Tag Archives: Jesus

I Win No Matter What

I remember Vincent Cheung saying in Blinded by Atheism, “Apologetics is so easy that if it is the main focus of your life and if you become any good at it, you might become disillusioned with boredom and with a lack of purpose.”

He is correct; if you use biblical deductionalism or rationalism. If I choose not to be nice and always take apologetic arguments to the presuppositional level straight away (supposing my opponent even has the intellectual ability to go there), I win no matter what happens. If I stick to the scripture, I win. It doesn’t matter what my opponent says; if they say anything, I win. Even if all they say is the word “as,” I win.

The presuppositional level has to do with your starting point for knowledge and to a larger degree the things you must have in order to have any intelligence. My worldview is not their worldview. My Bible says it is true and all others are false. It says knowledge comes from God, not observation or empiricism. Thus, my worldview disagrees with all other worldviews about the presupposition of knowledge. Because other worldviews always disagree with my worldview about knowledge and the Bible is always right, then any knowledge they use does not come from their worldview, and so they never have logical justification for any knowledge they have. It does not matter if it is their own name, if it is knowledge about a tree, bird, or something abstract like “as,” “the,” or logic, or math; all such knowledge does not come from their worldview. Their worldview has no intelligence, or true or false premises about anything in reality; it has no subjects or predicates; it has no logic or math.

Even if I argue my position in a poor way, I still win. If we consider the worldview argument like a tree, the presuppositional level is the axe laid at the trunk of the tree. Even if I poorly argue for a point and my opponent seems to win a small point, they only manage to save a small twig at the top of the tree. However, one swing with my axe and the whole tree comes down.

If they make any statement about reality, or ask any question about reality or my worldview, I am not allowed to accept it, because the Bible says only it is true, says all others are false, and only it has knowledge. They do not have knowledge, and so they cannot use knowledge to make a statement about anything. If an atheist says rock layers show… (it does not matter what the conclusion is; the important thing is the knowledge of the terms rock and layers), I cannot receive his statement without presupposing his epistemology gives him knowledge. But the Bible clearly says only God gives knowledge; all others are false. If I accept his epistemology gives him the ability to use the terms “rock” and “layers,” then I reject the Bible at the same time because the Bible says only it gives knowledge (via God’s direct power) and all others are false. To use empiricism with my opponent is to reject my God at the same time. To use empiricism is to give the tree trunk to my opponent, so that the very best I can do is cut down some of his worldview branches, because I have now lost the ability to chop down the foundation of his worldview.

I would tell my opponent,

I do not use your epistemology of empiricism, which you used to produce the terms of rock and layers. If you are going to question me using an anti-biblical epistemology (the very thing we disagree about), then the logical burden of proof is on you to justify the knowledge of rock and layers. I admit, if I were to use or assume with you your empiricism, I must also reject my Christianity. But this is the very thing we disagree about, or will you just accept the Bible is the only starting point for knowledge? Because if you do, then I win, and you will be saved. I don’t believe in your worldview. I refuse to go further, because the burden of proof is on you. If you do not have knowledge of rock and layers, it is pointless what the conclusions are. You attacked me with the certainty that you have the knowledge of rocks and layers. I do not believe you. I don’t presuppose your worldview.

Your Words Always Carry Authority

Sometimes the faith preachers can go too far in their teaching on words, confession, and giving Satan authority through your words of unbelief. Most of the mistakes boil down to one of two things. First is their demonic doctrine of Arminianism. Their denial of the Bible’s sovereignty leads them to say God gave up some of His power and authority and handed it to man, and then man passed it to Satan, and so on. The second is a borderline superstition about words. Jesus said, “Lazarus is dead” (John 11:14). This did not cancel His ability to raise him from the dead, because Jesus said it along with the statement, “we will go and wake him up” (John 11:11). Jesus did not say he was dead in unbelief, fearful that Lazarus could not be raised from the dead, but as a statement made on the human level of observation. Jesus said what could be observed, but contradicted empiricism by faith: “We will go and wake him up.”

With that being said, there is some truth to what is being said, and we need to address it. Proverbs 18:21 declares that life and death are in the power of the tongue. The most obvious way to see this is in salvation. If you believe and confess with your tongue, you will be saved (Romans 10:9-10). However, sometimes the confession of the tongue can be as simple as tears. For Jesus said to the woman who washed His feet with her tears, and to whom He said all her sins are forgiven, “Your faith has saved you” (Luke 7:50). Jesus, the most God-centered man who ever lived, did not say, “God saved you”; no, He said, “Your faith has saved you.” Thus, we see it is more than just words, but words backed up by faith.

Moses said, “I present before you life and death; choose your path” (Deuteronomy 30:19). And the way we choose is by unbelief or faith. If unbelief, then words of unbelief will follow. If faith, then words of faith in God will follow. This is why Jesus said to the woman, regarding the forgiveness of her sins, “Your faith has saved you,” rather than saying “God saved you.” Faith-filled words or unbelief-filled words determine the course of your life. Your position in life is finalized by your confession.

Talk about a divine mic drop—your tongue’s basically a cosmic remote control; hit ‘faith’ for blessings, or ‘unbelief’ for the eternal buffering screen.

God Is Sovereign and Still Is

Because God has not given up any of His direct and absolute control over all things, He therefore still does all that He wants. He defines His own creation and establishes connections and cause and effects. He was sovereign when He made the promises, and so He is sovereign and faithful to do them, no matter how incredible they are.

