I watched Mr. Kerry Shook on TBN-TV Tues Sep 27.  He spent the first 10 minutes exclaiming over and over about God’s unmerited favor, which he called “grace”, and said that there is nothing we can do to earn or receive grace.  He used Noah and Jehoshaphat as being in position to receive God’s grace.  Then he said we have to take one step at a time for God to move us into position to receive grace, and that we must continue to keep taking one step, one step, then another, on and on to follow God’s Word to get into position to receive God’s grace.   After all that time teaching that we do not have to do anything, he turned around and said we have to make the choice to follow God step by step to be in the position to receive His grace.  Which is it?  We do nothing, or do we have to make the choice and actively follow Him?  If we must follow Him, then there is something we must do---choose to follow Him and do it!

Actually his idea of grace is incorrect.  Grace is not God’s unmerited favor!  Favor is associated with mercy-God’s love to mankind.  Unmerited favor is shown in Romans 2:4, “Or despises thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.”  God’s unmerited favor is His mercy and kindness to lost people who are not seeking Him and to Christians out of fellowship with Him.  Grace is always the work of the Spirit in the hearts of mankind; first to create our new heart at salvation when we become a child of God and then to help us grow in grace as we walk with Him.  Grace is always the automatic work of the Spirit in our hearts that we have chosen to receive into our hearts by faith.  Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, but only if we accept the Word into our hearts.  When we receive God’s Word, Christ, into our hearts, Christ begins working to produce whatever action God intends and we call that work of the Spirit in our hearts the work of grace. 

Example:  Hebrews 4:2 states, “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”  They heard God’s Words of the gospel, but it did not profit them because they did not receive the Words into their hearts.   If they had mixed it in faith by receiving positively the Words into their hearts, the Living Words of the gospel would have produced the work of grace in their hearts for salvation.  So there is something we each must do to receive grace, we must first choose to receive God’s Word into our heart, for He will not force or put His Spirit into our hearts unless we personally choose to invite Him in and open our hearts to Him.  Grace is not dumped on people randomly.  Grace is always the automatic response of the Spirit working in our hearts when we receive God’s Word into our hearts by faith as Ephesians 2:8 states that we are saved by grace through faith.

Also, there was not grace in the Old Testament as the Psalmist states in Psalms 25:10, “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.”  Only Jesus had the work of grace in His heart before the day of Pentecost, for John 1:17 states, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”  

View my video on Mercy, Grace and Charity.

FACT: God only controls people submitted to Him.

Mr Jack Graham,(not Billy Graham), on his TV program the weekend of 25 Sep 2011, stated, “There is nothing going on in your life, big or little, disease, or daily little things that God is not orchestrating. God is orchestrating your lives. He is in control.  He has you in control.  He will give you the desires of your heart.”  Then he added, “We have so much trouble because we are chasing things of the world.”  If God has us in control, how then are we chasing things of the world?  Which way is it?  Is God controlling us, or are we making the decisions and chasing the world?  It can’t be both?

FACT:  God is only controlling the things in people's lives who are submitted to Him according to His pure Word.  If we are trying to claim or stand on incorrect interpretation of His Word, He will not back it or us up.  Also, we allow satan to have control when we fail to forgive, 2 Corinthians 2:10-11.  And Jesus says His Father will not forgive us if we fail to forgive others, Matthew 6:15, "But if ye forgive not men their treespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."  Therefore, when we are failing to forgive, envying others, holding anger (Eph 4:26-27), or we are rejecting any of God's Word, we are giving satan the advantage in our lives and he will bring in curses and as many other bad things as he can while we are out of fellowship with God.  That is why so many Christians are as sick as the non-Christians in our society, they have allowed satan to have the advantage in their lives by being luke warm and rejecting God's Word to them.  Look in Deuteronomy 28, there are no sicknesses in the blessing side, they are all listed as curses.  
So do not accept Mr Graham's statement that God is in control of your life if you are wracked in pain, or suffering in many other ways.  God does not treat us that way to teach or mold us as Mr Graham explains.  God is a loving God, and He even changed in 2 Kings 20 for King Hezekiah and added 15 years to his life.  God is not a respecter of persons, He respects His Word.  Psalms 138:2 states that He has exalted His Word above all His names (KJV).  God didn't respect King Hezekiah because he was a king, He respected him because he had been a Godly king.  God respects our acceptance and obedience to His pure Word -- so take the time to seek Him and make sure you have the correct interpretation of His Word and talk to Him about your problem.  God loves you as much as He loved Jesus!

