Conversation: Air

John 6:

⁶³It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

John 3:

⁸The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Holy Ghost, Indweller

Peace, be still, little heart,I am here.Now you hail Christ as Lord-Cease from fear!I am your promised help,Draw from me.My sure wisdom is yours,You will see.

As the mysteries of God

Are made known,

And the scriptures bring life

From his throne.

Did I not once inspire

Holy men

To record the Lord’s will

By the pen?

Will I not open such

Truths to you,

In a way just as clear

To your view?

We will grow in friendship

As you pray.

Simply ask for my help

Each new day.

I have kindled my spark

Deep within.

Please, permit it to burn-

You’ll not sin.

Once, my task was to claim

You from Hell.

Now, praise God, you have come.

All is well.

I will lead, I will check

‘Long the way.

Lest you err, I’ll be there.

Come what may.

Can you see, I am sent

As a pledge?

Just as deep calls to deep

‘Cross time’s edge.

There are fruits of my love

For each day.

Please, dear heart, do not grieve

Me away.

And, of course, you may ask

For my best!

A baptism of power,

You’ll be blessed!

Just as Peter emerged

From all fear,

In a Pentecost blaze

Of good cheer.

You will witness on fire

To God’s Word,

With a joy that is strength

From your Lord.

I will consecrate you

For the task.

And take charge of your tongue

If you ask…

As the finger of God

I will point.

And with ministry gifts

Oft’ anoint.

Thus equipped, you may serve

Much like Paul,

Who abandoned all else

For Christ’s call.

Learning sin had no hold

O’er one dead

To the flesh, but alive

Where I led.

Please, accept me as your

Inner guide.

Let us witness to Christ

Glorified!

I will offer help as

You allow.

Bold adventures in love

Begin now!

(Picture by Thelma Mansfield)

Yieldedness

John 14:6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.A great deal has been said about "One-Way Jesus". This refers to the second part of the passage. But let us look now at the former part.I am the Way - If you watch how I live, move and operate you will have the key to successful living. Be humble, be helpful, be a good listener, be found in places of need, be forgiving, be full of good and reverent words about the Heavenly Father, be much in prayer.

I am the Truth - Gain the lessons from what I have said. Learn my ethic. Meditate on eternal reward and consequence. Place yourself in my parables. Heed my prophetic utterances. This will require a serious look at Matthew chapters 5, 6, 7, 13, 24 and 25. Also Luke chapters 10, 15 and 22.

I am the Life - I have something to give to you for the simple asking. It is not a creed or a subtle urging. It is rather the very life residing in me. It is meant to be distributed. It is the focus of my mission. Read John 15 several times (the Vine) and receive the revelation of impartation of my life's flow. This can be yours.

Are you prepared to take the whole Gospel trip? Do not get off at the first station with the walk, or the second station with the talk. Stay on board. Realize your need. Go for the life. That Christ be formed in you. And then distributed to the lost.

Can't Go Back

ChangedFrom the outskirts of the town,Where of old the mile-stone stood,Now a stranger, looking downI beheld the shadowy crownOf the dark and haunted wood.Is it changed, or am I changed?

Ah! the oaks are fresh and green,

But the friends with whom I ranged

Through their thickets are estranged

By the years that intervene.

Bright as ever flows the sea,

Bright as ever shines the sun.

But, alas! they seem to me

Not the sun that used to be,

Not the tides that used to run.

(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Note: There must be a gracious relinquishing of the things of youth. We strive, diet, exercise, take courses, venture upon new associations. But the changes that betray our former experience and capability are inevitable. The seeming simplicity and purity of those former things escape us now if we choose to re-visit. The eyes have changed; the heart has changed; the hopes have changed. There remains one compelling task. A yieldedness, and a preparation for eternity. Helping others in the same. And when that door opens, perhaps, just perhaps...the things of youth return.

(Photo by Steve Shockley)

Bug Spray

Thanks to Phillip Keller for his most worthy book, "A Shepherd Looks at Psalm Twenty-three". Keller, a Canadian, student and practitioner of agronomy, one-time shepherd, world traveler, nature photographer and Christian writer and lay speaker. The following was inspired by one of his chapters.Psalm 23:

5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

In the warm season when the shepherd had the flock in remote pastures, the bugs were the major problem. Their invasion of the eyes, nostrils and mouth could drive the sheep well beyond distraction. Afflicted ones could literally fret themselves to death under the siege.

