Tag Archives: Jesus

Personal Attacks Are Stupid

I am still baffled that people, particularly so-called Christians still use ad hominem or personal attacks to discredit their opponent’s doctrine, or what they say. Even as a boy, I noticed the religious leaders doing this to Jesus (who is your father?) and politicians doing it to each other. Maybe some Christians think politicians are good examples for how to argue for the truth, and that is why they imitate them?

Just because my math teacher looks at porn, or is a glutton or steals clothes, does not mean when he teaches me 2 + 2 = 4, that it is false, and that I should not listen to him in class when he teaches math. The stupidity of a personal attack in this example is easy to see, but for some reason I see many Christians employ such arguments constantly. This is particularly the case with critiques against faith teachers. “Beware of such a person, they did “x” or in their past they did “y.”” Seriously, why would I care, in context of their teaching a doctrine? Is this supposed to be an argument against their teaching of faith from Matthew 21:21-22? I find it insulting they think I am stupid enough to think this is a good argument.

Jesus told the man that He healed at Bethesda, “do not sin, or something worse will happen.” What if the man did not stop sinning, and his sickness returned with greater force? Imagine the religious leaders finding him crawling on the ground and then using this as an example to say, “Jesus’ healings are fake,” and “Jesus is cruel for giving false hope to very sick people. Look, here is evidence God’s will is sometimes for us to be sick.” Yet, this is exactly the stupid reasoning they give to discredit the doctrine preached by the faith teachers.

Imagine a person telling their neighbor back in history, “king David committed adultery and murdered a man, and so he is a fu@#$ing hypocrite. He does not know his face from his as@#$ when talking about obeying God, therefore, do not read David’s Psalms. His Psalms are false because he did x and y. When he talks about obeying God’s commands, just ignore these commands, because David does not know or understand what he is talking about.”

Why are people so intellectually defective as to think personal attacks have any logical relevance to doctrine or truth? How can people be this insanely blind?

Jesus Was our Money Substitute

“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).

The context of 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 is about money. Paul wants the Corinthians to give money so that Paul can give the money to other Christians. Paul even encourages them by saying, “God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others(9:8).” God will provide you with enough money for yourself and even with extra money left over so that you can give money to others. So simple and a child and understand this.

In this context Paul says, Jesus became poor FOR US, so that by His poverty we become rich. Poverty and wealth both deal with money directly, and the context is about giving money to Paul so that Paul can give the money to others. The only way to say this is not about money is to be delusional and unrighteous.

As is always the case, if you try to kill God’s promises, you end up pointing the shotgun at your own face. When you try to kill God’s promises, you cannot do it, without destroying your own salvation and spitting on the blood of Jesus Christ.

The idea of substitution is that someone takes my place for something. Notice this is the same apostle Paul, in the same Epistle, using the same substitutionary language for both sin and righteousness (chapter 5) and poverty and wealth (chapter 8).

That is, if Jesus being my poverty in exchange to give me His wealth is ineffective, or is not a substitutionary atonement, then Jesus being my sin to give me His righteousness is also in effective and cannot be a substitutionary atonement. Paul’s description of substitutionary atonement is the same for both instances and so neither can be separated from substitutionary atonement without destroying the other.

If you deny Jesus was a money substitution then you logically deny Jesus was a sin substitute. It is futile to attack the promises of wealth, if you must destroy your salvation and trample the blood of Christ in the process. 

Faith is What God has Done for Us

The definition of faith is a mental assent to God’s word.

With this being understood, we can define faith in context of the gospel already finished and the promises therein. In the finished atonement, I am already forgiven, and I am already healed, and I already have the blessing of Abraham, and my poverty has already been taken away. This was done by God’s work and has already been given to me as grace. I don’t beg God to do something to forgive me, because I am already forgiven. I do not beg and ask God to do something to heal me, because Jesus already carried my sickness away and by His stripes, I was healed. I assent to these truths and thank God for them.

When you ask God to forgive you and you thought you needed to provided something, or be sinless for a particular period of time and needed to pray in perfection, then no one would be forgiven. This misses the entire point of Jesus’ finished atonement. It is already done, and you already have these benefits. There is no begging, or gimmicks, its already yours.

