Judgment of God by His Word

I am truly amazed by the humility of God the Father and God the Son. Their divine humility is revealed by their unwillingness to judge men.

God the Father by His sovereign eternal right is the Judge of all men. But, in John 5 Jesus reveals that the Father has chosen in His sovereign wisdom to commit all judgment to the Son:

"For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him" (John 5:22, 23, NKJV).

"For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man" (John 5:26, 27).

The above passages of Scripture reveal two reasons why the Father has committed all judgment to the Son.

1. The Father wants all men to honor the Son just like they honor the Father. This is made possible when the Son becomes the judge. By being the judge Jesus receives the honor due to a judge.

2. The Son being the Son of man as well as Son of God, enables Him to understand the nature of men - the weakness and temptations of the flesh, so that he is able to make allowance in His judgment by His own human experience.

Jesus the Son being gracious and merciful in divine nature, just like the Father is unwilling to administer judgment but in turn transferred the final authority of judgment to God's Word.

Jesus says, "And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him - the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day" (John 12:47, 48).

Therefore, the final authority of all judgment is vested in the Word of God. This is the impartial, unchanging standard to which all men must one day answer.

The Principles of Judgment of God by the Word

The Scripture reveals at least five principles of the Judgment by God's Word:

1. Judgment according to truth

Jesus prayed to the Father concerning His disciples, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth" (John 17:17, NKJV).

The standard of God's Word is the revealed truth for very believer.

Paul says, "Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things" (Romans 2:1, 2, NKJV).

Paul was speaking to Christians who judge other people by one standard and themselves by another standard. God's judgment is according to one standard - the revealed truth of God's Word. If we apply the truth of God's judgment to other, we must apply precisely the same truth to ourselves and our own lives.

2. Judgment according to "deeds"

Paul says, "who (God) will render to each one according to his deeds" (Romans 2:6).

Peter says, "And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct youselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear" (1 Peter 1:17, emphasis added).

In the final Great White Throne judgment (for unbelievers) in Revelation we read:

"And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books" (Rev. 20:12).

God uses special "book" or scroll to record the deeds of each person so as to judge him one day.

3. Judgment according to the secret of man's heart

The Scripture makes it clear that God, in His judgment of man, takes into account not merely external actions such as can be observed by other men, but also the deepest and most secret thoughts and motives of the heart.

Paul says, "....... God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel" (Romans 2:16).

Paul says, "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God" (1 Cor. 4:5, emphasis added).

The writer of Hebrews confirms that the above judgment will be by the Word of God:

"For the word of God is living and powerful, ...... is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:12, 13, emphasis added).

4. Judgment without partiality

Paul says, "For there is no partiality with God" (Romans 2:11). The King James version says, "without respect of persons".

In other words, God is not influenced in His judgment by a person's external characteristics which do not necessarily give a correct indication of that person's real character and conduct.

The Lord said to Samuel, "For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Sam. 16:7).

5. Judgment according to the light made available to those being judged

Paul says, "For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law" (Romans 2:12).

In other words, each person is judged according to the measure of God's Law (moral light and understanding) made available to him. God's Law also includes God's moral standards revealed to the people throught the law of Mosses.

Jesus applied this same principle of judgment according to the light made available to the people of His days (Read Matt. 11:20 - 24).

Jesus said, the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum will be judged even more severely than Tyre and Sidon because of the higher measure of moral knowledge made available to the cities of His days.

We need to apply this principle to our generation. We will be judged by the measure of moral light and knowledge available available in our generation. I believe countries with a long history of Christianity will be judged with higher standards than countries where Bibles and and other Christian reading materials are not easily obtainable and where professing Christians are being persecuted.

We should take heed of the words of Jesus:

"For everone to whom much is given, from him much will be required, and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more" (Luke 12:48, NKJV).

Judgment of True Christians

The New Testament Scripture reveals three scenes of Eternal Judgment of God. God being the Judge of all will sit on a different seat at each scene of Judgment. The three scenes of Eternal Judgment are - the Judgment Seat of Christ, the Throne of Christ's Glory and the Great Throne Judgment.

First Scene of Eternal Judgment

The first scene of Eternal Judgment is the judgment of true Christians before the judgment seat of Christ.

"But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. So then each of us shall give account of himself to God" (Romans 14:10 and 12, NKJV, emphasis added).

The above passages of Scripture which contain the phrase "your brother" twice and the phrase "each of us" make it clear that Paul is speaking about judgment of Christians. Paul says it is not right for a Christian to show contempt for another Christian or to judge another with unrighteous judgment because Christ Himself will judge with righteous eternal judgment upon every one of us. Each one of us will have to answer for himself to Christ.

True Christian will be judged first

The principle that true Christians will be judged first is based on Scripture. In fact it is a great honor to be given an opportunity to be judged first because only true Christians will be judged first.

"For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God; Now 'If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinners appear?'" (1 Peter 4:17, 18, emphasis added).

Notice that the way Peter uses the phrase "those who do not obey the gospel of God" shows that people of this category are not necessarily be unbelievers. This category includes disobedient believers who fail to uphold the truth of the gospel of God. They are not doers of His Word. In God's eyes they do not belong to the house of God. On the basis of this truth they cannot be classified as true Christians.

Furthermore, Peter identifies three groups of people:

1. The righteous - The true Christian who has the righteousness of God imputed to him by faith. He is considered a true believer who whole heartedly obey the gospel of God. But, in the eyes of God he is only "scarcely saved".

2. The ungodly - The so-called Christian who through disobedience and unbelief is considered as an "ungodly" Christian in the eyes of God.

3. The sinners - The unbelievers.

If you should think Peter has given an extremely high standard of requirement of being a true Christian, listen to what Paul has to say!

"... the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thess. 1:7, 8, emphasis added).

The two categories of people the Lord Jesus will take vengeance on are those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Obviously, those who do not know God are the unbelievers. But, according to Paul (just like Peter) those who do not obey the gospel can also be disobedient believers.

The two groups of Christians (disobedient believers) who will not be judged first are:

1. The so-called Christians (Pastors, preachers and Church leaders) who through disobedience compromise the teaching of the true Gospel of God. They make the gospel messages more "acceptable" to men so as to get more people to the local Church.

2. The so-called Christians who fail to enter the narrow gate (Luke 13:24 - 27). In fact those who compromise the teaching of the true gospel messages are indirectly making God's narrow gate broader for everyone to go in. The broad way is the way to destruction (Matt. 7:13).

True Christians are not condemned

According to the Scripture the judgment of the true Christians will not be a judgment of condemnation. This assurance comes from Jesus Himself:

"He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18).

The distinction is clear. The true believer in Christ is not condemned; the unbeliever is condemned already on the ground of his unbelief.

Later on Jesus gives the same assurance.

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life" (John 5:24).

Notice that Jesus gives a threefold assurance to every believer who accepts in faith His Word:

1. Every believer has everlasting life.

2. He has passed from spiritual death into eternal life.

3. He will never come into judgment for condemnation.

Paul gives the same assurance of freedom from condemnation:

"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit" (Romans 8:1).

The true believer is living (spiritually) in Jesus and because of this fact he will walk according to the Spirit and not in the flesh. The logical conclusion is that if he is under condemnation, then Jesus will be under the same condemnation with him.

Another area of Biblical truth revealed by the Scripture is that the true believer will be judged not in respect of righteousness but in respect of service rendered to Christ. The reason being, the righteousness of the true believer is not his own but the righteouness of Christ Himself imputed to him by God on the basis of his faith.

"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21, emphasis added).

At the cross Jesus exchanged our sin with God's righteousness. We all received salvation on this basis of God's righteousness imputed to us. It is obviously illogical for God to judge or to call to question His own righteousness.

The Principles of God's Judgment of the true Christians

Peter says to Christians, "And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear, ......" (1 Peter 1:17, emphasis added).

In other words, God's judgment is without partiality or in respect of persons and entirely based on the worth of one's work on earth.

Paul says to Christians, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:10, emphasis added).

In other words, the things which will be brought up for judgment will be "the things done in the body". These are the acts, services together with the type of attitude and behavior of every Christian during his life here on earth.

