F4F | John Lindell and the Pseudo Supernatural Life

Fighting for the Faith

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Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith. My name is Chris Roseborough. I am your servant in Jesus Christ.

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This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God.

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All right, so in the charismatic and NAR churches, yes, the New Apostolic Reformation is a thing, we're going to be heading to James River Church today.

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In these churches, their claim is, is that we as Christians must, we're obligated to live and perform and breathe and do supernatural miraculous signs and wonders and thingies and stuff.

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But is that really what the Bible teaches? We're going to be listening to Pastor John Lindell from James River Church as he twists up scripture.

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In fact, we're going to have to unwind a lot of his bad teaching in this episode of Fighting for the

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Faith. But all of this is to make the claim that we need to operate in signs and wonders and further to make another claim that they there at James River Church, they are operating in signs and wonders.

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But are they? Are they really? Because there's really good evidence to show that they're not operating in the signs and wonders that they claim that they're operating in.

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And they claim that we're obligated as Christians to be walking in. And so, this is going to be like a masterclass on how to unwind completely twisted scripture, how to straighten it back out.

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And man, holy smokes, what John does to the Bible here is horrifying.

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And we'll explain along the way. And then at the very end, at the very end, we're going to not only demonstrate that they're operating in false wonders, that they're engaging in actual deception and putting up misinformation to make it look like they're performing signs and wonders when they're not.

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We're going to also show, we're going to connect false signs and false wonders to a prophecy that the

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Apostle Paul gives in 2 Thessalonians that show that false signs and false wonders are the precursor, the laying of the foundation for none other than the man of lawlessness, the

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Antichrist himself. So, it's going to be a fun episode. I'm kind of feeling snarky today.

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You know, just to give you a heads up. So, let's whirl up the desktop, shall we?

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Again, still one of my favorite photos. I do feel like I need to put a little more variety in here, but still one of my favorite photos shot back in 2019 in London.

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That's St. Paul's on the Millennium Bridge. Still like one of my favorite shots.

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Anyway, that's not why we're here. Let's whirl up the web browser and let's listen to John Lindell.

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We're going to be listening to a portion of a message titled A Supernatural Life, A Supernatural Life, and I should do one thing, and that is

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I'm just going to speed it up just a smidge. I'm not a lot, just a little bit, because we got a lot of ground that we need to cover in this particular sermon, but if you were thinking there's not going to be a lot of Bible, no, there's going to be a ton of Bible in this.

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It's going to take a lot to kind of unpack and unwind the twisting that he's engaging in, but let's let him kind of set up the problem, shall we?

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Turn with me to Acts chapter 28. Acts 28, our series Power Today is coming to a close with this message on Acts chapter 28.

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I've loved this study. It's changed how I view the book of Acts, and I pray it's changed how you viewed it as well.

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Maybe you've read the book of Acts and never realized how many times it talks about the

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Holy Spirit. It talks about the Holy Spirit quite a few times in the book of Acts. I don't have a problem saying that.

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How many times it talks about miracles. Lots of miracles and signs and wonders were performed by the apostles in the book of Acts, and then there were a couple of notable non -apostles who also were able to operate in signs and wonders.

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They clearly had the gift of performing signs and wonders, of performing miraculous signs.

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Stephen shows up as one of them, Philip as another. How many times there's supernatural phenomenon.

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I know this, though I've read the book of Acts many, many times. It's been through this study that I've been made aware in a new way of the fact that you and I are called to live a supernatural life.

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Are we? What do you mean by that? We are called to live a supernatural life in Christ.

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If you mean by that that we're supposed to operate in signs and wonders, that's a false statement because you're going to know.

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Number one, the book of Acts is a historical narrative. Granted, there are doctrinal portions of the book of Acts, but as a historical narrative, it is a descriptive text, not a prescriptive text.

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It's recording Christian history. And we'll point some things out along the way that kind of show that this idea that normatively

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Christians are supposed to perform signs and wonders, that ain't the case at all, which requires us to then kind of deviate for a little bit here.

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Let's take a look at a few passages. What are the purpose of signs and wonders?

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And it's not sufficient to merely just look at the book of Acts. That would be like looking at like 1

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Kings 18 and 19, 20 and a few chapters that follow and say, see, there's so many miracles there.

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Or looking at the early portion of the book of Exodus and say, look at how many miracles, that means that we are supposed to perform miracles.

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Signs and wonders have a function, and I'll explain the function here as we go.

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But here's what it says in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 12, the apostle Paul writes to the church of Corinth, the signs, say maya, of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.

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Hmm. The apostles could operate in signs and wonders. I wonder why? I'll explain because the scripture actually is quite clear on how this works.

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So if you go back to the book of Exodus, in chapter three, God is having a conversation with Moses and he says,

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I'm going to send you and you are going to let, and then I'm going to send you to Pharaoh and tell

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Pharaoh to let my people go. And by a mighty hand, I'm going to bring them out of slavery in Egypt.

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And Moses is not exactly keen on the assignment. He says, send somebody else. And, uh, and God's not keen on Moses wanting to send, have, have

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God send somebody else. And so part of the thing that comes up is that Moses legitimately is talking to God and going, what if they don't believe that you actually met with me and that you're the one sending me?

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I mean, that seems like a play a role.

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So Moses answered, but behold, this is Exodus four, uh, they will not believe me or listen to my voice.

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They will say, Yahweh did not appear to you. And Yahweh said to him, well, what is that in your hand?

