Simple English

Sometimes we just need to go back to simple language to get out of the maze of theological or doctrinal complexities.

I write this in response to concerns about a bishop who can’t seem to keep his trouser zipped and his fellow bishops coming to his defense and asking believers to leave him alone.

It pains that people entrusted with the guidance of God’s people can be so casual with sin.

I have been off the loop and so am only commenting on what I was asked.

What do we think when we hear the name Holy Spirit? What do we think when we hear the word spirits? Can those two terms or words be spoken together?

One stands for holiness whereas the other rides on debauchery. One stands for sobriety while the other stands for inebriety. In short they can’t be together in one room (person). Yet both are spirits. It therefore means they are contrary spirits.

And the same applies to sin. The Holy Spirit and sin are opposites. It is impossible to talk about the Holy Spirit in us when we have not denounced sin. Let me give us a verse.

And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: (John 16:8)

Talking about being filled with the Holy Spirit and at the same time being neutral about sin is a contradiction in terms. It is an impossibility.

The Holy Spirit and sin are allergic one to the other. And that is the main problem I have with the charismatic movement. They have shifted the focus elsewhere. We can’t be natural and spiritual at the same time.

You see, the clearest evidence of the presence of something is in its defining traits.

You do not need to smell a drunk to know the presence of those other spirits. The evidence can be got from a very long distance.

Tongues are like that smell that you must get close to notice.

Holiness is what you will notice from a distance, sometimes even before you know someone is a believer.

Holiness is the defining trait of the Spirit of Christ.

Remember the four Hebrew boys? Everybody knew and confessed that the spirit of the holy gods was in them. And I am sure they did not speak in tongues. Their lives were such that everybody saw a difference, holiness in their lives. And it was the same with Joseph.

Remember Daniel’s adversaries’ challenge? His life was so holy that they knew without a doubt that they could not corrupt him.

When you therefore see bishops cozying with sin in their contemporary yet boasting of being filled with the Spirit because they speak in tongues you can be certain that that spirit filling them is not the Spirit of Christ. Incidentally most contrary spirits confer their adherents a gift of tongues.

I remember one day as a child when a mad neighbor came into a fellowship I was in and spoke for a very long time in tongues and I got confused because he was an enemy to our church yet possessed the evidence of the filling the fellowship fronted. In fact he twice threw rocks to the roof, so huge that they tore through the iron sheets. He had some extra endowment to even lift those rocks, of course because he was controlled by other spirits. Yet he spoke in tongues!

The Holy Spirit without a sanctified life is a lie.

But there is something we need to realize was the purpose of the filling; witness.

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

And display that is the tongues has nothing to do with witness. In fact Paul treated it as a selfish manifestation when he wrote about it.

Read through Acts and see that any time filling of the Spirit is mentioned Christian witness explodes.

But my point is this, we cannot confess the Holy Spirit leading or filling our lives if our lives are not holy.

I do not care how many you are leading but if holiness is not the defining aspect of your life, from the bedroom to the banquet room, you do not serve Christ or lead anybody to Him. And even the world knows that.

This man preaches like an angel but drinks like the devil. His songs are so inspirational but his life is rotten. His pulpit delivery is so good but his life is full of falsehood.

These are some statements the world makes of us ministers when our lives are not sanctified. We know (though choose to ignore) that with such lives we can only expect Christ ordering us, ‘Depart from Me …’ because we really are not serving Him. And this has given me an excuse to put verses I love quoting.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7: 21 – 23)

I recently did a post on why our generation is doomed. You can read it on the blog.

Isn’t what these bishops doing clearest evidence of that damnation?