Notice that every act or service performed by a Christian during his earthly life must fall into one of two categories - either good or bad. Every act that is not performed in faith and obedience, for the glory of God, is unacceptable to God and therefore bad. There is no neutrality or grey area. Grey area is the product of compromising Bible teachers or preachers. If a believer's acts or services are good he will receive His reward. If not his works will be burn up and he will suffer loss (1 Cor. 3:13 - 15).

Jesus says, "He who is not with Me is against Me" (Matt 12:30).

Therefore, the purpose of the judgment of Christians will be to assess their rewards.

Judgment of the true believer's service to Christ

God's purpose of judging true Christians is to assess the reward due to each true believer for his service render to Christ while on earth.

Jesus says, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, ...." (John 15:16).

In other words, the main purpose of our salvation is to bear fruit for Christ. Christians are chosen by God to be saved and to bear fruit in the ministry of their individual calling.

This truth is set forth by Christ in the form of two parables; the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14 - 30) and the parable of the minas (Luke 19:11 - 17).

It is beyond the scope of this message to discuss these parables in details. In both parables there are two fruitful servants and an unfruitful servant. The fruitful servants receive their their due rewards in proportion to their fruitfulness. But the unfruitful servant will be rejected and cast out from the presence of the Lord. In both parables the Lord commences his judgment of the unfruitful servant by the phrase "you wicked servant".

An important conclusion we can make out of the studies of these parables is that, by God's standard, wickedness consists not only in actively doing that which is bad, but just as much in the failure to do good when it lies within our power to do it.

"Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin" (James 4:17).

The prophet Malachi explains how God sees the righteous and the wicked in His judgment:

"Then you shall again discern between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him" (Mal. 3:18).

In other words, by God's Standard of judgment the righteous are defined as those who serve Him and the wicked as those who do not serve Him!

God's Total Judgment

God being the Judge of All is Righteous in all His Judgments. His total Judgment consists of two stages, judgment in the present time and judgment in eternity. There is a logical and scriptural distinction between God's judgment in time (present time and in history) and God's judgment in eternity. It is of vital importance for believers to understand this distinction, otherwise the Bible can be easily dismissed as being inconsistent. Certain statements of the Old Testment Scripture are quite difficult to reconcile.

God's Judgment in Time

The first stage of God's total judgment is in the judgment in time. This is the judgment which is carried out upon the scene of human history and in the present time.

God gave a warning to Israel when He gave the Ten Commandments:

"You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep my commandments" (Ex. 20:4 - 6, NKJV).

The prophet Jeremiah prayed and reminded God of both the promise and the warning which He had given to Israel:

"You show lovingkindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them" (Jer. 32:18).

The above passages of Scripture make it clear that in many cases in Israel's history, the sins of one generation did cause the judgment of God to come upon succeeding generations, as far as down to the third or fourth generation. Conversely, the righteousness of one generation could cause the blessing of God to come upon many thousand of their descendants.

Let us study some examples of God's judgment in time and in history:

Judgment os Sodom and Gomorrah

A good example of this type of judgment is God's judgment upon the twin cities Sodom and Gomorrah:

"Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground" (Gen. 19:24, 25).

According to Peter this judgment of God serves as a warning to all those in succeeding generations who might be tempted to follow in sins of the same kind:

"(God) turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly" (2 Peter 2:6, emphasis added).

What were the sins of Sodom? Genesis 19 recorded only the sins of homosexuality and other forms of sexual perversion which has ever been called by the name "sodomy".

It is interesting to read Ezekiel's account of the basic moral and social conditions which led to the decline of Sodom:

"Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom; She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness, and neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy" (Ezek. 16:49, emphasis added).

The Bible does not suggest that the same form of sin will cause every subsequent case be visited with the same severe form of God's judgment. But, it does teach us the unchanging attitude of God toward this form of sin.

In my opinion, the average contemporary Church is in great danger of committing the same form of sins as Sodom and Gomorrah. Furthermore, Jesus reminds us any household or city that would reject the apostles' teaching would receive a worse judgment than Sodom and Gomorrah!

Jesus said to the apostles, "And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city" (Matt. 10:14, 15, emphasis added)!

It is easy to find many local Churches of large congregations of worshippers, with pastors and preachers in some degree reject the apostles' doctrine. If Chruches do reject the apostles' doctrine, how much more households and cities are expected to do likewise?

Judgment of Ananias and Sapphira

Acts 5:1 - 10 relates the story of God's judgment on Ananias and Sapphira. By pretending that the money which they brought to the apostles represented the full price of the possession which they had sold they had committed the sin of lying and hypocrisy.

It is true that there is no suggestion that God will always judge this kind of behavior by professing Christians in such a severe and dramatic way. But, it does demonstrate the unchanging attitude of God toward lying and hypocrisy and certainly serves as a warning to all succeeding generations of the Church of Jesus Christ.

God's mercy in the midst of judgment

Joshua Chapter 2 and 6 relate the story of Rahab.

From the standpoint of both background and environment, Rahab had everything against her. She was a harlot living in a city appointed to destruction. Yet in humility and faith she dared to cast herself upon the mercy of God, with the result that she and her whole household were spared, and she herself, through marriage to an Israelite, became a member of the direct line from which the genealogy of Christ was derived.

The story of Rahab shows that no matter how corrupt the environment, personal repentance and faith of the part of any individual will cancel God's judgment on one's household and call forth His mercy instead.

Believers must take note that God's judgment may or may not be fully revealed in time. This applies both to the punishment of the wicked and to the reward of the righteous:

Paul warned Timothy, "Some men's sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment, but those of some men follow later. Likewise, the good works of some clearly evident, and those that are otherwise cannot be hidden" (1 Tim. 5:24, 25).

Some of God's judgment may pass beyond the scene of time to eternity.

Solomon warned that we must not continue to do evil even if God's judgment is slow in coming:

"Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil" (Eccles. 8:11).

Judgment in Eternity

The second stage of God's total judgment is God's judgments in eternity. The Bible calls this judgment as the "eternal judgment" (Hebrews 6:2).

Let us consider the following message of God to His people Israel through the prophet Ezekiel:

"The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, 'What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'? 'As I live,' says the Lord God, 'you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die'" (Ezek. 18:1 - 4, emphasis added).

The people of Israel in the time of Ezekiel blamed their backsliding condition upon the sinfulness of preceding generations. They implied that the national decline of Israel in their day was due to the sins of their ancestors and so God could not justly hold them responsible for their present moral condition. However, God, through this message by Ezekiel, entirely rejects this form of excuse.

God warned the Israelites that He held each one of them individually responsible for his own moral condition and each one of them would be judged (in eternity) solely for his own character and conduct, and not at all for anything that his ancestors might or might not have done. This warning is repeated even more emphatically a little further on:

"The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself" (Ezek. 18:20, emphassis added).

Notice that this is not the judgment of a nation or a family; this is the judgment of each individual soul. This is the judgment by which the destiny of each soul is settled for eternity.

Righteous Judgment and Unrighteous Judgment

One of the most important facets of Biblical truth revealed by the Scripture is God is the Judge of all - in time and in eternity.

Here are some Scripture references:

"Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen. 18:25, NKJV).

"May the Lord, the judge, render judgment this day" (Judg. 11:27).

"Surely He is God who judges in the earth" (Ps. 58:11).

The psalmist said to God, "Rise up, O Judge of the earth; render punishment to the proud" (Ps. 94:2).

The writer of Hebrews wrote:

"But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, ..." (Hebrews 12:22 and 23, NKJV, emphasis added).

In other words, God is also the judge of all Christians. The phrase, "You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God" means, "You are His people (Christians) in the Church of Jesus Christ, the temple of the living God". In Scripture the word "Zion" always refers to the New Testament Church.

What Judgment to Judge?

The Scripture reveals two types of judgment everyone (believer or unbeliever) is judging while living on earth - The righteous judgment and the unrighteous judgment. Even though God is the Judge of all, He has vested righteous judgment for His people to judge.

Our previous study concerning the spirit, soul, and body of a man and how are they related to form the whole personality of a man helps us a great deal in understanding this topic.

