I've Received Prayer - Why Am I Still Sick?

I'd like to dedicate this message to the friends who have come to me often for prayer and are still not healed. I want you to know that I haven't given up on seeing you healed. You've received prayer from so many people and you're still not well, but you refuse to quit. Your persistence is remarkable. I've learned some things by talking with all of you and it's my hope that eventually you'll get the breakthrough you're looking for.

Thanks for being patient with God as He teaches us about healing. Thank you for not giving up on us.

I want to recognize a couple of friends who've challenged and enlightened me on my journey. My wife is at the front of the line. She's my best friend and one of the people who awaits her complete healing. She's my inspiration for pressing forward in understanding how healing works.

Jon Sellers has been at my side continually reminding me of the need for a balanced approach in looking at healing. It's easy if you're passionate, to become one-sided. As Emeril Lagasse said after seasoning both sides of a steak, "I hate one sided- tasting food." It's because of Jon's wisdom that I'm even considering these things, which lie outside the box for most of us.

I'd also like to thank Matt Evans, who took an interest in me and got me started in healing. He's been a fountain of information. Lastly, I'd like the thank David McLain for the countless phone calls, text messages, jokes, humorous pictures, words of advice, perplexing questions and hours that he's spent praying for me.

We’re on a journey of discovery. That journey is a progressive revelation of eternal truths that have existed in the mind of God and upon which His kingdom was built long before Adam walked with Him in the cool of the day. On this journey, we’ll find many things that have been hidden, waiting for us to find them. For in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and it is His good pleasure to gives us the kingdom. Yes, God has hidden from us the treasures of wisdom. Why, you ask? So that we might pursue them and in the process find Him. The journey is nothing less than the complete revelation of God and all of His ways through His son, Jesus.

One of the mysteries we hope to uncover has to do with the question of why some people are healed while others are not. Some may be content to shrug their shoulders and say, “We’ll never know.” I am not one of them. I think we may know, but I believe many will reject the truth, finding it distasteful.

So the question is: Why are some people not healed despite having received prayer from faith - filled believers, who know their authority and who otherwise have good results?

I’d like to share a story about a co-worker that I prayed with who wasn’t healed the first time I prayed with her. We worked at our station on the west side of Phoenix, Arizona. On October 17th 2011, early in the morning as she made her way outside to wash an ambulance, I noticed that she was limping and asked what was wrong. She showed me a painful, swollen knee that was wrapped in a support device. I asked if could pray with her to be healed. With some fear about what I planned to do, she agreed. I prayed over her knee three times but she felt nothing.

On the same day I prayed with a different co-worker, who had a partially torn Achilles tendon and pain in his back. He was healed of everything instantly, but she wasn't. That day and for a few days following, I asked God why one person was healed and the other wasn't. Here's what I heard: The man with the Achilles tendon injury was healed because he gladly received his healing without fear or worry. She was afraid I would hurt her and that fear prevented her from being healed. It wasn't that God could not heal her. It wasn't that He didn't want her healed. It was because she could not receive healing in a state of fear.

I was disappointed. I really wanted her to be healed. I saw her a few times afterward, still walking with a limp. On December 2nd  2011, she saw me loading my gear in the ambulance. She came over and asked why she wasn't healed. I told her that I talked to God about it and I believed it was because she was afraid of being hurt. I asked her to explain why she thought I was going to hurt her. It turns out, her father had asked her the same question, "Do you want to be healed?" When she said ‘yes’, he hit her hard on her injured knee. So when I asked her the same question, she was afraid I would do the same thing.

I told her I had no reason to hurt her and I let her know that the offer was still open. If she wanted to be healed God would heal her. She said she did. We sat on the couch in the day room. She showed me her swollen knee, wrapped in a black elastic bandage. I asked God to bring his presence upon her then asked what she felt.

"I feel really relaxed and at peace."

I commanded the swelling, inflammation and pain to leave and commanded the ligaments, tendons, muscles, nerves, cartilage and bones to be healed. She felt heat going through her knee, which increased each of the three times I prayed over her knee. While her knee was being healed I taught her about the battle over healing. I warned her that the symptoms might return, told her to stand in faith and believe she was healed and to command the symptoms to leave if they returned the same way I did to make them leave. She seemed to understand.

