Bible Doctrine

The Book Of The Prophet Jonah Contains A Spiritual Secret That Could Radically Change Your Daily Walk With The Lord

Jonah knew the nature and character of God, and trusted in that with his whole heart and soul. His falling asleep in the boat is not presumption or arrogance, it is trust!

Published

5 years ago

October 7, 2018

Geoffrey Grider

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Jonah in the whale’s belly is a sign of Jesus Christ on the cross, but the prophetic links continue all the way to the time of Jacob’s trouble

When the book of Jonah is taught and preached, more often than not it is around two main scriptural components. The first message most expositors take from Jonah is the fact that Jesus in the gospels connects Jonah’s time in the whale’s belly to His time on the cross, and the 3 days and nights that followed. The second most used topic taken from Jonah centers around his rebellion to follow God’s instructions to obey the call on his life as a preacher and a prophet.

“Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.” Matthew 12:38-41 (KJV)

But there is a third element found in Jonah’s account that, though it is often overlooked, yields a rich spiritual power to those who find it. It is found of those Bible students who are willing to obey 2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV) and study like the ‘workmen’ we are commanded be. Jonah has a secret, and today you will see what that is, and how it will help you to be a stronger, more victorious Christian in your daily walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us begin our study of the prophet Jonah by establishing a few key points:

YES, JONAH WAS ACTUALLY SWALLOWED BY A WHALE: “Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” Jonah 1:17 (KJV). Many a fruitless argument has been waged over whether or not Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale and literally spent 3 days and 3 nights in the whale’s belly. I say it’s fruitless because the verification of those events are attested to personally by Jesus Christ in Matthew 12:40 as shown at the top of this article.
JONAH IS A PROPHETIC SIGN OF JESUS ON THE CROSS: Jonah when in the whale tells us that he has died and cried out to the Lord from the pit of Hell. “And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.” Jonah 2:2 (KJV). His description of his deathly agony continues. “The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.” Jonah 2:5,6 (KJV). While Jonah literally experienced this horror, it is also a type picture of what Jesus Himself would accomplish at the cross and the subsequent 3 days and 3 nights He would spend in the depths of Hell, literally and actually. ‘Good Friday’ you say? Not on your life, Jesus went to the cross on a Wednesday. This is why Jesus tells the Pharisees the only sign they were going to get would be the sign of Jonah – Jesus on the cross.
JONAH IS CALLED TO THE GENTILES, NOT THE JEWS: Jonah in the whale’s belly is a sign of Jesus Christ on the cross, but the prophetic links do not end there. You will notice that God has called Jonah to preach to the gentile Ninevites, and the entire nation repents and gets right with God even down to the animals. “So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.” Jonah 3:5-8 (KJV). This is a prophetical type picture of the ministry of the 144,000 witnesses in the time of Jacob’s trouble who will preach to an unsaved and mostly gentile world, with the end result being a huge number of gentiles getting saved in the Tribulation. “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Revelation 7:9,10,13,14 (KJV).

So as you can see, far from being simply an entertaining Sunday School story we tell children, the events found in the book of Jonah are jammed-packed with hardcore prophetical importance. Now that we have laid the groundwork for what Jonah is really all about, let us now dig a little deeper and see if we can uncover Jonah’s ‘secret’.

Discovering the true meaning of the story of Jonah

We are all familiar with the story of Jonah. God calls him to preach to the wicked gentile Ninevites, and Jonah doesn’t want to do it. So instead of obeying God, Jonah boards a boat to Tarshish, thinking he will place himself beyond God’s call. But quickly we see this is not to be the case.

“But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.” Jonah 1:3,4 (KJV).

From the very moment Jonah boarded the boat, two things happened. First, God sent a mighty storm that was so intense that the seasoned mariners were terrified that their ship was about to be ripped in two. Second, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship to catch up on some much-needed sleep. What?? Talk about a dichotomy, but there it is. And it is right here where we are introduced to why Jonah could sleep soundly and peacefully while the sailors were beside themselves in fear.

“Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.” Jonah 1:5,6 (KJV)

The Bible doesn’t say that Jonah was ‘napping’ or trying to catch ‘40 winks‘, it says that Jonah was ‘fast asleep’. That means he was sleeping deeply and restfully, like someone without a care in the world. Yet, for the sailors up on top, it is a living nightmare. How can this be?

Jonah’s spiritual secret is so simple yet profound

Jonah’s spiritual ‘secret’ was that he personally knew the nature and character of the God he served. He had seen Him work and move in the past, he had the testimony of all the scripture written up to that point, and he believed everything that he knew to be true about God. Not only that, because he knew who God was, he also knew what God would do in a given situation, and he trusted in that with all his heart.

How much did Jonah believe in what he knew to be true about God? He believed it enough to bet his own life on the fact that he would not be killed in that storm on the boat because God had a call on his life to go to Nineveh. Think about this amazing level of faith Jonah had in God and in what the Bible declares to be true about God. He didn’t just mouth the words or understand it intellectually, he knew in his heart it was true and he trusted in his faith in God. What else was there to do but to go to sleep?! Does this remind you of anyone else?

“Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.” Luke 8:22-24 (KJV)

Will you look at that? Who do we see here sleeping in the hold of the ship while the fisherman cry out in peril of their lives? We see Jesus, just like Jonah, fast asleep in the ship while the storm rages above. The disciple come to Him excitedly, waking Him up and crying out ‘ we perish!’. And what does Jesus have to say to them? He rebukes them.

“And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.” Luke 8:25 (KJV)

It is in this question by Jesus to His disciples that we have fully discovered Jonah’s spiritual secret. Jesus asks “where is YOUR faith”, and He asks it rhetorically because it is obvious that they don’t really have much faith, if any at all. But by this point they certainly should have, don’t you think?

By the time we see Jesus in the boat in Luke 8, the disciples had already seen Jesus heal the servant of the Centurion, heal the man with the withered hand, listened to the entire Sermon on the Mount, seen Jesus provide a miraculous overflowing catch of fish, heal people of leprosy, and the list goes on and on. Yet when it was their turn ‘in the fire’, they had not very much faith at all. They should have been able to fall asleep just like Jesus was, but they could not. They were missing a key ingredient that Jonah had in abundance.

What does your storm look like?

So many times Jonah gets a bad rap for his disobedience to what God called him to do, and maybe rightly so, but in doing that we overlook his amazing faith in the God he knew personally and trusted personally. Now apply it to yourself, let’s make it real. Think about the last time, and maybe it’s happening right now as you read this, that God allowed you to go through a really rough and fiery trial.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)

Maybe God has allowed you to lose your employment and become homeless for a season. Maybe you were recently diagnosed with bad news from the doctor. Maybe you have lost a spouse or a child, and feel like your whole world is coming apart at the seams. Maybe it’s one or more of any number of dozens of things that can happen in our lives that can and do shake us to our core.

Now what’s your reaction, is it one of faith or fear? The sailors on Jonah’s boat were very strong men who were highly experienced seamen. But the storm that God laid on that boat rocked them to their core, that’s how bad it was. Jonah slept soundly because he knew who God was, and he knew that God would deliver him.

“And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.” Jonah 4:2 (KJV)

Jonah could sleep on the boat because he knew God would deliver him. Jonah didn’t want to preach to the wicked Ninevites, whom he hated, because he knew God would have mercy on them and allow them to repent. How about you, Christian, what do you know about God?

Do you know enough about God to know He cares for you? “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 (KJV)
Do you know enough about God to place your life in His hands? “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” John 10:28 (KJV)
Do you know enough about God to know He has saved you? “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” 1 John 5:13 (KJV)
Do you know that God will hear and answer your prayers? “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Romans 8:26 (KJV)

Jonah knew the nature and character of God, and trusted in that with his whole heart and soul. His falling asleep in the boat is not presumption or arrogance, it is trust! Are you in a storm today? Trust in the Lord, and then rest in that trust. Sleep in that trust.

This is Jonah’s spiritual secret, trusting in the Lord, and then resting in it. This is what Jesus was teaching the disciples on the boat. This is the secret to, and the essence of, the Christian life.

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5,6 (KJV)

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Bible Doctrine

There Is No Such Thing As ‘Limited Atonement’ In Your King James Bible, Jesus Christ Paid For The Sins Of The Goats Just As Much As For The Sheep

Published

2 months ago

April 12, 2023

Geoffrey Grider

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No such thing as a limited atonement in the Bible as far as what Jesus did on the cross is concerned, the atonement God provided becomes self-limiting when it’s refused by a sinner who doesn’t want it.

