Posted on 11/09/2011 8:36:24 AM PST by metmom
In honor of Reformation Day, here are some complaints I’m nailing on the Wittenberg door.
Long before there was an Occupy Wall Street, Martin Luther staged the most important protest in history. He was upset because Roman Catholic officials were promising people forgiveness or early escape from purgatory in exchange for money. So on October 31, 1517, Luther nailed a long list of complaints on the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany.
1. Let’s reform our theology. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He is God and He is holy. He is not an “it.” He is not a blob, a force, or an innate power. We must stop manipulating Him, commanding Him and throwing Him around.
2. Let’s return to the Bible. The Word of God is the foundation for the Christian experience. Any dramatic experience, no matter how spiritual it seems, must be tested by the Word and the Holy Spirit’s discernment. Visions, dreams, prophecies and encounters with angels must be in line with Scripture. If we don’t test them we could end up spreading deception.
3. It’s time for personal responsibility. We charismatics must stop blaming everything on demons. People are usually the problem.
4. Stop playing games. Spiritual warfare is a reality, but we are not going to win the world to Jesus just by shouting at demonic principalities. We must pray, preach and persevere to see ultimate victory.
5. Stop the foolishness. People who hit, slap or push others during prayer should be asked to sit down until they learn gentleness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
6. End all spiritual extortion now. Christian television ministries must cease and desist from all manipulative fundraising tactics. We must stop giving platforms to ministers who make outlandish claims of supernatural financial returns, especially when Scripture is twisted, deadlines are imposed and the poor are exploited.
7. No more Lone Rangers. Those who claim to be ministers of God—whether they are traveling evangelists, local pastors or heads of ministries—must be accountable to other leaders. Any who refuse to submit their lives to godly discipline should be corrected.
8. Expose the creeps. Churches should start doing background checks on traveling ministers. Preachers who have been hiding criminal records, lying about their past marriages, preying on women or refusing to pay child support should be exposed as charlatans and shunned if they do not repent.
9. Stop faking the anointing. God is God, and He does not need our “help” to manifest Himself. That means we don’t sprinkle glitter on ourselves to suggest God’s glory is with us, hide fake jewels on the floor to prove we are anointed or pull chicken feathers out of our sleeves to pretend angels are in the room. This is lying to the Holy Spirit.
10. Let’s return to purity. We’ve had enough scandals. The charismatic church must develop a system for the restoration of fallen ministers. Those who fall morally can be restored, but they must be willing to submit to a process of healing rather than rushing immediately back into the pulpit.
11. We need humility. Ministers who demand celebrity treatment, require lavish salaries, insist on titles or exhibit aloofness from others are guilty of spiritual pride.
12. No more big shots. Apostles are the bondslaves of Christ, and should be the most impeccable models of humility. True apostles do not wield top-down, hierarchical authority over the church. They serve the church from the bottom up as true servants.
13. Never promote gifts at the expense of character. Those who operate in prophecy, healing and miracles must also exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. And while we continue to encourage the gift of tongues, let’s make sure we don’t treat it like some kind of badge of superiority. The world needs to see our love, not our glossolalia.
14. Hold the prophets accountable. Those who refuse to take responsibility for inaccurate statements should not be given platforms. And “prophets” who live immoral lives don’t deserve a public voice.
15. Let’s make the main thing the main thing. The purpose of the Holy Spirit’s anointing is to empower us to reach others. We are at a crossroads today: Either we continue off-course, entertained by our charismatic sideshows, or we throw ourselves into evangelism, church planting, missions, discipleship, and compassionate ministry that helps the poor and fights injustice. Churches that embrace this New Reformation will focus on God’s priorities.
Luther’s famous 95 theses were translated from Latin into German and spread abroad. Like a medieval Jeremiah, Luther dared to ask questions that had never been asked, and he challenged a pope who was supposedly infallible. Through this brave monk, the Holy Spirit sparked the Protestant Reformation and restored the doctrine of grace to a church that had become corrupt, religious, dysfunctional, political and spiritually dead.