I saw her three weeks later and asked how her knee felt. She said it felt great. I asked if she was serious. With a smile, she looked at me and said, "Yeah - it feels great!"

When she wasn’t healed the first time, the easiest explanation would be to assume that God didn’t want her healed. This is what many of us do. The fact that she was healed at a later date demonstrates that it wasn't a problem with God. It was a problem with us. Unfortunately, we often blame God when healing doesn’t happen, but this should be the last explanation we consider.

The most likely explanation for failed healing is a lack of faith in the one praying. The next thing to consider is that some obstacle may be present in the life of the one we’re praying with that needs to be removed. Sometimes it’s a spirit of sickness; sometimes it’s an attitude toward God or us that needs to change. In this case, it was fear. Once the fear was removed she was healed.

I'm a creature of habit. One of my habits is finding patterns in things. I'm not sure that I do it intentionally. It just seems like I notice patterns more than most people. In my time on Facebook, I've noticed many different patterns of behavior and beliefs among the thousands of friends I have. People who have these behaviors fall into groups, at least in my mind, and sometimes they form literal groups. Three groups of people continually interact with me.

Two of the groups operate in divine healing. The first sees people healed by exercising authority over sickness. Authority and faith are the tools they're familiar with. But they have one problem; not everyone they pray for is healed. It's been said, "If your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." I think this group suffers from working with a small toolbox.

Because they believe that only faith and authority are involved in the equation, every failure is attributed either to a lack of faith or a lack of exercising their authority. They rarely consider other possibilities. And although they see impressive results in the area of physical healing, they don't do as well with deliverance or emotional healing, though they agree that 100% healing is the goal.

The second group also has the focus of healing, but their approach is different. This group focuses on other things besides faith and authority. Although they recognize them to some degree, it isn't to the degree of the first group. They're more likely to approach healing from a revelatory standpoint. They desire to have God reveal the issues involved in a person's life that contribute to their condition and through a process of dealing with each issue, healing takes place. This group probably doesn't have the success in physical healing that the first group has, but they seem to have better results in the areas of inner healing and deliverance.

Both groups have a measure of success and a measure of failure, but neither sees everyone healed. I think both groups could learn a great deal from the other, but this never seems to happen. Both groups are highly suspicious of the other and frankly - there's a lot of hostility between them. Sadly, the hostility is instigated and encouraged by many of the leaders.

The third group is small; just a handful of people who receive healing prayer often from many of us but their illness remains. Most of these illnesses manifest as physical symptoms. Often their symptoms confound medical experts and defy conventional diagnostic tests. They’re often told “We don’t know what the problem is”, “We can’t find anything in our tests” or they simply receive a generic diagnosis like fibromyalgia, which is really a confession of ignorance. While other people with serious illness gradually get better or experience a sudden miracle, they suffer continual disappointment, never getting better and some actually become worse. They always ask, “Why?”

I've begun to see patterns in this group as well. It seems like many of these people have gone through times of emotional trauma without being completely healed of the painful memories from their past. In addition to the memories, there are a host of feelings they struggle with like helplessness, worthlessness, rejection, fear, bitterness, mistrust and loneliness. Some of them clearly appear to be suffering from demonic oppression. I believe at least one contributing factor to the failure of their physical healing is their failed emotional and spiritual healing.

What they desire most is physical healing from the symptoms of disease. What they seem to want least is to re-live the events of their past and go through the emotions again or to be involved in the circus that inner healing and deliverance can become. Most have found a way to survive the emotional trauma and keep going in spite of their physical afflictions. I believe it's God's ultimate desire for all of us to be healed, set free and walking in the truth. God is interested in our complete healing; body spirit and soul; in a word; Sozo.

