HOPE & HEALING

FOR HURTING PEOPLE

By Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.

     Sickness, disease and death are all a result of the ‘Fall’ of our first parents. There was no disease or death in the Garden of Eden until that tragic event.

   The Bible affirms: “Wherefore, as by one man SIN entered into the world and DEATH by sin; and so death passed upon ALL MEN, for that all have sinned.” (Rom.5: 12); “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Cor.15: 21)

   In His great mercy, God sent His Son who was INCARNATED (God in human flesh) to bring salvation to lost humanity: 

  “For when we were yet without strength (hopeless), in due time Christ died for the ungodly. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.” (Rom. 5: 6, 8)

  Through His sacrificial death on Calvary's cross, Jesus Christ took our sins, sicknesses and pains upon Himself, thereby opening the door to our freedom from the tyranny of Satan and the results of our disobedience.

    The Holy Scriptures say: “He that committeth sin is of the Devil; for the Devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might DESTROY the works of the Devil.” (1 John 3: 8): 

  “Who His own Self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness, by Whose stripes ye are healed.” (1 Peter 2: 24)

    After Adam's treasonous act in the Garden of Eden, God passed judgment on the Serpent, Eve, Adam and the earth! 
    In His judgment on Satan, who used the serpent as a mouthpiece, Almighty God introduced the Coming of the Messiah Who would Crush his head! In theology this is known as the 'Law of the first mention'.
    Here is the Holy Record of that amazing DECREE: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; It shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise His heel." (Gen.3:15)
   The first part of the Judgment was against the serpent who allowed itself to be used by the devil. Surveys have proven that snakes are the most hated animals on this planet. 
    Then God introduced the Coming of the Just One, the Messiah who would be born of a VIRGIN (seed of the woman) and would crush Satan's head, while He would bruise the Messiah's heel!
  When Jesus was crucified, His heel was bruised but His resurrection from the dead was Satan's total and complete death knell. Christ's VICTORY was Satan's DEFEAT and our LIBERTY!

JESUS BORE OUR SICKNESSES!

     

   The Word of God states: "Surely He hath borne our sicknesses (heb. kholee) and carried our pains (heb. makob): yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed."(Isa. 53:4, 5)

   Seven hundred and fifty years before Jesus’ death on the cross, Isaiah prophesied those power-filled words about His sacrificial death for the salvation, healing and deliverance of all who would receive Him as their Lord and Saviour. The Bible states that He did this for us: 

   "Now it was not written for his (Abraham) sake alone, that it was imputed to him. But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus from the dead: Who was delivered for our offences (sins) and raised again for our justification." (Rom.4: 23-25) 

   St. Paul emphatically taught that those who believed in the finished work of Jesus Christ in purchasing eternal Salvation would receive the same that Abraham received by looking forward to the cross!

    The words, “but for us also” has a reassuring ring for us today! There are theologians who try to compartmentalize and restrict God into a small time frame, thus regulating His ability to be the Eternal Ever Living One that He is. By doing so, they minimize His greatness, insult His intelligence and pervert His will and plans for His Church!

   As St. Paul battled the carnal minded ‘small thinkers’ in his generation who said that ‘no-one could have what Father Abraham received’, we battle the same ‘God manipulators’ who say with great pontification, “The Day of Miracles is Past. Miracles happened only in Paul’s Time.” 

   Many Evangelical theologians were greatly dismayed with the ‘God is Dead Theology’ that came out of Europe decades ago, but their theological position may as well be: “I Shrunk God!”

WHY HE WAS INCARNATED!

 "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil." (1 John 3:8); "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power: Who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil." (Acts 10: 38) 

   "For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through Death He might Destroy him that had the power of death, that is the Devil; And to Deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Heb 2: 14, 15).

    Here is a very important truth: The children (human race) are partakers of Flesh and Blood, while Christ Himself took part of the same. The word ‘took part’ which applies to Christ is entirely different than the word ‘partakers’ which applies to the children. 

