In recent years, we have noticed a rise in interest in revival centers. Usually, these are churches and ministries scattered throughout the world where something "different" is taking place. These special places are supposed to house a "sovereign move of God" of refreshing and revival. Christians sense that they need to get to one of these special meetings where they believe there is a specific anointing or blessing that can be found nowhere else. Their mentality is this: "if we travel to that meeting, we will be refreshed and our lives will be changed." So they drive by car, hop on a bus, or travel by air to a revival center in Toronto, Pensacola, England, or Sweden to have a life-changing experience.
If only the Christian life was that simple. All we would have to do is
travel to the latest "Azusa Street" revival and everything would be wonderful.
But the Christian life isn’t like that. It is not instantaneous: it is
progressive. Several pastors and leaders have asked me, "What do you think
of these revival centers such as Toronto or Pensacola?" I’ve told them that this
question cannot be answered with one blanket statement without addressing what
happens to the people in these meetings or without questioning each
manifestation and experience — one at a time. Why do we have to take on one
manifestation at a time? The reason is simple; many strange, wild, and even
demonic manifestations are found in these movements and ministries. It isn’t
just one simple issue. Many assumptions have to be addressed. Doctrines from our
past, which have been handed down to us by our spiritual forefathers, need to be
examined. Our own pre-conceived ideas about how God moves needs to be questioned
in the light of the revelation of Christ. We need to be willing to re-examine
our opinions about which manifestations are of God and which ones are not. Why
do people shake to portray the presence of God? Why do people cry, moan, or
laugh to prove that the Holy Spirit is doing something supernatural to them? Why
do people think they have to fall down when they are touched by the man of
God?Why Do People Fall Down?
Where did "falling under the power" come from
and who started it? This manifestation was not found in Jesus’ ministry, so why
do we do it? The reason we have to ask this question is because Jesus was
anointed more than any man who will ever live; yet when He prayed for people,
they did not fall down nor were they slain in the Spirit. They were physically
healed, changed, and the actual results were seen by everyone. I have
fallen "under the power" dozens of times. That is why I can tell you, by
experience, that the fear of man and the fear of missing out has always been the
strongest reason for most people to fall to the floor. Of course, I did not
realize it at the time.
Nevertheless, I eventually came to my senses and saw my true motive: I
did not want to look less willing than anyone else. Nor did I want my "inability
to yield" to the "moving of the Spirit" to be interpreted as rebellion or
unbelief.
When you are standing in front of all your peers with
respected leaders available to minister to you and they lay their hands on you,
the pressure is on — especially when you are up on stage and all expectant eyes
are watching you. That is why many preachers have followed this pattern. They
find more success with "manifestations" if they call miracle candidates up to
the platform. The intimidation of the platform "weeds out" those who are
uncertain and draws out those who are more open to new manifestations. I
can tell you by experience that it wasn’t the fear of God I was struggling with:
It was the fear of not looking as spiritual as some of the others. Fear causes
us to go with the flow even if it doesn’t make sense.
I Was Pretending
As time went on, I got quite good at pretending when I was "hit by the
anointing." At one time in particular, I was hungry for a move of God in my
life. I went forward for ministry at a camp-meeting. I was so deceived by this
time that I actually believed falling down was the same as a "work of God" in my
life.
The floor of the old chapel was uncarpeted, cold, bare concrete. I went
forward to receive what the preacher had to impart. It was typical of many
meetings I had attended over the years. There were appointed ushers standing
behind those receiving prayer to "catch" them as they fell backwards to the
floor. The preacher laid his hands upon me, and I immediately "yielded" and fell
backwards according to my Pentecostal traditions. In the middle of my descent to
the cold hard concrete floor, I realized there wasn’t a "catcher" behind me and
in midair, I could hear the entire congregation "gasp" in unity. I’m sure the
building lost air pressure for a second. My tall frame hit the concrete with a
thud. I lay there in astonishment and wondered what I should do. I was so used
to playing the game by that time that I just lay there and pretended that God
was doing a work in my life. I did not do this to deceive the people. It was my
Charismatic theology which led me to believe that pretending was the same as
faith. For many years as a pastor, I watched people fall to the floor when
I laid hands on them. The preachers and the people were well trained in this,
and we all knew what was expected of each other. We had quickly caught on to the
traditions of the Charismatic Church.
Did Jesus Do It?
Did Jesus cause people to fall under the power in His ministry? Did He
see people laugh, bark, and roll as they received their healing? Did Jesus’
anointing overcome them and send them flying? Did they fall down and shake or
cry as He laid hands on them? Only the demon possessed manifested such
foolishness and Jesus usually told them to be quiet. He did not accept these
manifestations as a normal part of His ministry. Why have we accepted this
kind of thing as from God? I believe that we have made traditions out of wrong
spiritual manifestations. We need to repent and turn back to Jesus as our
standard for what we believe. We need to cast down the high esteem we hold for
"Azusa Street" and other revivals. We need to see them as gatherings of immature
people who were eagerly seeking God, but were easily misled. We can learn from
them but we do not have to idolize them.
Jesus was anointed in greater capacity than any man of God alive today. No
preacher can boast that they are doing or teaching anything different than
Christ and still be right in their doctrine. If they are constantly seeing
different miracles in their ministry than those seen in Jesus’ earthly ministry,
they had better start asking some questions. Slain In The Spirit
Who
invented the phrase "slain in the Spirit?" We need to take a closer look at the
Scriptures we have used to substantiate this doctrine.
