Posted on 04/17/2018 8:56:07 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Have you been burned by a false prophecy? Did you lose your faith when a promised healing never came? Have you had it with flaky teaching in the name of "new revelation"? If so, you are not alone. There are more Charismatic casualties than many of us would care to admit.
But let me start here with an honest confession. My own experience in Pentecostal-Charismatic circles has been far more positive than negative. I have worked with the same leadership team for more than 20 years. I have had the privilege of serving with men and women of integrity all around the world – I'm talking about Pentecostal-Charismatic leaders around the globe.
I was saved in a Pentecostal church in 1971 and transformed by an outpouring of the Spirit in 1982. I was on the front lines of the Brownsville Revival from 1996-2000, and grads from our ministry school are bearing amazing fruit around the world. And while I have seen my share of scandals and false prophecies and leadership abuses and weirdness, it has been the exception far more than the rule.
Sadly, for many others, the opposite has proved true. For them, there is little or nothing good in the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement. They have been hurt or confused or abused, causing some to reject the move of the Spirit today and causing others to lose their faith entirely. My heart breaks over all these Charismatic casualties, and it is high time that we set our house in order.
I recently read a book critiquing the movement, and in my opinion, it was totally over the top in its criticisms.
Putting aside the scriptural errors I found in the book, it painted a terribly caricatured picture, one that was so exaggerated it was hardly recognizable to me. Yet as I read reviews to the book posted by readers, I saw that many of them were adding their hearty Amen. The picture it painted was all too familiar to them.
I'm aware, of course, that every church (or ministry or denomination or leader) has its critics. You can find horror stories everywhere, and if a church or ministry is big enough, you can find lots of negative reports from those who were allegedly burned by that church or ministry. But when you hear the same story over and over again from people from varied backgrounds, you know that something, somewhere is wrong.
When it comes to the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement, there is no shortage of amazing stories of what the Lord is doing in virtually every nation on the planet. This is truly a stunning, Jesus-exalting, multi-generational work of the Holy Spirit. I see no way to deny that for a split second.
Even more importantly, based on Scripture, I find it indisputable that the gifts and power of the Spirit are to continue in operation until Jesus returns.
But that doesn't minimize the damage that has been done in the name of the Spirit, and there are all too many casualties because of unchecked abuses. Out of love for the Lord and love for His people, we need to step higher.
Although my new book, "Playing with Holy Fire", just came out a few days ago, I'm already seeing a pattern in the reviews being posted by readers.
One reader wrote, "Dr. Michael Brown's very timely and balanced work really addressed where I am right now: disillusioned and heartbroken over the abuses of the contemporary church (this goes beyond the Charismatic/Pentecostal movement, though it is centered there). Furthermore, he encouraged my heart, showing me that I am not alone, and providing a Biblical way forward."
Another commented on Facebook that reading the book was bringing them healing from the negative experiences they had in our circles. Still another wrote, "As a former cessationist who was a cessationist BECAUSE of the abuse I saw happening in exercising the Holy Spirit's gifts, it concerns me too. Both because these abuses keep a very large section of the church away from desiring and pursuing something God wants them to have, but also because it harms our testimonies among unbelievers. This book will definitely be going to the top of my reading list!"
Other pastors and leaders are saying, "At last! These abuses needed to be addressed."
So, while I rejoice in what the Spirit is doing around the world, I grieve over the many who have been hurt and disillusioned because of human error and human sin and human carelessness. Truly, we have been given much by the Lord. And that means that much will be required of us.
May we walk worthy of the Holy Spirit's high calling. And may the name of Jesus be exalted, not tarnished, by our lives and ministries as Pentecostal and Charismatic believers.
The stakes are way too high to play games.
I have skin in the game (see my tagline).
I personally think these kinds of problems...false prophesies, promises of healings that never happen, etc...are more symptomatic of the church in America than the global Pentecostal movement. And I have a host of reasons why this is, depending on how long you’ve got...
“depending on how long you’ve got...”
Type away!
This article seems like an advertisement for the author’s new book.
I just added this book to my cart yesterday.
RE:This article seems like an advertisemt for the author’s bew book.
Don’t buy the book if you don’t want to, just deal with the points in the article.
