Paul James

It is the Holy Spirit who is inside your spirit. He is the one who transformed you and is continuing the work to conform you to the image of Christ. The Father and Christ are in heaven. But Jesus said that having the Holy Spirit indwelling you is the same as having the Father and the Son, because they are absolutely one in unity, so whatever the Holy Spirit teaches you, it will be exactly the same as Jesus teaching you, and He will teach you only what He has received from the Father. So, in that sense, having the Holy Spirit indwelling you representing the Father and the Son, makes it true that the Father and the Son are living within you in the Person of the Holy Spirit.

Generalised statement implying that you have total knowledge of every area of the Pentecostal movement. The reality is that if total knowledge is represented by a pie [diagram], then if you are honest, your area of knowledge represents only a slice of that pie, while the rest of the pie is outside of your area of knowledge. Therefore there would be groups of Pentecostals who are replicating Acts 2, but they are outside of your area of knowledge and therefore you have no awareness of them. I have the same limitation. I belong to a small Union church along with six old ladies and one gentleman. When I joined it, I increased the male members by 50%. Therefore, my slice of the "knowledge" pie is very thin indeed. Therefore it would be very arrogant of me to comment about anything other churches were doing, because I frankly don't know. But I have read many testimonies of people who have been healed of all sorts of medical conditions, (130 testimonies on a CD through people in Auckland NZ, and hundreds of accounts throughout NZ as part of a national itinerate healing ministry; and had real experiences of speaking understandable languages when speaking in tongues (my own experience and of a close friend in my church), and many testimonies from those who have had demons cast out of them. These testimonies come from ordinary New Zealanders. I don't know if you know anything about New Zealanders, but we are a people not given to over dramatising, or tolerant of nonsense. It comes from our pioneer culture where our settlement came out of commitment and hard work. We are honest, realistic, hard-core people, and not flaky. Therefore a New Zealander testifying of healing of a medical condition would not make that testimony without carefully checking with their doctor that the healing actually took place. But then, New Zealand Pentecostals are totally different than American ones - down to earth, conservative, and not given to excess. That comes from our British culture. But then, all this may be in the area of the pie outside of your slice of knowledge...

Divine healing is not exclusively Pentecostal. It is Bible. Also, the earliest manuscripts available date from the 4th Century. We cannot know what was included in earlier manuscripts because we don't have them. We know that the 4th Century church was a pale imitation of the 1st Century church, and it was common for sick people to be healed and demons cast out. By the 4th Century, as the church was going from Holy Spirit led to being subject to the authority of the bishops, and the overall preeminence of the Bishop of Rome, healing, speaking tongues, and casting out of demons were significantly declining, and as the standards of the established church fell well below par, they ceased altogether. So, it is quite probable that the end of Mark was conveniently edited out of the 4th Century manuscripts by editors and commentators who no longer believed the supernatural was part of the church. Therefore, the supernatural aspects of the ministry of the Holy Spirit declined and ceased through simple unbelief. And so the loudest modern Cessationist commentators who trumpet that the end of Mark was not in the original manuscripts, are speaking from an attitude of unbelief, and therefore the Holy Spirit can't replicate the works of Jesus, just as Jesus Himself couldn't do any mighty works in His home town because of unbelief. But as I previously said, there are groups who do believe that the miraculous works of Jesus can be replicated today, and they are the ones who are seeing the results, while the unbelieving religious majority see nothing of it, and through their unbelief try to make it that it doesn't happen at all.

The trouble with most of our churches is that they are well below par of what the early church was and so we don't see the signs and wonders that were common in the First Century. In the same way that Jesus couldn't any mighty works in His home town because of their unbelief, the Holy Spirit can't do any mighty works because of the general attitude of unbelief in our churches. But there are churches and groups that have the positive attitude of faith in Christ that the early church Christians had, and signs and wonders do happen in those groups. But, the unbelieving churches are so steeped in their unbelief that even in the light of many testimonies of healing and miracles, they won't believe that these are genuine and do all they can to try and prove they are fake, just like the Jewish Pharisees who actually witnessed the miracles of Jesus, yet refused to believe that He was their Messiah.

Jesus validated Himself to John's disciples as the One whom John was expecting by describing the miracles and healing He was doing among the people. Because today the Holy Spirit represents Jesus as if Jesus is still really here, His presence is validated in the same way. Therefore if there are no supernatural instances of deliverance and healing there is no proof that the Holy Spirit is present and active where people claim Him to be. Where there is no healing, deliverance, conviction of sin and conversions to Christ, for that church the Holy Spirit remains an indeterminate mist that "hovers" over the meeting but does nothing else of any useful value.

Matthew 8:16-17 is quite clear. Perhaps you missed these verses.

