Thursday, July 8, 2010

"Nonsense in the Spirit."

Something has been brought to my attention recently and I thought it would be a good time to write another blog and address everything. I will most likely turn this into several parts writing specifically about the misinterpretations of scripture and how they relate to the Corinthian church.

The thing that has been brought up is the subject of people doing wacky things and claiming God is behind it. Now, I'm going to be as straight up and honest as I can be, that is foolishness straight from satan himself.

There is a thought process used to justify this behavior in the church today, and by God's grace I'm going to destroy it today. Here is the question I have been brought recently,

"If the people were simply speaking in other languages and nothing else, why on earth would people think they are drunk? It MUST mean they did everything an actual drunkard would do!"

God help us...


First of all, the fact that they knew Jews were in the temple speaking gibberish in their ears and were not understanding what they were hearing (but saw these men testifying joyfully to what God had done) is enough to have made them joke that the men had been drinking. In the language it was written, the mockers said they were drunk in a joking manner, not because they actually believed the people were drunk. However, even if they DID actually believe they were drunk, it is still enough to make them believe. Let's look at another portion of scripture.

1 Samuel 1:9-13
"Then Hannah rose after eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple of the LORD. She, greatly distressed, prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. She made a vow and said, "O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head." Now it came about, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli was watching her mouth. As for Hannah, she was speaking in her heart, only her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk."

Now then, do we look at this and assume Hannah must have been shaking violently, laughing uncontrollably, making animal noises and so on? No. The word of God is what it is. That really was the reason Eli thought she was drunk. Her lips were moving but nothing was understood by Eli. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. Does that mean you need to force another reason upon scripture to make it easier to understand for yourself? No. Do not come up with subjective arguments to justify nonsense. It ain't in the Bible, sorry.

When the spirit of God came upon people they shared the good news of the gospel, were healed of illnesses and physical handicaps and were made completely whole. Over and over there are accounts which clearly illustrate what is of the spirit of God and what is from the evil one (Satan). Violent shaking, falling into fire, foaming at the mouth, barking, gnashing, etc. were the effects of demonic manifestation when the Lord had cast away demons. God NEVER hijacks your body and makes you do things you yourself cannot help, nor does He allow satan to. God will NEVER invade your free will. That being said, when someone gets up and does something foolish and says the Holy Spirit made them do it, it is a lie for sure. Emotions can make people do anything. The "Experience" can make a person believe anything. Nonsense! We were never made to go by our emotions/feelings/experience. You think you're at a spiritual high? tell that to Jesus Christ who sweat blood in the garden of Gethsemane. Not the greatest "experience" was it? No, no it was not. However, Jesus was SO close to God in that moment. Make no mistake about it, if you look to the experience instead of what God's word says, you will be deceived. Only fools look for signs and wonders.

If the Christians at Pentecost were acting a little drunk – anything from wobbly legs, to “loud” behavior – then the people watching them wouldn’t have been perplexed by their conduct, it would have easily been identified as drunkenness; and the mockers wouldn’t have had to make a joke of them, or mock them because their statements would have been true, not joking, if they were in fact acting a little drunk. Unfortunately for most Charismatics, the word "perplexed" (from the Greek word existēmi) was used to describe the reaction of the observers. A word meaning the people did not know how to react to what was going on. You are not perplexed when you see a drunkard, because you already know they are drunk. Drunkenness was very common in this day, considering the fact that wine was consumed more often than water. There is no way these people are looking on astonished at drunks. No way.

The word of God is what it is. Lets drop the need to add our own assumptions to justify actions we do, and lets conform our lives to what the Bible actually says, can we please?

"An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it..."
Matthew 16:4

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