Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

In the middle of the apostle Paul’s extensive discussion of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12-14, he inserts a chapter on love. As you read the entire letter to the church at Corinth, the need for such a chapter becomes painfully obvious. The church was not a very loving church. In fact, early in the letter he scolded the believers there for being carnal or fleshly instead of spiritual. As you read through the entire letter you discover divisions in the church, jealousies, pride, quarrels, taking one another to court, open immorality, and the use of spiritual gifts for personal gratification to establish a “spiritual pecking order” within the church. The good news is that they were still loved by God and were still the church of God at Corinth. They did, however, need to grow significantly in their spiritual lives.

In this letter, we discover some very interesting realities about imperfect believers and spiritual gifts that are worth considering. First of all, spiritual giftedness is not always a sign of maturity. In the opening to his letter, Paul asserts, “You do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed” (1 Cor.1:7). In chapters 12-14 he lists a plethora of spiritual gifts including healings, miracles, tongues, prophecy, interpretation, discerning of spirits, words of knowledge, and so forth. That is an impressive list of gifts that we may assume were being exercised in the church there. And yet, Paul admonished them by saying, “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly-mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly” (1 Cor.3:1-3). In Corinth, their “giftedness” ran far ahead of their spiritual maturity.

It makes you wonder why God would entrust such impressive spiritual gifts to the spiritually immature. I have two thoughts on that. One is that our gifts have the capacity to help us mature as we experience the Lord himself through the exercise of gifts. For instance, praying in tongues has the side effect of building us up spiritually as the Holy Spirit prays through us ( Jude 20). Prophecy is intended to build up the body of Christ and is expressed primarily to strengthen, encourage, and comfort people (1 Cor.14:3). Speaking the love and destiny of God over other people should also establish those things in our own hearts which produces spiritual growth.

Spiritual gifts are also God’s tools for building up the body of Christ, in general, so that a brand new church, planted in one of the most pagan cities in the world, would still need those gifts to grow even though there would be very few mature believers in that church. Perhaps, the immature expression of gifts is still less damaging than the absence of gifts altogether.

I also have another thought about Corinth. If you read the book of Acts, you discover that Paul experience a great disappointment in Athens just before he arrived at Corinth. He had gone to Mars Hill, the place where all the Greek and Roman philosophers gathered to discuss ideas. Paul presented his best, most rational, and most compelling arguments for the truth of the gospel. To his dismay, only a few responded. He left there feeling as if he had failed and he recalibrated his approach to evangelism.

We Paul arrived at  Corinth, he preached only Jesus Christ and him crucified and then demonstrated the kingdom through displays of the power of the Spirit. It is possible, that Paul imparted many of the gifts to a young church as a tool for evangelism only to learn another lesson about when to impart those gifts. Later, he would tell Timothy to refrain from laying hands on any man quickly (1 Tim.5:22). The idea was not to appoint a man to leadership or to impart a spiritual gift until he had a read on the man’s maturity and character.

The issue of free will always comes into play in God’s dealing with man. God gives good gifts with the opportunity to use them well, but man always has the option to use them for selfish purposes. At any rate, there were many believers at Corinth who exercised impressive gifts that were not always Spirit-led. That is why Paul told them to test all prophecies to see if they were from God (consistent with his will and confirmed by the Spirit in the hearts of other believers).

An important take away from this letter is that because some believers abuse spiritual gifts, it does not mean that the gifts are invalid or that they do not bring tremendous value to the church.

Ultimately, the safe guard against abuse is not forbidding the exercise of gifts but using them in the context of love. Spiritual gifts are an expression of God’s love for his body delivered through his people. When someone is healed by a gift of healing, it is simply God’s love being delivered through the hands or commands of one of his children. When a gift of encouragement is exercised, it is the encouragement of God flowing through a believer. When hospitality is exercised, it is God making strangers feel warm and welcome.

