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The apostolic period extends from the day of Pentecost to the death of St. John, and covers about seventy years, from 30 A.D. to 100 A.D. The field of action is Palestine, and gradually extends over Syria, Asia Minor, Greece and Italy. The most prominent centers are Jerusalem, Antioch and Rome, which represent respectively the mother churches of Jewish, Gentile and united catholic Christianity.

https://gracenotes.info/documents/topics_doc/apostolicage.pdf

The first problem is the suggestion that there was an apostolic age that began and then ended. But given that we can, with well-indoctrinated cognitive dissonance, suggest this Scripture is both the word of God and is not, it doesn’t surprise me one bit that some have defined an apostolic age:

"... And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, and various kinds of tongues."

In other words, Scripture clearly says one thing, and Man says another. Therefore, one either adheres to cessationism or continuationism. There is no middle road.

What is the Word of God?

But to have this conversion, we must define what is the word of God? Is the Bible the word of God, or does it contain the word of God?

I’ll answer that question with another question: was King David’s rape of Bathsheba and the murder of her husband God’s idea, or was it David’s? Let’s assume it was David’s idea, but not God’s. That makes David’s actions, not the word of God – not God’s idea.

So then, we’re left with suggesting how the story is told, and the fact that the story is in the Bible is God’s idea – making it the word of God because it’s His STORY, but not His IDEA. Hence, the Bible both contains the Word of God and is the Word of God.

If we bring that logic forward, we’re left with this question: at what point did parts of Acts, 1 Corinthians, and Ephesians stop being “God’s IDEA” (aka, His WORD) and become just His STORY that He wanted to tell to make some here-to-now unknown point? And which other parts of the New Testament are just His “story bits” that we should now ignore, presuming them to not be God’s idea?

Finally, who is in charge of discerning and promulgating what should be sliced and diced out as authoritative?

“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.” It’s an interesting turn of phrases when we understand that the Kingdom of God is “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

Righteousness is a derivative: think of it as a verb or action word that can only be derived from the necessary quality of Holiness. Holiness is a state of being, a noun, and it means to be separate from the unclean. Hence, we are called to be holy: “but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior.”

An important distinction between the two is that any person can perform righteous acts – doing the right thing or being holy in behavior – but nobody can be made holy outside the new life imputed by God.

Seeking first the kingdom means that we seek those righteous behaviors, which consequently are followed first by peace, then joy.

But seeking “His righteousness” means to seek after that righteousness that can only be found in Jesus. Hence, we can seek “righteousness, peace, joy, and His righteousness” knowing that they are all distinct threads woven together making the tapestry of His kingdom.

If you’re like me, you grew up in circles where we learned that poor Eve, because of some inherent weakness, was deceived by the Serpent, but Adam, on the other hand, deserved the greater condemnation because he made a choice to rebel against God.  In this theology, Eve was judged because she did not fall back to, or rely upon, the truth she knew: that which God had previously spoken.  Hence, the words of the Serpent, “hath God said…”

In reality, deception – or the act of being deceived – is no better than choosing to be rebellious.  And relying upon what you know is just as dangerous. In rebellion, we know and understand both sides of the picture: we can see the lie masquerading as truth, but we choose to align ourselves with the lie.

We might argue in favor of the deceived, that the problem is that they don’t know they’re being deceived. How, then, can that be as bad as knowing the truth but choosing the lie?

This is what the Lord says: Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find a resting place for your souls.

But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
And I set watchmen over you, saying ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’

But they said, ‘We will not listen.’
(Jer. 6:16-17)

The problem of deception is that we choose to be deceived through our failure of action, and consequently, through our action of self-exaltation.

When deceived, we act out of a place where we have chosen not to test the spirits; instead, we rely upon our intellect and wisdom. But perhaps we might argue, “I’ve read the word of God, I know what to do!”  So, then, oh knower of the Bible, what shall you do with the fool?

Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.
(Prov. 26:4-5)

So then, the question becomes, “do we answer the fool according to his folly, or not?” Without spiritual discernment, it is impossible:

For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil (Heb. 5:13-14)

If you’re like me, you may have learned something other than what is called “spiritual discernment” by the Bible.A doctrine that teaches spiritual discernment was given only to the first-century believers, or perhaps to those a bit later, for the purpose of discerning the writings inspired by God, as opposed to those things that were not inspired by God.Essentially, what these people are saying is that nobody today can pick up a Bible and discern that it is God-breathed, that the only way we know we have God’s word is through tradition.

But enough of that rabbit hole.  Let’s just cut to the chase:

And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 

It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building;  but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 

It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.

 The days of Noah, and the activities people performed, don\’t have anything to do with the event Christians call the rapture. Rather, it has everything to do with the sudden destruction that comes upon them (Luke 17:26-37).

The point of the allegory is about these three things:

1. The signs of the times and what they point towards (sudden destruction);
2. The failure of people to recognize those signs; and
3. A failure to prepare one\’s self into the position of protection.
• e.g., blood on the doorposts and staying inside (Egypt & plagues);
• Being in the Ark, not swimming in the flood;
• Leaving Soddom towards safety; etc.
• All of which happened during judgment, all of which are examples of God protecting His own during an outpouring of judgment.  

Of the 10 virgins waiting for the bridegroom, all were eagerly waiting – they understood something about the signs presented – but only 5 were prepared.

In the year 2020, we’ve watched practicing physicians lose their jobs (at worst) or be censored (at best) for discussing and reporting on their success in treating COVID-19 with innovative treatments.  In my opinion, the virus anti-remedy rhetoric was the cusp, the fringe of the arriving great delusion;

Do you remember a time when you were hurt emotionally, very badly?  Does it continue to haunt and hurt today when you recall it from memory?

Can your spouse easily recount the times you’ve hurt them, with excruciating detail?

If you can answer in the affirmative to these questions (and honestly, who among us can’t) then you or your spouse most likely have emotional wounds.

We all carry emotional baggage or what I’m calling emotional wounds.

We have blindly accepted that emotional hurts make us who we are, or that there’s no real cure for them other than time, or perhaps we all just need to learn how to bear our burdens or let go of the past.

We have a Healer

We have a healer, and His name is Jesus. The process I’ve outlined below is essentially a conversation with God. It consists of the following major points:

• Identification of an emotional wound;
• If necessary, confession of sin surrounding that wound;
• Confessing that you want the wound removed
  • This is a particularly important point.  You cannot be double-minded in this regard.
  • You either desired to be healed of a thing, or you want the pain it brings.  It\’s your choice.
• Asking for the wound to be removed and healed.
• Accepting the healing.
• Identification of new emotional wounds
  • God created our psyche to wrap wounds in protective layers, like an onion.  You’ll find that after one emotional wound is healed, another may replace it.
  • You’ll know you’re finished when you are at peace with the incident that caused the wound.

The Emotional Healing Process

Speak these things aloud.

Recall that whenever Jesus performed healing, He spoke aloud against infirmity.  When God created the universe, He spoke it into existence.  I don’t know exactly why speaking these things helps, but it does.

Have faith in God.  Amen, I say to you, whoever 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 shall be done for him

Mark 11:22-23

1. Identify a painful emotion associated with a particular event.
   •  If the emotion is sinful, ask God to forgive you and receive His forgiveness.  It is good to remind yourself of forgiveness principles, such as 1 John 1:9
   • Say that you believe His blood has taken away the penalty and consequences of your sin.
   •  If it is not sinful, go to the next step.
2. Tell Jesus you want the emotion removed from your soul.
3. Ask Jesus to heal the wound in your soul caused by the emotion.
4. Tell Jesus you receive His healing.
   • If the emotion is there because you may have believed a lie about that situation, ask Jesus to show you the truth about the situation.
5. An optional step is to ask Jesus to give you something positive to replace the negative emotion that He is removing.
   • If you ask Him to take away sadness, you might ask Him to give you joy.
   • If you ask Him to take away anger, you might ask Him to give you peace.
6. Rest for a moment, ask for His presence to come and rest in Him.
7. Recall the situation that caused the painful emotion.
   • If there is a new negative emotion, begin again at Step 1.

When I was very young, I was molested/assaulted by an older man.  After my memory of the event resurfaced, my emotional healing process progressed something like this:

• Jesus, I feel anger towards that person.  I don’t want to feel this anger anymore.  Please take this anger from me, and heal the wound in my soul; I receive your healing.  Please give me peace in place of this anger.

Once I was done with this process, I paused for a moment and then recalled the event.  I observed that I then felt a different emotion and went through the process again.  After several iterations (I don’t remember how many, or the emotions other than anger), I was completely healed of assault against me.  It\’s now like a distant memory to me, as if it were something written about me, not something that happened to me.

My History into this Process 

I should also mention that before I learned this emotional healing process, I had thoroughly made use of Neil Anderson’s Victory Over Darkness and Bondage Breaker.  My opinion is that his books will help you immensely, but they don’t always result in helping you heal the resulting wounds.

Thereafter, I developed a process not as involved as above, which worked seeming well enough.  I then found Praying Medic’s work Emotional Healing in Three Easy Steps and have continued to use it ever since.

If you hate President Trump, if you hate the Democrats or the Republicans, you are part of the problem.  

If you are afraid of the SARS-Cov-2 virus and you are not relying upon God to save you, your family, and others – then you are part of the problem.

“The Osteen version of the prosperity gospel traces its roots back to the 19th-century spiritual movement known as New Thought or Higher Thought. As the Encyclopedia Britannica explains, New Thought advocates believed in the “immanence of God, the divine nature of man, the immediate availability of God’s power to man, the spiritual character of the universe, and the fact that sin, human disorders, and human disease are basically matters of incorrect thinking. Moreover, according to New Thought, man can live in oneness with God in love, truth, peace, health, and plenty.””