  The word translated took part comes from the Greek, meaning ‘taking part of something outside oneself ’, while the Greek word (koynoneho) for partakers means ‘to share fully’.

     Why is this truth so important? All humans are partakers (to share fully) and have inherited from Adam the sin that is inherent in that blood. Christ, however, inherited only the ‘flesh’ from Adam because the blood that flowed through His veins did not come from Adam. 

    He ‘took part of something outside Himself ’. His blood came from Almighty God and therefore was not contaminated by SIN.

     The Virgin Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ excluded Him from receiving the Sin Nature that all others are born with. He received from Adam through His mother Mary human flesh but the blood that coursed through His veins came from the Holy Spirit, pure and without sin! 

    You say: “How is that POSSIBLE?”  Only the blood of the father enters the baby. The blood of the mother does not enter the child.

SCIENCE PROVES THE VIRGIN BIRTH

  In Howell’s Textbook of Physiology, Second Edition, pages 885 and 886, it states: “For the purpose of understanding its general functions it is sufficient to recall that the placenta consists essentially of vascular chorionic papillae from the foetus (the unborn child) bathed in the large blood spaces of the decidual membrane of the mother. 

    The foetal and the maternal blood DO NOT COME INTO ACTUAL CONTACT. THEY ARE SEPARATED FROM EACH OTHER by the walls of the foetal blood vessels and the epithelial layers of the chorionic villae.”

     And in Williams’ Practice of Obstetrics, Third Edition, page 133, states: “The foetal blood in the vessels of the chorionic villae AT NO TIME GAINS ACCESS TO THE MATERNAL BLOOD in the intervillous spaces, BEING SEPARATED FROM ONE ANOTHER by the double layer of chorionic epithelium.” 

    Page 136 from the same textbook states: “Normally there is no communication between the fetal blood and the maternal blood.”

   Nurse’s Handbook of Obstetrics by Louise Zabriskie, R.N., Fifth Edition, page 75 we read: “When the circulation of the blood begins in the embryo, it remains separate and distinct from that of the mother. 

    "All food and waste material which are interchanged between the embryo and the mother must pass through the blood vessel walls from one circulation to the other.”

   Page 82 from the same textbook states: “The foetus receives its nourishment and oxygen from the mother’s blood into its own through the medium of the placenta. 

   "The foetal heart pumps blood   through the arteries of the umbilical cord into the placental vessels, which, looping in and out of the uterine tissue and lying in close contact with the uterine vessels, permit a diffusion, through their walls, of waste products from child to mother and of nourishment and oxygen from mother to child

    "As has been said, this interchange is affected by the process of osmosis, and there is no direct mingling of the two blood currents. In other words, no maternal blood actually flows to the foetus, nor is there any direct foetal flow to the mother.”

    Note: Much of the above information taken from ‘The Chemistry of the Blood’ by M.R. DeHaan, M.D

    Christ's vicarious (substitutionary) Death for us and Resurrection from the dead that resulted in Satan's Defeat, has assured our Liberty. Praise the Lord!

    Jesus healed all the SICK who came to Him. He didn't turn away anyone, however, not everyone believed: 

   “And He went to His own country...And He could there do no MIGHTY WORK, save that He laid His hands upon a few sick  folk, and healed them. And He marvelled because of their unbelief. And He went round about the villages teaching.” (Mark 6: 1, 5,6)

JESUS MARVELLED ONLY TWICE!

   The Bible records only two occasions where Jesus marvelled. Once was when He witnessed the faith of a Roman Centurion and the second was when He witnessed the unbelief of His own people!

     When Jesus began teaching in His home town they were astonished and said: “From whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom is this which is given unto Him, that even such MIGHTY WORKS are wrought by His hands? 

    "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us: And they were offended at Him.” (Mark 6: 2, 3)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            The Word of God states that He marvelled at their UNBELIEF. God’s Son could “there do NO MIGHTY WORK, except that He laid His hands upon a few sick folk (who believed) and healed them.” How tragic!

