Snapshots and Synapses

After writing about “Signs in the End Times Church”, I started thinking (with the help of my wife and a couple friends) that I spent more time describing how the church “shouldn’t” view spiritual gifts rather than how it “should”. Having worshiped in different denominations, I’ve heard many different teachings on the gifts of the Spirit. I’ve seen the gifts downplayed, and I’ve seen them over-emphasized. Still, I’ve also been fortunate to hear a few balanced lessons as well. Many very intelligent and faithful Christians have put a lot of thought into the development of some very different beliefs. Well it might be a simplistic approach, but what if we just agreed to what Scripture has to say? The “Keep it simple” principle works for business, writing, or computer programming, why not apply it to spiritual understanding as well? And since some people believe the Old Testament and the New Testament treat spiritual gifts differently, in my attempt to keep it simple I’ll start with what...

Part 5 – Closing Thoughts Continued from Parts 1-4 http://mitchellmalloy.blogspot.com/2012/06/signs-in-end-times-church.html After publishing Part 1 on my blog and while in the process of editing subsequent parts, I was having a quiet time that resulted in dreams and visions the morning of 26 June, 2012. Some of it is quite personal, but it’s something I believe I’m supposed to share: In my prayer time, I fell asleep and dreamt of annoying, mischievous demons displayed on the pages of what looked like a children’s book, much like alphabet pictures. Then the page turned and I saw letters – bold, black, gothic, and ragged letters – covering both open pages of the book. Then I saw Satan coming out of the letters, and I awoke hearing the words: “Hell hath no fury like Satan scorned.” I started to write all this down in my journal when I stopped to ask Jesus what this means, and I had a vision, like the world had gone grey – like a black and white movie – and I saw a metal door b...

Part 4 – Marriage of the Administrative and Prophetic Continued from Parts 1, 2, and 3 http://mitchellmalloy.blogspot.com/2012/06/signs-in-end-times-church.html So looking back at the preceding sections, the church represented by Ephesus has a strong administrative gifting yet suffers with a love problem. Meanwhile the sister church in Thyatira tolerates misleading doctrine as a result of its desire for greater prophetic understanding. (Revelation 2) The prophetic and administrative gifts of the Spirit… passion and wisdom… find their union under Christ with difficulty. Yet somehow, these need to be woven together in love (see http://mitchellmalloy.blogspot.com/2011/01/extraordinary-gifts.html ). I’ve seen this play out as a struggle for dominance within church bodies, where some administrative authorities earnestly squash the practice of any extraordinary spiritual gift. At the other extreme, the prophetic rebels against the ordinary gifts (e.g. – leadership, wisdom and knowl...

Part 3 – Intimacy with Our First Love Continued from Parts 1 and 2  http://mitchellmalloy.blogspot.com/2012/06/signs-in-end-times-church.html Experiencing God should be the biggest ambition of the church… He has to remain our First Love! Why would anyone want to go to heaven if not to be with God and the whole family of believers? The book of Revelation warns the church in Ephesus to recall and hold onto its First Love or face serious consequences. At first glance the Ephesus church seems to be rock solid: I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.   Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will c...