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p many believers profess faith in jesus but secretly resort to their ancestors especially in health and monetary matters in our house church over some 20 years we have seen many set free from this demonic stronghold and as a result enter into a triumphant christian lifestyle the issue simply requires the confession and prayer referred to in jam 5 13 18 if possible please listen to the two songs below under god they will reinforce in our hearts the gospel of our eternal union with christ 8 comments a fasting life pt 2 posted on march 13 2026 by errollmulder under uncategorized before launching into part 2 of the fasting life a word about biblical fasting in general british theologian author dr ian paul blogging under psephizo cf 18 02 2026 asks what does fasting mean he gives some key pointers a in the gospels jesus fasting and testing were a preparation for his looming death on the cross b prayer and fasting fall under the disciplines of christian spirituality applying to jew and gentile cf jesus sermon on the mount mt 6 c there is a connection between fasting and repentance from sin d the prophet daniel fasts and prays at his grief for the sins of god s people e luke appears to have a particular interest in fasting due to his special interest in the work of the spirit and the transformation he brings f jesus explains that fasting is a sign of god s people longing for the coming of messiah at the same time while being with his disciples they can enjoy feasting communion services were originally called love feasts g fasting helps the ecclesia find god s will for them in a given situation with the amazing results of their obedience to his will e g the prophets and teachers in the church at antioch spreading the gospel throughout asia minor acts 13 1ff h we fast with hope in anticipation of christ s coming and his kingdom in its fullness on earth as it is in heaven now we resume our theme of fasting as believers lifestyle on earth the reformer martin luther long ago declared even if i knew the world would go to pieces i would still plant my apple tree it s that practical for you and me also the prophet jeremiah 526 bc pleaded with judah israel to repent of their wayward life as a thief is shamed when caught so the house of israel shall be shamed they their kings their officials their priests and their prophets who say to a tree you are my father and to a stone you gave me birth for they have turned their backs to me and not their faces but in the time of trouble they say come and save us a modern example of such repentance is found in the e african revival of the 1930 s ff under dr joe church and others this mighty awakening began in rwanda uganda and spread to kenya tanzania burundi and congo for these believers fasting and prayer meant restitution personal holiness confession of sin 1 jn 1 and liberation from nominal church norms it especially affected anglican churches promoting lay leadership and intense fellowship with god and one another it promoted true awakening in the face of fake awakening importantly we must ask what s the cure for the general malaise of churches today when it comes to transformation of life we submit that essentially it is grasping by revelation eph 1 17ff the absolute centrality of jesus person to his body in faith life leadership and practice take a bicycle wheel which is off center that bike will get you nowhere in contrast to the one below which will surely get you to your destination do read again col 1 15 23 highlighting the supremacy of christ in everything music to the church s ears hear the apostle paul s triumphant cry in v 28 it is he whom we proclaim warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom so that we may present everyone mature in christ you see the problem is not primarily a doctrinal one although teaching is important to the body the critical issue is rather the revelation of the son of god as central to all of life doctrine in itself can become non relational cold and hard i can personally attest to this when in the past associating with those who believed doctrine was everything by contrast the revelation of jesus as preeminent brings fellowship peace and joy in jesus take e g the story of the two disciples returning to their home town of emmaus lk 24 13ff jesus taught them that key to everything was not doctrinal precision but his living presence manifest in their hearts burning within a corollary is that when jesus himself is at the center of things in the church there is true unity automatically and spontaneously historically this true unity among believers ushered in the outpouring of god s spirit bk of acts the evangelist john quotes jesus words to his followers by this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another jn 13 35 by sharp contrast we have in our present world 35 000 denominations each one claiming to be right and downing the other god s desired fast in is 58 false and true worship isn t just about abstaining from food but about acting justly and showing compassion breaking the chains of oppression sharing food with the hungry sheltering the poor clothing the naked and caring for our own family all the while turning away from wickedness and injustice it s a call to practical righteousness and mercy not just religious ritual cf the temptation of jesus in mt 4 1 11 and his teaching on fasting in 6 16 18 i m reminded of the prophet micah s classic statement in 6 8 to israel 735 700 bc he has told you o mortal what is good and what does the lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your god sadly many evangelical believers around the world still believe that the preaching of the good news is just a verbal thing and not a practical reality i think it was the great preacher c h spurgeon who said if you give a poor person a gospel tract wrap it around a sandwich furthermore we hear loud and clear the clarion call of the apostle james summonsing god s people to faith and works faith that is true faith will always manifest itself in good works toward others rightly the epistle of james heralds hearing and doing the word 1 19ff and the fact that faith without works is dead 2 14 26 james goes on to mention two kinds of wisdom 3 13 18 a warning to rich oppressors 5 1 6 and the prayer of faith 5 13 18 sadly the great reformer martin luther so eager to emphasize the believer s justification by faith alone in opposition to rome s emphasis on good works plus tradition rejected the bk of james labeling it a straw epistle thank god for those many christ centered small groups mushrooming all around the world meeting in the name of jesus and recognizing him as their pre eminent and functional head they offer a valid authentic alternate to the institutional church with all its rules and baggage having personally bid farewell to denominationalism 20 years ago and followed the path of smaller informal assemblies of believers ecclesia i could never return to the institutional over organized church did jesus not say in mt 18 20 for where two or three are gathered in my name i am there among them these gatherings are transforming whole nations china afghanistan pakistan iran hosting the fastest growing church in the world presently 70 of mosques have closed due to the rise in ex muslims turned christian cf youtube thearchive ps the current middle east war breaks my heart jesus warned 2000 years ago that those who take up the sword will die by the sword a final application i m reminded of a baptist union of sa annual assembly preparatory meeting many years ago now addressed by pr christo botes of cape town where he highlighted jam 1 27 religion that is pure and undefiled before god the father is to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world back in cape town he and his congregation had been reaching out holistically to street people those sleeping under bridges the hungry and sick etc personally i m not one to willy nilly respond to public invitations to come forward for special prayer that day i unashamedly left my seat and knelt on the steps of the platform before my colleagues weeping and seeking repentance concerning my relative lack of concern for the disadvantaged to this day decades later i by grace alone strive to be faithful to the commitment i made that day i love keith green s heart 8 comments a fasting life pt 1 posted on february 27 2026 by errollmulder under uncategorized recently one of our first house church disciples living in a sprawling poverty stricken area of our city decided under god to have a 3 day daniel fast at a home made available by an elderly lady during the day they drank only water interspersed by scripture readings and heartfelt prayer in the evening they would just have a simple plate of vegetables they came away renewed and refreshed ready to tackle their weekly home gatherings and witness with fresh commitment i felt envious even guilty my wife and i suffer from type 2 diabetes demanding regular meals and therefore excluding serious fasting after considering our daily disciplined and healthy meals in order to keep our sugar levels low i thought to myself but my w hole life is actually a fast this encouraged me as i endeavor by sheer grace to love god and my neighbor as myself mt 22 36 40 i must confess i ve grown weary of the sheer number of calls to prayer for my city and our country by so called apostles and prophets only to realize their shallow motives and essentially self centered desires one is conscious at the same time of the exploding paedophilia pandemic involving church leaders across the world e g a worship pastor recently in boon county usa or bethel church s cover up of paedophile shawn bolz and others guilty of sexual abuse over years here in my own country we ve had the case of prophet timothy omotoso repeatedly found guilty of sexual abuse and deported to his home country of nigeria only to continue his shameful practices there millenia ago the prophet jeremiah cried out as a thief is shamed when caught so the house of israel shall be shamed they their kings their officials their priests and their prophets who say to a tree you are my father and to a stone you gave me birth for they have turned their backs on me and not their faces but in the time of their trouble they say come and save us 2 26 27 cf footnote 1 my own city has no shortage of self appointed prophets and teachers whose credentials are highly questionable just a few weeks ago one of these prophets made an almost hysterical plea for prayer for our nation declaring loudly this that and the other all in the name of the lord we have yet to see any true and deep spiritual change in our metro in fact the army has been called in to assist the police in our gang ravaged northern suburbs we look at a few bible prophets and check out what they have to say on the issue of true worship 1 the prophet amos from rural tekoa bible in one hand and jerusalem times in the other confronts especially the northern kingdom of israel approx 760 750 bc during the reign of king jeroboam 2 he comes to the nation with a burning warning footnote 2 cf photo of modern tekoa amos is passionate about the worship and spiritual condition of god s people in the face of the coming day of the lord scholars like j b taylor oak hill college london declared that we can t be exactly sure how the concept of the day of the lord came to god s people in israel however we do know that it represented the special season when god s covenant promises to his own people would become a reality and righteousness would triumph in the nation israel expected to be vindicated and her enemies judged on that great day it certainly was to be a day of redemption a day to be looked forward to by god s people and dreaded by their foes but amos reversed all this righteousness would prevail but it was to be an ethical righteousness and not a religious righteousness of which israel fell far short amos declared it would be a black day for god s people with no escaping his final judgment 5 19ff amos goes on to speak disparagingly of all the empty rites and ceremonies of israel s religious life 5 21 23 taylor argues that ultimately amos must have known about the passover lamb and the altars of the patriarchs the early traditions of the tent of meeting and its rituals could not have completely passed him by what amos did see however was that the priority of the sinai covenant being obedience to god s laws and not the carrying out of their multiple empty rituals israel doubtless under canaanite influence had exchanged righteousness for ritual abandoning their sacred covenant obligations what the prophet witnessed going on at the shrines of bethel and gilgal was a far cry from israel s sinai responsibilities the nation had fallen into idolatry maintaining ritual above worship v 26 etc so god would judge the nation with exile v 27 and the day of the lord wouldn t bring them salvation but terrible darkness the prophet isaiah addressing the southern kingdom of judah approx 740 681 bc condemns their religious leaders calling them blind watchmen and dumb dogs unable to give even a warning bark 56 10 these prophets were such in name only for the essential function of a prophet is to herald forth in unmistakably clear tones v 1 the divine proclamation whether it be one of condemnation as here or blessing ot prof a e cundall it s also important to underline that for millennia unfortunately there s always been a superficial view that the prophets were concerned only with the future when in actual fact the bulk of their prophecies were concerned with the present isaiah s withering exposure of judah s wickedness and formal religion in is 1 10 17 should be be set alongside our savior s trenchant words in mt 23 13 26 where he totally exposes the false and hypocritical jewish scribes and pharisees of the day no doubt isaiah s message would have been highly unpopular since it stabbed hard at the consciences of men and women who resented their smug complacency being disturbed similarly in our generation the man or woman who dares to speak out for god must expect the snarls of a generation which has largely cast off restraint and abandoned god s standards at the same that man or woman of god knows the real blessedness satisfaction and spiritual prosperity which comes from god alone v 8 14 in isaiah 58 the prophet addresses the two practices of fasting v 2 7 and sabbath observance v 13 there is no suggestion that these were wrong in themselves but the way in which they were observed made them hollow shells of a hypocritical religion empty of real content they fasted as an outward form v 5 that they might be in credit with god v 3 but their actions were the very reverse of the humility symbolized in the outward forms v 3b 4a the true purpose of fasting v 4b was that prayer might be reinforced however such 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