The Scripture says that he who comes to God must believe that He is [in other words, that He is really there] and that He is a rewarder of those who genuinely seek Him. Therefore, if you are not sure whether God exists or not, you cannot come to Him, therefore you cannot be saved and are still on the road to hell. That is the reality. I know that God is really there, because He made Himself real to me, and I have fellowship with Him and His Son Jesus Christ every day. Every genuinely converted believer will tell you the same. Anyone who doesn't have personal fellowship with the Father and the Son has just the Christian religion, and it doesn't matter how religious the person is, they are still in their sins and hell-bound. The Scripture promises that those who seek God with all their hearts will find Him. Therefore, sitting in the church pew on Sunday morning wondering if God exists won't get you to heaven.

Okay. I can go along with that. What I don't go along with is the notion that the Isaiah reference refers to salvation exclusively. It is interesting to note that there were physical disabilities that Jesus treated as if they were demons. The woman bent over whom Jesus said that Satan had oppressed her for the last 18 years, and casting a deaf and dumb spirit out of a man, and another child who exhibited epilepsy symptoms whom had a demon cast out resulting in a total healing. Also, there are spirits of infirmity that cause sicknesses where the doctors cannot diagnose the cause. Also, it has been known that African witch doctors have put curses on people who have become sick and died. So, there is a blurring of the demarcation between a sickness caused by medical issues and a sickness caused by demonic oppression. So, in that sense, I agree with your interpretation of Isaiah 53:4-5 covering sickness and disability caused by physical and spiritual origins.

It all has to do whether people minister healing in the Name of Jesus or their own name. When a person, even one of reputation ministers out of personal ambition to be God's man of faith and power, then he is more likely to be working in his own name and not the Name of Jesus. Many of the Word of Faith television evangelists such as Kenny Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Joel Osteen, and others like them are ministering in their own name because they present themselves as the main men with the special abilities and effective teaching that solves everyone's financial problems and brings special blessing of God that ordinary pastors cannot bring.

Here is the absolute proof that it is the will of God that people are physically healed: "When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. 2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” 3 Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed" (Matthew 8:1-3). Therefore because Jesus said it, I believe it, and so it is absolutely settled that it is God's definite will that people are physically healed. If people don't get healed, it is not God's fault or of any secret decree that only some get healed. When Jesus had His full way, everyone who was sick got healed. What limited Him was an environment of disbelief, such has in His home town where only a few sick people got healed. The reason why only a few get healed these days is that most churches don't believe that He either can or wants to heal the sick. Cessationism has cast its ugly and faithless shadow over the churches and planted doubts in people's minds, and because most professing Christians are double-minded about divine healing, and that God doesn't honour double-mindedness, divine healing is largely hindered.

Your interpretation of Isaiah 53:4-5 is totally in line with Jesus' interpretation in Matthew 8:16-17.

In Matthew 8:16-17 Jesus Himself contradicts you by saying that Isaiah 53:4 is fulfilled by His healing of physical sicknesses.

Jesus said quite clearly and through actual demonstration that Isaiah 53:4 was about physical healing. Therefore, to say anything different is to contradict Jesus' interpretation of the verse.

Jesus quotes the reference in Matthew 8:16-17. Here is the passage: 16 When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.” So it is obvious that Jesus' interpretation of the Isaiah reference is to do with divine healing. Because John quotes Jesus in his gospel (14:12): “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father." When Jesus used the words, "most assuredly" He means what He says is the absolute truth without any doubt at all. This means that genuine believers can, in the Name of Jesus, heal the sick in the same way He did. The important point about this is that it has to be genuinely in the Name of Jesus (not just saying in the form of lip service), and not in one's own name as many television healing evangelists do. Advertising a preacher as "God's man of faith and power" is actually saying that he is ministering healing in his own name and not really in the Name of Jesus. Also, hero worshiping a special ministry as if the man (William Branham or Oral Roberts) were special people who God endowed something different from ordinary believers, implies that the man is also ministering healing in his own name. I think this is why many don't get healed under ministries that are the object of hero worship. But many healings have taken place through some unknown person without any reputation of a healing ministry, but has authentically ministered healing in the Name of Jesus, and the results have happened.

She doesn't preach the gospel of Christ. She is more aligned to the prosperity preaching of Kenny Copeland, Creflo Dollar, and Joel Osteen. It will suck to be her and those who follow her teaching, in the final judgment.

The sin that leads to death is the total rejection of Christ. At the Judgment there is going to be just one question: "How did you respond to the gospel of Christ?"

Because we have the treasure of the gospel in earthen vessels, and that when we teach the Bible we do it in faith according to the light that we have. And we see through a glass darkly. This makes our teaching susceptible to error at any time, and because our teaching has a prophetic aspect, we need to follow Paul's teaching where every prophecy, including Bible teaching, needs to be evaluated by mature believers qualified to do so. By "mature" I mean those who by use and experience, through years of study of Word and prayer, are able to discern between truth and error. This type of evaluation is not for novices, especially those spiritual novices who set up websites with the intention of conducting witch-hunts against teachers and teachings that don't fit into their limited religious theology. I have always been grateful that when I have preached or taught the Bible in church, I have been supported by a team of fellow elders who have not hesitated to give guidance and correction when they have seen things that need improvement in the content and delivery of my teaching. In my experience, false teachers are those who gather to themselves disciples that agree with them, and are unwilling to take correction from those outside of their select doctrinal view. To be honest, I lean toward a Calvinist view, but if one of my advisors is an Arminian and gave me advice to give more emphasis to people deciding to receive Christ as the first step toward salvation, I would listen and take their advice on board, because believing the gospel and deciding to embrace Christ has strong Scriptural support. But I wouldn't reject his advice just because he leans more to the Arminian side than I would.

