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About the Book
"Unafraid: Mary" by Francine Rivers explores the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, through a retelling of the biblical story. The book delves into Mary's faith, courage, and unwavering trust in God as she navigates the challenges and trials of her extraordinary life. Through the eyes of Mary, readers gain a deeper understanding of the Christmas story and the profound impact of Mary's obedience and devotion.
John G. Lake
John G. Lake was born in Ontario, Canada on March 18th, 1870. He was a family man, person of integrity, honor, a savvy businessman and a good father. If you knew him you wouldnât otherwise know that he would soon become one of the greatest men of God the world would ever know. He had a genuine love for the Lord Jesus and was known by his friends as a man who dedicated himself to intimacy with The Lord. It was out of this place that he loved his wife, was a man of integrity and built a very successful business career. To give you perspective, by 1905 John G Lake was making $50,000 per year this sum would be like upwards of 1.3 million dollars per year annually today. John grew up in a family environment which was plagued with sickness and death, it is said that his earliest memories were of sickness, death and funerals. Lake was from a large family, he had 16 siblings, 8 of which tragically died of various diseases. It is no coincidence that âthe man of healingâ was tormented from a young age with death and disease. The enemy will often oppose destinies with radical circumstances through a distortion of the very thing that we are called to walk in. Lake Was exposed to dramatic healing when he visited John Alexander Dowieâs ministry and was, in prayer, instantly healed of a rheumatism which had caused his legs to grow incorrectly. Just two short years into their marriage, Jennie Lake was diagnosed with tuberculosis and heart disease. Over the next couple of years, the condition worsened and the doctors resigned to the fact that it was only a matter of time before she would die. John allowed this situation to provoke him into faith, after being exposed to such death and disease from a young age he had a hatred for such things. When he would read the word of God he saw that his Christian experience was less than the promised âpower of the Holy Spiritâ. As Jennie was on her deathbed and perhaps taking her final breaths Lake was overcome with anger over sickness and threw his bible against the fireplace mantle! When he went to pick up his bible it was opened to Acts chapter 10:38 which says: "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.â Lake had a surge of faith in that moment and sent a telegram to Dowie asking him to pray. Within an hour of Dowie praying she was fully healed! Not long after Jennie was healed, God began to speak to Lake about going into full time ministry. After some time of contemplation and seeking the Lord, God confirmed to John and Jennie separately that they were to move to South Africa to begin their life of ministry. John and Jennie then gave away all that they had, John forsook his mega-salary and they went on their way alongside some of their friends as ministry partners.
When they arrived in South Africa, they had no money. The problem was, that they needed at least $125 in order to clear customs. they nervously waited for their turn in line, rehearsing what they would say to the immigration officer They were in desperate need of a miracle, as the law read that they would be subject to deportation as quickly as they arrived in South Africa. Just as they were about the get to the front of the line, John felt a tap on his shoulder⌠A man was standing behind John and said âexcuse me sir, can I have a word with you?â John nervously steps out of line at the manâs request and the man said âwhen I saw you and your family in line, the Lord told me to give you $200 cashâ. The Lord provided just enough money for John and his family to enter the country. But their needs didnât stop there. The Lakes and their crew had no ministry contact in Johannesburg. Soon after they cleared customs, a woman approached Johnâs friends and asked how many people are in their family, when they told her, she responded âno, not youâ and went over to John and asked the same question. John replied â9â and she said âyouâre the ones!â She went on to tell John that the Lord had spoken to her last night that she was to give her home to a family of 9 people who are coming from America to do Godâs work. John, Jennie and their crew rejoiced in the dramatic provision of the Lord. Their time in South Africa was marked with waves of revival, there were multitudes saved, healed and delivered over the course of their 5 year ministry tour in South Africa.
By far my favorite story from this season of Revival takes place shortly after the Lake family and their team arrived in South Africa. A mighty plague was sweeping through the nation, the death count was climbing dramatically. So much so that there was a surplus of corpses who were victims of the plague and there was no one to bury the dead; if someone was to come in contact with a dead body they would most certainly become infected and their death sentence would immediately begin. John G. Lake astounded the medical officials because he, without any gloves or protective clothing began burying the dead. Physicians in a panic approached John and rebuked him for coming in contact with the dead, John boldly responded "when the disease comes in contact with my skin, you can watch it die". The doctors thought he was insane, so he challenged them to put a drop of the plague on his skin and watch it under a microscope. When they did so, John was right! The plague cells literally burned up the second they came in contact with his skin!
It is tough to understand what would happen towards the end of the Lakeâs missionary journey in Africa. One day while John was away on a ministry trip, his wife Jennie suddenly passed away. The cause of her death was malnutrition and exhaustion. It wasnât uncommon for the sick and broken to line the lawn of John G Lakeâs home and Jennie, as an act of sacrifice, gave away all their food and any resources she could to the broken which frequented their house.
