I agree, that's really bad.

Then OTOH, the gift of hope to the suppliant, when given by the Holy Spirit, doesn't seem to give any quarter if one wishes to continue in hope.

"Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened." Matthew 7:7,8 AMP

I knew a JW who, after 30 years of prayer, exulted over the fact that at last his daughter became a JW. Maybe God has a reason of which we are totally unaware. Even the apostle Paul accepted the fact that God said no to His entreaties about a health problem. However, anything that is good for us to have will eventually, in God's timing, come to pass for His glory.
In the meantime;

"...now there doth remain faith, hope, love -- these three; and the greatest of these [is] love." 1 Corinthians 13:13 YLT
Blessings!

Yes, the apostle Paul is a good example.

I tend to think that those kinds of "ask anything" promises are intended for requests that will 1) help us grow spiritually, and 2) help us reach others for Christ. In other words, we can pretty much ask for anything in those areas, and it will be given to us.

We still need to be careful that we are in God's will when we ask, even within that paradigm - keeping in mind the time the disciples tried to cast out devils and didn't understand what they were dealing with.

We also need to keep in mind that God does not force Himself on people. I include that because there are people who pray for years for the salvation of others, but God will only work on their hearts and will not force them.

I have experienced both disappointments and miracles in my own life. Therefore I have learned not to be dogmatic about either one.

Gerry

I'm satisfied to believe, looking in retrospect on my lifes stream, my own personal safety for eternity is largely due to (some)one taking the interest
and time to remember me in prayer to the exclusion of the prince of darknesses attempts to destroy me, before I ever thought of being a friend of God(Jesus).

"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8 KJV
Regards!

Amen LifeHiscost.

pk

I am feeling betrayed and manipulated. My hypothesis is that there is no real difference between God and Satan. Both are murderers, liars and jealous beings. I always respected God because i was convinced that he, despite of his abilities, would always choose God and would not abuse his position of power. This would imply that he would always have a fair policy.

Now consider his policy with a few examples:

- In the old testament woman children and men had to be killed by God for being disobedient or just because their (ungodly) race. Aren t these policy tools the same things that Satan uses? Why only blame Hitler, while God is a mass murderer too? Is it because Gods position of power that he is to be considered a hero while at the same time he is a mass murderer too? If there were to be a distinction between God and Satan, God would have always chosen means which are diametrical opposed to the devil tactics. The fact that he does not, is an illustration that his self proclaimed righteousness is nothing but fiction. So what is good and what is evil? God and Satan are both evil, but our conciousness defines what is good and what is evil. I geuss this is the gift that God didn t want us to receive in the garden of Eden, because it would illustrate that God isn t righteous. The only way he could still convince some people was by indoctrination, in other words, constantly repeating "i am righteous" blablablabla.. Never wondered why God is so self proclaiming about his attributes? If he really is who he claims he is, people who were not indoctrinated would apply these attributes to him out of respect, honour etc. Now all God is doing is creating a robot people to serve him and satisfy his ego.

- While the devil is stupid and so uses very low tactics like boldly killing people, God uses manupilation. For instance, in the old testament God created a people that lost their hearts by , for instance , absurd penalties for gathering sticks on the sabbath. As a result the Jews stricly kept the sabbath heartlessly. Now, when Jesus came as the Messiah he healed people on the sabbath and made the establishment look bad and heartless. I believe that it was Jesus intention in the old testament to create a miserable people, so the contrast with his coming would be greater. This is in fact deception in order to magnify self in the sight of the universe.

It is obvious that a God like this is not worthy of titles of honour, praise, fairness, kindness, meakness, grace etc. These are all self proclaimed attributes and don t mean a thing. Everybody can proclaim this stuff, but only the practical reality can prove is someone is right or wrong. Whom of you were healed by prayer? i geuss nobody, doesn t make this Jesus a liar when he said "Ask the father and you will receive?". By implying that mankind has access to the healing powers of God, God manipulated generations of people. Think about the million people desparately searching for healing, but nobody gets healed.

So how is your future gonna be like? First you will be dazzled by the riches of heaven but after a long time you will begin to qeustion the fairness of God s policy. After that you will realize that the whole universe is build upon God s ego and that there is an assymetric balance in the heavens. Once you realize this, you will come into rebellion and God will destroy you all, replacing you with a new creation. After all, God will probably be bored of the old creation anyway. By maskerading the fact that God is unrighteous and by manipulation he is able to prevent the fact that he can be overthrown. So i would urge you to use the same tactics. Once you are in heaven and you start to realise that things aren t what you have been told, keep digging into the nature of God. The fact that God needed a rest on the seventh day implies that his energy is not endless. God doesn t want you to find out about his true nature. Find out what it is, isolate him from his source of energies and force him to be an equal participant in the establishment of the order of the universe! It is up to you, don t become a robot slave untill you are getting replaced by a new order of beings.

After years of studying with Jehovah's Witnesses and attending their Kingdom Halls, etc., I believe that while they do teach quite a few false doctrines, there are a lot worse things than being a JW. I couldn't be one because I know they are wrong on a number of key issues, but there are also a lot of things about them and about their organization that I admire. It's common for them to build a Kingdom Hall in one day-- and all for free, because the labor is all voluntary. I never felt so much love as I did among them.

Truthseeker, are you still seeking Truth?

Sounds like you're giving the viewpoint of God that His self-declared enemy wants people to have. Is this really how you think now?

You have changed, haven't you? Are you speaking from your emotions or is this representative of your reasoning and the weight of evidence?

People do get healed through the power of prayer, truthseeker.

But it just depends on if you want to accept the evidence or not.

Just one example: a doctor told us that my father was in need of surgery because of an infection in his kidney and a high fever, following an appendectomy which resulted in a ruptured appendix. Before the surgery, my father, an Adventist pastor, called for the other pastor and members of the church to anoint him and have special prayer. The doctor, who was an Adventist, also had prayer. Everyone prayed and they anointed my dad. They sent the gurney up to the room to take my father down to the surgery, but the doctor said that he wanted to have one more test done beforehand. The blood test was done and the results showed no infection and also no more fever. The surgery was cancelled.

That happened at Loma Linda University Medical Center in 1980, and the Doctor's name was Dr. Thompson.

I have no doubt it was an answer to prayer and that my father was healed.