When we use the term sozo, we're talking about something that's more than just physical healing. In fact, sozo contains the idea of physical healing but it’s much broader in scope. It means to:

1.       Save
2.       Keep safe and sound
3.       Rescue from danger or destruction
4.       Rescue from injury or peril
5.       Save from suffering or disease
6.       Make well
7.       Heal
8.       Restore to health.

If someone is healed of an illness affecting the physical body, we refer to it as physical healing. If they receive deliverance from an evil spirit, it's a spiritual healing. If they're healed of post-traumatic stress disorder, it's an emotional healing. If they were to be healed of all three, we're describing something referred to as being made 'whole', which is the idea behind the word 'sozo'.

Jon Sellers and other friends have taught me the importance of wholeness, and the fact that God is just as concerned about our spiritual and mental health as our physical health, even if we are not. Let me rephrase that; God may care more about our emotional healing than we do. The same is true for spiritual healing. The problem is that some of us care too much about the physical healing we want and not enough about the spiritual and emotional we need. The fact is that our physical condition may require emotional and spiritual healing to be completed first. Why?

There are two reasons. The first is that some physical diseases have demonic origins. As we’ve seen with the woman who was bent over for 18 years and the boy with seizures who was deaf and mute. Both had physical symptoms that required deliverance from a spirit before they could be healed. Many who so badly desire to be physically healed, are actually in need of deliverance (spiritual healing) first. And because that hasn’t occurred, they remain unhealed and tormented by the enemy.

The other reason is just a hunch. God wants us to be healed in every way. Strange as it may sound, some of us only want to be healed of a disease or condition that causes physical pain. We have no great desire to be healed of painful emotions or memories. We’re willing to put up with feelings of fear, rejection and other wounds because to us, they’re just a part of life. But God wants us to be free of those as well.

Perhaps God knows that if we were to be healed of our physical sickness, we might never seek healing for the unforgiveness that poisons our soul or the spirit of fear that attacks us at night. The wisdom of God may allow our physical healing to manifest only after the spiritual and emotional problems are dealt with as a way to assure that in the end, we are completely healed. What good is a healed body connected to a bitter, unforgiving heart? What benefit is a sound tummy to someone plagued by a spirit of fear that dominates their every thought?

I think what these friends need most is not more prayer over their physical symptoms, but the completion of their emotional and spiritual healing which, if it were to happen, would result in their physical healing being completed. Many of us need some degree of deliverance and others need inner healing to take place before any long-term physical healing will happen.

The pain involved in dealing with the past may prevent us from pursuing those problems and resolving them through inner healing. The healing that God desires for us may require us to do things we'd rather not, like facing bitterness, unforgiveness, rejection, fear, lust, abandonment, shame, etc. Submitting ourselves to God and surrendering our right to allow these things to remain as a part of us is a process but as long as we allow them to remain, they hold us captive and the spirits of infirmity will have a hold on us that can't be broken, no matter how many people pray for us to be physically healed.

One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. I'm all for persistence in prayer. I'm convinced that some things just take time. But those cases are the ones where gradual progress is being made. If we pray and pray and pray and absolutely no progress is made or the person seems to be getting worse, and there are obvious signs of emotional healing and deliverance needed, it's foolish to continue on the same course. In such cases we must consider using other tools. That might require us to discover tools we haven’t heard of or perhaps use tools that others use which we don’t like.

If we are to walk as Jesus walked and do the things He did, we might consider the novel, peculiar and sometimes bizarre methods he used. I don’t think Jesus avoided predictable formulas just to confound us. I believe He continually asked His Father for the best solution to the problem he faced; not assuming it would be the same as the previous one. His openness to the leading of the Father was what gave Him such a consistent and power-filled life of victory.

On Dying Young

This message is likely to meet with disagreement from many of my friends. I would ask that you read the message all the way through and consider it thoughtfully and prayerfully before coming to a conclusion on the matter. I would be glad to discuss your thoughts in the comments section.

The body of Christ has held two opposing views on the forces at work when people die at a young age. Some believe that God has a purpose for "taking" people in their youth, and these reasons often remain a mystery. Most of my friends who have discovered the resurrection power of God would disagree. They believe that we're all entitled to a long, prosperous life. They hold the view that it is only at the hands of the enemy that anyone dies at a young age.