First of all,
let’s make it clear that biblical references to "falling on their face" before
God, kings, rulers, and angels are very common in the Bible. Just because these
people bowed their faces to the ground and gave honor does not mean that the
Spirit of God made them do it. There are more than forty references in the Bible
to "falling on their faces" as a gesture of honor and there are more than twenty
that refer to "bowing down to the ground." None of the references suggested that
people were struck down or forced to the floor by God. In the Pentecostal
and Charismatic Church movements to which I have belonged, two of the most
popular Scriptures used to herald this doctrine are from two identical
passages:
"So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of
the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God" (2 Chronicles
5:14, KJV).
"So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the
cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD" (1 Kings
8:11, KJV)
The theory is that the priests "fell down" because of the "glory
cloud." But this doctrine is based on an assumption which is easily exposed by
the context which also states:
"And it came to pass, when the priests
came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord," (1
Kings 8:10).
"And it came to pass when the priests came out of the Most Holy
Place…" (2 Chronicles 5:11).How could the priests be "slain" by the "glory
cloud" that filled the temple if they were no longer in the temple? A more
accurate interpretation suggests that the priests could not "stand" or return to
their place to minister because the glory of God had filled the place where they
were to stand. It does not mean that they were flat on their backs unable to
move. It simply means that the priests had to stand outside the temple with the
rest of the people who were awed by the spectacle.
One Scripture, which paints a clearer picture of what actually happened, is
found in 2 Chronicles 7:1-2.
"When Solomon had finished praying, fire came
down from Heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the
glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house
of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house" (2
Chronicles 7:1-2). Oh, The Glory Cloud
The other assumption heard throughout Charismatic circles is that the glory
and the cloud are the same thing. I have witnessed countless times when
preachers declared, "Oh, the glory cloud has just entered the building and it is
now billowing from the back of the church to the front!"
In actuality, in the
Bible, the glory of God was indeed the manifest presence of God Himself. But the
cloud was not the glory. It was the shield or the veil which separated the glory
of God from man. Not only did it protect unholy man from being exposed directly
to the holiness of God, but the true image of God was hidden behind the
cloud.
This is the cloud that was removed when Jesus came to the earth. He
revealed the glory of God to us so we would never have to "look" through cloud
cover again. This speaks of the tremendous unhindered clarity of the character
of God that He brought to us.
Jesus is the manifest presence of God to man. The manifest presence of God,
which so many are searching for, is not a sensation in a meeting or a vision of
the "glory cloud." To suggest the need for an Old Testament manifestation of the
glory cloud of God’s presence contradicts the sufficiency of the New Testament
revelation of Christ. Raised Up By The Spirit
The other fact that we need to consider is whenever the prophets and apostles
were exposed to the revelation of God’s presence, they were not allowed to
remain prostrate on the ground. They were repeatedly raised up and strengthened
by the Spirit of God to receive God’s instructions. Now this seems to be exactly
opposite to our modern day interpretations of what happens when God reveals
Himself. I’ve always assumed that if God manifested Himself to me I would not be
able to get up off the floor. But many Old Testament prophets were commanded to
stand up in God’s holy presence.This happened to Ezekiel.
"The appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. So when I saw it, I
fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking. And He said to me, "Son of
man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you." Then the Spirit entered me
when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me"
(Ezekiel 1:28 - 2:2).
"The glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory
which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face. Then the Spirit entered
me and set me on my feet…" (Ezekiel 3:23,24).It also happened to the prophet
Daniel.
"When he came I was afraid and fell on my face… but he touched
me, and stood me upright" (Daniel 8:17).It also happened to the Apostle
Paul.
"Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him… So
he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" Then the
Lord said to him, "Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you
must do" (Acts 9:4-6).A similar thing happened to the Apostle
John.
"And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His
right hand on me, saying… Write the things which you have seen…" (Revelation
1:17).Since sharing this understanding with friends, we have had some fun with
the idea of perhaps laying on the floor until the "anointed man of God" lays his
hands upon us to raise us to our feet. Now, that would be something to see! Yes,
it sounds like an impressive idea, but I’m sure you understand that this is a
humorous poke at what happens in prayer lines across the country. It still
disagrees with Jesus’ earthly ministry. My point is this: it is more
scriptural to be raised up to obey God than it is to fall down. Instead of
falling down as a sign of God’s anointing, maybe we should just simply be
willing to grow in the knowledge of Christ until God raises us up to preach the
Gospel. Deliverance Gone Too Far
Another issue which needs to be addressed is the "sovereign deliverance" of
unsuspecting candidates at these special meetings. We have to ask the question,
"Did Jesus cast out devils out of people who were not willing to be free or from
those who were not aware of their needs?
The demoniac who was possessed with a legion of demons came and worshipped at
Jesus’ feet just before Jesus set him free. It is interesting to note that those
demons, even though they were a legion, could not stop the man from coming to
Jesus. Perhaps the Devil does not control our choices as much as we have
imagined! These questions we are asking about deliverance are really
addressing what we think about how God deals with bondage. Does God "deliver"
unsuspecting candidates?
We must always remember that Jesus Christ is the express image of God and the
standard for all truth. He is the pattern for ministry and He can help us
understand God’s methods of deliverance. He fully revealed God’s true character
and God’s true methods of ministry to us. There isn’t one vital thing, not one
act of God, missing from Jesus’ earthly ministry. If these revival
manifestations of shaking, rolling, and growling are the result of deliverance
through which the true character of God is being revealed, then let us all
participate. But, if these manifestations do not agree with the character of God
revealed in Christ, then we have every right to question, discern, and — if need
be — dismiss them as false. A Big Surprise
If there is such a thing as a
surprise "move of God," then we should see evidence of it in Jesus’ earthly
ministry. Did Jesus bypass the will of man to pour out miracles upon them?
