from Chabad.org - mitzvah minute

Fear of G‑d is a very liberating mitzvah.

Think of it this way: Two forces set the stage for your act upon this earth: Love and fear. The smallest things in life are those you love and fear the least; the big things, those you love and fear the most.

With love, you set your goals. With fear, you set your boundaries. One who fears failure is bound to take no risks. One who fears others is banished from his own self. One who fears life has no room to breathe.

The Torah liberates us by declaring there is only one thing to fear—not failure, not others, not even death itself. The only thing to fear is the One who stands beyond and within all things, the one we call G‑d.

With love, you set your goals. With fear, you set your boundariesWhat is that fear? It may be a simple fear that, "If I do those things He does not like, the consequences will not be good." Or—for the one sensitive to the love for G‑d innate within his soul—fear is the fear of separation from that love and that oneness, as a small child who is afraid to be separated from his parents. For those who ponder G‑d's infinite greatness and the wonders of His creation, fear is a sense of awe and amazement, spontaneously affecting all the senses, taking life up to a whole new level.

Sometimes the word "awe" is a more apt description; sometimes the word "wonder." In all these forms of fear, however, there is one common thread: The awareness of a reality beyond your own that defines and determines all you do. In that way, each form of true fear of G‑d is an escape from the bounds of your own ego to become absorbed within a greater whole—an escape that the greatest love cannot provide. For love is a commentary on the nature of the one who loves, whereas fear, awe and wonder are exclusively about the One who is feared.

What if you don't have that sense of wonder, or even awe, or even fear? You can make time each day to ponder your relationship with your G‑d, to become acutely aware of His awesome and loving presence. Once that awareness finds a fixed place in your heart, all you do will fall in place, with joy and pleasure. You will be free.

from the churchforall.org

Good Tidings Of Great Joy

LUKE 2:10-11 NKJ
10 Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold,
I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all
people.
11 "For there is born to you this day in the city of David a
Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

What kind of statement was this? "Great joy...to all people."?

Billions of people -- maybe two out of three on earth -- have
never even heard the "Gospel of Jesus Christ," or good news, as
the term gospel means.

Is this really for all people?

Yes, and we are supposed to tell them. God is a Savior -- one
who delivers and makes whole.

The true message of God is really good news. The kind of news
that people will get excited about when they truly understand
it.

If you say, "I don't see what there is to get so excited
about," then you don't yet understand the Gospel.

We are dealing with "good tidings of GREAT JOY -- which will be
to all people."

"So what's so great about it?"

Being made right with God as a free gift. Being set free from
the bondage of sin. Being delivered from the curse, including
sickness, poverty, and spiritual death. Being given new life
and brought into God's own family. Knowing that God is your
father and your friend...and so much more!

SAY THIS: I have received Good News that will make people have
great joy!

From www.jglm.org

The Simple Gospel
Many times we, who have been Christians for a long time, tend to complicate our presentation of Christianity. When we speak of the life a Christian is expected to lead, we begin to list rule after rule after rule. Because of this, Christianity has become known as the religion of the "Thou Shalt Not's". America is known as the "Land of the free", yet there are many more laws against things in America than there are in the Bible.

This is the Simple Gospel:

1. God created man. Man did not create God (as some psychologists would have us believe). God created man in His image and in His likeness.

2. God gave man dominion over the earth and everything on it and in it.

3. Man forfeited that dominion to satan through willful disobedience.

4. God decided to pay the penalty for man's sin.

5. Man's sin could only be removed by blood. The sin of all mankind could only be removed by the blood of one who was perfect and without sin.

6. If all mankind was infected by the sin of the "father" of the human race, then a mortal (Sin-infected) man could not be pure enough to remove all sin.

7. Jesus was made flesh and dwelt among men. He, being the express image of God, was pure enough to pay the penalty for man's sin.

8. Jesus lived an exemplary life on earth to show us how a Spirit-filled person should live.

9. Jesus was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead. Each of which relates to us. Crucify the flesh, be buried (in baptism), be raised in new life to live unto God in righteousness.

10. Jesus' death undid the effects of man's sin. His blood bought our salvation and his broken body bought our physical healing.

11. God desires all mankind to live in blessings not curses. Anyone that repents can be saved and/or healed.

12. God will do anything you ask Him to do IF you will do anything He asks you to do .

13. The will of God is to do anything that reveals God to man and draws man to God.

14. The Word of God (the Bible) is the will of God. The Spirit of God CANNOT lead you to do something that the Word of God says not to do and He CANNOT lead you to not do something that the Word tells you to do.



5. God did not call anyone to be a car salesman or a bank teller or a store clerk. He calls people to be witnesses and "missionaries" to the car sales world, to the banking world and to the grocery store world. If you consider yourself as anything other than a missionary into the world that you are a prt of, you are not a Christian. A true Christian ALWAYS has as their primary reason for being - the desire to share what they have found. If you do not desire to share, it is because you have not found something worth sharing. If that is the case, you have not found the Gospel of Jesus Christ. John G. Lake said; "The Gospel of Jesus Christ is enough to make any man the wildest kind of triumphant enthusiast."

16. God has more faith in you than you do and more faith in you than you do in Him. He treats you like you are already what He wants you to be, not like what you are acting like.

17. Your purpose on earth is to bring God as much glory as possible. He expects you to commune with Him like a husband and wife commune.

18. God expects you to be strong and do exploits for Him, thus bringing Him glory.

19. God expects you to live by the rules of the Spirit, not by the llaws of the flesh or the physical. The only limits are those you impose upon yourself.

20. God desires to reward us according to our works, yet Christians are so afraid of being accused of working for their salvation that they avoid doing Biblical good works.

21. Christians are so afraid of making a mistake that they do nothing. Not realizing that this is the biggest mistake they can make. If you do something wrong, God is big enough to fix it, but if you do nothing at all, God cannot take your inactivity and turn it into activity. (See the Parable of the Talents.)

22. Every Christian has a ministry. Every Christian should be training a younger believer in the ways of God.

23. God never intended The Church to be a place. He intended it to be a people. He intended it to be a body of people that are consistently being changed into the image of Christ. Just as Christ was the image of God.

24. Expect God to be big in you. Dream big. Do great things for God. God has plenty of people that will just do small things for Him, He needs people that will do great things. Do things that lift people, that help people. Do things that bless mankind. Do things that God would do if He were here in the flesh. Forget what men may say about you. They said the same and worse about Jesus. No Prophet is appreciated until he is needed to get someone out of trouble.

25. Get out of and away from dead religion. Get into a relationship with God. How can you tell the difference. You can tell if you are in dead religion by how you think. If you are always thinking that you can't do this or that (good thing) because God is just waiting for you to do something He didn't tell you to do so He can bring judgment down on you, you are in dead religion. Dead religion always says: "Don't do it, you might make God mad at you." A Christian Relationship always says: "What can I do for God to show Him how much I love and appreciate Him?"

