Be careful to stay between the lines!

Deuteronomy 12:32
What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.


Revelations 22: 18-19

¹⁸For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
 ¹⁹And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Matthew 4:4
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.


Being a Christian and studying the word of God is exciting. Maybe I'm weird (of course, as we learned last week, God says we are Peculiar, so being weird in the eyes of this world is how we should be), but I enjoy digging into the word of God and learning new things, deeper things, than I ever did before. However, we must be careful. 


Just as on natural roadways, the spiritual road we are to follow- the highway of holiness (Isaiah 35:8)- has lines we are to stay within. These lines (or boundaries, if you prefer) are spelled out in the word of God. As such, it is absolutely necessary that we study God's word to discover these lines. There are a few rules we all need to adhere to when we are doing this. 


1) The word of God is MORE SURE than the voice of God. 


In 2 Peter 1:16-21 tells us an amazing truth. Peter says that, even though they heard the voice of God on the mount of transfiguration (and through the lips of Jesus), the disciples ultimate trust in God was built not on what they heard, but on the WRITTEN word of God itself. In fact, he tells us that the written word of God is MORE sure than the voice that they heard. Why is this true? 


2 Corinthians 11

¹³For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
 ¹⁴And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
 ¹⁵Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

There are many voices in this world. The vast majority are not of God. Not every preacher who gets behind the pulpit and preaches is actually preaching the true word of God. Not every teacher is a teacher of truth. Not every voice you hear in prayer is the voice of God. Always check everything you here, irregardless of it's source, against the written word of God (the KJV Bible). If what you heard is right, then say Praise the Lord and take it to heart. If what you heard is wrong, then don't accept that teaching into your lives.

Yes, go to church gatherings and services, but take notes. The scriptures tell us to "test the spirits to see whether they be of God". Pray as you go in, that the Lord will illuminate your heart and mind to catch ANY false teaching that may come across the pulpit or across the table. Then, when service is over, on your own time (even if nothing triggered as being false), go over your notes using these fundamental rules of study and make sure what you have heard is indeed true. As one person said, "Eternity is too long to be wrong."

2) Look for second and third scripture confirmation.

2 Corinthians 13¹This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.


Look for other scriptures that agree with your understanding of the verses in question. If you cannot find verses that agree (and they must be taken IN CONTEXT, not twisted out of context), then your understanding of a passage (or the preacher/teacher's understanding) is wrong. Be very wary of any "doctrine" that cannot be confirmed with more scripture. 


3) God and his word NEVER change. 


Malachi 3
⁶For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.


Whenever we are looking at scripture, the surface understanding of the scripture is the main meaning of the text. There can be, and often times are, deeper understandings of the scriptures in question, but these understandings will NEVER contradict the surface teaching of the verse. 


For instance, "The joy of the Lord is our strength" the scriptures say. This is absolutely true! However, it can be asked is it the joy WE feel, or the joy GOD feels, that this scripture is referring to? Many a Christian has been tripped up because they don't FEEL joyful in the midst of their trials. Are we supposed to? Job didn't. Yet, God obviously took Fatherly pride and JOY in the fact that, no matter what was thrown at him, Job still kept his testimony and faith in God intact. Job didn't understand his situation, but he held on to what he KNEW about God from the written word. Therefore, GOD was joyful in his child's life. It is STILL the joy of the Lord that is our strength, for we can endure ANYTHING as long as we know God is getting glory and joy from our lives.


Deuteronomy 6:4 (and other places) Clearly states that there is only ONE God. ANY teaching that tries to change this truth to being two, yet one, or three, yet one God, is simply NOT true.


There is such a thing as progressive (or ongoing) revelation, BUT this process will never contradict the original. If we hear something that does, we need to ditch that teaching, in favor of the original. 


4) Remember the breakdown of the divisions in the word of God.

2 Timothy 2:15

King James Version (KJV)

 ¹⁵Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

If we keep in mind the proper divisions in the word of God, then we are not as apt to misinterpret or misuse scripture. For instance, in the law it is commanded to give physical sacrifices for sins and trespasses. If, we do not keep that in mind, then we can find ourselves trying to follow the laws that Jesus sacrifice fulfilled! 


