Signs and Wonders conclusion...

The Conclusion:

My previous two blogs have established both the good and the bad that come with spiritual gifts from my own experience and the experience of others. Yet, why not go to the source. No one in the Bible talks more about the spiritual gifts than the Apostle Paul. He lists the gifts three different times in his epistles, and two of those times came from one book (1 Corinthians chapters 12-14). It seems even he needed to reign in the believer’s at Corinth concerning the gifts because there was confusion and discord going on. Paul recognized that the gifts were a good thing that came from God, but certainly not the most important. He exhorted the Corinthians to “pursue love, but desire spiritual gifts.” The gifts were to serve the purpose of encouraging the saints and to be a sign amongst the non-believers that God was indeed real and active. Yet, Paul had to set boundaries, because there seemed to be chaos afoot. People were speaking out during times of teaching. People started speaking in tongues which no one could understand without interpretation. He never condemns the gifts, but he points out the necessity of order within church meetings with the central theme being that of love. Churches today should sincerely try to apply the order and direction Paul gives, for it is just as relevant today.

Why do we need them…?

Many today would pose the question “why do we need the spiritual gifts, when we have the Bible?” It’s a good question. I believe there are several reasons why the spiritual gifts are a useful tool in this day. I use the word tool, because they are meant to perform a job or a work. It is a tool which God uses to touch peoples lives in various many ways. Ultimately, it is a super-natural aid that points people to Jesus and equips them to fulfill His plans on the Earth. They are for multiplying, encouraging, and equipping the church. They are a sign that God is real and active. I would go out on a limb and say that if there were no longer any manifestation gifts active we would have “a form of Godliness without power.” God the Holy Spirit is still with us and if we are open to Him He will move through us to touch others. I’m sure there are several other reasons to embrace the gifts, but for now this explanation will do.

Where do we error concerning the gifts…?

This is where I like to say that a really important gift within the church that is often overlooked and badly needed is discernment. It is my prayer that God would give me spiritual discernment and a word of wisdom over any other gift. For the manifestations that we witness have their source in one of three places. God, human, or satanic. I believe some error when they mistaken a manifestation that is not from God for something that comes from their own imagination or psyche. The problem becomes worse when that person believes they now have a direct line with God when they are really moving on their own ideas and will power. One can be deceived to the point where such gifts can begin to become demonic counterfeits. Demons can heal. Demons speak in other languages. Demons foretell the future. Demons believe in God and will use his name indirectly to mislead the church. I personally question some of the more bizarre manifestations that are happening in the church today. Such as angel feathers falling from the ceiling (which have been tested and were found to be bird feathers) and sparkling gold substances pouring out of the pores of people in services. Some will argue “the Bible says we shall do greater things than even Jesus did, and these are the greater things.” The problem I have is that these manifestations are not found in the scriptures. Healing is, tongues are, prophecy is, even people being bitten by snakes and acting like nothing happened. Yet, this gold dust isn’t there. Either this kind of thing is slight of hand or it could quite possibly be a spiritual counterfeit. One thing I know for sure is that you can test the gifts by the plumbline which is the Bible and by the fruit they produce. Are they leading people to Jesus? Are they causing people to glorify God? Or are they leading people away from God. Are people becoming out of touch and losing themselves in a strange imaginary world, becoming so heavenly high that they are no longer any earthly good. If one were to ask me about strange manifestations like gold dust my response would be, “I don’t need it, and I don’t want it. Thanks anyways, just give me Jesus.” We need God’s protection and discernment in this day probably more so now than any time in church history. The church has been surrounded and is being bombarded by the world and the devil, plus we still have to deal with ourselves which is hard enough as it is. Ask God for discernment, in His son’s name. Test the spirit to see whether it is of Jesus.

Final thought…

About a month in a half ago I was at a church service during the music/worship time. I had my hands raised in the air as I praised God and I had feelings of goose bumps and warm sensations coming over my body. In the past I would have just embraced such an occurrence without question. This day I decided to do something that I never do. I said, “If this feeling does not come from Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, then I want nothing to do with it.” Immediately the sensations ceased. I am very grateful for this season I have had away from the charismatic movement. For one, I have come back to the essentials of the faith, which is all about Jesus. Two, I can ask questions without feeling odd or unspiritual. And lastly my fervor for evangelism and having a heart for the lost is beginning to come back. I go to a church where I have never seen any of the manifestation gifts operate, yet it is growing. People are coming to know Jesus and are being delivered from their sins. I am excited to be a part of something so lively and vibrant without there having to be a prophetic word every service. This does not mean that I have thrown the baby out with the bath water when it comes to the gifts and the super-natural. In a way I appreciate them more when they do happen. I’m sure I will continue to struggle at times with certain expressions, but this walk was never meant to be easy.