Thus, I do not need perfection or need to pray in perfection, to cause God to forgive me, because Jesus already lived perfectly in my place and prayed perfectly for me as high priest. The whole point of the substitutionary atonement and unmerited favor, is that Jesus does this for you, you simply believe it. The same with healing. You do not need to act in sinlessness for 4 and a half days and then pray in perfected faith to get healed, because Jesus already carried your sickness to the cross, and already exchanged stripes for your healing. Faith believes this. That is it.

For example: Faith is not my love to God, but God’s love to me.

Faith is not me doing something for God, but God having already done something for me.

Faith is not me earing forgiveness by my actions and perfected prayers, but Jesus having already forgiven me by His atonement.

Faith is not me earning God’s favor to get healed, rather, faith is that Jesus has already earned my healing by His stripes.

I remember Andrew Wommack giving the example of Adam in the Garden and how God already provided them food. When God created the garden, God had already provided the food. Adam did not need to ask or beg God to give him food, for God had already provided it. How insane would it be for Adam to beg God for food surrounded by fruit? But this is how many relate to God, when they do not believe what He has already given us in Jesus Christ. This is how it is with forgiveness, healing and Abraham’s blessing. God does not peel the banana and then shove it down Adam’s throat. God as already provided the food, but Adam has to reach his hand to grab a cherry and eat it. Adam does not do something to earn a pear, it has already been given to him. This is the same with gospel benefits and faith. Faith grabs hold what is already been provided.

This benefits are like a person who was born without hands and God heals them so that they have arms and hands. Faith, is the person using theirs hands to grab and use them in normal activities. Many beg God to do something when they already have new hands but do not realize they have them.

I heard Andrew Wommack define faith as, “our positive response to what God has already done.” If this is used as the foundation definition for faith, then it is wrong. Faith is simply a mental assent to God’s truth. Andrews’ definition is a subcategory and narrow definition of faith, when applied to believing the finished benefits of the atonement. It is more like a combination of faith and the correct work or response to God’s given gospel benefits. In the context of Jesus’s power, authority and healing having already been given to us, our positive response is to believe God and then command the demon or sickness or mountain to get out. Our response is to grab the pear and eat.

A Word of Wisdom Or Starve

There was a famine during David’s reign that lasted for three years, so David asked the Lord about it.
And the Lord said, “The famine has come because Saul and his family are guilty of murdering the Gibeonites.”
(2 Samuel 21:1 NLT)

There was a famine for 3 years. I am speculating, but I imagine David was not idle for 3 years as his subjects suffered and starved. I assume he confessed God’s goodness and faithfulness to help and sung praise to God. However, without any deliverance David must have realized something was wrong and sought God for an answer.  Some fools, would treat their circumstances like pagan fatalists, by saying “this is God’s will that we suffer and so we will just endure as long as it takes.” God commands us to do the opposite. We are commanded to dominate our circumstances, not be dominated by them. Therefore, David sought God for wisdom and understanding to cause the bad circumstances of famine to stop. God answered him, by saying Israel was being punished for the sin that Saul had done by trying to genocide the Gibeonites.

This shows the importance for being Baptized in the Spirit, and filled with faith to move mountains. How could David possibly know it was this specific sin that was causing the famine without God speaking to David and giving him knowledge about it? The answer is David could not have figured this out by mere human observation and experience. Saul and, Israel as a whole, committed many sins, and so it would be almost impossible to figure which one caused the famine. There are times in our lives that we need to ask God for wisdom and then have God speak to us about the specific issue, otherwise, the famine will continue on and on and on. Without the spiritual power to hear God speak, then David and Israel would have kept starving. Without God’s Spirit speaking to you, then you starve. Life is often this way. This is why cessationism is so deadly, unloving and wicked.

This is why Moses said he wanted all of us to be Spirit filled and prophesy. This was fulfilled on Pentecost, when Jesus, sitting at the right hand of the Power, poured out the Spirit of power, for all those God has called to Himself.  This baptism of power is connected to Jesus sitting on His eternal throne, empowering the church according to the promise of the Father to the Son. Peter connects this to “to as many as God will call to Himself.” It as nothing to do with men or apostles, but Jesus, Jesus’ position on His throne and the Father’s faithfulness to Jesus, and the Father’s predestination to call the elect people to Himself.