Although John and Jennieâs faith and sacrifice is commendable we must learn from this fatal mistake. Johnâs priorities clearly became altered as the demand for ministry raged on. He failed to guard and keep the very precious gift that God had given him, he allowed the demands of ministry to distract him from the needs of his family unto the tragic and preventable death of his wife. In the wake of Jennieâs death their children became bitter with John and subsequently God. Some of his children left the faith and the most recent accounts of them suggest that they died not following Christ. To this day some of Johnâs great grandchildren do not follow the Lord. Johnâs failure to obey the basic command of scripture for âhusbands to love their wives as Christ loves the churchâ and his preoccupation with the demands of ministry opened up the door for the enemy to ravage his family. After Jennieâs death John moved back to the United States and remarried. He would then pioneer his famous healing ministry based out of Spokane Washington. Unfortunately John did not learn his lesson the first time, in the midst of more flames of revival he continued to be a poor father, emotionally disconnected from his children.
what is the unforgivable sin
âBlasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.â Itâs one of Jesusâs most enigmatic, controversial, and haunting statements. In the last two millennia, many a tortured soul have wrestled over this warning. Have I committed âthe unforgivable sinâ?  When I addressed my angry profanity to God, when I spoke rebelliously against him, did I commit unforgivable blasphemy?  Or, perhaps more often, especially in todayâs epidemic of Internet porn, âCould I really be saved if I keep returning to the same sin I have vowed so many times never to return to again?â Despite the enigma and controversy, we do have a simple pathway to clarity. Jesusâs âblasphemy against the Spiritâ statement only appears in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). If we get a concrete sense of what he did (and didnât) mean there, then weâre positioned to answer what such âunforgivable sinâ might (and might not) mean for us today. What Jesus Actually Said Jesus hadnât been teaching in public long when his hearers began comparing him to their teachers, called âthe scribes,â part of the conservative Jewish group known as the Pharisees. The growing crowds âwere astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribesâ (Mark 1:22). The scribes heard the comparison and felt the tension, and soon escalated it (Mark 2:6, 16), as these Bible teachers of the day, with their many added traditions, quickly grew in their envy, and then hatred, for Jesus. The threat is so great these conservatives even are willing to cross the aisle to conspire with their liberal rivals, the Herodians (Mark 3:6). The showdown comes in Mark 3:22â30 (Matthew 12:22â32). Scribes have descended from Jerusalem to set straight the poor, deceived people of backwater Galilee. âHe is possessed by Beelzebul,â they say. âBy the prince of demons he casts out the demonsâ (Mark 3:22). Jesus calmly answers their lie with basic logic (verses 23â26) and turns it to make a statement about his lordship (verse 27). Then he warns these liars, who know better deep down, of the spiritual danger theyâre in. âTruly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin â â for they were saying, âHe has an unclean spirit.ââ (Mark 3:28â30) Itâs one thing to suppose that Jesus is out of his mind (his family fears as much at this early stage, Mark 3:21), but itâs another thing to attribute the work of Godâs Spirit to the devil â to observe the power of God unfolding in and through this man Jesus, be haunted by it in a callous heart, and turn to delude others by ascribing the Spiritâs work to Satan. This evidences such a profound hardness of heart in these scribes that they should fear they are on the brink of eternal ruin â if itâs not already too late. Jesus does not necessarily declare that the scribes are already condemned, but he warns them gravely of their precarious position. Who Did the Scribes Blaspheme? Before we ask about our sin today, letâs gather the pieces in the Gospels. The teachers of Godâs covenant people, here at this crucial and unique point in redemptive history, have God himself among them. Godâs long-anticipated kingdom is dawning. âIf it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon youâ (Matthew 12:28). The very day that their stories and prophets and Scriptures have prepared them for is being unveiled before them, and in their hard and impenitent hearts, they are rejecting it. And not only are they cold toward how God is doing it, and murmuring about it to each other, but as teachers of Godâs people, they now are speaking up to draw others away from the truth. And they do so by declaring that the power at work in Jesus, manifestly from God, is the power of Satan. Here Jesus warns them, âWhoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sinâ (Mark 3:29). Why so? Matthew adds a detail we donât have in Mark. âWhoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit  will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to comeâ (Matthew 12:32). Attacking Jesus is one thing. He refers to himself as âthe Son of Manâ â God himself among his people, but not yet fully revealed in his death and resurrection. Attack this enigmatic Son of Man, and the Spirit can overcome that. But itâs another thing to see what God is doing and turn to attack his Spirit . Who is left to help these scribes if theyâre settling in against the Spirit of God? Insult, dishonor, and make enemies with the Spirit, and who is left to bring you back? The reason these scribes are dangerously close to being guilty of âeternal sinâ is because they are evidencing such a settled hardness of heart â not just against this