Twelve months ago, I would have agreed with my friends.  When the sacred cow was finally barbecued that said God has reasons for people to die in their youth, we all rejoiced.  In the circles I travel in, the new dominant view is that it is never God's will for anyone to die at a young age.

I've spent a lot of time reviewing near-death testimonies and reading accounts from people who have gone into the heavens. And my perspective on the issue has been changing. The subject we're discussing is emotionally charged and full of conflicting views. Patience is required to sort these things out, so bear with me as I shed a bit of light on the different issues involved.

The argument for a long physical life is made by those who see promises of longevity in scripture. I've searched the bible and haven't found an explicit guarantee of longevity anywhere in scripture. I believe it is God's desire for us to have a long life, which is to say that He always wants us to live in such a way that our years on the earth would be fruitful and many. But I believe that some of our own choices frustrate those plans.

If you believe in determinism, this idea will probably be objectionable to you, for determinism teaches that our own actions cannot thwart the plans of God if He has sovereignly ordained us to live a certain number of years. I personally reject determinism. I believe that our own choices must be accounted for in the grand scheme of things and we can either frustrate or cooperate with His plans by the choices we make.

I believe it is God's desire that everyone would have a long, abundant and blessed life. God is good and He has nothing but our best interest in mind in everything He does. It is actually this principle (our best interest) that I believe is at work when people die at a young age. Allow me to explain what I mean by this.

The human perspective on life tends to focus on things that happen in the dimension of time and space. The temporal things of this world are the things we think about most often and value the most highly. One of the things is our own physical life and our experiences in this world.

When someone dies at a young age, we tend to view it as a tragedy. We consider all the things the departed person might have done if they had lived longer. We're saddened by the fact that they won't accomplish the wonderful things the rest of us will. We mourn the love they'll never know, the victories they'll miss out on and all the things of this physical life that we feel everyone deserves to experience. We value the temporal experiences of this earth rather highly.

It is our temporal perspective that clouds our understanding of life and death and obscures our ability to see how they are viewed from heaven.

I've been reading the book The Spiritual World by Peter Tan. I've also been watching video interviews with Katt Kerr. Both have received extraordinary revelations about the spirit world. Their testimonies have caused me to re-evaluate many of my beliefs about life and death.

I began to question the idea of a guarantee of long life shortly after I began praying for the sick. I had prayed at the bedside of a number of terminal cancer patients, and in visions, I often saw clear indications that the person's time on earth was up. Jesus was taking them home and there was nothing I could do to change it. While my friends in the healing community insisted that we had an obligation to heal everyone, I began to see things from heaven's perspective.

I've watched many interviews with people who have had near - death experiences. In some cases, the Lord would show them the things they would endure if they returned to earth then asked if they wanted to remain in heaven or return to their physical body. If a person chose to remain in heaven, their testimony, for obvious reasons, would never be recorded. But many chose to return, in spite of the difficulties they would face. And that begs the question - what purpose does God have for allowing people to decide their own fate concerning their physical life and death?

Katt Kerr has been taken into heaven hundreds of times to witness different things and reveal them to us, back here on earth. She's attended the homecoming of many departed saints and made an interesting observation about them. When we step into eternity for good - all of heaven throws a party for us. The "death" of our physical body is celebrated with extreme joy and celebration by everyone in heaven. There is no mourning, no weeping or sadness like we have here on earth. In heaven, the death of our physical body means it's party time.

She said that we all get to watch our own memorial service on earth. Nearly everyone who watches their own sad, somber funeral makes the same comment. They wish their friends and relatives on earth were as joyous as the saints and angels were in heaven. Our physical death, from the perspective of heaven, is a reason to rejoice - not to mourn and cry, regardless of the age of the individual.

Peter Tan reports that there are things going on the realm of the spirit that most of us haven't considered. Tan describes millions of different planes, spheres, and dimensions of existence in the spiritual world, each of which serves a unique purpose in the greater plan of God. As we step out of our physical body into the spirit world, we're taken to one of the realms of eternity. If you are a Christian, you'd call it heaven. Though in fact, there are many realms of heaven, each one containing a different aspect of God's glory for us to to become familiar with.

