Bernie Gillispie

[Jermyn Davidson]

Originally Posted by Ferd

ive read romans. Ive taught romans. People who get some bold new revalation then blame it on reading the bible like it was the frist time they ever did that arent being honest.

Too late brother! I've already tasted and experienced EXACTLY what you have alluded to here.

I can't rememeber how many times I had read the story or heard a reference to the Phillipian jailer and the Ethiopian eunuch, but one day I read the Bible and my view of these accounts (and Romans and Galatians too) was forever changed.

[Ferd]

Originally Posted by Jermyn Davidson

Too late brother! I've already tasted and experienced EXACTLY what you have alluded to here.

Sorry Jermyn. You forget, Ive been here longer than you. I watched you progress. your experience was what most are. you had questions you couldnt answer. you read things. It was difficult for you and eventually you came to some difficult decisions. You did this publically right here on AFF. It was not instantanious seeing some light.

[houston]

Originally Posted by Ferd

Sorry Jermyn. You forget, Ive been here longer than you. I watched you progress. your experience was what most are. you had questions you couldnt answer. you read things. It was difficult for you and eventually you came to some difficult decisions. You did this publically right here on AFF. It was not instantanious seeing some light.

yep

[deltaguitar]

Originally Posted by Ferd

Brother Sam I respect you. I love you and I dont want to be unkind or disrespectfull...

but saying that Romans is a pretty good book is like saying water is wet or oxygen is nice for breathing.

The notion that a preacher got to be a preacher without having a grasp of Romans seems about as stupid a think as possible. Romans is vital. Im just mind boggled that a preacher "read romans" and changed his doctrine....after BEING A PREACHER??? AFTER BEING A PASTOR???

We may not agree on all points. We many not agree on some things that we both think are important that are addressed in Romans... but the suggestion that some guy who has given his life to the service of God one day decided to "read romans" and got some brand new revealation is just mind boggling.

It happens everyday. Very few of us grew up in churches that ever really challenge our thinking.

[deltaguitar]

Originally Posted by Ferd

Sorry Jermyn. You forget, Ive been here longer than you. I watched you progress. your experience was what most are. you had questions you couldnt answer. you read things. It was difficult for you and eventually you came to some difficult decisions. You did this publically right here on AFF. It was not instantanious seeing some light.

It was the same with me. It change was not instantaneous but I promise you I still remember being encountered with Romans the first time in my life. It was that moment that broke down everything in my life. Now, it took me seven or eight years before I finally broke away from the doctrine. I loved the movement and everything I knew was in that apostolic movement so it was very hard to leave. I tried to reconcile it first.

Gillespie doesn't claim that it was overnight that he changed. His testimony talks about how hard it was to change his beliefs.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Ferd

... People who get some bold new revalation then blame it on reading the bible like it was the frist time they ever did that arent being honest.

I consider myself to be an honest person. I have been saved for over half a century. I was baptized in the Holy Ghost in 1956. I have attempted over the half century of my preaching/teaching ministry to bend myself to fit the Word, not to bend the Word to fit my ideas and doctrine. There have been times I ha to change some of the things I have taught and preached as I have received a better understanding of the Word.

[deltaguitar]

The simple truth is that you can read something and be blinded for years.

The truth is you can go your whole life and never hear certain doctrines preached.

[Scott Hutchinson]

Does Romans cancel out the Book Of Acts ? It's all Bible so it is a probelm to use both ?

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Ferd

...I’ve lived just long enough to know that epiphanies are rare and the purview of the novice. Almost always for people who have been around for any amount of time, the moment of change occurs after a period of reflection.... often a period that is long and internally torturous.

I asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart and life on a Monday night. I it was March 27, 1955 and I was 17 years old. I had been reaching out to God for some time and had been reading the Bible. I consider that night to be the date of my "salvation" although God and I had been reaching out to each other for some time.

My life was changed! I became a new creature! People around me could see the change. I joined a local Baptist church and took an active part in youth activities and even did some speaking in Sunday School and youth meetings. I felt like I had been called by God to ministry but I didn't know just what.

As I read the Word and some other stuff and heard some preachers on the radio I realized there was more available for me than what I had received so far. I read about an experience called "the baptism in the Holy Ghost" and I wanted it. In my searching, reading, and praying I encountered a form of water baptism that was different than the one I had received as a child in the Congregational Church and later in the Baptist Church. I submitted to that water baptism and started attending a UPC. A few months later I was baptized in the Spirit.

I attended a year of Bible School in St. Paul, MN. There I heard some more "new" stuff. Some I could believe and some I could not. It bothered me that I was given the impression that I was not really a child of God, not really sincere, not really saved, not really rapture ready, not really part of the New Testament church until I had spoken with tongues more than a year after my life changing conversion experience. But, I began to preach/teach that in spite of misgivings and that was what "we all believed."

Things worked out that I was not able to return to Bible School and I served/ministered in various capacities in the UPC and ALJC for over a decade. I felt like I had to leave the ALJC church and for a while did not regularly attend any church.

Over time I have prayed, fasted, and studied and I currently feel/believe that I am where God wants me to be and doing what God wants me to do.

Over the years I have changed with respect to some of the things I believe.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Scott Hutchinson

Does Romans cancel out the Book Of Acts ? It's all Bible so it is a probelm to use both ?

No, Romans does not cancel out the Book of Acts.
Scripture does not contradict Scripture if/when taken and applied in context.

Acts 2:38 does not contradict nor cancel out Matthew 28:19 but there are differences of opinion among Christians on how the two passages work together.