Jesus, the center and reality of who we are.

One might think that with the Bible as the center of
Christianity, the unity of Christians could be easily realized.
Unfortunately this has not proved true, though we can consider
it fortunate that, as this inability to unify proves, the
letter of the Bible cannot really replace the living Christ as
the center of our faith.
The Bible is the expression of the life and work of God,
and since "life" is greater than its manifestation, it cannot
be expressed completely in any logical or theological form.
Therefore, the Bible itself cannot escape being understood in
many different ways. Thus we see how in the wisdom of God it is
impossible in practice to make the Scriptures the end or final
authority in themselves, for they only express God's authority
to those who live in fellowship with the Spirit.
... Kokichi Kurosaki (1886-1970), One Body in Christ, Kobe,
Japan: Eternal Life Press, 1954, ch. 3

The Bible is the expression of the life and work of God,
and since "life" is greater than its manifestation, it cannot
be expressed completely in any logical or theological form.

The end-time revival of the Spirit and the Word is happening! May God count us a part of it.

Great quote brother.

Sermonindex says ...

"The divorcing of truth and experience has been a terrible rift in the Church."

Now there is a great quote. It saddens me that for the most part, on the one side you have "Christians," who are living in the old heresy of "antinominism," a flagrant dis-regard for God's commands and on the other side we have people striving to attain God's righteousness. Each of these sides look at each other to justify their own postion, not realizing that they are both wrong. The truth lies in the radical center of God. It is strange that after 2000 years, there are stil judaizers who still believe that those who walk in the freedom of Romans 8 must be advocating sin, must be teaching that we have a licsense to sin, and the answer is still the same "God forbid.' Those who genuinely walk close to God, who walk in His Spirit, who walk in freedom, the last thing that those people would want to do is sin.

It is no surprise to me that the Apostle Paul could not stomoch, even for an hour, this legalism which has a form of Godliness but ultimately denies the power thereof. Sermonindex is exactly right, "The end-time revival of the Spirit and the Word is happening! May God count us a part of it." He will be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth or He will not be worshipped at all............Frank

I think the problem is that men are so biblical and doctrinally minded they are of no heavenly use!

Enid writes......

"I'm sorry, but that statement could be very well misunderstood."

I am so glad that someone said that :) I think that we would all agree that just because a statement could be misunderstood does not mean that we should not say it. It is incumbant upon the poeple who would misunderstnd it to understand it.

"It seems rather that we function through the Spirit only, and be guided by that, regardless of what the Scriptures say."

Of course this was not said in the quote. The reality is that we worship in Spirit and in Truth. Yet, unless the Spirit comes first we labor in vain. Tozer used to be amazed that people would worship the description and not the reality.

The answer of course, to Enid's last objection is that what is not inspired by the Spirit is of no earthly use. If one is to properly understand the Scriptures, one cannot do it without the Spirit. What truly undermines the Word of God is those people who bring their own earthly wisdom to them and who try to live them out in the flesh. To walk in the freedom of Christ and His Spirit is not to walk according to the flesh. This terrifies most judaizers and legalists because ultimately their identity comes from their ability to keep the rules and create their own righteousness and of course this is nothing more than self-righteousness. Genuine Christianity walks in the Spirit, freedom, righteousness and holiness. It is not and either or situation, it is both or it is nothing.............Frank

PS The people that I know who walk according to the Spirit, reverence the Word more than any people that I know. It is a key identifying factor in genuine Christianity.

HI Fuehrebe

I think one way that you can indentify what is of the Spirit and what is of the flesh, is that one glorifies Jesus and the other glorifies itself. One brings the spotlight on Jesus and the flesh brings the spotlight on intself. In my experience, the mere fact that you pronounce yourself a prophet, almost always means that you are not. Self-pronouncments should automaticly disqualify you from the position:)

Obviously a genuinly Spirit filled Christian is also a devourer of the Word of God, this , for me , would be a key identifier. A genuine word from God will NEVER, contradict the Word of God. If a self-proclaimed prophet prophecy's something and it does not come to pass, then Deuterononmy obviously comes into play. If there is disorder in your church, then this is in violation of the letter to Corinthians. Just a cursory knowledge of the Word instantly indentifies a peddler of the Gospel like Todd Bentley. Discernment obviously belongs to them that fear God. You cannot fear that which you do not know..............Frank