Children Who Murder — Betty Miller
Covenant: Abram’s Vision From God — R.S. “Bud”Miller
Purpose and Vision — Ministry Information
Share and Tell — Testimonies From Our Readers
Spiritual Warfare — Striving For Victory
Exposing Satan’s Devices — The Devil: [...]]]> IN THIS ISSUE:

Children Who Murder — Betty Miller
Covenant: Abram’s Vision From God — R.S. “Bud”Miller
Purpose and Vision — Ministry Information
Share and Tell — Testimonies From Our Readers
Spiritual Warfare — Striving For Victory
Exposing Satan’s Devices — The Devil: A Liar, Thief &Murderer
End Times — Overcoming Evil With Good
Prophetic Voice To The Church — Escaping “The DeathAngel”
Little Foxes (Little Compromises) — The Little Hole In The Titanic
The Tithe — Special Guest, Pastor Eddie Cude
Book Review — Possessing The Gates Of The Enemy
Poetry Corner — Abide in Me (Prophetic Poem)
Personal Word From the Millers — Ministry News

CHILDREN WHO MURDER

By Betty Miller

School shootings have been making the headlines in the U.S.A. at an increased frequency. Many in our nation are stunned by the recent happenings in our schools, as children have taken guns and murdered teachers and fellow students. Eleven people have died in four separate shootings in U.S. schools over a period of only seven months. Many more were also injured. What is happening with our youth?

Last October in Pearl, Mississippi, the first incident in a recent succession of violent acts in schools began and has been repeated three times since then. In Pearl, a young teen killed his mother and then shot several in his high school. This did not prove to be an isolated event, but was to be repeated in the months to come as parents and society watched the news in horror.

The second incident happened in December of 1997. Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky, witnessed a 14-year-old freshman turn a gun on his Christian classmates who were attending a pre-school prayer meeting. Three girls were killed while five other students were wounded. The press and law enforcement officials examined Michael Carneal’s (the killer’s) background for a motive. The incident has touched off debates on gun control and the influence of violent movies on behavior, as Carneal was reportedly influenced to kill by a movie he saw.

Next came the Jonesboro, Arkansas, slaughter in March as two boys, ages 11 and 13, killed four girls and one teacher in what police called a carefully planned ambush. The two boys were dressed in camouflage attire and shot a least 27 rounds of ammunition from stolen high-powered rifles and pistols. Nine other girls and one other teacher were also wounded in the attack at the Westside Middle School located in a quiet rural area just west of Jonesboro. It was not immediately clear what the motive of the suspects was, but fellow students said they were troublemakers and that one was angry because his girlfriend broke up with him.

Now the most recent shooting on April 25, 1998, has claimed the life of yet another teacher. This killing happened at Parker Middle School in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, but as of this writing there has been no motive established. The 14-year-old boy, Andrew Wurst, who committed this act was arrested. He reportedly was a fan of Marilyn Manson and told two other boys, “He hated his life, he hated the world and he hated school.” He also told classmates he wanted to kill people and commit suicide. One friend said, “He had a really sick sense of humor.”

Why so much violence among our young people? A Department of Education Survey which analyzed violence in U.S. schools reported that public schools nationwide experienced more than 11,000 fights in which weapons were used, 4,000 rapes and other sexual assaults and 7,000 robberies. Other reports from Time and Newsweek magazines tell us the suicide rate among U.S. teens has risen 120% in the last 15 years while drug use has risen amost 80% since 1992. The Bible tells us about a time that these kinds of violent deeds and rebellious acts will be committed by children all over the world.

BIBLE PROPHECY

2 Timothy 3:1-4: (KJV) “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.”

Proverbs 30:11-14: “There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.”

Isaiah 1:4: “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.”

From these scriptures we see that the Bible speaks of a generation of youth who will be a curse to their parents. The youth of any nation are simply reflection of the parents of that nation. When sin is not dealt with in any society, the result of those sins will always produce violence. The generation living in the days of Noah was similar to our day. This is the time the Bible speaks of when Jesus Christ will return to this earth to judge the wicked and the righteous.

Genesis 6:11-13: “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”

Luke 17: 26-30: “And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”

EVIL INFLUENCES

How can we prevent our children from becoming corrupt? How can we protect our children from violence? What caused these children to commit these tragic murders? The Bible has the answers to these questions. I believe if all these killers were examined as to what caused them to become murderers, there would be a common thread running in each of them. Evil deeds proceed out of a heart that is fed by evil that comes through the mind. What can we expect when our TV shows and movies are filled with violence, perverted sex and murder? Children learn what they see and hear. If the human mind is fed a constant diet of these things, then the devil comes to tempt our children to act out what they have seen. The Bible tells us to guard our ear and eye gates so as not to let things in that are evil.

Mark 4:24a: “And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear.”

Psalm 101:3-4: “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.”

Isaiah 33:15: “He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high…”

Ezekiel 20:7: “Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”

DEMONIC ATTACKS

Satan sends his demons to enter and overpower those who are not covered with God’s protection. Humans are spirits that have a soul and live in a body. If we embrace evil things this is an invitation for demon spirits to oppress us. Likewise, if we embrace Jesus and the things of God, the Holy Spirit will come and dwell in us. As Christians, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit and when our temple has filth in it, demons are attracted to that filth. Just as in the natural a house that becomes dirty and is not cleaned frequently will attract flies, mice, roaches, bugs, etc; so it is with our spiritual houses. This applies to children as well as adults.

Many of the children who committed these grievous crimes have been exposed to evil and demons through sources that opened the door to the devil in their lives. Many parents do not realize when they allow their children to listen to hard rock music and go to rock concerts they are allowing their children to be exposed to possible demon invasion. Evil rock music is filled with themes of suicide, murder, witchcraft and sexual perversions. The musicians encourage the children to rebel against parents and authorities.

Other activities that also open the door to demonic attacks are certain computer and video games that have witchcraft and occultic subjects. Parents beware!! Do not allow your children access to every game room on the Internet. Many of these evil games will pervert your children’s minds and hearts. One need only preview the titles of the games that are being offered our young people and realize the danger to which they are exposed. The names of some of these games are Dark Forces, Blood, Dungeon Keeper, Battlezone, Quake, Total Annihilation and Diablo just to name a few. There are also board games that attract demons such as “Dungeons and Dragons” and “Ouiji Boards.” Even comic books and posters that have these same themes are dangerous for young people, as it draws them little by little into deeper levels of the glorification of violence.

WAR GAMES

War games in all forms are molding not only the minds of our children but adults as well. Children who have been continually practicing war games, embrace these evil thoughts and then are more susceptable to act out the murderous actions in real life. When we first moved to Arizona, there was a local group of people who went to the forest every weekend and played games of war with guns that ejected “bullets” containing capsules of red paint. We prayed and the Lord stopped this activity by denying them access to the forest. However, as we followed the reports of some of the people who were involved in this, they were later arrested for a cache of illegal arms they had hidden away. One of the saddest things about this was the fact that one of those who was in trouble with the law was a former pastor. He was deceived by the devil. First, he was led into the war games, then other deceptions followed. The devil robbed him of his ministry through what seemed like “fun and games.”

Our society has such an obsession with guns and war that even Christians are falling into the deception of allowing their children to play games of war too. In the Tulsa, Oklahoma, area I’ve been told the latest games for kids are called “Laser Quest” and “Laser Tag.” When they enter these local game rooms, the kids are first shown combat strategies on video monitors. Then, they are furnished with guns and are given protective vests. The firearms resemble machine guns that project laser beams from them. The kids are divided into teams that go through dark mazes of rooms trying to destroy each other by shooting one another down with their laser weapons. The most shocking news to me was that many of their customers at these game rooms are Christian youth groups that are going out for a night of fun. Killing one another–even in pretense–should never be a Christian endeavor. No wonder Christian youth are also receiving demon spirits that drive them to evil deeds.

SIN BRINGS DEMONIC ATTACKS

The majority of Christians today are totally ignorant of the nature of evil spirits (demons), and many would prefer that they were not even mentioned. They choose to ignore this portion of God’s ministry because they are fearful of things beyond their understanding. The result of this ignorance is that multitudes live in needless torment. One of the deadliest misrepresentations of the truth of God is that a Christian should not be concerned with thoughts that a demon could be their problem. This is taught within many churches and gives the devil a “field day” to bring fear, mental torment, jealousy, hatred, murder, suicide, lust, pride, self-pity, addiction, gluttony and many other forms of bondage, oppression, and defilement.

When anyone practices sin willfully or ignorantly, Satan eventually sends one of his demons that is compatible with that particular sin to dwell within them. Then each time they give way to that sin that spirit takes over. Since their personalities mesh with those of their victims, it takes spiritual discernment to detect them. We must remember that demon spirits are “invisible beings” with wicked intelligence that seek bodies through which they can express themselves. These spirits are emissaries sent from Satan having personalities and characteristics that make up an intelligent being. They walk, hear, speak, see, obey, seek, think, know and dwell in the body to accomplish their evil purposes (Matthew 12:43-45, Mark 1:23-24, 3:11). Each principal demon or “strongman” has a particular mission which we are able to recognize by its fruit or manifestation. We need to seek God and study His Word to find the truth about this controversial subject. As Christians we do not need ever to fear the devil or his demons. They are made subject to Christ and believers by the atonement, the name of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus came to this earth to give us the victory over Satan and his devils and through the power of the Holy Spirit we can banish them from our lives. What the Bible Says About Demons.

1 John 3:8: “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

There are three main identifying marks of evil spirits. They enslave, they defile and they torment. If a person has renounced evil and committed his life to Christ but still has not found peace, the problem is very likely due to the influence of evil spirits. The sooner one recognizes this evil force and accepts God’s way of being freed, the sooner he can go on to a normal, happy life.

Some children are born under a curse and have demons that cause their erratic behavior. Parents are in ignorance as to why some young children beat their heads on the floor in rages, scream and yell uncontrollably, bite themselves, or have continual nightmares. Many children do have demons and need to be set free. There is an account of this in Mark 9:20-21, “And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.”

Killing is not limited to our schools. Street gangs are fighting it out and senseless murders are taking place in our major cities every day. The family structure in our nation has been breaking down over the last few generations with so much divorce leaving children without the proper supervision and home environment to keep them safe. What is the answer to this national crisis? Most Christians agree that we must come to a national repentance that changes individuals, thus changing homes and society. Our nation stands on the threshold of a national judgment for the sin in our nation. Our national soul is perverted and sick by its indulgence in sin. Children who murder is only one of the symptoms of our national depravity. We must all repent and turn back to God to save ourselves, our children and our nation.

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COVENANT: GOD’S GUARANTEE FOR VICTORIOUS LIVING

By R.S. “Bud” Miller

Note: This teaching is continued from last month’s Overcoming Life Digest. See Table of Contents for Archives.

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ABRAM’S VISION FROM GOD

Genesis 15:1-7

“After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.”

The covenant between Abram and God was not cut until Abram reached the point of trusting God enough to be ready for a closer relationship with Him. After years of wandering through Syria to Canaan, and through Canaan to Egypt and back, Abram had a vision (Gen. 15:1). By this time, he had been blessed materially. He was very rich in silver and gold, in addition to all of the herds of cattle and sheep (Gen. 13:2).

However, Abram did not yet have the one thing he desired above all others — a son. He must have wondered about that every time the Lord told him his seed would inherit the land of Canaan and would be “as the dust of the earth” (Gen. 13:14-17). In the natural, Abram probably was too old to have children by the time he left Ur. Yet, he obeyed God as if he already had many children.

When Abram had this vision, he had just won a great battle and rescued his nephew Lot out of captivity (Gen. 14). On his return from war to Hebron where he had settled, Abram met the King of Salem, priest of the Most High God, and offered up the first tithes on record, setting the pattern for God’s people from then on (Gen. 14:18-20).

In his vision, God told him not to be afraid, that He was his “shield and great reward” (Gen. 15:1). Abram had refused to take any of the spoils of war, saying that it was God who had blessed him–not any man (Gen. 14:23,24). So when the Lord said He was Abram’s “exceeding great reward,” Abram must have thought it was time to be bold before God.

He asked God what He was going to give him, since he had no children. His heir was his steward, Eliezer of Damascus (Gen. 15:2), who had been born in his house. He was assured by God for the first time that he would have a son out of his own loins.

To illustrate the magnitude of the great promise He was making, God brought Abram outside, showed him all the stars in the vast expanse of the heavens, saying: “So shall thy seed be!” (Gen. 15:4,5).

Stars literally lit up the sky in those days without light from earth to obscure them. Can you imagine the awesomeness Abram must have felt? What is even more amazing, was that he believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness (Gen. 15:6).

The Apostle Paul wrote about Abraham’s attitude in Romans 4:18-23:

“…Who against hope believe in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.”

Abraham set a standard for all those following who would enter into a covenant with God. The standard is this: Do you want to be in covenant with God? The first thing you must do is trust Him and believe Him to be good to His word. Abraham believed God with all of his heart and did not let circumstance or length of time discourage him. This is a basic characteristic of all those who are in covenant with God. God’s people will not stagger in unbelief, but will be strong in faith, because they know the One they are in covenant with! Hallelujah!

(Excerpt from the book entitled: COVENANT God’s Guarantee for Victorious Living by R.S. “Bud” Miller)

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PURPOSE & VISION

THE OVERCOMING LIFE DIGEST is published for the purpose of strengthening the Body of Christ by furnishing teaching literature and a prophetic voice to the church in these last days. CHRIST UNLIMITED is helping and working with all Bible-believing Christians regardless of their church or denominational affiliations in promoting the Gospel of Jesus Christ. CHRIST UNLIMITED believes the hour is late and we must fulfill the great commission. We, as Christians, desire to cooperate with the Lord in breaking down denominational walls, for a united front line against the kingdom of darkness and setting up the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

CHRIST UNLIMITED MINISTRIES, INC. and CHRIST UNLIMITED PUBLISHING provide such tools through literature as to enable the saints of God to take the Kingdom and walk in the overcoming life as promised us in John 10:10 & Revelation 21:7.

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CHRIST UNLIMITED PUBLISHING
President: R.S. “Bud” Miller
Editor: Betty Miller
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SHARE AND TELL

“O Give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.”
Psalm 105:1

We have just completed a Testimony Page for those that would like to read some of the letters we receive. They have really blessed us and we pray they will bless you too.

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SPIRITUAL WARFARE

By Betty Miller

Striving For Victory

In II Timothy 2, Paul says in verse 5, “And if a man strive for masteries, yet he is not crowned, except he strive lawfully.” Consider one application of this Scripture: we cannot preach or teach a truth that we’re not personally walking in, or striving for by His rules. If I were to teach on how to gain Christ’s victory but not apply it to my own life, then I would not be striving lawfully. I would be hypocritical. Good soldiers lawfully obtain their blessings according to God’s pattern. We cannot expect God to bless us when we’re not doing things His way. We must be obedient to Him and His principles if we’re to obtain spiritual blessings. As we prove obedient, God gives us greater responsibilities. With the greater responsibilities come greater privileges. These are needed to offset the extra time required by our duties. So God gives us favor and help. If He asks us to do something more, and we think, “No more; I can’t possibly take on anything more,” He’ll make a way. He may lighten our load in another area or provide us with additional help. God will never require of us more than we can handle.

If we think we’re unable, we can pray, “Lord, You called me to this, but I don’t feel qualified. I need Your help and strength. Either do the necessary work in me, or send someone who can help.” Often homemakers feel burdened with the challenge of spending the necessary time to raise their children, along with their household duties. But God will lighten their load as needed. We can trust Him in all these things. God is so good. One of the enemy’s major deceptions is fooling most people into thinking that God is mean, that serving Him and battling for Him will be so difficult that they’ll never be able to overcome. The enemy has people thinking, “Only those saints in leadership can overcome, not I.” The truth is that God has made it possible for all of us to be victorious.

Excerpt from the book Personal Spiritual Warfare

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EXPOSING SATAN’S DEVICES

Betty Miller

THE DEVIL: A LIAR, THIEF AND MURDERER

A description that identifies the devil is that of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The motive of the wolf is to steal, plunder, and destroy. The Lord describes Satan as just that kind of character. The Pharisees were attempting to discount Jesus’ ministry by boasting of Abraham as their father. Jesus went to the very heart of their allegiance in John 8:44 when he said, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

The devil is a liar, a thief and a murderer. John 10:10 says, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

REBUKE THE DEVIL

Satan is described by Jesus as the robber and the thief. We must be reminded of this and protect those things God has given us from his devices. When we receive anything from the Lord, Satan stands ready to rob us of it. When we are saved, Satan immediately tries to convince us we really aren’t saved, or if we receive a healing from God he will try to talk us out of it. We may go for a month or longer without a symptom from whatever we were healed of, and then Satan will give us a symptom again to try and convince us that we have lost what the Lord has given us. We must learn to stand on God’s Word, not our feelings in the matter, as we can be robbed of our inheritance if we do not continue to stand against the enemy’s lies. We are to rebuke the devil and claim the promises of healing. By trusting and believing God, we will find our health and peace of mind restored. This is the manner in which we should deal with the devil when he comes to rob what the Lord has given us.

If we have never received our healing to begin with, we need to seek God and fellowship with Him until we come to that place where we are able to receive His healing. To rebuke symptoms when we have not yet received a healing is futile, as we need to be delivered from the root cause of our sickness before the sickness will leave permanently. We can find this root cause by seeking God with our whole heart and by laying down our lives before Him to use as He desires.

Excerpt from the book Exposing Satan’s Devices

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END TIMES

MARK OF GOD OR MARK OF THE BEAST

Betty Miller

INTRODUCTION

Much has been said on this subject of the mark of the beast, but little said about the mark of God. Will there be a literal mark tattooed on people’s foreheads and/or their hands in these end times to make it possible to buy and sell in a one-world monetary system that is being set up by an antichrist?

We can certainly see the possibilities of this becoming a literal reality in our day with the technology of laser beam tattoos and our president speaking of a “new world order.” Even now, pets can be tracked by tiny computer chips about the size of a grain of rice which have an identification number programmed into it that can be injected under the skin with a hypodermic needle. A special scanner generates a radio signal that reads the number through the skin of the animal when it is found.

This book is not disputing the possibilities of a literal tattoo, but rather exposing the spiritual implications behind that plan of Satan. How will this come about? Will it be one of the above new technologies or something yet to come? We don’t believe men are going to be tattooed or branded with a literal set of three sixes on their foreheads or hands, any more than we believe the letters J-E-S-U-S will be on the foreheads of God’s servants as spoken of in Revelation 22: 3-4: “And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.”

How will the beast mark those who follow him, and what is the mark of God set upon those who follow Christ? Let us begin with the mark of the beast, then look at how we are to receive God’s mark which protects us from destruction in these end times.

Throughout the Scriptures, the word beast refers to a system, and not to a man. The beast is a system that rules the world; it’s an antichrist system. Daniel 7 speaks of beasts and identifies them as earthly kingdoms. So the beast in Revelation is a beastly system that’s ruling the world (it’s a dictator beast). This beast is not just one human being, rather it is a system that has infiltrated every area whether it be politics, medicine, art or science; the beastly system is everywhere. This system is typically overseen by a powerful government with those in power making decisions that perpetrate the worldly system throughout mankind. When Revelation 13:1 speaks of the beast rising up out of the sea, what is meant by the sea? The Scriptures speak of the sea as “masses of humanity.” This beastly system is rising up out of humanity, out of all the people on the earth. When John, the author of Revelation, stood upon the sand of the sea, he was standing upon that which could not be numbered, among all the people of the earth.