In eternity, we spend time exploring and being transformed into the perfect image of Christ by all the different levels of God's glory that we're exposed to. And yes, there is time in eternity - though it's quite different from how we understand time in this dimension.

The plan of God for each of us is to be transformed (sanctified) into the perfect image of Christ. (See 1 Thess 4:3) That transformation happens in many ways throughout the entirety of our existence, both on earth and in eternity. God is always interested in our transformation into the image of His son. This is the overarching concern behind everything He allows to come into our lives.

Nothing ever supersedes this imperative.

There are many experiences here on earth,which provide opportunities for spiritual growth and transformation. Some are revelatory; others involve overcoming adversity or persecution, but all develop Christ-like character in our spirit-man.

There are other experiences that can cause us to regress backward in our spiritual development. In them, our spiritual light diminishes with each passing day. Some people may go through so many negative spiritual experiences after returning to earth, they end up worse off (spiritually) than if they had remained in eternity.

All the positive and negative experiences that affect our spiritual development are considered when God decides if an individual will remain in heaven or return to earth. Physical age is not one of the major factors considered.

When a person dies, regardless of  their physical age, God examines all the possible outcomes of their continued life on earth and their transition into eternity. He evaluates their potential for spiritual growth in both settings. His decision to allow them to remain in eternity or return to earth is based on His knowledge of all these factors. In some cases, the results of living in eternity and on earth may be so similar that He will allow the individual to decide their own fate.

If  the individual has a chance to grow spiritually by returning to earth, they're usually sent back. But if they have little chance for spiritual growth on earth - they usually remain in heaven, where they'll continue the process of transformation.

Over the course of my career, I've probably interviewed more than 100 people who have had near death experiences. Nearly all of them remember being told "it wasn't their time". Nearly all were explicitly told they had more to accomplish before their time on earth was over. I believe the "something more" is the development of greater Christ- like character in their life.

It's almost time to wrap this up, so I'll close with this final thought:

When a loved one experiences physical death - the biblical response is to pray for resurrection. (Matt 10:8) We pray for resurrection because we don't know if they're going to remain in eternity or return to earth. If they need to return, our prayers enforce God's will for them to return. In situations involving resurrection, it's wise to ask God for a specific revelation of His will so that we might pray in accordance with it.


I'll post a instructional message in the next few weeks on how and when to raise the dead.

'till then....

Don’t Forsake Regular Church Attendance

This was a Facebook note written by a friend, André van der Merwe. The original note, with comments can be found here .

Yes, I'm writing again. My new book (will keep you posted on the progress) will be called: "I Love JESUS, But I've Stopped Attending Church." Here is one of the chapters. Enjoy!!

DON'T FORSAKE REGULAR CHURCH ATTENDANCE

Nope, actually that’s not what it says, so let’s quickly disarm this bomb. Hebrews 10:25 has to be one of the most abused and warped scriptures in the entire Bible.

"…not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." (Heb 10:25 MKJV)

We will look at two different interpretations here, the traditional interpretation and the proper interpretation, which takes into account the verses around this verse as well as references to other scriptures in the Bible. As we will see, even the traditional interpretation doesn’t refer to the spectator affair that secular church meetings have evolved into.

The Traditional Interpretation

This verse has been used for centuries to warn believers against the danger of abstaining from attending regular church meetings. It’s not surprising to see why though, since nearly every commentary available on the internet interprets this verse in the sense that it is referring to regular church or worship meeting attendance. Here are some examples:

The Berkely Version of the New Testament says: "... not neglecting our own church meeting."

J.B. Phillips writes in The New Testament in Modern English: "And let us not hold aloof from
our church meetings."

The Living Bible states: "Let us not neglect our church meetings..."

The Ryrie Study Bible writes: “The term "assembling" describes "the gathering of Christians
for worship and edification," and "the Day" describes "the day... of Christ's coming.”

