“If Charles and Frances Can Do It, You Can Do It Too!”
Charles and Frances Hunter Wanted Everyone to Heal the Sick. Their teachings are still available.
In 2020 Stephen Strang wrote an article called Remembering How Healing Evangelists Charles and Frances Hunter Impacted the World for Jesus. He said:
Do you remember the "Happy Hunters"? I know I do. I was 25 years old when I first met Charles and Frances Hunter, both of whom were healing evangelists for the Lord with a passion for walking in the Spirit's supernatural power. I first saw them at an event they hosted in Kissimmee, Florida. That night, I watched my friend, Gene Lilly, get healed of multiple sclerosis. The Hunters' ministry made such an impact on me that I wrote about them in one of the first articles I ever did for Charisma back when I founded the magazine in 1975.
I remember the Hunters too. In 1980-1981 I attended the very first year of the Hunters’ school of ministry, and my mother and I bought a house that was practically next door to Hunter Ministries, where the school was held. During the years we lived almost next door to Hunter Ministries I had the opportunity to see many healing miracles in the big blue dome where the Hunters held their healing services when they were in town.
One summer--I think it was the summer right after I graduated--the Hunters started a summer school, and I invited two of the summer school students to lunch. Summers are very hot in Texas, our air conditioner wasn’t functioning very well, and I don’t do well in hot weather, but I went ahead and cooked the very small eye of round roast I’d bought for the occasion. Lunch was almost ready when the two students arrived--along with their entire class. I said, “Hmph! I suppose I’m going to have to lay hands on this roast (whereupon I smacked the roast) and command it to multiply in the name of Jesus!” I didn’t think I was praying. I thought I was venting. I went ahead and made the largest salad I could make with what was in the refrigerator, cooked whatever frozen vegetables I had in the freezer, put the food on the counter between the stove and the living room and and started to carve the roast. And carve. And carve. By the time everyone’s plates were full, about half of that very small roast was left. God had multiplied the roast, and I think my mother and I were the only two who noticed. We still had leftovers after everyone else had gone.
The roast beef miracle wasn’t the only Hunter-related miracle I’ve experienced. Around the turn of the century, there was a lump in my left breast. My doctor ordered a biopsy. According to the biopsy, there were two kinds of cancer cells in the lump--a bad kind and a not-so-bad kind. He ordered a lumpectomy. I got lots of prayer. One of the pray-ers was Frances Hunter. (I stopped by her office.) After the surgeon did the lumpectomy they biopsied the tissue they’d removed, and no cancer cells were found.
Both Charles and Frances are with the Lord now. Their daughter, Joan Hunter, took over the leadership of Hunter Ministries after the passing of her mother in July 2009. (She also leads her own ministry, Joan Hunter Ministries.)
One of Frances Hunter’s favorite sayings was “If Charles and Frances can do it, you can do it, too!” If you want to know how Charles and Frances did it, their 14-video teaching series How to Heal the Sick is available free of charge on YouTube.
Margot Armer
The Power of 4
How often do you read or listen to your Bible? There is a tipping point.
Christians have always known that God’s Word is vitally important to their spiritual well-being, but it is only recently that a number of scientific studies have revealed that people who read the Bible most days of the week behave very differently from people who don’t.
I trust you have a Bible--Most Americans do--but sadly enough even though most Americans own a Bible, few Americans actually read the Bibles they own.
According to research released by Barna, “Today, about one-third of all American Adults report reading the Bible once a week or more. The percentage is highest among Elders (49%) and lowest among Millennials (24%).”
I wish Barna had asked those American Adults how many of them read or listened to their Bibles four times a week, because reading or listening to the Bible four times a week turns out to be a tipping point. Research done for the Center for Biblical Engagement by Arnold Cole, Ed.D. & Pamela Caudill Ovwigho, Ph.D. demonstrated that those who read the Bible at least four times a week are much less likely to engage in behaviors such as pornography, getting drunk, and engaging in sex outside of marriage.
Pamela Ovwigho said, “We have discovered through our research large behavioral differences between Christians who read or listen to the Bible at least four days a week and those who engage with scripture less often.” Their research revealed that “The ‘Power of 4’ can be simply stated this way: The life of someone who engages scripture four or more times a week looks radically different from the life of someone who does not. In fact, the lives of Christians who do not engage the Bible most days of the week are statistically the same as the lives of non-Christians.
