SOTERIA® is a Love based Church with IRS tax exempt status. We very much appreciate your support and pledge to apply all gifts to where God leads us in our mission. Please send your Love Gift to: PO Box 7 Mars Hill, NC 28754 Receipts sent yearly. THANK YOU! ….con’t— for Asheville.” As we begin to dress ourselves in ashes for repentance, He will address the sins of the Church in this nation and begin to bring an outpouring of forgiveness. People all around will begin to be exposed to His presence and repentance will begin to fall on the new-agers, the witches, the homosexuals, and addicts who are bound by flesh and mindsets that have been strongholds of bondage for years. Deliverance, de-possession, and salvation are about to hit Asheville like a tidal wave. Another confirmation came when a lady walked into Soteria on March 27, before our 3:00pm service carrying a letter she had written. She had been passing it out to almost two dozen churches within walking distance downtown. The letter contained what she had heard God telling her was going to happen in Asheville now. She is from Columbia, SC. She was compelled by God to come to deliver confirmation. She came to the first WORD service that night and knew she too had been hearing correctly by the Spirit. I don’t know how, or at what pace, God is going to bring this atmosphere into our region. But, I know it’s already begun here and there. We were visited this past Monday by a pastor from a very small one room church a few blocks away. He asked us to pray for his place and testified how God had healed him of many diseases, including a stroke 8 months ago. He came to our prophetic teaching class that night and suddenly Melody realized who he was. During a service one Sunday at “The River”, Bishop Hardman asked me to pray with her for healing when a man paralyzed by a stroke came forward. We touched him in prayer, he threw down the cane he was walking with, began to run and dance all over the church, instantly healed. This was the same man! God is already doing mighty things! CONTACT INFORMATION: This is a monthly overview of this ministry. If you would like more detailed information about the entire ministry please call 828-350-7744 or email - PASTORS Ernest H. Hays pastor@soteriaministries.org Melody D. Hays Yeazell@juno.com CHECK OUR WEWBSITE-WWW.SOTERIAMINISTRIES.ORG PRAYER Please pray for these: Troy & Carmelita Alverson—back surgery, prayer network Mathew & Amy Ledford— business expansion, trip to Rome Bob & Peggy Baker—business finalizations Noah Barefoot—healing Holly Fisher—healing John & Lisa Leasure—legal miracle Helen Teck—healing Jane Hendrix—legal justice Diane Adams—healing Church @ Asheville—repentance Soteria—$ 20,000 pay debt Melody Hays—healing Ernest Hays—healing A Word from Melody An Open Heaven For many weeks, the Lord has been speaking of an “open heaven” over Asheville. According to His promise, He will open a portal over the city to allow heaven to converge on earth and infiltrate the downtown area. It is a serious petition we pray when we ask, “God, let your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” I have seen in a vision this promised portal over the city right at the intersection of Coxe and Patton – not just over one building, but over a large area surrounding the residency of Soteria. God, who is an all consuming fire, wants to come in and build a habitation here that reaches far beyond what any building can contain. He told me a few weeks ago that His glory was coming so strongly to the city that even the alcoholics would begin to prophesy about Him! During the last couple of weeks, the worship times have grown sweeter, and in intensity, at each corporate gathering. We sense such an atmospheric change as the saints have worshiped in spirit and in truth. This atmospheric change, we pray, will mushroom out of our four walls throughout the block and on into the heart of the city. And, we are standing on the word of the Lord in the Psalms 149:5 - 9 that say, “Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two edged sword in their hand; To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; To bind their kings with chains; and their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute upon them the judgement written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord.” Some may ask, what is an open heaven anyways? Acts 7 gives an explicit account of the Apostle Stephen debating with the High Priests of the synagogue who were cut to the heart by Stephen’s message. As the leaders grew furious, the scriptures account that Stephen looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Scripture states that Stephen said, “Behold I see the heavens opened. . .” As we continue to look steadfastly unto heaven, and worship the Lord, I too, believe that we will have the open heaven God has promised to bring his kingdom fully to earth in Asheville. And, just as Stephen suffered persecution and death following his “open heaven” experience, the body of Christ will need this greater intimacy with God to endure all that is coming in the challenging times we face. But praise the Lord, as someone said today at Soteria, no matter what we face, “We win!”