Overcoming Evil With Good

“And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). The majority of the earth has worshipped and is worshipping the beast. The only ones who have not worshipped the beast are those whose names are written in the book of life, only those who haven’t followed after the beastly system because they realize what it is. They have discernment to see it’s the devil. “If any man have an ear, let him hear” (Revelation 13:9). Whenever this phrase appears in Scripture it means we’re going to have to listen with spiritual ears. What’s being taught is not something literal, so we won’t understand it unless our spiritual ears are open.

“He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword” (Revelation 13:10a). This tells us that those who do battle with the flesh are going to lose. We cannot fight a spiritual enemy with fleshly tools. If we take the sword, we’ll be killed with the sword. If we try to deal with the devil in the flesh, it will simply cause us more problems. We reap what we sow (Galatians 6: 7). “Here is the patience and the faith of the saints” (Revelation 13: 10b). We overcome the problems in our lives through faith and perseverance, not through fleshly means, not through the sword, not through taking things into our own hands, not through using the world’s system. We overcome through faith and perseverance. Romans 12: 21 says, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”

(Excerpt taken from the book The Mark of God or The Mark of the Beast)

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PROPHETIC VOICE TO THE CHURCH

As some may not be familiar with prophecy in the church, we want to share this short explanation of Biblical prophecy before we share an actual prophecy from God.

First, what is Godly prophecy? It can be summed up as words that are spoken on behalf of God. A prophet or prophetess is one who is a spokesman for God. It is a divine utterance that comes from the Holy Spirit. (Note: Just as there are prophetic words from God, there are also false prophecies that the Lord warned us about in the Bible. In Matthew 7:15-16 Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits….” We must prove the source of prophecy before accepting it as coming from the Lord).

God is raising up many prophetic voices in the earth today. His gifts of prophecy are basically of two types. One is the “simple gift of prophecy” which every believer can express under the unction or direction of the Holy Spirit after they have been filled with the Holy Ghost.

The other is the “office gift” of the spirit which is given to a prophet or prophetess who is called to the “five-fold” ministry office as outlined in 1 Corinthians 12:28 which says “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.”

Ephesians 4:11-12: “And he gave some, apostles; and some prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

The basic difference between these two types is, the simple gift of prophecy is given to all spirit filled believers as spoken of in 1 Corinthians 14:31, “For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.”

It is for the purpose of edification, exhortation and comfort as spoken of in 1 Corinthians 14:3, “But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.”

The “office gift” of a prophet or prophetess is given to speak to the body of Christ at large. The ministers who are called to the office of a prophet or prophetess will deliver messages which include edification, exhortation and comfort, but their messages can also be directive in nature and futuristic in content as well (Ephesians. 4:11-15).

Presently God is leading His people with prophetic preaching and teaching. A prophetic movement is taking place in the world.

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PROPHECY

Escaping “The Death Angel”

Prophetic Word given to Betty Miller on April 11, 1998

Today, as Passover is celebrated, it is a time to think about what I did as my people Israel were in bondage to the Egyptians. I gave Pharaoh numerous opportunities to let my people go. Each time he refused, until the night that “the death angel” passed by and all the firstborn of every household in the land died. Only those of my people who obeyed My instructions to place the blood of a lamb over the doorposts were spared. Because of the blood, “the angel of death” passed over those households (Exodus 12).

Even so today, as judgements in the world are claiming lives through evil and destruction, I will “pass over” those who claim the blood protection of Jesus Christ. The only safe place is in the shadow of My wings; obeying and doing My will.

I am pleased with those of you who are seeking me with your whole heart. Because you have been faithful to fast and pray about the violence and wickedness that is in your land, I am now going to speed up the workings of My Spirit. I must bring more judgement upon some of the evils around you, as I have exhausted my mercy and grace. Because many of my people have insisted on going their own way, they will now begin to reap what they have sown, as My word says, “If you sow unto the flesh, you shall of the flesh reap corruption.” This is NOT My will, but man’s own stubborn pride of refusing My way. My way is to pardon, to cleanse and to bless.

I am also going to begin My rewarding in a greater way to those that have been faithful to Me. I will bring you out of the bondage where the enemy has held you captive and restore that which the enemy has robbed from you. I want my people to be free of all that would hinder them. I have a mighty work prepared for them in this hour of the great Harvest.

For all of those who will totally commit to Me and obey Me, I will show them My power and My greatness. I not only will free you spiritually from evil habits and weaknesses, but from the financial bondage the enemy has sought to destroy you with. My people are called to be givers, and as they obey Me fully in this area, they will begin to see my hand in releasing them from the pressure of indebtedness. I will supply for and completely pay off all their debts, including the dwellings where I have placed them. You must not limit Me in this. Remember, I own the whole earth and the fullness thereof. Men are only stewards over what they claim as their own. They will give account of their possessions to Me.

Some have failed in their stewardship, and because they are not doing My will and not living where I would have them live, nor listening to My voice, they will suffer the loss of all their earthly possessions. This is NOT My will. I want to bless My people with the good things I have created for them, but so many have become indulgent and lustful. They have failed to serve Me as I have instructed. They cannot hear My voice because they have hardened their hearts to obeying Me.

For those who are obeying and following Me, this is the time for redemption. Do not limit Me! Expect miracles! Forgive and cancel all debts where others have failed you. As you do this, it frees Me to bless you. I will bring monies to you from a different source than from the one who owes you, if you will forgive their debts. Remember My word, “Give to every man that asketh of thee and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.” (Luke 6:30) Do not be fearful to release all to Me. As you do, I will restore and bless you another way. My restoration will also come in areas of broken relationships, as you love and forgive one another.

Troubles will increase in this world, as My coming is drawing nigh. Then enemy has increased his efforts to destroy. However, their is a way of escape in Me. Stay close to Me and you shall escape the hour of destruction and “the death angel” shall pass over you and your family.

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21.

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you might have peace. In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. John 16:33

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LITTLE FOXES

(Little Compromises That Cause Big Problems)

By Betty Miller

Song of Solomon 2:15 says, “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.” Foxes sometime in search of food would enter into the grape orchards and devour the grapes and spoil the crop. However, the little foxes were too small to reach the grape bunches so they would chew on the vines and it would kill the whole vine. Instead of the farmer just losing his crop, he would lose his vine which was more disastrous. Spiritually some things we do or allow that we might think is little or insignificant can also be disastrous for us.

THE LITTLE HOLE IN THE TITANIC

The “blockbuster” movie, Titanic has generated much interest in the circumstances surrounding the sinking of this ship. We can learn some spiritual lessons from what happened on the maiden voyage of the Titanic back in 1912. The British Empire took tremendous pride in this ship that they believed to be unsinkable. They were also prideful of the position they had attained in world stature. The scripture says in Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

The Titanic had been the largest ship in the world up to that time. It was 882.5 feet long, with a gross tonnage of 46,328. No one was prepared for that fateful night when she struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic ocean in just under 3 hours. The sea was calm that night, most of the passengers were surrounded in luxury; all were warm and comfortable. No one realized they were approaching some very dangerous waters as they cruised along at top speed. The band was playing and the people were enjoying the party. No one was prepared for what was to follow.

The Titanic sighted the iceberg just before the crash, but it was too late to avoid it. Witnesses said the people hardly felt the impact as it felt only like a little vibration under their feet. The full extent of the damage was never really accurately assayed until 1987 when the Titanic was discovered in her grave on the bottom of the Atlantic ocean. It was always thought that a 300 foot gash in its hull was the cause of its sinking. The salvage crew made an astonishing discovery according to a recent Dateline news report. They discovered that there was only a small hole, just 12 square feet (the size of an average door), in the 90,000 square foot hull. The 300 foot gash was actually only a crack the width of the size of your finger. This crack happened as the rivets on the side of the liner were popped off as the iceberg grazed against the side of the ship.

A small hole and a narrow crack brought the grand White Star liner down, (just as the little foxes spoil the vines). There were not enough life boats for all. There had not even been a life boat drill by the crew. Only about a third of the people would survive because no one had prepared for an emergency. The band quit playing her party music and was playing the Christian hymn, Nearer My God to Thee as the doomed passengers and crew of the Titanic were sinking slowly to their death.

Some of the spiritual analogies we need to see from this tragedy perhaps will prevent some of us from sinking with the judgements that are now happening in the U.S.A. First, we must repent of our pride and self-sufficiency. These sins cause us to feel we are “unsinkable” and thus we may fail to make preparations for the difficult days ahead that the Bible warns us about. Sometimes there are small things that we need to do so that we might prevent a great tragedy.

Another seemingly little thing that perhaps could have prevented this catastrophe was the request from one of the crew members who was a watchman on the deck. One of the ship’s officers had received his request for a pair of binoculars but the requisition came along with a large pile of frivolous entreaties from passengers and it was disregarded. Had he been given the binoculars, he would have seen the iceberg in time to avoid it. For the lack of a $50.00 pair of binoculars, the greatest and most expensive ship that had ever been built at that time was doomed. Spiritually, we need to see how apparently little things when ignored can lead to big problems. Lack of daily prayer and Bible study can be some of those little things that bring about the loss of blessings in our lives.

Zechariah 4:10: “For who hath despised the day of small things?”

There are several lessons we can learn from the calamity of the Titanic sinking. Here are a few of them:

1. We must stay humble before the Lord. Pride leads to a fall. Proverbs 11:2: “When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.”

2. We must prepare for the days of trouble that lie ahead. Proverbs 22:3-4: “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.”

3. Small sins or “cracks” in our spiritual armor can lead to our destruction. We must ask God to deliver us from all known sin and remain watchful so that the enemy does not sink our ship. Mark 14:33-37: “Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.”

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SPECIAL GUEST

The Tithe

By Pastor Eddie Cude

What is the tithe? It is the “gateway for the believer into the covenant of blessings.” In the Hebrew “maaser” or “maasrah,” is translated tenth, or tenth part, and in Greek “apodekatoo” and in both, it means a payment or giving or receiving of the tenth.

The tithe is that tenth of our income that we give to God, which enables Him to move on our behalf in the area of blessings. The Bible records numerous accounts of man tithing to God. God is the creator of everything that exists. He owns everything and we are simply stewards of what we have been entrusted with. The tithe principle is this; “He gives unto us, we give back to Him one-tenth of all that He has blessed us with.”

Abraham tithed unto Melchizedek, Isaac tithed, His son Jacob and many others also even before the law was given. Many Christians do not tithe because they have been taught that they are not under the law, but under grace. While this is a true statement, God did not institute the tithe to bring us under the law, but to get blessings to His children. Abraham tithed before the law, and God blessed him supernaturally. We’re under grace that we might establish the law; not turn from it. Jesus said that He didn’t come to do away with the law, but to fulfill it. Because He fulfilled it, we are to establish it. His Words are forever settled in heaven, therefore we establish His Words upon the earth.

Matthew 5:17: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Tithing According to the Law as Given by Moses

Leviticus 27:30 “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’S: it is holy unto the LORD.”

This scripture states that all the tithe, whether it be seed of the land, fruit of the tree, or one tenth of all that you earn, is holy unto the Lord. Deuteronomy 14:22-29 states that one-tenth of all that comes into your possession, belongs to God. This was God’s plan to instruct His people as to the way of blessings that He had for them. God is a multiplier by nature, and He could not multiply that which was not entrusted to Him. When the children of Israel were obedient to give back to God that which was His, increase was guaranteed. Scripture states, It’s better to be obedient than to sacrifice. When the children of Israel were obedient, blessings came; when they were disobedient, they had to sacrifice. Many Christians today are wanting God to honor the covenant that He has with His children, but disobedient children cannot receive the same reward as the obedient.

1 Samuel 15:22: “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”

The strongest chain is only as strong as its weakest link. When we fail to tithe, we become that weak link. Statistics show that approximately 20% of Christians tithe. That means, 80% of Christendom is not in covenant with their God, but are like beggars and thieves looking for handouts and what they can steal from Him.

I have said many times, it would be better to rob the First National Bank than to rob the bank of Heaven. I’m sure most Christians don’t see it this way, because most Christians steal from God. Malachi 3:8 asks the question “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.”

The Old Testament records two other tithes; one tithe was called the “festival tithe,” when they came to Jerusalem three times a year for fellowship. The expense for the festival, (travel, food, etc.) was taken from this tithe. The third tithe was given in the third year and was a tithe holy unto the Lord. It was a tithe of almsgiving for the poor and needy. All of these tithes were brought to the storehouse, and the priest oversaw the distribution of same. The first tithe was for the upkeep of the priests, since they had no inheritance. All of their income and portion was to be given to them by God’s people. This tithe in and of itself, is not considered an offering. It is the minimum requirement for all of God’s people.

The reason God instituted the second and the third tithe through Moses, was that His children needed to give above and beyond this tithe. It is these tithes that God is referring to in Malachi 3:8 where His people have robbed Him in tithes and offerings. In verse 10 of Malachi 3, you will notice that it states “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

I am convinced that when people see the tithe as an instrument of blessing they will not be looking for a way to give less, but a way to give more. God will help them so that they can be generous on every occasion.

Tithing Establishes the Law

Tithing after the law does not do away with the law, but establishes it. Are you honestly blessed to where you can give generously on every occasion? Or are you like so many that can’t give the way they would like to be able to? I’ve come to the knowledge that most Christians are looking for the truth, so they can be set free. Just because you’re a child of God, does not mean you are a “mature” son of God. A mature son or daughter of God will not be found robbing “daddy” God. Revelation 3:18 gives us good counsel on how to re-establish right covenant with the Lord. Jesus’ advice to those of us who have become lukewarm is to buy from Him gold that’s been refined in the fire. He tells us to do this so that the shame of our nakedness will not be revealed.

Revelation 3:18: “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.”

How do we buy gold from the Lord? Hebrews 1:7 states that His ministers are as “flames of fire.” In Matthew 25:9, Jesus makes a statement concerning the five foolish virgins to go and buy from those who sell. What they needed to buy was oil. Oil symbolizes the Spirit. Those who are in the five-fold ministry (apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists and teachers) have a command from the Lord to receive tithes (Hebrews 7). These tithes are not given, but paid, because the tithe belongs to the Lord. Malachi 3:3 states that the Lord will sit as a refiner, purifying the sons of Levi (those in the ministry) purging them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. I repeat, Jesus did not come to do away with law, but to fulfill it. Our job is to establish it.

There are those who say that the tithe is not covered in the New Testament, but in Hebrews 5, 6 and 7, one of the main subjects spoken of is the tithe–who receives it and how to become mature through paying it. In Hebrews 5:11-14 it states “…that you’ve become dull of hearing and that you should be teaching the first principles, but instead you have need of milk, and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the Word of righteousness, for he is a baby.” This is preceded by the statement that Christ himself has become High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. In Chapter 6, it goes on to state that once you have been enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift–once you have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of God–if you still fall away it is impossible to be renewed again to repentance, seeing that you crucify again for yourselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame.

What is this good Word of God? This Word is “rhema” which means, the spoken or revealed Word of God. His Word has been revealed to you concerning Jesus as High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, meaning that Jesus has become High Priest over the tithe, (and your life) forever (vs. 20). Chapter 6 further states (vs. 9-19), that God blessed Abraham by saying “With blessings, I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” He also promised immutability (unchangeableness) of His counsel and confirmed it by swearing an oath that by these unchangeable things, we might have strong consolation and lay hold of the hope set before us. Verse 19 states that this hope we have is an anchor for our soul (mind), both sure and steadfast. I am convinced these two unchangeable things are both God’s promise to bless us and our promise to tithe back to Him. Chapter 7 states in verse 8, “Here mortal men receive tithes, but there He receives them of whom it is witnessed, that He lives.”

Chapters 5-7 deals with the ministry of Melchizedek and that Jesus is the priest forever according to Melchizedek. We know Abraham gave tithes of all that he possessed. We know in the Law of Moses, tithes were commanded. After the Law, Hebrews states that Jesus is the Lord, not just of the past, not just of the present, but forever. Hallelujah! He is the Lord of the tithe, forever.

Seeing that Jesus is the Lord of the tithe, is He our lord? If He is, there should be no question that we tithe unto Him. I can just hear someone saying, ” If Jesus was my Pastor, I would tithe,” but Hebrews 7:8 states “that men (subject to death) receive tithes on this side; but on the other side, Jesus Himself receives them.” Why should we look for ways to excuse us from what we know we should be doing? Let’s be about establishing and not doing away with His Words. The tithe was, and is and shall ever be holy unto the Lord.

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Eddie Cude and his wife, Bobbie, pastor a church in Palacios, Texas called Palacios Faith Christian Center. He is an anointed servant of God in the five-fold ministry who is blessed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit operating in his ministry. Eddie is an outstanding teacher of the Word. Palacios Faith Christian Center is strong in evangelism and they labor as a “Sister Church” with us in the Internet Ministry of prayer and counseling. Eddie can be reached via e-mail at: faithful@wcnet.net

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BOOK REVIEW

Possessing The Gates Of The Enemy

“A Training Manual For Militant Intercession”

By Cindy Jacobs

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Genesis 22:17-18

“That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”

Possessing the gates of the enemy might seem to be an unusual title for a book on intercession. However, this powerful promise was given to Abraham for his seed. We, the Church, are Abraham’s spiritual seed and so this promise to possess the gates of the enemy pertains to us today. The gates of hell will not prevail against a praying church!

Today’s praying Church is rising up in militant force to possess the promised land of our nations. Possessing the Gates of the Enemy is a training manual for God’s prayer army. This manual is needed because a tremendous spirit of prayer is being poured out — worldwide. Intercessory prayer groups are springing up across the nations. This book will assist in giving earnest intercessors biblical instruction in spiritual warfare. Not only is it informative, but compassionate as well, directing God’s prayer warriors in the proper way to engage in spiritual battles.

A whole new breed of intercessors is emerging, says Cindy Jacobs. They are on the move worldwide, “invading” countries, covering them with prayer and engaging in spiritual warfare. Christians everywhere are waking up and routing the enemy from strongholds we must no longer allow him to dominate. This book of strategy will guide everyone who wants to join in the battle. It even includes guidelines for starting and leading prayer groups in the local church. Whether you are a beginning “pray-er” or an experienced intercessor, you can learn to pray concerns about matters that are on the heart of God — and possess the gates of the enemy.

Dr. C. Peter Wagner of Fuller Theological Seminary says of this book, “I know of no other book like this one”.

We highly recommend this book for all intercessors. — Betty Miller

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Cindy Jacobs, president of Generals of Intercession and on the executive council of the National Prayer Embassy, travels widely and teaches on intercession. An intercessory participant in the Lausanne II Congress on World Evangelism and coordinator of the first 24-hour intercessory prayer team for InterVarsity’s Urbana 1990, she lives with her husband, Mike, and two children in Colorado Springs, Colorado. . Cindy can be reached at this address:

Cindy Jacobs
Generals of Intercession
P.O. Box 49788
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80949-9788
(719) 535-0977

The book, Possessing The Gates Of The Enemy, is available in paperback priced at $9.95 in our Chapel Bookstore catalog.

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POETRY CORNER

ABIDE IN ME

A WORD FOR THOSE WHO ABIDE IN ME

Prophetic poem given by the Holy Spirit through Evangelist Shirley Holland Knoche

November 1992

Listen My children and you will hear,
My words becoming ever so clear.

They will keep you alive morning, noon and night,
As you now enter the End-Time fight.

So begin now, putting them deep, deep within you heart,
For the great battle is beginning to start.

Remember now, take heed and let your ear hear,
Then, My precious ones, you’ll have nothing to fear.

My words will go forth out of My mouth,
And nothing will touch you, not even the drought.

My words will go forth like mighty waves upon the waters,
Take heed now, Oh sons and daughters.

You have entered into this battle with Me –

And you must stay alert, pray aloud upon your bed,
You’ll not see destruction, but My salvation instead.

So put the sword of My word deep, deep in your heart,
For the End-Time battle is about to start.

You’ll speak forth and render powerless many a dart,
For My words that go forth, like a spear will hit their mark.

