Worship-07B-Spirituality

Spirituality or Religious Fix (cont.)

CHAPTER 14

�� Now for chapter 14.� We will cover every verse in order to get a proper perspective.� Paul had listed the gifts most important as those involving messages.� Here and in 12:28-30 he listed spiritual gifts and gave tongues as the least in importance.� He had already told them in 13:1 that love was superior to tongues, and in 14:1 that prophecy was superior to tongues.�

�� Remember, Paul was not explaining the wonderful experience of tongues.� He was bawling them out for its misuse.� This is not so much a chapter on what to do as it is what not to do.� Over and over, beginning with verse 1, Paul told them prophecy was much superior.� It seems they weren't getting it through their stubborn heads.

�� There is something very revealing in verse two.� Readers with the King James Version will readily see it.� The word "unknown" is not in the Greek!�

�� The King James Version italicizes all words that are not in the original language.� Another example of this is in Ecclesiastes 12:13 (KJV):� "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:� Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole [duty] of man."

�� As to the meaning of this verse, keep in mind Paul is not talking about private behavior but public worship.� Therefore, anyone who speaks in the public assembly in a language foreign to the others is not speaking to men.� God understands him, but no one else does.� It's a mystery to the others because they do not understand him.� This is apparently what Paul was referring to back in chapters 4 and 5, saying some people were taking pride over others, they were arrogant, and they were boasting.

�� I have personally heard people who speak in unintelligible sounds tell those who did not that it was because Satan was in them and interfering with them.� It was as though those who spoke in what they considered tongues were boasting that they were more holy than people who did not.� Does this do anything to encourage those who do not?� Does it build them up?� No, they are led to feel inferior and to question their own faith.

�� In contrast, Paul says in verses 3 and 4 that everyone who prophecies in the public assembly encourages and comforts the others because they can understand what is being said.� People insisting on speaking in a foreign language in the assemblies were making themselves look good, but it did nothing to encourage the church.� Paul basically said, "Stop doing that!"

�� Paul wished in verse 5 that everyone in their congregation could speak in foreign languages if that was their desire.� But he said that they were selling themselves and others and God short.� He said he wished they'd rather long to be able to prophesy.�

�� Just what is prophecy?� The word in Hebrew means to pour out.� Thus, a prophet pours out the mind of God.� In Greek it means to publicly expound. �Expound comes from the Latin "exponere" which means to expose, to express point by point in detail.

�� For example, Amos explained prophecy in 3:7-12 and on through the book.� "Hear this word the Lord has spoken....Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets....Proclaim....Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says....This is what the Lord says...."

�� Amos explained it further in 7:15-17:� "But the Lord took me...and said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'� Now then, hear the word of the Lord....Therefore this is what the Lord says."

�� Ezekiel was told in 4:7 to prophecy, and also what to wear and so on while he did.� Then in 5:5,7,8,17 he prophesied:� "This is what the Sovereign Lord says....Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says....Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says....I the Lord have spoken."�

�� Later Ezekiel was told by God to prophecy to bones scattered throughout a battlefield.� "Then he [God] said to me, 'Prophesy to these bones and say to them, "Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!"� This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones:�

�� 'I will make breath enter you and you will come to life.� I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life.� Then you will know that I am the Lord.'� So I prophesied as I was commanded.� And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone" (Ezekiel 37:4-7).

�� From these examples, we see, then, that prophecy is the exact words of God.� But, especially in the example from Ezekiel, we may not feel like we understand completely the implications of this prophecy.� We may feel we need someone to explain its meaning as it applies to our own lives.� This is where interpreters are needed.�

�� Paul said they who prophesied in the assembly were greater than those who spoke in foreign languages among them.� The only exception would be someone who would interpret what was said, both into the prevailing language and into a sense that could be applied to their lives.

