Tag Archives: Christianity

Extra Baskets Left Over #2

*17 In my experience, no matter how farfetched a heresy may seem, it almost always limits God. The only exception is if the doctrine directly takes glory that belongs to God and assigns it to man. Because God’s infinity, is well, infinite, and His sovereignty is direct and absolute, there is no bigger way to describe God and His ability than what the bible teaches. Take for example the Mormons teaching on us becoming a god and owning a planet. Despite what it might look like, this is a slap in the face of God by limiting Him. Only one planet? You got to be kidding me! Make it at least 100,000 planets, and then maybe the insult won’t be so bad.

God will not give up His praise, and we will never be worshiped as God, but God has highly exalted and glorified man in the gospel (1 Corinth 2:7, 3:22). In the next life there is no limit for good things God will give us. No man has seen or even considered how big it is. One planet. You might as well slap God in the face and be direct with your insults rather than play games like that.  Reality, and even time itself has been given to me in Christ, and you want to limit it to one small planet. Only a brain the size of a pea could think so small.

The lesson here is that all liberal theology, whether it is cessationism, free will, one planet, evolution, directly attacks God by limiting Him and by limiting who we are in Christ and limiting what we are able to accomplish in Him. 

*18 The sad truth is that people still think the blood and resurrection of Jesus is worthless and does nothing to affect us today. If “your” righteousness is still nasty rags, then you are a reprobate on their way to hell.

I remember the first time I understood Christians referring to their righteousness as filthy rags and it shocked me. Did Jesus do nothing for you? Are you not a new creation? Are you not God’s righteousness? Does not the Spirit empower you to do righteous acts? Do you not have the Spirit and the Mind of Christ? Do you still think God sees you as unrighteous?

No wonders Christians can’t heal the sick and cast out demons and perform miracles, they can barely believe they are forgiven, if even that. They don’t believe any good thing God’s say about them.

Some ere by thinking their limited power is stronger than God. God has put His power and Name on you. The Father planned your salvation, and Jesus did it, and the Spirit makes you do it. The Spirit empowers you to do righteous acts. If not, then you must admit your weakness out powers God’s ability to work in you to perform righteousness. It is about God’s power not yours.

*19 Why does Hebrews focus on faith rather than some other ethic that God is so pleased with and turns humans into everlasting heroes, whom the world was not worthy to have known.

There are a few reasons, but I want to focus on one aspect. Faith testifies about a certain attribute of God, that God is very concerned with. God’s word is true. God’s word is faithful. God’s word does not fade away, while everything else fades. God’s word is 7 times tested and sure. God’s word is permanent and absolute. God is a God of truth and faithfulness.

God is not a physical Body. He is Spirit, or a Mind. Or in a technical way, an infinite, eternal, immutable system of propositions. Truth is at the very heart of who God is!

This is why you will see commands (ethics) that state “ABOVE ALL, let your yes be yes,” (James 5:12). Or Jesus saying in the sermon on the Mount., “let your yes be yes and no be no,” (Matthew 5:37). OR the many commands to know, believe and speak the “truth.” Or in proverbs there are 6 things that Yahweh hates, and two of them directly deal with the issue of truth (“A lying tongue, false witness.”)

Faith not only directly obeys God’s command, but it is a loud testimony of the surety, faithfulness, permanent and enduring nature of God’ Word. Such a testimony greatly pleases God. This is why, unbelief toward the good promises of God, (forgiveness, healing, prosperity, miracles etc), is so hateful to God. It not only is direct rebellion to the command of God, but it is also a testimony against the faithfulness, permanence, and enduring nature of God’s Word.

Therefore, in Hebrews 11:6 we are told if you please God you must believe He rewards those who seek Him. Faith like this, is a testimony of glory of God’s Word. Let our lives be continual acts of faith in God’s rewards, so that not only do we have joy, but our lives become continual shouts to the faithfulness, permanence, and everlasting nature of the Word of God.

This is also why it is good to practice faith confessions. Confess Psalm 23, and 103. “My Cup overflows.” “You forgive all my sins, and heal me of all my sicknesses.” When you confess and praise God, like Israel about the walls of Jericho falling down (before they fall down), your life becomes a loud broadcast to the world and God, that His world is more faithful, more permanent, more tested, more true and more enduring than anything we see or anything related to man’s speculations.

Let us strive for such a loud broadcast in all our lives.

*20 “Timothy, my son, here are my instructions for you, based on the prophetic words spoken about you earlier. May they help you fight well in the Lord’s battles.”

(1 Timothy 1:18)

“This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”

(2 Timothy 1:6-7)

Paul commands Timothy to remember, the scripture? No, he said to remember the prophecy, regarding his life in ministry, and to remember the gifts and spiritual power God conferred on him when Paul prayed for him. By remembering these, Timothy will be empowered to fight the Lord’s battles and be effective in ministry. This is how God, not man, but how God sets people apart for ministry. It cannot be faked, or given by man’s recognition. The scripture is assumed here by Paul. Why was the scripture not enough to fight the Lord’s battles? Because the scripture tells us to be baptized in the Spirit for power and to chase after spiritual power and miracles. This includes specific prophecies given to us, that we are to follow and obey. Without it you will fail to fight God’s battles in life and ministry.

If you are going to obey God, then you cannot chase Him without also chasing miracles and healing.

*21 Chasing God, without chasing miracles, is a God that does not exist, a delusion of human speculation. God commands that we be healed, ask for anything and get it, and to chase for the gifts. To think you can chase after God without obeying Him, is insanity. You might as well call it atheism or Satanism, but the one thing it is not, is Christianity.

*22 People are waiting on God, however, at the same time God is waiting on them.

God is waiting for their faith. Thus, they will be waiting forever.

God waits for faith, after this we stop waiting, because God gives us whatever we ask in faith.

With faith the waiting stops. Even aged wine, which takes a long time, took no time when Jesus turned water into wine. The same for many types of healing.

If you have faith, you have no wait.

—

This is an area where even those who think they have mature faith can keep growing. Let us always strive for 100 fold in faith, and not be settled with anything else. It’s is fine to start with 30 fold, or even 10, we all must start somewhere. But let us never be satisfied accept with the impossible standard that Jesus promised that we can achieve with faith. There is too much of our own joy and His glory at stake for anything less.

*23 Arminianism is so stupid. I hear stuff like this all the time.

“I affirm God is sovereign, however, God limited himself to what He can do through man.”

Then God was “past tense” sovereign but not anymore, otherwise you have a true contradiction.

One thing that is so bad about this, is that the faith teachers who are correct in reminding us not to limit God, affirm that God is already limited. What a big mess.

Hahahahaha.

Arminianism is the piss of Satan. Stop standing in that stream.

*24 “When Jesus becomes bigger than your sickness, then miracles happen.

When Jesus becomes bigger than your problems, then the problems go away.”
-Benny Hinn

“For we live by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinth. 5:7

When people’s faith became bigger than their sickness and troubles Jesus said, over and over, “Your faith saved you, or, Your faith healed you.”

*25 “Everyone bumps into reality eventually. So, if the ultimate reality that God has envisioned is benevolent, we can bump around in the dark as many times as we want to, but we will eventually fall into benevolence because that’s at the foundation”  — Rachel M. Rasmussen

This is incomprehensible to the Christian definition of God.

God and His decree would be the only definition for “ultimate reality,” not creation. Yet, “ultimate reality” in this statement seems to be undefined, or creation itself, or at the very least not “God and His decrees.” If God decreed to be benevolent to all persons, then God, who is ultimate reality makes it happen by His decision and His unstoppable power. There is a way to keep categories separate without making an error with ultimate reality and the relative level. However, because ultimate reality is mentioned, then for the Christian God it is only by God’s decree and power. It is intellectual and determined. God has not decreed all to know His benevolence (salvation, Romans 9), thus the statement is not true.

If taken as un undefined, broad statement it is hard to say the consequent (reductio ad absurdum) makes the antecedent false. “Ultimate reality” is undefined. How you define “benevolent” would be the key if what you see around equates to absurdity or not. Also, if all ultimate reality is benevolent and ultimate reality is all there is, then of course you will find it; in fact you are already in it. But if it is just one part of ultimate reality and ultimate reality is infinite, then even an infinite amount of time will not be enough to find it.