The law was the school master to lead us to Christ. It shows us what is sin and what is not. But the sacrifices are paid through Calvary. 


Matthew through John, are the Gospels. These books are the basis of the church doctrine. We find here the life, acts, and teachings of Jesus while he walked this earth. 


Acts. This is the only New Testament book that contains the direct teaching of the Apostles TO THE LOST, telling them how to be saved. It is where the Apostles walked out what Jesus taught them in the Gospels. We MUST go through the Gospels and Acts to GET saved.


Romans through Jude. These are the Epistles. They are LETTERS written TO the church telling us how to STAY saved, not how to get saved.


Revelations. Book of prophecy, that explains in symbolic language, end time events to come. 


5) We need to pray, study, and work out (work AT KEEPING) our own salvation with fear and trembling.


1 Thessalonians 5:17

King James Version (KJV)

 ¹⁷Pray without ceasing.

2 Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.


Philippians 2:12
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.


6) We DO need to fear God, not just respect him.

Luke 12:4-5

King James Version (KJV)

 ⁴And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
 ⁵But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.


We study the word of God because we love him and want to learn his ways and obey. But, we all have weak moments. We ALL have times when we don't FEEL like it. So, if we have legitimate fear of God in our lives, this fear will cause us to do what we are supposed to do when not doing it would be the easier way.   


Because we fear God, we will be diligent in our studies to try our best and ensure that we are NOT mishandling the word of God or misinterpreting the word of God. It really is that simple. 


Yes, over time our fear of God changes into a deep love for and longing for God. But, the fear is still the basis we must stand on. 


In closing, my friends, we MUST "study to shew ourselves approved, a workman that needeth NOT to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth". Get in there. Compare what you hear to the Bible. Let God teach you through his word. Stay between the lines on God's highway of holiness and you won't find yourselves running into a tree for going off the road.   

The real church needs to stand up and be counted.

2 Corinthians 6:¹⁵And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

 ¹⁶And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

 ¹⁷Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

 ¹⁸And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.  

1 Peter 1:¹³Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; ¹⁴As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

 ¹⁵But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

 ¹⁶Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

For years we've heard that we are to "come out from among them (the world) and be ye separate", and that we are to be "Holy" because HE is "Holy". Without getting into all the in's and out's of this (we will in another blog post), I need to respond to a current false teaching that is out there. 

According to these false teachers, we've all misunderstood and taken out of context, these verses above. Somehow they seem to believe that God has "let down his guard" on this. That, even though these same concepts are repeated in both testaments of scripture, it doesn't really mean that we have to live, act, think, dress, etc differently than the rest of the world. Yes, they acknowledge that God DID mean that in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament, we are under "Grace" and need not worry about trying to "live right", for it was all taken care of on Calvary.


They even use 1 Corinthians 8 in an effort to try and say that those of us who DO hold to biblical standards are somehow the weak minded and weak faith ones. I have recently heard this teaching in a church with my own ears. I was shocked. Here was this pastor of a supposedly Apostolic church trying very hard to explain away the biblical requirements to live godly by twisting scriptures to try and make them say what they do not say. 


My friends, re-read the above scriptures and there can be no doubt as to what we are called to do- COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM AND BE (LIVE A LIFESTYLE) SEPARATE from the way the world lives. There are MANY more scriptures that you can point to that teach this same concept in the NEW Testament. 

^{1 Peter 2:9}But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;

 ¹⁰Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Read the whole rest of the chapter. The verses before talk of what God has done for us and culminate with these verses. The rest of the chapter gets into how we should NOT live. 

^{Philippians2:12}Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
 ¹³For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
 ¹⁴Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
 ¹⁵That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

Here is the nitty gritty. YES, it is GOD (if we have been biblically born again  through Acts 2:38) that works IN us and gives us the will power and the strength to do what he wants us to do. We cannot live for God in the flesh, without his power to accomplish it, and think that our own works will be enough to get us through the pearly gates.