�� Interpretation as it is commonly used regarding unintelligible words is strictly translating.� Even if this were all the word meant, first of all, in most congregations where gibberish is said in the name of tongues, people do it from their seats, and no one stands up and interprets for them.�

�� A sure way to see if someone really knows how to interpret in the sense of translating into English, is to ask someone to speak in tongues and record it.� Then play the recording to someone who claims the gift of interpretation and have them either write down or record their interpretation.� Then play the tongues to someone else claiming the gift of interpretation and have them write it down or record their interpretation.� Do it at least twice; but if possible more.�

�� One of the problems with this experiment is that interpretation of tongues today is not considered very spiritual.� Therefore it is difficult to find anyone claiming this gift.� But if you can do it, do you think the interpretations will be the same?� If they are truly inspired by God they will be.� The few who have consented to do this have failed.

�� Now Paul gets into the PURPOSE of speaking in foreign languages.� He said that the foreign language must be used to bring a revelation, a word of knowledge, prophecy or a word of instruction direct from God.� They should not be talking just to be talking.� They are instructing.� Paul did not say to use tongues to just pray and praise God.� He told them to use it to TEACH UNBELIEVERS.

�� Remember, the New Testament was not yet written.� People had to rely on the apostles to know just what God wanted them to do.� The apostles proved they were giving God's truth by performing some miracles.� But sometimes the apostles were not around.� So, in that case, people were given special knowledge of the truth through the gifts of prophesy, etc.� Otherwise, they would have had to guess what God wanted them to do.

�� In verses 7-9 Paul compared speaking a foreign language that no one in the congregation understood was like playing an instrument in such a jumbled manner there is not really any tune.� Also it was like a trumpet being sounded for an army, but in such a jumbled way that no one knew whether it was advance or retreat, taps or reverie.�

�� He said there were all kinds of languages in the world, but none of them were without meaning.� None of them was gibberish.� But, if someone speaks a foreign language in the assembly no one knows or can grasp, they may as well be speaking into the air.

�� Did Paul say here that if we do not grasp the meaning of the person speaking the tongue we are not as spiritual as the speaker?� No.� Did Paul say that if we do not grasp the meaning, we're unsaved sinners?� No.� Did Paul say if we do not grasp the meaning, we simply do not know that language?� Yes.

�� Once more Paul says it again in verse 12.� Since they were so eager to have spiritual gifts, they should be asking for those which build up the assembly.� Remember, Paul is talking to the Corinthians church about their assembly.

�� Therefore, Paul says that if they insist on wanting to speak in foreign languages while praying, they should at least include the interpretation in their prayer (v. 13).� Why?� Because if they pray in the assembly in a foreign language, their mind is unfruitful.

�� Let's look at the use of the word "mind" here.� First, it means understanding (Luke 24:45).� Second, it means knowledge (Romans 1:28).� Third it means conviction (Romans 14:5).� Fourth it means insight (Revelation 13:18).

�� Now let's look at the use of the word "unfruitful."� This same word appears in Matthew 13:22 where the Word of God was "choked" out of hearts, in Ephesians 5:3-4 where evil put us in darkness away from God, in Titus 3:14 where people do not devote themselves to good, in 2 Peter 1:5-8 where people are ineffective and unproductive with their knowledge of God, and in Jude 10 and 12 where church leaders speak about things they don't understand and are spiritually dead.

�� Therefore, in a nutshell, the unfruitful mind does not understand the Word of God enough to apply it to their lives.� Speaking or praying in a language in a church assembly that no one knows causes this.

�� Therefore, Paul said in verses 15 - 17, they were to pray in the assembly with both their spirit and understanding mind, and sing that way too.� They were not to talk or pray or sing in a foreign language no one understood.

�� If they're praising God in prayer or song in a foreign language, "how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand say 'Amen' "?� After all, they don't understand what they're saying.� Paul didn't say the rest of the congregation was freed from saying "amen" to a song or prayer, but that they could do it correctly only if they understood what was being said.� What does "amen" mean?� It means "so be it" or "I agree."�� Giving thanks in a foreign language does not edify the others.� It's that simple.

