Monthly Archives: September 2018

September 30, 2018 · 7:27 am

Inside Israel

SHUK

The Shuk in Jerusalem

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Yeshua,

I greet you AGAIN in His Precious Name and for His glory Alone.  May you be blessed and encouraged and may HE be glorified, magnified and BLESSED.

So quickly, again, running together, the quiet overtakes the noise. Runningis the word that comes to mind for me because in less than an hour begins the last of the three Fall Feasts, and, yes, they RUN on the heels of one another.  Sukkot, known to most of the Church as the Feast of Tabernacles, is here in 45 more minutes.

The commands for Sukkot, to me, are quite beautiful.

” ‘Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days; on the first day there shall be a Sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a Sabbath-rest.  And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’ ”So Moses declared to the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.” (Leviticus 23:39-44)

“ and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.“  Not a hard command to keep…what a GIFT!

I have enjoyed the many lessons that He has taught me sitting in the booth, the little sukka built outside our rented apartment, with a rug on the earth and pieces of gaily decorated material for the walls. Palm branches form the roof, through which we can see the stars.  I enjoyed decorating ours with mostly live fruit from the shuk, nearby trees, and a huge assortment of flowers and branches cut around the neighborhood. Scriptures pinned to the curtained walls in Hebrew and English.

We put a table inside and chairs and pillows and have invited many guests over the years. Both those who know Him and those who don’t yet. I have prayed that it would be a testimony to Him and a place where He would be spoken of and glorified, and it has been.

Alas, this is the first year that I have nothing even resembling a sukkah set up.  Since we moved to this apartment up two flights I have struggled to decorate our inappropriate merepesset (sort of balcony), but this year even that little bit didn’t happen. I find transitions sad.

The sun is setting so I am off to my daughter’s family sukkah 2 blocks away and I will continue this letter soon. Well, it IS a seven-day holiday.

 

Good morning to you all or ‘chag semaech!’ (joyful holyday).  I love waking early on these silent mornings and spending the richest of times with Him as the sun begins to rise and the early birds begin their songs.

At our feast that we shared last night in the sukkah of our daughter’s family, we spoke to our little granddaughters of the things of God that their young hearts could understand. How HE made the stars and HE made us and HE is big enough to take care of all. The stars, the birds, the cat trying to get the chicken on the barbeque and us.  Maya, age 4, sang a Sukkot song for us in Hebrew that she learned at her gan (pre-school) and I prayed that He Who reveals Himself in such perfect ways will reveal Himself to them.

I believe that these HOLYDAYS that HE has given us are for reasons far deeper than we begin to understand. So, I like to ask The Holy Spirit to help me remember the Sukkots since we have been here, over the past 24 years. He has taught me so many layers of lessons, each a bursting revelation on my mind.  I think of the night during the last intifada, when so much blood was being spilled in the streets, such a traumatic, unsettled time. And yet, there we were.  STOP!  BUILD LITTLE BOOTHS!  SIT IN THEM! Flimsy, little temporary dwellings and we did.

I remember looking up at the sky through the branches of my palm-roof and seeing the stars through the trees above me, hearing the quiet wind and KNOWING that HE had it all in control. The understanding burrowed deep into the very roots of my being.  I knew that I was indeed nothing but a flimsy little sukkah of a body containing a vulnerable soul. Yet when that soul was given over to THE KING OF kings AND THE LORD OF lords, The Holy Spirit would inhabit this weak sukkah and NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

That knowing burst into my very being. Perhaps the sukkah is intended to be one of HIS places of revelation knowledge.  NOT on our terms, only on His.  He gives to us (or not) Light according to HIS choice.  Have you ever waited for a Word or a Revelation and it HASN’T come?  I have!

God KEEP me from running anyway even when I have NOT heard that Word from Him.  God FORBID that I should ever run with a counterfeit.

Sukkot was commanded to bring in the harvest…to remember His goodness and abundance and to give back to Him and to others.  It was ALSO commanded to REMEMBER WHERE WE CAME FROM, the promises, the journey, our failures in the light of His perfect faithfulness. We were ALL slaves in Egypt at one time.  REJOICE IN HIS GOODNESS.

The symbols of these three fall feasts still sit together on the tables: the shofar (ram’s horn) The Word, honey, apples, the good fruits of the land, grapes and almonds, pomegranates and dates, figs and citrus. And the people rejoice.

It is such a unique season because the streets are also filled with believers from the nations around the world who have come  to participate in one way or another in the fall feasts.  Many come to take part in the conferences and convocations – Christian gatherings for times of prayer and teaching.

