Category Archives: Prophecy

July 7, 2015 · 10:35 am

Tuesday’s Prayers for Prisoners (7/7/2015)

Slum in Manila
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We all think of J. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, as a mighty man of faith, but that’s because we can look at his accomplishments on the mission field. Yet, in the mid-1800’s, he was considered a radical and an oddball by other missionary societies who even warned their people to stay away from him.

Why was Taylor considered a radical and an oddball?

Because he dared to evangelize and do missionary work in China far differently than the accepted practices of the other missionary societies.

Not long ago, a biographer said of J. Hudson Taylor:

No other missionary in the nineteen centuries since the Apostle Paul has had a wider vision and has carried out a more systematised plan of evangelising a broad geographical area than Hudson Taylor. (Ruth Tucker)

Today, I prayed:

Lord, raise up hundreds of radical oddballs for Asia who dare to trust Your ways and are willing to ignore the accepted practices of our day. Pour out Your anointing upon them and set them loose in the various nations of Asia.

Join with me on Tuesdays to fast and pray for prisoners in Asia, according to Hebrews 13:3.

Why Asia?

1. 4.4 billion people live in Asia.

2.. 85.4% of world’s unevangelized people live in Asia. (Unevangelized means they may have heard the gospel but have no understanding on how to respond.)

3. The world’s three largest non-Christian religions – Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhists – are based in Asia.

4. Of the 37 countries of the world that are less than 10% Christian, 32 are in Asia. Of the 14 countries, that are less than 2% Christian, 12 are in Asia.

5. 85-90% of unreached people live in Asia. (Unreached means that they have never heard the name of Jesus.) (Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation)

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July 6, 2015 · 8:33 am

Will God Judge America (Part 6)

We Americans expect spiritual John Waynes to arrive on white horses during our nation’s worst times and rescue us from imminent disasters. This has often happened in the past when men, like John Wesley, George Whitefield, Charles Finney, Billy Sunday, Billy Graham, and others, have called America away from the spiritual abyss.

So, is there still some balm in Gilead for America?

Let’s look back at the events of the 2008 presidential election.

At the Democratic Convention in Denver, August 25-28, 2008, the party selected the two most radical pro-abortion candidates in the history of America as its standard bearers: Senator Barack Obama and Senator Joseph Biden. Both were Planned Parenthood endorsed candidates.

The Republicans countered at their convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, September 1-4, 2008, with two pro-life candidates in Senator John McCain and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Governor Palin’s refusal to abort her son, Trig, a Down Syndrome baby, focused America’s eyes on the abortion issue.

Soon after the Republican convention, the polling data showed a dead even race between Obama/Biden and McCain/Palin. This was a remarkable comeback for McCain who had lagged behind Obama in the double-digit percentage range for weeks.

McCain/Palin finally inched into the lead heading into the second week of the month.

Then, on September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection. The following day, the Federal Reserve authorized an $85 billion bailout loan for AIG. Financial news swirled out of control until the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 was enacted, which then established the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

With the bad economic news, Obama/Biden surged back into the lead and McCain/Palin wilted on the campaign trail. President Obama eventually won with a landslide victory on election night.

Spike Lee, film director and producer, later declared: “God Himself ordained the financial crisis to happen when it did in order to propel Barack Obama to victory.”

Lee’s words have haunted me over the last two years. Was he correct?

There’s no doubt in my mind the Lord could have held back the financial crisis until after the presidential election, but He didn’t. Why not? I wondered. After all, if the financial crisis had not hit, McCain could have been elected president and the Supreme Court’s balance could have been shifted to the right by now, with a better chance of Roe versus Wade being overturned sometime in the near future.

When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19: 41 – 44)

Why did Jesus prophesy Jerusalem’s death warrant on the first Palm Sunday?

… because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:44)

The Greek word episkope in verse 44 is translated into our English word visitation in most Bible translations. Yet, episkope does not imply a visitor stopping by for a friendly visit. Its true meaning suggests that God the Judge visits a nation, examining the people to determine whether they should be blessed or cursed by Him.

