Oyedepo :Keys to lasting marriage

Dear Reader, You are most welcome to another exciting life- changing edition of Family Forum. This month, we shall be looking into the topic, Keys To a Lasting Marriage. It is my prayer that as you open up your heart to God’s Word, your home will experience the glory of a lasting marriage, in Jesus’ name. This week, I shall be teaching on what marriage is all about. I will like to start by asking you this question: What is marriage to you? Is it a thing of joy and pleasure, or a ‘necessary evil’, as many would say? Is it a bed of roses or one that is full of thorns and thistles? Is it a thing that you are glad you are in or one that hurts you day by day, and you are trying to get out of? Well, I have good news for you! What then is marriage? Marriage is the legal union of a man and a woman coming together as husband and wife. It is the foundation for the family, because until it is in place, there can be no family. A family is a social group in the society, consisting of a man, his wife, and their offspring. Marriage is a covenant relationship. It is not just the coming together of a man and a woman for the purpose of procreation. Although having children is one of the blessings of marriage, it means much more than that. Some people think marriage is merely co-habiting with someone of the opposite sex, but, this perception is wrong, as it goes beyond that. Marriage is a covenant. When a man and a woman come together as husband and wife, they are expected to have entered a better way of living. Ecclesiastes 4:9 says: Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. Marriage is meant to be exciting, but when it is not founded upon God, the joy, excitement and satisfaction the couple had at the onset is short-lived. It’s like owning a car. With time, new models come out, and what was once new begins to age; the car owner now desires to change the once new car for the latest one. Why? Because the old one does not excite him anymore. However, when God is at the centre of your marriage, you find that instead of getting tired of each other, your excitement and satisfaction increase as the years go by, making the relationship go from good to better and from better to best! Marriage is good! Don’t think that marriage is for shame and reproach. No, my friend! You don’t have to settle for an average home, you don’t have to put up with continuous quarrelling and fighting; you can make that marriage work! You can have a marriage free of hurt and wounds; you can enjoy fulfilment and God’s goodness, and His lasting peace Marriage can be likened to a house. The Architect who drew the master plan is God, while the husband and the wife are the builders, who must diligently follow the design of the Architect, so as to experience success in their marriage and family. This is why the scriptures expressly says in Hebrews 3:4: For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. Also the Bible says in Proverbs 24:3: Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established. The realm of marriage that God wants you to enter is such that you would get to a point where men and even devils are compelled to acknowledge God’s glory that is all over your family. This is your heritage as a child of God! I command an end to whatever is bringing unrest in your marriage today. If there is any tumult in your life and family, I command the peace of God to replace it now, in Jesus’ name. Nevertheless, all hope is not lost. If you make a decision today to become committed to your marriage and family, God’s grace will be available to you to establish your desire. Grace is only available to the redeemed of the Lord. So, if you are not born again, there is no way you can be committed to God or your marriage. You need to give your life to Christ. You do this by confessing your sins and accepting Jesus your Lord and Saviour. Are you set for it? Why not say this prayer of faith from your heart: Dear Lord, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Now I know I am born again! Congratulations! Till I come your way again next week, please call or write, and share your testimonies with me through: E-mail: faithdavid@yahoo.com Tel. No: 234-1-7747546-8; 07026385437, 07094254102 For more insight, these books authored by me are available at the Dominion Bookstores in all the Living Faith Churches, and other leading Christian bookstores: Marriage Covenant, Making Marriage Work, and Building A Successful Family. Powered by Blogger

Oyedepo : Securing your high places

Sept 23, 2013 – Bishop David Oyedepo’s Messages: Securing Your High Places Part 1 & 2 Welcome to your regular column. Last week, I taught on some scriptural steps to double portion restoration. I showed you what happens, when God leads you. Also, I showed you how to access divine guidance. This week, I will be teaching on Securing Your High Places. In this world of gross darkness, divine guidance is one of our greatest assets (Joel 2:2). When you miss God’s leadings, you run into crises. Don’t lean on your own understanding, because you have no access to the future. Only God knows the end from the beginning. In all your ways, acknowledge that God is the only One who knows tomorrow. Today looks great, but will tomorrow also be great or greater? Only God knows. Your understanding is inadequate to guiding your steps into the future. No one knows tomorrow like God; you must acknowledge this consistently, for you to walk free from the crises of life. Recognise that every child of God is a candidate for the high places of life. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid (Matthew 5:14). You are ordained for the top! You are redeemed to reign as a king on the earth. There is a special price on your life. So, you are a special citizen on the earth. But you cannot be made until you are led. God’s leadings are the gateways to your makings. Until you allow Him to lead you, He cannot make you. For instance, the Israelites knew no lack when God led them. They had plenty of peace, health, food, dignity, protection. Every good thing accompanied them as they were led by God (Isaiah 48:21). Many times, God’s leadings may not agree with your thoughts, but they are the highways to your high places (Isaiah 55:8). When God leads, strange doors are opened. What Makes His Leading? •When God leads, He goes before the led (Isaiah 45:1-3): When God goes before you, all gates must lift up their heads. There is no global barrier against the man led by God. When God leads the way, you become unstoppable, unshakeable and immoveable. •When God leads, He goes with the led (Matthew 28:20). •When God leads, He works with the led (Mark 16:20; 1 Corinthians 3:9). •He works through the led (John 14:10). •When God leads, He works for the led (1 Thessalonians 5:24). •When God leads, He protects the led (Exodus 23:20) . •When God leads, He renders the enemies of the led helpless. How to be led by God? • You must desire to be divinely guided (Proverbs 3:5-6): What you don’t desire, you don’t deserve. What enhances your desire is your understanding of the role of divine guidance in securing your glorious destiny in Christ. • Meekness: This is one of the virtues that entitle our access to divine guidance (Psalm 25:9). It takes meekness to access divine guidance. Benefits of Divine Guidance: •Supernatural Empowerment (Judges 6:14): When God leads you on a particular mission, He supernaturally energizes you to deliver. You are awake intellectually, you are alive emotionally, and you are strong physically. •Divine protection (Psalm 105:13-15): This is the entitlement of everyone led by the Lord (Exodus 23:20). •Supernatural Insight (Isaiah 48:17): When God leads, He is committed to teaching the led how to be profitable. •Supernatural breakthrough (Genesis 26:1-2, 12-14): This is one very outstanding benefits of divine guidance. SECURING YOUR HIGH PLACES PART 2 In continuation of our subject matter, this week, I shall be looking at your fruitfulness, when God is the One leading you. The Word of God says: Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you or among your cattle (Deuteronomy 7:14). This means, you shall be fat and flourishing; you shall be fruitful beyond bearing children. You will be scaling heights in businesses, careers and everything about you will be fruitful. Recognize that every seed of Abraham is ordained for all-round fruitfulness. It is important to become knowledgeable of God’s will to flourish on all sides. You become defeated in life, when you lack the knowledge of His will concerning you. God’s Word says: And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out (Isaiah 48:21).When you subscribe to God’s leadings and instructions, you are on your way to greatness. Then, you will realize that there is nothing in any far country that compares with what is in your God. He has given to you everything you will ever need (Deuteronomy 32:9-14; 2 Peter 1:3). HOW GOD LEADS US: •Through Rhema: This is the voice of the Spirit. Any time you say,‘God said,’ it is the Spirit of God speaking to you on God’s behalf.Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you(John 16:13-14). Every child of God has access to His voice, but your spiritual ears must be open to hear Him, because He is the voice of the Spirit.Therefore, you must become a man of the Spirit, to connect with it (Isaiah 42:18-24). •Through the Voice behind the Word:God’s Word is God’s voice in print (Isaiah 34:16). Every Word of the scripture is as commanded and inspired by God. So, behind every statement of the scripture is God’s voice, which places you in command of every situation (2 Timothy 3:16-17). •Through Heavenly Visions: The Lord guides you through heavenly pictures interpreted by Him. It takes a man of the Spirit, who lives and works by the Spirit to encounter visions from the Lord (Revelation 4:1). Friend, the power to be led by God is available, if you are born again. You are born again by confessing your sins and accepting Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. If you are set for this new birth experience, please say this prayer: Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. I cannot help myself. Forgive me of my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. Deliver me from sin and satan, to serve the Living God. From today, I accept You as my Lord and personal Saviour. Thank You for saving me. Now I know I am born again!