*26 I want to see proof.

Let those who like to make truth skeptical or relative or non-binary, deny the law of contradiction without using it.

Let them deny their existence without using their existence? Show me.

Let them program a program or an AI, but the AI or program cannot apply the law of contradiction and identity to binary 0s and 1s. Even in quantum computing, they must use the LoC to say what they want to communicate, otherwise they deny their own statements, otherwise quantum computing works, means it does not work.

Prove it by drawing a square circle. Show me.

If they can do this then I will believe them.

*27 “Oshea, don’t be so harsh in your rebukes. “

Ok. I will just quote the Bible when I rebuke.

Ezekiel 23:3,18 ,20 NET

 They engaged in prostitution in Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution. Their breasts were squeezed there; lovers fondled their virgin nipples there…

 When she lustfully exposed her nakedness, I was disgusted with her, just as I had been disgusted with her sister…

 She lusted after their genitals – as large as those of donkeys, and their [cum] was as strong as that of stallions.

Jude 1:10-13 NIV

Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct

—as [dumb] animals do—will destroy them. Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion. These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

Jesus, “Your bind morons.” Matthew 23:19

Jesus, “Your father is Satan.” John 8:44

Paul, “you teach a doctrine of demons.” 1 Timothy 4:1

I could keep going but then the post would get long.

*28 Unbelief Makes You A Liar

“Look, I am giving all this land to you! Go in and occupy it, for it is the land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to all their descendants.’” (Deuteronomy 1:8 NLT)

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ 2 I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.” (Exodus 33:1 NIV)

“Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But those who deal truthfully are His delight.” (Proverbs 12:22)

“But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”
But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!”  So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites.” (Numbers 13:30-32 NLT)

“Now tell them this: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very things I heard you say. 29 You will all drop dead in this wilderness (Num.14:28 NLT)

In proverbs we learn that God hates lying lips. Lying is an abomination to God. We also read over and over in the scripture that truth is only revealed by God and never produced by any other means. Truth is not produced by man’s observations or experiments, which commits the triple fallacy of empiricism, observation and affirming the consequent.

God revealed the truth to Abraham that He was giving Canaan (Promise Land) to him and his descendants. God restates this truth to Moses when He calls him to lead the Israelites from Pharaoh into Canaan. These were not by man’s observations or speculations. This knowledge came by God’s revelation, the only source of truth.

Caleb and Joshua had faith in God’s revelation and so affirmed they can take the land, even though they saw with their eyes the large inhabitants and fortified cities. Their faith has a by product that is not often stated as much as it should. Their faith makes their lips tell the truth. Their faith makes them testify that God word is truth and man is a liar. God loves people to tell the truth.

The other elders were filled with unbelief and said they could not take The Land (Hebrews 4:2). Their unbelief led them to an inevitable consequence. Their lips poured out lies. God alone made and controls reality. God knows the truth about the material world because He made it and controls it; He decreed its beginning to its end. So of course, God alone knows the truth about reality. God revealed that He gave Israel the land and took the inhabitant’s protection away from them.

Thus, when the leaders spoke unbelief, they lied about reality. They testified that God’s word is not true. They testified that what they saw and heard by their human observation was a correct statement of reality and what God said was not a correct statement of reality. To not believe God’s good promise of health, wealth, property, fame and miracles is to call God a liar. Although  John 3:33 and 1 John 5:10 are specifically about Jesus the same can be applied to all of God’s revelation, when it contradicts man’s observation.  There are two testimonies that contradict, which is God’s revelation and man’s observation. You cannot pick both because Jesus shows in Mark 12:35-37 that a contradiction invalidates your interpretation of scripture. You must pick a master for knowledge. This choice is automatically made by faith or unbelief. If you believe, then you testify God is truthful, if you doubt then your lips utter lies about God and reality. Love rejoices in the truth. And God considers liars an abomination.

* 29 Yeses For God’s Glory

“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us,” 2 Corin. 1:20 NKJV.

How do we give glory to God? We give glory to God when God’s promise manifests as a no, through Jesus, in us, when we ask for healing, right? This is obviously not what it says, and yet this is how some teach about the promises of God. They teach that when God’s promise is a no, in the name of Jesus through us, that it somehow gives glory to God. What a scam! What a lie. It is a lie from Satan to steal the glory of God, and so-called Christians fall for it all the time.

If the glory of God is so important to you, then let every promise be a yes in the Name of Jesus, through you. Let every promise for healing be a yes in the Name of Jesus, in you, to God’s glory. We give glory to God when His promise manifest as yesses, in our life, through our faith in Jesus. Do not deceive yourself that noes through Jesus, in you, give glory to God. They do not. Only yesses, give God glory and exalt the name of Jesus.  When we consider this we realize, some who scream about the “glory of God,” give Him the least amount of glory.

* 30

God did not kill your child.
God did not make you sick.
Satan killed your child.
Satan made you sick.

This is as true and needing no qualification or correction as much as Jesus’ statement, “whom Satan has bound for 18 years,” is true, needs no qualification and needing no correction.

If you want to bring in ultimate level ontology, you better do it in a way that doesn’t slap Jesus, correct Him or trample His blood.

* 31

How can a person belittle prosperity gospel, which is made possible by Jesus’ substitutionary atonement (2 Corin.8:9), without belittling forgiveness gospel, which is produced by the same substitutionary atonement (2 Corin.5:21)?

The answer is painfully obvious.

Since both are produced by the same thing, you cannot “logically” belittle one without the other. The gospel is a packaged deal, by the sovereign work of God. No man is able to subdivide it. You either believe the substitutionary atonement of Jesus worked or it did not. The stakes for believing the prosperity gospel are as high and important as believing Jesus’ atonement was a substitutionary exchange all of me and not just part of me.

* 32

When Peter, (even after baptized with the Spirit), commanded the man’s sickness to leave (stand up), Peter did not speak to God about the problem; rather it was more like Peter spoke to the problem about God. In the broad sense, a word of faith command like this, is just a shorthand way to pray without hedging. And because it is a prayer, you are aware God is listening to you and that you are using His authority and that you are standing on His promise. However, in the most direct sense, these types of prayers are spoken to the problem, and not God. Jesus did not say to “speak” directly to him about your mountain, “oh God, I am nothing and I need your help.” No, Jesus told us to “speak” to the mountain and tell it to get out of your way. Is this Jesus not God-centered enough for you, or are you more God-centered than Him? Jesus teaches us that we already have His authority and His approval to pray like this and get powerful results. To command and get what we want. The fact many Christians do not pray like this, means they are disobedient to God’s command and do not believe or understand their identity in Christ. They do not understand prayer. So the lesson to learn here is this, when you have a problem you speak directly to it. It is not wrong to go to God in prayer about your problem, but Jesus has officially instructed us how to pray in such situations. It is like the sermon on the Mountain. Jesus is raising the bar for His teaching about how we pray and get results. Who am I to alter Jesus’ instructions? Therefore, speak to your problems about God, telling them to throw themselves into the sea.

*33 Don’t Waste Your Faith

One spiritual pervert said, “Don’t Waste Your Cancer.” Jesus said “don’t waste your faith.” (Matt 17:20)

 Paul said if you give up your body to suffer fire, but do not have love, then you profit nothing. For “love” defined by Paul is a love that works spiritual power for healing, prophecy and miracles. With power you are to love, rather than being a self-centered show-off. With power to heal, you love by making the suffering of your neighbor stop. Love Never Fails. The bible does not know of a love that does not heal the sick and produce miracles to make those who suffer to stop suffering. If you give up your body to suffer sickness, but do not have powerful-love to be healed, then you profit nothing.

*34 You Do it.

God gave dominion and authority to Adam and told him to name the animals. God said, “you do it.”

God gave Moses the Staff of God. When he was crying out for help, God told him to stop crying, “stretch out the staff” and “You divide it.” God said, “you do it.”

