Signs & Wonders vs Health & Wealth

Great article at Charisma Magazine by Larry Sparks:  Health and Wealth or Sign and Wonders- Will-the-Real Charismatic Church Please Stand Up

This article covers one of the most vital, misunderstood and controversial topics of debate in modern Christianity—the supernatural activity of the Holy Spirit. I pray that the following words cause you to rethink the evaluations people have made concerning the charismatic expression of the faith, writing off an entire move of the Holy Spirit due to the grievous error and, yes, downright heresy of a few.

Yes, there is a major difference between those who ascribe to a shallow "health and wealth" ideology (not even worthy of being called a theology or gospel) and those who hunger for a resurgence of authentic, supernatural, New Testament Christianity in a day of gimmicks and self-help sermons.

My heart burns to see all believers encounter a glorious Person—Jesus Christ. The supernatural is not about mankind simply using God to get what we want out of Him. Rather, it is about God's character being revealed to the world, the supremacy of Jesus being displayed and the livingness of the Holy Spirit being made known to a people (and a church) who are often convinced that God is detached and disinterested. Such could not be further from the truth!

Knowing This Difference Will Transform the Way You Live

The following article gives you a clear idea of why it is absolutely vital for all Christians to know the one fundamental difference between those who embrace a "health and wealth" ideology and those who legitimately want to see God move with New Testament signs, wonders and miracles once again. Merging the two perspectives is costly because it buys right into the lie that all charismatic Christianity is created equal. Not so. Discernment is not writing off an entire movement due to imbalance; it is learning to separate the authentic from the counterfeit.

I do not believe this is a trivial matter. In fact, how we respond to the topic at hand will dictate what we expect from our Christian lives. Our concept of who the Holy Spirit is and what He does actually defines what dimension of power we actually walk in. I dare say, it is not up to God. There is no outpouring left to release out of heaven. The Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost. If you are born again, congratulations—God Almighty lives inside of you! There is no upgraded Holy Spirit. I believe in fresh fillings and fresh touches (Acts 4:31, Eph. 5:18); I do not believe in asking for a new Pentecostal outpouring. We don't need God to send a new Pentecost down from heaven; instead, we need to begin living like the first one we received is a precious inheritance, sufficient for the task at hand. Stewardship is the key issue here. Unfortunately, we will neglect certain aspects of stewarding the Holy Spirit's presence and power when we believe they are heretical, fanatic and self-consumed. This is not the Holy Spirit!

If we continue to demonize all forms of supernatural activity, lumping it together as "health and wealth" or "name it, claim it" me-centric heresy, we will never place an appropriate biblical demand on the faith that has been miraculously entrusted to us by God Himself (Eph. 2:8-9). If our vision of the supernatural is tainted by the gross misrepresentations we see from certain TV preachers, we will probably ignore anything to do with the power of the Holy Spirit.

On the flip side, if we sit down and become honest—with ourselves, with the biblical text—and accurately observe these two contrasting groups in modern Christianity, we will reap a powerful reward. What is this reward? Depending on how you respond to the challenge, it is highly likely that you will bring your Christian expression into agreement with every miraculous possibility that Scripture has made available to you. You will launch out on the greatest quest of any believer—the quest for more of God....

Good stuff - Read it all at the link.

Doctrines To Retire

I've always found J. Lee Grady to be balanced and discerning. He is certainly right on this one: 6 Really Bad Charismatic Doctrines We Should Retire.

I will never apologize for being a charismatic Christian. I had a dramatic experience with the Holy Spirit many years ago, and nobody can talk me out of it. I love the Holy Spirit’s abiding presence in my life and His supernatural gifts. I love to prophesy, speak in tongues, pray for the sick and see people changed by the Spirit’s power.

At the same time, I’m aware that since the charismatic movement began in the 1960s, people have misused the gifts of the Spirit and twisted God’s Word to promote strange doctrines or practices. Seeing these errors never caused me to question the authenticity of what the Holy Spirit had done in my life. But I knew I had to stay true to God’s Word and reject any false teachings I encountered.

