Abba's Own. David R. Lumsden
emancipation, freedom from the bondage of sin, willingness to accept God, and new life, complete in Jesus, who prays for the Father to send the Holy Spirit, immediately, into a new believer’s heart, crying “Abba, Father,” to comfort, teach, lead and guide a believer in all truth.
CON PARAGRAPH
Every thesis has an antithesis. Nell W. Meriwether says that a good thesis always has an antithesis, which is an opposing viewpoint. She says that the Con paragraph immediately follows the Thesis Statement.⁹
The antithesis argues that salvation is attained (by works, not a gift) and man must get the Holy Spirit and be filled with the Holy Spirit after salvation, by the efforts of a man getting the Holy Spirit in you. This antithesis is recognized in the expression of such terms as ‘You may be saved, but you do not have the Holy Spirit in you.’ Proponents of the antithesis argue that ‘You do not speak in tongues. ‘Speaking in tongues’ is considered by non-biblical teachers to be a manifestation of the presence of the Holy Spirit, instead of love for God and others, joy, peace, along with other fruit of the Holy Spirit, (Gal 5: 22-23). They argue that you want to be anointed with oil (canola) because you want to get the Holy Spirit in you so that you can be delivered from demons. The School of Deliverance 101 teaches that you need to get the Holy Spirit in you every day to be delivered from demons each day.¹⁰
Man sets up his own rules for his completion of salvation, to be pleasing unto God, so he thinks, but that does not honour God and prepare one for eternity in Heaven. One of the outspoken voices on this antithesis is St. Alphonsus Liguori of the charismatic Catholic movement, author of Attaining Salvation: Devout Reflections and Meditations. It seems to Liguori that salvation to the Catholic is in the ‘Journey’ itself as if one earns one’s salvation by taking the journey and his study and service to God are what saves him, as the title of his book suggests. Liguori says, “Holy Virgin, thy prayers can enable me to find my true happiness, which is love earnestly thy Son. Oh, pray to Him for me; in thee I trust.”¹¹ Misplaced trust means a false hope. Any form of salvation by man’s making, i.e. Works, is unpleasing to God. Liguori says, “There is no other way to enter Heaven but by resigning ourselves to tribulations until death.”¹² Liguori in Attaining Salvation says, “This blood and thy intercession, O Mary, Mother of God, are all my hope.”¹³ Mary did not count on herself for salvation. She, too, needed redemption through Christ alone.
Kurt E. Koch in his book Occult ABC: Exposing Occult Practices and Ideologies writes of the Catholic persuasion and the charismatic movement. Two examples are highlighted; he writes:
“Ex 30 Some years ago in Kevin Ranaghan’s book, Catholic Pentecostals, I read:
‘Baptism with the Holy Spirit leads to a greater love of Mary, a greater veneration of the Pope, a greater submission to the Catholic Church, a more frequent attendance at Mass, and a greater authority in witnessing to these matters.”¹⁴
The Holy Spirit leads us not into false doctrines, but into all truth, that leads us to adore, revere and worship God, for example, you wake in the morning and as you
wake He speaks into your heart, “He that hath the Son hath life,” (1 Jn 5: 12a). How grateful we need to be. The Lord is supping with you. What a ‘good morning message, that is, when the Lord sups with you and you sup with Him with ‘I adore You and worship You, Lord my God,’ at the early moments of the morning.
Ex 31 Another experience written about by Koch, contains a similar lesson. Some years ago, I gave several lectures in a church in Rock Island, Illinois, USA. The pastor told me he had been invited by the Jesuits in New York to come and speak about the gifts of the Spirit. This group of Jesuits belonged to the charismatic movement. The pastor declined the invitation with the comment, ‘I should first address Jesuits on the subject of the second birth and conversion before I could deal with the subject of the gifts of the Spirit.’ This pastor said to me, ‘The Jesuits have gone straight into speaking in tongues without being born again, and that is not Scriptural.”¹⁵
Not only the Catholics, but many sincere Christians have been caught up in the charismatic infiltration of the true conservative, Evangelical Church. The charismatics do not have their church or denomination.
Another form of works related salvation is found and manifested by those of the charismatic movement, which is not biblical in its interpretation of Pentecost. Dr. John Rice, in his book entitled The Charismatic Movement picks up on this observation and writes on this issue. John Rice is Bible-believing, conservative, evangelical in his teaching. Soon into reading his book, one gleans his approach. It is a tremendous volume that he has written. He says that Jesus did not speak in foreign languages.¹⁶ The Alpha Course is an off-shoot of the charismatic movement. The Alpha Course users promote the ‘second blessing’ and speaking in tongues. Users promote a Holy Spirit Sunday with a banquet after which someone who has been saved gets the Holy Spirit in them. Alpha Course, along with the charismatic movement, seems to have infiltrated and split the Christian Church (the Charismatic Pentecostal Movement vs True Christian Church) more than anything else known in the history of the Church. In their practice, there is rejoicing over the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. When seeking to get the filling of the spirit, instead of acknowledging the gift of God at the time of salvation, what kind of spirit are they getting as a ‘baptism of spirits’ in them? What kind of spirit is gaining access to them and accepted into their ignorant and deceived soul? One time, an individual led two people to faith in Jesus Christ on a Sunday morning. The associate pastor of the church reprimanded the soul-winner, arranged a meeting with the new converts and did a follow-up on the next Thursday to get the holy spirit in them. The following Sunday morning, the individuals came back with a vengeance to accuse the soul-winner unjustly. Strange, ungodly things happen led by strange spirits, that do not bear witness with true believers, complete in Jesus, that they are children born of the Holy Spirit.
Believers experience spiritual warfare inside the true Church. Thomas B. White writes about spiritual warfare in his book entitled The Believer’s Guide to Spiritual Warfare. He defines Spiritual Warfare as:
“a multilevel conflict between good and evil initiated on the supernatural plane with the prehistoric rebellion of Lucifer and transferred onto the natural plane with the fall of man. Satan, man’s adversary, continues to work to deceive and divert people from salvation in Jesus Christ, and harass and hinder Christians through enticement to sin and exploitation of weaknesses.”¹⁷
The charismatic movement teaches an alternative to teaching completion through the works of Christ, alone, i.e. They teach receiving the work of the Holy Spirit as a second blessing after salvation. That is False teaching.
Neil T. Anderson in Winning Spiritual Warfare: Steps to Freedom in Christ writes, “Freedom in Christ from demonic deception and interference is the inheritance of every believer. (Galatians 5: 1) Christ has set you free through victory over sin and death on the cross.”¹⁸ God, only, can qualify His Word. He says, “Knowing that the proving of faith worketh patience,” (James 1: 3).
In God’s Word, Job’s wife says to Job, “Then said his wife unto him, ’Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die! But he said to her, You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. What? Shall we indeed accept good from God, and not accept adversity? In all this Job did not sin with his lips,” (Job 2: 9-10).
Job reproved his wife at the very thought. God won the victory for Job by keeping his lips shut, and his faith was upheld.
People need to read their Bible to understand the victory they have in Jesus and understand misleading interpretations, such as the existentialist interpretation of faith as ‘leap of faith’ (works), not the biblical Word, the truth of which reads by ‘faith’ in Jesus Christ (a grace gift of God at the time of salvation),
“For by grace have you been saved through faith (not a leap of faith) and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God (not man’s works), not of works, that no man should glory. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them,” (Eph 2: 8-10).
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