In this article I am drawing your attention to The Apostle Paul’s dealing with The Corinthian Church on these four issues:

(A). Spiritual Gifts.

(B). Ignorance concerning operation and manifestation and handling of Spiritual Gifts.

(C). Causes of; and the nature of ignorance involved.

(D). Solution.

[I CORINTHIANS 12:1-3]

1. Nowconcerningspiritual gifts, brethren, I wouldnot have youignorant.
2. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carriedawayunto thesedumbidols, evenas ye were led.
3. Wherefore I give you to understand, that nomanspeakingby theSpiritof Godcalleth Jesus accursed:
and that nomancansaythat Jesusis the Lord, but by the HolyGhost.

Paul is telling the Corinthian Church, as well as the churches that would be coming up in other ages that:

• They should not continue in the state of ignorance they were in.
• All must have an understanding of how these gifts should operate.
• What he is saying, are both instructions and  “The commandment of The Lord” [1Cor. 4:37-40]
• Those who choose to be ignorant, let them be ignorant, by choice.
• The instructions are necessary for and decent operations of these gifts.
• The saints should not ignore these instructions to avoid the rise of schism in the body
• All things should be done according to the word in love, in order to have the gifts operate decently, orderly and with reverence. [1Cor. Chap. 12; 13; and 14.]
• Any truly Spirit filled believer that God anoints to use to manifest any of those gifts, also has within him or herself, the ability for self-control.

Him being a Prophet and Church Age Messenger, was giving out God’s revelation to The Church of Corinth, as well as to us in the latter ages to avoid operating in ignorance.

Paul did many regrettable things in his past life because of ignorance. Now he is bringing them out over and over to make us learn from his mistakes when he was an unbeliever to The New Testament Truth.

IGNORANCE IN UNBELIEF:

[I TIMOTHY 1:12-13]

12.  And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;
13.  Who was beforea blasphemer, and a persecutor, andi njurious: but I obtainedmercy, becauseI did it  ignorantlyin unbelief.
Ignorance can easily furnish a suitable atmosphere for unbelief to flourish on any matter. This is why Paul is tackling ignorance by the horn. Ignorance can be classified into three categories:

(A). Imposed ignorance

(B). Wilful ignorance

(C). Plain ignorance

(A). IMPOSED IGNORANCE: When truth; information; facts, knowledge is misrepresented, distorted, misinterpreted, withheld, censored, then you end up holding on substitutes. When this is done to you, some form of ignorance is imposed on you. And you, inadvertently act in ignorance. That needs to be corrected, and can be corrected if you are willing.

[GALATIANS 1:13-14]
13. For ye have heard of my conversationin timepast in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measureI persecutedthe church of God, and wastedit:
14.  And profited in the Jews' religion above manymy equalsin mine own nation, beingmoreexceedingly zealous
of the traditions of my fathers.

Paul had a huge package of substitutes which convinced him he was righteous: circumcised on the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee as touching the law blameless. The Jews Religion and the traditions of the Fathers left Paul with imposed ignorance. When the revelation of the truth kicked in, he accepted he was operating in ignorance. Many of us may be locked up in this category of ignorance. We need to wake up and shake ourselves to see where we are.

Even if ignorance is imposed on us by someone, in the end you are still responsible to yourself and your destiny. Listen to this experience:

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER WHOSE PASTOR KEPT AWAY FROM THE TRUTH.
QUOTE FROM: 65-09-19 – Thirst :

228.  And all at once, when she faced the reality! Now, she was a loyal church member, she was a Sunday school teacher, and a loyal church member of a fine big denominational church. But when she started to struggle, death struck her; her eyes bulged out, and she said, "I'm lost!"She said, "I'm lost! Go, get the pastor!"

229. He put his cigarette out, and walked in, said, "Here, here! Here, here! We'll get the doctor to give you a hypo."

230. Said, "I don't want no hypo." Said, "You deceiver of man! I'm dying, and I'm going to hell. And I'm lost because you failed to tell me the Truth. Go get that little good Hughes girl, and bring her up here to me, real quick. She is right."

231. Wait till you face the reality once. Don't you try to stop that holy hush. Don't you blast It away with some modern, educational, double-barreled shotgun. You listen to that warning of the Holy Ghost, tonight, that's warning you, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." And He is the Word.

Ignorance of any kind is no excuse, even in the worldly court of law. You are responsible to know what you should know. So, the knowledge of these gifts is all over this message and it is backed by the bible for all ages. If any minister tells you it has ceased, he is a liar. You don’t have to buy that. What if you could be a vessel for God to use, and to manifest himself through? See what somebody said could put unbelief in you and make you to lose out with God, like Paul and this Sunday School Teacher?

(B). WILFUL IGNORANCE:

In [2Peter 3: 3-9] Peter outlined events which had been prophesied before time and had taken place and are now history.

• The prophecy about Noah’s Flood was given before hand and was fulfilled.
  
  
• Prophecy concerning future burning of this earth has now been sounded, and will surely be fulfilled.
  
  
• Peter has warned us that SCOFFERS will show up at the end time saying the prophecy concerning the burning up of this world has taken too long, when will it happen?
  