26. Jesus said that God's will is that we do for others what we would want done to us. If you were sick would you want someone to walk up to you in Wal-Mart and minister healing to you? Then God's will is for you to go to Wal-Mart and find a sick person to minister to. If you were hungry and penniless and standing on a street corner would you want someone to buy you a meal? Then God's will for you is that you go find a hungry street person and buy them a meal. You can witness to them while they eat. Tell them how God can help get them out of their situation. This is called "The Golden Rule".

To become a Christian you must:

A. Repent (Admit your sin AND turn away from it).

B. Ask Jesus to be your Lord (Someone you obey without question or hesitation).

C. Believe that He has heard you and granted your request.

D. Confess (say out loud) that Jesus is your Lord and God is your Father.

E. Immediately find a church to attend faithfully. Find a full-gospel, non-denominational, Spirit-filled Church.

F. Ask to be baptized in water This helps solidify a clean break between your old life and your new way of life.

G. Ask a full-gospel, Spirit-filled minister about the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

H. Read your Bible everyday and always ask God to show you what you need to know.

I. Begin to do whatever He shows you. (i.e. Whatever you read in the Bible.)

Any questions can be sent to me at:
Curry Blake
P.O. Box 742947
Dallas, TX. 75374

Curry Blake

from the churchforall.org

Happy Christmas

LUKE 2:10-11 NKJ
10 Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold,
I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all
people.
11 "For there is born to you this day in the city of David a
Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Why say, "Happy Christmas"? Everyone knows that's not the
traditional greeting.

Aaah... tradition!

Sometimes we have more reverence for tradition than we do for
truth, or even than we do for God himself. Not that tradition
is all bad -- far from it. We just must not worship our
traditions and put them ahead of truth.

Tradition won't set you free -- but truth will.

Many traditions have grown up around Christmas -- some good,
and some not so good.

Jesus of Nazareth may not have been born on December 25th. But
does it matter? The important thing is that He WAS born, and
that is something worthy of celebration.

PHILIPPIANS 1:18 NIV
18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in
every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is
preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will
continue to rejoice,

This is the way to look at Christmas: Christ is being
remembered -- by the world. Yes, there is too much
commercialism. And, yes, Jesus is often forgotten in all the
rush and hubbub of the season.

But how wonderful that the largest celebration of the year is
centered around the coming to earth of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That is something to be glad about!

Let's not be sucked in to fighting about the negatives of
Christmas. Let's emphasize Jesus, and try to remind others that
Jesus is the reason for us to celebrate.

SAY THIS: Thank You, Father, for sending Jesus Christ!

I just had to add this - comes from Curry Blake = www.jglm.org

Warrior Ethos
DBI Students say these every morning before classes begin
___________________________________________________________

I will always put the mission first

I will never accept defeat

I will never quit

I will never leave a fallen comrade

I am God's son

I am man's servant

I am the devil's master

Christians lead the way

We are first in and last out

Here I am, send me

Pray as if it's all up to God and work as if it's all up to me

From the "The Holy Spirit by R.C. Sproul" - chapter 6..... introduced to my by Jeff Harshbarger www.refugeministries.cc

6. The New Genesis: The Holy Spirit and Regeneration

Without the presence of the Spirit

there is no conviction

,
no regeneration, no sanctification

,
no cleansing, no acceptable works…

.
Life is in the quickening Spirit

.
——W. A. Criswell

Birth and rebirth. Both are the result of the operation of the Holy Spirit. Just as nothing can live biologically apart from the power of the Holy Spirit, so no man can come alive to God apart from the Spirit’s work.

In His discourse with Nicodemus, Jesus said this about the Holy Spirit:

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3)

To be "born again" is to experience a second genesis. It is a new beginning, a fresh start in life. When something is started, we say that it is generated. If it is started again, it is regenerated. The Greek verb geniauo that is translated as "generate" means "to be," "to become," or "to happen." Regeneration by the Holy Spirit is a change. It is a radical change into a new kind of being.

To be regenerated does not mean that we are changed from a human being into a divine being. It does mean that we are changed from spiritually dead human beings into spiritually alive human beings.

Spiritually dead persons are incapable of seeing the kingdom of God. It is invisible to them, not because the kingdom itself is invisible, but because the spiritually dead are also spiritually blind.

Regeneration as Necessary

When Jesus uses the word unless in speaking to Nicodemus, He is stating what we call a necessary condition. A necessary condition is an absolute prerequisite for a desired result to take place. We cannot have fire without the presence of oxygen because oxygen is a necessary condition for fire.

In the jargon of Christianity people speak of "born again" Christians. Technically speaking, this phrase is redundant. If a person is not born again, if he is not regenerate, then he is not a Christian. He may be a member of a Christian church. He may profess to be a Christian. But unless a person is regenerate, he is not in Christ, and Christ is not in him.

The word unless makes regeneration a sine qua non of salvation. No regeneration, no eternal life. Without regeneration a person can neither see the kingdom nor enter the kingdom.

When Nicodemus was puzzled by Jesus’ teaching he replied:

How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born? (John 3:4)

Nicodemus’s response almost seems like an attempt to ridicule Jesus’ teaching. In crass terms he suggests that Jesus must mean that a fully grown person must attempt the impossible task of returning to his mother’s womb.

Nicodemus failed to distinguish biological birth from spiritual birth. He didn’t differentiate between flesh and spirit. Jesus answered his response by saying,

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, "You must be born again." (John 3:5–7)

Again Jesus prefaces His words by saying, "Most assuredly, I say to you …" The "most assuredly" — the Hebrew amen, carried over into the New Testament indicates strong emphasis. That is, when Jesus spoke of regeneration as a necessary condition for seeing and entering the kingdom of God, he stated this necessary condition emphatically. To argue against the need of rebirth to be a Christian, as many of our contemporaries frequently do, is to stand in clear opposition to the emphatic teaching of Christ.

The word cannot is also crucial to Jesus’ teaching. It is a negative word that deals with ability or possibility. Without regeneration no one (universal negative) is able to enter the kingdom of God. There are no exceptions. It is impossible to enter God’s kingdom without a rebirth.

No one is born a Christian. No one is born biologically into the kingdom of God. The first birth is one that is of the flesh. Flesh begets flesh. It cannot produce spirit.

Later in John’s Gospel, Jesus adds this comment:

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. (John 6:23)

When Martin Luther was debating whether fallen man is utterly dependent upon the Holy Spirit for regeneration, he cited this text and added: "The flesh profits nothing. And that ‘nothing’ is not a ‘little something.’"

The flesh is not merely weak with respect to the power of rebirth. It is utterly impotent. It has no power whatever to effect rebirth. It cannot aid or enhance the Spirit’s work. All that the flesh yields is more flesh. It cannot yield an ounce of Spirit. The nothing is not a little something.

Finally Jesus says, "You must be born again." If there is the slightest ambiguity with the use of the conditional word unless, the ambiguity completely evaporates with the word must.

Regeneration in Ephesians

In his Letter to the Ephesians the apostle Paul speaks of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit:

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). (Ephesians 2:1–5)

Paul provides a graphic description of our spiritual impotence prior to regeneration. He is addressing the Ephesian believers and describing a prior condition in which they all once shared. He adds the phrase "just as the others" (2:3), presumably referring to the whole of mankind.

