This, below, is Gary’s response to my Facebook post about the ancient Christian theologian, Augustine. Everyone would benefit by looking at the responses that are coming back against Gary on his Facebook page.
jdc
================
“Is it now expected that they upon whom hands are laid, should speak with tongues? Or when we imposed our hand upon these children, did each of you wait to see whether they would speak with tongues? And when he saw that they did not speak with tongues, was any of you so perverse of heart as to say, ‘These have not received the Holy Spirit’?”
John, this cunning and filthy spirit is “in the temple of God showing itself that IT is God.” This reminds me so very much of the last sermon I heard my old Assembly of God pastor preach in Daly City, CA. I say last, because when I heard it preached, God finally told me “you are divorced from this man, don’t come back!”. And I did just that, never to set foot in an Assembly of God church again.
The Pastor, knowing I was in the audience, and what my new beliefs were about Spirit baptism being the new birth experience (we had talked about them in his office a short while earlier), looked at me as he started his delivery, as if to say, “here is my answer to YOU”. His sermon, in short, went something like this. :
Pastor E* *****: God is in charge of this universe, can I get an amen?
Congregation: Amen! (personal note: how could they disagree with him? He has them in his logic now, and is leading them somewhere…)
Pastor E* *****: He can do things any way that pleases Him, amen?
Congregation: Amen!
Pastor E* *****: He is the almighty God, and he gives men his holy Spirit. Because He loves us and is good to us. Amen?
Congregation: Amen!
Pastor E* *****: And he baptizes us with the holy Ghost, Amen?
Congregation: Amen!
Pastor E* *****: Yes, that’s what God does. He does it all over the world, among people everywhere. And when He gives someone the holy Ghost he does it any way he pleases, because He is God, amen?
Congregation: Amen!
Pastor E* *****: When some people receive it, they speak in tongues. When others receive it, they dance for joy. When some receive it they raise their hands. Others sit quietly, overcome by the power of God. Because He is God and He does what pleases him, amen?
Congregation: Amen! (The congregation has now had injected into their hearts, that there is another way to receive the holy Ghost, and tongues is not the only initial sign – this is when the Spirit spoke to me: “you are divorced from this man, don’t come back!”. )
When I read Augustine’s statement John, it felt like it had this same spirit about it – playing up to “how great God is” to tell a lie, and have it readily accepted by the congregation. It is filthy, I hate it, and everywhere it is spoken, it needs to be exposed and reproved. This IS the Spirit of Christianity – the false notion that a person has the Spirit of God BEFORE it comes in and testifies in tongues. It is murder to anyone sincerely seeking Jesus.
May God raise up fearless young men to do it in this generation. I believe one day they will pay with their lives for it. In our generation, God has seem fit to just make us “invisible” for whatever His reason is. We simply cannot get people to listen. One day… at the hazard of the lives of the men telling the truth, they may listen.
Gary