(Act 3:2-12)
And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God: And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.
And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering. And when Peter saw it,[i] he said unto the man before them all, "this is the power of God upon you" raising up his voice and shouting "Fire! Fire! Fire!" then at once he pushed upon the mans forehead causing him to fall backward unto the ground. And those who had followed and saw were greatly confused. Some said "First they heal the man, telling him to stand and he stands, then they send him back unto the ground again?" Others chimed in, "Nay, he has been 'slain-ed in the Spirit'. Still others protested "There is no precedent for this, God is not the author of confusion as you can attest that this surely is." And because of their words many thought to stone them for they dared to speak out against such foolishness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Act 2:1-15
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. ... And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. [i]Still others protested "they are drunk in the spirit". Then the disciples began to stagger and stumble, some fell to the ground in fits of convulsions, others began to laugh hysterically, while still others barked like dogs, some grunting as pigs and mimicking of other farm animals. Not only that but they acted in like manner to these animal actions, writhing on the ground, crawling about. There was much pandemonium over the whole matter and the people were left bewildered, confused and many were so greatly offended that they begged the people to search the scriptures for any such precedence, correlation or any good reason for such madness, these began to rent their clothes and throw up dust into the air.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two extreme examples and may it be forgiven to put the scriptures to such an aberration. It is something that has been very much in mind in light of recent days and that which is now up in everyones ears due to events in Florida.
The premise was, how would these 'manifestations' actually fit into the scriptures if what is happening now happened then? For many there is no need to go to such lengths but for those caught up, persuaded or otherwise defending these matters, can only pray that they might truly consider if there is any sensibility, any truth, any spiritual moorings whatsoever.
This whole matter is deeply grievous and it has been painful to keep silent for so long. Many replies shelved, re-written, some discarded as knee-jerk reactionary ... something else, something different seems necessary. To jump in the fray and end up repeating the same said warnings left me wondering if it is of any use, will those that need to hear, hear? Will they reconsider, do they recognize the concerns that many of us have, not to their detriment but because we care for their souls?
Can but thank God for those very voices that brought me further to my senses, that brought the suppression that was kept out into the clear so many years back, might it somehow be repaid by this same pleading here.
I have found this whole recent anti-revival a great paradox in a certain sense. Is it better that this whole thing is so media driven that it can be seen for itself live, in real time or is this just as problematic that it can further reach the gullible as well as the sincere yet ignorant, the babes in Christ, such as we once all were? Does even our denouncing and warning feed more fuel to fire, spread the contagion further than if it was left well enough alone?
Some of the postings here and there are many, are confusing in themselves, they are disconnected by their number and here is yet another adding to the mix. To attempt some sort of cohesiveness thought it best to draw them altogether at bottom, that all things might be taken together, that the warnings not be missed, nor the actual 'revelations' (unscriptural as they) and other atrocities not given short shift.
[i]If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?
[i]For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
Principle and precedence. Leaving aside the matter of tongues themselves, [i]mad[i]confusion
Drunkenness.
[i]And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
[i]For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
[b]Not
Falling down, being pushed over, blown on, smacked in the head, the 'slain in the spirit' phenomenon. Similar nonsense and foolishness. There is absolutely no precedence for this anywhere in scripture, not in kind or fashion nor temperament nor character. The great extracted verse that is oft used to fortify this whole shenanigan is completely off base. If anything, anything at all that might be said as to those who shrank back at the Lord's pronouncement it would be codified in [i]fear[i]we also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein
It is an audacious place they have taken. They are false teachers and they are leading others astray, there is no getting around it, there is no argument against it. The scriptures warning us all of these things are numerous and often want to be argued over. Time and again we have been warned, [i]do not be deceived
This aberration that I hoped and prayed would just fade off and go away seems to have grown even more legs and now wants to be copied and transfered to other places and other churches and on to more destruction and ruin. This age of present day Christianity, more than anything needs to do just the first thing first; [i]Grow up!
[i]Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.
We must fight this with all our strength and all our might and without equivocation or compromise.
[u][b]A sincere warning
[i]Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?viewmode=flat&order=0&topic_id=6916&forum=35&post_id=&refresh=Go]John Scotland - Toronto Airport Blessing
([i]Note the date of this posting, 2005
Of neccesity and if anything that might not be skipped over;
[i]For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.