He declares that this prior condition was a state of death: "You were dead in trespasses and sins." Again, this death is obviously not a biological death, as he enumerates activities that these dead, persons were involved in.

The characteristic behavioral mode of people dead in trespasses and sins is described in terms of walking a particular course. He calls it the "course of this world" (2:1–2). Here the course of this world obviously refers to a course or pattern that is opposed to the course of heaven. The words this world refer not so much to a location as to a style or a point of reference. It involves a this–worldly orientation.

Christians and non–Christians alike share the same sphere of operations. We all live out our lives in this world. The regenerate person’s course, however, is guided from above. He has his eye on heaven and his ear attuned to the King of heaven. The unregenerate person is earthbound. His ear is deaf to any word from heaven; his eye is blinded to the glory from on high. He lives as a walking cadaver in a spiritual graveyard.

The course of this world is "out of the way" of God (Romans 3:12). Rather, it follows a path that is "according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience" (Ephesians 2:2).

The spiritually dead have a master. Their master sets a course for them that they willingly — even eagerly — follow. This master is called the "prince of the power of the air." This sobriquet of royalty can only refer to Satan, the chief architect of all things diabolical. Paul calls him "the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience." Satan is an evil spirit, a corrupt and fallen angel who exercises influence and authority over his captive hordes.

Paul sets forth a principle of life. We either walk according to the Holy Spirit or we walk according to the evil spirit. Augustine once compared man to a horse who is either ridden by Satan or by the Spirit of God.

Paul continues his vivid description of the regenerate person’s prior unregenerate life–style:

Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. (2:3)

The attention now shifts away from the external course and the external influence of Satan to the internal state of the unregenerate person. Again we see this as a universal condition: "Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves …" The key descriptive word of this previous internal condition is the word flesh. Here Paul echoes the language Jesus used with Nicodemus.

The word flesh here must not be understood as a synonym for "physical body." Our bodies per se are not evil, since God made us as physical beings and became a human being Himself. The flesh refers to the sin nature, the entire fallen character of man.

Prior to regeneration we live exclusively in the flesh and by the flesh. Our conduct follows after the lusts of the flesh. That refers not exclusively to physical or sexual appetites but to a pattern of all sinful desires.

Paul caps this universal indictment of our fallen style by adding: "And were by nature children of wrath, just as the others" (2:3). When Paul speaks of "by nature," he refers to our state in which we enter this world. Biological birth is natural birth. Regeneration is a supernatural birth. Men were not originally created as children of wrath. Original nature was not fallen. Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, however, the word natural refers to our state of innate sinfulness.

Every child who enters this world enters it in a corrupt state. David declared, "I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me" (Psalm 51:5). We are all spiritually stillborn. We are born dead in trespasses and sin. In theology we call this inherent sinful condition original sin. Original sin does not refer to the first sin of Adam and Eve; it refers to the consequences of that first sin, with the transmission of a corrupt nature to the entire human race.

We are by nature "children of wrath." How different this sounds from the socially acceptable notion that we are all naturally the children of God! This misguided idea is both long–standing and widespread. It is a falsehood that gains credibility by its frequent repetition. If you repeat a lie often enough, people will begin to believe it.

The lie of saying that we are by nature children of God was a lie that distressed Jesus. He was forced to combat it and refute it in His debates with the Pharisees. The Pharisees raged under Jesus’ criticism and said,

"We were not born of fornication; we have one Father — God." Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do…. He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore, you do not hear, because you are not of God." (John 8:41–47)

Although the Bible acknowledges that God is the Father of all men in the sense of His being the Creator of all men, there is a special sense in which the Fatherhood of God is defined not in terms of biology but in terms of ethics. Obedience is the operative word. In the biblical view, our father is the one we obey. The relationship is established not by biological ties, but by willing obedience.

Since the Pharisees obeyed Satan rather than God, Jesus said of them, "You are of your father the devil" (John 8:44).

In Ephesians 2 Paul speaks both of "children of wrath" (v. 3) and "sons of disobedience" (v. 2). These phrases describe all of us in our natural unregenerate state.

When Paul completes his description of our unregenerate state, he moves abruptly and gloriously into a doxology that praises God for His mercy. The transitional word is the single word upon which our eternal destinies depend. It is perhaps the most glorious word in Scripture, the single word that crystallizes the essence of the Gospel. It is the word but. This tiny conjunction shifts the mood of the entire passage. It is the link between the natural and the supernatural, between degeneration and regeneration:

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4–10)

The Divine Initiative

Regeneration is the sovereign work of God the Holy Spirit. The initiative is with Him, not with ourselves. We notice that the accent with Paul falls on the work of God, not on the effort of man:

But God, who is rich in mercy …

We observe that the Apostle does not write:

But man, out of his goodness, inclines himself to God and raises himself to a new spiritual level

.
One of the most dramatic moments in my life for the shaping of my theology took place in a seminary classroom. One of my professors went to the blackboard and wrote these words in bold letters: REGENERATION PRECEDES FAITH

These words were a shock to my system. I had entered seminary believing that the key work of man to effect rebirth was faith. I thought that we first had to believe in Christ in order to be born again. I use the words in order here for a reason. I was thinking in terms of steps that must be taken in a certain sequence to arrive at a destination. I had put faith at the beginning of the sequence. The order looked something like this: Faith–rebirth–justification

In this scheme of things the initiative falls with us. To be sure, God had sent Jesus to die on the cross before I ever heard the gospel. But once God had done these things external to me, I thought the initiative for appropriating salvation was my job.

I hadn’t thought the matter through very carefully. Nor had I listened carefully to Jesus’ words to Nicodemus. I assumed that even though I was a sinner, a person born of the flesh and living in the flesh, I still had a little island of righteousness, a tiny deposit of spiritual power left within my soul to enable me to respond to the gospel on my own.

Perhaps I had been confused by the traditional teaching of the Roman Catholic church. Rome, and many other branches of Christendom, had taught that regeneration is gracious; it cannot happen apart from the help of God. No man has the power to raise himself from spiritual death. Divine assistance is needed and needed absolutely. This grace, according to Rome, comes in the form of what is called prevenient grace. "Prevenient" means that which comes before something else.

Rome adds to this prevenient grace the requirement that we must "cooperate with it and assent to it" before it can take hold in our hearts.

This concept of cooperation is at best a half–truth. It is true insofar that the faith that we exercise is our faith. God does not do the believing in Christ for us. When I respond to Christ, it is my response, my faith, my trust that is being exercised.

The issue, however, goes much deeper. The question still remains: Do I cooperate with God’s grace before I am born again, or does the cooperation occur after I am born again?

Another way of asking this question is to ask if regeneration is monergistic or synergistic. Is it operative or cooperative? Is it effectual or dependent? Some of these words are theological terms that require further explanation.

Monergism and Synergism

A monergistic work is a work produced singly, by one person. The prefix mono–means one. The word erg refers to a unit of work. Words like energy are built upon this root. A synergistic work is one that involves cooperation between two or more persons or things. The prefix syn–means "together with."

I labor this distinction for a reason. It is fair to say that the whole debate between Rome and Martin Luther hung on this single point. At issue was this: Is regeneration a monergistic work of God, or is it a synergistic work that requires cooperation between man and God?

