Heresy Hunters vs the Holy Spirit

HERESY HUNTERS vs THE HOLY SPIRIT     (# 34)

Heresy Hunters hate the emotional and the unusual. Though they fiercely defend ‘the sufficiency of Scripture’, Scripture is loaded with emotion and unusual happenings. Can you see the irony? First we look at emotion…..

“Jesus wept” before raising Lazarus from the dead, and He wept over Jerusalem. The Old Testament tells us that David wept, as did Jacob, Joseph, Benjamin and many others. The New Testament reveals Peter weeping, as did John, Mary Magdalene, and others. The elders from Ephesus “wept freely and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him.” Paul to the Romans: “Weep with those who weep.” We should never be ashamed of tears.

Jesus was often angry, especially against religionists. (Jesus: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees hypocrites!”) He made a whip and drove the crooked money changers out of the temple. (“You have made it a den of thieves.”) And listen to Paul: “Who has bewitched you?”…. “You yourselves do wrong and cheat”…. “Do you despise the house of God and shame those who have nothing?” There is something wrong with the evangelical who routinely witnesses spiritual corruption but is never outraged.

Now, second, the unusual. The Old Testament speaks of the burning bush…. a talking donkey…. the bronze serpent on a pole…. the cloud by day and the fire by night…. and many, many etceteras. The New Testament speaks of the multiplication of loaves and fishes, Jesus making clay with spit…. “divided tongues, as of fire”…. “signs and wonders”…. four daughters who prophesied…. the appearance of Jesus on the road to Damascus and on the island of Patmos…. and many, many etceteras.  

Cessationists (most heresy hunters are cessationists) love sameness…. same gathering of the same people at the same building at the same time. Same salaried preacher, same program, same collection of tithes and offerings. Same, same, same.