Podcasts about JAS

Hey angels,  So sorry for the lack of eps, Vic had COVID. We are so happy to be back!! On this ep, we recap on Big Brother UK and Married at First Sight UK. Jas also talks about a Netflix show called Perfect Neighbour - there's a spoiler around 35 minutes. And we also speak about how strange stan culture has become.  We answered some dilemmas on how to make your workplace more inclusive and how to navigate helping your family with money worries. Let us know what you think! Use VICJASCB for 10% off at https://www.currentbody.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can send dilemmas by using this link: https://bit.ly/3FzyTGG (If you'd like to listen to our episodes ad-free, please join our Patreon :) ) If you are thinking about getting therapy but not sure where to start, check out our sponsor www.betterhelp.com/BGL HOSTS:⠀ Jas: twitter.com/jas_bw + www.instagram.com/jas_bw/ Vic: https://www.tiktok.com/@vicsanusi + www.instagram.com/vicsanusi/ BGL socials: www.instagram.com/blackgalslivin/ + twitter.com/blackgalslivin/ Tik Tok: @blackgalslivin Chat to us using the hashtag #blackgalslivin⠀ Artwork by @thecamru Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

OCT. 1, 2025Your emotions matter to God (1)"We don't have a priest who is out of touch with our reality." Heb 4:15 MSGEmotions—we all have them. Some we enjoy, some we endure. The question is, what does God say about how we should handle them? "Count it all joy when you fall into various trials" (Jas 1:2 NKJV). "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger...be put away from you, with all malice" (Eph 4:31 NKJV). "Be...full of sympathy toward each other" (1Pe 3:8 TLB).God has appointed designated seasons for us to weep, laugh, mourn, love-and even hate (See Ecc 3:1-8). Does He demand that we instantly and completely control all our emotions? No. Instead He makes Himself available to transform our hearts and character, so we can manage our emotions in ways that exalt Him. Rather than providing a manual on emotional self-management, He comforts, encourages, convicts, and reorients us by patiently inviting us to do this: "Let him have all your worries and cares, for he is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you" (1Pe 5:7 TLB).Even painful feelings can provide opportunities to develop a deeper relationship with our heavenly Father. It also helps to remember that we're created in the image of an emotional God, and His Word indicates that He sees our feelings as fundamentally good. Even anger, an emotion commonly deemed pejorative, can glorify Him when we handle it in unselfish ways. It's not about what we feel, it's how we handle those feelings. And God can give us the grace to turn any emotion into an attribute that glorifies Him.Your emotions matter to God"Let him have all your worries and cares."Share This DevotionalSend us a textSupport the showChanging Lives | Building Strong Family | Impacting Our Community For Jesus Christ!

October 11, 2025 Ezek. 42:1-43:4; Ps. 118:19-26; Prov. 25:6-8; Jas. 5:1-8

#163: In this week's whiff of wisdom, In-Glorious Smell-O-Vision co-director and producer Tammy Burnstock and historical scent technology aficionado Jas Brooks share how bringing scent into movie theaters deepens our connection to the story on screen. To listen to the original full episode go to episode #104.Whiff of Wisdom is a biweekly format that spotlights an inspirational insight from a previous guest. The aim is to offer you a whiff of wisdom for your aromatic life, as well as give you some inspiration to try new things that use your sense of smell more. Visit Jas' website: ⁠https://jasbrooks.net⁠Connect with Tammy on Instagram @⁠inglorious_smellovision⁠Connect with Jas on Instagram ⁠@jas_x_flowers⁠Learn more about Tammy's documentary ⁠Inglorious Smell-O-Vision⁠Follow Frauke on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@an_aromatic_life ⁠⁠⁠⁠Visit Frauke's website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.anaromaticlife.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Get No Place for Plants children's book on Amazon⁠Learn about Frauke's ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Scent*Tattoo Project

This special Dope Interviews/Reviews episode dives into the supernatural thriller Stay, from Disney's Andscape — starring Megalyn Echikunwoke and Mo McRae, directed by Jas Summers. Host Warren Shaw gets exclusive press junket access, talking to the cast and director about how Stay blends love, pain, and supernatural tension into a story about vulnerability, spirituality, and the Black experience.Watch “Stay” on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ as part of Huluween.00:00 – Intro: Warren Shaw opens the Stay press junket special00:35 – Introducing Megalyn Echikunwoke & Mo McRae01:20 – Why they said yes to Stay02:15 – Mo on representing complex relationships & loss03:00 – The cultural weight of expressing pain in Black communities04:10 – Megalyn on playing vulnerability vs. the “strong Black character” trope05:45 – Exploring the “fight with yourself” scene and its symbolism07:10 – Mo on ego, identity, and emotional duality08:25 – Megalyn's Executive Producer role and shaping the film's tone09:40 – Director Jas Summers joins the conversation10:20 – Jas on blending romance, horror, and African spirituality12:00 – Visual storytelling: color, light, and emotional contrast13:30 – The cultural lens: how people of color process pain differently15:10 – Building chemistry with Megalyn & Mo as a two-person cast17:00 – Why Jas chose a supernatural thriller as his first project18:30 – Cultural symbolism: drums, love, and ancestral roots19:40 – Warren's final review: the emotional resonance of Stay20:25 – Closing reflections on representation, art, and vulnerabilityBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/dope-interviews--5006633/support.Follow Dope Interviews on X: https://www.twitter.com/dope_interviewsFollow Warren Shaw on X: https://www.twitter.com/thewarrenshawFollow Warren on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thewarrenshawRock "Dope Interviews" gear: https://19-media-group.myspreadshop.comLooking to book a vacation? Our travel partner Exquiste Travel & Tours has you covered: Call 954-228-5479 or visit https://exquisitetravelandtours.com/Discover our favorite podcast gear and support the show—shop our studio must-haves on our Amazon Affiliate page! https://www.amazon.com/shop/19mediagroupWant to join the conversation or invite us to your platform? Connect with us and share your vision (budget-friendly collaborations welcome)!  https://bit.ly/19Guest

October 8, 2025 Ezek. 40:1-27; Ps. 116:15-117:2; Prov. 24:28-29; Jas. 3:7-18

What does real faith look like when money is tight, the wait is long, and heaven feels silent? In James 5 we see three proving grounds of faith—money, patience, and prayer. Pastor Brandon unpacks why money makes a terrible master but a powerful servant (Jas 5:1–6), how waiting forms us (Jas 5:7–12), and why prayer must be our first response, not last resort (Jas 5:13–20).

In these dark times, we must fight evil with the most powerful weapons we have.The Rosary is foremost among them.Join the Great Rosary Campaign today at: www.GreatRosaryCampaign.com.The Great Rosary Campaign is a yearlong mission for the conversion of cultural leaders. We will announce a weekly call to pray every Sunday for specific fallen-away Catholics and non-Catholics.THIS WEEK of the Great Rosary Campaign, we will pray for malign actors within the various intelligence agencies around the world (CIA, MI6, Mossad, etc.), and against any participation they may have with demonic entities.The SUGGESTED PENANCE this week is a 24 hour water fast, adjusted for your state in life.Countless Saints and Popes have told us that the Rosary is incredibly powerful for three things in particular:Keeping the FaithMoral renovationConversions of non-CatholicsThe Great Rosary Campaign is also based on several biblical themes and principles.First, PRAY FOR OUR BRETHREN. “Pray for one another…” (Jas. 5:16). “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Gal. 6:10).Second, PRAY FOR OUR ENEMIES. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:43-44).Third, PRAY FOR ALL MEN, PARTICULARLY LEADERS AND THOSE IN AUTHORITY. “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, or kings and all who are in high positions…” (1 Tim. 2:1-2).Fourth, GOING INTO BATTLE WITH THE ARK. When the ancient Israelites came to Jericho, God didn't tell them to besiege the city. Instead, He told them to march around it with the Ark of the Covenant seven times, and on the seventh the walls would fall. We will now "march" in prayer for seven days with the New Ark of the Covenant, Our Lady, through the Rosary. We pray in hope that on the seventh day, a day especially devoted to Our Lady (Saturday), extraordinary graces of conversion will be given to those we are praying for.Fifth, EVANGELISM AND APOLOGETICS = LOVE + ARGUMENTS + PRAYER + PENANCE. Ultimately it is God who reveals Himself to a soul, and empowers them to say "yes" to Him by His grace. He chooses to use us, but He does not have to. We must remember that as we evangelize and defend the Faith, our arguments will be fruitless unless informed by love (charity), and reinforced by prayer and penance.Sixth, RETURNING GOOD FOR EVIL. “Do not return evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but on the contrary bless, for to this you have been called, that you may obtain a blessing" (1 Pet. 3:9).Sign up to take part in the Great Rosary Campaign today: www.GreatRosaryCampaign.com

October 5, 2025 Ezek. 37:1-28; Ps. 115:11-18; Prov. 24:23-25; Jas. 1:19-27

I once heard a story that I would like to share with you and then I would like to follow it up with a question. A man is on death row for murder, the day of his execution has come, and you have been invited to spend 30 minutes with the man. You ask the man if he is guilty; his answer seems sincere and heartfelt: It was years ago when I committed that crime, but it is true that I am guilty of murder. He continues to explain how year after year he and his lawyers have tried to appeal his death sentence, but all his appeals have failed. Now his only hope is the small chance his lawyers may be able to get the court, or even the governor, to agree to a stay of execution. Just before your 30 minutes are up the man learns that there will be no stay of execution and within the next hour, he will die by lethal injection. You decide to stay to see if by some chance a reprieve might be granted. The time of execution arrives, and the man is ushered to the room where he will be executed. He passes by as you watch, and through his loud sobs, you hear the man repeat, I am so sorry, I am so sorry! I am so sorry! My question for you is this: Is the man sorry that he took the life of another human, or is he sorry that he will never be able to murder again? The account of the first family provides valuable insight into what genuine love for God and true worship look like. Following their disobedience in the garden, God gave Adam and Eve a promise: a Descendanta seed who would come to defeat and destroy the deceiver who had led them astray. Their reaction to Gods promise in the midst of their failure becomes a powerful example of repentance and worship. To truly grasp what led Cain to kill his brother, we must first consider how Adam and Eve responded to Gods assurance and what it reveals about the heart of repentance and worship. Before Adam and Eves sin, they were commanded to fill the earth with children and not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The two trees in the center of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Every day that Adam and his wife passed by those trees, they were given the option to choose life and blessing by eating from the tree of life, or to choose death and cursing by disobeying God by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As you know, they chose death and cursing. After God found them, His promise of good news to the couple was that One would come through their decedents who would crush the serpent. Their response to their sin and Gods promise is found in Genesis 3:20 - 4:1, and it was beautiful! Adam named his wife Eve which means mother of all the living. Gods response after Adam named his wife was to cover them with animal skins, which means that God shed the blood of an animal to cover their shame. God then sent them out of the Garden which was the consequence of their sin and the new reality of the curse they would now live under. Then, even after they were no longer permitted to live in the garden, Adam and Eve responded in faith to the promise of God by finally choosing to have children with the birth of Cain and then Abel; when she gave birth to Cain, Eve said, I have obtained a male child with the help of the Lord. The expectation Adam and Eve had for their son Cain was one of hope, filled with dreams that they also shared for Abel. When it came to the worship of Yahweh, Cain brought a portion from his labors from the ground while Abel brought the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions in worship to the Lord. What this tells us is that Adam and Eve shared the stories of their God with their two sons; they also instructed them in the way they were to worship God out of thanksgiving and reverence that all that they had was from the Lord. Both Adam and Eve understood that the Deliverer promised to them would either be one of their sons or one who would come by way of the sons of their children. Although Cain and Abel grew up in the same household, raised by the same parents, and taught the same values, their lives and choices could not have been more different. Cain chose to work the soil as a farmer, while Abel became a shepherd, tending flocks (4:2). There was nothing wrong with Cains occupation, nor was his offering itself unacceptable. The real issue lay in the condition of Cains heartspiritually, his attitude and motivation before God was deeply flawed. Worship is More than What You Do The offering that Cain and Abel brought to the Lord was their way of thanking God; it was their way of worshiping Him for all the good that He brought into their lives through their respective occupations. Cain was a farmer, so he brought the produce of His work to God not because God needed it, but as a way of worshiping Him. Abel was a shepherd, so he brought a portion of his labor before the Lord as an offering. In verse three we are told that Cain brought his offering, In the course of time.. which is probably a reference to the end of the agricultural season. So, this was not the first time Cain or Abel worshiped God through their respective offerings. Abels offering was that of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. The reason for the detail here is that Abels offering was thought out, carefully prepared, and the best of what he had to offer God, while Cains offering was not. The point is that Cain came to God on his own terms, while Abel came to God on Gods terms. Cains offering was motivated out of obligation and duty, while Abels was motivated by reverence and love. We know Abels offering was motivated by his love and reverence of God for two reasons: First, according to verse 5, but for Cain and his offering He had no regard. So Cain was very angry and his face was gloomy. The second reason is found in Hebrews 11:4, By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he was attested to be righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. What I find amazing about this story is that God did not ridicule Cain for his half-hearted worship, but instead instructed him as to how his offering could be accepted just like his brothers was: If you do well, will your face not be cheerful? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it (v. 7). Worship is a Matter of the Heart Abel worshiped God as one who understood who he himself was in light of who God is (Abel was poor in spirit), he understood that his only righteousness was to be found in God (he mourned over his sins), and his offering came out of a spirit of humility before God (Abel was meek). For Abel, worship was not a duty, but a delight. Cains response to Gods favor for Abel over himself reveals everything we need to know about the man. He first responded in anger (Cain believed what he had was enough), Cain did not listen to God (he did not see his sin for what it was), he was jealous of his brothers relationship with God (Cains pride was wounded). Instead of repenting, Cain chose to murder his brother instead! Cain had the opportunity to respond to God's displeasure with genuine repentance and humility, seeking forgiveness. Rather than mastering his sin, Cain allowed it to dominate him, channeling his rage into a tragic act: Cain talked to his brother Abel; and it happened that when they were in the field Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him (v. 8). The beast that God warned Cain about was not sitting at the door of his heart, it was lurking within his heart! Faced with a choice between life and death, Cain chose death by taking his brother's life. The profound tragedy of Cain's actions lies in his motivationhe killed Abel not only out of anger, but because Abel's devotion reminded him of the holiness of God. While Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in their desire to be like God, Cain murdered out of spite, resenting his brother's sincere worship of God. After Cain murdered his brother, God did not wait for Cain to confess; rather, He confronted Cain directly, asking, Where is Abel your brother? Cains reply, I do not know. Am I my brothers keeper? (v. 9), which reveals not just his guilt, but also his attempt to deceive God. Cain committed not only the act of murder but compounded his sin by lying to God. Despite having witnessed his parents experienceknowing that nothing can be hidden from GodCains response illustrates the irrationality of sin. He wrongly assumed his actions could be concealed from God and tried to cover them up with dishonesty. Where Adam shifted blame for his own wrongdoing, Cain chose to respond with outright deceit. Cains calloused answer to God regarding his brother is deafening. Yet the Lord approached Cain anyway: What have you done? The voice of your brothers blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brothers blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth (vv. 10-12). What Cain failed to consider was that although dirt covered the corpse of his murdered brother, the blood of Abel screamed for justice, and that is what God gave Cain. As is often the case with sin, Cains actions had lasting consequences on his relationships. Once able to nurture life from the soil, Cain now found the earth to be hostile toward him. Overwhelmed by the severity of his punishment, Cain lamented, My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you have driven me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me may kill me (vv. 13-14). What amazes me most about this story is that, even after Cain murdered his brother and responded to God with callousness and deceit, God still heard Cains desperate plea for mercy. Instead of abandoning him, God responded with unexpected grace: Then the LORD said to him, Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden (vv. 15-16). Ever since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, humanity's condition has not improved but has only deteriorated. The serpent tricked Adam and Eve into thinking they could be like God, but Cain escalated the rebellion by taking a lifesomething only God has the authority overwhen he murdered his brother. Just a few generations later, human wickedness intensified. By the time we come to Genesis 6, we see that the sin of Adam and Eve had infected every generation, spreading like a disease until Scripture declares, The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Gen. 6:5). Application I can hardly fathom the grief and devastation Adam and Eve felt upon discovering that their firstborn son had taken the life of his brother Abel. With Cain under judgment and Abel gone, Adam and Eve were left childless, and the promise God made to them in the Garden must have seemed shattered and out of reach. Although Adam and Eves sin resulted in a curse, they ultimately experienced redemption, forgiveness, and the hope of salvation. In contrast, Cain was condemned to wander the earth under a curse, and his life was irrevocably changed. From Cains story, much like Adam and Eves, we discover that sin always comes at a high priceit never fulfills its promises, it destroys peace, brings shame, and robs the sinner of true joy. When darkness seemed to overwhelm and hope appeared lost under the weight of the curse, Adam and Eve conceived again and bore a third son and gave him the name Seth which means appointed. This time, Eves words reflected a shift in perspective: rather than saying she had a child with the help of the Lord, she instead said: God has appointed me another child in place of Abel, because Cain killed him (v. 25). With Seths birth, Scripture notes that people began to call upon the name of the Lord (v. 26). As S.A. Sacks observed, Hope rises like a phoenix from the ashes of shattered dreams. From the brokenness of the first family, God brought forth hope once morespecifically, through Seth and the enduring promise of a Deliverer. The slaughter of Abel as an innocent representation of the God he served was a foreshadowing of the One who would come through the bloodline of Abels younger brother, Seth. Listen to Hebrews 12:24, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. Abels shed blood screams for vengeance, while the innocent shed blood of Jesus screams forgiveness and complete atonement. Abels blood screams: Judgment! Jesus blood screams: Salvation! When Abels blood was shed, it stained the ground, because of Jesus blood being shed, our sin can be washed away so that we can be made righteous. When it comes to sin and temptation, the Bible says: But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death (Jas. 1:14-15). How does one master sin? The story of Cain provides us with three principles that will help us fight against our own sin in a way that Cain failed to do: Recognize that victory over sin begins in your mind. The battle against sin is first foughtand wonwithin your mind. Fill your thoughts with Gods Word to build a strong line of defense (2 Cor. 10:4-6). Remember, you are never trapped by your sin where there is no escape from it; God always provides a way out. Just as He offered Cain an escape, God offers you one toodont cling to the temptation by lingering before it. (1 Cor. 10:13). Run to Jesus, your Deliverer. When temptation strikes, turn immediately to Jesus. Fill your mind with His words, seek His redemption instead of dwelling in the shame of your failure (Heb. 12:1-2) Rely on the Holy Spirits strengthnot your ownto overcome sin. Because Jesus defeated sin and death, you can experience genuine freedom. He has given you the Holy Spirit to equip and empower you to live a victorious life in Him (Eph. 6:10-11). Before you this day are two trees. One is a tree that provides life, and it is the Cross of Christ. The other tree is one of death and cursing; it is the tree Cain chose. People who see you may not know what is going on in your heart and mind, but God sees it all! My appeal to you is to choose life by running to Jesus.

Welcome back to The Uncrowned Podcast—a movement calling men back to what God created us to be: God-first, faith-first, divine masculine expressed through character, discipline, and brotherhood. We don't chase earthly crowns—we walk in calling. Today we tackle a verse everybody quotes but few practice well: “Wives, respect your husbands. Husbands, love your wives.” We break down what Ephesians 5:21–33 actually says (not memes, not hot takes), why respect and love are different but complementary, and what it means that husbands are called to love “as Christ loved the church”—which means die to self. We also get painfully practical with daily/weekly rhythms you can start tonight.  Core Scriptures we unpack: Mutual submission & marriage design (Eph 5:21–33; Gen 2:24).  Respect that can win a husband without words (1 Pet 3:1–2). Husbands: love without harshness (Col 3:19).  Servant leadership & foot-washing (Matt 20:26–28; John 13). Christ's pattern of self-emptying (Phil 2:5–8).  What love looks like in conflict (1 Cor 13:4–7; Jas 1:19).  We even zoom in on the Greek: agapaō (self-giving, chosen love) and phobeō (reverence/respect)—a lock and key that fit God's design for covenant.  7-Day Challenge  Husbands (tonight): Pray out loud with your wife for 30 sec, then ask, “What's one weight I can shoulder for you this week?” (Eph 5:25; Col 3:19). Wives (tonight): Say one sentence of respect: “I see how you ____ and I'm grateful.” (1 Pet 3:1–2; Eph 5:33).  Both: Memorize James 1:19—quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger—and use it in your next tough convo.  Drop a ✅ when you finish Day 1. Tell me which you're doubling down on this week—Respect or Love—and why.   If this served you, follow/subscribe, rate & review, and share with one couple who needs a reset. For a God-first rule of life—Scripture rhythms, communication, conflict, leadership—apply for 1:1 coaching for men: butticejoe@gmail.com or @theuncrownedcoach on instagram and tiktok

Be Graceful with the Ignorant (1) (audio) David Eells - 10/1/25 Giving grace to people rather than always correction should be our norm. Grace is unmerited favor, so no one deserves it. When we speak faith into people, they get grace: “for by grace have ye been saved through faith.” There is a place for condemnation but not in the life of one who truly wants to obey and be holy. These people need grace to do the works of God, but condemnation is contrary to faith and robs them of the very power of God they need to overcome. Brethren, I was once questioned by a dear sister as to why I dealt so gently with a brother who was in an apostate so-called “Christian” religion. My answer may help you know how to deal with someone who is caught up in a false doctrine yet appears to desire truth. Anyone can judge, but love is more acceptable to others and will build them up and help the one who lacks. Dear sister, I can assure you that few know as I do how evil that false religion is. I was thought to be a member of it until I was old enough to walk away. I assume my chat with the brother bothered you. Every time I talk with him, though, he learns more about the Scriptures and gets hungrier for the Word. If I had spoken against his religion immediately, his defenses would have gone up, and I would not be speaking to him at all. This is not God's way of grace. We must be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” as Jesus said in (Mat.10:16). Even a smoldering wick we should not put out (Isaiah 42:3; Matthew 12:20). Jesus confronted the self-righteous Pharisees directly without mercy, but He had mercy on the ignorant and erring who wanted truth. Jesus said to the Pharisees, “If ye were blind, ye would have no sin: but now ye say, We see: your sin remaineth” (Joh.9:41) and, “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin” (Joh.15:22). This man was born again, but he is an infant and knows so little. He needs milk (Hebrews 5:13). Soon, I will be able to tell him clearly and he will be able to hear. Many people have made up their minds with comfortable ideas and don't change easily. If you tell them the big picture up front, they will close you out or leave you, or both. Jesus said, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now” (Joh.16:12). (Ecc.10:10) If the iron be blunt, and one do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct. I.e., A dull axe bounces out of hardwood, but if you sharpen it so that it enters by a very narrow front, the wood will receive it and then each successive blow can go deeper and deeper. (Ecc 10:11) If the serpent bite before it is charmed, then is there no advantage in the charmer. The serpent, or flesh, bites when the charmer is not graceful. We have to enable people to overcome their own flesh so they can receive the bigger picture. We have to be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves (Mat.10:16). Paul called it as deceivers, and [yet] true” (2Co.6:8) because we are calming and deceiving their old flesh so that we can gracefully get truth into their spirit. (Ecc 10:12)  The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself. We should follow God's advice for charming the serpent in them. (1Co.9:19) For though I was free from all [men,] I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more. (20) And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, not being myself under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; (21) to them that are without law, as without law, not being without law to God, but under law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law. (22) To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak: I am become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. (23) And I do all things for the gospel's sake, that I may be a joint partaker thereof. Self-righteousness demands that we be strong to those who are weak and impulsive, but this same Paul shaved his head, took a vow and circumcised Timothy in order to be acceptable to the Jews so he could share the Gospel with them. However, all of these were things he preached against to the knowledgeable. He would have been a lousy charmer any other way. (Jas.3:17) But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy. (18) And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for them that make peace. I hope you will understand, or at least not judge me in this. I wish we would permit as much difference in doctrine in our assemblies as God commands in Romans, in order that the young may grow up and that we may learn the ways of peace. (Rom.14:1) But him that is weak in faith receive ye, [yet] not for decision of scruples. In other words, not to argue with them, but to teach them with grace. (Rom.14:2) One man hath faith to eat all things: but he that is weak eateth herbs. (3) Let not him that eateth set at nought him that eateth not; and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. (4) Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? to his own lord he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be made to stand; for the Lord hath power to make him stand. (5) One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day [alike]. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. (I.e., let him obey his conscience until he has wisdom.) (6) He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord: and he that eateth, eateth unto the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, unto the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. (7) For none of us liveth to himself, and none dieth to himself. (8) For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. (9) For to this end Christ died and lived [again], that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. (10) But thou, why dost thou judge thy brother? or thou again, why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God. (11) For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, And every tongue shall confess to God. (12) So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God. (Rom.14:13) Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge ye this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock in his brother's way, or an occasion of falling. (14) I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself: save that to him who accounteth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. (This makes room for the conscience and grace.) (15) For if because of meat thy brother is grieved, thou walkest no longer in love. Destroy not with thy meat him for whom Christ died. (16) Let not then your good be evil spoken of: (17) for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (18) For he that herein serveth Christ is well-pleasing to God, and approved of men. (19) So then let us follow after things which make for peace, and things whereby we may edify one another. (Let the peace of the Spirit reign in our words.) (20) Overthrow not for meat's sake the work of God. All things indeed are clean; howbeit it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. (21) It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor [to do anything] whereby thy brother stumbleth. (22) The faith which thou hast, have thou to thyself before God. Happy is he that judgeth not himself in that which he approveth. (23) But he that doubteth is condemned if he eat, because [he eateth] not of faith; and whatsoever is not of faith is sin. (15:1) Now we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. (2) Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, unto edifying. (3) For Christ also pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me. The little brother or sister should be able to fellowship in peace with the elder brother or sister long enough to grow up in the knowledge of God. In these days, many who consider themselves mature in doctrine do not permit those weak in the faith into their fellowship. Give God time to reveal Himself to them. Take them under your wing and be patient with them. The self-righteous and proud do not permit differences of opinion. We need to remember that we did not get where we are, or learn what we learned, overnight. We are not talking about immorality or heresy here. That has to be dealt with as Paul taught. (1Co.5:11) But as it is, I wrote unto you not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no, not to eat. Yours in Christ, David P.S. The brother spoken of above is now delivered and Spirit-filled. Glory to God! We all need to remember to accept those whom God accepts. Our hearts should really be burdened for those people around us who just can't seem to get ahold of any faith. They want to please God, but they really can't get ahold of any faith because they have spirits of rejection and religion so anything in their heart is condemnation. They've never been accepted, so they don't feel the acceptance of God either. These people need faith in their hearts, and people around them need to put that faith in their hearts. Often they don't need correction for they know what their problems are. I come from a background of overcorrection, so I know how it tends to make a person feel rejected and hopeless about the future because it takes away every bit of faith. What we have to know and understand is that “the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation” (Rom.1:16).  The Gospel is the good news. When we preach the good news that Jesus has set us free and delivered us to people who are coming from a background of rejection, that's the only thing they need. They don't need more correction or condemnation; they need acceptance. Think of all these Christians who cannot get ahold of faith to get delivered, yet faith is all they need. Nobody has any need but faith. I like what televangelist Robert W. Schambach used to say: “You don't have any problems; all you need is faith in God.” That's so true! It has all been accomplished in Jesus and “the works were finished from the foundation of the world” (Heb.4:3). The only thing that remains is for us to enter into those works through faith and enter into His rest through faith. So people need faith and God knows this. I think one of the devil's largest armies is an army of spirits of rejection, because that's one of the most common spirits around. And maybe I think that because I came from that background and I see it a lot in others. It seems to be such an easy way for the devil to sidetrack people. I think that's why God designed the New Covenant to be the covenant of grace, the covenant of “no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus” (Rom.8:1). We have to learn to accept people with all their problems and all their imperfections the same way that God accepts us in grace. One of our biggest problems is that we need to accept whom God accepts, and when we don't do that, we are judging and having unforgiveness. People who have received rejection have only one need in their life – faith – but what they have instead is condemnation, and you can't have them both at the same time. You have to drop condemnation to grasp faith. You can put that faith in a person by pumping the Word of God into their heart and changing their direction from looking inward to looking outward and upward. Everyone with that problem is always looking inward at what their failure has been and always will be, in their mind. All they can see is their failure and inability, even though pride will not admit it. But since it was God Who designed us and put “this treasure in earthen vessels,” He knows that we are unable and that's part of His plan. We need to be unable; otherwise it's not by grace, it's by works. Part of God's plan is that He put this great “treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves” (2Co.4:7). We need to know that we can't do it. Those people who are under the Law, and looking inward and seeing their failure, are thinking, “I just can't do it!” Well, that's great to know that you can't do it, but if you condemn yourself because you can't do it, then that proves that you're under the Law. When you're condemning “self” because you can't do it, you are proving that you have your eyes looking inward instead of upward. We must keep our eyes on the Lord and what He's done. (Rom.8:31) What then shall we say to these things? If God [is] for us, who [is] against us? (32) He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things? There isn't anything God won't give us to supply our needs. If He would give us Jesus, the most precious, valuable, and sacrificial gift He had to give, surely He wouldn't deny us anything else. Anything else would be insignificant; it would be like the ribbon on the box. If you're giving a great and precious gift to somebody, you're not going to begrudge the ribbon or anything else. God has given us and will give us anything, but He does demand one thing: He demands faith. So instead of rejecting someone because we're looking at the problem or person, we need to learn to put faith in them. Its for whosoever will. (Rom.1:16) For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation (Greek: soteria) to everyone that believeth … The Gospel is the “power of God.” The Gospel is the good news, and we need to put that good news in people. They need to hear, “Listen, Jesus set you free” (Romans 6:22). He has made us free from sin; it is already passed and done (Romans 6). I know this can be a hard thing for a person to believe after hearing so much criticism and rejection, even by church and “religious” people who don't know how to put grace into others. All we need is grace, God's favor, and it's hard to receive grace without faith, and it's hard to receive faith if you have condemnation or rejection in your heart. (Rom.8:33) Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; (34) who is he that condemneth? Woe be unto the person who rejects the person whom God accepts! Judgment is upon those who reject people whom God accepts. God wants to put faith in people's hearts, but when we look at their problems, situations and failures, and then get them to look only at those things, rather than at the Savior and His salvation, we steal from them the faith God wants them to have. And many are so prone to do that as religious people! Most people already know where they're going wrong; they just don't know how to get free and go on. The only way for a Christian to get free is to have faith; otherwise, you wouldn't need God because you could save yourself. But He will not permit you to get free and prosper on your own; it is going to be grace through faith in the promises, or it's going to be nothing. We all need to learn how to get grace into people's hearts by speaking grace to them and pumping them full of faith. (Rom.8:33) Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; (34) who is he that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. That verse reminds me of where the angels were asking, “Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?” (Rev.5:2) Who has overcome to open up the seals? It asks, “Who?” And the answer is the Lamb has overcome to open up the seals (Revelation 5:5). They were weeping there because nobody had overcome to open up the seals of judgment and that's true. Nobody has overcome sin to the extent that they can judge without the anointing and wisdom of God. If we step out ahead of God and judge by our own sight and wisdom, we are doing something that only the Lamb has been given authority to do. He loosed the seals of judgment upon the earth; Jesus was the Lamb Who overcame. The Bible says to be ready “to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be made full” (2Co.10:6), but we are quick to correct. Our obedience may not be full, but we're quick to correct and point out, “Here is your problem,” to people who just can't get up off the ground and cannot find faith. We even wonder why they can't find faith and yet we don't speak that faith into them. (Rom.8:35) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (36) Even as it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. (37) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (38) For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, (39) nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And that's even with all of our failures and shortcomings. All of us come from different backgrounds, and we all have our own shortcomings and faults. It's very easy for us to see one another's shortcomings and to keep pointing them out, even though they've probably been pointed out to those people from birth (Luke 6:41-42). It's the good news that we need to be preaching more of: “Jesus has set you free.” He bore the curse for us (Galatians 3:13) and set us free at Calvary from everything and we need to accept that. Let me tell you about a guy I knew who had a problem with alcohol and was really condemning himself because he just didn't have the willpower to stay away from the stuff. I told him if it were up to willpower, there wouldn't be any salvation, especially for a Christian. If you could do it with your own willpower, you wouldn't need Jesus and you wouldn't be learning about grace. But he was one of those introverts who was always looking at himself, instead of looking at what Jesus had already done and rejoicing in the salvation Jesus gave him. Many people are like that, and if one can't find faith, that's generally the reason. They are not looking in the right direction; their eye is not single (Matthew 6:22). You're either looking at yourself and your ability, or you're looking at your inability. (Rom.3:28) We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. You know what that says to me? God justifies us and accepts us as righteous before we are perfect, and it has to be before we are perfect. No matter how you see that, it has to be apart from the works of the Law. (Rom.4:1) What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, hath found according to the flesh? (2) For if Abraham was justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not toward God. See, when you're condemning yourself, it's because you're expecting yourself to do better, and that's not where success comes from. If you, or any of us, could do better by our own willpower, then we would be justified by our own works. We would be able to glory before the Lord, and that's not possible. (Rom.4:3) For what saith the scripture? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. That's our job, to put that belief in people to believe God and be counted as righteous. Abraham believed God before he saw the answer, and everybody needs to believe God before they see the answer. We need to believe God for deliverance before we get delivered from our faults. That's the Gospel and that's what faith is; it's calling “the things that are not, as though they were” (Rom.4:17). (Rom.4:3) For what saith the scripture? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. (4) Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. (5) But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly (that's you and me), his faith is reckoned for righteousness. Now that's God's acceptance and we have to accept whom God accepts. If we don't accept them, then without even knowing it, we'll be speaking the wrong things to those people. We're going to be hurting them and we'll be separating them from God. (Rom.8:1) There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. That is, those who believe in His salvation. (Rom.4:5) But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness. (6) Even as David also pronounceth blessing upon the man, unto whom God reckoneth righteousness apart from works, (7) [saying,] Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. (8) Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin. (9) Is this blessing then pronounced upon the circumcision, or upon the uncircumcision also? Stop and think about what circumcision is: it's a cutting away of the flesh. It's a symbol of our deliverance from the bondage of the flesh because it is a cutting away of the foreskin of the flesh. It symbolizes putting to death the flesh that you've been sowing. When you cut off the foreskin, it is a changing of the way you sow; you are not sowing the flesh anymore. The only way that we are going to reap the blessings of God is if we change the way we sow. Notice what Paul says: “Is this blessing then pronounced upon the circumcision, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say, To Abraham his faith was reckoned for righteousness” (Rom.4:9). (10) How then was it reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? When did God call Abraham righteous? It was before Abraham received the sign of the Covenant, circumcision, which is a type of our deliverance from our old carnal nature. You say, “Well, circumcision is baptism,” and that's true. Paul said in Colossians that circumcision is a type of baptism. (Col.2:11) In whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ; (12) having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. Baptism is putting to death the fleshly old man and the resurrection of the new man, “Christ in you.” That's what it's all about – an act of faith whereby we are being united with Christ in death, burial and resurrection. And when we come up out of that water, we say, “I'm a new man. It is Christ Who lives in me; the old man died.” So we reckon it by faith, but the baptism has to be manifested in our life as we are continually dying and letting Christ come to life in us, day by day. Paul said, “I die daily” (1Co.15:31). He brought to life his baptism daily; it was a manifestation coming to pass in his life. If baptism is not manifested in our lives, then that act of faith has no works. The washing of the water of the Word (Ephesians 5:26) is putting to death our old man and the new man is coming up continuously. But even before that manifestation, when does God count you righteous? You are reckoned righteous even before circumcision is manifested in your life; in other words, before you are sanctified and holy; delivered completely unto the Lord. How then was it reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision (Rom.4:10) before he had manifested this righteousness toward the Lord. God called him righteous for one reason – faith. And that's the way we have to see those who are running after the Lord, even with all their failures. A person's failures don't make any difference. (Rom.4:11) And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be in uncircumcision, that righteousness might be reckoned unto them. 2Co.5:17 Wherefore if any man is in Christ (by faith), he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new. (I.e. we reckon it accomplished.) 18 But all things are of God, who reconciled (Greek meaning of this word is “exchanged.” He exchanged His righteous life for our fallen life. He reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation; (I.e. We preach faith that “we don't live anymore; Christ lives in us.”) 19 to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, (When we, or others we preach to, walk in repentance and faith, our sins and their sins are not reckoned.) and having committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (I.e. We preach faith that others might receive the exchange of Christ's life for their life.) 20 We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God. 2Co.5:21 Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him. In Genesis 15, there are several signs of the Covenant that are manifested. For instance, there is the blood covenant that God made with Abraham. Another example is when God promised Abraham that his seed would be as the stars, a multitude (Genesis 15:5). So God made a covenant with Abraham. In fact, at this time he was called “Abram” and not “Abraham.” This covenant was before he had a name change. A name change symbolizes a change of nature, character and authority. The Hebrew word for “name” is shem, which means “nature, character and authority.” The same as the New Testament's Greek word for “name,” which is onoma. This is a type for us because we're getting a name change, too. Our nature, character and authority are being changed as we are reconciled and become sanctified through our walk of faith in Jesus Christ. “Ah” in Hebrew means “the brother of.” When it was added to Abram's name to make it “Abraham,” it changed his name to mean “the father of a multitude” (Genesis 17:5). So before he could become “the father of a multitude,” or before he could become somebody who would sow the seed and bring forth a multitude, he had to have a name change. And that's what we want to do. We want to sow a seed to bring people out of this world. We want to have spiritual children in this world. But before we can be the “father of a multitude,” we have to be “the brother of” the Lord; we have to come into unity with the Lord by taking His name. As a matter of fact, did you know that “ah” is also a part of the Lord's name, “YHWH”? Translators added the “ah” to make “Jehovah.” A lot of Hebrew names have “ah” in them, and originally that was the taking on of the Lord's name. At any rate, before Abraham's name change, God said to him, “Take me a heifer three years old, and a she-goat three years old, and a ram three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon” (Gen.15:9). (10) And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half over against the other: but the birds divided he not. The animals were cut in half, which was the way they made the blood covenant. Then the two people making the covenant would walk between the halved animals. But God showed that Abraham would not fulfill his half of the normal covenant when He put Abraham to sleep. (Gen.15:12) And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him. I've thought about this, as that's your revelation of your sinful state when you come to know God; it's “a horror of great darkness.” You get a revelation, “Hey, I'm undone!” And there's not a thing you can do about it. (Gen.15:13) And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years. As a type, this was the Israelites when they were in bondage to the world, to Egypt. It was before they were baptized in the Red Sea and went to the Promised Land, so it was a type of them when they were lost and in degeneration. (Gen.15:14) And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. (15) But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. So God put Abraham to sleep and the only thing that passed between the sacrificial halves was the smoking furnace and the flaming torch (Genesis 15:17), which represents the Lord burning up the wood, hay, and stubble of the old life. This means that Abraham could not fulfill his part of the covenant, that there were no works he could add to bring about the blood covenant of our cleansing. And here's another example, again from before Abraham was circumcised and from before he had his name changed: (Gen.17:10) This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be circumcised. (11) And ye shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of a covenant betwixt me and you. And then He calls it my covenant shall be in your flesh (13). So, before Abraham fulfilled righteousness in putting to death his flesh, in the cutting away of his flesh, God called him righteous. And the Lord calls us righteous, not because of where we have attained to in the Lord, but because of election (Romans 9). It's simply just because God has chosen us; He sees the end before the beginning (Isaiah 41:4) and He calls us righteous. And that's the way He wants us to look at other people. He wants us to say, “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Php.1:6). Just as Paul said, “It is right for me to be thus minded on behalf of you” (7). In other words, “It is right for me to be thus minded on your behalf that He who started a good work in you will perfect it, will finish it.” It's right for us to be minded that way toward the imperfections that we see in one another. It's to look past them and not to reject or criticize but to say, “God's going to finish the work.” We just saw that before Abraham was circumcised, God had accepted him. Here's another good example: (Rom.9:9) For this is a word of promise, According to this season will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. (10) And not only so; but Rebecca also having conceived by one, [even] by our father Isaac — (11) for [the children] being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, (12) it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. (13) Even as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. So it was according to election that God accepted Jacob and rejected Esau. When we see the calling of God in a person's life, aside from all their failures and foolishness, God has accepted them. We need to accept them, too, and not be so quick to try to do what is God's work to straighten them out. First of all, we accept them, and then God's work through us is to put faith into their lives because that's the good news of the cross of Christ. It's the good news that He bore their sins on that cross, and they need to realize that. Now let me share this testimony of grace and faith called:   Ministry of Reconciliation E. D. - 04/03/2008 My wife, was infected with the Brownsville and Toronto spirits as a result of attending one of their meetings. Our relationship began to deteriorate as she lost respect for the Word. We separated for what I originally blamed solely on these manifested spirits in her. But the Lord has impressed upon me in the midst of this trial that there is a better way of reconciliation. And as a Christian, it is my duty to be a minister of reconciliation. And I not only abrogated my responsibility to minister to my wife, but I was a purveyor of the bad report by confessing to brethren my desire to leave my wife as a result of the manifesting spirits. I was so effective in speaking anti-faith to my friends that they may feel the need to argue with me concerning her and me reconciling our relationship. Since she was still my wife, I took authority over those Brownsville spirits and according to scripture, commanded those spirits to loose my wife in the name of Jesus Christ. The spirits did leave. She went back to school and got a job. She did not exhibit the signs of the Brownsville spirits, and she requested reconciliation with me on a couple of occasions. The Lord has recently revealed to me that He loves reconciliation, and we should also. Though she tried to reconcile with me, I kept her at arm's length due to mistrust and weighing her spiritual growth according to my standards, rather than the righteous standards in which our Father weighs my spiritual growth. He sees the end from the beginning. As her husband, I denied her the patience, grace and mercy my Father in heaven granted me. It is no surprise that she recently confessed to me that I make her feel she can never reach my expectations. This is when the Lord impressed upon me that I needed to repent of the way I viewed our marriage. I first had to reconcile my mind of how our Father viewed our marriage and see her from an entirely different perspective. I was not walking by faith but walking by sight. As a result, I was judging her. I was denying our Father the opportunity to work His perfect will in our relationship by putting the onus on her and not on my faith in our Father's Word. Eph.5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it. Our Father reminded me of His long suffering, quickness to forgive and forget. If He can do that for me through Jesus Christ, then who am I not to do the same regarding my wife? I failed to see my wife for what she will be by faith but saw her as she was. Heb.11:1 Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen. I compared myself to how Christ deals with me and found myself lacking. 1Cor.7:10 But unto the married I give charge, yea not I, but the Lord, That the wife depart not from her husband 11 (but should she depart, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband); and that the husband leave not his wife. She felt rejected by me, which was perfectly understandable. Instead of speaking faith I made the gulf wider, pushing her into the arms of another man. But the Lord heard my prayers concerning the other man that he should be removed immediately, and this happened in such a way that both her and I knew it was from the Lord. That is when we began talking to each other and confessing our faults. She confessed she didn't even want to be with that man but felt desperate and unloved. I confessed I was not doing right by her because I was not speaking faith. I was more intent on pointing out her past faults than in realizing the love Jesus Christ displayed for us through His victory at the cross. I didn't realize I was doing this. When I repented and changed the way I conversed with her, I began to see a great change over time in her. She not only became far more receptive to me but to the Word also. She is now like a flower blossoming in the desert. When I speak to any brethren who are going through a similar trial, I tell them, remember, we are to love our spouses as Jesus Christ loved the church. Because that is what their troubled spouse needs. They need to see the love of Christ in us. All it took on my part was to obey the Word of God and lay down myself so she could see true forgiveness and grace. Now I know reconciliation is the Lord's best way. Seeing that we are ministers of reconciliation, I now see my marriage as a part of this ministry. So remember, brethren, speak the end from the beginning for your spouse and speak of things that are not as though they are, because we have the authority in Christ to do this. And my prayer is that our Father restores the spiritual house of all my brethren in similar trials and situations. Amen.

