JOEL 2 GENERATION

One of our mentors used to say that that "the greatest miracle God will do is to purify and unify His Church before Jesus returns".  At the time, I didn't know what to think about his assertion. I realize now that our mentor wasn't simply using hyperbole to make a teaching point. He was speaking the truth about such a thing being "the greatest miracle"! Of course, Christians will debate IF this is something Jesus will actually do before He Returns. Some Christians ONLY except such a miracle to take place after His Second Coming.  Again, it takes very little faith to believe Jesus will return for a "beat up girlfriend" whereas it does require faith to believe He will return for a "beautiful Bride"! And don't get me started regarding those who reduce all talk of Christ's work of sanctification as merely "positional" and not "actual"! Returning to the discussion of the "state" of the Body of Christ today...

Fighting against centuries of "theological thinking" (much of it if we are honest amounts to UNBELIEF), we have been convinced that much of what we read in our New Testaments doesn't "really" apply to us today. Can we 'really' live like Jesus?  Except for a rare few, most teachers don't hold out the expectation that we can do what Jesus did. And if you do, you will quickly be labeled a false teacher. (and yes, I have some experience to back my claim!) So, for the sake of argument, let's give them/you? that one. The life Jesus lived, and in particular the Kingdom power He moved in, isn't to be aspired to. An entire theology known as "Cessationism" contends that such miracles "ceased" with the death of the Apostles in the 1st Century AD. If only such scholars were familiar with the the 2nd and 3rd Centuries, because miracles continued thereby falsifying the Cessationist position. Some theologians will argue further against b...