Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit

The Scarecrow Fallacy

Ian Johnson December 7, 2020 5 Comments

To commit the “Scarecrow Fallacy,” which I have named after the Scarecrow character in the 1939 movie the Wizard of Oz, is to mistake a diploma for knowledge or a credential for God’s calling. God usually makes use of available formal education, and often acts through the organized Church’s mechanisms of licensure and ordination, but has never bound himself always to do so. It is possible to have a very powerful calling from God with no formal human recognition, and also, unfortunately too common to have excellent ministry credentials and no relationship with Jesus whatsoever.

A God who Speaks, God Speaks to Us, Heresy, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Peril of Seeking Power, Prophecy, Social control and statecraft, The universal Church and local churches, Through others, Through the church, Uncategorized

been with Jesus, being with Jesus, Christian education, credential, credentialing, degree, diploma, education, fallacy, formal education, licensure, opinions of others, Scarecrow, Wizard of Oz

Teachers

Ian Johnson December 5, 2020 4 Comments

Teachers are given to the Church to teach and explain the Word of God and to model and transmit the relationship with God they are teaching. Teaching as a gift of the Holy Spirit may also be given to people who are not permanently given to the Church as teachers, and may be given to people on specific occasions. Ephesians 4:11 “teachers” are not the same thing as “pastors.”

A God who Speaks, God Speaks to Us, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Through others, Through the church

authority, authority figures, authority in the Church, gifts of the Holy Spirit, Spiritual Gifts, Teacher, teaching

Evangelists

Ian Johnson December 1, 2020 2 Comments

Evangelists, as people given by Christ to the Church, are primarily trainers in evangelism, sent to show the rest of us how to introduce others to a friendship with Jesus. They are not sent to do the work by themselves! But, because of our Western focus on paid “ministers” and on attendance at church “events,” true evangelists tend to be unrecognized and unappreciated.

A God who Speaks, God Speaks to Us, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Purpose of the Church, Through the church

Ephesians 4:11, Evangelist, evangelists, gifts of the Holy Spirit, Gifts to the Church, trainers in evangelism

The Ephesians 4 “Offices” are Jesus’ Gifts to the Church, not Fixed “Offices” of Authority

Ian Johnson November 24, 2020 3 Comments

Ephesians 4:11 identifies five groups of people given to the Church by Christ to equip its members to do the work of the ministry–apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. These five groups are best viewed based on their functions, and not as fixed “offices” of authority. The common Protestant emphasis on the pastor as the “boss” of the local church is unjustified.

A God who Speaks, Authority Contests, Church purpose versus church growth, Divisions in the Church, God Speaks to Us, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Peril of Seeking Power, Purpose of the Church, Through the church

Apostle, authority, authority figures, authority in the Church, Church Offices, Clergy, Ephessians 4 offices, Evangelist, Laity, Pastor, Pastor-Teacher, Prophet, Teacher

From Early Christianity to Islam and Back–2. Negative Developments in Christianity Before Muhammad

Ian Johnson July 14, 2020 7 Comments

Between the end of the First Century CE and the end of the Sixth Century, Christianity grew but also deteriorated in a number of ways. The deterioration arose mainly from the infiltration of Greek philosophy, a change in emphasis to mass evangelism and the politicization of Christianity, followed by the questionable conversion of Constantine. These changes set up many of the specific parts of Christianity that Islam either adopted, or reacted strongly against. They also set up mucj of later European history.

A God who Speaks, Church purpose versus church growth, Compulsory Christianity, God Acts by Speaking, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's Voice, Heresy, Historical Background, Injustice and Lawsuits, Islam and Christianity, Jesus the Son, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Peril of Seeking Numbers, Peril of Seeking Power, Peril of Seeking Respectability, Religious violence and persecution, Replacing Relationship with Morality, Social control and statecraft, Son of Man, The Bible, Through the church, Trinity, Unity, Wars as consequences, What Islam borrowed from Christianity

Arab Christians, Arabs, Arian, Atanasian, Christianity and politics, Church, church and state, Church History, Church of the East, Church unity, Constantine, Council of Chalcedon, false unity, Fist Council of Nicaea, Goths, heresy, heretic, heretical movements, mass evangelism, moralism, morality, Nestorian, Persia, subjugation of women, Theodosius, women

From Early Christianity to Islam and Back — 1. The Earliest Christianity

Ian Johnson July 13, 2020 6 Comments

This post is the first in a series of six outlining a broad view of how things in the Church and the world got to be as they are now, including contributions early Christianity and Islam made to each other. This post attempts to outline the basic positions of early Christianity. Comments are invited!

