Paul Cain...top Prophet

books:

	• The Word and the Spirit Paul Cain, R. T. Kendall Strang Communications Company, 1999 - 87 pages average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Unassuming Giant

Don't be foold by the length of this book. Within its less than 100 pages is some of the most important and weighty issues of the modern and future Christian Chruch. With the convergence of these two great men, a work has been produced that hopefully will open the eyes, hearts, souls, and minds of all who read it, and then encourage their friends to read it as I have. Please read this book. These are not flighty ideas to be brushed aside or swept under a rug but brought to the forefront, examined, meditated on, and then reexamined. Let the message of this book impact you and hopefully, shift your paradigme of what you percieve the future of the Christian chruch to be.

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Paul Cain...top Prophet

Paul Cain is one of the most profound Prophets of this generation. Much like the rest of us...he has sin problems...but his incite and revelation is unlike no one else.

He is the real deal...and anything he writes...I would recomend.

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The Word and the Spirit

The book is really a call to Christians to be a people of the Word as well as a people of the Spirit of God. We Christians have this nasty and unfruitful habit of thinking about or believing God's written Word to mean this or that; the "either or" mentality. Just as there seems to be a disconnection between works and faith concerning salvation (see Romans and James), in most churches there is also a disconnection between God's Word and God's Spirit. In the introduction of the book, Colin Dye, referring to the Word and the Spirit, states the following: "It seems that one viewpoint is almost asserted to the detriment of the other. To hold to both equally is, as church history has proven, an intensely difficult and elusive challenge that few have attained."

He further states that "Too often churches are known for the one or the other. Either a church is strong in the Word and doctrine, or it is renowned as a place of spiritual manifestation." In other words, there are churches, like most Southern Baptists I have met, which can spot a doctrinal error a hundred miles away but cannot discern a visitation or manifestation of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, there are churches, like Pentecostals which I have met, who can spot the work and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit a hundred miles away but have no clue what the Bible has to say about a particular topic or can't find the book of Haggai in their Bibles. Of course, I am making a general comment so don't get upset and out of shape.

In chapter 1, The Remarriage of the Word and the Spirit, R.T. Kendall states that "There are those who are well acquainted with the Scriptures...And there are those who are well acquainted with the raw power of God." I have seen churches that will follow their order of service even if following it would yield the same dull service it has always yielded. On the other hand, I have witnessed churches making a circus out of a worship service with the excuse that they are following the lead of the Spirit of God. In this chapter, Kendall is encouraging Christians to know their Bibles; not to quote chapter and verse but to really know the Scriptures. He states, "I have a deep-seated fear that Christians today don't know their Bibles." I have testified this to be true among Christians today; I have told many fellow believers that the days of sharing with each other what they have learned from reading the Bible are long gone. Generally speaking, we Christians seem to know much more about Joyce Meyer, T.D. Jakes, Benny Hinn, and Joel Osteen's cotton-candy theology than we know about God and His Word.

There is a paragraph that states the following: "Make no mistake, the gospel of Jesus Christ is complete without signs and wonders. But the Bible is not complete without signs and wonders." I disagree with this statement because the Bible states in Mark 16:20 (NKJV) the following, "And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen" This verse states that the Lord gave testimony of His own word by granting His disciples the power to perform signs to confirm the Word of the Lord Jesus. How can the Gospel of Christ be verified to have the power to save and to heal if no signs and wonders follow such a powerful message?

In chapter 2, The Role of the Word, Paul Cain rightly states that "It is our unity that will convince an unbelieving world of the reality of Jesus Christ and His church...When the world sees the church in unity, there is a greater hope that it will believe. I am not talking about ecumenical unity, but unity of the Spirit." These statements summarize the greater need the Body of Christ has today concerning the lack of unity we have we one another and with God. There must be oneness with God and His people if Christians are to effectively and efficiently reach people for God. In another page Cain states that "When we get more excited about a prophetic word than we do about the written Word, we show how little we think of the Bible." As numerous as the stars are, there seems to be as many Christians who have no knowledge of and about the Bible, and who have no desire to read it much less study it and apply its truths to their lives.

In chapter 3, The Role of the Spirit, Paul Cain also states that "We need the Holy Spirit to guide us, to direct us, to lead us, and to teach us...We also need the Holy Spirit to expose us and to explore us and reveal the secrets of our hearts." He is right on with both statements. Without the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures are just 66 books compiled in one volume.

In chapter 4, The Preaching of the Word and the Spirit, R.T. Kendall suggests 7 ways Christians block the Spirit of God: 1) Human Wisdom, 2) Perverting the Text, 3) Copying Others (humans, even Christians, tend to dislike who they are so they start to copy someone else who has attained some type of success in the field they are in), 4) Avoiding Difficult Scriptures (this I see when people who believe the "Once Saved, Always Saved" doctrine hardly study the book of Hebrews which deals with warnings and apostasy), 5) Personal Feelings, 6) Grieving the Spirit, and 7) Trying to Keep Control (this one is very prevalent in churches who don't desire to let the Holy Spirit to have His way and so on they go with their dull services because they are afraid to lose a control they don't have to begin with.)

In chapter 5, A Post-Charismatic Era, R.T. Kendall suggests, without biblical foundation, though he uses some verses out of context to make his case, that the Charismatic movements we have experienced in the 20th century are symbolic of Ishmael; in other words, there will come a revival such as the world has never heard. I have heard that for some years now and I think that such a belief or doctrine could distract Christians from paying attention to what God is doing in the present and could cause them to put their eyes on the future and miss out God's current moves and works.

In chapter 6, The Word and the Name, Paul Cain states that what happened in the Day of Pentecost is a partial fulfillment of Joel 2:28. If that is so, why Peter stated that what happened in the Day of Pentecost was a fulfillment of what the prophet Joel said? To make his case valid, Cain mixed Hebrews 4:1 with his statement that God is about to do something greater in the future but Hebrews 4:1 is referring to perseverance and not to a greater move of God. In this chapter, Cain also states that "There is a difference between God's Word and God's name." Here is my question or concern, how can we separate God's Name from His Word or His Word from His Name? Cain used Psalm 138:2 ("I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy loving-kindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.") to arrive to that conclusion but, is this really what the Psalmist meant? Pay careful attention that David says that he will worship and praise God's name for His loving-kindness and for God's truth (His Word). In the Spanish translation it states that His Name and His Word are magnified above all things. The NLT states, "I bow before your holy Temple as I worship. I will give thanks to your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness, because your promises are backed by all the honor of your name." What good can a name be without a word? What good can a word be without a name to back it up?

The book did indeed address the issue of divorce between God's Word and God's Spirit in the churches today and the need of reconciling both of these (the Word and the Spirit) in the pulpits and in the lives of the believers but the book lacked some undeniable biblical support for the claims that there is a greater move of God ahead of us. Though I can believe that it could be true, and I hope there will be a greater move of God, Paul Cain, along with R.T. Kendall, made some claims and statements based on their experiences and not on biblical sound doctrine. I am not stating necessarily that they are in error, but the support they gave concerning some of their claims they made are more personal feelings than Scripture supported doctrines.

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Excellent and Powerful

A must read. It gets to the point on ones walk with the Lord. Also a reality check for the church and the indivdual. Very in depth.

Simple...Profound...

In this book the two authors have gotten together to write some very profound truths and yet they have done so very simply. This book emphasizes the need for Christians to be grounded and balanced in both the scriptures and the Holy Spirit. They also talk about what it will take to get Christians to the next move of God like unity and humility.

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