Little Red Book Ministry

that each individual must have enough faith to be healed. The opposition then points out that this type of healing would constitute concrete evidence of God’s presence in man’s affairs in an age when “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

The “anti-gifts” people further argue that most of the greatest men of God in our modern times, men like John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, and D. L. Moody, never received any of these special gifts and yet they won thousands of people to the Lord in their lifetimes. Some of the ‘gifts’ people believe, on the other hand, that if a person doesn’t exhibit at least one of these he or she is not even saved.

The “anti-gifts” people point to 1 Corinthians 13:8–10, which occurs right in the middle of the main biblical treatise on the gifts of the Spirit. This passage indicates that at least prophecies, tongues, and words of knowledge were meant to be temporary. Congregations of this persuasion are often very strong on doctrine but much weaker on emotional involvement with their God. We at the Little Red Book ministry believe that this second ‘anti-gifts’ faction has the correct outlook and interpretation of the scriptures. We want to be careful however not to put a limit on what we believe God’s will is. We certainly acknowledge that God is still very active in healing the sick, but more according to James 5:14–15, rather than the belief that a particular man is endowed with the gift of healing. We genuinely love our Lord, as also do many of our friends, and yet we do not receive any of these gifts. Given the confusion and profusion of fraud among our Charismatic and Pentecostal brethren, we feel obliged to take a stand against any thing that ultimately so profanes and blasphemes the exalted name of our God.

B. Testing the spirits
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).

It is important to recognize that just because something unnatural occurs which seems to be a very good thing, it is not necessarily from God. As we have seen, we are not to have anything to do with evil spirits and further, we must test any spirits we knowingly come in contact with. It therefore seems more reasonable to let the Holy Spirit of God minister to us through His written Word and to have nothing to do with questionable spiritual manifestations.

Matthew 24:5; Acts 20:29–31; Romans 16:17–18; Philippians 4:18–20; Jude 3–4, 8–13, 16