Thus, when God made the earth, God gave dominion of the earth to man, commanding man to steward it (Genesis 1:28). God did not stop being the only real cause of all things, but on the relative level, because God is in control of all things, it was His choice to put the earth under man’s authority and stewardship. Adam did not ask for this authority and dominion. It is because God is sovereign that Adam had this responsibility and authority even though Adam did not ask for it.

Because the earth was given to man, when Adam sinned, much authority and power was transferred over to Satan, by God’s choice and design. Even though Adam did not ask for the stewardship and responsibility of managing the earth, it was his because God sovereignly made it so. Thus, even if Adam did not want the responsibility for his choices and words of unbelief to result in earthly authority being transferred to Satan, he had no choice in the matter because this dynamic was established by God. The devil said to Jesus, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to” (Luke 4:6). Jesus did not refute Satan. After Jesus’ resurrection, He said to the disciples, “All authority has been given to Me” (Matthew 28:18). Jesus took it back, and all those united to Him not only have the original authority and stewardship given to Adam, but much, much, much greater; it is as great as the authority Jesus has. Jesus has made us royal priests in Him forever (1 Peter 2:9, Revelation 1:6). We are not just sub-heirs, but co-heirs with Jesus (Romans 8:17). We are united to Jesus’ body; therefore, because all things, including all powers, authority, rulers, and dominions are under Jesus’ feet, they are under our feet (Ephesians 1:22-23). Jesus has given us the privilege and authority to use His Name to ask for whatever we want and get it (John 14:13-14, & ch 15, and 16). He has endowed us with the power of the Holy Spirit; the same Spirit that empowered Him (Acts 1:8).

As a believer, I did not ask to be made a royal priest in Jesus. And yet, this position of authority and power is mine, whether I want it or not. By my words, as a royal priest, I can command sickness to leave and rebuke Satan to his face. I do not go in and out of being a royal priest who can use Jesus’ name. I always have this position, whether I want it or not. Thus, my words always carry royal priesthood weight and authority because in God’s mind, He thinks I am a royal priest in Jesus. For example, if a king mutters to himself, “I want some water,” even if he did not intend for a servant to go get him water, a servant will get him water, because the word of the king is law. This is exactly what the Canaanite woman did with Jesus’ word (Matthew 15:21-28). Jesus’ word put her as a dog in the house, under the table. Thus, the woman demanded some crumbs, because it was Jesus’ word that put her there, even if Jesus did not intend for her to get healing. Even though the woman hijacked Jesus’ word, on the other hand, she honored His word as that of a King, whose word is law. Jesus was in a position of authority, and the woman was demanding that Jesus honor His word.

 Sovereign God hands out authority like candy at a parade—Adam fumbled it to Satan, Jesus snatched it back, and now we’re co-kings; just don’t trip over your own tongue, or you’ll end up cursing yourself.

This is what we mean by our words having life and death. It is not that we have inherent power in our words, but God in His sovereign choice has put us into positions of authority and power, whether we want it or not. It was this way from the beginning with Adam. Adam lost much of this authority, but God began to give it back starting with Abraham, and in Jesus much more has been given to the believer. It does not matter if you acknowledge your position of authority and power, because God in His mind thinks you are in a position of authority and power, therefore, God will see to it personally that the words you speak will bring death or life to you. It is because God is sovereign and we are accountable to Him that words bring life and death. It is because God is sovereign that I have the power to command sickness to leave, to shut the mouths of demons, and tell mountains to fly away (Mark 11:23).

This results in a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you can curse yourself with death, pain, sickness, shame, and demons, or you can bless yourself with life, peace, prosperity, the Holy Spirit, health, and glory. Even if you shut your mouth, just your tears are enough for God to use His sovereignty to ensure they either damn or bless you.

There is only one word in the Bible for demon possession, and it means to be demonized, and it includes anything from being slightly harassed to outright possession. Because Adam sinned in a position of authority, this led God to give man’s authority over to the devil, and this allowed Satan to demonize mankind. For example, in Acts 10:38, Peter says Jesus healed all those being victimized by the devil. Thus, much sicknesses are caused by demons, and so sickness is largely caused by being demonized. If you are sick, then it is likely due to being demonized, although sometimes it can be just God’s curse at the fall (Genesis 3:16-19).

This is why words are so important. If the doctor says you have stage 4 cancer, and in unbelief and fear you repeat this, because God thinks you are in a position of authority, you have just authorized death and pain for you. You have given permission for demons to demonize you. If you say, “getting old means I get arthritis and feeble and fall,” then it will be true for you. You have chosen death. You have chosen unbelief and curses. God thinks you are a steward in authority over the earth, He thinks you are royalty, He thinks you are a priest, and so your words of unbelief have authorized your flesh to be sick, weak, and in pain.

Once you realize you are always in a position of authority and power, then the intelligent thing to do is use your words to confess the goodness of God over yourself, and use the Name of Jesus to get good things from God.

This is why Christianity started with Abraham, whose very name is a confession of faith in God: “I am the father of many nations” (Genesis 17:5). Christianity started with faith-filled words in God’s good promises of health, wealth, fame, and blessings. Both the Old and New Testaments say this: “We believed and so we have spoken” (2 Corinthians 4:13; Psalm 116:10). This is Christianity 101.

