Hi all,
This is a question that became more common just in the last few months as the release of US government files on UFO's are being made public.
Let's start at the beginning. A phenomenon is either of God or it is not. Note I John 4:1-3:
"Don't trust every spirit, dear friends of mine, but test them to discover whether they come from God or not. For the world is full of false prophets."
"You can test them in this simple way:every spirit that acknowledges the fact that Jesus Christ actually became man, comes from God, but the spirit which denies this face does not come from God. The latter comes from the anti-Christ (spirit), which you were wanted would come and which is already in the world." Phillips NT
Any spirit of God will acknowledge Jesus Christ came in the flesh and is God. Period. Paragraph. Over and out.
Also, Jesus said the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth. If a phenomenon is of God it will acknowledge Jesus is Lord, but also it will lead a person deeper into their walk with God, deeper into the truths of the things of God.
Flopping around like a fish...
Years ago in the days of the 'Brownsville revival' as it was called, in Pensacola, Florida, I had 8 people from Argentina come into my office loaded with questions about American faith. They had been to Pensacola and also Toronto, and had seen Christians having what seemed to be spasms, jerking around and even falling on the group convulsing, and all around said it was the Spirit of God on the people.
They said in Argentina when they see that they cast the demon out of the person and get them restored. I shared that was my experience as well, that American Christians were ignorant though they can see in the gospels how demons caused people Jesus encountered to flop or convulse as He cast demons out, many called it the Holy Spirit on a person.
We concluded everything is either God, the devil, or the person's flesh. And in this context, that goes for UFO's too.
The Spirit of Truth
That is the scourge of the Internet, so many voices saying so many things to people who never developed an ear to hear their Shepherd's voice.
Before the Internet if a person had an idea that the average person would apply common sense to and conclude that person was weird or goofy, they were isolated because there was no platform to share their idea with the masses. But the Internet has allowed everyone a platform, and search engines can easily find people with strange ideas. When these people find each other they form a group that by its size and volume lends credibility to those who find their web sight or watch their videos.
These many voices erode common sense, which unfortunately isn't so common anymore.
All these voices do to a Christian is serve to draw us away from the voice of our Master. They are distractions, and unfortunately we live in a day when people will spend hours of their day doing the unimportant on a computer which only confirms the validity of the voices. Combined with a false sense of security by the interactions with people who are kept at arm's length by the nature of computer communication, and a Christian can become off balance in what they believe. Especially if they don't have true relationships which would keep them in balance.
We know we won't have all the answers until we get to heaven, therefore much of life is speculation, and of that most is not worth your time and effort. You are a child of the Most High God. You are a citizen of heaven. You have Christ in you and the mind of Christ. Invest your time, don't spend your time.
The mind of Christ
In I Corinthians 2:9-16 Paul teaches that eye, ear, and imagination cannot know what the Father has provided for us, but we have the Holy Spirit who reveals these things to us. He searches the heart of the Father to see what He has provided for us.
Paul goes on to say in v12-14 that a spiritual person must spiritually discern between the natural senses and what our spirit man is saying:"The things which we teach compare spiritual things with spiritual."
And:"These things must be spiritually discerned." That is where he says:"The natural man doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, the natural man. They must be spiritually discerned. But you have the mind of Christ."
Notice we don't have the mind of Jesus - Jesus doesn't live in your heart. Christ does. Jesus is the man, the person, raised from the dead now with a glorified body. But we have Christ and His mind - Christ means the godhead, by the Spirit of the Father, we have His mind in our spirit.
The key of making it through life in grace and balance is learning how to walk in that lifestyle of comparing the natural against the mind of Christ in you. It is a process. And in this context, what we know about UFO's or anything else is this:If it is of God it will acknowledge Jesus is Lord, and lead people deeper into that truth. If it doesn't, it's not God. It's either the flesh, something natural, or Satan playing games with people. Don't dabble in the games of Satan.
Learn how to 'put things on a shelf' for later consideration, even if that consideration comes in heaven. There are some things that are only distractions and not worth exploring. Major on the majors, don't major on the minors.