Yes, Jesus is the Prince of Peace, but He is also the stumbling stone and a rock of offense, whereupon people and nations stumble, falling to their doom.

Jesus’ prophecy was fulfilled in 70 AD when a Roman army under General Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, killing over a million Jews in the process.

It’s now my sincere belief that the 2008 Financial Crisis was a plumb line event, which the Lord allowed to happen to discover how America measured up to Him.

Was America looking straight up to Him and His ways or was the nation tilted off center, leaning in another direction? What did the plumb line event reveal to the Judge?

Lou Engle, leader of the Call, stated it best: “In this election, we have bowed our knees to Baal and chosen prosperity over posterity.”

I agree with Engle and believe our nation failed the test. And I sincerely believe the Judge has signed America’s death warrant. It’s just a matter of time until the execution is carried out.

So, in retrospect, Spike Lee’s words proved to be accurate.

(An excerpt from New Wind Blowing by Larry Nevenhoven, Amazon eBook, published in 2008)

I wrote New Wind Blowing almost seven years ago, just after the historic election of an African-American man to the presidency of America. I believed then that we Americans could not repent enough to stop a massive Judgment of God from hitting America. Today, I believe it even more.

Maybe you disagree and even believe God will send us revival instead of His judgment. I hope you’re right, but can anyone really hope America will listen to a new generation of prophets who will speak messages of repentance?

I myself hold little hope this will happen and intend to spend little time on such an effort. Instead, I believe we Christians need to:

…strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus…(Hebrews 12: 1-2 Amplified Bible)

No doubt, the appointed course of the race that is set before us will not be an easy one and we must prepare ourselves for it. (An excerpt from New Wind Blowing)

(Conclusion. The full series can be read by clicking on Teaching Series above or here.)

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July 5, 2015 · 7:12 am

Will God Judge America? (Part 5)

Let’s study an example of the early Jerusalem church.

Jesus prophesied a Death Warrant for Jerusalem in 30 A.D.

The early Jerusalem church reacted to His prophecy by preaching and living the gospel of the kingdom of God. And as often as possible, they reminded Jerusalem of its errors.

Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ – this Jesus whom you crucified. (Acts 2: 36)

You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. (Acts 7:51)

After Stephen’s death in 35 A.D., many Christians fled Jerusalem, but the apostles remained and continued preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.

Even Herod’s cruel harassment of the church in 45 A.D. did not diminish its presence in the city. It continued to prosper in the midst of on-again and off-again persecutions for the next twenty years.

Luke’s account of the gospel was written in 60 A.D. His info came from eyewitnesses, probably the apostles. Thus, we know that Jesus’ Death Warrant prophecy was still resonating in the church at that time – almost thirty years later.

Then in 67 A.D., a Christian gave a prophetic word to the Jerusalem church. It reminded everyone of Jesus’ Death Warrant prophecy and warned of Jerusalem’s upcoming devastation. The prophecy advised all believers to flee the city.

By 69 A.D., Christians heeded the prophecy and left Jerusalem. So, when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D., none of the Jerusalem church’s members perished in the siege.

We Christians need to follow the example of the early church. Like them, we are, first of all, citizens of the kingdom of God. Our American citizenship is secondary and temporary in comparison to our kingdom of God citizenship.

Our orders do not come from a president, a governor, or a mayor, but instead from a King. Whether we stay or leave a city should depend on Him, and not our personal fears or whims. And if we are staying, we need to heed the words Jesus spoke in His parable about a nobleman going to distant country:

“…Do business till I come.” (Luke 19:13 NKJ)

If we choose to stay, then we need to help reduce the pain and impact of the Lord’s upcoming tougher judgments on America so all can run with endurance the race set before us.

What do I believe the Lord wants us Christians to do now?

First, the Vietnam War was a divisive conflict for America. On the one side were the doves, or anti-war groups, and opposing them were the hawks, or pro-war groups. The divisiveness from this war has continued forward into today’s America, and even into the Body of Christ.

So, we believers must check our hearts to see if we harbor any bitterness against America as a whole or against various anti-war or pro-war groups. If we discover bitterness in our hearts, these sins must be dealt with at the cross of Jesus Christ and forgiveness received.

