Can God lie?

[ behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, ] All this means is that the Lord ALLOWED a lying spirit to manifest in these people...Satan asked for permission and God let him go at it. First, where do YOU get the idea that Satan is a crutch? Further, where do you get the idea that Satan is not a Biblical reality? No. But if you protected someone who others wanted to harm, and then you ceased protecting him and he got jumped, it would not be your fault now would it?(He brought it on himself)This message has been edited by Phatboy, 10-03-2004 03:39 AM

OK..I can respect that YOU respect God without acknowledging the Bible...but without the Bible, how do you even know if you are acknowledging the right God? Now I know that there is only One, but there are also numerous wannabe spirits masquerading behind many false belief systems. If you believe that God can lie, and can do whatever He wants to do, how do you know that the inner voice that you hear is God? I believe that the Book was given as a standard...so that we would know who the real God is. Seeing as how the early Believers had no book, the only other method of validation is to gather in prayer/fellowship with likeminded belivers. Likeminded means "of the same Spirit". You can't have some all inclusive room of religious truth seekers and have the same spirit. Try it...I know. In this world, there are competing spirits. Obviously, the Holy Spirit is the right one and the only one with any real power. How do you tell Him apart from the other ones?

Yeah, me too. I experienced a few times that were definitely out of the ordinary, but how would I know if it was not merely mass hypnosis? I am sure that there was a spiritual realm involved, but which spirit it was I DO NOT Know. I grew stronger as a Believer during the quiet times when I was certain that I felt Gods presence. I still operate at that level of faith...and I rarely even feel the presence any more. I am growing stronger despite lack of emotional confirmation.This message has been edited by Phatboy, 10-04-2004 02:56 AM

Heh heh...I remember one such service in particular. It was during the time of the so called "Toronto Blessing" whereby everyone was supposed to get drunk in the spirit and laugh uncontrollably. The guest speaker began doing it, as did the Pastor and the Elders. As if on cue, everyone else began "feeling" drunk and laughing, and all I did was sit there and observe this insane display of mimicing behavior. I was never the guy who would raise his hands when the speaker would say "lift up your hands!" I always waited until I wanted to do something before I did it. You won't catch me at the airport selling daisies!