September 22, 1993



... _Quenching the Spirit_ is by a Pentecostal/Charismatic guy.. and

it's a history from his point of view.. the theme is: those movements

which have quenched the Spirit of God, meaning ours basically.... by

denegrading the Spirit.. we're not full Gospel.. and he's really

reacting to Dave Hunt's two book, and John MacArthur... and in some

way.. you know, about five years ago, I thought to myself, there's going

to be an awful backlash, because the charismatic movement is no longer a

back-eddy movement... well it's becoming more of an intellectual

entity.. producing dictionaries.. exegesis.. all that kind of stuff...



they can't really trace it any.. because I don't think the issue is

gifts per se.. but they'll stop at about the 3rd century.. their

historiography will be, I think, the church of the Savior has quenched

the spirit, and did it in the 3rd century.. and it's being now

recovered..



if you read guys like Donald Gee... called the apostle of balance in the

charismatic movement... as far as I can read these dear guys, these guys

are saying, let's face it, Christianity is rapidly declining, and this

is our last chance, of trying to retrieve a vital Christianity, and so

they'll view it that way.. so for us to speak against it, through their

grid, would suggest that we're contrary to Christianity



Prayer: Our Father, we gather in your name, to adore you.. we worship

your son.. we pray your blessings on our few moments.. these are your

servants.. they will go out into a world that are in many ways more

diverse than the world in which I went 25 years ago.. and I pray, I

earnestly pray, that you would help us to see through the temporal to

the permanent.. cast aside that which is ephemeral.. gain insight into

our work.. we want to serve you, and the church of the Savior, and we

pray for understanding, and help today as we labor together.. we love

you.. we thank you for days to enjoy that you have granted to us.. and

for an environment in which we can time to study.. we give these things

to you, and thank you in Jesus' name.



re: "perfect submission"...it's my sincere desire, on good days, when

there are no troubles.. but overall, greediness does intervene.. when we

discuss about my greed.. we have Tom and Mary Constable over.. whenever

we get together, we usually discuss some flaw in my behavior.... we were

discussing greed.. funny thing, you get together to talk about.. Tom

said to me, where is the clearest illustration of your reocurring

greed.. it was so funny.. I have a fireplace, but I don't like to buy

firewood.. it's expensive and you just burn it up.. so what I do in the

fall is go around the neighborhood and wait for people to cut down

trees.. throw it in the back of the car.. and I ask.. I don't steal it..

pretty obvious they're going to get rid of it.. so I drove by this house

one day, and this guy has a group there cutting down a tree.. so I go up

them.. can I get this wood.. and the guy says oh yeah, take it if you

want.. so I go home, call a seminary student.. a guy with a pickup.. and

we loaded the whole tree.. and you know.. I load a whole tree on this

truck.. but I'm so greedy, that while I needed a wheelbarrow, so I

borrowed the guy's wheelbarrow.. but it's an old wheelbarrow, it's a

piece of junk.. but I loaded it too full.. because my greed is over..

I'm saving lots of cords.. the piousness.. and I never even thought to

tell the guy.. I think I rolled over a [tack?].. said thanks and walked

away.. that seminary student still reminds me of that.... I wish I had

told the guy.. but at the moment I didn't.. because it would've slowed

me down.. because there was another tree I wanted down the road.. so I

was just basically using him as utility.. it had nothing to do with his

well-being.. that's sin.. right?... never even thought about it..



....the question is not is it true.. but what does it mean.. and is it

normative.. in other words, it's not what's in the Bible.. it's what we

make of what's in the Bible..