Questioning the work of the Holy Spirit

S. of Australia said: "I feel the same, sort of since 9/11 actually. That kind of lowered the tone of the whole world. You can expect things to get darker and harder though as we go towards end times."

I know you've said that before, and we've agreed before, but it's worth reiterating that that is a true observation. Obviously we can see it more as time moves on.

One insight I should share with all (unrelated to this topic really). In my life I've really learned that of the Godhead, the Trinity, there is one Person of the Trinity you really don't want to mess with: the Holy Spirit.

Jesus even said in so many words, cuss at me, hurt me, kill me, but don't mess with the one I will send after me, the Holy Spirit. Because after the Holy Spirit you have nothing.

One thing people were doing against me was saying I wasn't a real Christian and I didn't understand Christianity and really harping on that line of attack. That is a type of questioning - or denying - the work of the Holy Spirit. It's a dangerous thing to do. I've noticed in the older, mature theologians that even in the midst of them lambasting false teachers and wrong doctrine they seem to always say that salvation though is between them and God, and they come short of questioning a false teacher's salvation (anyway, let me just say, I saw this recently reading something by Machen). I think it is probably a common experience in a Christian's life where we all see incidences of people getting payback from above for making such accusations, and we all learn from that. I know that witnessing people getting slammed by God makes me very circumspect in never questioning a person's self-identifying of themselves as a Christian, or questioning their salvation. That is between them and God. We all hang by a similar thread (though I believe we can know if we have real faith). So we can critique false doctrine and other people's behavior or what have you, but we shouldn't cross the line and question their salvation, even if we suspect one way or another, because that is between them and God, and if we are wrong we don't want to question or deny the work of the Holy Spirit in another person. - C.