Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Happy Whatever!


...And Boo!



(For the uninitiated, it used to be Halloween, but if the secular world can take away Christmas, I can take away Halloween. I hope no witches are offended....on second thought, let 'em be!)

Secular Discernment

The Church Report has this story:

Guyanese health officials have criticized an American television evangelist for a series of advertisements they say suggest people can be cured of HIV/AIDS by
attending the preacher's services in this South American nation.

The ministry of Rev. Ernest Angley, a Pentecostal preacher who exhorts illness-causing demons to leave a person's body at "crusade services," was involved in an "obscene exploitation of people's vulnerability" by claiming that people with HIV/AIDS could possibly be cured, Guyana's Health Ministry said in a Saturday statement.

"We are unaware of the existence to date of any cure anywhere in the world for HIV infection," the statement said.

Isn't it interesting that the secular world often has more discernment than the Christian world?

Sunday, October 29, 2006

The Date-Setting of Jack Van Impe


Jack Van Impe has been predicting the rapture and return of Christ for many years now. For a few years he's been holding out 2011 for the first Second Coming of Christ (the secret "rapture") and 2018 for the second Second Coming of Christ. He appears to be altering that slightly these days, however. In a cached copy of one of his web pages (the original appears not to be there anymore) a viewer writes, and Van Impe responds:

Viewer: I have been told that the Inca calendar is one of the oldest and most accurate calendars ever devised. I’ve also been told that the Inca calendar doesn't go beyond the year 2012. If this is true, could this have any bearing on the next coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?

Van Impe: In the light of everything we've said today this is such an important question. I have read the book The Fingerprints of the Gods. It's a tremendous volume and it covers the Inca and Aztec calendars, both ending on December 25th, 2012. Now, what could it mean? When they talk about the end of the world, as far as the Incas and Aztecs are concerned, they don't mean the end of the world because they have five endings and one of them was Noah's experience with the flood. It didn't end the world. Furthermore, as you know and as I’ve said already in this program, the world is never going to end, Isaiah 45:17 and Ephesians 3:21. So what could it mean?

Oh, I'm excited. In Matthew 1 verse 17 it lists 42 generations from Abraham to Christ. 42. Historically, that covers 2,160 years. Divide 42 into that number and you come out to 51.4 years. What's the countdown? Jerusalem being taken by the Jews, for Jerusalem starts the seven-year period of tribulation, Daniel 9:24. Add 51.4 to 1967 and you come out to 2018. But I just saw this, this week: you add the extra six months because it happened in June of '67 and the 4/10 and you come out to 2019 and take away the 7 from that and you come out to 2012. Could it be on Christmas day Jesus Christ would come at that moment? We don't know the day and hour, Matthew 24:36, but Jesus commands us to know when it's near even at the door.
I'm not dogmatic on this, but could this be the thing that's going to be revealed through the Inca and Aztec's calendars?
Oh, good! Only 6 more Christmases until Jesus Christ's First Second Coming!

Friday, October 27, 2006

Meet the Cream of the Crop

For those of you living in the South, now is your chance to meet the finest Scripture-twisters the world has to offer. From PR Newswire:

The Inspiration Networks to Host Groundbreaking Ceremony for New 'City of Light' Headquarters and Production Center; South Carolina government officials and national Christian leaders scheduled to attend and speak.

The Inspiration Networks will host the groundbreaking ceremony for its City of Light facility on Sunday, November 5th 2006 at 2:30 PM. When completed, the expansive new campus will encompass a new state-of-the-art media production and broadcast facility; world mission center; and corporate headquarters on 93 acres in Lancaster County, South Carolina.

When: Sunday, November 5th 2006 at 2:30 PM. Where: 8700 Charlotte Highway (Highway 521)Fort Mill, South Carolina 29715
Scheduled to appear: Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Rex Humbard, Benny Hinn, and Rod Parsley. I have heard that a new hospital is slated to be built nearby, but I'm not sure why, given all the healers who will be frequenting the new Inspiration headquarters!

