The Believer’s Paradox

Arthur Pink, 1937 “Lord, I do believe! Help my unbelief!” (Mar_9:24). This was the honest confession of one whose faith had been put to a most severe test. It issued from a man who had a son possessed by a demon, which grievously tormented him, “Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. […]

The Perspective of the Bible

The plan of the Bible is not logical, as of a treatise, but historical; and, therefore, must be viewed in relations of time. It must be looked at in its depths, and in its distances, in order to be understood and appreciated. It is not a string of propositions, but a series of pictures; and […]

Old Testament Archaeology and History Part 3

Q: Is Ex 38:8 evidence of later composition, as they [allegedly] did not have bronze mirrors back then? A: No, because they did have bronze mirrors, as Can Archaeology Prove the Old Testament? p.31 says. Bronze is an alloy of copper and 2-18 percent tin. (The KJV said brass, because 400 years ago any alloy of copper […]

Walking in Confidence before God (Rom. 3:21-31)

Review of session 2 The gospel of grace is distorted in two ways: first, by people seeking to earn God’s love and forgiveness; second, by a half-hearted response to receiving God’s grace. In both ways, people can receive the grace of God in vain. Receiving it in vain means receiving it in a way that […]

Fasting – Key to Power

It has been well said that prayer is not preparation for the battle – prayer IS the battle. And of all the things we can do to enhance the power and focus of prayer, fasting is doubtless the most potent. This is where the power is at, because fasting puts us in harmony with an […]

Overview of Deuteronomy – F.B. Hole

The title of this book, which translated into English, is “Second-Law,” indicates its character; for in it Moses recapitulates and enforces the whole law system to which Israel was committed. Deuteronomy 1.2-1.3 remind us that the wilderness journey from Horeb, where the law was given, to the border of the land would normally occupy eleven […]

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN BEVERE’S THOUGHT Part5

Note By RaymondTheBrave:- These set of posts are not meant to discredit John Bevere. I have read many of his books and learnt from them. However like many men of God have some very sound teaching so we must not throw out all that John Bevere has taught just because he has a specific teaching on Shepherding. The persons name on this article could […]

THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID

(The New Testament Church) Amos 9:11 (NASB) “In that day I will raise up the fallen booth (House) of David, And wall up its breaches; I will also raise up its ruins, And rebuild it as in the days of old; Amos 9:11 (KJV) In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David […]

Intercessor – Chapter 2 Two Shocks

TWO SHOCKS Not until Rees was twenty-two did anything happen to alter the quiet course of his life at home. By then he was a fine-looking, broad-shouldered young man of nearly six feet, with sensitive hands, the striking square-cut forehead which one sometimes sees among the Welsh, and above all, remarkable eyes, .crystal clear and penetrating, .the eyes of a seer. Beneath the quiet surface, however, one strong tide was running – ambition. He wanted to see the world, he wanted to make money, and America became the loadstone. Several young men from the village had gone to the U.S.A. and were sending back glowing reports of the money they were making, earning in one day what it would take a week to get in South Wales. When Rees heard this, nothing could hold him back, not even the pull of home. He ”weighed the losses and gains, and America won every time.” His brothers were studying for careers, but he decided ”to make money and retire early in life”! He had a cousin, Evan Lewis, who had emigrated and taken work at New Castle, in the steel area round Pittsburgh, and Rees took ship and joined him, getting employment in a tin mill. Before he left Brynamman, however, a word from God came to him, which he called the greatest blessing he received before his conversion. One Sunday night, a month before he sailed, he came late to church, and as it was crowded out, he stood in the vestibule. The minister was reading Hebrews 12:1. ”Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses…” ”These witnesses,” he said, ”are the men of faith mentioned in the previous chapter and we ought to realize they are around us; we know they are real, because Moses and Elijah spoke to the Saviour on the Mount of Transfiguration, and the disciples saw them.” The minister then said straight out, just as if he knew Rees was listening, ”Young man, you may be leaving home, you may be going to a place where your parents will not see you; but remember, the cloud of witnesses and God will see you.” The words struck home to Rees. They were new to him and the effect was ”an impression from the other world” coming over him. ”I saw the Mount of Hebrews 12:22,” he said, ”the city of the living God, the general assembly and church of the firstborn,” and he saw them, not as spies, but there to encourage and strengthen him. It was God’s overshadowing Hand again, putting an external restraint on His chosen vessel, until He revealed His Son to him; for till that day came, this cloud of witnesses remained ”the greatest reality” of his life. When he left his homeland Rees continued to live the same religious life in America, here he became a member of a church and never missed a prayer meeting. Only once did he nearly, yield to the temptation of worldly amusements, when a friend invited him to go to a big boxing match. Doubtless his former interest in boxing was the attraction.” But the Restraining Hand was upon him. The day before the match, the thought came to him, ”If your father or uncle were here, would you go? And what about the cloud of witnesses?” He told his friend he wouldn’t accompany him that night for a fortune! Living an upright life like that, how could God bring him to the realization that he was born in sin and needed to be saved? Even the minister of his church thought he was ”the best young man in the congregation” – an indication that the minister himself must have needed what Rees needed! His case was not unlike Paul’s, ”As touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless”; and until there is a conviction of need, there can never be a desire for a change. But God has His ways. The first mark that God made on him was through his cousin, Evan Lewis. T-Ie gave Rees a sudden shock one night by asking him if he was ”born again”. Rees had never heard the expression. He was ”as ignorant of it as Nicodemus”. But he knew he was wounded and raised his defenses” ”What do you mean? My life is as good as yours.” ”That’s not the point. Put it this way: Do you know you are saved?” ”I am a Christian, and that’s good enough for me.” But though he professed to be unconvinced, his complacency was shaken. His cousin was faithful and did not let the matter drop, although it always seemed to end in fruitless argument. But one day the arrow really found its mark. His cousin told him that when his sister was dying she had […]