You are indeed a holy, royal seed,
I will cause you, My voice to heed.

I will cause you to keep the covenant we have, My sons and My daughters.
Be ready — be prepared — to walk on the waters.

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Shirley Holland Knoche is with Hearts United Ministries. She can be contacted at:

1718 Adelyne Lane, Santa Maria, CA 93454

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PERSONAL WORD FROM THE MILLERS

Dear Internet Friends:

We have been very blessed from the response of those who have written this month desiring to be a Partner. We really appreciate all of your letters and comments. The Internet exposure keeps our mail box full. We would love to write you each one of you personally but we know you understand. Please accept this letter from our hearts. We do pray personally for every prayer request. We are trusting the Lord to meet each one of your needs. The Lord is beginning to expand this ministry and we need additional prayer also. Thank you for remembering us in your prayers.

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us, we do have a praise report. We have been blessed of the Lord with the help of some new people who are computer technicians. They are currently working on the CHAPEL BOOKSTORE to update it and make it more “user friendly.” They are working on adding a SHOPPING CART which will make it easier for those of you who would like to purchase books and Bibles online. We already are equipped to take credit card orders as we do have a SECURE SITE with the availability of encrypted transactions, however with the new SHOPPING CART it will expedite your orders.

Our plans of expansion for the CHAPEL BOOKSTORE will include a much greater selection of Bibles, (and Bibles in foreign languages) as well as many more outstanding Christian books. For those who are interested in music, you will be able to purchase cassettes and CDs. We will also have a Gift Shop with t-shirts, ball caps, etc. A lot of the young people would like a t-shirt. Please pray for us as we are working on this project.

Mercy, our associate editor and secretary, is a wonderful help in the ministry. Please remember to pray for her too. Mercy and I (Betty) went to Phoenix recently to take a one day computer course in FrontPage so we will be able to be more efficient in getting more teaching material completed and on the site. Soon we will be adding more topics to the BIBLE ANSWERS link.

We are enjoying a lovely spring here in Arizona. With all the rain over the winter from El Ninó everything is green early this year. The tulips, daffodils and grape hyacinths are in bloom. It is really beautiful! We thank the Lord for creating so much beauty in the earth to bless us. May you be blessed as we all strive to serve our Lord this year in a greater way!

Love and blessings to each,

Bud & Betty Miller

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COPYRIGHT/REPRODUCTION LIMITATIONS:

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Copyright © by Christ Unlimited Publishing, Dewey, Arizona

Bud’s Message:

I want to invite you to visit Christ Unlimited’s website, BibleResources.org.  I’m Pastor Bud Miller and along with my wife, Betty, we want to invite [...]]]>  ~      In This Issue        ~

• Pastor Bud Miller’s Message
• Betty Miller’s Message
  
• Commentary on “The Bible” Mini-Series (What the Bible Says About Samson’s Race)

Personal Messages:

Bud’s Message:

I want to invite you to visit Christ Unlimited’s website, BibleResources.org.  I’m Pastor Bud Miller and along with my wife, Betty, we want to invite you to become a part of our online community. Our motivation behind establishing this ministry on the Internet is to take the church where people live. 

We want to communicate an Overcoming Life Message to help you in your daily walk with God.   Our hearts are burning with the Lord’s command to obey the Great Commission and take the gospel to the world so they can know Jesus. We want to strengthen the body of Christ with teachings that will help you and others grow in the Lord.

Today, all it takes is a little connection to plug into the Internet to make available the truths in the Bible in an online setting so that we can communicate the life of Christ to others.  This is so amazing to us. At this time there are 2 billion people that use the Internet and more than half a billion people go online using a mobile device.

As you probably know, today the Kingdom of God is being established as frequently through the social media websites, as it is in person, and with results suggesting the huge harvest online may be the greatest Internet moment in human history.  Because of this, we want to help equip you to be a part of this great move of God.  We previously founded Bible.com and have now moved over 10,000 pages of content to this new site in order to continue our work on BibleResources.org.  We are still adding material and will soon be launching our new online video ministry.  Pray for us as we make these preparations as this has been a long time coming. We are excited about sharing our testimony and our walk of faith with you.

The church now has the technology and manpower to reach every man, woman, and child on earth.  We are the first generation in all human history to have this capacity available to us. Christ Unlimited Minsitries is here to help equip the people of God to rise up and meet this challenge.  We invite you to join us at BibleResources.org in this endeavor. — Pastor Bud –

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Betty’s Personal Message:

When Bud and I talk with other Christians, they are feeling the same urgency as we do, and that is to share their faith with as many people as possible in this hour. You probably sense this too, as we all know the Lord’s return to this earth is drawing near. This being the case, we want to share God’s love and truth through the BibleResources.org  website to reach as many people as possible and equip God’s people to do the same. 

We want to help you and others that are eager to serve the Lord. Our mission is to reach out and share Bible messages on this website that will help you in your daily walk with the Lord. The Lord has given us insight and revelation from the Bible that we both have lived by over the years and by applying that knowledge in faith we were able to overcome the challenging things we all face in this world.  What do we do when we are faced with loss, discouragement, failure, fear, financial and health problems? The good news is the Bible has the answer to every problem we face and we can confidently tell you that God has never failed us. Sad to say, we have failed Him, but He is so good and merciful to us by helping us overcome our failures and by continuing to  encourage us to walk in His ways. We want to help you in your walk of faith with God through the content we offer at BibleResources.org.

Many in this hour have actually left their roots of Christianity to search on their own for truth in the cyber world, only to be deceived by the many false doctrines being spread throughout the Internet.   We have a call from God to share solid, Bible based teaching and preaching in order to strengthen and prepare God’s people for the coming of the Lord.  We want to make available teaching tools that will help you and God’s people become cyberspace missionaries, so they too can help in the building of the Kingdom of God. 

We want to encourage you, and all who come here looking for answers, by making available messages inspired by the Holy Spirit that are based on the Bible.  Most of our messages are tailored to fit busy people as they are not lengthy, but are prayerfully anointed and easy to be entreated. We are using the gifts that God has given us to reach out and help you discover the gifts He has given you, so we can all see the Kingdom of God come to this earth. We are here to serve you and bless you.

Our prayer is that this website will be a help to you and others and will meet the needs of each individual that comes here.  We invite you to pray about helping us. We do appreciate your prayers for us and Christ Unlimited, as we are His servants sent to help you.  May God bless you with His Unlimited blessings! — Sister Betty —

___________________________________________________________________

Teaching

What the Bible Says About Samson’s
Race

 By Betty Miller

Many people who have viewed the TV mini-series of The Bible that débuted in March of 2013 have asked the question, “Was Samson in the Bible really a black man?”  To answer this we must look at scripture, as the Bible reveals the answers to our questions.  In essence, the Bible interprets itself outside of man’s suppositions, opinions and ideas.

Before discussing this topic, we should note that the producers’ motive in filming this series was to better acquaint this generation with the Bible.   And I do believe they are accomplishing this.  They kept the theme of this production closely in line with the Bible–showing that Bible stories are real and that the God of the Bible is with His people. It was emphasized that the same God is still here for all who will turn to Him in faith and repentance. Since some are asking if casting Samson as a black man in this series is really in the Bible, we will first respond by stating that the most important thing the producers have done is that people are being exposed to the amazing stories in the Bible and I applaud them for bringing forth such a challenging work.

Now, most all Bible movies over the years have taken poetic license in an attempt to make the stories more realistic. However, the added things are usually more suppositional than the actual facts written in the Bible.  Perhaps the authors of this series wanted to use something that was not traditional in order to try and reach this generation? Perhaps by portraying Samson as a black man, they were trying to make this socially and culturally acceptable—even by giving Samson dread locks?

However, as a teacher of the Word of God, when people ask me a direct question about the accuracy of something, in all good conscience I feel I should reply forthrightly.  Since BibleResources.org is in the public forum, I felt the need to address the questions of all those who turn to this site for their Bible answers.   Although I have only seen the first two series at this time, I have noted some things that do not line up exactly with the Word of God in the story about Samson and I will discuss those in this article and will particularly address the question of Samson’s descent.

Sampson was from the Israelite tribe of Dan. According to the Bible, the Danite tribe consisted of the descendants of Dan, a son of Jacob and Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant (Genesis 30:40). In the Biblical account, Dan is one of the two children of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid and one of Jacob’s wives, the other child of Bilhah being Naphtali. Some scholars see this as indicating that the authors saw Dan and Naphtali as being not of entirely Israelite origin (being descendants of handmaids rather than of full wives) so I can only presume that may be why they portrayed Samson as black in this movie series; however, the Bible does not say Sampson was black, nor that he was not of the Jewish race.  This is theory in my opinion, as the Bible does not tell us what color of skin Samson had.  Certainly there is a possibility there were Ethiopians who may have been black who joined the original Israelites.  Moses married one. (Moses’ first wife Zipporah was “Shemitic” (descended of Noah’s son Shem). However, Moses married a second time to a woman from Ethiopia (Kush)–whose name is never mentioned. This can be found in the Bible: Numbers 12:1: And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.)

Since the Bible pointed out that Moses married a black woman, it stands to reason if Samson was black, the scripture would have also noted that, even as it did concerning the Ethiopian in the New Testament that Phillip witnessed to. With the mention of the Ethiopian in the New Testament and the one Moses married, this seems further proof, that Samson was not black since the scripture did not record it, as in other places in scripture.

Some have written us, questioning this portrayal, as it has created some confusion because the scriptures do not say that he was black. Even previous older movie depictions show him as a Caucasian, an Israelite. The Bible tells us he was a Hebrew judge of Israel from the tribe of Dan. Portraying him as black will not matter for most people’s understanding, but for true students of the Bible it is important to defend the accuracy of the Bible. However, the portrayal of Samson being black does not change the impact of the story of Samson in this movie. Here is what the Bible says about the genealogy of Samson. We want to point you to the entire thirteenth chapter of Judges for the whole story.

Judges 13:2-5:  ²And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. ³And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. ⁴Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: ⁵For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.

Sampson was that son.

As a defender of the accuracy of the Bible, we can point out other deviations from the scripture in this mini-series story of Samson, as well.  The Bible did not say that Delilah cut off his hair.  It states that she caused him to sleep (which could have meant she got him drunk) on her lap and then she called a man servant in to shave his head. The seven locks the Bible spoke of were probably braids (Judges 16:19). Although it appeared to me in the movie there were more than 7 locks on the black man’s head. (The seven locks have a spiritual meaning.)

Now it is not a great departure from Scripture to show Delilah cutting his hair as she was the instigator behind the act. However, to be totally accurate we must acknowledge that the Word of God said that a man shaved his head while he slept in Delilah’s lap. A contributor to his loss of strength could also have been that he broke his Nazarite vow of refraining from drinking alcohol, because he never woke up while his head was being shaved so he must have been in a drunken stupor.

Judges 16:19-20: (KJV):

¹⁹And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. ²⁰And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.

Anyway, there are other instances where the producers take poetic license in some of the other scenes that stir me to comment, as does this one of Samson being black.  Now I do not approach this casting of Samson from any racist viewpoint as we have many black brothers and sisters that are wonderful saints of God and they have my utmost respect and admiration. However, because many people who have never read the Bible will believe what they see, they might not understand that Samson was an Israelite, a Hebrew judge of Israel and this is important because of the spiritual types in the Bible.  Now this will not matter for most people’s understanding, but for true students of the Word it is very important in the understanding of true Bible doctrine. Personally, I think it would have been better if they had not portrayed Sampson as black, as it raises more questions than answers, especially since the scripture is silent on this matter and even previous movies portrayed him as a Caucasian Israelite.

Another departure from scripture in the movie was the scene that depicted Dagon’s house collapsing immediately after Samson’s eyes were put out.  This did not happen right away, but there was a time lapse, as Samson was first taken to the prison house for a time and forced to grind at the mill. (The spiritual lesson we learn from this, is that when one sins, they can end up grinding at the mill of bondage in spiritual blindness.) Later after Samson’s hair began to grow again, he was taken to the house of Dagon where he used his last act of strength to destroy his enemies along with about 3,000 of the Philistines when he pushed on the house’s pillars causing the whole house to collapse. (Go to Judges 16 to read the entire story as recorded in the Bible.)

I am rejoicing that someone would invest their time and talents to produce and show this great series. I do not think that it is appropriate to criticize this work because of the lesser scriptural inaccuracies, when overall, so far, they have kept the stories in the Spirit of the Bible.  That is good as it is better to have an overall knowledge of the Bible than none at all.  This generation is in great need of recognizing the God of the Bible and this series acknowledges Him.

The bottom line:  We all need to learn more about the Bible.  Our questions should drive us to read God’s Word to see if videos, movies and sermons line up with the Bible records, instead of solely depending on others to tell us what it says.  Bible study is rewarding and fun.  God can, and will, reveal to every true seeker the answers we are seeking if we will begin to read and study the Bible. In regard to The Bible series, we praise the Lord for every work that brings glory to God.  We pray that the Lord will bless this work to direct people to read the Bible, so they can know the God of the Bible.

You can use the Bible search feature at www.BibleResources.org to personally study and search the Bible for topics of your interest in several different translations.

Many people who have viewed the TV mini-series of The Bible that débuted in March of 2013 have asked whether Samson was black, like the actor who portrayed him. To answer this we must look at scripture, as the Bible reveals the truth regardless of human suppositions, opinions and ideas.

Before [...]]]> By Betty Miller

Many people who have viewed the TV mini-series of The Bible that débuted in March of 2013 have asked whether Samson was black, like the actor who portrayed him. To answer this we must look at scripture, as the Bible reveals the truth regardless of human suppositions, opinions and ideas.

Before discussing this topic, we should note that the producers’ motive in filming this series was to better acquaint this generation with the Bible. And I do believe they are accomplishing this. They kept the theme of this production closely in line with the Bible–showing that Bible stories are real and that the God of the Bible is with His people. It was emphasized that the same God is still here for all who will turn to Him in faith and repentance. Since some are asking if casting Samson as a black man in this series is really in the Bible, we will first respond by stating that most importantly a new generation is learning the amazing stories in the Bible. I applaud them for bringing forth such a challenging work.

Almost all Bible movies over the years have taken poetic license with the stories to make them more realistic. However, the additional scenes or changes in interpretation typically are to make the story more appealing to a modern audience. Perhaps the authors of this series wanted to take a nontraditional approach to gain more social and cultural impact with a Samson who wore dreadlocks.

However, as a teacher of the Word of God, when people ask me a direct question about the accuracy of something, in all good conscience I feel I should reply forthrightly, especially since BibleResources.org is in the public forum. Although I have only seen the first two series at this time, I have noted some things that do not line up exactly with the Word of God in the story about Samson.

Samson was from the Israelite tribe of Dan. According to the Bible, the Danite tribe consisted of the descendants of Dan, a son of Jacob and Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant (Genesis 30:40). In the Biblical account, Dan is one of the two children of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid and one of Jacob’s wives, the other child of Bilhah being Naphtali. Some scholars see this as indicating that the authors saw Dan and Naphtali as being not of entirely Israelite origin (being descendants of handmaids rather than of full wives) so I can only presume that may be why they portrayed Samson as black in this movie series; however, the Bible does not say Samson was black, nor that he was not of the Jewish race. This is theory, in my opinion, as the Bible does not tell us what color of skin Samson had. Certainly there is a possibility there were Ethiopians who may have been black who joined the original Israelites. Moses married one. (Moses’ first wife Zipporah was “Shemitic” (descended of Noah’s son Shem). However, Moses married a second time to a woman from Ethiopia (Kush)–whose name is never mentioned. This can be found in the Bible: Numbers 12:1: And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.)

Since the Bible pointed out that Moses married a black woman, it stands to reason if Samson was black, the scripture would have also noted that, even as it did concerning the Ethiopian in the New Testament that Phillip witnessed to. With the mention of the Ethiopian in the New Testament and the one Moses married, this seems further proof that Samson was not black since the scripture did not record it, as in other places in scripture.

Some have written us, questioning this portrayal, as it has created some confusion because the scriptures do not say that he was black. Even previous older movie depictions show him as a Caucasian, an Israelite. The Bible tells us he was a Hebrew judge of Israel from the tribe of Dan. Portraying him as black will not matter for most people’s understanding, but for true students of the Bible it is important to defend the accuracy of the Bible. However, the portrayal of Samson being black does not change the impact of the story of Samson in this movie. Here is what the Bible says about the genealogy of Samson. We want to point you to the entire thirteenth chapter of Judges for the whole story.

Judges 13: ²And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.
³And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
⁴Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:
⁵For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
Samson was that son.

As a defender of the accuracy of the Bible, we can point out other deviations from the scripture in this mini-series story of Samson, as well. The Bible did not say that Delilah cut off his hair. It states that she caused him to sleep (which could have meant she got him drunk) on her lap and then she called a man servant in to shave his head. The seven locks the Bible spoke of were probably braids (Judges 16:19). It also appeared to me in the movie there were more than seven locks on the black man’s head. (The seven locks have a spiritual meaning.)

Now it is not a great departure from Scripture to show Delilah cutting his hair as she was the instigator behind the act. However, to be totally accurate, we must acknowledge that the Word of God said that a man shaved his head while he slept in Delilah’s lap. A contributor to his loss of strength could also have been that he broke his Nazarite vow of refraining from drinking alcohol, because he never woke up while his head was being shaved so he must have been in a drunken stupor.

Judges 16 (KJV):
¹⁹And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.
²⁰And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.

Other instances in which the producers take poetic license in some scenes stir me to comment, too. I do not approach this casting of Samson from any racist viewpoint, as we have many black brothers and sisters that are wonderful saints of God and they have my utmost respect and admiration. However, because many people who have never read the Bible will believe what they see, they might not understand that Samson was an Israelite and a Hebrew judge of Israel. This is important because of the spiritual types in the Bible. It will not matter for most people’s understanding, but for true students of the Word, it is very important in the understanding of Bible doctrine. Personally, I think it would have been better if they had not portrayed Sampson as black, as it raises more questions than answers, especially since the scripture is silent on this matter and even previous movies portrayed him as a Caucasian Israelite.

Another departure from scripture in the movie was the scene that depicted Dagon’s house collapsing immediately after Samson’s eyes were put out. This did not happen right away, but there was a time lapse, as Samson was first taken to the prison house for a time and forced to grind at the mill. (The spiritual lesson we learn from this, is that when one sins, they can end up grinding at the mill of bondage in spiritual blindness.) Later after Samson’s hair began to grow again, he was taken to the house of Dagon where he used his last act of strength to destroy his enemies along with about 3,000 of the Philistines when he pushed on the house’s pillars causing the whole house to collapse. (Go to Judges 16 to read the entire story as recorded in the Bible.)

I am rejoicing that someone would invest their time and talents to produce and show this great series. I do not think that it is appropriate to criticize this work because of the lesser scriptural inaccuracies, when overall, so far, they have kept the stories in the Spirit of the Bible. It is better to have an overall knowledge of the Bible than none at all. This generation is in great need of recognizing the God of the Bible and this series acknowledges Him.

The bottom line: We all need to learn more about the Bible. Our questions should drive us to read God’s Word to see if videos, movies and sermons line up with the Bible records, instead of solely depending on others to tell us what it says. Bible study is rewarding and fun. God can, and will, reveal to every true seeker the answers we are seeking if we will begin to read and study the Bible. In regard to The Bible series, we praise the Lord for every work that brings glory to God. We pray that the Lord will bless this work to direct people to read the Bible, so they can know the God of the Bible.

You can use the Bible search feature at www.BibleResources.org to personally study and search the Bible for topics of your interest in several different translations.

