Born Again Christians - God's Bridge to a Hurting People

Born again Christians are the bridge between the healing promises of God in the Bible, and their fulfillment in the lives of the sick or injured people. If that bridge is strong, the healing words pass through and are made flesh in the life of the patient. If that bridge is weak, this does not happen. At worst, the bridge itself might collapse, and at best, the bridge itself can be strengthened, but not enough to convey the benefits to the other side – the patient’s body and mind.

The best resource I have found to renew your mind in the area of Biblical healing - other than the Bible itself of course - is the Divine Healing Technician Training (DHTT) teaching by John G Lake Ministries. There is nothing technical about it. It's just a name given to the training by the person who first trained DHT practitioners - Dr. John G. Lake (1870-1935). Here is a link to the audio and video of that training:

http://www.divinerevelations.info/documents/healing/jgl/jgl_ministries.htm

I suggest you scroll to the middle of the page and download the MP3 ZIP folder (only 170 mb). It holds nearly 15 hours of excellent teaching, that will open your eyes to what the Bible really says about healing. If you have felt that your life as a follower of Christ lacks power, then you must listen to this teaching. Listen even otherwise. You can also Google for the DHT PDF manual and use it to study the concept and scriptures for yourself.

The Bible says that as you sow, you shall reap (in Galatians 6:7-9). This means if you pray for others to be healed, you too will be healed. If you pray for someone's loved ones to be healed, your loved ones too will be healed. It's just like the law of gravity - whatever goes up must come down!

So why not let your life be fruitful for God and be the bridge that conveys healing to a hurting populace! First preach the Gospel if you can, then heal. The healing will then be a sign to unbelievers. Of course, if it's an emergency or an otherwise delicate situation, it's better to first heal and then preach. It may take some time to see results when you pray for people or lay hands on them (do not lay hands on private parts of anyone other than your spouse or small child; do not lay hands on the opposite sex, other than holding their hands or touching their head). But the Bible promises that as a Christ-ian, you shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. So they shall recover. No two ways about that.

God Saves Households – Not Just Individuals

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." - Acts 16:31 (KJV)

Let's continue from the first part in this series on family salvation promises in the Bible. If you have not read that part yet, head over to Salvation of Loved Ones - Comfort in Times of Discouragement and then come back here.

God is good not just at shooting promises off His mouth. He backs up His Word too. He does not utter (write/promise) any word unless He is serious about bringing it to pass. It applies both ways - in matters of judgement and in matters of forgiveness (or salvation/deliverance/healing etc.) too. Read further, beyond verse 31 in Acts 16:

Verses 32, 33: "And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway."

We see that the jailer's family too believed and all of them got baptized in water before daybreak. Take that as proof that God fulfills the promises He makes, provided we fulfill the part we need to. In this case, our part is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (believing that he is the Son of God who died for the forgiveness of our sin and who came back to life to give us everlasting life). So if you are born again, you have already fulfilled your part. So God fulfilled the first part of His promise - He saved you. Now He will also save your entire household.

"But my family members are not yet saved" you say. Yes. One of the factors preventing their salvation can be your doubting God's willingness and ability to save them NOW. If you doubt that God really wants to save them or that He really can save them, flip through the pages of history and you will find that in spite of maybe nobody to believe or pray for your salvation, He did save you, did he not? How much more then, would He want to save your folks - with you praying for them and standing on the promises of His Word (not yours). Read through a list of promises and prophecies in the Bible and their fulfillment. You will soon discover that you are dealing with and trusting on the God who has always delivered what He has promised. If anyone, it is He who is trustworthy. You can calmly and without being anxious, place your trust on our God Jehovah, His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Rest assured, God will never let you down, because He will never let His Word down. He has promised an He shall fulfill.

Will continue this series. If any of your family members got saved in the meantime, do leave a comment and allow me to rejoice with you! Until then the peace of God Yahweh Shalom be with you.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." - Isaiah 26:3
Amen.

Salvation of Loved Ones – Comfort in Times of Discouragement

Today we begin a series on God’s promises in the Bible, to save not only individuals, but their entire households, through that individual’s activated faith. We will look at Bible verses and meditate (mentally dwell on) these promises.

“The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.” – Psalm 12:6 (KJV)

Have you ever felt discouraged praying for the salvation of your loved ones and not seeing them receive Jesus? If you have, do not worry. Read the verse above again. 