A God who Speaks, Adoption, Background Information, Church purpose versus church growth, Complex unity, Conversation with God, Desire to have our own way, Emotions, Eternity Present, Free will, God Acts by Speaking, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God was never our enemy, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, God's rationality, God's sovereignty, God's Voice, His Children, His Friends, Historical Background, Human Rationality, Is forgiveness of sins the focus of salvation?, Jesus the Son, Knowing good and evil, Language and Speech, Logical thinking, Male and female, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Prophecy, Reconciliation, Regeneration, Rejecting God, Restoration of God's Image, Salvation, Sin, Sins versus sin, Son of Man, The Bible, The Invisible God's Self-Existence, Through the church, To be his ambassadors, To be in his image, To live in unity, Trinity, Unity, What is God's Word, What is sin?

Christian history, Christianity, Christianity and Islam, doctrine, Early Christianity, History of Christianity, New Testament, New Testament Christianity

God Provides for Our Needs through Our Unity

Ian Johnson July 3, 2020 3 Comments

God’s pattern shown in the Early Church was to provide for the needs of its members through its unity. In unity, we regard ourselves and everything we own as God’s, and give unselfishly to the needs of others, as he directs us. This gives the world a picture of God himself.

A God who Speaks, God Speaks to Us, In the Church, Meaning of Unity, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Restoration of our Relationships, The universal Church and local churches, Through others, Through the church, To live in unity

Church History, Church together, Church unity, early Church, Generosity, Giving, Holy Spirit, Money, Provision, Spirit filed

“Greater Works than These” was a Promise to the Apostles Together and Victory is Promised to the Church Together

Ian Johnson June 29, 2020 5 Comments

The promises of victory, of spiritual gifts, and of works greater than those Jesus did, were not made to us individually, but as members of a functioning Body. They are given for the express purpose of building us up together, in unity, and so revealing Christ to the world. They only function properly in that context.

A God who Speaks, Church purpose versus church growth, God Acts by Speaking, God Speaks to Us, In the Church, Meaning of Unity, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Prophecy, Purpose of the Church, Restoration of God's Image, The universal Church and local churches, Through the church, To be his ambassadors, To live in unity, Victory

Apostles, Body of Christ, Church, Church together, Church unity, greater works than these, head, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Pentecost, under his feet, under our feet, victory

Our Oneness Makes Christ Visible to the World

Ian Johnson June 12, 2020 4 Comments

It is our unity that makes Jesus visible to the world in us. It was practical unity that made the Jerusalem church attractive. Restoration of that unity was a precondition to the effective preaching of Steven and Phillip.

Events and Signs, In the Church, Meaning of Unity, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Through others, Through the church, To be his ambassadors, To live in unity, Victory

Christiam unity, Church, Church unity, early Church, evangelism, Jerusalem, make Jesus visible, peace, Phillip, power, salt, saltiness, Samaria, signs and wonders, Steven

The Trinity in Which We Share

Ian Johnson May 31, 2020 6 Comments

The three persons who eternally and inseparably comprise the One God are God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Father is God. In John 6:31, Jesus called him “God the Father.” In John 4:21-23, Jesus identified “the Father” as the God the Jews and Samaritans both worshipped. Jesus also prays to his “Father” in numerous places1–2,…
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Adoption, God's Existence and Nature, Jesus the Son, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Reconciliation, Show us the Way of Truth, To live in unity, Trinity, Unity

complex unity, Father, God, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, Holy Spirit, sharing, Trinity, Unity

The Scarecrow Fallacy

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Teachers

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Evangelists

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The Ephesians 4 “Offices” are Jesus’ Gifts to the Church, not Fixed “Offices” of Authority

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From Early Christianity to Islam and Back–2. Negative Developments in Christianity Before Muhammad

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From Early Christianity to Islam and Back — 1. The Earliest Christianity

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God Provides for Our Needs through Our Unity

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“Greater Works than These” was a Promise to the Apostles Together and Victory is Promised to the Church Together

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Our Oneness Makes Christ Visible to the World

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Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit

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