Re: Blind religion vs. obvious Truth.

vektek: "It must get tiresome for you defending the man-made religion of Pentecostalism."

Ed: Haha, i love this, it's hilarious :). I actually defend the idea of living today as the disciples of the Lord lived in the early church including that which we see lived throughout the book of Acts. Can you honestly say that the same is true for you? I object to what happened to the mainstream church thereafter as soon as it started becoming institutionalized as religion of man with the Holy Spirit getting cast aside. This started with catholicism and continued with "protestantism", which continued to be institutionalized religion of man with only some very limited initial improvements, but in no way a revolution back to the Holy Spirit filled and led early church. There have always been and continue to be true Spirit filled followers of the Lord Jesus apart from the religion of man model though, those who were and are His sheep and who heard and continue to hear His Living voice and be led by it. There have always been a number of sincere followers of the Lord Jesus from within the institutionalized religious system too, including today. Most don't have the courage or the clear hearing to "come out of her" though. I don't say that every single church is a part of this religious system, but the vast majority are to one extent or another. Myself, i was led to "come out of her" and to then sit at the Lord's feet and learn from Him over many months, before being sent back in to help stir revival where possible. This is in addition to visiting true Spirit filled places also.

There are various elements within pentacostalism that i do not agree with including but not limited to many pentacostal denominations being highly legalistic and authoritarian while i am deeply in favor of living in the freedom and fullness Lord Jesus has given those who truly follow Him by His Spirit. As a student of different flavors of Christianity who has visited many different churches, I also feel that pentacostals often tend to whip up emotion rather than allowing the Spirit to be stirred authentically and to have Spirit stirred emotion arise from this which does not require the preacher to talk fast and yell. I feel this is a form of counterfeit "Spirit stirring" and feel this is a learned preaching style of man. This is not to say that many pentacostals don't have the Holy Spirit, because they certainly do. I just feel that the loud fast talking preaching style and other aspects of pentacostalism brings forth a mixture of Spirit stirring, some of which is not authentic.

My favorite style of church or gathering of believers wherever this may be is one where people are passionate for the Lord, deeply in love with Him, deeply worshipful and it is genuine. People are Spirit filled and the Lord is genuinely and obviously the love of their lives. His Love is flowing through the lives of those present, there is freedom and fullness in Him and the Holy Spirit is welcome along with His gifts which include people getting instantly healed, delivered and Spirit filled, all of which was "normal Christianity" in the book of Acts as it should be today. The preaching style is not the loud fast-talking pentacostal style. i call it "Spirit filled" or "charismatic", or "book of Acts christianity" but i know the word "charismatic" carries different meanings to different people. It's what i envision the early church as having been before it got usurped by religion of man and i hope many will seek a return to this kind of pure Spirit and Truth worship of the Living God.