Beware of Good-Intentioned False Teachers

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Hey, welcome to Self Talk. It's me, Dr. Ray Self. Thank you for being a part of the show. Thank you for downloading and subscribing, and all the cool things that we do to make this show spread, and it has been spreading. I'm very, very grateful for all my listeners. Today I want to talk about a topic that's, uh, to me it's, it's disturbing but, but important. There's so many churches and denominations out there that uh, do not believe what the Holy Spirit has directed us to do in Corinthians, for instance, to prophesy, to lay hands on the sick, speak in tongues, interpret tongues, that, that stuff is all passed away. That's a serious doctrinal error, and it's very, very common, and I want to talk about that today. And what we, how we need to respond to that, and what the scripture says. I believe the Bible's the word of God and it's true, and we need to listen to it carefully. This show is sponsored by the International College of Ministry, icmcollege.org. Did you know you can audit courses just for personal enrichment? We got some great courses. Setting the Captives Free, um Overcoming PTSD, uh, Overcoming Depression, Conflict and Communication Resolution, uh, uh, Divorce and Re-marriage. We got some great courses that you can audit for a very small fee. If you're interested in that, email me, drayself@gmail.com, and we'll get you set up. D r r a y s e l f @gmail.com. Let's get started with today's show. Thank you for being a part of it. I appreciate you very, very much. 

Okay, let's start off with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, I thank you for your word, which is the truth. I thank you for your word, which cannot return void. I thank you that all scripture is divinely inspired. I thank you for everyone listening to this show today. I pray that I can be a blessing to them as you'll speak through me and open up our hearts and our spirits to hear what you have to say. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen.

So folks, I want to be careful with today's show. I want to tell you what I believe scripture says very clearly, but there's been a lot of criticism of the church online and through uh, social media lately. Tons of criticism, and we need to be really careful with criticizing the church. We have to remember that Christ gave Himself for the church. The church is very important to God. And I know there's uh, well-meaning people that criticize this church, that church, this pastor, that pastor. A lot of criticism. And you'll notice something about all the criticism. There's no anointing in it. There's no love in it. It's just criticism. And you know, I'm tired of it. I, I, I'm tired of it. But what I want to do is try not to be critical, but maybe call for a change, and let's just talk about the word of God. 

So one of the controversial areas in scripture which should not be concerns the gifts of the Holy Spirit. So when we go into 1 Corinthians 12, and I want to look at that very quick. This is what the scripture says in 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, starting at verse 7. “To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” So that's a very important scripture. Manifestation of the Spirit for the common good means evidence of the Holy Spirit for the good of everyone. Then it goes on verse eight and on down, “...to one is given a word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the affecting of miracles, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing of spirits, another various kinds of tongues and to another interpretation of tongues. But the one and same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one just as He wills.” Now that is 1 Corinthians 12:7 - 11. So this is talking about spiritual gifts. Then we go into verse 14, verse 1, Paul writing to the Corinthian church here, “Pursue love yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you would prophesy.” Then he goes on to explain some practical things. “For the one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God. For the one who understands, for no one understands, but his spirit he speaks mysteries. But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification, exhortation, and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.” Verse, chapter 14, verse 5, 1 Corinthians. Very important. “Now I wish you all spoke in tongues…” Hello. “I wish you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy.” Now that's very clear commandments from God about spiritual gifts. Very clear. 

So I was raised in, in a church and, and uh, you know, I love the church I was raised in, but the church I was raised in had this interpretation of scripture. So when you go into chapter 13, which is, you know, between 12 and 14, there is a, a funny verse and it says, um, it's about, it's a love verse, and it talks about um, verse, chapt– Corinthians 13:4. I'm– listen, I'm working on something here so bear with me. Okay. “Love is patient, love is kind, and it's not jealous; love does not brag and it's not arrogant;” You hear this at a lot of weddings. Um, “love does not act unbecomingly, it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered; does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” Now, pay attention. “But if there are gifts of prophecy, they'll be done away with. If there are tongues, they will cease. If there's knowledge, it'll be done away with.” Stop the presses right there. You see right here? See, it says prophecy will be done away with. Tongues will be done away with. It's all done away with. Well, wait a minute. Let's read on. We know in pro– “We know in part, we prophesy in part. When the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child. When I became a man, I did away with childish things. Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then [I'll be–] I will be known fully, just as I have been fully known.” Now this is a scripture right after Paul describes the spiritual gifts and, and then he, then in verse, chapter 14, he tells us to desire spiritual gifts, then he says eventually prophecy and tongues will be done away with. But it says when the perfect comes, and here's the big scripture.