Overcoming Life Digest Past Archive Menu

Life After Death — Betty Miller
Origin of Covenants — R.S. “Bud” Miller
Share and Tell — Testimonies
Spiritual Warfare — Avoid Worldly Entanglements
Exposing Satan’s Devices — The Snare of Pride and Beauty

IN THIS ISSUE:

Overcoming Life Digest Past Archive Menu

Life After Death — Betty Miller
Origin of Covenants — R.S. “Bud” Miller
Share and Tell — Testimonies
Spiritual Warfare — Avoid Worldly Entanglements
Exposing Satan’s Devices — The Snare of Pride and Beauty
End Times — War On The Saints
Prophetic Voice To The Church — The Wind of God
Little Foxes (Little Compromises) — Overcoming Procrastination
Lessons from the Titanic — Special Guest, Rick Joyner
Book Review — The Coming Revival
Poetry Corner — He Is Risen
Purpose and Vision — Subscription and Publication Information

LIFE AFTER DEATH

by Betty Miller

All over the world during the Easter season, multitudes will gather in churches to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and hear about life after death. Many will suppress a yawn and attend their “yearly church service” to please their spouse. Others will attend out of curiosity; still others, because it makes them “feel good” to think about the cycle of life and new things growing out of death.

Pastors will wax eloquent before large crowds, families will don their finest clothes and the children will gather Easter eggs. Easter is a time of joy and promise as the first blades of grass begin to peek through the shroud of winter. In the pastel climate of spring, eternal life is a popular subject. Yet, how many people will really stop to think about how they can obtain eternal life? How many people will actually know the truth about how to receive it? How many will give their heart and lives to God so they may understand who Jesus Christ really was and who He still is? What does His death and resurrection actually mean to mankind?

A remnant of believers will celebrate Resurrection Day, knowing the real meaning of this season, but many more will simply be going through the tradition of a religious service. Religion cannot save anyone. Only a personal relationship with Jesus Christ the Son of God can give us life after death.

In today’s world, most people do not have a problem believing in the fact that the spirit is eternal. Even those who do not consider themselves “religious” often believe in some form of life after the grave. They just aren’t sure what it is, and many do not want to know. Hell is an unfashionable topic. New Age teachings have settled in almost every facet of our society with vague, cozy feelings of the “afterlife.”

We have read many documented accounts of people who have died in their physical bodies and have given testimony that they entered into a spiritual dimension beyond this life. Life did not cease for them. They then returned to their bodies to tell of their experiences. Some tell of seeing a “white light,” others give descriptions of hell; still others see Jesus or angels. What awaits us on the other side? This will be determined by what we did in this life. Just because people report they saw a “white light” does not mean they will go to heaven when they die. Proverbs 14:12: “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” There is only one way any of us will go to heaven and it is through accepting Christ as our savior. This is the message of the cross. Jesus died so that we could live and have eternal life. It is not our works that will save us. We must repent of our sins and ask Jesus to come into our heart and change us. Then we shall live and not die. John 14:6: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Spirit, Soul and Body

In Daniel 12:1-4, Daniel talks of the end of the age where it says, “Many that sleep in the dust shall awake to everlasting life.” This “sleep” is referring to the physical body sleeping, not the soul or spirit. Our spirit is the “real us.” We are a spirit and have a soul (mind, will and emotions) that lives in a body. There is a cultic teaching that talks about “soul sleep” which is not scriptural. When people die, they do not enter into a state of eternal sleep, neither do they cease to exist. When we die, our body will go into the ground to decay and return to dust, but our body is not who we really are (Genesis 3:19). Our spirit, when we die, goes either to hell or to be with the Father in heaven. There is no in-between place, heavenly sleep or state of non-existence.

Many young people in our society have become morbidly preoccupied with the subject of death. “Punk” rockers are sending forth messages in their rock music that can cause some of them to receive demon spirits that drive these young people to commit suicide. They think by committing suicide they will escape living, believing that everything will end; but the Word of God clearly teaches that some go to everlasting life (heaven) or others to everlasting shame (hell). The body dies, but men’s spirits live on in one of two states: with God or with the devil. Some evil rock music even encourages suicide as a “ticket to hell.” These musicians don’t even try to deceive the people as to where they will end up. The deception is, they believe the devil will reward them. The truth is that Satan will not reward anyone with anything good for serving him. These deluded people will suffer eternal torment in hell with the devil and his demons, forever separated from God and His goodness.

Yet the troublesome question still remains — why must we die in the first place? The truth is, God never made us to die. Death of the body was not God’s original plan. It is the result of sin. When Adam and Eve committed the first sin (disobedience to God), sin entered into this world; as a result of it, every single one of us will face death at sometime. When we die, we will also face judgment before God. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). The Bible speaks of death as an enemy. 1 Corinthians 15:26 says, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” In this world we are seeing death all around us: death by old age, disease, murder, suicide, accidents, disasters, famine and war. All of these have been brought on mankind because of sin and a fallen race. Death is an evil that produces torment, fear, hatred, suffering, agony, pain, grief and heartache. There is only one way that we can overcome both death and the fear of it; that is through the One who conquered death and the grave. The death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son, has now made a way for us to also conquer death. Romans 8:37: “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”

Spiritual Death

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28

Aside from death in the body, the Bible also speaks of another death — spiritual death (the second death). This is the death Jesus is referring to in the above verse, and it is ultimately the death that He came to deliver us from. This death is eternal separation from God. It extends beyond our mortal bodies. It does not mean ceasing to exist, rather it means that we will exist forever in our sinful state. Though hell is a literal place of torment, the main source of its torment is the eternal separation from God. This is far more ghastly than anything we can imagine, just as heaven is more wonderful than anything we can conceive. God never created hell for mankind. It was created as a fiery prison for Satan and the fallen angels (demons). Men are going there because they have chosen to follow the devil and have rejected Christ. Matthew 25:41: “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”

From the time we are born to when we die, we are given the chance to choose our own destiny. No one can choose it for us, least of all God. He created man with a free will that He will not violate. All He can do is set before us life (which is only found in the provision of Jesus’ death on the cross), or death (which is found in rejection of Jesus). To choose the latter will in no uncertain terms lead to the second death.

The Cross

The emblem of the cross is seen all over the world in the display of church steeples and crucifixes worn around people’s necks. However, many people do not know the real meaning of the symbolism of the cross and what it means to those who look to the event of Christ’s death on the cross and His resurrection for their salvation. The cross is the greatest symbol of love that was ever shown to this world. It speaks of a perfectly innocent man, who was brutally tortured in the most scandalous of deaths, for a world that spit in His face. We are just as guilty of crucifying our Lord as the people who actually did it because we have sinned and it was for sin He was crucified.

Anyone who would call God unloving for “sending” people to hell, has never really understood the cross. We are the ones who chose to sin! Yet, God in His great mercy, made a glorious way out of the inevitable result of our sin for us. He took it upon Himself, and it cost Him more than we can imagine – His Beloved Son. God put all of the sins of the whole world upon Him and punished Him in our place. This is a profound mystery, but it is the central message of the gospel – that God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that whosoever would believe in Him wouldn’t die in their sins, but could inherit eternal life through faith in Him (John 3:16). 1 Peter 2:24 says Jesus bore our sins in His body, not in His spirit. He is the eternal and sinless Holy Spirit. (Jesus did not die spiritually. The Scripture in 2 Corinthians 5:21 which says, “For he hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin…” means He was made to be a “sin offering” for us, not that He literally became sin.)

However, if that was all that took place, the story would have a very bitter ring to it indeed. Preaching just the death of Jesus is only half the message. The gospel (good news) is that Jesus is alive today!

What is the Significance of Jesus’ Resurrection?

Jesus is the only man that ever came back to life from the grave. Every religion in the world outside of Christianity has a grave or tomb where their leader is buried. Only in the Bible is recorded the tomb that was found empty because Christ rose from the dead and is alive today!

Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: Luke 24:1-7

We often think of the cross as the end, but without the resurrection, we have no Christianity. It is the resurrection that makes the Christian religion different from any other religion. Some portray Jesus still on the cross, but He’s not there any more; He’s alive in His resurrected body! Hallelujah!

For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. 1 Corinthians 15:16-23

The Resurrection of Christ Declared Four Things:

1. Acts 2:32-36 says Jesus is Lord and Christ because of the resurrection.
2. Romans 1:1-4 declared Him to be the Son of God with power.
3. Ephesians 1:19-23 says Jesus is the Head of the Church.
4. John 11:25 says He is the Resurrection and the Life.

Only one has ever been resurrected thus far, Jesus Christ. Because Jesus overcame the grave, this resurrection is now available to every one of His followers. It is not the same thing as being raised from the dead. This is an eternal resurrection. Some people, such as Lazarus (John 11), were raised from the dead but not resurrected (as they eventually died again). There have been many documented cases of people dying and coming back to life. Though this is glorious, the resurrection to eternal life with Christ is different; it is the final state of those who have trusted in Christ. Revelation 1:18 says, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”

Jesus spoke these words also in John 5:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” Death of the body is not anything that the Christian should ever fear. If we are in Christ when our body dies, we will face an existence that will make our time on earth seem pale and shadowy. Some Christians will even escape death if they are alive at the second coming of Jesus to the earth. In that day, those that are alive will receive their glorified bodies right after the dead in Christ are raised and receive theirs. That day is approaching quickly and that is why the Lord is warning all of us to be ready. The hope of the church is the resurrection.

Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed…and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?…’ But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:51-57

Heavenly Bodies

What are some of the things that those who have been redeemed can expect to find in our next life?

Philippians 3:20-21 says Jesus will change our “vile” bodies. What will our glorified bodies look like when we get to heaven? We have some clues by noting the characteristics that Jesus’ body had when He rose from the grave. Our glorified bodies will appear different. We will therefore recognize each other by the spirit. What we really look like on the inside will be apparent to all. Jesus’ body could go through walls (John 20:26). It felt like ours; Thomas touched it (Luke 24:39-40). On the road to Emmaus, the disciples didn’t recognize His new body and He vanished in front of them (Luke 24:13-32). Jesus even ate with His disciples. In our glorified bodies, we don’t have to eat for sustenance, but we will be able to eat for pleasure (Luke 24:39-43, Matthew 26:29). It will have no pain, no sickness, no aging, no restrictions (with the power of translation), and be able to appear in different forms.

All of this is just the tip of the iceberg, of what God has prepared for those He loves. Surely there is nothing in this life that can hold a candle to the surpassing greatness of living in Christ – living in the very One who is the source of all life! How foolish we are to let the cares of this life, the god of unbelief, and the temporary pleasures of sin keep us from knowing Him.

Our Victory in the Cross

When we celebrate Resurrection Day (Easter), we acknowledge that we are sinners, saved by grace. The greatest truth of the cross is that when we accept Christ as our savior, a wonderful exchange takes place. Jesus died so we could live. We can now live in victory in this earth. As we identify with His death, we also identify with His life. Jesus became poor so we could become rich in His blessings. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says,“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” He took our sickness and infirmities so we could receive health. He took our curses so we might receive His blessings. He gave us peace for anxiety; love for hate; joy for sorrow; faith for fear; goodness for evil; temperance for lust and the list could go on. He took our hell and gave us heaven. We didn’t deserve it but He did it for us because of His love for each of us!!

The Easter holiday is the most triumphant celebration of grace and life that we will ever experience on this earth! It is a celebration of God’s goodness, love, and His awesome power. It holds the promise of not only eternal life to all who are willing to humbly receive it from Him; but also for a victorious life in this earth through the power of His Holy Spirit. We can spend eternity in our heavenly home with Jesus and all the saints of all the ages if we receive this wonderful gift of love!

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Romans 10:9-13

In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death. Proverbs 12:28

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COVENANT: GOD’S GUARANTEE FOR VICTORIOUS LIVING

by R.S. “Bud” Miller

Note: This teaching is continued from last month’s Overcoming Life Digest – Volume 6

ORIGIN OF COVENANTS

Ancient Patterns of Blood Covenants

The concept of covenant is often difficult for modern and western peoples to understand. Many of us live in societies where covenants are made and broken on a daily basis, and no one seems to be shocked or alarmed. It is becoming increasingly easier to end relationships, leave jobs, break business deals, and “walk out” of any situation that becomes uncomfortable to us. Because of this warped view of commitment, we often have a warped view of what it means to enter into a covenant with God. Explaining where the tradition of covenant came from, will help us understand the nature of God’s covenant with us.

There are various forms of cutting a covenant, or contract, which have been practiced since ancient times. In some parts of the world, these kinds of contracts were honored in Middle East countries until after World War II — and may still be in some remote areas.

They came into being because there were no law courts, no federal or local depositories for legal documents, and no lawyers to act as mediators in those days. In fact, until a few hundred years before Jesus, apparently there was no paper on which to write. Written languages have been around much longer than the secular world wants to believe; however, in ancient times, the writing was on “tablets” of stone, tablets of clay, or on animal skins.

Blood covenants date as far back as we have records. Men honored them as much legally as we do today with our “deeds” and legal papers filed in court houses. In fact, the honor of keeping one’s word was more binding in ancient Bible times than it is now. It did not matter if anyone but you knew that you had made a promise or a contract. You kept it to your own hurt — if you were an honorable man and not a thief. One who did not keep his word would soon find himself shunned. As Christians, we should keep our covenants and words to others as the Bible admonishes us to do, even when it is not convenient and it hurts. Psalm 15:4b: “….He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.”

These contracts between men and other men, followed by God in His blood covenants with man, essentially contained the following elements:

1. A statement of the terms and promises of the agreement
2. An oath by each party to observe these terms
3. A curse by each upon himself should he break the agreement
4. The sealing of the covenant by some external act — such as a blood sacrifice, the sprinkling of blood upon the two parties involved, or a sacrificial meal (which involved the shedding of blood in its preparation)
5. The exchange of robes or cloaks, representing the authority of each party
6. The exchange of weapons and weapons’ belts
7. The exchange of names, or the addition of the other’s name to each
8. The mingling of personal blood through cuts on each party

Blood covenanting also was practiced between two families or two tribes. A family or tribe weak in a certain area and strong in another would enter into a blood covenant with another family or tribe that had strength in the first family’s areas of weakness. The family proposing the contract would be sure their strengths were in the area of the second family’s weaknesses, so it would be a “fair trade.”

These covenants were discussed at great length until the terms were agreed upon. Then each party chose a representative and met at a place decided upon by both parties. At this site, the members of both families or tribes would gather to witness the “sealing” of the covenant.

An animal, as close to perfect as possible, was selected, and the “covenant” cut was made down the spine of that animal. The two halves were laid opposite each other creating a walkway of blood between the two.

In full view of all witnesses, each representative took off his coat (cloak, or outer robe) and exchanged it with the other. With this exchange, each was saying, “I am giving you all that I am in my authority.” Then they exchanged weapons and belts, saying thereby, “I am giving you my strength. Your enemies are now mine. I will stand with you, even if it means my death.”

At this point in the ceremony, each representative walked through the blood twice and back, stopping together in the middle and saying out loud: “As this animal has died, I will stand with you even in the midst of death.” All of the terms previously agreed upon were spoken out loud and solemnly promised to be kept.

After this, a cut was sometimes made in the wrist of each party or representative. Then the two wrists were joined together with a cord so that their blood would be mingled together. The two held up their arms so that the blood would run down them to be seen. They would swear by God to keep this covenant generation after generation, even to the eighth generation. And each party then took the name of the other. Today, there are many “dual” names around which might date back to this kind of compact.

Names until fairly recent times were not just “labels” but made a statement. Either you were named the son of someone (Robert-son, Ander-son) or you were named according to your occupation. Possibly you might be named after a place, an outstanding characteristic of your personality, or one that your parents hoped would be your characteristic. In other words, names used to hold more of people’s identities than our names do now.

After the exchange of names, the two parties in covenant, or the two representatives, would feed one another bread and wine, saying, in essence: “We (or those we represent) are covenant brothers. (The bread represented to them that they would let their bodies die before they would betray each other or let one another starve. The drinking of the wine was symbolic of giving their “life blood” for each other, pledging that they were forever dedicated to each other.)”

This type of covenant was more lasting than being born into the same family. It was stronger than natural blood ties. The ancient peoples of the world took these covenants very seriously, as you can see. Then, if God used blood covenants to make His reconciliation with mankind (Hebrews 2:17), it seems clear that God takes His covenants even more seriously than the ancients did theirs. Earthly blood covenants usually were to the eighth generation; God’s covenants are eternal.

(To be continued next month)

(Excerpt from the book entitled COVENANT: God’s Guarantee for Victorious Living)

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SHARE AND TELL

Psalm 105:1: “O Give thanks unto the Lord; call on his name: make known his deeds among the people.”

We thought our readers might be blessed by some of the testimonies, requests, and input that we receive on a daily basis. They have blessed us so we know they will bless you too. Please read them and be encouraged!

From ZIMBABWE:

 “I would like to thank everyone at Christ Unlimited for the wonderful work that you are doing and will hope that the good Lord will give you the courage and strength to continue with his ministry. I was fortunate enough to access the Internet for a week or so and quickly discovered your website which was of interest to me, however, I do have access to an e-mail and was wondering whether you could send me more of your materials which you distribute freely…”

From SOUTH AFRICA:
“What a wonderful site to stumble upon…why do you not advertise more extensively? I would welcome any contact with you… do you have a subscription magazine of sorts? Isn’t it great that Christianity is becoming a global village in contact internationally with what Gods wider movement!! So exciting! God bless you all.”

From GERMANY:
“I am an Indian student in the department of computer science in Stuttgart University, Germany doing research in Mobile robotic vision. In Stuttgart, there is a Sri Lankan Christian Tamils group known to me. They assemble every week for prayer, worship and bible studies. But the major problem, they encounter is the lack of number of Bibles as most of them are refugees living with the care of German aid. They don’t want a single dollar from you. All that they need is Bible. Please help them.”

From EGYPT:
“I WAS VERY HAPPY TO FIND A SITE LIKE THIS, BECAUSE I LOVE JESUS SO MUCH , PLEASE I WILL BE HAPPY IF YOU EMAIL ME . THANK YOU VERY MUCH.”

From a High School Student in the UNITED STATES:
“I have read the prayer and meant it. I believe in Jesus and love him. I am a Baptist and have been Baptized. Please send me more information on how to be a Christian.”

From GHANA:
“I TRULY APPRECIATE YOUR WHOLE SERVICE AND WOULD LIKE YOU TO STAY IN-TUNED WITH ME TILL I AM DONE WITH ALL SORT OF SINS IN MY LIFE. I AM DESPERATE FOR HELP. PLEASE HELP ME NOW BEFORE JESUS COMES! I AM SHARING TEARS AS I WRITE THIS.”

From CHINA:
“I have been a Christian for one day now! Yesterday My net friend, grandma Mellie helped me to join. I am very happy because I can talk to God now, I do want to be a good Christian and follow God. But I haven’t got a Bible, could you send me one?”

From the UNITED STATES:
“I am so glad to have found your website. I am raising two Christian boys and they are Internet active. My biggest concern is the lack of “wholesome” sites for them to visit. Yours will assist them in their quest for knowledge of the Lord and in discovering who they are and their mission in life through the Bible.”

From a US Serviceman, OVERSEAS:
“Your web site has so much meat it’s going to take me some days to get though it all. I spent a lot of time coping your web site and I for one am looking forward to what the Lord will be doing in my life because of your ministries. God Bless you and Keep you in his care.”

From EASTERN EUROPE:
“I would like to share with you my deepest surprise, regarding the quality and contents of the web site.I find the opportunity to study the Bible through your course very attractive. That is the reason why, I would kindly ask you to inform me about the possibilities for me to join the course. I would very much like to receive any information regarding the course.”

From CANADA:
Howdi, “My name is Tim, I am 12 years old now, I live in Ontario Canada. I don’t have any perticuler reson to be tipeing this, I just enjoyed looking at your page. Well, I have got to go now I’m tiping this at around 1:00 in the morning, so I am pretty tired rigt now. I would like it if you write me back.”