Through Jesus, was God revealed as a God who was in complete control of people’s
experiences? Did He show Himself fully through the revelation of Christ or just
partially? If Jesus was the express image of God, then we have to ask these
questions: Did Jesus pick and choose who would be saved, healed, delivered or
not? Was the unbelief of Nazareth planned by God? Did Jerusalem reject Jesus
because God willed it? Did Jesus control the spiritual environment around Him?
If He did, then what we have assumed about a move of God is true; but if He did
not, then we may have to change our doctrines.
A Few Assumptions
We have to deal with a few assumptions concerning the characteristics that
have been commonly attributed to the Godhead. Here are a few
examples:
1. God the Father’s ministry was specific to the Old
Testament.2. Jesus had His own brand of ministry on the earth, which was
different than His Father’s. 3. The Holy Spirit has different
manifestations in His present day ministry than what was seen in Jesus’ earthly
ministry. All of these examples suggest that God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit have three individual characters, agendas, and
ministries. Doctrines which are not founded on the revelation of Christ bring us
to these conclusions.
By observing Jesus as our ultimate standard for
truth we can safely conclude the following: God is not controlling our
environments; He will never bypass anyone’s will; He will never bust in and
change a person without their own personal faith in Jesus Christ. God is all
powerful and willing to work on our behalf, and that power is available to every
person who has faith. But, faith cannot be activated properly without
understanding the true character of God as revealed through His Son. What
we must understand is that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
walk in absolute agreement. They were all revealed perfectly through Jesus’
earthly ministry. "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit
and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by
the devil, for God was with Him" (Acts 10:38).
Right Under Your Nose
Even Philip, one of the disciples who followed and watched Jesus for several
years, still had trouble understanding the true character of the
Father.
"Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is
sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you
have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can
you say, ‘Show us the Father’?" (John 14:8,9).What Jesus was saying was,
"Philip, every time I laid hands on the sick I showed you the Father. Every time
I cast out a devil, I showed you the Father. Every time I rebuked the Pharisees,
I showed you the Father and after all this time, are you still asking me to show
you the Father?" He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." This means
that He was the way to God; but it also means that He revealed to us the ways of
God — all of them. He was the truth about God and the life of God revealed in
living color. I have heard many people confess, "I want to know the ways of
God." Well, that’s a very noble thing to say, but the solution is very simple —
almost too simple. If we want to know God, we have to look at Jesus! Jesus
said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and
from now on you know Him and have seen Him" (John 14:6-7).
Jesus sought out those who would hear Him and walked away from those who
would not. This revealed the Father. He healed those who would receive, but did
not sovereignly pick and choose who would be healed. This revealed the Father.
He did not force healing on the unwilling, but looked for faith and obedience.
When those ingredients were found, there were miracles. This revealed the
Father.
As He represented the Father, Jesus never said "No" to those who came seeking Him with the right heart, and yet, He never bypassed their will and sovereignly pushed healing onto them either. He never healed or delivered anyone without them either coming to Him by faith or by obeying His commands. If He told them to take up their bed and walk and they obeyed Him, even by showing the slightest bit of effort, there was a miracle. If they didn’t come by faith, but only came because they were seeking proof through signs and wonders, they weren’t provided any. If they did not obey Jesus’ words, then nothing took place. In all of this, He was revealing the truth about His Father.
Did Jesus Do Enough?
"Warfare" kind of thinking opposes the revelation of Christ simply because it
suggests that Jesus didn’t do all that could be done to perform the will of God.
It implies that Jesus didn’t take it far enough. It leads us to believe we can
do things that He could not do. This kind of thinking needs to be challenged.
How can Jesus be our example as the first-born of God, the preeminent one, and
our flawless forerunner if we think we can do better? Are we superior to Jesus?
Do we have greater anointing than the Son of God or do we have a different
ministry than His? We answer "no" with our lips, but we say "yes" with our
doctrines and our actions — especially in spiritual warfare thinking.
"Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor
is he who is sent greater than he who sent him" (John 13:16).
"A disciple is
not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master" (Matthew 10:24).
Now I realize that we are to be conformed into His image, and our goal is to
be like Him. But we will never be greater than the original Son. He has wrought
a great victory on the cross to give us the opportunity to become like Him but
we will never surpass Him. We are to focus upon His image and, as we do, we will
be transformed by what we see in Him from glory to glory, from revelation to
revelation, with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Nothing Missing
He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He was the same on the earth as
He is in Heaven. He showed us the total will of God — there wasn’t any
information about God missing from His doctrine. He did not overlook one detail.
At the end of His ministry on the earth, He hadn’t fallen short of any task. He
said to His Father:
"I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished
the work which You have given Me to do" (John 17:4).
He fully pleased the Father and fully revealed the Godhead to us in His body.
He manifested the very essence of God in His flesh. He was God’s true character
in concentrated form.
Jesus wasn’t just representing the good side of God while he walked the
earth. Through Him, the love of God was revealed along with the holiness of God.
The mercy of God was revealed along with the judgment of God. He was the entire
character of God poured into flesh so we could clearly see Him!
God
will not reward those who worship a false concept of Him. He will not answer
prayers that are based on wrong ideas or misapplied Scriptures. God will not do
a miracle for someone who has a different image of Him than the one revealed in
the face of His Son. God doesn’t come to those who have a false concept of Him
and say, "Oh well, close enough. I guess I will bypass the image of Christ and
reward you anyway." God the Father is not — and never will be —
anti-Christ.
Does God Have Many Faces?
Two major teachings, which have caused us to be lax on some of these issues
are "God has many faces," and "God can manifest Himself to us in any way He
pleases." If we have been involved with any religious background at all, these
are doctrines with which we may have some difficulty.