    What does this tell us? Faith is the KEY to receiving miracles from our Lord. Jesus said to the father of a demon possessed, deaf and dumb boy, “If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth.” (Mark 9: 23)

   The father cried out and said with tears, “I believe, help Thou my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24). Immediately, Jesus delivered the boy!

   Jesus stated; “Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the very works sake. 

    "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me, the WORKS that I do shall he do also; and GREATER WORKS shall he do; because I go to the Father. If ye shall ask ANYTHING in My name, I will do it.” (John 14: 10-14)

     He was referring to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit! He promised to send the blessed HOLY SPIRIT Who does the greater works. No-one can do greater works than Jesus did because He raised the dead, and the Bible confirms that “death is the last enemy to be destroyed.” (1 Cor.15: 26)

   Jesus ministered only in Israel, laid His hands on the sick and people touched His robe and were healed. He spoke the Word and people were delivered. He calmed the storm, multiplied the loaves and fish and cast out evil spirits. 

   The Holy Spirit, however, works all over the world simultaneously, through the Church! Two examples: Peter’s shadow fell on people and they were healed (Acts 5: 12-16). Paul sent out handkerchiefs and aprons, and demons were driven out and the sick were healed (Acts 19: 11, 12).

THE HOLY SPIRIT DID THIS!

  Who did this? The Blessed Holy Spirit did the miracles as the people believed! He entered St. Peter’s shadow and healed the sick. The Holy Spirit accompanied the anointed cloths and aprons St. Paul sent out to the sick and suffering! And He is with us and in us TODAY and stands ready to continue doing the greater works!

    In my humble ministry for the Lord, I have seen the Holy Spirit do these greater miracles. In our 1966 breakthrough Crusade in Guntur, A.P. India, we experienced such a miracle. Many thousands of people had jammed into the Freedom Park for the final service. 

   After my message and mass prayer of salvation, several outstanding miracles happened in the prayer line which caused everyone to excitedly move toward the platform. 

    I had been praying for several thousand each evening without any problems, but this being the final service the people would not heed my plea for order. 

   After I prayed several mass prayers for the healing of the sick, we quickly left fearing that someone could get trampled if we continued the service.

  As we drove away from Guntur in Lawson Barbour’s 1946 Chevy, I lay in the backseat listening to Lawson and Tommy talking about the great crusade we had just concluded. 

  I was disturbed because I hadn’t had the opportunity to personally lay my hands on many thousands of sick people. As I wept silently, telling God that I would have stayed till midnight to pray for 10,000 – 20,000 people if I could have, but they wouldn’t let me. 

    Then, I heard the voice of God, saying, “Dry your tears, My son. You are leaving them, but I am not leaving them!”

     The Lord had led us to have 10,000 leaflets with a picture of Sadhu Vandanam and me, with the name of his church and some Scripture texts printed on them. We had prayed that God would use those leaflets to bring salvation and healing to many people. They were given out at that final meeting.

     A woman from a little village about 20 miles away had been told by her doctor that the cancerous sore in her stomach area was inoperable and she would soon die. 

    She had attended three days of meetings but was unable to get near us for personal prayer because of the huge crowds. After we left, she wrapped her sari around her body and sadly started the 20 mile trek home that evening, painfully struggling and crying all the way. She had missed her last opportunity to get well.

HOLY SPIRIT DOES THE MIRACLE!

   At about 6:00 A.M. she arrived at her village as people were up and about doing their toilet. She entered her little mud hut and threw herself on the little grass mat on the floor, sick and exhausted. She had cried so much, there were no more tears.

   As she lay there, throbbing, nerves raw and her body twitching, she suddenly sat up and undid her sari placing the leaflet on the open sore and shouted, as she had heard me say hundreds of times, “In Jesus name be healed. Be healed in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.”