John Calvin was a philosopher who created a system of biblical interpretation that ‘sounds good’ when you first hear it, but if you have any Bible knowledge at all, it falls apart pretty quickly. The theology of Calvinism has been immortalized in the acronym TULIP, which states the five essential doctrines of total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints. With all that in mind, let’s take a look at limited atonement, shall we?

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 (KJB)

I went to a site supporting Calvinism and found this definition of limited atonement: The doctrine of limited atonement—the L in TULIP—teaches that Christ effectively redeems from every people “only those who were chosen from eternity to salvation” (Canons of Dort, II.8). As Ursinus explains in his commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, Christ’s death was for everyone “as it respects the sufficiency of satisfaction which he made, but not as it respects the application thereof.” In other words, the death of Christ was sufficient to atone for the sins of the whole world, but it was God’s will that it should effectively redeem those and only those who were chosen from eternity and given to Christ by the Father. Particular redemption is often considered a more favorable term, because the point of the doctrine is not to limit the mercy of God, but to make clear that Jesus did not die in the place of every sinner on the earth, but for his particular people. source

So that’s the premise of limited atonement, that Jesus on the cross only paid the sin debt of the sheep who would believe, but no payment for the goats who rejected Him. Does that sound right to you? Sure doesn’t sound right to me, and your King James Bible is in agreement as well. Jesus on the cross paid for the sins of the whole world, everyone. He paid for the sins of Adolf Hitler, Buddha and the Ayatollah Khomeini just as much as He paid for the sins of Jim Elliot, DL Moody and Robert Sheffey.

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” 1 Timothy 2:3-6 (KJB)

Now John Calvin and John MacArthur teach that the “all men” is only referring to the elect, and not to ‘all men’ even though is says all men. But as you can clearly see, three times in the passage Paul is telling us that Jesus paid for the sins of all men. What would settle this debate, would be if we could find a verse showing that the Lord Jesus bought and paid for the sins of the people who rejected Him and who didn’t want His payment. Does such a verse exist? Yep, sure does.

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” 2 Peter 2:1 (KJB)

Peter shows us a remarkable truth, that Jesus bought and paid for the sins of the people who rejected Him, who died in their sins as the entire chapter shows us, and went to Hell despite having their sins paid for. Wait a minute! If their sins were ‘bought and paid for’, how did they wind up in Hell? That’s a great question, it’s such a good question in fact that John MacArthur and all his many minions are unable to answer it. Your King James Bible doesn’t hesitate for even a nano second to answer it.

“And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” Ephesians 1:22,23 (KJB)

“That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:12-14 (KJB)

Jesus died on the cross, shed God’s blood, and made a payment for the sins of the whole world. When a sinner hears the gospel, receives it and believes it, they are then ‘sealed unto the day of redemption’ and placed into the body of Christ, which the Bible says is the Church. Do you see what just happened there? Don’t miss it! A sinner is saved when they believe the gospel and then put into the body of Christ. How is that possible? Because Jesus made their payment on the cross. A payment for who? For all sinners. What happens to the sinners who hear the gospel and refuse it? They are not put into the body of Christ, they remain unsaved, die in their sins and spend eternity in Hell. So who are the elect? Glad you asked.

“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” 1 Peter 1:2 (KJB)

“Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.” Romans 8:33 (KJB)

The elect are not a pre-determined group of people, meaning God did not preselect some to be saved and some to be lost, that’s not Bible doctrine. The elect in the Church Age are sinners who heard the gospel, believed it and became born again. Can anyone become part of the elect? Absolutely, happens all the time. In just the past few weeks, Amber, Shaun and Patricia prayed to get saved after considering the gospel for a period of time. Those 3 souls are part of the newly-elected body of Christ. But what about predestination, you cry?!? Glad you asked.

“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Romans 8:29,30 (KJB)

Look carefully at those verses from Romans 8 I just gave you, what does it say? It says that God 1). foreknew who would believe the gospel and become born again, no question about it, God is omniscient. Now what did He predestinate those souls to do? God predetermined what would happen to all those souls who trusted in Him, the verse does not say He predetermined who those souls would be. This is where MacArthur, Sproul and even John Calvin hit the wall and crashed. An understanding of 6th grade English shows you that quite clearly.

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 (KJB)

God foreknew who would receive the gospel, and predetermined what would happen to them after they got saved. All mapped out ahead of time. But if you cannot understand basic English, and know the difference between the subject and the object, then you will come to a wrong conclusion every time. No such thing as a limited atonement in the Bible as far as what Jesus did on the cross is concerned, the atonement God provided becomes self-limiting when it’s refused by a sinner who doesn’t want it.