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He said, well, a staff. And he said, throw it on the ground. So he threw it on the ground and it became a serpent and Moses ran from it.

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But Yahweh said to Moses, put out your hand and catch it by the tail. So he put out his hand and caught it and it became a staff in his hand.

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And here's the quote. God said that they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their fathers, the

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God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has appeared to you. That's the purpose of signs and wonders.

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And again, Yahweh said to him, put your hand inside your cloak. He put his hand inside his cloak. And when he took it up, behold, his hand was leprous like snow.

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Then God said, put your hand back inside your cloak. So he put his hand back inside his cloak. And when he took it up, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.

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If they will not believe you, God said, or listen to the first sign that they may believe the latter sign.

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If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the

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Nile and pour it on the dry ground. And the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.

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Purpose of signs then was to validate the fact that God sent Moses. Now, when you look at the

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Old Testament, was everybody a miracle worker? No, Noah wasn't a miracle worker. Neither were

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Adam and Eve. And then Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, they weren't miracle workers.

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Neither was Joseph. Yeah, no. Moses is like the first real miracle worker who can operate in signs and wonders.

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And that was to validate the fact that he was sent by God. And then the miracle workers are just not a thing until we get to who?

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Elijah and Elisha. They are miracle workers, and notably so.

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And then miracles, you know, miracle working fellows kind of disappear until who?

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Jesus. Jesus, when he shows up, he is in all of scripture, the pinnacle miracle worker.

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And he performed miracles for a very specific reason in the Gospel of John, makes it clear what the purpose of Christ's miracles were.

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And again, his pinnacle miracle is what? Raising himself from the grave on the third day after he was crucified under Pontius Pilate.

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So, in John chapter 20, starting at verse 30, it says this. Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.

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But these, these signs are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you might have life in his name.

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Jesus' miracles prove that he was sent by the Father, right? And the apostles can operate in the signs of the apostles, which proves that they were sent by who?

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Jesus. Now, here's the thing. The book of Acts is a descriptive text.

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It's not a prescriptive text, and it doesn't say, therefore, because Peter thus performed signseth, therefore thou must perform signs as well.

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Okay. There is no command for you as a grassroots ordinary Christian to perform signs and wonders.

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That just, there isn't such a thing. Yeah. So, just keep this in mind as we work our way through more of this sermon.

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You can even call it a sermon, but we continue. Jesus' name. When you and I got saved, maybe you've never thought of it this way, but when you and I got saved,

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God saved us, not just to a continuation of our old life, but to the beginning of a new life.

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He saved us, not just so we could live a natural life. He saved us so we could live a supernatural life.

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And what do you mean by that? I mean, if by supernatural life, you mean one empowered by God, the

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Holy Spirit who mortifies and helps sanctify me and bear the fruit of the spirit in my life.

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Okay. But are you saying that we're all supposed to perform signs and wonders and stuff like that?

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It sounds like what you're saying, but that's not what the scripture says. I mean, what else could it mean when Jesus says in John chapter 10 and verse 10,

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I came so they can have real and eternal life more and better than they ever dreamed of.

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Oh my goodness. Wow. Is that a horrible twisting of this text?

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What else could it mean? Except for when Jesus says in the MSG, that's the message.

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You want your Bible free of MSGs, by the way. And also you don't want any passion fruits in your

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Bible. So the MSG and the passion, if anybody who's preaching from those automatically, you know, they're a false teacher.

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Just straight up. Okay. Anybody who has that little regard for truth and how

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God's word really has come down to us that they would twist it using the message or the passion, they're a false teacher.

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Stay away from them. Mark and avoid and have nothing to do with their teaching. But note what he said here.

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He's talking about that we are supposed to live a supernatural life. What else could it mean when Jesus said I came so that they can have real and eternal life more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

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That ain't what John 10 .10 says. And what, by the way, are the three rules for sound biblical exegesis?

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Context, context, and yeah, context. He's totally ripped this out of context.

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So let's put it back in context, shall we? Let's see here. I think I'll go here. All right.

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So we're going to go to John chapter, hang on a second here. John, got to spell it right.

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John 10. And what we're going to do is we're going to add ourselves a little bit of context by going back into nine.

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And if you remember the gospel of John chapter nine, it begins with these words.

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And yes, this is the immediate context of John 10 .10. He said, well, it's a whole chapter later.

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Read the account. It's one story. When Christ is preaching in John 10, he's preaching against the

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Pharisees and their evil doctrines and behavior, which are recorded in John nine.

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So as Jesus passed by, it says in John 9 .1, his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents?

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And he was born blind. What do you see? A man who was blind from birth. And so the disciples ask a question that assumes the false doctrine of the heresies.

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By the way, the Pharisees, did I say heresies? The Pharisees were, they were not, they were heretics.

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They were not true sound biblical Jews, far from it. Okay. And so these guys would say, oh yeah, if you were born blind, it's because God, you know,

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God is punishing you for your sin and stuff like this. Well, Jesus takes the Pharisees' false doctrine and just puts it on its head.

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It says, hey, it was not that this man or his parents sinned, so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

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Yeah. Something to consider here. So Jesus, what does he do? He spits in the dirt, makes some mud, puts it on the guy's eyes, sends him to the pool of Siloam and tells him to wash.

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And the guy comes back seeing. And his, the people in his neighborhood are totally stunned.

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His family members stunned. So they bring him to the Pharisees and the Pharisees interrogate him.

