Powerless People in Powerless Churches – Where’s the Combat Prayer and the Faith?

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” -Acts 4:13 (KJV)

When we read the Book of Acts we discover a whole different church than we have in our culture today. In the first churches we read about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and how that manifested itself – in tongues of fire. In the early churches we have people being healed from their infirmities. We find men of God preaching and teaching with boldness and power. Men taught with the authority of the word of God casting out demons, raising the dead. Some of the Apostles were imprisoned and through their faith even in their chains others came to the knowledge of Christ. God’s hand was moving and it was clearly evident as the men of God preached the truth of the full council of His word. Sin was addressed and confronted. The Apostles were zealous and fired-up and lives were changed around them. Yes they suffered but that was a part of their calling and in their obedience to Almighty God. Could we even do this today?

“But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention.” – 1 Th 2:2 (KJV)

Today, in Christianity around the world, we have powerless people sitting in powerless churches. People that come to church to get their weekly scorecard punched and get a warm fuzzy for their attendance. The majority of churches are in name only – they have a religion but not a relationship with Jesus Christ. We are missing a distinct oneness with the Lord in worship; in knowledge of Him and in the fear of the Lord. Most Christians have one foot in the world and the other in a religion. Most rationalize God’s truth with their own wisdom.

Pitiful at Least

I have attended many churches that have little knowledge of the Lord but a lot of programs, skits, dances, [rock] music, and “entertainment”; one being discipleship or the promoting of a ‘transformational’ church. Lots of fancy names, concepts, titles, words, pretty charts but what’s missing is a real substantial relationship with Christ. Sin is rarely mentioned, repentance almost an extinct term, and enthusiastic invitations for salvation maybe once a year. How pathetic! Let’s recall how Jesus confronted people during His ministry:

  • Samaritan woman – Jn 4:15-19;
  • Woman caught in adultery – Jn 8:1-11 ;
  • Moneychangers in the Temple – Matt 21:12;
  • Rich young ruler – Mar 10:17-27.

 

All done in ultimate love, grace, mercy, and truth, and yet He didn’t go after becoming their trusted friend first or invite them to next Wed night’s Bible Study, small group, or service. He ministered directly to their soul first, right then and there – and this should be our primary concern for the lost now. So who thinks about this and does this in today’s Christendom?

Churches Have Lost Their Way

And this is the course many Christian churches have charted. They get wrapped up in the wisdom, purposes, and traditions of men and forget the basic purpose of the church. And what is that, you may ask? It’s a love and devotion to Jesus our Lord and Savior. It’s living a holy life before the Lord. It’s reading and studying His word – for that’s how we learn and know Him. It’s telling others about Him, proclaiming the Gospel to all men. And it’s about sincere repentance of one’s sins – this is a must, an absolute to any church calling themselves “followers of Christ”.

Scrap the rock music, get rid of the drama, lose the “prettyness” of the service, throw out the traditional agenda … come on, we come to worship the Lord!

Many denominations of men practice rituals that define them and their church but they’re missing the real presence of God in their midst. When you rarely hear or see people being saved or healed or delivered or prayed over, then the church takes on the identity of a social club and not a House of Worship of the Living God.

“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.” -Mark 16:15-16 (KJV)

I don’t mean to belittle anyone but I do mean to be a watchman on the wall and warn our churches that they have become defenseless, broken down bastions misrepresenting the Living God. I don’t mean to think myself better than anyone but I do mean to say that as you immerse yourself in God’s word you will find out just exactly who He is and what He thinks about sin and repentance, rejection and rebellion and the profaning of His name. And the defiling of His Temple within each Christian – 1 Cor 6:9. You will come to know what He thinks about Godlessness and idolatry which are prevalent in our nation and our Christian churches. Here should be our clarion call for all pastors, elders and leaders in our churches:

“But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;  But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” – 1 Cor 2:22-23 (KJV)

Here in America we have churches that our powerless and lack the authority of the living God.Yes, we have gutless pastors and elders who don’t lead others to Christ for fear of offending them with the real truth of the Gospel.  Franklin Graham said in a speech given at the Family Research Council’s Watchmen on the Wall conference on May 22. 2014. Yes it’s an old speech but oh so relevant for today’s Christians and churches:

God hates cowards. And the cowards that the Lord is referring to are the men and women who know the truth but refuse to speak it.”