Satan knows this and so he has demonized the faithless into confessing death, and by confessing unbelief they are doing Satan’s job for him. They will say, “We are the worst of sinners,” and so they are (1 Timothy 1:15, but misused here). God thinks they are in a position of authority (even if it is only a mere shadow of the stewardship Adam once had), and so they authorize their souls and actions to be sinful and unrighteous. They say things like, “This sickness is sent by God to teach me something.” The ten spies of the Israel came back from spying on the Land and gave a truthful report about their observations saying, “we are small, and the people are giants, we can’t do this.” It was correct; however, God was angry because God’s promise contradicted their observations. They chose their observation over God’s promise. God made their words to be a self-fulling decree. Thus, God in His sovereignty makes unbelief a self-fulfilling prophecy of sickness, because God considers our words have weight

 Think about it. The faithless and traditionist mock the faith preachers for decreeing and prophesying. Yet, just like the 10 spies, they decree they are sick and are too weak to defeat stage 4 cancer, because that is what the doctor confessed. They prophesy about how old age makes them feeble and how arthritis bends their hands; they decree this because they already observe how their bodies hurt. They decree that they are small, but confess that sickness and old age are giants. They prophesy that sufferings from everyday troubles of life will eat away at their life, libido and happiness. And just like the Israelites who confessed their own smallness, defeat and sufferings, God made their decrees reality, and made their prophecies manifest. They speak against the faith teachers for decreeing, but their mouths pour out an onslaught of decrees and prophecies, but in the negative. And we see it come to pass. They see their confessions manifest, not because they have inherent power in words, but because the sovereign God thinks their decrees have authority and power. Their lives are a living testimony of the power of decrees and the reality of prophecy. Their doctrine is against decreeing, but their lives are a constant endorsement of it.

It does not matter if you do not want your self-deprecating statements, or observations about how your body feels, to be self-fulling prophecies, God in His sovereignty ensures your words authorizes them to be so. This is how God is using His sovereignty, so deal with it. Deal with it by speaking faith filled words in God’s blessings.    

Satan’s sneaky script flip—get the faithless yapping negativity, and poof, they’re self-sabotaging superstars; meanwhile, God’s like, “I glued the mic to your hand, it will amplify your words, so think carefully what you will say!”

There is a reason Jesus preached so much. Faith comes by hearing the word of truth (Romans 10:17). By hearing the truth, our hearts are filled with faith. When our hearts are filled with faith, we open our mouths and confess His blessings over our lives. In the Gospels, Jesus kept saying things like, “Ask what you want using my Name and get it” (John 16:23-24). And then, “What you SAY, if you believe, then you will get it.” And if you “SAY to this mountain it will move” (Mark 11:23).

Notice how many times Jesus says, “SAY.”

Mark 11:23-24: “Truly I tell you, if anyone SAYS to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they SAY will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you [SAY] for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Lastly, we are instructed to always be praying, praying in tongues, rejoicing, and praising God (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; Ephesians 6:18; 1 Corinthians 14:2). God knows that He sees us in authority and so commands us to continually be saying faith-filled words about His goodness, salvation, and blessings over us. Our faith, our words, and confessions need to catch up to our identity in Christ, to our high position of already sitting in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 2:6), and to our position as always being a royal priest. Our words have power and authority because God is sovereign, and because He loves us. Jesus enjoys seeing the people He died for use His Name to say and command good things for themselves.

Just as speaking sickness opens a foothold for you to be demonized (Ephesians 4:27), speaking in tongues is a foothold for the powers of God to flood into your life.

Your words are like spiritual WiFi passwords: Mutter curses and invite demonic hackers; confess faith and unlock God’s unlimited data plan of miracles.

I Will Never Send Anyone (Sickness) To Attack You

“If indeed one attacks, it is not from me; whoever attacks you shall fall because of you.

Look! I myself have created the craftsman who blows the fire of coals, and who produces a weapon for his work; also I myself have created the destroyer to destroy.

 [No] weapon formed against you shall succeed, and you shall [condemn] every tongue that rises against you for judgment. This is the inheritance of the servants of Yahweh, and their legal right from me.” (Isaiah 54:15-17 LEB)

I noticed two essays on my website being viewed more, which are “The Devil Is Making You Sick, Not God,” and “Sickness Is Satan’s Glory, Not God’s. They all have a similar theme: God did not send you sickness. It is not from Him. It was sent from Satan. God sends healings. The scales of faithless teachings are falling away from the eyes of believers.

This passage is a one-stop-shop of a few major themes in one place. I will focus on a few things to meditate on.

The first theme is God saying He did not send bad people to fight against Israel. CSB: “If anyone attacks you, it is not from me.” ERV: “I will never send anyone to attack you.”

How can anyone be more God-centered than God? How can anyone be more concerned for God’s name and glory than God? Obviously, no one can, including you, and definitely including faithless trash that peddles cessationism or any denial of expansionism. Is it not anti-God-centered to say God did not send something? Is God not directly and absolutely sovereign over all things? Well, yes, God is. In fact, the next section of the passage directly addresses this. God says He creates nations and the people in them and creates them for war, for His own purpose. If a blacksmith makes a weapon, it is because God made it happen with more directness than the blacksmith making the sword. God does not find a nation and then use them. No. God forms them from scratch. This is like the neutral lump of clay in Romans 9. God starts with a neutral lump and forms it into the shapes He wants.

