or they have spent time in the actual presence of Jesus...
as I have...
You can pretend and play church all you want.......but we are commanded to "Test all things" -- 1 Thess. 5:21,
"WHEN "THAT" WHICH ( not He, as in describing our Lord....but that, a thing, something that will soon be perfect/complete/whole) IS PERFECT, COMES........THAT WHICH IS IN PART SHALL BE DONE AWAY. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things." -- 1 Cor. 13:10-11
Or they are pretending or imagining they have been in the actual presence of the Lord some 2000 years after His ascension into heaven at the Right Hand of the Father.
Void of demonstrating the true signs of an Apostle of Christ you are providing or proving nothing by your ad hominem subjective claims........ True Apostles, such as Paul, had no problem in displaying the signs of a true Apostle (2 Cor. 12:12)......if you cannot, you are as Paul described those that were abusing the gifts of the spirit that existed because an Apostle laid hands upon the disciples in Corinth (1 & 2 Cor.) They were making a mockery of the faith. Paul was actually chastising those in Corinth. He charged them with Playing......as acting like children with a new toy seeking attention rather than seeking edification through the gifts that were given to them by an Apostle of Christ.
Since Paul had visited Corinth previously, there were problems that existed that concerned Paul (1 Cor. 1:11).....They were having disagreements over which Apostle or Disciple had converted them, they were ignoring sin within the brotherhood, misunderstandings about marriage, how to deal with those who continued to practice Idolatry, as the population of Corinth once practiced idolatry, they had questions over paying the preachers (evangelicals), and how to conduct the once a week meeting to break bread...i.e, communion...which they were making it seem like a party with eating and drinking..... He asked them sarcastically, "......Do you not have houses to eat in?" -- 1 Cor. 11:22
Paul was writing the letter of 1 Corinthians in order to give them time to correct these problems that he was revealing through his letters....before he actually came for his next visit. He warned them, "Be on alert, stand firm in the faith, ACT LIKE MEN..........be strong, let all you do be done in love." -- 1 Cor. 16:13-14.
"Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven, leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven (as mentioned, the population of Corinth were pagans before conversion), clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened." -- 1 Cor. 5:6-7
They were guilty of using the gift of tongues.....without anyone to translate the divine message being delivered in an unlearned language, guilty of more than one speaking at a time....without order or structure.......eating and drinking instead of partaking of the communion giving no respect for the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul actually was attempting to take the blame for their actions as he stated that he had feed them with MILK (the diet of a new child in Christ) not with MEAT (doctrine for mature Christians)........he was treating them like children because he feared they could not handle strong meat (mature doctrine)......He charged them with demonstrating envy, and strife causing divisions among the brotherhood.....and asked them to WALK LIKE MEN. (1 Cor. 3:2-3)
In other words, he is telling them to GROW UP and stop acting like children because the time is near when the gifts of the spirit will fail and they will have to depend upon that which has been revealed to stand firm after that (which is perfect comes).....again, perfect in the original Greek text means Complete/Whole..........the same Perfect used in 1 Cor. 13 is used in James 1:25 describing the Perfect Law of Liberty ...i.e, the revealed word of God.