When my professor wrote "Regeneration precedes faith" on the blackboard, he was clearly siding with the monergistic answer. To be sure, after a person is regenerated, that person cooperates by exercising faith and trust. But the first step, the step of regeneration by which a person is quickened to spiritual life, is the work of God and of God alone. The initiative is with God, not with us.

The reason we do not cooperate with regenerating grace before it acts upon us and in us is because we cannot. We cannot because we are spiritually dead. We can no more assist the Holy Spirit in the quickening of our souls to spiritual life than Lazarus could help Jesus raise him from the dead.

It is probably true that the majority of professing Christians in the world today believe that the order of our salvation is this: Faith precedes regeneration. We are exhorted to choose to be born again. But telling a man to choose rebirth is like exhorting a corpse to choose resurrection. The exhortation falls upon deaf ears.

When I began to wrestle with the professor’s argument, I was surprised to learn that his strange–sounding teaching was not a novel innovation to theology. I found the same teaching in Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, and George Whitefield. I was astonished to find it even in the teaching of the great medieval Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas.

That these giants of Christian history reached the same conclusion on this point made a tremendous impact on me. I was aware that they were neither individually nor collectively infallible. Each and all of them could be mistaken. But I was impressed. I was especially impressed by Thomas Aquinas.

Thomas Aquinas is regarded as the Doctor Angelicus of the Roman Catholic church. For centuries his theological teaching was accepted as official dogma by most Catholics. So he was the last person I expected to hold such a view of regeneration. Yet Aquinas insisted that regenerating grace is operative grace, not cooperative grace. Aquinas spoke of prevenient grace, but he spoke of a grace that comes before faith, which is the grace of regeneration.

The key phrase in Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians on this matter is this:

… even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). (Ephesians 2:5)

Here Paul locates the time when regeneration occurs. It takes place when we were dead. With one thunderbolt of apostolic revelation all attempts to give the initiative in regeneration to man is smashed utterly and completely. Again, dead men do not cooperate with grace. The spiritually dead take no initiative. Unless regeneration takes place first, there is no possibility of faith.

This says nothing different from what Jesus said to Nicodemus. Unless a man is born again first, he cannot possibly see or enter the kingdom of God. If we believe that faith precedes regeneration, then we set our thinking and therefore ourselves in direct opposition not only to Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Edwards, and others, but we stand opposed to the teaching of Paul and of our Lord Himself.

Regeneration is Gracious

In Paul’s exposition of regeneration there is a strong accent on grace. It is necessary that Christians of all theological persuasions acknowledge willingly and joyfully that our salvation rests upon the foundation of grace.

During the Reformation the Protestants used two Latin phrases as battle cries: sola scriptura(Scripture alone) and sola fide (faith alone). They insisted that the supreme authority in the church under Christ is the Bible alone. They insisted that justification was by faith alone. Now Rome did not deny that the Bible has authority; it was the sola they choked on. Rome did not deny that justification involves faith; it was the sola that provoked them to condemn Luther.

There was a third battle cry during the Reformation. It was originally penned by Augustine more than a thousand years before Luther. It was the phrase sola gratia. This phrase asserts that our salvation rests on the grace of God alone. There is no mixture of human merit with it. Salvation is not a human achievement; it is a gracious gift of God. This formula is compromised by a synergistic view of regeneration.

It is not by accident that Paul adds to his teaching on regeneration that it is a gracious work of God. Let us look at it again:

But God who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) … that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4–10)

Have you ever second–guessed the Bible? I certainly have, to my great shame. I have often wondered, in the midst of theological disagreements, why the Bible does not speak more clearly on certain issues. Why, for example, doesn’t the New Testament come right out and say we should or we shouldn’t baptize infants?

On many such questions we are left to decide on the basis of inferences drawn from the Bible. When I am bewildered by such disagreements, I usually come back to this point: The trouble lies not with the Bible’s lack of clarity; it lies with my lack of clear thinking about what the Bible teaches.

When it comes to regeneration and faith I wonder how Paul could have made it any more clear. I suppose he could have added the words to Ephesians 2, "Regeneration precedes faith." However, I honestly think that even that phrase wouldn’t end the debate. There’s nothing in that phrase that isn’t already clearly spelled out by Paul in this text or by Jesus in John 3.

Why then, all the fuss? My guess is that it is because if we conclude that regeneration is by divine initiative, that regeneration is monergistic, that salvation is by grace alone, we cannot escape the glaring implication that leads us quickly and irresistibly to sovereign election.

As soon as the doctrine of election comes to the fore, there is a mad scramble to find a way to get faith in there before regeneration. In spite of all these attending difficulties, we meet the Apostle’s teaching head–on:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)

Here the Apostle teaches that the faith through which we are saved is a faith that comes to us by grace. Our faith is something we exercise by ourselves and in ourselves, but it is not of ourselves. It is a gift. It is not an achievement.

With the graciousness of the gift of faith as a fruit of regeneration, all boasting is excluded forever, save in the boasting of the exceeding riches of God’s mercy. All man–centered views of salvation are excluded if we retain the sola in sola gratia. Therefore we ought never to grieve the Holy Spirit by taking credit to ourselves that belongs exclusively to Him.

Regeneration is Effectual

Within traditional forms of Arminian theology there are those who agree that regeneration precedes faith but insist that it doesn’t always or necessarily produce faith. This view agrees that the initiative is with God; it is by grace, and regeneration is monergistic. The view is usually tied to some type of view of universal regeneration.

This idea is linked to the cross. It is argued by some that one of the universal benefits of the atonement of Christ is that all people are regenerated to the point that faith is now possible. The cross rescues all men from spiritual death in that now we have the power to cooperate or not cooperate with the offer of saving grace. Those who cooperate by exercising faith are justified. Those who do not exercise faith are born again but not converted. They are spiritually quickened and spiritually alive but remain in unbelief. Now they are able to see the kingdom and have the moral power to enter the kingdom, but they choose not to.

I call this view one of ineffectual or dependent grace. It is close to what Thomas Aquinas rejected as cooperative grace.

When I maintain that regeneration is effectual, I mean that it accomplishes its desired goal. It is effective. It gets the job done. We are made alive into faith. The gift is of faith which is truly given and takes root in our hearts.

Sometimes the phrase effectual calling is used as a synonym for regeneration. The word calling refers to something that happens inside of us, as distinguished from something that occurs outside of us.

When the gospel is preached audibly, sounds are emitted from the preacher’s mouth. There is an outward call to faith and repentance. Anyone who is not deaf is capable of hearing the words with his ears. These words strike the auditory nerves of the regenerate and the unregenerate alike.

The unregenerate experience the outward call of the gospel. This outward call will not effect salvation unless the call is heard and embraced in faith. Effectual calling refers to the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. Here the call is within. The regenerate are called inwardly. Everyone who receives the inward call of regeneration responds in faith. Paul says this:

Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. (Romans 8:30)

This passage in Romans is elliptical. That is, it requires that we supply a word to it that is assumed by the text but not explicitly stated. The big question is, Which word do we supply — some or all? Let us try some:

Moreover

some whom He predestined, these He also called, some whom He called, these He also justified; and some whom He justified, these He also glorified.
To add the word some here is to torture the text. It would mean that some of the predestined never hear the call of the gospel. Some who are called never come to faith and justification. Some of the justified fail to be glorified. In this schema not only would calling not be effectual, but neither would predestination nor justification be effectual.

