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The integrity of God's word is unaffected by my willingness to lie for it. My belief casts no judgment on the integrity of the Bible or its authorship by Paul, Moses, Luke or God. It is about the integrity of Wierwille's interpretation and instruction, which is fair game. If questioning a teacher's doctrine and methods is not fair game, Wierwille would have had no career. Except maybe as a basketball player.

"Doctor" knew they would criticize the manifestations because he knew he was faking it and teaching us to do likewise. It doesn't take a prophet to make that prediction. I knew my position would be greeted with defensiveness and recitation of PFAL buzzwords and propaganda. That wasn't God giving me a vision of the future. It's common sense. Continuing to engage in free vocalization as part of your prayer life is between you and God. It's not what's described in Acts and Corinthians. We know this because it is producing something else. Claiming the benefit of SIT while faking it is like paying for a pack of gum with a counterfeit $100 bill and looking forward to chewing it and pocketing the $99 change you'll get back from the cashier. You go ahead and do that. None of my business.

Ummmmm.......You know he wasn't really a "Dr.", don't you?

Is 1 Corinthians 14:4 an instruction, a passing comment, or a commendable endeavor? Or . . . . is it smack dab in the middle of correction and juxtaposed to the demeanor that Paul wanted the Corinthians to adopt, one more in line with the spirit of the gospel? Paul, starts out in his letter, hoping to again share the true heart of the gospel with this church, but, before he can get to that he has to confront all kinds of craziness. 14 chapters worth! This immature church was off the wall. Corinth was a wealthy port city with an influx of foreigners and a very large and multifaceted Pagan population with an influential culture. They were in the church. Before Paul gets to the gospel, he has to tackle the Corinthian's worldliness, sexual immorality, lawsuits, idol worship and Pagan sacrifice, the marked difference between the rich and poor, their disgraceful behavior at the communion table. Also he had to address their absolute love of making a spectacle of themselves in the assembly by trying to outdo each other in a display of the fantastic. . In chapter 13, Paul gives us that wonderful synopsis of what love is and what love is not. I notice that this comes on the heels of his dealing with the diversity of spiritual gifts and what unity in diversity means. Paul cuts like a knife through self-centeredness and self-seeking, and then he keeps hammering away at this theme. The phrase "One another" is used more frequently here in Corinthians than anywhere else in the NT. There is a reason for that. These believers were fond of exhibition and self aggrandizement. Many were seeking after tongues. Paul explains that not everyone has the same gift. The ironic thing, is that this church didn't lack in spiritual gifts....it was a highly gifted church. When Paul begins his synopsis on genuine vs counterfeit love......He starts out speaking about the tongues of men and angels. Where did that come from? No one was speaking angels tongues in Acts? I, and others believe, that the Corinthians, who were a carnal and ego based group were making "one up ya" claims and raising the bar to claim they also spoke the language of angels. Paul is taking those claims and turning them right back on them. If I speak in angels tongues or mans tongues.....it doesn't mean a thing if I don't have love. He does this with prophecy....if I understand ALL mysteries, ALL knowledge, ALL faith, so that I can move mountains....If I donate ALL my goods and give my body to be burned even...I gain nothing without the proper attitude of love. Paul is not claiming he actually speaks in the tongues of angels anymore than he is claiming he has ALL knowledge, ALL faith, or understands ALL mysteries. Later on he writes that we see through a glass darkly. He is saying that even if they reached the pinnacle of knowledge, wisdom, tongues and so on....it amounts to nothing without love. He tells them that.....love is not boastful....it doesn't seek its own. It doesn't act improperly. He tells them that their prophecies are going to end...their tongues are going to cease, and when that which is perfect comes along......the partial will cease altogether They had seriously lost their focus. Paul is reading them the riot act in a loving way, and this is all correction. One would think, that would be enough to get his point across, but he keeps going. He wants them to desire gifts.....but, to what end? Why would he want them to desire prophecy? Because everyone was claiming their turn at the microphone for exhibition.(I think this is where counterfeit comes in BTW.) Great, everyone has a tongue, but no interpreters. Tongues were only building up the people speaking them but, he addressed what they are without love...nothing!! They were self-gratifying...I mean edifying. It was an ego based edification. Paul was encouraging them to desire benefit for everyone....he was pleading with them. He tells them, since no one understands what someone is saying when they SIT....they are speaking a mystery. It is all Greek to me. Only God understood them. It is not that they were speaking some deep mysteries to God.....what good with that do the person SIT? He doesn't understand and it isn't doing God any favors....nothing is a mystery to Him. It is not speaking of some spiritual body building. And I believe this for many reasons.....one being that all believers are commanded to be filled with the HS, but not all believers SIT. We are filled and strengthened by God's grace and mercy. Paul juxtaposes the two attitudes....self...which he has been tackling right along....and love and desire to benefit the body. Others. One another....a body. An attitude that runs in line with the spirit of the gospel......a desire to encourage, edify, or console the church. Later on, he likens SIT without an interpreter for intelligible speech, to speaking into the air. That is a radical departure from speaking deep mysteries to God. Whistling in the wind. . . . . . It comes right back to you. Scripture does say that that he who speaks in a tongue builds himself up, that is not a lie, but then Paul immediately compares this to the better gift and speaker which builds up the church. Which attitude is he promoting? What is he pleading with them to seek? Self edification by showing off and building their ego or the desire to use a gift to benefit others? I am thinking 14:4 wasn't a command, or a laudable act....but rather a problem. The edification came because they were using their gift, but it meant nothing as they were seeking their own....because that is not love and without love it is empty.....void. I didn't use "IMO", or "I think" as much as I should have, but please, insert them wherever you like. This is how I read these verses....in light of the correction of gross error and the heart of the gospel Paul is really wanting to share with them. He finally gets there in 15. Someone will mention prayer in the spirit....and oddly enough....I have a take on that too! If you read this entire post....I salute you.

"If it's not tongues, WTF is it?" Babbling. Ever wonder why we all sounded like Wierwille at first? Because that's what we thought it was supposed to sound like. As we realized the silliness of everyone speaking in the same unknown language, we varied our pitch (WE varied our pitch). Remember the excellor sessions when we were taught to sound from different letters of the alphabet to develop more fluency? WHERE TF is that in the Bible? INVENTED. Every syllable was your own. YOU moved your lips, your tongue, your throat... "as the spirit gave utterance" felt no different from "make that s--- up as you go along," so when you made it up as you went along, the "good" Doctor had to tell you "no, you're not faking it, that's right, you're doing it now, don't let the devil talk you out of it..." God had nothing to do with it. It was sophisticated babbling that never, ever corresponded to the tongues of men or angels. Tongues of angels? TONGUES OF ANGELS? Just think about that one for a while. How many languages do they speak up there? Tongues of angels. Please. WTF is it? It's you. Only recently have I found the personal courage and integrity to admit this to myself. I invite all to do the same.

Rejoice......twi is NOT christian, it's wierwillian. Devil here, devil there, Devil in your desk drawer, Dealing with the Adversary dealt to us, Born of the seed of the Serpent...oh, the fuss, Tripped out, cop-out... What's wierwille talking about? Where's God in all of this? With Him, we overcome....what did I miss? Greater is He, for all to see, Keep Him first, bend a knee, Wierwille yelled and held The Book, Yet, in God I trust...to Him I look.