Introduction

'God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions; it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.' Holy Bible, Eph. 2:4-6 NIV (Notice the tense)

We're Up and Blessed!

Discover how God is answering your prayers for this site.

While the world is down in the dumps, believers are raised up in Christ by the power of God. E.W. Kenyon explains what this means to you today in a wonderfully anointed article on redemption.

Divine joy is one of the precious fruits of the Holy Spirit, and impossible to hide. Here's how to get it and keep it in the midst of turmoil; with a sublime spin-off.

Religious people are often shocked when they find out what God's Word says about believers. We give you a chance to discover if you are Religious or Righteous.

Emperor George's madness becomes more apparent by the day. As rivers of innocent blood flow in Iraq, we ask, 'Is there method in it?'

Ever gone jogging with Jesus? What was Paul's Thorn in the flesh?

George Whitefield was a vivid Hellfire preacher, our Evangelism Tip will help you get the right balance between preaching Judgment and grace.

What would Wigglesworth say about some of the crazy 'manifestations' occurring during 'worship' services today?

Tuck in ...

You're beautiful!

Colin Melbourne

Raised With Him by E. W. Kenyon

No Greater Joy: How to Keep Smiling in a Crisis

       Garfield © Jim Davis

Religious or Redeemed?

The LORD Jesus Christ makes people righteous not religious.

God's Word says that sinners become the righteousness of God when they repent and believe in Christ Jesus. Religion says, 'You're just a sinner, a worm in the dust, look out or God will step on you'.

What do you say? This article will lift you out of religion to stand in your God-given office, and declare in Scriptural humility:

'I am what I am by the grace of God: I am the righteousness of God, I am holy, I am redeemed!'

If that shocks you, or you can't say it: you are religious, and it's time to repent.

E-pistles

Subscriber's Question and Answer

'What was Paul's thorn in the flesh, a sickness, an eye disease of some kind?'

Answer: No, that's a common false teaching Satan uses to keep people in bondage to unbelief and sickness. If that's what is taught in your fellowship, you should get out and find a Spirit-filled Bible believing church. Are you ready for the truth, will you repent and believe the good news of your full redemption?

Paul fell ill, and God healed him whilst he was preaching the Gospel to the Galatian believers Gal. Ch.4. False teachers leap onto his use of the common idiom, 'you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me', to conclude Paul had an eye disease. Yet we still use this expression today without any implication of disease, it's simply a metaphor showing willingness to give your most precious thing to resolve a situation. You've used it like that haven't you? You'd give your right arm to save a soul wouldn't you?

Paul talks about his thorn in the flesh in 2 Co. 12:1-10 stating clearly that it was given to stop him becoming conceited because of the wonderful revelations he had from God. Before a sick person makes the unscriptural claim that their sickness is 'a thorn in the flesh', they ought to have experienced the same revelations as Paul, such as visiting Paradise and being caught up to the third heaven.

Paul's thorn had nothing to do with sickness. It was not a disease; Paul tells us what it was: 'a messenger from Satan, to torment me'. Whenever the expression thorn in the flesh is used in the Holy Bible it is only used to describe personalities, never sickness. For example Canaanites are described as thorns in the sides of the Israelites. Nu. 33:55; Jo. 23:13

The word Paul used for messenger is angelos, it occurs over 180 times in the Bible, translated always as angel or messenger: never is it translated as a thing, or sickness, always a personality. Paul stated quite clearly that his thorn was a messenger from Satan, not a thing.

It was a demon, a fallen angel that went around causing trouble for Paul wherever he went. God permitted it so Paul would stay humble, and rely on Him for victory in riots and persecutions. The demon incited mobs, plotted his assassination, got him whipped, and abused repeatedly. It dealt blow after blow, but because Paul depended on God, the messenger from Satan could not defeat him.

Notice that in listing the trials and sufferings he went through in Chapters 11 and 12 of Second Corinthians, Paul doesn't mention sickness once. Because Paul's thorn was not a disease, but a messenger from Satan, an oppressing demon.

Dr. T. L. Osborn has written extensively about Paul's thorn in his wonderfully anointed book Healing the Sick. Thousands have been healed whilst reading it, as the Holy Spirit open's their eyes to the fullness of redemption and Good News of Christ's Victory over sin, sickness, and Satan.

Power Evangelism Tip

How Much Law: How Much Grace?

Once you get serious about evangelism you'll soon be asking the Lord: 'When leading sinners to Christ, which should I emphasize; Law or grace, and how much of each?' You read Finney, Bunyan, Whitefield and discover their sermons are heavy on Law and Judgment: to great effect.

George Whitefield preached in the open air at Bristol to crowds of 2,000 calling people down from vantage points in trees because when the Spirit fell, they would too. It was common for sinners to shriek and collapse in terror on realising their destiny without Christ. God used Whitefield's vivid sermons on Law, Judgment and Hell to bring them to their senses, and point them to Christ.

The Good News is God's grace to those willing to repent and receive Christ, and this is our main message. But you'll find evangelists who are all Hellfire and wrath, contrasting with most, who are afraid of mentioning anything other than grace in case they get thrown out.

When did you last hear a preacher warn sinners of Judgment and Hell? You won't find that in Satan's pulpits like TBN. Yet Christ began His ministry, by racking up the pressure of the Law, as in Mtt. Chs. 5-7.

You've heard it said, 'Do not commit adultery', but I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Gulp! Own up you adulterers. On and on He ploughs, warning of Hell, and the inescapable Judgment of God, before becoming the Fountain of Grace, and providing the only means of entering Heaven. Jesus of Nazareth: The Hellfire Preacher who bled and died to redeem His hearers.

It's the love and grace of God that brings sinners to repentance; many are already convicted of sin by God's Spirit before you speak. Tell them of His grace.

Cynics, scoffers, and religious people, need to hear God's Law and coming Judgment of sin. If it upsets them, they need upsetting: don't hold back.

Whitefield wrote of one result of his street-preaching: 'There I was honoured by having stones, dirt, rotten eggs, and pieces of dead cats thrown at me.'

Dismayed? No! It thrilled his heart, because he was hitting the mark, in Jesus' Name. You can too.

The key is to be led by God's Spirit and say what He tells you to say, in the love and compassion of Christ. Remember: Love tells the Truth.

Purposes of the Law and Gospel

Book of the Month

Smith Wigglesworth On Spiritual Gifts

Are you tired of 'Charismatics' going crackers, or worse ... dead 'worship' services where God's Spirit is banned? Then you need a refreshing balanced appraisal of the essential Spiritual Gifts such as discerning of spirits, Word of knowledge, prophecy, Gift of tongues, Gift of faith, and interpretation of tongues. You'll find none better than these messages spoken decades before the charismatic revival. Smith unhesitatingly operated all the Gifts in his ministry as the Spirit led him, but was firm in ensuring services were according to biblical order. Obtain it here