There has been a shift over the last several days.

When there is a rise in persecution and accusation, it usually is a pretty big indication that you have been ‘promoted’ in the spiritual sense.  Well, we’ve started seeing a bit more of that…a lot more blatant attacks recently that have forced us to examine our hearts and allow the Lord to remove any offenses, bitterness, and resentment from us.

Seeing as just recently was one of the first times that there was a very lengthy, very accusatory article written that was all written in the name of ‘concern for my Scriptural errors’, and as I have never really had to deal with something like this before, I did not quite react the way that I probably should have.  Granted, Jesus did call the Pharisees and many of His accusers ’sons of the devil’ to their face and in public…but I’ll write on that topic another day.

“And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the scum of the earth until now.” -1 Cor. 4:12-13

There’s this thing about blessing those who curse you…

“If it is possible, as far as is in you, being in peace with all men, not avenging yourselves, beloved, but giving place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”  Therefore if your enemy hungers, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink.  For in so doing you shall heap coals of fire on his head.” – Romans 12:18-20

There is something to be said of obeying the simple commands of Christ.  If you follow in His footsteps, surrendering your will in order to fulfill His, people will hate you and the enemy will send those to accuse you falsely and God will lift you up and exalt you over your enemies if you do not lift yourself up.

As believers, if we choose to defend ourselves in the midst of the accusations, we have set ourselves up for failure.  We all have been guilty of this.  It is a natural reaction to want to speak out and lash back at those who come against what we believe and who we are…and by reacting out of anger instead of responding in love and humility, we lower ourselves to the level of the accuser and God will not vindicate us if we partner with the accuser.

I want to share a testimony with you.  A few days after all of this stuff happened with this article being released that essentially accused us of being deceived members of a cult group who have no understanding of God or His ways, I had a very amazing encounter.

God is good.

I was standing at the ATM at the Bank of America in Redding.  A young lady behind me asked me a simple question, and almost immediately I felt like the Lord said one word: “wrist”.

I figured I didn’t have anything to lose, so I just asked, “Do you happen to have any trouble with your wrist?”

She looked at me a bit strangely and said that she didn’t…and right as I was about to say “Nevermind,” she told me, “But my dad does though…how did you know that?”

I asked if she would be able to get her father on the phone…that I could help her dad with that problem and that it would go away.  Her interest was piqued and she inquired as to how I would go about doing that.

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Just a side note here…one thing I have learned is that almost every single person has a different grid of what ‘prayer’ should and will look like.  Unless I’m in a church service, I’ve decided that unless I feel the Lord direct otherwise, that I won’t say things like, “Oh, well let me pray for you”…simply because so many people have been burned by bad examples of prayer or the only idea they have of it is from some religious bad doctrine that they were force-fed as a child.
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Anyway, I told her, “You probably wouldn’t believe me even if I told you..just call him.”  Surprisingly, she nodded and started looking through her phone.  As she stood there texting her father, I asked if she had any physical problems in her body.  She looked at me and nodded.

“Well, my back is all f—ed up…has been for a long time.  I also have had a heart condition since I was born and I’m not able to run or breathe well because of it…and I have a brain tumor, but other than that, I’m good!”

I was pretty taken aback, to say the least.  I was expecting maybe some back pain and a headache…but dang!  I tried to keep my composure and confidence in spite of what the devil was trying to scream at me–”This is impossible! Stop now, you’re going to make a fool of yourself!”

I then said, “That’s alright…we can take care of that too!” and had her step over to the side of the bank building.  I pointed to the sidewalk near the wall and said, “Here, have a seat..this will only take a few seconds.”

She looked at me strangely again and said, “I’m trusting you here…I don’t want to look like a fruitcake.”  I reassured her again that all was well, and then showed her as she sat down that one of her legs was about half an inch shorter than the other.  She was understandably freaked out once she saw this…most people don’t know it’s even possible.  It’s actually in most cases an issue of the hips being out of alignment.

I made sure that she had seen the initial state of things and told her not to blink.  I said something to the effect of, “You probably grew up in the church and then left after you grew older because it was boring and powerless, right?”  She said that was the case and that her grandmother went to a church out here that she thought was more of a cult.  I laughed and said, “Does she go to Bethel?” to which she responded, “Yeah how did you know?” I laughed again and told her, “Because I go there too…now watch this.”

I commanded her leg to grow out and match the length of the other in the name of Jesus.  It did.

Commence freakout.

She stood up and her back was no longer in pain and she said over and over things like, “Oh my God I felt that..I STILL feel it…what did you do to me?  Who are you?  This is crazy….”