Clarke continues to warn against deserting regular Church attendance, for whatever reason:

"For fear of persecution, it seems as if some had deserted these meetings... They had given up these strengthening and instructive means, and the others were in danger of following their example... Those who relinquish Christian communion are in a backsliding state; those who backslide are in danger of apostasy..."

The main problem with this interpretation is that is completely neglects the part of the verse that says “…exhorting one another…”

In 1 Corinthians 14 we have a wonderful picture of what a first century church meeting looked like. Everybody contributed, bringing prophesy, tongues, songs and teachings to the meeting. In fact, so eager were the people to share what God has shown to each of them that Paul had to lay down some guidelines for them to be able to continue doing it in an edifying manner.

How is it then, brethren? When ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. (1 Cor 14:26 KJVA)

The meetings normally brimmed over with excitement, joy, fascinating dialogues, diverse tongues and interpretations thereof, various teachings and the gifts of the Spirit flowing all over the place! It was spontaneous, unpredictable and somewhat offensive to newcomers and outsiders, but the believers themselves knew exactly what they were doing: They were allowing God to be Himself in their midst! It would have been an idea far removed from their minds to have only one single person stand up for an hour and deliver a prepared sermon, let alone pay him for doing it!

So even when interpreting this verse in the traditional manner, as thought it was referring to an actual church meeting, the conventional argument does not hold water.

…not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (Heb 10:25 MKJV)

The first clue ought to be that this verse doesn’t start with a capital letter, which means that it has to be read in conjunction with the preceding verses to be able to understand the context, especially if we remember that the original manuscripts didn’t have any verse numbers in them. Let’s take a brief look at the whole chapter.

Hebrews 10 - The Victory of the Cross!

Hebrews 10 is one of the most captivating chapters in the entire Bible. It is a crystal clear depiction of the believer’s absolute, unfaltering right standing with God, based on what Jesus accomplished at the cross. It exemplifies the undisputable superiority of the New Covenant over the Old Covenant Law: a system which was upheld by the ritual slaughtering and blood sprinkling of animals. These sacrifices only managed to postpone the punishment of sins for another year - it never actually cleansed the people from their sins (v. 1-4).

It also debunks the popular “Confess your sins to be forgiven” doctrines by blatantly stating that once forgiven, a believer would have no more consciousness of sin (v. 2).

From verse 10 onwards it portrays how the once for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ has cleansed all who believe in Him from their sins forever and describes the new and better way of approaching God under the New Covenant, namely with boldness and full assurance of faith, confident that the sacrifice of Christ accomplished everything that God intended it to - to deal a deathblow to sin and present unto Himself a blameless, completely sanctified bride. This confidence comes from faith in what Christ has done, and not from ourselves.

Later down in the chapter (v. 26-29) the writer of Hebrews outlines the folly of trying to return to the weak and beggarly elements of the Old Covenant temple and offering system for salvation:

26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28 He who despised Moses' Law died without mercy on the word of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy of punishment, the one who has trampled the Son of God, and who has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? (Heb 10:26-29 MKJV)

There were Hebrews (Jews) who lived strictly according to the Old Testament law system. Even when they heard the truth about the gospel, they didn’t want to believe it, because verse 26 says they “…received the knowledge of the truth…” and of course simply knowing about something doesn’t mean that we actually believe in it. Faith ≠ knowledge.

So the writer of Hebrews admonishes them by saying that if after hearing the truth of the gospel, they still decide to trample God’s New Covenant underfoot and choose to count the blood of bulls and goats as superior to the blood of Jesus, then there remains for them no further sacrifice for their sins. They are rejecting the only thing that can save them and are choosing to willfully commit the sin of unbelief in Christ!

