carlos123

I love the way you describe it LisaMarie. So true. Letting yourself go. Something you said also touched on why I started this thread. It wasn't just a thing where the Lord touched my heart to start it today. He touched my heart to start it by reminding me yesterday of how emotionally experiencing God can be such a RICH and wonderful thing. That such is something to share and discuss with others to allow them to experience God that way too. That I am not to keep such a thing all to myself (I do not mean to imply that I am the only one that knows about experiencing God emotionally only that whatever I do know about that...I and we are not to keep such insight to ourselves). He is a real being with emotions. He wants real relationship with us and such a relationship is greatly enriched and profoundly so when we connect with Him emotionally. Yesterday I was watching a video from a woman who lives in Mozambique and who is being used by the Lord to do what seems to be a wonderful work of love there. Complete with conversions and miraculous things that show God's care for the orphans that she is involved with. Anyway...as I watched that video the things this woman was describing and saying touched something deep down inside me. A hunger for more of God. For reality in the things of God. A hunger that I am not always aware of having and that can get crowded out or at least submerged under many and varied things that come up in my day to day living. That hunger for more of God often drives me. To do things and say things that I would not otherwise do - such as to start this thread (and many other things including who I married and where I have lived at times). It is a hunger for God that comes from an initial step of faith at conversion and experiencing His love then but continued experiences of God subsequent to that that feed the hunger for God even more. With each experience of God the hunger is fed such that I want more of Him. As I want more of Him as a result of having been fed by Him in relationship to Him...I am motivated to step out in faith to get through barriers to deeper relationship with God. Barriers of fear. Barriers of emotional inhibitation. Or what have you. I think that is how God motivates us to deeper fellowship with Him. We experience Him after conversion...I mean emotionally...such that we are then driven to want more of Him because of the wonder and greatness of what we have touched of Him in and through our spirits. We are filled by Him when we experience Him but that filling does not last for days and days. It only lasts for the time in which we are experiencing Him. Whether that be for a minute, a few minutes, or perhaps as long as an hour. But for me it's never been for very long. But such experiences drive me to want more. Of Him. That is what so moved me yesterday as I watched that video. My desire for Him welled up within me and embraced what I saw of Him in that video into a crescendo of intensity that drove me to tears. When I experience God emotionally...that experience causes me to feel invincible before sin, temptation, or anything. Living for God becomes so easy when I am in the midst of such an experience. But as I said...such experiences don't last very long such that I must continue to walk by faith in truth (and not experience). The danger is always there of shifting from a focus on walking by faith in His truth to walking after experience. Wanting a greater experience of God is one thing. Well and good that we should desire that. But the irony of such a thing is that oftentimes the more we seek a greater experience of God the less we seem to be able to find it. It's an elusive thing. The focus must be and must remain on doing the will of God as laid out in the Word. But attached to the doing of His will when we step out in faith to do it IS experience of God. I am reminded of the illustration which is often found in booklets like the Four Spiritual Laws by Campus Crusade. Where there is a little train. The engine is Fact. The car with the coal that runs the engine is Faith. And the caboose where the passengers are is Feeling. That's an appropriate illustration I think. Facts would be what the Word says. Faith is what turns what we know in our heads into reality in our lives and acting by faith to apply what is written is what causes us to experience God emotionally. For me...when I say applying what is written...I do not mean just commands to do this or that. I mean acting in line with who the bible says I am. Completely forgiven and loved. Precious to God. Having the same kind of relationship with God the Father as Jesus had in the sense that the Father does not love Jesus any more or less than He loves me and that He is not predisposed to do for Jesus any more or less than He is predisposed to do for me. To act by faith in line with that I know of these things means that I am to step out to ACT in line with these truths as though...well...as though they were actually true. And how would one act IF they were really completely accepted by God and having confident access to the Father through Jesus Christ? Well...I would not act emotionally inhibited in the presence of God or my brothers and sisters in Christ for one. I would not allow the possibility of being embarrassed to keep me from doing something like lifting my hands in worship to God or dancing before Him either in public or private. I would reach up toward heaven with my hands as a little child might to touch the face of my heavenly Father as an expression of desire and love for my Father. I might sing a love song to Jesus. I've done all these things and more by the way. In other words I would ACT out what I know in my head to be true about my relationship to God. It is through that acting out of truth (by faith) that I come to experience God. I do not seek the experience as the end goal necessarily. Rather my aim is to act like a child of God should and in the freedom that I have before God to be all that He has given me freedom and power to be. My aim is to do what pleases Him. The greater experience of God is a wonderful side benefit of acting in faith to do what God says. Certainly a desire for greater experience of God enters into things as a motivation to ACT by faith. But it isn't just the experience that I want. I want to be ALL that the Lord has purchased me by His blood to be. I want to please Him and bring joy to His heart. But such is intimately tied with a greater experience of God too! When I think of times of refreshment I think of being really thirsty and being given a great big jug of ice cold water to drink. I think of being under a lot strain and pressure and being given a time of rest and recovery in some lush, tropical paradise where I can kick back and feel the sand between my toes...without a care in the world. Notice that the verse says "times of refreshment" such that our refreshment in Christ doesn't last indefinitely from the time we become Christians. We are in constant need of finding refreshment from God. And He is faithful to fill the inward longings of our hearts with Himself as we find ourselves in need of spiritual refreshment. But it isn't a one time refreshment that will last for the rest of our lives. The same faith that we display at conversion and which brings us the first time of refreshment is the same faith we must exercise continually to experience subsequent times of refreshment according to our present emotional state of being. Experiencing God emotionally is directly tied to a willingness to ACT on what the Word says and the implications of what it says by faith. I say that because there is no way for our emotions to remain neutral and unaffected when God manifests Himself to us. Carlos