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And they're not keen on the fact that this kid was healed by Jesus. And the worst bet according to them is that Jesus healed on the

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Sabbath. So that makes him a Sabbath breaker. No, it doesn't. Pharisees don't know how to do biblical theology, right?

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Like not even close. So in two subsequent interrogations, and they also interrogated his parents, the

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Pharisees are trying to get to the bottom of what exactly transpired. And so it says in John 9, 24, again, this is the context of John 10, 10.

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Okay. So for the second time, they called the man who had been blind and said to him, give glory to God.

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We know that this man's a sinner. And he answered, well, whether he's a sinner, I don't know.

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Do you think Jesus ever sinned? Not even once, right? One thing I know, I do know, that I, though I was blind, now

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I see. And they said to him, well, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? And he answered them, I have told you already and you would not listen.

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Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples? This guy has got courage, man.

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And so they reviled him saying, you are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we don't even know where he comes from.

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It was funny in a previous chapter, they'd said that he came, he comes from Nazareth and there's no prophet that comes from Nazareth.

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So they know exactly where Jesus comes from. They're talking out of both sides of their mouth. So the man answered, this is an amazing thing.

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You don't know where he comes from and yet he opened my eyes. And so we know that God does not listen to sinners.

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If anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. And then watch this. The sign proves that Jesus was sent by God.

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Never since the world began, has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he can do nothing.

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Boom. Great. Man, he did not know what he was getting into when he woke up that morning.

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But yeah, get healed by Jesus and then excommunicated for being healed by Jesus. So they answered him, you were born in utter sin and you would teach us.

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So they cast him out. They excommunicated this kid for being healed by Jesus and defending

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Christ. Now in one of my favorite portions of scripture, this little bit at the end of John chapter nine is so beautiful.

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I mean, Jesus heard that they had excommunicated this kid. He did nothing wrong. And everything he said was true.

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And these Pharisees would hear nothing of it. So Jesus seeks him out and watch what it says here.

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So Jesus heard they cast him out and having found him, he said, do you believe in the son of man?

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That's a pretty interesting question. So he answered, well, who is he, sir, that I might believe in him.

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And then he said to him, you have seen him. It is he who is speaking to you.

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And for Jesus to be able to look this kid in the eye and says, you've seen him. Of course he saw him because just a few minutes ago, just earlier in the day, he'd never seen anything his entire life.

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And now he's seeing the face of his savior. So he said,

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Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. And so Jesus said is for judgment that I came into the world that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.

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So Jesus is basically totally panning the false doctrine of the Pharisees at this point.

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And the Pharisees know it. So some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him, are we also blind?

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Yeah, actually you are. So Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no guilt.

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Oh, wow. But now that you say, we see your guilt remains.

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Oh, just takes their false doctrine and takes it behind the woodshed and beats it.

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But then it continues. No, John 10 one, truly, truly, I say to you, this is a continuation.

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It's not a different story. Christ now is going to preach against the

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Pharisees while they're listening there. Okay. Truly, truly,

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I say to you, he who does not enter by the sheepfold, by the sheepfold, by the door, but climbs in another way, that man's a thief and a robber.

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Who's he talking about? The Pharisees. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

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To him, the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all of his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice.

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He's talking about himself, Jesus. And a stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him for they do not know the voice of strangers.

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This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again, Jesus said to them, truly, truly,

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I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers.

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That's the Pharisees. But the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved.

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And I will go in and out and they will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal, to kill and to destroy.

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I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

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The abundant life that's talked about here is the eternal life, not the supernatural life.

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In fact, just do a little comparative here. John 10 .10, from a good translation like the ESV, the thief comes only to steal, to kill and destroy.

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I came that they might have life and have it abundantly. But when we compare it to the

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MSG, which John Lindell is preaching from, here's how it gets quoted.

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I came so that they can have real and eternal life more and better than they ever had dreamed of. It's not even close.

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It doesn't, in fact, it doesn't even mean the same thing. He's totally twisting up this text.

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So Jesus says the thief comes only to steal, to kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd.

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The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. That's right. Your good shepherd and mine, Jesus Christ, laid down his life by bleeding and dying and suffering on the cross in your place so that you can be forgiven, imparted and reconciled to God.

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He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep and flees.

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The wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he's a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

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And I would note, John Lindell is definitely a hired hand. Now you've heard this text in its context from a good translation.

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Is this text saying the things that John Lindell says that it's saying? Let me back this up just a little bit.

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See if you can make sense. He saved us so we could live a supernatural life.

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I mean, what else could it mean when Jesus says in John chapter 10 and verse 10, I came so they can have real and eternal life more and better than they ever dreamed of.

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It has nothing to do with a supernatural life. You flat out twisted this text. It's a supernatural life.

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That's not what this passage is about at all. We know that because Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 7, we live by faith, not by sight.

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Yeah, that's true. How many of you have seen Jesus? I haven't.

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I couldn't tell you how long Jesus's hair is. I couldn't tell you what shade of brown his eyes are, if they're brown at all.

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I don't know how long he keeps his beard nowadays. No, I definitely walk by faith and not by sight.

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For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

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For in this tent we groan longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. Okay. Yeah. And if indeed by putting it on, we may not be found naked for while we are still in this tent, we groan being burdened, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

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He who has prepared us for this very thing is God who has given us the spirit as a guarantee.

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So we're always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the

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Lord. For as we walk by faith, not by sight, for we are of good courage and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the

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Lord. Yeah, I would say that's a true statement, but it's not saying that we have to walk in a supernatural life.

