"Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:"

I affirm this wholeheartedly without reservation. Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is impossible to dispute if one believes God's Word.

Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.

MBL, I said it. And I believe it. And I still have no idea what you are talking about here, sorry. I believe Jesus Christ is God come personally in the flesh and born in Bethlehem according to Micah 5:2, lived sinlessly, died, and rose again. I believe His divine existence is eternal and that He has always been the Son of God, different in person but equal in essence with God. And I believe that Jesus Christ's physical body is still alive and will remain so, for eternity.

I have no idea what MBL thinks is heresy that the Reformed teaching holds. I shouldn't have spoken and said he was wrong, when I have no real knowledge of what he is accusing. However, to the best of my knowledge, I don't see anything wrong in classical Reformed teaching in general.

OK, I agree 100% with your post of 3:34 PM. I think I have to admit I was mistaken in my thinking. You made a great point with your comment, "You see: Gentleness, patience and meekness are relative, depending upon who you are speaking to."

However, back to the other... In Acts 13, Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit to give specifically the condemnation he gave (point taken concerning rebuking him and doing so strongly, but this is a special case: the exact kind of rebuke given and that God supernaturally intervened make this a special case, and not one you can include in your general list of Scriptures concerning rebuke-giving).

As for the so-called "heresy" of the Reformed teaching of the resurrection, I have no knowledge of this issue. I'll have to study on it.

You asked: "Can you confess that Jesus Christ IS come in the flesh?"

Yes, of course. He is God, come in the flesh, the second person of the Trinity, who lived sinlessly, died for the redemption of sinners on the cross, and rose again from the dead, proving His deity and sinless humanity (One divine person in human flesh).

If I am opposing myself, and am ensnared by the devil, and so forth, then I am honestly unaware of it. I am confident that this is not the case. I don't see where the verse commands that the false teacher be aware of these facts, anyway. What I do see, is the prayer on the part of the true teacher that God may grant repentance and knowledge of the truth to the opponent.

I'm sorry, I don't understand question 1. How am I opposing myself?

The context concerns dealing with false teachers. If someone is the Lord's slave, or at least thinks they are (as I hope I am), then they would seek to obey this verse in being kind to all, an apt teacher, and patient, correcting opponents with gentleness (this is the NET translation here). The hope of the true teacher is that God will grant repentance and knowledge of the truth to his opponents, so they can escape the Devil's entrapments.

OK, I'll come clean and try to be as honest as I can. I confess I don't like the attitude of many of your posts, or the spirit in which you often write. Some of your posts definitely fall into the "self-righteous jerk" category, but not all do. It is possible that these posts do not completely reflect your personality, or that you are much nicer elsewhere than here. Perhaps I am wrong for thinking your posts are that of a self-righteous jerk type. If so, please prove me wrong.

And yes, the statements I made such as "Have a nice day" and "Have a nice life" were not sincere, or meant to be. They were statements of dismissal. It was basically a polite way of telling you that your time would better be spent elsewhere as I saw no profit in continuing the conversation.

Where have I been a hypocrite?

And why, exactly, do you post here? If your objective is to refute error and gain converts to your way of thinking, why does your method include rude comments, insults, and baseless allegations?

Here's what I said: "I didn't see anywhere in Ephesians 5 mention made of being a self-righteous jerk while defending truth, either."

I was trying to make a point: we don't need to add any offense of our own to the natural offense that the truth has, at times. Did you not see 2 Timothy 2:24-26?

I didn't see anywhere in Ephesians 5 mention made of being a self-righteous jerk while defending truth, either.

It's good to be able and willing to defend truth. We are called to defend the truth, and do so with devotion. But sometimes the truth itself is offensive enough without having to add any offense of our own to it.

2 Timothy 2:24-26 (ESV)
24And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

Also, 1 Cor 10:12 (ESV)
Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.