I feel led by the Lord to start a new thread on this topic for the benefit of others despite my really not wanting to do so. You see when I touch on things that might step on religious toes I usually end up getting flak coming my way and I don't like that. But in line with wanting to do what the Lord might want me to do I must speak out that which He lays on my heart to speak about no matter what baloney might come my way. So...I would like to open a discussion on emotionally experiencing God. There is a difference between knowing about God and emotionally experiencing Him. That difference is akin (or like) some things in the natural world that show the difference between knowing something and experiencing it. The Lord Himself laid on my heart how these things mirror what I am trying to say about the difference between knowing about God and experiencing Him. For example this morning as I was walking to where I am now...something worked it's way into my shoe and toward the front where my toes were. A tiny piece of branch or something similar. I knew it was there in my shoe. But I also could feel it. Against my skin. The feeling of it against my skin is what motivated me to stop, untie my shoe, shake it out, and get rid of it. And let me tell you. It's was HOT, HOT, HOT. I would not have stopped had I not felt the foreign object against my skin. I also experienced an itch on my arm from who knows what. But it was itchy in a spot for an instance. I knew the itch was there but I was motivated to scratch that itch because I felt it. Both these examples highlight for me how we can know various things about God, like His love, but not be moved by it to do much of anything until and if we experience it emotionally. Head knowledge by itself is fine. As a starting point. But we are to apply faith to our head knowledge and move from mental assent to experience of God through and by that faith. I remember when I first took the step of dancing before the Lord quite a number of years ago. That was very intimidating for me to do. There was a need to break through emotional inhibition in the presence of God. Perhaps men reading this can relate to that more than women since men seem to be more emotionally inhibited than women are. Emotional inhibition is a factor of our fallen nature I think. For in truth, if we are confident in the love and acceptance of God no such thing should even exist. We should as freely dance before the Lord as King David did. In private or public. As an expression of joy and worship of God. But to break through such emotional inhibition requires a step of faith. An act of the will. To do what we would be able to do just fine...without emotional inhibition. To act in line with what we would do without emotional inhibition. And so...wanting to grow closer to the Lord...I took the brand new step, at least for me, to start dancing before Him in the privacy of my apartment. It was rather intimidating. It's hard to describe how I felt. It was like a mixture between embarrassment (me, a grown man, dancing before a God I can't even see and looking silly doing it...I mean no one taught me in some sermon how to dance before God LOL) and also anticipation as to what it would be to act in an emotionally uninhibited manner before God. That was just one instance of when I stepped out in faith, faith in His love and acceptance of me, to act as a child before Him and express myself emotionally to Him without letting the usual inhibitions keep me from experiencing God. That overall time in my life was a time of great release. Of great emotional release. To experiencing far more of God than I had ever experienced of Him before. The first time I lifted my hands in worship to God publicly was also such a time. That was not just emotional inhibition but the fear of man too in that I did not want to look silly to others by such an outward and visible expression of worship (i.e. feelings of gratitude and reverence) to God. It just wasn't very manly I suppose LOL. But when I took the step to lift my hands and express worship to God that way it was a most wonderfully liberating thing. An awesome thing. For God rewarded my step of faith and lavished His presence on me in such a way both then and later in private that made me fall all the more in love with Him. One person called such moments thresholds of fear. I found that going through such thresholds, both of fear and emotional inhibition, by faith...caused my relationship with God to blossom. I was putting faith into practice by doing things in line, not with who I thought myself to be or thought "proper" or anything like that, but rather with who I was before God. Accepted and loved all the way. Such that I did not need to concern myself with looking silly to the Lord and could respond and be with Him in a completely uninhibited way. If there is interest in this topic as a matter of discussion I will share more and go over some verses that might relate to this. I'll leave it at that for now. Carlos