First of all, God
doesn’t have many faces — He only has one: He looks exactly like His Son. He
does not manifest Himself in any other way than the way He manifested Himself in
Christ.
"For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has
shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6).
"Jesus said to him, "I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If
you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know
Him and have seen Him" (John 14:6,7).
There is only one true concept of God, and it was revealed in Jesus Christ. There is no other!
We need to repent and turn from all other false, religious concepts and
turn back to the living Word of God for guidance. The greatest source of
discernment available to us is the Word, which was made alive in the flesh of
Christ. (Hebrews 4:12, John 1:14).
Is God Going To Rip Evil Out Of The Earth?
A false concept of God permeates the Church. This may be the reason for the
success of a false prophecy which swept through the Charismatic Church in 1994.
A pastor claimed that he had a special prophetic experience in his room one
night. He claimed God had said to Him, "I am going to rip evil out of the
earth." In order for the prophecy to have been fulfilled, God would have had to
bypass the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
God has already established His way of salvation and his method of
deliverance from evil. And it can happen in no other way than through an
individual’s faith in Jesus Christ.
God is not going to change His mind and do something different. Neither is
God going to say to His Son, "I’m sorry, Jesus, for sending you to the cross to
provide deliverance for everyone who would have faith in you. I have decided to
provide deliverance in a different way. Instead of delivering only those who
place their faith in what was done on the cross, I have decided to just rip evil
out of the earth. Son, I have decided to bypass what you did in your earthly
ministry and by my grace, I will just remove evil out of the way. People will no
longer have to place their individual faith in you. I’ll take the condition of
this sinful world into my own hands."
The main concept behind this prophecy disagrees with what the Word says about
the last days. The Bible clearly shows us that the world is going to get darker
in the last days — not lighter. (Isaiah 60:2)
This man experienced a
vision which should have been tested immediately according to 1 John 4:1-3, but
it wasn’t.
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are
of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you
know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come
in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist,
which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world" (1 John
4:1-3).
Flakey Prophecies
He exalted his own experience above the written revelation of Christ and
yielded to carnal ideas. Much of the Charismatic Church was deceived because
this prophecy was featured on a major Christian television network, TBN, for
several months. Not one major Charismatic leader came forward with enough
discernment and boldness to publicly test or expose it before it became public.
As a result, many immature Christians were led astray. Leaders like this will
eventually have to be exposed for leading people away from the true revelation
of Christ.
I know by experience, and by biblical understanding, that I too yielded to
wrong manifestations and flakey prophecies. That is why I can say with
conviction that this pastor’s whole experience was the result of yielding to a
false vision.
The true Holy Spirit would never bypass truth and bring a vision based on an
entirely new anti-Jesus concept. Furthermore, the grace of God would never
disregard the need for faith in Christ.
We may assume that this kind of
prophecy is uncommon, but that is not the case. Many Charismatic prophecies
conveniently bypass God’s original plan of salvation. Evidence of this is found
in prophetic words like, "God is going to peel back the darkness from men’s eyes
and they will be swept into the kingdom by the thousands."
We seem to forget that Jesus is the light. If we reject Him, we remain in
darkness and there isn’t anything God will do about it. If God broke into
people’s lives and peeled back the darkness, then He would be saying, "The light
of the revelation of Christ is not enough." To open men’s eyes, God would have
to add to the completed plan of salvation.
To confess, "Jesus did not
reveal the full majesty and brilliance of the light of God’s Word," and "God is
doing a new thing," exposes a misunderstanding of the reason why Jesus came in
the flesh.
Let Them Walk Away
Not everyone received the blessings that Jesus wanted to impart. For instance, He was willing for the rich young ruler to follow Him and be blessed, but the rich young ruler rejected the opportunity and walked away. (Matthew 19:16-26)
Jesus didn’t chase after Him or try to convince Him to make the right
choice. Jesus did not call him back and say, "You don’t understand, I am the Son
of God! Here, I will show you a miracle to prove it! Watch me heal this person!
Let me prove to you who I am before you walk away!" No, Jesus did not do that.
He honored the man’s decision and let the man choose his own way. There is no
one else who has revealed the ways of God more accurately than Jesus! Where
Did Spiritual Warfare Come From?
We as a Church became actively involved in a hyper brand of spiritual
warfare. We would pray for hours at a time trying to change the spiritual
climate of our community and our nation. We did not just pray once a week or
when it was convenient. We prayed together as a church every weekday morning
from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. and, during that time of intense prayer, we believed
that we were waging a spiritual war that had to be won via strong, loud,
committed prayer.
It was a very real battle for us at the time. I began to question this
practice when I was studying the biblical use of the word "false." I was also
strongly convicted by the life of Jesus. He did not wage this kind of spiritual
warfare nor did He teach it. Over the years, my entire view on spiritual warfare
has dramatically changed, and I want to share my findings.
A False Concept of God
Much of today’s spiritual warfare teaching stems from a false concept of God.
