Hey on the flipside it explains Palin's hair, but she shouldn't be wearing pant suits.....or makeup, right? Why is it the women are always subjected to the rules of men in these religious dealy bobbers? DD
Yeah that doesn't make sense to me either. I'm certainly no expert on the matter, but I've always viewed the ability to speak in tongues (and any other spiritual enlightenment) as a personal moment between you and God. I don't think it's meant to be communicative, other than expressing God's presence and love for us. I mean if God was trying to speak to us through someone else, wouldn't the message be in a language everyone could understand?
I admit, I ask myself the same question. If you believe in the spirit realm, how can you only believe in 'good' spirits and not in 'evil' ones. Or is it that you are just too "protected" for this to happen. States in the Bible that Satan is the Great Deceiver and can manifest himself in many different forms. Why not as an angel or holy spirit?
You know I've only witnessed it a few times myself...sometimes it almost seems like they are indeed in some form of hypnotic state...while at other times it's almost like they were just speaking another language....like it could be turned on and off at will. Don't know what to make of that but I do believe they felt consumed by the Spirit in some way.
Again, Im not sure what is the motivation. Im positive that in some cases i've seen and/or heard of the people involved were either A) doing it because the person next to them was/peer pressure(in the case of 'falling over in the spirit' or B) wanting to look 'super spiritual'. No doubt stemming from insecurity issues.
2000 years since the time of Christ... read Acts... Christ was still in town. I was referring to the organization of the particular fellowship that Palin's pastor is a part of... I happen to be too. It was formed in the early 1900's... the main revival that lead to it's forming was in 1906 during what Biblical Scholars refer to as "The Great Awakening" - a period of time when a remnant of "spirit filled" beleivers blossomed from a small group into a more widely accepted group of people. Many denominations in America, including Methodist, some Baptist, and several Pentecostal groups all experienced this time in history. But we're not discussing Scientology. Scientology may have some good points, but has largely been considered a cult since its founding. I am speaking of a very real spiritual manifestation observed and experienced by millions upon millions world wide... Ask around in your town. Go interview some Assemblies of God people.... shoot, as JYD mentioned find a Charismatic Catholic... that term "Charismatic" simple means "enlivened" or "alive with a wind" which is very much the same verbage in the Greek from the book of Acts... The "Charismatic" or "Neo-Pentecostal" movement hit the US in the mid-to late 60's and swept through many Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran churches and was even acknowledged by hard line Baptist Seminaries as reality and even accepted by the Vatican as a real phenomenon. No offense taken... no harm, no foul.... I don't mean to come across that way... It's just a rarity that the topic comes up and I sometimes "spew" - I believe the Paul the Apostle himself said it pretty much the same as you... it is silly or pointless if it is just for the cause of speaking in tongues. Much of his clarification of what purpose it, the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, serves in found in the letters to the church of Corinth, aka the books of 1st and 2nd Corinthians. Exactly. That's why His written Word is very clear! Wow! God is so awesome in that He desires for everyone to be saved! And He even made that the key center of His written message! See? He really does know what each of us needs! He never intended to be "coded" or "hard to understand." A Biblical understanding of tongues shows us that it is a language by which intercession is made to God through His Spirit on our behalf... a sort of remote access tech help if you will. BTW- Scripture clearly shows that Salvation is the gift to every person, hence the life and works of Jesus... and this physical evidence of "tongues" is available to every believer, hence his words concerning this promise.... Big difference. We all need a Savior. And while a believer would be most helped in this natural life by have the self same Holy Spirit active in our lives that was active in Jesus' life... it is not required. But then, knowing that there is no grade "A" Holy Spirit for Jesus and a grade "B" for His followers... it begs the question, "Why wouldn't you want to see things as Jesus saw them?" Jesus did in fact say that his followers would see and do greater things than He did... and that did not only mean because there are more of us than one man, as He was. The faith to receive it must first be obtained... something not many believers in Christ even have. It's not necessarily a bad thing. Many fine folks that never gave it a second thought will make the eternal reward of Heaven their home. I believe that people that believe in Jesus, but at the same time do not identify with the term or label "Christian" will even be in eternity with Chirst... but I've been called liberal in my views as ironic as that may get... The gift of the Holy Spirit as "evidenced-by-tongues" is available to the believer in Jesus that may have thought, while in prayer or merely contemplating, "Is there more to it than this?" It's just a facet of the "abundant life" that Jesus spoke of... Which is further reinforced by his statements in Acts 1:8... that it would give "power (read as boldness) to be my witnesses (read as people willing to tell others about Him). People make faith more complicated than it is. But then... Jesus warned about that too. There are some groups, fellowships, denominations in "Pentecost" that teach you won't make Heaven if you don't speak in tongues... The Assemblies of God is NOT one of those groups... and in fact has never been one of those groups. We simply believe what the Word says for itself... it's a further available aspect of Christianity... that Jesus did in fact urge believers to partake in... but it's not a prerequisite for eternal life. As to the OP... many of this pastor's comments, I'd venture a guess, are taken just as out of context as Jeremiah Wright's could be... And if you read Romans 13 you'll see an area where he may have been speaking from. As to Palin's "prayer requests" - I find nothing offensive about asking that God's Will would be done in the business of anything, government or otherwise... It's a simple matter of having faith that God can help make the correct decisions, or that He might help us in our judgment. I pray for my personal decisions to be helped in business all the time.. I ask God to help my children make the right choices every school day, and to get help from the teacher if need be, etc... To make it clearer.... it's a point of focus... and that's all faith is... focusing on what cannot be seen. And then, in turn, we give thanks when we see them... we even thank God when he says, "No" or "Not yet" or even "Not the way you're thinking." God always lines up to the precedent found in His Word... No, I do not ask Him for things I can't see Him doing in His Word... I can find the concept of asking Him for favor and blessing in His Word... that is what I equate these "prayer requests" by Palin to. I don't see them as her saying it's God's Will to do anything she's pushing...
I am not a Pentecostal, let me be clear. However fundamentally they believe the same things I do (regarding the death and resurrection of Christ as the foundation of our beliefs etc) and therefore they also believe in Satan. I dont know of any Christians who dont believe in Satan...without Satan there is no need for faith in Christ I wouldn't of thought.
Very true...seems the Devil's deception knows no bounds. But then think about it this way. The ability to speak in tongues, and especially falling in the Spirit are passive acts. But even so, you probably have to be careful in not "romanticizing" the notion of being consumed by the Spirit in such a manner...if that makes sense.
The thing about this is... the Bible, much of it written in Hebrew (Jewish text) declares these things as well... Many Bible scholars and Theologians interpret much of the same sentiment in current events... when looking at those ancient texts. Most modern Christians are not too unfamiliar with modern views of ancient Eschatology.
There is a group of them that take everything to the extreme (isnt there always!!) What I know of these snake people is that they just take everything in the Bible literally- so they think that if they have God nothing can hurt them, and by pretty much daring a snake to bite them is showing 'faith'... I could be wrong though.
I am not in any way a student of Christian theology, so excuse my ignorance. I always assumed that many Christians viewed Satan as a metaphor, rather than a literal being.
I didn't get that, either. I'm agnostic, myself, but my understanding of atheism is that they don't believe in a Supreme Being at all. How does that compute with what IROC it said??
Even her comments about the Iraq War being "God's plan" I don't have too much of a problem with. I think where the problem lies is her comments can easily be misconstrued, and in that sense, she needs to be a lot more careful. But like you said, I really took it to mean her asking God to guide those making the decisions (that they make the right ones) and to protect the troops.
