Tag Archives: gospel

Aim for the Stars

Aim for the Stars and Faith Will Make You Hit Them

It is sad—borderline tragic—that even Christians have bought the lie to aim low. Most take the vision and desires God planted in their hearts, yank out a shotgun loaded with birdshot, and blast away at a target just beyond their own feet. And guess what? Without surprising anyone, they hit it. Then, to our astonishment, they start patting themselves on the back, congratulating themselves like they just won the Olympics. Most of the time they shoot so low that some of the pellets bounce off the ground and smack them right in the face. They call this “humble” and “suffering under the sovereign hand of God,” as if they accomplished something worth God’s time—or mine—to even notice.

Yet this is exactly the opposite picture Scripture paints. The Bible never spotlights a person who aimed for the dirt with birdshot and then high-fived themselves for a job well done. The Heroes of Faith in Hebrews 11 are the polar opposite. It puts a blinding spotlight on people who pointed their vision at the stars and watched faith rocket their arrow straight to Orion’s Belt. These weren’t cautious calculators; they were bold archers who refused to waste God’s ammunition on pebbles. And God loved it. He still does.

Take the Roman centurion for the masterclass. He was a Gentile outsider, not even under the contracts yet. In his context the ground was all he was supposed to aim for. Remember the Gentile woman? Jesus told her He was sent first to the lost sheep of Israel—it wasn’t her turn. But this centurion marched straight up to Jesus, looked Him dead in the eyes, and pulled his bow back to the moon. “My servant is sick and needs healing.” Jesus’ immediate reply? “You got it, bro—I’ll head to your house right now.” The man aimed for the sky, and faith slammed the arrow into the moon. Boom.

But wait—there’s more. The centurion could have stopped there like any normal person. Jesus had already said yes. Most would have grabbed the miracle and run hoping God wouldn’t change His mind. Not this guy. He looked Jesus in the face a second time, yanked the bowstring all the way to Centauri, and fired again: “Actually, Lord, don’t even bother walking—just speak the word right here, right now.” Imagine the nerve! In today’s church some faith-fumbler would have whispered, “Dude, you already got your miracle—don’t push it. Jesus might get annoyed.” Yeah, right. Jesus’ actual response? Astonishment. Public praise. “I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” He didn’t scold the upgrade request—He celebrated it. The man aimed outside our solar system, and faith delivered. Jesus was all happiness and surprise, like a proud Father watching His kid dunk on the rim and then immediately ask for the NBA.

Put yourself in Jesus’ sandals for a second. Most people are drowning in unbelief. When someone finally scrapes together a thimble of faith, they still aim so low the arrow barely leaves the front yard. But this outsider Roman sized up Jesus, concluded He had absolute authority over reality itself, and instead of wasting time with self-debasing groveling, he asked for a miracle—and then upgraded the request on the spot. Jesus didn’t sigh and say, “Be satisfied.” He marveled. Publicly. Before the whole crowd. That is the God we serve.

The doctrine is as simple as it is explosive: the higher you aim, the more God likes it. Aim for Orion’s Belt and faith will get you there. The moment you land, God beams with delight if you immediately say, “Wait, wait—add Andromeda Galaxy in my other pocket too!” He doesn’t roll His eyes. He boasts about you the same way He boasted about the centurion. You can never aim too high or too often with faith. The only error is aiming too low and too infrequently.

This isn’t some prosperity gimmick; it’s the self-authenticating revelation of Scripture itself—our only starting point for knowledge. God’s Word is His will (Maxim 19). And His will, stated over and over, is that “all things are possible for the one who believes” (Mark 9:23). Not some things. Not safe things. All things. Jesus didn’t stutter when He said, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” (Matthew 21:22). He didn’t add footnotes about aiming low to stay humble. The footnotes are the inventions of men who have never tasted what real faith feels like when it leaves the bowstring.

How about David? Kid with a slingshot stares down a nine-foot giant who had the entire army wetting themselves. David didn’t aim for “maybe I won’t die today.” He aimed for the giant’s forehead and declared, “I come against you in the name of the Lord of Armies!” One stone, one shot, one dead Philistine, and the rest of the army routed. Faith took a shepherd boy’s pebble and turned it into a guided missile that hit the Keyhole Nebula.

Even the woman with the issue of blood aimed high. Twelve years of doctors, twelve years of worse. As a child of Abraham she tried to pay for healing that was freely promised in the contract; and the result was poverty.  Society said stay home and bleed quietly. She said, “If I can just touch the hem of His garment…” She crawled through a crowd that could have stoned her for uncleanness, stretched out her hand, and grabbed healing that wasn’t even on the menu that day. Jesus stopped the whole parade: “Daughter, your faith has healed you.” He called her out publicly so everyone would know—high aim plus relentless faith equals miracles on demand.

This is why Jesus commands us to ask in His name and expect greater works (John 14:12-14). Greater. Not equal, not smaller—greater. The resurrected, enthroned Christ has identified us with Himself so completely that when we speak in faith, reality hears the voice of the Son. That’s not arrogance; that’s agreement with God’s definition of us. We are co-heirs. We are seated with Him. We are the righteousness of God in Christ. Why would we aim at our feet when the throne room is wide open and the King is saying, “What do you want? Ask big—I already paid for it”?