 

You see many Christian church leaders fail to take a stand against the controversial and unBiblical issues that plague our society today – abortion, homosexuality, gay marriage, sexuality impurity, etc. And in a column published in the July-August edition of Decision Magazine (pg 4) Franklin Graham writes,

“Christians cannot ignore parts of God’s Word because they are unpopular or cause division. Our commission is to proclaim Christ and all He stands for.”

 

And this is exactly what is happening behind the doors of our churches. No involvement in the affairs of men! Graham goes on to say,

“We are soldiers in God’s army, and we cannot stand down on biblical issues out of fear of being labeled a homophobe or judge.”  (Read more on Mr Graham’s comments)

 

We even have pastors that fail to pray for our nation and Israel and the turmoil that the rest of our world is in right now. How sad!

Conclusion

So the bottom line – we have many, many Christians that don’t know where they stand in the Lord. Few fear the Lord or tremble at His word – Psa 119:120; Isa 66:2. They have been caught up in Western Christianity which softens God’s word into warm and cuddly concepts, slogans, entertainment, and words. Most don’t know about the spiritual warfare going on around them and don’t know how to combat it through our power and authority in Christ. Read Eph 6.

As these last days get darker and darker (make no mistake – they will) the spiritual attacks will grow more intense and fierce and according to Bible Prophecy many will fall away from the faith – 1 Tim 4:1. Christians that are not taught how to be warriors in Christ and wield the sword of the word of God will be crushed and defeated. Most Christian churches today are clueless on how to train people to be spiritual warriors; how to put on the full armor of God – Eph 6 and fight back at Satan’s army with the word of God! People who don’t pray today will grow weaker and any spiritual armor they did have will melt like wax. Folks, the church must speak with the power and authority of the living God; we must know how to kick the Devil in the teeth and make him to flee (pound sand or take a hike) through the effective use of God’s word -James 4:7. In these last days, we must have people and churches on fire for the Lord and ready to proclaim His word boldly to all men at any time.

-BPWatcher, Internet Preacher, and Bible Prophecy Watchman

“For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3- heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4- treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” – 2 Tim 3:2-5 (ESV)

GIVE ALMIGHTY GOD ALL THE GLORY FOR HE IS KING and HE IS LORD!

PJA-Red1

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Bold, Persistent Faith Can Move God’s Hand in Your Time of Need

Be Bold, Be Persistant, Don’t Give Up and Stay the Course!

“What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15- If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16- and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17- Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18- But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19- You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! ” -James 1:14-19 (NKJV)

We have some awesome examples of faith in the Bible, today I will present just two. These should rock your faith (and mine) to be resemble them at all times. Mere belief in God is only half the answer – see Scripture above. 

Jesus says in His word that our faith must have works. Now He’s not talking about salvation by works for salvation is a free gift, He is talking about our faith once we are saved and walking in that salvation. Did you read what James wrote above, the demons believe in God and tremble so faith by itself is missing the action found in putting feet to your faith.

Let me explain this with Scripture. Turn to Matt 15 and take a few moments to read it. “And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.”” -Matt 15:22 (NASB). We read further that she persisted in her asking in faith until He seeing her bold, persistent faith, granted her request saying she had “great faith”. He was reluctant at first be she continued to follow and ask Him and I’m sure she believed He could heal her daughter. And the most intriguing thing here is she wasn’t even a Jew but a Gentile. Kinda reminds me of the Centurion’s great faith in Matt 8. Now what does this account tell of her faith? Did she put her faith into action? Did she get results even though she had to follow Jesus around for who knows how long?

Are you getting what I’m trying to relate here? Just faith in a solitude belief form only does not make it. We must put action into the equation as well. i.e. remember the thief on the cross in the moments before he died? He believed and confessed his belief – that’s an example of action – he spoke it and believed it!