The implication of this text is that all who are predestined are likewise called. All who are called are justified, and all who are justified are glorified.

If that is the case, then we must distinguish between the outward call of the gospel, which may or may not be heeded, and the inward call of the Spirit, which is necessarily effectual. Why? If all the called are also justified, then all the called must exercise faith. Obviously not everyone who hears the external call of the gospel comes to faith and justification. But all who are effectually called do come to faith and justification. Here the call refers to the inward work of the Holy Spirit that is tied to regeneration.

Those whom the Holy Spirit makes alive most assuredly come to life. They see the kingdom; they embrace the kingdom; they enter the kingdom.

It is to the Holy Spirit of God that we are debtors for the grace of regeneration and faith. He is the Gift–giver, who while we were dead made us alive with Christ, to Christ, and in Christ. It is because of the Holy Spirit’s merciful act of quickening that we sing sola gratia and soli deo Gloria — to the glory of God alone.

Forwarded from the John G. Lake facebook account

Those who are aiming to elevate their own families into a different sphere by storing up wealth show that they have some other purpose to live for than bringing this world under the authority of Jesus Christ. They have other gods to serve. They may pretend to fear the Lord, but they serve their own gods.
Many people profess to be the servants of God but are eagerly gathering property and planning to retire in the country.
Has God given you a right to a perpetual Sabbath as soon as you have made a lot of money? Did God tell you, when you professed to enter His service, to work hard for so many years and then have a continual holiday? Did He promise to excuse you after that from making the most of your time and talents and let you live at ease the rest of your days? If your thoughts are set upon this, you are not serving God, but your own selfishness and sloth.

- Charles Finney
“Excerpt from Living Your Faith page 95”

From power of faith ministries - Dan Douglass - http://powerofaith.com/index.html

~ CHRISTMAS MIRACLE ~
Do you need a miracle this Christmas season? The best Christmas present I can possibly give you, is to tell you exactly how to get one. In exchange for this information, you don't need to buy a prayer cloth from me. (The Grand High Puba of Uppabuttcrack) You don't have to give me 10% of all your money. (It's 30% or nothing - I'm just kidding) You don't have to buy my new book. (besides, it's so new, I haven't finished it yet)
Why am I so generous? Why would I share the secrets of heaven with you at absolutely "No Charge?" Because, it's not "my" information. I am simply passing it on to you. You see, this information comes from a fellow named Jesus. Jesus was the only person who could give an eye witness account of what goes on in heaven and how it works, and he did.
Read the rest of this article and read what Jesus himself said to do (in detail) if you want a miracle or want God to answer your prayers. (by the way, it works)

God can and will turn things around in your life. There’s just one thing you need to give to the Lord, then you will start to see amazing things happen. "You". This is not to say that you haven’t already, but it is imperative. Once you do, you will make it possible for God to bless you and God "does" take care of his own.
Nothing is impossible with God! I’ll tell you something interesting that you don’t hear from very many preachers. It is like a "can’t see the forest for the trees" type of thing. Jesus himself told us exactly what to do if we need a miracle or answer to prayer from God. It is so simple that it gets overlooked almost all of the time.

Jesus told us numerous times in the bible that if we want/need something from God, healing, miracle etc.., to pray and be persistent. He told us to literally hound God for what we need until he gives it to us. He even told us parables to show us how we are supposed to pray and get a miracle or answer to prayer.
Read: Luke 18:1 thru 7 and Luke 11:5 thru 8. (These are very short, read them)

Luke 18:1 - Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying,

"In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. "There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, 'Give me legal protection from my opponent.' "For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, 'Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.'"
And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge *said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?
Jesus was comparing "us" to the widow and the unrighteous judge to God. He was telling us to literally hound God relentlessly for what we want. And then again in this parable.

Luke 11:5 - Then He said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves;
Luke 11:6 - for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him';
Luke 11:7 - and from inside he answers and says, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.'
Luke 11:8 - "I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

The amazing thing about this last parable is the fact that Jesus told it right after his disciples came to him and said: "Lord, teach us how to pray".

Luke 11:2 - 4 - Jesus is giving his disciples the Lords Prayer. The Lords prayer is very popular and people like it, but they just stop there! But Jesus continued with the parable you just read. Then in the same breath Jesus says:
Luke 11:9 - "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Luke 11:10 - "For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.

In the original Greek text, Ask, Seek and Knock are written as "Keep asking", "Keep Seeking" and "Keep knocking"! What do you think? Was Jesus trying to tell us something?

You see, The old saying: "The Lord helps those who help themselves", was never written in the bible and is totally contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ. So now is not the time to say "Help me God". It is the time to say: "HELP ME GOD", "HELP ME GOD", "HELP ME GOD". God does listen and he will give you the desires of your heart!
Matthew 18:19 - "Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.

Sometimes we have big problems and sometimes we have small problems, but what we forget sometimes is that they are "all" small problems to God. Nothing is too great or too small for him to deal with.

Mark 11:24 - "Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.

Psalms 37:4 - Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Above is the key to making these scriptures work for you. I am praying for you. Don't you forget to pray also! It is my prayer and my wish that God answer your prayers and grant them.
God Bless You - Dan Douglass

On how to speak to Athenians

Paul declared to the Athenians:

… so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, "For we are also His offspring." (Acts 17:27–28)

www.joncourson.com

And he said unto me, thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
Revelation 10:11

The idea of ‘must’ here is not a command, but a statement of what will inevitably happen when one takes in the Word. How do you know you’ve really heard the Word? When you have compassion for the sinner and/or conviction of your sin.

‘Then why go to Bible study?’ you ask. ‘Who wants a bitter belly? I want sweetness.’ And I understand this ...

I’m watching CNN on TV when a commercial for Compassion International suddenly appears: Sally Struthers showing starving kids in Africa or Southeast Asia.

‘Oh, no,’ I say to myself. ‘I don’t want to deal with this now.’ Click. Sally disappears. So do the kids.

That’s what people do with Church and devotions and witnessing. ‘I don’t want to go anymore,’ they say. ‘It makes my belly hurt.’ Click, Wednesday night Bible study, gone. Click, Thursday morning worship, gone. Click, devotions gone. ‘I don’t want to deal with this sin, these attitudes, that cynicism. Just give me the sweet stuff.’

But you know what happens to those people? Their lives begin to unravel because staying in the Word is the only way to experience prosperity and success (Joshua 1:8). Yes, it will trouble you. No doubt it may upset you. But as time goes on, you will begin to see that your life is centered and grounded, fruitful and prosperous because the Word always does its work.

My prayer is that we will be those who, like John, devour and digest Scripture — the bitter portions as well as the sweet — in order that we, like John, would impact our world for the Kingdom.

ahh from www.joncourson.com courtesy of http://refugeministries.cc/

And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
Revelation 9:7-10

Even this description of bizarre and horrific demons would remind John’s congregation of God's promise. You see, in Joel 2, we find a parallel passage to Revelation 9 ...

