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Messages
by Stephen Lungu with Anne Coomes
Stephen Lungu was born in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) to a teenage mother whose parents had arranged her marriage to a 50-year-old man. He suffered a bleak childhood in a township near Salisbury, and when Stephen was seven his father left to marry his fourth wife. Shortly thereafter, his mother abandoned him in a marketplace, placing his baby sister in his arms and instructing him to care for John, his five-year-old brother. The lonely trio shuffled off to live with various members of the extended family, who were disgruntled with their new charges.
At 11 years of age Stephen decided that he’d had enough. He ran away, preferring life on the streets to the torment of living in his aunt’s chicken coop. Sleeping under bridges and eating from white men’s garbage bins, he soon found a twisted sense of belonging when he joined the Black Shadows, an urban gang of youths. Local political agitators, who opposed the white government, supplied gangs like the Black Shadows with guns, petrol bombs, and other weapons and ordered them to cause as much trouble as possible.
One evening in the spring of 1962, Stephen and his gang were on their way to bomb a Salisbury bank when they discovered a tent meeting led by South African Christians. Carrying bags of petrol bombs through the unsuspecting crowd, they changed their plans….
South African Christians! My, oh my! It would have been a crime to ignore this opportunity. I turned to my gang. “Hey, nothing good comes from South Africa. It is full of segregation and apartheid. Why should such people come here to Rhodesia to preach about their God? They’ve really come to brainwash us black people, to make us too soft to fight for our freedom.”
They nodded angrily, and a plan began to form. Hastily I continued: “These Christians, they need a lesson. Tonight we’ll give it to them—let’s blow them up!
“At 7 p.m. I will whistle and everybody throw their stones and petrol bombs into the tent entrance,” I said. They grinned in anticipation. “I want everyone inside that tent to die.”
I liked the feeling of power and did not think twice about the terror and injuries I intended to inflict.
We had five minutes. “Let’s go in and see what’s going on,” I suggested. “We’ll stay for only two minutes.”
And so the 12 of us entered the tent and found the bench at the very back free, almost as if it had been reserved for us. They were still singing choruses, and we laughingly joined in—singing deliberately off key to annoy people.
Then the singing suddenly stopped. We were about to leave when a man stood up on the platform. “We have a girl here whose life has been changed, even on the streets of Soweto,” he said. “She will now share her testimony as to how Jesus came into her life. Her name is Rebecca Mpongose.”
A girl? Preaching? We were astonished and sat in confusion. A woman addressing a tent meeting was unheard of!
A lovely young woman approached the microphone and began to speak. “I am Rebecca Mpongose from Soweto in South Africa,” she began politely.
For a moment I was too flabbergasted to hear another thing she was saying. I had never seen such a woman “preach” in my life, and to have such a beautiful young woman talking to such pathetic people as Christians seemed a crime against nature.
But I couldn’t deny her radiance, and at this point I was so curious that I began to listen. She was talking about some friend of hers, Jesus, and how when she had found Him her life had really begun—His love had transformed everything. There was a strange uncanny authority and resonance with which she spoke of forgiveness and a new start in life, and I suddenly felt dirty and shabby.
I leaned forward, entranced by her and the joy she had. It was so obviously real that it moved me deeply and I yearned for it.
The gang was getting restless. “Let’s go,” Edson whispered.
“Another two minutes, please!” I whispered impatiently. My friends rolled their eyes in exasperation as they settled uneasily on the bench. I turned back to listen to the girl, but she was just finishing.
“I want you to listen to what this man, Shadrach Maloka, an evangelist from South Africa, has to say.” She gave another blinding smile and stepped to one side as a tall black man walked across to the front of the platform.
Charm Turns to Thunder
This would have been the natural point for me to turn and give the signal, but I still paused, ignoring the group’s growing irritation. The charm of the girl lingered, and I was momentarily curious to hear if this preacher would say anything about this Jesus who could command such devotion from such a beautiful girl. I suppose that I expected the man to radiate the same joy.
Not a bit of it.
Slowly this Shadrach Maloka stepped up to the microphone and gazed out over the many hundreds of people. He had a commanding presence and poise. But he simply stared at us. Then without any warning he thundered:
“Romans 6:23 says, ‘The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ And 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, ‘For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.’”
I jumped, as did many people. What a rude guy, I thought indignantly. Not so much as a hello.
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I was about to turn away and give my signal when I realized that the preacher had become silent again. His eyes searched the crowd like moral spotlights, but he did not say another word.
Utter silence. He stood motionless. In the quiet his first words still rang in my head: “The wages of sin is death….”
Through my mind flashed all the evil things I had done of late, all the hatred I had shown. No one had to tell me I was going to die as I had lived: in evil and misery. My mind flashed back to my family: how I hated my father and mother and aunts. My mind flashed forward to my present lifestyle of violence and robbery and hatred of everyone outside my gang.
And then, this man’s face began to crumple up. His great dark eyes filled with tears. He was crying! Well, I was astounded. I’d been prepared for ranting and raving, and would have shut my mind to it. But nothing had prepared me for this.
Chills galloped in little groups up and down my spine. And then at last the man began to speak again.
“I am crying. I am crying because the Holy Spirit has told me that many people here tonight may die without Christ.”
I gasped. How did he know about our gang and the petrol bombs? I nearly dropped the paper bag with the bottles of petrol I was holding. Meanwhile, the preacher was speaking again. “Many of you are in grave danger,” he thundered. “These are violent times. You may die soon.”
His utter assurance could only mean one thing—someone must have warned him about me. But how? Anyway, there was no time to lose. I fumbled in my bag to prepare my homemade bombs. I was ready now and about to tell my gang to get out quick.
But the preacher was talking again. “If you work for one company, you get your wages from that company. You can’t get it from another. If you work for the devil, you will get his wages: death. And all of you deserve the wages of the devil—death!”
Suddenly Shadrach Maloka’s voice turned to a booming threat. He jabbed at the crowd with an accusing finger. “For all of you have sinned. You have cheated. You have lied. You have harmed people.”