A very moving story LoveGodForever (don't know what else to call you)! You know...despite not having much of anything at all materially speaking I feel richer than 99% of people I meet due to the overwhelming greatness of what I do have. Relationship with the Living God! I say that sincerely and am not just making that up. The other day I was glancing through People magazine (it had been laying on the table I was at and having nothing else to look at while eating something I glanced through some of the stories) and read about all kinds of actors who had been on reality shows and what they had ultimately ended up doing in life. Businesses started here and there. Marriages and kids and all kinds of things. None of which I have (well...except for the business part but my business...web development when I can get the work...is nothing like that of the actors I was reading about at least in terms of the amount of money made). For a bit I started to get depressed at the thought that I was missing out on life by not having devoted myself to what they devoted themselves to. Success in this world. Not that working hard and being successful in business is not consistent with relationship to God mind you. It is perfectly possible to do both. But for me...in my circumstances I only have relationship with God at this point in my life. And when I started to think of what I did have, GOD, my heart got back on track to being content with the riches that I have in Him. Knowing Him is not just an intellectual thing for me. I know Him. Know Him in my head and in my heart. I experience Him emotionally. Lots (I think I am going to start a thread on experiencing God emotionally actually) and my experience of His love and of His constant dealings with me are what keep me going in life. True riches lie squarely in relationship with Him. Not in having and possessing this world's goods or whatever else people tend to value in the natural. Jesus came, in part, that we might have life and have it abundantly. That abundance is NOT material possessions as some might think. God is not someone you add to your life to make it better. Following God will always involve suffering. To one degree or another. We are not of this world and the world hates God. Our lives, if they are being lived as they ought to be lived, will highlight and bring to light the sin in people's lives. Their rebellion to God. That will cause us to be hated as they hated Jesus. The abundant life that is to be found in Jesus is to be found in true relationship to God. I can't say I understand it as well as I ought but for me the abundant life lies in experiencing times of refreshing from the Presence of the Lord. From knowing that I am the apple of His eye. From having real purpose and meaning to be found in the doing of His will and in living a life of faith. Expressing my gifts for the benefit of others. Abundant life for me lies in being emotionally fulfilled in Him. Full to the brim at times. In a way that no wife, no one, and nothing on this Earth can ever give me. It lies in knowing that whatever happens in this life...however tough it may at times be...there is a place reserved in heaven for me where I will be with the Lord forever and will receive a glorified body. Whatever I experience in this life...it won't last long. It's temporary. It will pass. Eternity will go on forever. From God's perspective and from the perspective of what really counts I, alongside every single Christian, are infinitely better off, than those who do not know God and have no hope even in this life. Carlos