The only relief came with the wind or with a special potion of oil and herbs which the shepherd poured upon the face of the willing patient. Until the sheep got an understanding of the blessings of these remedies, something had to be done to get its attention and to cause it to stand still. Nothing did the job but the soothing sound of the concerned shepherd's voice and the words of empathy and assurance which he employed.

Interestingly the two main symbols for the Holy Spirit in scripture are wind and oil! First the Master's voice must be heard, then the submission, then the gracious application of the "Helper". The Greek word for "comforter" used in Jesus' Upper Room message to his disciples translated "comforter, helper, paraclete, stand-by, supporter". The "bugs" which torment us - guilt, insult, meddling, envy, impatience, slander, unbelief, self-pity, lust, pride will all be dispersed, if not eradicated, by the Helper.

We are told in Galatians chapter five that the Spirit's application brings "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance". Consider them all as sparkling facets of the diamond of love. Diamonds, by the way, achieve their richness under extreme pressure. Common stuff becomes precious.

So, my friend, listen for the Voice, submit, be comforted, be changed.

Breathe

Secret Power

(Taken from the classic volume by D. L. Moody)I remember the morning I came out of my room after I had first trusted Christ, and I thought the old sun shone a good deal brighter than it ever had before; I thought that the sun was just smiling upon me, and I walked out upon Boston Common, and I heard the birds in the trees, and I thought that they were all singing a song for me. Do you know I fell in love with the birds? I never cared for them before; it seemed to me that I was in love with all creation. I had not a bitter feeling against any man, and I was ready to take all men to my heart. If a man has not the love of God shed abroad in his heart, he has never been regenerated. If you hear a person get up in a prayer meeting, and he begins to speak and find fault with everybody, you may know that his is not a genuine conversion; that it is counterfeit; it has not the right ring, because the impulse of a converted soul is to love, and not to be getting up and complaining of every one else, and finding fault.But it is hard for us to live in the right atmosphere all the time. Some one comes along and treats us wrongly, perhaps we hate him; we have not attended to the means of grace and kept feeding on the word of God as we ought; a root of bitterness springs up in our hearts, and perhaps we are not aware of it, but it has come up in our hearts; then we are not qualified to work for God. The love of God is not shed abroad in our hearts as it ought to be by the Holy Ghost.

But the work of the Holy Ghost is to impart love. Paul could say, "The Love of Christ constraineth me." He could not help going from town to town and preaching the Gospel. Jeremiah at one time said: "I will speak no more in the Lord's name; I have suffered enough; these people don't like God's Word. They lived in a wicked day, as we do now. Infidels were creeping up all around him, who said the word of God was not true; Jeremiah had stood like a wall of fire, confronting them, and he boldly proclaimed that the Word of God was true. At last they put him in prison, and he said: "I will keep still; it has cost me too much." But a little while after, you know, he could not keep still. His bones caught fire; he had to speak. And when we are so full of the Love of God, we are compelled to work for God, then God blesses us. If our work is sought to be accomplished by the lash, without any true motive power, it will come to nought.

Now the question comes up, have we the love of God shed abroad in our hearts and are we holding the truth in love? Some people hold the truth, but in such a cold stern way that it will do no good. Other people want to love everything, and so they give up much of the truth; but we are to hold the truth in love; we are to hold the truth even if we lose all, but we are to hold it in love, and if we do that, the Lord will bless us.

Large Thoughts in the Spirit

(Taken from "Faith That Prevails" by Smith Wigglesworth)Now, beloved, I am out for men. It is my business to beout for men. It is my business to make everybody hungry,dissatisfied. It is my business to make people either glad ormad. I have a message from heaven that will not leave peopleas I find them. Something must happen after they are filledwith the Holy Spirit. A man filled with the Holy Spirit is nolonger an ordinary man. A man can be swept by the power ofGod in the first stage of the revelation of Christ so that fromthat moment he will be an extraordinary man. But to be filledwith the Holy Spirit he has to become a free body for God todwell in, and to use, and to manifest Himself through. So I

appeal to you, you people who have received the Holy Spirit,

I appeal to you to let God have His way at whatever cost; I

appeal to you to keep moving on with God into an ever

increasing realization of His infinite purpose in Christ Jesus

for His redeemed ones until you are filled unto all the fullness

of God. To remain three days in the same place would

indicate that you have lost the vision. The child of God must

catch the vision anew every day. Every day the child of God

must be moved more and more by the Holy Ghost. The child

of God must come into line with the power of heaven so that

he knows that God has his hand upon him.

