| Author | Message | ||
| Sherry2 |
Ok I got a couple things to talk about. A. I would like to organize a get-together of us FAFers in Michigan in January 2002. Colleen, can this be done and what steps to take? Any Michiganders interested in this and want to help organize? I'm thinking if I can set a date and location soon, we could get it in Dale's Proclamation for the next round...Anyhow thoughts welcome. My e-mail is Sherryreinbold@home.com. Thanks. B. Now Greg mentioned loving his heritage still and the SDA people. I'm not there. I find myself still resentful of the lies I was told, and hating SDAism because the whole structure is based on a lie, not God's Truth. I don't know if resentful is the right term. I am solidly against SDAism and what it represents, and I'm very distrustful of SDA people because I know what it was to be one, and constantly praying for the salvation to come to my already Christian friends, and for them to arrive at the "truth" that I had. I don't want to even get in conversations with one because I know the superiority that exists in so many of them, and wanting to win me back. Ofcourse God wants me to love them. No doubt. I just need alot of help to do that. And looky, God has a way of doing it. I've got SDA's two doors down from me, and they got their friends to move in the area, so in a little bit, I will have more one door down from me across the street. I'm not very happy with God about that, but I know He has a plan. :) But do others of you struggle with these feelings and what has God taught you who do not struggle or do but have more victory then not? Thanks. | ||
| Joni |
Sherry, I live in Michigan. I guess it depends on how far away the meeting would be? I think it is a good idea. Joni | ||
| Lydell |
Dennis said: We need to look again at the purpose of tongues as a sign gift--to validate and authenticate the message and the messenger.... No new revelations are coming forth that need a sign to acompany them. But Dennis, the thing is that to one who is just meeting up with Christ for the first time, or just coming to realize the power of God, it all IS still new revelation in the world. So the gifts are still today validating and authenticating the message and the messenger. I have seen praying in tongues edify the church. I have seen it happen quite often during a time of prayer ministry. Often after one has been praying in a prayer language (it's just the term we use to explain what is going on) for a bit of time they are suddenly struck with something that needs to be spoken to someone, or are given a new direction for the spoken prayer. Many many times this sudden insight has been the key that unlocks something previously hidden (to the one who is praying) in the one being prayed for and there appears to be a breakthrough for them. The problem is identified and can then be addressed. Dennis, our focus is not healing and tongues, it IS evangelism and growth. However, it is a bit hard to talk about the subject of Spiritual gifts without actually talking about the specifics of the gifts! Your argument appears to be that the gifts were only given until the canon was complete. If we follow this line of reasoning, then we must lump together all the gifts of the Spirit mentioned in I Cor. 12 and Chapter 14 as well and apply them only to the church of the past. According to your reasoning then, that would mean that the gifts of wisdom, faith, knowledge, and spiritual discernment are also for the past only. And I would assume you would also have to lump in chapter 13 that speaks of love (and the love spoken there can surely only come as a gift. It is far beyond anything we can do in our human power). Not trying to be argumentative, it just seems like a glaring inconsistency. | ||
| Nate |
I thought I might tell briefly my story with the gift of tongues. I use the term "prayer language" to differentiate between the gift of toungues at pentecost which was a communication gift for evangelism, and the private language mentioned in 1 Cor 12 and 14. Which, the apostle Paul does encourage as a private gift for personal edification. For the sake of my brother and friend Dennis' concerns. (see 14:18-19) Paul says he speaks in tongues more than any of the Corinthians, but he would rather speak 5 intelligible words IN CHURCH, than 10,000 words in a toungue. Verse 4 says that the one who speaks in toungues edifies himself. Having said that, are there not times when you and I need personal edification for the sake of our own spiritual growth, so that we can be personally fit to serve others? I know I need personal blessings! My Gift did not come from any church or association. I had just left the SDA church. My mind was racing and worried. I was struggling with fears and anxieties about how I was going to feed and care for my family. We had just found out that we were not going to get our full severance package and we would soon be at the end of our resources. It was a time of loss too. Many who had once been friends were turning their backs on us. I was in desperate need of a blessing from the Lord. I was out on a run one morning, praying. I was pouring my heart out to the Lord. I started my day with the promise of Luke 11:11-13 as I usually do. God gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask, not a stone or snake. We will not be deceived when we call on the Lord for His true Spirit. (claiming this promise, by the way, gave me the courage to study the SDA doctrines in light of the Gospel, and follow the light of the truth