Because this IS one of the three feasts where all Jewish men were COMMANDED to come up to Jerusalem and to worship and to bring an offering in the place where The Lord put His Name. There will be the ceremony of the blessing of the Cohenim (or the high priestly blessing) which takes place at the Western Wall, when the blessing of Aaron will be pronounced and many thousands upon thousands will participate.

As I walked through the streets of Jerusalem it seemed to me that there were less sukkas this year, but the ones that we passed last night on the way home from our daughters resounded with the warmth of songs and laughter.  Everyone whom we passed greeted us with “hag sameach.”

“MOEDIM L’SIMCHA!” is the way in which we greet one another now, whether friends or strangers whom we are passing on the street.  These are the days called khol h’moed – or the “in-between days” of the holyday.  The meaning of simcha is joy or rejoice and the meaning of moed (moedim being the plural) is an appointed time of meeting. So these are the appointed times for meeting (with) with joy.  Pretty neat, eh?

But that is my translation.

Although translations are thought of as standard and pretty well perfect by those of us who are not particularly gifted with many languages, I have been shocked to learn just how SUBJECTIVE language translation can be for everyone. I have mentioned before that Hebrew seems to me to be like a sculpture, each word describing an entire object or concept including its history.

In contrast I see English as a line drawing, carefully describing details line upon line. And yet even in English, how we can misinterpret one another.

And so, MOEDIM L’SIMCHA. 

No matter WHAT happens between Russia and us.  Moedim l’simcha. No matter what takes place at the United Nations gathering.  Moedim l’simcha. Despite the fires and floods and the awful battles at the Gaza border and wars and personal griefs that we cannot escape. Moedim l’simcha.

LORD!  Give us ALL eyes to see, and ears to hear and a heart that beats with Yours!

 

But now I WILL leave you with a Jerusalem story:

I was coming home from work last week (between Rosh h’shana and Yom kippur) and I was T-I-R-E-D.  As I approached the crosswalk on the road to my bus stop. Alas! the bus was approaching.  I sighed.  Another 25-minute wait.  Oh well, I have learned the hard way that my days of running for the bus have past, since my last fall and broken rib.  The bus pulled up to the crosswalk and stopped for me to cross.  Huh?  Ok, but still I wasn’t about to run to the bus stop, but he parked the bus a bit further back than usual and WAITED. It is now against the law for bus drivers to do anything special for anyone and even with the BACK door of the bus open.  Ok, I sped up still figuring that he would pull away before I got there but he didn’t.  I got on through the back door and passed my card up by way of other passengers to the front of the bus to be processed.  I couldn’t see the driver, but the bus emptied quite a bit before I got off so I made my way to the front.

“Toda reba reba!” I said (thank you very very much) as he approached my stop.

He turned and smiled.  “I would stop for you ANYWHERE and ANYTIME!” 

I smiled back. ‘Orie,  thank you.”

It was deeply humbling as recognition set in.  He was one of our patients and I really had been quite concerned about him when he fought a grievous illness a number of years ago.  Yes, I did sort of go the extra mile to accommodate his needs at times but I NEVER expected this.  It was a delightful gift because Jerusalem may be the center of the world’s conflicts and The Place where THE LORD OF ALL chose to put His Name.  But it is still a small town, reminding me that we are all so small, flimsy temporary dwelling, chosen to be indwelt by The Living God.

Moedim l’simcha to all of you.

Lovingly,

your Sister J in Jerusalem

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September 29, 2018 · 8:20 am

Churches: Fellowships Without Fellowship (Part 4)

In his book, House Churches that Change the World, Wolfgang Simson stole a page from Martin Luther’s reformation playbook and wrote a 15 Theses for the house church movement:

1. Christianity is a way of life, not a series of religious meetings.

Before they were called Christians, followers of Christ were called ‘The Way.’ One of the reasons was that they had literally found the way to live. The nature of the church is not found in a constant series of religious meetings led by professional clergy in holy places specially reserved to experience Jesus. Rather, it is the prophetic way followers of Christ live their everyday life in spiritual extended families, as a vivid answer to the questions that society asks, and in the place where it counts most – in their homes.

2. Time to change the ‘cathegogue system’

The historic Orthodox and Catholic Church after Constantine in the fourth century developed and adopted a religious system based on two elements: a Christian version on the Old Testament temple – the cathedral – and a worship pattern styled after the Jewish synagogue. They thus adopted, as the foundational pattern for the times to follow, a blueprint for Christian meetings and worship which was neither expressly revealed nor ever endorsed by God in New Testament times: the ‘cathegogue,’ linking the house-of-God mentality and the synagogue.

