That speaks of His character, not His actions. One example where God does things different from one age to the next.
Acts 17:30
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
Is cessation an observation or theology?
- Thread starter Lamar
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That speaks of His character, not His actions. One example where God does things different from one age to the next.
Acts 17:30
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
It is both one leads to the other. One of the ways God speaks to us is through our circumstances. Having no money, or bring locked up in jail for example cause us to review how we got there, and with enough of these things happening one eventually changes thier mind (repents).
Thus the family cutting off money is literally facilitating the next part and can be seen easily as God working through or parents, or whomever.
you are discounting Gods plan through time. For example, God planned for Jesus to do what he did. And to change to a new covenant, do away with sacrifices, etc.... God Plan can appear as a change because we see it in a progression. In other word it could be that god allowed the apostles to perform miracle and had no plan to let future generations do them... that isn't god changing its gods plan. assuming he did something like that)
Not bonkers to inform you that modern "intellectuals" don't take you seriously if you take such miracles seriously. They only take Christianity seriously for its moral value and historial relevance, but not underlying narrative and the bible's authority. They dismiss those as myths.
Intellectuals won't take this seriously?
What does their view on the validity of the claims of physical supernatural manifestations have do with the rest of the 99% of the population from experiencing the New Testament Age that you claim we are all living in?
What about the rest of us?
The poor. The simple. The woman in front of me in line. The loin tamer. The old Christian. The honest used car salesman. The lost.
The homeless. The immigrant. The house painter. My brother who owes me $250.00! The next fired LSU coach. The depressed. The Cree.
The farmer. The house wife. My niece with Cerebral Palsy. The new Christian. The pimple faced high school junior. The Good Humor man.
The blind. The shopkeeper. The guy with the receding hairline. The person who stole my front porch flag last month. The Hindu.
The uneducated. The terminally ill. The drug addict. The overly cheerful bank teller. The guy in the next cubicle. Me. The Avon Lady.
The young. The guy wearing blue shoes. The zookeeper. My wife. The middle aged Christian. The recent grad. The Sunnite Muslim.
The old. The taxi driver. My next door neighbor. The teenager who cut me off yesterday. The 40 year old living in the basement.
And all those huddled masses yearning to be free.
Are we all just "dismissing" the many lame people who were lowered down the roofs of the Pentecostal Churches?
Are we all just "ignoring" the many blind people who were given their sight as part of the Pentecostal movement?
Are we all just "not taking serious" the many people who were raised from the dead as part of the Pentecostal movement?
Again, what does the "intellectuals" have to do with this issue.
I believe in the risen young man of Nain.
I believe in the risen daughter of Jairus.
I believe in the risen Lazarus of Bethany.
I believe in the risen Dorcas of Joppa.
I believe in the risen Jesus Christ the Lord.
Where are the many risen from the dead of the Pentecostal movement?
In all things God works together for the good of those that love Him. That's a scriptural given, Ro 8:28
The prodigal's father gave him everything that he asked for and let him go 'live it up' just as he wanted. When he found himself resorting to eating pig slop, he remembered how good his father was even to his servants and returned with a hope that his father would make him one of his servants. But his father ran to meet him and commanded his servants to continue in receiving him as such.
Monitoring poverty and bondage doesn't seem distinguishable from the world's approach to solving those problems. And, although it is obvious that there is something to be needed, monitoring really doesn't seem to be working to set anyone free from either.
In letting his son go, the father forewent the responsibility of monitoring his son to 'save him from himself,' and mentored his 'good' son to rejoice that his 'bad son' had come back to them.
We have enough monitors, a entire world full of them, but we need a whole other world of mentors.
It has everything to do with everyone who holds the cessationist attitude, who ridicules any sign, miracle, visual or supernatural phenonemon as a myth. What age are you living in to be so oblivious to this attitude?
It seems to me, if you don't mind me saying, is your apparent assumption that, 'any sign, miracle, visual or supernatural phenomena' is automatically from God.