Thursday, October 26, 2006

How To Be Saved



I was looking at Kenneth Copeland's idea of Salvation. He writes:

Salvation is a gift that is made available to those who repent, believe and confess that Jesus is Lord and that He died and rose from the dead to save mankind (Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9-10). This gift cannot be earned through good deeds or by simply being "good" (Ephesians 2:8; 1 Timothy 1:9). It is a matter of faith (acting out on what you believe according to God's Word concerning salvation). If you have come here looking for a change in your life, if you have come seeking a peace that is found only through a personal relationship with a loving God, then you are at the right place. God is ready and willing to help you—right now, and right where you are.

Pray this prayer:

Heavenly Father, I come to You in the Name of Jesus. Your Word says, "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2:21). I am calling on You. I pray and ask Jesus to come into my heart and be Lord over my life according to Romans 10:9-10. "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." I do that now. I confess that Jesus is Lord, and I believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead.

If you have prayed this prayer, welcome to the family of God.
But what is missing from this page for those just visiting his site for the first time?

  • Repent - repent from what? What does that mean?
  • Save mankind - from what? Why do I need saving? I'm doing just fine.
  • Jesus - who is he? How can some man save me? Copeland once said that Jesus told him that under the right circumstances Copeland himself could have saved mankind, so what makes Jesus so special?
  • Acting out - does that mean I have to do something? I'd heard Jesus did it all.
Unfortunately, salvation statements like this are all too common in many churches, not just Word of Faith churches. The Gospel does no one any good if they haven't heard the Law. It does no good if they don't know what Jesus is saving them from. And the Gospel does no good if people think they must do something besides trusting in the finished work of Christ on the cross.

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Monday, October 23, 2006

Carlton Pearson - Falling Farther Away From Truth


Former TBN preacher Carlton Pearson, who embraced universalism a few years ago, continues his downward slide away from Christ and into the New Age Movement. He writes in his Fall Newsletter:

Jesus said to His disciples and detractors: “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are gods?’ …. he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word (Logos/Logic) of God came..." He was actually quoting an Old Testament Psalm of King David who wrote it this way: “I said you are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.” But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler.”

...Deepak Chopra says in his book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: "In reality, we are divinity disguised, and the gods and goddesses in embryo that are contained within us seek to be fully materialized.”

As a fourth generation Pentecostal Christian, what you are about to read is something no one would ever have predicted that I would be writing or even thinking, not even me... It has taken me 50 years to lose my amnesia and come to this awakened Christ-consciousness.

....If humanity is in danger or trouble today, it is not because of the wrath or will of God, but because of the darkness in the minds of men… Most of this darkness comes out of a wrong or inaccurate image of God and what He requires or desires of us.

The danger is not in the Nuclear or Atom bomb but the “Adam man” who is frustrating his inherent potential by ignoring his spiritual essence, his immutable and permanent Self and Soul... The Kingdom of God is still within you and in all of humankind… The Mind of Christ is in every one of us, without exception. It is inherent in us— in our divine nature. We are intrinsically and originally God-like.

Unfortunately, most people have been lulled and locked into spiritual amnesia and are struggling to recall their essence in divinity. This is where we, as the so-called church, have failed the planet. We are here not to convert the world to Christianity, but to remind the world of their inextricable and benevolent connection to the God who created them. This was the message and ministry of Christ in and on the earth.

....We’ve been taught that we were created both in God’s image and likeness, but at the same time, born in sin and shaped in iniquity; that we are intrinsically bad, sinners from birth, born with an automatic death sentence followed by eternal torture and unspeakable torment in unending weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. This perception makes us openly fear God and inwardly hate Him. You will never deeply or ultimately love what you subtly, awkwardly and inwardly fear and hate!

Yes, I don't know how people ever got the silly idea that we're sinners from birth and in danger of hellfire from anything we've read in the Scriptures!

"Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." Psalm 51:5

"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?" Matt. 23:33

"If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out." Mark 9:43

"In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side." Luke 16:23

Friday, October 20, 2006

Today's Word From Joel

Today's Scripture

"Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care." (Psalm 95:6)

What a wonderful, encouraging word from the Word of God! But what's the bottom line in Joel's interpretation of this Psalm today?

Remember, God's has plans to prosper you and as you walk in His plan for your life, you will experience His abundant blessing on everything you set your hand to!
How must those Christians feel who are going through rough times? Can they really continue to accept this pablum from the Osteens? If so, they must feel abandoned by God.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

God TV


Kim Clement has a new revelation that should cause all of us to rejoice:
A TV network is about to be raised up that shall suddenly come to the fore and shall take the giants of religion down and shall reach the youth of this Nation. It shall have no fancy name but God TV. For it shall be Mine and I will reach the young people of this Nation and I will raise up the "Davids," the "Samuels," the "Mary's," the "Elizabeths" to bring forth the Rock Christ Jesus in this day and age, says the Lord. (October 6, 2006, Tampa,Fl)

Finally!! I'm tired of seeing all that poison that passes for Christianity on the Trinity Broadcasting Network and the Inspiration Network, aren't you? So what and who is going to be on God TV that's going to have such an impact on the nation? I had a look at their schedule:

  • Kim Clement
  • Joyce Meyer
  • John Paul Jackson
  • Rick Joyner
  • Rodney Howard-Browne
  • John Hagee
  • John Bevere

As one viewer writes: "Thank you for putting true evangelism on and not just watered down Christianity!"

Talk about deluded!!!

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Warnings Against False Teachers


One of my favorite books is The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel by Dr. C.F.W. Walther. This is what he had to say about false teachers:

Many solemn warnings against false teachers are found in Holy Scripture. One of the most solemn of them, if not the most solemn, is that found in Jer. 23, 22, where the Lord says regarding false teachers: "If they had stood in My counsel and had caused My people to hear My Words, then they should have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings." This shows that by teaching false doctrine a preacher may keep the souls entrusted to his care from being converted and -- a result awful to contemplate! -- will cause them to be eternally lost. True, the people who permit themselves to be led astray by false teachings are lost by their own fault; for in innumerable passages of His Word, God has with great earnestness warned men against false teachers and prophets and has minutely described them. Any one, then, who despises these warnings will in the end have to blame himself amidst the wails of the hereafter. Still, this does not exculpate the false prophets and teachers who proclaim false teachings. On the contrary, their guilt is increased because they did not only choose the false way for themselves, but also pointed that way to the souls entrusted to them. For it is written, Heb. 13, 17: "Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls as they that must give account." Alas, what terror will seize all false teachers on the great day of account when all the souls led astray by them shall stand before the judgment-seat of God and raise accusations against them! What terror will seize Arius, who questioned the deity of Christ and wanted to snatch the crown of divine majesty from Christ's head! What terror will seize Pelagius, who denied that a person is made righteous and saves solely and alone by the grace of God! What terror, greater than these, will seize the Popes, who have formed all anti-christian doctrines into a system! How will they quake with terror when the souls without number whom they have led astray and whose hearts they have poisoned will stand in the presence of God! On that day every false teacher will wish that he had never been born and will curse the day when he was inducted into the sacred office of the ministry. On that day we shall see that false teaching is not the trifling and harmless matter that people in our day think it is. (The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, Eleventh Evening Lecture, December 5, 1884, by Dr. C.F.W. Walther, p. 87-88; Concordia Publishing House, 1986)

Monday, October 16, 2006

The Apostle Paul Was Wrong


John Paul Jackson, once known back in the 1980s as one of the Kansas City Prophets, has some words of wisdom on The Elijah List today.

"For most Christians in the Western world, the reason our faith lacks signs and wonders is not that God wants us to be sick or that He uses sickness to prove a point; it is that we sincerely don't know Jesus."
Unfortunately, the Apostle Paul wasn't as wise as today's prophets when he told Timothy,
"Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses." (1 Tim. 5:23)
Paul should have exercised some of those signs and wonders - pity he didn't know Jesus.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

The Age of Innocence Ain't Quite Over

Let me step out of my "heresy" boots for a minute to relate a couple of events that took place this past week.

