Lost Power, Can Wew Get it Back\\\\

 Just as I'm surprised to find myself reconsidering the question of divine healing, and am now praying for it and continuing to follow the writers on that subject, I'm also surprised to find myself reconsidering the question of the baptism of thed Holy Spirit.  This is another of those  controversial issues that has the church split into factions, some saying that was only for the apostolic era, a time when presumably they needed more miracles than we do, or simply the time when Jesus was being established as the Messiah through such miracles, and\\\, between that and the view that , as with divine healing, the baptism of rht eHoly PSPirit is also for us today.   

Andrew Murray, but particularly R. A. Torrey, have done a good job of convincing me that thebaptism is indeed for today, just as Murray convinced me that so is divine healing for today, and infact part of redembption, Christ forgivng our sins nin pratically the same breath as he heals our diseases in scripture after scripture.  The case for the baptism in the Spirit is made most particularly from Acts two where Peter tells the doubting Jews that the gift is for not only themselves but for their children and for those who are afar off whom the Lord will yet call.  That is so clear it is a wonder anyone can claim that the gift is meant only for the apostonlic age and not for us as well.

The main thing that has made me open to these arguments is the simple observation that the Church today is weak, that we have nothing remotely like the spiritual power of the early Church, and that individually we don't have anyone who exhibits such power either.  I'm aware that there are many vexed questions about these things still of course, and I'm still convinced that the charismatic movement for the most part is folowing a false idea of the spiritual gifts, but nevertheless I am now entertaining the idea that there is a true version of the gifts that God has not withdrawn from today's shcurch weven if we haven't known how to appropriate them and make use of them.  This is an issue because it was at Pentecost that the earlie church received the baptism o the Holy Spirit and it bestowed all the gifts on them that are now claimed by the charismatics though what they actually seem to have are something else than those gifts.

But oh how we need the power for the Holy Spirit today.  I'm praying for both the supernatural healing which I'm now convinced is for us today, and for the baptism in the Holy spirit.

Antichrist Pope

 When I hear someone say that the Antichrist is going to come out of the Revived Roan Empire and we don't know who he is yet, I just get all triggered or somethihg and have to give my own differing view of this.  Based on the Protestant Reformers view of the antichrist as the Pope.  We know who the Antichrist is, and this particular Pope is an Anitchrist just through his vblieevefs and corruptioj even of Roman catholic tenets.  There may yet be another, the final, antichrist to come, the next Pope, but the pope is the ntichrist and we know who he is, we don't have to wiat for him to be revealed.  And as the Reformers understood it, the revived roman empire was creted by the Pope when that office got underway centuires ago, the Holy Roman empire.  This revived empire isn't completely dead and is being revived itself in the new European Union, but the point is it already existes.  It needs to be brought back to9 prominence and the Pope will also rise again to preeminence in the world s he was during all t

\This isn't just an aca\demic point I'm making.  If the Pope is not recognized as the antichrist he is he can operate without opposition and the roman Church can continue as if it were just another Christian denomination, which history shows it is not.  but nobody reads the history of the church any more so of course history will onoly be repeated without anyone seeing it coming.  If you don't recognize the enemy then the enemy gets the upp-er hand over you.  Nice position to be in as we wait for the last days to bring it all to the fore.  catholics aren't going to be warned in time and will struggle mightily to get free of their bondage to the false church.  they need to be warned now.  Protestants are no longer Protestants either, but too many are even favorable to the Pope and the romn Church, ignorant of history.  

A majory struggle of Catholics will be over their confusion when they miss the Rapture.  they may fall for the lie and rationalize it away sbecause they believe they are the true Christians, or they may see that they must not be and the fonfusion will overtaken them and the strugle to sort all that out is going to be a huge turmoil.  

Divine Healing Revisited

 Never would have thought I'd be reconsidering this topic, especially at suchj an age when deth is about the only thing I'd normaly expect to be on my upcoming events calendar.  SAnd not through Andrew Murray either, a writer I appreiciate up to a point, but who usually manages to leave me feeling overwshelmed by a million impossible conditions that need to be fulfilled in order to qualifiy for whatever Christian virture he is writing about, which always end in having to abandon the project he may have at first inspired me to consider.  

the same happens with this topic but it seems to go in waves so that after a plunge into the usual despair I find him offering the encouragement I need by emphasizing that the lord Himself undertakes most of the requirements that usually ubury me before I gt very far into the topic.  So I've been able to read his bbook on this subject a number of times and find it building up my faith instead of dumping me unceremoniously into the gutter where Christians who can't muster the necessary faith or perseverence tend up.  