Oyedepo: Love Always Delivers Success & Prosperity? -

Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. – 1 Corinthians 13:8 (KJV) This Sunday morning I awoke to the loud sound of a sermon by David Oyedepo coming from my neighbour’s house (beside ours). I heard him commit a spectacular “despoil of scripture” during the sermon and felt the urge to share this as a good example of how these men wrongly divide the word of truth and use it to teach destructive delusions as Christian doctrine. I also want to reach out one more time to those out there who claim to be Christians but have given themselves over to the very unchristian habit of swallowing everything they’re taught hook line and sinker, with no efforts at all to check it up against God’s rightly divided word of Truth. There really is no excuse for your unchristian behavior. Whether because its coming from your MOG and you trust him and believe he cannot be wrong or lie to you, or because you’re too lazy to act like the Bereans in Acts 17 or the Ephesians in Revelation 2 whom Jesus commended for their diligence. Or maybe because they consistently tell you what your itching ears want to hear. Whatever your reason for being complacent, you urgently need to repent, take out your bible and study. Now back to the sermon by the Bishop. As usual, his entire message was to say the least, very questionable in light of scripture and he did say a bunch of other funny stuff (as he always does) which I’ll overlook but here’s the part that got me fuming so early this morning. Bishop Oyedepo speaking: Very importantly this morning he said “come and see my zeal for the Lord”. As we open this next veil, which is part 3 of “Unveiling the win-win covenant secret of life” – The ever winning covenant secret of life. 1st Corinthians 13 and verse 8 said “charity never faileth”. [I’ll] Like you to underline the word “never”. That means it is failure proof. It guarantees victory. It guarantees success. It guarantees prosperity. It guarantees peace and tranquility. It guarantees the endless flow of signs and wonders. Charity or Love never faileth. It will always deliver. It will always deliver. You can count on the efficacy of this virtue. Any day, anytime and anywhere. The love of God. Charity never faileth. Just so our resident NL WolF love-vendor @JoeAgbaje doesn’t come here and say that that was not what he said or that I didn’t hear him well, I immediately sent my brother to go to our neighbour and ask him for the disc so I could get the title and hear it again, just to be sure I’d not “misheard” him. The title of the video is COME AND SEE MY ZEAL FOR THE LORD: Unveiling The Win-Win Covenant Secret Of Life Part 2. When I heard him make that statement this morning I couldn’t help recalling another one he made in one of his books (I think the title’s something like “Exploits in Ministry”) in which he said that it was Jesus himself who first called God’s work a “business” (based on Luke 2:49) so they (current ministers) were not doing anything wrong by regarding and running churches as such. After reading that comment in the book some years ago, one of my pastors concluded that Oyedepo must be one of the most biblically illiterate preachers around. After hearing him spew out that crap about Love being a sure-fire tool for success & prosperity, I think I agree with my pastor on this. Now let’s get this straightened out. In this part of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he talks to them about gifts of the Spirit but then goes on to explain the “supremacy” and “permanence” of Love compared to the gifts of the Spirit in chapter 13, which I guess the Corinthians were having issues with at the time so he had to address it. Below is the entire passage in 1 Corinthians 13 (up to verse 10). Please try to read it calmly from verse one all the way down to the end of the chapter if you can. I cut it down to verse 10 to save space. 1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; 5 it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; 10 but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. - 1 Corinthians 13:8 (RSV) Just in case you still don’t get it, here’s that verse again: …as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. Paul was simply saying here that there will be a time when prophecies, tongues and knowledge will cease but Love will never end. Love will always be. Here’s how the NLT puts it: Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! At first I thought it was just that the Bishop misunderstood the KJV rendition of that verse but then I looked it up and sure enough, the verse, even in the KJV, clearly portrays what Paul was talking about and leaves no room for any such excuse or justification for the idea that love brings or guarantees prosperity and success: 8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. (KJV) Again, the context of that verse alone (not to mention the entire passage), even in the KJV translation is clear about what Paul meant. And there’s nothing there that even remotely suggests we can somehow use love for our own selfish gains like he so boldly asserted. This has me wondering whether these fellows are reading the bible backwards. My Plea I’d like to plead with BEG everyone who claims to be Christian to begin to pay more attention to the things being taught as the Gospel in our churches today, regardless of who’s doing the teaching. Not even what you’ve read in this article should be taken without carefully checking out the scriptures on this issue. Dust your bibles and make out time to read it study it and do so properly and objectively. If not, you’ll continue to take in falsehood dressed up as truth and will be in danger of having run for nothing, if you ever were in the race at all. No, the gospel is not about worldly success. No, Christianity has nothing to do with earthly riches and prosperity. The bible tells us not worry about even our earthly, genuine needs (Luke 12: 27-31). These men teach us to earnestly desire worldly success, riches and comfort – they call it being “blessed”. The bible tells us to be content with such as we have (1 Timothy 6:5-11), these men tell us to lust for more and go out of their way to twist every verse in the bible to teach this poison - even a verse on love. My pastor once told us about another very popular minister who in some of his teachings aired on TV (I think it was a series), systematically used every single one of Jesus’ parables in the gospels to teach about money, in church. To supposed Christians. And I ask, how long will this continue? When will we start to ask the right questions? At what point will we stop and think? When do we get to study our bibles, for ourselves? When will we get to learn what Christianity really is about, for ourselves? When will we get to know this Jesus, for ourselves? When? 3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will reject the truth and chase after myths. - 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NLT)

Joseph prince questions on Holy Communion

What Is The Holy Communion? The Holy Communion, known also as the Lord’s Supper, represents the greatest expression of God’s love for His people. Two items are used in the Holy Communion—the bread which represents Jesus’ body that was scourged and broken before and during His crucifixion, and the cup which represents His shed blood. When Jesus walked on earth, He was vibrant, and His body was full of life and health. He was never sick. But before Jesus went to the cross, He was badly scourged by the Roman soldiers, and His body was torn as He hung on the cross. At the cross, God also took all our sicknesses and diseases and put them on Jesus’ originally perfect and healthy body, so that we can walk in divine health. That is why the Bible says by His stripes, we are healed (Isaiah 53:5, 1 Peter 2:24). In Luke 22:20, Jesus tells us that the cup is the “new covenant in My blood”, and the apostle Paul tells us that the blood of Jesus brings forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:14, Ephesians 1:7). Why Do Believers Partake Of The Holy Communion? Besides being born again in Christ, a healthy body and mind are the greatest blessings anyone can have. And the Holy Communion is God’s ordained channel of healing and wholeness. On the night that He was betrayed, Jesus ate His last supper with His disciples. And knowing what He would accomplish through His sacrifice, He instituted the Holy Communion (Luke 22:19–20, 1 Corinthians 11:24–25). His loving instruction is that we are to remember Him as we partake of the Holy Communion. Jesus wanted us conscious of how His body was broken for our wholeness, and His blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. And whenever we partake in this consciousness, we “proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). Today, when we partake of the bread, we are declaring that Jesus’ health and divine life flows in our mortal bodies. And when we partake of the cup, we are declaring that we are forgiven and have been made righteous. Jesus’ blood gives us right standing before God, and we can go boldly into God’s presence (Hebrews 4:16). When we pray, we can be sure that God hears us! Watch Pastor Joseph Prince Share On, And Lead You, In A Time Of The Holy Communion How Do I Partake Of The Holy Communion? Before you partake, remember that the Holy Communion is not a ritual to be observed, but a blessing to be received. Because it is not a ritual, there is no prescribed bread or special drink required. In the Last Supper, Jesus used whatever He had at the table—bread commonly eaten at supper, and whatever they were drinking. To partake, first, hold the bread in your hand and say: Thank You, Father, for the gift of Your Son. By the stripes that fell on His back, my body is healed from the crown of my head to the very soles of my feet. Every cell, every organ, every function of my body is healed, restored, and renewed. In Jesus’ name, I believe and I receive. [Eat the bread.] Next, take the cup in your hand and say: Lord Jesus, thank You for Your precious blood. Your sin-free, disease-free, poverty-free life is in Your blood. And Your shed blood has removed every sin from my life. Through your blood, I am forgiven of all my sins—past, present and future—and made completely righteous. Today, I celebrate and partake of the inheritance of the righteous, which is preservation, healing, wholeness and provision. Thank You Lord Jesus, for loving me. Amen. [Drink the wine.] How Can I Find Out More About The Holy Communion? To find out more about what Joseph Prince has taught on the Holy Communion, you may wish to check the resources available on our ministry's online store.

