JOEL 2 GENERATION

St. Augustine's influence on Western Christianity is second to none.  However, his theology, primarily due to the Neoplatonic philosophy which influenced it, moved Christianity away from the primitive Church, and thus the Apostolic faith, in a number of ways. The Eastern Church wasn't as "infected" by Augustine's theology and never adopted some of his 'novel' theological ideas (double predestination, extreme notions of total depravity, unBiblical notions of God's love, a warped view of human sexuality, and an overall concept of God that is shaped more by Neoplatonism than the Bible). Thankfully there are a growing number of theologians and philosophers who are unraveling (and abandoning) these pagan influences upon Western Christianity and I believe we are seeing a resurrection of the most primitive, Apostolic understanding of God's nature, man's condition, and the very core of God's essence - His love.  Largely due to Augustine's ...

إِذَنْ مَنْ يُؤْمِنُ بِابْنِ اللهِ تَكُونُ هَذِهِ الشَّهَادَةُ مَوْجُودَةً فِي قَلْبِهِ. أَمَّا مَنْ لا يُصَدِّقُ اللهَ، فَهُوَ يَتَّهِمُ اللهَ بِأَنَّهُ يَكْذِبُ، لأَنَّهُ لا يَقْبَلُ شَهَادَةَ اللهِ عَنِ ابْنِهِ وَشَهَادَةُ اللهِ هِيَ أَنَّهُ أَعْطَانَا حَيَاةَ الْخُلُودِ، وَأَنَّ هَذِهِ الْحَيَاةَ هِيَ بِوَاسِطَةِ ابْنِهِ. مَنْ لَهُ الابْنُ، لَهُ الْحَيَاةُ. وَمَنْ لَيْسَ لَهُ ابْنُ اللهِ، لَيْسَتْ لَهُ حَيَاةُ الْخُلُودِ

This week Shi'ite muslims are commemorating the martyrdom of Hussein (the grandson of Muhammad, Islam's prophet).  Even tonight as I was out for a run, hundreds of Shi'ites are attending special services as what are known as Husseiniyas  (which are different than their mosques).  This will culminate in a few nights with bloody rituals with chains and even swords as they seek to identify with the death of their martyr. Although more Orthodox Shi'ites will take issue with what I am about to say, essentially many Shi'ites believe that Hussein died as an atonement for their sins.  I've had Shi'ites friends tell me this directly and when I have sat down and read Isaiah 53 with them, one thought that it was referencing Hussein.  The recognition of a need for a savior is indeed universal – even if it is hidden deep in the hearts of men and women.  How tragic that more than 600 years after the God/Man, Jesus Christ came to earth to die as the atoning sacr...

For someone who is regularly praying for muslims to be healed, I had an encounter that was one of the most encouraging encounters ever! I walked up to a muslim man when I noticed one had an elbow brace on.  His Gulf Arab muslim friend joined us.  He had injured his arm lifting weights and he was in pain.   I told him I wanted to ask God to heal him and asked him to put his other arm on his elbow.  He did and I prayed the Lord's prayer in Arabic and asking the Lord to stretch forth His hand to heal.  I asked him to take his hand away and all he could do was stare at his friend in shock exclaiming "I swear to God" over and over as he declared that he was healed.   Then one of the most shocking things I've ever heard as he tells his friend, "My sister became a Christian when this (healing) happened to her"!!  Talk about having someone to follow up with this man.  His muslim friend was also visibly shocked by both his healing and the revelation that h...

One of the Omani muslims who was healed when we were there has contacted me a couple of times since we left.  Last night I was able to talk with him and after the small talk asks if I can help him with a curse and demonic problem.  He wanted to know when I would be back in Oman to help him, but instead I told him I had a friend in Oman who could help him immediately.  He was thrilled and very thankful. I was able to make arrangements for a couple of friends to visit him which will happen in the next few days. We saw many healed in Oman – many were given accurate prophetic words and/or other words of knowledge – several had encounters with God and saw visions.  We sowed widely and it appears with one of these men, we are beginning to see the fruit of that sowing.  I'll be sure to blog the results of that meeting and the others who are being followed up as well.

Tonight Isaac of Ninevah and I were out with our wives.  We had the chance to offer to pray for a number of different muslims and some Christians too.  One man's wrist was better (not sure if it was 100% healed).  At the end of the night, I saw a group of Gulf Arab muslim teenagers and one had a wrist brace on.  It was a soccer injury that had happened a couple of days before.  After he told me what happened, I asked him to put his other hand on his wrist.  I prayed the Lord's prayer over him in Arabic and the Lord completely healed his wrist!  He was totally shocked.  I explained that as Christians it was our mandate to heal the sick and that God loved him.  I told him how he could find me and left the encounter at that.  When I was reunited with Isaac and our wives, they knew he was healed as they watched because of the shock and reaction on the muslim teen's face.  

The fishing village morning was followed by a visit to the horse races in the afternoon.  We didn't know what God would do in such a "formal" environment, but as I was sitting with a couple of Omani muslims, one of them decided to try and tell me about islam – I knew where that was going, so I changed the subject and started talking about healing and some of the testimonies from even the morning.  He asked me to pray for him for high blood pressure which I did as we sat there surrounded by hundreds of other Omani muslims – I'm telling you, we can do this stuff ANYWHERE.  I just asked him to put his hand on his chest and I quickly released God's Kingdom.  Of course he will need to get that checked to see what happened, but afterwards he asked if I could pray for a headache that he had had for 2 days.  God healed that!  Then I began to prophesy over him and spoke to him about an angel that would visit him (this is so common with muslims and the Lo...