Every gift reflects a facet of the nature and character of God and should be governed by love. Even with the extreme abuse of spiritual gifts in Corinth, Paul did not shut down their exercise but taught them how to use the gifts as they were intended. The church should respond to any abuses or misrepresentations of spiritual gifts in the same way today. (More from I Corinthians 13 in my next blog).

Only hold on to what you have until I come. To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— ‘He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery’— just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give him the morning star. He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Rev. 2:26-29)

Here is the promise to the faithful at Thyatira. They had already displayed endurance and good works. Jesus praised them for their love and faith but again a warning came because of their tolerance for someone in the church who was misleading the faithful. Jesus called the woman Jezebel which suggests that she was a ruthless manipulator of people who led believers into idolatry and immorality. She apparently taught these things under the guise of a deeper spirituality that she undoubtedly attributed to deep revelations from the Spirit but Jesus declared that her teachings were from Satan.

Sometimes the Achilles heal of faithful churches is that they tolerate people in their midst who create division, dissension, and lead others into sins that are framed as “freedom in Christ.” The church’s first call is to love others and to refrain from a self-righteous judgmentalism. Because of that it is often hard for church leaders to confront sin because they feel as if they are “judging.” As soon as the church begins to challenge a “member” about questionable actions, teachings, or life style the person who has been challenged often begins to quote verses about love, acceptance and judge not lest ye be judged. Too often church leaders back off as soon as those cards are played.

To be sure, the church needs to instruct those who are immature, encourage the discouraged, and have patience with the weak. But a time comes when repentance must be demanded. When the actions of the person are consistently hurtful to the church or to individual members of the church and the offender is clearly not acting out of ignorance but willfully, then church discipline is called for.

God is gracious towards sins of ignorance and even weakness but not toward willful and rebellious sin. Jesus calls on the church at Thyatira to continue to persevere and to do good works but to also step up and deal with the woman Jezebel who is leading others into sin and knows it. To be fully aligned with the Father means that we deal first with any unholiness in our own lives but that we also confront sin in others when it is willful and destructive. Jesus was quite gentle and understanding with the woman caught in adultery and the Samaritan woman at the well even though their lives were full of sin. Their sin came out of weakness and brokenness not arrogance and rebellion. However, the Pharisees and teachers of the law were another matter. Jesus responded to their arrogance and rebellion with confrontation and warnings. To be like Jesus, there will be times when we must do the same thing.

For those at Thyatira who responded to the command of Jesus and who remained faithful to the end, he promised great authority and rule over the nations. The same promise comes to us. We can understand the promise in two ways. Of course, we can look to the millennium and see that those who are faithful now will be given places of authority and rulership over nations during Christ’s thousand-year reign. But since we are already seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (See Eph.2:6) we can understand is promise in an additional way.

We are already ruling with Jesus and affecting nations and people through the authority we already carry and express in prayers, declarations, righteous works, justice and evangelism. Remember David’s prophetic words, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession” (Ps 2:8). As we align ourselves with the Father now by continuing to do good, love others, live by faith and confront evil we assure ourselves a place of honor and authority in the millennium but also increase our authority even now as we rule with Christ in the present. Jesus promises authority – not just a little but enough to dash rebellious nations to pieces as with an iron scepter.

Not only that, but Jesus said he will give us the Morning Star. In Revelation 22:16, Jesus identifies himself as the Morning Star. As always, Jesus promises to give us more of himself, more of his presence, and more of his Spirit as we align ourselves with his will – not just now but eternally. When we sync our hearts with the heart of Jesus, we grow closer to Him. As he shines like the Morning Star we too will shine like stars in the heavens in the same way that the face of Moses carried the glory of God when he came off the mountain. Jesus will give us himself but also will impart glory to those who love him so that they too can impart his glory to others.   Nothing the world can offer can compare to being in his presence.