Ok, now for the second example of faith that results in action or moving God’s hand in your direction.

Turn to Luke 8:45-48 (NLT).

“Who touched me?” Jesus asked.

Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.”

46- But Jesus said, “Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.” 47- When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed. 48- “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

Now His disciples were telling Him you’re in a crowd and lot’s of people are touching you. What’s up? But examine His reply …. (truly awesome!). He knew someone with faith touched Him. In a throng of folks bumping Him, pressed against Him, He took notice of just one person that believed enough that His healing touched her. Truly amazing! Someone who knew beyond a shadow of doubt He could heal them and meet their need right where they were. Her belief was realized in her faith which manifested in action and then tremendous humility. Who does this today? Who is like this today? Who believes like this? Who would be recognized like this, in a crowd of people  touching Jesus garments, by the Son of the Living God? Who?

Our faith is most of the time is lazy and just waits for someone to ring the doorbell with the requested answer. Nope! In most cases this will not happen. Many times our prayers are based on our needs to justify our pride or for our greed. Wrong song here friends! Can we not be bold and persistent in our sincere and real faith and take the action from touching His garment to speaking it to continually asking and believing until He answers? Don’t give up after a certain period of time. Stay the course until He answers you for however long it takes (1 John 5:14-15). But continue to show the Lord that you believe and have God-moving faith. This is what Jesus desires of us in our faith with works of action. 

If you’ve been praying for God’s hand to move in your situation and it hasn’t so far then KEEP PRAYING! Keep believing, speak your faith out loud, anoint your need in action faith. Be bold in asking as the Canaanite woman above. Don’t give up until He turns your way, recognizes your faith and provides the answer. Too many of Western Christians are soft, weak and sickly in this area, hence, their prayers remain unanswered for their lack of action-based faith. Walk in your faith, believing and speaking it. Don’t give up for the enemy of your soul would then get the victory. Stand firm in the power and the might of the Lord! Put “feet” to your faith.

Be bold, and be persistent to move God’s hand in your life. Read His word, seek His face. Pray without ceasing! And never give up.

Amen.

 ““Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.” -Luke 8:48 (NLT)

 

-BPWatcher, Internet Preacher and Bible Prophecy Watchman

“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?” -2 Peter 3:11-12

GLORY TO GOD!

PJA-Red1

 

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What In The World Has Happened To Our Society?

Editor’s Note: Holy Scripture tells us what the signs will look like in the end days. But are you looking, listening and seeing?

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2- For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3- Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4- Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5- Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away..”

-2 Tim 3:1-5 (KJV)

——————————–

What In The World Has Happened To Our Society?

By Michael Snyder – March 2023

Things weren’t always this horrible.  Once upon a time, America’s shiny new cities were the envy of the entire world.  Our citizens dressed sharply, they treated one another with respect, and they worked incredibly hard.  But now our country is teeming with extremely slothful degenerates that want everything handed to them on a silver platter.  Rampant greed is everywhere that you look, crime is completely out of control, we are facing the worst drug crisis in the entire history of our nation, millions of our fellow citizens are absolutely seething with hatred for one another, and those that attempt to stand up for what is right are considered to be the problem.  We should be deeply grieved by what has happened to our society, because it truly is a great tragedy.

Let me give you an example of what I am talking about.  On Wednesday, Matt Walsh published an excerpt from a letter that an infantryman sent to his family during the Civil War…

 

Can you write like that?

I certainly can’t.

Those of us in this generation like to think of ourselves as the pinnacle of human history, but the truth is that we can’t even compare to those that have come before us.

Let me give you another example.  More than a century ago, the streets of New York City were filled with extremely civilized people that dressed incredibly well when it was time to go out into the public arena…

 

But now New York City is a crime-ridden, drug-infested hellhole.

 

At this point, drug overdoses account for 80 to 85 percent of all accidental deaths in the Big Apple…

 

Is this “progress”?

I don’t think so.

In Portland, conditions have gotten so bad that more than 2,600 businesses have left the downtown area over the past few years…

Business owners are fleeing Portland in droves amid a pronounced rise in crime and homelessness, officials in the Democratic stronghold have revealed.

