Dangerous Theology

Welcome to Self Talk. This is your host, me, Ray Self. Episode 245. Can you believe it? I cannot believe it. I want to thank everybody who's been supporting this podcast. Our numbers have just jumped up in the last month or two terrifically. Thank you so much for your support. I appreciate you very, very much. I got a very important topic today. It's called dangerous theology. I don't talk about this kind of stuff much, but I think it needs to be addressed. So stay tuned. This is important. You know, I know theology, you go, "Oh, boring.” This is not boring. This is important for you. The show's sponsored by my ministry, the one I founded, International College of Ministry. Now enrolling. You know God's called you. You know you need to do this. icmcollege.org. icmcollege.org. Check us out. I'd appreciate it very much. 

Okay, let's get started. What do I mean by dangerous theology? Well, to me, dangerous theology cannot be what is taught as much as sometimes what is not taught. So, I want to talk to you about that and how this applies to you. I was raised at a very traditional church, great church. Uh, actually, it was a Southern Baptist church. I was saved there. Had some great experiences there. Learned a lot about the Lord there. Uh, was taught the Bible and had Sunday school, and you know, walked close to the Lord. I mean, God bless my Baptist brothers and sisters. Now this video here, or excuse me, audio recording, is probably going to make some of you mad if you are still Baptist, and that's not my intention. But what I'm talking about, dangerous theology, sometimes can be what is not taught. So as, as a Baptist, I was raised to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He died for my sins. He rose on the third day, and we, we’re saved by grace, not by works. And it was a, it was a great, great teaching and terrific church. As a matter of fact, salvation was emphasized. And also walking the Christian walk and living the Christian life was, was greatly emphasized. And some of the best Christians I've ever known in my life are Baptist. However, there was something missing that I didn't realize until years ago. 

So, what's missing? You know, that sounds like a great church. What's missing? What's missing is parts of the scripture that they did not share with me. Parts of the scripture that were not talked about. And, and I want to share some scriptures that really were not talked about that are critical. And omitting this is a very, very serious thing. One scripture that was not talked about much or at all was um Acts 1:8, Jesus talking, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” And then Acts 1:8, “You will–” “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea, Samaria, even to the remotest parts of the earth.” Now, that's referring to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. If it ever was mentioned, the explanation was, for this scripture, was that this was talking only about Pentecost. That Pentecost is when the Holy Spirit came, and everybody was filled with the Spirit. And now that's generational. Somehow, that's passed down from generation to generation, generation. So now everyone who gets saved is automatically baptized with the Holy Spirit. But it didn't actually line up. I didn't realize that. I never doubted that. But what I came to found out later in life was that salvation is a fantastic thing. It's the most important thing. But the baptism of the Holy Spirit is something else entirely. And it's not just at Pentecost. Because what we see is the Holy Spirit continuing to fall after Pentecost. Acts 10, Acts 8, Acts 10, Acts 19, and then in Jude it talks about let's be continually filled with the Holy Spirit. 

So, what did my church not tell me? And why is that so bad? Well, let me tell you some of the things the church did not talk about. And I want to just kind of go into a little bit of detail here because this is important. It didn't talk about 1 Corinthians 12:7, “but to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” And the manifestation of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12 is a very important, a very important scripture. I'm looking it up as we talk right here. In 1 Corinthians 12, it says, "To one is given a word of wisdom through the Spirit. To another word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing." We didn't talk about that. “...gifts of healing, to another the affecting of miracles, to another prophecy, to another [distinguish–] distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues and interpretation of tongues.” This is clear. This is talking to the church. And it says the manifestation of the Spirit is given and there's, there's gifts of the Holy Spirit, words of wisdom, words of knowledge, healing, miracles, tongues, interpretation of tongues, gifts of the Holy Spirit poured out on the church, given to the church, still given to the church. 

But you see, we skip that. Or instead of skipping over that, if they did happen to mention that, they would try to explain it away. And what people do is they tend to find scriptures out of context to explain what they were already taught. Okay. Paul– also, I wasn't taught about 1 Corinthians 14:1. “Pursue love yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” What? Desire spiritual gifts, especially you may prophesy. I don't remember anybody prophesying in, in my church. Uh oh. What? What else did Paul say? Verse four– 1 Corinthians 14:5. “I wish you all spoke in tongues.” What? “I wish you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy.” That's what he says. H– is this the word of God or not? 1 Corinthians 14, 14:8. 1 Corinthians 14:8. “I thank God I speak in tongues more than you all.” Hm. 1 Corinthians 14:39. “Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy and do not forbid speaking in tongues. Well, well, but, but we don't do that. I mean, we weren't taught that, but that's what it says. But we weren't taught that. 