SEP. 30, 2025Don't speak too quickly."Do you see someone who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for them." Pr 29:20 NIVWhen you speak too quickly, you can send the wrong signal and get results you don't want. This is particularly so when you're negotiating for the best deal. Speaking impulsively, and overtalking, are not signs of strength but of weakness and insecurity. Here is a story that illustrates the point: A young computer salesman named Kurt was delighted when one of his business clients expressed interest in buying a used computer system-one that Kurt had installed two years ago but that had recently been replaced with an upgrade. After careful consultation with his head office, Kurt fixed a price of $800,000.00 for the used system and documented in writing all his reasons for requesting that amount. As he sat down to negotiate, he heard an inner voice saying, "Wait. Let them do the initial talking." The buyers quickly filled the silence with a long rundown of their own research about this particular computer system's strengths and weaknesses, the age of the equipment, and the need for new software. "Can you throw upgraded software into the deal?" one of the buyers asked. "Sure," Kurt offered. The buyers then said, "We will give you $950,000.00 for the system, but not a penny more." Less than an hour later, the paperwork was signed, and Kurt walked away with a much better deal than he ever imagined, having said little more than thank-you. The apostle James writes, "My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak" (Jas 1:19 NIV).Don't speak too quickly Quick to listen, slow to speakShare This DevotionalSend us a textSupport the showChanging Lives | Building Strong Family | Impacting Our Community For Jesus Christ!

The draft is back! Jas, Bis, and Gaz go head-to-head to decide the Top 5 worst TV characters ever. From Game of Thrones' Joffrey Baratheon to Breaking Bad's Skyler White (and yes, even Ross from Friends gets a mention

The PCS boys are back!

In these dark times, we must fight evil with the most powerful weapons we have.The Rosary is foremost among them.Join the Great Rosary Campaign today at: www.GreatRosaryCampaign.com.The Great Rosary Campaign is a yearlong mission for the conversion of cultural leaders. We will announce a weekly call to pray every Sunday for specific fallen-away Catholics and non-Catholics.THIS WEEK of the Great Rosary Campaign, we will pray for the conversion of "Sola Chad," a prominent anti-Catholic account on X (@sola_chad).The SUGGESTED PENANCE this week is a 24 hour water fast, adjusted for your state in life.Countless Saints and Popes have told us that the Rosary is incredibly powerful for three things in particular:Keeping the FaithMoral renovationConversions of non-CatholicsThe Great Rosary Campaign is also based on several biblical themes and principles.First, PRAY FOR OUR BRETHREN. “Pray for one another…” (Jas. 5:16). “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Gal. 6:10).Second, PRAY FOR OUR ENEMIES. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:43-44).Third, PRAY FOR ALL MEN, PARTICULARLY LEADERS AND THOSE IN AUTHORITY. “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, or kings and all who are in high positions…” (1 Tim. 2:1-2).Fourth, GOING INTO BATTLE WITH THE ARK. When the ancient Israelites came to Jericho, God didn't tell them to besiege the city. Instead, He told them to march around it with the Ark of the Covenant seven times, and on the seventh the walls would fall. We will now "march" in prayer for seven days with the New Ark of the Covenant, Our Lady, through the Rosary. We pray in hope that on the seventh day, a day especially devoted to Our Lady (Saturday), extraordinary graces of conversion will be given to those we are praying for.Fifth, EVANGELISM AND APOLOGETICS = LOVE + ARGUMENTS + PRAYER + PENANCE. Ultimately it is God who reveals Himself to a soul, and empowers them to say "yes" to Him by His grace. He chooses to use us, but He does not have to. We must remember that as we evangelize and defend the Faith, our arguments will be fruitless unless informed by love (charity), and reinforced by prayer and penance.Sixth, RETURNING GOOD FOR EVIL. “Do not return evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but on the contrary bless, for to this you have been called, that you may obtain a blessing" (1 Pet. 3:9).Sign up to take part in the Great Rosary Campaign today: www.GreatRosaryCampaign.com

Faith for the Coming Wilderness (7) (audio) David Eells – 9/28/25 Father, we ask You in Jesus' name that Your power, Your anointing, Your wisdom be in this study, and not only that, Lord, we ask that You would bless the people who are reading and hearing this will have eyes to see and ears to hear. We ask that You would bless them and that Your anointing will go into their heart, that the Word and the truth will go into their heart to put the courage of the Lord in them. We thank You, Father for this opportunity to share with the brethren, and we thank You so much for blessing all who are studying with us, in Jesus' name. I'm going to continue with our study on faith for the coming wilderness, and I want to share with you how you can prepare yourself for this wilderness. Let's start in (Heb.12:22) But ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels, (23) to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. The text here is about going to Zion, going to the City of God, and becoming a member of the “just men made perfect.” (25) See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not when they refused him that warned [them] on earth, much more [shall not] we [escape] who turn away from him that [warneth] from heaven. Some people think they're going into a great escape. They think they're going in the rapture, but obviously, the escape here is not talking about their kind of escape. You see, they're refusing the warning of God and they are not getting prepared. I learned a long time ago that whether you go or whether you stay, you have to do the same thing: you have to prepare. Even if your theology is wrong, if you're walking in the steps of Jesus Christ, then you'll be ready for what is coming because God has prepared tribulation for His people. Tribulation is coming upon the whole world, people. We have to be careful to accept His warning from Heaven. He is going to shake this world. Even right now, as a matter of fact, we are in a pre-tribulation shaking that God is going to use to bring in the New World Order. Some people insist that God doesn't have anything to do with that, but He does. He is the One Who is uniting the whole world against apostate Christianity, just as He has always done throughout all the Scriptures. Every time God raised up a new world order, it was to persecute His people who had fallen into apostasy. We know this is so because (Ecc.1:9) That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. God just repeats history and He always takes the credit for it. (Ecc.3:15) That which is hath been long ago; and that which is to be hath long ago been: and God seeketh again that which is passed away. In Isaiah, the Lord takes credit for raising up the Assyrian Empire against His people. (Isa.10:5) Ho Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, the staff in whose hand is mine indignation! (6) I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. (7) Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few. The Lord put it in their hearts to come against His people and plunder them. Today, since His people are worldwide and not just little, natural Israel, God is raising up a worldwide Beast to come against His people. It's God, saints! God is behind all of it! (Eph.1:11) In whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will. God works all things after the counsel of His Own will, and “all things” doesn't leave out much, does it? Just because He uses vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor, some people like to give credit to the vessels of dishonor, but no, it's the Lord; it's all the Lord. He's working all things together for our good. (Rom.8:28) And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, [even] to them that are called according to [his] purpose. And what does He say here in the rest of this text? (Heb.12:26) Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more will I make to tremble not the earth only, but also the heaven. (27) And this [word,] Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain. Listen to me, God is going to shake everything so that only His Kingdom remains. The reason for the shaking is to break all of the strength of man, to break all of the power of man's ability to save himself. Do you know why so many people are going to run to the Lord in these days? It's because they've always depended upon their own power in the past, but God is going to take away the ability of people to save themselves. I've mentioned some of the judgments that have already come to the Gulf Coast of America. Hurricane Katrina in 2005, for example, flooded New Orleans and killed over 1,800 people but it also knocked out about 80% of the oil production, which really hurt the trucking industry and the farmers. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 and its use of Corexit oil dispersant was a great catastrophe that poisoned the Gulf and destroyed the fishing industry, but we're just seeing the beginning of these things. It's going to get a lot worse. Places in this country that never see hurricanes have seen hurricanes, but some of those that don't see hurricanes are going to see earthquakes. There are going to be nuclear attacks, there are going to be biological attacks. It will come to the point where there won't be jobs, there won't be gasoline. It will come to the point where the water is poisoned, and the air is poisoned. It will come to the point where there's nothing that man can do to save you, and you won't be able to do anything in the flesh to save yourself. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken so that men will turn to the only Savior because it is in our weakness that God's power will be made manifest. (2Co.12:9) And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. His power is made perfect in our weakness. (Heb.12:28) Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe: (29) for our God is a consuming fire. So, not only is He shaking the earth, He's burning up the wood, hay and stubble of our lives. He's a consuming fire. Back when I was a very young Christian, my wife had a dream in which she saw me standing on a rock in the middle of a vast ocean, and it seemed that this was the only thing that was above the water. I was standing on this rock with leg braces on, like those a polio victim would have. At that time, I didn't know much about the ways and the work of the Lord, but the Lord really spoke to me through that dream. He showed me that the waters represented the curse of the Word on this world, just like the flood waters in the time of Noah represented the curse of the Word upon the world. The flood waters were the curse of the Word upon the wicked who had disobeyed God's Word, but at the same time, the waters were salvation to Noah and those who were in the ark floating above. God said through Moses, (Deu.11:26) Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: (27) the blessing, if ye shall hearken unto the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day; (28) and the curse, if ye shall not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known. The Word of God is a blessing to those who are humble and submitted to it; it's a blessing to those who are walking in it, but it's a curse to those who rebel against it. And the curse is coming to take away everything that God's people have depended upon other than Him. He's a jealous God (Exodus 34:14; Deuteronomy 6:15; Joshua 24:19; etc.) He wants to be our only Savior, which is why He's bringing us to a place of great weakness. Being weak to save ourselves is a part of God's salvation; it's not just faith. (Php.4:13) I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me. We can do all things through Christ; He's the One Who strengthens us. The problem is that we're used to working things out ourselves, rather than trusting in the Lord. We're used to working things out ourselves, rather than putting our faith in Him and resting in Him to bring it to pass. We, ourselves, are the biggest hindrance to receiving the benefits of God. This shaking that's coming is for the purpose of judging all the “gods of Egypt,” as God said about His people who were in bondage in Egypt, in bondage to the old man. (Exo.12:12) For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. That represents Christians today and their gods, which are the things and demons they serve and God wants to rid them of in their wilderness experience. Christians today have been in bondage in Egypt. They've been in bondage to the old man, the Egyptian. The old man was the one who died in the baptism of the Red Sea (Exodus 15:4; Acts 7:36; Psalm 106:9; etc.) and the new man, the Israelite, is the one who came up on the other side. (Hebrews 11:29; Nehemiah 9:9-10; etc.). Well, the Lord brought those judgments upon Egypt to set the Israelites free from bondage to their worldly lusts. You realize that this is now us. That's the people of God. We've been in bondage in Egypt but now we're coming to our wilderness and the wilderness, of course, is the Tribulation (Revelation 12 and 17). We're coming to the same point in time as Israel when they were about to start their wilderness, and I was given a revelation about those braces I was wearing in my wife's dream. I learned they represented an external strength that was going to come to me, a strength from God that would enable me to stand on the Rock of Jesus Christ when the curse is everywhere around us. You know this is what God's going to do. (Zec.4:6) Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel (meaning: born from Babylon), saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. This is what God's going to do for a people who cannot save themselves, who cannot provide for themselves, in a wilderness experience. God Almighty is going to do it. He is going to be our strength. When our strength is worn out, He's going to be there. And He is a consuming fire. He's going to burn up all the wood, hay, and stubble through the Tribulation that we're going through, until only the gold, silver, and precious stones will be left of those who are truly His elect. (1Co.3:10) According to the grace of God which was given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder I laid a foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon. (11) For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (12) But if any man buildeth on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble (the last three, which burns in the fiery trial, leaving only what is valuable in the Kingdom.); (13) each man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall prove each man's work of what sort it is. (14) If any man's work shall abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a reward. (15) If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as through fire. Many years ago, I used to work for the Exxon Refinery in Baton Rouge, and one day, I got a little revelation, and I'm going to share it with you: it's pretty neat. When I was a machinist, I worked on a lot of pumps, drivers, turbines, jet engines, and things like that. It was interesting to me because I was a very mechanically minded person. Now, a pump is basically a shaft that goes through a housing, and inside the housing there are impellers to pump the fluid, but the fluid needs to be sealed somehow to keep it from coming down the shaft and out of the pump. Well, usually it's a seal, but sometimes it's what we called “packing.” Packing is something that's kind of like rope with different substances mixed in with it and we would pack that rope around the hole. Then we would use a gland with bolts to pull the packing up in there to seal between the shaft and the housing of the pump. So, anyway, the shaft might be turning at 3,600 rpms or 3,700 rpms, or even more, in some cases. The shaft is running very, very fast, and depending upon the size of the shaft, there's a lot of friction there, but no matter what kind of packing we would use, if we tightened up the gland too tight to try to seal off the leak, the friction would cause that packing to get very, very hot. In some cases, it would smoke, and in some cases, it would even catch on fire. You had to loose the packing just enough to have the right amount of fluid come through there so that it wouldn't leak out, but at the same time would lubricate the packing. It was a ticklish situation because, if the packing got a little old, sometimes you couldn't tighten up on it at all. It would smoke and leak. We continually had a problem come up where a pump that had been running for a while, and we had to try to tighten the packing up, and it would start smoking, but if you didn't tighten it up, it would leak, so it was kind of a catch-22 situation. Finally, we had a salesman come by who brought some packing that they called Graphoil, and I tried it one day in a pump that was very ticklish. It didn't matter what kind of packing you put in there; if you tightened it up very much, the packing we had would just start smoking because it was a hydrocarbon. And if it got hot enough, it would catch it on fire; the fire would literally be coming out of the hole of the shaft of the packing. So we bought this new product, this graphoil, and I was going to test it for them. I shoved that stuff up in there, and I tightened down on it, and I found I didn't have to tighten down on it very much until it sealed off the leak. The salesman said, “Well, tighten down on it some more.” I said, “I don't want it to catch on fire and burn up.” But he insisted, “No, don't worry about that and just tighten down on it some more,” so I did. I tightened down on it some more, and I told him, “Man, this is pretty good stuff. It doesn't catch on fire.” And he said to me, “Tighten down on it some more.” So, again, I tightened down on it, and nothing was leaking out, but it still wasn't smoking or catching on fire. I asked, “What's the deal here? How come it doesn't burn?” And do you know what he answered me? He said, “It doesn't burn because it's already burned; it's totally burned. It's all graphite; there's no rope in there. It's all totally burned graphite, so it can't burn because it's already totally burned when you put it in there.” Do you remember when they burned up all the diseased cattle over there in England during the Mad Cow Disease outbreak? They did that because that was the only way to destroy the prions that caused the disease. A fire purifies any contaminant, and what's left can't really be destroyed; it's already burned, it can't be burned anymore. It was as if that salesman was comparing our God to being a consuming fire. Ashes are pure, and that's the revelation! We're going into the fire, saints, to be purified, so that this world can't touch us and so that we won't ultimately go in the big fire. By His grace and by His power, God is going to make us able to go through this consuming fire until there's nothing that the world can do to us, until there's nothing but His fruit and His life in us. Hallelujah!! Paul called it a “baptism” when the Israelites went through the Red Sea and into the wilderness. (1Co.10:1) For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; (2) and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Do you know what we're doing in our baptism? We're celebrating the victory of the death of the old man because he died at the cross, just like the Israelites celebrated the victory when the old man was put to death at the Red Sea. (Exo.15:1) Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The “horse and his rider” represented the old man who was coming after them to bring them back into bondage. The horse was the beast, the flesh that had been harnessed to serve the old man, and this is what went down in the Red Sea. I'm not talking about the body; I'm talking about the appetites of the natural man to serve the mind of the flesh. The rider and the strength of the flesh that was harnessed to serve that rider, who was the old man, died in the Red Sea, died in the baptism, and they were celebrating the victory. It's the same thing we do at baptism: (Rom.6:11) Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. We reckon ourselves to be dead unto sin but alive unto God, or in other words, we reckon that the old man can no longer do us harm and we continue to walk by faith in that. Many people believe the devil, or they believe the old man, or they believe the world, and by doing that, they give authority to the old man to bring them back into bondage. You need to believe what the Bible says: (Rom.6:1) What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? (2) God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein? (3) Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (4) We were buried therefore with him through baptism unto death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. (5) For if we have become united with [him] in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of his resurrection; (6) knowing this, that our old man was crucified with [him,] that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; (7) for he that hath died is justified from sin. (We reckon that old man to be like the graphoil packing; he is already burned up; there is nothing left for the big fire at the end.  The valuable stuff left doesn't burn. We consider the old man to be dead and the new man to be alive. If you walk in that faith, you'll find you have power when you are in the trials and tribulations of life, and the old flesh wants to take over. You'll have power when the devil tells you that you don't have authority. You'll have power when the devil tells you that you don't have more power than him. You'll have power when the devil tells you that he's the giant in the land and you can't overcome him. By faith, if you will celebrate the victory that you were given when you became united with Christ in the likeness of His death, you'll find that you have power over the old man. The Israelites always kept forgetting this fact and they kept giving authority back to the old man and his devil. (Exo.15:2) The Lord is my strength and song, And he is become my salvation.... What does it symbolize when the horse is put to death? It means you're no longer counting on the flesh of the beast any longer; you're no longer trusting in his power. The Lord then becomes your strength and your salvation. The people who live in Egypt trust in the Egyptians for their salvation. They trust in the strength of the flesh to save them in any situation, which is the reason God wanted to bring these Israelites into the wilderness. He wanted them where they could no longer trust in the power of man, no longer trust in their old man, their flesh, to save them. (Exo.15:2) The Lord is my strength and song, And He is become my salvation: This is my God, and I will praise him; My father's God, and I will exalt him. Yes, we're going back to our “father's God”! Paul said, (1Co.4:15) For though ye have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the gospel. I'm talking about the apostolic fathers. We're going back to our fathers' God, not the god of apostate Christianity to which so many Christians are in bondage. We're going back to our fathers' God and we're going to trust in His salvation. You see, even after you've been baptized and you believe the Good News, the Gospel, that the old man is not a problem anymore because the Lord has already dealt with him, and you believe that sin's not a problem anymore because the Lord has already dealt with that, and you believe that sickness is not a problem because the Lord has already dealt with that, the enemy still comes after you. And sometimes you become convinced by him that he still has power over you. (Exo.15:9) The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; My desire shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. But God had another plan, didn't He? The Egyptians followed the righteous into the Red Sea and were destroyed. You see, the waters of God's Word are meant to fulfill what baptism gave us by faith as a type and shadow. The waters of God's Word will put to death your old man and take away his power. Whenever you remember what the Lord did for you and you celebrate the victory, you take away the power of the old man. Don't ever believe what your flesh is telling you. Don't believe it when the devil tells you through your flesh that he still has power. No! That old man's dead and he has no power anymore. Now the Lord is your Savior; continue to trust in Him. (2Co.5:17) Wherefore if any man is in Christ, [he is] a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new. Old things have passed away and all things have become new; you're a new creature in Christ. Remember the Good News because, if you get talked out of the Good News, you'll make the same mistakes that the Israelites made in the wilderness. They wanted to go back to the power of Egypt because God brought them to places and positions where they knew they had no strength to save themselves. Do you know what happens when you get into a position like that? Your flesh cries out to go back to Egypt because its tired of the manna of the Word. It tells you to go back to the flesh pots, go back to a place where your flesh will be sure to be fed more flesh. Where you serve the flesh and don't have the fiery trial that makes you fit for the Kingdom. But the Lord is not going to let that happen, saints! He's not going to let us go back to Egypt. In these coming days, He's going to keep us in the wilderness until the old man's dead because the world will be a wilderness. Of course, at baptism, we know the old man's dead, but when you go past your baptism, you're going into the place where what you received by faith at baptism must now be manifested. And the way it's manifested is you let the water of the Word put to death the old man. You hold fast the confession of your hope that it waver not. (Heb.10:23) Let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not; for he is faithful that promised. You reckon the old man to be dead. He made you free from sin. Don't forget it. It says that twice in Romans 6: (Rom.6:11) Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. (17) But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered; (18) and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness. Remember, this is the way we overcome sin; it's by faith. It's not by works, not by self efforts, not by our power. If you're trusting in your ability, you're going back to the old man, back to the horse and rider. Legalism does that; it causes you to go back to the self-righteousness of religion in Egypt, but God wouldn't let His people sacrifice in Egypt. (Exo.8:25) And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. (26) And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? When they sacrificed in Egypt, they sacrificed the abomination of the Egyptians. So God is going to keep His people in the wilderness until everything that needs to be burned up is burned up. This really is a joyful thing, because the people of God are once again going to walk in the steps of Jesus Christ. They're going to take up their cross and follow Him. Now, Miriam, the sister of Aaron and Moses, said, (Exo.15:21) Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously (This is a revelation of our victory that was given to us through Jesus Christ. He conquered the old man.); The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. (22) And Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. Here's one of the first trials that God was going to use to put to death the old man and to cause them to learn to trust in the power of God. He was going to manifestly put to death what died symbolically at the Red Sea. You may have heard the saying, “Well, He got them out of Egypt but He had to get Egypt out of them,” and that's so true, isn't it? We come out of the world through faith in Jesus Christ but then God has to get the world out of us. You see, He wants us to walk totally in the Kingdom. (23) And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah (“Bitterness”). (24) And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? (25) And he cried unto the Lord; And the Lord showed him a tree, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. I believe that this “tree” represents the cross, where God gave us new life. The old man died there, and Jesus Christ, the new man, was given to us. 2 Corinthians tells us the same parable but in a slightly different way. (2Co.3:18) But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit. What happened at the cross, what happened at the Red Sea, what happened at our baptism, was that the old man died and the new man came to life, and that new man is Jesus Christ. He is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col.1:26) [Even] the mystery which hath been hid for ages and generations: but now hath it been manifested to his saints, (27) to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: (28) whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ. We are to believe that, (Gal.2:20) I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me: and that [life] which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, [the faith] which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me. That's the Gospel. If you begin to confess that, you will see the power of Jesus Christ in you to overcome these things. We sometimes have a failure attitude, an attitude of unbelief, when it comes to trials and the ability of the Lord in us to overcome in our trials. It is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” We now have everything that He was. Well, when the Israelites came to their trial where they didn't have any water, God showed Moses a particular tree to cast into the waters and the waters were made sweet. In the wilderness, “water” represents life and we know from James that the sweet and the bitter “waters” are talking about the tongue. We've taught that part of the Gospel is “confession”; it's confessing what the Gospel says is ours. (Rom.10:10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Murmuring in the wilderness is the opposite of the sweet waters. (Jas.3:8) But the tongue can no man tame; [it is] a restless evil, [it is] full of deadly poison. (9) Therewith bless we the Lord and Father; and therewith curse we men, who are made after the likeness of God. This is not talking about speaking what the world calls “curses”; this is talking about speaking what the Bible calls “curses.” The Bible calls it a “curse” when you don't speak in agreement with what the Word says. The Lord told us in the last four verses of the Bible, (Rev.22:18) I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues which are written in this book: (19) and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book. If you add to His Words or take away from His Words, the curses of this Book are upon you, and He'll take away your part from the tree of life! We bring ourselves under a curse with our own mouth when we disagree with God's Word. We bring ourselves under a curse when we agree with the world and with the devil, and with what the old man says, but he's dead. He doesn't have a right to talk anymore. So we bring ourselves under a curse because we have disagreed with the Gospel. The Gospel is the Good News. (Rom.1:16) For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. The Gospel is the power of God to save the one who believes it, but we prove whether we believe it by our actions. When they went into the wilderness, the Israelites proved they didn't believe it by their actions, their complaining and murmuring. We need to pray what David said in (Psa.141:3) Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; Keep the door of my lips. He wanted to be careful about what came out of his mouth. We're also told, (Pro.18:21) Death and life are in the power of the tongue; And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. We need to agree with God; we need to be proven to be believers. We need to have the sweet waters that the cross has given to us, not the bitter waters that bring the curse. As he goes on to say here, the tongue is a restless evil, a deadly poison. (Jas.3:10) Out of the same mouth cometh forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. (11) Doth the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet [water] and bitter? (12) Can a fig tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine figs? Neither [can] salt water yield sweet. If we back up a little bit, in this same text, James talks about the great power of salvation that comes from the tongue. (Jas.3:2) For in many things we all stumble. If any stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect man.... Mature people don't stumble in their words, and that's how you get to maturity. You don't agree with the world; you don't agree with the devil; you don't agree with the curse because Jesus bore the curse. You agree with what God said, and you agree with His promises. You “hold fast the confession of” your “hope that it waver not; for He is faithful that promised.” Anybody who doesn't do that will die in the wilderness. (Jas.3:2) For in many things we all stumble. If any stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also. The sweet water of the tongue has the power to bridle the body, to bring it under control, to make it serve the Lord. The horse represents the very opposite. The horse represents bridling the flesh to serve the old man, bridling the beast to serve the old man. (3) Now if we put bridles into their mouths that they may obey us, we turn about their whole body also, (4) Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by rough winds, are yet turned about by a very small rudder, whither the impulse of the steersman willeth. (5) So the tongue also is a little member, and boasteth great things.... In other words, the tongue can turn about your body; the tongue can bring repentance. People think repentance is crying to the Lord about their sins, but “repentance” just means “turning around and going the other way.” The Greek word for “repentance” is metanoeo and it means “to change your mind or purpose ... involving a change for the better.” The tongue is able to turn us around. When you change your mind and you speak in agreement with the Word, power is given to you. You already know we are justified through faith; we are counted righteous through faith. (Jas.2:18) Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith apart from [thy] works, and I by my works will show thee [my] faith. So when you speak in agreement with the Word by faith, you are justified. Also, (Rom.3:4) God forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy words, And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment. If you want to be justified in your words when you come into judgment, let God be true and every man a liar. Now, why do we have to be justified? It's because without justification, you don't get grace, which means “favor.” If you want to be justified before God, if you want God's favor upon you, then say what God says. Don't say what the world says. If you will do that, you will find God's favor upon you. When the Israelites murmured in the wilderness, it was because they disagreed with God. Instead, they sided with the devil, and they sided with his son, which is the old man, the flesh. They didn't receive grace from God and they died in the wilderness. He goes on to say here, (Jas.3:5) So the tongue also is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how much wood is kindled by how small a fire! Your tongue can destroy you. Every time you open your mouth, you are speaking faith. Every time you open your mouth, you're showing that you believe in the devil and the curse by agreeing with them, or you're showing that you believe in God and the blessing He gave you at the cross by agreeing with Him. You're always speaking faith and showing what you believe; therefore, you're giving authority to someone every time you open your mouth. (Mat.18:18) Verily I say unto you, what things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and what things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. You're “binding” and “loosing” every time you open your mouth, without ever saying “I bind” or “I loose,” as some people like to do. When you agree with the devil, you're giving faith to him, and giving him power. When you agree with God, you give faith to Him and you give Him power. You ask, “How do I give God power?” Well, if you remember, Jesus went to His own hometown (Mat.13:58) And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. He was powerless and it was because of what they believed. Jesus said, (Mat.9:29) … According to your faith be it done unto you. And He told the centurion, (8:13) … Go thy way; as thou hast believed, [so] be it done unto thee.... You give power to God because God has given you authority to give Him power. He said, “What you bind on earth is bound in heaven, and what you loose on earth is loosed in heaven.” Now, of course, God always has power, but He's not going to use it for you if you're not justified, and you're not justified if you disagree with Him. You have to agree with Him; otherwise, you are destroying yourself. The lost people out there destroy themselves with their own words and actions; they have all the faith in the world, in the devil and in the curse, which Jesus bore. (Jas.3:6) And the tongue is a fire: the world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defileth the whole body.... The tongue defiles the body; did you know that? Jesus said, (Mar.7:14) … Hear me all of you, and understand: (15) there is nothing from without the man, that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man. (16) If any man hath ears to hear, let him hear. (17) And when he was entered into the house from the multitude, his disciples asked of him the parable. (18) And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Perceive ye not, that whatsoever from without goeth into the man, it cannot defile him; (19) because it goeth not into his heart, but into his belly, and goeth out into the draught? [This he said,] making all meats clean. (20) And he said, That which proceedeth out of the man, that defileth the man. (21) For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, (22) covetings, wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness: (23) all these evil things proceed from within, and defile the man. There are a lot of people with religious spirits who are pretty legalistic about what they can eat and what they can't eat, but “This He said, making all meats clean.” That's the Word of the Lord, saints. He rebuked Peter about that: (Act.10:11) And he beholdeth the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it were a great sheet, let down by four corners upon the earth: (12) wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts and creeping things of the earth and birds of the heaven. (13) And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill and eat. (14) But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common and unclean. (15) And a voice [came] unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, make not thou common. (16) And this was done thrice: and straightway the vessel was received up into heaven. The Lord told Peter, “What I've made clean, don't you make unclean,” so we can see that was also being used as a parable of the Gentiles that He'd made clean. (Act.10:28) … [Yet] unto me hath God showed that I should not call any man common or unclean: ... (35) but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to him. (Jas.3:6) And the tongue is a fire; the world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the wheel of nature (or, in other words, “cycle of life”).... How can your tongue set on fire the cycle of life? Well, the cycle of life is like sowing and reaping. What you sow, you later reap, then you take out of what you've reaped to sow again; it's a cycle. For instance, if you plant corn, after it's grown and you've harvested the corn, you save some of the corn so you can use it to plant the corn again. You sow, you reap. It's the exact same way with our nature. When you're filled with holiness, it comes out of your mouth, and what do you do? You reap what you've sown and then you sow it again. (Mat.12:35) The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. (36) And I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. (37) For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. It's the same with the wicked tongue: you agree with the curse and you get the curse, so then you're living a cursed life, and what comes out of your mouth is more curses. And so what you receive back again is more of the curse, which is what you're sowing and reaping. (Jas.3:6) And the tongue is a fire; the world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the wheel of nature, and is set on fire by hell. We have to learn to agree with God. When the Israelites went into the wilderness, their big mistake was that they agreed with the curse. They walked by what they saw, what they felt, and what they heard. They didn't walk by “thus saith the Lord,” and listen to me, this is a revelation for us. What we need to do from the time when we first enter into our wilderness is to walk by “thus saith the Lord.” We all need to learn to live supernaturally and there's only one way you can do that: you have to walk by “thus saith the Lord.” You have to accept and speak the Word. I'm reminded of Peter, when he stepped out of the boat: he lived supernaturally, and he stepped out on only one word. (Mat.14:28) And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee upon the waters. (29) And he said, Come. And Peter went down from the boat, and walked upon the waters to come to Jesus. (30) But when he saw the wind, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, Lord, save me. (31) And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and took hold of him, and saith unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Well, the Lord said “Come” and Peter stepped out of the boat, but when he got his eyes off of the Lord, when he got his eyes off the Word and onto the waves, he started sinking. When Peter started walking by sight in the desolation of the wilderness, so to speak, he started sinking. We have been given the power to walk supernaturally through faith in the Gospel and the Gospel needs to be coming out of our mouths in the situations where we don't have any strength to save ourselves. As God told Paul, “My power is made perfect in weakness.” When you have no way to save yourself, you will turn to the Lord. Everybody who is called of God, everybody who is the elect of God, turns to the Lord. That's why the wilderness is there; it's bringing us to the place where the horse and the rider no longer have power, and we need to remember that. We can live supernaturally. We can live above this world, even in a wilderness where there is no provision; we can live there by faith in the Word of God. The cross made sure of that for us, which is what Exodus 15:25 is saying. Moses cast the tree into the waters and the bitter waters became sweet. Do you know what happened at the cross? That old man died. The one who spoke the bitter waters died. The one who gave faith to the devil died. The one who brought the curse upon that life died. The cross crucified him and that old man is dead. (Rom.6:11) Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. If you will do this, you will be united with Christ in the likeness of His death, and if you will do this, you will be justified before God. He will give you His grace, His favor, and so you will be able to walk out that life in the wilderness. Returning to our text in (Exo.15:25) And he cried unto the Lord; And the Lord showed him a tree, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made for them a statute (“law”) and an ordinance (“penalty for breaking the law”), and there he proved them; (26) and he said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice.... We don't need to hear any other voice in this coming wilderness; we need to “hearken,” which means “hear and obey,” the voice of the Lord. If we will do that and not walk according to the ears of this world nor the sight of this world, if we let that voice be our voice, then we'll have this benefit. (26) And he said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his eyes, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon thee, which I have put upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee. Why did He make this promise to them at the very beginning of their wilderness? (1Co.10:11) Now these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come. He made this promise at the very beginning of their wilderness because they are a type and a shadow for us. This promise is for us because we are about to go into a wilderness, and one of the judgments that is falling upon the world is that all of the diseases that man has made are spreading but so will be the cure. “He sent His Word and healed them.” Mass healings like the world has never seen will come to glorify God. I had a vision like that one time. In the vision, my wife and I were resting in lawn chairs in front of our house, and we were looking at this power line going from pole to pole across in  the front of the house. This power line was sagging in the middle until it almost touched the ground, and we were studying this sagging power line when suddenly a tornado came over the top of that power line and just picked us up and carried us away. And the Lord explained this little vision to me. He said, “That power line represents the power of man and the reason it was sagging and almost touching the ground is because it's coming to an end.” The power of man is coming to an end. And when the tornado came and picked us up, that represented the power of God, like that which carried away Elijah (2 Kings 2:11). Shortly after that we were moved to Pensacola, Florida from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and God paid the whole bill. Many miraculous things happened, including that He found us the very house He'd shown us in visions. He gave us the house, He gave us the new car; everything we'd asked for in faith, He did. The power of man came to an end, too, because it was nothing I did to bring it all to pass. God doesn't want to share His glory with the old man, with the flesh. While you're working, He's not. When you stop and believe, He will. God is not going to share His glory with the horse and rider; they have to die at the edge of the wilderness. Where we're going, saints, the works of the horse and rider won't save us. The Israelites lost faith in God walking by sight and they wanted to go back to Egypt. They wanted to go back to the salvation of the flesh pots, to trusting in the arm of the flesh, to trusting in man. That's not going to work for us anymore. It's not even going to work for the world, but it definitely won't work for us because God has called us to something higher. The truth is, this whole world is going to be polluted; this whole world is going to be poisoned. There are going to be both natural and weaponized diseases loosed on this world from God and man that are just beyond imagination, and yet we have a promise, right here at the beginning of the wilderness, that God won't put this upon us. “For I am the Lord that healeth thee.” He said He would put it upon the Egyptians and not upon us. The wicked will feel His wrath but we're supposed to walk by faith in this Good News; this Good News is the Gospel, and it's God's salvation to everyone who believes it. We've received revelations at UBM about the air and water being poisoned all throughout this land. Multitudes of people will die of manmade diseases, and we're already seeing it happen. A brother over on the East Coast was given a vision in which he saw biological weapons being smuggled into this country by terrorists who loosed them and killed 80 million people; he was a prophet, and he saw a vision of that happening. Truly saints, only faith in the Gospel is going to save you from the judgments that will be going across this land. The only thing that is going to save you is faith in the Gospel; no strength of man will do it. Nothing will keep us alive through this wilderness like lessons from Joshua and Caleb (Numbers 14:30, 26:65), who held fast to the confession of the Gospel of their time. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, and everything that can be burned will burn. Something that's stuck with me for a long time is Dumitru Duduman's vision of seeing the earth catch on fire and God speaking to him, “Dumitru, quick! Get on the mountain or you will burn!” That mountain is Mount Zion. It's “the spirits of just men made perfect.” It's the only place that won't be shaken. Everything in this world will be shaken, but those who abide in God's Kingdom, through faith and through their confession, will be saved, and they will endure this wilderness. In fact, multitudes of them will endure until the end. They will live through everything that's coming upon this world because of their faith that Jesus has already borne this curse. God is going to deliver them. We need to get prepared and the way to do that is to put the “manna,” which is the Word of God, in our heart. That's the very next parable we see in Exodus. (Exo.16:4) Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not. (31) And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. Jesus is the bread that came down from Heaven to give life to the world. (Joh.6:51) I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: yea and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world. But those Israelites said that they hated the manna and they called it “vile.” (Num.21:5) And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loatheth this light (or “vile,” as the footnote says) bread. They didn't like the manna, they were tired of the manna, and many Christians today are just tired of the manna. They're tired of the Word. They'd rather go please themselves with the world, instead of preparing for the things that are coming upon the world, but life to God's people in the wilderness is the manna. Life to God's people in the wilderness is Jesus, Who was that manna and Who is the Word (John 1:14). God commanded those Israelites to partake of the manna for the whole time they were in the wilderness. (Exo.16:35) And the children of Israel did eat the manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat the manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan. The manna supernaturally preserved them all the way through the wilderness until they came to the Promised Land. So when they became tired of the manna, they cried out for flesh and what did God do about it? He said, “Alright, I'll give you flesh. I'll give you flesh until it comes out of your nose.” What does “flesh” represent? It represents living after the lusts of the flesh. (Num.11:18) And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow, and ye shall eat flesh; for ye have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. (19) Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days, (20) but a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you; because that ye have rejected the Lord who is among you.... That was the manna. They rejected the manna because they wanted to live after the flesh. God wanted to give them the Word, but they wanted the flesh and God brought judgment upon them. (33) While the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague. (34) And the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah (“the graves of lust”), because there they buried the people that lusted. It pleased them to live after the lusts of their flesh, instead of partaking of the Word, which was life (John 6:63), and God gave them over to the lusts of their flesh. Multitudes of so-called “Christians” are going to go berserk in the coming times because they are crying out for something besides the Word of God, which God provided for them to preserve them through this wilderness. And while they are calling out for it, just as He did with the Israelites who lusted, God's going to be giving it to them. The whole world is going to be demon-possessed in the coming wilderness, saints. The only people who are going to be preserved are those who have eaten the bread of life, Jesus Christ. Do you know what it is to “eat” something? You chew it, you swallow it, you digest it and it becomes who you are. Some people study the Word and they talk about the Word in Church, but they don't walk according to the Word. They don't live it out. In the days to come, the lusts of the flesh are going to kill people. The only thing that's going to preserve us is to digest the Word of God. (Exo.15:26) And he said, If thou wilt diligently hearken (meaning “to hear and obey”) to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his eyes, and wilt give ear to his commandments (meaning “keep these commandments”), and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon thee, which I have put upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee. Our God will give supernatural provision to His people to live through the wilderness, but remember what He told them in (Exo.16:4) ... I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not. He was going to try them with a day's portion every day to prove them, to see whether they would keep His law or not.

From the archive: This episode was originally recorded and published in 2022. Our interviews on Entrepreneurs On Fire are meant to be evergreen, and we do our best to confirm that all offers and URL's in these archive episodes are still relevant. Jaspreet 'Jas' Mathur is an accomplished Canadian entrepreneur, venture capitalist and lifestyle influencer. He launched his first business at age 12 and has since founded and reinvented a variety of successful companies. Top 3 Value Bombs 1. You have to identify your definition of success and find the purpose driving you to become the most successful version of yourself. 2. Limitless means you can achieve anything and everything you set your mind to. 3. Evaluate your friends; stick with the people who inspire you, and learn from them. Surround yourself with the right people. Connect with Jas on Instagram - Jas' Instagram Sponsors HighLevel - The ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies. Learn more at HighLevelFire.com. Ziprecruiter - Use ZipRecruiter, and save time hiring. 4 out of 5 employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. And if you go to ZipRecruiter.com/fire right now, you can try it for free. Public - Build a multi-asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto, and more. Go to Public.com/fire to fund your account in five minutes or less. All investing involves the risk of loss, including loss of principal. Brokerage services for US-listed, registered securities, options and bonds in a self-directed account are offered by Public Investing, Inc., member FINRA and SIPC. Public Investing offers a High-Yield Cash Account where funds from this account are automatically deposited into partner banks where they earn interest and are eligible for FDIC insurance; Public Investing is not a bank. Cryptocurrency trading services are offered by Bakkt Crypto Solutions, LLC (NMLS ID 1890144), which is licensed to engage in virtual currency business activity by the NYSDFS. Cryptocurrency is highly speculative, involves a high degree of risk, and has the potential for loss of the entire amount of an investment. Cryptocurrency holdings are not protected by the FDIC or SIPC. Alpha is an experimental AI tool powered by GPT-4. Its output may be inaccurate and is not investment advice. Public makes no guarantees about its accuracy or reliability - verify independently before use. Rate as of 6/24/25. APY is variable and subject to change. Terms and Conditions apply.    

