A Christian Viewpoint

Galatians 5 [19] Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, [20] Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, [21] Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Witchcraft in this sense has more to do with drugs and sometimes trying to divine the past, present, future or contact with spirits, through its mind altering effects. This is a work of the flesh in line with Eve’s “something to make one wise” by eating “the fruit” in the Genesis fall account. Can be said to be the first act of witchcraft in the bible.

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As the Spirit leads so should we read. If we are led not of the Spirit our spirits are lead weights in the world. If we read not we are reeds blown about by the winds.

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I am keeping an additional copy of posts to another weblog here. 😀

I recently saw someone’s understanding of requirements for a word of knowledge. They were only partially right.

A word of knowledge is simply information. It can be something from the past, present or future. It does not give direction of what to do but is simply what was, what is and what will be. The information in the word does not have to be known by anyone before hand. It may or may not be discoverable by any means at our disposal.

A word of knowledge can at some point in time be accompanied by a word of wisdom. It is not neccesary though to have these two manifestations present at the same time. Only the Spirit of God can impart this knowledge.

The enemy has a type of “word of knowledge”. One must have discernment to know who, God or the enemy, is the one imparting the word.

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Someone said that the office of deacon can be taken without neccesarily having been called to that ministry.

All ministry should have its seed in the call of the Spirit in your life. If that will lead one to being a deacon then all is well.

However, many people through ignorance, immaturity or self-aggrandizement would like to take on a mantle for which they have not been called. Sometimes a person through the use of coercion, manipulation or flattery has been made a deacon. Sometimes, through selfishness or envy, those with the ministry are held back by those in authority. This is not just for the office of deacon but for all ministries.

We are told to beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing. Sometimes the wolf thinks he is a lamb. Sometimes he knows he is a wolf. Others may be clueless as to those seeking the office. That is why there are many in the wrong ministry calling.

Again, only those who are led of the Spirit are the sons (and daughters) of God. The rest are “want to be’s”. The discerning spirit can tell the difference.

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Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons (and daughters) of God. It is through his leading that you begin to do the works of God. If by his leading you end up in part-time or full-time ministry, you can they say you were called.

It is like becoming a Christian. God’s Spirit had been preparing you for salvation for days, months or years. When the time was right you heard a message and the Spirit witnessed with your spirit that it was true. You accepted the Lordship of Jesus over your life.

There will come moments when the Spirit says in your heart, “do this”, and it will be a ministry of service. That is the call. It can be a onetime affair up to a lifetime ministry.

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The sun, moon and stars are for signs, times and seasons.

Gen 1.14And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

One interesting note is something found in the scriptures that a star will rise in the house of Jacob. Magi in the east saw a star rising in some constellation relating to Israel and knew from the scripture that the king of prophecy had been born but not where. They discovered it was Bethlehem only when the wisemen of Herod’s court told them.

Num 24.17 I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.

Matt 2.1Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. 3When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. 5And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, 6And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

Now is this a sign? If so, is it similar to astrology or is it something completely different? Do you have an alternate understanding?

Have fun with it.

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I remember watching movies that were centered around the Roman Empire. Somewhere in the plot there usually comes along a man with much authority. He holds up what looks like a short decorative rod. Then says, “in the name of Caesar…”. I thought the rod was the symbol of power. In fact it is not the symbol of power, it is a decorative case. It is the carrying case of a piece of paper. On that piece of paper is the written authorization for the holder to carry out the command of Caesar. When he spoke holding the rod he was “the voice of Caesar.”

As born again Christians we do not have a piece of paper in a rod. We have the Spirit of the Word of God inside our mortal bodies. We have all the authority that the Spirit gives us. It is our gift and our responsibility to carry out his word. When we lay hold of the Spirit within us we are speaking as “the voice of Jesus.”

That is an awesome responsibility.

In the name of Jesus…

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When I was a child I use to have horrific nightmares. They became so bad that I began to fear going to sleep. One day I felt the urge to simply blabber in what I thought was a foreign tongue. You know, just like any kid making it up. Funny though, I never felt that it was a make believe language. I felt compelled to mouth these non-sense words.

The following evening I went to sleep and slept like a baby.

Several years later I once again began having the nightmares. After a couple of nights I remembered that the last time I spoke that make believe language my nightmares ceased. What the heck I thought. I began once again to let the words tumble from my mouth. I had no idea what I was saying. Once again the nightmares stopped. This was pretty wonderful stuff.

Twenty years later I found myself attending some Pentecostal meetings. People spoke in tongues and I thought they were jabbering non-sense. I read the bible and found tongues mentioned. After many meetings and reading the bible through a couple of times I began to want to speak with tongues. Couldn’t figure out how to do it.

One night I was asking God about tongues and that I wanted to be blessed with the spiritual gift so that I may talk in an unknown tongue. At that moment God dropped into my consciousness that I had spoken in tongues twice when I was a child. I was surprised. I thought, “is that all there is to it, open your mouth and start speaking jibberish?” God said, “no”. He said to start speaking as I did as a child and the Spirit will impress my mind so that the words would be real. I did it by faith. No great shaking revelations but I found that my spirit was more open to his Spirit when I did this.

I have been speaking in tongues like this for 20+ years now. A few times I spoke tongues and basked in the power of the Spirit. Most times it is simply my spirit chatting away to God, and sometimes would result in watching a spiritual door open. I often begin prayer by speaking in tongues in this fashion. I do it whenever I want.

It is comforting. It is helpful. It is…

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