Tag Archives: Bible

November 23, 2024 · 2:39 pm

How Praying for Empty Parking Places Can Lead to Healing the Sick and Raising the dead (Part 2)

A little more than thirty-five years ago, I was the treasurer of the St. Edmond’s high school athletic boosters’ club and made an error, causing a financial problem in the boosters’ checking account. I prayed and asked the Lord for His help before calling the bank.

I phoned and explained the problem to a bank officer. She quickly told me the error would be handled and the funds restored into the checking account. I was so excited by how easily it worked out.

“Oh Lord, You care about small things, too,” I said aloud after hanging up.

“I care about all things,” said an audible voice.

I jumped off the stool and bowed down on the kitchen’s tile floor. Tears streamed down my face. I shook, wondering what would happen to me because the voice seemed so loud and so holy. I stayed in that position of reverence for several minutes.

This was the only time I have heard the audible voice of God in my thirty-nine years of walking with Him. Yet, I am still amazed at His response to my simple prayer. Maybe God wants to be invited into every part of our lives, even the mundane and the ordinary parts..

Now, I want to contrast the above situation with a recent problem that I had concerning a bad tire on the car I drove for U*B*E*R share rides. The problem nagged at me in the middle of the night. I eventually went downstairs an hour earlier than my usual waking time to seek the presence of the Lord.

“Lord, You are my refuge and my fortress; in You, I trust. So, help me in this situation,” I cried out to the Lord.

After waiting on the Lord, I felt the Holy Spirit speak Jeremiah 12:5 to my heart: “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?”

The Lord rebuked me!

He let me know that if I couldn’t trust Him with my life’s issues in today’s America, how would I be able to trust Him when major calamities hit our nation in the near future. Ouch!

And yet, His rebuke settled my heart. I was freed from my doubts and fears.

“Prayer is not about getting God to agree with our answers for our problems, but it’s about positioning us to stand with God and His answers for our circumstances,” said Tyler Staton, the head of the 24/7 Prayer Movement in America.

How can these two contrasting prayers prepare us for prayers of healing the sick and raising the dead?

(Continued in Part 3)

The Car Accident That Wasn’t

Last Tuesday, I was driving from Ft. Smith to Fayetteville, Arkansas, a trip of sixty miles over up-and-down terrain through the Boston Mountains. It was approximately 5:50 a.m. No moon. No stars. Extremely dark conditions with tall trees lining both sides of Interstate 49. My speedometer registered 75 miles per hour, the posted speed limit.

As I drove down a steep incline in the right lane, there were no vehicles in front of me nor any behind me. My only source of light were my car’s dimmed headlights.

All of a sudden, a deer stood directly in front of me. The doe turned her head toward me. Somehow, I noticed a fawn off to the left, stopping to watch the action. If I could have sat on the hood of my car, I could have easily touched the deer.

I didn’t pray or shout or step on my brakes. There was no time, especially traveling 75 miles per hour or 110 feet per second. I resigned myself to hitting the deer.

Then, just like that, the doe appeared on the right side of my car, wagging its white tail and heading toward the tree line.

I continued speeding down the road while I tried to digest what had just happened. I shut off the radio and began praising the Lord at the top of my lungs. Gratitude for the One who promised to “never leave me nor forsake me” consumed me for the next half hour.

Earlier that morning, I had prayed my usual prayer for my ride-share business: “Lord, schedule my day, don’t let me miss any of your divine appointments in the Fayetteville area. And Lord, give Your angels charge over me, to guard me in all of my ways and have Your angels lift me up, lest I strike my foot against a stone.”

Later, I also learned that Carol had been praying in the Spirit for a long time that morning.

So, I figured the Lord wanted to underline the importance of our daily prayers…but something continually nagged me.

Everything seemed so orchestrated. There was no way I could notice all of those details while traveling at 75 miles per hour. What was the Lord really trying to show me?

A couple of days later, two verses were impressed on me:

“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord of Hosts. “What are you, O great mountain [of obstacles]? Before Zerubbabel, you will become plain [insignificant]…with loud shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” (Zechariah 4:6-7 AMP)

The Lord is the greatest teacher in the history of the world. Who else could choreograph a deer, a young fawn, a speeding car and myself into an unforgettable life lesson for me?

