Paul James

Let's just be honest here. The bottom line is that you don't want to have the gift of tongues. You never have, and you have argued against it as if you are trying to put people right about it, but the real reason is that you don't want to receive tongues, for some reason known only to yourself, and you don't want to be persuaded.

I've that excuse before and it doesn't wash. If death occurred with Adam's disobedience, you will have to deny TE because TE assumes that death was always present right from the start of evolution. If you say that death existed before Adam, you have to disbelieve the Bible and make the rest of the Bible meaningless, including the death of Christ on the cross - and that means no gospel of Christ, leading to no assurance of salvation, and hope only in this life.

I didn't go to any to consult. I wanted to see the comparison between dream interpretation on what I saw on the Christianforums site and the New Age, and I found they were exactly the same. When I pointed that out on that forum, they banned me. So I concluded that there were some on that staff who supported New Age ideas and didn't like anyone pointing that out to them. I keep right away from dream interpretation like the plaque, because it is nothing but New Age, even though it might seem "academic". Occult demons can be very cunning and deceptive and often use people's curiosity to draw them into deception. Seeing that I believe that nine out of every ten impressions and dreams come from the world, flesh, or the devil, I am very fussy about these things, and I have some pretty vivid and crazy dreams, I never try to interpret them. I believe a dream from the Lord doesn't need interpretation, because it is not an image puzzle, but a clear, unmistakable message consistent with written Scripture. Anything else that needs third party interpretation is from the world, flesh, or the devil.

There is ample evidence of a catastrophic global flood when we look at the fossil record with fish dying suddenly before finishing eating the smaller fish they had in their mouths, Mammoths dug out of Arctic ice with vegetable matter still in their mouths showing they died before even finishing their mouthfuls of food; and a complete set of dinosaur bones showing that the animal had rolled over and over in a torrent of water The foundation of the tower of Babel was well known until Alexander the Great had it demolished when he conquered that region, and recently under the ruins of Babylon, they have found the remnants of it. So, archaeology confirms that the tower of Babel actually existed. so, there are two major pieces of evidence that show that Genesis 1-11 are literal history. Also, there is the question: Did death enter into the world before or after Adam?

True. If Genesis 1-3 is not literal history, then the rest of the Bible, including the gospel, and the death of Christ on the cross, is meaningless.

The actual evidence of the rock layers in the Grand Canyon where fossils are located, shows that they are only around 5-6000 years old, and were deposited there through a cataclysmic event, such as a sudden, global flood. There are fish with half eaten fish in its mouth, showing that it was killed before it had time to finish its meal. They have found dinosaur bones where it shows that the animal was rolled over and over because of a great torrent of water, and mammoths dug out of Arctic ice with grass that they were eating still in their mouths. What guts the evolution theory that says the rock formations were there millions of years ago, was that in the 1980s Mt St Helens eruption, a smaller canyon with the same characteristics of the Grand Canyon was formed through the mud slides, and when the lava and mud cooled, it left exactly the same type of rock layers that were in the Grand Canyon. And that was just after 40 years. Evolutionists can look at this evidence, examined by scientists in the present, and be blind to what it actually presents, and use it to say it happened millions of years ago. But science can only look at the present. It cannot examine the past because no scientist was there to observe it. Evolutionists can only guess how the rock layers and fossils got there, and are lying to say that science tells them how they got there, because science depends on observation, testing, and replication.

It is the "name it and claim" Faith movement that uses faith as a force in itself to achieve an outcome. Their view is that if we believe hard enough, God will do what we want. These are the people who claim guaranteed healing, and when someone doesn't get healed they say it is a lack of faith in the sick person. If that is true then when John Wesley's horse got healed of lameness along with John's headache when John prayed, then it is wonderful that the horse had faith to be healed! In my view, using faith as a force in itself is a type of Hindu mind-control and puts the power into the individual instead of in God. If one can get what he needs and wants through personal faith and effort through believing, then why need God at all? No, using faith as mind-control is sorcery - a type of witchcraft, using occult positive thinking and pagan mind-control.

When Paul went and preached in Jewish synagogues, he preached the same as Peter and used the same OT Scriptures. But when he went and preached to the Gentiles, he didn't use the OT Scriptures, but took the same line as he did when he preached to the Greeks in Athens. It is the same gospel in either case, but different ways of presenting it.

