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"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” -
Edmund Burke
Here, I would like to apply that quote to the Word of God, and to my personal beliefs and the doctrines that I hold as true. I am a member of one of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel churches in Arizona. I have been a member since I was sixteen years old. At that time in my life, I was not entirely sure what I, personally, believed. My parents were pastors of a Foursquare Church, and I believed what they believed. They taught me well.
Now that I am a senior citizen, and have studied these matters for myself, I still believe what they believe. The difference now, is that I know what I believe; because I have studied it and satisfied myself that those beliefs hold up under the light of the Holy Scriptures.
Recently, I read a post on Facebook by a Christian sister. She was talking about false teachers and their false doctrines. She posed the question, “Is it wrong to let false doctrine and error go unchallenged?”
I thought about that question for quite a while and decided to write about what I believe to be the truth. There are many beliefs under the umbrella of the “Christian Faith"; but not all of them belong there.
The most important thing about the Christian faith, the absolute, essential doctrine, is that there is only one way to get to God. That way is through the blood of Jesus Christ, His only begotten son.
Now, there are many doctrines that are open to interpretation. We can still be Christians and worship the one, true God and have differences of opinion. The church which I attend has, included in our Creedal Statements, a most incredible and profound statement that expresses, clearly and succinctly, the same point I just presented. It is, “In essentials—unity; in non-essentials—liberty; in all things—charity.”
The subject of false doctrine had not been on my radar at that time; but out of the blue appeared a cloud driven by the winds of false doctrine. A sister-in-Christ mentioned the name of a pastor of whose beliefs I was not aware.
Out of curiosity, I searched on the internet and found that this author and minister did not share my beliefs regarding the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the initial evidence of the infilling which is speaking in tongues.
So, I Googled the pastors name that the sister-in-Christ had mentioned and found a great deal about his beliefs, his writings, his life and professional career as a pastor of a large church in California. His credentials were quite impressive.
However, I wanted to know his beliefs on the baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. That is a sort of “litmus test” for me regarding how closely someone’s beliefs fit with mine as a Spirit filled, tongue talking Christian.
To my consternation, this pastor believes that the gifts of the Spirit were no longer required. He, also, says, “and that speaking in tongues and the working of sign miracles in the beginning days of the church were for the purpose of pointing to and authenticating the apostles as revealers of divine truth, and were never intended to be characteristic of the lives of believers.”
That is just what the Holy Spirit does today: He authenticates His Word as it is preached by the demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit as miracles are performed, people are healed, devils are cast out of people, marriages are renewed, drug addicts and alcoholics are set free, the bondage of poverty is broken in lives and they become prosperous by his provision, and so much more. (See Mark 16: 15-18) By the way, these are miraculous things that are contained in this passage in Mark, and Jesus said this before He told the disciples to go to the upper room where they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. (That brings up a whole other subject I want to write about soon.)
Jesus said exactly what would happen in Acts 1:8(a) KJV “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:" The greatest thing the Holy Spirit does is He convinces men and women and of sin and shows them that they need to be saved by the shed blood of Jesus Christ; when they do, then he baptizes them into the body of Christ and their spirits become new and regenerated—they are born again, not of flesh and blood but of the Spirit of God forever to live with Him. The primary purpose is to be a comfort to the Christian.
More on this subject tomorrow.
Have a great day; and remember
who and Whose you are.
Brenda Quimby Smith"
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