My simple rule is based on 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22: “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil” (NASB). In other words: Eat the meat and spit out the bones.

As I have traveled throughout the body of Christ in recent years, I’ve experienced the good, the bad and the ugly. I love God’s people, and I know there is a healthy remnant of Spirit-filled churches that are striving to stay grounded in biblical truth. But I also know we have reached a crossroads. We must clean up our act. We must jettison any weird doctrines we might have believed or practiced that are hindering our growth today.

Here are a few of the worst errors that have circulated in our movement in the past season. You may have others that need to be added to this list. I believe we are grieving the Holy Spirit if we continue to practice these things:

1. "Touch not My anointed." Chances are you’ve heard this weird doctrine based on 1 Chronicles 16:22. In an attempt to discourage any form of disagreement in the church, insecure leaders tell their members that if they ever question church authority, they are “touching the Lord’s anointed” and in danger of God’s judgment. Let’s call this what it is: spiritual manipulation. It creates worse problems by ruling out healthy discussion and mutual respect. Church members end up being abused or controlled—or even blacklisted because they dare to ask a question.

2. Dual covenant. We charismatics love and respect Israel. Some of us even incorporate Jewish practices in our worship—such as wearing prayer shawls, blowing shofars or celebrating Hebraic feasts. These things can enrich our Christian experience—but some leaders go too far when they begin to teach that Jews don’t need to believe in Jesus Christ to experience salvation. They imply that Jews have special access into heaven simply because of their ethnic heritage. This is a flagrant contradiction of everything the New Testament teaches...

Amen, brother! Read the rest at the link.

Some Links Worth A Look

Web Links Worth a Look:

Is New York City on the Brink of Revival?

Duck Dynasty Stars Talk about Virginity Until Marriage

Celebrating C.S. Lewis' Perelandra

9 Things You Should Know About C.S. Lewis

Where Did All Those Pentecostals & Charismatics Come From?

An Alternative Script for Same-Sex Attraction

Pentecostals Influenced by Eastern Orthodox Views on the Sacraments

The Archbishop Speaks.....In Tongues

From an interview in the UK Telegraph with Justin Welby, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, and thus, the symbolic leader of the world-wide Anglican community.

Since he is an evangelical, I ask him whether he can speak “in tongues” – the “charismatic” spiritual gift recorded in the New Testament. Oh yes, he says, almost as if he had been asked if he plays tennis, “It’s just a routine part of spiritual discipline – you choose to speak and you speak a language that you don’t know. It just comes.

Interesting...

HT To Be Continued...

Bad Charismatic Habits

Yes. Yes. Amen and YES!  Nine Bad Charismatic Habits We Need to Break by J. Lee Grady:

I love the Holy Spirit’s gifts. But some of our “Spirit-filled” practices are questionable.

Anybody who has read this column before knows I’m unapologetically charismatic in my theology. I love the Holy Spirit, and I believe the New Testament calls us to make room for manifestations of the Spirit. The apostle Paul gave guidelines for the gift of prophecy; he saw dramatic healings; he experienced supernatural visions; and he told church leaders not to forbid speaking in tongues (see 1 Cor. 14:39). Paul was the epitome of charismatic spirituality.

But not everything we do today in the name of the Holy Spirit is a valid expression of His power. Over the past four decades, we charismatics have invented some lame practices that not only make us look silly but actually turn people off to our message. I figure we started these behaviors because of immaturity—and I can laugh about them because I’ve done some of them myself. But it’s 2013, and I think God expects more of us.

I realize this can be sensitive if you have one or more of these bad habits. But please pray over this list before you blast me for being critical....

Read his list at the link. I agree with every point.