Now in this context, let’s take a look at the verses surrounding our key verse:

The Proper Interpretation:

19 Therefore, brothers, having boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh; 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies having been washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering (for He is faithful who promised), 24 and let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (Heb 10:19-25 MKJV emphasis added)

Now in the midst of all this talk about the New Covenant, about having full assurance of our salvation and of not turning back to the Old Testament Law for our salvation, why would the writer throw in a line about church attendance? It simply doesn’t make sense. Let’s tackle these verses one by one…

From verse 19 the writer starts building up to a mighty crescendo, repeatedly emphasizing how we are now to have boldness, full assurance of faith and are to maintain utter confidence in God’s faithfulness to have cleansed us completely from all sin. God who promised us eternal life is faithful to fulfill His promise and grant us an everlasting inheritance. This is the profession faith that we should be holding fast onto (v. 23)

Since we receive the Holy Spirit at salvation, it is His responsibility to manifest His fruit through us and it becomes our privilege to be co-laborers with Christ and walk in the good works that God had prepared in advance for us to walk in (Ephesians 2:10). It is therefore natural for us to encourage each other to walk in the fullness of the Spirit, not necessarily by telling each other what to do, but by being living, breathing examples of the manifested life of Christ ourselves (v. 24). Actions speak louder than words. And now our key verse:

…not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (Heb 10:25 MKJV)

The Greek word for “assembling” (episunagōgē) is only found in two verses in the entire Bible. A closer look at the other scripture that utilizes this word reveals that the context actually doesn’t refer to a church meeting at all:

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. (2 Thes 2:1-2 ESV, emphasis added)

Paul here encouraged the believers that because of the wonderful prospect of being gathered together (episunagōgē) unto Christ, they are not to be alarmed or frightened, which by implication means that they are to have boldness and full assurance of faith. This is exactly what the writer of Hebrews wrote. Note the similarities:

…our being gathered together to him… the day of the Lord… (2 Thes 2:1-2)

…the assembling of ourselves together... as you see the Day approaching. (Heb 10:25)

So the evidence seems to be pointing to the fact that Hebrews 10:25 could actually be a magnificent verse about the second coming (like the 2 Thessalonians verse), rather than referring to meeting together in a church building. The reality is however that most people have been so biased by what they’ve been told about this verse, that even in the face of clear evidence they would still doubtLet’s take a look at the three different parts that make up the word epi-sun-agōgē (pronounced in English as “ep-ee-soon-ag-o-gay”).

Epi
G1909: A primary preposition properly meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etc.), as a relation of distribution [with the genitive case], that is, over, upon, etc.

In Greek the prefix epi is often added to words to emphasize them profoundly. Essentially it means the same as “super”, “ultimate” or “hyper”. Paul the apostle used it for example to describe how he would have been exceedingly sorrowful if his brother and fellow worker, Epaphroditus, had died.

For indeed he was sick, coming near death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon [epi] sorrow. (Phil 2:27 MKJV, annotation added)

It is also used in a word that describes Christ’s appearing, epiphaneia, which happens at the end of the age:

…that you keep the commandment without spot and without blame until the appearing [epiphaneia] of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Tim 6:14 MKJV, annotation added)

Our Greek word episunagōgē therefore means “ultimate-sun-agōgē“ or “final-sun-agōgē“ - now we need to find out what the last two parts mean.

Sun
G4962: A primary preposition denoting union; with or together (but much closer than G3326 or G3844), that is, by association, companionship, process, resemblance, possession, instrumentality, addition, etc.: - beside, with. In compounds it has similar applications, including completeness.

So now we have “ultimate-union-agōgē“ or “final-union-agōgē“ - let’s tackle the last part…

Agōgē
Reduplicated from G71; a bringing up, that is, mode of living: - manner of life.

So it appears that the meaning of agōgē can be found by looking at its root word, agō

Agō
G71: A primary verb; properly to lead; by implication to bring, drive, (reflexively) go, (specifically) pass (time), or (figuratively) induce: - be, bring (forth), carry, (let) go, keep, lead away, be open.
Having said all that, it’s clear that episunagōgē can be translated as follows:

Ultimate/Final-Union-Leading/Carrying (away)

Can it therefore be any clearer that Hebrews 10:25 it is not a warning against forsaking regular church meetings, but in fact a reference to our glorious final union and being carried away unto Christ Jesus?