Jesus said we do not tell God about our mountain, rather we tell our mountain about God and command it to move. Jesus commanded us, “you do it.”

Jesus had the fullness of the Spirit to do ministry, and He gave the same Spirit He had to us, to be filled with power. He said we were to tear down the gates of hell, heal the sick and cast out demons. Jesus said, “you do it.”

This only works if Jesus already gave us the power and authority to do this, and He has. Therefore, Peter in Acts 3 says, “what I do have, I give to you.” Peter commanded the man to stand up and walk. Peter had the power and authority to heal, thus he gave what he already had. He wasn’t waiting for God to move, because God already moved and was waiting for Peter to use what he already had. We have the same authority and power (baptized in the Spirit) they had. We are not waiting for God to do something (such as helping us with healing), because God already did something. He is telling us to do something, because it already belongs to us. We have the Staff of God. This staff of God is in our mouth when we speak faith. Stretch out your mouth and command it to move.

*35 Observation never judges the Bible

“… I don’t think human observation and lack of experience should play a part in determining that. I’d rather the debate be centered around the text,” (Objective Believer, from Facebook.).

This is correct, because the bible gives infallible testimony of human observations being incorrect. The subject is our source of knowledge, or epistemology. It is significant if only one time your source is mistaken, because then it means you have no way to know if any given instance of knowledge from that source is now true. For example, if the bible was shown to be wrong one time, in that Jesus was born in Corinth rather than Bethlehem, the whole bible would be shoved into the category of skepticism. Since the source was wrong, then any knowledge from that source has no way to prove if it is true or not, because the source is not reliable.

However, 2 Kings 3:22 the bible gives an infallible testimony that Moab thought they saw blood, when in fact it was just water. The source of the Moabites knowledge (epistemology) was empiricism and observation, but this led to them being incorrect about reality. Because empiricism/observation has been shown to give false results, there is no way for any given instance of observation to prove that it is true. This means you must know that you do not know. And so, empiricism/observation as an epistemology leads to skepticism. But to say “you do not know that you know,” is to deny the law of contradiction. But even Jesus appealed to the law of contradiction in Mark 12:35-37. Thus, if you have violated the law of contradiction you are wrong.

This is why it is always wrong and dumb to use observation to negate the bible on any point of truth. Observation leads to skepticism and skepticism denies the law of contradiction, and so of course it should never be used as a source of knowledge. The idea that what you observe leads to knowledge is superstition. To use observation to disprove the bible on any given point, is using superstition and skepticism to disprove the bible; it is never intelligent to do this.

*36

I always find it odd that so-called Christians want to affirm how awful they are.

Such a confession would logically lead back to God, and how ineffective He is, at forgiving, sanctifying and empowering His chosen ones. There also could be some connection to the unforgivable sin against the Spirit, by connecting your confession of sinfulness, worthlessness, and patheticness to the Spirit who lives in the believer.

At the end of the day God gets to play with reality and define reality the way he wants. God credited His righteousness to me and not Himself. I am what I am, by the grace of God. The Bible rejects pantheism. This means when God creates a frog, it is a frog and God is not a frog. Thus, what God creates and gives me, are now part of my DNA, my very definition. I am the righteousness of God. I am a child of God, a prince of heaven, with free access to the throne, while other created beings do not have this access. This is me. I am what I am, by the grace of God. When God credits me with His righteousness, it is just as part of my definition as me saying, “I am 6 feet tall.” I do not need to qualify this by saying, “I am 6 feet tall, by the sovereignty and grace of God,” as if to distance this aspect of my definition from me, as if it is somehow not 100% my definition.

God sovereignly caused me to be born as a sinner, (Rom 5) and this was part of my definition. But now in Christ my definition is righteousness. Or is my past definition of being born a sinner, more permanent and foundational than God sovereignly causing me to be righteous? My definition and reality is based on God’s thoughts about me. When God thinks of me, He thinks I am holy; He thinks I am righteous with His righteousness, blameless, and empowered with His power. God thinks I am amazing and glorious. Who am I to disregard God, unless I’m a reprobate?

It is for this reason, the word of faith confessions of reprobates is a confession in how sinful God sees them, because that is who they are.

*37

Peter Masters interpretation of Galatians is faulty because Paul’s argument was that all Christians were given the blessing of Abraham and this combined with faith produced miracles among them. Paul did not say, “because Paul was given the blessing of Abraham and Apostleship therefore Paul worked miracles among the Galatians.” No. Paul said they were given this blessing because of faith in Jesus. Paul made it about Jesus. Its all fun and games, when it comes to being gospel-centered and God-centered, until we find out that being Jesus centered means we are all to be baptized in the Spirit and work constant miracles.

As usual, the theological maximum for traditionalist is that man (Paul and Apostles) is the foundation for miracles; however, the Bible says God (God giving the blessing of Abraham to all through Jesus) is the foundation of miracles. Tradition hates God for this because they are the original “little gods” heretics. By making all believers filled with the Spirit and given the same power and authority to heal and work miracles, the traditionalist do not have an excuse to call their founders “fathers” and worship them as little gods. They don’t have an excuse to elevate their creeds as more equal than the scripture.  

*38  Sovereignty like a mere human King?

Andrew Wommack says God’s “sovereignty” is defined correctly by the dictionary. The definition Wommack quotes has to do with a king or government ruling a nation. His argument is that because an earthly king does not control all the thoughts and actions of his people, then God does not.

This is a careless mistake. When was it a good idea to define things by a mere dictionary lookup? Wommack, in teaching other doctrines such as, “You already got it,” (which I find edifying) will define them by how the text and passage does it. Why not do it for God’s sovereignty? Why not define God’s sovereign control how Romans 9 defines it? Before the twins made choices of good or bad God already decided to love and hate one of them. Why not define God’s sovereignty how the bible tells us God uses His power and control?

The lesson here is that when you here a pastor boil down an entire doctrine to one dictionary lookup and then inductively apply it to God, then you need to mock it and disregard it as trash. If they call themselves pastors, then they need to define terms how the bible and the relevant passages do. In this case the “p” for pastor stands for theological “pervert.”

Wommack also has the same category errors when talking about God’s command and His causality. He also wrongly assumes that responsibility presupposes freedom, which is still one of the dumbest things I have ever heard.

At any rate, Wommack as a faith teacher has some good things to say on the narrow aspect of faith and healings, but beware anytime he speaks about God and His nature.

*39

“… I pray you may
prosper concerning everything
and be healthy,
just as your soul prospers.”
(3 John 1:2. LEB)

Some people like to spiritualize the bible to oblivion and back, but verses like the above show they are wicked and stupid. They want to say the “prosperity” and “health” in this verse is about “spiritual” prosperity and health, but this is obviously wrong, because the last part of the verse mentions the spiritual prosperity of the soul. To those who are accustomed to reading and believing scripture, we recognize God is smart enough to communicate truth to us in a precise and coherent way. If God wants to talk about spiritual prosperity, it will make it plain by calling it prosperity of the soul. We normally use health and wealth to refer to it as health for the body and money to buy things; this is why the verse above had to make a point to call it soul prosperity, because that is not how it is normally used. The first use of prosperity and health, in the verse, is how we normally use the words and so no clarification is needed. The verse also shows us there is a category difference between the two. It shows us, through the Apostle John, God’s own desires for us to prosper in material things as well as our souls; in fact, the verse boldly says, “just as.” That is, as much as I want your soul to prosper, I want your body to be healthy and abound in money.

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although he was rich, for your sake he became poor, in order that you, by his poverty, may become rich.”

Thus, when we hear a person saying that poverty and riches in 2 Corinthians 8:9, is about spiritual poverty and riches, we know they have conspired with wicked men to revolt against God.

Thomas Jefferson is infamous for cutting out parts of the bible to make it agree with his own personal worldview. However, our leaders are cowards, so that rather than making it clear they are cutting out parts of the bible, which they do not like, they say things like, “this prosperity is a spiritual/soulish prosperity.” They spiritualize the parts of the bible Jefferson would have boldly cut out, so as to give the appearance they still respect the bible, all-the-while they trample it.