God is true to His Word. His Word is a Gentleman's word. As goes the cliché, God says what He means and means what He says. He has said it and will perform it. “Then the LORD said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.” (Jeremiah 1:12 – ESV) In fact, He is eager to perform His Word speedily, if you go by the King James Version: “Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.” (Emphasis added)

Do not just look at the present rejection of Jesus by your loved ones. Look ahead through the ages and see a picture of Heaven, with your future generations standing before the throne of God. Know that they will thank God for being able to stand before Him to worship Him, because one ancestor of theirs chose to stand his ground – you! You are the one because of whom thousands of your generations and their spouses will have eternal life on Earth and in Heaven. But you can stand only because there was one who humbled himself before God the Father. And his name is Jesus – God the Son.

So cheer up. Heaven is banking on you to be a sticky note on which are imprinted the promises of God. Satan’s fiery darts cannot rip off this sticky note, if you are grounded on the promises of salvation found in the Bible.

At some point, you have to decide and settle the fact in your heart and mind – that God's Word is in your favour, it is sure and it is unchanging. When He promises it, He fulfills it. So just believe that God is good and He wants to save your folks, and that He does not lie. Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” The point here is not that man says lies – whether or not you are born again, you should not lie. The point is that man has the capacity to lie, but God does not have that capacity. Satan the devil is the father of lies. God is the opposite of Satan – so He cannot say lies. Also, the meaning of the word 'repent' is 'change'. God does not change His mind. God has decreed salvation for your household and it shall come to pass. You are the only breaker - the one who can lean on and trust God's Word and watch God's salvation come to pass. Or the one who can doubt God's intention, willingness and ability.

So choose to be the former. Trust in Him, as per Psalm 118:8…

“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”

Stay tuned for more in this series!

If your loved ones' hearts are convicted and they want to receive Jesus, then head over to Good News Friday and have them pray the Sinner's Prayer. God and I bless you and your loved ones!

God is Generous and Unconditionally Loving

God knew that there will be some people who will reject Jesus and therefore Him. He knew that because of this wrong choice, they will not benefit from the blood that Jesus shed for them on the Cross. Yet He chose to make healing available.to even them (through Jesus being whipped before being crucified) – this, despite knowing that He will never hear “Father!” from their lips, to address their Creator. Oh – how generous and good God the Father is! Truly worthy to be believed in - and worthy of praise from all of His Creation.

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3 Keys to Express Evangelism

"to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?" - Isaiah 53:1

On the judgment day, God would be justified if he adds the words "by you" before the '?' I once heard a preacher rightly say that the Church is notorious for being slow. There are probably tens of thousands of humans dying every day and about 80-90% of them are being consigned to hell because they have died as sinners. Even if no one ever preached the Gospel to them, they are accountable before God (as per Romans 1:20), because if they were really sincere about seeking God and wanting to know Him - their Creator - they could have called out to Him in the privacy of their bedroom or slum or forest/cave and God would have definitely revealed Himself to them. 

But that notwithstanding, we believers in Jesus have been commissioned by God by default, to preach the Gospel...to evangelize. 'By default' here means that since we have believed in Jesus as the Saviour and repented of our sins, we are automatically supposed to fulfill the Great Commision (or G.C., if you will!), even though the G.C. was given 2,000 years ago.

I work in an NGO where we are developing a surgical simulator to train ophthalmologists to perform cataract surgeries using a low cost technique. Someone in my office once said:

"There are 3 major reasons for slow progress: skepticism, lack of communication, and the burden of proof. These factors have contributed to the delayed acceptance of medical simulation.”

I thought about it. The same applies to Christianity. The message of salvation as a free gift through faith in Jesus Christ, has not been proclaimed as well and as speedily as it should have been, due to skepticism, and communication issues. Let's look at each of the 3 points mentioned by my colleague:

1. Skepticism

The Gospel is not being received universally because there are many skeptics. Skeptics owe it to at least themselves and God, to conduct an objective, unbiased research and find out the Truth. Anyway, Romans 1:20 applies to them: "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." We can overcome their skepticism by overcoming our...

2. Communication Problems

I once heard a preacher or apologist say, that a survey revealed that about 80% of Christians never win even one soul to Christ. Sounds like Jesus gave the Great Commission only to 20% of us! If you start getting comfortable in your church seat, maybe it's time to get un-comfortable! If you shared the Gospel but the hearer did not believe, then it's fine. At least you tried. But before preaching, do pray that they receive the Gospel message or tract willingly and that they pray the sinner's prayer with a true repentant heart. Every Gospel tract should have a salvation call, with a model sinner's prayer, in case the person wants to articulate their receiving Jesus. The conversion of heart might already have taken place between the time they hear the Gospel and pray the salvation prayer. But to be certain, it helps to have the prayer included in the tract or as a part of your sharing the message.

