Have the Spiritual Gifts Ceased?

There are those who teach that the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we see in operation in the New Testament during the first century AD have ceased, and that they are no longer in operation. One of the Scriptures they cite is the following statement by the apostle Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthians: "Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away." (1Co 13:8). This is known as cessationism, which was originated by Reformers such as John Calvin.

First of all, in its context, what Paul meant by that statement was to contrast love with the gifts of the Spirit. The Corinthians emphasized speaking in tongues, and Paul stated that one day the gift of tongues will no longer be needed and prophecy will one day cease, but that love will endure forever. He did not mean that at the end of the first century all the supernatural gifts of the Spirit would cease.

Having a Form of Godliness But Denying Its Power

The people who believe in cessationism deny the supernatural power of God without any proper Scriptural basis. Paul warned us about such people when he said they are those who are "having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people." (2 Timothy 3:5).

Such people have often been known to accuse those who operate in the supernatural power of God and the gifts of the Spirit to be merely pretending to do so, or in some cases cessationists accuse such people of doing so by the power of demons. When they say such things to those who are genuinely operating in the power of God, they are attributing acts of the Holy Spirit to the devil, and in doing so are in danger of blaspheming the Holy Spirit, if they have not already done so. While there are certainly counterfeit miracles and healings that the demons are able to perform through those who are under their control, there are also genuine miracles, signs, and wonders that the Lord is doing today. 

These Signs Accompany Those Who Believe

Jesus Himself said, "And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." (Mar 16:17-18). 

These are the signs that follow those who believe in Jesus Christ. In other words, these signs are seen in the lives of those who believe in Him. They do these things in His name: drive out demons, speak in new tongues, lay hands on the sick and they recover; and even deadly poison doesn't harm them if they drink it.

The fact that these signs still follow believers in Jesus to this day is well documented and supported by indisputable evidence. I have personally experienced the gifts of the Spirit and countless other signs and wonders operating in my own life, seen them in operation in others, and know people who have also experienced them in their lives. This includes but is not limited to healing, miracles (including raising the dead), word of knowledge, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, discerning of spirits, deliverance from demons, gems coming down from heaven, the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire, dreams, visions, encounters with angels, being caught up to heaven, visits to hell, prophecy, and much much more. To God be all the glory forever and ever. 

Why should anyone consider it incredible that God still raises the dead (Ac 26:8)? After all, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." (Joh 14:12). This means that anyone who believes in Him will do the works Jesus did during His earthly ministry (that includes raising the dead), and even greater things than these! If you believe in cessationism, you are making God out to be a liar. The reason these signs don't follow you is because you don't believe.

Jesus is the same yesterday, and today, and forever

Speaking of prophecy, cessationsists believe that the only prophecy that happens today is the preaching of the Word. They deny that anyone can still prophesy for the Lord as the prophets did in Bible days, but they are badly mistaken. The gift of prophecy is still in operation today, just as all the other gifts are. God changes not (Mal 3:6; Jas 1:17). He has not changed from the way He worked in the days of the Bible. He is still a supernatural, wonder-working God. Jesus is the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Heb 13:8).

Do Not Quench the Spirit or Despise Prophetic Utterances

That is why we are commanded not to quench the Spirit or despise prophetic utterances (1Th 5:19-20).  We are instructed in Scripture to test them all, and correctly discern the things of the Spirit.  The saints are to pass judgment on the utterance (1 Cor 14:29), and all things be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses (Mt 18:16).  We are instructed to test the fruit and verify the good character of the messenger (Mt 7:17-19; 12:33).  We are to search the Scriptures to ensure that the message is consistent with the Word (Ac 17:11). If the fruit (character) and message are consistent with the Word, then we should receive it as from the Lord.  We are to hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil (1Th 5:21-22). Genuine dreams, visions, revelations, signs, and wonders that come from God always confirm the Word, but do not add to it (Mar 16:20).

Last Days Outpouring of the Spirit

On the Day of Pentecost when the early church received the baptism with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues, as tongues of fire appeared over their heads in the upper room, the apostle Peter explained to the observers what was happening, by quoting the prophet Joel:

"No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'" (Act 2:17-21)

This passage clearly says that God will pour out His Spirit on all people in the last days, which is the period we are now living in. The last days began during the first century (Ac 2:16-17; Heb 1:2; Jas 5:3; 1 Jn 2:18; 1 Pet 4:7) and continue until Christ's return. The evidence of the outpouring of the Spirit as stated in this passage (Act 2:17-21; Joel 2:28-31) includes people seeing visions and dreaming dreams, as well as prophecy, signs, and wonders. Since the last days did not cease during the first century, but continue to this day, that means the outpouring of the Spirit also continues and so do all of these signs, wonders, and gifts of the Spirit.