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That's not the point of this passage at all. He's twisted yet another text.

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Shock of shocks. We're going by what we believe because we understand in the very truest sense that seeing is not believing, but believing is seeing.

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We live a... Does that even make any sense?

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Hang on a second here. I just got to play that again. I want to hear this. We're going by what we believe because we understand in the very truest sense that seeing is not believing, but believing is seeing.

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Believing is seeing. Let me throw another passage into the mix here.

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It's not exactly in line with what he's saying here, but I do think it contradicts him.

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All right. So when we talk about salvation, scripture is clear.

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In Romans 10, 9, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

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This is true. And how many of you have seen Jesus? I haven't seen him. None of us have.

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So how do we come to believe in the one whom we've never seen? Paul's going to kind of get at this and get at it in a right way.

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For with the heart, one believes and is justified. Here we got dikai asune, that means to be declared righteous.

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And with the mouth, one confesses and is saved. The scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.

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Don't let that go by you too quick. Okay. Listen, every single one of us, me included, we are all ungodly sinners and left to our own devices.

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We would all get what we deserved and that's hell. But Christ has bled and died for our sins so that we would never be put to shame on the last day.

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That the shame of eternal contempt would never come upon those who trust in Jesus.

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Everyone who believes in Jesus will not be put to shame. Though your sins be as scarlet,

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Christ will make you white as snow by the blood that he shed for you on the cross. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.

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For the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the

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Lord will be saved. That's right, everyone. Anyone who calls on the name of the

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Lord, cries out to Christ, have mercy on me, Lord Jesus, forgive me and trusts that Christ forgives, they have eternal life.

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So note then, Paul asks a question, how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?

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And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

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And how are they to preach unless they're sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news, but they have not all obeyed the gospel.

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For Isaiah says, Lord who's believed what he's heard from us. So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.

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Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.

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Right on. Okay. So you'll note, it's not a matter of seeing, it's about a matter of hearing.

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Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of Christ. It's about hearing the gospel. That's why

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Paul in Romans chapter one, you'll note verse 16, he says,

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I'm not ashamed of the gospel, the good news of Christ bled and died for our sins, suffered, was buried, died buried and that he arose again bodily from the grave on the third day.

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He says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for the gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes first to the

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Jew and also to the Greek. The gospel is the power of God to salvation, not signs and wonders that you and I perform.

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So, all right, this guy's striking out left and right here. Let's continue.

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We live a supernatural life. Paul alludes to that in second Corinthians chapter four in verse 18.

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So we fix our eyes not on what is seen. Correct. We don't focus on what's seen because what is seen is passing away.

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Now, a little bit of a note here, everything that you can smell, taste, touch, everything you can see, it's real.

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It's as real as the supernatural realm, but everything that you see in this cursed creation is going bye -bye because Christ is going to destroy it and then he's going to make a new heaven and a new earth.

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Right? So watch what he does here, Bill. What are you looking at? Are you just looking at the natural world?

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Is that what shapes everything you think? Is that what shapes what you believe? Paul says we don't fix our eyes on what is seen.

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Correct. But what is unseen? Yeah, and what's your point? The invisible realm.

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That there is a spiritual realm that is more real. No, it's not.

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The physical realm is as real as the spiritual realm. You can touch.

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This is real. This isn't some phantasm. This is a real reality.

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It's just that it's a temporal reality, not an eternal one because of sin. Then the natural realm.

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He says this, for what is seen is temporary. Right. This world is passing away.

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Yes, it is. What is unseen, are you ready? It is eternal. Correct.

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We're called to a supernatural life. Not doing a really good job of defining terms now, is he?

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We're called to a life like we read about in the book of Acts. It's a supernatural life.

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No, we're not. We are not called to a life that you see in the book of Acts. Listen again.

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What he just said is false. We're called to a life like we read about in the book of Acts. No, we're not.

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Acts is a descriptive text, not a prescriptive, and I'll prove it. It's a supernatural life that begins

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Acts 1A with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, where Jesus said, you'll receive power, dunamis, dynamite.

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Anytime you hear somebody use the word dunamis and dynamite together, they don't know what they're talking about.

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False teacher. Spirit comes on you. It's a life of healing. It's a life of miracles.

30:57

A life of healing and miracles. Really? I'll disprove that in a minute.

31:03

A life of supernatural phenomenon. It's a life of hearing the spirit of God speak to us. It's a life of having angels involved in our life.

31:10

It's an amazing supernatural life. No, no, absolutely not.

31:16

Let me give you another text here. We'll use the book of Acts to kind of prove this. This is going to actually be a text that he's going to reference.

31:25

And let's see here. Um, hmm. Yes. Escapes to Jerusalem of Aeneas.

31:35

Dorcas. Here we go. Okay. The story of Dorcas, otherwise known as Tabitha, by the way, if you

31:41

Christian parents out there, if you are, if your wife is pregnant and you're getting ready to give birth to a daughter, don't name her

31:48

Dorcas. I went to school with a girl that was named Dorcas. And yes, her name is biblical.

31:54

Not a good name for English speakers. Just saying. All right. So listen to how this goes down.

32:00

Uh, there was in Joppa, a disciple named Tabitha, which translated means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity.

32:09

So she's a Christian, right? Okay. In those days she became ill and she died. And when they had washed her and laid her in an upper room, since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, please come to us without delay.

32:25

So there's Peter, minding his own business in Lydda. And, uh, the disciples in Joppa call for Peter.

32:37

And why they want him to perform a miracle. Well, if we're called to a supernatural life, a life of healing and miracles and signs and wonders as John Lindell claims, what's wrong with these disciples here?

32:56

Why didn't they raise Dorcas from the dead? Hmm? Because they couldn't, they were not given miraculous signs and wonders because they weren't apostles of Jesus Christ, or they didn't receive the gift of miraculous healing.

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That was one of the gifts given by the laying on of the hands of the apostles. So there was nobody there that can operate in signs and wonders.

33:23

So anyway, since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples hearing they were there, they sent him, please come to us without delay.

33:29

So Peter rose and went with them. And when Peter arrived, they took him to the upper room.

33:36

All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was still with them.

33:46

Now what should follow next, if John Lindell is rightly handling the book of Acts text, and he's not, is that Peter should have rebuked these disciples in Joppa for not embracing the supernatural life that they were called to as Christians.

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Why did you call me from Lydda? I was doing just fine there. And you brought me all the way over here to Joppa and you should have raised her from the dead yourself.

34:16

But he doesn't because they can't, they're not the apostles.

34:24

Peter is, he's one of them. But Peter put them all outside and knelt down and prayed and turning to the body, he said,

34:31

Tabitha arise. And she opened her eyes. And when she saw Peter, she sat up and he gave her his hand and raised her up.

34:40

And then calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. And it became known throughout all

34:46

Joppa and many believed in the Lord. And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one

34:51

Simon, a Tanner. Well, if Christians are supposed to live a supernatural life, these

34:58

Christians in Joppa sure weren't. That's the point. So we can see the distinction here.

35:06

And you'll note that the Paul made it clear that he could perform the signs of the apostles because he was an apostle of Jesus Christ.

35:14

So is Peter. But those garden variety disciples in Joppa, they weren't apostles.

35:20

They couldn't operate in signs and wonders. That was not normative for them, nor is it for you or I. So we got a big problem here is that John Lindell is twisting up this text pretty badly.

35:31

All for the purpose of our growing close to the Lord, that we might glorify Jesus and show his glory to people around us.

35:39

Amen. So we've got to glorify Jesus by performing signs and wonders. Go for it.

35:45

Try it. By the way, I'm going to prove to you that these guys have brought contempt upon the name of Christ by claiming that miracles were performed that can be proven are false.

35:58

So he claims we've got to do this in order to glorify Christ, yet they're not doing that there at James River Church.

36:05

They're bringing contempt upon the name of Christ for claiming miracles that haven't happened.

36:11

I'll explain in a little bit. It's a supernatural life. In fact, I sat down and kind of,

36:18

I've done this a couple of times in the book of Acts, just really thinking through and doing a survey in my mind of all the supernatural things that happen in the book of Acts.

36:26

And do you know that in the 28 chapters of the book of Acts, there are 35 specific supernatural events.

36:35

I'm not going to challenge that. That's probably true. Maybe you've never thought about it. I don't think my list is exhaustive.

36:41

Even as I'm reading it, I've thought of a couple more, but let's look at them. Angels appear after Jesus ascends.

36:46

We could say Jesus ascending is supernatural. Yes, it is. But angels appear afterwards. Remember, did the disciples? Then Acts 2, there's a sound of a mighty rushing wind that captures the attention of all the people in Jerusalem.

36:57

Right. These are legitimate miracles and acts of God in a way that really stand out in human history.

37:09

Then there are flames of fire on each head. Yeah. Then in verse four, miraculous speech in different languages.

37:16

Which was assigned to the unbelieving Jews. Read the prophet Isaiah. Verse five or verse chapter three, number five, a lame man's healed.

37:24

By Peter. Number six, the building where they're praying is shaken. After they pray for boldness. Number seven, the sudden death of Ananias and Sapphira.

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At the mouth of the apostle Peter. Number eight, imprisoned apostles are freed by an angel in Acts 5.

37:39

Right, because God's protecting, Christ is protecting his apostles. Number nine, the heavens are opened as Stephen dies.

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He's the first Christian martyr. Number 10, the Holy Spirit is poured out in Acts 8, 17.

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On the Samaritans, and that was poured out with the laying on of hands of the apostles.

37:58

Number 11, an angel speaks to Philip. Acts 8, 26, and then in verse 29, the

38:03

Holy Spirit speaks to Philip. Number 13, Philip's transported out of the desert. Yeah, and Philip is notable here because he's one of the few guys that isn't an apostle who has these things happen.

38:15

We mean by that, he's actually in one place with a person and the Spirit of God picks him up and moves him many miles away to another location.

38:23

Acts 8, 40. Number 14, Paul sees a light and talks with Jesus in Acts 9. Paul is blinded and healed again in Acts 9.

38:31

Ananias is healed of paralysis in Acts 9. Uh -huh, yeah. Dorcas is raised from the dead by Peter in Acts 9.

38:41

An angel appears to Cornelius in Acts 10. Peter is slain and the Spirit of God speaks to him in Acts 10.

38:47

The Holy Spirit is poured out in Acts 10. Peter's... Yeah, to those hearing the gospel preached by the

38:53

Apostle Peter, and they were Gentiles, they're the first Gentile believers... Rescued by an angel in Acts 12.

38:59

Yeah, that's right. King Herod is struck down by an angel in Acts 12. Active judgment for his blasphemy, his narcissistic blasphemy.

39:07

The Holy Spirit speaks to the church in Acts 13. Elias, the sorcerer, is blinded in Acts 13.