It is the same Jesus, the very same Jesus. He went about

doing good. "God anointed Him with the Holy Ghost and

with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that

were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him."

Beloved, is not that the ministry God would have us see we

are heir to? The mission of the Holy Ghost is to give us a

revelation of Jesus and to make the Word of God life unto us

as it was when spoken by the Son--as new, as fresh, as

effective as if the Lord Himself were speaking. The Bride

loves to hear the Bridegroom's voice! Here it is, the blessed

Word of God, the whole Word, not part of it, no, no, no! We

believe in the whole of it. We really have such an

effectiveness worked in us by the Word of life, that day by

day we are finding out that the Word itself giveth life; the

Spirit of the Lord, breathing through, revealing by the Word,

giving it afresh to us, makes the whole Word alive today.

Amen. So I have within my hands, within my heart, within

my mind, this blessed reservoir of promises that is able to do

so many marvelous things. Some of you most likely have

been suffering because you have a limited revelation of Jesus,

of the fullness of life there is in Him.

So Great Philosophers?

Again I have been enlightened from Psalm 103 by Mark Guy Pearse. (1842-1930; Cornish Methodist preacher)"Who satisfieth thy mouth (ornament, spirit) with good things;"He suggests that in all the kingdom of living beings man alone is dissatisfied, and most seriously so. He may surpass other creatures in reasoning power, use of tools, communication, team work, creativity, joy, grief and other emotions. He has shown himself to have dominion over much of his environment, making it serve his purposes. But he remains a searcher with a need which cannot be satisfied by the things around him. He is after the goodness of God.

Pearse reminds us that this is the image (reflection) in which Adam was formed, which reflection was lost in large part in the Fall. It is as if the heart of man universally cries somewhere within, " I shall be satisfied when I awake with His likeness."

Now hear Pearse: "Think then- If there should come to thee One who knows thee through and through- all the past, every secret thought and wish standing out in hideous nakedness before Him, and Who yet loves thee, loves thee through and through, loves thee with a love that endured all shame and suffering for thy sake; surely such true love were earth's best treasure. Think- If He should be able to loose thee from that past, if knowing all thy frailty and folly He yet could help thee and help thee perfectly. If amidst thy low and selfish thoughts He could bring His truth, so that it should reign within thee more and more; if He could bring into thy impatience and hatred His own love and gentleness; if He could gird thee with courage, and gladden thee with hope, and fill thee with faith- should not that go far to complete thy satisfaction? Think again- If He should know thee with all thy hidden faculties and powers, all that thou canst ever come to be, and He should say unto thee: "Soul, I can develop, I can uplift, I can transform until the life of perfect goodness is thine." What then?

He is come- As many as received Him (Jesus), to them gave He power to become the sons of God."

(Picture of elephant "grieving".)

Forgiveness: The Litmus Test

(Taken from Like Christ by Andrew Murray)It is thus that thou canst bless the world. It is as the forgiving One that Jesus conquers His enemies, and binds His friends to Himself. It is as the forgiving One that Jesus has set up His kingdom and continually extends it. It is through the same forgiving love, not only preached but shown in the life of His disciples, that the Church will, convince the world of God’s love. If the world see men and women loving and forgiving as Jesus did, it will be compelled to confess that God is with them of a truth.And if it still appear too hard and too high, remember that this will only be as long as we consult the natural heart. A sinful nature has no taste for this joy, and never can attain it. But in union with Christ we can do it: He who abides in Him walks even as He walked. If you have surrendered yourself to follow Christ in everything, then He will by His Holy Spirit enable you to do this too. Ere ever you come into temptation, accustom yourself to fix your gaze on Jesus, in the heavenly beauty of His forgiving love as your example: "Beholding the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory." Every time you pray or thank God for forgiveness, make the vow that to the glory of His name you will manifest the same forgiving love to all around you. Before ever there is a question of forgiveness of others, let your heart be filled with love to Christ, love to the brethren, and love to enemies: a heart full of love finds it blessed to forgive. Let, in each little circumstance of daily life when the temptation not to forgive might arise, the opportunity be joyfully welcomed to show how truly you live in God’s forgiving love, how glad you are to let its beautiful light shine through you on others, and how blessed a privilege you feel it to be thus too to bear the image of your beloved Lord.