So yes, God is directly sovereign over all things in absolute and direct control. However, the same passage says, “If someone attacks you, I didn’t send them, I didn’t do it.” The reason for this is simple. The Bible affirms God’s control over all things, but it mainly talks at the human level, or relative level. That is, relative to how humans perceive things and relative to how one created object interacts with another created object. On this relative level, God is correct when He denies sending people to attack Israel. There is no mystery here because we are talking about two different categories: one ultimate and the other relative. Mystery comes because people create category errors by mixing the two. Mixing ultimate and relative levels? That’s like confusing quantum physics with your grandma’s cookie recipe—both sweet, but one will blow your mind, the other your diet.

God does not send evil to Israel. If evil does come to them, God did not send it. This was true under the Old Covenant, but today we have a better Covenant. Thus, how much more does God not send evil to saints, who are redeemed by the blood of Jesus and part of Abraham’s blessing? This blessing says God is our God and we His children, and that He never stops from doing good to us. Jesus defined a good father as one who gives a fish for a fish—or that is, who gives you what you ask for and not something different. In the New Contract, Jesus is our High Priest who ministers to us the things He accomplished through His atonement. Jesus not only forgave all our sins, but by His stripes we were healed. Jesus became our poverty so we become rich by His wealth. Jesus took on our curse and gave us the blessing of Abraham, which included fame, health, wealth, and supernatural increase to all our lives.

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.

However, our passage in Isaiah is more basic, for it is not directly talking about the ministry of Jesus. It is more about God’s nature. In Isaiah, God mentions for us to remember we were carved from the rock of Abraham. God is a friend to Abraham and is good to all his descendants. God is kind and compassionate. This is God’s nature. Thus, God does not send evil to His children. He gives them good things; He gives them a fish for a fish. If there is poverty, sickness, and troubles, God did not send it. They came from someone else, but not God.

Notice the implication. When God says He did not send the evil, you cannot blame God for it. If you have cancer, or if your loved one died before their time, or you are poor, you cannot blame God for this, because God did not send it. He denies that He did it. God rejects any involvement in your sicknesses and troubles. They are from Satan, the curse or they are self-inflicted. However, even if they are self-inflicted, Satan is the one who is actively working on you to self-inflict yourself with death and destruction. Thus, the devil is the one sending you the troubles.

You are a douchebag piece of trash if you blame God for your sickness, because He did not send it. Whom am I to believe? God denies it, but you affirm it? You have no right to attribute to God what He denies.

Beyond the blame game, there is the issue that you are calling God Satan. Confusing God with Satan? That’s like mistaking Superman for Lex Luthor—same cape, wrong agenda. Epic fail. Seriously, you cannot tell the difference between God and the devil, and you want to school people in theology?

There is another implication drawn directly from the passage: “No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord” (NIV).

The argument God gives is simple. On the relative level, God did not send the trouble; therefore, when trouble comes to you, tell it to f@#k off. 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.

A doctor will condemn you with sickness. But God did not send the sickness. ERV: “I will never send anyone to attack you.” Or that is, God will never send sickness to attack you. The devil is making you sick. Therefore, when the doctor’s tongue accuses you with stage 4 cancer, refute it by the Name of Jesus Christ. Because God did not send you sickness, you have the freedom to send it away. Your inheritance through Jesus Christ includes the authority to use His name to command sickness to leave. This birthright belongs to all who are made righteous by Jesus’ atonement. This is God’s vindication to all who belong to Him.

The point to notice is basic: you, not God, are speaking to troubles. “You will refute every tongue that accuses you.” You have the inheritance to rebuke troubles sent to you, and so you must be the one who refutes it, not God. In essence, God is saying, “I did not send evil to you; therefore, I will not be the one to send it away. I have given you the vindication and authority to refute it and send it away. You open your mouth, and you command it.”

God’s handing you the mic—time to drop some holy bars on that mountain. “Yo, cancer, hit the road… in Jesus’ name!”

Your Empty Pizza Box is the Real Trash.

A few days ago, I posted this quote from Vincent Cheung, and got another, if predictable, yet, unimaginative response:


“The Bible teaches the opposite. Jacob wrestled with God and said, ‘I will not let you go until you bless me.’ So God blessed him, and called him Israel, meaning ‘a prince with God.’ Jacob’s tenacity, his refusal to let go until he received God’s blessing, was counted as faith. This persistence brought him into a deeper relationship with God. Jacob did not separate God from his blessing, but he understood that to seek the blessing of God was to seek God himself.”
(Vincent Cheung, Seek God Through His Blessings.)

Superbole1, responded, with:
“uh no. Jesus said that if you seek God’s will, He will answer. Meaning God is not a wish granter. Secondly, the author of this trash left out that God dislocated Jacob’s hip after blessing him, keeping Jacob reliant on God.”

“Superbole”? That’s a blend of “superlative” and “hyperbole.” Your name is the highest degree of rhetoric, where something is described as much more impressive than it is. Maybe when reading the Bible, try less exaggeration and more basic logic.

“If you seek God’s will”? You twist this to mean God is no wish-granting genie. That’s cute. However, if we’re going to rub the lamp, let’s rub it well and see what happens. Jesus in Matthew 6:33 tells us to seek first the kingdom and its righteousness, and all these things—blessings, provisions—will be added. It’s not “God’s will OR blessings”; it’s both, bundled like a cosmic care package.

Seeking God’s will includes His blessings. Seeking blessings from God includes seeking God. Seeking blessings from God is God’s will because it is obeying His command and walking in His definition of a Christian. You cannot seek God to bless you without seeking God.