They are the worst type of trash and sum.

Destroy God’s Will by Obeying His Command

So the advice is if God sovereignly gives you something, you accept it? How stupid can you get. God sovereignly gives and causes all things, even all sin. God is the metaphysical author of sin. So what? This has nothing to do with human ethics, or that is, what we ought to do.

By God’s sovereign will, He willed and caused all of us to be born as sinners (Romans 5).

 How are we to “steward” this? The question is an “ought” question (not metaphysics); therefore, we need to know what God commands, and not what He has caused. God commands us to repent and be saved through faith in Jesus Christ. Thus, this is how we demolish the will of God that caused us to be born sinners, by obeying His command to be saved.  Thus, even if God has willed me to be born a sinner, He has commanded me to destroy His will by calling on the Name of God and become righteous. The command and power is from God.  However, your forgiveness is your will and faith (Luke 7:50) , not God’s.

It is the same thing for something like sickness and healing.

God controls reality like a man writing a book. The big twist? God gives us the playbook (His commands) to overturn His own initial moves!

The Opening Gambit: God decrees all, including sin, sickness and our lack of wisdom.

The Counterplay: God also commands us to repent, get wisdom, and heal. So, we’re supposed to play against His initial setup with His own rules (i.e. commands). You are to be a steward of His promises, not a passive receiver of His pre-ordained pain.

If you have a “lack of wisdom,” then God willed you to have it. Even though God willed me to have a lack of wisdom, how do I respond to this? Do I accept this as the will of God, transforming God’s decree into an ethic? Or should I obliviate God’s decreed circumstance, by making the lack of wisdom go away? This again is asking an ethics question; that is, “What should I do?” Christian ontology—God willed you to have a lack of wisdom—is not a category of ethics; thus, to conclude from this descriptive premise of reality into ethics does not logically follow. Pragmatically speaking it is voodoo and witchcraft.

As for ordinary life difficulties, it is God’s will for victory. James says if you face the common difficulty of lacking wisdom, you are to ask in faith, and then God will give it to you. Think about it! It is not God’s command for you to stay in a lack of wisdom. What you “ought” to do is have faith and be victorious over this decreed circumstance of confusion by getting wisdom from God. This is not a self-help tip. It is a precept from your Master. The command is that BY YOUR FAITH, YOU are to obtain it. If you lack faith to ask and receive supernatural wisdom from God, you are in directly disobedient to God’s command.

Give it some thought.

If God directly controls all reality, then everyone who lacks wisdom is due to God’s Will.

(P) If it is God’s will [decree] for me to lack wisdom, (Q) then what I ought to do is accept God’s Will [ethic] and be unwise.

You realize how incredibly moronic this is, right? You realize how disobedient and disrespectful that is toward God, right? What God causes you to experience is not the same category of what you ought to do about it. If you want to know what you should to do, then ask what are God’s commands about this. Obey God. Get some wisdom by your faith. If you do not get wisdom because of your lake of faith, then you are in direct disobedience of God.

James also commands us to get healed, in chapter 5, and Isaiah 53 say it is part of Jesus’ atonement. It was not a suggestion, rather, it is a precept from God. The command is not to merely pray for healing, but to get healed.

Thus, even if God willed you to be in a circumstance of sickness, He has commanded you to destroy His will, by asking in faith and get healed. The command and power is from God.  However, your healing is your will, not God’s.

Found yourself born a sinner or sick? God might have set that up, but He’s also handed you a “Get Out of Sickness Free card,” via faith. Not using it? That’s like refusing to cash in on a winning lottery ticket.[1] Plus Ultra Dumb.

[1] Grok AI (2024). Personal communication. Helped me with a few witty summary statements in this essay.

The Age of Abraham’s Blessing

“What I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”
(Acts 3:6 NIV.)

Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? (v.12)

Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days… He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.” (v.24-25).

The first statement from Peter would get you kicked out of most churches. God’s power healed the cripple. This is the context. Peter didn’t say, “What Jesus has, Jesus gives to you,” or “what Jesus has, I give it to you.” No. Peter said, “What I have, I give to you.”

Peter did affirm the ultimate level of reality by saying, this was not our godliness or power. This is like saying, “when I shot the man who was trying to kill me, the gun and the bullet is not my power. It wasn’t my power that blew a hole through his chest.”

The power is God’s, but God gave the power to Peter and Peter pulled the trigger by saying, “in the Name of Jesus, walk.”

How does Peter have this power? Do we have it?

The power is the Spirit and the authority is the access to use Jesus Name. Jesus said, “if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God.” And so, it was the Spirit’s power not Jesus’ power, when He was healing and casting out demons. In John 14:10 Jesus also says, the Father does His works, referring to the miracles Jesus was doing. Thus, Jesus was not doing miracles by Jesus’ power, but the Spirit’s power. The power of the Spirit, Jesus gives to us, as Peter argues in Acts chapter 2. It was promised by the Father, and Jesus sitting at God’s right hand ensures the Spirit of power is poured out on all those God calls to Himself.  Jesus said, referring to the Spirit, that life giving waters will flow out of our inner man. The authority is given to us to use Jesus’ name to ask for whatever we want. Jesus says this 4 to 5 times in John 14-16.

Our identity in Jesus, as Peter says, means we are a royal priesthood. We are not just sub-heirs with Jesus, but co-heirs with Him. We are called children of God. Paul says in Ephesians that all blessings have already been given to us, and that we are already seated in the heavenly places with Jesus, above all names, times and authorities. All of this means we have divine, heavenly and royal authority. The gifts and callings of God are irrevocable.

Also, as purchased gifts we have power and authority. The power of the Spirit is a promise of the Father to Jesus, to give to us, upon His resurrection. It is part of the finished atonement and resurrection of Jesus. The authority to use Jesus’ Name is our definition for having our identity in Jesus. Water baptism means we are raised in new life, with Jesus, as part of Jesus. This new identity includes having the definition to wield Jesus’ name to ask for whatever we want.

What is interesting about this, is that it has nothing to do with apostles. It is centered on the finished work of Jesus and His current position of ruling from the Power’s right hand.

Peter makes a last reference to Abraham. The context is why the man was healed in the Name and power of Jesus, and how Peter did it, and how the man received it by faith in Jesus. Peter’s last point to explain all of this was Abraham and God’s promise to bless all people through his offspring. Think about that. According to Peter, the ability to use Jesus Name, and power to heal, is based on the blessing of Abraham. This blessing, as Peter also says, means forgiveness and salvation. But our point of interest in the context of Peter explaining the healing to the authorities.

It was not as if Abraham is so important, but that God made a promise. Abraham was asleep. It was all God. God gave a promise to bless Abraham with fame, favor, healing, supernatural healing, wealth, victories and etc, and to do the same with his children, and by this bless the whole world. Paul argues in Galatians 3, that the atonement of Jesus did not replace Abraham’s blessing, but Jesus’ crucifixion grafts us into this blessing. Jesus took on our curses and in substitutionary exchange gave us the blessing of Abraham. Paul also sums up this gospel as the “Spirit and miracles,” which is received by faith in Jesus. Paul says the power of the Spirit for miracles is part of Abraham’s blessing, and Peter sums up the access to use Jesus’ Name to heal as part of Abraham’s blessing.

Acts opens of with Jesus’ command to receive power by the baptism of the Spirit. The first miracle is Peter claiming to have Jesus’ authority. Rather than saying it was a gift of the Spirit, Peter says it was faith in Jesus that caused the healing. Thus, the first miracle was performed by normal discipleship faith. Peter knew his identity and authority in Jesus. He knew about the privilege and command to use Jesus’ name to heal the sick and cast out demons. He then used it. Peter then says this is part of Abraham’s blessing.

Why is this important. It is important because we have the same blessing of Abraham. The blessing of Abraham is not one thing for one person and something different for another. The only real factor is faith. Your faith determines how much you can extract out of your blessing in Abraham. This is why Paul rebuked the Galatians. Their faith in Jesus, giving them access to Abraham’s blessing, extracted miracles for them. But now they want to abandon faith for works. A relationship of works will stop the miracles that came to the Galatians, from being grafted into Abraham’s blessing.