�� Was Paul against speaking in foreign languages?� No.� Paul did it all the time.� He traveled all over preaching and needed this gift.� So did the other apostles.� After all, Jesus told them in Mark 16:15-16 that they were supposed to preach the gospel to the whole world.� How effective would they have been if they'd had to stop and learn the language of each area they went to?�

�� Acts 17:6 says "These men who have caused trouble ALL OVER THE WORLD have now come here."� Romans 1:8 says, "...your faith is being reported ALL OVER THE WORLD."� Romans 10:18 says, "Their voice has gone out into ALL THE EARTH, their words to the ENDS OF THE WORLD."� Colossians 1:23 says, "This is the gospel that you heard and that HAS BEEN PROCLAIMED TO EVERY CREATURE UNDER HEAVEN, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant."

�� According to secular history, Andrew went to Greece, Peter stayed in the Middle East and southern Europe, Thaddeus went to Russia, Thomas went to India, Philip went to Turkey, Nathaniel went to Russia, Matthew went to Ethiopia and Egypt, and Simon went to Great Britain.

�� But, Paul said in verse 19 that he did not abuse this gift and speak the language of one foreign land to people of another foreign land.� He said he would rather speak five intelligible words that instructed the church than ten thousand in a foreign language the people didn't understand.

�� Now Paul really lets them have it.� "STOP THINKING LIKE CHILDREN!" he said in verse 20.� They had become childish in the way they had insisted on speaking a foreign language to their congregation that their congregation didn't understand.� They just wanted to show off.

�� Then he spells out the whole issue to them in verse 22:� "Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers."� What is the difference in tongues and prophecy?

�� Obviously, the gift of tongues was supposed to be used to give the INITIAL GOSPEL MESSAGE to people in a new territory that did not know about it as they went "into all the world to preach the gospel."� It was used by missionaries to explain to unbelievers Jesus and how to become Christians.�

�� On the other hand, after they became Christians, the gift of prophecy was used by Christians among believers before the New Testament was written to explain God's will for the rest of their lives.

�� Still in the nitty gritty, Paul goes on to say in verses 23 - 25 that unbelievers visiting their worship service will think they're all crazy, or as he expresses it, "OUT OF YOUR MIND!" if people are speaking in a language no one else knows.� But, if in the assembly people are prophesying, that is explaining God's will for their lives - the visiting unbeliever will understand his sinful condition and be convicted.� The visiting unbeliever will then say, "God is really among you!� How do I become one of you?"

�� How do unbelieving visitors feel when they come into your worship?

�� The worship services of the church at Corinth seemed to be bordering on mass egotism.� Many were jockeying for position and demanding to be noticed.� Paul told them to at least take turns (verses 26).� If the assembly doesn't encourage the entire congregation, something is terribly wrong.�

�� And with one last encouragement, he brought up tongues again.� If they insist on being childish and speaking a language no one else knows, someone MUST interpret both into the known language and into words where they can apply it to their lives.� Otherwise, they're just talking to themselves and to God (verse 27 and 28).

�� Actually, if they wanted to speak in tongues so badly, perhaps they should have gotten back on the circuit and spread the gospel with their gift.

�� Oh God, I never connected tongues with converting the world before.� Is that what it is?� I'm trying to understand so I can please you more.� I want to be truly spiritual in your sight.

God's Definition of Spirituality

�� The Bible never uses the actual word spirituality.� The closest it comes is "spiritually" and "spiritual."� The word spirit is a translation of the Greek word "pneuma" which means breathing or blowing.� We know that people breathe by its results, but we cannot see breath.� We know that the wind blows by its results, but we cannot see the wind.�

�� Jesus explained it this way:� " '...no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water AND the Spirit.� Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit....The wind blows wherever it pleases.� You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.� So it is with everyone born of the Spirit' " (John 3:5-8).

�� Spirituality is the same.� We cannot see spirituality.� We know someone has it by the results.� Romans 8:6 says we should "be spiritually minded" (KJV).� So from this we know that spirituality has to do with the mind.� What else does it have to do with?