The faithless love to slap a “God’s timing” or “humility” label on their low aim. They call it wisdom. Scripture calls it unbelief, dressed up stupid. The Israelites limited the Holy One of Israel (Exodus 13-14) by their evil report. They could have aimed for the Promised Land in one generation, in one day. Instead they wandered forty years because they aimed at the dirt, and God hated them for it. Don’t repeat their mistake. God is still the same yesterday, today, and forever. His promises are still “yes” in Christ. The only variable is faith and aiming high.

So what will you aim for today? Cancer, diabetes? Aim higher—total eradication, and the healing of your whole family, and a testimony that shakes your city. Debt? Aim higher—supernatural debt cancellation that funds you with 5 houses, and the gospel with 500 houses. Loneliness? Aim higher—a spouse of your dreams and a household that multiplies the kingdom on steroids. Here is the big secret the faithless keeps from you. The dirt is not a starting line, it is the opening to the pits of hell. The stars are not the limit; they’re the true starting line for faith. Yes, Faith will make you hit them, then immediately reload for the next galaxy.

You were born from above, and so you were born for this. You carry the same Spirit that raised Jesus. You have the mind of Christ and the name that makes demons scream and mountains move. Stop aiming for your front yard. Load the bow with the promises of God, pull it back to the stars, and let faith fly. God is not rolling His eyes—He’s already leaning forward with a grin, ready to boast about you the same way He boasted about that Roman outsider.

Aim high. Fire often. Jesus already said all things are possible for the one who believes. The stars are waiting—and God is cheering louder than you can imagine.

The stars never looked so good, nor so close.

Jesus the Healing Hero – IS the Gospel

Right from the opening pages of the Bible, God doesn’t ease in with pleasantries. He drops the declaration of war and victory in the same breath. After the fall, He turns to the serpent and says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15). Think about that for a second. Before Adam and Eve even finish sewing their fig leaves, God is already pointing to Jesus—the promised Seed—and saying, “This Hero is coming to end you.” Satan gets a bruised heel. Jesus gets total conquest. That’s the opening scene of the whole story. The protoevangelium is not some poetic footnote; it is the explosive launch sequence of redemptive history, the first unmistakable shout that the Seed of the woman would march straight into the fight and settle the score once and for all.

Satan didn’t charge in like some obvious monster. The coward used lies. “Did God really say?” he whispered, and the doubt took root (Genesis 3:1). They ate, and God kept His word exactly as He said He would. The curse hit creation hard—thorns, pain, death, the whole mess (Genesis 3:16-19). And from that day forward the devil has exploited it nonstop, hammering people with his favorite dirty weapon: sickness. It’s how he oppresses, how he victimizes, how he keeps humans under his thumb. Sickness isn’t neutral. It’s bad. Straight-up evil. Let’s be real—Scripture never once calls disease a helpful life coach or a mysterious divine favor. Jesus looked at that woman bent double for eighteen years and named the culprit outright: “Satan has kept her bound” (Luke 13:16). John 10:10 draws the battle line with zero ambiguity: the thief steals, kills, and destroys; Jesus brings life to the full. The fingerprints don’t lie.

That’s why when Peter stands up for the very first official gospel sermon to Gentiles in Acts 10, he doesn’t start with abstract theology. As Vincent Cheung points out in “The Dividing Line,” Peter tells the classic hero-versus-villain story God loves telling. “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him” (Acts 10:38). Satan is the bad guy. Sickness is his bad tool. Jesus the Hero shows up anointed with power and starts setting people free from it—one healing after another. God is perfectly happy framing the good news this way. No need to complicate it. The simple showdown works just fine. Peter could have opened with justification by faith or the doctrine of election—glorious truths, no argument there—but the Spirit led him to lead with power and healing, because that is how the gospel first detonated into the Gentile world. Goodness and healing are welded together in the same sentence. Oppression and the devil are welded together in the same sentence. The Bible refuses to separate them, and frankly, neither should we.

Peace comes through violence and conquest, not some polite negotiation. The Son of God appeared for this very reason—to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). He didn’t just rescue us from the judgment we deserved; He yanked us out of the original villain’s grip too. Forgiveness? Yes. But also tangible freedom right now. Notice Satan’s go-to weapon is always sickness. That’s bad. Healing is good. Jesus healing every single person oppressed by the devil is the Bible’s hero story preached at the launch of Gentile ministry. Matthew 8:16-17 makes the connection unmistakable: “He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.’” The cross wasn’t only about sin. The same atoning work that substituted guilt for righteousness, substituted sickness for healing. Isaiah 53:4-5 and 1 Peter 2:24 stand shoulder to shoulder—by His wounds you have been healed. The Greek tenses shout finished reality. Not “maybe someday.” Not “if it’s God’s will in some vague sense.” Healed. Period.

Picture the devil showing up at the cross like a landlord waving an overdue rent notice marked “sickness stays forever,” and Jesus just rips the contract in half, spikes it to the wood with the nails, and laughs out loud while every demon in the vicinity does the fastest tactical retreat in history. The same Spirit and power that rested on Him to destroy oppression now rests on us. Stop playing victim to a defeated snake. You’re seated with the Hero who crushed his head (Romans 16:20). The devil is not your personal trainer. He is a conquered foe whose only remaining strategy is to convince you the fight is still fair. It isn’t—come on, the head is already crushed.