I hope you have found this blog helpful, maybe you didn’t. If so, whatever. I, for one, feel more liberated having written it. To God be the glory always and forever…

Signs and Wonders continued...

Sorry it’s taken me a bit to update this.

A small defense for the gift’s of the Holy Spirit operation within the church today….

There are many today in the church who believe the manifestation gifts of the Holy Spirit as seen in the book of Acts and all throughout the New Testament are no longer in operation. Some will go as far to say that all such things are really counterfeit, demonic manifestations. These people are usually labeled cessationists. They believe that after the Apostles established the church there was no longer any need for the gifts. Once the cannon closed (the Bible was brought together) they ceased to operate. From both a historical perspective and a Biblical exegesis I think we can put some of those ideas to bed.

For one the gifts continued to manifest throughout history. Even the Celtic Christians, like St. Patrick, Aiden, and others reported both visions and prophetic utterances over 1000 years after the church was established at Pentecost. There have been many testimonies of church goers throughout the centuries speaking in unknown languages. Even some being literally transported from one place in the world to another (like Phillip from the book of Acts, although such testimonies are very rare). The Great Awakenings during the 1800’s to early 1900’s saw many manifestation gifts along with mass revivals in England and the U.S.

As for the Biblical perspective, there are two major points of reference I hear cessationists bring up. One is from 1st Corinthians 13 (that would be the love chapter). Towards the end of the chapter Paul writes:

“Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. ¹²Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

Cessationists will say that the Bible is the “perfection” that Paul is speaking of in this passage. Yet, there is a major problem with this view. Verse twelve is what gives us a major clue as to what Paul is really meaning behind the word “perfection.” Now we only know some things. Even though we prophesy we cannot know fully the things of God. Spiritual things are hard to understand. Like trying to explain the triune God-head, I just can’t. Even with the Bible today we still have questions. There is so much about God we cannot fully understand… BUT “then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” It is quite obvious the Apostle is referring to our entering the Kingdom of Heaven, seeing Christ face to face. Knowing all things fully at that time, where we can only get glimpses from this side of eternity. On that day “perfection” will come and the gifts will no longer be needed.

The second passage comes to us from Revelation chapter 22:

¹⁸I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. ¹⁹And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

Cessationists say that with this statement came the final revelation of Jesus Christ. No new revelation is needed. Therefore the gifts are adding to the God’s final Revelation and are cursed. Perhaps they need to read the passage again and highlight the words “in this book.” Any studied person would know that the books of the Bible were hand copied several times and sent to different churches in different regions and countries. There was no printing press back then, things needed to be written on papyrus (or some derivative) scrolls which were then copied and re-copied, some into different languages. The only other means was oral communication. Occasionally people in those days took the liberty of editing certain texts or even sometimes just making simple mistakes. I believe this passage is addressing that directly. If someone got the urge to edit out anything John had written or add something to his finished work it would be cursed, as would the person who did the editing. This doesn’t even relate to new revelation given by God or to say that the gifts of the Holy Spirit will no longer function. You have to do some rigorous scriptural gymnastics to get there and it still doesn’t make sense to interpret this passage the way cessationists do. Don’t edit the book of Revelation and you’ll be fine, if you do, God is going to molly-wop you.

I find the core reason why most cessationists don’t accept the existence of the gifts is two-fold. One, they have not experienced them first hand. Anything outside the realm of experience that seems controversial is deemed dismissible. Second, the fear of something that is outside of their control and fear of the unknown. They are afraid of them.

I could go deeper into this topic, but it is not the main point of this blog. I first wanted to stress that I do believe God still operates and manifests Himself in an experiential way, now on to the hard part…

Charismatic Chaos.

I remember being at a conference one evening when an announcement went out that it was time for those who hadn’t been Baptized in the Holy Spirit (see Acts chapter 2 and various other instances from the book.) come forward to the alter to receive it. I have many friends who had gone through this practice to receive this gift. According to most Pentecostal circles the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is usually accompanied by the manifestation of speaking in tongues. It is the outward sign that people had been filled with the Spirit. Yet, what I saw this night looked nothing like the book of Acts at all. The minister told these young adults to open themselves up and ask for God to fill them with the Spirit, in Jesus name. They did. Nothing too crazy was happening. Accept for the fact that the speaker kept trying to coax them into speaking baby talk. “Just say whatever pops into your head! Open your mouth and just let it fly!!” I could kind of hear some muttering and dull whispers. The one thing that was very apparent, all those participating seemed very uncomfortable and not full of the Holy Spirit. It seemed more like manipulation by a minister to achieve a self perceived spiritual goal than an actual manifestation of the God of all creation. We were pulling God down to do what we want on our time schedule (which was a half-hour slot at a conference). It looked nothing like the book of Acts. It looked like a farce. Sometimes I get the same feelings watching the tele-evangelist who is trying to sell anointed oil for someone’s healing or seeing gold dust “from God” that apparently falls out of their hair and fills the audience while they read the scriptures. Yeah, there’s the real thing at times, but we are human beings, flesh and blood and prone to error and some people are just good con-artists.