  
• Peter has also reminded us that of the difference between God’s Calendar and our Calendar.

[II PETER 3:5-10]

5. For thisthey willinglyare ignorantof, that by the wordof Godthe heavenswere ofold, and the earth standing 
out of the waterand in the water:

6. Wherebythe worldthat thenwas, being overflowedwith water,perished:

7. But the heavensand the earth, which are now, by the samewordare keptin store, reservedunto  fire againstthe 
dayof judgmentand perditionof ungodlymen.

8. But,beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with theLordas a thousand years, and a 
thousand years as one day.

9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not 
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thiefin the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall meltwith fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are there inshall be burned up.

Scoffers, who will include: unbelievers from scientists, theologians, philosophers, agnostics, atheists and antichrists, such as Jannes and Jambres in Egypt, false teachers, false prophets etc., will rise to tell people not to pay any attention to these things. When you don’t use your own scriptural judgment, you make yourself a willful ignorant person.

Read this illustration:

60-0604 - To Whom Shall We Go?
90.  Now, some people might refuse to walk in the sunlight. What if there would be such a person that would say, "Oh, the sun's not shining, no, sir. I don't believe it." and run into his basement? Say, "I'll only come out when it gets dark. When I come…"

He refuses the help of the sun. Well, if he does, that's just his own stupidity; that's all. The sun's shining. Somebody come up to the window, and holler, "Come out, John. The sun is shining."  

"I refuse to believe such nonsense; that's fanaticism." Now, he certainly misses the warmth of the sun; he certainly misses the life giving rays that it gives. He certainly misses the beauty that it shows, and the life that it brings forth.

That's the way a man or a woman trying to go to heaven through a creed, trying to go to heaven through a church without Jesus; you can't do it; He is the Way, the Truth, and the Light. As sure as the s-u-n brings forth all plant life, the S-o-n brings forth Eternal Life; and He alone has Eternal Life.

That's why we should come to Him. We'll miss it through a church; we'll miss it through a creed. We only can come to Him to find Eternal Life: He alone... [End of Quote]

Hiding in the basement and insisting that the sun does not exist is WILFUL IGNORANCE.

Similarly, keeping yourself away from reading, studying, finding out the truth about the 9 spiritual gifts, from this message and The Bible, is like avoiding, dodging, bypassing, refusing to face the truth about Gifts of The Holy Spirit and then concluding that they have ceased to be, or no longer apply to us today. That is putting yourself into wilful ignorance.

(C). PLAIN IGNORANCE:

This is a situation where; “You are just, not aware, that you do not know” This is a state of unconscious unawareness. God sent Jonah to Nineveh because they were in that state of mind and doing things which invite God’s judgment.

[JONAH 4:10-11]
10. Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither
 madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:

11. And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that 
cannot discern betweentheir right handand their left hand; and also much cattle?

They did not know right from wrong, yet God did not overlook their ignorance, but draw their attention to become conscious of their ignorance, and of what they are doing.

• Majority of believers do not know the importance of spiritual gifts in the body of Christ.
  
  
• Many do not know what is meant by the word “gift” as used in connection to spiritual manifestations.
  
  
• A lot of us may have no idea about how gifts are supposed to operate in the church.
  
  
• Very few probably know why God placed 9 Spiritual gifts in his church,
  
  
• May be many are scared to have them because of the misuse and negative results they have seen.
  
  
• This is also true with preaching, teaching, correcting, admonishing, instructing etc.

Everything requires a balance approach, more so, spiritual matters. Here is an observation the Prophet Messenger to Laodicea made in reference to gifts:

61-0108 - REVELATION, CHAPTER FOUR #3
9. ... And the little church, I admonish you in the Name of the Lord Jesus to grow in the grace of God, hold yourself steady and look towards Calvary all the time, taking all the roots of bitterness out of your heart and soul, that God might use you at any time. If you ever feel to do something, or a revelation or something comes to you strangely, something warningly or something, be careful! Satan is as sly and slick as he can be. See? Put it with the Word of God and consult your pastor. See?

10  And you find gifts and so forth creeping up in the church, and the operation of these gifts. Before you let it go to operating and things, first… Feel it pressing on your heart… Now, the enemy is real slick. See? And that's just what tears the churches to pieces every time, is a true gift operated wrong. See? Something God is trying to do, and operated wrong, it'll just simply… Not only hurt you, but it'll tear the whole church up. See? Consult it, take it through and through the Bible, then test it and see if it's God or not. Just keep testing it and trying, see if it's perfect right down the line and right with the Word. Then you're all right, see.

As long as the Word has said it would be here, would operate this certain way, stay right with it. Don't never get off, no matter what anybody does, how real it seems to be. If it doesn't reflect in the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, leave it alone. Don't take no chances, we're in the last days when Satan is just deceiving as he can be.   

So do not operate out of ignorance. Pay attention to bible instructions given; the corrections and the warnings.

To drive safely on our High Ways, you must pay attention to all road safety instructions, roadside signs, traffic lights signals, speed limits, harmony with other road users etc., etc. That is true with the use of spiritual gifts in the church. Let us now approach them.

God bless you: Pastor Martin Tombe.

Restored Bible Truth Assembly.