Most charismatic church leaders say they are filled with God's Holy Spirit. "N., are you saying they are not?" Right on! That is if they are claiming that power (authority) given to the original twelve apostles, Paul and a select few others, such as Samson, who pulled down the pillars of the temple, and Moses, who parted the Red Sea. That authority is gone forever for a lack of creditable witnesses to the contrary .

Present day charismatic church leaders, along with the rest of us who have confessed that Jesus is the Messiah, Son of God, crucified and rose again, been baptized and are obedient to love Him and one another as commanded by Him, all have the gift of the Holy Ghost dwelling in our spirit to help us do battle with our souls. We have the power (authority) from Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit indwelling in our spirit to remove otherwise insurmountable spiritual and soulish mountains which we encounter on a daily basis. But, God bless us all, we hath not the power to remove Mt. Everest, individually or collectively - H-Bombs notwithstanding.

I truly believe that Paul pointed out in II Corinthians to charismatics and other over-zealous brethren that speaking in tongues to edify oneself by demonstrating his gift as if he were God's pet was not pleasing to him or to God. Paul also demonstrated here that he, like the Holy Spirit, was a gentleman and not a slavemaster when he didn't say, "talk in a language in church that all the brethren (church) understands or shut up!" That is precisely, I believe what he meant.

All said, I'd venture that God still loves all those written about in this article. Our God is something else, dear reader. He's older than Adam but I bet He could still beat Tiger Woods at golf!

Have a good week!