Two items.

Snatched this from our brother Rahman in another thread.

_________________
Mike Balog

Brother Lars, who (to me) usually speaks to us all via the meat of the Word from such spiritual giants as Tozer, and others, will every once in a while speak something profound in his own right ...

Well out of the love of Christ (i hope you don't mind my sharing this) brother Lar's sent me an e-mail with the following words of wisdom that i feel led of the Lord to share ... He said;

"We live under circumstances, generally speaking, in which a sober spirituality is an absolute necessity. Let us move along, together in this direction".

That statement has hit me like a ton of bricks ... In light of the Strom and Hinn posts ...


Brother Lars you wrote;

Quote;
"Modern so called prophets soothe, make nice and present instructions on how to receive blessings and how to enter a state of affluence".

Amen, instead of how to be a blessing to God, their fellow heirs in Christ, and their fellow man ....

Quote;
Their god – intentionally spelled with a small “g” - tells how to get ready for the next step in the undefined development of the kingdom which never materialises.

Ouch! ... "the undefined development of the kingdom which never materialises" ... Preach on brother! ... You may be quiet, but when our Lord opens your mouth He's got stinging truths to say! ... But "never materializes" brings it right down front, for it's only the Word of God that never returns void ... Man's conivings, schemes, tricks and formula's will always ring empty to all except the vile perpetrators, and those few that satan will disguise as carrots on a stick" ...

Quote";
"The New Testament prophet dresses his office with one aspiration – spiritual maturity, ability to handle life’s many obstacles with heavenly sobriety".

Brother Lars, i'm praying tuff that our Lord will soon develope in you more, His teaching toward "spiritual soberness", "heavenly sobriety", for the majority of the folk of God may be drunk, but it definitely ain't in the truth of the Holy Ghost ...

When He begins to fill you with His message of just what it means to be "spiritually sober', i'll be anticipating the sharing ... Amen

i looked up the word sober, and all the scriptures i could find with the word ...

so·ber
a : sparing in the use of food and drink : ABSTEMIOUS b : not addicted to intoxicating drink c : not drunk
2 : marked by sedate or gravely or earnestly thoughtful character or demeanor
3 : UNHURRIED, CALM
4 : marked by temperance, moderation, or seriousness
5 : subdued in tone or color
6 : showing no excessive or extreme qualities of fancy, emotion, or prejudice
synonym see SERIOUS


Rom.12
[3] For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

1Thes.5
[6] Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
[8] But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

1Tim.3
[2] A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
[11] Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.

Tit.1
[8] But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;

Tit.2
[2] That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
[4] That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
[6] Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.
[12] Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

1Pet.1
[13] Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

1Pet.4
[7] But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.

1Pet.5
[8] Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:


- What do you think it means to be "spiritually sober", and why do you think that there are so many warnings to saints in scripture to be as such?

- Do you think that it's possible for saints to become so drunk on the charasmatic, so pre-occupied with the gifts of the Spirit, or just plain gifts (material) from God that it causes spiritual staggering"?

- Is a carnal covetous sin filled nature the reason why so many saints find themselves intoxicated on the lies of so many health and wealth false prophets?

What do you guys think?

The prophetic movement is bored to death with Jesus and the normal Christian life.

_________________
Jimmy H

The normal Christian life consists of growth unto holiness, maturing unto fullness and the pursuit of perfection.
The normal Christian life consists of prayer for life to conquer where sin abounds and light to shine in darkness.
The normal Christian life consists of a testimony of kindness overcoming foul play and meekness securing victory before the impossible.
The normal Christian life outmanoeuvres in its weakness and defencelessness the greatest assaults on truth.
The normal Christian life is all about crystal, a sea as wide as Heaven and a throne at its center and a Lamb. . . and tears wiped away. . . and joy forever.

Boring??

_________________
Lars Widerberg

_________________
Jimmy H

Perhaps the dilemma and the dissatisfaction begin at the beginning of the Christian life.
To be born again contains a radical change in the constitution of the inner man.
Accepting Christ in a modern evangelistic campaign with all its suggestive paraphernalia invites an overwhelming sense of belonging, a religious experience, but is seldom enough to produce the necessary conviction, repentance and surrender which alone brings a soul into the Kingdom. What we have is a mental operation, a choice to be made – by “accepting Christ” man is still in charge, the “I” never leaves the throne.

To be born again means to be born right.
To be born again means separation – no compromise.
To be born again means spiritual functionality – no entertainment.
To be born again means co-operation – no competition.
To be born again means vocation – no renouncing of responsibility.
To be born again brings attraction to heavenly realities.

This and a lot more seem to be lost in our general church life, this opens for dissatisfaction and deception.

Lars W.

_________________
Lars Widerberg

I guess my question now that we have exposed the problem is, what next? What are we to do with sad state of the church?

When I was saved in 1985, I believe it was like a "spirital abortion" or pre-born again experience. I was seeking God, but was not ready to give up my sin. I said the "sinners prayer" by the coaching of another Christian, and while I was experiencing the Christian life, there was no life really in me. It was not only until about 3 years ago, when I had to come to the cross deeply and repent of some grave sins in my life and turn away from sin and to the Lord. Was I "saved" for the past 15 years or so? I don't know, I think so, but I believe that many people in the church are like me, who wear the name "christian" but are not convicted of sin and have not Him in there lives. They have not turned from sin, and are living a double life.

Grace,
Doug

_________________
a Jesus freak

_________________
Mrs. Fred

Crsschk,

You wrote:
"Where is the scriptual precendence?"

Where do you find it in Scripture that there needs to be scriptural precedence? But even so, this sounds a lot like David's dancing before the Lord. Yes, very undignified in the eyes of others, but it was before the Lord. It also sounds very childlike. How about extravagant worship? There's just a few ideas for you to consider.


Quote:
"And why would you want to defend any of this?"

Because these are members of the body of Christ who it seems are being misrepresented. I suppose that in itself is enough.

I totally agree about the bummer of getting "caught up in taking scriptures apart to make a point." And it seems clear it would take a lot of work to try and make a Scriptural case against any of these things. I assume this is because there is no clear scriptural violation here.

You wrote- "Some violations?" I would answer "no". I don't see how there was a violation of the Sciptures you posted. Perhaps you can expand and clarify on why you would think so. I'm not real familiar with "the Spirit of the scripture"... is there a scriptural precedent for that term? ;-)


Quote:
"Holy Angels who are not flying around blowing on peoples finger tips, that's not silly, that's sick."

Label it what you will; what if it's true? I wonder how silly and/or sick tongues seemed when it first arrived on the scene in a massive way.

"What is [i]this[/i] God? Are You some kind of weirdo?" (Or perhaps you might say "sicko")

I wonder how silly David looked dancing in his underwear.

"DAVID!!! Don't you know God is holy? Cut that silliness out!"


Quote:
"I meant right then and there, while it was happening."

Ok. Now I get it- kind of. Thanks for clarifying.