Second, we Christians need to repent of our selfishness regarding the Vietnam War. Sadly, we have only cared about the pain inflicted upon us Americans. We have ignored the anguish suffered by the people of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

Third, we Christians need to ask the Lord to raise up men, women, and groups that will go to the Southeast Asian immigrants in our communities and ask forgiveness for America’s lies, deceits, and broken promises to their native countries. Some Christians may even be asked by the Lord to travel as His ambassadors to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos to ask forgiveness of the people there.

Fourth, Christians need to stand in the gap and make financial intercession for our nation’s failure to keep its promises of aid to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos during the 1970’s. This can be accomplished by giving gifts of money to the poor and needy in these countries, many of who are still suffering from America’s broken promises.

Fifth, we need to seek the Lord to discover what other national sins, besides our treacherous handling of the Vietnam War, have caused abortion, illegal aliens, debt, unemployment, urban woes, drought, lackluster leaders, and Islamic terrorism to fall as God’s judgments on America. And we need to do it now!

Will this be tough to do? Yes, of course, but when has repentance ever been easy for a nation to swallow? (An excerpt from New Wind Blowing by Larry Nevenhoven, Amazon eBook, published 2008)

If we do the above, will we avoid harsher judgments by God in the future?

(Continued in Part 6)

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July 1, 2015 · 8:09 am

Will God Judge America (Part 2)

Jesus spoke these words to the Jews of His day, but He could have just as well spoken them to today’s Americans:

“You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.” (Matthew 13:14-15)

I realize we American Bible-believing Christians have our danders up over the Supreme Court’s recent 5-4 ruling regarding same-sex marriages. It’s now the law of the land and legal in all fifty states. And, of course, we Bible believers are talking about the Judgment of God – à la Sodom and Gomorrah style.

But is this true? Will the Judgment of God fall on America sometime in the near future?

I don’t believe so — because I believe it is already happening now.

You see, I believe the first extreme Judgment of God fell on America on January 22, 1973, the day the Supreme Court settled the Roe Versus Wade case by stating that abortion was a fundamental right of American women. Since then over 60 million babies have been aborted.

Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb… (Deuteronomy 28:18)

And then there’s illegal immigration with over 30 million illegal aliens entering America since 1973.

The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. (Deuteronomy 28:43)

And forty-four percent of our national debt is owed to foreign nations and foreign banks.

They [Foreigners] will lend money to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail! (Deuteronomy 28:44)

And we’re at war with terrorists organizations such as ISIS and Al Qaeda.

The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand, a hard-faced nation who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young. (Deuteronomy 28:49-50)

And we Americans are unemployed and losing our jobs to foreigners.

Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. (Deuteronomy 28:17)

And our cities have major problems.

Cursed shall you be in the city… (Deuteronomy 28:16)

And our leaders are confused and we’re frustrated with them.

The Lord will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do…(Deuteronomy 28: 20)

And California has a historic four-year drought, which affects everyone in America.

The Lord will make the rain of your land powder…(Deuteronomy 28:24)

And on and on it goes.

We’re wringing our hands and worried about the Judgment of God maybe hitting America, but in fact, we’ve been living under the curses and Judgments of God for over forty years. It’s just that we’ve been dull-minded, with our ears and eyes closed to the spiritual facts.

Our failure is that we believers have not asked the single, most important question of the Lord.

(Continued in Part 3)

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June 29, 2015 · 12:29 pm

Will God Judge America? (Part 1)

When Jesus began His ministry in 27 AD, Judea and Jerusalem had been under harsh Roman rule for over sixty years. King Herod sat on the throne and considered himself to be “King of the Jews,” although he was not from the lineage of King David, was appointed by Rome, and was of Arab ancestry.

The priests that ran the Temple were mainly Sadducees, who were aristocrats that did not believe in a resurrection of the dead, an afterlife, and angels or demons. The two high priests, Annas and Caiaphas, were Sadducees and appointed by King Herod. Both high priests were not a part of the lineage of Aaron or even Levites.

