No Apologies....Just the TRUTH!

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An Irreconcilably Different Plan
By Julie Lucas

I’m never sure if I am the right person to ever give advice on marriage, let alone write about it for all the world to see, but I’ve been following this series of articles called “The Unraveling of a Christian Marriage”. For those of you who don’t know why I would ever hesitate to write about marriage after being married for 15 years to a wonderful man of God, it is because before this wonderful man of God I was married and divorced not once but twice. Both before the age of thirty. One of those little marital escapades happened in Las Vegas…..and BELIEVE ME…what happens in Vegas follows you home. No hangover remedy can cure you of that! So moving on to the story at hand….

I read all of Elisabeth Corcoran’s very gut wrenching articles. She bears her heart and her soul in this series. All of the articles firmly held to the belief that both of these individuals are believers. And I’m certain that there are counselors and pastors out there that would hold to that firm belief that this ex-husband was indeed saved, just broken and in need of help.

I’m not so sure about that. After being married to a true man of God for the past 15 years I can honestly say, a REAL man of Jesus doesn’t give in or give up when the going gets tough. And believe you, me my husbands life has been very hard being married to me. Not because I am difficult or hard to get along with (like I’m sure many of you think), but mostly because I brought a great deal of extra baggage into our marriage. My mother lived with us for 9 long, difficult years of varying degrees of failing health before her passing in addition to having a sick wife with fibromyalgia for nearly the entire marriage. He is the sole bread winner in our little household and he is not working in the field in which he went to college. He has stepped way outside his dream career zone and is living in the harsh reality that life tends to throw our way. He chose to handle this with a great deal of dignity and inner strength; which, by the way, comes straight from the throne room of God, I know, I’ve seen him bow his head, many, many times and ask God to “give him strength”! Sure most of the time it is just a musing, but hey, God can work with that! I’d like to mention here that he is not perfect, in case I am giving you the wrong impression. He very rarely ever says he’s sorry. Although he will throw a curve ball my way every once in a while and apologize for something that wasn’t his fault. I think it is just to keep me on my toes.

I guess what I’m saying here is that I’ve seen a true man of God who has all the messy past that tends to make us hard, work at being a little softer. I saw him submit to Christ when all he wanted to do was run. I saw him submit to me even when he thought I might be crazy and in need of psychiatric attention; he even suggested I might want to get help. That fight ended with an “I will if you will”. Those never end well do they?!?

Of the 15 years we’ve been married, I don’t think we’ve ever had an easy one. Life always has a little something to throw our way. In all honesty, I think God allows it in order to see what kind of stuff we are made of. Which brings me back to the husband in question, you know, the one from the series of articles. There weren’t any questions raised that this man might not be a Christian after all.

I would like to be the first one to raise this question. I submit, for the record, that this man was a Christian in name only.

She writes: “A fairly standard belief in Christian circles is that there are only two biblical reasons for divorce: if your spouse is unfaithful and if your spouse is not a believer and he abandons you. My situation did not fit those criteria.” And this is in fact what most Christians believe to be the biblical criteria for divorce. But I would like to present her with this, he was not a believer as shown by his actions inside the marriage and in the end, he filed for divorce, abandoning her.

She admits she wasn’t perfect and came with her own set of baggage into that marriage. But let’s be honest. What man in his right mind marries a woman (ME) who had been married twice and divorced twice and thinks it will all turn out okay? Well, my husband did, and so far so good. We actually love each other more today than we did when we first met and are pretty happy with each other most of the time. We are just like every other couple out there in the world, struggling to raise our kids in an upside down world and not loose our sense of who we are in the process. It really isn’t because we are just unusual or so deeply in love that we couldn’t live without each other. It is really because we share one very important thing in common; we both love Jesus and we put biblical principles to work in our marriage and in our lives.

For instance, Ms. Corcoran’s husband had a drinking problem. The bible says we are not to give a foot hold to the enemy by habitual sinful behavior and clearly getting drunk may have been a higher priority than his relationship with his wife or with Christ. Does this mean he is not a Christian? It does if you continue in that sinful behavior destroying the things in life God says you are responsible for; a.k.a. your family. The bible says to not grieve the Holy Spirit because a sinner, and it lays out a whole list of sinful behavior, does not have “any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” (Ephesians 5:5) I don’t know if you would have to look for any more justification as to whether this husband was a believer or not.

My husband would walk across hot coals, naked and doused in gasoline in order to preserve what is honorable in God’s eyes. My husband has had issues in our marriage he has had to deal with, they were hard for him, maybe as equally difficult as Ms. Corcoran’s husbands drinking problems, but he dealt with them. And every time we get over one hurdle, our marriage is even that much stronger, and low and behold, wait, there is another issue to deal with. We aren’t fazed by it much any more; he will say we’ve been through harder stuff. Or if I’m feeling like the stronger one at that particular moment, I will tell him with God’s help we can get through this too. Sometimes we retreat to our separate corners feeling dazed and confused, but in the end, we manage to come together and solve whatever crisis is heading our way, always with God’s help.

I think what I’m trying to say here is that Ms. Cocoran’s marriage is an example that BOTH spouses must submit to Christ for a Christ centered marriage to work. If one goes off the deep end, then so will the marriage. It is not the woman’s responsibility to keep the marriage together. Nor do I feel it is solely the man’s responsibility. God designed marriage as a partnership of two equal, but different members that have to work together in order to keep it together. Most of you probably already know that, I mean, come on, doesn’t that make common sense.

Sadly though, many pastor’s and Christian counselors tell the women to “submit more” and the husband to try and be more understanding. In an area where abuse, like alcohol abuse, is involved, “submitting more” won’t help the women and the husband trying to “understand” his wife’s feelings with out the removal of the sin in his life won’t make any marriage a peaceful, happy coexistence.

In fact, God didn’t design marriage to make us happy; He designed it to make us Holy. And not everyone is willing to submit to His Holy plan. A little known secret is happiness and peace follow closely behind holiness. In the case of Ms. Corcoran, it wasn’t irreconcilable differences that caused their split, it was her husbands had a different and irreconcilably different plan than God’s Holy one.

My hat is off to Ms. Corcoran for the way she exposed her self in order to help others and the length to which she was willing to go to remain right with God!! She is definitely a Godly example to us all.

[Source: The Unraveling of a Christian Marriage: Part I, II, III & IV (Crosswalk)]

><> November 15, 2011

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I am Declaring Halloween as: “Demonic Awareness Day!”

To me Halloween just stirs up the thoughts of witches, warlocks and demon’s running rampant through our city and countryside reeking havoc on everything and everyone they come into contact.

But the truth is they really don’t need their own “High Holy Day” to do that. We subject our children from an early age to the demonic influences of magic, wizards, etc…on TV, in books, secular music, computer games, advertisements along our highways, just to name a few. In many ways it is becoming impossible to protect our children and our families from these influences. It is also coming increasingly clear to me that we are under a spiritual attack of “Biblical” proportions. Our society has entered the “Information Age” to which there is no end in the flow and exchange of ideas, history and knowledge that is being distributed as we speak from all over the world. There has never been in the history of our planet that so much information is available at the fingertips of anyone with a telephone, FAX machine, computer, IPOD……I could wear myself out just thinking about it. What I am trying to say is that we and our children are bombarded with a steady flow of UNGODLY and purely SATANIC forms of information set at subtly attempting to win over the hearts and minds of our youth and inhabit the body of unbelievers and believers alike. It is staggering and mind boggling all the stuff that gets past even the most alert and vigilant Christian.

The Bible says:

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12

I could go through verse, after verse, after verse that describes the works of our enemy and his intent to get a “strong hold” into our body and mind but I won’t because I know you as Christians are well aware of this fact. However, the fact that you may not be aware of is that this “strong hold” that Satan seeks to get is one that involves an infestation of your very body by demons and he intends to start with our children. These demons don’t roam around in the air space above our planet….they are here, earth bound and parasitic in nature. The one thing that Satan can not control or gain entrance into is your Spirit…that remains truly and preciously your own, however that is only a temporary condition. Once you die, if you have not remained faithful to Christ, your spirit may be returned promptly to the one in which has strived for so long to inhabit and control you.

What is up with this power struggle for our souls? I really have no idea…but it exists and it is a reality. Many of us have been exposed to the bombardment of the enemy for so long we are even unaware of the Satanic nature of it’s content. Some things are just blatantly obvious, but it is the subtlety of others that just shows the incredible intelligence and nature of these beings. Being aware is not enough! Spiritual warfare of the highest order is required:

“ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” Ephesians 6:13-18

My friends this is DAILY warfare, not something that comes up once in a while and we actually recognize when that “day” arrives. Satan comes in forms so subtle that we must take up our armor not just for our own defense, but the defense of our family and our children! Children are our most precious and vulnerable among us…therefore it is our duty as Christian parents, grandparents and extended family members to do battle daily for the mind, body and even the soul of our precious little ones. Stand in the gap, so to speak for them and protect them when ever humanly possible!

A part of our final commission Jesus said:

“And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” Mark 6:17-18

This portion of the commission was to Christians FOR CHRISTIANS!

Don’t dress your kids up and wander around the streets recreating some pagan ritual. Instead, completely derail the mission of Satan this year by making Halloween at your home and/or church “Demonic Awareness Day!” and begin practicing your own rituals of “demonic deliverance”! No better day to begin this tradition than Halloween, I say!

><> October 31, 2011; Reprint 2006

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The Christian F-Word; Evangelical Feminism!
By Julie Lucas

This term “evangelical feminism” has, in the past, received a great deal of bad publicity. Women, in the past, have been expected to take a back seat in almost every decision made in the home, in the church and in the political process of our cities, towns and national governments. The feminist rally cry of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s for fair wages and the right to vote was later hijacked by some radical feminist and began the mockery for “allowing” women the right to vote, etc… A statement I once heard Neal Boortz make in a so called tongue in cheek monologue. You know what they say, it’s only funny if there is a glimmer of truth behind it. Mr. Boortz statement was ludicrous and absurd; but he added that hint of southern charm with a question mark firmly attached to his incredulity.

So, what exactly is an evangelical feminist anyway? To the writer of this Washington Post (WP) article it is simply an empowered woman who is also an evangelical. I would beg to differ. Every woman is empowered when she has God on her side. Every man is empowered when he has God on his side. It is only when God is not on his or her side that what ever power they think they may have, simply is self delusion.

So what makes Michelle Bachman, the subject of this WP article, Sara Palin and many of the like minded women today different and unique? They broke out of the traditional, man made molds and chose to do what was right in the eyes of the Lord and go where He was leading them. Simple as that! They refused to be ram rodded into a man made form.

There is no doubt in my mind that these women have been greatly criticized in the church as well as outside the church. They have been slandered, ostracized and not welcome to speak in many churches in the past, but it is true, the times are changing! Those churches that have allowed their women to move in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and to lead when they were truly called to do so, have prospered and flourished.

It isn’t that these women are feminists or even “evangelical” in the traditional man made sense of the word…..they are just shining examples of God pouring out His spirit on ALL people!

“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.” Joel 2:28, NIV

Ladies and gentlemen of the church….if you are going to a church that still holds to some man made belief system, regardless of what it may be, I would implore you to make every necessary effort to change them. Not only will it benefit your church and your family, it will benefit our country as a whole!

Source: Michele Bachmann leads a new form of evangelical feminism (Washington Post)

><> June 28, 2011

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“I will never leave you”, declares the God of the Universe!
By Julie Lucas

Well folks, it’s been a while. Again, I have to make my “sincere apologies” to those who enjoy reading this column and a sincere “you’re welcome” to those of you who have appreciated my long absence. As with so many things in life, including my own, when it rains it pours and then sometimes you get a little thunder and lightening along with it.

I normally don’t like to discuss my private life; mostly because it is incredibly boring, but I think this time you may be able to hang with me. I have been caring for my aging mother full time at home now since her release from the hospital a few months ago. Although it won’t be long before I may have to get a nurse to come in to help, I have discovered some things about myself along the way….okay….you knew I was going to bring it all back to me, but in all honesty, it is what I have learned about myself and this all loving God that I worship and adore.

He is amazing. His love, kindness and generosity know no bounds. After many, many years of heart felt prayer my mother finally committed her life to Christ and I have seen a peace in her that I have never seen before. She has retained some of her annoying little eccentricities that make her the unique character that she is, but she is experiencing a relationship with the God of the universe that she didn’t think was possible. In fact recently, she shared with me something that I found very comforting, she said to me that she didn’t feel alone any more. Now keep in mind here, she has lived with us for over eight years and between me, my husband and our kids, I never thought there could ever be a moment in which you could ever feel alone…she still did.

I know that this is the way many of you out there feel. Don’t wait until you are 76 years old to discover something my mother has just found out. I would like to encourage you to ask this wonderful, incredible God of all the universe to introduce you to His only Son. Ask Him to be your companion for the rest of your life. The God who promises “I will never leave you nor forsake you!” Hebrews 13:5; the God who says that He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; (Psalm 91:11, NIV). Find out who He is. Don’t wait, you can’t even begin to imagine how wonderful your life will be walking with Him.

Praying you find this kind of agape love for yourself. Until next time…..