Typically, a false concept of God will usually result in a false concept of
prayer. I have discovered that whatever our image of God is, it directly
influences the type of Christian we will try to be. Usually, the results of how
we think will be most evident in our prayer life. If God is a bully with a
big stick, we will try to bully people in our prayer life. If God orchestrates
life’s miseries, then Christians will believe in praying precatory prayers. If
God overlooks unbridled living, then our prayer life will reflect an unhealthy
tolerance of sin and rebellion. If God gives away expensive cars and big screen
TVs to whowever asks Him, then our prayers will be occupied with the riches of
this world. If we think God will bypass the will of men and bless them or humble
them without their consent, then our prayer life will reflect the same degree of
control. Whatever concept of God to which we hold, will determine what kind of
prayers we will pray.Jesus is the True Concept of God
Jesus was willing for
the people of Nazareth to receive Him in order to bring them the deliverance and
the healing to which they were entitled. However, they didn’t believe in Him and
tried to push Him over a cliff. There was great resistance to the Gospel in
Nazareth, but Jesus didn’t do spiritual warfare over the city. He didn’t try to
further convince the unbelieving people through signs and wonders. Jesus didn’t
try to push His doctrine on them or attempt to prove to them who He was, before
He moved on. He just went to the next town and preached the Gospel of the
Kingdom there. I’ve talked to some preachers who think that Jesus made a
big mistake in how He handled His hometown. They reason that Jesus was immature
in His ministry and was too abrasive in His hometown. They hint that Jesus
changed his tactics after Nazareth. They don’t realize it but they are
condemning Jesus for what happened at Nazareth. Jesus never made any
mistakes! The Bible says that Jesus fully pleased the Father and did the will of
God completely. He was perfectly right in how He handled places like Nazareth
and Jerusalem. If the Father were to handle the same situations on His own, then
He would have done exactly the same as His Son.
Jesus stood over the city of Jerusalem and cried because they wouldn’t recognize their time of visitation. The Messiah had come to its streets and had found only a few who would receive healing and deliverance through Him. I can almost hear spiritual warfare preachers saying, "Jesus, what are you crying about? Get down there and do some miracles. We can take this city! Let’s show them God’s power! Let’s pull down the Devil’s stronghold from over this place! As soon as we cast down the strongman of this city, their eyes will be opened and they will receive you. They will flock to you by the thousands. Come on Jesus don’t give up so easily. We can take back what the Devil has stolen!"
Christian Political Activism
It’s not just our prayer life that has been affected with this kind of
thinking. The Church’s "political activism" comes from the same
misunderstanding. We seem to forget that Jesus did not come to change the Roman
Empire. He did not come to the earth to change the political views of the Jews.
He came to establish a kingdom not of this world. For some reason, we are
so busy trying to change the world around us, that we forget our true position
here on the earth. We are foreigners here. The Church is likened to an embassy
in a strange land, and we are but ambassadors for Christ on foreign soil. If we
would consider the role of an embassy in another part of the world, we would
recognize that the embassy does not dictate new laws and standards to its host
country. The embassy remains independent and stays out of the affairs of the
country in which it is situated and continues there only as a mere guest. The
embassy is positioned there for the sake of its own citizens and for those who
want to emigrate.
It is a similar situation for the Church. We belong to another kingdom, a kingdom not of this world. We are to pattern ourselves after the King of kings who, when he walked this earth, showed very little interest in the kings of this world. Even King Herod could not ruffle Jesus’ purpose. Only when this political leader tried to stop His ministry did Jesus reply, "Go tell that fox…" Our prayer life can reflect a wrong image of Jesus when we pray for our nations, our cities, and our neighbors. We seem to think that God will sovereignly break into their mundane lives with a "wake up call" while we keep silent. I think we forget God isn’t our servant, we are His. The only way we are going to see our nations change is to preach the Gospel to them, one individual at a time. Even then, we may end up with the same results as Jesus. A handful of disciples followed Him while the majority of Israel did not.
Drunk In The Spirit
We have all heard of people falling down or stumbling around drunk in the
spirit. The Toronto Blessing and the Brownsville Assembly of God revival in
Pensacola, Florida, has brought international attention to this
phenomena.
We, as a church and the movement we were a part of, were
experiencing many similar manifestations several years before it became
popular.
Where did we acquire this doctrine? Well, we concocted it from
one obscure interpretation of a single reference of Scripture in the second
chapter of the book of Acts. We combined it with carnal references to the "wine"
of the Holy Spirit. And when we heard it preached and verified by men of renown
we all jumped on the bandwagon. Well, maybe you didn’t, but I did.
Majoring on Minors
This shouldn’t surprise us. There are many doctrines that the Church believes
which are founded upon single Scriptures. We often make major teachings out of
minor references. We also do the opposite. Sometimes we give only minor
attention to the major teachings of the Bible. For instance, even though Jesus
Christ is the major revelation of the whole Bible, few of us see any need to
enter the depth of studying the many prophetic references that point to Christ
in the Old Testament. We fail to see that studying the references to Jesus is
the key to understanding all Scripture. Therefore, the most important emphasis
of the entire Bible is treated as simple and basic.
How is this problem going to be uncovered? When we find out that we are
ignoring the full revelation of Christ and admit that we have ascribed many
un-Christ-like attributes to God. We use single references and half-truths to
portray God’s character, while the whole revelation of God’s true character is
found fully revealed in Christ. But we don’t seem to understand that. We seem to
treat Christ’s earthly ministry as only a partial revelation of the glory of
God. Nothing could be further from the truth.New Wine of the Holy
Spirit
The "drunk in the Spirit" doctrine, reveals a common,
traditional habit of "majoring on minors and minoring on majors."
This reference in Acts (which has been misinterpreted and used to
substantiate the experience of spiritual drunkenness) is found in the setting of
chapter two. It refers the early Church believers who were filled with the Holy
Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Further on in the text, skeptics entered the scene.
"Others mocking said, ‘They are full of new wine" (Acts 2:13).Sober People
Don’t Stand OutThe mockers did not understand what was going on so they assumed
that the believers were drunk. What else would worldly people think? That is
always their excuse for people who do strange things. As far as the worldly mind
goes, sober people don’t stand out in a crowd. Only the inebriated are bold and
uninhibited. Therefore, to them, these bold believers, who were preaching the
Gospel in many languages, were obviously enhanced and motivated by the
empowering effects of liquor. What else could these mockers have said but, "They
are full of new wine?"Today, a few preachers have taken this Scripture out of
context and have claimed "Holy Ghost drunkenness" as a scriptural idea. We have
blindly and willingly followed their leading by acting drunk in Christian
meetings.