Jesus said to the people during a Jewish feast:

"Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment" (John 7:24, NKJV).

In the context, it is obvious that "judge according to appearance" means "judge with unrighteous judgment". Hence, God's people are encouraged to judge with righteous judgment but forbidden to judge with unrighteous judgment.

Judgment According to the Flesh

Later on Jesus said to the Pharisees:

"You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me" (John 8:15 and 16, NKJV).

The Amplified Bible says:

"You (set yourselves up to) judge according to the flesh - by what you see; you condemn by external, human standards. I do not (set Myself up to) judge or condemn or sentence anyone. Yet even if I do judge, My judgement is true - My decision is right; for I am not alone (in making it), but (there are two of Us), I and the Father Who sent Me" (Emphasis added).

Here are a few points worth noting:

1. There is a contrast between the judgment of the Pharisees and the Judgment of Jesus. Pharisees condemn others by judging with external human standards. Jesus does not condemn and His Judgment is true.

2. "Judgment according to appearance" is the same as "judgment according to the flesh". As we have seen before in my many earlier postings, the flesh comes from our unredeemed soul and the five senses of our earthly soulish bodies.

The Bible tells us how to deal with the body and soul - man's carnal, fleshly nature. In Ephesians 4:22 - 24 Paul said Christians are to "put off" the old man with his fleshly lusts and to "put on" the new man in Christ. For Paul's list of "the work of flesh" read Galations 5:17, 19 and 20.

3. Judging according to the flesh is forbidden because this type of judgment comes from our carnal nature and might ends up condemning (or sentencing) others. When a person judges by external human standards he is likely to be prejudice and judges with preconceived opinions.

4. Jesus does not judge or condemn or sentence anyone. But if He does judge, His judgment is worthy to be regarded as true because He is never alone - The Father and Him are One. The next verse (John 8:17) says the testimony of two persons is true.

Unrighteous Judgment

1. An example of unrighteous judgment is the type of judgment Jesus spoke about in His "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 7).

"Judge not, that you be not judge" (Matt. 7:1, NKJV).

The Amplified Bible is more vivid:

"Do not judge and criticize and condemn others, so that you may not be judged and criticized and condemned yourselves" (Emphasis added).

For those who do not use the Amplified Bible, the Words of Jesus recorded by Luke confirmed this type of Judgment as unrighteous:

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven" (Luke 6:37, NIV, emphasis added).

2. Another example of unrighteous judgment is, when a person who judges another person but practices the same things himself:

Paul wrote to the Roman Christians, "Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things" (Romans 2:1, NKJV).

Righteous Judgment

Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians:

"What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside" (1 Cor. 5:12 and 13, NIV).

Paul's instruction is clear - It is God's business to judge unbelievers but it is a Christian's business to judge other Christians. In other words, if a Christian judges an unbeliever, then, according to the basis of the Scripture, he judges with unrighteous judgment. On the other hand, if he judges another Christian then he judges with righteous judgment.

Paul gave an example on how a righteous judgment should be carried out in the Church:

It was reported that there was a serious case of sexual immorality in the Corinthian Church. Paul was not present but in spirit he had already passed judgment after hearing the news.

Paul said, "Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present" (1 Cor. 5:3 and 4, emphasis added).

The punishment following the judgment was excommunication of "the one who did this" with the intention of future restoration (1 Cor. 5:5).

Personally, I have not come across this form of judgment in the contemporary local Church. When we face a similar situation, it is very likely for the leadership of the Church to "leave the judgment to God". Leaders would probably say, "We cannot judge him or we would be judged. None of us is infallible. If God wants to punish him something bad would happen to him and he would leave the Church. In the meantime let us pray for him and love him. The Bible says, love covers a multitude of sins. Jesus did say, 'He who is without sin among you let him throw the first stone!'"

Major differences between Unrighteous Judgment and Righteous Judgment

From our study above, it is clear that unrighteous judgment is the product of our unredeemed soul. It is entirely based on subjective personal opinion. On the other hand, righteous judgment is the product of the recreated spirit man. The recreated spirit gives the believer the ability to discern and to assess a situation in the spirit realm. In other words, righteous judgment is entirely based on the truth of a situation revealed by the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul always judged with this type of righteous judgment.

Unrighteous judgment brings condemnation to the one who judges others. A person who judges with unrighteous judgment and with wicked intentions will be condemned:

"A good man obtain favor from the Lord, but a man of wicked intentions He will condemned" (Proverbs 12:2, NKJV, emphasis added).

Righteous judgment usually brings conviction and restoration to the one being judged. As in the case of the sexually immoral person, Paul, in his next epistle instructed the Corinthian Church to forgive this person after he was excommunicated for a season. Paul said such punishment was sufficient for that person (2 Cor. 2:6 - 8).

The Consequence of failing to Judge with Righteous Judgment

There are many Church people out there who are under deep deception. Pastors and preachers of "successful" mega local Churches who practice the "love formula" have the notion that all Christians need is love and forgiveness - after all we are never perfect. We are all capable of falling from grace. We are sinners forgiven!

The contemporary Church has forsaken the responsibiliy to judge sin. Leaders are unable to discern between good and evil, truth and error, right Biblical doctrine and doctrines of demons. The Church needs discernment because discernment entails righteous judgment.

The Church has forgotten that Christians are capable of being deceived. Paul reminded Timothy, a young pastor to be watchful in the last days:

"But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived" (2 Tim. 3:13).

Jesus says to the Church of Ephesus:

"You have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars" (Revelation 2:2, emphasis added).

False teachers and preachers are not only "deceiving" others, but are "being deceived" themselves.

Self-deception is a real danger among believers today.

The Cross, the Soul and the Body

In my previous postings I have mentioned many times that in our Christian walk we need to have our soul and body come under the control of our recreated spirit. Jesus and Paul have a lot to say about our soul and body.

The Teaching of Jesus

Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it" (Luke 9:23 and 24, NKJV, emphasis added).

"Life, soul and mind" in the King James' translation derived from a single Greek word "psuche".

The phrase "deny himself" can be translated as "deny his soul". The phrase "his life" can be translated as "his soul".

When a person denies himself he essentially says "no" to himself or says "no" to what his soul dictates him to do. That means his soul life is completely yielded to God.

Figuratively speaking, our will and God's will represent two pieces of wood for building the cross. When these two pieces of wood are placed parallel to each other, we are not walking in the will of God. To "take up his cross daily" means to "let his will and God's will cross at the meeting point daily". In other words, the disciple has to do God's will on a daily basis.

So, the above verse can be paraphrased as below:

"If anyone desires to be My disciple, he must say "no" to his soul, do My Will daily and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his soul will lose it, but whoever loses his soul for My sake will save it".

In other words, in order to follow Jesus and be His disciple, a person's soul life must be surrendered to Him, bring it to the cross to be crucified daily. If he does that, his soul shall be saved in eternity.

The Teaching of Paul

Paul's epistles are written to Christian Churches for individual Christians and all his teachings are meant for Christians. Here is a sample of Paul's teachings related to the topic of our discussion.

Submitted Body and Transformed Mind

Paul wrote to the Roman Christians:

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:1 and 2, NIV, emphasis added).

The above passages of Scripture is Paul's instruction to Christians on how to close the door to Satan in their lives. Paul told them they would have to do something with their bodies and minds (souls). He was telling believers if they offer their bodies as living sacrifices to God as an act of worship He will see to it that their minds are renewed. There will be a transformation of their whole personality when their minds are renewed. Satan would not be able to confuse or deceive them. And as they keep their bodies subject to their recreated spirit, they will be able to discern God's perfect will for them.

Paul said our mind is Satan's battle ground:

"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, ..... bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor. 10:4 and 5).

With every thought of our mind taken captivity by the spirit man there is no way Satan could deceive us through our soul realm.

God wants submitted bodies and He wants transformed minds. He knows that is our greatest defense against Satan.

The Spirit brings the Body into Subjection

Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth:

"But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others I myself should become disqualified" (1 Cor. 9:27, NKJV, emphasis added).

