The last couple of days I have received an email from a person apparently trying to prove to me that:

“ Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.   For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.   But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. “ [1Co 13:8-10]

Means the supernatural Gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for today.  The main thought process here is that the “which is perfect is come” is the Bible, thus when the Bible was compiled and I guess canonized,  the supernatural Gifts and the Holy Spirit ceased.  There is only one that is perfect and that is Yeshua (Jesus).  Some contend that Yeshua is the Word of God and thus the Bible represents Him and again, that is what was perfect has come.  This is clearly Yeshua and refereeing to His return when we no longer need any of these supernatural Gifts.  Is it not obvious we need the Gifts more today than ever?  When Yeshua is here there is no need for them, they have no reason to exist after that point, but until then they are needed.

It would be great if these people would spend a bit more time seeking God’s face instead of trying to convince everyone that the Gifts they have experienced are not for today.  Come on, it is time to wake up and understand God has much more for us than just the Gifts listed in the Bible, He is a great God and has wonderful things for those that have faith in Him and expect from Him.

There is a common ploy to justify the Gifts not being for today just because we do not see people cleaning out hospitals nor someone using the Gift of Tongues to travel and speak to people they do not know.

We cannot base our perceptions of what God has available to those that believe simply because we or others do not receive after simply asking for them.  We need to base them on Scripture and not try to bend Scripture to make excuses.  God said if you have the faith as unto a mustard seed, we can do mighty things, but remember a mustard seed is small at the start and must be grown, so is faith, it starts out small, everyone given an equal portion and we continue to grow it.  When we twist Scripture to make excuses, we weaken our faith.

As I mentioned to this person, any lack of any Gift is not due to the Gifts being done away with, it is simply that most people have "done away" with their faith in God, they have turned to the comforts of this life instead of a constant seeking for God in their lives.  When people wake up and hunger for God as they do for their worldly possession, they will see God move mightily as commonly happens in third world countries.

It would be hard to image how many hours people of today actually spend in study (reading the Bible and praying, not just listening to others voice their opinions of what the Scriptures mean) and seeking God’s face.  Most likely, it would be a small number if at all for most people.   Many expect God to jump to action when they do not spend time with Him!

I personally believe most ministries today spend far more time on promoting or doing their ministry than being with God.  The Apostles wanted to spend all their time studying and seeking God’s face, that is why they elected Stephen to take case of the daily stuff (book of Acts), they knew the only way to stay in the power of God is to stay hunger for God.

My first direct experience with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit was when I first became a believer.  Coming from a Pentecostal background I knew Christians were suppose to be able to speak in Unknown Tongues.  When I was saved though, I did not accept doctrine just because someone told me it was a certain way, I consumed the Bible in large quantities along with prayer and worship every day.  Many things I had been told, I doubted until I found Scripture to support the views.  Some did not exactly work out as I had been taught, while others were right on the money.

Anyway, I knew I should be able to experience the event that many call the “Baptism of the Holy Spirit”.  I read the Bible, listened to and read about everything I could get on the topic.  Talk about a confused person, it was hard to find more than a couple that would agree on anything. 

I spent nine months at about ten hours per day seeking God’s face for this Filing of the Holy Spirit that so many talked about.  I even fasted once for many days, but no answers.  For a long time I was thinking something that should take me over and make me like a robot, something that I could not control, sort of a zombie when God wanted to use me.

During that nine months times, I saw several people receive that which I was searching to find, but not for me.  I could have easily justified it is only for some and not for everyone and left it at that, but I could not give up.

My grandmother (the spiritual elder of the family) said it was simple, just yield to the Holy Spirit.  Yield?  Yield?  That is what I thought I was trying to do, even the time I thought I would fast until I received, yeah, that is it, I am trying to yield so I will go without food until I get it.  God must have sighed and said “will this guy ever learn”.

One night when I went to bed I read and quoted to God:

“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” [Mar 16:17-18]  ( I know some modern translations like to leave these out but some of the oldest manuscripts did also contain them)

I told Him I did not understand anything, I just know this is what He said and that I would believe it.

Later in the AM hours, I woke up, opened my mouth and began to pray in my Spiritual prayer language. This has been part of my life ever since that day back in 1990.

After this experience, I realized many people that I had read, did not have a clue what they were talking about, or was just confused about how to teach.  It is simply that when you become born again (you accept Yeshua - Jesus as your Lord and Savior, repent of your sins and confess Him before men) the Holy Spirit comes in to dwell.  The Gifts are simply manifested as the Holy Spirit flows out through your flesh.  Not a lot of time to go into detail here about the triune nature of man and God, and how the Holy Spirit as rivers of living water, flows from within, but that will be in a later post.

Anyway, the one thing someone else told me that truly made sense after my experience was my grandmother, who said “it is simple, speaking in unknown tongues is when your spirit needs to say something to God that your mind cannot express”.  Volumes of knowledge in that one statement!