Joseph prince seeing God as a father

Luke 15:31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. Faith is believing that we have a good God, and that He protects and provides for those who trust in Him. Remember the parable of the prodigal son? (Luke 15:11–32) Jesus shared it to illustrate how good our heavenly Father is. The wayward son had squandered his father’s inheritance before he decided to go home to ask his father to make him a hired servant. But before he could reach home, his father saw him from afar, ran toward him and embraced him. And instead of making him a hired servant, the father turned to his servants and said, “Bring out the best robe! Get a ring and sandals for my son! Let’s kill the fatted calf and celebrate!” Now, when the older son returned from work and heard about the celebration, he became angry and refused to enter the house. When his father came out to ask him what was wrong, the older son complained, “Look, I’ve served you all these years. Yet, you never gave me a calf to celebrate with my friends. But as soon as this prodigal son of yours comes home, you kill the fatted calf for him!” Notice what his father told him: “Son, you are always with me and all that I have is yours. We should celebrate because your brother was dead but is alive again. He was lost but is now found.” Can you see how the older brother perceived his father? He saw his father as a hard and stingy man. He believed that he had to work to get something good from his father. He didn’t realize that he already had an inheritance! He could have killed the fatted calf any time for a celebration! Like the father in the parable, God has already given you an inheritance in Christ. Don’t fail to enjoy it by doubting God’s goodness or by believing that you must work for it. See your Father’s heart of love and goodness toward you, and celebrate your inheritance today! Thought For The Day Faith is believing that you have a good Father who protects and provides for His children.

how to receive the holy Ghost

How to Receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit April 29, 1984 by John Piper Scripture: Acts 2:32-42 Topic: The Holy Spirit Series: The Person & Work of the Holy Spirit “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens; but he himself says, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, till I make thy enemies a stool for thy feet.’ Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him." And he testified with many other words and exhorted them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. The two questions I want to try to answer today are: 1) What does it mean to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit? and: 2) How do we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit? Our focus will be on the book of Acts and on Luke's intention as he wrote it. 1. What Is Receiving the Gift of the Holy Spirit? One of the most widely used books in contemporary charismatic renewal is The Holy Spirit and You by Dennis and Rita Bennet, an Episcopal priest and his wife. On pp. 64f. the question is posed, "What if I don't speak in tongues? Can I receive the Holy Spirit without speaking in tongues?" Answer: "It comes with the package!" Speaking in tongues is not the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but it is what happens when and as you are baptized in the Spirit and it becomes an important resource to help you continue, as Paul says, to . . . "keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit" ( Eph. 5:18). You don't have to speak in tongues in order to be saved. You don't have to speak in tongues in order to have the Holy Spirit in you. You don't have to speak in tongues to have times of feeling filled with the Holy Spirit, but if you want the free and full outpouring that is the baptism in the Holy Spirit, you must expect it to happen as in Scripture . . . If you want to understand the New Testament you need the same experience that all its writers had. On p. 20 they sum up the classical two-stage Pentecostal teaching: The first experience of the Christian life, salvation, is the incoming of the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ, to give us new life, God's life, eternal life. The second experience, is the receiving, or making welcome of the Holy Spirit, so that Jesus can cause Him to pour out this new life from our spirits, to baptize our souls and bodies and then our world around, with his refreshing and renewing power. (See p. 275.) They call this "the scriptural pattern of the 'doctrine of baptisms'." Tongues and Baptism in the Spirit in Acts I have two things to say about this, one negative and one positive. I'll take the negative first so I can end with the positive. The negative thing is that I think the Bennets are probably wrong in making tongues a necessary part of the baptism in the Spirit. Let's walk with them through the book of Acts to see where they get their evidence. It begins in Acts 1:5 where Jesus says to his disciples, "John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit." Then in verse 8 he says, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses." The fulfillment of these two promises came on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2:2–4, "And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributed and resting on each one of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." The next time tongues is mentioned in Acts is when Peter went to preach at Cornelius' house in Acts 10:44–46. "While Peter was still saying this the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God." The only other place tongues is referred to in Acts is 19:6. Paul finds in Ephesus some disciples of John the Baptist who had never heard of the Holy Spirit. Paul explains to them that John pointed people forward to Jesus, and so v. 5 says, "On hearing this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spoke with tongues and prophesied." There is one other instance in chapter 8 where the apostles go to Samaria and lay their hands on some believers so that they can receive the Holy Spirit. Tongues is not mentioned, but since the language is the same as at Cornelius' house ("fallen" 8:16; "fell" 10:44), it's likely the Samaritans spoke in tongues, too. Pentecostals argue that since baptism in the Spirit happened these four times with speaking in tongues, we should regard this as normative. First, the word of the gospel is received by faith. Christ comes into your life by the Spirit. Then, you are baptized in water. And, generally, following water-baptism at some later point, you pray for the baptism in the Spirit and are overwhelmed with a new fullness and freedom and power accompanied by speaking in tongues. Tongues Not Necessary to Being Baptized in the Spirit There are five reasons why I am not as confident as the Pentecostals or Charismatics are that speaking in tongues is a necessary part of being baptized in the Spirit. 1. It is not taught anywhere in the New Testament. It seems risky to me to say, since it happened this way four times it must happen this way all the time. 2. What Jesus does teach in Acts 1:5 and 8 is that the experience of baptism in the Spirit will bring power to witness into the Christian life. In the terminology of Acts we could say, what a powerless Christian needs is a baptism in the Holy Spirit. And that's a lot of us! 3. Acts records at least nine other conversion stories, but never again mentions a two-step sequence with tongues (8:36; 9:17–19; 13:12, 48; 14:1; 16:14; 17:4, 34). This shows how difficult it is to establish a norm from the way things happened back then. 4. It could be that there were special circumstances in Jerusalem, Samaria, Cornelius' house, and Ephesus that made speaking in tongues especially helpful in communicating the truth that the Holy Spirit was creating a new unified body of Jew and Samaritan and Gentile. 5. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:30 that "not all speak in tongues" and the words he uses are for general tongues speaking, not merely for a special "gift of tongues" used in church. He seems to have in view the person who feels ostracized without tongues and says (v. 16), "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body." Paul responds, "Not everybody speaks in tongues!" For these five reasons I cannot say with the Pentecostals that no Christian has been baptized in the Holy Spirit unless he has spoken in tongues. It seems to me that Luke leaves wide open the possibility that the Holy Spirit might fall upon a person with revolutionizing power over sin and power for witnessing and power in worship and yet not with tongues. To say this person is not the beneficiary of Jesus' promise to baptize us in the Holy Spirit goes beyond Scripture. "You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit . . . and you shall receive power" ( Acts 1:5, 8). That is the biblical sign. (Whether or not a Christian should seek to speak in tongues is another issue that we are working on in the evening. See 1 Corinthians 14:5, 18, 39.) Stressing the Experience of Baptism in the Spirit Now the positive thing I want to say about the moderate Pentecostal teaching (represented by the Bennets) is that it is right to stress the experiential reality of receiving the Spirit. When you read the New Testament honestly, you can't help but get the impression of a big difference from a lot of contemporary Christian experience. For them the Holy Spirit was a fact of experience. For many Christians today it is a fact of doctrine. Surely the Charismatic renewal has something to teach us here. In sacramental churches the gift of the Holy Spirit is virtually equated with the event of water baptism. In Protestant evangelicalism it is equated with a subconscious work of God in regeneration which you only know you have because the Bible says you do if you believe. It is easy to imagine a spiritual counselor saying to a new convert today, "Don't expect to notice any difference: just believe you have received the Spirit." But that is far from what we see in the New Testament. The Pentecostals are right to stress the experience of being baptized in the Spirit. Four Reasons Why It Is Right to Do So Here are four reasons from Acts. 1. Terminology The very term "baptized in the Holy Spirit" (1:5; 11:16) implies an immersion in the life of the Spirit. "John immersed in water; you will be immersed in the Spirit." If the Spirit overwhelms you like a baptism, you can't imagine him merely sneaking in quietly while you are asleep and taking up inconspicuous residence. That may be the way it starts (Paul may have this early movement in mind in 1 Corinthians 12:13), but if it ends there, Jesus and Luke would not call it a baptism in the Spirit. 