I am deeply grateful for my Pentecostal upbringing, despite its excesses and some of its false teaching. Without the profound experiences in the Spirit, I doubt that a natural skeptic like me would even be a Christian today. This thread will focus on the many paranormal highlights of my spiritual journey. As precious and numerous as these highlights are, they seem insufficiently numerous to measure up to normative Christian experience as implied by Jesus and Paul in the 7 points sketched out below. Please react to this OP and then, as I share my experiences, react to them and share your own comparable experiences.
(1) Jesus teaches that the kingdom of God's presence involves a demonstration of supernatural power:
"But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you (Matthew 11:28)."
"...The one who believes in me will do the works that I do, and in fact will do greater works than those because I am going to the Father (John 14:12)."
(2) Modern preachers often duck this implication by equating the kingdom of God with the pursuit of correct beliefs, love and social justice. But not Paul!
Here's how Paul reacts to Christian teachers who, having experienced little of God's supernatural power, preach sermons that reduce "the reign of Christ" to certain cliches that entice parishioners to smile sweetly and nod in agreement:
"But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the [God] talk of these arrogant people, but their power. For the kingdom of God depends not on [God] talk, but on power (1 Corinthians 4:19-20)."
(3) How does Paul almost single-handedly put Christianity on the path to becoming a global faith? Not just by trying to embody love, but by the supernatural demonstrations of the power of the Spirit that accompany his preaching of the Gospel:
"My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest, not on human wisdom but on the power of God (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)."
(4) And yes, these "demonstrations" include "signs and wonders:"
"For I will not venture to speak of anything except what the Lord has accomplished through me to win obedience from the Gentiles by word and deed, by signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God (Romans 15:18-19)."
(5) Ours is the fate of the early Galatian Christians who, in their innocence, begin their faith journey with a miracle-sprinkled experience of the Spirit, but then slowly replace that with a purely cerebral and legalistically programmed piety:
"Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? Did you experience so much for nothing...? Well then does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the Law or by your believing what you heard (Galatians 3:3-5)."
(6) How would Paul's first century followers view typical modern preaching?
"They hold an outward form of godliness, but deny its power. Avoid them (2 Timothy 3:5)!"
(7) Paul makes it clear that to display all 9 "fruit of the Spirit" one must first learn to "walk in the Spirit" and be "led by the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23. 25)."
ENSBut what does it mean to be "led by the Spirit?" A few days ago, I felt strangely prompted to go for an evening walk around 2 blocks, something I would never otherwise do. When I reached the corner of Main and 2nd Street, I ran into Clint, a new Christian with mental health issues and his young companion. A highly stressed Clint was so glad to see me because he needed to unburden himself about what had just happened a couple of days prior. He had returned home to find his son Matt lying on the kitchen floor, dead of a drug overdose. His companion was Matt's friend and they were in the process of making funeral arrangements. I was able to minister to Clint, but later wondered why I am not led in such a supernatural way more often. That's the kind of demonstration of the Spirit and power that Paul has in mind when he urges us to "be led by the Spirit."
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(1) Jesus teaches that the kingdom of God's presence involves a demonstration of supernatural power:
"But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you (Matthew 11:28)."
"...The one who believes in me will do the works that I do, and in fact will do greater works than those because I am going to the Father (John 14:12)."
(2) Modern preachers often duck this implication by equating the kingdom of God with the pursuit of correct beliefs, love and social justice. But not Paul!
Here's how Paul reacts to Christian teachers who, having experienced little of God's supernatural power, preach sermons that reduce "the reign of Christ" to certain cliches that entice parishioners to smile sweetly and nod in agreement:
"But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the [God] talk of these arrogant people, but their power. For the kingdom of God depends not on [God] talk, but on power (1 Corinthians 4:19-20)."
(3) How does Paul almost single-handedly put Christianity on the path to becoming a global faith? Not just by trying to embody love, but by the supernatural demonstrations of the power of the Spirit that accompany his preaching of the Gospel:
"My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest, not on human wisdom but on the power of God (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)."
(4) And yes, these "demonstrations" include "signs and wonders:"
"For I will not venture to speak of anything except what the Lord has accomplished through me to win obedience from the Gentiles by word and deed, by signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God (Romans 15:18-19)."
(5) Ours is the fate of the early Galatian Christians who, in their innocence, begin their faith journey with a miracle-sprinkled experience of the Spirit, but then slowly replace that with a purely cerebral and legalistically programmed piety:
"Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? Did you experience so much for nothing...? Well then does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the Law or by your believing what you heard (Galatians 3:3-5)."
(6) How would Paul's first century followers view typical modern preaching?
"They hold an outward form of godliness, but deny its power. Avoid them (2 Timothy 3:5)!"
(7) Paul makes it clear that to display all 9 "fruit of the Spirit" one must first learn to "walk in the Spirit" and be "led by the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23. 25)."
ENSBut what does it mean to be "led by the Spirit?" A few days ago, I felt strangely prompted to go for an evening walk around 2 blocks, something I would never otherwise do. When I reached the corner of Main and 2nd Street, I ran into Clint, a new Christian with mental health issues and his young companion. A highly stressed Clint was so glad to see me because he needed to unburden himself about what had just happened a couple of days prior. He had returned home to find his son Matt lying on the kitchen floor, dead of a drug overdose. His companion was Matt's friend and they were in the process of making funeral arrangements. I was able to minister to Clint, but later wondered why I am not led in such a supernatural way more often. That's the kind of demonstration of the Spirit and power that Paul has in mind when he urges us to "be led by the Spirit."
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"
Quote Reply
Rep