Continuation of Five-fold Ministry Gifts

In Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, he said that God gave certain ministries to the Church as gifts to equip the saints for works of service (Eph 4:11-13). These gifts include apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists. 

Cessationists believe that only some of these gifts still exist today, namely pastors, teachers, and evangelists, but that apostles and prophets ceased at the end of the first century. However, if you read the Ephesians passage in context, Paul said that these gifts would continue until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, and we become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Last time I checked, the church had not yet attained to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Therefore, there is still a need for all of these five-fold ministry gifts to equip the saints for works of service.

Even during the first century, there were more than just the Twelve apostles. Of course, there was the apostle Paul along with his fellow apostle Barnabas (1 Cor 9:5-6), but he even mentioned others in his writings that were apostles also, such as Andronicus and Junia (Rom 16:7). An apostle is a "sent one" and the Lord is still sending people today. Although there are still false apostles today as there were during Paul's day, there are still true apostles and prophets as well.

Speaking of modern prophets, some of the New Testament prophets included Agabus (Ac 11:27; 21:10), Judas and Silas (Ac 15:32), as well as other unnamed prophets (Ac 11:27-28), and ones that were named (Ac 13:1). There is nothing in Scripture that says this ministry was discontinued by God, as I have already stated earlier. Quite the contrary! In fact, Paul said, "And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues." (1Co 12:28). And he went on to give specific instructions for how prophets are to conduct themselves in the Church (1 Cor 14:29, 32).

Articles Disproving Cessationism

Many of my other articles address the topic indirectly. Here are some examples:

Supernatural Power for All Disciples

Baptized with the Holy Spirit

Holy Fire Baptism

The Holy Spirit's Role in God's Kingdom

The Gift of Speaking in Tongues

Discerning the Things of the Spirit

Blaspheming the Holy Spirit

Gifts and Fruit of the Spirit: What's the Difference?

By the Spirit of God Alone

International Impact of Pentecost

Anointed by the Holy Spirit

Healing is in the Atonement

A Warning to the Nay Sayers

Testimonies Disproving Cessationism

There are also countless testimonies and videos documenting the fact that genuine signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts of the Spirit are still in operation today. Here are just a few:

Forty Days in Heaven and Hell

Eudoxia Varga Testimony of Heaven and Hell

Gems from Heaven (our personal experience)

Only the Holy -- Three Shocking Testimonies (see Howard Pittman's testimony)

The Body Parts Storehouse in Heaven (one of our graduates)

The Voice That Changed Everything -- the Testimony of Dr. Stenhouse (a personal friend of mine)

Amazing Healing and Deliverance in Uganda (one of our graduates)

Saved By a Vision of Second Coming (a personal acquaintance of mine)

The Night the Lord Came Into My Hut (one of our graduates)

Testimonies from Voila (a pastor I came to know in Romania)

Pastor Raised from the Dead (a Bulgarian pastor I know)

Boy Raised from the Dead After One Day (through one of our disciples)

Supernatural Encounter While Striving to Draw Closer to God (another one of our students)

Outpouring of the Spirit (our personal experience)

Michael Shigaba's End Time Message for Mankind

Dreams and Visions: Tsunamis, Asteroids, Nuclear, etc.

Prophetic End Time Warnings from Little Children

Angelic Escape from Terrorist Assassins (someone I know personally)

More Than Dreams

And the list goes on and on. For more examples proving cessationism is false, please see EternalDestinations.info and Testimonies from Eastern Europe.

Conclusion

Please check out those articles and testimonies carefully, and I think you will find plenty of Scriptural proof that cessationism is false. It is clear from Scripture, as well as abundant experiential evidence, that the gifts of the Spirit have not ceased to operate to this day. Our God is an awesome God, all things are possible with Him (Matt 19:26), and nothing is impossible for those who believe (Mk 9:23). If you are a true follower of Jesus Christ, who has been saved through faith in Him, and you have not yet received the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire, then I encourage you to pray and ask Him for that gift today. This will open up the door for the supernatural power of God to begin operating in your life, too, which is all part of the full gospel. For the kingdom of God is not merely a matter of talk, but of power (1 Cor 4:20)!