There is an excellent article about Iris ministries in Christianity Today. It brought me to tears and I highly recommend that anyone interested in this topic read it. It can be seen here -> http://www.christian...ique.html?start Here is a quote in the article related to the PhD's and scientists I talked about in my previous post...bolding is mine... Quote is from the bottom of page 5 -> http://www.christian...ue.html?start=5 Isn't that interesting? That among charismatic gatherings in North America...that they did not find a statistically significant sign of any improvement among those needing healing (presumably after being prayed for). As usual it seems that God shows up among the poor in spirit who are desperate for Him while we in the richer nations who have everything to depend on but God...sit and watch. Carlos

I found some really good stuff through some videos and my resultant looking around that someone shared with me here. This first link is to a blog post that talks of some PhD's and scientists doing a study of people that were supposedly healed of being deaf and of having vision problems if not outright blindness in Mozambique. Through prayer for healing. http://letterstocrea...-in-mozambique/ The study itself (rather dry which does not make for very interesting reading but in case anyone wants to see it) is here -> http://journals.lww....Proximal.5.aspx It is titled "Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Proximal Intercessory Prayer (STEPP) on Auditory and Visual Impairments in Rural Mozambique" Lastly you HAVE TO WATCH the video at the next link. If you do nothing else...WATCH THIS VIDEO! It is not a video that shows miracles. It is a video where a woman involved in the ministry in Mozambique talks of the living God in their midst. What she says about the Western church not being poor in spirit and why it is that God seems to work through foreign cultures more often precisely because they are poor in spirit is very insightful. Heidi Baker is not some faith healer with her own television show. She is involved with thousands of poor children in Mozambique and talks of God moving to take care of them. *** removed embedded video - please start a thread in the video section with this and link to that thread here. *** Carlos

Hi John. Thanks so much for your encouragement and for sharing your thoughts. If there is ever going to be a change it will be through people like us speaking up to every Christian we know and sharing what God lays on our heart. Not settling for the status quo. Not being intimidated or afraid to step on religious toes. Questioning long standing traditional beliefs. Seeking God for truth as opposed to looking to man for that truth. Don't let the fact that you are new here keep you from ever sharing what is on your heart John. What God whispers in your ear..shout it from the housetops! All along keeping a humble heart to admit and embrace correction when and if God brings that to us through others. Carlos

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly Gary. Interesting. Not sure if I would say that faith to faith implies clearly that faith is increasing. I mean faith to faith could well mean from one instance of faith to another too. Where it is not increasing but rather a matter of it just being...faith I mean. From one experience of faith to another. There have been many ideas over the centuries as to what the phrase "faith to faith" means including that it implies a growth in faith (as only one of many different ideas about this passage). One thing is certain I think. This is one of those verses or rather phrases in a verse where it is impossible to tell for sure what the phrase "faith to faith" means since the verses themselves do not explain it. This last verse you quoted does seem to support the idea of faith being something that grows. At least on the surface. Yet is that really the case? The verse is not really talking about a growth in faith but rather about differences in the degree of faith that one's have. In other words some receive greater faith than others according to how God has willed to give it out. That clearly shows that there are varying degrees of faith among us but that by itself does not definitively support the idea that the faith that God gives one can grow to be the faith that He wills to give another in my opinion. Verse 6 sheds some additional light on this I think... Again there is no growth of faith indicated but rather a measure of faith as God has given one. That we are to exercise our gifts, whatever they are and whichever one's God has given us, according to the measure, the one time measure of faith possibly, that God has graced each of us with. I am just saying that such is another way to look at these verses Gary and that they are not absolutely clear in my reading of them...in saying that faith grows. The mustard seed does indeed grow but Jesus also said that if we have faith as tiny as that of a mustard seed that we will be able to say to a literal mountain...MOVE..and it will move such that nothing will be impossible for us. If that is the nature of such a tiny bit of true faith then growth in faith is irrelevant, if such a thing is even true...that we grow in faith I mean, since anyone having such faith could do all that we are talking about and more! Without any growth in faith at all. I will have to ponder and pray over this more. Carlos