Jab, jab, jab went that finger. I flinched and thought of the people I had attacked. It seemed that the preacher was pointing directly at me, as if he knew every bad thing I had ever done.
The Jesus Transaction
Then, quite suddenly, the preacher shifted his ground yet again. He was speaking now of Jesus, in tones of warmth and compassion. This Jesus, it seemed, had lived long ago and had seen a thing or two. He was not a big ruler, but poor and powerless and from an oppressed race, like us. He had no home and no money, and nobody really understood Him. But He had tremendous power all the same, and knew the secret of life, and healed people who were sick. He had finished by being murdered by those whom He had come to save, and because of His death, He had made peace with God for us. Because of Him, any one of us could have eternal life with Him.
The preacher then repeated 2 Corinthians 8:9 and suddenly I began to understand what Christianity was all about. It was for someone like me! I could identify with this Jesus. He had suffered in all the ways that I knew so well. But the amazing thing was, He had not needed to know such suffering—but He had accepted it in His love for me. He had come to earth for my sake, to pay the price for my sins. My wages were death, but Jesus paid the price for me. On the cross He had become a nobody that I could become a somebody.
The preacher was now saying that anyone who wanted could have this Jesus. I could exchange my poverty and sin for Jesus’ love and riches. The transaction that Jesus was offering me suddenly became clear. Tears for all the pain, loneliness, self-hatred, and fear I had known coursed down my cheeks. If this great burden could not be removed by this Jesus, I no longer wanted to live.
I wanted nothing in the world but to be delivered of this intolerable burden of pain and hurt and evil that haunted me. So clutching my bag of petrol bombs, I stumbled through the little group of people around me and began to make my way forward.
I’d never heard of “repentance” and “forgiveness.” The preacher simply said it was possible to exchange my poverty for Jesus’ riches, and this was what I wanted. The preacher’s eyes flickered when he saw me coming forward, but he was in his stride now and simply preached on. A moment later I reached the front. My knees gave out, and I slumped in front of him. (I learned later that my gang thought I was about to attack and kill the preacher!) With a brief glance down at me, crying and crushed at his feet, Shadrach Maloka took a deep breath—and continued preaching!
Trapped in the Eye of a Hurricane
A moment later an avalanche of stones flew into the tent. People screamed in panic, and chaos broke out.
An explosion followed as a petrol bomb was flung onto the outside canvas of the tent, setting it ablaze. Little sheets of flame sprang up, but fortunately did not spread. A moment later dozens of stones were hurled. I turned in horror. Had my friends gone ahead without me? I learned later that the tension whipped up in that morning’s political rally had exploded, and violence had broken out across the whole township.
The preacher stood still on the platform. Trembling, I knelt beside him. His face was drawn, but composed. He closed his eyes and I realized that he was praying.
More shouts and trampling feet followed. The preacher and I were trapped in the eye of a hurricane of violence. The government had sent in a riot squad to quell the trouble that was engulfing the township that night. Outside looked like a vision of hell.
Suddenly aware of me, the preacher—his dark eyes filled with grief and sadness—gently asked, “Young man, what can I do for you?”
I looked around me. Everywhere fear and violence, and yet here in the tent, calm voices sang and prayed to Jesus. It was an illustration of my whole existence. In the midst of my frenzied hate, I had stumbled across an oasis of love and peace. I wanted it. I wanted Jesus.
“Can your Jesus save even someone like me?”
“Yes,” he said. “Jesus died for you. God loves you.”
God loves me! Why bring Him into it? What had God ever done for me? He had left me to nearly starve. I felt angry with God, and so I reacted in my usual headstrong fashion. “Preacher, you tell me that God loves me, and I will kill you right now!” I fumbled for my knife. “I don’t want to hear about God, but I want you to tell me about Jesus.”
The preacher blinked and then looked me over with grave consideration. My little bag of petrol bombs was taken into account. Then he said gently, “Young man, suppose you tell me about yourself first, and why you want this Jesus.”
So I began to tell him about me. At first it came out in ragged bits and then, as I felt less self-conscious, I poured out my story, with all the pain and hurt. It was the first time anyone had ever asked me about myself —and ever wanted to hear.
I told about my unhappy family. My father’s hatred and rejection of me, the breakup of my parents, and the awful day when my mother had abandoned me. I relived the panic and desperation I had felt. The pain of feeling that everyone in the world who knew me hated me, that there was no one to turn to.
To my astonishment, the preacher began to cry. He continued to weep as I told of my nights under the bridge, my constant search for food in the stinking dustbins, my becoming a gang member, my fear….
God's Answer for Rejection
He looked at me with the strangest expression in his eyes. It was compassion. This really melted my heart. No one had ever before cared at all for me. That this stranger should have enough feeling for me to cry for my misery was like the love of Jesus Christ shining down on me.
When at last I’d finished my story, he paused, and then said gently, “Young man, I shall now tell you a story. Many years ago there was a 14-year-old girl who became pregnant. People asked her who was responsible, and she pointed out the young man. But he refused all responsibility. He did not want the child. The child was born, and the girl did not want it either. Two weeks later she wrapped the baby in a towel and stuffed it into the toilet and ran away. A woman nearby heard little sounds. She investigated and found the baby drowning in the toilet. She rushed it to the hospital and the child survived.
“Young man, I was that child. I never again saw my mother. I have no idea who she was. And I have no idea who my father was. Like you, neither of them ever wanted me.”
I stared at him in utter astonishment. This was not possible. This man bore all the signs of being loved and secure within himself. Where had this come from?
The preacher was turning over some pages in his Bible. “I want to read something to you,” he said, “that sums up people like you and me. It is a promise from God and His Son, Jesus Christ, to people like us. It is from Psalm 27:10: ‘When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.’”
The words rang in my head: “The Lord will take me up. The Lord will take me up.” This man was loved by somebody—the Lord had taken him up.