Historically, the prophecy of Joel 2 was fulfilled in Joel’s day when Israel was besieged with locusts.

Symbolically, the prophecy was fulfilled in 722 B.C. when the Assyrians marched south and carried the ten northern tribes into captivity.

Prophetically, the locusts speak of the demons which will be released from the abussos (bottomless pit) in Revelation 9.

But nestled among the dire warnings of this terrible invasion is a wonderful promise ...

And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. Joel 2:25-26

Gang, whenever we obey Scripture — when we listen to the trumpet, repent, and seek the Lord with sincerity — the Lord not only forgives us, but makes up to us what was lost. Amazing! I would have thought it would be enough for God to forgive us. But He says, ‘No, I’m going to do more than that. I will restore to you what the locusts ate.’

You might be fifty years old — or 60, 70, or 80 — and you might be saying, ‘There’s a big chunk of my life eaten away by grasshoppers.’ Good news for you: Whenever you choose to humble yourself and call out to the Lord, He’ll make up for lost time.

From http://osbornministries.blogspot.com :-)

Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Three Attitudes
There are three attitudes with which people regard God's written word:

1. They AGREE that the word of God is true. They see the word. They admire it and read it. They may memorize whole chapters of it and recite them. They love the Bible and respect its contents.

They say: "The biblical promises are true - but not in my case. I don't understand why I cannot receive the blessings promised, but I know the word is true. It is a wonderful book. I believe it."

But that is as far as they go; they never act on what the Bible says. Biblical promises are to them a dogma, a creed, a doctrine to be venerated.

2. They BELIEVE the word of God when they SEE or FEEL its effects. We hear them say: "I never received healing when they prayed for me, but I believe I was blessed." Others say: "I FELT something when I prayed, so I believe God heard me." Still others may say, "Oh, I have prayed so often, but I never FEEL anything." They will believe only if they see or feel. This is never faith.

3. They BELIEVE God's word and ACT upon His promises. These are the people who have biblical faith. You hear them say:

If God says it, then it is true. -Num 23:19, Jos 23:14, 1Ki 8:56, Isa 38:7;55:11, Eze 12:25, Mat 24:35, 1Pe 1:25

If God' word says, By His stripes I am healed, then I am healed. -Isa 53:5, 1Pe 2:24

If God promises to supply all my needs, -Phil 4:19 then He is doing it.

If God says that he is the strength of my life, -Psa 27:1 then He is.

They always act accordingly. You will hear them say:
"God is what He says He is."
"I am what God's word says I am."
"I have what God says I have."
"I can do what God says I can do."
"God will do what His word says He will do."

They act on the premise, depending on the integrity of God's word. For them, He watches over His word to perform it, -Jer 1:12 to see that, as Solomon said, There hath no failed one word of all of His good promise, which He has promised. -1Kings 8:56.

from the world wide web

a quote on healing from Dr. Charles S. Price
"When we want to bring light into a room, we do not try to cast the darkness out, but we put light in. It is vain to struggle to get rid of our pains and our sufferings and even our sins and our weaknesses. The only way one can rid himself of the power of the devil is to admit and give authority to the power of the Lord Jesus. We cannot do it, but HE CAN! No man can save himself by abstinence from things which are sinful. That is why salvation is not what we do, but what we are. We are transformed into His image and, beholding that Image, as in a glass, we are changed from glory to glory, until at last we shall awaken completely IN HIS LIKENESS! That is why whenever we hear some of God's sincere, but immature children, pounding away on the externals, we know that the glorious light of the revelation of the truth as it is in our blessed Lord has not yet fully come to them. When we become LIKE HIM, we are delivered from the bondage of the outer, Of course, that will reflect the transformation in the inner. Then we abstain, not to be saved, but because we are redeemed.
The same is true when it comes to the healing of the body. In the days of old, virtue flowed from Jesus, when people pressed forward to touch Him. That virtue was an integral part of the Christ Himself. The disease simply could not abide in the presence of the Virtue! Can corruption continue when Incorruption takes the throne? Will mortality still exist when Immortality reigns? Have we not known that there is a law--a Divinely appointed and imparted law--and it is called THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS! It makes us free from the law of sin and of death! It supersedes it. It overwhelms it. It makes it incapable of operation. Why should we try to remove by our own struggles the law of sin and death when such victory can only be brought about by the operation of the LAW OF LIFE in Him? In the last analysis, the goal of every mature Christian should not be Divine Healing but DIVINE HEALTH! The flow of His life through ours; the surrender of our will to His; the impartation of His nature, until our natures are impregnated with the glory and the presence of the Divine! Not in an instant! Not in some emotional moment at an altar! But by that daily acknowledgment of His lovely presence in ALL OUR WAYS, and the surrender of EACH MOMENT to His care and to His keeping."

:-) ???

Keys to Taking Your Quantum Leap

Years ago, as a young scientist and inventor, I worked with Dr. Bob Moog and together we gave the music world the first performance keyboards called Moog synthesizers. I learned to work with electrons and photons – tiny elements that are so small they can’t be seen! Yet these invisible elements cause all electronic devices to work. This project caused me to ask the question, “Is there more to our universe than what I can perceive through my senses?”

My search to learn more about physical reality and how it works led me to discover that quantum physics identifies a large part of our universe to be non-physical. I began to realize that the universe is greater than science has discovered, or can explain. Through quantum physics and spiritual revelation, the Holy Spirit confirmed keys to understanding physical reality. As you read this article, allow the Holy Spirit to let you hear more than I say.

There is a Non-Physical Reality

My studies in quantum mechanics led me to the works of Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, and others. Here I learned that everything we see is part of a vast ocean of infinitesimally small subatomic particles. Under certain conditions, these subatomic structures also take on the properties of invisible waves. When I learned that these waves, or particles which make up all matter, cause that matter to blink into existence by being observed by the experimenter, I was shaken to my core.

How could it be that these invisible elements, which make up all matter, can be changed from particles to waves by how they are observed? This reality is beyond our human consciousness and our five senses. Or is it? All of these particles and/or waves appear to be connected. How can it be that every atomic and subatomic element is hooked up? Is this invisible world a part of the spiritual realm?

I suppose the duality of matter being waves or particles and how quantum mechanics attempts to explain this revolutionary idea changed me forever. It caused me to do my own research, which led to the convergence of quantum mechanics and my personal spiritual revelation. I was about to take a quantum leap!

1 Corinthians 1:28 says, “…God (has) chosen…things which are not (the invisible) to bring to nought things which are (the visible).” This Scripture makes sense only when you understand it at the atomic and subatomic level. Everything is made up of atoms, which are frequencies of energy. These frequencies of energy are the voice of Jesus causing all things to be! Atoms are made up of subatomic particles, and subatomic particles are made up of superstrings (which are toroidal vortices of energy). Superstrings are tiny donut shaped packets of energy that spin at a frequency – or sing as in a pitch.

