The Bible and Life

Friday, July 31, 2026

R. A. Torrey

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

R.A. Torrey (1856-1928) was one of the foremost evangelists of his day. He was a great man of prayer who went around the world proclaiming the message of the gospel and helping men receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Even the great Evangelist D.L. Moody after hearing Torrey preach said, “you make my mouth water for Him.”

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The topic that R.A. Torrey struggled with for years was that of Divine Healing. This was due to the ministry of John Alexander Dowie. Dowie was a great pioneer of the healing message, yet was brash, aggressive, and would openly thrash and humiliate anyone who disagreed with his doctrine. After seeing the open feuds between Dowie and Moody, Torrey decided to stay away from the topic of divine healing all together. Yet, something continued to draw him to it over the years. He began to see people healed in his own meetings and at the time Aimee Semple McPherson brought another great wave of healing to the nation.

Towards the end of his life, he felt the need to respond to what he was seeing and published a little book called “Divine Healing.” Within the writings he said, “Does God heal in answer to prayer today? Does He really heal people who are beyond the skill of the physician and beyond all human help? Does he work miracles today?

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To all these questions I reply, He does. Not only does the Bible teach it, but experience demonstrates it." Would Torrey have seen things in a different light if he had not encountered Dowie? Only God knows the answer to that question. Torrey died on October 26, 1928. His remarkable evangelistic campaigns remain, like those of his friend Moody, a hallmark of effective and memorable Christian movements.

Regardless of the actions of other ministers that were hurtful, Torrey decided to go with what God’s word had to say on the matter, and he left a legacy of faith proclaiming that God saves, God fills with the Holy Ghost, and God heals! Let’s all do the same!

KINGDOM GENERALS

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Apostolic Church History Podcast

Tuesday, July 28, 2026

How To Judge Spirituality

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

How To Judge Spirituality.

“One Sunday morning during the summer of 1943, I was preaching at a church in north-central Texas. My text was Colossians 2:9,10, where it says "ye are complete in him," and my title was “What Is Spirituality?" I have never been brave enough to use that text again.

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I asked the question: Where would you go to look for a spiritual person?

Some thought of people in our church who were quick to jump, quick to dance, quick to shout, and they said, "They're spiritual."

I told the congregation, "That's not spirituality. You can't judge spirituality by that.”

“Somebody else said, "So-and-So is always talking in tongues and is always giving messages in tongues, so he's really spiritual."

I said, "No, no. You can't judge spirituality by that, because God will use any kind of vessel He can. I read where He talked through a donkey one time. That doesn't mean that donkey was spiritual.

"No," I said. "I know that spiritual people do go to church, but I wouldn't even go to church if I were looking for a spiritual person. You know the first place I'd go?"

They all said, "No."

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I said, "I'd go to a person's home."

You see, when it comes to religious things, people are two faced. They've got one face they wear on Sunday, and another face they wear another day. I've seen them as a pastor. I've knocked on their doors and heard them whisper, "Put that UP! Put that UP! Put that UP!" There was something they didn't want me to see. And you never heard such scurrying around. I thought they never were going to open the door.

"No," I told that congregation, "I'd just like to become the invisible man; walk through the door, and look and listen." And I said, "People who are spiritual—people who have really got something—live right at home. And if you don't live right at home, you haven't got anything!”

-Kenneth E. Hagin

- Spiritual Notes

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Friday, July 24, 2026

They Had God

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Peter and John were helpless, were illiterate, they had no college education. They had been with Jesus. To them had come a wonderful revelation of the power of the name of Jesus. They had handed out the bread and fish after Jesus had multiplied them. They had sat at the table with Him and John had often gazed into His face.

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Peter had often to be rebuked, but Jesus manifested His love to Peter through it all. Yea, He loved Peter, the wayward one. O, He’s a wonderful lover! I have been wayward, I have been stubborn, I had an unmanageable temper at one time, but how patient He has been. I am here to tell you that there is power in Jesus and in His wondrous name to transform anyone, to heal anyone.

If you will see Him as God’s Lamb, as God’s beloved Son who had laid upon Him the iniquity of us all, if only you will see that Jesus paid the whole price for our redemption that we might be free, you can enter into your purchased inheritance of salvation, of life and of power.

Poor Peter, and poor John!

They had no money!

No education!

But they had faith, they had the power of the Holy Ghost, they had God.

You can have God even though you have nothing else.

Even though you have lost your character you can have God.

Even though you have lost your reputation you can have God.

I have seen the worst men saved by the power of God.

- Smith Wigglesworth ( Ever Increase Faith )

Roberts Liardon

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Apostolic Church History Podcast

Tithing Brings the Promised Blessings of God

Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Why And How To Tithe

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

UNDERSTAND WHY AND HOW YOU SHOULD TITHE

About fifty years ago, I was pastoring a church in the oil fields of east Texas. One of the deacons of the church had a good job working for Humble Oil Company. And he was always faithful in his support of the church.

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One day he said to me, "Brother Hagin, can you explain something to me? I 've been a Christian for thirteen years, and I 've been faithful in paying my tithes and giving offerings." I knew that was true. He was a regular tither whose support really blessed the church. "What is it you want to know?" I asked.

He said, "Well, I don't know why I'm doing it. I've never heard any teaching or preaching about tithing. When I got saved, they told me I was supposed to do it, so I did. But I don't know of anything that's ever come of it in thirteen years. If I've ever gotten any blessing out of it, I don't know it."

I was amazed. Here was a good man who had been tithing strictly from the standpoint of slavish duty, and it hadn't worked for him. So I took a few minutes and told him a little bit of what I'm sharing with you in this chapter.

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Then I said to him, "The next time you get your tithe envelope out, say, 'Lord, I'm doing this by faith. I'm giving for the purpose of keeping this local church going, which is benefiting the Body of Christ by helping people. I'm helping spread the Gospel so that people can be saved. Thank You, God, for making it possible for me to be part of Your work. I am giving in faith and expectancy to be blessed according to Your Word.'"

"I'll sure give that a try," he said. And he did.

About thirty days later, he came back to me with a big grin on his face. "I've been doing what you said, Brother Hagin. Every week I've been praying when I get ready to pay my tithes. And boy," he declared, "it's really working. I can definitely tell a difference in my finances!"

Another time, in another east Texas church, a man came to me and said, "Brother Hagin, my wife and I have been paying tithes ever since we got saved, nearly twenty-five years. But we've never heard any teaching from the Bible about it. Many of our friends in the church are farmers. They borrow money to buy seed to plant, and when the cotton is ready, they hire people to pick it. How do they pay tithes?

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"I talked to one or two of the deacons," he said. "And they don't know much about it, either. They said they had thought about asking you to preach about it, but they didn't want you to think they were trying to tell you what to preach. So I wanted to see if you thought you would be talking about it anytime soon?"

I said to the man, "Brother Williams, I'm glad you brought this up. God has been dealing with me about this before you ever said anything. So I'm going to do it right away."

In those days, the biggest crowd we had at our church was on Sunday night. The building was usually full, and if the weather was good, sometimes there would be people standing outside. Because I wanted the most people possible to hear what the Bible says about tithing and giving, I took a Sunday night and spent about an hour on the subject, going into great detail.

I had always tried to preach a balanced message to the church. I had preached about salvation, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and the gifts of the Spirit. I had preached about healing, faith, and living a life of love and service to others. So the people knew I wasn't trying to cram something down their throats when I preached about finances; it was something they needed and wanted to know.

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After the service, many of the folks told me how glad they were that I had preached about tithing and giving—that I had helped them understand what the Bible said and the purpose for giving to God. I could tell they had taken it to heart.

Well, immediately the income of the church tripled! Without any special emphasis or pull, there was a generous response when we passed the offering plate. Even sinners started paying their tithes. There were two ladies in the church who were married to unsaved men. These two men would come to church with their families on Sunday night.

The very next day after I preached on tithing, one of these men stopped by the parsonage. "Brother Hagin," he said. "My wife and I talked about your sermon on the way home last night. We believe that God will bless us if we obey His Word. I just got off my first bales of cotton so I wanted to stop by and pay out tithes."

Well, those unsaved fellows kept on paying their tithes. And it wasn't long until both of them got saved and filled with the Spirit. Their families were blessed too. Later, one of the wives was called to preach, and the family went out on the field to minister. The last account I had of them, they were traveling about and evangelizing.

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In my more than sixty-five years of ministry, I've heard thousands of testimonies from people who have practiced God's biblical plan of returning a tenth of their income to Him through the local church. A great many of them, in the beginning, weren't sure how they could get by on the remaining ninety percent of their income when they had been barely making it beforehand. But somehow they did. Oh, it wasn't always easy. It required patience, determination, faith, and some time.

But if they persisted, the promised blessings came. Sometimes they noticed that God had "rebuked the devourer" in their lives—the car or the appliances didn't break down as often or the kids weren't sick as much, resulting in fewer medical bills. If they worked in construction or as farmers, bad weather didn't keep them off the job. Then many times, extra income would come from totally unexpected sources. Perhaps they would get a raise, some overtime hours, or maybe even a bonus! Others reported that they got an insurance settlement, collected on an old debt, or received an inheritance.

The bottom line was that when they paid their tithes, they had more financially and did better. And most people were also blessed spiritually with a closer walk with God, physically with better health, and mentally and emotionally with a greater sense of joy and well-being. The Bible says, "The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it" (Prov. 10:22).

By Kenneth Hagin- THE MIDAS TOUCH

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GUIDELINES FOR INDIVIDUAL FASTING

Friday, July 17, 2026

Guidelines For Fasting

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

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1. Enter into fasting with positive faith.

God requires faith of this kind in all who seek Him. "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Hebrews 11:6). If you determine to seek God diligently by fasting, you have a scriptural right to expect that God will reward you. In Matthew 6:18, Jesus gave this promise to the believer who fasts with the right motives: "Thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly."

2. Remember: "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). Your fasting should be based upon the conviction that God's Word enjoins this as a part of normal Christian discipline.

3. Do not wait for some emergency to drive you to fasting.

It is better to begin fasting when you are spiritually up, rather than when you are down. The law of progress in God's kingdom is "from strength to strength" (Psalm 84:7); "from faith to faith" (Romans 1:17); "from glory to glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

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4. In the beginning, do not set yourself too long a period of fasting.

If you are fasting for the first time, omit one or two meals. Then move on gradually to longer periods, such as a day or two days. It is better to begin by setting a short period as your objective and achieving it. If you set too long a time at the outset and fail to meet it, you may become discouraged and give up.

5. During your fast, give plenty of time to Bible study.

Where possible, read a portion of Scripture before each period of prayer. The Psalms are particularly helpful. Read them aloud, identifying yourself with the prayers, the praises, and the confessions contained in them.

6. It is often helpful to set certain specific objectives in your fasting and to make a written list of these.

If you keep the lists that you make and turn back to them after an interval of time, your faith will be strengthened when you see how many of your objectives have been achieved.

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7. Avoid religious ostentation and boastfulness.

Apart from special periods of prayer or other spiritual activity, your life and conduct while fasting should be as normal and unpretentious as possible. This is the essence of the warnings given by Jesus in Matthew 6:16-18. Remember that boasting is excluded by "the law of faith" (Romans 3:27).

Fasting does not earn you any merit badges from God. It is part of your duty as a committed Christian. Bear in mind the warning of Jesus in Luke 17:10: "So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we

have done that which was our duty to do."

8. Each time you fast, keep a watchful check on your motives.

Take time to read Isaiah 58:1-12 once again. Note the motives and attitudes that are unpleasing to God. Study the motives and objectives that are pleasing to God. Your

own motives and objectives should line up with these.

By Derek Prince

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Apostolic Church History Podcast

Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Pandit Ramabai

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

The Indian Pentecost

In Muki, India, a missionary, Pandita Ramabai, was praying with a band of Hindu girls. They had spent days and nights in prayer, when suddenly the Spirit was poured out in their midst as He had

been on the Day of Pentecost. Visible fire is said to have been seen upon one girl's bed, and when the other girls went for water to extinguish the fire, it was discovered that this was the fire of

the Holy Spirit, such as Moses saw in the burning bush that was not consumed.

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These dear Hindu girls who received the Holy Spirit, spake with other tongues given by the Holy Spirit. One girl spake in the English language (which she had never learned), and this is the message that was spoken through her: "Jesus is coming soon, get ready to meet Him."

And the great revival spread on and on. Almost simultaneously the Spirit was poured out in the United States of America, in England, in Canada, in Africa, in China, and in the islands of the sea.

Never was such worldwide revival known to spread so quickly and simultaneously. The Spirit was poured out upon praying bands in numberless places, who had never heard before of the infilling of the Holy Spirit. In every instance, without exception those who received the Holy Spirit spake in other tongues exactly as those who had received in Bible days. The latter rain was

falling on the earth.

In order to receive the Holy Spirit, one had to be empty and humble. Poor and rich, black or white, the mistress and the maid alike received the Holy Spirit when they humbled themselves and sought with all their hearts. Those who received, praised the Lord and magnified His Name, as no one but Spirit-filled saints can do. Waves of glory, floods of praise swept over assemblies who had received the Holy Spirit. There was no way of stopping this great revival, it seemed.

- Ralph Mahoney ( 📕 The Shepherd Staff)

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