Thus, whatever obstacles may seem to be holding me back – even a deer – are insignificant to the Spirit of the Lord and His grace.

Amen.

Who or What is Restraining the Antichrist? (Part 2)

For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective… (Hebrews 4:12a AMP)

The Bible contains 1,817 predictive prophecies. To date, approximately one half of them have been fulfilled. The remaining ones are expected to be fulfilled during the End-Times. Given God’s omniscience, He will always be 100% accurate.

Now, think about an Isaiah or Daniel or Zechariah or another prophet speaking an End-Times prophecy over 2,000 years ago. The words were spoken and written down for future reference. Yet, these are not just dead words penned on a scroll, but are living, powerful time-bombs awaiting their appointed times to explode forth in fulfilment.

Bless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word. (Psalm 103:20 NASB)

Who makes sure the Bible’s prophecies are fulfilled at the exact time specified by the Lord?

I believe God’s angels are assigned this task. Somehow, these chosen angels can hear the DNA guidelines within the prophetic words and know when the prophecies need to be fulfilled.

In 2 Kings 19:32-34, Isaiah spoke a powerful prophecy to King Hezekiah of Judah that the Assyrians would not come into Jerusalem or even shoot one arrow at the city and that the Assyrian army would retreat back to Assyria.

That night, one angel went into the camp of the Assyrians and killed 185,000 soldiers.

Gabriel gave insight to Daniel, Mary and Zacharias so that the prophetic narrative could be moved forward.

Michael fought the prince of Persia so that Gabriel could finally speak to Daniel. It is Michael who will arise when Israel is facing defeat in the End-Times. It is Michael who will wage war against Satan and his kingdom of darkness, casting them out of heaven and down to earth.

And it is an unnamed angel who chains Satan and throws him into the abyss for a thousand years.

These are only a few examples of angels carrying out God’s prophetic words.

And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 NASB)

So, who or what restrains the Antichrist?

I believe that Michael – the archangel who defends and has charge over Israel – is the one who restrains the Antichrist until God’s appointed time for the Antichrist to appear on the world scene.

Now, don’t go thinking that Michael uses a metal sword or a spear to restrain Satan from pushing his Antichrist agenda ahead of time. No, not at all! Michael uses the prophetic words of the Bible as his sword. And he probably tosses in a few, “The Lord rebuke you!” in Satan’s direction every so often.

Okay, I will hang my hat on Michael as the restrainer.

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Tagged as Antichrist, Bible, Christianity, God, Israel, Prophecy, Revelation, Spiritual warfare

June 22, 2024 · 7:33 am

Who or What is Restraining the Antichrist? (Part 1)

Do you remember Rosie Ruiz?

Rosie was the supposed female winner of the 1980 Boston Marathon in a record time of 2:31:56. Her posted time was the third fastest for a female in the history of marathons. (A marathon is 26 miles and 385 yards of grueling uphill, downhill road races, usually through urban areas.)

But upon inspection, Rosie had not passed through any of the checkpoints along the marathon route. She somehow skipped most of the race and reentered the marathon from a crowd of people only a half mile before the finish line.

Rosie was disqualified. The second-place finisher – Jacqueline Gareau – was declared the winner in a time of 2:34:38.

Checkpoints!

Does God have checkpoints for His redemption narrative intertwined in scriptures from the Book of Genesis to the Book of Revelation?

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons (Galatians 4:4-5 ESV)

How did God hold off messiah imposters from appearing on the scene, trying to take the place of Jesus before the fullness of time had come?

Prophecies!

God’s checkpoints for His redemption narrative in Scripture are prophecies.

Some of the prophecies Jesus had to fulfill at His first coming include:

1. Born of a virgin. (Isaiah 7:14)

2. Born into the lineage of King David (2 Samuel 7:12)

3. Born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)

4. Called out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1)

5. Born into the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10)

6. Live in Galilee and be called a Nazarene (Isaiah 9:1-2)

7. Massacre of children at Jesus’ birth (Jeremiah 31:15)

Neither man nor Satan could have figured out or fulfilled the above seven prophecies ahead of time. Only God through His omniscience and His power could fulfill these prophecies.

Okay, what about Jesus’ second coming? Who or what is restraining the Antichrist?

(Continued in Part 2)

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Tagged as Bible, Christianity, End-Times, Faith, jesus, Prophecy

January 7, 2024 · 4:48 pm

In the recent spiritual and sexual abuse scandals, could the church leaders have avoided moral failure by undergoing deliverance? (Part 3)

Judson Cornwall (1924 – 2005) was a noted preacher, pastor and prolific author of over 50 books, some of which are considered classics today.

Cornwall was invited to be the main speaker for a graduation ceremony at Elim Bible Institute in Lima, New York. He concluded his speech by saying, “Let me offer you some advice. Don’t go directly from this ceremony into fulltime ministry or to being a church pastor. Take three or four or five years off. Get a job and work in the market place. Discover the problems normal people struggle with every day. You will learn how to better relate to your congregations and how to help them. And all the while, the Holy Spirit will change you. So, do your congregations a favor, get a job.”

The result of Cornwall’s wise advice was that Elim Bible Institute never invited him to speak again at their college.

*******

Four months after Vice President Mike Pence eulogized Ravi Zacharias as “the greatest apologist of this century,” Zacharias’ reputation began falling apart. Three women who worked at two spas he co-owned in the Atlanta area came forth, alleging sexual harassment and abuse by Zacharias.

Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) hired a law firm to investigate Zacharias. Their 12-page report contained findings far worse than anyone could have ever imagined. Two hundred contacts of female massage therapists with photos, some in the nude, were on Zacharias’ cell phones. A trail of misuse of RZIM funds to fund his sexual escapades in the US, India, Thailand and Malaysia was uncovered.

The law firm’s best estimates were that Zacharias’ sexual escapades had happened over the ten-year period leading up to just a few months before his death.

One woman told the investigators that “after he arranged for his ministry to provide her with financial support, he required sex from her.” She called it rape.

She said Zacharias “made her pray with him to thank God for the ‘opportunity’ they both received” and, as with other victims, “called her his ‘reward’ for living a life of service to God,” the report says. Zacharias warned the woman—a fellow believer—if she ever spoke out against him, she would be responsible for millions of souls lost when his reputation was damaged.

More information can be read here and here.

******

Okay, here’s my supposition and like all opinions, it can be somewhat true or totally false. So, reader beware!

Zacharias was delivered from the kingdom of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of God when he was seventeen years old. He was saved.

But like me, he may still have had some iniquity intertwined with his personality by puppet strings leading to a demon. This demon may have been able to pull on his soul – mind, will and emotions – at various times throughout his life, tempting him toward his inner sexual lusts. His inner lusts may have slowly overcome his spiritual learning and fear of the Lord, until he finally fell into sin. And the sin eventually became full-grown so that he was completely dead to any conviction by the Holy Spirit.

Was Ravi Zacharias ever possessed by the demon? No, but he was heavily deceived.

Maybe if Ravi Zacharias’ path would have crossed with Judson Cornwall, maybe Zacharias would have listened to the wise advice. But this did not happen because Zacharias moved from high school graduation, to emigrating to Canada, to Bible school, to marriage, to studying for his Masters of Divinity and then working in fulltime ministry. He never worked a normal job.

Thus, no friends talked with him after a church service, asking to pray for him so that he could be delivered from the demon.

Why have I mentioned Zacharias not having a normal job? Is this really that important?

Once Zacharias stepped into a pulpit of a traditional church, his gifting elevated him far above the people sitting in the pews before him. The congregation could no longer talk to him on an equal basis.

Can you imagine confronting Ravi Zacharias about his demon and his need for deliverance after a pulpit appearance? I can’t imagine that ending well, can you?

The biggest chasm in the traditional church system is between the pulpit and the pews. Seldom is there a bridge between the two.

I’ve used Ravi Zacharias in my article for a few reasons. One, he is dead; and two, there is so much info available about him.

But I have done some checking on other sexual abuse scandals, almost every pastor and leader has followed Zacharias’ example. Could these scandals have been avoided by deliverance from a demon at an earlier age? Maybe.

The comedian Flip Wilson used to joke, “The devil made me do it!”

Yet, pastors and leaders can’t use that for an excuse because the man with 2,000 demons ran up to Jesus, bowed down and worshipped Him.

It still all comes down to having humility and a godly character

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Filed under Callings, Christianity, Demons, Prophecy, Sin

Tagged as Bible, Christianity, Christmas, Church, Faith, Prayer, Prophecy

April 29, 2019 · 7:30 am

A Simple Prayer

praying

Some people can be asked to pray by someone and then they pray for ten minutes without ever thinking or stuttering and stammering. And then there’s people like me. Maybe you, too.

If the Holy Spirit fuels my prayer, it might sound like heaven walked into the room and spoke through me. Now, this would be great if it happened all of the time, but sadly, it doesn’t occur often enough.

So what does an average believer like me do, right?

I do my best to memorize Bible verses. You see, one of these verses will usually fit into a prayer of some type for most any occasion. And after all, what could be better than praying God’s Word to God for Him to handle the situation I am praying about, right?

One of my favorite prayers:

Lord, I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to (name or names) the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of (his, her or their) understanding being enlightened; that (he, she or they) may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saintsand what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. In Jesus’ name, amen. (Based on Ephesians 1:17-20)

PS If you’re not good at memorizing verses, open your Bible and use it as your prayer book. God won’t care and the people won’t know. All will be blessed though.

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Filed under Christianity, Faith, Prayer, Uncategorized

Tagged as Bible, Faith, Prayer

April 24, 2019 · 6:55 am

Simple Word for Today

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Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3 ESV)

Do nothing from factional motives [through contentiousness, strife, selfishness, or for unworthy ends] or prompted by conceit and empty arrogance. Instead, in the true spirit of humility (lowliness of mind) let each regard the others as better than and superior to himself [thinking more highly of one another than you do of yourselves]. (Philippians 2:3 AMP)

My prayer:

Lord, forgive me for my selfish ambition, empty arrogance and conceit. Help me to be humble and count others as more significant than myself. Help me to be more like You.

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Tagged as Bible, Faith, Humility, Prayer, Scripture

January 7, 2019 · 12:20 pm

Politicians, False Prophets and Jesus (Part 3)

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/TheWildBunch

Global Warming

What always encourages me when I look at today’s issues is what God said to the prophet Isaiah –

Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure” (Isaiah 46:10 NKJV)

Now, consider His words for a moment, which He repeated here and here.

Therefore, if we agree with the Bible, we then must believe that the Creator of heaven and earth saw all of today’s fuss and worry about global warming before He created the world and mankind, right? Yet, even so, He still went ahead with His creation, confidant that His counsel (plans and purposes) would be more than enough to withstand every problem in the future.

What were/are God’s plans?

Then God said, “Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26 AMP)

Notice that God gave authority to mankind over all the animals on the earth, but not over the weather, the various climates throughout the earth or over the solar system. This means He kept all of these in His own hands, right?

If we have any doubts about who is in charge of weather, these should all be erased with the mentioning of one incident –

When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the underground waters erupted from the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky. The rain continued to fall for forty days and forty nights. (Genesis 7:11-12 NLT)

A thousand years after the Great Flood, God made His covenant with Israel. He promised to give rain to the nation in its proper seasons so that Israel’s land would produce crops and its trees would bear fruit. These promises were predicated on Israel following God and obeying His law.

But if Israel failed to follow Him or obey His law, God promised to withhold the rain from from falling on Israel.

Have you ever wondered why the Arabs and other nations didn’t take over the land of Israel before the Jews returned in significant numbers to it in the Twentieth Century?

Rabbi Kohen points out the land suffered an unprecedented, severe and inexplicable (by anything other than supernatural explanations) drought that lasted from the first century until the 20th – a period of 1,800 years coinciding with the forced dispersion of the Jews…

For 1,800 years, it hardly ever rained in Israel. This was the barren land discovered by Mark Twain. So-called “Palestine” was a wasteland – nobody lived there. There was no indigenous Arab population to speak of. It only came after the Jews came back…(Joseph Farah, WND, 11/21/2007)

Nobody wanted the land of Israel until the Jews came back because it was a wasteland. God then allowed rain to fall on Israel.

Okay? God is in charge of weather and climates. Period.

But what about Satan? Can he influence weather?

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