From the heart of Warren Litzman
In Acts 28:28, when the gospel went to the Gentiles, by no stretch of the imagnation could the Gentiles receive the same gospel as had been given to Israel.
The salvation of the Lord is radically different between the Jew and the Gentile.
Once, Gentiles were saved by believing the Jewish gospel, and now the Jews are saved by accepting the Gentile gospel. I see no way these two can be combined or even an extension of each other.
Regarding gifts of the Spirit, the key to understanding how God works today in the supernatural realm hinges on the revelation of Christ as the believer’s life. If Christ is the life of the believer (Gal. 2:20) then the believer has no life of his own and certainly no message, ministry or
works of his own.
I have been in the signs/gifts ministry for over fifty years.
I have seen and heard a lot of things, mostly things that did not work, were man-centered and not of God.
When a believer has a revelation of Christ as his life, his only life, there is no room for him to be anything other than a vessel containing Christ.
If the believer no longer lives, and the life he now lives is the Christ-life, and if Christ is all in the believer’s life, all ministries and gift operations are of the Christ in him.
This by no means is to say there will no longer be supernatural works. I see Christ the healer at work today in grace, just as much as when I was solely in the healing ministry.
It means Christ is the doer, not the
believer; and by this understanding that Christ is in every born-again believer there will be no special ministries, no big name prophets or apostles.
Christ lives in all believers and the Holy Spirit can direct anyone at any time to help others, even super-naturally.
The gifts of the Spirit take a radical change in Paul’s teaching when he had a revelation of Christ as his life. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul introduces the fact that certain ministries would pass away when that which is perfect is come (1 Cor. 2:6; Phil. 3:15; Col. 1:28). These are “gifts of the Spirit of Christ,” for He alone is the gifted one, and the gifts are operated by the Holy Spirit, who lives in our soul, and uses us as the need appears.
Remember, Paul spent about three years in the Pentecostal ministry before he had a revelation of Christ as his life. The revelation of Christ as the believer’s life was that which is perfect.
Not that the believer is perfect, but
the new life in the believer, Christ, is perfect.
You will have to use an old King James Bible to see this. Salvation in grace is perfect because Christ in the believer is perfect as the believer’s life.
The believer is not saved in his old life because the old life is crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6); he is only saved by Christ in him (Rom. 5:10). The salvation of the soul is a life-long adventure and has to do with the believer’s love affair with the Christ in him.
In Acts 28:28, when the gospel went to the Gentiles, by no stretch of the imagnation could the Gentiles receive the same gospel as had been given to Israel.
The salvation of the Lord is radically different between the Jew and the Gentile.
Once, Gentiles were saved by believing the Jewish gospel, and now the Jews are saved by accepting the Gentile gospel. I see no way these two can be combined or even an extension of each other.
Regarding gifts of the Spirit, the key to understanding how God works today in the supernatural realm hinges on the revelation of Christ as the believer’s life. If Christ is the life of the believer (Gal. 2:20) then the believer has no life of his own and certainly no message, ministry or
works of his own.
I have been in the signs/gifts ministry for over fifty years.
I have seen and heard a lot of things, mostly things that did not work, were man-centered and not of God.
When a believer has a revelation of Christ as his life, his only life, there is no room for him to be anything other than a vessel containing Christ.
If the believer no longer lives, and the life he now lives is the Christ-life, and if Christ is all in the believer’s life, all ministries and gift operations are of the Christ in him.
This by no means is to say there will no longer be supernatural works. I see Christ the healer at work today in grace, just as much as when I was solely in the healing ministry.
It means Christ is the doer, not the
believer; and by this understanding that Christ is in every born-again believer there will be no special ministries, no big name prophets or apostles.
Christ lives in all believers and the Holy Spirit can direct anyone at any time to help others, even super-naturally.
The gifts of the Spirit take a radical change in Paul’s teaching when he had a revelation of Christ as his life. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul introduces the fact that certain ministries would pass away when that which is perfect is come (1 Cor. 2:6; Phil. 3:15; Col. 1:28). These are “gifts of the Spirit of Christ,” for He alone is the gifted one, and the gifts are operated by the Holy Spirit, who lives in our soul, and uses us as the need appears.
Remember, Paul spent about three years in the Pentecostal ministry before he had a revelation of Christ as his life. The revelation of Christ as the believer’s life was that which is perfect.
Not that the believer is perfect, but
the new life in the believer, Christ, is perfect.
You will have to use an old King James Bible to see this. Salvation in grace is perfect because Christ in the believer is perfect as the believer’s life.
The believer is not saved in his old life because the old life is crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6); he is only saved by Christ in him (Rom. 5:10). The salvation of the soul is a life-long adventure and has to do with the believer’s love affair with the Christ in him.