To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.      Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets (I will not impose any other burden on you). (Rev. 2:18-24)

As we continue to consider our own personal alignment with the heart and the will of the Father we want to look at the words of Jesus to the church in Thyatira. Thyatira was a small city but because of it’s location was still a center of trade and commerce. In the city, trade unions controlled all skilled jobs. In order to work in that city you had to be a member of the union. That in itself was not a problem, but each of those unions was dedicated to a pagan god and when they met all the members were expected to participate in worship, eat food that had been dedicated to that god, and participate in any religious activities of the pagan temple. Nearly all those activities involved drunkenness and sexual immorality. As a result, it was difficult to work in Thyatira, provide for your family, and be faithful to Jesus.

The letter begins with a sobering description of Jesus as one having blazing eyes and feet of bronze. This is a picture of a righteous judge who can see through any pretense and who will deal out judgment and even harsh discipline if needed. Within the church was a woman who had all the qualities of Queen Jezebel from the Old Testament. She must have been domineering, manipulative, ruthless, and seductive. She presented herself as a prophetess and so she gave Satanic counsel in the name of the Lord.

Apparently, she encouraged the believers to practice situation ethics and to “go along to get along.” Her argument was that a man had to provide for his family. To provide he must work. To work he must be part of a guild. To be part of a guild he must participate in their idolatry and immorality.   To participate was acceptable, even for a believer, because it was the only way he could provide for his family.

This kind of reasoning was another form of compromise and a lack of faith in the God who will provide for those who serve him faithfully. Even today, some believers compromise their faith in order to maintain or move ahead in their career but somehow excuse it as “needful” because they “must provide for their family.” Sometimes it takes the form of entertaining clients with liquor and women or going to clubs. Sometimes it is participating in unethical business practices. At other times it is working so many hours a week that there is no time for God or spiritual family. And at other times it is just trying to fit in by participating in the gossip, the sexual humor, and the “one too many drinks” at happy hour every Friday so that their witness is compromised. Some of us are very different when we are with non-Christians on the golf course, the basketball court, or in the deer blind than we are at church in an effort to “fit in” and be one of the guys. The problem is that we were not called into the kingdom to fit in with the world. We are to be different – not self-righteous or judgmental – but distinctive. If non-believers don’t experience a distinct difference with us, then there is no witness.

We all live with the temptation to compartmentalize our lives by being Christian when we are with Christians and being worldly when we are with the world. But Jesus makes it very clear that he must be Lord over every part of our life all the time and not just when it is convenient. The Righteous Judge who did not compromise his mission finds no valid reasons to compromise the faith. The sad thing is that although there was evidence of love, faith, service, and perseverance in the church the people still allowed this “prophetess” to lead them into idolatry and immorality because it seemed pragmatic and kept them from having to face the potential for suffering and sacrifice.

In the letters to the churches of Asia we have read so far, each church had been doing praiseworthy things for the kingdom of God but had certain practices in their lives that were unacceptable to the righteous judge. Sometimes we think that doing good on the one hand buys us a wink from God about the unrepented sin in our life on the other hand. But that intentional, unrepented misalignment will cost us eventually. For the power of God to flow through us we must reserve nothing for ourselves and trust God in every part of our lives – even with our livelihood. The promise of great reward stands for those who entrust everything to him. That is alignment.

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power.  Have nothing to do with them.  (2 Ti.3:1-5)

Although these descriptors perfectly match our culture, the apostle Paul penned these words to his young protégé Timothy nearly 2000 years ago. The phrase ”last days” does not necessarily mean the end of times since biblically we have been in the last days or the last age since the day of Pentecost when the church was launched. In Peter’s sermon on Pentecost he quoted Joel who said, “In the last days I will pour out my Spirit on all men…” The “last days” began with that pouring out.  More likely Paul was warning that their would be times and seasons during this last age before the return of Messiah when cultures and men would be corrupt and that such corruption would seep into the church.

When I read those descriptors my first thought was that Paul was describing  unbelievers in a fallen world.  But in context he seems to be warning Timothy that there would be individuals in the church who also fit that description and it was those whom Timothy was to avoid.  The final quality of these men reveals that they will have a “form of godliness but will deny its power.”  What exactly does that mean and is it a warning for us today as it was for Timothy in the early years of the church?