><> June 17, 2011

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Who is Jesus, Really?
By Julie Lucas

Most Christians would answer you, without skipping a beat, “the son of God”! But who was He? Why did He only choose Jewish men to be His disciples? Why did He only go to the Jews and not the gentiles? Was He really a Rabbi and did He really teach in synagogues?

One of the greatest tragedies in modern Christianity is that we are taught about a man that lived 2,000 years ago in a culture we don’t understand, in a time we don’t understand and we have tried to make Him conform to our gentile way of thinking. That just isn’t the truth if you are to understand the REAL Jesus.

Jesus was a Jew; I know that may make some of you very uncomfortable, but He was. His mother was Jewish and His Father was God, Himself. He grew up in a Jewish community, attending Jewish weddings, celebrating Jewish holidays, going to synagogue and His disciples called Him Rabbi. So, if Jesus was a Jew, spoke to Jews about how to be Godly men and women, why then do we accept all of our religious teachings from mostly gentile theologians? We read commentary by mostly gentile teachers and think they are gospel. Wouldn’t it make sense if we relied a little more on a more Messianic Jewish commentary on the bible than, say, some well meaning, gentile guy who wasn’t raised in a Jewish home, didn’t celebrate or even understand Hebraic Holy day’s, doesn’t understand some of the Hebraic traditions and their meanings and how they apply to biblical teachings?

We have really missed the boat on this one folks. We have relied so heavily on the gentile teachers, their commentary and understanding of biblical knowledge and history that we have inadvertently accepted some very misleading and misguided teachings. I will use the modern Christian understanding of the “rapture” as a perfect example.

Jesus compares His return as the bridegroom returning for His bride. We Christians in our modern day, gentile understanding of weddings are lost when it comes to the sequence of events that will transpire as laid out in the traditional Jewish wedding during Jesus’ day.

Here is the sequence of events; see if you can equate them to our knowledge of Jesus and His ministry and time-line of future events…..

The bridegroom would pay a dowry for his bride. This price was paid to the father of the bride. Once the price was paid it was considered a binding agreement.

The bridegroom would then return to his own father’s house to set up a bridal chamber where the marriage would eventually be consummated. It was his father that would let his son know when the bridal chamber was acceptable for a bride to be brought home. The young man wasn’t sure of the time when his father would say it was acceptable. This could take up to a year. The bride also did not know the day in which he would come for her.

The bride, during this period of separation, would keep a lamp next to her bed or in a window that would signify that she was waiting in anticipation for him. She always made sure she had enough oil with her that when he came she would have enough to light the way to his home that he had prepared for her.

For those of you familiar with Jesus words, are you getting the significance of the first century Jewish wedding customs yet and how they apply to what is He had in mind now?

Okay, let’s continue. Once the bride was retrieved from her father’s house and brought to the bridal chamber they would first attend a ceremony and then have a very large feast. For those attending the wedding it could last for days. For the bride and groom however they were anxious to take care of business.

They would remain in the bridal chamber for a long period of time. According to Deuteronomy….

If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married. Deuteronomy 24:5

Then, after this year had passed, life would return to what we would consider normal for a married couple.

Now let’s take a look at it, as it applies to the so called modern day “rapture”. The church acts like it has no idea of how any of this will happen, especially when it comes to the thousand year reign or Armageddon. Questions arise, like, will we go through Armageddon or will we be raptured out? How does the thousand year reign fit into any of this? Some even argue there will be no rapture at all.

Sure some of our fine biblical scholars have taken a shot at explaining times and places but then the argument comes in, like are you “pre-trib”, “post trib” or somewhere in between, or nothing at all? Let’s lay this to rest here and now by comparing it to the Jewish wedding, since that is exactly what Jesus did.

The ransom or dowry has been paid by Jesus on the cross.

Jesus said He was going to heaven to make a place for us, His bride. Only His father knows that time in which the bridal chamber will be ready. But Jesus gave us some clues. He also said, don’t be left without enough oil in your lamps. This oil is the Holy Spirit. Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit to the point in which He departs. Don’t fall asleep on the job. Yes, my friends, we have been through this, you can lose your salvation if you grieve the Holy Spirit enough; He can and will leave.

Moving along, Jesus is currently making a place for us, but we know that many of the foretold events have taken place and we can expect Him soon. But when we see some of these things happening we should look up for our “redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28).

But in the mean time, as we are keeping the fire of the Holy Spirit burning within us and we recognize the sign of the times, we are to rest in the knowledge that we may go through some things but we will be called out of the worst of it.

Our Husband (Jesus) will return for us where we will go and be transformed into our new spiritual/physical bodies. We will attend a feast, lasting about 3 earthly years according to scripture, while all chaos is being unleashed on earth. This is the time in which Armageddon will take place. We will be in heaven, however, the bible says it is during this time that we will return with Jesus, where He puts an end to the Anti-Christ permanently and Satan is temporarily put out of business. We will rule and reign with Jesus for a thousand years, the time in which the bride and groom enjoy each others company; now are you beginning to see the analogy? At the end of this thousand years Satan will be let out to wreak havoc, but only for a very short time, only to separate out those remaining earthly inhabitants, those who would choose to not follow God and His plan.

It is at the conclusion of all this that everything is made new again, in the wedding parable it is when life returns to normal for the married couple and when for us what God had originally intended. It is this time where all will be judged from among the living and the dead. It will be when God reveals to all of us His magnificent plan for our future and we get to dwell with Him in eternity.

It is at this point I would like to say that if you think you have some idea of who Jesus is, think again. You may be missing a great deal when it comes to who Jesus actually is because most of us study the work and commentary of gentile believers. Gentiles miss the minute details of the Jewish culture and tradition.

Another excellent example is Adam. Who was the first Adam (ha Adam)? Most gentile believers will tell you he was the first man. But was he? Was he simply a man?

Since an unmarried person is considered half a person, the wedding day is seen to be the beginning of a new life as a complete soul for both the bride (Kallah) and groom (Choson). (Taken from http://www.jewish-history.com/minhag.htm)

“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Mark 10:6-9

You figure it out. What are you missing by following a gentile Jesus?

@December 29, 2010

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Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Look Up!
By Julie Lucas

On Saturday, December 18, 2010, the Senate repealed the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that allowed gays to serve in the military but not openly. I have been reluctant to weigh in on this matter because I served in the military and because, as a Christian, I know exactly why this issue is so significant to the world’s future. As a Christian this viewpoint is just not a popular one but we need to be aware of its implications on our lives. It may be this very issue that the beginning of the persecution laid out in Revelation may very well begin.

As a former soldier in the US Army homosexuality among the women was rampant. No one ever said anything, but we all knew who they were, quite honestly, if they were trying to hide their sexual orientation they did a very poor job. In fact, it was not that unusual for a woman to be propositioned by another woman. However, on the male side of this subject, the tolerance for this kind of behavior was not accepted at all.

Now with the public school indoctrination of our youth, I can see that a policy of acceptance and tolerance will be the norm in our armed forces and these men and women may find a more welcoming place to serve their country.

Here is what I think, not that my opinion means anything at all, but no one should ever be abused or made to feel that they are not a worthy contribution to their ranks, unless of course, their behavior puts another soldiers life in danger. Homosexuality does not keep a person from serving their country honorably. Folks, the military is not a church and the days in which our military gives honor and glory to God alone are LONG gone. We won’t see them again because we are marching headlong into the final finally; the moment we have all been waiting for all these 2,000 years; the return of Jesus.

Because we are heading quickly into this monumental accumulation of biblical prophecy we know that a few more things have to happen first. At the forefront of all of this is the rise to power of the Antichrist and this man will be a homosexual.

He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all. Daniel 11:37, NASB, emphasis mine.

I have heard this verse interpreted several ways, but the NASB and the true Hebrew reading of this makes no doubt, this man will not want to be with women, in the biblical sense (ha, now that is a dichotomy). This has nothing to do with the “worship” of some female God as many biblical scholars try to assert.

We should not be sad or angry about these events. We should accept them for what they represent. Very rarely does the world get to see prophecy fulfilled right before their very eyes, but when it happens, God’s people should sit up and take notice.

When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. Luke 21:28, NIV.

@ December 21, 2010

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I Propose a “Read the Quran Day!”
By Julie Lucas

The memorial of September 11th is quickly approaching and as many of you who keep up with current news events may already know, Pastor Terry Jones in Texas plans a church wide celebration to burn the Quran. Well actually it is more like a protest against the Muslim religion.

I have heard all the reasons that this guy should not burn the Quran…like it’s disrespectful, it will cause a military and civilian backlash, it dishonors Jesus, President Obama claims it will be “a recruitment bonanza”, I’ve even been told that it sounds like a very Nazi thing to do. Okay so we may all agree that holding a “Burn the Quran Day” is probably not a very good idea, but I have yet to really hear a very good reason why not too. Most of the reasons not to burn it really stem from a spirit of fear. Everyone lives in fear and that is exactly what the militant Muslims want you to do.

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of Sonship. And by Him we cry, "Abba, Father." Romans 8:15, NIV.

I would like to propose a better reason NOT to hold a “Burn the Quran Day!” I propose we hold a “Read the Quran Day!” We should find out why our Muslim brothers and sisters would like to snuff us out. We should read it and discover why WE are considered the infidel. We should listen to the Imam’s from all over the world and hear what they have to say about YOU! Ladies and gentlemen, it has nothing to do with your religious affiliation or lack there of. But I don’t want to spoil the fun. I want YOU to read the Quran for yourself and find out why Sharia law may not be the best choice if you want to have any freedom or peace.

And my brothers and sisters in Christ, I want you to read it so you can give them a reasonable defense for the hope that lies within you (1 Peter 3:15)! I love this verse….

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect… 1 Peter 3:15, NIV.

We are asked to love our enemies and we are instructed that we must be a witness to them with “gentleness and respect”. We are to respect their own choices whether we agree or not. We don’t have to beat them with the word of God, we just simply and in love tell them point by point why Jesus is the Messiah and how the information in the Quran does not preach a message of love and respect.

You can’t give a Muslim a reason for the hope that lies within you unless you READ it for yourself. So on September 11th I would encourage you to read this book and pray that God will give you an opportunity to change the heart of a Muslim man or woman.

@September 10, 2010

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Are there Shackles in ‘The Shack’?
By Julie Lucas

I have to admit I have not read “The Shack” and I have some wonderful Christian friends who absolutely loved it. For those of you who are unaware, “The Shack” by Paul Young was a block buster hit in the Christian community. But there have been some very critical commentaries written about it making some very valid points. I will address only one of them. My husband read it and verified that it does have at its core this “universal reconciliation”, although my husband put in other terms. This may be a very nice and somewhat harmless book, but commentaries do bring to light a not so nice theology creeping ever so slowly into the Christian vernacular.

Since my passion is to address false teachings in the church, even if it is not a wide spread teaching, I will at least let you know about this so you can be aware of it and recognize it when you hear it.

Universal reconciliation is about the reconciliation of all man-kind, no matter what. That regardless of the sin in your life or what your beliefs were here on earth, you will eventually go to heaven; albeit you might spend some time in hell. This deceptive teaching of course shoves you straight into the arms of the pagan prostitute philosophy of “all roads lead to heaven” which is extremely dangerous for your eternal soul. Especially in light of the fact the bible says that this is not the case. Jesus said,

“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Mark 16:16.

It really doesn’t get anymore clear cut than that! Of course, we can’t forget the “stop sinning” part of it too!

This idea that “all roads lead to heaven” and everyone will be “reconciled unto Christ” regardless of their commitment, faith and to what they actually believe is biblically ludicrous. I would love to wrap this message in a feather pillow while blowing hearts and flowers out of my nose, but I just can’t. I can’t even dip it in honey and roll it in sugar and hand feed it to you. There just is no other way to say this. I, thankfully, am not Jesus and He has the absolute last say on the matter. In fact He has ALL the say in the matter and since He was here once and said what was recorded in Mark 16:16, I think the case is put to rest. But as in all things, time will tell, but do YOU want to be the one hedging your bet on “all roads lead to heaven” so long as I’m a nice person, I’m in? To who’s standard are you a nice person? Your own? Here’s what God has to say to anyone who would question his sovereignty…

“Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?” Job 38:3-5

You may have already figured this out by now, I am NOT a very nice person and I thankfully found a Savior who would forgive me of my horrendously poor attitude and obnoxious behavior; who would point me in the right direction. And since my behavior has improved only slightly, I still need Him. Eternity is never something you want to take bets on no matter how well you have perfected your Poker face.

[Sources: Ready for the truth about 'The Shack'? (WorldNetDaily) & How 'The Shack' seduced evangelicals (WorldNetDaily)]

@ June 25, 2010

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A Women of Ekklesia! Part II
By Julie Lucas

Moving along into whether a woman can teach biblical truths. Here is what Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:11-12, “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.”

It is my personal opinion (of course this is not a biblical teaching), that a man should not teach (one on one) or have authority over a woman either in church. I know biblical counselors that do this, but it can lead to all kinds of problems. However, couples should be able to teach and minister to singles. A great example of this is the married couple Priscilla and Aquilla mentoring and teaching Apollos. (Acts 18:25-27) A man should never minister, teach or anything else with a women alone. A women should never minister, teach or anything else with a man alone. However, our culture does have a great deal of leeway when it comes to couples that are dating. I however, still believe in the tradition of courting where they are supervised or chaperoned (again, personal opinion). So as for this verse, I think it works both ways. However, in a classroom or public setting where the teacher, male or female, has many other students around, I think it is totally acceptable.

