Monday, November 21, 2005
It's Not What You Know, It's Who You Know
That set me to thinking. I wonder how many died-in-the-wool cessasionists have ever met a reasonable charismatic? Oh they exist to be sure -- more on that in a minute.
On the flip side, I wonder how many died-in-the-wool charismatics have witnessed or suffered the kind of stuff the cessasionists are so worried aboout?
To date, cessasionists have cited mostly the tele-charismatics, Hinn, Roberts, et. al. Such examples are frankly, easily dismissed. Tele-Christianity in general is easily dismissed by almost anyone that takes their faith with even a grain of seriousness. That does not mean television cannot be a useful communication tool in a faith context -- it just means it can't be anything more than that, like say a substitute for attending church.
But the real damage done by out-of-control charismatics is done on the more direct, personal level Consider this post from Sheep's Crib. Ally John cites this article from Charisma magazine which lists several charismatic abuses
- How would you feel if your pastor announced from the pulpit that he had uncovered a ?new revelation? in the Bible? His discovery: That a church leader can have more than one wife.
- At one charismatic megachurch, staff pastors successfully convinced all their wives and female staff members to get breast implants. (I wonder: Was this discussed at a staff meeting?)
- A church in California (known for its revival meetings and prophetic ministry) recently imploded after members learned that several men in the church had been having homosexual affairs with the pastor, who was married.
- A leader with an international following (who wears the label of ?apostle?) recently informed his leaders that men of God who reach his level of anointing are allowed to have more than one sexual partner. Then his own son offered his wife to his father out of a sense of spiritual obligation.
- charismatic preacher Clarence McClendon had divorced his wife of 16 years, Tammera McClendon, and married another woman after only seven days. The ceremony was performed by Bishop Earl Paulk, founder of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Atlanta. Several prominent ministers attended the wedding, lending their endorsement to McClendon?s actions. -- Tammera McClendon later informed Charisma that Clarence had told her while they were married that God had already shown him the woman who would replace her as his wife.
None of these things were on national TV. The fact of the matter is, it is in the best interest of the denominations in question to keep such things as quiet as possible, and cover them with an air of legitimacy as in the last example.
The argument is always something like "This is a personal sin and we can't let it harm the church," or "Well, the guilty parties have dealt with God on this," anything that sounds legit and keep the money rolling in.
But these things don't happen in healthy charismatic circles, so healthy charismatics often don't know about them, precisely because the unhealthy work so hard to cover them up.
So why don't cessasionists know any of these reasonable charismatics? I think there are a couple of reasons. The first is that by nature, people inclined to a cessasionist viewpoint won't go looking for it. That does not mean they are prejudiced in some way, it just means such things are not attractive to them. I would have never discovered anything charismatic if it had not walked up to me and slapped me in the face.
When I was a kid a charismatic revivlalist came to town and hooked in virtually my entire circle of fellowship. I never bothered, wasn't interested; I'm just too much the scientist to be really interested in such things. After a while I had no choice but to look into it, but left to my own druthers, it is simply not something I would have ever explored -- I had filed it under "lunatic fringe."
But soon my friends were telling me I wasn't a Christian because I didn't speak in tongues. So, I pretty well lost all my friends. That is until a few years later. The leader of this cult started prophesying that people with cancer would be healed without medical intervention, then they started calling to apologize for being such fools, just before they died. Some married, and again, because the leader "got a word," ended up have babies that died within weeks of birth because they refused medical interevention during labor -- which lasted 3 days and resulted in the child being beaten hideously against the mother's pelvis.
I had to find a reasonable way through this mess for the sake of people I loved. In my search, I discovered reasonable charismatics. Which leads me to the second reason cessasionists don't know about them. The very essence of good exercise of the miraculous gifts, is to keep it quiet. Humility demands it. When God uses someone to perform a miracle, the temptation is almost overwhelming for the someone to take, or be granted the authority.
Note that Christ and the Apostles did not testify to their own miracles, they left that up to the recipients, and often urged them to say nothing. A reasonable charismatic understands that "faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." and seeks to build in others and have for themselves such a faith, not a faith built on the visible and miraculous. For indeed, a reasonable chrismatic understands that we are saved by faith.
2 Cor 5:7 - for we walk by faith, not by sight--The discussion to date on this subject has been, for the most part, excellent. For me, it has built a since of trust in others that I think important, but I think we need, in some sense, to move past the realm of ideas and into the personal. We need to get to know one another to discover the richness of these two "camps." I have shared a bit of my personal story here and I hope that others will too. Perhaps by such personal exploration and discovery, the discussion can find a new life and greater productivity. Perhaps by coming to understand not just the ideas, but the people, in "the other camp," we can move this forward in the most positive manner.
