Question:
How do we “sing with the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 14:15). What does it sound like?

Answer:
Singing with the Spirit is done by “making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19). Singing or praying with the Spirit would be to sing or pray what is understood by all (1 Corinthians 14:16), and it would also edify all who heard (verse 12).

Question:
What if we don’t put up our flag right away, and we are miserable and want to change? What do we do?

Answer:
Confess it to the Lord (1 John 1:9), and also confess to the person/persons involved that we have failed to properly represent Christ. This confession cleanses us and leads to growth (Psalm 119:9).

Unconfessed sin keeps us from the enjoyment of God, and from being used of Him. Pray like David did: “Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free Spirit. Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto Thee. (Psalm 51:12, 13).

Question:
Are Elijah and John the Baptist the same person?

Answer:
The Scriptures are clear that John was sent in the spirit and power of Elijah. It is also clear from John 1:21 that John was not actually Elijah, for when asked if he was Elijah, he replied, “I am not.”

But in Luke 1:17 the angel who appeared to Zacharias informed him that the son who would be born to him and Elisabeth would “go before Him [the Lord] in the spirit and power of Elijah.” The angel went on to say that John would “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,” and this matches perfectly with Malachi’s closing words, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children” (Malachi 4:5, 6). So then, though John was not the “literal” Elijah, he was the one who would answer to the prophecies of Malachi and the angel Gabriel.
We might ask ourselves at this point, “What does `the spirit and power of Elijah’ mean?” To answer this, we must think back to the life of Elijah. Elijah lived at a time of great apostasy. The children of Israel had departed from their worship of Jehovah and become idolaters. Elijah was raised up of God to recall the people back to Jehovah, to bring them to true repentance. In order to do this, Elijah needed to be all-out for God. He needed to have God’s thoughts regarding His people and he needed to have the moral and spiritual power to bring them to repentance. Now think of John. He, too, lived in a time of great spiritual declension. John was also raised up of God to point the people to their sins and to bring them to true repentance. And he would need, like Elijah, great spiritual energy to bring this about. We know that John was a fiery preacher who, no doubt, commanded the respect of his listeners because his life was fully consecrated to God (like Elijah’s was). I think this is, in part, what is meant by “the spirit and power of Elijah.”
But we know that Israel, as a whole, did not receive John’s message of repentance. So the Lord Jesus states concerning John, “Elijah truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elijah is come already, and THEY KNEW HIM NOT, BUT HAVE DONE UNTO HIM WHATSOEVER THEY LISTED” (Matthew 17:11,12).This brings to mind one more point. Jesus said that when Elijah came, he would “restore all things.” Can we not expect this to still happen? I believe we can. In Revelation 11:1-12 we see two men witnessing for God during the Great Tribulation and the manner in which they testify is similar to that of Elijah and Moses (see verses 5, 6). Whether or not they are the literal Elijah and Moses, or two men coming in the spirit and power of these two, remains to be seen. But their testimony may bring about the fulfillment of the Lord’s words, as well as the words of the prophet Malachi in Malachi 4:6.

Question:
How can we “put up our flag,” and show we’re Christians with friends, family, co-workers?

Answer:
Sometimes it’s more what we don’t do, than what we do that is showing our colors for Christ! Examples of this are not swearing, and not drinking. We also should use every opportunity to talk to people one on one, and we can give even those we can’t talk to a SMILE!

Question:
Did the Indians that had never heard of God go to heaven? I know the things around them should give them a clue that someone was higher, but they didn’t have any Bibles to tell them how to be saved and live as Christians.

Answer:
Let me start out by saying that God has given ALL men (including Indians) knowledge of Himself, and it depends on what they do with this knowledge that will determine their eternal destiny. I am speaking, primarily, of the light of creation which all men have. Allow me to quote a few Scriptures regarding this.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard” (Psalm 19:1-3).
“Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead [Divinity]; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19, 20).
These verses make it crystal clear that God has revealed His glory and power through His marvelous creation. Every part of God’s wondrous creation has the Creator’s fingerprints stamped upon it, and ALL men are responsible to acknowledge Him as Creator. (As you said, “The things around them should give them a clue that someone was higher.”) If they do not, they will be judged for rejecting God’s knowledge given to them in creation, and even though they never saw a Bible or heard of how to be saved, they will be “without excuse” (Romans 1:20) on judgment day.
It has been reported by many missionaries that in their travels to heathen lands they have found many people steeped in idolatry, men worshipping the creature instead of the Creator (see Romans 1:21-23). But it has also been reported by others that they have found people who had acknowledged their Creator and were willing and eager to learn more about Him.
There is one more thing that men have (besides the light of creation) which makes them responsible to God, and that is their conscience. In Romans 2:14-16 we learn that God will judge those who had no Bible, according to what their consciences accused them of. Verses 14 and 15 bring out that though men have never seen God’s holy Law, yet the work of His Law is written in their hearts, and when they break it their conscience bears witness to their sin. If men would only allow this “inner light” from God to bring them to repentance, they would no doubt be given more light from God.The important thing to grasp is that ALL men have light from God and are responsible to live up to the light they have. No man will go to heaven who rejects the light he has been given. And the very light he rejects will be the principle by which God will judge him.