Again, I think this restriction in 1 Timothy by Paul has to do with the cultural traditions of the time and the fact women during this time period were not educated as men were. But if you want to be a literal sticker on the subject then it should be a prohibition on women teaching men only. Maybe this verse would be better understood literally if it said….

“I do not permit a woman to teach [a man] or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.” 1 Timothy 2:12, NIV.

Women of course are instructed to teach other women…Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. Titus 2:3-5, NIV, emphasis mine.

It is this verse that the philosophy that women should never work outside the home came in to play. To this I would have to rebut with Paul’s own words to men…

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands , just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12, NIV, emphasis mine.

With this line of logic, men couldn’t do anything except jobs involving manual labor or one in which it depended on another for a pay check. Most of us recognize rightly the ridiculousness of this logic.

Should a woman be a Preacher in the capacity of our modern day, church set up? To this I would have to say NO! But I would also have to say that men shouldn’t be involved in this pagan form of Christianity either. Today’s modern day church hierarchy has its roots in Greco-Roman pagan traditions. Something we ALL should want to avoid. The official position of a “Preacher”, “Decon” and “Elder” has taken on something that I don’t think it was intended to be, but in light of the fact that this is already too long, I will leave you to investigate this controversial topic on your own as well.

So where do we, as women, go from here?

Ladies, please forgive me if I do not advocate for standing up in an already established, male dominated church and demand that you be seen as an equal. Paul says in Romans; “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18, NIV) But when it comes to the calling that you, as a woman, have on your life, you must follow what God is asking you to do. And only you know exactly what that is. I don’t think God would ask us now, in an age where women are essentially free to choose what ever life has to offer, to disrupt an already established peaceful church organization. If you can use your gifts within your current church, regardless of the established leadership, do so, do not seek to leave it, but to edify all who are there; male or female. If God has called you to something more and you can NOT fulfill your calling within the walls of your current church organization, I would encourage you to move on. Find the place that you will be permitted to use your gifts freely and unencumbered by man’s traditions. Please note here that I am not talking about “man’s traditions” in the sense of the male gender only, I am describing the extra-biblical shackles that all religions set up and establish when both men AND women get involved and feel like they must establish in order to control their congregations.

Of course, all of this discourse has been my opinion. One has to leave themselves open to the possibility that I am, and many other scholars, are completely wrong about this topic. Maybe women were made simply to serve men. Maybe our only roles as women are as mothers and wives; that we are to remain in the home and be dutiful subjects of our husbands. As with many, many other controversial biblical topics I prefer to err on the side of an all knowing, all loving God who has my best interests at heart; who has a beautiful and wonderful plan for my life that includes my own will to choose for myself the destiny to which I am called. I have decided to follow in the footsteps of those Godly women of the bible who pursued their relationship with God and He has blessed them with gifts that He requires all of us to use. He wouldn’t give them to us if He didn’t expect us to move in them.

Our Father God displays a wonderful mercy and grace in which we are allowed to choose for ourselves our future. When we choose life, that’s when His blessings really begin to overflow! It is in choosing life we hear His voice! He says: This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Deuteronomy 30:19-20, NIV.

Is this promise only available to men? No way! In this new day and age of freedom for women, choose a noble way of following your calling. Let God open the doors for you; we are not called at this time in history to knock them down by brute force and the strength of our own will. If we lead by example and not force our opinions on others, with gentleness and a humble heart only to serve each other then all the issues will work themselves out in the end. We should also follow in the footsteps of our example; the One to which we are all called to emulate. When Jesus was not welcome by the Pharisees and Sadducees to teach in the synagogues He went out into the countryside and throughout Judea to areas where He was welcome. And in my humble opinion, it isn’t speaking from a podium that we should seek after, it is speaking from our hearts in a place where we are welcome and teaching in a place that is open to ALL people.

Of course there is nothing wrong with a Pastor helping other believers become more mature in Christ; it certainly is a safer place to be. However, if you have been anointed and blessed with the gift of public speaking (you ladies know who you are) then consider breaking out of those formal traditions and taking God’s word out of the church and back to the people. Consider seeking out venues that would put you in direct contact with the unsaved. Instead of giving the Sunday message to those who are already believers, contemplate seeking out groups, organizations and functions that you can preach a message of God’s love and salvation. Honestly, this is an area of ministry in the greatest of need. Get a table at an art show, or community yard sale, or where ever you can go and tell people about Jesus. Advertise your availability as a speaker in local papers and online. Hold meetings at local community centers or libraries; they are usually FREE! We like free. Get creative!! It takes work finding these venues in this climate of anti-Christian bias, but if you tell God this is the desire on your heart, there is no reason He won’t open up those doors for you!

Speaking through the prophet Joel, God said this…

I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. - Joel 2:27-29, NIV, emphasis mine.

Folks, it’s “those days”!

Special Note: If you are still curious about this topic "she must be silent", go to the following website, TheHigherLife.com. They do a great job at giving you all of the explainations concerning cultural and textual issues relating to these scripture verses.

Excellent books on this topic include: What Paul Really Said about Women, by John Temple Bristow, Ten Lies the Church Tells Women, J. Lee Grady and I Suffer Not a Woman, by Richard and Catherine Kroeger.

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A Women of Ekklesia! Part I
By Julie Lucas

Women in Ministry is an engaging topic that can send the gentlest of Christian men (and sometimes women) into fits of rage defending the words of their gospel. Is she out of order if she presumes to know scripture and attempts to teach God’s Word? Is she rebellious if she doesn’t simply stay home, cook, clean and attend to the household duties? Is she to be silent never using the God given gifts that the Holy Spirit has blessed her with?

These are all very valid questions in light of the contemporary teachings and translations of our current bible. Here is what the New International Version (NIV), a modern and very popular English translation of the Holy Scripture, has to say of the two most used verses to keep women from participating fully in church and in ministry….

The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the law also says. If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church. 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, NIV

A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. 1 Timothy 2:11-12, NIV

If a woman was to remain silent, how then could she prophesy or pray in a public forum? How could she possibly move in the “manifestation of the Spirit” as Paul commends all Christians to do if she were not permitted to participate within the church body? Paul explains the gifts from the Holy Spirit in a chapter prior to this restriction in chapter 14, that are given to both men and women. 1 Corinthians 12…

There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. 1 Corinthians 12:6-11, NASB, emphasis mine.

To answer these questions about 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-12 one must look deeper into the context in which these epistles were written and to whom they were written. These verses concerning women and the proper way in which they were to participate in church were all about keeping order. Have you ever been to a gathering in which the speaker has to stand up and hush the crowd? Well I personally believe this is what Paul is referring. He was hushing a particular group of wives, since this is to whom he is directly addressing, for the purpose of keeping order. I don’t think he is saying that they can never prophesy, give words of knowledge, or speak in tongues ever because that would completely refute what he said to do in the chapters prior; Paul is simply saying they should do it in an orderly way and to not do it in a rebellious way. It would also appear that he is giving some sort of weight to the cultural conventions and local laws. In 1 Corinthians 14:34, Paul says “as the law also says” to refer to a command that these women obey in keeping silent. What law, one might ask themselves? There is no Mosaic law that says “women are to be silent”, however there were many rabbinic laws and during the time in which this letter was written there certainly were plenty of laws in Corinth that forbade women from doing a great many things. Could this be “the law” to which Paul was referring? If so, then this would apply culturally, just as other large portions of this letter. For instance….

Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is just as though her head were shaved. If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.

In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God. Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God. 1 Corinthians 11:4-16

I included this whole section so you could see for yourselves how confusing and unlike any of Paul’s other letters this portion of this letter sounds. Most scholars agree that this is a cultural thing, although I am not certain about that. But it gives direction to both men AND women on how to pray and prophesy in a public meeting when they are together. As with everything, you must judge for yourself. Across the board though, most agree that this verse concerning hair styles and the way in which it was viewed during this period in history. Some scholars believe that this had to do with the pagan cultures of their time and the practice of how one wore their hair to designate which god they worshipped or to status as a priestess, priest or prostitute. Regardless of this very strange passage, if we were to stick to the legalism of some of these verses then the modern day church is also not following biblical commands. If we are to be sticklers about the matter, all women should be wearing hats or scarves and have long hair, men should never have anything on their heads and always have short hair. This begs the question: Then why is Jesus always portrayed as having long hair if it is a “disgrace to him”?

My mind explodes with questions that all these verses (and many others) raise for our current form of worship, if we were to follow it as a literal commandment! Does God not hear my prayers because I don’t wear a hat or scarf over my head? Just as circumcision for a man is not a sign of a truly repentant heart, neither is wearing or not wearing head gear or having long hair for a woman. So should we hang our hat (sorry about the pun) on a verse that says women should be silent, based on the fact that other verses encourage women to pray, prophesy, and move in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, publicly and in “ekklesia”. This word “ekklesia” has been reassigned now to a building, a.k.a. the church, a building in which Christians assemble. But the truth is, “ekklesia” is anywhere Christians gather, whether at a restaurant, a classroom, an office, someone’s home, the steps of Congress, or anywhere else on this planet. The world should be our “ekklesia”. I make this point because many have now reinterpreted it to mean that women should be silent within the formal, church service. This “formal, church service” is something that has been fashioned after pagan traditions and again, Gods intent was never for some formal, collar wearing minister to be set above all the others. Even Paul said he would like “every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy.” (1 Corinthians 14:5,NIV) God expects us to ALL be priests; but this topic is an entire book in and of itself; moving on.

In other epistles it would appear, there were indeed women in positions of some sort of authority and if so, were they forbidden to speak in church too? I don’t think so. How could Phoebe have fully executed her duties as a helper of Paul and servant of the Lord without speaking to everyone including men in a gathering of believers, a.k.a. “ekklesia”? Let’s take a look at what Paul said about Phoebe for example….

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me. Romans 16:1-2, NIV, emphasis mine.

The word “servant” in this verse in Greek is “diakonos” and is used in the male form; there is no distinction between men and women as pertaining to the definition of this word. In English this word is usually translated as Deacon. It’s definition pertaining to this verse, according to the Strong’s Concordance includes: one who executes the commands of another, esp. of a master, a servant, attendant, minister; the servant of a king; a deacon, one who, by virtue of the office assigned to him by the church, cares for the poor and has charge of and distributes the money collected for their use. (Strongs #1249)

For me personally, this completely settles the case of whether a woman can be in a leadership position within the church or if she can speak in church at all. Again, how could it have been possible for this woman to execute her duties for Paul and the church if she were unable to speak at the gatherings of the saints? There were even some women Jesus told to speak to the apostles on His behalf. In Acts, there are more examples of women in gatherings praying, being baptized in the Holy Spirit and more. There are also other women in the bible who also hold positions of authority; but I will let you do this research on your own. It is an incredibly fascinating and inspiring subject! I never feel like I do justice when writing about this topic because it is complicated and rife with bias. There are many biblical examples of women stepping out of the cultural comfort zones to fulfill the destiny that God has called them to and they were richly blessed because of it. To fully understand this topic one must really delve into the cultural views of women of their day; but if you are truly living in the Spirit, you will know the truth and this truth will set you free!

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28, NIV.

Next time I we will cover 1 Timothy 2:11-12….Yikes!!

@ May 25, 2010

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Women, Thou Art Set Free from Man’s Traditions! Part 2
By Julie Lucas

On Fox News the other morning, the actress Olympia Dukakis was being interviewed about a book she contributed to called the “Goddess Shift”. She said she got interested in the “great teachings of the Goddess Gaia” after observing what I would describe as a nervous breakdown of some other actress/friend. Why in the world would she wonder about the teachings of some Goddess? What “great teachings” could Gaia possibly have to offer?

In light of the fact that the Christian Church wrongly teaches the subservient role of the woman, she has nowhere to go when moving in the gifts that God has ordained her with. Some turn to other spiritual teachings, like that of the worship of Gaia to feel more connected to the divine, even if it isn’t the one true God. The Christian community has done a very poor job at allowing women to fulfill their God given destinies. So what are their options?

They go boldly out into the secular world, where they are fed the secular lies that lead them into some very dissatisfied lives. Not knowing where to turn, they live out their upwardly mobile lives overworked, exhausted and a little unfulfilled. They get a tremendous sense of satisfaction in earning an income and being able to pursue a career that for many allows them to utilize their God given talents. But in the back of their mind they know, there has to be more. And there is. How do I know all this, well, I guess I was one of them. I had two very great careers before I decided to stay home and have children. I was an officer in the Army Reserves and I also had a very rewarding civilian career working in local government. I became a Christian and ran head first into the all male, patriarchal church hierarchy. Much to my surprise they loved having career women as a part of their congregations. These were the hard driven, self motivated collaborators who helped keep the church up and running; even if the leadership was all male dominated. Women are greatly valued for their assistance in ministry; but this allows for very little freedom of their own. And after thousands and thousands of years in bondage to the curse that “husbands will rule over you” (Genesis 3:6) they just want their freedom to be who they are; to be “one in Christ”

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

I know many of you are saying, how could the church be teaching something wrong? When it comes to teaching the bible aren’t our Pastors ordained to teach it? Don’t they know what the bible really says; they are the ones after all that have received the formal biblical training!