This is why speaking in tongues is so important. It edifies the person doing it, and it often leads to interpretation, where the Spirit of God becomes your personal instructor.  There is no better combination than to ask God for wisdom (James chapter 1) and then pray in tongues asking God for an interpretation. Jesus could only give personal instruction to a few people at a time. This is why He said it was good for Him to leave so that the Spirit will arrive. In the baptism of the Spirit, Jesus is able to personally instruct all believers as if He was there with them.

The Christian life cannot be lived in power, maturity and fullness without the supernatural power and miracles from God. As in our above example, the power to receive a word from God is often the only way to solve a troublesome situation. Without God’s supernatural power you are doomed. But with it, you are more than conquerors. With God’s power you can dominate life; rather than the opposite.

Jesus Expects Us to Have No Fear about Life

When Jesus said to Jairus, “Do not fear, only believe,” it was said regarding a supernatural miracle of resurrection. The passage says, “While he was still speaking to her, messengers arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. They told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.” But Jesus overheard them and said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.”” (Mark 5:35-36 NLT).

The man was just told his daughter was dead, and Jesus’ tells him not to be afraid, not even a little bit, but “only,” have faith in God.  If I said this to a parent who just lost their child, they would call me uncaring and a jerk; yet, this is how Jesus expects us to view such a situation. It is this same Jesus who will judge us all one day. This is a good example because this is one of the worst types of life troubles we can face, the death of a child, or a spouse or parent. Since Jesus is applying this teaching to the worst type of life troubles, then we obviously can apply it to lesser troubles.

Let us quickly address the point of “just have faith.” Jesus is not saying have faith in God like a fatalist. He is not saying to just have faith in the broad idea that God is sovereign and just go with the flow like a fatalist. No, Jesus is not telling us to abuse God’s sovereignty like that. Rather, He is telling Jairus, do not fear, because your faith in God will lead to a supernatural resurrection of your daughter. Why be afraid by the death of a child, if they will be resurrected? Obviously there is no fear of a child’s death if the death is overpowered by resurrection. Obviously, there is no fear of cancer if it is healed.  Obviously, there is no fear of Jesus paying the temple tax if he can just get the money from a random mouth of a fish.

Jesus is talking about faith in a supernatural miracle for specific trouble you need help with. Not human help, but God’s miracle help.

Jesus’ reasoning for why we should have no fear and only faith, is because miracles make the troubles of life go away. Jesus expects us to view life in this way. No wonder the religious elites hated Jesus, He was a miracle and faith fanatic.

Jesus’ presupposition is that with faith in God we do not fear life’s troubles, because God will destroy the troubles with supernatural power.

In the finished atonement, Jesus has already forgiven us, has given us His righteousness, already healed us, already exchanged our curses for the blessing of Abraham, and already exchanged our poverty for His riches. This is already about new creation, new reality, and identity. We are this right now.

Thus, what you believe God will do for you, God will do for you. The supply for all these supernatural miracles have already been laid up for you. Jesus said “only believe.” Thus, if Jairus stopped believing and gave into fear over his child’s death, thinking, “there is no more hope, and I will just go with whatever God sovereignly caused,” then that is what God would give him, no hope. But because He believed God could help with miracle power, even in the death of his child, then that is what Jesus gave him.

As Vincent Cheung said in his essay (Faith is The Answer), “God wants us to live life thinking that there is no reason to fear, but that we should have faith only. God wants us to live life thinking that all things are possible to the one who has faith… You are never a victim. You are never limited. You are never doomed. You are never desperate. You are never alone. God will come to you. God will answer you. God will rescue you. God will heal you and prosper you. God will increase your spiritual power and fruit. God is the answer to all your problems. And beyond your problems, God will give you the desires of your heart. How can you know? Faith! The faith in your heart is God’s answer.”

I WAS Healed or I Will be Healed?

Abraham said, “I am the father of many nations,” and not “I will be the father of many nations.” Abraham’s confession was exactly what God promised and it was a contradiction to reality. Faith was stronger. He confessed he was already the father of nations before it was true. This is not a lie, because faith in God’s promise is both truthful and is a stronger power than reality.