It's a book of sepearate meditations his did on the subject of supenatuiral healing, rather than a n organized book, but i's arranged welle jough to bulid up the case even if csome of it doulbes back on itself from time to time.  IAnyway, I've actually comje through rereading this book to entertain the possibility that the Lord myight actually heal me of my many infirmities even at the old age of eighty two, sol that I could live a more active Christian life for some years yet to come.  Yes, he is that persuasive.

Healing f t body is a part of the plan of redemption according to his main argument, and this is in fact illustrated by the fact that therer are many biblical passages wshere the two are spoken of in the same sentence with the imjplication that they are almost synonymous, or at lest strongly connected to each other.  One of those many things to be discovered in the Bible that we overlook even if we read and reread it many timnes.  Unless the Lord draws it to our attention, having schosen us for some work connected ith a particular idea.  

Itecame clear  early on that he confuseds the phenomena of supernatural healing, or in fact any supernatural gift, with the spiritual gifts givingen to individuals in the early church.  This has to be said because those who deny that the supernatural gifts have contuinued into the present nevertheless do not reject the fact that God may still perform miraculous and supernatural feats .  As a matter of fact suchj events are also extremely rare and he is right to point out that the Church has lost faith that even these things are offered to us anu more.  

those wsho believe in the fgifts for today can be very annoying with their aggressive insistence that they must be manifested with the gift of tongues, and in the case of the gift of healing that all failures to be healed are due to a scurrilous lack of faith on the part of the sick person.  Murray avoids any such attitude for which I'm grateful.  But he does succeed in confincing me that it is a lack of faith that is depriving today's Christians of healing that gid does in fact want us to have, and he aims much of his book toward restroing that faith in us.  this is quite necessary since faith requries some conviction that god does in fact want us to have this healing and will give it to us if we meed t scertain conditions.  We need to be persuaded that the evidence that god has that will toward us is there in the Bible, and Murray is gdoig a surprisingly good job of convincing me ot that.

He is very awqare that after such a long timne of bijg persuaded that we are not to expect god to give us such healings that it would take a lot of time and much evidence to change our way of looking at it.  We think we are persuaded by biblical evidence so we need bettwer biblical evidence that we've been wrong and that infact we can expect and should expect such healings.    for me reading the book over and over is having the effect of building up that evidence and therefore some degree of faith that I might indeed look for such a divine healing of my many infirmities, pearticularly of course my macular degeneration, but alo my arthritic hips that have onfined me to the use of a walker for many years, and many other malaises that make my life less than available for active work for God.  

Th that wiat upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall rise on wings of eagles, they shall walk and not be earing   they no no, they ahshalll run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.  Oh to claim that one.  

Im'm sucre I'll hav emore to say about all this as time godes on, Lord Willing,.

Later:  Maurray has even made me think it's possible that we c ould have the individual spiritual gifts today as well as miracles from time to time as I think everone agrees is possible, but the fact is that the charistmatics who claim those gifts do not exhibit those gifts but somne kind of counterfeit of them.  I found Watchmjan Nee's concept of Soul Power the most useful way of thinking about his.  that is, it seems that the charismatics are mistaking this sould power for the power of the indwelling sirit.  the tongues that I experienced were some kind of mockeriny of language for instance, which makes it hard for me to accept the claims of some that they are praying in the spirit when they use such a togue.  What is called prophecy is rell psychic power, a power of the soul that can be developed under certain circumstances, a remnant of powers possessed by Adam and Eve but lost at the Fall, and now no doubt available only in a distorted form to some wsho possess them today or have them more strongly than others do.  this is not the Holy Spirit, it is part of the natural man or the sin nature, the flesh and so on.  There seem to be powers of healings too and I suppose they are also soulish and limited to whatever Satan is able to bring about but I don't really know in that case, just that they too don't seem to have the power or scope of the healings fromn the holy Spirit as we see in the sri8ptures for instance.  A piece of evidence that Nee is right as I see it was his observatio that laugjter hacan overtake a crowed of Christians and be mistaken for something spiritual, and since we had a Laugjtoing revival back in the nineties that was misrepresented in the same way I am very grateful for Nee's bringing that up, and it adds credibiltiy to his general discussion of the soul powers as poopposed to the spiritual powers we receive upon being born again.

While as I said it is possible that God has not ceased to give spiritul gifts just as He gives the everyday gifts we all recovnize such as teahcing and preaching and helps and administration and so on, the fact seems to be thta the actual expression of what are called the gifts does not fit the scriptural presentation and if they are bogus then that is evidence that they did ceasese.  Miracles in general didn't cease but the psiritual gifts may have and that seems to have been the most reaxonable conclusion to be taken from the Strange Fire Conference at John MacArthur's church some years ago.

Divine healing is not tied to persons so far as Murray has been presenting it in his gbook, it is something the elders can impart as per James five, or we can pray for on our own, god granting it in answer to such prayer.  Such healers as Kathryn Kuhlman have many makes of being frauds, lthough as I said it may still be possible that god would grant such a gift to an individual.

Evil Just Keeps growing, and being called good.

 Jan Markell's weekly program, Undersanding the times radio, this week is about the rise in the dark side, things of the occult, satanism and so on.  the first storty is about a satanic image that was installed facing a Christimas navtivity scene in Iowa that was removed by a man acting independently and then turned himself in to face the legal consequences.  the image had been there for a couple of weeks despite many complaints from the public, but onbody in government woujld do anything to take it down.  

Why?  they were afraid.  Afreaid of the usual noisy repercussions from the left for any righteous act anyone does these days.    this has got to stop.  I'm sick of heareing about cowards on the right side of things.  It takes one lone man to step up and risk his own wellbeing while elected officials do nothing.  At least that one man was available.  Such men are hard to find these days also.  So evil proliferates because everybody is too intimidated to do anything abouty it.  

Falleness Has Won, Satan has Won, America i Gone,

Just heard that a Hindu deity was invoked in a recent meeting of Congress.  Maybe while I was in the hospital or rehab, which would explain why I did't hear of it I suppose.  Anyway, just another proof that the country is going to Hell, or is already halfway there.  Some state or other erected some sort of monument to Satah a while back too.  the Pope visited Congress a few years ago.  Obviously the fallen nature is now in charge of America and We've lost our Christian roots probably beyond recovery by ow.  the powers of darkness are in charge.  the hostility to Christianity is pretty deep.  Lacking the ability to sense the presence of the true god because they are fallen and therefore inherited the loss of the spiritual faculty for knowing God from Adam and Eve, and now lacking any serious claim on their attention to the tenets of biblical truth, the authorities that run the country happily embrace evil, calling it good of coruse.  

It's all of a picece with the imminence of the playig out of the last seven yers of planet earth kjowinn as the tribulation period.  The most popular end times scenario has th Church being raptured to heaven before all that begins, and then the fallen ones will be the only onces left on earth to face a horrendous destruction of the planet and respohd either with indignant reejection or possibly repentance and faith in God.  It can happen even then, though of course wiit will be the hardest way for it to happen.

that's all I can hope for many I wish would be saved, unfortunately.  That they will be saved that hardest of hard ways at les.t  If they maintain their arrogant rejection of God then then ere is no hope for them and that's sad.

A World of Lies

I'm sick of the lies.  No point in saying it I suppose, but there it is.  Im' sick of the lies about Trump and you never hear anything but lies from the Democrats.  Ever.  All of it is lies.  And half the country abelieve them.  So down we go under a hailstorm of lies.  Down dosn down we go.

And I hate the lies from the worldly religions who appropriate Jesus Christ into their own miserable philosophies.  they think they are spiritual although they can't be becaue the spirit diesd at the Fasll and is only recovered through beliewving in the death of Christ for our sins.  Then you are born again which means your spirit is rebgenerated, or quickened as the King James puts it.  Without thta new birth all based on Christ's crucificxion there is no spiritual life possibl4e.  What is called spirtual is just a refined sort of soulishness.

