People today DO receive the Holy Spirit just as it was in the day of Pentecost.

People today DO receive the Holy Spirit just as it was in the day of Pentecost.

COMMENT:

People today DO receive the Holy Spirit just as it was in the day of Pentecost. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. People Do get baptized by the Spirit and fire today, speaking in tongues and receiving spiritual gifts. This promise was then, and this promise is still active today until the day of the coming of our Lord. If you have not received the baptism of Holy Spirit, then seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you!

ANSWER:

For about 30-years of my faith walk, I was in the Pentecostal and Charismatic denominational circles. I claimed to be 'baptized in the Spirit' and I participated in many intercessory prayer meetings, functioning in 'tongues', 'prophecy' and teaching. After I moved out from those denominational circles, through circumstances, I committed to really study the Word, looking first at prophecy and the gospels. When I continued into Paul’s epistles, I started to see a VERY different pattern. Paul said some really strange, but interesting things, like,

The darkened reasoning of an Atheist is so superficial and pitiful. If only they’d chose to respond to those moments of grace that God gives them and see the light.

The darkened reasoning of an Atheist is so superficial and pitiful. If only they’d chose to respond to those moments of grace that God gives them and see the light.

ATHEIST'S COMMENT:

If the bible is to be understood verbatim there should be no need to keep ‘interpreting’ it to make the end result fit the reality you want it to be. If it can’t be understood verbatim then perhaps the logical answer is nothing more than a collection of fairy tales. People have literally written billions of interpretations of what they think the Bible ‘means’. That alone should be enough to question the veracity of this collection of fables and the illogical reasoning of some invisible being out there in Neverland.

REPLY:

The Bible is designed to interpret itself. Proper teaching of the Bible is to use references from other parts of the Bible to validate the parts one studies. The Bible tells us that prophecy cannot be understood by man's private interpretation, 2Pet 1:20. Thus, it is bad teachers who twist the Bible and try to force it to say what they want. The Bible (KJV) stands alone and is its own interpreter, and this is possible because God has preserved His Word above His name, Ps 138:2. Until you choose to believe it, it will not show you light. It is designed to hide the truth from those who are not spiritually discerned, 1Cor 2:10-14.

Abel's offering resulted in PAGAN practices! If I were 'God' I'd have required plant sacrifices.

Abel's offering resulted in PAGAN practices! If I were 'God' I'd have required plant sacrifices.

COMMENT:

Referring to your post on the offerings of Cain and Abel, all I see is how the “sons of Adam” CREATED the TEMPLATE for all Pagan CULTS of the future to follow, including those faith systems which came to be known as the Abrahamic religions.

As a decades-long gardener, I would have accepted the sacrifice of plants as the better of the two types of sacrifice which Cain and Abel offered.

REPLY:

It was not the sons of Adam that decided upon the blood offering. It was God Himself, in Gen.3:21, and there is a reason for why blood was required. Everything God does is with perfect reason and purpose. The twisted version of pagan sacrifice you refer to is the creation of Satan in which his counterfeit act skews and distorts the meaning to which God assigned this type of offering.

You say you would rather accept plant sacrifices better. That’s fine if you were ‘God’. Then you could set your own standard for humanity to respect. However, as clay in God’s hands, shall we say to Him that fashions us, “do this”, or “I think that…”, Isa 45:9. No. God has declared these things to be, before the worlds were made. God’s version of the blood offering is pure and perfect and is predetermined to be the ONLY thing that can save our souls. It cost the ultimate blood offering of Christ to redeem us, which in turn informs us of how utterly low we have fallen to have such a heavy price to purchase us back.

Thank God for the blood of Christ which saves to the uttermost those who believe in Him.

What is it about two programs, two agencies, two doctrines, and two destinations?

What is it about two programs, two agencies, two doctrines, and two destinations?

I want you to spend a bit of your time considering these two bible passages, when you have a quiet moment to contemplate them.

Read them carefully and attentively and see if you can spot the points of interest that I highlight in the small list below.

First, read the passages....slowly 😉

Concerning SIN, the confession of sin, and defeating sin

Concerning SIN, the confession of sin, and defeating sin.

IN RESPONSE TO THIS MEMBER’S COMMENT:

We will sin until we are in eternity with the Lord, when sin will no longer exists. It’s important to confess our sins to Him daily, perhaps begin each day surrendering our will to His. It’s possible to sin less and less though…

ANSWER:

I agree that we certainly will sin less as our minds and hearts get renewed by the living Word of God and our thoughts and actions are brought under the obedience of the Word.

As concerning confession, it is good to sense remorse for sin and come to God with a contrite heart, but there is no need (or law) dictating the importance and ‘must’ regarding daily confessing our sins. Please don’t misunderstand me. I come to God with remorse and sorrow for falling in moments of weakness, but it will not affect my relationship with God if I do not confess my sins every day. Why? Because God already sees you as absolutely righteous because of Christ. His righteousness has already been applied to you. Your flesh remains corrupt and prone to sin, but your spirit is perfect in His sight. If one places oneself under a law (or under a rule) to confess sins, as with any other rule to try to work out your own righteousness, all it will do is bring condemnation. We must be careful not to have laws dictate our relationship with God. We should aim to come out from under law as children and to grow up in the truth of the Word and walk in the liberty of the spirit as sons of God. To be bound by the dictates of laws which can never be perfectly followed anyways is not the way God indented for us to walk.

(Part 2) Various questions concerning the difference between the ministries and doctrine of Peter and Paul

Various questions concerning the difference between the ministries and doctrine of Peter and Paul (Part 2)

See Part 1 here

Question #1

• In regard to Matthew 25:31–46, you assign that as before the 1000-year reign starts, but what about at the end of the 1000-year reign when for a small season, the devil will be released from the pit for a last rebellion? You do not think that reference may apply to that time as that would be when the Great White Throne Judgment is at when all the dead are raised up and judged by their works.

Matthew 25 does not reference the time that Jesus refers to as the Sheep and Goats judgement. This judgement is specifically enforced to determine which Gentiles will enter the Millennial kingdom. Without this judgement, no Gentiles will exist in the kingdom, which does not line up with prophecy which tells that the Jews will be the preeminent nation in the kingdom and that the Gentile nations will seek the counsel of the Jews and abide by the law administered by the Jews as the kings and priests in the kingdom.

As you rightly identify, the release of Satan will deceive many at the end of the Millennial reign and both Satan and those deceived will be quickly ended when God sends down fire from heaven. Both Satan’s captivity in the pit, and the Sheep and Goats judgement occur before the beginning of the 1000-years.