Girlfriend said that if not in a relationship she would have sex with a stranger for $10 million depending on the person. Red flag?

Brother, what's your beef with what I said above?

"Here in the real world, humm sounds like a song. Anyhow outside CC I have friends in all denominations and not one of them have freaked out when they knew I was Pentecostal. We attend each others churches when special functions happen, fellowship together. I'm thinkin' some CC folks are a' livin' in the back woods somewheres and don't know there is a big happy family of folks out here loving each other and serving the Lord"


Care to enlighten me what you thought I said wrong there?

Yes, no problems KG, I'm glad you asked. I certainly agree with what you have said about how good it is that people with different perspectives are able to happily interact together, but I don't agree with any inference that denominations are legitimate branches of Christianity, none of them are. In fact, they've set Christianity backwards. Shalom. 🙂

I know that some people do make the mistake of confusing "gifts" that people have with the conversation of "Gifts of the Holy Spirit" but it is not normally a mistake made by Bible students. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are not conditional to peoples natural abilities.

They are not imparted at birth.

You could be right. But if you're attending a church, it's rather hard to avoid denomination.

Winstton Churchill was reported to have had a similar conversation with a woman at a dinner party. After she agreed to go to bed with him for a million pounds, he asked if she would be willing to do so for 10 pounds. She gave him a withering look and sarcastically asked what kind of whoman he thought she was. His reply? "We know what you are. Now we are dickering over the price."

medical home church

Yes, that's right. But our natural bent is. I see that you are single. If you decide to get married one day, and God blesses you with children, amongst other things necessary for bringing children up in the ways of our God, you will need to come to terms with each of their particular giftedness/bent (what makes them tick), so you can properly guide them in their development, including what career paths they would be suited to.

It's the same for a pastor that oversees a flock of the Lord's, he needs to find out what bent each of the members he is caring for has, so he can guide them into effective service within their church group and neighbouring community. Does an individual seem particularly good at picking up on people that are hurting (especially in an emotional sense) and helping them get back on their feet; or particularly good at serving with hands; or particularly good at encouraging the best out of people; or particularly good at expounding knowledge; or particularly good at facilitation or running a project; or particularly good at making sure the material needs of members of the church are being met; or particularly good at understanding the ways of our God and how they ought be applied in every day life.

That would be a pastor trying to help people find an area to serve that they seem to be fitted for.

A study on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit will reveal that these are not distributed based on peoples personality types or natural bents.

They are manifestations within the Body of Christ that are of a supernatural kind. Like healings. Or working of miracles. Or speaking in tongues as the spirit gives utterance. Prophesy in this context is of the same supernatural characteristics. It is a divine utterance of revelation that only God could have told you about something. People are awed by the supernatural character of it, like foretelling an event that you could not have known unless God told you.

These gifts are faked by flaky people, but that happened in the first century also. It does not mean that there are not real manifestations among those who are not flakes.

There is nothing wrong with assigning volunteers to areas of ministry that seem like a good fit based on their natural abilities, leadership skills, education etc. but it is important not to confuse that with the biblical study and application of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that Paul said we should all desire. I think people do that because they can't relate to the supernatural gifts thinking that it is not something that happens today and so they attempt to apply these scriptures to a different context such as natural gifts simply so they don't have to ignore such a significant quantity of scripture on the gifts of the Spirit.

You have three choices when studying the gifts (charisma) of the Spirit.

1) believe it happened then but is not needed today so skip over it or find one or two related truths to talk about while skipping over the rest (similar to the John MacArthur style of exegesis)

2) Try and apply it to the context of natural talents and gifts by redefining each gift into something Paul never had in mind, or

3) Stick to the original intention and put yourself in the shoes of those who were operating in these gifts at that time and believe that these instructions are valid for our day because the gifts are still available (in which case some people would have to leave their church and find another one that welcomes these gifts before they would be allowed to operate in them without being shut down immediately by their unbelieving pastors, such as speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues)

We seem to be talking cross purposes here. Paul's instruction to the church in Ephesus (chapter 4 vs 11) clearly differentiates between gifts of various men set apart by God for leadership in His church, to the gifts he describes in his letter to the church in Rome (chapter 12 vs 6 thru 8), the natural giftedness that we all have and need to be applying in service to our brothers and sisters in The Lord, and others in everyday life. There's no pew-sitting ministry in the body of Christ. The above two categories of giftedness are different to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, His workings from Himself that are channelled through believers to those that can be helped through them, as and when He sees fit. These gifts are those described in Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth (chapter 12 vs 8 thru 11).

Ok but I started by saying that prophesy was not the same as someone who was an analyst and made good decisions based on information. The gift of prophesy is described in 1 Cor 14 and an example given when the sinner falls down and declares that God is in you of a truth. (KJV)

So my point is that most people have never even seen this gift in operation in modern churches. It does happen, but mostly in charismatic and Pentecostal assemblies where such gifts are welcome.

That leaves the non charismatic churches with the tendency to redefine prophesy gifts into something else rather than to admit that they have never seen it in operation.

Meh...I have heard something like this before. I think it depends on why she wants the $10M, is it for selfish reasons or sacrificial reasons. I once had a Christian guy friend (straight) tell me he would perform a homosexual act if that meant saving Rwanda.

Fair enough.

There's slight differences between the connotations in the three references to prophesy in the Bible.

The term prophesy refers to a 'professing/expounding of knowledge' on a particular subject or way. In the church of God, it is a person or statement that professes to expound the will of God in a matter. It can be of a 'telling forth', or of a 'foretelling' nature.

The gift of prophetic men to the Nation Israel and now to the church of God, are dedicated workers to God and used by Him to warn those entities of threats to their existence, and to warn them of behaviour in their midst that is contrary to God, and also to pass on the direction they need to go in, in order to satisfy God's demands and requirements of them.

The spiritual gift of prophesy is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, similar in make up to that which God delivers through the prophets mentioned above, but channelled through any member of the body of Christ to a person or group, as the Holy Spirit sees fit.

The natural gift of prophesy/prophetic insight, is an inherent ability to discern the difference between right and wrong, or what is safe or risky. The persons with this natural ability seem to have a high sense of justice, and concern for the underdog, tend to critically appraise people and situations all the time, and are often seen to be overly judgemental. They are not always very tolerant, and don't suffer fools very well. In the church their gift, when conditioned and kept in check by the intercession and counsel of the Holy Spirit, can be put to good use to help keep it, and the individuals they associate with, stay within God's theological and moral boundaries.

If we are attending a group that has divided away from God's church KG, we aren't attending God's church. I personally can't imagine how angry God must be about the church being confused and divided up as it has, I suspect He is ropeable!

read to here, I like the side bars on spiritual gifts

Would you say you are against attending a church?

No, absolutely not. Being an active member of a Christian community is essential to the spiritual and emotional/mental health and welfare of the Christian individual, as well as to that of the church.

or watched "Indecent Proposal" too many times.....

Yes, that's true.

I will stay out KG, until I find a fellowship that is just happy to be a part of the church of God, the one He established. They will have an extended family mindset, operate out of a home, and won't be running fixed agenda meetings except in exceptional circumstances. It will be overseen by an elder (pastor) and his wife that have proven Christian life skills and are able to pass those on to church members. They will act as case managers if you like, of every member and couple they are serving. They will encourage members to socially interact regularly, for family bonding. They will care for each other, and help each other out through practical help and the sharing of wealth and resources when needed. They will interact with similar home based churches in their neighbourhood. This is a brief description on how a church of God ought be run, as I see it though a biblical lens.

What is your take on how a church should function?

Thank you for your comments.