- Oct 16, 2004
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Personally I don't think anyone is super-gifted today. I honestly don't see a large quantity of convincingly genuine giftings in today's charismatic movement. For example a typical 'prophecy' goes like this, 'God told me that someone in the audience is having stomach problems, and should come down to the altar for prayer.' For an audience of 25 or more people, that's not really a prophecy. It's a statistically inevitable fact. Prophecy is supposed to glorify God. Therefore:I think this is why believers in smaller churches are super-gifted. (multiple giftings) There are less believers to distribute the gifts to.
(1) If God is going to make such a trivial statement, He'd likely authenticate it at 100% certainty (as I explained in post 273).
(2) Alternatively, He could raise someone's level of certainty by revealing something non-trivial, i.e. a person's inner thoughts (see 1Cor 14:24-25).
Actually I think I experienced somewhat of a real authentication once, during my 12 years of regular church-attendance (can't really take it anymore). I'll never forget it. A man was ministering in church, strumming some tunes on his guitar and, intermittently, reading a verse or two from Scripture. Suddenly I almost fell out of my seat. I suddenly REALIZED (or at least felt VERY certain) that God was speaking to me directly. I was somewhat frightened, essentially in shock. I looked around the room to see if anyone else had the same reaction, but most still had their heads bowed in prayer.
Understand, it wasn't the CONTENT of the message. It wasn't one of those things like, 'Wow, that Scripture really spoke to me today." Rather, the authentication happened when he opened his mouth to read the verse, on the opening syllables, long BEFORE I actually apprehended the MEANING of the verse. It was an encouraging verse, but in my depression at that time it would ordinarily have had little positive effect. The difference here, of course, was the sudden realizatoin that God HIMSELF was THERE AND THEN speaking that verse directly to me. As Paul said, "The one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort" (1Cor 14:3).
But I digress. While it breaks my heart to disagree with a fellow charismatic such as yourself, I don't think I should sugar-coat my opinion. Today's charismatic movement seems symptomatic of the church being largely off-track for the last 2,000 years. It's not the real deal, for the most part, from what I can tell. And it's not likely going to improve if every charismatic keeps insisting that it really IS the real deal.
I also have some theological objections, particularly to the Pentecostal 'baptism of the holy Spirit'. Those who have indeed received an outpouring to speak in tongues (and I'm convinced that many Pentecostals received no such thing) presume it to be the same thing received on Pentecost. Pentecost was prophecy, not tongues, as I outlined in an earlier post. Secondly, I see no right or basis for presuming that ONE such outpouring is enough. The Spirit fell on Samson again and again (every time he needed supernatural strength). That same Spirit fell upon the prophets again and again (every time they needed to declare a message to an audience). There are metaphysical reasons for this, which would make for another (long) post.
In a nutshell,I distinguish between two kinds of anointings (two senses of being 'filled with the Spirit')
(1) An abiding, sanctifying fullness for holiness. But like a smoke filled container, even here more fillings are always needed, because we will never be 100% full (perfect) until the next life.
(2) A repeating-anointing (charismatic) that abides for (typically) a short session of healing, prophecy, or whatever (I already mentioned Samson). Example, 'And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick' (Luke 5:17).
Toward the end of the last century, 2 scholarly authors wrote about the the (potential) prophethood of all believers. Many have heard of Stronstad, the other was James Shelton, his book entitled, 'Mighty in Word and Deed: The role of the Holy Spirit in Luke-Acts'.
Shelton argues convincingly that the NT prophet is identical to the OT prophet and that, as a result, a charismatic anointing is transitory (it lasts only for one charismatic session). Therefore its frequency of return can depend on factors such as prayer, God's mercy and favor with the people, etc.
My point: The Pentecostal doctrine of the 'baptism of the Spirit' is one of the most CATASTROPHIC doctrines in church history, because it leads people to remain complacent having received only ONE such visitation of the Holy Spirit, when in fact our ENTIRE SUCCESS is predicated upon asking God for MORE outpourings (essentially an askance for revival). Luke 11:13 is in the context of Christ teaching His disciples how to pray DAILY.
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