Re: Submitting to Spiritual Authority and Such
Hi Ed,
It's good to know that someone on the forum agrees with me. I agree with all you said, but I do want to address this that you said, "Many are the wonderful people in churches that are held back by false teachings which bind them and many are the pastors who have picked up some inherently Spirit quenching false beliefs somewhere along the way, not necessarily through any fault of their own and often from the seminaries they attended which served only to religionize them rather than help them to become Spirit filled."
Yes Ed, this is happening, but we also need to understand that not all seminaries and Bible colleges are bad. We have to realize that God does speak to some people clearly and ask them to go to such schools. As you know He did that with me. He spoke to me very clearly and to not have gone would have been disobedience to God on my part. I do realize that some of these schools are nothing more than brainwashing of denominational or religious beliefs so there can be some or even a lot of learning of false doctrines in these places. Hopefully people learn some good stuff there as well along the way.
Some denominations may not believe in the gifts of the Spirit for today, but may be right on most everything else. God meets people where they are at, so He may even ask some from these denominations to go to their schools even though some false teaching is going on there. I have heard some testimonies of ministers who went to such schools and later on learned the truth about the false doctrine that was being taught at the school, and by their denomination. They felt that God had still asked them to go to that school at that time that they went, because that is where they were at back then. We are all developing in the Lord. We should be all growing. Once we become born again we just don't know it all at that time. Like a newborn baby we have much to learn and it does take time.
All of this stuff does not fit into a nice neat box. We just need to keep pressing on.
You said, "Even the 5 i like the best are not perfect of course, but they are very good and i don't anticipate seeing perfection in a church any time soon."
Yes, I know, I'm looking for perfection maybe, but I feel the Lord will draw me to a place if that is what He wants for me. Believe me, the Lord does know how to speak to me personally. I know His voice.
Thanks for responding.