However, we are ordered in this scripture and in many ways in other scriptures, to work out (live out) our salvation with fear and trembling. Contrary to popular opinion, we ARE supposed to fear God and obey his commandments. We were grafted into God's vine and if we do not give it our all, then sin can creep in and we can become unfruitful and barren. At that point, we ARE in danger of losing out with God. So, with FEAR and trembling, we live out our relationship with God daily.

Grace is NOT "unmerited favor", that's Mercy. Grace is a salvational relationship WITH God, where we work WITH God to allow him to shape us and mold us into HIS image. This, by definition, requires us to live, act, think, dress, etc completely different from the world.

I'm not saying we should become Amish. However, over time, if we have been born again, our lifestyles and dress should begin to change and begin to differentiate us from the way the world does things. If we, after a time of walking with God, are not changing- pulling further away from the world and closer to God, then we need to enter into deep prayer and fasting and "check our Holy Ghost".

We ARE to live IN this world and NOT BE OF this world. We need to avoid and shun the ungodly and profane in our world. Not all styles of clothing are ungodly, but some are. Not all amusements in this world are ungodly, but some are. Not all occupations out there are ungodly, but some are.

God gives us guidelines in his word that we are to live by. Unfortunately, many are throwing these guidelines out the door in an effort to "win the lost". If we compromise biblical ways of life in an effort to win them to God, what are we winning them to? If our lifestyles are the same as theirs, they have no need to change anything when they come to Jesus. Further, what are they repenting of that's different from us if our lives are the same? They do things for what feels good and seems right to them. Can we do the same things that they do-only in the name of Jesus- and actually think to win them to him?

Separation and Holiness are STILL required in order to remain a Christian. Anyone who teaches differently, is a false prophet. That's the bottom line. 

It's time to die!

Leviticus 27: 28-29

²⁸Notwithstanding no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the LORD of all that he hath, both of man and beast, and of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy unto the LORD.

 ²⁹None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be put to death.

Mark 8:35
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.

2 Timothy 3:13
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

We live in an ever changing world. It seems that no sooner have we all gotten adjusted to living with the "new things" we have in our lives, then along comes the newest thing that makes OUR former "new thing" obsolete. 

I am old enough to remember the old vinyl records (33's and 45's) that were around for decades. Then, the 8-track came along and made them obsolete. Less than a decade later, cassettes came along and away into oblivion went the 8-track. Cassettes hung around for a while, it seemed, until the CD took the world by storm! Now, we have MP3's and MP4's that have made most CD's obsolete- much to my personal chagrin. 

There have been many changes in our society, as well. Our Government began as a Constitutional Republic. Unfortunately, over the last 100 years (and especially the last 50 years), the powers that be have slowly and steadily whittled away at our Constitution and changed our Government in such a way as to place centralized authority in the Federal Government, and push the states to their collective knees. Government "aid programs" have created a populace that all to easily looks to the Government for their help and support- a FAR cry from the founding Fathers and Settlers, who looked to God and their own backs to make their living and to help their neighbors in need.

The problem with all this technology is that, as good as it is, it has made us somehow lazier and less willing to work hard to earn our keep. The problem with the welfare state is that Socialism ALWAYS either leads to Communism or Fascism- both of which have killed millions in the name of "the greater societal good". The truth be told, these 2 "isms" wind up killing off people in order to consolidate their own power and control the populace. 

What does this have to do with the verses above? EVERYTHING! 

As Christians, we are called to give Jesus our all, understanding that it is in HIM that we live and breathe and have our being! It is HE who exalts and throws down. It is HE who gives us freedom of choice, but somehow works through our choices for our good and his glory. "Whosoever will find his life, shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life, shall find it." We just need to lose ourselves in him.

We spend most of our waking hours trying to figure out how to live our lives and care for our needs. The truth is that what we need to do is DIE to ourselves and allow Jesus complete control. HE cares for our every need- so why worry? HE lives to care for us, so why fret? The future is unsure, but we can trust our lives into the hands of the one who controls the future.