Public data shows that since the pandemic, more than 2,600 downtown businesses have filed changes of address with the U.S. Postal Service to leave their downtown ZIP codes.

Several big-name employers, from Unitus Community Credit Union to Umpqua Bank, have been among the mass exodus, carried out by owners who have taken issue with the rising crime levels and homelessness – and the city’s failure to address it.

Apparently officials want even more businesses to leave, because now a bill that would give homeless individuals $1,000 a month “in no-strings-attached cash” is being seriously considered…

Oregon is considering giving its vast homeless and low-income population $1,000 in no-strings-attached cash.

The bill was proposed last month by woke State Senator Wlnsvey Campos – who was among those calling to abolish the police in the summer of 2020 when the city of Portland was besieged by protesters – and Rep. Khanh Pham.

If they actually do this, most of that money will go straight to the drug dealers.

Down in San Francisco, drug addicts are fueling a crime spree that is worse than anything that the city has ever experienced.

When one woman recently went into the city for a yoga class, she was told that the building “had been broken into six times in two months”

Yesterday I went to a yoga class in San Francisco for the first time in years.

They had the front door locked (had to be buzzed in), a sign on it that said “no cash on premises,” and the woman at the front desk said they had been broken into six times in two months.

Over in Los Angeles, violent crime has become such a problem that extremely expensive “executive protection dogs” have become a very hot commodity

The elite animals — typically German shepherds, Belgian Malinois, Dobermans, cane corsos or a mix of those breeds — are marketed under names such as “personal canine bodyguards” and “executive protection dogs.” Amid a spate of high-profile crimes in upscale parts of Los Angeles, they have become highly sought after among the rich, many of whom worry about being targeted.

Protection dogs, they say, provide an immediate layer of front-line defense, unlike security cameras (which merely show an intruder on the property, and only if the devices happen to be pointed in the right direction) and home alarm systems (which can be bypassed or ignored). Even if police are summoned, they can be slow to respond, if at all. So homeowners who can afford it are being more proactive.

This is the world that we live in now.

But most Americans don’t seem to care.

We are literally living in an “idiocracy” in which people are dropping dead all around us, but most Americans are so far gone that they can’t even understand what is happening.

Of course it isn’t just the United States that is facing such problems.

Up in Canada, crime rates are absolutely exploding thanks to the reckless policies of the Trudeau regime…

The Toronto Police Service data portal shows that Toronto experienced a 17.2 per cent spike in overall major crimes in 2022, including a 9.8 per cent increase in assaults, a 44.2 per cent spike in auto thefts, 6.5 per cent growth in break and enters, a 28.5 per cent jump in robbery, an 11.3 per cent increase in sexual violence, and a 35.8 per cent gain in theft over cases.

And in many areas of South America crime has risen to levels that we have never seen before

Countries across Latin America and the Caribbean continued to experience high murder rates in 2022, as cocaine production reached new heights, the fragmentation of gangs continued, and the flow of weapons across the region grew more acute.

For Ecuador, the situation was downright catastrophic. Historic amounts of cocaine entering the country fueled violence, with murders skyrocketing as gangs targeted judicial officials and killed police officers at record rates.

That cocaine came largely from Colombia, where recently inaugurated President Gustavo Petro has promised to shift away from the war on drugs in favor of efforts to achieve a “Total Peace” with the country’s rebel and criminal groups.

Our entire world is deeply sick.

We have turned our backs on what is good, and we continue to run after evil as rapidly as we can.

As a result, our society is a complete and total mess.

We truly are living during one of the most critical times in all of human history, and we desperately need to change course.

Unfortunately, most people seem to think that everything is just fine, and so they see no need for a new direction.

 

 (READ MORE…)

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “End Times” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written six other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”“Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”“The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends.  Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse BlogEnd Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

————— { END OF MICHAEL’S ARTICLE EXCERPT } —————–

Fear God and Flee from Evil!

-BPWatcher, Internet Preacher and Bible Prophecy Watchman

PJA6

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem – Psa 122:6 (KJV)

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