It is true, most Pastors have received formal training in biblical theology, but that doesn’t mean they actually know what the Hebrew and Greek words originally meant. Most have studied only the English translations and most importantly the biblical commentary from someone within their denomination. Usually this is some Church Father or Reformationist and were subsequently led down the path of following this persons teachings (a.k.a. man’s theology). I know I preach STRONGLY against “man’s theology”, you might say that is my ministry, to tear down the walls of false teachings and find the biblical truth in the original Biblical text. Of course, many, many, many well intentioned people have gone before me, in fact that is exactly how the Reformation began, but what some are finding now when they actually begin this search on their own, the bible actually teaches something very revolutionary for it’s time: The incorporation of women into worship, teaching, discipleship, as well as being a vital member of the marriage partnership. I realize this is NOT the teachings of mainstream theologians, but the truth is beginning to reach those who have an ear.

Here is the truth of what the New Testament has to say about the breaking away of the curse that husbands will “rule over” their wives; in secular homes we call this give and take…

Wives, submit to your husbands…..

I get it that men are not always Godly in their approach to their wives. When your husband asks (and in some homes demand) you to do something unreasonable, destructive, inappropriate, degrading, demeaning, hurtful or illegal, you are to simply say no. Telling him where he can stick his request is going beyond what we are called to do. Here is what husbands are called to do.

Husbands, submit to your wives….

I included this last verse from Malachi to just emphasize the fact that God uses a very strong word here, “hate” when referring to a man who is violent and cruel to his wife. The word “hate” here is “sane’” in Hebrew. This word literally means God “turns against”, “detests” and is His “enemy”.

If this teaching has been what has kept you from having a deep and meaningful relationship with Jesus, you now have good reason to rethink your position. I am open to your questions, so please feel free to post them.

Next I am going to tackle women in church leadership. Trust me, you aren’t getting the whole story from our current church leadership: male OR female!

@May 10, 2010

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Women, Thou Art Set Free from Man’s Traditions!
By Julie Lucas

This topic gets me more hate mail than any other subject that I write about; but it seems to always come up especially when ministering the truth of God’s Word to women. Let me explain: the church tells women they need to submit to their husbands in everything, that the husband is the “head” of his wife; therefore she can not really think for herself; I mean isn’t that what the “head” does? The husband is in charge of ALL decisions; the wife’s duty is to simply go along with whatever the husband’s plans are for the family and life in general; isn’t that what scripture tells us to do?

Of course, most of us critically thinking, semi-intelligent adults see the flaws in this teaching; however, true believers want to live their lives according to scripture, even if it doesn’t make logical sense. So, women embark on living out a totally submissive life. Men embark on being the totalitarian leader of the household. Many of these marriages end in painful divorce. This teaching is in large part the main reason for the divorce rate within the evangelical church today being the same as the divorce rate outside the church. It is also one of the main contributing factors in women leaving the church or not participating in all the God has for women, especially when married to overbearing, dictatorial men. Most of the men are led by, well meaning, albeit biblically off the mark pastors.

So how do we change this predicament? By teaching the TRUTH of God’s Word.

Let’s start at the beginning, because let’s face it, that is where all the trouble began in the first place….

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters…..then God creates the heavens, planets, moon, stars, sun, animals and plants….26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." Then God goes on to give a more detailed account in the creation of women….. 2:18The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

This is where the story of women begins to get dicey and the scripture is taught that women were created to be subservient to their husbands in everything. From the English translation of this verse, I can completely see how that could be the implication. However, the Hebrew text gives us a deeper look at the true meaning of our roles as Godly wives and women….

Genesis 2:18The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." (NIV, underline emphasis mine) The actual Hebrew words for “helper suitable” is ezer ke neged. The Hebrew word ezer = azar. Azar is the prime root of ezer: it means to surround, ie, protect or aid: help, succor. The Gesenius Hebrew Lexicon adds that the primary idea lies in girding, surrounding, hence defending. NIV Concordance #6469. (Online reference for ezer: http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/heb/view.cgi?number=05828&l=en)

You might find it interesting to note that God also calls HIMSELF an “ezer”. There is NEVER anytime in the bible that God is subservient to us in anyway by helping us, in fact this makes Him our strong ally.

Here are some of the verses that God calls Himself our helper (“ezer”). I left the links in so you can click on them if you want to check each verse out on your own!

Exodus 18:4
and the other was named Eliezer, for he said, "My father's God was my helper; he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh."
Exodus 18:3-5 (in Context) Exodus 18 (Whole Chapter)

Psalm 10:14
But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.
Psalm 10:13-15 (in Context) Psalm 10 (Whole Chapter)

Hosea 13:9
"You are destroyed, O Israel, because you are against me, against your helper.
Hosea 13:8-10 (in Context) Hosea 13 (Whole Chapter)

Psalm 118:7
The LORD is with me; he is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies.
Psalm 118:6-8 (in Context) Psalm 118 (Whole Chapter)

Nehemiah 4:22
At that time I also said to the people, "Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and workmen by day."
Nehemiah 4:21-23 (in Context) Nehemiah 4 (Whole Chapter)

Deuteronomy 33:29
Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD ? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. Your enemies will cower before you, and you will trample down their high places. "
Deuteronomy 33:28-29 (in Context) Deuteronomy 33 (Whole Chapter)

Psalm 27:9
Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior.
Psalm 27:8-10 (in Context) Psalm 27 (Whole Chapter)

Now one might logically think that if God uses this word “ezer” to describe Himself and the woman, then this could possibly mean that the women was placed in a position of higher rank. Because when one gives the help they are usually the one in a superior position. But the author of Genesis wanted to go a step further, so he added ke neged. This clarification was to let the readers know that this helper wasn’t superior, but actually similar, the same as, equal but opposite.

Hebrew “ke” is a precursor or a marker denoting, similar, suitable for, same as, alike. The Hebrew word “neged” means opposite, matching, corresponding to. (Source for neged = http://www.studylight.org/lex/heb/view.cgi?number=05048)

There is never any indication that God created the women simply to serve her husbands every need. In fact, that is not the connotation that we would observe from the scripture verses in which God describes Himself in this way. In fact, if we are to compare ourselves as women to God, then we are a strong ally; a source of strength and support.

I can hear the heads of theologians popping all over Hampton Roads as this is read; but you can’t argue with the facts.

@May 5, 2010

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Here is the Kerux of the Problem!
By Julie Lucas

According to the Greek Lexicon, a “kerux” is a herald or messenger vested with public authority, who conveyed the official messages of kings, magistrates, princes, military commanders, or who gave a public summons or demand, and performed various other duties. In the New Testament, it is God's ambassador, and the herald or proclaimer of the divine word. [source: Studylight.org/]

This Greek word is translated in our Christian bible as “preacher”. Has anyone ever explained the biblical duties of a preacher to you or have you simply accepted the word of your church/denomination? Have you researched it for yourself? If not, then most likely you have accepted what I refer to as “man’s theology”. So what is a biblical “preacher” and what is his duty?

According to this definition he is a messenger “vested” with authority; a chosen instrument. Chosen by whom? By Jesus Himself. Paul indicates that he was “chosen” for His purposes….

For this I [Paul] was appointed a preacher and an apostle I am telling the truth, I am not lying, as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. (1 Timothy 2:7, NASB)

…for which I [Paul] was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. (2 Timothy 1:11, NASB)

….and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; (2 Peter 2:5, NASB)

There are many who feel that we are ALL called to be preachers, to proclaim the gospel to all who will listen. There is certainly some truth to that, but here in lies the crux of the problem: Very few have truly read or studied the Word of God enough to be a “kerux” and even fewer have actually been chosen by God to represent Him. For many, simply going to some denominationally appointed seminary is enough to make you an official “kerux”; however, I have sat through many a sermon where the preacher admitted that he did not understand the scripture verse he was teaching on fully. Of course, there are many mysteries of the Bible, but if you study the meanings of the word, more often than not, the full flavor of the verse will be revealed. God has not called me to be the one to raise my hand in church and explain the Hebrew or Greek of the matter. And you would assume that if one had gone to seminary, actually studied Gods Word and not just someone else’s opinion on it, they would understand fully what God was saying through the biblical authors. I’m not saying there isn’t a place for good biblical commentary, but before you take someone’s word for it on whatever important topic it may be, study it yourself.

I apologize if I sound critical. My biggest problem is NOT with preachers of Gods Word, but those who just take the preachers word for it. My heartburn is also with preachers who study “Pastor Muckety-Muck’s Official Commentary of Whatever Scripture Verse” (there simply isn’t enough Nexium in the world to make that work for me), and never actually do the research for themselves. Everyone has an opinion of what X, Y and Z scripture verse might mean to them, but PREACHERS, STOP TAKING SOMEONE ELSES WORD FOR IT! I am just a simple house wife who went out and bought several Concordances because one is not enough, several different versions of the bible so I could cross reference, and I learned how to use many online Hebrew and Greek Lexicon’s so I would be able to make a determination on my own of what God’s Word truly means. Especially all those controversial verses and what I found out was startling. The true Word of God is not being preached in most main-stream denominations today and quite often is being perverted in the main-line non-denominations. If I can uncover the truth, a woman who drank her way through high school and college; whose highest academic achievement was simply learning to read, then YOU can do this too! I am not saying I am a biblical scholar because I am NOT; what I am saying is I know where to find the answers. It takes a while, sometimes years, but the truth is there!

Sadly, most people feel like they need some human leadership; that God is just not enough, so they follow some pastor, preacher or something else. The Israelites wanting to be like everyone else clamored for a king, a human king, to lead them. (1 Samuel 8) This is what God said through Samuel when the Israelites were searching for some “human” to lead them instead of God….

He said, "This will be the procedure of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and place them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen and they will run before his chariots.

"He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.

"He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers.

"He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his servants.

"He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants.

"He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys and use them for his work.

"He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants. 1 Samuel 8:11-17

I can hear every Pastor, Priest and Preacher reading this screaming at me, but deep down you know it’s true. I can hear you saying: “but you don’t understand, these lost sheep need a shepherd”. Really? Lost sheep? I think once they have been won over to Christ they are no longer lost. Preaching every Sunday to the same, already won over to Christ people is a colossal waste of time and is not what a “preacher” is called to do. What they need is a teacher….a teacher grounded in the true Word of God, not someone who has bought into “mans theology”. They don’t need to hear about the latest movie you watched unless it makes a real biblical point. They need someone to teach them how to use a Concordance, what the meaning of important Hebrew and Greek words mean, how to find the answers themselves.

Please, for the sake of the sheep….STOP “preaching” to those who are already sitting in your pews and already believe, START teaching! The church is in desperate need of bible teachers; not theologians versed in denominational theology. And this is why you should take your teaching of God’s Word and NOT man’s theology seriously…

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. James 3:1, NIV.

It was only after Ignatius of Antioch (35-107) that a formal hierarchy within the church began to take shape. Sure there were heretics and a formal acceptance of what was scripture DID need to take place. But this is a blog for another day; let’s just suffice it to say, any formal hierarchy with a single leader and/or official gate keeper of the meaning and interpretation of the Word of God was never God’s plan. His plan was Jesus would be the Head of the church and there would be those to help others become mature in the Word of God and support them in their walk. His plan was never to run the church like a multi-million dollar business or as a social club. A commander-in-chief of the church was never what God had in mind; His plan was that of servants:

"So the last will be first, and the first will be last." Matthew 20:16.

Preaching over and out!

@April 28, 2010

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The Beautiful Face of Jesus!
By Julie Lucas

Tuesday night “The Real Face of Jesus” aired on the History Channel and it was even better than I expected. Usually you just get a bunch of liberal hype promoting some left leaning philosophy….but bravo to the History Channel! They did a great job at exploring all the theories behind the Shroud of Turin and they allowed those who are believers to express openly and candidly their viewpoints and opinions on their faith.

This project began in the late 1970’s by a couple of scientists and one photographer who placed a photographic image of the face on the Shroud on a device used to analyze and render 3-D images of the surfaces of other planets. Astonishingly, the photograph revealed a 3-D image of a face. This set off a ground swell from scientists around the world to really research what this unique artifact really is and the Vatican gave them the green light. This project was called the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) and these elite scientists from all over the world studied this magnificent piece of history for approximately 5 days. The final report on their findings was issued in 1981. It yielded a great deal of information; however it has left them with a lot of questions too.

Then a year ago a group of computer graphic artists headed up by Ray Downing of Studio Macbeth began recreating the face using the latest in computer software and electronic tools. The results were nothing short of miraculous. One of the most poignant moments for me was when one of the graphic artists being interviewed stated that “this man had been beaten to hell!” And that is exactly what scripture tells us. There was a great deal of blood on the shroud which Ray Downing and his team were able to isolate using their sophisticated computer software; what was left was the image. During this process they found wounds consistent to that of the biblical account of the crucifixion of Jesus.

What makes the Shroud of Turin so unique, according to this documentary, is that the image on the cloth was found to NOT be a painting, a photographic negative, a stain, a dye, a burnished image or anything else that they could identify. In fact, they do not know what it is. All they can say for sure is that it is a discoloration in a pattern consistent with that of a flat rendering of a 3-D image. They speculated that it could have been a burst of radiation from the body side out through the cloth. Inside the cloth, huh. How is any of this possible, they asked?