2. Power, Boldness, and Confidence Jesus says in Acts 1:5 and 8 that baptism in the Spirit means, "You shall receive power . . . and you shall be my witnesses." This is an experience of boldness and confidence and victory over sin. A Christian without power is a Christian who needs a baptism in the Holy Spirit. I am aware that in 1 Corinthians 12:13 Paul says that baptism in the Spirit is an act of God by which we become a part of the body of Christ at conversion, so that in his terminology all genuine converts have been baptized in the Spirit. But we have done wrong in limiting Paul's understanding of the baptism in the Holy Spirit to this initial, subconscious divine act in conversion and then forcing all of Luke's theology in Acts into that little mold. There is no reason to think that even for Paul the baptism in the Holy Spirit was limited to the initial moment of conversion. And for sure in the book of Acts the baptism in the Holy Spirit is more than a subconscious divine act of regeneration—it is a conscious experience of power (Acts 1:8). 3. The Testimony of Acts In fact the third reason I think this is that when you take your concordance and look up every text in Acts where the Holy Spirit works in believers, it is never subconscious. In Acts the Holy Spirit is not a silent influence but an experienced power. Believers experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit. They didn't just believe it happened because an apostle said so. 4. The Consequence of Faith The fourth reason we should stress the experience of baptism in the Holy Spirit is that in Acts the apostles teach that it is a consequence of faith not a subconscious cause of faith. As a convinced Calvinist I believe with all my heart that the grace of God precedes and enables saving faith. We do not initiate our salvation by believing. God initiates it by enabling us to believe ( Ephesians 2:8–9; 2 Timothy 2:25; John 1:13). But this regenerating work of God's Spirit is not the limit of what Peter means by baptism in the Spirit. In Acts 11:15–17 Peter reports how the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius just as on the disciples at Pentecost. "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, 'John baptized in water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit.' If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us, when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I should withstand God?" Notice that the gift of the Spirit, or baptism in the Spirit, is preceded by faith. The NASB correctly says in v. 17 that God gave the Holy Spirit after they believed. So the baptism of the Spirit (v. 16) or the receiving of the gift of the Spirit (v. 17) cannot be the same as the work of God before faith which enables faith (which Luke speaks of in 2:39; 5:31; 16:14; 11:18; 15:10; 14:27). The baptism in the Spirit is an experience of the Spirit given after faith to faith. Receiving the Spirit Is a Life-Changing Experience This is why Paul can say in Acts 19:2 when he meets the confused disciples of John the Baptist, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" What would a contemporary Protestant evangelical say in response to that question? I think we would say something like, "I thought we automatically received the Holy Spirit when we believed. I don't understand how you can even ask the question." How could Paul ask that question? He could ask it, I think, because receiving the Holy Spirit is a real experience. There are marks of it in your life. And the best way to test the faith of these so-called disciples is to ask them about their experience of the Spirit. This is no different than what Paul said in Romans 8:14, "All who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God" (see 2 Corinthians 13:5 and 1 John 3:24; 4:12–13). I sometimes fear that we have so redefined conversion in terms of human decisions and have so removed any necessity of the experience of God's Spirit, that many people think they are saved when in fact they only have Christian ideas in their head not spiritual power in their heart. So you see, the real issue the Charismatics raise for us is not the issue of tongues. In itself that is relatively unimportant. The really valuable contribution of the Charismatic renewal is their relentless emphasis on the truth that receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit is a real, life-changing experience. Christianity is not merely an array of glorious ideas. It is not merely the performance of rituals and sacraments. It is the life-changing experience of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ the Lord of the universe. Two Things That Characterize This Experience We could talk for hours about what that experience is. In fact, most of my messages are just that— descriptions of the experience of the Spirit of God in the life of the believer. But I'll mention two things from the book of Acts—things that mark the experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit or of receiving the gift of the Spirit. 1. A Heart of Praise One is a heart of praise. In Acts 10:46 the disciples knew the Holy Spirit had fallen because "they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling (or magnifying) God." Speaking in tongues is one particular way of releasing the heart of praise. It may be present or may not. But one thing is sure: the heart in which the Holy Spirit has been poured out will stop magnifying self and start magnifying God. Heartfelt praise and worship is the mark of a real experience of the Holy Spirit. 2. Obedience The other mark I'll mention is obedience. In Acts 5:29 Peter and the apostles say to the Sadducees who had arrested them, "We must obey God rather than men." Then in verse 32 he says, "We are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God gave to those who are obeying him." ("Gave" is past tense; "obey" is present, ongoing tense.) It is inevitable that when the object of your heart's worship changes, your obedience changes. When Jesus baptizes you in the Holy Spirit, and infuses you with a new sense of the glory of God, you have a new desire and a new power (1:8) to obey. Whether or not you speak in tongues, these two things will be your experience if you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit—a new desire to magnify God in worship and a powerful disposition to obey God in everyday life. 2. How to Receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit. I close by pointing you to Peter's instructions for how to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:38–41. The Word of God Must Be Heard First, the Word of God must be heard. Peter has preached that in God's plan Jesus was crucified, raised, and exalted as Lord over all the universe and that forgiveness of sin and spiritual renewal can be had from him. The Word has been heard. The Sovereign God Must Call Men and Women Second, the sovereign God must call men and women to himself, or they will never come. Verse 39:, "The promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, everyone to whom the Lord our God calls to him." No one comes to faith in Christ unless the Father draws him (John 6:44, 65). The preached Word is heard with conviction and power only when the effectual call of God lays hold on the hearers. We Must Receive the Word Third, we must "receive the word." Verse 41: "So those who received his word were baptized." Receiving the Word means that it becomes part of you so that you trust the Christ it presents. You trust his provision for your forgiveness. You trust his path for your life. You trust his power to help you obey. And you trust his promises for your future. And that radical commitment to Christ always involves repentance—a turning away from your own self- wrought provisions and paths and powers and promises. And when you really turn to Christ for new paths and new power, you open yourself to the Holy Spirit, because it is by his Spirit that Christ guides and empowers. We Must Express Faith Through Water Baptism Finally, we must give an open expression of faith in the act of water baptism in obedience to Jesus Christ. Baptism was the universal experience of all Christians in the New Testament. There were no unbaptized Christians after Pentecost. Christ had commanded it ( Matthew 28:18f.) and the church practiced it. So we do today. Therefore, I invite you to experience the greatest thing in the world—Repent, trust Christ, open yourself to the power of his Spirit, be baptized in his name, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit

Doing Greater works than Jesus did

Doing the Works of Jesus and Greater Works April 21, 2012 by John Piper Scripture: John 14:12-14 Topic: The Life of Christ Series: The Gospel of John John 14:12–14, Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. These words of Jesus, as perplexing as they are at one level, are powerfully inspiring and encouraging when you ponder them in their context. And I mean powerful for your life today and for Bethlehem’s life today and tomorrow. What a surge of excitement when through me when David Livingston texted me that at the auction last Friday we got the land on 35W in Lakeville! And then when we talked and I heard the price my heart leaped up with gratitude to God. I thought about Jason Meyer preaching for the next three weeks on our way to a congregational vote on May 20 and it struck me what a perfect plan God has for us as a church — it is so fitting that there are energies and excitement rising about a third anchor campus and energies and excitement rising for a new Pastor for preaching and vision to lead the way in that dream. Words for Your Life, and Our Together And these words of Jesus in John 14:12–14 bear directly on your life and our life together in these exciting days. What they say is that all of us who believe in Jesus will carry on with his work, and in some wonderful way, do something greater than the works of Jesus, and as a means to that end will have access in prayer to Jesus today so that everything we need we can ask for and receive it. So let’s take those three parts of the text one at a time. 1) All of us who believe in Jesus will carry on with his work. 2) In some wonderful way, we will all do something greater than the works of Jesus. 3) And as a means to that end will have access in prayer to Jesus today so that everything we need we can ask for and receive it. 1. Carrying on the Work of Jesus John 14:12a: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do.” Two crucial observations. This promise is not made to the apostles alone, but to all who believe. And second, this is a promise that we will do Jesus’ works. It’s not yet a promise that we will do greater works, just Jesus’ works. Just Normal Christianity It’s a promise to all believers. This is astonishing. So there is no exclusion here if you are a Christian. You shouldn’t think: O this is for pastors, or veteran Christians, or highly spiritual, mature Christians, or professional Christians, or missionaries, or elders, or evangelists, or highly gifted Christians . No. The text says, “whoever believes in me.” Believers, pure and simple, will do the works I do. We have seen this exact phrase before: “Whoever believes in me.” “Whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35) “Whoever believes in me . . . ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” ( John 7:38) “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” ( John 11:25) “Whoever believes in me will not remain in darkness.” ( John 12:46) In other words, this is normal Christianity. This is what it means to be a Christian. Believing on Jesus is what unites you to him for eternal life. So when it says, Whoever believes in Jesus will do this or that, it is describing the normal Christian life. That’s the first observation: The promise in verse 12 is not made to the apostles alone, but to all who believe. All Believers Will Do His Work The second observation is that Jesus promises all believers will do his works. It’s not yet a promise that we will do greater works, just Jesus’ works. Verse 12a: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do.” Now we create problems for ourselves immediately by thinking of Jesus’ most amazing miracles. At this point in the Gospel of John Jesus has turned water into wine (John 2:1–11). He has read the mind of the woman of Samaria ( John 4:18). He has healed the official’s son (John 4:46–54). He had healed the man crippled for 38 years (John 5:1–9). He had fed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish ( John 5: 1–14). He had walked on water (John 6:19). He had healed a man born blind (John 9:1–7). And he had raised Lazarus from the dead after four days in the grave ( John 11:43–44). What did Jesus mean when he said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do.” Did Jesus mean that every Christian would do all these? Or that every Christian would do one or two of these? And if you don’t, you don’t believe? That’s not likely in view of the fact that in the New Testament letters where miracles are mentioned they are a gift that some Christians have and not others. For example, in 1 Corinthians 12 Paul says, To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom . . . 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles . . . 29 Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? ( 1 Corinthians 12:7–10, 29–30). Well, if Jesus doesn’t mean that all believers will do miracles like his, what does he mean when he says, “Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do”? Let’s look closely at the connections here and then at a more distant parallel. Works to Believe First the connection between verse 11 and 12. Verse 11: “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.” So the word “believe” and “works” occur together in verse 11 just like they come together in verse 12. Jesus’ works are designed to help people believe. Right? “Believe on account of the works.” If my verbal testimony is leaving doubts in your mind about who I am, look at my works. Let the works join with my words and lead you to faith. That’s what verse 11 says. Then verse 12 follows: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do.” Now put verse 11 and 12 together and let the function of the works be the same in both verses. Verse 11: My works function to lead people to faith in me. Verse 12: When you believe in me, I will work in you (like a vine works in a branch, John 15:1–7), and your works, like mine, will lead people to faith. So the connection between verses 11 and 12 goes like this: Believe in me on account of my works — let my works lead you to faith (verse 11), because whoever believes in me (verse 12a), will also do works that lead people to believe in me. Works That Point to Jesus So whatever the specific works are that Jesus has in mind, what defines them here is that they are pointers to Jesus which help people believe in him. They are a witness along with Jesus words that lead people to faith. That’s what his works do, and he is saying, at least, that’s what all believers’ works do. "Whoever believes in me will do the works I do" — the works that point people to faith. If you are a believer in Jesus, that’s what your life is. Your works, your life is a display of the trustworthiness of Jesus. Here’s another support for this. If we search for the exact phrase in verse 12a, “the works that I do”, it occurs in one other place in John, namely John 10:25, “Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me.” So again the function of the “works” in John 10:25 is exactly the same as here in John 14:11–12. My works are the things I do that bear witness about me. So at least we can say with confidence that in John 14:12a Jesus means that all believers will be marked by this: they will be so united to Jesus that they will carry on his work by his power and do the kinds of things that will “bear witness” about Jesus. They will point people to Jesus, and through Jesus to the Father. In his prayer in John 17 Jesus prayed, “[Father,] I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.” His work was what he did to draw attention to the glory of his Father. In John 13:35 Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” A life of love will draw attention to the truth of Christ and the reality of our own new life in him. And in Matthew 5:16 Jesus said, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Christians are defined by works or life which flow from faith in Jesus and point to the glory of Jesus. So I conclude that, however many Christians God may give gifts of miracles and healing, all of them (and that is what the text is about, “whoever believes in me”) — all of them will do the works of Jesus in the sense that all his works of every kind testified to his truth and deity. And every Christian does these works — that is, lives this life. We are the aroma of Christ. We are the light of the world. We were dead. And we are alive, “created in Christ Jesus for good works — the works that Jesus did — which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” ( Ephesians 2:10). A life of words and deeds that help people believe in Jesus. That's the first part of our text: verse 12a, "Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do." 2. Doing Greater Works Than Jesus The second part of this text (John 14:12b) is that, in some wonderful way, we will all do something greater than the works of Jesus. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” Again it is every believer, not just the apostles, not just pastors or elders or charismatics or evangelists. “ Whoever believes in me . . . greater works than these will he do.” This is the mark of being a Christian, not being an apostle. If you think “greater works” means “more miraculous” you will be hard put to exceed walking on water, feeding five thousand with five loaves and two fish, and raising the dead. I don’t know of any Christian who has ever lived — inside or outside the New Testament — who has ever done all three of those miracles, let alone something more miraculous. Let alone every Christian having done these miracles or something more miraculous. And again, remember that the New Testament tells us not to expect it for all Christians. “Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues?” The answer, Paul expects, is No ( 1 Corinthians 12:29–30). Which means that when Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me . . . greater works than these will he do because I go to the Father,” he probably did not mean that every Christian was expected to do things more miraculous than Jesus — at least not more spectacularly miraculous. No apostle, no missionary, no Christian has ever done this. Two Clues for Clarity So what does he mean? There are many suggestions and I don’t claim to have the final or decisive word here. But here’s what I see. There are two clues that lead me. The first is the phrase at the end of verse 12, “because I am going to the Father.” “And greater works than these will [every believer] do, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12). And the other clue is the text we looked at on Easter (John 20:21– 23). Jesus said to his disciples after he was raised from the dead, As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” ( John 20:21–23) So in John 14:12 Jesus is saying that his disciples will not only continue his works, but will do greater ones because he goes to the Father. And on the way to the Father he goes to the cross and lays down his life for the sheep (10:15; 1:29), rises from the dead and ascends to God, from where he sends the Holy Spirit so the disciples can do the works they are called to do. And in John 20:21-23 he is saying that his disciples are to continue his work by receiving the Holy Spirit and, in that power, imparting the forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus — on the basis of Jesus death and resurrection. Is there, in the connection between John 14:12 and John 20:21–23, a pointer to what Jesus means by the greater works they are all going to do? My suggestion is this: What’s new and greater is that never before in the history of the world had anyone ever been forgiven by faith in the already crucified, already risen, already reigning, already indwelling Christ. All salvation up until now had been by anticipation, by promise of the coming Redeemer. But now — now that Jesus has gone to the Father, now that he had been crucified, buried, raised, exalted, and sent in the person of the Holy Spirit, the great purchase of forgiveness by substitution was finished once for all. So I think Jesus would have said, “Even when I have forgiven sinners during my earthly life, I have forgiven them in anticipation of that. But you will forgive them in my name on the finished basis of that. The Spirit in you will be the Spirit of the crucified and risen Christ. The message you preach will be the message of not of a promised ransom but a paid ransom, a complete payment, a finished propitiation." Your Greater Works What are the “greater works” that you will do — all of you? You will receive the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of the crucified and risen Christ. Before the resurrection of Jesus, nobody in the history of the world had ever done that, not even Jesus. And in the power of that absolutely new experience — the indwelling of the crucified and risen Christ — your works of love and your message of life in union with Christ, will point people to the glory of the risen Son of God, and you will be the instrument of their forgiveness on the basis of the finished work of Christ ( John 20:23). This will be new. This will be greater than Jesus' earthly miracles, because this is what he came to accomplish by his death and resurrection. Which leaves just a moment for the third part of the text. And I won’t begrudge the brevity because this truth turns up again in chapters John 15:7, 16 and John 16:23–24. The first part of our text was: all of us who believe in Jesus will carry on with his work. The second part was: we will all do something greater than the works of Jesus. And now the third part is 3. As a Means to That End, We Have Access in Prayer to Jesus, So That Everything We Need We Can Ask for and Receive It John 12:13–14, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father maybe glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” As you seek to carry on my work in the world, and as you seek to let your light shine, and live in love, and offer forgiveness of sins in the name of the crucified and risen Christ, ask me for whatever you need and I will give it to you. “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it.” No condition as in John 15:7, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” No condition as in 1 John 5:14– 15, “If we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” No condition as in Mark 11:24, “Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Only one condition: “in my name.” Verse 13: “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it.” Verse 14: “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." So, does Jesus mean we can ignore all those other conditions: abide in him, ask according to his will, believe his word? Or are all these included in the meaning Ask in my name? That’s what I think Jesus would say. I give you the Holy Spirit. I give you the power of the crucified and risen Christ. And I now promise you that you can ask for anything in my name for this mission — for the glory of my Father . “In my name!” That is, for my fame and not yours. Because of my divine worth and my infinite payment on the cross. And according to my sovereign wisdom. Put every request though that filter — my fame, my worth, my purchase, my wisdom. And every prayer will be answered. You will have everything you need to do the works that I do, and even the greater wor