39:12

By the voice of the Apostle Peter. And in Acts 14, a lame man is healed. By the Apostle Paul.

39:18

Number 26, Paul's healed and raised from the dead in Acts 14. It's even... Uh, that...

39:27

I challenge that. Healed or raised from the dead, we're not really sure what that is, which it is. Number 27, a demon is cast out of a slave girl.

39:34

By the Apostle Paul. Number 28, Paul is freed by an earthquake. Christ protecting his

39:40

Apostle. Number 29, Jesus appears to Paul and talks to him. Of course, he's an

39:46

Apostle of Jesus Christ. Number 30, the Holy Spirit is poured out in Acts 19 .6. Then in chapter 19, verse 13, a demon beats the seven sons of Sceva.

39:56

Yeah, that's definitely... I would put that more on the paranormal than the miraculous.

40:02

They got a good thrashing by a demon. Uh -huh. Then Eutychus is raised from the dead in Acts 20.

40:08

By the Apostle Paul. An angel appears to Paul during the storm. Of course, he's an

40:13

Apostle of Jesus Christ. Acts 27, Paul is unaffected by the serpent bite. In Acts 28, as we'll see.

40:18

Again, he's an Apostle of Jesus Christ. Are you catching a theme here? In Acts 28, verse 8, the father

40:25

Publius is healed of dysentery and a fever. So you have... Yes, by, again, an

40:31

Apostle of Jesus Christ. 35 specific supernatural events. Now, in addition to that, think of this.

40:38

There are nine times that there are what we'll call clusters of miracles. That is to say, many people were healed, potentially thousands of people who were healed, certainly hundreds of people were healed.

40:47

Look at this list. Many wonders and signs were done by the Apostles. By the Apostles. Acts chapter 2. Many wonders and signs were done by the

40:54

Apostles again. By the Apostles. Acts chapter 5. The shadow of Peter healed many and a multitude was healed.

41:01

By an Apostle. Now, Stephen and Philip, again, they stand out in this list because they're not Apostles, but they clearly had a gift of signs and wonders given to them by the laying on of the hands of the

41:14

Apostles. Acts chapter 5. Stephen did great wonders and signs. Acts 6. Philip did many miracles.

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He healed paralytics, cast out demons, all kinds of things. Acts chapter 8. Paul and Barnabas did many miracles.

41:25

Acts chapter 14. Paul's an Apostle of Christ. Paul worked extraordinary miracles. Paul's an

41:31

Apostle of Christ. Acts chapter 19. Handkerchiefs and aprons from Paul were used to heal people. Paul is an

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Apostle of Christ. Acts chapter 19. And Paul heals everyone on the island who comes to him.

41:44

Paul is an Apostle of Christ. Are you getting it? Now, here's the thing. Sure, all of those are miraculous things that are recorded in the book of Acts, but it's a historical narrative and a descriptive text.

41:57

Now, show me the biblical passage that says, as the Apostles perform signs and wonders in the book of Acts, therefore you go and do likewise.

42:07

There is no text that says that. And the fact that the disciples in Joppa couldn't raise

42:13

Dorcas from the dead is also further proof that this is not the ability to perform in supernatural signs and wonders is not a common thing.

42:23

It is an extremely uncommon thing for the purpose of validating the ministries of those whom

42:29

God directly sends. And Acts chapter 28. I mean, that's a lot of supernatural events.

42:37

Think of it. 28 chapters in the book of Acts, 44 supernatural events happening.

42:44

We were intended to live a supernatural life. No, we weren't. That's not what it says.

42:51

And if we were intended to live a supernatural life, since God is the one who performs these signs and wonders through people, then

42:57

Christians would normatively be able to do them. But they're not, are they? A life where the

43:03

Spirit of God empowers us. A life where we're bold to talk to people about Jesus. A life where we lay hands on the sick and they recover.

43:11

A life where there's... I'm not an Apostle. And when somebody comes to me and they need healing from God, I can pray for them.

43:19

I can anoint them with oil, but I have no power to feel them. Only God does.

43:25

Angelic interaction and intervention that we may not even know about. A life where there are signs and wonders that happen.

43:33

And all of that has happened as we've been in the book of Acts. Many things have happened over the last two and a half years.

43:39

And I still believe the best is yet to come. But we've been in an extraordinary move of God. No, you haven't.

43:47

You guys have been making it up. Totally blaspheming and bringing reproach on the name of Christ.

43:54

So, let me explain what I mean by that. Okay? And we can demonstrably prove it. And unfortunately, it took an atheist to kind of draw attention to this.

44:03

I think this site was put together by an atheist. It's called Show Me the Toes, and I'll explain. Back in March of 2023,

44:10

March of this year, there was a conference held at James River Church. Bill Johnson was one of the speakers.

44:17

So was John Lindell. And this woman, and her name is, let me find her name,

44:24

Chrissy Thompson. She gave a testimony on camera after Bill Johnson spoke.

44:32

And she had been shot by her husband, whether it's two or three times. There's kind of conflicting data as to how many times she was shot by her ex -husband.

44:41

She ended up having three of her toes amputated. Three of them. And listen to the claim that she makes while she's at this conference.

44:53

Hang on a second here. I don't know why I can't hear that. There we go. Let me back that up and let's try that again.

44:59

I've had three toes that were amputated in a terrible accident. I heard the word for creative miracles, and I thought, well,

45:05

I certainly have a creative miracle that I might need. I need three toes to grow back. The person next to me said, do you want new toes?