To see the 3-D model of Jesus face for yourself check out Shroud of Turin Special (Huffington Post) ....

For me as a believer and one who understands the supernatural presence of God, I have no trouble with the information that was revealed from this research project and the incredible face that was revealed by the graphic artists. For me it is the beautiful face of Jesus!

He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.

 He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. - Isaiah 53:2-5, NIV

Now He is risen!

[Special Note: This program will re-air on the History Channel on Saturday, Apr. 3 at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.]

@April 2, 2010

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Thank God, I am Feng-Shui Challenged!
By Julie Lucas

It’s no secret I watch way too much TV. Recently I’ve noticed a strange trend that wasn’t so prevalent even 5-10 years ago. Yeah, I watched a lot of TV back then too. Okay, so here is what I’ve noticed; a lot more people are decorating their homes and devoting large portions of their life to idols. Weird, huh? On a recent episode of “What Not to Wear” a lady who claims to be a witch (Wicca to be exact) and adorned her wardrobe with a great deal of witch-like apparel wanted a make over. She didn’t show up riding a broom, but she had a lot of black dresses, shirts with skulls and pentagrams, black boots and she even had a really beautiful, ornately decorated, albeit black witch hat.

On many, many recent episodes of “Wife Swap” they have these families who set up alters to some god, goddess, statue or New Age or Eastern mystic religions and swap with a very conservative family or a Christian home school brood. This one really made me laugh, one lady thought she was a fairy in a past life or was related to a fairy or something to that affect so she had a room dedicated to fairies; complete with wings and pixie dust.

You and I might laugh at some of this and think what is the big deal? Who cares what people do in the privacy of their own homes or what silliness they teach to their children? Contrary to what many of you may think, I really am a live-and-let-live kind of person, however, I do believe what the bible says and I live my life accordingly. So what does God say about all this idol stuff….

"You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me…” Exodus 20:3-5

This verse not only tells you not to do it, but it also tells you what will happen to those who do it. “Punishing the children for the sin of the fathers” might seem a bit extreme and just down right mean, but it was a grave and serious warning about what will happen when you do. God was only trying to PROTECT His people from harm. And it isn’t so much that God punishes, although He is a God of justice; it is more like He just removes His hand of protection. Satan simply does the rest.

You may also be saying to yourself, I thought “gods” and “idols” were not real. They are just some fantasy made up in some persons head. So why all the fuss? Here is what Paul wrote to the Corinthian church a few thousand years ago. It was just as true then as it is today…

Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons. 1 Corinthians 10:19-21

So, when you or your loved ones put a little Buddha statue on their mantle, one of those Hindu statues in their garden, hang spirit catchers in their cars or some African tribal mask on their living room wall you are simply telling God that you don’t love Him. He has no choice but to politely retreat. We have all been given free will to choose whatever we want. You can be sure that when you aren’t asking the Lord for His favor and protection, you WILL get a demon hanging around because that is what they do. They look for the spiritually weak and vulnerable and go after them.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

I will refrain from mentioning all the Feng-Shui-how-to’s on Home and Garden TV?!?! Yikes!!

[Sources: Poll Reveals How Churchgoers Mix Eastern, New Age Beliefs (Christian Post)]

@January 20, 2010

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Getting God’s Attention!
By Julie Lucas

There are times in our lives, difficult times when we just need some direction from the Big Man Upstairs. Okay, so you pray, but you hear nothing. You ask others to pray, they give you worldly advice. You then search the scriptures hoping someone in those pages had the same problem and could then give you direction on how to fix it…still you come up empty. Still full of hope, you get a few Christian self-help books, obediently put everything into practice, but in the end, you still have no useful answers! Okay, now a year has gone by and you’ve tried and tried and tried to get an answer from God! You reach out to your elders in your church and have them lay hands on you….NOTHING! Your pastor prays….NOTHING! They send you to Christian counseling…NOTHING! You are now SUPER frustrated, have wasted at least a year and are about to give up on this whole God-Thing!! If God doesn’t hear me then what do I do? Where do I go? Do I just simply suck it up and drive on?

The answer may be to FAST! And keep FASTING until you hear from God. Most problems have an answer, but every once in a while we simply get stuck and we just NEED to hear from Him.

Before you begin a fast, you first must know what fasting is. It is NOT simply starving yourself hoping for an answer. It is PRAYING in conjunction with starving yourself. If you have never fasted before, start off slowly. Maybe the first week you will skip breakfast or lunch or dinner. Then the next week maybe you could do what I call a “sun-up, sun-down” fast. Don’t eat anything while the sun is shining. No, cloudy, dark days, is not an opportunity to cheat. Be sure and drink plenty of water. Once you have built up your ability to fast, move on to a 24 hour period of fasting. And then on to the big prize; days of fasting…only you know how many days you can fast and still survive, while working and maintaining the minimal daily life necessities. My husband did a 40 day fast once, I don’t recommend that unless you are desperate and have fasted before.

I have fasted diet coke (my favorite food in the entire world), chocolate (my second favorite food in the entire world) and TV. I thought I was going to die! The TV and the diet coke were just almost too much for me to bare at the same time. But I did survive and I DID hear from God! It’s amazing what you learn about yourself when you give up the back up plan.

Once I did a three day fast, did NOT hear from God, at least during the fast, and after I broke down in tears, went to Burger King and scarfed down a Whopper Jr. with cheese value meal, I heard God say, “I’ve already shown you what to do, now do it”. And that was it. He was right. I went home and did what He had shown me all these years to do…which is spiritual warfare, and it helped. My problem is not completely resolved but it is much better and I continue to make progress in this one troubling area.

There is one very important thing to remember when seeking God for answers….Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. (James 5:16, NIV)

If you have sin in your life; God is not obligated to answer.

@January 8, 2009

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Who’s in charge of this mess anyway?
by Julie Lucas

Apostles Lutheran in Chesapeake has recently left the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for more stable and biblically sound waters. The issue of homosexuality in the church is now wreaking havoc on a once very strong denomination. The Lutherans have succumbed to the political correctness of our day just as some of the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches have done in the recent past. It is causing even more divisions inside the already overly divided denominations of our Protestant church.

Really…is this what Paul meant when he said… I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ."  Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? 1 Corinthians 1:10-13

I’m sure Paul knew what a complete and colossal waste of his time it was to have penned this little “letter”. He knew that the false teachers were already planting the ‘bad seed’ and the spiritual parasites had already invaded the body of Christ. Jesus knew what was to come for us…

Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

"The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?'

 " 'An enemy did this,' he replied.
      "The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'

 " 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.' " Matthew 13:24-29

As the true church what should we do about this invasion of false teachings? Become even more divided? Fight even more amongst ourselves? Become the thing that Paul prayed that we would not become? Well my friends, it is unfortunately too late to ask these questions now. We have been caught sleeping. It is too late to go back and try to hold together something that Jesus said would happen…and it has and was happening everyday among us as we slept.

Now Jesus is taking his winnowing fork and beginning to separate the wheat from the chaff. As the enemy gets bolder and begins to exercise more control over the church, those that hold to the true convictions of Biblical Truth will automatically separate themselves; then persecution will follow.

We are entering into a global climate of radical hate of true Christians, Jews and everything we consider Holy. The leadership that engages the world will be in for persecution. When we unite (and we will unite) because Jesus said He will return for a ‘pure and spotless bride’ and that can only be accomplished through the work and obedience to the Holy Spirit…..which means, man and their man-made theology has to get out of the way.

How does Jesus intend to completely remove the bad seed from among the good seed? Through persecution…only through hardship and pain can we be tested and refined in the ‘refiners fire’. The true church will stay true; the false church will deny Christ and thus seal their fate…as they already are beginning to do even without a great deal of hardship. For some, they can’t even handle a little criticism by the politically correct mob and they break. They embrace political correctness over Christ.

The next question running through your mind might be…who will be in charge of the ensuing chaos and mess? It won’t be man; it will be the Holy Spirit working through the remnant of men and women that are left standing. So take heart and don’t become discouraged, Jesus is still in charge AND He knows what He is doing….

[Source: Gay-clergy ruling prompts Apostles Lutheran to exit denomination (Virginian-Pilot)]

@November 19, 2009

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Top Ten Ways to Annoy Job Interviewer
By Julie Lucas

Yahoo came up with their “15 Ways to Annoy Your Job Interviewer”…so of course you knew I had to come up with my own!

Julie’s Top Ten Ways to Annoy Job Interviewer

#10.	Bring your bible.
#9.	Include a tract with your resume.
#8.	Ask if you can pray before the interview begins.
#7.	Answer the interviewer with scripture quotes.
#6.	Ask if they might need deliverance from their obvious intolerance to diversity.
#5.	Women: Be sure and wear your best “Jesus” pin.
#4.	Men: Be sure and wear your “What would Jesus do” braclet.
#3.	Be polite by using your best Christianese when speaking; for instance, “bless you sister/brother (insert name)” or “praise Jesus” or “Hallelujah” and ALWAYS use an “Amen” when you agree with them.
#2.	Ask if he or she is saved?
#1.	And my personal favorite…Scream “Jesus loves you” as security is throwing you out of the building!

[Related Source: 15 Ways to Annoy Your Job Interviewer (Yahoo)

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Finding Life in Death…
By Julie Lucas

This week Patrick Swayze passed away from cancer. His talents and gifts will be missed by us all, even by those of us who weren’t big fans. I have often heard many people say that that so-and-so lost the fight to cancer. We say that with such sadness; yes that person will be missed, but did they really lose?

Jesus said something very interesting about losing your life…

Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. Luke 17:33

When faced with eminent death, quite often it turns a person’s heart and mind towards heaven. They begin thinking long and hard about their own life and the after life. Is there really one? Is there really a God? Will that life be better than this one?

Our family recently lost a dear friend to cancer. He was not a believer, nor did he really care to be. He was consumed by the world; making a lot of money, pursuing his career, raising his family. His enjoyment in life was old cars, movies, music, books, history. He had a love of life that rivaled that of any child. He really was just this great big kid who made lots of money and spent a great deal of it just having fun. He really was exciting and entertaining to be around. Everyone loved him because of his enthusiastic way in which he embraced life; this life. Then cancer shattered his once idyllic existence. His family, friends and, because he was a public figure in his community, even those who did not know him personally but were touched by his passion and generosity in life were heart broken. Really, really heart broken.

For many faced with their own death, they pick up the bible and read it, sometimes for the very first time in their life. They discover the precious gems of wisdom, guidance, true love and LIFE! For many it surprises and profoundly affects them as they face death head on. For some it saddens them that they missed out on reading this great book sooner because they had heard so many harsh criticisms about it that they never even considered reading such an illusive, fabrication of man. But this new danger to their mortal soul awakens a deep need inside of them to find out more. Without any other place to go they pick it up; they read it and are touched. They are deeply moved by the death of Jesus. They are profoundly affected by the wisdom dismissed so frivolously by a self absorbed culture. Their eyes are opened to a whole new way of life. Life? How surprising that in death they should find Life.

In the case of my friend, he had just that experience. He was profoundly touched by a God who sent His Son for us. For him. But as they stare heaven in the face and know in their spirit that there is more and that THIS God sent His Son so that THEY could have eternal life, they shed tears of joy and they embrace it without reservation! Not out of fear or simply no where to turn, but because for once in their hard charging, earthly focused life they looked upon their Maker with new hearts; changed hearts. Simply because the curse of cancer entered their bodies. But when they ask Jesus to be the Lord of whatever is remaining of their days peace and joy enters and they are filled with the true love of their Maker. So many of these men and women who discover their Lord and Savior on their death beds, go with a smile and a peaceful heart; a feeling that had so eluded them in life. Some laugh at how funny it is that in life they never felt truly at peace even while enjoying everything life had to offer; yet in death they never felt better.

Many question the suffering God allows on this earth. But as for me, I have seen first hand and rejoice in the blessing of affliction.

@September 18, 2009

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Exotheology – Here’s a new word for your religious lexicon!
By Julie Lucas

What is exotheology anyway? “‘Exotheology’, that is, the discipline that is concerned with theological reflection on the possibility of extraterrestrial life.” The term Extraterrestrial (ET) life has really become a mainstream concept with all the movies, TV programs, books, magazines, statements made by former NASA astronauts and UFO researchers pushing their enlightened agenda on the rest of the mostly unsuspecting populace. But what does it all mean to Christianity? Would finding a little green or gray man really change your position on Jesus?

There is this very interesting bible verse that when put into a more complete context has many implications for not only angels and demons, but any other “creatures” found throughout our universe…

Therefore God exalted Him [Jesus] to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow , in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11, emphasis mine.

This verse leaves no wiggle room for ET’s to be exempt from this biblical requisite. But as many opinions of the ET phenomenon exist, most Christians avoid this topic like the plague. That if they make even the slightest acknowledgment that the possibility existed, that would completely nullify any credibility they may have in the Christian community. Well, since I obviously could care less about my credibility (as confirmed in every posting I have ever written to date) I would like to embark on the taboo subject of ET’s!

What is an ET and does the bible talk about these creatures at all? Genesis tells this really weird story of “mighty men who were of old”….

When men began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair, and they took wives of all they desired and chose. Then the Lord said, My Spirit shall not forever dwell and strive with man, for he also is flesh; but his days shall yet be 120 years. There were giants on the earth in those days--and also afterward--when the sons of God lived with the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Genesis 6:1-4.

