Miracles And Power

[Ambie4]

As Shermana proposed in a previous topic, miracles ARE the reason why the first church spread so fast and all that power is STILL AVAILABLE!! I did not believe it until it happened to me personally over 20 years ago and I am still walking with God.

First of all, I would like to remind you all that Jesus came to save sinners, not the righteous. Those of you who think you are already righteous may not want to hear what I'm going to say, but those of you struggling with sin or doubt may be very happy to hear my testimony, which I will keep as short as possible.

I was raised in a church that believed miracles passed away when the New Testament was compiled. This included the miraculous instances recorded in Acts 2, Acts 10 and Acts 19 where the first disciples received the Holy Spirit with the miraculous evidence of speaking supernaturally in other languages. As a result of my 'church' upbringing, as a child I learned about all the miraculous things God did over thousands of years, but did not see or expect any evidence of it in the so-called 'real world'. I found this very confusing and while I didn't lose faith, I felt I could never truly get in touch with my Creator or with Jesus the way the people in the Bible did.

As a teenager, I was a very depressed and 'dark' kid who partied a lot and didn't really care about life. I also dabbled in the occult during that time, which taught me that there was an invisible spiritual realm around us that could be easily communicated with. I was fascinated with it at the time but God fortunately steered me away from that dangerous arena. When I started college, I tried to clean up my life and turn to God but found it pretty much impossible, due to my dependency on drugs, cigarettes, alcohol and friends with similar dependencies. I kept praying to God that he would help me, and started reading the Bible with friends who were partiers, like me. During this time one of my friends and I started having arguments/discussions about speaking in tongues. He had gone to a Pentecostal church as a kid and claimed it was real but I didn't believe in it and thought it was hype. One day, he brought a guy to our Bible study whom all our friends had known as a bigtime drug user, as this guys parents even used drugs. When he came to our Bible study, he looked different - not totally conventional but he had cut off his dread locks and ditched his leather jacket that had all his favorite punk rock bands painted on it, which most of us also owned. This guy, Steve, had been healed from using drugs and alcohol and he told me that I needed to receive the Holy Spirit. My church had told me that I had received the Holy Spirit when I was baptized when I was 12, but I remembered feeling disappointed when nothing happened and nothing changed. It definitely wasn't the 'Holy Ghost and Fire' baptism that John the Baptist foretold that Jesus would give to people, which also happened in Acts chapter 2.

After arguing for a while, I asked this guy how I would know if I had received the Holy Spirit. He told me I would speak supernaturally in another language. To me, this sounded more like what John the Baptist had been talking about - an experience accompanied by a miraculous sign. Immediately I was both excited and afraid that what this guy was saying wouldn't pan out - it really seemed too good to be true. Also, I was afraid that speaking in tongues was just emotionalism and wasn't a real act of God. I wanted to know the truth so I started going to his church, got re-baptized in the knowledge of the Holy Spirit, just like the believers at Ephasus did in Acts 19, and I started to pray. About 3 weeks later, I received the Holy Spirit praying at my friends' apartment and I quietly but powerfully spoke in tongues. I was instantly healed from a 5 year smoking addiction, no more desire to drink, no more drugs, no more bad language - and all that was 20 years ago. Since that day, I've had the ability to speak in tongues whenever I want by the Holy Spirit. It is a special prayer language that I use every day when I'm alone with God. The Bible says the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us, and it's in the awesome, miraculous language that God gives us. I know people commonly have this type of experience in Pentecostal churches but there is sometimes a lot of confusion and disorderly worship that goes on in those types of churches, just like there was in the Corinthian church, where people were getting together for worship and saying all their prayers in tongues instead of in the common language, which was why Paul had to correct them and say that he praised God that he spoke in tongues more than all of the Corinthian believers (I Cor. 14) but, in the worship service, it was important to use words that everyone could understand and to limit the use of tongues during the worship service so that outsiders didn't get frightened or confused.