Jacob wasn’t separating the Giver from the gift; he was grabbing the whole enchilada. However, Jacob’s goal was more basic. He was not seeking God to expand God’s kingdom, he was asking God to expand Jacob’s kingdom. He was not asking God to do God’s will on earth, but to do Jacob’s will on earth. He was not asking God to bless God’s plan; rather, he was asking God to bless Jacob’s plans on earth. God approved of this and blessed Jacob.

Jacob was not looking to be blessed by his self-effort or by going to worldly help. Jacob did not ask Satan or the pagan god Baal to bless him. No. He was asking God to do the blessing. Thus, even if Jacob was mostly self-seeking, it was still a packaged deal that sought God and glorified God. Even if you don’t want Satan in your life, if you ask Satan for money, you have sought Satan and established a relationship with and glorified Satan. The two cannot be separated. God approved of Jacob seeking his own plans and desires, not asking about God’s. By seeking Jacob’s plans and desires to be blessed, Jacob was also seeking God.

You frame the limp as God hurting Jacob to keep him “reliant,” like a divine pimp slap to prevent cockiness. Charming, but let us flip the scripture to the upright position and reread the text. The limp and blessing came at the break of day, after Jacob would not stop until he was blessed. If the limp was meant to crush aggressive seeking for blessings, why bless him? Do you see it yet? This is God marking a transformed man. This is God branding a person who sought a blessing. God gave Jacob His stamp of approval. Jacob enters as a schemer, exits with the relationship of “God’s Prince.” It’s not punishment. It is a fighter’s scar from winning the ultimate match. A badge of honor, a reminder of the encounter that elevated him to Israel, “a prince with God.” It didn’t diminish the blessing; it valued Jacob’s grit and faith.

Calling scripture-inspired insight trash? That’s the type of boldness that would make Satan blush in envy. Your view turns God into a stingy taskmaster, doling out only “will” without the thrill. No. That is not the bold faith we champion. Seeking our own blessings is like pizza; we all want it, and God calls it good. However, when you order pizza, you insist on just the box—sure, it still has God’s logo on it, but it misses the cheesy point entirely. Your empty pizza box is the real trash.

*Polished with a little help from Grok xAI, the AI sidekick who wrestles typos like Jacob wrestled God

God Will Give You a Heavenly High-Five

In Vincent Cheung’s recent essay, “Seek God Through His Blessings,” he says the following:

“One of the most insidious of these teachings is the notion that we should not seek blessings from God, but instead seek God himself…The Bible teaches the opposite. Jacob wrestled with God and said, ‘I will not let you go until you bless me.’ So God blessed him, and called him Israel, meaning ‘a prince with God.’ Jacob’s tenacity, his refusal to let go until he received God’s blessing, was counted as faith. This persistence brought him into a deeper relationship with God. Jacob did not separate God from his blessing, but he understood that to seek the blessing of God was to seek God himself.”

What is interesting about God renaming Jacob as Israel is obvious. Israel is about Jacob’s relationship with God. Jacob is a prince of God—or, that is, a royal son of God and of heaven’s kingdom. God defined Jacob in relationship to Him. This definition of Jacob’s relationship is a very close one. My first thought is, “Wow, I want that type of close relationship with God. How and why did God redefine Jacob with such a close relationship?” It was in seeking God’s blessings, favor, and goodies by faith that God redefined Jacob in a closer relationship with Him. From this we learn: If you want a closer relationship with God, ask and get more material stuff from God. If you want a more distant relationship with God, then don’t ask and don’t get material blessings from God. By seeking blessings and answered prayers from God, you seek Him more and have a closer relationship—or the opposite.

In short, if you’re wrestling with God for blessings like Jacob did, you will pin down a divine upgrade. Not only will you get a holy handout, but God will give you a heavenly high-five, because you have such a close relationship.

ALL Is Not Lost

I was praying the other day. It is now common for me to be praying in tongues and making faith confessions and praising God.

Over the last few years, God has been healing me, restoring me, and growing my inner man. And now, as I look to the future, my focus is more power, more righteousness, more kingdom expansion, seeing my dreams become reality, and taking all choke points and limits off God and what faith can do.

I am in my 40s, and I was feeling a little bit of hopelessness because of my age. I was wishing I could go back to my teens to teach myself what I have learned and practiced over the last several years. And so, I decided to use life’s greatest life-cheat: praying in tongues. After some time, I received an interpretation, “All is not lost. I have heard your prayers.”

When God says “I have heard your prayers,” as He did to Hezekiah, it means He gave you what you asked. Because God is so loving and so faithful to do what He promised, the same act of God hearing you is the same act as God granting your request.

When I heard the Spirit say this, I was unsure if God meant “all” as in “some things might be lost but not all things,” or “all the dreams you have ever had are still yours for the taking.” I looked up and said, “I don’t know how you meant ‘all,’ but I mean it as all my dreams are still here. Even if you did not mean it that way, I mean it that way and receive it that way, because you said ‘all.’” (Hey, if you’re going to quibble with the Almighty, at least do it with faith and a dash of audacity—its how scriptures teach us to pray.)

God told King David that He gave wives to David (this is mostly about sex), a kingdom, prosperity, and fame, and if David wanted more, God would have given more sex, more kingdoms, more prosperity, and more fame to David.