45:11

And I was like, well, sure. All the women got down and they prayed over my foot. And I decided to take my shoe off to see what was happening when he said, let's see the progress or if anything's happened.

45:20

And when I did, I had to grab the person next to me and say, do you see what I see? And I saw three toes that were forming, and now there's length to them.

45:29

Tonight, I can stand on my tippy toes. Listen, do you understand? I can stand on tippy toes. No, I couldn't do that because I didn't have toes to tippy on.

45:38

Now, if you're claiming that God helped you regrow three amputated toes, simplest thing to prove it, take off your shoes, take off your sock, and show us the toes.

45:54

It's that simple. Naysayers are out there saying it didn't happen. All you got to do is take your sock off and wiggle those little piggies and you'll be able to put all things to rest.

46:09

And that was kind of the point of this website is they were claiming that there was this miracle of this woman's toes growing back, but there was no evidence to back it up.

46:18

And in this case, this little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home, this little piggy went to church, this little piggy grew back after being amputated.

46:28

All you got to do is show us the piggies, right? But they didn't, and they won't, and they refuse to.

46:39

I can only think of one reason why somebody would refuse to show the evidence, because it didn't happen.

46:45

That's the reason why. And by the way, John Lundell, here's what he said.

46:51

Here's his accounting of how this went down. This was from the conference back in March. Hang on a second here.

46:58

I don't know why each of these showed up with the audio off, but here we go. Amazing things are happening, people being healed online.

47:04

And so this involves a creative miracle. Chrissy Thompson was shot three times in 2015 by her husband and was in a coma for two months.

47:13

Her injuries included the need to have three toes amputated. When Pastor Bill asked if anyone needed a creative miracle,

47:20

Chrissy responded that she had three toes amputated. Kelly, who serves on the prayer team, told her that the

47:28

Lord wanted to grow her toes back tonight. Didn't he? Really?

47:34

So Kelly had her take off her shoe, anointed where each of the toes would be, and began to pray.

47:43

Now listen to what happens next. Began to change color. Pretty soon there was a pulse in the foot that she could fill.

47:51

All of the sudden Chrissy said, are you kidding me? And they saw the toes began to grow.

48:01

Oh, wow. Toes began to grow. Um, can we see those little piggies please? Hey, there's more.

48:27

Several of the team members joined in to pray with Kelly. Bone began to form where there was none before.

48:34

Bone began to form. As the ladies prayed for Chrissy. Oh, you want to stay standing because I mean this is me back up here. As the ladies prayed for Chrissy over the next 30 minutes, all three toes grew.

48:44

And by that point were longer than her pinky toe. Within an hour, nails began to grow on all the toes.

48:50

Nails began to grow on all the toes. Pay attention to that detail. This morning she went to it, to Kelly's husband's a medical doctor.

49:00

She went and was examined. She has three toes. So she got examined and she has three toes now.

49:06

Yay. Way to go, Jesus. Now let's take a listen to Bill Johnson's recounting of what happened here.

49:14

And I apologize, but whenever we play Bill Johnson, we have to morph. We have to transmogrify him, uh, and, and, uh, do some things because Bethel doesn't allow critics to use any content of theirs to criticize them.

49:30

They, they, they abuse the copyright system. So we have to transmogrify things.

49:35

So, uh, that's the reason why we're doing it, but listen to his recounting of how this took place.

49:41

And then we'll listen to a recent appearance of Chrissy Thompson on a podcast called

49:47

Heaven Bent. She appeared in, in the early part of June of 2023. And, uh, see if, uh, her current update is consistent with what has been said about this so -called miracle.

50:01

But that evening, there's multiple campuses and one of the other campuses streaming the meeting. A woman was there who had been shot twice by her husband.

50:10

Wow. Anybody else glad that Jesus heals the inside as well as the outside?

50:16

Yeah. And because of it, she had to have three toes amputated. And I happened that evening to be talking about creative miracles that we've seen.

50:25

And we just began to pray just randomly for creative miracles and specifically things like, you know, missing cartilage and, you know, stuff like that, that the

50:32

Lord had to speak to. Organs of the body. I have a friend who was missing a kidney in the Lord, recreated a kidney, verified by x -rays, all this stuff.

50:40

Verified. Well, show us the x -rays. So we began to pray into that. And this gal was at one of the other campuses and said,

50:46

I want my toes back. And so another girl was praying for her. And as I, as I, I have the statement took about 30 minutes, but they saw the bone come wrapping flesh, completely grow out.

50:58

And by morning, the toenails, everything had formed. She got three brand new toes. By morning, everything had grown out toenails and everything.

51:07

She had three brand new toes. That's what was reported by John Lindell and by Bill Johnson.

51:17

Was there any evidence presented to verify this miracle?

51:25

Nope. No photographs were permitted. And Chrissy Thompson refused to take her socks off and show us her little piggies and to glorify

51:37

Jesus with her naked foot. Nope, not at all. She's kept it very close to herself.

51:43

Well, Chrissy Thompson appeared on a podcast called the Heaven Bent Podcast early in June of 2023.

51:53

And let's listen to her latest update regarding the status of her toes, shall we?

52:02

And then, and then your toes regrew? I mean, was it just that? Like, oh, I look down and I and so like I said, there were people over my foot.

52:10

And then when they started moving away from my foot, as they moved away, I was like, the tone next to my pinky toe was definitely, definitely longer.

52:20

And I was like, what? And I thought, I was seeing things. And remember, I'm a registered nurse.

