When I was young, I spent a year involved in several Pentecostal churches, one of which was evolving toward a Third Wave/New Apostolic Reformation paradigm and has since formally latched on to that movement. I’ve been slain in the Spirit; I’ve spoken in tongues. But today, I firmly disbelieve that genuine spiritual gifts are being exercised anywhere in North America, and despite staying with Pentecostals in India, I have no reason think that they’re occurring anywhere in the world. Unlike cessationists, I find no plain statements in Scripture that say the spiritual gifts will ever cease. But what I’ve seen, even what I’ve done, were not miracles. They came out of the human mind. The emotional manifestations had short-lived effects on me spiritually, and faded quickly. (More disturbingly, I needed to purposefully shake them off in order to simply dress myself, cook food, shower, and go to work.) Pentecostal spirituality made me less attentive, diffused my concentration, and gave me a lower functional IQ until I shook it off. In contrast, when I faced a difficult time in my life as a more mature person years later, I found God leading me toward a spiritual path that seemed to be more classically Christian, what some might call “contemplative,” such as silence and centering prayer. Not only did this kind of spirituality – “be still and know that I am God” – allow me to find peace during a very unpeaceful time, but it led to insights and awareness about myself and what God needed me to work on that I never would have realized through Pentecostal spirituality. It made me a better person, with permanent changes that made me more Christ-like in my character.

When I look at the different types of spirituality that I’ve engaged in, I see that one (Pentecostal) has you give yourself over to your emotions, and is often linked to views about emotions that elevate them to the main source of truth. The more classical forms of Christian spirituality do not emphasize emotions – they emphasize dispassionate awareness and observation, where you allow yourself to be totally aware, letting the Holy Spirit shed a light on what is going on within you. These things can then be offered up to God. While it is acceptable to express oneself emotionally, I don’t think the goal of the Christian walk should be to become guided by our emotions. I think the goal is for our minds to be transformed by Truth. Things like speaking in tongues might help some people, especially the very extroverted, express something in themselves and thus become more aware, but from what I’ve seen, most of it seems to teach people to mistake their emotions for the Holy Spirit. It’s not surprising that this leads to things like Health-and-Wealth and lust-for-power theologies. I worry as I see these ideas taking root in other countries, where uneducated people who have long practiced folk magic and animism gobble it up- like in India, where people who own nothing but a bicycle and two chickens think Benny Hinn is a great prophet of God who will make them rich. In the US, we rejoice because we think the Gospel’s spreading…until we see people like Thomas Muthee of Kenya repeating the most horrible mistakes of our own past by hunting witches, having learned nothing from our history…until we hear that Christians in Uganda have stopped trying to rebuild their country because they think the Rapture is near…until we see immigrants dressed in flowing white robes walking our own streets and find that they belong to a cult headed by a man who claims to be Jesus, and that this cult was born from our own missionary efforts. The outcome of all these efforts may not turn out to be so wonderful 25 years from now if we can’t make sure that our converts aren’t fed on solid doctrine.

And, I understand. Message fora (mine included) get pretty heated at times and characters get assassinated all the time.

Regards,

Rich
BlogRodent

I had a knee jerk reaction with “Charisma” and what I have consistently seen on its message board.

My apology for singling out Grady.

I’m not aware of the Charisma Magazine necessarily being “bullies,” but regardless, Grady doesn’t seem to be acting like a bully in reporting these facts. Not according to the context I read.

Besides, how does calling Grady and Charisma a “bully” address the issue at all? Either these things happened, or they didn’t. I’m not asking you to respect Grady, or Charisma. If you want to respond, please respond to the contents of my post (or other commenters) not your evaluation of the character of the people I quote.

Thanks.

Rich.
BlogRodent

“Pentecostal Sin”

Regards,

Rich
BlogRodent

Here’s one question I have: Why, if Charistmatic/Pentecostals have the “Baptism of the Holy Spirit,” do they tend to have MORE sin/problems in life than other more mainline denominations? It seems to be a doctrine that this second blessing is supposed to give power to live a godly life. I just don’t see it! My Presbyterian and Baptist friends seem to have a better handle on living the Christian life.

What about “prayer language”? Is this phenomena really in the Bible? I see the gift of tongues, but not a prayer language solely for the idividual? If it is really supposed to build up the believer, why does it produce such flakiness?

Carlton D. Pearson: The Charismatic Bishop of Heresy

Amazing stuff.

Regards,

Rich
BlogRodent

In class (at my Baptist seminary), we were told that Baptist pastors pray 20 minutes a day, while Pentecostals average 47 minutes a day. We were urged to seek God’s face. I would be reticent to malign young Baptist preachers because they are more allied with those seeking the face of God than you may think.

Am I stuck on the Word of Faith movement? Not really, but I was asked to investigate a particularly popular church that espouses lazy theology. I have experienced it, seen it, and preached against it, not because it is something to “be stuck on,” but because it is a cultural issue we still face. Maybe the mainlines have dismissed it: but now it is time to dismantle it. Just this month I saw the outworkings of the faith destroy a twenty year marriage. Like I said, it is a different gospel, and it is bred by the “prophetic” movement plus one other thing…

That other thing is exactly what you mentioned: lack of Scriptural knowledge, or lack of willingness to put that knowledge into practice. Cessationists may wrongly use those examples as arguments, but there is a valid point to be garnered from that “straw man” argument– what happens when you mix this “prophetic” atmosphere with disobedience or ignorance of the Word. Solution- those charismatics that hold to biblical truths need to step up and denounce the false ministries, something the charismatics on the national platform have been unwilling to do, save David Ravenhill.

Great blog.