My wife traveled 27 hours by bus a week ago to visit her father in hospital. He's 87 years old with some health problems, not the least of which is the beginnings of dementia or Alzheimer's, depending on who you talk to. She wanted to see him while he could still remember her.

Instead, what she faced from her two sisters was the most blatant persecution for being a Christian I've ever personally witnessed. Both sisters absolutely hate God, and after seeing her twin for the first time in 6 years, her twin didn't say so much as "Hello," but immediately began ordering her around and telling her over and over again not to mention God or Jesus to their father. She received the same treatment over the phone from her younger sister. As it turned out, her father talked about God to my wife, and so it was unavoidable. (In fact, I think he is now a Christian.) The situation eventually got so bad that my wife had to leave her twin's house and stay with a mutual friend - also a Christian.

When she returned she was met with the news that a friend of hers had died of brain cancer two days before. She hadn't seen this friend in 3 years and had only known the person 1 1/2 years before that. For most of us, this news would not be a big deal - it was expected. Over the years most of us have become so hardened by the world that news about the death of people we know bounces off of us. Not so with my wife - for her any death of someone she knows is big news and it hits her hard. She did a fair amount of crying over this friend. Unfortunately, people today, even Christians, don't understand such a reaction. I used to be that sensitive myself at one time, and would be overly-affected by various life experiences, but like other people, time and life has hardened me.

Sometimes I've wished that life would harden her too, since it would make things easier on her. But most of the time I'm glad she is so sensitive - I think she's a lot more like Jesus as a result than the rest of us - and so I am proud of her and I'll gladly boast about her in this blog!

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. "Where have you laid him?" he asked.

"Come and see, Lord," they replied.

Jesus wept. (John 11:32-35)

Saturday, October 14, 2006

How to Delay Christ's Second Coming

We Christians apparently have a lot more power over God than most of us realize. Houston evangelist K. A. Paul, an occasional guest on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, announced the other day that "Republicans have delayed the second coming of Jesus." (U. S. Newswire, October 7, 2006)

Curse those Republicans - because of them I've got to go ahead and pay my bills this month!

Paul also managed to worm his way into the home of House Speaker Dennis Hastert this week. According to the Chicago Sun Times,

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, with his job on the line because of the spiraling Mark Foley cyberspace page sex scandal, was duped Tuesday into letting a stranger into his Plano home -- a serious security breach.

Hastert literally let his guard down and allowed in his house a hustling, self-promoting evangelist little known in this country, the Houston-based K.A. Paul, who at 7:30 a.m. arrived at the speaker's home with a camera-wielding associate.

How Paul and his aide, Dennis Ryan, got to Hastert's door is a tale of apparent chance. How the publicity-hungry Paul and Ryan walked through it was a matter of a "frank discussion" later in the day with the federal security detail assigned to Hastert around the clock.

...Hastert was led to believe he was meeting with a supporter. He was surprised to find out otherwise, the Sun-Times has learned. Paul said he asked Hastert to resign. He also said he prayed with the speaker and "laid hands" on him after a 40-minute meeting.

K. A. Paul certainly doesn't have to worm his way onto the set of the Trinity Broadcasting Network though.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

It's All About ME!


I was just browsing through the website of "prophetess" Juanita Bynum, one of Trinity Broadcasting's star attractions, and couldn't help but notice this, throughout the "About" section:

Juanita Bynum is an internationally acclaimed Bible teacher, prophet, psalmist, and media personality. Founder and President of Juanita Bynum Ministries in Waycross, Georgia

Dr. Bynum is the best selling author of My Spiritual Inheritance, Matters Of The Heart

Dr. Bynum is establishing an exciting new venture, Flow Records

Dr. Bynum is the New York Times best selling author of the book, The Threshing Floor

She is also the best selling author of the book, The Matters of the Heart

Dr. Bynum is fueled by a passion to fulfill God’s mandate for these turbulent times

Bynum exhorts and encourages her listeners to deepen their intimacy with God

Dr. Bynum preaches in-your-face messages that have drawn thousands of women and men to her crusades

Dr. Bynum has preached in many of the largest, well-respected pulpits in America and around the world.