Jesus’ exchange with the Sadducees, about the resurrection, showed Jesus pointing out a category fallacy with present tense and past tense. The scripture said God present tense, “I am the God of Abraham and Isaac,” even though they had died many years before. But the Sadducees’ presupposition was the passage was recorded in the different category of past tense, “I was the God of Abraham.” After this Jesus publicly shamed them and shut them up. This passage from Jesus shows us how important logic is; it shows us you cannot violate the laws of Contradiction and Identity and have category fallacies.

The importance of this is significant for faith. Faith is assenting to what God has said. You cannot assent to what God has said, if you change the tense of verbs, because then you change categories and thus change the meaning.

What if Abraham said, “I will be the father of many nations?” If he said it, then it would be a confession of unbelief in God’s promise not a faith confession.  Faith, as shown above, is only faith if it confesses what God said, it is not faith if it changes what God said.  Even such a small change, as a verb tense, Jesus shows that you are greatly mistaken about God’s word and power. One change to a verb tense and you have different doctrines. You cannot confess in faith, while being greatly mistaken about the word you are confessing.

Isaiah 53 says in the past tense that Jesus bore our sin, but also past tense bore our sickness and then present tense by His stripes we are healed.  There is no future tense. Regarding our sickness they have been and are healed.  Thus, Peter in his letter says, 1 Peter 2:24, that we were healed by His stripes.

This is why the faith teachers are correct when they teach you to confess, “By the stripes of Jesus I WAS, or I AM healed,” and not that I will be healed somewhere in the future.

Lastly consider Jesus’ teaching on faith itself.

“And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.” So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” (Mark 11:21-24 NKJV)

Jesus teaches us that when we pray that we are to believe (past tense) that we have received what we asked for. He says if you believe that you (past tense) have received, then you will (future tense) receive them. As with the fig tree, they found it, the next day dried up from the roots. It took a day for the full 100-fold manifestation to appear. The presupposition for Jesus is that God’s promise to give us anything we ask for is a past or present tense application, and not future. Even if the answer appears to be delayed, the example of Daniel, shows us that it was answered the moment Daniel prayed, but was delayed by demonic attacks. Thus when you pray believe you have received what you ask for.

This does not mean we never say, “this will happen,” for in some context this would be appropriate, or that God never answers a prayer if the verb tense is wrong; however, we should always strive for perfection in our understanding of God’s promise and speaking it in the same. Faith is assenting to what God has promised, not category changes to it.

Think about Abraham and his confession of faith that he “is” the father of many nations before it happened. This is what faith does. The Israelites shouted and praised God for the defeat of Jericho, before the walls fell down. Faith gives a victory shout before it happens, because we know when we prayed it was answered.  Faith is the contradiction to what we see, but because faith gives us direct contact with God and His power, we know faith is stronger than reality. Because God is sovereignly faithful to fulfill His promise, we know when we ask, God has already given it to us.

Resurrection According The Scripture

Paul says in 1 Corinthian 15:4 that we know Jesus was resurrected because the Scripture says it. This is good reasoning. This is the best type of deductive logic. This is adhering to the laws of Contradiction, Identity and Excluded Middle in perfection. This is thinking like the LOGOS.

Anti-Christians often dislike this type of answer and find it unacceptable. They want you to say, “we know the resurrection is true because of some empirical evidence proves it.” This is of course delusional. Empirical evidence cannot prove any statement of reality because empiricism, observation and scientific experimentation make a triple logical fallacy. This foundation of knowledge makes knowledge impossible. It violates the law of contradiction because it makes knowledge skeptical; and it leads to skepticism, because empiricism, observation and experimentation are fallacious.  Any worldview that uses such a foundation for any knowledge is to be mocked and dismissed.

It is a good thing that resurrection is not proved by our sensations, observations or experimentation, because if it was then resurrection could never be proven. Since our sensations and observations cannot prove any statement of reality, such as water, rocks or trees, then it therefore cannot prove resurrection. Just because some fools use delusional means to interact with the world does not mean you are to follow this example, or compromise by making a bible and delusion into a hybrid. No, you expose how dumb their source of knowledge is and destroy it by logic and the scripture.