She also said that the study had been controlled for differences in gender, age, church attendance, prayer habits, small group participation, and “most other factors you would think would matter.”
Praying is good. Attending church or synagogue is good. Volunteering is good. But none of those things will affect the way you live your life as much as reading or listening to the Word of God. And the Center for Bible Engagement has actually identified the tipping point. We now know you need to read or listen to the Word of God at least four days a week if you want your Bible reading to impact the way you live your life. I’m praying that you will.
Margot Armer
The Talmuds Are NOT Bibles
Learning Torah only works if you’re learning THE Torah
I come from a secular Jewish background, so I used to think that when Jewish people told me they were “learning Torah,” they meant that they were studying the Bible. It was only later in life that I discovered they were actually studying the Talmud.
There are actually two Talmuds--the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud, both of which are based on the Mishnah, which was compiled around 200 CE by Rabbi Judah the prince. Each Talmud consists of the Mishnah (which is the same in both Talmuds) plus a Gemara--a commentary on the Mishnah. The Jerusalem Talmud was initially published in four volumes and the Babylonian Talmud consists of 73 volumes, but when people tell you they are “learning Torah” they are probably talking about studying the Babylonian Talmud.
Lawrence H. Schiffman is a highly respected Orthodox Jewish scholar. In From Text to Tradition he writes that after the destruction of the Second Temple, there was, and I quote, “a fundamental change in Jewish study and learning” and that “The fundamental change was that the oral Torah gradually evolved into a fixed corpus of its own which eventually replaced the written Torah as the main object of Jewish study and guide for religious practice, at least for rabbinic Jews.”
In “Judaism today is not biblical Judaism” Rabbi Israel Drazin summed up Schiffman’s book by saying, “It tells how and why Judaism accepted the hegemony and authority of the Babylonian Talmud over that of the Bible. It is the history of Judaism from Temple to house of study and synagogue, from Torah to Talmud, from priest to rabbi, from holy text to tradition.”
In Matthew 15:3, Jesus asked the Pharisees and scribes why they disobeyed the commandment of God because of their tradition. Coming soon: a blog on the importance of obeying God’s commandments.
Margot Armer
Always Be Thankful—A Thanksgiving Day Book Review
Every day should be Thanksgiving Day
Here in America, today is Thanksgiving Day. It’s certainly a good start, but I believe every day should be Thanksgiving Day. Paul put it this way: Always be joyful. Always keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus (I Th. 5:16-18 The Living Bible).
If anyone can teach you how to be thankful all the time, it’s Merlin Carothers (1924-2013). Merlin is with the Lord, but his books are still available.
I became a believer in 1971 after seeing a number of undeniable miracles. My mother had a group of Jesus People living in her house, and her friends and neighbors were getting healed in the meetings those Jesus People held. I’ve lived a life filled with miracles ever since, and I owe a number of the miracles I’ve seen to the teachings of Merlin Carothers. God told Merlin this: “I want you to tell everyone who will listen to be thankful for every detail of their lives, and I will open the windows of heaven and pour out more blessings than they can ever ask or hope for” (Power In Praise, p. 43).
Back in 1976 Merlin Carothers’ book sales set a record when he was the first author to have three books simultaneously listed on the National Christian Bookseller Association’s top ten bestsellers list. His books have been translated into 59 languages and have sold over 19 million copies. I suggest starting with his first two books, Prison to Praise and Power in Praise: How the Spiritual Dynamic of Praise Revolutionizes Lives. As Foundation Of Praise points out, “His unique concept of praising in all things brings results that can only be termed miraculous.”
Prison to Praise is Merlin Carothers’ autobiography and his personal testimony about the life-changing power of gratitude. Merlin Carothers was already a convicted felon when he served as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne during three major campaigns of World War II and then as a guard to General Eisenhower. Throughout his time in Europe, his extracurricular activities involved gambling, black marketeering, and “a considerable amount of drinking.” His combat record, however, was excellent, and he received a presidential pardon signed by President Truman. He became a Christian shortly after returning home from Europe, attended college and seminary and became a Methodist pastor before volunteering for the U.S. Army chaplaincy where he served as a Lt. Colonel in Korea, the Dominican Republic conflict, and in Vietnam.