This teaches us that we cannot ask too much. The risk in praying is asking too little and shooting too low. If you aim for the Andromeda Galaxy but end up hitting Orion’s belt, then great, you accomplished some good things. But if you aim for the ground, then that is all you will hit—frankly, why settle for dirt when the stars are up for grabs?

The Gentile woman hijacked Jesus’ words, which meant one thing, to mean something else. Jesus approved and called her faith great. In fact, Jesus was arguing for God’s will to be done, and by the end of the exchange, Jesus confesses out loud, “Woman, your will be done.”

Jesus had already promised to go and heal the centurion’s servant, but the centurion asked for an upgrade to a miracle already in motion (just say the word). Jesus approved of this man asking for more, and he got the upgrade.

Last note: Pray in tongues and ask for interpretation. Even if you don’t have a spiritual gift for interpretation, by asking in faith, you will find you will receive interpretations. Don’t sleep on this. It will help you.

I am here to remind you: All is not lost.

Do not limit God. Do not shoot too low. Do not ask for only small things. Pray for big things; pray for upgrades to miracles you are already getting. Pray for more. And when you think you have asked for too much, ask for more.

And when God hears you, you know God has given.

You Will Not Die But Live

A few years before COVID hit, Vincent Cheung had begun to publish more materials on faith. I therefore began to rethink and refocus on such topics. However, it was not until COVID that I fundamentally changed my lifestyle to seek God in a more devotional manner and with greater faith. God had warned me a few years prior, in a divine trance, that I was not internalizing the scripture in faith and inner strength, as I ought. Even after this, I was still somewhat blind to what that meant.

When COVID forced most of us homebound, I found myself stuck in my house. I remember I took the second COVID booster treatment. (I won’t linger on this other than to say, if you have faith, it doesn’t matter what you do. As long as you are not willfully testing God, in good conscience, you are free to do what you want—hey, faith isn’t a straitjacket, it’s freedom with a divine safety net.) However, I began to feel like I was half dead for a few weeks or months. At one point, I was standing in my living room, and I felt so bad I halfway passed out; I went blind, my veins and heart felt cold and slow, and I could barely breathe. Time slowed down. I felt like I had one foot in the grave.

I couldn’t even speak, but in my mind, I cried out to God to help me. I remembered there were dreams I had and prophecies about me that needed to be fulfilled. I immediately felt just enough strength flow into me that I pulled myself onto the chair, and I heard the Holy Spirit say, “You will not die, I will help you, I will restore you and strengthen you.”

At the time, I did not have health insurance, so going to the doctor wasn’t an option; but that was for the best. I had a better physician, after all—who needs co-pays when you’ve got the Creator on speed dial? The word spoken to me by the Spirit took the edge off any fear or worry I had. I felt bad for months afterward, but I slowly got better.

It was after that I changed my life every day to seek God in a more devotional way. I remember downloading the Joseph Prince app for my phone and starting my first devotional. I then signed up for Kenneth Copeland’s email daily devotional. I remember talking to myself, saying, “I can’t believe I am reading these guys!” The doctrine of God’s sovereignty is so easy, and you shouldn’t boast about knowing it as if it were a difficult thing to do. It is a doctrine no one can take from me. I say this to say, reading the faith teachers has zero chance of harming my understanding of God’s sovereignty. And this is exactly the issue. I knew God’s sovereignty, but I was not living in the joy and peace of the Spirit, and was not in the place where my prayers were answered as a common thing. I needed to grow in these areas. The Pentecostals and charismatics were too weak. The faith teachers were the only ones who did not qualify Jesus’ statements about faith.

When I was in my teenage years, I remember praying in tongues, and during this time I read and believed in the sovereignty of God (Romans 9) without anyone teaching me these doctrines. I was reminded I was at my best when the Spirit filled me with power. The faith teachers also reminded me how important praying in tongues is. And so I began to pray in tongues often. I began to speak out loud the promises of God over my life as faith confessions and declarations. I began to sing and praise God more and more. I renewed my commitment to go over my lists of promise verses, over and over. I began to listen to faith preachers preach on the topics of faith and miracles.

Within months, I saw a qualitative difference in my life. Before this, I would often go to sleep with stress and fears keeping me up. But now, all that negative stuff lifted off my mind, and I was sleeping like a baby—snoring optional, peace mandatory. When I prayed, I began to see more of my prayers answered. I noticed fewer doubts intruding in.

Before, my inner man was so weak, and all I knew was my own experience. When I prayed, I was filled with doubts and stress, and now with hindsight I recognize I was often being demonically harassed with force attacks (like how Vincent described it in “On Spiritual Attacks”). Satan was making me feel condemned, with a sense of dread and no way of escape. Godly fear can make you feel dread, but it will also show you the way out with hope, and the Holy Spirit saying “yes” to the promises of God applied to you.

When you read the Bible, you realize you should feel nothing but joy and peace and confidence when you ask God for something. Anything less than this, and there is something wrong or weak in your inner man—frankly, it’s like trying to run a marathon on spiritual spaghetti legs.

Over the following years, some of these old weaknesses or demons have tried to come back, but since I am stronger in my inner man, and I know how to take my authority in Jesus, I command them to leave, and they run with their tails stuck between their legs. See my essay, “Power is what will Finally Deliver You.” I do not claim to be perfect, nor am I to the point I want to be in power and faith, but having a stronger inner man (which is mostly measured by faith) has made a decisive difference in my life.

And it will do the same for you.