The word “form” here seems to mean “an outward appearance.”   These individuals would have an outward appearance of godliness or religion but would secretly deny its substance.  These could be church leaders who simply lead portions of the church for the financial gain, status, or the praise of men that leadership role offered. Behind closed doors they would treat their role as a job, an opportunity or a “gig.”  There faith would be in themselves and they would use and discard people to accomplish their own ends and to build their personal empire.   Ultimately they would view God, judgment, and the Holy Spirit as a kind of myth that they would espouse publically but not take seriously.  Behind closed doors they would love money, comfort, and hidden immoralities.  Ultimately these men are always exposed but the exposure brings reproach on the church and sends hundreds or thousands of disillusioned believers into the streets wondering if any Christian leader  can be trusted.

This paragraph could also point to leaders of culture: education, business, politics, etc. who might publically claim to be followers of Christ and, therefore, moral  – but behind closed doors in backroom meetings are as worldly and cynical as those who make no such claims. These men use God as a prop but deny the power of the kingdom of God.

Each of these groups may believe in a God in some vague way but do not believe that God will ultimately judge the wicked or judge nations. They believe they can act without consequence and that true believers are really just suckers living in world of delusion.  Neither do they believe that there is a God in heaven who orchestrates lives and nations and that watches over the truly godly with his power and even entrusts his power – real power – to those who love him.  I believe we live in a season where both groups are profoundly represented in our society.   Not only that, but many believers who are moral believe that we are to serve God in our own strength and expect no miraculous interventions from heaven. The power of godliness for them resides only in the past.  Unfortunately, many unbelievers define Christianity by these people who carry the banner but not the reality or substance of the kingdom.

It is times like these that the power of godliness operating in the church is more critical than ever.  This power begins, of course, with faith but is also sustained by holiness. In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira treat the Holy Spirit as inconsequential and bring deceit into the church. As a result God judges them and they die  -in church – in front of everyone.  We are told that great fear seized the church following that episode but also that great signs and wonders abounded and the church exploded with growth.  We also see the church being very countercultural and when political leaders told them that they could not teach or preach in the name of Jesus they simply prayed for boldness because they were committed to please God rather than men. We are told that after times of prayer and fasting when the church prayed for boldness to stand against the culture, God shook the earth and displayed his power through the church.

We live in a world where homosexual athletes and celebrities who have “come out of the closet” are celebrated and treated as heroes while sincerely committed Christians who play on the same fields and stand on the same stages are ridiculed and discriminated against.   We cannot slip into a form of godliness but deny the power of godliness ourselves by simply rolling over and giving in to the culture.  Holiness, faith, and a total commitment to please God and speak up for him must become the descriptors of this generation of believers or this nation will continue to slide into the abyss and at an accelerated rate.  So today be bold, be holy, count on the power of God and be blessed  in His name.

At then end of Luke 11, Jesus pronounces two more “woes” on the religious leaders of Israel. He rebukes them for building tombs or shrines for the prophets that their fathers had killed and then for taking away the key of knowledge so that others were hindered from entering in to the kingdom of God.

The first rebuke is repeated in other places in the gospels and carries the idea once again of blatant hypocrisy on the part of the Pharisees and scribes.  Their fathers had consistently rejected the prophets that God had sent to Israel and eventually murdered many of them to silence their calls to repentance.  In the generation of Jesus, the religious leaders were building shrines over the tombs of those slain prophets.  The implied message was that the Pharisees and scribes approved of God’s prophets and would not have done what their fathers did if they had been in their place.   However, Jesus knew their hearts. These same men had already rejected the teachings of John the Baptist and were rejecting the teachings of Jesus. In a short while they would have Jesus put to death just as their fathers had done to the other prophets God had sent.

The second rebuke accused them of distorting the meaning of scripture so much that they could not recognize the Messiah when he stood in front of them and by their teaching had prevented many others from seeing the truth and understanding God’s word as well. Because they had distorted God’s word, many whom they had taught would not enter the kingdom because they would not see Jesus for who he was.  These two remaining “woes” seem like distant warnings that have no application to us today but there are warnings imbedded in these last woes for us as well.