The written law of God (Romans 7:6, 14)

The gift of salvation (Romans 15:27 & Acts 10:36, 18)

Truth, mind of Christ, the Word of God (1 Corinthians 2:2:13-16, John 17:17)

Food of God, the Word of God (1 Corinthians 3:1 & Hebrews 5:12-14)

Seed, the Word of God (1 Corinthians 9:11 & Matthew 13:19)

Drink of Christ, water of eternal life (1 Corinthians 10:3-4 &� John 7:38)

Miraculous powers that confirmed the Word was really from God (1 Corinthians 12:1, 12; 14:37; John 20:30-31)

Our heavenly body (1 Corinthians 15:44-46)

Sinlessness (Galatians 5:19-6:1)

Salvation, the blessings of heavenly realms (Ephesians 1:3; 2:6-� 7)

Worship (Ephesians 5:19 & Colossians 3:16)

Satan's forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12)

Knowledge of God's will (Colossians 1:9)

People in the church (1 Pet. 2:5 & 1 Timothy 3:15)

�� In a nutshell, we see that spirituality is linked to the Word of God which is called the law of God, the mind of God, truth, knowledge of God's will.� It was also the miracles that confirmed the Word of God.� Therefore, we cannot have spirituality out of our imaginations.� Spirituality comes from the Bible.

�� Spirituality is also linked to sinlessness, salvation, worship, the church.� Of course, we do not know what things are sin unless we check with the Bible.� We do not know how to be saved unless we check with the Bible.� We do not know if we are in the church unless we check with the Bible.

�� There is no scripture listed above regarding spirituality that is an emotion.� It all deals with the Word of God, the Logos.� "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" (John 1:1, 14).� The term "word" is from the Greek "logos" from which we get another word, logic.

�� What many people today define as "spirituality" is an emotionalism akin to someone on a drug "high."� Interestingly, the sin of sorcery condemned by God comes from the Greek word "pharmakeia" from whence our word for pharmacy or drugs.� It is a sin to act like we are on a drug high in the name of Jehovah God.� It is frightful, it is confusing, it is non-productive, and it is wrong (Revelation 21:8; 22:15).

�� Spirituality, then, is not emotionalism.� Spirituality also is not what comes out of our imaginations.� Spirituality is knowing and following the word of God.

�� There is a parallel to understanding spirituality with understanding fasting.� Jesus said in Matthew 6:16-18, "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting.� I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.� But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

�� In an era when fasting was practiced frequently (we modern Christians miss a blessing by not fasting), Jesus said people were going out of their way to look the part of holy people so others would admire them.� Today, in our worship services, especially where it comes to emotionalism, we are trying to look the part of holy people.

�� An unknown poet said,

Let us keep our fast within,

Till heaven and we are quite alone;

Then let the grief, the shame, the sin,

Before the mercy-seat be thrown.

�� Fasting is an act of self-restraint.� It belongs to the sphere of self-discipline.� It is strictly a personal and private matter.� What is public is the results of fasting, the results of self-discipline.� But we cannot show the actual process of self-discipline.� In fact, we would spoil the process by attempting to show it, like wearing a "humble" button.

�� Just as a plant must begin its growth in the darkness of the soil, we begin our spiritual growth in the darkness of our own inner thoughts and prayer to God.� And just as we can never safely expose the roots of a plant, we can never show the exact process by which we develop and protect our own spiritual roots.� All moral and bodily restraint, all humbleness of body and spirit are represented by fasting, and it is a complete failure of self-restraint to want to show others our self-restraint.

�� It is the same with spirituality.� Spirituality (salvation) comes from reading the Mind of God, the Word of God (Romans 10:1-3, 17).� No one else can absorb the Mind of God, the Word of God into our minds for us.� We have to do it for ourselves.� It is a personal thing.� A private thing.� Developing faith from it all is something that cannot really be expressed in words.� It happens within our own minds.� And faith that comes from the Word of God and following it leads to salvation (Romans 10:3, 17).

