By: General James Green
MIRACLES CONTINUE
CHRISTIANITY SHOULD BE DEMONSTRATED–not only by Gospel preaching/teaching and ethics, but also by the miraculous. The Scriptures are replete with miracles of every sort–Praise God! If you do not believe in miracles, then you do not believe in the Bible.
God Anointed Jesus of Nazareth
Jesus did plenty of miracles. This we do not have to dispute. And as I stated in part one, Jesus did no miracles, healed no one, cast out no demons, UNTIL the Holy Ghost came upon Him. Acts 10:38 tells us, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.”
Anointed
The word “anointed” (Gk. “chrio”) signified that God “smeared or rubbed Him with (Holy Ghost) oil and consecrated Him to the office” of Priest, Prophet, and King. Jesus the man was anointed with Holy Ghost POWER! With this anointing, Jesus was enabled to go about doing Spirit-led GOOD things, healing ALL that were sick, demon possessed and oppressed.
When Jesus ascended up to Heaven, He sent the Holy Ghost to continue His work in earth, through the believers. (Acts 3:1-11 gives us the account of the first miracle after Pentecost.) The day of Pentecost “kicked off” the miraculous. Read Acts 2:1-47. And tongues were the sign that the Holy Ghost had been given.
Filled with the Holy Ghost
What was the significance of this wonderful Pentecostal experience? Here are five main points:
1) It meant the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s promise, spoken in Joel 2:28-29, to pour out His Spirit upon ALL people (every race) at the end times (see Acts 1:4-5; Matt 3:11; Lk 24:49; Jn 1:33).
2) Since the last days of this age had begun (Acts 2:17; Heb 1:2; I Pet 1:20), everyone must now be clearly confronted with the decision to REPENT from their sins and BELIEVE in Jesus Christ the Lord (Acts 3:19; Matt 3:2; Lk 13:2; Acts 2:17).
3) The disciples were “endued with power from on high” (Lk 24:49 cf. Acts 1:8), enabling them to witness for Christ (and this meant more than mere preaching–it meant performing the miraculous too!) and bring great conviction upon the lost in relation to sin, righteousness, and God’s judgments, thus empowering the disciples to turn the lost from sin to salvation in Christ (Acts 1:8; 4:13, 33; 6:8; Rom 15:19; Jn 16:8).
4) The Holy Ghost revealed His Divine nature as the Spirit who desperately longs to see the lost saved, and the sick, diseased, and oppressed set free–and we who are filled with the Holy Ghost ought to feel the same way He does. Don’t you long to see the lost saved? the sick, diseased, and the demon oppressed set free? (See Acts 2:34-39; 4:12, 33; Rom 9:1-3; 10:1.)
So, dear readers, Pentecost was the beginning of WORLD MISSIONS! Don’t settle for just a church “song and dance” and a small spiritual meal once or twice a week. Look to be FILLED with Holy Ghost POWER!!
5) The disciples in the early Ekklesia became genuine ministers of FIRE and POWER–Praise our God! They preached a crucified, resurrected and ascended Christ, but also taught about the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost gifts. HEAR ME! The Holy Ghost and the gifts of the Holy Ghost did not “die out” after the disciples died (as too many teach!). NO! Acts 2 tells us, “For the promise (of the Holy Ghost) is unto you (Peter’s immediate audience), and to your children, AND TO ALL” —A-L-L!— “that are afar off (this is you and I), even as many as the Lord our God shall call” (v. 39).
The baptism of the Holy Ghost is for ALL peoples thru ALL centuries–ALL subsequent generations. This miraculous experience DID NOT DIE or CEASE with the first century outpouring. I got it in 1971! My wife got it in 1971! Everyone here at ACMTC has got it! It is the birthright of EVERY Christian to seek, expect, and experience it. Why not get some real HOLY GHOST POWER in your life, Christians?
Holy Ghost Power–The First Recorded Miracle
Acts 3:1-11 records the first miracle done by the believers–a crippled man from birth healed by the power of God. The incredible healing of the beggar stunned all who witnessed it.