From BRAZIL:
“Congratulations it is very good! I´d to know if you have Portuguese bible answers in this site please. It would be a great help to us.”

From a LUTHERAN CHURCH secretary:
“Your site is Awesome. I Hope that More people, Both Christian & Non find their way to Christ through your site.”

From AUSTRALIA:
“This is an unbelievable site and the wealth of information that’s on there is priceless. You have no idea how much this site means to me and the tuition I gain from using it. May God bless you a double portion for all the time effort and money have invested and continue to invest.”

From a COLLEGE STUDENT:
“Thank you so much for getting back to me. I appreciate it that you took the time to answer my questions. I am so glad that there are people in the world like you. Bringing the gospel to others in every way they can. May the Lord bless you and continue to keep His hand in your ministry. If you can, try to keep me updated at to your progress. Do you have some sort of e-mail newsletter? If so please tell me about how I can get it. Again thanks for the information.”

From SOUTH AFRICA:
“I have prayed this prayer (salvation) in all sincerity. I need all the help I can get to persevere in my efforts to walk with God and to turn away from evil. God bless you in your work .”

From a young MINISTER:
“I was truly inspired and blessed by coming across your ministry on the net. There are so many carnal things available it’s extremely good to see that Christ is also being magnified through this mean. I felt the anointing as I read through your web page and so I submit a request. I know better than to have just anyone pray for me. I believe by the Spirit of God that you are truly anointed and doing what you should be at this hour.”

From NEW JERSEY:
“It is so refreshing to go into your website after a long and often times depressing day and read about Christ’s love. Your bible studies often feed me when I cannot make it to class. As a social worker, I find that my faith in the Lord helps me be the best I can be for all my clients and with your words and thoughts it gives me the extra strength I need to get through. Thank you for your ministry…”

From ???:
“I have looked at dozens of Christian sites and none until now said anything of value. Yours is the first. The cults and Satanists are in the electronic highways and byways. We need to do the same. You are on the right track. Now take it further. God Bless your efforts.”

From BROOKLYN, NY:
“I THANK GOD FOR THIS WEB SITE! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! THIS IS A WELL ROUNDED, BIBLICALLY SOUND MINISTRY AND I LOVE YOUR STRAIGHT FORWARD MESSAGE! NO COMPROMISE! I WAS CONVICTED WHEN I READ YOUR MESSAGE ON LYING! I HAD TO REPENT! THANK YOU JESUS FOR FORGIVENESS WELL I PRAY THAT GOD WILL USE THIS MINISTRY FOR HIS GLORY AND KEEP YOU IN THE LOVE OF CHRIST!”

From ???
“My name is Justin and I am addicted to a drug called Nubain (Nalbuphine HCl). I need your prayers to release me from my addiction, please, and I am praying for you guys also. Today because of your web site, I invited God and Jesus into me heart! Thank You!”

From HOLLAND:
“I really enjoyed this site. It has a ton of excellent resources and I plan on visiting many times more. My good friend and former pastor told me of this grand site.”

From IRELAND:
“I work for the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. I was informed of your website via a friend. It is superb!”

From ???
“I think that this is a very beneficial site to the people of the world. I had been looking for a way to get saved and thanks to this site I found it. Thanks!!!!!”

From NORTH CAROLINA:
“I enjoyed very much,finding that I could feast on manna on the internet. The Holy Spirit is obviously guiding your ministry. I will keep you both in my prayers. These are topics that truly need to be brought to light to the world. May our Savior richly bless you!”

From PAKISTAN:
“I found it very helpful. It is very good to provide material on required topics specially to laymen.”

From LEBANON:
“thank God I found you! praise the lord.”

From MEXICO:
“Well, I’m very happy to know that I have friends and brothers all around the world, we (my family and I) are Christian,we go to a church and its name is Shalom and all of us we pray for you every day, well as you can see I really don’t know a lot of English but I’m trying } to tell you that we love you very much as the family that we are. ”

From IOWA:
“Praise the Lord for sites such as this one to be a light in this dark world! I thank my Heavenly Father for allowing me to find this site. I have gained insight in different areas, and have even sent some of your bible studies/bible answers to a friend of mine in the Marines who was struggling with his faith! Keep up the great work!”

From INDIA:
“It is all that I could have asked for and I believe God definitely had a plan for me when he blessed me through the Netscape. I would definitely like to attend the Bible Study. Please sign me in and I would be obliged if you keep me in your mailing-list.”

We appreciate all the encouraging words from around the world. May God receive ALL the glory! All of this is just a sample of what God is doing through the site He gave us stewardship over. Thank you again for your prayers and support. They are literally helping to change the world!

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SPIRITUAL WARFARE

By Betty Miller

Note: This teaching is continued from last month’s Overcoming Life Digest – Volume 7

AVOID WORLDLY ENTANGLEMENTS

After Paul wrote in the Bible, “endure hardness,” he added, “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (2 Timothy 2:4). If we’re going to walk in victory, we cannot be caught up in the things of this world. There are so many things that could take us away from our true mission of serving the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of these things are not sinful in themselves, but if they detract from that which spiritually strengthens us, then we could lose the battle.

Take a sport for example. Bowling is not sinful, but what if our involvement is such that we’re missing out on a needed prayer or Bible study time. Missing that time of spiritual strengthening could result in our losing a spiritual battle. There are times for our involvement in non-spiritual activities. God may have us go bowling in order to witness to someone. Wherever we go, we’re to be a light. The Lord sends us out as lights to a world that would otherwise not be reached.

Avoiding entanglement with the world doesn’t mean we only read the Word and stay in prayer. We can certainly do other things, but let’s make sure it’s not the enemy diverting us from spiritual priorities. He’s out to spiritually drain us. If we’re in a war, we cannot be wrapped up in non-priority activities. We need to stay in an attitude of spiritual warfare, led of the Lord in all areas.

God may call us to sacrifice hobbies for the sake of His kingdom. We must be sure what we’re doing fits God’s plan for our time. Then too, after a season of warfare God may provide a hobby for a season of rest. Our God is not a hard taskmaster. Some ministries have been overcome because they never rested. They kept firing cannons, constantly on the go, always in an attitude of warfare, warfare, and more warfare. They would have been more effective if they had also included the strengthening season of rest. Even soldiers in the world are given “leave” or “R & R” for a sabbatical.

Some do all the battling and refuse to rest; others do all the resting and refuse to battle. Both battling and resting are needed to walk in balance with God. As we are led by the Spirit, we’ll know what season it is. If it is a season of battle, we certainly cannot entangle ourselves with worldly affairs. We have to avoid distractions and focus on the things of God.

(Excerpt from the book entitled Personal Spiritual Warfare)

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EXPOSING SATAN’S DEVICES

Note: This teaching is continued from last month’s Overcoming Life Digest – Volume 7

THE SNARE OF PRIDE AND BEAUTY

Pride is one of Satan’s main attributes. This pride is directed towards his own beauty and accomplishments; Ezekiel 28:17 points this out: “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.” Many today are afflicted with this same pride. Those in the world are seeking beauty today as never before. Beauty aids, make-up, glamorous clothes, beautiful homes and plush automobiles are only a few of the things the world is seeking today. These things in themselves are not evil, but the lust for them is. (1 John 2:16, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”) Satan’s unusual beauty was one of the causes of his destruction. It contributed to the excessive development of his pride.

Spiritual beauty is also a deadly trap. God blesses many with His gifts and graces, but then those same gifts become a source of pride when the people cease to be able to handle them with humility. They begin seeing themselves as better than others and soon take credit for their holiness and spirituality instead of glorifying God. This ultimately leads to their fall. (Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”)

Many refuse to give their gifts back to God because they love to be seen exhibiting them and using them to manipulate others. If they persist in refusing to surrender them, the Holy Spirit will eventually depart, and Satan will gladly replace God’s gifts with his false gifts. The change can be so subtle that the person does not even recognize Satan’s take over. In fact, many think they have received greater gifts. The big difference from this point on, however, is that their gifts no longer stress fellowship with the Lord, nor cause souls to repent, nor stimulate joy and peace in the Lord. The false gifts that have been substituted will only excite the flesh.

Examples of this would be prophecies that promote pride in others, words of knowledge that deal with only the things of this world (houses, cars, lands, business deals, etc.), or words that promote giving to their ministries. Even casting out devils and doing wonderful works can be done by those whose hearts are not right with God. Matthew 7:22-23 says, “…Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

(Excerpt from the book entitled Exposing Satan’s Devices)

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END TIMES

MARK OF GOD OR MARK OF THE BEAST

Note: This teaching is continued from last month’s Overcoming Life Digest – Volume 7

INTRODUCTION

Much has been said on this subject of the mark of the beast, but little said about the mark of God. Will there be a literal mark tattooed on people’s foreheads and/or their hands in these end times to make it possible to buy and sell in a one-world monetary system that is being set up by an antichrist?

We can certainly see the possibilities of this becoming a literal reality in our day with the technology of laser beam tattoos and our president speaking of a “new world order.” Even now, pets can be tracked by tiny computer chips about the size of a grain of rice which have an identification number programmed into it that can be injected under the skin with a hypodermic needle. A special scanner generates a radio signal that reads the number through the skin of the animal when it is found.

This book is not disputing the possibilities of a literal tattoo, but rather exposing the spiritual implications behind that plan of Satan. How will this come about? Will it be one of the above new technologies or something yet to come? We don’t believe men are going to be tattooed or branded with a literal set of three sixes on their foreheads or hands, any more than we believe the letters J-E-S-U-S will be on the foreheads of God’s servants as spoken of in Revelation 22: 3-4: “And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.”

How will the beast mark those who follow him, and what is the mark of God set upon those who follow Christ? Let us begin with the mark of the beast, then look at how we are to receive God’s mark which protects us from destruction in these end times.

Throughout the Scriptures, the word beast refers to a system, and not to a man. The beast is a system that rules the world; it’s an antichrist system. Daniel 7 speaks of beasts and identifies them as earthly kingdoms. So the beast in Revelation is a beastly system that’s ruling the world (it’s a dictator beast). This beast is not just one human being, rather it is a system that has infiltrated every area whether it be politics, medicine, art or science; the beastly system is everywhere. This system is typically overseen by a powerful government with those in power making decisions that perpetrate the worldly system throughout mankind. When Revelation 13:1 speaks of the beast rising up out of the sea, what is meant by the sea? The Scriptures speak of the sea as “masses of humanity.” This beastly system is rising up out of humanity, out of all the people on the earth. When John, the author of Revelation, stood upon the sand of the sea, he was standing upon that which could not be numbered, among all the people of the earth.

WAR ON THE SAINTS

“And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God” (Revelation 13:6a). Who’s speaking in blasphemy against God? It is those who are influenced by the beastly system. It’s not just one person opening his mouth. There are people blaspheming God all over this world from different segments of society and spheres of influence. Already they are blaspheming and doing blasphemous things against the church. “In blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven” (Revelation 13:6b). Through those who belong to the beastly system, the devil is cursing God; he is also cursing us since we’re the tabernacle spiritually, and he is cursing those who dwell in heaven.

“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations” (Revelation 13:7). During the Dark Ages, the saints as a whole were not making an impact in the world. The light of Christ; Christianity, burned very low during that historical period. The devil didn’t overcome every saint, but the corporate body of Christ; the church as a whole, was overcome in its public witness. But the spirit of Christ in His people can never be totally overcome; there’s always a remnant that carries His light.

Satan overcoming the saints is also futuristic as I believe at some point the church’s public witness will be stopped in these end times. Matthew 24: 9 says, “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.” In this verse it says all nations shall hate us; that includes our so-called Christian nation, the United States. Look at the antichrist things we are doing in our nation, such as divorce, drugs, abortion, pornography, greed, materialism, etc. Already we see a segment in our society rising up against Christians for taking a stand against abortion, homosexuality, etc. The hatred against Christians has grown in the past decade in our nation in all spheres of our society.

We should not be against our nation, but love and pray for her. God instructs us as Christians to submit to the government authorities over us as long as they are not requiring us to go against the Word of God. We are to pray for these earthly organizations so we might live quiet and peaceable lives in godliness and honesty. “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 2: 1-2). All nations will come against the public witness of Christians to kill the witness of the church. However, nothing can kill or destroy the church; she may be attacked by political power, apostate religion, temptation from the world, and disruption within from false prophets and false brethren — in spite of all this, the church shall be victorious!

(To be continued next month)

(Excerpt from the book entitled The Mark of God or The Mark of the Beast)

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PROPHETIC VOICE TO THE CHURCH

As some may not be familiar with prophecy in the church. We want to share this short explanation of Biblical prophecy before we share an actual prophecy from God.

First, what is Godly prophecy? It can be summed up as words that are spoken on behalf of God. A prophet or prophetess is one who is a spokesman for God. It is a divine utterance that comes from the Holy Spirit. (Note: Just as there are prophetic words from God, there are also false prophecies that the Lord warned us about in the Bible. In Matthew 7:15-16a, Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruit….” We must prove the source of prophecy before accepting it as coming from the Lord.)

God is raising up many prophetic voices in the earth today. His gifts of prophecy are basically of two types. One is the “simple gift of prophecy” which every believer can express under the unction or direction of the Holy Spirit after they have been filled with the Holy Ghost.

The other is the “office gift” of the spirit which is given to a prophet or prophetess who is called to the “five-fold” ministry office as outlined in 1 Corinthians 12:28 which says “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” Also Ephesians 4:11-12 which says “And he gave some, apostles; and some prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

The basic difference between these two types is, the simple gift of prophecy is given to all spirit filled believers as spoken of in 1 Corinthians 14:31: “For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.”

It is for the purpose of edification, exhortation and comfort as spoken of in 1 Corinthians 14:3: “But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.”

The “office gift” of a prophet or prophetess is given to speak to the body of Christ at large. The ministers who are called to the office of a prophet or prophetess will deliver messages also which include edification, exhortation and comfort but their messages can also be directive in nature and futuristic in content as well (Ephesians 4:11-15).

Presently, God is leading His people with prophetic preaching and teaching. A prophetic movement is taking place in the world.

PROPHECY FOR THE 1990′S AND BEYOND

The following prophetic words were given to Betty Miller by the Holy Spirit on December 23, 1989 which was shared with the local church. It was also printed in tract form and has been distributed for a number of years. We want our newsletter to be a ministry to God’s people so we are including this word to help prepare for the remaining days ahead. This message will be printed here in a series form to be continued in future Digests.

THE WIND OF GOD

STRAW NESTS OF PARITY*
AND STRONGHOLDS OF TRADITION TO BE BLOWN AWAY

*Webster’s Definition of “Parity”: (1) Condition of being equal or equivalent, (2) Like state or degree, (3) Equality, close correspondence

The Spirit of the Lord says, My wind is beginning to blow upon the body of Christ. These are the winds of judgement that will blow the “straw nests of men’s parity” away. As the wind of my Spirit increases even the strongholds of men’s tradition and doctrine will collapse. I will build a new house with walls of truth and I will place my chosen leadership to be servants as stewards over my household. The ideas of equality that men have embraced are not the same as Mine.

Position or offices in God’s kingdom are given for the purpose of order and service. Those who have assumed positions that I have not called them to occupy will be removed. Also those that have been appointed by men will also be dealt with and removed or relocated. My faithful servants who have continued to follow me will remain.

I am setting up my kingdom with my wisdom and order. I look on men’s hearts which are hidden from the world and I set one man up and take another down even as Saul was removed and David enthroned in the Old Testament.

The “straw nests of parity” are man-made. The equality man seeks is sought by demanding their own rights; however, those who seek their own ways will be as straw nests in the wind. The wind of my Holy Spirit will blow away all of men’s self-centeredness and what they considered to be equality. What is equality? Am I not the God of true equality?

Ezekiel 18:25-31: “Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal? When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die. Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?”

In my scheme of authority and order, I place men whom I have called and trained to positions of leadership for the good of all my people. I am going to do a new thing as I authorize my five-fold ministry servants to begin leading in a new direction. I will simultaneously direct My body to follow their guidance and leadership. Rebellion will not remain in my house. I’m sending the fire of the Holy Spirit to first uncover and expose the carnal and rebellious ones, then I’m going to give my true servants a new anointing of love and wisdom to deal with this problem in my people. I am no respecter of persons. All who have rebellion will be dealt with. Pray that you might be delivered from this evil as well as the pride that promotes it.

I am a respecter of one thing – that is my Word. Although I love everyone equally and my offer of salvation is to “whosoever will may come,” my favor rests on those who do my will. If a man keeps My words, he will find favor with me, if he rejects or breaks my Word he will suffer for his own sin unless he comes to Me for forgiveness and cleansing.

Some are suffering because they are ignorant of My word, because My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). Others are rejecting My Word because they desire their own way over my way. What a man sows he shall reap (Galatians 6:7).

There is an evil in the church that has come from the influence of the world; that evil is man’s cry for his own rights. Unless men yield to the rights that I have established for them, they are destroyed seeking their own way. Proverbs 16:25 says,“There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” You are seeing much death and destruction because men are demanding their own way.

The strongholds of tradition must also be broken over my people if my work is to progress. Matthew 15:6-9,”….Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”

Your doctrines and traditions must be submitted unto Me for cleansing. All traditions are not wrong, but some man-made ones are. My church must be willing to change. They must yield to the changes I desire of them. They are entrenched in the depths of preconceived ideas of what they believe to be My ways. The methodology and things I did and allowed yesterday will not suffice for the day you now live in. Many of My people have become very rebellious in this day and their rebellion is producing a curse upon them.

When the Israelites spoke in rebellion against Moses, it caused the curse of fiery serpents to bite the people. I instructed Moses to make a fiery serpent of brass and set it on a pole. I commanded everyone who had been bitten to look upon it so they would live. (Numbers 21:7-9) Later, however; this very method I used for deliverence became an idol to the people. Before long, they began to look to it, instead of Me, as their source of deliverance. They burned incense to it and called it Nehustan. (2 Kings 18:4)

Today My people are doing the same thing with the methods I used in the past to bring deliverance to them. I now am instructing my leadership to tear down “Nehustan” as it has replaced Me as the source of blessing. I am calling my people to a new and living way.

I now call my people to search the “straw nests of parity” (men’s ideas of equality). They will be scattered,along with the strongholds of men’s traditions. My Holy Spirit is searching out and uncovering the hindrances to My work. The Wind of God is blowing away that which is not built on My Word (Hebrews 12:26-29).

–Prophetic Word given to Betty Miller in March of 1993

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LITTLE FOXES

(Little compromises that cause big problems)

Song of Solomon 2:15 says, “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.” Foxes sometime in search of food would enter into the grape orchards and devour the grapes and spoil the crop. However, the little foxes were too small to reach the grape bunches so they would chew on the vines and it would kill the whole vine. Instead of the farmer just losing his crop, he would lose his vine which was more disastrous. Spiritually some things we do or allow that we might think is little or insignificant can also be disastrous for us.

OVERCOMING PROCRASTINATION

He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. Ecclesiastes 11:4

Procrastination means we put off until tomorrow what we should do today. In fact, the dictionary definition is “to put off doing something (unpleasant or burdensome) until a future time; especially to postpone such actions habitually.” Being human, we all face the temptation to procrastinate. This disposition may not seem so bad at first glance but it is a “little fox” that will spoil our vines.

In the Christian life, this habit in regard to spiritual things will rob of us our devotion to Christ. The devil knows that if we pray and read our Bibles and meet for fellowship with other Christians, we will become strong Christians that can defeat him. This is the reason he tries to stop us from doing these things. One of his most successful devices is to delay people from praying, reading the Word of God and going to church. He doesn’t tempt them with the suggestion that they shouldn’t do these things; he just tries to get them to “put off” doing them until a later time. This strategy becomes very successful as he knows that “tomorrow never comes” for most people.