To you maybe, because it is not a question you want to answer. But to many others who are not sure whether dream interpretation is of the Holy Spirit or of a New Age spirit, knowing whether it is taught in the New Testament would be vitally important to accept of reject it. For me, I don't see any teaching in the New Testament about it, and the catalogue of dreams and interpretation can be found on many New Age websites, and are identical with the interpretations I have seen on the forum threads I have viewed. So, I think it is an invasion of New Age spirits into the church, corrupting the faith of many.

The gift of discerning of spirits is one of the tools in the Holy Spirit's tool box for equipping the saints in the body of Christ. It is the supernatural ability to discern what spirit a person is of. This involves being able to discern whether a person is acting according to the Holy Spirit, another spirit, or just in the flesh. I don't think it is discerning a demon under every bush, as some tend to think it is. And it is not discerning in the natural that one's mother-in-law has a demon. But there is a certain TV prosperity evangelist that some have discerned his spirit and are convinced that he is demon-possessed. This is could be the work of the gift of discerning of spirits. But I think that is an obvious case, because the guy is a blatant false prophet and teacher. Anyone with a Bible could figure that out. But where, in the natural, a person purporting to be moving in the Spirit may seem very plausible and genuine, and may deceive many. But the Holy Spirit may give the gift of discerning that person's spirit, and it may reveal that he is truly genuine and what he is doing and saying is really of the Holy Spirit, and so it wold be safe to go along with him. Then again, the Holy Spirit may reveal that the man is working in the flesh and not the Spirit and will need to be corrected and disciplined to spend more time in the Scriptures and in prayer to ensure that he move from the flesh and back into the Spirit. Or, the Holy Spirit may reveal that the man is being influenced by a contrary spirit that needs to be renounced and removed so that the man is restored to a genuine faith and so be rescued from deception and save others being deceived by him. No one can say that they own the gift of discerning of Spirits. The Holy Spirit always owns the gift and distributes it where needed. But the person receiving the ability has it for that particular situation, and not as a permanent, "This gift is mine to use whenever I choose". Some have set themselves up as a "ministry" involving seeing themselves as an "expert" in the discerning of Spirits. I don't go along with this. I believe that the gifts can pass from one person to another as the Spirit wills, so that the Spirit is always in control of the gift, and not man. If a man gets up and says, "I have the gift of discerning of spirits", it may be that he is being puffed up with pride thinking he is someone specially called of God to the discerning of spirits "ministry"; when in fact there is no such thing. It is the same with someone purporting to have a "deliverance ministry". This is not Biblical, because the casting out of demons is for "those who believe", according to Mark 16. This means that any of us who may be confronted with a demonized person has the authority to cast it out, and not some "special" or privileged believer. Therefore, we can all receive the ability to use the gift of the discerning of spirits when and where the Holy Spirit deems it necessary. This is because being filled with the Holy Spirit, gives all of us the potential to move in any of the nine gifts according to the will of God in any situation we find ourselves in. Therefore, Biblically, it is not limited to the pastor, but available to all suitably mature believers who are mighty in the Scriptures and men of prayer.

My take on this is that miracles, healing and casting out of demons were the works that Jesus did to the max while He was in His earthly ministry. John says that his account just scratched the surface so that people would believe on Him; and if he recorded every miracle, healing, casting out of demons that Jesus did, the world wouldn't contain all the books that would be filled. So, in the light of that, nothing that we could do in terms of the miraculous could ever surpass that. I know that those who believe in miracles, healing and casting out of demons (as I do), would believe that these are the greater works, but I have my doubts - not that the works that Jesus did, which were promised that we can do, no doubt - but the greater works were things that Jesus did not do: 1. Millions converted to Christ and baptised with the Spirit through the subsequent centuries. 2. The formation of the visible church (in all it denominations) to provide a tangible testimony to Christ. 3. The gospel being taken all over the world, with the Scriptures being translated into all the different languages such as what Wycliffe Bible Translators are doing. The works that Jesus did while on earth were basically limited to the Jews (the lost sheep of Israel), with a few exceptions. He taught God's universal moral law to them to show them their sinfulness and their need for a greater righteousness than the Pharisees - which actually came after Pentecost when people got born again of the Holy Spirit. But the greater works have been those accomplished by the world-wide work of the Holy Spirit in faithful believers who have been led of the Spirit to seek and save the lost, plant churches, and get the written word of God to all the different peoples of the world.