But they are always saying Christ went to India although there isz no proof eswhatever for such an idea.   And if they knew the biblical portrait of HIm they would have to admit that the idea is reidiculous but they prefer their conc3eit without any shred of knowledge about Him.  He has nothing in common with the big names of Biuddishm or Hinduism, no thing whatever in common, nada.  It is offensive that they tell such lies and don't both ter to say the slightest thing based on knowelxdge.  Well that's becauase they have no knowledge.  The only source of knowledge of Christ is the Bible, and if there were any evidence of their proposterous claims that's where you'd find it but it doesn't exist.  

Incredible condeit.  jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. completely a Jew within the Jewish traditions, the fulfillment of the messianic promises throughout their history.  It is idiotic to try to put him in India or anyplace other than Israel.  Idiotic in the extreme.  Pure idiotic conceit.

hOW ARE WE TO CONSTRUE THE WORKS PASSAES IN THE nEW TESTAMENT?

tHERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN SOMETHING OF A PUZZLE FOR ME AND i THINK FOR OTHER cHRISTIANS ABOUT THE FACT THAT WE ARE TAUGHT THAT SALVATION IS COMPLETELY BY GRACE ALONE WITHOUT WORKS OF ANY SORT, WHILE MUCH OF THE TEACHING IN THE nEW tESTAMENT SEEMS TO REQUIRE SOME KIND OF WORKS OF US.  tHE rFORMED cHURCHES AND FOR THT MATTER MOST CHURCHES TEACH SALVATION AS INCORPORATION ALL THOSE PASSAGES WHERE WE ARE TOLD WE MUCST DENY OURSELVES, MUST BE WORTHY OF cHRIST, MUST BER OUR CROSS AND FOLLOW hIM, MUST BEE POOR IN SPIRIT, AND ALL THAT, ALTHOUGH SUCH REQRUIEMENTS CLEARLY SUGGEST WORKS THAT ARE NEEDED TO QUALIFY US FOR SALVATION.  aND NOBODY i'M AWARE OF INCLUDING jOHN mACaRTHUR MAKES AN INCSTINCTION TO HELP US OUT WITH THIS OBVIOUS APPARENTLY DISCREPANCY.

eXCEPT wATCHMAN nEE, OF ALL THOSE i LISTEN TO.  aND SOME OF WHAT HE SAYS SEEMS TO ME TO BE INDUBITABLY CORRECT 3WHILE SOME SEEMS QUESTIONABLE SO i HAVE A PROBLEM WITH HIS TEACHING TOO.  hE EMHASIZES THE PURE GRACE WITHOUT WORKS REQURIEMENT FOR SALVATION AND GOES ON TO TRY TO EXPLAIN THAT THE PASSAGES THAT IMPLY SORKS ARE REFERRING TO A HIGHER LEVEL OF SPIRUTAL LIFE, WALKING WITH cHRIST AS hIS DEIXCIPTLE , WHICH APPARENTLY SOME GO ON TO PRACCTICE WHILRE MANY REMAIN CONTENT WITH MERE SALVATION.  sALVTION IS THE AVOIDALCE OF hELL, THE ACCEPTALNCE INTO THE nEW jERUSALEM, BUT FOLLOWING cHRIST, DENYING SELF, bEARING THE cROSS AND SO ON TAKE US INTO THE kINGDOM OF gOD SOMEHOW WHILE MERE SALVATION DOESN'T.  tHIS IS VERY HARD TO SORT OUT, ALTHOUGH AT LEAST i APPRECIATIOE HIS OBSERVATION THAT SOME DISTINCTION IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY AND THE IDEA THT ALL THOSE CONDITIONS ARE JUST PART OF BEING SAVED IS CLEARLY A CONTRADITION WITH THE PURE GOSPEL.  

i'M STILL TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF ALL THOSIS SO iREALLY DON'T HAVE MORE TO SAY ABOUT IT RIGHT NOW, JUST WANT TO SNOTE THAT i THINK IT'S A REAL PROBLEM THAT ISN'T SUFFIDCIENTLY ADDRESSED BY EVEN THE BEST TEACHERS TODAY.