None of this is real in this dimension because they exist only in a state of possibilities until someone observes them. Then, at that observation, the potential becomes a thing – a particle or a wave. This quantum wave collapse, caused by observation, is called popping a qwiff. This is your first step to taking a quantum leap. You can see or observe a God qwiff (something God shows you that is not yet real in this dimension) and, by observing or popping that qwiff, cause that potential to become your reality. Be careful what you see; you are going to get it! Be careful what you say; you will get that, too!

Light is Slowing Down

The spiritual realm operates above the speed of light. The physical realm – this dimension – has been shaped to its current limits by the falls of both Lucifer (see Luke 10:18) and man in the Garden of Eden (see Genesis 3:7). When man fell, the speed of light slowed down. In the beginning, when God spoke the universe into existence, His entire bandwidth of glory was made physical. From His glory (all frequencies) and His voice (all frequencies expressed) all light, energy, and matter became.

It is believed that the speed of light is 186,000 miles per second. Physicist Barry Setterfield, mathematician Trevor Norman, and Canadian mathematician Alan Montgomery have measured light and proven that the speed of light is slowing down.

That means that light may have been ten to thirty percent faster in the time of Christ; twice as fast in the days of Solomon; and four times as fast in the days of Abraham. My friend Chuck Missler says, “That would imply that the velocity of light was more than ten million times faster prior to 3,000 B.C. This possibility would also alter our concepts of time and the age of the universe. The universe might actually be less than 10,000 years old!” That sounds like a quantum leap to me!

Before the fall, God had created one realm from gravity waves to His glory. This present human realm is up through the electromagnetic spectrum to the speed of light. The interesting point about the speed of light slowing down is that when Lucifer (the bearer of light) rebelled in Heaven and was cursed and cast down – and I believe cast down from the frequencies of God’s glory – he lost his bandwidth and fell down from his spiritual consciousness. In the Garden of Eden, when mankind sinned, was cursed in the fall downward, and lost upper bandwidth and spiritual consciousness, light slowed down even more.

Other Biblical events suggest that the cosmos lost bandwidth. Noah’s flood is such an example. Light slowed down to cause just the right frequencies for the rainbow (see Genesis 9:12-17). At Nimrod’s Tower of Babel, mankind lost the upper bandwidth to communicate (see Genesis 11:7).

Jesus Himself told His disciples that they will get their upper bandwidth back. In John 16:13 He said, “..when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth…and He will show you things to come.” Jesus is saying, “I want to show you your future. You can know My will and My plan for your life, although right now, you don’t have the upper bandwidth to see or observe it. But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will give you the upper bandwidth to see things to come!”

Here is a quantum leap for someone: If you know something coming from your future, let’s say a vision, a revelation, a desire, or even a creative idea, that information has to move faster than the speed of light to reach you. You can and must know your God-given assignment. Information flowing from your future possibilities is waiting for you to see – to observe – and call those things that are not as though they are. The quantum leap of knowing your purpose and assignment is waiting as a God qwiff for you to pop!

Matter is Frequency Being Spoken by Jesus

When God spoke and all the frequencies of His glory became manifest, the cosmos became! From the tiniest vibrating superstring that is causing or singing the atoms that make up the table of 103 elements, all the way through everything the Hubble telescope sees, are the vibrating frequencies of Jesus’ voice.

Colossians 1:16-17 says, “For by Him all things were created that are in Heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible… He is before all things, and in Him all things consist (exist or are sustained).” The phrase “He is before all things” means that He is outside of our time. Jesus said to John the Revelator that He was and is the Alpha (beginning) and Omega (ending). Jesus is outside our concept of time in His eternal now and is causing all things to be.

When we consider creation and all things eternal, our false concepts regarding time and matter limit our understanding. Receive the concept that Jesus is outside of our time and calendar, looking in. He is observing. He is sustaining all things in this nanosecond (one billionth of a second) and is singing the frequencies or vibrations of your body. If He didn’t, you would dissolve! Your electrons, particles, and subatomic structures are blinking in and out of existence. You think you are a solid object, but quantum mechanics has confirmed that all subatomic particles – the stuff you are made of – are blinking in and out of this reality.

Enoch was walking so closely with God in the Spirit that “he was not, for God took him” (see Genesis 5:24). Jesus simply stopped blinking Enoch into this realm! How close are you to Jesus Christ? How far away is your healing, your deliverance, or your miracle? He is close, for in Him you live and move and have your being.

In the next nanosecond, He sustains you or sings your frequency set. Understand that your healing or miracle is within the next nanosecond! In the blink of a nanosecond, He can cause your healing. Observe your healing, your miracle, your deliverance, and be filled with all Truth by observing the future God has for you. Take that quantum leap!

When we understand that we are being created in Christ by His causing, or by Him singing our song, our intimacy with Him will change. His song of creation was not something He did 16 billion years ago. He is causing you now! Because the speed of light has slowed down, because we have our upper bandwidth back, and because He is sustaining us every nanosecond, the act of creation is happening now! Take your quantum leap into His eternal now.

All Matter Has Memory – Your Words are Being Recorded

As a scientist and inventor, I have developed various memory retrieval systems. In the 1970s, I developed a laser optical music system to store sounds on silver oxide film and play the sounds back with keyboards, using modulated light beams. I was amazed when I found the Scripture in Joshua 24:27 that says, “And Joshua said unto all the people, ‘Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which He spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest you deny your God.’”

Was this Old Testament quantum physicist saying that matter has memory? Is this man, who called for and observed the sun standing still in the heavens, telling us that the stone is listening? This is the man who sounded a frequency that cancelled the frequencies of matter in the walls of Jericho, thereby dissolving their atomic lattice structure with his shout and song. Did this man say the rocks are listening?

Jesus said the same thing. Joshua said the stone could record, and Jesus said in Luke 19:40 that the stones would cry out. Habakkuk 2:11 says, “For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.” I came to understand that all matter has memory. The Bible says that matter can record and it will play back. How can these things be?

As I studied both quantum theory and Scripture, revelation came. I learned that Gerald Feinberg, a physicist at Columbia University, named a certain subatomic particle, that he found in Einstein’s math, after the Greek word tachys, meaning “swift.” He called this superluminal particle a tachyon. This particle moved faster than light!

The tachyon is not looked upon favorably by physicists. If tachyons can be proven to exist and anything that moves faster than light can be found, scientists will have to explain how something can appear before its cause. For instance, if a scientific test was set up to look for this elusive faster-than-light tachyon, and the computer started at 12:00 noon counting forward through the test sequence, the test result wouldn’t be at 12:01 or later. It would show the effect before the cause at 11:59 or earlier. Scientists don’t have computers that count backwards and don’t accept results that appear before the cause.

But wait. Two thirds of your Bible got to mankind before the event or cause! All prophecy is the result of facts before the event. All creativity comes before the actual physical reality! What is a vision? What is a word of knowledge? It is seeing, knowing, getting information before the causation. There is no other source of creativity than the Holy Spirit. All truth comes to man through the only source of truth we have, and that is the Holy Spirit. When you see your future, you are getting information faster than the speed of light through a means of streaming superluminal particles. The barrier of light speed is bridged from this subluminal realm to the higher bandwidth of the superluminal realm by the Holy Spirit.