SEP. 24, 2025A relationship governed by rules."If you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says...God will bless you for doing it." Jas 1:25 NLTGoing to heaven is based solely upon having a relationship with Christ; one in which you place your total trust in Him. This relationship also involves rules you live by and guidelines that make you more godly. A tennis player isn't free to play tennis if there is no baseline to let him or her know whether the ball is "in or out." A baseball player isn't free to play baseball without a foul line. A football player is not free to play football without sidelines.You cannot be truly free without restraints.For example, a fish is not free to wander through the jungle, and a lion is not free to dwell in the ocean. Neither was made for that.Freedom is having the benefits accumulate to you that you were created to receive.Freedom doesn't mean no boundaries.Freedom "in Christ" means that within the right boundaries, you get to experience "life more abundant" (See Jn 10:10). James writes, "If you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says...God will bless you for doing it." On top of the Statue of Liberty is a crown with seven spikes depicting the seven seas and seven continents, meaning wherever you are, you can come to America. At the bottom of the statue is a broken chain, meaning you can come to America and find freedom. But when you come, you must agree to honor the rules that govern the relationship.A relationship governed by rules Freedom "in Christ"Share This DevotionalSend us a textSupport the showChanging Lives | Building Strong Family | Impacting Our Community For Jesus Christ!

I'm Joe Buttice, and in EP03 of The Uncrowned Podcast we press deeper into what this re-centering really means: God first, faith first, same core values—louder conviction. The Uncrowned is a movement calling men to what God created us to be. Not chasing earthly crowns—walking in calling. If you've felt “unqualified,” this one's for you. I sit down with Benjamin Williams—husband of 22 years, father of 7, church elder, and creator @RelentlessPositivity. Ben shares a raw testimony: hedonism and addiction → Matthew 11:28 → repentance → a life rebuilt in Christ. We talk men's mental health, the emptiness of success without God, and why mission > metrics in content and in life. I open up about rebuilding after addiction and social media burnout, and how purpose got louder when I stopped chasing vanity numbers and started chasing one transformed life at a time. We get real about today's culture—civil discourse, traditional values, and why reclaiming Priest • Provider • Protector isn't a slogan; it's an assignment. Priest: set the spiritual temperature at home and in community (Gen 18:19; Deut 6:7; Josh 24:15). Provider: more than money—presence, formation, worship, brotherhood (1 Tim 5:8; Luke 5:16). Protector: not just locks and fists—tone, patience, emotional safety (Eph 5:25; Jas 1:19; Col 3:19; 1 Pet 3:7). We wrestle with work, economy, and control, then anchor it in Matthew 6:33—seek first the Kingdom, steward hard, and trust God with the rest. We hit idolatry and distraction (“bread and circuses”), and why brotherhood matters now more than ever. If you're looking for a practical primer on the masculine soul, Ben recommends Wild at Heart (Eldredge): a battle to fight, an adventure to live, a beauty to rescue. 7-Day Challenge: Priest: Read 1 Proverb daily and pray out loud for 30 seconds—by name. Provider: Block 1 phone-free hour for wife/kids/brothers this week. Protector: Ask, “What haven't you felt safe to tell me?” Listen. Don't defend. Pray together. If this hit your spirit, follow/subscribe, rate & review, and share with one brother who needs it today. Join the Uncrowned community for accountability and updates on retreats, and if you're ready to build a God-first rule of life—habits, leadership, communication—my 1:1 coaching for men is open. DM "Coaching" @theuncrownedcoach on tiktok or instagram or send me an email!

*** VIDEO EN NUESTRO CANAL DE YOUTUBE **** https://youtube.com/live/cg9Tc-IqPfY +++++ Hazte con nuestras camisetas en https://www.bhmshop.app +++++ #geopolítica #actualidad #guerraenucrania res cazas rusos MiG-31, armados con misiles R-73, violaron el espacio aéreo de Estonia durante 12 minutos. Fueron interceptados por F-35 italianos y cazas suecos JAS-39 Gripen, pero no hubo derribo. Este incidente no es aislado: se suma a la incursión de 19 drones en Polonia y al vuelo de un avión espía ruso IL-20M cerca de Alemania. ¿Estamos ante simples provocaciones, errores de navegación… o un caso de guerra cognitiva diseñado por Moscú para sembrar miedo en Europa y erosionar el apoyo a Ucrania? En este programa analizamos: Los últimos incidentes aéreos en Estonia, Polonia y Alemania. El papel de la OTAN y el Artículo 4, invocado por Estonia. La doctrina rusa de la guerra cognitiva y el control reflexivo, herencia soviética. Cómo el miedo a una gran guerra puede convertirse en el arma más poderosa de Putin. Paralelismos históricos: Turquía 2015 (Su-24), Siria 2018 (IL-20M) y las lecciones actuales. ️ Con Francisco García Campa en ¿Hablamos?, un espacio para reflexionar sin prisas sobre los dilemas de nuestro tiempo. SUSCRÍBETE para no perderte ningún programa y únete a nuestra comunidad de apasionados por la historia militar, la geopolítica y los conflictos del mundo. Apóyanos para seguir creando contenido riguroso e independiente: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bellumartis PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/bellumartis Bizum: 656 778 825 Síguenos también en redes: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bellumartis Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/BellumartisHM Bellumartis Historia Militar — Porque entender el pasado es prepararse para el futuro.

In these dark times, we must fight evil with the most powerful weapons we have.The Rosary is foremost among them.Join the Great Rosary Campaign today at: www.GreatRosaryCampaign.com.The Great Rosary Campaign is a yearlong mission for the conversion of cultural leaders. We will announce a weekly call to pray every Sunday for specific fallen-away Catholics and non-Catholics.THIS WEEK of the Great Rosary Campaign, we will pray and fast against the diabolical influence in our society, particularly against those tormented and deceived by transgender ideology.The SUGGESTED PENANCE this week is to fast as much as you can per your state in life. Our Lord said that some demons are only expelled by prayer with fasting (Mark 9:29). So in addition to the Rosary, we are asking everyone to take fasting far more seriously in light of the truly diabolical forces at work in our society.Countless Saints and Popes have told us that the Rosary is incredibly powerful for three things in particular:Keeping the FaithMoral renovationConversions of non-CatholicsThe Great Rosary Campaign is also based on several biblical themes and principles.First, PRAY FOR OUR BRETHREN. “Pray for one another…” (Jas. 5:16). “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Gal. 6:10).Second, PRAY FOR OUR ENEMIES. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:43-44).Third, PRAY FOR ALL MEN, PARTICULARLY LEADERS AND THOSE IN AUTHORITY. “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, or kings and all who are in high positions…” (1 Tim. 2:1-2).Fourth, GOING INTO BATTLE WITH THE ARK. When the ancient Israelites came to Jericho, God didn't tell them to besiege the city. Instead, He told them to march around it with the Ark of the Covenant seven times, and on the seventh the walls would fall. We will now "march" in prayer for seven days with the New Ark of the Covenant, Our Lady, through the Rosary. We pray in hope that on the seventh day, a day especially devoted to Our Lady (Saturday), extraordinary graces of conversion will be given to those we are praying for.Fifth, EVANGELISM AND APOLOGETICS = LOVE + ARGUMENTS + PRAYER + PENANCE. Ultimately it is God who reveals Himself to a soul, and empowers them to say "yes" to Him by His grace. He chooses to use us, but He does not have to. We must remember that as we evangelize and defend the Faith, our arguments will be fruitless unless informed by love (charity), and reinforced by prayer and penance.Sixth, RETURNING GOOD FOR EVIL. “Do not return evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but on the contrary bless, for to this you have been called, that you may obtain a blessing" (1 Pet. 3:9).Sign up to take part in the Great Rosary Campaign today: www.GreatRosaryCampaign.com

Esta semana en Verba Volant nos hemos ido a clase con el centauro Quirón, el profe más mítico del Olimpo. Allí están Aquiles, Jasón, Asclepio y hasta Hércules… pero ojo, que no son precisamente alumnos modelo. Quirón tiene que tirar de mucha disciplina (palabra que en latín quería decir “aprender” y en la Edad Media… ¡látigo!). Entre sandalias mal atadas, planes de cruceros y siestas en clase de anatomía, descubrimos que incluso los héroes necesitaban que les metieran en vereda. Y todo, con humor y con los clásicos siempre de fondo.Escuchar audio

Faith for the Coming Wilderness (6) (audio) David Eells – 9/21/25 I'm going to continue with our study of faith for the coming wilderness and how to walk above the principles of this world. All of this is to help prepare people to hear the voice of our God in the wilderness, so they can be preserved and provided for as they come out from under the bondage in Egypt. God led His people out of Egypt to learn to walk by faith in Him. (Heb.10:38) But my righteous one shall live by faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him. We've learned that God is about to raise up the first-fruits. They are a people who have been walking in the wilderness, walking by faith in the Lord. They are trusting in the Lord to be their Savior in all things. They are not ruled by the dictates of the world or religion. And, like Moses and Jesus, who were the first-fruits in their day, God is preparing the first-fruits of our day to bring the larger group of spiritual Israel into their wilderness. That's where we're headed soon, and you have an opportunity right now to be one of those who hears the voice of the Lord in the wilderness, one of those who learns to trust in Him. It's very exciting! So to help encourage others to walk by faith in the Lord, I have some more testimonies to share with you of my own wilderness experiences that gave me courage. And I want to tell you that these testimonies, even though they are very miraculous to me, are going to be commonplace in the days to come, but nothing like the even greater works God is about to do. Jesus told us, (Joh.14:10) Truly, truly, I say to you, He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to my Father. I've seen some wonderful things which are very exciting to me, and some are the greater works. They put faith in my heart to know that God is faithful to His Word, but we have things much, much greater coming. Let me emphasize again that salvation in the wilderness doesn't come through any works of man. The “rest” from our own works is just that: it's the rest from man's works to save himself and to provide for himself. The Lord God has already done it through Jesus Christ. Let me point something out to you. (1Co.1:28) And the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, did God choose, [yea] and the things that are not, that he might bring to nought the things that are: (29) that no flesh should glory before God. Have you heard that before? Yes! (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; (9) not of works, that no man should glory. God is very careful; He doesn't want us to be able to take credit for any form of our salvation, which we have seen is very big. When you speak a word of faith or you pray and believe you have received, only God is going to get credit for that. The fulfillment comes supernaturally. This is how God is going to provide for His people in the wilderness. They're going to enter into the rest by trust in God. The “things that are not” that God chose are all of those awesome promises we shared earlier: you have been saved; you were healed; He bare your sins; He reconciled you; you have been crucified; you have been redeemed; you have been perfected; He delivered you out of the power of darkness; and so on. Those things are not seen in the physical realm, but God chose to use those things that “are not,” that He might bring to nothing the things that are. And the “things that are” is the curse we see all around us: the sickness, the demonic possession, the lack, and so on. The “things that are” are all the curses of Deuteronomy 28 upon mankind. The Lord already took care of this because He says so in His Word. We need to believe exactly what He says without adding to it and without taking away from it, which He says brings a curse. (Rev.22:18) I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues which are written in this book: (19) and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book. So God chose the things that are not, He chose these promises, to bring to nothing the things that are. For example, a doctor is not a thing that is not and medicine is not a thing that is not, and psychiatry is not a thing that is not. The things that men generally run to for salvation are “things that are,” but God chose the “things that are not” for a very good reason: He chose them so “that no flesh should glory before God.” Jesus taught us to pray, (Mat.6:10) Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Is there any sickness in Heaven? How about demonic possession? How about sin ruling your life? He said, (Col.3:1) If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. (2) Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth. (3) For ye died (past tense), and your life is hid with Christ in God. (4) When Christ, [who is] our life, shall be manifested (That is, in the physical realm.), then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory. The glory of God is manifested in us while we look not at the things that are but at the things that are not. So how do we use the “things that are not” to bring to nothing the “things that are”? We do it the same way God does it. (Rom.4:7) … God … calleth the things that are not, as though they were. We just speak them as done; we just command them as done; we claim them as done. And we don't put our trust in the arm of the flesh because in (Jer.17:5) Thus saith the Lord: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. When you trust in the arm of the flesh, you're trusting in what man can do, the strength of man; you're trusting in man's power, but that's a heart that “departs from the Lord.” For example, by the stripes of Jesus (1 Peter 2:24) “ye were healed.” He didn't say “will be,” He said, “were”! And that, of course, negates any of your own works to save yourself because He's already done it and so all we have to do is rest. (Heb.4:1) Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. We want to enter into all of the rest of God; we want to be at peace in all circumstances because we know our sovereign Lord is in control. We know He's taken care of us already at the cross. (Joh.10:30) When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up his spirit. We know He has healed us, we know He has delivered us, we know He has provided for us and so on. We know all these things are already done and it's just a matter of our entering into them through faith. The Good Tidings were also preached to the Jews, but they didn't believe them. (Heb.4:2) For indeed we have had good tidings (That's the Gospel, the Good News.) preached unto us, even as also they: but the word of hearing did not profit them, because it was not united by faith with them that heard. (3) For we who have believed do enter into that rest; even as he hath said, As I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. When we believe, we're not just hearing the promise; we're mixing faith with the promise by acting on that promise. When you do that, the miracle comes. A lot of people question, “Yeah, David, we know God can handle these little things, but what about the big things?” Well, I've already shared a few testimonies that I thought would be considered “big things” to most people, but now let me share another one with you. I'm going to tell you how the Lord miraculously healed my youngest son, Justin, without the help of man. Years ago, when Justin was little more than a toddler, we lived in a Christian community outside of Baton Rouge and all of us had our own assembly there. Well, the territory over there was a lot of hard clay, and you just about couldn't get grass to grow in it, but we had plowed it all up around several of the houses there and planted some grass. So when the rain came, the water stayed on top of the ground, and it was nothing but mud. So when that happens, we put planks across the mud so that we could go back and forth to the neighbors and fellowship with them and so on. I had walked over to the neighbors with Justin and when we were coming back, he was walking ahead of me on one of the planks, and I was kind of guiding him in front of me. Suddenly, he started to trip and lunge forward down into the mud. I reached out and grabbed his wrist just as he was falling, and I actually felt his bone snap in my hand, and I could have sworn I heard it, too. You know, that's a strange thing: I didn't know you could hear something like that, but I heard the pop and I felt the snap in my hand and I knew that his arm had broken. It was because I grabbed him at kind of a right angle, and it was my fault. When I picked him up, he was crying, and I just cradled him in my arms. Now, I'd already been walking in my wilderness for quite a few years, and I was constantly seeing miracles, so I was praying to the Lord and thanking the Lord for healing him because it was common for me to be healed by the Lord. And as I was going toward the house on the planks, the thought came into my mind, “I'm not going to say anything to Mary about this because I don't want to put any trial on her. I'm just going to see what the Lord does here.” So when we came in, she asked, “What happened?” I said, “Oh, he was falling and I caught him and his arm was hurt,” which was all true, but I knew a little bit more than what I was saying. So my wife picked him up and took him over to the rocking chair, and she rocked him back and forth until he basically cried himself to sleep. Then she began feeling around on his arm while I was in the room, watching her. She said, “David, his arm's not hurt, it's broken!” I said, “Yeah, I know that, but you know the Lord and you know what He's always done for us. You know He's always healed us and He's not going to fail us now, either.” She said, “Yeah, that's right.” She agreed with me. But when she was feeling around on his arm, he woke up and started crying again, and she rocked him back to sleep. By that time, it was getting late in the evening, so when he fell asleep in her arms, she put him in his bed. The prayer I prayed, was the prayer of faith. You know what faith is: it's calling those things that be not as though they were. (Rom.4:17) ... Even God, who giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were. It's believing you have received, as Jesus taught us in (Mar.11:24) Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye received them, and ye shall have them. I prayed the prayer of faith, which was the common way that I prayed. I rarely prayed the prayer that the Bible calls the “prayer of importunity,” which is to ask, seek, and knock. Here it is in (Luk.11:5) And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves; (6) for a friend of mine is come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him; (7) and he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee? (8) I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will arise and give him as many as he needeth. (9) And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. (10) For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. And there's nothing wrong with that; it's one way in which we can receive from God, but I had trained myself to walk in the prayer of faith, and it suited me. It saved a lot of time because you can either pray the prayer of importunity and end up at faith, or you can pray the prayer of faith and start out with faith. And it seems to me like the prayer of faith is the more spiritual because it's the one Jesus prayed. When He ministered to people, He spoke the words of faith and He just let it go, right there. He stood upon what He spoke, and I felt that's what the Lord was training me to do. I didn't feel like I had the time to pray about all the things I had to pray for importunely, day and night, day after day. Frankly, a lot of what people call the “prayer of importunity” is not; it's just thinking they're going to be heard for their “much speaking” as Jesus said. Understand that everything has to end up in faith. (Heb.11:6) And without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing [unto him;] for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him. The Bible says that without faith it's impossible to be well-pleasing unto God and a man who is double-minded shouldn't think he's going to receive anything from God. (Jas.1:6) But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. (7) For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord; (8) a doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways. So I had pretty well trained myself to be stubborn with the devil and to believe I have received. You know, my wife said afterward, “I just knew you weren't going to take him to a doctor.” After Justin went to sleep, we both went to bed, and frankly, I went to sleep, but my wife prayed diligently because she knew I wanted to stay in the wilderness. She knew I wanted to trust in God and to see the works of God. So she prayed diligently, she prayed the prayer of importunity, and I prayed the prayer of faith. And Jesus told us, (Mat.18:19) Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father who is in heaven. So we did finally end up agreeing but it wasn't until about 4:00 in the morning because she prayed until 4:00 in the morning, and then she felt a rest and a peace come over her. The prayer of importunity always has to end up in faith. It's not just pray and pray and pray and God's going to hear you because you talk a lot. Jesus said, (Mat.6:7) But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Some people think they have to wear God down because they're trying to convince Him to do something He doesn't want to do. But the truth is, He wants to do it and He's already done it, and it's not a matter of convincing Him; it's a matter of accepting what His Word says. You're the one who has to be convinced, not God. Well, my wife became convinced around 4:00 in the morning about the same thing I was convinced of the previous evening, so around 4:00 she dozed off until we got up. Earlier, Justin had awakened in the middle of the night, and my wife had gone to get him and put him in bed with us, and he went back to sleep. So when we woke up the next morning, we very carefully got out of bed and left the room with him sleeping. We went into the kitchen, where we were drinking some coffee, and we heard a noise from the bedroom. We peeked in the door and saw Justin was awake. When he saw us, he just started grinning a big grin, so I stepped in, and as I was walking toward the bed, he started running toward me across the bed on all fours! I knew the healing had manifested. He reached his hands up and I grabbed him by his hands and picked him up. I shook him in the air a little, and he just giggled. Then I threw him up in the air and caught him. The Lord had totally healed him! My wife and I came to an agreement around 4:00 A.M. through the prayer of faith and the prayer of importunity. That's when we entered into the rest and the miracle came. Praise God! Everything that God has provided is in the rest. (Heb.4:3) … We who have believed do enter into that rest.... When you truly believe, you act upon it and you stand upon it, and what you feel is peace. You rest because you know that God has done this. (Heb.4:9) There remaineth therefore a sabbath (The Greek word there is sabbatismos.) rest for the people of God. Sabbatismos is not like the word used for “sabbath” anywhere else and it means a “continual” or a “perpetual” rest. You see, God wants us to be at peace all the time because of His promises. (Php 4:6) In nothing be anxious; (which is not resting) but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. (7) And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. (Heb.4:1) Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. We don't want to leave out even one promise of entering into His rest. Now He has promised that He has already healed us and we should be resting in that promise because He said it's done. (1Pe.2:24) … By whose stripes you were healed. Therefore we should be resting, we should be at peace, because God said it's already done. We shouldn't be anxious or troubled or seeking healing. We should be accepting healing as a free gift, just like we accepted salvation as a free gift. How long do you have to seek salvation? Don't you just have to accept salvation, since God has promised it? Yes, of course! And what is healing? Healing is salvation for the body; that's all it is. Many other provisions are salvation for the circumstances that you're in. All you have to do is believe God's Word and you automatically enter into the rest, which is where the provision is. The provision is in the rest. (Exo.31:5) Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work on the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Man works for six days but rests on the seventh and we've entered into that seventh day. Jesus Christ said, (Mar.2:27) … The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: (28) so that the Son of man is lord even of the sabbath. That means, if you abide in Him, you abide in His rest. If you are obeying Him, you are keeping that New Testament Sabbath. If you're believing His Word, you are in that New Testament Sabbath because you are resting. Well, my wife and I joined together in rest around 4:00 A.M. and God was faithful to His Word. We resisted the devil's warnings, threats and fears, and God was faithful! I'm going to tell you about another miracle that is just so wonderful, that for years I literally would start crying when I recounted the story. And it's only been recently that I've been able to recount this story without breaking up. What happened was that when we first moved to Pensacola, there was a lady who came to our house to witness, and we talked with her for a while. She told us where she fellowshipped, and she invited us over there. Well, it was very unusual for me, but I felt led to go, and something strange happened when I walked in the back door of that church. There was a prophetess who stood up in the very front of the church as I was walking in. It was a long, old building, and she never saw me coming in, but she whirled around and she pointed her finger at me and she started prophesying. I didn't know it then but it was the first time this woman had visited the church, too. She started prophesying just a glorious prophecy of how she saw the Word of God living in me, stronger than she'd seen in any man, and so on and so forth, just some glorious things. I didn't know what the Lord was doing at the time, but I found out later that He was opening a door for me because the pastor was very impressed, so he invited me to teach. And I ended up doing most of the teaching there because the Lord just dried up the pastor. He wasn't really a man of the Word anyway, but he was impressed with the Word. One day when I was sharing, this couple came in, and the girl received salvation during that meeting. She was a quiet girl and after the meeting was over, she asked the pastor and me if we could give her some counsel. And, of course, we made sure the church secretary and my wife and several other women were there. Then she told us that she was pregnant and that three days earlier she had gone to the Public Health Unit there in Pensacola, where they had done some tests on her and discovered that her baby had died. Now she was in a church; she'd never been in a church before, but this brought her to church, so to speak. Understand, I'm using the word “church” the way the world uses the word “church.” So this had brought her to church and she got saved, I guess because of the turmoil she was going through. Well, she began to tell us what the real problem was. She said she had purposely aborted this pregnancy because she had been raped by a man of another race, and she didn't want her husband to know about it. This man was a friend of her husband, and she was afraid of what could possibly happen, either to her, or to her husband, or to this man. After she got through telling us this situation, she asked us for advice. Remember, it had been three days since they had put the heartbeat monitor on her, run the sonogram on her, and taken a sample of the amniotic fluid. At any rate, they told her they were certain that her baby was dead and that she was going to have to come back and have a D&C. That's what they had told her at the Public Health Unit, but she never went back. The Lord brought her to that church, and she heard the Word that I shared, and she came to the Lord. So now she was sitting before us, asking us what to do. The first thing that came to my mind was to ask her, Is there somebody that you haven't forgiven in your life?” She thought for a minute and she said, “Yeah, there's just one person I've never really been able to forgive.” I said, “Well, who is that? Tell us.” She answered, “It's a doctor, who I think purposely aborted one of my children when I was on welfare.” When she said that, I pointed out to her, “Do you understand that you've just done the same thing? Don't you think you'd better forgive him?” And she said, “Yeah, you're right!” I said, “Why don't you pray for him?” and so she did. She started praying for him, she asked the Lord to forgive him and she asked the Lord to save him. And when she was finished with her prayer, I asked her, “Would you like to receive the Holy Spirit?” She told me, “Yes, I want everything God has for me.” So we laid hands on her and prayed for her to receive the Holy Spirit. Now, I want you to know that she was a very quiet, very reserved and introverted person, not at all an extroverted person, but when we prayed for her, she became jubilant and started actually dancing and speaking in tongues! And after she had calmed down a little bit, I said to her, “You're a new creation and I don't see any reason why the Lord can't resurrect your baby!” This is the thought that had come into my head. I can't say it was a loud voice; I wasn't greatly impressed, but I actually believe that this is part of our Commission. I have seen quite a few raised from the dead. God is going to commonly raise the dead in the days to come. (Mat.10:1) And he called unto him his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of disease and all manner of sickness. (5) These twelve Jesus sent forth, and charged them, saying, Go not into any way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans: (6) but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (7) And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. (8) Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons: freely ye received, freely give. When Jesus sent out His disciples, He sent them out to heal the sick and cast out devils and raise the dead! However, that was only part of it because, when He was leaving, He ordained them to go and make disciples, and to teach them to observe everything that He told those first disciples. (Mat.28:18) And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. (19) Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: (20) teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. That's what He said, which of course means that this was passed on to us, too. I believe that raising the dead is something we're going to see commonly in the days to come. In the days of the ministry of the Man-child and the Two Witnesses company and in the time of the latter rain, we are going to see this commonly. In fact, it's a lot more common in other countries than it is here in the United States because people are so worldly-wise here; they don't come to the Lord as a child. Jesus told the disciples, (Mar.10:15) Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein. Back to this testimony. Well, when I got through saying that the Lord could resurrect her baby, the room mostly emptied. The pastor, the church secretary, and several other people who were there just walked out; they just left. So I invited my wife to come over and lay her hands on her tummy while I prayed, and all the time this was happening, these people were leaving the room. And I commanded the Spirit of life to come back into that baby, in the name of Jesus; it was just a simple and very quick prayer. Then I pointed out a few verses to this sister, who was a brand-new baby Christian and knew nothing about the Scriptures. One of them was (Mar.11:24) … All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive (The Greek word there is past tense, “received.”) them, and ye shall have them. I told her, “Now, you have to walk by faith. You have to accept this as a gift from God. We've prayed and so we believe we've received. Now we just thank God for it and don't let anybody talk you out of it. You see what it says here: “believe you received.” And she said, “Okay!” She was a very childlike person, and really, that's why she received this because she was childlike with the Lord. She knew that she had received something wonderful; she knew she'd been filled with the Holy Spirit, and I think she was full of faith. Now, like I said, during the time I was ministering to her, everybody was just leaving the room. Well, when I was finished ministering to her, my wife and I walked out and started down the hall, when a door opened and the pastor reached out, grabbed my arm, and pulled me into the room. All those people who had left my wife and me alone with the new sister were in there. And the pastor said, “David, God's not going to do that for her!” I replied, “Why do you say that?” He said, “Because she killed that baby!” Well, I told him, “I don't think you understand grace very well. That's a new creation in there; that person is not guilty. Not guilty! She is not guilty for what that other person did a few days ago.” And I said, “Besides, if I want to believe it, just let me believe it.” So I walked out of the room and left him standing there. Another thing I haven't mentioned yet is that she and her husband were actually living there because this was a church that operated a mission, and they were staying at the mission at that time. The next day she called me and she said, “David, I want to go down to the Public Health Unit, but nobody over here wants to take me.” I said, “Well, I'll take you,” and I went down and picked her up. You see, she had decided she wanted to go be checked out again, so I reminded her, “Remember, what we talked about.” And I began to go over again how faith worked, how believing you have received is how the miracle is manifested, and so on, to make sure she understood that. I told her, “Now, remember, no matter what anybody says, you've already heard what God says. Don't let anybody change your mind.” And she nodded her head and said, “Yeah.” Now, when we got down there to the Public Health Unit, she told the doctor that she wanted to be checked out again. I don't discourage that necessarily, but I knew where her faith was; I knew it was young faith. I don't recommend that people go and ask man anything about what God says He's already done. That's because some people can't stand the trial of their faith when man tells them, “No, it's not done.” But it was her decision, and I didn't get in her way. So she told them she wanted to be checked out again, and the first thing they told her was, “You should have come back before now. You can get blood poisoning like this; it's dangerous! You should have had your D&C.” They sent her into a room with a technician who put the heartbeat monitor on her again, and the technician told her again, “Ma'am, this baby is dead and you need to have a D&C now.” So when the technician said that, she replied, “Well, I don't accept that,” and when she said that, the baby came to life, right there! The baby suddenly started moving around, the heartbeat monitor recorded the heartbeat and God did a miracle. This little childlike person did not accept what men said, did not accept the diagnosis from Egypt, but accepted the diagnosis from the Lord, even though she couldn't see it. Here's a baby Christian, just a day old in the Lord. Some people think, “Well, I need to grow up in the Lord before I can see miracles.” No. As a matter of fact, a baby Christian might see miracles more than people who have been in the Lord for 40, 50 or even many years. That's because of the childlike faith that you especially have when you first come to the Lord. A lot of Christians sit in churches and become progressively more discouraged the whole time they're there because they hear so much carnal reasoning about why God can't do these kinds of things anymore today. They sit and listen to that carnal reasoning until they spiritually die. The second church I went into, after having stayed maybe only a month and a half at the first church, believed God's Word more, but I noticed that the new Christians were the ones who were receiving the signs and wonders and miracles from God. The older Christians couldn't even seem to get a healing from God. They'd go to the altar, that's the way they did it at this particular church, to be prayed for time after time. But the young Christians were getting miracles and healings. The young Christians who weren't following only the teaching they were getting in that church, but those who were studying faith were receiving miracles. Well, this little girl had no knowledge of the Word, other than just a few verses I'd shared with her; this is what amazed me. Just how much of the Word do you need to get a miracle? Not very much, but you have to hold to what you know. It's kind of like a mustard seed. You have to hold fast to what you know God has said and deny what man says. If you want a miracle, that's what you have to do. Now, we don't know what God did, but when this baby was born, it was a beautiful baby of the same race as the mom and her husband, and the problem she would have had with her husband was solved. God solved it. I don't know what she might have told him later, but God solved the problem. And I don't know what He did in the womb because you know we can't put anything beyond God, can we? God is awesome! (Eph.3:20) 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, (21) unto him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations for ever and ever. Amen. He can do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think but we need that childlike faith. We need to put our trust in Him and not be moved by what we see, feel or hear. Let me give you another example of how the Lord taught me not to listen to anything but what He spoke in His Covenant. This happened to me many years ago. I started feeling pain and passing a lot of blood. Now, I was walking by faith in the Lord and He'd never failed me, and, truthfully, I had entered into the rest because I had absolutely no fear. I never even questioned what I was going to do. So these symptoms had been happening for two or three days, and I had to make a trip to Louisiana to see some relatives. And there was a friend, a spiritual brother of mine over there. We were both full of faith, and we wanted to live the life of faith, so I asked him to pray with me. That's the only person I had pray for me for that particular trial and when he prayed for me, I came in agreement with his prayer. I received it by faith, right there. Actually, I'd prayed earlier, and the word that came to me was “cancer.” Now, you can't always trust that because the devil will always threaten you with just about anything, just to make you fearful or give up. Well, when I came back to Pensacola, I felt led the next day to go to a Christian bookstore. It wasn't the one I usually went to; it was twice as far away, but I felt to go to that one and I'd only been there a few times. So I went over there, and when I walked in the door, the lady who owned the store and another woman whom I recognized as her prayer partner saw me come in and walked over to me. They said, “David, we've been praying for different ministers that we know, and when we were praying for you, the Lord spoke to us and said that you were having a battle with a spirit of cancer, but that you would win.” Well, that was a confirmation to me, and I told them what had been happening. Then I thanked them for their prayers and came in agreement with them, but then on my way home, I decided that I was going to ask the Lord to give me a Word concerning this situation when I got home. Now saints, you really don't need but one Word, and it's already been spoken. (1Pe.2:24) … By whose stripes ye were healed. God's not going to change His mind. (Num.23:19) God is not a man, that he should lie, Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and will he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and will he not make it good? Let me point out something to you. You remember that Balaam was asked by Balak to curse the children of Israel. (Num.22:6) Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed. And Balaam went to God first. (12) And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people; for they are blessed. (13) And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said unto the princes of Balak, Get you into your land; for the Lord refuseth to give me leave to go with you. (15) And Balak sent yet again princes, more, and more honorable than they. (16) And they came to Balaam, and said to him, Thus saith Balak the son of Zippor, Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me: (17) for I will promote thee unto very great honor, and whatsoever thou sayest unto me I will do: come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people. Now even though Balaam already had his answer, he told Balak's men to wait while he went to God again, hoping for a different answer because he was bribed by the possibility of rewards. (20) And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men are come to call thee, rise up, go with them; but only the word which I speak unto thee, that shalt thou do. (21) And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. So God gave him the answer he wanted to hear; He told Balaam, “Yeah, go ahead,” but when Balaam went, the angel of the Lord was waiting there to kill him. (23) And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and the ass turned aside out of the way.... (31) Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed his head, and fell on his face. (32) And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I am come forth for an adversary, because thy way is perverse before me. God was saying, “If you didn't hear the first Word I told you, if you don't want that Word, I'll give you one that you'll like.” So be careful of that! If you don't like the first Word He gives you, don't go asking Him for another one because He might tell you to go ahead, as He did with Balaam, and only Balaam's ass saved him. Anyway, as I said, I was going to ask the Lord for a Word concerning this situation, so when I got home, I just prayed and then I flipped my Bible open and I stuck my finger down by random on Isaiah 38:1, not just on the verse but on this phrase, “Thou shalt die, and not live.” (Isa.38:1) In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thy house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. That was the phrase on which my finger came down. I said, “Wow!” I thought on that for a minute and I told the Lord, “Lord, this is not according to Your Covenant with me; this is not according to Your promise to me. You told me in 1 Peter 2:24 that by the stripes of Jesus I was healed. You told me in Galatians 3:13 that Jesus became a curse for me, that You put my curse on Him. You told me in Colossians 1:22 that reconciliation has been made, there was an exchange, that He has taken my curse and given me His blessing.” I said, “You've taught me never to depart from the New Covenant, Lord, so I don't accept this Word.” You're probably thinking, “Well, that's pretty arrogant.” No, it was really what God wanted from me because He was trying me. He wanted to see if I would depart from what the New Covenant clearly says. I hear people getting answers like this all the time, and they accept them, but they don't realize those answers are contrary to their first Word. God's trying them to see if they will depart from the first Word, and they do because they believe in any so called voice of the Lord that agrees with their flesh more than they believe in the Word. But listen to me here, the true voice of the Lord is what you become familiar with when you read the Word. He's not ever going to depart from the Word. (Heb.13:20) Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus, (21) make you perfect in every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen. It's called an “eternal covenant,” which means that He's not going to change it. He warns us in (Rev.22:18) I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues which are written in this book: (19) and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book. If you add to or take away from the Covenant, the curses of this book are upon you, and He'll take away your part in the tree of life and from the holy city. That's pretty dangerous. So God tells us not to depart from this Word, no matter what. Well, here I was asking the Lord for a sign, and He gave me, “Thou shalt die, and not live.” But I said, “Lord, I just don't accept this. I don't accept it because it's not according to what You've taught me, and I don't believe that's what You want me to do; I don't believe You want me to accept this. So I'm asking You for another Word that's in agreement with what You've taught me.” I don't know why I would have to get that because, frankly, God was just being merciful with me. Obviously, we don't need anything more than what God's already told us concerning the New Covenant, and I've studied it enough, and I've stood on it enough, and I've been healed every time. I've received enough miracles, signs, and wonders; why would I need a Word from the Lord? It was very immature of me. But God was merciful with me the second time because I overcame in that trial; I didn't give in to the temptation, and I didn't accept that Word that was contrary to everything He taught me. So I said, “I'm asking You for another Word, Lord. This time I'm going to believe something that's in agreement with what You've taught me.” And I flipped my Bible open again, not looking at it, and just stuck my finger down right on the phrase, “I shall not die, but live.” (Psa.118:17) I shall not die, but live, And declare the works of the Lord. It's amazing how close those two phrases are but exactly opposite to one another, and they're each in only one place in the Bible. Isn't that amazing? And I told the Lord, “Thank You, Lord. I agree with that! I thank You for that and I receive it, in Jesus' name.” Well, after that, I went on for a week or so and the pain became less and less, and the blood became less and less, until I was manifestly healed. I'd like to exhort you, no matter what you hear, whether you might think it's from God, or whether it's just from people, don't accept it, if it's not according to the Word of God. Don't accept anything. Don't accept anything you see with your eyes, don't accept anything you hear with your ears and especially don't accept your emotions, if any of these things are contrary to what you read in the Word of God, according to the promises of the rest. Enter into the rest. However, that wasn't the end of the story. 15 years later, God tried me again. 15 years later, I started having severe heart pains and, on top of that, I was very cold on the left side of my body. I couldn't get warmed up at all and I knew I had a circulation or a cardiovascular problem, naturally speaking, but I don't accept those things. At the same time this was going on, although I didn't tell these people about my problem, two people in our assembly amazingly each had dreams that I died of a heart attack, and both of them had been pretty accurate in their dreams, too. Now, that would seem like a pretty good confirmation, but I had learned you need to walk by faith; it's not just hear faith, you need to walk by faith. When this started happening, I would go for a walk every once in a while, only a mile or so, because I stay busy all the time, and I just really didn't have time to do much more than that. So I would get out and start walking, and my heart would start acting up, and the devil would tell me, “You're going to be lying out on the side of the road here somewhere, if you don't stop this, with your heart problem,” and so on and so forth. You know how the devil likes to tell you things, and I knew it was the devil, but I just called his bluff. I started jogging and was really working up a sweat. I did that for a little while. Now, my wife had pointed out to me and said, “David, it's been 15 years since that last time you had the threat of death,” and immediately it clicked in my mind that Hezekiah was given 15 more years. (Isa.38:4) Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying, (5) Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years. Hezekiah was given those 15 years after the Lord first had told him, (Isa.38:1) … Thus saith the Lord, Set thy house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. Just what I had received as a test. I said to the Lord, “Lord, are You saying to me that You only added 15 years to my life and that I'm Hezekiah, and that this is the time for me to go on to be with You?” And you know what I heard? The Lord said, “Yes, that's right.” So I thought on that and I said, “Well, Lord, I still don't believe that You would have me depart from the promise of the Covenant, so I don't accept that, either.” You ask me, “Does God do such a thing?” What did God do with Abraham? (Gen.22:1) And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. (2) And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah. And offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. God was trying Abraham. He wanted to see what Abraham would do and Abraham overcame. He knew that even if he did sacrifice his son, he was going to come back with his son. As a matter of fact, (Gen.22:5) And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship, and come again to you. He knew that God would have to resurrect Isaac from the dead to keep His promise because he knew that God was faithful to keep His promise, and I know that, too. God is faithful to keep His promise. So when the Lord told me that, I meditated on it and I said, “Lord, I can't see any difference in this situation from the last one 15 years ago. It still doesn't please You for me to depart from Your Word, so I just don't accept this.” Of course, I kept on calling the devil's bluff; I kept on jogging, but it had nothing to do with jogging; it had to do with walking by faith. If you're careful because you think that you're having a heart attack or a heart problem, obviously, you're acting in agreement with the curse; you're not acting in agreement with the promise! (Jas.2:17) Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. If you really believe the Word of God, you can walk it out. (Mat.14:28) And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee upon the waters. (29) And he said, Come. And Peter went down from the boat, and walked upon the waters to come to Jesus. Peter believed the Word of God. He stepped out on the water. Miracles come when you act on the Word of God. As you know Peter looked at the waves, got double minded, and started to sink, but Jesus had mercy and saved him. Well, as I continued to walk by faith the heart problem disappeared; Glory to God. (Jas.2:18) Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I by my works will show thee my faith. You can't prove faith unless you can act in agreement with it because people are sometimes very schizophrenic. They say they believe but then all their actions and all their words prove just the opposite. If we want to have completed faith, what we have to do is to act in agreement with what we believe. (Rom.10:10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. So, truly, if you've come to believe and trust in the Word of God, start walking it out and you'll see it manifested. The Israelites are a wilderness lesson for us. They had to walk through that wilderness without murmuring, without complaining, and without speaking against the promise. The majority failed the test, but Joshua and Caleb spoke in agreement with the promise. They received the Promised Land; they entered into the land of rest because they agreed with the promise. We're being tried the same way, saints! Every day we're being tried to see whether we're going to agree with what the Bible says. Do you know that you don't have a problem with demons? Do you know that you don't have a problem with sin? Do you know that you don't have a problem with sickness? Do you know that you don't have a problem with provision? We need to remember that the Lord Jesus solved all of those problems for us already when He made reconciliation for us at the cross. What we do have a problem with is walking in agreement with what He said. We're like the children of Israel when they were dying of the fiery serpents in the wilderness. (Num.21:8) And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. (7) And the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. (8) And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a standard: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live. (9) And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the standard: and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived. They cried unto Moses and Moses cried unto the Lord, and the Lord told Moses to raise them up a serpent on a pole. Of course, the medical profession uses that today to represent them, but really, the serpent on the pole (the caduceus) was a symbol of God's healing power, totally outside that of man. In order to be healed, all the Israelites had to do was get their eyes off the snake bite and on the serpent on the pole. They had to accept what the Bible says about Jesus: (2Co.5:21) Him who knew no sin he made [to be] sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him. (1Pe.2:24) Who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed. (Col.2:13) And you, being dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, [I say,] did he make alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses; (14) having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us: and he hath taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. Jesus became accursed for us; He became sin. God put on Him our sin and our curse, and we don't have it anymore. Accept the truth! It's very simple: you are healed, you are delivered from sin, you are blessed. That's the Gospel, that's the very, very Good News of what the Lord has accomplished for us! You don't have to live under the curse anymore. When the Israelites got their eyes off the snake bite and on Jesus, they were miraculously cured. Today, men go to the medical profession because of the very opposite: they don't believe that they were cured at the cross. They believe they have to get cured, and so they run back to Egypt because they don't understand the Gospel, the Good News that Jesus has already solved this problem for them. It is already accomplished. If you believe that God has already done all this for you and all you have to do is accept it, then you can rest from your own works. (Heb.4:1) Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. (2) For indeed we have had good tidings preached unto us, even as also they: but the word of hearing did not profit them, because it was not united by faith with them that heard. (3) For we who have believed do enter into that rest; even as he hath said, As I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. (4) For he hath said somewhere of the seventh [day] on this wise, And God rested on the seventh day from all his works; (5) and in this [place] again, They shall not enter into my rest. (6) Seeing therefore it remaineth that some should enter thereinto, and they to whom the good tidings were before preached failed to enter in because of disobedience, (7) he again defineth a certain day, To-day, saying in David so long a time afterward (even as hath been said before), To-day if ye shall hear his voice, Harden not your hearts. (8) For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day. (9) There remaineth therefore a sabbath rest for the people of God. (10) For he that is entered into his rest hath himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. (11) Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same example of disobedience. (12) For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. (13) And there is no creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (14) Having then a great high priest, who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. (15) For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like [as we are,] yet without sin. (16) Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need. When we enter into the rest, we're no longer fearful; we don't dwell on the need, we dwell on the provision. And when we enter into the rest from our works, we're at peace with God. However, we must not leave out that willful rebellion against the known will of God will leave you no sacrifice. (Heb 10:26) For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries. Now I must add that some are not willfully sinning but are against their sin and haven't found faith to be delivered. If so study this teaching again.