We have not rightly divided the Word. From that false assumption of the
meaning of Acts chapter two, we have built a whole new movement and have
concluded that this Scripture was referring to believers staggering around like
drunken men. One puff of wind from a teaching based on an obscure reference and
off we go. The rest of the context and the rest of the Bible mean nothing to
us!
Yet, in defense against the mocking remark, Peter said, "these are
not drunk as you suppose."
The drunken display seen in churches today
ventures way beyond what Jesus taught. Again, we have transgressed the doctrine
of Christ.
"Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of
Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the
Father and the Son" (2 John 1:9).
Drunk on False Prophecies
If we want to talk about the difference between majors and minors, I have
found more Scriptures with reference to being intoxicated with false visions and
false prophesies than I have found about being "drunk in the Holy
Spirit."
"They are drunk, but not with wine; They stagger, but not with
intoxicating drink. For the Lord has poured out on you The spirit of deep sleep,
And has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets…" (Isaiah 29:9-10)."But they also
have erred through wine, And through intoxicating drink are out of the way; The
priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink, They are swallowed
up by wine, They are out of the way through intoxicating drink; They err in
vision, they stumble in judgment" (Isaiah 28:7).
Interestingly, the reference
in Isaiah chapter twenty-eight verse seven seems to contrast with verse
eleven.
"For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to
this people, To whom He said, ‘This is the rest with which You may cause the
weary to rest,’ And, ‘This is the refreshing’; Yet they would not hear…" (Isaiah
28:11,12).Why wouldn’t they listen to the Lord? Why were they willfully
rejecting God’s method of teaching? It was because they were so busy getting
drunk on false prophecies that they missed out on God’s true, prophetic
refreshing — the simple Word of God taught line upon line, and precept upon
precept to hungry believers (Isaiah 28:9-13). The intoxication of the false
prophets puts forth a different spiritual manifestation than that of those who
would be filled with the true Spirit of God. Drunkenness seems to belong to the
false prophets, but not to the true people of God. By looking at the
manifestations of the whole worldwide "River" movement, it is obvious that we
may be repeating history and are following the blunders and mistakes of our
forefathers and the erring prophets of the Children of Israel. We are basking in
our own soulish intoxication while the real refreshing of the Holy Spirit is
being rejected as boring, mundane, and uninteresting.
Laughing In The Spirit
At first, we as a church did our best to yield to the new laughing
revival and tried to get into the drunk in the Spirit phenomena. We participated
in large gatherings where the "new anointing" was being distributed and we
taught this new wind of doctrine in our own church. But, as time went on, we
discovered that the Bible did not substantiate this doctrine.
Not only did we find that these concepts lacked scriptural backing, but
we also found that they disagreed with Jesus. He was the ultimate example of a
man filled with the spirit of gladness, yet we didn’t find these laughing
manifestations in His life and ministry. "You have loved righteousness and
hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of
gladness more than Your companions" (Hebrew 1:9).
We found that the doctrine of laughing in the Spirit contradicted the
anointed life of Christ. It is obvious that Jesus was anointed with the oil of
gladness more than any man who will ever live and yet there isn’t any proof in
the Bible of Jesus laughing hysterically or imparting it onto anyone else. If we
truly want to be filled with the joy of the Lord, why don’t we pattern ourselves
after Jesus who hated evil and loved righteousness. Now, I am not saying
that we shouldn’t laugh, cry, or be emotional. These characteristics are a
strong part of our humanity. Jesus cried, shouted, and became angry. But to say
that "laughing" is a supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit is truly a
leap.
Inner Healing
I’m sure that many people do not realize that the Toronto Blessing, and
other revival centers featuring "the river" or "the refreshing," happen to
feature similar kinds of manifestations because their thoughts and teachings on
deliverance are all established in the roots of inner healing. Inner
healing is a teaching which suggests that there is a need for believers to heal
their past after they are born again or go through great emotional experiences
in order to be delivered from the haunting ghosts of their previous
life.
We, as a church, were also taken in with this kind of teaching for a
while. Therefore, when counseling or taking people through deliverance, we often
blamed many peoples’ problems on their past. The result was, a lack of personal
responsibility of repenting or turning to God: it was always someone else’s
fault. When we ministered to them, we didn’t tell them who they were in Christ
but rather focused on the old man and the hurts of the past. It wasn’t until
later that I discovered that this attitude rejected the whole purpose of the
cross. In facing some of their problems or memories of the past, people
become desperate. Instead of realizing or learning that by faith their past is
past and their sins, problems, mistakes, and offenses were nailed to the cross,
they tend to seek experiences that outwardly verify the healing of their past.
This opens them up to demonic activity because they refuse to accept new
creation realities by faith.
Their refusal to accept the finished work of Christ on the cross isn’t
totally their fault alone. Leaders of the Church like to keep an interdependence
between the hurting, who think they need counseling, and the counselors, who
need to be needed. These leaders would be the last to admit, "There’s no need to
heal the old works of the flesh." If they admitted to the seeking Christian,
"There’s no longer any need to deal with the past other than placing your faith
in the finished work of the cross," then their counseling services and inner
healing ministries would disappear.
The Truth Will Set You Free
One of the Scriptures, which has constantly been misapplied and used to
substantiate inner healing, is;
"And you shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free" (John 8:32).