Since that day over 20 years ago, I have realized that Jesus is alive and working with power just like He did when He walked the earth and just like He did in the first church. I am part of a fellowship that believes in miraculous healings and provision. We have a lot of members who see amazing, miraculous answers to prayer, especially in our churches in less developed countries, where our new members commonly get healed from serious conditions such as AIDS, lameness and blindness when they turn to God, get baptized and receive the Holy Spirit. God really does want to work in your life JUST LIKE HE DID in Bible times. If you haven't experienced His power, I hope you will open yourself up to it - it is truly AWESOME!! God Bless!

[Yahu]

Religious experiences can be very emotional, especially for people that are prone to it. However, people being prone to religious emotional responses do not make the religion true.

For example, a friend of mine went up for healing for her ears. She had quite the experience and claimed that she was healed. It was quite amazing at the time. I had to wonder after the fact though, why did she keep wearing her hearing aides.

I was in a major conflict with a high priestess of Ashtoreth (a powerful witch) while in the military. One of the things her coven did was place a sterility curse on a friend's husband. As a result they couldn't have a child when they tried and were told by doctors that Tony couldn't have children.

We prayed over Tony and they tried again to have a child. What we didn't know at the time was every time we broke off the curse, the spirit sent to cause it reported back to the witch that sent it. She then replaced the curse. We actually broke the curse off several times only to have it replaced each time so they gave up and asked me to be a surrogate father for them. Later when one of the coven members got saved, she revealed how they had to keep replacing the sterility curse over and over again after each time we broke it off. The problem was we didn't take care of the root problem that allowed the curse to land on Tony to begin with. There was nothing wrong with the power of Yah in breaking off the curse but it appeared to be ineffective due to our lack of knowledge of what was going on in the spiritual realm to counter it.

Our knowledge and understanding of what is going on in the spiritual realm is extremely limited. But the evidence for things is the spiritual realm has been overwhelming in my life. That coven tried to kill me with their witchcraft but all their curses where rebounded back on them. All of them were prosecuted, some of them died violently in prison while many others repented in prison and left their involvement in witchcraft. They were prosecuted for the criminal things they did to my wife when they couldn't get their curses to land on me. While in prison before any of their repentance, they sent many curses after any involved in getting them prosecuted. I know of the effects in many of those people's lives over the last 20 years. For example, they had also placed a love spell on Tony's wife towards me in an effort to destroy both our marriages. They didn't expect it to lead to me being asked to be a surrogate father for their child. Everything they did backfired in their faces and led to over a hundred people being prosecuted and over a dozen dead just because one Christian with knowledge and understanding of spiritual authority stood up to them and opposed their evil.

It was because of that conflict that I got involved in marital and rape counseling in the first place which was what led to the situation a few years later at Kennesaw State when I went back to finish my EE degree after I separated from the military.

I am NOT prone to emotional religious experiences but I have experienced things in the spiritual realms that few people have experienced. I don't have ANY doubt about the spiritual gifts or the counterfeit gifts from the pit of hell, ie witchcraft. I have had first hand experience with both. The high priestess I was in conflict against was the primary candidate to be the next worldwide high priestess of Ashtoreth, the goddess of Jezebel. I am even writing a trilogy about that conflict entitled 'Battling Jezebel'.

I have NO doubt about the 'religion' being true but 'religion' is the wrong word IMO. It isn't about 'religion' but personal spiritual relationship with our Creator and Messiah. If you haven't had those personal experiences, that is between you and God. You have to seek that for yourself. Granted, I wouldn't recommend going up against a coven of witches to gain that experience, the cost is very high. I lost my wife.

[Clownboat]

Religious experiences can be very emotional, especially for people that are prone to it. However, people being prone to religious emotional responses do not make the religion true.

For example, a friend of mine went up for healing for her ears. She had quite the experience and claimed that she was healed. It was quite amazing at the time. I had to wonder after the fact though, why did she keep wearing her hearing aides.