Well, the Baptists think, “Well, the perfect is the Bible.” Well, that's kind of a contradictory term. The Bible's perfect and has come. So therefore, the gifts have been done away with. However, the perfect Bible tells us to desire these gifts. So that's kind of a contradiction in terms. Some people thinks, uh, it's a, it's the uh, the, when the, when the last apostles died, the gifts stopped. It was just for the early church. It's not for now. And all these things to me is called uh, isogesis interpretation of scripture. It’s taking scripture and taking it out of context to support what you already believe. This is not what the scripture is talking about. The scripture is not saying that all the gifts will not operate anymore in the church when we have the Bible. It doesn't say that at all. You really have to stretch it. It's not saying that when the apostles die, the gifts die. It doesn't say that anywhere. We have a clear commandment in scripture to desire spiritual gifts, the, the supernatural spiritual gifts. As a matter of fact, the same people who say this scripture means gifts have ceased, they also believe Romans chapter 10, “If you confess with your mouth and believe with your heart Jesus is Lord, you shall be saved.” Salvation is a gift. Has that– did that cease too? When the Bible was written? It's ridiculous. It's absolutely ridiculous. 

So what we do is we have traditional teaching taking scripture out of context to believe a pretext. In other words, these denominations take scripture out of context to support what they were already taught. But it's not what the Bible is saying. The Bible is saying very clearly that we have spiritual gifts. We are to desire spiritual gifts. As a matter of fact, 13:30, uh, 12:39 or it's 14, 1 Corinthians 14:39 says something extremely interesting. It says that “Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy and do not forbid to speak in tongues.” King James says, “...covet to prophesy and do not forbid to speak in tongues.” So, to take all this writing about spiritual gifts, tongues, prophecy, healing, miracles, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, discerning of spirits, and to take one little verse and says that has ceased in the year 2025 is absurd. It is stretching scripture to try to make scripture fit your previous ideas. And it is wrong. It is clearly wrong. If you want to look at Corinthians 13 when it says, “When the perfect comes, these gifts will cease,” it says uh, “When the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with.” When it says gifts of prophecy, “...they will be done away with, their tongues, they will cease, if there's knowledge they'll be done away with. When the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with.” Well, the perfect is referring to, here, its, its got to be one of two things. When you read on, it was talking about “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child. When I became a man, I did away with childish things.” So that could be talking about when we are grow up into the fullness of Christ. It could also be talking about when the perfect comes, the second coming of Christ, but it is definitely not talking about canonization of the scripture or the writing of scripture. It's, it's just, it's, it's a stretch. Beware of churches that stretch scripture to believe what they were taught. 

So if you don't believe that the gifts of the Spirit operate today, you could take this scripture out of context and make it fit. But if you just let the Bible speak for itself, that's called exegesis, interpretation of scripture. Allow the Bible to speak for itself. When you just read Corinthians 12, 13, and 14, and the Bible is very clear that we are to desire these gifts. We are to– speaking in tongues is a good thing. Prophesying is a better thing. Okay, it is just a beautiful, beautiful thing. And t… twist the scripture to say we don't do that anymore is wrong. I think what happens, uh, is something that John Wesley said many, many years ago. He said people intend to– tend to interpret scripture based on their lack of experience. So you've never experienced these things. So you try to find one verse out of context to support your lack of experience. But I want to tell you something. I have experienced these things. Not that I am anything super special, but prophecy, I've seen it a thousand times. Incredible gift. Tongues. I speak in tongues, folks. I do. I've had words of knowledge. I've had words of wisdom. Uh, I have seen miraculous healing. I've laid hands on the sick and seen them healed. Uh, I've had discerning of spirits. I've seen discerning of spirits. Uh, interpretation of tongues. I have witnessed. I have experienced all these gifts, and the one common denominator that I have seen with these gifts is the people operating in these gifts have been baptized with the Holy Spirit. 