52:26

My nursing license is on hold. I'll never get it back because I went through an indictment. You know, it's free and clear, but I'll never get it back.

52:33

So what I'm saying is I, I have the education. I was a nurse for 10 years. So I'm not uneducated.

52:39

I didn't grow up like this. I guess I'm trying to say that I'm not easily swayed.

52:48

There was a interview with my ex -husband. She's not referring to the ex -husband who shot her, by the way, but another husband from her past.

52:57

He stated she never said anything like this when we were married for 10 years.

53:02

Well, that should tell you that I don't say things like this unless they are true.

53:12

So no, in giving an update regarding the status of her toes, she, she just basically says, just anybody who knows me knows that I don't make claims like this that are not true.

53:23

Therefore, it's got to be true. Why don't you just take your sock off and show us your toes if they've really grown back?

53:33

Huh? There's a simple reason because they haven't. And she's going to admit it here in a second.

53:40

As in, you haven't been spending your whole life going around making up stories. Exactly.

53:47

The toe next to my pinky toe is longer now than it was, than my pinky toe.

53:53

It is longer. It's longer. Okay. The toe next, the third toe is even with the fourth toe, which is longer than my pinky toe.

54:07

And then, and so the second, third and fourth toe were all gone, totally gone.

54:14

They were amputated. And that's what I have now. I can bend them.

54:20

There is the start of a nail bed on the fourth toe. The start of a nail bed on the fourth toe.

54:30

Well, that's way different than what, uh, John Lindell and Bill Johnson said.

54:36

In fact, uh, this, this, this sounds very unimpressive. A nail bed? Yeah. The startup one.

54:42

Okay. Okay. I got to say then, cause I did some research before our chat. Okay. Now let me show you something here.

54:48

Let me find, let me see if I can find this. Um, because let's see here. I thought

54:53

I saw news articles, church stuff. Let's see if we got some news. Okay. That's the news here.

54:58

This is the homepage I saw on here, a link to something that they had recently done on their

55:06

Facebook. Let me see if I can find this. Uh, no, here we go. Ah, yes, this is it.

55:12

And they're the, the people who put together the show me the toes website have a

55:18

Facebook group. And here's the thing. Here's a photograph of Chrissy Thompson's toes from October of, of was it 2021?

55:28

You know, it's, uh, yeah, let's see. Yeah. So yeah. October of 2021.

55:35

And he, the thing is this, we do have a photograph of her toes and look what it looked like all the way back then.

55:44

Uh -huh. Yeah. She's not telling the truth at all.

55:51

And the, uh, you know, and the, the fact that her toes were amputated, that's true, but totally gone.

55:58

Not according to a photograph she took of her toes back in October of 2021.

56:04

This isn't a real miracle. This is a false sign and a false wonder.

56:10

And I would note that John Lindell's preaching in Bill Johnson's preaching is part of the reason why people put forward these false claims of false healing and stuff like this.

56:22

And these false signs and false wonders are indicators of something according to scripture.

56:29

Let me explain. And this will kind of be my parting shot because I went a little long on this episode.

56:35

If we were to go and visit second Thessalonians chapter two, second

56:40

Thessalonians chapter two, it talks about false signs and wonders, but it does so in the context of the man of lawlessness of the antichrist.

56:48

Listen to what it says concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him.

56:54

We ask you brothers not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the

57:02

Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way for that day will not come unless the rebellion, that's the apostasy comes first.

57:11

And then the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself against every so -called

57:18

God or object of worship so that he takes a seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

57:24

Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things and you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.

57:34

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who restrains it will do so until he's out of the way.

57:42

And when the lawless one, and then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

57:52

The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders.

58:05

Yeah. False signs and wonders are the harbingers of the activity of Satan and the coming of the lawless one.

58:17

And so the coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved.

58:28

Therefore God sends them a strong delusion so that they may believe what is false in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

58:41

So Chrissy Thompson's false sign, false wonder regarding her toes growing back, and that's what it is.

58:48

We can categorize this as by the activity and deception of Satan. And who are the ones putting forward this false sign and wonder?

58:56

Bill Johnson, John Lindell, James River Church. And you'll note that James River Church, John Lindell, we just demonstrated that his recent sermon on a supernatural life was a masterclass in Bible twisting and deception.

59:14

Indeed it was. And so for all their claims, oh they've, they've, for the last couple years they've had all these amazing, amazing miracle things happening and stuff and stuff at their church.

59:25

They're lying. And I would be willing to bet dollars to donuts that the same type of deception that occurred regarding Chrissy Thompson's toes growing back, they didn't.

59:42

All she has to do is show us a before and after photo with her socks off.

59:47

She doesn't do it, right? That the same, the same deception regarding that's probably also the same thing happening.

59:54

We're getting whatever, ever claims that they're making there regarding the miraculous. But one thing is for sure, we as Christians are not commanded to perform signs and wonders.

01:00:06

Neither of us, none of us are apostles today. We don't operate in those signs and wonders. We're not sent by God to do such things.

01:00:13

And instead we can pray. And if God answers our prayer in the affirmative, he may miraculously answer our prayer.

01:00:20

But that doesn't mean that we're commanded to operate in signs and wonders of the supernatural. That's not what we're called to at all.

01:00:28

I think you get the idea. So hopefully you found this helpful. If so, all the information on how you can share the video is down below in the description and a quick shout out to all of the people who are in our crew.

01:00:40

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01:01:00

So until next time, may God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ and his vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.