I was in a major conflict with a high priestess of Ashtoreth (a powerful witch) while in the military. One of the things her coven did was place a sterility curse on a friend's husband. As a result they couldn't have a child when they tried and were told by doctors that Tony couldn't have children.

We prayed over Tony and they tried again to have a child. What we didn't know at the time was every time we broke off the curse, the spirit sent to cause it reported back to the witch that sent it. She then replaced the curse. We actually broke the curse off several times only to have it replaced each time so they gave up and asked me to be a surrogate father for them. Later when one of the coven members got saved, she revealed how they had to keep replacing the sterility curse over and over again after each time we broke it off. The problem was we didn't take care of the root problem that allowed the curse to land on Tony to begin with. There was nothing wrong with the power of Yah in breaking off the curse but it appeared to be ineffective due to our lack of knowledge of what was going on in the spiritual realm to counter it.

Our knowledge and understanding of what is going on in the spiritual realm is extremely limited. But the evidence for things is the spiritual realm has been overwhelming in my life. That coven tried to kill me with their witchcraft but all their curses where rebounded back on them. All of them were prosecuted, some of them died violently in prison while many others repented in prison and left their involvement in witchcraft. They were prosecuted for the criminal things they did to my wife when they couldn't get their curses to land on me. While in prison before any of their repentance, they sent many curses after any involved in getting them prosecuted. I know of the effects in many of those people's lives over the last 20 years. For example, they had also placed a love spell on Tony's wife towards me in an effort to destroy both our marriages. They didn't expect it to lead to me being asked to be a surrogate father for their child. Everything they did backfired in their faces and led to over a hundred people being prosecuted and over a dozen dead just because one Christian with knowledge and understanding of spiritual authority stood up to them and opposed their evil.

It was because of that conflict that I got involved in marital and rape counseling in the first place which was what led to the situation a few years later at Kennesaw State when I went back to finish my EE degree after I separated from the military.

I am NOT prone to emotional religious experiences but I have experienced things in the spiritual realms that few people have experienced. I don't have ANY doubt about the spiritual gifts or the counterfeit gifts from the pit of hell, ie witchcraft. I have had first hand experience with both. The high priestess I was in conflict against was the primary candidate to be the next worldwide high priestess of Ashtoreth, the goddess of Jezebel. I am even writing a trilogy about that conflict entitled 'Battling Jezebel'.

I have NO doubt about the 'religion' being true but 'religion' is the wrong word IMO. It isn't about 'religion' but personal spiritual relationship with our Creator and Messiah. If you haven't had those personal experiences, that is between you and God. You have to seek that for yourself. Granted, I wouldn't recommend going up against a coven of witches to gain that experience, the cost is very high. I lost my wife.

You lost me here:
I was in a major conflict with a high priestess of Ashtoreth...

You lost me, because when I prayed to Zeus, he told me that there is no Ashtoreth, so how can we proceed?

[Yahu]

You lost me here:
I was in a major conflict with a high priestess of Ashtoreth...

You lost me, because when I prayed to Zeus, he told me that there is no Ashtoreth, so how can we proceed?

LOL, considering she is his daughter ... someone is lying. Ashtoreth was the Canaanite name of Artemis, twin sister of Apollo and daughter of Zeus. The Roman's called her Diana. Besides, Zeus is one of the four angels bound at the Euphrates and won't be let back out until the appointed time during the tribulation.

The ancient pagan deities were angles and their offspring. The offspring are just powerful principalities (spirits, ie ghosts) in the demonic realm. Who most Christians refer to as Lucifer is just the spirit of the dead Greek god Apollo, the ancient pagan sun god.

[Clownboat]

You lost me here:
I was in a major conflict with a high priestess of Ashtoreth...

You lost me, because when I prayed to Zeus, he told me that there is no Ashtoreth, so how can we proceed?

LOL, considering she is his daughter ... someone is lying. Ashtoreth was the Canaanite name of Artemis, twin sister of Apollo and daughter of Zeus. The Roman's called her Diana. Besides, Zeus is one of the four angels bound at the Euphrates and won't be let back out until the appointed time during the tribulation.

