Azusa Street

The year was 1906 on a street called Azusa, located in Los Angeles, California.  It was the birth of the pentecostal movement.  What very few people know is that a twelve year old girl in that first meeting stood up and spoke in tongues.  Thus the Pentecostal movement began.  I'm not going to even think of tackling the subject of "tongues", but I wanted to write about this because like me, maybe there are lots of people who did not know it's beginning.  This movement revolves around this little girl who spoke in tongues!

Did the Church dwell on tongues and the like before 1906?  

Some believe "speaking in tongues" and "holy jumping" have occurred for hundreds, even thousands, of years. Founded in 1747 in England the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing practiced “singing and dancing, shaking and shouting, speaking with new tongues and prophesying" — some migrated to the United States in 1774 where they met similar faiths. Charismatic religions existed in Europe nearly a century before Prygunyreported their outpouring of the Holy Spirit in 1833 in Novorossiya (South Ukraine). Holiness jumping was reported in Los Angeles in April 1904, months before the Pryguny began to arrive in numbers in January 1905. How and whether these diverse faiths around the world are connected is continually researched and discussed by scholars.

You be the judge.

Glow Worm

What if we, as Christians, turned green every time we told a lie?  That's a thought I heard from a sermon a few years ago and I thought it was funny.  Got to thinking though, we would really be on our guard if that did happen!  God says in His Word that we should guard our hearts (Proverbs 4:23).

Had a friend who once told me that someone who tells a lie will always try to prove it out to be the truth.  It's easy to convince man, but not the Lord because He sees our hearts. How is it that telling a lie is so harmful if it saves the feelings of someone?  We can always justify our lies with one thing or another, but God is keeping the records.  Guarding our hearts against evil is not as easy as we think.  Life gets caught up in this thing.  Situations that puts us between a rock and a hard place.  

So, how do we guard our hearts?  When we are tempted to lie, tell the truth even if it hurts.  Oh, come on!  My job depends on this lie, my marriage depends on it, my Church depends on it etc.  Now, it is not so easy is it?  It is very hard to tell the truth because we have learned from childhood to look out for number one.  We have learned how to "escape" anything that would harm us if we told the truth.  It takes hard work to "Guard our hearts". 

Now, don't you wish we could just turn green?  

A Gay Man

I loved him so much!  My brother, James, turned to homosexuality when he was twenty-six years old.  Before that he was deeply in love with a woman who chose someone else. He "chose" to turn.  He was so handsome, he could have been a movie star!  He lived in Kansas City, Mo and attended a Gay Church.  I witnessed to him every chance God gave me, but to no avail.

When I found out that he was dying of AIDS at the age of forty-nine my heart was broken. I called him immediately.  He told me not to preach to him.  He died two weeks later in his living room surrounded by his gay men friends.  God gave me grace over his death.

He is in eternity today and it is "forever".  When I think about being separated from God FOREVER I cannot bear the thought!  Eternity never ends!  I thank the Lord for going to the Cross to save those who would come to HIm.  My name is written in the Lamb's book of life and the struggles here cannot compare with the glory to come in heaven!  Just sharing my personal thoughts today.

I have decided!

My daughter said to me the other day, "Some people have a relationship with God and then there are those who have a relationship with Religion".  It was such a deep statement that I had to write something about it.  I'm on the internet a lot and sometimes I meet people who have never been born again.  I have some very precious friends online that are real in their lives about the Lord and I thank God for each one.  

How can we know if someone is really born again or not?  There have been tons of books written on the subject, so who am I to write one more thing about it?  For me it is the test of time and watching their lives that reveals the truth.  We are commanded in the Word to test "every" spirit to see whether or not they are of God. (I John 4:1).  Lay hands on no man suddenly (I Timothy 5:22).  Christians are not perfect, but the striving to be obedient to God must be there.

Only God knows the heart of a person, but testing the spirit is so important to the Body of Christ.  I have decided that if God has instructed us to do it, then we must and for those who belong to the Lord it would behoove us to examine even ourselves to see if we be in the faith. (2 Corinthians 13:5).  That's how essential it is to "test" every spirit!