Attribution notice: Scripture quoted from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission. 

Author's note:  I also recommend reading The False Gospel of Eternal Security, Accurately Handling the Word of Truth, Exposing Heresy. If you would like to become a disciple, consider enrolling in our Doulos Training School. You may access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Andy Stanley's Disconnect from the Old Testament

Andy Stanley, pastor of North Point

Dr. Charles Stanley's son Andy is the pastor of perhaps the second or third largest church in America. As a mega church pastor in Atlanta, he has a great deal of influence. Yet he has been teaching people incorrectly that they should "unhitch" from the Old Testament. Here are some of his heretical statements:

Unhitched
“(First Century) Church leaders unhitched the church from the worldview, value system, and regulations of the Jewish scriptures. Peter, James, Paul elected to unhitch the Christian faith from their Jewish scriptures, and my friends, we must as well.”

“When the Church launched, the foundation of the faith of the early Christians was not a book (they didn’t have one), it wasn’t the Bible (there wasn’t one), and it wasn’t the Old Testament – what they called the Law and the Prophets – because that didn’t tell the story of Jesus. The foundation of the early church was an event – the resurrection.”

“If you were raised on a version of Christianity that relied on the Bible as the foundation of faith, a version that was eventually dismantled by academia or the realities of life, maybe it’s time for you to change your mind about Jesus. Maybe it’s time for you to consider the version of Christianity that relies on the event of the resurrection of Jesus as its foundation. If you gave up your faith because of something about or in the Bible, maybe you gave up unnecessarily. His message for them is simple: 'Start with Jesus! He came to introduce something totally new.'”

“What Jesus meant when He said He had not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17) was that He came to 'replace it.'" Stanley's interpretation of that verse is: “I am in fact replacing. I’m not going to change what you’ve always been taught. I’m going to challenge you to abandon what you have been taught.”

“The Law and the Prophets, the old covenant, had an expiration date.”

The Gospel of Jesus “is completely detached … from everything that came before."

Every one of these statements made by Stanley is refuted by Scripture. Jesus, who is the Word of God (Joh 1:1,14), quoted the Hebrew Scriptures extensively during His ministry; in fact He quoted from a total of twenty-four different books of the Hebrew Bible, and He is the foundation of the Church. "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Cor 3:11, NIV). The only Scriptures they initially had in the first-century Church were the Hebrew Scriptures. And as the apostles and their companions wrote the Gospels, Acts, and the epistles, they quoted extensively from those Scriptures. In fact, they quoted from all but five books of the Hebrew Bible (for a full list of all Old Testament Scriptures cited in the New Testament, see here).

When the apostle Paul preached to the Bereans, they searched the Hebrew Scriptures to verify that everything he said was true. "Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (Ac 17:11, NIV). This practice of the Bereans was considered noble, since they checked to see if everything the apostle preached agreed with the Hebrew Scriptures, especially the ones he was quoting. It was Paul who wrote that God's household is "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone." (Eph 2:20, NIV). Let me quote to you from three different men commenting on this passage.

Matthew Henry stated: "In Ephesian 2:20 the church is compared to a building. The apostles and prophets are the foundation of that building. They may be so called in a secondary sense, Christ himself being the primary foundation; but we are rather to understand it of the doctrine delivered by the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New. It follows, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone."

John Wesley stated: "As the foundation sustains the building, so the word of God, declared by the apostles and prophets, sustains the faith of all believers. God laid the foundation by them; but Christ himself is the chief corner - stone of the foundation."

Albert Barnes stated that when the apostle Paul wrote "...And prophets..." in Ephesians 2:20, he was referring to "The prophets of the Old Testament, using the word, probably, to denote the Old Testament in general. That is, the doctrines of divine revelation, whether communicated by prophets or apostles, were laid at the foundation of the Christian church."

Therefore, when Stanley says that "the foundation of the faith of the early Christians...wasn’t the Bible...and it wasn’t the Old Testament...the Law and the Prophets," he is contradicting the Word of God itself. They most certainly had the Scriptures in the first century. There can be no doubt that the apostles of the New Covenant and prophets of the Old Covenant are the foundation of the Church.