This classic Scripture has been taken
out of context so many times in sermons and teachings that we hardly notice the
deception. The reason this Scripture can be quoted out of context without
detection, is because we don’t read our Bibles like we should. We tend to use
interpretations of Bible verses we have heard from others rather than the Bible
verses we have read and studied for ourselves. We seem to approve of opinions
and teachings we have often heard in our own circles without questioning them or
without reading what the Bible has to say about them. If Scriptures are
misapplied continuously, then we learn a bad habit: we learn to approve of wrong
interpretations. If we don’t study and search the Bible for confirmation then
they obviously will deceive us. Based on popular phrases like, "the truth
will set you free," people have been led to believe that it refers to personal
prophetic words. If they experience a vision or if they receive a word
concerning something out of their past — that they had either forgotten or never
knew — then that special word must be the "truth" about their past that needed
to be revealed. They believe this is the meaning behind the verse, "and you will
know the truth and the truth will set you free." It is assumed that the vision
or the word was truly "revelation" about something long forgotten. But that is
not the true meaning of the word "truth."
The Truth is His Word
When Jesus spoke these words, "And you shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free," He was speaking about knowing and understanding His
Word. If you continue in His Word, you will come to know the truth and the truth
you understand will set you free. Anyone who will continue to learn about what
Jesus did on the cross will realize that their past is gone. It was nailed to
the tree with Jesus. The whole concept behind inner healing opposes the
objectives of Christ. The reality and purpose of the cross is belittled and
pseudo-deliverance is promoted in its place.
Fabricated Problems
In one case, a young Christian man traveled to special meetings at the
Toronto Blessing. When he returned, he claimed that he was set free from three
demons. The adults who knew the young man asked, "when did he get these three
demons — was it while he was traveling on the plane to Toronto?" This is a
good question. For surely the folks who knew the young man would have been aware
of his problems. And if he had three demons, other Christians should have been
aware of his needs.
The sad thing about this story is it is all too common. People seem to be
easily convinced of their need for deliverance when a problem is fabricated in
the midst of a highly emotional revival meeting. The result is; many people
experience bogus deliverances at these meetings because their problems are bogus
and manufactured on the spot. These folks have little proof of their exposed
problems because it is based on visions, words, prophecies, or someone else’s
opinion. Many of the so-called miracles begin as fabricated needs accompanied by
fabricated manifestations. Only the immature and the undiscerning are impressed
with the so-called results. In all of this, the work of the cross Christ is
being bypassed.
Inner Healing Sessions
Many who are involved in inner healing claim, "The strange things that
happen during healing sessions are the work of the Holy Spirit." But the true
Holy Spirit isn’t going to disagree with the finished work of the cross. Why
would He reveal something out of our past if it was buried with Christ Jesus and
we were raised up by the Holy Spirit to live for God? It doesn’t agree with
God’s original plan of salvation. God sent Jesus to the earth in the flesh to
die for our flesh and get it out of the way. He didn’t send Jesus to die for
just a portion of our sins and offenses and then leave the rest up to the "Inner
Healing" specialists. Inner Healing seems to suggest that God’s salvation plan
fell short of total deliverance. A hurting Christian doesn’t need soulish
sensations, false counseling, or visions of their unknown past in order to be
free. They need to know the truth about what Jesus did for them on the cross and
then choose to die with Him.
Flesh VS. Spirit
The reason most people seek an alternative form of healing their past is
because they won’t let the old man go to the grave. The old man is the flesh.
The new man is the recreated spirit. Most of us assume that the biblical
term flesh refers only to our physical bodies but that isn’t the most accurate
application or interpretation. Flesh refers to an attitude within the human race
which constantly opposes God while it exalts the ability of man. The flesh, of
course, does not want to die or be put aside. The flesh screams in terror at the
very thought of being crucified on the cross with Jesus. The Christian who
realizes that the war isn’t between the past and their present feelings will
truly start to overcome. Christians must see the real battleground in their own
lives is the self-exalting attitude of the flesh versus the Jesus exalting
revelation of the Spirit. In fact, trying to make Christians feel better
about themselves is not a proper solution. It is a dangerous shortcut if
Christians assume that their freedom is accomplished by replacing bad feelings
with good feelings. It is little more than pretending to deal with the flesh
while exalting our fleshly feelings. And ultimately, it is a counterfeit
victory.
By analyzing the teachings in the Church concerning the cross, we find a
misunderstanding of the true purpose of crucifixion. Most Christians believe
that Jesus died on the cross for them as a substitute, so they wouldn’t have to
die for their sins. That supposition is only partly right. We will not fully
comprehend the power of the cross until we learn how to die to the flesh with
Christ on the cross (Gal. 2:20). There will be no resurrection in our lives
until we understand the death of man’s carnal ways. "Therefore, since
Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for
he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should
live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of
God" (1 Peter 4:1,2).
"Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive
to God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:11).
The fleshly soul wars against
the truth and the desires of the flesh lust against the Spirit (Gal. 5:17). We
must renew our minds with the truth: "We are dead in Christ." Sometimes feelings
can be misleading; especially when our souls don’t feel saved. Our feelings
don’t have anything to do with salvation, but our souls are so accustomed to
leading us through emotionalism; we struggle to bow to the truth. Therefore, in
order to avoid the struggle, we seek an alternative way of feeling healed and
saved. In all of this, the Devil is very active. He knows we are refusing
to seek after truth because he can see we are not reading our Bibles for the
answers. He can see that we’re seeking to feel salvation in our soul instead of
believing the truth in our hearts. The soul realm is the Devil’s favorite
arena. It is his specialty. He loves to seduce the carnal soul through carnal
teachings and experiences conveniently provided for us by carnal leaders. We are
vulnerable because we aren’t lovers of truth — we are lovers of pleasure. We
would rather feel better than deal with reality.The reason these self-made
ministers are able to tempt us away from the truth is; we refuse to die on the
cross to our sensual and soulish ways.