Achan was the first person to smoke dope in the Bible. He ended up getting stoned!

It is up to the individual believer to search the Scriptures for him or her self and at the same time asking the Holy Spirit to either confirm or deny what the preacher is saying. The Pharisees had the Scriptures alone without the involvement of the Holy Spirit and so they used their own skewed interpretation to support their desire for power and control. It is no different than any modern power and control type of pastor or church leader. Any person who is attempting to establish their own spiritual empire through using their own interpretation of Scripture to exercise power and control over others is doing nothing but spiritual abuse, and the Holy Spirit is not supporting him. There is a real problem when that type of pastor or preacher is "hero worshiped" and seen as an authority in spiritual matters. In that way, the people who follow that person's teaching don't know that they are being deceived by teaching that is not inspired by the Holy Spirit. A faithful pastor or Bible teacher will always welcome people searching the Scriptures for themselves, and praying for guidance from the Holy Spirit to either confirm or deny what he is teaching them. If the Holy Spirit denies what the Bible teacher is teaching, a faithful one will accept correction, because his desire is to do the will of God and to glorify Christ. The sign of a false Bible teacher or pastor is what was said by a prominent New Zealand church leader when subjected to correction over something he was doing and that questionable: "You can't talk to me like that! I'm an apostle!"

Does this mean that you have the right as a witness, as the Old Testament says, to stone a false prophet to death? Or as David, have several wives? Just askin'....

The difference between faith and presumption: Presumption says, "It is true because I believe it to be true and therefore I trust it to be true." faith says, "It is true because it is a promise of God in His Word, and I trust that His Word is true and is reliable."

I wrote an Ebook about what church should be like. I have attached it here. YOUR CHURCH Fellowship Centre or Religious Temple.pdf

We approach the Bible with faith. We believe that the promises of God in the Bible are yes and amen to those who believe. But depending on just the written Scriptures make the observance literature-based. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, and that is not just quoting Scripture at people. It is the Holy Spirit working in and through the written Scriptures that brings faith to us. It is the Holy Spirit who confirms the written Scriptures when He wants to apply them to us. We must remember that much of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, is written for us and not actually to us. This is where we need to use exegesis to determine who wrote it, who was the intended audience, and how the original people it was directed to understood it in terms of their own culture. Then we need to figure out whether it was limited to the culture of the time, or is it trans-cultural - applicable to any culture. What we might see is that although it is a direction to Old Testament Israel, it might not be a direction for us in the 21st Century. We need to use the same exegetical tools while studying the four gospels. Jesus was still talking to Old Covenant Jews still under the Law. Some things that Jesus taught were transcultural, and others were not. Just because we carefully examine the Scriptures and use the various methods of criticism, it doesn't mean that the Scriptures are watered down. To know whether the Holy Spirit is actually speaking to us through the written Scriptures, we need to be like the Bereans, and "search the Scriptures to see whether these things are so."

In most cases, God has told them no such thing. The claim has been used in many cases of spiritual abuse, where the person saying it is taking God's name in vain to exert power and control over the other person. If someone told me, "God told me", etc., my answer would be, "I will wait until God tells me too." Because we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, He is quite capable of letting us know what His directions and teaching are, without having to use a third party. God is not a gossip. He does not share private information about us to other people. I am aware of the manifestation of the gifts of prophecy, word of knowledge, of wisdom, and discerning of spirits, where the Holy Spirit can speak to us through another member of the body of Christ. But, the person exercising the gift does not have to say "God told me", etc., because if the Holy Spirit is speaking prophetically through the person, we will know all about it because the Holy Spirit will confirm it in our own spirit. so, if someone comes up to you and says, "God told me", etc., take it with a grain of salt unless the Holy Spirit spirit confirm it to you. If the person uses the statement to try and reveal sin in you, give him the bum's rush without hesitation and plead the blood of Jesus against what he is saying, because God never does that, and it could very well be an attack of a spirit of divination.

Telling someone that they are going to hell won't make one iota of difference to the direction of their life. Because it is the Holy Spirit who enlightens sinners to the gospel of Christ, I don't see Him supporting telling people where they are going to end up. Paul said that it is the gospel of Christ that is the power of God leading to salvation to those who believe it. This is why Paul was successful at Corinth - he determined to know nothing among them save Christ and him crucified. Therefore, there is more chance of success with your non-Christian friends if you testify to what Jesus did on the cross for them. Paul said that when prophecy is used, that can cause a person to fall on their face and determine that God is with us. John says that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy; therefore testifying of Jesus activates the power of the Holy Spirit to bring conviction of sin to sinners and their need of Jesus to be their Saviour.