Testing the Spirits When God Is Not In A Box

[OneLight]

After spending a lot of time trying to understand what you had written, finding answers to questions, some which you answered yourself, I have come to the realization that you are telling us all that you do not believe that God works the same today as he did in the days of the Apostles. I had pages of notes ready to share, but it all boils down to this.

I have personally experienced an out pouring of the Holy Spirit in prayer groups, church services and Christian gatherings. I did not see people flopping all over the floor, hysterical laughter, gold dust or any other outrageous things happening as described above. I did, however, know that God was there in a much greater presence then before. I could feel His presence as if it were a thick air surrounding me. People started to speak in tongues that had not done so before. People were greatly convicted of their sins. Healing took place. Forgiveness to others and self happened. God worked in a lot of lives those nights, more then I witness in regular Sunday church services. People were in one accord ... seeking God.

If you have never experienced an outpouring of His Spirit in this way, then I can only pray that you will. To try to explain something of this magnitude to someone who does not believe that it will ever happen is like trying to explain the presence of God within me to one who does not believe in God. All you hear are words that you will not believe.

I am not standing in defense of some cultish behaviors that are present in certain types of gatherings that are advertised under the name of Jesus, but real life changing events that do happen, even today. As for knowing the difference between the Holy Spirit and other spirits, if you have the Holy Spirit, and allow Him to live through you, you will know the difference.

You Brother In Christ,

OneLight

[Natt]

One Light, from what you have described it sounds like if it was the Holy Spirit.

It is just basing what you experience on feelings as whether it was from God or not sounds wrong. However all those experiences can be found scripturally and I would be in agreement with you.

It is when people add to the word and then claim it was God with no scriptural evidence, then they defend it by saying "Do not put God in the box" is what I struggle with.

2 Timothy 3

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

[OneLight]

One Light, from what you have described it sounds like if it was the Holy Spirit.

It is just basing what you experience on feelings as whether it was from God or not sounds wrong. However all those experiences can be found scripturally and I would be in agreement with you.

It is when people add to the word and then claim it was God with no scriptural evidence, then they defend it by saying "Do not put God in the box" is what I struggle with.

2 Timothy 3

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

That is exactly how I feel Sister! There is a real difference between when God is working and when man is exercising his emotions.

Whenever I use the term "God in a box", I am usually referring to statements people make concerning how God can not do this or that. For example, there was a thread a while back about salvation for those who never heard of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Some say that they are going to hell because they never asked for salvation. I took a position that God judges the heart of man and to say that these who never heard were dammed because of never hearing, was like putting God in a box. God is greater then any of us can ever understand, so I use that expression in cases like this. It would be correct to say that it is not in the Bible, word for word, but it does say that God will judge the hearts of men. Is this something like what you were describing?

Your Brother In Christ,

OneLight

[damo1]

damo1

to natt high

this is Damien i sort of understand what you are saying as i was their a long time ago and even in teen challenge i started to test what i was hearing from the pulpit see as a new Christian we need to ground our selves in gods word and god gives us his holy spirit which is hear to guide us threw life and threw the bible i sort of left what i left for my reasons as people should have a right to decide what is of the spirit weather its fals or weather its true i done a lot of reading i just did not jump head deep and went with every one else or what the pastor would say from the pulpit as i new that people can also fake things just to make some one believe what they say is nothing but the truth and you need not to go back to gods word or test to see if by what i say is a lie as i would not lie to you

the way i use to do this is i use to pray to god and i would say lord prove what i am reading and what i am seeing with my own eyes is off you as i am not going to lead no one astray or preach something that is not true i would also say lord i am nothing but a simple man who encountered you in a power ful way and if you expect me to take this gospel to the lost and to those that i know need you in their lives then threw your spirit that is with in me you Will have to prove to me that what i am reading did happen what i see with my own eyes is off you as i am open lord i have a teachable spirit lord and i want to walk according to your living word and believe in everything i am reading but this is the problem lord the people i know and the ones i feel that i would like to draw into the kingdom are not stupid lord and this is wear i am asking you to prove that this is how its said and what i read in Acts is hear for us today

and bit by bit as i allowed the holy spirit to guide me threw the bible and as i listened to my spiritual mentor i was able to allow my self to walk in these gifts when i would pray to god i would not beat around the bush natt as i just did not want to take what man had to say from the pulpit i would study my bible i would jot things down in my own note pad even what was prayed over me i would not take it on board but i would sit with my spiritual mentor and we would lift what i was asking to god

people Will say do not test god but we are human and if we are going to believe in everything that is said or preached to us we need to learn how to pick the fake ones out from the true ones