The Apostle John said, 'Test the Spirits whether they be of God'.
There is much clairvoyance and divination happening in our Churches today, posing as 'gifts of the Spirit'.
Real spirit confesses Christ. See if they claim the credit for themselves or glorify Christ.
Also, it depends on what exactly qualifies as "sign, miracle, vision or supernatural phenomen". What's dismissed by one person could be another's divine revelation.
Well, the likes of Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Fred Price confessed Christ, but I think their genuineness is dubious at best.
Read Jn. 6. Jesus fed at least five thousand, and yet when the benefits were no more and the rubber met the road, they all left - "From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more." (Jn. 6:66), only the twelve disciples stayed for His teachings of eternal life. Likewise, see if what they have to offer is just empty promise of material benefits, or teachings of eternal life.
And to add, Micheal Brown, Creflo Dollar, Peter Popoff, Todd Bentley, Paula White, Joel Osteen, Bill Johnson, Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart.
They all confessed Christ but whose gifts & ministries are/were phony as a $3 bill.
And as I said, it's their fault of preaching false prosperity gospel, it's your fault of paying them so much attention.
What I am trying to communicate to you is that all these men and women mentioned were phony, their gifts were 'sleight of hand' and some demonic. People claim they worked healings & miracles, but it is/was a sham, counterfeit, false.
The reason is that 'gifts of healings' and 'gifts of miracles' ceased with the New Testament Church. There are no longer men and women who heal or do miracles. Instead, we have fake or psychic and demonic healings and miracles, which the gullible believe to be of God.
And people like them will fool the Church again & again, because people like you proclaim that the gifts of healings & miracles are available today.
I recall reading a report by a lady medical missionary in East African city. There came to her city a healing and deliverance campaign with the late Derek Prince as the preacher. She attended the meetings with great interest, saw people go out for healing prayer. Night after night she heard Derek announce that hundreds had been healed of numerous conditions.
She being both a conservative evangelical and a medical doctor, had a little 'healthy skepticism' about the claims made.
After the campaign closed, she decided to do some investigation about the numbers claimed healed. She visited her medical colleagues in the city to find out if any of their patients had been healed. She visited the Churches in the city to see if any had been healed at the campaign. After an intense investigation into the alleged numbers healed, she found not one person healed in the city. There were no persons in any medical clinics or the city churches that had been healed. No one could bring forth a person who had been healed.
Derek Prince's claims were utterly false, bogus, untrue.
This kind of thing is a blight on the Body of Christ.
She being both a conservative evangelical and a medical doctor, had a little 'healthy skepticism' about the claims made.
After the campaign closed, she decided to do some investigation about the numbers claimed healed. She visited her medical colleagues in the city to find out if any of their patients had been healed. She visited the Churches in the city to see if any had been healed at the campaign. After an intense investigation into the alleged numbers healed, she found not one person healed in the city. There were no persons in any medical clinics or the city churches that had been healed. No one could bring forth a person who had been healed.
Derek Prince's claims were utterly false, bogus, untrue.
This kind of thing is a blight on the Body of Christ.
And as I said, determine what qualifies as "gifts of healings & miracles" first. Modern technological advances have certainly brought forth many healings and miracles that were not possible to achieve in previous times, do those count? There're some therapists, doctors and counsellors endowed with a gift of healing traumas and hurts, and by doing so, making miraculous change in other people's lives, do those count? I do believe those are available today, do you?
What I am trying to communicate to you is that judge a tree by its fruit, not its branches, trunk, leaves or flowers. Don't be reactionary, go investigate such claims, seek real evidence, record and testimony of such healings & miracles, then draw your conclusion.
Again, what counts as healing and miracle? The way I see it, for a modern day pastor, leaving behind a comfortable life for a missionary trip to a primitive and dangerous nation to preach the gospel, for no monetary gain or other benefits, this by itself is a miracle, a manifestation of God's grace shed upon a group of forsaken people in a forsaken land.