Dear John & Doves,
 
  How would you know if you are being led by the Holy Spirit?  I would check my actions against what the Bible says in Galatians 5:16-25 and Romans 8:1-14.  However, according to this article called "New Hampshire Bishop Implies Jesus Might Have Been Gay" at http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2196 when homosexual Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson was asked "how we knew whether we are being lead by the Holy Spirit or our egos,  Robinson said, the key was "community."
 
  "Questioned about why the worldwide Anglican Communion based its teaching on Scripture, and can we set aside the teachings of the church as it has been handed down for new untested knowledge, Robinson said sexual orientation was determined by age 3 certainly well before it is a chosen orientation. It is a given; the lives of gays and lesbians are the new evidence for that. Look at the pain they have suffered at the hands of the church. He said gays and lesbians were jumping off buildings because nobody understood them."
 
 

"When asked what new knowledge he possessed and what was his source of his authority that a homosexual relationship can be blessed and have we reached a parting of the ways, Robinson replied by asking how many of his listeners had been divorced and remarried. "The seven biblical texts do not apply to the contemporary issue today. We must separate civil rights from religious rites. Marriage is a civil right, and there is marriage as a religious rite."
 
  "When asked how one could tell the difference between the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the authority of Holy Scripture or Malcolm's repressed desires, even leaving aside the seven Scriptures that speak against homosexuality or pleading subjectivism, Robinson said the key was community."
 
 

"No one of us can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit; it must be tested by the community. No one should be absolutely convinced that they know the will of God. We do the best we can to discern God's voice. Let's see if it bears fruit. Right now we are hearing different things. I believe [Archbishop] Akinola and I will be in heaven together. We may be apart here [on earth]. He is following the journey as far as he knows how and as I know how. We are going to be in heaven together, God won't have it any other way. We need some patience while we figure this out. We are each being as faithful as we can muster."
 
  What does Galatians 5:16-25 say? "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be disrous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another."
 
  What does Romans 8:1-14 say, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit,  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law could not, do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be.  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.  Now if anyman have not the Spirit of Chirst, he is none of his.  And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the gflesh.  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."
 
  These Bible verses show us how we can know we are being led by the Holy Spirit.
 
  God bless,
 Donna