Seven

Mon Jun 06, 11 4:48 am

Beware the "outpouring of the spirit". Yeshua promised the spirit of his presence to all believers. The event of Pentecost brought the fullness of that spirit too the believers, but was a unique event, and is and will always be a unique moment in church history. In Acts 10, peter does not instruct gentiles to seek a second experience after salvation because they received the fulness of the spirit the moment they believed (10:44).
All instances in the scripture of healing and speaking in tongues were specific. At pentecost, the disciples spoke clear languages. There is no point in scripture where speaking in tongues is defined as unintelligible babbling, and no place do the disciples heal indescriminantly. There were specific times and specific places for these gifts, and Paul even further limits the use of these gifts. 1 Corintians 12-14 was written to those who had those gifts at that time and used them improperly. Such gifts were temporary. 1 Cor 13 8-10 are pretty clear that upon the completion of the new testament canonization (the "Completeion") all of the gifts, which were partial anyways, would be done away with.

The fact is that high emotional experiences, "slayings in the spirit", speaking in tongues and healings do happen, but not just within christianity. Mormons rely heavily on the emotional outpourings of "the spirit". Muslims, Buddhists, and New age atheists all report people with the ability to heal and speak in "tongues". The fact is that G-d cannot be defined by these events, because the pagans have experiences so similar that they are frankly undifferentiated and indistinguishable from their christian counterparts. If these things were of G-d, then there should be a noticeable difference in the outcomes and processes of these occurrences, "avoid the appearance of evil".
This is not to say that the spirit cannot or does not act in the supernatural. But the expectation, even necessity that the modern pentecostal movement places on such gifts and events is borderline heretical. G-d doesn't change. His presence never changes. Having a moment during worship where you feel closer to Him is not his movement or the movement of the unchangeable Holy Spirit, it is a movement of the human heart, which is "deceitfully wicked". Defining G-d in any way by the emotional expiriences of the human heart is the same concept as secular dating; "I'm going to love this person because they make me feel good and like me."