To forgive like Thee, blessed Son of God! I take this as the law of my life. Thou who hast given the command, givest also the power. Thou who hadst love enough to forgive me, wilt also fill me with love and teach me to forgive others. Thou who didst give me the first blessing, in the joy of having my sins forgiven, wilt surely give me the second blessing, the deeper joy of forgiving others as Thou hast forgiven me. Oh, fill me to this end with faith in the power of Thy love in me, to make me like Thyself, to enable me to forgive the seventy times seven, and so to love and bless all around me.

O my Jesus! Thy example is my law: I must be like Thee. And Thy example is my gospel too. I can be as Thou art. Thou art at once my Law and my Life. What Thou demandest of me by Thy example, Thou workest in me by Thy life. I shall forgive like Thee.

(Picture by Paul Moloney)

Lightnings of God

(Taken from a sermon by John G. Lake - Born in St. Mary's, Ontario, 1870 and died in Spokane, Washington, 1935.)While yet a justified man, even without an experience of sanctification, the Lord committed to me in a measure the ministry of healing in as much that many were healed and, in some instances, real miracles of healing took place. Yet I did not know God as my sanctifier. Ten years later, after sanctification had become a fact in my life, a great and wonderful yearning to be baptized in the Holy Ghost and fire came into my heart.After seeking God persistently, almost night and day for two months, the Lord baptized me in the Holy Ghost causing me to speak in tongues and magnify God. I had looked for and prayed and coveted the real power of God for the ministry of healing and believed God that when I was baptized in the Holy Ghost that His presence in me through the Spirit would do for the sick the things my heart desired, and which they needed. Instantly upon being baptized in the Spirit I expected to see the sick healed in a greater degree and in larger numbers than I had before known, and, for a time, I seemed to be disappointed.

How little we know of our own relationship to God! How little I knew of my own relationship to Him; for, day by day, for six months following my Baptism in the Holy Ghost the Lord revealed to me many things in my life where repentance, confession and restitution were necessary, and yet I had repented unto God long ago. Oh! the deep cleansing, the deep revelations of one's own heart by the Holy Ghost. It was indeed as John the Baptist said, "Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire" [Matthew 3:12].

Results of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

First, then, I will say the Baptism in the Holy Ghost meant to me a heart searching as I had never before known, with no rest, until in every instance the blood was consciously applied, and my life set free from the particular thing that God had revealed. As I say, this process continued for six months after my Baptism in the Holy Ghost.

Second, a love for mankind such as I had never comprehended took possession of my life. Yea, a soul yearning to see men saved, so deep, at times heart rending, until in anguish of soul I was compelled to abandon my business and turn all my attention to bringing men to the feet of Jesus. While this process was going on in my heart, during a period of months, sometimes persons would come into my office to transact business and even instances where there were great profits to be had for a few minutes of persistent application to business, the Spirit of Love in me so yearned over souls that I could not even see the profits to be had. Under its sway money lost its value to me, and in many instances I found myself utterly unable to talk business to the individual until first I had poured out the love passion of my soul and endeavored to show him Jesus as his then present Savior. In not just a few instances these business engagements ended in the individual yielding himself to God.

That love passion for men's souls has sometimes been overshadowed by the weight of care since then, but only for a moment. Again, when occasion demanded it, that mighty love flame absorbing one's whole being and life would flame forth until, under the anointing of the Holy Ghost on many occasions, sinners would fall in my arms and yield their hearts to God.

Others have sought for evidences of the Pentecostal experience being the real Baptism of the Holy Ghost. Some have criticized and said, "It is not a delusion?" In all the scale of evidences presented to my soul and taken from my experience, this experience of the divine love, the burning love and holy compassion of Jesus Christ filling one's bosom until no sacrifice is too great to win a soul for Christ, demonstrates to me more than any other one thing that this is indeed none other than the Spirit of Jesus.

Such love is not human! Such love is only divine! Such love is only Jesus Himself, who gave His life for others.

Again, the development of power: First, after the mighty love, came the renewed, energized power for healing the sick. Oh! what blessed things God has given on this line! What glorious resurrections of the practically dead! Such restorations of the lame and the halt and the blind! Such abundance of peace! Verily, "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses!" [Matthew 8:171.