Something like Gerald Feinberg’s tachyon exists in all matter. It is just above, or faster than the speed of light. We know it’s there because we find the results of such in the very fact of prophecy, or in the concept of words of knowledge, and even our Bible itself. These are proofs that the potential and possibilities of future promises or information is flowing to us. The superluminal tachyon-like connector exists!

That faster-than-light particle in all matter receives and remembers or records photons that shine on matter as in the photoelectric effect. Modulated photons go into all matter, reside in the vortex of superluminal faster-than-light particles, and knock electrons out. This photoelectric effect is how my modulated light musical instruments worked in the 1970s. That is how CD players and DVD players work now.

Today, it is not difficult to believe that matter has memory, because most of us have tiny memory sticks or memory cards that record or store information from our cameras and computers. Information flowing into matter and recalling it is commonplace. Photons from all light sources reflect from your body and off your belongings. Those information carrying photons go into all matter, including walls, your ring, and your watch. This information – even what we say and think – is modulating or moving through the connectedness of all atomic structures. This modulated photon goes in and electrons come out. That is why Joshua said, “This stone has heard.” Every word, action, and deed done in the flesh has been recorded.

This is where yesterday went! It is all recorded in matter and will someday be played back. This is how evil and curses reside in places or things. Even though matter has recorded everything, your prayer in the name of Jesus can take the effect of Christ’s blood – His blood that is eternal and beyond time – and cancel out all evil, sin, and past sin’s memory from matter. Oh, that is a quantum leap for many! You can speak to and erase from places all curses and evil in Jesus’ name.

Have you fixed your past? Have you removed all curses? Have you blessed the things you own? Have you blessed your house, office, car, belongings, money, computer, and phone? Are those things and places free from your past actions, words, and thoughts? You or someone else can speak a blessing or curse on your things. Somebody is about to take a quantum leap!

Seeing Your Future as God Sees it is Quantum Faith

Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the substance. It is the invisible substance from which your physical world was and is being created by Jesus Christ. Annette Capps said, “God used faith substance and word energy to create the universe. He spoke and the vibration (sound) of His words released (caused) the substance that became the stars and planets.”

God’s future potential and all the promised possibilities constantly flow through the Holy Spirit into you. Noise on my circuit limits my ability to hear His voice and see His future for me. The noise in my inner man is not always sin; my noise can be my gift, my ability, even that special way I am put together and wired. I can become so busy-noisy that I am out of phase with God’s voice and vision for me.

As I get quiet and become still, I can hear and see what God’s future is for my reality. Psalm 46:10“Be still and know that I am God…” My future comes from God’s possibilities and potential. I pop God’s qwiffs and my reality is! What an awesome quantum leap! says,

Creating Protected Places: Is Your Home Protected?

When we understand that matter has memory and that every good or evil action, word, or thought is recorded, it is our responsibility to remove, purge, and release evil memory. I’m also talking about evil memory that came to you through things you inherited. What about evil acts and words that were spoken over you? Or evil artifacts that are in many homes and places? Imagine what evil is recorded in public places, courthouses, jails, even schools, and the stuff in these places!

The Passover in the book of Exodus, chapter 12, is the story of a protected place. The blood of the Passover lamb was not put on the firstborn child. It was not applied to a person. Rather, the blood was put on the side posts and upper door posts of a place. Anoint your home, your office, your car, even public places in the name of Jesus. The Passover was an event where the children of God looked forward to their Messiah and His blood for deliverance and protection. By anointing your places and belongings with oil in the name of Jesus, you can protect them and connect our Savior’s timeless blood over your places. What a quantum leap!

Elsewhen Teaching: Where Yesterday Went and Tomorrow Comes From

Elsewhen is the title of my book. This is an interesting word. Elsewhere means over there, or a place out of town, or out there somewhere. Elsewhen is your consciousness out of time here and into God’s upper bandwidth of cosmic consciousness. It is to disconnect from things of this realm and become connected to ideas, visions, and input that comes directly from your Savior, Designer, and Creator.

Elsewhen is the experience of knowing without having to learn or push yourself to know. It is to so behold Jesus Himself, that you comprehend the root of wisdom through the Holy Spirit.

You herein have come to understand that there is a non-physical reality from which this universe and everything in it flows. Jesus Himself is causing your body, your spirit, and everything you have to blink into your reality. Light is slowing down and there is upper bandwidth and knowledge through the Holy Spirit. All the things of life and their purpose for you and your assignment are frequencies being spoken by Christ Himself at this very nanosecond.

Matter has memory, and you can change everything that has been recorded by what you observe, by the words you declare, or by the curses you remove and release in the name of Jesus. You can create protected places by anointing with oil and speaking blessings with your words of faith. Where will you start? What quantum leaps have come up in your spirit? You have been given a new elsewhen cosmic consciousness. Pop those God qwiffs and cause upper bandwidth to change your reality.

David Van Koevering, President and Founder
Elsewhen Research
Email: david@elsewhen.com

From www.joncourson.com

Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Jude 21

The foundational theme of this wonderful epistle, as found in verse 21, is an exhortation to keep ourselves in the love of God. Underline this phrase because it is the hinge upon which the Book of Jude swings. Jude’s heart is, ‘Yes, there are heretics and deceivers, but you, beloved, keep yourselves in the love of God.’

Keeping yourself in the love of God does not mean earning God’s love by being a ‘good little boy or girl’. God’s love is unconditional — so much so that in Romans 5:8, Paul declares that God demonstrated His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. When did God demonstrate His love for you and me? Not when we were trying to be good Christians, but when we were pagans, heathens, and rebels. When you couldn’t have cared less about Him, God looked at you and said, ‘I love you deeply.’

Never buy into the thinking that you earn God’s love by being good. Many Christians look at God as being like Santa: He’s making a list, checking it twice, and He’s gonna find out who’s naughty and who’s nice. If you’ve been good, you’ll get gifts; if not, you’ll be lucky to get a lump of coal.

But nothing could be further from the nature of our Father. Making a list? Checking it twice? Paul says that the list of our failings was blotted out by blood of Christ (Colossians 2:14). The list of my sins was pinned to the Cross of Calvary and cleansed so thoroughly by the blood of the Lamb that the writing became completely illegible. God’s love for us is not based upon anything we do or don’t do - His love is unconditional.

What, then, does it mean to keep yourself in the love of God? It simply means to keep yourself in the place where you can receive His blessings. In other words, God is constantly showering us with blessings, love, and grace. He’s not saying, ‘Hmm, you’ve been bad today, so I’m turning off the spigot.’ No, God’s blessings are always coming down (Lamentations 3:23).

‘Then why am I not being blessed?’ you ask. The answer is easy: you’re not under the spout where the blessings come out. You have wandered away. God didn’t close the spigot — because even when we are faithless, He is faithful still (2 Timothy 2:13). God doesn’t monitor the flow of blessings depending on how we’re doing. No, the spigot is on full blast all the time. Therefore, the only thing we have to do is to make sure we’re in the place where we enjoy God’s blessings — that we’re standing under the spout where the blessings come out.