And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ” ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.
Isaiah 56:7
these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
Jeremiah 7:11
Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.
Mark Driscoll is challenging John MacArthur to a face to face debate on the person of The Holy Spirit.
John MacArthur is renouncing the Charismatic movement for entertaining unclean spirits.
In perhaps what could be considered a promotional game of “book wars,” or simply a dispute over theological differences: Megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll has invited Grace For You ministry leader and pastor John MacArthur to the upcoming Resurgence event via an open letter.
Both MacArthur’s Strange Fire 3-day conference held last week in Sun Valley, Calif., and Driscoll’s Resurgence conference in Seattle planned for Nov. 5-6, center around the themes of the two pastors new books — MacArthur’s Strange Fire: The Danger of Offending the Holy Spirit With Counterfeit Worship.
Driscoll’s has a call to Resurgence: Will Christianity Have a Funeral or a Future?
With your Strange Fire conference and book you are, insofar as I can tell, pressing for a conversation among God’s people about the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
I would agree with you that error and excess are often perpetrated, tragically, in the name of the Holy Spirit. This grieves him deeply.
At the same time, like many, I also think that, since the majority of Christians worldwide are not cessationists (believing that some gifts of the Spirit have ceased), it is unreasonable and unhelpful to broad brush faithful brothers and sisters in Christ along with those who may not be faithful or may not even be brothers and sisters in Christ.
Its a long time since we had a debate on the works of the Holy Spirit on this site.
I agree and I disagree with John Mac Arthur.
I agree that there is a lot of counterfeit stuff in Charismatic Pentecostal Churches. False miracles and wonders are manifested, and we hear and see noisy stuff that is not from the Holy Ghost.
But this does not affect my life, since I do not have to participate in these events. Nor have to accept such persons as a part of my team.
Satan is surely a copycat. We saw this when Moses tried to convince the Egyptian Pharaoh, by doing true signs and wonders. The Egyptian king summoned his pagan magicians, and they copied the miracles.
Would the solution have been to ban both Moses and the magicians, from performing miracles?
When did God stop using His children performing miracles, and what should be the purpose of stopping?
The problem with the theology of John MacArthur, is that the Bible do not give answers to all questions. Like how to walk left or right, when you have come to a cross road in your life with Jesus?
Now, it is good to be in a Church where the Holy Spirit still operates, and where there are true prophets of God of Israel in function. They will be used by the Lord to confirm which direction your should take, confirming what Jesus the Messiah already have put in your heart.
John 14:15-16
‘If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you for ever – the Spirit of truth.
The personal gift of Healing is still active. The personal gift of discernment is still active. The Holy Spirit is supposed to be with us forever.
When did the Spirit of truth change His mind?
If the gift of discernment has ceased, and was inactive: How would the Church be able to discern when deception creeps into the fellowship of Believers?
I feel lucky that I knowing my gifts of the Holy Spirit. And no man rejecting this, will ever be able to take away my joy in serving the Lord, using these gifts.
So it is with you. Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.
You can be sure, that if this gift of the Holy Spirit is not activated in the fellowship of believers, Satan will have his way. Hock or by crock, the flock will be lead astray, no longer doing the will of the Father.
If you are in a Church or a fellowship where the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not permitted to be activated, you might be in a place where sin and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is being done. Someone, probably a pastor has replaced the Holy Spirit, as the spiritual medium between God and man. This is a serious issue, since sin against the Holy Spirit is not pardonable, but an eternal sin.
Likewise to stay put in a fellowship where unclean spirits are presented as the Holy Spirit, is equally wicked. Large sectors of the Charismatic Pentecostals will not escape judgment, not others who blaspheme God the Holy Spirit.
So seek for a Church or a fellowship where the Holy Spirit are present, honored and His gifts activated into all brothers and sisters, helped and guided by a broad New Testament leadership.
The skull of Saint Brébeuf can be adored in Martyr’s Shrine near Midland, Ontario, in Canada. But only half of it.
Roman Catholics can adore half of a skull in Canada. The other half was given to nuns, and disappeared.
If this had only been one of the thousands of skulls venerated and adored in Roman Catholic Churches, I would not have written this article. I have already written more than enough about worship of bones inside this death cult. But the story behind this skull makes it worthy of some extra publicity.
This is what have been recorded by Wikipedia:
Brébeuf did not make a single outcry while he was being tortured and he astounded the Iroquois, who later cut out his heart and ate it in hopes of gaining his courage Brébeuf was fifty-five years old.
Brébeuf’s body was recovered a few days later. His body was boiled in lye to remove the flesh, and the bones became church relics. His flesh was buried, along with Lalemant’s, in one coffin, and today rests in the Church of St. Joseph at the reconstructed Jesuit mission of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons across Highway 12 from the Martyrs’ Shrine Catholic Church near Midland, Ontario
In September, 1984, Pope John Paul II prayed over Brebeuf’s skull before saying an outdoor Mass on the grounds of the Martyrs’ Shrine. Thousands of people came to hear him speak from a platform built especially for the day.
According to Catholic Encyclopedia, this Jesuit missionary died a horrible death on March 16th 1649 A.D. 90 days later the body was ex-hummed. The Catholic Encyclopedia do not record the beginning of the process of beautification of the body.
This is what Suite101 has recorded:
On June 16, 1649, the remaining missionaries set fire to the mission, rather than see it desecrated or overrun by the Iroquois. At the same time, they had also decided that Brebeuf and Lallemant would be canonized as saints. Accordingly, their bodies were exhumed and boiled in a lye solution. Their flesh was reburied and their bones wrapped in linen and saved as relics.
An ecclesiastical court sat in 1904 for an entire year to examine his life and virtues and the cause of his death, and the result of the inquiry was forwarded to Rome. Brebeuf was cannonized in 1930, by Pope Pius XI.
The story is indeed a challenge to all reflecting humans.
St. Joseph Church, the Martyrs Shrine in Ontario Canada.Not many half skulls are covered with so much gold, and are kept by people who claim to honor “god”.
Boiling a dead body in lye to get the flesh and bones to separate, makes me think of how men treat dead animals, when they make soup or dinner.
And why re-bury the boiled flesh, without its bones?
Are there some special powers in a dead man bones, that boiled flesh do not contain?
How will the Pope and his priests enter the Kingdom of Heaven? Frankly: Can religious activities get more perverse and grotesque?
But let us leave the boiling part of the sorry for a second.
The greater mystery is why the Pope felt for praying over half of the skull.
This is what another website has recorded:
Actually, it only the left half of his skull that inhabits Martyrs’ Shrine.
Was this decided because that part of the skull encased the left brain that enabled Brebeuf to learn several Native American languages?
Not that fluency in their tongue stopped the Iroquois from hanging red-hot tomahawks around his neck.
The Catholic legend gets even more intriguing when we really dive deep into the details. What happened to the other half’s of the skull?
Just take a look at this:
“Yes, the bones were entrusted to the Ursuline Order of nuns in Québec for safekeeping, but once Brébuf was proclaimed a saint, the Jesuits asked for them back. The Ursulines were not amused as they thought that they had done a good job and wanted to keep half, so at Martyrs’ Shrine there’s only one-half of Brébuf’s skull (left side) while the nuns kept the other portion.”
«In your anger do not sin” : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry»
Can a born again Christian live without getting angry? And in his anger, always avoid saying something that he will regret? I guess its the Holy Spirit that tells us to go back and say sorry! Jesus was sometimes angry, and on a couple on occasions the Messiah wept. There is an ongoing debate on this site about sins. Please join.
Mark 11:17 
ivarfjeld.com 