I am here to remind you, All is not lost. Renew your mind in faith and confidence in God’s good promises. Make your inner man strong. Know how much God loves you and has given to you. And when you pray, you will have what you ask, you have see what you confess, and you will process what you command in Jesus name.

The Lie that You Only Need to be Still

In my teaching “The Staff of God,” I highlighted the passage where God was displeased with Moses’ statement, despite it sounding like a bold “word of faith confession.” The issue wasn’t the confession itself but what it confessed. God responded with irritation, “Why are you crying (i.e., whining) to Me? Take the Staff and divide the waters.”

Moses’ confession was misleading. God was indeed fighting for the Israelites and would continue to do so, but it was incorrect to say, “they only need to be still.” God didn’t command Himself to divide the waters; He commanded Moses to do it. If Moses had sat there “waiting for the will of God,” the Red Sea would not have parted, because it wasn’t God’s job to divide the sea; it was Moses’ job.

Moses was hedging, trying to buy time with a good faith confession, but God had already acted. He had given Moses the Staff of God. Likewise, God has already acted for us. He sent His only Son, who was brutalized, raised from the dead, and seated at His right hand. Jesus took on God’s wrath for our sins, gave us His righteousness, bore the stripes that healed us, took our curses, and gave us the blessing of Abraham. God has made us a royal priesthood, an irrevocable calling, and engraved Jesus’ name and authority on our tongues. What we have is far greater than the Staff of God or Zeus’ lightning bolt. We have the Name of Jesus and the baptism of power in the Spirit.

Moses thought he could chill with a faith-filled soundbite, but God was like, “Bro, grab the Staff and make waves—literally.” Spoiler: Sitting still doesn’t part seas, but swinging God’s power does.

Unlike the faithless of our day, Moses was a friend of God, yet God still grew irritated when Moses lingered, waiting for God to move. Moses held God’s power in his hands. It was Moses’ move, not God’s. It wasn’t time to be still and watch God; it was time to act and command the waters to stand.

So it is with us. The waters are divided by us, not God. When Moses stopped hedging and acted with the Staff of God, the waters parted. Healing will happen when we stop hedging, stop waiting for the so-called will of God, and command it in the name of Jesus. If you wait for God to move, you’ll die waiting. God has already moved.

The faithless amplify Moses’ misleading confession, pumping it full of unbelief. They wait for the will of God, and they wait, and they wait. Nothing happens, for their worldview has no God and no power in it. However, God has already willed our sicknesses onto His Son, stripe after stripe. He has already addressed our sickness problem. There’s nothing more for Him to do for us to be healed. Do you suppose your begging for healing requires Jesus to be re-crucified? Your healing is already accomplished. In God’s thoughts He transferred your sickness to Jesus, who carried it away. In God’s mind, He thinks we are healed by Jesus’ stripes. Who am I to disagree with God’s own thoughts?

The lie is waiting for God to move when He has already moved. Through Jesus’ finished atonement, He placed the Staff of God on our tongues. His command is that we move next. Like a chess game, God has made His move. Now it’s our turn.

The faithless camp out, waiting for God’s will like it’s a cosmic Amazon delivery. Newsflash: God has already shipped the healing, signed, sealed, and delivered on Jesus’ back. It’s already sitting on your living room floor. Open the package. Doing nothing and looking at the box, will not open it.

God’s made His checkmate move with Jesus’ atonement. Now He is sipping divine coffee, waiting for you to slide the bishop and part the Red Sea. Don’t leave Him hanging.

The miracle happens, not when God moves, but when we move, and divide the waters in Jesus’ name. Because God has already moved, the healing happens, not because God will move, but because we will move in faith.

The disciples finally got this. And so, Peter said “what I have I, I give, in Jesus Name, walk.” It wasn’t what God had. It wasn’t what God gave. It was what Peter had, and what Peter gave. He had the Name and power of Jesus, to throw around as Peter wanted. Peter had this because Jesus was sitting at the right hand of the Power. And despite many Christians hating this, Jesus is still at the right hand of the Power. We have the same Name and the same power.

(witty summaries provided by Grok 2025 )

You Cannot Earn Healing

Your sins or imperfect righteous actions don’t stop you from being healed. This statement needs some qualifications. For example, I hesitate to mention exceptions because people tend to fixate on them, but Paul says in 1 Corinthians that their gross disrespect for the Lord’s Supper was causing some to get sick and even death. Paul urges them to stop this and be healed. Thus, certain extreme levels of sin can bring sickness, and you need to stop sinning. However, even in this context, faith can still bring healing, even if you don’t stop sinning—but if you persist in sin, the sickness is likely to return, and the cycle repeats.

Take for example the man Jesus healed at the pool of Bethesda. Jesus said for him to stop sinning or something worse may happen. Thus, sin was the cause of his sickness, or the reason it did not leave. However, Jesus did not ask the man to repent or ask him to stop sinning before getting healed. No. Jesus only asked, “do you want to be healed?” He healed him for only wanting to be healed. No other qualifier was needed.  For true and permanent health, you need both to stop sinning and to have faith for healing. This is what true resisting the devil means. It is both to stop sinning (if applicable) and command him to leave, or command the sickness to leave. Ta

However, this is an exception. When you read the Gospels, Jesus heals every single person who approaches Him for healing. The only ones He couldn’t heal—or rather, the only ones who could stop God from healing—were those with unbelief. Think about the hundreds, if not thousands, of people lined up for healing. We read of large crowds, and all were healed. These were everyday people with sins like adultery, greed, lust, anger, envy, murder, laziness, and more. Yet, Jesus never stopped them and said, “You must repent first,” or “You must stop this sin first, then I’ll heal you.” Jesus never made them pay or earn their healing through effort, better self-righteousness, or money. Despite their sins and wickedness, Jesus healed them all—every single one.

