Thank you for responding.
 
I appreciate what you have said. But please understand I truly believe the Holy Spirit is alive and powerful. He draws a person to Christ. He can heal a person. He is sealed inside each believer.
 
I believe God has not changed and that he is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
But I see from the Bible that he DOES change the way he deals with the human race.I think you will agree that we no longer have to offer up animal sacrifices or go to the priest.Remember the Bible says the Jews require a sign. The sign gifts were temporary and the perfection that was to come is the completion of God's Word.
 
As you seen from the letter I wrote the verses that back what I believe. I would like to answer your points individually.
You said
1-Just because I haven't seen something does not mean it is not real. Jesus knew that one day the sign gifts would cease and he said.
 
John 20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
 
Remember everyone that had the gift healing and the gift of tongues was given that gift for a purpose. It was to validate that what they were saying was from God. They had no other way of knowing. Now that we have the Bible we do not have the sign gifts. In fact how can we tell if it is from God or Satan? The Bible says Satan will produce many miracles and wonders in the end times. Yet the Bible tells the Christian the gifts of tongues and prophecy and knowledge will cease. There is how we tell!!!
The sign gifts ceased with completion of the Word of God. He had finished. They had the gifts but not the completed Bible. We have the completed Bible and not the sign gifts.
 
You said
2-What were the Apostles often critized for lack of faith/ unbelief?
Yes they were criticized for that and they had all the gifts. The Apostles were to go to the Jews first. They never got past that and God called Paul to be our Apostle. Paul is the one who told us the signs will cease.The Jews rejected the Holy Spirit as a nation when they stoned Stephen. The Bible says God blinded the Jews but only for a short time. He turned his attention to the Gentiles with a "mystery" Gospel given to Paul for us.
 
You said
3-Do we have the same struggles as the apostles/
Certainly
 
you said
4-Has the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit diminished over time?
Absolutley NOT. BUT certain gifts have ceased as we are told would happen according to God's Word.
 
I answered the last three in some way or another from above.
 
Please look at the commission given by Jesus to the 11 Apostles and also to Mathais the 12 apostle.
Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Mark 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
Mark 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
 
And look at the mystery gospel given by Jesus to the Apostle Paul it was HID from the world until revealed to Paul
Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Also Jesus gave the Apostles the direct order to go and preach and BAPTIZE yet Paul says the following
1Corinthians 1:17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
 
Paul was not sent to baptize. Paul is preaching a Gospel of Believe and be sealed with the Holy Spirit while the apostle were to baptize for the remission of sins and receive the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
 
What I am trying to say is that the apostle were preaching the Kingdom of God was at hand. They were to convert the world, starting with the Jews, and the 7 year tribulation would have started and Christ would have come to rule the earth. Instead the Jews rejected Jesus as a nation and God put the Kingdom program on hold. This is where the sign gifts started to cease as God gave his plan to Paul for the time we are in now.
 
I believe that IF the nation of Israel would not have rejected Jesus then the message would have been brought to the entire World through the Jewish nation. But all the apostles ended up dying and will now have to wait until God is finished his plan for the Gentiles and the "time of Jacobs trouble" will finish off God's plan and bring in the 1,000 reign of Christ.So even with the sign gifts the nation of Israel STILL would not believe. So God put a new plan in place for the Gentiles and this would be the miracle of believeing without seeing.You see the Jews are the ones who require a sign not the Gentiles.
 
Remember Satan can imitate a lot of what God did. He can do a lot. The babling of tongues that go on today in the Charismatic churches are a real counterfit. BE CAREFUL OF THE GREAT DECEIVER. His time is short and his days are numbered. We are to believe in Jesus that he died for our sins and rose from the grave to take our place. He paid it all. The only way to know if it is from God is if it agrees with the Bible. That is the ONLY way we can know. When what these churches are doing today disagree so very much from the CLEAR teaching of God's Word BE VERY CAREFUL.
 
thanks so much
Mike W