That is informative. It may very well be a new age spirit trying to get you back into new age thinking and to mix that with your Christian faith. The Scripture says that we must make a total separation from anything that even smells like new age, and dreams like this could be one of those things that you must renounce and remain totally separate from.

A vision that comes from God is clear and self-explanatory and needs no interpretation. It is usually accompanied by a strong sense of the awe and wonder of God, and it points to Christ. Hebrews 1 says that in times past God spoke through His prophets, but in these last days He speaks through His Son, Jesus Christ.

You are avoiding my question.

My interpretation of your "mild" is that it is a church run decently and in order.

Seeing that you have no confidence in Paul, I just wonder what your profession of Christianity is based on. Also, most of the book of Acts is out too and Luke's gospel, because Luke was a companion of Paul and totally stood with him with total unity in his ministry.

Oh? So the Holy Spirit did not speak through Paul? If 1 Corinthians 14 is an invention of Paul, who's to say the rest of his letters weren't? Either Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit in all his letters or not. If one doesn't believe that it was the Holy Spirit speaking through Paul, then they might as well get a pair of scissors and cut all of Paul's letters from their Bibles. But if it was the Holy Spirit speaking through Paul in 1 Corinthians 14 as in the rest of the book and all his other letters, then to say that 1 Corinthians 14 is a crafty invention of Paul, is an insult to the Holy Spirit. It is then no wonder that people to say those sorts of things tend to be fairly unfruitful in their Christian lives. One can't insult and grieve the Holy Spirit and then expect Him to work with them.

Read Corinthians 14 carefully. Paul told the Corinthians that when they speak in tongues they were thanking God well: " You are giving thanks well enough, but no one else is edified" (1 Corinthians 14:17). If Paul didn't approve of the nature of the tongues they were speaking he never would have said that. It is where and when they were speaking tongues that was the issue with him. So your last phrase is contrary to what is clearly written in 1 Corinthians 14:17, and 1 Corinthians 14:2, and when Paul said, "I thank God I speak in tongues more than you all, yet in the church, I would rather say two words in plain language so that others will be edified." Of course the truth comes out of the chapter when elementary school comprehension 101 is applied, rather than filtering it through non-Biblical Cessationist teaching.

Doesn't the Scripture say that those who live godly in Christ will suffer persecution, and didn't Jesus say that our enemies can be member of our own households? Seems to have come true in your case. When people get genuinely filled with the Spirit and flow out with the gifts in a legalistic environment, it can either cause others to praise God because of what you have received, or they can gnash their teeth on you out of envy and jealousy because they are not getting from God what you have received.

I think the Scripture applies: "If any man lacks wisdom let him ask of God who gives liberally and doesn't put one down for asking". Also, "Be not unwise, but understand what the will of God is". Therefore "discernment" is the basic wisdom that every Christian believer should have.

I can understand that. It happens to a lot of people. I think it is because people think that the Holy Spirit has to somehow burst out of them in tongues in an involuntary manner. But I don't think that is faith, because faith is not impassive, allowing things to happen to us; but it is active on our part. I started speaking in tongues because I believed I had the ability and I tried to speak an unknown language in faith. What happened was after a short time, the language flowed fluently out of me, and every time I start praying the words are there for me to either pray in English or in tongues. It is as I am bilingual - English from my mind, and tongues from my spirit, but I decide when I want to speak either. People also mistakenly think it has to be ecstatic, I think the description "ecstatic" such as William Barclay's, comes from teaching by people who have never spoken in tongues and don't know anything about it from personal experience. I think that beginning in tongues requires personal effort, like priming an old-fashioned water pump when one pours water down the top and pumps like mad until the artesian water starts flowing out, Then one doesn't have to put the same effort into the handle to keep the water flowing. It is the same with tongues. One must make the effort in faith until the language becomes fluent, then one doesn't have to think abut what to say, because it just flows out. It all depends on what one believes he or she is doing. Anyone can talk a whole lot of jibber jabber if that is what the person believes he or she is doing. But a person praying in tongues to God, knows that he is talking to a holy God who understands what he is saying. I decided a few years ago, to spend as much time as I could praying in tongues over three weeks. As a result some amazing things happened in the writing and publishing of my ministry books, my preaching at church, and my prophetic ministry in my involvement in an interdenominational prophetic equipping group. Also, God showed me beyond doubt that when I prayed in tongues, it was a real language that God understands, and He proved it to me one Sunday night at church when I was praying quietly in tongues and my NZ Maori friend heard me praising God in her own Maori language, which I have not learned at that time. So, after experiences like that, and that of my friend who prayed in tongues at a prayer meeting and a Ghanaian visitor heard him praising God in his own village dialect, which my friend could not have known, no one would ever be able to convince me that tongues is not real and still active today.