Healing’s not a paycheck you earn—it’s a free gift from Jesus’ atonement, no sin-slaying resume required. Sure, Paul flagged gross sin like Lord’s Supper disrespect as a sickness trigger, but faith can still zap it, though sinning again might reboot the curse. In the Gospels, Jesus healed everyone—sinners, slackers, all—without a repentance pop quiz. Unbelief’s the only kryptonite

Jesus says, “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.” This unqualified access to healing, without earning it through self-improvement, repentance, or greater holiness, reflects the Father’s heart. Think about this the next time you ask the Father to do something in Jesus’ Name.

Through Jesus Christ, I’ve given up on myself. My old sinful record, which the Father held against me in His mind, was removed and nailed to the cross. That’s not me anymore. In the old testament sacrifice, the priest examined the unblemished lamb, not person who did the sin. That was the whole point of an exchange. When the Father considers me, He examines the righteous Jesus Christ, and consider me in Him. The Father sees me in Jesus, as part of Jesus. Does Jesus have sin? Neither do I. Does the Father consider Jesus to have a sinful record? Neither does He consider me to have one. In the Father’s mind, Jesus is perfect righteousness, and so am I. This is my new reality—there’s no other reality for me.

Thus, I don’t need to earn more righteousness to be healed or receive a blessing from God any more than Jesus does. If you try to earn healing by your performance, you haven’t given up on yourself; you haven’t received Jesus’ righteousness. Your old man is still alive, and your new man is dead. A Christian is the opposite: the old man is dead, and we have a new man identified with Jesus. My sins, in relation to me, are as far as the east is from the west, yet many Christians speak of their sins as if they can still see them. Quit acting like they’re still photobombing your spiritual selfie. This is delusional nonsense because it’s impossible to see the east from the west.

Just as with every blessing provided by Jesus’ atonement, healing isn’t earned but freely received by grace through faith. There’s no other way. But why would you want another way? This is the good way—God’s way.

Arthritus is How God Curses a Person

“The Lord Himself will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in everything you do…. The Lord will strike you with wasting diseases, fever, and inflammation… The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, scurvy, and the itch, from which you cannot be cured… making you miserable and unbearably sick… with madness, blindness, and panic… The Lord will afflict you with every sickness and plague there is.” (Deut. 28 NLT)

The curses of the law come from God, not Satan. They’re God’s curses. Thus, sicknesses are God’s curses. Even if demons and Satan administer sicknesses in their demonic priesthood, they’re ultimately God’s curses. Acts 10:38 tells us most, if not all, the people Jesus healed were afflicted by demons, but the foundation for sickness is God’s curse.

Sicknesses of the body and mind are curses for rejecting God. God doesn’t give boils, tumors (cancer), itch, fever, fear, and inflammation (e.g., arthritis) to help people but to destroy, shame, and damn them. If God is giving you such things, you’re His enemy, not His friend. For those God loves and who please Him, He gives health and strength. Curses like inflammation, or what we call arthritis, are promised to worsen until they destroy the person, causing an elderly person to be so bent over in pain and barely able to move. The curse of arthritis makes a person weak and immobile. Weakness in old age is a curse from God. This is how God curses a person.

The good news is that Jesus became a curse for us in our place and, in exchange, gave us the blessing of Abraham, which includes wealth, fame, and health. Paul also says Abraham’s gospel includes the Spirit, referring to the baptism of the Spirit: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’—in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:13-14).

Additionally, for the specific issue of healing, in His substitutionary atonement, Jesus took lashes on His back in exchange for our healing. Thus, curses aren’t permitted in your body or mind. They have no legal right to touch you. Jesus was nailed to our curses; they have no claim on us. The curse is gone because of Jesus. You don’t have to tolerate curses in your body. Use the Name of Jesus to tell sicknesses in your body, which are curses, to leave, and command that body part to be healthy.

You’re the one responsible for allowing or preventing curses from festering in your body. If you let a demon convince you arthritis is a natural part of aging, you’ve given that demon permission to steal, kill, and destroy you with God’s curses, which Jesus died to save you from. If you agree with demons and their lies, you give them a foothold to curse you with the sickness Jesus died to redeem you from. You hold the responsibility for this.

This is similar to the command to make the devil flee. God won’t do this for you because He commanded you to do it. You have the power to let the devil keep harassing you or to make him flee. Likewise, you have the power to allow curses into your body by agreeing with men and demons or to confess with faith the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Whatever you choose, don’t blame God for your sickness, because Jesus already became a curse for you. He already took 39 lashes for you to be healed. He already did something. There’s no need to ask. You only need to believe He did it.


Arthritis, boils, cancer? Straight-up God’s curses for His foes, not party favors. Deuteronomy lays it bare: sickness is divine wrath, often demon-delivered but God-ordained. Good news? Jesus took the curse hit, swapping it for Abraham’s VIP blessings—health, wealth, and Spirit power. Stop letting demons gaslight you into keeping arthritis and weakness as an “aging badge.” Speak Jesus’ Name, kick curses out, and own your healing; He’s done the heavy lifting, so stop limping and start winning.