Baptized with Greek pagan philosophy, separating the sacred from the secular, the cathegogue system developed into the Black Hole of Christianity, swallowing most of its society-transforming energies and inducing the church to become absorbed with itself for centuries to come. The Roman Catholic Church went on to canonize the system.

Luther reformed the content of the gospel but left the outer forms of ‘church’ remarkably untouched. The Free Churches freed the system from the State, the Baptists then baptized it, the Quakers dry-cleaned it, the Salvation Army put it in uniform, the Pentecostals anointed it and Charismatics renewed it, but until today nobody has really changed the system. The time to do that has now arrived.

3. The third Reformation

In rediscovering the gospel of salvation by faith and grace alone, Luther started to reform the church through a reformation of theology. In the eighteenth century, through movements in the pietistic renewal, there was a recovery of a new intimacy with God, which led to a reformation of spirituality, the Second Reformation. Now, God is touching the wineskins themselves, initiating a Third Reformation, a reformation of structure.

4. From church houses to house churches

From the time of the New Testament there has been no such thing as a ‘house of God.’ At the cost of his life, Stephen reminded us: God does not live in temples made by human hands.

The church is the people of God. The church, therefore, was and is at home where people are at home: in ordinary houses. There the people of God share their lives in the power of the Holy Spirit, have ‘meatings’, i.e. they eat when they meet; they often do not even hesitate to sell private property and share material and spiritual blessings; they teach each other in real-life situations how to obey God’s Word – and not with professional lectures but dynamically, with dialogue and questions and answers. There they pray and prophesy with each other, and baptize one another. There they can let their masks drop and confess their sins, regaining a new corporate identity through love, acceptance and forgiveness.

(Continued in Part 5…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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September 28, 2018 · 5:18 am

The Apostles: Men Doomed to Death (Conclusion)

praying

The internationally known prophet asked for prayer after his meeting at the church, which I attended at the time. Some of us gathered around him and began praying. After a few minutes, a prophetic word crossed my mind.

“The calling of apostle will come upon you in the near future, but first, I see you pastoring a small church,” I said. “The Lord wants you to really understand people before he moves you into the apostolic calling. From the small church, you will walk into a world-wide apostolic ministry.”

Most believers would have been happy to receive an encouraging word like this, but not that particular man. This same prophet, who had taught us earlier in the evening about the love of God and about the importance of humility, rebuked me sharply.

“I spend lots of time in prayer,” he said with angry eyes glaring at me. “So, don’t you think the Lord could speak prophetic words like that to me in my prayer time?”

To be honest, I was shocked by his reaction. “Uh, well, uh, I guess so,” I answered.

“Then why do I need a prophetic word from you?” he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know,” I answered, not knowing what else to say.

This eye-opening incident really happened to me twenty-three years ago.  It’s as alive in my memory banks today as if it just happened yesterday.

The crux of the matter was not whether the prophetic words were accurate or not, but rather, it was that I was not at the prophet’s spiritual level. I was a nobody. If I had been a Billy Graham, Rick Warren, David Yonggi Cho, or some other well-known international minister, he never would have spoken those words to me. Instead he would have said, “Thanks for the prophetic words. I’ll pray about them.”

Now, if you think this is a unique and seldom occurring event, I have news for you: it’s not! For most of the tradition church system, there is a hierarchy system set in place where only certain people are allowed to speak words of direction or correction to the ministers who lead (usually called the clergy) and the pew sitters (known as the lay people) have little voice in these matters.

But yet, when one of the original apostles, Peter, became a hypocrite in Antioch, the young apostle Paul had no problem handling the situation:

But when Peter came to Antioch, I had, to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile Christians, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. As a result, other Jewish Christians followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. (Galatians 2:11-13)

Do you think Peter was embarrassed? Probably. Do you think Peter wanted to lash out at Paul? Probably. This is usually how our flesh reacts to being rebuked, or at least, this is how mine reacts.  Then, what do you think Peter felt when he saw the above letter sent to the churches in Galatia and his name mentioned as a hypocrite? Once again, he was probably a little miffed, but did he hold a grudge against Paul?

