Tuesday, March 08, 2011
What's To 'Get'?
Boy do I agree with Chaplain Mike:
But what Mike is really writing about is "the next big thing" - yet another tent revival. He claims to not "getting" such things. That's because, in my opinion, there is nothing to get. It's promotion, pure and simple. Preachers that do these things work for a cut of the gate - it is managed and run like a pure entertainment deal. Meaning, of course, that while the Holy Spirit may work anywhere and in any circumstance, as far as the promoters are concerned the thing is pure hokum.
If a preacher or music person is working for a cut, then it cannot possibly be about truth, it must be about draw, and we all know those two things do not equate. There are some interesting scriptures to quote here:
Theologically, I am not a cessationist. I don’t think the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit’s gifts expired after the apostles or when the first Bibles were bound. I can accept that signs and wonders may accompany the proclamation of the Gospel and confirm its message with power. But I’ve never seen it, at least not in the way my pentecostal brethren claim it happens. Instead, in charismatic and pentecostal Christianity I have most often seen a sort of manic enthusiasm that emphasizes all the worst aspects of evangelical/fundamentalist faith practice, and then adds to them additional layers of hype, hoopla, and hysteria.With the caveat that my friend Adrian Warnock is one of the most reasonable charismatic leaders I have met. I have not been to services at his church (It's London after all - I do not get there that often) but from his blog and writings - there seems a different tone.
But what Mike is really writing about is "the next big thing" - yet another tent revival. He claims to not "getting" such things. That's because, in my opinion, there is nothing to get. It's promotion, pure and simple. Preachers that do these things work for a cut of the gate - it is managed and run like a pure entertainment deal. Meaning, of course, that while the Holy Spirit may work anywhere and in any circumstance, as far as the promoters are concerned the thing is pure hokum.
If a preacher or music person is working for a cut, then it cannot possibly be about truth, it must be about draw, and we all know those two things do not equate. There are some interesting scriptures to quote here:
2 Pet 2:2-3 - And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
1 Cor 13:1 - If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
Technorati Tags:revivalists, charismata
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