The faithless try to muddy the water with their “maybe God is using sickness to teach you” nonsense. That’s like cheering for the villain in the movie because it “builds character.” Dumb. Jesus already bore our sicknesses and carried our pains so we wouldn’t have to. By His stripes we are healed. It’s like the devil is still trying to collect rent on a house Jesus already foreclosed on, burned to the ground, and turned into a victory bonfire while the angels roasted marshmallows over the flames. The same Spirit and power that rested on Him to destroy oppression now rests on us. Stop playing victim to a defeated snake. You’re seated with the Hero who crushed his head (Romans 16:20).

Command that sickness to leave in Jesus’ name. Lay hands on the sick and expect recovery (Mark 16:17-18). Believe like the victory is already yours—because it is. The gospel is still advancing through power, healing, and authority in Christ. Live it out loud. The Hero won the war. Now go enforce the victory.

Let me press this a little deeper, because the stakes are eternal. When Jesus sent out the Twelve and then the Seventy-two, He gave them authority over all the power of the enemy and told them to heal the sick (Luke 9:1-2; 10:9). That commission did not expire at the end of the first century. The same Jesus who walked the shores of Galilee is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). The same Spirit who raised Him from the dead lives in every believer (Romans 8:11). If sickness were somehow God’s loving tool, then Jesus would have been working against the Father every time He healed someone. That is theological insanity. The Father anointed the Son precisely to destroy what the devil had built. Every miracle was a preview of the age to come crashing into the present. Every healing was a declaration: the kingdom is here, the curse is broken, the Hero has arrived.

When Christians remain in sickness, besetting sins, broken relationships and poverty, it is Satan’s middle finger at God shouting, that Jesus’ kingdom is not here and the curse is not broken and the Hero did not arrive.

Some will object that not everyone gets healed instantly. Fair observation, however, because it is based on observation it is logically irrelevant for knoweldge. Notice what Jesus never did: He never blamed the Father for the delay. He never told the sick to embrace their condition as a gift. He blamed unbelief when it blocked the flow (Mark 6:5-6), and He trained His disciples to keep pressing until faith rose. Paul left Trophimus sick, not because sickness was God’s will, but because the apostolic team was on mission and timing mattered (2 Timothy 4:20). Yet the same Paul commanded the church at Corinth to examine itself so they would not be weak or sick (1 Corinthians 11:29-30). Sickness was the exception to be judged and removed, not the rule to be celebrated. The New Testament pattern is relentless: preach the gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead. That is not optional flavor. That is the normal Christian life.

Think about the woman with the issue of blood. She had suffered for twelve years, spent everything on doctors, and grew worse (Mark 5:25-26). The doctors could not help because the real oppressor was not a germ or a hormone—it was the kingdom of darkness. She touched the hem of Jesus’ garment and was healed instantly. Jesus called her “daughter” and sent her away in peace. That is the gospel in miniature. The Hero sees the victim, feels compassion, and ends the oppression on the spot. He is still doing it. The same power that flowed through His robe now flows through His body on earth—you and me. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead and put Him above all names, times and places is the same power the works in us who believe (Eph 1:19-21).

So grab your spiritual eviction notice, look that defeated snake square in the eye, and say, “Not today, not tomorrow, not ever again—your lease was canceled at Calvary, and the new Landlord is moving in with healing, power, and zero tolerance for your sh@t.” The gospel is not a theory to be debated in seminaries. It is power to be demonstrated in streets, homes, and everywhere. Peter preached it that way to Cornelius’ house, and the Holy Spirit fell while he was still speaking (Acts 10:44). The same thing can happen when you open your mouth with the same message.

The devil has had two thousand years to refine his lies, but the Hero has already crushed his head, and God’s truth is indomitable. The blood still speaks. The name still works. The Spirit still moves. Sickness is still bad. Healing is still good. And Jesus the Healing Hero is still the gospel.

 Watch the kingdom advance exactly as it did in the book of Acts. The victory is already yours. Now go enforce it with joy, with boldness, and with the full expectation that the same HERO who healed all who were oppressed by the devil, is now sitting at the Power’s right hand, doing it through you.

Don’t Waste The Gospel

Ah, John Piper. The man who’s made a career out of turning theological somersaults to explain why God might hand you a lemon and call it lemonade. He says, “God does not give bad. And I mean, ultimately hurtful. This tests our faith to the limit, doesn’t it?… I asked for healing. I asked for a job…. This isn’t what I wanted. And my theology from every part of the bible. I know God only gives what is good for his children. Painful as it has been. This brings us stability in our lives. I am thankful for you having embraced that sovereign goodness and grace of God.”