mysterious âSon of Man,â but now explicitly against the Spirit â that their hearts may no longer be capable of repentance. Itâs not that they may be genuinely repentant but given the stiff arm, but that they will ânever have forgivenessâ because they will never meet the simple, invaluable, softhearted condition for it: repentance. Is Anyone Unforgivable Today? When Jesus addresses the scribes in his day, it is on the brink of a seismic redemptive-historical change that comes with his life and ministry. So in what sense might his warning to the scribes about âblasphemy against the Spiritâ be uniquely for Jesusâs day, on the cusp of the old covenant being fulfilled and a new covenant being inaugurated? Should these words fall in the same way on our ears twenty centuries later? When we turn forward in the story to Acts and the Epistles, we donât find anything called âblasphemy against the Spirit.â Which signals our need for exercising care in applying this precise term today. However, we do find a concept similar to âunforgivable sin,â even if the terms are not exactly the same. The essence of Jesusâs warning to the scribes in his day lands on us in some form, even if not in the precise way it did originally for the scribes. Ephesians 4:30 speaks of âgrieving the Holy Spirit,â but this is not the same as Jesusâs warning to the scribes. Those who âgrieveâ the Spirit are reminded that by him they are âsealed for the day of redemption.â However, Hebrews 10:29 speaks of âoutraging the Spirit of grace,â and Hebrews 12:17 warns professing Christians not to be like Esau who âfound no place of repentance.â Like Jesusâs warning to the scribes, we are not told that Esau asked for forgiveness but was denied. Rather, he âfound no place of repentanceâ â his heart had grown so callous, he was no longer able to genuinely repent and thus meet the condition for the free offer of forgiveness. Throughout his letter, the author of Hebrews warns his audience of this danger. In the past, they have professed faith in Jesus and claimed to embrace him. Now, because of pressure and persecution from unbelieving Jews, they are tempted to abandon Jesus to restore their peace and comfort. They have experienced remarkable measures of grace in association with the new-covenant people of God (Hebrews 6:4â5), but now they are nearing the brink of falling away from Christ â and Hebrews warns them of the peril: having known the truth, and rejected it, are they now coming into a kind of settled hardness of heart from which they no longer will be able to repent and thus be forgiven? For Christians today, we need not fear a specific moment of sin, but a kind of hardness of heart that would see Jesus as true and yet walk away â with a kind of hardness of heart incapable of repenting. Again, itâs not that forgiveness isnât granted, but that itâs not sought. The heart has become so recalcitrant, and at such odds with Godâs Spirit, that itâs become incapable of true repentance. Hope for Those Feeling âUnforgivableâ If you do fear youâve committed some âunforgivable sin,â or even that your heart has already reached such a state of hardness, God does offer you hope. If you worry about unforgivable sin, then most likely you are not there. Not yet. Hearts with settled hardness against Jesus and his Spirit donât go around worrying about it. Itâs easy to get worked up over this enigmatic âunforgivable sinâ in the Gospels and miss the remarkable gospel expression of Jesusâs open arms that comes immediately before the warning: âTruly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utterâ (Mark 3:28). All sins. Whatever blasphemies uttered. Through faith in Jesus. This is where the Gospel accounts all lead: to the cross. This Son of Man, as he progressively demonstrates in the Gospels, is God himself and Lord of the universe. And he became one of us, and died for our sins, and rose to offer full and entire forgiveness for all who repent and embrace him as Lord, Savior, and Treasure. If your worries about âunforgivable sinâ relate to a pattern of sin and unrepentance in your life, your very concerns may be Godâs Spirit working to keep you from continuing to harden your heart beyond his softening. Donât despair. And donât treat it lightly. As the Holy Spirit encourages his hearers on the edge of such danger, âToday, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heartsâ (Psalm 95:7â8; Hebrews 3:7â8). You are not guaranteed tomorrow. But you do have today. Itâs not too late, if you still have it in you to repent. More Good News However, we should be careful that the enigma and controversy over âunforgivable sinâ doesnât keep us from missing the main reality underneath this episode in Mark 3 and Matthew 12. Jesusâs main point isnât that there is such a sin as âblasphemy against the Spirit,â but that there is such a person as the Holy Spirit! How remarkable that God has not left us to ourselves in the ups and downs of this life. As he did with his own Son in his full humanity, he makes available to us supernatural power by his Spirit. How did Jesus, as man, perform his miracles? By the power of the Spirit. âIt is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demonsâ (Matthew 12:28). When Jesus hears the scribes say, âBy the prince of demons he casts out the demons,â he hears an outrageous attack, not on himself, but on the Spirit. The last word in the story explains it all: â for  they were saying, âHe has an unclean spiritââ (Mark 3:30). How amazing that the same Spirit who empowered Jesus in his earthly life, and on the path to his sacrificial death, has been given to us today. We âhave the Spiritâ (Romans 8:9, 15, 23; 1 Corinthians 6:19). What a gift weâve received (Romans 5:5; 1 Corinthians 2:12; 2 Corinthians 5:5; 1 John 3:24). How much do we underappreciate what power is available to us (and through us) by the Spirit?
