At the risk of painting the Charismatic Movement with too broad a
brush, I believe the Charismatic Movement is at the forefront of a new basis of
faith, with its emphasis on private revelations, prophecies, and visions.
"Charismatic" is derived from the New Testament Greek term charisma,
translated "gift." Charismatic theology holds to a belief in a spiritual
experience subsequent to salvation commonly known as the baptism of the Holy
Spirit. This experience is usually accompanied by speaking in other tongues, or
glossolalia, a term derived from the New Testament Greek word that is
translated "tongue."
I am not saying God does not demonstrate his power
in this age or that the Holy Spirit does not work AT ALL in the church today.
Nor am I saying that ALL revelations, prophecies, visions or speaking in
tongues is of the devil. What I am saying is that some signs, miracles,
healings, etc. are not of God and some speaking in tongues is not "necessarily"
spirit led.
The Charismatic Movement claims that visible and audible
signs and wonders are the unifying force of true Christians. One of the aims of
the Charismatic Movement is to unite various
Protestant movements with Catholics under the banner of signs and wonders.
The movement unites with some Charismatic Catholics who continue to practice
idol worship.
Any movement (including Charismatic) that uses signs and wonders as
proof of some level of spirituality is operating in deception. There is indeed
a fine line and the problem I see is that the Charismatic movement (in general)
has crossed that line and expects us to accept that they are ALL of God. That
is a "dangerous deception" as Christians need to be more discerning about the
movement and seek out the true move of God and not get caught up in the
emotional flood of signs and wonders.
The Charismatic (neo-Pentecostal)
movement has it's roots in the Pentecostal movement which began around 1900 at
Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas when Agnes Ozman experienced speaking in
tongues and believed she received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Was her
experience checked against the total context of Scripture? No, the Bible was
made to fit her experience and Pentecostalism was born.
Pentecostalism
did not start because the church discovered long-neglected truth in the Bible,
it started because Agnes Ozman had an experience. Decrying accommodation to
modernity (referred to as modernism), they took a firm grip on the Bible as
infallible authority. In many cases they found in the Bible doctrines rarely
practiced, such as "entire sanctification," "Baptism of the Spirit," and
"speaking in tongues."
Until 1960, these experiences were contained in
denominations such as Assemblies of God, Foursquare, and United Pentecostal.
But in 1960 Pentecostalism spilled over denominational lines when Dennis
Bennett, rector at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Van Nuys California
experienced what he believes was the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gift of
tongues. In appropriating these experiences, Charismatics sought to restore
authenticity and power to strayed Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian
traditions.
What makes the Charismatic movement especially worthy of
concern is that Charismatics hold a great deal in common with other Christian
bodies. All are followers of Christ, have access to the Holy Spirit; come
together with others to worship, study, and serve. They truly love Jesus, the
Scriptures and are sincere. They believe in the authority of the Word of God,
the deity of Jesus Christ, His sacrificial death, His physical resurrection,
salvation by faith and not works, the need to live a life of obedience, and to
proclaim their faith. They really believe in their approach, but many of them
are like the Jews of whom Paul said,
"For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge." [Romans 10:2]
I am concerned that the Charismatic movement tends to foster a sort
of "easy believism." Some who are involved in the movement focus more on signs
and wonders than they do on the Word of God. As a result, they are tossed to
and fro by whatever popular doctrine is preached that week with no real
foundation in the whole Word of God.
I have no doubt there are some in
the movement who are indeed anointed by God, as there are in most denominations
and churches. This message is not directed at them, but rather I challenge
those who are seeking truth to look into the pages of the Bible and see if what
they are hearing from the pulpits is in accord with the Word of God.
While it is a grave sin to ascribe the supernatural of God to the
devil, it is equally a grave sin to ascribe the devil's signs and miracles to
the Spirit of God. In Matthew 7 Jesus identifies a group of people who prophesy
in His name, cast out devils, and do many wonderful works,
"...I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (verse 23b).