This isn’t just nitpicking; it’s about the heart of the gospel. Piper’s teaching trains believers to settle for Satan’s leftovers and call them God’s feast. Imagine praying for healing, getting more pain, and then thanking God for “stability” in suffering. That’s not faith; that’s resignation dressed up as piety

He’s essentially patting folks on the back for accepting pain as a divine gift wrap. This isn’t biblical theology; it’s a clever dodge that hybridizes good and evil until they’re indistinguishable, like mixing chocolate milk with motor oil and calling it a smoothie. The Bible doesn’t play that game. God’s goodness isn’t some cosmic bait-and-switch where sickness or hardship gets relabeled as “ultimately good.” No, Scripture draws a sharp line: good is good now, just as it’ll be in heaven, and bad things like pain and disease? Those have the devil’s fingerprints all over them, not God’s.

In Acts 10:38, Peter delivers the first apostolic sermon to the Gentiles, painting a childlike yet profound picture of the gospel: “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him” (NIV). Here, goodness is tied directly to healing, while sickness is oppression from the devil. It’s not ambiguous—Jesus’ ministry was a relentless campaign against disease, not a distribution of it. If Piper’s view holds, we’d have to imagine Jesus handing out tumors as tokens of grace, but the text says the opposite: sickness victimizes people under Satan’s thumb, and Jesus smashes it as an act of divine goodness. This isn’t just narrative flair; it’s a partitioning line in theology, as fundamental as affirming that all things exist for God’s glory. To mix them up is to confuse the kingdom’s advance with the enemy’s attack. It is to look at a police lineup, when asked who hurt you, and you point to Jesus rather than Satan. This isn’t a minor theological mistake; it is seeing reality upside down. It is a worldview issue. It is a different view of reality than the Christian one.

Consider Isaiah 54:15, where God speaks to His covenant people: “If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you” (NIV). God assumes His ultimate sovereignty quietly in the background, as He often does, but on the human level—where He commands, relates, and expects us to live—He declares plainly that attacks aren’t from Him. This echoes through the New Testament. In Luke 13:16, Jesus heals a woman bent over for eighteen years, declaring, “Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” (NIV). Notice the emphasis: she’s an insider under Abraham’s covenant, which promises blessing and health, not curse and pain. Satan bound her, not God, and Jesus frames her healing as a necessity—a “must”—because God’s covenants don’t break. If sickness were God’s “painful but good” gift, Jesus would be contradicting His Father’s mission, but instead, He treats it as an affront to the Father’s promises, demolishing it wherever faith allows.

God is in a Contract with us, and therefore, relative to our interactions with God, and God’s interaction with us, He does not send sin to us—otherwise, Jesus would be a minister of sin. Jesus does not send poverty to us—otherwise, Jesus would be High Priest of poverty. Jesus does not minister sickness to us—otherwise, His ministry would be a ministry of sickness, pain, and death. There is a being who does minister such things, and that is Satan. He has a ministry of death, sickness, poverty, and pain. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But Jesus comes to give life and even abundant life.

The argument God gives in Isaiah 54 is simple. On the relative level, God did not send the trouble; therefore, when trouble comes to you, command it to leave. Jesus gives us a clear picture of this in His faith doctrine. What does it mean to refute every tongue that accuses you? Jesus commands us to “speak” to our mountains and tell them to get out of our way. Jesus also says that we can use His Name to ask for whatever we want and get it to increase our joy and give the Father glory. Peter therefore said, “What I have, I give, In Jesus Name, Walk.” Thus, because the trouble did not come from Jesus, when troubles—or that is, when mountains—come, condemn it, refute it, and tell it to cast itself in the sea.

This brings us to the heart of the issue: Piper’s hybridization of good and bad under the banner of sovereignty. On the ultimate metaphysical level, yes, God controls all things directly, as Vincent Cheung aptly notes in his work on divine sovereignty: “God is the metaphysical author of evil,” meaning nothing escapes His decree (vincentcheung.com). All things are things God directly and absolute controls, including all human thoughts, actions and evil. When you say God absolutely and directly controls all things as category truth claim, you can only say it as an  “all, some, or none.” The bible says it is all, regarding the ultimate or only real cause level. However, the Bible speaks mostly on the relational, human level, where God relates to us through Contracts sealed in blood and promise of good. In the New Contract, God promises to deal with us always in goodness—like a father giving a fish for a fish, not a stone (Matthew 7:9-11). Jesus, as our eternal High Priest, ministers healing, not torment; if He sent sickness, His priesthood would include pain and suffering as promised ministry, which it doesn’t. The curses of the law, including sickness and poverty, are bad—plain and simple—as Deuteronomy 28 outlines, while Abraham’s blessings, which Galatians 3:14 applies to us, are good: health, prosperity, victory. Jesus bore those curses in our place (Galatians 3:13; Isaiah 53:4-5), so attributing ongoing sickness to God’s goodness is like saying the atonement half-worked. It’s not faith-testing; it’s faith-denying.

Think about it this way: when Joseph told his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (Genesis 50:20, NIV), he didn’t say God intended harm and then God flipped the harm into good. The evil came from human (and likely demonic) intent, while God orchestrated the outcome for blessing. Piper’s approach risks congratulating believers for accepting Satan’s “bi@#h slap and graffiti” as God’s artistry, but as I argue in my Systematic Theology (2025), sickness is Satan’s glory, not God’s. It sidelines Christians, stalls the kingdom, and turns soldiers into casualties that drag others down—like wartime tactics where injuring is more disruptive than killing. If we label that “good,” we’re cheering for the wrong side in this cosmic showdown. Jesus saw sickness as a direct insult to His atonement, where He took 39 stripes for our healing (Isaiah 53:5; Matthew 8:17), bearing our diseases as the scapegoat did sins (Leviticus 16). To say God continues it for our benefit dishonors that finished work, making the cross a partial payment rather than a finished work.