He uses the same strategy to get people to wait about making a decision to give their lives to the Lord. The devil knows if he can just get them to wait until a later time, perhaps they will never make the decision and end up in hell. There is an old adage that says, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” People mean to get things right with the Lord, but the enemy will furnish them with a thousand reasons why they can wait until later. Time is running out for all people as the return of the Lord is very near. Bible prophecies indicate that the Lord Jesus Christ will be returning to this earth to judge all mankind in the near future. Most Bible students predict this event sometime around the year 2000. No man knows the exact day or hour but we can know the season of the Lord’s return by observing the things that He said would come to pass at that time (Read Matthew 24 in the Bible).

Now is the time that we must take action and do the things that we know the Lord wants us to do. James 1:22 says, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” We must be obedient to the Word of God if we do not want to be deceived in this hour. Many Christians have heard the Word of God over and over. Now is the time to apply it and do it. That is the only way we will be able to overcome the things that the devil tries to destroy us with. We must conquer the tendency to procrastinate as it is an evil “little fox” that will defeat us. We can do this by the power of the Holy Spirit. If we will pray and ask the Lord to help us, He will not fail us. He will give us the desire and the resolve to live the overcoming life in Him. He will send help and make a way for us to do all that He requires of us. He is faithful and we can be faithful too, through Him!

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SPECIAL GUEST

Lessons From The Titanic

THREE KINDS OF LEADERSHIP by Rick Joyner
(The following article is an exerpt taken from Rick Joyner’s book, The Harvest)

The tragedy of the Titanic brought to light a striking revelation of three kinds of leadership—all three of which can be seen in the world and the church today.

The first type can be seen in Captain Smith and the crew of the Titanic. They were the best from the British merchant fleet. They believed that there was not a more intelligent, experienced or knowledgeable sea captain in the Empire than Smith. Combine that with his record of never having had a single accident at sea and we have what appeared to be an unsinkable crew with an unsinkable ship. Actually, these characteristics are probably a significant contributing factor to the doom of this ship. These all fed the pride which feeds carelessness, which sooner or later usually leads to tragedy.

The Titanic’s crew had never held a proper lifeboat drill. They did not have a plan for the orderly movement of passengers to the boats, and the crew did not even know how to lower them. Everything had to be planned and learned while the ship was sinking under their feet. This obviously contributed to a much greater loss of life than was necessary. Many boats were lowered only partially full, one with only twelve people, while hundreds of passengers were held below decks by the crew. The entire ship had been caught off guard by the events of that fateful night and they paid dearly for it. Will we be caught in the same position? If we are we will pay just as dearly. But we don’t have to be surprised. The Lord exhorted us to know the signs of the times and not to sleep on our watch. Prophets throughout the land are now calling for preparation; the Lord is giving us signs in the heavens and on the earth. He is sounding His trumpet to wake us up and we must hear it.

Almost every great man of God in Scripture and history was only successful after passing through the fires of failure and defeat. Many of the elders and fathers of the faith would not trust a man until he had his “limp” (a major failure or defeat). As Alexander Solzhenitsyn declared, “Does not even biology itself teach us that perpetual well being is not good for any living thing?” Perpetual well being can open doors to a most dangerous enemy— complacency. What else can explain how the Titanic crew could receive six warnings that there were deadly icebergs directly in their path and yet they did not even slow down!

The Danger of Overconfidence

The Bible is most candid about the failures and mistakes of even its greatest heroes. This is a message in itself. We must take heed when we think we stand, lest we fall. Even the greatest men and women of faith had defeats and failures. Even the apostle Paul could be “foiled by Satan.” When we hear the testimonies of individuals and churches which claim to have never been deceived or made great mistakes, if this is declared as a boast they will be doomed to a great fall. Those who have not been wounded probably have not yet been in the fight. Such are in danger of not only getting wounded, but getting killed.

There were two other ships which played a significant role in the drama of the Titanic disaster: the Californian and the Carpathia. The captains of these ships remarkably parallel the two other prevailing types of leadership found today.

The Danger of Being Overly Cautious

The Californian had a captain who had obviously learned something from his years of successes and failures. He was reserved and cautious, but overly cautious. The realities of life may cause us to react this way if we allow the fear of more failure to sow in us a perpetual hesitancy. Becoming overly cautious can be just as deadly as being overly confident as it proved to be in this case. When Captain Lord of the Californian heard about the ice in his path he slowed down. When he saw the ice he ordered the ship stopped and he waited for daylight. His wireless (radio) operator began warning the other ships in the area of the danger. At 7:30 p.m. her warning was received and logged by the Titanic.

The usually stormy North Atlantic was amazingly calm that night. More than one officer remarked that they had never seen the sea so tranquil. First officer Lightoller of the Titanic made this observation at the inquiry when he declared that “everything was against us.” This seems to have been a resounding confirmation of the Biblical exhortation that when men cry “Peace and safety, sudden destruction will come.”

This tranquility must have overcome the crew of the Californian as well. Her bridge watch saw the Titanic approaching just a few miles away and then saw her stop dead in the water. At first they thought she was taking the same precautions for the ice which they had taken. Then she started firing rockets into the air every few minutes, which is always a distress signal at sea. The crew of the California rationalized this, remarking that it must be a signal meant for another company ship which they could not see! They did not even bother to wake the wireless operator to see if he could contact the ship. Then they watched her disappear beneath the sea while telling each other as the lights dimmed that she was sailing away! Had they responded to the first distress signal the Californian may well have been able to save all of the lives that were lost.

The incredible attitude of the Californian crew is matched by much of the church today. When the final inquiry comes and the final story is told we are going to marvel at how many were in a position to save life but instead slept right through the night like Captain Lord of the Californian when he could have done so much. Rationalization is a popular shield for cowards. Were they so afraid of the ice that they decided to humor each other with unbelievable reasons for not responding to the obvious emergency? Are we going to have to ask ourselves a similar question? As our world sinks into the deep are we going to sleep when we could be saving many, or are we going to rise up and take action?

Revelation 21:8 says, “the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Here cowards are lumped together with the murderers because their actions often lead to the death of others. When we can help and we don’t we will be held accountable before the Lord. The Lord Jesus came to give His life for others and He has called us to follow Him with this same devotion. We may hide and save our lives during times of trouble, but we may very well by this action be putting ourselves in the most terrible jeopardy for all eternity. If we cower and seek to save our lives we will ultimately lose them just like the Lord warned. It is only by losing our own lives that we will find them. Cowards have no place in the kingdom of God. “Those who know their God will display strength and take action” (Daniel 11:32). If we do not display strength and take action it is obviously because we do not know Him.

The Resolve of True Leadership

The third ship in the fateful drama of that night was the Carpathia, captained by Arthur H. Rostron. He was known for the ability to make quick decisions and to energize those who served under him. He is a wonderful example of the leadership the Lord is preparing for this day. Rostron was a pious man devoted to prayer. At 12:35 a.m. the Carpathia’s wireless operator burst into his quarters to report that the Titanic had struck an iceberg. Rostron reacted in character; he immediately ordered the Carpathia turned around and full speed ahead, later asking the operator if he was sure about the report—a striking contrast to the reaction on the Californian.

Rostron then gave an masterful display of a truly prepared mind; he thought of everything and took care of every detail. He ordered the English doctor to the first class dining room, the Italian doctor to second class, the Hungarian to third class, along with every possible piece of equipment or supplies needed for the sick and wounded. He ordered different officers to different gangways instructing them to get the names of survivors to send by wireless. They prepared block and lines with chair slings for the wounded. Bowlines were secured along the ship’s sides along with boat ropes and heaving lines for lifting people in chairs. All gangway doors were opened. He then directed specific officers to take charge of his present passengers and to see to their needs. All hands were to prepare coffee, soup and provisions. He then designated all officers cabin’s, smoke rooms, library, etc., as accommodations for the survivors. Stewards were sent to reassure and explain to their own passengers the reason for the activity to help keep them calm.

Then Rostron turned to face the biggest problem of all—the ice. He was heading at full speed into the same field that had sunk the Titanic. To this courageous man reducing speed was out of the question, but he took every measure to reduce the risk to his own ship and passengers. He added a man to the crow’s nest, put two more on the bow, one on each wing of the bridge, and he stayed there himself. His second officer, James Bisset, then noticed his captain taking one last measure which he considered the most important of all—He prayed.

At 2:45 a.m. Bisset saw the first iceberg. They steered around it and kept going. The next hour they dodged five more. At 4:00 a.m. they reached the Titanic’s last called position and began picking up lifeboats. As the sun rose it revealed an astonishing sight; the sea was full of icebergs for as far as the eye could see in all directions. Even with all the lookouts the Carpathia had passed numerous icebergs which they had not even seen. No one could imagine how they missed them all except their pious captain. He knew that he had done all that he could, but he still needed the Lord’s help.

The difficult rescue of the survivors was carried out with such order and discipline that peace reigned over all. The Carpathia’s passengers caught the spirit of self-sacrifice from her crew. Her first class passengers gave their own quarters to survivors; others were pitching in to do all they could. On one of the darkest nights of tragedy ever experienced on the high seas the Carpathia’s captain, crew and passengers stand out as bright lights of courage and heroism. They are a demonstration of what the Lord has called us to be in the night of tragedy and loss that is now falling upon the earth. Let us not sleep as some did, or be fooled by the calmness of the sea. Let us be prepared!

______

The above article was taken from Rick Joyner’s book The Harvest. This book details a vision that Rick had concerning the end times. A brief summary of this vision was first circulated in 1987. It quickly found its way into major periodicals and countless newsletters, reaching millions in just a little over a year. It has been called “a prophetic word for the nineties” by major Christian leaders. You may order this book from our MINISTRY BOOKSTORE, your local Christian bookstore or directly from MorningStar Ministries.

Rick Joyner is the founder of MorningStar Ministries located in Charlotte, North Carolina and the author of several books, including: The Journey Begins, The Final Quest and Leadership, Management and the Five Essentials for Success. His prophetic articles have been widely distributed throughout the body of Christ. Rick also travels throughout the US and abroad as a conference speaker with a message of devotion to Christ and preparation for the coming harvest.

You may write to the address below for a catalog of Rick Joyner’s latest books and tapes or use his toll free order line (this is for orders only):

MorningStar Ministries
375 Star Light Dr
Fort Mill, SC 29715
1-800-542-0278
www.morningstarministries.org

MINISTRY BOOKSTORE (Click here for order information)

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BOOK REVIEW

The Coming Revival

America’s Call to Fast, Pray, and “Seek God’s Face” by Dr. Bill Bright

——————————————-

The message of this book, written in 1995, grows increasingly timely each year. Quoting Bill Bright, “In this critical hour, nothing is more important than fasting, praying, repenting, and seeking God’s face. Our nation is in a moral free-fall and desperately needs God’s intervention; the Great Commission is near fulfillment; the greatest spiritual harvest in history is within our grasp. We are asking God to send revival to our nation and the world to enable us to fulfill the Great Commission.”

In this powerful book by Dr. Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, he shares his personal testimony of how God led him to fast for 40 days, and the resulting passion for revival and intimacy with the Holy Spirit that has been awakened in him. He candidly shares inspiring stories of his own doubts and fears, as well as practical medically sound advice, and encouragement in how to begin a fast for a day or a month. This book offers complete coverage of any issue or question that one may have about fasting, as well as a history of revival movements.

This is highly recommended reading for anyone who is interested in revival, on a personal as well as worldwide level. Anyone who plans on participating in the 40-day nationwide fast will find this book to be an invaluable resource. —Mercy Aiken

Dr. Bill Bright is founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. Dr. Bright is also a prolific author and a well known and respected minister throughout the world. You may contact Dr. Bright at:

Campus Crusade for Christ International
100 Sunport Lane
Orlando, Florida 32809

Website Addresse: http://www.ccci.org

The book, The Coming Revival, is available in paperback priced at $9.99 in our Ministry Bookstore or from your local Christian bookstore.

MINISTRY BOOKSTORE (Click here for order information)

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POETRY CORNER

HE IS RISEN

by Margie M. Baker

The mournful Sabbath day was past
When all had been at rest;
Then in the dawn, three women came
To Him whom they loved best.
The morn was bright, but, oh, the gloom
In tender, loving hearts
No joy for them, but anguish keen
To pierce like fiery darts.

Three crosses stood upon a hill,
And on one He had died;
No wonder then the awful grief
Not one of them could hide.
The sweet aroma of the spice
They carried for the task
Of anointing His dear body
Caused one of them to ask:

“Who shall roll away the stone
That we may enter in
To anoint the One who gave His life
To free us from all sin?”
When they looked, they saw the stone
Was already rolled away,
And an angel clothed in raiment white
Began to softly say:

“Be not afraid, the One you seek for,
The whole world crucified,
Is not here among the dead
‘Though on a cross He died.
Behold, the place where He was laid,
Then go your way and tell
All who love Him, that some day
In heaven they will dwell.”

“For He is risen, and He lives
To walk among His own.
No grave could hold Him, even tho’
His enemies sealed the stone.”
The women did as they were bid
And quickly spread the word,
“He is risen, He is risen,
JESUS CHRIST, OUR LORD!”

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PURPOSE & VISION

THE OVERCOMING LIFE DIGEST is published for the purpose of strengthening the Body of Christ by furnishing teaching literature and a prophetic voice to the church in these last days. CHRIST UNLIMITED is helping and working with all Bible-believing Christians regardless of their church or denominational affiliations in promoting the Gospel of Jesus Christ. CHRIST UNLIMITED believes the hour is late and we must fulfill the great commission. We, as Christians, desire to cooperate with the Lord in breaking down denominational walls, for a united front line against the kingdom of darkness and setting up the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

CHRIST UNLIMITED MINISTRIES, INC. and CHRIST UNLIMITED PUBLISHING provide such tools through literature as to enable the saints of God to take the Kingdom and walk in the overcoming life as promised us in John 10:10 and Revelation 21:7.

PUBLISHER

CHRIST UNLIMITED PUBLISHING
President: R.S. “Bud” Miller
Editor: Betty Miller
Electronic Editor: Courtney Gould

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At the present this magazine is NOT available in hardcopy nor do we email individual copies. However, copies of all publications are available online at http://bibleresources.org/overcomig-life/. Don’t forget to check back frequently to view new volumes as they are posted.

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Your designated contribution of any amount will be used to send literature and Bibles to foreign ministers, prisoners and other needy Christians. Contributions to CHRIST UNLIMITED MINISTRIES, INC. are tax deductible under 501(c) (3) of the IRS Tax Code.

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All scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.

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This is the Teachings  text area…

BibleResources.org new Bible Answers area provides [...]]]> Bible Answers on BibleResources.org Provides Biblical Teachings, Studies and Answers

BibleResources.org has launched a new Bible Answers area on their Website that offers over 10,000 pages of Biblical teachings, Bible references, testimonials, devotionals and other resources, providing answers on what the Bible says on over 100 frequently asked questions.

BibleResources.org new Bible Answers area provides Biblical answers,teachings and Bible studies on over a hundred subjects, ranging from alcohol and abortion to school shootings and voting.  Bible Answers that are based on over 17 years of Biblical content creation, initially offered on Bible.com.

The new Bible Answers covers what the Bible says about many commonly asked questions including: abortion, business, capital punishment, choosing a mate, demons, diet, drinking alcohol, end time warnings, evil in the world, faith, fear, false prophets, finances, forgiveness, fornication, gambling, God, grief, healing, hell, homosexuality, judgment, life and death, lying, masturbation, money, pornography, pride, Satan, school shootings, sex before marriage, military, smoking, spanking children, stealing, stock market, suicide, tattoos, tithing, unclean thoughts, vegetarianism, violence of today, voting, war, witchcraft, yoga and many other cultural and Biblical issues.

Bible.com formats include mini-teachings, Bible references, devotionals, testimonials, Bible Studies and additional Biblical resources.

Our new Bible Answers areas are the result of many years of Biblically-inspired  efforts.  Bud and Betty Miller, co-founders of Bible.com, and now, BibleResources.org, are grateful to all who’ve partnered with them to bring the Bible and Christian gospel of Jesus Christ to millions around the world via the Internet. Pastors Bud and Betty Miller, who are seniors, believe their most fruitful days are still ahead because of these exciting changes that will allow them to reach out in a video ministry.

For additional information please visit it at:
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andy@christunlimited.com

Dear Internet Friends:

We wish you a wonderful New Year in the Lord. Many people are wondering how any of us will be able to see happy and blessed times because of so much violence in our nations, climate disasters, [...]]]> HAPPY AND BLESSED NEW YEAR!
From Pastors Bud and Betty Miller

Dear Internet Friends:

We wish you a wonderful New Year in the Lord. Many people are wondering how any of us will be able to see happy and blessed times because of so much violence in our nations, climate disasters, drought and famine, conflicts and wars, along with so many unstable economic forecasts. So as Christians, what are we to do in the midst of the many trials and tribulations? As I was praying on this New Year’s day, the Lord brought to my heart and mind the scripture above from Lamentations and also this one:

John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have Overcome the world.

From these two scriptures we see that — yes, we will experience tribulation of some sort in this world, but the assurance from the Words spoken by Jesus is that we are to be of good cheer, because He (Jesus) has overcome the world and offers us the promise of peace. While in Lamentations we read that every new day (not just New Year’s Day) we are offered mercy and compassion when we are in trouble or when we fail God. Even when we fail Him, He is ever faithful to forgive us when we come to Him and ask Him for forgiveness because He is compassionate and merciful. How wonderful it is to serve such a kind God.

He will help us to overcome the weakness and sin that besets us if we seek Him with our whole heart. There is nothing impossible for Him and nothing that He cannot fix, even if our lives are shattered into millions of pieces. He has proven Himself faithful to His own children down through the ages and He will not fail us as we approach the end of this age no matter how ominous things look. Jesus Christ is coming soon as we can see the signs now that are foretold in Matthew 24.

Word for 2013 – Get Back to the Basics

I felt the Lord impressed upon me what His people needed to do this coming year. I got the words – “Get back to the basics.” That might sound rather simplified, but we could all benefit by

1. getting back to the basics of a strong prayer life
2. time spent in studying the Bible
3. and time spent in strengthening our relationships with one another.

Develop a Strong Prayer Life

This is the time to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord and we are going to need to be able to hear God and that is done by listening to Him in prayer (proximity has to do with hearing Him). In the natural, the closer you are to someone, the easier it is to hear what they are saying. The further away we are from someone, the harder it is to hear them. I personally do not want God to have to shout at me.

Read and Study the Bible

We must feed on the Word of God which is like eating organic, nutritious food for physical sustenance, as opposed to eating junk food. You can eat the junk of this world that comes through TV and the Internet and other contaminated sources and soon it will affect your spiritual health, just like the consuming of bad foods and drink in your diet will make you sick. Speaking of food, many people are hearing God to plant gardens and to store up some emergency food. We must individually listen as to what the Lord wants us to do. However, just in the natural, I personally think it would be prudent to have some emergency stores put up, in light of the judgments now coming in the world. Just remember the Lord has a plan for taking care of His people. We must listen and prepare as the Lord speaks to each of us. If you have no way to prepare, remember God fed millions of His people in the wilderness with manna so He has a way to take care of His people. Just stay close to Him if you cannot prepare in the natural so you can hear Him speak to you. He also multiplied food in the Bible. Let us not limit Him, but let us be wise.

Develop and Strengthen Your God Ordained Relationships

Spend quality time with your family and friends. We are going to need one another in the hard times just ahead. We need to strengthen our relationships in the love of God. We need to be where the Lord has spoken to us to be in regard to our job, our church and our geographic location. Do not be fearful to step out in faith and allow God to open a door for a move if that is what He is speaking to you to do. He will go ahead of you and make the way and give you favor.