“You see,” the man went on. “God and Jesus are the same thing. Jesus is God’s Son. Jesus was simply God on earth. God has promised: ‘When your father and mother forsake you, the Lord will take you up.’ The people who adopted me named me Mohaneo—rejected one. That is how I felt throughout my childhood. Rejected by everyone, especially my mother. But in 1947, when I found Jesus, I was given a new name, Shadrach, by the missionaries. Shadrach was a man in the Old Testament whom God saved out of great tribulation, when everyone else had forsaken him. And I have learned that Jesus does not reject me. The Lord has taken me up.”
Hearing this verse was the changing point of my life. I felt for the first time that love from God was not impossible, that it could make sense even in my life. Here was a faith big enough to embrace the reality of the pain I had known, and still offer a way out. No one was denying that I had indeed been rejected and had been in misery. But now God was saying to me: “But I am here and I will take you up. I love you.”
I knelt to approach God for the first time in my life. I did not know quite how to say it, but for the first time I realized God loved me and was waiting for me.
“God,” I cried, “I have nothing. I am nothing. I can’t read. I can’t write.” My total inadequacy choked me. “My parents don’t want me. Take me up, God, take me up. I’m sorry for the bad things I’ve done. Jesus, forgive me, and take me now.”
Immediately I felt as if a heavy burden had rolled off my back. There was a tremendous rush of relief and peace. I was astonished by the joy that flowed through me—a thrown-away child among the millions of Africa. But Jesus had found me.
From Out of the Black Shadows by Stephen Lungu with Anne Coomes. Copyright © 2001 Anne Coomes. Published by Monarch Books, London. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Stephen Lungu is an international evangelist working with African Enterprise. He and his family are currently living in Malawi, Africa, where Stephen leads an African Enterprise missions team.
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It's Not a Pride Thing;
It's a Hunger Thing
By Tommy Tenney
I used to pursue preaching good sermons and great crowds,
and attempt great accomplishments for Him. But I've been
ruined. Now I'm a God chaser. Nothing else matters anymore.
I tell you that as your brother in Christ. I love you. But I love Him
more. I couldn't care less about what other people or ministers think
about me, I'm going after God. That's not a pride thing; It's a hunger
thing. When you pursue God with all your heart, soul, and body, He
will turn to meet you and you will come out of it ruined for the world.
Good things have become the enemy of the best things. I chal-
lenge you and release you right now as you read these words to let
your heart be broken by the Holy Ghost. It's time for you to make
your life holy. Quit watching what you used to watch: quit reading
what you used to read if you are reading it more than you read His
Word. He must be your first and greatest hunger.
If you are contented and satisfied, then I'll leave you alone and
you can safely put down this book at this point and I won't ever
bother you again. But if you are hungry, I have a promise from the
Lord for you. He said, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness: for they shall be filled." (NKJV Mt. 5:6)
Our problem is that we have never really been hungry. We have
allowed things of this realm to satisfy our lives and satiate our
hunger. We have come to God week after week, year after year, just
to have Him fill in the little empty spaces. I tell you that God is tired
of being "second place" to everything else in our lives. He is even
tired of being second to the local church program and church life!
Everything good, including the things your local church does--
from feeding the poor, to rescuing babies at the pregnancy counsel-
ing center, to teaching the kids in the Sunday school classes--should
flow from the presence of God. Our primary motivating factor should
be, "We do it because of Him and because it is His heart." But if
we're not careful, we can get so caught up in doing things for Him
that we forget about Him.
You can get so caught up in being "religious" that you never
become spiritual. It doesn't matter how much you pray. (Pardon me
for saying this, but you can be lost, not even knowing God, and still
have a prayer life.) I don't care how much you know about the Bible,
or what you know about Him. I'm asking you, "Do you know Him?"
I'm afraid that we have satiated our hunger for Him by reading
old love letters from Him to the churches in the Epistles of the New
Testament. These are good, holy, and necessary, but we never have
intimacy with Him. We have stifled our hunger for His presence by
doing things for Him.
A husband and wife can do things FOR each other while never
really loving each other. They can go through childbirth classes
together, have kids, and share a mortgage, but never enjoy the high
level of intimacy that God ordained and designed for a marriage (and
I'm not just talking about sexual things). Too often we live on a lower
plane than what God intended for us, so when He unexpectedly
shows up in His power, we are shocked. Most of us are simply not
prepared to see "His train fill the temple."
The Holy Spirit may already be speaking to you. If you are bare-
ly holding back the tears, then let them go. I ask the Lord, right now,
to awaken an old, old hunger that you have almost forgotten. Perhaps
you used to feel this way in days gone by, but you've allowed other
things to fill you up and replace that desire for His presence.
In Jesus' name, I release you from dead religion into spiritual
hunger, this very moment. I pray that you get so hungry for God that
you don't care about anything else.
I think I see a flickering flame. He will "fan" that.
***********************************************************************************************************************
God Rest Her Soul
Madalyn Murray O'Hair's efforts to promote atheism usually produced only disbelief.
BY PHILIP TERZIAN
Sunday, March 25, 2001 12:01 a.m. EST
A curious chapter in American history was closed earlier this month when the FBI revealed that the bones of Madalyn Murray O'Hair had been dug up and identified in Texas. O'Hair, the famous nonbeliever whose lawsuit ultimately led the Supreme Court to ban prayer in public schools, had been kidnapped (along with a son and a granddaughter) and forced to withdraw $500,000 from the account of her organization, American Atheists Inc., before being murdered, dismembered and dumped on a ranch. It was a grisly climax to a life that was, in many respects, the stuff of comic relief.
If, as some maintain, Americans will do almost anything to achieve celebrity, O'Hair was a home-grown eccentric in the grand tradition. Billing herself as "the most hated woman in America," she transformed her 1963 legal triumph into a lifelong crusade against belief in God.
No motel conference, late-night talk show or gathering of free thinkers was too unimportant for the founder of American Atheists Inc. But better than preaching to the converted, she relished the notion of offending the faithful. She was never happier than when religious organizations passed resolutions condemning her labors, or prayed for her salvation. When her estate was auctioned off two years ago, it included a Bible that had been mailed to her from a Baptist congregation in Oklahoma.
It is often claimed that faith is under siege in America, and you can argue that the courts are sometimes hostile to religion. But the naked eye has trouble finding evidence of the crisis. In every opinion poll, the great preponderance of Americans express belief in God, and a solid majority claim to attend church on a regular basis.