Dr. Bynum is also a frequent radio and television guest

...she is affectionately regarded as one of the leading and highest rated National PRAISE hosts

Dr. Bynum has been featured in magazines such as Essence and Ebony

Dr. Bynum ministered in song to audiences across America as a featured artist along with Yolanda Adams, Sheila E. and others as part of Southwest Airlines’ Sisters In The Spirit music tour.
Notice a pattern? And this is just one page. Where is Jesus Christ in all of this?

"For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." (Matthew 23:12)

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

A Nuclear Korea? Not to Worry!

The Elijah List to the rescue again! Prophet Dennis Kramer writes:

The entire world is currently reading about the developments in North Korea. Below is an excerpt taken by the book I wrote in October of 1997 about this situation. This prophecy for North and South Korea is on page 115, from my book The Next 100 Years.

NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA--TWO SHALL BECOME ONE

"As the threat of a nuclear exchange lingers over the land, North and South Korea will unite quickly and quietly--almost in a single day! It will be a marriage made in Heaven!

A United Korea

Christianity will flourish as an unexplainable calm settles over this war-torn land.

Western prophets will play an important role in laying the foundations of this new unified Korean church.

Western aid will come from both secular governments and from the universal church.

The curse of communism will be lifted off the land. As a result, crop production will soar, providing Korea with some of the highest farming yields in all of Asia.
Kim Clement is saying the same thing, and thus it must be so.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Time to Step Aside and Let the REAL Church Leaders Take Over Guys!


Prophet Rick Joyner, of Morning Star Ministries, is best known for taking over the compound of Jim and Tammy Bakker in Fort Mill, SC. Today he has a revelation for us:

Metamorphosis can be described by the process through which a caterpillar is changed from a worm, that has to crawl and conform to the contours of the earth, then turn into a butterfly that soars above the earth. This is the process that the church is now going through. However, just as breaking out of its cocoon is the greatest struggle a butterfly will have to endure, for the church to break out of its cocoon, will also be its greatest struggle yet. Even so, just as this struggle is required to strengthen the butterfly so it can flap its great wings, this struggle will be required to strengthen the church so that it, too, can use the great wings that it is being given.

The church is changing very dramatically in its appearance and function. What is now taking place will be so dramatic, that few will be able to compare the caterpillar that she was, to the beautiful butterfly that she will soon be. However, the caterpillar stage was part of the process and was necessary. We must never forget those who walked through some of the church's most difficult times, enduring the difficulties to build the highway for those who followed. We must also go on to our purpose and begin to fly.

True last day apostles and prophets are now maturing and will start to be released throughout the earth over the next few years. The witness of the Holy Spirit through the church will increase until it is impossible to escape this witness in any place on the earth that Jesus Christ is the Lord. The Lord is soon coming back to possess what He purchased on the cross. A great army is being raised up to prepare the way for Him.

...The Lord is at this time preparing messengers who will be entrusted with more power than has ever been witnessed on the earth before. These are the times that even the prophets of old desired to see, and to be chosen to live and serve in them is one of the great honors that Heaven can bestow.
...the Lord is raising up those who will be apostles and prophets to industry, education, the media, and government. These apostles and prophets are the surveyors and engineers who are now preparing for highways to be built into these realms. Many will be possessed for the Kingdom and become a foundation for the coming Kingdom to be built upon.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Words of Enouragement from Prophet Kim

I post these prophetic words from false prophet Kim Clement, full of great news, with the full knowledge that either he or I will have to eat our words in 26 days! I prophesy that it will be him.

