Questions and Answers Addendum (continued)

4. Are all signs, wonders, and miracles of God? No! Satan's agents can do the miraculous. Pharaoh's magicians could duplicate Moses' miracle, Exodus 7:10-12. Simon, an unsaved man, astonished people with his magic arts in Samaria, Acts 8:9-13. Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and his servants disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, 1 Corinthians 11:13-15. These and other false apostles and deceitful workers can perform signs and wonders, Matthew 7:22-23. Many false religions and cults include signs, wonders, and even tongues as enticements to attract people away from the true God.

5. What do people mean when they justify their experiences with the phrase "God is not the author of confusion"? Their experience may or may not be of God. However, their use of that phrase to defend some experience is illogical. It is true that God is never the author of confusion, 1 Corinthians 14:33. However, there are other authors. There are deceitful spirits and doctrines of devils, 1 Timothy 4:1-3. There are false teachers, 2 Peter 2:1. The Bible should be the basis of experience. Experience, even in the name of Christianity, is not self-authenticating.

6. Is being slain in the Spirit of God? Being slain in the Spirit refers to someone falling over at the touch of a leader. Falling down in the Spirit is a similar experience ... without a leader's touch. Nonbelievers falling to the ground, John 18:6, and the Spirit snatching Philip away from the Ethiopian eunuch, Acts 8:39, are not examples of being slain in the Spirit. There are no Biblical examples of, and no Biblical teaching about, this phenomenon. Being slain in the Spirit is extra-Biblical ... seen in experience but not found in the Bible.

7. Is the phenomenon of many in a church group laughing a manifestation of the Spirit? In addition, what about those who roar like lions in church services ... is that of the Spirit? Hopefully, these have been nothing more than passing fads in the history of strange experiences in some churches. No such unusual experiences are found in the Bible's teaching or in its record of early church experiences. Such happenings are extra-Biblical. Paul's exhortation may apply, "But let all things be done properly and in an orderly manner." 1 Corinthians 14:40. This verse should not exclude fervor and emotion ... but it should exclude chaos and disorder.

8. Shouldn't tongues be as popular in the church today as it was in the book of Acts? About 30 years of church history is recorded in Acts ... with more than 50 geographical locations mentioned ... and with missionary travels covering more than 7,500 miles (12,000 km). However, in all of that, tongues are mentioned only three times ... at Pentecost in Jerusalem, Acts 2 ... and when the Gospel came to Gentiles, Acts 10:43-48 ... and in Ephesus when some of John the Baptist's disciples believed in Jesus, Acts 19:1-7. Tongues are not prevalent in the book of Acts.

...................................................................................................................................................................
IN THE BODY 13    PAGES: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15     << PREVIOUS PAGE | NEXT  >>
<< PREVIOUS CHAPTER | NEXT  >>
..................................................................................................................................................................
 

Disciplemaking 1, copyright 2003, is available free from www.MyDisciplemaker.org where you can study online or print free copies. You may copy this course, any any part of it, for free or at-cost distribution ... without change to the content ... and with this copyright policy attached. Published by www.ActsOneEight.org. Bible Quotations are from the NASB unless noted.