Our call is to furnish people with the Word of God and teachings online at BibleResources.org so that they can become overcomers. Please pray for us as we continue to develop this website. We are now doing the preparation work for starting our online video ministry. We are behind our schedule in this task, but we are trusting the Lord to help us get this launched as soon as possible. We finally got all the equipment in and are now preparing the video chapel to get it all set up. We do appreciate your support and help. We do pray for all of our givers and prayer warriors daily.

May you hear God clearly and be graced to obey Him in all He tells you to do. We bless you in the coming New Year!

His grateful servants,

Christ Unlimited Ministries
BibleResources.org

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Overcoming Life Digest Past Archive Menu

Warning!! A Contagious Epidemic is Spreading – Betty Miller
The Old Covenant — R.S. “Bud” Miller
Letters To The Editor — Testimonies
Spiritual Warfare — Endurance and Discipline
Exposing Satan’s Devices — Evil Can [...]]]>

IN THIS ISSUE:

Overcoming Life Digest Past Archive Menu

Warning!! A Contagious Epidemic is Spreading – Betty Miller
The Old Covenant — R.S. “Bud” Miller
Letters To The Editor — Testimonies
Spiritual Warfare — Endurance and Discipline
Exposing Satan’s Devices — Evil Can Be Turned To Good
End Times — Mark of God or Mark of the Beast
Little Foxes (Little Compromises) — Neglecting the Little Things
How Did Heaven Receive Diana? — Dennis Peacocke
Book Review –The Doctor and the Word
Poetry Corner – Doomsday
Purpose and Vision — Subscription and Publication Information

WARNING!!
A CONTAGIOUS EPIDEMIC IS SPREADING

by Betty Miller

The Lord has called this ministry to be a prophetic voice to the church. One of the aspects of prophecy is to warn God’s people of impending danger and how to avert it. This epidemic is grieving the heart of God because it is preventable and can be stopped. It has spread among all churches and is particularly rampant in society. Even God’s ministers are not immune and many of them are infected with it.

What is this evil plague? You may be surprised as it appears rather harmless at first glance. It is now so commonplace that people are deceived into just accepting it as normal, instead of recognizing and resisting it. This epidemic is the practice of lying and dishonesty.

What does the Bible say about lying? A lying tongue is not only something God hates, it is also something that is an abomination to Him.

These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. Proverbs 6:16-19

As the moral climate of our society has been deteriorating, lying has become a major problem. The business world is particularly plagued by this problem — men’s dishonesty with each other, meetings “forgotten”, company theft, promises not kept, contracts broken, etc. Lawyers have increased in numbers over the last decade, mainly because of irresponsibility and broken contracts among men due to lying. A news organization recently did a survey here in America and asked people several questions to determine the percentage of people who lied or were dishonest about things. Some of the questions were:

• Do you cheat on your Income Tax Return?
• Do you compliment people when you really don’t mean it?
• Do you tell your spouse to tell callers you are not at home when you are there?
• Do you tell “little white lies” if it will keep you out of trouble?
• Do you tell creditors that “the check is in the mail” when you have not yet mailed it?
• Do you exaggerate in repeating things you have heard?

The results of this survey determined that nearly 80% of Americans are not truthful under certain circumstances. This is understandable when we look at the morals of our society but what about Christians? Have they fallen into the habit of lying also? Also, what constitutes a lie according to the Bible? Anything that is not the truth is a lie and God’s Word the Bible tells us what is truth. The Bible is the standard or measuring rod we must use in determining truth. Sadly, Christians are also succumbing to this epidemic of lying. Lying to each other has now become so commonplace, Christians too, have become liars.

Have you been lied to lately? Was it another Christian that lied to you? A minister perhaps? Each of us have had our trust in people undermined, or in some cases even destroyed because of lies. We would all agree that lying is an ugly evil. The Bible tells us that lying began with the devil and that he is the father of lies.

Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. John 8:43-47

The Bible is filled with admonitions against being dishonest and lying. One of the Ten Commandments states, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” (Exodus 20:16).

Before we point our finger at another for being a liar that we feel God needs to deal with, let us examine our own lives to see if we are infected with the same disease. What kind of witness are we to those around us? Are we deceived and have we become liars ourselves? Let us first give a definition as to what a lie is according to Webster’s dictionary:

1. To make a statement that one knows is false, especially with the intent to deceive.
2. To give a false impression or action or false statement, especially with the intent to deceive.
3. To make a false statement in order to evade the truth.
4. The invention of a false story or excuse in order to deceive.

Perhaps for a Christian, a Biblical definition of lying could be summed up in this statement: Any time our word does not agree with God’s Word.

In Numbers 23:19 the Bible says, “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” When we do not keep our word we are guilty of lying. Over the last year I have lost track of the number of times Christians have failed to keep their word to me. I am not angry or resentful or bitter over this, as the Lord has worked those attitudes out of my life. I have learned to take every offense to Him in prayer and He then removes any personal ill I might have and He gives me a forgiving and gracious attitude toward others. However, since I began to notice how many of God’s people were not keeping their word, I received a prayer burden of intercession for this evil to be removed from God’s people.

I first began praying about my own life and asked God to expose any areas where I might be guilty of this sin. I have tried to obey Romans 12:17-21 which says, “Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” Most of the time I would just forgive these lying offences and would just pray for them and try to “live peaceably with all men.” However, in prayer, the Lord spoke to my heart that I must go one step further and “speak the truth in love” to my brothers and sisters if I truly loved them.

But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Ephesians 4:15-16

If we, as the body of Christ, are to mature and grow up we must conform to the truth which is Jesus. The devil is behind every lie and as Christians we are admonished not to lie to one another. Colossians 3:9-10 says, “Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” 

The two main reasons we lie are usually rooted in either fear or pride. Fear is the first reason. We are afraid of the consequences if we tell the truth. Yielding to fear shows a lack of trust in God to take care of the situation. If we yield to God and do it His way He will usually give us favor with those that we fear. The other reason is pride. We are prideful and concerned about what men will think of us (desiring man’s approval instead of God’s approval.)

Jesus always kept His Word. God still keeps His Word and is faithful to keep every promise He makes in the Bible. That is why He is reliable and we can trust Him. We are called to be like Him. The Bible says that out of a man’s mouth proceeds what is in His heart. If we tell lies or fib then it means that we need a heart cleansing.

But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man… Matthew 15:18-20a

We need to ask God to cleanse our hearts and begin reading and studying the Bible so that His Word resides in our hearts. As we keep His Word and water it with prayer it will produce good fruit in our lives. Lying is not only speaking an untruth; another form of lying is not keeping our word to others. Luke 8:15 says, “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.” 

Let us look at some specific ways the devil gets us to lie. We will expose some of his devices. These sorts of lies are being practiced by many Christians. Now remember, we are guilty of lying when we do not keep our word. Even if these sorts of lies seem harmless and don’t appear to really hurt anyone else, they are harmful to our own souls. The more we practice telling untruths of any kind, the duller our conscience becomes.

• “I will call you back tomorrow.” (This excuse is often used with a deliberate intent to deceive. The person does not call back at the appointed time and will call back at a much later date with excuses of why they were unable to call which usually goes something like: “I just was so busy, I meant to call , but did not get around to it.” We all have been guilty of this, but we need to realize when we say we will do something we need to keep our word. We do understand there are legitimate reasons that make it impossible at times to keep our word. This is not the case we are referring to here. It would be better to not make this promise or to say, “I will try to call you back tomorrow.”)
• “I will be happy to do that for you.” (Whatever promise was made, it was not kept and their word about the matter causes them not to be trusted. The Holy Spirit is trying to purge this lack from His people and is using a group of men known as “Promise Keepers” to help restore trustworthiness back in the heads of families by stressing that they need to keep their promises.)

We could list numerous examples but these two cover a lot of territory; any time we say the words “I will” we need to be responsible to do it. We all, on occasion, fail to do the things we have good intentions of doing or we are hindered in some way and can’t do them. However, if we are unable to keep an appointment we should be thoughtful enough to call and cancel, or tell of our delayed arrival. We are living in an age when there are so many uncaring attitudes expressed. As Christians, we can be good witnesses by being different.

One of the biggest faults of many Christians, and our society as well, is that we tend to over-commit and then we are unable to keep our word. It is disheartening to see this shift prevalent in businesses. They commit to the jobs, then, are not able to produce them on time and thus the standard for business practices is shifting to not expecting them on time. Business people must now factor in lengthy time delays just to compensate for people’s lack of business ethics.

People that tend to over-commit sometimes have a pride problem and are people pleasers. They want people to like them so they offer to do things for them, and because they are unable to keep their promises to all they end up not being able to keep their word; thus they are dishonest. In business it is usually greed that tends to cause them to over-commit. They want more business and more money, even when they must work from a backlog that was promised timely.

As Christians we need to ask the Lord to forgive us if we are guilty of lying or deceit. It is a very serious matter with God when we lie. (We can read of the incident of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts Chapter 5 in the Bible. They both fell dead when they lied to the Holy Spirit.)

The Bible also lists this sin of lying as one that can lead us to hell along with some other grievous ones. Revelation 21:7-8 says, “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

We can be overcomers through the power of the Holy Spirit as we seek to be like Jesus. We not only do not want to lie, but we also want to keep our word so that people know we are honest and trustworthy. As Christians, we want to represent our Father well in this life and be honest and free from fabrication and fibbing.

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COVENANT: GOD’S GUARANTEE FOR VICTORIOUS LIVING

by R.S. “Bud” Miller

Note: This teaching is continued from last month’s Overcoming Life Digest – Volume 6

OUR GOD IS A COVENANT GOD

His everlasting covenant means from eternity to eternity. It will never be broken. God established it in the blood of Jesus, and it will never be broken by God or changed. The stability of God is mind-boggling to us. We cannot really understand what “everlasting” means! Now, we are going to take a more in-depth look at the first covenant, the one God made with Abraham. We need to see why God would make a covenant He knew His people would fail to keep.

The Old Covenant: Sealed by Abraham’s Obedience

And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates. Genesis 15:17-18

The first blood covenant God made with man was with a Hebrew named Abram, born in “Ur of the Chaldees” (Genesis 11:31). Ur was in the area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, ruled at that time by ancient Babylon. Today, that area is partly Iraq and partly Iran.

The first place we hear of Abram in the Bible is just after the story of the Tower of Babel. Moses related events from creation to the Old Covenant by hitting the high points of history in ten chapters. The rest of Genesis — forty chapters — deals with Abram and the growth of his descendants from one man into “God’s people.”

Abram, renamed Abraham by God late in his life, is the most important of a number of important men in the Old Testament. He probably was the most important man who lived from Adam to Jesus.

• Adam was the first man.
• Enoch walked with God and did not taste death but was translated to Heaven.
• Noah was the only righteous man in his generation. He obeyed God and became the ancestor of everyone now living, believers and unbelievers.
• But Abram was the “father of faith,” the earthly father of all of the children of God, natural and spiritual. (Galations 3:27-29)

More important is the reason Abram became the ancestor of all true believers: He is the only natural man to cut a blood covenant with God.

However, because he was a natural man, that first blood covenant between God and man was imperfect. Nevertheless, it was very important in God’s plan, because it was the first “legal” step toward re-establishing relationships with His creation, mankind. The first blood covenant was a “pattern,” a type, shadow, or picture of the real eternal covenant God planned to make in the “fullness of time” (Galations 4:4) in order to reconcile mankind to Himself (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Abram was characterized from the very beginning by obedience. At each point, Abram had to move forward in faith and obedience, not knowing the whole story. Without that simple trust in God’s word and without a submissive and obedient heart, he would never have received the promises or been the man to cut “blood covenant” with God.

God did not tell Abram in the beginning that He planned to make a blood covenant with him. God did not tell him at first that the land He would show him was to be his, or that he would have a son (Genesis 12:7). In spite of not knowing what lay ahead, good or bad, Abram obeyed God at every step (Hebrews 11:8-12).

He had to wait a long time to see Isaac, his only son by Sarai (Sarah), his wife. He was 100 years old when the son finally was born! However, he did attempt to decide for himself how God was going to give him this son. Some of us can identify with that. We cannot wait for our answers with the patience God requires of us, so we try to help Him.

God waits to fulfill our prayers many times, not just for His purposes, but to build the faith and character it takes to believe Him. We need to learn to stand on His Word and not look at circumstances. The only way we will receive our blessings, our answers to prayer, is the way Abraham did: through faith and patience (Hebrews 6:12).

The basic promise God gave Abram before he left Ur was this: “If you will leave your country, relatives, and even your father’s house, and go to a place I will show you, I will bless you” (Genesis 12:1-3). The details of that promise were repeated to Abram by God several times over the next 25 years. The details were:

Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 12: 1-3

God’s blood covenant with Abram was built clause upon clause over the 25-year period. Promise after promise followed obedience in previous stages. That is how God leads all of us from promise to fulfillment: “line upon line, and precept upon precept” (Isaiah 28:10).

Finally, the covenant was cut (Genesis 15), then it was sealed in the flesh of all of the males in Abram’s household (Genesis 17:21-27), and after all those years, the promised son arrived. Isaac was a “miracle baby” foreshadowing the real Promised Seed and Miracle Baby to be born hundreds of years later.

(To be continued next month)

(Excerpt from the book entitled COVENANT: God’s Guarantee for Victorious Living)

MINISTRY BOOKSTORE (Click here for order information)

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

This month we are sharing a sampling of some of the mail we receive that we hope will bless you as it did us.

 ”I like what I have seen and read so far. You don’t seem to be afraid of the issues of our day. Praise the Lord!” John (Shenandoah, IA, USA)

 ”This Web site has been a great help to me when pursuing answers to questions about prayer and salvation, I also use it quite often to locate Bible verses when I am writing letters to friends. I recently witnessed to a good friend of mine, and this site provided great verses which dealt with the power of praying for others. I think God purposely had me punch in this address so I could find these verses and share them with my friend. My friend, incidentally seems to be on the path to salvation. Thank you!” Sarah (Newark, IL, USA)

“Dear Pastors, It has been very encouraging to see your deep concern for the Word of God released to bring a fresh anointing and empowerment for His people.” Pastor C. Daniel Fernandez (Calcutta, India)

“YOUR SITE IS “THE” #1 PLACE ON THE INTERNET TO FIND PRECISE, AND VERY ACCURATE INFO ON OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. I THANK YOU FOR YOUR MINISTRY, AND MAY WE ALL GROW MORE IN THE LORD DAILY.” Dustin (Leavenworth, KS, USA)

“I really enjoy being able to come home after school and go onto the internet and find something that isn’t all about sex or crime or drugs or enemies or war, but about Jesus Christ, which is my favorite topic on earth, and something I can be proud of. Thanks for what you’ve done in the prayer requests, I only hope those prayers are answered with a YES.” Amanda Sue (Ovid, MI, USA)

“This site has the best literature on biblical doctrine that I have found anywhere on the net. Continue to lift up the teachings of Scripture in this same God glorifying way.” Christopher (Mobile, AL, USA)

“I didn’t know there was Christian e-mail. I got happy when I knew that. I really wish you to be used by God in his making. I was studying today about the faith. I learned that we use to pray for things we are almost sure we can do, or things that don`t require too much faith. But most of the times God wants to invite us to participate in something that only he can do. It requires much faith and we are going to be able to see God doing wonderful things around us, we can know like that more about him, about his purpose, ways, power and fidelity. It`s wonderful we believe in the same God even though we are so far away from each other. Que Dios los bendiga. Con carino desde Colombia:” Kelly Barranquilla, Colombia)

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SPIRITUAL WARFARE

By Betty Miller

Note: This teaching is continued from last month’s Overcoming Life Digest – Volume 6

ENDURANCE AND DISCIPLINE

Good soldiers must learn how to endure hardness. 1 Timothy 1:18 says, “War a good warfare.” War is hard work; any war requires enduring some hardness. First there’s boot camp. Here soldiers learn strict obedience, discipline, and strategy of war. Can you imagine a boot camp trainee saying, “Officer, how about breakfast in bed?” Some Christian soldiers act like that when they cry out, “O God, give me this, give me that. A new Cadillac automobile, Lord, and a new house. I claim this; I claim that.” Such Christians, expecting God to serve their every want, are not true soldiers. They mistakenly treat God like a bellhop that they can signal, “Come wait on me, God, come wait on me.” They seldom, if ever, say, “What would You have me do for You, Lord? What would You have me do today?”

We’ll never be good soldiers until we have the attitude, “Here I am, Lord, use me in service unto You.” We’re to serve God, not vice versa. Of course, if we have a valid need, we can ask and God will surely respond. A battlefield soldier might ask for more ammunition. God will certainly supply more ammo if we ask for it

God will make sure we’re equipped to serve Him. He’s the perfect boss, the best we could ever work for. He has a good expense account, meeting all of our needs. In everything He has called me to do, He has always furnished a way, given me favor, and paid for it. He’s always there to take care of His soldiers. God, the captain of the army, is concerned about us as His soldiers. He’ll show us how to attain victory in our personal lives. As we learn how to win our personal battles, He then wants us to start winning battles for others. Our purpose is to help others attain victory in their lives, too.

We help others, and others help us. Many times I’ve felt, “Lord, I can’t fight this battle any longer. Raise up intercessors, Lord. I need prayer support.” If you reach that place where you can no longer battle alone, ask God for the intercessory help. He may tell you to call a certain fellow soldier. I’ve done that and received the necessary reinforcement. As we stay sensitive to the Holy Spirit, He’ll provide the necessary ammunition.

We’re guaranteed victory in every battle we go through, if we obey God. That’s an important “if.” If we obey God, we can’t lose. It needs to be so real to our spirits that we’re on the winning side. The devil is the loser. We only lose if we fall into disobedience or rebellion. As we engage in spiritual warfare, our heart attitude must be one of faith and victory. We can’t be saying, “O God, why have You left me here in such a difficult spot?” Instead, the faith attitude says, “Lord, I’m growing weary, but give me Your strength and reinforcements. Help me because I want to be Your overcomer.”

See the difference? When pressure mounts, we have two possible responses. One of complaining, whining and wanting out, or one saying, “Lord, give me Your help and strength to overcome.” The choice is ours. Let’s say, “Although I can’t do it, Lord, I know You can do it through me.” I’ve had sessions like that, crying out on the floor before God. But God always made a way through His power and His might. Ephesians 6:10 points out that it’s His might, not ours: “…be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.”

2 Timothy 2:3 says, “…endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” The trying of our faith takes place when our situations become difficult to bear. God knows when we’re being tried. And if we’re still praising and trusting Him, our attitude is precious to Him. “…The trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold…” (1 Peter 1:7). As we stand strong through a rough battle, God knows we’re doing it because we love Him.

When the road has been rough, I’ve sometimes said, “Lord, I’ve never had it as rough as You did. You had nails in Your hands, a spear in Your side, and a crown of thorns on Your head. My suffering is so little compared to Yours.” Remembering what the Lord endured always makes my load lighter.

Then too, consider the suffering church; in certain foreign countries, Christians are heavily persecuted, crammed into filthy prison cells, tortured for Christ’s sake. Few of us have had to endure such hardships. We’re fortunate our sufferings are so light. Considering that, we can pray, “Lord, we’ll not complain about our situation. Thank You that we have it as easy as we do.” That grateful attitude will bring us through our battles even more quickly.

Rather than our being grateful, the devil wants us deep in depression. His plan is to get us to cry out, curse God and give up. As circumstances go from bad to worse, most people at least feel like giving up and abandoning God. Job’s wife advised him, “Curse God and die.” But Job still followed God. Later he realized God wasn’t the one afflicting him; it was Satan. Through it all, he learned he had a problem with self-righteousness and pride. When he repented of standing on his own righteousness, God restored to him double what the enemy had taken.