The month of October has been set aside for various unusual miracles....when the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom steps down I will fully release the new source of energy to the United States of America....The spirit of God says that I declare that the month of October be another unusual month. There will be many things for I opened up the heavens for my prophet saw it. He sang it, open up the heavens. The heavens were opened and God says there were keys that were released. For the month of October such victories, victories that are sweet, sweet to the taste. (Detroit, September 22, 2006)

The month of October will be a month of unusual breakthroughs. What you are not able to touch and take will be taken easily. Spoil has been set before you. Your enemies have run in seven different directions. Now the weak shall be strong. Now the poor shall be rich. The sick shall be healed. The Spirit of God says I'm consuming the enemies of the people of God. The tumors, the growths, the things that doctors can not heal... (Detroit, September 23, 2006)

There is a Word in the atmosphere from God. There is a very unusual prosperity that is coming to the body of Christ, not to the earth, to the body of Christ. God says in this next great move of the Spirit the blessing of finances and material things are going to be captured by the Church first. God is raising up and preparing people for a tremendous harvest. The season of multiplication has definitely come upon us. Your life will never be the same. Changes that are going to take place in the month of October. You will see things happen that you did not believe would happen they are going to begin to take place in October. (Detroit, September 24, 2006)

I'm going to be very disappointed with Kim Clement on November 1st if I'm not in perfect health and driving a new Hummer.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Jesse's Law


Well, I checked with the Gospel of Jesse Duplantis (see previous post), and instead of giving me the Gospel, the Cajun read me the Law, otherwise known as the Ten Commandments:


1. God is number one... and das' All.

2. Don't pray to nuttin' or nobody... jus' God.

3. Don't cuss nobody... 'specially da Good Lord.

4. When it be Sunday... pass yo'self by the church house.

5. Yo mama an' yo daddy dun did it all... lissen to dem.

6. Killin' duck an' fish, das' OK... people - No!

7. God done give you a wife... sleep wit' jus' her.

8. Don't take nobody's boat... or nuttin' else.

9. Don't go wantin' somebody's stuff.

10. Stop lyin'... yo tongue gonna fall out yo mouf!

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Would the Real Christian Please Stand Up?



"Those Amish people, everyone is sitting around talking about those poor little girls — blah, blah, blah — they brought the wrath upon themselves...[the Amish] don't serve God, they serve themselves." (Shirley Phelps-Roper, Westboro Baptist Church, Fox News, October 4, 2006)

Alan Colmes: "Did those girls deserve to die?" Shirley Phelps-Roper: "They did deserve to die." (Hannity & Colmes, October 4, 2006)

Shirley Phelps-Roper: "It is kinder to kill them in their youth, than it is for you to let them be full grown and full on rebellion, to make their stint in hell so much more painful." (O'Reilly Factor, October 5, 2006)



"I don't think there's anyone here who wants to do anything other than forgive." (Jack Meyer, Amish businessman, Philadelphia Inquirer, October 4, 2006)

Kenneth's Servant

Well, I'm confused!! The Gospel of Paula tells me that I had to observe the Day of Atonement - October 2, 2006 - the most important day of the year, according to Paula - and I'd receive all sorts of blessings - health, wealth, you name it!

But just today I was reading the Gospel of Kenneth Copeland and it tells me that I have a servant that God gave me to do my bidding and that I could have whatever I wanted. That means I didn't have to observe that "Day of Atonement"! The Gospel of Kenneth Copeland says,

Imagine for a moment that somebody provided a servant for you. A rich friend just decided to bless you by hiring someone to help you—around the house, at the office, wherever you need assistance.

Once you thanked your friend for his kindness, what would you do?You’d put that servant to work, that’s what. You’d give him a list of all the things you’ve dreamed of getting done but haven’t had time to do yourself. Housecleaning. Gardening. Detailing the car. The list would go on and on… You certainly wouldn’t leave the servant sitting on the couch all day with nothing to do.