The word "I" means the real spiritual man inside Paul. He called his body "it". Paul was saying his inner spiritual man had to bring his body into subjection. In other words, Paul would not let his body do everything it wanted to do. Paul knew that his soul could not discipline his body and bring it into subjection. If Paul failed to bring his body into subjection by his recreated spirit then his soul would take over and he would not be qualified to preach to others. Paul knew that his preaching must come with the revelvation of God's Word and God's power (1 Cor. 2:4). He must not preach according to the wisdom of man. Soulish and compromising preaching would not be acceptable to God because it could not minister to the recreated spirit of the hearer. Neither could such preaching convict the natural man (unbeliever) of sins. Soulish preaching were more likely to condemn sinners instead! True Biblical preaching ministers directly to the spirit of the hearers.

If the contemporary Church is to adhere to Paul's standard strictly, not many of us are truly qualified to preach!

Instruments of Righteousness

Paul wrote to the Roman Christians:

"Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God" (Romans 6:13, emphasis added).

The word "members" derives from the Greek word "melos" meaning members of our body - Our five senses, our hands and feet etc. The word "instruments" derives from the Greek word "hoplon" meaning our armor or weapons. The phrase "alive from the dead" speaks of the born again or regeneration experience. When a person's dead spirit is regenerated or recreated he is made alive again. He is now able to take control of his unregenerated soul.

Therefore, according to Paul when a person is born again he has the ability to make the members of his body as weapons of righteouness to God. His recreated spirit enables him to take control of his soul and body to do righteous acts for God.

Consequences of not heeding Jesus' and Paul's teachings

One amazing thing about the Scripture is that many things are prophetic. God, being the creator, knows the human heart. He writes the scenario for His people and for His Church. He knows that in the last days, most of His people would find the conditions He laid down for righteous living quite unattainable.

Paul, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, wrote two epistles to Timothy to warn him about what is going to happen to the Church in the days to come. Paul's words are prophetic. These things are now happening right before our eyes!

"Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth" (1 Timothy 4:1 to 3, emphasis added).

Why do Christians depart from the Christian faith and follow doctrines of demons? There might be many reasons for this. But, I believe the main reason being Christians become soulish and fail to have their soul and body under the subjection of their regenerated spirit. Satan has no difficulty in planting his foothold on the unredeemed soul and body of God's people!

Paul's other message to Christians is:

"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come; for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unforgiving, slanders, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away" (2 Timothy 3:1 to 5, emphasis added).

Paul listed 18 moral blemishes due to degeneration of human character, conduct and behavior. These people are not unbelievers, but are religious Christians and churchgoers who show "a form of godliness" but deny the power of holy living. This is the condition of the apostate church. Why? The reason is the same; people tend to love soulish living. Keeping the "form" of the Christian faith is considered more important than having a Spirit-to-spirit relationship with the Head of the Church, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Soul and Soulish Activities

You cannot find the word "soulish" in any English translation of the Bible or in any English dictionary. I use this word to describe the activities in the soul realm. The closest Greek word equivalent to the non-existent English word "soulish" is "psuchikos" meaning "natural", "earthly" or "sensual".

Paul in his discourse about the resurrection of the dead wrote:

"The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is spiritual body" (1 Cor. 15:42 and 44, NKJV, emphasis added).

The phrase "natural body" translated from Greek means "earthly body", "sensual body" or "soulish body". So, every person on earth (Christian or non-christian) has a soulish body and we all live in this soulish body.

As we have seen in my previous postings the full personality of a man consists of his spirit, soul and body. We are created to have our spirit led by the Holy Spirit, to direct or dictate our soul, and our soul to direct our body. Someone has said, God created our spirit as king, our soul as servant and the body as slave. But, the original God ordained functions of man's personality were changed after the Fall. The spirit died, his soul became the king and his body became the servant and subjected to corruption.

The whole process of salvation puts them in the right order again. But, as we have seen earlier (refer to my posting "The Saving of Souls") our salvation is not complete. Full salavation comes at the resurrection when our soulish or earthly body shall be transformed into a spiritual body. The spiritual body will be directly controled by the our spirit without having to go through the our soul realm (mind and reasoning). Some one has said, at the present age the soul realm is the "bottle neck" of our spirit. Therefore, we still have to deal with our soul life all through our Christian walk. We have to live in this condition.

Activities of the Spirit and Soul

All Christian activites involve the spirit and soul working together with the five senses of the body as channels to act out these activities. But there are differences in activities. Soul activities are activities belong to the soul realm but dictated (controled) by the Holy Spirit. Soulish activities are activities dictated by the rebellious soul of the Christian.

It is interesting to identify some common activities in the Christian life so that we can place these activities in their proper realm. We need to bear in mind that all these activities are good as long as the Christian is truly led by the the Spirit of God and everything works in perfect harmony.

Here are some examples:

Worship

As I have pointed out earlier, worship is an activity of the recreated spirit of man led by the Spirit of God. The natural man simply cannot worship or praise God. In fact, no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3).

The corresponding activity in the soul realm is praise. When to praise God is a decision of the will of the Christian. He chooses when and how to praise God. He praises God in his understanding and intellect.

Mary greeted Elizabeth at the house of Zacharias said:

"My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior ..." (Luke 1:46 and 47, NIV, emphasis added).

Mary's spirit rejoices (a form of worship) in God, but her soul glorifies (a form of praise) God.

The corresponding activity in the body is bowing, lifting up of hands, clapping or dancing.

2 Sam. 6:14 says, "king David danced before the Lord" after he brought back the Ark of God to the City of David. He danced because his spirit rejoiced with gladness. David was led by the Spirit of God to dance.

Revelation

Revelation comes by the Spirit of God.

Paul prayed, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him" (Eph. 1:17, NKJV, emphasis added).

Notice that wisdom and revelation are part of the Spirit of God and we can only receive them in the spirit realm. We know God by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. In other words, our spirit-to-Spirit relationship with God gives us the knowledge of Him.

The corresponding activity in the soul realm is doctrine, theology or theological teaching. I am not saying doctrine and theology are wrong and not good. They are good and needed if they are entirely Bible based and Christ centered. But, they are in the realm of the soul, intellect and reasoning and must be distinguished from spiritual revelation which comes directly from the Spirit of God. No one gets to know God by theology alone.

In my opinion, the average contemporary local Church has a lot of theology but very little revelation. It seems some preachers are frightened of revelation and think it is far more reliable to depend on theology or teaching materials of renowned Christian writers.

Preachers should emulate Paul:

"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power" (1 Cor. 2:4 and 5, NIV, emphasis).

You cannot find Pual refering to any man-certered doctrine, rules and regulations in any of his epistles. Our faith should rest on the revelation and power of God.

In fact he said, "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ" (Col. 2:8, emphasis added).

In other words, philosophy and basic principles of the world have no place in the Body of Christ, in preaching or in any Church activity!

Joy

As we have seen from the example of Mary's Prayer (or Song), joy comes from the Spirit of God. The truth is that joy depends entirely on God. Since God never changes (Mal. 3:6) we need not be without joy at any moment of time.

In fact, the Psalmist said, "To God my exceeding joy" (Ps. 43:4).

Think about it; if God is your joy and if you are without joy, then you are either without God or cut off from God. Either way you cannot call yourself a true Christian or a true disciple of Christ!

Furthermore, Christians are instructed by Paul to "Rejoice always" (1 Thess. 5:16).

The last Chapter of Habakkuk gives us a clear picture of what Biblical Joy is.

"Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls - Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (Habakkuk 3:17 and 18, emphasis added).

In the midst of all those calamities Habakkuk chose to rejoice in the Lord. Joy is a decision of the will.

The corresponding activity in the soul realm is happiness. The main difference is, happiness depends entirely on situation or circumstances. It depends on the way people are treating you. It depends on your financial situation and other experiences in life. It is never constant but fluctuates. No one is able to feel happy all the time.

The corresponding activity in the body is how we perceive the situation by our five senses. It is always pleasurable to be joyful or to feel happy.

The Rebellious Soul

Our soul is opened to Satan's prompting and deception.

James said we are tempted when we are drawn away by our own desires (things of the soul) and enticed by Satan (James 1:14).

