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"There isn't anything quite so chilling, quite so disheartening as a man without the Holy Spirit preaching about the Holy Spirit." A. W. Tozer, The Tozer Pulpit, Vol I |
How did Tozer know when a preacher had the Holy Spirit or not?
If you don't know the answer to that question, then you yourself need to be born again.
When a man stands in the pulpit and says all the right things, promotes all the right doctrines, uses all the correct terminology, yet he isn't genuinely born again, how do you know?
If you don't know the answer to that question, then you yourself need to be born again.
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"Scarce one of forty professors know what it is to be born again." John Bunyan, A Discourse Touching Prayer |
How did Bunyan know that scarcely one out of forty who professed to be Christians were actually born again?
If you don't know the answer to that question, then you yourself need to be born again. And of course, all the old-timers made similar discernments, from the Reformers and Puritans all the way up to Whitefield and the Great Awakeners.
And this generation is worse than them all. In fact, it's not even close. It is so bad, in fact, that it is quite likely that you have never heard a sermon preached by a genuinely born again Christian in this generation. It's been a long while since I have. If you don't know what I mean, then you yourself need to be born again.
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"A sinner saved by grace will always refer in his TESTIMONY to the MOMENT at which he EXPERIENCED new birth... You must be invaded by the Spirit of God by means of SUPERNATURAL recreation... BEWARE OF THE TENDENCY TO WATER DOWN THE SUPERNATURAL IN RELIGION." Oswald Chambers, Bringing Sons Unto Glory & Approved Unto God "Never leave off watching, reading, praying, striving, till you experimentally find Christ Jesus formed within you... Be frequent in self-examination morning and evening. Pray earnestly from your heart. WRESTLE WITH GOD, BEG HIM TO HASTEN THE NEW BIRTH." George Whitefield, Letters, XI "He that believeth the Scriptures to be the Word of God, believeth that men MUST BE BORN AGAIN, and also be PARTAKERS OF THAT FAITH WHICH IS OF THE OPERATION OF GOD, according as he hath read and believed, or else he MUST and SHALL be damned. And he that believeth this aright WILL NOT BE CONTENTED until, according as it is written, HE DO PARTAKE OF AND ENJOY THE NEW BIRTH, and until he do find, through grace, THAT FAITH WHICH IS WROUGHT BY THE OPERATION OF GOD IN HIS SOUL. For this is the cause why men do satisfy themselves with so slender a CONCEITED HOPE that their state is good, when it is nothing so, namely, because they do not credit the Scripture; for did they, they would look into their own hearts, and EXAMINE SERIOUSLY whether that faith, that hope, that grace which they THINK they have, be of that nature, AND WROUGHT BY THAT SPIRIT AND POWER THAT THE SCRIPTURE SPEAKETH OF. I speak this of an EFFECTUAL BELIEVING, without which all other is nothing unto salvation." John Bunyan, A Few Sighs From Hell |
Would you be born again? GENUINELY born again?
Then take wise counsel -- pick up a Bible based on the Traditional Text -- in English, the ONLY VALID Bible based on the Traditional Text is the King James Bible -- and then read with SOLEMNITY, beginning in the Gospels preferably, and beg Jesus Christ to reveal himself to you, and give him no rest until he does, for if you read the TRUE written Word of God, you will find the Lord of Glory, even Jesus Christ, moving upon the face of the waters in its pages, just as he moved upon the face of the waters when he walked across the Sea of Galilee, and if you follow the advice just given, and if you persist, Jesus Christ HIMSELF will verily MANIFEST HIMSELF to you (for he HIMSELF promises to do this for those who truly heed this advice), just as he MANIFESTED HIMSELF to his disciples when he moved upon the face of the waters as he walked across the stormy sea some two thousand years ago, and just as he did with ME not too many years ago, and just as he has done with a FEW others from day to day since that time, in this very generation, and just as he will do for YOU if -- IF -- you heed my advice, and if -- IF -- you persist therein, for he who promised is FAITHFUL. John 14:21, Matthew 14:25-27
The Great Gamble
Regeneration And The Holy Spirit
Where Have All The Preachers Gone?