Thank you for your reply.  It's as bad as trying to free JW's from their bondage.

As to your inquiry about whether we have the gifts of the early church.  I'm not rigid on this as many churches are;  and would have to believe the gifts would be verifiable.  This is a grey area where "genuineness" is so critical.

I am not one to discount anything that is spiritual or of the supernatural.realm.

While my posts would confirm or reveal my academic training and strong roots in the Word, I am Biblically, a man of deep spiritual faith.

Some day I will share my experience with the "visitation" of angels.  I don't talk about it much, it was too meaningful an experience to talk about it generally.  Only three other people know about it.  I once thought about sharing my story with the magazine "Angels" published by "Guideposts", but decided against it.

Over the years, many a Sunday, I was awaken at four or five am with a clear message to change my sermon to something specific the Lord wanted me to address, even giving me the precise text I was to preach on.  I never ignored that, despite making a change on short notice.

Without being dogmatic about the gifts, I do consider that God still works through the humble and the lowly.  In all cases where I have encountered the gifts with folks, I seek balance in determining genuineness.

God bless you,


Pastor Bob