BradtheImpaler said:
The way you have formatted prevents me from using quotes for you. I will address your post in general...
First of all the woman with arthritis. Do you know for certain that this woman was unable to get out of that wheelchair at all? No, not only did you not know that, but you didn't even know for sure that her legs were in bad shape. Secondly, do you know that this woman is now healed and no longer needs a wheelchair? Furthermore, do you even know that she needed a wheelchair to begin with? No. You took the whole faith healing "set - up" by faith. Except that is not faith on your part, it is gullibility. I know because I used to have that kind of "faith" too until I realized that all was not as it seemed and I was too easily fooled. Your qualifications for what constitutes a miracle are dreadfully minimal. No doubt that woman got out of that wheelchair everytime she got a little excited and that's all that happened in the meeting.
Now about the "devils"...
You believe demons have screamed at you out of the mouth of the afflicted. Of course, you again take it on faith that that was not the person screaming out of their own mouth which is what any sensible person rooted in the real world would have to assume unless there was supernatural evidence to the contrary which there was not. But wait! They fell on the floor and convulsed :o Well, that proves it I guess? Nobody falls to the floor and convulses under their own power - it had to be a demon! :roll:
Finally, your comment that "demons exist else the bible is all a lie and we are doomed". Now we see clearly why you believe these things. Because you cannot face the prospect of death (death as in cessation of consciousness/non-existence) But that is only a reason to want to believe the bible, not an evidence that these things are true.
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"Any doctrine that will not bear investigation is not a fit tenant for the mind of an honest man" (Ingersoll)
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I have said before that some would not recogize the Holy Spirit if He came down the center Isle with a red hat on. I can say about the same thing to you: you would not believe a miracle if it stared you in the face.
I was standing very close to a man, since I was an usher, that went up in a wheel chair. He said he was a medical doctor, and I believed him. He had been in a bad auto accident, and his thigh had been crushed. Three inches of his thigh bone had been removed, and that leg was three inches shorter than the other one. He had a shoe, with a huge three inch sole, to make up for it. He said he was in constant pain. I saw the man that operated in the gift of miracles hold the leg up so we all could see. You did not have to be close to see that one leg was three inches shorter than the other. The speaker ask him if he had faith to be healed. He said he did not! Then the speaker ask if there was any in the audience that did not believe God would heal him. Two teen girls in my section raised their hands, so he asked them to come to the front. He handed each the microphone after asking them if they could see that one leg was three inches shorter. They said, yes, they could see it. Then he asked them again if they believed that God would heal him. They both said no. Then again, he asked the man if he believed God would heal his leg. AGain, the man said no. The speaker said, if I was going to push your car to start it, what would you have to do? The man said, push in the clutch, or put it in neutral. The speaker then said, will, you go into neutral, and don't resist or fight against me- just stay in neurtal. I have enough faith for all of you. With that said, he grabbed both the man's legs, and said, here comes your healing.
Instantly, and I mean, instantly, so fast that not one person saw the leg move, instanly that short leg was just as long as the other! The man leaped up, shouting, and through his built up shoe off the side of the platform, where there were no people, and started dancing a jig! There was no doubt in any person's mind at that moment that God had performed a miracle. But the teen girls started crying.
Then again, there was a man that prayed for deaf people. I knew where there was a school for the deaf, so I invited them. I think about seven boys came, all born deaf. When the speaker prayed for them, they all received healing, and all could speak what the preacher whispered into their ears. Keep in mind, because they were all born deaf, they could not speak either!
My sister became friends with one of them, and they dated a few times. This boy had to learn to speak, and he did, over time. He kept his healing. All the others lost theirs. But then, none of the others attended church, and this one did.
Then again, the preacher's wife at one church I attended, had a crooked leg. It was twisted so that her right foot pointed towards her left foot, instead of forward. I was right beside her when the evangelist prayed for that leg. All of us heard the bones start popping, and all of us saw that crooked leg turn towards the front! It took perhaps one second! We had all watched her hobble around, and if you think she did this "on purpose," forget it! No one could keep their leg in that position for long, unless the bones were crooked!
Have you ever seen a person with a bad case of arithritus? They have huge knots on their knuckles. Their hands are really deformed. How in the world would someone "fake" that? I saw the knots. This lady's hands were very deformed, as was her back. We all saw these thing become normal within one or two minutes. It was not faked.
Why would a friend try to fake a demon? That would make no sense at all. No, it was truly a miracle. He started breathing hard, his hands came up like claws, he suddenly had a fierce look on his face, like he wanted to claw out my eyes out. His brother ran to the door! I refused to let fear get me, and I got my nose right up to his, and commanded that spirit to come out. Suddenly he stiffened up like a board, let out a blood curdling scream, and slid off my couch onto the floor! In about one second, it was gone. It was real. It was a demon. After it was gone, he told us how this demon had affected him. It was a spirit of doubt. I have cast this same spirit out several times, and each time it went out the same way, with a stiff body and a scream. Believe it!
Then there was a girl that was deathly affraid of the dark. I was visiting the family, and laid my sleeping bag out on the floor. I noticed that the hall light was on, so I switched it off, and intantly this girl started screaming in fright. Her mother came out, and explained that she was affraid of the dark, and I would have to leave the light on. I told her I could change her girl, if she would trust me. I think the girl was about 4 years old. She agreed, and I just laid her down on my chest as I was laying on my back. I started commanding a spirit of fear to come out. Soon she was shaking from head to foot. I asked her why she was shaking, but she did not know. I asked her if she could stop, and she said no. I kept on commanding this spirit to leave, and after about 30 minutes, she quit shaking. She went back to bed (she had always slept back to back to mom.) and I turned out the light. She made not a sound. The next morning, the mom said that the girl said, after the light was out, "I suppose I should be affraid, but I'm not!" She went right to sleep.
I did much deliverance for a period of about 10 years, and saw many such deliverances. I kept at it, in spite of MUCH criticism, because I saw people change.
But then, you would not believe if a miracle stared you in the face. Truly, I feel sorry for you. It would be the pits to have zero faith.
The bible is true, for it is God's word. It would be true whether or not you or I believed it. I believe it, and it is too late for you to change that. I was born again at 7, and knew I was born again. I knew the HS was inside me. I received the mighty baptism with the HS, when I was 20, and I knew that I was changed, and that the HS was upon me. How could one have God in and on them and NOT know it? He has spoken to me MANY times. Yes, it is too late for your doubt to change me.
Coop