Well, you see what happens is, when you have a preconception that you were taught, you look for a scripture out of context to support what you already believe. So what my church did was they picked 1 Corinthians 13:9, 10, and 11, or actually 8, 9, and 10. And listen to these scriptures. Now, they're using these scriptures to try to explain away why the Baptists don't speak in tongues, prophesy, have words of knowledge, words of wisdom, and gifts of healing. Although the Bible tells us to earnestly desire these spiritual gifts, and he tells us that each one is given these gifts. So, here's the explanation. Now, it's out of context. 1 Corinthians 13:8. You know the scripture. “Love never fails. But if there are gifts of prophecy, they'll be done away with.” Uh oh, looky there. They'll be done away with. “If there are tongues, they will cease. If there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we [prophes–] prophesy in part.” Verse 10. 1 Corinthians 13:10. “But when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with.” 11. “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.” There you have it. You see, that stuff doesn't exist anymore. Well, that just doesn't quite line up because he's explaining it in chapter 12. He's telling us to des– to desire these gifts and how, how these gifts are given to each one of us. And then in chapter 14, he says, "Earnestly desire these gifts and covet these gifts." But then he's saying in the verse, be– chapter before that they're going to cease. But then, when will they cease? Well, it says when the perfect comes. Well, so we, we need an explanation here. These things have ceased. They don't happen anymore. Why? Because the perfect has come. Some say the perfect is the canonization of scripture. H– the Bible's perfect. Therefore, we don't have these gifts anymore. Well, that's kind of weird because the perfect Bible says we do have these gifts all the time, today. The perfect Bible says we do have these gifts, then, or there's, some say, when the perfect comes, the part will be done away with. That means the– when the apostles die, and since we, we, the apostles are no longer here, we don't have these gifts, which is strange because there's nothing in scripture that says that. You have to really stretch this to make it fit your theology. 

So what people do is, churches who don't experience the gifts of the Holy Spirit desperately for years, maybe even centuries, try to find scriptures to explain what they already believe. Their lack of experience creates bad theology. And I think that's what's happened to many traditional churches. If you look at 1 Corinthians 13:8, when it says, "Love never fails, but their gift of prophecy, they'll be done away with. Their tongues, they will cease. When there's knowledge, they'll be done away with. We know in part, we prophesy in part. When the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with.” Keep reading. “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child. But when I became a man, I did away with childish things.” So that's referring to maturity, the maturity of the body of Christ. It's not talking about the canonization of scripture. Some believe it's talking about the second coming of Jesus Christ, which is very possible, but it's definitely not talking about the canonization of scripture, and it has nothing to do with when the apostles died away. 

And then there's some other, what I call convenient theology. The other thing they will teach is, well, you see, tongues and prophecy and healing that was to verify the early church and to let us know that the Bible's a supernatural book. That doesn't happen anymore. Well, that's kind of dangerous because, well, if this is not happening anymore in the New Testament, how do we know that salvation is happening anymore? How do we know redemption is happening anymore? How do we know justification is happening anymore? How do we know we have eternal life? All these other supernatural things. So, what people do is because this is the tradition of my church, I pull a scripture out of context and make it fit my pretext. And that's what they have done. And it's dangerous because I believe it's possible they are bordering on the unforgivable sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said the only sin that would not be forgiven is blasphe– blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. The churches that believe that these gifts of the Holy Spirit no longer exist and that people that operate on these gifts are fools, or they are mentally deceived, or whatever. It's dangerous theology. 

I want to tell you something. I move prophetically. I have prophesied. I've heard the Lord speak. I have gifts of healing. I've laid hands on the sick and I've seen them I've seen them healed right in front of my eyes. Sometimes I lay hands, and nothing happens. Okay. I, I speak in tongues, folks. Ray Self speaks in tongues. Amen. I do that. And it is an incredible thing. The gifts of the Holy Spirit. I've had words of knowledge and words of wisdom. I've seen miracles in, you know, Paul said very clearly to beware. Let me tell you what Paul said. Paul said this in his um, in Corinthians. Paul made a very, very, very bold statement, and he said first, sec– 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 4 and 5. He said, “My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom but in a demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” Paul said, “Listen, I'm not just teaching the word of God, preaching the word of God, I'm demonstrating the word of God with Spirit and power.” You see, the churches that have said that the gifts of the Holy Spirit were for then, they're not for now. Amen. They are, they are in violation of what Paul said. Paul said, "My preaching was not in [per– pervasive] words of wisdom, but a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of man,” traditional churches, “but on the power of God." The Apostle Paul, the writer of two-thirds of the New Testament, wanted our faith to be on the power of God. He wanted people to see the reality of God. 

And this is what I'm appealing to you, my listeners that are listening to this podcast. The power of God. When you see a miracle in front of your eyes, your faith goes high. When you see a prophecy and somebody speaks a prophetic word to you that comes true, it will build your faith. These miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit give reality to God. They give glory to God. They make, they make us understand how real and present our savior is. The Holy Spirit is inside of us. He's dwelling in us. He's moving throughout us. I want to be in a church that moves in the power of God. And to teach against the power of God is dangerous. To teach against the power of God is dangerous. It's all over scripture. And the miracles, miracles, miracles. The Christian walk is a supernatural walk. The Bible says we are the temple of the Holy Ghost. The temple of the Holy Spirit, the Giver of Gifts, the Gift Maker, the Creator Himself, lives within me through the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is powerful. He is powerful. And these signs and wonders and miracles, they give glory to God. They give witnesses to God. If you want to be a great evangelist, heal somebody supernaturally in the name of Jesus Christ. Give a prophetic word that blows their socks off. It is incredible. It is incredible, and it brings glory to God. It is dangerous to take part of the Bible of the new covenant that Paul wrote to the church and dismiss it because you don't experience it. You try to develop a convenient theology that's so convenient to your preconceptions. And that's what so many churches have done. And it is dangerous, dangerous, dangerous. It hurts people. It, It grieves the Holy Spirit. It grieves God.