Even more importantly, based on Scripture, I find it indisputable that the gifts and power of the Spirit are to continue in operation until Jesus returns.
Indisputable? So why is the author disputing? In fact, the completion of the God-given, God-breathed Scripture upon the death of the last Apostle is not in dispute. Since then, there is no man alive who can legitimately proclaim as a prophet, "Thus sayeth the LORD." One may say, "It is written . . .", and apply it correctly, but there is no more new supernatural, special revelation.
Regarding those who clain to be "charismatic" (= grace-acting), their falsity soon become obvious to all when they fulfill the Scripture:
"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isa 8:20 AV).
When you run across a crowd whose prophesies are only haphazardly accomplished, not 100% all the time, you know that they are merely relying on statistics to con you, unwilling to admit that there is truly no light in them at all. They do not trust in The True Christ and His Word for all their spiritual needs.
The author of this article is one of them, by his own admission.
Well, much harder to do at work on my mobile phone so I may go in more detail when I get home and have an actual keyboard. But to sum it up, the Pentecostal church in America too badly wants the results of a Spirit movement...tongues, healings, etc...without being willing to pay the PRICE...fasting, prayer, repentance...
...which leads to a fast embrace of fanaticism.
I think one of the main reasons why this “movement” has caused so many problems for believers is because they emphasize “the gift of tongues” - a so-called sign gift - above all the other gifts of the Holy Spirit. Scripture says that tongues is one of the “least of the gifts” to be desired (see I Corinthians 14).
I’ve been burned, and not “allegedly” either by the very thing you have mentioned.
And heard it all.
When the promised whatever didn’t come, it was MY fault.
The blame game kicked in and the people who presumed to speak for God when they didn’t know His mind, NEVER took responsibility.
They are sure they know how He should be acting and it’s not HIS fault that He didn’t do what they thought He should have in my life, the way they thought He should have done it. Therefore there was only one person left to blame.
I’ve been a Christian a LONG time and am pretty well established in what I believe, but getting sucked into that still rattled me. I can certainly see how devastating it would be to a new believer or someone not well grounded.
There is also too much of the New Apostolic Reformation and prosperity gospel nonsense infiltrating Pentecostalism, too. And that it because as whole, while there are pluses for the Pentecostal movement, there are a few MAJOR negatives and not being well grounded in Scripture is one of them. They are too experience oriented and tend to compare Scripture to their experience instead of their experience to Scripture.
There’s a real problem of people not applying test of Scirpture to claimed prophesying, etc.
These days, all someone has to do is say *God told me* or *Thus sayeth the Lord,....* and God alone can help you if you question what they say.
They are aghast and ask, *How can you dare to question God? (Or *Touch not the Lord’s anointed*).
Well, I’m not questioning God.
I’m questioning YOU and what you are saying is from God.
IF Paul didn’t get everything he asked for I don’t expect I will either. Everything must be in accordance with His will. I think that is where we mess up.
I was connected with some acquaintances who were very NAR oriented and constantly were prophesying all kinds of things most of which never came true.
Then they’d either conveniently forget what they said, or they’d say they said something different, when I remember what they did say.
I finally decided that I needed to separate myself from them and made the break.
I concluded that the reason we did not see the church acting and moving today as it did in the book of Acts was that we were not living as the did in the book of Acts.
But what exactly it was that we were missing eluded me.
Until I heard a sermon recently that I think answered that question.
It was about fulfilling the Great Commission. Then it hit me.
We’re so focused on everything else, especially the glitz and show, that we are no longer GOING and preaching and making disciples.
It’s too much work and too much commitment and investment and in an instant, have it now society, does not feed the appetite we’ve developed for instant gratification.
Maybe if we took the trouble to go out and preach and make disciples, we’d see God move in the way He did in the early church.
It is in fact just such. BUT, if he has written a task set before him, advertising can help get the message out to a wider audience. When I finish the fiction piece I’m on now (Phase Shift), I fully intend on ‘advertising’ it here as soon as a publisher accepts it. It is Christian oriented Sci Fi. Who knows what God has in store?
And tongues are a sign for UNBELIEVERS, not believers (I Corinthians 14:22)
Romans 12:3-8 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
But what glory is there in serving or acts of mercy?
Nobody can see that.
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