Then came as never before the power to preach the Word of God in demonstration of the Spirit. Oh! the burning fiery messages! Oh, the tender, tender, loving messages! Oh, the deep revelations of wondrous truth by the Holy Ghost! Preaching once, twice, sometimes three times a day, practically continuously during these four years and four months. Oh, the thousands God has permitted us to lead to the feet of Jesus, and the tens of thou¬sands to whom He has permitted us to preach the Word!

Then came the strong, forceful exercise of dominion over devils, to cast them out. Since that time many insane and demon possessed, spirits of insanity, all sorts of unclean demons, have been cast out in the mighty Name of Jesus through the power of the precious blood. Saints have been led into deeper life in God. Many, many have been baptized in the Holy Ghost and fire. My own ministry was multiplied a hundredfold in the very lives of others to whom God committed this same ministry. Yea, verily the Baptism in the Holy Ghost is to be desired with the whole heart.

Note: If at all possible get a copy of "Adventures in God" by John G. Lake (Harrison House Publishers). Telling the story of Ontario farm boy; turned Chicago business success; turned evangelist and pentecostal pioneer; turned apostle to hundreds of churches in South Africa; turned mainspring of "Healing Rooms" in Spokane and Portland.

Charismatics

I remember reading a book by John F. MacArthur Jr. entitled "The Charismatics". He was summarizing the gifts of the Holy Ghost (charisma) and the four-fold ministry appointments (1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4).At one point he addressed the signs and wonders manifested in the Book of Acts confirming the Word of God, and suggested that these were reserved for the apostles, those who had seen the resurrected Christ and had been sent in the original commission out of Jerusalem.He gives a quote from Paul where that envoy asks the Corinthians, 'Did I not do the works of an apostle among you?'2 Corinthians 12:

12. Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, in wonders, and mighty deeds.

I no sooner read that suggestion than the Spirit quickened to me the recollection of Ananias, a believer (not an apostle) who prayed for the blind Saul after his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. Read from Acts 9:

3And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

4And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

5And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

6And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

7And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.

8And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.

9And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.

10And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.

11And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,

12And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.

13Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:

14And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.

15But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

16For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.

17And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

18And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.

Here was dear, simple, obedient believer Ananias receiving a vision, going on a valiant mission, testifying to the once murderous Saul, ministering healing and leading to the waters of baptism. He was a charismatic!

Now it is suggested that these sorts of manifestations were necessary to endorse the message of the Word until such time as the written record of scripture ("that which is perfect") came into the hands of the Church (1 Corinthians 13:10). If this verse is the only authority for saying that the age of signs and wonders has passed, then take courage fellow believers...it hasn't.

Do not conclude that I saw no value in MacArthur's book. He very appropriately addressed the presumption of many charismatics in expecting the gifts to arrive without cleanliness, consistency with scripture, compassion or a clear impression from God that He was going to operate. If we are to be endowed with power from on high, it will be in proportion to the purity of input of Christ in us. We are not given any magic wand or incontrovertible mantra.

When Jesus spoke of having faith as a grain of mustard seed he was acknowledging that the seed though small, was pure, unadulterated, unmixed. It could and it can move mountains!

Funny How the Mind Can Wander

Once while sitting in a "seen it all before church service", I began to imagine something truly exciting. I had a mental picture of the congregation including a large palette of vivid oil paints. One member brought forward his contribution of sky blue and applied it to a large canvas. His inclination was toward exhortation. Another brought her colour, maroon, representing a fit piece of scripture. A third, a much older man sang a verse of an old hymn. His colour, forest green, and very appropriate for the leading of the morning. A young frail-featured man with a quiver to his jaw released charcoal gray, compassionate intercession for a family going through the knothole of severe illness. A fifth, a mother in her late thirties, bringing harvest orange and chestnut brown, for tongues and interpretation. A mechanic added the gold of prophecy to a challenging situation being faced by the assembly.

What was taking place before us, arranged by the Holy Spirit, was a beautiful corporate expression of art and worship and wisdom (involving all of the senses and attitudes of heart). This was the "togetherness" emphasized in the Acts of the Apostles, the "all in one accord". The forming picture on the canvas showed a small village at the base of an extravagant mountain, with crops and pastures and sheep on the slopes and with the suggestion of clean homes and healthy commerce, socializing and worship in the town. If this were to occur in our midst we would cease calling it "meeting or assembly or Holy Communion or Morning Prayer". We would call it instead "family" in the Lord Jesus. May it come to pass this side of Glory.

