The elders must never permit a meeting to run itself. It is the responsibility of the elders to govern diligently. If they do not, Satan will enter the proceedings and pandemonium will result.

Manifestations of the spirit must be supervised by godly elders. If they are not there will be excesses of all kinds.

The reason the children of Israel sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play was that their elder, Moses, was on the mountain with God. Aaron was useless as a governing elder because he feared the people.

We need to ask ourselves, Are people being scorned, directed to quit being analytical and judgmental, and told to just accept whatever spirit they feel? Are they told not to test the apostles?

Is the spirit gentle and easy to be entreated?

Is there unseemly behavior? God is not the author of confusion but of peace.

We always are to test the spirits. The Bible commands us to do this. The Lord will never reprove you for testing the spirits even if you do so many times. We are to pray, "Lead me not into temptation but deliver me from the evil one."

Don't ever imagine you cannot be deceived. There is much deception in the Evangelical churches of our day. We lay ourselves open for deception when we attempt to make our discipleship easy or pleasant. When we do not turn away from the world, take up our cross, and follow the Lord Jesus, we are not a disciple and therefore not a Christian.

Christianity has become a religion. You can be a Christian by religion and still not be a disciple, a true Christian. It may be a fact that there are not many genuine Christians in our day. I hope I am incorrect in this!

To be a genuine Christian you must receive Jesus as your personal Lord and you must be His bondslave. Until you do this you are not a true Christian even though you are a Christian by religion; even though you have taken the four steps of salvation; even though you talk in tongues.

Are people praying to the Holy Spirit Himself instead of to Jesus? There is no scriptural basis for praying or singing to the Holy Spirit. We are to pray to Jesus and worship Jesus. Then the Holy Spirit will come because He always exalts the Lord Jesus. The Spirit's mission is to bring a bride to the Lamb who is without blemish.

Are the manifestations scriptural? The gifts and ministries of the Spirit of God are listed in Romans, Twelve; First Corinthians, Twelve and Fourteen; and Ephesians, Four. We need the gifts and ministries desperately today for it is only through these the Body of Christ can be brought to maturity.

Is there a sense of order or of pandemonium in the service? Are the people sitting down to eat and drink and rising up to play because there is no diligent eldership?

Are the manifestations self-centered or Christ-centered? Some of today's "revivals" are experience-centered and self-centered. The various bodily manifestations are not scriptural and do not lift up the Lord Jesus or build the saints. All that is talked about is "how I felt when this feeling went through my body." The demons love this sort of thing.

To be continued.