On prophecy. The prophetic gifts are still operating in the church today. In Ephesians 4:11-12 we read: "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." (NKJV). And in 1. Corinthians 12:28 we read: "And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues." Cessationism claims that the gifts of the Spirit are no longer operating. But the Bible clearly tells us that these gifts are still available to the church today. Natural supernatural.

One of the greatest prophets in the church today is Rick Joyner. He is author of books like the Harvest and The Final Quest. You can read more about Rick at Morningstar's website.

Dedicated to the Krisners.

On contemplation. Contemplation is the state where the mind is thinking about the Trinity. It is the divine theoria, the state where the mind is thinking about God. For church fathers like Origen and Maximus the Confessor it was an essential and daily activity. The Word, Jesus Christ, kisses the mind and blesses the Christian who wants to think his thoughts. "And the soul is moved by heavenly love and longing, having clearly beheld the beauty and fairness of the Word of God, it falls deeply in love with his loveliness." (Origen, Commentary on the Song). So clearly, the soul experiences pleasure when it contemplates the Trinity. Andrew Louth writes: "The basic doctrines of the Trinity and the incarnation, are mystical doctrines formulated dogmatically". In contemplation, mysticism and dogmatic theology are united.

On the mystical theology of love. The mystical theology of love is the theology of love that is revealed to the believer by Jesus Christ. It is the theology of divine love, it is the theoretical contemplation of agape, God's eternal love. Divine love is holy, pure and perfect. "It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." (1. Corinthians 13:7, NIV). The mystical theology of love is concerned with the love that is infused into ever believer who willingly receives God's grace. It makes us keep the commandments of God.

On the way of union. It is Lossky, who in his brilliant book The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, writes about the way of union. Unio mystica -the mystical union between Jesus Christ and every believer. This is a recurrent theme in Paul's writings. "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, neither any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38, NIV)
Union with God, in Christ Jesus, is the goal of human existence. We can only become what our telos (our purpose) is, when we are united with the Trinity through the cross of Jesus Christ.
For Lossky, the way of union is intimately connected to prayer and tears. "Tears and contrition are the beginning of prayer." St. Isaac the Syrian writes: "Repentence is the trembling of the soul before the gates of paradise." We can only enter into a relationship with God because of his grace. But when we pray with tears, we can enter into the mystical union with our Lord Jesus Christ.

On the Bible. The Bible is the Word of God. The Bible is infallible, inerrant and perfect. The Bible was written by holy men in ancient times, under the inspiration of The Holy Spirit. It is God's revelation to mankind, and it is a book with power and strength. "Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength" and those who read the Bible will receive strength from the Lord.

There are 66 books in the Bible, because it is the book that follows us in the age of darkness. The kingdom of God is on it's way, but the Bible will help us through these difficult times on earth. The Bible will illuminate our minds when we read it under the guidance of The Holy Spirit.

Remember that no single human being could control the total composition of the Bible. Yet it has an aesthetic and logical unity. The Bible has an internal coherence that no single author could control. It has a beginning and a final, closing book. The Bible is composed by someone who stands outside history, namely God. The Bible has too many details that no human being could make. The Bible also has many prophecies that are fulfilled, prophecies about Jesus Christ -the proof from prophecy.

On Pneumatology. Pneumatology is the part of the divine science that deals with the third person of the Trinity, The Holy Spirit. Theology is the science of God, man's inquiry into the nature of the Trinity. To understand The Holy Spirit is essential to the church. We need theologians and philosophers who can enter into the mystery of the Trinity and who can understand more about The Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is God's pneuma, the breath of God. The Holy Spirit is comforter and he lives in every believer. The Holy Spirit is responsible for our sanctification and deification. The Holy Spirit transforms us and recreates us in the image of God. The Holy Spirit heals us and restores us. He is the breath of life. He gives us God's zoe, the life that makes us new and born again. He makes John 10:34-35 possible, deification -that we through the cross of Christ may become gods. (See also Psalm 82:6).

