Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Let's do a little dance...a party with you
“Smokin', snortin', shootin', suckin', tokin', poppin', droppin'. Let's do a little dance...party with you" -Mike (Chris Farley) in Black Sheep
With the recent Florida Outpouring revival news and various other in your face examples of Toronto-Brownsville-Vineyardish manifestations being claimed as a work of God, I desire to share a few things. I have been down this road in the past both personally and as part of a house church network I was connected with in the 90's. I have seen and experienced the gifts of the real Holy Spirit and the authentic move of God and also the questionable and the down right un-holy spirit.
It's a tough world to swim within and discerning what is really God and isn’t, is often a real challenge. But more than anything I learned during those seasons of renewal, revival? and wild services, was that ignoring “red flags’ in my gut...was not spiritual. Looking back I see that the Lord spoke to my heart through the scriptures and the warnings of the Spirit more times than I was willing to trust.
We experienced great movings of God in a season of visitation that both refreshed, renewed, revealed and unveiled and exposed. As a result we saw God, flesh, satan and human frailty, insecurity and dysfunction in those visitations. In the end some people grew up, some got divorced, others left the church or the dream of real church life. Some got jaded, others pressed through and became a little wiser. When people pray for a visitation from God, they really have no clue what they are asking for...its like lighting a stick of dynamite...things will change, some for the good and some for the bad. Below is an example of the at least irresponsible and probably heretical presentation of the Holy Spirit and or the very counterfeit work of the enemy.
I see the same stirrings again...here are some of the red flags I see swirling around in the conversation, reports and publications via the web or print.
There are now post-denominational, neo-Pentecostal, half-modern in a post-modern suit, "new charismatics"; with their "new" wine & new wine skin-post-church or post-something mantras leading churches, meetings and movements. There are unaccountable, unhinged, loose cannon emerging "from something, but falling into something else" prophets and apostles out of the woods now.
The messengers and the messages must be dealt with. Here is some “signs” of the version of a gospel they are spreading:
-Overt and public displaying of power, that grand stands, is pompish and popeish, pushy, aggressive and always seems to be loud, shouting and grips your forehead with conquering force.
-An ooey-gooey, pubescent like, syrupy, jesus is my lover, romance novelish, pseudo-spiritual-sexual intimacy focus.
-The odd, overcoming, drunken, sloshed, off in a distance stare, teenie bopperish giggling, jerking-tweeking-lurching and now whacked drug-like induced trances and supposed anointing'.
-The generally unsubstantiated, un-recorded, easily faked, supposed miracles; always seem like the elusive big-foot and alien appearance videos...always claiming and never quite proving the events.
-Their unquestioned, never challenged, hard to argue with always private and personal God-Spirit-Angel voices, and the over the top, super spiritual, God told me, God said...24-7 God talk.
-The out right strange, above and beyond, non or slightly biblical visitations.
-A host of other oddities are sweeping some parts of the church....Angel feathers, gems from heaven, gold dust, spirit fog, bread/manna showing up, spiritual oil dripping from hands, a heavenly dentist appearing and filling or capping teeth with gold, people dropping pounds in a service and on and on it goes...the only things I have not seen or heard of yet, is snake handling and drinking poison, but I am sure we will get some new and improved version soon.
More later...
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3 comments:
-Their unquestioned, never challenged, hard to argue with always private and personal God-Spirit-Angel voices, and the over the top, super spiritual, God told me, God said...24-7 God talk.
This one jumped out at me...I just started riding the bus to work a couple of weeks ago, and there's an older woman who does this CON-STANT-LY...I called her a "roller" when I told my wife about her, which earned me a scowl, but then yesterday I reported the details of her "prophecy" that she was waiting on fulfillment of. The thing that bugs me is that she is constantly talking about how she asks God if she can do this, that or the other, and there is always an answer, just like casual conversation. Now, I think this can definitely happen, but she does it in such a way as to bring common-ness to God. Bugs me, and I'm probably full of crap, but there you go.
The manifestations that you list at the end of your post--
"Angel feathers, gems from heaven, gold dust, spirit fog, bread/manna showing up, spiritual oil dripping from hands, a heavenly dentist appearing and filling or capping teeth with gold, people dropping pounds in a service and on and on it goes..."
In my humble opinion, this has nothing to do with Christianity. I would laugh out loud if it didn't grieve me so. Before I go on; let me qualify this by saying, that God works in the midst of all things.
I have a friend who was converted at a party where he was doing coke, pot and alcohol while the "guests" were viewing porn. In the midst of this cocktail he became immediately sober, heard the call of Christ, and left that world and never looked back. I have no doubt if God speaks in those circumstances, that the Lord will touch people in the midst of feathers and gold dust, not sure about the dentistry. Maybe that God would touch more there than at a party like I described with my friend. But, that being said, Christianity has been severly blemished in the world today by this kind of folly. If you seek a miracle, I would suggest, first you find it in your prayer closet. When the lights go on and heaven descends, you will have little to distract or doubt. If you have need of feathers, gems or oil, check out Costco. If you take your feathers and pad the bed of the sick, better yet. If you take the oil and share it with the poor, another good.
Lastly, if you seek God and His holiness, obey his commands and love others, you will manifest honey in your soul, blessings abounding and they are deep and wide and pure, but without feathers.
That's my take on it,
Dad
My own personal testimony, and that of members of my family includes miracles...of healing. A Biblical work of Christ. I don't read in the Scriptures where people had gold caps and feathers suddenly appear. I don't read about gold dust being left behind where Jesus walked.
I do, however, read where counterfeit signs and wonders will deceive people (2 Thessalonians 2:9).
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