The only source of knowledge is God’s revelation. God’s word says there is resurrection and that Jesus was the first born from the dead. Just as He experienced physical resurrection, we also will experience a physical resurrection with a new body. What Jesus experienced we experience. This is God’s love and promise to us.

The Scripture and God are interchangeable, and therefore, Paul says Jesus was raised according to Scripture. We ought to have renewed our minds so that no truth statement about reality has any foundation in our senses, observation or experimentation. As Paul says, we live by faith not sight. This is why Paul says, (Acts 26:8) why should you think it incredible that God raised the dead?

The Gospel Is The Baptism Of The Spirit For Miracles

If Jesus sitting on the throne is the foundation eschatology, and His commands for power still stand, then applied eschatology for Christians is baptism in the Spirit, faith and miracles.

“Always remember that Jesus Christ,
a descendant of King David, was raised from the dead.
This is the Good News (GOSPEL) I preach,”
 2 Timothy 2:8 (NLT).

Tradition and men have a tendency to limit God, man and the gospel. In this case they limit Jesus’ nature, His position of authority and glorification of man in the gospel. Imputed righteousness and being declared righteous is an awesome doctrine, but there is more that the bible defines that belongs to “good news,” than a few narrowly selected pet doctrines. Men are habitually and systematically man-centered, and this leads to limiting God, His gospel and the elect. This happens because their worldview, despite having many scriptural terms, starts with themselves. They see the world from their limited human experience and then force God, the gospel and the elect into this limitation. We know who they serve.

Paul teaches in this passage that the gospel includes that Jesus was raised from the dead “as a descendant of King David.” This refers to the promise God made to “King” David about a descendant that will come from him. There are two aspects of this promised person. One, he will be the saving Messiah. The second, is that He will be a “King” on a throne, ruling in power and authority.

This descendant of King David, according to Paul, is connected to the fact that Jesus was raised. When you and I are resurrected, it is not necessarily connected to us sitting at God’s right hand as King and Judge over all things as what is inherit in us; however, this is precisely what it means for Jesus. Because we are connected to Jesus as part of His body, by God’s decision, then we share in His power and authority. Not as the head, but we do indeed share in what Jesus’ experienced. We are not just sub-heirs, but co-heirs. Jesus judges in authority, and likewise we will also one day judge angels, etc. The point is that what happens to Jesus in resurrection, also happens to us. For example, Paul argues in 1 Corinthians 15 because Jesus had bodily resurrection, we to will have a bodily resurrection.

Jesus is raised as the promised King, from King David, who sits on a throne of power. That is, Jesus’ resurrection by the Father from the grave, cannot be disconnected from the fact that His rising is a rising to sit on a throne. The doctrine of Jesus rising from the grave is the same thing as His rising to sit at the right hand of the Power, because the two cannot logically be separated. One cannot separate Jesus’ resurrection from His sitting on the throne as a King. Jesus raised from the grave is not to some nebulous place in the clouds. We are told and know where He was raised to. He was raised to the right hand of the Power. This doctrine for Paul, is “the gospel he preached.”

Also note, this is Paul to Timothy. Furthermore, this is the gospel Paul preached to the gentiles; thus, is not a specific doctrine for Jews or something like that.

Peter, in the first recorded apostolic gospel sermon, harps on this aspect of Jesus being King David’s descendant, who was raised to the position of throne power and authority. Peter devoted a good amount of space to make this point about Jesus. 

Peter sums up Jesus’ rising as the seated King from David as,

“both messiah and King.”

Thus, this promised descendant from David, according to Peter includes both the “saving Messiah” and “King” aspect to it. The resurrection is part of the gospel, most would admit, but the resurrection cannot be separated from that fact that it is a resurrection as a King to a throne. This last part of the gospel is the focus of eschatology, as it pertains to this side of eternity and Jesus ruling. This power the Father “worked in Christ, raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavenly places,  above all rule and authority and power and lordship and every name named, not only in this age but also in the coming one, and he subjected all things under his feet,” Ephesians 1:20-22. Again, Peter does not separate the saving and Throne aspect of Jesus Christ as the risen descendant of David. It was the gospel Paul preached and it was also the gospel Peter preached. The promise included both, and thus cannot be separated by theologians without blaspheme.

