Speak it to the universe!

There was a time when I went ga-ga over the teachings that came from the Word of Faith movement. Everyday that I could, I would watch Kenneth Copeland and Kenneth Hagin, by the time Creflo Dollar came, on I was still goofy over the notes I took watching the others! If I found either of them on, I would watch Jesse DuPlantis or R.W, Schambach. Dude! I was eating their teachings up!! Do you remember the Pensacola Revival!? I wanted to go there so bad. Somehow or someway things were going to get better! my wife would be healed. I would be healed. We could claim and call into existence all manner of wonderful things.  

Have you ever heard of the Happy Hunter’s Healing School? I went through that. If it was of God then we should have been able to tell by the multitudes that were healed. Many things they said did not sound right but I was willing to go along with it, expecting to see results. One night a retarded boy was brought in for prayer. I knew him. I had known him for years. Now I could see him healed! It didn’t happen. My wife attended on the last night of it for prayer. We gathered to pray for her healing. I was so excited! It didn’t happen. Also, a blessing was pronounced over the folks there. Any financial gift that was given that night would come back ten fold. At the time, we were in great need of money. With two kids in Christian School, we needed money. A lot of our income was invested in the future of our kids. Between the two of us we had $20. Ten fold back would be $200. That would be very helpful. It didn’t happen. Thank God we made it through without the $20.

There was a nagging that persisted in my mind, “Why is it that this teaching was not taught by Dr. Criswell, Billy Graham, Dr. McGee, Adrian Rogers, Dr. Willmington, Josh McDowell, Jerry Falwell, Dr. Ryrie, my dad, or any pastor that I had ever had?” But then again, why didn’t any of the faith teachers ever go through the Bible like Dr. McGee or Dr. Criswell? Why didn’t they tell folks how to get saved like Billy Graham? Why was it that they seemed to hover over only a handful of verses and avoid everything else? Why did they never teach the fear of the Lord? A  friend asked me, “If Kenneth Copeland and all of the Word of Faith bunch were teaching the truth, why do they not clear out the hospitals?” I thought, “I’ll show you, smarty!!” I decided I would go to the local hospital chapel and pray that everyone ill would be healed. However, I began asking questions that could only be answered by studying it out for myself. Word of Faith was not what I thought it was.

God allowed me to go to Bible college where I was taught that the Word of Faith teaching was wrong. It was a Fundamental Baptist school, so it had other issues that compounded the doctrinal errors I was battling by adding legalism to the mix. At the time, I didn’t know enough Bible to know what was right and why. Years went by and along came John Crowder and Sid Roth, back I went into the charismatic mess. Worse still was that I brought a daughter along with me.

I have had a book for many years that I didn’t want to read because it was right and it would show me that I was wrong. Well actually, those teachers were wrong and I was foolish for falling for their heresy. The name of the book was The Seduction of Christianity by Dave Hunt. I started to study it, plus I watched videos of Dr. James White, James Hunt, Bob George and Bob Christopher. As I began reading and studying in The Seduction of Christianity, I also began  comparing everything I heard preached and taught with what I read in the doctrinal books of of the New Testament (Romans, Galatians, Hebrews, etc.) This really helped to straighten out my doctrine.

I began praying that God would help me to find the RIGHT teachers that spoke in agreement to what I read in the Bible. He has since answered that prayer. He continues to, even now. I had been battling charismatic false teachings and legalism at the same time, but when I started listening to People to People on the radio and read the book, Classic Christianity by Bob George, I found His rest. When I can, I will get a copy of Basic Gospel by Bob Christopher. 

Now, any time I hear anything that is contradictory with what is in the doctrinal books of the New Testament, I have a reaction. My daughter is getting into C.S. Lewis and I have been getting into Spurgeon.  All of us are into the Word of God.

I suppose that you can boil it down to one question. Who’s in charge here? In what I had learned from the Word of Faith bunch, if we use our faith as a force, then we cause God to act and do as we command.  Clearly, we get a different picture as we look at Colossians 1:16-19 and Hebrews 1. 

Here are some very good supporting videos…

https://youtu.be/2X1HC-3s3uI

https://youtu.be/GxIKRewsCQQ

https://youtu.be/AKhmCMwzYtI

Yes it burns!

Yes it Burns

Once again, an MLM business proves to be a bad career choice. It is just a matter of time before it gets around that I dropped the ball again. I can already hear the sympathetic voices, “I am so glad that you came to your senses.” Please, allow me to translate that statement, “I am glad to see you failed, and I am glad you will no longer tell me about your great product and opportunity, and most of all, I am thankful that my lack of involvement was a part of your defeat.” Most people’s well wishes have always been nothing more than hidden curses.

The business idea is great until you start having to deal with people. Most folks rejoice in your failure but they usually keep it to themselves. Others just don’t care one way or another. People are a lot like sheep, but at times, they are more like cats. Sheep will follow as long as they don’t have to do anything. Cats only do what they want, when they want, with no regard for others.  When I was a kid, we had a cat that would get on top of the TV set where it was warm. That was only part of the reason for getting up there. She liked to swish her tail in front of the screen so that she could watch us get bent out of shape over it.

If you want a friend, get a dog. K-Dog loves to play but he also likes to just hang with each of us. My son’s family has a dog that is very different than K-Dog, all she wants is attention and lots of loving. When my sweat pants have dog hair from both dogs, I feel double blessed.

I learned a little more about people from this business experience.  If everyone you see is no longer of any value, unless you can use them in making money, there is something wrong. On the other hand, if you have the most simple business with a product that almost anyone can enjoy and all could benefit from, don’t count on anyone’s ability to see it. Whosoever I see, whether in person or represented online, is someone who is facing some kind of struggle. They want sympathy and not a solution. I pray for them and go on. If I try to help, that would usually make them angry with me. 

Just to show you how weird some people think, here is a true story.  There was a man who was approached with a particular MLM business opportunity. The man saw its great potential but he declined to join. Why? His reasoning was that it was so great a business that everyone would join, leaving no chance for growth. In his thinking, the market would become saturated with people in the business. Unfortunately for this man, he failed to see that businesses like Amway have been around for 50 years and not everyone has joined, but it is still thriving.