The Romans forced the Jews to pay high taxes as did King Herod, who was rebuilding the Temple and other buildings. Life was a daily struggle for the Jews, living in Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.

If you check out Deuteronomy 28, you will discover that the Jews were struggling because they lived under the curse and suffered from the Judgments of God.

But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:28)

Jesus’ earthly ministry was aimed at the Jews because the promises of God were first given to the Jews. He constantly preached a message of repentance to them.

How did Jerusalem and Judea respond to Jesus’ ministry? Not well.

“How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not accept your opportunity for salvation.” (Luke 19:42-43)

Jesus prophesied the total destruction of Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday. His prophecy came to pass on 70 AD when Rome destroyed Jerusalem, its Temple, and killed nearly one million Jews.

So, if God judged His chosen people, why do we Americans think that we can avoid His judgments?

(Continued in Part 2)

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June 28, 2015 · 7:17 am

Inside Israel

The Shuk in Jerusalem

Once again, it’s time to hear from our sister in Jerusalem about what she is witnessing there as a believer in Yeshua. Put your prayer shawls on and pray for Israel and Sister J. Now here she is …

Blessings to you this day dear brothers and sisters. May His glory be in your midst.

“I was glad when they said to me, Let us go unto the house of The Lord. Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem! Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together. Where the tribes go up, the tribes of The Lord, to the Testimony of Israel to give thanks to the Name of the Lord for throes are set there for judgment. The thrones of the house of David. ‘Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your palaces.’ For the sake of my brethren and companions I will now say ‘Peace be in You.’ Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek your good.” Psalm 122 A song of Ascents.

The “songs of Ascents” are literally the songs that were sung as the tribes made their way up to Jerusalem for the 3 feasts (Passover, Shavuot or weeks or Pentecost, and Sukkot or feast of tabernacles) that contain the command for all of the men of Israel to come up and worship here. They were to bring their offerings and to give thanks and be blessed. These songs are STILL sung today, both traditionally and even in music heard on the radio. And yes, as people still make their way up to Jerusalem during the feasts.

As I read this Psalm this morning as part of my regular devotions I thought first about Jerusalem being built as a “city that is compacted together.” I blurted out, “Why, Lord, did you bring me of all people to a city so compacted together when You made me one who longs for the quiet places?”

Yep, feeling low today. I still haven’t been feeling well and even missed kehila (our fellowship) last night. Indeed a rare event for me.

But His answer came quickly and without rebuke: “Write…tell them…see, hear, tell them…for I’m building My temple even here…My body is being built into a holy temple fit for My Presence…be My eyes and ears and witness for what I AM doing.”

“For the sake of my brethren and companions I will now say ‘Peace be in You.’ Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek your good.”

I thought about His body here (His house according to scripture), thinking of each face and of each one’s struggles. It isn’t easy being part of His body here and it can be lonely, although we are “a city compacted together,” we are also busy busy bees and very much spread out one from another.

Then I thought of each of you and those who I am NOT in contact with, but whom I have loved over the years, parts of His body, being built together for His glory into heavenly Jerusalem. Never an easy walk. For if we are truly being built together, we are being chiseled away and dropped deep into the Refiners fire.

So, enough of feeling low! Repent, brush it off and get busy doing what He told me to do and leave the rest to Him.

What DO my eyes and ears see here in Jerusalem at this time?

I imagine that most of you are pretty caught up in your own rapidly moving events during this world changing time. Well, yesterday a 25 year old Israeli was killed and another wounded as they returned from a hike. A Palestinian stopped them to ask for help, but after asking if they were Jewish he fired at point blank range. And just now a soldier was stabbed in the neck at the Old City’s Damascus Gate not too far from here. He is reported as fighting for his life.

The Iranian deal that our government has cried out against (to the irritation of the rest of the world) is looming before us. The boycott, divest, sanction movement against Israel has also forced itself into our daily reality as it is growing as an aggressive cancer worldwide. It really has become rather alarming in that it somehow legitimized the ugliest forms of anti-semitism, seemingly dead or at least stifled since WWII.

We are again inundated with weighty dignitaries from all over Europe seeking to and threatening to apply all sorts of pressure to impose a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, restoring the indefensible ’67 borders, releasing prisoners, dividing Jerusalem and so forth. The Syrian war – so sad! – inches ever closer to us and the tension between the US leadership and the Israeli leadership continues to approach freezing levels. Plus, it’s Ramadan.

Not the most encouraging news.

I was thinking of that as I read a different portion in the scriptures this morning: John 7:42-53.

At one point the Pharisees quote the scriptures concerning the place of Messiah’s birth, but they did not apparently know that He had been born in Bethlehem. Later, they said, with Nicodemus present, “Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed on Him?” Although in several places as I read John it has already said that some of the leaders believed, but kept it quiet.

It made me think, really with trembling, that WE KNOW NOTHING except by THE DISCERNMENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT! It seems to me that The Lord has made us in a way that we CAN not discern His way BUT by The Spirit AND The Word working TOGETHER in our lives.

I’m saying this because as The Lord reminds me to be a witness to what I see, even that has to be weighed in the Light of His Word by His Spirit. The more I read The Word I wonder how I could have missed for so many years the centrality of His plans and purposes concerning the Jews and Israel in His heart. I DID miss it however, until He, by His Spirit, began planting a God-given hunger in me until He could speak more and more clearly and make me a better follower of Him.

But even in that, I don’t claim to have the entire picture: just the part that He has given me. Part of my part is to beg anyone who listens to me to SEEK HIS SPIRIT WITH HIS WORD. I’m pretty sure that you all know this and do it, and I’m probably as annoying as Netanyahu is when constantly says that the Iranian deal is a bad one. But it just seems to me that as the days get more and more dangerous, we need His discernment more and more. I hear so many who seem to be off on bunny-trails. May we major in Knowing Him and trust Him to lead us by His Spirit into all Truth; AND TO BE FAITHFUL TO THE TRUTH THAT WE HAVE.

So, Jerusalem is compacted together. Ha!

I came home from work on Thursday to see that the city had, for some reason TOTALLY unknown to me, lobbed off the large leafy limbs of the one tree in front of our apartment that thankfully had blocked my view (and somewhat muffled the noise) of the train, the traffic and the buildings. I was NOT happy!

There at the foot of the trunk laid a huge pile of greenery that I had DELIGHTED in. Possibly the thing that I enjoyed most about our apartment. I loved watching the birds right in front of my face as I looked out of the window or the balcony (merapeset), and they enjoyed me. Now there it was: our apartment, naked to the sight of everyone as the train stopped in front. My mouth fell open.

I wailed to my husband when I walked in the house, “WHY DID THEY DO THAT TO ME?”

“Huh?” he answered. “Who did what to you?” He hadn’t noticed. Different priorities.

‘Oh Lord, You have my attention! It’s noisy! It’s even LESS pretty here! So, here I am…Your servant… Yours to do with as You wish. Get glory…and HELP ME TO MEAN THAT”

As if to mock my prayer the dying branches laid in an ugly pile below my window. He answers prayer, but in His time. He brought us here for His purposes, and not for my comfort.

So, enough thoughts and comments. God bless you and encourage you in Him. I send my love,

Your sister J

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June 26, 2015 · 9:17 am

Do We Still Cast Out Demons (Part 2)

Put on your Bible thinking caps for a moment, okay?

How many demons did Abraham cast out of people during his many journeys? How many demons did Moses cast out? Or Joshua? Or King David? Or Elijah? Or Elisha? Or Isaiah? Or Jeremiah? Or Ezekiel? Or Daniel?

And what about John the Baptist?

For he [John the Baptist] will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. (Luke 1:15)

Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest prophet that was born under the Law, and even though John was filled with the Holy Spirit, he never cast out one demon during his twelve to eighteen months of ministry.

The angel Gabriel even talked with John’s father, Zacharias, about the special son that Elizabeth was going to give birth to, and said:

“He [John the Baptist] will go before Him [Jesus] in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:17)

But yet, with all the power that heaven invested in John the Baptist, he did not cast out one demon. Not one!