The soul of a born again, spirit baptized Christian can become soulish if he fails to walk in the Spirit and turns away from God in self-willed rebellion. The result is, in some measure he lost his fervent love towards God. He is no longer the same spiritual person he used to be. He is on the verge of "backsliding". He is not a lost soul, but his soul life becomes soulish. Satan somehow has a foothold on him. He becomes a soulish person if he is no longer led by the Spirit of God. The soulish nature in him produces soulish substitutes of true spiritual activities.

Soulish Substitutes of Spiritual Activities

I have to say that the following comments are entirely subjective. It is my personal evaluation from personal observation and experiences. My readers need not agree with me.

Here are some examples:

Worship

In true spiritual worship the believer gives himself unreservedly to God. He is God focused.

The soulish substitute of worship is entertainment which is self focused. In entertainment the "worshiper" says bless me and give me a good time. His main reason of going to a Church service is to "get blessed" by participating in soulish singing of soulish songs with deafening soulish music. The leaders of their Church know most of the churchgoers have itching ears and could not endure sound doctrine and so they simply give them what they want. Soulish preachers are invited to "preach" man-pleasing compromising "sermons" (1 Tim. 4:3 and 4). Everyone is happy (of the soul) and tells others to come and "get blessed". It is not surprising that these Churches always have large congregations of churchgoers.

Discernment

In true spiritual discernment the believer is led by the Holy Spirit to assess a situation or a another person's conduct or attitude in certain circumstances. We have to be very careful here. Christians who do not understand much about spiritual discernment might think you are judging others. One of the most common misunderstood verses of the Bible taken out of context is Mattew 7:1. Many Christians including Pastors and Church leaders think they have no right to judge at all. Matters pertaining to "Discernment and Judging" is so confusing and at the same time so important that I intend (God helping me) to have a posting on this topic soon.

The soulish substitute is criticism. When Christians are walking in the soulish realm they could not understand things of the Spirit for these are foolishness to them (1 Cor. 2:14). It is a natural tendency to criticize things that seem foolish to them.

Compassion

The show of compassion comes from the realm of the Spirit.

The Gospel tells us that Jesus shows compassion to the lame, the blind, the sick and the demon possessed. He heals and delivers them. In other words, He does something to change the situation.

When Jesus was in the company of Mary and Martha at the death of Lazarus, Jesus wept. But His weeping was the result of His "troubled" Spirit and His showing of compassion towards Lazarus' sisters. The Bible says, "He groaned in the spirit and was troubled" (John 11:33, NKJV). Jesus was never soulish.

It is true that a Christian cannot heal another person's sickness; but he can certainly pray for that person, shares the Gospel to him and ministers to his needs.

The soulish substitute is sympathy or show of pity. A "self-pity" person is always seeking sympthy. Self-pity is a result of self-love. This person is walking in the soulish realm. He desires friends to say "Poor you, I feel sorry for you". This person might feel good for a while but there is little or nothing done by his friends to change the situation.

Job was surrounded by friends who were sympathetic toward him.

Conviction

Conviction of sin is the work of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8). Conviction usually leads to repentance.

The soulish substitute is guilt or condemnation. God never makes people feel guilty but Satan does. Satan is called "the accuser of our brethren" (Rev. 12:10). The last thing that Satan wants is repentance of God's people. He is the thief to come to steal, to kill and to destroy (John 10:10). He does not want God to forgive you through repentance.

No Christian has the right to condemn another Christian.

Paul said, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, ... (Romans 8:1).

Revelation

All spiritual truth and prophecies are the work of the Holy Spirit. The Scripture says prophecy "never came by the will of man" (2 Peter 1:21) and "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Tim. 3:16). In other words, no one knows any spiritual truth unless he receives it by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. The Bible is written by the revelation of the Holy Spirit.

The soulish substitute is manipulation.

A situation might arise at the end of a Christian meeting when the invited preacher says, "God tells me that the gentleman sitting at the back row will give RM5000 to this ministry at the end of the meeting. God will certainly bless him even more abundantly if he gives more!"

It could well be a genuine revelation of the Holy Spirit. But, if it is not , then this is maniputlation or witchcraft in disquise!

In His "Sermon on the mount" Jesus said, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves" (Matt. 7:15). He said further that "Therefore by their fruits you will know them" (verse 20).

Christians need spiritual discernment to understand what are true spiritual activities and what are soulish substitutes of the real things!

The Church of Jesus Christ needs the Spirit of discernmet in the Last Days!

Regeneration and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit

The New Testament Scripture makes it very clear that regeneration of the human spirit and the baptism in the Holy Spirit are two different distinct experiences. This statement might offend many theologians who seem to obscure the distinction. This is very unfortunate. The result of this deception is, many churchgoers believe that when they have repented of their sins, said the "sinner's prayer", saved and genuinely born again they have "got in all" and there is no question that they have not received the Holy Spirit yet! Consequently, they are missing what God has in store for them.

It is interesting to note that according to the Scripture John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus in ministry and message; it follows that John's baptism of repentance was also the forerunner of Jesus' baptism in the Holy Spirit:

Jesus said, "John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now" (Acts 1:5, NKJV).

Any Christian who takes Jesus's Word seriously would surely like to be baptized by Him with the Holy Spirit!

When a natural person repents of his sin and turns toward Jesus and confesses Jesus as his Saviour and Lord his spirit is instantly regenerated and his recreated spirit is ready to receive the Holy Spirit.

What happens when a person is regenerated?

Regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit producing a new nature in the spirit of man. The dead spirit of the natural man is recreated by the incorruptible seed of the Word (Jesus) of God at the time of regeneration. The result of this instant transformation is that the Jesus nature, the Word of God nature is reproduced by the Spirit of God within the believer. This is what happens when a person is born again by the Spirit of God.

Every born again believer is able to say boldly:

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ live in me; ..." (Gal. 2:20, NKJV).

Every believer knows the mystery (1 Cor. 2:7) of God that has been hidden:

"To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiels: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27, emphasis added).

In other words, when Christ is in you, there is hope of glorifying with Him when He comes again. On the other hand, there is no hope when Christ is not in you because you are not regenerated! This mystery is made known to the regenerated spirit of Gentile believers.

The Temple of the Holy Spirit and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit

The New Testament Scripture says true believers as a body of Christ (worshipers in the Local Church) are collectively the "temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in them" (1 Cor. 3:16). In other words, God the Spirit dwells in the midst of the local congregation of the true Church of Jesus Christ. The next verse says anyone defiles this temple of God, God will destroy him!

The Scripture also says the physical body of the individual believer is also the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19).

God chooses the physical bodies of regenerated men to do His works on earth. Our earthly bodies belong to God and are created to be holy vessels for His Spirit to dwell in so that we can to do His work effectively. Always remember that whatever work we do for God is accomplished by the Holy Spirit that dwells in us. Without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5). Power in preaching and witnessing (Acts 1:8) are two examples.

The recreated spirit of man is now led by the God's Spirit and is given the privilege of welcoming the Holy Spirit into the body which has become His temple. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is essentially the welcoming of God's Spirit into His temple.

I hope the following Scripture passage will help to make my point clear.

Paul wrote to the Spirit baptized Christians of the Church in Corinth:

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price" (1 Cor. 6:19, NIV).

There are two important things to take note of:

1. The body of every believer in the Corinthian Church is the temple of the Holy Spirit because all of them are baptized in the Holy Spirit. Everyone has received the Holy Spirit from God and everyone has the Holy Spirit dwelling in his body.

2. Paul is reminding them that they are redeemed by the the blood of Jesus even though at the present time the redemption of their individual body is not complete yet. As I have mentioned before, complete redemption will only come at the resurrection when the believer's body will be transformed into a glorified body. But, Christ's ownership of the believer's body is already established because He has already paid the full price of redemption!

Paul said, "The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also"(1 Cor. 6:13 and 14, NIV, emphasis added).

Notice that the reason why Christ (in His Spirit) dwells in the body of the Spirit baptized believer is because his body is rightfully His! The devil has no claim on the body of the Spirit baptized believer. Furthermore, if our bodies do not belong to the Lord, God would not raise us up - which means no resurrection.

What happens when the Holy Spirit comes into the temple?