�� We should be grateful that salvation does not rely on emotions.� If it did, we'd be very confused about our salvation.� David understood the tug-of-war that occurs between emotions and logic.� Look at Psalm 42 where he struggled with his faith.

�� Here David begins a debate between his emotions (his soul) and his logic.� Let's look in on the drama as David has a talk with himself:

SCENE:�� His soul is panting for God, thirsting for God, trying to meet with God.� He's been crying day and night asking where God is.�

EMOTIONS:�� Where is your God?� Remember how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng?

LOGIC:�� Why are you downcast, O my soul?� Why so disturbed within me?� Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

EMOTIONS:�� My soul is downcast within me.

LOGIC:�� Therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan....

EMOTIONS:�� Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.

LOGIC:�� By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me - a prayer to the God of my life.

EMOTIONS:�� I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me?� Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?"� My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, "Where is your God?"

LOGIC:�� Why are you downcast, O my soul?� Why so disturbed within me?� Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

�� Isn't it wonderful that our salvation doesn't depend on how spiritual we feel?� If it did, we'd be in and out of salvation, depending on how we felt.� I have known people who did gauge their salvation by their emotions.�

�� They'd say something like, "I cried and cried all one day because of my sins and asked God to forgive me.� Then I felt such release, and knew I was now saved."� Then they'd say a few years later, "I thought I was saved, but I wasn't really.� This time I cried and cried for several days because of my sins and asked God to forgive me.� Then I felt so good that this time I knew he'd saved me."

�� Then a few years later the rise in emotions would happen again, only this time more intensely.� On and on the cycle went for them.� Thinking they knew for sure they were saved, then wondering, then doubting, then in hopelessness once again.�

�� Salvation does not depend on our emotions.� Salvation depends on what we logically believe about what Jesus did for us.� Is remorse, love and gratitude involved in our salvation?� Of course.� Many emotions are involved.� But they are the result of our logically reading God's word, and then logically accepting it and following it.

�� Why are we given the spiritual gift of salvation?� There is more than one reason.� The obvious one is so we can go to heaven.� But there is another reason.� Ephesians 2:8-10 explains, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.� For we are God's workmanship, CREATED in Christ Jesus TO DO GOOD WORKS, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

�� Well, God, I think this is good news and bad news.� I thought there was a higher emotional plain I could reach with you.� But since it is so hard - actually impossible - to reach the emotional plain I wish to reach with you, it relieves me of the burden of trying to reach it.� I have sometimes felt so spiritually inadequate.

Spirituality and Touching Jesus

�� The Spirit cannot be seen any more than breath or wind can be seen.� But the results of breath and wind can be seen.� So too, spirituality cannot be seen.� Only the results of spirituality can be seen.� The results are in our attitudes and deeds.�

�� For instance, Galatians 5:22-25 explains clearly, "But the fruit [result] of the Spirit [spirituality] is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.� Against such things there is no law.� Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.� Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."

�� Furthermore, James, the brother of Jesus said, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?� Can such faith save him?� Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.� If one of you says to him, 'God, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?� In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead" (James 2:14-17).

�� Do we want to touch Jesus?� Jesus told us how.� " 'For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, "I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me....whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me' " (Matthew 25:35-36, 40).

�� Therefore, everything In this book about applying God's Word in worship and in service is spirituality.�

�� Do we want to touch Jesus?� Every time the announcements are made and someone responds, "I'll take some food over to them on Monday," that is spirituality.�

�� Do we want to touch Jesus?� Every time we enter into prayer together after getting into each other's hearts and lives and asking them, "What do you need prayer for?" that is spirituality.� �� Do we want to touch Jesus?� Every time we partake of the Lord's Supper and compare our imperfection and being deserving of death and hell with Jesus' perfection and taking our punishment for us, as explained in God's Word, that is spirituality.�

�� Do we want to touch Jesus?� Every time we give money to help support evangelism, purchase Bibles, send food to the needy, that is spirituality.

�� Do we want to touch Jesus?� Every time we sing praises to God in faltering voices but from deep within our soul, playing on the strings of our heart, that is spirituality.