I am no Luther, but I’ve grown increasingly aware that the so-called “Spirit-filled” church of today struggles with many of the same things the Catholic church faced in the 1500s. We don’t have “indulgences”—we have telethons. We don’t have popes—we have super-apostles. We don’t support an untouchable priesthood—we throw our money at celebrity evangelists who own fleets of private jets.
In honor of Reformation Day, I’m offering my own list of needed reforms in our movement. And since I can’t hammer these on the Wittenberg door, I’ll post them online. Feel free to nail them everywhere.
I understand. However, I must be honest. I totally disagree with the notion that somehow the gifts are for today. It is a lie of the devil.
Sorry, how I feel.
Thanks for the welcome. :o)
I could tell you stuff you wouldn't believe about my asking to be prayed for in a charismatic church.
I agree completely. It's all my fault that I haven't been healed, it's not enough faith, generational curses, sin in my life, yada, yada, yada....
Everyone has an answer and a formula. If I'd just do this, that, or the other thing, viola, I'd *get the healing*.
It does do a great deal of spiritual damage.
They mean well.....
I keep telling myself that.
But heaven help the next person who starts in on me with that kind of thinking.
I've had it up to *here* (way above my head) and am not interested in hearing it any more.
I've noticed that those with the most to say about how God should be working in my life if I'd let Him also tend to be the ones who are the healthiest and are not dealing with their own unresolved, major health crises. It's easy to be the judge and jury when you haven't been there.
/rant
I do believe that some people do have a gift of healing just like the rest of the gifts of teacher, evangelist, etc, but not to the extent and degree that is claimed by the Pentecostal movement.
And don’t even get me started on the speaking in tongues thing. The abuse I see of that.......
Twenty six years ago this night I married my bride. Our future was not of the brightest forecast LOL. She was two months going into a third in the hospital. A laying on of hands had taken place and yes it was a life altering experience for me. Odd isn't it the preachers laid hands on her and a message comes too me about our future.
Nine years into our marriage I was hit with disabling disorders. Not as severe as her as I can walk. But I have violent upper torso seizures and limited concentration now. It won't kill me as it's myoclonic seizures brought on from certain auditory and vision events. Walmart's Public Address system for example. Reading scripture for any length of time beyond a couple of paragraphs and staying focused is difficult as is prayer unless I leave the house and go walk a trail somewhere alone. My post you see in here especially on religion can take me up too an hour too compose.
you may think or feel you aren't doing something as in GOD working in your life but indeed you are. You posted the article didn't you? :>}
I will add you to my FR prayer list as well.
There are a number of other FReepers dealing with debilitating conditions as well.
You might be interested in this guy’s story.
John Stumbo
http://www.johnstumbo.org/blog/
He’s a pastor, who two years ago got hit with a debilitating condition that about killed him. He spent months in ICU and almost died there a a few times while in there. They never did figure out what about killed him but it has left it’s marked. He wrote a book on the whole experience, which I found very moving and helpful in dealing with my own struggles.
It’s entitled *An Honest Look at a Mysterious Journey*. You may be able to identify with it. The information on how to order it is in his blog. It’s VERY well written.
Healing was never promised in the atonement of Christ.
See here:
http://www.wayoflife.org/files/00507af4db4acc1e1e3149466afb28b8-667.html
It is a great site and the man who runs it; his writings brought be out of the Pentecostal Movement for good.
And yet a lot of Pentecostal teaching says it is. *By His stripes we are healed*.
And yet I still see an awful lot of people who still have physical issues, have never been healed.
And even if they are, do know how many people still wear glasses? Or go to the dentist? Or wear shoe inserts?
Healing should be for the WHOLE body at that point and yet is seems that the biggest claims to healing are for cancer and back problems.
There's a huge disconnect between theology and reality in Pentecostalism and nobody seems to want to address it much from within.
Thanks for the link. I'll look at that.
Very interesting.
I’ve heard of many of the Pentecostal preachers of days gone by and always heard about what great success rates they had.
This sure tells a different story.
David says, *Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.*
You can only go through the valley of the shadow of death with physical affliction that takes you to that point.
