Dan A. Rodriguez Articles, Books, and Podcasts
Religion & Spirituality:Christianity
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:18-19 NASB 1995)
Jesus went into Galilee and proclaimed the gospel of God. He said, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel!” (Mark 1:14, 15 NET)
And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God.” (Luke 13:3, 5 -New Living Translation)
Jesus preached the message of healing, deliverance, AND repentance! That is the gospel or good news. It was not a message of sadness, poverty, weakness, sickness, powerlessness, and acceptance of sin and darkness.
Why am I mentioning these things as I am here? The woke, sissified, and powerless churches preach and teach being nice, neighborly, and acceptance of people's sinful lifestyles. They believe that will attract people to their churches. It's true that some people want a weak and sissified, tight jeans, soy-latte "gospel" preacher that never challenges them and NEVER calls on a manifestation of God's power to heal, deliver, prosper, and to convict people of their sin. THAT, is NOT the gospel of Jesus and those are not God's ministers!
The gospel goes and brings people to repentance and salvation, but also to healing, divine protection, and deliverance!
What would Jesus do? The same thing He told us to do IN HIS NAME!
He sent out the twelve:
Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. (Matthew 9:1, 2 NET)
He then sent out the 70:
After these things the Lord appointed [a]seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go... And heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ (Matthew 10:1, 9 NET)
Then, He told the church, ALL His followers, what to do:
15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:15-18 NKJV)
That is the manifestation of God's power and the anointing to set the captives free!
We MUST get this straight in our thinking. Jesus was always results, actions, or works oriented. He states to each of the 7 churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, "I know your works." (Revelation 2:2, 9, 13, 19, 3:1, 8, 15) He never said, "I know what you believe" but what they were doing for the kingdom of God. What they DID was proof of what they believed. What you and I do are proof of what we believe!
Each of those churches started with the salvation of the Lord and a day of Pentecost, Holy Spirit and fire experience. They were also ministering the miraculous. Read Acts chapters 2 through 19 and see it for yourself. Many coming to Jesus, being miraculously healed, and gloriously delivered, it what vividly marks those chapters. Yes, the Word is taught and preached consistently, but not without POWER in manifestation. (1 Corinthians 2:4)
Acts 19 is the powerful story of how the church at Ephesus began and continued for years as a beacon of the Word AND the miraculous. Somewhere along the line, they started to lose ground because they lost their first love of preaching the Word, getting people saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues, and ministering healing and deliverance. They were warned by the Lord Jesus to go back to their first love as demonstrated in Acts 19:1-20. Did you know that the "mega" church of Ephesus lost their light and anointing historically and diminished until nothing was left? Today, you can visit the ruins of Ephesus. They became nothing because they lost their first love and the light of God was covered up under a bushel!
.Here is another side of the gospel. Jesus NEVER preached a message of love and acceptance of people’s crazy and devilish ways. No, Jesus did not preach and teach that we had to accept adulterous, fornicating, lying, cheating, stealing, homosexual, transvestite, and lesbian lifestyles. Jesus did not teach “coexistence” with idolatrous and perverse religions and ideologies.
What will keep people out of the kingdom of God and of Jesus? If people practice any of the sins listed in the Scripture as their lifestyles, they will not hear "Welcome to heaven and have a nice eternity!" Those that practice sin or iniquity get thrown into the lake of fire for all eternity.
“But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8 NLT)
Look at each so-called vice list and convince yourself.
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10 NET)
See also Romans 1:18-32, Galatians 5:19-21, Ephesians 5:3-5 1 Timothy 1:8-11, and Revelation 9:20, 21.
It is IMPOSIBLE to practice sin and be a part of the love of God. Keeping God's moral law is essential and is the key ingredient to walking in the love of God.
For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Romans 13:9, 10 NKJV)
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. (1 John 5:3 NKJV)
Do you understand now why Jesus' message was one of repentance, turning from devilish lifestyles, and serving and loving God? Not ONE verse in the Gospels ever insinuates acceptance of sin and darkness, but a rejection of sin and evil ways is always there. The words of Jesus and the Epistles and Revelation are filled with living a Holy lifestyle in obedience to God, His Word, and commandments. Why would that be? God doesn't want anyone to go to a devil's hell! He wants everyone to be saved from that terrible fate, and they can be if they will receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. (2Peter 3:18; Romans 10:9, 10; John 3:16)
Do you want to read what Jesus preached and taught everywhere? Here was a huge part of it.
He (Jesus) said, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel!”(Mark 1:15 New English Translation)
To repent is to turn away from your sins, change from the sinful way you think and act, stop your wrong ways, change your heart and lives and be against sin and for God, and even to turn to God from your sins. Those are all definitions given in other New Testament translations. The Amplified Bible tells us that to repent means to “change your inner self—your old way of thinking, regret past sins, live your life in a way that proves repentance; seek God’s purpose for your life.”
In the following podcast, the focus is on national repentance, but there are truths here applicable to our personal lives. National repentance will not happen without individual repentance. Revival will not happen nationally until we have it personally. It starts with the individual and then spreads to the community, city, state, and the nation. News flash: Revival is here and it is working in individuals and nations around the world RIGHT NOW! Jesus is coming! People get ready!
In America and around the world there is a great divide between believers and unbelievers, but many are coming to the truth about Jesus. The influence of the kingdom of God on the earth will continue to expand, and there is nothing the devil can do to stop it! Yes, there is a strong distinction between the world and its sinful ways and those that love God, His Word, and His son Jesus. Here is the truth of the matter: the kingdom of darkness is losing ground daily, and the kingdom of light of the dear Son of God (Jesus) is growing by leaps and bounds!
There is a sifting going on, and the wheat is being separated from the tares. Light and darkness, truth and error, power and powerlessness, and good and evil are being clearly delineated. In these days, you will either be red-hot on fire for God, or as dead as a corpse. The luke-warm will simply be spit out of the mouth of the Lord! God is preparing His people for the return of Jesus to the earth to rule and reign for a thousand years and then in the new heavens and new earth .
The mainstream media and social sites have become increasingly inclined towards heathenism and they have become proponents of all that is contrary to God and His Word. They have targeted Christianity and Christians and attempted to make them look foolish and bigoted. Christianity is presented by them as something to be despised and rejected. Most media outlets have wholeheartedly embraced demon-inspired people and activities that are morally reprehensible.
Here is what you need to know. The power of God and His anointing change everything. When the sick are healed in such massive amounts, and people are baptized in the Holy Spirit in the streets, and people come to Jesus left and right, there is nothing they can say or do to stop it. They may try, but they will fail.
So, what do we do as Christians? We continue teaching, preaching, and ministering under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. People’s eternal destinies depend on our never giving up. We don’t quit, and we don’t compromise the Word. We don’t water down the gospel of repentance, forgiveness, healing, signs and wonders, miracles, and deliverance. We preach and declare uncompromisingly as Jesus did, “Repent and believe the gospel.”
Be blessed with the podcast!
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free