I hope the following two examples will throw in some lights:

1. Solomon said, "The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inner depths of his heart" (Proverbs 20:27).

A lamp needs oil to burn and to give light. The spirit of the un-regenerated person is like a lamp without the oil and without the light. The spirit of the regenerated person is like a lamp with oil but without light. But, when the Holy Spirit comes in and the spirit of the regenerated man is set on fire and becomes the lamp of the Lord searching the inner depths of his heart or belly (King James). So, until you are regenerated and baptized in the Holy Spirit you are in the dark about yourself. You simply do not know what is inside you. But, when the Holy Spirit comes in and the light of God begins to shine inside you, you might be shocked to find out all the unclean and rotten things inside you. This happened to me when I was baptized in the Holy Spirit years ago. I did not know how sinful I was until God's Spirit came to dwell in my body! We must not expect the Holy Spirit to say that we are perfect, for if we are perfect we would not need the Holy Spirit.

2. Jesus was in the company of unbelieving Jews and the Pharisees. They believed in Moses but not in Jesus. They were having some religious festival for several days. At the end of the last day of the feast Jesus stood and cried out to them:

"If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water" (John 7:37 and 38, emphasis added).

The next verse indicates that Jesus was talking about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Notice that John's record of this incident in the Gospel is prophetic.

"But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (verse 39, emphasis added).

Notice that the Holy Spirit was sent by God the Father after Jesus was glorified (John 16:7 to 11). This happened in the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2).

Jesus was saying when the believer is baptized in the Holy Spirit, out of his heart (his belly) would flow rivers of living water. Not just one river by rivers! The transformation is simply amazing. Man's spirit is created to relate to God and to receive His Spirit. He has a thirst for God after regeneration. This thirst could only be quenched with the filling of God's Spirit. When he thirsts for God, God will fill him with the Holy Spirit. When he is filled, the "rivers of living water" will flow out from him to touch lives and he will be an effective channel of God's blessings for others.

Notice that religion (comes from the human soul) does not satisfy the thirst of man's spirit. The Jews and the Pharisees were practicing religion during their ritualistic religious festival. They could only understand things of the soul (mind, reasons, theology, rules and regulations) but not things of the Spirit. They failed to understand what Jesus was talking about.

What happens when Spirit baptized believers speak in tonques?

As we have seen in my previous postings when a person is born again, his spirit is recreated and the original purpose and functions of his spirit, soul and body are restored. His spirit, led by the Spirit of God directs his soul and his soul directs his body in this order.

The spirit of man does not normally directly control his body without going through his soul. There is one unique activity of the spirit that does not go through a person's soul. This is speaking in tongue. In speaking or praying in tongue the spirit of the spirit-filled Christian directly controls the five senses of his body without going through his mind and his reasoning. His tongue utters things according to the Spirit of God - things our natural mind, intellect and reasoning could not understand (Romans 8:26).

Paul said, "For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful" (1 Cor. 14:2 and 14, NIV, emphasis added).

When a person speaks in tonque he speaks to God and not to men. No one understands him because "understanding" comes from the soul realm. In fact, he himself does not understand what was speaking or praying about unless this person has the gift of interpretation of tongues! All these are "mysteries" to men but not to God.

Praying in tongue is the only effective way of praying according to the perfect will of God!

True Biblical Worship

Worship is an attitude originates from the spirit of man. When a regenerated man worships God he shows the inward attitude of his heart towards God.

"Worship" derives from the Greek word "proskuneo" which means "to prostrate oneself in reverence and adoration towards God", or "kiss of the hand" of the object of worship to show reverence.

Biblical Example of True Worship

Psalms 95 paints a vivid picture of the steps to be taken in worshiping the Lord our God.

First, the psalmist gives his reason for praising Him with shouts of joy:

"For the Lord is the great God, and the great King above all gods" (Ps. 95:3 and 4, NKJV).

We praise Him because He is our great and mighty God and He is worthy of our praise.

Notice the prelude to worship is praise and thanksgiving (verse 1 and 2). After this we enter into true worship:

"Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker" (verse 6).

The reason for worshiping Him is:

"For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand".

In other words, God wants every one of His sheep to worship Him. Any person who has no reason to worship Him is not His people!

Notice that to praise and to give thanks to God is a decision a man needs to make (in his soul realm) before he is able to enter into true spiritual worship.

The benefits of worship is hearing God's voice and entering His rest (Verses 7 and 11). God's voice comes with the revelation of God's purpose for the worshipers. If the worshipers obey and followup with the revelation he shall enter His rest.

Do we hear God's voice in our weekly "Worship" service in the Local Church? If we fail to hear His voice and fail to enter His rest then it is quite possible that we fail to worship him the way He wants us to. It is possible to praise Him correctly but fall short of true worship.

The Intimacy of Spiritual Union with God in Worship

As we have seen in my previous posting "The Saving of Souls" the spirit of the regenerated man enables him to relate to God directly in intimate union in the spiritual realm. Out of this Spirit-to-spirit union man gets to know Him and to worship Him. Man's ability to have union and communion with God in one Spirit is restored in the new birth.

Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians:

"Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, 'The two will become one flesh'. But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit" (1 Cor. 6:16 and 17, NIV, emphasis added).

Here Paul paints a vivid picture of the intimacy brought about by the union in one spirit between God and man by comparing it with the physical union between a man and a prostitute. The former is a Spirit-to-spirit union and the other is a body-to-body union. Both unions are equally intense and intimate. But, the former is pleasing to God and the other is an abomination to God. I am not saying that all body-to-body unions are not acceptable to God. The body-to-body union between a man and his wife is not only acceptable but honorable (Hebrews 13:4)!

Worship that is Acceptable to God

Jesus own Words declared who are the true worshipers and what form of worship God the Father seeks after:

"But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:23 and 24, NKJV, emphasis added).

The two spiritual conditions laid down by Jesus to make believers' worship acceptable to God are "worship in spirit and in truth".

Worship God in Spirit

Believers need to worship God in spirit because God is Spirit. As I have mentioned earlier it is the spirit of the regenerated man and not his soul or his body that is capable of having direct relationship and fellowship with God. Fellowship and worship are both in the spiritual realm and they go hand in hand together. Our soul and body are not capable of worshiping the true God. Un-regenerated religious people usually worship their god in the soul realm - using their intellect to observe man-made rules and regulations; using their reasoning and their own strength and effort.

Let us examine the attitude of the Samaritan woman at the well. The Samaritan woman was a sinful un-regenerated person. Obviously she was spiritually blind and only her soul realm was active. She did not understand things of the spirit and so she used her reasoning to explain her idea of worship. Her emphasis was the right place of worship (John 4:20). To her the place of worship is more important than the acceptable way of worshiping God. She was accustomed to follow rules and regulations.

Notice the words spoken by Jesus to the woman were prophetic. Within 100 years of the meeting with the woman the temple in Jerusalem (where the Jews gathered to worship) was destroyed. Jesus was telling her if she would worship in the spirit, then the place of worship became unimportant.

Worship God in Truth

I believe this means worshipers need to conduct themselves in sincerity, absolute openness and honesty before God. They need to come to God holding nothing back, concealing nothing and exposing their whole heart and life to Him. This excludes many things found in religious practice - things like hypocrisy, mere outward show, lip service and lying (insincerity).

The worship of Ananias and his wife Sapphira (Acts 5) illustrates this truth perfectly. They sold a possession and offered to God (as an act of worship) the proceeds of their sale. But their action was not sincere for they lied to the Holy Spirit. They pretended to have given all, but in actual fact they kept back a part for themselves. This action of failing to worship God in truth costs them their lives!

Major Spiritual Activities related to Worship of Regenerated Men

The Scripture reveals three major activites only the spirit of the regenerated men could accomplish. These are worship, fellowship and revelation taken in this order. Out of worship we have fellowhip with God and with other believers. Out of fellowship there is revelation and out of revelation there comes a spiritual birth.

This truth is vividly illustrated by the worship and fellowship of the believers in the first Church at Antioch.

"In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaeo (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.' So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off" (Act 13:1, 2, 3, NIV, emphasis added).