Piper’s words aim for stability, and there’s a kernel of truth in trusting God’s sovereignty amid trials. The problem is conflating the trial’s source with its resolver. The Bible never frames sickness as paternal discipline for believers; it’s the devil’s opportunism under the curse, which Jesus came to destroy (1 John 3:8). James 5:15 promises healing and forgiveness together: “And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven” (NIV). God wants prosperity, not pain—His goodness is consistent from Eden to eternity, where no sickness exists (Revelation 21:4).

Faith isn’t passive acceptance; it’s active resistance against bad, sickness, pain, evil and lack. Jesus commanded us to heal the sick (Matthew 10:8), not endure them as lessons. If you’re facing illness or lack, don’t redefine it as God’s “painful good”—confess the promises, and command the mountain to move (Mark 11:23), and watch reality bow to the King’s decree. Piper’s theology, encourages believers to give glory to Satan, letting the devil conqueror them in pain and suffering. However the scripture tells a different story. We are called co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), seated above every power (Ephesians 2:6), with all things possible (Mark 9:23).

In wrapping up, Piper admits the pain is real and unwanted—something you’d never pray for if you thought it was better—but then insists it’s still God’s good gift. This is a category error of epic proportions, folks. The Bible defines goodness consistently from Genesis to Revelation. In the Garden, goodness meant abundance, health, and harmony without a hint of pain or curse. Abraham’s blessing, which Galatians 3:14 says is ours through Christ, included prosperity and healing as unequivocal goods. Deuteronomy 28 spells it out: blessings are health, wealth, and victory; curses are sickness, poverty, and defeat. Jesus didn’t come to hybridize them; He came to redeem us from the curse entirely (Galatians 3:13). When Piper says “painful as it has been” and calls it God’s goodness, he’s essentially saying God gives curses wrapped in blessing paper. But Isaiah 54:15 shoots that down: “If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you” (NIV). God explicitly disowns the attackers—be they relational strife, financial woes, or cancerous tumors. If pain, loss or sickness is knocking on your door, it’s not a delivery from heaven; it’s fiery arrows from the enemy, and Piper’s theology is handing Satan the quiver while crediting God for the attacks.

Piper’s congratulating his audience for embracing this is like high-fiving someone for eating spoiled food and calling it gourmet. It gives Satan glory by attributing his works to God. But the Bible’s worldview is clear: Jesus heals because it’s good; the devil afflicts because it’s bad. No hybridization. In my “Systematic Theology,” I build this out: epistemology from revelation, metaphysics of sovereignty without compromise, logic deductive, ethics obedient faith. The thesis? All things possible to believers. Piper’s view limits God by redefining His gifts by the devils works.

As Vincent Cheung says so well, “Don’t waste your Redemption,” in response to Piper’s book, Don’t Waste Your Cancer. The benefits of the atonement are already purchased by Jesus and freely given to you. I have sympathy with hurting Christians, but sickness and lack does not negate the commands of God. The command is to pray and make the sickness, purchased by the strips of Jesus, to go away and be healed. My sympathy and God’s compassion, does not give an excuse for disobedience. You fully obey God when you are healed. The same is for conversion. It is a command to be forgiven of your sins. A hard life, depression and peer pressures might draw sympathy, but it is not an excuse to not repent of your sins and receive salvation. Until you are fully healed, you are wasting the gospel, or that part of the gospel, in your life. The call to maturity, is to correct this and get better. God wants this more than you and will help you improve.

So, what’s the takeaway? Ditch the muddled mess. Embrace God’s unmixed goodness. If pain shows up, declare, “Not from my Father!” Pray in faith, resist the devil, and watch him flee (James 4:7). Stability comes not from enduring bad but from receiving good. Let me say that again, Stability comes not from enduring bad but from receiving good. Don’t let theologians turn your theology into therapy for defeat—let Scripture turn it into triumph. God’s not sending the pain; He’s sending the power to overcome it. Believe that, and you’ll see mountains move, not just molehills managed.

—

Vincent Cheung has some fantastic passages about John Piper’s, “Don’t Waste Your Cancer,” and I will post here them.

“Don’t waste your cancer? Are you kidding me? Don’t waste your redemption! Don’t waste the blood of Christ! Jesus took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses (Matthew 8:16-17). Every point in this small book is either misleading or the opposite of what the Bible teaches. If you do not want to “waste” your sickness, then get healed from it and testify about the miracle. Don’t crucify Christ afresh so you can make yourself look like a religious hero. Don’t urinate on the face of Christ just so you can make yourself feel better in your unbelief and defeat. Don’t waste your life romanticizing unnecessary suffering. Don’t waste the sacrifice of Christ with your stupid fake piety.”
(Backstage, 2016, pg 7).