The “sons of God” in this verse in Hebrew is “Benei Elohim” which is also a term used for angels. So, what we have here is a group of angels who came to earth, cohabitated with a bunch of women and had offspring? As appalling as that may sound and as unpopular this belief is in the Christian community that IS what it says. We could dismiss it as just a misrepresentation or a misprint or attempt to explain it as the “Cain and Seth” interpretation, but it defies any simple explanation. Secular books like “Chariots of the Gods” by Erich von Däniken and any book ever written by Zecharia Sitchin explain this as the ancient astronaut theory in which you will find an interesting correlation between what they have to say and what is depicted in this outrageous Genesis story.

Without going into some long theological dissertation, the creatures that produced these creatures that the bible calls Nephilim may be the “missing link” in our so called UFO explanation. Not ET’s in the sense that they came from some far off distant galaxy but from a different dimension altogether. This dimension reserved for God’s angelic hosts and one that we in our own dimension can not fathom may harbor these more sinister fallen beings which from time to time make an appearance in our own dimension.

Strange? You bet it is…but what could be stranger than Genesis 6:1-4 anyway? A great deal of wisdom and biblical knowledge may be needed in the future if they were ever to make a more official reappearance here in our world. Our planet will no doubt be plunged into some weird worship of these creatures as they did in ancient times, and all will be “explained” in accordance to the new-age ET philosophy that according to ancient manuscripts were only used to enslave the human population and keep them in some weird conformity by the practice of human sacrifice; not to set them free or truly help their human cause along into a more independent and prosperous future for themselves.

You can be sure of one thing…if they ever do make a reappearance into our modern day world, they will REQUIRE our conformity to THEIR way of thinking and it be by force. As Genesis 6:2 says: “they TOOK wives of all they desired and chose”! It was not an option. Neither will it be an option in those days for you. He who has an ear, let him hear.

[Source: Did Jesus Die for Little Green Men? (Christian Post)]

@September 4, 2009

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Help Me, I Have Sanctification Anxiety!
By Julie Lucas

Sanctification or what I will call Stage II of our salvation and keeping it is a lifelong process. Like I said in the last post, sanctification is NOT the same thing as salvation. Some ministers call it the “glory to glory” principal.

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18

What this essentially says is, that if you continue to walk “in the Spirit” you will be changed little by little; because let’s face it, if God were to transform us all at once we would have a mental meltdown. The closer you get to the light the more darkness that is revealed. It would really break a person’s spirit; that is NOT Gods plan.

In practical terms what does this mean? Well the Spirit, a.k.a. the Holy Spirit, begins to reveal our shortcomings one at a time and in a very gentle process. Let’s say before you completely committed your life to walking in the ways of our Heavenly Father, you had a lot of sex out of wedlock, got drunk, took drugs, fought with your parents, cheated on tests at school, stayed up late at night gossiping about your friends and people that you know, you were rude to others frequently, cheated on your spouse, demanded your way, read horoscopes and in general just lived your life in a way that served yourself and your own desires. I mean really, isn’t that what the world tells us will make us happy? But then you begin to discover that it does not.

In comes Jesus and Stage I salvation has happened. You feel like you have reached the pinnacle of love, peace and joy. You wonder why the “secret” of Jesus hasn’t caught on with every person on the planet. Miraculous, wonderful, supernatural and unexplained things begin happening to you. You feel like this is the peak of real happiness and it just can’t get any better than this; or so you think. For many new believers we Stage II’ers call this the “honeymoon period”. Then the Holy Spirit says, let’s kick it up a notch and start getting the “sin” out of them, the removing of darkness and being “transformed” into His likeness. As you enter Stage II confusion steps in, deception makes a power play and in many cases latent sickness and disease may make its appearance known. In the beginning of Stage II you feel bewildered and sometimes abandoned by God. Where is that euphoric feeling that you had in the beginning of your walk with the Lord? What happened? Where did it all go wrong? This is the place where most backsliders go down in defeat; but for others they press in and on towards Jesus.

As the disillusionment and confusion set in, it is really beneficial for the transitioning believer to have a mentor; someone they can talk too honestly about the things of God and bounce off ideas. God will begin to challenge their old thought patterns and sinful habits. The Holy Spirit will begin to remove, with their cooperation, all desire to seek self satisfaction and to continue in those old sinful behaviors that we once practiced before we made that commitment. For many this is the best time to begin demonic deliverance. Of course, for some people a few of these demonic spirits will leave on their own if the person continues to stay in the Word of God and draw near to Him, however not all will leave and they will need to be cast out.

LACK OF DEMONIC DELIVERANCE AND PROPER MENTORING IN THIS STAGE IS THE REASON FOR THE LARGE PERCENTAGE OF IMMATURE, BACKSLIDDEN AND BABY FOOD EATING BELIEVERS IN AMERICA WHO FAITHFULLY SIT EVERY SUNDAY IN THE PEW WITHOUT EVER MATURING BEYOND STAGE I! THIS INCLUDES PASTORS, CLERGY, DEACONS, COUNSELORS AND EVERY OTHER AREA OF LEADERSHIP IN THE BODY OF CHRIST!

(All CAPS means this point is super important and worth reading over and over again until we get it.)

This Stage II continues for the remainder of your life, because you will never be sinless and NOT need a Savior. However, it gets easier as you continue to be transformed. I’ve been standing in church services when someone or even the pastor has declared themselves “sanctified by the blood of Jesus. Nothing more need be done.” I’ve been told that “Christianity is not performance based, because that would mean you had a part of your own salvation”. Huuummmm….have they not read all the scripture? Do they not yet know that WE are required to make our own CHOICES daily that will either further us along in the path of this sanctification process or make us stumble or even fall? Have they not entered this sanctification process or have become deceived in the very beginning of it? It is all about our choices that we make everyday whether or not our sanctification will move ahead, go backwards, go around in circles or stay in one place. I’ve also been told that our sanctification is a supernatural process and we have no part in it; “the work was done at Calvary”, I hear often. Yes it is quite true, a person’s salvation and forgiveness of sins was covered by His blood at Calvary, but it is our responsibility to heed the leadership and guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is also the responsibility of every Pastor in America to ensure that every new believer has a mature, Godly mentor to help them through this perilous process. I believe that if you don’t at some point during your walk with the Lord, enter into sanctification, you could very well be putting yourself at great risk of losing your salvation altogether especially if you have heard and chose to ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

It is also during this process that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are bestowed upon us. Regardless of your denomination or church affiliation, there is nothing that will keep the Holy Spirit from giving you a spiritual gift. If you have not received one or been open to one, you may need to press on beyond your comfort zone, heed the promptings of the Holy Spirit and enter the realm of sanctification. It is a humbling, precious, joyous, fulfilling, blessed place to rest… “in the Shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91)!

@August 18, 2009

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Salvation is a work out!
By Julie Lucas

This is the 500 year birthday celebration of a remarkable Reformationist named John Calvin. One of his more notable teachings includes the “once saved, always saved” dogma that has, excuse the pun, dogged the church ever since. It has now been revised to mean: “once saved, always saved….if you were actually saved in the first place”. That little qualifier has saved, again sorry for the puns, this Reformer’s theological doctrine and allowed the Reformationists to move forward with their unbiblical approach to scripture.

If you follow this line of theological doctrine it brings up several excellent questions: Well then, am I really saved? How can I be sure?

To this I would start with this….

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Philippians 2:12-13

Why “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” if you are secure in the knowledge that you are “saved”; what makes the difference? Then comes the ultimate question: Can you loose your salvation? This has been the pivotal argument since this little ditty was put forth.

I believe that it has been this deception that keeps people in bondage to their sins, transgressions and bad habits. It is true that we are chosen, but it is our responsibility to answer His call and then continue on this path without straying from this path in a habitual or rebellious manner. Some of us, of course, stray from this path as a result of ignorance, temporary insanity or our own silly selfishness, self delusions and foolishness. However, He said He would never let us be tempted beyond what we could handle without giving us another option or way out.

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

Satan sometimes blinds us to this fact. We believe that we can not bear it. We believe that there is no way out of our predicament and so we continue in it without taking a stand against it. Or when we have taken a stand against it, we succumb to, what we see as overwhelming pressure by the enemy to go our own way. We always have many reasons in our own minds, but God always does give us a way out. It might not be an EASY way out and of course that is what we are always looking for. It’s funny, but in my life’s experience that “thing” always looks bigger when looking at it from the front but looks so much smaller and easier from the other side. Its like looking up at a problem from the down hill side of it, but once you have faced it and you look back down at it from a higher level on the mountain you are climbing, it really doesn’t look so large and formidable after all.

So to get to my point, when we give our lives to Christ at the start point of our salvation, which I call Stage 1, we can at anytime during our walk with the Lord stumble and fall into sin, however if we voluntarily stay down and wallow in it, we are in that dangerous place of being unable to recover. It is like the parable in Mark 4 (I would encourage you to read it on your own) about the seeds and the soil. Not every seed that is planted will produce fruit, some seeds are stolen by Satan while others are choked to death by the worries of life. Simply put, not all who say they are Christians are in fact walking in His ways.

In comes Stage 2: Sanctification. This is NOT the same thing as salvation. We will discuss more on what sanctification is and why it is crucial to our continued salvation in my next post.

@August 13, 2009

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Theophostic: True or False?
By Julie Lucas

This is not a test and it is not dependent upon an answer key to be sure we get it right…it is rooting out the truth of false doctrine and making it line up with scripture which makes something true or false. Scripture is the answer key; so with that said, is Theophostic Ministry heretical new age mumbo jumbo or is Dr. Edward M. Smith, founder of Theophostic Ministry, really on to something?

Well as the deep rooted critic of all things unscriptural, I began a journey to find out. Let’s begin with: What is Theophostic Ministry? It is healing the wounded emotions by using the Holy Spirit as a guide...essentially. Some have dubbed it “inner healing” while others have deemed it too closely resembling “new age” visualization therapy to be scriptural. But here is what I think is closer to the truth….

“For as a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.” Proverbs 23:7. King James Version

Although I do not buy into the overall argument that every bad memory holds some “lie” in it that we have believed and are now acting it out in our lives, but I do believe wholeheartedly that every bad memory really needs to be washed in the blood of Jesus. Healing always begins at the foot of the cross. Sure many folks go to secular psychologists and get help. They learn to deal with their unhealthy emotions in a more positive and constructive way; however they do not get “healed”. They do not change the memory into something positive, useful or dramatically less painful. For them it is still a painful memory that can not be changed, but it can be dealt with.

If you have a memory, for instance, that haunts you or you think of it often, it makes you cry, sad or very angry and you want to stop thinking about it, you can A) just invoke your will to never remember it again; B) pretend that it didn’t really happen that way and create for yourself a false memory; C) convince yourself that it really wasn’t that bad, and that others have had it worse; D) exact revenge on the person(s) that hurt you to counteract this memory; E) get drunk, take drugs, abuse other people; F)…I could really just keep going with all the unhealthy options that are available to us, however I think the right answer is make it line up with scripture. For some that is easy, but for most of us, it really is too difficult for us to even try to find out how and we wouldn’t even know where to begin. Theophostic Ministry tells you not only where to begin, but also tells you that the memory will be “healed” permanently and according to God’s holy work. It is taking that memory and allowing Jesus to show us how we should “think” about it and in the process we are healed. We NEVER think of this memory in the same way again. Unlike secular therapists, Jesus is never wrong…

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” 2 Corinthians 10:5. King James Version

I for one am a huge proponent of “taking all thoughts captive” because, if you have read my articles long enough to know I do not believe that all our thoughts belong to us. I believe that many of these thoughts are of demonic origin and must be smacked down, crushed and forced into obedience; using the Word of God in the same way that Jesus used it in Matthew 4 against Satan. Jesus was our example of how to counteract the lies of the enemy with the truth, but it takes a great deal of practice for us to learn it effectively.

In Theophostic Ministry, it is used in the area of healing memories. We take that memory to Jesus and allow Him to take it into captivity and bring it into “obedience”. Quite honestly, most of us don’t have a clue how to take a memory “captive” and bring it into obedience. We would just sit there saying to ourselves, as I have done on many occasions, thinking, well what am I supposed to do with that?

In Theophostic Ministry, it is simply praying for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, asking the Holy Spirit what memory the Lord would like to see healed, or simply remembering an already existing and extremely annoying memory and as we begin to confess our feelings, what ever these feelings may be, good or bad, to Jesus, and then simply asking Jesus to come into this memory. Many Theophostic Ministers would tell you…don’t try this at home, all Theophostic Ministry should be done under the supervision of a fully trained professional, however, if you have a relationship with Jesus, I think it is something you can accomplish under the power of the Holy Spirit on your own. Trust that He will show you something incredibly powerful in it.

