked into their Bibles. They were the correct Bibles! But in the margins were
commentaries and the people paid more attention to read the commentaries than
to read the Bible. They read the tradition which had been passed down. They
read these in order to know how to understand the Bible rightly. But they were
not able to receive any revelation. And as I continued walking a saw in one
corner a church which looked just like my own church. And when I saw this, it
really began to break me. I'm really just summarizing all of what I experienced;
otherwise we would be here until tomorrow morning. But there are so many things
that I would like to share.
After we were out of Babylon and back to
the place from which we had started, Jesus gave me another horrible shock. He
said, „Stop praying for revival!“ I said, „Oh, no!“ because I really thought
that in doing that I had been in the right way. But Jesus clearly said, “Stop
praying for revival”. I don't know how it is in Germany, but in France from the
time of my conversion all through the years, and every few years we would have
people prophesying revival. In the 80s they were saying, „Jesus is on the way!“
In the 90s they were saying, „He's at the door!“ In the 2000s they said, „He's
got his hand on the door knob!“ Now we are in 2009 and someone said, „Oh dear,
he forgot the key and has to go back and fetch it!“ I don't know if you believe
in these prophecies. I've stopped believing in them because Jesus said, “Stop
praying for revival, because it is not a revival that I have for you, but a
reformation”. Amen?
What we really need is a reformation! The
very worst thing that could happen is a revival. Jesus is protecting us from a
revival, because if we had a revival we would never question if what we are
doing is right or not. We would think that we are living in God's favor. We
would continue building on the tower of Babel and would draw even more people
into living and working in the prison of Babylon. That is why the worst thing
that could happen to us is revival. The best thing that could happen is
reformation. Nothing else!
Jesus then gave me a very clear word. He
said, “I will change the understanding and expression of Christianity within
one generation”. He will first change the understanding and then the expression
of Christianity. After that he continued telling me about the reformation. He
said, “I will bring forth a reformation that has never been experienced on
earth, because the reformation will be in 3 dimensions. There will be a
reformation in theology”, because we really need that our thinking in what we
believe be changed. Then a reformation in Lifestyle (how you live out
righteousness), you will live differently because you believe differently. Finally
after that, a reformation of the structure will occur, one that won't be of
human origin. Amen?
This testimony was later also confirmed in
a very real way with Heidi Baker. The two of us did a conference together once.
We were on our way back to the hotel and she said to me, „Hey, Patrick, I heard
that you were in heaven! Tell me about it!“ And I said, „Do you have time?“ And
she said, „Yeah, yeah!“ And I told her my testimony. She has a prophetess who
is always with her. And as I said that “He will change the understanding and expression of Christianity in one Generation ”, the prophetess began to yell and ran ahead into her
room. We just stood there baffled. 15 minutes later she came back with a small
book in which she had written, with dates, what she had received from the Lord.
And what the Lord told me on 1st of March, 2002, he had told her on 28th
February, 2002! It was exactly in the same word, even the order of the words
was the same!
I am convinced that we should not need to
hold fast to a form of Christianity that is already beginning to disappear. The
big question is: how long does a generation last? Some say 20 years, others 25
years, others 30 years. I don't know if we can stretch it to more than 30! To
me it doesn't matter how long a generation lasts. Jesus spoke to me seven years
ago (in 2009). And now it is one
generation MINUS seven years! So the time is much shorter! And the reformation
is coming. And I am amazed that in every country this message is to be heard.
There is a cry that is coming from all over the earth.
In the Bible it says, “Come out of Babylon!”
(Jeremiah
50:8, Isaiah 48:20, Revelation 18:4). Jesus said it last in the Book
of Revelations. He said, “Come out of Babylon my people”. His people are still
in Babylon! We don't need any kind of feeling of arrogance because that would
prove that we are still there, but unfortunately the Lord still has a large
portion of his people in Babylon. It is therefore necessary that the voice of
the Lord echoes in Babylon.
This is really important. After Jesus had
told me all of this, and I really had the feeling as if whole days had gone by
in heaven. As I came back to earth and there was a crowd of people standing
around me and it turned out that only between 20 and 30 minutes had gone by. I
had really had the sense that I had been in heaven for several days. As I came
back I began to cry and was traumatized. The first thing I said was, “I'm not
serving God any more”. My friends all said, “No, no, that was from the devil”.
I said, “That was not the devil that I saw. I have no confidence in myself any
more. Everything is sin in me. I can't believe in myself anymore. I have really
decided to give up”. I had great difficulty telling my wife these things. I am
not at all the kind of person who cries. I had last cried when I was only 6 or
7 years old. I had decided then that I would not cry anymore. Everything had
been blocked from that day – even though my name is Fontaine (Fountain), but there was no fountain in
my life! But on this day I couldn't even talk because of all the crying. My
wife began to decode my words through the tears and then she began to laugh and
laugh. I had expected a slightly different kind of compassion from her.