“One Christian author wrote, “Don’t waste your cancer.” What a demonic message. This is counter-gospel. This is fake religion. The Bible never calls sickness a gift from God, but it says that sickness is satanic bondage and oppression. Sickness is a demonic attack, not a divine gift. Jesus devoted an inordinate amount of effort to obliterate it everywhere he went. Would that author accuse Jesus of wasting everyone’s sickness? Behold the demeaning effect of unbelief. This fake teacher calls upon thousands of people to waste the blood of Christ, who took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses to obtain healing for us. Unless you “waste” your sickness, you waste your redemption. Behold the perverse theology of tradition. This fake teacher romanticizes sickness and suffering, and urges thousands of God’s people to embrace bondage and oppression, surrendering to Satan to do all his will. Because he weakens people’s faith and urgency in receiving healing from God, the author has become directly responsible for their suffering and even deaths. He is a sadist and a murderer. But spiritual poison like this is usually presented as profound piety and scholarship.

Jesus never said, “Don’t waste your sickness,” but he said, “Do you want to be healed?” And then he said to the invalid, “Pick up your mat and walk.” He never said, “Let the will of God be done,” but he said, “What do you want me to do for you?” And then he said to the blind man, “Your faith has healed you.”
(Platitudes as Orthodoxy, web 2018).

Tongues: The Ultimate Life Hack

I have a few essays on the power of speaking in tongues. The reason for this is simple. It’s a command from Scripture to be baptized in the Spirit; we’re commended to have the corporate gifts that edify the body. But to speak in tongues is to edify yourself; it’s a personal gift, and as a personal gift, it’s for anyone who asks for it. It’s so common that Paul assumes it for believers: “Have you received the Spirit?” And the outcome was, again, speaking in tongues as proof.

Speaking in tongues edifies and builds up the inner man. It keeps you from being depressed and empowers you to be filled with peace and joy. Furthermore, praying in tongues is how you put on and keep on the helmet of salvation and wield the Sword of the Spirit. Praying in tongues is also how you keep yourself in the love of God. Lastly, praying in tongues can easily lead to interpretation. This is the category of prophecy, divine knowledge, and insight. It allows Jesus to sit at the right hand of the Power and be a personal counselor to all His children across the world. Interpretation of tongues is, therefore, a gateway into all the powers of the Spirit. It’s a foothold into more and more power.

However, over the past week or two, I needed a new computer because the old one was breaking down. I decided to build my first PC rather than buy one, because I noticed I could build it for a cheaper price with the same parts and get more performance out of it. I built it and enjoyed doing something new for the first time. Praise God, it went well, but with one minor issue. I won’t bore you with the details. But for over a week, I toiled over this issue to fix it. I spent day after day, with long, exhausting hours, with no success. I was on forums asking and getting all sorts of replies, but none helped.

I did my devotions during this time, but they were rushed, including not praying in tongues as much as I usually do. Because of my internal frustrations and my devotions suffering, I remember asking God for help; however, if I’m honest with myself, I felt my request lacked faith or had doubt mixed in. I should’ve done a full stop there and worked on my inner man, but the temptation of a new thing momentarily distracted my discipline.

Then, a few days ago, while I was at work, I listened to a new essay by Vincent Cheung called “The Benefits of Praying in Tongues.” I like this topic, so I engrossed my attention in fully listening and meditating on the essay. It was mostly a review of my own thoughts and teaching on the subject, with a few new insights. I was encouraged to do the very thing I often do and encourage others to do: praying in tongues.

So, while I was still at work, I began to pray in tongues and confess God’s good promises over my life. Soon, I felt my inner man flood with peace, and my mind became sharper and more focused. When this happens, I know from experience that prayer is so much easier and the results better. I asked God to help with the computer issue that was vexing me. Unlike previous times, I felt faith in my heart as I prayed. The next moment, I received an interpretation, and the Spirit spoke to me, saying, “I will help you with this small issue, and I will also help you with big issues.” I barely had enough time to process and enjoy the Spirit’s word when I got a notification from a forum post. A person responded with a possible answer, and upon reading it, I knew immediately it was the solution. And it was.

A few takeaways: Praying in tongues is a cheat code for life. It’s the ultimate life hack that penetrates all aspects of life. If unbelievers knew the power and extreme advantages that praying in tongues gives believers, they’d scream we’re cheaters and demand we don’t use it. It’s a game-changer. It’s having admin rights when others don’t. It’s the NES Nintendo Game Genie. If Christians utilized praying in tongues, unbelievers couldn’t compete with them in life; depression would run away with its tail tucked between its legs, and demons would tremble in fear. If Christians prayed in tongues, they would both experience the love of God in their hearts and see more of God’s love affecting all parts of their health, wealth, work, family, and on and on. To not pray in tongues is to hate yourself.

It’s the ultimate cheat hack. You can be experiencing a slow mind and disturbed heart due to your own lack of discipline, but then bypass the consequences of this by praying in tongues. It’ll sharpen your mind and bring peace to your heart. It’ll supernaturally allow you to bypass everything going on around you and help you boldly walk into God’s throne of grace to ask and receive. Because praying in tongues strengthens your inner man with peace, joy, and mental sharpness, it helps you have faith without doubts. This is what a stronger inner man has: a more continuous joy and peace of God, with fewer doubts intruding. Praying in tongues is particularly good at strengthening your inner man. This stronger inner man means a more confident faith, which results in more answered prayers.

Tongues are the ultimate cheat code—God’s Game Genie for life! Skip the toil, dodge depression, and crank up peace and power with a Spirit-fueled prayer hack. My PC woes? Toast, thanks to tongues and a divine forum nudge. Refuse to pray in tongues and you are benching the Spirit and begging for a cursed slog!

Lastly, to toil is a curse. We’re commanded to work and not be lazy; however, overworking and toiling with little fruit to show for it is the curse of God for Adam’s sin. But Jesus became a curse for us, in our place as a substitute. In exchange, Jesus gave us the gospel of Abraham, which is abundant increase, health, wealth, and fame. We don’t bear the curse of toil but the blessing of Abraham’s abundant increase. Isaac did sow in the drought. He did work. But God gave a hundredfold increase when there was no water. We’re not under the curse but the gospel of increase.

I should’ve realized this when I was troubleshooting the computer issue. I was toiling as if I was still under the curse. This is wrong. Thankfully, the gospel of Abraham also means being given the Spirit, which means the baptism of the Spirit for power. Thus, when I was praying in tongues, I stopped operating under the curse and began to operate under the gospel of Abraham.

I immediately received fruitfulness and increase.

The God of Real Good Real Estate

The Christian God is a God of wealth and for our present focus, a God of good Real Estate. In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth. We are told every day how God made the earth better and better real estate. After making a perfect and good real estate God created man. God gave the dominion of this luxury real estate to man. God commanded man to use his dominion, to dominate the earth, to be blessed and multiply. God gave the world to man.  However, man sinned against God, by believing the word of a snake over the word of God. The first doctrine man learned in this, was the doctrine of faith. Man should have believed God.

God cursed man for his sin. Because man had dominion of God’s rich real estate, God’s curse greatly effected this aspect in two primary ways. First, this good real estate was cursed with corruption. This premium real estate that worked with man, now worked against him.  Second, the dominion of the earth that was given to man, God revoked and transferred into the hands of the devil (Eph. 2:2, Luke 4:6).

However, not all was lost. After man learned the importance to believe God and not other epistemologies, God made a promise that a savior would be born from a woman, who would destroy the devil. An important consequence of the savior destroying the devil would arise. The devil would lose his dominion over the earth that he received because of man’s sin.

The start of God transferring His premium real estate back to man, started with Abraham. God promised Abraham an onslaught of good things, and among these good things was the world itself. Paul says in Romans “God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on [righteousness] that comes by faith.”[1] Paul summed up all the good things promised to Abraham by boiling it down to good real estate. Also, Abraham did what Adam did not. Abraham believed God.

God started the entire world transfer with promising Abraham a specific piece of good real estate. When Abraham’s children were later slaves to the Egyptians, God told Moses that He must bring the Israelites to the “Promise” Land, because God “promised,” Abraham that land. God is faithful to His promises. Jacob must possess his inheritance.

In Jesus Christ the gentiles have been grafted into God’s promise to bless Abraham. Paul argues, it was a promise based on grace, not works, and is received by faith. Jesus’ atonement does not make it obsolete, but ensures those who are saved by His atonement also receive the blessing of Abraham. Paul sums up the blessing of Abraham as the Spirit and miracles.

Paul also makes a substitutionary contrast with Jesus taking on our curses, and giving us the blessing of Abraham. Part of the curses that came with the law was bad real estate and/or having no real estate. One curse was to have your real estate filled with wild animals that would attack and harass you. Jesus was not only nailed to a tree, as a curse of the law itself, but had a crown of thorns on His head. This symbolized the curse of the ground from Genesis, which mentions thorns.  In exchange Jesus gave us the blessing of Abraham.

We can see how the blessing of Abraham overrides the curse of Genesis, when Issac reaped 100-fold in a time of famine and drought. The curse should have worked against Issac. The land was not producing and was doing its job to work against man. But Issac, through the blessing of real estate, override the curse and produced 100-fold. The passage goes on to say that Issac was made wealthy because of this. His blessing over real estate made him wealthy. This wealth from real estate was God’s mercy and love to Abraham and his descendants. This wealth made him the envy of kings. It gave Abraham and his descendants fame and gave them audiences with powerful people.

Because the blessing of real estate from the start was a “good” thing, and because it was a “good” thing given to Abraham, and a “good” thing ensured by the atonement of Jesus, it means it is a good thing for God’s children to be people of wealth and real estate. It is good in and of itself, and it is good because by such, Christians can richly fund the advance of the gospel. Rather than giving only 10%, they can give 20, 30 and 60% of their abundance to the gospel. Even if a Christian is a masochist, who likes being poor, they should stop being so selfish with their so-called faith and by it gain wealth and real estate, so they can give it all away, to the gospel, worthy widows and ministries.

Also, heaven is a real place. It is real, real estate. God’s elect have houses there. They have fantastic real estate promised them. Jesus is not invisible. He sits on a real throne, on the best real estate. Hell is also real. It is the worst sort of real estate. It is a land you do not want to live on.