Look at my two videos on "Prayer Changes Things - Prayer changes God and God changes things."  God bless you and have a great day.  

Fact: God is not in control of this world!

On September 11, 2001 and last Sunday, 9/11, 2011, we heard the preachers or ministers of many different denominations interviewed by national TV hosts state how “God is in control” and then state something like from Isaiah 55:8-9 where God says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. (9) For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  This was to comfort us while accepting the foolish suffering of the murderous acts because if God knew it was to happen and He allowed it; therefore, He must have had some mysterious higher reasoning for allowing it that we in our simple minds would not be able to understand.  Our spiritual leaders in all denominations have let us, the common people, down by sitting on their intellectual pedestals and teaching such errors. 

First, the Bible says that God is not in control of the world.  The Scripture (KJV) states in 1 John 5:19, “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.”  The NIV states, “…and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”  The Greek Interlinear states, “and the world whole in the evil one lies.”  How could that be since Jesus says in Matthew 28:18, “…All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth”?  The devil has no power or authority, but he receives control or advantage in situations when people choose to neglect and reject God’s Word, or when we ignorantly accept and obey incorrect teachings.   You can easily see how controlling the devil must be with most of the people in our country and around the world completely disregarding God’s Word.  When Christians disobey God’s Word, we give satan control of the circumstances in our lives too!  The Apostle Paul states in 2 Corinthians 2:10-11, “To whom ye forgive anything, I forgive also: for if I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Chirst; (11) Lest satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”  He is saying that during the time we are failing to forgive someone, we are giving satan the advantage in our lives.  We will be out of fellowship with God because Jesus says in Matthew 6:15, “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”  So, when we choose not to forgive (or disobey other of God’s instructions to us like teaching, preaching, serving in positions of ministry that He has called us to) we are willfully putting our hand in the hand of satan and giving him control of the circumstances in our life until we turn and choose to forgive.  Many Scriptures show that through ignorance and compromise we give satan the (control) advantage in our lives.  Our Christian denominations are filled with errors: many teaching the opposite of others. This is not pleasing to God for He says in Ephesians 4:4, 13 that there is only one faith and that our spiritual leaders are supposed to be teaching and leading all of us into the unity of that one faith, not hundreds of “faiths.”  Ephesians 4:26-27 states, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: (27) Neither give place to the devil.”  And Jesus says in, Matthew 5:25 that we should, “Agree with thine adversary quickly…”  We are opening up our lives to the control of the devil for as long as we fail to forgive or obey other of God’s Word to us personally. 

Secondly, Isaiah 55:8-9 was written for a society similar to ours today.  The Children of Israel were conducting their sacrifices, proclaiming fasts, going through their worship services, praying as they should just like our Christian society is doing and then they asked where is God and why did He let 9/11 happen?  Why isn’t He answering our holy prayers and showing respect unto all of our good works? God explains about their works in Isaiah 58:2-3, “Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. (3) Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?...”  They are saying, “Look how great we are, and God isn’t even paying attention to us!”  That is why God told them in Isaiah 55:8-9 that their ways were not His ways, and their thoughts were not His thoughts.  The He told them why He was not responding positively to their prayers in Isaiah 59:1-2 which is why He is not standing up for the Christian community of our nation too, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: (2) But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.”

There are many individual Christians in our society which are getting personal answers to prayer, but the leaders in our Christian society as a whole are filled with errors of Scripture, intellectualism and pride in good works instead of seeking the true pure Word of God to bring unity in the body of Christ.  

My books and videos address many of the errors which need to be corrected in our Christian community.  Have a blessed day.       

FAITH - Deliverance from Fear

     Last night I was listening to a minister on Daystar TV who was telling about how so many people are bound by fear in so many areas.  Fear of relationships, flying, failure, storms, being alone, public speaking and so many others you would have to see the list yourself.  A phobia is defined in Webster’s New World College Dictionary as “an irrational, excessive, and persistent fear of some particular thing or situation”.  I did a “Google” search on phobia and did not take the time to count all of the listed types of phobias because there must have been over a thousand. If I had tried to count them, I am afraid I would have missed some. Many Christians I know seem to express fears as openly as those I know who do not claim to be Christians and who do not attend any church.  With all of the deliverance ministries around the country and other ministers teaching about overcoming fear, it seems that Christians should be some of the strongest emotional people in our society, yet thousands of ministers walk away from spiritual callings each year and others go to counseling.  The reason so many people who try to get set free of fear and are unable to be is because they do not know their enemy, fear; so their efforts are like a boxer who is shadow boxing.  The shadow boxer jumps around with good form, dodging and ducking back and forth making great swings, but he is not hitting anything because there is nothing to hit. 