And the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a critical thing. Uh, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit's come upon you.” Amen. And that's in Acts 1, and it's a clear thing. Uh, Acts 1:5, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now. And you go into Acts 19, uh, 1. “It happened when Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country, came to Ephesus, found some disciples, and he said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ And they said, ‘No, we haven't even heard whether there was a Holy Spirit.’ Paul,” verse 6, “Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying." Let me say it again. Paul laid his hands on them. The Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. This is Acts 19:6. Now, this is being filled with the Holy Spirit. 

My testimony is, is very simple. I'm, I'm a little bit older, guys. I was saved in 1961. John Kennedy was president. I've been saved a long time. And I was a good uh, good Baptist guy. And I love my Baptist brothers. I really do. They do a great job on salvation. They just don't believe the supernatural stuff happens today, which is wrong. Now, saved in 1961, uh, had a life-changing experience. Got baptized. Life-changing experience. In 1986, when my life was at rock bottom, I had a man pray for me to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came on me. I felt like somebody was pouring warm oil all over my body. I felt this sense of perfect peace and perfect love. I was in a chair in a guy's living room, and he just– I don't know what he said. It was something like, "Lord, I pray for my brother that you baptize him with the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit came on me. And when the Holy Spirit came on me, my life changed forever and ever. And it– he, he told me something. His name was John. And John looked at me after this happened. He said, "Ray, you may get some funny words in your mouth, but if you do, don't think it's gibberish. That, that'll be the gift of tongues. I said, "Okay, John, if that happens, I'll let you know." Didn't happen right then. But he said, "You'll look at scripture now, and you'll see things in scripture you've never seen before. You'll have understanding you've never had before." And that happened. And he said, "Ray, don't be surprised if you lay hands on someone who's sick and they get well right in front of you." I said, "Okay, well, if that happens, you know, let you know.” Uh, “Don't be surprised if you end up casting out demons." And I went, "Oh, gee, not so sure about that one." But that ended up happening. My life changed from that day forward. I did begin speaking in tongues. That was actually about an hour later, driving my car back home. But my life changed. 

It was like the power of God came on me, and I started getting the words of knowledge, words of wisdom. I started laying hands on the sick. Now, not everybody I laid hands on got healed, but some did. Some did. And I, I've seen demonic manifestations, and I've cast it out. Uh, I began to speak in tongues and uh, and prophesy, especially prophesy. Begin to move prophetically. This happened to me. You can't take it away from me. I have seen it. I've seen the prophetic gift operate beautifully. I've also seen perversions of all these gifts. Satan will pervert things that are good of God. But my point is this. Do not let anyone tell you that the supernatural gifts in Corinthians have passed away and are not for today. The Bible does not say that. It– you have to stretch the Bible and twist the Bible and add to the Bible to make it say that. Now, I know some people will argue with me. The Baptists, the Presbyterians, the Methodists will argue with me. God bless them. Great, great folks. Love them much. Amen. But that's not what scripture says. And it's not…and if you allow the Holy Spirit to come into your life, get filled with the Holy Spirit, you will experience these gifts. And Paul said these gifts are good for the church. He was encouraging the Corinthians to operate in these gifts, but operate in a orderly manner. Yes, the gifts can be perverted. They can be twisted, and they can be counterfeited because if anything's valuable, Satan will counterfeit it. That's what he does. But when he counterfeits something, that just tells, well, it must be valuable, or Satan wouldn't be trying to twist it and, and pervert it. And, and, and sometimes tongues, people call tongues is a bunch of gibberish. “It's just a bunch of gibberish.” Well, doesn't mean it's not tongues. Tongues is your spirit praying. It's your spirit praying, and it's, it's a, “When you pray, and you know not [aught how] how to pray.” It says in Romans, “but our spirit makes intercession for us.” It's a beautiful gift, but I don't think it's the most important gift. According to Paul, the most important gift is prophesying.