as it is in Jesus. I have come to trust this promise as a anchor for my life!) Anyway, I was running and praying in deep pain. Finally, as I was praying I decided I would ask the Lord for the Gift of a prayer language. I had such groanings in my heart that I could not seem to express. So I prayed, Lord, if this is a legitimate Gift and not some deception like I have always been taught, please give it to me if it is your will. And, again, Lord, I am asking for your Spirit, not deception, and I claim Luke 11:11-13. A few momants later, as I was running, I felt the deep pain in my soul even deeper than before, and I started to groan audibly. The pain in my soul was agonizing. Then the groans started forming into syllables in my mouth. I just let out a torrent of syllables that I did not recognize. Having not been around people with this gift before, I did not know what to expect. All I knew was that the groanings of my spirit were pouring out. When it was all over, I felt such a sense of relief that I cannot describe it. The pain had come pouring out, and I was left with a joy in the Lord that filled my heart with thanks giving and praise. For a while I did not tell anyone, even my wife. But when I was alone, and I felt especially burdened, I would just start praying in the Spirit and the same relief came. More than that, as Lydell stated, I would often come out of those prayer times with the knowledge of what I was to do next. The Lord was communicating with my inner spirit things that came in answer to my groanings and inner soul prayer that I could not even express in English. This gift has been a precious blessing from the Lord. I have been healing from the pain of the losses associated with leaving my pastorate, and many friends. The rejection we have experienced seems to find the greatest solace in times of soul prayer. In turn, I have found that I am loving those who have mistreated us, and have compassion on those who do not understand. This is not something I could drum up on my own. So while the Gift of Tongues (prayer language version) is not for everyone, I can understand why Paul said in 1 Cor 14:5 "I wish you all spoke with tongues..." It is a marvelous gift for the prayer warrior. As far as church is concerned, Paul says that the gift of prophecy is better because it helps others more directly. It is a gift for helping others in a church service context. I hope this is helpful for some who are asking about this gift. God Bless you all! In Christ, Greg | ||
| Doug222 |
Greg, Please do not construe this as being argumentative, but to what do you attribute the fact that you'd never had an experience like this prior to leaving Adventism? I'm sure you were just as sincere and earnest (albeit misdirected)in your relationship with God. In His Grace | ||
| Sherry2 |
I can say this: many things have entered my mind and thought processes because I now allow them to as new perceptions about God. God is a gentleman and doesn't force gifts on His people they don't want part of. As SDA's we were taught that speaking in tongues was of the devil. Leaving SDAism releases you to ask God about these things and search the Scriptures and His will without preconceived notions being the only answer. That's what my answer would be. There's things (even though you were very sincere in your relationship to God) that you wouldn't even allow the Holy Spirit to do in your life in SDAism because they were "from the devil" period. Just like for a Former who once thought getting ears pierced was evil and so wrong, now recognizes it as a man made rule, and maybe even gets their own ears pierced. I know my 2 cents wasn't asked for, but I'm hoping that what my answer would be to such a quiery is helpful as well. | ||
| Sherry2 |
In regards to meeting in Mich. I know there are formers in K-zoo, GR, Ann Arbor area. I was thinking Lansing might be a central location. How does that sound? | ||
| Sabra |
Dennis, First, I liked to say that this is a very controversial issue and I had the same feeling that you do, that tongues were for the Bible times and why would God do that? As far as a prayer language not being biblical: Eph: 6:17-18 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit......Also Romans8:26 Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can not be uttered. Paul also after all of his chastising said in 1Cor 14:39: Do not forbid to speak with tongues. In verse 28 he says if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God. If the only reason to speak was for edification of the church he wouldn't have told them to speak to himself and to God without an interpreter. I did not want to speak in tongues, I was scared to death of it and I had a lot of questions, I studied and prayed and one day I was on my way to work, there was a wreck and I had to go a backroad so I took the opportunity to pray and I prayed for everyone and everything I could think of and then I put a CD in and was singing and praising the Lord, I'm sure the other drivers appreciated it, but I just started singing in another language and I turned down the volume to hear what in the heck I was saying and then started speaking for about 20 minutes in some language unlike anything I have ever heard. It was like sentences and very calm and like I was just talking (unlike some of the trance-like speaking I had seen) after a long time I knew I was finished saying whatever I was saying and I felt like I was walking on a cloud! I had the best day! Like Greg, I didn't want to tell anyone for a long