This quickly opened up the door for me to be able to pray for her heart condition to leave.  She described a burning sensation in her chest and then I asked how she would know if she was healed.  She said she wouldn’t be able to lay down on her back and breathe normally.  I had her lay down right there on the sidewalk and watched with joy as her eyes bugged out and she realized her breathing was normal.

Increase freakout.

I said, “So you’ve not been able to run since you were a little girl, eh?  Run.”  She said that it was impossible and that she would not be able to…to which I responded, “Yeah, and you just told me you wouldn’t have been able to breathe laying on your back and you just did.  Come on, let’s run…I’ll run with you.”  And I started running.

I didn’t even give her the option to say no.

She quickly followed and was even more amazed as we ran the entire length of the bank and back and as we were running she said, “This is impossible!  I’m a smoker too, I shouldn’t be able to do this anyway without the heart problem!”

Freakout level reaching boiling point.

Then I prayed over the area of her brain where the tumor was.  I COMMANDED the tumor to leave her body in the name of Jesus.   She described feeling a kind of electricity/heat/pulsating feeling and I felt released to stop praying at that point.  Her eyes were widened and she kept repeating how crazy this all was and asking how I did what I did.  I told her Jesus just healed her.

She said, “You don’t understand…I’m the farthest thing from a believer that there is!”

“I guess Jesus just made you a believer, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess so!  I have open heart surgery scheduled for a few months from now!”

“And how do you feel now?” I asked.

“…completely normal,” she replied, clearly astonished.

I think it was here that I jumped up and down a few times thanking God for how amazing He is.

I exchanged contact information with her and will be contacting her soon.

God is good.

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The love and power of God are irresistible, unmistakable, and unstoppable.

I command the problems to leave because of the authority that Jesus has invested in us through the Atonement.  I did not ask God to heal her because I KNOW it is His will to heal.  I don’t need His permission to do something that He already commanded us all to do (Matthew 10:8).

If you think otherwise, you are deceived.

And for those of you who insist that it is arrogant to think we can command God, I agree with you.  Nowhere do I say or practice “commanding God”.  I command the devil and his demons because of Christ in me, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27)…and greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4)…and because the God of peace crushes satan under MY feet (Romans 16:20).

Don’t waste your time sending me 15-page e-mails quoting Scripture at me about why I’m wrong and you’re right; I won’t respond to them.  Feel free to write more blog posts, books, magazine articles, or whatever about how much of a heretic I am.  I chalk it up as a badge of honor.  I will keep praying for and blessing you and your families, and I will keep healing the sick and casting out demons in the name of Jesus until the day that I pass from this life to the next (Luke 13:32).

For the rest of you who are hungry to see these kinds of things happening in your lives:

Give no place to doubt.  Give no place to fear.  Give no place to unbelief when God is at work.  Obviously wisdom is important…but if things are happening, PRESS IN, GO HARD, or GO HOME.

People can call you a heretic or a cult member all that they want; this stuff works and God backs up His Word and those willing to step out in faith and boldness with His power.

Jesus never taught on healing.  We have been brought up using the Word to verify and validate healing.  But Jesus never taught healing…He used healing to verify and validate what He taught.

It’s time to stop trying to explain things away or argue our theological points to death.  People are hurting and dying and it is our responsbility to demonstrate the goodness and the power of this Gospel that we have been entrusted with.

It’s time we all stop trying to convince other Christians that what we are doing is from God.  The fruit will speak for itself.  You don’t know a tree is an apple tree until you see apples on it.

Jesus said that we would know the true and the false by their fruit.

Hear me very clearly: If you are being persecuted for believing in and pursuing the power of God in your church, LEAVE.  NOW.

Stop wasting your time and theirs.  God is a God of order and if the leadership is not on board, then you are in rebellion and that is witchcraft.

Let the dead bury their own dead.  They are blind guides.  If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.

Let God destroy every box and idea that you have about what He wants to do in this earth today.

I just told you of an amazing thing that happened simply because I was willing to simply obey God and believe that He is who He said He is and that I am who He says I am.

How many of these opportunities are surrounding you every single day?

If a stranger talks to you today, think of it as an invitation for God to blow their minds, change their hearts, and transform their lives.

Step out, believe God, and stop playing these nice, pathetic Sunday church games.  If you’re only living like you are following Jesus one day a week, you’re probably not a Christian at all.

The supernatural Christian life is a full-contact sport and it’s time to stop pretending it’s touch football.