Carl Emerson
Well-Known Member
How about we cease trying to 'box' God...
I have a friend who was a nominal 'liberal' Lutheran visiting the country. He went to a backpackers for the night.
There he read a book by Nicky Gumbel about Jesus. At the end of the book there were instructions about how to become a Christian.
Being a good German he followed the instructions explicitly and 'wammo' he had a radical conversion - filled with the joy and peace of God, deeply knowing forgiveness, and was a totally changed man.
His conversion resulted in family members back in Germany coming to Jesus and in fact I baptised his mother in the sea back here in New Zealand.
He became a Pastor and missionary in France.
I have no doubt he was born again and was baptised later.
God deals with each individual as He wills.
We should not be looking for formulas in Scripture - the spirit moves like the wind - you don't know where He is coming from or where he is going.
Some folks like myself are born again and baptised later - later still I was baptised in the Spirit.
Scriptural formulas about how the Spirit should act are pointless.
This is a classic case of replacing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit with Father Son and Holy Bible.
Sure we can follow guidelines, but to insist the Holy Spirit must act according to our interpretations is folly after all who is Boss ?
I have a friend who was a nominal 'liberal' Lutheran visiting the country. He went to a backpackers for the night.
There he read a book by Nicky Gumbel about Jesus. At the end of the book there were instructions about how to become a Christian.
Being a good German he followed the instructions explicitly and 'wammo' he had a radical conversion - filled with the joy and peace of God, deeply knowing forgiveness, and was a totally changed man.
His conversion resulted in family members back in Germany coming to Jesus and in fact I baptised his mother in the sea back here in New Zealand.
He became a Pastor and missionary in France.
I have no doubt he was born again and was baptised later.
God deals with each individual as He wills.
We should not be looking for formulas in Scripture - the spirit moves like the wind - you don't know where He is coming from or where he is going.
Some folks like myself are born again and baptised later - later still I was baptised in the Spirit.
Scriptural formulas about how the Spirit should act are pointless.
This is a classic case of replacing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit with Father Son and Holy Bible.
Sure we can follow guidelines, but to insist the Holy Spirit must act according to our interpretations is folly after all who is Boss ?