While the world is going crazy around us, and the things that we try and anchor our lives to keep changing and disappearing, we need to anchor ourselves to Jesus. Politics, while important, won't save a soul. Jobs, though necessary, will change and disappear to be replaced by something else. Even churches and ministries change. One pastor leaves and is replaced by another who does things differently and sees things slightly different than the one we knew and loved for so long.  


The only true ROCK in this old world is Jesus! HE is the only one we can count on. HE will never fail us. 


Will we fail him? Sometimes. We are human, after all. But, when we repent, he is right there to pick up the pieces and help us to put our lives together again. We can keep this to a minimum, however. 


Just as the Leviticus passage above says, the things that we have dedicated to God are his, and are dead to this world! When our old man tries to rise up and get us to go back to the things we used to do, we need to get on our knees and kill him all over again, through repentance. No matter how enticing the "new thing" appears to be, HOLD on to Jesus, and tell the devil NO.


If, as the old song says, we will just "Hold to God's unchanging hands", HE will see us through to the finish, both in THIS life, and the world to come. 

Melchesidek

Todays blog is actually written by Greg Patkowsky, a friend of mine via Facebook. We got into a discussion on Melchesidek and while I and others were arguing back and forth, Greg went and studied it out. It's VERY Good. Hope and pray you all enjoy this! Greg said I could use it, so here goes!

Melchizedek – 

Genesis 14:18-20, “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.”

What ministry did Melchizedek have? We do not know, other than the word states “he was the priest of the most high God.” I would like to take special notice to the wording there, not a priest of the most high God, THE priest of the most high God. Why would Moses word it that way? As well, the priesthood had not been established yet, the Levitical priesthood did not descend from Melchizedek and the only one to be in the priestly line of Melchizedek is…Jesus. Why would, out of all the "men" he met in his life, Abram give tithes to this "man". There was no law to tithe, yet. Firstfruits were offered only to God before the law. Melchizedek only has three verses in all of the OT, one refers to Jesus; Psalm 110:4 which states Jesus is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. We see Melchizedek being referred to as a priest forever and the King of Salem; most Jewish commentators say yes, it's Jerusalem yet Jerusalem didn't exist at the time Melchizedek was King. What we do know from Scripture and studying the words used, Salem also means peace - King of Peace. We know God is not that author of confusion but of peace; Jesus was called by Isaiah the Prince of Peace. All this starts to come together and unfold as we read the Scriptures. Now we move forward to the writer of Hebrews speaking about Melchisedec (Melchizedek).

Melchisedec is brought up by the author of Hebrews, in Hebrews Chapter 7. In verses 1-2 the author is basically quoting Genesis 14:18-20 and reiterates Salem is peace, as opposed to being an actual location, there is no mention of an actual place which Melchisedec ruled over. Then we have verse 3 where we learn some interesting things about Melchizedek.

Hebrews 7:3, “Without father {Strong’s G540 – Apator ; fatherless, i.e. of unrecorded paternity: - without father. Apator signifies in Heb 7:3 with no recorded genealogy}, without mother {Strong’s G282 – ametor; motherless, i.e. of unknown maternity: - without mother } , without descent {Strong’s G35 – unregistered as to birth – without descent. This word is rendered "without genealogy" in Heb 7:3.}, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.”

From this one verse we learn Melchizedek:

1. Had no father – fatherless
2. Had no mother – motherless
3. Was of no descent – no genealogy
4. Was made "like" unto the Son of God
5. Is a priest forever - Abideth a priest continually – Strong’s 1519/1336 – 1519 – eis; to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), or place, time or (fig) purpose (result, etc.)…continual… 1336 – dienekes – perpetually: - + continually + 1519, forever… a priest forever.

Referring back to number 5 above; “made like” - Strong’s G871 – aphomoioo; to assimilate closely: - make like; to cause a model to pass off into an image or shape like it; to express itself in it, to copy; to produce a facsimile; to be made like, render similar. Jesus hadn’t been manifest yet; for this “man” to be made like Jesus, he could not have been a “man”, but like a “man”, yet not any man, Jesus Himself; only God would have knowledge these things.