    Suddenly, a surge of power swept through her. The sore was instantly gone. She was healed! She jumped to her feet and ran around waving the leaflet and shouting: “I am healed. Jesus Christ has healed me.” 

    The entire village came together to see her and hear her story. Shortly thereafter, they sent a delegation to meet Sadhu Vandenam and the Missionary Lawson Barbour. 

  When they arrived at the little village of several hundred inhabitants, everyone had prayed the sinner’s prayer and received Jesus Christ through the testimony of the healed woman and the Bible texts she had brought home with her.

     When Tommy  and I returned to Canada from Israel a few weeks later, a tape recording of the events had already arrived from Lawson Barbour, detailing the great miracle of God! Praise be unto God forevermore.

     The Second time Jesus MARVELLED was when He witnessed the faith of a Roman Centurion: “The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that Thou should come under my roof, but speak the Word only, and my servant shall be healed. 

   "For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say unto this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come and he cometh; and to my servant, do this, and he doeth it.” (Matt. 8: 5-9)

    Jesus marvelled at his FAITH: “When Jesus heard it, He marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” (Matt.8: 10)

      In our Ministry for our Lord, I have also found that when a pagan Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Animist or an unlearned Protestant or Roman Catholic hears the Gospel for the first time and believes it, they literally grab onto it and sometimes receive a Miracle more readily than a believing Christian who has heard the Gospel repeatedly!

JESUS SENT OUT MANY

TO PREACH & HEAL!

   There were so many SICK people who needed healing that Jesus commissioned His TWELVE disciples to do what He did: “He gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of disease. 

   And as you go preach, saying, The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” (Matt.10: 1,7,8; Mark 6:7)

  THE RESULTS: “And they went out, and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.” (Mark 6: 13). 

  As His Ministry increased, He appointed another SEVENTY disciples to preach the Gospel and heal the sick:

  “After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before His face unto every city and place whither He Himself would come. 

    'And into whatsoever city ye shall enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: and heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.” (Luke 10: 1, 8, 9)

    THE RESULTS: “And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils (demons) are subject unto us through Thy name. And He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven. 

   "Behold I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:17-19)

    Before ascending to Heaven, our Lord gave the Great Commission to all believers: "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

  “And these signs shall follow them that believe. In MY name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 

   "They shall take up serpents (like St. Paul at Malta); and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them (Prison guards in USSR did this to Pentecostal preachers); they shall lay their hands on the sick, and they shall recover." (Mark 16: 15-18)

  THE RESULTS: “And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word with SIGNS following.” (Mark 16: 20)

     St. James wrote: "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them PRAY over him, anointing him with OIL (symbol of the Holy Spirit) in the Name of the Lord: 

    "And the prayer of Faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he hath committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." (James 5: 14, 15)

     We believe in God's promises because they are true and cannot fail! Jesus stated that even if heaven and earth were to vanish His WORDS would stand true: 

    “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.” (Luke 16: 17); “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Words shall not pass away.” (Matt. 24: 35)

     Our God cannot change. It is impossible for Him to change. He cannot and will not change! (Mal. 3:5; Isa. 40:8; Psalm 119: 89; Heb.1:10-12; Rev.1:18)

     Our God cannot lie. It is impossible for Him to lie. He cannot and will not lie! (Psalm 19: 7-9; Isaiah 45: 3; John 14:6; 17: 3,17; Heb.6:18)

     Our God cannot fail. It is impossible for God to fail. He cannot and will not fail! (1 Kings 8: 56; Joshua 23: 14; Psalm 50:15; Psa. 91: 15)

      Our God is available 24/7. He never slumbers nor sleeps. He is not too busy to hear our request or answer our prayer`. He never gets old or dies! (Psalm 121:1-8; Isa. 41:10; Heb.13: 5; Matt.28: 20; Matt. 11:28; Matt. 7: 7-8; Matt. 18: 18-20)

    Here are two Scripture texts that have driven me to my knees in repentance and compassion to do more for Him and my fellowman: 

   “And  I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge and stand in the Gap before Me for the land, that I should Not destroy it: but I found none.” (Ezekiel 22: 30); 

    “And He saw that there was NO MAN and He WONDERED that there was no intercessor: therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him; and His righteousness, it sustained Him.” (Isa.59: 15, 16)

   Almighty God Who made the worlds and created man in His own image wondered why no one cared about the plight of fallen man. He wondered why there was no intercessor! 

