Why the Apostle Paul Quit.

An extra Biblical account - from Calamentations 5:13-20

Now on the first day of the week, having just watched our beloved brother Paul be stoned to death and then resurrected in Lystra, we had in our mind to go on to Derbe with him, but he suddenly beckoned to us and with much heaviness of heart laid his burden on the rest of us.13 It is with the greatest of sorrow that I must conclude our journey is over, Paul told us weeping as he did. Without, the offering from the good brothers at Antioch which Barnabas has failed to bring I feel it is overly burdensome on us to go forth any longer, and I conclude the Lord’s will in this matter of evangelism has changed.14 Shocked at the downcast spirit of our brother, John Mark quickly took up the matter with much exhortation and encouraging, reminding him of all the hardship we had suffered previously15 , and of the great faithfulness of our Lord and Savior who always provided at the right time.16 Nonetheless Paul was unmoved, and in his own reasoning, presiding over us all , insisted that were it still the Lord’s will for us to continue this current venture, He would most certainly have provided before now.17 In addition he reasoned fervently with us that if it were still the Lord’s will for us to continue he would have made a path, not rather constant beatings, shipwrecks, and overall hardship.18 Though we all objected bitterly to this line of reasoning, each purporting that the Lord’s will was not to be determined by circumstance, but rather by His Holy Word, spoken through the prophets and the Apostles, Paul overcame our rhetoric with his insistence that he would not make another move until the way before him was smooth, provision was in sight, and thus he could be certain of the Lord’s will in the matter.19 Bitterly, we all left him one after another, both confused and confounded at this much-unexpected turn of events.20 In the years after this event at Lystra we often wondered what became of our much beloved brother, as the rumors of his slip into depression, and sickness abounded throughout the lands.21

Wow – what if that had really happened…..

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” you say, “Paul would never have done that. He was a man of faith!” you continue, secretly wondering if my quotation from the extra-biblical book of Calamentations above is some form of heresy.

Well if it’s so stupid, then why do Christians do the equivalent all the time?

Maybe you do too….. Let’s see, have you ever attempted to discern the will of God from your circumstances?

“Oh I was pretty sure the Lord was calling me to this before, but now I’m not so sure….I mean the money’s run out, nobody’s really interested, it’s actually really hard, and I just can’t see any way that this can possibly work out. I guess I must have missed the Lord’s will originally, because surely if this were it He would have provided somehow. Right?”

I know of several cases of young people (we’ll call them youths) who felt the clear call of God on their lives. They discerned that He was calling them to a one-year mission trip to another country. They were truly excited. They prayed, they fasted; they sought his will and became convinced that they knew his will. Unfortunately three quarters of the way through their fund-raising efforts, when they had failed to raise even half of the money they needed to go on the trip they became disillusioned. They came to the conclusion that the lack of provision was a sign that it was no longer God’s will that they go on the trip. This story actually has a sad ending because both kids lost their fire for the Lord, and instead spent their time raising money to go to college (something they found somewhat easier) and neither is active in their home church anymore.

Questions…..

#1. Was it God’s will for them to go on a trip and share the Gospel with others?

Maybe we’ll never know the answer to that question this side of heaven, but if you’re honest with yourself, I think you know the answer.

#2. Did God change his mind about their evangelism trip?

You know the answer to that too.

#3. Was the lack of provision a sign that God was directing them not to go on the trip?

Hmmmmm (think about the Apostle Paul above)

#4. Was the Devil involved?

I wonder what the Devil’s will was concerning a mission trip and the spiritual growth of two young people on fire for the Lord?


So when was the last time you decided to discern the Lord’s will by your circumstances? Have you ever given up?

Well here’s a real Bible verse for you.

Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep 2 Cor 11:25

This is what Paul endured as he answered the call of God on his life. He didn’t allow these circumstances to make him question the Lord’s will.

God says many times in his word to take care of the widows and orphans. It’s something He has never changed his mind about, and you don’t need to consider your circumstances to find out if it’s something you should do. It is.

A good friend is struggling with a big decision right now. I pray that he’ll consider only God’s Word and his promises, and not be moved by what he can see today.

For we walk by faith, not by sight. 2Cor 5:8

God Bless,

LM

Ok - so you know what I've been doing for the past few hours...have to admit it's been fun! Here is another "Trailer" I've created for The Second Trumpet.

I like this one better. It runs 5 minutes exactly, but then it loops. (haven't figured out how to stop that yet).

Like last time, please scroll down on the right and hit the pause button on the music player before you push play for the Trailer.

Enjoy!

LM

Make a Smilebox slideshow

To watch the book trailer below make sure you hit the pause button on the music player on the right first.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Hells Scare!!!!

Here’s a solution you probably won’t hear about on the news….

Given the raging debate on healthcare recently, and the fact that almost everyone has an opinion on the subject, I wasn’t surprised when a friend sent me his own personal “10 Step Solution” to our nations Healthcare Crisis. After careful consideration of his plan, I realized he was on to something, but was missing one critical element. (A little David Allen Coe there for some of you who get it) I personally find his solutions to be very sensible and so I’ll include them here, but since his plan is almost all preventative, I will add #11 to address what to do for those who are already sick. After reading this I think you’ll see we not only have everything covered, but we have done it with practically no cost increase. (I’d better be careful…..if word of this gets out, I’m liable to be elected to public office against my will.)

OK – so here’s what my friend sent me:

Larry,

I've been watching the debates on government health care. And as I watch I wonder how much health care we'd even need, government or personal, if the following became a reality in this country.

1. Every able-bodied person in the U.S. exercised for at least 15 minutes a day.

2. Exercise was a required subject in schools – from pre-school through graduate school.

3. Deep breathing exercises were taught to kids as well as adults - after all, 70% of toxins are eliminated through the breath.

4. Fluoride were removed from drinking water, along with all the other harmful chemicals wending their way to the faucet.

5. Shots with toxic mercury, aluminum, and cadmium were no longer given - many believe these potions have sky-rocketed autism and Alzheimers to record levels.

6. Cancer-causing pesticides and herbicides were no longer allowed to be sprayed on fruits and vegetables.

7. High fructose corn syrup was banned from all foods and beverages.

8. Genetically modified foods were outlawed.

9. MSG and other corn derivatives were no longer allowed to be added to foods.

10. All meat and dairy had to be grass-fed and hormone free.

The above is only a snippet of what could be done to save trillions of dollars on future
health care costs. Naturally, I've narrowed this plan to 10 key points that you
can read fairly fast - as well as Google for accuracy.

OK – so his thoughts are a little out of the “main stream” but then again, so am I. If you have heartburn with any of them why not take his advice, Google them so you can make a more informed opinion.

Well anyway – for #11 – you undoubtedly noticed that while the above steps would help with prevention they really don’t meet the needs of the millions who already find themselves sick. So that’s why I’m adding #11 –

#11 – Receive healing from God by faith for whatever currently afflicts you.

OK – undoubtedly many of you have practically decided to stop reading, but…..before you do…hold on just a minute and consider a couple of things. Do you know the statistics on people in this country who get sick and die? That’s right, in this country, they get sick, go to the doctor, hospital, take their medicine, and then die anyway. It’s a lot of people…

Now before I go further let me say clearly – I am not against doctors, medicine, modern allopathic, or osteopathic methods – I am not. (that’s obvious if you know me.)

I do believe there is another alternative available to people of faith. Why do I believe this? Because it’s in the Bible, both Testaments, Old and New. It’s part of the Gospel that Jesus proclaimed. It’s plain to see for anyone who wants to….

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their Synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness, and all kinds of diseases among the people. Mt 5:23

“Wait just a minute…” you say…”That was Jesus!” Well OK –

And the believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed. Acts 5:14-16

“Yes, but those things were done in order to establish the Church,” You say, being the highly educated theologian that you are.

What about this…

Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed. 1 Pet 2:24

“But again, that speaks of spiritual healing,” you might say.

Well I won’t go on but read Mathew 8 and you can clearly see that the Holy Spirit says that this passage in 1 Peter and the passage that Peter quotes in Is 53 both refer specifically to physical healing.

“Well fine," you say – confounded by my apologetic – “if we’re healed by Jesus – then how come it doesn’t work all the time? I mean everyone knows people who have been prayed for who haven’t recovered. In fact,” you might say, “In my experience faith healings have a whole lot worse record than doctors.”

True, true, true. And I wouldn’t pretend to try and explain all of the reasons that some are not healed, or even claim to know all of the reasons (however I do know some).

That’s not really the place to start though. The place to start is with the will of God, and your faith. It’s been said many times, “Faith begins at the point the will of God is known.” This is very true, because until you are convinced that it is God’s will that you be healed, it will be impossible for you to have the faith to receive a healing from God.

How do you come to know God’s will? Through his Word! His word is his will….. and through the life of Jesus. The will of God for mankind is most clearly manifested and represented through the life of Jesus Christ on this earth.

So study his Word. Read it, meditate on it, get it inside of you. This not only teaches you his will, but it simultaneously grows your faith. (See Romans 10:17) I’ve already given you a few places to start, but here are a few more: Ex 15:26, Ps 91, Ps103:3, Is 53:5, Mt 8:2-3 (in fact a thorough study of Mathew 8 is probably essential).

Besides reading and meditating on Scripture is there anything you can do. Sure is – (I recommend doing it now while you’re well – rather than waiting until your sick) – you can stimulate your mind with the writings of others on the subject. Let me suggest just a few excellent ones:

Christ the Healer, by F.F. Bosworth

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_17?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=christ+the+healer+by+f.f.+bosworth&sprefix=christ+the+healer

God Wants You Healed, by Walt Straughan

http://wsmin.org/book5.htm

Finally, the biggest problem some people have is opening their minds to the concept of supernatural healing in the first place. For this, fiction is the answer because it doesn’t assault the mind. Ideas kind of come in the back door of your mind as you read fiction. The more you read the more amenable you become to the idea, at which point you're ready for more serious study.

Here’s a great place to start if that’s where you find yourself (big surprise huh!)

The Second Trumpet, by Larry Miles

Click the link right over there to your right!

So there you have it. 11 steps to fixing healthcare! And you know what the beauty of these 11 steps is? Whether the Government ever does anything or not, you can personally start right now by implementing each one of these steps!

Think About It! God Bless,

LM

Burglary, Assault, Home Invasion!!!!! All in the middle of a Family movie night!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ku1YOrxXeQ

Check it out……or better yet don’t bother because…

Even if you make it through that, chances are your daughter will die anyway from …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMbvhug7CGU&feature=related

…at least that’s what I gleaned from my peripheral vision and peripheral attention last week.

So what was I doing?

Well it was actually about 2 weeks ago when I was visiting my in-laws and they had the TV on in the background all weekend. Now my sensibilities weren’t overly offended by the plethora of female sanitary product commercials, and I made it through the onslaught of ED commercials, but when I had to stand in front of the TV to keep my 4 year old from witnessing a home invasion, not just once, but three times I finally decided the TV was going off. Unfortunately I didn’t get it off before I was subjected to Merck and companies blitz of scare tactics about HPV.

Does marketing affect you? Does it?

I offer exhibit A - my father-in-law – 61 year old white male farmer.

Up until a few years ago I would have classified him as fearless. Now though, he has developed, uh, dare I call them “phobias” about someone breaking into his house, someone breaking into our house, “something bad” happening to us because the world is so dangerous, catching the bird flu, the swine flu, SARs, salmonella, or some other deadly disease.

What’s happened to him?

The fearless farmer with a 12 gauge behind the door now checks the doors three times before going to bed. If I’m out of town his advice to my my wife is, “lock the doors and don’t go outside.” He doesn’t want to eat in a restaurant because of the constant salmonella outbreaks he hears about….uh oh, wait! How’d he hear about those outbreaks anyway?

Well about 4-5 years ago he subscribed to the Dish network, or one of those satellite TV companies, and since then the TV has run pretty much 24/7 in their house. Now I only visit about once every 6-8 weeks but it’s been enough to make some observations:

Observation 1- He is the same, tough capable, healthy individual he was 5 years ago.

Observation 2 – He has developed some (as nearly as I can tell) irrational fears about things over which he really has little to no control.

Observation 3 – The only thing that has changed is what’s gone into his mind through his eyes and ears for the past few years.

The result? - The Bible calls it a ‘Spirit of Fear’, and by the way it says that God didn’t give it to you.

Do you have one?

Oh I’m sure you don’t. TV doesn’t affect you that way..... you’re smart enough to be able to filter through what’s realistic and what’s not. What’s important and significant and the rest of the gobbledygook.

So ask yourself – what do you fear? Anything? What do you worry about? Anything? What makes you nervous daily? Anything? The recession? The job market? The economy? Coming pandemics? The budget deficit? Losing your healthcare? Losing your job?

How’d you find out you were supposed to be worried about those things? I bet it wasn’t from reading the Bible was it.

Now, go read Psalm 91. – Seriously – stop reading this and go read Psalm 91 right now, it’ll only take you 4-5 minutes.

What are you more inclined to believe, those verses or the “realistic” information you get from 24-hour news channels and their companionate commercials?

If you think you can bombard yourself with the TV to no effect your kidding yourself.

If you just read Psalm 91 and felt that those were just nice verses for a different people in a different time, and didn’t see them as literal promises that you can stake your life on then you need some adjustment in your thinking.

Now there’s no substitute for reading the Bible, but when you’re not doing that why not fill your mind (your soul) with uplifting, faith-building materials instead of fear enhancing, worry-multiplying stuff.

You know what I’m gonna suggest next. Check out the link to the right. If you haven’t read it yet, order it today. If you have, buy 5 copies for your friends, it’ll build their faith and they’ll thank you for it later.

God Bless.

LM

Vampires, Witches, Aliens, & Sex……

Well I guess that got your attention...

When I do book signings for The Second Trumpet they usually put me next to the bestseller rack and so in between the onslaughts of adoring fans hoping for an autograph, (or at best a glimpse of their favorite author), I squeeze in a few moments to peruse the shelves in order to see what sort of claptrap tomes my peers are using in their ingenious attempts to capture the minds of the populace.

Has anyone looked at the bestseller lists from the NYTs, Amazon or Barnes and Noble lately!?!?! Oh my God! (That’s right I said God – but not in vain – it’s a prayer for anyone who reads that stuff!)

Guess what you’ll find? You guessed it… Now we all know our Country’s been obsessed with sex for many years (I guess the whole world has/is for that matter) but if you peruse the recent bestseller lists, now it’s brutal, violent, criminal sex (that means rape and murder are all thrown in for good measure)! What gives?

Well if it’s not sex then what’s up with all the vampire and werewolf books? Are those things real? Do people want them to be? I mean the stories all end up the same (innocent – or not so innocent victims get vamped!) a bunch of mere mortals die and the immortal vampires and werewolves continue their lonely chronicle of life for, well forever - I guess. Then of course there are the witch books, and the common spat of alien books that have populated the bestseller lists for years now.

But to what end? Why do people read them? An escape from reality? An escape from the mundane-acity of everyday life? But look what you’re escaping into! Do the books you read affect you? Do the books you read affect your kids? (Does it matter that the Bible says a witch is to be put to death but a few years ago my 9 year old nephew came into my house trying to cast spells on my family after reading his third Harry Potter book? - No I’m sure that’s nothing….)

So why the popularity of these books?

For one thing most of them are very well written. Why? Simple. First because they’re written by very talented authors. The only problem is these folks have bought into Babylon’s lie and have used their God-given-talent for their own glory instead of for what it was intended – to glorify God. Another reason for the mass popularity of these books is that much of the world is interested in, and searching for information, experiences, and answers about the supernatural. Unfortunately, the Western Church has, for the most part, left a vacuum in this area and these wretched books fill the void we leave. Because we (the Body) don’t have answers about the supernatural that are meaningful, and helpful, and have a ring of truth (BTW – all these answers are clearly in the Bible) people fill this void as best they can. And finally, so many buy into the Deceiver’s lie that a little rough, brutal, criminal sex is fine as long as you’re just reading about it (not doing it). But check out the statistics on the people who do - do it. It almost always started as an idea in their mind before they did it.

Hmmm, I wonder where the idea came from?

So what to do? Read the kind of books that model the kind of life you want to live. I want to live a life full of the supernatural power of God and so those are not only the kind of books I read, they’re also the kind of books I write. There are plenty of good ones out there. Let me recommend you click on the link to right and check out The Second Trumpet. But whether you read it or not remember….what you read does matter. It affects you in many more ways than you might think!

God Bless!

LM

Here's an article/interview that was done last spring in our very own hometown paper - The Crozet Gazette. I got to spend a whole afternoon talking with Mike Marshall the editor of the paper discussing The Second Trumpet, God, Religion, Current Events, family and living in Crozet. It was a fun time. Hope you enjoy the article - bet you'll find out things about me that you didn't know!

It was fun being a local celebrity for a few weeks! Enjoy -

Second Trumpet has Echos of Crozet

When people who believe in God talk about looking for evidence of his mysterious hand in the events of life they will sometimes say, "No such thing as coincidences." In Larry Miles novel, The Second Trumpet, a Christian Thriller about a terrorist attack on Washington D.C., coincidence - or is it? - plays a pivotal role and only the reader, none of the characters, gets in on God's view of what happens.

(for the whole article please click below)

http://www.crozetgazette.com/2009/04/second-trumpet-has-echos-of-crozet/

Hi Everyone! I'm back after a long - uh sabbatical??? Well maybe not - but finally, a year and two months after my original goal I did finish my second book tonight! Yeah!!!! You don't know what a relief that is! So now the editing starts - but at least the hardest part is finished.

So - now I'll finally have a chance to get back to posting some thoughts here at LarryMiles.org :)

First an update on the Second Trumpet. Sales are going great! My latest marketing plan to target local churches with actual copies has really paid off. My next step is to get the word out more prodigiously on the web. I think an actual Facebook Page and maybe some Twitter is in line.... I know some of you are cringing right now but it's ok - really it is. :)

Anyway - next post I will share some thoughts on the current crop of Best Sellers. (like I promised a year ago)

Good to be back - tell your friends - or better yet, buy a book for them!

All the love of Jesus to you!