Power in Praise builds on the foundation laid in Prison to Praise and is filled with real-life stories, practical advice and biblical teachings to help you harness the power of praise in your own life.
You owe it to yourself to read these books, and I hope they prove to be as much of a blessing to you as they are to me.
Margot Armer
Why Jesus Won’t Come Today
Hint: someone else must show up first.
Jesus could very well come for me today. (I am in my eighties.) But I’m not expecting Him to come for everyone just yet.
The very last verse in the Christian Old Testament says this:
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” Malachi 4:5-6 (WEB)
The Christian Bible explicitly speaks about three Elijahs:
The original Elijah
John the Baptist
The Elijah who “is coming “before the great and terrible day of Yahweh (Malachi 4:5). This third Elijah “will restore all things” (Matthew 17:11).
So far as I know, Elijah Number Three hasn’t appeared on the scene so far. He may be out there somewhere, but it seems to me that right now the hearts of the fathers and the hearts of the children are looking much worse than they did when I was growing up.
Here’s what we know about Elijah Number Three and the Day of the Lord:
1. He will show up BEFORE the great and terrible day of the LORD
Malachi 4:5-6: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction."
2. There Will Be Signs in the heavens BEFORE the Day of the LORD
Joel 2:31: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come."
3. There Will be Cosmic Disturbances
Isaiah 13:10: "For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light."
This was partially fulfilled at Jesus’ Crucifixion, but at that time the sun was darkened at noon rather than “at its rising” (Matthew 27:45 WEB).
4. Earthly Destruction
“Yahweh’s word which came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah. I will utterly sweep away everything from the surface of the earth, says Yahweh. I will sweep away man and animal. I will sweep away the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and the heaps of rubble with the wicked. I will cut off man from the surface of the earth, says Yahweh.” (Zephaniah 1:1-3 WEB)
"The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements." (Zephaniah 1:14-16 WEB)
5. God's Ultimate Rule
Zechariah 14:9: "And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one" (WEB).
Come quickly, Elijah!
Margot Armer
Learn Biblical Hebrew and/or Biblical Greek
Why I’m Loving These FREE biblical Greek and Hebrew Lessons
I’ve been using Alef with Beth for a while now, and it only occurred to me today that I’ve never heard Beth use a single word of English--and it has never bothered me. As she puts it, “we teach Hebrew through Hebrew.”
Alef with Beth Biblical HEBREW Videos
Biblical Hebrew Lessons 1-50 in Order (in Biblical Hebrew)
How to Use Aleph with Beth Videos to Learn Biblical Hebrew (in English)
All Resources (Lesson Scripts, Quizzes, Grammar, Vocabulary, Worksheets, etc.):
Hebrew Alphabet Practice: find this PDF download here.
Alpha with Angela Biblical GREEK Videos
Find the first Biblical Greek video HERE. The other Alpha with Angela Greek videos are listed in her right-hand column. Angela’s teaching philosophy is similar to Beth’s--she teaches Greek using Greek.
Margot Armer
It’s Time to Use Your Gifts
The gifts of the Spirit are irrevocable.
We read about the gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12. I personally believe that at least one gift is given to every born again believer. First Corinthians 12:7 (WEB) says “But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all.” (1 Corinthians 12:7 WEB)
Notice that these demonstrations of the Spirit are gifts, not merit badges. They aren’t something we learn or earn. They aren’t something we achieve through good behavior or lose through bad behavior. Like salvation, they are gracious gifts from God, and Romans 11:29 says “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (WEB).
Let me ask you this: are you using your gift(s)? Since the gifts of the Spirit are irrevocable, it’s not a case of “use it or lose it,” but a gifting may be dormant for a season. If your gifting is dormant at the moment, it is your responsibility to fan it into flame. As Paul wrote Timothy, “For this cause, I remind you that you should stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. (2 Timothy 1:6 WEB)
Margot Armer
What Would Corrie ten Boom say?
Do European Jews need yet another Hiding Place?
Yesterday afternoon (US time) the Times of Israel ran a story headlined “Dozens detained in Amsterdam as pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protesters again defy ban on demonstrations.”
According to TOI, it was the demonstrators who were accusing Israel of genocide.
On November 7, hundreds of Israelis huddled in their hotels after 10 Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer fans were injured. “Many said that Dutch security forces were nowhere to be found, as the Israeli tourists were ambushed by gangs of masked assailants who shouted pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel slogans while they hunted, beat and harassed them….Police said the attackers were mobilized by calls on social media to target Jewish people.”
TOI said that last Thursday’s violence was carried out by local Arab and Muslim gangs, and “Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof termed the attacks an incident of ‘unadulterated antisemitism’. Police said the attackers were mobilized by calls on social media to target Jewish people.”
Amsterdam is only 16 miles away from Haarlem, Netherlands, where Corrie ten Boom’s family had “The Hiding Place” during the Nazi holocaust. In Corrie ten Boom’s day, the antisemites were the Dutch and German Nazis. These days, they are pro-Palestinian Arab and Muslim gangs, and apparently not the native Dutch themselves.
Please ask God to guide and protect all Jews and all lovers of Israel—especially those located anywhere in Europe.
Margot Armer
Lost In Translation 2: The Biblical Distinction Between Soulish and “Spiritish”
We are all somatikos. But are you psychikos or somatikos?
This is the second of two very geekish posts. I promise to be way less geekish starting Thursday. So let’s look at what’s been lost in translation.
Last week I mentioned how much I’ve been enjoying David Bentley Hart’s The New Testament: A Translation. Jude 1:19 is what Dr. Hart calls his “acid test” for any new Bible translation. (His own translation of Jude 1:19 reads this way: “These are those who cause divisions, psychical men [psychikos men], not possessing spirit.”)
In 1 Th 5:23, Paul says, “May your whole spirit [pneuma], soul [psyche], and body [soma] be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (WEB). To change these nouns to adjectives, change the endings. The Greek words for spiritual, soulish, and bodily are pneumatikos, psychikos, and somatikos.
I have now noticed--thanks to Dr. Hart--that Jude 1:19 isn’t the only Bible passage to mention “psychical” men. Dr. Hart’s translation of 1 Corinthians 2:14 says this: “But a Psychical man does not receive the things of God’s Spirit; for to him it is folly, and he is unable to know them, since they are discerned spiritually.” And his footnote on this verse says: “here is the first appearance of an antithesis, crucial to Paul’s larger argument, especially in chapter fifteen, between “psychical” life (which comes from psychē or, in Latin, anima: hence also “animate” or “animal” life) and “pneumatic” or “spiritual” life (which is of a radically different nature).”
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says:
Thus also the resurrection of the dead: it is sown in perishability, it is raised in imperishability; It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; It is sown a psychical body, it is raised a spiritual body.ad If there is a psychical body, there is also a spiritual. 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 (The New Testament: A Translation)
And in his footnote Dr. Hart explains:
The distinction is between a σῶμα ψυχικόν (sōma psychikon) (a body literally “ensouled,” “animated,” or “animal,” given life by psychē, the “soul” or organic “life-principle”) and a σῶμα πνευματικόν (sōma pneumatikon) (a body that is of a “spirited” nature, or constituted from or made to live entirely by deathless spirit, pneuma). As is even more clear in the succeeding verses, this is also a distinction between earthly and heavenly origin; and, as is clearest of all in v. 50, resurrection for Paul is not a simple resuscitation of the sort of material body one has in the fallen world, but a radically different kind of life. 1 Corinthians 15:44 (The New Testament: A Translation--italics added)
Paul finishes his discussion of our present earthly bodies by saying this:
So it has also been written, “The first man Adam came to be a living soul,” and the last Adam a life-making spirit. But not the spiritual first, but rather the psychical, the spiritual thereafter. The first man out of the earth—earthly; the second man out of heaven. As the earthly man, so also those who are earthly; and, as the heavenly, so also those who are heavenly; And, just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man. And I say this, brothers: that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; neither does perishability inherit imperishability. (1 Corinthians 15:45-50 (New Testament: A Translation)
My take on all of this is as follows: We don’t know what the heavenly man is going to be like, but we di know it’s going to be good. So like Paul, I am praying this: “May our whole spirit [pneuma], soul [psyche], and body [soma] {including mine!!!} be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Th 5:23 WEB).
Margot Armer
Lost In Translation: The Biblical Distinction Between Soulish and “Spiritish”
According to David Bentley Hart, Jude 1:19 is not referring to the Holy Spirit.
I have been thoroughly enjoying David Bentley Hart’s The New Testament: A Translation, and I want to thank Olive Tree Bible Software for making it available electronically, unlike all the other Bible software programs I also love and use. If you only want to read Dr. Hart’s translation (as opposed to, say, reading it in parallel with a Bible commentary) it’s available from Amazon as a Kindle book, an audio book, and/or an audio CD. And in case you’re worrying about Dr. Hart’s academic credentials, don’t. His publisher is Yale University Press.
Fair warning: I confess to being a bit of a Bible geek. If you’re not a Bible geek, I suggest you skip this post and the one that follows it on Monday. After that, I promise to try to be less geeky.
Mark Twain famously wrote that “a camel is a horse designed by a committee.” Like Mark Twain, Dr. Hart doesn’t like committees—especially when it comes to all the committee-driven decision-making that goes into arriving at most new Bible translations. It turns out that Dr. Hart judges all other New Testament translations by looking at Jude 1:19. He says: “A sort of “acid test” for me is Judas [or Jude] 1:19, a verse whose meaning is startlingly clear in the Greek but which no collaborative translation I know of translates in any but the vaguest and most periphrastic manner.”
Dr. Hart himself translates Jude 1:19 this way: “These are those who cause divisions, psychical men, not possessing spirit.”
The Greek word for soul is psychē, and it is Jude 1:19 that (when translated correctly) makes a distinction between people who are “soulish” or psychical, and people I will now start calling “spiritish” (people Jude describes as “possessing spirit.”) “Spiritish” is my bad--don’t blame it on Dr. Hart. Dr. Hart says this:
Despite its long history of often vague and misleading translations, this verse [Jude 1:19] clearly invokes the distinction between psychē and pneuma (soul and spirit) as principles of life, and between “psychics” and “pneumatics” as categories of persons. There is most definitely no reference here to the Holy Spirit: given the construction of the sentence, the absence of the definite article alone makes this certain; and the reasoning of the sentence makes it all the more so.
And then he adds: “See 1 Corinthians 2:14 and 15:44-47, along with my footnotes, as well as my remarks on the words psychē and pneuma in my postscript.”
I think we’ll do that next week. It’s going to be another blog that only a Bible geek could love. I have every intention of behaving myself after that.
Margot Armer
I Had Lunch with Corrie ten Boom
It was an awesome assignment, and somebody had to do it.
My cousin Sukie once asked me who I’d choose to have lunch with if I could have lunch with anyone. I said I couldn’t think of anyone, whereupon Sukie said that she would like to have lunch with Corrie ten Boom. I felt really bad about telling her I’d already had lunch with Corrie ten Boom.
Back in the early seventies my mother and I attended Pittsburgh Church of the Brethren. Its pastor, Russ Bixler, was one of the pastors involved in putting together the annual Greater Pittsburgh Charismatic Conference. He asked for volunteers. My mother and I raised our hands. Our assignment—and we did choose to accept it—was to pick up a speaker named Corrie ten Boom at the airport, take her and her nurse to their hotel, and provide whatever transportation they needed. We were happy to do it, and we were also thrilled to be able to buy them lunch.
Our assignment didn’t last long—several bigwigs were eager to help us with our “chore.” But I can tell you two things that were on Corrie ten Boom’s mind:
(1) Corrie ten Boom did not believe in the Rapture. She had just come back from Africa. While she was there, some Christians were murdered. Within a week after she spoke, half the Christians in that African church were murdered. She felt that Christians in America were too busy singing “I’ll Fly Away” and eren’t being prepared to stand on verses like James 1:12, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”
(2) Corrie ten Boom also said Christians needed to stay away from the occult, especially from secret societies like the Masons. I can’t remember much about what she said on this one, but in my own defense, it was over half a century ago.
Margot Armer
A Christian Witch Story
What to do when your hairdresser claims to be a witch
Some people are living under a curse because of their own sins.
Other people are living under a curse because of their ancestors' sins.
Still others are living under a curse because someone has actually pronounced a curse on them.
Back in the late seventies I was working in the advertising department of a store named Joske’s, and I used to get my hair done in their beauty salon because I got an employee discount. One day I was having my hair done. I was witnessing to my hairdresser, and he was witnessing to me. Only his religion was Wicca. He told me he was a witch, and he also mentioned that he could put a curse on me so that I would turn black and die. He didn’t say he would--he just said he could. And since he was doing my hair, he had just laid hands on my head.
Well, as soon as I got back to my office, I prayed. I reminded God that the Bible says the curse causeless shall not come. I reminded the devil that I was a blood-bought child of God. I did NOT curse the witch who had said he was able to curse me. Romans 12:14 says “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” I’m pretty sure I didn’t bless that hairdresser--this happened decades ago--but I am sure I didn’t curse him. And the following day, he simply didn’t show up for work. His boss tried to call him, but didn’t answer his phone. And in the following weeks he never did show up to collect his back pay. As far as his boss knew, he had simply vanished. And I always wondered if he had tried to curse me, and it had boomeranged on him.
Margot Armer
Even Christians Can Have Demons
The spirit world is real.
As Halloween approaches, I want to remind you of the dangers of the occult. The Bible tells us the source of occult deception: “The great dragon was cast out, that ancient serpent called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him” (Revelation 12:9 MEV).
The devil deceives the whole world, not just a part of it. In other words, we North Americans aren’t any more immune to deception than people who live in China or India or Africa or South America. The whole world is in trouble. We need to realize that the spirit world is real, that evil spirits exist, and that while most curses are self-inflicted through involvement in the occult or in other sins that we commit ourselves, Christians can also suffer from curses that are brought on by other people. Curses brought on by other people would include curses placed on believers by people who practice witchcraft OR by curses believers inherit because of the sins of their ancestors.
The good news of the Gospel is that if you are willing to repent of your own sins and the sins of your ancestors, and if you are willing to repent of any involvement in the occult, then there is a cure for almost every curse and almost every case of demonization. In fact, at the moment I can only think of one case in the Bible in which God didn’t heal a believer of demonization, and that was the apostle Paul: in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 (MEV) Paul writes, “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me, lest I be exalted above measure. I asked the Lord three times that this thing might depart from me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
The apostle Paul was demonized by a messenger of Satan, but please note that Paul’s thorn was only in his flesh. I hope the apostle Paul will forgive me for using the word “only” about something that tormented him like that.
To learn more about deliverance (getting rid of evil spirits) start here.
Margot Armer
Simchat Torah / Shemini Atzeret
On Simchat Torah, Jews are COMMANDED to rejoice.
Sukkot lasts seven days. The day after Sukkot is called Simchat Torah and/or Shemini Atzeret. (Shemini Atzeret means Eighth day of Assembly; Simchat Torah means Joy of Torah.)
Simchat Torah is the day immediately following Sukkot--an eighth day on which Jews are no longer required to live in sukkahs. For today’s rabbinic Jews, Shemini Atzeret is also the day on which Jews finish reading through the Pentateuch and start reading again in Genesis.
In the Bible, Jews are commanded to “rejoice in your feast” during Sukkot, and while today’s Jews do rejoice during Sukkot, their rejoicing reaches a climax during Simchat Torah. Last year, however, Simchat Torah fell on October 7. Early that morning, on the very day Israeli Jews should have been rejoicing, Hamas started the Israel-Hamas war with a land, sea, and air assault during which whole families were burned alive, men and women were raped, and the Geneva Conventions were totally ignored by the invaders.
This year, Simchat Torah starts tonight. I’m praying that this year’s Simchat Torah brings Israelis only joy.
Margot Armer
How To Have Peace In Perilous Times
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.”
“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”
(2 Peter 1:2 NIV 1984)
If you want grace and peace in abundance, then this is how the Bible says we get it. We get grace and peace through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
How then do we receive the knowledge of God?
We get to know God the same way we would get to know anyone else. We get to know God by spending time with Him in prayer, by talking to God, and by asking Him to talk to us. We get to know God by hanging out with Him. We get to know God by reading His Word. We get to know God by asking Him about Himself.
In Exodus 33:11 the Bible tells us that the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.
And in verse 13 we read that Moses asked God: “Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight.”
I’m paying that for me, and I’m also praying that for you.
I’ll finish with this. As the expression goes, this is last but not least.
The Apostle Peter said in 2 Peter 1:3-4,
“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
Do you really want to know God? You will need to know His Word. We can get everything we need--we can get all things that pertain unto life and godliness--through the knowledge of Him. And how do we receive the knowledge of Him? We claim the exceeding great and precious promises that He has given us in His Word.
Margot Armer
Sukkot Is Going To Change
Eventually all nations will be required to keep this feast.
Today is Day One of the seven-day biblical holiday of Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Ingathering, the Feast of Booths, the Feast of Temporary Shelters, and the Feast of Tabernacles. (A sukkah is a booth or temporary shelter. Sukkot is the Hebrew plural of sukkah—the English equivalent would seem to be sukkahs.)
Deuteronomy 16:13-15 commands the children of Israel to rejoice during Sukkot: “You shall rejoice in your feast . . .you shall be altogether joyful.”
The Bible doesn’t tell us how to build a sukkah. The very complex specifics of sukkah construction followed by today’s Jews are derived from the Talmud, especially in the tractate Sukkah, which contains elaborate instructions on how a sukkah should be built. The Bible itself doesn’t give us any specific instructions about how to build a sukkah, but it does tell us that during Sukkot all native Israelis must live in temporary shelters for seven days:
You must live in temporary shelters for seven days; every native citizen in Israel must live in temporary shelters, so that your future generations may know that I made the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.ʼ” Leviticus 23:42-43 (NET)
Today, Sukkot isn’t just celebrated by native-born Israelis―many American Jews and some American gentiles also celebrate Sukkot. (I don’t know what happens in other countries.) Most Americans don’t travel to Jerusalem in order to celebrate―they build their sukkahs here. But according to Zechariah, a day is coming all the nations―or perhaps representatives from all the nations―will be required to travel to Jerusalem to attend Sukkot to worship the God of the Bible and to celebrate Sukkot:
Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them. And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain; there shall be the plague with which the LORD afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. Zechariah 14:16-19 (ESV)
To which I can only say (in Aramaic) Maranatha!
Margot Armer
Miracles Don’t Validate a Ministry
How do we tell the good guys from the bad guys?
According to Jesus, ““Not everyone who says to me, ʻLord, Lord,ʼ will enter into the kingdom of heaven - only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, ʻLord, Lord, didnʼt we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?ʼ Then I will declare to them, ʻI never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!ʼ” Matthew 7:21-23 (NET)
How is it possible that people can prophesy in Jesus’ name, cast out demons in Jesus’ name, do miracles in Jesus’ name, and actually call Jesus Lord, and still not enter the kingdom of heaven? It’s possible because the gifts of the Spirit are exactly that—they’re gifts. Gifts aren’t earned. If they were earned, we’d call them wages—as in “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Sinners earn death by sinning. But just because someone is able to heal the sick, cast out devils, and foretell the future doesn’t mean that person is necessarily a man or woman of God.
So how do we tell the good guys from the bad guys? Jesus says we will know them by their fruit: “In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will recognize them by their fruit” (Matthew 7:17-20 NET). And what constitutes good fruit? We find this in Galatians 5:17—“the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23 NET).
In 1973 Kathryn Kuhlman told Christianity Today “I resent very much being called a faith healer, because I am not the healer. I have no healing virtue. I have no healing power. I have never healed anyone. I am absolutely dependent upon the power of the Holy Spirit.” I know how she felt. I’ve been a believer for over half a century now, and during that time God has allowed me to experience many miracles. I’ve seen food multiplied. I’ve experienced divine protection. I’ve been transported in the spirit. I’ve seen God heal cars. I’ve seen God heal people. I’ve seen one storm stop in an instant. Can I do any of these things by myself? I can’t. Do these things happen every time I pray? They don’t. But I believe God wants me to let you know He really, truly still works miracles today.
Margot Armer
Impossible Things
Believing Impossible things takes practice.
In Through the Looking-Glass, Alice in Wonderland told the White Queen “One can’t believe impossible things.” The Queen told Alice, “I daresay you haven't had much practice. When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
Through the Looking-Glass is fiction, but the White Queen had a point. Believing impossible things takes practice. The more miracles you see, the easier it is to believe God will give you a miracle the next time.
Here’s what Jesus told us to do:
“Have faith in God. I assure you: If anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, all the things you pray and ask for — believe that you have received them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your wrongdoing. Mark 11:22-25 (HCSB)
The more often we see impossible things happen, the stronger our faith becomes. I came to faith in Jesus because I saw the impossible happen--and I saw it happen not just in Kathryn Kuhlman’s services in Pittsburgh in the seventies, but I also saw it happen when what used to be called Jesus People prayed for my mother’s friends and neighbors. Once you’re convinced that miracles happen today, it’s a lot easier to believe your miracle will happen.
One last thing: when you’re praying for a miracle, it’s important to forgive everyone for everything they’ve ever done to hurt you. “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:14-15 WEB) Over the years, I’ve seen a number of people instantly healed right after they forgave someone who had hurt them badly.
Think about this:
Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?”
Jesus said to him, “I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven. Therefore the Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king, who wanted to reconcile accounts with his servants. When he had begun to reconcile, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But because he couldn’t pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, with his wife, his children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will repay you all!’ The lord of that servant, being moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
“But that servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, who owed him one hundred denarii, and he grabbed him, and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’
“So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will repay you!’ He would not, but went and cast him into prison, until he should pay back that which was due. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were exceedingly sorry, and came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him in, and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt, because you begged me. Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, even as I had mercy on you?’ His lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, until he should pay all that was due to him. So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if you don’t each forgive your brother from your hearts for his misdeeds.” (Matthew 18:21-35 WEB)
Margot Armer
It’s October 7. Keep Israel in Prayer.
Any time is a good time to pray for Israel. And God says that those who love Israel will prosper.
I’ve heard it said that history is His story, and this is particularly true of Israel. It is a miracle that Israel exists at all. In 1948 Israel was born in a day, just the way the Bible said it would be. Ever since then, it has experienced numerous out-and-out wars and large-scale military operations—nineteen so far, according to my count. But Am Israel chai—the people of Israel live.
There are 22 Arab countries in North Africa and the Middle East, all of which are members of the Arab League. There is only one Jewish country, and it continues to need our prayers. Psalm 122:6 (WMB) says this: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Those who love you will prosper.”
In the aftermath of last year’s October 7 invasion, pro-Palestinian activists worldwide have been chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” But according to the Bible, it is the Jewish people who were told that “Your territory will extend from the wilderness to Lebanon and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea.” (Deuteronomy 11:24 HCSB). So if anyone is going to chant about who belongs where, it should be those of us who are pro-Israel, and in addition to our praying we should all be chanting, “From the River to the Sea, Israel is God’s decree.”
Margot Armer
Rosh Hashanah Began Last Night
Rosh Ha Shanah is called the Jewish New Year. It should be called “Loud Sound Day.” And the Jewish New Year should happen in the spring.
I am biblically Jewish: in biblical Judaism, genealogies go through the father’s side.
In rabbinic Judaism, Jewishness is carried through the mother, even though a person’s priestly standing is carried through the father. By priestly standing, I’m referring to the distinctions rabbinic Jews make between Cohens, Levites, and “all Israel” when it comes to the order in which people get called up to read the Jewish Bible in their synagogue.
Why do I make a difference between biblical and rabbinic Judaism? Only because there is one. If you don’t believe me, believe Lawrence H. Schiffman, the highly respected Orthodox Jewish professor who wrote FROM TEXT TO TRADITION A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism. After the Second Temple was destroyed, it wasn’t too long before Jews began believing that tradition trumped the Torah.
In the Torah (the Jewish Bible), Rosh Ha Shanah (“Head of the Year”) is known in Leviticus 23:24 as Zikron Teruah (a reminder by blowing of trumpets) and in Numbers 29:1 as Yom Teruah (a day for blowing trumpets). The Hebrew word Teruah can also be translated as “a very loud sound.” So Yom Teruah could be translated as Loud Sound Day, or Blast of Noise Day, or Shofar Day. And some people do call Yom Teruah the Feast of Trumpets.
I should also mention here that the biblical New Year falls in the spring on Nisan 1, even though rabbinic New Year happens in the fall. How do I know biblical New Year happens in the spring? Exodus 12:2 says, “This month [the month in which Passover is celebrated] shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.” That, my friends, is in the Bible. God said it, and that settles it.
According to God, Jewish New Year is actually in the spring, but I still pray you’ll still have a happy New Year, Jewish or not, whenever you choose to celebrate—whether it’s today, or January 1, or on the first of the Jewish month of Nisan.
Margot Armer