notes from lisa...

If Job's experience isn't a perfect example to prove that the Prosperity "Doctrine" (which is so popular in Western churches today) is dead wrong , than what is? In Job, God's righteous servant (and, God declared it to be so), we have a man who did all of the right things and served God with his whole heart, yet , calamity washed over him almost to consume him. It simply doesn't line up with the mantra of good things happen to faithful people and bad things happen to the wicked or unfaithful.  It also doesn't line up with God's Word. Jesus said, "...for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust ." Eliphaz could easily be a popular prosperity preacher, today--I can just see him all decked out on television, filled with emotion, preaching that message: "If you have faith in God, than there is nothing out of your reach! Those who do not believe, it is evident...

Early this year, I had a "little" heart scare--I guess these things can happen when you get old-ER. I must admit, at first I panicked when I heard "don't be alarmed, but we found some abnormalities, so we will have to keep you for observation". Thankfully, the panic was only momentary and I resumed laughing and talking, because I remembered who I was; and, more importantly, "to live is Christ, and to die is gain ". I thought about this, again, because I think often we have a love-hate relationship with death. We forget (as saints) about the "gain" part until the homegoing service; until then, death is a dirty word. Until we or our loved one draws a final breath, we believe God to raise them up and make them whole, by faith . We won't even consider otherwise, until they die; then our whole conversation changes and "the death of the saint is precious in the sight of the Lord". Why is it only precious after death? Why isn't d...

The Prosperity  Doctrine permeates American churches, and has even begun to spread its disease throughout the world, with its twisting of Scripture to feed fleshly whims and lusts. It is all about the earthy and temporal, and not at all about the spiritual, unless it relates to the supernatural obtaining of health and wealth. It reminds me of Eliphaz--Job's "friend". I suppose at one time, he had been a faithful friend to Job; when times were good, and Job wasn't experiencing any hardship. When the chips were down, though, Eliphaz became Job's judge; insisting that Job must have done something wrong to be in that conundrum. People still live with that mindset--they did when Jesus lived, too--and He quickly corrected them. When Jesus came upon the blind man in John 9, "His disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" The assumption was that if this man was blind, the cause was automatically sin. ...

"Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year. And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always. And if the way be too long for thee , so that thou art not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from thee, which the Lord thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the Lord thy God hath blessed thee: Then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose: And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and th...

There is a verse in the Bible that says: " The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord , as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will." Some of us, assume that this means that when God gets involved in our affairs, the king has no control and will do whatever is in our best interest. If history hasn't proven that to be an errant interpretation, perhaps context should--not just of the next verses, but of the whole of Scripture. The verses that follow in the 21st chapter of Proverbs say, " Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin." [Proverbs 21:2-4]  (I always say, context is EVERYTHING, when it comes to the Bible. You have to know, Scripture interprets Scripture--not one verse ever stands on its own. The more I learn of God's Word, the more I have ...

" Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.  But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign ; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas" [Matthew 12:38,39] Today, in our churches there is a tendency to encourage the people of God to seek and to "claim" divine miracles and blessings. I'm not exactly sure why we think that is the way to go since Jesus clearly says that seekers of "signs" ( semeion : an indication, especially ceremonially or supernaturally -- miracle, sign, token, wonder) are a "wicked and adulterous generation. Yet, if God's people are not actively chasing miracles they are deemed faithless--according to Jesus, just the opposite is true.  Miracles aren't bad, but they have a distinct purpose, and they are not for the comfort of those who already believe--it could be that we will...

Today, in the world, there are an estimated 24 million Apostolic Pentecostal believers. That's the count for those who call themselves Apostolic--I'm one of them, from the crown of my head to the souls of my feet; and I take that designation very seriously. Why? Because, in all honesty the only New Testament church in the Bible was made up of those who held to the Apostolic standard. Mind you, except for baptism and the receiving of the Holy Spirit--we don't much resemble the first Apostolic believers and their way of living. We are very different from those first apostles and saints who believed and carried out the words of Jesus. The first Christians, after Jesus was resurrected, were baptized "in Jesus' Name" and "filled with the Holy Ghost" according to the book of Acts. That was the first step, but only the beginning of being real Apostolic people of God. That was just the "milk" (Hebrews 5:12-6:1), but the test of who is actually A...