Ohio,
I generally agree with all that you have said. But I want to be the excessivly squeaky wheel for everyone on this one point:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
They all were marvelously gifted and talented ministers with serious flaws, , the most notable of which were their obsessions for power, control, and glory -- all the necessary ingredients for megalomania. When it comes to natural gifts and talents, all three of them probably rivaled the Apostle Paul. Us lowly peons have difficulty even grasping some of the abilities they possessed.
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But when I read what Paul says about people who carry those negative traits, the fact that they might rival Paul in terms of natural gifts, or otherwise be "marvelously gifted and talented ministers," the instruction we receive is to refuse them. To instruct some to not teach myths and endless genealogies. And so on.
That is what we got from "marvelously gifted and talented ministers." We got Deputy Authority. We got exclusivism even within the ranks of the insiders. We got lies told to cover the sins of those appointed to lead "the ministry office." We got the blasphemous declaration that much of Psalms and James — all part of the Word of God — were really a waste of space or opposed to God.
Only if your god is not the God of the Bible.
A well does not produce both good and foul water. We see what was truly foul. We should reject the rest as also foul even when we cannot discern it. It is much safer than hoping that smell of almonds is just almonds.