    And I believe that today, He still wonders why so few really care about the lost condition of mankind who have not yet heard about the Saviour Who shed His precious BLOOD for their eternal souls. 

CHRIST`S MIRACLES PROVES GOD`S LOVE

    Clearly, when people reject the miracles of God in His amazing creative work of giving and sustaining life, the perfect order of His universe and His graciousness of adopting us into His Family through the sacrifice of His Son, they have committed the gravest of all sins!

     CHARLES DARWIN is a prime example of making a deliberate choice to turn from the greatness of Almighty God our Creator and give the praise and glory to something called Chance or Evolution. 

  Based on his faulty reasoning HE REJECTED THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST. Historical records show the following sad facts: “Having abandoned the Old Testament, Darwin then renounced the Gospels. 
  'This loss of belief was based on several factors, including HIS REJECTION OF MIRACLES: "The more we know of the fixed laws of nature, the more incredible do miracles become"; HIS REJECTION OF THE CREDIBILITY OF THE GOSPEL WRITERS: 

   "The men of that time were ignorant and credulous to a degree almost incomprehensible to us"; HIS REJECTION OF THE GOSPEL CHRONOLOGY: "The Gospels cannot be proved to have been written simultaneously with the events"; 
    AND HIS REJECTION OF THE GOSPEL EVENTS; "They differ in many important details, far too important, as it seemed to me, to be admitted as the usual inaccuracies of eye-witnesses."

             MANKIND'S DOWNWARD PLUNGE!

   St. Paul outlines the DOWNWARD SPIRAL of the perverts he spoke of in his letter to the Roman Church. They began by KNOWING GOD and ended up worshiping  inanimate objects and animals and having orgies of perverted sex!

   “For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them.

    “For the invisible things of Him from the CREATION of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 

    Because that, when they KNEW GOD, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

  “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four footed beasts, and creeping things;

 “Wherefore God also GAVE THEM UP to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

  “For this cause GOD GAVE THEM UP unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 

   "And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their LUST one toward another; men working with men that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.

    “And even as they did not like to RETAIN GOD in their knowledge, GOD GAVE THEM OVER to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient, being filled with ALL unrighteousness ...” (Rom. 1:18-32)

      MIRACLES TURN PEOPLE TO GOD!

    The Miracles of God in Creation, the giving of life and the sustenance thereof to the human family and every living thing, the plant and animal kingdoms, the earth, sea and air and the perfection and orderliness of the planets, the vastness of outer space and the ever expanding cosmos, all point us heavenward in praise and worship to our Maker, Lord and Saviour!

   There are many reasons why Jesus Christ - True God from eternity and true Man born of the Virgin Mary - performed miracles everywhere He went while on this terrestrial ball.

    He performed miracles because of His great love for humanity. 

  He performed miracles because of His compassion toward the sick and suffering. He performed miracles to fulfill the Holy Scriptures concerning Himself. 

    He performed miracles to prove that He is God. He performed miracles because He had come to destroy Satan’s works and his kingdom.

   One of the MAIN REASONS,however, why Jesus Christ performed miracles while here is because He wanted earthlings to repent of their sins and become a part of His Kingdom. 
   Miracles prove the goodness of God and the “goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” (Rom.2: 4)

   Jesus was provoked over the sinfulness and hardness of hearts He witnessed among God’s Chosen People, the Jewish nation. He made it very clear that He expected that the miracles He did for them would cause men to repent of their sins and turn to God.
   The very purpose of His great works was to show mankind His love and compassion!