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“Don’t settle for just a church ‘song and dance’ and a small spiritual meal once or twice a week. Look to be FILLED with Holy Ghost POWER!!”
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Mark 16:17-18 tells us that we too can lay hands on the sick/diseased and they SHALL recover. I believe this! The Ekklesia continued to use Jesus’ mighty name, coupled with Holy Ghost power, and demons lost their homes, sicknesses and diseases lost their control. All this was done and is being done, even this day, thru faith.
Peter stated that he had no silver or gold, but would pray for a miracle. Isn’t it a real SHAME (and SHAM!) that today’s churches, for the most part, go for the gold and not for God? They “profess” so much but “possess” so little. Amen. But we have POWER IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST.
Where is the miracle-working power among God’s professed people today? Even the Charismatic and Pentecostal churches have lost their focus of the miraculous and have gotten their eyes on money. DAMNED CHURCH!
The Birth of Christ
Jesus’ birth was a miracle (and the birth of the Ekklesia was a miracle). So, in that sense, miracles were a part of Jesus’ coming, right from the very beginning.
Jesus taught His disciples by Word and deed. The most vital part of His ministry was that of the MIRACULOUS. Don’t you think you’ve gone on long enough without the baptism in the Holy Ghost?
Forgiver of Sins
To prove He could forgive sins, Jesus worked miracles (see Matt 9:6; Mk 2:10; Lk 5:24). It is truly a divine miracle for sinners to be forgiven and delivered from Satan’s kingdom–this is done only by the miracle-working power of the Blood.
His Earthly/Spiritual Body
Christ Jesus set His Body in order as a miraculous Body. He gave gifts to men and women to enable them to do the miraculous (see I Cor 12:28). He NEVER withdrew those gifts. Men, in their sheer rebellion and ignorance, have stopped much of the moving of God’s Spirit, but God still has “a people out of a people” who do the miraculous!
These gifts, both supernatural and natural, are certainly with us until He returns (I Cor 3:1-5). But look at the modern Church: sick, diseased, demon oppressed, weak, compromising, rebellious, ignorant, greedy, dull, dumb, sleazy, worldly . . . SINFUL!! Where is the power? Where are the miracle-working ministers? the believers? I think of II Timothy 3: “…that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be LOVERS OF THEIR OWN SELVES, COVETOUS, BOASTERS, PROUD, BLASPHEMERS, DISOBEDIENT to parents, UNTHANKFUL, UNHOLY, WITHOUT NATURAL AFFECTION, TRUCEBREAKERS, FALSE ACCUSERS, INCONTINENT, FIERCE, DESPISERS of those that are good, TRAITORS, HEADY, HIGHMINDED, LOVERS OF PLEASURES more than lovers of God; having a FORM of godliness, but DENYING THE POWER thereof: from such TURN AWAY” (vv. 1-5).
Did you hear what Paul said?–“…from such TURN AWAY!!!” Get out and away from those dead and dry churches, those houses of ill repute. I did years ago and I’ve got the power of God still. I’ve got my faith still.
Friends, if you belong to or help support a church or a group that does not believe or operate in the miraculous, for Heaven’s sake, FORSAKE IT AS FAST AS YOU CAN! Paul issued the above warning (II Tim 3:1-5) in order to fortify those ministers and their assemblies who remained loyal to Christ and His miracle-working power and revelation. We’re to hold fast to what the Bible teaches, not what false teachers teach.
For sure, we live in an age of “lovers of their own selves”, and the sin has caused an overwhelming deluge of ungodliness. The modern Church is so sick and sleazy that it makes Jesus SICK!!
Material and money lovers!–the churches are full of them. Oh, sure, they appear (I said A-P-P-E-A-R) to be godly, but they sure lack Holy Ghost conviction and power! Dead and dry! Cold formalism! Dry routine! Churches produce children of the devil–DAMNED and PROFANE. There isn’t enough power in most modern churches to save one soul from selfishness, immorality and SIN! Bastard children, children of whoredoms who RESIST the Gospel truth always!