Another way of evangelism is to pray for those who are sick. You can tell them that Jesus has paid the price for their healing. Lay hands on them and pray (command healing to manifest in Jesus' name). Once you have done this, you can say, "Just as Jesus paid the price for your healing, he also bore the penalty for your sins and paid the price for your forgiveness." Then go ahead and share with them the good news of salvation through Jesus. In case you do not believe that bodily healing is in the atonement, then right now read the blog post titled Is Healing in the Atonement? 

3. Burden of Proof

The Bible says that God is watching over His Word to perform it. "The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times." (Psalm 12:6)  God has given us plenty of resources to prove to people that He is who the Bible claims He is - a blesser...always good...His mercy endures forever. Check out site like AllAboutGod.com, AnswersinGenesis.org, etc. If we go out and preach the Gospel, heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out demons, God will back up His word with an amazing work. He has promised in Exodus 34:10 even to Old Testament saints:

"And he said, "Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you."

God has already proven His Word. Now it's up to the skeptics to dig out the truth - and up to us believers to help them in this endeavour.

Liked this post? Then read this one too: How Not to Fulfill the Great Commission

(Excuse my grammar - it should actually have read: How to Not Fulfill...!)

STOP USING NKJV - New King James Version!

If you are reading the New King James Version of the Bible, you should stop reading it immediately. Here's why:

Their logo represents a female goddess trinity - totally the opposite of the Holy Trinity, that comprises the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is an occult symbol. Christians should not have anything to do with it.

Watch this entire video for more satanic symbols and their meaning, and especially, first go directly to 1:43:06 (1 hour 46 minutes and 6 seconds) and see it for a couple of minutes:

Former Satanist shows everyday occultism

http://youtu.be/r5vZ14Ozqzw

I tore the cover and page across those symbols in my 'The Open Bible' and then tore that Bible too, as I did not want anyone else to lay hold of it. God is strong and generous enough to give me another study Bible. In fact, I now study from the Thompson Chain Reference (KJV) and an ESV New Testament.

The decision is yours, but better not to give the enemy any place.

P.S.: I have quoted verses from or recommended the NKJV Bible at certain places on this blog. I apologize. Please discount those recommendations.

Is This the Last Christmas Before the Rapture? Part 2

In the previous post in this two-part series, we saw how the Pre-Tribulation Rapture would affect one's life as a Christian. It is especially exciting to see how your life as a Christian should be (or already is) just in case the Rapture happens mid-tribulation.

Mid-Tribulation Rapture

Mid-Trib proponents believe that Jesus will enrapture the Church (every human who is born again) halfway through the 7-year tribulation. So we believers will be spared the second half of it - a.k.a. The Great Tribulation. So what happens if the Rapture happens mid-trib?

The Negatives:

1. Believers would have to face the first 3.5 years of turmoil despite being righteous in God's sight.
2. They would have to try hard to convince unbelievers that the Antichrist is a liar and deceiver. It might be tougher to witness than now.
3. Many believers might be deceived into taking the Mark of the Beast or worshipping the Antichrist in the temple at Jerusalem.
4. There could be more martyrs than we are seeing now.

The Positives:

1. We would get 3.5 years more to preach the Gospel, heal the sick, etc. and improve the chances of getting our loved ones and others into the Kingdom of God.
2. We would get a better chance to prove from the Bible to unbelievers that the Antichrist is really the Antichrist. Hopefully, many will believe the Bible and be saved from the end-time great deception.
3. If we have to be persecuted or get martyred, we will receive a greater reward in heaven [ I can sense your reaction to that one! Don't feel condemned :) ].

Post-Tribulation Rapture

Image courtesy: prewrathrapture.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/revelation0.gif

There are some people who believe that believers too will have to go through the Great Tribulation. If true, this might be the real test of how faithful can you be to God - will you succumb like Eve did to Satan in the Garden, or will you endure to the end and be an overcomer?

So, the conclusion to this series is that even if the Christmas of 2013 was not the last one before the Rapture, we ought to be ready. Let us be about our Father's business so that we are found approved in when the Lord Jesus exalts us. Let us be busy so that our whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.And how to ensure that? As you sow, you shall reap. So help others preserve their spirit, soul and body blameless and you should hear the Lord exclaim: Well done, my good and faithful servant!

Happy New Year! Next Post Coming Soon...

Wish you and your family a Blessed 2014! For those of you who are (or are not) following my blog, I am currently in the middle of some high priority work, when compared to writing these posts. So there will be some delay in writing and publishing the second part of the blog post "Is This the Last Christmas Before the Rapture?" Please bear with me and God bless you!