A New Creature. . . an Apostolic Pentecostal blog

Often I start my meetings at the jail with a question to the men, “Why are you at this meeting. . .What did you come looking for at this meeting tonight. . .” Several years ago a fellow confided to me that he had first come to a church meeting in the jail for the express purpose trying to steal a pen. He was touched by the Lord that evening and was later baptized in Jesus name. I saw him again several years later and he was still living for the Lord. His walk with the Lord began with his sinful desire to come to a church service and steal a pen. My first visit to a church, over ten years ago now, was to say thank you to the church that had prayed for me during my then recent heart surgery. I had no desire to learn more of God. I had no interest in worship or holiness or repenting of my sinful lifestyle. I came through the church doors, that first Sunday of June 2000 only to say thanks for an act of kindness that I did not even believe in. Recently our church had a block party in...

Reading today in Exodus for my daily devotions. Exodus is the book of the Bible where the Hebrew people, led by Moses, depart from Egypt. The leaving of Egypt was a physical occurrence. It was a historical event, but as many things in the Bible there was a heavily symbolic meaning to the historical event. Egypt is a metaphor of and symbol for the non-religious world. The 40 year journey of the Hebrews from Egypt through the wilderness of Sin and finally to the promised land, is a journey from the world of sin and fleshly appetites into the presence of God. After receiving the commandments of God for a second time, Moses comes back to the people and tells them everything which God has given him. Moses received the Law and the Commandments, and he also received a very detailed plan from God, for the temple the Hebrews were to use to worship and minister to God while they journeyed through the wilderness. It was very detailed, mind numbingly so. For verse after verse. . .chapter aft...

Matthew 3:1-6 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 4 And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, 6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. What comes into your mind upon hearing the word, “biker”? Someone a bit unconventional?. . .someone who doesn’t fit into the cultural norm? A free spirit? Someone not overly concerned with the opinions of others? Not a polished person. . .not a person of gentle flavors and hues, but a bold flavor-filled, pungent, strongly independent minded. . .a radically free spirit. . . Ent...

I speak not to your flesh, with its malignant hungers and desires. I speak not to your mind, with its corrosive pride and rebelliousness. I speak to your Soul, that everlasting spiritual part of you, which will eternally live with the consequences of the actions of your flesh and your mind. You Soul. . .You need to take command. Long after the shell of this body is dust. . .ages after your mind has succumbed to dementia and unconsciousness, cloaked by the false escape of death, you will remain, forever remembering and reliving each day of life, replaying each minute of each day of your life on this earth. . .far too late for repentance. . .ages after forgiveness can be granted. . .painful wishful aching remorse. . .rivers of eyeless tears shed in the horror of suffocating darkness. . .endless and hopeless weeping for a life lived and relived. . .again and again replayed. . .vividly minutely remembering, your rebellion and denial of God. Long ages after the lust of the flesh has fade...

Genesis 18:20-21 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. . . Genesis 18:32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. God’s hearing was filled with the cries of the victims of the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah. He heard again and again the pain and anguish resulting from the violence and depraved acts committed by these people. God knows the number of hairs upon the heads of every man, every woman, every child on earth. He intimately knows the number of hairs upon the heads of every unborn child. He surely knows the exact number of feathers on every bird and the precise number of scales upon each fish in the sea. . . Do you seriously think that...

Written to my unbelieving past. . . Almost Anything. . . You would try (almost) anything. . . You would seek (almost) anything. . . You would believe in (almost) anything. . . You would trust (almost) anything. . . You would read about (almost) anything. . . You would study (almost) anything. . . You would listen to (almost) anything. . . You would talk to (almost) anything. . . You would make promises about (almost) anything. . . You would weep about (almost) anything. . . You would celebrate (almost) anything. . . You would worship (almost) anything. . . You would have faith in (almost) anything. . . You would devote yourself to (almost) anything. . . You would love (almost) anything. . . . . .as long as the almost anything. . . . . . . . . . was not All Mighty God. . . .

The Bible and Jesus are under attack. Dark forces within our world want them destroyed, but where is the news in that? There is no change in that agenda, since the days of Jesus. Jesus was crucified. Bibles have been banned and burned through all of history, but in the past it was the unbelievers who were our opposition. Today both Jesus and the Bible are being attacked, most seriously from wolves in sheep’s clothing. Jesus spoke of them: Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. False prophets are dangerous for their similarity to genuine prophets. By all external evidence, false prophets appear to be genuine Holy men and women of God. These imposters camouflage their words of death and destruction, by hiding under the skins of dead sheep. From his first words to mankind through Eve, Satan attacked the Word of God. He convinced Eve that the Word of God did not mean what Eve had understood it to be....