As for me? Yes, I tried it. It was so powerfully and unexpectedly effective that I thought I would let you have a glimpse into my mind, however mangled and broken it is, to see exactly what happened. Words do not adequately describe the thoughts, feelings and emotions expressed by Jesus…

The last time I saw my father, I was returning with my mother to West Virginia. They had had a huge fight and I knew it was over for them, but I honestly didn’t think it would be the very LAST time I saw him. But sadly, it was. I remember getting my stuff out of our R.V. and putting it into my mother’s car as my father sat in the driver’s seat of the R.V. staring blankly out the wind shield. I knew he had really messed up, at that time I didn’t know why but I was really mad at him for it, so instead of hugging him and saying I loved him, I just stuck my tongue out at him and got into my mothers car. The guilt of that has affected me my whole life. I never got to say goodbye or tell him how much I loved him or how I really felt about him. He died before I could ever tell him how sorry I was or that I really thought he was a great father when he was around. As I entered this memory, completely initiated by the Holy Spirit, I just kept pouring out my “guilt’ and ‘sorrow’ to the Lord. The facilitator told us to “invite Jesus into the memory” and so I did, not at all expecting what happened next. I saw Jesus standing behind my father with his hands on his shoulders. Jesus was giving comfort to my father. Comfort that I could have never been able to do as a six year old kid. I began to cry as the pain and guilt poured out of me, Jesus was ALSO by my side, He put His arm around me, turned me away from my father and simply told me “the burden is Mine”. As I walked away in this memory I KNEW I left my father in the loving arms of Jesus. It was not my place as a six year old kid to comfort my father, whom I found out had committed adultery and fathered an illegitimate child which set into motion the horrible events of that day. It was Jesus’ burden to bear… As the guilt of that day was lifted so too was the comfort in knowing that God does indeed do exactly as He promises…

“He will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6) and “there (REALLY) is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).

Since this experience I have taken many of my memories, even those that were not bad ones but simply made me ambivalent or unsettled and allowed Jesus to do the ministry. Strangely enough, He showed me the truth in each one and brought peace and wholeness to places that were once unsettled. He continues to surprise me in the way He chooses to heal them; not at all the way I would have expected Him to at all!

Theophostic Ministry is a precious and wonderful tool in helping believers achieve wholeness, however it is also not the end all and be all of ministry. It is simply one of the tools in the arsenal of the Holy Spirit that is effective and successful. In many cases, much more ministry needs to be done like demonic deliverance, breaking of ungodly soul ties and replacing ungodly beliefs with Godly ones. But please don’t be afraid to use this approach in your ministry or simply apply this approach to yourself!

“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners…” Isaiah 61:1

@May 4, 2009

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Speaking in Tongues and Interpretation

By Julie Lucas

Last week I discussed the gift of “distinguishing between spirits”; the next several and final gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians is “speaking in tongues” and “interpretation of tongues”.

“To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each one, just as He determines.” 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 (NIV)

These gifts are limited to the Charismatic church community because it is only in these congregations that theses gifts are permitted to flow unregulated. Speaking in tongues is simply preaching the gospel through a language that is foreign and unknown to the person speaking it. It is supposed to be followed by a person who interprets that language into the native tongue so everyone else can understand it.

When in the presence of someone who is legitimately speaking in tongues and someone follows with an interpretation of what was said, it can be very inspirational and edifying to the entire body of Christ. However, it was clear that Paul was saying that the gift of speaking in tongues was for the unbeliever and not necessarily for the edification of the believer…

Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers. So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!" 1 Corinthians 14:22-25

Although I have never spoken in tongues I have been in a few Charismatic circles in which this gift was in full operation. So I can not tell a lie….I have no clue what purpose it serves to speak in another language that can not be understood and when there is an interpretation, most of the time it is lost on me.

Sorry if this has ruined your perfect view of me and destroyed any faith that I may have some clue about the bible and it’s teachings. Okay, y’all can stop laughing now! The bible is a book that was inspired by the hand of God and has been said to be…

“so deep that theologians cannot touch the bottom, yet so shallow that babes cannot drown.” - Author Unknown

So I have just skimmed the surface of the meanings of many of these gifts given by the Holy Spirit. I would encourage you to investigate for yourself these gifts and to seek out these gifts on your own and put them to use in your local church and Christian community.

@April 3, 2009

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Distinguishing Between Spirits

By Julie Lucas

Last week I discussed the gift of “prophecy”; the next gift mentioned in 1 Corinthians is “distinguishing between spirits” and is also called spiritual discernment. This gift also deserves its own explanation.

“To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each one, just as He determines.” 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 (NIV)

This is, hands down, the most misunderstood and least openly moved in within the body of Christ than all other gifts. Within some charismatic circles this gift is openly used and appreciated, however it can also be used by Satan as a counterfeit gift to cause confusion, chaos and keep churches and people in continued bondage to his emissaries. For this reason, many churches frown upon its open use and discourage its practice.

The definition of this gift is essentially the ability to know if a spirit, spiritual gift or a teaching is false and evil or from God. John MacArthur summarizes it this way…

“It can be said that the gift of discernment is given to tell if the other gifts are of the Holy Spirit, if they are merely natural imitations, or if they are demonic counterfeits. I believe God still empowers some of His people to unmask false prophets and carnal hypocrites. He gives them insight to expose imitations and deceptions that most Christians would take as genuine.” – 1996, 1 Corinthians, page 305.

These people often sense in a real way the presence of a spirit, either a Holy angel from the Lord or an evil spirit and they know the difference. It is not clairvoyance, mediumistic abilities or even necromancy, for these individuals are possessed by a demonic force that gives them insight for the glory of darkness and to lead people astray. Those with the gift of “spiritual discernment” love the Lord with all their heart, mind and soul and their lives bear witness to this fact. They shun all things that remotely resemble anything that would be offensive to God. Some think they are legalistic, however these people know and have seen (in the spirit) the demonic strong holds that can enter a persons life through allowing even the smallest of sin to penetrate their world. They are acutely aware of Satan’s existence, his trappings and are always on guard against his schemes.

Those with this gift are not embraced by the Christian community that is following in the ways of false doctrine and they are also not a welcome sight when secular, worldly liberalism takes center stage to openly push their agenda. For example, those that feel homosexuality is just another demonstration of love from one to another. Some just go on faith that it is an abomination unto the Lord because this is what our bible says. Those with true spiritual discernment KNOW that it is far more than simply a sin, but a spirit unto itself. For those who think sin is simply an action by our flesh, those with spiritual discernment KNOW that every temptation to sin comes with its own demon. Once acted upon, that spirit moves in. When acted on habitually, it gets a strong hold. These individuals are drawn to demonic deliverance ministries and prophetic ministries. They inherently know through the Holy Spirit what is from God and what is not. And those with this ability, quite often know these spirits by name which helps in delivering those who are being demonically oppressed.

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1) Those individuals that have the gift of spiritual discernment are sent to help in this task. They are charged by God to uncover the workings of the devil, to expose his false doctrines and assist those who are searching and seeking earnestly for the truth to find it.

Even in Paul’s day false prophets had gone out into the world and a great deal of discernment was needed to wade through all the Gnostic gospels, legalistic demands of those that continued to follow the law and additions to “Christ crucified” that existed.

It’s not that different today. In my personal opinion, the most needed gift within the body of Christ today is THIS gift. Those that possess this gift have been relegated to the back pew and told to conform to their authority or asked to leave the church all together. They cause problems when false doctrines arise and man’s theology takes precedent over God’s. They are NOT appreciated in denominationalism and they are not valued in charismatic circles where counterfeit gifts are in full operation. In addition to a true prophet, these individuals have one of the toughest jobs in the body of Christ.

These folks are truth seekers on a basic level and smell deception from a mile away. Every pastor of every church that seeks to preach the truth has been given at least one in their congregation. Their challenge is to recognize those people and utilize their gifts to the fullest extent possible. It will be these churches that will flourish and overcome the onslaught of Satan’s attacks and be less susceptible to the counterfeit gospels and movements that run rampant today in our modern day Christian church.

For those who are interested in finding out more about “spiritual discernment” and this gift given by the Holy Spirit, I would like to recommend a great book by Tim Challies, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment available at Amazon.com and at Tim’s website at Challies.com

@ March 27, 2009

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The Gift of Prophecy

By Jule Lucas

Several weeks ago I discussed “healing” and “miraculous powers”; the next gift mentioned in 1 Corinthians is “prophecy”. This gift deserves its own explanation.

“To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each one, just as He determines.” 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 (NIV)

Prophecy is more than a word of knowledge which is usually for the edification of an individual or group. Quite often people hear a “word” from someone that is often one of those “thus sayeth the LORD” kind of things and those individuals are called a “prophet”. This is a gross misinterpretation of this gift. (For more on this subject, I recommend a great book called “Thus Sayeth the Lord”, by John Bevere)

Prophecy involves the ability to know what God plans on doing in the life of a person, a leader or a nation that most often affects the outcome of an entire group of people. It is being chosen by God as the “spokes person” for God. Contrary to popular belief, you can not be “trained” to be a prophet; you are anointed by God Himself as a prophet. However, you certainly should ask God directly for this gift since we are called to desire all the gifts.

Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets. Amos 3:7

God has sent His prophets to reveal His plans years, sometimes hundreds and/or thousands of years in advance. The problem with God’s prophets seems to be they very rarely, if ever, give a message that anyone wants to hear. This is one of my favorite verses concerning prophets, in fact the first time I read it I couldn’t stop laughing…

If a liar and deceiver comes and says, 'I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,' he would be just the prophet for this people! Micah 2:11

This is sooooooooooooo true even today! The prophets that all the folks embrace are those modern day prophets that tell you what you want to hear and that is not necessarily the truth. However, the prophets that tell you the truth and are actually hearing from God, don’t always have the most “edifying” words to say. They quite often are the ones telling you to get it together, stop sinning or something very bad is going to happen to our/other nation(s). God calls that justice. Those who don’t know or understand Gods ways call Him “wrathful” with the implied meaning that He is unfair and/or unjust. That He likes to destroy people for the sake of simply being able to destroy them. Nothing could be farther from the truth. How to identify a real, honest to goodness prophet from God takes discernment, much time spent in the Scriptures and with Him. This is something every man and woman must decide for themselves, but when you really know the heart of God, you will know one when you see one. You will also know them by their “fruit” ( Luke 6:42 -44).

Here is a list of reasons why God has to send His prophets to warn the nations of their bad behavior and impending doom….

No doubt, as the “end of days” closes in on us, we will have more and more righteous prophets warning us, not of impending doom because we are pretty sure this is the outcome because other great prophets have already prophecy significantly about that subject; but of those people that can and will lead us astray which will in turn lead to our own destruction. It is this point that leads me to the next gift mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:8-11, the gift of “distinguishing between spirits”. This gift is the least mentioned among biblical scholars, pastors and bible teachers. It is also the most misunderstood gifts of them all and it is this gift I know the most about. So until next time…

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Healing and Miraculous Powers!

By Julie Lucas

Last week I discussed “knowledge” and “faith”; the next couple of gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians are “healing” and “miraculous powers”.

“To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each one, just as He determines.” 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 (NIV)

Wow…to have the gifts of healing and miraculous powers would certainly cause a stir in the body of Christ and probably in the world as well. This person would be in high demand, except for one little thing. A person with either of these gifts can’t just use them randomly like some superhero. They are subject to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

The gifts of healing are pretty self-explanatory and they consist of healing those in which the Holy Spirit leads you to lay hands on to heal. Listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit can sometimes be confusing and frustrating if you are not practiced in hearing His voice. Jesus said: “my sheep follow my voice” (John 10:27). This has as much to do with obedience as it does with the recognition of His voice. This takes a great deal of “hearing” from Him. It also has to do with hearing the voice of the enemy; for “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Recognizing the difference between those voices takes time in the training camp of the Holy Spirit, your mind saturated in the Word of God and being in His presence as often as possible.

Miraculous powers are things such as raising the dead (Luke 7:22), the ability to call down fire from heaven, plagues, stop rain and turn water into blood (Revelation 11). I haven’t seen any of these particular miraculous powers in action, although I have heard stories of those who have gone into the missions’ field and miracles such as “raising the dead” brought many to the salvation knowledge of the power of Jesus Christ. That also goes for the gift of healing; it is quite often accompanied by the transformation of souls involved in the healing action.

Bringing people to the salvation knowledge of Christ is one of the main goals of these two gifts. Although many Christians are healed by this same spirit, that gift is always and ever present for those of us who are Christians. We simply lack faith and one other factor that is greatly overlooked by the “grace and mercy covers all” crowd.

This often ignored factor that leads to healing is holiness and righteousness. This is not to be confused with works of the flesh which are the actions of our own hands, such as time and money we give to the poor, needy, orphans, widows…and the like. Righteousness is an action that we take on our own part to keep sin out of our bodies…

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33

If you have been praying for a healing for a long time and still have not received it, seek “His kingdom and His righteousness” and get the sin out of your life, repent, forgive and dedicate yourself to the washing of your mind through the word of God. Do your research on what sin actually is!

For those of us who have not received a relevant gift from the Holy Spirit that can benefit the entire body of Christ and the world as a whole, it is usually due to the sin in our own lives. Sin is the most misunderstood topic in the bible. Most mistakenly limit it to the Ten Commandments. Everyone has their own opinion of what sin is and trust me it varies from church to church, denomination to denomination, and culture to culture. We, here in America, don’t take sin and Jesus’ sacrifice for it nearly as serious as we should because we have been misled that “mercy covers all” and that trumps the sin in our lives. Folks, it doesn’t. God still requires you to take action to keep sin out of your life. God takes sin VERY seriously. Of course we all still sin, so immediate repentance is required to keep the enemy from getting a foothold.