Links Worth a Look

More links that are worth a look:

No More Pentecostal Popemobiles (Lee Grady's Reflections on Pope Francis' Example of Humility)

Charismatic Renewal: 10 Suggestions For the Way Forward - Sam Storms' follow up to this 

The Gospel According to the Church Fathers

Limitations: Our Gift From God

5 Lessons From Jacob's Night of Wrestling With God

Signs of Church Growth in America's Least Churched Region

An Open Letter to the Church from a Lesbian

Links Worth A Look

Some links that are worth a look:

Nine Things You Should Know About Duck Dynasty

Top 10 Theological Challenges Coming Our Way

Here Come the Radicals - Chan, Idleman, Claiborn & Platt

Radicalism & Reality - A Response to "Here Come the Radicals"

The Sin of Silence - In the face of abusive church leaders

Why Studying Doctrine is the Best Medicine - Tim Keller
 
Charismatic Renewal: 10 Strengths & Weaknesses

Escaping from the Spiritual Shallow End

Last year I read a great book by Brian Zahnd entitled Unconditional?: The Call of Jesus to Radical Forgiveness. . It was the best book I read in 2011. I have been following Brian's blog and Twitter feed and highy respect his ministry, even though at times I have disagreed with him.

I was intrigued to discover and read this interview of Brian Zahnd by Trevin Wax discussing Brian's theological odyssey, finding that some of his journey parallels my own. Wax says:

...I discovered how interesting his theological pilgrimage has been. One friend said Brian used to preach like Joel Osteen but now sounds more like Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I invited Brian to the blog to talk about his journey and how it has affected his congregation.

 Trevin Wax: Brian, you’ve had an interesting theological journey in ministry – from Word of Faith type teaching to a celebration of Christianity’s core teachings throughout history. First, tell us about your ministry at the outset - what you were about as a preacher of God’s Word and the vision you had for your local congregation.

Brian Zahnd: I grew up in a Southern Baptist church in the -60s and -70s but was most influenced by the Jesus Movement. I experienced a rather dramatic conversion when I was 15, and within a couple of years, I was leading a coffeehouse ministry; it was primarily a Christian music venue with an emphasis on evangelism. By the time I was 22, the coffeehouse ministry had become a full-fledged church (Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri).

From my earliest days as a teenage Christian leader, my passion was to call people into a life of following Jesus. That passion has remained consistent over the years. Because the Jesus Movement was closely associated with the charismatic movement, our church took on many of the aspects of charismatic Christianity.

By the late -90s, our church had grown to several thousand, and my primary emphasis in preaching could be described as “faith and victory.” Though I think I can honestly say I eschewed the more egregious forms of “prosperity teaching,” I was certainly identified with the Word of Faith movement. The common thread from the Jesus Movement to the Word of Faith movement (whether I was being influenced by Keith Green or Lester Sumrall) was a deep desire to bring people into a vibrant and authentic Christian experience.

Saturday Night Linkapalooza

More links form my internet meanderings:

Who Will Thank You in Heaven?

Heresy and a Call for Humility

What to Say and Not Say to Victims of Sexual Abuse

Where TULIP Goes Wrong

The real Meaning of Mark 11:22-23 (It's not what Joel Osteen says)

You Might Have Been Raised Charismatic If...

What is the Gospel?

How Google tracks You on the Internet

Time for a Charismatic Reformation

October 31 is not only Halloween, but also Reformation Day, the anniversary of the day when Martin Luther nailed his "95 thesis" on the Wittenberg Church door, starting the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.

J. Lee Grady at Charisma Magazine says the Charismatic movement needs its own "Reformation" - It’s (Past) Time for a Charismatic Reformation:

I am no Luther, but I’ve grown increasingly aware that the so-called “Spirit-filled” church of today struggles with many of the same things the Catholic church faced in the 1500s. We don’t have “indulgences”—we have telethons. We don’t have popes—we have super-apostles. We don’t support an untouchable priesthood—we throw our money at celebrity evangelists who own fleets of private jets.

