Featured I’ve had second thoughts about the gospel

I’ve been having second thoughts about what Jesus’ gospel really is all about!
Jesus’ gospel means Jesus’ good news.
Jesus’ GOOD NEWS includes the fact that God is a personal God who really cares about people!
So, Jesus preached the word, performed miraculous healings, and cast demons out of people.

Jesus came to preach the gospel, to heal the sick, and to help people spiritually
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives (of Satan)
and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed …” (Luke 4:18)

Jesus evangelized with spiritual power, demonstrating God’s love and compassion for the people
“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom,
and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people … and they brought to Him
all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were
demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.” (Matthew 4:23-24)
“When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed.
And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick …” (Matthew 8:16)
“Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel
of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” (Matthew 9:35)

Jesus gave His disciples spiritual power and instructed them what to say and do
“And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits,
to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. … These twelve Jesus sent out
and commanded them, saying: ‘… And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons.” (Matthew 10:1-8)
“Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons,
and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
… So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.” (Luke 9:1-6)
“After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them out two by two …
‘And heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ’ …
Then the 70 returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.’ ” (Luke 10:1-17)

Jesus’ told His disciples what to do after His ascension
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved;
but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe:
In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them;
they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” … And they went out and preached everywhere,
the Lord confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.”(Mark 16:15-20)

After Jesus’ ascension, the apostles continued preaching with signs and wonders
“And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people.
… And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women …
Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people
and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.” (Acts 5:12-16)
“And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.” (Acts 6:8)
“Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord
heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many
who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city.” (Acts 8:5-8)

How Paul evangelized
“And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom,
but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)
“… in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from
Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.” (Romans 15:19)

The New Testament
Everything was recorded and written down for our knowledge and use.
We know what the apostles said and did, and we have exactly the same information they had.
Their preaching and performing miracles always went hand in hand.

What’s the difference between then and now?
Then … Multitudes of lost people needed to be evangelized, and they didn't have Bibles.
Now … Multitudes of lost people need to be evangelized, and they don't have Bibles.
… People need to be evangelized in exactly the same way as was done 2000 years ago.
… The same gospel message needs to also be confirmed by signs, wonders, and miracles.

One major difference
Satan has had many hundreds of years to deceive the church into believing
that the spiritual power gifts are not for today.
You know who Satan is … “the god of this world”, “the ruler of this world”,
the greatest liar and deceiver in the history of this world.

The time is short …
the church needs to get the revelation about what is necessary to evangelize the lost!
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Are you feeling okay today? ... Guess you didn't read/understand the OP..

How Paul evangelized

“And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom,
but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

“… in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from
Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.” (Romans 15:19)

Let's not think too much ... Satan and your flesh are likely to deceive you.
Why not just read, understand, and trust the Scriptures?
Then, of course, there are peoples' testimonies which line up with the Scriptures.
Those would be wise to also keep in mind (i.e. if you have one).
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News Flash …

Historically, man has always been a spiritual idiot.
Historically, Satan has always been the world’s greatest liar and deceiver.
So for 1900 years, many have been deceived into believing God’s signs have ceased.
But, they have not ceased, and now they are really needed!

A parallel is obvious …
Jesus and the apostles used signs and wonders to evangelize people who had no Bibles.
But guess what, today we have literally millions of villages worldwide that have no Bibles.
Many thousands of Muslim villages have no Bibles (they don’t even have Qur’ans!).
Many thousands of Hindu, Buddhist, etc. villages of course have no Bibles.
These villages will respond to the gospel when it is verified by God’s mighty miracles!
This is what is required to break hundreds of years of satanic strongholds.

Who believes this … and who has faith … and who wants to be called to go forth?
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Amy, you're not making much sense in view of what's written in the News Flash!
Why don't you think the gospel today needs validation, especially in the heathen nations?

P.S. If it will make you any happier, I'm not insisting that God put His power UPON anyone.
Just as long as He accompanies His precious gospel with His signs, wonders, and miracles, I'm good!
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Posted by an Administrator in a Christian Forum …
I was once a Cessationist and I BATTLED AGAINST this topic... all I was doing was battling against God.
I surrendered... finally surrendered and a lot of what I wrote above is what He showed me and pointed out to me.
I ignored and refused to accept all those scriptures and events I mention in this post while I was in bondage
to the Cessationist doctrine(s). All those chapters might as well been removed from all the Bible's I had.
When I surrendered, first seeing, and then understanding, and then accepted the truth of those scriptures followed.
Until I threw away that man-made Cessationist doctrine... what God did in my heart "was not possible."
The "cliche" about having "one's eye's opened"... well... when eyes ARE opened to the truth...
they can't be closed again. My eyes were not opened and that cessationist doctrine ENSURED that they stayed
closed to the truth of God's Word. Thus the very HARD period of surrender began some years ago.

I posted:
Almost everyone turns a blind eye to what God has been doing in the way of signs/wonders/miracles.
But, at least they refrain from attributing it all to Satan.

And he responded:
I've raised this fact in many other threads. People don't understand if they CAN'T call a s/w/m of satan...
they need to REALLY look into their heart and ask God... WHY not?
This is one of the MAIN elements in God leading me OUT of the cessationist bondage until the day I was finally free of it.
Then I was truly able to "see" what was false (of satan), fake (of man), and what was real (of God).
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