For example, in the largest charismatic church in the country the demon in this man slapped the pastor and ransacked his office, repeatedly telling him that this church had no power to set him free. “All this church does is talk about money and they don’t live holy,” the demon said.
Can you believe a demon said that? Demons know churches. Demons know men. “Jesus I know, Paul I know, but who are you?” (Acts 19:15).
(charisma magazine)
Meeting Jesus Christ is known to have strange effects on people, like repenting of their sins and believing and obeying Him….
Be a part of a spiritual family, don’t just drift around from place to place with no meaningful commitment to anyone. And once you are joined to a spiritual family remain committed and faithful. Be committed, or don’t go at all.
Of course, a person can faithfully attend a church week after week and still not have any genuine relationship or fellowship with anyone.
You are surrounded by the works of God, and you are a work of God, and every one of those works is miraculous in nature.
Substance for your worship. ……..Worship guaranteed.
Church = an assembling of people. It is people. It is nothing else. It is not to be understood in any other terms than simply a gathering of people. It is not an entity which could be recognized by the world. This fact is the reality of the matter. Whenever Christians embrace reality they experience Jesus.
I think one of the great challenges the body of Christ faces is that many do not see church as it really is in the sight of God – they miss the simplicity, and the essence that it is made up of real, genuine friendships. They are looking for something other than the reality of the relationships a true church comprises of.
Who you are now in Christ: THAT is your ministry. Your ministry is the new you. What Christ has recreated you into, THAT is your ministry: His workmanship is your ministry: it is the extension of who you are. If you are being the new you, then you are fulfilling your ministry.
And the converse is also true, that false prophets and teachers are simply “Christians” who have failed in the Christian life, and their ministry is an extension of, and a reflection of, their personal failure to follow Christ.
How many know that the early church did not celebrate Easter? Might be a surprise for many to hear that. Instead, they had “easter” every time they broke bread together at the Table of the Lord: that was “easter’ – it was a continuous “easter”, it was always the “easter season”. Let’s do as they did.
What is the harm in celebrating Easter? First answer this: What is the harm in doing as the early church did? Why would that be so harmful?
If we do as the early church, who is going to “suffer” from it?
Basically it’s this: in the New Covenant there are no religious “seasons”. To pretend that there are is to diminish the meaning of the New Covenant. And there is a lot of bad fallout from ignoring the NT pattern and following the traditions of men. A lot of unnecessary burdens and problems are created by this.
Most Hindus i’ve met are very happy for Christmas and Easter, cos it reassures them that Christianity is just another religion, no different to theirs. This has been my experience. I’ve rarely met a Hindu who is offended by Christmas and Easter. To them it is another proof that all religions worship the same God under different names.
If physical healing were the “main thing” in the Kingdom, then physical death would be a defeat, instead of the glorious victory it is when the saints die in faith. Any kind of sickness would be a defeat. Such thinking is not Biblical.
Physical healing is wonderful, but it is not the main thing, and never was. Gifts of healing certainly have their proper place in the church, as per 1 Cor. 12, but they are not the most important gifts, prophecy is: the testimony of Jesus (and not the loopy stuff passed off as prophecy today).
Healing has become the most important ministry in preparation for the great deception coming, where the antichrist and false prophet will do great signs and wonders. Bcos of his healing power blind “Christians” will follow him.
The trend in the charismatic movement is to believe that healing, itself, IS the gospel, and that the Kingdom of God is defined by healing, miracles and experiences, so these become more important than the truth in Jesus. This is the trend. But the Bible says that prophecy (anointed preaching – the testimony of Jesus) is greater than healing, and to be more coveted than healing (1 Cor. 14:1).
So, if prophecy is greater than healing this means that the gospel is not defined by healing, but healing is something following after the gospel as secondary.
Healing is wonderful. It is wonderful when God heals the sick. Sick people can cry out for healing and Jesus still heals today.
A greater miracle than healing is the gift of good health and God’s protection from disease.
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed [them] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. I Corinthians 2:9-10
The word “them’ is in italics (not in original). This means that the Spirit reveals something of what God has prepared for those who love Him, but not the whole picture: we still presently see dimly of the heavenly glory to be revealed in us and to us, but we see enough to inspire us to not cast away our confidence, and hold fast our hope till the end (Heb. 3:6).
The Lord Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you.
Let us ever be mindful of these glorious preparations which we will soon experience forever.
God is a moral being, and it is only possible for moral beings to know Him, so He made men and women in His image, as moral beings. Our conscience is there to remind us that we are made in the image of God, as moral beings, for fellowship with God.
Your conscience is your friend. Don’t think of it as your enemy.
When a man walks in the Spirit then his pure conscience is his defense against the prosecution. It is his friend, not his enemy.
For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward. (II Corinthians 1:12 [KJV])
A pure, renewed, Blood-washed conscience not only prosecutes sin, but is also our testimony of defense: the testimony of our conscience… Your conscience can be a source of great confidence and encouragement. Your pure conscience protects you from the accuser of the brethren.
If a Christian man happens to sin, his new conscience is both the prosecution and the defense, all in one, under the Advocate, Jesus Christ.
The true Christian is very happy that God searches the hearts and minds of all men and weighs their motives and knows the thoughts of their heart.
What if our relationship with the Father and the Son, by the Spirit, became the source of our joy?
I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. Psalms 27:13-14
It is only the GOODNESS of the LORD which makes life worth living, and is our hope for the future. Without seeing the goodness of the LORD we will faint and lose hope.
True elders don’t direct or control church meetings, but they help keep the meeting on track so it is profitable to all, honoring Jesus, and avoiding that which does not profit, and their effectiveness at this is in proportion to their experience and maturity. (i’m referring to the New Testament concept of church)
While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Job 1:16
The messenger assumed the fire from the sky was from God, but it was from satan (vs. 12). This means that satan has the power to rain down fire from the sky and destroy people. Satan did it only once bcos that was the only time God permitted him. It shows the great restraining authority of God, restraining the power of satan.
But we see in Rev. 13:13 another time when God will permit satan to call down fire from the sky, to deceive people.
Compare 1 Kings 18, Elijah calling down fire from heaven, with Rev. 13:13. Satan mimics the signs God gave.
To properly understand Revelation chapter 17 we need to understand that the devil has always been committed to promoting false Christianity and false churches from the beginning, so that he can present Christianity and the church to the world as no different to other religions: the distinction is lost. Then, when the world sees “Christianity” and “the church” they see it as no better or no less corrupt than their own religion, for, really, it is no different in its nature. That’s Revelation 17.
The irony is that when church leaders put their pragmatic goals ahead of faithfully teaching what God’s Word says, then they have to abandon what God’s Word commands for the church in order to grow their church.
Read on FB that wheat is unhealthy. What IS unhealthy is to live in a neurotic society which believes wheat is unhealthy.
Trust you pray thru the Lord’s Prayer every day, as per the command of the Lord, and i also trust that you pray on behalf of your brothers and sisters, interceding for them, which is what to pray “our Father” means.
Would rather be around folks who believe that Jesus still heals today and who pray for the sick, than folks who don’t, but would also rather be around folks who don’t major on physical healing but major on the reality of knowing Jesus.
Ian Vincent 