time because I thought they would think I was nuts. I still feel that some of the speaking in church is not genuine (Lord forgive me if I'm being judgemental) but I am only accountable for myself so as long as lots of people aren't all speaking I'm not going to worry too much. Doug, about not receiving it while in Adventism, I think there are lots of very sincere people who don't speak in tongues who will definately be in heaven, in Acts 19:1-3 when asked if they had received the Holy Spirit, they said they never ever heard of a Holy Spirit! But read Galatians 5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law...........There's the key!!Those bound by the law get the gifts of Ishmaal. Sherry, I wondered and asked God why I had to go through all of those years bound to the SDA church. I truly disliked being Adventist, I wished I was born Baptist so that I could be "normal" I felt a tremendous burden by that system of legalism but when I realized the truth, by non other than the power of the Holy Spirit, I called my half-sister, who is Methodist and I was so excited about grace and salvation and she kind of said, I already knew that. See, I wouldn't be so excited if I had already lived it all my life. I am free indeed!!! Also I feel a calling by God to preach the gospel to all of those lost SDA's who truly desire the truth and the Lord has opened doors for me to witness, this is what He is doing for you by sending you SDA neighbors. Let your light shine!! Sow some seeds!!! Sabra <>< | ||
| Windmotion |
Thank you Greg and Sabra for sharing your experiences with speaking in tongues. Your testimony gave me goosebumps.This is not the first time speaking in tongues has come up on this forum!! I have come to the conclusion that it is inevitable as people continue to leave the sda churches and look for different churches. The types of churches former adventists gravitate towards are not the traditional, strict-doctrinal churches similar to what they just left. No, they want a free church, where they can examine less-insiduous sda doctrines such as the rapture and the state of the dead without feeling pressured. Also they don't want to get caught up in the "my interpretation is better than your interpretation" mimdset again. These "free" churches (for lack of a better word" attract those with the gift of tongues for the same reasons. Hence the questioning. Without going into a long theological dissertation (which i believe Grace Amabassador was the focus of last time) Tongues is one of many spiritual gifts listed in I. Cor. 12-14. I do not see it clearly stated in those verses that any gifts are for the early church and not later churches. (If that were true, why would not the gift of writing inspired epistles be included?)Not everyone receives every gift, so the gift of tongues is not for everybody. The Holy Spirit manifests Himself in different ways in Christians' lives. The worst thing to do is what is mentioned in I. Thess. 5 and that is to quench the spirit. If I ever felt like speaking in tongues, and then stopped it, that would be wrong according to scripture. Tongues seem to come when a person is closest to God, which makes it either a confirmation of that person's closeness to God or Satan's biggest triumph. And I do not see God standing idly by as His sheep are led astray. I have heard multiple testimonies from those who speak in tongues. Never have I heard one from someone who was "convicted" of doing it and stopped. I do see the need for an interpreter for when tongues is spoken in public. On another topic, my husband and I may be interested in attending a Michigan FAF meeting also. We live (coincidentally) near Joni on the east side of the state. --Hannah | ||
| Sammi |
Hey Doug - How are things? Please know you're in my (all of ours I'm sure) prayers. It's really tough and scary, but "God is in control." (I love to crank up Twila Paris' version of that song to encourage me.) I don't know if I mentioned this on the forum, if so, please forgive me. But a little over a month ago I was just falling to pieces with anxiety and fear. I had reached the point I knew I had to tell my family and friends and proceed with leaving the church, plus the Sept 11 stuff had just happened, which brought back SDA fears etc., making it all worse. I then came across a paperback book I purchased years ago and never read, it was in a strange location, not with all my other books. It was a book by Charles Spurgeon about prayer, just a short book, I'd picked it up on a clearance table at a Christian book store for practically nothing. Anyway, I flipped through it and the chapter that caught my eye was called "Guaranteed Grace" - the entire chapter repeated the theme that "those who call upon the name of the Lord WILL be saved." It described fear, terror, doubts, confusion, etc., everything I was experiencing, and then would reiterate again and again that "those who call upon the name of the Lord WILL be saved" - no ifs, ands, or buts! Anyway, just a little thing, but it encouraged me and calmed me incredibly, those kinds of gifts from God are so priceless, awesome, and overwhelming! Have a good day and week all, and again, Doug, please know you're being lifted up in prayer. | ||
| Joni |
Sherry, Lansing would be good. It is about 1 and 1/2 hours away. Are you thinking of meeting in a home or a eating place or what? Joni | ||
| Doug222 |