Peter then makes connection to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. His argument is this. Jesus as the descendant from King David, was raised to the right hand of God. What does Jesus do, sitting at the right hand of the Power?  Peter argues that in His position of power, has poured out power on His chosen ones, through the baptism of the Spirit. What does this newly seated King do with His position of Power? Well, He starts to empower His people. What will this seated descendant King of David do with all this authority and power? Peter’s answer is this: He gives us His power and authority so that we can overcome the world and spread His kingdom to every corner. Jesus gives us power to cast out demons, to heal the sick, and make mountains obey us. This is what Jesus does with power.

Thus, to say, “the gospel is the baptism of the Spirit, for speaking in tongues, casting out demons and healing the sick,” is true and should have no resistance. Jesus had to be cut up into a bloody pulp, under the Father’s wrath, and then resurrected to the right hand of Power, in order to have a contractual right to pour out the Spirit for power.  Thus the gospel is the baptism of the Spirit for miracle power; the gospel includes more, but not less than this. It is no less the gospel than the forgiveness of sins, because both are produced by the same thing, which is the blood, death and resurrection of Jesus to the right hand of the Power. To be against the statement, “The gospel is the baptism of Spirit for miracles,” is to trample the blood, death and resurrection of Jesus to God’s right hand.  To be against the baptism of the Spirit for speaking in tongues and power, is to be against the blood, death and resurrection authority of Jesus Christ. To be against the baptism of the Spirit for miracles, is to mock how the reigning Jesus Christ uses His authority from the right hand of the Power.

Paul said if you deny the resurrection then your faith is destroyed, and your hope is vain. However, there are more subtle ways to deny the resurrection rather than doing it directly. In the logic of Modus Ponens it would be resurrection as the antecedent and the manifestation and effects and application of resurrection would be the consequent. But the logic of Modus Tollens is also valid. If you deny the consequent, then you deny the antecedent. If you deny the baptism of the Spirit for miracles and speaking tongues, then you deny the resurrection of Jesus to God’s right hand.

Men and tradition, who use many scriptural terms, mock the gospel continually. You need to remove such a faithless mocker from your life. They spit on the blood of Jesus, trample on His death and make a mockery of His decisions made from His position of authority. Do not even eat or wash your hands with such people. Instead, honor the decisions that Jesus made, as He sits in all authority, at the Father’s right hand. We must seek to be baptized by the Spirit and to be constantly growing in Spiritual power for miracles and spiritual physics. The Spirit will become your personal instructor, as if Jesus Himself were right there with you, giving you instruction. The baseline spiritual power, as recorded in Acts that all get for being baptized, is speaking in tongues for inward edification (1 Corin 14:4,18). If you must start, then start there, and then seek more than more power. I have heard many ministries say they started after they first had a season of increased speaking in tongues. This gift is a spiritual gateway to other spiritual gifts. In my experience this gift is not utilized as it ought, and many have paid harsh price for its neglecting. And if you don’t care about yourself, then have some compassion and care for others and God’s kingdom expanding. Praying in tongues will help you have power to expand God’s kingdom.

Take Your Choke Points Off

“But Moses responded to the Lord, “There are 600,000 foot soldiers here with me, and yet you say, ‘I will give them meat for a whole month!’ Even if we butchered all our flocks and herds, would that satisfy them? Even if we caught all the fish in the sea, would that be enough?”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Has my arm lost its power?””
 (Numbers 11:21-23 NLT)

God told Moses that He would feed the Israelites with meat (Quail) for a whole month. Oddly, Moses’ response was that such a thing was impossible even for God. This is the same Moses who performed miracle after miracle and divided the sea with the Staff of God. This is Moses who, as God said it, was a God to Pharaoh. And yet, Moses could not believe God for this miracle food.

I remember Bill Winston in a sermon saying, (as I paraphrase from memory), “God had reached, Moses’ choke point. Moses could believe God for some things, but He could not believe God for this. Take your choke points, off.”