In honor of Reformation Day, I’m offering my own list of needed reforms in our movement. And since I can’t hammer these on the Wittenberg door, I’ll post them online. Feel free to nail them everywhere

Luther had 96; Grady has only 15. I agree with all of them, and especially the last one.

15. Let’s make the main thing the main thing. The purpose of the Holy Spirit’s anointing is to empower us to reach others. We are at a crossroads today: Either we continue off-course, entertained by our charismatic sideshows, or we throw ourselves into evangelism, church planting, missions, discipleship, and compassionate ministry that helps the poor and fights injustice. Churches that embrace this New Reformation will focus on God’s priorities.

I Still Refuse to Choose!

Below are some words of mine from an old post from 2008.- Can We Avoid a Charismatic Civil War? I noticed someone had viewed it yesterday, and went back to look myself.  You know, I.still believe this - and think it is worth repeating.

Some choices should not be made.  Sometimes, when asked (or tempted) to choose between two alternatives, the proper thing to do is to say yes to both!

---------------------------------
As I have said earlier, some choices should not be made.

• Some choose good theology and doctrine, some choose personal experience; I refuse to choose.
• Some choose the Spirit, some choose truth; I refuse to choose.
• Some choose individual spirituality, some choose community; I refuse to choose.
• Some choose knowledge about God, some choose knowledge of God; I refuse to choose.
• Some choose orthodoxy, some choose orthopraxy; I refuse to choose.
• Some choose commitment to a church family, some choose openness to all believers; I refuse to choose.
• Some choose ministry models open to all believers, some choose gifted and trained leadership; I refuse to choose.
• Some choose catholicity, some choose evangelicalism; I refuse to choose.
• Some choose charismatic gifts, some choose fruit in changed character; I refuse to choose.
• Some choose loving God, some choose obeying God; I refuse to choose.
• Some choose ministry within the church, some choose ministry to the world outside; I refuse to choose.

I refuse to make choices where God did not intend me to choose. I refuse to say yes to one and no to the other, when God says yes to both. I refuse to separate things God put together. I refuse to divide things God wants held in tension. What God has put together, let not man put asunder!

Character Matters!

Which matters most for ministry success: Character or Gifting?  I like what Michael at CHARISMATICA had to say:

We have seen a lot of gifted major ministers failing and falling in the last couple of years within Pentecostal and Charismatic circles. I won’t bother to name any since I am sure anyone reading this article probably thought of a couple of them immediately.

‘Gifting’ is so emphasized and such a major part of the Charismatic and Pentecostal moves of God that it seems to almost over-ride character at times. Then the problems come.

We have seen just in recent years alone how certain major charismatic leaders and healers have been protected and their failures hidden from view by those in awe of their extraordinary gifting. Then comes the ‘train wreck’ and everyone who knew better comes out of the woodwork.

You would think that we would learn from the past but it doesn’t seem to work that way for some reason. For example, just after WWII there were a whole slew of major healing ministries that went from town to town in America and did some incredible miracles. They were gifted in a major way but there was no accountability and character was a major problem.

Nearly everyone of those incredible ministries ended up failing and/or teaching weird or false doctrines. It was a major setback for the American church and kept healing and spiritual gifts out of the mainstream for nearly 15 years.

In the same time frame God rose up Billy Graham, a man of extraordinary character. There were a dozen or so ministers from the same time period that were far more gifted than Billy but he excelled in character, was faithful, and God honored him and we all honor him today after a whole generation of incredibly fruitful ministry.

The point is –character matters.

We need both gifting and character for the American church to rise up and become the culture changing agent that it is called to be in bringing on a new era of revival and awakening.

So which matters most: character or gifting?  From both Scripture and history we'd have to loudly shout CHARACTER!  (But best of all, why not both)

Say Goodbye to the Untouchable Preachers

Here's J. Lee Grady saying the truth plainly again -Say Goodbye to the Untouchable Preachers:

God is shaking His church and removing corruption. But we share the blame for giving charlatans a platform....