The question has always been why did the leaders of Israel reject the prophets when they came and why did they come to hate them so much that they had most of them killed to silence their rebukes?  I believe most of the reason rests in the human traits of pride and materialism.  Pride refuses to acknowledge error and wrongdoing.  When the prophets came to Israel they were always coming to call the nation to repentance because they had rejected the word of God and fallen into all kinds of sin including idolatry. When a nation is in error it is because it’s leaders have set the tone and led the way.  To receive the prophets rebuke would have meant acknowledging sin and error on their parts and they were not willing to admit their failures.  Rather than repenting, they claimed that God’s prophets were liars and heretics and eventually silenced many,

Materialism went hand in hand with pride because the leaders were living the good life.  They lived off the taxes of the people and spent their days circulating with the rich and powerful. When you reach a place of privilege you become invested in the status quo. You like the way things are and turn a deaf ear to those calling for reform.  Not only that but many religious individuals in places of privilege see their power and affluence as God’s seal of approval on their lives.  When prophets show up declaring that their spirituality is a sham, that they need to repent, and that judgment is in the pipeline….it’s not a message that is welcomed by the religious or political establishment.  Additionally, we can all fall into the trap of interpreting scripture in a way that justifies our own views and lifestyles and that condemns those who do not agree with us.

Eventually, those leaders who postured as those who loved and honored the prophets and who faithfully opened up God’s word to his people killed Jesus and persecuted the church.  They were so certain of themselves that even the miracles of Jesus and those who followed him would not open their eyes.  Pride refuses to ask, “Have I been wrong?”  The love of money and the praise of men refuse to consider their error and to repent because it might require walking away from the good life or losing their membership card to the upper rungs of society. These leaders truly chose riches in this world over riches in the next world.  They chose the pleasure of power and the praise of men over the applause of heaven.  The scary thing is that they did not seem to recognize what they were doing.

What then are the lessons for us? First of all we must always be aware that it is possible to be wrong and possible to be deceived by the flesh and the enemy.  Because of that we should constantly be asking the Spirit of God to lead us into all truth and to continue to give us hearts that will receive correction and be quick to repent.  We should sincerely ask for accountability in our lives and seek out faithful Christians who will tell us the truth.  We should even listen to our spouse who knows us better than anyone and to our enemies who may say some things we need to hear. When we are placed in positions of power and privilege we must monitor our hearts more than ever and invite accountability from spiritual people who have the character to offer course corrections when needed.

Ultimately, loving God, setting our mind on eternal things, and maintaining a heart of humility are the  great safeguards. If we want God to speak to us and work though us in powerful ways, we must always be open to the leading of the Spirit and the course corrections he brings to us each day.  Making small corrections each day is much easier than having to turn the ship 180 degrees and making up for lost time and opportunities. As I said yesterday, there is a little Pharisee in each of us so we must always guard against a tendency to ward pride and self-justification. But in doing so, we will be blessed!

One of the things I notice as search for the web sites of writers and pastors that I appreciate is that there is always a sprinkling of sights around them accusing them of heresy and of being false prophets. This is especially true of churches and pastors who minister in the fullness of the Spirit and who preach that God still moves in miraculous ways in the 21^st century.

I am often saddened by the harshness expressed in these sights that almost reflect hatred toward those who seek more of the Spirit and who have not embraced a theology that jettisoned the power of God for the church some 2000 years ago.  Undoubtedly we are not to accept every teaching that is presented to the church without question.  John specifically instructs us to test the spirits and Jesus tells us to evaluate the prophets. So lets look at some biblical guidelines for doing that and see how our critical brethren stand up.

1. Test the spirits to see whether they are from God.

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. (1 Jn.4:1-3).

False prophets in the New Testament are accused of three things primarily.  The first is false doctrines about Christ – whether or not he is the sinless Son of God, whether or not he actually came in the flesh and actually died and whether there was a physical resurrection. A number of heresies in the 1^st century denied those truths and so N.T. writers warned of such false teachings.