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but
according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap
up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth,
and be turned aside to fables" (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
We Exalt Our Own Experiences
The reason the Church is being taken in by spiritual goose-bumps, false
signs, and soulish wonders is because we believe what we see with our eyes or
experience in our soul much stronger than what we read in the Word. In fact, we
have come to the place where we like being moved in our soul much more than we
like being challenged by the truth. It is evident in our classification of what
we call spiritual. If one our favorite ministers tells us a moving story or a
Gospel music group pulls on our emotions, we experience something which is
defined as satisfaction. Our souls have been stirred. But we are still lacking
the truth and we seem to be happy with that.
Why do we elevate our
experiences far above the reality of the truth? Why do so many Christians fall
into this trap? In recent years, I have heard from ministers and read many
articles from preachers who have unknowingly verified and approved of false
signs and wonders simply because they experienced similar sensations in their
own ministry.
I have done the same thing myself. I’ve defended strange manifestations
in my own ministry simply because I yielded to them on a regular basis. Since I
exalted experience above knowledge, I ignorantly defended deception. In other
words, I approved of extra-biblical experiences which had nothing in common with
the miracles of Jesus simply because I respected my experiences more than
Christ. This is defined in Christian circles as being pragmatic. Pragmatism
occurs when we exalt our thoughts, our feelings, and our experiences to a divine
level. "If I think it or feel it, it must be from God."
Some of my peers have claimed, "I had questioned the whole idea of
laughing in the spirit until I was preaching in a meeting, and all of a sudden,
people began to laugh in the middle of my sermon. It was a sign from Heaven.
This proves that it is from God because it happened in my meeting."
Experiences Do Not Equal Truth
Since when do we make our own experiences the foundation for truth? Since
when are we supposed to accept manifestations without testing them properly? And
since when do we think that only good things happen in our meetings?
Do
preachers think themselves to be unaffected by other spirits? Do they assume
that everything supernatural they encounter, experience, and prophesy in their
meetings is from God? Just because it happens in their meetings does not mean
God is giving it a stamp of approval. All manifestations must be tested
according to the Word.
Another minister might say, "Yes, I remember many years ago we had a
similar experience. We were having special meetings and had a great revival. In
one of the meetings, people began to uncontrollably laugh and cry. It was really
something. What we hear of happening today, in the Toronto Blessing and the
Brownsville Revival, are the same kind of manifestations we encountered years
ago. It must be of God."
They are using their own experiences and the
experiences of their spiritual predecessors as the new standard of measurement
instead of Jesus.
Carnal Prejudice
Our own Charismatic ignorance became evident when we used our own brand
of "laughing in the spirit" to judge and separate ourselves from the "Toronto
Blessing" and other groups which had similar manifestations. I’ve heard many
preachers say the same thing, "Our laughing is of God and theirs is not." This
is not spiritual discernment. This is carnal prejudice! Nevertheless, it is very
common among the many camps of the Charismatic Church. We all think our own
manifestations are better than everyone else’s. The sad truth is, very few of
these so-called new miracles are Christ-like. Therefore, many of them do not
demonstrate the true Gospel or agree with Christ’s brand of miracles. By
letting these laughing experiences go untested, we will now use them as new
premise or foundation for truth. All of these experiences including the previous
ones, which happened in the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s have become a part
of the Pentecostal/Charismatic church’s documented history. These documented
manifestations should be examined and tested according to Scriptures like 1 John
4:1-3. According to that test, none of the miracles, which people experienced in
Jesus’ ministry, ever included laughing, shaking, barking, or crying in the
spirit. None of them ever included falling down in emotional hysteria or dancing
in the spirit. When Jesus ministered to people, they were physically healed.
Healing was never manifested as a soulish pre-miracle feeling or experience.
But, for some reason, we seem to have more respect for our denominational
forefathers and their carnal antics.
How can the Devil deceive leaders?
The Devil is progressive with deception. He knows he can’t come in
overnight and manifest himself in the temple. He must take his time. If he is
able to penetrate meetings today and exalt wrong manifestations, then he knows
he can take it a little further later on. The unholy manifestations in the
Charismatic Church are stronger lying wonders today, only because we received an
introductory lie, years ago. We tend to continue to build upon these false
foundations because we are experience-based. It is a perpetual problem. What I
have seen happen in the Refreshing, the Toronto Blessing, and the Brownsville
Revival are just stronger lying wonders based on things accepted in the "Azusa
Street Revival," and in the Wesley, Finney, and Edward’s meetings." Weak
anti-Jesus manifestations in the 1900’s only prepared us for stronger seductions
in the Church today. What should have happened with the miracles of "Azusa
Street" and other revivals is obvious. They should have been compared to Jesus’
miracles. Then the false miracles would have been exposed and we would have been
prepared to discern stronger deceptions today. We should have settled long ago
which miracles confessed "Jesus came in the flesh" and which ones did
not. While we think that all these past revivals were moves of God, we must
be corrected to realize that God has only been involved in one movement since
the beginning of the Church Age. He has been building His Church and calling His
people to return to Him through the revelation of Jesus. There was truth in the
early Church and there is truth today. There was deception in the early Church
and there is deception today. Even the Old Testament shows the ongoing struggle
between the false and the true. Things haven’t changed much. "But there
were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers
among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the
Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction" (2 Peter
2:1).
This is still the Church Age! The Holy Spirit is still doing the
same thing He was sent to do — glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and lead us into
truth. Only the truth will set us free from our own deceptions!