Whether people are sincere about what they tell pollsters, I cannot say; but by almost any standard, this is a deeply pious country. There were more clergymen at President Bush's inauguration than you would find at a meeting of Republican Episcopal bishops. You cannot criticize Rome without being reminded that anti-Catholicism is the anti-Semitism of the intellectuals. A non-Jewish comedian would think twice before telling a joke about a rabbi. And the U.S. Postal Service is about to issue a stamp in honor of Islam.
For those who believe that the modern decline in national morality began with Madalyn Murray O'Hair and her blow against school prayer, it must be comforting to learn that O'Hair saw things quite differently. In the 1980s, for some reason, I was on the mailing list of American Atheists Inc., whose militant newsletter was a chronicle of frustration. O'Hair was forever instituting unsuccessful lawsuits against cities that tolerated Christmas displays, or television stations that broadcast preachers. She spent many an unhappy hour crossing "In God we trust" off two-dollar bills, which she autographed and sold as souvenirs.
The newsletter featured her occasional public appearances and reported on atheist conventions around the country. Such conventions would be better described as informal gatherings and, based on the photographic highlights, showed O'Hair flanked by men with goatees and a few folding tables weighted down with brochures.
O'Hair was beating against the current, and she knew it. It should come as no surprise to learn that, based on the entries in her diary, she was something of a tortured soul and worshipped material things. She longed to possess a mink coat, a Cadillac and the opportunity to "humiliate Billy Graham on television." (He never rose to the bait.) Each new year she resolved to achieve great things and conquer the world for unbelief, but by springtime she was deep in the slough of despond, blaming Jews, homosexuals and blacks for her distress. And then, at age 76, she was killed.
Is there a God? As a good Episcopalian, I prefer to keep my religious opinions to myself. But it was also announced last week that her bones will be turned over to O'Hair's estranged son, William Murray, who is a born-again Christian and evangelist, for burial. That Baptist congregation in Oklahoma will be relieved.
Mr. Terzian is a Washington-based columnist for the Providence Journal.
SILENCING SATANIC STORMS
Dr. D. K. Olukoya
We are starting this message by reading two scriptures that are common: Mark 4:34-41,
But without a parable spake he not unto them and when they were alone he expounded all things to His disciples. And the same day when the even was come he said unto them, let us pass over unto the other side. They did not decide to pass over by themselves. Jesus said let us pass over. Their passing over has divine approval. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship; And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of waves and the winds beat into the ship so that it was not full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship asleep on a pillow, although the ship was filled with water. And they awake him and said unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, peace be still. And the wind, ceased and there was a great calm. And he said unto them why are ye so fearful; how is it that you have no faith. And they feared exceedingly; and they said one to another, What manner of man is this? That even the wind and the sea obey him.
(In like manner shall every storm present in your life be paralysed, in Jesus' name). In the book of Matthew 8:23-26, we find the same story:
And when he was entered into a ship, the disciples followed him, and behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea in so much that the ship was covered with the waves, but he was asleep. And the disciples came unto him, and awoke him, saying Lord, save us; we perish. And he said unto them, why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
Now, from these two passages, we understand that Jesus rebuked the wind.
The word 'rebuked' used here is the same language that Jesus used for demons, sickness, powers of darkness, etc. He addressed the storm as if he was addressing a human being. It translates "to be silenced" or put in the proper Greek meaning, it means, to be "muzzled." The muzzle is something you put in the mouth of a horse to keep it from eating or causing trouble. He told the storm to be muzzled.
Life, as you know is a mystery. There are powers that govern the universe and lack of understanding of these powers could lead to all kinds of problem. It sometimes makes the difference between success and failure. Life experiences can be very bitter and sometimes very sweet and it is filled with motions and counter-motions.
We say that one man’s food is another man’s poison. Your most important desire may be hurtful to another person.
This is what we call the battle of life. For example, when some people wake up, they make positive statements, while others make contrary statements to counter the positive ones without meaning any harm.
For example, a farmer prays for rain to fall so that his crop can grow, he can sell them and be able to meet his responsibilities. But a footballer who wants to play in a match would pray that the rain should not fall. Both of them are praying to counter each other. A contractor too would pray that rain should not fall at his site so that he can complete his work, and consequently collect his money. The man who builds coffins prays to prosper, but you and I will say, "I shall not die but live to declare the works of God."
So our good intentions are often countered: that is the battle of life. A medical doctor prays to have patients, but nobody prays to be sick. The lawyer wants business, meaning that he wants more people to get into trouble. And the prison warder too will be jobless if nobody goes to jail. This is why the world is full of trials and tribulations, such that princes are converted to those who run after horses.
Satan has converted those who should be ruling to those who draw water and cut woods. This is why we need to know what to do when the storms come.
As Christians attending churches, the most sought after thing is our peace. Once peace is withdrawn, every other thing becomes useless. If you go to the bar beach at night, you will find people having their bath, just to have or recover their lost peace.
You find people hiding all kinds of charm underneath their garments because they are looking for peace. The devil knows that man is looking for peace. Jesus Himself is the Prince of peace. Therefore, the first thing the devil likes to steal from people is peace. And when this has been stolen, storms will come.
Let us look at the characteristics of the storms of life.
It does not discriminate. I will give you an example of somebody’s testimony in our fellowship. Somewhere close to his reproductive organ was a swelling which had been there for over ten years. It constituted a big problem, and he went to the doctors, but the doctors could not understand the nature of his sickness.
One day, after we had closed at a meeting , we gave the following prayer point to our members to pray when they get home: "Any evil deposit in my body, get out, in the name of Jesus." So he got home and prayed. To his amazement by the next morning, that swollen place burst and things began to come out. When the brother looked at these things closely, he found out that they were alligator pepper. Now the question is, how did alligator pepper get into his body? It is part of what we are talking about, it comes upon every man.
Another sister was doing very well until her mother died. Immediately the mother died, the father married another wife, and her storms started.