A group of believers including prophets and teachers were fellowshiping in the Church at Antioch. They were worshiping and fellowshiping with the Lord, ministering to Him together. Out of these spiritual activities (with prayer and fasting) came forth a divine revelation of a divine purpose - "The Holy Spirit said, ....". The Church received a divine instruction to send Paul and Barnabas for the First Missionary Journey.

The end result was that they accomplished the purpose of God as recorded at the end of Act 14.

"From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now accompleted" (Acts 14:26, NIV).

They've got the job done because it was born out of the Spirit and not out of the soul realm. The purpose of God is always fulfilled in the spiritual realm.

"What ever is born of God overcomes the world" (1 John 5:4, NKJV).

What ever is born of God must succeed and cannot fail. What ever is born of God cannot be touched or be defeated by Satan. The same cannot be said about what ever is born of the human soul -mind, intellect, reasoning, will and emotion!

In fact, the soul realm could open a place for Satan's foothold. Satan cannot touch our spiritual worship to God because all true worship is in the spiritual realm.

The Saving of the Soul

It is common for Christians to talk about the saving of souls. For example you might have heard a fellow Christian asking you something like this, "How many souls were saved in the Evangelistic Meeting last night?" Another might say, "This brother is a good soul winner."

What this Christian brother means, without any doubt is how many lost persons were saved, how many were born again or how many gave their life to Jesus. But if you ask him how many lost souls were regenerated he might think you are weird or even crazy.

The Nelson Bible Dictionary defines "regeneration" as the spiritual change brought about in a person's life by an act of God. In regeneration a person's sinful nature is changed, and he is enabled to respond to God in faith. "Regeneration" comes from the Greek word "Paliggenesia" which means spiritual rebirth, spiritual renovation or messianic restoration. Therefore, the true meaning of regeneration is the new birth or the born agin experience. Regeneration is an instant act of God. There is no such thing as a gradual birth or rebirth!

The apostle Paul wrote to Titus, "But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:4, 5, NKJV, emphasis added).

Notice that the work of the Holy Spirit, among other things is the regeneration and renewing of man's spirit. Do not confuse this act of the Holy Sprit with the "washing of water by the Word" (Eph. 5:25, 25) which means "sanctification" by the Word of God.

The truth of the matter is, salvation of the whole person involves three stages - Regeneration of the human spirit, saving of the human soul and the transformation of the human body. There is no confusion provided we understand the fact that every human being is a spirit being. He has a soul (mind, will, and emotions) and he lives in a body.

I suggest my readers refer to my earlier postings before they continue to read this - "The Three Type of Man" (28th. Feb 2005) and "Christian's New Heart" (10th. March 2005).

The Impotance of the Right Teaching

Some Local Churches fail to give the right teaching and as a result many Christians still think there is no difference between the spirit and the soul in a person. But the Scripture is very clear.
Paul said, "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess. 5:23, emphasis added).

In other words, in our earthly life (Christian's journey of salvation) our whole spirit, soul, and body need to be set apart (sanctification) so as to remain blameless before God till the second coming of Jesus Christ.

The writer of Hebrews said, "For the word of God is living and powerful, an sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12, emphasis added).

In other words, any Bible teacher who teaches that there is no difference between the spirit and soul is ignorant of the Word of God. He has in effect blunted the two-edged sword of the Spirit. The result is those who submit themselves to such teaching are easy targets for Satan.

Division of Spirit, Soul and Body

Very briefly, here are the functions of the whole nature of man:

The spirit of man relates man to the spiritual realm. It give man the ability to know (not just knowing about) God (1 Cor. 2:11, 12 and John 17:3). This is only possible after the spirit of man has been quickened by the Spirit of God (ie after regeneration). Conscience is a function of the human spirit. It has been created with the ability to "see" general moral truths. Therefore even before the act of regeneration the natural man has a measure of conscience (Romans 2:14, 15). The natural man is not totally immoral and has some natural desire to do "good". Otherwise, he would behave like a wild animal!

The soul of man relates man to the interllectual and emotional realm. The soul is that part of man consisting of mind, the will, and the emotion. The soul makes a man self-conscious.

The body of man relates man to the physical realm. It relates to the world with the five senses. Notice that with our body we contact the world where Satan is god (2 Cor. 4:4). Therefore unless our soul and body are under the subjection of the regenerated spirit of man, we are in danger of demonic attack. More on this in my next posting.

The True Meaning of Saving of Soul

When a person is born again by the Spirit of God only his spirit is regenerated. The new birth is a spiritual rebirth and not a "soulish" rebirth or a physical rebirth. There is no change in his soul or body. If he was baldheaded before he was born again, he is still baldheaded. He still sins sometimes when he is tempted and if he fails to let his regenerated spirit takes control of his soul-life (please read my previous posting - "Christians do Sin"). But, the difference is, after rebirth he has the right spiritual man inside him to control his soul and his body. In other words, after rebirth he still has his outword man (soul and body) to deal with; but now he has the power to put his fleshly carnal nature (his unredeemed soul) under subjection of his regenerated spirit throughout his Christian walk. His soul needs to be saved because of this.

How the Soul of Man Saved

1. James wrote to born again believers:

"Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your soul. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1:21, 22, emphasis added).

In other words, a Christian's soul is saved by the implanted word. He must also be a doer of the Word and not a hearer. So, according James the Word of God is the only thing that will save the believer's soul - his mind, will and emotion.

Someone correctly said that it is either the Bible keeps us from sin or sin keeps us from the Bible. But some Christian are persuaded that it is either the Church keeps them from sin or sin keeps them from the Church! Pastors who convey such message to the members of the congregation would find their Churches always growing!

2. Peter wrote to Christians:

"Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the Brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever" (1 Peter 1:22, 23, emphasis added).

Notice that after having been born again, the soul (mind, will and emotion) of the Christian needs to be purified (saved, renewed, protected, healed, preserved, made well and whole) through (by recieving and by doing and unholding) the truth of God's Word. In other words, compromised or man-pleasing "truth"will harm the soul instead of purifying it!

3. Paul wrote to the Roman Christians:

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of you mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:1, 2, emphasis added).

The mind is part of a man's soul. The Christian mind needs to be renewed, renovated or to be restored or to be made like new again. The way to have the mind renewed is to "present the bodies as living sacrifice to God". God wants submitted bodies and transformed minds. When our mind is renewed with the Word, our thinking is transformed. When our thinking is transformed, our acting is transformed. When our acting is transformed we (our entire life) are transformed. The result is knowledge of the perfect will of God. No one knows the perfect will of God without the transfomation of the mind and thinking by the Word of God.

4. David's Psalm 23

Let us look at another verse in connection with the saving of the soul. Most Christians are familiar with Psalm 23 (the Shepherd Psalm):

"The Lord is my shepherd ..... He restores my soul; ...." (Psalm 23:1, 2, 3, emphasis added).

Notice that Psalm 23 is a prophetic Psalm written by the psalmist David for the Church. We are living in Psalm 23 right now because it says, "The Lord is my shepherd" and in the New Testament Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd (John 10:11). Once again it is the Word (Jesus is the Word) who restores or renews our soul.

Conclusion

Man's spirit is not restored or renewed; it is instantly recreated in rebirth. But, man's soul (mind, will and emotion) needs to be restored (or saved) with the Word of God.

Jesus says His Words are Spirit and Life:

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63, emphasis added).

The "flesh" comes from the unsaved or unrestored soul (the old Adamic nature) which "profits nothing".

Christians Do Sin

At first glance, this statement is obvious. Most Christians understand that only God is sinless and the best a Christian can do in his Christian walk is try not to sin and try to be blameless and above reproach in conduct and attitude.

The question is not whether Christians would sin or not, but more importantly are genuinely born again Christians supposed to sin and yet acceptable to God.

Recently I was asked to comment on a verse written by John in his first Epistle:

"Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God" (1 John 3:9, NKJV, emphasis added).

My own paraphrase of this verse goes like this:

"A true Christian who claims to be born again does not sin because God's seed remains in him. The fact that he has been born of God, not only he does not continue to sin but he is not capable of sinning".