Thank you Sammi (and everyone else)for your prayers and concerns. As far as an update is concerned. I made what was for me a significant step this week. I am still in the process of writing my letter, but in the meantime, we had our annual nominating committee meeting this past weekend. At the meeting, I declined to accept any leadership positions for the upcoming year. I have NEVER done that before. Naturally, there were some questions. I told the Pastor I would speak with him privately--I did not feel it was appropriate to drop something like that in an open forum. I know that to some of you this may be a small step, but for me it is my first step toward liberty. I plan to meet with the Pastor sometime this week to discuss my decision. I'm torn, because there are two issues here. They are related, but unrelated. The church is dying! Its survival is based on "evangelizing" then watching all of the new members escape out the back door (along with some of the attending members). The church then goes "recruiting" again and repeats the cycle. I want to address that issue with him, because I think it is related to my reason for leaving. When the "Main Theme ceases to be the main thing," a church cannot survive. However, I know that to address it from that standpoint will leave him and others with the impression that I am simply bailing out when times are tough rather than making a stand for the Gospel. In any event, I think it is necessary for me to begin moving from the "Y" in the road that I have been stuck at for so long. This week will probably be only the second or third Sabbath in over 15 years that I will not attend church. It will be the first time that it is for any reason other than sickness. I do have one concern that I would like feedback on. I am a non-custodial parent. In my divorce decree I made sure to get custody of my kids on weekends, so I could make sure they were raised as "good Adventist kids"--their mother is not a Christian. Well, they are sixteen and thirteen now. They are connected socially, but not spiritually (as are most teens) to the church we've been attending. How have some of you handled the transition with your children. I am tempted to tell them that they have to attend church, but not dictate where they go. Right now, I do not think they really understand (or have a great interest) in the Gospel. As far as they are concerned, the only thing this means is that they don't have all the Sabbath restrictions they used to have. Anyway, thanks for your support and prayers. In His Grace | ||
| Lydell |
Doug, with the kids being 13 and 16, you are still the parent and the one to set the example. You don't give them a choice of whether or not they attend school. Is spiritual education more important than the other education? So, yeah, they definitely need to attend. Especially since they can't get anything spiritually from their mom. And 13 and 16, especially coming from the legalism of Adventism, means they don't have the base of experience to make the judgment for themselves of whether or not they have found a good church. So you are going to have to be the one to enter in with God and find that church for your family. You are the non-custodial parent. However, you ARE still DAD! It's your responsibility as their spiritual leader. There ARE churches out there that are passionate about doing more with the teens than just social stuff. There ARE churches where the focus is on the spiritual and the teens are on fire for their Lord. You can always call churches you think you might be interested in and ask questions. How much do they do with the teens? It really shouldn't be constant activity...the youth need to be an active part of the larger church body often and not nearly completely separate from the adults. Is it primarily social, or do they have lessons/Bible study/prayer? Ask if they have a curriculum for what they do with the youth (it's a good indicator that they mean business to the point that they have set up a framework and are working toward some goals). Are the parents welcome to drop in on meetings? Are the parents, in fact, encouraged to be involved with the youth at times? And a very good question to ask is how they handle kids dating. (Ours encourages the kids to bring all their friends to meetings....but realize that if they bring a boyfriend/girlfriend then that relationship is to be left outside. The focus is on meeting with God, not meeting with their buddies.) They want it to be fun, but keep the focus on Christ. And Doug, sit them down and have a talk with them about this whole business of why you are no longer going to church on sabbath. They aren't stupid. They are capable, even the 13 year old, of grasp quite alot of it. I'd just strongly encourage you to tackle the subject from the standpoint of salvation and assurance and NOT the sabbath/Sunday issue. Keep your goal in mind. You want to get them hooked on the difference between religion and relationship. It isn't that you don't want them to be SDA, it's that you want them to be Christians. You want to see your children looking to Christ, not churches. | ||
| Dennis |