Deceptive Signs & Wonders
The gifts of the Spirit are sorely needed in the Church today, but we must be careful not to pervert them like the Corinthian church did. Some signs and wonders are deceptive and I suggest that we not put our trust or hope in them.
"The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing." [2 Thes. 2:9-10]
There have been many examples throughout history and in our present
culture of those deceivers operating in counterfeit miracles and signs &
wonders. One doesn't have to look much farther than some of the TV evangelists
to find it or in the present craze with visitations of the Blessed Virgin
Mary.
Paul's message to the Corinthians [1 Cor. 13] attempted to correct
the problems in that Church because they were so busy fracturing the fellowship
over the temporary issues and forgetting what was eternal. The Corinthian
church had allowed the entire world system in which they existed to infiltrate
their assembly.
For example, they were emphasizing human philosophies -
dominated by materialism, antagonism, competition, selfishness and, hatred
(chaps. 1-4), they were into hero worship (chap. 3), they were involved in
terrible, gross, sexual immorality (chaps. 5-6), they were suing each other in
court - resented each other, argued with each other, and shut each other out
from their private groups (chap. 6), they had misevaluated their home and
marriage relationships - deprived each other in marriage, divorced each other
(chap. 7), they were confused about pagan feasts, idolatry, and things offered
to idols - withheld food from the poor at the love feast, burned the Lord's
Table into a drunken orgy (chaps. 8-10), they had relinquished and perverted
the proper place of women within the church meeting (chap. 11), they had
misunderstood the whole dimension of spiritual gifts and fought each other for
prominence in the use of their spiritual gifts (chap. 12), and they had lost
hold of the greatest thing - love (chap. 13).
The corrupt spirit of
Corinth had permeated the church. The Christians had become carnal, worldly,
indulgent, selfish, contentious, vengeful, proud, and compromising. Almost
everything that was characteristic of the society had been picked up by the
church. They even perverted their own spiritual behavior into pagan-like
religion - twisting spiritual gifts away from the Spirit and operating them in
the flesh.
All these things were evidence of the absence of the one
thing needed: love. Love is not a feeling or an emotion. It is a spirit of
self-sacrifice. It is a willingness to met another's need - even if it means
sacrificing something we need or possess.
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. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When 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. Now 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. [1 Corinthians 13:8-12]
For many Evangelicals, Christianity has become "signs and wonders,"
or "falling under the power," or laughing uncontrollably. Others offer a
Christianity designed to appeal to the worldly minded and to be inoffensive to
sinners: church services and Christian TV that out-glitz Hollywood; or the
excitement of 50,000 men cheering Jesus in a packed football stadium. For
others it's the quest for self-esteem and a "positive self-image," probing the
unconscious for past abuses suffered that excuse present unbelief and
carnality; or quietly carrying on a conversation with an imaginary "visualized
Jesus."
There is an overwhelming presumption by the supporters of
these phenomena that it must be of God because of what they perceive to be the
"blessings" people are experiencing. Since the Scriptures warn us that Satan
appears as an angel of light and his ministers as deceptive ministers of
righteousness (2 Cor. 11:14-15), short-term "positive" results prove nothing.
The only true basis for discerning whether or not God is behind these alleged
revivals is the test He commands:
"To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn." [Isa. 8:20]
The Challenge to All Believers
My challenge to you is to test your own beliefs.
Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. [Acts 17:11]
I would suggest one way to discern whether something is a gift from God or not, is what do we do with it? At Pentecost the gift of tongues was used to communicate to those of foreign tongues (Acts 2:8) and I believe God empowers us with His gifts to likewise communicate His truth to those who are unhearing. His gifts are not meant to puff me up, but rather to use in the edification of others. I would question anyone's true motives if after receiving the Holy Spirit their life is not changed and they are not sharing that life changing experience with others.