It is a very rude visitor. It won’t tell anyone how and when it will come. There will be no warning. So since it is a rude visitor, we have to know how to handle its visitation.
It does not want to know whether you attended Cambridge or Oxford University. As a matter of fact, chains of degrees do not bother it.
I used to have a friend who was in the civil service for a long time, and by the time he retired, he received a gratuity of half a million naira. Some tricksters found out about the money and decided to dupe him.
They set a trap for him and he fell headlong into it. They told him about some currency note negatives that could be forged with some expensive chemical solutions to make more money. They convinced him beyond any doubt that if he gave them half of his gratuity which was N250,000.00 for the purchase of the expensive chemical solutions, he would receive a sum of N84 million. He fell for their bait and they duped him. As a matter of fact, he almost lost his life in the process. The storms never respect age, experience or years put into service.
What you are facing as a storm may not be what another person is facing. What you consider as a problem, may not be so to another person.
When the storms come, your friends may be unhelpful or even add to your problem.
A long time ago, a couple went to the court asking for divorce, the man was seventy years old. The presiding magistrate was quite surprised that such an old couple who had been married for thirty five years could seek for divorce. One thing which the magistrate did not know was that whenever the storm chooses to blow, even age cannot stop its movement.
It is a stark illiterate. It will be advisable therefore to confront it with hard and aggressive prayers. Gentle prayers cannot help anyone who is battling against the storms of life.
It could be so much that you would be wondering why such a thing should happen to you.
The storms of life can make you better or bitter. It could either make or mar you.
The storms of life, and indeed satanic storms will defy all voices apart from one. The only voice they cannot disobey is the voice of Jesus.
You may then ask the following questions. How does the satanic storm come? What is its origin?
Satanic storms that confront human beings can come from about eight sources. The fact to note here is that if you cannot discern where the storm is coming from, you will not be able to address it.
I remember the case of a sister, who was 42 years old as of the time I met her. She was married with four children. But there had never been any peace in her matrimonial home. It got so bad that her own four children and husband would beat her up. The four children even advised their father to marry another wife who would be able to deal ruthlessly with their mother. The man heeded their advice and married another wife. Whenever there was trouble thereafter, six people would beat up the sister.
The sister then found herself in a serious mess. She therefore became determined to seek for solution whenever she could get it. Thank God that she sought divine assistance through the right way. One day, she attended a prayer meeting and the prayer point given to her was for God to reveal the secret of her problem to her.
The prayer point was "O Lord, reveal to me the secret behind my problem." She had become a sick person in the spirit realm. And for her to know what to apply to solve the spiritual problem, she needed a diagnosis. So she prayed a one-hour prayer, from 12 midnight to 1 a.m. For one hour she prayed only one prayer point!
Some of us will have to pray a single prayer point 3000 times before we get results. Why? The problems have been with us for years, with deep roots. Many people will require two hundred blows to even make appreciable impact on a problem.
The sister prayed quite aggressively. As she prayed very hard, she saw in a vision, a tall man in white garment who asked her if she was really serious about knowing the secret behind her problems. She answered affirmatively that she would want the angel to reveal the secret behind her problems.
The response of the angel was shocking. The angel told her that her parents caused the problem. That her father and mother are closely related; they come from the same family and should not have married, but they did, which is an abomination. She found that out at the age of 42. Then the angel disappeared, but standing like a colossus from the very spot where the angel had appeared was a big Iroko tree.
The woman again saw somebody carrying a small baby by the Iroko tree, but she didn’t understand the vision. After that, she couldn’t sleep and by six a.m., she got up and ran to her parents to confirm whether or not what she saw in her visions were true. To her uttermost surprise, her parents confirmed that they were true. They confirmed that both of them were related, but that they married in error in England.
Before they could realise that they were related, they had completed their marriage ceremony. It was an abomination. As if the damage was not enough, the parents of the sister also confirmed that they cut the hair of the sister when she was a baby in England, and consequently sent it to Nigeria to be deposited by an Iroko tree. Storms indeed. If you are in such storms, I pray that the storms will be paralysed today, in Jesus’ name.
So many people are in the wrong environment. God wanted them somewhere else but unfortunately they are in the wrong place.
An environmental influence could put the lid on somebody’s progress and the person may not be able to move as expected. From the testimonies of people you discover that some people’s progress die as soon as they moved into some houses.
Without doubt, many people have unfriendly friends who they ignorantly consider as reliable people but they are not. They are enemies in disguise, and can therefore influence a person for evil. Storms could readily come from them.
There is a divine destiny for everyone and at the same time, there is satanic destiny. Many people follow satanic destiny as a result of the evil things that the devil has planned for them.
This is when the person involved is the one responsible for his or her own problems.
I can never forget the story of my friend, a man of God, who found out that he was not making much progress. So he prayed aggressively saying, "O Lord, I want You to deal with my enemies, disgrace, paralyse, and destroy them, and send fire, thunder and brimstone on them, in the name of Jesus."
He prayed aggressively with three days dry fast. Something happened on the third day, he just felt a whip lashing on his back, he wrongfully rejoiced for he thought God had brought His whip to deal with the enemies. He then told the Spirit of God to use the whip against the enemy and not on him. Before he could finish saying the prayer, he had another round of beating. Then he screamed out saying, why are you whipping me?
Only then did the voice of God speak to him, telling him that he was his own enemy, causing problems for himself.
There are some people like that who are waging war against themselves. They have simply decided to wage war against themselves. Imagine someone who could not manage one wife going ahead to marry seven of them, war! Out of the seven wives three are witches, two are from the water, and only one is attending a church. The other one does not even know where she belongs.
People can be antagonised spiritually. Many of our educated people are so naive. They assure that as long as they do not offend anybody, nothing can harm them. How wrong they are.
The personal decision of anybody to make progress is enough to warrant the antagonism of the evil powers. The only people who don’t have enemies are those who are aimless and without any purpose in life.
One other fact that must be understood is that as long as anyone is born of a woman same must have enemies. Jesus Himself had enemies. The only problem was that His enemies made a mistake by nailing Him to the cross.
