Does God give gifts today?

Does God give gifts today?

Email me if you have any comments about the following article. terrypickles@bigpond.com

I’m going to try to keep this as short as possible because too often we try to blind each other with how much we know about the Greek text and Hebrew text and the syntax of sentences etc.. Well I know very little about the Greek text and even less about the Hebrew text and I think that we have enough taxes without taxing sin. Sin is taxing enough anyway.

From my earlier opinions some may have come to the conclusion that I don’t believe in God. Nothing could be further from the truth. I believe in the God of the Bible as do you. I believe that God is Love, that He sent Jesus to die for us, that He is all powerful.

Where I have a differing opinion is on how I interpret the Bible and God's involvement in our lives today. Having said that I would now like to look at:

Does God give gifts today?
I think the first thing we need to determine is:
Which gifts am I talking about?
I am not talking about the gifts that God gave to the Christians in the first century. Those being:
(I’m not going to give individual scriptures)
1 Corinthians 12:
Speaking in tongues, Healings, the ability to Prophesy, interpretation of tongues, the message of wisdom, knowledge, faith, miraculous powers, distinguishing between spirits. Apostles, prophets, teachers, workers of miracles, administrations,

Ephesians 4:
Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, teachers.
You will probably find some that I have missed but all the above are gifts given by God or by Jesus.
We could probably argue for hours as to whether Apostles, Prophets etc. are gifts but if you accept what the Bible teaches in Ephesians 4. They were gifts given by Jesus for a period of time. That time being clearly noted in Ephesians 4:12-13.

If, as some say, we haven’t reached the requirements of verses 12 –13 then it stands to reason that all those gifts would be still in place but the truth is the Church that I have been associated with since 1972 believes that some of those gifts are not around today. What does the congregation that you meet with believe?

We either have the gifts (All of them) because we haven’t met the requirements set out in Eph 4:12-13 or we don’t have any of them because the requirements have been met.
It is my opinion that we don’t have any of the before mentioned gifts. My reasons being:

1. The reason for their being has been fulfilled. See Eph 4

2. There is no evidence of their existence today.

Answer me honestly. When was the last time you saw, first hand, a seriously ill person made immediately well? When was the last time you experienced a resurrection? When was the last time you saw a person who you knew was suffering from epilepsy, cured? When was the last time you saw a blind person given their sight?

I have watched televangelists knocking people down by waving their hands across a group of people but out of the thousands (this man claimed millions) that were there I didn’t see one person cured. A handful came forward to claim they had been cured. But no one offered proof. Now read your New Testament. When people were healed they were healed instantly and visibly and it was done frequently. It was a common thing to see people being healed.

It is my opinion that those gifts are not available today.
But It’s not those gifts that I’m writing about. It took me a long time to get to the point and I said I would be quick.

I want to talk about those gifts that God is apparently giving to people under the table.
I’m sure you’ve heard them. God has given him/her the gift of door knocking. God has given them the gift of being able to talk to others in pain. God has given them the gift of missionary work. God has given them the gift of singing. God has given them the gift of playing the guitar/piano/violin/spoons/saw etc.
Why would I insist on saying that God would give me the gift of writing, producing and recording music when if it is a gift, I wouldn’t have had to learn how to do it. It took me a long time to learn how to write music and understand it.

Why would God give me the gift of missionary work and not give me the necessary miracles that went along with that work (See Mark 16)
We use “A gift from God” when we should be saying I have an ability…

Did God give me the ability to give Reiki? Some say that it comes from Satan. But where have you read that Satan can give gifts today? I am able to relieve the symptoms and yes, get rid of the source of some illnesses such as migraine, back pain, and on one occasion I was able to reduce the frequency of seizures in a friend of mine. But if it comes from Satan how is it that Satan and the Holy Spirit can co-exist inside me?

It is an ability that anyone can learn to do.

Tell me. If healing is a present day gift from God. Why do Kenneth and Gloria Copeland have a healing school, where you go to learn to heal. If speaking in tongues is a present day gift of God. Why does Benny Hinn have an interpreter when he goes over seas?

If Reiki is a gift from God why did I have to spend $400.00+ to learn how to do it.

If missionary work is from God. Why does one have to go to one of the many schools to learn how to do it?
God no longer gives gifts today because the purpose for them has passed. So don’t you think, that if we claim to have a gift from God, it puts our integrity, honesty and knowledge of God in some doubt.

We need to think what we are saying before we give God credit for something he didn't do. Why? Because if it isn't from God and it goes wrong then who gets the blame?

Can we apply Old Testament passages to Christians

Can we apply Old Testament passages to Christians?

Matthew 15:24 He answered,

"I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."

Like the prophets in the Old Testament, Jesus was sent to God’s people. Jesus lived and died under the Old law.
The Prophets were sent to warn God’s people that they were sinning, on the brink of disaster or about to be over run by the enemy.
It was no fun being a Prophet.

Jesus message to the lost sheep of Israel was not pretty.

Luke 19:43-44 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you."

Can you see why Jesus cried over Jerusalem in Matthew 23:37-38

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
38Look, your house is left to you desolate."

Jesus had come to tell the lost sheep of Israel that for them it was over.

Luke 20:9-19

He went on to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. 10At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. 12He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. 13"Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.' 14"But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. 'This is the heir,' they said. 'Let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' 15So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. "What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others." When the people heard this, they said, "May this never be!" 17Jesus looked directly at them and asked, "Then what is the meaning of that which is written:
" 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone? 18Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed." 19The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.

Look at verse 19.

“…because they knew he had spoken this parable against them.”

There is no doubt about whom that parable is spoken. The teachers of the law knew it and so did the chief priests.
How many times have I sat in classes and in meetings and heard this passage “applied” to Christians. How many times have I, in the past, done the same thing? It wasn’t spoken to Christians. It wasn’t even directed at the garden variety Hebrew. It was directed at the teachers of the law and the chief priests. There are many more passages like this and I believe that we should be taking note of them and be careful how we handle them.
You will hear or you may have said , as I have, that “We can use the principle taught in the OT to teach …etc.” Where do we get the authority to change the meaning of the Bible?
We use the word “principle” when we should be using the longer sentence “I want to bind this on others.” For instance: We know that the Sabbath was a command under the Jewish law. We know that we are not under the law but under grace. Therefore the Sabbath does not apply to Christians.
But, if I want to stop you from participating in sport on Sunday. I simply apply the principle of the “Christian Sabbath.” In other words I simply tell you that “we are not under law, but if it was good enough for God to tell the Hebrews to rest, then don’t you think it would apply to Christians as well?” The answer is, No we can not apply it to Christians today because it didn’t apply to Christians back then.
It is adding rules where no rules are given.

Jesus says in Matthew 5:17-18

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."

This passage says one of two things.
1. The law has been fulfilled and has disappeared or
2. The law has not been fulfilled and the Jews are still under the law.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:17 that he had come to fulfil the law.
Colossians 2:14 says that

“having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.

Matthew says that Jesus came to fulfil the law and Colossians says that he took it away.
Colossians says that the law was against us and that it stood opposed to us.
Do we think anything has changed?
Do we think God has reinstated the law?

Jesus died a painful death to fulfil the law. Why do we want to apply its principles to Christians today.