He is correct. Even the heroes of faith still have some choke points where they limit the Holy One of Israel.  No one has perfect faith in this life, but it is our command from God to always live by faith and mature our faith to its greatest heights.  Miracle food in large proportions, for some reason, was a choke point for Moses. It seemed impossible even for God. God rebuked Moses and said, is My arm to short that I cannot do this, or in modern terms, is My power so pathetic to you that I can’t do this miracle? Moses did not doubt God’s willingness to help but His power, and God rebuked Moses for this.

We often combat this abusive doctrine called, “if it is God’s will,” and so we say “God is always willing to help because of His love and because He promise to always provide if we have faith.” However, we can have choke points of doubt regarding God’s power. We might wrongly assume it is about the topic of God’s willingness, when it is really about doubting His power. We all have our own dispositions and weaknesses and strengths. And so it will vary from person to person what might be a choke point of faith. And I will try to use and example that might be more common to all. All Christians have faced those sins that more easily trip them up (Hebrews 12).  What can happen in a besetting sin, is that the experience can distort the mind to doubt God’s “power” to sanctify us.

If a person is blessed to have been ministered healing at their conversion, then asking God for healing would naturally be less of a choke point for them. However, they might find asking God for miracle money, or transmuting material substance to be a choke point of doubt.  Thus, we must find where we choke up with doubt and attack as if it was a cancer on our heart.

I remember Billy in response to Jesus’ statement that “anything is possible for the person who believes,” saying, “James and John asked for seats next to Jesus, but were told those were already reserved by the Father. Therefore, we don’t know if our prayers will be answered because God answers them on the dictates of His own whims.”

We know that apart from extreme examples that are categorically impossible, or violate a command that there are no limits to what we can ask for. Even a fool knows not to ask, “God, I want you to make me immutable and infinite like you, or help me murder my neighbor.” The prayers we see answered in scripture include resurrection from the dead, the multiplication and transmutation of material substance, healing, prosperity, military victory, relationship help, and the list goes on and on. Also, because we understand the blessing of Abraham (which we have in Jesus), which includes prosperity, supernatural health and healing, military victories, fame, glory and excessive fruitfulness in all parts of life, we know that Jesus command to ask for anything and get anything, means what it means.

Billy’s response to prayer, is an example of a person who doesn’t merely have a choke point or two, but who chokes at the entire idea of God helping and blessing them. This is a reprobate mindset. Such a person views God as if God is an outsider. They view God as if they have no Covenant with Him. The idea of Jesus’ Contract in blood, is to remove any “case by case” situation. For more on this see Vincent Cheung, Our Contract, who helped me understand this better. An insider status with God means that we always know how God will relate to us. An outsider status means we do not know how God will relate to us, because it is decided on the whim of God’s choice on a case by case. For example a husband does not decide to love his wife on a day by day decision; no, the contract of marriage means you have made a promise, to remove the case by case, and will always love them. God as removed the case by case, and has promised that if we have faith we will receive what we ask for. This love is only promised to those who God is contracted with. Outsiders of this contract do not have this privilege.

This contract therefore is able to remove all choke points for those with insiders status with God. We already know from the example of the gentile woman, that even without a contract status, faith gives you access to what you ask for. God has a standing contract with faith. However, in our Contract with Jesus, God cuts up His only Son in a bloody mess, and says “I will do what I promise.” There is no room for doubting.  

Removing our choke points is essential if we want to fully obey biblical expansionism in our lives. If we want maturity in expanding our own lives in righteousness and power and visions and expanding the Kingdom of God, we must remove any points of doubts. And doubt here is the key word. Jesus said if you have faith as small as a mustered seed you will command a mountain to move and it will obey you. Any Christian who has lived a few years and has been working on renewing their minds has more than a mustered seed size faith. The reason they do not see answers is because of doubts that gets mixed in with their faith. It is not that they have no faith, but the doubts mixed in is stopping the manifestation. The ins and outs for that, is for another essay; however, remember as you are attacking and removing doubts do not forget that the main focus is always Jesus and His promises, not constant inward self-evaluation.  