Now, there is contention because of vs. 4 yes? The author says "…this man…" If you look up "this man" there is no definitive evidence stating Melchizedek was a human being (see Strong's G3778 – houtos). I understand this did not come with the actual wording "God was Melchizedek in the form of a man”… yet all the evidence from Scripture shows Melchizedek to not be “human”. Verse 6 was brought up as well, yet I think there is a misunderstanding of the wording; Heb 7:6, “But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.” I’m not sure the contention here, yet this verse is simply stating Melchizedek, who does not have his descent from them (the Levites) received tithes from Abraham and Melchizedek blessed him (Abraham) who had the promises. Again as we roll out the Scripture and look at it not only from our own point of view, or interpretation but from what is really being said; no man can be on this earth without a mother and father, barring Jesus Himself who had no earthly Father. Jesus had not manifested Himself in the flesh, yet this “man” was made like unto the Son of God…again only God would have knowledge these things. I again can only come to the conclusion; Melchizedek was not a “man”, yet a shadow/type, theophany. I do not nor will I ever claim to know all, if I missed something or if I can be shown otherwise I will take it under consideration. JBU all!!!

I believe, Part 1

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths."

I'm 45 years old now (have been for about 3 months). Many folks around my age are hitting midlife crisis time. They are trying very hard to somehow regain their lost youth. For some of them, this has meant descending into lifestyles that they never had pursued before. This decision can destroy the relationships they've built over their lifetimes. I chose not to follow this road and am praying for those that do.

However, having felt the pull of "old age" in my heart, it has entered my mind that I have lived more than half my life already. What sort of things would I have left behind for my family if I were to die today? I'm not speaking of worldly goods- though I'd love to leave them which as much as I possibly could. I'm referring to beliefs and practices in this life that will not only help them here, but will help them to make it to be with Jesus forever.

So, if you will indulge me, I'd like to begin a "good midlife crisis" by writing some principles and precepts that will help my children, and hopefully, you to successfully navigate this life in following Jesus. I do not write these things to point a finger at anyone else's beliefs. Rather, I have chosen to call this series of blogs, "I believe", for they are just that: things that I believe. If you have a different belief than I do in a certain area, then that is between you and God- not between you and I. That said, let me begin.

The central belief of all beliefs in my life (and, I believe, should be in all of our lives) is God. Who is he? Who is he in our lives? What does he expect of us? And so on.

God is the sole creator of all things (us included). He is an omnipresent, omniscient, all-powerful God. There is no place in the cosmos where he is not. There is nothing that he does not know. There is no power that can even come remotely close to his power. He is God ALONE! There is absolutely only one God. Not two. Not three. Not many. Only one. He is the first and the last. The beginning and the end. The final end of all discussion and argument. It is HIS way and ideas that matter in the end- not ours. He has the power to force all of us to believe and to do things his way.

Yet, he also loves us. As such, HE choses to limit himself in his dealings with us. He is absolute power in absolute control. Though he has the power to force us, he choses NOT to because of his great love for us. He created us to have something he could not have with the Angels- an intimate, loving relationship. This is only possible because he has given us something he never gave any other creature in all of creation- freedom of choice. After all, who wants a spouse that is forced to love you? Who wants a spouse that tries to please you out of necessity, rather than out of love? God created man in order to create his bride! We are created and empowered with a capacity to love because that is exactly what God desires from us- our unconditional love.

However, our sin interfered. This sin, because of God's holiness, prevented us humans from becoming what we were created to be. Therefore, God instituted a plan to fix the problem. Sin had to be paid for. God's judgement demands payment for sin. But his loving heart aches for relationship with us in spite of our sin. So, he began the sacrificial system.

It began in the garden of Eden, when God slayed, I believe, a lamb in order to clothe Adam and Eve and shed blood to temporarily pay for their sin. A lamb per person. This was why Cain's sacrifice wasn't accepted- no blood as God had ordained. Faith isn't just belief. Faith is also obedience! In fact, James writes that Faith without works is dead! There is no true faith without obeying God's word on how to walk out that faith. Any faith that does not also include obedience is no true faith at all. After all, our actions always follow our beliefs- irregardless of what we say.