The Christian God is a God of real estate. It was so from the beginning. It was so in Abraham, and it is so through Jesus Christ. We need to take off our limited, self-debasing thinking and embrace the God of real good, real estate. It is given freely by God, by unmerited and undeserved favor, and is received freely by faith in Jesus Christ.

[1] Roman 4:13 NLT [] by author.

Cut From The Same Rock

“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many. The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
Isaiah 51:1‭-‬3 NIV

Paul says we have the blessing of Abraham through Jesus. This blessing means the baptism of the Spirit and miracles. This should not be a surprise because even in the Old Testament we see this over and over. In Isaiah 51 God mentions the blessing of Abraham. He says those seeking righteousness are cut from the same blessed rock. Thus, in context of Isaiah 51 God will come and restore Israel, even to the point of great wealth and happiness.

In Christ we are also cut from the same blessed rock with Abraham. If you call out to God in faith, He will restore any lost part of your life, and He will make it like Eden. He will turn deserts into rivers of healing, prosperity and great joy. If it takes 100 miracles to restore you and uplift you, then God’s faithful blessing will insure you get all 110 of them.

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Substitutionary Atonement: Curses For Miracles

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corin.5:21 LEB).
“Though (Jesus) was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.” (2 Corin. 8:9 NLT)
“Surely He has borne our sickness, And carried our pains… And by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4-5 LEB).

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,” in order that the [gospel] might come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the [gospel]
of the Spirit [ & miracles, – verse 5,8] through faith,”
(Galatians 3:13-14 LEB).

Sin for righteousness.

Poverty for prosperity.

Sickness for health.

Curses for Spirit and Miracles.

Interestingly, the reverse for curses is the baptism of the Spirit and miracles. Tradition the rejects these things as a common experience for the believers and so put themselves under a curse, by doctrine and practice. If you are not under miracles, then by Paul’s argument you are still under a curse.

Paul argues in the beginning of chapter 3 that by faith they were filled with the Spirit and miracles, and not by doing the law. Thus, Spirit and Miracles are put together by Paul. Next, Paul says this is the blessing of Abraham that God promised, and this promise is also for gentiles who have faith. Then Paul says, the Scripture preached this blessing as the “gospel” to Abraham.

Two important notes in how Paul is using terms. Paul uses the terms “God” and “Scripture” as interchangeable, and terms “blessing to Abraham” and “gospel” as interchangeable.

Thus, when verse 14 says that we might receive the Spirit, it has already been defined by Paul along side with “miracles,” and that they are together defined with the interchangeable terms, “blessing and gospel.”  By defining the gospel as the Spirit and miracles Paul is defining the gospel or blessing by important specific effects, and not defining it in its broadest meaning. Therefore, in Paul’ argument it is not a straight “curses for blessings” conclusion, the way it might mirror, sins for righteousness. Paul is going straight to the effects. Curses for the Spirit and miracles.

This should not be a surprise if you consider the origin of this gospel, which is Abraham. God’s blessing to him equated in an onslaught of miracles after miracles. Physical miracles of his and his wife’s bodies, prosperity, favor, military victories over multiple kingdoms, the King of Salem giving him bread and wine and talking with God face to face (etc.). Thus, when we are grafted into this blessing by the atonement of Jesus and faith in Him, we are grated into an onslaught of miracles.

Paul’s argument is that through Jesus by faith, we have the same gospel that was promised to Abraham is given to us. Simple and beautiful.

Thus, even after the death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul’s argument is the gospel of Abraham is the foundation for the abundant miracles and Spirit of power being demonstrated in the Galatian church. The church receives this freely in faith and not by works of the law. Thus, the foundation for the current New Testament church dispensation is the ongoing gospel of Abraham. Therefore, any argument about miracles ending with the apostles, is stupid, anti-scripture and anti-gospel.

The reason people say such things, is because they are men who are focused on men, albite good men, but men nonetheless. They love men, love the praise of men and will do anything to side with men. God is just an afterthought and decoration. As demonic as it is, God is used as an exegesis principle to help them focus on men.

The Scripture is focused on God. God and His swearing by His name to bless Abraham with unending miracles in the foundation. All those who turn to this God and His gospel of miracles, will not be put to shame.

The important point is that the “age of miracles” is interchangeable with the “age of the gospel of Abraham.” If this gospel stands, it is an age of miracles and the Spirit.  The only 2 ways for abundant miracles to stop is (1) God stops being faithful to His promise to Abraham (which He swore by His Name to do, Heb. 6:13-14) or (2) people do not believe in God’s gospel promise (Rom. 10:16).

Many men have conspired with demons to say it was the first reason and not their lack of faith that explains the lack of the effects of the gospel, which is miracles and the Spirit in their life. They have their reward.

But for us, let us partake of the Lord’s Supper and remember the sufferings of Jesus that exchanged our sin for His righteousness, our sickness for His Health, our poverty for His wealth, and ours curses for His miraculous power. Let us be Christians and live the gospel of Abraham that Jesus made ours by being literally nailed to our curses on that tree. God wanted this. Just as God wanted Abraham to be blessed with a life of miracles, He wants you to be.