And sometimes, I know that my brothers and sisters in Christ, you're good people. You're wonderful people. And I love you, and I appreciate you. But read the scripture in context. Read the whole message. You can take that one verse out of 1 Corinthians chapter 13, but you're ignoring chapter 12 and chapter 14. You're also ignoring the rest of the scriptures time and time again. You're ignoring Acts 19 when Paul met some believers at Ephesus, and he laid hands on them, and they got baptized with the Holy Spirit long after Pentecost. You're ignoring, You're ignoring Acts 8 when Philip goes up to Samaria, and people believed they were baptized. And then later the apostles came up and laid hands on them, and they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. You're ignoring the fact that people were continually filled with the Holy Spirit throughout the New Testament, and signs and wonders and miracles followed the New Testament church. And we're in the New Testament. We're in the New Covenant. The church was founded on signs, wonders, and miracles. Peter healed the sick and raised the dead, and the, the apostles performed miracles. And it said those that beli– John 12, uh, John 14:12, those that believe in Jesus, do you believe in Jesus? Will do the same works that He did and even greater works. That's the miraculous. You're a believer in Jesus. We're called to move in the supernatural. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are for today, and they, they, they create so much good. They– people are healed and delivered and set free. And the unbelievers come to the Lord over and over. People want to see the power of God. 

You know what's happening in our society? Because the church isn't operating in the power of God. Satan is having a field day because people are spiritually hungry. And if they don't meet that hunger with the Holy Spirit, they'll try to find it through other things like witchcraft and sorcery and divination and all that crazy stuff. And it just– we, you, the world has a fascination with the supernatural, you know, horror shows and, and magic and sorcery, and they're teaching our kids magic and sorcery and Harry Potter. The reason for that is we have a spiritual void that's not being filled by the Holy Spirit. So, we're, we're trying to get it through Hollywood and books and magazines, and oh, it's crazy. My point of this whole podcast is it's dangerous theology to believe that the supernatural Holy Spirit, gifts of the Holy Spirit, that's all throughout the New Testament, don't operate anymore today. That's foolish. The Bible does not support it. It is dangerous theology. You can argue with me, but you can take that one scripture out of context, and argue with me, but that's all you've got because I've got scripture after scripture after scripture after scripture after scripture of the supernatural things happening in the body of Christ for the body of Christ working through believers. Amen. 

I got a little excited in this podcast. Sometimes I do that. I get a little emotional. I can get a little bit emotional sometimes, you know, that's, that's me. Anyway, I love you much, folks. I thank you for listening to the show. And I just pray right now if you're listening to me and you. you, you're you're in a place where your church doesn't believe that this stuff is for real, that it happens anymore. I pray the Holy Spirit will convict you. Convict you of what the word of God teaches. That you will begin to experience. Just because you haven't experienced it doesn't mean it's not true. Just because you haven't experienced it doesn't mean it's not true. Don't build theology on your lack of experience. Let the Bible speak for itself. 

Lord, I pray that the Bible will come alive and real that everyone listening to this podcast that we'll get a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit and that each of each of the listeners to Self Talk will begin to move even more supernaturally. Father, you said these signs will follow those that believe in your name, will lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover, and we will even cast out demons. And we do this all for your glory, for your honor. Father, we thank you for your Spirit. We thank you that your word is still true today, as it was 2,000 years ago. Your word cannot return void. I thank you for this show, for this podcast, and for everyone listening. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. And amen.

That was a lot. Little heavy there. I could get more theological on this. And uh, you know, I…listen, I love people. I love the church, and I love the traditional churches, but the teaching or the belief that the supernatural move of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, that that has all ceased and is no longer applicable today is wrong. And there are millions of Christians that agree with me. There are millions of Christians who agree with me. There are millions of Christians out there who speak in tongues and move prophetically. Okay? I think those that believe it doesn't happen anymore are becoming more the minority, but it's not about numbers. It's just about the word of God and the glory of God. 

Well, thank you for being a part of the show. Um, if you've ever considered going deeper in the word of God, finishing up your bachelor's, finishing your master's, or your doctorate in an accredited Holy Spirit-filled seminary college, that's the college that I founded. It's the International College of Ministry. We're enrolling now. You can get a free evaluation. It's free. You can just click “Evaluate me.” Fill out, ask a few, answer a few questions. I will send you an email from myself that tells you exactly how many credits you can transfer in. We transfer in a lot of credits. That saves you a lot of money. You may be a lot further along than you realize. We'll tell you what courses you'll be able to take. We'll give you a cost and even financial options. We even have scholarships available for those that are struggling financially. Check us out. icmcollege.org. Bless you. God bless you. This is Dr. Ray. Thanks for listening. Be sure and share it with somebody. Amen.