Again, this morning, my thoughts still remain on false teaching and their teachings on the Holy Spirit.
These false teachers speak of the Holy Spirit as a "force" and believe that you receive power as a Thing – independent of the Person of Jesus Christ in us.
In other words, God's plan of salvation, through believing and receiving Jesus into your heart and life, is given to you as a free gift by the mercy and grace of God. This gift of salvation brings with it a new heart, new desires, and a new spirit to live for God, following Christ in us, into Eternity with Him. As we follow Christ, there becomes a hunger and thirst for more of God, a relationship with Him.
The Holy Spirit becomes real, as we accept and receive the promise of another experience, that of the infilling of the Holy Spirit and become a living testimony and boldly declare the very Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world.
Now, let me say, there are false teachers that make power, to be the ability to do things for God, instead of a manifestation of the Person of Christ in and through us, that of the Holy Spirit, working in us and through us.
Acts 19:2 makes it clear; without making Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior, personally, you will not be given God's grace, forgiveness and the resurrection life of Jesus. Christ in you.
Also, in Acts 19:2, Apostle Paul states that the infilling of the Holy Spirit comes after you believe. This amazing gift, the power to witness, comes after you believe. Act 19:2, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" he asked them. "No," they replied, "we haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit (NLT).
Another false teaching taught, is that they see themselves as a, "little god," and teach you to consider or make yourself as a "little god" by teaching you to do these works, create these things yourself. The problem is that they ignore the fact that they don't know God for themselves. On the surface, it may not appear that believing in a "second blessing" could possibly be a denial of the Cross or have any relation to the many other delusions. But it is perfectly clear that the deceptions of Satan are a process and always a counterfeit of the real.
Let me say it this way; I must come to the end of myself, all of Christ, and none of me.
There are also many who believe in a "second experience" and do walk under the power and understanding of the Cross. But it is not a coincidence that where you find the teaching of the "second blessing", you very often find the teachings of deception, positive confession, health and wealth, and many other errors. I do believe in a "second experience" that of the infilling of the Holy Spirit, but one must be aware of many deceptive ways, bypassing the way of the Cross.
There is a process of deception, going on here, and I believe that God would open the eyes of those who truly want Him, that they might see the truth and be set free. Again, don't get me wrong. I truly believe, in the miracle working power of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in the believer, but it only comes, as Christ is in us and we are in Christ.
When God can trust us and we desire to be that vessel of honor, these gifts will follow, distributed by the Holy Spirit, through the power of God flowing through a pure and holy vessel.
I also believe that many who reject the idea of the second experience also reject the Truth of the Cross. They haven't fashioned another way to receive power – they simply don't acknowledge the power of Christ's resurrection at all.
To many of these people, Christianity is a religion. Just that, not a relationship. They have some intellectual knowledge of the Bible, but don't know God Himself. This, too, is a deception. The only solution is to realize that Christianity is Christ in us. Christ is the power of God (see 1 Corinthians 1:24 and Revelation 12:10) and the means of the power of His resurrection is the power of His Cross.
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