The function of "Prophet to the Nation" ceased at the death of John the Baptizer. So any person getting up and saying such is a false prophet right off, because there is no such function in the New Testament. After the Holy Spirit came and indwelled the believers on the Day of Pentecost, it meant that the Holy Spirit will teach believers everything they need to know. This is contained in Paul's teaching which he received by direct revelation from the Holy Spirit. What he and the other Apostles wrote became holy Scripture, which contains everything we need to know. New Testament prophecy is for the comfort, edification, and exhortation of believes in the church. They are 'love letters' from the Holy Spirit and are to be judged by those mighty in the Scriptures and men of prayer. They are the ones who can say whether a prophecy comes from God or not. So if a prophecy comes forth in the church meeting, and is accepted, then the people know that the Holy Spirit is encouraging them. But if a leader who is known to be mighty in the Scriptures and a man of prayer says, "We can safely ignore that one", then the people will know that the prophecy has come from the flesh and not the Spirit. If someone gives a prophecy and starts or finishes it by saying "This is what the Lord is saying", I reject it immediately because a genuine prophecy is self evident. I have heard of people receiving a spirit of divination through a false personal prophecy even when the receiver has just put it on the back burner and not rejected it out of hand. A wise pastor during his training of me in the prophetic told me that the essential preparation is to be a man of the Word and of prayer. We have too many people giving prophecies when they have insufficient knowledge of the written Scriptures and minimal prayer lives, causing the ministry of prophecy to come into disrepute.

When I asked the Lord about dreams and visions, He told me that I didn't need them, because my fellowship with Him and His Son Jesus Christ is directly through His written Word, and if I become mighty in the Scriptures and a man of prayer, then He will fellowship with me directly without the need to give me dreams and visions.

There is the private prayer language which all Christians can receive and use, and there is the ministry gift of tongues to be used in church along with interpretation. Not all receive the ministry gift of tongues. That is what Paul is talking about. I believe that all genuine converts to Christ receive the Holy Spirit at conversion, but I don't believe that tongues is the primary evidence. Faith is the evidence of things not seen and the assurance of things hoped for, so faith is the primary evidence of conversion and baptism with the Spirit. So one doesn't need to have tongues as a requirement for salvation. This because many who are converted and receive the Holy Spirit, have the Spirit living dormant in their spirit until they develop their knowledge and faith to allow Him to flow out of them with tongues and prophecy. This is why believers have received the baptism with the Spirit and never spoken in tongues or prophesied. Either they have been wrongly taught Cessationism, or they have not yet developed their faith yet.

I now this is a late post for you, because I have just joined this forum. When you were converted to Christ, you were baptised with the Spirit at the same time. Because neither tongues or prophecy have flowed out of you (that might have changed over the past year), it is because He is sitting dormant in your spirit. He needs to start flowing out of you, and that takes faith on your part. The potential for manifesting any of the gifts of the Spirit are within you. Here are the steps I thank are best to take to get the flow going, in tongues at least. When that happens, the other gifts will follow as the Spirit directs. 1. You must believe that it is God's will for you to exercise the gift. There is no point going any further until you get to that point. If other try to pressure you into tongues without that belief, you might just get a flesh counterfeit instead. 2. You need to ask God directly for the gift, believing that He hears you and will give you exactly what you ask for and not anything else. If a child asks for bread, will a father give him a stone instead? 3. You need to receive the gift. Read my testimony in the Baptism with the Spirit, Testimonies thread. Just saying to the Lord, "I receive the gift" gets it out of God's outstretched hand to yours. 4. Then you then believe that you can speak in tongues, and use your faith to speak syllable sand words until the language starts to flow out of you. It is best that you do all this alone with the Lord, and then you will know that when the flow happens it comes from the Lord and not through someone else's will for you.