And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction. (2 Peter 3:15-16 NLT)

Peter, the man who had the revelation that Jesus was the Christ and who was chosen to accompany Jesus on the mountain when He was transfigured and talked to Moses and Elijah, was a humble man of God. He stayed small in his own eyes and was a seeker of truth.

The end-time apostles will not be a part of the church’s hierarchical system, but rather will blow it apart. Will the apostles rebuke the leaders of the traditional church system? Probably very little. But instead, the humility displayed by these end-time apostles will attract the long suffering pew sitters out of the traditional churches and into their royal priesthood callings. The captives will finally be set free.

(Conclusion…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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September 27, 2018 · 6:29 am

Prayers for America (9/27/2018)

After Jesus had cast out demons in a blind and mute man, the Pharisees accused Him of using the power of Satan to deliver the man.

Jesus used their words as a springboard to speak a kingdom truth:

“Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.” (Matthew 12:25-26)

More than twenty-five years ago, I had a dream and deep impression about the United States going through a civil war at some time in the future. So far, it hasn’t happened, but could it?

My prayer today:

Lord, help Americans to live in harmony with one another, to repay no one evil for evil, to do what is honorable in the sight of others, and as much as possible, to live peaceably with all men. (Based on Romans 12:16-18)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for America.

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September 26, 2018 · 10:23 am

Churches: Fellowships Without Fellowship (Part 3)

 

What’s God main intention for the church? Is it to evangelize the lost? Is it to be a pulpit for a pastor to preach sermons to pews filled with believers, holding onto each word? What is it?

The Apostle Paul spoke of the gospel and the church as being a mystery hidden in God from the beginning of ages and a part of His eternal purpose. If this is true, let’s look at the four chapters of the Bible Frank Viola states in his Rethinking Church teaching as the most important ones for us to gather insight into God’s plans for the church.

The chapters: Genesis 1 – 2 and Revelation 21 – 22.

Why these four chapters?

These chapters are the only ones in the Bible where Satan is not the god of this world and sin is not intertwined in our cultures. Genesis 1 and 2 are before Adam’s sin and Eve’s deception in Chapter 3. And Revelation 21 and 22 are after Satan, death, and sin have been thrown into the lake of fire in Chapter 20.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26-28)

Adam and his bride were commanded by God to rule the earth. Eve was created out of a rib taken from Adam’s side. There was a tree of life and a river life in the Garden of Eden.

Now let’s fast forward to the end of the Bible.

And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” (Revelation 22:17)

The Last Adam – Jesus – and His bride will pick up the commands spoken by God to the First Adam to rule and reign on earth:

If we endure, we will also reign with Him; (2 Timothy 2:12)

And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on earth.(Revelation 5:10)

Like the First Adam with Eve, the church came out of Jesus’ side when the soldier pierced His side with a spear and blood burst out. Not only that, the river of life and the tree of life are restored on earth.

Thus, I believe God’s main purpose for His church – the Bride of Christ – is to rule and reign with Jesus on the earth for eternity.

Should we be ruling and reigning with Jesus on the earth now?

So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that He has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord (Ephesians 3:10-11)

(Continued in Part 4…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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September 25, 2018 · 8:30 am

Prayers for the American Church (9/25/2018)

Christ Church Stellarton

Photograph of Christ Anglican Church, Stellarton, NS. Taken the morning of October 28, 2005

In his Starfish series, Wolfgang Simson talks about how the starfish can regenerate a lost arm if one is torn off. But even more fantastic is that many starfish can regenerate a whole new starfish from a broken-off arm.

How can a starfish do this? Each molecular cell in the starfish has the complete DNA and cellular blueprint for the whole starfish. Thus, it just grows forth.

This is also true of the church.

My prayer today:

Lord, help the American church to once again realize that You set the members into the Body of Christ and each has value in Your eyes, so that all members care for one another.  (Based on 1 Corinthians 12:18-27

Join me on Tuesdays to fast and pray for the American church.

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September 24, 2018 · 7:07 am

The Apostles: Men Doomed to Death (Part 8)

praying

An apostolic moment in a fictional book:

As I listened to Cat and Ike, my spirit roared like a lion within me. Something like this had happened in the past when the Lord used me for healing people, but now, it felt like it had advanced three or four levels higher. So much so, that divine strength overpowered my human weaknesses. I saw nothing but impossibilities earlier, but now I saw only opportunities for us.

I stood up and looked around at everyone. I had no thought of what I was going to say. It just gushed out of me.