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“Friends, if you belong to or help support a church or a group that does not believe or operate in the miraculous, for Heaven’s sake, FORSAKE IT AS FAST AS YOU CAN!”
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Pentecost and Persecution
The outpouring of the Holy Ghost brought genuine interest, attention, real conviction, and converts. It will do the same today. But be WARNED, my dear readers, this will also bring lots of persecution! We here at ACMTC KNOW this to be a fact! We’ve had dozens of hate articles written against us in the newspapers in many states. We are slandered, wrongly accused and labeled as a “cult” and as “hate messengers”. TV, radio, internet and word of mouth have carried many allegations thru the years in order to STOP us! We’ve been raided by the police many times (usually after a false report by our “church” enemies), but God has seen us thru it all. Every lie out of the pit of Hell has been hurled at us. (Spent time in jail/prison also!)
Just lately in our corp, we had a dispute (we’re not glorified saints yet!) which resulted in having the law pay us a visit. The officer had been to our camp several times before on friendly terms, but because he is a Roman Catholic he apparently saw the perfect opportunity to make our whole camp look bad. He manipulated several key members to fill out complaints against me, which they did–but later we found out that he USED those reports to cause me lots of trouble with the county officials. He had these members exaggerate the problem which later was picked up by the local newspaper. The first news report was totally exaggerated and biased. After I personally talked to the newspaperman and explained the real situation, he apologized and printed several more realistic articles. However, this did not stop our hateful enemies (who make it a hobby to monitor our camp!) from spreading the first article all over the internet and by word of mouth. Of course the enemies never give the more true accounts, even if they are eventually printed. This type of persecution has been going on with us since 1983.
One police officer (state policeman) that tried to destroy us (having over 3 dozen police in our Headquarters) lost his job and was made to be the FOOL! The fabricated story that he had been motivated by was so exaggerated that it was more than hard to believe–but our enemies believed it UNTIL the person who started the BIG LIE was sought for to be arrested. The person left the state to escape the authorities!!
So, dear ones, when you hear or read something about us, always remember that the reports are highly exaggerated and biased. We’re not angels, we do make mistakes, but the Devil and his (usually “Christian”) agents work to destroy this work that God has given us. But praise God, this is WAR! Now our camp is stronger than ever before. God is doing MANY MIRACLES for us, and our enemies are our footstool.
Persecution is all part of Christian growth and fruit-bearing. Time and space limit me from writing about the times we have endured persecutions similar to what I have already mentioned. Yet we can look back over the years and count many souls that God has struck down because of their attacks against us. Some are literally dead, others confined to a wheelchair, others have cancer and heart troubles, and so on. God is our protector. Of course, we always seek to forgive our enemies, and leave the rest to God and His divine justice.
Thank God for the Holy Ghost! He (not It) leads and guides us thru our trials and tribulations. He anoints us with spiritual power to tread down our enemies when necessary. He gives us power to prevail. Persecution is part of a godly Christian life. When many believers get persecuted, they fall away. But we should never let persecutions get us down–except ONTO OUR KNEES!
The early Apostles prayed for greater power and boldness (Acts 4:23-31)–the thing that got them persecuted. Acts 4:29-30 tells us, “And now, Lord, consider their (the enemies’) threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform MIRACULOUS SIGNS AND WONDERS thru the name of your holy servant Jesus.” Yes, Lord! Give all of us more boldness to preach and teach your Word and perform the MIRACULOUS. The devils HATE THIS!! Yet we must face the enemies of Christ that breathe out criticisms, persecutions, rejections, and threats. Don’t let fear cause you to be stopped.
The Churches today NEED signs, wonders, healings, miracles–these confirm the Gospel. Be encouraged, dear Christian, greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world. If more MIRACLES were wrought today, notable miracles, even the dying world would take earnest notice that we are of Christ. We have seen many come to Christ because of divine MIRACLES.