We must not put any limits on who we are in Christ and what we can accomplish by faith. Choke points can happen in places such as our vision for our lives. A Christian by faith might finally be out of debt and able to afford a nice home for his family. They even saw some miracles in finances where God helped. They are coasting, and life is good. However, when they were 17 God gave them a dream for ministry and a business that reaches millions of people, and this is still a choke point for them. Some might be enjoying a big house and a family that loves God. But God’s word reminds them if they had enough money to buy 10 big houses, they could give that to godly ministries to help fund the gospel, and for them this financial amount could be a choke point. If we take our eyes off ourselves and think what we could do for the advancement of God’s kingdom, there is always more power, finances and miracles than what we are currently able to do. But God is full of grace. If you seek to believe with no fear, you will find it.

Lastly, if you want to take off the limits and choke points, then you will need to say something with your mouth. Jesus said you will “say,” to this mountain.  Look at the heroes of faith, like Abraham and David. They spoke a confession of confidence in the promise of God. We believe and so we speak. Do not just look at a choke point, speak to it. Say something. Speak the promises of God. Your faith confession is like Moses with the Staff of God. Your staff is your confession in God’s word. Say it. Tell it to get out of your way. Tell the sickness to leave.  

I will let Paul end this with his own exhortation: God answers our prayers exceedingly, abundantly and beyond all that we ask or think. This is how an insider to God thinks about the world and what is available to them in Christ.

Use the Bible to Prove Atheism?

I saw an atheist respond on a post on social media saying,
“How can we know there is a God? Prove it. Not just using the Bible.”

I am not entirely sure if he means, “do not use the bible at all, or use the bible with other non-bible proofs.”

If taken the first way, then the equivalent for me to say the same thing back to him would be like this, “prove to me that evolution is true, but do not use your sensations (empiricism).” An atheist or evolutionist would not accept this because the knowledge of their worldview comes from empiricism.  Without using empiricism, then they have no knowledge about anything. Without their epistemology their worldview is without knowledge. Yet, they demand that we prove our Christian worldview without using the bible, which is the only source of our knowledge. Without the bible there is no knowledge for our worldview about any topic. The bible says that it alone is the source of knowledge (the bible even denies empiricism), and so if we use the bible we can only use the bible for knowledge. There is no dual epistemology in Christianity.

Thus, if meant the second way, then the bible would not allow us to use any other epistemology. Any other source of knowledge would be an anti-Christian source of knowledge. When the opponent is asking us to use other proofs for knowledge other than the Scripture, they are asking to deny the bible at the same time. If we do this, then we have already lost the debate because we have already denied our God and our worldview’s source of knowledge.

 Since the opponent is using empiricism as their source of knowledge, then what they likely mean by “proving Christian with non-biblical knowledge,” means they want us to use so-called empirical proofs for Christianity.  As just said, to do this, since the bible denies empiricism, means we deny Christianity if we use empiricism. Also, empiricism is logically irrational. To infer knowledge from sensation is a never-ending category fallacy. Observation is logically irrational. All conclusions from empiricism and observations are a non-sequitur fallacy. Thus, no matter how good you think your empirical proofs are, they can never logically prove God. Every conclusion from empiricism to God would be a non-sequitur fallacy. For example, the type of existence we sense and observe is not immutable and eternal. Thus, to conclude God’s type of existence from sensation is like saying “All cats are animals, therefore, rocks are yellow.”  The demand to use empirical proofs, is a demand to use a standard of knowledge, that cannot prove any statement about reality. Not only can empiricism not give proof for Christianity, but it also cannot give proof for what is the color red, what is a cloud or what is a rock. Also since Empiricism is irrational, then to hybrid it with the Scripture would be to hybrid the irrational with rational. It would discredit the bible as if the bible is ok with being irrational and stupid. Also what one senses and observes contradicts the bible, and so you have a dual epistemology that contradicts one another. This would make knowledge impossible.

To turn the tables, what if I made a similar demand on the atheist or agnostic by saying, “don’t only use empiricism to prove evolution, but use the bible to give proofs.” The bible obviously contradicts evolution, and many things about their worldview based on their sensations. They would not accept such a demand from me, because they do not accept the bible as a source of knowledge and they know it also contradicts their own worldview.  Likewise, we do not accept empiricism as a source of knowledge. If they want to demand we use their empiricism they need to prove that their epistemology makes knowledge possible. Do not let them bully you with their irrational demands. Rather attack their demands. Attack their standard of empiricism.