Unleashed
Stanley’s new book is called, “Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World." In it he writes: “Participants in the new covenant (that’s Christians) are not required to obey any of the commandments found in the first part of their Bibles. Participants in the new covenant are expected to obey the single command Jesus issued as part of his new covenant: as I have loved you, so you must love one another." Moreover, in the final part of a 2018 sermon series, Stanley explained that while he believes that the Old Testament is "divinely inspired," it should not be "the go-to source regarding any behavior in the Church."

However, contrary to what Andy teaches, Scriptures like "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Ex 20:2) are still valid and applicable to us today as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Obedience to God's commandments is clearly taught throughout the New Testament by Christ and His apostles (Mt 5:17-20; Lk 8:21; Jn 14:15-31; 1 Cor 7:19; 1 Jn 3:4). To deny that is to deny the very foundation upon which the Church is built. Yet that is precisely what Stanley is doing. He is not preaching the gospel of the kingdom that Jesus and His apostles preached. He is preaching another gospel -- a replacement theology.

God changes not (Mal 3:6). Jesus is God, and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8). He doesn't need to repeat Himself in order for us to know that what He has said is true. What was evil in the days of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, Moses, Saul, David, Solomon, Ahab, Elijah, and the prophets is still evil today. What was pleasing to God then is pleasing to Him now, although we are under a New Covenant and are not bound by the specific terms and regulations of the Mosaic Covenant.

The Bible is not just "a collection of ancient documents," as Andy calls them. The sixty-six books of the Bible are the inspired Word of God. "ALL Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Ti 3:16). We must declare the whole counsel of God (Ac 20:27), not only the things that Jesus reiterated in the Gospels. Andy says that nothing in the Old Testament should have any bearing on the behavior of a Christian, but since it is all the inspired Word of God useful for training us so we might be thoroughly equipped for every good work, then obviously ALL Scripture including the Old Testament has relevance to our behavior.

Rather than rewrite all my previous articles about the importance and significance of obedience to God's commandments, including those found in the Law and the Prophets, I would like to provide links to those here for you to read. They provide ample proof from Scripture that Stanley is teaching heresy. If you really care about this and want to get to the truth of the matter that is found in God's Word, then I recommend taking the time to read all of these articles, in order to get the full and balanced message that I am teaching as found in the Bible. I challenge you to do as the Bereans did with the apostle's teaching and search the Scriptures to see if these things are really so.

Is Obedience Optional? The Law of Christ  The Law Fulfilled in Us The Law Established Through Faith The Cost of Discipleship Faith Works! Deleted Scriptures in the Bible? Did Jesus Nail the Law to the Cross? The Obedience of Faith Righteousness by Faith not Law Listen to Jesus, Who Upholds Moses and the Prophets  The Spirit's Law of Life

The Law of Love in the New Testament Striving to Enter the Kingdom of God Wesley and Henry on the Gospel Law Righteous Deeds and White Robes Doing What is Right Partaking of the Divine Nature Walking in the Perfect Will of God Obedience by the Spirit The Law is Good if Used Lawfully What Then Must We Observe? Remember the Eternal Law of God The Flesh vs. the Spirit

The Bible De-emphasized 
Andy Stanley says that if he were an evangelical Pope, who had the authority to issue a decree that all evangelical Christians must obey, he "would ask preachers and pastors and student pastors in their communications to take the spotlight off the Bible." Apparently he undervalues the Word of God, since he would use his papal authority to de-emphasize it. This man-made rule of his essentially nullifies the Word of God (Mk 7:13), which instructs the Lord's messengers to preach the Word (2 Tim 4:2). Through His inspired apostle, the Holy Spirit clearly charged Timothy -- and effectively all men of God -- to devote ourselves to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching (1 Tim 4:13). Jesus also warned us, "If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him, when He comes in His glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." (Lk 9:26).

In addition, Andy disparages expository preaching through the Scriptures one verse at a time. He says, "Guys that preach verse-by-verse through books of the Bible -- that is just cheating. It's cheating because that would be easy. First of all, that isn't how you grow people." This preposterous statement of his proves that the enemy hates expository preaching from the Bible, explaining it one verse at a time. Andy says this doesn't grow people, perhaps because he is interested in growing the numbers of people. But while expository preaching may not draw huge crowds, it has the potential to grow individuals into disciples of Christ and eventually result in the multiplication of disciples, like what happened in the first century Church. "The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith." (Ac 6:7).