On dogma. We need dogma in the church. Some people say that dogma are insignificant, but clearly they are wrong. 2. John, verse 9. Dogma are what God has given us in order to fight heresy. Without a certain intellectual structure, the church could be chaos. The closer we are to Christ, the more we will understand of the dogma. God wants to illuminate our minds. I love to worship, and give myself as a holy sacrifice to God. I love to dance for the Lord. You know, as Kevin Prosch sings, "Lord of the dance...". When youy hear that music, you just want to dance. "I really love you". As Delirious? sings: "Grace like a river, is flowing down, is flowing down, grace like a river is flowing down on me." When you experience this grace, you want to dance. But still, we need dogma, we need to have the mind of Christ, as Paul writes in 1. Corinthians 2:16. We need to think God's thoughts.

Dedicated to Emeth, and her husbond Ben, who prayed for me when I really needed it.

On marriage. Do I want to get married? Yes, I do -with the right person. I am totally against dating, and it goes without saying that I am against sex before marriage. Marriage is the only place where God allows this level of intimacy. In fact, these kinds of sins are so serious, that one may be rejected by God if one does this too much. God's grace is enormous, but the sexual sins that take place in the Norwegian society are very serious. Som what about marriage? I do believe God has a special person for me, and I am waiting for that person. Even if I had to wait another 10 years, I would wait.

Dedicated to my dear friend, Berek.

On healing. I believe there is healing in the atonement. Isaiah 53:5 declares: "By his stripes we are healed." This means that Jesus was inflicted for the sake of our diseases. When Jesus rose from the dead, the victory was complete. Christus Victor. All our human problems were nailed to the cross. That's why I believe in healing in the atonement. The victory was complete. All this is pure logic -but because of the hamartiological aspects of cognition, people don't recognize it. It's foolishness for men, but it is the wisdom of God. God can test us, he can chastise us, he can use disease in order to build character. But basically, Jesus has made the victory complete.

On theology. It's wonderful to be back online. What is theology? Evagrius of Ponticus says "He who prays in truth is a theologian, he is a theologian who prays in truth". "Undistracted prayer is the highest activity of the mind". We must understand that theology is more than an academic discipline. It is a life, a mode of being, a kind of contemplation that only The Holy Spirit can give us. Real theology, contemplation of those things that are unseen, contemplation of the natural order as God made it, can only be done in The Holy Spirit. The core of all Christian theology is the cross and resurrection of Christ. Crux sola nostra est theologia. Yet we must never forget the resurrection. The resurrection is the power of Christ, the dynamis of God, in fact it is the reason why can be children of God. And all this is rational -theology is the science of God made posssible by grace through The Holy Spirit.

On grace. Now what is grace? For Lutherans, grace means to be made righteous by the cross of Christ. It means that you are justified by faith. But grace also has other aspects, and we need to go deep into church history in order to understand what it means. Grace is also a substance that is infused into the human soul that we become more like Christ. That's why Catholics talk about gratia elevans. We must also, with Aquinas, consider what we can call co-operative grace.
The Orthodox church emphasizes the collaboration between God and man, synergeia, and the idea of deification. The goal of human life is deification, and this can only be obtained through the divine grace of Jesus Christ.

Grudem. You should all have a copy of Grudem's Systematic Theology.

Emeth and Berek. Thanks for your prayers. I am out of the dark room. The miracle happened once again. Jesus healed me. Emeth you have no idea what your email meant to me, many thanks to you and your husband. Hebrews 13:8.

On Noah. I wonder how Wittgenstein would have used the blog tools. In many ways he was the first blogger, since he used remarks. In fact, a brilliant literary form.

Let me give attention to a serious topic. What was Noah's achievement? See Genesis chapters 6 to 9. Noah was a nonconformist. I once saw a T-shirt with "Go against the flow" printed on it. ( It was a Christian T-shirt. )

If you look at all the great men in church history, at least most of them, they were non-conformists.