Seduced by Supernatural

I have seen it. Men frozen in trance. A preacher falling down repeatedly while trying to take the microphone. Holy laughter or interminable moaning and grabbing of one's abdomen. People attesting to the appearance of angel dust. Missionaries purportedly receiving manna on their open Bible while celebrating communion. Large assemblies milling about in conversation and "fellowship" even after the preacher has commenced the message. And the warning gets issued: "We must respect the working of the Holy Ghost, even if we do not understand."

These are also people who have often grown tired of their Bibles, and of tarrying or breathing in the silent presence of the Lord. In their thirst for something new and fresh they have left behind their yardsticks of scripture and of holy fear to venture into wasteland.

A considered rebuke gets labeled as faithless and judgmental. Pity.

But I have also seen shining new babes in Christ; invalids with most evident restoration of body strength, vision or hearing; tear-washed faces calling down the mercies of heaven in prayer with unlearned articulation and poignancy; prophecy which touches the heart of a congregation on a difficult issue needing the direction of "the finger of God". Lord Jesus help us to see the difference. Help us to SEE YOU...Doug

Lessons from that Witch

Take another look at 1 Samuel 28. King Saul under heavy pressure from his enemies concludes that he is no longer entitled to the counsel of God. His prophet Samuel has been dead for approximately two years.He panics and decides that, God's prohibition notwithstanding, he will seek out a woman with a familiar spirit and will entice her to call out the spirit of Samuel. She is a witch, a practitioner in dark divination.There appears unto this woman the impression of an old man, asking why Saul has called for him and reinforcing the sad news that Saul is out of God's favour and going to join that spirit in the place of the dead, the Kingdom being torn from him and his sons. Could this visitor be Samuel?Sounded authentic. Definitely supernatural and miraculous. Having nothing to do with the righteous agenda of God. But how do we know? First the laws of Moses condemned such a practice. Second the King knew by reputation that the woman was a witch. Third it was clear that God was offering no answer by prayer or by the oracles of Urim and Thumim or other prophets. Fourth this spirit said that Saul and his sons would soon join him in the afterlife. But consider most assuredly that rebellious and unbelieving Saul was not going to end up in the bliss enjoyed by the real Samuel. This messenger was a spirit of darkness having some knowledge of the situation and intent upon tormenting the pathetic Saul even before the time.

Now carry this information over into religious services fraught with a frenzy for the arrival of the miraculous. They often get what appears to be their heart's desire, but only darkness and deception are at the bottom of it. Christ is not lifted up.

It was to a very young church that the Apostle Paul issued the timeless and worthy admonitions "Quench not the Spirit. Despise nor prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil."

Send the Dog Yelping

One story of Smith Wigglesworth always brings a smile. He had been visiting a woman on some matters of counsel and she had accompanied him to the boulevard fronting her house in order to wait for his ride.Her little dog followed them with an imperious air to a spot dangerously close to the roadway."Now go on back to the porch, Rusty. You shouldn't be out here near traffic." She threw in a sweeping hand gesture for good measure.No response. Just a cheeky look which seemed to say, 'Nope, not gonna happen.'

A second rebuke with words something like, "Now do what you're told. Scoot!"

Five perky steps in the opposite direction. Then nothing...

"Rusty, don't make me get the switch."

At this point Wigglesworth clapped those big plumber's hands, and with the booming voice which could rival Niagara, "Be gone! Now!"

A yelp. A tail between the legs. A cringing retreat to the front porch. A peeking out from behind railing pickets.

"And that Madam," Wigglesworth noted, "is how we must deal with the devil in the name of Jesus."

Niagara Brought Us Together

Recently Hilary, Lauren and I took a drive to Niagara Falls. One of the truly astounding natural wonders of our province. We are not keen for the customary tourist attractions (Wax Museum, Casino, Marineland, Butterfly Emporium). We just like to people watch and gaze at the thundering light blue of the Falls.It is said that the two most cosmopolitan gathering places on the planet are Niagara and Piccadilly Circus in London, England. A visit to either will yield an encounter with people from all around the world. This proved true again to us. Smiling faces of all colours. Taking photographs. Sharing a sort of relaxation and common bond in the beauty of it. Acknowledging a powerful, talented and artistic Creator.