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“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

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Bible Doctrine

Contrary To What The Hyper-Dispensationalists Tell You, The Body Of Christ Began At The Cross And Not Somewhere In The Book Of Acts, And It’s Before Paul

Published

3 months ago

March 21, 2023

Geoffrey Grider

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The body of Christ started the same time the Church started, on the cross at Calvary where Jesus made a payment for sin in God’s shed blood.

Nothing like a King James Bible to clear up false teaching, and today we take a look at when the body of Christ, and the Church, actually began. The hyper-dispensationalists will try and tell you that it started in Acts with the commission of Paul, and nothing could be further from the truth. Paul himself tells you in Romans 16:7 that there were many people in the body of Christ before he was. In fact, the body of Christ doesn’t begin anywhere in the book of Acts, it begins on the cross at Calvary.

“And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:” Ephesians 2:16 (KJB)

What was Jesus doing on the cross? Lots of things. First of all, Jesus went to the cross to make a payment for sin, and that payment is the shed blood of God as we see in Acts 20:28. That payment is the thing that makes reconciliation between lost sinners and a holy and righteous God possible. Heretics like John MacArthur and the ‘reformed’ crowd will try and talk you out of it, but don’t you let them.

“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;” Ephesians 1:7 (KJB)

“But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:13 (KJB)

Secondly, Jesus shed blood on the cross established something on this earth the bible calls the body of Christ. What is the body of Christ? It is Jew and Gentile come together by faith in Jesus Christ and His work on the cross, and it is called the church, the called out assembly. On the day of Pentecost, this assembly, the Church, was placed into the body of Christ where it will remain for all eternity. Everyone who becomes born again by saving faith in what Jesus did on the cross, and receives that payment made in God’s blood, is placed into the body of Christ through the Church.

“And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” Ephesians 1:22,23 (KJB)

By the time Paul meets Jesus on the road to Damascus, the Church is well established and made up exclusively of Jews and Jewish proselytes. But when the Holy Ghost is offering them the Kingdom of Heaven in Acts 7, all they have to do is believe and repent at the preaching of Stephen, they instead murder him, an act which simultaneously put the Kingdom of Heaven on a 2,000 year pause, and ushered in what we call the dispensation of the Church Age. From this point on, Jews will be side-by-side with Gentiles in a mystery called the body of Christ which Jesus will task Paul with revealing. It didn’t start with Paul, but the knowledge of it comes through Paul by the Spirit. It began on the cross at Calvary.

“For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.” Ephesians 3:1-7 (KJB)

Paul was given the job of revealing the mystery of the body of Christ, but it did not start with him as you can obviously see. The hyper-dispensationalists get it wrong, as they usually do, because they don’t understand what the ‘rightly dividing’ of 2 Timothy 2:15 actually is. True biblical rightly dividing is not a hammer to smash things with in large pieces, as evidenced in the ‘Romans to Philemon!!’ battle cry of the hypers. No, rightly dividing is done on a verse-by-verse-basis anywhere in the Bible, comparing what you read, in the context that you find it, to what God has written through the apostle Paul.

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

CLICK NOW TO HELP US SEND THOUSANDS OF KING JAMES BIBLES INTO JAIL, PRISONS AND DETENTION CENTERS ALL ACROSS AMERICA!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Bible Doctrine

If You Think That Signs, Miracles And Wonders Are For The Church Age, We Invite You To Take Our NTEB Mark 16 Challenge And Post Your Score Below!

Published

3 months ago

March 8, 2023

Geoffrey Grider

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Can you perform all 5 of the signs, miracles and wonders Jesus lays out in our NTEB Mark 16 Challenge? We invite you to try it and see how well you do!

Let’s get right into it, shall we? In the beginning of the Church Age, when the last of the apostles died, they were not replaced. The Bible was finished being written around the year 96 AD, and there has been exactly zero new biblical revelations from God since that time. Boatloads of revelation, wisdom and insight on what He spent 1,500 years to write, but no new revelation. There are no prophets, there are no apostles, and signs, miracles and wonders are not for believers in the age of grace.