Lastly, remember again, this has nothing to do with apostles. It is about God and how faithful, true and awesome He is in keeping promises. God made a very old promise, and after all these years, He still keeps His promise. And so, if you hear someone say, “but the book of Acts, is about the apostles; the miracles are only for them; the miracles stopped with them,” then you understand how dumb and perverted they are.

“So, the Book of Acts isn’t just a highlight reel for the apostles. No siree, it’s the kickoff for the “Age of Abraham’s Kids Doing Cool Stuff.” It’s not about how special the apostles were; it’s about how faithful God is. He made a promise to Abe, and centuries later, He’s still like, “Yeah, I got you.”

In short, if you believe in Jesus, you’re not just saved; you’re also signed up for the spiritual sequel where you get to do the stuff. The power’s there, the name’s yours to use, and the only limit? Your faith. So, go out there and make some divine mischief in the name of Jesus, because according to Peter, it’s all part of the family business!”[1]

The book of Acts, is not the age of the apostles. It is not about the apostles. The book of Acts is about the Acts of Abraham’s children. It is the Age of Abraham’s blessing. It is the Age of the power of the Spirit and authority of Jesus Christ spoken by the lips of His children. The book of Acts is the age of faith and power, in the Name of Jesus Christ.

“Get up and Walk!”

[1] Grok AI, fun mode 2024, summary of this essay.

You Resist Satan & He Will Flee From You

James says that if God resists Satan, no, wait that’s wrong; he says if you resist Satan then he will flee from God, no wait, that’s still not right. If you resist Satan, then he will flee from you.

James tells us, if you tell Satan to skedaddle, he’ll scram faster than a cat at a cucumber party. But here’s the kicker: some folks are out there praying like God’s their personal bouncer to kick Satan to the curb. Spoiler alert: that’s not how it rolls.

Some people pray prayers that make no sense. One such prayer is to ask God to make the devil leave you. This is crazy, because God’s standing command is that you resist, and you make the devil leave, not God. God has given you His divine authority to make the devil leave and has also given you the command to use that authority.  You can pray, beg and cry all day long, asking God to make the devil stop harassing you, and God will ignore it.

It is possible that God might still answer a sinful prayer like this out of extreme pity, but do not bank on it. It is a sinful prayer, because you are willfully disobeying God’s command that says you make the devil leave. You are asking God to do something He commanded you to do.

You cannot say, “well, if Satan is harassing me with temptations, or sickness, or depression or evil thoughts, (or however he is victimizing you) and so it is God’s will for me to grit my teeth and just bear with it. It is not God’s will, because God will is His commandments. His command is that you resist the devil and make him stop victimizing you, and make him leave with his tail tucked beneath his legs.

God will not do this for you. You must do it.

God’s like, “Hey, I gave you the authority to ghost the devil yourself. Use it!” You can wail and flail in prayer all you want, but God’s just gonna sip His ambrosia, waiting for you to step up.

Two things that Jesus did, as a man, when Satan harassed Him. First, Jesus used the scripture. Second, Jesus commanded Satan to leave. If you only do one of the two, then you will have a partial victory and never know true triumph. If you only do one of the two, then Satan will not fully leave you and thus, you will still be disobeying God’s command to make the devil leave. You must renew your mind on the scripture. You must confess the promises of God with your mouth as part of your reality and definition. But you also must command the devil and any demonic harassment to shut up and leave. Jesus, the OG of devil-ditching, showed us the ropes: quote scripture like it’s your favorite movie line and tell Satan to hit the road, Jack. Do one without the other, and you’re not really fighting, but just playing at this spiritual tug-of-war.

You are already a royal priesthood. You already have the royal authority of God as an heir and priest of God. This has already happened. You do not need to ask God for the use of His Name and authority, because you already got it. This is why God commands you to cast out demons and to resist the devil and make him flee, because you already got the authority to do it. It is not an emotion. It is reality. It is part of your identity in Jesus that you got when you were born from above. The gifts and callings of God are irrevocable. Thus, you always have this authority and power. You cannot lose it. It is you.

Remember, you’re not just any Joe; you’re a royal priest with the kind of clout that makes demons check their calendars for any other appointments. So, when Satan or his minions come knocking, don’t wait for God to answer your “please evict this evil” prayers. You’ve got to swing the door shut yourself, with the authority you’ve had since your spiritual rebirth.

Even if you were foolish and allowed the devil a foothold into a part of your life, you, not God, you must resist and make the devil flee. Even if you were foolish, you still have the command and authority to shove Satan’s foot out of the door. Take the sword of the Spirit and cut off that foot trying to worm its way in.  This goes without saying, but whatever you were doing to allow the devil a foothold must be corrected. Confess the promises of God over you, and command the devil to shut up and leave. No one else can do this for you, not even God, because He commanded you to do it.

When I say not even God can do it, I am not referring to a limitation in God, but to a category fallacy.

And just like you wouldn’t ask God to brush your teeth for you, don’t ask Him to do the devil-defying for you. It’s your gig. You confess, you command, and you reclaim your space. Because in the grand reality show of life, you’ve got the power, the script, and the divine right to tell any satanic squatter, “Not today, Satan, not today.”[1]

This is the same with conversion and forgiveness of your sins. Not even God can do this for you, because only you can confess your sins and ask God to save you on the account of Jesus Christ.  The same for healing. You must command the sickness to leave. It is your responsibility, and you already have the authority and finished atonement of Jesus to do it. The healing is already yours. You don’t need to ask God for it. He already gave it to you. To ask God to heal you is like asking God to give Jesus another 39 stripes, because it was by the stripes of Jesus that you are healed. It already happened. You already have it.  But you must be the one to resist the sickness and command it to leave.

[1] Used Grok AI (fun mode) 2024, for some witty summary statements.

Carnally Minded and Sickness

If you believe a doctor’s report over the promise that Jesus has already healed you, then you are the definition of fleshly or carnally minded.  Stop condemning adulterers for being carnal, until you can remove the oak tree of carnality from your own eye.

But you say, the doctor says its stage 4 cancer.  If you are carnally minded then I understand why that seems so serious. The bible says to be carnally minded is death. But we are to be spiritually minded. Spiritual and intellectual are really the same thing. We are intellectual by using the bible as our only starting point for knowledge. The Spirit enables us to believe His promises. This is spiritual minded.  Does the bible say a stage 4 tumor is not included in the stripes of Jesus that healed us? Where?

To be carnal or fleshly has two meanings. One is about sinning according to bodily desires such as adultery or giving into anger. This carnal sinning is a consequent of the other meaning. The other is to center your choices on your sensations rather than the Spirit and the Word. This does not always mean an automatic sin. Just because you slept an extra hour more, because you were tired is not a sin. However, if the bible addresses the same topic and gives a command and gives a promise that contradicts, then it becomes a sin at this point to choose the fleshly desire over the scripture. To be carnal means your source of knowledge is empiricism. Atheism is to be carnally minded. The Christian is defined by their starting point being the Word and being led by the Spirit. This is a contradiction to being carnal.

A doctor is only telling you what they see and hear and feel. This is carnal. They give you knowledge based on carnality. Because the bible addresses sickness and healing, then to choose the so-called knowledge based off the flesh over the scripture is to be carnally minded. Your mind is focused on sensations and feelings and not focused on scripture and the Spirit. This is the definition of a carnal mind. When a person worries, they are replaying knowledge produced by the flesh. They are carnally minded. This carnal focus on empiricism will lead to fleshly sins such as worry, fear, unbelief, anger and then to other behavioral sins such as outburst of anger and drowning out worries with entertainment and lust.

To be carnal is more than just adultery. The foundation of a carnal mind is about knowledge. Where do you get knowledge? If you use your feelings and five senses, then you are the pinnacle of carnality.  To hide behind a doctor, who is carnally minded does not remove your guilt. There is a line drawn in the sand. On one side is the Word and the Spirit, the other is what you can see, feel and touch. The scripture has drawn that line and so you must choose. As Jesus said, if you are not with Him, you are against Him.