The context becomes even clearer when we then read from verse 26 onwards how those who neglect to receive salvation and by implication are unable to have full assurance of faith, trample God’s grace underfoot and have no more sacrifice remaining for sin.

So with Hebrews 10:25 unarmed, in other words having removed the confusion surrounding this verse, not neglecting the fact that it is still good for believers to meet together, let’s have an open mind for exposing some of the other manmade traditions and practices that are found in today’s secular churches.

Link to original note:
http://www.facebook.com/notes/andré-van-der-merwe/dont-forsake-regular-church-attendance/10150248154351725

If God Heals Then Why Am I Sick?

It's fair question to ask - If God heals, then why am I still sick? Pete Cabrera answers the question using an analogy that boils down to the issue of our authority to over sickness and the proper exercise of that authority.

The Proof Is In The Paralysis

This post may challenge your theology. It challenged mine.

But we're in a season where God is once again asking us to set aside some of our agendas and let Him show us things in His kingdom we haven't yet considered.

I've taken some heat lately for not standing against John Crowder, who is featured in today's testimony. To be honest, I don't know much about John. But in a recent exchange, when I didn't join others in condemning Crowder, a few people who believe he's a false teacher became angry with me.

OK, it was a little worse than that. They accused me of being deceived. One of them started his own blog to proclaim the truth I wasn't seeing. And that's pretty much how these things go.

One of the troubling things I've experienced (though it seems to happen more to my friends than to me) is the tendency of some Christians to label anyone who doesn't agree with them as a false teacher or false prophet. Crowder is one of the biggest targets for criticism these days.

So I went to the Holy Spirit and asked what's going on.

This is what I heard:

People who reject ideas that conflict with their own, do so because their identity comes from what they hold to be true. They call themselves Christian, Calvinist, Atheist, Republican, Lutheran, etc, based on what ideas they believe to be true and to some degree what experiences they've had.

For many, these labels have become their identity. Instead of taking their identity from the God, they form one based on philosophies, doctrines, morals and experiences. When confronted with a theological idea, their identity comes into question. If they affirm the idea, they allow it to become part of their identity. If they reject it, they maintain their identity.

For these people, every discussion about God or religion challenges their identity.

Herein lies a great problem.

If we tie our identity to our beliefs, every time we discuss something theological, our identity is at risk. If we don't want to change our identity every day, we must reject all experiences and teaching that differ from our own. From this, we first reject an idea. If an individual confronts our identity often enough with "false" teaching, it's easier to label them a false teacher and reject everything they say. This reduces the exposure of our identity to challenges.

This is the operating mode of people who are sometimes referred to as "heresy hunters".

There is another group, whose identity isn't tied to what they believe to be true. They take their identity from what God says about them. Some have heard Him say, "You are one of my prophets" or "You are my chosen vessel for leading worship". Once God declares their identity it never comes into question again. They believe what God said and that ends the debate.

People who take their identity from the Father can be challenged in their beliefs, because their identity isn't at stake in theological discussions. Their beliefs are a bit more flexible and will change from time to time as experiences and revelation continually shape them.

These people are free to disagree with one another without the need to label anyone a false teacher because they have little at stake personally in the discussion.

Bearing these things in mind, I'd ask you to consider this rather amazing testimony from John Crowder and his friend concerning a spiritual revival at Walmart that began with the healing of a woman who was paralyzed.

For those who aren't familiar with what it's like to be drunk in the spirit, that is what they're referring to when they talk about getting whacked, juiced, drunk, etc. They haven't been drinking alcohol. It's the same thing the apostle Peter defended when he said, "These are not drunk as you suppose.... but this is that which was spoken of by the the prophet Joel." (Acts 2:15-16)

Does God Cause Sickness?

Ready to kill a few sacred cows?

In our first video, Bill Johnson answers a couple of questions; the main one being, does God cause sickness? Leif Hetland and Rand Clark are also present on the platform.

In our second video Andrew Womack challenges traditional teaching on the nature of God and why tragedies happen. Andrew often provokes me to reconsider my beliefs, some of which are more traditions of men, than eternal truths.