New subject next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn,
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com
This is a question that became more common just in the last few months as the release of US government files on UFO's are being made public.
Let's start at the beginning. A phenomenon is either of God or it is not. Note I John 4:1-3:
"Don't trust every spirit, dear friends of mine, but test them to discover whether they come from God or not. For the world is full of false prophets."
"You can test them in this simple way:every spirit that acknowledges the fact that Jesus Christ actually became man, comes from God, but the spirit which denies this face does not come from God. The latter comes from the anti-Christ (spirit), which you were wanted would come and which is already in the world." Phillips NT
Any spirit of God will acknowledge Jesus Christ came in the flesh and is God. Period. Paragraph. Over and out.
Also, Jesus said the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth. If a phenomenon is of God it will acknowledge Jesus is Lord, but also it will lead a person deeper into their walk with God, deeper into the truths of the things of God.
Flopping around like a fish...
Years ago in the days of the 'Brownsville revival' as it was called, in Pensacola, Florida, I had 8 people from Argentina come into my office loaded with questions about American faith. They had been to Pensacola and also Toronto, and had seen Christians having what seemed to be spasms, jerking around and even falling on the group convulsing, and all around said it was the Spirit of God on the people.
They said in Argentina when they see that they cast the demon out of the person and get them restored. I shared that was my experience as well, that American Christians were ignorant though they can see in the gospels how demons caused people Jesus encountered to flop or convulse as He cast demons out, many called it the Holy Spirit on a person.
We concluded everything is either God, the devil, or the person's flesh. And in this context, that goes for UFO's too.
The Spirit of Truth
That is the scourge of the Internet, so many voices saying so many things to people who never developed an ear to hear their Shepherd's voice.
Before the Internet if a person had an idea that the average person would apply common sense to and conclude that person was weird or goofy, they were isolated because there was no platform to share their idea with the masses. But the Internet has allowed everyone a platform, and search engines can easily find people with strange ideas. When these people find each other they form a group that by its size and volume lends credibility to those who find their web sight or watch their videos.
These many voices erode common sense, which unfortunately isn't so common anymore.
All these voices do to a Christian is serve to draw us away from the voice of our Master. They are distractions, and unfortunately we live in a day when people will spend hours of their day doing the unimportant on a computer which only confirms the validity of the voices. Combined with a false sense of security by the interactions with people who are kept at arm's length by the nature of computer communication, and a Christian can become off balance in what they believe. Especially if they don't have true relationships which would keep them in balance.
We know we won't have all the answers until we get to heaven, therefore much of life is speculation, and of that most is not worth your time and effort. You are a child of the Most High God. You are a citizen of heaven. You have Christ in you and the mind of Christ. Invest your time, don't spend your time.
The mind of Christ
In I Corinthians 2:9-16 Paul teaches that eye, ear, and imagination cannot know what the Father has provided for us, but we have the Holy Spirit who reveals these things to us. He searches the heart of the Father to see what He has provided for us.
Paul goes on to say in v12-14 that a spiritual person must spiritually discern between the natural senses and what our spirit man is saying:"The things which we teach compare spiritual things with spiritual."
And:"These things must be spiritually discerned." That is where he says:"The natural man doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, the natural man. They must be spiritually discerned. But you have the mind of Christ."
Notice we don't have the mind of Jesus - Jesus doesn't live in your heart. Christ does. Jesus is the man, the person, raised from the dead now with a glorified body. But we have Christ and His mind - Christ means the godhead, by the Spirit of the Father, we have His mind in our spirit.
The key of making it through life in grace and balance is learning how to walk in that lifestyle of comparing the natural against the mind of Christ in you. It is a process. And in this context, what we know about UFO's or anything else is this:If it is of God it will acknowledge Jesus is Lord, and lead people deeper into that truth. If it doesn't, it's not God. It's either the flesh, something natural, or Satan playing games with people. Don't dabble in the games of Satan.
Learn how to 'put things on a shelf' for later consideration, even if that consideration comes in heaven. There are some things that are only distractions and not worth exploring. Major on the majors, don't major on the minors.
New subject next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn,
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com
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