A lot of people are operating under wicked burden of curses and covenants. Curses could run within a family for decades on end. Such curses and covenants can mar, destroy and paralyse the prayers of many generations.
If a curse or evil covenant is on the marital life of a family, both the men and women of that family will find it difficult to marry.
Strong curses and covenants can limit people’s advancement and can even stop them at the edge of their breakthroughs.
By the time you remove household wickedness from the problem of the blackman, he has only about 10 percent of the problems left.
This is what the devil has been using to wage war against people. When the storms come, money cannot help.
The late American millionaire called Rocky Feller was so rich that he could buy up a whole city. But he got to a stage during his life when the only thing he could eat was cracker biscuit and milk. Although he was prosperous, but in reality he was poor.
A person can have millions in the bank, but if he has cancer, he is poor indeed! The cancer will eliminate him and render everything he has useless.
So, if you are reading this message and you find that things are happening that you cannot explain, you should silence the storms today.
If you find that instead of going forward, you are going backward, there is a storm to silence.
If you notice that those who do not merit success, are excelling more than you and you the superior is being made inferior, there is a war to fight.
If you notice that you have a fresh problem that is becoming stubborn, and does not want to go away, then you have a battle to fight.
When men who should be winners are failing, then there is a battle to fight.
When somebody is being governed by powers contrary to his or her will, there is a battle to fight.
When there is sudden hatred between husband and wife, there is a battle to fight.
When a brilliant student sometimes becomes dull during examination, there is a battle to fight.
When a normally happy person becomes unhappy, there is a battle to fight.
When an obedient child suddenly becomes disobedient, there is a battle to fight.
When a rich person is suddenly turning poor, there is a battle to fight.
When you are being enslaved by a habit that you cannot control, there is a battle to fight.
If you fail to receive divine revelations concerning your life, and you don’t even know what God wants you to do, then there is a battle to fight.
But when you are fighting the battle and silencing the storms, the wrong people to go are what the Bible calls wolves.
A lot of people take the battle of their lives to wolves. 90 percent of those who go to church in this country, to the best of my knowledge, need deliverance. Christians need deliverance more than any group of people. So many people erroneously believe that deliverance is for witches and wizards alone. I must state with all emphasis that the deliverance of witches and wizards are easier than deliverance for example, from the spirit of fornication! Somebody who is fornicating has sexual problems, and to deliver such a person is more difficult than the deliverance of a witch.
Deliverance is a spiritual process by which you can remove all the ladder through which the enemies climb into your life. When you destroy the ladder, they cannot come in again.
When I was teaching in the University, I counselled a particular lady to go for deliverance because she needed to. She refused to listen to me particularly as she claimed to be born-again.
Then tragedy struck: she failed all her papers. Then she rushed to me to help her in any way I could. But as I was trying to find out how she could be helped, she started giving me startling revelations. She said she was planted in that University to initiate people because of the closeness of the place to the sea.
But when she got to the campus, she found the gospel very interesting and she started to attend Christian meetings. She enjoyed the choruses, the Bible study and everything going on there. She got born again quiet alright. But the deeply entrenched things in her life needed to be removed.
Being born-again is a door way towards being completely delivered, and not deliverance itself.
If you notice that things are happening to you, that you cannot explain, like having strange dreams, eating and committing immorality in the dream, traveling to places you don't understand, then you know there is a battle to fight.
GET BORN - AGAIN - The first thing to do is to give your life to Jesus. It is for you to come to the realisation that you need the Saviour and for you to give your life to Him. And from that day, He will become the Lord of your life.
If you have not given your life to Jesus, do so now, going to church alone cannot make you a born again Christian. If you don’t take the first step, any other step you take will not work.
KNOW THE ORIGIN OF THE STORM - If you don’t know the origin of what you are fighting against, you will not succeed. You indeed have understand where the storm is coming from.
GET TO KNOW JESUS CHRIST - He is the Master of the storms, be close to Him. And when this happens, you will be able to face the storm.
LEARN SPIRITUAL WARFARE - Wars are fought and won in the spirit before the physical manifestation. It is the spirit that controls the physical. Once you solve it in the spirit, it is going to be okay.
We use the weapon of prayer to pull down strongholds. I will like to tell you that prayer is hard work, and you will discover why as you read on.
There are three heavens. The first heaven is the firmament, which we can see. The second heaven belong to the devil and his angels. The third heaven belongs to God that is where paradise is. When we pray, our prayers have to go up, passes through the headquarters of evil before getting to the third heaven. When the answers are coming too, they have to pass through this headquarters of evil before reaching us. So this is why prayer is hard work.
Lots of hindrances against peoples’ prayers come up at that level. Brother Daniel prayed for 21 days and his prayers were answered right on the first day, but there in the second heaven, was a temporary seizure of the answers to his prayers. But he persisted in prayer for 21 days, if he had stopped, that would have been the end of the miracle. He continued bombarding the place, until there was an outlet and he got what he wanted from the Lord.
Prayer is hard work, but nothing can stop the power of well-targeted aggressive prayers done in violent faith. That is why when the devil wants to destroy a person, he starts by paralysing his prayer life. Once the prayer strength is taken away, all other things are easy to take away. Let me share this testimony with you.
At a Christian meeting I attended, there was a sister who had never done any menstruation at the of 37. At that age, she had not experienced what she was supposed to have started as a teenager. But at that meeting, a prayer point was called that every owner of evil load should carry his or her load in the name of Jesus. The woman prayed hard and after seeing a vision in which the angel of the Lord assisted her, the owner of her evil load which was a dead old woman carried her evil load. Almost immediately blood started trickling down the legs of the sister.
God is still very much in the business of silencing satanic storms and restoring lost blessings.
But you must persist in prayer. I urge you therefore to pray the following prayer points with violent faith and divinely inspired aggression.