    After Jesus had performed great miracles of healing and deliverance among them, they still asked for a SIGN. Their hardness of heart is difficult for me to understand! 

    He answered that there would be no sign given except the Sign of the Prophet Jonah who had been three days and nights in the belly of that ‘great fish’, referring to His own death and resurrection (Mark 8:12).

    In their hatred for Jesus of Nazareth, they said that He was healing the sick and casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons! (Mark 3:22-30)

   When God performed great miracles through the Apostles after Christ's resurrection, the religious leaders were upset and sought to destroy them!

    When they could no longer deny the miracles, they said that Jesus was a sinner and that the healed person should give God the glory. (John 9:4). 
     Finally, they threatened and beat Jesus' followers and forbade them to speak or pray in His name:

    “And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. 

     But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, 
   "What shall we do with these men, for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all that dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

  “But that it spread no further among the people, let us straightly threaten them that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.” (Acts 4: 14-18)

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF!

    History repeats itself and we have seen some of the above in our ministry. 

    In our 1965 Gospel Tent Crusade in Winnipeg, a young man from the Evangelical Mennonite Church was instantly healed in his arm which had been broken and not set properly at 2 ½ half years old. When he shared with his Pastor the miracle that had happened, he was told that the devil did the miracle.

    I demanded that his pastor come to the TENT and make that public statement in our crusade, and that he was on dangerous ground calling the Holy Spirit a devil (Mark 3:30).

    When confronted, his pastor confessed that he had lied and that he had done so to keep him from leaving the Mennonite Church and attending a Pentecostal church. 

   The young man and his family eventually left that church for a Full Gospel Church where they would hear the truth of God’s Word declared!

   One of the greatest proofs that Miracles of Healing and Deliverance are for today is found in Jesus’ words of judgment upon the people who had seen His miracles in Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum and had not repented.iH

   Their hearts were so hardened, selfish and sinful that they would not repent. Miracles cause sinners to repent and believe the Gospel!

    After I had been born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit, due to my work as a commercial Traveller, I encountered various Ministers from the cults as well as Evangelical and Mainline Protestant Churches. 

   Due to my upbringing in the Evangelical Lutheran Church (when it preached holiness) and my ongoing study of theology, I was constantly challenged about about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit, like Divine Healing!

    One young evangelical Minister said: “Miracles were given in the Early Church to prove that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, however, now that everyone knows that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, we don’t need miracles anymore!” 

   I thought, “How ignorant can one be. The world and our own nation is rushing toward an eternal Hell at breakneck speed, wickedness and ungodliness is all around us, the Church is lukewarm at best, false cults and demon powers are gaining ascendancy, and an Evangelical Pastor says that everyone knows that Jesus Christ arose from the dead!”

     The Bible records: “Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein most of his Mightiest Works had been done because THEY REPENTED NOT: Woe unto thee Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! 

    "For if the Mighty Works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre or Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.

  “And thou Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell: for if the Mighty Works that which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 

   But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of Judgment, than for thee.” (Matt 11: 20-24)

          EVEN HOMOSEXUAL PERVERTS!

    Jesus declared that if the perverts in Sodom would have seen  the Great Miracles that Christ performed in Capernaum, they would have repented! Imagine, hardened perverts being converted by the powerful manifestation of Christ's Miracles!!!

  Why wouldn't every sincere Preacher of the Gospel want to see God's miracles so that sinners everywhere would repent and believe on Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour?

    My prayer is that every Minister of the Gospel gets filled with the blessed Holy Spirit and begins to preach the Gospel with great unction, compassion and love, reaching out to the sick and suffering with the promises of God to hear and answer prayer!

     And now, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship and the communion of the Holy Spirit be and abide with us all, until Jesus comes. (2 Cor.13:14)

    “The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace, in Jesus’ name, Amen.” (Num.6: 24-26)

    “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. Unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20,21)