The Lord Jesus Christ had come and gone. The church--newly birthed-- was in a transition time. The new covenant was seen as a threat to the Jewish leaders; therefore, there was persecution for those who had chosen to follow Christ. The new religion, in its infant stages, had no Bible, few leaders, and absolutely no support from the government. Astounding that it survived, isn't it? How in the world did it survive with so little going for it? POWER. Not just a force, but mighty, visible power. This new church had speakers--apostles--but how were followers of Christ to know the speakers were authentic? How did the believers know that men weren't just making up things? If you were being persecuted for your belief, wouldn't you want to make sure the data you were risking your life for was accurate? The Bible tells us, "After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will" (Heb. 2:3-4 NASB). God authenticated His message and the messenger through signs, wonders, and miracles. Anyone could have claimed to be a teacher or an apostle in the newly established church. The believers were rather naive and childlike and probably could have been easily misled. To validate His spokesperson, God sent power and accompanying miracles. God not only authenticated His message, but He also authenticated His messengers. There were sign gifts in this infant church as well as ministry gifts. They had different functions. The sign gifts, as previously stated, were to validate the message and messenger. The ministry gifts, listed in Romans 12:6-8, were for members of the body to build one another up. The position of tongues in the church was the position of the lesser sign gift. I believe the Bible teaches prophecy was the greatest sign gift. And I also believe it is amazing that we emphasize everything but to "pursue love," even though we love to read I Corinthians 13. We lose balance. The early church got off balance easily, too. And this led to the problem of tongues in the New Testament church. Mystery religions were around during this time. Prostitutes spoke in a form of tongues in their religion. The church at Corinth was made up of people from all walks of life. Apparently, people stood up and appeared to be babbling. They didn't seem to care if there was an interpreter or not. Paul knew that alot of this commotion was a counterfeit of a legimate gift of the Holy Spirit. He could see that their babbling was unprofitable to the church in that they were disrupting the service; it was unsettling to the church, and it was unintelligible to the world. It sounded like a madhouse during the church services. Paul admonished them, "For God is not the author of confusion but of peace" (I Cor. 14:33). God has always dealt with His people in different and variant ways throughout human history. As former Adventists, of all people, we certainly appreciate the concept of covenant. God does not merely utilize one method to reach His people--nor does He always hold unto only one methodology perpetually. Some claim that they have never known of anyone forsaking a "prayer language" after experiencing it. According to a Gallup Poll, 28.8 percent of all evangelical Christians indentified themselves as "Charismatic Christians." Of those, 34.7 percent claim to have spoken in tongues. There is not a doubt in my mind that these ecstatic utterances, foreign-language singing, and holy laughter are very real. I do not believe, however, that these contemporary phenomena have heaven's blessing. We should not rely on physical wonders and signs, but rather, we must to walk by faith. Belief transitions, at best, are not without trauma. Oftentimes former Adventists will find themselves in a crisis situation due to rejection by friends, family, former colleagues, loss of employment, dire financial needs, etc. Coming from a paradigm of faith that held esoteric views, we are especially vulnerable to ending up with some non-Adventist, esoteric, unbiblical views instead. In a very real sense, we may be exchanging one form of legalism for another. Another key issue involves the protecting of our witness as former Adventists. Like it or not, Adventists and others, are very carefully watching our Christian journey. Significantly, when we embrace, condone, experience, and tolerate tongue-speaking, for example, we have virtually lost our influence in the Adventist and larger Christian community. May God continue to help us in keeping our focus on the merits of Calvary. In Christ, Dennis J. Fischer | ||
| Sabra |
Dennis, No need for condemnation. One person esteems one day..............It takes a heck of a lot of faith to speak in a prayer language when you've been taught it is the devil! Like I said, I didn't ASK or TRY to speak in tongues. It's fine to have an opinion but to say we've lost our focus, I'd have to say, I've never been more focused. Pray for understanding. God Bless! Sabra | ||
| Lydell |
Exactly so Sabra. The proof that it is from God is that your relationship with Him is changed and deepened. It's not the gift or the manifestations that hold your attention. Rather it is that you realize far more than ever the power and overwhelming love of God. When God reaches out and touches you in an intimate way, whether it is the release of the prayer language, a sudden deep sense of His peace, physical healing, the release that comes in holy laughter, visions, or just that a scripture has suddenly leaped to life and is dancing through your whole being you know it. It is all ways that He finds to authenticate the message that is written on paper. It's the difference between the written words on paper and the words having the Spirit-breathed life. It is the difference between being able to give intellectual assent to the fact "God loves me" and instead KNOWING it is true because you have been literally, physically, audibly, emotionally, spiritually, etc. touched personally by God. Before you knew, by faith, that God tells the truth. Now you know with absolute certainty in every cell of your body, every corner of your mind, in every part of who you are that God IS and you are personally loved by Him. It just reverberates through you in a vastly different way than before. It's one thing to intellectually "know" that God gives us His peace because the written word in the scripture says so. It's a very very different thing to have Him suddenly one day reach down and touch you with that peace. To suddenly, absolutely unexpectedly, never-heard-of-this-happening before, wasn't looking for this to happen, have that peace wash over and through you is to KNOW His peace. Have the rest of you found this to be true as well? | ||