What preachers need to do is preach the Word exactly as it is written, drawing out the meaning that is already in Scripture, which is a practice called exegesis, rather than reading their own meaning into it, which is known as eisogesis. When preachers take license to practice eisogesis, they are free to twist the Scriptures, which they do to their own destruction (2 Pe 3:16). If we had more Spirit-filled, expository preaching today, we would have fewer people taking Scriptures out of context and making them say whatever they want them to say. Instead they would have to explain what the Scripture means when it is understood in its proper context, and people would receive the undiluted, unadulterated message of God's Word. Their faith would grow, since faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of God (Rom 10:17).

Open Homosexual Baptized at Northpoint

In a video posted on Youtube, an open homosexual proudly announced that he was going to be water baptized at Northpoint Church. Your can see the video at this link. Let me remind you that Scripture clearly teaches against the sin of homosexuality in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. To cite just one of them, the apostle Paul stated:

"Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." (1Co 6:9-10)

For more a more complete discussion on this topic, see Pope Frances Supports Homosexuality.

The Fruit Test Reveals Apostasy
As I explained in my previous article, Testing the Spirits of False Prophets, we are supposed to test men's fruit to determine whether or not they are false. When we do a fruit test on the North Point Community Church that Andy Stanley pastors in Atlanta, we find that there is apostasy. That church of around 38,000 people is engrossed in worldliness, rather than being separated from the world as the Scriptures teach that we should be. The following video is just one piece of evidence that reveals their worldly practices. The video is titled The Andy Stanley Show: North Point Ministries Worldly Satanic Synagogues Fully Exposed!!!. It shows, among other things, rock bands in the church singing secular rock music like Journey's song Don't Stop Believing with it's lyrics about seedy nightlife in the big city. Another example is a group on stage during a Sunday service singing, "Baby, love the way you turn me on," while several men perform a choreographed break dance. In yet another service the band is singing a medley of Michael Jackson's hit songs including Don't Stop Til You Get Enough, which has been criticized for its sexual references. Take a look at this and see for yourself:



Closing Words
Be careful whom you listen to, because if they are in error on important issues like this, then your very soul could be in danger. We live in the days when men do not put up with sound doctrine, but instead, to suit their own desires, they surround themselves with a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear (2 Tim 4:3). We live in the days of great apostasy in the Church, which some call the Laodicean Church age (Rev 3:14-21). These are the days of mega churches like Stanley's North Point Community Church in Atlanta, where people flock in large numbers to be entertained by the abundance of worldliness that takes place there, and to listen to another gospel (Gal 1:8-9). They prefer a pop-culture, Christianity-lite message like the ones Andy preaches, and they are itching to unhitch from our Scriptural foundations.

We the Church are not "unhitched" from the Hebrew Scriptures, the gospel is not "detached" from them, and we are not unleashed from obeying God's sacred commandments. On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and obey it (Lk 11:28). Jesus' mother and brothers are still those who hear the Word of God and put it into practice (Lk 8:21). The Word of God is still the seed that we must receive in order to produce fruit (Lk 8:11). The Bible is still our sole rule of faith in Christ. It is still not desirable for us to neglect the Word of God (Ac 6:2). Indeed, we must still speak the Word of God with boldness (Ac 4:31), and continue to declare the whole counsel of God (Ac 20:27), because all Scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16). Therefore, let us not be moved off of our Scriptural foundation, but let us continue holding fast the faithful Word (Tit 1:9). Beware of Andy Stanley. He is a false teacher. As I have written elsewhere, just because a church is large and prominent, that doesn't mean they are preaching the truth. The way of life is narrow and few are they who find it (Mat 7:14).

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB, copyright Lockman Foundation, used by permission. Other Scriptures from The Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission. Image may be subject to copyright and are used per the Fair Use Act for commentary and education purposes only.

Author's note:  I also recommend reading Andy Stanley's Unbiblical Views on Homosexuality, The Forgotten Sin of Worldliness, Separated from the World, The Bible is the Word of God, Scripture Alone (Sola Fide), The Ways of Life, Avoiding Worldly Worship, Is Secular Music for Christians?, Rock, Rap, and Reggae Music - Five Divine Revelations, Sins That Will Keep You From Heaven, The Top Ten Things Jesus Taught, Ask for the Ancient Paths, Holding Fast the Faithful Word, Avoid Becoming a Corrupted Christian, Exposing Heresy, and Popularity of the Gospel. I also recommend my daughter's poem, The Dazzling Wine of Deception. You can access the Home page of this blog for more articles on Truth and heresy, as well as my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org