At this point, I believe I’ll drop this discussion.
Because for one, I do not want to get booted off of here.
For two, I just do not believe in IMPOSING my beliefs on anyone else. I have my beliefs and I leave it at that. All I ask, is that others respect my beliefs and I’ll do the same.
Thanks,
-DR
Thanks for the input and the link. It was very enlightening.
I was working in a nursing home as a maintenance mechanic. I saw patients who had everything from Dementia to terminal cancer, MS, even STD's dieing. I thought it was either a brain tumor or MS. Think of the disorder as the brain being a computer and the processor being overworked. The computer freezes and programs shut down. Programs in my case being shut down are ones that say where I am, how I got there, where I am going, how long have I been, going, what time is it. Sensory overload does it. It also causes the violent spasms or seizures.
If I don't get the spasms stopped soon enough the system crashes for about 20-30 minutes even though I am 100% conscious and aware of it. I'm thankful for the miracle drug Xanax which works fast. For several years I was mis diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder and given meds that only made matters worse.
My first full blown attack happened while on the interstate driving 75 MPH and my wife was with me. GOD created the human brain for survival and it has capabilities which take over when certain things happen. I've had about a dozen of such attacks and not gotten hurt. I haven't had one in several years because I head it off with either medication or if at home picking up my guitar and playing it till the spasms stop.
Considering what it could have been this is more like an annoyance. It won't kill me but it is lifestyle altering. But I have helped others whom this happens too and they don't understand what is happening too them. I tell them what to have the doctors check for which is Vestibular and sensory processing dysfunction. I'm also over 50% deaf now and that has lessened the spasms as well. I was born with sensory issues like single eye functional and Inner Ear issues. At age 34 it all reached a breaking point. There is no name for the disorder as such as it is likely several interacting on each other & hitting at once.
Mine is MCAD, a mast cell activation disorder.
It is also lifestyle altering and I suspect there is another factor involved in this based on my research into it but cannot get any doctors to address my suspicion.
I’ve always reacted to foods with eczema and (in hindsight) other reactions. Spent my whole life being told I was a hypochondriac.
In my late 30’s, the condition started to deteriorate and my reactions to foods got worse to the point where some foods started dropping out of my diet.
It continued over the last 17 year or so getting progressively worse until I am to the point of being able to really only eat oats and chicken, beef, lamb, or venison.
I can eat a mouthful of some other foods on occasion, but not nearly enough to keep me alive should the oats and meat go too. I have no clue if they will also eventually drop out of my diet.
There is NOTHING medical science can do for it. I do have medicines they are having me on which do not appear to be making any difference. Even if they did, it would just be managing it for a while longer.
So, I’m looking at three possible scenarios.
1) God heals me.
2) Nothing changes and I live like this the rest of my life, another 20-30 years.
3) It finally progresses and takes me out.
#1 is the preferred option.
IMO, #2 is the worst case scenario.
At the link to john Stumbo’s Blog, scroll down to this section.....
Thursday, October 27. 2011
Year Three
It will give you a summary of what he went through.
It almost sounds like you are having an allergic chain reaction. I suspect the meddling with the food chain over the past few decades has triggered some of these issues you describe. Much in the same way advances in technology have caused triggers for mine. Mainly the foods I have to stay away from have MSG or almost any processed meats. When I was a kid I could eat bologna and loved it. Now it literally makes me bend over double in a matter of a few minutes. They radically changed the way it is made using parts of animals not previously used and adding chemicals not in our food chain four decades ago.
No, my allergy testing comes back negative for almost everything and the few things that do show a reaction are very slight. Matter of fact, over the years, the food allergy testing has shown an improvement in the allergies all the while the reactions were getting worse.
I was born with this. It’s not something that happened out of the blue. the only thing is that it’s gotten progressively worse over the years. I have no idea what component of the food is triggering the response.
It’s an immune response but not the classic pathway. Very low risk for anaphylactic shock, thankfully, but......
My diet has been additive free for decades. It’s not that. Believe me when I say that I’ve checked into EVERYTHING. I know more about this than most medical professionals, who’ve never heard of it before.
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