Jesus spoke of rivers of Living Water being made available through the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39). This Spirit gives immediate access to God, an exhileration of the heart and a sense of blessed unity. Much in the same way the cataract did for those assembled on the misty platform that sunny September afternoon.

The evangelist Smith Wigglesworth once visited the Falls and after moments of reflection boomed out in his extraordinary voice, such that all around might hear: "Just like that, Father. Give me of your Spirit, just like that!"

I must admit that in my early days in some churches there was little talk of the Holy Spirit, of His availability for peace, comfort, guidance, patience, clearer grasp of scripture, power to testify. These are just some of His blessings to the hungry, seeking believer or assembly.

I remember reading a worthy book by Catherine Marshall entitled "The Helper". Dear Reader, please be open to the ministrations of this Helper.

John 16:

13Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

14He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Jekyll and Hyde ...The Flesh Gone to Its Worst

(Taken from the final chapter of the classic of Robert Louis Stevenson. Part of a letter read after the death of Jekyll, a tortured man of science and secret tendencies.)"That part of me which I had the power of projecting, had lately been much exercised and nourished; it had seemed to me of late as though the body of Edward Hyde had grown in stature, as though (when I wore that form) I were conscious of a more generous tide of blood; and I began to spy a danger that, if this were much prolonged, the balance of my nature might be permanently overthrown, the power of voluntary change be forfeited, and the character of Edward Hyde become irrevocably mine. The power of the drug had not been always equally displayed. Once, very early in my career, it had totally failed me; since then I had been obliged on more than one occasion to double, and once, with infinite risk of death, to treble the amount; and these rare uncertainties had cast hitherto the sole shadow on my contentment. Now, however, and in the light of that morning's accident, I was led to remark that whereas, in the beginning, the difficulty had been to throw off the body of Jekyll, it had of late gradually but decidedly transferred itself to the other side.

All things therefore seemed to point to this; that I was slowly losing hold of my original and better self, and becoming slowly incorporated with my second and worse. Between these two, I now felt I had to choose. My two natures had memory in common, but all other faculties were most unequally shared between them. Jekyll (who was composite) now with the most sensitive apprehensions, now with a greedy gusto, projected and shared in the pleasures and adventures of Hyde; but Hyde was indifferent to Jekyll, or but remembered him as the mountain bandit remembers the cavern in which he conceals himself from pursuit. Jekyll had more than a father's interest; Hyde had more than a son's indifference. To cast in my lot with Jekyll, was to die to those appetites which I had long secretly indulged and had of late begun to pamper. To cast it in with Hyde, was to die to a thousand interests and aspirations, and to become, at a blow and forever, despised and friendless. The bargain might appear unequal; but there was still another consideration in the scales; for while Jekyll would suffer smartingly in the fires of abstinence, Hyde would be not even conscious of all that he had lost. Strange as my circumstances were, the terms of this debate are as old and commonplace as man; much the same inducements and alarms cast the die for any tempted and trembling sinner; and it fell out with me, as it falls with so vast a majority of my fellows, that I chose the better part and was found wanting in the strength to keep to it.

Yes, I preferred the elderly and discontented doctor, surrounded by friends and cherishing honest hopes; and bade a resolute farewell to the liberty, the comparative youth, the light step, leaping impulses and secret pleasures, that I had enjoyed in the disguise of Hyde. I made this choice perhaps with some unconscious reservation, for I neither gave up the house in Soho, nor destroyed the clothes of Edward Hyde, which still lay ready in my cabinet. For two months, however, I was true to my determination; for two months, I led a life of such severity as I had never before attained to, and enjoyed the compensations of an approving conscience. But time began at last to obliterate the freshness of my alarm; the praises of conscience began to grow into a thing of course; I began to be tortured with throes and longings, as of Hyde struggling after freedom; and at last, in an hour of moral weakness, I once again compounded and swallowed the transforming draught." (potion)

Note: An interesting thing happened in 2008. There was a literacy movement afoot in Edinburgh. A special edition of this classic had been produced with the intention of turning the whole city into a Book Club around this compelling tale by one of Scotland's sons. Much has been added to the original novella in movie adaptations. There should have been no change to this hauntingly slow-paced description of the conflict which rages in the heart of man. It is a conflict which cannot be resolved for righteousness sake with a simple, heartfelt resolution. It takes Christ. It takes the Holy Spirit and a new birth. See what Jesus said about the wicked things issuing out of the heart of unregenerate man (Matthew 15:19,20).