I was thinking and praying about some of what you all have shared (especially you Gary and Openly Curious) and I began to wonder about something. The idea has been brought up that we grow in faith as we exercise faith. That makes sense to me. It's what I have believed to this day myself. But is that really biblical with respect to healing? I mean the idea that faith grows? I am not saying that it does not definitively speaking. I am only questioning the biblical basis for that thought as to whether or not it is really the case that faith grows. Let me put it to you all this way. When a person comes to Christ through the Gospel such that they must make a choice and trust in God through the message of the cross by faith...is such faith something that grows or is it something that one either has or does not have at the moment of decision? I mean you could say that faith grows as they hear the Gospel message but that's not quite accurate I think. They may hear the Gospel several times but it's not their faith that grows as a result. It's their knowledge of what the Gospel is. Leading to a choice of faith at a moment in time when they go from having not faith in God through the Gospel to having faith. No growth there to speak of. Next...for all the people that Jesus healed or those who were subsequently healed in the New Testament through the Apostles or others there is absolutely no indication that their healing required any growth in faith. They either had faith or they did not. Lastly...I think of what Jesus said about a mustard seed's worth of faith... A mustard seed's worth of faith being the smallest amount of true faith that anyone could have I think. Yet even with such a tiny amount of true faith...the impossible is possible. Which again makes me wonder if it is not a matter of faith growing but rather of whether we have faith or do not. Or perhaps it may be instead a matter of having faith in the right things. If our faith in God is through faulty theology then we will only believe God for what we believe to be His will and to be true. But if, for example, we think God wills to not heal someone then perhaps it will only happen to us according to our faith...that God may not heal one or may heal another such that we won't be able to trust God by faith to actually heal someone. If anyone has any constructive thoughts about whether or not faith does in fact grow as opposed to just being there or not I would appreciate hearing them. Carlos

Well...if you have some constructive criticism of the kind that would allow me to grow in godliness through repentance of wrongdoing on my part...by all means. I will listen. But if all you are going to do is beat up on me with your words for who knows what reason...you are absolutely correct. Your words are not worth listening to. I've read yr story which you have kindly written all over the boards. I do not think you are in the position to tell others what is and what is not for them to write I am not in a position here to tell anyone to do anything at all about anything. You are right about that. But if sarcasm is not of the Spirit and is rather of the flesh the one you are ignoring by what I said is NOT me but GOD! I would suggest that you listen to Him for your own good if not for mine! Carlos

Amen to what you prayed and everything you said sis! AMEN! May the Lord fill you through and through with His magnificent and wondrous Presence in the secret place today and always. May He shine through your life and open the eyes of those around you to see Him. Carlos

Thanks for your encouragement Natalie! Much appreciated. It's always a bit risky to share such things so openly but I am encouraged by how the Lord can use that to help others through me. I think you will be fine Natalie. Just the fact that you are concerned about that is a good indication to me that you will be fine as you learn to keep your eyes on God despite your schoolwork. Certainly I have thought of that but in reality I have come to realize that we ARE missionaries right where we are all the time to anyone and everyone we come in contact with. More than a missionary though I wish I could just find a few Christians to link up with whose hearts are fully surrendered to God. Such persons seem so hard to find. Most are not willing to risk their church involvement and their Christian friends to do what God wants done if there is ever a conflict between their church and friends and God. Carlos

My pleasure Lisa. I was praying that the Lord would use what I shared to encourage someone and praise God...He did! It's interesting. Though I may feel hopeless at times...in Christ I am not (and neither are you or any other Christian). Just now an old acquaintance stopped by to talk to me at the Library as I was posting thoughts on another thread. We chit chatted and otherwise caught up on old times and as he was about to leave he confessed that he had been tempted to start grumbling and otherwise when he saw me. We talked some more and he told me about various circumstances in his life that were difficult. I offered to pray for him and did. Afterwards he was so appreciative. Kept saying that it was a good prayer. That I must do this a lot. Thanking me. The last thing he said before he shook my hand again was "It's the Christ in you" which I found interesting. Paul said it best I think.... It's like the life of Jesus Christ living within us shines out of us where one would not expect there to be life at all. Troubled but not in dire distress. Perplexed but not in despair. Persecuted but not forsaken (at least not by God) Cast down and feeling hopeless but not destroyed. All that we may go through cannot snuff out the life of Christ that lives within us. That life picks us up and continues to shine through us who having willing hearts to let God be God in and through our lives. Even if on the surface we seem rather to be dying or close to death. His life manifesting Himself through our death. King of amazing if you ask me. Carlos