Some look at the Gift of Tongues as only to speak in known languages that you do already know, but the following shows not only of man’s languages but those of angels:

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” [1Co 13:1]

and

“ Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.   And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God” [Rom 8:26-27]

and

“He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself;…” [1Co 14:4]

It is not just to give a message but for our prayer life.  There is a Gift of tongues for the congregation during service and also for each individual’s prayer life to allow our spirit to talk with God directly without out feeble minds getting in the way.  This is another topic however that will need more to be posted at a later date.

I have also seen the Gifts of Prophecy and Healing happen in others.  My wife has experienced first had supernatural healing along with others I know.

So, those of you that may not understand the Gifts are for today, I say read Acts and do what they first did, seek God’s face until you receive, you will if you continue, yield to Him and do not faint, I am living proof!

For those that want to argue, it is best to be done somewhere else, you have come too late to convince me of anything, the Scriptures are clear.

Simple answer, right up front (this is sounding familiar), none!  Yep, you read that right, there is no “party” that truly supports Christian beliefs.  In my opinion, the Republican and Constitution Parties are the closest, but still do not quite fill my bill on a platform.  That said though, a party does NOT matter, it is the person to be elected!

Parties:

As an example, the Democratic Party believes and stands up for abortion which is clearly against the teachings of the Bible as it is murder with a capital M.  They even push this as far as “late term partial birth abortion”, where all but the head of the baby is birthed as normal then they kill it before the head comes out.  They are so sick as to believe that if the baby’s head is not out, it is not born.

Abortion is not enough, the platform stands up for embryonic stem cell usage to the point of cloning.  This is murder and a massive scale.  I know, people claim that it is needed to combat all kinds of sickness, but that does not justify taking a life to try giving it to another.  Besides the moral issues, there is great work being done with non-embryonic stem cells or even those from umbilical cords, but that is not enough, they must turn this into murder!  How long can it be before people go around hacking other people up for body parts…

Most democratic hopefuls believe in a strong separation of Church in State to a point it was never meant.  They want to take God out of anything public related in any way to the government.  Under this system they force people to check their religious beliefs at the door of any government institution or event.  I find it interesting that the party platform documents calls on the name of God several times, while wanting to hinder religious freedoms.

The Constitution Party has a number of policies to which I do not agree.  I do not agree with capital punishment, nor the elimination of the educational system nor humans services.  It probably does not matter though, with the small numbers of this party, it would be amazing if anyone was elected for many, many, many years to come.

Recently, various government officials from different parties showed their lack of values by, in one form or another, supporting torture.  This is wrong on so many levels.  If this country uses practices of those we oppose, we no longer have a right to say anything!  This country should hold itself to a higher level of morals than those we condemn.

Individuals:

Parties are out, there is no reason to follow party lines, it does nothing but divide! We need to focus on the individual.  It is up to us to give our vote to those that we believe in and not because they have a certain label.   Remember “we the people”, not just a certain party!

Okay, so now we look to the individuals.  How can we responsibly cast a vote and what does it mean?  I believe that when we vote for someone, we stand with them on what we know about them.  Nobody that calls themselves a Christian should ever vote for a person that supports issues the Bible clearly is against, those that would, I have to wonder on just what is their true level of faith.  How can a person that believes the Bible and knows that abortion is an act of murder place their vote for someone that supports killing babies?

Well, you might say “but the person will help our economy or they support health care or they…”.  It is a simple matter, if they support issues such as abortion or any other act that is against Word of God, you should not vote for them, period!

What about if there is no candidate that qualifies?  This has happened to me before and I simple put a “write in” on the ballot for “none of the above”.  Some might think that is silly, but actually is sad because it shows that Christians were not active enough to make sure there was a quality candidate on the ballot.

It is time that Christians take up their responsibility and BE “the salt of the earth”!  I pray that God convicts everyone’s socks off when they go to vote!  If everyone that claims to be a Christian would vote a Christian ballot, this county would be different!  Salt or to be cast on the dung pile, which shall it be?

Simple answer, right up front, absolutely not!  Either you believe God created the heavens and the earth and all that is created there in along with mankind (as a full being from the beginning) or you are an unbeliever!  The Bible is clear on the steps of creation and there is no room for evolution.  If you believe in evolution, then clearly you deny what God describes in the Bible.

How does not believing in creation as described in the Bible not qualify you as a Christian?  If you do not accept the principles in the Bible how can you truly believe in the God the Bible describes?  If creation is up on the “belief” auction block, what other things would not accept because they do not fit your ideas?

If you are a Christian, you must accept what the Bible clearly teaches, not only in evolution, but in everything, either you believe or you do not, those that pick and choose what to believe clearly do not have any belief!  It is not up to you to form your own belief, it is up to you to believe on what God has already said or not.

This is quite like different religions that like to claim Yeshua (Jesus) was a good man or a good prophet, but then deny He is the Son of God or simply, is God.  Yeshua claimed this title Himself, so to those that do not accept His deity, they must consider Him a liar and deceiver, clearly not a good man!

It is time to wake up to what you do believe and move on, we have languished far too long on doctrinal battles trying to live as close to  worldly lifestyles or pleasing people with itching ears, instead of going deeper in the things of God!  Wake up!  Clean up!  Let’s get moving on with God!  Programs will not save the world, but a deeper walk with God can!