John Edward Cooper’s Notes

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Sunday 8th October 1967

1967

B[reaking of] B[read]:
Pastor Girvan—couldn’t really
understand what he was
getting at. Aft[ernoon]: [At] our house with
Trev. Eve[ning]: G[ospel] S[ervice]: Aubrey Birchall
[spoke on] “Four ‘I wills’”: “I will arise”,
“I will trust”, “I will drink”, etc.
Went [to] Audrey’s. [Had a] talk with
Mr. & Mrs. Wood. Audrey came—
[she had] been [to] Frank’s—there’s been
trouble—Frank and his mate
claims [sic] to be “discerning”
things—[though they have] not received [the] Holy
Spirit. Mr. Wood forbade her to
go to Frank’s again. [We] talked about
things [that are] wrong in [the] church:
Frank’s lot; E[lsie] Wrigglesworth’s
interpretation (Thurs. 7th Sept.), some-
thing about being written again
in the Book of Life; various dubious
people; [and a] dubious prayer (Thursday). As Audrey talked I felt
I loved her, so [I was feeling] upset when
[I] left. Anxious & doubtful about
what was said—so [I] prayed.
Prayed for [a] sign on Tuesday about
[that] interpretation.

At our house with Trev: This is the last mention of Trevor till 28th October 1967, where surprise is expressed at seeing him. Perhaps he went up to Aberdeen University at this point.

“I will trust”: The words (Don’t know) are added in the Ms. I couldn’t remember what the four “I will’s” all were; I guessed that “I will trust” might be one, but I wasn’t sure.

Frank and his mate claim to be “discerning” things, though they have not received the Holy Spirit: Receiving the Holy Spirit in this sense is a separate experience from conversion; e.g., Acts 19 states: “1…Paul … finding certain disciples, 2he said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.… 6And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.” 1 Cor. 12:8–10 lists the Gifts of the Spirit: “…the word of wisdom … the word of knowledge … faith … the gifts of healing … the working of miracles … prophecy … discerning of spirits … divers kinds of tongues … the interpretation of tongues”. The Woods’ line was that one had to have received the Holy Spirit first, in the speaking-in-tongues-evidenced sense, before going on to receive the Gifts of the Spirit; but here were Frank and co., not having thus received the Spirit, yet claiming to be exercising the gift of “discerning of spirits”. Whether Mr. Wood over-reacted by forbidding Audrey to expose herself again to what he considered to be Frank’s heterodox and subversive influence, or not, I don’t know; nor can I remember what my opinion was—whether, unspoken, I leaned towards the conciliatory mood of tolerance I showed on Wednesday 22nd June 1966. See also Thursday 30th November 1967.

posted by John Edward Cooper # 10/04/2009 10:27:00 am

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