“Four lepers sat in the midst of a disaster long ago and said to one another, ‘Why are we sitting here until we die?’ The four had nothing to lose so they marched toward the enemy’s camp. The Lord amplified the sound of their footsteps, causing Israel’s foes to retreat from the battle site. Thus, defeat was turned into triumph. A group cowering behind walls of safety did not accomplish this victory, but instead, it came about because a few people decided to ignore circumstances and their own weaknesses and do something.

“Now like the four lepers in 2 Kings 7, we have decisions to make: sit here until we die or obey God. The spiritual gifts through Bonnie have comforted us. The prophetic words through Cat and Ike have stirred us up. It seems apparent that God has spared our lives so He can use us in the midst of a terrible calamity for His glory and to build His kingdom.”

I paused to allow the Holy Spirit to guide His people.

“For those who agree with me, we will head towards Ground Zero tomorrow morning. We will leave some people behind to take care of the children and to search neighboring areas for injured people.

“Those who are heading out will carry just a few supplies with them. Nothing heavy. As we walk toward Ground Zero, we will start a church wherever there are hurting people. We can use a house or abandoned buildings for the new church. We’ll gather people into that location to serve and pray for them.

“After the church is established at a site, we will leave two people behind. The remainder will continue onward. We will repeat this over and over until we have no more church planters left.”

The anointing for speaking lifted off me just like that. I looked toward Cat.

“Honey, do we have enough blankets and pillows for everyone?”

She stood up.

“I think so. Let’s go see.”

We went upstairs while the others figured out sleeping arrangements for their families.

(The above excerpt is from The Day LA Died by Larry Nevenhoven, ©2015, Amazon eBook)

(Continued in Part 9…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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September 22, 2018 · 10:43 am

Churches: Fellowships Without Fellowship (Part 2)

 

Why did God pour out the ten plagues on Egypt?

It all began almost thirty-five hundred years ago with Moses having a burning bush experience. It was there that God said, “I have seen the oppression of My people and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. So I have come down to deliver them out of their bondage and bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Moses eventually accepted His calling and headed for Egypt.

When Moses arrived in Egypt, he met with the elders and told them how God was going to set the Israelites free. The elders rejoiced, bowed their heads, and worshipped God.

That jubilant attitude by the elders and the Israelites lasted until Moses walked into Pharaoh’s court and said, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Let My people go.'”

“Ain’t no way, Moses,” said Pharaoh, “I’m not setting 600,000 male slaves free.”

Next, Pharaoh persecuted the Israelites and beat the officers who were in charge of the Israelite slave workers. Because of the spirit of anguish and cruel bondage, the Israelites no longer listened to Moses.

God did what only God can do, He poured out a powerful anointing on Moses, so that he could confront Pharaoh with boldness and speak truth to the Israelites, which they would listen to and obey.

Over several weeks, God poured out ten plagues on Egypt: blood, frogs, lice, flies, disease on Egyptian livestock, boils on man and beast, locusts, darkness, and death of the first-born. Each plague was aimed at a particular Egyptian god.

Finally, Egypt and its gods were plundered and destroyed by the Lord God of Israel. Pharaoh and the Egyptians said to Israel, “Leave or we will all be dead!”

But God was not quite done yet, He led the Israelites to the Red Sea, which became a trap for them when Pharaoh changed his mind. Pharaoh and his whole army soon followed and drew near to the Israelites.

What did Israel do?

They panicked and said, “Oh dear! Our God is not big enough! We should have lived and died in Egypt as slaves rather than trusting in God.”

But even so, God destroyed the Egyptian army in the Red Sea.

The Israelites danced and sang a new song to the Lord.

Hallelujah!

So, why did God pour out the ten plagues on Egypt?

Yes, the plagues obviously convinced Egypt to let the Israelites go free, but a second reason was that God wanted to set the Israelites free of their desires to ever return to bondage again.

Yet, when the times got tough, Israel always thought about returning to the bondages of Egypt and its cruel gods.

Ah, but there was also a third reason for the plagues.

“Return to Me, O backsliding children,” says the Lord, “for I am married to you…” (Jeremiah 3:14)

Israel was the Lord’s bride, He loved her, and wanted to have a deep relationship with her. He hoped to remove every one of her lovers so He would be the apple of her eye.

Who else is is known as a bride of the Lord?