...How did these false preachers ever achieve such fame? It couldn't have happened without help from us.

We were the gullible ones. When they said, "The Lord promises you untold wealth if you will simply give a thousand dollars right now," we went to the phones and put the donations on our credit cards. God forgive us.

We were the undiscerning ones. When they said, "I need your sacrificial gift today so I can repair my private jet," we didn't ask why a servant of God wasn't humble enough to fly coach class to a Third World nation. God forgive us.

We were the foolish ones. When it was revealed that they were living in immorality, mistreating their wives or populating cities with illegitimate children, we listened to their spin doctors instead of demanding that ministry leaders act like Christians. God forgive us.

We were the naïve ones. When they begged for $2 million more in donations because of a budget shortfall, we didn't feel comfortable asking why they needed that $10,000-a-night hotel suite. In fact, if we did question it, another Christian was quick to say, "Don't criticize! The Bible says, ‘Touch not the Lord's anointed!'" God forgive us....

,,,if we had applied biblical discernment a long time ago we could have avoided this mess. There is no way we can know how many unbelievers rejected the gospel because they saw the church supporting quacks who swaggered, bragged, lied, flattered, bribed, stole and tearfully begged their way into our lives—while we applauded them and sent them money.

When well-meaning Christians quote 1 Chronicles 16:22 ("Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm," NASB) to cover up corruption or charlatanism, they do horrible injustice to Scripture. This passage does not require us to stay quiet when a leader is abusing power or deceiving people.

Well said, Lee, well said.

The Best Essay Ever Written on Spiritual Gifts Today?

I'm always interested in good teaching on spiritual gifts, especially when it combines good scholarship with openess to the Spirit. Therefore I was certainly intriged and interested when I saw this title at Justin Taylor's blog - The Best Essay Ever Written on Spiritual Gifts Today:

He is referring to an article by Vern Poythress in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society published in 1996 called “Modern Spiritual Gifts as Analogous to Apostolic Gifts: Affirming Extraordinary Works of the Spirit Within Cessationist Theology.” The thesis of the article is:

"I maintain that modern spiritual gifts are analogous to but not identical with the divinely authoritative gifts exercised by the apostles. Since there is no strict identity, apostolic teaching and the biblical canon have exclusive divine authority. On the other hand, since there is analogy, modern spiritual gifts are still genuine and useful to the church. Hence, there is a middle way between blanket approval and blanket rejection of modern charismatic gifts."

The link above will take you to the article  It is 27 pages long as I printed it out, so it is not something that can be easily sumarized in a brief blog post.  I will read it and share my comments after I have time to think about the content.

Whence the Charismatic Movement?

Last month marked the 50th anniversary of the event most commonly considered to be the start of the Charismatic Movement in main-line and non-Pentecostal denominations, i.e. the resignation or Episcopal priest Dennis Bennett from his post as rector of St. Mark's Church in Van Nuys, California, over the issue of Tongues and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit..

So, where is the movement going after fifty years? Has the movement continuing, or has it fizzled or ended? According to an article in Christianity Today, it is more accurate to say the movement has "infected" American churches like yeast infects dough.

"Some analysts say the mainline charismatic renewal fizzled. It is more accurate to describe it the way Jesus pictured the kingdom of God: like yeast that spreads through bread dough. You can hardly identify it as a movement anymore, but it has changed the way most churches worship. Repetitive choruses and raised hands are now common. Except in pockets of hardcore resistance, the fact that a fellow Christian may praise God in a private prayer language hardly elevates an eyebrow.

Pentecostalism and the charismatic renewal have jointly given believers what historian Chris Armstrong calls Pentecostalism's chief contribution to Christianity: an awareness of "a deep well of living water from which everything else flow[s] … the personal, relational presence of the living God."

See also:  What  Now Charismatics? by Bill Farris