 

nEE RECOGNIZES THAT THERE ARE THREE PARTS TO THE HUMAN PERSONALITY, BODY , SOU AND SPIRIT, WHILE THE REFORMED TEACHERS SUCH AS jOHN mACaRTHUR AND MOST EVANGELICALS ONLY RECOGNIZE SOUL AND BODY AND SUBSUME SPIRIT UNDER SOUL.  tHERE ARE TWO PASSAGES THAT CLEARLY REFER TO THREE FACULTIES, ONE IN THESALONIANS AND THE OTHER IN hEBREWS.  THERE IS DOUBT, NO DOUBT IN MY MIND THAT THERE ARE THESE THREE PARTS AND IT'S ALWAYS FRUSTRATED ME THAT SUCH GOOD PREACHERS AND AS mACaRTHUR DENY IT.  iT'S RIGHT THERE IN BLACK AND WHITE AND THEY SOMEHOW MANAGE TO GLOSS IT OVER.  iT MAEMAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE TO THIS QUESTION OF THE SEEMING WORKS REQUIREMENTS THAT SHOW UP IN THE GOSPELSZ THAT i'M TALKING ABOUT ABOVE.  iF nEE IS RIGHT, MOST PREACHERS ARE PREACHING A SORT OF CARNAL VERSION OF THE gOSPEL.  i KNOW THAT'S A N OUTRAGEOUS THING TO SAY BUT IT'S UNFORTUNATELY THE ONLY CONDCLUSION i CAN DRAW FROM THESE FACTS.

later:  tHIS IS ALSO RELATED TO ANOTHER FRUSTRATION OF MINE, WHICH i FOUND EXPRESSED BY a q tOZER IN HIS BOOK tHE pURSUIT OF gOD, WHICH IS THAT WE ARE TAUGHT OVER AND OVER AGAIN THE GOSPEL ITSELF AND TAUGHT THAT THIS IS THE SUM TOTAL OF cHRISTIAN TECHING, EXCEPT FOR SOME EXCURSIONS INTO THE TOPIC OF SANCITIFICATION WHICH IS RARE ENOUGH IN ITSELF.sOME OF US HAVE AHAD EXPRERIENCES THAT MAKE US WANT MORE THAN THIS, MORE OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE, FOR EXPERIENCE OF THE GLORIES OF OUR FAITH, OF gOD hIMSELF, AND EWHENEVER WE SAY THIS WE HEAR BACK THAT THERE IS NOTHING MORE TO BE HAD, IT'S THE GOSPEL OF SALVATION AND THAT IS THAT.    

tOZER'S BOOK IS THEREFORE A GREAT RELIEF AND HELP BECAUSE IT ACKNOWLEDGES OUR DESIRE FOR MORE, AND GIVES US SOME KEYS TO PURSUINT IT, ,WHICH IS PURSUING THE EXPERIENCE OIF gOD hIMSELF.  HICH AFTER ALL IS WHAT SALVATION IS ANYWAY, THE KNOWLEDGE OF gOD AS jESUS PUT IT.  kJOWING GOD IS OBVIOUSLY NO QUICK STUDY BUT A LIFETIME PROJECT, OR REALLY A PROJECT FOR ALL OF ETERNITY.   sOME cHRISTIANS DON'T SEEM INTERETASED,.  i NEVER UNDERSTOOD THAT.  fROM THE BEGINNING i HAD ENOUGH EXPERIENCE OF THE GRT PLAEASURES OF SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE TO KNOW THAT THERE IS A BOTTOMLIESS PIT OF MORE MORE MORE TO BE HADN.  aND i'VE HUNGERED FOR TEACHING ON THE SUBJECT.  nEE IS ONE SOURCE, SO IS tOZDER.  THERE ARE A FEW OTHERS, THE OLD ONES FROM A CENTURY BACK OR SO FOR THE MOST PART, THE ONCE WHO TALK ABOUT THOSE THINGS TODAY SOMEWHOEW DON'T SATISFY, AT LEAST NOT WHAT i'M LOOKING FOR.  iT'S ALWAYS THE OLD GUYS WHO KNOW ABOUT IT.  TODAY'S TEPREACHINGS  SIPREACHERS SEEM LIGHT AND FRIVOLOUS AND NOT WORTH LISTENING TO.  mACaRTHUR IS ERIOUS ENOUGH AND A GOOD EXPOSIOR OF THE SCRIPTURE UP TO A POINT, BUT i THINK HE TOO IS MISSING THE REAL STUFF OF THE cHRISTIAN LIFE.

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