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Let me tell you competing stories beloved. The first involves people who insist on biblical accuracy from those who profess leadership in the church and those that skirt outside the lines of what God actually said and hide behind some arcane or mysterious move of the Spirit. As if the Spirit of the Lord would ever be in disagreement with the Word of the Lord. Let me give you some real tangible examples. When the second group wants to speak about sneaky squid sprits, gold dust manifestations of the Holy Spirit, or a seven mountains mandate to take over the world for Jesus Christ it results in the first group holding firm to scripture and demanding chapter and verse. You see beloved, while some play Pinky and the Brain games of world domination or chase demonic spiritual experiences, those who discern are far more concerned about sheep being led astray.
So let's analyze and summarize before heading into the second story. Group one, the discernment group, insists on sticking solely to what God has said clearly in His word. The second group likes to draw outside the lines, pretending the spirit is giving them some deeper revelation that escapes those who insist on Biblical truth only.
Now the second story is about 12 Israeli spies who were sent by God to spy out the Promised Land. Now as the title proclaims -- this land was already promised by God to Israel. Two came back (Joshua and Caleb) and insisted on only going by what God had said -- you know -- His word. The other ten liked to draw outside the lines and instead of solely relying upon what the word of God was, they relied upon their own experience of what they saw in the land. Sound familiar? One relying upon His word and the other upon their own experiences. Now here is a simple old matching problem for you:
Discerning folks in story one 10 experiential spies
Pinky and the Brain Joshua and Caleb
If you matched the discerning folks to Joshua and Caleb then give yourself a pat on the back! Joshua and Caleb insisted on what God had already said -- not what they may have felt based on their experiences. On the flip side, the 10 experiential spies left the safe confines of what God had said, as do the Pinky and the Brain crowd from today.
I say this as a backdrop to a quick look today at the latest shot in the dark from Dr. Michael Brown who seemingly is getting very frustrated by discernment ministries continuing to call him Pinky. The sad thing is to watch a biblical scholar lose his way so prolifically in Scripture because he is too busy try to defend himself to hear what God might actually be trying to say to him. It seems that this week Dr. Brown posted on Facebook a ridiculous and backwards interpretation of the story of the 12 spies. He mockingly asked who you remember -- the names of the two with a good report or the ten with the bad report. He then gleefully concludes that naysayers in the body of Christ may be influential at a given moment but will soon be forgotten and it is those who believe God's Word that will be remembered.
In his misguided zeal to try and broad-brush away all of his critics as being "naysayers" he fails to see that he represents the ten spies. It was the ten spies who dismissed what God had to say in favor of their own sneaky squid experience. The discernment folks from story number one are not naysayers -- they are God-Sayers. What did God say and stick with that. Do not add rolling on the floor, laughing uncontrollably, or spasmodic movements. Do not add Bethel, IHOP or the Brownsville false revival. Nice try Dr. Brown. Swing and a miss.
Rev. Anthony.
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