What follows unrepentant sin and unforgiveness? Demons folks! And just because you are a Christian isn’t a “stay free from demons” card. You can still be assaulted, inhabited, tormented and harassed because you opened the door through your own sinful behavior. This also applies to the inability to move in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has an incredible gift for all of us, we simply need to submit ourselves to His leading and GET THE SIN OUT!!!

@ March 6, 2009

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More Free Gifts…

By Julie Lucas

Last week I discussed “wisdom”; the next few gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians are “knowledge” and “faith”.

“To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each one, just as He determines.” 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 (NIV)

All the gifts given by the Holy Spirit really are mysterious, unless of course you have been gifted with one of them. Let’s begin with the gift of “knowledge”; this gift is used in the body of Christ by giving special, unknown information to another person for their own personal benefit. This information is used to lift them up, encourage them or confirm something that God has already told them. When in life we face circumstances that are beyond our control we can become entangled in the details of life instead of looking at the big picture. God knows the big picture; we can barely see past our own noses. God tells us, in many cases, the big picture for our lives in a word of knowledge. God will also use words of knowledge to encourage us when we are praying and see no results in the natural world. The power of prayer is undeniably effective, however when we don’t see the results we are looking for right away then we get discouraged, distraught and sometimes desperate. A word of knowledge can help encourage us and get us over those times when our life is in crisis and our faith is faltering.

Which brings us to the next gift: “faith”. Is “faith” in Jesus a gift from the Holy Spirit? To best understand this gift of faith it is always best to think back to the time in which we didn’t believe that Jesus was the son of God (lucky for you if there was never one of these times in your life). What was the deciding factor for us to believe or to have faith in something that we can not see tangibly; something that happened over 2,000 years ago? Some guy who claims to be the son of God, dies on a cross, rumor has it rose again on the third day and then implausibly ascends into heaven? I mean come on, who can believe in that kind of ridiculous tripe? Well, in comes the Holy Spirit who speaks to your heart and gives you a gift…this gift, I believe, is something ALL believers possess because who can really believe in something you can’t see, feel or touch without it? The only explanation is a supernatural gift of “faith”.

On the other hand, when it comes to “faith” in other things, like does God really have a plan for our life, will God give us children when we have none, will God help us get a much needed job, will God keep us safe in times of trouble, fix our financial woes, cure us of our illnesses, heal us of our injuries, make right the messes we have made, this list goes on and on….

“A person with the spiritual gift of faith acts on God’s promises with confidence and unwavering belief in God’s ability to fulfill his purposes…an extraordinary ability to trust God.” Pastor Suzanne Ungson, Along the Way newsletter, December 2007

This is definitely NOT a gift I posses so for the rest of us, without this gift of “faith” we have to rely on words of “knowledge”.

@ Feb 27, 2009

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FREE gifts? I like free…

by Julie Lucas

The Barna Group, a Christian research firm that survey’s the trends and marketing aspects of the Christian community, recently conducted a survey that asked those folks that call themselves Christians about “spiritual gifts”. The survey found that 2/3rds of those surveyed knew that there were gifts mentioned in the bible but were unable to identify them correctly and added things “such as a sense of humor, singing, health, life, happiness, premonition, and clairvoyance”. George Barna, president of the research group, stated correctly that “the findings shed light on biblical illiteracy among Christians when it comes to spiritual gifts”.

So, if you are a professing Christian, do you know what your spiritual gifts are? Here is what the bible has to say about spiritual gifts…

“To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each one, just as He determines.” 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 (NIV)

In my next few articles, I am going to talk about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and maybe that will help some of you to better identify your own God given gifts. All gifts are meant to be used for the edification of those in the body of Christ and to demonstrate Gods infinite power and grace to unbelievers.

Let’s begin with “wisdom” which is not exactly the same as common sense, which seems to be abundantly lacking in our society today. Common sense allows you to avoid trouble, make good decisions and use proper judgment in most situations. Wisdom on the other hand, discerns what is right, just and good, accurately assesses a situation, action or event and puts into practice as well as advices others in the right course of action. Wisdom is one part common sense and one part divine intuition.

When you encounter someone with a “gift of wisdom” it may not be readily apparent; however you are keenly aware that this person has very little difficulty in making right decisions, accurate moral judgments and are annoyingly correct about almost everything. They are always financially responsible, honor their commitments and are never risk takers. This is the person that you want in advisory or leadership roles within the church community and are usually the one that family and friends look up to or seek out advice from. Of all the gifts, this one gets the least amount of respect because it can be mistaken for simply being really intelligent, knowledgeable or shrewd. Some may even mistake this gift as “prophecy”, however this person has a gift that allows them to wisely discern future events based on poor decisions and the bad judgments of leaders within the church or government.

This is a gift everyone should ask for and seek out earnestly. And as evidenced by all my past posts….I’m still asking….. [Source: Clairvoyance - a spiritual gift? (One News Now)]

@ Feb 16, 2009

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Hebraic Roots Ministries on the Rise!

By Julie Lucas

You know me…always on the look out for the false doctrines that plague our church today. Currently there is a movement afoot; well it has been picking up steam lately that again puts limitations on the gospel of Jesus Christ. ANY movement apart from the deity of Christ is false. With that said, among these are the “Hebrew Roots” movement that demands their tenants to call Jesus by his “proper” name Yeshua, turn the glorious feasts and festivals of our God into legalistic practices and limit some of the New Testament books as error because it doesn’t match up with their view of the Old Testament.

Let me just stop here and repeat a very important part of Jesus’ Gospel, in fact it was Jesus that said: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Matthew 5:17

It has been taught throughout modern day Christendom that when Jesus came to fulfill the “law”; it was in fact replaced with the doctrine of “grace and mercy”…the “mercy covers all” crowd. Those that justify their sin, say to themselves “all I need to do is ask forgiveness and I will be forgiven” and they keep right on sinning because “mercy covers all”. If you’ve been in Christian circles more than a month you know exactly what I’m talking about. It is also taught that the Jews that live under the “law” were replaced by “grace and mercy” believing gentiles: something know as “Replacement Theology”. Replacement Theology says this: Because of the immense sins of Israel they are no longer “the apple of Gods eye” and they have been REPLACED by the gentile believers who hold firm to the teachings of Jesus. NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH!!! Don’t be deceived my Christian brothers and sisters, the Jewish people are still the “apple of Gods eye” and He is now restoring the state of Israel to its former glory. Even with all the bloodshed, war and global hostilities, Israel will always belong to Him! It is no accident that the city in which God dwells in the new earth of Revelation is the new “ Jerusalem”. The pillars in which the city is built are on the foundations named after Jesus’ Apostles, all Jews as was Jesus. I think we forget the “Jewishness” of Jesus.

I have seen a remarkable and very positive transformation of the modern day churches that are investigating its Jewish Roots and rejecting “Replacement Theology”. However, when you have movements, which you will always have when sinful “man” is involved, you will always have some person or another say they know the truth in spite of what is in the word of God. I can’t stress enough here that any doctrine, teaching, philosophy or ritual apart from the word of God (all 66 books that are in our protestant bible) is FALSE. To know what is false takes a serious study of His word; ALL of it! Old Testament and New Testament; to reject any part of it is a complete rejection of God himself.

Just like the “law” of tithing which the New Testament church, interestingly enough requires of its members, brings about a very gracious blessing from God; so too does celebrating feasts and festivals and “holy” days marked out in the Old Testament. The churches and individual families that are celebrating these “holy” days because they love God and not out of some ritualistic requirement will be blessed. If your church doesn’t celebrate these days, investigate them for yourself and begin to celebrate them as a family! Avoid "man's theology" and embrace Gods! Then sit back and BE BLESSED! [Source: The Hebrew Roots Movement & Sacred Name Movement (EndTimesPropheticWords.com)]

@Feb 6, 2009

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“Lord, Lord, why hast thou forsaken me?”

By Julie Lucas

The inauguration of President Barack H. Obama was Tuesday and whether you agree or not with his proposed policies it was a great day in American history. Tuesday the first African American was sworn into the highest office in the land. I am so proud of my fellow Americans when it comes to this issue. It is official…we now can see past a man’s color and embrace them for the person they truly are…which brings me to my second point…I am terribly disappointed in my fellow Christians. You are calling into the typically conservative talk shows like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Neal Bortz, and asking that question that has transcended time. That question that even Jesus asked while in the 9th hour of his crucifixion… (“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”) “Lord, Lord, why hast thou forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46 & Mark 15:34

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, God has not forsaken YOU; you as the believer. He has however, removed His anointing and His “Shekinah” (presence) from our church, our nation and our ministries because we have failed to live according to His statutes and edicts. We have compromised our principals and we judged others without giving them hope. I am afraid our nation has been judged and has been found to be unworthy. That is not to say that this can not change, but we have to change from the inside out.

We have to be determined to find out the areas in which we are lacking and give them completely and whole heartedly over to Him. That means we have to look inside ourselves not at others, which includes President Obama, and we must confess our sins to God and repent, which means to go in the other direction and not be like a dog that returns to its own vomit. Does this sound harsh? It is meant to. We need to face some harsh realities. We as Christians have not been good Godly examples of much and we have ALLOWED the world to seep into our worship, to dictate the topics of our sermons, to determine the direction of our moral discussions, to outlaw our evangelism, to color our decisions, and to make us feel powerless. We have spoken up but only with small voices. We have not taken a firm stand against the tyranny of our own government; we have not done what is right in the eyes of the Lord for fear of loss of income and governmental retribution. We have not feared the Lord more than our own discomfort.

To this God has given us over to our own depravity and we are now convicted by our own behavior, or lack of it. And to make matters worse, we are now acting like spoiled losers in the eyes of our fellow American’s. A principal that seems to be lost on many of us is the capability of being a gracious loser. My fellow American’s and brothers and sisters in Christ, where is YOUR grace that you speak so highly of; that you have abandoned your holiness and righteousness for and simply embraced “grace and mercy” as your new religion. Where is this grace that you have clung to for salvation?

In Old Testament scripture we are called to honor our leaders even when they are not “anointed” by God to fill that position. I will use David as an example. When Saul no longer retained God’s anointing to continue to be King over Israel David had several opportunities to kill him, however out of respect for the King and his position he did not. Saul continued to pursue him until one day God took him out of the picture. It was David’s honor and respect for that “position” that made him worthy in God’s eyes. In spite of many occasions in which David did not behave in a way in which was totally honorable, he remained firm in his resolve to honor this King and thus kept his anointing as King over Israel in which he eventually ruled for forty years. There are other examples in which God’s people were condemned for not honoring their leaders simply because God asks us to. I will leave that up to you to search the scriptures to see for yourself.

We are to honor our President regardless of his policies. We are, however, called to oppose the bad policies in an honorable way. We are to pray for him. We are to call on our own local representative to oppose his bad policies. We are to fast for him. We are to never bow down to his efforts to restrain our voices in opposition to his bad plans. It may be hard to do, but we are called to oppose him honorably; to never speak with personal insults or harsh personal criticisms. “Love the sinner, hate the sin”, principal.

Haven’t we behaved dishonorably long enough? If we act in a way that is favorable in God’s eyes, He will bring about the change that we all desire; but we must first leave our own pride and selfish motives at His feet.

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33

Now the real question isn’t “why hast thou forsaken me”; but simply do you believe and trust that His Word is true or not?

@ Jan 22, 2009

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Is Knowing “End Times Prophesy” So Important?

By Julie Lucas

I would like to begin by stating that I am in no way a follower of the “end time” ministries or the prophesies that seem to pour out on all of us in this day and time. Most bible believing Christians rightly recognize that God is “up to something”, but what exactly that is, is the big question.

We look at world events and compare them to true biblical teachings. We listen to the self proclaimed prophets holding up their card board signs stating “Repent! The End is Near!”. We look at our mortgages and pray we will have a pay check tomorrow. We watch our children play and ask ourselves, what will they see? We purchase our food at the mega-markets and wonder in our hearts, will it always be like this?

The bible is clear about the “end of days” but are we to believe these so called dooms day prophets or the ball gazers and necromancers when we are told the beginning of the end is on our doorstep? Interestingly enough all the cultures around the globe, including Judaism and Christianity seem to share the same stories of HOW this whole thing will end, however they part ways when they try to put a date on it…Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce and a detailed study of the Mayan calendar put it in somewhere in the year 2012.

However, if you are a Christian believer, who are you going to believe? Nostradamus? Edgar Cayce? A culture that had no respect for the one true God?

Jesus said about the end of days and His own coming: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Matthew 24:36

Why is it important for us to know WHEN all these things will take place? Why is it so important to recognize the “signs” of the end of days?

It is unimportant to know when that day will be. It is however, important to know that there will be an Anti-Christ, he will require everyone to have some sort of “mark” which is termed the “mark of the beast”, to know that MANY false prophets will have gone out into the world and to be vigilant in not being deceived or lead astray.

It is our responsibility to, in the words of Jesus, ‘be holy as I am holy”; to daily come to His throne for forgiveness, wisdom and guidance. If you remain “in Him” the day or the hour is insignificant. Just rest assured that He will be there for His people. Even as we may go through very difficult times and quite possibly serious persecution prior to His return, we should never love our lives more…even in the face of great pain and death.

“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him.” Luke 12:4-5

@ Jan 16, 2009

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