i challenged the op hear for my own reasons as the person i am i get on well with all denominations i have friends who are Anglican who are baptists and even friends with in the salvation army and the Catholic church and church of Christ i do not force my view on my friends and we learn to walk in unity with each other and we support each other and encourage each other in the town i use to live in Canberra i use to pray with spirit filled Catholics natt and these people i got to know from the Catholic church in narrabundah wear very open to what happened in acts and started to seek out Christians who wear walking in these gifts as they wear pulling away from their main doctrine that has been passed on to them by the Catholic church and forming a new church in narrabundah so as they can reach with in the Catholic church and allow those that want to pull away to grow and be preached nothing but the truth of gods word as we al know and have seen what has been hapening with in the cathlic church and if people want to question and if they want to pull out and be around like minded people than what better than having those that have pulled out reaching out to their own kind

when i was asked to pray and share what i have learned with these Catholics i at first i was not willing as i did not want to be in the middle of an argument or arguing to why these people should have the right to seek out the truth

their wear even several nuns who wear open i am a Catholic Orthodox as i was born in Yugoslavia and my side stuck with the Orthodox Catholics who did not believe in what happened in acts but my grand mother would read the bible to me take me to church in the village i was born in yet i found it very hard to believe that god was real due to what the Serbian army was doing to my people and not just my people but other nationals that settled in Yugoslavia but we wear seen as the trouble makers and the Serbians wear the good guys who wanted to take out the trash and only have one group of people controlling Yugoslavia

so you are not alone in this natt but what i do not like is when some one who is not committed to a church and is only wanting people to hear one point this is wear i challange as you can not tel people to read from only one bible which is the kings james version and that should be the only version to read and i did not want to see any one that posted in this topic to be taken advantage of as i have ran into plenty of people like this who see the holy spirit as a bad step child and wil only seek out the father and the son and ignore the holy spirit all together this is very dangerous and their are plenty disgruntled people out their that like to do nothing but throw out twisters and even confusion to see how far they can push new christians jesus even warns us about false teachers and says fals teachers from with in the body of christ wil try to split the breathren up and we also need to keep this also in the back of our minds as well

new christians should have the freedom to explore gods word and new christians should be able to walk and grow in the gifts that the father has passed on i never once held my son back when he started to crawl i would get on my knees and i would encourage him i would not say ethan bad stop who told you that you can start to crawl

and this is the way the holy spirit is with us he is not a bad red kneck step child that is going to miss lead us he is hear to help us and wants to help us if we are open to his leading and his teaching yes we have the right to question things but he wil open our eyes to the truth of gods word and also help us pick out those that are fake other wise jesus would have told his dicsiples that you do not need the holy spirit to guide you but just take on board

to what i have taught you and pas this on to the new converts even jesus depended on the spirit not once did jesus put the holy spirit down as he said i am going to send you a helper and that helper wil convict the world threw you about me and he wil give you the right words to say as wel

if you are a new christian pray for disernment so that you will be able to pick the counterfits

dont worry about judging yet make a decsion as to weather something is or not of god the bible tells us to make a rightesous judgment

jesus even gave us a standard by which to judge by their fruits you wil know them we can not judge a persons heart only god knows that persons heart however our actions speak by our spiritual condition

even paul warned those who he preached about fals teachers by name was paul guilty of sin by calling the false teachers by name ?

or was the apostle paul exposing the work of darkness ?

i hope you did not mind me sharing this as i did not want to see you or one light being taken advantage of and told to only go by the kings james version their are to many out their now creating confusion among the body of christ and we need to be strong in our own walk to pick out the fals teadhers as the apostle paul was very good at doing this and we to have those rights to test so i hope i was able to explaine to wear i am coming from as a brother in the lord

bit by bit you wil get their may be even do what i did and pray out openly to god and say you are stuck as this helped me a lot as a babe in christ and not once was i let down as i do not belive in lying or twisting this gospel just to get peoples attention if i am to share this gospel if i am to say jesus cares for you and he can set you free than i need to also belive in what i am reading that it is for me as wel no one should have a right to manipulate no one yet i feel that when we al face god on judgment day god is going to deal with these false teachers and false prophets al we need to do is be strong in the faith and not alow our selves to be take for a ride

from your brother in the lord damien

[Natt]

Hi Damo1

so you are not alone in this natt but what i do not like is when some one who is not committed to a church and is only wanting people to hear one point this is wear i challange as you can not tel people to read from only one bible which is the kings james version and that should be the only version to read and i did not want to see any one that posted in this topic to be taken advantage of as i have ran into plenty of people like this who see the holy spirit as a bad step child and wil only seek out the father and the son and ignore the holy spirit all together this is very dangerous and their are plenty disgruntled people out their that like to do nothing but throw out twisters and even confusion to see how far they can push new christians jesus even warns us about false teachers and says fals teachers from with in the body of christ wil try to split the breathren up and we also need to keep this also in the back of our minds as well

I totally agree with you about the King James Version. I like to use various versions when I do some bible study. I think they are entitled to their opinion though, even if they don't listen to anyone else's. I also agree with you that the Holy Spirit shouldn't be ignored. But I think Jesus should be glorified above all else. The Holy Spirit is a gift.

