I've been thinking a lot lately about the Church--what it is, what it should be--and I've been wondering, doesn't God want us to have a relationship with Him so that His spirit can teach us about Him? I've heard some pretty goofy teachings lately, things I've actually heard for years, and I'm thinking, y'know that just doesn't sound right. So I've gone to the scriptures for myself, looked at them, and realized that some of the teaching is a whole lot of man's thoughts balancing on maybe one or two scriptures.
So you've got the scriptures, with a whole lot of other stuff added to it. But the awful thing is, if it's taught for long enough, and especially if it's taught by someone with a big name in ministry, a lot of people will believe it, so much so that if anyone questions, hmmm, is that what God is really saying here?, they will be labeled blasphemers or even worse. Yikes!
I want God to show me who He is, by His spirit. I don't want to assume that a teaching is "Bible" just because some superstar in the Christian realm has said so.
For example, the scripture says "By His stripes we are healed...." Some would say, God always wants to heal; the wounds Jesus bore for us promise our healing." Yet some, even those praying with unwavering faith, die. In order to explain this, the ones who believe that healing is for all must come up with reasons that fly in the face of God's character: "He wasn't healed because he must have had sin, unforgiveness, lack of faith, ... (insert your own judgment here). I find all of these "reasons" unreasonable! Does that mean that our works have the ability to produce our healing? I think not. These reasons bring with them judgment and usually a lot of ugliness.
I prefer to think that when we receive Jesus and the sacrifice He was for us (by His stripes...), we are made whole, we are healed, because His stripes bridged the gap between us in our sinful nature and God. When I receive Jesus and His holy spirit, I am healed. I am in His presence, whether in this body here on earth, or out of it in Heaven. Either way, I'm good, because of His goodness.
I think the days of listening to the teachings of just one or a handful of men concerning the things of God are over. He wants a personal relationship with each of us, not just the guy on the platform. It's time to find out for ourselves who He is in us and who He wants us to be in this world. Then, empowered with the knowledge of Christ in us, we must boldly be the Body of Christ, armed with love and grace and unwavering in our faith.