Question:
Please explain what is meant by the words: “If we deny Him, He will deny us” (2 Timothy 2:12).

Answer:
To deny Christ means to reject Him, as we have in John 12:48, and Matthew 10:32, 33. Peter denied the Lord, but it was not a habitual practice with him. He denied that he knew the Lord but he did not reject the Lord, and he “wept bitterly” when he was reminded of the Lord’s words (Matthew 26:75).

“We” in the expression “if we deny Him” refers to all professing Christians who should take this test: “Have I believed on the Lord or am I denying Him?”Verse 12 is a different thought from verse 13 which says: “If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself.” “Believe not” can rightly be translated: “if we are unfaithful.” Being unfaithful is different than denying or totally rejecting Christ as we have in verse 12. Even if we are unfaithful to Christ, how wonderful it is that He abides faithful to us. He cannot deny Himself or His Word, so he cannot deny those who trust in Him.

Question:
I am extremely disturbed by the Gainesville brutal murders of five college students. I was wondering (if they weren’t Christians already) if God would let them go to heaven. It seems like a childish question, however, I am kind of confused. These people were robbed of their lives and dignity at the tender age of 19 or 20. Because God’s so loving, wouldn’t He feel bad that everybody was treated with such cruelty and spare them of some suffering from Satan?

Answer:
Jesus said, clearly and emphatically, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). The only way God can “spare” anyone from eternal suffering is by their being born again.

We must remember that God is not only “love” (1 John 4:8, 16), but He is also “light” (1 John 1:5), which means that He is holy and that He cannot allow sin to enter into His presence. His hatred of sin was revealed immediately after sin entered the world, for as soon as Adam and Eve sinned, God had to expel them from earthly paradise. Just so, God cannot allow men or women to enter His heavenly paradise (heaven) in their sinful state which they are in by nature. They need a new nature, one that is holy and cannot sin. As soon as one repents of his/her sins and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, he/she is given a new nature (see John 3:6b; 2 Peter 1:4) and is made fit for the presence of God. It would not be possible for God to allow people into heaven without this new birth (see John 8:21; Revelation 20:15; 21:27 JND translation).
Let me add that we can be assured that those college students who may have died without being born again were given ample time and opportunities to turn to God. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25). It is sad that they were cut off so early in life, but we can rest in the fact that God, Who is absolutely fair towards all men, gave them a chance to act on truth He has given men. And if they refused His truth, He knew that to add more years to their lives would not have made any difference.
One more final thought: We can surely believe that as God witnesses the atrocities of men (such as the Gainesville murders), He does so with grief and sorrow. When He witnessed the wickedness of men in Noah’s day, we read that “it grieved Him at His heart” (Genesis 6:6). When the Lord Jesus was here walking this earth, He was a “man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3), and this was, no doubt, because of the terrible acts of sin (and their results) that He saw. He is the same today (Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17), so His attitude toward sin and its horrible consequences remains the same. But even though this be the case, He still cannot spare the sinner who dies without having been born again. For as we noticed above, God’s nature is one of absolute holiness, and He must act righteously (consistent with His nature) in all that He does.

Question:
Jude 20. What is praying in the Holy Spirit? Is this the same as tongues? How does this build you up?

Answer:
Jude 20 says: “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,”

The Lord’s words in John 15:4, 7 suggest that our praying should flow from our communion with Him. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. . . . If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”
If we are close to Christ by being occupied with Him, the Spirit will communicate to us people and things to pray for. If a person’s name pops in my head, maybe the Holy Spirit is telling me to pray for them.
How does this build up? It builds us up collectively as we pray for one another, and it may lead us to not just pray but also to do something about it. At the end of Jude 20 is a comma, so this is not the end of the exhortation. Verse 21 goes on to say: “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” Do I really realize that He loves me? “Looking for the mercy of our Lord….” Do I really live my life as though He could come at any moment? Live (1) in His love, (2) looking for His return.
To pray in the Holy Spirit, we must “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). Being filled with the Spirit is not how much of the Spirit I have [“For . . . God giveth not the Spirit by measure” (John 3:34). We either have the Spirit or we don’t.] But how much I let Him control me! So when I pray in the Holy Spirit it is praying for the things that He would have me pray for; not selfish things or things not good for me, but the Spirit knows (even if we don’t) how to pray for a situation and talks to the Father for us according to God’s will (Romans 8:26).

Question:
Jewish men pray with beanies on their heads. Isn’t that in direct contrast to 1 Corinthians 11:4?

Answer:
Yes. But they aren’t Christians.

Question:
Does Hebrews 10:26 tell us that a person can be saved and then lost again?

Answer:
No, it does not, and I do not believe that any verse in the Bible teaches that a person can be saved and lost again. The Bible says: “He that believeth…hath everlasting life” (John 5:24).

Hebrews 10:26 says: “If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin.” This verse is not talking about those who had received the truth but those who had received the “knowledge of the truth,” and then had “wilfully” sinned by rejecting Christ. They turned from Christ’s sacrifice to other sacrifices to take away sin, but this Scripture says that there is no other sacrifice than Christ’s sacrifice that can take away sin from the eyes of a holy God.
This verse is talking about some Jews who had heard the message of God’s salvation through Christ, but had turned back to offering animal sacrifices (as their forefathers did in the Old Testament) which never took away sins (Hebrews 10:4). We are told that these people were worthy of sorer punishment than those who despised Moses’ law, because they had “trodden underfoot the Son of God, and had counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith He was sanctified, an unholy thing, and [had] done despite unto the Spirit of grace” (Hebrew 10:28,29). God has no choice but to punish eternally in the Lake of Fire every person who refuses Christ as his personal Saviour.

Question:
Is this why it is always a brother who prays at the retreats at this house?

Answer:
Yes, a brother does always pray even though we are having a home meeting and not an assembly meeting, because 1 Timothy 2:12 still holds true. “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. When someone prays publicly he prays for the whole group and we should add our “amens” if we are in agreement with his prayer (1 Corinthians 14:16).

If a woman prays out loud in a group with men present, she is usurping authority over man. The man is to pray or prophecy publicly because 1 Corinthians 11:4 shows the headship that God has established, and the place He has given to men and women. Christ represents God, who is His Head, the man represents Christ, who is his Head, and the woman represents the man, who is her head.

Question:
What is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost (Mark 3:22-29)?

Answer:
We see from the above portion that to blaspheme against the Holy Ghost was to say that Jesus was casting out demons by the power of Satan.

However, the Holy Ghost was the power whereby Christ cast out demons (Acts 10:38), so this accusation was blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. This sin could only be committed when Christ was here on earth doing miracles, but it was very serious, for Christ said that it could not be forgiven.

Question:
What is the context of “let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law” (1 Corinthians 14:34), and does it apply today?

Answer:
This verse has to do with assembly meetings when “the whole church be come together into one place” (verse 23), and yes, this does apply today for the Lord desires us to show the truth of the church by gathering unto Him (Matthew 18:17-20).

Woman is not in a lower position but in assembly meetings God’s order is to use men, not women to speak publicly. In 1 Timothy, where we are given instruction on how to behave ourselves in the assembly (1 Timothy 3:15), we are told that because of man’s place in creation and because of the fall the woman is not to “teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression” (1 Timothy 2:12-14).

Question:
What is the anointing in 1 John 2:20, 27, and 2 Corinthians 1:21,22?

Answer:
The Holy Spirit, who is the third Person of the Godhead, comes to indwell believers from the moment they trust Christ as their personal Saviour (Ephesians 1:13). The Spirit of God “seals” or keeps us to the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30), is the “earnest” or down payment of our heavenly inheritance (Ephesians 1:14), and is the “anointing” whereby we are enabled to know the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:10, 11).

In the Old Testament, the anointing of oil marked individuals for special powers and privileges, as Aaron and his sons being anointed with oil made them priests. So the anointing of the Spirit gives us the privilege to know His mind and serve Him as priests. “God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). “We are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and boast in Christ Jesus, and do not trust in flesh” (Philippians 3:3, J. N. Darby translation).

Question:
Who was Cain’s wife (Genesis 4:17), and where did she come from?