My past experiences had left me wide open to the supernatural. As a matter of fact, I was more open to that than anything else. I desired the gift prophecy above all else when I started out. I had decided God had called me to be a Prophet to the body of Christ. I even received conformation through my peers and a mentor of mine while I was in Bible College. Although, to be honest I felt like I was spending more time trying to convince myself that this was true than I was simply pursuing God. Yes, God had found me, but He wanted me to pursue Him all the more. I was more interested in pursuing His gifts at times. Getting a powerful prophetic word about my destiny, moving in signs and wonders took the place of the simplicity of walking with God in practical day to day terms. I lived for that next encounter. I stopped pursuing God and started pursuing position within the church. My heart was not right, as it was not surrendered. I should not have cared so much about titles or even signs and wonders, but I did. I got caught up in the *Charismatic Chaos* of “feelings” and “encounters,” but could not see that my life was not producing the fruit that should accompany such experiences. It was like a new drug. A drug with a better purpose perhaps, but a drug none the less. I was stalled in my growth and needed to get away for a better perspective…

The following is a story from one of my best friends and a dear brother in Christ. In the 1990’s there was a revival of supposed epic proportions happening at a Vineyard Church in Toronto. It eventually became known around the world as the “Toronto Blessing.” My friend heard of what was happening, packed up his family and headed up to Toronto. While there he did claim to feel a manifest presence of God that was quite powerful. He frequently returned to the Revival meetings and came to know a couple who were Pastoring a church back in Pennsylvania. The husband became enthralled with what was happening at these meetings which began affecting his church and his marriage. Prophets began flying in proclaiming, “This is the watering hole of the world!” People were being healed of illnesses, gold teeth fillings were reported. One minister supposedly manifested gold dust all over her body while she ministered. It was later proven that the gold was really some kind of synthetic plastic. When confronted with this the minister simply said, “As long as it is from God, I don’t care what it is.” The more and more the revival grew the more and more hype and grandiose prophesies of changing the whole world for Christ kept coming forth. This pastor my friend had met had bought into this notion hook, line and sinker. My friend began discerning that there was something wrong with it and began to distance himself a little. The young Pastor decided it would be a good idea to use all of the money from his church, including the burial funds, to push this revival forward. Not long after he lost his church and nearly lost his marriage. He moved away from the revival and after several years of personal healing was restored. My friend distanced himself from Toronto, but started going to an offshoot of the revival which was happening in Philadelphia. If I remember correctly they were meeting in less than admirable building. A prophetic minister was overseeing the revival and proclaiming that this movement would change the city of Philadelphia. The city would be God’s tabernacle or tent where all would experience the glory of God (mysterium tremendum). Three pegs were already set down, they just needed one more put into the ground. They believed that God was going to move them into an abandoned car dealership where the last peg would be driven into the ground and transformation would begin. Of course it takes money to do all of this. Many people committed all they could, but it wasn’t enough. The prophetic minister began to become enraged at the people’s lack of giving. He preached fiery messages to try to keep it going. Little did he know the fire had already gone out. My friend was sitting at the back of the service while this man ranted and screamed at the people and then crumpled onto the floor and just wept. My friend walked up to the front of the room embraced him and helped bring him back to Jesus. Suffice it to say, the revival and grandiose prophecy did not come to pass. Philly remains, well, just Philly. The Toronto Blessing’s hype died down over the years. It certainly never became the watering hole of the world, but there is still a church there called the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship.

I am not saying all of this to say that nothing good came out of the Toronto Blessing. Many people’s lives were touched and they are still walking with Christ to this day. If only for that, then it was worth it. Yet, there were also some lives that were completely shipwrecked and disillusioned with God as a result. Those participating in such movements need to exercise their right to question and use some God given discernment. Jesus and his Apostle’s didn’t act like a bunch of super-spiritual quacks; I don’t think we need to either.

To be concluded.