My Power My Choice

Acts 3:4-6 NIV

Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 

….what I do have I give you.
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.

First. Peter said, “look at us.”  I thought we were to direct attention away from us and point to Christ? Why is Peter so focused on himself?

Second. Peter says “what “I,” have, “I,” give to you.” I thought it was, “what God has, He will sovereignly will or choose to give?” I thought it was God’s power, and God’s choice, not Peter’s power and Peter’s choice?

Peter said it was Peter’s power, “what I have,” and it was his choice, “I give.” Peter claims it was his power and his will. Why does Peter pray in a contradictory way as compared to the theologians? Who is right?

The Bible rejects pantheism. God is not what He creates; He absolutely and directly controls all things, but He is not what He controls. God gave his followers the power to heal the sick, and cast out demons. He did not give this power to Himself. Jesus commanded both the apostles and followers to heal the sick. Jesus commanded both is disciples and 77 others to “heal the sick and cast out demons.” Some stop at Matthew 10:7 when Jesus command them to “preach the kingdom of heaven.”  Jesus is commanding them, and us by extension, to preach the gospel. So far, so good. But Jesus continues by saying, “heal the sick, cast out demons, and raise the dead.” Jesus was not going to do this; He was commanding them to do it. If someone was going to get healed, it was up to their power and choice.  Thus to heal the sick and raise the dead is as much as a command as it is to preach the gospel. If it was not clear enough Jesus after His resurrection, commanded them to receive power, Acts 1:8. Most of them were not apostles, because it had nothing to do with the apostles, but Jesus sitting as the right hand of the Power.  Not only did they have the power, it was their will or choice to administer it. It was not up to God’s power and will to heal, it was their power and will.

This is how Jesus spoke on this topic and it was how Peter spoke on it. However if I spoke like Jesus and Peter in most American churches I would be labeled a heretic.

Yes, on the ultimate level the power is God’s, just as the power in my hand to type this essay is ultimately God’s power and by His direct control. However, Jesus and the Bible rarely mention this ultimate level; they mostly speak on the human level. I will do the same.  Thus, it was not God who typed this, but it was I, who typed with my power and choice. Likewise , the sick are not healed by God’s power and choice, but my power and my choice.  Anyone who has a problem with this rejects a doctrine directly taught by Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Cut such a person out of your life. They are servants of demons.

Peter sums this up by saying faith in Jesus name brought the healing. It was a person’s will to have faith that brought the healing, not God’s will. For more on this topic see, Vincent Cheung, “Healing, The Will Of Man.”

Also, Peter did not even pray, at least not in the traditional way. He simply commanded the healing. This is what Jesus told us to do. “You heal the sick.” It was the same with Moses and the Red Sea. God said, “You divide it.” Many do not pray by commanding and this is why their prayers go unanswered. This is why many have died before their time by sickness and troubles. Jesus commanded us to do the healing, not God.

Jesus’ faith doctrine is extreme. He does not instruct us to pray to God and tell Him about our mountain; rather, Jesus tells us to move the mountain by using faith and commanding it to move.  Jesus said, “it will obey you.”

This is not a suggestion. It is a command from our God. Because of this, when many pray they are in rebellion against God. Jesus commands us to move and heal. However, many respond back saying, “No, God, You do it, if You are willing.” By praying like this, they have ensured their sickness has already gained victory over them. On rare occasions God might still heal such a prayer, out of extreme pity, but it would be an exception. If you are sick and pray like a beggar, asking God to heal, you have already lost. You are a dead man walking. Sickness has already defeated you for the glory of Satan.

When some pray, they pray confessing unbelief rather than faith. If you are born-again then you are not a worm, not a beggar, not a nobody and you are not a sinner. James says the prayer of a righteous person is very effective; however, if your prayer is confessing how pathetic you are, then of course you will not pray knowing how righteous you are, and thus, your prayers will not be effective.  Prayer is a good confession of faith in God’s truths and promises; and yet, people often pray confessing who they were, before they were born-again. They say, “I am a worn and sinful and nothing, but God is everything and powerful.” This takes no faith; it is a coward’s way out. It is a religious maneuver to remove you from God’s command and responsibility. If you are nothing and sinful then you need to get born-again so that you become righteous and have privileges that come from being a son of God.

To illustrate this think about asking God for the forgiveness of sins, or a salvation type prayer. Although, there is nothing wrong for a salvation prayer to “ask God into your heart,” yet there are more precise ways to describe it.  Peter in his Pentecost sermon gives direction for a salvation prayer. He instructs the audience to ““Repent and be baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ.” Notice Peter did not instruct them to “ask” God to forgive them; rather, he tells them to repent in Jesus’ Name to be saved. Why? Because Jesus already died and was resurrected. The forgiveness already happened. We are not asking God to crucify His Son again to forgive us, because it already happened.  We are not asking God to do anything in the present tense to forgive us, because Jesus already accomplished it. Because it has been accomplished all we do is repent.  In this context we do not ask or beg. It is when a person has confidence in Jesus’ finished atonement, they repent of their sins in Jesus’ Name. Salvation in this sense is a confession, and not asking and begging. We confess our sins and that is all it takes. Faith in this sense, is about God letting you know He has already forgiven you, and by repenting you are agreeing with God.  It is foundationally about agreeing and confessing and not asking.

Other gospel benefits such as a healing, and the authority to cast out demons and cast down mountains is the same. They have been accomplished by Jesus’ finished atonement. We do not ask and beg for them, because they have been accomplished by Jesus and given to us. It is irrational to beg for something that already belongs to you.  It was the stripes on Jesus’ back that healed us. And so, it is irrational to ask God to heal us, as if He needs to break out the whip again and start slashing Jesus in the throne room. God accomplished our healing in Jesus’ atonement. Thus, we don’t beg for it, because it is already ours.  As with salvation, we repent as a confession of confidence in Jesus finished atonement, rather than beg and ask forgiveness. The same with healing. We confess and agree with God, rather than beg and ask. This is why Jesus tells us to “heal the sick, and cast out demons.” When we command healing and command demons to leave, we are giving a confident confession in the finished atonement of Jesus, which has given us the healing and authority to do such things.

Some people are asking God to do things that He told us to do. They have it flipped upside down. And yes, we see examples of Jesus in John 14-16 telling us to ask in His name. However, in my experience it is only those who already know their authority in Jesus, who already are healing the sick, who are able to ask God for things in prayer, without asking as if they are a beggar or outsider.  Those how can heal the sick and cast out demons are better equipped to march boldly to God’s throne of grace and confidently ask for things as a son who belongs there.

All Induction is Anti-Logic.

Deductive logic consistently applies the laws of contradiction, identity and excluded middle. This is why the conclusion of deduction is valid and necessarily follows from the premises.  The point is that valid inference (deduction) is built on the laws of logic, not the other way around.

Inductive logic is anti-logic. We call it inductive “logic” as a way to separate it from deduction, but it is not logic. The term “rational” technically means to be deductive, and the term “irrational” means to be inductive. All inductive conclusions do not follow from its premises, and thus, all induction is a non-sequitur fallacy. To be inductive is to be anti-logic. It is not even pseudo-logic, it is opposed to logic. If you affirm that induction’s conclusion produces knowledge, then at the same time, you deny the law of contradiction.

A quick example. Induction takes premises of “some,” and manufacturers the new information of an “all” in the conclusion. But to say  “all” and “some” are the same thing at the same time, is to deny the law of contradiction. Induction is anti-logic. You cannot deny the law of contradiction without using it, and so we know any system of thinking that uses induction produces no knowledge, let alone a body of knowledge. Thus, even before we get to scientific experimentation, the inductive observations, which science uses already systematically denies the laws of logic over and over. Science uses induction, and so science is also anti-logic. To affirm that science produces knowledge, is at the same time to deny the law of contradiction.