She had prayed for something like this to
happen to me! She said, “You are so thick-skulled that Jesus had to shake you
in such a way, because you would never let anyone tell you anything!” I have a
word for the men here: humble yourself otherwise when your wife begins to pray
for you huge unexpected things could happen! And I tell you, it was 1984 when
God first touched me, but really it was 2002 when my true conversion took
place. I was a punker when I met him, but I was a pastor, author and conference
speaker when my conversion took place. This is no kind of false humility behind
what I am sharing with you, really.
The first time it was Christianity to which
I was converted. The second time it was to Christ to whom I converted. There's
quite a big difference between the two. This reformation, this change in
understanding, will come through a conversion in our theological understanding.
When I was up in heaven with Jesus He had
asked me another question. This time I had the feeling that I really knew the
answer. Jesus asked, „is there a power that is greater than my Word?“ I wanted to score
some points with him when I said, „No!“ And I had bible passages ready to back
my answer up! Isaiah had said, “Your Word will not return to you empty”.
Jeremiah said, “He broods over his word until it happens”. And I thought, “Wow!
He is going to pat me on the shoulder in approval”. But he said, „Wrong! There
is one power that is stronger than my Word”. It is written in Mark 7:13; „You nullify
my Word with your tradition!“ The only power able to annul Jesus’s Word is the
tradition. The Greek word for “annul” means, to take the power away, to take
the efficiency away. We now have 2000 years of tradition which have been passed
down.
Sometimes we leave to live outside of
Babylon but want to hold onto our traditions. These are the understandings that we accumulated
in Babylon, the definition of the words and doctrines that have been passed
down through the years and have become so established in our lives that they
are no longer questioned. It is one thing to go out from Babylon, but it is
another thing altogether to get Babylon out of us. Amen?
Maybe what I have written has upset you? Maybe
you are asking yourself, „Does that mean that I've done everything wrong?“ Well
the answer to that is “Yes!”, but this is not a problem. It is better to
discover that one has been doing it wrong than to be in the wrong and to
believe one is doing everything right! Do you mind if I upset you a little more?
Jesus said, “These signs will follow those
who believe: in my Name they will cast out demons, in my Name they will lay
hands on and heal the sick”. Jesus said, “I am come that my sheep have life, in
abundance!” At least that is our European version of it. In Greek it doesn't
say in abundance, but in super abundance! Jesus said that those who believe
will do the same works that I do and even greater. I am telling you that this
is the normal Christian life. When you don't live it, you aren't living
normally! I didn't come to put you under false guilt, but to help you understand
the word as it really is.
When our Christianity doesn't produce the
promised fruit, when we don't experience the promised Life, then what kind of
assurance do we have for the things that are coming? Do you understand?
Imagine that you are a farmer. For 10 years
you have been sowing wheat? What do you harvest? Wheat, of course! In the 11th
year you say, I don't want wheat anymore, I want corn. But you sow wheat. What
will you harvest? Wheat, of course! This farmer needs to be told, “if you want
to change your harvest, you have to change the seeds you sow. If you aren't
content with what you are harvesting, why do you keep using the same seeds?”
Reformation starts with a changing of the
seeds. If we change what we believe, this changes our lifestyle and that results
in reformation. The first lesson on reformation is that reformation does not
happen when we try to transform others, but when we allow our hearts to be
transformed. Jeremiah (7:3) is clear: “Amend your ways and your doings”. Jesus
said, you can't get a good fruit from a bad tree, or a bad fruit from a good
tree. It's fairly simple. What is a bad tree? Jesus makes it clear; it is a
tree with bad roots. The roots are the part that you can't see, but it is also
the source from which the tree lives. If your life is not producing the promised
fruit, the problem lies with the roots. And what are the roots? It is what you
believe. That's why we need a reformation of our theology. We won't live out
what is promised with a theology we got from tradition. Nor will we be able to
live it with the definitions that have been passed down from tradition. We
really need a reformation of our theology first!
God doesn't expect us to have to scratch
our heads and try to figure it out. Don't forget what he said: „I will build my
church!“ He is the one who will do it and it will not be by our own power. It
won't happen by us attempting to be more intelligent. It's not that we think up
new things and try them to see if they work. He said, “I will change it, I will
change the understanding and expression of Christianity in one Generation”.
The audio testimony in French and German can be found here: http://www.befreiungshilfe.de/audio
The audio testimony in French and German can be found here: http://www.befreiungshilfe.de/audio