Faith for the Coming Wilderness (5) (audio) David Eells – 9/17/25 God has really good plans for us, brethren, and we don't need to fear a thing about living in the wilderness. The Bible says in (Isa.35:1) The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. (2) It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon: they shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God. (3) Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. (4) Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; he will come and save you. God cannot fail us; He's made these promises, and He can do anything but fail. He is going to be creating sons through this tribulation we're coming to, and our concern ought to be that we don't hinder Him with our own works. That's a big problem. Remember that Jesus said, (Mat.9:29) … According to your faith be it done unto you, so obviously a lack of faith will hinder what He really desires to do for us. When Jesus came to His own hometown, He couldn't do many miracles for them because of their unbelief. (Mat.13:54) And coming into his own country he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? (55) Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas? (56) And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? (57) And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house. (58) And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Unbelief can certainly block God from giving us the benefits that we should have. The reason I mention works is because your works prove whether you have faith or not. Many people are blocking God by attempting to save themselves through their own works, so they never get to see God's works, but what did Jesus tell His disciples? (Mat.16:6) … Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They eventually understood that Jesus was talking about the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, which was so dangerous to the real salvation of God because their teaching was self-works. (Mat.16:5) And the disciples came to the other side and forgot to take bread. (6) And Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (7) And they reasoned among themselves, saying, We took no bread. (8) And Jesus perceiving it said, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have no bread? (9) Do ye not yet perceive, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? That was 12 baskets of uneaten fragments they took up. (10) Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? That time, they took up seven baskets of uneaten fragments. (11) How is it that ye do not perceive that I spake not to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (12) Then understood they that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Their teaching had replaced God's works in their lives and God's works through them with self-works. However, notice that the more loaves the people provided of their own supply, the fewer the number of people who were fed, and the fewer baskets of leftovers there were. Jesus was obviously making a point here about the leaven of the Pharisees, and His point was that the more you put in of your own works to save yourself, the less God will put in to save you. Salvation in any form is by grace; it's unmerited and it's unearned. Yet many of God's people are attempting to save themselves with their money and by their own methods, which they claim are now God's methods. All the worldly methods to which we've had access, and worked for us in “Egypt,” are not going to work in the wilderness. So, what Jesus was saying, to the extent you trust in God and let Him do the work, He'll do it, but to the extent you're trying to do it yourself, it's doomed to failure. (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved (the Greek word sozo) through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; (9) not of works (This is referring to your works.), that no man should glory. God will not share His glory with anybody else (Exodus 20:3; Isaiah 42:8; 43:11; 48:11; etc.). Men get the credit when men do the work and when man's ingenuity is involved, but God has designed a way where man can get no credit. Sozo covers a very broad territory and, as a matter of fact, I'm going to show you that it covers everything. Salvation includes receiving every benefit that the Lord gave to you at the cross, and salvation includes being delivered from every curse, but it's not by our works. (Gal.3:13) Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: (14) that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Jesus became a curse for us so that we might have the blessing of Abraham. The all-inclusive curse listed in Deuteronomy 28 is everything detrimental that ever happened to man because man went his own way and did his own thing, was put upon Jesus. Jesus bore that curse upon Himself. And since we have been saved, there's not much we can do to add to what God has already accomplished, except to walk by faith so that it is accomplished. The wilderness is a completely safe and secure place for believers; it really is! Everything has already been provided there, just like God provided for the Israelites. The only thing He really desired of them in the wilderness was faith in His promises. Our faith in His promises is the very substance from which the desired need is made. (Heb.11:1) Now faith is assurance (or the “substance”) of [things] hoped for, a conviction of things not seen. Jesus said, (Mar.11:24) … All things whatsover ye pray and ask for, believe ye received them and you shall have them. Your translation may say “receive” but the word there is past tense in the original Greek. And all throughout the Bible, God uses the past tense concerning His provision for our needs and His deliverance of our curses. Why does He do that? He uses the past tense because it was all accomplished at the cross. This past tense, sacrificial provision has already been accomplished. (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved (past tense) through faith.... (1Pe.2:24) Who his own self bare (past tense) our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins (past tense), might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed (past tense). It's already been accomplished. Your healings have already been accomplished! Your sins have already been taken away! It's not by your works, not by self-effort, but by faith. God lets your faith stand in temporarily as the substance of the thing hoped for, until He brings it to pass. (Col.1:13) Who delivered us (past tense) out of the power of darkness.... Many people are anxious and troubled about being delivered from their past curses or the family curses that have been passed down to them, or demonic oppression and possession in their lives. But, as you see, we've already been delivered. (Col.1:13) Who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. We don't have to strive through self-effort to enter into His Kingdom; we have to strive through faith to enter into His Kingdom. Faith will give us the obedience that we need to enter into His Kingdom. (2Co.5:18) But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation; (19) to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having committed unto us the word of reconciliation. The word translated “reconciled” is the Greek katallasso, and it means “exchanged.” God made an exchange through Jesus Christ. He took our life and gave us His life. (Gal.2:20) I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me: and that [life] which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, [the faith] which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me. We were crucified with Christ, and we don't live anymore. He now lives in us by faith, so a reconciliation has been made, and God is constantly bringing this reconciliation to pass through our faith in Him. He's giving us the blessings of Christ; He's giving us the spotless purity of Christ. And as we confess our sins and walk by faith, He's taking away our old, sinful life and the curses under which we've been living. Salvation is not by self-efforts; it's by faith in Jesus and what He already accomplished for us. Apostle Paul said, (Gal.2:20) I have been crucified with Christ.... There are preachers out there who like to emphasize, “We have to die; we have to die.” Well, here's the way to die: “I have been crucified with Christ.” You accept this free gift of crucifixion with Christ, and God brings it to pass as you continue to believe it and confess it. (Gal.2:20) I have been crucified (past tense) with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me.... That's a confession of faith, a confession that the promise has already been accomplished. Through this we will be able to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus.  (Gal.3:13) Christ redeemed us (past tense) from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.... (1Pe.1:3) Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again (past tense) unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The Father begat us again by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (Heb.10:10) By which will we have been sanctified (past tense) through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (14) For by one offering he hath perfected (past tense) for ever them that are sanctified. All the promises are past tense. (Eph.1:3) Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us (past tense) with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ. (2Pe.1:3) Seeing that his divine power hath granted (past tense) unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and virtue. And this “knowledge” shows us how to exercise our faith for this victory. And Jesus told us in His day, which is, of course, in our past, that (Joh.12:31) Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. (Joh.16:33) These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome (past tense) the world. (Joh.19:30) When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished (past tense): and he bowed his head, and gave up his spirit. “It is finished.” This is the reason we believe that we received, past tense: because everything was accomplished at the cross. That really prevents our works from being of any benefit, doesn't it? The Lord has already given everything to us; that's why we are to believe we have received “all things whatsoever” we pray and ask for. “All things whatsoever” were given to us at the cross as a free gift. It's not as if you have to talk God into giving you a healing, or deliverance, or provision, or protection, or sanctification. You don't have to talk God into it; you have to believe you have received whatever you asked because God already took care of it. That's why Paul said, (Php.4:19) And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. It's already been accomplished; it's already been paid for. Redemption from the curse and provision for life were truly accomplished at the cross. In fact, God's works were finished from the foundation of the world; that's when He spoke the plan into existence. (Heb.4:3) For we who have believed do enter into that rest; even as he hath said, As I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. The only thing left is for the true sons of God to enter into those works by faith, believing they have received. Since the works were finished, we should believe and rest from our own works. We can't save, or heal, or deliver ourselves, but we can exercise faith in those promises so that they do come to pass. This resting in faith on the grounds of God's promises is the “rest” in the wilderness that God expected of the Israelites. (Heb.4:3) For we who have believed do enter into that rest.... When you believe these past tense promises, what do you do? When you believe that you have been saved, were healed, were translated, have been crucified, have been redeemed, have been perfected, have been sanctified, have been blessed in all things; when you believe that it's all been done, what can you do to bring it to pass? If you do something in the flesh to bring it to pass, what you are saying is, “I don't believe it has been accomplished.” Listen, I have tested this out for many, many years and I know it works, and I know it works consistently. I also know that, to the extent I've added to the works of God in seeking to bring something to pass, it turned out to be kind of like what Jesus said: (Mat.16:9) Do ye not yet perceive, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? (10) Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Whenever I've put in, God hasn't. God's power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). And so, (Heb.4:3) … we who have believed do enter into that rest.... This is speaking of a spiritual Sabbath rest. (Heb.4:9) There remaineth therefore a sabbath rest for the people of God. The Greek word here for sabbath rest is sabbatismos, and it means a “keeping of rest.” It's not a one-day rest like it was in the Old Covenant. In the New Testament, the Sabbath is never said to be one day of the week; that's just a type and shadow of the continual keeping of rest, which is commanded here. “There remaineth therefore a sabbath rest for the people of God.” This constant keeping of rest every day through these past tense promises is our New Testament spiritual Sabbath. (10) For he that is entered into his rest hath himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. The rest is to believe in these promises, to accept them as done, to hold fast to them. (Heb.4:1) Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. In other words, don't leave out even one promise that would cause you to enter into this rest. And this rest is ceasing from your own works. Many of God's people are dead today because they wouldn't cease from their own self-efforts to save themselves. (Heb.4:2) For indeed we have had good tidings preached unto us, even as also they: but the word of hearing did not profit them, because it was not united by faith with them that heard. God has designed salvation to be by grace, the unmerited, unearned favor of God toward those who believe. You see, we're going to a very dry place, a place where man will not provide our needs, but God will. Through these promises, God will consistently provide our needs. He was very, very consistent the whole time I was raising my children. Of course, when they got out in the world, some of them decided to go their own way, and they'll have to learn their own lessons. But while they were under my authority and headship, God consistently healed, delivered, and provided all these things. I learned early on in my Christian walk that when I exercised faith in these promises, God fulfilled them. (Php.2:13) For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. He not only works in me to will and to do of His good pleasure, but He brings forth that which is promised. Let me share another testimony with you. Years ago, when I lived in Louisiana, a lady preacher contacted me one day. She had traveled all over the country to try to get help, but she was still in desperate need. She said, “David, I've travelled all over the country and I've gone here and I've gone there. I have two very large inoperable tumors, and the doctors say if they operated on me, they would kill me.” She went to so and so, and so and so, and so and so, all these faith preachers who are known for laying hands on the sick, and if I gave you their names, you would probably recognize them. And she went on, “David, I just don't understand it; I just don't understand why I haven't been healed!” And I answered her, “You just told me why you haven't been healed. You're expecting something to come, but you know, tomorrow never comes. You don't believe the true Gospel because the true Gospel is that God's already done it.” A lot of people understand the Gospel as, “One day, God will heal me.” No. God already healed you. God already delivered you. God already provided for you. It's already done; it's a sure thing. That's why we can have such faith in the Lord. It's not a matter of us talking Him into it; it's a matter of our accepting this free gift He's already given us. And so I told that lady preacher, “You've been looking in the wrong direction. You're looking forward, and you need to turn around and look back. That's where God healed you. ‘By the stripes of Jesus, ye were healed'; that's the Gospel you must believe! Romans 1:16 says the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes it. The Good News is not that Jesus will heal you; the Good News tells you that He already did heal you; that's the real Gospel.” Now, the reason people are not receiving from God is they are trying to talk God into it, and as long as you are trying to talk Him into it, you never know whether the answer is “yes” or “no.” But what does the Scripture say? (2Co.1:20) For how many soever be the promises of God, in him is the yea: wherefore also through him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us. All the promises of God are “Yes.” That means God is not going to go back on anything He's said to us. (Num.23:19) God is not a man, that he should lie, Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and will he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and will he not make it good? He's going to bring it to pass, as long as you believe the Gospel. The Gospel is that you already received these things as a free gift; long before you ever came into existence, they were given to you as a free gift. Be convinced by what the Bible says, not by what it doesn't say. When I explained this to the lady preacher, I could almost see a light bulb go on; it was like her eyes just started glowing. She understood, and I could see she understood. And I said to her, “Okay, we're going to pray one more time, and this time, you receive this free gift from God. You accept it because it's yours,” and she agreed. So we prayed and, as we were still praying, as a matter of fact, she said, “They're gone! I felt them go!” She actually felt those tumors leave her, and I pointed out to her, “This is the first time you believed the Gospel. All that other was hope; it wasn't faith. Faith believes you have received; hope looks forward to the future.” If you look up the Biblical word for “hope,” it basically means “a firm expectation,” but a “firm expectation” is not believing you have received; salvation is by faith. Everybody who has faith has hope, but not everybody who has hope has faith. “Believing you have received” is something only true believers can do. Many people in the Church are not believers. We need to identify believers the way Jesus identified believers. He said, (Mar.16:17) And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; (18) they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. And also, (Joh.14:12) Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father. Believers have the works of God manifested through them, not their own works. They have the works of God manifested through them because they believe the works were finished. I remember another time when I was a very young Christian. My wife and I had just come to the Lord, and we'd spent a month in a dead church that didn't believe the full Gospel. But I'd been reading the Bible for some time and really believing what I was seeing there. I was living it out, and God was proving to me that all of it was still true; none of it had passed away, as these people were saying. So, I just left this church and went to a full Gospel church. Well, at the time, my wife had been in a motorcycle accident in which she was injured. Her kidneys had been badly bruised, and the doctors put her on some antibiotics to clear up an infection so that they could operate on her kidneys, but in the meantime, we called for the elders of the church and had them pray for her, as the Bible tells us to do. (Jas.5:14) Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: (15) and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him. So the elders prayed for her, and I think it was something like a week later that my wife was walking through the house, and she was complaining to the Lord. She said, “Lord, I just don't understand. We did what You said: we called for the elders, we prayed the prayer of faith. I just don't understand why it's not happening.” And the Lord spoke to her. She said it was the first time the Lord had ever spoken to her, and it was almost audible. He said to her, “If you believe that I have healed you, why are you taking all that medicine?” Well, you know, it was such a shocking thing that she ran immediately into the bathroom and started pouring the medicine down the commode, and she was healed instantly right there. The question the Lord spoke was to make her believe the Gospel: “If you believe that I have healed you, why are you taking all that medicine?” In other words, “Why are you trying to heal yourself when I've already told you in the Bible that I healed you?” This is the kind of self-effort that hinders God from doing what He wants to do because self-effort proves you do not believe that this is a free gift. Self-effort proves you do not believe that it's already been given to you. Now, a lot of people are going to ask, “David, are you saying that God doesn't use doctors and medicine?” Well, I'm going to answer that question. First of all, if God already healed you, if He already delivered you, and you believe it, what are your actions going to be like? Just stop and think. (Jas.2:17) Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. Faith without works is dead; it's incomplete. (18) Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I by my works will show thee my faith. How do you prove that you believe you already received this at the cross? It's going to be by your works that agree with what you say you believe; anything else is hypocrisy. You say you believe it, so your actions should agree with what you say. I learned this was the main reason people don't receive from God. They say they believe what the Bible says, but all their actions prove that they believe they have to help God out because He's not a very powerful God and He hasn't already taken care of their need. They're still trying to talk Him into it, but since we're not talking about something in the future or something in the past, we have to just accept it as done. Our oldest child, Deborah, was about four when we first came to the Lord, but our next child, Corban, came along after my wife and I came to the Lord. By that time, we were convinced that God had already given us these gifts and that salvation covered all of this, as the Bible clearly says: (1Pe.2:24) Who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed. Notice, too, that the Bible always connects salvation with deliverance from sin and deliverance from the curse of sin: (Psa.103:3) Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; Who healeth all thy diseases. God connects salvation for the soul with salvation for the body, and we knew this was a part of salvation. We knew (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. And we knew that salvation includes receiving every benefit and being delivered from every curse. So we felt like the Lord was convicting us that He wanted us to put our trust in Him and to have our children at home, which we did from that day forth. I am not putting anyone under law to do this because it has to be faith. At that time when we had faith, the first child to come along was Corban. We were trusting God to do the delivery and it was just an awesome miracle when he was born. I didn't know anything about delivering babies, though, and most dont deliver babies without forceps. That's not God's way. I knew that God was going to deliver this baby, just like He's done for thousands of years, and that I was just there to catch. The only thing I really studied was how to tie the cord. Somebody gave me a book after they found out we were going to do a home birth, but when the thought came into my mind, “Are you going to do this or am I going to do this?” I knew the Lord was talking to me. The only thing I actually looked for in the book was how to tie the cord, so I saw how they did that and gave the book back to the person who gave it to me. When it came time, Mary went into labor, and the first thing that actually appeared was a little purple toe. I thought, “Uh, oh! I know it's not supposed to work like this!” We knew we had a breach, so we prayed and we committed it to the Lord. Literally, I stood there and I pointed at that baby and I said, “In the name of Jesus Christ, come out of there!” People laugh at me when I say that, and I laugh at myself when I say that, but that's what I did. I want you to know, we didn't realize at the time that this boy was not only a breach, he was a footling breach, which is one foot up and one foot down and wrong end down. I've talked to several medical people since then, and they said, “That's impossible!” Doctors always do a C-section when they have a situation like that, but I was trusting in God, and God's power is made perfect in our weakness. Well, that baby did come out of there. He came out of there as a footling breach, and he didn't turn. God just had to show us that He could do it, and He did do it. And I'll tell you something else: after Corban was born, he was a very deep, deep yellow because we were told my wife and I had incompatible blood types. I think the doctors call it a RhoGAM problem. In the hospital, they would give you a RhoGAM shot because the condition actually causes blood poisoning in the child. So here he was, very yellow and since he was born at home, we decided we would call the Public Health Unit to see how we could get a birth certificate for him. And the nurse who answered said, “Well, did you just not make it to the hospital in time?” We said, “No, that wasn't the situation at all.” Then she asked me, “Was it just too fast?” I told her, “No, that wasn't the situation either; we planned it.” She said, “Oh. We'll send a nurse out to do the certificate.” So they sent a nurse out, but as soon as the nurse got a look at Corban, she said, “Mr. Eells, you have to rush this baby to the hospital! This baby has blood poisoning and he's going to die without a transfusion!” Now, before I go on, I want you to know I'm not talking about peer pressure here. I've heard the horror stories out there of people who had home births because that's what their church expected of them, and they did it because of peer pressure to be accepted in their religion or whatever. That's not the way of faith. God's not in it, and it's doomed to failure. You don't want to get the cart before the horse. It's not works before faith; it's faith before works. This nurse was a Catholic lady and, after we had talked to her for a few minutes, I told her, “Ma'am, Corban is healed. He'll be just fine, so don't you worry.” I quoted a few verses to her, and she went away, but I could tell she wasn't convinced. And she came back after a little while and knocked on the door again, and I thought, “Uh, oh. I wonder what's going on here.” I was thinking she might take some kind of legal action, but by the time she came back, Corban's skin was the same color as my skin. All the yellow had gone, and this little Catholic lady was astounded. She said, “That just doesn't happen without a transfusion,” and I said, “Well, you're looking at it!” I didn't say, “I told you so,” but she knew it. The year after that, we had Nathan, and Nathan was two months premature. Now listen, when you trust God, it's not as if you always get out of a trial and everything goes smoothly. We had trials just about every time, but God showed us that there was no problem from which He couldn't save us. Nathan was very premature and very, very small. We prayed over him, and I tell you, he never looked back. He just grew and grew. The boy never slowed down; he outgrew children who were born full-weight at the same time he was born. And when we called the Public Health Unit to get a birth certificate for Nathan, it happened that they sent out the same nurse, and she brought company with her: another nurse. As soon as they came in the door, she said, “Oh, Mr. Eells, can I show her the baby who was born last year?” I said, “Sure.” So they went in to see Corban and I could hear her talking to this other nurse. She said, “Now, this is the baby I was telling you about. This is the baby, this is the miracle!” Then they went and looked at Nathan, but this lady had gotten some faith in her because she wasn't worried, even though Nathan was very, very small. He was about four pounds, just a little bitty thing, but she wasn't a bit worried about it. I don't know what all happened to her, but I know Corban's miracle did something to this little Catholic lady. The reason I wasn't worried was that I knew it was already done. I didn't have to convince God. If you think you have to convince God, then you are walking by sight to see if God's answered. But when you walk by faith, you know He has already answered, and that's a moot point. Many people spend all of their energy trying to convince God to do something that He says He's already done. Amen! Praise the Lord! Many have questions about God using doctors and medicine. Many people today believe that this is God's way, but I want to point out some things to you from the Scriptures. Jesus is called “The Great Physician,” when nothing could be further from the truth because a physician is a Doctor of Medicine. He's legally qualified to practice medicine and Jesus never touched medicine. Calling Him “The Great Physician” is just a sorry translation of the Greek iatros, which simply means “healer,” or iaomai, which means “to heal” or “make whole.” Now, Jesus was “The Great Healer” but He never practiced medicine because He didn't use the methods and the things of the world. He just used the spoken word. He commanded it done and it was done. Some people ask, “What about Luke? Luke was called ‘The Beloved Physician.'” Again, the word there has nothing to do with physician; it's the same word iatros, meaning “healer.” Luke was a healer, but he was a healer in the same way that Jesus was a healer. The Book of Acts tells us that Luke traveled with Paul and wherever they went there were healings, but there is absolutely no place in the Bible that says Luke used any physician skills. The word is simply “healer.” However, there is another term that's used in the Scriptures and it's translated “sorcerer.” The word is pharmakeus or pharmakeia, and it does involve the use of medicine. It's where we get our word for “pharmacy.” A pharmacist doesn't generally practice pharmakeus; he just sells the drugs, but the physician is legally qualified to practice pharmakeia, which is healing through drugs. The Bible has nothing good to say about pharmakeus or pharmakeia. It calls pharmakeia a work of the flesh. (Gal.5:19) Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these:] fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, (20) idolatry, sorcery (the word there is pharmakeia), enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties, (21) envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you, that they who practise such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. And over in Revelation, God demands that the people repent of their pharmakeia. (Rev.9:20) And the rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk: (21) and they repented not of their murders, nor of their sorceries (that's the word pharmakeia again),nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. In Jesus' day, the disciples all repented of pharmakeia; they walked by faith. (Heb.10:38) But my righteous one shall live by faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him. The disciples spoke the word of faith and God healed, and God delivered, and God did miracles! Today we're coming to our own Book of Acts. God is once again going to give grace through faith that those people who have knowledge of the Word to begin to walk in that knowledge. (Eph 2:8)  for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.  Also, Revelation says that the Harlot deceived the earth with her pharmakeia. (Rev.18:23) And the light of a lamp shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the princes of the earth; for with thy sorcery were all the nations deceived. People are deceived into thinking that, “Now God has changed. Now He needs help. He doesn't have the power He once had to heal the sick. He doesn't do it by faith.” (1Pe.2:24) … by whose stripes ye were healed. If you were healed, why are you trying to heal yourself? Why are you running to lost men and pharmakeia? God says, “cursed is the man who trusts in man.” Before the vax, the Journal of the American Medical Association admitted to 450,000 deaths a year are because of medical mistakes. This is not something I haven't proven. We've had almost every kind of healing miracle you can think of, from broken bones made whole overnight to heart and cardiovascular problems taken away, and I can tell you that God consistently heals today like He did back then, if you believe what you read in the Book. (Heb.13:8) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day, yea and for ever. Are there reasons why some do not get healed? Yes, a person may want to go home, there may be willful disobedience, there may be unforgiveness, there may be idolatry. Honest confession of sins is powerful. Believe the Good News. (Rom.1:16) For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Ghost Investigation - The Seven Oaks House Museum Part 1 - Episode 217Welcome back! On this week's episode we start our tour of The Seven Oak House Museum, while we tag along with The Winnipeg Paranormal Group. Joined by our friend 'T' filling for Sher, we ventured into the store, which was the first building to house the family of Mary and John Inkster. Here is the History part - It is the oldest house in Winnipeg. The Seven Oaks House Museum is a civic museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The two-storey log dwelling is designated a Provincial Heritage Site, and a Winnipeg Landmark Heritage Structure.The store at Seven Oaks House Museum built in the early 1830's is one of the oldest surviving building in Manitoba along with the main house built from 1851 to 1853 and one of a handful of log buildings remaining that give a picture of life at Red River during the 1800s. The historic site is unusual in Winnipeg as the building still sits on its original foundations, and much of the surrounding homestead remains undeveloped. Our group leader was Jess, a Mortician by trade, is a physchic intuitive in training and one of the members of The Winnipeg Paranormal Group. She was kind enough to guide the group on the differences between Spirits and Entities and gave us a very interesting explanation on what she sensed was in the gardens. She as well explains the interesting connection between the Franscescan Monks, their parish, and squirels!Cool fact - the previous week, the store building was used during the filiming of the Little House on the Prairie reboot in Winnipeg.!Don't forget the mark your calendars for 'Spirits of Seven Oaks House' which is a candle lit theatrical Ghost tour of the oldest house in Winnipeg, presented with Special guest Matthew Komus! This will be taking place September 19, 20 & 26 -  7pm and 9 pm shows. Check their website and socials for more details and to purchase your tickets!As for us.....Spirits with Spirits will again take place September 24, 2025 at the King's Head Pub - special guestz will be James and Judy from Six Pines Haunted Attractions to give us information on their themes for this year's October at Six Pines and talk about the 'Shadowman' who is known to haunt their attractions!  As well, please join us September 28, 2025 at The King's Head Pub for 'Sip & Shop' Pop Up Shop with the Fantastical Emporium and The Winnipeg Paranormal Group with Jas from Giving Up The Ghost Podcast MCing....remember to check out our Merch and possibly tell us your ghost stories! Don't forget to come out October 12, 2025 to the Fantastical Emporium Market at the Masonic temple for some creepy cool Merch! Enjoy this week's new episode!Music by Ruesche-Sounds https://www.youtube.com/channel/USqXOFollow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok & ReddittIf you have a local paranormal story of Winnipeg or in Manitoba, please email us at giivinguptheghostpodcast.@gmail.com - or if you just want to say 'Hi'!!! 

Shrey Purohit is the kind of person everyone should know. Not know about (although obviously that's what this podcast aims to do), but know personally. In this podcast, Episode 2 of Season 8 of Storied: San Francisco, meet and get to know Shrey. A few of his art pieces are up at Mini Bar through Oct. 19 in our Every Kinda People show. And at the risk of being hyperbolic, through the experience of putting that show together, I am very happy that I've come to know Shrey. We begin with Shrey's birth, which happened in Mumbai, India, in 1997. Both his parents are doctors. Shrey's mom comes from a family of doctors going back four generations. Her dad (Shrey's grandfather) was driven out of what is now Pakistan and went to Mumbai with his possessions in hand to start a new life at just 15 years old. Shrey speaks of how fond he was of that grandfather, even describing some of his hobbies and wardrobe choices (bow ties because regular ties would get in the way of his medical duties). Shrey's family was rooted in the Sindhi culture in India. It's a community steeped in entrepreneurship, and his grandfather was one of the first in his area to be a male gynecologist. His wife was an anesthesiologist and worked with her husband. Shrey jumps ahead to note that his parents, too, worked together in the medical field. His dad specializes in diabetes treatment. The two met when Shrey's dad was treating his mom's aunt. It was what Shrey calls a “semi-arranged marriage,” but to my understanding, more like a “hey, here's someone who might be good for you” type of situation. He says his parents' coming together had some love to it, which is probably more than most arranged marriages. They built a medical practice that became very successful, he says. So successful, in fact, that it allowed both of their children—Shrey and his younger sister—to live abroad. Because his sister was born when he was three or so, he got to help name her. “It was my first creative project,” Shrey says. Shrey lived in Mumbai until he finished school. His formative memories take place in his neighborhood of Colaba in South Mumbai, near the water and the Gateway of India. He says it has “big-town energy with a small-town vibe.” Everyone knows everyone else, and Shrey has brought that same spirit with him halfway around the world. We go on a sidebar about how San Francisco can have that big city/small town feel. Shrey got started doing graphic design while still living in India. He even went to school for it over there. He did well in it, so well that he hired a few employees. But he soon found that people don't take kindly to being bossed around by a 17-year-old. He pivoted from design to art, something he'd always wanted to do. A formative experience for Shrey was going to an event a Kulture Shop in Mumbai, where he met Jas Charanjiva. Jas, who's originally from Napa, helped open Kulture Shop to support Indian artists. He was 15 and had found a mentor in Jas. Shrey has an uncle in Millbrae whom he had visited with family a few years before. His uncle took them to several spots around town, including to AT&T Park for a Giants game. His Indian school credits transferred, and so, when Shrey was 19, he moved to The Bay to attend California College of the Arts and study comics, illustration, and painting. Check back Thursday for Part 2 with Shrey. And on Friday, look for a bonus episode with the 2025 San Francisco Low Rider Parade Grand Marshal, David Gonzales. This episode is brought to you by Standard Deviant Brewing. We recorded this podcast at Root Division in South of Market in August 2025. Photography by Nate Oliveira

In these dark times, we must fight evil with the most powerful weapons we have.The Rosary is foremost among them.Join the Great Rosary Campaign today at: www.GreatRosaryCampaign.com.The Great Rosary Campaign is a yearlong mission for the conversion of cultural leaders. We will announce a weekly call to pray every Sunday for specific fallen-away Catholics and non-Catholics.THIS WEEK of the Great Rosary Campaign, in light of last week's horrific events (the assassination of Charlie Kirk), we will once more pray for Charlie Kirk (this time, for the repose of his soul), his family, and everyone else affected by this great tragedy. We prayed for Charlie on the Great Rosary Campaign in life this past July. We will now pray for him in death.The SUGGESTED PENANCE this week is both a 24 hour water fast, adjusted for your state in life, and a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament.Countless Saints and Popes have told us that the Rosary is incredibly powerful for three things in particular:Keeping the FaithMoral renovationConversions of non-CatholicsThe Great Rosary Campaign is also based on several biblical themes and principles.First, PRAY FOR OUR BRETHREN. “Pray for one another…” (Jas. 5:16). “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Gal. 6:10).Second, PRAY FOR OUR ENEMIES. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:43-44).Third, PRAY FOR ALL MEN, PARTICULARLY LEADERS AND THOSE IN AUTHORITY. “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, or kings and all who are in high positions…” (1 Tim. 2:1-2).Fourth, GOING INTO BATTLE WITH THE ARK. When the ancient Israelites came to Jericho, God didn't tell them to besiege the city. Instead, He told them to march around it with the Ark of the Covenant seven times, and on the seventh the walls would fall. We will now "march" in prayer for seven days with the New Ark of the Covenant, Our Lady, through the Rosary. We pray in hope that on the seventh day, a day especially devoted to Our Lady (Saturday), extraordinary graces of conversion will be given to those we are praying for.Fifth, EVANGELISM AND APOLOGETICS = LOVE + ARGUMENTS + PRAYER + PENANCE. Ultimately it is God who reveals Himself to a soul, and empowers them to say "yes" to Him by His grace. He chooses to use us, but He does not have to. We must remember that as we evangelize and defend the Faith, our arguments will be fruitless unless informed by love (charity), and reinforced by prayer and penance.Sixth, RETURNING GOOD FOR EVIL. “Do not return evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but on the contrary bless, for to this you have been called, that you may obtain a blessing" (1 Pet. 3:9).Sign up to take part in the Great Rosary Campaign today: www.GreatRosaryCampaign.com