Lay your right hand on your head as you pray the following prayer points:
1. I fire back every arrow of the enemy, in the name of Jesus.
2. Every owner of evil load, carry you load now, in Jesus' name.
3. I refuse to serve my enemies, in the name of Jesus.
4. Every serpent and scorpion delegated against me, I trample upon you in the name of Jesus.
5. Every incantation uttered against me, become impotent in the name of Jesus.
6. I command every evil pronouncement targeted against my life to fall to the ground and die, in the name of Jesus.
7. I paralyse every strongman walking against my progress, in the name of Jesus.
8. Every household wickedness, lose your hold, in the name of Jesus.
9. I pursue, I overtake and I recover my properties from the hands of household wickedness, in the name of Jesus.
10. Every spirit of infirmity, go back to your sender, in the mighty name of Jesus.
11. Every satanic traffic warden diverting good things from me, be paralyzed in the name of Jesus.
12. I destroy all my personal walls of Jericho, in the name of Jesus.
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FAITH TO RAISE THE DEAD
By Todd Bentley
Today is the Day
John 11:1 –5 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister Mary and Lazarus.
He emphasizes it twice. Jesus loved Martha, loved her sister and loved Lazarus. He was passionately in love with Lazarus. He cared about all the needs of his life. When He heard that he was sick, about the depression, the impossible circumstances, and the impossible needs of Lazarus, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Lazarus was not just sick; He was on his deathbed. He did not need Jesus tomorrow; he needed Jesus yesterday. We are talking about an impossible circumstance.
There are dead ministries God wants to raise. There are dead visions that God wants to raise. There are people who are dead in their bodies with sickness and disease. God wants to raise the dead.
There are those who are giving up in their hearts right now. They are on the verge of financial breakthrough. Some who are called are giving up right now in the area of ministry in the vision of God and are on the verge of one of the most glorious days and releases of the anointing that they would ever walk in. How do we know that today is not the day for our miracle?
How do we know that the sun is not going to rise tomorrow? How do we know that today, for the infirmity that someone has had for thirty-eight years, will not be the day that God says, “Be made whole?”
We need to live every day of our lives with new mercies. We need to live every day of our lives as if today is the day. Today could be the day that He says, “Do you want to be made whole?”
Have you been in that place in your life where just when you thought the light and the breaking of the dawning of a new day was coming, and it could not get darker, it got darker? The car broke down, you lost your job, and you went, “That’s ok, I’ve got some money in the savings account”. And you got home and said, “OK Lord, if anything else is going to happen, I’m going to absolutely snap”. Then you find out that the other vehicle you had, your son crashed, and the washing machine broke down, and somebody robbed your bank. Your money is gone and they do not know if they are going to be able to get it back. It always seems like it gets darker before the light comes. Just when you think the light is going to come and that it cannot get any darker, all of a sudden it gets more impossible. Another hardship and another trial comes, and you say, “God I’m not going to be able to take any more”. The pressures of life mount up even more. Do you know what I am talking about? Are you at that place? Do you need something raised from the dead? Do you need a spiritual breakthrough? Are you ready for the release of resurrection power?
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Jesus’ Perspective
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John 11:7-15 Then after this He said to the disciples,
“Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?” Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. “But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.” And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him.”
Do you notice something about the perspective of Jesus? Lazarus was dead, but Jesus said he was sleeping. Was Jesus lying? God does not see our circumstances the way we see them. God does not see cancer and incurable diseases the way that we see them. God does not see the impossibilities of life the way that we see them.
In your heart, you may think your marriage is dead, your finances are dead, your ministry is dead, the anointing is dead, or your reputation is dead. You may have a vision in your heart that has died. There may have been a time when you dreamed about great exploits, and now your hope is dead.
The Lord said, “It is not dead, it is sleeping”. The perspective of God sees our present circumstances and needs different than we do. And if it is sleeping, “I go, that I may wake it up.” We need to speak to our situation and say it is not dead, it is sleeping. Though we have backslidden sons and daughters, and unsaved family, it does not mean that they are dead. To God, they are sleeping.
There is something about the heart of God that likes to move in the impossible. There is something about the heart of God that likes to move when something is dead. There is something about breakthrough and the dawning of a new day that comes when you are so dead and hopeless that you do not know if anything is going to be able to happen. That is when God is going to come. He said, “Lazarus is dead and I am glad for your sakes, that I was not there.” Why am I glad for your sakes? I am glad for your sakes that you might believe.
Every time that you are in a place where you no longer have the strength and the ability in your own giftings and theology, and you have come to the place where you are so empty and broken that you cannot move, say, “God says it is opportunity. That which is dead is opportunity for resurrection.” Martha said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” And Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” She said, “I know You are the resurrection and the life. My brother is going to rise. I am going to see him again at the Second Coming. I am going to see my brother again in heaven.” And Jesus said, “I AM!”…. “I AM!” …. “I AM!” Today He says, “I AM, right now, I Am the resurrection of that which is dead. I AM. Not, I am tomorrow. I AM the resurrection and the life.” And she said, “But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
Just like you and me. It is easy whenever we have victory under our belt. We are walking in the victory of God, or we are in the mountain of breakthrough. There is faith and assurance. We are speaking to the mountain and it is moving. Breakthrough is in our life. We are overcoming. We say, “God, whatever You ask, I’ll believe it. Lord, I have faith right now for the impossible. I have faith right now to move mountains. I can raise the dead!“
Have you been in the place where just when you have victory under your belt, the phone rings? Lazarus is dead. All hope that you had for your circumstance is dead. And God says, “I am glad”. Because it is not dead, it is sleeping. And if it is sleeping, I go that I may wake it up.
Martha said, “I know, even though I know my brother is dead, whatever You ask of God, He will give it to You. “ He said, “Your brother will rise again.” He said, “Let me see if you really believe what you say you believe. You say that whatever I ask of God, He is going to give it. Let me just test this thing and say, ‘Your brother is going to rise again’.”
We take the Word of God and put it in the future. “ I am going to be healed.” “I am going to die and go to heaven. Everything is always tomorrow. I am a “now” kind of a kingdom guy. Today is the day of salvation. If I saw it in the Word of God, it was yesterday, and I should have applied it already. I live in the place that if it is there, I am going to have it now. And that is why we have been able to come to where we are so quickly. We refuse to wait. I believe in the patience of God, and the timing of God, but there are certain things that I refuse to wait on. If I know it is “now”, if I know it was “yesterday”, I am not going to wait. I am going to have it today. I am going to do everything that I can to lay hold of that which Christ has laid hold of for me, until I see it.