Answer:
We are not told so God must not think that it is important for us to know. But we do know that Adam and Eve had sons and daughters (Genesis 5:4), so we assume that Cain married his sister.

Question:
What does it mean for Christ to be in us? Colossians 1:27 says: “Christ in you the hope of glory.”

Answer:
A more correct translation of Colossians 1:27 is: “Christ among you.” The apostle is speaking in verses 24-29 of the church. Christ is the center when His people gather unto Him. “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).

Question:
What Scripture do we have to say that prophecy is speaking a word from God for the time? Why do we define prophecy that way?

Answer:
When we think of a prophet in the Old Testament, we think of him foretelling events, but most Old Testament prophets really did speak a word for the time. This is what prophecy has always been:

“Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15).“If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:11).

Question:
If God is not using the gift of tongues today, does that nullify the other gifts in 1 Corinthians 12?

Answer:
No, spiritual gifts have been used at different times according to God’s purposes. Gifts other than tongues are no longer used today, such as the gifts of apostles and prophets, because there is no need for them today, for they “laid the foundation” (Ephesians 2:20).

The truth has been established 1900 years ago, and signs and wonders are no longer necessary because God has been working the same way for nearly two thousand years (Hebrews 2:1-4). Our object should not be to have a certain gift or power, but rather that our names are written in heaven (Luke 10:19, 20).It is unscriptural to say that you have to speak in tongues to be baptized in the Spirit. The gift of tongues was not a sign to believers that they had the Spirit. The Scriptures tell us that we are sealed with the Spirit the moment we believe (Ephesians 1:13). There is no need to pray for the Spirit, because we have already received Him, if we are saved. In fact, Romans 8:9 says, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” So if a person does not have the Spirit, he is not even saved.

Question:
Didn’t tongues stop after the apostles?

Answer:
We only read of tongues in the Acts, Mark 16:17, 1 Corinthians 12, and 1 Corinthians 14 (where the apostle instructs against the misuse of tongues in the assembly).

The gift of tongues today would eliminate the need for the labors of the Wycliffe Bible translators, who live with people to learn their language, and then translate the Bible into their language.
What a boost tongues would be today in spreading the gospel to people who have never heard, and God did use it for that purpose in the days of the apostles, and could give someone this ability today, if He would so desire.
But tongues were a “sign” to unbelievers that God is working in a new way (1 Corinthians 14:22; Mark 1:27). God has not given man anything new since the apostles “preached the gospel of Christ” (Romans 15:19).

 

The truth regarding the church “which is given [Paul] . . . to complete the Word of God” (Colossians 1:25). Soon the last soul will be saved, the church will be complete and the Lord will take His people home to heaven. Then the clock of prophecy will start ticking again and Daniel’s last week of years will be started (Daniel 9:27).

Question:
Should we not speak in tongues for we are told: “Forbid not to speak with tongues” (1 Corinthians 14:39)?

Answer:
Yes, we are taught to “forbid not to speak with tongues,” but that is not all that is in that portion of Scripture. Instead of desiring spiritual gifts, “seek that we may excel to the edifying of the church” (1 Corinthians 14:12).

We are also instructed: “If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God” (1 Corinthians 14:27-28).
If someone would speak tonight in the Chinese tongue, how many here would understand what was said? If no one understood, it would not edify unless there is another person that would have the gift to interpret what is said. Then we could all listen, understand, and examine the message whether it was according to the Scriptures or not. For we are to “Prove all things [by the Word]; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

 

The apostle Paul also says: “I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying” (1 Corinthians 14:5).

Question:
What is the difference between speaking in tongues and speaking in the Spirit, or praying in tongues and praying in the Spirit?

Answer:
Tongues is a gift that was given to some in the church (1 Corinthians 12:30). Praying or speaking in the Spirit is when we are “filled with the Spirit.” When we are filled with the Spirit the Spirit controls us. He does this when we are subject to Christ by obeying His Word.

“Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God” (Ephesians 5:18-21).

Question:
What is speaking in tongues?

Answer:
Acts 2:3-12 shows that speaking in tongues was not gibberish, but a gift to speak in a language unknown by the speaker so that those who spoke that language could hear the gospel. “Every man heard them speak in his own language” (Acts 2:6).

Question:
Does not 1 Corinthians 14:2 say that if you would pray in a tongue to God that you would not understand what you are saying?

Answer:
The verse says, “No man understandeth him.” But why would you speak in tongues to God if you do not know what you are saying?