Very well put Openly Curious. That's the kind of input I am seeking. Practical, nuts and bolts, advice about how to grow in faith and how to appropriate the reality of the promises I have been quoting in this thread. I will endeavour by His grace to apply what you have shared. Carlos

One other thought came to mind about the difference between faith and hope. I can hope that my favorite college football team will win the championship this year. I can hope all day and all night for such a thing but that is NOT faith. On the other hand faith is when I KNOW based on the promises of God that what I hope for WILL happen! Big, big difference. I see little in the way of prayers offered in faith within the Christian world. I see a great many prayers offered in hope of something happening but not being certain of it happening at all. I speak about my own prayers too. Most of my prayers are also prayers of such hope and not prayers of faith. So I am not just speaking about others but of myself as well. Carlos

What exactly do you suppose faith is? FAITH is the substance of things HOPED for, the evidence of things not seen. You'll find that in Hebrews. Excellent question Man. I'll quote the verse in Hebrews at length below... Interesting. Now that I have quoted what the verse says I would like to venture an answer to your question. Notice that faith is the substance of things hoped for. In other words what is hoped for has become, for all intents and purposes, a given. A given that we reach out for and possess by faith. It has become substance when we don't see any substance of what we are hoping for anywhere. At least not yet. Faith is also the evidence of things not seen. Meaning that we don't have to see anything with our eyes or have any verifiable proof of something as being so. We can see things that are not and have evidence of their being so by faith. Now, correct me if you think I am wrong here Man, but to me...that is NOT faith of the kind that many Christians engage in when they pray. The verse is talking about CERTAIN hope through faith, as sure as if we saw the substance of what we are hoping for and saw it with our own eyes. Most prayers that Christians utter these days, it seems to me, are not prayers of CERTAIN hope made certain through faith, taking hold of God and His promises and calling down what is not as though it was. They are prayers of wishful thinking. Wishing that God might do something if possible and if it is His will. Where is there the CERTAINTY of faith in that? There isn't any. Indeed I do. I will be the first to line up to learn from you if you can share with me how to apply the verses, that I have quoted in this thread, to see them become real in my life. Carlos

So tell me something man (I mean your name and not just saying man as hey man)... What exactly do you make of the verses I have been quoting in this thread? Are you completely opposed to whatever it is that they are saying to us? Do you see any application at all for verses that say that we can do all things if we believe, that we will do greater works than Jesus, and so forth? I mean it's nice that you are warning me (and us) about the counterfeit signs that are a coming but....well...I never said that signs were to replace the Word as in that we should forget the Word and chase after signs, worshiping signs like God or something. I said that signs and wonders accompanied the preaching of the Gospel in the New Testament and that the Lord used such to confirm the message preached. Do you have any serious and Scripturally sound dispute with that assessment? Carlos

It's not a matter of toning down your sarcasm. It's a matter of whether or not sarcasm is of the Spirit or not. And if it is not...then it has no place in any discussion which might otherwise be fruitful (at least with respect to your input). Carlos

Most of what you are sharing SevenSeas isn't even worth responding to. But I would like to correct a misimpression you are leaving on this thread. Nice try to make me out to be some prophet nut or something. I didn't even mention that I thought I was a prophet till later in the thread. The fact is that I did not start that thread to discuss whether I was a prophet. Anyone that cares to verify this as true..simply go read the thread in question. The thread was started by me to discuss why it seems that the modern church does not make room for prophets. Not me specifically, though of course that has been my personal experience, but rather overall. My thinking I have been gifted as a prophet was incidental to the subject of the thread and I purposely tried to steer people away from discussing whether I was a prophet or not when the thread began to steer in that direction as opposed to the subject matter I started it with. Excellent. Best wishes. Carlos

