Monday, March 28, 2016

VSSM Outreach at Wallace Pack Prison Unit 03-19-16

 
 
Smashing Pillars Intl. (SPI) hosted Victory School of Supernatural Ministry (VSSM) Saturday March 19 and what an amazing time we had together. God showed up and blessed the men in the unit, but students were also just as blessed.



We were at the unit from 12:30 PM until 8:00 PM. The service started at 2:00 PM. God did so much during this time that it would take me days to write it all out, but I do want to share some of the things He did and give Him the glory He deserves. First, let me thank the SPI intercessors who covered us while we were in the unit. You know who you are. Second, I want to thank the team of students from VSSM who came out and totally blessed the men in the unit. VSSM, YOU ROCK!

The team consisted of fearless leader Linda Spencer-Kirkwood, Mark McDaniel, David Bradley Crouch, Rebecca Rubio, Angela Newton, Maria Estebane, Marcy Benner, Maria Cristina Spiller and Richard Ramsey who also interceded for us while we were in the unit. We also want to thank Warden Robert Herrera and Chaplain David Nichols for allowing us to go into the unit to minister to the men. We are so grateful and appreciate you two men! May the Lord rain blessings into your lives.


The men were so transformed by the experience they were still talking about the outreach when I returned for Tuesday morning class. Many said the prophetic words they received from the students were so powerful and inspiring. Others were very touched by the flags and the prophetic praise dancing by Rebecca, Mark, Angie and Brad. Some of the men said they could sense God was doing something prophetically through the dancing. The band loved worshipping with Marcy. They were so blessed by her and her ability to easily flow with them in worship by the Spirit. The Lord began moving in healings and impartations after worship and the message shared by Linda. Linda had a word of knowledge for healing of pain on the left side. Several men came up for prayer and received instant healing from the pain. More men began to come up for prayer and so I asked some of the men from the unit who are in the faith based dorm to pair up with the VSSM students to pray for those who were responding to the call for prayer. It was the perfect opportunity to stir up the gifts in the men and to put to practice what they have been learning in the program. It was also hands on training for them in praying for healing. The VSSM students encouraged them to continue praying for healing even if the person they are praying for isn't healed the first time they pray. The students encouraged the men to contend for healing through prayer. The men witnessed many healings and were so on fire that God used them. Here are some of the healings reported:
  • Linda -  pain left side - several healings, no idea how many
  • Marcy - 2 healed from pain 10-0, also a healing from pain in shoulders, also another who had severe back pain in the meeting and began to cry when Marcy prayed for him because the pain left him.
  • Rebecca - prayed for a man who had Parkinson's disease and was shaking at the time, but was not shaking after he received prayer! Praise God.
  • There were other healings such as emotional and mental.
While the Spirit was moving in healing the Lord said to call everyone up who had never felt the presence or touch of God. That's when things got interesting. A few men came up for prayer, but when the Father started touching the men, more men started coming. Several men experienced the Father's touch for the first time in their lives and some were so overwhelmed by the presence and glory of God that they were on the floor laughing and crying at the same time. Thank you Jesus for touching Your sons!

Thank you Pastor Sally and Victory Christian Center for offering Victory School of Supernatural Ministry where people are taught how to bring Heaven to earth by living a supernatural lifestyle. The hands-on training, along with sound biblical teaching and knowledge they receive at VSSM, is making a difference in the lives of the students, but also in the lives of the people they encounter everywhere everyday. Go God and go VSSM!

 
A big thank you to all SPI supports. You are making a difference in countless lives!
 
Receive this blessing:

May the Lord bless you and keep you;
May the Lord make His face shine upon you;
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you;
And give you peace...Shalom.

His best to you,

Samuel - Smashing Pillars....raising sons.

Smashing Pillars International is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Your financial donations are all tax deductible. Thank you in advance.

Donations can be made online at:
www.smashingpillarsinternational.org

If you would like to mail in a donation, please mail to:

Smashing Pillars International
14403 Walters Rd., #681601
Houston, Texas 77014

Be sure to include your prayer requests.
 


Friday, March 18, 2016

Does God create evil?


I woke up this morning with this scripture in my spirit. I know that this one verse can be a stumbling block for some because it gives the impression that God is the author of evil, but He is not. He is not the author of confusion, nor is He the author of evil, wickedness in other words. It is very important that this lying spirit that accuses God of evil be put down. If this lying spirit can convince a person that God is the author of evil, then it will also convince a person that God wants them to commit evil. That's bad bookey, but I don't want you to take my word for it because I have been accused of twisting and discrediting the Bible, which is totally absurd. I never said the Bible isn't true.

Full Definition of discredit      www.merriam-webster.com
  1. 1 :  to refuse to accept as true or accurate :  disbelieve <discredit a rumor>
  2. 2 :  to cause disbelief in the accuracy or authority of <a discredited theory>
  3. 3 :  to deprive of good repute :  disgrace <personal attacks meant to discredit his opponent>
 
Below is a very good teaching on this verse and the context that it is used in. Context is very important when we are reading the Bible. Do not just read a verse and presume to know what it means. It is always better to the read the chapter before and after the chapter the verse we are trying to understand is in. Also, we must understand when reading the Bible what is narration and what is teaching. If we can learn to distinguish the two we can avoid flaky and inerrant interpretations, which only cause schisms in the Body.
 
A simple definition of Schism:
  • a division among the members of a group that occurs because they disagree on something
Full definition of Schism:  www.merriam-webster.com
  1. division, separation; also: discord, disharmony
  2. formal division in or separation from a church or religious body
  3. the offense of promoting schism
 
The following teaching can be found on Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry at https://carm.org/does-god-create-evil. Great teaching and should clear some things up for us.
 

Does God create evil?

Isaiah 45:7 and Amos 3:6
  • (Isaiah 45:7, KJV)--"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things."
  • (Amos 3:6)--"Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?"
Is God really the one who created evil? To answer the question we must first look at how the word for evil, rah, is used in the Bible, examine the context of the Isaiah 45:7 passage, and look at other passages on the same subject.
First of all, the Hebrew word for evil, rah, is used in many different ways in the Bible. In the KJV Bible, it occurs 663 times. Four-hundred-thirty-one (431) times it is translated as evil. The other 232 times it is translated as wicked, bad, hurt, harm, ill, sorrow, mischief, displeased, adversity, affliction, trouble, calamity, grievous, misery, and trouble. So we can see that the word does not require that it be translated as evil. This is why different Bibles translate this verse differently. It is translated as calamity by the NASB and NKJV, disaster by the NIV, and woe by the RSV.
Second, the context of the verse is speaking of natural phenomena.
"I am the Lord, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; 6That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, 7The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these," (Isaiah 45:5-7).
Notice that the context of the verse is dealing with who God is and that it is God who speaks of natural phenomena (sun, light, dark) and that it is God who is able to cause "well-being" as well as "calamity." Contextually, this verse is dealing with natural disasters and human comfort issues. It is not speaking of moral evil. Rather, it is dealing with calamity, distress, etc. This is consistent with other Scriptures. For example,
  • "And the Lord said to him, "Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" (Exodus 4:11)
  • "Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?" (Amos 3:6)
Also, take note that Isaiah is presenting contrasts. He speaks of "light" and "darkness," "well being" and "calamity." The word, "well-being," in the Hebrew is the word for 'peace,' "Shalome." So, in the context, we are seeing two sets of opposites: Light and dark, peace and non-peace, or well being and calamity. The "evil" that is spoken of is not ontological evil but the evil experienced by people in the form of calamity.

From the above two verses (Exodus 4:11, Amos 3:6), we can see that the Lord is involved in calamity and problems in the earthly realm. Exodus 4:11 is speaking of human frailty, and Amos 3:6 is speaking of woes in a city. It is not a moral evil that God brings but calamity and distress upon people.

Of course, this raises other questions of why God would do such a thing, which I won't cover here. But, we can trust that whatever God does is just and is used for teaching, guiding, and disciplining His people.

Third, there are other verses that clearly show that God is pure and that He cannot approve of evil.
  • “The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He," (Deut. 32:4).
  • "Thine eyes are too pure to approve evil, and Thou canst not look on wickedness with favor," (Hab. 1:13).
We can see that the Bible teaches that God is pure and does not approve of evil and that the word, rah (evil), in Hebrew can mean many things and that contextually the verse is speaking of calamity and distress. Therefore, God does not create evil in the moral sense but in the sense of disaster or calamity.

Receive this blessing:

May the Lord bless you and keep you;
May the Lord make His face shine upon you;
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you;
And give you peace...Shalom.

His best to you,

Samuel - Smashing Pillars....raising sons.

Smashing Pillars International is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Your financial donations are all tax deductible. Thank you in advance.

Donations can be made online at:
www.smashingpillarsinternational.org

If you would like to mail in a donation, please mail to:

Smashing Pillars International
14403 Walters Rd., #681601
Houston, Texas 77014

Be sure to include your prayer requests.
 

Friday, March 11, 2016

Prison Ministry 03-05-16 & 03-08-16

From left to right: Jessica, Yolanda, Israel, Ruben and Samuel
after Saturday Service at Wallace Pack Unit March 5th.
Saturday March 5th
The Lord is moving through the bi-lingual services in the unit. So grateful the Lord has brought Felipe and Gricelda Carrillo and their crew from Nueva Vida Church in Channelview to assist with the services. The men are growing and the I'm learning some Spanish! LOL! How about that? During worship the Lord had me share a verse out of Isaiah 48 and then revelation began flowing. We opened the altar for prayer and the team went to work blessing God's people...His sons. Such a sweet presence of the Lord there Saturday. Special shout out to Ruben and Israel who were overtaken by the Holy Spirit and joined the worship band as backup singers, or should I say worshipers! It was awesome and so anointed. I love these guys so much. As always, there was so much joy in the presence of the Lord. Also welcome to Jessica Quiroz, new addition to the bi-lingual team of ministers.

Tuesday morning class - March 8th
The class has grown from about 60 to almost 100 men since we first started last year. This morning Holy Spirit took the class in a direction we were not expecting. Instead of doing our lesson we ended up doing a worship, communion and activation service. We recently received approval to bring a shofar into the unit. We worshipped and then we corporately repented for all sin and iniquity ever committed on the property, asked God to cleanse the property and remove all curses that came upon the property all the way back to day 1. The presence of God filled the place. We then took communion and declared the land to be in covenant with God as well as ourselves. Mark Upchurch was with me and assisted me with anointing all the men with anointing oil made from the olive trees in Israel at the foot of Mount Tabor. The scent was so beautiful. Then the Lord had me sound the shofar over the men and the heavens were opened and a new mantle was released to the men at over the Wallace Pack Unit. Words can't do enough to describe the experience.

Please remember us in your prayers and thank you for your support.

Best,
Samuel
Smashing Pillars... raising sons.

Smashing Pillars International is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Your financial donations are all tax deductible. Thank you in advance.

Donations can be made online at:
www.smashingpillarsinternational.org

If you would like to mail in a donation, please mail to:

Smashing Pillars International
14403 Walters Rd., #681601
Houston, Texas 77014

Be sure to include your prayer requests.