�� Do we want to touch Jesus?� Every time we read the Bible in order to know the Mind of God, so we can live the way he wants us to rather than what our imaginations think he wants, that is spirituality.

�� All we need to feel spiritual and special is to know God loves us.� No matter how many times we sin, he loves us.� No matter how many times we fall, God loves us.�

�� We are not special to God because of how good we are, but because how good God is.� Not because of anything we are, but because of who God is.� We're not special because we are so loving, but because God is love.� Not because we are so full of life, but because God is life.� Not because we're so intelligent and spiritual, but because God is.

�� If we want to speak in a special language, let us speak in the language of love.

�� Spirituality is sitting with a friend and telling them God loves them when they're good and bad, and will help them overcome the bad.

�� Spirituality is going with a friend who wants to join a self-help group like Alcoholics Anonymous.� It's telling them how much God will help them.� Then proving it with scriptures.

�� Spirituality is going to an enemy gossiping against you and saying God loves you both, and there's nothing they can say or do to get you to stop loving them!

�� That's spirituality!� That's high!

�� Thank you, God, for allowing me to be close to you through your word, through prayer, and through other people who are seeking to be close to you too - the church.� I could never do it alone.� Now I understand spirituality.� It was a hidden treasure I hardly knew I had - and so precious.� I fall at your feet and whisper once more Thank You.

The Second-Century Church

�� Clement of Rome, a friend of both Peter and Paul, wrote in AD 96, in his First Epistle 1:2-2:7 and his Genuine Epistle to the Corinthians 45:� "What visitor among you is there who has not proved your most excellent and firm faith, who has not marvelled at your prudent and gentle piety in Christ, who has not proclaimed your magnificent practice of hospitality, and who has not blessed your perfect and sure knowledge?...There was an insatiable desire to do good, and a full outpouring of the Holy Spirit came upon all.� You were full of holy counsel....

�� "Ye have searched the scriptures, which are true, which were given through the Holy Ghost; and you know that nothing unrighteous or counterfeit is written in them." [8]

�� In the Epistle to Diognetus 5, about AD 140:� "For Christians are not distinguished from the rest of men neither by country, language, nor customs.� They do not dwell in cities of their own, nor do they use some strange language, nor practice a peculiar kind of life.� Their teaching indeed has not been discovered by any speculation or consideration of men full of curiosity, nor do they busy themselves with human doctrine as some do." [9]

�� Irenaeus, about 180, wrote in Against Heresies I.x.1; and Refutation and Overthrow of False Doctrine, Bk. 2:� "For the church, although dispersed throughout the whole world as far as the ends of the earth, received from the apostles and their disciples the faith...in the Holy Spirit, who has proclaimed through the prophets the plans of God and the comings of Christ....So far are they from raising the dead, as the Lord raised, and as the apostles by means of prayer, for even among the brethren frequently in a case of necessity when a whole church united in much fasting and prayer, the spirit has returned to the ex-animated body, and the man was granted to the prayers of the saints....

�� "Wherefore, also, those that were truly his disciples, receiving grace from him, in his name performed these things for the benefit of men, as every one received the free gift from him.� Some, indeed, most certainly and truly cast our demons, so that frequently these persons themselves that were cleansed from wicked spirits believed and were received into the church.� Others have the knowledge of things to come, as also visions and prophetic communications; other heal the sick by the imposition of hands, and restore them to health.� And, moreover, as we said above, even the dead have been raised and continued with us many years.

�� "As we hear many of the brethren in the church who have prophetic gifts, and who speak in all tongues through the spirit, and who also, bring to light the secret things of men for their benefit, and who expound the mysteries of God." [10]

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS CHAPTER,
YOU ARE WELCOME TO JOIN OUR GODFIND DISCUSSION GROUP.

Return to Table of Contents

Detailed Table of Contents

Endnotes for This Page

[8].� Ferguson, Everett, Early Christians Speak, Sweet Publishing Co., Austin, pg. 193

[9]. Ibid, p. 194

[10].� Ibid, p. 24

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws