I’ve had second thoughts about the gospel

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John Zain

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Sep 16, 2010
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I’ve been having second thoughts about what Jesus’ gospel really is all about!
Jesus’ gospel means Jesus’ good news.
Jesus’ GOOD NEWS includes the fact that God is a personal God who really cares about people!
So, Jesus preached the word, performed miraculous healings, and cast demons out of people.

Jesus came to preach the gospel, to heal the sick, and to help people spiritually
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives (of Satan)

and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed …” (Luke 4:18)

Jesus evangelized with spiritual power, demonstrating God’s love and compassion for the people
“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom,
and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people … and they brought to Him
all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were
demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.” (Matthew 4:23-24)
“When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed.
And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick …” (Matthew 8:16)
“Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel
of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” (Matthew 9:35)

Jesus gave His disciples spiritual power and instructed them what to say and do
“And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits,
to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. … These twelve Jesus sent out
and commanded them, saying: ‘… And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons.” (Matthew 10:1-8)
“Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons,
and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. … So they
departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.” (Luke 9:1-6)
“After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them out two by two …
And heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ’ …
Then the 70 returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.’ ” (Luke 10:1-17)

Jesus’ told His disciples what to do after His ascension
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized
will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those
who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them;
they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” … And they went out and preached everywhere,
the Lord confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.”(Mark 16:15-20)

After Jesus’ ascension, the apostles continued preaching with signs and wonders
“And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people.
… And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women …
Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people
and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.” (Acts 5:12-16)
“And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.” (Acts 6:8)
“Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes
with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many
who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city.” (Acts 8:5-8)

How Paul evangelized
“And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom,
but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)
“… in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from
Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.” (Romans 15:19)

The New Testament
Everything was recorded and written down for our knowledge and use.
We know what the apostles said and did, and we have exactly the same information they had.
Their preaching and performing miracles always went hand in hand.


What’s the difference between then and now?
Then … Multitudes of lost people needed to be evangelized, and they didn't have Bibles.
Now … Multitudes of lost people need to be evangelized, and they don't have Bibles.
… People need to be evangelized in exactly the same way as was done 2000 years ago.
… The same gospel message needs to also be confirmed by signs, wonders, and miracles.


One major difference
Satan has had many hundreds of years to deceive the church into believing
that the spiritual power gifts are not for today.
You know who Satan is … “the god of this world”, “the ruler of this world”,
the greatest liar and deceiver in the history of this world.


The time is short
the church needs to get the revelation about what is necessary to evangelize the lost!
 

Episkopos

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May 17, 2011
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Shouldn't something be actually experienced before "taking it out on the road"? Most evangelism should be done without words...by showing tan example of a new life in Christ lived out in the community of the saints.
 

brodav9

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Dec 26, 2011
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Without the baptism of the Holy Spirit, A person cannot do the works of Jesus. Only will they be able to tell them what they heard about him.

We may live a life of righteousness, but the bible says that by the foolishness of preaching shall many be saved.

If you read the book of Acts you will see that Paul trained for 3 years in order to preach the gospel. When I first got saved and shared Jesus to people I was bombarded with many questions I couldn't ask about the bible. If you don't know a good foundation of Theology and doctrine, you will look at what they call a novice. 1Tim. 3:6.

A fireman doesn't go out without prep. He learns to use axe, fire hose, extinguisher, helmit and coat, ladder. Why should we think that it's all about talking. A drug addict must be free to set others free.

If we preach the gospel as a means of power and not love we will have to answer to Jesus. He says in Matt. 7: that they were doing many good works but were living in iniquity, and he tells them to depart from him.

I love to share Jesus with the right motives. To help others. Not to get attention to myself. He gets all the glory.

We must make sure we are not pumped up in a revival which is designed to bring money to a preacher who has us excited about doing the Pentecostal power gifts which they cannot do themselves.

We have to make sure the gifts are the Holy Spirit working in us and not a deceiving spirit.

Ben Hinn who works powers preaches a 9-fold trinity which no one heard of before till he made it up.
there are only one person if you have God only. He may have 3 personalities---father , son, Holy Spirit. We must prepare first to be good stewards of a gospel we are responsible for. Gal. 1:7
 

Foreigner

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Apr 14, 2010
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Hi Episkopos,

Pentecost took the disciples outside to the multitude immediately.

Exactly.
Episkopos, "Most evangelism should be done without words..." only works to a certain point.
Yes, you can love and give to charity, etc. but if those watching you have a misconception as to what you believe, then the silence does more harm than good.

Also, Atheists also have the ability to love, give to charity, visit the sick and imprisoned, feed the poor, etc. etc. etc. so actions alone do not get the message across that you are different because you have Jesus in you.
 

neophyte

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Apr 25, 2012
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Exactly.
Episkopos, "Most evangelism should be done without words..." only works to a certain point.
Yes, you can love and give to charity, etc. but if those watching you have a misconception as to what you believe, then the silence does more harm than good.

Also, Atheists also have the ability to love, give to charity, visit the sick and imprisoned, feed the poor, etc. etc. etc. so actions alone do not get the message across that you are different because you have Jesus in you.

Don't forget "good works' or Jesus will remind you on Judgment Day { Matt.25: 31-46 ]
 

aspen

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Apr 25, 2012
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Exactly.
Episkopos, "Most evangelism should be done without words..." only works to a certain point.
Yes, you can love and give to charity, etc. but if those watching you have a misconception as to what you believe, then the silence does more harm than good.

Also, Atheists also have the ability to love, give to charity, visit the sick and imprisoned, feed the poor, etc. etc. etc. so actions alone do not get the message across that you are different because you have Jesus in you.

What?!?!?!?

Without words?

What about those who are headed for Hell? Don't you care?
 

Foreigner

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Apr 14, 2010
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Aspen,
I assume you were trying to make another childish joke.
Sorry, I couldn't dumb down far enough for it.
Care to try again?
 

John Zain

Newbie trainee
Sep 16, 2010
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If the gifts have ceased ...
then a Scripture like this one has no relevance for the believer
(other than the believer in the first century or so):

Matthew 7:
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;

but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, 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?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

If there are no more working of miracles, who are these poor folks Jesus is referring to.
Is the Word of God only relevant to the first century or is it everlasting?
Why would Jesus warn about the "gifts" being useless without "fruit" if there are no more gifts?
Is it fair that only the first century "fake" saints miss Christ "in that day"?

And another example would be:
Matthew 24:
23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders;
insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Unless one is a preterist and believes this prophecy was fulfilled in the first century (70AD),
you would have to conclude that before His Second Coming there will be false christs that will exhibit
great miracles. How is it possible for the elect to be even close to being fooled by them?
If you do not believe in miracles, signs, wonders its not possible to be fooled when you see them occur,
they would have to be obviously from the devil since God stopped doing them in the first century.
Simply put, there has to be "real" prophets and "real" miracles occurring to be fooled by "false" prophets
and "lying" wonders. No one counterfeits a $3 dollar bill, they only counterfeit a real bill.
Similarly, in order for the devil to fool anyone, there must be a real thing.
If there are no real miracles, prophets, etc. there cannot be false ones in existence.
 

dragonfly

Well-Known Member
Apr 19, 2012
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Hi John,

Either I'm having trouble understanding your reasoning, or, I don't agree with you... :)

Matthew 24:
23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders;
insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Unless one is a preterist and believes this prophecy was fulfilled in the first century (70AD),
you would have to conclude that before His Second Coming there will be false christs that will exhibit
great miracles. How is it possible for the elect to be even close to being fooled by them?
If you do not believe in miracles, signs, wonders its not possible to be fooled when you see them occur,
they would have to be obviously from the devil since God stopped doing them in the first century.
Simply put, there has to be "real" prophets and "real" miracles occurring to be fooled by "false" prophets
and "lying" wonders. No one counterfeits a $3 dollar bill, they only counterfeit a real bill.
Similarly, in order for the devil to fool anyone, there must be a real thing.
If there are no real miracles, prophets, etc. there cannot be false ones in existence.

Are you saying that false miracles, signs and wonders must be accompanied by true ones so we can tell the difference?
 

dragonfly

Well-Known Member
Apr 19, 2012
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Hi John,

Thanks for the answer. Do you think, then, that Jesus was over-anxious when He warned the elect about deception?
 

John Zain

Newbie trainee
Sep 16, 2010
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San Diego, CA
Hi John,
Thanks for the answer. Do you think, then, that Jesus was over-anxious when He warned the elect about deception?

WOW ... please DF ... I dunno ... God's prophets have always warned His people about lots of things.
Over-anxious? ... no, just knowing what lay ahead.
 

dragonfly

Well-Known Member
Apr 19, 2012
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Hello again, John,

I'm still thinking about this that you said, and wondering how realistic it is.

For the elect to be deceived by Satan's s/w/m,
they would have to believe that genuine s/w/m from God had been going on up to that time.

The reason I say realistic is, that many denominations don't see the gifts of the Spirit working. Amongst those who do see them, it is hoped that they would be able to tell the difference. I'm reminded of this scene from Exodus 7:10 And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. 11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. 12 For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.

If people have never seen a miracle, how will they be able to discern it from a lie? Jesus was speaking to men who had performed miracles, and He warned them that they were in danger of being deceived. Personally, I think we need to believe Him.
 

Kidron

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Jun 27, 2012
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Shouldn't something be actually experienced before "taking it out on the road"? Most evangelism should be done without words...by showing tan example of a new life in Christ lived out in the community of the saints.


Well, this is nonsense.....^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Now, a person cant be saved unless they HEAR the gospel, (faith cometh by HEARING and HEARING BY THE WORD"... and the job of "evangelism" is to verbally share the gospel.
The only exception to this is if you are deaf, and in this case someone can "sign it" for you, or you can read it.

Go and read the definition of "evangelism" "evangelist".



K