evangelists selected by heavenly visions today!

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I would like to start out by saying that this entire article has been really helpful in informing me on what I wanted to know about evangelism. But there are a few areas that trouble me none of them I find to be wrong except for one. So lets just focus on the one that you are wrong about. In the section HOW IS AN EVANGELIST SELECTED, YOU TALK ABOUT HOW PAUL WAS SELECTED BY A MIRACULOUS VISION AND IT WAS MAN IFESTED TO HIM. Which is correct but then you go on to say that importunely we do not have that benefit today. By that you are saying that god has changed or is in some way not able to connect with us today. In today s life we find it to be strange and not from god when people say that he has come to them but honestly that is a judgment. I m not saying that we don t need to be sure of it but to say that what happened to Paul doesn t happen now is to change the gospel. God works in many ways and if you have a good connection with god then anything is possible (FAITH). I think you should research this more and while doing that keep this in mind, god has not changed and never will we are the ones who make him less in our lives. I have a sermon that I wrote while meditating on god and if you would like to read it I will send you a copy, it may help you on your decision whether to change what you have written.

[m273p15c]

Please allow me to respond with two trains of thought about your comments on this article:

http://www.insearchoftruth.org/articles/evangelists.html

First, what do you think about God using the apostles to strike people dead, like in Acts 5, or to strike people blind, like in Acts 13:9-12? Can people do that today? Do we have apostles who meet the qualifications demanded in Acts 1? I am looking for consistency.

Secondly, what do you think about the prophesy given in Zechariah 13?

"In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. It shall be in that day," says the LORD of hosts, "that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land. It shall come to pass that if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who begot him will say to him, 'You shall not live, because you have spoken lies in the name of the LORD.' And his father and mother who begot him shall thrust him through when he prophesies. And it shall be in that day that every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; they will not wear a robe of coarse hair to deceive. "But he will say, 'I am no prophet, I am a farmer; for a man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.' And one will say to him, 'What are these wounds between your arms?' Then he will answer, 'Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.'" (Zechariah 13:1-6)

It seems that God foretold that the Messiah would bring in forgiveness and end visions and prophesy. If that time has not come, then are we still in our sins? Notice, they will all (opening of fountain for sin and cutting off visions) happen in the same general time, "in that day".

FWIW, I do not believe that God has changed or weakened. This was part of His plan all along. Miracles, visions, prophesy, and inspiration were the "scaffolding" used to construct the Bible and establish the NT church. Once established, the scaffolding was dismantled. These things are associated with a church in its infancy and were discarded near the close of the first century, as God foretold and planned (Zechariah 13:1-6; I Corinthians 13:8-12). We have all that we need to direct, equip, and guide Christians and evangelists in the Bible (II Timothy 3:16-17; Ephesians 3:3-5; I Timothy 4:13-16).

Thanks,

m273p15c