shield. of Faith

THE SHIELD OF FAITH By: Norm Rasmussen Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. -- Ephesians 6:16 Disciples of Jesus Christ are given a protective defense shield from God to hinder Satan’s incoming warheads (scripture refers to them as “fiery darts”). The Bible calls this protective shield, “Our shield of faith.” God gives us this weapon … but we must learn how to use it as affectively as possible to receive maximized benefit from it. Some believers may only be yielding a defense shield equivalent to the size of a penny, though they may not realize it. More seasoned warriors may have grown in maturity and wisdom to where they are completely surrounded by this defense shield … most of the time. How big one’s faith shield is at any given moment of time may not be as important as understanding the importance of having a faith shield in the first place. What does Satan do to try to get through this defense shield? He tries to get us to believe lies to one degree or another. The more lies the devil can get a person to believe, the more difficult it is for that person to perceive truth, even when it’s smack dab in front of their face. The less one perceives truth, the less one receives truth. The less one receives truth, the less one obeys truth, let alone uses truth as an effective weapon from God against demonic strategies launched against them. Ponder for a moment what God is communicating in this portion of scripture found in 1 Peter 1:3-5 NKJV: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Would you agree from this portion of scripture that our faith is very, very important? “Ahhh, but faith in who? Faith in what?” you might ask. These are two extremely important questions that deserve answers to. They both are answered with one Word: We are to have faith in truth. Truth is fact from God’s perspective … but much more than just fact. Truth is a person. The Bible makes this claim: “I am the way, the truth, and the light.” (John 14:6). Jesus Christ said He is truth. What is the difference between speaking truth and being truth. When you ARE truth … the only thing that comes out of your mouth, or actions, or both, is truth. Anything that opposes truth is a lie. Anything that contradicts truth in any way is a lie. Jesus states in scripture that Satan is the father of lies. Lying isn’t just one of the evil attributes of Satan: Satan is lying. As Jesus is truth – Satan is lying. Satan is lying personified. “Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and father of it. – John 8:43-44 NKJV The Holy Spirit also is truth. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” The Holy Bible, God’s written Word, is truth. “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” -- John 17:17-18 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. – John 1:1 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:14 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. – John 1:17 For there are three who bear witness in heaven: The Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. – 1 John 5:7 God cannot be anything other than the truth. Mud cannot be the sky, and the moon cannot be the sun. A tree cannot be a cow, nor can a computer be a t- bone steak. Similarly, The Word of God cannot be anything other than what it truly is: truth. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. – James 1:22 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the word, this one will be blessed in what he does. – James 1:23 Satan knowing these scriptures … does everything in his power to try to keep us convinced that the Word of God is not truth. Put a nuclear warhead in one corner of the ring and a firecracker in the other corner. If Satan can convince you the firecracker is the most lethal of the two weapons, you are little threat to him. If he can convince you that neither the nuclear warhead or the firecracker are weapons period … you’re absolutely no threat to him, at least at the moment. Even more sobering … you have no defense shield up! Every gate into your palace is open wide and unguarded. The devil’s forces can walk right in and have anything they want, and don’t even have to fight for it. Only by the grace of God will you be protected from demonic attacks. Satan’s number one priority is to keep the human race in spiritual blindness. His primary means of doing so is to give people reasons not to read or hear the New Testament Bible, but if they do ... firstly, not believe it; secondly, not to obey it. Maybe you haven’t heard it said this way: The New Testament is God’s “spiritual contract with all of humanity.” The Old Testament was God’s “spiritual contract for the Jews” – but not for the Gentiles, or the rest of humanity. Prior to the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, non-Jews had no official “written contract” from God. The Old Testament law was not given to the Gentiles – it was given solely to the Jewish people. Was there anything wrong with non-Jewish people trying to obey the Old Testament? Not at all. Most everything God had to say in the Old Testament to the Jews would have benefited non-Jews greatly, but if the Jews did so poorly at obeying the Old Testament book of the law, how in the world would non-Jews have been able to do any better … without the help of God? The Jews received all the help from God that a mere human was capable of receiving from God, yet disobedience to God was always the end result for most of the Jewish leaders. Not all Jewish leaders – most, however. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ gave every person on this planet the legal right to be connected to God in a way that was far superior to the Old Testament way of being connected to God. This way is through faith. Faith in what? Faith in God’s written “spiritual contract” with the human race to both Jews and non-Jews, and faith in the Person known as The Word. Satan hates the written Word of God and the Word person of God, as do all the fallen angels, and especially hates those who put their faith in it and Him. Satan was so threatened by God that he immediately went about introducing sin into the world. He knew that if he could entice Eve and Adam to sin against God, the human race might never be able to manifest The Word of God in human form. It appeared that Satan almost succeeded when God chose to flood the earth and destroy the human race, admitting to Himself that he was sorry for ever creating it in the first place. Yet there was faithful Noah and the few family members that survived the flood, to keep the human race going. Many years later, Satan was notified that The Word of God may be ready to manifest in the form of a human being, and so he used King Herrod to kill all the male children (See: Matthew Chapter 2), hoping baby Jesus the Messiah would then be eliminated. Jesus survived. Satan sought to constantly tempt Jesus to sin, but never could get Jesus to sin. Rage evidently overruled wisdom, and Satan finally was given the ability to kill Jesus on the cross … hoping this would solve his problem. Not only did Jesus survive by rising from the dead, but it literally became Satan’s very undoing, because soon after the resurrection of Jesus Christ in bodily form - once Jesus went back up into heaven to be with the Father - the Holy Spirit was poured out on disciples of Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of Jesus Christ was now spreading out across all the earth, and continues to do so until this very day. Satan has been on the defensive every since, trying to stop Jesus Christ from having greater influence across the planet … yet painfully realizing that as each day passes, his time for execution of judgment that has already be pronounced … grows shorter and shorter. Satan is a judged foe. All fallen angels are also judged foes. Full execution of their judgment is set by the Creator, in His timing. Satan and his demon helpers want you ignorant of The Word of God. They will do everything in their power to keep you from reading or hearing The Word of God. If they cannot keep you from reading or hearing The Word of God, they will do everything in their power to keep you from believing The Word of God. If they can’t effectively hinder you from believing The Word of God, they will do everything in their power to confuse you in what The Word of God means, so you cannot yield it as a lethal sword against evil, and apply it as a daily defense shield (as well as an offensive weapon against evil). But if they can’t stop you from yielding it as an effective sword – the sword of the Spirit, (that’s what God calls it) – then they will do everything they can to let The Word of God be a sword to stab other Christian believers with, or as a means to fill one’s temple with pride. Satan knows he cannot remove The Word of God off the face of this planet though it doesn’t stop him from constantly, persistently trying. In the meantime, Satan doesn’t care that much if you read The Word of God. What threatens him greatly is if you diligently seek to understand it. What threatens him even more is your eagerness to obey it. What sends him into absolute rage is if you try to help others understand and obey it as well! Now you become a major, major threat to him. Remember something, however. It is the Spirit of God who brings alive (gives illumination and revelation) and releases the power of God as is needed. Trying to effect The Word of God without The Spirit of God’s help is futile, and an insult to God the Father. One is not operating under the influence of The Spirit of God if they have not purposed to be serious disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, who died to pay the penalty for their sins. There appears to be a growing deceptive teaching in Christianity that if a person constantly speaks the Word of God, God is obligated to back up the intentions of the one doing the speaking. God honors His Word, make no mistake. But … God doesn’t honor it if the Holy Spirit discerns that we are trying to use the Word of God for selfish and/or prideful reasons. We must always keep this as our continuous tutor and guide in believing and executing The Word of God: But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. – Romans 7:6 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. – 2 Cor. 3:5-6. Meaning what? Meaning that if my interpretation of The Word of God is different than yours … I’m not to try to beat you over the head with my interpretation and get all upset if you refuse to believe my interpretation of a given passage or thought. God’s Word is Truth. However, God has never obligated Himself in His Word that He’s going to give any mere mortal full, 100% revelation (full understanding, in other words) of His Truth this side of eternity. He has obligated Himself to lead us into Truth – just not give any single individual full revelation of all Truth. Rather, he does that through the Body of Christ, through many different individuals. That eliminates the pride issue God has always had to contend with in fallen man. God’s Word is both a defensive weapon and an offensive weapon. Statements of fact made by The Word Himself, such as: “If you can believe, all things are possible,” (See: Mark 9:23) and, “With God, all things are possible.” (See: Mark 10:27; Matt. 19:26) … make the devil quiver in fear when he finds disciples of Jesus Christ appropriating either of these two promises, or both of them. Faith in God and faith in God’s Word can effect the impossible, (as the Holy Spirit imparts the necessary direction and faith in accordance with the Father’s will) and the devil knows it! Here is what the devil does not wanting us believing about God’s Word: Believing God makes all things possible that God wills to happen in our life, (or in the life of another) if we persistently continue believing. Believing God’s Word makes all things possible that God wills to happen in our life, if we persistently continue believing, and it is truly the Holy Spirit behind our persistent believing and not just our personal desire doing the motivating. Maybe you've heard this before - maybe not: "Faith in God makes all things possible -- though not always easy." Why is it so difficult to believe God for seemingly "impossible" things? Because Christians have a great opponent in the fighting ring, constantly seeking to keep them defeated in their faith. Who is this opponent? His name is Satan. God clearly states that mountains standing in our way can be removed (See: Mark 11:22-24). Satan begs to differ ... relentlessly. Here is what the devil does want us to believe about God’s Word: It can’t be trusted; it can’t be understood; it contradicts itself; it leads one into emotional and spiritual bondage; it is the biggest threat to world peace, harmony and economic prosperity this world has ever known. Another area Satan relentlessly hammers our thought life is in the arena of "It must not be God's will - wouldn't you agree?" If Satan can con us into believing a given thing in not God's will, when in fact it may very well be God's will, we'll surrender our faith to Satan and the fight is over for us. Be EXTREMELY wise in seeking God's will when you enter into the fighting ring with Satan. The more confident you are in knowing God's will in every situation you're dealing with ... the more equipped you will be in pressing through until your mountain gets removed by God. What you and I believe frees God to release his power and protection and blessing as it is needed to fit our situation. If there is any question about what God has to say about a given matter, God’s Word is the first and final authority. God’s Word supersedes all circumstances and situations and feelings that appear contrary to the Word of God. For instance, if I am being bombarded with lies that God does not love me, I must go to the Word of God and remind myself of the promises God has given me about His unconditional love for me. I will do well not only to speak them to myself, but out loud confidently … reminding the lying devils that I refuse to put up with their lying. This is known as actively resisting the devil, which God promises will cause the devil to flee from us, as we persist in letting God’s Word be the first and final authority on this matter of God’s unconditional love for me. Another common attack of the devil is try to convince us in weak moments that “ God has left you – God has forsaken you, hasn’t he?” When that happens, we must go to scriptures like Hebrews 13:5-6 and Proverbs 3:5-6 and read them, and keep re-reading them until the Holy Spirit breaks through the barrage of lies the devil has erected around our mind, and our confidence in God returns. Saturate your mind frequently with the Word of God. Memorize it. Post it around your house and in your car. Listen to it on the radio and on television. There is spiritual life in God’s Word, because God makes certain of it. God makes certain that there is sufficient power released to accomplish whatever it is He desires for His Word to accomplish. Just how much power does God release to back up His Word? Here is what He had to say about His words in Matthew 24:35: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” Putting our faith to the revealed words of Jesus Christ has the full backing of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit and the angels that do their bidding. Putting our faith to The Word of God when accurately applied to our situation will cause heaven and hell to step aside if necessary … because God honors His Word when persistence faith is applied to it and when it’s not used out of context. The key … is to accurately apply it to our situation. Applying it out of context is what the devil delights in us doing, because that causes us to not be so quick to apply it again, and it causes skeptics to doubt all the more that the Bible can be trusted. The Word of God is a mighty weapon. Make sure that when you use this weapon, you are pointing it at the enemy – not looking down the barrel with the safety off. That’s what the devil wants to always do, saints, once you know the power of God’s Word. He wants you to turn your weapon on yourself and turn you into a causality, instead of allowing you to be a fearless warrior for Jesus. He delights when you use it to inflict wounds on fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and better yet, use it to commit slow suicide on yourself. That’s perfectly great, just as long as you do not use it effectively as the mighty weapon it is … against him. To learn about the other weapons of our warfare, click on the ones below you are interested in knowing more about: 1) Helmet of salvation 2) Sword of the Spirit 3) Praying always 4) Breastplate of righteousness 5) The Belt of truth 6) Gospel of peace 7) Shield of faith