Faith for the Coming Wilderness (4) (audio) David Eells – 9/14/25 I want to back up a little from what I shared last time, when we knew we were to move to Florida and share how we got a little ahead of the Lord. Sometimes the Lord will wait before He answers because He wants to see if we are going to get out there in the flesh and that's what we did. We came over a little early and started looking around Pensacola, but we didn't see anything, and we went back home. We started crying out to the Lord, “Okay, Lord, we know this is the time; we know it's coming,” and so on. And the next time, we waited until the Lord sent us. We even had a Christian realtor in Pensacola looking around for us, and we described the house to him because we had already seen it in dreams and visions. He was looking all over Pensacola, trying to find the house, until, finally, one day, in a little frustration after having sought the Lord, I stopped the man. I said, “Look, let's get your map.” So he got his map and we stretched it out on the hood of his car, and I said, “Listen, this is where the house is, right here!” I wasn't even looking where I was pointing, but I stuck my finger down on the map and he said, “Okay, we'll go there and look.” As we were looking, I told the man just exactly how much we were going to pay for the house. I could tell he wasn't used to that, but he said, “Okay.” He drove us through the area where my finger came down and we passed by the house we had seen in our dreams and visions. The lady who owned it had just stuck a “For Sale By Owner” sign in the ground. And since this was a realtor and it was a For Sale By Owner sign, he was just driving right on by, but I had my pad and pencil out. I wrote down the phone number and called her later. So after we looked at the house, I felt led to offer her $1000 less than I knew I was going to pay because some people like to haggle. She said, “Well, I don't know.” And I said, “Well, I tell you what, leave the curtains,” which I knew she was planning on doing anyway, “and I'll give you this much,” which was the amount the Lord told me. And she said, “Okay.” Praise the Lord! I do want to tell you that the realtor was a good Christian man who had done a good job looking for the house, and we actually gave him his commission. He had worked for his due, and we figured we'd give it to him anyway. He told us, “Man, I could never have found you a deal like this!” Now this lady was a Baptist, but one of her relatives was the pastor of a large, full-Gospel church in Pensacola. He and other people had been witnessing to her. And at the time when we came to Pensacola, she was having a problem with her eyes, so we asked her, “Would you let us pray for you? Will you let us lay hands on you for those eyes, so God will heal them?” I pointed out some verses to her and so on. She said, “Well, I don't know so much of that laying on of hands stuff, but I would like you to pray for me.” I answered, “Okay, we will pray for you without the laying on of hands.” That's what we did; we prayed for her, and God healed her. She was so jubilant to come to find out that God would do this for her because her doctrine didn't permit that kind of miraculous healing. She didn't really believe in those kinds of miraculous healings, but she received a miraculous healing, and her eyes were suddenly opened to the true Gospel. Then, when the time came for us to move in, she still wasn't ready to move out for another week, so she lived with us for a week, and we were able to witness to her even more. We had our stuff all piled up on one end of the house, and we were kind of living together like that until, finally, we had the house to ourselves. You see, God did a miracle. And it was through our weakness that we got this miracle. God paid for it; we didn't pay for anything. The money He gave us was enough to buy the house and a new car because our small car was a Toyota, which was good for doing small jobs, but we had five kids. So we bought a large, brand new station wagon, and God also did many miracles on that station wagon for us over the years. But the miracle was that God paid for both of these. We didn't have any money or save any money, and we just continued to give to any need that came our way. Whenever we saw a need, we gave to it. We didn't believe in storing up our treasures on earth, so we put no money in the bank. We did what Jesus says. (Luk.12:33) Sell that which ye have, and give alms; make for yourselves purses which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief draweth near, neither moth destroyeth. “Faileth not.” I want to remind you that no credit goes to us. Eph 2:8  for by grace (unmerited favor) have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9  not of works, that no man should glory.  When you store up your treasures in Heaven by meeting the needs of the brethren, you can always get it back because as the Lord said, it “faileth not.” For many years, I made a very good living, and I met the needs of the brethren around me. Whenever I saw a need, it wasn't a burden to me to take care of it by the grace of God, Who put it in my heart to do that. When you read the Word of God and you love the Word of God, and you love to act and live on the Word of God, the Word gets into your heart. The Word in you is Jesus in you. So we just gave where we saw to give; we didn't save up money and we didn't borrow money. Borrowing was out of the question for us because we were walking by faith, and even up to today, I haven't for 55 years. But because I give, the money is always there when I need it. As I've shared with you, the Lord taught me never to borrow, never to tell my needs, never to go into the business of buying and selling. Another was, never to take any government help. Recently the Lord had me sighn up for Social Security at 76 which didn't belong to the government but me, but I have given it away ever since. One of the things the young man said happened in his dream was that when he walked up to me, I told him, “I'm never going to work for man again,” and it was true. After I retired from Exxon, I never worked for man again. Now, everybody has to work, as the Bible says: (2Th.3:10) For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, If any will not work, neither let him eat. So I've worked diligently for the Lord and still do, but I've never been a burden on people. I made sure of that, and I never made my needs known. I haven't received any income from UBM. God put it in people's hearts to meet our needs separately. I don't believe in being a freeloader or “mooching.” It's wrong and it's evil. If you're truly walking by faith, God's going to support you. (Luk.10:7) And in that same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. (Mat.10:10) Get you no gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses; (10) no wallet for your journey, neither two coats, nor shoes, nor staff: for the laborer is worthy of his food. God supports those who work for Him. Apostle Paul is our example. At the beginning of his ministry, he worked for a living. (1Co.9:11) If we sowed unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things? (12) If others partake of [this] right over you, do not we yet more? Nevertheless we did not use this right; but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. But later on (2 Corinthians 9; Philippians 2), it seems very clear that Paul was receiving freewill offerings from brethren so that he could continue on with his ministering and not be distracted by any work. It was that way for the first part of my ministry, too. I worked for many years while I ministered. I learned to walk by faith and, in that weakness, God was miraculous. Most people don't get to see the miracles of God because they are not willing to be weak. They're always strong and do for themselves; it's salvation by works. Remember that the Greek word for “salvation,” which is the noun soteria or the verb sozo, is translated in many different ways to cover every kind of salvation. For instance, when Jesus healed someone, (Mat.9:22) But Jesus turning and seeing her said, Daughter, be of good cheer; thy faith hath made thee whole (sozo). And the woman was made whole (sozo) from that hour. When He delivered people from demons, (Luk.8:36) And they that saw it told them how he that was possessed with demons was made whole (sozo). When the disciples were in the sinking boat, (Mat.8:25) And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Save (sozo), Lord; we perish. Salvation is very, very big! Jesus saved us from sin and its curse. (2Co.5:21) Him who knew no sin he made [to be] sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Did you know, in the Scriptures, poverty is a curse? (Deu.28:47) Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things; (48) therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies that Jehovah shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee. Unless it is a sacrificial self-imposed poverty for the sake of others, it's a curse. How many of you know that Jesus wasn't poverty-stricken? He had His needs met everywhere He went. Now, He didn't have riches, according to the way the world likes riches. The world likes the material kind of riches in which they can trust. Jesus didn't have that, but His needs were met wherever He went, and so were His disciples. They weren't poor, but they were poor to the world. (Jas.2:5) Hearken, my beloved brethren; did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him? People who are poor to the world are in a position of weakness, where they have to trust in God. You have to come out from under the principles of the world and the teachings of the worldly, Babylonish Church. You learn to obey the principles that Jesus gave us in the New Testament. Make sure your brother's needs are met sacrificially out of what you have, and God will make sure you don't ever have a need that isn't met by God's faith in us. Paul said, (Php.4:19) And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. He said that because his needs were being met by the brethren and He made that promise to the Philippians. Well, we lost a car, had been injured, and didn't have any money, but in our weakness, God was made strong. We didn't have to sell or borrow or beg or do anything of the sort; all we did was give. I want you to walk in the same blessings, and God will do that for you if you start living according to His principles. By the way, because the second part of the money that came in from the wreck was delayed and delayed, God made an opportunity for me to give away my first station wagon that I had when I was in Baton Rouge. I gave it away to a mission in town where I had preached quite a few times because they needed transportation for the people in the mission. God blessed me with that car, and I never had any problems with it that Father didn't fix. When we prayed for a car, my youngest daughter had a vision of that car being in New Orleans. She even saw the color of the car. Sure enough, I couldn't find anything in Baton Rouge that I liked, so I went to New Orleans, and I saw the car and bought it. That was the car I gave to the mission. And I'd never put any spares in that car because I was trusting God to keep my tires, but the day I put the keys in the preacher's hand in my living room and we walked outside, it was sitting on a flat. I never had a flat as long as I had that car because I never carried a spare, but as soon as it got out of my hand and into his, it had a flat. And since I mentioned New Orleans, think about what happened there, folks. God brought a Category 5 hurricane (Hurricane Katrina: August 29, 2005) to that big sin city and, just as it was about to hit land, He sent in a wave of dry air from the northwest that suddenly knocked that hurricane down to a Category 3. That same gust of dry air pushed the hurricane to the east. A Category 5 hurricane that was about to hit that area would have driven the waters of Lake Pontchartrain over into the city and drowned 40,000 to 50,000 people because the water would have come in there so fast. Think about man's efforts to save himself with the levees and those great big monster pumps that they have in that city. They thought they could keep that city dry. Had a Category 5 hit that city head-on, or even a Category 3, it would have pushed the water in there faster than the pumps could handle. Most of New Orleans is 20 feet below sea level and some of it is more than 20 feet below sea level. What chance did man have to save himself from just one of God's judgments? As it was, He didn't let the city escape, even after moving the hurricane over a little bit. The levees gave out when they became saturated and the city started filling up with water, but it was slow enough to give people a little time to move out of the way. It was astounding how the mercy of God saved those people. The meteorologists pointed out on radar how this gust of dry air came in and moved the hurricane; they were totally amazed by it. They had never seen anything like it. That was purely an act of God that spared them when they couldn't have saved themselves, even with all of their efforts. They knew if a major hurricane hit them, the city would drown. God didn't completely spare the city, but He spared an untold number of people, including many brethren. I'm sure some people in New Orleans with faith were praying until God, at the last moment, suddenly dropped the strength of that hurricane and moved it over. Hurricane Dennis did exactly the same thing as it was coming toward Pensacola. I was praying the whole time and I was asking, “Lord, do you want me to command that hurricane to back off and go the other way?” The Lord said, “No. Just wait,” so I didn't do anything. All of a sudden, when it hit the land, I felt in my heart that the Lord wanted me to command it to be broken up, and that's exactly when it started breaking up. The strength dropped down, and it veered a little bit to the right of Pensacola. I know that there were some people over there in New Orleans doing the exact same thing and God answered the exact same way. You see, God has it all planned out. He just uses His faith in us to bring it to pass. We can put our trust in the living God. Nothing that man can do will save you from the judgments that are coming. The wilderness is where you learn to walk by faith in the Lord. You learn to put your faith in Him and you give up your efforts and your power; you give up your ability to do anything. The promises of God are past tense. He became a curse for you, He bore your curse, and He healed your body. He already did all of this, and since all of these promises are past tense, what can you do to bring it to pass? Jesus taught us, (Mar.11:24) Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye received them, and ye shall have them. If you believe you have received, there's nothing for you to do to bring them to pass. Believing the promises brings us into a position of weakness where we can't save ourselves. You've probably heard the old saying, “God helps those who help themselves.” Well, that's a lie. The Bible says just the opposite: (Jer.17:5) Thus saith the Lord: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. The power of God is made perfect in weakness; that's what He told Paul: (2Co.12:9) And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Paul couldn't save himself in those situations that he got into, but he said, (2Ti.4:18) The Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will save me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. In his weakness, and faith, God's power was made perfect. Keep the Sabbath, and don't bring a burden into God's Holy City on this Sabbath. Cease from your own works or, in other words, cease from the works of man. As God told Moses and the children of Israel, (Exo.14:13) And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you to-day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. (14) The Lord will fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. He said, “Stand still.” They were trying to figure out what to do. Here was Pharaoh's army coming up behind them and they would have never thought about parting the Red Sea. (Exo.14:15) And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. (16) And lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go into the midst of the sea on dry ground. You see, God has ways far beyond our ways. (Isa.55:8) For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. (9) For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. That's why He had to tell them, “stand still.” It's the same for us. Sometimes we're just so busy running around, trying to figure out a way out of this or a way out of that. We've been trained from our youth to solve our problems for ourselves, when God just wants us to be believers in His promises. Get your Bible and diligently read it. Underline those promises and start acting on them. (Jas.2:17) Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. Faith without works is dead. Remember that Jesus told us, (Mar.11:24) … All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye received them, and ye shall have them. How would you act if you believed you had received what you prayed for? You would stop trying to bring it to pass for yourself. You would cease from your own labors and, if you cease from your own labors on His Sabbath, you will find God's power is made perfect. Glory be to God! Now, I want to remind you that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart over and over before the Israelites were set free from Egypt to go into their wilderness. (Exo.7:1) And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. (2) Thou shalt speak all that I command thee; and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. (3) And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. (4) But Pharaoh will not hearken unto you, and I will lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. (5) And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them. Why did He do that? Why did the Lord harden Pharaoh's heart? (Exo.10:1) And the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I may show these my signs in the midst of them, (2) and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought upon Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know that I am the Lord. The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart because He wanted to judge Egypt and He wanted to prove His great power to deliver the Israelites. By the time the Israelites left Egypt, the land had been devastated, and the economy was in ruins. (Exo.10:7) And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? You know, He's going to do that again in our day! (Ecc.1:9) That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. History is going to repeat. Judgments are coming upon the United States, but God is merciful, and He sends warnings to us so His people will pray. I'm totally convinced that the prayers of the saints have delayed a time of judgment. We have been receiving many revelations of judgments, some of them with actual dates that have since come and gone, and the Lord showed me that these were true revelations, yet they didn't come to pass. You see, the Lord gives you a warning of things to come for the purpose of having you seek Him for grace. (Jas.4:2) … ye have not, because ye ask not. God's people don't pray and they don't seek Him for His grace and mercy! It takes a threat for His people to seek Him for grace and mercy. When God wants to give us grace and mercy, He almost has to tell us what's going to happen if we don't seek Him. I know what the Lord did with those revelations that never came to pass: He put those warnings out there so His people would seek Him for grace and He gave it. By the way, if you don't believe God dates prophecies, you haven't read very much of the Bible because there are many of them in there (Daniel 7; 9; Jonah 3; Revelation 12; etc.) The brethren who share these warnings sometimes wonder if God just forgot about them or if He left them, or if they were deceived. The same thing happened with Jonah. (Jon.4:1) But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. Jonah had prophesied Nineveh would be overthrown in 40 days, and yet, God had mercy when the people cried out to Him. God had mercy, and Jonah was angry because now he was going to look like a false prophet. (2) And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I hasted to flee unto Tarshish; for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and repentest thee of the evil. (3) Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. Jonah didn't want to face the world. He felt as if the Lord had let him down. He had prophesied their destruction, but he also knew that God was merciful and would repent of the prophesied evil. However, God reminded Jonah there was something a lot more important than his pride. (Jon.4:11) And should not I have regard for Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle? Can you imagine, He was even having mercy on the cattle! God was showing it wasn't important that Jonah might look like a false prophet, but it was important that God was going to have mercy on these people. That's the thing we have to keep in mind. Remember, we've been put here to be of no reputation anyway, according to the Scriptures. (Php.2:5) Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (6) who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, (7) but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; (8) and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. We're supposed to have the same mind as Christ. We're here to lose our reputation in the eyes of the world. The wilderness is a place of hopelessness for the flesh because the flesh really can't help God. Just like the wilderness was a place of weakness for Israel, a place where the world couldn't supply the needs of God's people, so it is, and will be, for us in our day. What the Church has been teaching for so long is, “God helps those who help themselves.” That's their doctrine. Well, God doesn't like that and it's a stench in His nostrils. The Bible says (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. We are saved by His works, His efforts, and His wisdom. The Lord has already accomplished everything for us at the cross. (Php.4:19) And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. He supplied our needs at the cross, so God doesn't appreciate that the Church is preaching salvation by works. He said, (2Co.12:9) … My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness.... I'd like to share with you the difference between assurance and insurance because this is part of my wilderness. Many people have their trust in the “idol” of insurance. They think they've insulated themselves from anything bad that could come from this world, but it's going to fail. Every idol that you stand up to the Lord will fall over and be crushed like Dagon. (1Sa.5:3) And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. (4) And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands lay cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him. God is going to judge all the idols of Egypt; they will all fail. Even insurance companies are not going to be able to save America. As a matter of fact, insurance companies have been leaving several states, including Florida, where judgments such as hurricanes are becoming more and more frequent. They've been leaving those states to avoid going bankrupt. And they get permission to not pay up if doing so would harm them. But God's going to continue hitting big sin cities all around the United States with one form of judgment or another, and there aren't enough insurance companies in the world to save America. If you're interested in my wilderness experiences and teachings from the Bible, I ask that you get our free e-book, Sovereign God For Us And Through Us, on our website: ubm1.org. He is sovereign for us and He wants to be sovereign through us. He wants to administer His authority in this earth through His people. I want to share some excerpts with you here from Chapter 18. It's titled “Assurance Versus Insurance,” and I hope it will give you a desire to read the rest of the book. We receive testimonies every day of people who are being empowered by God and helped and delivered by this book. (The excerpts are italicized, and my commentary is in parentheses.) (Psa.91:9) For thou, O Lord, art my refuge!.... This confession of faith and the deliverance that comes of it are merely acting on what the Word says. I received a revelation years ago in Louisiana, before it was a law to have any form of auto insurance. Even now there are are laws to have the minimum PIP/PD but that covers the other guy, not you. So I have had this to obey the law and have been rewarded greatly because the other guy was a fault and paid me. The Lord began spiritually to reason with me. It occurred to me that God is sovereign over what we call “accidents.” (We're always insulating ourselves with insurance, but there is really no such thing as an accident, is there?) (Joh.3:27) A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven. That doesn't sound like there are accidents (It sounds like there is a sovereign God!); therefore, an accident could not come without God sending it. Since He said that if we prayed believing we would receive, then I could ask Him to keep my vehicles, or let the other guy be at fault and pay me, which has profited me greatly. Why would I need insurance if I believed the assurance just given in His promises? (Psa.91:9) For thou, O Lord, art my refuge! (Notice the good confession and its resulting benefit. (Jas.2:26) For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead. Faith without works is dead, but the good confession brings a benefit.) Thou hast made the Most High thy habitation; (10) There shall no evil befall thee, Neither shall any plague come nigh thy tent. (I know a lot of people don't believe or teach this nowadays, but it's the Word of the Lord. Who are we to say otherwise!) (11) For he will give his angels charge over thee, To keep thee in all thy ways. (12) They shall bear thee up in their hands, Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. (Or, in other words, “lest you have an accident.”) Notice that when we abide in Christ by faith (and hold fast this good confession; that's the promise of God), angels keep us from what men call “accidents.” An exception to this can be an experience like Job's to show hidden faults (Job.32:1-2). As in his case, God strictly controls the chastening and later restores what is taken. God restored to Job twice as much as he had and without insurance. God desires to be our security. We don't need security in the world; we need our God to be our security. (Psa.119:122) Be surety (Hebrew: “to give or be security”) for thy servant for good.... (Heb.7:22) By so much also hath Jesus become the surety of a better covenant. God and His promises are the believers' assurance of provision and protection. After seeing what the Lord was saying to me, I dropped my auto insurance back before it was required. Then I called my life insurance man and he came over. I told him that I would not need insurance anymore because God would be my assurance. He was a good Lutheran man who sincerely tried to reason with this fanatic, but to no avail. The week after I did this, I drove to a Stop-N-Go mart and went in to get some food. While I was walking down an aisle, I heard a crash that shook the store windows. I looked up over the isle to see that my car had been in a wreck without me! I went out and found a heavy old Buick's front end wrapped around the back corner of my Datsun station wagon. The driver backed the car up a foot or so, and we both stood there speechless. We just couldn't really understand how this could happen. The hood, grill and bumper of his all steel car were notched back about six inches, as if it had hit a big oak tree. Here is the good part. Datsun station wagons were tin boxes and could be dented with an elbow. This tank hit my car on the left rear wrap-around, plastic tail lens! I reached out and with my thumbnail, scraped a piece of paint from his hood off the plastic tail lens, and we stood there for a moment looking at this miracle. There was not a scratch, dent or crack on my car anywhere. Awesome God! He made my wimpy car, which should have been totaled, invincible to this old tank of a car. The assurance of God saved me from any need of insurance. The man said, “I think my brakes went out,” and then he mumbled, “They sure make ‘em better than they used to.” As I was thinking about how ludicrous that statement was (and I knew he didn't believe it anyway), he got in his car and left. Suddenly, it hit me that I missed the best chance in the entire world to witness to someone. I jumped into my car and caught him at the next red light (where his brakes, obviously, had stopped him). I grabbed some tracts out of the glove box and hurried to his door. I said, “Sir, that was a miracle.” He said, “It had to be.” I said, “I didn't have any insurance on my car and I was trusting God to keep it and He did.” The light turned green and we parted company. Since then, I have never had any insurance that covers our family, vehicles or home, other than what the law demands. We now have to have liability, which covers the other guy but not you. However, when the Lord tells you that you do not need insurance He means it. That first wreck, or lack thereof, was an awesome testimony, but we did not plunder Egypt, as we did with later wrecks. Since then, God has not always protected our vehicles or bodies, but in every case, it was to our advantage, for He healed our bodies once and greatly blessed us financially. (When you trust in the Lord, He's working all things for your good, as Romans 8:28 says.) During this time, though we sued no one, the other guy's insurance blessed us with money for the following: to repair a motorcycle with money leftover in my pocket for a new one; to repair a Toyota pickup that needed painting anyway, and I ended up after fixing the pickup, painting it with a beautiful paint job with $1,500 left in my pocket; to buy two cars, one new; to buy our home; to enable us to buy and give cars to others; to enable us to give our home away; and to buy a travel trailer for a homeless woman and her son. Besides all that and more, we have not spent God's money on many years' worth of insurance. (If you obey God, you can't lose! If you obey God and walk by faith in Him and let His assurance be your insurance and not the world, then you'll see the miracles of God.) Now, I can hear someone say, “But David, what if ... ?” What if what? What if God Almighty fell off His throne? (God made these promises; we're just depending upon Him.) (Rom.10:11) For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be put to shame. (The devil tells you that you will be put to shame, but that's a lie.) (Jer.17:7) Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose trust the Lord is. By the grace of God, it has been many years since we have had a wreck. Praise God! (So God can keep you from wrecks, but when you do get into them, He can make them bless you.) One day, in that same Datsun station wagon, I was driving along rather frustrated because I had had three flats on relatively new tires. Most people would be complaining to the manufacturer, but I believed that God was in control, so I was complaining to the Lord. A little frustrated, I said, “Lord, can't You keep my tires?” He said to me very clearly, “Don't you believe that I can keep your tires?” I replied in my ignorance, “Yes, I believe You can keep them.” He replied, “Then why do you keep putting that spare back there?” To be honest, I put the spare in the trunk because it was traditional and I had not questioned it, but also, the underlying reason was in case God didn't keep my tires. (I'm not trying to make a new doctrine on spares, just share a lesson God gave to me.) Fear and unbelief cause us to try to insulate ourselves from any possibility of lack, loss or threat. Since we are trusting in insurance besides the Lord, we usually end up needing it. (That's what people don't understand. If you trust in something besides the Lord, you end up having to use it. Of course, some people say, “Aha! You see, I needed it!” But they have it all backwards. When you trust in any idol and not in the Lord, you're going to need it.) Jesus sent out His disciples in a way that would make them dependent on living by faith. He sent them without their own provision so that in their weakness His power would be proven. (Mat.10:9) Get you no gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses; (10) no wallet for [your] journey, neither two coats, nor shoes, nor staff: for the laborer is worthy of his food. Later, Jesus wanted to see what they learned from this experience of depending upon God's supply. (Luk.22:35) And he said unto them, When I sent you forth without purse, and wallet, and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing. (For those of you who believe that only applied to the disciples, remember Jesus commanded His disciples to make disciples and teach them to observe everything that He commanded the first disciples to observe (Matthew 28:20). In other words, what He spoke to them, He spoke to us, but man came in there with religion and thwarted the whole mission that God sent us on.) In the wilderness of man's supply, God's provision was evident. (When Jesus sent out the disciples without their own supply, He basically made a wilderness wherever these men went because they didn't bring enough with them out of “Egypt” to supply their needs.) God starts His works when we finish ours. His power is made perfect in our weakness. That was my experience with those tires. I threw out my spare and I never had another flat on that car, and the neighbors who used to borrow it quit! (I would tell them, “Look, if you're going to drive this car, you have to drive it by faith because I don't have a spare back there.” Well, they quit borrowing my car, which I guess was another benefit.) The moral of that story is, if you prepare for a rainy day, it will come. With the next car, I had the same experience: no flats. When I decided after many years to give it to a mission, I put the keys and title into the hand of the pastor in my living room. We walked outside and the car was on a flat. (I was the one walking by faith and now that it was his car, now that the key was in his hand, it was sitting on a flat! Well, inside I just chuckled. I understood exactly what He was saying to me.) God made His point. As long as I owned the car, putting my trust in Him, there was never a flat. In other words, trusting in God takes away the need for insurance. (And, again, I'm not making any laws about this; I'm not condemning anybody for having spares. God was teaching me, and He'll teach you. He may use other methods, but He wants to teach you to walk in this wilderness, to walk in a lack of man's provision, but in your weakness, God will be made strong.) Men serve insurance companies, H.M.O.s, banks and store up their treasures on earth for the security they think it gives them. (Mat.6:19) Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal. Y2K revealed the paranoia and lack of trust in those who stored up their treasures on earth, contrary to the Lord's command. (It's fear that causes people to do such things, but God's power is made perfect in our weakness.) Quite a few I showed these principles to went home to give their store away and found it full of bugs, just as Jesus said, “thieves break through and steal.” Jesus told of a man who found peace in the insurance of storing up his goods in greater barns (Luke 12:18). He said to himself, (Luk.12:19) ...Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, be merry. (That's the thinking of man: “I have all I need; this will keep me for a long time.”) His misplaced trust brought judgment. (20) But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required (Greek: “they require thy soul”) of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be? (21) So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. (Now, to be “rich toward God” is to be “rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom.” (Jas.2:5) Hearken, my beloved brethren; did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him? Why did He choose the “poor as to the world”? He chose them because they have to trust in God, they have to put their faith in God. That's what God did with the Israelites when He brought them into the wilderness. He made them poor to the world, and He expected them to put their faith in Him.) Notice that it was his stored-up treasures that required his soul. Jesus promised the unfailing Kingdom provisions to those who would store up their treasures in Heaven by giving. (32) Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (33) Sell that which ye have, and give alms; make for yourselves purses which wax not old (not storing up), a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief draweth near, neither moth destroyeth. As long as we are on this earth, we can draw on our Heavenly bank account if we have deposited by giving to the needs of others. “Give, and it shall be given unto you.” If we have stored up on earth instead, the promise is that it will be stolen by thieves of one kind or another. Our heart will be on our treasures, falsely thinking them to be our security. (Luk.12:34) For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (And God cannot lie!) (I'm told that Psalm 118:8 is the center verse in the Bible and I'm sure that it is at least central to God's heart.) (Psa.118:8) It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Our trust in man is what brings the curse to pass. (Jer.17:5) Thus saith the Lord: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. (People are trusting in their insurance of many different kinds; they're trusting in their insurance companies, but they are all going to fail. Everything but God is going to fail in the days ahead!) As we can see, the insurances themselves bring the curse that they are thought to relieve. (The man who stored up “much goods” found that they brought the curse upon him. God is not offended with the world doing it; He's offended with His people doing these things.) God is offended with those who call themselves believers, yet trust in man's strength and insurances. This is a heart that departs from the Lord. In 2 Chronicles 16:1-6, Asa, king of Judah, put his trust in the worldly king of Syria for insurance against his enemies. This offended God, Who sent judgment. (2Ch.16:7) And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and hast not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand. (8) Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge host, with chariots and horsemen exceeding many? yet, because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thy hand. (9) For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly; for from henceforth thou shalt have wars. God is eager to show signs and wonders to those who trust in Him with a perfect heart. (Obviously, a “perfect heart” is not one that trusts in the world.) You would think that Asa would have learned this lesson, but his trust in man cost him his life, as it does for so many. (12) And in the thirty and ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet; his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians (13) And Asa slept with his fathers.... Christians justify their misplaced trust in man's insurances, not realizing that this brings the judgment in the first place. Let me share this experience with you. M.J. and I were about to go to work on a large crude oil pump for Exxon. The process department had blocked it out of line and drained it, or so we thought. What we did not know was that the pressure gauge read “0” because it was broken and the drain valve, though open, was stopped up, so there was a little pressure still in the pump. We took the bolts out of the head plate to remove it, but it was stuck. I stood up and took about four steps away to get something to break it loose when I heard a “pop” sound and turned around to see M.J. drenched with black crude from head to foot. As he opened his eyes, he sarcastically looked at me and said, “David, you did this to me.” Well, I could not contain myself and busted out laughing. The thought of me stepping away in the nick of time so that M.J. could get plastered was too much for me. Attempting to sound serious, he said, “Dave, you're never going to do this to me again.” I said, “M.J., you had better watch those self-confident statements. You know God is listening.” Then, he repeated his statement and said, “Bring me up to the shower house. I have a spare set of clothes up there.” I said, “Oh, now I know why you got it instead of me.” He asked, “Why?” I said, “Because I don't have a spare set of clothes and God knew it.” He looked at me kind of inquisitively. I explained that planning for a catastrophe is the same as having faith for it. It also proves that you do not believe that God will protect or provide. Later that day, we were working on another pump. M.J. was next to me as we used an impact gun to take off some bolts. Suddenly, slurry squirted down one of the open bolt holes and hit M.J. in the middle of his chest, leaving me untouched. (Slurry is a crude that will stain anything; you cannot get it out. If it gets on your clothes, you can just forget it because that's the color they are now. In fact, it's that way on skin; it's just terribly staining. So this slurry squirted down the bolt hole, down the side of the thread and hit him right in the chest.) He looked at me in disbelief. I playfully said, “M.J., I told you God doesn't like those self-confident statements,” but we both knew that God was speaking in this. We could not remember when this had happened to us before, much less twice in one day. (Truly, in the wilderness that's coming, we can put our trust only in the living God; nothing else is going to save us.) Now, back to that old Datsun station wagon; I want you to know the Lord used that vehicle to teach me many other lessons. When I was about to buy a new car, I really kind of favored the Toyota because I felt it was the better car, but I always left things up to the Lord. I asked, “Lord, which one do you want me to buy, the Toyota or the Datsun?” And I was surprised when the Lord said, “I want you to get the Datsun station wagon.” Now, a person would think that when the Lord tells you to do something, everything would be just fine since, obviously, the Lord is looking out for your good. Well, He was looking out for my good, but not in the way you would think sometimes. I told you the tire story, but other things went wrong with that car. Sometimes God wants you to have victory in trials. It wasn't all that long after I bought the car that the carburetor started acting erratically. And since I was a pretty good machinist and a pretty good mechanic, I knew the carburetor was plugged. I also knew that I didn't feel like tearing down the carburetor because the most precious thing in my life is my time. I used every spare moment I had to read the Bible, to study the Word. I was literally drawn, hungering and thirsting for the Word. Anyway, I just commanded that thing to be healed and kept on driving the Datsun. It went on like that, acting kind of erratically for a couple of weeks, but I just kept on holding fast to my confession. (Heb.10:23) Let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not; for he is faithful that promised. The Lord will try you; just because you don't get the answer right away doesn't mean He hasn't heard you. After I held on like this for a couple of weeks, suddenly it started getting better and better until the problem was gone. In a few more weeks, I was faced with a different problem. The transmission started slipping and I thought it was just crazy for a relatively new car to be doing things like this, but I did all the normal things that a mechanic would do, like checking the fluid, for example, to make sure it was at the right level. And again, I knew that I didn't want to mess with that transmission by working on it myself, and I didn't want to take it to a shop. My time was valuable to me. In the wilderness, it will be a different story. You may not be able to find somebody to work on it, or you may not have the money to work on it, or the parts may not be available, etc. Even though in those days I had plenty of money, I just wouldn't spend it. I considered that what I made belonged to the Kingdom, and I wanted to use it to meet the Kingdom's needs, not spend it on vehicles and things like that. So instead, I just commanded that transmission to “Be healed in the name of Jesus,” but it still went on slipping for a while. Of course, your mind is telling you, “Hey, if you keep letting it slip like that, you're going to have to replace the clutch,” and all the other things that normally go bad when it starts slipping. I just ignored it and kept on going, and as I held fast my confession, my transmission gradually got better and better, until I never had any more problems with it. So, the Lord had me by that car so He could try me and show me He could fix anything. Some of the times when the Lord was teaching me these lessons, I got in the flesh to do things myself, and nothing worked out right. For instance, I told you how, when the insurance money came in, I bought a new Chevrolet station wagon. Well, I'd watched a lot of advertisements for a product called “Slick 50” that showed how you could put it in an engine, run it in there a while, and afterward actually dump out the oil and the engine would still run. I was impressed with that. I thought, “Wow! That will keep my engine. It will make it last a long, long time.” But, folks, I already had a God Who would keep my engine and make it last a long, long time. He's a jealous God. He really wanted me to put my trust in Him. Do you know what I did? I put that Slick 50 in there, even though they said not to use it unless you have 40,000 or 50,000 miles on the car. Well, I stuck it in there a little early and they warn you that you can break some rings doing that. At the time, I still lived in Florida, and I had to go on a teaching tour in Texas. So all of my family and I got in the car and we took off, and before I got very far down the road, the car started pouring smoke out of the tailpipe. I looked in the rear-view mirror, and it was just solid smoke back there. I said, “What in the world has happened to my new car?” I checked the PCV and things like that but couldn't find anything wrong. The only thing I determined was that I must have broken rings, as they said I might do if I put Slick 50 in an engine that didn't have extra clearance in it. I would go a few miles down the road and pour a quart of oil in it, go a few miles and pour another quart in it, so I decided I was going to pray over the engine. I said, “Lord, forgive me for getting in the flesh, and I'm going to trust You to keep this engine.” So I prayed over the engine and I commanded it to be healed in the name of Jesus. I don't know where I got into the terminology of calling it “healed.” I've prayed over vehicles, refrigerators, washing machines, and things like that, and I would always just call it “healing.” Anyway, I prayed over that engine and commanded it to “be healed in the name of Jesus,” because it's not the terminology that you use. Your theology might be a little bit wrong, but the Lord knows what you're meaning. Well, I got back into the car and we went on our way. We got a lot farther down the road, and I think I had to put one more quart in that car on the whole trip to Texas and back. God repaired those broken rings and we had no more problem with that. I didn't have much trouble with that car for many, many years, but I had the water pump stop working on it once when my wife and I were out driving. She cranked the car, and water started just pouring out on the ground. I asked her to get out of the car and come lay hands on the hood with me, which we did. We laid hands on the hood and commanded that water pump to “stop leaking in the name of Jesus.” And that water pump seal immediately sealed back up and we drove off. I've had many miracles like that, but most people never think about doing that. The first thing that comes to their mind is, “Well, I have a warranty on this car; or “I have enough money to hire a mechanic to fix it.” I wanted to stay in the wilderness because I wanted to learn those lessons that, one day, everybody is going to have to learn, so I took every opportunity to stay in the wilderness The Israelites wanted to run back to Egypt whenever they came into a place where God would try them, but God put it in my heart to want to stay out there. I wanted to learn; I wanted to see God do these miracles. Besides that, God told me, “I'm bringing you through a wilderness, so you can tell My people that I still supply there.” I treasured these experiences. Some people would call them terrible tribulation, but I treasured them and I enjoyed seeing God do these things. Let me tell you about my washing machine. One time, after we had moved to Florida, the washing machine started leaking. Mary came and told me, “The seal in the washer has gone out; the pump is leaking onto the ground.” I thought, “I'm going to go pray for it.” So I went and prayed for it and commanded it to be healed, then I sopped up the water and told her to go ahead and use it. Well, she did the rest of the laundry, and the machine didn't leak any more water. Then, just a few weeks later, she said, “That machine is leaking again,” so I went back in there and did the same thing. It went for a few more weeks, and for a third time she said to me, “David, that washer is leaking again.” I said, “No, it's not. It's not leaking; that thing is healed. It's okay, it's fine, just wash and don't worry about it.” You see, I didn't want to go back on what I had spoken. I wanted to keep my trust in the Lord and, sure enough, it sealed up. I told my wife, “If you see it leak, don't confess it, just thank God that it's not leaking and it's fixed.” And, you know, I kept that washing machine until somebody gave me another one that was a lot newer. I remember another time, back when we were in Louisiana, when my two young sons were playing in the living room and I was sitting there studying. My wife came in and she said, “That washing machine won't run. It won't even come on.” I said, “Well, Corban and Nathan, you two go back there and lay hands on that washing machine and just command it to run in the name of Jesus and it will run.” So they did that; they went back there and they laid hands on that thing and they commanded it to run and it took off. I taught all my children to lay hands on this and that, and they got to see the power of God in their simple, childlike faith. Children will always have awesome faith if you teach them about God and you show them the truths in the Bible. We had this lawnmower, and we pulled it out after the winter so we could cut the grass in the early spring. I pulled and pulled and pulled on this lawnmower, but it wouldn't start. My boys were really young at the time, and they were just standing around, looking at me. Well, I pulled the spark plug wire off, put it alongside the block, and pulled it. There was no spark. Now, by this time, I was sweating, tired and I wanted to get it over with. I called my boys to me and said to them, “Let's pray for this thing. Let's command it to run in the name of Jesus. I don't care if it has a spark or not; I just want it to run.” So my boys came over and we all laid hands on the lawnmower, and I commanded it to run in the name of Jesus. Then I cranked it up and mowed the lawn. I don't know if it ever had a spark or not. That didn't make any difference; it just had to run. (Mat.21:21) And Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do what is done to the fig tree, but even if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea, it shall be done. (22) And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. The Lord told us, if you speak to a mountain and don't doubt, that what we say will come to pass, and I tell you, teach your children. They have more faith than you. When you tell a child something, the child just believes you, and that's the way we ought to be with God. (Mat.18:2) And he called to him a little child, and set him in the midst of them, (3) and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. We need to become like a child and, with childlike faith, just believe in our God, just believe that He will do it.