We can easily fall into spiritual pride or self-righteousness, thinking, “Why is this happening to me? After all, I’ve done absolutely everything God’s required of me.” Christians have said, “I don’t have any sin in my life.” This very attitude can reflect pride that blocks what God wants to do. We need to say, “Lord, I’ve done everything I know to do, but if I’m blind to something more, then show me. I know You have full wisdom and will give me Christ’s victory over this.” As we have faith, God will give any additional information needed to win the battle.

(Excerpt from the book entitled Personal Spiritual Warfare)

MINISTRY BOOKSTORE (Click here for order information)

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EXPOSING SATAN’S DEVICES

Note: This teaching is continued from last month’s Overcoming Life Digest – Volume 6

EVIL CAN BE TURNED TO GOOD

Many of us have been deceived by the devil and have taken steps we later have discovered were the result of deception by the enemy. We thought we were doing the will of God, but found we had been misled. Eve was innocently deceived by the serpent, but then by God’s grace, He promised that through her seed would come the defeat of the one who had deceived her. (Genesis 3:15: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”)

Yes, God can turn the very devices of the enemy into weapons of victory over him! Willful transgression brings the judgment of God upon it, even though the transgressor can be forgiven. Moreover, every single thing in which Satan may have deceived us as innocent victims of his wiles can become the very cause of his defeat. God gives comfort to those who have been fooled by Satan. This is especially true for those of God’s children who have been deceived by “supernatural manifestations” which afterwards were found not to be of God, and to those who have fallen into depression, darkness and despair. We can rise from despair by asking God to turn what Satan has meant for evil into good for our lives and for all those involved. Genesis 50:20 states, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”

(Excerpt from the book entitled Exposing Satan’s Devices)

MINISTRY BOOKSTORE (Click here for order information)

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END TIMES

MARK OF GOD OR MARK OF THE BEAST

Note: This teaching is continued from last month’s Overcoming Life Digest – Volume 6

INTRODUCTION

Much has been said on this subject of the mark of the beast, but little said about the mark of God. Will there be a literal mark tattooed on people’s foreheads and/or their hands in these end times to make it possible to buy and sell in a one-world monetary system that is being set up by an antichrist?

We can certainly see the possibilities of this becoming a literal reality in our day with the technology of laser beam tattoos and our president speaking of a “new world order.” Even now, pets can be tracked by tiny computer chips about the size of a grain of rice which have an identification number programmed into it that can be injected under the skin with a hypodermic needle. A special scanner generates a radio signal that reads the number through the skin of the animal when it is found.

This book is not disputing the possibilities of a literal tattoo, but rather exposing the spiritual implications behind that plan of Satan. How will this come about? Will it be one of the above new technologies or something yet to come? We don’t believe men are going to be tattooed or branded with a literal set of three sixes on their foreheads or hands, any more than we believe the letters J-E-S-U-S will be on the foreheads of God’s servants as spoken of in Revelation 22: 3-4: “And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.”

How will the beast mark those who follow him, and what is the mark of God set upon those who follow Christ? Let us begin with the mark of the beast, then look at how we are to receive God’s mark which protects us from destruction in these end times.

Throughout the Scriptures, the word beast refers to a system, and not to a man. The beast is a system that rules the world; it’s an antichrist system. Daniel 7 speaks of beasts and identifies them as earthly kingdoms. So the beast in Revelation is a beastly system that’s ruling the world (it’s a dictator beast). This beast is not just one human being, rather it is a system that has infiltrated every area whether it be politics, medicine, art or science; the beastly system is everywhere. This system is typically overseen by a powerful government with those in power making decisions that perpetrate the worldly system throughout mankind. When Revelation 13:1 speaks of the beast rising up out of the sea, what is meant by the sea? The Scriptures speak of the sea as “masses of humanity.” This beastly system is rising up out of humanity, out of all the people on the earth. When John, the author of Revelation, stood upon the sand of the sea, he was standing upon that which could not be numbered, among all the people of the earth.

RULING IN GOD’S KINGDOM

We are not talking about a political ruling here as the political systems of this world are going to fail. We are to rule and reign in the spirit which brings about the second coming of the Lord and the establishment of His kingdom. The tribulation period on the earth is the rooting out of those things which offend, the falling of this world’s systems to make ready for the establishment of God’s kingdom in the earth, and the ushering in of the millennium at Christ’s return. The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah was commissioned by God to do the same thing. Jeremiah 1:10 says, “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”

The Lord desires us, His church, to root out and pull down through our prayers those things that are hindering the kingdom of God. A good recent example of this is the coming down of the Berlin Wall and the falling of the spirit of communism that was behind it. The church’s prayers can affect the political kingdoms of the world to make ready for the planting of the kingdom of God. Our prayers and obedience will hasten the coming of the Lord. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3: 10-13).

“And there was given unto him a mouth, speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months” (Revelation 13:5). This 3 1/2- year period is not meant as a literal number, but rather as a spiritual one. To the Jews, 3 1/2 stood for an unknown period of troublesome times. The number also represents judgment. Since 3 1/2 is half of perfect 7, it’s half of perfection – a number of trouble and judgment.

Great trouble is coming upon the earth, trouble and tribulation such as the world has never before witnessed. “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book” (Daniel 12: 1). It’s not going to merely strike areas here and there as in times past, but it’s going to hit on a world-wide scale. Revelation 13:5 tells us the devil will have “power…to continue” during this troublesome time. This will be so because it’s going to take time before the church realizes her authority and uses it against the enemy, and it’s going to take time for the church to fight her smaller battles against Satan. The enemy doesn’t like it so he is trying to keep the church from pressing into that place of authority and taking this earth from him.

Legally the earth belongs to us. Jesus gave it to us. When Christ died on Calvary he gained back the earth that Adam had lost. The first Adam lost it when he sinned; the second Adam got it back. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1).

(To be continued next month)

(Excerpt from the book entitled The Mark of God or The Mark of the Beast)

MINISTRY BOOKSTORE (Click here for order information)

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LITTLE FOXES

(Little compromises that cause big problems)

Song of Solomon 2:15 says, “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.” Foxes sometime in search of food would enter into the grape orchards and devour the grapes and spoil the crop. However, the little foxes were too small to reach the grape bunches so they would chew on the vines and it would kill the whole vine. Instead of the farmer just losing his crop, he would lose his vine which was more disastrous. Spiritually some things we do or allow that we might think is little or insignificant can also be disastrous for us.

NEGLECTING THE LITTLE THINGS

The “little fox” of neglecting what we consider small or little things can ultimately become our downfall. Many people are discovering this truth the hard way. An example would be someone who didn’t keep good books in relation to his taxes on a daily basis and then was audited by the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS would require the necessary documents to substantiate the amount of income tax that was owed. All the little daily receipts add up, and if they were lost, thrown out or misfiled the IRS could demand payment on the income not backed up by those records. That could be costly, especially since the IRS in the USA adds penalties and interest to the amount owed. Neglecting to keep good records in this case could amount to a substantial loss of hard-earned money, or in some cases, even charges of fraud could be filed against the taxpayer. Although he may have done no wrong, his faulty bookkeeping would penalize him.

How does this relate to us spiritually? Many people are going through severe trials at the present and they do not understand why these things are happening to them as they are good, God-fearing Christians that are not deliberating sinning in any way. In pastoring, many times we have had Christians make this statement to us, “I just don’t understand why this problem is happening to me. I haven’t done anything that is wrong.” Possibly, the root of their problems lies in the fact that it is not what they are doing but the problem is what they are not doing. You see, the Bible talks about sins of omission as well as commission. Sins of commission are sins that we commit against God, while sins of omission are those things we neglect to do; those things we omit. The Bible tells us this in James 4:17, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

This means that the lack of reading the Bible, praying, giving and witnessing (to name a few) are sins. Many Christians are suffering because they fail to do these things on a regular, daily basis. The devil talks them out of their Christian duties because they feel they just don’t have time or resources to do them. They reason, that they will wait until a more convenient season when they have more free time. Believing this lie of the enemy causes them to procrastinate and the little daily times with God are lost. Then, when a crisis comes about and they begin to reach out to God, they have a hard time hearing His voice because they have not sought Him daily in the little things. The Lord tests us in giving us opportunity to be faithful over what we have before He will give us His true riches. One way He does this is to see how we take care of what belongs to another (many times it is those who are in authority over us). How do we spend another man’s money? How do we take care of another man’s business?

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Luke 16:10-13

We must not be neglectful in the little, daily responsibilities but rather be good stewards of that which we have been entrusted with. Time is one commodity that we all have been given an equal distribution of. We all must give an account of how we have spent our time as well as our money. One thing we have noticed with some entrepreneurs is that they are always going to give when they hit the “big deal” but they are not faithful to give of their smaller income. When and if they do hit the “big deal” they will not usually give then either because they weren’t faithful in giving in the smaller amounts.

For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strowed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strowed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. Matthew 25:14-29

Let us not be neglectful in doing the little things we think would not matter. If you are having trouble praying, reading the Bible, giving, etc., start to change in small ways. For example you could start reading just one scripture a day. You then can work up to reading a chapter a day. If you need help in studying the Bible, we have free Bible Study material on our website that can help you in a systematic study of God’s Word. If you have trouble praying, start by just praying 5 minutes a day and then you can increase it. Those that work in offices, could take 5 or 10 minutes of your lunch hour to pray and study (Don’t do it on your boss’s time as he paying you for a day’s work). If you say you don’t have any money to give, try giving up soft drinks for a week and giving that amount to the work of the Lord. Start by giving at least something to God’s work. There are many good works of God that are suffering because God’s people are not faithful in giving a tithe (10% of your income). God will bless you as promised in the book of Malachi 3:8-12.

Don’t let this “little fox” of neglecting the daily duties of the Christian life destroy your walk with God. Remember the old adage: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Take action today and be faithful over the little and the Lord will make you master of much.

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SPECIAL GUEST

How Did Heaven Receive Diana? by Dennis Peacocke

As the multitudes all but worshipped Princess Diana in her death, I found myself thinking about what Diana herself was going through before her Maker and Judge. Was He praising her for her life and obedience to Him? In what ways had she testified on earth to the life and death of His son, Jesus Christ? Had she honored and kept His commandments, human weakness not withstanding? Did the host of heaven honor her entry in any similar proportion to the grief being displayed on earth with her departure?

Why didn’t we hear these kinds of questions being asked? I’m sure, in some quarters, they were being asked, but not by any public figures of whom I am aware. Indeed, these kinds of questions challenge our humanity with a perspective that levels all our earthly shrines and our independent and rebellious values.

Princess Diana was a beautiful woman, a loving mother, publicly given to certain causes now politically correct, and yet mercilessly hounded by the press. She ran with the world’s “beautiful people,” and the elite of the world of popular culture obviously really cared for her, but who was Diana before the Lord?

Is it unkind to ask such ultimate questions? I personally was impressed with her public poise and vulnerability. Her patience with her adulterous husband and absurdly difficult royal duties amidst the scrutiny of the world’s media was extraordinary. I believe she truly cared for people in pain; nevertheless, death, the ultimate reality, demands from our lives that we grapple with the ultimate questions.

Did she ever press the AIDS patients, to whom she gave her human compassion so freely, with ultimate questions about their soon coming appearance before their Maker? And how did she encourage the poor to break out of their personal bondages of sin so as to sow seeds of action which could break the cruel chains of poverty and hopelessness? Where was the hope and the remedy beyond the assuaging fact that someone very rich and very famous cared enough for them to make a public appearance and raise some money? I applaud Diana’s identification with those in pain; what I am questioning is her willingness to speak about the politically unpopular spiritual solutions to that pain.

Diana had heard the gospel numerous times. Did her life evidence that she both lived and accepted it? Is Jesus “bigoted’ to require such things, and is it insensitive and culturally inept of me to ask? Diana, apparently, was enthusiastically ensnared in fornication, and possibly at the brink of bringing royal approbation to an Islamic husband. What Christ taught on these issues leaves us in pain relative to her life.

I’m sure I would have liked her had I known her and fully identified with her humanity, realness and courage. That is not the point. The question is this: how did Jesus, who demonstrated supreme indifference to man’s quest for popularity and acceptance from the culture shapers receive her? Obviously, I don’t know. What I do know is that Christ warned us about the approbation of man. He said:

“Woe to you when all men speak well of you…” (Luke 6:26)

The Princess lived a semi-tragic life. The media forced upon her a transparent one. The real issue is, thirty-odd years of popularity against eternity’s values, where public opinion and political correctness mean nothing. Diana is now being judged by another measuring rod and that is the bottom line.

______

The above article was taken from the October issue of The Bottom Line, a commentary about world issues by Dennis Peacocke. Dennis Peacocke has traveled extensively over the last twenty-five years, ministering out of his concerns and experience as a Christian author, pastor, business owner, social analyst, and conference speaker. Challenged by the issues of social justice and economic-political growth, Dennis graduated in political theory from Berkeley, at the height of the turbulent 60′s. His current responsibilities include: President of Strategic Christian Services and Chairman of the Fellowship of Christian Leaders and the Strategic Resource Group. Dennis resides in Santa Rosa, California with his wife, Jan, and their three adult children.

If you would like to receive his monthly newsletter, please contact:

Strategic Christian Services
P.O. Box 2709
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
(707) 578-7700

Email: scsnet@sonic.net

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BOOK REVIEW

THE DOCTOR AND THE WORD by Reginald Cherry, M.D.

——————————————-

Dr. Reginald Cherry believes that God heals through the supernatural as well as through natural means such as modern medicine, foods, herbs and other natural substances. While his unique approach to practicing medicine may surprise some, nobody’s been more amazed than those healed by it. As you take a journey through the Bible with Dr. Cherry and his patients, you’ll too discover God’s pathway to healing for you and your family. In The Doctor and the Word, Dr. Cherry answers these questions:

• Has God anointed particular foods to heal and prevent sickness?
• What are God’s dietary laws, and how can you apply them?
• What are the hindrances to healing?
• Does the Bible show how to prevent heart disease?
• Can I take medicine and still stand in faith for my healing?

With so many people seeking alternate medicine today this book provides a wonderful balance for those who know God uses doctors as well as prayer to bring healing to our bodies. Two outstanding things impressed me about this book. Dr. Cherry seeks God on an individual basis as how to treat each patient . Advice is given to the spiritual man as well as the physical man. The entire man is ministered to–spirit, soul and body. Secondly, I found no mixture of New Age philosophy in his book. He truly is using the Word of God as a guideline. So many alternate approaches to health and healing today have a mixture of New Age deceptive practices that can ensnare people in the underlying false doctrines of that movement.

If you want help in the area of nutrition, exercise and a healthy lifestyle that is based on the Word of God, this is the book we would recommend. Dr. Cherry says, “As both a doctor and a Spirit-filled Christian, I wrote this book as a testimony that God heals both naturally, and supernaturally. I have seen Him combine both medical treatment and spiritual power to miraculously cure and prevent disease. Quoting Dr. Cherry, “My wife Linda and I are praying in agreement that through the pages of this book God will touch your life and impart to you your pathway to healing.” –Betty Miller

Dr. Reginald Cherry and his wife, Linda, host TBN’s popular television program, The Doctor and the Word, which is seen in millions of homes weekly. Dr. Cherry currently practices diagnostic and preventive medicine in Houston, Texas. A graduate of Baylor University and the University of Texas Medical School, Dr. Cherry formerly practiced preventive medicine with Dr. Kenneth Cooper in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Cherry and his wife attend Pastor John Osteen’s Lakewood Church in the Houston area. You may visit Dr. Cherry’s website at: www.thepathwaytohealing.com or he receives email at: drcherryproducts@owd.com

The book, The Doctor and the Word, is available in hardback priced at $14.99 in our Chapel Bookstore catalog or from your local Christian bookstore.

MINISTRY BOOKSTORE (Click here for order information)

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POETRY CORNER

DOOMSDAY
(A Ballad Portraying the Lives of Many of the Young Women of Our Day)

by Betty Miller

Another cocktail party–a meaningless night;
Now I recall those words that left me uptight.
It seems it’s always the conversation topic of the day,
“Is our world headed for doomsday?”

“Doomsday”– why should that concern me?
I’m a single girl who is footloose and fancy-free.
No worries or problems– why should I fret?
Why should anything hold over me, a threat?

A modern miss– yes, that’s me;
Cocktail parties are my “cup of tea.”
Yes, very chic and right in style,
The opposite sex, I try to beguile.

I have fancy clothes and a nice apartment to show;
With a new car, on my merry way I go.
Life has no purpose or meaning for me,
From one party to the next is my life, you see.

I was free until that night we were all gathered ’round,
And I discovered the awful truth–I was bound!
I’d heard that conversation topic before,
But this time it hit me with a deafening roar.

“Doomsday–that what we’re headed for!
No matter where you turn, there’s no exit door.”
That was Bill–he’d studied ecology
You could mark what he said, for he had a degree.

“Nature’s out of balance and it’s too late now.
If we’d started sooner–maybe somehow.
Of smog or famine, we’ll die the death.
It’s coming soon–we’ll all take our last breath!

Even now, leopards no longer stalk the jungle floor.
Where do you find them? The nearest department store!”
Then John, the silent type who never says much
(For his stability is alcohol, his crutch),

Spoke these words in an awesome tone,
“One nuclear war, and we’ll all be gone!”
Jane chimed in, “He’s right, you know.
For all we know, tomorrow we blow!”

Sue, who was out of it, just giggled and chimed,
“You’ll see your God before bedtime!”
Suddenly it hit me–what am I going to do?
Revelation came even in the foolishness of Sue.

Doomsday, doomsday, doomsday…
No, no, go away, go away!
To my host and hostess, I paid a quick farewell.
My soul, by now, was in it’s own private hell.

Hell–I hadn’t thought about that word for many years.
Flashback–my dear aunt crying tears.
When I was a young girl, she watched over me.
She took me to church every Sunday, faithfully.

Those tears, they were shed for my sake.
I wish I could remember just what she’d said.
Something about Jesus dying for me,
And a home in heaven for eternity.

Why does that come back to me tonight?
Yet, I know it’s because of my soul’s maddening fright.
Fear of death had it’s grip on me,
With tears in my eyes, I could hardly see.

At last I was home! Maybe inside that door
Security would come, and death would knock no more.
But alone, it was maddening and only grew worse
Doomsday, doomsday, was this a curse?

Where do I go? What can I do?
Is there anyone I can turn to?
Then I remembered these words,
“Have you tried prayer?”

Was this the answer?
Would God really care?
Would He hear a sinner who’d forgotten Him?
Could He overlook all of my sin?

I was desperate; afraid of death and hell,
And in my heart I knew too well,
That doomsday was my destiny
Unless God could set me free.

“Forgive me, Father,” I began to cry.
“I no longer want to live a lie!
Save my soul and come into my life.”
Immediately it happened–gone was the strife.

Doomsday–no longer do those words hold a threat over me,
When I asked Jesus into my heart, I was finally free!

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PURPOSE & VISION

THE OVERCOMING LIFE DIGEST is published for the purpose of strengthening the Body of Christ by furnishing teaching literature and a prophetic voice to the church in these last days. CHRIST UNLIMITED is helping and working with all Bible-believing Christians regardless of their church or denominational affiliations in promoting the Gospel of Jesus Christ. CHRIST UNLIMITED believes the hour is late and we must fulfill the great commission. We, as Christians, desire to cooperate with the Lord in breaking down denominational walls, for a united front line against the kingdom of darkness and setting up the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

CHRIST UNLIMITED MINISTRIES, INC. and CHRIST UNLIMITED PUBLISHING provide such tools through literature as to enable the saints of God to take the Kingdom and walk in the overcoming life as promised us in John 10:10 and Revelation 21:7.

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