Oh...one other tid bit. The greatest book I ever read, bar none, on healings in our modern day was Anointed for Burial by Todd Burke. Amazon has one copy for sale I think. It's an out of print book but if anyone EVER is able to get a copy of this book...buy it! It will greatly challenge your thinking regarding whether miracles of the kind that happened in Acts can happen today. It did mine. It tells the story of the church in Cambodia just before the fall of Vietnam. Todd Burke apparently turned his back on Christ and went off into the new age movement from what I understand after the death of his 11 year old son. I cannot confirm that but that is what I read on the internet. But don't let that become in your head a reason to discount what he wrote about happening in the book. What happened in the book was not all about him. It was about the simple people of Vietnam believing God and taking Him at His word and telling of what happened. Carlos

Here is something very interesting that T.L. Osborne said... That makes a lot of sense to me. Dictionary.com's first definition for "miracle" is... God answering prayer definitely qualifies as a miracle in that sense I think. Carlos

That's a good verse Gary. One I have never thought about in connection with this topic. I believe what you say is true. That the verse is saying that God used signs and wonders and various miracles to confirm that those who preached the Gospel were speaking the truth. It is no different I think than when Elijah called on God to make himself real to turn the hearts of Israel back to Himself. Today, without such demonstrations of God's LIVING reality, how are people who hear the Gospel to know that both the Gospel message itself and God are true and real and not just a figment of our imagination? Just because it's in the bible, a book albeit a book with God's inspired words, doesn't make it the truth in people's minds. Where is the evidence? That what this book says is the truth and not just made up fairy tales? I mean I have always, in sharing the Gospel with others, assumed that the words themselves would somehow bring about a conviction of truth to the minds of those hearing. And sometimes that does happen. But biblically speaking in the New Testament at least, the main evidence for the truthfulness of the Gospel, was not the Gospel message itself in what it says but rather the signs and wonders and miracles which accompanied the preaching of the Gospel. By the way for anyone that is interested one of the best books I ever read on this topic is called Healing the Sick by T.L. Osborne. Whether or not you agree with all that T.L. Osborne ever said about this...it is well worth reading his book to gain some insight from a person who apparently lived out what Jesus said about all this in his campaigns in Africa. I do not vouch for everything T.L. Osborne said but I highly recommend you read his book. I found a link to it at https://docs.google....8V5FKsBfO_sVEWw Carlos

I appreciate that Gary. Your gracious offer has indeed come to mind recently but not for any practical benefits that such a thing would be to me (i.e. indoors for a bit, etc.). Rather it is perhaps possible that the Lord might want me and you to fellowship more closely since on many issues, you and I seem to think alike. A rarity indeed. I mean to find a Christian who has a like mind on many things. I have been praying for God to bring me two men with whom I could link up heart and soul to do His will. Men who are mature enough to correct me when it is needed. Men who are sold out for Jesus and willing to do whatever He may want. Men who are not afraid of going where few Christians ever go these days. Who could care less about keeping the status quo or not upsetting the religious apple cart so to speak. I have wondered recently whether you are such a man Gary. I'll tell you the truth though. It's a bit unnerving for me to contemplate coming out to see you since I really don't know you other than through this forum. Not to mention that you hardly know me too. But I am willing if that is the Lord's will for us. Still...at present it's just impractical for me to consider going anywhere Gary. I need to find more consistent work so as to provide for myself better. Please pray for me in that regard. Carlos

Amen to that Gary! Carlos

I have been praying for some time that God would judge this country even if I am still in it and suffer as a result. I wonder if this is a foretaste of that judgment to humble us and bring us to our knees before Him. I mean if this country continues it's slide into becoming nothing but a cesspool of sin God is going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah if He does not bring this country to it's knees. Carlos

Speaking about global warming...I can't but help to point out that the whole notion that our world is heating up due to cow farts and/or human caused emissions is just theory and not entirely supported by scientific fact. As for our world even warming up overall that too is questionable. Though I grant you that it is awefully hot in Oklahoma. I don't have time to get into it with anyone...but anyone that cares to can Google till their eyes fall out. Just search for phrases like "global warming myth", or what have you and get yourself a cup of coffee (lots of reading). Don't believe everything you hear! Carlos