Intercessor – Chapter 1 The Early Years

EARLY YEARS Rees Howells was born on October 10, 1879, the sixth of a family of eleven. The little white- washed cottage still stands on the Llandilo Road, in the mining village of Brynamman, South Wales, where Thomas and Margaret Howells brought up their three girls and eight boys. It is a wonder that the little home could contain them! It was a hard struggle in the early years. Rees’ father had employment in the iron works, and afterwards in a coal mine. His wages, the sole source of income for the family, was the handsome sum of 2s. 3d. or 2s. 6d. a day, and sometimes, when a strike was on, there would be nothing at all, and no Unemployment Benefit. In later years he opened a little shop in the village for the sale and repair of shoes, and things became easier as the older children left school and went to work. But they were a happy family, for godliness and love were pre-eminent in the home. His mother’s love was one of the deepest impressions on Rees’ young life, especially as he watched her ceaselessly nursing on of the three little members of their circle who were later taken from them. As for the proud father, a visitor one day puzzled young Rees by looking round on all the children and exclaiming to his father, ”How rich you are!” ”How could he say you are rich?” Rees asked him later. ”Well, how much would I sell you for?” answered his father. ”For ú1,000? Or would I sell John, David or Dick for ú1,000 each? That’s how rich I am!” Most of the children started work in the local tin mill, at the bottom of the valley below the village. The only education they had was in the one village school. They were not supposed to be employed before they were thirteen years old, but when Rees was only twelve ’and was taking food down to his brothers in the mill, the manager asked him one day if he would like to do little work. His name would not be on the pay roll, but he would give him a wage and put it down in the name of his brother Moses. So Rees’ schooling ended at twelve, and the next ten years were spent in the tin mill, where he was considered a good worker. His job claimed him for twelve hours a day, rising at 6 a.m. and riot returning home till nearly 6 p.m. Both Rees and his brothers felt their need for further education and attended night classes weekly in the village school, In those days there was no such thing as a library in the village; the only reading center was a little newspaper shop, where for a penny a month they could go and read the newspaper or borrow a book. By these means two of his brothers passed several examinations, John, the oldest, joining the Railway Company, and Dick becoming a colliery manager. Rees himself did not take up any specific line of study, but he did show signs of organizing capacity! When his mother would give the boys odd jobs to do, the others would each do their own, but Rees would usually manage to get about half a dozen of his friends to help him-and then ask his mother to give them all dinner! She must have wondered if it was worth asking Rees to do a job! The generosity, which was such a marked characteristic of his later life, was also to be seen in his boyhood days. He would give all he had away. One of his brothers tells how a customer came into the shop to buy some shoes, when his father was absent. The customer tried to persuade this brother to reduce the price from 3s. 9d. to 2s. 6d., but he refused. A few days later she called in and told the story to his father, giving a description of ”the salesman”, which could fit either Rees or the brother. It didn’t take the father a second to choose, for he knew Rees couldn’t have refused her Rees developed a fine physique, and was interested in physical training. He brought home dumb-bells, boxing gloves, and so on, and took his brothers on in friendly fights. A healthy appetite accompanied a healthy body. Dick and Rees arrived back late some nights from their various occupations. If Dick came in first, so the story goes, his mother who had gone upstairs would call down, ”Is that you, Dick? Help yourself to a piece of tart.” But if Rees preceded Dick, his mother would call down, ”Is that you, Rees? There’s a tart on the table. Leave a piece for Dick”! But outstanding from Rees’ earliest days was his consciousness of God. It seemed as if an […]