A New Creature. . . an Apostolic Pentecostal blog

The stereotypical image of heaven. . . multitudes of beautiful people robed in white, eternally strumming little lyres, must be of the devil.  As an atheist I thought and as a Christian I still think, “If that is heaven, I want no part of it.”  Such a life to me would quickly. . . in a matter of hours or days, turn into a hell of boredom. But the Bible tells us: 1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. In my imagination, as an eternal resident of heaven, the entire universe becomes my playground. . .Surrounded by beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. . . hopefully surrounded by family members, a thought takes me to majestic panoramas such as this picture. . . .endlessly able to explore strange moons of exotic planets. . . or simpler sequences as I will, of golden afternoons in a quiet forest glade. . . walking cool dim paths al...

Here is every verse in the Bible which speaks of 'Thanks giving', and the 'Giving of thanks': (Leviticus 7:12) If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried. (Leviticus 7:13) Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offerings. (Leviticus 7:15) And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered; he shall not leave any of it until the morning. (Leviticus 22:29) And when ye will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the LORD, offer it at your own will. (2 Samuel 22:50) Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name. (1 Chronicles 16:8) Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, m...

Recently another greatly beloved and highly anointed Pastor fell.  His congregation reeled, greatly wounded from the violent and totally unexpected amputation of their shepherd. . . Really the metaphor of amputation for this, as destructive as that is, is too clean of a process to describe what happens when a pastor is removed from a church in this manner. This is no clean separation as a removal of a limb with a knife, but a tearing away, as in a horrific rending of flesh, with jagged pieces of muscle and skin and bone, rupturing and tearing from the body which could have. . . should have remained forever joined, but even if required to part, would have sustained less damage if performed in an orderly, and planned, cleanly surgical amputation.   Our church lost its shepherd in such an event, and still feels the effects more than twelve years later.  The trauma to the body of the church in this event is malefic beyond understanding outside of the actual experience. . . Cu...

I struggled with the wording of the title of this article.  After several false starts, I distilled the issue down to the title I have chosen.  Can there be a more important question?  It is a starkly black and white issue.  It is not rightly a political question.  Yes obviously laws are on the books effecting whether abortions can be legally performed, but more fundamentally this is a moral issue, and as a practical matter, one which must be decided by each woman for herself.  Whether something is legal according to man’s law, has nothing to do with the correctness of it in the eyes of God.  Man’s law allows many things which must to be avoided by the Christian. I am not interested in political correctness.  Many say, that as a man, I have no right to any opinion, but as a preacher of the Word of God, I have a responsibility to educate, and illuminate. . . to speak the Truth regardless of how popular or unpopular it may be.  If I do not wa...