John 7:37-38 has a solution for that acid reflux.
In their view, there was no way to adjudicate between me and them. I either got the burning or I did not. Every sect in the world could use the same test, and there would be people who seemed to get the 'burning' for each and every sect. You seem to be saying the same thing as the Mormons with respect to how to determine whether someone has the anointing. The test is entirely subjective (except for your test regarding healings, but you know of course that even demons can perform signs and wonders, so that doesn't tell us anything).
When two persons or two groups pray and still disagree, then what? Disunity. That was my original point. When the tests are entirely subjective, disunity is the necessary implication. But for the first 1500 years of Church history, the test was apostolicity; who had been ordained in succession from the Apostles. That is why the Apostle John says in 1 John 4:6 "He who knows God listens to us [i.e. the Apostles and by implication those bishops in Apostolic succession]; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."
-A8
John 7:37-38 has a solution for that acid reflux.
In their view, there was no way to adjudicate between me and them. I either got the burning or I did not. Every sect in the world could use the same test, and there would be people who seemed to get the 'burning' for each and every sect. You seem to be saying the same thing as the Mormons with respect to how to determine whether someone has the anointing. The test is entirely subjective (except for your test regarding healings, but you know of course that even demons can perform signs and wonders, so that doesn't tell us anything).
= = = =
No. The "test" is not entirely subjective. It is observational and experiential.
And, as to demons . . . Christ's standard remains . . . Do the individuals, sources involved confess that Jesus came in the flesh etc. and Jesus as Their Lord, and humans as their Savior, or not?
Counterfeit miracles are genearlly flavored, toned, colored, tainted with their source . . . particularly after closer examination and reflection by discerning folks but usually by most anyone with any horse sense.
Healings via folks attesting to Christ coming in the flesh and all the other basic doctrines in a service overtly glorifying God and GOD ALONE . . . are highly unlikely to be satanic counterfeits.
Holy Spirit can cause a burning within that I'm sure LDS folks would assert is the same. They are good at including everything including the kitchen sink as covered and included in their scheme of things. It's not the same, in my book.
But I didn't mention such a thing as a way of discerning whether someone is operating in an anointing, or not. Extrapolations are not usually my close friends in such matters. I try hard to say what I mean.
I think Christ said it best: MY SHEEP KNOW MY VOICE.
I think it's akin to a mother and child knowing one another's voice. I wonder how many would call that subjective.
"Entirely subjective" is simply false.
Sounds to me like folks not accustomed to hearing His Voice and acting on it might do well to check up on their relationship with Him. He didn't put qualifiers in that sentence.
I suspect that anyone who seriously wants to find GOD'S ANSWER on this issue . . . and who SEEKS HIM FIRST AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS . . . AND who asks HIM to show them His truth . . . will likely find in the next 18 or so months that He has. Of course, they might well need to be obedient enough to put themselves in likely situations according to The Leading of His Holy Spirit . . . in order to observe such.
But for the first 1500 years of Church history, the test was apostolicity; who had been ordained in succession from the Apostles.
= = =
Not my construction on reality. Sounds like historical revisionism, to me.
The Little Pebble wasn't adequate regardless of the politics.
But even IF THAT WERE [which I'm convinced it wasn't] the way things started out in AD 50 or 70 or whatever . . . it seems clear to me that at least for great chunks of time . . . the anointing has been lifted . . . as it has with all other organizations and groups.
And, regardless of kosher doctrine; regardless of human works of righteousness as filthy as a minstral rag; regardless of lineage; regardless of organizational purity . . .
WHEN THE ANOINTING IS LIFTED, REMOVED . . . all else is chaff . . . flesh . . . noneternal.