Is an apparent contradiction good reason for disbelief of the Word

[Richard Holbrook]

Thank you for sharing that testimony Beryl. God bless you. I too have a testimony where I had to be made weak before God could help me. I will share it tommorrow maybe. I'm to tired right now, I'm going to bed.

I turned in my Bible to 2Cor 12:9 and saw the words of Christ in red there.

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Grace is power. Power to do the right thing. Power to do Gods will. This is the power we don't have of ourselves.

And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Acts 4:33

[Robert]

You were the one that said the flesh and blood were evil/sinful. Where did you get that info from?

Flesh and blood is a metaphor to mean human flesh - our humanity indwelt with sin - the whole person. It can't enter heaven because it is polluted with iniquity - our bent to self...our self-love, that which you hold up to be virtuous.

[Lutz13]

Oh, and reading what you wrote about Grace--I never read anywhere that Jesus said for us to be week so His power could be made perfect. In fact, what I read, Jesus view is 180 degrees from that view.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."(Matthew 5:3) "Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, 'Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against.'"(Luke 2:34) First comes the falling, and then the rising. And for those who refuse to fall on the Rock and be broken, there would be no rising. Yes we must become weak in order for God to take over. Often pride gets in the way and we must fall over and over again until we finally realize that we need our Heavenly Fathers help. He then lifts us up.

[Dr. Rich]

Thanks Lutz13, but "poor in spirit" is a far cry from weak. And Luke was not an eyewitness of Jesus either and his words were not the words of Jesus even tho many think so. Luke was not among those when Jesus said what He did in John 14:26 and 17:20. But then, don't give up your search for the place where Jesus said we must be weak for Him to be strong.

And Beryl, I too have stories much like yours. Hasn't anyone read the book called "The Beautiful Side of Evil" by some lady named Brown?

How do you think those people who visit with Benny Hinn feel when they are 'slain by the spirit'? (I can personally tell you about that!) Don't you realize that Satan can and will do good things for people just to deceive them? Well, I had something much stronger then what you described happen to me but when I yelled out "In the name of Jesus Christ, Satan get out of here"--the vision totally stopped!

I can't count the times I have heard the stories where people played the "Bible Oiji” game by saying they prayed for something and opened up the bible and presto!-it opened up to the page or verse they think they needed to read. Personally, this makes me gag. Don't they realize that Satan can do this--and does?

And Robert, the flesh itself can’t be evil—why? Because it in itself can’t make a choice one way or the other. This whole idea by Paul of the flesh being evil is nonsense. A human is a living soul made from flesh and spirit. You take either away and you do not have a living soul. It’s that simple. The spirit is not good or evil—it is just that-the spirit—the breath of God. What Paul wrote about this issue in Romans 7:14-25 is total rubbish and can’t in anyway be verified by the words of Jesus. I know this for a fact because I tried it many times without success. If anyone can, then I would love to see it.