how to strengthen your spiritual life

Over the course of my life, there have been several times when I thought it might be the end. For instance, once when I was in college I had been very sick with chicken pox and then had to stay up all night studying before taking my mid-terms. And after my midterms I had to drive back home to my parents’ house feeling just awful! I’ll never forget… it was pouring down rain, I was sleepy, and somehow I just dozed off. I remember waking up just in time to avoid hitting the car in front of me, and I swerved off the road not knowing what I would hit. In that moment I cried out, “Lord, help!” Needless to say, I made it through. Then there was the time a few years back when I was in a private plane flying back to Houston and we had a crash landing. We were fortunate to have a tremendous pilot and thankfully, no one was hurt. But on the way down in the plane, the prayer that overcame me was, “Thank You, Lord. Thank You for my family and my life.” We’ve all had those moments when we’ve prayed prayers like the ones I prayed. But that’s not really praying, is it? Those prayers are crisis prayers. They’re last-second, desperation prayers! As a pastor, I can tell you that most of the Christian men and women I talk to would like their prayer life to be more than just random outbursts to God in the midst of desperation. They would like to improve their prayer life. They want a real, intimate, interactive prayer life. Like the kind of prayer life Jesus had. The apostles studied Jesus’ lifestyle. They saw Him go off by Himself to pray at all hours of the day. And they would see Jesus come back from these prayer times with the Father invigorated, alive, refreshed, and motivated. So they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray! Jesus gives them a model prayer in Luke 11: “Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” Now, this is not the Lord’s Prayer, but a model prayer. It is an outline for prayer, a pattern for prayer. And there are six basic ingredients in this prayer that I want to share with you today. I have formed these six factors around the acronym CHRIST. C stands for concentrate. The first word in the model prayer is “Father.” Almighty God says that His children are to go to Him and call Him Father. We are to concentrate on Him as God, Father, His nature, His character, His dominion, His omnipresence. That’s the first ingredient. H stands for hallowed. “Hallowed be Your name.” The name of God is not to be used in a pedestrian or profane sense. It is to be set aside, it is unique, it is holy. It is to be separate from all other names. R stands for ruler. “Your kingdom come.” It is His kingdom. His agenda in heaven is the same agenda He has for earth. We should not pray for God to bless our kingdom and agendas, but rather that we may be in the middle of His plan and kingdom…which is anywhere Jesus is Lord. Anywhere God’s will rules and reigns is where you will find the kingdom of God. I stands for I need. “Give us each day our daily bread.” This is where the pattern of prayer changes. We are simply to pray for the needs of today… not tomorrow. And it’s not what we want or what we desire, but what we need. S stands for sin. “And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.” We are to ask forgiveness for our sin. This is a prayer for believers, not for unbelievers. If we forgive those who have sinned against us, we too will be forgiven. T stands for temptation. “And lead us not into temptation.” This does not mean, “God, do not try to trick or tempt me,” but rather, “Lord, please make sure I do not get entrapped by the world. Keep me away from the wrong crowd.” Remember, this is not a rote prayer. This is simply an outline. A model for communication with the Lord our God. Prayer can be as ordinary as picking up the telephone…but as awesome and incredulous as discovering that almighty God is on the other end of the call! It’s my prayer that you will remember the word CHRIST in your prayer time this week and in the weeks to come. I hope this powerful tool will help strengthen your prayer time…and your rel

how to hear from the HOLY SPIRIT

When do we know that the Holy Spirit or God has spoken to our heart? How do we know we are doing God's will and not our will? These two questions are common and not so easily answered in a specific manner. There are, however, general principles by which we can know we hear the Holy Spirit. I offer the following guidelines not as a formula and not as a guarantee but as a means to help people understand and recognize when the Holy Spirit is speaking to and through them. 1. Become a Christian A. John 1:12, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name." B. It should go without saying that we should be Christians before we seek to hear from the Holy Spirit. Though there are many non-Christian groups such as the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses and aberrant Christian groups like Roman Catholics, the necessary first step is that we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God through receiving Christ as Lord and Savior. This can only occur if a person is saved from God's judgment by trusting, through faith alone, in the work of Christ alone. Of course, this means that we must understand and know that Jesus Christ is God in flesh, the only begotten Son of the Father, that he died for our sins, and that he was physically risen from the dead. C. Therefore, you must be indwelt by God before you can hear from him. D. Therefore, in order to hear from the Holy Spirit, you must first be saved. 2. Read the Bible to know how to pray and recognize false impressions A. 2 Tim. 3:16-17, "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." B. We cannot claim to be in the will of God, and thereby hearing the Holy Spirit if we are believing or acting in a manner contrary to the revealed Word of God. We need to study the Bible. It is God's inspired word, and it guides us so that we might know how to pray and also so that we can discern whether what we think we hear from God really is or is not true. C. Take for example the Mormons. They pray about the Book of Mormon and believe that the Holy Spirit tells them that Mormonism is true. However, Mormonism clearly contradicts the Bible since it teaches there are many gods, people can become gods, there is a goddess mother in heaven, etc. What they think they are hearing from God the Holy Spirit really is not from him at all. D. Therefore, by reading God's Word we can at least eliminate any suspected communication from the Holy Spirit should it prove contrary to the Bible. 3. Pray in accordance to God's will A. 1 John 5:14, "And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." B. We discover the will of God by conforming our lives, our thoughts, and our actions to the words of Christ and the apostles as taught in the New Testament. But, it is in prayer that we enter into the presence of God and seek to hear from him. C. Therefore, we need to hear from God's Word, and we need to be in prayer for God's will. 4. Confess your sins A. Psalm 66:18, "If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear." B. We cannot claim to walk with God and yet abide in unrepentant sin. If you want to be in the will of God and hear the Holy Spirit work in your heart and life, you must confess your sins and repent of them. You cannot hear from the Lord if you are willfully living in a manner contrary to the holiness of God. C. Therefore, if there are sins in your life from which you have not turned, then you need to confess them before the Lord and be cleansed. 5. Wait upon the Lord. A. Psalm 40:1, "I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry." B. Sometimes the answer to prayer takes longer than we expect. This is why hearing from the Holy Spirit requires that we be patient. When we ask of God and when we seek his will, we can know instantly what his will is in many cases by reading the Bible. But in those areas where the Bible is not specific and we ask God something about life's direction, who to marry, what job to take, etc., we must wait in order to hear from the Holy Spirit. C. Oftentimes, we can discern the will of the Holy Spirit by the becoming aware of an increase or decrease of desire in our hearts as we repeatedly pray and wait on him. In other words, God often puts a desire into our hearts that increases over time as we pray about something. If that desire is in agreement with scripture, then it is most probably from the Lord. If the desire in your heart decreases, it may be that the Lord is not speaking to you on that topic. Look at it this way. Pray and ask the Lord to increase desires in your heart that are from him and decrease those that are not. And, always make sure your desires are in accordance with the Bible. D. Therefore, be patient and give the Lord the opportunity to answer you--to speak to your heart. In these principles, you can find how to hear the Holy Spirit--how to recognize his work in you. Be filled with the Spirit in salvation. Study what the Bible says so you might recognize truth. Pray for his will. Confess your sins and be patient. The Lord answers, but sometimes he has to prepare the groundwork before the answer can come to fruition.

solutions to problems on relationships

most unthinkable thing in love is how to deal with relationship break ups. Mainly, because people are blinded and excited when love is young and blooming. At this stage attraction is very high and each one is willing to sacrifice almost anything for the other as they are desperate for acceptance. But as time goes by a sense ownership, confidence and security develops and some couples begin taking one another for granted. Contentment brings with it a feeling of achievement thus putting extra effort to satisfy the other becomes lesser. It is during this time that a relationship is vulnerable. Therefore, couples need to be renew their commitment hence avoid dealing with relationship break up if things take a downward direction. The solution of preventing an eventuality of dealing with relationship break ups is constant communication. You should seek to understand your partner especially when differences show up. Settle conflict with humility. When you agree to step down on your demands you may realize that a solution has been near all along. Maybe your pride has been blocking your line of thought. Being prejudicial in your attitude can result in you ignoring issues being presented by your partner. I always say that every relationship can be saved if only everyone makes sure that they never forget what attracted them to the other in the first place. Remember when in the beginning you were willing to give up all to get him/her. To avoid dealing with relationship break up you must value your partner and in doing so you will build a friendship that will last a long time. There is no other known solution to dissolving fights in relationships except communication and humility. Being too confident and stubborn will do you no good. Follow the links below to learn more insightful tips on dealing with relationship break ups.

American jihadi's family speaks out

He was a basketball-loving kid from the Midwest who turned into a jihadi fighting for terrorists in Syria. Exactly what spurred Douglas McAuthur McCain's metamorphosis remains murky. But while his radicalization and death have stunned loved ones back home, his actions abroad have raised fears that other Americans may follow suit. Here's what we know about the 33-year-old man who died while fighting for ISIS, the radical militant group that has captured swaths of Iraq and Syria and spawned major concerns in the United States: He grew up in Minnesota McCain grew up in the Minneapolis suburb of New Hope, his friend Isaac Chase said. The two lived in the same New Hope apartment building and became fast friends. "When I first moved here, I didn't know anyone, so I went to the park and I would see him and his brother and a bunch of other people playing basketball, and he asked me if I wanted to play," Chase said. "We just hung out pretty much from 10 o'clock in the morning all the way until nighttime. We'd just play basketball and talk. ... He was an older guy that I looked up to. He was actually a good dude." Chase described McCain as a nice, quiet young man, but one who was looking for purpose in life. When Chase joined the Air Force in 2007 and served in Iraq, McCain was impressed that his friend was making something of his life and wanted to do the same, Chase said. But after learning that McCain died while fighting for ISIS, which is trying to rule an Islamic state across Iraq and Syria, his friend was bewildered. "It just hurts a little bit knowing that if he was over there and I was over there at the same time, we would've been going against each other," Chase said. "That's what hurts the most because he was a good person, and I just don't understand why anyone would do anything to the U.S." His family is stunned, too McCain's transformation to a jihadi left his family "devastated" and "just as surprised as the country," said his uncle Ken McCain, who lives in Minnesota. Chase described McCain's mother and father as good parents. He said the mother attended church regularly, and the father is deceased. McCain converted from Christianity to Islam several years ago, his uncle said. He described the nephew he knew as "a good person, loved his family, loved his mother, loved his faith" -- the latter being a reference to the Christianity he practiced before his conversion. The family wasn't alarmed by his conversion. But McCain's Facebook posts sympathetic to ISIS got relatives' attention, the uncle said. He said they last heard from McCain several months ago, when he said he was traveling to Turkey. His cousin insists he's not a terrorist

American jihadi's family speaks out

He was a basketball-loving kid from the Midwest who turned into a jihadi fighting for terrorists in Syria. Exactly what spurred Douglas McAuthur McCain's metamorphosis remains murky. But while his radicalization and death have stunned loved ones back home, his actions abroad have raised fears that other Americans may follow suit. Here's what we know about the 33-year-old man who died while fighting for ISIS, the radical militant group that has captured swaths of Iraq and Syria and spawned major concerns in the United States: He grew up in Minnesota McCain grew up in the Minneapolis suburb of New Hope, his friend Isaac Chase said. The two lived in the same New Hope apartment building and became fast friends. "When I first moved here, I didn't know anyone, so I went to the park and I would see him and his brother and a bunch of other people playing basketball, and he asked me if I wanted to play," Chase said. "We just hung out pretty much from 10 o'clock in the morning all the way until nighttime. We'd just play basketball and talk. ... He was an older guy that I looked up to. He was actually a good dude." Chase described McCain as a nice, quiet young man, but one who was looking for purpose in life. When Chase joined the Air Force in 2007 and served in Iraq, McCain was impressed that his friend was making something of his life and wanted to do the same, Chase said. But after learning that McCain died while fighting for ISIS, which is trying to rule an Islamic state across Iraq and Syria, his friend was bewildered. "It just hurts a little bit knowing that if he was over there and I was over there at the same time, we would've been going against each other," Chase said. "That's what hurts the most because he was a good person, and I just don't understand why anyone would do anything to the U.S." His family is stunned, too McCain's transformation to a jihadi left his family "devastated" and "just as surprised as the country," said his uncle Ken McCain, who lives in Minnesota. Chase described McCain's mother and father as good parents. He said the mother attended church regularly, and the father is deceased. McCain converted from Christianity to Islam several years ago, his uncle said. He described the nephew he knew as "a good person, loved his family, loved his mother, loved his faith" -- the latter being a reference to the Christianity he practiced before his conversion. The family wasn't alarmed by his conversion. But McCain's Facebook posts sympathetic to ISIS got relatives' attention, the uncle said. He said they last heard from McCain several months ago, when he said he was traveling to Turkey. His cousin insists he's not a terrorist

Police tear gas protesting Ogun University students

The police have fired tear gas to disperse protesting students of the Ogun State University, OOU, Ago Iwoye. PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the students, who were initially embarking on a peaceful protest, turned violent after the teargas and damaged some public property. The students had as early as 6:30 a.m. continued their protest that they commenced on Thursday. The students, Friday morning, occupied the Presidential boulevard, the route leading to the office of Governor Ibikunle Amosun. They said they would not let the governor, who was yet to arrive the scene, get to his office unless he addressed their demands. The OOU students have demanded a further reduction of their school fees, after the governor announced a reduction earlier in the week. They also want the reduction to commence from the current academic session and not the next as proposed by the state government. Over 100 policemen were seen at the venue of the protest on Friday morning before the dispersal. The protesting students seized a mass transit bus belonging to the state government and forced a security vehicle filled with soldiers from the scene. They told the soldiers to go look for the kidnapped Chibok girls rather than prevent their protest from holding. The development caused gridlock on the dual carriage road as many motorists had to make detour. Several civil servants working in the governor’s office were forced to return home following the blockade of the road. The students had commenced the protest on Thursday and camped at Rev Kuti Secondary School in Abeokuta for the night. They continued the protest at about 6:30 a.m. on Friday. The President of the univeristy’s Students Union Government, Olusegun Ifade, who addressed his colleagues had promised that the protest would be peaceful as they would avoid clashed with security operatives. ‘Let us conduct the protest in peaceful manner,but we have occupied this road for now until the governor attends to our demands. We are not leaving here,” he said. The protesters had on Thursday had a brief clash with rival students of the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic who came to declare support for the governor. The security officials present looked away while the clash occurred. The Ogun Police Commissioner, Ikemefuna Okoye, later arrived to address the protesting students asking them to conduct a peaceful protest.

Ogun varsity proscribes students union

Ogun varsity proscribes students union 2014-08-27 21:30 Ogun - The management of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun state, has scrapped the student union government of the institution, Premium Times reports. The school authorities accused the students' body of conniving with external forces and unregistered groups to disrupt academic activities that led to the shutting down of the institution by the state government. Also read: Police disrupt students' protest in Ogun The president of the union, Ifade Olusegun, said the university lacks the power to proscribe the union as the body is a constitutional right. The student of the institution had embarked on a two-day protest, demanding that the tuition fees introduced by the state government be further reduced. Read more at Premium Times

Jonathan to sign-off National ID card

Jonathan to sign-off National ID card 2014-08-27 21:30 Abuja - President Goodluck Jonathan will on Thursday at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja inaugurate the national electronic identity card. The launch, which will kick-start the issuance of a unique National Identification Number (NIN) and electronic identity card to all eligible citizens, provide a secure means to access the national identity database to authenticate and verify identities. A statement signed by Anthony Okwudiafor, director, corporate communications of National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) said Thursday’s event was a remarkable milestone in the National Identity Management System (NIMS) as well as a huge achievement in the overall objectives of the commission. The NIMC spokesman said the process of activating applications on the card would be done in two phases. The card , he said, is an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) compliant travel application to be used as a Machine Readable Travel Document (MRTD), for local/regional travel. "It is a Nigerian Electronic Identity application to be used to authenticate an individual’s identity." He said the card can as well be used as an International Driver’s License, transport application for loading credits/units on local bus terminals; Tax application for making tax payments, verify payments, etc. - NAN

Believers authority by Kenneth Hagins

Great book about the authority of the
believer. I highly recommend anyone who
is taking their walk with Christ seriously to
read this book. Shows us how to withstand
the attacks of the enemy and Kenneth E.
Hagin gives us great examples from his
own life to help and teach us to resist the
devil so he can flee!
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