Faith for the Coming Wilderness (2) (audio) David Eells – 9/7/25 We need to understand that the natural has to bow to the spiritual; it's not the natural that runs this world. Presidents think they run this world, but the truth is God runs this world. This world bows to Him. And nothing can stop a person who believes in the living God and believes in His promises! We have an Almighty God Who loves us. He's made these promises and He's not a liar (Num.23:19). He will take care of us. He will provide for our needs. I know there is a big emphasis on getting prepared because many people realize that we are headed for trouble and lack, including some of the churches out there. Those churches are preparing their people, but they're doing it mostly in the natural, in the flesh. And, of course, those churches that teach and believe that they're going to fly away are not getting prepared for anything, but they're going to have a sudden shock. The Church is going through the wilderness, just like the Israelites did in type and shadow. (Ecc.1:9) That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. There is nothing in the Bible about the Church escaping that wilderness. The best thing you can do is to be like Moses and like Jesus, and go through it first. Then, when you get out there with the Israelites, it won't be a problem. You've already been there, and you'll be calm and peaceful, since you know that God is faithful. Most of the church leaders are men who have never been through the wilderness, and they are teaching a lot of fear because they are fearful themselves. Those men whom God chose to bring His people through the wilderness had already been there themselves. Like Jesus, like Moses, they weren't afraid of anything. The church leaders in our day are like the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who have never been in the wilderness and don't know how to go there. They are teaching people to store up their treasures on the earth. What did Jesus say about storing up treasures on the earth? (Mat.6:19) Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal: (20) but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: (21) for where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also. Jesus said, “Don't do it!” So, who are you going to obey? What happens if you don't store up provision for yourself and you go into a wilderness? I'll tell you what happens: you are suddenly being thrust into a place of weakness because of your obedience to the Word! Now you won't be able to save yourself, but God will never ever fail you. If you put your faith in Him, your weakness is a place of power to God. (2Co.12:9) … For my power is made perfect in weakness.... You see, “Man's extremity is God's opportunity” (English Clergyman John Flavel, 1627-1691). God waits until you give up trying to save yourself before His power is made manifest. Israel always seemed to be in the minority when they won a war, and if they weren't, God would make sure they were in the minority, as with Gideon's army. (Jdg.7:2) And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. (3) Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. I.e., Get the unbelief out of the way. (4) And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. (5) So he brought down the people unto the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. (6) And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. (7) And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thy hand ... Its not numbers but faith that is needed. (16) And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put into the hands of all of them trumpets, and empty pitchers, with torches within the pitchers ... (19) So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands. (20) And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands wherewith to blow; and they cried, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon. (21) And they stood every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host ran; and they shouted, and put them to flight.  Now that's the weakness and faith needed. (22) And they blew the three hundred trumpets, and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow, and against all the host; and the host fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. God said, “You have too many men. You'll brag on what you've done.” He whittled them down to 300 and sent them out with trumpets, not swords. Trumpets! The Hebrew word for “breath” is ruwach, and it is also translated “spirit,” so a trumpet represents making the Spirit's Word audible. Well, they blew those trumpets and the enemy stumbled all over each other and killed one another. Gideon probably didn't even need 300 men. God's awesome! He wants to prove to us His mighty power in our weakness, and that's why He says, “Don't store up your treasures on earth. You just go out there and I'll take care of you.” When the Israelites went into the wilderness, they took everything they could with them, including the gold and silver and precious jewels that they plundered from the Egyptians (Exo.12:31-39), but then they made a golden calf out of it, an idol (Exo.32:1-5). They thought it would save them. That's what a lot of apostates are teaching today. Do you think your gold and silver will save you in the days to come? No, the Israelites started running out of their own supply in only three days (Exo.15:22). Their golden calf was just an idol, which God proved wasn't going to save them. (Exo.32:19) And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. (20) And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. You ask me, “David, if we don't store up our treasures on earth, how do we store them up in Heaven?” Well, the Bible is very plain about that: (Luk.12:15) And he said unto them, Take heed, and keep yourselves from all covetousness (or “desiring more”): for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. (16) And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: (17) and he reasoned within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have not where to bestow my fruits? He meant upon himself. (18) And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my grain and my goods. (19) And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, be merry. In other words, if you have all of this supply, you are trusting in it; you are resting in it. You have peace because of what you've stored up, instead of trusting in God. God doesn't want that. He doesn't want idols. (20) But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be? (21) So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. Now I've had some people say, “Well, David, storing up food is not treasure.” I beg your pardon? In verse 18, it reads, “and there will I bestow all my grain and my goods.” God called food “treasure.” What God wants of us is our weakness and faith. He's going to bring us to a place where there will be no visible, worldly means of support, but He's Almighty God, and believers will have no difficulty whatsoever in the place where He is bringing them. He's doing this to prove to them how great He is and how great His provision is. (22) And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for [your] life, what ye shall eat; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. We are to be anxious for nothing. Paul said, (Php.4:6) In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Don't worry about what you are going to need in the wilderness, because God is going to be there when you get there. (Luk.12:23) For the life is more than the food, and the body than the raiment. (24) Consider the ravens, that they sow not, neither reap (In a wilderness, you may not even have anything to sow or you may have 3 mites; if so sow it.); which have no store-chamber nor barn; and God feedeth them: of how much more value are ye than the birds! Listen, if God feeds the birds and they don't store up, won't He do it for you? Yes, He will. (25) And which of you by being anxious can add a cubit unto the measure of his life? (26) If then ye are not able to do even that which is least, why are ye anxious concerning the rest? Isn't that awesome? We really can't save ourselves and He's trying to convince us of that. He's trying to convince us to put our trust in God Almighty. (27) Consider the lilies, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; yet I say unto you, Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. The Israelites were well-dressed in their wilderness (Deu.8:4; 29:5; Neh.9:21). (28) But if God doth so clothe the grass in the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven; how much more [shall he clothe] you, O ye of little faith? Yes, He will take care of you. He will feed you. He will clothe you. (29) And seek not ye what ye shall eat, and what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. An unbeliever, a doubter, is somebody who's worried about these things. (30) For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: but your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. That's all you need. God knows about it, and He will take care of you. (31) Yet seek ye his kingdom, and these things shall be added unto you. He's telling us to seek first His Kingdom. (Mat.6:33) But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. If you do that, then everything you need will be given to you. That is the truth and I have proven it! Many years ago, I had a ministry and I worked. I told the Lord, “Lord, I don't have time to work anymore. I'm asking You to make a way.” He did and He's provided ever since. (Luk.12:32) Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (33) Sell that which ye have, and give alms.... He didn't say to store it up for a rainy day. I learned that if you store up something for a rainy day, the rainy day always comes. But if you don't have it stored up, that rainy day never comes, or if it does, God has to do a miracle because He is contracted with you to be your supplier in all things. (Php.4:19) And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. He's your Jehovah-jireh, your provider. So it really doesn't make any difference whether a rainy day comes or not. (Luk.12:33) Sell that which ye have, and give alms; make for yourselves purses which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not.... If you have anything extra, do what they did on the day of Pentecost and shortly thereafter: (Act.4:34) For neither was there among them any that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, (35) and laid them at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto each, according as any one had need. (2Co.8:13) For I say not this that others may be eased and ye distressed; (14) but by equality: your abundance being a supply at this present time for their want, that their abundance also may become a supply for your want; that there may be equality. Anything extra was used to meet the needs of the rest of the body so that there would be equality. That's what He preached in the New Testament. He said it was like the Israelites who gathered the manna. (15) As it is written, He that gathered much had nothing over; and he that gathered little had no lack. Some gathered more than they needed, some gathered less, and whoever had extra met the needs of those who didn't. It was equality. God loves that! (Luk.12:33) Sell that which ye have, and give alms; make for yourselves purses which wax not old (Meaning you're not storing it up or keeping it for a long time.), a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief draweth near, neither moth destroyeth. Give alms. Meet the needs of people around you. That's what He calls “a treasure in the heavens that faileth not.” Any treasure you store up on earth is going to fail. The world is going to plunder you, and if not the world, the devil will plunder you by the curse, but you're going to be plundered. Let me tell you how not to get plundered: Give! Meet the needs of the brethren around you. Give and then it will be coming the other way because (Luk.6:38) Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom. For with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again. That's how it works. You can make a living by giving. It works. (Luk.12:34) For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Some people tell me, “It's okay to have it. Just don't set your heart on it.” That's not what Jesus said. He said, if you have it, your heart will be on it. “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” If you store up on this earth, you are disobeying Jesus. It's only good for spending, and then you learn to walk by faith. (Jas.2:5) Hearken, my beloved brethren; did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him? God chose those who are the poor of the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom. A person who is rich in faith will never go without. God always provides for them. How do you store up your treasures in Heaven? You do that by giving alms, by making yourselves purses that wax not old, by meeting the needs of the brethren. You give and it will be given unto you. When you get out in that wilderness, don't you want to have something stored up in the Bank of Heaven? He said, “A treasure in the heavens that faileth not.” If you pack food out there into that wilderness, it will fail you. If you pack gold out into that wilderness, the world will plunder you. But if you store it up by giving, God said He will give unto you. The way of God is to give what you have, and then God will multiply it back. It's happened to me many, many times that when I did not have enough money to take care of my needs, I would just take what I had and give it. And God has never failed me, not once. I walked by faith and raised five children, and God always met our needs. Now, one time we were forced into a fast as a trial of our faith, and that's the only time we were ever put in that position, but we got in a position many times where God literally multiplied food, multiplied money, and even multiplied gas in our tank. We got to see wondrous miracles from God, and we're still seeing them today! Now I'm not asking for anything; I'm just sharing with you how to get prepared for what's coming. And we give: nobody charges anybody for anything from our ministry. The volunteers who supply the materials on our site are people of faith. They supply those materials as their ministry, and other people bless those volunteers because the volunteers are giving. God sees to it that His Word is fulfilled. (Jer.1:12) Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I watch over my word to perform it. He stands behind His Word, and He will never fail you. He cannot fail. One thing I've learned about God is that He can do everything but fail. He will supply your every need according to His riches in glory. Don't fear the wilderness. God designed and ordained this wilderness. He's even ordained the Beast that's going to cause this wilderness. He's ordained Pharaoh's army to get behind God's people and force them out there into that wilderness. God is not going to fail you. Learn to walk by faith because the wilderness will be nothing for the people who walk by faith. In fact it can be joyful. But for those who are fearful and murmur and complain and walk by sight, they are not going to make it through (Num.11:1; 1Co.10:10, etc.). God is doing all this because He's raising up believers. (Heb.10:38) But my righteous one shall live by faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him. Listen, we are children of the last Adam, Jesus Christ. We are a new-creation man, meant to live above this world, meant to walk in His ways and His steps, and that includes going into the “wilderness” as He did. (Mat.4:1) Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. (2) And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered. (3) And the tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. (4) But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (5) Then the devil taketh him into the holy city; and he set him on the pinnacle of the temple, (6) and saith unto him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and, On their hands they shall bear thee up, Lest haply thou dash thy foot against a stone. (7) Jesus said unto him, Again it is written, Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God. (8) Again, the devil taketh him unto an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; (9) and he said unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. (10) Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (11) Then the devil leaveth him; and behold, angels came and ministered unto him. Jesus went through a 40-day wilderness trial before He overcame and then He brought God's people in His day through their wilderness. In our day, those who are in the First-fruits corporate body each go through their individual wilderness first. There, they learn to walk in the principles of the Kingdom, which is the purpose of the wilderness. Moses was a First-fruits. He went through a 40-year wilderness before he overcame (Act.7:30-34) and then he went on to bring God's people through their own wilderness (Num.14:34). Many people don't understand that the wilderness is available to every Christian worldwide because the wilderness is not some physical location to which we go; it's a place in the Spirit. It's a place where we no longer depend upon the world and the principles of the world. It's a place where we are, instead, ruled by the principles of the Kingdom. We no longer trust in the world for our sustenance, our salvation, our healing, our deliverance, and so on. Scripture tells us that most of the Israelites who left Egypt never learned that lesson: (Psa.78:19) Yea, they spake against God; They said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? When they could no longer depend upon the flesh-pots of Egypt, they murmured continually. They found it hard to trust in the living God. The Israelites are just a type and a shadow for us. They went into a literal wilderness, but our wilderness is spiritual. Everybody who walks by faith goes into the wilderness. Everybody who walks by faith in the commands and principles and promises of God automatically gives up salvation by works. The promises of God are for the whole man. They are meant to save us completely in spirit, soul, body, and circumstances, and they are meant to do that totally outside the principles of this world. As a matter of fact, He even gave us all-inclusive promises: (Mar.11:24) Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye received them (The original Greek word there is past tense.), and ye shall have them. Why does Jesus tell us to believe we have already received them? It's because everything that has to do with the salvation that the Lord gave us has already been accomplished. (1Pe.2:24) Who his own self bare our sins (that's past tense because it happened behind us) in his body upon the tree, that we, having died (that's past tense) unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed. Again, the word there is past tense. All of the promises that have to do with the sacrifice of Christ on the cross are past tense. (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved (That's what it says in the original; it's past tense.) through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; (9) not of works, that no man should glory. You have been saved! (Col.1:13) Who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the son of his love. You have been delivered out of the power of darkness. (Rom.6:18) And being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness. (11) Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. You were made free from sin! You see, when you realize that the Lord has already done all this, there is nothing you can do of yourself to bring it to pass. You have to walk by faith in the fact that it is already accomplished. You are already healed, you are already delivered, you are already blessed, you are already provided for and so on because all these things were accomplished at the cross. We enter into the New Testament “rest,” which many Christians erroneously think is a Saturday or a Sunday, but let's take a close look at what Scripture says about this “rest.” (Heb.4:1) Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. You see, the promises cause us to enter the rest because the promises are past tense, and when you believe them you have to stop your own works to try to bring them to pass. (3) For we who have believed do enter into that rest; even as he hath said.... When you believe these promises, you enter into the rest. For instance, you cannot do anything to get healed if you believe you were healed. The reason men run to man to get healing is because they don't believe Jesus has already healed them, but I'm telling you something that I know. For the past 55-plus years, I've been receiving healing because I realize that I don't have to do anything to bring it to pass. All I have to do is thank God for it. (Heb.13:8) Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday and to-day, [yea] and for ever. He still heals everyone who comes to Him by faith (Mat.4:24; 6:19; 12:15; 14:36; Mar.3:10; Luk.4:40; etc.) If you accept that you were healed at the cross and you are not harboring unforgiveness or in any willful sin, then there's nothing that can keep you from receiving your healing. Hold fast to the confession of your hope that it waver not, for He is faithful that promised. (Heb.4:9) There remaineth therefore a sabbath rest for the people of God. The word “sabbath” there is the Greek word sabbatismos and it doesn't mean “a day of rest.” It means “a continual keeping of rest.” This is the true Sabbath that remains for the people of God. We have to cease from our own works every day. (10) For he that is entered into his rest hath himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. God doesn't want our works; He doesn't believe in salvation by works. Whether you are talking about your spirit, your soul, your body or your circumstances, salvation is not by self-effort. As the apostle Paul taught us, (2Co.12:9) And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for [my] power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. You see, when we stop trying to save ourselves, God's very powerful to do it for us, just as He did for Paul, who went through a lot of trials because of the “thorn in the flesh” that was given to him. (7) And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted overmuch, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted overmuch. People like to say that the “thorn in the flesh” was a disease of the eyes or some other disability, but the Scripture plainly tells us that it was “a messenger of Satan to buffet” him. Paul lists for us these “buffetings”: (2Co.11:23) Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft. (24) Of the Jews five times received I forty [stripes] save one. (25) Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep; (26) [in] journeyings often, [in] perils of rivers, [in] perils of robbers, [in] perils from [my] countrymen, [in] perils from the Gentiles, [in] perils in the city, [in] perils in the wilderness, [in] perils in the sea, [in] perils among false brethren; (27) [in] labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. (28) Besides those things that are without, there is that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches. He was brought into all those situations through weakness, and in Paul's weakness God was made powerful. (29) Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is caused to stumble, and I burn not? (30) If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weakness. We need to do the same thing; we need to be weak to save ourselves. Many Christians today don't receive the deliverance they need because they keep trying to save themselves by their own efforts. Yet, what did Paul say? (2Ti.3:10) But thou didst follow my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, patience, (11) persecutions, sufferings. What things befell me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. God delivered Paul because he was weak to save himself. He gave himself into the hands of God because he believed the promises of God; he believed the Lord would always deliver him. (2Ti.4:17) But the Lord stood by me, and strengthened me; that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. (18) The Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will save me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom [be] the glory forever and ever. Amen. And when Paul said the Lord would “save” him, he meant he would be saved like the Bible uses the word for “saved,” which is the Greek sozo. The word sozo is used for every manner of salvation of spirit, soul, body and circumstances. Sozo is used for deliverance from demons, for healing the body, for salvation of the soul, provision for the body, and so on. It's the same word the disciples used when they cried out to Jesus as their boat was sinking: (Mat.8:23) And when he was entered into a boat, his disciples followed him. (24) And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the boat was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. (25) And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Save (that's the word sozo), Lord; we perish. (26) And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. (27) And the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him? They said, “Save, Lord,” and He saved them. “The Lord will deliver me from every evil work.” Do you believe that? We're supposed to be going into a wilderness now, saints. You can choose to enter into it by faith, by trusting in the promises of God, because God cannot fail you if you believe in His promises. Or you can be forced into it, along with the Church, in the coming Tribulation. If you walk by faith now, then you are walking into that spiritual wilderness, and I want to tell you that the wilderness is not as bad as you've heard. The Lord told me many years ago, “I'm sending you through a wilderness, so that you can tell My people that I still supply there,” and He has proven that to me over and over by putting me in a position of weakness. For instance, the disciples never took up offerings for themselves; they only took up offerings for other people, so the Lord wouldn't let me take up offerings. He wouldn't let me tell anybody my personal needs. He wouldn't let me store up my treasures on earth. He wouldn't let me borrow money. He wouldn't let me sell things. He wouldn't let me take any government benefits. When after many years, just recently, I received Social Security I have given it all away. And through all of that, I haven't worked for man, and I haven't taken any worldly benefits. God has faithfully sustained me; He's paid for everything all along the way. He put me in a wilderness, but it has nothing to do with a physical wilderness, and He's never failed to meet our needs. I shared with you previously how I raised five children: they didn't know doctors, they didn't know medicine, they didn't know anything but the power of God. And God always fed them, except for one time when the Lord put the trial of a fast on them. For all of these years, God has faithfully fed us, paid our bills, made sure our lights stayed on, made sure our gas stayed on and so on. He's been totally, 100% faithful. I was made capable to do this by His grace of unmerited favor. Even faith is a gift of God; ask for it. Yes, we are all going into a wilderness, but it's one that God made, and He made it for our good. You will see the world economy crash to create for God's chosen a wilderness. He is separating us from the world. He is behind the Beast kingdom and He is bringing the mark of the Beast (Rev.3:17) to force us into this coming wilderness. The whole world is going to hate us. We won't have the help of “Egypt,” just as Israel didn't have the help of Egypt. We are going to be thrust upon the mercy and grace of God, and the only thing we really need to be sustained is to repent of our sins and believe His Word. And when we do that, we also should expect that we will be tried. Even Apostle Paul talked about hungering and thirsting, but notice, he didn't starve to death. He overcame in the trial. God did the same thing with the Israelites. He brought them to one place of lack after another, to see if they were going to walk by faith or if they were going to complain. Sadly, they failed God, as the natural man always does, but we have something new in the New Testament. We have a born-again experience; we have the power of the Holy Spirit. Some people are going to go through the wilderness just like Joshua and Caleb. They are going to be walking in the steps of Jesus Christ and they are going to be victorious. When you are tried over and over, and you see each time that God is faithful, you enter into the rest. You just hold fast to your confession and hold fast to the Word. You don't even worry about your trial anymore. You just rest in Him because you become hardened to your flesh, you become hardened to the world, you become hardened to temptation. (Rom.5:3) And not only so, but we also rejoice in our tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh stedfastness (“patience”). As a matter of fact, I've enjoyed the tribulation. The tribulation is a trial on the flesh, but it's so neat to see God being a personal God and loving you enough to look after everything. That's what He really wants to do. He doesn't want to share His glory with man, which He's been having to do because His people always run to the world. They run to Egypt and its methods and its ways. Well, the Lord put me and my family in the wilderness, and I'd like to share some testimonies of how the Lord has been faithful to sustain us. One time in particular, the Lord actually multiplied food for us. We had run out of everything in the house, except for some spaghetti, so my wife cooked up a pot of spaghetti and we prayed over that pot because we didn't have anything else. But I want you to know that we weren't even considering that God wasn't going to bring any more for us to eat because He had been doing this for us for quite some time. Anyway, my wife cooked up this fairly big pot of spaghetti, and it was about three-quarters full when we blessed it, and we started eating. We probably ate that pot down to lower than halfway, and when we were done, we didn't think about it; we just shoved that pot into the refrigerator. The next day, when we took it back out and my wife lifted the lid, we saw that God had refilled the pot! She said, “David, do you remember that the spaghetti was down to here?” And she made a mark on the side. I said, “Yes, I remember.” Saints, the Lord had replaced everything we had eaten. God is awesome! You can't get anywhere where He can't supply. Think about those Israelites. He brought those Israelites water out of a rock. God can bring you water in the middle of a wilderness (Exo.17:1-7; Num.20:2-13), He can pay your taxes out of a fish's mouth (Mat.17:24-27), He can bring you flesh out of the sky (Exo.16:1-13; Num.11:18-20; 31-34) and bread out of the sky (Exo.16:14-36; Num.11:7-9). Now, if our God can bring several million Israelites through a wilderness like that and feed them, just think what He can do with us, who are actually filled with His Spirit! Another experience we had, which I thought was even more awesome, made me realize that you really cannot get anywhere God can't feed you. (Php.4:19) And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. If our God will supply our every need according to His riches in glory, then it has nothing to do with the economy and nothing to do with our surroundings. Even if you're in a desert, it has nothing to do with any of that. God made the promise; He's the One Who stands behind it and He will take care of you. On one occasion, we came to another situation where we had run out of everything in the house to eat and my wife asked, “What are we going to do?” I said, “Well, the Lord sent us here,” and she agreed. She said, “Yes.” So I told her, “You set the table and we'll go sit down at the table, and we'll eat.” So she did that, and then she and I and our five children sat down around the table with these empty plates in front of us. Next, I prayed a simple prayer, really the only kind I know. I prayed, “Father, You sent us here and we're asking You to please fill these plates or fill our tummies.” That's just the way it came out of my mind and I'm sure the Lord put it in there because He wanted to show us something. (Php.2:13) For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. And so the prayer had no sooner come out of my mouth when my oldest son said, “Dad, I'm full. I don't need to eat.” It wasn't long before another one said it, then another, then another one, and then I realized I was full, too. I thought, “Isn't that something!” You know, the Lord didn't have to multiply anything. If He multiplied anything, He multiplied it in our stomachs. He filled all of us while we were just sitting there at the table. Then there was one time I decided I wanted to grow tomatoes. It wasn't the Lord; I made that decision on my own. God didn't call me to grow tomatoes; He called me to study the Word of God and and share it with His people. But I just decided, “Well, I'll take on this hobby. I'll plant some tomatoes.” Now, the house we lived in at that time was under big oak trees and we had very little sunshine in my yard, except for one place, so I planted the tomatoes in five-gallon buckets. That way, I could move them to keep them in the sun as the season went on. Soon, lots of little tomatoes popped out, but they hardly got to be any size at all before the birds came and took them all away. And I asked, “Lord, why did You let that happen?” The Lord answered, “I didn't call you to plant tomatoes; that was your idea. I have other things for you to do. Now get about what I told you to do.” So, of course, I told Him, “Yes, Sir!” and I never said anything to anybody about trying to grow my own tomatoes. Well, the very next day, a lady who was acquainted with us was going to a local tomato farm to get tomatoes for her family, and while she was out there picking these monster tomatoes, the Lord spoke to her and said, “I want you to pick a bag of these for David Eells.” She said, “Okay.” And she brought me a big bag of the largest, most luscious-looking tomatoes I'd seen in a very long time. You know, the Lord was kind of rubbing my nose in it when the lady brought me those tomatoes the next day and I thought to myself, “I really couldn't have grown anything like those, Lord.” I had to come to that place of weakness before He would do this miracle. We've also often prayed for very specific things, and the Lord has always done miracles for us. One morning, we prayed for Him to send us poultry, mayonnaise, and cheese. We asked Him for those three things and we didn't tell anybody, not a soul. This is the way God gets the glory. I remember a brother many years ago, who was an elder in the Church with me. He used to be a part of the prosperity movement, where the people would brag out in public about what God was going to do. They would tell everybody, “I'm believing God for this,” or, “I'm believing God for that,” so eventually someone else in the congregation would feel like they had to have compassion on their brother in “need” and they would bring it to them. God doesn't get any glory from that. When you ask God for something, just believe Him. Then, when it comes, He gets the credit. So we didn't tell anybody about our needs, but that day and the next day, all three of those things came. We had a friend who was going out of town, and she had this large jar of mayonnaise that she didn't want to leave in her refrigerator until she came back, so she brought it over to us. And then another person brought us a turkey and the cheese. It was exactly what we asked from God. You may wonder, “Would God do that for me, David?” I guarantee you He would. God is no respecter of persons. (Act.10:34) And Peter opened his mouth and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: (35) but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to him. God is a respecter of faith, but He's no respecter of persons. He won't do anything for me that He won't do for you. I'm just trying to teach you how to be weak and to exercise faith at the same time, so that you are in this ideal position in the wilderness to see miracles from God. We've received so many over the years, I've forgotten most of them, but I can tell you that He consistently met our needs and we saw many, many miracles. Sometimes, even if we had money, we would believe God for clothes and shoes and toys for our children and they would come. I like to share this next story because it tickles me. My children all wanted to go camping one day, but when I was a kid, I did so much camping, I've had enough of it. I like my bed and I was making excuses. Well, I'd been back there before, walking through the woods where they wanted to go, and finally I told them, “There's nothing there to start a fire with and, really, we don't have any permission to cut down any of those trees back there,” but they were begging me, “Awww, Daddy, please.” So I gave in and we packed up our tents and other gear, and we took off into the woods. Now, there was a downed tree in the little opening in the woods that we picked for our campsite, and I want you to know that downed trees were hard to find in those woods. We set up our tents and I sent the kids out to gather firewood, but everything they dragged back was either rotten, or little twigs and branches, or pieces of tree bark. I told them, “That stuff just makes smoke; it doesn't really make fire.” And I sent them out again, and while I was waiting, I walked about 20 feet away from the tent but still in the clearing. I was kind of praying, asking the Lord to provide for us, and I had told them earlier that there was nothing to use for a fire, and we couldn't cut down other people's trees. Well, I had walked maybe 20 or so feet away from the tent when I came across this little lump on the ground. The floor of those woods was completely covered with leaves, and this was just a lump in the leaves, but when I kicked it as I walked through it, I hit something solid. So I backed up and raked all the leaves off, and there was a pillowcase on the ground. I pulled the pillowcase back, and there was a Poulan chainsaw on the ground. I thought, “Wow! Wouldn't it be something if this would crank?” because we had a downed tree right there by the campsite. Sure enough, it cranked. I cut up enough wood to have a really good fire the whole time we were there. I tell you, when that chainsaw cranked and I cut up that wood, I was thinking, “I'm sorry, Lord! Forgive me! I repent, because I said You couldn't supply us with wood back here.” My boys said they probably knew the kid that had that saw and that it probably was stolen so we gave it to the police who said if no one claimed it within 90 days we could have it. Well they called us to come get it. I didn't need it so I sold it to a Poulan dealer. And I ended up paying a bill with the money. Father has it all figured out. God had somebody plant a chainsaw out in the middle of the woods so it would be there waiting for us because God sees the end from the beginning. He doesn't dwell in time; He has no problem meeting your needs. He will have it there when you get there. (Isa.65:24) And it shall come to pass that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. See, He answers before we call, and He can have our provision already there, or He can manufacture it. It makes no difference to Him. When Jesus brought the disciples into the wilderness, He multiplied the food there. (Mat.14:15) And when even was come, the disciples came to him, saying, The place is desert (The Greek word there is eremia and it can be translated as “desert,” “wilderness” or “uninhabited place.”), and the time is already past; send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves food. (16) But Jesus said unto them, They have no need to go away; give ye them to eat. (17) And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. (18) And he said, Bring them hither to me. (19) And he commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass; and he took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to the multitudes. (20) And they all ate, and were filled: and they took up that which remained over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. (21) And they that did eat were about five thousand men, besides women and children. Jesus was raising up disciples. He was their teacher and He was showing them, “This is how you do it.” Then they went off into their tribulation, the Book of Acts, and they repeated what they saw. The Man-child, Who was Jesus, was God's provision in the wilderness, and nothing has changed. God's going to do it again; He's just going to repeat it with a larger group of people. Since we didn't have a big worldly income, we prayed for everything and God brought it. Back before I started full-time in ministry, we decided we were going to stop using money for the things that we needed. Instead, we started praying for what we needed, and we saw God just do miracles. Things we would normally buy with money, we prayed, and God would bring them. Any money we had, we would use for His Kingdom. There are different ways you can enter into the wilderness, but all of them give you confidence. You'll find that God's going to be there and He's going to supply your needs. If you need something, pray for it. Put faith in God. It honors Him, and it builds your faith. My youngest daughter came to me one day with a Sears catalog and she said, “Daddy, I need a swimming pool.” Her small wading pool would not hold water anymore because the vinyl was cracked from the sun. She started looking in the catalog, and I said, “Well, baby, you know where we get everything like that, don't you?” She answered, “Yep! Will you pray for me for one like this?” So we looked at the one from the catalog and we prayed and agreed in faith that God was going to bring that swimming pool. Well, you know God can give you something better than what you pray for, can't He? I think it was only about a week or so later that we were all in the house when there came a knock on the door, and when my wife went and answered the door, I heard a lady's voice. She said, “I'm looking for two little boys who came down and cut my grass. I live about five blocks from here, on the other end of the golf course, and I'm looking for those boys who cut my grass.” Then she happened to look past my wife. She saw one of my boys, and she said, “Oh, I see I've found the right place.” It's actually amazing she found us because the boys didn't give her a good description of where we lived, but the Lord led her right to our door. She went on, “I'd like to make a proposition with you boys. I have this 3-1/2 foot, above-ground swimming pool that's still in the box. It has a filter, ladder and pump. Everything that goes with it is still there. I was going to set it up in my garage and exercise in it, but I've decided I'm not going to do that. So if you'll cut my grass a couple of times, I'll give that pool to you.” And they were just so happy to cut the grass for her. Then they set up the pool and had a good time in that thing for several years. Of course, Jennifer, my daughter, was just overjoyed to see God answer her prayer that quickly. Children remember that, even if they go out into the world, they remember that God is real. They remember that He keeps His Word, and one day God will use that to bring them back. We had a tremendous life like this. We didn't have a lot of money, but the very fact that we didn't have a lot of money made us depend upon God. And in depending upon God, we got to see these awesome miracles. Another thing God did to put us into a position of weakness was we never borrowed money because the Bible promises, (Deu.28:12) The Lord will open unto thee his good treasure the heavens, to give the rain of thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of thy hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And Paul said, (Rom.13:8) Owe no man anything, save to love one another: for he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law. So we took God at His Word. We figured if we didn't borrow, we would be weak, but God would be strong on our behalf, and I have some tremendous miracles to share with you later concerning not borrowing and seeing God answer. The Bible teaches against “suretyship.” (Pro.11:15) He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it; But he that hateth suretyship is secure. The Hebrew word there actually means “to be a guarantor of an agreement; to give or to be security”; in other words, “to mortgage.” It means guaranteeing to pay back what has been borrowed, but we can't even guarantee that we're going to be here tomorrow. And the Bible warns us against making promises, pledges or guarantees of any sort. (Mat.5:33) Again, ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: (34) but I say unto you, swear not at all; neither by the heaven, for it is the throne of God; (35) nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. (36) Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, for thou canst not make one hair white or black. (37) But let your speech be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: and whatsoever is more than these is of the evil [one]. (Jas.5:12) But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath: but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; that ye fall not under judgment. Who do we think we are to promise or pledge anything? (Pro.17:18) A man void of understanding striketh hands (That's the way an agreement was legally sealed.), And becometh surety in the presence of his neighbor. “A man void of understanding” is someone who does this; in other words, it's not a wise thing to do. I know it's a principle of the world, but the economies of the world are all going to crumble because they are not obeying God's principles. How much faith God's people would have if they were put into the position where they couldn't run to the world to borrow money. They would see miracles, but most people don't want to wait on God to see a miracle; they're too quick to run back to Egypt. You're probably wondering, “How could it be that we would not mortgage and God will answer? How would we receive homes?” Well, the home I had, God gave to me because I believed Him and I refused to borrow money. That's why I have it and it didn't cost me a thing. God is sovereign! Amen. (Pro.22:7) The rich ruleth over the poor; And the borrower is servant to the lender. When you borrow money, you're no longer a steward of what you have because what you have actually belongs to someone else. Jesus said, (Luk.14:33) So therefore whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. We renounce ownership; we are only stewards. But a steward who belongs to a bank is not a steward for the Lord. The borrower is a servant to the lender and the rich rule over the poor. The rich are running this world, folks, because they have everybody's money. (Pro.22:26) Be thou not one of them that strike hands, Or of them that are sureties for debts. (27) If thou hast not wherewith to pay, Why should he take away thy bed from under thee? A poor person's bed or outer clothing was commonly used as their collateral of last resort (Exo.22:27; Deu.24:13). Proverbs has a lot to say against suretyship and it's ignored by a lot of people, but I never would have seen the miracles that I have seen if I had borrowed the money instead of learning to just ask God. (Mar.11:24) Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye received them, and ye shall have them. When God gives us such awesome promises, why would we borrow money and have to pay it back with interest for years and years in bondage? The Israelites were forbidden by God to participate in usury (interest), or in suretyship (mortgaging), or in any such things, but when they went into bondage in Babylon, they were caught up back into it. We only need to ask God and wait on Him. He said, “Believe you have received.” If you think, “Well, God might not answer,” that's not faith! The Bible doesn't teach borrowing to get money; it teaches giving to get money. (Luk.6:38) Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom. For with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again. I've proven that many, many times. When you give, God will give it back to you multiplied, just as the Scripture teaches, but notice it doesn't teach going under the Law. (2Co.9:6) But this [I say], He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. People want to reap but they don't want to sow. The Bible teaches that first you have to sow! You “give and it will be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom.” (7) [Let] each man [do] according as he hath purposed in his heart: not grudgingly, or of necessity (not under law): for God loveth a cheerful giver. (8) And God is able to make all grace abound unto you (That's awesome!); that ye, having always all sufficiency in everything, may abound unto every good work (Isn't that something? Just for giving bountifully, God will make sure that you will always have all sufficiency in everything and will abound in every good work.): (9) as it is written, He hath scattered abroad, he hath given to the poor; His righteousness abideth for ever. (10) And he that supplieth seed to the sower and bread for food, shall supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness. People who don't really believe this are stingy and they hoard, but that's not the way for God to multiply. You need to sow. Think about sowing one little seed and how it brings forth. It brings forth multiplied, and even if you are poor in the eyes of the world, you will have all of your needs met. In the eyes of the world, Jesus was poor, but according to the Kingdom, Jesus was rich because He had His needs met everywhere He went. It was the same for His disciples, too. Their needs were met wherever they went. The riches of the world were just distractions to them, but their needs were met wherever they went because they were givers. Borrowing just puts you deeper in debt; giving gets you out of debt. From my own experience, there have been many times when I saw that what I had would not meet my need, and the money that I had would not cover my bills. And I would just take the money that I did have, and I would give it, and in giving it, it would come back multiplied. People worry, “Well, if I give it, maybe it won't come back in time!” God doesn't dwell in time; He answers before we call. (Isa.65:24) And it shall come to pass that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. When you ask Him to do something, He's going to do it, so don't worry about it. For instance, many times I have put what money I did have into the mailbox to send to somebody in need, and then gone to the same mailbox only to find that what I sent out had been multiplied back to me. You might think, “But, David, we don't give in order to receive.” That's a moot point. That has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. If you do give, you will receive because that's God's promise. God will see to our needs if we meet the needs of the brethren to the best of our ability, even if we don't have a lot of money. I've taught before how the Egyptians stored up under Joseph in the seven years of plenty for the seven years of famine (Genesis 41). In type, Joseph was Jesus. Both were sold out by their brethren, lied about by the harlot, and turned over to the Beast, etc,. Jesus said we should store up our riches in Heaven, and He told us how to do that. (Luk.12:33) Sell that which ye have, and give alms; make for yourselves purses which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief draweth near, neither moth destroyeth. (34) For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. He said, “Give alms, meet the needs of the brethren,” and you will have “a treasure in the heavens that faileth not.” So, give and God will give to you. You can't out-give God, folks. You just cannot do it.

SEP. 4, 2025How your faith can produce results (4)"[Abraham's] faith and his actions were working together." Jas 2:22 NIVIf you really believed God's Word concerning your situation, how would you act differently? Saying you believe is just the beginning; activating your faith means preparing for the answer to arrive.  Ask yourself, "If I really expected an answer to my prayers, how would I prepare for its arrival?"  In Scripture, Jesus gave His disciples this parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man... planted in his field...when it grows, it...becomes a tree'" (Mt 13:31-32 NIV). The farmer may sincerely believe he can produce a mustard tree, but nothing happens until he chooses the location, prepares the soil, plants the seed, and continually waters it. Once he does all those things, he can actively watch for its appearance. So, where do you start? (1) Pray for wisdom to make the right decisions (See Jas 1:5-7).(2) Plan your work, and work your plan. Aimless, passive waiting for the things to materialize without thoughtful, active involvement will prove disappointing and fruitless. God uses you as His partner. "We are labourers together with God" (1Co 3:9). (3) Break your plan into small, accomplishable action steps. (4) Don't wait for the fear to go or the faith to grow. Be prepared to take calculated, productive risks. Feel the fear and do it anyhow! (5) Start thanking God even before you can see the answer. And if you should miss the bull's-eye, remember the Revolutionary War militia's response: "Ready, aim, fire!" Adjust your aim-and fire again. "[Abraham's] faith and his actions were working together." And that's still the Bible formula for success.How your faith can produce results Activating your faithShare This DevotionalSend us a textSupport the showChanging Lives | Building Strong Family | Impacting Our Community For Jesus Christ!

In these dark times, we must fight evil with the most powerful weapons we have.The Rosary is foremost among them.Join the Great Rosary Campaign today at: www.GreatRosaryCampaign.com.The Great Rosary Campaign is a yearlong mission for the conversion of cultural leaders. We will announce a weekly call to pray every Sunday for specific fallen-away Catholics and non-Catholics.THIS WEEK of the Great Rosary Campaign, we will pray for the conversion of "Reformed Lizzie," a prominent anti-Catholic account on X (@farmingandJesus).The SUGGESTED PENANCE this week is a 24 hour water fast, adjusted for your state in life.Countless Saints and Popes have told us that the Rosary is incredibly powerful for three things in particular:Keeping the FaithMoral renovationConversions of non-CatholicsThe Great Rosary Campaign is also based on several biblical themes and principles.First, PRAY FOR OUR BRETHREN. “Pray for one another…” (Jas. 5:16). “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Gal. 6:10).Second, PRAY FOR OUR ENEMIES. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:43-44).Third, PRAY FOR ALL MEN, PARTICULARLY LEADERS AND THOSE IN AUTHORITY. “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, or kings and all who are in high positions…” (1 Tim. 2:1-2).Fourth, GOING INTO BATTLE WITH THE ARK. When the ancient Israelites came to Jericho, God didn't tell them to besiege the city. Instead, He told them to march around it with the Ark of the Covenant seven times, and on the seventh the walls would fall. We will now "march" in prayer for seven days with the New Ark of the Covenant, Our Lady, through the Rosary. We pray in hope that on the seventh day, a day especially devoted to Our Lady (Saturday), extraordinary graces of conversion will be given to those we are praying for.Fifth, EVANGELISM AND APOLOGETICS = LOVE + ARGUMENTS + PRAYER + PENANCE. Ultimately it is God who reveals Himself to a soul, and empowers them to say "yes" to Him by His grace. He chooses to use us, but He does not have to. We must remember that as we evangelize and defend the Faith, our arguments will be fruitless unless informed by love (charity), and reinforced by prayer and penance.Sixth, RETURNING GOOD FOR EVIL. “Do not return evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but on the contrary bless, for to this you have been called, that you may obtain a blessing" (1 Pet. 3:9).Sign up to take part in the Great Rosary Campaign today: www.GreatRosaryCampaign.com

Imagine for a moment that eternity is like one long and endless rope. At the beginning of that rope is a red section that is about 4 inches long representing your life from birth to death. The average life expectancy for humans globally is 73 years and 78.4 years if you live in the United States. To put that into perspective, 78.4 years is only 28,616 days of life... maybe. The four-inch-long red section of an endless rope is your life. Seventy-eight years (28,616 days) may sound like a lot of time but consider that 9,450 days of your life is spent sleeping which leaves us with $19,166 days away from birth to death... if we live out our 78 days. Not counting the time we need for sleep, permit me to provide a little perspective: If you are 15 years old, you have about 23,141 days to go before your 78th If you are 25 years old, you have about 19,491 days to go before your 78th If you are 30 years old, you have about 17,666 days to go before your 78th If you are 50 years old, you have about 10, 366 days to go before your 78th Whatever your age is, dont forget to consider the 5 hours and 16 minutes spent on your phone each day. That red mark on that very, very long rope also represents how much time you are in the bathroom, looking for something you lost, hours you spend in education or working, and whatever else that consumes your time. Regardless of the time you think you have left, you might not be here tomorrow. The entire epistle is James pleading with us not to be so foolish to live our lives with all our language, all our energy, and all of our passion invested in the red portion of the rope. James calls us to live the red part of our lives on the rope of eternity! So, heres what I hope to do with the time we share. I want to devote our attention to James 4:13-16, because everything James warns us about stems from his reflections on how brief and delicate our lives truly are. When I say temporal, Im referring to the fleeting and fragile nature of our existence. But before we dive into James 4:13-16, lets take a moment to explore the verses that come before and after, setting the stage for a fuller understanding. The Fruit of Temporal Living is a Life Wasted James cautions us about five pitfalls that people can easily fall into if they live like this life is all there is. The apostle Paul echoed a similar idea, saying that if theres no resurrection and no hope beyond death, then it would be logical to live just for the moment: If the dead are not raised, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die (1 Corinthians 15:32). Thankfully, the reality of the empty tomb affirms that what the Bible teaches about life, death, and what lies beyond is true. If we believe this life is all there is, then its logical to chase after pleasure for our own sake. This is the essence of secular hedonismseeking fulfillment in what is immediate and self-focused, disconnected from any greater purpose. James explains that this perspective grows out of the same source as worldly wisdom, which he describes as earthly, unspiritual, demonic (Jas. 3:14). In James 4:115:6, he outlines the harmful outcomes that spring from this outlook. Importantly, James directs these warnings to Christians, urging them to recognize and resist these patterns. Self-centered speech (4:11-12) Slander is a kind of speech that elevates the person doing it above othersand, ultimately, above the authority of Gods commands. The issue isnt that Christians should never judge others; in fact, Scripture often calls us to hold one another accountable (see Matt. 7:15-16). Rather, James cautions against speech that tears down rather than builds up, words that fail to encourage others in their walk with God (see Jas. 2:8-10; Heb. 10:24-25). Self-centered pursuits (4:13-16) This kind of planning assumes that we are in complete control of our own destinies, confident that well rise to greet the day as we expect. James cautions us against making life plans without seeking Gods guidance, warning that self-centered pursuits often revolve around our own abilities and ambitions rather than the purpose our Creator has for us. Self-centered responsibilities (4:17): The person who knows, the right thing to do and does not do it is the person who lives according to his/her own moral code. For James, this is the Christian whose decisions are shaped by what he/she wants to do over what Gods word has said we must do. Included in this kind of rebellion is the Christian who knows that God is leading him/her into a certain direction, but refuses to yield to God over what he/she wants. Self-centered riches (5:1-3) When we adopt the view that this life is all there is, it becomes natural to seek comfort and gain at the expense of others. James speaks especially strongly against those in the church who ignore the needs of the poor to enrich themselves. The issue isnt money itselfafter all, financial resources are vital for supporting missions and ministries. Nor does James condemn Christians simply for being wealthy. Instead, he challenges the relentless pursuit of wealth that disregards the truth that every blessing comes from God, entrusted to us for the purpose of advancing His work and serving those around us. Self-centered advantages (5:4-6) Some members of the churches James wrote to were taking advantage of others by withholding the wages rightfully earned by their workers. This injustice stemmed from greeda desire to live for personal pleasure, placing themselves at the center of their worlds, often at the expense of those around them (v. 5). By refusing to pay the laborers, they not only pursued selfish gain but also acted with disregard and even malice, putting the well-being of the righteous at risk. As James writes in verse 6, You have condemned and put to death the righteous person... The Christian should know better than to live in the sorts of ways James warns us about. These things James lists are grievous sins, and those guilty of such things should not take comfort in a salvation they might not possess. The reason why James uses very strong language is to shock those guilty of such things out of their complacency and toward repentance. There is a judgement coming that we all must be mindful of as we live out our lives here: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive compensation for his deeds done through the body, in accordance with what he has done, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10). The Fruit of Living in Light of Eternity, is a Life Well Spent You do not exist for what is earthly, natural, and demonic. You and the life you have today, in the words of James, is only a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away (4:14). You are here and then you are gone, and just so you know, that is assuming that you have until your 78th birthday. Who knows what will happen between now and tomorrow, and it assumes that you are going to be here with little to no regard that each moment is an undeserved gift from Almighty God! This is why we are admonished in these verses: Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that. But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil The kind of boasting that is evil is the kind that assumes not only will you be getting up tomorrow, but also the failure to recognize that if you do get up in the morning, that God allowed it because there is a purpose greater than your plans for work, vacation, the honey-do-list your spouse created, or the leisure you crave. Dear brothers and sisters, if you are a Christian, then the God who created everything found you in your sin and spiritual deadness. The good news is that He not only found you, but He did not leave you to your sin and in your spiritual death! Think about what this means for you! Think about the implications! You were dead, and now you are alive! Listen to the way Colossians 2:13-14 describes what you have experienced: And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings, having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Christian, do you know what this means? You are now alive with Christ. How did it happen? The apostle Peter describes the miracle of new birth in his epistle: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a Holy nation, a people for Gods own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (1:9-10). Because of this, no matter what happens to you in this vapor-like life, Jesus promised that even if death comes, not a hair of your head will perish (Luke 21:18). Christian, because you are alive with Christ, because you belong to Him, because you have been rescued and delivered from the darkness of this world that is earthly, natural, and demonic... your citizenship is in heaven and what you do in this life is an investment for eternity. James point in these verses is that you do not waste the life that God has gifted you. You were made for joy, and that joy is only possible in Jesus (John 15:11). This is why the Christian is able to find joy in suffering knowing that this life is a vapor compared to what is ours as citizens of Gods kingdom. Remember how James begins his epistle: Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4). The apostle Paul essentially says the same thing in Philippians 3:7-11 that has become my prayer for us as a church family: But whatever things were gain to me, these things I have counted as loss because of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them mere rubbish, so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; if somehow I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. If you make it your ambition to spend your life well by seeking to know Christ more in the way Paul describes, you will find that whatever comes into your life, that will not be what defines you. Why? Because what defines you is Jesus and your identity in Him. Even if your dreams crumble into ashes, you will be able to dream a different dream that lines up with the heart of God.

Imagine for a moment that eternity is like one long and endless rope. At the beginning of that rope is a red section that is about 4 inches long representing your life from birth to death. The average life expectancy for humans globally is 73 years and 78.4 years if you live in the United States. To put that into perspective, 78.4 years is only 28,616 days of life... maybe. The four-inch-long red section of an endless rope is your life. Seventy-eight years (28,616 days) may sound like a lot of time but consider that 9,450 days of your life is spent sleeping which leaves us with $19,166 days away from birth to death... if we live out our 78 days. Not counting the time we need for sleep, permit me to provide a little perspective: If you are 15 years old, you have about 23,141 days to go before your 78th If you are 25 years old, you have about 19,491 days to go before your 78th If you are 30 years old, you have about 17,666 days to go before your 78th If you are 50 years old, you have about 10, 366 days to go before your 78th Whatever your age is, dont forget to consider the 5 hours and 16 minutes spent on your phone each day. That red mark on that very, very long rope also represents how much time you are in the bathroom, looking for something you lost, hours you spend in education or working, and whatever else that consumes your time. Regardless of the time you think you have left, you might not be here tomorrow. The entire epistle is James pleading with us not to be so foolish to live our lives with all our language, all our energy, and all of our passion invested in the red portion of the rope. James calls us to live the red part of our lives on the rope of eternity! So, heres what I hope to do with the time we share. I want to devote our attention to James 4:13-16, because everything James warns us about stems from his reflections on how brief and delicate our lives truly are. When I say temporal, Im referring to the fleeting and fragile nature of our existence. But before we dive into James 4:13-16, lets take a moment to explore the verses that come before and after, setting the stage for a fuller understanding. The Fruit of Temporal Living is a Life Wasted James cautions us about five pitfalls that people can easily fall into if they live like this life is all there is. The apostle Paul echoed a similar idea, saying that if theres no resurrection and no hope beyond death, then it would be logical to live just for the moment: If the dead are not raised, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die (1 Corinthians 15:32). Thankfully, the reality of the empty tomb affirms that what the Bible teaches about life, death, and what lies beyond is true. If we believe this life is all there is, then its logical to chase after pleasure for our own sake. This is the essence of secular hedonismseeking fulfillment in what is immediate and self-focused, disconnected from any greater purpose. James explains that this perspective grows out of the same source as worldly wisdom, which he describes as earthly, unspiritual, demonic (Jas. 3:14). In James 4:115:6, he outlines the harmful outcomes that spring from this outlook. Importantly, James directs these warnings to Christians, urging them to recognize and resist these patterns. Self-centered speech (4:11-12) Slander is a kind of speech that elevates the person doing it above othersand, ultimately, above the authority of Gods commands. The issue isnt that Christians should never judge others; in fact, Scripture often calls us to hold one another accountable (see Matt. 7:15-16). Rather, James cautions against speech that tears down rather than builds up, words that fail to encourage others in their walk with God (see Jas. 2:8-10; Heb. 10:24-25). Self-centered pursuits (4:13-16) This kind of planning assumes that we are in complete control of our own destinies, confident that well rise to greet the day as we expect. James cautions us against making life plans without seeking Gods guidance, warning that self-centered pursuits often revolve around our own abilities and ambitions rather than the purpose our Creator has for us. Self-centered responsibilities (4:17): The person who knows, the right thing to do and does not do it is the person who lives according to his/her own moral code. For James, this is the Christian whose decisions are shaped by what he/she wants to do over what Gods word has said we must do. Included in this kind of rebellion is the Christian who knows that God is leading him/her into a certain direction, but refuses to yield to God over what he/she wants. Self-centered riches (5:1-3) When we adopt the view that this life is all there is, it becomes natural to seek comfort and gain at the expense of others. James speaks especially strongly against those in the church who ignore the needs of the poor to enrich themselves. The issue isnt money itselfafter all, financial resources are vital for supporting missions and ministries. Nor does James condemn Christians simply for being wealthy. Instead, he challenges the relentless pursuit of wealth that disregards the truth that every blessing comes from God, entrusted to us for the purpose of advancing His work and serving those around us. Self-centered advantages (5:4-6) Some members of the churches James wrote to were taking advantage of others by withholding the wages rightfully earned by their workers. This injustice stemmed from greeda desire to live for personal pleasure, placing themselves at the center of their worlds, often at the expense of those around them (v. 5). By refusing to pay the laborers, they not only pursued selfish gain but also acted with disregard and even malice, putting the well-being of the righteous at risk. As James writes in verse 6, You have condemned and put to death the righteous person... The Christian should know better than to live in the sorts of ways James warns us about. These things James lists are grievous sins, and those guilty of such things should not take comfort in a salvation they might not possess. The reason why James uses very strong language is to shock those guilty of such things out of their complacency and toward repentance. There is a judgement coming that we all must be mindful of as we live out our lives here: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive compensation for his deeds done through the body, in accordance with what he has done, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10). The Fruit of Living in Light of Eternity, is a Life Well Spent You do not exist for what is earthly, natural, and demonic. You and the life you have today, in the words of James, is only a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away (4:14). You are here and then you are gone, and just so you know, that is assuming that you have until your 78th birthday. Who knows what will happen between now and tomorrow, and it assumes that you are going to be here with little to no regard that each moment is an undeserved gift from Almighty God! This is why we are admonished in these verses: Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that. But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil The kind of boasting that is evil is the kind that assumes not only will you be getting up tomorrow, but also the failure to recognize that if you do get up in the morning, that God allowed it because there is a purpose greater than your plans for work, vacation, the honey-do-list your spouse created, or the leisure you crave. Dear brothers and sisters, if you are a Christian, then the God who created everything found you in your sin and spiritual deadness. The good news is that He not only found you, but He did not leave you to your sin and in your spiritual death! Think about what this means for you! Think about the implications! You were dead, and now you are alive! Listen to the way Colossians 2:13-14 describes what you have experienced: And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings, having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Christian, do you know what this means? You are now alive with Christ. How did it happen? The apostle Peter describes the miracle of new birth in his epistle: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a Holy nation, a people for Gods own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (1:9-10). Because of this, no matter what happens to you in this vapor-like life, Jesus promised that even if death comes, not a hair of your head will perish (Luke 21:18). Christian, because you are alive with Christ, because you belong to Him, because you have been rescued and delivered from the darkness of this world that is earthly, natural, and demonic... your citizenship is in heaven and what you do in this life is an investment for eternity. James point in these verses is that you do not waste the life that God has gifted you. You were made for joy, and that joy is only possible in Jesus (John 15:11). This is why the Christian is able to find joy in suffering knowing that this life is a vapor compared to what is ours as citizens of Gods kingdom. Remember how James begins his epistle: Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4). The apostle Paul essentially says the same thing in Philippians 3:7-11 that has become my prayer for us as a church family: But whatever things were gain to me, these things I have counted as loss because of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them mere rubbish, so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; if somehow I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. If you make it your ambition to spend your life well by seeking to know Christ more in the way Paul describes, you will find that whatever comes into your life, that will not be what defines you. Why? Because what defines you is Jesus and your identity in Him. Even if your dreams crumble into ashes, you will be able to dream a different dream that lines up with the heart of God.

