Jesus Saves, Heals, Delivers - Today!

If you belong to Christ, you are his body. Not figuratively - Literally! (Acts 9:4) 
We went to the International Fair at our county seat, Medina, on Saturday, August 22, to pray. We kickstarted two people, Debbie and David, and prayed for a dozen and saw three dramatic healings. It was a tough crowd, mostly affluent, but we made several breakthroughs.  Jesus lit up three of us at the same time when we ran into a friend who may have "have had" thyroid cancer. She had a recent uncertain diagnosis. We were praying and I felt the power of God, when just at the same time my wife and David from did.  David's wife brought his son, and he has suffered from multiple health issues. His condition is markedly improved, and we continue to press-in (Luke 11 & 18) for complete healing. David was healed of a problem in his left ear, it took three iterations of this complex, theologically rich prayer, and I quote, "Be healed in the name of Jesus!".

Us hobbled, Spirit-starved disciples have made it way too complicated in the past. Guess what!? John 14:12-14 is actually true! Take that passage, memorize it, then go to Luke 18:1-8 and memorize that. When you are exercising faith, recite these passages to yourself. Then, you will see John 14:12 be confirmed. Remember, you don't believe what you don't act on, see Luke 6:46 & James 1:22!!!

At the end of that Saturday, the two we kickstarted were ecstatic with blessed rewards of obedience.

Sunday, at the BIFCCO (Building / Institution - Formerly Called Church Organization), a son of Debbie, one whom we kickstarted the day previous, came to me at the sound board requesting prayer for a pain in his rib cage, caused by congestion and coughing he was recovering from. This was  astonishing to me, because NO ONE comes asking for prayer for anything, I usually have to chase them down. Our BIFCCO has rotating prayer teams down front after service, of which my wife and I have done one week out of the month for three years - and I've prayed for three individuals in that time. In this case, I prayed a short prayer four times, each time checking on his pain, and he said the pain was still there each time. Fifteen minutes later I took him to my wife and we both prayed three times - no better. Then I grabbed my phone, and we watched the video of the spinal stenosis case linked to above, to help bolster our faith.  We prayed one more time, “Pain be gone in the name of Jesus!”.  He looked up suddenly, with a surprised but delightful look, and said, “It’s GONE!”  I could NOT contain my elation, high fives all around!.  This was a huge victory for me, because I’ve had very little success getting miracles to flow in the BIFCCO. There is a threshold traversed when the seeker and the giver BOTH persist until the WORD is confirmed.

Just to clarify, BIFFCO is not a pejorative term for the "institutional church".  I love my church family, and attend The Chapel in Wadsworth every Sunday. The church is Jesus' body. In Greek, it's ekklesia, which means literally "called out ones". The true church is not a building or an institution - it IS an assembly of "believers".  It is the whole group of true disciples that live throughout the globe... past, present, and future. The New Testament is peppered with this concept of us being the body of Christ. In Acts 9:4, on the road to Damascus, Jesus' voice calls out to Saul (later called Paul), saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?!"  Saul was persecuting Christians. Jesus equates his disciples with himself.

We are going to more events, and my wife is tracking down local food distributions like in Manchester that we can do regularly.  I plan to start video documenting soon and posting them here.

Jesus, thanks for our amazing weekend!

To him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or imagine...

Operation Rhizome aka Rootstalks



The Lord put on my mind a thought, two weeks ago when I was at a birthday party for a nonagenarian, the word, “Rhizome”. I knew it had something to do with roots, what with the root, “rhiz-“, meaning… well, root. I looked up the word in the dictionary.

rhizome - noun, Botany
1.a rootlike subterranean stem, commonly horizontal in position, that usually produces roots below and sends up shoots progressively from the upper surface.”

At first I my flesh kicked in and I thought it could be a great veiled pejorative, like calling someone a rhizome would be to call them a subterranean weed. After I reminded myself that calling someone a fool puts you in danger of “the hellfire”, I thought of how I’ve considered myself an ambassador to the institutional “church”, knowing that I’ve felt like an oddball for some time. Then it hit me. The discipleship that we are embracing, that of Jesus - preach the gospel and heal the sick, can become like a rhizome to the other zombies trapped in the "Building / Institution, Formerly the Church Organization” (henceforth BIFCO). If God can use us to disciple people from many of these BIFCO’s, then it would be like a rhizome. Roots growing underground to spring up in many other BIFCO’s. Another name for a rhizome is “Rootstalks”. I have registered two domain names for the purpose of growing new disciples in BIFCO’s: Rhizome.life and RootStalks.org .  Not that I would have any greater contribution to this process than that of “the soil” (think of the parable of the soils -  the gospel is the seed, WE are the dirt). It is Jesus who builds HIS Church. BTW, the oldest organism on earth, and maybe the largest, is thought to be a grove of Aspens known as Pando. I encourage you to look it up.

More to come...

Who Is Jesus?

Have you ever told a lie? All liars will have their part in the lake of fire.

"But to the cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually immoral, and those who practice magic spells, idol worshipers, and ALL THOSE WHO LIE, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. That is the second death." Revelation 21:8

But - there is hope.

Jesus will save you from all of your sins. Sins are God's laws you have broken. Here's how to be saved: "...Repent, and each one of you be immersed into the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Acts 2:38

Repent means to turn from your evil ways. Turn to Jesus and call on HIS name. "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation." Romans 10:9-10

Then what?

When you are saved, you are now part of God's family. Jesus commands you to be baptized in water, be baptized in the Holy Spirit, then become a disciple AND make disciples of all nations. He spent three years teaching his disciples, then after he was resurrected, and the Holy Spirit came upon them, they started making more disciples by Doing What Jesus Did:

"...He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. “These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

Mark 16:15-18

Did you know that "preach the gospel" and "heal the sick" never appear apart from each other in the Bible? In John 14, Jesus makes some astonishing statements:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it."

Yes, we are called to do the works that Jesus did. This is to our great joy, because giving is better than receiving! The greatest gift is Jesus himself - HE is the truth, the way, and the life! That is the most profound statement in all of human history. Now the only way to "one-up" such a an immeasurable gift, is to give it away! Jesus knows this will bring us more joy, and so invites us to participate in his plan to bring the kingdom of heaven to all who would have him - destroying the works of the devil, saving, healing, and casting out demons. This is God's will.

We know this because even in the "Lord's Prayer", we are to ask that God's Kingdom come, AND that HIS will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Is there sickness in heaven? Is there disease? Is there selfishness, sin, or immorality? Are there blind people? Are there lame people? Is anyone depressed, anxious, or hungry? Did Jesus' ministry address all of these issues? Did he have his disciples do the same thing he did? Did he tell them to go make disciples of all nations? Did he tell them to go make buildings and hide inside them?

Join us, Do What Jesus Did.

I will have more to say, which I will add to this blog as I can. Here is something to think about until then. Is it possible to please God without faith? What activates the miracles of Jesus? What is faith?

-Bruce