(Continued in Part 3…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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September 21, 2018 · 5:21 am

The Apostles: Men Doomed to Die (Part 7)

praying

The university auditorium was packed to capacity for the debate between Dr. Hiram Love, author of Gays Are Holy, Too, and Paul Simon, a Christian businessman. The middle-aged businessman was a last-minute replacement for a noted Christian apologist who suffered from the flu.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we welcome you to tonight’s debate,” said the moderator. “The topic for our debate, Is Homosexuality A Sin, seems to be a hot-button subject in our state right now with the Prop 8 vote and its follow-up lawsuits. The format for our debate is that each debater has thirty minutes to put forth his views on whether or not homosexuality is a sin. Then, in the second hour, the two will go head to head in a point and counterpoint match up. Dr. Love won the coin toss and will go first. Dr. Love, are you ready?”

Dr. Love nodded and walked to the podium. His herringbone sport coat with brown leather elbow patches added a professorial look to his thick frame and bearded face.

“Do you know how many times Jesus mentioned homosexuality was a sin in the four Gospels?” said Dr. Love. He paused as his blue eyes scanned the audience, as if looking for an answer. Then, he added, “Not once!”

A short titter raced through the audience.

“That’s right, not once,” said Dr. Love. “Wouldn’t you think that such a supposed vile and abominable sin as homosexuality would have at least been mentioned once by our Lord? He mentioned divorce as a sin. He mentioned greed and idolatry. But not once did he mention homosexuality.”

Dr. Love spent the half hour laying out the hypothesis that homosexuality was not a sin by what Jesus did and did not mention. He referred to Jesus’ words, the red letter ones of the four Gospels, as the framework for Christianity.

When Dr. Love finished, the audience softly clapped their approval. He backed away from the podium and walked over to his chair on the right side of the stage.

“Mr. Simon,” said the moderator, “are you ready?”

Paul Simon nodded.

The audience checked him out as he walked from his chair to the podium. His short stature, undistinguished features and ill-fitting sport coat were noticed by all. Who let this country yokel in here? The audience collectively wondered.

“Jesus’ main message was about the Kingdom of God,” said Simon, in a stammering voice. “The Apostle Paul further defined the Kingdom when he wrote: ‘Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge themselves in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.”

Simon caught his breath before proceeding, “The apostle Paul also stated that the Kingdom does not consist in words, but in power.”

Next, Simon stepped to the side of the podium and switched on his lapel microphone. Every eye watched him.

“When I was asked to replace the featured Christian debater, I told them I’m not a great speaker so I had two requests. One was for a lapel microphone. And two, I asked to be allowed to demonstrate my position on the Kingdom of God. They agreed to both of my requests,” he said as he walked down the steps of the stage to the audience level.

He walked over to a woman sitting in a wheelchair next to a front row seat.

“Ma’am, would you please stand up?” he asked.

“What?” said the thin lady who looked to be thirty-five years old, “I can’t stand up. I’m totally paralyzed and have been since an auto accident twenty years ago.”

“In Jesus’ name, stand up,” proclaimed the man.

She jumped out of the wheelchair. Then, realizing what happened, she walked and ran and jumped. She screamed, “I’m healed.”

Her parents ran to her and joined the celebration.

Simon turned away from the lady and continued praying for other people. A blind man received his sight. A woman’s lungs were cleared of emphysema. A college football player’s knee was healed. He prophesied over people and prayed for many others.

When his half hour was up, Simon returned to the podium. He turned toward Dr. Love and said, “Let’s see you confirm your teachings with miracles, signs and wonders. If you can’t, then why should anyone listen to you?”

Dr. Love stood up and walked off the stage, not looking back at the apostle of God.

And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest in the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

This is only a glimpse of the near future because the end-time apostles will not back down from fights.

(Continued in Part 8…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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September 20, 2018 · 6:04 am

Prayers for America (9/20/2018)

Unless a person has been in a coma, I’d guess that everyone who has a TV or a computer has heard that Professor Christine Blasey Ford has made allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh who is seeking a Supreme Court Judge’s seat.

Ford claimed that Kavanagh tried to force himself on her and remove her clothes at a drinking party which was held thirty-six years ago. She would have been fifteen years of age at the time and he would have been seventeen years old.

The supposed witnesses as named by Ford do not corroborate her story.

Thus, it ends up being a “she said” versus “he said” assertion by Ford.

If Ford’s claims are true and Kavanaugh is lying, he doesn’t deserve to be a Supreme Court Judge.  But if Ford is lying, she deserves to pay a penalty of some sort.

My prayer today:

Lord, send Your light and truth into the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on Judge Brett Kavanaugh to guide the senators to Your truth concerning these allegations by Professor Ford. (Based on Psalm  43:3)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for America.

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