Also scientific experimentation is the fallacy of affirming the consequent.  For example,

H.1. If [Jack] eats [lots of bread], then his [belly gets full]. A, (B is C)
H.2. [Jack’s] [belly got full].  A is C
H.3. Thus, [Jack] ate [lots of bread] A is B

This is wrong. It could be that Jack ate a bowl of apples, and that is why his belly is full.  If you take this basic propositional logic and turn it into a classical syllogism, you will see that it commits the fallacy of an undistributed middle term.  Induction adds information into the conclusion that is not in the premises, this is where the laws of logic get violated.  In other fallacies it is easier to see, such as “some” in premises and then this gets changed to “all” in the conclusion. In affirming the consequent, (or an undistributed middle term in classical logic) the added information is the connection between the major and minor terms.  The premises do not provide a necessary connection between the major and minor terms, but the conclusion adds this new information. To say “there is not a necessary connection” and “there is a necessary connection,” is a contradiction.  

We have skipped the fallacy of empiricism, and only quickly dealt with induction and scientific experimentation.  Thus science is anti-logic. Science is anti-law-of-contradiction.  To say science produces knowledge is to kill logic, but you cannot deny logic without using it. Thus, science does not produce knowledge. To say science produces knowledge is a delusion and superstition.

Christology Overlords

I dislike having to give this note of warning on such a wonderful topic and focus, but it needs to be said. The forceful way some people use the hermeneutic and focus of Christ-o-centric, or Christ-centered or the redemptive historical reading of scripture is wrong and heretical. For some people the bible is not Christ-centered enough for them. As odd as it sounds, Christ is not Christ centered enough for them. And so they invent man-made theories to force most or all of the bible to be Christ-centered in a way that the bible is not. By doing this they exalt themselves and exalt man focused theories over the scripture and how the bible interprets itself.

This is pathetic, because when reading the bible with a redemptive historical approach, in a correct way, it can yield some beautiful insights.  However, if you take it too far you end up making Jesus and the Father fight one another, and cause the scripture to devour itself.  

For example the story of David and Goliath is not mainly about Jesus and His defeat of sin and death. This passage is not Christ-o-centric. There can be an additional insight taken from this story about Jesus and His defeat of sin, but it does not replace the original story as the main thing. Because the bible teaches us to moralize the bible for ourselves, then an additional insight or application of this story is to inspire us to use courageous faith to defeat Goliaths in our lives; however, this is not the main point.

There is an important reason for why this story is the main story and why there are grave consequences if you try to make the Christ-o-centric the main thing. David prays to God (a Word of Faith Confession), and thus, God is already the main power and author in the story. David even says by his actions everyone will know there is a God in Israel. The point of the story is for all to know there is a God who has chosen Israel.  Now, carefully think about the implication if you were say that a story where God is already the main power and author, is not the main story, but Jesus is, because Jesus is more central and important.  

The implication is that God is not the main thing, but rather God is. It is contradictive nonsense. Or, God the Father is not the main thing, but Jesus is. This is blaspheme. This is to make the scripture devour and fight itself.  This story with David and Goliath is a story already about God. You cannot therefore make it more God-centered. It is already God-centered to the max. A story where God is already the main author and displayed power does not need your help to make it more God-centered. A story where God is already the main author and power does not need your help by allegorizing God into it, as if God was not already there.

If a person did not already see God as the main author and power of this story, then I understand why they would feel the need to allegorize God into the story by making it Christ-centered. They are reading the story as if they are an atheist. God is not there and so they need to allegorize God into a story where God is not present.  This happens because their Christ-o-centric theories have become so all consuming that when they read the bible they do not even recognize the Father or the Spirit. They do not see God already in the passages, and so they need to allegorize Jesus into it so that the passage now becomes God-centered.  

Vincent Cheung even noticed a pastor bragging about this.

“A well-known pastor and professor was teaching a group of children something about biblical theology. They came upon a passage in which Christ performed a healing miracle. The pastor persisted with one of the children until the poor thing finally surrendered to the interpretation that the passage was not about the healing miracle, but about Jesus Christ. But the passage was already about Jesus. Why did the pastor forbid the child’s initial understanding? The advocates of biblical theology and the redemptive-historical approach are fond of boasting that they find Jesus on every page of the Bible. The problem was that this particular page revealed Jesus Christ the healer, and as one who would heal those who ask by faith. You see, this is what the theologians resent. This is the thing that the pastor and professor refused to permit. He had to destroy it before faith in this Jesus grew in the heart of the child. He had to murder this Jesus before he could take root in the next generation. And so he did it. And then he wrote a book and boasted about it. But Jesus said that someone like this should go kill himself (Matthew 18:6).

He claimed a miracle is only a “sign” that points to Jesus Christ. But which Christ? What does the sign tell us about this Christ? Does the sign “Christ is a healer” point to a Christ who is not a healer? Does the sign “Christ heals those who come in faith” point to a Christ who does not heal those who come in faith? How do you pull this off? Magic! What would a sign have to say to actually tell you that “Christ is a healer” and “Christ heals those who come in faith”? You just won’t let it happen, will you? You will allow Christ to be only that one thing about him you still believe in and nothing else. You will let Christ be only as big as your microscopic faith, instead of increasing your faith to embrace all of Christ. When the Bible reveals a Christ that is bigger than your faith, you cry heresy. This is what you mean by Christ-centered, but you make everything, including Jesus himself, centered on what you decide…”[1]

The issue with their Christ-o-centric theory is that the Father, the Spirit, the Scripture, and even Jesus Christ Himself are not Christ-centered enough.  The scripture is not God-centered or Christ-centered enough for them. Jesus is not Christ-centered enough for them, and so they even end up correcting Jesus by allegorizing passages directly about Jesus to not be about Jesus and what Jesus is doing and teaching, but instead be about Jesus. Nonsense. This nonsense occurs because they have a version of Jesus they like and allegorize all scripture, even Jesus and His own words into this version.

Christ-o-centric theology has become a smoke-screen to allow elites to practice liberal theology by covering it up with the most gospel sounding words possible. They have a doctrine of Jesus that is liberated from the confinement of scripture. They do not like the Christ that the scriptures reveal and so they create a false doctrine of Christ and then force the entire bible into this false doctrine of Jesus. They call it Christ-o-centric and then accuse others for not being Christ-centered when they do not adhere to this anti-Christ version of Jesus they allow. They are the worst of the worst of religious elites.

A Jesus who says, “your faith saved you” (regarding forgiveness of sin) and “your faith healed you,” is a Jesus that they cannot allow to live. If I teach on these verses, then I will get corrected by them, saying I am too man-centered. Since this is a direct teaching from Jesus’, they are correcting Him not me. And if they think, if they were put back in Jesus’ time that they would not correct Him, then they are delusional. They would correct Him with great zeal. Since Jesus it the main protagonist of His own existence, then Jesus serving man, healing man and praising man for their faith, is as Christ-centered as it gets. It is already Jesus to the max. It is already Christ-centered on steroids. The issue for many, is that the Jesus revealed by scripture is a Jesus they hate.

At that time the argument seemed so pious. The church had strayed from the path by paying too much attention to men, holding services for healing, prosperity and marriage, when the purpose of worship should be the glory of God, not the needs of men.

Liturgical music should talk less about us, and more about God and Christ. Preaching should be focused on the person and work of Christ, and not on our instruction for healing and prosperity, for example.

Men need to be degraded and humiliated. God should be the only one to receive glory. That was the message.

It was through Vincent Cheung’s writings that I began to realize the hypocrisy of these people. To paraphrase, if you are more Christ-centered than JESUS Himself, then this whole time you have been only self-centered, and still marveling at being so Christ-centered!…

When a church holds an event to restore marriages or heal the sick. The immediate purpose of such meetings is to use divine resources to meet human needs, and in this sense it seems that God is being used as a springboard.

However, since people are being saved by divine means rather than by human tools, it is clear that the meetings are theocentric. They would be completely man-centered if psychology were used to heal relationships and medicine to heal bodies.

Because it is the wisdom and power of God that is in action — exactly as God wants it to be — it is not God who is being used, it is he who uses human needs and the activities of the church as a springboard to magnify his attributes and results in the world.

