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un-QUOTABLE QUOTES
RICHARD ROBERTS
 
DAILY GUIDE TO MIRACLES from Oral Roberts Ministries
Sunday, March 13th, 2005
www.orm.cc

Shake Off the Enemy's Attacks!
Richard Roberts
Oral Roberts Ministries
www.orm.cc
"We have all been attacked by bad circumstances more than once in our lives. But no matter what you may be going through today, God's Word teaches that you don't have to let those attacks cling to you. You can shake them off in Jesus' Name!

Acts 27 and 28 tell the story of the apostle Paul being held a prisoner on a ship bound for Rome. All at once a storm began to rage. After several frightening days and nights, the ship ran aground on the island of Malta, and the sailors and the prisoners jumped overboard and swam to shore. While they were resting on the beach, Paul gathered sticks for the fire. As he tossed them into the flames, suddenly a poisonous snake, flushed out by the heat, sprang up and attached itself to his hand!

Notice that Paul had just made it through one life-threatening trial, and another one came along right behind it! He escaped the storm, but the snake was waiting for him! Has that ever happened to you? It has to me! But Paul didn't panic. He didn't feel sorry for himself and wonder why so many trials were coming his way. Instead, he shook off that poisonous snake into the fire!

No matter what kind of struggle you may be dealing with, I believe the Lord is saying to you, 'Don't panic! Shake it off!' The Bible says that after Paul shook off that snake, everyone was watching to see what would happen to him. but the poison did him no harm! Whatever problem might be trying to cling to you today, shake it off, in Jesus' mighty Name!"


ON DOCTRINE NOTE:
The first question that has to be asked is, What does shaking off the snake have to do with untoward circumstances in a person's life that it is claimed can be shaken off, "in Jesus' mighty Name,"? Apparently Richard Roberts is trying to claim that any believer can simply invoke the name of Jesus and eliminate any circumstance in their life that they find to be unpleasant or unacceptable. But, can that be the case, and does the incident with the snake and the apostle Paul support that claim?

The reality is, that the experience of the apostle Paul cannot be considered normal for every Christian and it does not represent an example of shaking off any circumstance that a person might wish to remove from their life. Jesus Christ gave protection from snakes to the seventy, Luke 10:19, and by implication to the 12 disciples, Luke 9:11, and as an apostle himself, Paul was granted protection from the same. Scripture makes no statement implying that Christians have the same power over snakes.

In point of fact, the Scripture records absolutely no statement made by the apostle Paul in relation to his experience with the snake, records no association with the idea that he shook off the snake "in Jesus' mighty name" or presents any indication or comparison to Richard Roberts' claim that the incident is an example of how Christians can shake off the trouble in their own lives simply by invoking the name of Jesus Christ.

If, as Richard Roberts claims, a person can simply shake off their troubles, then the apostle Paul must have forgotten to speak the magical words "in Jesus' mighty name" on a number of occasions, including:
  • Stoned and dragged out of the city at Lystra - Acts 14:19
  • Arrested, beaten and placed in jail at Philippi - Acts 16:22-40
  • Beaten at Jerusalem - Acts 21:32
  • Arrested and placed in chains at Jerusalem - Acts 21:33
  • Imprisoned at Rome - Acts 28:16ff
  • "I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure," 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 (NAS).
Richard Roberts is trying to promote his version of the "Word of Faith" wordspeak doctrine, in which words have power to remove the negatives of life and also obtain the positive desires of the heart. This teaching is clarified by Kenneth Copeland who has said,
"What you are saying is exactly what you are getting now. If you are living in poverty and lack and want, change what you are saying.... The powerful force of the spiritual world that creates the circumstances around us is controlled by the words of the mouth."
"The Laws of Prosperity," Kenneth Copeland, Ft. Worth: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1974
This wordspeak can be effected by exercising faith in relation to the proper spoken words, which can be obtained by giving a "Seed Faith" offering of "your best seed" or the largest offering of money that a person can possibly afford to give to God through a ministry, which, in this case, happens to be Oral Roberts Ministries of which Richard Roberts is a major partner.

The name of Jesus Christ is not a magic mantra, the use of which will impose the desires of the individual on the realities of life.



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