Check out my newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://TKOPOD.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and join my new community at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://TKOwners.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠━I sat down with Jas to hear how he built Winnipeg Digest from scratch into a six-figure local media business. He broke down exactly how he grew the newsletter to over 35,000 subscribers and 73,000 social followers in just over a year, and how he monetizes through exclusive sponsorships. Jas shared his playbook on ads, open rates, subject lines, and why local newsletters are the most underrated way to build a real audience today. We also got into his new venture, Digest Lights, a Christmas lights business he launched on top of the newsletter that's already bringing in jobs before the season starts. We talked through unit economics, sales tactics, and the bigger vision of using a local media asset as a marketing arm for other businesses.You can find Jas on Twitter at https://x.com/Creatingjas and check out his newsletter at https://winnipeg-digest.beehiiv.com/Enjoy! ---Watch this on YouTube instead here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tkopod.co/p-yt⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ask me a question on or off the show here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-ask⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more about me: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-cjk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn about my company: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-cof⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow me on Twitter here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-x⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Free weekly business ideas newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-nl⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Share this podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-all⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Scrape small business data: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-os⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠---

SEP. 3, 2025How your faith can produce results (3)"In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." Jas 2:17 NIVJames asks, "What good is it...if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds…Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says...'Go in peace; keep warm and well fed, but does nothing...what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith; I have deeds' Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds" (vv.14-18 NIV). A veritable ocean of faith without the appropriate action to follow it up is nothing more than an ocean of dead, useless faith. On the other hand, an ounce of faith that's acted upon can produce an ocean of results (See Mt 13:31-32). Action breathes life and power into your faith. The biblical prescription for faith is simple but potent. (1) You decide to believe in God's promise and His power to make it happen— leaving the "how and when" up to Him. (2) You choose to act in keeping with what you believe before you see any evidence of the results. (3) God responds to your faith by keeping His unbreakable promise. "Hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" (Nu 23:19). God goes to work exercising His unlimited capacity to perform His Word. Jesus said, "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" (Mk 11:24 NIV). Now—it's up to you to claim and act on His promise.How your faith can produce results Action breathes life and power into your faith.Share This DevotionalSend us a textSupport the showChanging Lives | Building Strong Family | Impacting Our Community For Jesus Christ!

SEP. 1, 2025How your faith can produce results (1)"Faith...is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen." Heb 11:1 TLBFaith has little to do with religion or what church you attend. The Greek definition of the word "faith" is pistis, which means a firm persuasion, a conviction based on hearing and learning. Some other words that help to define faith are trust, confidence, and believing. And for good measure, here are a few scriptural descriptions of faith: "The confident assurance that something we want is going to happen...the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead." The Bible tells us, "Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (v. 6 NIV). It also tells us, "Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ" (Ro 10:17 NIV). And the apostle James writes, "Faith... not accompanied by action, is dead" (Jas 2:17 NIV).Faith, though it may be felt, isn't a feeling at all. The fact is, you can have faith and feel nothing, and you can feel nothing and still have faith. Nor is it related to intellectual or theological knowledge. Your IQ and level of education have nothing to do with your capacity to exercise faith. Effective faith calls for an act of your will. It's a choice you make to fully embrace what God says in His Word. When that happens, it creates a heart climate that motivates you to act in keeping with what you choose to believe. That's faith in a nutshell!How your faith can produce results Confident assuranceShare This DevotionalSend us a textSupport the showChanging Lives | Building Strong Family | Impacting Our Community For Jesus Christ!

Interview with Tracey Turner, Curator with the Seven Oaks House Museum - Episode 216On this week's episode we have the honour in interviewing Tracey Turner, the Curator of the Seven Oaks House Museum as well as the St. Norbert Historical Museum. Jas was able to meet with Tracey and speakly briefly about the infamously haunted Seven Oaks Museum, prior to the Public Investigation by The Winnipeg Paranormal Group. It was an amazing night an more of the investigation to follow in future episodes! Don't forget the mark your calendars for 'Spirits of Seven Oaks House' which is a candle lit theatrical Ghost tour of the oldest house in Winnipeg, presented with Special guest Matthew Komus! This will be taking place September 19, 20 & 26 -  7pm and 9 pm shows. Check their website and socials for more details and to purchase your tickets!As for us.....Spirits with Spirits will again take place September 24, 2025 at the King's Head Pub - special guest information and topic to be announced soon! Special thanks to Fort la Reine for having out 'Giving Up The Ghost' Podcast for the S'more and Ghost Stories around the campfire! It was great to meet people and talk about.....Ghosts! The place is truly haunted and there will be another Public Investigation October 3 with The Winnipeg Paranormal Group - check their socials for details and Ticket information! Enjoy this week's new episode!Music by Ruesche-Sounds https://www.youtube.com/channel/USqXOFollow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok & ReddittIf you have a local paranormal story of Winnipeg or in Manitoba, please email us at giivinguptheghostpodcast.@gmail.com - or if you just want to say 'Hi'!!!

Faith for the Coming Wilderness (1) (audio) David Eells – 9/3/25 Father, You say in (Eph 2:8)  for by grace (unmerited favor) have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. 9  not of works, that no man should glory. Interpretation: By unearned favor God gives us His gift of faith to be what we should be. And He tells us that we don't have anything that we didn't receive from Him so how could we be proud of anything that we are able to do? With that in mind I ask     in the name of Jesus, you would let Your anointing be in our midst and to bless us all to have eyes to see and ears to hear. Give us all discernment from Your Spirit, Lord. We thank You that everything that You have done for us through Jesus Christ has all been accomplished at the cross, and we praise You for it, Father. We thank You, Lord, for using this unworthy vessel to share with the brethren a little bit more of the Word. Amen. I want to talk to you about the First-fruits and encourage you about how you can be part of that ministry. One major question that people have concerns the difference between those who will be in the First-fruits and those who will be in the in-gathering. In Exodus 23, the Bible speaks of two harvests. (Exo.23:14) Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. (15) The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep: seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it thou camest out from Egypt); and none shall appear before me empty: (We cannot bear fruit except by the unleavened bread of the pure Word. If we have done this the proof will be in the harvest.) (16) and the feast of harvest, the first-fruits of thy labors, which thou sowest in the field: and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year, when thou gatherest in thy labors out of the field. The first-fruits are the first harvest and the rest are harvested at the end. The harvest is being brought into the Kingdom through the unleavened bread. We've learned that the First-fruits harvest is the Man-child ministry, and the ingathering harvest is those who are brought in later. Jesus was called the First-fruits who raised up His two witnesses who went out two by two to continue the harvest. (See Hidden Manna for the End Times, Chapter 7, “Maturity and Harvests,” which is available in PDF at ubm1. org), but what people want to know is, “How can I be in the First-fruits?” We'll find our answer if we examine the different types and shadows of the First-fruits. Two of the major types, of course, are Moses and Jesus. One thing we can see immediately from Moses and Jesus is that they went through a common experience, which prepared them to bring the people of God into the wilderness and teach them how to be overcomers. Moses went into the wilderness for 40 years (Act.7:30-34) and he overcame to lead the Israelites in the wilderness. Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days (Mat.4:1; Luk.4:2) and He overcame to teach the disciples. The number 40 represents “trial” or “tribulation,” so both Moses and Jesus overcame in their own trials. (Rev.2:26) And he that overcometh, and he that keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations. (Rev.3:21) He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father in his throne. In other words, dominion is given to the people of God who overcome in their wilderness trials. So where is this “wilderness” and what does it entail? Well, the wilderness is everywhere there is a Christian. We're not looking for a literal, physical desert somewhere to go into, so don't be thinking that! (2Co.3:6) Who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. Anywhere God's people are, there is a wilderness available to them. Why do I say “available”? That's because God's people are like Israel when they were in Egypt, and they don't necessarily want to go into that wilderness. In some cases, God even has to force them into that wilderness. Israel had to be forced into that wilderness by Pharaoh's army behind them and by God parting the Red Sea before them. But both Moses and Jesus each went out into their personal wilderness first; first they overcame their own temptations and trials before God used them to bring others there. The wilderness is a place where you are tempted and tried, and if you want to be used to bring others there, you first have to pass the test. Let me share with you some things the Lord has taught me about this wilderness. Not long after I became a Christian, by the Lord's grace and mercy, I started going out into the wilderness because I began getting the revelation of what it entailed and what it meant. To put it very simply, in the New Testament, a “wilderness” is any place and any trial in which you are believing and acting upon the Word of God. For instance, there is a mark of the Beast coming, and most Christians know that they won't be able to buy or sell with the world anymore, unless they take that mark. They will be put into a wilderness experience where they can't go back to Egypt, just like the Israelites out in the wilderness. The Israelites were tested to see if they were really going to believe in the promises of God, which was the only thing that would sustain them in their wilderness. We're coming to the same situation in our day. If you want to be like Moses, or if you want to be like Jesus, or if you want to be like Joseph, if you want to be like these different types and shadows of the First-fruits, you have to go out into your wilderness now. These men didn't wait for the crowd to go; they led them where they had already gone. I want to tell you quite frankly that if you are not living in the wilderness, you are not living as a believer. You are rebelling against the Word of God. If you are satisfied to go along with whatever the other religious people around you are doing, that won't put you in the First-fruits. You have to act upon what you see in the Word. Let me explain this wilderness to you a little bit more before I share a few testimonies. The Word of God says that our salvation has been accomplished. It's done. The Lord has already healed us. He's already delivered us. He's already perfected us. (Joh.19:28) After this Jesus, knowing that all things are now finished, that the scripture might be accomplished, saith, I thirst. (29) There was set there a vessel full of vinegar: so they put a sponge full of the vinegar upon hyssop, and brought it to his mouth. (30) When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up his spirit. Jesus said, “It is finished.” (Joh.16:33) These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. You see, the Lord has already overcome the world for us, and He did it by His sacrifice. He gave His Life for us. (1Pe.2:24) Who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed. Notice, these are past tense. (Heb.10:14) For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. This was all accomplished at the cross! (Joh.1:29) On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world! He was the Lamb of God Who took away the sins of the world and there is a reason for that. The Bible says that God chose the things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are. (1Co.1:27) But God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put to shame them that are wise; and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong; (28) and the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, did God choose, [yea] and the things that are not, that he might bring to nought the things that are. The “things that are not” are these promises that we don't see manifested in this physical realm. God says you are healed, you are delivered, you are perfected, and your sins are all taken away, but you say, “Well, David, I don't see that in this physical realm.” That's exactly right, but the Word of God is still true! When you hold fast to these past-tense promises, you will definitely see them come to pass because that's what faith is. Faith is believing and acting on these promises. God gave awesome promises to the Israelites when they went into their wilderness, and He was very much offended that they did not believe those promises. Let's look at what He said to them, since it was basically His whole problem with Israel in the wilderness. (Num.14:11) And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them? (12) I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they. (23) Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that despised me see it. (Because they did not believe in Him.) So, the Lord swore He would bring them into that land, but He changed His mind because all the promises of God are functional and based on our part of the Covenant, which is faith in the promises. We have to believe! (Mar.9:23) And Jesus said unto him, If thou canst! All things are possible to him that believeth. (24) Straightway the father of the child cried out, and said, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. Jesus taught that we are supposed to believe that we have received everything that we pray for. For instance, (Mar.11:24) Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever (What does “all” leave out? Nothing!) whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye received them (This is past tense in all the ancient manuscripts. It's just that the translators didn't understand why you should believe you have received something when you don't see it.) believe that ye received them, and ye shall have them. God expects us to believe before we see; He expects us to believe we've received everything the Bible promises us. (Heb.11:1) Now faith is assurance of [things] hoped for, a conviction of things not seen. If you believe you received something when you prayed for it, what are you going to do to try to bring it to pass? If you say, for instance, that you believe by the stripes of Jesus you were healed, yet you continue trying to get healed by some worldly means, what you are proving is that you don't believe the good news that Jesus already healed you at the cross. For many years, I've never missed receiving a healing. I've raised five children and they have all received healing from the Lord. They were born at home (except for my oldest) and received healing for anything they ever needed. It didn't matter if it was broken bones, diseases, or whatever. They were always healed because I acted on what I saw in the Word of God concerning healing. His Word says that you don't have to accomplish healing; you have to receive it as a free gift, just as you receive every other form of salvation as a free gift. Since “God chose … the things that are not” to bring to nothing “the things that are,” how does He do that? (Rom.4:17) … God … calleth the things that are not, as though they were. Well then, how do we do that? We just speak it as done. Every miracle that Jesus ever did, He spoke it first. Nothing was there. He spoke it first, and it came to pass. And what the Lord wants us to do is speak in agreement with the Word. (Amo.3:3) Shall two walk together, except they have agreed? We need to speak in agreement with the Word of God. If the Bible says we're healed, we need to agree with that. If we have to call for the elders to anoint us with oil so we can put our faith together to agree with that, then that's what we should do, but we need to agree with that. (Rom.6:11) Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. You are delivered from sin. Consider it done. Why are so many people anxious and troubled about their sins? It's because they don't believe the Gospel! Why are so many people anxious and troubled about getting a healing? It's because they don't believe the Gospel! Why are so many people trying to deliver themselves? It's because they are not believing and acting upon the Gospel. Salvation in any form is a free gift. You accept it by faith. You speak it by faith. It is yours. (Col.1:12) Giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; (13) who delivered us (past tense) out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love. If you are attempting to save yourself and not accepting that you were delivered at the cross, then what you are proving is that you don't believe the Gospel. You believe in salvation by works. All of your self-efforts are hindering God from giving you what He wants to give you because He chose the things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are. The “things that are not” are these promises. The “things that are” is the curse. Look around you; God says He healed you and sometimes you don't look healed. He says He delivered you from sin and sometimes you don't think you are delivered from sin. He says He delivered you out of the power of darkness and sometimes you think you might have demons. Apostle Paul said, (Php.4:19) And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Every need! Wow! That's awesome! “My God shall supply every need of yours.” Think about that. You need to know and confess that all of God's promises are true anywhere you are. When you get into that wilderness, God is going to be there. God told Paul in (2Co.12:9) And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. His power is true power when we are weak, when we give up our own efforts to save ourselves. In the wilderness, there was no visible means of support for the Israelites. There was no lush land or a wondrous place to raise sheep and goats and crops. It was a desert. God brought them there to prove to them that He was Jehovah-jireh; the Lord my provider. (Gen.22:14) And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh. As it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided. He brought them there to prove that He was their provider in all things, but they moaned, and they complained, and they wouldn't believe God, and so they fell in the wilderness because they walked by sight and not by faith. God is about to send us into a wilderness. We are coming to a place where the world will no longer cooperate with us, but will turn against us, persecute us, and separate us from their benefits. They will blame us for the judgments that are falling upon the world. There will be a brief recovery of the economy and then a collapse and wilderness.  The governments are going to look for whomever they can blame and cut off because their resources will be gone. Remember that Egypt was completely ruined by the time the Israelites went into the wilderness (Exo.10:7). But before the Israelites went into the wilderness, they had already eaten the Passover lamb. Then they came out of Egypt and passed through the Red Sea, which Paul called a “baptism.” (1Co.10:1) For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; (2) and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; (3) and did all eat the same spiritual food; (4) and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ. So they were saved, they were baptized, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and went right into the wilderness. If you believe the Word of God, that's exactly what you do! You go immediately into the wilderness, even if you are a baby Christian. You walk into that wilderness, you walk into that place where you receive your sustenance out of Heaven from God and you no longer receive your sustenance from man by his methods, by the works of the flesh. When the Israelites went into their wilderness, they carried all of their provisions out there with them, but in only three days, they started running out (Exo.15:22). In spite of their own efforts, they found themselves still dependent on the hand of God. Many Christians today think that we're going to store up all these things and get prepared for the coming wilderness, but God said that “My power is made perfect in weakness.” God is bringing us into a wilderness to multiply the food (Mat.14:13- 21; Mar.6:30-44, etc.), to bring the manna out of Heaven (Exo.16:31,35; Num.11:7,9, etc.), to bring the water out of the rock (Exo.17:6; Num.20:8, etc.) He's going to do all these miraculous things and more to provide for His people, yet His people are still of a mind of salvation by works. They think, “We don't have to walk by faith! We are going to save ourselves!” Well, I can tell you that exactly what happened to the Israelites is going to happen to the Church. In the wilderness, they are going to run out of everything, and they are going to be back depending upon God because that's His plan! We have to learn to use those promises, we have to learn to use the things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are. Even though we see that the promises are not yet fulfilled in this physical realm, we have to use them to provide ourselves with the things that we need. Jesus already provided us with everything right there at the cross, and only through our weakness is God's power going to be made perfect (2 Corinthians 12:9). Many years ago, I was driving down the interstate and I passed over the River Jordan, except it was spelled “Jourdan” instead of “Jordan.” And when I passed over it, the thought came into my mind, “Oh, boy! Thank You, Lord! I'm going to the Promised Land!” But God immediately corrected me. He said, “No, you're not. I'm sending you through a wilderness so that you can tell My people that I still supply there.” That's what happened, and at the time, I was in a wilderness. I had been in it for many years, but the Lord helped me to explain it better. My wilderness was simply that I believed the Word of God when I was a baby Christian. I didn't have any religious background; I was raised a Catholic, but I didn't know anything about the Bible, so at home I started reading the Bible. I was just consumed with a love for the Bible! I knew that this was the truth, and so I began to act upon those awesome, precious promises that God has given us, and I began to see some wondrous miracles before I ever became mixed up with any religion. I just knew that those promises didn't pass away with the apostles. The Lord taught me in this wilderness how to receive provision from Him, and He taught me that so that I can teach it to you. It's exactly as He told me: “I'm sending you through a wilderness so that you can tell My people that I still supply there,” because we are going into a wilderness. The Tribulation period is the wilderness (Rev.12:6, 17:6). And we have to prepare for this wilderness, but not in the way that carnally-minded Christians have been teaching. I can tell you right now that how they are getting prepared is not going to last. To get prepared to walk through this wilderness, you need to walk by faith in the promises of God. You need to act on what you read in the Word, and if you will do that, you will be weak. That's because you can do nothing to bring to pass a promise that God says He's already given you. If He says that He has healed you and you go running to man for healing, then you prove you haven't believed that verse yet! And you are not in the wilderness because, when you are in the wilderness, you are in a place of weakness to the flesh. The flesh cannot save itself in the wilderness; it has to turn to God. God started teaching me these principles of just acting upon the Word, and before I knew what a wilderness was, I was going there. So you don't have to wait to go into the wilderness. In fact, if you go there and you overcome now, you will be one of those whom God will use to bring others there and teach them the ways of the Lord. (Isa.55:8) For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. (9) For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. The ways of the Lord are not our ways. He has methods that are not our methods. You don't have to read the Gospel very far before you realize that. Jesus didn't use the methods of the world to bring about the deliverance of God's people. When did Jesus send anybody to a psychiatrist or a doctor? He spoke the Word of God! He called the things that are not as though they were. We're going to do the same thing! If you make it through that wilderness, you are going to do the same thing. Some of what God began to teach me about living in the wilderness had to do with my finances. For instance, I have been ministering for 55 years now, and I've never taken an offering. “Taking” an offering is an oxymoron! You can't “take” an offering; it's supposed to be freely given! Now, I have preached in other assemblies where people have taken up offerings for me.  And some of them, I'm sorry to say, were use to their preacher's “beatings” to make them give through condemnation. But the Lord taught me at the beginning, (Mat.10:8) … freely ye received, freely give (Deu.15:10; Psa.112:9, etc.). God wanted me to give everything that He gave to me, to just give it freely, knowing that He is Almighty God and that He will take care of me. And when I ministered, I never asked for an offering, nor do I talk about money in our local assembly. I know that in most churches, they talk about money every time they meet, but I don't talk about money because God puts it in people's hearts to meet the needs of the brethren. So I freely give and for the past 55 years, God has freely given to me. Truly, if you prove God's Word, you will be very impressed with God. I'm very impressed with God! I know He watches over me, I know that He knows my needs, I know that He provides for my needs and I know that I don't have to stand around and beg Him or beg men. I've never taken an offering and I continue to freely give of my ministry to people. We freely give away our materials and our books on our website, but God puts it in people's hearts to give back. (Luk.6:38) Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom. For with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again. Wow! That's awesome! And I've never had to condemn people into giving to me, either. I don't even have to mention it. I have taught on giving, of course, but I've never taught on giving to me, and I've never taught on putting people under the Law to give to me. The disciples never took up an offering for themselves but for saints who were suffering elsewhere. For instance, you can't find the command to tithe in the New Testament. Jesus said that tithing was of the Law. (Mat.23:23) Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye tithe mint and anise and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith: but these ye ought to have done (under the Law), and not to have left the other undone. There's no place in the New Testament where God commanded Christians to be tithers. That was a law that was given in the Old Testament to the Old Covenant people. If a preacher drags it over into the New Covenant, it's because he's not obeying Jesus. He's not freely giving and freely receiving. What he's doing is condemning people into supporting him because he has no faith. When Jesus sent out the disciples, they were men of faith, or He would not have ordained them, and He would not have sent them out. And when He sent them out, He told them, “Freely ye received, freely give,” and that's what they did. They didn't take up any offerings. They didn't throw any pity parties. They didn't cry about all of their needs. They trusted in Almighty God! He can take care of us and, by the way, He is not poverty-stricken! I learned very quickly that tithing was something that churches used because they didn't trust God, so they were putting God's people under the Law, which was pronounced to be a curse. (Deu.28:15) But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee. (Jas.2:10) For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one [point,] he is become guilty of all. I learned that Jesus said, (Luk.14:33) So therefore whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. We are not stewards of 10% and owners of 90% anymore! Read the New Testament! We are called “stewards” of 100%!  We handle it for God. We've been bought with a price (1Co.6:19-20; 7:23). We are not our own and neither is anything that we have. We are bondservants, and everything that we have belongs to our Master. He's the One Who tells us what to do with it, how much to give, where to give and to whom. Yes, we do in type and shadow, bring our tithes into the storehouse (Mal.3:10), which in the Old Testament was in the middle of the temple, but in the New Testament, God's people are the temple. When Jesus returns to judge the nations, He's not going to say anything about the tithe. (Mat.25:34) Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: (35) for I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in (Notice its all about how we treat the temple.); (36) naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. (37) Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? or athirst, and gave thee drink? (38) And when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? (39) And when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? (40) And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me. You see, you bring your “tithes” into the storehouse by how you treat the temple. At times, God has even called on me to give away my car and my house, but anything that I gave away, He always gave back to me and, in most cases, even better. He has never failed me! When I've been to minister as an invited speaker at other assemblies, I always appreciated it if they chose to give me an offering, but I never asked for one. I also learned that it pleased God if I didn't tell everyone my needs. I just told Him my needs. There's not one instance in the Bible where an apostle took up offerings or told anyone their own needs. The only time they took up an offering was for someone else; they took up an offering for the saints in Jerusalem who were in desperate need, because when they came to Christianity, the Jews around them were plundering them. (Heb.10:34) For ye both had compassion on them that were in bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your possessions, knowing that ye have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one. And so Paul had the churches take up offerings for the saints (1Co.16:3; 2Co.9:5; 12:16-18; Php.4:15-19), but he never took up an offering for himself and nobody else did, either. They were men of faith, and they walked by faith. They knew they were working for the Father and that the Father would pay them. You get to see the glory of God if you don't do things in the flesh. I'll give you one little instance. But first please remember that we have nothing to brag about. Everything comes from our awesome God by unmerited favor through faith which is His gift to us. When my children were young, I was impressed that I needed to go to Louisiana to visit some relatives. Well, this was at a time when I didn't have any money whatsoever. Even my children asked, “How are we going to Louisiana?” It was a pretty good drive, four-and-a-half hours from where we lived, and I told them, “We are going to go by faith.” I never let on to anybody in our assembly, “Well, I'm going to Louisiana and I don't have any money.” The next day, we all piled into our car, which was out of gas, and we headed out to Louisiana. Now, as I was going out of the door, I saw where a sister had left her Bible on the table, so I picked it up and I said, “We'll drop this by on our way.” You know, I was convinced that God was just going to put gas in my car because He had done it many times before. And when we stopped by this sister's house, I knocked on her door and I handed her the Bible when she answered. I said, “You left this at our house and I didn't want you to go through the weekend without having the Word.” I turned around to leave, but she said, “David, the Lord is telling me to give this to you,” and she handed me a $20 bill. Now, in those days, a $20 bill would fill up even a big station wagon, which is what I had with five kids in it. So I thanked her and I turned around and went back to town, and I took that money and filled the tank up with gas.  We were excited because the pump clicked off at $20. Folks, you never saw a tank of gas in a big gas hog car like mine go as far as that tank of gas went! And when we took off for Louisiana, we still didn't have any money because we had put it all in the gas tank. After we got to Louisiana and were visiting, an assembly over there somehow found out I was in town. They decided to invite me over to preach and, sure enough, they took up an offering and blessed me. I came back with a whole lot more money than when I left. Praise be to God! I remember taking my kids to the beach when we didn't have any gas in the car and God put gas in the car. And I remember one time a friend called me to come and pick him up because he had run his car off the road, and he was stuck. That was when my car was empty. It had been empty for days, and I had been driving it that way for days, and he was on the other side of town. I said, “Lord, Your Word says, ‘Give to him that asketh of thee' (Mat.5:42; Luk.6:30), and he's asking, so I'm going!” I got in my car that I'd been driving for several days without any gas in it, and I went over there and I picked him up where he was stuck alongside the road. I dragged him out and came back home. You know, I drove that car for a week and it never ran out of gas. There was another time I actually did have plenty of money, but the gas stations were closed. When I lived over in Baton Rouge, I once had to go to work very, very early in the morning, and I didn't realize that all those stations weren't open that early. I went to a couple of them, and they were closed, but I decided, “Well, Lord, nothing is stopping You from putting gas in my tank. I'm going.” So I jumped up on the interstate, and before I had gone anywhere, I saw that gas tank needle start climbing; I think it climbed up about a third of a tank while I was driving down the interstate, and then it stopped. I asked, “Well, Lord, why didn't You just go ahead and fill it up?” And I heard Him answer, “Well, I always give you what you need.” I said, “That's right!” It didn't matter to me if I ran out because I've seen my car run without any gas in it. It makes no difference to God. We must become as a child in trusting our Father. To such belongs the Kingdom of heaven. God bless you to believe and trust in His promises you find in the Word of His provision and care for you!

Hey angels,  Jas gives us a review of some of the trending food joints, and we discuss if food reviews on TikTok are overhyped. We also did a deep dive on Love Island USA

In these dark times, we must fight evil with the most powerful weapons we have.The Rosary is foremost among them.Join the Great Rosary Campaign today at: www.GreatRosaryCampaign.com.The Great Rosary Campaign is a yearlong mission for the conversion of cultural leaders. We will announce a weekly call to pray every Sunday for specific fallen-away Catholics and non-Catholics.THIS WEEK of the Great Rosary Campaign, we will pray for the conversion of former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama.The SUGGESTED PENANCE this week is a 24 hour water fast, adjusted for your state in life.Countless Saints and Popes have told us that the Rosary is incredibly powerful for three things in particular:1. Keeping the Faith2. Moral renovation3. Conversions of non-CatholicsThe Great Rosary Campaign is also based on several biblical themes and principles.First, PRAY FOR OUR BRETHREN. “Pray for one another…” (Jas. 5:16). “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Gal. 6:10).Second, PRAY FOR OUR ENEMIES. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:43-44).Third, PRAY FOR ALL MEN, PARTICULARLY LEADERS AND THOSE IN AUTHORITY. “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, or kings and all who are in high positions…” (1 Tim. 2:1-2).Fourth, GOING INTO BATTLE WITH THE ARK. When the ancient Israelites came to Jericho, God didn't tell them to besiege the city. Instead, He told them to march around it with the Ark of the Covenant seven times, and on the seventh the walls would fall. We will now "march" in prayer for seven days with the New Ark of the Covenant, Our Lady, through the Rosary. We pray in hope that on the seventh day, a day especially devoted to Our Lady (Saturday), extraordinary graces of conversion will be given to those we are praying for.Fifth, EVANGELISM AND APOLOGETICS = LOVE + ARGUMENTS + PRAYER + PENANCE. Ultimately it is God who reveals Himself to a soul, and empowers them to say "yes" to Him by His grace. He chooses to use us, but He does not have to. We must remember that as we evangelize and defend the Faith, our arguments will be fruitless unless informed by love (charity), and reinforced by prayer and penance.Sixth, RETURNING GOOD FOR EVIL. “Do not return evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but on the contrary bless, for to this you have been called, that you may obtain a blessing" (1 Pet. 3:9).Sign up to take part in the Great Rosary Campaign today: www.GreatRosaryCampaign.com