...Nobody in their right mind would do that. Yet spiritually speaking, we as believers do it all the time. We neglect the spiritual assistance we’ve been given. We leave the servant called faith, which God has so graciously provided for us, sitting around idly with nothing to do.
...Exactly what job is faith designed to do? It is designed to transfer material from the realm of the spirit into this natural realm. Faith goes into the spiritual world, lays hold of what is already there and manifests it in the natural world of matter. Hebrews 11:1 says it this way: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Now, I'm not just taking Kenneth's word for it! He actually tried it, and it works! He decided when he was young that he wanted to preach the Gospel:
So I began to say it. I stood in my living room and declared, “I’ll preach that Jesus is Lord. I’ll preach that Jesus saves. I’ll preach that He baptizes in the Holy Ghost and heals. I’ll preach that He is our financier, the Lord of the Harvest, and the soon-coming King. And I’ll preach it from the top of the world to the bottom, and all the way around the middle!”
But he had a problem:
Then it dawned on me. I can’t do that without an airplane!
Absolutely! No serious preacher of the Gospel can afford to be without an airplane. And, of course, Kenneth got that airplane by sending his servant to bring it down from heaven for him! (Yes, all these things are in heaven, waiting for us - arms, legs, airplanes. Just ask anyone who's taken a trip to heaven and come back again to tell us about it.)

So what am I to make of this "contradiction"? I know Kenneth Copeland and Paula White are preachers of the Word. They simply can't be contradicting each other! Hmmm! I wonder what the Gospel of Jesse Duplantis says...

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Monday, October 02, 2006

Remember the Day of Atonement


One of the most popular and influential teachers on TV these days is the fast-talking - and rather long-winded - Paula White, who, with her husband Randy, pastors Without Walls International Church. Last January she made The Church Report's list of the 50 Most Influential Christians (number 37). This month she has a new gimmick to bring us, or rather, her ministry, wealth:
It all begins with the Day of Atonement. By honoring God on His holiest day - October 2nd - the Day of Atonement, you can release God's promised covenant of reconciliation and unleash these seven blessings into your life:

1. A Double Portion
2. Financial Promises
3. Restoration
4. Special Miracles
5. A Divine Presence
6. Blessings for Your Sons and Daughters
7. Deliverance to Whoever Calls His Name

She goes on to say in her September newsletter:

As the most important single day of the year to God, the Day of Atonement is God's way of providing an opportunity for His people to seek reconciliation and honor Him with sacrifice.

Yes, Jesus spoke about this day so often I can't imagine how it is we've failed to observe it for the last two thousand years!

God promises financial success if you honored Him on October 2nd:

...the promise of success is still a sure thing today.

...God promised that He will give back whatever the devil has taken away from you, whether it be your good health, or family or something else.

5. A Divine Presence....This promise means that everywhere you go, His presence goes with you to lead, protect, provide, admonish, teach and more.
You mean to tell me, Paula, that He hasn't been doing that with any of us poor unfortunates who have failed to observe the Day of Atonement all these years? We've been on our own all this time? Makes me shudder at the thought.
God's promises are conditional upon our observing His holy days.
Thank you, Paula, for bringing us back under the Law!! You'd make a wonderful Pharisee.
7. Deliverance to Whoever Calls on His Name....He promises to be there when you need Him.
Only if you observe this special day, of course.

Paula, I'm confused - what do I do with Matthew 28:20, "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (NIV)?

Naturally, another thing Paula would make sure we know about is that the Day of Atonement
"is a day of offering and sacrifice....Click on the link on the home page to submit your very best Day of Atonement offering to me right away."
But Paula, I wanted to submit a sacrifice of a goat. How do I do that through the link you so kindly provided for me?

It's NOT Victoria's Secret

In case you hadn't heard, from the Houston Chronicle:

FAA fines Victoria Osteen $3,000
Pastor's wife is also being sued by a flight attendant claiming assault

The Federal Aviation Administration has fined Victoria Osteen, wife of Lakewood pastor Joel Osteen, $3,000 after determining she had interfered with a Continental Airlines crew member aboard a flight late last year.

And this week, a flight attendant filed suit claiming she was assaulted by Victoria Osteen during that flight to Vail, Colo., for the Christmas holidays.

Maybe she needs to re-read Your Best Life Now. Actually, this could be God's way of telling them they should buy a private jet!