Later, God expanded his sacrificial system from a lamb per person, to a lab per family- at the passover. The head of the home- the man, by the way, would take the lamb and sacrifice it as a covering of blood for the whole family. Then, at the institution of the law, it became a lamb per nation- on the day of of atonement. The high priest would sacrifice the lamb and sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat in the temple- atoning for the sins of the nation.

But, these were just temporary stop-gap measures. In truth, no blood, that did not come from a sinless man, could eternally atone for our sins. Because God had declared MAN's death to be the price of MAN's sin, the sacrifice of animal's could only be a temporary fix to roll back our sins for another year. It would require the blood of a sinless man to pay the penalty for the sins of humanity. But, what man was perfect? All mankind had sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So, God made a decision.

God formed a body in the womb of a virgin girl named Mary. And in this body HE inhabited himself! Not all of himself, to be sure- because he is everywhere in the universe. He did place all of his fullness there, however. All of his attributes- love, humility, judgement, righteousness, hatred of sin, power, might, majesty, holiness, etc.  were embodied in the body of Jesus! This is why Jesus told Nicodemus that not only was he there speaking with him on earth, but he was also in heaven at the same time! (John 3:13 KJV)

In this body, God lived a perfect, sinless life. In the end, this is why Jesus was able to be "the lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world." Now, through his shed blood, his burial, his resurrection, we can become a child of God and a part of the bride of Christ. Thessalonians clearly says that we must OBEY the Gospel. The Gospel, according to 1 Corinthians 15: 1-4, is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. We obey this by repentance (death), baptism in Jesus name (burial), and the infilling of the Holy Ghost (resurrection). The sign of receiving the Holy Ghost is speaking in tongues. This is the biblical "sound" that Jesus said would be heard when a person is born of the spirit (John 3: 1-7).

There is much more that I shall get into, in the near future. Again, it is not my desire in this to offend anyone, but it is my desire to leave for my loved ones a basis for life to live on. God bless you all. May you walk with Jesus all of your days!

Don't Give Up.....

Who wants to be a healer?

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to HEAL the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, the recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised...."  Luke 4:18

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to BIND UP the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of prison to those that are bound..."     Isaiah 61:1

"And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

I've been born again now for twenty years this month. In that time, I have heard Matthew 16:16 preached and taught on many times. Unfortunately, I think we may have missed something vital here.

We have been taught militant, warrior Christianity. Believe me, I have no problem with that, nor with believing we are in the midst of major spiritual battles. However, if you've been in this thing for very long at all, you've heard some things like this: "I BIND you, Satan!" "Devil, we BIND you in the name of Jesus." "We BIND this sickness..."

Sounds good, right? We are told that we battle with spiritual powers in high places. We are to pray for the sick and cast out devils, right? There's just one small problem. That's all we focus on. The word for bind, in the Greek DOES carry, in it's definition, the concept of binding an enemy. However, is there a connotation we have missed?

Jesus came, died, was buried, and rose again. He left the church, empowered by HIS Spirit and HIS love, to continue HIS mission. HIS mission, in part, was to "BIND UP the broken hearted."Luke says it this way, "HEAL the broken hearted." So how is HEALING, called BINDING? Surely Jesus doesn't want people all bound up?

The truth of the matter is that BIND up in the sense of healing is like placing bandages on wounds. We are supposed to let Jesus love the broken hearted through us, placing a spiritual bandage on them so that they can then begin the process of emotional and spiritual healing.

Even the military has people in the medical fields, in order to help to save and heal the wounded. We as God's Army and children, are supposed to have healers among us, too. It's not all about battle. Sometimes, it's about loving the wounded so God can heal them and "set at liberty them that are bruised."

There's an old Gospel song, sung by the Imperials, that says, "You're the only Jesus some will ever see. And you're the only words of life some will ever read. So let them see in you the one in whom is all they'll ever need. Cause, You're the only Jesus some will ever see."

So this is a call to all of us warriors out there. How many of us are tired of the constant battle? How many of us don't just want to see the captives set free from their bonds, but also made whole of their emotional and spiritual wounds, as well? Who wants to be a healer?