tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886567613905490071.post559485464494959792..comments2023-08-01T20:14:02.890-04:00Comments on Thunder Sounds: Living in the Future BackwardsSLWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04260137021205685080noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886567613905490071.post-67865868312690919852011-06-29T09:30:06.896-04:002011-06-29T09:30:06.896-04:00Gerald,
That first paragraph in your last comment-...Gerald,<br />That first paragraph in your last comment--masterful!<br /><br />SW was a man of faith. I take faith and fear to be opposites. So if we're afraid, there's no way we'll act in faith.SLWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04260137021205685080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886567613905490071.post-44537258325154002762011-06-28T15:22:50.692-04:002011-06-28T15:22:50.692-04:00Whether or not that is sufficient to adopt it as t...<i>Whether or not that is sufficient to adopt it as the default approach to sickness would be much more debatable.</i><br /><br />What is sufficent? Why must it be debated instead of demonstrated? The fact that mine is a unique view is due to the fact that nobody ever considered using a "positive confession" approach to exorcism because the "Take no Prisoners" approach has been so uniformly successful that alternatives were never even considered, much less ones so patently ludicrous as the "positive confession" approach. This despite the fact that the purpose of exorcism is to evict demons that afflict the flesh, and we do so because we know that the affliction of that flesh will not cease until the demons are gone. Embedded in this belief is the unstated conviction that Spirit is more powerful than the flesh, transcending mere matter. Yet, in contradiction to that fact, we concsistently yield to the power of sickness in the flesh as if it was the master and the Spirit of God within us was the pauper. What is this, that we believe we can prevail against the gates of hell, yet are stumped by the spiritual equivalent of a cardboard doghouse?<br /><br />I belive that The Spirit of God loves someone who loves the truth, but cannot work through someone who sincerely, but mistakenly, believes a falsehood. I believe that He loves the "positive confessionist", but He will work more effectively with that person when they "take no prisoners" when they cast out demons than sickness by the "positive confession" method, because the former is <i>true</i> and the latter is <i>false</i>. Perhaps we are scared of the possibility that the he fact that it worked for Wigglesworth and not for us is that sickness is saying to us, as the demon said to the Sons of Sceva, "Jesus I know and Wigglesworth I know, but who are <b>you</b>?"Geraldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14971981236222388254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886567613905490071.post-39362550715383733772011-06-28T12:28:09.869-04:002011-06-28T12:28:09.869-04:00Gerald,
Interesting point about the inconsistency ...Gerald,<br />Interesting point about the inconsistency in demonology. Certainly, no one would claim something was so regarding such a condition until it was so. The continuing presence of the demon would make a mockery out of such a position.<br /><br />I see no distinction in how the gospels relate healing to demonization and sickness, so SW's approach makes at least some sense. Whether or not that is sufficient to adopt it as the default approach to sickness would be much more debatable.SLWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04260137021205685080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886567613905490071.post-70760642648136561332011-06-27T08:38:34.160-04:002011-06-27T08:38:34.160-04:00I too have problems with the "positive confes...I too have problems with the "positive confession" issue, mainly because of the inconsistency of its advocates. Often, these advocates also believe in demon oppression and demon possession, and in the necessity of casting those demons out. However, I have never heard of any of the advocates of "positive confession" take on a "positive confession" posture when confronted with a recalcitrant demon. I've never heard one say "thank you Lord, this demon is gone!" when the demon puts up an initial fight. I think there is an unstated agreement that a "positive confession" posture toward demons would be counter productive, encouraging them to put up a fight. To say that demons don't put up a fight is to ignore that they *tried* to resist Jesus and the disciples: do the "positive confession" advocates truly believe they are better than Jesus and the disciples?<br /><br />Standard policy toward demons is one of zero tolerance and taking a position of pursing a persistent, unrelenting offense.<br /><br />The inconsistency is that sickness and poverty are also works of the Devil, merely in a different form. Why be supine in the face of these when resistance is initially met? Observers of Smith Wigglesworth's ministry have remarked that he treated disease as if it was a demonic infestation/oppression, and I wonder if a similar posture should be adopted today.Geraldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14971981236222388254noreply@blogger.com