If miracles are now, then I am going to have miracles. I am not going to wait. You are never going to have a healing ministry. You have a healing ministry. You are never going to have an evangelism ministry. You have an evangelism ministry. You are to win souls now. Too many evangelists I know in the body of Christ do not even remember the last time they prayed and led anyone to Jesus. And you are an evangelist? How can an evangelist not win souls? Whether you are an evangelist now or an evangelist in ten years, you were an evangelist when God ordained you in the womb. So start acting like one. I have this “Now, Kingdom” kind of idea. And we need to lay hold of that which God has laid hold of for us.
Jesus reached the tomb. Lazarus was dead for four days in the grave, and his body had begun to smell. “Jesus wept.” Do you know why Jesus wept? Some people believe that He wept because He had such a heart of compassion for Lazarus. He saw Martha, He saw Mary. He wept because He was grieving and mourning because Lazarus was dead.
Jesus was not weeping because of compassion. Jesus groaned in His Spirit and wept because of the state of unbelief of His people. When it really comes down to where the rubber hits the road and the Lord says to us, “I AM the Resurrection”, it is always tomorrow. We cannot lay hold of what God has for us now. But faith lays hold of the promise NOW!
“I hope I get healed.” “I hope its coming”. “I hope this is it, Todd” “I hope that was the word of knowledge.” God wants us to have hope. But do not allow your hope to be defined as “not until tomorrow.” Faith lays hold of things now. Faith takes it as if it is yours, even if you do not see it. That is the substance of faith.
He groaned in His Spirit because of the unbelief. They did not recognize the power that Jesus had over that which was dead and impossible. He looked at Martha after He had raised Lazarus from the dead and He said, “Did I not tell you that if you would believe, you would have seen the glory of God?” But you did not believe what you said you believed. So, I am glad that Lazarus is dead. Because now the deadness in Lazarus’ body is an opportunity for me to show you that what is impossible with man is not impossible with God.
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Levels of Healing Anointing
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About three years ago, I started to get real excited about miracles. I had visitations from the Lord that lasted at times up to twelve hours with me on the carpet. I started to have trips in the Spirit. Out of that season, the word of knowledge and healing began to be released.
When I first began to be released in healing, I had faith for backs. I had a little faith for pain in peoples’ bodies. So I began to lay hands on the sick and pray for backs to be healed and for pain to come out of peoples’ bodies. As people got healed, I gained authority for the backs. I grew in a place of faith and confidence for the back. So you can kind of say that in the beginning of my healing ministry, I had a back-healing ministry.
I said, “God, I am ready to see a few more miracles. I want to see a little bit more of the creative. So the Lord began to give me faith for limbs, legs or arms that were a little bit shorter than others, to grow out a couple of inches. I got excited, and started to pray and believe for stomach conditions. I started to have faith for different categories of sickness and diseases. We like to categorize some things as harder than others. We think it is harder to heal cancer than asthma, and it is harder to heal cancer than backs. It is not true, but that is what we do.
So then, I started to have faith for cancer. I said, “Now I am going to get some authority in the Spirit over cancer, and the devil is going to know and I am going to know. I am going to walk in a new place and be able to get people healed of cancer.
I began to birth these levels of miracles. Then the Lord said, “Todd, I want you to birth the deaf now.” I thought, “Oh God, the deaf?” “The deaf?” He said, “Yeah!” So I put my faith out there and began asking all the deaf to come up to the front. I really did not have faith worth a hill of beans that anything was going to happen. But all the deaf would come up, and they began to hear. So, I gained victory. See, He birthed each level. He birthed different levels of authority and power and confidence, and I grew in that anointing. About 90% of the deaf that we pray for are have their hearing restored. Then He said, “Now the wheelchairs.” We have had about five cases of people who came out of their wheelchairs. I am still not satisfied. I still want more paralyzed bodies.
Then, I started going for the blind. We have had over ten cases of blindness healed in the last month alone, and it is growing. I am ready to pray for all the blind and deaf. My problem is, I cannot get the blind and the deaf in the meetings. Where are the wheelchairs? Where are the crippled bodies? Where are the deaf and blind? We need to compel them. We need to grab them and pull them off of the street. Then we can have the manifestation and the power of the Lord to heal.
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Evangelist Todd Bentley is of:
Fresh Fire Ministries
PO Box 2525 Abbotsford, BC . Canada . V2T 6R3
Web: http://www.thearc.bc.ca
Email: toddbentley@home.com
Tollfree: 1-866-853-9041
Snail-mail: PO Box 2525, Abbotsford, BritishColumbia, Canada V2T 6R3
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GOD SENT HIS WORD TO HEAL US!
This note is not about praying for somebody to be healed. But rather, one seeks and asks God for healing one’s own body by developing faith in the healing power of His Word. It is never intended to condemn and/or discourage anybody from seeking medical help. We must use some common sense and do not do foolish things through spiritual pride and call it faith. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you make decisions. There are times that we need both “physical” and “spiritual” dosages for total restoration.
This is what God has told us in His bible:
Psalm 107:19 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; He saved them out of their distresses. 20 He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.
How do we appropriate His Word for our healing need? We know this Truth and want to enjoy His divine healing and divine health. What do we need to do on our part to grab His healing power into our lives?
What does the Bible say about sickness?
John 9:1-12 1 As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, ""Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?'' 3 Jesus answered, ""It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 ""We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5 ""While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.'' 6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, 7 and said to him, ""Go, wash in the pool of Siloam'' (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. 8 Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, ""Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?'' 9 Others were saying, ""This is he,'' still others were saying, ""No, but he is like him. ''He kept saying, ""I am the one.'' 10 So they were saying to him, ""How then were your eyes opened?'' 11 He answered, ""The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, "Go to Siloam and wash'; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.'' 12 They said to him, ""Where is He?'' He said, ""I do not know.''
John 5: 1-15 1 After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. 3 In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [waiting
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