If my interpretation is correct and acceptable then true Christians do not exist and no one has God's seed remain in him. Furthermore, whether a believer is born again or not has no significance because everyone is quite capable of sinning without even trying! I must have taken this verse out of context; or this must be one of the "hard sayings" in the Bible.

Before we throw up our hands in disbelief and consider this as one of the "secret things" of God (Deu. 29:29) let us look at some other translations:

Instead of using the phrase "he cannot sin" (as in King James, NKJ, New American Standard and RSV), the NIV says "he cannot go on sinning", the New Living Version says "they can't keep on sinning".

A not-so-common version of the Bible - Charles B. Williams's New Testament Translation - says:

"Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin because the God-given life-principle continues to live in him. And he cannot practice sinning, because he is born of God"

The Amplified Bible also says "he cannot practice sinning".

In my opinion "he cannot practice sinning" seems to be a more accurate description. The word "practice" implies sinning willfully, openly and in action. The phrase implies that a true Christian does not sin in deed (Rom. 1:32) and in word (Matt. 5:22). But, he can (even if he is not expected to) sin in thought.

A good example of sinning in thought is:

"Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life" (1 John 3:15, NIV).

Another example is:

"But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matt. 5:28, NIV).

God allows Christian to sin

The Scripture says not only God allows but expects Christians to sin. There are several reasons for this:

1. Paul's teaching

The apostle Paul acknowledges this truth. In Chapter 7:14 to 25 of the Epistle to the Romans Paul describes the burden of sin vividly:

"For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me" (Rom. 7:19, 20).

In verses 17 and 25 Paul says it is the flesh in him that causes him to serve the law of sin.

Paul further says that, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit" (Rom. 8:1, emphasis added).

In other words, born again Christians (those who are in Christ Jesus) would not be condemned provided they keep on walking according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh.

2. John's teaching

The First Epistle of John is written to believers to give them instructions in their Christian walk. John acknowledges that Christian do sin sometimes even in their fellowship with God and with one another.

"If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses up from all sin. If we say that we have not sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:6 to 8, emphasis added).

John tells Christians what to do when they sin:

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

In other words, Christians must confess their known sins - sins revealed by the Holy Spirit. Notice that the Holy Spirit convicts and does not condemn.

Why do Christians sin?

Let us turn our attention to Paul's epistle to the Romans:

"For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified" (Romans 8:29, 30).

Some Bible teachers call this well-known passage the "Golden chain of salvation". The Bible never endorses instant salvation for mankind. Salvation is a journey or a process begins with God's foreknowledge and is carried through to the glorification of the believer. Those who are interested to know my comment on foreknowledge and predestination should read my earlier posting - "God's Choice and God's Calling" dated 28th Feb. 2005.

Born again believers are saved as Paul said, "being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus ... " (Romans 3:24). But, their salvation is far from complete. Believers sin because their salvation is not complete. They need to go through the process of sanctification in their life:

Paul said, "But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctifiaction by the Spirit and belief in the truth" (2 Thess. 2:13, emphasis added).

Jesus prayed to the Father, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth" (John 17:17).

In other words, God's Word and God's Spirit are the means of sanctifying and cleansing (read Eph. 5:25 to 27).

Salvation will be complete at the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ:

"And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation" (Hebrews 9:27, 28, emphasis added).

In other words, complete salvation is offered to believers who are ready and and are eagerly waiting for His return.

Believers will have glorified bodies (1 Cor. 15:51 to 54). They will be glorified just as Christ is glorified and becomes sinless as Christ is sinless - for there is no sin in heaven!

Jesus the Prophet

Jesus has many titles. We usually call Him the Savior, Lord, King, King of kings, Lord of lords, the Good Shepherd and many other names. But, one important title seldom used in the Contemporary Church is Jesus the Prophet.

Moses spoke to all Israel, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear" (Deuteronomy 18:15, NKJV).

In other words, Moses, the greatest of all hebrew prophets prophesied that the future generations of Israel would hear the voice of the Prophet whom God raised up from among the Jews. This Prophet is Jesus Christ.

In New Testament time Jesus is also the Prophet to Hebrew and Gentile Christians:

The writer of Hebrews said, "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds ...." (Hebrews 1:1, 2, emphasis added).

Notice that, in general, all truth or revelation is prophetic, pointing to some future event, happening or person. God speaks to us through His son by the Holy Spirit in "these last days" (New Testament time) concerning things to come.

The Prophetic Ministry of Jesus

The prophetic ministry of Jesus is manifested throughout the Gospels and other New Testament Scripture.

Here are some examples:

1. Jesus identified His betrayer, Judas Iscariot

Jesus said, "I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.' Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He" (John 13:18, 19, emphasis added).

Notice that the thing that sets apart Jesus as the Prophet is the ability to predict or foresee the betrayal of Judas Iscariot.

2. Jesus predicted Peter's denial

Jesus said to Peter, "Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times" (Matthew 26:34).

3. Jesus said to Ananias (in a vision) concerning His plan for Saul

"Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake" (Acts 9:15).

The above verse describes the entire ministry of Paul which came to pass precisely!

The Prophetic Ministry of the Church

I believe the prophetic truth of the Bible is greatly neglected in many sections of the Church of Jesus Christ today.

Generally, the Church Universal is divided into two unequal sections. One is a small section that is tremendously concerned with prophecy and in many cases gone overboard and become extreme in implying or interpreting prophecies. They often make sensational predictions with fixing of dates. When one prediction fails they substitute the next. In a certain extent they undermine the confidence of Christians in the prophetic Word of God. This is very unfortunate. The result is the other section of the Chruch rejects prophecies alltogeter. They say the prophetic ministry has died with the 12 apostles.

A renowned pastor of the biggest Church in California (if not the biggest in the USA) was heard saying "biblical prophecy is a diversion" (Reference from "Prophecy Update Ministry).

Strangely, what some Churches believed is predicted by Peter:

"....scoffers will come in the last day, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation'" (2 Peter 3:3, 4).

The fact that people misuse something (gift of prophecy) that God has provided is no reason why we should not use it. Satan can cause almost any good gift of God to be discredited by its misuse. If the Church is deceived by this we are actually giving Satan the victory!

The Church needs Prophets

According to the apostle Paul the Church of Jesus Christ fails to mature, fails to "come to the unity of faith" and fails to become a "perfect man" because Christians have rejected some of the five-fold ministry gifts:

"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, som evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, ..." (Ephesians 4:11 to 14, NKJV, emphasis added).

The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17). If w do not use the prophetic side of the sword of God's Word we have blunted one of the edges of the double-edged sword. This I believe is one of the reasons why a section of the Church has been defeated by false doctrine of deceitful and cunning men.

We must understand that prophecy is an integral part of the Bible. It is one of the great distinctive features of the Bible that separates it from any other religious books of the world. There is no true prophetic ministry in any religion of the world.

The Church needs to take heed of Prophetic truth

The New Testament teaches us emphatically to take heed of prophetic truth of God's Word.

Peter said, "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased'. We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts" (2 Peter 1:16 to 19, NIV, emphasis added).

Peter emphasizes to the tremendous importance of prophecies in the last days:

Take note of the following:

1. Peter's theme is the coming of Jesus in power and great glory (Matt. 24:30). The Greek word for the coming of Jesus is "parousia" indicating the physical return of the Lord Jesus with His bride on the Day of God (Please read my previous posting).

2. Peter gives a preview of what would be like when Jesus comes back. He is referring to the experience of the transfiguration of Jesus (Matt. 17:1 to 9). Peter and two other disciples, James and John witnessed how Jesus "was transfigured before them, His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as light" (verse 2). This is what Jesus would be like when He comes in His glory. Peter says this is not a stroy made up by him.

3. The strongest single testimony is not what Peter, James and John saw as eyewitnesses but what the what the prophetic Word of God declares. The word of the prophets is made more certain because Peter has already seen the fulfillment of the prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the first coming of Jesus.

4. Christians who pay attention to this prophetic Word are not in darkness but like "a light shining in a dark place". If we continue to seek and heed the prophetic Word a day will come when "the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts".

Conclusion

Seeing all the signs of the times coming to pass the Church cannot afford to remain in darkness. We need to heed of the precious Prophetic Word of God - God's final Authority.