| Doug222 |
Lydell, Thank you so much for the words of wisdom! Doug | ||
| Sherry2 |
Yes, hello!!! I think we lost our influence when we went to church on Sunday, Dennis. I don't think I'm supposed to compromise spiritual truths just to soft-belly it for SDA's. I never would've left if that was the case. I'm not bound my human opinions but God's. Of course we walk with respect of other people, but we don't go to extremes either. To reach the SDA's and be influential in that sense would definitely mean that I worship on Saturday, and definitely talk positively about the dead remaining dead until Christ comes. Sorry...that would turn what I've learned of the Gospel to nothingness. To say that one should not condone "speaking in tongues" or any other subject like where our soul goes when it dies, or why we worship on Sunday because of the influence to adventists is to start denying our relationship with Christ in this New Covenant relationship and live under fear of what others think again. No thank you. It's not in saying just the right things or not condoning certain things that will influence any SDA towards the unadulterated Gospel of Jesus. It is the vibrancy of our relationship with Christ, our commitedness to Jesus despite not commited to a Sabbath day of worship...It's seeing how we live out our faith on a daily basis that will compell them. It's not compromising the Gospel, and yet showing we love them even though we don't agree. Definitely Lydell. I've experienced that peace and it's awesome. I don't experience it often, but it's undeniable of His presense, as opposed to intellectual know how. I agreed with your thoughts Sabra. It's awesome to have God work in your heart through the Word without fear of everything being of the devil. I don't care if other formers don't believe the gifts of tongues or any other gift is relevant today. And strongly so even. As much as I disagree with them. But I do care that we respect each others differences, and don't start another seperation of "well I've got this truth and your wrong so we shall go our seperate ways" when first and formost we are all preaching Jesus Christ and Him alone who was crucified, and now lives as our atonement and redemption from Sin. And I totally agree we must not rely on signs and wonders but I didn't hear anyone suggest that that's what they were doing that here on this forum. I've seen extremism in charasmatics/pentecostals as much as I've seen extremism with not allowing the Holy Spirit reign in a persons life for fear every one of these things was of the devil. And I don't want either extreme. They're aweful. There's plenty of others out there that are in line with the Spirit, and are vibrant Christians worth imitating. I've still got a long ways to go. But I've seen some awesome people on this forum that are worth imitating just as Paul said to imitate him as he imitated Christ. | ||
| Sherry2 |
Oh, one point...they did have the Old Testament..so they did have Scriptures that fortold Christ and the New Covenant, and Abrahamic prophecies, etc. The church that had many former pagans in it was taught by Jewish apostles who could bring those Scriptures to them and teach them. Boy, when I think of that, it makes perfect sense why God chose a man like Paul who could spout all the rabbanical stuff, and all the O.T. stuff but now see clearly all the prophecies he had misinterpretted before that pointed to Jesus and share that with the churches. How cool is that? | ||
| Nate |
I am sorry I could not get to my computer for a few days. Doug, I think I did not receive the gift of a prayer language in Adventism like Sherry2 said. I was not in a position to be open to it yet. I must say that I am in a whole new world of growing and studying and learning. I am also unlearning some unbiblical stuff. You can relate I am sure. The process will not end till the Lord comes. Dennis, I believe you have the right heart when you say, let's seek to be as focused on Jesus as possible and not on the external stuff. I couldn't agree more. Since the topic came up, however, I wanted to give my sense of how God is at work in some of these gifts today. Please understand that this is not a main issue or one that should ever divide followers of the Lord. It has enhanced my walk with Jesus. I am more focused on Him these days than ever before. If you find it something you are uncomfortable with, I respect that. At the same time, I would hope you could find it in your heart to let God judge whether or not these things are from Him. I am sure when we get to heaven we will all find out how much we missed the full understanding of God. God's grace is so amazing. I am attracted to the Moravian Creed. "In essentials unity, in non-essentials, liberty, but in all things love." I think that was what Paul was saying in 1 Cor 13. The chapter right in the middle of the discussion about spiritual gifts! Love you my brother! In Christ, Greg |
