Fourth Year Ministries

Q: 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 – Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and so do his servants. How do we know if its from GOD or from the Devil? There are many miracles, strange events that take place across the world, i have read your post about Wondering Signs and wonders but i am still confused, i am not able to get a clear picture on how to distinguish which and what is right!! For example: STIGMATA - it's not mentioned in the bible, anyone receiving these marks or anything related to it or is it mentioned anywhere?..i don't remember coming across anything like that in bible. There are quite few strange signs that is going around this world. And i agree and stick with your point, anything that deviates from god and his words isn't genuine. But what about stigmata? A: If I am understanding your question correctly, you have read through P. Scott's post on Signs and Wonders . You agree that God's Word is the tool that we are to use to distinguis...

Q: Why does Jesus turn the water into wine in John chapter 2, when he tells his mother that it is not yet his time? A: This is a really great question! If you briefly survey commentators and notes on this passage, you'll see that the significance of this particular statement and passage is not uniformly agreed upon. Some groups maintain that this passage (among others) teaches that Jesus can never say "No" to His mother and thereby proves the efficacy of prayers to Mary. Other groups vehemently deny this claim. Some say that Jesus' response to His earthly mother is disrespectful or at least indicative of a change in their relationship as He is entering into public ministry. Clearly, opinions vary. So, what is this passage in John 2 here for and what is God communicating through His word to His people? Part of the reason for such varying opinion is that the text simply doesn't explain exactly why Jesus responds to His mother in this way and then changes th...

Question –“What do you think about: gold dust, diamond dust and gems appearing in church services? Do you think they are from God?” A: I have to admit, when I first read this question I had no idea what the Questioner was talking about. I had not heard of these things or even similar things happening. So I figured I had better find out if in fact they were happening and under what circumstances. With a little surfing of the Internet, I was able to find several stories relating to this claimed phenomenon. Case One: A small church in San Juan, Puerto Rico, had reported that precious gems had miraculously appeared during their church services. These included what appeared to be diamonds, gold, silver, topaz, emeralds, and rubies. They also claimed that mysterious oil with the fragrance of roses began pouring from their ceiling and walls. They assert that the numbers of precious stones that appear are based on their worship and adoration as they praised God. They even claim th...

Q: In the New Testament, we see that Jesus regularly healed physical ailments (e.g., leprosy, blindness, paraplegia, etc.), he healed demon possession (i.e., by casting them out), and he even healed (restored) life to a corpse (e.g., Lazarus). Why did we never see Jesus heal 'heart issues’? We know from Scripture that God can harden hearts (e.g., Pharaoh) for his glory. Can He soften them? Can He change them? Can Jesus mend a 'broken' heart? A: Any time we attempt to answer a question that Scripture does not explicitly answer itself, we need to be cautious. This is a question of that type. What follows is my best guess (!) – I can’t claim to know for certain why the biblical authors never recorded the healing of ‘heart issues,’ but I can speculate! :) If we focus our attention on the miracles of Jesus, we don’t witness much “internal healing.” While emotional ailments are very real (e.g. depression, ‘broken’ hearts, etc.), the main thrust of Jesus’ healing ministry re...