The ancient pagan deities were angles and their offspring. The offspring are just powerful principalities (spirits, ie ghosts) in the demonic realm. Who most Christians refer to as Lucifer is just the spirit of the dead Greek god Apollo, the ancient pagan sun god.

I would not call Zeus a lier if I were you!

Either way, I was just stating a story that may or not be true. Just like you had done.

However, in hopes to get this resolved, I asked Zeus again, and he told me that she is not his daughter. Weird huh?

[Yahu]

I would not call Zeus a lier if I were you!

Either way, I was just stating a story that may or not be true. Just like you had done.

There is one big difference. I know my story is true and yours is false. Your belief isn't required. You are free to believe whatever you want based on your own personal experiences.

[Clownboat]

I would not call Zeus a lier if I were you!

Either way, I was just stating a story that may or not be true. Just like you had done.

There is one big difference. I know my story is true and yours is false. Your belief isn't required. You are free to believe whatever you want based on your own personal experiences.

How do you know that I did not speak to Zeus? The same way that I know you did not have a major conflict with a high priestess of Ashtoreth?

My personal experience tells me that magic is not real.

[Moses Yoder]

My personal experience tells me that magic is not real.

For our company Christmas party, a comedian performed some magic for us. He told someone in the crowd to think of a card, and then he told them to say what card it was. It was the 10 of diamonds. He then pulled the 10 of diamonds out of his left shoe and showed it to the crowd. So I know magic is real, at least as real as I am. I saw this happen with my own eyes. He performed all sorts of magic for us.

[Clownboat]

My personal experience tells me that magic is not real.

For our company Christmas party, a comedian performed some magic for us. He told someone in the crowd to think of a card, and then he told them to say what card it was. It was the 10 of diamonds. He then pulled the 10 of diamonds out of his left shoe and showed it to the crowd. So I know magic is real, at least as real as I am. I saw this happen with my own eyes. He performed all sorts of magic for us.

Oh Moses...

The Ace of Spades was in his other shoe!
Those are the 2 most common cards chosen for that trick. There is usually some "suggestion" prior to the asking as well (like innocently mentioning diamonds or a spade shovel or some such thing).

It is not magic though, unless you think I also can perform magic. Which would be odd since I don't think I can.

[Yahu]

I would not call Zeus a lier if I were you!

Either way, I was just stating a story that may or not be true. Just like you had done.

There is one big difference. I know my story is true and yours is false. Your belief isn't required. You are free to believe whatever you want based on your own personal experiences.

How do you know that I did not speak to Zeus? The same way that I know you did not have a major conflict with a high priestess of Ashtoreth?

My personal experience tells me that magic is not real.

Who said anything about 'magic'. I mentioned witchcraft. It isn't magic but working with spiritual forces. It is based on religion not magic.

So you don't believe in it because you LACK personal experience with it. Primitive people in the tropics didn't believe in ice or snow either because they had never seen it themselves.

[Clownboat]

I would not call Zeus a lier if I were you!

Either way, I was just stating a story that may or not be true. Just like you had done.

There is one big difference. I know my story is true and yours is false. Your belief isn't required. You are free to believe whatever you want based on your own personal experiences.

How do you know that I did not speak to Zeus? The same way that I know you did not have a major conflict with a high priestess of Ashtoreth?

My personal experience tells me that magic is not real.

Who said anything about 'magic'. I mentioned witchcraft. It isn't magic but working with spiritual forces. It is based on religion not magic.

You can call it witchcraft and I'll call it magic, in the end, we are talking about the same thing. Call it whatever you want, but that will not change the fact that I see no evidence to support that it is real.

So you don't believe in it because you LACK personal experience with it. Primitive people in the tropics didn't believe in ice or snow either because they had never seen it themselves.

Primitive people also use to think that lightning was from the gods.

Yes, I lack personal experience with it and have seen no other evidence to suggest that it might be real.

Do you believe in unicorns?