R: Ed no one can ignore what people are saying about you,
E: Well technically refreshed, everybody has. Not one person, yourself included, has rebuked or otherwise challenged hunter for leveling incessant personal attacks against me in response to teachings i have posted. Instead both you and doc have challenged me for rebuking him appropriately over what he started. If the roles were reversed and if i did to hunter what he did to me, initiating a string of personal attacks after he posted a teaching, i expect you and doc would think i was behaving like a monster and post comments in reflection of this. Hunter however gets an easy pass from both of you which is indicative of a double standard and hypocrisy. Your silent support of his actions while outwardly challenging mine also helps to teach him falsely and to reinforce within his flesh that his bad behavior is perfectly ok since "the majority" seem to support him, which of course is not doing him any favors in the kingdom of heaven picture. Does anybody really think that babying hunter and not expecting christian maturity from him is going to be to his eternal benefit? The way both you and doc handled this situation would be similar to both of you challenging Stephen for the speech he made against the stiff necked pharisees while giving the pharisees a pass for the attacks they were leveling against him to precipitate his response, but of course you, doc nor hunter seem to be able to see the analogy.
R: but if you have accepted this gift from God then you should expect to be tested by other christians.
E: Lord Jesus said in John 15:20, "...'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also." Of course i expect and anticipate being tested and persecuted Refreshed, most especially from religious people as was true 2000 years ago. i wouldn't expect it to stop at any time soon and the more deeply surrendered we are in the Lord, the more frequent and widespread this persecution will be. This does not mean there is never a time to rebuke the persecutors as Lord Jesus clearly and repeatedly did.
R: After all I remember you questioning me about my speaking in tongues. You needed enough info to be sure that it was not a fleshly thing.
E: This is quite different Refreshed and i am surprised you would even bring it up as a comparison within this context. I was not attacking you in any way and by contrast i was only supporting you, offering my own insights into what you described... as a way of encouraging you when i told you that based upon your testimony i believe your tongues is real. Of course i get your point that this was an aspect of practicing discernment, but this is entirely different from the way in which hunter has attempted to "practice discerning the spirits" by leveling personal attacks each time i post a teaching. Now if he were to challenge the teaching point by point and express his own opinions in a way that treats with respect me or any other poster personally, that would be completely acceptable, even as how it worked in the video debate posted by miss rainy. Instead he starts a personal attack flame war while doc and you look the other way and can only think to challenge me for rebuking him appropriately for what he started. No way does it happen this way in heaven... only in the disciple of Jesus twilight zone.
R: There is a big difference between Spirit quencher and spirit quencher. We must not allow ourselves to be deceived.
E: Discerning the spirits is extremely important, yes, which is why the Lord led me to fast and pray unto Him diligently and aggressively over 9 months time, in large part, specifically to receive this very gift as well as asking, seeking and knocking for an ever deepening love for Him. This is a powerful combination which combines truth, holiness and deep passionate intimate love relationship with the Lord! What discernment of spirits really is... is the ability to hear God's still small voice with immensely greater clarity. I wanted to be able to discern between subtle lies pretending to be truths, subtle unholiness pretending to be holy, and anything of the enemy that would pretend to be of God, Spirit quenching religion of man being one very strong and primary example. I was not led to fast and pray for 9 months for gift of healing or financial prosperity or many other possible things i could have prayed for. It was specifically for discernment of spirits since this was the very most important gift that would ensure a pure foundation in the Lord Jesus and to build upon this while staying intently on the narrow path. Thankfully after 9 months (haha, like a birth) i received an immense breakthrough in this gift and have been able to see everything through new extraordinarily enhanced spiritual eyes ever since.
Indeed discernment of spirits is a gift of the Spirit and not everybody has it. People who live mostly in their flesh and who do not have this gift receive much of their influence from the wrong sources and will consistently believe that people who are truly filled with and led by the Holy Spirit are not of God.
As well, people think they can replace this gift by rifling through pages of the bible and reading certain scriptures as each new situation arises, but it doesn't work this way, partly because the bible can always be misunderstood and/or falsely interpreted which it so often is... but most especially because the bible does not speak to us in every specific situation the way only God's actual voice this very second can. If a person believes he may be hearing in his spirit to quit his job and go to panama on a missions trip for a year, or he may be hearing instead to enroll in a seminary, the bible is not going to be able to tell him which of these, if either, is truly God's voice. I certainly hope this is clear to everybody. As a strong example of how the bible does not replace the discernment of spirits gift we need look no further than the pharisees who lacked this spiritual ability to discern in spite of the fact that they had their bibles memorized. The Son of God was standing right in front of them teaching extraordinary and beautiful wisdom they had never heard and performing miracles they had never seen... and these men with memorized bibles thought he was of the devil. I will pre-empt the attacks by people who will say i don't like the bible. I like it and i read it, but it does not replace the gift known as "discernment of spirits".
Therefore, if somebody really wants to receive discernment of spirits from God, they would do well to fast and pray diligently asking for it, while living in obedience to the Lord every step of the way, abiding in Him, seeking only to please Him. Until then, they deceive themselves to believe they are able to operate in this gift, most especially when they are living in the flesh.
R: Whether or not people think you are gifted will be an ongoing thing for you to deal with as you share your story with more people. Don't we all wish people would take us on our word alone.
E: I understand what you are saying, but to be very clear to others who will read this, my focus is not about the people acknowledging my gifts, but rather, it is about them recognizing that given the right kind of intimacy with the Lord Jesus themselves and walking in the kind of faith He wants us to embrace, they can be living the same way as the disciples in the book of acts just as i am. Showing people these realities through my own life is a way of showing them that it is possible for them and for everybody else too. And you are right that it is an ongoing battle helping people to see who they are in Christ through their own resistance.
R: If you are at peace about it then keep doing what God has shown you to do,...
E: the thought never crossed my mind to do otherwise. i am certainly not going to allow the detractors to stop me from serving my Lord fully.
R: but please don't think that the Holy Spirit is going to instantly tell each person that you are what you say you are without believers testing the spirit first...and that may take time.
E: i don't. but i reserve the right to rebuke what i consider to be stiff necked Spirit quenching behavior when i feel a leading to do so, just as Stephen did and just as Lord Jesus did... and anybody who says there is no biblical precedent for this deceives themselves. As well, many people will never hear the Holy Spirit correctly when it comes to discerning others. They will be hearing God (if at all) through all of the filters that are in place distorting the purity of what He is really speaking. For example, unrepentant sin and flesh living will distort His voice as will such things as having embraced false teachings from the religious system. Abiding in Him in holy living, surrendering every part of ourselves fully to His will and to His teaching... and fasting are examples of things we can do to hear Him more clearly.
R: As far as how hard it is to be able to teach or just witness here is something we all have complained about. However we have endured. :)
E: True enough, i am not entirely alone in the extraordinary challenge of helping people to see that our lives as disciples of the Lord Jesus today can and should be amazing and extraordinary, looking just like the lives of the disciples in the book of Acts.