First, we must determine just what fear is if we expect to fight it and win the victory.  Every minister that I have heard through the years talks about fear as if it is a gripping emotion, but it is not!  Fear is not an emotion and fear is not from the devil!  It can cause a lot of severe emotions in us, but fear is not an emotion.  That is very important because as Christians we have a physical body, a soul (mental and emotional) and Spirit.  So, if fear is not an emotion in our soul, what is it? 

The Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”  Spirit of fear tells us that fear is a spirit, and it certainly is not God’s Spirit; therefore, it is the devil!  Fear is not an emotion, and fear is not from the devil; fear is the devil! Any time you get above being anxious to start becoming fearful, the devil is making his presence known to you to try to terrorize you so much that you will be unable to find God’s presence or will.  As long as he can keep you in terror, he will have the advantage in the circumstances and as Jesus says in John 10:10, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” The devil will not stop tormenting you in these circumstances until he has your life, or until you turn with all your heart to the Lord for help, or God in His mercy intervenes. 

Now a couple questions that need to be answered are: 1) How is the devil able to attack us Christians in specific areas to terrorize us? and 2) How do we get free or escape from his attack?  The two answers are naturally tied together, but for clarity I will try to answer them separately.  First, when we violate or reject any of God’s Word or Will we are giving satan the advantage in our life.  The devil has no power, for all power and authority has been given to Jesus, Matthew 28:18.  But when we reject God’s Word, we give satan control in the circumstances.  For example, 2 Corinthians 2:10-11 states that we forgive others lest we give satan the advantage.  Ephesians 4:26-27 says to be angry and sin not……neither give place to the devil.  In Matthew 6:15, Jesus says that if we do not forgive others, then neither will our Heavenly Father forgive us.  Therefore, if you have rejected any of God’s Word or God’s Will for you to teach a class, to work with the youth or elderly, to preach fulltime, or whatever call from God you have rejected, you will not be in a very good position to fight the devil since you are out of fellowship with God.  You must make sure that your heart is right with God before you start trying to fight the devil because in James 4:7 the Scripture states, “Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he (the devil) will flee from you.”  So then, the first step is to submit your whole heart to God and His Will for you—even if it means making several lifestyle changes! You cannot fight off the devil’s attacks, only God can! 

Another consideration is your phobia or area the devil is attacking probably is one in which you do not know God’s promises or you may not be accepting the promises you know into your heart to faith.  Hebrews 4:1 states, “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.”  If you must fear, fear missing God’s great and precious promises that He wants so much for us to receive and enjoy.  He even double sealed His promises to assure us that He will back them up if we will only do our part as stated in Hebrews 6:17-18, “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise (you and I) the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.”  God spoke the promises which should have been enough, but then He swore by an oath not to break the promises.  We must study God’s promises for health, prosperity, protection, our life mates, or for whatever your area of concern for which the devil is attacking you.  The reason it is so important for us to know and accept into our hearts God’s Word for these areas is because our doubt is what opens the door for the devil to attack us!  When we have a serious problem and we doubt that God will heal us, provide for us, or protect us, our doubt gives the devil the advantage in the situation because we do not have God’s provision available through faith to us because of our doubt.   Hebrews 6:12 states, “That ye be not slothful (lazy), but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”  We must hear the promises from God and accept them into our hearts to faith for the promises to be activated for us in our problem.  If we do not know the promises or reject them, we will be giving satan the advantage.  Doubt opens us up to the killer—fear (satan).  Don’t wait until you have a serious problem, seek the Lord for His promises in the good times and the bad times will not be so bad.  Just knowing the words of God’s promises is not the final answer, we must trust God enough to receive the words of His promises into our heart to faith because Hebrews 11:6 states, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”  Jesus says in John 6:63 that His Words are Spirit; therefore, we must receive His Words (His Spirit the Living Word) into our hearts for us to receive the work of grace in us to bring peace in our hearts as He provides the victory and makes the devil flee. 

Solution:  Start seeking through the Scriptures for all of God’s promises for your areas of concern.  Pray and ask God to help you receive them to faith into your heart for the grace that will bring you peace in the storm.  Let any fear be a red flag to let you know the devil is present and immediately ask yourself, “What is it about God that I doubt?”   Submit to God by praying to get the doubt cleared up, resist the devil and he will flee, James 4:7. 

If you have time, look at my videos, “Our Faith Overcomes the World,” “Hearing God Speak,” “Faith Process,” and “Deliverance Prayer.”

Have a good day, God Bless You!