Christocentrism is a hermeneutical and liturgical principle that lacks a biblical basis. Nothing in the Bible suggests that the word of God should be interpreted in a Christocentric way or that everything in worship should be Christocentric. The Bible is messianic, not Christocentric. Some things in it are about Christ, others are not. It is not correct to say that Jesus is the subject of the Bible, if by that we mean that every sentence in the Book is about him. It isn’t, and we don’t need to pretend it is. Some sentences, paragraphs, chapters and even books are not about him — although they can be read in his light and may contain specific references to him, whether literal or figurative. For the Bible to be Christocentric to the standard demanded by those who make a big deal about this need, it would have to be a book about Christ and not about us, but the Bible is a book about us too, therefore, it is not Christocentric. Defenders of Christocentrism consider it Christocentric only because they distort it to fit their standards..

This shows that Psalm 24 is not Christocentric. The second part can be taken as referring to Jesus Christ, but in the poem as a whole Jesus shares space with the believer. The Christocentric preacher was forced to distort the passage so that the man would not have space in his exposition. In the process he ended up saying that God’s people are made up of people with dirty hands, impure hearts, who turn to other gods and swear by idols. This is probably true of him and those who approve of him, but it is not true of anyone who actually belongs to God’s people.

Advocates of this principle are often eager to humiliate man, even man who has already believed in Christ. They say, for example, that the believer’s righteousness is like filthy rags, and that our best works are nothing. However, the Bible says that we do good works by the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit. When they denigrate our good works, they are attacking the righteousness that God produces in us. In their zeal to offend man they end up offending God.…[2]

In a galaxy not so far away, there exists a breed of theological overlords who wield the “Christ-centered” hermeneutic like a lightsaber, slicing through scriptures with a zeal that would make even Darth Vader blush. These folks have decided that not only is the Bible not Christ-centered enough, but apparently, Christ Himself isn’t Christ-centered enough for their taste.

Picture this: David and Goliath, the ultimate underdog story, gets hijacked. Instead of a tale of faith and divine power, these overlords twist it into a convoluted allegory where Jesus is both the slingshot and the stone, leaving poor Goliath to symbolize… well, who knows? Sin, bureaucracy, or perhaps bad WiFi?

These scripture-twisting maestros have turned the Bible into a one-man show starring Jesus, where even God the Father gets sidelined like an understudy. They’ve created a Christological echo chamber where every story, prophecy, and proverb must echo “Christ” or be deemed heretical.

In their quest for ultimate Christocentrism, they’ve managed to argue that when Jesus heals or teaches, it’s not really about what Jesus is doing but about some abstract version of Jesus they’ve concocted. It’s like saying the main character of a movie isn’t the main character because he doesn’t fit the sequel they’ve already written in their minds.

So here we are, caught in a theological tug-of-war where the Bible’s rich tapestry is reduced to a single thread, and that thread must be Christ, even if it means tying the scriptures into knots. Let us  return to sanity, where logic and categories are not turned into a child’s playdough; let us leave this mono-themed Christ-fest where every page must scream “Jesus!” or be cast into the outer darkness of “not Christ-centered enough.”

Let’s return to scripture and logic and leave these elitist zealots who can’t different that clouds and rocks aren’t the same thing. While Christ is central, He doesn’t need to be the center of every verse to validate His divinity or our faith.

[1] Vincent Cheung. All Things Are Yours.  Sermonettes Vol.9. 2016.  Pg. 16-17

[2] Gabrial Arauto. Translated to English by Google Translate.

God Can, But I Can’t?

I heard this phrase before, but recently heard it in a song. It says, “I can’t, But God can.”

While I understand somewhat where they are coming from, what is being said,  is false. It is true as a basic doctrine of God’s sovereignty that He can do anything. God has no limitations. God directly controls all things, including all human thoughts and actions so that He is the metaphysical author of sin[1]. This is so simple a child can understand and affirm it. I also understand the doctrine that man, only being considered in himself, is weak and very limited. However, if we consider a Christian, then it becomes a “what if scenario” because such a thing does not exist. God does not define or consider a Christian as just a human anymore. Thus in obedience, we do not consider any Christian as just a human with just human limitations. If someone is just human, then they are by definition, not a Christian.  

Jesus, who is the most God centered man who ever lived, helps us to redefine our ability when He says “the mountain will obey YOU.” Because the bible rejects pantheism, we do as well. Thus, Jesus is correct when He says the mountain will obey “you.” God and His creation are separate. This is why Jesus said give to Ceasar what belongs to him. When God fills us with His Spirit, He is filling us, and not Himself with His Spirit. It is not God telling the mountain to move, or telling the demon to come out, or sickness to get out; no, it is “you” speaking these things. And the mountain responds to your command. Jesus did not see any reason to interject His own doctrine by saying, “But God is sovereign, it is really His power not you, and so God is moving the mountain.” No. Jesus, despite what people think, did not say such things in the context when teaching about His extreme faith doctrine. Thus, I see no relevance in saying it.

Jesus’ extreme faith doctrine says with faith I cast out demons, heal the sick and cause mountains to obey me, when I tell them to do something. If a mountain “obeys me,” then it is painfully obvious that “I can.” How can I say, “I am limited,” if I can make demons, sickness and reality obey me? Most Christians have no idea who, or what they are. Most seem to scarcely believe they are forgiven and so they have no power to do any other command of God that involves faith. But Jesus’ faith teaching still stands, because Jesus is still relevant. He still rules, and His definition about us, still holds.

This authority to use Jesus’ name and command reality is not something that will be given to me, but already has. I do not need to ask God to give me this authority or ask His permission to use it. I have already been made the righteousness of God and given full permission to wield Jesus’ name for whatever I want and need. It already belongs to me. I do not ask and beg for something that is already in my possession and part of my definition and DNA.

God can, but with faith, I can as well. This is the theology of Jesus. He likes it. Let us follow His teaching and give glory to God by saying, “God can, but I can to. With faith in Jesus, reality obeys me. To God be all the glory.”

[1] I got this phrase from Vincent Cheung.
See www.vincentcheung.com for more of his materials.

Going to Church is Now A Red Flag

“You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed.”
-2 Corinthians 11:4

” After all, you think you are so wise, but you enjoy putting up with fools! 20 You put up with it when someone enslaves you, takes everything you have, takes advantage of you, takes control of everything, and slaps you in the face.”
-2 Corinthians 11:19 – 20

Since almost all churches are very bad, then it is a red flag when people congregate. We should look suspiciously at congregants and not trust them until they prove faithful and offer good excuses for their attendance in a local church. Congregation is a blemish in the spiritual curriculum of any believer today.

It’s a sin to allow spiritual abuse!

It is a sin to tolerate a different gospel, a different spirit and a different Jesus.

Apostle rebukes Corinthians for tolerating false teachers and their spiritual aggressions. It is a sin to tolerate another gospel. It is a sin to tolerate a different Christ. It is a sin to tolerate a diverse spirit. It’s a sin to allow your fake pastor to turn you into a slave. It’s sin to allow your fake pastor to use your money. It’s a sin to allow your false pastor to implant limiting doctrines in you. It’s a sin to allow your fake pastor to slap your face.

QUEST. “Which is better, congregating in a Cessationist Reformed church or congregating in an Arminian Pentecostal church? “

ANS. Best is to boycott false religion.

Gabriel Arauto

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Gabriel is correct.

If a church does not heal sick (there should be no sick member attending), cast out demons, and teach the absolute sovereignty of God, it does not have the right to assemble. So what if Satan assembles with its demons, you are not allowed to attend. You are forbidden to partake of the fellowship of Satan. Anyone who attends such a church shares in that church’s sin, and commits the sin of not exposing it.

A Christian does not have the right or privilage to assemble at whatever church they want. They are not allowed to assemble at a church that limits God or faith. If your pastor spiritual slaps your miracles down and smacks God’s sovereignty, they are not your friend. You do not have the right to be abused. You are commanded to stand up in courage and expose it. Your are under the command of God, at the very least to leave and boycott. (2 Corinthians 11:19 – 20, 2 Corinthians 11:4, Galatians 1:8)