Jesus Delivers Us (13) (audio) David Eells – 8/31/25 Saints, I'm going to continue with our teaching on how Jesus delivers us and our authority over the demons. I'm going to pick up where we left off last time about the true and false manifestations of the Spirit and begin by sharing the following testimony called:   More Than We Can Imagine or Think by P.O. I was one of thousands of people who wanted to experience "revival" in Brownsville and Toronto. As a fairly new Christian, I wanted the excitement that I thought should come from living a life for God. My prayer during that time was: "Father, do whatever You need to do so that no man or no devil can ever quench my desire for You." The first few visits there, I came away somewhat frustrated. Every time a minister approached me, he would veer away and start the laying on of hands in another direction. I recognize now that this was the grace of God, keeping me from receiving wrong impartations. But one time when we were leaving, I forgot my cape. I returned for it and tried to walk through a large lobby full of people writhing on the floor. Something invisible hit me. I fell to the floor and felt heat, like electricity, start at my feet and work all the way up to my head. I became temporarily but totally paralyzed. A friend who had followed me reported afterward that he saw my eyes roll. This man, a medic in the army, picked me up in his arms to remove me. But the strapping, six-footer made it only to the outside steps. There he, too, was taken down to the ground by this spirit. When he dropped me, I rolled under a small tree. Looking up, I saw the stars like diamonds and trees in 3-D as if "the trees were indeed clapping their hands" as the Word describes. I wanted to praise God, but I was rendered incapable of doing anything but baying like one of my uncle's hound dogs. My heart goes out to my friends who visited the "revival." Three of them died prematurely. Another four of them divorced within a year. Several of them now have serious health concerns. In short, these people are anything BUT revived. With some of these friends, I tried gently to get them to look at the falsehoods. But no. It was like the old saying, "You can lead a horse to the water, but you can't make him drink." The times I tried, I encountered upturned noses, so to speak. My dearest friend, whom I met thirty-eight years ago, lived at one of the revival venues for months. She no longer returns my calls. I don't know why this is the case, since we aren't talking. But I suspect that she just couldn't handle the upturns that my life, and my children's lives, kept taking as opposed to her own. I'll always love her. She prayed for me when I wasn't even a believer. God will save her from this deception. At first I thought the experience had been the Holy Spirit. But, sparing the details, my life began to fall apart. I kept crying out for truth, the truth, nothing but the truth. Somehow, I was led via an internet science site to the e-book called "Sovereign God." I "inhaled" it. God's truth revealed in that book healed me of lifelong bouts of severe depression. Then, via the internet, I saw that people around the world were getting their vision healed. I thought, "God is no respecter of persons. Father, would you heal my vision?" It was a progressive miracle, full of dialogue with Him. After a trial of several months, the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles pronounced me as having near-perfect vision. Father God also engineered that my unbelieving daughter would be present to hear the verdict. All my life, I'd had progressively poorer vision, ending with 20-200, which the state of Indiana considered as legally blind. God is able to do abundantly over and beyond what we can imagine or think. In His sovereignty, Father brought me through into the truth. He has orchestrated major periods of repenting and casting out of spirits revealed to me. By the grace of God, my marriage is thriving like never before. My blind eyes are healed. My depression is gone. I have hair now. I actually feel beautiful, but it's not of myself. It's Jesus, coming from the inside out. My children are fighting and winning for their marriages. I'm no longer fat. I have a room with a view. In this room, I help build God's Kingdom with the gifts He's given me. I'm welcomed at foreign airports with bouquets of flowers, like I'm some royal person. I'm surrounded by a vibrant company of other believers who cherish one another every day of the week. None of these blessings came as a result of the revival movement that so many people, including myself, touted for a while. All of these blessings are just "by-products" of a graceful God who loves me. He gave me the hunger and the unction to seek and find Him. Reading that blessing list, an unknowing person might say that I've won life's lottery. But it is all nothing compared to the fact that ... I have Jesus. I hope and pray you do, too. And here is another awesome testimony of God's amazing grace, called:   Delivered & Made Whole by C.M. As a young adult I was diagnosed with Epstein-Barr, chronic fatigue syndrome. For almost two years I would have to sleep at least twelve hours per day to barely function. Having visited every specialist, I was given no hope, other than just to deal with it and get rest. As a child I was taught about the Lord, even experiencing a vision of heaven at the age of seven years. I had been healed of a toothache during that vision. But when my dad left, our family fell apart, and our faith slowly faded away. By the time I was twenty-one years old, the Bible was in my closet, unread in years. One night I cried out to the Lord while remembering a story told to me when I was a child. A woman in the Bible was healed of her blood flow of twelve years. As I was begging the Lord to let me touch His garment just like that woman, I felt such a hot flow of heat through my body! I knew I was healed. The Lord let me feel that heat to help my faith. Within twenty-four hours, I felt completely better! I told everyone. People said it was just psychological—I had healed myself. But I knew better. I started reading my Bible as a babe in Christ. Almost two years later, I did join a church. I was reading the Bible regularly, but I started practicing yoga. I even became a yoga instructor, certified in sport yoga. I knew yoga had Eastern philosophies, but I thought if I just did the exercise part, I would be okay. I even asked my pastor. To my surprise, I had his support as long as it was just for exercise. Another elder even encouraged Tai Chi, another Eastern philosophy of exercise. Yoga was the pathway to all of the other Eastern philosophies: Tai Chi, hypnotherapy, and Reiki, the bringing of "energy" from the universe into your body. After two years of practicing yoga and getting involved with Reiki, I met a bold woman of Christ named Jane. She informed me of my backsliding. Jane insisted that I pray and get right with God and speak to her husband. He had knowledge of the occult. The word "backsliding" kept ringing in my ears from this woman. I had thought exercising was okay. After looking up the word "backsliding" in the concordance, I was directed to Jeremiah Chapters 3-6. The Lord showed me that night that I had left the Lord for the harlot. I felt the Lord's anger with me for what I was doing. After the Lord opened my eyes that night, I discarded everything that had to do with yoga: the music, clothes, DVDs, my teaching certification, books, equipment, mat, candles, etc. I quit teaching the next day. I visited Jane and her husband, who further explained how yoga is an occult practice. They prayed over me and anointed me with oil. We claimed that I was forgiven and that all the effects of this practice had left me. Praise God for His forgiveness, mercy and love. Now I have given my life to the Lord and have been walking with Him ever since! An undeserved blessing He gave me was a daughter, as I had not been able to have a child. According to the specialists, for fourteen months, I was not ovulating. Within two weeks of giving up yoga, I was pregnant. I am so grateful for God's love and forgiveness. David: Amen! Praise God for all His goodness towards us. It's important to remember that we must continue walking in Christ to obtain the fullness of His salvation. (Mat.24:13) But he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. We have to continue in Him to receive what He's laid hold on us for. (Php.3:12) Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus. He laid hold on us to manifest the fullness of Christ, and if we believe the Word, and we keep holding fast to the Word, we're going to enter into more and more of Christ. He is the Word. When we walk in Christ, we have faith to exercise the authority that He's passed on to us, but notice that although Jesus totally conquered the devil (Ephesians 1:20-22), we still see him. Why? It's because the devil still exercises authority. You may ask, "David, how is that possible?" Well, let's look at how that authority has been passed around. God never took back the authority over all creation that He gave to Adam in Gen.1:28 And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. But God didn't have to take it back; Adam gave it away to the devil! He gave it to the devil by virtue of the fact that he obeyed the devil. (Rom.6:16) Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves [as] servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? He made the devil his lord and gave him that authority. We know that the Bible says, "What we bind on earth is bound in heaven," so if the devil can talk us into believing he has authority, then he has it because we gave it to him. We loosed him by believing him, and we bound God by not believing Him, because God made the condition for receiving His benefits, which is our faith. Today, Adam's children have lost their authority because he gave it to satan. However, Jesus is called the "last Adam" because He is the father of the born again creation. Because He refused satan's authority He gained authority back and passed it on to His spiritual children. (1Co 15:22)  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.  But Christians need faith to exercise this authority. What does the Bible say? (1Jn.3:21) Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God; (22) and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. When we walk in Christ, we have faith to exercise our authority, faith to believe what the Bible says about the authority given to us. Adam was a natural man who was given authority over this natural creation. Jesus Christ was called a spiritual man, and He was given authority over this spiritual and natural creation. We just read about the authority God gave to Adam over this natural creation. Most Christians haven't entered into the authority that Adam had as a natural man, much less the authority that Jesus had as a spiritual man. We are supposed to have authority in both places, the natural and the spiritual. (1Co.15:45) So also it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam [became] a life-giving spirit. (46) Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; then that which is spiritual. (47) The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is of heaven. (48) As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. (49) And as we have borne the image of the earthy, let us also bear the image of the heavenly. If your Bible has "we shall," it's wrong. There's probably a footnote that tells you the Greek says, "let us also bear the image of the heavenly." We have been given a command to bear "the image of the heavenly." God is not saying that "we shall" because that's not true. A lot of people are not going to bear the "image of the heavenly" because they're going to refuse to do that. We've borne "the image of the earthy" because we've been a natural man, like the first Adam, but to bear "the image of the heavenly" is to bear the Image of the spiritual Adam, Who is Jesus Christ. (Heb.2:5) For not unto angels did he subject the inhabited earth to come... If your Bible says, "the world to come," you probably have a footnote that says "the inhabited earth." This is the correct translation from the Greek according to the numeric pattern. Notice its "the inhabited earth to come" meaning the earth under and following Adam's authority.  (Heb.2:5) For not unto angels did he subject the inhabited earth to come, whereof we speak. (6) But one hath somewhere testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that thou visitest him? What was "man"? That was Adam. And who was the "son of man"? That was Adam's children. Jesus was the Son of man and the Son of God. This is talking about both the natural Adam and the spiritual Adam. The spiritual "Adam" is Christ, and so then, who is the "son of man"? That is Christ's children. Adam and his children had authority, and if they hadn't fallen because of sin, they would still have that authority. Jesus has authority and all of His children have the same authority because He is an Adam. He's the Procreator of the whole race of the spiritual man. He's the (Rom.8:29) ... firstborn among many brethren. The Greek word there is adelphos, and it means "brothers." (Gal.3:26) For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. Through faith, we should be living up to our sonship; we should be exercising the authority of the first Son, Jesus Christ, our spiritual Father. (Heb.2:7) Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; Thou crownedst him with glory and honor, And didst set him over the works of thy hands. We found that was true of Adam, and it's still true. Jesus exercised authority over the works of God's hands. Just as Adam did in the natural before he fell; Jesus did in the spiritual and natural. There's a natural creation, and there's a spiritual creation beyond the natural creation. Adam had dominion over the works of God's hands; he exercised authority over all the earth, the beasts, the fish, the birds, and so on. However, there are other works of God's hands that Adam didn't know much about: the principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness, the spiritual creation of God (Ephesians 6:12). Because of what Jesus accomplished at the Cross, we've been given authority over not just the natural creation, but the spiritual creation. (Eph.1:19) And what the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might (20) which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly [places], (21) far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: (22) and he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, (23) which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. Notice that Jesus was the head of His body the Church but He put all things in subjection under the feet of His body. We have this authority as we follow the Head. Our authority over the natural creation and the spiritual creation is given by right of two facts. We have come from the first Adam, and we have come from the second Adam. Both of those have been given authority, and that authority has been passed on to us, but the only way you can exercise that authority is to believe what the Word of God says. All of this has been put under your feet; you have complete sovereignty over it as you follow the Head. (Luk.10:19) Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall in any wise hurt you. Notice: "Behold, I have given you authority ... over all the power of the enemy." Here's another witness that God has put all things in subjection under His feet: (Heb.2:8) Thou didst put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he subjected all things unto him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. (Primarily, He was talking about Adam and his children. Secondarily, He's talking about Christ and His children.) But now we see not yet all things subjected to him. In other words, it's a fact that Jesus conquered the devil and gave us authority over him, but it's also a fact that we haven't exercised that authority. (Heb.2:9) But we behold him who hath been made a little lower than the angels, [even] Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for every [man]. (10) For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory (These are His sons.), to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings. (11) For both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one (We have one Father.): for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. So you see, we are sons of God first by faith and then by manifestation. Jesus, as the second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:47), received this authority from God over all of creation, and we are in Him. As end-time saints, we are in Him as His body and even the lowest member, the "feet," have been given authority to "stomp" on the devil's kingdom. (Rom.16:20) And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. We've been given this authority, so what's the holdup here? The holdup is for us to be convinced about what the Bible says in black and white. It isn't a deep revelation; it's in the letter of the Word, and we need to step out and start exercising our authority according to His Word by faith. We have dominion over all the works of God's hand! It makes no sense to think God would have given this dominion to Adam, a physical, natural creation, but would not have given it to His spiritual creation, sons born after the Image of Jesus Christ. Start imagining yourself as a son of God with authority. See yourself that way. (Psa.8:4) What is man, that thou art mindful of him? (In other words, why would you pay any attention to man?) And the son of man (That's not only Adam, but his children. That's not only Christ, but His children.), that thou visitest him? (Psa.8:5) For thou hast made him but little lower than God, And crownest him with glory and honor. (6) Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet: (7) All sheep and oxen, Yea, and the beasts of the field, (8) The birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, Whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. Do you remember when the disciples had been fishing all night without catching anything until the Lord commanded the fish into their net? (Joh.21:6) And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. And (Psa.8:9) O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is thy name in all the earth! Our words and actions must agree with God's Word. Psalm 8 and Hebrews 2 are parallel in speaking about Adam and his children, and Christ and His children, both having dominion over the work of God's hands. Everything Jesus said agrees with this. (Mat.18:18) Verily I say unto you, What things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and what things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Because we don't understand this principle, we are continually loosing the devil to terrorize us. We are continually loosing the curse to take dominion over us. We are continually doing this because we are disagreeing with the Word of God. This is what happens when we speak contrary to the Word of God, and we act contrary to the Word of God. Many of God's people don't yet understand that they have this authority to loose the devil. They loose him when they disagree with God's Word. They loose him when they agree with these spirits that rule over the lusts of the flesh. If you agree with them, they are going to rule over you, as with Adam and Eve. We have authority over the work of God's hands. We have authority over the things that God has given us. We have authority over our automobiles and our washing machines; literally anything we have stewardship of. It doesn't make any difference what it is; we have authority. Some of you have exercised your authority and commanded healing for people, and God healed them, or you've commanded healing over broken appliances or cars, and God healed them, too. What we have to do is be convinced that we have the authority of creative power in us. (Joh.20:21) Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace [be] unto you: as the Father hath sent me, even so send I you. This means that the Father sent Jesus with authority over the works of His hands, and everywhere He went, He exercised authority. And He said, "Even so send I you." He sent us with that same authority. (Mat.28:18) And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. (19) Go ye therefore... Why did He say that? He said it because He was passing that authority on to His disciples. (Mat 28:19)  Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: (Just in case you believe this was only for the Apostles, He addresses all nations of disciples saying this.) 20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you (so we all have the authority they had.): and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.  And in another Gospel He said in (Mar.16:17) And these signs shall accompany them that believe... "Them that believe" includes every believer. Every believer has authority in the second heaven, too. That's where Satan rules, and he reaches from the second heaven into the first heaven to rule as prince of the powers of the air in this world (Ephesians 2:2). We can read that here, where Jesus talks to Peter and the disciples. (Mat.16:18) And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. (19) I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven... What Matthew 16:19 actually says in the original is "the kingdom of the heavens." Over in Matthew 18:18, which we've looked at, the word used is "heaven," singular, because it's only talking about the third heaven, but Matthew 16 is talking about all the "heavens," plural. It says in the Nestle's Text, the three most ancient manuscripts, "the kingdom of the heavens." It says in the Numeric English New Testament, "the kingdom of the heavens." Other translations just haven't copied it correctly. This verse correctly reads, (Mat.16:19) I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in the heavens... That means you are binding in the second heaven too. But even in the third heaven we bind or loose by unbelief or faith. The devil is hidden from us in the second heaven, another realm, and he rules from there as prince of the power of the air in the first heaven, but we have authority in the realm of the second heaven when we obey the principles of God's Word. (Mat.16:19) I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in the heavens; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in the heavens. That doesn't say that we are going to destroy everything the devil does because God doesn't want to do that. God sent the devil here to administer the curse, such as when apostle Paul turned a man over to Satan (1Co.5:5) ... for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. God still does this today, so He doesn't want to destroy the power of the devil. God wants to destroy the power of the devil in the life of the believer. Jesus didn't give the keys to just Peter, as some people mistakenly read this verse. Jesus was talking to all of His disciples. (Mat.16:20) Then charged he the disciples that they should tell no man that he was the Christ. What made Jesus speak of Peter in the first place? It was because of what Peter had spoken. (Mat.16:13) Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of man is? (14) And they said, Some [say] John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. (15) He saith unto them, But who say ye that I am? (16) And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. (17) And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven. (18) And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. He wasn't talking about Peter alone. What was shown to Peter was the revelation that Jesus was the Son of God. This was the rock. Everybody who is saved has gotten that revelation. It is a foundational revelation. Everybody with that revelation has authority if they believe. This is the "key of David." (Isa.22:22) And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; and he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. Everybody who is saved has the key of the Kingdom of Heaven but only a few will manifest it. (Rev.3:7) And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and none shall shut, and that shutteth and none openeth. Jesus in the believer has the authority of the key of David. "And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church." The name "Peter" is the Greek word petros, which means "a small rock or stone such as a man may throw." We are all one of these. But the Greek word for "rock" in this verse is petra, and it means "a huge mass of rock (a boulder), such as a projecting cliff." All of us small rocks who make up the body of Christ could also corporately be this huge Rock. Peter himself said that Jesus was the Rock. (1Pe.2:3) If ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious: (4) unto whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious, (5) ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (6) Because it is contained in scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: And he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame. (7) For you therefore that believe is the preciousness: but for such as disbelieve, The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner; (8) and, A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence; for they stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. Peter said that we are "living stones" and all of the disciples are "living stones." Peter didn't believe that he was the huge Rock. We are living stones in God's building, and that whole building is petra, a mass of rock. Jesus is the foundation of the building of the Body of Christ. He is the Chief Corner Stone, which is missing from the Great Pyramid because He is in heaven, but that Chief Corner Stone also looks like the rest of the building, which is the body of Christ. He is the Foundation and the Head, the beginning and the end (Revelation 1:8,11; 21:6; 22:13), and the many stones are His body, just like the Great Pyramid represents. [Note: According to Josephus, the Great Pyramid is a prophecy built by Enoch and his sons.] Peter didn't exercise any more authority than the rest of the apostles. God gave all of His disciples the authority to bind things in the second heaven (Ephesians 2:2), things in the third heaven (Matthew 24:31; 2 Corinthians 12:2), and things in the first heaven (Mark 13:27). God's peopare not doing the works of Jesus Christ because they don't realize this authority is also theirs. We need to get this understanding down in our hearts because the devil's been given authority from God to make war on the saints. God sent an adversary so that not only would we learn to fight, but we would learn to fight and win! Did you know that if you fight the devil, you are going to be warring with your flesh? When you fight the spirit of fear, you are going to conquer fear in yourself. If you fight the spirit of lust, you are going to conquer lust in yourself. God has to send the devil because he reveals to you what is inside you. When you come against him by faith, you are not only consuming the lusts, you are not only plundering the devil's kingdom as far as the ground that he has taken in your life, but you are plundering him (Matthew 12:25-30; Mark 3:20-27; Luke 11:14-23). You are overcoming his spirits. Take your Promised Land. Conquer the carnal man that lives in it. Use the authority God gave you! This is your God-given right! Praise the Lord! Now, let me share another wonderful testimony with you called:   Faith in God's Word Plundered the Devil by sister L.W. About a year ago, the Lord showed me that I had a spirit of rejection. I received it through the bloodline of my dad. My grandparents tried to abort him. His siblings constantly reminded him that he was not wanted. The spirit of rejection took all my life experiences and twisted them in my head. It made me take everything personally and made me perceive its version of the truth instead of reality. Kids are cruel in school, and everybody is picked on in some way. They picked on me because I'm a redhead. So I saw my hair as a physical disfigurement. I thought if I were pretty, people would like me despite the color of my hair. When I would get beaten up by the boys after school, I thought I was the only one getting picked on. I didn't have any black eyes but there was a lot of hair-pulling, kicking, biting, scratching, and punching. I thought it was all because of the color of my hair. And I thought because I was different, I would never be accepted; and I hated myself and my hair. During this time, I developed nervous facial tics. My mom told me to stop, but I told her that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't. I told her my face would feel extremely funny and the only relief was to allow the tic. She told me to rub my face every time I felt that and I did. The Most High God had mercy on me and broke the nervous tics that very instant, and I was immediately delivered.  A couple of years later in the summer, I woke up and the left side of my face was paralyzed and felt heavy. When I would blink, my left eye wouldn't close. When I smiled, only half my face would smile. My dad thought I was just making funny faces and told me if I didn't stop my face would stick. But very quickly, he realized this was a serious medical condition. The doctors discovered I had Bell's Palsy and informed us there was no cure and that I would have to live with this the rest of my life. Later, I asked my parents if that was really true. Would I have to live with this the rest of my life? I felt ugly enough having red hair, without adding a paralyzed face to the equation. And they said, "We serve a God who heals. He is a healing God." Being a child, I thought my parents were smarter than the doctors. So I put my faith in what they told me and ignored what the doctors said. The Lord completely healed my face within seven days. The doctors were stunned. The healing was so complete, there is not even the slightest trace even to this very day, despite the doctors' report. When my parents became missionaries to Swaziland, I was so ecstatic, looking forward to a fresh start. Maybe there they would accept my red hair. Little did I know that the country we were going to believed people with red hair were witch doctors. Now, not only did the color of my hair stand out, but the color of my skin, too. I was really different. I felt I would never fit in. I didn't know the language and couldn't understand their accent—even when they spoke in English. The Swazi kids were actually loving and gentle, unlike the American kids, and they were intrigued by me. They wanted to touch my hair and skin and smell me, but I felt intimidated. (After my sister read this testimony, she told me those Swazi kids loved me and loved playing marbles with me during recess.) The love they gave me, the spirit of rejection stole from me. I thought I was the dumbest one in my class. The standard of schooling was much higher than in the States, and the kids laughed at me because I didn't know the answers when the teacher called on me. Inevitably, there was always somebody who had pity on me and whispered the answer to me. The spirit of rejection twisted my thoughts. Once again I felt rejected. I was a loner. I thought there was something wrong with me because I was dumb. I wanted to be anybody else but me. Because there was no high school in the country we lived in, I was forced to go to boarding school. I went to an all-white, all-girls high school in South Africa. Suddenly, my hair became my greatest asset. I became interested in fashion and beauty and surrounded myself with prim and proper British tea-drinking girls who were gossips and snobs. I was the queen of beauty secrets, sharing them with everybody. Even during my short-lived popularity, inside I still felt dumb and ugly. I felt I was the object of gossip and that the girls were looking down their noses at me. After three years of boarding school, my family moved to Johannesburg, South Africa. I was finally able to live at home with my parents and go to a public school. No longer was I surrounded by prim and proper British girls, but fighting Jezebels. My sister and I rode the school bus. The Jezebels would not allow us to sit, even though there was a vacant seat. They said the seats were reserved. I was determined to sit because I didn't want to have to stand through high school. The girls converged on my sister and me. They pulled our hair, tore our dresses, kicked, scratched, bit, punched and burned us with their cigarettes. I stood up for myself and protected my sister. At that point in my life, I didn't know to turn the other cheek. I prayed and asked God to give me strength. After a while, they gave up. After I graduated from high school, I returned to the States to go to college. Before school started, I lived a few months with relatives. During those months, the spirit of rejection made me feel more alone than ever. Even though I had returned to the land of my birth, I realized I had become a foreigner. I was stranger than ever. My clothes were the latest in fashion in Europe, but they just didn't go in Wyoming. There was nothing indecent about them, but a pastor's wife wrote a letter to my parents stating I looked like a streetwalker and carbon copied it to the church headquarters. Apparently, nothing but jeans, cowboy boots, or tennis shoes was accepted. My clothes were too colorful and different. The day finally came when I was able to go to college and move into the dorm. God blessed me with a fabulous roommate and we became immediate friends. She helped me adjust to the American way of life. I became more confident. I finally started having fun, but didn't study enough; I got kicked out of two church colleges with which my parents were affiliated. I was labeled a rogue missionary kid who dressed like a streetwalker. In my shame, I went back home to South Africa. All my life I was judged by my hair and now I have begun to judge other people by their hair. One night I dreamed I was walking on a busy sidewalk in a big city. The sidewalk was crowded with people walking to and fro. There was a long, green snake gliding at shoulder level. When our eyes met, he immediately came at me and coiled himself tightly around my ponytail. I grabbed him with my right hand and tried to pull him out of my hair, but he was coiled so tightly, he wouldn't budge. I woke up. At this time, I didn't know anything about the importance of dreams. But it was so vivid that I never forgot it. Eventually, my head started to itch and burn. I thought to myself, "Whatever you do, never itch in public." I didn't want to act like the baboons in Africa, always scratching. A couple of years went by and ridges started to form on my scalp, but I ignored it. Later, I got married and moved into my husband's house. Within a week, I realized I had made a huge mistake. He became physically abusive and would often kick me out. In an effort not to worry my parents and hide my shame, I spent the nights at a hotel and kept going back. The abuse became more frequent. I felt like I was having a nightmare and couldn't wake up. It became increasingly difficult to hide the abuse from my family and from work. I found out he was addicted to pornography (that's why he would kick me out). I thought I had married a Christian. One morning, he came at me with full force. I couldn't get away because he was so much bigger and stronger. I grabbed the phone and dialed 9-1-1, but he slammed the receiver down. "God, get me out of here. Help me!" I cried. A few minutes later, a police car pulled up. Shocked, I didn't recognize myself when I looked in the mirror that day. Somebody else was staring at me! We had only been married four months, four days. This was the ultimate rejection and betrayal. For the next two and a half years, we were separated, but trying to work things out. Even during that time, he was physically abusive. My family was afraid he was going to kill me. When I was with him, they would often call. If I did not answer, they would call the police. It ended in divorce. I went to my mom's beauty shop for a haircut. She told me I needed to see the dermatologist because the ridges at the crown of my head had turned a reddish purple. The dermatologist did a biopsy and discovered I had a rare condition called Pseudopelade of Brocq. She gave me little green pills to take. The first morning I took one, I was doubled over in pain within 20 minutes. No matter how hard I tried to take those pills, I was never able to keep them down. I called the dermatologist to ask her what the pills were supposed to do. She said they wouldn't cure my scalp condition—they would only stop the burning and itching. I threw those useless pills out. They were not going to free me from the green snake coiled up in my hair. The name of that snake is Jealousy. When the LORD showed me the root cause of the problem, I repented from my sins of pride and vanity. (Isa.3:16) Moreover, the Lord said, Because the daughters of Zion are proud And walk with heads held high and seductive eyes, And go along with mincing steps And tinkle the bangles on their feet, (17) Therefore the Lord will afflict the scalp of the daughters of Zion with scabs, And the Lord will make their foreheads bare. (24) ... Instead of wellset hair, a plucked-out scalp. I lived under a mountain of condemnation. No matter how much I forgave and repented of my sins, I always felt like God was mad at me. I am the elder of two girls and I felt like I was Esau and my sister was Jacob. (Heb.12:17) For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. (Rom.9:13) Just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. I was jealous of my sister. I felt like I was Leah and my sister was Rachel. I was unloved and my sister was loved. I was the one who had weak eyes and couldn't please my Heavenly Father, while my sister was given wisdom and favor with God and man. The LORD gave me: (Gal.3:27) For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. This verse changed my life. A year before this, my dad baptized me into Jesus Christ, which meant I fulfilled the beginning of the verse. If I was baptized into Jesus Christ, then I was clothed with Christ! I was bouncing off the walls! I was firmly convinced I was clothed with Christ. I told my family about that verse, confessing I was clothed in Christ. My dad and sister said I still had to manifestly be clothed in Christ. I told them that's not what the verse said. It was a very plain and simple verse. I understood it perfectly and I wasn't budging from my stance. I was so ecstatic over that verse and I told them with a huge smile on my face, "Nobody can talk me out of that promise." My mom turned to me and said, "Grab onto that promise with your stubborn mentality and don't let go." The next morning, something flew out of my left nostril with extreme force, waking me up. I heard the sound of a loud rushing wind and physically felt the force. Whatever it was hit my window and caused it to rattle. I jumped out of bed, expecting to see a broken window, but it was completely intact. That had never happened to me before, but I knew I didn't imagine or dream it. I told my family what happened. My dad said a demon was evicted because of my believing that verse. I was so happy! I became obsessed with cleansing myself from all defilement of flesh and spirit. By this time, my dad and sister were listening to me. A few mornings later while sleeping, my whole body cramped up painfully and then relaxed, causing me to wake up. I called my dad, crying on the phone, because I was afraid the demon had come back. He said the demon hadn't come back, but another demon had left and wracked my body on his departure. He said demons typically do that when they leave. I was so happy, jumping up and down, praising Jesus. A few days later, my chest still hurt. I had a big bruise on it to remind me of my deliverance. It was simply a gift Father gave me to believe His Word. His Word is true. When you submit yourself to God, the devil will flee from you. (Jas.4:7) Be subject therefore unto God: but resist the devil, and he will flee from you. I learned the importance of meditating on the word. Each night I would pick a verse. I came across (Sol.4:1) ...Your hair is like a flock of goats that have descended from Mount Gilead. Because of my hair and scalp condition, I was always attracted to any scripture that dealt with hair. I knew there was a spiritual meaning, but I didn't know what it was. Despite not understanding this verse, I was going to meditate on it anyway. I imagined my hair being like a flock of goats descending from Mount Gilead. As I meditated, I heard a voice that sounded like my own say, "Don't do that!" I flew out of bed and turned on the light. I looked under my pillows and tore my whole bed apart looking for something, but I knew not what. I realized it was a demon using my voice. He didn't like me meditating on that verse. I thought, "Stupid demon. If that verse is causing such an uproar with a demon, I'll meditate on it every waking moment!" The next day as I was meditating on the verse, I heard another voice squeal my name. The Word of God is alive! A few weeks later, my mom commented that there was a huge improvement while cutting my hair at the beauty shop. She said an amazing thing was happening—my hair was growing in thick and long. (Sol.7:5) Your head crowns you like Carmel, And the flowing locks of your head are like purple threads; The king is captivated by your tresses. It's easy to see the faults in other people, but it's difficult to see the faults in yourself. I decided to ask my sister what my problem was because I knew she would be brutally honest. She told me I had a spirit of rejection. She said that a demon was the cause of my scalp condition, and that I was easily offended and it manifested in my scalp being irritated and tender. I decided to take her at her word and fight the spirit of rejection. My sister showed me this scripture: (Luk.21:12) But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name's sake. (13) It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. (14) So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; (15) for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute. (16) But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, (17) and you will be hated by all because of My name. (18) Yet not a hair of your head will perish. Suffering rejection is a part of taking up your cross and following Jesus. It's forgiving those who do you wrong and turning the other cheek. A few weeks later I was at the mall with my family. I saw a really neat soap dispenser that I thought my mom should buy, but she said she didn't like it. Then I saw a perfect soap dispenser for my sister's bathroom, but she didn't like it either. The words, "So what's wrong with MY soap dispenser," flew out of my mouth! I was hearing them for the first time myself. I realized what I said was so outrageous and so unreasonable. For the first time, I saw how easily I was offended. I finally saw for myself the spirit of rejection in me. One night, I asked Father for a scripture by lot: (Luk.9:42) While he was still approaching, the demon slammed him to the ground and threw him into a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy and gave him back to his father. I thought Jesus did it for the boy only and I wanted Him to do it for me. But then my sister showed me Jesus' words: (Mar.13:37) What I say to you I say to all. I was ecstatic! Jesus rebuked the spirit of rejection in me and healed me and gave me back to my Heavenly Father. The spirit of condemnation would overwhelm me. One night while meditating on (Rom.6:11) Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus, another demon flew out from behind my right ear with force. I felt and heard a major vibration. I couldn't wait to tell my family. And I said to my sister, "You wouldn't believe what happened to me last night!" She asked, "Now what flew out of you?" (Luk.11:20) But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. I devoured the audio series, "The Curse of Unforgiveness" and I followed along in my Bible, highlighted scriptures, wrote notes and searched my heart for any unforgiveness that may have been lurking. I also devoured the audio series, "Overcoming Sin." I was on a mission to completely rid myself of the spirits of rejection, judgment and condemnation. I became obsessed with (2Co.7:1) Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Early one morning I dreamed I had bloodstains all over me. A little boy with blonde hair said to me, "Let me help you." I woke up, desperately wanting help! Immediately, when David Eells started the Bible study, "Deliverance from Rejection and Its Fear," I knew he was talking to me! The Man-child was helping me. My deliverance was already accomplished! I was set free from the spirit of rejection and condemnation! The mental torment has been removed from my mind. My family will no longer have to tread lightly. My Heavenly Father poured His love into me. I finally felt His acceptance. I was no longer rejected, but accepted. (Isa.43:3) For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. (4) Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life. How can I possibly feel rejected? (Rom.8:31) What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? I had been burnt to a crisp. But I learned the ashes of burning the wood, hay and stubble mixed with the water of the Word was a potent purifying cleanser, which is exactly what I needed. (Num.19:9) Now a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place, and the congregation of the sons of Israel shall keep it as water to remove impurity; it is purification from sin. (Act.11:9) But a voice from heaven answered a second time, What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy. L.W.'s Prayer: Father, Have Mercy ... Father, I ask You, for anyone out there who is in bondage to sin, needing a healing, needing a restoration in their family, needing a restoration of fellowship, that You will convict them of their sins. Convict them to go and make things right with their brethren. If they've done sin, if they're unforgiving, whatever, convict them to go and make things right with their brethren and then come to You for their benefits: healing, deliverance, blessing, whatever, Lord. We thank you, Lord, for putting Your faith and conviction in hearts. Some are very hardened in their heart, Lord. We ask you to have mercy. Restore their consciences. Grant them this gift to be bold to confess their sins so that You may bless and preserve them and heal and deliver them. Father, we ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen. David: Yes, Amen! Our Lord Jesus has said in (Mat.6:15) But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Without the Father's forgiveness, we are living under the curse. (Mat.18:32) Then his lord called him unto him, and saith to him, Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou besoughtest me: (33) shouldest not thou also have had mercy on thy fellow-servant, even as I had mercy on thee? (34) And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due. (35) So shall also my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive not every one his brother from your hearts. The tormentors are the demons who administer the curse, which is partially described in Deuteronomy 28. Many are living under this and think it normal, but Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us... (Gal.3:13). Therefore, it would be of great benefit to you, saints, to also read or listen to these teachings. Deliverance From Rejection and its Fear https://ubm1.org/?page=deliverance   The Curse of Unforgiveness http://www.ubm1.org/books/pdf/TCOU.pdf https://www.ubm1.org/?page=sabs-onehour

As I was preparing for this sermon, I read something that John Stankey, the CEO of AT&T, said back in 2022 with the acquiring of HBO concerning his goals for HBO that I think was very perceptive. Its not hours a week, and its not hours a month. We need hours a day. You are competing with devices that sit in peoples hands that capture their attention every 15 seconds. I want more hours of engagement. Why are more hours of engagement important? Because you get more data and information about a customer that then allows you to do things like monetize through alternate models of advertising as well as subscriptions. Theres a reason why social media platforms, streaming services, etc. are called attention merchants. They are working hard to capture our attention. Some people also call it adhesiveness. The longer they can get us to stick around, the more money they make.[1] Stankey rebranded HBO to HBO Max, and under his leadership, subscriber growth more than doubled from 36 million to 76 million. Social media platforms rely on sophisticated algorithms to decide which content appears in your feed and in what order. These invisible gatekeepers shape your online experience, curating what you see and when you see it, all with the aim of keeping you engaged for longer periods. What is my point? My point is that there are pressures that you are both aware of and unaware of that seek to influence you. There may not have been the kinds of algorithms that we have today in the day, and age, James wrote his epistle, but they were no doubt there. There is a system that is spiritual that is opposed to God that wants to do all that it can to draw you away from Him, and that system is what the Bible calls the world. We were not made for the world, but for God. It is the tension we face as Christians to be pooled by the world or to draw close to God that he addresses in these verses. Going with the Current of the World is Friendship with the World (vv. 1-5) We gravitate towards the kinds of things James lists in verses 1-5. If comes naturally for us as a species to fight against each other. Remember what James wrote in 3:14; he said, But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart... your jealousy and selfish ambition is, earthly, natural, and demonic (v. 15). Then in 4:1, James informs us that the source of our fighting with one another comes from that part of us the apostle John described: All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world (1 John 2:16). What James means by World is the ethics and principles that are motivated by a desire to dethrone God. The wisdom of the world encourages those who live in it to cater to what you want, give yourself everything your eyes desire and live life your way to get the most of it. This is the wisdom of the world that James warns us of in chapter three, and it is here in chapter four that shows us how it affects everything around us. The Greek word for quarrels can mean battle, fights, strife, or conflicts. What instigates this kind of fighting with one another is what James calls our pleasures. This is another Greek word that you knew without knowing that you had it in your vocabulary (last week it was the Greek word zēlos that the NASB decided to translate jealous); the Greek word of pleasures is hēdonē from which we get the word hedonism. What is hedonism? You may think that it is the pursuit of pleasure, and it certainly is that, but at its core, hedonism is the pursuit of joy. In fact, what we learn from the Bible is that we were made to pursue and experience joy. There are scores of verses in the Bible I can show you, but for now, three should do: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! (Phil. 4:4) You will make known to me the way of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever. (Ps. 16:11) Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials... (Jas. 1:2) The Word of God encourages us to pursue joy. Blaise Pascale, the famous philosopher, observed: All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.[2] We even acknowledge that we were made for joy in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. However, what we were not made for is a joy that excludes a relationship with God. The kind of worldly wisdom and joy-seeking that leads to conflicts is a secular wisdom and the Godless pursuit of joy. This is kind of joy seeking is secular hedonism, and it is, earthly, natural, and demonic (3:14). What is the fruit of secular hedonism? James provides us with a list in verses that follow: Fact + result You lust and do not have... so you commit murder. (v. 2a) Fact + result You are envious and cannot obtain... so you fight and quarrel. (v. 2b) Fact + reason You do not have... because you do not ask. (v. 2c) Fact + result You ask and do not receive... (v. 3a) Full reason ...because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures. (v. 3b)[3] What kind of joy seeking is James describing? It is one where the pleasure and joy seeking is rooted in a world that is hostile towards God. Secular hedonism is self-centered joy seeking that makes the one pursuing it the center of his/her universe. So James accuses those who pursue such pleasures in verse 4 as adulteresses. Why? Because he is writing to Christians who should know better that the only joy we were created for and the one that is lasting, is a joy that can only be found in God. To seek your pleasure from this world, is to align yourself with the world by becoming its friend. To this, James states emphatically: do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God (v. 4). What do we do with verse five? What does James mean? There is much debate over the way this verse should be translated and some of the main versions of the English Bible show that. Theologians are divided over whether the Greek word for Spirit is referring to the immaterial part of us that we also call our soul or if it is the Holy Spirit that every Christian receives at the moment he/she becomes a Christian. Here is what I think James means by the statement: Do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose, He jealously desires the Spirit whom He has made to dwell in us? I think what he means is what we have seen in verses 1-4, and that is: we were made for a joy that can only be satisfied in God and the reason why He gave us a soul is the same reason He gave us the Holy Spirit, and that is to use our lives and to find our joy in Him. In other words, we were born on this earth to know God, but because we are dead in our sins, God caused us to be born again and has given us the Holy Spirit to empower us to live for Him for the purpose of finding our joy in Him (remember that James is writing to Christians). Abiding in the Word is Friendship with God (vv. 6-10) So what is the solution for the kind of problem James lists for us in verses 1-5? He provides us with the answer in verses 6-10. Its really found in verse 6; lets read it slowly and thoughtfully: But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says... What says? from the same Scripture in verse 5 James referred to: God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. God created you; you did not create Him. Of all the gods that people worship, there is only One who is the Creator and we were made for Him just as the apostle Paul testified before a group of idol worshipers at Mars Hill: He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might feel around for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, For we also are His descendants. (Acts 17:26-28) God created us to know Him, but humans are fallen, sin-cursed, and spiritually dead! What hope is there for a humanity bent on finding their satisfaction and joy in anything or anyone but the One who created mankind in His image? James doesnt need to explain the gospel again to his readers because they have already heard it and received it, all that he needs is one word, and that word is grace. Christian, how is it that you have gone from death to life in Jesus? How is it that you have been called out of darkness into Gods marvelous light? How is it that you have been born again and are now sealed by Gods Holy Spirit and are a child of God? Just one word will do! He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Because you have received a greater grace there is a greater joy available to you. Remember what it was that brought you to the cross of Christ: You came to Jesus because you were poor in spirit, you came to Him because you mourned over your sins, you came to Him because you could not save yourself. There is no coming to Jesus if you are not willing to humble yourself before Him; it is Jesus alone who is able to save and it is only by grace that you are born again today. Because there is a greater grace, there is a greater joy to be experienced through God. James explains where one can experience that joy through a series of imperatives. Lets read the passage and break these imperatives (commands) down so that you can see the point James is making: Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God and He will come close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you (vv. 7-10). The word submit comes from a Greek word that also means to attach yourself to the thing or person you are submitting to. To submit to God is not just to bow before Him, but also to attach yourself to Him. There is another word that the Bible uses for that same idea, and that word is abide which comes from a Greek word that also means to remain in. Attach yourself to the One you were made for! In verse 8, we are told to Come close to God... So what happens when we submit to God? We come close to Him. This is how I can resist the devil so that he will flee from me (v. 7). This is also how I can cleanse my hand and purify my heart. Listen, there is no getting closer to God if you are not willing to submit to God. There is no lasting joy if you are not abiding in Him. There will be no victory over sin in your life if you are not humbling yourself before Him (v. 10). What will happen as you submit to God and draw closer to Him? You will see your sin for what it is, but instead of coasting further from Him, you will run to Him because that is where grace is to be found in your time of need! This is the point of verse 9-10, Be miserable, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. What does it mean for God to exalt those who humble themselves before Him? He will give you the kind of joy you were made for, a joy available only through His Son. You were made for joy, but not the secular and godless kind that our world strives after. You were made for a joy and pleasure that can only be known in God by abiding in His Son. The question I have for you is this: What or who is it that has your attention and your heart? Arent you tired of pursuing lesser joys? There is a greater joy before you, but it can only be experienced by submitting yourself to God by drawing closer to Him. Let me close with something Jesus said that I think will make more sense to you in light of James 4:1-10, I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; remain in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love; just as I have kept My Fathers commandments and remain in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. (John 15:5-11) What Jesus describes and what James addresses is the kind of faith that abides in Him. [1] Ayad Akhtar, The Singularity Is Here, The Atlantic (11-5-21) [2] John Piper, Desiring God (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Books; 2011), 19. [3] Daniel M. Doriani, James, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: PR Publishing, 2007), 130.

In these dark times, we must fight evil with the most powerful weapons we have.The Rosary is foremost among them.Join the Great Rosary Campaign today at: www.GreatRosaryCampaign.com.The Great Rosary Campaign is a yearlong mission for the conversion of cultural leaders. We will announce a weekly call to pray every Sunday for specific fallen-away Catholics and non-Catholics.THIS WEEK of the Great Rosary Campaign, we will pray for the conversion of former President Bill and his wife, former Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.The SUGGESTED PENANCE this week is a 24 hour water fast, adjusted for your state in life.Countless Saints and Popes have told us that the Rosary is incredibly powerful for three things in particular:1. Keeping the Faith2. Moral renovation3. Conversions of non-CatholicsThe Great Rosary Campaign is also based on several biblical themes and principles.First, PRAY FOR OUR BRETHREN. “Pray for one another…” (Jas. 5:16). “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Gal. 6:10).Second, PRAY FOR OUR ENEMIES. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:43-44).Third, PRAY FOR ALL MEN, PARTICULARLY LEADERS AND THOSE IN AUTHORITY. “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, or kings and all who are in high positions…” (1 Tim. 2:1-2).Fourth, GOING INTO BATTLE WITH THE ARK. When the ancient Israelites came to Jericho, God didn't tell them to besiege the city. Instead, He told them to march around it with the Ark of the Covenant seven times, and on the seventh the walls would fall. We will now "march" in prayer for seven days with the New Ark of the Covenant, Our Lady, through the Rosary. We pray in hope that on the seventh day, a day especially devoted to Our Lady (Saturday), extraordinary graces of conversion will be given to those we are praying for.Fifth, EVANGELISM AND APOLOGETICS = LOVE + ARGUMENTS + PRAYER + PENANCE. Ultimately it is God who reveals Himself to a soul, and empowers them to say "yes" to Him by His grace. He chooses to use us, but He does not have to. We must remember that as we evangelize and defend the Faith, our arguments will be fruitless unless informed by love (charity), and reinforced by prayer and penance.Sixth, RETURNING GOOD FOR EVIL. “Do not return evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but on the contrary bless, for to this you have been called, that you may obtain a blessing" (1 Pet. 3:9).Sign up to take part in the Great Rosary Campaign today: www.GreatRosaryCampaign.com

Hey huns, we talked about housing and investing, we did a lil deep dive into Love Is Blind UK SZ2, but we will go deeper next week when Jas has caught up.  We also answered some dilemmas on friendships and outside opinions! Feel free to DM or tweet us your thoughts xxxxx --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can send dilemmas by using this link: https://bit.ly/3FzyTGG (If you'd like to listen to our episodes ad-free, please join our Patreon :) ) If you are thinking about getting therapy but not sure where to start, check out our sponsor www.betterhelp.com/BGL HOSTS:⠀ Jas: twitter.com/jas_bw + www.instagram.com/jas_bw/ Vic: twitter.com/victoriasanusi + www.instagram.com/vicsanusi/ BGL socials: www.instagram.com/blackgalslivin/ + twitter.com/blackgalslivin/ Tik Tok: @blackgalslivin Chat to us using the hashtag #blackgalslivin⠀ Artwork by @thecamru Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Could Amy Bradley Have Survived a Fall—and Been Taken From Shore? In this emotionally raw episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, Tony and Carol Hughes take on the toughest, most heartbreaking questions in the Amy Lynn Bradley case—the contradictions, the theories, and the total breakdown in early cruise ship response. She was last seen asleep on a balcony at 5:15 AM. By 6:00 AM, she was gone. No noise. No struggle. No trace. So how does a healthy 23-year-old woman just vanish from a locked floating hotel? Tony and Carol break down the timeline moment by moment—examining inconsistencies in witness reports, what “Yellow” claimed versus what passengers say they saw, and the chilling question: could Amy have fallen and survived… only to be picked up by someone who never let her go? They discuss the chilling “Jas” escort photo, the bathroom sighting in Barbados, the Navy brothel confession, and even the idea that Amy might have been lured into leaving willingly. They also tackle the brutal reality of 1998 cruise ship security: no TSA-style screening, no scanning of bags, and no jurisdiction strong enough to force real accountability. This episode doesn't shy away from the darkest corners of the case. It asks: If Amy was trafficked, could she have stayed silent for decades—out of fear, coercion, or even love for children she was forced to have? Or was she killed early on, her story lost in a sea of false sightings and PR damage control? Whatever the truth is, it hasn't surfaced yet. But this discussion lays bare just how many cracks were in the system—and how badly Amy needed someone to catch her before she slipped through.  Hosted by Tony Brueski & Carol Hughes  Hidden Killers Podcast #AmyBradley #MissingPerson #CruiseShipDisappearance #AmyBradleyNetflix #HiddenKillers #TonyBrueski #UnsolvedMystery #TrueCrimePodcast #HumanTrafficking #1998SecurityFailures Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

Could Amy Bradley Have Survived a Fall—and Been Taken From Shore? In this emotionally raw episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, Tony and Carol Hughes take on the toughest, most heartbreaking questions in the Amy Lynn Bradley case—the contradictions, the theories, and the total breakdown in early cruise ship response. She was last seen asleep on a balcony at 5:15 AM. By 6:00 AM, she was gone. No noise. No struggle. No trace. So how does a healthy 23-year-old woman just vanish from a locked floating hotel? Tony and Carol break down the timeline moment by moment—examining inconsistencies in witness reports, what “Yellow” claimed versus what passengers say they saw, and the chilling question: could Amy have fallen and survived… only to be picked up by someone who never let her go? They discuss the chilling “Jas” escort photo, the bathroom sighting in Barbados, the Navy brothel confession, and even the idea that Amy might have been lured into leaving willingly. They also tackle the brutal reality of 1998 cruise ship security: no TSA-style screening, no scanning of bags, and no jurisdiction strong enough to force real accountability. This episode doesn't shy away from the darkest corners of the case. It asks: If Amy was trafficked, could she have stayed silent for decades—out of fear, coercion, or even love for children she was forced to have? Or was she killed early on, her story lost in a sea of false sightings and PR damage control? Whatever the truth is, it hasn't surfaced yet. But this discussion lays bare just how many cracks were in the system—and how badly Amy needed someone to catch her before she slipped through.  Hosted by Tony Brueski & Carol Hughes  Hidden Killers Podcast #AmyBradley #MissingPerson #CruiseShipDisappearance #AmyBradleyNetflix #HiddenKillers #TonyBrueski #UnsolvedMystery #TrueCrimePodcast #HumanTrafficking #1998SecurityFailures Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

Could Amy Lynn Bradley Still Be Out There—Trapped and Watching? Could Amy Lynn Bradley still be alive? In this episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, Tony and Carol Hughes take on the most haunting piece of the Amy Bradley mystery: the reported sightings that span decades, continents, and a growing belief that she may have been trafficked—and trapped. From a desperate woman in a Curaçao brothel whispering to a Navy officer, to a barefoot girl on a Caribbean beach flanked by controlling men, to a quiet voice in a Barbados department store bathroom saying, “My name is Amy. I'm from Virginia.”—the details may vary, but the pattern stays the same: a woman who looks like Amy, in distress, unable or too afraid to speak freely. Tony and Carol dissect which sightings feel credible, which are likely hoaxes, and which might be the key to understanding Amy's fate. They also dig into the infamous “Jas” escort website photo—a haunting image sent to Amy's family, later analyzed by the FBI, which concluded it likely was her. Could Amy have been taken from the ship willingly—believing it was just an adventure with someone she trusted? Was she forced to stay silent by threats to her family? Could she have had children, and stayed hidden to protect them? This episode cuts through the noise, calls out the cons (including the Frank Jones hoax), and asks: If Amy was seen so many times, why is she still missing? Join the conversation in the comments. This case needs voices—yours included. Hosted by Tony Brueski & Carol Hughes #AmyBradley #HumanTrafficking #AmyBradleySightings #TrueCrimePodcast #HiddenKillers #TonyBrueski #EscortPhoto #FBIInvestigation #UnsolvedMystery #MissingWomen Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872

Could Amy Lynn Bradley Still Be Out There—Trapped and Watching? Could Amy Lynn Bradley still be alive? In this episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, Tony and Carol Hughes take on the most haunting piece of the Amy Bradley mystery: the reported sightings that span decades, continents, and a growing belief that she may have been trafficked—and trapped. From a desperate woman in a Curaçao brothel whispering to a Navy officer, to a barefoot girl on a Caribbean beach flanked by controlling men, to a quiet voice in a Barbados department store bathroom saying, “My name is Amy. I'm from Virginia.”—the details may vary, but the pattern stays the same: a woman who looks like Amy, in distress, unable or too afraid to speak freely. Tony and Carol dissect which sightings feel credible, which are likely hoaxes, and which might be the key to understanding Amy's fate. They also dig into the infamous “Jas” escort website photo—a haunting image sent to Amy's family, later analyzed by the FBI, which concluded it likely was her. Could Amy have been taken from the ship willingly—believing it was just an adventure with someone she trusted? Was she forced to stay silent by threats to her family? Could she have had children, and stayed hidden to protect them? This episode cuts through the noise, calls out the cons (including the Frank Jones hoax), and asks: If Amy was seen so many times, why is she still missing? Join the conversation in the comments. This case needs voices—yours included. Hosted by Tony Brueski & Carol Hughes #AmyBradley #HumanTrafficking #AmyBradleySightings #TrueCrimePodcast #HiddenKillers #TonyBrueski #EscortPhoto #FBIInvestigation #UnsolvedMystery #MissingWomen Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872