So, why did John the Baptist fail to cast out demons? And why did all of the Old Testament heroes of the faith fail to cast out demons?

(Continued in Part 3)

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June 25, 2015 · 12:37 pm

Thursday’s Prayers for America (6/25/2015)

The biggest struggle that most of us Christians face each day is our fear of men. We most certainly don’t want other people to ridicule us for our Christian beliefs and then suffer any consequences for holding onto these beliefs.

We desire both the praises of men and the praises of God, but there’s a problem with this type of thinking.

The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe. (Proverbs 29:25)

The Hebrew word mowqesh is translated into the English word snare. The Hebrew word picture for mowqesh suggests a noose lying on the ground waiting for an animal to step into it and be caught.

Today, I prayed:

Lord, help us American believers to reckon ourselves dead to the sin of the fear of man and alive to the righteousness of of God in Christ so that we do not allow this foul sin to reign in our mortal bodies and to obey its lusts. (Based on Romans 6:11-12)

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

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

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June 22, 2015 · 10:03 am

Do We Still Cast Out Demons? (Part 1)

The sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed laid under the five porches near the pool of Bethesda and in the shadows of the Temple. All awaited the waters in the pool to be stirred up by an angel because the first one to step into the pool would be healed. The others – even though they had waited for months and maybe years – who then followed the first man into the water would not be healed.

An unknown Man walked into their midst. He stepped over and around numerous sick people as if He were looking for one individual. Many grunted and complained that He was in their way and ruined their chances of getting healed if the angel arrived at that moment. The Man ignored their complaints as He searched the porches.

Finally, He walked up to one man and said, “Do you want to be made well?”

The sick man answered by listing his reasons why he had not been healed.

Jesus said, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”

The man was totally healed. He picked up his bed and carried it away, even though it was the Sabbath.

Then, what followed is described in the Bible as the greatest healing crusade in Jesus’ ministry. Everyone rushed or called out to Him, asking to be healed. And everyone was healed and glorified the God of Israel.

Actually, disregard the last paragraph because it never happened. Not one of the other sick people said anything to Him.

Oh yes! The people saw Jesus heal the man, but as soon as it happened, they turned their eyes back to the pool in hopes the angel might show up.

They couldn’t move past their Temple teachings and traditions to see the Fountain of Living Water standing in their midst. After all, this religious practice had healed a few in the past. Why change?

Sadly, this is where the Church stands today.

So, do we believers still cast out demons?

(Continued in Part 2)

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June 19, 2015 · 8:31 am

Was That The Voice of God or Daffy Duck? (Part 3)

Pastor Jim asked me to meet him for lunch at a Des Moines Burger King in hopes we could work out our disagreements about prophesying. I looked forward to working out our issues.

We both ordered burgers and sat outside at a metal table. Jim explained his feelings in between bites.

“If you attend the school of prophecy and submit yourself under my pastoral authority, I will release you into fulltime ministry when the Lord tells me you’re ready,” he said.

“So, you want me to submit myself under your authority until the Lord speaks to you, right?”

“Yes, that’s basically it.”

“What if you don’t hear the Lord’s voice for my life and calling?”

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

“That’s a big deal to me, because my calling stands before Jesus, not you. It’s my responsibility to hear His voice, not yours,” I said.

I ended up doing what was best for both of us by leaving the Des Moines Vineyard Church. We blessed each other and hugged before parting.

(An excerpt from my memoir, The Hunt for Larry Who, an Amazon eBook.)

One of the biggest hindrances to hearing the voice of God is that we allow someone else to do it for us. You see, it doesn’t matter if an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher, elder, deacon, or Grand Poobah thinks that he has heard the voice of God for us, we must still hear His voice for ourselves. It’s part of our new birthright in Christ to do so.

An infamous example of allowing a leader to usurp believers’ positions of hearing the voice of God for themselves was Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple. Over 900 members committed suicide on November 18, 1978, because of Jones’ belief that he heard God’s voice for everyone.

Yes, Jim Jones is a very extreme example, but according to scripture, there is only One who is allowed between us and God: