The Bible and Life

Friday, October 17, 2025

The World Is Not A Playground

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is a story from a book that I wanted to share.

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THE WORLD IS NOT A PLAYGROUND

Men think of the world as a playground. But militant Christians know otherwise. This world isn't a playground, it's a battleground. We're not here to fight, the world says, we are here to frolic. Sadly, even many Christians have adopted that attitude. Oh, they wouldn't say that in so many words, but their lifestyles and their conduct gives them away. Careless, carnal "Christianity."

You don't have to delve too far back into history to see that things are far different today than they were for our founding fathers and the early development of our country. There is a wide gulf between our attitudes and that of those forefathers. There was a time when Christianity exercised a dominant influence over American thinking. What made the difference?

These people knew the world was a battleground. They believed in sin, the devil, and hell as constituting one force; with God, righteousness, heaven and God's people. They recognized that in this battle you can't be neutral. It's life or death, heaven or hell, and if a man is to come out on the winning side, he can expect to do war with God's enemies. The fight is real, long and deadly, and it lasts as long as life continues here below. Heaven is home where the soldier enjoys the peace God has prepared for those who love Him, who serve Him, and are faithful to the end. The end counts.

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In heaven we won't need our armor. We can shed it as we enter its portals. There we will be given the victor's crown and robe of righteousness reserved for the stalwart (Rev. 6:11; 7:9-17).

But in the meantime, tremendous spiritual forces are present in the world, and we are caught in the middle. Evil powers are intent on destroying the godly; but arrayed against these demonic forces, are the heavenly hosts helping God's faithful people. This is war. It requires militancy on the part of Christians. This book is a call to those who name the Name of Christ to put on their armor and to advance against the devil. It is an urgent plea for Christians to recognize that this is war, to take up the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, and to use it with Holy Spirit empowerment.

- Lester Sumrall ( The Militant Church )

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Tuesday, October 7, 2025

Lam Jeevaratnam

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Lam Jeevaratnam

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Lam Jeevaratnam gave up everything of earthly value and began preaching the Gospel with signs and wonders following. He had gone to England to make money as an artistic entertainer, but God's plans prevailed. He was saved in an open-air meeting in Leeds, then went to Howard Carter's Bible school where he was baptized in the Holy Spirit!

In Jeevaratnam's meetings, the dumb spoke, the ears of the deaf were opened, the lame walked, severe internal pains vanished, and the blind received their sight! In his meetings, it was obvious that Jesus has all power over the enemy, and He has invested that same power in believers.

Jeevaratnam had an unusual discernment of the presence of demon power and the knowledge of how to deal with it! In India, he was often called "Lam, the devil chaser," because he stayed with his calling, which was a mighty deliverance message that Christ is the answer to human needs.

He dominated demons in a very strong manner until anyone could tell there was no fear in him, because demons ran from him!

He lectured and spoke some in England during his life, but his greatest work was among the villages of India. There are more villages in India than anywhere in the world, except China. They grow their own food, live their simple lives, and die unknown to, and mostly unknowing of, the world in which Western Christians live.

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He had to stay on the move from one of these villages to another, and we are talking about perhaps a hundred thousand of them, in order to stay out of the way of the Hindu officials. They would like to have killed him!

I am sure we looked like two funny "ducks" walking down the street together or into some of the churches where we ministered together — him with a beard and in the long Indian robes and me dressed like a young Englishman.

Jeevartnam held a tremendous revival once in Poona City. The revival was held outdoors to accommodate the masses of people attending. People from numerous sects and denominations came — from Hindus to Mohammedans, Brahmans, outcasts, Parsees, Jews, Sikhs, Panthans, Roman Catholics, to name a few. Rich and poor and high and low caste sat together listening to the full Pentecostal Gospel preached by Brother Jeevaratnam.

The missionary sisters and young Indian men and women helped control the crowds of sick people who came for prayer. Similar to the days of Jesus' earthly ministry, people climbed surrounding walls and looked on from balconies of houses and tree branches.

Perhaps thousands of people heard the gospel preached through Brother Jeevaratnam

- 📕Pioneer’s of Faith by Dr Lester Sumrall

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Friday, September 12, 2025

Pray Militancy

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is a short article by one of the giants of faith!

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Pray against the evil in our land.

Many abortion clinics in Ohio went bankrupt because of a young minister's militancy against them. So much damage was done that they sued him for $11.5 million dollars. Then they saw that Rod Parsley was happy about the suit as he went Pray Militantly around gathering lawyers to fight them.

So they said, "Well, just forget it. We have decided not to sue you." His church prayed militantly. When they went out on the street corners, they prayed with strength and vigor and power and will. They went out in the whole armor of God.

Prayer is one of our main weapons in these spiritual battles, but unless we pray militantly, our prayers are not effective. Prayer also allows us to learn God's strategy in every situation. Get alone with the Lord, and pray militantly. You will receive inspiration and creative ideas from the Holy Spirit which will bring victory.

- Lester Sumrall ( The Militant Church )

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

God Is Our Provider

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

God is our provider!

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George Mueller, who ran an orphanage in nineteenth- century Bristol, England, was a man of vision. He made it a policy never to reveal his financial needs to anyone. Even when people asked, he would tell only the Lord what the needs were. He saw God as his ultimate provider, and he believed that if God was in the ministry, He would lay it on people's hearts to participate.

One man, visiting the orphanage, said to Mueller, "Of course you cannot carry on these institutions without a good stock of funds."

Mueller acknowledged that that was the case.

"Have you a good stock?" the man asked.

Mueller, knowing that he was penniless, only answered quietly, "Our funds are deposited in a bank which cannot break."

The man responded by saying he wanted to make an investment in that bank, and he gave Mueller a sizable gift!

Many times when Mueller had no money, no food, and no knowledge of where the orphans' next meal would come from, he would nevertheless gather them around the table at mealtime and thank the Lord for His gracious provision. On more than one occasion, while they were yet praying, an unexpected donor would show up with food enough for everyone.

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I've seen this happen in my ministry, too. As a young preacher, sensing the call of God to preach the gospel to the world, I left San Francisco on a ship with only twelve dollars in my pocket. That was all I had, except for enough faith to believe that the God who had called me could also provide my needs along the way. He did, and I learned that God's provision is one thing that is a certainty. The eyes of faith lay hold of what God has promised to do, not what the natural eyes see happening.

The apostle Paul, writing about the faith of Abraham, said he trusted a God who "calls those things which do not exist as though they did" (Rom. 4:17). What would we normally say about someone who calls things that are not as though they were? We would say he is a liar. But not so with God. He can call the things that are not as though they are because He knows the end from the beginning (see Isa. 46:10). That means He knows how things will turn out from the time they start. He looks into the future and sees the culmination of all He's going to do. The future is so certain with Him that He counts it as an accomplished fact and declares it to be so.

- Dr Lester Sumrall ( The Making Of The Champions )

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Friday, May 23, 2025

Lillian Hunt Trasher

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is an excerpt from a book about a wonderful Christian lady who founded an orphanage in Egypt.

LILLIAN HUNT TRASHER -

The Great Mother of the Nile (1887-1961)

Lillian was not a preacher, although at one time in her life, she pastored a successful Pentecostal church in the United States. She was a smart businesswoman, and clever. She had to be to feed her charges. Food was cooked twenty-four hours a day to keep all of the children and widows fed.

She was a woman of such courage that it did not matter who you were. When it came time for her to get money to feed her children, you had to cough it up, because she was going to have it. I like that kind of person. They are very exciting to me. From the king on down, when she came in the door angry, they knew to get their pocketbooks ready.

Lillian Trasher knew how to handle people whether they were Americans, Britishers, or Egyptians. She was very bold in her approach. When she could not get any money from America to feed her children, she went to the wealthy Egyptian people.

If she needed something, she would go knock on the door of a rich man who would say, "Come in and have some food with us." She would say, "Not until I get money, I won't. My children are hungry. Give me the money to feed my children. I want to buy a thousand pounds of rice."

People gave her money, because she literally demanded it. After they gave her the money, she would say, "Now I will eat with you."

When the presidents and prime ministers held banquets, Lillian Trasher was always invited. As she was escorted into these formal events, she would come in spreading sunshine, and the whole court would applaud. The master of ceremonies would introduce her this way: "Ladies and gentlemen, the great Lillian Trasher, the Nile mother."

She was more than six feet tall and weighed more than two hundred pounds, and she would enter those formal rooms with all the dignity of a queen, dressed beautifully. She never dressed poor.

Sometimes she would be the only person to receive applause out of all of the dignitaries present at the festivities. Although Lillian Trasher lived with the poor in a little room on campus, she also knew what it meant to go neck and neck and face to face with the millionaires of Egypt.

When I first saw Lillian's operation in Egypt, I asked, "Has anyone ever written a story about you?" When she said, "No," I promised to write a book about her. I was on my way around the world, but when I got back to America, a stack of her monthly letters and all kinds of papers were there to greet me. From these materials, I wrote her story, Lillian Trasher, Nile Mother.

Dr. Lester Sumrall ( The Pioneers Of Faith )