2. False prophets and false teachers attempted to install legalism in the church again rather than grace.  Initially, some orthodox Jewish teachers were trying to talk the followers of Christ into resubmitting to the Law of Moses as a requirement for salvation.  They didn’t deny that Jesus was the Messiah; they simply denied that salvation was by grace and faith alone rather than by keeping strict religious codes.  Later, false prophets with a Greek influence did the same forbidding marriage and laying down dietary laws and extreme self-denial as requirements to make believers acceptable to God. (See 1 Tim.4:1-5).

3. Some false prophets came preaching a grace that ignored the righteousness of God. These teachers encouraged the notion of sinning all you want because God’s grace will cover whatever you do.  These teachers taught that immorality was not an issue because you were saved by what you knew rather than by how you live.  We are not saved by how we live but the new birth and the indwelling Spirit prompt us to righteous living as evidence of our salvation. Those who “sin all the more that grace may abound” simply do not have the Spirit operating within them.

Another major issue in the church has always been division.  Those who cause division are to be marked and the church is to have nothing to do with such men. (See Titus 3:10).  There are many who believe that unity in the body is based on everyone being in doctrinal lock-step with one another and that any doctrines that vary from their own are heresies.  Yet Paul is very clear that we are to “accept him whose faith is weak without passing judgment on disputable matters.” Paul goes on to discuss faith and dietary preferences (vegetarians versus those who eat meat) and keeping one day holy or all days the same (See Rom.14:1-23) Remarkably, Paul says that believers can hold different views on dietary restrictions, holy days, what you can drink, etc. and each believer is acceptable to God. He says that we are not to judge one another in such matters.  Unity and love for one another take priority over disputable matters.

Jesus warned about false prophets and said that by their fruits you will know them.  From our list we could produce a criteria for fruit inspection that should reveal true and false prophets:

1.  Do they teach the truth about Jesus?

2.  Do they teach salvation based on faith and grace rather than works or a strict orthodoxy of belief in all facets of the faith?

3.  Do they call people to righteous living?

4.  Do they have grace for others in disputable matters?

5. Do they promote unity rather than division?

6.  Do they draw people to Jesus or push people away?

7. Since they speak for God, do they reflect the Spirit and character of Christ in all they do – love, joy peace, patience, gentleness, etc.?

I have to say, that the accusers on many websites seen to fit the criteria for false prophets more than the accused.  Their statements are vitriolic rather than loving, patient, and kind. They judge and promote division more than they accept one another  – especially regarding disputable matters such as miracles, prophecy, healing, tongues, etc.  I doubt that they have followed Matthew 18:15 which clearly states that if you have a problem with a brother you must first go and speak to him in private without airing the matter publically.  They tend to undermine faith in those who believe that God still works with power on behalf of his children and they often present a legalistic approach to salvation as they insist that we must all believe every biblical doctrine in the same way in order to be acceptable to God.

I can also tell you that those who believe in the present day power and move of the Spirit see more healings, more radical life transformation, more addictions broken, and more strongholds demolished than those who deny the power of God in these matters.  Good Fruit = Good Tree (See Matt.7:17).  I want to be clear that I am not condemning churches who don’t believe in the full ministry of the Holy Spirit.  Many of these churches are full of people who love Jesus, serve the poor, stand up for the unborn, and share their faith with others.  I wish that they would experience all the Spirit has for them but these are faithful believers.  My problem is with those who seem to carry on witch hunts and publically condemn faithful men and women who serve God and understand some scriptures differently while standing firm on doctrines about Jesus, salvation by grace, and righteous living.  I want to encourage you to not automatically reject the prophets and healers of today because of the accusations and criticisms you see on the Internet.

See what these men and women teach about the essentials of our faith, abut holy living, and see what fruit their ministries bear. Pray about it and see what the Spirit deposits in your heart about these servants of God before rejecting those who simply seek more of the Spirit.  Be blessed.