Where are the miracles?

The bible is full of stories of miracles of every kind.  Jesus healed the sick, cast out demons and raised people from the dead.  In the Book of Acts we see many of the same miraculous examples performed by the Apostles.  Those critical of the supernatural are quick to point to powerless Christians of today as proof that these are nothing more than wild fables.  Even some Christians because of their lack of belief will claim this all stopped with the apostolic age.  They will make accusations that if Christians had the gift of healing today they would go clean out the sick at the local hospitals.  So what is the truth behind all of this?

There are many things to consider other than simply unbelief however.  In Acts chapter three we see a story of a man who was born lame and he was brought daily to the gate Beautiful to beg for alms.  Jesus went to the temple many times and likely walked past this man.  So why did Jesus not heal him?  Some time later when Peter and John walked by him they took him by the hand and he was miraculously healed.  Apparently the issue here was timing and God wanted to use this miracle to validate the ministry of the Apostles.

Because Apostle Paul was used in some cases to heal, it is believed by some, that he was in control of this gift of healing and could heal people at will.  This is obviously not the cause however because we can read that he left Trophimus sick at Miletus (2 Tim. 4:20).  We can also read where one of Paul's companions by the name of Epaphroditus was sick "to the point of death" and Paul writes "he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me"(Phil. 2:26-30).  So apparently this guy simply over extended himself and suffered the consequences.  People can end up sick for many reasons and God may or may not want to heal them.  If we continue to walk in unrepentant sin and unbelief we cannot expect God to bend over backward for us.  The scripture is very clear on this.

But your iniquities have made a separation between you
 and your God,  and your sins have hidden His face
 from you, so that He does not hear.

Isaiah 59:2

The reality is we live in a fallen world and the rain falls on the just and the unjust.  Even when we are trying to do good we at times can be slapped by the spillover affect of sin.  When a dentist is working on a patient that has AIDS he must be very careful not to get stuck by the infected needle he has used on his patient.  When we hang out with sinners there is more of a chance we could be nailed with the same judgment do to them.  If one wants to live in Sodom when God says he is about to destroy the whole city, well, you are on your own.  

Trump and Balaam's Ass

Did Balaam's donkey have to get saved 
in order for God to use him?

Works Righteousness?

I hear constant debates about grace verses works righteousness.  I have run into those who don't believe in baptism because they believe that it is a form of works righteousness.  Then there are those who will not do evangelism because it smacks of works.  And, please, don't call people to repentance because that is a form works righteousness.  Meanwhile the Jehovah's Witnesses are in our public parks and farmers market, and the Mormons are going door to door spreading true works righteousness of a false gospel.

This half-baked message of grace is often merely an excuse to avoid doing public evangelism because of fear.  Many churches have become places where hyper spiritual people hide from the world while debating about who the antichrist is or when the rapture is going to happen.

I say it is high time that we confront the cults

 wherever they raise their heads.  

And when the liberals say we are being judgmental,

 we should go after them as well.

While the Mormons are claiming that all of our creeds are an abomination and our professors are all corrupt, we should be saying, "Mormonism is a pack of lies that needs to be repented of".

Oh, as a side note, DON'T YOU JUDGE ME!

The Antichrist and a Jerusalem Temple

Theories on who the antichrist is have been raised and debunked since the early days of the church.  Irenaeus (A.D. 120-202), a disciple of Polycarp (who was a disciple of John the Apostle) wrote much in refuting ideas being presented in his day.  Numerous people whose names measured up to the numerical 666 have come and gone yet the end has not come.  Several decades after the temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed Irenaeus looked forward to another temple where the antichrist would reign for three and a half years.  Looking around us even in our day we can see the general definition of the antichrist present in many of our modern cults.

The preterist view presenting the notion that all, or at least most biblical prophecies have been fulfilled is a relatively modern cloud of deception that Christians run into today.  It leaves us with many unsolved questions however.  The early church in the second century, long after the temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans, were still looking toward a temple on Mount Zion in the city of David where the Antichrist would reign for three years and six months in Jerusalem.  Fast forward a few centuries and Catholic replacement theology did away with these second century hopes until when in 1948 Israel raised the star of David as a reminder that there is yet something more to this parcel of land that everyone fights over.  While second century saints were still being moved by the spirit of prophecy and casting out demons most preterists will claim that all of that stopped with the apostolic age.

So while Jerusalem has been trampled underfoot by Gentiles for nearly two thousand years we still look forward to the return of Christ who will destroy the lawless one whom Paul describes as taking his seat in the temple of God displaying himself as God (2 Thess. 2:3-10) that scripture may be fulfilled.  Yet all the while there will be many around us that will reject the truth, "and for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness" (2 Thess. 2:11-12).  Our hope is in the one "whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things, about which God spoke by the mouths of His holy prophets from ancient times" (Acts 3:21)

Barnes and Noble Drag Queen promo for kids

Barnes and Noble promotes the grooming of children

by highlighting Drag Queens reading to children.

There was plenty of police security July 6, 2019

in Kennewick, WA as the LGBTQ crowd promoted

their perversion to the kids at the Columbia Center Mall.

This is where we can vote with our feet and dollars and refuse to do any business at the mall and with any of those who promote such insanity. Brick and mortar stores are already hurting because of online sales.  Now this will be the straw that breaks the camel's back.  Pandering to sin is a bad business model.

Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea.  -Jesus Christ

How many baths make a Pentecostal?

When Solomon dedicated his temple to the Lord there was much fan fair and celebration.  The Holy Spirit came into the place in such an awesome way that the priest could not stand to minister.  This is the kind of event many of us long to experience and there have been many books written on how to achieve it.  More fasting and praying some say, while others say repentance is the answer.  I would like to suggest there is a bit more to it than either of those noble efforts.

During this temple event there happened to be 120 priests blowing trumpets.  These priests had washed in a bronze sea that held 3,000 baths (2 Chr. 4:2-6, 5:11-14).  This sea rested on the backs of 12 oxen each facing outward to the four corners of the globe.  Fast forward hundreds of years to the day of Pentecost (or Feast of Weeks, and what the Jews call Shavuot) when the followers of Christ were waiting for the promised coming of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem, there were 120 people from at least sixteen different nations gathered.  When the Holy Spirit fell upon these believers they received a message preached by Peter (one of the 12 Apostles) and 3,000 people were converted and baptized.

Comparing the numbers here suggests that it was not merely a result of a great prayer meeting of repentant saints but a divinely ordained time in God's plan for man.

BAHAISM and the Spirit of the Antichrist

 The Bahai concept of religious unity and international government is closely linked to the many other religious groups involved in the ecumenical movement, and at times associated with the "New Age" movement.  They are highly evangelistic in promoting their views.  Bahaism began in Persia as an offshoot of Islam, with Mirza Ali Muhammed (1819-1850).  In 1844 he announced that he was the Bab (the Gate) who would be the forerunner of the "Promised One" who would be a manifestation of God.  After his death, one of his followers, Baha'u'llah (the Glory of Allah), came to believe that he was this "Promised One".  Bahaism is considered a heresy by most Muslims and thousands have been murdered by fundamentalist jihadis.

Baha'u'lah claimed himself to be another manifestation of Christ and the fulfillment of the prophecy by Jesus in John 14:16-17 in which there was to come a SPIRIT or Comforter which would be with us forever.  Baha'u'llah however died in 1892 at the age of 75 and no longer with us.

Baha'u'llah's son, Abdul Baha, brought the new religion to the United States in 1912 and built a $2.5 temple in Wilamette, Illinois.

Bahai temple in Wilmette, Illinois

In Bahaism the Biblical and historical version of Christianity is modified.  Christ is robbed of his incarnate deity by placing him on the same level as the other religious teachers.  He is also accorded a position inferior to that granted to Baha'u'llah.  Bahais do not believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ, the inerrancy of the Bible, eternal punishment, a literal Hell, the blood atonement of the cross, nor Satan and his demons whom Jesus dealt with throughout his ministry.  Yet, they claim that Baba'u'llah taught the same things as the Bible.  Jesus' true believers have to deal with the Devil and resist his demons (Mark 16:17-18).

The Bible tells us the true Comforter, or Holy Spirit, came to us at the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:21) and gave power and supernatural gifts to the believers as a witness for God's kingdom.

Bahaism is a prime example of Jesus' words in Matthew 24:11, when he spoke of the end of this present age.  "And man false prophets will arise and will mislead many."  Then concerning the Bahais plea for world peace they avoid apostle Paul's warning of the true visitation of the Day of the Lord.  "While they are saying, 'Peace and safety!' then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape" (1 Thess 5:3.

Apostle Paul wrote these extremely strong words concerning those who would follow after a false gospel, "But even though we or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:8-9).

The Bible says in John 3:36, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."  Therefore, it is necessary that we repent of any false gospel and turn away from any sin or deception, and "be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall received the gift of the true Holy Spirit.  Jesus said that otherwise we shall die in our sins and be thrown into the lake of fire, which is the second death or Hell. (Acts 2:38, Rev. 20:15, 21:8)

Bahai Temple, Haifa, Israel