I'm still very much in the learning part. I have been deceived before.If I had then used the bible as a yardstick and not my own feelings I would not have got into a particular movement which I suppose why I feel testing if something is from God by the bible is important.

God Bless

[Natt]

One Light, from what you have described it sounds like if it was the Holy Spirit.

It is just basing what you experience on feelings as whether it was from God or not sounds wrong. However all those experiences can be found scripturally and I would be in agreement with you.

It is when people add to the word and then claim it was God with no scriptural evidence, then they defend it by saying "Do not put God in the box" is what I struggle with.

2 Timothy 3

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

That is exactly how I feel Sister! There is a real difference between when God is working and when man is exercising his emotions.

Whenever I use the term "God in a box", I am usually referring to statements people make concerning how God can not do this or that. For example, there was a thread a while back about salvation for those who never heard of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Some say that they are going to hell because they never asked for salvation. I took a position that God judges the heart of man and to say that these who never heard were dammed because of never hearing, was like putting God in a box. God is greater then any of us can ever understand, so I use that expression in cases like this. It would be correct to say that it is not in the Bible, word for word, but it does say that God will judge the hearts of men. Is this something like what you were describing?

Your Brother In Christ,

OneLight

[OneLight]

I want to address the discussion of the KJV bible. I study using the KJV and NKJV bibles, a concordance and both Hebrew and Greek dictionaries that coincide with my concordance. Yet, it is the Holy Spirit that truly teaches me as I shuffle through the pages. To say that the KJV and NKJV is outdated and no good is incorrect. As with any object, the object itself is not the problem, it is the person behind the object that is responsible for the outcome. Please be careful not to ridicule the Word of God. Instead, refrain your words to how someone interprets the Scriptures. Is this person twisting Scripture to fit their mindset? Is this person being taught by the Holy Spirit as they study? God's Word is His Word, not matter what version it is.

Love In Christ,

Alan

edited to correct grammar

[Natt]

I want to address the discussion of the KJV bible. I study using the KJV and NKJV bibles, a concordance and both Hebrew and Greek dictionaries that coincide with my concordance. Yet, it is the Holy Spirit that truly teaches me as I shuffle through the pages. To say that the KJV and NKJV is outdated and no good is incorrect. As with any object, the object itself is not the problem, it is the person behind the object that is responsible for the outcome. Please be careful not to ridicule the Word of God. Instead, refrain your words to how someone interprets the Scriptures. Is this person twisting Scripture to fit their mindset? Is this person being taught by the Holy Spirit as they study? God's Word is His Word, not matter what version it is.

Love In Christ,

Alan

edited to correct grammar

I use KJV too. It is when they reject all other versions and when like to put other versions down is what I don't like.

[OneLight]

I agree. People learn in different ways. I learn best by doing. Others by listening. When it comes to Scripture, the Teacher is the Holy Spirit, and He can work with any version.

[damo1]

damo1

to natt and one light

i agree with both of you too to what you are saying as i use the new international version study bible and the spirit filled study bible i bought my 11 yr old son the youth version to the new international bible as its a bible for young youth with everything the new international version has i did read the old kings James bible when i was in jail and i had to read the old kings James version twice and i found it very confusing to read but i understood what was said

when i settled in O'Connor uniting church in Canberra and got baptized my spiritual mentors who took me into their home to live with them bought me the new king James bible which was so simple to read but i ended passing the new kings James bible to a friend of mine who did not have a bible at all

and i bought the new international open study bible for my self i love to Read the new international version and i am also looking at buying the bible in my own language which is Croatian and i do not see any harm in me learning to read the bible also from my own language as even though i have not talked my language for a long time their is an ago church church in Queen beyan near Canberra that has a mixed group of Croatians and Serbians and other nationals that i can spend time with before my filapino citizen ship is approved my wife to be they preach from their own language and also the services are done in English as well as most filapino people know the English language very well but the bible is also printed in their own language as well so as if they come across some one who has just been speaking Filipino at least the bible is in their own language and i see no harm in this at all

so i agree with what you and one light have been saying hear yet this also puzzles me to why some one argue that all other versions that are printed in so many languages are wrong when they all point to god

take care from damo