“(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)” 2 Corinthians 5:7 (KJB)

The main people promoting this false gospel of signs, miracles and wonders are a branch of the Charismatic Movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation, and a more deluded bunch you have never seen. They stand on stage telling people to not pray when they or a loved one are sick, but to ‘claim your healing’ and all will be well. But sadly, real life in the Church Age doesn’t work like that. Bethel shaman Bill Johnson found that out when his ‘co-pastor’ wife Beni got sick with cancer. Despite years of teaching that Christians can just ‘claim their healing’, she was unable to claim hers. Does that make Bill Johnson a false teacher? It sure does, and a dangerous one at that.

Maybe you are one of those people who believe that signs, miracles and wonders are for today, and that reading this article is making you mad. If that’s you, take this little test and see how well you do. Remember that we are scoring on the 5-point must system, and that you must be able to do all 5 things Jesus says the people He is talking to can do. Buckle up and let’s take the test!

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CLICK TO VIEW AND PURCHASE KING JAMES BIBLE COMMENTARIES THAT WILL HELP YOU TO RIGHTLY DIVIDE THE SCRIPURES AS THE APOSTLE PAUL COMMANDS US TO DO!!

Take The Mark 16 Challenge:

Doctrinally speaking, Jesus is addressing His disciples who are awaiting the installation of the literal, physical and visible Kingdom of Heaven on the earth. Prophetically, Jesus is speaking about the 144,000 witnesses that show up during the time of Jacob’s trouble. The people He is not speaking to is me and you living here in the Church Age, hence the whole point of taking this test in the first place.

“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Mark 16:15-18 (KJB)

CASTING OUT DEVILS: “And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils” Start with that, can you cast out devils from the body of the afflicted person? To the people Jesus is speaking to, they absolutely can. First you have to be able to discern between demon possession and mental illness, can you do that, doctor? You might want to tread lightly with this one. But please feel free to take a shot, this is a favorite of Charismatics and Roman Catholics. In fact, back in 2019, the Vatican started giving courses in exorcisms to Christian pastors, what an amazing coincidence! (insert eye-roll here)
NEW TONGUES: “they shall speak with new tongues;” When was the last time that you, in the Spirit, were able to speak in a foreign language you did not know? I am not talking about the made-up nonsense of Kenneth Copeland and Rodney Howard Browne, I am talking about the biblical gift on tongues which, as Acts 2:5-12 shows us, is the ability to speak a known foreign language not previously known to the speaker. Comment below with story of when you did this, and what was said by you after the biblically-appointed interpreter – 1 Corinthians 14:26-30 – has translated what you said.
SNAKE HANDLING: “They shall take up serpents;” Can you handle venomous snakes, get bit and shake it off like Paul does in Acts 28:5? Why not? This is one of the signs, why can’t you do it? Pastor Jamie Coots of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name church died after handling a snake because, well, snake handling is not for the Church Age. But please, feel free to prove me wrong. (seriously, don’t do it).
DRINKING POISON: “and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;” The snake handling and the poison drinking are both under the banner of “it shall not hurt them”. That said, how well would you fare with cyanide in your Diet Coke? Come on, man! So far, if you’re honest, you are 0-for-4. But the passage is talking about Revelation 8:11.
HEALING THE SICK: “they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” I am still waiting for anyone to be able to do this, and if you can please email me, I have a few sick friends who could really use your gift. Of course, Jesus is referring to James 5:13-15, passages fulfilled during the time of Jacob’s trouble.

Who could do these things when Jesus said them? Why, the apostles of course, and Paul did them as did Peter and all the rest. We call this the ‘apostolic signs’, and to have them you have to be an apostle. No exceptions. These signs were used to bring in the Kingdom Age which did not happen after the murder of Stephen in Acts 7. These signs were also used to show the people that the apostles were who they said they were as the New Testament was being written. During the time of Jacob’s trouble, the 144,000 witnesses from Revelation 7:1-8 will have all of these signs, and will ‘finish the job’. You will notice that our modern-day false prophets of the New Apostolic Reformation healed exactly no one during the COVID pandemic, and the few that attempted to prophesy failed miserably. So the next time you are introduced to ‘Apostle So-and-So’, and ‘Prophet Fair-thee-well’, send them this link and ask them to take the test. Please be sure to post your score in the comments section so we can all see how much of an apostle you are. I’ve always wanted to meet one!

Meet some of the ‘apostles and prophets’ of the Charismatic Movement

These are the people who tell you that ‘signs, miracles and wonders’ are for today, watch them in action and tell me if you believe them.

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“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

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