JOEL 2 GENERATION

WHO WAS THE "REAL" ST. PATRICK? Most people are unaware of the incredible life and legacy of Saint Patrick. The following summary is taken from two books about Patrick's life and ministry – one is a biography entitled Let Me Die in Ireland , by David Bercot (Scroll Publishing) and the other, The Celtic Way of Evangelism – How Christianity Can Reach the West Again " (George G. Hunter III, Abingdon Press, 2000). Many Christians today "claim" Patrick as their own – most are surprised that he doesn't really fit any modern labels that we might try to put on him or the movement he birthed. Patrick was NOT a Roman Catholic (and neither was he a modern-day Protestant Evangelical and/or Charismatic!), but rather a British Roman citizen born in the late 4th century (AD386) on the West Coast of Britain. He was a part of the independent British or Celtic Church which did not come under Roman control until the 6-8th centuries. His father was an ordained Deac...

Once one begins to read their Bible with a "Divine Council Worldview", interestingly the way Second Temple Judaism and the Early Christians read their Bibles, you begin 'to see' things you missed. According to Dr. Michael Heiser, "The term divine council is used by Hebrew and Semitics scholars to refer to the heavenly host, the pantheon of divine beings who administer the affairs of the cosmos. All ancient Mediterranean cultures had some conception of a divine council. The divine council of Israelite religion, known primarily through the psalms, was distinct in important ways." And once we have this 'worldview' as our background, NT verses that seemed nonsensical at worst and redundant at best, now become clear. Let¹s look at Colossians 1 where this becomes apparent. I had ALWAYS assumed that 'the saints' that Paul addresses in verses 2, 4 and 12 and 26 were a reference to Christian believers in the Church. BUT we need to take another lo...

Like many of you, I was told that Jesus did NOT include "fasting" in his answer to His disciples' question as to why they could not cast out the demon. And like many of you, I didn't question the commentators, the Bible scholars, the seminary professors, etc.   But I think we clearly have another case of "fake news".  In other words, "AND FASTING" were the original words of Jesus.  Incredibly, the reason the shorter rendering was argued as being the "preferred" reading was that, since the Early Church had such an emphasis on fasting, the argument was that "and fasting" was a biased or "motivated" reading.  And that modern NT textual critics simply concluded that it wasn't in the original. Could it be that the earliest Church fasted actually IN OBEDIENCE to Jesus' clear teaching?  Incredible the conclusions that such scholars have reached! Why do I think so? What changed my mind? (In additio...

I hear Christians here in the U.S. say things like, "I understand that where you live in the Middle East, healing miracles are needed because they are Muslims and that more is needed".   I view that as an excuse.  The ministry of Jesus, that we are all called to partake in, is a ministry of the supernatural.  Whether we are in the "Christian West", the Middle East or anywhere else in the World. Today at lunch, the Lord highlighted through a word of knowledge an injury that our server had -  a shoulder issue.  He let us pray – we prayed twice.  Then we got a word for someone who worked there with a neck problem.  Our server who had his shoulder prayed for, tried to find someone but didn't have any success.  BUT, then another server came up to our table and we asked her about her neck – and it was her!  She had a neck issue that we prayed for.  While praying, the Lord gave us another word of knowledge for her – about her right kn...

This has been an incredible season of the Lord giving not just a single word of knowledge for someone – but 2 or 3 details about the person that needs a miracle.  I've been journaling words that I have been getting in worship contexts – last night, the Lord gave me a word about a brain tumor and then indicated exactly the location in the brain.  The woman with that came for prayer.  Another one was for carpal tunnel in the right wrist AND a headache in the back right part of the head.  That woman came forward for prayer.  Faith explodes when God gives specific details – He wants to give us more revelation.  Will we wait for it?  Will we then take the risks to call out the compounded words He gives us?  It is riskier to give 2-3 details.  But, it is so worth it when we find the person – win, win!  Everyone is so encouraged.  Faith explodes and healings take place.

WHO WAS THE "REAL" ST. PATRICK?  Most people are unaware of the incredible life and legacy of Saint Patrick. The following summary is taken from two books about Patrick's life and ministry – one is a biography entitled "Let Me Die in Ireland", by David Bercot (Scroll Publishing) and the other, "The Celtic Way of Evangelism – How Christianity Can Reach the West Again" (George G. Hunter III, Abingdon Press, 2000). Many Christians today "claim" Patrick as their own – most are surprised that he doesn't really fit any modern labels that we might try to put on him or the movement he birthed. Patrick was NOT a Roman Catholic, but rather a British Roman citizen born in the late 4th century (AD386) on the West Coast of Britain. He was a part of the independent British or Celtic Church which did not come under Roman control until the 6-8th centuries. His father was an ordained Deacon and his grandfather had been an ordained Presbyter, b...