Prophecy is like this. You're praying for someone, and as you pray for them, the Lord speaks to you, and He, and you get this impression of something you're supposed to tell them. And it's usually encouraging, and it's edifying, and it's comforting, and it builds them up. It's not predicting like Nostradamus predicting the end of the world. This is a gift that edifies, and the Bible makes it very clear in Corinthians. It edifies, it exhorts, it encourages. I have given thousands of prophecies. Have I ever given something I thought was a prophecy and was not? Absolutely. I'm human. I make mistakes. But so many times it is not a mistake, and it's a beautiful gift that confirms something, affirms something, encourages someone, builds their faith, edifies them, and is important for individuals and for the church. My wife and I flow prophetically quite often. We love to minister at the altar, put our hands on people, pray for people, and allow the Lord to speak to us through them. Now, when I get a prophetic word, I don't go around going, "Thus says the Lord God to you." I just pray, and I say, "I believe I hear the Lord saying to you, but pray about it. This is what I believe or hear the Lord saying." And I deliver the word. Amen. Or maybe it's a picture, and I say, "This is what I believe, but you can pray about it.” And of course, when a prophetic word is given, you can always judge it. Does it line up with scripture? Is it something the Lord would say? Is it encouraging to you? Is it confusing or cause shame? Then it's not from God. There's a lot of ways to judge prophetic words. But my point of this is do not allow, do not believe those that try to tell you that the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit have passed away and are no longer in operation. It is not true. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are operating today. They are important. They're important for the church. They're important for your family. They're important for the community. Our supernatural God is alive. He's still moving through the church. And Lord knows our church needs a move of the Holy Spirit and a supernatural touch of the Holy Spirit. You're talking about a faith-building thing. 

Remember Jesus, uh, interacting with John's disciples. And John's disciples asked Him if He was the One or should they wait for another, which was kind of a weird question. And Jesus told them, He said, "If you do not believe the words I say, believe the works that I do. [The blind heal–] The blind see, the, [the, the] lame are healed.” Paul said in Corinthians, uh, that, “My message…” or maybe it's Romans “...did not come to you with the wisdom of man but a demonstration of the power of God.” So the supernatural should be a part of all our lives. The gifts of the Holy Spirit and the supernatural is operating today. I've seen it in hundreds of churches around our country. There are other churches where you'll see none of this, which is very sad. But in the churches that I work with, we see the supernatural all the time. I was just out in Arizona. I saw incredible prophetic words. I saw healing. All kinds of amazing things happen supernaturally. You could feel the presence of God in this church. Incredible experience. And I've gone to a lot of churches like that where you can sense the presence of God, and people are getting healed. People are being delivered. People are being set free. People are being encouraged. It is wonderful. Do not allow anyone to take a scripture out of context and tell you that the supernatural of God has stopped with the canonization of scripture or the passing of the apostles. Scripture does not support that. And if the supernatural has passed away, does that mean salvation is no longer happening? Because that's a supernatural gift as well.

Anyway, I'm kind of ranting a little bit here. I'm passionate about this. Uh, I hope this has made sense to you. Let me pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you, Lord, for everyone listening today. Lord, I thank you, Father, that the, the manifestation of the Holy Spirit is for our good. I pray, Father, that if anyone's listening here today and thinks that this does not happen anymore, Lord, I ask you to show them the truth. Let not my words but your word, your truth, Father. Holy Spirit, I ask you just to touch everyone listening to this broadcast. Touch them where they need healing. Touch them where they need to hear a word from God. Manifest, manifest your gifts through every listener. I, I pray that your Holy Spirit will come upon those listening to this show and you will fill them fresh, and you will manifest yourself through every listener, Father. Lord, I thank you for this opportunity. We give you praise and honor in Jesus’ name. Amen. And amen.

Okay, that's it. I believe this is episode 244. Thank you for listening. I appreciate you. Again, um, be sure and share this podcast with as many people as possible. It, it really helps us, and you guys have done great with that. Don't forget to go to the website for the podcast. The easy link to the website for the podcast is icmcollege.org/selftalk. icmcollege.org/selftalk. There's also a link in the notes. The reason you might want to go to the website is all the shows with a description of every show I've done is on the website. You can also get on our email list. You can give us a review. All this happens, and you can subscribe. All this happens, and it helps us a lot, too. If you'd like to donate, that would be wonderful. Uh, go to icmcollege.org/donate. We have several funds available. Uh, that will help us a lot, too. Thank you so much for being a part of Self Talk with me, Dr. Ray Self. God bless you. Let the Holy Spirit touch you and use you. Amen. Amen.